Brilliant Business Strategy

Despite the strong showing at this years Adepticon and its continued strong fanbase despite the total lack of support. Warhammer Historical has now had its last throes and is dead. I wont bother too much with jumping in on the  public flogging over  the epic stupidity of no longer officially supporting WAB, The post title says it all..(.I just wish I had a font that bled sarcasm.)  Needless to say, Warlord Games certainly thanks you. I guess its cool we move all the Historical events  at Adepticon over the Hail Caesar rules since The rule system is in print and well supported. That just makes good business sense.

WAB Night!

Club Night @ Plastic Legions HQ 6/1



Rich has done a nice job on his WAB stuff and owns several painted armies

Last night we met for our Bi Monthly club night, it was preplanned as an evening of the new Warhammer Ancient Battles. Five of us in attendance and most of us have the makings of various WAB forces..I have a ridiculous amount of Celts due my interest in WAB over the last 3 years and release of a ton of plastics for the game during the same time frame. I fielded a straight up 1000 points of Celt Barbarians right out of the new Book and Billy did the same with Imperial Romans. Rich had 2000 points of Rome and Carthage, out of the Hannibal book and finally Chris was packing 2000 points of Macedonians..3 huge phalanx's of pikes..2 units of Cavalry, some Skirmishing Cavalry and lots of foot Skirmishers.Chris and I played 1000 points face off early just to demo the rules Celts vs Macedonians, in which my ability to roll ridiculous amount of "6"'s for armor saves won me the day. Do to my shortage of "ready to play" models..I did run three characters, barbarian characters are very powerful considering particularly the Shaman.


The full shot of the battle lines, our turn moving ahead
excuse the unpainted models here..still figuring out what
the heck to even focus on..

After defeating the Macedonians the 5 of us set up on the 4 x 8 and did a 3000 point game of Rome / Carthage against Macedonians with Barbarian Allies..we definitely had more troops, then our opponents but they certainly had the better troops overall. I really like the the new charts for determining terrain, after which we had an open battlefield with large hill on one flank and two big patches of rough, one dead center, and one near the other flank. We piled all our skirmishers in the middle since they would not be impeded by the rough, The bulk of the Barbarians, the cavarly and the chariots where on the left, with the Pikes and some skirmishers on the right to deal with the heavy Roman Armor. Our Skirmishers and my Barbarians broke thru the center early and separated the Roman lines and a few turns later almost collapsed the entire left flank. The Romans were making some headway on right and last turn I had two units fleeing that 'if" rallied I would have brought to the right flank to aid. Before that came to be however, we called the game (after 3 hours and midnight). In the end it was slight advantage our way but can't say we won.

Barbarians taunting our lines..

That's the thing about WAB, things can change, radically every turn- thanks to the biggest single arbitrator of the game: Psychology!. Those familiar with the current 7th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles will find themselves in comfortable surroundings with the new WAB. The game is more like 7th Ed WFB, then the previous edition. However, Psychology is completely different and Panic is a huge dynamic. You must test for panic, not only if someone else breaks within 12 huge inches of you, but if a fleeing unit is within 6 inches of one of your units at the top of your turn Then that unit will need to make a Panic check as well, before moving, or declaring a charge. Furthermore, even if you win your combat but an allied unit nearby loses and breaks..your winning must test before your overrun, even if engaged in combat!. Given average leadership in WAB is much lower than its Fantasy cousin, you will fail alot of panic tests.

These intense Psychology rules do present a very accurate depiction of the chaos of an ancient battlefield, where drilled and disciplined soldiers held their ground over untrained hordes, men and beasts running wildly from combat to combat on the battlefield. and the huge battlefield is made up of dozens of individual skirmishes and you have clear, drawn and formed battlelines There is alot more going on in WAB ruleswise than I have time to illustrate here. When the evening concluded is was clear we all had a great time, and the general overview of the new rules is that they are great.


Chris's Macedonians...

In comparison to WFB, the 8th edition of WFB is definitely going to be a streamlined much simpler game from its current edition, while WAB on the other hand has taken the oppposite approach with 7th going in the more detailed direction. I think both games will have there niche..with two, different and appealing flavors. Personally WAB is now (and was) incredibly tactical..I my two games, I had easily a half dozen ideas on how to better my Celt army. 8th ed WFB should be tactical as as well but in completely different manner. Where WAB focuses on standard military tactics, the new WFB will focus on marginalizing losses and maximizing combat resolution, within all the things infantry, support, huge monsters, and heroes can bring. The new Warhammer Fantasy Battles is going to be more of a standard miniatures "game" where Warhammer Ancient Battles is even now more of a head on- military simulation.


Three Roman Units...outnumbered almost 2 to 1 I put the majority of my infantry into these guys, Barbarians broke them, this time.

I'd recommend trying out the new WAB rules to see if it suits your style of gameplay. Be prepared for much steeper learning curve that goes much deeper into the possibilities with 7th ed, then the future progress you'll see with the streamlining of a new WFB edition. Look for more WAB taking place right here for sure!





Fleeing Romans in the rear, Barbarians push ahead!

Ancient Battles! Celts vs Arabs

Warhammer Ancient Battles 1000 pts @ Plastic Legions HQ 8/28

(My Celt Warlord in Chariot and 3 Light Chariots, Full Command
now to paint them!)



My first actual game of Ancients was played last night between myself and Rich from Chicago Terrain Factory. Rich and I are planning on playing in the doubles tournament at Adepticon 09' so its about time we figure out how to play. Both are armies are close to assembled and he's at least started painting, I am still waiting on my bases from Litko (currently 22 days out!!!!) before I can finish building mine. I took some photos, but since we had a majority of unpainted stuff and I was using dice to proxy guys I was short- I figured it made more sense to use some basic diagrams. Deployment was simple with minimal terrain. Rich won 1st turn. Above is the basic setup,# of models units are in ( ). Rich's units with out numbers are 20 strong each.




Turn 1- Both our infantries marched forward while the Arab horse arches swept around my flank. my right most unit of Warriors turned to face them while my Chariots headed straight for his Heavy Cav. My Warlord in his chariot moved and turn to charge his unit of archers all by his lonesome. on the left side My skirmishers and a unit of Arab archers faced off, I took a few causalties this turn from shooting but nothng major. The biggest problem was his Naffatun, inside his archer unit, these lone models shoot fire projectiles that cause Terror!!!



Turn 2- Celt leadership in skirmish formation is very low, (5) needless to one of my unit of Skirmishers flee after failing the terror check as soon as they get a look at that high tech fire gun. The other "fires and flees" while being charged by the religous volunteers. My largest block of warriors charge his Spearmen with his BSB, and the combat is locked. My other unit of Warrior with my Druid (who causes Fear) Charge his other unit of Spearmen and the Druid causes them to run away as they are outnumbered. My Chariots get charged by the Heavy Cavalry and dont do so well, one is destroyed and the other two break, this causes my Warlord to make a panic check and he flees as well. The horse archers fire at my warriors and turn retreat, so my warriors on the right side turn to face the oncoming heavy cav. Not going so well for the Celts.



Turn 3- One unit of my skirmishers and two chariots flee right off the table. My other unit of Skirmishers that fire and fled, fails its chance to rally and keeps running. My Warlord Rallies and it set up to join the fight with Warriors who successfully charges the heavy cavalry. (Diagram is bit off here), my Warriors fight the heavy cavalry and the combat is a draw. The other combat with the spearmen is a draw. The fleeing unit of Spearmen rally and the Horse Archers set up for a rear charge in the soon to be combat between my Warriors, Warlord and the Arab Heavy Cav



Turn 4- My Warlord joins the fray and his Chariot smashes into the Heavy Cavalry, They flee
and escape with both my Warlord and Warriors in pursuit. The Horse Archers charge and catch my Warlord in the rear, while my warriors escape continuing to follow the heavy cav. My Skirmishers all ran of the table, I am taking alot more losses from shooting with any units to counters. The block of warriors that had drawn 2 rounds of combat with the arab BSB and his Spearmen finally breaks and is Cut down. My BSB had join the unit with my Druid and I was all set to charge the Religious Volunteers, but seeing my largest unit cut down right in front of me caused my Druids unit to make a panic check and they fail! damn! I am in hot water now. My Warlord is rear charged my best unit is fleeing and my other unit is chasing Cavalry on foot and I am surrounded by archers, not good.




Turn 5- My Warlord hangs in there cutting down some horse archers, losing combat but holding firm, and unit of archers lines up to flank charge. the Arab Heavy Cav Rallies and turns my unit of Warriors pursuing moves ahead hoping to charge next turn. My unit with my Druid and BSB rally and reform to avoid direct charges from the surrounding Arab units.


( Diagrams kind of overlap last couple turns, but you should get the idea!)

Turn 6- The Arab heavy Cav moves and positions itself for my warriors to charge, Archers charge my Warlord in the Flank and between the Archers and Horse Archers, My Warlord falls in close combat. I take shooting causalites in my BSB/ Druid Unit, the Arabs restrain and don't charge me. I try to charge the only unit I can see, but am sort, My Warrior facing off with the Heavy Cav charge as well and are just short. Game over.


Results- Rich had about 500 in kills plus 2 banners, and a table quarter plus 100 points for killing my Warlord, I had about 150 in Kills and 1 banner, the Arabs win by 650 points and in a 1000 point game. that my friends is a massacre!. I learned alot in the match, Pyschology is huge in a game without a magic phase..Terror from the Naffatun is brutal and in WAB the odds of people like Skirmishers rallying is just luck..I shouldn't have fire and fled and leaving my Warlord alone and not putting him the unit with Chariots was a bad idea.. plus my BSB should have been a unit of 30 Warriors from the get go just for the combat res. Anyway while rules are basically 5th Ed WFB the game plays differently enough from current WFB that you really need to think about it. Every unit is pretty well balanced so things like 2 ranks of spears have alot of impact where I thought my 30 rabid Celt warriors would bust right thru.. well with only 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on "4"'s a bad roll and you will lose combat res...to 10 spear attacks more times than not. Anyway live and learn we'll get the hang of it...I think thou this is going to be a good team army, Arabs and Celts!...Who have thunk! .. Thanks Rich!