11/3-Apologies for the lack of updates, I've just been very busy with work and family, Tonight is out 13th club night meeting since moving out of our local GW store due to hour cutbacks. I am working on some stuff in my spare time, hoping to get a Empire vs VC Battle Report going tonight, as well as some other notable mentions. I've got 4 tournaments, I trying to play in coming up in the next month, so I should have plenty to talk about!
Ok time to start talking Adepticon 2010, Undoubtably Adepticon now stands alone as the yearly premier gaming event for this hobby. Credit should be given to all the guys that run this and it is truly a collaborative effort by a bunch people that make it what it is. This year they expanded it to not just include Games Workshop but games by Privateer Press and Battlefront games.
The event cart is now up and you quickly see that Adepticon is going to be bigger and better than ever. While I had been to talks to run a Legend of High Seas campaign event this year, unfortunately, my time commitment is limited and I had to step aside due the uncertainty with some personal issues. That being said, I am there for sure both Friday and Saturday, Saturday will be my obligatory attendance in the Warhammer Fantasy Championships, which will be 2000 points this year using WPS comp as your actually comp score. This is going to make for some different armies then we've seen the last couple years for sure, I am saying for the better. As for Friday, I am still debating what to do, I think I am definitely doing the Lord of the Rings SBG Championship, Since I have an army completely done with a display base. And I also like to do the 4pm- 500 point WFB Warband Tournament which sounds like a blast, problem is those two events overlap by 1 hour so I dont know if its possible, but I am going to look into it, LotR games usually go alot quicker than the time allows.. I'd also really like to take Chris Borers painting seminar..if I can resist hitting the bar for a couple hours..well see. Last but not least I have at least one, potentially two entries this year in the Adepticon Rogue Demon painting competition, so wish me luck, the competition will be stiff, even an honorable mention would be amazing, (I'll have posts on my two pieces upcoming, one is my "Blessing of Sigmar, which you've already seen, thou I am going to spruce it up a bit) So readers if you're planning on attending Adepticon 2010 lets hear it?, I want to know who's coming and what events your planning on doing!
This may be elsewhere I don't know but it bears mentioning. A little bird told me way back earlier in 2009 that the next starter set for WFB 8th Ed was already set to be Empire and Orcs, This has been reinforced by word of the new plastic kits (Knights, Boar Boyz) for both armies and the timing of word of national summer campaign and a new edition. HOWEVER, page 10 in the new White Dwarf..has an interesting sidebar mentioning the Empire and Tomb Kings, it's quite odd..and seems like a hint to me. We know Beasts of Chaos are Now Due in March.....I had thought it was sooner. Meaning it's a reality that the follow up Tomb Kings book will be June. keeping in mind a summer campaign, Does this mean an Empire vs Tomb Kings starter?, possibly..it's odd because starter sets are usually gateway armies..which Khemri is not...but hell the last set was just goblins..which was a gateway to O&G anyway. Anyway this is a real possibility...new plastic cavalry kits coming regardless, I am putting my money on a Empire/TK 8th ed starter Cavalry vs Chariots in the box coming along with 8th ed...in September .As for new Empire and Orc books, I assume they will follow suit...maybe or maybe not before some the other 6th ed book still in use. To sum up this little WD sidebar throws a curveball at speculation for 2010...after BoC and TK..the last book of the year is really up for grabs...
Rumors are flying of late regarding the release of an 8th Edition for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Ques from the Skaven book, various insiders at the usual haunts all seem to point to or back up some things I have posted previously. The rules amendment, I've talked about here. Is apparently a whole new edition. with a new starter set (Empire and Orcs) with new models (new Empire Knights and Boar Boyz) followed new books for both armies, also the Summer Campaign that's been talked about seems to be on track as well.
There has been zero official talk about "what" rules will be changed with exception of "changes to Cavalry" , there are rumors about scoring changes floating about including ending "pitched battles" as the standard format and moving toward objective based games ala 40k.
General opinion in my area is mixed because most folks I play with think the current the rules are good, its the army books that have gone astray. That being the case it's easier and less confusing to to fix the rules to meet some of the inbalance of the books than it is to release FAQ's for all the books not to mention a new edition meets GW's current sales cycle.
Some of the changes talked about here that we'd like to see all boil around the principle of getting Warhammer back to be about fighting with armies and not about overspecialized units or characters, we all want to see armies on the table and not see people be able tweak the army books to come up with 35 models army's at 2000 or worse 2250 points. I'd like to see caps on allowed shooting and power dice per army,and get away from power gaming individual phases and pushing thing toward more balanced armies. Psychology also needs some kind of overhaul, getting rid of immune to psychology as a blanket effect and fine tuning the effects of panic, fear and terror would be a good start. Hopefully GW will push to continue to make WFB and 40K different games and not the same game with two different themes which is fear some people semm to have, from the looks of things we'll have alot of things Warhammer to talk about this summer..
From what we know the 2010 WFB schedule looks like so far...with no exact times known
Beast of Chaos- Book/ Models Tomb Kings- Book/ Models
8th Edition-Book WFB starter set- New Models
Summer Campaign
Orcs and Goblins- New Army Book Empire- New Army Book
This leaves Bretonians, Ogres, Wood Elves and Dwarfs in line for new 8th Ed books for 2011, Speculate away,
Arch Lector, Barded Mount Warrior Priest BSB Barded Mount w/ Imperial Banner Empire Captain on Pegasus
24 Swordsmen FC 9 Free Company Detachment 9 Free Company Detachment
24 Swordsmen FC 9 Spearmen Detachment
5 Knight/ Musician/ Champion
10 Handgunners, HLR
10 Huntsmen
20 Flagellants
5 Pistoliers w/ Champion w/ Repeater
Great Cannon
Steam Tank
Vampire Counts
Vampire Lord Lv 3 DK.w/Lance, RF, Vampire Lv 2 BSB w/ Drakenhof Vampire Lv 1 Necromance /w Corpse Cart
20 Zombies 20 ish Skeletons (War Banner) 20 Grave Guard (Banner of the Barrows) 20 Ghouls 5 Hounds 5 Hounds 5 Hounds 5 Blood Knights ( Flag of Bloodkeep)
The setup....
Another classic game with my friend Bill, his "VC Deathstar" featuring Vamp Lord, Vamp BSB with Drakenhof in the GG with banner of the barrows is nigh impenetrable..you just have to feed it hope everything else goes your way. Also Bloodknight can pop the steamtank easily on the charge. so I set up with my most manevurable units, Knights, Pistoliers near the Steam tank on my right flank to run interferance. Both my blocks and detachments with the middle with the Flagellants on the left flank and my Cannon and Handgunners on a hill to the rear. My huntsman were also on right side of the table in some woods near the Blood Knights as well.
Bill had set up his Death Star, and Skeletons in the middle, dogs and zombies on one flank, while Blood Knights and 2 units of dogs on the other. Corpse Cart was in the back field. Bill had 2 vampires with Danse, and of course the Lord has the book of arkhan so as usual the magic was going to be tough with three "danses".
The Action...
As both lines advanced toward the table center, my more manuevable stuff starte shooting his dogs taking out one of the untis. I survive the first couple magic phases ok, as bill devotes his spell power in building up thr zombies to about 40, I hit them with my Flagellants who on the charge do very well against zombies it take 4 turns but I am averaging a +8 CR everyturn and they by turn 4 eat up all the zombies and unit of dogs trying to help out.
The VC eventually get the remaining dogs and the deathstar into my My Swordsmen block with my Warrior priest...some dogs get in there as well due to charge on my detachment that accidentally hits the main block first as its too wide and snaps over.
In close combat the VC lord does 7 or 8 kills by himself..I kill all the dogs...but the my block is broke by huge combat res (over +10 net) and is run down, My Warrior Priest dies and I lose a banner, but.the VC lord and his Deathstar are now far behind my command block near my cannon.
During the same turn the Blood Knights also "danse" in toward my command block but are short! This allows me to charge them with my Command Block and the Steam Tank has clear charge in the flank. My command block never even gets to attack as the stank ends up causing with 6 or 7 wounds Kills the whole unit of Knights. With the blood knights gone and the Stank unscathed. things are looking up.
My Knights and Pistoliers, Huntsmen and Captain on the Pegasus are all harassing the skeletons and corpse cart. My knights take it out and the Skeletons numbers are down to close to 12. The ghouls are not able to get into anything but are trying reforming hoping a combat will stick so they can flank The VC Deathstar eats up my Cannon (I dont mention my Cannon in this much because it was all but useless, mis-firing with mafunctions twice it only shot on turns 1, and 4, only killing 1 blood knight turn 1 that invocated back next magic phase). Seeing the Steam Tank closing on its flank..the VC Lord decides to out of the unit single handedly and danse into the stank..hoping the Strength 7 charge can do enough wounds to cripple the tank before my next turn. unfortunately bills dice are weak, he only lands 3 wounds and I make 2 of the 5+ saves, so the tank only takes 1 wound, The following turn I generate 3 Stream Points and turn that into 7 grinding attacks, and 4 wounds on the Lord...with only a 2+ armor save he needs 5+ and comes up short the VC Lord Dies and his army will soon crumble.
Despite his Vamp BSB and Grave Guard most likely surviving the game they are out of the game position wise at this point and I have too many units moving in on the Ghouls..and dwindling Skeleton block..faced with crumbling checks Bill concedes. Proving once again, the best counter the Empire has against the Vampire Counts is the Steam Tank.
Round 2
Empire VS Warriors of Chaos 1000 points
The Lists...
Empire
Warrior Priest, AoI, Icon of Magnus - General Captain- BSB 24 Swordsmen 9 Free Company Detachment Cannon 5 Pistoliers 5 Knights Musican Standard 20 Flagellants
Warriors of Chaos
Exalted Hero- General Level 1 Sorceror- Spell Familiar
Standard deployment here for a 1000 point game..infantry in the middle with fast, mobile stuff on the flanks. My opponent Aaron is a veteran gamer but new WFB player..so he's just learning the ropes. I ran my 1000 point list from the Adepticon Escalation tourney this spring as it shows a good variety of what the Empire can do. Aaron lists was all Slannesh when he has the oppurtunity to do so, His spells were The Lash, and Titilating Delusions.
The Action...
I go first move my Blocks ahead...bring my knights up one Flank to catch some dogs..and I bring my pistoliers up the other side to go after the Marauder Horse...The WoC blocks march ahead with both dogs screening them at an angle, while the spawn lumbers in the rear. the Marauder Horse come out to screen the Spawn from shooting.
My turn I have several charges..My Knights Charge the Dogs..eat them up and 2 remaining ones break. They flee with a big roll (13 or so)and do not catch them and plow right into the front of a 20 man block of Chaos Warriors...not good, My Flagellants on the otherhand hit the Marauder footmen. slide over but thanks to Aaron dogs being the in the way, the WoC general is out of the combat. I break the Marauders and the they flee..the Flagellants persuing away. My Pistoliers shoot up the Marauder Horse killing all but two. My Knight do zero wounds to the WoC but fortunately I make my saves from the wounds that are returned..I still lose due the +5 static res on the WoC block, I flee, easily escape and rally the next turn.
Things go south for the Warriors here as the Marauder footmen do rally but keep getting recharged by the Flagellants, I got "3" martyrs on both charges and some strong dice and even with the general in combat..the marauders lost again running and rallying with only general + 3 men left. Finally with some help of the rallied dogs Aaron kills all but one of the Flagellants however that lone guy held up the combat and allowed my full block of swordsmen to charge in finish the job. (the general dying in a challenge with my Warrior Priest)
The unit of Warriors and the Sorceror (who miscasts losing his 1 magic level) are now near my deployment zone basically out of the action..while Aarons Spawn is tied up in combat with my pistoliers for several turn until i finally kill it with only 2 men left... In the end Aaron had only his Warriors left, and they werent in a position to anything but try to score turn 6 for some extra points. I had only lost 1/2 points. for my Pistoliers and Flagellants, a solid victory for the Empire that I hope gave Aaron a good feel for the game.
Not that I am expert by any stretch but having played the army exclusively now for three years I’d hope I’d have a particular insight . I read a lot of stuff on various WFB forums on how to correctly play Empire “The Empire” or the puny humans of the WFB universe.
The Empire has the most well rounded force in the game, they are average at everything but excel at nothing, Potent combination's of units do exist, and they do have access to some of the most powerful shooting in the game, as well as the exclusive and under used Detachment system. I am not a power gamer so I don’t endorse or playing Gunlines, running multiple Steam Tanks, basing every game around using the War Altar. I constantly struggle between the Theme of my army and its competitiveness, trying to be competitive with basically Strength 3, Toughness 3 army in the current power environment is my goal and its no doubt a challenge.
For this discussion I’d like to talk about the Empire in the context of one of my favorite local tournaments, Core Competency Which has one themed caveat that is the basis for the event, your army have 40% of your 2250 points( or 900 points ) must be Core Troops. This isn’t standard by any stretch in today's tournament environments. Most players in GT style event don’t run anywhere near 900 points of Core troops, In fact I played an fellow at last years Adepticon WFB championships who had the audacity to drop less than 300 points of Empire Core troops on the table for our match. Fortunately the Empire has some great, cheap core troops and I am sure going to use them. Here is my planned list for the event
Heros
Luthor Huss- Prophet of Sigmar , Army General
Warrior Priest, Icon of Magnus, Armor of Meteoric Iron
Captain of Empire, Battle Standard Bear with The Imperial Banner
Captain of Empire, on Pegasus, Sword of Striking, Pistol
The fist comment most people mention at this list, is what? No Lord..Normally I always take a Lord
however given the theme of tournament and that Special Characters are allowed Renegade Priest Luthor Huss fits in perfectly as my Army General for 180 points, you get a Fear Causer, with a 4+ ward save something any other character needs to take 70 points in items to gain. An Arch Lector will give you leadership 9 and and extra dispel die, which is very nice however he's 225 points after items, Empire Characters are for the support of your units not take on every bad ass enemy hero in the game. The goal of this army is support the blocks of troops against the number one nemesis of an Empire Army, "Psychology".
Fear, Terror and Panic wreak havoc on Humans and this Army has redundant psychology protection, Both Priests not only grant their units hated, but are immune to fear, Luthor Huss even Causes fear. The Imperial Banner allows anyone within 12" to re-roll any failed Psychology result and as well as any failed rally tests, yes, I am only leadership "8" but I'll take my chance with always having two rolls to roll 8 or less. The Captain on the Pegasus is my assassin, his role varies from game to game, from march blocking, to war machine or wizard hunting...he is always a target...but if they zeroing in on him they arent targeting your more important units.
Core Troops
900 points of Core are
24 Swordsmen/ Full Command
9 Free Company Detachment
9 Free Company Detachment
24 Swordsmen/ Full Command
9 Free Company Detachment
10 Handgunners, Marksman with Hochland Long Rifle
10 Huntsmen, Scouts Skirmishers
6 Knights Champion, Full Command
20 Flagellants, (core due to Warrior Priests)
The Swordsmen / Free Company Detachment combination is for me the back bone of the Empire, others will make arguments for Halberdiers, Spears, Archers as core blocks or detachments but in the end WS 4, with a 4+ Save to the front is great adjustment for the S3, T3 of the troops at 6 points each, its been a long hard stuggle to justify using my Greatswords over the second block of Swordsmen, where you pay 4 points a model more for Str 5 and the Stubborn rule..thru years of playing them, I've finally left my Greatswords for games above 2250 and am sticking with the grunts. 3x 3 units of Free Company is the way to go for me...at 3x3 you get 6 attacks vs 5 against standard infantry and odd are with less room to strike back 5 men will remain to cancel your rank bonus. Protecting the flanks of the blocks is key, IF elite infantry or character flank my core blocks and characters
it is quickly game over for the Empire, all the rest of my core troops are there to help support those two blocks of infantry survive.
Every Empire list should include 1 Cannon, even thou my luck has been shit with it of late, killing
that Dragon, Giant or Bloodthirster on a good day make this 100 points indispensable. IF your Pistoliers
stay on the table to make to turn 3 these guys are very useful, unfortunately they are always target number 1, so running off the table getting shot up or what not...most of the time they're cannon fodder, but if they are still on table turn 6, odds are the Empire has won the day...I go back and forth with these guys..dropping my Greatswords for Swordsmen allowed me to put them back in the list. we'll see how my last practice games go.
Rare Choices
Steam Tank, Engineer w/ Repeater Pistol
I played for the last two years without the Stank, In favor of messing around with other semi-useful Artillery. The Steam Tank is great but not for shooting the cannon...the way I roll misfires..I loving using something that doesn't force me to roll the Artillery die...as a Terror Causing, Flank Protector that can dish out the pain in close combat I love it..not to mention I've been getting great use of the the S2 Steam Gun...If can just remember to make my engineer fire that repeater pistol when need be I'll be all set!.
(Spring 09)
Playtesting
So far I have this list or slight variations of against High Elves, Beasts of Chaos, Warriors of Chaos, Lizardmen, Daemons of Chaos, Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings.. 10 games in total. Results are mixed, generally against the same of lesser tier army's the list does very well, if not winning, Drawing or losing as result of an incident that's got nothing do with list performance, Against top tier armies like DoC It really boils down to luck, (an all Khorne list scoring an 18 WPS recently tabled me in 5 turns.) Although I had very good game against a Core Comp VC list the other night that could have went either way turn 4, and didnt go my way.. The real counter to things like VC and DoC is the War Altar solely to be able to cast a bound 5 "cleansing flare", I do run alot of Warrior Priests so it fits my Theme, however I dont see myself getting one anytime soon and the fact that making the army competitive could rely on one gimmick from one unit irks me to point of not using it.
If all else fails I may bump Luthor Huss up to an Arch Lector on a horse and trim some points elsewhere..the jury is still out on that decision I'd still like to get in a few more practice games in. I'll be following up on this and WFB in general over the next Month as the tourney approaches.
Ok Rant time, as gamer, modeler, collector or hobbyist we all use Ebay, I've been using Ebay since February 2000 I use it constantly in my professional life as well. I've been smelling something bad coming for awhile now when they raised their fees and started screwing with payment options. They have slowly but surely being trying to shoehorn everyone into one payment system they have 100% control of, so if you want to sell something, they are now your partner and you will be forced to pay out the ass for the privilege of listing your products with them.
I've also always viewed Paypal as a necessary evil- again you have the fees but it sure is convenient. Welp back in July when Ebay bought Paypal it went under alot of peoples radar, again another thing that should have been subject to Anti-Trust law becomes a mechanism to royally screw us the consumer. Not only are any payment options OTHER than Paypal or credit cards (who you know they got some kind of deal with) being banned as of the end of this month..Here is crazy part..You can't even ask a buyer to voluntarily pay the 3% Paypal fees for their purchases!!. if you do your auction get rejected and you're threatened with being banned. For years I have been selling expensive equipment on Ebay, I pay the ridiculous 8.75% fee to Ebay and I ask the buyer to pay the 3% Paypal fee if they CHOOSE to use Paypal for conveinence and getting quicker shipping otherwise..send me a check and wait for it to clear. Nope not anymore..as a seller you're either set up to take credit cards and pay their fees or pay Ebay as much as 15%.!! off the top depending on the auction , No checks, money orders or wire transfers, they want your money and damn sure figuring out how to get it. Now granted 15% isnt a big deal if your selling a few things a year that are relatively cheap...but if you sell toy soldiers for a living or expensive technical equipment like I do, 15% adds up real quick...Its the entire wholesaler discount -In fact with out the option to pass some these costs off to the buyer..this is going to put a whole lot of people out of business. Now that ebay has total control of the Payment systems..they will just start raising fees whats next 20% then 25%...this is no joke.
Earlier this year I sold a $4000 piece of business equipment on ebay and under these new policies it would have cost me $600!!! to sell it on Ebay..are you flipping kidding me! for $600 I expect a hell of alot more then what Ebay does which is essentially nothing. Sure they provide the mechanism but If you think the deserve more than 3% over $1000 for an auction that you have to list, maintain, manage, and answer questions yourself...you're crazy. I rather pay a yearly fee as a member and reasonable percentages based on sale totals, your seriously better over going to a broker for big ticket items..at least they do all the legwork for their 15%. I for one am sick of being raped by these and other Corporate assholes, I know there alot of Ebay boycotts out there and I am joining in but what other options do we have? Anyone have any bright ideas? I've been using Craigs Lists but since you're not committed to buy its alot harder to actually sell things plus you have to meet in person, etc.. This is freaking depressing.
The Blessing of Sigmar, while I have had this model for sometime, I never quite figured out what to do with it. Here it is as my 40mm objective marker for my Sigmarite themed Empire army I've been playing of late. It just the stock 2 models on a standard 40mm square with a piece of plastic card over it and a left over section from the Pegasus Hobbies gothic ruins kit in the back . Shield is from the General kit. I'm quite happy with the way this came out, I may touch it up a bit if I get the nerve to enter it in the Adepticon Rogue Daemon or something but otherwise its good to go.
I was a serious model builder and miniature collector/painter when I was kid, Then I went to college studied History, taught some History, played in a band, got a job, played in another band, got another job and then started my own business. Twenty years gone and I got married and had 2 kids. I needed a hobby that kept me in the house. I found my old miniatures again.
Plastic Legions is a hobby blog covering my own Wargaming, model building and miniature painting pursuits. Currently I am focused on products produced by Games Workshop, but am completely unofficial in no way affiliated with Games Workshop.The blogs primary focus is Warhammer Fantasy Battles but other games and topics will arise as they may. If you want to contact me I can be emailed at: oldcoast@comcast.net
