Thursday 31 October 2013

Thanks for 10 000 Views

Trouble in the Border Provinces clocks 10 000 Views



Whoohoo. Since starting this blog less than a year ago, it has clocked 
over 10 000 views. 


Thanks to the legit visitors and followers, and a raspberry to the blog adcom crawlers and redirectors.

Of late there does not seem to many of these, and most seem of legit origin. So give or take a few 100...


 

Wednesday 30 October 2013

GW Rumours and Releases

New kid on the block?
Looks like we are getting a Warmachine/Hordes type of game crossed w WHFB from GW.
If we cant beat 'em...

Let's kill Mordheim and Warmaster, and shelve Dreadfleet, as that really did not work...

Not clear if this is army or individual combat based or a mix:



From Pins of War and Faiet 212

1 - Triumph and Treachery – A Warhammer Expansion for Xmas

White Dwarf Sneak Peak and Pre-orders open now (Retails $165.00):

"Triumph and Treachery is a Warhammer supplement which features rules for playing 3, 4, or even 5 player games of Warhammer. It's a totally new way to play, allowing you and your friends to bribe your enemies, hire mercenaries to bolster your armies and carry out all manner of underhand tactics. Anything goes in the quest to win the war!

This 96-page, full-colour, hardback book includes:

- A history of the underhand tactics employed by devious generals to defeat multiple opponents.
- Full rules for playing multiplayer games of Warhammer.
- 3 new Triumph and Treachery scenarios.
- 3 historical scenarios featuring the background to the battle; an overview of each army; scenario rules; and an order of battle showcasing the miniatures used on each side.
- A showcase of expertly painted Citadel miniatures.

Also included is a deck of 36 beautifully illustrated Treachery cards that allow you to employ all sorts of nefarious bribes and ploys in your games. There are also 5 player turn cards.

As well as this there is a drawstring bag containing victory tokens. These provide a handy method of keeping track of each player's victory points throughout the game (and can also be used for other things, such as bribing an opponent or hiring mercenaries).

All of this is presented in a slipcase to keep the book, cards, and victory tokens together.

You will need a copy of the Warhammer rulebook and relevant army books in order to use the contents of this book."

The cover of the book is a Dwarf fighting a Chaos Warrior in combat, with a Dark Elf Assassin sneaking in behind.

2 – Warhammer Fantasy 9th Edition

More Warhammer Fantasy 9th Edition rumours via Faeit 212.


Warhammer Fantasy 9th Edition & new Starter set in 2014:

Starter set becomes “Expansion set” & Mailorder Only Special Edition

Orks & Goblins first 9th editon Armybook

Starter Set of the 9th Edition Warhammer with following content

Simplified Starter Rulebook
“Armies of Warhammer”, simplified Armylists for all

Orcs and Goblins Army:

(?) New Orc Warboss
New Goblin warriors
New Orc Warriors


Empire Army

Captain of the Empire
New Spearmen (new Design)
New Musketeers (new Design)
New Knights (new Design) - Golly we need these

The Set becomes an Expansion with Magic as subject
Small Booklet with Magic Rules

Additional Models for Mages and two Regiments

#3 – New Warhammer Fantasy Dwarves

According to Ajota from the Spanish Eye of Terror forums, new Dwarves for Warhammer Fantasy arrive in 2014 (before or after the new Edition for Warhammer Fantasy?).

OrcCrusher / TBM
Runic Anvil / War Altar
Squadron Box Gyrocopters
Thunderers Box / Crossbow / Dwarf Warriors (10)
Hammerers Box / Ironbreaker
Slayers Box / Brotherhood of Grimmir
Longbeards Box / Rangers”


Tuesday 29 October 2013

Dark Elf Army Book finally in my sweaty paws

My DE Army book has finally arrived. Collected it from The Post Shop at Lunch time.

It is sitting in the car, waiting...

Could have had a hairy cadenza on Friday when I checked the mail, and there was a note from the postie: "Too big to fit in postbox"  Collect it from the Postshop on Tuesday!

You may ask why it took me so long to get a copy. The answer is in a previous post. Admin mayhem and issuing gift certificates in the wrong currency at GW. Anyhow, it has finally arrived.


So Labour Weekend was spent without the DE book.
Continued to modify the Dark Eldar Boat thingy I bought off James at the swap day. Also converting the Dark Eldar Wyches into Sisters of Pain (Slaughter)


Few Hours board gaming with my son and his friends:
 Luc, Logan and Jackson we played  the Aztlan Board game, an entertaining Risk-meets-Catan domination game. Good for a few hours' fun!

 




Thursday 24 October 2013

KWCs 2nd Swap day a resounding success (again)

KWCs 2nd Swap day a resounding success (again)

Just a quick word of thanks to all that participated in the 2nd Kapiti Wargames Swap Day. It was a resounding success, with bargains and swaps for all to be had. Everyone walked away satisfied on the day. A big thanks the everyone involved, visitors and members alike.


Some more of my photos on the KWC blogsite (Click to page)

Personally I found around 30+ brand new and pre-loved fantasy figures, 4 Fenresian wolves, 2 bags of Mantic Basilian Horses, useful tree bits for 20 mm WW2 terrain and bases, lots of paint (Thanks Pukeko games: Vallejo and Reaper) and some bits to make the Dark Elf Raider Ark I have been contemplating at the back of my mind for some time. 



An alternative Demon prince (Do I really need another? ..but the model was soooo cool. And it was a bargain) and small dragon I intend to use as an alternative to the Dark Elf Pegasus.

 I sold the last of my 40K hoard (At last...yay!); some excess German WW2 1/72  tank kits, reference books and codexes, board games, a role playing LOTR game, and a lot of other bits and bobs. A great day of cameraderie and banter, haggling and gamer fun!

Friday 18 October 2013

GW (largish) Niggle sorted - Dark Elves book incoming (to a postbox near me)

GW and global trading: We have a problem Houston

 

As a complication of GWs global pricing policies I ran into an unusual problem. I bought a gift certificate as a present for my son a few months ago. When he wanted to use it online, it turned out that the voucher had been issued in US Dollars (Despite my login details showing NZ) and it was useless in NZ.
I ended up giving him the money in hard cash, and tried to sort out the mess...

The local GW shop would /could not honour the gift certificate, and after 6 months of to-ing and fro-ing we finally got someone in Aus to sort the problem.

6 months later...I was getting rather frustrated with the whole situation, as my bank had also stung me with a $25 foreign exchange rate fee. (On a $100 gift voucher, billed to me as NZ$135 at the time, it brought the cost of a $100 voucher to $160).

I received an email advising me that a new certificate (At today's exchange rate, $120, NZ would be issued) which would put me out of pocket $40 on the nett balance.

I thought just to let it slide, but someone at GW was perceptive enough to what had happened, and that the exchange rate was different at the time of purchase. Today an email with a voucher arrived for $150 NZ.

In the end this leaves me just $10 (plus interest lost) out of pocket,after  six months of trying to get an adequate response from the US/UK or wherever. Should I be glad?

So I bought the Dark Elves Army book, and DE magic cards, and the cards for Lizardmen and WoC. Lets wait and see...probably my last online purchase from GW.

Think I'll just go down to the local GW shop in future or buy off traders on TradeMe rather than go through this again!.

Anyhow, Kudos to the GW employee who saw the exchange rate difference and adjusted the voucher. Have a great weekend mate!

Thursday 10 October 2013

Minis Swap and Sale: KWC 2nd Annual Swap Day Sun 20.10.2013

We want you! 

For the 

Kapiti Wargames Club 

Swap Day

20.10.2013



Unwanted or unloved Miniatures?

The Annual Kapiti Wargames Club Swap Meet is on again!

Sunday 20 October 2013


10.00 to 16.00

Paraparaumu Community Centre
Nga Hina Street, Paraparaumu



Entry Gold Coin Donation at door


Bring all your unwanted bits and models: Warhammer, 40K, Warmachine, FoW, Military, Napoleonics, Ancients, Moderns, 28mm, 20mm, 15mm
 ...any scale, any condition. 



Missing bits, complete or partial kits...all comers welcome! 
Your trash is likely someone's treasure!

Sell or swap!







(Most likely there will be some gaming too)

Thursday 3 October 2013

First pics of New Hydra Model over at Plastic Crack!

Jossy at Plastic Crack has just published some of the first pics of the New Hydra model:




(also a first look at the Core troops, which I am less enthused about.)

Copyright Jossy, used without permission, just to illustrate the link

. Not my work or picture Just placed as a service to the community that do not follow Jossy's blog 
(Anyway, you should if you are a WH fan) 
All rights belong to Jossy and GW.

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Here it comes: DE Magic and Items, Stats, and rearranged to make sense

DE Magic and Rules, Stats incoming

Via HEROs Gaming blog (Tip your hats that way, plse. Thanks HERO)

Poss some bits lost in translation from ? Spanglese, reorganised to make more sense.



Q and A:

Rules for Assassins and Death Hags:
Are gifts of khaine surpressed or is there a list in the book?

Assassins and hags use different things, former has 3 choices of poison, latter has 3 choices of gift. Hags can only take 50 pts of magic weapons, while assassins have access to 50 pts magic items.
They are  DE hero characters, they can only take one from the three choices.
Assassins: 90 pts with poison attack. Can get two hand weapon or a Handbows. Access to 50pts magic items and one of three poisons (See below)

Shadowblades and Hellebron can have all 3 choices at their disposal simultaneously

Poison:
Black lotus: for each unsaved wounds inflicted by the character, a cumulative -1LD
Dark venom: KB
Manbane: +1 bonus to wound rolls

Gifts:
Cry of war :Cause fear, and all fear test made by the enemy unit in base contact with the hag suffer -3LD
Rune of khaine: Model gains +D3 attacks
Witch brew: She and her unit get frenzy. if they already have frenzy, they become super-frenzied with +2A. but the unit suffers -3LD when testing not to restrain from charging.

Fluff background question? What's the relationship between DEs and Slaanesh now? Does the cult of Slaanesh exist in fluff?
It looks like the warlocks(and sisters of suffering)  have something to do with Slaanesh from the captions in the pics, but I can't make it out.
No info- source doesn't know background fluff other than that the warlocks have been cursed by Malekith, if they don't find and kill the innocents, their souls will be taken by Slaanesh. so they have to kill and satisfy the dark prince all the time for survival.

Stats and rules of the cauldron. Does it have a 4+ Ward Save and does the hag get it as well?
CoB has a 4+ ward save itself; it can give the hag and witch it joins 5+ ward save, other units a 6+ ward save.
Witch Elves keep poison? Yes WE Initiative? They're I6

Sacrificial dagger and Pendant?
Yes the dagger is there. No pendant.
Everytime when u cast a spell but before dispelling, u can use the dagger. remove a model from the unit, and roll a D6, 4+ gets an extra dice and must be rolled and added to the result, then opponent tries to dispel. If you roll 1-3 then u can try the dagger again and again until you get a dice, or you can simply give up.

Does an Assassin get mundane armor? Assassins do not have access to armour. Does the missing of an armour-option mean, that an assassin cannot get a magic armor as well? No he can't
Do Assassins count against the hero slot limit? Yes

Is the Sea Drake Cloak available for all characters- or just for corsairs? Yes the cloak is available to dreadlord and master

Weapons: 
Handbow rules? What about the bleakswords?
Handbow range 12'', the rest stays the same (AP)
Bleakswords have no other rules mentioned, 9pts.
RBT now special and 70 pts, you can take four.(yes four)

Hydra and Kharybdiss:
Hydra is 6445552(3+remaining wounds) 6, cost 160 pts, 4+AS, 20pts for flame breath and 20pts for a 8'' shooting with multiple shots=remaining wounds, s=remaining wounds.
Kharibdyss is 650755456, 160 pts, 4+AS, poison attack, abyssal howl (reroll successful ld test), feast of bones(if all attack hits, auto hit D6 S7 hits afterwards.)
and one more thing... hydra and the kharibdyss both are monsters now, without handlers. though you can see two on their base, there is nothing about them in the rules.
Hydra regen rule:  Roll to regen wounds at the end of DE turn only: at the end of your phase if it still alive, you roll the number of dice equal to number of the lost wounds. 4+ regains a wound
Are the Hydra and the Karbdyss water creatures? No they don't have the sea creature rule. (Strange that one)

Harpies (Was worried that they had been canned, but sounds like they're still there )Whats the cost of harpies, do they ve any special rules like no panic ti other DE? Herpies are in special, 15pts and do not have any special rule except for fly.

Shades are 16 pts, hand weapon and repeater crossbow, no armour. Can take great weapon or two hand weapons for  2pts per model.

All lores for small sorceresses (2 lvl) too? Is she 80 pts?
Strange but certain. Small sorcerer can also take all 8 lores. and she's 80pts.

Whats about the rules of the Black Guard?
BG have eternal hatred of all enemies, that means rerols of all failed rolls to hit every round. They keep other rules per 7th Ed.(Warrior elite replaced by eternal hatred)

Points and options for black guard and cold ones: What does the medusa chariot thing do?
BG 15 pts, EX 12 pts, Cold one knight 30pts.
The Medusa chariot:  All DE within 6'' +1LD, and all others -1LD, Called Aura of Agony.

Do executioners still have Killing blow or are they now D3 wounds: Still KB, not D3 wounds.

Which special characters are in, which are out?
They stay the same. No new special characters. (Though Lokhir would go - Ed)
Does Malekith get cheaper? Yes, he's only 510 pts on foot. Didn't change much of his rules, now the circlet grants him an bonus dice if failed his casting/dispelling attempts once per magic phase

Fleet Admiral and the Beastmaster characters?

Lord choices: Fleetmaster is 155 pts with 566433739. Two hand weapons, light armour and sea dragon cloak. 50pts magic items. have a special rule called show no weakness that if he's fighting in a challenge or killed a character and still alive, the unit he joins become unbreakable till the end of that turn.
Sea dragon cloak upgraded in this edition: Now a 5+ scaly skin.

High beastmaster is 300pts 577433839 including mount (Manticore or scourgerunner chariot) Spear, light armour and sea dragon cloak. 100pts magic items. Special rule called Beastslaver: At the start of each of your turns, choose a friendly monster within 3''.That monster gets +D3 A till the start of your next turn.

Scroungerunner's cost includes the bolt thrower, I'm quite sure the High Beastmaster can man the bolt thrower.Yes, he takes place of one crew. His BS 7.
Special or rare? Special, cost 150 pts, profile is S4 T4 W4 with 5+AS, M9, two crew with spear and repeater crossbow,  a harpoon launcher, like a bolt thrower but far more powerful. it's S7, 24'' range, and cause D3 wounds. if a monster suffer any wounds from it, the monster will be dragged D6'' directly towards it. If D6 > 3, the monster suffer another wound with no AS.


Scroungerunner



Magic items aren't that great but everything else seems awesome.

Malus Darkblade:  Daemon now gives him +1 to WS,S,T,I and frenzy. Any to hit roll of 1 hits a friendly model in base contact.
Supreme sorceress is 185pts with lvl3, dreadlord 140pts. sorceress 80pts with lvl1.

Kuran and Tullaris
Kouran 596432739 joins BG to make them unbreakable. Comes standard with  +2S crimson death, and a 5+AS with Armour of Grief which delivers a S5 hit every time an opponent hits him.

Tullaris 566432739 joins EX gives them frenzy. Magic great weapon called the First Draich:  5+KB

Are they still champions or moved to hero slots ? Moved to hero slot, W2 each.

SoS vs WE:
Sisters of Slaughter
Rare choice with very impressive state 564331629. 15pts model, with shield and hand weapon. Can have a magic banner up to 50pts. 4+ward save in close combat, and every close combat phase it can choose an enemy unit in base contact: They lose parry and rank bonus in combat result.(still can steadfast). If any enemy model in base contact with them have higher basic WS or S (before weapon modifiers), they get +1 to their to hit and wound rolls.


Click to see full-size


Are they Khanites and do they get the same bonuses from CoB as WE's?
No they're not brides of Khaine, they're arena fighters. COB can give them 6+ ward save if join them... but still if they're 6'' within COB they can reroll all the failed rolls to wound. and COB have a bound spell can make them frenzied.

Magic item section look like? Do I still have access to the Hydra Banner (fingers crossed)

From my first glance they're not as good as HE. Only 10 items, including one 100 pts nearly useless sword (hydra blade, +D6 A, every close combat phase u must make a -2LD test or suffer -5WS, but gain HKB.) and one 100 pts useless banner (Banner of Nagarythe, makles the unit unbreakable). Hydra banner is not there any longer.

Magic: How does Power of Darkness work? Available lores?
Power of darkness is one of the two signature spell, which cast on 8+, target the caster's unit. all models in unit get +1S until the caster's next magic phase, and recover D3 casting dice, if you rolled 3 dice, the caster suffers a wound that cant be saved by armour. Dark elf have access to all eight lores this time, cheers. (Yeehaa! and thank you very much, ouch! - Ed)
DE sorcerer casting dark magic gain +1 bonus in casting value. It's called HEKARTIS BLESSING

What would you say is the best magic item the DE's got?
The dagger sounds pretty nice, how much does it cost?
25pts. DE have some "OK" items IMO

click to enlarge

Looks like the Dark Riders now have shields? Is this a default now, or still an option which causes loss of Fast cav? Upgrade with 1pts/per model. DR can have both light armour and shield without losing fast cavalry rule. 16 pts per model with light armour. 1pts for shield, 3 pts for crossbow.


Warlocks

Warlocks: Fast cavalry in rare Stats 544431528, and M9 on horse. 25ptsper model. Only have hand weapon, but have 4+ward save except for wounds caused by model with mark of Saanesh or daemon of Slaanesh. they're considered to be level2 wizard which is used like pink horrors. (+1 for casting value for each extra rank except the first, to a max of +3) They know 2 spells, one is doombolt from DE army book, the other is Soulblight from lore of death. (Think we'll be seeing a bit of this- Ed)

Basic DE warrior cost ? Core infantry comes with shield and sword or spear.  9 PTS for spearmen and swordsmen. RXB is 12 pts without shield upgrade (+1PTS)


Click to enlarge

Dark Elves: Second Wave Leak: First Photos

Dark Elves: Second Wave Leak: 

Photos, and confirmation of the lean to Slaanesh

Via Facebook: Presumed scans from the Army book, showing what else is in store for the DE lovers amongst us! (If you can believe the post)


Warlocks

Warlocks, the alternate build for Dark Riders, can't make out what the actual name of these altenate riders could be, but note the term "Slaanesh" actually printed in the caption! 
See, I told you...Slaaneshi Druchii! 


I'm loving the look of these riders, but...Oh dear! What were you thinking with buck teeth on the horses?
Has Bugs Bunny been crossbreeding with the Druchii stock? Bring out the tooth file. Gonna have to do some converting here!


OK, I think. Gives me no real reason to update my current dark riders.
Looks if they may be getting some light armour and/or shield option though, and a nice build on the riders themselves, fitting more with the look of the (unchanged) cold one riders

But then the backslide starts. 

I was so excited about getting new Executioners and Black guard, expecting at least some dynamic poses. But I am very underwhelmed with these (as also with the new core warriors) It seems the DEs backslid to the 90s, with static poses. Not a great improvement on my current metal ones, and just as good and my current alternate Gamezone figures (see bottom of page) 


OK, nice detail, BUT Static, static 1990s poses. Missed opportunity... Is all that I can say.
Alternate companies to GW can only improve their own sales. 



Not a halberd raised in anger. Even the empire's halberdiers are more dynamic


...OK, intersing. Look Ma, no visible wheels. With 2 attacks each from Cold Ones, plus impact hits, etc this is gonna be a seller. We'll see what the stats show


Mobile bolt-thrower. 
Waiting to see the stats, but can't imagine it's gonna match th Cannon of Khorne



Interesting. So not  a "Admiral of the Fleet", but Balck Ark Fleetmaster. 
Did we really need a peg-leg? The legacy of the pirate lore permeates the corsairs...
Ok, I can live with it. 
Now the qiestion: Does he have -1 to his movement, and how does that affect the unit he is in? 


For those who prefer decals. As I said, back to the nineties.
Does GW sell a decal fix? Not sure, if not they soon will....

Overall impression of the DE release so far:
(If the post I got this from is not a hoax, but the photos seem to come from an Army book)

Bit disappointed with the infantry, core and elite both. Seems we've had a backslide to 1990s design, with rather static poses, ham-sized hands and limitation of poses. (As an aside, I'm building Empire Greatswords from my pile of shame at the moment, and have found the same problem there) 
Characters seen so far also a bit bland.

 Cavalry and Chariots are pretty good, with the exception of those teeth. It appears the GW fixation with eating apparatus has now switched from parrot beaks to protruding gnashers for the horses and hydra.
I'm liking the buff machines and monsters (other than the hydras teeth) Now to find out about the magic...

Alternate Black guard I use  at present:
Gamezone figures


Dropped the shields, as BG don't have 'em