When I started this blog I was going on about how I'm starting on 2 new armies. Up until now I've only been going on about my new force for 40K, I haven't even touched on the new historical army I've been planning. It's time to change that.
My plan - and it's an idea I've been kicking about for ages - is to put together an army based on Spartacus' slave revolt. I'll admit it right up front, I'm a fan of the TV series and even though I know it's about as historically accurate as Braveheart it's still my primary inspiration here. But I think I can still put an army together that fits the historic details while capturing the feel of what I want to do. Either way, it's going to be fun but it's also going to be a longer term project.
I made a start at Salute, I picked up a box each of Wargames Factory's Ancient Germans and Numidians - they're the right period, they're wearing tunics or less, with a few head swaps I figure they'll make up a couple of decent sized units of slaves. What I'd like though is to be able to field some of them with equipment looted from fallen Roman troops; weapons and especially shields. I got a few free sprues of Warlord's new Republican Romans at Salute as well, so that gives me a dozen shields plus some gladiuses and pilums to play with. Gripping Beast do a pack of scutum shields for an excellent price that I may have to pick up.
So next on the list are some gladiators. The obvious candidates are Foundry, plenty of character and variety. I've got plans to use the retiarii as skirmishers with their nets counting as bucklers. There's a good mix of weapons and armour types too. My only possible issue is one of scale, I know Foundry's miniatures tend to be on the smaller end of the 25mm scale. Fortunately Foundry have an event coming up soon that I'm planning on attending to try out Gods of Battle so I can see how they measure up then.
My big issue though is finding a ruleset to use. WAB is the obvious candidate, but I've had issues with the rules in the past and the fact that it's out of production is another issue since I don't own a copy of Armies of Antiquity. I picked up a copy of War and Conquest at Campaign the other week, partly because the army lists are a free download. I've not had a chance to play a game yet, but I'm hopeful. The other alternative is Hail Caesar from Warlord, but as far as I can tell they don't have an army list for the slave revolts so I'd have to adapt something. I've not played that one yet either, so I see some practice games in my future.
Anyway, that's the plan. Such as it is.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Oldhammer - Feeling Nostalgic?
So I've noticed the whole "Oldhammer" revivial of the 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles going on and I'll admit it's got me a bit nostalgic. WFB 3rd was the edition I started with and only the second wargame I ever played (after 40K Rogue Trader), and I'll admit the idea of going back to where it all started has a certain appeal.
Don't get me wrong, I play the current version of WFB and I still enjoy it; in spite of all its flaws it's still a good game and it's a lot better than the mess that was 7th edition. But 3rd edition was a whole different kettle of fish. The level of detail (and associated complexity) in the rules was like nothing I've seen since, probably a bit much for a 14 year old in hindsight but I just about managed back then and I'd love to see what I could make of it with another 20+ years of experience under my belt.
But, I told myself I wasn't ever going to splash out the kind of cash necessary to pick up a proper Oldhammer army on eBay. Not when I had so many other current armies on the go. So despite the fact I still have my 3rd edition rulebook kicking about somewhere (the benefits of being a hoarder as well as a gaming addict) I thought that was as far as I was going to go.
Then on the drive home from work tonight I remembered something. Right up there along with the rules is my original Chaos Warrior army. Couple of bit units of Warriors on foot, a couple of units of Chaos Thugs, a handful of cavalry and a whole bunch of dragon ogres and other assorted monsters. Given how many points Chaos Warriors cost back then (it was a whole unit of hero level troops and you paid for it) that should actually make a fairly substantial army.
So I guess I'm heading up into the loft sometime soon.
Don't get me wrong, I play the current version of WFB and I still enjoy it; in spite of all its flaws it's still a good game and it's a lot better than the mess that was 7th edition. But 3rd edition was a whole different kettle of fish. The level of detail (and associated complexity) in the rules was like nothing I've seen since, probably a bit much for a 14 year old in hindsight but I just about managed back then and I'd love to see what I could make of it with another 20+ years of experience under my belt.
But, I told myself I wasn't ever going to splash out the kind of cash necessary to pick up a proper Oldhammer army on eBay. Not when I had so many other current armies on the go. So despite the fact I still have my 3rd edition rulebook kicking about somewhere (the benefits of being a hoarder as well as a gaming addict) I thought that was as far as I was going to go.
Then on the drive home from work tonight I remembered something. Right up there along with the rules is my original Chaos Warrior army. Couple of bit units of Warriors on foot, a couple of units of Chaos Thugs, a handful of cavalry and a whole bunch of dragon ogres and other assorted monsters. Given how many points Chaos Warriors cost back then (it was a whole unit of hero level troops and you paid for it) that should actually make a fairly substantial army.
So I guess I'm heading up into the loft sometime soon.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Mantic Open Day 2013 - Tournament Report
Today was the Mantic Open Day, held in Nottingham in one of the most unusual venues I've seen for an event like this. We were in a disused NHS surgery that had been fairly comprehensively stripped of anything that could have been considered useful. The Dreadball Tournament (the reason I was there) was in the main reception area, the shop area was in a storeroom, Mantic CEO Ronnie Renton was holding seminars in on of the reception offices while the other reception office was being used for Deadzone demonstrations. The highlight (pun very much intended) was the Warpath participation game that they had set up in what I think was an old exam room; the room itself had been stripped of its light fittings so the whole game was illuminated by a single spotlight set up in one corner of the room. Made it very atmospheric, but I'm not sure that was intentional!
All in all it was a very weird setting, it felt a bit like we were gaming in a squat. None of this stopped it being an excellent event though.
One thing that really struck me was just how quick to play Kings of War is. I backed this on Kickstarter, I love the miniatures and I really like the look of the rules but I haven't had a chance to actually play it yet. Mantic had set up a 16ft table packed with miniatures on both sides. If we tried doing something like this at the club using Warhammer the game would take all day and we'd still run out of time. Mantic ran the whole thing in about 3 hours and were set up for another game after lunch! I need to give this game a try sometime.
As far as the tournament goes, I started out great and got steadily worse as the day went on. I had intended to run a human team using the new Void Sirens list from Season 2, but after getting the models painted up last week I chickened out at the last minute and went with my Orx and Goblins, the Obliterators, since they're the only team I have any experience with. My first game was against a Forge Fathers team (I'll apologize to my opponents now, as I've forgotten all of your names). This really couldn't have gone better, I battered his team into the floor and basically controlled the pitch all game. The lack of speed from a Forge Fathers team makes it easy to play around them, and this really was a landslide. My opponent admitted he'd only played a handful of games before but he took the result very well and was great sport. Plus his team will look great once he's painted the rest of them.
My second game was against a human team and was a lot more hard fought. I managed to get 3 of my Orx killed, but hung in there and fought back. In the end, time got called on the game while we were in the middle of sudden-death overtime and the final result was a draw. A fair result for an excellent game.
My third game was more humans, this time an opponent I'd faced before at the tournament at Hammerhead in February using the Void Sirens list and . In fact this was exactly the team I'd been considering bringing. I had an absolute nightmare of a game; everything I attempted seemed to fail, I had players who refused to get up off the floor for several turns, 2 Orx killed and one ejected from the game. In the end, I was lucky not to have lost by more than I did although I was actually in the running right up until the final turn and could have won if my last couple of dice rolls had worked out.
Finally, I had another standard human team. This time from the Starktech corporation wearing standard-issue red and gold armour. I had a great time in this game, hammered my opponent into the floor, got a couple of kills and was looking good for the win. Then I lost. Things really can shift that quickly in Dreadball, a couple of good dice rolls and the right cards played can see the ball down the far end of the pitch in the blink of an eye. Even my opponent didn't realise he'd won until I pointed it out. Unfortunately it appears I didn't grab any photos of this team.
End result, 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses. Better than my last tournament, but this time I hadn't killed enough opponents to get the "Most Violent Coach" award. Apparently this is going to be an annual event, so I will definitely be back next year.
In addition to the Dreadball, I got a chance to see Deadzone in action. The game looks really interesting, it doesn't play like any other wargame I've played before now. It's a bit boardgame-like, but in a good way. Really looking forward to this one. Plus the models look amazing.
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| Corporation troops defend a fortified position at twilight (well, sort of) |
One thing that really struck me was just how quick to play Kings of War is. I backed this on Kickstarter, I love the miniatures and I really like the look of the rules but I haven't had a chance to actually play it yet. Mantic had set up a 16ft table packed with miniatures on both sides. If we tried doing something like this at the club using Warhammer the game would take all day and we'd still run out of time. Mantic ran the whole thing in about 3 hours and were set up for another game after lunch! I need to give this game a try sometime.
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| The battlefield for the Kings of War game |
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| Orcs with battle elephants - great idea |
As far as the tournament goes, I started out great and got steadily worse as the day went on. I had intended to run a human team using the new Void Sirens list from Season 2, but after getting the models painted up last week I chickened out at the last minute and went with my Orx and Goblins, the Obliterators, since they're the only team I have any experience with. My first game was against a Forge Fathers team (I'll apologize to my opponents now, as I've forgotten all of your names). This really couldn't have gone better, I battered his team into the floor and basically controlled the pitch all game. The lack of speed from a Forge Fathers team makes it easy to play around them, and this really was a landslide. My opponent admitted he'd only played a handful of games before but he took the result very well and was great sport. Plus his team will look great once he's painted the rest of them.
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| The Obliterators face off in their first game of the day |
My second game was against a human team and was a lot more hard fought. I managed to get 3 of my Orx killed, but hung in there and fought back. In the end, time got called on the game while we were in the middle of sudden-death overtime and the final result was a draw. A fair result for an excellent game.
My third game was more humans, this time an opponent I'd faced before at the tournament at Hammerhead in February using the Void Sirens list and . In fact this was exactly the team I'd been considering bringing. I had an absolute nightmare of a game; everything I attempted seemed to fail, I had players who refused to get up off the floor for several turns, 2 Orx killed and one ejected from the game. In the end, I was lucky not to have lost by more than I did although I was actually in the running right up until the final turn and could have won if my last couple of dice rolls had worked out.
Finally, I had another standard human team. This time from the Starktech corporation wearing standard-issue red and gold armour. I had a great time in this game, hammered my opponent into the floor, got a couple of kills and was looking good for the win. Then I lost. Things really can shift that quickly in Dreadball, a couple of good dice rolls and the right cards played can see the ball down the far end of the pitch in the blink of an eye. Even my opponent didn't realise he'd won until I pointed it out. Unfortunately it appears I didn't grab any photos of this team.
End result, 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses. Better than my last tournament, but this time I hadn't killed enough opponents to get the "Most Violent Coach" award. Apparently this is going to be an annual event, so I will definitely be back next year.
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| Mix of Dreadball and Deadzone models on display |
In addition to the Dreadball, I got a chance to see Deadzone in action. The game looks really interesting, it doesn't play like any other wargame I've played before now. It's a bit boardgame-like, but in a good way. Really looking forward to this one. Plus the models look amazing.
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| I hadn't realised just how big the first generation Plague models were until I saw one in the flesh... |
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Preparing to be Unprepared
So, we have a Judge Dredd Miniatures tournament coming up at the club. Right now it's a nice, comfortable distance away. September 8th to be precise. Before then, we have to come up with some suitable scenarios for creating a sequel to the Necropolis storyline from 2000AD and paint up a suitably huge number of zombies for those scenarios and big the multi-player finale to the event.
And since this was all pretty much my idea, I expect that I'll be doing most of that myself.
I have enough zombies, following some last minute purchases at Salute I have at least 150 of them sat on sprues waiting. And I have 4 months to paint them in. No problem right? Maybe not for someone who's considerably more organised than me. So I've just booked the first week in September off from work, with no plans other than sitting at home painting zombies for a week. Because I know that's how things will turn out.
On a more positive note, I've managed to get another Dreadball team painted over the weekend. I thought cutting down the pile of unpainted figures a bit would feel good, but my next batch of rewards for backing the Dreadball kickstarter arrived today. So now I've got 4 more unpainted Dreadball teams to add to the queue.
Ho hum.
And since this was all pretty much my idea, I expect that I'll be doing most of that myself.
I have enough zombies, following some last minute purchases at Salute I have at least 150 of them sat on sprues waiting. And I have 4 months to paint them in. No problem right? Maybe not for someone who's considerably more organised than me. So I've just booked the first week in September off from work, with no plans other than sitting at home painting zombies for a week. Because I know that's how things will turn out.
On a more positive note, I've managed to get another Dreadball team painted over the weekend. I thought cutting down the pile of unpainted figures a bit would feel good, but my next batch of rewards for backing the Dreadball kickstarter arrived today. So now I've got 4 more unpainted Dreadball teams to add to the queue.
Ho hum.
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Games Workshop = Apple?
This is something that occurred to me about a week ago, but has been rattling around in the back of my mind ever since and refuses to go away. Games Workshop are the Apple of the wargaming world, which would make Warhammer the iPhone.
Before you bite my head off, think about it for a minute.
Both diverged from their previous offerings to release a couple of products that went on to define their new market.
Both are now struggling to keep pace with new innovations from a raft of competitors who didn't exist five years ago. In both cases, they started struggling when the original innovators left (or died) and the money-men took over.
As a result, both have taken to releasing updated versions of their existing products with just enough new features to keep their fanboys happy and just about keep pace with the competition.
Both have made unsuccessful attempts to diversify from their core offerings. In some cases these failed due to lack of corporate support, in others because the market simply wasn't there. In the latter cases, the corporate support is still there and refuses to let the idea die.
Both have a nasty habit of launching a lot of unnecessary lawsuits.
Both still have a legion of enthusiatic fanboys plus enough supportive journalists to keep them in business for a long time to come. And both have their detractors who slate anything they come out with as derivative or overpriced or both.
And here I am, ready to support one and slate the other. What does that say about me at the end of the day?
Before you bite my head off, think about it for a minute.
Both diverged from their previous offerings to release a couple of products that went on to define their new market.
Both are now struggling to keep pace with new innovations from a raft of competitors who didn't exist five years ago. In both cases, they started struggling when the original innovators left (or died) and the money-men took over.
As a result, both have taken to releasing updated versions of their existing products with just enough new features to keep their fanboys happy and just about keep pace with the competition.
Both have made unsuccessful attempts to diversify from their core offerings. In some cases these failed due to lack of corporate support, in others because the market simply wasn't there. In the latter cases, the corporate support is still there and refuses to let the idea die.
Both have a nasty habit of launching a lot of unnecessary lawsuits.
Both still have a legion of enthusiatic fanboys plus enough supportive journalists to keep them in business for a long time to come. And both have their detractors who slate anything they come out with as derivative or overpriced or both.
And here I am, ready to support one and slate the other. What does that say about me at the end of the day?
Saturday, 27 April 2013
It occurs to me that "a lot of grey plastic" isn't the most informative description, so here's a bit more detail. So far I have the following miniatures assembled for my new army, all of which are designed to fit the army whether I'm using the Grey Knights or Chaos Marines codex:
- 1 Grand Master/Chaos Lord
- 1 Librarian/Sorceror
- 2 units of 10 terminators
- 1 unit of 10 marines in power armour.
- 1 possessed Nemesis Dreadknight
All of the above have been assembled using components from both ranges, which are considerably less compatible than Games Workshop would have you believe. I had to be somewhat selective about which heads would fit on which bodies and which shoulder pads would fit on which arms. On the whole though, I'm happy with the results. I'm particularly happy with the Dreadknight; it's not a very original idea (I've seen at least half a dozen others online) but it works.
Plus I may have settled on a colour scheme. Thanks to the guy in GW today (Matt? sorry I'm hopeless with names) who acted as a sounding board when I was in there earlier. Once I have a test model painted, I'll be sure to post it.
So far, so good
I said I was starting this blog to write about the new armies I've just started working on, so I guess I'll start with my latest offering for Warhammer 40K.
First though, a bit of background. 40K is the game that got me into wargaming in the first place and, no matter what problems I might have with the rules (I have plenty) or the price of the figures, it's a game I just can't seem to give up on. A big chunk of the reason for that is the depth of the background material, particularly the forces of Chaos. Which is why I've always had a problem with one particular omission from the Chaos Marine codex.
The thing is, each of the four Chaos powers has its own elite Chaos Marine unit, troops that best exemplify the tactical style of that particular god. Khorne has Bezerkers, Nurgle has Plague Marines and Slaanesh has Noise Marines. And Tzeentch; Tzeentch has the Thousand Sons. Which is where it all falls down , because the Thousand Sons aren't really in the same category as the others. They're a single chapter of Chaos Marines and their in-game abilities are directly linked to that fact. Which means that if you want a Tzeentch-themed army (like I do) you have to either take an army from one specific chapter or accept that it will be less themed than an army for one of the other powers.
So this was my quest to come up with a better option for a themed Tzeentchian army. What I came up with was an complete army of psykers, using the Grey Knights codex. Which I guess is playing even more fast and loose with the background material but it works for me.
So what do I have to show for this big plan so far? The short answer is a lot of grey plastic. Largely because I haven't decided on a colour scheme yet. Right now, the only candidate I have is one survivor from a previous army I put together 20 years ago (the rest of the Tzeentch troops from this army were unfortunately lost when one of my figure cases got stolen). At the time, I really liked this colour scheme. Now I'm not so sure...
Anyway, more to follow. Possibly before I come up with a workable colour scheme, possibly after.
First though, a bit of background. 40K is the game that got me into wargaming in the first place and, no matter what problems I might have with the rules (I have plenty) or the price of the figures, it's a game I just can't seem to give up on. A big chunk of the reason for that is the depth of the background material, particularly the forces of Chaos. Which is why I've always had a problem with one particular omission from the Chaos Marine codex.
The thing is, each of the four Chaos powers has its own elite Chaos Marine unit, troops that best exemplify the tactical style of that particular god. Khorne has Bezerkers, Nurgle has Plague Marines and Slaanesh has Noise Marines. And Tzeentch; Tzeentch has the Thousand Sons. Which is where it all falls down , because the Thousand Sons aren't really in the same category as the others. They're a single chapter of Chaos Marines and their in-game abilities are directly linked to that fact. Which means that if you want a Tzeentch-themed army (like I do) you have to either take an army from one specific chapter or accept that it will be less themed than an army for one of the other powers.
So this was my quest to come up with a better option for a themed Tzeentchian army. What I came up with was an complete army of psykers, using the Grey Knights codex. Which I guess is playing even more fast and loose with the background material but it works for me.
So what do I have to show for this big plan so far? The short answer is a lot of grey plastic. Largely because I haven't decided on a colour scheme yet. Right now, the only candidate I have is one survivor from a previous army I put together 20 years ago (the rest of the Tzeentch troops from this army were unfortunately lost when one of my figure cases got stolen). At the time, I really liked this colour scheme. Now I'm not so sure...
Anyway, more to follow. Possibly before I come up with a workable colour scheme, possibly after.
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