One piece at a time.

Here is the latest addition to Lord Savage's warband, Hathar Redbolt (official name) on the left with Ruberon Blackbrow (my made up name, better than 'Crossbow') on the right. The warband is taking shape one piece at a time (deliberate Johnny Cash reference) and I hardly dare whisper it but I may have them all tabletop ready soon.

Slaaneshi Cultists, don't get taken alive!

General update of warband and gaming progress.

Here is the first of my Slaaneshi warband's four Dark Elves, done to tabletop standard. As a test model I am quite pleased with the colour scheme, which matches my painted Ogre. I want to get the other three finished (almost there, I always further one test model before I get too committed to a scheme though) and then start adding in a few highlights to make the metal and cloak pop.

Ruberon Blackbrow. Vile Druchii corsair and Slaanesh worshipper.

I already have an advanced Lord Savage (my champion) model but having acquired this beauty for around a fiver (thank you eBay, you have not gone completely downhill) I have decided to remove the previous incarnation from the awesome base and replace it with this instead. I will hold on to the other one in case I have to model on a chicken head or something, no way I am chopping this up.

The new Lord Savage model.

We played Talisman at my club last night, the game was a cruel and capricious one and was only made more difficult thanks to an 'enthusiastic' new player who used his magic wielding Elf to hamper progress at every turn. After a coalition of disgruntled adventurers banded together to turn him into a toad and bludgeon him to death while he was thus discomfited things improved but time ran out after the Troll also got toaded and all three remaining key players were teleported back to the outer region. We now have a little board games club within a club on the go, while we are playing Zombicide and possibly Axis and Allies next I hope to get more Talisman in soon, definitely with one of the expansions. By the end of the year I hope to get a game or two of Diplomacy in too, which is basically about as old as Chess, awesome. A chum at the club has Rogue Trooper which is on the cards too, I will get a photo of that one when it takes place.

Next time, it will be mine!

Finally, an apology. I was part of an online conversation recently about the disgusting habits of Fimir, as part human, part daemon creatures they have unsavoury reproductive rituals. The good lady in question quite rightly registered her distaste at their antics and described it as fluff that need never have been. It made me think of my own attitudes to the Warhammer universe, I quite like the dark and mature content of Slaves to Darkness and used the tone of that whole period to design the background for my warband (which upon reflection is a bit icky) but I failed to put up any warning and didn't take others into consideration when I posted. I remember there being quite a fuss from parents when StD was originally published and I am sure the combination of little mens and adult content still has the power to shock today. I won't remove the potentially offensive content, but I will add a preface which warns of what to expect. Sorry if you were upset by the fluff I wrote.

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The Warhammer World is not enough.

*UPDATE* Try here for an easier to digest version of my rules! *UPDATE*

Here are some homebrew 'Mighty Empires' style rules I ran for a club over a two year period. They may be a dry read and were designed before 8th edition came out but they might have a nugget or two for people planning their own headache campaign. Note that they are addressed to a specific club crowd and have occasional in jokes and typos. If you have any tips on how to improve things let me know as I would love to go again sometime in the future (possibly using 3rd edition).

Mighty Empires Club Rules 2nd Edition

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Go Go gadget table.

The Oldhammer modular table frame indiegogo campaign is ready for your contributions. Please help Dreamfish and the community with a Euro or two, or even pre-order a table!




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The Khorne Trap.

A couple of things cropped up in a very interesting conversation I was having that got me thinking.

"Roleplay is important to playing Oldhammer".

Yep, hard to disagree with that. The rules are mad and inefficient, we play them not because they run more smoothly than other editions but rather to capture the spirit of the time.

 "Khorne should be all about the close combat then!".

Oh dear. This is also hard to disagree with, though I find it depressing.

Why? I have collected every army for both WHFB (3rd to 7th edition) and 40k (RT to 6th) but I have never gamed with a single Khorne unit on the table. They are just so monotonously predictable. How on earth to you get into the role of a Khorne champion? They are OCD about close combat, have no latitude to involve themselves in anything other than close combat and are left seeming utterly one dimensional and boring.

Take the Slaves to Darkness book. The Khorne mob doesn't even come close to the interesting nature of Slaanesh from a role play point of view. With Slaanesh you have a complex motivation (worship through sado-masochism) and you can unleash a storm of magic, a hail of arrows and a final, killing blow of close combat on your foes. Khorne? Just the hitting things with an axe, thanks.

It has gotten so bad that they even wrote out the ability to take anything other than close combat troops and wrote in a  frenzy rule to force you to do the only thing you could do anyway. It's insane.

I once pictured a Khorne champion who wandered the earth seeking glory, fame and earthly power by confronting powerful heroes of the age and challenging them to duels. He would be the 'Achilles' of the Warhammer world, a vainglorious and arrogant bully who cared nothing for those who sought him out to join him on his wanderings. Inside of course beat the heart of a coward, he had sought out Khorne for worship because he was tired of being afraid but despite his growing prowess the fear never really left him. He chooses only those he is sure of defeating and prefers to weaken them first with his minions. Once the opposing hero is defeated he cares nothing for the battle and slinks away, sated by the blood of a true warrior.

Now I just see the 'canonical' Khorne ethos as lazy and unimaginative. "Blood for the Blood God! Love me some more of that blood, yessiree, yum yum!"

If you are going to the Oldhammer weekend and are bringing a Khorne warband with you, I would love to know what attracted you to Khorne and how you intend to play them. I feel I have been missing out on something all this time and would love to hear the ideas of others.

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How to pwn n00bs and influence people.

I just posted this little nugget on a worthier blog than my own.

"Any decision taken without talking it through with your opponent is a mistake, I promise! Trust Uncle Warlord! Both players need to be on the same page from start to finish on all things, but especially on what type of game you are playing! When discussing what to play and when to play you must also discuss how to play. Anything else just isn't Oldhammer. I was accused of using 'tactics' recently, justifiably as it turned out, but it was unavoidable because one can't simply unlearn something. I should have better introduced my preferred style of play somehow however, that's on me. Ultimately, if you find yourself tucked away in a dark corner tailoring your army to be a streamlined, efficient killing machine in the hope of ambushing some hapless patsy, you have officially failed as an opponent. If, however, you have established that this is not to be a game for the lily-livered or faint-hearted and your opponent agrees... let the Vampires fly!"

I was at once absurdly pleased with myself and yet baffled at my own hubris. I have my own strong opinions on what makes a good game and what ruins an otherwise sociable hobby, unfortunately I just can't seem to keep them to myself. Let me know if pwning n00bs is really what it should be all about and that I had been getting it right all those years after all.

In other news, I have been gradually painting my Oldhammer Slaaneshi warband in between searching for clothes not polluted with baby-vomit and sorting the fridge (sections now consist of 'baby milk' 'Whiskas cat milk' and drastically low volumes of 'coffee milk') and I should have some pics for you soon, your patience is appreciated.

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