Getcha' Rats Here!

The bell tolls for my Skaven. Yes, after countless battles and many victories, it's time I said goodbye to the little ratmen. Since I moved recently, I've been weighing in on my collections of stuff and make decisions on what I actually use. The Skaven have been on the shelf for almost a year now and I have no desire to swing back to them. So, instead of giving away the army like I did with my Empire, I'm putting it up for sale. I want to make sure that its going to someone who is going to use it, because its a nice army.

I'll be breaking everything down here and if you are interested, you can contact me at impossibleblock (at) hotmail.com about pricing. If you want more photos of the units or characters, I can do that too. These guys are taking up space that can be used for my other interests. Priced to move here, people.

If you feel weird about money exchanges, I am looking for Eldar stuff and Space Marine stuff. If you got something I might be interested in for a trade, just shoot me an e-mail.

Everything is fully painted (including those yellow eyes) and based. I can also break up things, like the big units I can make smaller (instead of 50 rats, two units of 25, etc.). Without further ado, my Skaven:

Army wide shot (not pictured: two Doomwheels

A unit of about 20 to 25 Clanrats

30 rat block of Giant Rats of Many Colors, 4 packmaster including the Character Packmaster

Big block of 50 clanrats

Block of 24~25 Plague Monks

10 Plague Censer Bearers (these guys are awesome BTW)

My two commanders: one with an Ogre Mount, the other on a Warlitter

5 Plague Wind Globes (I think I have another 8 or so unpainted)

More character: the BSB, Rat-hound mount, and Warplock Engineer

10 Gutter Runners, converted from Plague Monks

And a Screaming Bell/Plague Furnance that's been magnetized fully

There are a few things that are not pictured: I also have two Doomwheels, a converted Warpfire Thrower, a Rattling Gun, and an pretty much a whole Island of Blood set that is un-built.

Rather than list a price, if you're interested, shoot me an offer. I'm willing to haggle. I have a price in mind but it's geared to sell so I can make space. I can also break up the sets if you just need like 5 rats for whatever reason. Contact me at impossibleblock (at) hotmail.com for more details. Thanks everybody.

The Un-Dead Post

Definitely not dead. Just busy with life, work, and the rest. I've been going through a small crisis with Fantasy and been trying to find my way through it. Doing so, I've come to a few conclusions:

1) It seems like the magic system has finally been totally dominated by Life Magic. Every time option comes up, Life is the immediate answer. Its become a crutch for players that like the instant gratification play-style. Throne goes up, 6 dice go down for Dwellers, main combat unit removed. Playing with my wood elves, I've been experimenting with Beasts. Beasts is an incredibly rewarding set, even without the top spell. Its most basic spell can turn any losing battle into a fair match. Even the old lores are good. My recent acquisition of some Vampire Counts is going to see some Fire/Vampire/Death combos flying around the board. 

2) The fun is still there, so long as the Internet sits out. The Internet is a fantastic resource for information, tactics, opinions, and character builds. My issue is when that becomes the sole resource for list building. Its a shame when you see two lizardmen players using the exact same build for their Slanns with the same gear on their Skink Priests. They just seem to be running through the numbers during play, following their guides to win without knowing what to do if the field changes. The games I've found the most rewarding are the ones where I've had to adapt a whole new strategy because my plans fell through. 

3) Purpose leads to performance. There are some awesome units in the army books that almost never get played because they are difficult to use. My opinion on this is that they're being used incorrectly. These forgotten units and heroes can add a lot of variety to the army and create interesting situations. Seeing 4 units of 10 skinks doesn't look interesting, but throw in terradon riders and a razordon unit, spice of life people. Play the units you want to play, learn where they're strong, and they will perform. Warhawk riders: I'm looking at you.

I think a lot of the problems I've had with 8th edition stem from stagnation. The group I play with are not fans of adjustments or trying new tactics without reading them on the Internet first. I decided to take a slight break from Warhammer, not playing as many games, but picked up something new to revive my love for the hobby. 

I picked up Warmachine a long time ago, but got a bad taste in my mouth after playing a game with someone who had a reputation as a power gamer. It was probably my fourth game ever, still learning the rules but my opponent agreed to play me. Needless to say, I lost. Badly. It wasn't just the loss, it was the attitude the guy had. As a new player to the group and the system, you always end up eating teeth to learn. Being a tool doesn't help new players at all. Disheartened, I put the models up on the shelf. So when I hit a slump with 8th, I looked more into some elements of Warmachine and re-read the rule book. Slowly but surely I'm figuring it out. Each game I get a little closer to the caster-kill. 

By no means am I quitting on GW games. Just taking a slight break from them to stay fresh. If you've been having some hard times with 8th, it always helps to take a breather. Focused in on some painting projects, like my new Vargwulf. Maybe I'll post up some of the Warmachine stuff I've been painting. Until then, kick back a bit and watch the leaves turn colors.

NoVA Open Report

Hey hey, everyone. A bit late coming off of the weekend of the Open, but here's the rundown of my experience. I went in with my Lizardmen ready for an uphill fight. I wanted to win at least half my games on Saturday, but depending on my draws, I was ready to be fed a steady diet of my own teeth all day.

Here's the gist of what I brought:
Slann - Lore of Life, Cupped Hands, BSB - Banner of Eternal Flame, Loremaster (I forget the real name of the Discipline), Becalming Cognition, Magic Resistance (3)

Skink Priest - Level 2, Cloak of Feather, Plaque of Topek

Skink Chief - Ancient Steggadon, Steggadon War-Spear

Core choices were 2 x Saurus Blocks of 20 with full command, 22 skinks with banner and muso. along with 2 kroxigors, and a small 10 man skink unit with blowpipes

Specials looked like 17 temple guard with full command, razor standard and the mask of EEE! on the champ, 3 Terradons, 6 chameleon skinks. I only took 2 sallys for rares.

I felt pretty confident with my list, because I had been testing it a lot. Worked in some solid blocks with annoying units while trying not to do a lot of repeats.

Game 1 - Chaos Demons: First time I had played against demons in the new edition. If someone told you that Demons got nerfed in the new edition, someone lied to you. The guy brought a pretty balanced list, which I was glad about. The Masque - definitely the MVP. I had a chance to charge her in the first turn with my steggadon. 2D6+1 impact hits would have settled that out-right, but I whiffed the charge. Needed a 6 to make it, rolled a 3 (nice going, Jeff-Rey). From there on, I could not make a leadership test to save my life. Chain panics and the Masque making thing complicated doomed me. Overall though, I had a great time playing against my opponent, Josh. He had a gorgeous jungle themed army, and we were both in the right mood for the first game. Result: Loss

Game 2 - Wood Elves: I was looking forward to this match, because not only did I just transfer from Woodies to Lizardmen but my opponent also brought strips of steak for each of his matches. Best Hangover fix: Warhammer and steak. I challenge you to find a better one. The game was pretty back and forth for a while. The Wood Elf movement phase is just as impressive as it was before. The climax of the game was when I flank charged a 38 block of archers with three heroes in it. If I could crack it, it'd be game over. My temple guard did what they could. All three heroes make-way, fend me off, then re-set for the next attack. Moving at the speed of "elf" is no joke. They might be a little stringy, but when they squeak something like 13 attacks through, best give respect. He also showed me a really crazy way of equipping an eagle riding lord with Eternal Guard stance, maybe a post for a later date cause that guy can hold it down. Result: Loss

Game 3 - Orcs and Goblins: This was one of the weirder match-types: Fortitude Points. If you hit 3 or lower, game over immediately. You count your banners, BSB, and the general counts as 2. I had about 6, my opponent had 9. The winner was determined by who had the best ratio at the end. This was the first time against a Savage Orc boy list. There wasn't too much to comment on this one except that went the TG's pick on a weaker unit while they have the regen spell up, its not even funny. I managed to get my Skink Priest behind a unit and pushed it almost into the TG's with Wind Blast. Wind Blast is a really underrated spell. Getting units out of position is a great advantage. I broke Grimgor Ironhide's unit twice with some combo charges and both times he got away. I ended up winning by chewing up his night goblin unit which had a BSB (2 points) and 2 more of his Savage Boys. By the end, I had 5 of 6 remaining, he had 5 of 9. Result: Win

Game 4 - Lizardmen: Its a cold-blooded grudge match, people. We both had really similar builds with only slight variations. He brought two steggs, I had one; I brought a Level 2 priest, he didn't have one; he brought more chameleons and I had my TG's. My opponent had a really interesting build for his Slann but also had Becalming Cognition, so neither of us were banking on getting the double 6's to cast. That actually kept things really close, until I got Comet of Cassandora off. It took 3 or 4 turns to come down and made a total mess of the board. The game ended with his ghost Slann locked in combat with two other units chopping away uselessly. Great match, its interesting to see the difference in play styles with similar armies. Result: Win

So I hit my goal of going 2 & 2 for the weekend. since I lost two games I got my name in the random raffle, and ended up with some ChessEX Dice. The real highlight was during the award ceremony for me:

I was awarded the "Heart of Gold" for Sportsmanship in Fantasy. My mind is still blown. No joke, its extremely humbling to get something like that in a competitive situation. All the guys I played were great opponents and the Fantasy community there was fantastic (pun intended) to pick people's brains. Playing at that level, you learn a lot very quickly from very experienced people. I told myself that I was going to take a break from Fantasy after the Open, but coming off the weekend, I'm already neck deep into my new project.

If any the guys from the NoVA Open see this, you guys put together a tight tournament that was a blast to be a part of. To the players, everyone had a great attitude for the whole day and I think I heard people laughing at least once at every table. Thanks for the weekend and the games. Until next time, keep rolling high.

Temple Guard, or Where the Hell is My Shield?

Fantasy is definitely my game. I started out 40K style, but the past is where its at. My most recent army has been the Lizardmen, which are almost done with my habit of building armies. The first box of models I got for them were the Temple Guard. I love these guys. They look great, have cool weapons, and can be taken to almost be impossible to get off the board. I even did custom bases for them (I hate basing, by the way).

The ideal way to run a block of these fancy lads is to stick a Slann in there. With the new changes on line of sight for magic missiles and direct damage, he should be able to float up and fire even if he's in combat. This also makes the unit Stubborn on a 9. Cold-blooded will keep most lizards in place but on a Ld of 9, they aren't going anywhere. 

There are two other ways of making this unit stick: make the Slann the BSB, or throw in Chakax. The Slann BSB just makes that Stubborn 9 extra safe. Chakax is a pricey hero at 335 points but he makes the unit Unbreakable. Plus he's a challenge machine. Even assassins have to reveal themselves early and would strike last against him. Anything High Elf related is going to get chewed up because he's WS 5 with 4 attacks. His great weapon makes him strike at STR 7 and gets to re-roll the first round if he misses you.

The great issue is that unit is a ton of points. It usually ends up in the neighborhood of 1200 points with all your Lord, half your Hero, and a good chunk of Special choices. The worst part is the shields on the TG's only apply outside of combat. I hate that. Weapons that require two-hands means he just drops the shield as soon as combat starts. Sure a 3+ against shooting is nice, but most times you need the better save in combat rather than the shooting phase. Shooting is usually -1 or -2 to armor, which on 4+ Saurus warrior could be trouble but its not terrible. With TG's, I'd rather have the 4+ against shooting and 3+ in combat, and here's why:

The typical Saurus Warrior is around 12 points (depending on whether spears are taken). They got a 4+ armor and the parry save (a 6+ ward) in close combat. Temple Guard are 16 points, but only get a 4+ in close combat with no parry save. Weapon skill a little higher, and the bonus from the halberd. Those extra points get sunk into the special passive abilities with the Slann. Both units are equally tough, strong, fast, and same number of attacks. The TG's upgrades are really expensive after you start adding in enough to make them work. Without support, a 4+ armor elite unit isn't going to decimate other elite units. They'll stick but with a lot of your points into that unit, it's hard to get those linebreakers in the list too. 

So a 20 block of Saurus with full command is at least 100 points cheaper than an effective TG block. That extra 100 points is a skink unit or a terradon squad waiting in the wings. 

With Lizardmen being hearty and elite, you gotta find ways to save points. I'm going to have a few test games with the solo Slann. Next up, I'm going to run through the new lores with the hypnotoad. 

8th and the Open

NoVA Open is going down on August 14th. I ran across the announcement by accident on whiskey40k's blog a while back. Now, I'm by no means the ultimate tournament player. What's great about tournament play is the level of play you are working at. I love playing the garbage games in the shop and just fooling around with a crazy list where winning isn't the goal. The big part of what I like about WFB is the insane happenings that go on the battlefield. The win is nice, but if you lose because two of your own comets came down and wiped out half the board including most of your stuff? That's awesome.

Tournament play has its place. When there's something on the line, it can bring out the best and the worst in people. The best being a fun game with a competitive army where you get to see two players really show that they know how to play. The worst is a mix between people who don't know what they are doing, and people who get insane with rule-lawyering and suck the fun out of the game. Unfortunately, with the new edition, I think there's going to be a fair lot of both of those types. New rules means

The NoVA Open is going to be 8th Edition. I've been trying to get as many games in as possible so I can really learn the rules and tricks you can pull with the system. Part of the barrier to get into the new edition is to forget a lot of the implied rules from 7th. Like the charging system, ordering of charges, skirmisher units, etc. Everything is different. I got 6 games in over the long weekend at the local shop and a few more last weekend. I played my lizards and my opponent played skaven. We used the new book at 2000-2500 points. Here's a run down of what we gleaned from the new system:

Fat Christ, are they quick! Games that would normally take 2 to 3 hours to complete for 7th edition zip by in about an hour and a half. If you run with the new special terrain, it takes a little longer but not by much. Units might be bigger but with magic and your own units being bigger, models will fly off the board.

Gotcha now! Charges are 2D6 plus movement. Slow units just got fast, and fast units got insane. Plus depending on how you choose your charge reactions can make a big difference in who's getting down run by what.

Reach out and touch someone. Combat and charging are still huge aspects of the game, but you really have to find a way to get at someone before they're on top of you. Magic and shooting are the two easiest ways. Even though you don't even really need a caster in 8th to protect yourself, its really hard to say "no" to the new magic lores. Without balance, armies fall apart quickly.

Oh the humanity! There's a lot of ways to die in the new edition. Your well-painted, favorite unit can, and will be, trashed in more than one game. Units get more attacks, magic just being sick, even the terrain wants you dead.

All in all, I've been pleased with the changes with 8th. I didn't think that it would revamp everything like it has. I love to see old models come out again now that their useful. Its also bringing in a new flock of players into the Fantasy side of the shop. New players means new tactics. That's another great thing about tournament level play: you get to see stuff go down that you might not have ever thought of running. I think the Open is really going to help me amp my game as well as crash course into the deeper parts of the new book.

Now all I have to do is paint up the massive number of models I'll need for the Open. Awesome.

Late to 8th

The clock has run out and the book is ready. 8th edition is ready for pre-order. The price: manageable. Sure it's a bit on the expensive side, but really, you're only getting one. That is until the next edition. Personally, I want the gamer's edition with the bag. Because the only thing I was missing from my hobby of playing with toys was a purse. And, yes, I am getting one.

The dice are pretty interesting but I think that they should have more per set. Think about it for a second: 8 dice in a bag. Infantry getting to attack in two ranks; shooting in two ranks; horde formations. You're going to need more than 8 dice per set of rolling. They look amazing but I really don't want to buy two sets to get 10 dice to attack. Bit of a nit-pick but can't be positive about everything.

I'm loving the style of the new templates. The whole range of extras has such a great look and feel to it. I'm digging the Engineer's Ranging set but I probably won't get it. 

The one really crazy thing I like from the post on the GW announcement is that airship. I have to admit: I'm a sucker for steampunk airships. I got my hands on a really old White Dwarf which has plans to make a giant bog monster with a howdah (one of my new favorite words) on its back. Might have to make that guy a project.  

So what am I going with for my first 8th edition army? I got Ogres, Wood Elves, and Skaven, all of which I'm really comfortable with, especially Skaven. But I think I'm going to have to go with the small Lizardmen army I got to building. The Lizards have become a bit of a project army for me. I have always hated basing, but through the magic of the Internet, got a few new tricks up my sleeve. 

Lizards now are crazy magical. Bow before the glory of the Hypo-toad! Comets, lightning bolts, and re-rolls. Lizardmen have the magic phase down. Its pretty easy to go this route and load up on Engines of the God and spam Burning Alignment. I'm not such a fan of the typical lists for an army. Throwing in the random unit that no one uses or fielding a different lord can really throw your opponent off. I want to get those units that people general think are weaker in the Lizardmen and prove you can be competitive with them. I'm already fielding skink-kroxigor cohort units, razordons, and a skink chief on a steggadon (not an ancient). 

Now, I want to field kroxigors, but they are actually really hard to get your hands on. I really like the look of the new trolls, especially since they're in plastic now. So, I've been working on making trolls into Kroxigors by painting them up with more of a scaly skin look to match the real kroxigor and skink look I'm going for.

The real kroxigor is hunting his fat, ugly cousin.

I love these models. I just recently picked up a set of real kroxigors but I'm still going to field my fat kroxies. They look great reaching over a rank of skinks by the way. I'll get a group photo of these chaps when I finish them up. 

The local GW has the new book and I got to see a bit of Tuesday, but other plans pulled me away. I did get to see a Dwarf charge of 12", which was freakin' amazing. Hopefully I'll the breakdown of the new combat rules this weekend. Until then, be seeing ya.

Ogres and Escalating

Warhammer 40K had kind of worn on and I wanted something different. Warhammer Fantasy filled that need of renewal perfectly. I wanted a quick army that could build fast and was straight forward as possible. Enter the Ogres.

Ogre Kingdoms are larger than man-sized people who live up in the mountains. Practically every unit has the 'Dogs of War' special rule. This means you can normally field an Ogre unit in any other army that has 'Dogs of War' as a rare unit. Ogres are all S4, T4 and have 3 Wounds a piece. And that's a core choice.

Also built into every Ogre is the Bull Charge. If an Ogre charges more than 6 inches (since its movement value is 6, they have a full charge range of 12 inches), each Ogre in contact gets an impact hit. Plus every Ogre in the second rank grant +1 S to the impact hit.

Big dudes, cool rules, lot's of wounds. So what's the draw back? They are very expensive points wise. A normal Ogre Bull is between 35-43 points depending on how you outfit them. So if you want two ranks of Ogres, you're pumping a lot of points into one unit. The other issue is survivability. Ogres are T4, yes, but have crazy low armor. Ironguts have Heavy Armor but wield great weapons so they have to balance. Their magic, while really funny sometimes, is usually pretty weak. All Gut Magic spells cast on a 3+ but that also means dispelling is usually pretty simple.

I'm still excited about seeing Ogres in 8th Edition. I loved my Ogres when I got started. With the rumors of an additional attack at the end of combat from larger models, the old Ogre list is starting to creep back into my mind. I can see it now: the 3x3 formation of Ogre Sized units running down small units and taking their lunch money. With the additional rumors of Ogre Sized models in the second rank getting up to 3 attacks instead of an additional 1, that's quickly becoming 3 Impact Hits at S6, 18 attacks at S4, and another possible 3 Stomping Attacks at S4. Start adding command and heroes to units like that and Ogres get a new lease on life.

I first started out in Fantasy with an escalation league with my Ogres. Escalation leagues are a fantastic way of starting a new army or even a whole new game system. So if you're thinking you want to get into Fantasy when the new edition comes out, try an Escalation league. If there's enough interest I'll post on how to run one effectively for Fantasy. And remember, a lot of GW's already have the new book. Some of them are even going to be running some demos of the new rules in the coming weeks. Ask them and see if they're hosting a preview night. Until then, stomp ya laters! 

8th Edition Rumors

Ok, can't hold it off any longer. The Warseer Forum seems to be the place to get on top of these rumors. I know I'm not on the cutting edge here but I figured if I'm going to talk about it, I should at least have a way to show it.

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253845

The only thing in the rumors that I really have a gripe with is the movement stuff. Charging with random movement removes a lot of control from the general. Plus the War of the Rings game already has this kind of charging system. I really think this is someone wishlisting but I've been surprised before. I'm kind of bummed that charging probably won't let you go first, which is a big deal in the current edition, but with combat changing to allow more models to fight it might not be so bad.

Again just rumors here. Is there anything there that's exciting to you? Is it going to let you field that one unit you love but gets slaughtered in every game? I'm digging the idea of bows shooting in two ranks standard for my Wood Elves. Same thing with being able to field Eternal Guard and Tree Kin instead of an army of super-skirmishers.

True Purpose

I want to get into a little bit more about what I really want to do here. Like I've stated below, I love WFB. Its a challenge regardless of what the conditions are for the fight. It's not about who you bring to the fight as it usually is with 40K, but about how well you control your army. Even the big nasty units can be taken down by a well executed plan with lesser units.

I have only played in 7th edition. I know, I know. A lot of people are going to have issues with someone whose view of the game is narrowed by the fact they didn't play in previous editions. But I've played a lot of 7th edition. I help out at the local GW teaching people from the 40K to learn how to play WFB. With 8th edition coming out, I want to see how the game really changes. With the rumors floating around the net about the up-coming edition, I'm pretty excited. I don't want to go into all the rumors that are out there, but I will hit on some of them.

As a final note, we don't what will actually be true until the book comes out. So until then, grab some salt, dust-off a flame-shield, keep an open mind, and enjoy the ride.