Lenny
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Posts by Lenny
To Cheese or not to Cheese?
Oct 26th
With the madness of the ETC over for another year and 8th edition Warhammer just released, now seems to be a good time to review my gaming priorities. For one thing, I’m glad I’m finished with Dwarfs under 7th edition, I am absolutely sick of them, they had gotten very boring to play with. The new rules seem to hold some hope for them however, as you no longer need to be afraid to actually bring the fight to the enemy, rather than sitting tight and watching your flanks.
Now I have some choices to make. I’ve settled on High Elves for my new army which I will be assembling and painting alongside the Road to Glory tournaments (for further information on this try here : http://www.w-ired.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=720). As the tournament organiser I won’t be playing competitively in the events but I’ll need an army on hand in case an uneven number of players show up, as well as being the sort of excuse I need to get a new army finished (every army I’ve ever finished has been to a tournament deadline). However, this leads me to the next question – To Cheese or not to Cheese?
Under sixth and seventh edition rules I’ve played in many tournaments, some with random armies and some with more especially tailored armies. I’ve never done badly no matter what I show up with but it’s only in recent times I’ve been anywhere close to winning and that has required more extreme and competitive army building. As such, my armies have had several units prepared and painted that have been abandoned as less than ideal choices, and plenty of things I’ve bought have gone unused for the same reason.
Looking through the figures I already have for the High Elves, there’s a large number of Silver Helms among them. Now, most people would ask why you would bother with Silver Helms, when you could just take the far superior Dragon Princes instead? Which is a fair point. There may be a niche for Silver Helms under 8th edition, only experience will tell if that’s true. Still, I might build and paint some anyhow, even if they don’t make it into competitive army lists for tournaments.
Therefore, I’ve decided that my goal for 8th edition is to find the middle ground with my armies. I’d like to have a hard enough army to be competitive at tournaments (without venturing into arsehole territory) while also having a wide variety of different units so that I can mix up army composition for friendly games and campaigns and use some of the lesser seen units. This may result in needing to build and paint armies of four to five thousand points overall. This will allow for enough variety to keep games interesting and will look fantastic when viewed en masse, even though at the rate I paint figures, won’t be ready for about six years or so.
Road to Glory I
Sep 14th
Hey all,
The first event of the Road to Glory is coming up on October 3rd in Gamers World on Jervis St, Dublin. Entry €10.
Road to Glory I requires a 750 point army. Players will battle it out over four games using scenarios from the Warhammer 8th edition rulebook. Points are available for battle scores, painted armies and presubmitting army lists.
For full rulespack and up-to-date entrant list – http://w-ired.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=776
For further information on the Road to Glory series – http://w-ired.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=720
Hope to see you all there!
From here to Gorey Part II
Aug 30th
Yep, from here to Gorey is back. I’ve decided on my first eighth edition army list (see below) although of course I’m not going to reveal my magic items quite yet so it’s the semi-secret version (subject to change). What this post might do is give you all an insight into the process I use when selecting an army list for a tournament.
First of all, every unit, upgrade and magic item you select should be included for a good reason. You don’t always need to take an upgrade just because you can – make sure there is a reason for each one. Just because your unit can have a 50 point magic banner does not mean it needs one. You may be better off with a cheap banner or even none at all.
With Dark Elves, I like to have an army that participates in every phase of the game. I know not all armies can do this, but Dark Elves certainly can. In order to do this, you need to have manoevre, shooting, magic and combat.
As such, I will start with the character choices for the army. I think under the new rules, most armies will be fielding a Level 4 wizard. With many of the new spells being quite devestating, as well as the +4 bonus to dispelling that a Level 4 provides will be important for defense as well. I will also select a second wizard, a Level 2. This wizard will provide a wider spell selection (and possibly a different lore), as well as being a backup caster/dispeller, should the Level 4 fail a roll and be left unable to cast. My final selection from the characters section will be a Master who will carry the Army Battle Standard. Now that it allows a re-roll on all failed leadership test, he’s a must have for nearly every army.
Now it’s time to have a look at the Core selections. I’d like to experiment with a large infantry block, which means a choice between Spearmen and Corsairs. Spearmen are the cheaper option, and I favour these over Corsairs in a large block. While Corsairs may have two weapons, supporting attacks are still limited to one per model. A Horde unit of 40-50 is what I want, and I think the Spearmen are the more cost effective unit. Some missile support is also necessary, so I’ll select two small units of Crossbowmen for now. I will give both units a Standard and a Musician (but not a champion, as I don’t consider the extra point of BS worthwhile for the cost). The units will number somewhere between 12 and 16 figures depending on left over points. My final selection will be two small units of Dark Riders, equipped with repeater crossbows and Musicians. These units will be used to harass the enemy and tackle war machines and small missile units. They don’t have quite the punch they previously had and won’t be engaging any heavy enemy units, but hopefully I’ll find a use for them.
Last are the special and rare selections. For Rare I have included my pair of Repeater Bolt Throwers, and a War Hydra. You might ask why I’m not taking two, but it seems two Hydras will not pass the NigelComp test, so I’ll stick with one for now. For Special I have selected a full unit of 20 Black Guard with command. These guys are a bit of a glass cannon and will need more protection than before as they can no longer rely on wiping out the enemy front rank to be safe from return attacks.
So the current version of the semi-secret list is
- Supreme Sorceress, level 4
- Sorceress, level 2
- Master BSB
- 50 Spearmen, Shields and Full Command
- 16 Crossbowmen, Shields, Standard and Musician
- 12 Crossbowmen, Shields, Standard and Musician
- 5 Dark Riders, Repeater Crossbow and Musician
- 5 Dark Riders, Repeater Crossbow and Musician
- 20 Black Guard, Full Command
- War Hydra
- Reaper Bolt Thrower
- Reaper Bolt Thrower
From here to Gorey Part I
Aug 24th
The NWG tournament is now only seven weeks away (at time of writing) so it’s time to get to work on updating my army to 8th edition standard. I have two painted armies, and of the two I think that the Dark Elves will require less work to get up to standard by then.
I decided to start by reminding myself of the figures available to me. I currently have painted
- Dreadlord on Dragon
- Dreadlord/Noble on Dark Steed
- BSB Noble on Dark Steed
- Sorceress on Dark Steed
- Sorceress on foot
- 20 Spearmen with Full Command
- 12 Crossbowmen with Standard Bearer and Musician
- 5 Dark Riders with Musician (x3)
- 14 Black Guard with Full Command
- 12 Shades
- War Hydra
- 2 Reaper Bolt Throwers
Unfortunately it would seem that many of these figures are not as useful as they were previously. The characters on the Dark Steeds will no longer get “Look Out Sir” rolls, and the Dragon is now considerably easier to kill than before. Shades are less flexible than before and the Dark Riders can no longer negate enemy rank bonus.
On the plus side, the Spearmen are even better than before, although I think 20 won’t be enough. I’ll definately be expanding this unit, 40 figures minimum and possibly more. The Crossbowmen still look good and I might include more of these in the army also. The Black Guard are no longer the uber-unit they once were, with a limit of twenty per unit and casualties inflicted no longer reducing the number of attacks they will take in return, plus they are still quite vulnerable to shooting. Still vicious killers however.
As for the rare choices, both should remain in the list. The Reapers are still flexible and the Hydra’s still able to kick out a lot of killing power. Shades might have a place as a mobile firepower unit, but I’m not sure if they will be worth their points cost. As for the Dark Riders, I think I might still have a role for them to play. Playtesting will be required.
Finally for now, I think I would like to experiment with a Supreme Sorceress this edition. I never used an offensive magic phase during seventh edition, playing Dwarfs as my main army and when fielding Dark Elves I usually used a Scroll caddy and the Ring of Hotek for a defensive magic phase. I will experiment with different Lores of Magic in practive games before making a decision on which one I will select for the tournament. A second Sorceress for a little support will probably join her and possibly give a different lore option. I think I will need a new BSB on foot and maybe try out Assassins (something I have yet to try out).
I plan to write a Part II soon, after I draft an army list and get painting.
So much to do, so little time.
Aug 20th
Wargames really are a wonderful thing. In particular, what I really like is that there’s always something new, whether a new army to collect, new rulebooks to explore, experimenting with a new painting technique, trying out some new tactics for your army or a new player who’s appeared at your club to get to know. There’s always more to do.
So much to do, in fact. There’s never enough time to get everything done.
Now is actually a very interesting time to be involved. Recent years have provided us with plenty of new releases and there’s always something for everyone.
The classic Warhammer game has recently seen the release of it’s 8th edition rulebook. Warhammer : Islands of Blood is soon to follow in September. The new boxed game features some fantastic new miniatures, and the new rules should require players to rethink their army compositions to fit better with the new rules. The only question is whether to start of a new army or upgrade your current army to fit into the new rules and army compositions.
Of course, we also can’t ignore the futuristic cousin, Warhammer 40,000. While the current ruleset is not new, there’s always a new Codex just around the corner, and of course, new models to go with it.
For the historical buffs among you, a relatively recent release was the 2nd edition of the Warhammer Ancient Battles ruleset. I got my hands on the book recently, it’s very nicely put together. The game has diverged in rules from it’s Fantasy counterpart, but most long term Warhammer players will see rules from previous editions still present in the historical rules.
Privateer Press fans are certainly having a busy year. The release of Warmachine : Prime MKII has been well recieved and all of the Forces of Warmachine books are now available. Hot on the heels of all this is the upcoming release of HORDES : Primal MKII as well as the series of Forces of HORDES books due for each faction, as well as the first chance for HORDES players to use an all Minion force (along the lines of the all Mercenary armies from Warmachine.)
The new kid on the wargames block in the last year has been the skirmish game Malifaux. I don’t know a huge amount about Malifaux as I’ve resisted buying it so far, it seems to be proving rather popular among those who have collected factions, and the miniatures are really excellent. Time will tell.
But which one to choose. Should I add to my Dark Elves and Dwarfs, or start a High Elf army? Finish my Flesh Tearers or mech up my existing Crimson Fists army? Paint a Roman force for WAB? Continue with my Protectorate of Menoth force or break out the Skorne figures in the box for the HORDES release? Start playing Specialist Games again? Try Malifaux? The choices are endless.
So much to do, so little time.
In Memoriam – Warhammer 7th Edition
Jul 29th
WARHAMMER : THE GAME OF FANTASY BATTLES 7TH EDITION (9th September 2006 – 9th July 2010)
We reach the end of an era. Warhammer 8th edition is upon us and while I’m sure most people are looking forward to a new edition of the game, I thought we should take some time to remember our old friend 7th edition as well.
It is important to remember that while there are many valid complaints about the current state of 7th edition Warhammer, that was not always the case. At the time it was released, 7th edition was seen as an improvement over it’s predecessor, 6th edition. Changes to the magic phase had prevented the issue of players using Hero-level wizards as batteries to provide power dice to their Wizard Lords, the miscast table was made nastier and the move requiring units to be five models wide to receive a rank bonus meant infantry units would need to be larger. Most of the changes introduced were minor tweaks but many cleared up issues blighting the 6th edition of the game.
7th edition, unlike many of it’s predecessors, did not introduce any new races into the game. Many of the existing races recieved an update to their army books, but not all. The major change in the mix of races was the seperation of Chaos armies back into their three constituent parts. Hordes of Chaos and Beasts of Chaos were replaced by Daemons of Chaos, Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen army books.
Unfortunately, this was not to last. The later stages of 7th edition suffered from serious power creep in the newer army books, especially the Daemons of Chaos and Dark Elves army books. Powerful, underpriced special characters also became commonplace in the newer army books. Big units of block infantry became rare in most armies, and large monsters, fast cavalry and skirmishers were the core components of many competitive armies. Game changing spells such as Infernal Gateway and Curse of the Horned Rat became available to players and magic spam returned. Composition restrictions were introduced into many tournaments in an attempt to reduce the effects of overpowered units and combinations, to varying degrees of effectiveness in leveling the playing field.
That being said, if you think 7th edition was a miserable time full of cheesy armies and cheesier players, you’d be wrong. During the 7th edition era, Ireland sent it’s first teams to international competition. There were friendly internationals against Northern Ireland, the Home Nations events and the ETC. The Irish rankings system was founded. The first successful attempt to create a community among players from all over the island began. The tournament scene has never been healthier. And we all had a hell of a lot of fun in the process.
Farewell 7th edition, you will be missed. As for 8th edition, bring it on!
