I participated in #hohohobbyvices this Christmas and received some great presents in my box! It was great fun preparing for my recipient and opening up my pressies and I’ll definitely look at doing it again next year.
Amongst the treasures I received a box of Mantic Games’ Terrain Crate – Mine Tracks.
£7.99 for 6 tracks!
They come in a bit of an over-engineered box with each piece of track in its own section in vacuum formed plastic insert, but the models themselves are crisply formed, and off sprue – so required no preparation work.
The finished set
I tend to so ‘simple’ for my scenery and so these followed the same principle. Undercoated in Army Painter Rat Fur (brown), then Agrax Earthshade and highlighted XV-88 for the wood. The rails were simply Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, and Ironbreaker dry brush… dead easy and I’m happy with how they look.
I don’t know what I’ll do with these, but they’ll go into my pile of painted scenery for when I assemble another table worth for Age of Sigmar, or a more Agricultural world for Warhammer 40k
About a month ago, the legend that is Dave invited me to play a few games of Warhammer Fantasy with him in the coming year. I jumped at the opportunity, and what better army to play with than my old Dwarfs!
I’ve always had a soft spot for these boys ever since I started in Warhammer way back in 93′.
This would also be the perfect opportunity for me to start rebasing them back on to their proper SQUARE bases as is only right! It also means that by the time Old World gets released I may have a fully painted and functional army from the off!
We’re starting out in Fantasy with the Grudge of Drong as Dave has previously mentioned, and for the first battle in the series I need to muster a small force of 1,500 points.
The first battle takes place in Grudge Pass as an Elven force blocks the road to advancing Dwarfs looking to topple Queen Helga from her throne whom the Elves have allied themselves with.
In this case, Dave is replacing the Elves and using his old Empire army. However, I will be using the Dwarfs. The suggested order of battle is below, but this is a 5th edition campaign box and we’re going be playing with 8th edition rules so I will need to adjust this slightly.
We’re going to be using 8th Edition rules, so my force will look something like this:
Dwarf Lord
Master Engineer
Runesmith
Battle Standard Bearer
15 Warriors
10 Warriors
10 Longbeards
10 Thunderers
10 Ironbreakers
10 Miners
10 Miners
This is by no means a competitive army , but then its not meant to be as this is a narrative campaign and we’re playing to act a story out rather than attempting to table our opponent.
Some of these models are already painted, they just need rebasing!
I’ve still a fair whack to get through as well as rebasing the above models!
Note – this article is for Gloomspite Gitz in AoS3. We are now in AoS4. Some of the article will still be relevant, but some of the rules may be different
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The AOS points changes are in, and the Dankhold Troggoth went down in points – again. So why not include them in another Warscroll Wednesday!
This points reduction would be more impactful if they hadn’t gone up in the first place… but the question today is: Are Dankholds not taken because of the scroll or because of the points – lets find out!
The first thing to note is that there are two similar scrolls – Dankhold Troggboss, and Dankhold Troggoth. The first is a Leader who makes most Troggoth’s battleline and let’s you run a Trogg only army (what’s not to like!!), the second is a unit in that army – unfortunately not battleline but they are big monstrous fiends… so surely they’ll work.
I was also gifted one through #hohohobbyvices secret santa and wanted to remind myself what he could do:
What a model.. isn’t he pretty?!
The Scroll
For the scroll you can either check out the book or the Age of Sigmar app… as a Warhammer+ subscriber I have this so on with the review:
170 points for 10 wounds on a 4+ save isn’t bad especially when we look at the regeneration below. He can go in units of 2 because of reinforcement points, but you’re probably going to want to run them in units of 1… just so you can use the Rockgut Troggoths in units of 9. At 170 points they are slight more expensive than 3 Rockguts (12 wounds, save 5+, 145 points), but are not battleline so are more disposable – as they won’t give up Broken Ranks. However, don’t be confused by their size being significantly above a Mindstealer Sphiranx… these are not monsters!
His move of 6″ is definitely a problem though. In a world of Dragons moving 12″, with a 12″ shooting attack this is a problem… but it’s a problem shared by Nurgle now… and they say a problem shared is a problem halved…
The Boulderclub is potentially great. It has a 2″ reach so can reach over some screens, and can occasionally hit a Windspirit, and 3+/3+/-2/D6 is a good damage profile. Games Workshop seem to be suggesting that 3+/3+ is the statline for elite combat troops and it’s good to see it on the Troggoths. The rend 2 can help as well, although you’ll want to be attacking multiple units with the army to reduce the impact of all out defense. My problem is with the D6 and only 3 attacks. Potentially of course he can do 18 wounds in combat but with my rolling that is never happening and I know I’ll roll a one. In Warhammer 40k they use D3+? a lot and would be great to see these guys at D3+2. If you’re unlucky enough to be hit by a boulderclub wielded by a Troggoth of this size it should hurt!
The crushing grip is a good ability and can split up units out of coherency if you strike after them (and survive!) It can even take out Fulminators with a little luck – great!
Magical resistance is a great ability to stop damage – I used Weird Un a lot in AoS2 on my Maw Krushas which was a similar ability and it either stops an opponent casting at the model, or means they risk a lot. Also remember it’s optional so if an Emerald Lifeswarm gets near the Troggoth he can choose to use it!
Regeneration is a small bonus, but only triggering in your hero phase and only on a 4+ is weak. In the world of AoS3 its difficult to justify this not happening automatically – It would also be great to have it triggered each battleshock phase (or similar) to make it happen more often.
A fun little bonus that can get the odd mortal wound through on single characters, but it’s a little disappointing it doesn’t trigger for each Troggoth, rather than once unit.
What’s not on the scroll
Unfortunately, that’s about it. You can make the regeneration work on a 3+ with Glogg’s Megamob, but that’s just making a weak ability very slightly less weak. He can also perform a similar task as the Mirebrute Troggoth from the Orruk Warclans / Kruleboyz books… but the Mirebrute can increase his attacks.
So I’m not sure I’d take him, although at a one-dayer he’d be fun to try again… and I have lots of them now so really do need to get painting them. Let me know if you’ve spotted any secret tech here to encourage me to catch up with them in 2022!
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!!)
With the imminent release of Chaos Gate: Deamonhunters by IGN, I thought I’d revisit my childhood and re-play a bit of the original Chaos Gate.
Update 11th May 2024: We are now an affiliate of Games Planet for Steam keys. Whilst they don’t have the original Chaos Gate available, they do sell the new one – complete with DLCs. And you can find it here and support Woehammer.
The new Chaos Gate – things have moved on since the 90s
Fortunately GOG (Good Old Games) has us covered and we can pick up the original Chaos Gate for a mere £7.59
So with a sense of risk (never meet your childhood heroes) I picked up the game, installed it and started running it (again). As with most GoG’s releases it has been updated slightly to allow it to run on modern computers and mine got up and running easily on my laptop. There’s not much strain on the PC here!
The game is a turn-based strategy where you take control of the Ultramarines against a Chaos incursion. The first mission starts with a mission briefing and then a selection of one of the tactical squads- you can choose which one. Each marine has some statistics which give action points, ballistic skill and health (amongst others). Once chosen you can chose the armaments – only one special weapon or heavy weapon per squad though, so I took a Heavy Bolter and gave each of my marines two more krak grenades.
There’s lot more actions once you go beyond the tactical marines
The game then takes you back to the main screen, and you can start the mission – the first one is an attack on a small building with Chaos Cultists and Chaos Space Marines (inside only), and your squad of 5 is severely outnumbered.
The aim in every mission… Victory will be mine!
Fortunately, the Cultists approach quite slowly in the open and give you practice with the bolters and heavy bolter and then I used the krak grenades on the Chaos Space Marines once I got in the building.
Mission 1 done, and nostalgia flooding back – hurrah!
At the end of the mission my Space Marines got experience based on what they hit, what they killed and whether they were the one that picked up the artifact. If they reach 500 experience points they are promoted and their stats increase… hurrah – progression!
Experience – and simple progression
I still loved it, and had great fun running around the marines, and hugging cover whilst hoping that the Chaos Marines with Missile Launchers miss! This is effectively the old versions of X-Com without the research et al and a much more linear narrative. Later on you can do random missions to pick up more ammunition and equipment and get some experience – but there is a risk of death… why the Ultramarines didn’t bring enough krak grenades is open to debate, but it’s fun to open the crates and find lots of new toys!
I’m not sure it’ll stand up to the standards of today, and it is a little slow because each model moves or fires based on action points (rather than the reboot of X-Com method of 2 action points per turn). It’s a long game, with a significant investment in time (36-48 hours) so be prepared to impact your painting and games. It also doesn’t do multi-player – you’re on your own here marine!
But I liked it, and it’s definitely one I’ll return to again (and again)!
BlackoVt (Blackout V) was held in Cardiff on the weekend of the 12th & 13th December. This was the return of a much moved event due to COVID and the restrictions in place by the Welsh government – and the organiser’s wish to keep everyone safe.
Unfortunately I couldn’t attend as it would have been my 4th week playing toy soldiers in a row… and may have got me in trouble!
The event is run by Chris Tomlin who has been in the community since at least 8th edition as part of a group from the South Coast of England called The Black Sun. Chris also runs the very successful team tournament – Brotherhood – which will return in 2022 for it’s second time.
The event was 5 rounds of Age of Sigmar and was attended by the great & the good of the Warhammer community, and was held at the new Firestorm Games location in Cardiff, Wales. Hopefully I’ll get there soon for some games!
Before I come to the lists I also wanted to shout out to a returning player who attended – Mo. For those who don’t know who Mo is he is the person who saved Age of Sigmar for the competitive community by bringing in ClashComp for his event Clash of Swords. He (and a team of supporting superstars) pointed every warscroll produced by Games Workshop and gave them a points value – whilst GW were running event where number of wounds mattered (so 2 goblins were the same as 1 chaos knight!). Mo saved us from having to play in this manner and his comp system was affectionately renamed MoComp.
So a cheer from me for Mo – it’s great to have you back and hope to see you at tournaments in 2022.
Now, without further ado – the winning lists.
1st Place – Cities of Sigmar – Mark Wildman(5-0)
Mark’s list appears to rely on the anvil of the Pheonix Guard – 4+ Ward – and the damage of the Fulminators… what a punch! As 4 drop it probably gave Mark the option of going first or second in some of his games – except against dedicated shooting lists. I’m told the Flaggelants made the army, so get painting them!
Look – still on Square bases on games-workshop.com
2nd Place – Soulblight Gravelords – Christian Moore(5-0)
Nagash before the recent changes was good (I would say very good), and the Knights must have provided the punch Christian needed. I wonder how many Hand of Dusts were attempted through the portal?
3rd Place – Stormcast Eternals – Adam Mumford (4-1)
Adam’s been playing a lot of Age of Sigmar since we were allowed to meet up again, and here he is again proving that the Dragons are definitely not good!! Wow – no idea how my Gitz would survive this; or my footslogging Brutes. Vicious.
Dragons… Coming to every tournament near you soon.
Thanks for Chris Tomlin for making the results available – including fighting through piles of paper army lists – and to AoS Shorts for collating them.
As this Friday is Christmas Eve my book review is just a simple look back at the ones already on the blog, if you’ll forgive the review format.
I’ve had a varied reading selection this year, some of which I managed to put some thoughts onto paper for the blog. Here they all are in case you missed any.
What releases are you looking forward to in 2022? For me it’s the new Sharpe book as it’s sort of Warhammer… and reading through some of the short story collections I’ve picked up.
Just a quick update this week, as I’ve not had a huge amount of time to get things done.
But I’ve fixed up the wall with green stuff ready for painting. I’m still in two minds about the bear rug though…..
So with all the pieces complete it’s just going to be a matter of making some posters and banners to go on the wall and then sticking the whole thing together. It’s only taken two months….
Note – this article is for AoS3. We are now in AoS4. Some of the article will still be relevant, but some of the rules may be different
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!!)
Age of Sigmar points were last released in June 2021 as part of the General’s handbook and – bar new books and a small Dragon issue – have remained the same since then.
Along comes the Winter FAQ to shake it all up…! I have reviewed some of the rules changes already, but I wanted to look at some of the points increases as well to see what impact it has.
Points, with movement
Thanks to the hero that is Hellsotrm Mikey on twitter we have the points adjustments above listed alongside the new points from GW.
Before I comment on the above, it would be good to find out from Games Workshop what they want this update to do – for example is there a different aim than the Warhammer 40k team had? Fortunately they have told us on Warhammer Community
Great aim!
Now I know the aim, I can try to judge the success of the work against that. As already stated in my previous article I think the overall changes to the core rules and Kragnos are great. I can’t really comment on Archaon & Nagash but they look like they are trying to make them easier to balance. I’ll let you be the judge of their level of success. But, onto the points review. Here’s that picture again:
Whilst I do go to a lot of tournaments in the UK I’m not at the ‘bleeding edge’ of tournament play and I don’t know enough about most of the armies so I’ll give impressions and then deep delve on the armies I know and care about.
First thing that is noticable is that every army has at least one adjustment. I realise that with the existence of some vocal people on twitter this was probably necessary some of the adjustments feel a little top level – particularly those for characters … which I’ll explain later.
The Good
Irondrakes, Blood Stalkers, Sentinels, Bastilidons, Salamanders, Gore-Gruntas, Horrors, Chaos Warshrine and Chaos Sorcerer have all gone up in points to varying degrees. The thing you’ll notice about the first 5 of these is that they are all shooting units – so hopefully the change to Unleash Hell will also impact them.
Gore Gruntas were always going to go up since the FAQ gave them rend 2, but it’s a bit galling when other units get months of play, and Ironjawz get 2 months only! But that’s the way of timing and I’d prefer they were changed if due – and they were due an increase.
Horrors are still great value at 250 points for 50 wounds – now the equivalent of Gnoblars – and we all know which one we would prefer. I think another warscroll re-write is needed here, and my unpopular opinion is that the problem are the Brimstones. They were brought in with Silver Tower a small dungeon crawler and are now hamstringing the rules writers… just stop blues splitting – problem solved!
The changes to the Slaves to Darkness units seem reasonable given the number of times these units appear and I am told that the Sorcerer was far too cheap – but have never faced him.
The Bad
Foxes (LRL Windspirits) and Gargants are untouched… either on points or in the FAQ. The Foxes are bad because only other shooting armies have a reasonable chance of catching them – thanks to moving in the shooting phase – and Gargants are bad because their ability to hold objectives doesn’t deteriorate. This is especially confusing because GW have given Kragnos’ ability a deteriorating profile for Mightier Makes Rightier!
No movement on the Sons FAQ
The Ugly
Now here I may be accused of being unfair to GW, but they are a large company that charges a lot of money for the rules of their game… and they have stated that they will improve factions that could use a boost… so what has happened?
What nonsense is this?
I know Gloomspite very well, and have played them at four tournaments in 2021. 2 one dayers, one with Kragnos (oh dear!) and 2 5 game tournaments – Facehammer where we got an additional 150 points and BoBo where there was a best in race that Trogg & I fought for.
In neither of these did I do very well, and the stats from The Honest Wargamer show that I was not alone. They have a winrate of 31%. And this just isn’t a few incompetent fools playing with them (looking at myself)… they represent 2.4% of the meta in those same stats.
In order to improve an army that is doing badly it needs one of two things (and preferably both). It needs a better book & warscrolls and it needs lower points. Books take time to produce and GW have shown that they don’t often adjust warscrolls so that leaves points. Once this is decided – and it clearly has been in this update – then you need to meaningfully adjust the points… downwards… on units which are taken – a lot!
Sure the reduction of 20 points to my Mangler Squig is great… but all it does is get me a Triumph… maybe! Same issue with the Dankhold Troggoth – sure it’s a few points but not enough to make a difference. We need Battleline and Battleline IF to be reduced for armies to get better. Remember I played with 2,150 points at Facehammer and was lucky to go 1-1-3… and I’ve been playing this army a lot.
And reducing a unit that no-one takes (Skitterstrand) doesn’t help the faction get better. It gives another rubbish unit to throw at the enemy and give more points. Am I looking at the 3 Spiders and 4 Gigantic Spider riders on my desk? sure… but I also look at the Sentinels in LRL – still cheaper than a Skitterstrand!
So, as I feared, it’s turned into a tirade, but there are suggestions above, and what’s worse is that Games Workshop know what to do because they have done it with other armies:
Battleline and Battleline If… going down – well done!
And here too! – Clan Eshin Ahoy!
And again – Black Knights same points as Spider Riders
So, why when they know the problem and know the solution do they not enact it across the board? Does it matter if a few armies suddenly go from 31% to 35% (or even 40%) winrate? No.
I did initially think that Gloomspite got no meaningful reductions because of Kragnos being improved but: 1) Kragnos is better in Beastclaw; and 2) I shouldn’t have to go outside Gloomspite for a playable army… playability should be included in all books – or if not adjusted!
Games Workshop could have given the struggling armies: Gloomspite, Blades of Khorne, Beast of Chaos, Nighthaunt, and Skaven a points drop of every unit of 10% and these armies still wouldn’t be ruling the tabletops but maybe, just maybe, the players who play them would have more fun and be more likely to occasionally grab a 3-2 out of the hands of Seraphon, Gargants, Daughters of Khaine and Ironjawz. At the very least they should follow their own aims as stated on Warhammer Community and try to succeed in those aims.
Conclusion
The points adjustments are a start… but it seems that Games Workshop are worried about getting something wrong – small points adjustments on non-battleline or unique characters doesn’t achieve very much. I hope they continue with the Battlescrolls, release them quarterly and get brave – make changes – accidentally make Beasts of Chaos a 5-0 army for 3 months! Go Wild! ..please…
‘Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars!‘ (Peale)
