Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Oldhammer Day - 2014 Warband Table - Village WIP (And Warband Mini Photos)

Ok, as many have commented on my previous post, Rusty is pretty darn good at this terrain thing! Its going to be a complete joy to clash over this thing. Well, he sent me some WIP shots of the village. Of course, according to him, he has to fix the wall, and add some more vegetation and stuff until it is ready to go....Me I'd be happy to play on it now! Rusty also asked me to remove the black village images from the last post, which I will, but hopefully we can do a step by step later! But he was not happy with just a black village.

Of course there is one other thing that is outstanding in these photos.....a Rusty's warband minis! Great oldhammer figs, with great styled oldhammer paint jobs.....you just have to love the checks! I know he threw a few other things on there so we could see what the courtyard area will be like. Some great paint jobs Rusty!


Anyway, Here are the pics....but if you are painting your warband.....get some photos up on your blog, the facebook page, the forum....or just send them to me! The more people see the more excited they tend to get....me I'm giddy (or had too much to drink tonight ;) )

Great Wall, foliage and Buildings nestled in the wood.



Some strange looking villagers, but I'd live there!



Chaos enters the village area



Room for quite a few!



And wonderful painted minis - think the Champion on foot is actually in Rusty's warband.....so you'll get to play against these crazy good paint jobs!
You can really see the checkered boots from this angle!


Well, there is some more looks at the Warbands table...lots more to do, his plans have even gotten bigger now! More updates from Rusty ahead.....but till then, get some paint on some models, and get the pics up! Cheers!








Sunday, July 20, 2014

Oldhammer Day - 2014 Warband Table - Terrain WIP Photos

Hello Everyone! Big stuff going on, We'll be announcing that a bit later. Today has been very difficult, as I had to play Daddy Day-Care all day, and then when my better half got home, she was not feeling well, so Daddy Evening-Care bit into my writing time. Lots of it on Facebook already, so I'll just write up another post in a bit.

However I wanted to show some great WIP photos from Rusty Gouldman's work on our Warbands Table! This will host the village and Monastery that you will be fighting over, Champions of Chaos! Rusty is really great at making terrain, and does all of the hard bits and makes them look easy. Then you start hearing him talk about his own rubber moulding (like window frames, chimney toppers and the like) or his static grass applicator or the layers and layers or individual bricks he cuts to create walls or shingles.....and you realize that he's fallen deeper down that rabbit hole than you! In a VERY good way!

To give you guys some idea, the table concept came from this table in the 3rd Edition Rulebook,

Darn Right, EVERY gamer's dream! Not sure, but as far as I know, who made this table, or who owned it or where it was is never mentioned. I know Rusty and I would love to find out. But incredible none-the-less!

You can see other pics of the same table in the Rulebook.

And a close up on the Monastery where Monks of Morr have angered the Chaos Gods in our game.


Now Rusty has taken this idea and started in on our Warband table, and while we could do a long step by step maybe later (or describe the steps that he takes, I thought I would just use pictures to show the progress he has made. This could be a great idea starter for some of you for your own tables or games. Rusty has done this professionally for an awful long time, and while he has forgotten more than most of us have probably learned about terrain, luckily he'll be there to help run the Warband event with me so you can pick his brain. What follows are some WIP shots of half of the Warbands table (which can also be used for  Bolt Action WW2).


Basic Outlay of table is designed and rough cut in. Notice Liquid Nails.....it is your friend!

Believe this is the Spackle layer, remember to coat with pva glue so it does not crack.


Not sure on all of the components in this layers, but I think it includes steps of sand, glue, rubble rocks and bigger uns!





The table is painted in layers of color, and ready for the application of static grass.
Here are some pics of that half of the table in use with some Bolt Action figures. Rusty is making this table multi-use, and whole sections can be added to change it up.











Now I just can't wait to call the Dark Lords down to watch us on this table!



Rusty then sent me some WIP shots of this bit tonight. Lucky us, the girls kept me at this long enough I can add this in. So this is the village that holds our victims, er.....the villagers of Montagne. Pics pretty much speak for themselves, but thought you should see it.



I removed these by Rusty's request....you can see more in the next post!





Now I will admit, that a full blown gaming board like Rusty is making is incredible and I am so looking forward to playing on it. Reminds me of Duke Seifried's games. Funnily enough, most of my wargame table building went into things made for Games Day or Retailers (or a couple of cool pieces for a Gorka Morka Board that made White Dwarf). The building room Games Workshop had was pretty hard to beat. Hopefully this might encourage you to take a stab at something, or at least spark some questions for Rusty at Oldhammer Day.

Another cool thing is what Erny has gotten up to over on his blog. Takes a bit of bravery to cut into something so rare and cool, but if you can't use it, what is it really worth to us? Check his thing out here.    For my part, one thing that really interests me is huge fortifications, siege towers and mighty armies clashing over a wall.....so as a sneak peak, this is a picture of my inspiration for my siege board....Another game at Oldhammer USA 2014! More to come from Rusty, and more to see at the show!



















Sunday, July 13, 2014

Oldhammer Day - 2014 - ROC Warband MegaBattle Guideline!

Ta'Khal pulled the rotten maggot from his beard and chewed it like a toffee as he shielded his eyes and looked over the battlefield. Something was bothering him, and he did not like this. It was a feeling, one he did not like.....a need that was driving him onwards. After the last battle, he was gifted with a vision, and he know knew his need would be met in Montagne. A small town, idyllic, and stable, but harboring an incredible secret. The horrible Monks of Morr had used ancient rituals in their Monastery to ward off the effects of chaos. The God's would not let this stand. And he was being sent to ensure that these monks and their villagers would pay for the great curing! 

He knew that others were on their way, trying to claim the souls that would be his for Nurgle. These interlopers would have to pay, and he smiled as he thought of the great infections boiling in his gut, ready to be launched at these misunderstanding mortal Champions. 

He grunted at Mal'gore, leader of his beast retinue, who howled out at his beast brethren, chortling new orders as they started heading North towards Montagne....and a date with blood and pestilence under the eyes of the gods......



Hello! The Warbands of Chaos Game at The Oldhammer USA event in Baltimore is basically a mass Realm of Chaos game, where mighty (or not so mighty) Champions of Chaos will fight for greater glory, rewards, gifts with mass mayhem and bloodshed designed to draw the Eyes of their respective Chaos Gods! In general, it is based on Orlygg's Warband event at the first BOYL event in the UK, last year. (What our event is kinda based on, after all!). So first off - BIG THANK YOU TO JAMES. Anyone playing his game will hopefully see a lot of similarities in the rules, and thank James for letting me swipe 'em!

Our game is basically a gigantic game for multiple players, where players can take part, even leave and come back later, but in general just have a great time mashing our warbands together. Rusty Gouldman has been kind enough to build the terrain, and will be heading up the game with me. He is working on some great stuff, and he told me he's sending pictures soon, so I can't wait! But the battlefield will be a large rectangular field with several buildings (more later), villagers and some great details. One way to think of this is as a Big Game (from the Game Days of yore) Skirmish game (though units can move as units as well). As you are making your warband, remember to review The Restrictions of the Gods at the bottom of this post.



The Basic Rules
  1.       Players form a warband using Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness or Realms of Chaos: Lost and the Damned. See below for The Restrictions of the Gods. Also you can see previous posts which cover some of the charts that you will need, as well as the rolls for each level of Champion here.
  2.       Players should strive to paint their warbands to the best of their ability (it is a few models after all). Their Champions should have their names painted on their bases (or cards or labels of some sort so their opponents can keep a list of their foes!) We should also all try to come up with a narrative story for their warband (this is not required), but will make it a lot better. you can see something along these lines in Gaj's incredible Ellen Degenerate here.
  3.        Players will join the game by setting up in their patron deities start point (or in any start point if they are undivided or Malal ;) ). They will then join the turn sequence. Players can join at any time, and can remove themselves by leaving the board at any time, but must move their models off the board (unless they are killed - or people end up chasing "ghost models"). Players can rejoin, or even come in with a different warband, but Reward Points scored for their warband are per warband, not per player (Deity Points are awards throughout game play and are not reduced at any time)
  4.        A player may only field ONE warband at any one time. Though on the withdrawal or destruction of a player's warband the player may re-enter the game with a new warband that can be of any chaotic power. So if you wish to field both Khorne or Slannesh warbands during the game, you can, though just not at the same time.
  5.        Models can be treated as character models (they move independently) or as units. Units can be mixed on racial grounds, so dwarfs, goblins and skaven all in one unit is fine, with the restriction that movement will be calculated by the slowest moving member of the unit and that base sizes need to be consistent with the unit as a whole. All models are moved in the turn sequence for that player.
  6.        We will keep track of Deity Points (to see which god is ahead), and Warband Points. These will be awarded for actions in the game, such as killing an enemy follower (1 pt) or an enemy Champion (5 points). For your Champions, these will allow you to add rewards and gifts after the game (but I hope you don't turn into a Chaos Spawn!) 
  7.         There will also be a number of villager and monk models running around the board during this scenario. If you can kill/capture/enthrall/infect (by basically running these models down) you will earn Eye of the Gods Points, and if you can capture or subdue 5 of these models, then you can earn an Immediate Reward by rolling on the Chaos Rewards Chart. There will be several of these models, and they may appear or reappear at different times (as decided by a chart that Rusty and I will have).
  8.      Upon the death of a Champion the player can;
    A) Remove their warband from the field - this will represent them fleeing as individuals, or slipping way to join the retinues of successful warbands after the battle. The player could then decide to field a new warband  to the same, or different, chaos god.
    B) Nominate a model to 'take command' of their warband. I am sure that all forces would have a second in command waiting in the wings, and Chaos Warbands would be no different. The character would receive an 'instant' reward of a chaos weapon (or take the weapon previously used by the champion), chaos armour or random chaos attribute depending on a D6 dice roll. 1-3: Chaos Attribute, 4-5: Chaos Armour and 6: Chaos Weapon.
    C) Use the Skeleton Champion rules to 'raise' their champion from death. To use this rule you will need an undead model to represent your Champion in his undead form. So, if you are hoping to use this strategy, plan ahead a choose an appropriate model.
  9.    A sample of the action list is something like this:
                   Champion killing a follower of another god = 1 reward point
                   Champion killing a champion of another god = 5 reward points
                   Champion killing a monster (e.g. anything on a 40mm/50mm square base) = 3 points
                   Champion of Khorne killing a Champion of Slannesh = 10 reward points
                   Champion of Slannesh killing a Champion of Khorne = 10 reward points
                   Khorne Champion killing an ally. = 3 reward points
                   Slannesh Chmp. killing through pleasure (acquiescence spell, chaos weapon etc) = 3 pt                   Nurgle Champ killing through disease (nurgle rot, spells etc.) = 3 pt
                   Tzeentch Champ Killing With Magic = 3 pt
                   An extra ten points can be earned if you show up with Rick Priestley or Bryan Ansell!

                   (Note if anyone chooses to bring an Undead Champion, then dead models will not earn these points, except for the Undead Champion himself. 20 points earned in this battle will equal one roll on the Rewards Chart. Only the greatest champions can be rewarded!)

The Scenario

The Call has brought you and your warband, oozing with need by your patron God to claim the lives of the treacherous Monks of Morr at Montagne. The villagers flitting between haystacks and buildings also drive your need for revenge. But as you approach this doomed Burg, you notice others that have arrived. Your need drives you to be the greatest Champion on this day, and you launch forth to crush the others.......as the Eyes of the Gods turn to the battlefield you stride upon......

Players will setup for this game at one of the four table edges (each deity will have a set-up area, to be determined randomly on the day. Also, these will remain set-up zones for further warbands throughout the day similar to spawning grounds in video games). Undivided players will select whichever setup zone they like, but once chosen they have decided on their "side"for the day.

The turn sequence will proceed as normal (as a Big Game), except instead of Players it will go Khorne's turn, Nurgle's turn, etc. This will also be decided when the Setup zones are established. If at any time in the game any one god is not represented, we will skip that "Phase", but if someone joins it will return to the sequence.

There will be several monks and villagers running around the town, fields or monastery. These are the victims of your driven need, as you must crush, seduce, infect or just outright kill these lost souls and claim the source of power inside. Their destruction is the driving focus of the great God's Will, and it is the reason they have sent their minions to judge all of you inspiring Chaos Champions. Collect as many of these models as you can, but moving your models (either in skirmish or as a unit) into base to base with them. If you use a ranged attack to kill or subdue them, realize you still have to touch the models, so wily champions going after you could recover them if you aim too far!

The battle will end by mutual consent of the players, or at the end of an agreed time limit or when the narrative has reached a natural end - either there is only one Champion left on the table (and no new players join) or the Monks and Villagers have all been punished for their misdeeds or the store approaches closing (or Tom kicks us out). The main goals are listed below in Winning and Losing the game

Winning and Losing the Game

In theory, all contributors of the game are winners. After all, you will have the experience of fighting a narrative battle with a lovingly created warband with a rich backstory developed by you. After the battle, you will have plenty of material to take the story of your force further. 

The game will be played on the Saturday, probably beginning in the morning after much faffing about and chatting. There will be an agreed break in the game for lunch (approx 1 hour) and will continue as long as necessary.
However, there will be three winners of sorts.
1) The winning side, Nurgle, Slannesh, Tzeentch or Khorne, established by the side with the highest number of Deity Reward Points. 
2) The winning champion, who can be drawn from any Power, will have the HIGHEST number of Warband Reward Points and is still on the field at the end of the battle.
3) All players in the game will be able to vote on their favorite warband (painting or theme) to win the Best in Show warband. The player with the most votes will win, with any tie being decided by one of our Golden Gobbo judges.





More
One thing missing for now is a map of the battlefield. Until Rusty has completed the board, I do not want to draw it all out, but it should mostly match the Monastery board from the 3rd edition rulebook, as Rusty is trying to replicate the monastery for our game! But it will include, regular terrain types as well as the village and the Monastery itself!

Also, I have tried to be careful, but if anyone has questions and I think they need to be added, I will edit this and add to it as we need to (so new readers will not need to ask again), but do check the comments to see if your question has been answered. Not all good ideas may be chosen, but please, anything to add may help us have a better game. Also, any input form James or any of the BOYL guys (including Marcus because I think he is running the new one?) that can help, it will be appreciated! I also want to update my storyline, and will be editing a new version when I can, but I do not want to delay this anymore....so a better story intro will have to be added later. Please forgive me.

So this is the game as it stands now. Any changes will be added here, and only after discussions under this in the comments. I think this will be an incredible game on the day, and we will be taking at least one lunch break (and dinner break if it goes that long!). We may also take a short afternoon break just to make sure everyone playing can see the other games and things going on (I don't want you to wander away in parts going "Oooh! Shiny!" ;-) ) Hope this sounds like fun to you guys, just remember, if you are making a warband for this game, please share some pics, either on a blog you are creating yourself, or on facebook Oldhammer's group, or on the forum. But if you do let me know, I'll try to draw attention to your cool stuff!

Also, thanks again to James! The inspiration is leading to cool things over here - and I hope you like how our version of this game sounds!

Thanks! -



The Restrictions of the Gods

When constructing your Army Roster, you must consider the following decrees of the Dark Lords. These decrees exist purely for the Realm of Chaos Mega Battle, if you wish to play additional RoC battles away from the main table you need not follow these.

1) No daemonic weapons.
2) No daemonic entities (fielded, mounted or summoned), this is to be a conflict of mortals, though undead auxiliaries are not forbidden.
3) Magic to be drawn from Battle, Illusion, Necromantic or Chaos God specific spells, avoiding those that summon daemonic entities.
4) No magic items, banners or weapons. Cold steel, claws and other normal weapons only. The only exception to this, are chaos weapons granted to the Dark Lord's champions.
5) No technology. Technological weapons are banned from the battlefield. This prohibition does not include weapons 'bonded' to the model as a chaos attribute.





Saturday, July 12, 2014

Hobby Update: Warband for Oldhammer Day USA!

Hey there, gang. Long time since I posted, but I started a new job and the homework has been pretty bad for gaming. I have lamented before about dividing time between work, family and gaming, but it has been harder as I started the new gig. There are a tons of things going on behind the scenes for Oldhammer day, though! Dropzone is preparing, trying to line up some cool things to make it special. I do know on the forums we started talking about hotels, plans for dinner, etc. Hopefully we'll have guys getting in on that planning soon. If you have any cool ideas, please let me know!

I have finally made some progress on my Warband for our upcoming weekend in Baltimore, and I wanted to share some of my progress, as well as put in a plea for anyone else who is working on their warbands to send me some photos so I can show some of what you are working on (or links to your blog so I can link to it here).

Before I show you my stuff. I thought I would put up a photo from Darrin, as he is preparing a Rogue Trader Demo board for the day and he has some cool photos he put up on the facebook group:



So are those some great models, or what? If you want to play in the Demo, I'm sure we can get you some space - and Darrin is going to get me more info as soon as he can. (And thanks to Darrin for taking Rogue Trader on for the day!)

So my warband was 18 models, a Chaos Dwarf Champion, 7 humans and 10 beastmen. After taking some time to get my models together, I have now selected my warband and even got some paint on them during the holiday!

For my Chaos Dwarf champion I came up with cloud of flies, so I am going Nurgle, and I decided to use one of the new Pickford models by Clam. Excellent sculpts, and very cool models to add to your old marauder Chaos Dwarfs! Blue in Vt was kind enough to send me three to test out, and with my roll, it was a no-brainier on what I was going to do (just which one of the models I was going to use)! So I selected a skull mask, demon-looking weapon and a face shield (because I am still working on freehand shields!).

For my human mercenary Captain and his retinue I kinda had a harder time, as I have tons of old human models, but none looked or felt right for this project. I settled on some newer metal Marauder Thugs/Marauders (I think from 1997), because they were chaos enough, fit my story line of being slightly corrupted already (having worked for the Champion for a time), are metal and I had a big bag of these, so I could take and use these and still have a ton left over for another project someday.

My beastmen are a bunch of older beasts, with a few from 1993 (? I think ?) thrown in, including an old chariot rider that I'm converting into a standard bearer. Been trying to work on a good idea for these guys, and am taking the time to do some test models, so I don't have any progress on these guys yet (but more to come as I am working on them tonight!)


As I have stated before, I am not a golden deamon type of painter. Would love to be, and I tend to drool over things that I have seen (luckily enough to have seen a lot of incredible artists in person over the years!) but especially with time and ability, I am more of a "gaming" style painter. I did want to get these done, and make them look good.

But here are the WIP on my Warband - hopefully they'll be staring at you across a board in Oct!

Clam's excellent Ewal Dvergar mini from the talented Mr. Pickford! My choice for my CD Chaos Champion.




My Marauder Humans, just the best option right now.


My Beasts - a collection of old and really old ;)
Example of one test. Don;t think this will be it, but to give you an idea.
My Chaos Dwarf as of now. Working on concepts for the bases, so we will see.








Part of the Marauders WIP

Part 2 of the Humans.....

My work so far. Only 10 beasts, basing and I can at least play!

Anyway, that is the progress I was able to make on those guys. Bases are a bit up in the air, but I may be trying out Blue in VT's method if my tuffs get here in time for me to do them up (should but time is starting to get a bit cramped). If you are working on your Warband, send me photos (or even better blog about them)! I know lots of us are planning on doing this one, and Rusty is working on some great terrain as well!

I'll be putting up the warband rules later tonight or tomorrow (depending on help from the kids ;) ) and I also have some of the start of the siege stuff....

Let me know what progress you have made!

Thanks - Oh, and a link to Clam's models: Ewal Dvergar