Project Plans for 2012

Way too much goodness to get into this year, but it's nice to have aspirations!

1. Growing the Empire Force

Currently I have about 5,500 points worth, including Warhammer Forge things. Rumours heavily indicate an 8th Edition Empire army book April/July this year, so I am ready and willing to add the necessary toys to the Nuln force as needed. Anticipating a War Altar or Wagon of some kind, some Priests (maybe look at Morrites) and some monstrous cavalry. So long as it fits the Nuln City State theme, I'm in!

Reading and Insights into the Old World - Part 1

It would be fair to say that I care more for the Warhammer setting than for the game rules themselves. The first models I bought were less for gaming with and more for visualising the stories and figures I read about in the background sections of the army books (my first was the old Undead book... sigh). So I like to keep reading about the Old World when I can spare the time.

Some of my favourites from The Black Library so far have been the Mathias Thulmann series, Gotrek and Felix, and the Enemy Within. My dislikes include anything published to coincide with a computer game release. I plan on getting into the Time of Legends books too, as they look awesome, but I have had A Song of Ice and Fire to get through first.

This summer, my reading focus has been on the Empire. My tabletop army of choice, and also the setting for the RPG I currently GM for our group. With this in mind, here is a run down of my latest reading, with my thoughts on what they add to my understanding of the Empire.

Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos is beyond the quality of what I have seen published from GW, save maybe for collectors editions. Its primary interest for many is the Chaos Dwarf list, but the story is not to be looked over. An absolutely brilliant piece of work, reminiscent of Robert E. Howard. Reiksguard and Iron Company are the run-of-the-mill Black Library offerings, so I generally accept that it is what it is - mass produced paperback fantasy fiction. I'm not going to get hung up over proofing or whatever.

SPOILER ALERT. I will make no attempt to keep this spoiler free.

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.