More thoughts on 8th edition

Days away from the Warhammer 8th Edition release and I spent some more time playing the new Warhammer rules this week, getting 3 more games in. I played twice against High Elves and once against Orcs and Goblines (more or less just goblins). I played to a Draw in both games and realized something: it is hard to win in 8th edition. According to the rule book, you need to score twice as many victory points as your opponent to win... every other result is a draw. No more minor, major or massacre victories.

As for the games themselves, I tried out some very different lists to get a better feel for my Skaven in the new edition. My first list was fairly balanced, and had the Furnace, some mortars, and the Doomwheel. Everything performed well enough but the mortars were very nice with no more guess range and pre-measuring allowed. My second game was an all infantry list, 1000 points with 201 models! There were so many dead rats at the end of the game vs the Goblins, but I still almost wiped out my opponent to the man. But since I didn't, we counted it up and had a draw. My third game I tried out magic in the form of a Grey Seer, and also tried the Hell Pit Abomination. The magic phase was very nice to me in this game. First turn my level one Plague Priest got off Plague. Later my Grey Seer cast Skitterleap to avoid what would have been death in close combat, and cast The Dreaded 13th Spell to wipe out a unit of Phoenix Guard. The Hell Pit Abomination did not perform as well as I'm used to, because he got tore up by Dragon Princes. He killed them but left with only 1 wound.


I had a few "new-rule" thoughts:

High Elves with ASF and re-rolls are just nasty. My large troop blocks were just decimated. I was losing many combats because just too many hits were getting through. High Elves will do very well with this rule. It is also what crippled my Hell Pit Abomination. 4 Dragon Princes with lances charging the HPA, also re-rolling attacks with their lances. Ouch.

Swift Reform rule is awesome. Just awesome. Probably one of my favorite new rules. A swift reform allows you to take a leadership test if you have a musician. If you pass, you may reform as normal, THEN take a regular move without marching. If you fail you may only reform without moving. This, combined with free reforms after winning combat (or a leadership test to reform after losing) really speeds up the death and carnage in close combat. More units fighting, lots more models dying.

I really like the new magic system. My opponent was getting pretty unlucky with his miscast rolls and becoming a little jaded with his failures with magic... but after it was all said and done he still did alright and we were pretty balanced. My Grey Seer list did it's job (which was to take out a unit with the 13th spell) without dying. In fact he was the only non-slave model on the board at the end of the game. Thank you Skitterleap!

July's painting resolution

I finished June early, and painted a lot of Skaven to finish the month. Right now I have my Verminlord in his beginning stages, as well as a squad of Grey Hunters. But for July, I'm starting a brand new squad of Grey Hunters (because I have to start a unit unpainted for the Painting Resolution). So that means I will hopefully have 2 more fully painted Grey Hunter squads at the end of the month. Which is good, because I have been playing 3, 4, and even 5 full squads of Grey Hunters lately!

Skaven Warlord

I finished my Warlord, after posting his war-litter mount last post. I believe I will keep him based and have the war-litter as an option. I don't think he stands too high while riding it.

War-litter

I promised work on my Verminlord. But as he is soaking in Simple Green, I decided to FINALLY put some paint to my Warlord and his war-litter. Today while priming him, I changed my mind on having a "permanent" conversion using Queek, Storm Vermin, and and Orc chariot from back in November of last year. Instead I'm going to use my modified Queek as a Warlord on foot, who also will fit into the war-litter if I choose the upgrade. I'm not 100% sure on this, but for now we'll roll with it. So here is the painted war-litter, waiting on it's basing, as well as my unpainted Warlord. More updates soon.

Poisoned Wind Mortar

I had these guys converted for a while now, but never painted them. The front model is an old metal Plague Monk, the loader is a Poison Wind Globadier, and the mortar itself is a plastic Imperial Guard mortar.

I'm getting back into the Skaven painting mood after a long burnt-out break. Next up, I'm hoping to strip an old Verminlord to paint this weekend.

Galus Crusade End Turn 1

Turn 1 has ended, and the forces of Chaos are on the move. In my last game, the Space Wolves faced off against the tide of Waaaaagh Gargunki in defense of the bridges of the Balan Trench. I failed to hold the Orks off, as did many of the Imperial forces. In our counter, the Imperials moved to improve our position, and now we wait for more Chaos moves.

My first 8th Edition game

I was at my FLGS today to get in a Galus Crusade game for 40k, and also got a chance to take a good look at the new Warhammer 8th Edition rule book. After my 40k game I was able to sit down with the book and play a 750 point game to get a feel for the new rules. I didn't get to try out any new magic, because neither I nor my opponent put a mage or wizard in our lists. I played again Dave (bugspray)'s new Dark Elf army. He had a unit of corsairs, a unit of repeating crossbowmen, and 2 units of dark riders. He also had a Dark Elf hero (with some armor that game him 1+ and a great weapon. My army was a Warlord on War-Litter with an enchanted shield, Chieftain with BSB, 2 units of 25 Clan Rats, 1 Plague Mortar, 2 units of 20 Slaves, and a Warp Lightning Cannon.

We started by rolling our scenario then setting up terrain. We decided to play on a 4x5 board for our low point total. Our scenario was Battle For The Pass. It's interesting because you play with the short edges as your board edges, and the battle is long-wise on the board. Your deployment zone is your entire table half, but at least 12" from center. You are fighting in a mountain pass, so the long board edges are all impassable terrain. Otherwise the victory condition are Victory Points.

*There are no table quarters for VP's anymore. There is one interesting addition, if a unit champion slays an enemy character, you gain an additional 50 VP's.



This is what our setup looked like. Bugspray decided he wanted to hide his corsairs... both from shooting, and from getting drawn out with Frenzy.

*You can now take a leadership test to stop your frenzied units from charging the units in their charge range.

As you can tell, the board is fairly dense compared to most 7th Edition terrain setups. The recommended terrain is d6+4 pieces. We rolled randomly on the chart given.

*Terrain does not slow movement. Cavalry, chariots, and (something else) that flee through terrain take dangerous terrain tests. Similar to 40k, each model rolls a d6 and takes a wound on a roll of 1. Unit models that flee through other models or impassable terrain also take DT rolls.

Before the game begins, Bugspray takes his Vanguard moves. Fast cavalry get this as a free move pre-game, similar to the Scout rule in 40k. If they take the move, they cannot charge first turn. We then roll off and he gets first turn.|

Turn 1 he marches his fast cavalry, then shoots with them (I think this is new) killing 2 slaves. I declare a charge vs the closest dark riders, they choose to flee into terrain, but don't lose any models to DT rolls.

Turn 2 he rallies from his feigned flight, and destroys my weapon team. On the other side of the board his other dark riders flee from a charge, and pass through a building while fleeing, taking 1 casualty to a difficult terrain test. My cannon misfires again on the second roll, meaning it fizzles but doesn't misfire.

Turn 3 the dark riders harass my slaves some more as I march forward. This time my cannon kills 2 crossbowmen.

In turn 4 the crossbowmen stand and shoot vs charging slaves, then get charges in the flank by Clan Rats. They lose combat and flee, and the Clan Rats take a Leadership test to not give chase, and reform after combat facing the corsairs. During this turns movement phase I left my Clan Rat unit with my Warlord sitting out in the open, hoping the corsairs would charge them.

In the Dark Elf turn 5, he does charge them. His Hero challenges my Warlord, with no result on either side. I lose the combat, but Leadership 10 because of Skaven rank bonus to LD, and I pass.

In my turn 5, my ruse has worked, and I charge the flank of the corsairs. On the other side of the board my cannon kills 2 dark riders. The double Clan Rat assault is too much, and even though the Warlord and Hero do nothing to each other, the tide of rats pulls down too many Dark Elves, and they flee and are destroyed. After this combat, we called it. I had only lost a weapon team, and bugspray only had 3 dark riders remaining.

The game was a lot of fun for a small game, to learn the rules a little better. Nest time I will definitely throw some magic in there. Here are some more notes:

*Always strike at initiative order in close combat. Charging gives +1 CR, and there is no longer an outnumbering bonus.

*Ranks in combat are counted AFTER combat. Not before. Casualties are taken from the back, and do not stop you from attacking (if you take 5 casualties, it does not stop your front row from attacking back).

*The second rank gets to attack once in combat. If you are stationary with spears, you get three ranks. If you are horde, are stationary, and have spears, I believe you will fight (or get assisting attacks from) 4 ranks!

*Shooting is in 2 ranks. Bows have a volley rule to fire in more than 2 ranks. Stand and shoot minimum range is the movement value of your opponent.

*Pre-measuring is allowed! But, charges are now movement + 2d6", meaning you my fail a charge you would have made for sure in previous editions. If you fail a charge, you only move the distance rolled on the 2d6. Cavalry add 3d6" to their movement.

I can't think of anything else right now. It was a lot of fun though. I didn't get a chance to look too much at the other scenarios. I am looking forward to playing them.