Warhammer - Age of Sigmar - an opinion.

As is all too well known now, GW in their wisdom decided to take a whole new view to their popular fantasy battle game; Warhammer... and wholesale replaced it with an entirely new concept for the fantasy game, with Warhammer - Age of Sigmar!

This caused chaos quite literally in the hordes of fantasy players the world over... which caused varied reactions, and to the extremes of one player publicly burning his entire fantasy collection on Youtube! (Totally bonkers if you asked me - should have sold them!)

As for myself I looked on in a state of bemusement as the change didn't affect me in the slightest... I had drifted away from playing Warhammer and 40K many many years ago... being content to continue to play their Lord of the Rings/Hobbit SBG game, being a big Tolkien fan, and other non-GW games... recently seeing me take to Bolt Action with great enthusiasm...

And then things take a radical turn... I bought a pharmacy, and after our first year decided to add a Hobby Corner Department, initially supporting and stocking Warlord Games products including Bolt Action and Army Painter and sourcing Vallejo from another local distributor... a successful first months trading sees me decide to widen the Hobby selection, including Star Wars X-Wing and Armada, and becoming a GW stockist.

This later part resulted in a 1m display stand arriving and being packed with 40K and AoS product! Now I haven't actively played 40K in several years but I think I probably have a rough idea how it still plays... it wouldn't take me too long to get  up to speed with it again... but AoS???

I haven't actively played WFB in about 20 years... and last played WAB (based on WFB 5th?) about 10 years ago...

So I decided I had better see what all the fuss was about and try and learn the game so I can explain it to potential customers in store...

A local mate; Nic Jebson organised a demo game for me down at the local club; Kapiti Wargames Club... and I dug out a bunch of 20 year old  dwarf figures from my dusty collection and backed them up with a unit of Elven archers... to face Nic's Dark Elf Army.

We played a 'take anything you like' version of the game, just for me to see how it played...

There were two objective markers on the board which would give points per turn for having possession of it. There would also be points for killing the enemy Army General....

We arrayed our battlelines and set to.

On my left flank my elves made a dash into the woods to get near the left flank objective, but they were headed off by Nics executioners... My dwarven line advanced across the centre and dwarf missile troops held an area of ruins on my right flank, near the right flank objective.

Nic advanced his battle line towards mine, with a dragon mounted sorceress in the centre alongside a another draconic beastie and dark elf foot soldiers. On my right Nic started an outflanking move engaging my missile troops in the ruins...

The long and short of the battle was, the executioners did just that to my elves and remained holding that objective... my dwarven line largely held in the centre... the cavalry charge was broken against the ruins and once they had been dealt with it allowed me to start rolling the flank...  which I duly did.

This move also saw a General to General duel, with my stalwart dwarf lord emerging the victor... this put me ahead on points in the game and caused Nic to throw his last units into the fray, but to no avail... the game ending with Nic reduced to the Executioners holding their objective, the rest of the army destroyed...

Now I have to say, after all the negative press AoS got, I actually wanted to dislike the game... but that was not to be... I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I think because I haven't played WFB in may years I had an unbiased view going into the game, and no axe to grind... I also liked the removal of the blocky movement tray mounted units... having played LOTR SBG for several years I am used to and enjoy the skirmish look and play of it... it reminded me in some ways of a cross between LOTR SBG and Bolt Action, You still had units, but they were in 'skirmish order'. This allowed freedom of movement, and allowed the battle lines to blur and merge into a huge melee, which to my mind is probably a better representation of such warfare... it also allowed friendly adjacent units to support each other... something I always found difficulty with in WFB as adjacent units often had issues aiding their friends due to restrictive charges arcs , turning circles and other units getting in the way of the turning unit...

The game also involved rolling the proverbial buckets of dice, something I have always had fun with in gaming, no matter the game.

So I have to say, for me AoS gets a thumbs up, and there's no need to go burning your armies... I managed to play it with 20 year old dwarf figures!

The one thing I will agree on is the fact that the lack of points system and some of the 'humorous' rules were bad moves on GWs side. But it seems they are redressing this with the introduction of a points system... time will tell on the silly rules though! ;-) Still it adds to the 'fun' perhaps.

Age of Sigmar - give it a try!

GAMES WORKSHOP in stock! The Hobby Corner Continues to Expand!

Just a quick post to share how well our Hobby Corner has been going! We've had a superb first month with a great level of support by the local gamers and modellers and even from those further afield!

Big thanks to Bob and the guys up Palmy way, and to Simon and the rest of the crew from the Hutt Club - who are choosing to support a store that's not in their immediate locale - much appreciated guys!!!

On the back of this initial success, we have decided to expand the section and range of products, and have just last week become a GW stockist, through their stockist program. We've now got a 1m wide module in store with AoS and 40K stocked, and anything else that's wanted that we don't have , we can order in each week for delivery the following week! Just let us know by Thursday for delivery next week...

We've also expanded the Warlord Games selection, by stocking Black Powder, Hail Caesar, and Pike and Shotte to cater for the Historical Gamers, with starter sets and boxed figure sets available...

More from Warlord Games to come in the coming months ... August sees the release of Konflict '47... a 'what-if' expansion on the classic Bolt Action game that will see large robot like walkers and Nazi zombies entering the fray! Cant wait for that one!

Also with the current zombie craze, we'll be stocking their Project Z game, once its available again - it sold out and is just awaiting the next print run to complete for shipment.

Bolt Action sees a revamp in the rules in September and we'll be getting those new rules in with the new starter sets too.

And having see how good a game Bolt Action is with its order dice mechanism, I have decided to also get in Warlords' Beyond the Gates of Antares - Sci-Fi battle game... which uses the same order and pinning mechanisms - looking forward to giving that one a whirl!

As you can see from the pictures above we're also stocking Star Wars X-Wing and Star Wars Armada - both very popular games - playable straight out of the box with no painting required... and definitely in gaming vogue at the mo' with the new movies coming out for Star Wars!

We'll also be stocking a range of board and card gamer like Munckkin , Fluxx, Carcasonne, Settlers, Talisman etc etc ...

So if you're in the area and in need of a gaming or modelling fix, come on down and check us out!

The Hobby Corner
Paraparaumu Beach Pharmacy
17 Seaview Road
Paraparaumu Beach
Kapiti, NZ.
04 2988882

Skarloc - Wood Elf Captain, Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers - Regiment of Renown - Warhammer - "Old Hammer"

Another model painted for the challenge, and interestingly enough, possible the first model I have bought, deliberately to paint, and sell on...

As my sell off, of figures I am no longer using and have no further interest in, continues, I had had a rummage, and found my old Skarloc's Regiment of Renown. Unfortunately, closer inspection showed the titular captain, Skarloc - missing...  I have vague memories of using him in a one off RPG D&D session about ten years ago back in the the UK, so he's no doubt long gone and missing now...

So I scouted about on ebay and sourced a figure, bought it and recently finished painting it up.

So with him repainted to lead the regiment once again, I'll be putting the regiment up on ebay shortly... link to follow...

Skarloc, the most Bad Ass Warhammer Wood Elf Captain ever. Classic 1980's GW styling and great box art from all those years ago..., though sadly I no longer have the box...

Ruins of Osgiliath

I recently finished my GW LOTR Ruins of Osgiliath set...

Sadly, being terrain, they can't count towards the Painting Challenge, but no matter, I couldn't resist painting them up, and they have already seen action in an Empire of the Dead game, as they are wonderfully generic multi-setting use...

After a black spray primer undercoat, I used FAS student acrylic paints, starting with Burnt Sienna, then dry brushed with Yellow Oxide and then White.

I filled the void under this piece with styrofoam, as suggested and effected a matching stone block look.

I didn't bother basing them as such, so they can be used on any base cloth and blend in nicely...

... plus I have found basing protruding from the edge of terrain pieces often affects model placement and stability... nothing more annoying than a banner that keeps toppling over!

So one set done, I now have to decide if I simply duplicate these with the other two sets I have, or vary their construction... I'll have to have a couple of dry runs and see how things look...

The Knights of Minas Tirith

Another entry for the Painting Challenge,  6 Knights of Minas Tirith.

I managed to get one of them done in time for the Mount and Rider Bonus Theme Round which had a deadline of 28th Dec. I had hoped to get them all done by then, but of course, Xmas got in the way! No matter. I finished them over the following week or so...

So six hard charging Heavy Knights to add to my growing Gondor Army...

They do feature wonderfully in the doom laden final charge of Faramir and his Knights as they gallop to recapture Osgiliath in The Return of The King movie... at the command of Denethor, Faramirs mournful and increasing unhinged father... A wonderful little interplay of cut scenes shows Pippin commanded to sing to entertain Denethor as he partakes of a light lunch ... and Billy Boyd as Pippin just nails this little piece, a wonderful bit of PJ cinematics...

In the game they have the typical stats of a Warrior of Minas Tirith, with the added bonus of being mounted and wielding a lance, giving +1 chance to wound on the charge...

A couple of close up shots, of the one model submitted to the bonus theme round...

They are fairly straight forward to do, the only tricky bit really being the eyes inside the partially enclosed helmet...

Looking forward to giving them a whirl on the table top, and I must try and get the Mounted Armoured Faramir model done to lead them...

Ruins of Osgiliath (GW) - WIP

A recent great deal with Dave Docherty, netted me some LOTR goodies over Xmas...

Now the Painting challenge is in full swing, and I should be painting, but I find it hard to sit inside on a sunny summer day, and I can't paint outside, but I can trim models... so I trimmed and put together one of these sets of ruins...

They went together quite well, but there were a few gaps to fill - I used DAS clay.

Once the clay was dry I went over with thinned PVA and sand to give them a more dusty/rubbly look...

I've just based undercoat sprayed them, ready for some paint later...

I do rather like these as they have some thickness to them, and have detail on boths sides. And I belive you can add sets together or stick bits on in differing places for variety. I'll see what I do with sets 2 + 3.

I think they will also do for other settings too -  Pirates exploring a lost ruin on a Desert Isle or, the ruins of the old Abbey for Empire of the Dead...

LOTR vs FoW, or Games Workshop vs Battlefront?

A recent post on the One-Ring forum got me all worked up and I had to reply, and vent my own frustrations...

"Mor-galad of Greenwood wrote:...this whole thing: the move the Failcast, the drop in quality, the increase in price, the change to the pricing and quantity in the plastic model kits ---- I've had it with GW. They are so full of themselves and they don't give a sh!t about us loyal fans. They have shown no respect for the LotR cannon, neither have they shown any real dedication in putting out a superior product. They're raping us and laughing their @sses off about it all the way to the bank because we keep forking over the cash and saying dumb stuff like: "this stuff isn't so bad, you have have to warm it up for a bit to get it to fit together."

Get a grip people, they are ripping us off at every turn and it's only going to get worse until we do something about it. I, for one, and refusing to buy anymore of their tripe until they smarten up and quit producing a substandard product. And it pains me so much because I am such a student of the JRRT world, at one point I could've been convince that the backstory writers at LotR SBG cared as much about the minutia of Middle Earth backstory as I do.... I've come to see that all they care about is profit and I can, no longer in good conscience continue to feed their greed."

I hear your frustrations…
I lost interest in the ‘GW Hobby’ many many years ago, and only stuck with GW for their licence on the LOTR range and to be fair they made good models that represented the movie depictions.
But recently, with ongoing price increases, and drops in quality and the FineCost fiasco,

a picture of Finecast 'quality' or lack thereof from another poster to one-ring forum, and remember you are paying premium prices for this new wonder material, thats so hyped as the best quality ever...

 ...and a poor performing WOTR, AND the fact that they stopped my access to fairly priced stock via Maelstrom Games for us poor sods in Australasia. That’s my biggest beef with them!

For those not happy paying 44 quid for a Beast of Gorgoroth, whether the Finecost sculpt quality is worth it or not, just have a thought for us down under who are getting stung $140NZ for it. At current exchange rates that makes it about 70quid. Now how do you feel?
Yeah , Ive only really bought from Ebay and Trademe over the years , but as others have said you can’t always rely on this to get what you want, especially new releases…

Despite a true love for the movies, books, ethos and mythology… GW’s recent actions have put the knife in it, for me, and I doubt I’ll be doing much directly with them again.

I do have an ‘out’, as I can still probably source via Maelstrom via friends and family in UK, and even having them ship to me here in NZ, its still cheaper than paying direct from stores here.

It’s just that my motivation for their game and figures has been seriously sapped by recent events.

Whilst the SBG is fun, for me LOTR should be big battles and I had high hopes for WOTR, but that failed to hit the mark, and seems likely now to go the way of the dodo… perhaps it was one revision away from being corrected, but that doesn’t seem likely now. With current figure prices who could afford to build a sizeable WOTR army anyway?

 My current obsession is Flames of War (I’ve always been a WW2 nut too), not having played LOTR now for over a year at least…, and GW could learn a thing or two from this company – they release an updated and improved version of the rules, and anyone who has a copy of the current version of the rules gets a FREE small format version of the entire new rulebook. Now how good is that to keep current players happy???

Now I know Battlefront have had their issues, and quality control of missing and miscast bits and pieces is another frustration with some of their stuff, but they, and to be fair GW too have decent customer services and replace missing or defective parts quite well.

But Battlefronts recent stance on the new rulebook, and GWs draconian stance on sales via MaesltromGames and other online sellers, really made me stop and think.

Come on GW, wake up and see what you're standing in…

...enough said!