Just a quick post to tell you that due to painting that I have had to do for tomorrow's tournament, today's episode of Game Night! will be delayed.
Not to worry, tomorrow evening / sunday morning I'll have the post up, with a report of the tournament as well as some other gaming goodies!
And just so you know: I have actually managed to finish the 50 Slaves, the 26 Stormvermin, and the Warp Lightning Cannon (almost forgot that one!) that I need for tomorrow's tournament! All that is left to do is the eyes on all the models and a highlight on all the red armour bits, but those can wait til after the tournament! And on the plus side, with 26 Stormvermin and a WLC already 90% painted, I'll have a very easy rest-of-the-month painting Skaven for the Tale!
Right, I'm off to bed! Here's hoping tomorrow's tourney goes better than the last one!
 |
| Adapted from this |
 |
| Look, I made a crappy Paint picture! |
*let me preface this by saying I'll be uploading this from my phone, with no chance to fix the layout until sunday or monday. So if blogger app eats my layout again, don't say I didn't warn you!*
Welcome to today's episode of Game Night! I'm all about tomorrow's tournament this week so everything that comes up in this post will be on that as well.
I'll start things of with a preview of the tournament, looking at the different scenarios we'll be playing, including how I think my army will do, and how victory will be determined. Next I have a battle review of my Ogres vs my mate Balephon's Tomb Kings, both of us using our tourney armies. Finally, a quick word on my painting and how I think I'll paint score-wise.
Off we go!
The Tournament and the Way to Victory
This is a pretty bog standard, Dutch, one day Fantasy tournament. Three battles, a different scenario for each battle, and enough Soft Score points to compensate for average play.
There's 100 points to earn overall. 25 max for each of the three battles, plus 20 for painting, and 5 for handing in your army list 2 weeks prior. Which I did.
Now, before we continue, a little info on me as a torunament player. I go to quite a few tournaments, but I'm not particularly good at them. You see, for whatever reason I can never bring myself to going all-out competitive (nothing wrong with that, btw) and almost always end up somewhere in the middle of the pack. Or sometimes lower. And I'm absolutely cool with that. So, over the years this has let me to develop the following target to aim for in tournaments: if I can score, on average, slightly above a draw for each of my battles, I'll be a happy camper.
Obviously I've put that little caveat in to make sure expectations won't be too high from my audience :p
Now, let's take a look at the missions.
As mentioned, there's three. One is a standard Battleline, two are tournament specific.
We start off with one called "Intercept the Messengers". Each side will have three single infantry models to use a Messengers. For every Messenger you can get off the opposite table edge, you earn points. The more to the centre of the board the messenger goes off, the more points you get. So the aim is to get the messengers off in the middle 24" of the opponent's board edge and get maximum points.
I think this is actually a fun mission, different enough to make it interesting. Since normal victory points will probably play a bigger role in final victory, the Messengers are a nice addition, but not absolutely essential. Of course, to score max points for this mission you'll need max victory points and all your messengers off the table. So, note to self: if all else fails, kill opposing messengers and I'll earn some Battle Points even if I do get wiped. Not that I expect that to happen, obviously, but just saying...
The other scenario is more or less an adaption of a 40k scenario, and I don't mean that in a good way.
For this scenario, three objectives are placed, parallel to the long table edge, in the middle of the table, with 18" between each, and between the outer two and the short board edge. Might sound complicated, but it's not really.
Winner is determined by victory points, with the distribution of objectives determining final score. Only Core units eligible to count for the minimum 25% can claim an objective. No enemies can be within range of an objective (6"), or noone will earn the bonus.
So this scenario will probably be about who can plonk the biggest unit on top of an objective, and stay there. I see Undead doing well in this scenario, with summoning back models and such. I will not do as well, since I only have two Core units, and things will really have to go my way for one of them to claim two objectives an the other the final one. Luckily, most of the victory is still determined by straight up VP, so I'll just gor for that and worry about how many objectives I can claim later.
Overall, I think the tournament is well thought out. While it imposes quite a few limits (no special characters, max on duplicate choices, etc), I do not see how these limits will favour one army over another too badly. So kudoes there. We'll see what I think tomorrow :p
On to the Battle Review!
I'll keep this short and sweet because a) it's late and b) I don't have Balephon's list here, so can't go into precise details here.
Suffice to say we played the Messengers scenario, and I won.
Here's what I learned from the battle:
> I do not have enough units to devote to messenger-chasing. It my Sabretusks don't kill them, and my maneaters don't shoot them, they will most likely survive. Oh well. I'll have to focus on killing the enemy instead. As a last resort I can use my Messengers to shoot my opponent's, but only if all else failed.
> I switchex my Maneaters' Stobborn rule for Poisoned Attacks, and boy, did that pay off. Both a Necrosphinx and a unit of six sepulchral knights died by my Maneaters' hand. Good stuuf.
> I wonder hoe many people will complain about Hellheart. As far as I can see there is only one other OK player, so not too many people will face a Hellheart. Should be fun if people aren't used to facing it :p
> Pay attention while deploying! Important!
> Btw, I predict rolling a 1 for Hellheart at least once.
Painting - What's the Score
For this tournament players can earn 'soft' points for painting. 25 points can be accrued, with a max of 20 of those counting towards your final score. The criteria of when you get how many points is clearly outlined in the Rulespack. The way I see it, my army should receive 12 points for painting. And just so we're clear. My army only has the most basic of base colours, and, to be honest, it looks abysmal :p So it'll be fun to see if I've managed to 'cheat the system' and will be awarded 12 out of 20 points for basically 2 half days of painting.
I can be evil like that :p
Alright, that's it. I'm off to bed! Good luck to me, Balephon, and Shalen tomorrow. I'll try and post some updates during the day! Wish us luck!
 |
| My finished Leadbelcher |
 |
| Ironblaster, Guts, Bulls, Maneaters |
 |
| BSB, Slaughtermaster, Butcher |
I started this blog 2 months ago, more or less on a whim. I thought it would be fun and provide me with an outlet for all my Warhammer-related thoughts and ideas. Originally I planned on writing stuff whenever the mood struck me (which was at least every other day) about whatever I thought was fun to discuss. Basically trusting in my gamer's enthusiasm to see me through! 
 |
| How cool are these? |
Quick post today. Working on a large post on combat character viability for tomorrow, so stay tuned for that!
I have another person joining me in my quest to paint a monthly total: my brother! Pledging a hundred points per month, this should be good! Keep your eyes tuned here for pics :)
After a busy weekend and some time to 'recover' I'm back to post more stuff! Have a few things planned for this week, including updates on my painting, campaign news, and some reviews for an Ogre unit or two (much like my Leadbelchers one). Plenty of stuff for those interested!
But I wanted to start with something really cool. Those who know me can tell you that I always get excited when new armies are released for either Fantasy or 40k. No matter which one it is, my initial reaction will always be: "Cool! I want it! Let's see what kinds of lists I can build with the new book!"
This always leads to me buying the new book and very often also to me buying one (or more) of the new kits.
So it won't come as a surprise that the following news got me really excited!
Apparently, GW is planning on releasing small army lists for (mostly) previously unreleased factions in the Warhammer World, including several kits and characters for each of them!
So far rumour has it they're planning to release no less than 5(!) factions over an as-of-yet undetermined period of time, but supposedly the first one will be released sooner than expexted (6 monts?).
The factions as they are known by the interwebz now are: Kislev, Araby, some kind of Insectoids, and something with pikes (Tilea?).
Kislev will unsurprisingly be the first one released. I say unsurprising because they have been released as a side faction before, and supposedly many of the older models will be re-released, although there's mention of new horses and a new ice sorceress!
Overall, I am very thrilled to hear this. Normally I wouldn't just repeat rumours on here, but I think that this, if true, is an absolutely wonderful idea by GW to explore the factions on the fringe of the Warhammer World and simultaneously release cool new stuff!
Can't wait for these releases!
Oh yes, almost forgot to mention the most important thing: these releases will not affect the release/updates of any of the established armies. So no need to worry!
Btw, all info comes from warseer. There's more info than what I posted here, but just check the link and you can see for yourself! The first post should be updated with new info as it becomes available, so keep an eye on that. I know I will!
Today we played the fourth turn in our 8 turn Fantasy Campaign. For those people who don't know, it's a map based campaign with a secret mission to capture certain territories for each player. It's all about attrition as we play battles every turn and lose units that die/flee, but we can only "buy back" units up to 500 pts or
so each turn. With each player's total army worth 6500 pts 500 isn't that many!
I can explain in more detail what happened where but after moving our Army Banners on the map we ended up with three battles. 3500 pts OnG vs 3000 HE was the big one. Would this be the battle where the greenskins got their revenge for the beating they received in T2?
The second battle was part II of the battle HE and Skaven fought last turn, 2000 vs 2000. Last turn ended in a draw which meant we would have to refight, but only with the troops left/bought back. Could the Skavrn finally dislodge the Elves from their hold on the Skaven flank?
And the final battle is between two 500 pts scout forces, HE vs Skaven. Nothing too important now, but the way our campaign is set up, Scout forces can play an important role later since they can provide an easy 500 pts boost to another army. Trying to do what damage you can to enemy Scout forces can only help later, since no player is likely to spend his precious 500 replenishment points on a lowly Scout Force!
So plenty of action going on and with plenty more to come. For instance, there is a 1000 pts HE banner making it's way to the Skaven Capitol...
And also, being at the Campaign's midway point, the time to start moving to claim those Objectives is very near!
More later!
Yes, I dragged someone else into my web! Or rather, I found a mate who'll commit to painting each month as well. It's my good friend, the OnG player from our campaign, an he's pledged to paint 100 pts a month. Since he never visits Warseer he won't join the Tale officially, but that's ok since I'll just show his progress on here!
These are the Night Goblins he's done for the last month, 20 Archers + Full Command and 3 Fanatics. Not exactly sure how many points it is, but I do believe the Fanatics alone are 75 pts so he's well over his target points.
I think he's done a cracking job of painting the Goblins and I really like the red as a spot colour. If you look at the pic and wonder why that model on the left is more grey than the rest, well, that's GW's grey varnish special again! I don't know what it is with that stuff but it just does that sometimes. Another mate of mine has had that happen to an army as well (ironically, also Night Goblins). Annoying!
Actually, I've been outdone this month, since in spite of what I've painted, I didn't do a matching moving tray, and he has!
I'm not sure yet what his next 100 pts will be, but I know I'm looking forward to seeing the finished result!
Anyone else wanna join too?
 |
| Madness I tell you! |
 |
| by Lew_b81, not me! |
This is what I've been working on yesterday and today.  |
| Painting Madness! |
Alright, let's try this again, shall we? 
Another batrep from a playtest battle for my Ogres. I'm still on track for that Tournament in November, and I'm trying to squeeze in as many games with my Ogres as possible in between Campaign Battles. Ten tips for those 40k players looking to get into Fantasy:
1) Charges happen at the start of your turn, not after the shooting phase.
2) If you thought Perils of the Warp was annoying, wait till your wizard suffers his first miscast and you have to make the roll on the miscast table...
3) Unlike 40k, it is possible to win a battle with only combat units and no missile units. Of course, missile troops do help.
4) Turning is done around the centre of a unit. Wheeling is done around a corner of a unit.
5) Ask your opponent beforehand if he is ok with you using Special Characters eventhough technically you do not have to.
6) You measure the charge distance between the two closest points of the charging unit and the target unit. Once you've rolled your charge distance and have been found to be in range, you can move the charging unit into contact with the target, no matter how many inches it actually costs.
7) You are only allowed one Wheel move during your charge though! 'Closing the door' does not count as your one Wheel move.
8) Forget about bringing anti-mech. Bring anti-magic instead.
9) You can always wound something on a roll of 6. Always.
10) Eventhough there are more than 15 different armies to choose from, you can rest assured knowing none of them are a variation of Space Marines...
Well, that was an odd battle...
I'm doing it again...
Ok, that's not a Dark Eldar Succubus. It's a Chaos Warrior Exalted Champion, painted by me when I still played Chaos somewhere in 5th or 6th (I don't remember exactly). But the pic does have a point. Allow me to explain... Apparently today was the day me and 2 mates were going to start with our very own Map-based Fantasy campaign. We decided we were going to do one of those just prior to the summer and had set the starting date to 'sometime after the summer'. Well, today was that day! Luckily for me I had already planned my different armies and I was ready to go! I just need to remember what the fluff was for my army...
Anyway, in short the campaign works as follows: we made a map, consisting of 60 territories. Of these, 5 were marked as Primary Objectives, and another 5 were Secondary Objectives. Next, we created about eight-ten Risk style mission cards, each listing two Primary Objectives and two Secondary Objectives. Each player was dealt a mission card before the start of the campaign.
To win the campaign a player receives points for controlling Objective territories at the end of the Campaign. The Objectives on his mission card are worth the most points, but you can gain points for controlling other Objectives as well. And of course, whoever has the most points wins. Our campaign will last for 8 campsign turns.
To capture territories players needed to make one large army and then divide it up into smaller battlegroups. We decided on using a fixed number of these battlegroups, each with a fixed number of points. This because playing in a map campaign can be tricky and we wanted to not complicate things too much by using a random number of Battlegroups.
The different battlegroups we use are:
One 2500 points army
Three 1000 points armies, one of which has to be Quick or Fast (I'll go into detail what that means in another post)
Two 500 pts Scout armies (again, I'll fully explain later)
So that's a grand total of 6500 pts. Both the total army and each of the smaller forces should be legal armies. So yes, that means a maximum of 1 BSB in total, no more than 3 of any given rare choice, etc. We did not allow special characters. Magic Items were severly limited. No player is allowed to use magic items unless he controls one or more of a few territories that allow him to take, for instance, a magic weapon.
The armies participating are High Elves, Orcs & Goblins, and Skaven. I'm playing the ratkin!
Tomorrow I'll write about how the first turn went and how things stand now.
Just got the new OK book earlier today and am in the middle of reading through it now.
First thoughts:
> No real surprises, pretty much the whole book was leaked and most info had been established as accurate. Still very glad to finally have it!
> I am loving Hellheart. It'll definitely be an auto-include for me for a while. Very random and very deadly, it's the perfect item for me.
> Slaughtermaster over Tyrant for me, every time.
> Points will be tight for heroes. In my standard 2400pts list I need a BSB, I want a Firebelly (Breath Attacks in combat are awesome for monstrous infantry vs regular infantry), and then I'll probably need to decide if I want a third hero or not... A hunter to join the sabretusks on a flank? We shall see.
> Speaking of flanks, I think a min sized Mournfang unit with full armour and a champ (10pts for another Ogre attack? Yes, please!) will make a great flanking unit. At 150 pts per unit, with M8, impact hits, 13 attacks, and a 2+ save (and parry), they will be tough for any flanking unit to handle.
> Not sure if I'll include either of the two new big beasties... There is already so much to choose from and I need a good think about how to best to use them. For now I'm leaning towards a Thundertusk over a Stonehorn, just because of the utility the TT provides over the SH's sheer combat ooompf. Don't look at me like that. Ooompf is a word.
> Ironblaster seems great. A T6 chariot that can fire a reliable cannon shot on the move is great, never mind the S10 grapeshot. Big monsters will not enjoy battling my Ogres.
> Trappers are awesome...
Prediction time:
> I think yhetees will be one of those units people won't take often at first but that will be used more later on. M7 and swiftstride, coupled with I4 and S5 makes for a very fast and deadly unit (against the right target, of course).
> I think we will not see the dreaded Maneater combi of Brace of Pistols, Poison, and Sniper quite as often as is feared. At 62 pts a model the unit will be quite expensive and range 24" will only get you so far... Maybe replacing poison for scouts or vanguard will allow you to be in a better position to actually take those shots at wizards. If that's what you really want to spend 186 pts on, of course...
Alright, that's it for now. Time to get back to the book and start making some armies!
