Name-Dropping like a Boss

First up, congratulations to Dan Butler, who made the New Zealand ETC Team 2012! Very proud to have our good friend and one of the boys up there. And now the play testing begins...

Recently Tamurkhan has been rocking my Old World. I finished reading it last week and can’t wait to do a review on it here. Dan is absorbing it right now, so once he has defiled it, the way Daemons like to do, I will have my say! Suffice it to mention that it is a very juicy tome, with some great campaign suggestions like I had been hoping. The story is very well written to boot.

Speaking of which, Forge World released an interview with author Alan Bligh. It’s a great summary, and a nice insight into the book’s creation. They even answer three questions submitted from the FW Facebook page, the first of which is mine! Quite a buzz for me, given the many hundreds of questions submitted. It was from before the book had gone on sale and was happy to see that my question was answered after reading the book anyway.

Cheers Warhammer Forge!

'Contingents' Rumours and End-of-Year Tournaments

 I Love to Rumour-Monger

Yet more exciting rumours are emerging, which has me questioning whether GW really have cracked down on their secrecy policies - Ogres and Dreadfleet seemed to get the same amount of pre-announcement attention, so it will be interesting to see how the latest spate of rumours pan out.

The contingents/allies supplement seems inevitable, really. In a sense it's a return of the Dogs of War, but not quite. From what I can gather there are small releases planned (initially in White Dwarf) for contingents from places such as Araby/Tilea/Kislev, making use of new and old models, which can be added to existing forces. I wouldn't be surprised if it used a similar mechanic to the Storm of Magic Scrolls of Binding, or Pacts. It is rumoured the rules include ways of adding contingents from existing armies as well. A new race is supposed to include some kind of insectoid people alluded to in the Ogre Kingdom's background. Rules for pikes are being thrown around.

Interesting stuff, hope it's true - I really want to add a Border Princes force to my Southern Empire list!

New Books and Armies - Three Things I Am Excited About

It's hard to count the number of sleeps until a highly anticipated release when you have no idea when it will be out. Alas, I try to count them all the same. Here are the things I am currently losing sleep over;

1. Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos

This was released to attendees of Games Day this year and should be available online in the next few weeks. I've been looking forward to it all year, even though it will not be in its original form that Rick Priestley had set out (a series of books, each covering a different Chaos god). The highlights for me are the Nuln content and the Chaos list which combines Beastmen, Warriors, and Daemons. Chaos Dwarfs are worth a look too. Most of all I am looking forward to using it for a club campaign I have been wanting to run for a long time now.

What's nice is that it will utilise the Scrolls of Binding rules from Storm of Magic, which means I can actually use the amazing models I get from Warhammer Forge in games with people hesitant of playing outside GW sanctioned rulesets.

Also on the shopping list is the Amethyst wizard on the Carmine Dragon, Magisterix Elspeth von Draken.

WFB Rankings and Tournament News

 Rankings

Whatever issues one might have with the RHQ system of rankings, and whether its existence benefits or detracts from the spirit of the game as a whole, it surely has done great things for the tournament scene. So long as an event will contribute to the entrant's overall rankings, it is an extra motivation to participate, and to be competitive.

We certainly found that to be the case, and our frequent tournament attendances are beginning to pay off in getting our names 'up there on the board'.

Dan has now made it up to #3 in the New Zealand rankings, netting the Best General - Daemons icon, and also placing at #9 Daemon General worldwide.

Jimmy is currently ranked #15 in the New Zealand rankings, and has the Best General - Dark Elves icon, placing #24 out of Dark Elf Generals worldwide.

Tim is ranked #17 in the New Zealand rankings, and holds the Best General - Empire icon, placing #15 out of Empire generals worldwide.


As a club, Tronhammer is currently ranked #4 in the New Zealand rankings, behind the City Guard, Christchurch Wargaming Club, and The Mournival.

We are very proud of our achievements this year, and hope to improve on our tournament play and better our game against the top players. Next year we hope to enter more of our club members into the local tournament scene, which this year has been very lively despite the '8th Edition killed Warhammer' fallacy going around.

Hobbying in the Tron

Wow, it's been ages since I last posted, which is completely unfair because there has been a whole heap of Warhammery goodness going down.

Admittedly the fantasy battles games have been light for a few weeks, but this is more like the calm before the storm as we look forward to GuardCon in October. Phil from City Guard has promised a fantastic event, and the much-desired Bombay Cup is up for grabs! I'm sure there will be frenzied list testing to do closer to the submission deadline. We are also due our next massive multiplayer game very soon (seven players on one table...).

Looking back further into the depths of July, Dan and Jim attended the Tin Soldier IV tournament, and Dan came away with his third 2nd placing of the year! 'Always the bridesmaid', to be sure, but it's early days yet Dan. Jimmy also did very well, but as he didn't take the big gribly required in the player's pack, missed out on the 10 tournament points needed to push him to the podium. You can head to YouTube to catch Luke's (aka Vaul) games against Jim and Dan.

Meanwhile, a couple of us have been trying out new armies. Marty showed up one day to a Battle Royale between my Empire and Mark's Dark Elves, with a Lizardman army no-one knew about! He dominated that game and the Tronhammer world had to pause and take stock of the new challenges ahead. I hope I still get to see his Vampires out on the table though, them and me go way back.

In the works is the Tronhammer Club Tournament, and I hope to have some quality prizes available for the boys, to get the competitive juices flowing and give the event some prestige. At this stage we are looking at starting in November/December, to allow those with new armies and units some time to get things ready.

Speaking of which, I am slowly chipping away at my unpainted models. I hope to have a 4.5k army complete by the end of the year. My latest project was a captasus (Captain on Pegasus) to fit into my Nuln themed army.

Captain-Engineer Niklaus von Shulmann on his modified version of one of Frau Meikle's 'carriageless horses'.

NICON 2011

The Queen's Birthday weekend saw the annual NICON tournament come and go (this year taking place in Hamilton) and was well attended by the local Tronhammer boys. Despite the painting score and other controversies, we all had a great time, met and competed against some awesome guys, and played our absolute guts out. Jimmy had a cracking tourney, coming away with five wins and a draw, let down in the rankings only by not having his army painted. Darren netted a very nice painting score, and Dan and I finished 4th and 5th.

Without The Enemy Within

One of the best and most beloved recorded Warhammer Fantasy Role Play campaigns that can be found on the great wide web will be ending this week. The Seattle-based gaming group has been running Enemy Within (Journey Into Madness) since September 2009. Since that time, 41 sessions have been posted on their blog, and I have listened to every one. Twice.

I heard about this blog when investigating WFRP 3rd Edition, published by Fantasy Flight Games. A forum member cited them as a standout example of how pen and paper RPG's should be. As I was about to GM my first sessions of the Dragon Age RPG I was very keen to listen to examples of how GM'ing is 'done'. After hearing the first session I was hooked, and I ended up taking on many aspects of Tim's GM style. Being Warhammer made it all the better!

The Enemy Within is regarded as one of the classic RPG campaigns of the past 30 years; a darker, grittier, more dangerous version of the popular Dungeons & Dragons in which no-one escapes unscathed or completely sane, and which explored urban settings to much more detail than other game systems. Set in an alternate timeline from the common Warhammer Fantasy canon, the storyline is as epic as it is compelling. And these guys do it justice.

Wisdom of the Ancients

Internet Articles That Have Inspired Me

Hold the comp onions. Hey, isn't Alessio Italian?

Warhammer as a hobby takes a bit of inspiration now and again to keep all the sparkles and fairy dust at a maintainable level. Back in my wide-eyed and pimply days, the sole source of inspiration for the hobby derived from GW itself, in the form of the monthly White Dwarf and the occasional supplement, such as General's Compendium.

Once I had steady access to the internet, the very second thing I searched for was more Warhammers. I can remember the GW forums and online articles, before they took them all down, supposedly believing the internet to be a passing fad. After that all I could find was a depressing amount of anti-inspiration, much of which has been carefully maintained over the years. More recently, however, I have had the pleasure of reading some true gems that have helped me and my hobbying out in a big way.

A Land of Blood and Fungi

Mysterious Terrain in the Old World

One of the whinge factors of 8^th Edition WFB that I have heard is the change to the terrain rules; that terrain is now “meaningless”, or has “no effect on the game”. I have to wonder if these people have read the random terrain rules in the rulebook.

For some that have, the random terrain rules represent merely another GW conspiracy for selling more of their terrain product. For the many other players that do use them, and for me in particular, this section is a wonderful addition to the game.

Equinox 2011

As a fairly new club to arrive on the NZ Warhammer Fantasy scene, one of our goals is to make a bit of an impact and a name for ourselves individually, as well as a club. Following on from Over the Top, our results at Equinox were fantastic given that we were going up against many of the best players in the country.

Well done to Dan Butler and his Daemon army! Dan placed second overall, though he sat at the top of the leader board for most of the tournament. He lost to Mal Patel in the last game 18/2. Dan is understandably disappointed, but the rest of us are very proud of his skill and effort. As he also came second at OTT, his WFB Tournament career is off to a spectacular start!

Jimmy Page took his finely tuned Tomb Kings army, and started causing ripples immediately with an 18/2 win. He competed fiercely with some very hard lists run by very experienced players and held his own very well. His crowning moment was during the Team Championship games on Saturday night where his beat the tournament champion and ETC player Mal Patel 15/5. Jimmy's army's painting was incomplete, and so he suffered in his final score, which is no indication of just how well he played with an army list that is seen by most to be very sub-par.

My own games showed me that I have some definate room for improvement! Many of the games were my first against certain armies, and I was happy to have been able to stand toe-to-toe with high-calibre players and finish in the top half. In future I am going to have to work out how to keep the game going at a faster pace, as I was only able to complete two of my games. Despite this, I learned a great deal, had a great time, and had a couple of positive comments about my army (which is always very nice). I even took home a spot prize.

Griffon Blood and Sigmar DNA

His codpiece is roughly twice the size of a normal man's head.

He melts faces with his fire-breathing fists.

He has rocket fuel on the tip of his lance.

No-one will work with him because he is kind of a dick.

Sound familiar? That's right. The Countess's Headman is out for... well, heads. Theodore Bruckner is one of the three most recent Empire releases from Warhammer Forge, and quite frankly I couldn't be more excited.

Bruckner is a Special Character Lord choice from the City State of Nuln, whose colours I paint my Empire army. The fact that two of the three Warhammer Forge first releases are expansions to my chosen army 'fluff' is very exciting, and while I may not be able to use the new rules accompanying these releases often, the quality miniatures add so much to the satisfaction factor and hobby side of my Empire army.

Of course, I may even be able to use their rules once the rumoured campaign book comes out.

The Dark Alliance Marches on Nuln

The stable-hand had been strapped upright to his master's horse, though he was very much dead. When Lindmann's spies intercepted the creature, it was wild and rabid. The boy's head had been twisted around to face backwards, and a rotten fruit had been stuffed into his mouth, wrapped in decrepit parchment. Knowing full well what the message meant, and knowing equally well that the bureaucracy in Nuln would not take action, the scouts sent word directly to the Lord Protector himself.

 * * *

Lord Teclis was visiting Nuln to hold counsel with the Chancellor of the Nuln University regarding ancient items held there. A messenger burst in bringing word of an undead invasion, the first for many years. Teclis waved his hand dismissively. These affairs were not of Ulthuan's concern. The second messenger to arrive that day belonged to the vanguard of Lord Protector Lindmann. The undead were joined by the Dark Elves of Naggaroth. This DID concern Ulthuan. Teclis left hurridly and ordered the deployment of his retinue alongside the Nuln Expeditionary Force.

Deployment


Terrain
River = River of Blood
Forest = Wildwood
Banestone
All buildings = normal
Fences = Blessed Bulwarks and Ghost Fences

The Empire troops deployed the bulk of thier force on thier left flank, but the Hydras were of concern. The Empire General also deployed on the left to try to limit the impact of the Hydras.

Teclis and some archers garrissoned the large ruined tower. Other ranged units defended Blessed Bulwarks. Empire artillery set up on right flank in response to Grave Guard and Vampire Lord deployment, as did the Steam Tank. Sword Masters and Pistoliers also deployed on right flank to counter the Shades in the trees and the Varghulf. The Wraiths and Banshee set up to counter the Steam Tank.

Comp-Horridibilous

Leveling the field of play?

I stole Chaoswolf's phrase!

Talk of the week (and year really) is regarding comp(ensation) regulations for tournaments under 8th edition. On Pete Dunn's blog recently, Fields of Blood, he talked about how the presenters of Heelanhammer, and Dan Heelan in particular, are running the South Coast GT in England, and how Battleline will be the only scenario played.

Pete and Dan are among the top ranked players in NZ and the UK, so they know their stuff. Dan was sick of stories of unbalanced games due to scenarios, like the Grave Guard in the watchtower, and about how many games were becoming non-events. On the other hand Pete believes that scenarios aid in 'comping' armies and add the strategic interest. Dan replied on Pete's blog, and the debate is very positive and constructive, well worth the read.

I can certainly see both sides here. It is nigh on impossible to win some scenarios against certain match-ups. Watchtower is the stand out scenario for this. (Listening to his podcast, it is apparent that Dan has a dislike for massive units of troops dominating the game, and he believes it is to WFB's detriment.)

But I think I am more on Pete's page here. In a way this debate has been going on since 8th came in, and the more I play and experience the game the more balanced I believe the game to be. You know that you are going up against nasty death stars and hard magic at some point. So you take bigger units to compensate, and gamble on the points investment, or spread your points out on more smaller units. You know you are going up against big units and death stars so you take some nuke spells or an extra piece of artillery and gamble that nothing explodes.

Over the Top 2011

Tronhammer was well represented at this year's Over the Top tournament in Hamilton! As our first competitive event as a club we were all about the experience.

A very well-deserved congratulations are in order for our two prize-winners;

Dan Butler - 2nd Place Overall
Darren Butler - Best Sportsmanship Award

Well done gents! A great start to the tournament year and hopefully a sign of great things to come.

I had a great time, met some cool peoples who I will no doubt bump into later on this year ;)

Big thanks to Ryan for running the event. I had a great chat with him about the NZ and international tourney scenes and have some great ideas coming out of that.

Looking forward, we have Equinox 2011 on the 19th-20th March. Dan, Jim and I will be going up to Auckland for this and hope to participate in the Team challenge and bring home the trophy for Team Tronhammer!

Until then there is much painting and army list debating to get to!


- Tim