Hit markers for Lazar Criticals

I wanted some Critical Hit markers for lazar damage for my homegrown Fallout Skirmish Game and decided to make them myself rather than buy something.

In my homegrown rules, when a critical is scored against an opponent, if that opponent is a minion, then they are burned to ash instantly. No mercy there! The critical marker is placed where the minion model was and effectively becomes a loot token that can be snatched up by the first model to touch base with the marker. If the minion had any equipment, then that would be in the marker and can therefore be taken by the model for use next game. But the model would need to get that token off their edge of the table to salvage it.

I'm also tossing up the idea that for Companions and Lone Wonderer's, when a critical is scored against the model, their player must immediately make a Luck roll against a set target number. If roll is a failure, then the model is instantly turned to ash also. Nasty! But could be fun in a campaign setting.

These were made by adding sand to a 25mm round base and painting it accordingly. I have also experimented with a blue Plasma Critical Marker (I'll show that off sometime) and guts for a melee or ballistic critical hit markers. I'm still experimenting with the idea but does look like it could prove to be an interesting one.

As it's for a skirmish game, five markers should prove to be sufficient enough for the table. I haven't scored a Critical with a lazar weapon yet. So, I haven't seen this play out in the game testing as yet. 

Romans Go Home!

I thought I would show off a work in progress and share my musings about how I want to set up my first Roman army.

The Legio Antonius taking shape (mostly Pendraken mini's)

One of my favourite subjects back in High School was Ancient History. I loved the Greek wars, especially the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, and all the galley battles. I was fascinated with Caesars conquest of Gaul and disaster when he tried to invade Albion (Britain). Since then, I have loved learning about Ancient and Medieval History.

So its kind of strange that until now I have been collecting Fantasy and Medieval armies in 10mm, and missed making any Ancient armies. So when I began planning to redress this omission, I was very blessed to be able to pick up from a fine gentleman on eBay a largish Roman Marian Republican Army. This was fantastic because I want in future to refight some of Caesars Gallic Wars. The army was originally based for Warmaster, but had the bases modified for DBA (I think). So I am in the process now of rebasing the entire army again for Warmaster. No mean feat, I tell you.

The Composition of a Roman Legion

According to my copy of the excellent Warfare in the Classical World , the Republican Roman Legion around the time of Caesar had benefitted from Marius' major reforms. Warfare in the Classical World states about the Legions after Marius:

 

The legion thus came to consist of 10 cohorts each of 3 maniples of two centuries of around 80 men, giving a total of c4,800. (p.153, Warfare in the Classical World, Warry, 1995)

So my dilemma in rebasing the army has been how best to represent the most basic contingent of the legion, that of the Century.

It just fells right to me that a Warmaster Unit should reflect a Century. Given that a Century consisted of around 80 men, and that I can fit 10 miniatures to a stand, this got me to thinking that the standard 3 stands of a WM unit wasn't going to really suit my desire for historical accuracy. However, if I make a unit (Century) consist of four stands, instead of the usual three stands, then there will be 40 miniatures in the unit (Century). Each miniature representing two legionnaires in real life.

How many Units to a Roman Legion?

So I'm thinking of the following arrangement for a Roman Republican Legion:

• 1 unit = 4 x stands
• Century = 1 x unit
• Maniple = 2 x units/Centuries (8 x stands)
• Cohort = 3 x Maniples, i.e. six units/Centuries (24 x stands)
• Legion = 10 x Cohorts, i.e. sixty units/Centuries (240 x stands)

Note: Adding an extra stand to the unit increases the cost of the unit in Warmaster Ancients from 80 points to 110 points (rounding fractions up).

My eBay find currently gives me just one Century short of the first Cohort and two Centuries of the second Cohort. So its not a mammoth task to paint up these outstanding units/Centuries to give two Cohorts initially to the legion.

There is probably no way that I will ever paint a full legion of 240 stands. Practically, the legions were often undermanned due to detachments on patrol and sickness, injuries. For most battles too, I wouldn't really ever need more than two or three Cohorts to look impressive on the table as the Auxiliaries would also be standard with the legion, and these would be your standard 3 stands to a unit.

Stand and Shoot house-rule

Historically, the legionnaires at this time were armed with two Pilum, which they would throw at their enemy just prior to engagement. The pila would stick into the enemy shield and bend. This meant that the enemy would not be able to pull the pila out of their shield and throw it back at the legionnaires. Moreover, as the pila would be an extra weight on the shield, the enemies shields would be weighed down and useless to wield in defence. The enemy would therefore discard their shield. It was a highly effective strategy.

So this got me thinking that the Stand and Shoot rule for missile armed troops would work perfectly here. Essentially this reflects the Romans throwing their pila just as the enemy is about to engage. The legionaries were highly trained by this time and retained a closed order rank and file. So the enemy often came to them, or they closed on their enemies in disciplined order slowly. The pila was a fairly short range javelin and so the Legionnaries wouldn't be able to use this during the shooting phase like a missile troop unit, only when charged by the enemy. Historically it all comes together rather well. So I intend to try to playtest this idea when I can field my Roman army next.

Play-testing

The only consideration is that my opponent would have to agree to such changes and we would have to consider the option of suspending the Maniple rule from Warmaster Ancients, which permits stands of legionaries to Support themselves as though there were a Supporting Stand behind them in combat, if the Century becomes too powerful.

In the end it may be better to test this in a solo game and see how it pans out. If this all proves too powerful for game balance, I can always revert to the 3 stands per unit WM standard and ditch the Stand and Shoot house rule.

Still, it just seems right to me to have the Century comprise of four stands instead of three, and be able to throw their pila. I'll try to post some images of the army so far when its all based up again for Warmaster Ancients.

The Beastmen Army for Warmaster

Background: If you do a search around the web, you will find an excellent set of Trail Rules for new armies for fantasy Warmaster. These armies reflect the many armies available in the Old World of Warhammer. Within that document, you will find a list for the Beastmen. A couple of years ago, GW updated their Warhammer Beastmen Army with new models and a revamp of their rules. Needless to say, I was hooked! I'm not much into 28mm (love the Beastmen and War of the Ring though!) as I like BIG battles with lots of units and not skirmishes. 28mm, I find, tends to lend itself to more of a skirmish setting than true battles, and costs a bundle. 10mm on the other hand, now that's real armies!

So given the revamp for the Beastmen, I set about coming up with a set of house rules for my Warmaster Beastmen Army that was on the painting table (and that you will see in the Whatever Happened to the Red Duke dustup). The goal was that I wanted to create a Chaos Army that was definitely different from the other Chaos army selectors. In particular with all the new monsters available to the Beastmen revamp, I wanted an army that had lots of choice for weird and wonderful critters. One that could make good use of forested terrain on the battlefield and that could keep your opponent guessing where their foe could appear next on the table edge.

Given that this was a total re-write of the Trail Rules, and that the Red Duke Battle-report has the Beastmen being trailed with these house-rules, I thought I should post my house rules here. So, without further delay,  I give you the Beastmen....
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Army Rules

Children of the Forest. The Beastmen's natural habitat is the thick forests of the Old World. As such, all Beastmen units are able to travel through woods and forests. They are also adept at communication through the forests with their bray shouts, hoots and calls being very audible through the thickets. As such, Beastmen do not suffer any command penalties when attempting to order units that are within a wood or forests terrain.

Beastmen Ambush. Endowed with the cunning of the hunting pack, Beastmen are adept at encircling the enemy army and attacking from an unexpected direction. Certain Beastmen units may ambush. This means that half of a total number of Ungor, Ungor Raider and Gor units (rounded down) may count as ambushers rather than be deployed on the table at the start of the game. Ambushers may be divided into Brigades or kept as individual units. Each brigade or individual unit of ambushers is known as an Ambushing Party.

Beginning in the Beastmen players’ 2nd turn, at the start of the players’ Command phase before Initiative, they may test to see if any unit or brigade of ambushers enters the table. The player can choose to delay the arrival of any ambushes to subsequent turns if they wish. They are not required to test for ambusher arrival in turn 2. The player also is not required to test for ambusher arrival each of their turns after the turn 2. The decision to test for ambusher arrival is solely up to the Beastman player. The only stipulation is that they cannot test for ambusher arrival in turn 1.

The Beastmen player tests for each ambushing party (unit or brigade) separately to see if they enter the table. The player does not need to test for all their ambushes, only those ambushing parties they wish to bring on to the table during that turn. The player can chose to leave some ambushing units or brigades for a later turn. Ambushes entre the table in to following manner:

 

To see where the ambushers enter the battlefield, use the following procedure. Before Initiative in the Command Phase, roll a single dice for each ambushing party the Beastman player wishes to bring on to the game table and consult the chart below. Any ambushing unit or brigade that enters the table must be place along the table edge identified in the chart. Ambushers may be place anywhere along the identified table edge, but not in impassable terrain. Ambushers may be placed within Initiative range of enemy units, but they must first be placed along the identified table edge.

When ambushers enter play, place them along the table edge designated above in any formation desired by the Beastmen player. The ambushers may then move by Initiative or be given orders later in the Command Phase.

 

At the end of the game, any ambushers that remain in ambush and have not yet been deployed on the game table are considered to have become lost and are regarded as having been destroyed for the sake of determining victory points for the Beastmen player’s opponent.

Primal Fury. Beastmen are rightly feared for their primal and violent nature and in battle this nature is never more evident. Beastmen are known to throw themselves into violent, frenzied attacks against their foes, becoming consumed by a savage fury tearing apart their hated foes with little regard for their own self-preservation.

 

Each unit capable of Primal Fury that charged into combat during the Command Phase of the current turn, roll a single die. On a roll of 5 or 6, that unit becomes enraged by Primal Fury. During the Combat Phase, all units enraged by Primal Fury may reroll one failed attack dice per stand during the first round of combat. Primal Fury does not apply to combat that has carried over from the previous turn, only combat that was initiated by a charge in the current turn. Primal Fury only lasts for the first round of combat.

SPECIAL Rules (see the army selector below)

1. Beastman Ambush: These units can ambush. See the Beastmen Ambush rules above.

2. Minotaurs. Minotaurs are subject for Bloodlust – they always use initiative to charge if possible and cannot be given orders instead. Minotaurs never use initiative to evade and must pursue or advance where possible. Also they are immune to terror.

3. Centigors. Centigors are cavalry, and are both able fighters and skirmishes (throwing spears and other barbs). They can shoot in any direction (360 degree arc of sight) in range up to 15cm. When they charge into combat, they gain the Shock  troop type ability (refer to p. 127 of the Warmaster Ancients Rulebook)

4. Chaos Spawn. Spawn cannot be given orders in the Command phase unless they are part of a brigade that includes at least one unit other than Spawn. Spawn can act on their initiative as normal.

Spawn can be included as a bonus to the size of the brigade up to a maximum of one Spawn per non-Spawn unit. For example, 4 Bestigor units plus 4 Spawns counts as a brigade of 4 units - the 4 Spawns do not count towards the size of the brigade. Where several Spawns are brigaded with fewer non-Spawn units, then only the additional Spawn count towards the size of the brigade. For example, 2 Bestigor units and 4 Spawns count as 4 units - 2 Spawns are included for ‘free’.

Spawn cause terror in its enemies.

Spawn have a shooting range of 15cm and can shoot to the side or behind as well as to the front. Just measure the range form any stand edge, front, side or rear. They can therefore shoot at any enemy charging them from any direction.

5. Shaggoth. Shaggoth must always be given a separate order. It cannot be brigaded with other troops even with other Shaggoths. It has a great many hits, 8 in fact, which are almost impossible to inflict during even a fairly lengthy combat engagement. Because Shaggoths have so many hits we must consider the possibility of hurting the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth and reducing its effectiveness in subsequent turns. Therefore, if a Shaggoth has accumulated 4-7 hits by the end of the Shooting and Combat phase it is deemed to have been badly hurt. Once a Shaggoth is badly hurt then all accumulated hits are discounted and its maximum Hits value and Attacks are halved for the rest of the battle (to 4 Hits and 4 Attacks). Shaggoth causes terror in its enemies.

6. Doombull. Ungors, Gors and Bestigors joined by a Doombull will become subject to Bloodlust in the same way as Minotaurs and can only receive orders from the Doombull as long as it is part of the unit.

7. Tuskgor Chariot. Beastlord or Wargors (Gor Heros) can ride a Tuskgor Chariot. A character riding a chariot adds +1 to his Attacks.

8. Giant. Giants are maddeningly dim-witted creatures with a fondness for strong beer and the raw flesh of men, Elves and even Dwarves. Because of their turgid mental processes and weakness for drink they must always be given a separate order. They cannot be brigaded with other troops, although several Giants can be brigaded together if you wish. If you attempt to give an order to a Giant and fail, then you must make a test to see what he does. Ignore potential blunders; these are taken into account by the following rules. Roll a dice and consult the Giant Goes Wild chart.

Where Giants are brigaded together roll for each separately. A Giant causes terror in its enemies.

Giants have a great many hits, eight in fact, which are almost impossible to inflict during even a fairly lengthy combat engagement. Because Giants have so many hits we must consider the possibility of hurting the Giant and reducing his effectiveness in subsequent turns. Therefore, if a Giant has accumulated 4-7 hits by the end of the Shooting phase or Combat phase it is deemed to have been badly hurt. Once a Giant is badly hurt all accumulated hits are discounted and its maximum Hits and Attacks are halved for the rest of the battle (to 4 Hits and 4 Attacks).

-see Warmaster Rulebook for the Giant Goes Wild Table -

NB: Still playing with the rules for the Cygor, Ghorgon and Jabberslythe so will update this post in the future with these additions.

The Wolves of Isengard

"Send forth your Warg riders." - Saruman.... One brigades worth of them, in fact!

Finished the Warg Riders that I mentioned the other day. As I said in that post, I have had these sitting around for several months now waiting to be painted.

In the end it was much easier than I thought it would be. The key to painting them was to first of all basecoat them in Chaos Black and then wet-brush them in Bestial Brown. This gave them the dirty look universal to all Orcs in Middle-earth. It was then a matter of painting the warg mains in Snakebite Leather, then use a heavy drybrush with a dark grey for the face, followed by a light drybrush with a light grey again for the face.

For the riders, I used Boltgun Metal heavy drybrush for the armour, and then picked out special features, such as the arrow fletching or fur clothing, in a suitable colour. The skin of most of the orcs I left in the brown colour, but some of the orc flesh was painted in Rakarth Flesh, some others in Administratum Grey and some others still in a light green. I washed the entire model in a brown wash to blend the colour transitions and to give the extra dirk look. The brown wash also gives a tinge of rust to the armour and weapons, just the way orcs liken them.

I deliberately left the orc shields without any insignia on them. This is so the Warg Riders can be used for Isengard, Mordor, Angmar, Moria, Mount Gundabad, etc. The Warg Rider leaders are the only ones to carry any insignia on them and thus identify where these guys come from.

You can see a bit of the diversity in poses amongst the Wargs and Orcs in the two images below.

The play testing stats for these guys is currently as follows:

Type        Attack   Range   Hits   Armour   Unit Size   Pts per Unit       Min/Max   Special
Cavalry     4/1         15         3          6+             3        ? (80 to 100?)        - / 2        Shock Cav. (WMA)

Final picture below shows the Warg Rider leader next to an Isengard Sub-general. You can see how the size of the Warg Riders compare to the size of Isengard Sub-general and see that they fit together well.

So only need to do the bases of these guy's and they are ready to chase down Rohan citizens or thirteen shabby Dwarves and one well dressed Hobbit!

Even more ships of the First Romulan War - ACTA Starfleet

In an earlier post I provided a set of ACTA sheets for ships from the Star Trek Enterprise era. With the benefit of having played a few more ACTA games set in the Star Trek Enterprise era, I have been able to playtest the house-rules I'm developing to cover this early Star Trek period.

So I thought it would be high time to provide an update on the ship states for vessels from this era. Here's how the house-rules and play testing is panning out so far. I haven't done the Andorians as yet as I am waiting on some suitable models to come from Shapeways. I have also split the NX-class into two versions representing the NX-01 before the Xindi Crisis, and the NX-class after the Xindi Crisis in the lead up to the First Romulan War.

Here's how they are looking now.

 

*See the note below concerning Pulsed Phase Cannons

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pulsed Phase Cannons comments: Watching some of the YouTube clips for the Axenar movie and listening to some of the discussions with the writer producer about the different weapon systems used by the Federation during the 4 years war with the Klingons. The writer producer noted that each of the member planets of the Federation made their own Star Fleet ships and crewed them with their own people. As such, weapon systems would reflect what each of the member planets had in circulation at that time. So Star Fleet vessels would have either Phasers (e.g Andorians) or Pulsed Phase Cannons (e.g Earth) as their primary weapon suits and Photon Torpedoes as their heavy weapon. This was due to the fact that the Federation was still in a transition phase of moving to a truly unified Star Fleet. When asked about why they still used Pulsed Phase Cannons, the writer producer noted that these weapons could intercept Klingon Photon Torpedoes. This gave me the idea of adding to the Pulsed Phase Cannon statistics the ability to use Defensive Fire against Photonic & Photon Torpedoes. I haven't play tested this out yet but will give it a shot the next time I get to play an ACTA game. I want them to be able to intercept torpedoes, but not be too effective in this capability. I would assume that the move away from Pulsed Phase Cannons was eventually done by Star Fleet as their shields were markedly improved and Phasers became more powerful, from Phaser 3's to Phaser 2's to Phaser 1's.

Ships of the First Romulan War - ACTA Star Fleet

In a recent post (see here) I covered the first ACTA - Star Fleet scenario that I have ever played.

Given that it was set just prior to the start of the First Romulan War with Earth Star Fleet, there had to be some house rules around the ships of that period. So I thought I would post data-cards for some of the first ships stats that have been developed for that period. Still play testing these, so if there needs to be an update, I'll amend this post and note that its been updated.

First up is the NX-Class        (**UPDATED 21/4/15 & 28/3/15**)

 

Next is the Romulan Snipe-class Warbird

 

And finally, the Romulan Drone Ship

 

I'll post the Vulcan ships of this period once they have been play tested a little.

**UPDATE NOTE 28Mar15: I have updated the size of these images as the original post didn't seem to give the best readability. I have also updated the NX class to reflect the fact that it had two torpedo tubes on its forward starboard and forward port sides, thus giving the capacity to fire four torpedoes into its forward arc. By default, all NX class ships during the First Romulan War would have been fitted to be able to utilise the four forward launch tubes. I have also removed the Sub-space missile (i.e. Drone) reload requirement. This means that drones of this era, though not powerful by later century standards, are able to snipe away doing one hit per turn. This provides a few more tactical options for Star Fleet captains.

**UPDATE NOTE 21Apr15: I've updated the stats for the NX class again. This update fixes its point values, the NX class ship names, and the Pulsed Phase Cannon data. Watching some of the YouTube clips for the Axenar movie and listening to some of the discussions with the writer producer about the different weapon systems used by the Federation during the 4 years war with the Klingons. The writer producer noted that each of the member planets of the Federation made their own Star Fleet ships and crewed them with their own people. As such, weapon systems would reflect what each of the member planets had in circulation at that time. So Star Fleet vessels would have either Phasers (e.g Andorians) or Pulsed Phase Cannons (e.g Earth) as their primary weapon suits and Photon Torpedoes as their heavy weapon. This was due to the fact that the Federation was still in a transition phase of moving to a truly unified Star Fleet. When asked about why they still used Pulsed Phase Cannons, the writer producer noted that these weapons could intercept Klingon Photon Torpedoes. This gave me the idea of adding to the Pulsed Phase Cannon statistics the ability to use Defensive Fire against Photonic & Photon Torpedoes. I haven't play tested this out yet but will give it a shot the next time I get to play an ACTA game. I want them to be able to intercept torpedoes, but not be too effective in this capability. I would assume that the move away from Pulsed Phase Cannons was eventually done by Star Fleet as their shields were markedly improved and Phasers became more powerful, from Phaser 3's to Phaser 2's to Phaser 1's.

The Vampire Counts Mortis Engine is now ready for Warmaster!

My Vampire Counts Mortis Engine is finally painted and ready for battle. You can see how I made it here.

Below is the painting scheme for it and also the house rules that will be tested out on the battlefield.

The Mortis Engine
Once dead (properly dead), the remains of powerful Necromancers are enshrined within the Mortis Engine and borne to war by a host of spirits bound to the infernal device. A chariot of twisted bone surrounded by wailing Banshees and pulled by Undead revenants, it is a terrifying sight to behold. The Mortis Engine is a pure ethereal madness. Ghostly, and occasionally armoured, tendrils stretch upward at an angle, at the head of which are skeletal riders on armoured horses. At the centre of the engine stands the sinister, cloaked Corpsemaster, who is surrounded by a swarm of howling Banshee spirits.

Painting scheme

• Basecoat in Chaos Black.
• Drybrush entire model, except for the Corpsemaster, in Skull White.
• Paint the bone carriage in a succession of drybrushed layers of Baneblade Brown, Rakarth Flesh, Pallid Wych Flesh and finally, very lightly in Skull White.
• Paint the Black Knights and the Skeleton figurehead, also beneath the engine where it attaches to the ground, and the cursed ground directly below it, in Nihilakh Oxide and allow to dry. This will take some time.
• When its dry, wet brush the Black Knights and the Skeleton figurehead in Badab Black wash. DON'T let the wash run on to any of the connection point of the Mortis Engine or the cursed ground beneath it).
• When dry, drybrush the Skeleton figurehead very lightly in Skull White to add a highlight.
• Drybrush the base of the Black Knights in Ice Blue.
• Drybrush some of the Black Knights armour and shields in Tin Bitz.
• Paint the Spirits in watered down Temple Guard Blue (use a 2 to 1 ratio of paint to water).
• When this is dry, paint the recesses on the Spirits with watered down Naggaroth Night (again using a 2 to 1 ratio of paint to water).

House Rules for Warmaster

 

TROOP                  Type     Attack   Range    Hits    Armour   Command   Unit Size  Points  Min/Max

Mortis Engine -    Machine   4/3       30          5            5+              -                1          300       - / 1

 

The Mortis Engine is a Machine for the sake of determining movement.

Mortis Engines cause Terror.

 

Special Rules

Blasphemous Tome: Vampire Counts spellcasters within 12cm of the Mortis Engine gain +1 to all die rolls when casting spells due to the presence of the Blasphemous Tome.

 

Banshee Swarm's Ghostly Howl: the spirits swarming around the Mortis Engine are Banshee's. During the Shooting Phase of the VC Players turn, the Mortis Engine can make a ghostly howl shooting attack at a single unit up to 30cm's away. This attack cannot be used for Stand and Shoot (the Reliquary covers this situation). No armour saves are permitted against this attack.

 

The Reliquary: At the start of the VC Players turn, roll 2D6 and add the current turn number to the result of the dice roll. The result is the range of the Mortis Engine's dark aura in centimetres. All enemy units within this range automatically take a shooting attack from the Mortis Engine due to the dark energies of the Reliquary. The shooting attack is the same value as the Ghostly Howl value (i.e. 3 shooting attacks), but armour saves are permitted against this attack. Moreover, due to this dark power, all friendly units within the dark aura's range ignore the first hit scored against them in the Combat Phase from melee. Finally, if the 2D6 result is a double, then the fell energies prove too powerful for the Mortis Engine to contain. The Mortis Engine explodes doing the 2D6 (plus the turn number) result in shooting attacks to all units, friend and foe, within that 2D6 (+ turn number) range in centimetres. Armour saves against this attack. For example, on turn 3 the 2D6 roll result's is two 2's, all units within 7cm (2+2+3 = 7) immediately take 7 shooting attacks. If a hero is attached to a unit that is destroyed by the explosion, that hero becomes a casualty and is removed from play. Also, with the exception of the VC General, all VC heroes within the explosion's range are overcome by dark energies and are required to roll a saving throw to determine if the fell sorcery that makes them is destroyed by this overpowering dark energy release. Roll a single die, on a roll of 1 to 3, the hero is overcome and removed from play as a casualty, a roll of 4-6 means that the hero is unaffected.



Update Note 15Dec14: The Mortis Engine is a Machine as defined within the Warmaster Rules.