In Legio Again!

Well, what can one say. I miss Legio, man. It's a great place to game, and to a greater extend, an awesome place for hobbying. As fortune would have it, I was in KL yesterday, and I made it back to the factory....

My opponent for the night was Arzmi's Empire. With a solid line of artillery supported by 2(!) Engineers (for the re-rolls). It was a very static list, with unwieldy blocks of greatsword and swordsmen. He made the most of the Lords choice, taking an Arch Lector on horse and a Level 4 Wizard on foot. He also had a BSB, a level 2 wizard and 2 engineers.

We played the pass scenario where we use the short table edge as our deployment zone. With a distance of more than 36" between his line and mine, my force had to endure his shooting for the whole game. My first misfortune was to have my General taken out by a well placed cannonball in the 1st turn of the game (sigh).

Then, my shooting and magic throughout the game was rather dismal, with the cannon failing to hit for the first 4 turns. The mortars were a bit better but distance really proved a factor in the game. His use of Lore of Light spells was very canny and it was put to good use, ultimately killing off 3 of my units. The steam tank was severely damaged in the 5th turn and that proved its undoing, although the machine survived the battle. I have to say, Terror has been nerfed to a great extend with 8th Ed.

Anyways, the game was great (despite the defeat) and I look forward for a rematch (where we deploy for pitch battle, hehe)

GAMING IN 8TH ED.

Last Friday, I was in KL and had the good fortune of having a fantasy game at CM in Midvalley, courtesy of Peter. It was a battle between my empire forces against his evil dark elves.

we played a 2000 points game, using the standard mission. He deployed the bulk of his troops, spearmen, corsairs, black guards and cold one knights in the center, flanked by a repeater on each side. On my side, a mortar and cannon was on the left while another mortar and the steam tank was on the right. a unit of knights and outriders were on the left ahile the crossbowmen and handgunners deployed in the center. another unit of knights deployed on the right with the flagellants.

I had first turn and started the turn by killing 3 of my knights from dangerous terrain rolls! lol. Then, my wizard cast flame storm (miscast!) and took out half of his spearmen. My steam tank failed to hurt anything from shooting but my mortars decimated his crossbowmen. my general on his pegasus managed to stay out of side to avoid shooting.

In his turn, he advanced his troops. His sorceress flying near my general, but out of sight. the witch cast something on my general but he came out unharmed. His shooting caused some wounds here and there, most notably on a unit of knights.

Then, in my next turn, my flagellants inched closer alongside the steam tank. The outrider champion managed to wound a level 2 witch inside the corsairs unit while my mortars, again reduced his troops. The cannon did great, wiping out a unit of 5 cold one knights from a flank shot, leaving a master alone.

HIs next turn saw his black guards charge my flagellants and his wounded sorceror killed my outrider champion with a spell. His lord witch then flew nearer to my flagellants and cast...Purple Suns! It was cast with irresistable force and after rolling on the miscast table, the witch suffered a wound and killed the other, already wounded witch. The vortex tore through my flagellants and stopped at the steam tank. Most of my flagellants survived but its bye-bye for my steam tank. His 12 black guards did some killing and won combat but the demented guys reduced their number to 4. with their unbreakable rule, they stayed.

My next turn saw his crossbowmen left with one guy and the spearmen block left with 2. The corsairs were wiped out from a shower of attention from 2 mortars, a grape shot from the cannon and the outriders repeaters. The combat saw the black guards taken down, but the flagellants were left with only 4 guys.

His next turn saw his witch again cast Purple Sun and this time, it took down half of my handgunners and crossbowmen. The handgunners remained on the field while the crossbowmen fled from such terrible injury. His repeaters managed to put down the remaining flagellants too.

And that was all the time we had for that game. with much book flipping and rules checking, especially with the spells. All in all, a fun game. I look forward to playing more of the same.

WARHAMMER REVIEW: MEASURING THE CHANGES

As I mentioned previously, reading the huge tome that is the Warhammer 8th Edition Rulebook will take some time. As of today, I have yet to fully read every line as I intended and has only finished the rules section and part ways into the background and histories of the Old World. Unable to hold myself, I did flipped to some of the later pages, namely the magic lores and linked games section.

Games Workshop totally did a tremendous job with this Ruleset. As far as I'm concerned, it's clear, with little ambiguity in the wording, fully intended for an engaging and fun game. There were several typo mistakes but very minor in the larger scheme of things. Some of the rules will require further reading and mayhaps, full understanding through gaming.

Anyways, before I touch on all the aspect of the rules, let me start off with one of the changes that I find totally changed the way the game plays. Pre-measuring is allowed! No longer will generals wrinkle their brows trying to guess range, whether for that crucial war machine or desperate charge. Now, the distance between units is no longer a mystery and tactics and strategies can be formulated based on that knowledge.

Honestly, I'm of two minds when it comes to this. On the one hand, knowing how far the enemy is is undeniably a good thing, however, I find it a bit off when it comes to warmachines, especially when we consider their rather chancy odds of hitting anything. Well, it's just a small beef but one I can live with.

Unit strengths are no longer a consideration. The emphasis now is on model counts. Which is a good and bad thing. Good in that it will provide a very rich display on the tabletop by the number of combatants, and bad in that players will now have to fork out more to have that many models. If you can afford them, then, it's not a bad thing really but will really limit those with smaller spare cash.

The way army lists are being built now also has a significant impact. The emphasis on core choices really gives flavor to the exact nature of warfare in the Old World, where the common troops were, common, and the specialized and rare, less likely so. The cap for lords and heroes makes the appearance of "uber" characters less likely in smaller games and will really add flavor in larger games.

So, we'll probably see a surge of horde armies and infantry led attacks in the foreseeable future. The way armies are ranked and gaining bonus in combat has changed too, but we'll cover that later. For now, the rules looks to be quite solid with emphasis on the right things for a better and fun play. Next time, we'll look at that most crucial of phases, Movement.

Till then, keep on gaming!

WARHAMMER REVIEW: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Ahh....the smell of freshly printed ink.

After some wait, I am now the proud owner of my very own copy of Games Workshop's latest Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th Edition Rule Book. The first thing I noticed upon putting my hand on it, was its weight. It is quite hefty and I think I'll go and find a scale to measure its weight.

Tearing away the plastic wrapping, I caught a wift of freshly printed paper. This smell became more apparent as I flipped the hard backed cover open. Pages upon pages of finely illustrated pages filled the tome's glossy pages, making this tome's purchased much justified.

To say I was blown away would be an understantement! GW did a remarkable job with this one and although I haven't delve that deeply into the rules, the book looks promising to say the least. Deep inside, I'm bubbling with excitement, much akin to what I felt when I had my first Warhammer book in 6th Ed. years ago. As then, I'll read every single line and feast my eyes on all the beautiful photos and illustrations within. It'll be slow, I'm sure, but hey, it's my book and I'll savor every moment of it.

As I progress through the book, I'll share my thoughts on what and how (if any) the changes has changed the way we play this game. I'm so excited by all this.

PS: I really love this line from page 3, "...and it is in this spirit that the rules were written." totally brings back all the awesomeness of Warhammer.

I'm gaming again!

Wow! After more than 5 months of not touching WH40K, I finally managed to drive to KL and have a blast of 3 games on Sunday! Let me tell you, the joy and sweetness of picking up the dice again was delicious.

After my long absence from the tabletop, it's not suprising to have me being rusty and making blunders along the way. Who cares? it's the fun that matters. Anyway, My first game that day was against Peter's "cheezy" oblit/lash list. it was a 1+1 mission and I managed to scratch a narrow win of 1-0 (whew). My second foray that day was versus John and his Eldar (Saim-Han wannabes). He totally trashed my army, leaving only 8 models left in that KP game (sob,sob). my last game was with Shazli and his ultramarines. My mobs managed a convincing win in that KP game, almost TAed him except for a damaged Land Raider (Yay!)

The next evening, Peter was kind enough to offer a game(rematch). This time, his CSM managed to draw, leaving the battlefield littered with dead from both sides. That was a fun game.

Well, at the moment, I'm waiting for my Warhammer Fantasy Rule Book (8th Ed). i wonder how the game will be?

Fortentaf Diaries 3

...from the campaign journal of Garis Weiner, engineer for Wrath of Erickheim.

We had just finished loading the Wrath onto the barges when riders appeared and met with the general. Soon as you know it, we were unloading the barges and headed back towards Tilman's Ferry. Sure enough, the place were being overrun by those furry skaven, and they had one of them abomination with them. Those creatures are damn scary I tell you. Oh, along the way, the general managed to recruit the giant, 'Ol Bold to fight for us. Of course, we had to part 3 heads of cows and a wagonful of good mead.

The general took charge of the left field and left the right field to the mage Marius, where the Wrath was deployed, along with the pistolkorps and Edgewaters militia. The center was held by Fort Fosburg's detachment of artillery and handgunners, as well as the crossbowmen. A company of mercenary knights were on hand too. The Braeme's archers took up position near the giant on the left.

The verminous tide came upon us in their multitudes, the abomination making its way towards the general and his knights. The dreaded plague furnace craked its rotting wheels towards the center while two large blocks of clanrats scurrying on the right, facing off with the Wrath and the pistolkorps.

Their magic was desultory, with the priest hurting himself from a miscast. Their shooting was a bit better with a volley from the jezzails killing a mortar crew. Fortunately for us, the lightning cannon overshot.

I put all steam into the Wrath's advance and we almost came to grips with the clanrats. Unholy magicks protected the priest from the well-aimed shots of the marksmen and the crossbowmen reduced the number of jezzail teams. "Ol Bold hid himself behind some trees, in the hope of catching the abomination by suprise. The suprise was on the giant, when the abomination slithered and smothered him in its many limbs.

Gravely wounded, the giant heaved his huge club and brought it down onto the monstrosity, splitting the putrid flesh. The wounds were too great for the beast and its previous injury from Jaeryd's fireball denied its body to heal itself. With a massive crash, the thing lay still.

Emboldened by their numbers, the clanrats marched closer to our lines, undeterred by the tank's terrifying presence. Another block of rats, this one led by one of their magic user, fled at the sight of Wrath, no doubt aided by Marius's dreaded Doom and darkness spell. These fleeing rats were easy meat for the pistoliers who scattered them.

The general led the charge against a unit of Rat Ogres and ran them down but 'Ol Bold was pulled down by a pack of giant rats. In the center, a second cannonball connected with the furnace, and with a mighty crash, the whole contraption came falling down. The priest emerged unscathed. Sporadic shooting by the handgunners and outriders picked off several more monks from the huge block coming towards our lines.

After failing to hit anything since the start of the battle, the mortar crew suddenly outshined themselves with an accurate round on a block of 30 clanrats. half of the rats were blown to pieces and the rest simply fled away from the battlefield. This freed up our right flank and we began to drive towards the center with the Wrath aiming for the skaven general's unit of stormvermins.

Having pulled down the giant, the giant rats continued their rampage and slaughtered the crossbowmen as they tried to flee from combat. The Wrath steamed towards the stormvermins and scalded them in hot steam. Unnerved, they ran but was eventually caught and most of them were grounded down. the nearby remnants of the jezzail team fled at the sight of the approaching tank

The remaining monks had swept into a band of flagellants and proceeded to wipe them out, but not before the prophet of doom managed to strike down the already injured priest. The plague monks swept into the nearby handgunners and again, their unholy rot prevailed. The cannon crew were next in line and it was then that the cannon failed them as the powder fizzled. Even as the remaining monks crested the mound where the cannon used to be, they did not have time to savor their victory as Jaeryd and Marius cut them all down with magical energy.

Oh, yes. I almost forgot. Early in the battle, the company of hired knights managed to destroy the warp-lightning cannon but they in turn were lost when they fled from the stormvermins and ran into the pack of giant rats. Goes to show you can't really rely on these showy knights-for-hire.

Now, after policing the field, we're on our way north again. I dread what we will face there.

Fortentaf Diaries 2

...from the campaign journal of Arthur Hellas, of the Falcon Dragoons.

Several days back we had received Brother Kholmar's replacement. It was Brother Barik. The general arrived with the mage MArius and several other new detachments, including a contingent from Fort Forsburg, that included the steam tank, Wrath of Erickheim.

No sooner had the general arrived, we set out on the march to punish the Dark elves, for their complicity in the death of Brother Kholmar. Words reached us via the ogres, who had engaged the elves and we hasten to their last reported sighting. True enough, the evil ones were set up with 3 of their accursed bolt throwers on a hill and a regiment of cold one knights harrying up the flank. In the center, a large mass of corsair stood still, as if daring us to come to them.
Brother BArik immediately split our forces, with him leading an attack on the right and the mage Jaeryd leading the attack from the left.

The mortar battery had just finished setting up before they came under a withering hail of bolts. The first volley didn't take out the battery but the follow up volley surely did. The heavy volume of fire also took their toll on the archers, who were unnerved by the ferocity of the bolts in cutting them down. The hellish rate of fire also took their toll on my band of pistoliers. It killed Jarv and Talfer, and gravely injured Ormer. I had my revenge for sure, when i charge them crews with Farney at my side, wiping them out. Cutting them down was sweet, but it won't bring back the guys.

I heard from the Wardens how Master Marius's spell of Doom and Darkness harried the cold one knights, prompting them to flee the battlefield. They also told me of how the Edgewater militia broke ranks and fled from the charging corsairs. He also told me how an assassin leapt from the corsair's ranks as the knights charge hit its flank. He was aiming for Brother Barik, yet Sigmar's blessings was with the priest. The envenomed blade failed to pierce his armor and he, in return, managed to wound the assassin.

The heavy horses charge broke the corsairs and they were cut down as they tried to flee. The enemy general's whereabout is still unknown. Back in camp, I could see the engineers affecting repairs on Wrath of Erickheim suffered during the fight. All in all, we got off pretty lightly with few casualties. The huntsmen regrouped and rejoined the fray while the unnerved militia now has latrine duties.

The men's pent up anger over Brother Kholmar's death was spent, but we are determine to honor him by fulfilling his original mission. By Sigmar's will, we shall prevail.

Note: This is the second battle fought in Fortentaf by the Erickheimers. What challenges will the future bring?

Fortentaf Diaries

...from the campaign journals of Bregan Harker of the Outriders squadrons...

It was the 12th day in our march towards Fortentaf when the scouts returned with news of another force converging on the road we were traveling. Brother Kholmar immediately despatched a small band of troops to gather more useful information.
As we neared the other force, we became aware of a multitude of heraldic colors and emblems emblazoned on their banners-Bretonians! Though not evil as some other creatures, the men of Bretonia are too far from home to be up to nothing good. Brother Kholmar sensed this too, yet his duty as emissary to the Baron required him to inquire of the knights' intent.
Escorted by his band of Border Knights, the monk rode up to the Bretonian commander. What transpired in the meeting is not known to me, but many whispered that the knights were feverish with thoughts of the warpstone and seemed obsessed with its claimation.
Barely had the monk returned that trumpets from the Bretonian side brayed their charge, pursuing Brother Kholmar. We roused and met them in a small clearing not far from camp...

From the letters of Battle Wizard Jaeryd Firemane to Baron of Erickheim...

My Lord,
Tis my sad duty to inform your lordship of the demise of your brave champion, Kholmar at the hands of Bretonians here in Fortentaf. We encountered the Bretonians on the road to Fortentaf and they attacked first, eager to spill our blood and restrain our search of the warpstone. Brother Kholmar wisely placed us in clever positions and we were able to harass the knights all the time.
In their eagerness to come to grips, they abandoned their pitifully wretched peasants behind and these were easily dispatched by the pistoliers detachment and myself. Using a band of free-swords, Kholmar managed to trick a group of knights into leaving behind their support. He hid himself behind a hill and caught the seperated group in the flanks. Alas, fate took a twist and a Paladin himself revealed himself in the group of knight. Although outnumbered, the remaining knights held their ground, no doubt bolstered by the courage of the paladin.
Trapped in combat, Brother Kholmar and his Border Knights could not react to the flanking charge delivered by another unit of knights. this proved their downfall as the melee swept them away and in the confusion, your champion was pulled down and slain. Too late to prevent their murder, the pistoliers and myself could only exact retribution.
The jubilant errant knights hoops of joy turned to screams of pain as a hail of lead pierced their mail and send several tumbling off their saddles. Unnerved, the cowards fled the field and scattered into the woods. The regrouped knights of the realm tried to escape the same fate yet the wind of magic was strong that day. Sigmar smiled on us and my bolts of fiery death claimed several more. Surely they have had enough, as even their general was weak enough to quit the fields of honor.
As you have often said, tis the crows that are the true winners after a battle. We scavenged what we could and buried our dead, as well as the enemy. For Brother Kholmar, we built a funeral pyre for him. His ashes we shall throw to the winds, so his spirit may protect the unwary, even as we continue on our mission.
Lest your lordship decree otherwise, the mantle of command lies with me now. Master Throngrave has shown me the visions and I too sense the danger in the winds of magic. Fear not My Lord, your command will be done. Tomorrow we will strike camp and move on. I entrust this letter and Brother Kholmar's hammer to your Lordship's side.
May Erickheim prosper under the blessings of Sigmar.


Note: Both entries are part of the ongoing warhammer fantasy battles campaign taking place at Legio Malaysia.

Old World carnage

Hi, had a WHFB game with Peter's Bretonians yesterday versus my Empire. It was my first time meeting his Fay Enchantress and that dame sure helped a lot in his battleplans.

As it is, now that I know what she's capable of, I hope to do better next time we meet. The steam tank really helped a lot and saved the game (it was a draw) for me when it ran off a unit of knights off the board and crushed another unit in combat...hehe

well, hope to get more fantasy games going. next year, i'll finish off my Orcs & Goblin army (get a new giant, some black orcs, spear chukkas, and paint them all up)