ETC Wood Elves Comp Confirmed

• Non character model with Asrai longbow, max 90 
• Hagbane tips/Trueflight arrows/Waywatchers(counts as 2)/Waystalker (counts as 5), max 60 
• Lore of death on spellweaver/moonstone of the hidden ways/3 or more Waystalkers, max 1 
• 8 or more Sisters of the Thorn in the same unit/Spellweaver on Elven Steed with Death or Dark magic, max 1 
(• Forests placed by wood elf player can be magical)

Painting Desk - Free to a Good Home

If any local is interested in a free painting desk do i have a deal for you.

Multi-shelved, one on runners and the whole unit on casters.

All you have to do is pick it up. Otherwise off to the dump.

Freaking Sharks with Freaking Lasers on Their Heads

Sorry, I've been quiet over the past few days that's a combination of recovering from the boredom that is ETC Skaven abd because on Tuesday I had my eyesight corrected by laser surgery.

There's not much I can do about the first - other than will the next two months of gaming to be over - but the second has been "eyeopenning".

No need for glasses or contacts and because I took the blended vision I can see at distant and up close for painting and reading.

Morskitta at Horned Rat VII

I took my Skaven to Horned Rat trying out one of the various builds I'm considering for the ETC later in the year.

The event used ETC rules, comp and terrain maps. I was keen to get five tough games to start to refine my skills as a blocker or "furry dwarf".

Game 1 - Peter Williamson (Wood Elves)

The game was going swimmingly well and looking like a 15-5 as Morskitta engaged cruise control on the Bell. Obviously he hit the wrong button as very quickly he lurched forward and was knocked down by Wild Riders and somebody did something very very wrong. One minute pleasant countryside and the next 1945 Hiroshima.

I made two mistakes in this game. I came a little to close to some Wild Riders who got a long charge in and killed the Seer. More importantly, I rolled three dice on the Bell - after engaging myself in conversation as to why I didn't have to nor should I. But I did and I rolled Triple Six for the fourth time in 4 years.

Over the last three turns I held things together to salvage a solid loss.

Loss 6-14

Game 2 -Raymond Dick (Beastmen)

Ray at 2700 points and a lot of chaff units. These were to act as a delivery system for a Ghorgon, Doombull on Carpet and a character bus. Unfortunately he went first and I was able to hit his army as they moved over terrain.

I didn't lose much and picked up points through for a solid win

Win 16-4

Game 3 - Glen Burfield (Daemons of Chaos)

The key thing in this game was that I was able to ground - for the full game - Glen's flying units. This allowed me to dictate the pace of the game and once I had removed the Horrors with Gateway I start to pick up consistent points.

Win 18-2

Game 4 - Tim Joss (Dark Elves)

Lost the Doomrocket to a misfire and blew up my Plagueclaw. That was the only points Tim got. I got nothing as we cagily disengaged one another.

I suspect this battle was typical of ETC. Five rolls on Bell to try and get Deafening Peals all failed. Even if it had gone off it would still have been a draw.

Draw 10-10

Game 5 - Joel van De Ven-Long (Empire)

Pretty much my worst possible match up. Three cannons (one on tank) plus Level 4 Life backed by Level 1 Fire. All of this plus a knight bus that approached 1200-1300 points (not including bonuses). It was both ITP and had MR3.

I made two mistakes in this. One re movement of Bell first turn. Second was taking a shot with WLC to kill last remaining knight from 5 man unit. Of course cannon blew up.

My Seer survived one Dwellers but HPA got shot by cannon after retreating from fireball. I picked up cannons for Gutter Runners and then reduced knight bus below 25%. Joel tried four times to re grow but I blocked all attempts.

In the end I was slightly up.

Draw 10-10

In the end I finished 6th on 60 BPs. The army lacks tools to win big but is very thrifty in giving up points. Over the weekend most of the points I gave away were from misfires or - in the case of game one - because of the bell.

I am getting better and after that first game switched into a risk averse ETC mode. I was really happy to get a draw with Joel as that matchup is at best a 3-4 points to me. Against Tim I think on another given day I'd work out an 11-12 win as my army is good counter to his.

Really happy I got five good games that allowed me to start channelling my inner dwarf. I controlled an aggressive urges in the main after the unfortunate incident with the Bell.

By September I am going to be so over this!

Posted with Blogsy

FOB Warhammer Rankings - updated for Horned Rat VII

The Reign of Terror is over.

We have a new #1 with Dan Butler toppling the pretender from the throne. He also picks up the Warriors of Chaos icon.

No other movement in Top 10 but icons galore have swapped hands. Stuart Robinson has lost the WoC but gained Beastmen, Sam Whitt secured Tomb Kings, Tim Joss has Dark Elves and McCrae Loudon has the Dwarf icon. Neil Williamson now owns The Changeling.

Well done to all....especially Dan.

Horned Rat VII Results

Over the weekend Horned Rat VII was held in Wellington. The event was 5 rounds, 2400 points using the latest ETC comp, rules and maps.

Twenty six people participated after two had to unfortunately drop due to illness.

Here are the results:

Best Sport: Alix Barclay

Best Presented:

1. Charlie Lloyd ( Dark Elves )
2. Dan Butler ( Warriors of Chaos )
3. Pete Dunn ( Skaven )

A big thanks to Charlie St Clair for giving up the weekend to umpire the event.

Please use the comments section to provide any feedback.

Horned Rat Top Five

So it's time to pick the Top 5 for Horned Rat VII. I've been through the list and to be honest there is anyone of 10 that could make the podium. However people want tough calls and where do you go if you want a tough call....that's right.....Fields of Blood.

#5 - Joel van der Ven-Long (Empire)

Seriously this guy is a chronic under performer. You take the best army, you take the weakest comp, you search the net, you pop 27 Valium and you play. However in Joel's case, you fail. Continually. Not once, not twice but 15+ times over three years.

Just like a room full of monkeys with typewriters will eventually write the "Complete Works of William Shakespeare", Joel will one day get a podium with Empire. I'm not going to miss out.

 #4 - Jeff Kent (Orcs & Goblins)

The anti-meta meta army. If you can't take Tetto then you can't take Lizards. Full stop, end of story, according to Jeff. As a serving soldier Jeff is conditioned to only consider one concept at a time. Eat now, March now, vanguard now, cast comet now etc.

So it's back to O&G. Well actually it is back to Green Dwarfs. More artillery than the Soviet advance on Berlin, a single spell....it's a match made in Heaven for the quartermaster from north Horrorwhenua

#3 - Hamish Gordon (Empire)

Skaven - too much head thinking

WoC - too weak since the new book came out

So where does Moneyball Gordon go? Straight to Empire.

See breakdown of tactics on the net....here's a glimpse. Cast Banishment, shoot cannons, charge Demigryphs. Rinse and repeat for six turns

If he doesn't make the podium, there's always Warmachine.

#2 - Tim Joss (Dark Elves)

Most of you are lucky. You don't have access to the NZ ETC forum. If you did you'd get an appreciation of just how weak Dark Elves are. especially in an ETC environment. Tim tells us continually.

I suggested that he might like swap and take another army and he sprang up to an overhanging rock clutching his Dark Elf book

" You must not touch my precious".

Tim, to his credit, will now concede that Dark Elves could be as high as lower-middle tier, if they had Skulcrushers or Demigryphs as a Core choice.

#1 - Dan Butler (Warriors of Chaos)

The heavy lifter of the NZ ETC team. Mr Smashmouth. Dan is the Mark Geyer (look it up kids) of the NZ team.

We'll see him leave a trail of destruction through this field as he ties down first by 10am Sunday morning.

There is no subtlety in the list. Just get the number of the truck before the game.

The rest of us are there to make up numbers. Oh, I know Sam Whitt and Peter Williamson fancy their chances - especially after 15 weeks of Universal Battle But they have no more chance than the rest of us. Their Top 5 chances all revolve around late round chump bashing.

Posted with Blogsy

Twenty Hills Completed

So having started on Saturday afternoon, I have managed to finish the twenty new hills for Horned Rat VII (and future FOB events).

The hills are constructed of 2" thick foamcore and so will block LOS even if we are not playing ETC rules.

All of the hills are flocked and ready to go - 6 Frozen North, 6 Khemri Desert and 8  Rolling Dales.

Desert "Hills" (Dunes?) Finished

The first set of three hill types was finished last evening.

These are the desert hills (or dunes if you prefer). They will no doubt find a home on my Khemri tables alongside impassable Sphinxii, oasis and the like.

WHFB Scenery Removed?

I was checking out the GW site last evening and noticed something interesting - a lot of the WHFB scenery is missing.

Thinking it might be just a local phenomena I checked the UK site and it wasn't there either.

So what items are missing?

Chapel, Watch Tower, Skull Vane Manse, the two Citadel hills and the Temple of Skulls hill.

Bizarre. I wonder what has inspired that? Website incompetence or product withdrawal?

"New" Warhammer 40k

Over the weekend I read the "great news" in my White Dwarf Weekly about the new version of 40k and also cruised some forums.

The first thing I noticed was that this is not "7th Edition". Even GW have sufficient shame not to try and sell a new."number" so close to the release of the last one. However not enough shame to sell me a digital copy of the 40k rules the week before Adepticon ( but as I always say "The Weak Must Be Punished").

I have a strong feeling that over time this will get branded "Warhammer 40k Unbundled" and the next edition - hopefully not in two more years - will become 7th.

However the funniest thing I found was the optimism around "Unbound Armies" on the forums extended to the novel concept that people would self-regulate.

Are you f#%king mad? If you believe that then I have a bridge to sell you.

FOB Warhammer Fantasy Rankings - Updated for Canopenner

Canopenner was run over the weekend in Auckland. This was a five round one dayer  and attracted 18 people.

John Willenbruch took it out with Vampire, James Cardno was 2nd with Daemons and Glen Tibbles was 3rd with Warriors.

Half the field had not previously been to a ranked event and the organisers deserve plaudits for their efforts in growing the tournament community. Hopefully we'll see these people at future Auckland events.

The rankings have been updated to include the results.

Interestingly no icons changed hands but we have seen James Cardno enter the Top 10 for the first time this year. John, Glen and Nick Munn are now all established in the Top 20.

James Brown remains the lowest ranked Kiwihammer host.

Terrainmaker

It took some guy a week to make the world. It only took me an afternoon to make twenty hills.

Stage One - Cutting the Hills

So a sheet of 2" high density foam 8' x 4' makes 20 multilevel hills. I cut then out with jigsaw , sand the edges and glue with Liquid Nails.

Stage Two - Covering the Joins

To hide the unsightly joins I PVA the crack and stick very coarse sand on. Thris creates the impression of some rockfall, making the hill more aesthetically pleasing. I've added some extra patches of rock to break up the hill.

While this is drying I'm off to GW to pick up my White Dwarf - "This is Great News".

Stage Three - Basecoats

Before I get to flock the hills I need to basecoat them to give some "background".

Of course, as is always the case, you run out of paints before they are finished. So I'm off to Resene tomorrow for some testpots of "Possessed" and "Paper Maiche".

Stage Four - Finishing the Basecoats

Restocked with the necessary paints I was able to finish the basecoats last evening. I am giving them 24 hours before I move onto the final stages.

From here it is drybrushing - Desert = Whole Hill; Snow/Meadow = Rocks and Sidefaces - and then onto flocking.

Hopefully by Monday Wednesday they'll be largely done. My aim is to have all twenty ready for Horned Rat this weekend.

The Truth About Trees

Over the past few weeks I've read the Wood Elf book, checked out blogs, listened to podcasts and watched games on Universal Battle.

All this has led me to conclude that the new Wood Elves will very quickly settle into a predominant build, or for want of a better word, a "netlist".

Why? Well the internal balance in the book isn't great. Very quickly you realise that there are choices that are far superior than others - both in points efficiency and synergistic effects.

"Don't Cry Little Elf Boy"

Oh, there's lots of talk of tricks and cunning ruses that can be played, but.....and sorry reality bites....they are points expensive, one trick ponies and a good opponent may be caught once. Very soon that cupboard will be bare.

So reconcile yourselves now little welfs. Come August you'll all be playing the same list....or returning to the bottom tables.

Oh....and Pete Tip here.....it hasn't got an Acorn in it.

Horned Rat VII Lists Released

The Horned Rat VII lists are available here

This is the first of 3-4 ETC Comp events over the next couple of months.

Nicon in Tauranga, Wrath & Ruin in Auckland and Panzershreck in Palmerston North all will give the opportunity to try out this comp system

White Dwarf Weekly

So the new WD Weekly has been going for over three months now and I thought I'd give an update on my thoughts.

I am guessing that I am in a minority in that I like it. I get that a lot see it as no more than an advertising pamphlet but in comparison to the last 24 months of White Dwarf Monthly I see it as a massive improvement.

Firstly, I like the regularity of it. With the monthly I was always left with a deflating "Is that it?" type of feeling. This was because it never really felt fresh. I'd flick through it in 5 minutes and rarely went back to it.

Some issues I still flick through rather quickly but there does appear to be more immediacy each issue.

Of course it is a pale reflection of WD a decade ago but I generally find enough in it to see me through a coffee.

Will I keep getting it? Probably. Has it inspired any add-on sales? Absolutely nada. I would far prefer it to be delivered by post but I generally pass a shop at some point over the course of a week and pick it up.

Strangely I feel I'm getting as much in a weekly as I was in the monthly - and at half the issue price (but twice the monthly outlay).

Posted with Blogsy

Horned Rat VII Race Breakdown

The list for Horned Rat have been checked and will be posted out to the participants this evening - and also up onto this site.

The race breakdown is as follows:

• Dwarfs - 6
• Wood Elves - 3
• Beastmen -3
• Warriors of Chaos - 3
• Tomb Kings - 2
• Dark Elves - 2
• Empire - 2
• Skaven - 2
• Vampire Counts - 1
• Daemons of Chaos - 1
• Orcs & Goblins - 1
• High Elves - 1
• Lizardmen - 1

The interesting thing is that approximately 25% of the field have been seduced by the lure of extra points and a similar number by Dwarfs. 

I suspect the WoC and Empire lists will fight it out. 

Battle Reporters - The Fourth Faction

What's a wargamer to do while recovering from hip replacement surgery? Catch up on all their favourite wargame channels and blogs, including this esteemed journal, of course.

While watching a video pod cast from Long Island Wargaming they talked about different kinds of gamers. Now in my day there were two types of gamers, Win at all costs and Fluff bunnies. Now the conversation seems to have gotten more sophisticated with new types of gamers emerging from behind their consoles and go down their evolutionary branches.

 The four subspecies of gamers now seem to be:

• Tournament gamers - the old WAAC gamers - people that go to tournaments to win the event 
• Social gamers - people that go to tournaments for the social interaction and to play new people 
• Aesthetics - people into the background of the game including the painting enthusiasts but with the added restriction of being consistent to the background. No armies painted up like beach boys with Hawaiian Shorts. 
• Battle reporters - People who enjoy making video logs of their battles to the extent that they change their play style or tactical decisions to make for a better story in the game. 

Battle reporters don't seem to have made it to NZ yet in significant numbers so do people think we will see more of this in the near future or are New Zealanders too staunch to publish their battles on the net?

What faction or blend of factions do people see themselves or have I got my pain medications set too high and I am completely off my rocker?

The Acorn of Ages

There has been a lot of discussion across the net and pod waves about the Acorn of the Ages and its utility. To say that it divides opinion is an understatement.

The item allows you to place D3 Citadel Woods at the start of the game. This is before deployment. The woods then scatter 2D6". These woods can be any of the types in the Mysterious Woods listing e.g. Venom Thicket, Abyssal Wood etc. It also costs 100 points. 

Pretty much all the analysis I have seen with this could best be described as rampantly optimistic. Not only has the glass been half full but in fact the overflow solved drought problems in Saharan Africa.  In the analysis you always seem to have 3 woods, they are always in the right place, your opponent is always a fool etc. 

So let's look at some of the realities:

• It is D3. To the mathematically challenged that means a third of the time you get one wood. 
• The wood scatters. Now you can theoretically control some of that scatter by placement next to other terrain but it is still variable. 
• It costs 100 points. That means only a Lord level character can have it - and if he does he is otherwise devoid of Magic Items. This in fact means it costs significantly more than 100 points because not only do you have the item cost, you have the access cost (the character) and the protection cost. By my reckoning at least you would want to be buying some MR and you will need a secondary caster to access Arcane items. 

But I hear you say....you can Moonstone from wood to wood Spirit Leeching enemy characters, teleporting then warping away. Or you can get devastating charges in rear and flank. 

And yes you can. However a lot has to go right. And most of these wildly optimistic outcomes mean that you are predicating an awful lot on your opponent not reacting or having protection of their own. 

However I would wager that 90% of the time that reality won't even begin to approach these wildly fantastic outcomes. Sure 10% of the time it will. 

For me I'd never build a game plan around those odds. Certainly - and I wait to be proved wrong - if Wood Elves do win events it won't be with the Acorn in their ranks. 

It's a gimmick and not a particularly clever choice. 

Final Week for Horned Rat VII Registrations

This week is the final deadline for Horned Rat VII registrations. Lists are due in this weekend.

Over the past week I have been doing a far amount of promotion by email and numbers have grown to 26 people - assuming all those that have said they are coming, do so.

I'm very happy with these numbers as I generally like to target 25-30 people.

People have started to submit lists and it looks like there will be a good mix - though I'm slightly concerned at a community that can contain so many Dwarf players.  Eradication procedures will need to be stepped up.

Still time to join the fun if you wish.

Warhammer 40K 7th Edition Confirmed

Read it and weep. Unbound armies......grrrrr

State of the Game

Earlier in the year there was a lot of chat that mid year would see the advent of WHFB 9th Edition. I've said that I don't think that will happen as I believe GW will take the opportunity to update the three outstanding non-8th books - Brets, Skaven and Beastmen - before a new edition. To me that means 2015.

As GW would say "This is Great News".

Upon release,  8th Edition really polarised the community. This was especially so in parts of the USA and Australia. In Oz a large part of the tournament playing community up and quit, the majority decamping to Warmachine/Hordes. The criticisms levelled was the game was too random, magic was just six dice Yahtzee etc. In the case of Australia I always felt this was a convenient excuse given the cadre of players were probably just wanting a change having focused on ETC hammer for the preceding two years and achieving 4th in 2010.

However some of the observations were valid. From 7th to 8th WHFB changed from a game where micromanagement of distances and angles was king to one where  risk assessment and management was the key skill. For some it was a change too much as invalidated all the "skills" they had honed.

We are now completing our fourth year of 8th so I thought I'd give some of my thoughts on where I think we stand.

Adepticon Recap #14 - The Washup

So that's the end of my Adepticon photos. I hope that you enjoyed seeing just a little bit of what the convention had to offer.

A month on - and away from the initial euphoria - I give you my considered thoughts on the event.

It is very very hard to put into words the magnitude of the events to outsiders. It is enormous. Staggeringly so. There aren't enough hours in the day to see everything on offer. I don't feel I even scratched the surface especially in respect to new products, demo games, alternative periods and seminars.

Before I went I had the view that I'd have plenty of time to do all I wanted. Of the four days of the convention I signed up for 3 days of competitions. In retrospect I think this was a big error. When Jack turned up on Saturday at midday it was a pretty easy decision to withdraw from the WHFB Championships and devote the time to the convention. We had a great two days checking out the various treats on show.

So what would I do if I could turn the clock back? Well I think that needs to be put in context.

The Horus Heresy event was great visually - and was a catalyst for me finishing my Death Guard - but as a competition it was pretty dire. The scenarios were too asymmetric which means the result was largely determined by the die roll for Attacker /Defender. This was amplified by poor timekeeping. However in my own particular case it made little difference to results. I hadn't played any 30k - and indeed no 40k for 1.9 editions - so my expectations were set low. However the time would have been far better spent checking out the convention. So in retrospect I wouldn't sign up again.

With Fantasy, the Teams and Championships were extremely well run and I had no complaints there whatsoever. What did strike me was the nature of the game. Prior to attending I had heard much of the difference in the game between the North East USA and the rest of the country. I had thought this was likely overstated. However now I think I have a much better understanding. In the Midwest they play No Comp but it is a different no comp than how I envisage it. While I see it as permissive, I also realise it results in harder lists - generally all muscle and no fat or gristle. In the Midwest, "No  Comp" seems to be code for "Don't Tell Me What I Can Bring". As a consequence I don't think the armies are particularly hard or honed. Certainly I think a lot of our locals playing with FOB-Lite Comp lists would have done very well - in fact Jeff Kent did. Because we are used to scenarios we are pretty adaptable and playing the scenario is pretty important. For the people of the Mid-West it seems to evolve into Blockhammer. In the first round of the Championships I played a guy with 27 Temple Guard, 47 Saurus and only 10 Skinks. It was no surprise to me that my largely Masters Skaven list maxed out in points.

With that in mind I think in future I would definitely play the Teams. I'd then toss up whether to play the Championships or perhaps one of the 1000 point events. The Championships are a big commitment as they take up half the convention time wise.  I guess it comes down to what you are looking to get out of it.

However I definitely am going again. Next year.

For those interested the castings are $2200 airfare, $500 twin share and $200-300 on food. That is for the effective 8 days that you are away. So $3000 and 6 days leave. The trip itself is pretty easy. Up to Auckland - WC USA - Chicago is 24-28 hours door to door. Jet lag was not an issue either way.

If anyone is interested in more info about the event use the "Comments" section or drop me an email.

Horned Rat - Wood Elf Comp Restrictions

With Horned Rat coming up in three weeks and lists due next week, I contacted a member of the ETC AR Com to get a feel for where they are going with the comp. To say it is currently a moveable feast is an understatement.

He provided a guide on some of the things that they are looking at and suggested that I take my lead from there.

So here is the WE comp we will be using at HR - unless a definitive comp comes out in the next 7 days:

2400 Points

• Glade Guard, Glade Riders, Scouts, Waywatchers (count as two), maximum 70
• Fast cavalry units/moonstone, max 6
• Glade Riders units max 3
• Way stalkers, max 2

Hope that doesn't upset anyone's plans

Adepticon Recap #13 - Used Models

One of the really surprising things for me at Adepticon was discovering the used model sellers. In the hall outside the 40k events was a vendor who sold virtually anything you could imagine.

All the models were organised by race and by material. They were stored in 15 litre bins.

You grab a bin and rumage to your heart's content. In the foreground you can see Jack. He is snaffling all the metal Executioners he can lay his hands on.

I didn't dare go near the Skaven bins. However I picked up a bunch of metal Tomb Guard. Of course once you leave you think of hundreds of models you should have secured.

This is a bits box junkie's idea of heaven. I know local Hagen would have had a "Nerdgasm" if he had seen it.

Next year I'm going with a list!

Slaaneshi Daemons Start to Take Shape

Last year I painted up some Slaaneshi chariots and over the past few painting nights I've been painting the steeds.

Today I based the models and over the next couple of nights I need to static grass the bases and add clump foliage. From there it is a case of painting the gems and then working on crew. I think I'll convert some Juan Diaz Daemonettes to be standing charioteers but will have to use the new plastics for riders.

Here's some photos showing current WIP state:

Adepticon Recap #12 - Brandon Palmer's Worm King

While I thought Johnny Hastings' Beastmen were technically the best painted army in the WHFB Championships, there was absolutely no doubt as to what was the best presented.

Following on from his "Egg" win in 40k, Brandon from GMM Studios produced an absolutely stunning piece to win Best Presented in Fantasy.

First of all, this display is six foot tall. It is built around a wooden chair depicted as a throne.

Mounted on the Throne is a skeleton king and front there the army takes shape.

That's a Tabletop World Coaching Inn making up part of the town.

Here you can see it in all its glory as the Worm King's army (Warriors of Chaos) moves through the town.

The quality of the freehand on this banner is incredible and so is the striking use of colour throughout the army.

Everywhere you looked on the Throne there was something new to see....and marvel at.

Brandon has created a wonderfully evocative piece with fantastic attention to detail e.g. look at the Autumn leaf litter. It's a small detail but adds to the whole scene.

Here you get some idea of the scale....and work...that has gone into this.

Perched on top is a monster dragon.

In the Worm King's hand is a tome telling the story.....brilliant.

Another shot...and suddenly there's a chapel. Staggering.

It is pieces like this that made the whole journey to Chicago for Adepticon worthwhile. I spent twenty minutes looking at the piece and I don't for a minute think I saw every detail. Because of the grandeur of the piece the army itself gets a little lost. But drill down to look at it you see it is top notch.

Creatively I don't believe I've ever seen a piece that comes close to this in scale and execution.

Enjoy!

FOB Rankings Updated - Warhammer 40k

The rankings have been updated for two events - NatCon and the Auckland Open.

This has propelled Mark Buttle back to #1 replacing David Hillier.

There has also been some changes in the Top 10 as the race to the Masters starts to take shape

Let's Talk About Dryads

So here are the headline Stats:

• WS4 S3 T4 A2 I6 6++
• Ranked
• Hatred

This for 11 points. So what do we think of them?

Well they are generally going first and have re-rolls to hit. However I wonder how much damage they will do. Let's look at something like Stormvermin as a target, sure they can hurt them.

However with any sort of armour and a Parry the Dryads quickly run into trouble. No command options they soon struggle for CR.

I'm struggling to see what role they will fill. They have no chance versus armour and at 11 points are too expensive for diverters.

What am I missing?

Sure they can be buffed but so can archers (who deliver wounds from distance). I think I'd be spending my Core on Archers.

Posted with Blogsy

Kickstarter - Custom Game Dice - You Design

While cruising Kickstarter this morning I came across Custom Game Dice.

Here you pledge and you can get some custom dice made - six faces.

It is quite cheap. I pledged at $30 which gives me 24 dice. I suspect I'll make up some Skaven Artillery Dice, some Warpstone Token dice and some infuriating Skaven dice with symbols on every side.