I claim thee in the name of gaming!

Greetings and salutations
this weekend my partner and I were hard at work shifting around three rooms for the benefit of her sanity and my gaming obsessions. After a year's chipping away she finally agreed the largest of our rooms should be converted to a games room (from being the master bedroom) while my old office/games room became her massage room and that room became the bedroom.
It took a LONG time moving everything around but it finally done and will be baptised on Thursday evening when my pal Ben comes over for a little Future War Commander action.

The walls are still eerily bare but I'll fix that once the final positions of everything are decided.
Also I may still swap the metal shelving with the painting desk so there can be more room to move about by collapsing the table when not in use. But the bulk of the work is done, including putting some of my figures in their cabinet (a little "dream come true" moment for me!)

 Part of my Eldar and my Crimson Fists and Chaos armies

 The bulk of my 40k Imperial Fists

 More Space Elf goodness

 Warmaster Orks

 Warmaster High Elves and Empire

What little I have painted of my Skaven project

The remainder of my Skaven project - the unpainted part!

And we celebrated the day with a luscious dinner - prawn fettuccine!

That is all for this post, I guess
Thanks for stopping by!

A new experiment - a Warmaster VIDEO report!

Dearest fellow dice aficionados
This weekend I played a game with a member of WSWA (Western Suburbs Wargames Association) at his beautiful home in Werribee. After I recovered from the shock of how many painted miniatures my pal Tom possesses - envy, what a terrible thing! - we settled to play a game of Warmaster and I thought "I've not seen many video reports about the place...how bout I does one, then"?
Thus this little project was born for your viewing pleasure

Let me know if you'd like to see more
S.

A Whaaaaaaargh is abrewing

As you may have noticed 10mm is the flavour of the last few month's gaming - with Rick Priestley's seminal WARMASTER ruleset at the top of this Leaguer's favourites.

Released back in 2000, the game is played with smaller 10mm figures and after Games Workshop's initial support of the ruleset with the release of a number of core armies it was relegated to the Specialist Games section, in this gamer's view an excellent move because I gauge GW's offerings based on the amount of support they offer them - ie when they release a game that guarantees a solid tactical experience with beautiful miniatures in limited numbers (build a force and learn to use it) it is never a commercial success as people don't have to continually purchase new units to remain competitive. They get what they need "out of the box" and game draws the attention of, indeed, specialist gamers rather than hordes of new gamers spending dad's money on the latest "untouchable kill all" $80 boxed set which, much a like PC, will be fundamentally outdated in 6 months!

Still many multitudes swear by Warhammer and its futuristic cousin - and the miniatures are certainly amazing as my banana warriors..err Fearless Imperial Fists...can show.
The rules have since seen many incarnations, first as Warhammer Historical's Warmaster Ancients and its Medieval variant before the game engine was licensed to Pete Jones in 2007 and heavily modified to produce the Commander series - Blitzkrieg for battles from the early 1930s (Spanish Civil War) to the end of WWII, Cold War for the interim conflicts to the modern day, and Future War for tomorrow's wars. This last one is also used by many in the 6mm Epic community as an alternative ruleset.

Alas for the last year or so I've been gaming with an Altdorf Empire army and the High Elves of Lothlorien. Great games, the High Elves having an edge in terms of command and staunchier units all round as well as great shooting, and the Empire offering a different tactical experience with their halberd-wielding footsloggers, war machines and bickering proudful knights, counts and wizards.

Yet even as these two armies' border clashes stalemate with almost equal wins to either side as my gaming and knowledge of each forces' strength gets better, a new menace has descended upon the land from the woods and mountains to the East of the Empire - the Orcs are here!

The green tide in all its (lack of) glory!

 

The horde's bickering commanders

Black Orcs - the meanest and greenest of the troops who can steal the better armor and weapons

The horde of greenskins poised to flow over the Empire and wreck its peaceful way of cilivized life because...well...because they can!

Deadly Goblin wolf chariots have no lasting power but after all, who cares...their job isn't to live out the campaign as much as to punch holes in the enemy battlelines and then die as loudly and bloodily as possible

Used to getting well bashed the Trolls have developed regenerative powers and can take one heck of a beating - as well as dishing punishment of their own aplenty. Unfortunately they are a tactical challenge to command as they's SO dumb they have a special rule called, appropriately, Stupid!

 

Another fantasy mainstay these Giants have chosen to follow the Orcs into war in the hope of some freebies to plunder along the way

 

Orcs are much better at destroying things than building them - though some among them do develop their limited engineering skills to the point of being able to field crude and unpredictable Trebuchets as these are, after all, "tingz we bildz to deestroy otha tingz". Love Orc logic!

There are other troops I have no pics for at the moment but will on Sunday when they first meet the Empire and High Elves for a nice bit session of clobbering skulls and crunching bones. In all the force consists of, to date

- A General on a Chariot

- A Hero on a Chariot

- Four other Orc Heroes

- Two Goblin Heroes

- A Goblin and an Orc Shaman

- Six units of Goblins

- Six units of Orcs

- Three units of Black Orcs

- Three units of Boar Riders

- Three units of Wolf Chariots

- Three units of  Trolls

- Three units of Wolf Riders

- Two Giants

- Two Trebuchets

A nice base to start there, all painted by a great chap in the US who is currently working on a Dwarf army I may pick up, as well, and featuring enough troops and options for games up to 3000pt (where 1500pt is the most common game size you can see these are going to be around for some time and offer much enjoyment and a great tactical experience)

To finish it all off I've done gone bought a Battle of the Five Armies set today which will supply a further two brigades of Goblins, three units of Wolf Riders and three of Wargs (giant evil wolves to the uninitiated) as well as an Orc General on a Wyvern (a dragon with no arms, basically)

Now where's that paintbrush...

Thanks for reading!
S.

Empire VS Elves - A Warmaster Report

Hey all
unfortunately I left this awhile to post, resulting in a rather blurred memory of the events which took place at Realm of Legends for the completed Elven army's first outing against the very friendly Dobbsy
On the table were two 2,000pt armies arrayed over a fantasy plateau

The Elves, given the deployment as basis for a little background, moved from their vale to harass the encroaching Empire citizens moving to bring civilization further into the forests. A sort of fantasy Lebensraum, I guess! The table obviously dominated by the village, the Empire keeps quite compact while the Elves aim for some sort of sweeping flank advance.

The first Empire turn seizes the hill and moves the left brigades forth. The Knights are left behind for now

Here is a shot of the Empire hill positions after the High Elves have sent their Eagles to chew, scratch, stab and generally harass their artillery emplacement. Lesson Number One for Dobbsy (and all WM players, really.... - protect your artillery! If the enemy has fliers, chances are grimly high a maneuver among their opening shots will be surgical strikes against the artillery and/or any unsupported infantry flanks. Guaranteed, you learn to guard against it pretty soon....though for the first while it is a stomach-churning experience when the opponent suddenly blazes in from the sky, wreaks havoc among your most expensive units, destroys your artillery emplacements and literally FLIES OFF before you can retaliate. I know, it's been done to me plenty!

 Empire defensive stations regroup with shooters out front as the cavalry and infantry move in for support

The Elves take position atop the hill themselves from whence they fire their deadly volleys - note Elven arrows hit one better in the open and the wizard behind them can cast a spell allowing every stand to fire twice - ie that's a staggering 12 attack dice hitting on 3+ EVERY turn...

If you compare the above photo with the one two photos ago you'll note the Empire troops holding the hill are annihilated while a single stand of High Elf knights lingers before the Empire knights gearing to return the favor! The Elves on both hills, the chaos in the rear elven lines, the Empire advances slowly compact as its command is in shambles this day...

 Elven knight move in to support the infantry's flank as the Empire closes about them.

 The far right Elven charge destroyed two infantry units but essentially ran out of steam before the Empire's might and well arranged lines of defense. On the far left of the table there's a great deal of maneuvering going on which raises the stakes for both players. Alas, though, there's "eff%F&*^"-all maneuvering going on in the Elven rear as command after command is failed, much as befell the Empire in the early turns!

Setting up its strike the Empire opens fire and casts spells on the advancing Elves.

 In go the Empire knights in one...two...THREE successful commanders they charge down the table at great speed bypassing all opposition for the quintessential knightly charge into the Elven ranks. The Elven general, having moved west of the field to smooth out discipline in the rear ranks and the opposite flank, was unable to do anything about Dobbsy's brave charge which almost snatched victory for him!

 The Empire has moved in force all across the board and the fighting is brutal indeed. Their sole shortcoming was the Elves' early advantage in the game when they picked off individual units and wreaked havoc in the Empire's lines so much that even the Empire's current ferocity couldn't even out the score to bear them a victory.

 The General having moved to bring order and discipline upon his subjects, the Elven lines in the East bear the brunt of the Empire charges but move in good order to fight hard and close about the enemy's flanks offering a weakened center

 The Elves repel the Empire and close ranks to chase them forth.

 Realigned Elven lines support one another in a slow advance as the enemy falls back to regroup

What a great game!
I've yet to have a "bad" game of Warmaster. The fact the initiative and command system are so unpredictable means at any time the winds of luck may shift and a victory be snatched from the jaws of defeat. Usually, however, it's the opposite for me as in this game, too, I had early successes bullying the Empire formations that found themselves stranded due to Dobbsy's bad command. Then the God's whims shifted and it was he who started pulling command roll successes from God-knows-where and charged his knights all across the line. It was only good opening moves that had me at an advantage with the Elven archers consistently claiming victims on both flanks and the opening Elven charge that making it so Dobbsy's assault, while claiming a lot of dead pointy-ears, didn't manage the clout to break me from the defended stations my troops held. And from then-on-in it was mopping up, as knights on the defensive are never going to fare well and once the Elven returned advantage returned (being 20% better across the board - if more expensive! - than the Empire BEFORE any modifiers!) and their ranks can close to engage.

Thanks Dobbsy-meister for a great afternoon's gaming and to y'all for reading!
We return to defend the Vale.....
High Elf Valekeeper S.

Warmaster comes to the League

Aeons ago Cpl A showed me some High Elves he was painting. I'd given Warmaster a crack in years gone by with a small Chaos force but alas, half painted, they were donated with not one but TWO Battle for Middle Earth boxed sets to my ex's kid brother.
Thus in 2011 let us welcome in our fold our latest little friends.
They may be itsie bitsie but they lack neither pointy bits nor attitude (bit like me, come to think of it...)
If you'd like to know more about the game there's a nice review here, the rules download free here, and these two geezers have some great ideas about the game: Downunder and Brumbear. 

Anisha's Elven Host - "The Valekeepers"

Anisha riding her majestic Emerald Dragon

Elven Spearmen (or spearElves, to be zoologically correct)

The Valekeepers - Elven Knights

Elven Archers and Dragon Familiars with various command stands

Bent on tearing through the Elven domains to meet Human civilization's growing need for resources are the Averland Empire troopers

Proud Knights of the Empire

 Empire crossbowmen and archers. In the forefront the driven and fanatic religious zealots known as Flagellants

 Empire technology consistently spawns new inventions: below are fine examples of gunpowder artillery and the marvel that is the Empire Steam Engine, as well as a General on giant eagle

 Defenders of the Empire (or usurper's of Nature's domain, depending on the point of view) this ocean of halberds means business!

As always these will be available for a game when you like!
Ciao!
S.