Category Archives: Reviews

Book Review – Robots in Space, The Secret Lives of Planetary Explorers

February 4, 2022 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

By Ezzy Pearson

In our occasional series of looking outside the Worlds of Warhammer, I present for your reading pleasure – the story of man’s first explorations into space from M3.20. Written by remembrancer Ezzy Pearson.

Space Robots… a precursor to Warhammer 40k if ever I did see it!

Space may be the final frontier, but we no longer have to explore it on our own… we have robots to go out into the great dark abyss and do our bidding!

Dr Ezzy Pearson brings us the history of these Robots, their adventures, failures and successes. Pearson brings them to life and imbues them with goals and personalities, turning them into remote-human explorers… from those who are destined to die in the atmosphere of planets and moons, to those trundling around long beyond their expected time.

We couldn’t have learnt what we know about Space without these plucky explorers and this book is a superb, heart-felt, and well-written homage to them.

Dr Pearson takes us through the history of Robots in Space with the Moon, Venus and Mars and our solar systems neighbours a little further away – comets, asteroids, and the moons of the Gas Giants. The book covers much I didn’t know and all of it was interesting. It shows the importance of collaboration, teamwork and the army of people who work to get space exploration right… but also reflects on the failures and how the space agencies pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get going on the next mission(s). A moral for us all!

You’ll have to make your own minds up if the Great Expansion or the Wars of Unification were a good thing, but it is always good to know how and where we started, and why Holy Terra is the centre of the galaxy!

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

Black Powder, Historics, Peter Holland, Reviews, Warlord Games

Unboxing – French Starter Army for Black Powder: Epic Waterloo

February 3, 2022 Peter Holland 1 Comment

Warlord Games have released their Epic Waterloo miniatures and game system this weekend just gone. I was lucky enough to pick my French Starter Set from SCN Hobby World yesterday and I was eager to take a peek and see what was inside.

It’s one of the largest starter boxes I’ve seen, and one of the heaviest! I picked mine up at 20% off for £72 through Sarah at SCN Hobby World.

Lifting the Lid

Theres a tonne of sprues inside. Ten infantry, three heavy cavalry and three light cavalry. Along with the meaty full colour rulebook, a scenery piece, painting guide and flags. I

It was all very nicely packages tightly inside. Warlord must have learnt their lesson form the ACW version Starter Set here, as a common complaint was that everything was a bit loose inside that box and often some of the contents would arrive damaged.

They have coloured the plastic of both starter sets, (blue for french and Red for British) so if you’re eager and know someone with the other set you can play straight away without the need for painting.

Sprue 1 – Light Cavalry

There enough here for 11 bases of Light Cavalry, as well as 3 artillery. Made up of 4 Lancer bases (one spare model), 3 Hussar bases (3 spare models) and 4 Chasseur bases (1 spare model). None of these models are command models but the addition of two Imperial Eagles on each sprue allows you to convert some in to standards. You can also use the spare models for ADC’s or for diorama pieces on your Brigade Commander stands.

Geek Point 1: The standards were made optional as none of the French Cavalry had their standards on the Waterloo campaign.

Sprue 2 – Heavy Cavalry

These are the other 10 bases of Cavalry, but these make heavier versions of the Cavalry regiments. Here you’ll have 4 bases of Cuirassiers, 3 bases of Carabiniers and 3 bases of Dragoons. Again, you have the inclusion of an artillery piece on each sprue and two french eagles. There were a lot more Cuirassiers and Dragoons at Waterloo than Carabiniers but I can understand why Warlord have included one of each type on the sprue.

Sprue 3 – Infantry

There’s loads of infantry… all told just over 800 men. The detail on the sprues is incredible given their size, and time has been taken to differentiate the flank companies of Grenadiers and Voltigeurs from the centre companies.

This sprue is packed. You’ve eight stands of infantry and enough skirmishing Voltigeurs for another stand, as well as some foot artillery and a command figure.

Bases

Of course, none of these would play well without the basic addition of bases… just look at that pile! It’s huge.

Dice

And some dice… as if wargamers don’t have enough to build their own fort! Still a good inclusion for a starter set.

Decoster’s House – Building

Warlord games have teamed up with Sarissa Precision to bring some scenery with the boxset which also comes with its own painting guide and stencil.

Flags & Painting Guide

A great addition is a full colour sheet of French flags. This will really add to the colour and make the regiments individual on the tabletop. Well done to Warlord games for this inclusion.

Rulesbook

The full rules book for the Waterloo Campaign in Epic Battles. This appears to be a full rulebook at 260 pages. It’s in glorious full colour as well and means you don’t need a separate copy of any of the existing Black Powder rule books.

Summary

This is a great box, and real value for money. It should draw many GW fans looking to get into Napoleonics. Declan and I are just two of them.

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – Broken Realms: Morathi

January 28, 2022 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

By Games Workshop

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!!)

Over a year on since the release of the Broken Realms books are they good and essential, or pretty eye candy for the completionist… read on!

Morathi, High Oracle of Khaine, sets her sights upon the greatest prize of all – the power of a goddess! As furious war consumes the Mortal Realms, the shadow-wreathed empire of Hagg Nar makes its ambitious play for power. The cruel and boundlessly cunning Morathi, ruler of the Daughters of Khaine, desires to claim her rightful place as a goddess – but to do so she must sacrifice her past, forge bitter new foes, and spill the blood of rivals and allies alike!

The Mortal Realms will never be the same again. In Broken Realms: Morathi, a new era begins for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, bringing with it seismic shifts in the status quo, epic stories, and new rules for your army however you prefer to play. Part narrative supplement, part rulebook, this first Broken Realms book allows you to immerse yourself in the Mortal Realms fiercest conflict yet.

The first in the Broken Realms series begins with the Story of Morathi, the Herald of Khaine, and includes a number of other related stories.

As a gaming book this had enabled the authors to add narrative battle plans, and the rules writers to change some warscrolls, and update points. It’s a well put together book with – as you might expect – lovely artwork, which advances the story significantly. Indeed this is one of the advantages of the these books – they can advance the overall narrative of the Age of Sigmar in a way that Black Library novels are rarely permitted to do.

Unfortunately, I can’t get past the price, which if you buy all 4 books in the series will be £100 – a significant investment if you want to keep up with the lore (as I do), and a reason why many people won’t be able to. GW do need to consider how to release the narrative elements of these books at a much more reasonable price.

A good book, and probably essential to those using Morathi, but for others it’s difficult to recommend just for the lore advancement – especially as the plot has probably been spoilt for you by now – especially if you watch the Warhammer+ Loremaster series.

— Declan

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – Cadian Honour

January 21, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 1 Comment

By Justin D Hill

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.

This week our book review returns to the world of Warhammer 40k and the cutting edge of the ongoing story – the Fall of Cadia! This is the second book in the series, and whilst the first tried for an all-spanning global conflict this one is much more about the hero – Minka Lesk.

For ten thousand years, Cadia stood as a bastion against the daemonic tide spewing forth from the Eye of Terror. But now the Fortress World lies in ruins, its armies decimated in the wake of Abaddon the Despoiler and his Thirteenth Black Crusade. Those who survived, though haunted by the loss of their beloved homeworld, remain bloodied and unbarred, fighting ruthlessly in the Emperor’s name.

Amongst them is the indomitable Sergeant Minka Lesk. Sent to the capital world of Potence, Lesk and the Cadian 101st company soon discover that a rot runs through the very heart of the seemingly peaceful world. Lesk knows she must excise this taint of Chaos, for it is not only her life and those of her company at stake, but also the honour of Cadia itself.

The story of Cadia’s soldiers continues despite the destruction of Cadia. Cadian Honour follows Minka Lesk and the world of Potence.

This is more of the same from the Warhammer 40k universe, but there’s is nothing wrong in knowing that the story is mostly the same as it’s like a new coat in the same design as the old one!

What makes this stand out is having a female lead for the story – which is great – and many of the Cadian Astra Militarum being females as well. It does look like Black Library is trying to get a broader range of characters (as opposed to white male) into their books and this is a good example of it working.

Minka Lesk is a believable hero and I found myself engaged in her story to survive and possibly lead the Cadian troops to some sort of victory – even in the Galaxy spanning war. Games Workshop & Black Library do seem to be bringing us more female leads and this can only be a good thing – more of the same please!

One of the benefits of this book is you don’t have to have read Cadia Stands either – my advice, just dive straight in here!

— Declan

Book Reviews, Declan Waters

Book Review – Erebus, The Story of a Ship

January 7, 2022 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

By Michael Palin

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.

In our occasional series of looking outside the Worlds of Warhammer, I bring you news of a investigation into ships that went missing trying to find the Northern Passage – written by British National Treasure – Michael Palin.

Palin has made himself into a premier travel writer, but he also has links to the Geographical Society and it is these links that start him looking at the story of Arctic and Antarctic exploration by Britain in the 19th Century – in particular the crews and two small wooden ships – Erebus & Terror.

The story fairly wizzes along at a great pace with exploration, daring and danger throughout. The first of the two expeditions – to the Antarctic – is in most ways a success and as both ships return Palin draws on the historical records to tell the story of this adventure.

When he gets to the doomed Arctic expedition of course, there is less information and less story to tell, but Palin continues to tell it well, and brings us up to date with the searches for the ships since their disappearance on the search for the Northwest Passage.

There are times where the history is replaced with Palin’s anecdotes of travelling to the same places 150 years later, but there is no diminishing of the story for this, and – with Palin’s natural humour – adds to the understanding of the reader.

So, if you’re looking for a book outside the genre and fancy something a bit different you won’t go far wrong with this. I really loved it.

— Declan

Check out the Woehammer Book Review Archive for more reviews!

Book Reviews, Games Workshop

Book Review … of the Year!

December 24, 2021 Declan and Eeyore Leave a comment

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.

Warhammer 30k / Horus Heresy:

Book Review – The Solar war

Book Review – The Lost and the Damned

Warhammer 40k:

Book Review – Belisarius Cawl – The Great Work

Book Review – I Am Slaughter

Book Review – Beast Arises Books 2-4

Age of Sigmar:

I will read anything with Gitz in, and whilst Gloomspite was a disappointment, Gitslayer had some good Gitz characterisation and description in it.

Book Review – Gitslayer

Book Review – Gloomspite

Book Review – Dominion

Non-Warhammer:

And I even managed to get some non-Warhammer reading in

Book Review – Fahrenheit 451

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.

— Declan

Black Powder, Historics, Peter Holland, Reviews, Warlord Games

Black Powder Epic Waterloo British Cavalry

December 11, 2021 Peter Holland Leave a comment

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.

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.

Historics, Peter Holland, Reviews

My Introduction to Kriegsspiel as a Player

December 6, 2021 Peter Holland Leave a comment

After my many years as a wargamer (25+ years) I’ve played quite a number of different games during that time, but one that I’ve never played (despite hearing about) is Kreigsspiel the original wargame written in the 1800’s by George Leopold von Reisswitz.

Kreigsspiel is a game of warfare that attempts to realistically replicate what would happen on a battlefield during the 1800’s. It requires a map, some blocks to represent the different units involved and three players.

The Battle of Waterloo played in Kreigsspiel

Why three players?

When I say three players, what it actually involves is two players and an umpire. But it’s best to think of the umpire as a Games/Dungeon Master.

Each player is only aware of what their own units are doing on the table top and exactly where they’re positioned, and the enemy movements and units only become apparent once they move into visual range of your own. This is where the umpire comes in.

Each player communicates with the umpire how they wish to deploy their units and what movements and actions they would like those units to take. This gives the players a true fog of war setting.

It sounds complex right?

Yes it does! But actually it’s really not. Why? Because the only person who needs to know the rules is the umpire. The players just have to communicate with the umpire what orders they would like their units to follow. This can be communicated either in an RPG format or a simple “I would like these units to entrench themselves on top of the hill overlooking the town“

The umpire then moves both players units according to their wishes and communicates back to the players if any contact has been made with the enemy.

When contact has been made the players then decide how they want their units to act, i.e. “The units will form line and wait for the enemy to attack before firing.”

The umpire then rolls the dice and decides the outcomes for that turn (which replicate a few minutes of real world battle at a time).

That Sounds like it takes Ages!

Actually no, a small game of Kriegsspiel can played out in a few hours. Or you can even play it on a play by post basis with a number of friends negating the need for vast spaces to be used like a conventional table top wargame.

Why have I not played this before?

When I read about the rules and the requirement for three players I immediately thought it would be too difficult to get a game together. Bot was I wrong!

The International Kreigsspiel Society which I have recently had the honour of discovering, have a Discord channel where you can join introduce yourself and just jump straight in with your first game!

I’ve recently started two play by post games, one being a small battle during the Haitian Revolution and another being the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. In the first I’m in command of a small Brigade of infantry (7 battalions) with the game having 5 players a side, while in the second I have an entire Division under my command and roughly 17 players per side.

Is it just for Wars in the 1800’s?

Absolutely not, the Society is currently developing additional rules for World War 2 and Ancients to name but two.

Interested?

If this sounds like your cup of tea, then why not slide into the Discord server and take a look around, perhaps try a small game with the friendly guys who run the many games each week that takes place.

INTERNATIONAL KREIGSSPIEL SOCIETY DISCORD SERVER

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – Gitslayer

November 12, 2021 Declan and Eeyore 1 Comment

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.

The Bad Moon is rising and Gotrek Gurnisson once again finds himself in the middle of the action, fighting his greatest enemies and trying to find his doom – although in the Age of Sigmar – his doom finding is a little more limited and currently is based around him wanting to remove the Fyreslayer rune from his chest.

The latest in a (very) long series of books!

Darius Hinks has once again been given the job of adding to the saga of Gotrek and his new companion – Maleneth Witchblade (an Aelf). If you read my review of Dominion, you will know that I like his writing, and this novel is no exception. This being a Warhammer Age of Sigmar novel I’m not pretending that it is a classic to rival some fantasy epics from yesteryear but it is a good fun yarn, with plenty of combat, some character development for Gotrek, Duardin and (more importantly than all that…) Gitz!

It won’t surprise regular readers to hear that I love the Gitz (Goblins) since I started Warhammer Fantasy Battle back in the late <cough> 1980s. Since then the little goblins (or Grobbi to Gotrek) have seen new developments, have conquered the World’s End Mountains, made Scrappa-spill and started to control the Bad Moon… all while worshiping Mork (or possibly Gork). And it is great to have them here.

The Gotrek books often spend a large number of pages building character and giving background to the ‘Big Bad’ of the book and Gitslayer is, fortunately, no exception. Unlike Dominion where the Kruleboyz were only seen from the viewpoint of the humans and Stormcast, or Gloomspite where the Gitz got limited ‘screen time’, Gitslayer puts them front and centre.

There are descriptions of mushrooms, magic, bottles, potions, squigs and, of course, the Bad Moon itself; all coming together to threaten the Kharadron Overlords who have promised to help Gotrek remove the rune from his chest. These descriptions are fabulous and I won’t spoil any of the fun of reading them for the first time, but if you like Gitz this is a great book and succeeds where Gloomspite failed.

The main character remains Gotrek, but we know how it is going to end, as he searches for his Doom, or Felix, or both. We know he’ll upset some locals, get drunk and then save the day… but still we read for the journey. And Gitslayer delivers on this journey.

Love it!

— Declan

Black Library, Book Reviews, Declan Waters, Games Workshop

Book Review – The Lost and the Damned

October 22, 2021 Declan and Eeyore 1 Comment

Book 2 The Siege of Terra by Guy Hayley

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.

Guy Hayley returns to the Horus Heresy in the second book from the Siege of Terra. This is the follow on series from Black Library and was made as a great ‘drop in’ point for those who lost track of the Horus Heresy series. I previously reviewed book 1, which can be found here.

From the book:

With the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions.

On the thirteenth day of Secundus, the bombardment of Terra began… With the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions. The front lines are beyond horrific and the very air is reduced to poison and blood. Bodies are thrown into the meatgrinder but the outer redoubts cannot possibly hold for long, even with the loyal primarchs to reinforce them. For Horus has his own generals to call upon… Between the plague weapons of Mortarion and the fury of Angron, the defenders face a losing battle.

The Lost and the Damned includes the three Primarchs defending Terra from Horus and the attacks from Mortarion and Angron. Guy Hayley continues to tie together the threads of the battle, and as this book is based on Terra it is much easier to follow than Book 1 (which concentrated on the battle for the Sol system).

Sanguinius also makes his first appearance at the Siege, ignoring his brother Dorn’s instructions to stay behind the Wall, and going out to take the fight to the Heretics. His presence rallies the defenders and brings them hope that victory may be achieved… his appearance is great from a personal point of view, as I collect Blood Angels!

And similarly to much of the Horus Heresy series there are stories of ordinary defenders either from Astra Militarum regiments or from local PDFs.

A really good second book in the series – and definitely leaving me wanting to read the rest!

— Declan

Lifting the Lid

Why three players?

It sounds complex right?

That Sounds like it takes Ages!

Why have I not played this before?

Is it just for Wars in the 1800’s?

Interested?

Woeful Wargaming