Adieu Games Workshop

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye...

In a blur of motion Valten signals his departure from GW gaming

So I have come out of my period of mourning for the game that has been the focus of most of my hobby endevours for the last decade or three. Like many a relationship it has come to a natural end. Though I have to say, that end was none of my doing or intent.

I loved the Warhammer World. I immersed myself in a world steeped in lore and history, once written and produced by gamers for gamers. It appealed to me for many reasons, the quality of the figures, the depth and width of the fluff, the sense of community...
The excitement of new releases that fit with my existing plethora of armies.

Yup, many of them have never seen the gaming table, and I spent many a dollar just on the joy of building and painting many a model, often to find that it was worthless as a game piece, or to see its worth destroyed by a change in the rules.

I played Warhammer Age of Reckoning online, adding another level of enjoyment to my experience of the Warhammer World. I bought novels that brought the fluff to life. I got my young son into the game.

Then all of it was sacrificed on the altar of profit.

To me, my experience of my relationship with GW had become more and more abusive over the decades. Like anybody trapped in a relationship with someone they loved; and believed that the other party loved them back, I stayed. I loved GW, but they did not love me back.

Then we got to the point where GW killed the Warhammer World. It rolled out the Age of the Sigmarine.  The End Times, (or is it End Crimes?) to me, now relates as a cynical move to squeeze a few more dollars out of those who still believed the game as we knew it may survive. Thank goodness I did not swallow the bait. Only a single End Times model taints my workbench. Gutrot Spume.

Some gamers took it to the extreme.

I too am a business man. I get the business aspects of it all.

But I am also a consumer of miniatures, a gamer, and possibly one with more disposable income than many. Surely there must have been a way forward that did not destroy the Warhammer world.

I (too) have decided to vote with my feet. AoS is not for me. GW is no longer for me.

I suppose my dollar does not count to GW in the greater scheme of things.
So be it.
Hope you attract lots of 8-year olds !

I for one will now leave GW and their Sigmarines to their own destiny.
So long, fare well.
I notice others doing the same.

Interesting post from Pete at Fields of Blood  on the corporate analyst take on the situation, and today announcing NZTCs switch to KoW.

So, where to from here ?  I've looked at the options:

1. Flogging on with 8th Ed in one form or another, (Read "continue as is; pre or post End-Crimes", 8th Ed the new Old Hammer, or call it (Out-in-the-cold Hammer?) or some fan-based machination - we all know how that is going to end);
2. Using my existing figures for another ruleset. (Late medieval/early renaissance gaming sans magic ?)
3). Selling the lot, and sticking with FoW only and
4) Switching to a skirmish based gameset eg Warmahordes

The latter did not appeal, as every figure I have painted is an unique work of art to my eyes.
I have toiled over them for days, weeks and months (oft to my other half's dismay).
They are like family.

So, I weighed 'em up...Pike and Shot, Blackpowder, Deus Vult, Warmahordes, Saga...
Invest in X-Wing ? A nice game or diversion, lots of guys have gone that way...but not what I'm after; I have a love of the Fantasy genre, already have FoW as a diversion anyhow, and alack,  no spare space in the Man Cave...

(Ahem...Huge delivery of Dark Elves bought as kickstarter from Raging Heroes on the horizon; and SAGA still preys on my mind - I may still go that way for a skirmish based game)

Came to a conclusion: Kings of War. 

Had quite an enjoyable game with Matt at the club the other night. Tournament coming at the end of the year. AND NOW NZTC IS GOING KOW

Fluff not quite there, Magic a bit weak, but out of all that is our there, I think Mantic's KoW is going to come up trumps. See one of the big tourneys in the US have also swopped over. And yesterday P
D announced that the NZTC will also switch rulesets.

With many, many WHFB players flocking their way I can see Mantic carrying the massed block based Fantasy Game banner in future. GWs loss is Mantic's gain.

Mantic must be grinning ear to ear.
Cheekily calling their book: The Game of Fantasy Battles. The King is dead, fell on his own sword. Long live the King!

My GW Undead, Empire and Dwarfs are now in the process of rebasing. Enough of them for both Abyssal and regular dwarf armies; and Human and Basilean Armies, each 2000 plus. May need a couple of Eloi for the latter, and some chicks on panthers. Or do I just use those riduculous (sigh) chickens?

Rebased Graveguard..ahem, Revenants

Empire almost there (15 000+ GW points woth) Almost done with the Vampires. (Wow do they kick ass in KoW!) and same with my Greenskins. Suddenly I have both a Goblin and an Orc army, compared to a 8000+ pt well but neigh useless WHFB greenskin army.

...and keep a few of my armies multi-purpose, ...should I ever decide to play 8th ed or one of its Lazarus incarnations which may or may not happen. (Looking verrrry unlikely at this stage) other than ETC (?)

So Druchii and Daemons will remain on their magnetised bases. As for killing off Slaanesh to attract the soccer mums. Bleh on you GW. I am so over it all, and the way you treated us.

Yay! I can use my Confrontation Wolfen now! 

As for the young Prince? Sad to say that GW's move has killed gaming for him. The Lizards and Ogres have gathered dust since the End Times (Well, what would you expect if both your armies suddely get written out of the story fluff) and I have doubts that he will return to gaming for the immediate future. But who knows? The news of NZTC switching may have galvanised him too.

A week ago I set about the mammoth task of rebasing my 15 000 pt + Empire Armies:

White Wolf Greathammers and Knights of Ulrich being transformed. 

Yup, some collector's items in that line-up!

Really 4 or 5  distinct armies sporting the livery of Talabheim, Talabecland, Nordland (Incorporating Kislev) and The Knights of Morr, and a small contingent of Knights of the White Wolf. Not that it matters any more, as in GW's own words "such things are obtuse"

I could actually not have anticipated the feeling of liberation that I got when I started gluing bases to movement trays! "Yes, yes! Never have to remove and restack you, you little bastard !"

Handgunners, Arquebussiers, 10 to a stand. Sooo easy.

Same with the XBows. 10 to a base. Simple. 

Sorry Chaos Army. 

You will have to wait for the rules to catch up with you. No doubt in the pipe-line.

Anyone with a horde army will appreciate what I am saying...
Couldn't wait to glue down those skeletons and zombies. Never will you fly all over the place again!
Not even speaking about night goblins!

Still have to think about the Vargulfs, but everything else seems transferable

 

Night of the Walking Dead

Skeletons, Zombies and ghouls surge forth. No longer shuffle or shamble. Undead are not slow in KoW. Change of Mindset. Oh yes, and then there is SURGE.

Still a huge amount of work to do on the aesthetics, but getting there slowly...

 

ANZACs, Remembrance, Gallipoli and Delville Wood

ANZAC Day, Remembrance Gallipoli and Delville Wood

ANZAC day made me reflect on my roots, and South Africa's Gallipoli: Delville Wood.
To all of those who paid for our freedom with their lives.

Never heard of it? Here's the story on my WW2 blog:

http://wargamesobsession.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/diversion-from-d-day-anzac-day.html

Dark Elf Barque (Or a Barque rather than an Ark)

Evolution of the Dark Elf Barque

The latest Druchii Army book makes a lot about the Maritime connection of the DE's. I find it sad that the Kharybdis is not a sea creature, I think it really should have that rule, seeing as that the original Carybdis is sea monster. Anyhow, I love the pirate aspect of the corsairs.

My workbench is littered with conversions and projects, many obtained at the swap meet. 

Eldar Whyches to Sisters of Slaughter, conversion of several Avatars of war figures (Sorceress into Hag, Dreadlord w sword to Dreadlord with Hand Xbow, several suitable Reaper (and other) figures into my DE Livery. On the left Warmachine Town Guard being recruited for the Empire City of Talabheim... I like their beefier look.

Anyhow, I have been thinking about building a Druchii  boat ever since Nick and I played a Dark Elf attack on an Empire Settlement (clicky to see the post) scenario.

The fluff around the Druchii make a lot of the sea-borne raiding parties. The one thing that stopped me from building a Dark Ark was the size and materials needed (and the time to construct such a vessel) and the poor quality of some attempts I saw on the web.

At the KWC's swap day I came across the answer: James was selling some of his Dark Eldar bits, amongst this some derelict space vessels, and bits that could pass as sails!

I would build, not the not the large Dark ARK that deposits the main raiding force, but a smaller, more agile and easier to conceal vessel, the Druchii BARQUE

So, slowly but surely the Druchii Barque is now evolving...

Sails and rams

Space Hulk

Voila! The beginnings of a Druchii Barque

From Wiki:
"The word barque entered English via French, which in turn came from the Latin barca by way of Occitan, Spanish or Italian. The Latin barca may stem from Celtic "barc" (per Thurneysen) or Greek "baris" (per Diez), a term for an Egyptian boat. The Oxford English Dictionary however considers the latter improbable.

The word barc appears to have come from Celtic languages. The form adopted by English, perhaps from Irish, was bark, while that adopted by Latin as barca very early, which gave rise to the French barge and barque. In Latin, Spanish and Italian the term barca refers to a small boat, not a full-size ship. French influence in England led to the use in English of both words, although their meanings now are not the same.

Well before the 19th century a barge had become interpreted as a small vessel of coastal or inland waters. Somewhat later, a bark became a sailing vessel of a distinctive rig as detailed below. In Britain, by the mid-19th century, the spelling had taken on the French form of barque. Francis Bacon used this form of the word as early as 1605. Throughout the period of sail, the word was used also as a shortening of the barca-longa of the Mediterranean Sea.
The usual convention is that spelling barque refers to a ship and bark to tree hide, to distinguish the homophones.

In the 18th century, the British Royal Navy used the term bark for a nondescript vessel that did not fit any of its usual categories. Thus, when the British Admiralty purchased a collier for use by James Cook in his journey of exploration, she was registered as HM Bark Endeavour to distinguish her from another Endeavour, a sloop already in service at the time. She happened to be a ship-rigged sailing vessel with a plain bluff bow and a full stern with windows.

William Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine defined "bark", as "a general name given to small ships: it is however peculiarly appropriated by seamen to those which carry three masts without a mizen topsail. Our northern mariners, who are trained in the coal-trade, apply this distinction to a broad-sterned ship, which carries no ornamental figure on the stem or prow."

Avatars of War Dreadlord/Noble/Hero who has swopped his one sword for a Corsair Handbow. 

Another WIP on my benchtop.

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)

Dark Elves of Slaanesh Arrive: 1st WD leaked pictures

Dark Elves of Slaanesh arrive

The long awaited first wave of DE releases are out in the Oct WD. I am a bit underwhelmed by some models, and enthused by others from what I can see. The stats may well change my opinion.

We can probably expect a second wave of more nautically themed Corsairs/Admiral of the fleet hero next, with the new Riders and Chariots...

I particularly liked the sinister look of the faceless DE's of the previous edition, so I can't say that I am rapt with the poncy faced HE look! Have the rank and file been sanitised to make them unappealing and force other purchases? Looks like the Shrine and Cauldron got all the spikes and the troops lost their spike and spite. We need SPITE in our DE Armies. These guys look kind.(Apparently getting ASF  (reward for looking like HE? ) and Murderous prowess - see below ? Just Khainite units/characters) )

Either way the Cult of Khaine is on the rise. I always thought Khaine and Khorne were more interchangable, but it appears that there is a definite Slaaneshi lean to this release:

Photos in order of "Like" as far as I am concerned:

Like e'm a lot

Love 'em lotz

Nice

ok

ok

Ho-hum - could have done sooo much with a new hydra. 

What do we get, the Friendly Lochness monster mutated... Lips don't work for me. 

Not EVIL enough. Dark elves are EVIL. Like the dynamic handlers

The pose of the creature works, then heads, not for me.

Would probably build the Karibdyss from this kit, keep my old hydras.

Bleh! Bleh!

High elves masquesrading as Dark elves. where did the EVIL go? 

Boring. No chance I'm gonna undate

Nooooo.....a step backwards

Rules Rumours (ex Warseer):

The sisters of slaughter are rares: enemies is base contact with them lose rank bonuses.

Hydras are specials can upgrade to get a strength 4 breath attack, no regeneration  but can regrow heads (recover lost wounds) just like the slann can with his discipline.

The karybdiss thing has a special ability that triggers when all 5 of its attacks hits ( gets an extra attack that inflicts additional hits) has a scaly skin save and causes terror. Enemy models in base contact must re roll successful leadership tests. Both use the monster and handler rules.

They have 2 signature spells just like high magic. One of the spells goes off on a 8+ and grants a unit +1 strength and then you gain D3 power dice but if you gain 3 power dice this way the wizard suffers a wound with no saves allowed.

The army has always strikes first.

Murderous Prowess: models with this rule re roll 1s when rolling to wound.

Wizards casting Dark Magic add plus 1 to their casting attempts.

Price Update (Ex Jossy at Plastic Crack)

Just received the price list for the Dark Elves release for New Zealand and Australia, and all us Kiwi's and Aussies will be very happy to know that the models at least are very close to what the US prices are!


(Not if you use the Big Mac Index, we are still paying for being on the backside of the earth and GW using outdated exchange rates - ed)


Dark Elf army book: $US 49.50 $AU 83 $NZ 98
Dark Elves Battle magic: $US 6 $AU 8.5 $NZ 10Shadowblade: $US 20 $AU 22 $NZ 26Dreadspears: $US 35 $AU 45 $NZ 50Witchelves: $US 60 $AU 70 $NZ 80Hydra: $US 65 $AU 70 $NZ 85Cauldron: $US 75 $AU 80 $NZ 95So this may well be considered a price increase for the US, but here in New Zealand and Australia this is a price drop!


I can see me getting the Witchelves/Sisters of Slaughter, Karybdis build, Cauldron (Build depends on stats), and of course the book. My wallet is groaning in trepidation....