Mayhem and Miscellany

What a whirlwind two months!

There's been a ton of gaming packed in, and even more miniatures painting, and if I may say so, I think I've outdone myself with speed and quality.

This month started out with some Hobbit Strategy Battle Game hobbying. My gaming group heard rumblings that 40k was getting a re-boot, and so we were in that strange gaming limbo gamers often find themselves in during a changeover in rules. Oddly enough, every time this happens it results in us dusting off the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit Strategy Battle Games.

For this short dalliance, I painted up the last four figures my men of Númenor needed.

Isildur and his bros.

 We played some games, had some fun, but it was time for me to get back to my Slaanesh army for Age of Sigmar. There was the Wet Coast Grant Tournament coming up in July and I couldn't waste any time painting the last 1000pts needed in the army. I had struggled to get the first 1000pts painted in time for the Wargaming Without Borders (WGWB) tournament at the end of April and didn't want to be stuck doing the exact same last-minute stress-job on some figures (spoiler alert: I was).

Then the Warhammer 40,000 boxed set (Dark Imperium) got delivered to the shop. I painted up the Primaris Marines and Darren painted up the Death Guard, but they had to be done by release day on June 17th. I pulled some all-nighters and got them finished, mostly. I still need to do two highlights on the armor, but they're definitely table-ready.

Clockwise from top: Primaris Ancient, Lieutenant 1, Captain in Gravis Armor, Lieutenant 2

Inceptors

The whole shebang. 980pts (51 power)

Intercessors 1

Intercessors 2

Hellblasters

The next step will be finding out what size of game the Foodhammer tournament will be later this year, and work up towards it. The starter set has 969pts of Primaris Marines, and I have a grand total of three sets worth. 

Then after that is was right back into my Age of Sigmar force. I struggled to get 2000pts painted, and did so just at the last minute. I had a great time at the Wet Coast GT, and if anyone reading this can get a chance to make next year's (rumor has it it will be in February/March 2018), it's well worth it. I went 1-4, but won Best Painted, and (most-importantly) had fun. 

Game 1 vs. Ironjawz

My knights were no match for his Gore-Gruntaz

Oh look! More Gore-Gruntaz...

Guess who won?

The hell are you doing in the middle of nowhere?

Game 2 vs. Blades of Khorne

Don't crowd, lads!

20-year difference in models.

Daemonettes are not known for their attrition.

Game 3 vs. Flesh-Eater Courts

Game 5 vs. Disciples of Tzeentch

I'm so glad Tzaangors are back.

I actually did alright on this flank.

Now, I've gotten myself embroiled in an Age of Sigmar Skirmish campaign, which has me painting up these guys:

Which got me thinking: "Why not do a Stormcast army for Foodhammer this year (provided it's only 1000pts like WGWB was)?" So I picked up a box of Judicators (the old box that just had five), and crammed it into the army you get in the AoS starter set (the big one), and voilà, 980pts!

So that's what I've been up to these last two months: painting furiously with no sign of stopping. Now things can calm down a bit. I still need to have three Stormcast figures (a Lord-Relictor and two Liberators) painted for the start of the Skirmish campaign on the 22nd, but Foodhammer isn't until late Fall, and with plenty of notice I can avoid the follies of this Spring's scheduling.

On the Mutant Chronicles front, I haven't done much. I printed out the Venusian Apocalypse pdf I bought and am prepping for the long-haul of the campaign (which should begin in just over a month). I'm really excited! I love the RPG, and I'm glad my gaming group (who have no prior Mutant Chronicles experience) are excited about it too. 

I bought a "Blast Zone" F.A.T. Mat to simulate the bombed-out no-man's land of the Martian front, and Mitch Hunter to add to my Capitol force, but painting the starter box I already have has got pushed further back with all the Games Workshop excitement that's been happening these last couple months. I'll keep plugging away at them, but with my gaming group infatuated with 8th edition 40k, it's looking like the majority of my Mutant Chronicling this year will be the RPG and maybe the Siege of the Citadel, if that gets released.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

SLAAAAAAMMMMMBOOOOO!

Well lookey what GW released last weekend. Turns out I own the original Slambo (well, the pewter one that was available when they still had a Bitz Order service (mid-2000s)).

I'm gonna paint these two maniacs, and I'm gonna paint 'em Slaaneshi!

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Back to BASEics

Clever title, I know.

As you'll remember from this post—which briefly chronicled my efforts to work on a gaming project every day—I actually have been working on stuff daily. I haven't really taken any pictures of any of it because it's been a lot of subtle stuff that will bring my Khorne Bloodbound to completion. To be honest, I've mostly only had a chance to sit down and pick at my figures, working on a layer or a color at a time then cleaning my brushes and turning off the ole paint light.

Well recently I decided to bite the bullet, take the plunge, go for broke, and re-base my Warhammer Chaos army onto round bases. Ever since Age of Sigmar came out I've had the idea of doing a Slaaneshi war band that's out in Ulgu (the Realm of Shadow), looking for Slaanesh. The idea would be that I would build up a Slaaneshi war band and chronicle it on this blog through a narrative. Originally the project had me re-buying a lot of the stuff I already had in my Warhammer army, but that's ludicrous; my stuff's already done. The major problem was that they're all on squares, and I believe that models objectively look better on round bases. So I'm committing to having my Chaos models on rounds now that AoS is the new Warhammer.

Here are some pictures of my stuff so far:

I also thought I'd share what guidelines I'm using to re-base my models ('cause there is a method to my madness). Every Warhammer model is supplied with a square base. Because squares of a certain perimeter take up more area than circles of a certain perimeter I've decided to re-base all my figures one up from the bases they were supplied with. Citadel provides a really impressive range of bases, and I figure by using the rounds and ovals that are just slightly bigger than the squares the models came with, I can have a consistent and fair basing pattern.

For example: 20x20mm squares become 25mm rounds; 25x25mm squares become 32mm rounds; 40x40mm squares become 50mm rounds; and 50x50mm squares become 60mm rounds.

Cavalry and chariot bases are a little trickier, but use the same principles. Citadel has a set of oval bases which look great with cavalry on them. 50x25mm cavalry bases become 60x35mm ovals; 75x50mm monstrous cavalry bases become 90x52mm ovals; 100x50mm chariot bases become 105x70mm ovals.

Of course heroes I want to be particularly impressive-looking. To do this, I've decided to one up them from my new basing scheme. Therefore dark elf heroes—for instance—will go on 32mm rounds, and chaos warrior, and beastmen heroes will go on 40mm rounds. The same principle will work for cavalry heroes.

These are not hard-and-fast rules and I've already broken them on a couple occasions: My Lord of Slaanesh is mounted on a 60mm round even though he came with a 50x50mm square and he's a hero, so he should be going on an 80mm round base by my tortured logic. I found this to be too big for the figure and left a lot of empty space around him. In this case I broke my hero rule because he's already rather impressive, what with being on a super-tall daemonic mount and having a tall banner pole.

Also chaos daemons already come with round bases for use in 40k. For these I've decided to just use the rounds and ovals that come with the figures. So for the most part my daemonic infantry will be on 25mm rounds, greater daemons will be on 60mm rounds, and my seekers of Slaanesh will go on those odd 70x25mm ovals.

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in these guidelines for basing in the new Age of Sigmar. I know the rules have confused a lot of people, but we have to get comfortable with the fact that the new game puts a lot of power in our hands. Provided we work within some reasonable guidelines and maintain consistency, I don't think we'll have many problems. Therefore I present my basing guidelines with the intent that they can inspire you to do the same. The spirit of my basing rules is to have an aesthetically pleasing base for the figure, not to gain an unfair advantage by basing my figures to maximize the amount of models I can get into combat, or some other beardy shenanigans.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Age of Sigmar Podcast

Just a quick post here, gamers.

I've been looking for more Age of Sigmar-positive media and forums lately and came across these blokes (am I saying that right?) from England (or the UK, or whatever you chaps call it).

It's a podcast called Heelanhammer (whose meaning is lost to me. You say you guys invented the language?), and it's great. It's very well put together, the hosts are informative and worth listening to, and I find it delightful (or as the British call it: football).

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Age of Sigmar and You... And Me... And Warhammer

I love Age of Sigmar.

Let's get that out of the way. Let's also get this out of the way: I've been playing Warhammer for almost twenty years (to be precise: 18 years, 6 months, 11 days). In that time I've collected and read every edition of Warhammer, as well as played every spin-off game (except FFG's Warhammer Diskwars). Yes, I've even played WarCry.

As you've already read in this post—or not, maybe you don't read every goddamn thing I type—my first RPG foray was AD&D, but it was really the Hogshead edition of Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play (WFRP) that became my first RPG campaign. I took my high school friends through the entirety of the Enemy Within campaign, even having to hunt down the fifth book because Hogshead gave up the ghost before they could re-publish it. High schoolers playing through an entire five-book campaign, and meeting every week is some feat. I like to think that it was not only my amazing game-mastering skills, but the engaging world of Warhammer that kept us meeting every week.

I guess what I'm getting at is that the Warhammer World was a place that I've lived in since I was ten. the crucial years in a young boy's life were half-spent unfurling the plots of corrupt Imperial nobility, helping Eltharion repel the invasions of Grom the Paunch, and being the occasional third party member to the adventures of Gotrek and Felix. I exaggerate of course, but I truly can name all the provinces in Ulthuan. 

Now it's all blown-up, and we have something new. Why am I not devastated?

Because WFRP (Green Ronin's marvelous revision) still sits on my shelf, and I still plan to run the Enemy Within again. Because eight editions of Warhammer are arranged in a resplendent row beneath WFRP, and because I'm still reading through the End Times novels. My High Elves, my Dwarfs, my Orcs, Goblins, Chaos, and Wood Elves are still going to stay on square bases, and most importantly because the Age of Sigmar is good.

I haven't read any of the fiction yet, but I'm excited to do so. I'll miss the rat-catchers, and the clandestine plotting of Slaaneshi cultists, or ventures into the Border Princes to claim Ghal-Maraz, but as much as we are sometimes confused by Games Workshop's motives, they're not stupid. There's still creativity in the studio and I'm sure they'll make it work.

If you haven't played Age of Sigmar (AoS) yet, the do it. It's free. Get together with a friend, spend thirty-seconds talking about what forces you should bring, and start rolling dice. See that it's not just a dumb beer & pretzels game, but something more. Then come back and read on 'cause I have some things to say.

Warhammer has always been about playing games with your absurd miniatures collection. Rick Priestley was tasked with writing a game that Citadel customers could fart around with after having bought their tenth box of Ruglud's Armoured Orcs (don't write me telling me that box came out later). Points values weren't a priority because most people didn't play with them. You just got together with friends and threw your lead skeletons on a field and played-out a weird parody of Shakespeare. 

Sure our models aren't on big squares anymore; I'll miss that too, but the game's not terrible because of it. Sure those new models look a lot like Space Marines, but time will tell how popular they become. Let's not mince words, I always though the Tau, and Tomb Kings were silly, but could you imagine 40k and WHFB without them? Those are both armies that came out well into my wargaming career. I rolled my eyes then, as I'm sure many of you roll your eyes at the so-called "Sigmarines."

Two blog posts I read recently solidified why I like AoS. The first one is by a friend of mine, and he succinctly states what was going on with my feelings towards Warhammer were for a while, that I was bored with it.

I haven't been to the local gaming club in over a year, and the last time I went was to play Malifaux. They're primarily a Warhammer club, and I just couldn't bear to lug my dwarves out month after month to line up 24" apart from a Warriors of Chaos army, and play for six turns. I had tried to paint a new army to keep things fresh, but every time I got distracted.

AoS has me excited again. I've played two games so far, and demoed one, and I'm so stoked it's unreal. I already have scenario ideas in mind (the game is definitely scenario-driven), and I'm even determined to create some kind of casual tournament format (again, probably scenario-driven). Most importantly the new boxed set has me wanting to play a Khorne army.

Me: a Khorne army. Me: a disciple of Slaanesh. Me: a guy who rolls his eyes every time Khorne—the bro-iest Chaos god—gets another must-have unit. I am excited to play the new Bloodbound. Unheard of.

The second blog post I read, reinforced my belief that the spirit of Warhammer is still there. If you were to peruse either of the Realm of Chaos volumes as a player who started Warhammer in fourth edition or later, you'd be saying the same thing as people are saying about AoS now: "how do you build an army?" Warhammer, in editions past, had a Gamemaster; AoS just requires that you and your opponent moderate your own games. 

Anyway, both blog entries are great—and much shorter than this one—so give them a read, it's worth it.

I hope I made my points clear. I guess I'm not going to change anyone's mind necessarily—if it's already made up—but I do want to reiterate that though this edition is radically different in mechanics, it's still perfectly in line with Warhammer's spirit. 

It also doesn't invalidate anything that came before it. Bögenhafen will always be destroyed and saved in equal measure; armies of Chaos Dwarves will always march against Undead, or Vampire Counts, or Ogre Kingdoms, or anything else you may have on your shelf. You can still dole out Winds of Magic cards in the Magic Phase, or roll on the Intrigue at Court table in the High Elf book; whatever edition (or mix) of Warhammer you choose to play is still good, and even though Sigmar now holds court in the realm of Azyr, he could just as easily still be lost in the east, beyond the World's Edge Mountains, waiting to one day return and rescue the Empire from itself.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++