Warlord Games are a large manufacturer of historical miniatures, but their ranges also include some franchises which they periodically pick up and use to provide unique models from your favourite series or characters.
Amongst their current offerings are Judge Dredd and Doctor Who and the models are great fun – especially if you love the series!
But all good things come to an end, and their Doctor Who license ends at the end of year, which is bad news for fans and collectors, but there is a benefit:
Back in the mid 90’s when I was first getting into Warhammer and wargaming in a big way there used to be an article called ‘A Tale of Wargamers’ in the White Dwarf. The premise was simple, each person had a budget of £25 and spent that each month on expanding their army.
I thought it would be great to try and do this again in the current day and age. But also, we’re making it even harder for ourselves! What if we approached this as though we had never bought any models, paints or brushes before?! As in, what should a complete beginner look at purchasing and where from?!
So, if you’re a beginner to Warhammer or in fact any wargaming system (not just Games Workshop), then you may find this series interesting and useful. For those a bit more long in the tooth, you may just find this plain entertaining!
The Rules
As there are a few members of the team taking part in the Tale of Wargamers from all corners of the globe we first had to agree the limits.
UK based members have £25 GBP
US based members have $35 USD
Australian based members have $65 AUD
Rest of Europe have €30
You can use independent retailers, Amazon (I wouldn’t, but you could….) or Games Workshop for your supplies of tools, paints and models. Preferably eBay should be avoided as prices can be difficult to replicate.
Anything that isn’t spent in one month can be carried over to the next. You CANNOT spend more than the budget allows.
Finally, purchasing 3D miniature prints from a vendor on Etsy or similar is fine, however, we are banned from using our own printers for his purpose.
Warhammer Fantasy and Oldhammer Players
If you’ve already got a large collection of miniatures but want to take part, then use the budget as normal and consider each set of 10 models/artillery or similar to cost £25 and a hero/character to cost £15. Then purchase the paints etc as normal. I.e. you have a set of 10 Trollslayers in your pile of shame. Deduct £25 from your budget and paint them up.
I’m not going to lie, we think it’s going to be tough, but it is doable! And don’t worry, none of us will be resorting to using PVA glue to stick our models together!
Want to keep up to date on everyone’s progress? Why not join our Discord, on there you’ll fine the Tale of Wargamers channel where we post our thoughts and musings throughout the month.
Black Seas is naval wargame set in the age of sail fought using a range of specially designed 1/700 miniature ships from Warlord Games.
Using Black Seas you can fight battles from the american war of independence through the Napoleonic wars and beyond.
One of my favourite YouTube channels OnTableTop (Formerly Beasts of War) has a fantastic guide to playing Back Seas.
If you’re interested in getting into Black Seas, then I recommend you look at Warlord Games for more information. They have all the models and rules you need.
Combined arms is Warlord Games’ first board game but more importantly for the Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies and Cruel Seas players amongst you, it’s their first campaign supplement as well.
What does that mean? Well you’re able to play Combined Arms as a stand alone game using the pieces in the box to conquer Europe etc. Or you can link games of Blood Red Skies, Bolt action or Cruel Seas together for one large campaign.
Credit Warlord Games
The boxed set is priced at a very reasonable £50 and includes maps, cards and all the tokens you need to wage a complete campaign.
Bolt Action – Combined Arms is a strategic board game that commands the players to face off, seize the initiative and outwit their foe amidst the fog of war. Each game will see you fighting for control of air, land, and sea in order to claim objectives and hold them against the enemy.
Choose your theatre of war, from the western and eastern fronts to North Africa and the Pacific. Each theatre has its own challenges and opportunities, some rewarding control over the sea, some rewarding control over the skies. How many of your precious resources will you sink into each, and how much will be left to control the land? Will you rely on stealth as you move units secretly, springing up where you are least suspected, or will you attempt to overwhelm your enemy with brutal overkill?
Combined Arms can be played as a stand-alone game or players can incorporate Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies, Cruel Seas, or Victory at Sea for an epic continent-spanning campaign. Unique cards link your campaign with your chosen wargames, meaning your choices in the campaign could mean victory or defeat on the tabletop.
Combined Arms is available for Pre-order and will be shipped to customers in May.
I have bought the new Epic Battles: Waterloo by Warlord Games and I’m slowly making my way through the painting much like Declan (when I’m not painting those pesky Kruleboyz). However, one thing I’ve noticed (as I’m sure many others have as well), is that the models are epic in scale but the basing and the rules are standard Black Powder. What I mean by this is that a standard unit in Epic:Waterloo is the same as a standard unit in regular Black Powder.
This got me thinking to how you could have truly cinematic and epic battles in Black Powder by converting the inches to centimetres (like many others have done).
By doing this, you can play a regular game of black Powder on a much smaller play area – 2.4 feet by 1.6 feet rather then 6′ x 4′. But also, it gives you the option of playing much, much larger games on a regular table.
The only issue is the basing and miniatures. if you take a standard unit in Black Powder with a frontage of 240mm and divide this so it suits the cm measurements rather than inches (i.e. dividing 240mm by 2.5) you’ll get a standard unit frontage of 96mm (let’s call it 10cm). If we use increments of 20mm then the basing could look something like this:
The great thing about his, is that if you use Baccus Napoleonic 6mm infantry you can get two large bases completed for just £8.00!
But what about different formations. Well these could either be represented by a dice in one of the dice holders on the base (i.e. 3, for line, 4 for square etc) or you could just model some other bases as Square and attack column etc. I’m inclined by the later personally.
The other dice holder can also be used to measure the units stamina. For Dice holders I’m always inclined to use Pendraken.
But I’d like to know the opinions of those experienced in Black Powder and what they think!
This post is partly a reference for myself as to which colours to use (Citadel or Vallejo) when painting my Epic Battles Napoleonic French. I’ve listed colours that could be used from both systems.
All of the paints listed can be purchased from ElementGames. Why not use my referral code and get double the crystals when you purchase anything? XBJ9837
Line Infantry
An overall base coat should be applied with London Grey or Mechanicus Standard Grey.
BASE COAT
Area
Vallejo
Citadel
Jackets
Dark Prussian Blue
Kantor Blue
Belts/Muskets/Slings & Lapels
Light Grey
Grey Seer
Trousers
Any of Offwhite, London Grey or Beige
Pallid Wych Flesh, Mechanicus Standard Grey or Karak Stone
Shako & Boots
Black
Abaddon Black
Skin
Basic Skin Tone
Cadian Flesh
Collars, Cuffs & Lapel Piping
Dark Vermillion
Mephiston Red
(Voltiguers) Plumes & Epaulettes
Black Green
Caliban Green
(Voltigeurs) Collar, Epaulette edging, Pompom, Tip of Plume
Yellow Ochre
Yriel Yellow
(Grenadiers) Plumes, Epaulettes and Shako Lace
Dark Vermillion
Mephiston Red
Backpacks & Musket Wood
Flat Brown
Mournfang Brown
Musket Barrel, Bayonet & Canteen
Oily Steel
Leadbelcher
Shako Plates, Sword Hilts, Chin Scales & Buttons
Old Gold
Retributor Gold
WASH
Area
Vallejo
Citadel
Grey Trousers, Shako Covers & Steel
Dark Tone
Nuln Oil
Beige Trousers & Shako Covers
Strong Tone
Agrax Earthshade
White Trousers
Dilute Light Grey
Dilute Grey Seer
Skin & Gold
Flesh Wash
Reikland Fleshshade
HIGHLIGHT
Area
Vallejo
Citadel
White
Offwhite
Pallid Wych Flesh
Yellow
Flat Yellow
Dorn Yellow
Green
Intermediate Green
Warpstone Glow
Black
Black Grey
Dark Reaper
Bayonets
Plate Mail
Stormhost Silver
Light Infantry in Greatcoats
An overall base coat should be applied with London Grey or Mechanicus Standard Grey.
BASECOAT
Area
Vallejo
Citadel
Greatcoats
London Grey, Beige or Light Brown
Mechanicus Standard Grey, Karak Stone or Balor Brown
Trousers & inside Open Jackets
Dark Prussian Blue
Kantor Blue
Piping, Belts & Straps
Light Grey
Grey Seer
Shako & Boots
Black
Abaddon Black
Skin
Basic Skin Tone
Cadian Flesh
(Carabinier) Straps, Plumes, Epaulettes and Shako Lace
Dark Vermillion
Mephiston Red
(Voltigeurs) Epaulettes & Plume
Black Green
Caliban Green
(Voltigeurs) Collar, Edge of Epaulettes, Shako Lace & Tip of Plume
Blood Red Skies is the new World War II mass air combat game from Warlord Games, written by renowned game developer Andy Chambers.
Packed with everything you need to play this fast paced air combat game, the Blood Red Skies starter set does what it says on the tin. Plus once started you’ll have the extra rules to introduce the play cards that really bring your fighter aircraft to life, allowing you to fly them just as they would have been by the Aces of WW2!
It has been given a rating of 7.4 on BoardGameGeek from 150+ ratings.
Simple but effective gameplay
Tabletop Anarchy has produced a series of videos explaining how to play Blood Red Skies.
1. Core Mechanics
2. Activation
3. Movement
4. Pilot Action
5. Shooting
6. Wingman
7. Clouds
8. Cards
9. Build A Squadron
10. Gameplay
Tabletop Anarchy also have a number of videos on painting the planes.
If you’re interested in getting into Blood Red Skies I can’t suggest you start anywhere else but these excellent collection of videos.
Warlord Games have released their Epic Waterloo miniatures and game system this weekend after just over a month on pre-order. I was lucky enough to pick mine up from SCN Hobby World yesterday and having returned from a one-day AoS tournament I was desperate to look inside my British Starter Set and see what treasures await!
It’s a big box… of Warlord goodness!
it is competitively priced at £90 and I’m sure your FLGS will look after you, or you can give Sarah at SCN Hobby World a call if you’re in the UK.
First Impressions
There’s a lot in here…!
Lots of red plastic, so you can play without painting the toys, but there’s definitely more in there, so let’s dig deeper.
Sprue 1– Light Cavalry
3 Sprues
There enough here for 11 bases of Lighter Cavalry, as well as 3 artillery – both key elements to the Allies’ success at Waterloo. They are very detailed models, with a number of different poses to add variety to the bases of cavalry as they sweep towards the French cannon!
Sprue 2– Heavy Cavalry
3 Sprues
These are the other 11 bases of Cavalry, but these make heavier versions of the Cavalry regiments at Waterloo on the British side. Again, great detail and strong plastic and the swords seem to be reasonably strong.. although no doubt I’ll break a few from being clumsy!
Sprue 3– Foot
11 Sprues for Infantry!
There’s loads of infantry… at 10 men a strip and 2 strips a base there’s a lot of paint here… and they look great. At the bottom of the picture you can also see some of the soldiers without they’re bayonets – these are the Riflemen, and each sprue comes with a command strip, a Cavalry commander, and an artillery piece to add to the ones from the cavalry bases. Again great detail at this scale and I’ll certainly enjoy trying to paint them!
Bases
Bases… lots of them!
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.
Yes… I took a picture of the dice for completeness… don’t judge me!
La Belle Alliance – Building
Warlord games have teamed up with Sarissa Precision to bring some scenery with the boxset. And it’s a great large piece of scenery to play around. Having played Warmaster large terrain that effects movement is critical in this scale of game.
Flags & Painting Guide
Flags and advice
A great addition is a full colour sheet of British flags for the regiments at Waterloo. This will really add to the colour and make the regiments individual on the tabletop. Well done to Warlord games for this inclusion.
There is also a guide to painting the little chaps… and I’ll definitely need to follow this and see how I get on – inside the pamphlet there’s also a guide to the various regiments and their colours. I have some Osprey books to help, but this is a another great addition.
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.
Colour… and pictures!
Warlord Games have raided their catalogue of pictures to provide visual inspiration for the game.
Summary
This is a great box, and I’ve no doubt that the equivalent French box is just as jam packed with goodness. Now all I need to do is paint it all and get it on the table… this may take a while!
I’ll often paint a single test model before batch painting the rest. It lets me take my time on making sure I’m selecting the right colours.
In the case of Napoleonic miniatures I find this is also useful as I will refer to images on my phone about the uniform of the unit I’m painting. Then, once the model is done, I can just keep it in view while I paint the remainder. This prevents me having to keep turning the old phone on and off while I paint.
So here’s the model, this is a phone picture so apologies.
It had been given a rating of 7.6 on BoardGameGeek from 50+ ratings.
Beyond the Gates of Antares invites us to a time when mankind has evolved into new and diverse species: the strangely powerful NuHumans, masters of the Panhuman Concord; the ape-like Pansimians, the greatest warriors in the whole Galactic Spill; and feral Revers primitive Humans driven by a irrepressible lust for adventure and danger. It is a universe where technology and humanity intermix indistinguishably, where human knowledge and endeavour has long since been supplanted by integrated machine intelligence IMTel. Where humans go their technology goes also, protectors, workers, and fighting machines in the form of WarDrones armed with deadly weapons and shielded by energy fields a thousand times more resilient than steel.
Warlord Games’ YouTube channel has produced a series of excellent videos explaining Gates of Antares.
1. Introduction
2. Order Dice
3. Shooting
4. Pinning
5. The Assault Phase
6. Leaders
7. Q&A
If you’re interested in getting into Beyond the Gates of Antares, I can’t suggest you start anywhere else but these excellent collection of videos.
