(And we’re back… for how long? Who can say!)
A long time ago I picked up the 4 Warmachine starters, some glue, and some paint from a local game store that was going out of business. I don’t remember what inspired me to do this. I may have been given a demo of the game at another store, one of my friends who already knew about the game may have demoed it for me, it may have just been a whim. I had built and painted gaming models in the past, quite significantly actually. Mostly models for Dungeons and Dragons but also some for other games – a completely unknown to me pair of companies called Citadel and Games Workshop mostly. However it happened I decided that I was interested in this thing that people were playing on these tables that were designed to look like a miniature battlefield.
Also a long time ago but not quite as long a time ago I somehow convinced a young, well younger, boardgamer from my gaming club to try this game that uses metal models that I had now become addicted to the assembly of. I have absolutely no recollection of our first game, or even exactly when it was, but when Privateer Press announced that the next faction box for Warmachine would be a pirate themed set Justin was all over that.
Since then Justin and I have supported each others model buying and building and sometimes painting insanity fully. We probably should have been separated by our wives long ago. I regret not a single purchase. Now this most recent show of support is for Justin’s renewed interest in our legacy game. He has been hankering for some Warmachine and after some late night talks about the reasons why I stopped playing I agreed that I would join him in his foray, or re-foray, into the world of Warmachine.
Menoth Jacks and Caster from the 2 player starter (primed with brush on primer)
Justin has already introduced this series and talked about the factions and how we acquired them so I’ll skip over all that and jump right to it.
So what do I write about when it comes to rebooting Warmachine and working on models I have been building for years? Well, they are plastic now. I thought I was going to be disappointed. Aside from making the cleaning of mould lines harder I am finding the plastics excellent to work with. I built the Trollbloods starter in metal for Rob so he would participate. It took about as long as I spent on the Vaquisher in the Menoth starter. Maybe we can rack this up to experience with metal models, and more specifically Warmachine jacks, or maybe metal really is a lot easier? Not sure. I even did some pinning of the Trolls to fix a broken axe and it was still much faster than plastic. Whatever it is the end result is the same. Plastic or metal, once they are assembled Warmachine ‘Jacks, and even Hordes beasts, look great.
Since starting this process we have managed to get in a few games. Khador are a very difficult army to break but Menoth seem to be doing ok. I hope to try my hand at a battle report one of these days and it would make sense to write one for this game. I plan to talk about tactics and some of my frustrations when it comes to facing Khador (they are soooooo strong!). I will also be tracking my purchases and progress on assembling and painting models. And on that note, I have recently acquired a Revenger and two Paladins of the Wall. Details in the next post.
An Unexpected Journey
So my positive experiences with the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game led me to start buying more figures so that I could try out more of the scenarios from the first Journeybook, The Fellowship of the Ring.
This in turn led me to start making terrain. Although I’m a Graphic Designer, I had not attempted to make original structures for a game since way back in 1987-88 when I made two Hockey arenas to pimp out the boardgame, Strat-o-Matic Hockey. They have been long since destroyed and I only recently found a photo of one of them:
That project was a lot of fun because I was trying to add a personal touch to my drafted team from Strato. I then made a domed stadium (with open and closing roof) for a friend’s birthday but unfortunately I have no record of it. This was my first taste of adding chrome to a boardgame. Back then, my buddy and I also went to the local Radio Shack and bought wire, buttons, a buzzer, and a beacon light to pimp out my stand up Coleco Rod Hockey game. I made the tower out of foamboard and hung the beacon from it. The wiring and buttons allowed us each to trigger the buzzer and beacon whenever we scored.
Back to the Journeybooks. Each Journeybook comes with diagrams and instructions on making the various distinctive terrain pieces that adorn the playing areas for each scenario. I found this encouraging for me to start to build structures again. Sure, I could have bought a lot of this stuff, but cumulatively, the cost of making your own terrain is far less expensive than buying it, and some pieces are not available for purchase. Was I nervous about making terrain from scratch? Yup! There is a startup cost involved as well as a high cost in time commitment. That and I still disliked painting. Overall, there was this feeling of dread as I had no guarantee that the end result would look “decent”. Online sources of “inspiration” usually contain pictures of awesome work done by experienced miniature gamers. Although I’ve dabbled in it, I am far from being an expert. Even so, I would hate to waste my time on something that didn’t look “table ready”.
Why go to the trouble then? Is using the appropriate terrain pieces even necessary? Well no, but here’s the “rub”. Virtually any appropriately sized object can be used as terrain. Even basic cut shapes. In fact, the rules for miniature games don’t ever require….”miniatures”. Every miniature game can be played with plastic bases and either stand-up or flat cardboard chits on top. (a simple “height” rating can be adopted for line of sight if using flat chits) As long as the bases are relevant, you can even proxy entire armies with any like-sized miniatures or cardboard cutouts that you already have. As long as you have access to the rules, you do not ever have to purchase or paint a miniature/terrain piece and you can still enjoy the tactics, the throwing of dice and the various combos between unit types.
So, would I ever seriously entertain this cost-effective way of playing miniatures games? Absolutely not. Why? Because of the main reason why I like playing miniature games. Aside from the rulebook, miniature gaming is all chrome. Miniature gamers spend all sorts of time and money on unnecessary details that offer nothing in terms of rules implementation and tactics. However, chrome is everything when it comes to mood, and theme and personality. It’s all about a game that “looks” good. A game that catches your eye when you walk by a gaming table. A game that you have personalized in some way and is faithful to its subject matter. Much like pimping boardgames!
I happen to think that chrome can be every bit as important as a ruleset. Where else can you showcase your enjoyment of a hobby if not in the ability to add your own stamp to it? My Orcs will look the way I want them to and even if I follow a colour scheme, they were hand painted by me! My cliffs will be shaped the way I made them. Every cut. Every brush. Every success and every mistake.
So the Fellowship of the Ring Journeybook has diagrams and suggestions to make rocks, walkways, stairs, rivers, Amon Sul, Amon Hen, Buckleberry Ferry…etc. So I took the plunge and I made all of them! 🙂
Terrain built following the steps from the Fellowship of the Ring Journeybook.
I hadn’t had this much fun doing “crafts” since my Hockey arena days. I should clarify. I have certainly enjoyed pimping out boardgames over the past 6 years or so. But little of that involved making original pieces. That side of the hobby involves painting figures, cannibalizing parts for use with a game and/or redesigning and printing out custom chits or boards. Creative? yes, but it’s still not quite the same thing as actually making something from scratch.
Now following diagrams in the Journeybooks is not an example of making something from scratch either. What the Journeybooks did for me was help me get my feet wet again. When I made the Hockey arenas, I did not plan them out. I made them “on the fly” and I certainly didn’t paint them. By making the “Fellowship” pieces, I became more confident to try something original. It taught me some of the skills I would need to start making my own plans for a mod. This time, I chose the boardgame Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery. As it is also 28mm in scale, the Gladiatorial arena could be used as terrain as well!
Here is a record of the building process; from planning to completion.
Unexpected feedback!
On Boardgamegeek.com, I was asked by GaleForce9 for permission to use pics of my arena on the Facebook page for the Spartacus game. I agreed of course, and they sent me a nice letter of thanks (Gratitude!) as well as the complete set of promo cards for the game.
I was also invited to submit my arena pics to the 29th Monthly Pimp My Boardgame Contest and at this very early stage, it seems to be doing well.
So in a sense, I’ve come full circle. From Hockey Arena to Gladiatorial Arena. A byproduct of gaming that remains exciting for me and my interest in both Miniatures and Boardgames!
At least in terms of having painted Battlegroups, I win!
…not that it’s a CHALLENGE or anything. And it’s not.
So, akin to Loy’s little push to the rest of the ToG contributors, here is my challenge: PAINT YOUR WM/H armies and let’s get a’fightin’!
Thanks for reading.
So 2012 wasn’t a great year for gaming for me. I was distracted with work and family so painting/gaming took a back seat (as it should when matched against those 2). Here we are in 2013 and the first thing we always talk about in a new year is our resolutions. Every year I say I’m going to paint more and gaming more but I’m thinking to myself … what’s going to move me to honor these goals?
Let me tackle painting first. I love collecting miniatures and thinking about how cool a model will look when it’s all assembled and painted. Unfortunately, that process between opening the package and putting it on the table full painted is a bit tough. I’m a decent painter but it does take me a long time to finish a model. Assembling and priming is not a problem for me but I’m somewhat of a picky person when it comes to painting. I’m not satisfied with a bare bones paint job … mostly due to the fact that once I say I’m finished a model, my wife picks it up and brings it two inches from her face and looks at all the detail.
Going off topic a bit, my buddy two summers ago convinced me to be his running buddy and join his fitness challenge. I don’t like running and I wasn’t in really any big need of losing weight or improving my health. But somehow he convinced me to join and I went along with this regiment for quite a few months.
So back to painting, my idea is to challenge all my fellow “Tale of Gamers” or anyone else out there who’s in a similar boat to do the following with me:
At the start of each month, take a picture of one or more minis that you plan to finish by the end of that month. It doesn’t have to be a brand new mini in an unopened box/blister. Let’s face it, we all have a ton of unpainted, partially painted, almost finished, and/or finished but on a plain base minis … we need to finish these minis to make room on our workbenches for all the other minis we have piling up.
At then end of month, post again with the finished product and I mean FINISHED (which includes a completed base … that’s my crutch). Plus post a picture of the next month plan.
Who’s with me?
My January plan is to finish my Malifaux Neverborn crew. Lilith is finished except for her base. All the other minis are in some stage of painting so this shouldn’t be a tough month for me.
Recently I assembled Lashers and Scion for my Brood warband. The Lashers are sculpted climbing up bits of rubbled buildings. This made the models look unusual when just glued down to a plain base. I decided I would try my hand at filling out the base with some “junk”. I used the following things:
– A chunk cut out of a Tim Horton’s gift card (remaining balance unknown).
– A plastic plug from an Ikea furniture set, intended to fill a drill hole where a bolt would be.
– A grey drywall screw plug.
– Some tiny metal rings from a clothing rivet repair kit.
– Several pieces of sprue from a GW plastic kit.
– The pour holes from the plastic Menoth starter i purchased recently.
I visualized the various parts as being scrap from recent battles (specifically against the CORE) and leavings from the operation that long ago left the planet. The chunk of card was cut into an odd shape and drilled with a few holes to look like an armour plate that had bullet holes in it. The plug had thin flanges on it that looked like a CPU heat sink so I cut it down into a square and damaged some of the flanges so it would look like a generator/engine block/processor or whatever. The grey drywall plug I bisected and the cap became something that looked like a tire rim and the shaft became a fairly interesting looking robotic spine. The tiny rings were cut in half and glued down side by side to look like a giant spring buried in the sand or possibly a metal ribcage. The chunks of sprue were cut down into rocks and a long “metal” or “stone” beam. And finally, the pour holes from the Menoth kits were trimmed and became barrels.
Once I got all the junk glues down onto the bases it was very hard to look at what I had done and be able to say; “once primed that is going to look like what I intended and not just a pile of crap I glued to the base.” I decided that to help assist with the look of realism I would add grit to the bases. Something I NEVER do. I paid Justin a visit at his home to get in a game and hopefully do up the bases. Unfortunately we both forgot. In a stroke of luck Rob came by last night and I asked him to bring along his basing kit. He gave me a quick run down of how to go about applying sand and gravel flock to a base and then I went ahead and did the three Dark Age models and my Menoth starter.
This morning after the glue had dried completely and the bases were already looking great I applied a pretty thick coat of Vallejo Black Surface Primer, the brush on variety. I am very happy with the end result…and here it is:
Lasher Bases
Unfortunately I didn’t take a good picture of the bases at each stage of the process. I am going to do something similar for the rest of my Brood so I will document that process more closely with pictures of the source parts, how I cut them down, the raw base, flocking, and priming.
Looks like the Warmachine Tale of Gamers is well underway and I’m already seeing some Hordes discrimination. Yes, Hordes is the the ugly younger brother of shiny well established Warmachine.
I’ve played a good amount of WM with my Khador army, so Hordes is a new thing for me. Just before taking a trip to Vancouver, I picked up the Hordes Mk2 rules and gave them a good read on the plane.
The real difference I’ve found so far is that Hordes is more of a pay as you go system rather than a pay up front system.
So here are a couple of challenges I’m tackling with the Trollbloods:
- Trolls are pretty low priority for me (below Orks, High Elves, Khador & Tomb Kings)
- I find the color scheme of the Troll clothing pretty bland
- The Trolls are very detailed models and deserve a lot of attention to get them right.
All three of these challenges really lead to just one thing…
How do you paint models you don’t really want to paint?
It’s a question that everyone in the hobby eventually has to deal with. Sometimes there’s a unit that’s essential to your army that you’re just not fond of the look of. Sometimes your group wants to play something different from what you want to paint…and other times the models just look too daunting that you don’t want to take up that mountain of work.
Yes, I guess you could just play with primed models or bare metal, but here’s a couple of tricks i’ve used to get the tough jobs done.
Paint flesh first
Miniatures painting is all about bringing a tiny sculpture to life and the fastest way to get that life going is to paint the flesh first. So the first color that went down on the Trollbloods was a base blue for their skin. Sometimes just that first color is enough to get a miniature going.
Ignore Details
Most miniatures have 3-5 large areas of color. By ignoring things like eyes, jewelery, belts, runes, etc. you can kickstart a miniature and get them on the table faster. Modern paints are such high quality that you can easily go back and add details without overpainting. Just be sure to keep your coats thin. For the trolls, I used blue for flesh, leather for clothing and metal for armor. I also painted the base green and black.
15 Minutes Only
Getting to the point where miniatures look great takes a lot of time. A single miniature probably takes about 6 hours. Some of this time is saved by painting like an assembly line, but the amount of work is still heavy at best. To trick your mind into thinking it’s a shorter time, what i like to do is start by painting in 15 minute sessions. By sitting only for 15 minutes, I generally have an appetite for more painting rather than being burned out by a long session. Also, 15 mins per day for week adds up to almost 2 hrs!
Read the Lore
By reading the story behind the miniatures and understanding the personality of them, you get additional inspiration to paint em. Reading lore is a fast way to increase that emotional drive behind painting. From what I gather, the Trolls are a fading race, much like the Wood elves or the High Elves. They are slowly being forced off their lands and are having to band together to survive. After my game against the Menoth, I can see why…
Play more!
By far, the most effective way to get rid of the painting blahs is to play a game with them. After my recent clobbering by Azmzero’s Menoth i cannot think of anything except getting these blueskins painted and back on the table.
Give a couple of these tips a try and let me know what works for you.
Well, to begin our re-entry into Warmachine, Andrew and I brought our starters to the table and had a go at Mk II rules. We both played a game or two of the new rules back when they were in beta, and I think when they were brand new. But that was TWO years ago, now, so it has been quite a while. We were both well-versed enough, though, to be able to get through the game in a short time, figuring out our new battlegroups and re-learning some things about the game.
The Game
We set up in regular fashion, I think. I had Sorscha inbetween her two Heavies, while Kreoss was hiding behind his wall of metal. Pfft. Menoth panzies.*
I went first, moved up under Fog of War (giving me Concealment) and that’s all. Menoth moves up, and not much else.
Turn Two I moved up again under FoW, and this time sent a Bombard shot at the Repenter. It hit, did a little damage, and actually hit Kreoss for 2 points. Menoth moved up, made my FoW disappear, made it harder for me to cast spells in Kreoss’ Control Range, and shot at the Destroyer with the Vanquisher, doing some damage.
The Game After Turn 2
Turn Three I pop my feat making all the Menoth models Stationary, then move back and give both ‘jacks Boundless Charge (letting them go further and get past the terrain in their way). Both ‘jacks, with 2 Focus each, run up and smack the two Heavies a little. The Juggernaut hits the Vanquisher, the Destroyer hits the Crusader. A bunch of damage done, for sure. The Juggernaut managed to Cripple the Vanquisher’s Movement and gun arm. But they hit back and put some hurt on my Heavies, especially with Kreoss Charging up behind them. Thankfully Andrew had to spend 4 Focus just to get them all out of Stationary, so they didn’t hit as hard as they could have. Kreoss did Feat, though, knocking all the Khador models down.
Turn Four Sorscha stood up and gave all of her Focus to the ‘jacks, instead of trying to Shoot and Magic Kreoss in the back. The ‘jacks do plenty of damage, with the Juggernaut killing off the Vanquisher and the Destroyer bringing the Crusader down to a SINGLE point of damage. One. Yeesh. Well, it was easy for the Kreoss and his remaining ‘jacks to destroy both of my ‘jacks. So now Sorscha was staring a smoking Heavy, a nearly-fine Light and Kreoss, who was only one damage point lower than her now. Oi.
We considered calling it at this point, but I’m not one to give up! So Sorscha cast Wind Rush giving her a free move up (and added Def), then Charged Kreoss. Swipe-swipe-swipe with Frostfang and she brought Kreoss down to…wait for it…a SINGLE point of damage. Big yeesh! So here she was, ready to take a beating from two ‘jacks and a ‘caster when we realised something. Something potentially huge!
The Game During Turn 5
We realised that Andrew had mis-read the stat card for Kreoss and had been giving him Weapon Master instead of a Magical Weapon! So the 6 or whatever hits he had laid on my ‘jacks had gotten a free boost each time! We figured it had amounted to a lot of damage. Whether my ‘jacks would have survived one more turn or not, we will never know, but we called the game here as a Draw. I didn’t want to take a win because of a mistake like this, especially since it could have gone either way.
Thoughts on the Game
Well, Andrew’s mistake was just one example of how it’ll be a few more games until we are re-familiarised with the system and with our armies. Back when we used to play, we didn’t have little icons to memorize. I’m still not sure if all of the icons are helpful or not. It was an honest mistake (unlike that time he kept Upkeeping a non-Upkeepable spell with Haley that helped win him that game…or multiple games, I’m not sure), and I just chalk it up to us being new to the game. We’ll figure out the general and army-specific rules and tactics sooner or later.
The game also helped me remember that I DO like this game. It’s no Malifaux or WHFB for me, still, but it’s good. Right now I feel the decision-making is more daunting than Malifaux, even though more of the models on the table in a Malifaux game have their booklets full of options and rules like Warcasters do in Warmachine. Familiarity will definitely change this, but I don’t think I will like this game MORE than Malifaux or WHFB. Possibly nearly equally, but likely not quite up there.
One thing that is nice about this game over the other two is simplicity in performing actions. You have straight up numbers with some modifiers, you add 2 or 3 (or 4, I know) dice, and roll, trying to meet or beat one number, then do it again if you’re successful trying to very much beat another number. And the numbers are there, unchanging. Easy peasy. In Warhammer you’ve got your stats, the target’s stats, two charts and usually a bunch of dice. Attacking is a lot more complicated, AND THEN there are the save rolls. In Malifaux you have your stats, then you both flip cards and can change the cards and add more cards. Not so simple. DO NOT GET ME WRONG, though. I have NO issue with either of those systems. In fact, I love the variety of methods these three games use, and I think all three are enjoyable and have their place. I do not favour one over the other, as each have their pros (simple vs. lots o’ dice! vs. cool card management) and cons (almost boring vs. lots of work vs. lots of work). Whichever game I am playing, I like how it works.
One thing that I do like in Malifaux, and the other games that use it, is alternating activations. In WHFB, I think IGOUGO works just fine, and I wouldn’t ever consider it any other way. In Malifaux and Dark Age, etc. I love how you can react quickly to certain events with alternating activations. In Warmachine, IGOUGO of course works, but it’s a game where I wonder, how would this play out using alternating activations? It’s an experiment I would like to try at some point. Would it break the game? Would it make the game better? Or would it just be a waste of time because it’s not broke, so why ‘fix’?
Thoughts on Khador
So far, I like this faction. The ‘jacks are beefy with a touch more Armour, a few more damage boxes and the fact that there are NO Light ‘jacks. They hit hard and they don’t fall easily. That’s cool. Sort of like the Ogres I am getting into for WHFB. Interesting. Sorscha is cool, and I will learn to use her to the best of my abilities.
I know the rest of the army well-enough from going through the book. If we end up continuing to play Warmachine, and build off of these battlegroups, I am going to stick with Sorscha. I will likely build towards her Tier list, as I am a theme-oriented kind of guy (in fact any force I go with from WarmaHordes will be Tier-based themed). If we REALLY continue with it, and I want to stick with Khador, I will go with Koldun Kommander Zerkova for the Greylord/Doom Reaver theme, who I like for some reason. But while I run Sorscha I will go with some Widowmakers and Winter Guard. While I don’t need another ‘horde’ army to worry about, the foot-soldiers are way more appealing to me than the Man-o-War units.
But that’s a decision for the future. Might I eventually pick up thematic additions even if we don’t play it alot? Yeah, probably, as I’m that kind of guy. Might I eventually pick up thematic additions for OTHER forces and armies even if we don’t play it alot? Heck yeah, as I’m REALLY that kind of guy. If I end up with a lot of pretty models in the end, then I win.
The End
Well, for now, that’s all. My Juggernaut is almost painted up, only slowed down by my son being very sick for most of this past week. I’ve got a Workbench Update coming this weekend on my blog, so check that out to see where I am at. I’ll show off the finished product here, too, as soon as it’s done.
Otherwise, I am stuck at home for the next while with the new baby coming very soon, so as long as Andrew and Rob and now Loy can come over, I’ll be playing Warmachine as much as possible. And WHFB. And Malifaux. And Dark Age.
I really need to stop playing so many games. It’s hard to juggle so much hobbying and gaming!
…but I love it.
Thanks for reading.
*N.B. I actually like Menoth as a faction, and have almost gone with them before. But since I am now fighting for the Mother Khador, I have to heckle my foes, whether I like them or not.
Let’s say that you had to start miniature gaming from scratch. Let’s say that you didn’t have the mountain of lead and the cluttered workstation. Let’s say that you could choose from any of the games out there. What would you do?
So, I asked myself this question last week. For me, it’s as much about optimizing my gaming time and experience as well as cleaning out some the stuff I won’t be touching for a while.
Here’s some assumptions I made:
- I only want 1 years worth of miniatures. That means that if i’m not going to use it in a year, I don’t want it.
- A large army game (WHFB, 40K, DBM, WM/H, Heavy Gear) needs about 3 months of painting and playing time to really appreciate them.
- A small army game (Mercs, Dark Age, Helldorado, Infinity) needs about 1 month of painting and playing time to really appreciate them.
- Just because i want to own fewer miniatures, doesn’t mean that i’ll never play another system. I still want to demo new games and do some ToG projects.
With that in mind i started to do some calculating and fantasizing. I came to the realization that I can really only support 4 large armies and 2 skirmish armies. Even four armies is a full schedule of gaming throughout the year. With these numbers in mind, I listed the possible candidates and came down to the following choices:
- WHFB High Elves
- 4ok Orks
- WHFB Tomb Kings
- 40k Ultramarines
- Warmachine Khador
- Hordes Trollbloods
I look at the list above and realize that even half of those armies would be a ton of work. The above has to be the upper limit for me, at least while I’m still employed full-time.
So now the selection is done, let’s get down to optimizing. To me, optimizing includes:
- Finding great opponents and playing them as much as possible
- Fielding beautifully fully painted armies
- Being so well versed in the rules i only have to peek a few times into the rules
- Finding that third or fourth layer of strategy and depth in the play of an army
40k Orks
This army was the first I ever started and will probably be the last one I hold at the Apocalypse. Currently I’m playing in a GREAT campaign league and having a ball. I own all the models I want for now. The only thing is that the painting is a bit of a slog. Orks are one of the easiest armies to paint, but at the same time the most difficult. You can get away with a rough slapped on paint job, but if you really want to do them nicely you realize that orks have multiple levels of painting complexity. Painting worn, dirty clothing, rusty metal trucks, battle damage and haphazard primative glyphs require a lot of work to get right…and believeable.
Trollbloods
As for play commitment, this one’s a bit softer than the Orks. I’m definitely sure that the ToG on this one will go a few posts, but I’m worried that it will lose steam. On the bright side, we’re only doing starters so we probably won’t be broken by the sheer weight of the models we have to paint. I’ve got four trolls, nicely assembled by azmzero, that need painting.
WHFB High Elves / Tomb Kings
Here’s where things get muddy. Fantasy, while beloved by our group, is mostly a series of pick up and play games at random points values. I find that the inspiration to paint comes a lot from the anticipation of throwing down your force in front of another. That’s why my Orks, though difficult to paint, are so far along. The added difficulty is that i’m not sure which army to pick up and paint up first. The High Elves are newer, so the experience is fresh. Their elegance is also a nice sharp contrast from the feral quality of the Orks and the Trolls. Tomb Kings are an older army of mine. They are kinda all over the place, both physically and in their state of repair. Still, aesthetically I find them among the most interesting armies in minis gaming.
WH Khador
Most of these guys are done and ready to go. I’d love to throw them into the ToG, but Justin has claimed the Khador hat. So, i get the feeling my Winter Guard will be waiting in the drawer for the rest of the winter…
40k Space Marines
Last and least. I don’t own any of these so they are more an idea than a reality. They are on this list because they are iconic and have so much variety. Who knows, maybe in a few months I’ll replace this selection with a Historical Japanese Samurai Field of Glory army. Or a Mercs squad. Or a Dust Tactics Axis force. Or a Lord of the Rings Skirmish starter. Or a…well you get the picture.
Justin and I managed to get in our match, and while I can’t write a battle report(yet), I did want to say a few words about the game and both armies.
First thing is that there were a lot of quirky things that happened. This means that there were quite a few laughs, always good when your goal is to enjoy yourself. I made 3 channelling attempts in a row. Justin rolled 4 sixes to hit but got no wounds. He made two killing blows against a unit that is immune. I forgot ALL my champions for the first few turns. He forgot that each charioteer gets two attacks. He then missed casting his spell that gave everyone in his army double-shot, twice. Both times just by one. And more. There were lots of silly mistakes, odd dice rolls, funny happenings.
Laughing is cathartic.
Tomb Kings
I can’t write at length about the Tomb Kings so I will do them first. Justin brought a pretty interesting list to the table. A level one and two priest buried in a horse archer unit, the casket of souls, two units of chariots, and a unit of three tomb swarm. He designed his list to stall and take shots at me with magic and bows and it did a great job of putting the pressure on me to engage. The bulk of his spells were dispelled thanks to very lucky Wood Elf dispel dice and a few unfortunate rolls, as mentioned above. Several times the casket managed its spell effect that causes the target to take a leadership test on three dice and take wounds equal to anything over their Ld stat. This ability almost eliminated my unit of Treekin. By the time they had crossed the board and engaged the Casket (killing the Horse Archers on the way) they had been reduced to one model with two wounds left. All from the casket. Targeting Forest Spirits with magic attacks is really good. Other than the casket, Justin’s archers were the next most effective incentive for me to get into close combat as fast as possible. In a surprise move he held back his chariots and used them to shoot arrows at me. Wow, annoying. Probably this is the smart way to use them. When I owned the army he is playing I always tried to advance them up into a charge opportunity but that would only work less than 50% of the time. This way Justin effectively forced me to move my units into his charge range or be eliminated by ranged attacks.
Wood Elves
I have heard it mentioned that the Wood Elves are by far the weakest army in Warhammer Fantasy right now. This thinking must be mostly held by the tournament community because on a first perusal of the army book and after my first battle I’m not sure I agree. At least from the perspective of a very casual gamer. I’m not sure what hardcore GW gamers use when they build a Wood Elf list but I am going to focus on Forest Spirits. The Dryads are my favourite models in the army.
Branchwraith
First thing I’d like to mention about my Wood Elf list is what I would call my best purchase of the game, Pageant of Shrikes. This is a single strength 4 ranged attack with a range of 18″ that is capable of picking out single models in units purchased for the Branchwraith that let my Dryads into battle. I used this very effectively to eliminate Justin’s level 2 priest in the second turn of the game. This one thing, I believe, cause me to win the game. Because of this, and the Branchwraith also being fairly good in combat I would say that she was my MVP.
Dryads
As I mentioned above the Dryads are my favourite model in the Wood Elf army, they just look amazing. It doesn’t hurt that they are a great close combat unit with some excellent abilities. They have a natural armour save of 5+ and also a ward save of 5+. Unfortunately this ward save is circumvented by magic attacks…odd…whatever, I can work around it. An argument could be made that they are slightly over-costed coming in at 1 point more than a Saurus Warrior. The big differences being that the Dryads have a ward save and skirmish whereas the Saurus get all the benefits of being a core regiment (command, unlimited ranks, rank bonuses). The final perk for them is that they can be joined by a Branchwraith.
Glade Guard
After my first play with them I felt very strongly that they were too expensive for what they could perform on the table but after “unit analysis” conversation with Justin I think that these guys are costed just right compared to most other ranged units. The key deciding factor for me was that, due to the extra range from longbows, the Glade Guard can get short ranged attacks in outside of almost every close combat units average charge range. In our game Justin won the first turn and dropped 25% of my Glade Guard with ranged attacks and, of course, they panicked. Having a very high Ld they rallied but the whole mess took them out of position and caused them not to be able to fire. One interesting side-effect was that they were in a perfect position to deal with the Tomb Swarm when they surfaced. Thanks Justin. Despite a lacklustre showing I will still field at least one group, and probably multiple groups of Glade Guard in the future.
Eternal Guard
These guys don’t really do it for me. I think they are a capable close combat unit. Their stats and their special abilities are pretty good. My interest in them is pretty low. I misread the note on the Eternal Guard and assumed that if I bought a Noble with the Eternal Kindred that they were core. Oops! Though I had enough core without them and enough (just!) room in special with them so I didn’t actually cheat so everything is good. I didn’t really get to see them perform because of the type of list Justin brought. He started reducing the Eternal Guard right away and I, in an act of desperation, advanced them quickly, and straight into a charge from some chariots. They took very heavy casualties. They still managed to defeat the chariots but that is ALL they did. Rob has provided me with a full unit of 20 (with a Noble/Highborn added to them) and a nice movement tray to load them on so they will no doubt have a place in my army in that state for the foreseeable future.
As a whole I am pretty happy with the Wood Elves. I am definitely happy I swapped the High Elves for them. I was really dreading the thought of all that assembly. I was pretty worried at the beginning of the game when I saw how Justin’s list was going to work. Elves started dying all over the place, my archers were out for the first few turns, and I had a wall of chariots on the horizon looking pretty menacing. In my typical fashion I started getting a little cranky about how the list was performing (sort of a “par for the course” reaction in my head). Historically I am pretty slow at adopting new army tactics. I am still trying to figure out the Lizardmen! Things started turning around after a turn or two of marching to meet Justin’s line. The charge turn was pretty demoralizing but once the casualties had been removed and everyone held I started feeling better. Pageant of Shrikes took out a caster, the Dryads laid a smack-down on some chariots, the Eternal Guard held their own. The tide seemed to be changing. And, for a change, we played it out to the very end. Probably because of how close it was. Could have gone either way. All this eventually translated into a win for the Elves (Yay! Sorry Justin.) Nice to have a brand new force work out, regardless of mistakes, and bring home a win. All-in-all I felt Justin’s list was a good one, interesting to play against and, despite crumbling during close combat, was fairly strong. I’d like to replay the game to see how it would go with us both learning from our mistakes.
Tales of Gamers 
