A Very Savage Christmas!

October 6, 2021 Peter Holland Leave a comment

Something’s brewing…… and it happens to be a Christmas Age of Sigmar tournament here in sunny (!) old Northamptonshire.

This is the first organised tournament for two years that I know of, that is being carried out in my home county. The tournament is being organised by Savage Hammer Gaming in conjunction with Cooper Gaming Ltd.

It takes place on 18th December at Higham Ferrers Junior School Hall and to take part you’ll need to bring a fully painted 2,000 point army using the points from the Generals Handbook 2021, Dice (why not buy some Savage Hammer Gaming dice?), a tape measure, objective markers and two copies of your army list.

There are a number of prizes on offer over the course of the day as well, with awards going to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place as well as most sporting player and best painted army. They’ll also be a wooden spoon prize!

9.00am	Registration
9.15am	Event Brief
9.30am	Game 1
12.00pm	Break
12.30pm	Game 2
3.00pm	Break
3.15pm	Game 3
6.00pm	Awards Presentation
6.30pm	Event Close

Timings for the Day

This is the first of many tournaments that Savage Hammer Gaming are hoping to run and their 40k tournament in February next year has already sold out! If you want to buy a ticket, then please follow click here.

I will cover the highs and the lows of the tournament once it has taken place and post the results and photos here on the website!

Reviews, Warlord Games

Game Review – Blood Red Skies

October 5, 2021 Peter Holland Leave a comment

Type:	World War 2/Aviation
Scale:	1/200th
Players:	2+
Age:	12+
Game Length:	30-60 Minutes
Starter Box Cost:	£45
Designer(s):	Andy Chambers
Publisher:	Warlord Games
Complexity:	2.6/5.0
Board Game Geek Rating:	7.4 (166 Ratings)

Blood Red Skies is the new World War II mass air combat game from Warlord Games, written by renowned game developer Andy Chambers.

Packed with everything you need to play this fast paced air combat game, the Blood Red Skies starter set does what it says on the tin. Plus once started you’ll have the extra rules to introduce the play cards that really bring your fighter aircraft to life, allowing you to fly them just as they would have been by the Aces of WW2!
Description from Warlord Games

First of all, right off the bat, this isn’t a simulation game. If simulation of World War 2 dogfights is what you’re looking for then this isn’t the game for you.

However that being said, there has been a lot of work that has gone into the rules to give them an authentic ‘feel’ of the period.

The Blood Red Skies: Battle of Britain starter set contains everything you will need to carry out air battles over the British Isles in World War 2. With six Spitfires, six Messerschmitt BF-109s and a number of scenarios through which the players can jump straight in.

The games core mechanic revolves around aircraft being Advantaged, Neutral and Disadvantaged. Disadvantaged aircraft cannot shoot aircraft that are Advantaged or Neutral and Neutral aircraft cannot shoot Advantaged aircraft. However, you can choose to make your aircraft disadvantaged to gain manoeuvrability and enabling you to try and get on the tale of enemy aircraft.

Scoring is done by using boom chits, where any shots that hit the enemy cause a chit regardless of whether it causes damage. Once a player has more chits against them than they have aircraft then their squadron are forced to break contact with the enemy and head for home. This can mean that games are over without a single aircraft being shot down, which is true to the real life dogfights that would be carried our in the skies during World War 2.

Gameplay is quick with a loop of Shoot-Move-Action that is enhanced by the use of the action deck, with extra abilities and events. These cards can be selected based on the planes in use and the period of the war the combat is taking place.

Downsides of the game are that the pilot discs are easy to damage when inserting or removing them from the plane bases. Measuring can also be tricky with arcs being difficult to set on the circular bases.

That said, this game is fantastic and is ideal for a quick pick up and play game during a lunch break or a spare 30 minutes with friends in between other games.

Games Workshop, Warhammer 40k, Warlord Games

Andy Chambers – A Life in Wargames

October 4, 2021 Peter Holland 1 Comment

Chambers is best known for his work for Games Workshop, where he worked from March 1990 to March 2004. He worked extensively on various Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks and sourcebooks, and also authored multiple fiction novels set in the same universe. Chambers was the lead designer on a number of Warhammer 40,000 spin-off games, such as Necromunda (1995) and Battlefleet Gothic (1999), produced by Specialist Games. These games were released at a time of major growth for Games Workshop and were designed with expansions and more miniatures sales in mind.

In 2003, Chambers joined Mongoose Publishing as the lead designer of the company’s development team for the Starship Troopers tabletop miniatures game. Starship Troopers won “Best New Game” in the 2005 Origins Awards.

Chambers was also made the lead story writer for Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for which he is given much of the credit for completing the project by other members of the company such as Megan Farokhmanesh.

Andy Chambers has also been involved in numerous other projects over the years such as Dust Warfare (2012) releases by Fantasy Flight Games, Dropfleet Commander (2017) by Hawk Wargames and Blood Red Skies (2017) publisher by Warlord Games.

Like Jervis Johnson and Alessio Cavatore, Andy Chambers has been involved in the designing of over 100 rules and accompanying supplements for many publishers including Games Workshop, Warlord Games, Hawk Wargames and Fantasy Flight Games to name but a few.

Games Workshop

Orruk Warclans – Brutes

October 3, 2021 Declan and Eeyore 6 Comments

Are the Brutes back again

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

When Ironjawz were released as one of the first new armies in Age of Sigmar the Brutes, Gore Gruntas and Maw Krusha were lovely models which went straight into my collection.

Unfortunately the rules always meant that my Big Waaagh and Ironjawz army kept coming back to Ardboyz, with minimal Brutes. I loved the models, but only had 10 painted, and the rules didn’t encourage me to buy any more.

However, that’s all changed and the new rules have prompted me to have a 50% increase on Brutes for Mancunian Carnage 2021.

5 Brutes with Jagged Gore-Hackas for Bloodfists!

What has made me change my mind… well the warscroll has said an upgrade, points are similar and Ardboyz have now become support / objective holders. Also, Big Waaagh! doesn’t care about number of troops anymore. In case you’ve missed the warscroll – especially as they’ve disappeared from GW website (!) here it is:

My Brutes all have Jagged Gore-Hackas, which is fortunate given the above. They have 2″ reach so can deploy in two ‘ranks’ on the table and still hit the enemy, and the additional pip of rend over and above the Brute Choppas more than makes up for the slight reduction in attacks. Especially as we’re hitting big things on a 2+ without a command point – Smashing!

Finally, they also have a great new special rule You Messin’ which means that models with a wounds characteristic of 1 can’t contest objectives. Sure, most things with 1 wounds within 3″ of this unit should be dead, but if a few Skeletons or Zombies survive this rule gives the Brutes the edge. Kunnin!

Sure they are slow on paper, but we’ve got lots of Mighty Destroyers available (free movement), and most scenarios start much closer to each other now. I’m taking my 15 to Carnage, and have 10 more on order for War in the Heartlands later in the month.

I’ll let you know how I get on, and how I find using the new & improved Brutes and their successes. Bashin’

— Declan

Age of Sigmar, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Warhammer 40k

Woehammer Painting Competition

October 3, 2021 Peter Holland Leave a comment

As well as our painting competition which is open to the public where you can win a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box of your choice, the guys at Woehammer and our generous sponsors SCN Hobby World are holding their own internal painting competition.

A few have already chosen which models they’re going to paint as well…..

Sarah

Sarah has been collecting Orks for some time now but has chosen to do something a little different for the competition.

Howling Griffon Space Marine. With the marine already purchased and undercoated Sarah is well on her way ahead of the 30th November deadline.

Sarah’s painting back catalogue is full of amazing looking Orks.

Ray

As far as I’m aware this will be Rays first miniature, and he’s chosen the new Ork Beastsnagga Warboss. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he comes.up with this for the competition. There’s already been smack talk between himself and Ben as well!

Rhys

Anyone who followed our Tale of Painters on YouTube will know that Rhys has only been painting for about a year and a half now. In that time his abilities have gone from strength to strength…..

Ed

Ed loves Nurgle and Lumineth, but this time round he’s attempting a new model and style completely with a comic book look. Here’s some of Ed’s work….

Ben

After smack talking with Ray, Ben decided to paint a Space Marine captain which he’ll paint in Imperial Fist colours and donate to Dave’s army that he’s creating. Ben is another talented painter with quite the back catalogue…….

Peter (Me!)

For this challenge I’ve chosen to do something a bit different to what I normally would paint. I’m painting Calas Typhon the forgeworld model. This is actually Dave’s model which I’m painting for him (Dave is kindly painting Mephiston for me).

Some of my earlier works….

I think this is going to be a lot of fun!

Fantasy, Games Workshop, Warlord Games

This Weekends Releases 2nd October 2021

October 2, 2021 Peter Holland Leave a comment

It’s all about the new Aeronautica Imperialis boxed set this week along with some additional weapons for the Van Saar gangs in Necromunda.

Warlord have two army sets on pre-order as of this week for Mythic Americas.

Para-Bellum miniatures, have another couple of pre-orders up with some W’adrhun leaders.

Only one new release for Reaper Miniatures.

Asmodee have a number of pre-orders for Marvel Crisis and their Star Wars games.

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

Closing date for entries 30th November. £1 entry, win your choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box set!

LINK

Games Workshop, Hatchette Part Works, Peter Holland, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Warhammer 40k

Warhammer 40,000: Imperium – Issue #2

September 30, 2021 Peter Holland 1 Comment

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

I thought I’d share my progress following last week’s article before reviewing the next issue.

I have managed to complete the Royal Warden using a very simple colour scheme which should mean I can get through the Necrons quickly enough.

Eknothet Xopcan, the Gleeful Eradicator and Oppressor of the Weak.

I decided to use the ‘fluff builder’ inside the magazine to give the Royal Warden some personality. Therefore after some dice rolling on the following tables in the image, his name was determined to be Eknothet Xopcan, the Gleeful Eradicator and Oppressor of the Weak. However it appears Eknothet is envious of those who still possess flesh and so collects gruesome trophies from his foes. He also carries his Relic Gauss Blaster Verminscourge into battle at every opportunity.

The Primaris Lieutenant on the other hand is probably around 80% complete as I’ve found I was missing a couple of key paints. But they’re on order so he should be finished this coming week.

No fluff for this guy yet, however any fluff given to him will be of my own making and not from the magazine, as my Void Dragons are a distinctly Anglo-Saxon vibe to them ,(think Alfred the Great etc).

Issue 2

So on to this week’s issue. You’re given three Necron Warriors and some Runelord Brass paint.

I quickly set about building the Necrons and giving them a few base coats to keep up my progress.

But, again these fellows aren’t quite finished yet.

The magazine this week goes into a little more detail about the Ultramarines and the Szarekhan Dynasty, allowing those newer players to develop their knowledge of the background of 40k and the two factions that they’ll be collecting.

On top of this you’re also given some background into the warzone that the combat is taking place.

You’re also given your first painting instructions if you’re following the magazine. It’s fairly simple this week, but will become more complex as the model collection gets larger and more paints are acquired.

Overall, I’m enjoying this a lot more than I though I would be and it is great value for money compared to buying the models and paints separately.

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

Closing date for entries 30th November. £1 entry, win your choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box set!

LINK

Games Workshop, Peter Holland, Reviews

White Dwarf #1 – Old School Review

September 29, 2021 Peter Holland 1 Comment

After writing about the History of Games Workshop and doing research into A Life in Wargames, I’ve been able to get my grubby little hands on to electronic copies of the first White Dwarf.

Therefore I thought it would be interesting to have a read and to review the first ever issue.

The first thing that is noticeable (and to be expected, considering the age) is the whole magazine including the cover is in black and white. There are no photographs and nothing in the way of graphics to make elements stand out. There are a number of drawings that are used throughout the magazine.

Out of the nine articles inside the magazine, four are about Dungeons and Dragons. In the editorial, Ian Livingstone mentions that he hopes White Dwarf will be a vehicle to bring the readers news of all the best science fiction and fantasy games on the market.

The magazine is targeted to the older generation with a comic strip included about Dungeons and Dragons that is distinctly adult in its theme.

Ian starts the issue by reviewing Metamorphosis Alpha a game by TSR that is a science fiction setting for a roleplay game. Metamorphosis Alpha takes place on a gigantic generational space ship whose inhabitants have undergone a series of mutations and every day turns into a challenge to survive as the survivors explore the ship to find supplies.

You can still buy Metamorphosis Alpha today on PDF via Drivethrurpg.com. The game costs just $5.99.

There are also segments about the inaugural UK D&D society and how to become a member.

There is a very long article (which includes algebra) on how to calculate the effectiveness of monsters in D&D. I actually enjoyed this, but I would assume for many that it would be a bit dry.

Open Box gives ratings out of ten to games currently on the market. Their markings so far are;

Diplomacy 10/10
Dungeons and Dragons 10/10
Sorcerer 7/10
Starship Troopers 9/10

There’s a further review of another game called ‘The Warlord’ which is comparable in style to Diplomacy.

This is a very different White Dwarf to the one you know and love, but as a piece of wargaming history it’s fascinating.

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

Closing date for entries 30th November. £1 entry, win your choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box set!

LINK

Fantasy, Peter Holland

Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings

September 28, 2021 Peter Holland Leave a comment

We’ve referenced Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings by Para-Bellum a number of times on this blog.

Conquest – the Last Argument of Kings is a mass battle wargame produced by Para Bellum Wargames. The rules of the game have been written by one of the industry’s lead game designers, Alessio Cavatore and his studio Riverhorse. The rules are quick and easy to learn for a new player but are still able to offer a new and complex strategy to master. Conquest does away with player turns and army deployment. Instead, it focuses its play around the command stack mechanic, where each player determines at the beginning of the round what order his troops are going to be activated in. Coupled with a unique escalation reinforcement mechanic where light, medium and heavy troops each have their roles, the fog of war is a very real thing.

Playon Tabletop who have thus far primarily focused on their 40k in 40 minutes series are now branching out into Conquest.

Playon Tabletop’s Trailer

Playon have just released a teaser trailer showing upcoming games of Conquest on their channel. What’s more in the video description there is a link to the Para-Bellum website where you can use a discount code to get 10% off Conquest miniatures and products.

For more information on Conquest why not visit their website.

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

Closing date for entries 30th November. £1 entry, win your choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box set!

LINK

A Life in Wargames, Peter Holland

John Blanche – A Life in Wargames

September 27, 2021 Peter Holland 3 Comments

My previous articles in the series;

Jervis Johnson

Alessio Cavatore

The Perry Twins

John Blanche is the person I need to thank for two things. Firstly getting me into 40k with the amazing box art from the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40k, and secondly for giving me the inspiration to collect Blood Angels.

I spent hours pouring over the box art and taking in every minute detail in all its glory.

John Blanche became associated with Games Workshop in 1977 producing the cover art for the 4th issue of White Dwarf and the box art for the British edition of Dungeons & Dragons which the company had the license for. In 1978 he produced the first full colour art cover for the 7th issue of White Dwarf.

Dungeons and Dragons artwork by John Blanche

After 1978 he continued working with the company producing many illustrations for White Dwarf and the cover art for the first edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles in 1983.

In 1986 Blanche was made in-house art director of Games Workshop, a position he has held ever since. As well as producing his own work and commissioning others, Blanche also produces designs for Citadel Miniatures.

John Blanche’s minotaur with miniature Mona Lisa.

Blanche’s style is unique and has been termed by many as “Blanchitsu”, a term which is also used by hobbyists who try and emulate his images using miniatures.

John Blanche’s work has brought many into the hobby including myself and will continue to do so for many years to come. John Blanche can be credited with making Warhammer 40,000 grim dark and for that as a fan, I thank him.

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

Closing date for entries 30th November. £1 entry, win your choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box set!

LINK

Sarah

Ray

Rhys

Ed

Ben

Peter (Me!)

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

Issue 2

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World

Woeful Wargaming