Two submissions this week under the #Woehammer on Twitter. Both members of the team.
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Dave has started a new 40k 9th Edition army, this time focusing on the Space Marine Chapter the Imperial Fists. The model below is his first Marine for the army, and I think you’ll agree its a stunner!
Dave’s Imperial Fist
Dave has gone for an awesome golden yellow armour tone and black trim denoting the 5th Company.
The detail on the base is great, and I especially love the coiled barbed wire and spent casings next to the dismembered head.
It’s little different this week for Declan’s submission, here we have an army shot of the force he took to Mancunian Carnage last weekend.
The blue armour really stands out along with the spots of Red. Declan has joked in the past that his Orcs have been called the Crimson Fists. It’s a great army and Declan finished the weekend 3-2!
And talking of Declan’s fantastic tournament performance, only yesterday he was interviewed by the AOS Coach on YouTube about the Gloomspite Gitz! I’ve included the video below for you to watch.
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Ok, first question. When did you first get into wargaming?
I first played in 1989 on the floor of a friend’s living room! We played Space Marine 1st Edition (the Epic game that came after the Titan only version). I played Blood Angels (unpainted) and he played Ultramarines also unpainted!
Already getting ready for Heresy!!
So was Space Marine the first game you collected an army for?
Yes, blood angels but I didn’t really know what I was doing. I bought 2nd Ed warhammer and played some 2nd Ed Blood Bowl but it was the 3rd Ed warhammer starter set with Goblins and Elves that got me collecting… and I immediately knew I wanted to play goblins… which was great because another friend liked the Elves.
Do you still have those first Goblins you bought?
Definitely have some of them. They are the monopose ones with spear and bow. I have a unit of the bow Gobbos in my AoS Gloomspite army.
So what drew into the hobby? What do you find it gives you?
I love all the many facets. I first did it to play with friends then at Uni I only did the painting side as there was no club there (but I got into board games there). Now I paint in the evenings so I’m not just staring at a screen all day and then go to some tournaments. With COVID this was obviously not allowed but my wife is very good about me going to tournaments at weekends so I’ve got quite a few organised before Christmas.
What’s your most memorable gaming moment?
I was playing GG with allied Gitmob grots at Sheffield Slaughter against Nurgle with their first book. It was against a GW employee who I won’t name as they get enough grief! His Great Unclean One had a -1 to hit within 12″ bubble. My shaman cast a spell on 60 Gitmob archers, who walked into the 12″ range, fired at the GUO and took it off! He was a little shocked but took it very well!
You’ve been to many tournaments now, are there any armies you particularly fear when you see their name on the list?
I’m okay with most although if I’ve got my Gitz there’s a fear for all of them! More seriously it’s more the player than the army in most cases. Sure Tzeentch/Archeon before the FAQ or Nagash and friends is very difficult but they aren’t pick up and play lists.
The worst thing for me is playing against a shooting army that can’t be caught or can do so much damage I can’t get close enough. I think GW routinely underpoint shooting units. Still I have a unit of 60 Shootas which are almost as expensive as 30 sentinels so they must be as good! 🤞
Hahaha! So if Gloomspite were to get a new Battletome what changes would you like to see?
Removal of ‘Keyword Bingo’ – Fanatics are not Grots for example and the Fungoid Shaman can’t have the Wizard Artefacts. A few bonuses to cast. Giving back some cheap units (we lost units of 5 Hoppers and 6 Squigs in the GHB2021 but Aetherwings are still allowed in 3s!) I’d like to see each of the four ways to play the army work (Grots, Troggs, Squigs, Spiders). New models for Spider Riders and Spider Boss. Simplify the Gobbapalooza. And give us a theme rather than just ‘comedy’. And finally… they need to point random movement correctly. Boingrots seem to be pointed like they always roll a 12″, so either reduce randomness (6+D6) or reduce points. Sure it runs the risk of everything working and us being unstoppable for one game in 36… but stops us losing the other 35!!…. I’ll get off my soapbox now 😀
It would make sense to point random movement a little more than the average dice roll in my opinion.
They definitely point it as if you get the maximum! Definitely not the average. Bounders are 7″ movement cavalry but pointed very high!
So apart from Age of Sigmar, which other games do you play?
I play a lot of board games and keep track of them on Boardgamegeek. This year there’s been a lot of Hanabi, 7 Wonders and Terraforming Mars. I find it really interesting to see all the different rules available the interactions and how theme is dealt with.
For wargames I like historical but haven’t played recently. I have a 2000 point ‘War and Conquest’ Saxon army and loads of painted Greeks and Macedonians. This game was designed by Rob Broom who was head of GW Historical before they stopped the line.
Declan’s Warmaster Goblins
I also play lots of Warmaster and have an Empire army and recently painted Goblin army and a Macedonian Army for Ancients. Its such a great rules set that generalises the units and make maneoveur and where you charge the key element.
Some of Declan’s 15mm miniatures for ParWars
Have you ever been tempted to write your own rules for a game?
I keep thinking I’d like to design a board game but with so many releases now it needs to be good to be a commercial success. Normally I’m happy to play with rules friends are using… during lockdown I Painted a 15mm army for ParWars for example just to give me more potential games and opponents.
What was the last game your played, and against who?
2000 points against Will’s KO at the club (Chumps). I was trying out my Gitz and he was trying a slightly off meta KO list with some units deployed on the board not in boats. I made a deployment mistake with my Spider and he killed it turn one, but such that I couldn’t counter in my turn 1. I also wasn’t aggressive enough with my unit of 60 Shootas as I was worried about Unleash Hell. When I did charge though it was fine! It was a close loss and very useful game.
What are you working on at the minute, and do you have any pictures?
I am doing some scenery for Kill Team having just finished a quick Genestealer Kill Team (which is an article!!).
Name one game you would love to see be remade by GW.
My gut feeling is warmaster because I’d like to see the toys they would sculpt, but I would be worried about them changing the game… so I’ll say Battlefield Gothic or a re-release of Cursed City.
Magnus did nothing wrong! Yes or No?
Magnus — He did nothing wrong!
If you were to fall to chaos which power would you devote yourself to?
Nurgle… I have in the past played a small Warhammer Fantasy Chaos army in a very fetching putrid green!
So with August over its time to review the Path to Glory campaign.
Three games took place this month. Two between Ben and Declan which you can read here, and another between Aron and his friend Rick.
Declan managed to take two wins against the forces of Chaos and he advanced further north-east on the map, building a small settlement around a realmgate. To the south-east of his settlement he discovered Wild Lands which are currently under the control of the Undead (Aron).
Meanwhile Aron’s forces led by the Vengorian Lord Shana, the Flame of the Heavens successfully repelled a chaos incursion into their lands, utterly defeating the force leaving no one alive to tell the tale.
After the battle his scouts returned advising him of a Troggoth settlement that had sprang up to the north just beyond the wild lands around what they had assumed to be a ruined realmgate.
Shana had to plan their next steps carefully.
Aron’s Undead Forces
We haven’t yet covered Aron’s forces in the campaign. Aron has 2,000 points of Soul light Gravelords.
Led by Shana, Flame of the Heavens a Vengorian Lord the forces include two heroes Wilhelmina Carmel a vampire lord in the thrall of Shana and Machtrohl the Unbroken, Shana’s iron fist.
Aron’s forces includes the following units;
Deathrattle Skeletons (Bone Legion)
Dire Wolves (Alpha)
Zombie Dragon (Deadarire, Bringer of the Dead)
Vargheist (Primus)
Blood Knights (Lord Vahl’s Riders)
Deathrattle Skeletons (Ossius Legion)
Grave Guard (Order of Merihim)
Black Knights (Knights Noir)
As Aron has a 2,000 point list he was able to claim three territories at the start of the campaign. He chose a Settlement, Arcane Waypoint and some Wild Lands.
No games for Rhys, Dave, Ed or myself yet. But watch this space. I have a feeling Nurgle and Chaos may be rumbling soon…..
Orange Ben and @rightangle79 (Declan) are both off to the Facehammer Grand Tournament this weekend (11th & 12th September 2021). I thought it would be a great time to interview them about their tournament lists and their past glories…..
Ok. So you’ve both been to tournaments before, what do you enjoy the most about them?
Ben: For me it’s mainly seeing friends and looking at cool armies. But mainly this:
Declan: Seeing friends, having a beer and chatting about Warhammer. It also means I have a deadline for painting toys… which I almost always need. For most tournaments I include something new to paint.
So which armies are you taking to Facehammer this year? Care to share your lists?
Ben’s Kharadron Overlords (Ghostlords)
Declan’s List
Loonboss – Clammy Hand
Fungoid Cave Shaman – Hand of Gork
Madcap Shaman – Hand of Gork & Moonface Mommet
Webspinner on Arachnarok Spider – Curse of da Spider God & Amulet of Destiny
60 Shootas
20 Shootas
40 Stabbas
2 x 20 Stabbas
2 x Sneaky Snufflers
Rippa’s Snarlfangs
Scuttletide
Scrapskuttle’s Arachacauldron
Emerald Lifeswarm
2120 points; 214 wounds; Warlord; Hunters of the Heartlands; Vanguard
This is my favourite at the moment. Other option is full squigs.
Do you have battle plans or tactics in mind for when you make it to the tournaments?
Ben: To a certain extent, you know you need to claim objectives so you need units that can do that.
Declan: Gloomspite outside Troggs can struggle to kill things so I need to play like Gargants – get on objectives early and start scoring. Hand of Gork (movement spell) is critical in the list as it means people can’t leave objectives unguarded. I have the Spider to get Monstrous Takeover early and get the option of broken ranks with him. Although I need to protect him or lose him on my turn to prevent him giving 1 point away. 2nd turn is normally Ferocious Advance with Loonboss and both Fungoids (who spend most of their time hiding behind the Loonshrine). Finally I don’t mind losing units because I want as many opportunities as possible to get them back – hence Clammy Hand (Roll twice for reinforcements from Loonshrine).
Ben’s Ghostrek
Ben, I notice you have the dreaded Gotrek! Facehammer have slightly adjusted rules for him now, how do you think he’ll do?
Ben: He is still super smashy, he is there to kill gargants!
Declan, Sounds like a thorough plan. I love the Arachnarok unit, I’ve seen people include more than one, you weren’t tempted to do this?
Declan: I want to try a horde army because its my normal playstyle and is against the meta with reinforcement points and no horde discount. Unfortunately points are too high normally, but with an extra 150 it’s worth a go. I also want GW to see that people will take armies which are rubbish if they get small boosts. GG effectively have c8% reaction in points at facehammer which is what they need before the book. Unfortunately 60 Grots went from 360 to 450 which is criminal for a low power level book.
Have you ever crossed swords with each other in a tournament, if so how did that go?
Declan: I think we played Ogor v GG didn’t we? On the way in people were complaining about your list being too good and I said it was fine… then gummed you up with Grots?
Ben: Yeah it was the cows Throwing snowball list, I told everybody it was rubbish but no one believed me and then I got grotted!
Declan: Ah yes… you forgot the Stonehorns!! I did have 180 Grots in your defense.
Ben: 2+ I do six mortal wounds, cool, there are 54 left.
Declan: Yeah… no where near enough damage.
Whats your most memorable moment at a tournament?
Ben: Played a chap called Laurie who Declan will know, with a shooty stormcast list, and turn one took off his archaon off turn one, was crazy good.
Declan: I was playing GG with allied Gitmob grots at Sheffield Slaughter against Nurgle with their first book. It was against a GW employee who I won’t name as they get enough grief! His Great Unclean One had a -1 to hit within 12″ bubble. My shaman cast a spell on 60 Gitmob archers, who walked into the 12″ range, fired at the GUO and took it off! He was a little shocked but took it very well!
Ben’s Ghostlords Army
For someone looking to go to their first tournament, what advice would you give?
Declan: Definitely take the plunge. Let the TO and your opponents know it’s your first tournament. Take an army you know (don’t go for LRL net-list). Limit your warscrolls where possible. If you can bring 6 or fewer it gives you a chance of remembering the rules. Play the objectives!
Ben: Agreed
Looking at each others list, how would you try and defeat them?
Ben: You can’t ask us that we might play each other! But the short answer is throw Gotrek at him and shoot him a lot.
Declan: I think I probably have the advantage due to numbers here. If I can get on the objectives early it’s difficult to get me off them. Especially as Ben’s units flying in the boats don’t count as on the objective. I also just played Will with his KO and the grots can actually damage the units with shooting, and in combat. That said no doubt we’ll play now and Ben will rightly beat me!
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
Warscroll
Name
Reknown
Points
Dankhold Troggboss
Phileas Fogg
19
250
Fungoid Cave-Shaman
Verne
4
95
6 Rockgut Troggoths
Fogg’s Ladz
7
290
3 Fellwater Troggoths
Da Watery Boyz
8
155
3 Fellwater Troggoths
Da Swampy Boyz
155
Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws
Da Wet Boyz
55
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.
