Black Library Review: A Thousand Sons

The Wolves are coming.

As an avid fan of “The Horus Heresy” and a larger fan of Graham McNeill I present to you “A Thousand Sons”.  

Click to zoom on this excellent work.

 Magnus, Primarch of the Thousand Sons unquenchably thirsts for the knowledge and power of the arcane. In his quest for forbidden knowledge he ignores a call for war from the wolf king, Leman Russ (not smart). Only after an envoy of less than happy Space Wolves arrives at his door does he leave to join his brother Primarch in the tide of battle. On the planetary capital of Heliosa Magnus and his Thousand Sons stand defiantly before Russ in an attempt to save the last traces of the now conquered system's accumulated history and knowledge from the unleashed rage of the Space Wolves.  Magnus orders the wolves to be held back whatever the cost and the thousand sons release a torrent of psychic power halting the Wolves in their urge to pillage and burn, ultimately blood is spilled.  All that keeps Russ and Magnus from coming to blows is the timely intervention of their brother Primarch Lorgar, of The Word Bearers.  Russ decries Magnus as a Cyclops and wielder of dark powers and before standing down lets Magnus know, “This is not over, blood of Fenris is on your hands and there will be a reckoning between us, Magnus. This I swear…”.

They named tanks after him for a reason.

 The events of Heliosa would lead to the Emperor’s calling for a meeting on the planet of Nikaea, “History would recall this assembly as the Council of Nikaea. Others would know it as the trial of Magnus the Red”. The Emperor decrees that all use of psychic powers are now forbidden and anyone who dares to disobey his command will pay dearly for their mistake.  However it is Magnus who foresees the betrayal of Horus, and when his attempt to stop Horus’ fall from grace fails he turns to use his powers to warn the Emperor of the impending civil war.  In his momentary connection with the Emperor, Magnus sees the folly of his ways and just how much he has destroyed in his attempt to regain his good grace.  The Wolves are thus unleashed and Russ finds his chance for vengeance.  Prospero will burn and all will be dust.  As Magnus’ world comes crashing down around him he realizes he has ultimately been twisted by the forces of Chaos to unknowingly do their bidding helping to bring about this civil war and ultimately his legions destruction. Finally you’re left with Magnus’ heart wrenching struggle over his own fear and guilt.  As a favored son of the Emperor he chose to stop at nothing to prove the value of himself, his legion and the supernatural powers that they possessed.  In his blind ambition Magnus destroyed it all, himself, his legion and the very trust and faith that he tried so hard to establish.

Only to leave behind a legacy of ghosts and sorcerers.

 Weighing in at a beefy 558 pages “A Thousand Sons” is one of, if not the longest book released in the series.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and honestly believe that this is one of the best of the series, more enthralling than “Fulgrim” and more heartfelt than the opening trilogy.  This novel gives a complete first hand and in depth look into just how and why a loyal legion of Astartes can be cast off as traitors, it should be enjoyed by all fans of the 40k universe, not just the Tzeench worshiping cultists of Ahriman. 

Hater's Final Verdict:

This book is AWESOME... in space!

If you enjoyed this review look for more to come from the Black Library Review found here!

If you would like to purchase this novel simply click here to jump to Amazon with it in your cart!

Planet Strike: Imperial back story

The wheels of war have begun to churn on yet another front for the Imperium of Men.  Loki's men will soon be facing off against Zaszz's Tau forces in a campaign of epic proportions.  Quite litterally this will be a series of battles to decide the fate of 12 billion souls.  Below you can now read the first background story from the Imperial perspective, as both sides prepare for a war that promises to turn Byzanthis into a blood soaked nightmare.

Planetary Designation: Byzanthis
Planetary Category: Industrial World
Location: Ultima Segmentum
Capitol: Antimon
Governor: Andras
Population: 12 Billion
Chief Exports: Ammunition (las-based), Dark Angels recruiting world
Planetary Garrison: PDF Regiment Lions Wrath
PDF Status: Full Strength, accompanying armored support, small Dark Angels detachment.

Byzanthis Conflict Log Entry 1:  Located on the eastern fringe with an abundance of material resources and hearty people worthy of recruitment by the Dark Angels, Byzanthis was a tempting target for the greedy Tau xenos.  The Tau began as expected of a cowardly race, trying to worm their way onto the planet with bribery and deceit.  The Tau "diplomats" got into private contact with governor Andras and offered him plots of land on Tau worlds and riches beyond his imagination.  Foolishly Andras considered these offers, choosing to revel in his own fantasy of power, instead of bringing these communications to the military.  However the days grew to weeks and the Tau became impatient, soon the offers became threats until a final chilling message was received.
 

"One way or another, This world will belong to the greater good."

Realizing his folly, Andras informed Lieutenant Colonel Julius Hawke, Commander of the Planetary Defense Forces, of the imminent Tau attack.  When Hawke learned the source of Andras' information, he did not hesitate to put in the order for the governors immediate execution.  A sentence that would be carried out in the heart of Antimon, to a crowd of frenzied citizens, hungry for the blood of a man who had brought the threat of annihilation to their door.  Control of the entire world would be granted to Hawke upon the execution of Andras, which would lead to a ruthlessly efficient series of changes.  The very face of Byzanthis was turned from industrial juggernaut to unbreakable fortress in the blink of an eye.  The factories and frenzied workers churned out emplacement after emplacement, to fortify the countless bastions and bunkers that were erected seemingly overnight.

Hawke gathered his trusted advisers Lord Commissar Samuel Zeriah and Primaris Pysker Hathor Malidus, there were still some matters that must be resolved.  Zeriah spoke firmly, "The men are prepared, they shall not fail us, their faith is strong!".  Malidus spoke with a voice worn from years of enduring the life of a psyker, "The astropathic message of our plight has been received by Eliath Zurias, Dark Angels 6th Company.  They have ended their recruitment detail and are on route to ensure our victory sir."  Hawke stepped away from his advisers without a word, looking down upon the hell scape he had created, he could not help but grin.  All Hawke would have to do is keep the enemy from their command center long enough to allow the Dark Angels to close in behind.

The Tau would be walking right into a hammer and anvil strategy, and Hawke had the hardest anvil that the Imperium could muster.

Look forward to the following coming soon:

• Planet Strike: Tau back story (for the Tau perspective before conflict)
• Planet Strike Terrain Project (as we assemble terrain to represent the various bits we will use in our campaign)
• Planet Strike Campaign Project (as we use other systems as inspiration to create a campaign system to represent the Byzanthis conflict.

Quick Reads: Confirmed Skaven and High Elf model releases

Hey guys just another quick read post. If you do not feel like trying to find the best places to read about hot topics in the Warhammer community just stop by the Quick Read section of this blog to get smart quick updates. We do the finding, you just get the heart of the topics.

Today's Quick Read is about the up coming model releases, if you read up on the Games Work shop site you may have seen an article posted up about up coming Skaven and High Elf releases to compliment the Island of Blood set. Here is a list of the models coming out.

Skaven Releases:
Itik Claw (resculpt)
Tretch
A resculpted Thanquol
Hellpit Abominaation
Plastic Weapon Teams
3 Blisters of Named metal Rat Ogres
Skaven Slaves Slings Bitz Pack
And finally one Skaven art book/heraldry book

You can see one of the new named Rat Ogres here.

Check Games Workshop under advanced orders to see more!

High Elf Releases:
Plastic Box Set-White Lions
Plastic Box Set-Dragon Princes
Plastic Box Set-Phoenix Guard
New battalion with 20 spears, archers, a chariot, and a bolt thrower
A metal Prince on Foot
New spell cards
Two unknown metal sets, which may be an Eagle, and a Noble on an Eagle

Here is a kind of crummy leaked image of the new battalion set, you can see the contents if you look closely.

Personally I am very excited to see how they make a Hellpit Abomination as currently it has no model and the new models seem to be the best models they have made to date. I am also very excited for the High Elf plastic kits which I have written about in another post.

Thanks for reading!

ULTRAMARINES Movie - Trailer1

Holy crap, this... looks... awesome!



It's like going through your whole life loving Christmas, then finding out that Santa is real, and he plays a mean guitar solo.

Quick Reads: 8th Edition Haters

Basically on any forum there will always be trolls, and I don't mean River Trolls.  A troll is basically a forum term used to describe someone who is complaining, being a dick, or trying to irritate someone. 

The good kind of troll.

Currently however many of the various forums are chock full of trolls, complaining about 8th edition being bad, and being dumbed down, and how EVERYONE hates it who isn't a little kid.  These posts do have some crusaders in them discussing the merits of the new edition and trying to show just how much more fun this edition is then the last, but its kind of a waste of time with these people. 

You would be better off having a debate with this.

 Just today however I saw a thread with a poll running that I think may finally shut up the complainers.  The poll had over 200 votes and 80% were major or minor improvement to game play, with 5% neutral, and only 15% thought it was a worse game then previous.  Granted I can't speak for everyone, obviously a lot has changed, but I will say all the arguments I have heard about why it's worse don't make any sense to me.  I honestly feel most of these people are stuck in the mud stubborn or are afraid of change.

A reasonable response to random charge distances.

Personally I really enjoy the changes, they spice up the game, make more situations have a chance to fail or succeed where they couldn't before, combat is far more violent, and infantry are much stronger securing their place as the core to all armies.  As a result the game is significantly more enjoyable for my group and I, as well as the side effect of a complete shake up meaning I have lots of fun variation to try out.

If you haven't gotten to try out the new rules I highly suggest you pick up a copy, read it over a few times and play with your friends, it's a blast, and it really mixes things up in a number of good ways.  You can pick up a copy at the link below.

Warhammer Fantasy Rulebook Eighth 8th Edition - Hardcover Rulebook - English

Sneak Peak: Loki's Imperial Guard

This is just a small sampling of the WIP that is Loki's beautiful Cadian style Imperial Guard army.  A more detailed collection of pictures and discussion of his models are in the works, and obviously these models them selves are still a WIP, but I just couldn't resist showing them off.

Click to Zoom

You can see in the image if you zoom in that their full detailing isn't quite done but they are close to finished and they look EXCELLENT!  The theme for the army is that they are a force left to defend a Dark Angels controlled planet.  Basically Loki's Dark Angel's force goes out on his crusades leaving behind the strength of men to defend their world from whatever evils beset them.  Our upcomming campaign will be along this story line with the Tau attempting to take control of the world while the Dark Angel's are away.  The end of the campaign will come when either the Tau manage to gain control of the Imperial facility that controls orbital defenses, or if the Imperials can hold them off until the Dark Angel's arrive.

Click to zoom

 Above you can see one of Loki's favorite models, you really have to click to zoom in to get an idea of its quality.  While again still a WIP needing some basing and as always there is room to add even more details, in its current state is a really sexy model.  This bastard has seen off its share of Tau forces with his lighting powers, reducing them to burnt Tau jerky.

I think I'll make this one Teriyaki style.

Thanks for checking out this sneak peak of Loki's Imperial Forces, and check back in the Loki Zone soon for his updates as he continues working on his Imperial Forces.  If you are interested in starting your own Imperial Guard force I would have to recommend the box set below.

Imperial Guard Cadian Battleforce Warhammer 40k

Army List: 2k Tau

This past Saturday, Loki and I had a fun pick up game of 40k, my Tau vs his Imperial Guard.  What a total blood bath!  While we were not able to use a camera at the time to create a proper report, I can share the army list and give some insight into how I feel the Tau need to play against the filthy humans!

"Who's whistling?!?  Stop whistling!"- Fire Warrior before mortar impact.

The Imperial mortars always make a big old mess of my little blue men, that mortar tank they have is especially brutal.  Fortunately for me I was able to steal the initiative giving me some nice shots on the first turn.  To help out further I was able to make all but two of my deep strike rolls on my second turn, I find these units to be invaluable against the Imperial Guard as they tend to have high priority tank targets, and long rage fire support that I need to close the gap with to silence.  It came down to a series of 6 or so armor saves and morale checks in a row that would decide the game.  Unfortunately for the blue guys, the Imperial fire support was able to clear my objective of Fire Warriors making the last turn score 1 - 0 in favor of the grubby Imperials!
Here is the Tau list I fielded:

1 Shas'El, Fusion Blaster, Missile Pod, Multi Tracker, 2 Shield Drones
1 Bodyguard, with the same gear lay out, and a Bonding Knife

4 Stealth Suits
2 Crisis Suits, with Fusion Blasters, Missile Pods, and Multi Trackers
2 Crisis Suits, with Burst Cannons, Flamers, and Multi Trackers

9 Fire Warriors with a Shas' Ui, and a Bonding Knife
9 Fire Warriors with a Shas' Ui, and a Bonding Knife
9 Fire Warriors with a Shas' Ui, and a Bonding Knife
9 Fire Warriors with a Shas' Ui, and a Bonding Knife
10 Kroot with a Shaper

6 Pathfinders with a Shas' Ui, Bonding Knife
-Devil Fish with Targeting array, Smart Missiles, Disruption Pod
6 Pathfinders with a Shas' Ui, Bonding Knife
-Devil Fish with Targeting array, Smart Missiles, Disruption Pod
1 XV-9 with 2 Fusion Cascades, and Shield Generator

2 Broadside, with Targetting Arrays
1 Broadside with Targeting Array
1 Hammer Head, with Rail Gun, Burst Cannons, Multi Tracker, Disruption Pod

All of the suits deep struck, along with the Kroot on out flanking duty, this was able to drop in some serious melta type weaponry along with the Stealth and Flamer teams, right into the heart of the enemy.  With hind sight I should have trimmed down my HQ unit and just made a second HQ, also the XV-9 should have shield drones instead of a shield generator as 1 costs the same and adds a wound.  Alternately I could have used the points for additional Kroot outflanking.

While my deep strike gave me a fair shot at winning the game, it has its draw backs, my HQ was destroyed due to a mishap, and my stealth team came in a turn later, and this was on a fairly good set of rolls.  With this in mind I do want to reduce the cost of the HQ unit and instead spread it out over 2 units, or maybe add a bonded team leader to the stealth team.  Also as a tip to anyone wanting to have significant deep strike Tau, make sure you bring Pathfinders, their Devilfish get a free upgrade that allows you to re-roll your scatter dice, while you can't always re-roll if your dropping behind a tank, the ability to often re-roll is excellent protection.

This may represent some difficulty for Tau.

After trying many configurations with my troop choices I think this is the configuration I am most happy with.  I may squeeze in the points for a second kroot squad as their outflank makes them excellent at reaching objectives as a scoring unit after my forces have had a turn or two to remove some threats.  With many of my squads some may say I waste too many points, but in my experience taking your army from Ld7 to Ld8 is crucial.  Without it I fail far too many pinning and panic tests.  Furthermore the bonding,  has proven to be critical to keeping a scoring units around time and again.  Finally I enjoy the 9 man squads because they aren't so large as to not fit in some of the smaller cover pieces, and still require 3 deaths to induce a panic test.

As for my Crisis teams and the XV-9 I think it is pretty obvious that over the last few games my list has become built around deep striking to remove weapons teams, and get in melta range on Imperial armor.  While I do find the Broadsides to be an important anti-tank unit, the Imperial 14 front side armor can often withstand quite a few punches.  To really get the tanks off my back I have to get to the rear armor, additionally this frees up my Broadsides to wreck havoc on my enemies transports and walkers, slowing his advance towards my objectives considerably.

Got a whole lotta love!

 If you have the time to, please drop a comment on what you think of the list!

All in all it was a blast to play, and I really look forward to getting our Tau vs IG planet strike campaign underway.  Look in the 40k page soon for us building our Imperial Strong Point box set, and starting our campaign shortly after.

If your interested in joining us in building this set and playing alongside our campaign try picking up the set from below, its quite a value in my opinion, although we are splitting the cost amongst our group.

Warhammer 40K - Planetstrike Terrain: Imperial Strongpoint

Battle Report: Revenge is a dish best served cold blooded!

Welcome back to the Border Princes Campaign, if you are new to it, check out the WFB Campaign button to the right, or this link, to start from the beginning.

If you have read the last battle you would know that the Elven Banner of Verdant Splendor had battled and won by the skin of their teeth to snatch some of the lizard controlled forests.  The lizards were not soundly beaten however and only retreated slightly.  In the following campaign turn they struck back attacking the very same forest in a ruthless counter attack.  The High Elves were caught before they could finish fortifying the territory so it would be an even fight.  Below you will find the report on the battle with the High Elf thoughts in blue, the Lizard thoughts in green, and the peanut gallery of the Dwarf general in red.

The Banner of Verdant Splendor:
1 Archmage Lani Sul, level 4, with Forliath's Robe, and Annulian Crystal.
1 Noble Keryth Kolindo, great weapon, battle standard, armor of Caledor, guardian phoenix

24 Spearmen, full command, Warbanner
24 Spearmen, full command

20 White Lions, full command, Standard of Sorcery
17 Swordmasters, full command, Razor Standard, Talisman of Loec on the Bladelord
1 Lion Chariot
2 Great Eagles

The set up on my Archmage makes her harder to kill, requiring magical attacks to do so, and gives her a very strong magical defense.  Lani is vulnerable to miscasting, but she uses lore of life which comes with a spell to help mitigate them.  I also gain an extra spell known from a special tile I control.  The major risk is she is my only mage so one failed spell ends the phase.  Additionally she goes in with the sword master unit giving them a regeneration save if her magic goes well, and has the neat trick of bringing back to life the champion over and over to protect her from challenges.

FOR ULTHUAN!

The Banner of Old Blood
1 Old Blood, Sword of Blood Shed, Enchanted Shield, Dawn Stone, Light Armor
1 Skink Priest, lvl 2, Engine of the Gods, Feedback scroll

10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
20 Saurus, full command
20 Saurus, full command

10 Cold Ones, full command, Skavenpelt Banner
2 Salamander Packs, extra handlers

3 Terradons

The Oldblood is very solid for his cost at only 245 pts you get a fairly survivable lord, with 8 attacks!  I was hoping the Feedback scroll would pick off the enemy Archmage in one shot, against non life mages it should do better.  I also was pleased with the Salamanders but I think in the future considering how melee heavy both my foes tend to field, I will bring Razordons instead.

FOR...dumpy frog guy?

As this battle would take place in the same area as the last battle, Loki (the Dwarf General), decided to set up our table mostly unchanged except for a simple wall the Elves were able to finish before the Lizard counter attack.

Click to see full size (very large image)

  The High Elves and Lizardmen rolled off for which scenario would decide the victor and it ended up being the battle for the pass. We decided this must mean that the long table edges are tall stone walls that were being constructed but were not finished so the Lizards were able to battle us in a choke point.

Click to Zoom

Both armies were set to fight, a mere stones throw from one another, atop ground not yet dried with the blood of the last encounter.  The atmosphere was electric as both knew this place was about to become hell on earth.  The Elven Host struck first eager to meet their foes in hand to claw combat.

Click to Zoom

As Great Eagles soared ahead of the shining spear tips the Elven mage channeled power from the winds of magic, bending the elements of nature to her whim.  She was met with some disrupting force from the enemies priest riding atop some horrible beast.

I was able to cast Throne of Vines, as well as a skin to stone spell, and a regeneration spell, however the throne was dispelled via dice. 

The logic for me is that this will keep him risky, lacking miscast protection, and I know if he has plenty of other dice I will have at least kept all his other spells at a lesser power, so the throne is always a dispel attempt for me.

The Lizards advanced as well, their cold blooded nature un-shaken by the speed of the enemies advance.  The Terradon riders took note of the enemy mage and began a large semi circle flight path, in which they would attempt to silence her with surprise attacks from above.  The blow pipes of the skinks fired rapidly and were able to fell one of the great eagles harrying the armies advance, the Old Blood was pleased!  The other Eagle felt the burning power of the Engine of the Gods, as well as a mighty Thunderbolt from the priest, but the Archmage was able to easily reduce the bolt to nothing but a warm breeze.

I wasn't even thinking of it when I was doing it, but Zaszz pointed out to me that advancing my Salamanders toward the Swordmaster unit with regeneration was a perfect counter to the magical defenses.

Click to Zoom

With the mighty Engine crashing down their flank, the Elven host decided to hold tight and consolidate slightly, preparing to defend it self as it's enemies moved just a little closer.  The great eagle however was in a blood rage at the loss of its brother and charged into the Salamander pack, able to inflict 2 wounds on a beast before being devoured.

In hind sight I should have kept my eagles together, but I think the result would have been the same here, they ate some shooting for my army before dying.  Again in hind sight I should have slid my line even closer together, to stay in range of my battle standard in the S2 spear group.  This list relies heavily on being near the standard, and the mage to give support to my fragile troops.

The Lizards sensed the hesitation in their foes and move like a predatory hunting pack, universally closing into charging ranges.  The salamanders unleashed a pair of fiery blasts onto the sword masters killing a few in a manner most gruesome.   The terradons were able to complete their strafing run slaying even more, but unable to wound the enemy mage.  Fearing the Lion Chariot would soon have skinks for lunch, they unfurled a hail of darts but were only able to slightly wound a rider.

Click to Zoom

A great battle cry echoed out from an unlikly source, Lani Sul seemed shy to a fault at times of peace, but now boomed a cry that all her breathern followed.  The elven host surged forward into the enemies on all sides and smiled as many of the smaller units fled rather then face their doom.  The White Lions surged at incredible speed to engage the enemies Cold One riders, the riders took heavy losses as the great axes of cleaved rider and beast asunder.  The riders would not be outdone however, drawing power from their magical banner they attacked in a helacious frenzy.  When all was said and done 5 riders and 11 lions lay dead, the lions had a very rare lack of courage and fled the slaughter, dying to the man.  On the opposite flank the spears murdered many skinks, and chased the remaining away, leading into an overrun onto the saurus.  Unfortunatly Lani must have winded her self with her battle cry as she lost 2 wounds to the enemies feedback scroll, and then perhaps shaken by the loss of her lions, failed to cast a spell. 

This was a very bloody turn, with both sides losing tons of points in combat, which the lions probably would have won next turn by striking first.  Unfortunatly they failed their stubborn 8 test and fled.

Those Lions cause me trouble in every combat I face them, bad luck for Zaszz this game however. 

I dediced to ask Loki's opinion on what strategy to employ at this point, and he said "Easy, just flank them with your Hammer Head tank, and marker light them with some pathfinders, good game right there."

Pictured: Loki's Fantasy Strategy

Also hindsight here, I backed up my chariot so when the elves held on his turn it could charge, but I didn't need to back it up so far.

Click to Zoom

The Saurus were singled minded, focused upon their foe, completely ignoring the fleeing and dying skinks in their path.  The terradons circled around and closed in with the saurus to Lani's regiment, while on the opposing flank a unit of Saurus face off against charging spears.  The spearmen fought with valor however the saurus unit tore through them with gusto, leaving behind a meager fifteen Elves and forcing them to break even with a battle standard near by, to make matters worse they were run down to the elf.

As always Loki had something to say about this Elf masacre.

You didn't bring enough Kroot.

Click to Zoom

Things were really starting to look grim, so I charged my Lion Chariot into his Engine in the hopes of getting a lucky priest kill.  By our understanding, and we may be wrong here, I can allocate all the attacks against him as he is a character in base to base contact?  I decided that it wouldn't make sense for the lions to attack the crew, so I had my Elves run up his dinosaur and try to assassinate the priest while my lions remained below, they however failed, and died.  I will usually pick something that makes sense over what may be using the rules to their best, if it just doesn't make sense then I'm not going to do it.  I also positioned for a flank charge hoping to win back some victory points with my remaining units.

The combat between the Sword Masters of Hoeth and the Old Blood's Saurus was brutal.  The Old Blood challenged, and it was accepted by the Bladelord.  Activating the power of his magical talisman the Bladelord would try to slay the beast to protect his beautiful general, even at the cost of his own life.  With incredible speed the Sword Masters struck, taking the Old Blood to 1 wound, before dying, and his men inspired by his valor took a heavy toll on the saurus.  In the following turns, the rear Sword masters would dispatch the terradons charge with ease, but even with the flank charge of the spears the Old Blood would not die nor would his unit break, he even was able to kill Lani!

As the remaining Lizard forces closed in all around the Elves, they knew the battle was lost, but Keryth Kolindo would not back down, if they died they would die revenging the death of Lani Sul!  Keryth charged the wounded foe, and with lightning speed was cut the Old Blood down.  Standing atop the mighty foe, he looked around, only the standard bearer of his loyal spearmen unit still stood with him.  They dropped their weapons, and said a final curse to the denizens of Lustria, before they were ripped away to nothing.

Hell of a fun game, I think my list did well although I should have been more consolidated.  I definitely spread my line too thin, and got a little unlucky with my magic.  I think the main thing that happened here was Hater's Lizard army rolled brutally well to hit and really racked up the kills.  Still I won't use that as an excuse, there were a number of things I could have done differently, and failing to use my units properly cost me a number of missed opportunities.  Next time I will not fail you Lani!  Good game as usual friend!

I agree it was a VERY fun and VERY bloody game!  Also don't forget a great deal went poorly for you as soon as your Lions failed that stubborn 8, ouch!  I was also slightly surprised at how nasty my saurus were, obliterating your spears in one combat alone, they really dug deep for me!  As I said up at army list selection I think next time I will try Razordons instead of the Salamanders, as you guys tend to use so much melee, and their stand and shoot is very strong. Revenge is a dish best served cold blooded!   Good game friend!

Win or lose, I love a game of Warhammer!

Here is the updated Campaign map at the end of Turn 6.

High Elf Release Rumors

There are a number of forums I frequent which run rumor threads, so take all of this with a grain of salt, but they are very interesting.  I thought I would share just how excited I am with the rumors.

High Elf Release Rumors:

• New all plastic Batalion: Includes 20 Archers, 20 Spears, 1 Bolt Thrower, 1 Chariot
• All plastic White Lion kit
• All plastic Phoenix Guard kit
• All plastic Dragon Princes kit
• Some additional metal blister packs

When I read about this I litterally got so excited I burst into dance, this was some scary shit too.  My ultra nerdy happy dance probably looks more like a bizarre flailing self defense system, than a dance, but dance I did.



Take this and make it Clockwork Orange violent, and you'll have an idea of what was going on.

After this bout of convulsions my girlfriend asked me what in the hell had me so excited, and I had to ponder, why would it be that big of a deal anyway, they are already existing models.  Well to be honest the current models are UGLY.  Also they are simple pose metals making them very hard to do anything interesting with.  On top of that all plastic kits tend to be a bit cheaper per model cost, and are much easier to assemble.  Finally the IoB set is so sexy, we can only hope these kits match or my god even surpass the asetics of the new models.

Zoom in to see the banana hands these "elves" have.

Now I will say that the current Phoenix guard do actually look good, but newer, sexier, all plastic set really can't go wrong.  On the other hand the current White Lions are nasty!  Their fingers are like fricken sausages, and their weapons have handles like a fricken dinosaur bone, nothing elvish about their weapons really.  Let it be known I am also not a big fan of the elven cone helmets, when they are decorated heavily they can be cool but these ones are retarded.  When they release these in plastics I will be able to remove the heads and replace them with wood elf heads with hair and light helms, as I have done so for my spear units.

So in short, new sexy models coming out, I can't wait, I can't dance, and I can't stand ugly cone hats.

-Zaszz

Zaszz's Model Wish List

I am sure most of you out there are no rich enough to buy every model you want.  Personally I am running on a budget and constantly planning and re-planning what order I will buy them in.  When I spend time on the GW site I really do turn into a kid at a candy shop.  Here is my current list:

High Elf Lord on Dragon

Skaven Grey Seer on Screaming Bell

Skaven Doomwheel

Chaos Battalion Box Set

Then of course there are plenty of rumors going around on the various forums discussing the up coming High Elf model releases.  They say there will be all plastic Phoenix Guard, and White Lion kits, I will have to pick up at least 20 of each of those models.  Maybe more if they are of the quality we are seeing with the Isle of Blood release.  My god I will be broke forever at this rate. 

Pictured: Crack Dealers

 That is no exaggeration.

Zaszz's Model Collection

I've been working on getting some painting done over the weekend, and I managed to put almost all the finishing touches on my Lion Chariot.  I thought I would take a break and start updating my personal section on the site with my current Model Collection.  Pictures of them will follow once I get a chance to borrow Hater's camera, I will be turning each bullet point into a link showing the models.

High Elves

• Prince and Noble Set
• Lion Chariot
•  Mounted and Foot Mage Set
• 32 Spear Elves
• 24 Archers
• 8 Silver Helms
• 2 High Elf Bolt Throwers
• 5 Dragon Princes
• 10 Sword Masters

Skaven

• 40 Clan Rats
• 20 Plague Monks
• 2 Rat Ogres
• 6 Giant Rats
• 20 Night Runners

Wood Elves

• 40 Glade Guard
• 16 Glade Riders
• Mounted Lord with Spear and Shield
• Foot Lord with Great Weapon
• 16 Dryads
• Treeman
• 3 Warhawk Riders

Ogre Kingdoms

• 12 Ogre Bulls
• 4 Ogre Lead Belchers
• 32 Gnoblar Fighters
• 4 Iron Guts
• Butcher
• Tyrant
• Bruiser
• 2 Ninja Maneaters

Tau Empire

• 3 Hammer Heads
• 4 Devil Fish
• Over 75 Fire Warriors
• 40 Kroot
• Kroot Shaper
• 3 Broadsides
• 8 Crisis Suits
• 8 Stealth Suits
• 1 Crisis Commander
• 12 Pathfinders
• 3 Pathfinder Snipers
• 24 Gun Drones
• 2 Piranha

Assorted Other Models

• Box of Screamers
• Ahriman of the Thousand Son's, on a Disc
• Defiler
• 20 Thousand Son Marines
• Space Marine Razor Back
• Devestator Squad
• Assorted other random Space Marine parts

Random Thoughts: Music

I just got a hold of the full Protomen collection, and I have to say...

it  kicked my ass like JCVD!

The Protomen are a rock opera style band, with vocals similar to a powerful musical, over 8bit flavored rock.  If you didn't pick up on the reference in their name they play a rock opera of the story of Mega Man.

Yeah this one!

Their music, regardless of your taste in gaming, is incredible. Check out the music video below for a taste and support the band by buying the MP3's here: The Protomen

Border Princes Campaign Update: Campaign Map

Hey guys just a quick link drop, the origin thread for the Border Princes campaign we are running has been updated with the Campaign Map.  After each turn I will run a quick summery posting with an update map, but for now you can peak in on the turn 5 progress.  It is kind of rough but you can get a decent idea of our locations and how the empires are expanding.  The star bursts are the capitols.


Check it here.

Pre-order: Isle of Blood

I cannot express in text alone the excitement I have over the upcoming Isle of Blood set.  I put my pre-order in the day it was available and will be anxious until I have it in my mitts.  If you are unfamiliar with it, it is a box set coming out that contains a large number of Skaven and High Elf models that are all brand new sculpts and I must say they are the SEXIEST models GW has put out yet.  Just check out some of these pics!

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On top of that I play both of these armies, and am currently using a High Elf army in our campaign over in the WFB campaign page.  To add to the murderous frenzy building inside of me GW has been doing a ton of preview articles over the past month showing off just how incredible this box set it.

I AM SO FRICKIN EXCITED!

 Alright now that, I blew off some steam I have to say I am almost equally excited by the rats, which is surprising because I love my HE so much right now.  I would say this is probably due to Sea Guard and Griffon being expensive in points cost that you would never really imagine fielding them.  On the other hand the Skavenin this kit are models you would often field, and they look incredibly sexy.

Check out G Dubbs site here for more info: www.games-workshop.com
You should find the IoB set right on the front page :p

Anyone else this excited?

Campaign Battle 1, Battle for the woods! Turn 5, HE vs Lizards 8-12.

So the first battle of the campaign is upon us!  The High Elf banner of Verdant Splendor has attacked the Lizardman Banner that has yet to be named.  Both forces tried to attack one another but the High Elves special rule allows them to take the initiative.  This means that if the High Elves win they will secure the Lizards forest, while if the Lizards win they will push back, or destroy the High Elf host.

After allowing the Dwarf player (neutral party here), build us a forest with a small road on the edge, we rolled out our battle mission.  We got the watch tower mission, so the central forest was replaced by our massive tower terrain feature.  The rules allow one player to place a 20 man or less unit into the tower, since the Lizards had no unit small enough, they allowed the High Elf host to take it but he would get automatic first turn.

The army lists were roughly:
High Elf:
1 Archmage Lvl 4, Annulian Crystal, Forliath's Robe
1 Noble BSB, Great Weapon, Armor of Caledor
24 Spears w War banner, full command
24 Spears w full command (bsb here)
20 White Lions with full command, standard of sorcery
17 Sword masters with full command, razor standard (mage here)
1 Lion Chariot
2 Great Eagles

Lizardmen:
1 Old Blood on a cold one with some fighting gear
1 Scar Vet on a cold one with BSB
2 Skink Priests with some anti magic gear
25 Saurus with full command
25 Saurus with full command, and a standard that makes mages nearby stupid
1 Ancient Stegadon with giant blow pipes

After all deployment, the High Elf mage got all 5 support spells from the Lore of Life, and the 2 level 2 skinks each got the hex, and augments that allow re-rolls, chain lightning, and the comet of Casadora.

The Lizards had declined to own the tower, so they got first turn, after their movement the board looked like this:

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As you can see, the Sword Masters and Archmage are in the tower, while the main HE army is to the right.  The White Lions are a fairly hard unit so they will take the left, and hopefully with mage support I can win both sides... or so I thought!  The Lizardman player advanced, although his units were enormous and since the woods were all mysterious he didn't want to touch them unless he had to so he set up a defense to the right and waited for me to close in, while the left swung around clumsily.  On his first turn for shooting a few sword masters died to blow pipe fire, while a comet token got thought my magic defense, he placed it in the path of the spear units to the right.  A turn later I would be running from it and lose around 7 spears.

After HE turn 1 the board looked like this:

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As you can see the HE army advanced as fast as they could, and moved into flanking positions with my Eagles and Chariot.  It would be a long shot but if he didn't move again I might be in charge range with my spears.  I got excited when I rolled up my power and ended up with 10 dice after my standard, I planned it out to cast throne of vines ,then regrowth the dead spears, then buff up my lions, and put a thorn shield on them as well.  Unfortunately disaster struck as my first spell, throne of vines, miscast on 3 dice.  Even worse this is the spell that after wards would protect me from miscasting!  To add insult to injury I rolled a 4 on the table, which has a chance to instantly kill my 400pt mage.  Kaboom with a calamitous detonation I lost 5 sword masters, and my mage was whisked off to the chaos realm.

For the Lizardman turn 2, they advanced a bit more and repositioned some more, swinging a mage to be pointing at both my Eagles, the lore of heavens attribute is quite effective against fliers!  After his movement he blasted away my poor birds with magic, and also got off an augment spell on his cold ones that allows them some re-rolls.  For his last bit this turn he shot 2 lions dead with blow pipe action.

Back on the HE turn 3 things were looking a bit grim, my soldiers would have to fight on without magic support, so I needed some big upsets from them to win this one!  My white lions charged his saurus unit, my spears both failed to make a charge so they shuffled forward, and my lion chariot moved into a flanking position.  Here is the board after that turn:

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During the combat here the white lions took a heavy toll on the saurus, fortunately they did have a parry save, I believe 9 were slain with only 6 white lions dying to the retaliation.  Unfortunately he was stubborn as he had more ranks, and a stubborn cold blooded unit wouldn't budge.

During the Lizard turn 3 the Cold bloods charged my warbanner unit which held, while the stegadon charged into the lions front, and the remaining saurus unit charged into the BSB unit.  This would be a deciding turn indeed!  The white lions again took a heavy toll from the enemy but with the stegadon coming in they were wiped out to the last elf.  The cold ones with their augment up were able to wreck the elf spear unit down to a mere 4 elves, who fled and were run down, they did manage to kill one knight however.  The last battle managed to pull through in spades for me however, as I lost 1 elf to a large quantity of saurus, he ended up needing insane courage result on a single re-roll and failed to do so, they did manage to run away and rally next turn however

For the HE turn 3 there was not much to do but pray and move, I moved my Spear unit around to be behind his cold ones, while my lion chariot moved to flank it.  The sword masters held tight with but 10 or so remaining.

After some careful thought for Lizard turn 4 he considered a long time with me weather his knights could pass between my chariot for some tricky movement, while it looked like he could not from my view point, the models got nudged and we decided it best to not bother.  His knights ran forward to get away from the trap.  For his remaining parts of the turn, the stegadon charged the tower, while the rest of his army moved around to get in positions to attack it.  For the combat the sword masters revealed they still had some tricks with a blade master using the talisman of Loec, which allows him to die, but re-roll all his to hits, to wounds, and their armor saves for the round.  He managed to wound the stegadon twice, while the remaining 14 or so attacks killed the entire skink crew.  The stegadon did still get a single stomp attack, as the rules for the structure indicate it basically sticks its foot in a window and stomps one elf.  Stomp indeed, after the heavy toll only 3 Elves remained but they were able to beat the stegadon mainly due to the structure denying it proper stomping and impact hits.  The stegadon did one worse failing its stubborn 6, but it did pass its loss of riders test.  The board before HE turn 4 looked like this:

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So due to some epic heroism and the protection afforded by the tower my army still had a hope, if the game would end quickly I might still pull this off.  I decided it best to move the Sword Masters out as a delaying tactic, they would die for the cause, while my BSB spear unit would move into the tower, at 19 models they were now legal to do so.  I figured what the heck, with my lion chariot and swung it around into the saurus, it was actually a bit farther back then in the picture there and had vision to it.  My only combat was my suicidal chariot which did manage to kill a solid 6 lizards but they were able to strike back and destroy my toy.  Poor cats, ah well they did their job threatening and helping me control the movement.

A tension went through the room as on a roll of a 6 the game ended right here!  But alas we rolled a 3, how much longer could my elves delay a losing battle!

For the Lizard turn 5 he charged my remaining 3 sword masters wiping them to the last elf.  He also had rallied his stegadon and moved all his units into charging range.  As a final kicker for this turn he decided to start calling a comet right on the tower, since this is not a template attack it would cause full damage to my poor defenseless elves!

For Elf turn 5 there was nothing to do but sit tight and pray.  The board looked grim:

Click to Zoom

We began the epic drum roll for a 5+ to end the game...

The die was cast...

And the result...

5!  Hurray for elven victory!  I imagine nothing short of Dragons flying in to finish off the Lizards and rescue the elves just in the nick of time, as a great way to imagine us winning in such a sudden fashion. Surely the sky darkened under shadows of massive wings and the High Elves rejoiced over the smell of burnt lizard on a stick. For Ulthuan for the Asur!

I hope you enjoyed the battle report.  I should have a map up on the first post that you can follow for the campaign progress, and the future battles will be up here weekly!  Thanks for reading!