Category Archives: Authors

Book Review – Gloomspite

by Andy Clark

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 really wanted to love this book. In theory it has everything that appeals to me. Fantasy, set in the new Age of Sigmar world, staring the Goblins (Grots) who were my first army and still grace the wargaming table for me. Unfortunately, it fell down and I think it’s to do with the marketing and editor and not the author – which is even more of a shame.

The book follows a group of mercenaries – Swords of Sigmar – who warn the militia of Draconium about an impending disaster. Unfortunately they don’t know what the disaster is, except it will come from below.

The Swords and the characters in Draconium and well written, interesting characters – with an equal mix of women & men (the characters genders are not relevant to the story, but after so many male fantasy books, this is welcome relief – well done Andy Clark) – and a fun story. 4* for the author.

However, the book’s title in ‘Gloomspite’ and this was released at the same time as the army book. All other races get a book from Black Library with their army as the heroes (or anti-heroes); the Gloomspite (Grots) get a story where humans are the heroes and they are the peril. I know that they are ‘destruction’ but that is no reason to not get a story expanding the reader’s knowledge of the Gitz. I realise it is difficult to write from the point of view of destruction armies, but with the vast world available in Age of Sigmar, it must surely be easier than other fantasy settings. 2* for marketing & editing.

Okay, but not really about Gitz!

Rating: 3 out of 5.

We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.

— Declan & Eeyore

Book Review – Dominion

by Darius Hinks

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!!)

Straight off, I want to say this – if you’re just after a story from the Warhammer Age of Sigmar this is a fine book, well written with an interesting underlying story.

However, I picked it up because it was the companion book to the recent release of Age of Sigmar 3, which is the first edition to have Destruction (one of the Age of Sigmar factions) as well as the Stormcast. As such, I’m looking forward to more expansion of the history and background of the Destruction races – especially the new Kruleboyz released in the boxed set…

… Unfortunately this book didn’t achieve this. There was the (now reasonably common) Black Library usage of a human as the main character to make them more relatable – in this case a brother and sister whose father had been killed by Orruks (Orcs) before they escaped to Excelsis (a very large city in Ghur – the Realm of Beasts). If you’re not into Warhammer I’ve made this sound a bit confusing, but you can honestly read this book with no knowledge of the background.

The Realm of Ghur becomes one of the things that the siblings must overcome and they encounter monsters not released by Games Workshop (Kraken), and some that have (Kraken Eater Gargant), on their Crusade. If this is familiar to those who have read the Age of Sigmar rule book, it’s because Crusades are a new way to play the game… all good so far.

But… the story revolves around the brother (Niksar), with his sister being relegated to a supporting role. This is unfortunate given the need for Warhammer to appeal to more women readers and gamers, and missed a perfect opportunity in a big release book.

And then my biggest complaint – there is a little background on the Stormcast from the box, but the Kruleboyz (Orruks) only make an appearance late and are hidden behind their mist, only appearing to attack and then be attacked by the Stormcast. There was little development for them and – as they are a new race – I expected a lot more. It’s about time Black Library released some books from the perspective of the ‘bad guys’ which we know they can do, but which is sadly lacking for the new army – and indeed all the Destruction forces.

Disappointing

Rating: 2 out of 5.

We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.

— Declan & Eeyore

Warhammer TV – Week 2

Warhammer TV released a new episode of Angels of Death this week, along with a new 40k battle report between the Blood Angels and Orks.

Still nothing for our Age of Sigmar fans I’m afraid, and this is, in my opinion a massive ball drop by Games Workshop. Hopefully we’ll see new animations for Aos next week.

This weeks Warhammer+ releases

Angels of Death – The Silent City

Title card for the Silent City

The opening scene from this weeks animation was very, very good. The three years of work that has gone into this by Richard Boylan and the rest of the team is really starting to show, even at this early stage of the series.

Without spoiling, the episode is excellent, however, my only issue (I wouldn’t call it a complaint at this point) is that the sound effects and background noise seem too quiet in some parts of the programme.

The female ship captain is by far the standout character in this series so far and I’m enjoying her strong personality against the backdrop of the Blood Angels.

The art has remained the same as the previous week’s episode, so I’m unsure whether the monochrome and red is now the state of play for the rest of the series, or if the series will follow the path of Richard Boylan’s Helsreach animation and introduce more colour as it progresses. Either way it has excellent camera angles and the story really does draw you in.

Battle Report (Blood Angels v Orks)

Blood Angels v Orks

As a Blood Angel fan with a soft spot for the Orks, I’m a big fan of this week’s battle report. This week it sees Patrick in charge of the Blood Angels and Louise at the head of the Orks in a 1,000 point grand tournament scenario game.

The format is the same as the two previous battle reports shown last week, with mostly a top down view cutting to the players occasionally. The style of the battle report reminds me a lot of PlayOn tabletops YouTube battle reports and I believe they may have taken some of those ideas and applied them here.

Although I was pleased to be watching the 40k battle report, I’m surprised that Games Workshop didn’t post an Age of Sigmar one alongside this.

Masterclass: Black Armour

Black Armour

Louise Sugden introduces us to painting black armour to a masterclass standard this week. The video is informative and the instructions that Louise gives are clear, and after all who doesn’t enjoy a good painting video.

After watching this weeks video, it has made me realise another reason why Games Workshop shut down Daniel Latham’s YouTube site (one of their miniature designers and former ‘eavy metal painter) who was doing similar tutorial videos. You can still find some of his videos on his instagram account.

Conclusion

Another week for 40k fans with Age of Sigmar having nothing released in terms of viewing.

There was also no Hammer & Bolter episode this week, so perhaps this series will release an episode every two weeks?

As Declan said last week it’s difficult to recommend the service at the moment if you’re only interested in Age of Sigmar.

Non-GW Fantasy Wargames

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!!)

A lot of us started wargaming with Games Workshop and have stuck with them ever since.

Therefore I’m hoping that this article may introduce you to other wargames you may not have heard of, while giving you a brief synopsis of the game itself.

All of the following games are from companies which both produce the rules, and sell the miniatures for that game.

Kings of War (Mantic Games)

Kings of War is thought by many to be the successor to Warhammer Fantasy, and features many of the same armies (with slightly different names. E.g. Ratkin instead of Skaven).

Kings of War is a table-top war game that allows you to play epic fantasy battles in the world of Pannithor. You and your opponent will pit your wits and armies against each other in a battle of tactics, a contest of skill and an explosion of magic and steel.

Manticgames.com
Kings of War Dwarf Army

However, be aware the price point for these models are pretty much the same as Games Workshop with a pack of twenty models costing £32.50 in the UK.

Northern Alliance Pack Hunters (pack of 20 for £32.50)

The models are well crafted and look stunning. Some of the range is still in metal.

Skyrim – Call to Arms (Mordiphius)

For fans of Skyrim there’s Call to Arms by Mophidius.

Skyrim: Call to Arms

The Elder Scrolls: A Call to Arms is an adventure wargame set in the world of Tamriel. Gather your heroes and venture into Draugr haunted tombs and ruins, searching for treasure and glory. Or, fight the Civil War as the Stormcloaks and Imperials battle for the future of Skyrim.

Mophidius

The advantage of Skyrim: Call to Arms is that it also has a solo play method for gaming.

While not a massive battle game like Warhammer AoS or Kings of War, the game focuses more on small skirmish games and dungeon delving.

The models will set you back roughly £40 for a pack of 12. But the quality is on par with both Mantic and GW.

Imperial Vanguard for Call to Arms

A Song of Fire & Ice (Cmon)

This is the official Game of Thrones miniatures game which has been licensed to Cmon.

Stark v Lannister Starter Set

A Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game is a competitive miniatures game for two or more players. Each player controls one of the Great Houses of Westeros, commanding battlefield units, recruiting legendary Heroes, and manipulating the political stage, in the attempt to claim the greatest prize of all: The Iron Throne.

Cmon

The miniatures are excellently detailed, however they are mono-pose. The starter set which includes 50 Lannister miniatures and 43 Stark Miniatures can be found on various websites including Amazon for about £100.

Starter set contents

The game also incorporates deck building and list building into its five different game modes.

A Unit of Stark Outriders

Warmachine/Hordes (Privateer Press)

WARMACHINE is a fast-paced and aggressive 30 mm tabletop miniatures battle game set in the steam-powered fantasy world of the Iron Kingdoms. Take control of an elite soldier-sorcerer called a warcaster and his mighty warjacks–massive steam-powered combat automatons–as you battle to destroy the enemy warcaster.

Privateer Press
30 models inside the two player starter set

Warmachine and Hordes are relatively similar and involve smaller armies. It’s a great system for those looking for lower model counts. The models are really nice and would make great painting projects on their own. Just look at the below Warjack model….

Galleon Mercenary for Warmachine

However a model like the above will set you back around £70 with the rest of the range costing between £30-£70 for a box.

Frostgrave (Warlord Games)

Warlord Games are quintessentially Games Workshop ex-employees. With Rick Preistley being among their number. They have a large (and excellent) historical range of figures, but also some fantasy with offers in both Warlords of Erehwon and Frostgrave.

Warlords of Erehwon is a fantasy based game designed for 28mm tabletop warfare. The gameplay is built around the D10 system developed for the science-fiction game Beyond the Gates of Antares and also using the praised order dice mechanic first used in the Bolt Action WW2 rules.

Warlord Games
Rulebook for Warlords of Erehwon

Warlord Games miniatures are not as finely detailed as other manufacturers out there, but what they lack in detail they make up for in value. A box of 20 plastic models from Warlord will set you back around £20 (half of what GW charge nowadays).

A Starter Army for Warlords of Erehwon

Next week, I’ll go through five non-GW science fiction games as an alternative to Warhammer 40,000.

Clausewitz – Napoleonic Wargame

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’ve been writing my own set of Napoleonic war game rules for a while now, the idea for which has been formulating inside my head for roughly three years.

There are many, many different sets of rules for Napoleonic wargaming, but none of them quite got to the itch I was feeling for the period. I wanted a wargame, which was accurate to the time in terms of weapon ranges, unit movement and formations. As well as having a command and control structure that could fairly accurately represent the command structures of the time.

Some of my 6mm British Line Infantry

The biggest issue, is that I want all of these thing, but I also want the game to be fairly simple and quick to play. I therefore set about writing my own set of rules, which I’d also wanted to do for some time.

Below I’ve set out a brief overview of the rules and how the game mechanics work. If people are interested further in the game development, then I may post further articles on the subject in the future.

image-1
The Battle of Elchingen using Clausewitz Playtest Rules

The game is designed to be played on a 6′ x 4′ table, with 30cm equating to roughly a mile of battlefield.

Base sizes are set to 40mm wide, with a base representing a Battalion of Infantry, a Squadron of Cavalry or a Battery of Artillery. These bases are banded together into larger units known as Brigades. Brigades are ordered around the battlefield by Divisional Generals and the Commander-in-Chief of your army.

The game is not a traditional igo-ugo system and instead relies on coloured chips which represent your generals actions for that turn, of which there are thirty in the game. For example, at the start of the game there may be five red chips representing General Wellington’s actions that turn, and five blue chips representing Napoleon. Depending which chip is drawn allows the relevant player to act.

Players then activate units and other Generals inside their army by sending orders to them on the tabletop, these orders represent the objective that the unit has been assigned. Once assigned to an objective, the unit can only score victory points for being near that objective. They cannot score victory points for being near an objective they have not been assigned to.

Generals and Brigades have command ratings, with a combination of the two determining the roll a player will need to use that unit that turn. For example, a Brigade of British Infantry may have a command value of 4 and a British General may have a value of 5, meaning that the player would need to roll 9 or below on two D6 to use that unit, that turn.

All units and Generals have five actions as standard, however these can be modified by how far away the unit is from the General and also by how much the command roll was failed.

Once units are activated, they may move and fire using their actions that turn.

image-18
Early playtesting using Battle Chronicler

If you want to know more about Clausewitz, then please let me know in the comments below and I may summarise different aspects of the game in future articles.

image-4
A Clausewitz playtest using Tabletop Simulator

Warhammer TV – Week 1

With Warhammer+ launched earlier this week we provided a quick review on launch day here. Now I’ve had some time to view the offerings from Warhammer TV and provide a brief overview below.

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!!)

Don’t worry, there won’t be any spoilers – or results from the battle reports – but because of the short story nature of the animations the reviews will be necessarily short!

Angels of Death – Blood and Duty

I’ve got a bias to declare here… I love Blood Angels – they were my first (and pretty much only) Space Marine Chapter and their background, history and characters still appeals to me.

This is the first episode in a series, which will (I assume) be released once a week to keep interest in WarhammerTV / Warhammer+. It’s also worth mentioning that along with everything in this article, you need a Warhammer+ subscription. (Confusingly go to mywarhammer.com!)

The Blood Angels are trapped in orbit around a planet (presumably by Warp Storms), and they must decide whether to accept their fate and become engaged in the planetary system or find a way back to Baal.

It’s a really fun art style which will be familiar to those who watched the trailer on YouTube, in that it is in monochrome, with red being the only colour used. This makes the Blood Angels very striking, but still shows a lot of character in the supporting cast. I particularly liked the Ship Mistress. I think it’s great that GW Animation have put a female lead into their episodic show and I’m already looking forward to the new episode.

Hammer & Bolter – Death’s Hand

Inquisitors battling for the Imperium have a disagreement about how best to stop it falling into the hands of the heretics. It seems to be that these are going to be in different art styles and (I assume) different animators. This does bring up an issue with the credits in all four shows from Warhammer Animation… there are none! I know GW are used to this with their rules (where it is wrong as well…!) but they really should credit the people involved. I would imagine that many of the people are freelancers who need to have this work available for future employers to review.

Hammer & Bolter – Bound for Greatness

Adept Neath must count the at the library on Antioth. Can he keep to this one task and obey the rules set for him by the Prefect? And what would happen if he were to break a rule? This is the sort of story I enjoy from Black Library. No Space Marines or super-humans in sight, just the drudgery of a life in the Imperium of Man. This is not a good place to live and Adept Neath is a perfect example of why… although he is safe in his ignorance.

Hammer & Bolter – Old Bale Eye

For those who know their 40k Lore, they will already know that this is about Yarrick & Ghazghkull Thraka. The story style is similar to the launch videos for the recent Beast Snagga box set, with a Runtherd telling younger Orks (yoofs) of the story of these two enemies.

Of course, it’s a story most viewers will know, but it’s interesting to see how this is done with a ‘moving comic book’ type style which is very different to the other 3 videos.

Warhammer Animations – Overall Verdict

Overall, this is a promising start to the service, although at about 20 minutes each, there is not a lot of content. I did expect more (this is probably part of the reason for the £10 voucher for signing up before end August!) but it is fun for fans of the Warhammer 40k universe.

But that does bring me onto the elephant missing from the service… there is no AOS content from the animation studio on release day. Given the new release of AOS3 and the fact we know there are AOS animations planned this is astonishing. If you’re an AOS fan with no interest in 40k, there is nothing here for you.

Citadel Colour Masterclass

Louise Sugden shows how to paint faces, and what wet blending is. These are great videos and Louise is a superb painter who is able to easier explain what is happening and why she is doing things in certain ways. The colour theory elements of both videos was also welcome and I’m very interested to see what is next. With painting season approaching (ie winter in the UK), I’ll be trying out some of these techniques.

Battle Report

Also included on launch are two battle reports. This time one for Age of Sigmar. In the 40k battle report Nick & Patrick take the Ultramarines & Necrons onto the battlefield and for the AOS one, they take the Dominion box set contents (mostly… no Yndrasta!)

The battle reports last 1 hour, which had me concerned at first, but it was presented in a good way, with top down views of the action, some important dice rolls interspersed with comments from the players (presumably filmed after the end of the game). They featured some new rules from the Orruk Warclans book for the Kruleboyz, and some new artifacts which was an interesting teaser, but I assume they thought the book would be available by now.

My only niggle with it is that the graphic they’ve used for showing which combat and unit is involved is the same for 40k and AOS (and it feels very 40k). Would be great to get a more fantasy one in the future.

Conclusion

A good start, but this is not going to interest people not already invested in the Hobby. It’s also difficult to recommend the service if you don’t follow Warhammer 40k at all, and only want Age of Sigmar content. There’s just not enough there.

As mentioned in my previous article, I’ve signed up for a year so I’ll continue to bring updates as and when thoughts occur to me!

— Declan

Warhammer+ – Launch Day

Warhammer+ launches today (25th August), which is the new subscription service for Games Workshop. It’s been a rocky road getting here, but the subscription is now available, and I’m going to pick on up and let you know what I think.

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!!)

Signing Up

You’ll need to go to mywarhammer.com to sign-up for the service, which includes the usual entering credit cards (or paypal if you prefer) and agreeing to lengthy terms and conditions. The one that may affect some of our readers is that Warhammer TV element of the service is only available in a limited number of countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, UK & US – so if you’re not resident in one of these, I guess some of the service will be restricted.

Confirmation Email

You’ll receive a confirmation email with more information about what is available which seems to be as per the Warhammer Community articles

  • Exclusive Shows & Animations (on warhammertv.com)
  • An Orruk Warboss or Vindicare Assassin
  • Warhammer Vault – for old publications (on https://warhammer-vault.com/) although I had a problem with the link in my confirmation email
  • Warhammer 40k App
  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar App (not available on release)

Warhammer TV

Warhammer TV provides you with access to the viewing – I’m doing mine through Chrome, but I’m sure I can get it on my Smart TV later!

Blood and Duty is one of the new releases available

The two releases from the Animation studio are Angels of Death and Hammer & Bolter, and there are three shows – Citadel Colour, Masterclass; and two Battle reports (one AOS and one 40K). There are also learn to play videos and some painting basics, which I think are free, whether you subscribe or not.

Warhammer Vault

This is where some of the lore from 40k and AOS is available along with some of the 2020 White Dwarfs and Warhammer Visions (the magazine that showed pictures of painted toys). I don’t know how much use I’ll get out of this, because I have so much reading to do; but I think I might dip into the Waaagh! Ghazghkull one.

Is it worth it?

There’s split opinion on Social Media and honestly I don’t know. It will depend for me on what the ‘Event Exclusives’ turn out to be and how good the AOS app is (neither available at launch). However I collect Orruks so I’m just treating it as an expensive ‘Make to Order’ model for the year and can then review in 2022! As I delve into it more; I’ll likely come back and let you all know!

— Declan

A Budding Warmaster

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!!)

After reading @rightangle79’s excellent article on his games of Warmaster a week ago it made me think of the Warmaster armies I used to own when it was first released in 2000.

Unfortunately these were sold in my early twenties to raise money for beer tokens at university.

But I have the urge to return to the game, more so after recalling what a great ruleset it was.

But where to start? Which faction? And where shall I get the models from?

Those who know me, know that I’ve always loved the Dwarfs in Warhammer Fantasy, and this is both because of their lore and their units. Who doesn’t love half naked dwarfs screaming in rage and trying to take down the biggest beast on the battlefield?

But where to get the models? Looking at the original metal sculpts on eBay had me terrified. I’d have to sell a kidney to get hold of an army worth now. That left me with third parties. Here I was spoilt for choice, just typing in 10mm Dwarfs had thousands of hits. But one particularly caught my eye, excellentminiatures.com.

They have army bundles for every faction all at the 1,000 point mark, and the sculpts on these are stunning. In fact, they’re so good I would argue they’re better than the GW originals.

So I found the Dwarf bundle and made a purchase. At £85 for an entire army I think they’re also fantastic value for money.

In the bundle I receive!

  • Gunner Regiment (Thunderers)
  • Crossbow Regiment
  • Bezerker Regiment (Troll Slayers)
  • 3x Warrior Regiments
  • Cannon
  • King and Bodyguard
  • Runesmith
Dwarven Lords Bundle

They’ll probably arrive next week, and I’ve not been this excited about receiving new models in a long time.

I’ll post again once I’ve painted the first unit.

Until then, happy wargaming!

Peter

On the Troggpath to Glory

A Path to Glory update in AoS3

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!!)

Woehammer is organising a few of us into a Path to Glory campaign. I am playing Troggoths (Gloomspite) led by my General – Phileas Fogg the Trogg. You can find out more about the starting warband on the first blog entry for the campaign.

My first games were against Ben’s Slaves to Darkness (StD) army which is mostly based on the starter set. He added 10 Chaos Warriors to it in order to bring it close to 800 points, and I dropped the Ravening Jaws and 3 Fellwater Troggoths in order to bring mine down to this level too. This would allow Ben to learn the rules and for me to have some practice with the Troggoths whilst still having at least one of each Warscroll.

Pre-game

Before starting off, I needed to pick the Quest for my Troggoths, and I decided that Verne (Fungoid Cave-Shaman) would influence Fogg to Hunt the Endless Spell – Scuttletide. To do this Verne would need to be near Arcane terrain at the end of the game – in order to assist with this I can automatically generate an Arcane terrain feature for 1 Glory Point if I don’t roll it. I then had to keep him alive against the StD.

Game 1 – Sudden Assault

The Slaves to Darkness brought a Lord on Karkadrak, 2 x 10 Chaos Warriors, and 5 Chaos Knights… all with the Mark of Khorne. This meant they were re-rolling 1s to hit!

The StD were trying to take over my Gloomspite Shrine, and Phileas sent out himself (Dankhold Troggboss), Fungoid Cave Shaman, 6 Rockguts and 3 Fellwaters. As this was a Sudden Assault where we would get points for holding table quarters.

The armies assemble.

Ben’s Slaves to Darkness advanced quickly on my right (bottom of the picture), whilst the Chaos Warriors started the slow walk towards my shrine. In response the Rockgut’s charged the Chaos Knights… and in rolling that embarrassed me, wiped out the Chaos Knights – wow!!

The StD counterattacked with the Lord and 10 Chaos Warriors who put a few wounds on the Troggoths, but they swung back and killed half the Warriors and put some wounds on the Lord. In my second turn the Dankhold charged in to help them and the Fellwaters charged the second unit of Chaos Warriors.

Turn 3 – The aftermath!

In Turn 3, I cleared up the Lord & Chaos Warriors and the Fellwaters continued to chip away at the last unit of Chaos Warriors without any casualties – the healing being very useful in a small point game.

The last two turns the Dankhold rescued the Fellwaters and then the units fell back to the four quarters – I had defended my Shrine!

Post-Game 1

The great benefit of Path to Glory is the ability to improve your army. So we returned to the core book and post-battle sequence.

  • Glory Points – I was now on 21 Glory Points for winning the game and having my Warlord still alive.
  • Injuries – With no models killed, I didn’t need to roll any. Fortunately for Ben his Slaves to Darkness resisted most of the damage and only failed 3 casualty rolls.
  • Renown Points – Each of my units gained a renown point for surviving the battle, and a bonus one for holding the objectives. Fogg’s Ladz were my chosen and rolled sufficiently to become Veteran Warriors. This allowed me to give them a bonus. I chose Disciplined Battle-Drill as they were rapidly becoming Fogg’s bodyguard. This would allow them to add 1 to wound once.
  • New Units – I added a unit of Fellwaters to the army. I now had all my painted Troggoths in the list… time to paint some more.
  • Quest – My Fungoid finished the game next to the Arcane terrain next to my Shrine, and found lots of Spiders to command.. Scuttletide was mine!
  • New Quest – I chose to Scout Fertile Lands to enable me to re-roll my new territory roll next game.
  • Territory – I found Wild Lands this time, but didn’t really need an extra Monster, so decided not to settle it.

Game 2 – The Trap

We had some time to play a second game, so Phileas Fogg decided to counterattack and invade the StD’s terroritory… unfortunately he was walking into a trap and was ambushed…

After the first game, Ben decided to bring some additional back bone; he had managed to convince Be’lakor to join him; as he is expensive it did reduce the size of the force – Chaos Lord on Karkadrak, Be’lakor & 10 Chaos Warriors… they would have to do some work!

Setup

The set-up left the Slaves looking more like the ambushers than the invaders, but how would Ben unpack to start killing my units?

The first few turns were cagy, with me running around board edges whilst the Chaos Warriors struggled forward. This allowed me to rack up a lot of Victory Points and solidify my control of the area.

In Turn 3 Be’lakor was unleashed and charged my Rockgut Troggoths. He did 10 wounds, killing two of them and the swingback only did 4 wounds as Be’lakor ignored Rend.

As my mission was to survive to end of Turn 3, I took no risks and the Rockgut’s retreated, whilst the Dankhold & Fellwaters advanced on the left towards the Chaos Knights.

In Turn 4 I charged the Chaos Warriors, killing most of them, and then Ben caught me again between Be’lakor and his Chaos Lord. The Lord killed 2 Rockgut’s whilst Be’lakor failed his rolls and the Fellwaters did a few wounds.

Turn 5 saw me retreat again, and Be’lakor chase my Fellwaters whilst the Chaos Lord chased the 2 remaining Rockguts. The Lord (Jeff) went first and killed the Rockguts (gaining a reknown). This did allow the Fellwaters to swing first against Be’lakor and they did 6 wounds. As Be’lakor had only 4 wounds left he needed to roll 5 out of 6 successful armour saves… Ben rolled! and Be’lakor lived; He took out 2 Fellwaters in revenge.

The Warlords face off; Whilst Be’lakor attacks Troggoths

I had won the mission although this was more bloody than the first game and I would need to roll some casualty rolls. This was a great fun game and Be’lakor definitely gave the StD the speed and damage potential to take out the Troggoths.

Post Game 2

  • Glory Points – I gained the maximum 13 Glory Points for winning the game and having my Warlord still alive.
  • Injuries – I needed to roll for 6 Rockgut’s and 2 Fellwaters. 2 Rockgut’s rolled the 1 and 1 Fellwater. I would need to roll for recuperating.
  • Renown Points – Each of my units gained a renown point for being alive in the third turn, and most of them survived and picked up points for this. Da Watery Boyz (Fellwaters) were my chosen and rolled sufficiently to become Veteran Warriors. This allowed me to give them a bonus as well. I wanted to be different to my Rockguts so they chose Deadly Volley for their spitting attack.
  • New Units – no new units for me, but I rolled to recuperate the Rockguts, and rolled 2 4+ meaning I got both of them back – good news for Fogg, who relies on this unit.
  • Quest – My Fungoid finished the game close to the board edge (after a turn 5 Hand of Gork), and so I could roll twice on the territories table
  • New Quest – I would need to consider this before my next game
  • Territory – After my reroll I found a Large Settlement (underground cave network), which would reduce the Glory Cost of my new units by 1. This would be useful when I had more painted Troggoths.

The Force

WarscrollNameReknownPoints
Dankhold TroggbossPhileas Fogg19250
Fungoid Cave-ShamanVerne495
6 Rockgut TroggothsFogg’s Ladz7290
3 Fellwater TroggothsDa Watery Boyz8155
3 Fellwater TroggothsDa Swampy Boyz155
Ravenak’s Gnashing JawsDa Wet Boyz55
Scuttletide (Endless Spell)85
End of Session!

Summary

What a great evening – Thanks to Ben for the games; it was great to play small games and see what everything did without being shot off the table – Khorne really wanted to get stuck in. I also learned a lot about the Troggoths, who I have never used in large numbers – these were mostly painted during lockdown. I needed more practice, but they may make an outing at Facehammer.

Combat Patrol: Adeptus Sororitas – Beginners 1,000 Point Army

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!!)

Following Dave and I reviewing the Sisters of Battle Codex on our YouTube channel earlier this year, I decided that with the release of the Sisters Combat Patrol box, I thought it may be an idea to go through whats in the box and then select some units to expand the force to 1,000 points.


The combat patrol box is packed with goodies and like the other factions they’re a fantastic way to start a new army as they often give you a wide range of units.

The Sisters of Battle Combat Patrol Contents


In the Sisters Combat Patrol box you’re given;

  • Canoness
  • 10x Battle Sisters
  • 5x Seraphim
  • 4x Sisters Repentia
  • Repentia Superior
  • Penitent Engine
  • 3x Arco-flagellents
  • Rhino

All of that for £85, which is bought separately would cost roughly £170.

On top of this we’ll add the following units;

  • Palatine £21
  • Preacher £10
  • Castigator £52.50
  • Dominion Squad £35 (this will also buy you a unit of Celestians)
  • Retributor Squad £32.50

This will cost you an additional £151, alongside the cost of the Codex for £30 the entire army will set you back £266!

However! If you sign up for SCN Hobbies mailing list you’ll receive 25% off Games Workshops recommended retail price and 15% off web only miniatures. Meaning including postage the army and codex would cost £200.50! That’s a saving of £66!

To sign up to the SCN Hobbies mailing list, email Sarah on scnhobbyworld@outlook.com.

The list above brings us with upgrades to 1,000 points and the list will be as follows;

Vanguard Detachment (3CP)
Order Convictions: Order of the Bloody Rose

Canoness
1x Canoness – Blessed Blade, Bolt pistol, Relic: Wrath of The Emperor, Warlord
Warlord Trait – Righteous Rage
Blessings – Divine Deliverance

Battle Sister Squad
1x Sister Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Battle Sister – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun

Battle Sister Squad
1x Sister Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Battle Sister – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun

Arco-Flagellants
3x Arco Flagellant – Arco-flails

Repentia Superior
1x Repentia Superior – Neural Whips

Sisters Repentia
4x Sisters Repentia – Penitent Eviscerator

Dominion Squad
1x Dominion Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Dominion – Artificer-crafted storm bolter

Seraphim Squad
1x Seraphim Superior – 2x Bolt Pistols
2x Seraphim – 2x Bolt pistols
2x Seraphim – 2x Ministorum Hand Flamers

Sororitas Rhino
Sororitas Rhino

Spearhead Detachment (3CP)
Order Convictions: Order of the Bloody Rose

Palatine
Palatine – Bolt pistol & Power Sword

Preacher
1x Preacher – Zealot’s Vindicator

Castigator
1x Castigator – Autocannons

Penitent Engines
1x Penitent Engine – 2x Penitent buzz-blades

Retributor Squad
1x Retributor Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Retributor – Multi-melta

++ Total: [52 PL, 1,000pts] ++

CANONESS

Canoness

For your Canoness I would make her the Warlord and make the whole detachment part of the Order of the Bloody Rose. This allows you add 1 to the attack characteristics of models with this conviction when they Charge, are charged or make a heroic intervention. Extra attacks are always nice! So let’s lean in to this slightly and give the canoness the Blessed Blade and the Wrath of the Emperor Relic.

The Blessed Blade gives the Canoness a +2 strength, -3 AP Damage 2 close combat weapon, while the Wrath of the Emperor replaces her Bolt Pistol with an 18” range pistol able to fire 4 shots per round with strength 5, -1 AP and 2 damage. That packs quite the punch, especially considering the Canoness can now make 5 attacks instead of 4 when they’ve charged or have been charged.

Don’t forget that CORE units within 6” of the Canoness will be allowed to re-roll 1’s on their to hit rolls when making attacks as well. This means she’ll be handy next to your Arco-Flagellants when they make it into combat.

I would also give the Canoness the Warlord Trait Righteous Rage, which will allow her to re-roll hit rolls and wound rolls when in melee.

We’ll also give her Blessing as her Divine Deliverance, this negates one enemy units aura ability that is within 6” of the Canoness, however this is only done if after rolling 3D6 and the resulting roll being equal to or higher than the enemies Leadership characteristic.

PALATINE

Palatine

This lovely woman is the ying to your Canoness’s yang, allowing CORE units within 6” to re-roll wound rolls of 1. Having her with the Canoness next to a unit dishing out a lot of attacks is always a good move. Having a bubble of our Canoness, palatine and Arco-Flagellants will make an opponent think twice. Once you look to expand beyond 1,000 points my next thought would be adding more models to your Arco-Flagellants.

Take her as is.

PREACHER

Son of a Preacher Man!

Having one of these guys in your list allows nearby units to benefit from his War Hymns, which grants them another attack. Which when combined with the conviction of the Order of the Bloody Rose will allow some of your units with the CORE keyword to make two additional attacks on top of what they would normally make (looking at you Arco-Flagellants). As well as this, he also has access to the Battle Hymns. Very squishy though so make sure you keep him towards the back of you Flagellant bubble.

BATTLE SISTERS

Battle Sisters

Battle Sisters I’m inclined to leave as Bolter only and split into two units of five sisters each. These can then be used as objective cappers, they’ll have the ability to deal with the small unimportant elements of your opponent’s army but their primary use should be holding objectives or vital points of the battlefield. If the enemy shoots and focuses on these units then that frees up your heavy hitters and close combat specialists for the counter punch.

ARCO-FLAGELLANTS

Arco-Flagellants

I would leave these as standard with their Arco-Flails, and try and make sure that they’re within 6” of the Canoness when they make it into combat so that they can re-roll 1’s for there to hit rolls.

There’s only three of these so the enemies fire will need to be drawn elsewhere for them to be effective, perhaps having some mean looking Castigator on the field may do the trick?

REPENTIA SUPERIOR AND SISTERS REPENTIA

Sisters Repentia

I would also leave these as the basic set up. Again, like with the Arco-Flagellants you do not have many of these so try and entice your opponent into shooting some other more sturdy unit that can take the punishment until these lovely women make it into combat. Both these and the Arco-Flagellants are a great counter punch to enemy CC and also make great objective clearers which can be followed up by the Battle Sisters, who can lend some light fire support to these units.

SERAPHIM

Seraphim

These are your true fast attack and are great even equipped with the hand flamers. These are perfect for dealing hit and run attacks on larger horde units such as Ork Boyz, Imperial Guard Infantry and the like. Keep them in cover and make sure they get to their intended target to deal their damage. I would equip two Seraphim carrying two hand flamers each kicking out D6 shots which automatically hit their targets. That gives you on average 12 hits from flamers with on average 6 of those causing wounds on toughness 4 targets.

PENITENT ENGINE

Penitent Engines

Although classed as heavy support this unit is ideal for taking on units in close support with its twin buzz blades and double Heavy flamers. With five wounds and toughness five it’ll also take some punishment before it falls down. Plus, with the Penitent Engine, Sisters Repentia and Arco-Flagellants you have redundancy in your close combat and your opponent won’t be certain what to choose first, meaning at least one of them will reach enemy lines.

CASTIGATOR

Castigator Battle Tank

It’s a predator tank, its got good armour and packs a punch from long range for an army which severely lacks in this area. Don’t expect it to last long though, your opponent is likely to target it from the get go, and that’s okay. Because if they’re focusing on the predator they’re not focusing on your combat heavy units closing in on them.

Make sure while it is on the table that it focuses on trying to remove the high armour targets that your other units will sill struggle with.

DOMINION SQUAD

Dominions

These, alongside your Retributors can almost be considered a secret weapon for the sisters. With their Holy Vanguard rule you can pop these in your rhino and they can make a free normal move before the first turn taking them closer towards the enemy. Why do you want to do this? Because you only have five Dominions in the Rhino, means you can fill out the rest of the transport capacity with Retributors with Heavy Flamers or Multi-Meltas to take out those pesky heavy armour targets or large horde mobs.

Equipping the Dominions with Storm Bolters will mean that they’re kicking out 10 shots a turn as well and can lay down some nice fire on the enemy’s units. Hopefully your opponent will ignore the rhino long enough for them to get close and pop that particularly nasty looking tank or flame that large group of Ork boyz….. Please shoot at my Castigator.

RETRIBUTOR SQUAD

Retributor Squad

As mentioned, pop these in the Rhino and arm them with Multi-Meltas and they’ll pretty much turn anything they shoot into liquid metal once they open up. They may be a one use only unit once your opponent sees what they can do so try and hit them where it hurts on the first time of use.

RHINO

Rhino

You want this to remain alive as long as you have your Dominions and Retributors inside, otherwise it could be used to transport your battle sisters up to objectives further up the field. Use it as the workhorse of the army. Many players will use these as a transport for a single unit, but don’t forget to double back pick up others units and rush them over to other parts of the battlefield.

WHERE NEXT?

As I mentioned earlier, my next steps would be to look at expanding the Arco-Flagellants into possibly a ten strong unit. Beefing up the close combat element of the army is always a good shout, and you know a second Castigator would always be a nice distraction for your opponent.

I would also seriously consider taking some Celestian Sacresants, as with these you’ll find that they make perfect bodyguards for your characters as enemy units are unable to target them. They also come with a 4+ invulnerable save.

I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know in the comments below how you would build a 1,000 point list from the Combat Patrol Box and why not also let me know what you think to my list. There may well be aspects of the codex or units that I have not included that you think should be, so why not let us know in the comments below.

Peter