Cheaphammer, does wargaming really need to be expensive?

I came to think about this post while I introduced a friend of mine to X-wing, he was looking at my warhammer stuff & told me he really like the look of various wargames using miniatures, but had never gotten into it due to it being such an expensive hobby.
Does wargaming really need to be expensive?
No, I will not tell you that my wargaming hobby has been cheap, quite the opposite, but I do believe it's very easy to play miniature wargaming quite cheap.

For starters, miniatures, there are tons of great looking miniatures on the market, Games workshop is the spearhead & have very beautiful minis, but they are also quite expensive, it's often the first place a beginner will go for their first army. While the miniatures are of good quality (though definitely not the best) they are getting increasingly pricey, especially if you're buying your paints and terrain from their stores, even when you go down the rather cheap route of say Storm of Sigmar, you need to pay at least 15-20£ for what can only be useful in skirmish gaming. I don't find this to be a bad thing, but sometimes you want to play other formats than skirmish.

Instead of going straight for the mainstream minis, shop around online. There are loads of sites selling quality minis at much lower prices, even as little as £7 for 50 men!
EM4miniatures are offering the same ones as the ones found in the Fantasy Warriors game, Orcs & Dwarves, they look rather ok:

 

 

There are 3 variants for both races, which gives you plenty of troops, 21£ will give you 50 of each sculpt, that´s 150 models! If you don't feel the need for 50 of one type of troop, the cost a measly 0.21£ per model.

 

& the best thing, they paint up really well!

 

 

Note even if you´re not into fantasy EM4 is still great for you as they also offer some decent looking futuristic models such as these:

 

 



 

 

Reaper is another Company which offers very cheap models, these can be found in their Bones range, these are a bit more expensive, but still cheap & combined with the models from EM4, they can be used as excellent characters, making them stand out a bit, Reaper also offers some nice monsters such as these:

 

The russian Company known as Tehnolog is another Company that offers great models for wargaming, their plastic is a bit soft, but still take paint rather well, it´s hard to find their models in 28mm scale though, but they have plenty of 56mm scaled models that work great for Ogres & other such monstrous infantry:

So you can get rather cheap armies full with monsters & characters for way less than 50£, in fact I think you can get a decent army for a mere 30£.

 

Great looking Tanks can be found from Tehnolog:

 

In fact I bought 2 of these tanks myself to expand my 40K 2:nd edition Chaos army. They look really nice in the flesh & offer lots of options when it comes to assembly.

 

Mantic is another company that offers cheap models in masses, both for fantasy & Sci-fi games. They have some of the best zombie miniatures out there imo:

 

So now you have your army, but paints seem to be expensive as well!? Well my answer to that is the same as with the miniatures, shop around, there are various art outlets that will sell the appropriate paints for half as much as Games Workshop & even other companies focused on wargaming offer cheaper paints, I really like coat d arms paints myself.

 

Finally you need some terrain, for this I'm going to suggest something that can be used for models as well, toys. I haven't found many toys I like for wargaming, at most maybe a dinosaur to use with Lizardmen (which are all unpainted & a much later project), but something really useful from the World of toys is army men accessories, look at these great toys:

 

They're perfect for fantasy wargaming, paint them up & no one will even notice they're old toys & they cost next to nothing on ebay, there's a bunch of other stuff available as well, such as bunkers, trees, Watch Towers etc etc.

You can make excellent hills by just using some cardboard, glue, green paint & baking powder (to fill in the holes of the cardboard).

 

Another thing to remember is that wargaming isn't all about huge battles, and although they might look cool, you can have just as much fun (or more!) with skirmish games. These types of games give the players control of small warbands of typically 5-15 minis with a focus on personalities and special abilities. Obviously buying a handful of miniatures costs far less than forking out for 100 and it also means you can afford the high quality ranges if you prefer that route, I still believe Storm of Sigmar is one of the best releases made by GW over the last couple of years, even if you don't like the rules. Mantic has their Vanguard kickstarter which looks promising & also offer full warbands for a mere 20$!

Personally I think Song of Blades and Heroes is one of the best fantasy skirmish games out there and well worth a buy. I've heard that Ganesha games is currently working on some sci-fi rules that work well with the 40K universe.

 

PS. Don´t forget that you can buy stuff on the second hand market as well, flea sales & Ebay allows you to sometimes get a real bargain, that´s how I got my second Fantasy Warriors box, it cost me roughly 12 $ with close to 100 models!



Allies in Warhammer

Allies, a way to circumvent your army's weaknesses or a way to include something fun & characterful?
I saw a thread on the Facebook middlehammer group page that discussed allies, this got me thinking about how I feel about allies, how I used to feel about it back in the day & how our gaming group used allies.

The very first time I used allies was with my Chaos army back in 4th edition, this was in the very beginning of my warhammer experience.
I owned a few models such as a Chaos Knight champion (used as a lord), plenty of beastmen & warriors (monopose plastics), a sorcerer on disc & nothing else, I wanted to field some cavalry, but Chaos cavalry back then was only available as metal models & for a 12 year old it was a lot of money to get a full unit, but allies were there to save the day, I bought 2 boxes of skeleton cavalry, it cost the same as 2 Chaos Knights, but gave me 6 models instead, enough to field a unit. I made one a standard bearer, gave them the Doom Rider banner & then they were a mainstay unit in my army for many, many battles, even after I had bought a full unit of Chaos Knights these were part of my army until I had my harpies & daemons (all metal ofc) as well.
It was a good unit, able to run through terrain & it hit hard with autohits @ S5, yet I never felt like I was cheating when using this unit, not even when one of my characters started using Book of Ashur to get Necromancy magic to help them out, it felt like it was part of the army.
A friend of mine who played Bretonnia had some Lothern Sea Guard in his army, not because it was the obvious better choice when compared to his peasants, but becaue he wanted to use his neatly painted elves from the 4th edition starter, no one complained about allies!
But then I met a greenskin army, it was a new guy to play against, he knew one in our group & was welcomed to join in on the fun, he used some Hobgoblin allies in his army, this made him ignore greenskin animosity & it meant he basically had a bunch of undercosted units without their drawback & this time it felt like someone was cheating when using allies.
It didn't stop me from using allies, but I always used allies that felt like they fit in, as an example:
My Chaos warriors had both daemon & beastman allies, as well as Skaven (no war machines though), mostly it was due to the 4th edition book so I had the models, but it felt right to ally in these kind of units, heck I even tried a lone greater daemon once, but only for a special scenario.
My Empire had a unit of Wood Elf Archers led by a champion with Hail of Doom Arrow, sometimes they switched for a unit of dwarf slayers, both of these units added something I already had access to, but was both better at it & still felt like it fit thematically, Humans have allied with Dwarves & Elves on multiple occassions.

The Warhammer World is full of stories about desperate alliances, during the Great war against Chaos, humans allied with both Elves & Dwarves, however there are even stories of greenskins attacking the Chaos forces, knowing full well what  would happen if Chaos won.
In the siege of Quenelles Wood Elves allied with Bretonnia.
At la Maisontaal Abbey an Undead & Skaven Alliance was beaten back by Bretonnians.

Choosing allies in warhammer is very easy, you get to pick allies from certain books, 25% of your army may be anything you want from those books & well this has led to several misuses in the  World of Warhammer.
Over the years I´ve seen allied Greater daemons, Wood Elf armies with Dwarf Organ Guns & said Dwarf armies include high level spellcasters etc etc.
This have led to some groups banning allies altogether.

Imo allies are great, it's a way to add flavour to your army, to paint up a unit from another army just because you like it, or to just win at all costs...
If you use allies for certain scenarios, or have a great theme, then great, if you include them just to counter a weakness in your army or to get away with something your army aren't allowed to use normally, then maybe not so great.
If you've read my blog before you know what rules my gaming group used when it came to Warhammer 5:th edition, if not, then here´s a reference:

Minimum 33% RegimentsMax 33% Characters (Bretonnia may have 50% characters)

No unridden large monsters

No allied characters or warmachines except Dogs of War

No Power 3 spells
Magic Items with a points value of more than 50 cannot be included

Only one war machine, for each regiment in the army
No Fly High

We got around the biggest problem of allies by not allowing warmachines or characters (Dogs of War was the obvious exception).
Imo one of the things allies shouldn't be used for is to use extremely powerful characters/war machines to get around the normal restrictions or weaknesses of your army.
You want some shooting with chaos, fine, ally in some Dark Elves, but avoid the Bolt Throwers.
Want magic with Dwarves? Ally in a lowbie Empire wizard & his bodyguards (maybe some halberdiers?), make sure you add a backstory to it.
Mercenaries is another explanation, but do those mercenaries have to be led by Tyrion or Teclis?
My Point is that usually there is a good explanation for an alliance, it can be anything from a common enemy, or old kinship (Dwarves & Empire come to mind), but one should choose allies in the spirit of the game, warhammer is already an unbalanced game, you don't need allies to make it even more unbalanced.
Alliances between races that are not only believable, but probable, is the best kind of alliances.

Proper allies!

Some alliances I find probable:

Chaos: Allying between themselves is very probably, other probable allies include Dark Elves, greenskins & Skaven.

Empire: Dwarves of course, Dogs of war, Bretonnian Questing Knights would work well too.

Bretonnia: Empire & Wood Elves

Lizardmen: None

Greenskins: Skaven

High Elves: Empire or Wood Elves

Dark Elves: Slaaneshi Daemons

Dwarves: Empire

Wood Elves: Bretonnia

Undead: Chaos, have also been known to ally with Skaven

Chaos Dwarves: Chaos, but also greenskins

Skaven: Chaos, Undead

I would use either the rules we have for allies (no characters or war machines) or make the allies look like small contignents, so maybe a lowbie character to lead them, some of the more common troops & max 1 of something rare (Empire for example could be a unit of Halberdiers, a level 2 wizard & a single war machine). Using allies can be great fun, it allows you to be creative, to field something new, but always remember the first rule of warhammer, both players should have fun!

Lords of War 2 - Lund

I went to what was probably the last Warhammer 40K 7th edition tournament in Sweden, on the same day that 8th edition was released.
I haven't played 40K since 3rd edition was introduced, & I didn't go there to participate in any gaming, but instead to enter what would be my first painting competition in 16 years.

I entered 2 categories with the following models:

 

I managed pretty well, placing second in both categories, which gave me 2 brushes & 2 gift certificates in the local hobby shop.

So why write this post, just to brag? No, while I am proud of my placements I really wanted to write this because of how well the tournament was organized & how friendly the community was, despite it being a tournament people seemed to have a nice time, laughing, chatting etc etc.

The feeling in the room was the same as some of the first tournaments I played in, & for that the people over at https://scattereddice.wordpress.com/ should get big credits.

 

I will end this post by showing you some pics of the great looking armies & models people used:

 

 Even Stormcast can look good!

Lovely banner!

 This was my favorite army.

 

 



 

Lovely Eldar army which won best painted.

 

This great daemonprince just screams Hellraiser to me!

Nurgle goodness

Painting Inspiration

Yesterday I had a day off so I decided that I should spend some time painting, so I took my stuff out, only to realize I was not really in the mood for painting. Being at the computer all day seemed like a waste of time so I started looking through some old stuff I had, trying to get some inspiration to paint, & it got me thinking, what inspires others to paint? I find that just looking at someone else’s painted models can help you find that motivation to paint your own miniatures. The Internet is full of some amazing looking miniatures, forums, magazines such as White Dwarf, even battle reports on Youtube all offer some good inspiration and there are hundreds of blogs out there dedicated to showcasing people’s armies.

Here´s my favorite inspiration sources:

 

Music/TV

I know some people get inspired by listening to a song or looking at a movie/tv series, I myself like having such things in the background when painting, my personal preferences are Vikings, Game of Thrones & ofc the Lord of the Rings movies. If you're more into the futuristic side of the hobby then I recommend Mad Max.

 

 How it feels like when you look at all the stuff that need painting, a journey without an end....

 

 



Running A Blog or Project Log
Running your own blog or a project log on a forum has also helped me in the past. You start to feel a sense of duty that you really should get your miniatures painted so you can share them with the world. This method is usually great at first but it does get difficult to sustain, especially if you don’t get as many comments and hits as you would like. I have had project logs on Warseer fade away into the warp but they are great motivators to begin with at least. Hopefully this blog will continue to inspire me to paint, even though my painting mojo is rather weak atm (lots of stuff going on with the new house)

Please do share your inspiration sources!

Pantheon of Chaos

Diego Serrate. Write down that name somewhere if you're into GW's old style. Diego is currently funding a second kickstarter pantheon-of-chaos-chapter-two.
I backed the first kick-starter & received some lovely models:

From left to right: Warrior, Hobgoblin, 2.nd warrior, a third warrior, Arnak the beastman, familiar & Gorgrat the Chaos champion.

 

So the first kickstarter was a huge success.  As you can see, I went only for a few of the available minis, mostly for the mortal Chaos followers. I was always more into the dark brooding Chaos warriors rather than the mutants, daemons or beastmen, I just like the unknown evil more (kind of like Jason Voorhees over Freddy Krueger). I received some very characterful sculpts, my favorite is this one:

Konrad

I can't wait to get it painted! Now that the second kickstarter is a go I just felt that I had to write about these models, are they any good? 

With old school GW stalwarts such as Tony Ackland, Kev Adams and Tim Prow sculpting these models, the results were enough to make a seasoned Citadel collector start drooling after something new. This is imo an excellent set of models that will blend in perfectly with any collection of old school fantasy from the 1980's or 90's. Special mention must be made of the beastmen as an attempt has been made to produce something different from the goathead archetype, while I'm not into beastmen all that much, one really has to appreciate this.

 

 

 

The new stuff looks promising & I've pledged 9 euro myself for the Khalass Champion, I will probably add more to this pledge before the shipping start, I really like the PTW 11 warrior as well as some of the new Chaos Dwarves.


Kings of War

Back in 2013 I started playing Kings of War a bit, it was a simplistic game, but it gave us the feeling of a wargame instead of a DnD session with powerful characters & their followers, however due to the game not being all that popular around where I lived it became a side-game, one to take out when we either didn´t have time to play a proper game of Warhammer, or when we were tired of other games.

Then Mantic released Kings of War 2.0, & around the same time GW decided to destroy the World of Warhammer as we know it through the End Times & replace it with Age of Sigmar.
I will not bash on Age of Sigmar, I've presented my thoughts on that earlier & lets just say it isn´t everyones cup of tea. If you´re not into any other game atm & are looking for a replacement for warhammer, or are new to the hobby, then try out Kings of War!
Why? You might ask, well here´s my top reasons to do so:

1. It´s easy to learn, no matter if you´re a wargamer veteran, or a complete beginner, Kings of War has an excellent rules-system which is easy to learn, but hard to master. I learned the game after reading through the free rules & trying it out in just a single game!
The game is fastpaced, is consistent in its rules & is very easy to get get a hold of, imo it was refreshing to be able to play a wargame pretty quickly and without having to spend hours hunched over a rulebook or having to engage in 1v1 unit skirmishes. I was able to play a full sized game with nearly all of the rules in play the very first time!

2. Cheap: Well this is relative, but most people who will read this is old warhammer players looking for a new game to play with their old miniatures, & the fact is, due to the way Mantic has designed the armies & the allowance of allies, you can basically port anything into Kings of War & have rules for it. Also note that even a new player can get a decent sized army quite cheap if he decided to use Mantic's own models along with some Reaper Bones models for characters. Besides Mantic doesn´t force tournament players to use Mantic figures like that other game company.

3. Fast to play: I am a father of a young child, full time worker who has very little spare time, setting up a game & playing it usually takes quite some time, time me & my friends don´t have too much of, but Kings of War allows us to play a 2000 Point game about twice as fast as warhammer. This speed of play is largely attributed to how straightforward the rules and unit stat lines are. This means that once you have a grasp on the fundamentals you don't find yourself looking up rules and charts every few minutes. The fact that units are treated as a collective rather than a group on individuals also means time is saved as miniatures are not removed as casualties and as a result, a whole unit can be deployed on a single base.
This doesn´t really appeal everybody, claiming that indiviual models should be more than woundcounters, but even in warhammer most troops are just that, & imo it´s more fun that you don´t have to remove all those great looking models I´ve painted as soon as the unit starts taking wounds, it also allows you to make scenic bases, or if you´re not into that, at least very characterful unitfillers.

4. It has tactical depth: Yes, the game might be streamlined, it's simple, but not simplistic. Movement is key in Kings of War, a flankcharge doubles the amount of attacks the attacker gets to do & a rearcharge triples it, this means that no one can rely on deathstars or overpowered spells, but rather a mixed style which takes movement & tactics into account is needed to win the game.

5: Magic is great support, but not necessary: The spells in Kings of War includes the standard damage dealing spell, one which causes a bit more damage but has a shorter range, a healing spell, a movement spell, a buff spell & a spell that pushes away units. Used correctly these spells are very powerful tools in your army, but you can´t rely on them to win, which imo is just how magic should work, Kings of War focuses on units & movement & ultimately, if you are like me & tire of time wasting rule-book checks or quarreling over interpretations of rules then KoW is a real breath of fresh air.

6: The armies: There is a total of 20 armies in Kings of War, which include both the normal fantasy races such as elves, dwarfves, orcs etc etc, & some very unique armies such as Night-stalkers (living nighmares) & Trident realms (fish people), & as you are allowed proxies, you can build whatever army you like & find rules that suit them.

7:It´s supported: Kings of War is fully supported by Mantic & they have a healthy discussion with their players to make sure the game stays balanced & fun! An example of this is the Clash of Kings supplement which removes some of the best magic artifacts & adds new ones in its Place to balance the game further.
Also this summer they will launch a worldwide campaign, which will decide how the World of Mantica will change, meaing that every game counts!

If you're looking for a quick game that's easy to get into and fun to play then I highly recommend Kings of War. It's a fantastic game for both veteran wargamers and new players a like! The only downside imo is that it lacks a world I care about & the crazier stuff of herohammer is nowhere to be seen, but I have Warhammer 5:th edition for that, when playing a balanced wargame I prefer Kings of War over any other game atm.

My thoughts on Age of Sigmar & the current route of Games Workshop

When the old World was destoyed by Games Workshop, I didn't really mourn it, I was already at a state where I just didn't care much anyway, 8th edition was imo one of the less fun versions of warhammer fantasy, only 7th edition was worse imo.
I was looking at other games such as Fantasy Warriors & Kings of War several months before Archaon managed to destroy the old World.
I read the fluff of the End Times, I enjoyed the little nods to the fans by bringing back old characters all the way from the 80's into the story & I really looked forwards to see what would come next.
Then came the Age of Sigmar, it was nothing like warhammer, but the rules were free so I gave it a go, 2 games later, both involving Nagash, & I was sure that this wasn't the game for me. It was not the mass combat system I craved & yearned for, but neither did it feel like a skirmish game, it was something in between. The rules were unbalanaced & without a pointsystem it was open to abuse. The setting lacked the depth the Old World had etc etc.
I moved on to Kings of War, started playing X-wing as well as older versions of warhammer instead.

As unbalanced as it looks...

Lately a few guys at the local hobbyshop has started showing some interest in Age of Sigmar, as I have played Kings of War beside them I have gotten minor glimpses of their games. In my opinion Age of Sigmar  is a game for children, built around a hobby for adults. The kids the rules are made for are unable to really do the necessary work to get to play (& probably lack the funds as well), the adults that actually can do the necessary work and get some fulfillment out of doing so are bored by the simplicity of the rules and disappointed by the lack of any kind of balance (well at least me & my friends are).
Yet what I've come to realize is that this game might not be for me, but it is a great gateway to get new people into the hobby, especially younger people, with that in mind I bought the new mini-starter box, Storm of Sigmar:

It's a rather cheap box, I got mine for less than 20$. In it we find 13 models, 5 Stormcasts, 3 Chaos Warriors (Bloodbound) & 5 Chaos marauders along with some nice unit cards. There is a small rulebook which contains some minor fluff, the rules & a short campaign. This will be a perfect start for any new player, I will introduce this to my son once he is old enough.

About a week ago, Games Workshop released a new expansion for Age of Sigmar, this is called Warhammer, Age of Sigmar: Skirmish

 

While I prefer Warhammer 6th edition skirmish or Song of Blades and Heroes for my smaller games, I must admit that this cheap book is yet another perfect gateway to get new players into the hobby. The book is rather cheap & to start playing you only need a small warband of 4+ models.  The rules in skirmish are very simple as they basically work just like Age of Sigmar, which might not be everyones cup of tea, but it's perfect for new players, you just have to stay away from certain models which GW somehow missed (yes I'm looking at you Knight Azyros). As said, the core rules are the same but the army construction is tweaked and unit movement is removed, now all models move as individuals. This 40 page book starts with some fluff just like Storm of Sigmar, although more detailed, then it tells the backstory of the setting the skirmish games are set in, namely Shadespire, a place cursed by Nagash. There are 6 scenarios in the book, 3 of them are great for single games but you can connect them all for a larger campaign.

Each model is assigned a renown cost, & you decide before the game how much renown you can spend on your army. Almost every faction is represented here, but all of the big models are left out. This is a Skirmish game, so monsters would be a little odd. However sadly several of the old World races are missing as well.

 

Imo these two sets form a great way to get new players into wargaming, I reckon that if I convert the free Stormcast elemental from White Dwarf to a character & add a nasty character to the Bloodbound (maybe the free Slaughterpriest), I will have two 40pts armies, so in total 10 scenarios to play through with a mere 15 models. If we change sides this means 20 games for less than 40$, not bad imo. I can go even further by buying another Storm of Sigmar starter, this leaves room for changing around the lists in skirmish as well for a mere 20$ extra. After the introduction of this game, one can move on to games that are more complex.

While I doubt I will ever fully embrace Age of Sigmar, this along with a lot of other interesting releases made by GW lately (especially Slambo, specialist games & Made to order), does show that Games Workshop is once again on the right track, who knows, maybe my son will get to experience the same kind of magic I felt when I started 23 years ago with the magical World of Warhammer Fantasy. I really do hope so.

Slayer - A warhammer skirmish battle report



With their outlandish hair and tattoos, Dwarf Slayers are some of the most well known and characterful warriors in the entire Warhammer World. Everyone knows that during major battles of the dwarfs, these angst-ridden killing Machines search out the enemy's most fearsome monsters for combat, but what do Slayers do in the meantime? When not drowning their sorrows in pints of Bugman's XXX, Slayers can be found seeking hulking foes for either brutal destruction or a hero's doom!

 



"There is nothing as sure in the world as the glitter of gold and the treachery of elves"

 

 

A friend of mine was at my house the other day, we decided to play a game of warhammer, as I haven't really moved all of my warhammer stuff out of the moving boxes, nor did we have as much time available as we would want, we decided on playing a game of Warhammer skirmish.

The skirmish can be found in the 6:th edition book, there was also a small booklet released in 6:th edition which was simply called Warhammer skirmish, in it you can find 25 scenarios, some with specific rules & forces, others with just a small narrative.

One of the scenarios is called Slayer, it pits 6 Dwarf Slayers vs a single Giant. And since I had finally painted up 6 Slayers about 5-6 months ago just to play this scenario, we decided to try it out.



 

 

 

Deployment: The giant was placed in the middle of the board, the slayers are then deployed randomly 2D6 away from him, as luck had it, only one slayer was deployed to the South of the giant, while most of them was placed North of him.

 

 

 

I took the role of the giant, while my friend took control of the slayers.

Turn 1: With a drunken roar the giant charges the closest dwarf, without a chance to respond the slayer is picked up & thrown towards his comrades, knocking the air out of him. The salyers move towards the giant as fast as possible.

 

Turn 2: The iant picks up yet another slayer & throws him onto one of his kin. The rest of the slayers charge in with a mad look in their eyes, eager for a kill or an honourable death!

 

Turn 3 - 6: The slayers charge the giant one at a time, the giant kills them off as quickly as they charge him, but suffer horrendous wounds in return, soon there are only 2 slayers left, one trying to finish off the giant while the second one is still recovering from being thrown several yards away from the combat.

"The bigger the enemy, the greater the glory!"

"Oi! I ain't done with you yet!!"

 

Turn 7: Seeing his friends going down one by one has turned the last slayer into a whirlwind of destruction, he doesn't care about his own safety, doing everything he can to avenge his fellow kinsmen, with a headbutt to the groin the giant bends down far enough for the slayer to give him a final blow.

Aftermath: The scenario was very balanced, the giant lost his final wound to the last slayer alive, we discussed tactics & what we could've done different. The giant can't do much differently, he has to try & split the dwarves up, taking them one at a time, when able to throw them, then do so, trying to kite for a while. The slayers on the other hand has to try to engage the giant as fast as possible, but not on their own, it's better if they engage as small groups of 2 or more slayers.

Overall the scenario was very fun, we've replayed it twice after this game, the giant & the slayers winning one each, but each time it's been very close.