Crimes Against........

So the UK's biggest tournament, the South Coast GT, has decided to go for six Battleline games rather than use the scenarios.

This event is organised by the principals of the Heelanhammer podcast. Now I really like their show, the content being heads and shoulders above everything else available, with the possible exception of Bad Dice, but recently it has become a bit of a whingefest against scenarios. The key objections raised are that they have the potential to ruin the tournameny either by the creation of non-games or by eliminating the victor's ability to harvest VPs in situations where the game ends immediately.

To me these criticisms are as more an indictment of the scoring system being used in the UK tournament scene than any reflection on the scenarios. Most use wins and then VPs harvested as the basis rather than the 20-0 system used in this part of the world.

As I have said on this blog before the scenarios act as an inbuilt comp system requiring you to make concessions in your list if you want to be competitive across a range of scenarios. Removing scenarios betrays an inability or unwillingness to adapt. So your game is ruined because two units rolled a '1" on Meeting Engagement - spread your risk by having more units. You dont like the potentially unstandard deployment of Dawn Attack - deploy your most important units first.

To the outsider it looks like a reluctance to adapt or an unwillingness to think pn your feet. Throughout history there are numerous examples of Generals having to make battle in less than ideal circumstances. To me scenarios create rather than diminish the probability that you find the better general. And if you lose you can always say you were shafted by the scenario.

The other complaint regularly being voiced is how boring units of 40 Bloodletters are. Well putting aside the fact that the Daemon player probably finds it no more boring than facing 6 dice "Flesh to Stone" or "Okram's Mindrazor", I'm struggling to see how removing scenarios will do anything other than encourage those builds. One of the problems they face is removed and replaced with certainty.

Now as I said I really rate the views of those on Heelanhammer and big ups to them for their efforts in organising the SCGT but on this occasion I can't help but feel they've got it wrong.

Two New 40k Purchases and some Fantasy Terrain

Just picked up two brand new Forgeworld Greater Daemons for my 40k armies.

My Death Guard is going to have the pleasure of this guy joining their ranks.



And the Emperor's Children will be reinforced with this little lady.



These were picked up off the local Trade Me for 70% of their UK Forgeworld price. I'm pretty happy at getting hold of them.

I'm pretty confident painting the Big Guy but knowing my limitations I've had the Keeper sent to my son Jack and suggested he might like to paint it :-) We'll see!

So the two Traitor Legions will both be fielding Summoned Daemons shortly. God knows what a Rhino looks like if he turns up inside!

I've also received Tabletop World's Merchant's House and Well. The model was very easy to put together and is next on the painting table. Here is the model from their website.



Want to have this on the table for Runefang IV.

Seerlord Morskitta

Recently I built the Screaming Bell kit and I thought I'd take the opportunity to have a second Seerlord model.

I wanted to have a model I could use on the Bell but also put directly into units when needed. The plastic kit comes with a Seer and if you buy a Furnace as well then you have a spare model anyway.

One of the things I wanted to achieve was to capture the essence of a slightly deranged despot extolling his troops to greater and greater insidious acts. The basic model fits this pretty well but I made a couple of changes.

First, the hand holding the bell was replaced by the ringed hand from a Stormvermin champion. This allows the model to be pointing backwards and gives the impression that he is screeching at some indignity.

Second, I put him up on a rocky pedestal so he towers over his minions. However in keeping with the image I was trying to create he is perched forward almost in a state of apoplexy.

I like the finished model - I still need to tidy up some highlighting - as I think it really captures the demented individual I think a Skaven Grey Seer is.







I like the way it has turned out. What do you think?

List Building 101 - Know Your Play Style

One of the great things about wargaming, as opposed to Chess, is the ability to tailor your force as you see fit. Over the past thirteen years I have played a number of different games - DBM, Warhammer 40k, Flames of War, Warhammer Fantasy and Field of Glory. Each system allows you to build the army you want within a given series of parameters and fit it to your own style of play.

So how do you go about it?

Well I can only give you my own thoughts but let's see if they make any sense.

Know Your Play Style

Games differ but generally strategy and tactics don't. One thing that I have noticed over the time I've been playing since coming back to wargaming in 1998, is that I prefer an army with ranged capacity backed by counterpunching assault troops. In all genres I've played I have found that I have done best with that type of army.

DBM - Early Samurai
Warhammer 40k - Emperor's Children and Ulthewe
FoW - German Panzer Grenadiers
Fantasy - Wood Elves and Skaven

This doesn't mean that I can only play these armies (I've had success with other builds) but I do know that these types of armies complement the way I like to play. Interestingly Warhammer Fantasy more than most other games allows you to build an army that fits this style pretty much regardless of the race (Ok VC/WoC can't shoot but magic can fill that void).

There are other playstyles e.g. solid combat focus, gunline, avoidance, death of 1000 cuts etc) and it is important to find what suits you. I know people that could no more play a cagey avoidance game than I could pole vault at the Olympics and if they want to be successful they need to learn new tricks or try a new build.



As Dwayne says "Know Your Role.....err Playstyle"

So at the outset of building a list here's the steps I'd go through:

1. Define your Objectives Is it to win games immediately or to learn to play a new style eventually? This guide is aimed primarily at the first option.

2. Identify Your Comfort Zone If you are after immediate success, what style are you most comfortable with? Be honest. Are you a ploddy Dwarf who can't leave home without 4 warmachines or a Lizard that needs clouds of skinks to inflict poisoned hell.

3. Choose Your Weapon Does your chosen race allow you to play your preferred playstyle? If not then you might need to re-think your choice.

5. Dissect the Army Book/Codex Read, read, read. Go through the book and start thinking about units that will allow you to build a list suited to your playstyle.

Next time I'll go through my process in putting together that initial list.

Conversions - Ratling Gun - WIP

One of the gaps in the new Skaven range is the Ratling Gun Weapons Team.

When I saw the new Warpgrinder I felt that I was unlikely to use that unit in the game but that it would make an excellent base model for a Ratling Gun.

Below are a few pictures of my WIP Ratling Gun.



This is a really simple conversion. All you need is the Warpgrinder team and a 40k Assault Cannon (the plastic Terminator ones - Vanilla, Dark Angels, Space Wolves etc - are best). If you can't blag one off your friends check out the numerous bits suppliers on the web.



The conversion is a simple "slice and splice". Remove the Warpstone drillbit while being careful to protect the tubes and piping then attach the stripped down assault cannon barrel. I'd recommend using a pin for extra sturdiness. If you are very keen you can drill out the cannon barrels.



After I had constructed my version I bought the new "Uniforms and Heraldry of the Skaven" book, I found great minds think alike. There on Page 34 under Clan Rictus is a picture of a Ratling Gun team which bears a striking resemblance to what I made.

So I guess I can even claim it is "historical"!

Now that it is base coated and based I'll be painting it up to the standard of the rest of the army.

Terrain in Warhammer

One of the common catch-cries when 8th Edition was released was that terrain was now meaningless. This was based on the premise that, unlike previous editions, you were no longer slowed when moving through terrain. Instead, certain troops now took dangerous terrain tests with typically a low (16%) chance of failure.

This actually worked well in my eyes. Small elite units like Chaos Knights, who had no right to get themselves caught running through difficult ground suffered while infantry were generally okay. There were other rules regarding Steadfast if caught in terrain but generally if you were on foot you were safe.

However people were correct this did make certain terrain pieces less effective in breaking up the battlefield.

Locally we quickly moved toward the use of Mysterious Terrain. All woods were mysterious rolling on the Mysterious Forests table on Pg 119. This meant that 5 out of 6 woods had an effect - which is what you'd expect in a land of Fantasy Battles! Similarly any rivers are Mysterious Rivers (Table on Pg 120).

For other terrain pieces (primarily Hills and Marsh) we have been using the Random Terrain Chart on Pg 142 to determine what effects the piece has. That means 50% of the hills have an additional characteristic and 100% of Marshland. Marshland in particular can be brutal for Monsters.

Buildings have been left largely alone as they already have important in-game consequences.



A Lone Skaven Slave Exits The Building

The effect of all this has been to mix up battlefields and consequently the games without at any stage overwhelming the scenario. This is great from a variety point of view and presents unique challenges to your army build. Suddenly you may find that the quickest way to your objective is not necessarily in a straight line, woods are not the safe haven you expected and your Monster really shouldn't have tried to go through that marsh to get the archers who were shooting him.

I really recommend using the terrain rules to add another layer of consideration to your games.

Skaven 2000 Point List

Here's a Skaven list I'm looking to trial ahead of Runefang IV. It is quite different from other lists I've run in that it is totally devoid of Clan Eshin and Clan Skryre.

That means it has no shooting in the list (apart from the Censer on the Furnace).

Grey Seer
Screaming Bell
Earthing Rod
Ruby Ring

Plague Priest
Plague Furnace
Flail
Dispel Scroll
Rival Hide Talisman
Ironcurse Icon

Chieftain
BSB
Shield
Storm Banner

25 Clanrats
Full Command
Shield

25 Clanrats
Full Command
Shield

25 Clanrats
Full Command
Shield

40 Skavenslaves
Musician

40 Skavenslaves
Musician

35 Skavenslaves
Musician

25 Plague Monks
Full Command
Banner of the Underempire

Hell Pit Abomination

So what do you think? Lots and lots of warm bodies. Two offensive weapons.

I think it will be fun to play with and against? Am I right?

Wargaming Smallmindedness

One thing that wargaming never seems to be short of is bitching, whining and petty jealousies. I guess that part of it is a reflection of the passion people put into their hobby but a big part seems also to be that wargamers as a whole are a mal-adjusted lot (obviously yours truly excepted).

Saw another example of it over the weekend at the Auckland Battlecry tournament. One of the locals Charlie St Clair (Proximity on a lot of forums) took up his Orks to compete in the 40k tournament. Now Charlie is a competitive gamer and has played the army to death. I'm guessing that he must have played over 300 games with it in the past 2-3 years. And he wins tournaments - as you would expect if you've put that much time and effort in on top of being an excellent gamer. Clearly Charlie is the best 40k player in Australasia having been ranked #1 in NZ the last three years and having been NZ Master two out of the three times it has been run.

Charlie is not your typical WACC gamer. His armies are painted beautifully - see his Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children in The Warhammer Forum Glass Cabinet's Hall of Fame - he is a nice guy to play scoring high sports (which against the backdrop of his record is a real tribute) though he does take tuned armies (as 99% of successful players do). He is always helpful to both people he knows and also strangers - in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he ran a homeless shelter for sick kids in his spare time. You get the picture - credit to the hobby.

Prior to the weekend there were stories circulating that a group of players were trying to get his army vetoed - not because it was too hard but because he had won too many tournaments with it. Then at the event he plays six games and scores 88/90 Battle Points, the next highest being around 72. The results are read out and Charlie has finished 2nd, the first place getter coming through on a better comp score.

Now his finishing second is not my snitch. The TO obviously decided how he was going to award comp - as his his right - and decided that the disadvantage the other player had in list strength relative to Charlie was large enough to get him over the line.

My beef was with the reported response of the other players. When Charlie's name was called as 2nd there was a loud cheer. This apparently was clearly not a "Well Done on Second" cheer but rather a "Ha! We glad you didn't win" cheer. Now this is truly sad and a real testimony that Tall Poppy syndrome is alive and well. Rather than try and get better people would prefer to see somebody fail (through 88/90 BPs, full Sports, 19/20 for painting and Second is hardly failure). Some people need to question their motivation when they get enjoyment from such an instance.

If you can't beat someone, don't denigrate their efforts....Next Time Play Better!

Runefang Campaign Weekend is All Go

As of yesterday I had a couple of spots left which means hopefully before the weekend it is all full.

Getting very excited - more terrain to paint in anticipation.

Get Ready for Photos

Currently between jobs, new role starts at end of the month. So....I'm going to build a light box and get some photos up.

On the painting desk I have more Skaven (New Gutter Runners, Weapons Teams, Characters), Tabletop's Town House and the last of my Mongols arrived yesterday.

Watch this space!

Update Just ordered a light box on eBay which is delivered to NZ for the princely sum of $30 NZD (USD/AUD 24). So you'll need to wait a couple of days!

Tomb Kings - Tahrir Is Not the Only Revolution It Seems!

A major surprise from GW last night – notification of new Tomb Kings in May.

The shock wasn’t that they were being revised – they are the oldest current book – but how fast they are coming to market. There is only a gap of two months between March’s Orcs & Goblins and new Tomb Kings (As an aside Jack was kicking the cat this morning has he had May marked for the second wave of Dark Eldar).

So GW do a swerve job on us.

Things I’ll be watching for in the upcoming release:

• How will incantations work in a true 8th Ed book

• Will the Tomb King Light Chariots be beefed up now that Goblin Wolf Chariot units are in play and hit harder or will they stay as form of Fast Cavalry

• What big Monster are we going to get – recent history suggests we’ll get something – perhaps some sort of animated statue like a sphinx or jackal god.

• Magic items – more than 8? I can name eight that they’d want to keep – Chariot of Fire, Flail of Skulls, Destroyer of Foes, Icon of Rakeph, Banner of the Undying Legion, Cloak of Dunes, Brooch of the Desert and the item that let’s you transfer a wound on a 4+

• What points reduction will we see for skeleton infantry – and will there be enough of a difference so you take close combat troops over the now ubiquitous archers

The Tomb Kings were my first army. I hope that they give them enough love for me to get them down from the shelf.

Life is a Box of Chocolates

Yesterday I had one of those games where you have a series of choices; you take one and immediately know it is the wrong one.

I was playing Tim our local WoC player and had spent 5 successful turns feeding his Chosen Funbus – 3+ Wd, Stubborn, Extra Attack – a total of 97 points to keep them out of the game. It was bottom of Turn 5 and I had a unit of Slaves fighting Khorne Marauders. This was the second unit I had fed in but they gave me the opportunity to shoot, magic etc into the combat and whittle them down from 50 to 6.

I had a Catapult and an Engineer in front of the Chosen and took the opportunity to move them away – wrong move! And I knew it immediately. It exposed the flank of the slave unit to a charge by the Funbus.

In Turn 6 Tim went in and took out the Slaves and as a result was able to overrun (just) into the flank of my Stormvermin. In my Turn 6 these were beaten and were run down by the Chosen.

So that one mistake cost 682 points turning at worse a draw into a loss. However even in my last turn I could have rescued the situation. I had the opportunity to clip the SV/Chosen combat with some Clanrats which would have given me Steadfast for that unit meaning that the Stormvermin couldn’t be pursued.

So the big lesson here is that you need to watch and be aware whether a train of events can be set in place. Also be aware that fleeing at end of the game is okay (as long as you aren’t run down).

This was another fun game that demonstrated the Skaven’s unpredictability.
• The HPA went down to a Fireball Turn 1
• My Engineer with the Condensor got off Warp lightning Turns 1 & 2 only to roll a “1” each time killing himself. On the flipside he shot the Doomrocket in his one shooting phase killing 19 Marauders.
• My Ratling Gun mis-fired spinning around and killing a nearby Doomflayer.
• The Warp Lightning Cannon decided on Turn 2 that it had had enough and exploded.
• A fleeing Engineer rallies on a single test of 5

I love Skaven!! You never know what you’ll get!!! Truly the army for us Forrest Gumps of the world.

Tabletop World's Abandoned Factory

Mid last year I bought the Tabletop World's Abandoned Factory and painted it up. I've had the pictures sitting on my camera for awhile so I thought it was time to post them.







The model was a joy to put together and to paint. I'm tossing up whether to fill it with straw as a "nest" for my Skaven. I'm really happy with the tiles and the boilers. I think they've come up really well.

Just after Xmas I received Tabletop World's new Merchant's Town House. I'm going to paint that up in the next few weeks.

This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

One of the most interesting things to common out of the early sightings of the new O&G book is that there are only eight magic items….yes, that’s right eight! The comment has also been that they appear quite expensive.

Now this is interesting….no, trust me it is.

The biggest balance problems to come up in the game over the past 2-3 years relate to Army Book magic items…..Dark Elves – Ring of Hotek/Pendant, Daemons – Siren Song, Vampires – Drakenhof Banner, Skaven – Storm Banner, Lizards – Slaan’s silly power (okay, this is the exception because they are not items) etc. You get the picture.

GW gives us a big list of magic items in each book and within two weeks we’ve broken them. As you mum used to say “That’s why you can’t have nice things!!”

Now I might be giving GW too much credit here but perhaps they’ve recognised this. The problems come when the myriad of possibilities for combining a zillion items are tested. Things that were never playtested emerge and are very quickly on the net. Suddenly the game is broken. And this is repeated with each new book.

So limiting the number of unique items limits these possibilities and means that the things they tested are the way the army plays on the table.

Is it limiting for players? Yes and no. Yes, creativity is limited when designing things. However if one thing shines out then suddenly it becomes the norm and before you know it the top six tables at the UKGT have Bloodthirsters facing their own board edge at deployment.

I’m interested to see whether this is the new norm. If it is perhaps we’ll see a lot more internal balance in the game.

The Importance of the Orc & Goblin Book

A couple of weeks ago I said that I thought that GW had done the right thing waiting to release the first 8th Edition Army Book. They were able to use the intervening time to attempt to iron out the crinks and creases (glaring holes if you are on the other side of “The Sundering”) in the existing books and new BRB.

Well I think I’m just about over that! With the announcement of the Orc & Goblin release and the information that found its way to the net in the last 24 hours, I can honestly say that this new book is overdue. One of the best things about a new release is it changes the meta-game, forcing other armies to adapt. Here it becomes a breath of fresh air.

My fervent wish is that the O&G book places the army among the top tier of armies – in both a comped and uncomped environment – which causes other armies to react. It has been over 16 months since an army book did this – Skaven – though admittedly only Beastmen has been released since then.

GW needs to follow this up with two further new books in the next six months – Tomb Kings and Brets would be nice – so the landscape is significantly changed. This is a balancing act though. Nobody wants the 2007/08 situation where there was a sea change in power with the release of VCs-Daemons-Dark Elves. These three books rendered most other builds redundant. Rather what is required is for new books to collapse the power tier structure with all armies being at a similar level. Yep, I know a Nirvana, Utopia etc…a bit like responsible socialism or caring capitalism.

So here’s hoping that O&G are strong….but not too strong. And that there is no default build. If GW have achieved that then I’ll be a happy punter.

New Orcs & Goblins Up on Advance Order

The new Orcs & Goblins are up for Advance Order and paint me a little underwhelmed. The new Giant Spider (below) is a fantastic looking kit but the rest are really blaaaah! The Savage Orcs appear really bland. Hopefully things look better in the real life.

The other talking point is GW's move to a hardback Army Book. As somebody who has felt motivated for the past two years to spiral bind all my books I see this as an admission by GW that there has been a problem with the paperback books - and that this problem can't be fixed easily/economically.

However this is all surface detail. i'm really keen to see what Jeremy Vetock has done with the rules. I obviously loved his work with the Skaven and have faith that he will have captured the essence of the Greenskins.

Rumours should start to trickle out as people open the black boxes.

The Dirty Reform & The Building - An Inconvenient Truth?

A couple of weeks ago I talked about the 8th edition rules I’d change if I had a stint of Work Experience at Games Workshop.

The rule that gives me the shits the most at the moment is the Dirty Reform. This is particularly annoying when it is used to get around the restriction on being able to march into a building.

Effectively a unit does a Swift Reform followed by a Normal Move. In the first instance it forms a long thin column around its centre and then it moves a normal move. The only restriction on the first part is that no model moves more than twice its normal move during the reform. However this combined with a normal move allows a model to move up to three times its normal move (without marching). Of course this requires a Leadership Test but with a BSB close by you are likely to get the necessary roll.

The move is perfectly legal under the rules but I don’t believe that it was ever the intention of the rules writer (Matt Ward) to put a restriction on marching into buildings and leave and avenue for an even greater entry distance.

This “ability” has an enormous impact on at least one of the scenarios – presumably a sixth of the games – The Watch Tower.

I’m really hoping that GW addresses this in an upcoming FAQ, at least prohibiting a unit that has done a Swift Reform from entering a building in the same turn. Until they do I try to make sure that people are aware of the rule so that there are no surprises with resultant bad feeling. I can’t remember doing it myself but I’ve had no problem with other players doing it given that it is legal.

As an aside this shows the benefits of having people beta-test your rules before they are released. Let’s say GW have 10 people testing the rules and they play 200 games of the final version between them. I’m pretty sure you’ll have 100x that number of games played by the hoi polloi in the first fortnight after release. And these issues will emerge pretty quickly – different set of eyes, unscrupulous bastards etc.

Who Says Old Dogs Can't Learn New Tricks?

For Xmas I got a Kindle e-Reader from Amazon. There are lots of comparable products such as the Kobo, Sony e-Reader etc, even the iPad. Since I got it I think I’ve purchased and read 10+ books.

Apart for being really good to read books (especially for tired old eyes), it has the ability to read pdfs. This makes it great for the wargamer. I have loaded all the GW FAQs, Army Book and Rulebook pdfs onto my Kindle. They are there at the touch of a button. And because the kindle is so slim (it fits easily into the front pocket of my gaming bag) I can take it along with me when I play.

In addition to this, most tournaments are now publishing their Players Packs as pdfs so you can upload the pack onto your Kindle and have it with you without needing to print it out. You then have all the relevant scoring info, VP charts and schedule at your beck and call.

Finally, Army Builder 3 gives you the ability to publish your lists as pdfs. You can now upload your list to your Kindle in “Tournament Format” or as a full list with all characteristics etc. Again, a great way to cut down on all the paper you need to carry around and generally forget to print out.

The Scourge of God

For those of you who don’t know, I started my wargaming as a historical wargammer. From the beginning my love was Ancients. The rules in use when I started were Wargames Research Group (WRG) 6th Edition.

When I started in the mid-70s my gaming interest was driven by my historical interests and I was fascinated by Genghis Khan and the Mongol army. They created an empire that covered most of the known world in under half a century. Gaming wise they were pretty crap….but it was the army I wanted to play. New Zealand in the 1970s had draconian foreign exchange regulations and you had to line up at the Post Office to buy a postal order. The most you could buy was two pounds per day. There were very few Mongol models on the market so I decided to make my own models from Airfix US Cavalry based on an article on creating the Mongol army in “Battle” magazine – I still have the article. It involved using plasticine and hardening it with Banana Oil (no Green Stuff then). They were horrific.

My folks went on a trip to the UK and I managed to talk them into picking me up a 15mm Mongol Army from Mike’s Models. I painted it up and thought they were the dog’s bollocks. It was the only army I keep when I left the hobby for 15+ years.

When I got back the WRG rules had gone through a 7th Edition and moved onto DBM. I pulled my 15mm Mongols out and they were crap – but I loved the DBM rules. For two years I played enormous numbers of DBM games, painted and used 10+ 15mm armies which culminated with me taking my Early Samurai to the New Zealand Nationals in 2000. I managed to win that competition and straight after I started playing 40k.

In the intervening years I’ve had very few games of Ancients but I have never lost the love. Over the ten years I’ve bought two new 25mm armies, Early Vikings (which I had painted) and Mongol Conquest (which I painted myself). Neither had seen the table top. DBM has now gone and the Ancient world has splintered in Field of Glory and DBMM. I was a beta-tester for FOG but very quickly I learned it was very much a game of points denial and that unless I was very foolish I could almost guarantee myself no worse than a small loss – Dominate Romans 19 BGs for those who wish to know.

Locally the 25mm gamers are an “older” bunch but they were playing DBMM rather than FOG. Not surprisingly these rules are based on DBM and are newly into their second edition. I was downstairs last week and saw my three 25mm armies, I also have Patrician Romans (effectively end of the Empire) and decided that I wanted to give them a run on the table.

I located a set of the rules and lists and set about making up my army. The first thing that struck me was how appalling the presentation is. I’ve been spoiled by GW. Secondly, they are written in “legalese”. If you know WRG then you know Phil Barker. He really is the Godfather of historical rules, but a sentence isn’t a sentence unless it has at least five clauses in it. The bullet point certainly past him by! I tried reading them but…well I just can’t. I’ve decided to learn by osmosis……however you can bet the term “rules lawyer” was invented with this in mind.

The other big difference is that there is no Composition. There are lists with minima and maxima in it based on historical sources. You make the best list you can from within those constraints.

So over the weekend the Mongols came upstairs and were re-touched and highlighted ready for their debut. I’m hoping to get them on the table in little under two weeks when once again the Steppes will thunder with the sound of Mongol ponies.

More on Runefang

Well the idea of a Campaign Weekend Tournament seems to have gone down well. Half the places are gone and I haven’t written the Players Pack (I’ll get onto that this evening).

I’m really hoping this type of event takes off and provides an outlet for a lot of players to broaden their armies. One of the ways that I am hoping to encourage the narrative of these events is to have future campaigns linked to the previous ones – and I give those that have attended first go at tickets for the next one 

A number of the rules that I am looking at for the event are:

• No Double Rares (unless 2:1) – and Rare % limited to 20% (400 points)
• No Double Specials (unless 2:1)
• Core % = minimum of 30% (600 points)
• No unit (including Command, Banners, Magic Items etc) over 350 points
• Warmachines limited to a maximum of three (2:1 count as single choice)

The intention here is to increase the emphasis on Core and/or units you do not usually see. Given that the aim is fun rather than crushing your opponent, it may give people the impetus to build and paint that new unit that may have seemed sub-optimal. Who knows you may find an uncut diamond?!

I’m looking at doing a similar event for 40k in May/June.

"Runefang" Campaign Weekend

As mentioned previously on this blog, 2011 is going to be the year I try something different with my gaming. Over the past 6-7 years I have run between 5-10 events a year – all standard tournaments.

This year I wanted to try something a little different and so I’m going to attempt to run a number of Campaign Weekends. The point of these events will not be so much about the winning and losing but more so about have some fun over the course of two days.

The first of these “Runefang” is going to be run on the weekend of 16/17 April here in Wellington. It will be limited to 18 people who will be split into six teams of three people by the Umpire. Over the course of the weekend those teams will battle for part of the Old World through five campaign turns. The campaign rules will be relatively simple based around the Mighty Empires campaign.

To participate players will need a painted 2000 point army (and a sense of fun).

The key to this event is the narrative – the chance to settle scores and create new ones.

If you think that you might be interested in participating then drop me a line.

A Players Pack will be available in the next couple of weeks.