These were the top three lists from General’s War #46 held on 19th December 2021.
Piotr Kurkowski – Lumineth Realmlords
Piotr won the event with threw wins from three and 79 points. Beating an off-meta Nagash Soulblight Gravelords army in the first round, a Nagash Petrifex Ossiarch Bonereapers list in the second round and a Sons of Behemat list in the final round with four mega-gargants.
Allegiance: Lumineth Realmlords – Great Nation: Syar – Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery – Triumphs:
Leaders ———- Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind (345)* Vanari Lord Regent (155)* – General – Command Trait: Goading Arrogance – Artefact: The Perfect Blade – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light Scinari Cathallar (145)* – Lore of Hysh: Total Eclipse
Battleline ———- 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)* – Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh 10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (145)* – Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light 30 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (450)* – Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh – Reinforced x 2
Units ———- 1 x Hurakan Spirit of the Wind (265)* 1 x Hurakan Spirit of the Wind (265)*
Core Battalions ———- Battle Regiment*
Total Points: 1985 pts
NB: – With the recent points update from Battlescroll: Gods & Heroes this list would now cost 2,085 points due to the +20 points for the Sentinels and is no longer a valid list for Age of Sigmar
Tomasz Litman – Ironjawz
Tomasz also managed three wins from three beating a Stormcast list with Vindictors and two units of reinforced longstrike crossbows in the first round, an off-meta Slaves to Darkness list in round two and a Soulblight Gravelords Grave Guard army in round three.
Leaders ———- Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)** – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Mega Bossy – Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact) Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Artefact: Destroyer – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)** – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Battleline ———- 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (150)* –Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (150)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (150)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (150)*** – Jagged Gore-hackas
Core Battalions ———- *Warlord **Command Entourage – Magnificent ***Hunters of the Heartlands
Total Points: 1995 pts
NB: – With the recent points update from Battlescroll: Gods & Heroes this list would now cost 2,075 points due to the +20 points for the Gore-Gruntas and is no longer a valid list for Age of Sigmar
Robert Rajkowski – Soulblight Gravelords
Robert also managed three wins from three, facing off against a Tree-Revenant Sylvaneth list in the first round with Alarielle, a Kruleboyz Gutrippas spam list in round two and another Tree-Revenant Sylvaneth List with Alarielle in the last round.
Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords – Lineage: Avengorii Dynasty – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders ———- Big Drogg Fort-Kicka (525)* – Allies Necromancer (125)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Lore of the Deathmages: Decrepify Vampire Lord (140)* – Universal Spell Lore: Levitate
Battleline ———- 60 x Deadwalker Zombies (345)* – Reinforced x 2 40 x Deadwalker Zombies (230)* – Reinforced x 1
Units ———- Zombie Dragon (295)* – Cursed Mutation: Urges of Atrocity Zombie Dragon (295)*
Our latest votes are in and you’ve all voted that games should take up to two hours and that measurements should be carried out in inches.
Now we can start getting into some more detail of the game, such as the gaming area and the smallest element of the game.
Gaming Area Size
There are a few things we need to take into account here. The first is that we wold like the game to take up to two hours. Therefore, we have to consider this when we think about our gaming area, a smaller gaming area may result in either more detailed rules or a ruleset where it becomes difficult to kill units, this is because with a smaller gaming area there will be less units on the board and therefore you want those units to be in play for a longer period of time in order to have the opportunity to survive till the games end.
Likewise, if the table is too large then there will be many more units on the table and the rules will have to be adjusted to make them either easy to kill or make it so that there movement or range becomes a lot further than you would expect in order to make it across the gaming area.
I’ve therefore narrowed these options slightly to ensure that the rulesets don’t become too influenced by these affects.
Smallest Element
Our next question is about the smallest element in the game, what should this represent. I’m using this to classify air and ground units only, as with the space combat element, we’re going to assume the elements are the individual ships themselves.
There are a number of options to go with here and these will have an affect on the way in which the overall ruleset is contructed. For example, should we go with a single base representing a squad of men, or should it represent an entire Regiment? Should it be an individual tank or should it be a squadron of tanks? If we choose a base representing a squad or a single tank then we have to write the rules to represent this, likewise if the elements represent a platoon, battalion or even a brigade. So the question here is what level do you want individual battles to take place at?
All the options below are based roughly off the modern military formations of the British Army;
Following on from Declan’s article last week where he covered a competitive list that could be made using the Start Collecting! Ogor Mawtribes boxed set, we continue this week with a look at the Start Collecting! Anvilgard set.
What’s in the box……!?
1 Black Ark Fleetmaster
1 Kharibdyss, this can also be built as a War Hydra
10 Black Ark Corsairs
1 Scourgerunner Chariot, this can also be built as a Drakespawn Chariot
13 miniatures, including a hero a chariot and a monster.
One of the best things about the Start Collecting! boxes are the savings. In this case, (as of 18/12/21 in GBP) the box is £60 and the collected contents, if purchased individually, retail for £100 giving a sweet £40 saving (or a free Kharibdyss/War Hydra, if you prefer).
What is Anvilgard?
Anvilgard – A lovely place to visit…. Wish you were here!
Anvilgard is a subfaction of the Cities of Sigmar faction in the Order Grand Alliance for Age of Sigmar, to play the army you will need a copy of the Cities of Sigmar Battletome.
Anvilgard, also known as the City of Scales was a port city in the realm of Aqshy on the Charrwind coast. The city is surrounded by jungle and the Ironweld Arsenal constantly pump out defoliants which shroud the city in a stinking fug. The city was dominated by Blackscale Coil crime syndicate and has some interesting rules which align with this lore. This City of Sigmar fell to the forces of Morathi during the events of Broken Realms: Morathi but is still a playable subfaction in the game.
The background and the rules for Anvilgard encourage the use of our monster and the Privateers, so the box actually fits really well with the lore for the city.
Fans of Warhammer Fantasy will note that if they have an old Dark Elf army (and didn’t burn it), then Anvilgard may be a good entry into Age of Sigmar…. though not the only possibility.
Here’s a quick rundown of our units, please note this article was written on 18/12/21 and points etc. may change:
The Black Ark Fleetmaster is not a world destroying hero but at 70 points they are cheap and importantly have the Scourge Privateers Keyword. This means that, if used as your General, they make both Scourgerunner Chariots and Black Ark Corsairs Battleline. Furthermore, if your Fleetmaster hangs around with their Corsair buddies, they have a buff which will improve their fighting abilities.
Fleetmaster
Kharibdyss/War Hydra: The Kharibdyss comes in at 165 points and the War Hydra at 170. So, which one should we build? Well, sadly neither of these are brilliant in terms of their rules at the moment but they are great models and incredibly lore friendly for the city. Both are monsters, so can use the monstrous rampage actions and can give you bonuses in five of the eight core Battle Tactics. On the flipside, monsters give away points when slain and these are not particularly survivable so be cautious. Both of these monsters have some limited healing, though the Kharibdyss only triggers if it slays a model and the War Hydra does have a ranged attack. Playing Anvilgard, we get access to Drakeblood Curses, this gives us an extra buff which we can put on our beasties to make them a little more impactful such as improving their charge or debuffing enemy bravery. Personally, I would build the Kharibdyss purely because I prefer the model and it plays so nicely into the nautical theme of Anvilgard.
Kharibdyss
Scourgerunner Chariot/Drakespawn Chariot: The Scourgerunner Chariot and Drakespawn Chariot both come in at 80 points. Sadly, there isn’t much, in my opinion, to recommend the Drakespawn Chariot. If you would like to theme your army around a Dreadlord on Black Dragon then these do become battleline but unfortunately, they aren’t terribly impactful (no pun intended). The Scourgerunner chariot, however, becomes battleline with our Fleetmaster General and has a few things in its favour. Big Base Action, with a 120 x 92mm base the unit can be handy for blocking up the table and is quick with a 12″ move. Furthermore, its shooting attack is quite nice, two shots with a reasonable chance of hitting and wounding and d3 damage plus a chance of causing D3 mortal wounds.
Scourgerunner Chariot
Black Ark Corsairs: Our ten corsairs come in at 85 points for ten models on 25mm bases and can be armed with either vicious blade and handbow or vicious blade and wicked cutlass. An argument can be made for the ranged version but our first unit, I would recommend building with the blade and cutlass. The reason for this is the Black Ark Fleetmaster, our Fleetmaster can buff the Corsairs with +1 to the attack characteristic of their melee weapons, so it is definitely worth bearing that in mind.
Corsairs
So, our army list looks like this:
Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Anvilgard (Illicit Dealings: Black Market Bounty) – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Black Ark Fleetmaster (70)* – General – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Lore of Dark Sorcerery: Vitriolic Spray
10 x Black Ark Corsairs (85)* – Vicious Blade & Wicked Cutlass – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models)
I gave our General the Arcane Tome to make them a wizard and made the Corsairs their honoured retinue, to make the Fleetmaster more survivable. The Kharibdyss has received the Drakeblood Curse of Fell Gaze, this will stack with the native ability of the beast and will make battleshock a scary proposition for low bravery armies. This would be a fun start to an Anvilgard army but could also be used as a nice start for any Cities faction, though particularly Har Kuron (excellent if you want to port over a Dark Elf army as you can include your Witch Elves) or Misthavn.
Is it worth buying multiples of these?
I would say yes to picking up a few if I wanted to build into Anvilgard. I should note, though, that if you are going into this Start Collecting! you are probably already accepting you are not playing at the competitive ‘Bleeding Edge’and you are leaning further into that. A second box will allow you to bulk out your Corsair unit to the maximum twenty for an Honoured Retinue and give you an extra Scourgerunner (which I would probably use as a separate unit, rather than increase to a unit of two). The only potentially questionable second unit is the Fleetmaster as the Command Ability to buff the Corsairs cannot be stacked so they may find their way on to be traded or sold. You could, of course, convert your Fleetmaster to something else as you will have plenty of spare bits from the Corsair set and they might look nice as an alternative crew model in one of your Scourgerunner Chariots. A third box could be useful, especially for the Chariot and you could convert the Corsairs into some nicely themed Shadow Warriors with a head swap with left over bits from other kits.
Sorceress
Looking to expand further, I would consider adding a Sorceress to our fledgling army, her warscroll spell debuffs an enemy unit’s to hit roll and also does D3 mortal wounds, she could be the Fleetmaster’s Adjutant and provide some extra Command Point generation as well. If taking a Sorceress, it’s worth remembering she can get buffs to cast by shanking her comrades with the Darkling Covens keyword, so give her some pawns to sacrifice! Cities of Sigmar also get +1 to cast Endless Spells, so it is worth perusing those to see which you might like and which might support your playstyle. I would suggest vitriolic spray as her chosen spell, removing enemy armour saves is not to be sniffed at, despite the short range. I like the idea of pairing her with Darkshards who can provide good sacrifice fodder while giving some shooting.
One of the most beautiful models still around from Warhammer Fantasy, in my opinion, is the Dreadlord on Black Dragon and they nicely line up with our theme. The Dreadlord is also quite strong and their buff works nicely on other Order Draconis and themselves, so consider some Drakespawn Knights for flavour. Picking up the Black Dragon, in combination with our two Kharibdyss, also opens up more Battle Tactics to us.
I would also consider branching out a little into Daughters of Khaine for a bit of fun and variety, the Khainite Shadowstalkers are beautiful models and their teleport ability is a great addition to any army.
This is what our 2K army might look like, add in Regiments to taste:
Allegiance: Cities of Sigmar – City: Anvilgard (Illicit Dealings: Dabbling in Sorcery) – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Sorceress (95) – City Role: General’s Adjutant – Lore of Dark Sorcerery: Vitriolic Spray
Dreadlord on Black Dragon (290) – Lance of Spite & Tyrant Shield – Artefact: Drakescale Cloak – Drakeblood Curse: Jutting Bones – Mount Trait: Foetid Breath
Black Ark Fleetmaster (70) – General – Command Trait: Blackfang Crimelord
20 x Black Ark Corsairs (170) – Vicious Blade & Wicked Cutlass – City Role: Honoured Retinue (Must be 5-20 models) – Reinforced x 1
I think this can be made more competitive with the addition of a Hurricanum, perhaps a Runepriest and an Anointed on Frost Phoenix instead of some of the Aelf units but this does somewhat compromise the theme for me and I truly enjoy this theme, if you are looking for a very competitive list then Anvilgard is probably not the place to start in any case.
To sum up, this is an excellent Start Collecting! with some great models and a good discount but it doesn’t have the most competitive choices and it doesn’t line up with the most competitive of factions. If you enjoy the aesthetics, lore and theme of Anvilgard though, it does fit them perfectly and is 100% a great buy.
All the Best and for the Witch King *cough* Sigmar!
I’ve added a page to the website called Wargame Rules. In there you will find any rules for scenarios or wargames that I write. At the moment its pretty empty apart from one item which is Clausewitz.
Clausewitz is the Napoleonic wargame I’ve been working on for a number of years now. This is still very much a work in progress but I’m pleased to say it’s at a stage now where I feel comfortable releasing it for public consumption.
What is Clausewitz?
Clausewitz is a Corp level game designed primarily for 6mm Napoleonic warfare. I always wanted a Napoleonic game which focused on the whole battle but where what the individual battalions actions were still important to the outcome. Therefore in Clausewitz although the basic unit is the Brigade, those brigades are made up of individual elements called Battalions or Squadrons. Think of this like individual models inside a squad in a game like 40k or AoS.
The key features of Clausewitz include:
A departure from the traditional IgoUgo turn sequence and instead relies upon chips drawn from a bag to represent a Generals actions in the turn (with each turn representing 10 minutes of battle).
The game is driven by your Generals, they must position themselves and activate the right units at the right time in order to win the day.
Objectives – There are six objectives and units can only claim an objective (and therefore score points) if a General has ordered them to do so.
Mini-Game – there is an optional fun mini pre-game to the main event in which your light troops determine the deployment zone in the upcoming battle.
Formations matter! Brigade formations and individual unit formations are presented in an intuitive fashion. The players must ensure that their units are in the right formations for the task at hand!
Alternatively there are two mods on Tabletop Simulator just for Clausewitz, the first being the test bed which is used to test the various rules as they are implemented or adjusted and the second being the Battle of Elchingen 1805, where the Austrians attempt to defend against the French advance.
I’ve done a number of top 3’s now for Age of Sigmar, so today I thought I would branch out and cover a top three for 40k. This time we’re back in Europe and looking at the West Coast GT held in Bohus, Sweden.
Olof Svensson – Forces of the Hive Mind
Tyranids by John Stone
Olof won the event with 77 battle points and 31 path to victory points over five games.
Roger managed four from five wins with 169 points.
Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Waaagh! – Triumphs: Indomitable
Leaders ———- Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot (105 pts)++ – Spell: Nasty Hex Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot(105 pts)+++ – Spell: Nasty Hex Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (General)(480 pts)+++ – Artefact: Amulet of Destiny – Command Trait: Hulking Brute – Mount Trait: Fast ‘Un Orruk Warchanter (115 pts)+++ – Artefact: Arcane Tome – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat – Spell: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
So following on from our voting last week, it would appear that we’re making the game in grand tactical scale (10mm or smaller miniatures) and it will encompass all combat theatres from Land to air and beyond.
I personally find this an exciting proposition as it has the potential to create thematic campaigns and narrative driven stories aplenty!
However before we get into any nitty-gritty rules writing there are still a number of issues we need to clarify.
Measuring
Measuring is a bigger deal than you may think, with our friends over the pond preferring inches and those closer to home often preferring centimetres.
But, they’re no the only options. After all you could also have a hex based map where movement and ranges are set by a number of hexes. Or you could have measurement set by a set ‘constructed’ value such as base widths.
Game Length
The next question is how long do we want a game to take? Under an hour, up to two, an afternoon?
This decision is key as this will dictate how detailed the rules will be in the long term.
Therefore, considering this here are our next two votes!
Remember to check by next week for the results and the next step of our project.
So my issues of Wargames Illustrated arrived this week with their accompanying sprues.
I managed to get hold of three copies of the British Heavy Cavalry sprue.
The Sprue in all its glory.
I’ve started by painting the Scots Grey’s and first off these models are really easy to paint straight on the sprue. You just need to clip away any armatures of the sprue that are connected to the horse or riders directly.
I may have gone a little too detailed considering their size but this is only because I’ve enjoyed painting them so much.
I can’t wait to see the unit finished and on its base. I’m also looking forward to painting the cannon and seeing what that looks like. Once I’ve a few units done I’ll post again.
