First Age of Sigmar game - Initial Impressions and questions.

Managed to oversee a game of the new Age of Sigmar rules this week in a matchup of the Ogre Kingdoms vs Vampire Counts. I played referee as two completely new Warhammer players took the reigns of the two forces on the table and the results were mostly positive! 

First we had to choose what to play with. Since there is nothing in the short 4 page rules about balance or how to make an army list we decided to go with two of the thematic lists at the end of each Battlescroll. That meant for the Ogre Kingdoms it was time to bring in the Gutbuster Wartribe! And with the Vampire Counts we dug up the ole' Deathrattle Horde! 

The rules for each and what we added (for fun):

Gutbuster Wartribe

1 Tyrant

1 Butcher

3 units of Ogres (we used two units of 3 with champs and bellowers, and one unit of 4 with full command)

1 unit of Ironguts (we used a unit of 5 with full command)

1 unit of Leadbelchers (we used a unit of 4 with champs and bellower)

and we added.... 1 Giant! 

The Gutbusters have the ability of the Ogre Charge which allows them do deal mortal wounds when finishing a charge move. Not too different from the earlier versions of the Ogre Kingdoms but this one is only available as part of this Battlescroll organization.

Deathrattle Horde

1 Wight King (this one had a banner)

1 unit of Black Knights (we used a unit of 10 with full command)

1 unit of Grave Guard (we used a unit of 14 with full command)

3 units of Skeletons (we used 2 units of 24, and one unit of 10 and all had full command)

and we added.... 1 Varghulf!

The Horde brings two special abilities with them on their Battlescroll. First they have the ability to re-roll save rolls of 1 when within 6" of another unit of this battalion. Powerful! Second they can always march 4" when they run which gets them farther into the battlefield at a steady rate. 

In the end after counting up all the stats of all the models we came in at 107 wounds for the Ogre Kingdoms vs 109 wound for the Vampire Counts. All in all it seemed pretty even heading into battle and we chose to play on a 2' x 4" table length wise. 

The Gutbusters were the underdogs with less models on the board and chose the Sudden Death objective of staying alive until turn 6. 

With the game under way the Gutbusters managed to get the first turn in most of the first phases and proceeded to move up and into position for a potential charge. The Deathrattle Horde followed suite and soon it was just a matter of time before carnage!! 

While the Ogres got the first charges in on a unit of Skeletons they didn't count on being stabbed to death by so many spears in the Combat phase. After only one Ogre was left the Giant decided he better get into the action too. 

With the help of the Giant and some additional Ogres the first big block of Skeletons began to crumble away though the ability of the nearby Wight King really shined in keeping them standing with an extra save (as their normal save was handily negated by crushing Ogre weapons). 

After taking out the Skeletons the Giant felt the full force of the nearby Grave Guard unit and decided to fall on some Ogres on the way out. A large and decisive battle was shaping up in the center of the board while (not shown) the Black Knights and Varghulf took out the unit of Leadbelchers and began eating through the group of Ironguts. Meanwhile back in the center the Butcher fell to the Wight King's blade and things were looking grim for the remaining Ogres. After a couple of failed attempts at eating the Ironguts the Varghulf and remaining Black Knights fell and allowed the Gutbusters to swing around and finish off the remaining Skeletons and Black Knight with the Tyrant crushing the head of the Wight King to dust. 

Result - Major Victory for the Ogre Kingdoms. 

So what did we learn? How about a handy bullet point list!

- The game is easy to pick up and grasp and neither new player had trouble figuring out what did what and when. 

- The back and forth in each phase makes the tactics a little more random but also more interesting.

- Choosing your combats is very important!

- The random run and charge was not much of a problem for either army with their command and other special abilities and everyone got where they wanted to go pretty easily. 

- It did turn into a bit of a scrum in the middle of the table but part of that was the shape and size of the battlefield we chose. 

- Fun was had and both players expressed interest in playing more and learning the game with different factions. 

But what did I think about the new rules and gameplay? Glad you asked...

Stuff I liked

- The simplified To Hit and To Wound and Saves. Yes I like the old WHFB style too but it was always one of the hardest things to teach new players. The new mode is easy and quick and you don't have to do a bunch of mental math expect for when dealing with Saves vs. Rending

- The thematic feel of the units. At least in this game the Skeletons and Deathrattle Horde did exactly what I have always wanted to see... acted as a legion of creepy reanimated Skeletons and who wouldn't go quietly! They really hung around and in mass they managed to do some serious damage to the Ogres. Conversely the Ogres really showed their brute strength and killing prowess by smashing the crap right out of the undead minions when they hit. 

- The rule of cool! Glad we added the monsters to both lists because they brought a lot of fun to the game and were quite effective. The mechanic of them getting less powerful as they take damage is a good one I think and it is nice not having to worry about Battleshock tests on them as they will never lose a model from their unit until they die. 

Stuff I wasn't in love with

- The movement seems a bit needlessly sloppy when you are playing with larger units of 20-30. We kept our big units on movement trays until we got into Combat but even then it was a bit of a mess. Couple that with the ability to stack minis on bases and well... I ended up with 5 broken Skeleton miniatures which I am not too happy about. 

- The terrain rules. I like terrain and the rules for it in the 4 page book are basically anti-terrain. Since there are no rules besides the magical D6 table I can't see a lot of love or effort going into this for most tables. Of course that might change with the release of new kits and rules. 

- The rules lookup. Of course it is a new set of rules and this is bound to happen. Still! With each unit having rules on it's own Battlescroll section and some units having rules on other Battlescrolls (like the Vampire Counts basically having the ability to summon units of any type from any of the scrolls) and then adding in the special rules for each Character, and then the rules for each terrain piece, and then the rules for each of the special organizations we used... it just felt messy and unorganized. 

- The lack of rules clarity. Especially in regards to units and their equipment. Who has what? Who can have what? Can we have mixed equipment in our units? Simplicity is nice but simple to the point of just making up your own solution can be frustrating.

So there you have it. First impressions are mostly positive and I felt the two forces we played with were pretty balanced from beginning to end. With a few different rolls the game could have gone either way a couple times. I hope to see some more direction for rules and army composition in the future but I am certainly excited to be playing Warhammer again and the idea of getting new blood playing in my area is great too.

Progress Report 5/21/14 - In a bit of a Deadzone.

Time for some painting progress! First up is the Ogre Maneater I am making for a fellow Ogre lover and friend named Gnoblar_Herder (well that is one name he goes by, another one is Al). These are just basecoats and I haven't done any details yet.

Then we have a bunch of Deadzone Rebs models with paint on them (I put the paint on). Still a WIP! Also a building I slapped together to give them a place to "hang out" at. It's a little run down...

And the last photo is the rest of the Rebs force I was hopiing to have painted this month but didn't manage to finish quite yet. About to get back at! Let me know what you think of my palette choices as this was the first time I have painted something "modern" or "sci fi" outside of the Goliath gang. 

Progress Report 8/31/11 - Nuns the word.

This summer has been busy. Have had very little time for anything. Got some painting done on the Amazon/Nun team for Blood Bowl though. Actually painting these up for a friend to use in an upcoming event. Not 100% where I want them to be but they are getting there. Painting black and white is hard.

Sorry for the bad picture quality but I am off to get a practice game or two in with my Ogres! Got the new book, magic cards, and some models headed my way as well. Ogres!!

Expect to see more soon. Honest!

Ogre Kingdoms - new army book cover to smash you!

RAHHH!! Ogres!!

Busy with family marriage things this week. Hope to have some painted mini pics up early next week. In the meantime... look at that brutal fat dude!

New Ogre Kingdoms book information and pics!

New images and info from the new Ogre Kingdoms book due out next month! Found these on the web today... word is the whole book has been leaked to the internet. Here is the latest and greatest:

Magic:

• Ogre Magic has been reworked and spellcasting now works the same way as for all wizards. Spells are pretty much similar to what they used to be, except they last until next magic phase and are not RIP.
• Lore attribute is bloodgruel - on 2+ mage gains 1 wound and +1 to cast for his next spell, on a 1 takes an S6 hit.
• The signature spell grants stubborn to a unit within 12"/18" (the latter is presumably on a boosted casting)
• As for other magic, 2d6 2s no save missile, augment giving target +1t or all units wihin 12" +1t with higher roll, panic test spell to all enemy units 18/36", regeneration to unit/all units within 12" with higher roll, small template spell ini test needed if passed 3s hit if not 7s hit d6 wounds it can be changed to large template with higher roll needed.
• Ogre mages can take great maw, death, heavens and beasts magic.
• New mage model is the firebelly, who uses lore of fire, can be upgraded to lvl 2 for the standard price of a wizard upgrade, can take a great weapon or extra hand weapon and has S4 breath attack, flaming attacks and 4+ ward vs fire.

Magic items and big names:

• Big names still there and come out of magic item allowance. Didn't get changed that much from what you currently have. Best one is probably giantbreaker - doesn't require giant in the army - for the cost of dispel scroll model can't refuse challenges or flee but gets +1S.
• Magic items are few and generally meh compared with common items. Most interesting item is hellheart, which causes a miscast in all enemy mages within 5xD6" at the beginning of enemy magic phase - one use only, costs 2 scrolls.
• Thundermace (asl, +2s 2h weapon), or thundercrush attack instead, small template model in the centre hit with 9s d3 wound, rest hit with 3s.
• Siegebreaker (asl, +2s 2h weapon) roll to hit against ini or siegebreaker attack d6 hits with str equal to height of the building up to 10.
• Rune maw rules I think are the same as in last book (I dont see its max range use but i think this will be faq'd).
• Dragonhide banner same stats as in last book + can be used as breath weapon with 3s.

Core:

• Core units now include ironguts at 43 points, and with all command models costed at +10 points (which is same across the book).

Special:

• Special units got a lot of changes, leadbelchers will now fire D6 shots every turn, no misfires, and are move and fire with no penalty for moving.
• Sabertusk, 1-10 unit size. Each one has 3 S4 attacks, so aside from being the redirector of your dreams, it can sometimes work as a mage assassin. One costs slightly more than 4 halberdiers. T4 and two wounds.
• They can't use general's leadership or battle standard re-roll, and their own LD is 4 - and can only be joined by a Hunter - so I would say they will only come in two unit sizes - 1 or 10+hunter. This second option is not so bad - the unit will cost you some 350 points, but it has vanguard, swiftstride, and 30 S4 WS4 I4 attacks + whatever the hunter brings.
• Maneaters basically choose two special rules (you cannot chose the same special rule for two units) from a group of 8 - including poisoned attacks, sniper, stubborn, swiftride, strider, vanguard, itp, scout.
• Mournfang cavalry is the new heavy cav, with a lot of options (potentially a 2+ armour save), tons of attacks and a price tag that is in the vicinity of a bloodcrusher, depending on what armour/weapons you take. 3 wounds, D3 impact hits and a total of 7 attacks per model make them somewhat fearsome.
• Gorger is now special and gets a bit more expensive, but loses the rule by which it had to end movement closer to an enemy unit. It does have frenzy, unbreakable, killing blow and ambusher special rules.

Rare:

• Scraplauncher is rare and similar to what it does now (S3 KB catapult).
• Ironblaster is an empire cannon with horrible fluff and a pretty unpleasant misfire chart. S10 grapeshot and a special rule that allows you to roll two dice for bounce and chose the highest, even if one is a misfire.
• The two mammoth-like critters are... the stonehorn, which can have a mounted harpoon launcher (S6 D3 wounds 36" bolt thrower that doesn't penetrate ranks and is move and fire if mounted), 4+ armour save, does a lot of S6 impact hits on the charge, has dragon-like stats (but lower WS, Ld and initiative), M7, 4+ armour save and a special rule which halves the damage from all multiple-wound weapons that hit it.
• ...and the thundertusk, which is a support version of the above - has a mounted catapult that doesn't get hurt in any way by misfires, a harpoon and a 12" S6 KB weapon (chaintrap) - 3 weapons on its back, and gives all enemy models within 6" ASL. The tradeoff is - no impact hits and one less attack.
• A stonehorn can also be the mount for a hunter.

Additional:

• Clubs are hand weapons now.
• Bull charge - no info about needing 6" to charge but when calculating charge range if you roll 10 or more there is d3 impacts rather than 1.
• Giant is now stubborn!
• If stonehorn makes sucesfull charge he makes 3d3 impacts(instead of his normal attacks) +1 for each dice if charge roll was higher than 10.
• Trappers is an upgrade for normal gnobbies @25pts it makes every model in a unit that charges them take a dangerous terrain test.

Special Characters:

• Golfgag is a hero with 5a he can take 2d6x10p magic items, if golfgag joins maneaters they have always stubborn and vanguard rules from been there done that special rule.
• Bragg is 4a hero with heroic killing blow rule in challenges if he slays challenger enemy unit he was in it is disrupted for the rest of the turn.

Great stuff here! Can't wait for the new book to come out so I can start playing with some of this nasty stuff! It sounds like almost every unit got a lot better. HAH!!

The Bellower - Issue #6 Out Now!

Got it done and released! Woo hoo!

In this issue:
- Cover art by Hermut ALLMighty
- From the Gut by Hragged
- Ask Aunty Doreen by Aunty Doreen
- FAQ For New Players by Barney and Captain Lardgut
- A Giant In Chains by The Ultra-Mega Bob
- The Feeding Grounds: Thoughts From Thinling Realms by Barney, The Ultra-Mega Bob and various chatty Thinlings
- The Butcher's Cauldron: Build a Stone Hut by Reg06
- Tactics For Tyrants: Slavegiants by The Ultra-Mega Bob
- Gastronomic Rumblings From the Butcher's Pot by Eric J Goldstein
- Guts of Legend: 'Handsome' Kurg by Meathook and Hermut ALLMighty
- Armies of the Stronghold: Tribe of Dragon's Mountain by Nightmare and Barney

New Ogre unit pics!

Great way to kick off August, and right before my birthday too! New Ogre Kingdoms models!

First impressions? Undecided. I love them and hate them at the same time. Change is scary. Looking forward to seeing more detailed shots and sprues of course. I'm sure I will be a little bit poorer (while my Ogres will be a little bit richer) come September.

Ogres coming soon!

I'm really looking forward to September! New Ogre Kingdoms stuff!! Woo hoo! It's like a late birthday present for me. Been working hard on the next issue of the Bellower which I hope will be released next week - just waiting on a few last minute contributions to come together.

Not much going on in the modeling front although I did just get a bunch of Ramshackle minis in the mail this week - going to be using them as a Chaos Dwarf Blood Bowl team with the possibility of being a Goblin team as well. Hard to explain without pictures... so I will get some up soon! 

In the meantime... Ogres!!! What are you hoping to see out of the new book?

Ogre Kingdoms - New rumors abound!

New Ogre rumors are coming in fast and from what I have seen in the past I think this current round hold water. Time will tell...

From Zephyr on the Ogre Stronghold:

Phil Kelly is author.


Plastic kits:

• Rhinox Riders (on regular Rhinoxen) (box of 3)
• Scraplauncher/Skewer-slinger (Similar to Warp-cannon/plague-claw in design)
• Great Mammox with three ogre crew and plastic tyrant option (Same base as Arachnarock. Imagine a cross between a musk ox and a Mammoth)
• Yhetees (More gorilla-like, and and no more 80's hairstyle manes. Really dynamic for a plastic kit)

Finecast:

• Jahred The Red on Rhinox
• Golgfag Maneater
• Redone Goldtooth, Skrag, maneaters (box of 3, female, ninja and pirate discontinued), Tyrant/bruiser, gorger.

Rules:

• Bull Charge will work always, even though you're less than 3 ogres and charge less than 6".
• All ogres except butchers gain a basic 6+ save from their gut plates.
• Ogre Clubs negates parry save, and is a general rule for all weapons like Choppas in OnG.
• All army restrictions gone, but gnoblars do not count towards minimum core.
• Gnoblars T2, but Sharp stuff is March and Fire, Range 10".
• Weapon options for units cheaper, and minor point reductions across the board. Bulls will stay same base cost.
• Magic will be standardized. Most spells will stay similar (augments) but with greater range, and can be buffed to affect more units. May also be cast on Yhetees and Gorgers.
• Rhinox Riders are super-hard. They get regular stomp and D3+1 Bull Charge, and also has Devastating Charge. (Special Choice)
• Scraplauncher, same but moves to Rare.
• Rhinox and Mammox are mount options for Tyrant and Hunter.
• Mammox can thunderstomp everything, like the SoM Bonegrinder Giant. Insane stats, but expensive (like 290 points base.). Crew can have leadbelcher swivel guns.
• Hunter greatly improved. Move and fire with harpoon and monster-killing special rules.
• Yhetees as in SoM, but with options for 2HW or GW, and musician now. No standard-bearer.
• Leadbelchers auto-hit, and can fire every turn, but only S4, no AP. Don't come with Light Armour.

Magic Items:

• Big Names Gone.
• Half of items are Magic Weapons.
• Tenderizer and Siegebreaker will stay.
• Halfling Cookbook grants Loremaster.
• There's a banner granting the same frenzy Minotaurs have.

Plastics will be out in October. Finecast in November.

Things I like in this list of rumors (to be taken with plenty of salt):

• New plastic kits for a Rhinox, Mammox, Scraplauncher, and Yhetees.
  
• New models for Golgfag Maneater and Jhared the Red.
  
• New rules for the Ogre Club sound interesting and are quite fluffy I think.
  
• Gnoblars max caps are gone but they do not count towards Core requirements.
  
• Minor point reduction across the board with weapon options being cheaper.
  
• Hunter gets better with move and fire and monster killing abilities (heroic killing blow?).
  
• New special characters.

Things I don't like in this list of rumors (I really hope these aren't true):

• No point reduction for Bulls? That would make them the worst monstrous infantry unit in the game!
  
• Yhetees are not really improved. Same as in SoM but with different attacks.
  
• Scraplauncher moving to a Rare choice seems excessive. Must be a lot of whiners out there with big block armies.
  
• Taking away Big Names is like Dwarfs losing runes or Bretonnians losing virtues!
  
• Making Gut Magic more "standard" doesn't really appeal to me. Simplifying it does but I hope they don't ruin the flavor (pun intended).

So there you have it... my thoughts on these rumors. I'm sure you were dying to know what I thought!!

In the end I won't complain too much if the new book is of the same quality and caliber of the last two (O&G and Tomb Kings). I suspect the release of this new book will give me a reason to bust out the big boys on the table again... it's been almost a year since I played a game of WHFB!!

Inspiration...

Not having time to work on hobby stuff makes me sad. Here are a couple things I have come across that have inspired me for painting/modeling projects:

This foam Blood Bowl pitch by utopiaztudioz is carved/burnt/sculpted and painted before a fabric back was added so it can be folded for transport. I want something like this!!

James Stokoe's Orc Stain has a great color palette that I would love to paint some models in. I don't know that I am a good enough painter yet but... having some models that look like this... would be rad:

Warhammer Forge nurgly Ogre Tyrant! Riding a gross toad-dragon thing! Looking forward to seeing what this book brings us...

Alright... back to work on the Bellower! Gotta get this done in the next week or so. Also working on my first Orc test paint schemes for the Trailer Orc Boyz! Until next time...