We have moved beyond 2 months of AoS releases and there is still no end in sight. It actually would be nice if there was one so I could do some catch-up without falling horribly behind and draining my bank account.
Atleast this week is small, with only 2 releases! Of course, one is a big release.
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 83: Our latest issue of White Dwarf focuses on on the big release for this week, the Celestant-Prime, featured prominently on the cover. Besides that, there is mention of a write-up on the Hallowed Knights, the Stormhost leading the charge in Ghyran. It's nice to see an article dedicated to a Stormhost that isn't the Hammers of Sigmar. Maybe this means the Vindicators will get some more love.
Stormcast Eternals
Celestant-Prime: Here is the big bad super hero model for the Eternals (unless they have something even bigger hiding up their sleeves), the Celestant-Prime. Supposedly the first Eternal ever forged and now wielding Ghal Maraz after the Eternals got it back, this is the big centerpiece model like many other armies got during the End Times. He's $80 for a fairly large model, with impressive looking wings, however I'm not to sure if I like the swirling magics/orrey under him and for the most part, he still just looks like an Eternal. Atleast he keeps a conformity to the rest of the army.
And that's it, it's a nice break from the repacks or massive fortresses that would cost a pretty penny if you're trying to catch 'em all. Will next week see more AoS releases? Or will there be a small break in the action to give 40K some love, I suppose we'll see soon enough.
Looking at Age of Sigmar with a fresh set of eyes.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Review: Age of Sigmar Big Book
The Age of Sigmar Big Book (I'm calling it the Big Book so as not to confuse it with the line's overall title) is the first release of the "campaign structure" that AoS is toting to use. Here we continue the story presented in the Starter State and The Gates of Azyr, presented in a collection of fluff, scenarios, and artwork. How does it hold together? Let's check it out!
I went for the Collector's Edition because I have a hard time turning that down, I'm a sucker I know. The Collector's Edition comes in a white slip case featuring the Age of Sigmar logo in gold on the front and an image of Ghal Maraz and small blurb on the back. The book itself is a thick hardcover tome, with the same front cover as the regular edition but with gold print on the spine, gold page edges, a bookmark, and the same back cover as the slip case with the limited edition number on it (I have 1027 of 2000).
The book starts with a small introduction and then goes into the meat of the book. Nearly half the book is full of fluff, while the second half is a mix of fluff and scenarios/rules/warscrolls.
The fluff sections consist of a few standard layouts:
The standard sections of writings interspaced with artwork, be it models or original art.
1 to 2 page sidebars that contain charts, layouts, color schemes, etc.
2 page spreads with a little text down the left side (seen in many WD issues)
The 2 page spreads feature some absolute gorgeous artwork. The art overall is very good, but these pieces really show off how amazing and evocative the art can be.
Section 1: The Storm Breaks
We start by getting a look at our two main factions we've been seeing since the beginning; the Stormcast Eternals and the Khorne Bloodbound. This section basically gathers a lot of the information that's come out in bits and pieces in the previous fiction and WD articles. But there is some new information in there as well. We get a look at some of the force compositions for both sides and a lot of questions added as well.
For instance, we've only seen Warrior Chambers for the Eternals, but a chart shows there are Exemplar, Harbinger, Sacrosanct, Ruination, Extremis, and Auxiliary Chambers. Also, command comes out of the Heraldor, Judicator, Relictor, and Valedictor Temples, only a few of those names we've seen before. Similar to the Space Marines compositions I've seen, we get a cool two page spread of what a full Warrior Chamber would be (and like a full Space Marine layout would be) madly expensive. Things like a total of 9 Liberator Retinues that each contain 20 units (at $50 for 5, that would run you $1,800. Of course, nothing has said you need to field that many units, but I bet someone does and we'll see it online. We also see some command units that do not have models yet, but were mentioned in the Assault on the Mandrake Bastion, such as the Knight-Heraldor.
There is also another look at the various Stormhosts of the Eternals (I still like the green of the Celestial Vindicators) and the Warbands of Khorne in Azyr.
Besides some great art and a nice compilation of info that has been scattered, there isn't a whole lot of new information here. If anything, these would do well to make up the first respective chapters of Army Books if there were to be ones. As a side note, if there were pure/majority fluff Army Books released that just filled in some gaps about the composition, mindsets, armory, etc. of various factions, I'd buy them. Then again, I'm a fluff junkie.
Section 2: The Age of Sigmar
The Age of Sigmar section presents where the Realms are at the current moment of the storyline, what is going on right before and right as the Eternals make their first landings. While Chaos has been considered triumphant in their takeover of the Realms, the people still left aren't just waiting around for the Eternals to show up. In fact, not all the Realms could even be considered fully taken over. We learn of the mortal champion leading Chaos, Archaon, (yep, the same big bad guy from the Old World) and him helping to unit the four Chaos armies (he doesn't consider the Skaven as true Chaos and pays no heed to The Great Horned Rat) in their initial assault on the other Realms.
While most of the Realms are fully subjugated, with the few mortals surviving by hiding/running from various Chaos tribes, there are two in which the battles aren't quite over yet. In Shyish, the Undead are not going quietly against the forces of Chaos. Nagash was killed in the first assault, but then gets better after several years and comes back. Chaos just can't get a handle on killing things that keep coming back, much like they do. The battle of the Realm is never quite decided, but the story catches up with the Undead Forces nearly being taken out outside a Realm Gate to Azyr when the Eternals arrive to turn the tide.
Meanwhile, in Ghyran, while the forces of Nurgle are enjoying corrupting the abundance of life that the Realm has to offer. They are suddenly attacked by seemingly the forest itself, as the Sylvaneth faction comes to life and fights back.
It's nice to see the book acknowledges that the Realms shouldn't just sit around and wait for the Eternals to come around. There are things happening, and it opens up battles that aren't just your Eternals vs. Chaos.
Section 3: The Lost Ages
Oddly, after we see where the Realms are right before the timeline catches up with the present, we go back in time to a very quick overview of what has gone on before. In fact, I feel like these two sections should have been swapped, especially with the current battles coming as the next section after it.
The Lost Age expands upon the bit of information that was in the very first White Dwarf. We go over Sigmar drifting through space, him being discovered by Dracothion and shown the 8 Realms, and his visit upon all the Realms to unite them. There is a lot of bits to pull out of this section, we name drop all the major characters from the Old Realms as current gods and how Sigmar got them to to form a council. There are mentions to the fire haired Duradin mercenaries, Savage Orruks, how the Skaven can burrow into any Realm (Blight City, their home, was only pulled slightly in the Realm of Chaos and still touches all the other Realms), and more.
Read straight on, there isn't a lot that actually is told. Sigmar goes around the Realms, finds the named characters in trouble, helps them so they join his council and build the great Azyrheim. Eventually Chaos hears about this and decides to strike at the Realms. Chaos overwhelms the Realms, Sigmar retreats for centuries and then comes back with the Eternals. But it's digging up all the details that add a lot to what's going on. Not just the name drops, but the little things that go on.
We learn of the Allpoints, a sub-realm that has gates connecting all the Realms. We learn of Gorkamorka splitting and reforging into one/two beings and each time it signals a great Waaaagh. We learn about Nagash slipping away from the battle of Allpoints and Sigmar's barbarian pride actually costs the Alliance of Order the battle of Allpoints as he goes to pursue Nagash, leaving the battle and sealing the fates of the Realms. There are a lot of seeds for story here, I'd love to see more of it explored through fiction and more in depth articles.
Section 4: Battle Unbound
This is a small section that is once again a pimping of products section of the book. On one level, it's weird to see it here when White Dwarf is a much better vehicle for that sort of thing. However, it is also the first "major" book for AoS and it really does well to show off what could be coming. This section is 2-page spread after 2-page spread of model shots showing off nearly every Faction and Grand Alliance they will offer.
Section 5: Fire & Thunder
Another short section, this just explains the upcoming format of Battleplanes and then reprints the rules for you, just in case you don't have them.
Section 6: The Realmgate Wars Begin
Finally, the meat of the more game side of the Big Book, as well as starting the fiction beyond the Start Set's initial invasion by Hammerhand.
We see the initial battle launched by the Eternals on three fronts; within the Brimstone Peninsula on Aqshy (which continues on from the Starter Set), taking back the Kingdom of Greenglades in Ghyran, and the assault at the ruins of Elixia in Chamon.
For each one, we get the story of the assaults, both as narrative text and actual fiction. Each of these come form various points of view of the participating Factions. Spaced between these are Battleplans, scenarios that can emulate the various battles the stories touch upon. While each one is based on the narrative, they are set-up to be generic so you can use them as just scenarios to run with your favorite armies.
On top of that, there are two sets of general rules for fighting in Brimstone Peninsula and Greenglades. These range from new spells available, to specific terrain rules, to just overall rule changes to reflect the Realm. These add another layer of depth to your fight without disrupting the 4-page general rules.
Storywise, a few interesting things end up happening, that moves us into the next major release.
On the Brimstone Peninsula, Hammerhand defies his orders when he sees a vision of Khul placing Vandus' head atop a pyramid of skulls. Instead of holding the Realmgates, he moves to assault the 8 towers outside Khul's Red Pyramid. There, they learn, is a Realm Gate connected directly to the Chaos Realm where Khorne's daemons can endlessly appear. After many battles and loses on both sides, Vandus sacrifices himself, calling Sigmar to strike him down as he holds onto the portal, destroying it and ending reinforcements for Khorne.
In the Greenglades, the Hallowed Knights seek to secure a Realm Gate to Azyr, while also entreating with Alarielle to support the assault. Alarielle, going mad from Nurgle's corruption of her Realm, has been lost in memory far more than leading her armies against the Rotbringers. When the Hallowed Knights arrive, she fears Sigmar is also trying to take her Realm and dismisses them. Meanwhile, the Great Unclean One that has held sway in the Greenglades pulls himself from Nurgle's gardens to fight the Hallowed Knights, summoning massive amounts of daemons. The battle seems lost of the Hallowed Knights, until reinforcements from the Astral Lions appear. These are countered by Skaven from Clan Pestilens however, who are then countered by the Sylvaneth, finally joining the fray. The Great Unclean One is destroyed when he attempts to pull himself free of the portal to chase the Hallowed Knights Lord-Celestant, ripping the portals frame and causing a massive explosion that kills them both.
Lastly, in Chamon, the Celestial Vindicators manage to take a Realm Gate without battle, but soon a sorcerer of Tzeentch and his armies are upon them. The Vindicators push back, forcing the sorcerer back to his fortress, where the Eternals lay siege to it. The battle is going in the Vindicators favor until the fortress itself, a giant battery of magical energies built around an artefact too strong for any of Chaos to look upon, charges up and explodes in a flash of heavenly light.
Once reforged and before Sigmar, Lord-Cellestant Thostos Bladestorm tells him of the brillant light and explosion. Then, Sigmar knows, Ghal Maraz has finally been found.
This is by far the best part of the book, it moves the story forward, but also gives you a ton of scenarios to use in the game. This further cements the ability to play AoS as more than two armies smacking into each other. You can now run specific scenarios and link them together however you wish for your own narrative. You can pick a friend, pick 5 scenarios and see who is the first to win 3 (using the Major/Minor Victory rules as they are different each scenario as well). You can decide to play Battleplans from the Brimstone Peninsula section, mixed with the Elixia fights, but have it occur on the Greenglades and use their rules. As more books are released that add more specific Battleplans and location rules, you can easily ignore the over all story and create your own campaign to play out.
Section 7: Legends of War
The final section collects Warscrolls, mostly the units from the starter set, but also some Sylvaneth units as well. We also get a few Warscroll Battalions, which give you special bonuses for composing an army exactly as listed.
In Conclusion
So, is this book worth it? Well that depends on your stance of fluff over gameplay. While the Battleplans are awesome and add a ton of new ways to play on your table, they are a small part of the book. For the most part, this is a fluff piece and an art book, something it does very well. If you want to follow the story of Age of Sigmar, this book moves the game forward, if you want more gameplay options, they're in here too. However, the amount of pure gaming material is small compared to the rest of the book and while a lot of theses scenarios are interesting, if you're just into gaming, find someone who has the book or make up your own scenarios.
For me, though, it was quite a good read that shed some interesting facts on the past and present of the Realms.
I went for the Collector's Edition because I have a hard time turning that down, I'm a sucker I know. The Collector's Edition comes in a white slip case featuring the Age of Sigmar logo in gold on the front and an image of Ghal Maraz and small blurb on the back. The book itself is a thick hardcover tome, with the same front cover as the regular edition but with gold print on the spine, gold page edges, a bookmark, and the same back cover as the slip case with the limited edition number on it (I have 1027 of 2000).
The book starts with a small introduction and then goes into the meat of the book. Nearly half the book is full of fluff, while the second half is a mix of fluff and scenarios/rules/warscrolls.
The fluff sections consist of a few standard layouts:
The standard sections of writings interspaced with artwork, be it models or original art.
1 to 2 page sidebars that contain charts, layouts, color schemes, etc.
2 page spreads with a little text down the left side (seen in many WD issues)
The 2 page spreads feature some absolute gorgeous artwork. The art overall is very good, but these pieces really show off how amazing and evocative the art can be.
Section 1: The Storm Breaks
We start by getting a look at our two main factions we've been seeing since the beginning; the Stormcast Eternals and the Khorne Bloodbound. This section basically gathers a lot of the information that's come out in bits and pieces in the previous fiction and WD articles. But there is some new information in there as well. We get a look at some of the force compositions for both sides and a lot of questions added as well.
For instance, we've only seen Warrior Chambers for the Eternals, but a chart shows there are Exemplar, Harbinger, Sacrosanct, Ruination, Extremis, and Auxiliary Chambers. Also, command comes out of the Heraldor, Judicator, Relictor, and Valedictor Temples, only a few of those names we've seen before. Similar to the Space Marines compositions I've seen, we get a cool two page spread of what a full Warrior Chamber would be (and like a full Space Marine layout would be) madly expensive. Things like a total of 9 Liberator Retinues that each contain 20 units (at $50 for 5, that would run you $1,800. Of course, nothing has said you need to field that many units, but I bet someone does and we'll see it online. We also see some command units that do not have models yet, but were mentioned in the Assault on the Mandrake Bastion, such as the Knight-Heraldor.
There is also another look at the various Stormhosts of the Eternals (I still like the green of the Celestial Vindicators) and the Warbands of Khorne in Azyr.
Besides some great art and a nice compilation of info that has been scattered, there isn't a whole lot of new information here. If anything, these would do well to make up the first respective chapters of Army Books if there were to be ones. As a side note, if there were pure/majority fluff Army Books released that just filled in some gaps about the composition, mindsets, armory, etc. of various factions, I'd buy them. Then again, I'm a fluff junkie.
Section 2: The Age of Sigmar
The Age of Sigmar section presents where the Realms are at the current moment of the storyline, what is going on right before and right as the Eternals make their first landings. While Chaos has been considered triumphant in their takeover of the Realms, the people still left aren't just waiting around for the Eternals to show up. In fact, not all the Realms could even be considered fully taken over. We learn of the mortal champion leading Chaos, Archaon, (yep, the same big bad guy from the Old World) and him helping to unit the four Chaos armies (he doesn't consider the Skaven as true Chaos and pays no heed to The Great Horned Rat) in their initial assault on the other Realms.
While most of the Realms are fully subjugated, with the few mortals surviving by hiding/running from various Chaos tribes, there are two in which the battles aren't quite over yet. In Shyish, the Undead are not going quietly against the forces of Chaos. Nagash was killed in the first assault, but then gets better after several years and comes back. Chaos just can't get a handle on killing things that keep coming back, much like they do. The battle of the Realm is never quite decided, but the story catches up with the Undead Forces nearly being taken out outside a Realm Gate to Azyr when the Eternals arrive to turn the tide.
Meanwhile, in Ghyran, while the forces of Nurgle are enjoying corrupting the abundance of life that the Realm has to offer. They are suddenly attacked by seemingly the forest itself, as the Sylvaneth faction comes to life and fights back.
It's nice to see the book acknowledges that the Realms shouldn't just sit around and wait for the Eternals to come around. There are things happening, and it opens up battles that aren't just your Eternals vs. Chaos.
Section 3: The Lost Ages
Oddly, after we see where the Realms are right before the timeline catches up with the present, we go back in time to a very quick overview of what has gone on before. In fact, I feel like these two sections should have been swapped, especially with the current battles coming as the next section after it.
The Lost Age expands upon the bit of information that was in the very first White Dwarf. We go over Sigmar drifting through space, him being discovered by Dracothion and shown the 8 Realms, and his visit upon all the Realms to unite them. There is a lot of bits to pull out of this section, we name drop all the major characters from the Old Realms as current gods and how Sigmar got them to to form a council. There are mentions to the fire haired Duradin mercenaries, Savage Orruks, how the Skaven can burrow into any Realm (Blight City, their home, was only pulled slightly in the Realm of Chaos and still touches all the other Realms), and more.
Read straight on, there isn't a lot that actually is told. Sigmar goes around the Realms, finds the named characters in trouble, helps them so they join his council and build the great Azyrheim. Eventually Chaos hears about this and decides to strike at the Realms. Chaos overwhelms the Realms, Sigmar retreats for centuries and then comes back with the Eternals. But it's digging up all the details that add a lot to what's going on. Not just the name drops, but the little things that go on.
We learn of the Allpoints, a sub-realm that has gates connecting all the Realms. We learn of Gorkamorka splitting and reforging into one/two beings and each time it signals a great Waaaagh. We learn about Nagash slipping away from the battle of Allpoints and Sigmar's barbarian pride actually costs the Alliance of Order the battle of Allpoints as he goes to pursue Nagash, leaving the battle and sealing the fates of the Realms. There are a lot of seeds for story here, I'd love to see more of it explored through fiction and more in depth articles.
Section 4: Battle Unbound
This is a small section that is once again a pimping of products section of the book. On one level, it's weird to see it here when White Dwarf is a much better vehicle for that sort of thing. However, it is also the first "major" book for AoS and it really does well to show off what could be coming. This section is 2-page spread after 2-page spread of model shots showing off nearly every Faction and Grand Alliance they will offer.
Section 5: Fire & Thunder
Another short section, this just explains the upcoming format of Battleplanes and then reprints the rules for you, just in case you don't have them.
Section 6: The Realmgate Wars Begin
Finally, the meat of the more game side of the Big Book, as well as starting the fiction beyond the Start Set's initial invasion by Hammerhand.
We see the initial battle launched by the Eternals on three fronts; within the Brimstone Peninsula on Aqshy (which continues on from the Starter Set), taking back the Kingdom of Greenglades in Ghyran, and the assault at the ruins of Elixia in Chamon.
For each one, we get the story of the assaults, both as narrative text and actual fiction. Each of these come form various points of view of the participating Factions. Spaced between these are Battleplans, scenarios that can emulate the various battles the stories touch upon. While each one is based on the narrative, they are set-up to be generic so you can use them as just scenarios to run with your favorite armies.
On top of that, there are two sets of general rules for fighting in Brimstone Peninsula and Greenglades. These range from new spells available, to specific terrain rules, to just overall rule changes to reflect the Realm. These add another layer of depth to your fight without disrupting the 4-page general rules.
Storywise, a few interesting things end up happening, that moves us into the next major release.
On the Brimstone Peninsula, Hammerhand defies his orders when he sees a vision of Khul placing Vandus' head atop a pyramid of skulls. Instead of holding the Realmgates, he moves to assault the 8 towers outside Khul's Red Pyramid. There, they learn, is a Realm Gate connected directly to the Chaos Realm where Khorne's daemons can endlessly appear. After many battles and loses on both sides, Vandus sacrifices himself, calling Sigmar to strike him down as he holds onto the portal, destroying it and ending reinforcements for Khorne.
In the Greenglades, the Hallowed Knights seek to secure a Realm Gate to Azyr, while also entreating with Alarielle to support the assault. Alarielle, going mad from Nurgle's corruption of her Realm, has been lost in memory far more than leading her armies against the Rotbringers. When the Hallowed Knights arrive, she fears Sigmar is also trying to take her Realm and dismisses them. Meanwhile, the Great Unclean One that has held sway in the Greenglades pulls himself from Nurgle's gardens to fight the Hallowed Knights, summoning massive amounts of daemons. The battle seems lost of the Hallowed Knights, until reinforcements from the Astral Lions appear. These are countered by Skaven from Clan Pestilens however, who are then countered by the Sylvaneth, finally joining the fray. The Great Unclean One is destroyed when he attempts to pull himself free of the portal to chase the Hallowed Knights Lord-Celestant, ripping the portals frame and causing a massive explosion that kills them both.
Lastly, in Chamon, the Celestial Vindicators manage to take a Realm Gate without battle, but soon a sorcerer of Tzeentch and his armies are upon them. The Vindicators push back, forcing the sorcerer back to his fortress, where the Eternals lay siege to it. The battle is going in the Vindicators favor until the fortress itself, a giant battery of magical energies built around an artefact too strong for any of Chaos to look upon, charges up and explodes in a flash of heavenly light.
Once reforged and before Sigmar, Lord-Cellestant Thostos Bladestorm tells him of the brillant light and explosion. Then, Sigmar knows, Ghal Maraz has finally been found.
This is by far the best part of the book, it moves the story forward, but also gives you a ton of scenarios to use in the game. This further cements the ability to play AoS as more than two armies smacking into each other. You can now run specific scenarios and link them together however you wish for your own narrative. You can pick a friend, pick 5 scenarios and see who is the first to win 3 (using the Major/Minor Victory rules as they are different each scenario as well). You can decide to play Battleplans from the Brimstone Peninsula section, mixed with the Elixia fights, but have it occur on the Greenglades and use their rules. As more books are released that add more specific Battleplans and location rules, you can easily ignore the over all story and create your own campaign to play out.
Section 7: Legends of War
The final section collects Warscrolls, mostly the units from the starter set, but also some Sylvaneth units as well. We also get a few Warscroll Battalions, which give you special bonuses for composing an army exactly as listed.
In Conclusion
So, is this book worth it? Well that depends on your stance of fluff over gameplay. While the Battleplans are awesome and add a ton of new ways to play on your table, they are a small part of the book. For the most part, this is a fluff piece and an art book, something it does very well. If you want to follow the story of Age of Sigmar, this book moves the game forward, if you want more gameplay options, they're in here too. However, the amount of pure gaming material is small compared to the rest of the book and while a lot of theses scenarios are interesting, if you're just into gaming, find someone who has the book or make up your own scenarios.
For me, though, it was quite a good read that shed some interesting facts on the past and present of the Realms.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Weekly Shopping List: Week 8
While the initial list of pre-orders seems quite big for the next week, when you break it down, it's actually just a lot of bundles of a few sets of terrain. But man, some of those bundles are expensive; do you have $1,120 to spend on AoS terrain? Have we go the bundle for you!
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 82: Unsurprisingly, this is yet another AoS focused White Dwarf. The blurb mostly focuses on the Chaos Dreadhold range of terrain pieces being released, as they are also the obvious focus of this week. There is some mention on discussing the Grand Alliances as well.
Battletome: Chaos Dreadhold: This is new, and quite odd. Until I get my hands on this, I'm not sure really what this is. From what I can tell, this is a smaller version of the Big Books they've released so far. Like the large books, this will have warscrolls, ficiton, and scenarios, but won't be moving the storyline forward. This mostly focuses on using the Dreadhold terrain kits, obviously, and will put them in the Realms in the fiction. 80-pages at $33 isn't horrible and it seems to feature the same stunning artwork we've seen so far.
Fiction
The Realmgate Wars: Ghal Maraz: The pattern GW seems to be going for is to release a Big Book/Scenario Book that gives you the background and scenarios for the ongoing fiction and then release actual fiction that features those scenarios. The Gates of Azyr detailed the scenarios in the Starter Set, War Storm covers the battles in the first Big Book and now we have Ghal Maraz. I'm going to assume that this fiction covers the scenarios and battles from The Search for Ghal Maraz Big Book.
Khorne Bloodbound
Blood Warriors: The only units up for pre-order this week, the Blood Warriors are the heavy infantry for Khorne. For $62 dollars you get enough parts to make 10 Blood Warriors with a variety of options, including a Champion and Icon Bearer. Not a bad deal compared to the price of some of the heavy Eternal infantry.
Terrain
The Terrain is a tricky thing, looking at GW's page, there are no less than 13 different variations of the Chaos Deadhold terrain kits, with prices ranging from $25 to $1,120! Once you sift through it all, you find that most of these are bundles, various parts the can be combined into the look shown. There are only 4 actual pieces that are different.
Chaos Dreadhold: Fortress Wall: The smallest piece available at $25, this is just a basic wall section. It's not much on it's own, and you'd need several pieces to make a wall that's actually big enough to go around something or block of a chunk of battlefield. Still, this means you can buy exactly the number of walls you want to make your piece or atleast have several in small sections to rearrange depending on how you wish to set up your playing field for that scenario.
Chaos Dreadhold: Skull Keep: This is a basic tower, full of skulls and spikes like the rest of the Dreadhold pieces. The tower seems to be about 3-4 standard models tall with a small balcony on the second floor and room up top to put a few units. $75 seems a bit pricey for it's size, the Ophidian Gateway was a little more than half and was a very large piece, granted it was a mostly flat wall compared to whole tower.
Chaos Dreadhold: Malefic Gate: This $100 terrain piece might actually be the best value of the 4 different kits. You are essentially getting two Fortress Walls (already $50) attached to a gate piece (that opens and closes on two swinging hinges). It has places to join it to other Dreadhold kits and would look fairly impressive with two Skull Keeps on the ends.
Chaos Dreadhold: Overlord Bastion: Finally, the Overlord Bastion is a jacked up Skull Keep. $130 gets you a Skull Keep with an additional floor, a wall piece, and a set of stairs leading up the wall. It looks rather nice and you're basically paying $30 for an additional level of keep and stairs, which is about right in GW pricing.
The Terrain is an interesting feature and I would be much more excited for it if I hadn't already gotten earlier terrain pieces. The ones I've had so far are not that good, made of inferior plastic and suffering from poor joining edges (gaps and the like), which I'll discuss when I go to review it. For now, I'll be seeing what other reivews pop up about this terrain and if it's of similar quality before I invest too hard into, despite the over-the-top skull-and-spike-laden silliness that is Khorne architecture.
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 82: Unsurprisingly, this is yet another AoS focused White Dwarf. The blurb mostly focuses on the Chaos Dreadhold range of terrain pieces being released, as they are also the obvious focus of this week. There is some mention on discussing the Grand Alliances as well.
Battletome: Chaos Dreadhold: This is new, and quite odd. Until I get my hands on this, I'm not sure really what this is. From what I can tell, this is a smaller version of the Big Books they've released so far. Like the large books, this will have warscrolls, ficiton, and scenarios, but won't be moving the storyline forward. This mostly focuses on using the Dreadhold terrain kits, obviously, and will put them in the Realms in the fiction. 80-pages at $33 isn't horrible and it seems to feature the same stunning artwork we've seen so far.
Fiction
The Realmgate Wars: Ghal Maraz: The pattern GW seems to be going for is to release a Big Book/Scenario Book that gives you the background and scenarios for the ongoing fiction and then release actual fiction that features those scenarios. The Gates of Azyr detailed the scenarios in the Starter Set, War Storm covers the battles in the first Big Book and now we have Ghal Maraz. I'm going to assume that this fiction covers the scenarios and battles from The Search for Ghal Maraz Big Book.
Khorne Bloodbound
Blood Warriors: The only units up for pre-order this week, the Blood Warriors are the heavy infantry for Khorne. For $62 dollars you get enough parts to make 10 Blood Warriors with a variety of options, including a Champion and Icon Bearer. Not a bad deal compared to the price of some of the heavy Eternal infantry.
Terrain
The Terrain is a tricky thing, looking at GW's page, there are no less than 13 different variations of the Chaos Deadhold terrain kits, with prices ranging from $25 to $1,120! Once you sift through it all, you find that most of these are bundles, various parts the can be combined into the look shown. There are only 4 actual pieces that are different.
Chaos Dreadhold: Fortress Wall: The smallest piece available at $25, this is just a basic wall section. It's not much on it's own, and you'd need several pieces to make a wall that's actually big enough to go around something or block of a chunk of battlefield. Still, this means you can buy exactly the number of walls you want to make your piece or atleast have several in small sections to rearrange depending on how you wish to set up your playing field for that scenario.
Chaos Dreadhold: Skull Keep: This is a basic tower, full of skulls and spikes like the rest of the Dreadhold pieces. The tower seems to be about 3-4 standard models tall with a small balcony on the second floor and room up top to put a few units. $75 seems a bit pricey for it's size, the Ophidian Gateway was a little more than half and was a very large piece, granted it was a mostly flat wall compared to whole tower.
Chaos Dreadhold: Malefic Gate: This $100 terrain piece might actually be the best value of the 4 different kits. You are essentially getting two Fortress Walls (already $50) attached to a gate piece (that opens and closes on two swinging hinges). It has places to join it to other Dreadhold kits and would look fairly impressive with two Skull Keeps on the ends.
Chaos Dreadhold: Overlord Bastion: Finally, the Overlord Bastion is a jacked up Skull Keep. $130 gets you a Skull Keep with an additional floor, a wall piece, and a set of stairs leading up the wall. It looks rather nice and you're basically paying $30 for an additional level of keep and stairs, which is about right in GW pricing.
The Terrain is an interesting feature and I would be much more excited for it if I hadn't already gotten earlier terrain pieces. The ones I've had so far are not that good, made of inferior plastic and suffering from poor joining edges (gaps and the like), which I'll discuss when I go to review it. For now, I'll be seeing what other reivews pop up about this terrain and if it's of similar quality before I invest too hard into, despite the over-the-top skull-and-spike-laden silliness that is Khorne architecture.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Review: White Dwarf 77
Issue 77 of White Dwarf continues to stay firmly focused in the Age of Sigmar, this is the final issue that is dishing out previews of the whole Age of Sigmar universe as this was released the same time as the Age of Sigmar Big Book. So what's inside? Let's see.
The cover depicts the Lord-Castellant, the sole pre-order figure for the week as the two terrain pieces were the stars of the pre-order show. While the actual Lord is supposed to be the star of the show, the Gryph-Hound is the most striking figure to me. The back cover has the same Lord-Castellant surrounded by some Retributors with some fun lighting tricks that highlights his lantern while keeping everyone else in the dark.
This inside cover continues pushing the Eternals vs. Bloodbound struggle as so far that's all we've been exposed to. A pitch about what's inside and the table of contents standard continues here.
First up we have our sales pitches! Two pages are given to the Lord-Castellant and his Gryph-Hound. This follows the standard we've seen in all the other issues for the sales. We get a bit of text selling the model both as what the unit is within the universe and what the model looks like. As well as many close-up shots with side text that either gives a sentence of lore or the model itself.
Next, each piece of new scenery for pre-order gets a page to sell them as well. The shots of them assembled and painted with the models around them looks great. The models themselves... well they'll get their review in time.
Next is a two-page Forge World article showing off some of their (highly pricey, even for GW) models. They're both 40K, so we'll move along.
Our big article for this issue is a 10 page spread on the Forces of Chaos. With Order getting their article last week, Chaos gets their day. The first page is a huge spread of Bloodbound, including many models we haven't seen yet and then it follows with pages on each of the five factions for Chaos. Khorne, as the lead Chaos army for AoS, get two pages, while the other Big 3 else gets a single one. There's not much new here if you have any knowledge of Warhammer beforehand, but it serves as a good primer for the uninitiated. Also, you get a great look at some of the models for each faction, they may be repainted/rebased older models, but if you're new to Warhammer in general, they're all new and exciting. There are some new bits in there, firstly, it mentions that Slaanesh is missing, that he was stolen away some point early in AoS's story. Also, the Skaven are firmly attached as members of the Chaos Grand Alliance. Two pages get dedicated to them and they mention how they can burrow into each Realm from their Blight City that hangs on the edge of the Realms of Chaos. Again, there is some great shots of models in their article, but not a huge amount content if you know anything about Warhammer in the past.
After this we have a 'Eavy Metal article, showing off some awesome paint jobs on both a Chimera and Tyranid Warrior. These don't really apply to AoS either, so moving along.
Next we have a two page spread entitled Warriors of the Broken World. This is two page spread of mostly model shots that has a small bit of text of the standard mortals that have been compelled to fight in the Realmgate Wars. Featured are the warrior-zealots that live in Azyrheim, willing to follow the Eternals into the other Realms to take them back. There is an awesome model of a War Altar with a huge hammer wielding griffon as well as many religious looking zealots ready to fight. It's nice to see some standard mortals around the Eternals, it makes the Eternals look bigger and more majestic and shows that not only they are fighting for Sigmar.
The Sprues and Glue article is three pages and shows not only how to assemble the Ophidian Archway but how to combine multiple ones in a few ways to make modular terrain. It's nothing groundbreaking, but continues the tradition of showing some basic wargaming/painting/assembling tips for new players.
After that we get three pages of Warscrolls, the standard intro page and a Scroll for both the Lord-Castellant and Gryph-Hounds. Once again, they'll get looked at during the review of the model itself.
The Week in White Dwarf is our round-up of random things again, a collection of both wargaming things and lore bits. As related to AoS, there is a small piece on how to paint the Ophidian Archways, a small article on the fun the rules for Baleful Realmgates brings to the table, and a small side bar of lore about the ruins that exist throughout the mortal Realms. Munitorum Report, the up/down arrow sidebar, focuses on the Lord-Castellant of course, and gives 4 quick facts about him related to the lore and a small article shows an awesome paint job on the Gryph-Hound that makes it look even cooler than I already thought. This is mixed with a few 40K and old warhammer paint/lore pieces, but all very small.
Finally, the Regiments of Renown shows off a few Leman Russ tanks for 40K with a Next Issue stinger about The Forces of Destruction.
A few more 40K articles crept in this week, but very very small amount of content. This is once again an AoS issue and still a lot of introductive text. The basic look at the Forces of Chaos and the promise of the Forces of Descruction to come, we continue to tour the basic structure of the forces of AoS. Still another good issue if you're AoS centric like myself.
This inside cover continues pushing the Eternals vs. Bloodbound struggle as so far that's all we've been exposed to. A pitch about what's inside and the table of contents standard continues here.
First up we have our sales pitches! Two pages are given to the Lord-Castellant and his Gryph-Hound. This follows the standard we've seen in all the other issues for the sales. We get a bit of text selling the model both as what the unit is within the universe and what the model looks like. As well as many close-up shots with side text that either gives a sentence of lore or the model itself.
Next, each piece of new scenery for pre-order gets a page to sell them as well. The shots of them assembled and painted with the models around them looks great. The models themselves... well they'll get their review in time.
Next is a two-page Forge World article showing off some of their (highly pricey, even for GW) models. They're both 40K, so we'll move along.
Our big article for this issue is a 10 page spread on the Forces of Chaos. With Order getting their article last week, Chaos gets their day. The first page is a huge spread of Bloodbound, including many models we haven't seen yet and then it follows with pages on each of the five factions for Chaos. Khorne, as the lead Chaos army for AoS, get two pages, while the other Big 3 else gets a single one. There's not much new here if you have any knowledge of Warhammer beforehand, but it serves as a good primer for the uninitiated. Also, you get a great look at some of the models for each faction, they may be repainted/rebased older models, but if you're new to Warhammer in general, they're all new and exciting. There are some new bits in there, firstly, it mentions that Slaanesh is missing, that he was stolen away some point early in AoS's story. Also, the Skaven are firmly attached as members of the Chaos Grand Alliance. Two pages get dedicated to them and they mention how they can burrow into each Realm from their Blight City that hangs on the edge of the Realms of Chaos. Again, there is some great shots of models in their article, but not a huge amount content if you know anything about Warhammer in the past.
After this we have a 'Eavy Metal article, showing off some awesome paint jobs on both a Chimera and Tyranid Warrior. These don't really apply to AoS either, so moving along.
Next we have a two page spread entitled Warriors of the Broken World. This is two page spread of mostly model shots that has a small bit of text of the standard mortals that have been compelled to fight in the Realmgate Wars. Featured are the warrior-zealots that live in Azyrheim, willing to follow the Eternals into the other Realms to take them back. There is an awesome model of a War Altar with a huge hammer wielding griffon as well as many religious looking zealots ready to fight. It's nice to see some standard mortals around the Eternals, it makes the Eternals look bigger and more majestic and shows that not only they are fighting for Sigmar.
The Sprues and Glue article is three pages and shows not only how to assemble the Ophidian Archway but how to combine multiple ones in a few ways to make modular terrain. It's nothing groundbreaking, but continues the tradition of showing some basic wargaming/painting/assembling tips for new players.
After that we get three pages of Warscrolls, the standard intro page and a Scroll for both the Lord-Castellant and Gryph-Hounds. Once again, they'll get looked at during the review of the model itself.
The Week in White Dwarf is our round-up of random things again, a collection of both wargaming things and lore bits. As related to AoS, there is a small piece on how to paint the Ophidian Archways, a small article on the fun the rules for Baleful Realmgates brings to the table, and a small side bar of lore about the ruins that exist throughout the mortal Realms. Munitorum Report, the up/down arrow sidebar, focuses on the Lord-Castellant of course, and gives 4 quick facts about him related to the lore and a small article shows an awesome paint job on the Gryph-Hound that makes it look even cooler than I already thought. This is mixed with a few 40K and old warhammer paint/lore pieces, but all very small.
Finally, the Regiments of Renown shows off a few Leman Russ tanks for 40K with a Next Issue stinger about The Forces of Destruction.
A few more 40K articles crept in this week, but very very small amount of content. This is once again an AoS issue and still a lot of introductive text. The basic look at the Forces of Chaos and the promise of the Forces of Descruction to come, we continue to tour the basic structure of the forces of AoS. Still another good issue if you're AoS centric like myself.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Weekly Shopping List: Week 7, Part 2
Just as I finish my review for Part 1 of The Black Rift of Klaxus, Black Library drops Part 2.
In the Walls of Uryx continues our tale and seems to focus more on the Bloodbound side of things as the sales pitch says:
"Get your first look at the rituals of the Khorne Bloodbound. Find out why Slaughterpriests are so exalted (and badass) and why there have to be eight champions in a warband - and what someone has to go through to become one of those eight. Watch out – it's gonna get messy."
If this focuses more on the main characters of the Bloodbound and less on the big scale fights of the Eternals, I'm excited. That was my favorite portion of the first story and I eagerly look forward to more.
Also, as a quick aside, I'm finally done with all of Week 2 releases (we're currently at Week 7, with Week 8 on pre-release) and moving into Week 3. Yes, I'm more than a month behind, but I'm one guy doing this for fun, so patience is appreciated. A lot fo fun stuff to tackle in Week 3 as well, especially looking at the Age of Sigmar Big Book! Stay tuned.
In the Walls of Uryx continues our tale and seems to focus more on the Bloodbound side of things as the sales pitch says:
"Get your first look at the rituals of the Khorne Bloodbound. Find out why Slaughterpriests are so exalted (and badass) and why there have to be eight champions in a warband - and what someone has to go through to become one of those eight. Watch out – it's gonna get messy."
If this focuses more on the main characters of the Bloodbound and less on the big scale fights of the Eternals, I'm excited. That was my favorite portion of the first story and I eagerly look forward to more.
Also, as a quick aside, I'm finally done with all of Week 2 releases (we're currently at Week 7, with Week 8 on pre-release) and moving into Week 3. Yes, I'm more than a month behind, but I'm one guy doing this for fun, so patience is appreciated. A lot fo fun stuff to tackle in Week 3 as well, especially looking at the Age of Sigmar Big Book! Stay tuned.
Review: The Black Rift of Klaxus Part 1: Assault on the Mandrake Bastion
Assault on the Mandrake Bastion is the first part of The Black Rift of Klaxus saga and is written by Josh Reynolds. It is what Black Library is calling a "Quick Read," there version of a short story. It's about 30 digital pages (depending on the orientation and set-up of your e-reader of choice).
So, how is it? Let's find out. Spoilers below the jump!
So, how is it? Let's find out. Spoilers below the jump!
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Weekly Shopping List: Week 7
Another new week, another batch of pre-orders! I'm going to have to get through my materials fast to catch-up here.
This week, Nurgle Re-Packs seem to dominate the stage, with only one real new piece coming out. It's nice to see another new AoS army starting to get their pieces together, but man, after a slow few weeks of all Eternals, this is moving fast!
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 81: This issue looks to be all Chaos, if the blurb is to be believed. Though 40K actually gets a shout-out, so the domination of AoS in WD may be coming to an end. Still, with new releases every week focusing on Age of Sigmar, I doubt AoS articles aren't the majority of the coverage.
Khorne Bloodbound
Exalted Deathbringer: The sole Khorne model is the Exatled Deathbringer, certainly has a proper Khorne name. This beefy Hero unit has a huge axe, a huge set of claws, huge horns, everything Khorne would like (could use more skulls though). It's an impressive looking model (a bit goofy, but in proper Khorne fashion) for $28, seems like a better deal than our Week 2 Lord-Celestant atleast.
Nurgle Rotbringers
Bloab Rotspawned/Morbidex Twiceborn/Orghott Daemonspew: Another model kit that can be assembled into a variety of models, this $76 dollar piece represents one of three general types riding atop a foul beast. Each one slightly different than the other, however they're all named units, meaning you don't need to get a group of these guys to represent cavalry. Still, if you wanted a full collection of all three, it would cost your a pretty penny.
Festus The Leechlord: A named character that has some great character. From the nurgling stuffing body parts in his backpack to the poor soul being rotted away with acid, this is a cool character model. $19.25 will net you this guy and that's not bad at all.
The Glottkin: Nurgle's big boy model, the Glottkin is a $109 large model and the most expensive for AoS so far. Apparently a group of triplets, it consists of one massive model that two brothers ride on top of. It's certainly impressive looking and would obviously stand out on the table.
Gutrot Spume: A named general type, this $26 dollar model is of a unit going mid-mutation. Half of his body is tentacles and mawed beaks, while the rest is a bloated mortal. It's another dynamic piece that just looks awesome.
Harbinger of Decay: This is a great looking piece, though seemingly pricey at $40. This mounted unit looks great, especially the desiccated horse he rides upon. The rider himself looks fantastic, the price makes it tough to love, especially for a single mounted unit of standard size, but the sculpt is great.
Lord of Plagues: A generic general if you don't want to use any of the named characters, this is your classic Nurgle follower. The bloated body pitted with disease and exposed guys, the helm covering the face, it's all there. For $14.75 you can make your own general for the Rotbringers.
Putrid Blightkings: These are the heavy infantry for the Rotbrings, all fantastically mutated and bloated with disease. Like the Blood Warriors for Khorne, these guys represent the top tier grunts of Nurgle. $55 will let you assemble 5, but they have a lot more variation than the Blood Warriors, allowing for more distinctive looking units.
Rotbringers Sorcerer: The wizard unit for the Rotbringers, a standard cloaked and bloated character. He's $15 for a single model, around the price for most of the Caster/Hero models of a standard mortal scale.
Of note is the two Rotbringer bundles up for pre-order. Usually I don't mention them because they contain nothing new, but there are different. One offers Nurglings and the other Chaos Spawn, neither of which are offered separately under the new Faction. While you can get them under the Old World Daemons of Chaos faction, they're not yet ready for the Rotbringers. Waiting for new packaging perhaps?
That's Week 7, an expensive Week if you're going full collection, The Glottkin alone is pricey. However, you can get a good handle on your Rotbringer army in one go if that's what you want to play, though you are missing some basic infantry unit types still.
This week, Nurgle Re-Packs seem to dominate the stage, with only one real new piece coming out. It's nice to see another new AoS army starting to get their pieces together, but man, after a slow few weeks of all Eternals, this is moving fast!
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 81: This issue looks to be all Chaos, if the blurb is to be believed. Though 40K actually gets a shout-out, so the domination of AoS in WD may be coming to an end. Still, with new releases every week focusing on Age of Sigmar, I doubt AoS articles aren't the majority of the coverage.
Khorne Bloodbound
Exalted Deathbringer: The sole Khorne model is the Exatled Deathbringer, certainly has a proper Khorne name. This beefy Hero unit has a huge axe, a huge set of claws, huge horns, everything Khorne would like (could use more skulls though). It's an impressive looking model (a bit goofy, but in proper Khorne fashion) for $28, seems like a better deal than our Week 2 Lord-Celestant atleast.
Nurgle Rotbringers
Bloab Rotspawned/Morbidex Twiceborn/Orghott Daemonspew: Another model kit that can be assembled into a variety of models, this $76 dollar piece represents one of three general types riding atop a foul beast. Each one slightly different than the other, however they're all named units, meaning you don't need to get a group of these guys to represent cavalry. Still, if you wanted a full collection of all three, it would cost your a pretty penny.
Festus The Leechlord: A named character that has some great character. From the nurgling stuffing body parts in his backpack to the poor soul being rotted away with acid, this is a cool character model. $19.25 will net you this guy and that's not bad at all.
The Glottkin: Nurgle's big boy model, the Glottkin is a $109 large model and the most expensive for AoS so far. Apparently a group of triplets, it consists of one massive model that two brothers ride on top of. It's certainly impressive looking and would obviously stand out on the table.
Gutrot Spume: A named general type, this $26 dollar model is of a unit going mid-mutation. Half of his body is tentacles and mawed beaks, while the rest is a bloated mortal. It's another dynamic piece that just looks awesome.
Harbinger of Decay: This is a great looking piece, though seemingly pricey at $40. This mounted unit looks great, especially the desiccated horse he rides upon. The rider himself looks fantastic, the price makes it tough to love, especially for a single mounted unit of standard size, but the sculpt is great.
Lord of Plagues: A generic general if you don't want to use any of the named characters, this is your classic Nurgle follower. The bloated body pitted with disease and exposed guys, the helm covering the face, it's all there. For $14.75 you can make your own general for the Rotbringers.
Putrid Blightkings: These are the heavy infantry for the Rotbrings, all fantastically mutated and bloated with disease. Like the Blood Warriors for Khorne, these guys represent the top tier grunts of Nurgle. $55 will let you assemble 5, but they have a lot more variation than the Blood Warriors, allowing for more distinctive looking units.
Rotbringers Sorcerer: The wizard unit for the Rotbringers, a standard cloaked and bloated character. He's $15 for a single model, around the price for most of the Caster/Hero models of a standard mortal scale.
Of note is the two Rotbringer bundles up for pre-order. Usually I don't mention them because they contain nothing new, but there are different. One offers Nurglings and the other Chaos Spawn, neither of which are offered separately under the new Faction. While you can get them under the Old World Daemons of Chaos faction, they're not yet ready for the Rotbringers. Waiting for new packaging perhaps?
That's Week 7, an expensive Week if you're going full collection, The Glottkin alone is pricey. However, you can get a good handle on your Rotbringer army in one go if that's what you want to play, though you are missing some basic infantry unit types still.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Review: White Dwarf 76
White Dwarf 76 is the first White Dwarf to be released with actual Age of Sigmar product coming out. As White Dwarf 75 was more of a preview for an upcoming game, White Dwarf 76 is coming out with the Box Set. So let's take a look at issue 76.
The cover of 76 shows off the first set of Stormcast Eternal sets available to purchase. Front and center is the Lord-Celestant (unmounted) and behind him a unit of Liberators. Note the blurry terrain piece in the background? And upcoming release perhaps... The back cover has the same Eternals from the front, plus the three Retributors from the box set in a tight circle while surrounded by hordes of Bloodreavers.
The inside cover has a large shot of the two armies we know and love well already facing off. There are a lot more of them than what you'd get in a box set, but it's the same models. A small bit of text once again sets up the basics of Age of Sigmar from a story level.
The first articles are a look at the New Releases, the Liberators and Lord-Celestant. The Liberators get 4 pages and the Lord-Celestant gets 2. For the most part, they're sales pitches, with lots of shots of the models and lots of talk about what you get if you buy them. Again, there is a little lore tucked in the text call-outs, but these are much more bent on selling the models. On a plus side, you get a few nice shots of the various Stormhosts as paint on a model as opposed to just the drawings we've seen so far.
Next we get 4 pages on the Age of Sigmar big book, including a small description of what's inside and a few shots of two page spreads, but small enough you can't really read about them. After that, another 2 pages of sales pitches. The dice shakers, combat gauge and limited edition Big Book get a few paragraphs and a picture each to try to sell them.
Finally, on page 14, we have our first actual article! Codex: Apocrypha is an article that aims to explore various background elements of the game (and 40K when applicable) and our first one is about Azyrheim, The Eternal City. This is the capital of Azyr, originally a shining beacon of Sigmar's rule, but now a bastion for the refugees of all the Realms. This is a short 4-page article, explaining how Azyrheim came to be and what it is now. There are only 3 images for it, but each are painted and gorgeous, the art of AoS has yet to disappoint. There is some fun lore drops here, as a side bar talks about some of the stories the refugees have as they come into the city. There names are dropped of various Realms, races, and battles, each one begging to have more information revealed.
Next we get The Forces of Order, a look at some of the Factions that are part of the Grand Alliance of Order. This is a 7 page article, peppered with more gorgeous art and many "models in battle" shots we've seen across the board. The Stormcast Eternals get a full page about them again, as they are the premier army up to this point, but there is also a talk about The Great Alliance. This details how Sigmar originally had formed a pact with all the various important players in AoS and how both Nagash and Gorkamoka broke off, forming the Death and Destruction Alliances respectively. There is also a small mention of the Seraphon, the Lizardmen of AoS, and their role as independents through they share the same enemies as the Alliance of Order. Finally Sylvaneth gets a page, as they are the next upcoming Order army and a few models are shown off, facing units of Nurgle.
The Warscrolls section offers up two warscrolls for the Liberators and Lord-Celestant. These I'll talk about with the models themselves, but once again, a printed version of the Scrolls are made available.
After that, The Week in White Dwarf is 4 pages of random information. There's a bit on how to use the Battleplans that are in the Big Book and another sell of Lord-Celestants. There's a small paragraph about how the weapons and armor of the Eternals are made, with lore bits about the Six Smiths in the Sigmarabulum and how they combine the divine storm with ore made of Sigmarite (mined from the remnants of the World that Was). A painting article goes through the colors used to make the Hallowed Knights Stormhost (the Silver and Blue host) and a few shots of other color schemes for your Eternals. A small sidebar gives a few more bites of lore about three Realms and there's a small shot of the Khorgorath.
Finally, the last page shows off the Reader's Model of the Week, an Imperial Knight for 40K. While Impressively done, it's not related to AoS, the only page to do so.
This issue was much more a hard sell than the first. While the first one was full of lore and setting-up the initial push for AoS, this issue wants to talk about what you can buy all the more. The bits of lore are very interesting, but also very few in comparison to the first issue. Still, there is a good amount of meat there and was a good, if quick, read.
The inside cover has a large shot of the two armies we know and love well already facing off. There are a lot more of them than what you'd get in a box set, but it's the same models. A small bit of text once again sets up the basics of Age of Sigmar from a story level.
The first articles are a look at the New Releases, the Liberators and Lord-Celestant. The Liberators get 4 pages and the Lord-Celestant gets 2. For the most part, they're sales pitches, with lots of shots of the models and lots of talk about what you get if you buy them. Again, there is a little lore tucked in the text call-outs, but these are much more bent on selling the models. On a plus side, you get a few nice shots of the various Stormhosts as paint on a model as opposed to just the drawings we've seen so far.
Next we get 4 pages on the Age of Sigmar big book, including a small description of what's inside and a few shots of two page spreads, but small enough you can't really read about them. After that, another 2 pages of sales pitches. The dice shakers, combat gauge and limited edition Big Book get a few paragraphs and a picture each to try to sell them.
Finally, on page 14, we have our first actual article! Codex: Apocrypha is an article that aims to explore various background elements of the game (and 40K when applicable) and our first one is about Azyrheim, The Eternal City. This is the capital of Azyr, originally a shining beacon of Sigmar's rule, but now a bastion for the refugees of all the Realms. This is a short 4-page article, explaining how Azyrheim came to be and what it is now. There are only 3 images for it, but each are painted and gorgeous, the art of AoS has yet to disappoint. There is some fun lore drops here, as a side bar talks about some of the stories the refugees have as they come into the city. There names are dropped of various Realms, races, and battles, each one begging to have more information revealed.
Next we get The Forces of Order, a look at some of the Factions that are part of the Grand Alliance of Order. This is a 7 page article, peppered with more gorgeous art and many "models in battle" shots we've seen across the board. The Stormcast Eternals get a full page about them again, as they are the premier army up to this point, but there is also a talk about The Great Alliance. This details how Sigmar originally had formed a pact with all the various important players in AoS and how both Nagash and Gorkamoka broke off, forming the Death and Destruction Alliances respectively. There is also a small mention of the Seraphon, the Lizardmen of AoS, and their role as independents through they share the same enemies as the Alliance of Order. Finally Sylvaneth gets a page, as they are the next upcoming Order army and a few models are shown off, facing units of Nurgle.
The Warscrolls section offers up two warscrolls for the Liberators and Lord-Celestant. These I'll talk about with the models themselves, but once again, a printed version of the Scrolls are made available.
After that, The Week in White Dwarf is 4 pages of random information. There's a bit on how to use the Battleplans that are in the Big Book and another sell of Lord-Celestants. There's a small paragraph about how the weapons and armor of the Eternals are made, with lore bits about the Six Smiths in the Sigmarabulum and how they combine the divine storm with ore made of Sigmarite (mined from the remnants of the World that Was). A painting article goes through the colors used to make the Hallowed Knights Stormhost (the Silver and Blue host) and a few shots of other color schemes for your Eternals. A small sidebar gives a few more bites of lore about three Realms and there's a small shot of the Khorgorath.
Finally, the last page shows off the Reader's Model of the Week, an Imperial Knight for 40K. While Impressively done, it's not related to AoS, the only page to do so.
This issue was much more a hard sell than the first. While the first one was full of lore and setting-up the initial push for AoS, this issue wants to talk about what you can buy all the more. The bits of lore are very interesting, but also very few in comparison to the first issue. Still, there is a good amount of meat there and was a good, if quick, read.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Weekly Shopping List: Week 6, Part 2
Just a quick update, as another piece of fiction has been released.
This is the second part of the 8-Part Quick Read series called The Realmgate Wars - Call of Archaon.
Part 2 is entitled Eye of the Storm and this time we follow a servant of Tzeentch named Zuvius.
It seems each chapter follows a different Chaos God follower, I'm curious if the Great Horned Rat will be featured and where they go once we get a story on each one? Will there be a story that ties them all together? I suppose we'll find out over time.
This is the second part of the 8-Part Quick Read series called The Realmgate Wars - Call of Archaon.
Part 2 is entitled Eye of the Storm and this time we follow a servant of Tzeentch named Zuvius.
It seems each chapter follows a different Chaos God follower, I'm curious if the Great Horned Rat will be featured and where they go once we get a story on each one? Will there be a story that ties them all together? I suppose we'll find out over time.
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Weekly Shopping List: Week 6
Another week, another batch of preorders and another new faction shows up! To top that off, there is no Stormcast Eternals releases this week.
Also, this week, I'm going to stop listing my Haves/Wants/Getting as the lists are getting huge and I added them to the side of the blog for ease of looking.
Anyway, enough chatter, let's see what's for sale:
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 80: WD80 marks the first issue for their new digital launch. Instead of just being an ebook, this issue begins the actual integration as a separate app. But, I prefer my stuff physical when I can, so I'll be getting it that way. According to the blurb, this issue mainly seems to just be pimping the items that are on pre-order, as every pitch seems to be about what's coming below.
The Realmgate Wars: The Quest for Ghal Maraz: Our second big hardback after only a month. This one seems to have a a full subtitle and... sub-subtitle as opposed to the generic Age of Sigmar title on the first book. Like the previous book, this one moves the story forward and allows players to play out scenarios from the book's story. Focusing one both the Realm of Life and Realm of Metal, we seem to be moving away from the Eternals vs. Bloodbound feud, though plenty of mention of Eternals are here as well. Once again, this is available as both a limited edition and regular one.
Khorne Bloodbound
Bloodreavers: Like the Eternals, the first release for the Bloodbound is the grunts. The Bloodreavers box comes with enough pieces to build 20 Reavers, with full command and option of two weapon types. For $58 this is a great number of models, especially compared to the Eternal releases.
Skaven Pestilens
Plague Monks: The base line troops for the Pestilens, we get 20 plague monks and a variety of weapons and banner types. As smaller units, these only take $35, so once again the value here looks great.
Plague Priest: A caster, similar to the branchwraith, this is a single model for $15. A particularly gruesome (in a good way) looking model, this is another "Finecast" model be re-released under new branding.
Plague Censer Bearers: A two model pack, the Censer Bearers continue the plague look running through the Pestilens series.
Plague Furnace: One of the huge Pestilen vehicles, the Plague Furnace is a haphazardly slapped together rolling vehicle of disease. The model looks fantastic with a lot of character and motion. This can also technically be built as a Screaming Bell as well, though the vehicle isn't for the faction (and isn't reflected in the new warscrolls)
Plagueclaw: Another vehicle, while not as big and menacing as the Furnace, is still impressive looking. Especially with the large warpstone bottom and skaven in gas masks. Much cheaper than the Furnace (and the same price as the Celestant), this seems like another model that is of key value.
That wraps up Week 6, a lot more diversifying these past two weeks, we'll see where it goes next week.
Also, this week, I'm going to stop listing my Haves/Wants/Getting as the lists are getting huge and I added them to the side of the blog for ease of looking.
Anyway, enough chatter, let's see what's for sale:
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 80: WD80 marks the first issue for their new digital launch. Instead of just being an ebook, this issue begins the actual integration as a separate app. But, I prefer my stuff physical when I can, so I'll be getting it that way. According to the blurb, this issue mainly seems to just be pimping the items that are on pre-order, as every pitch seems to be about what's coming below.
The Realmgate Wars: The Quest for Ghal Maraz: Our second big hardback after only a month. This one seems to have a a full subtitle and... sub-subtitle as opposed to the generic Age of Sigmar title on the first book. Like the previous book, this one moves the story forward and allows players to play out scenarios from the book's story. Focusing one both the Realm of Life and Realm of Metal, we seem to be moving away from the Eternals vs. Bloodbound feud, though plenty of mention of Eternals are here as well. Once again, this is available as both a limited edition and regular one.
Khorne Bloodbound
Bloodreavers: Like the Eternals, the first release for the Bloodbound is the grunts. The Bloodreavers box comes with enough pieces to build 20 Reavers, with full command and option of two weapon types. For $58 this is a great number of models, especially compared to the Eternal releases.
Skaven Pestilens
Plague Monks: The base line troops for the Pestilens, we get 20 plague monks and a variety of weapons and banner types. As smaller units, these only take $35, so once again the value here looks great.
Plague Priest: A caster, similar to the branchwraith, this is a single model for $15. A particularly gruesome (in a good way) looking model, this is another "Finecast" model be re-released under new branding.
Plague Censer Bearers: A two model pack, the Censer Bearers continue the plague look running through the Pestilens series.
Plague Furnace: One of the huge Pestilen vehicles, the Plague Furnace is a haphazardly slapped together rolling vehicle of disease. The model looks fantastic with a lot of character and motion. This can also technically be built as a Screaming Bell as well, though the vehicle isn't for the faction (and isn't reflected in the new warscrolls)
Plagueclaw: Another vehicle, while not as big and menacing as the Furnace, is still impressive looking. Especially with the large warpstone bottom and skaven in gas masks. Much cheaper than the Furnace (and the same price as the Celestant), this seems like another model that is of key value.
That wraps up Week 6, a lot more diversifying these past two weeks, we'll see where it goes next week.
Review: Age of Sigmar Painting Guide
The Painting Guide for Age of Sigmar is mostly what it sounds like exactly in the title. However, there is a few bits of lore takes up the front quarter of the book.
As a Painting Guide, it's no surprise that most of the pictures in the book are of the painted models. There is a little bit of actual art (mostly recycled from other sources), but for the most part we see the models of the Starter Set posed and painted by the gurus of the 'eavy Metal team.
The first 30 pages are mostly a model showcase, but does offer an interesting bit of lore. They officially name the various retinues and tribes and give a bit of information about them. For the Eternals, we can gleam the name of each Prime, as each retinue is named after him. For the Goretide we learn the name of two tribes of Bloodreavers and the name of the character units. This isn't a huge lore dump, isn't necessary to enrich the game as a whole, but I think it's a nice touch. Lore hounds like myself learn something new about the starter set models, even if it's not much.
The rest of the book is the actual painting guide. You get several close up photos of various parts of every model unit as well as which paint to use, layer by layer. You can paint every model in your starter set using this guide as all the parts of each model are detailed and every paint you need to use is there.
The one complain I have is that it doesn't provide any basic techniques for painting. If Age of Sigmar is your first foray into model building and painting, this won't guide you through basics. While the first White Dwarf covered some very basic model building, the opportunity is missing here. It tells you to wash and drybrush and highlight without explaining how to do that, it doesn't talk about thinning paints or using a palette or any thing basic like that. These are covered very well in the GW YouTube videos on how to paint models, but really should be included here as well.
Otherwise, this is a decent book that will give you a good reference to how to paint the Age of Sigmar Starter Set models the "official" colors. While it lacks some basic details, it provides plenty of close up shots to help you get your coloring right. There's a smidge of lore in there as well, so if you're a hardcore lore fan, it has something, but nothing substantial. It's by no means a required book, barely even an optional book, but it delivers mostly on what it says it will do.
As a Painting Guide, it's no surprise that most of the pictures in the book are of the painted models. There is a little bit of actual art (mostly recycled from other sources), but for the most part we see the models of the Starter Set posed and painted by the gurus of the 'eavy Metal team.
The first 30 pages are mostly a model showcase, but does offer an interesting bit of lore. They officially name the various retinues and tribes and give a bit of information about them. For the Eternals, we can gleam the name of each Prime, as each retinue is named after him. For the Goretide we learn the name of two tribes of Bloodreavers and the name of the character units. This isn't a huge lore dump, isn't necessary to enrich the game as a whole, but I think it's a nice touch. Lore hounds like myself learn something new about the starter set models, even if it's not much.
The rest of the book is the actual painting guide. You get several close up photos of various parts of every model unit as well as which paint to use, layer by layer. You can paint every model in your starter set using this guide as all the parts of each model are detailed and every paint you need to use is there.
The one complain I have is that it doesn't provide any basic techniques for painting. If Age of Sigmar is your first foray into model building and painting, this won't guide you through basics. While the first White Dwarf covered some very basic model building, the opportunity is missing here. It tells you to wash and drybrush and highlight without explaining how to do that, it doesn't talk about thinning paints or using a palette or any thing basic like that. These are covered very well in the GW YouTube videos on how to paint models, but really should be included here as well.
Otherwise, this is a decent book that will give you a good reference to how to paint the Age of Sigmar Starter Set models the "official" colors. While it lacks some basic details, it provides plenty of close up shots to help you get your coloring right. There's a smidge of lore in there as well, so if you're a hardcore lore fan, it has something, but nothing substantial. It's by no means a required book, barely even an optional book, but it delivers mostly on what it says it will do.
Lore Library: Starter Set Warscrolls Part 2
Next, we look at the Khorne Bloodbound starter warscrolls.
Mighty Lord of Khorne
As the leader of the Khorne starter set types, this unit obviously has command of his units much like the Lord-Celestant. Unlike the Eternals leader who's ability takes away their fear, the Lord of Khorne inspires his troops to be more bloodthirsty. His Gorelord ability allows them to pick the highest 2 of 3 dice when units within 24" charge, meaning they're more likely to succeed charging against the enemy. Besides that, he is gifted by Khorne with a collar in which he controls his Flesh Hound, a collar that allows him to unbind spells, as Khorne is no fan of magic. His most impressive feature is the Reality-Splitting Axe, an axe that has a chance to send any unit it attacks into the Realm of Khorne where he is set upon by its denizens and ripped apart. That's pretty impressive.
Bloodsecrators
The Bloodsecrator is somewhat a herald of Khorne. But he doesn't simply speak the name of his Dark God, he carries around a banner that, when planted, pulls the realm of Khorne onto the battlefield. This causes all wizard spells to be harder to accomplish and whips Khorne units into a frenzy (granting them an extra attack). He's not a melee powerhouse, his ability with an axe is pretty average, and he's vulnerable when attempting to first plant his banner to open the Portal of Skulls, but if he can, it can change the battlefield for Khorne's favor.
Khorgoraths
The Khorgorath are the first monstrous unit we've seen, a twisted creature wishing to devour the heads of it's enemies. It has tentacles made of bone that can reach out far in front of them (6" beyond the unit) and it's fearsome when it attacks (as seen with the Horrific Predator ability which subtracts Bravery from an enemy when the Khorgorath inflicts damage). It also helps sell it's head devouring desires as it heals when it kills a unit via the ability, Taker of Heads.
Bloodstoker
The Bloodstoker is tasked with both keeping the Khorgorath in line as well as whipping the other Khorne units into a frenzy. While it can use it's whip as a weapon with a bit of range, it's main use is to force the other Khorne units to push harder. By using Whipped into Frenzy, Khorne units around them can run an additional 3" as the lash of the Bloodstoker's whip pushes them forward.
Blood Warriors
Blood Warriors are those mortals that have served Khorne long enough and faithfully enough to be possessed by rage and gifted with ability. These units are bloodthirsty and fight to the very end, as shown from their abilities. No Respite allows them to make an attack as they die, trying to bring down their killers and Gorefists puts the weapon in their left hand to use as when they use it to block, it actually has a chance to inflict damage back on the attacker.
Bloodreavers
Bloodreavers are the savage masses of Khorne worshipers, the barbarous tribes that cry for blood. They are not well armored or armed, having to scrap together what they find, which are shown in their lower stats and complete lack of save if wounded. They can have an icon bearer to increase their bravery and hornblower that allows an extra inch to running and charging (pretty standard abilities for rank-and-file troops). While their weapons may be of poor quality, they are skilled with them, Reaver Blades allow for re-rolls on 1 to attack to make sure they hit. Also, they are particularly able to be frenzied, as just being around someone with a totem (even with none of it's abilities active) causes them to double their attacks.
Mighty Lord of Khorne
As the leader of the Khorne starter set types, this unit obviously has command of his units much like the Lord-Celestant. Unlike the Eternals leader who's ability takes away their fear, the Lord of Khorne inspires his troops to be more bloodthirsty. His Gorelord ability allows them to pick the highest 2 of 3 dice when units within 24" charge, meaning they're more likely to succeed charging against the enemy. Besides that, he is gifted by Khorne with a collar in which he controls his Flesh Hound, a collar that allows him to unbind spells, as Khorne is no fan of magic. His most impressive feature is the Reality-Splitting Axe, an axe that has a chance to send any unit it attacks into the Realm of Khorne where he is set upon by its denizens and ripped apart. That's pretty impressive.
Bloodsecrators
The Bloodsecrator is somewhat a herald of Khorne. But he doesn't simply speak the name of his Dark God, he carries around a banner that, when planted, pulls the realm of Khorne onto the battlefield. This causes all wizard spells to be harder to accomplish and whips Khorne units into a frenzy (granting them an extra attack). He's not a melee powerhouse, his ability with an axe is pretty average, and he's vulnerable when attempting to first plant his banner to open the Portal of Skulls, but if he can, it can change the battlefield for Khorne's favor.
Khorgoraths
The Khorgorath are the first monstrous unit we've seen, a twisted creature wishing to devour the heads of it's enemies. It has tentacles made of bone that can reach out far in front of them (6" beyond the unit) and it's fearsome when it attacks (as seen with the Horrific Predator ability which subtracts Bravery from an enemy when the Khorgorath inflicts damage). It also helps sell it's head devouring desires as it heals when it kills a unit via the ability, Taker of Heads.
Bloodstoker
The Bloodstoker is tasked with both keeping the Khorgorath in line as well as whipping the other Khorne units into a frenzy. While it can use it's whip as a weapon with a bit of range, it's main use is to force the other Khorne units to push harder. By using Whipped into Frenzy, Khorne units around them can run an additional 3" as the lash of the Bloodstoker's whip pushes them forward.
Blood Warriors
Blood Warriors are those mortals that have served Khorne long enough and faithfully enough to be possessed by rage and gifted with ability. These units are bloodthirsty and fight to the very end, as shown from their abilities. No Respite allows them to make an attack as they die, trying to bring down their killers and Gorefists puts the weapon in their left hand to use as when they use it to block, it actually has a chance to inflict damage back on the attacker.
Bloodreavers
Bloodreavers are the savage masses of Khorne worshipers, the barbarous tribes that cry for blood. They are not well armored or armed, having to scrap together what they find, which are shown in their lower stats and complete lack of save if wounded. They can have an icon bearer to increase their bravery and hornblower that allows an extra inch to running and charging (pretty standard abilities for rank-and-file troops). While their weapons may be of poor quality, they are skilled with them, Reaver Blades allow for re-rolls on 1 to attack to make sure they hit. Also, they are particularly able to be frenzied, as just being around someone with a totem (even with none of it's abilities active) causes them to double their attacks.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Lore Library: Starter Set Warscrolls Part 1
I believe I've stated enough that I tend towards lore before anything else. I'm interested even more so interested into how the lore is represented in the game. This does not just apply to making sure characters that appear in the lore are models you can play as, but what lore you can gain through the model's rules.
That said, the warscrolls are obviously the place where you can find that mixture of lore with rules. So each time I look at a model, I'll be looking at it's warscroll to see what lore we can pull off the abilities, as well as looking at the abilities themselves.
So let's see what the Starter Set has to offer:
Lord-Celestant on Dracoth
What can we learns about the Lord-Celestant from his warscroll? Firstly, he is the consummate battle leader, and most likely the pick of General when used in battle. The warscroll itself states they lead Stormhosts into battle and that combine with his Command Ability to make units around him ignore Battleshock tests helps solidify that.
He's not afraid to get in and do damage himself though, he's skilled, shown from the low target numbers for hitting and wounding. If he charges, he gets extra attacks, showing that he doesn't sit back and watch others fight for him.
His mount, the Dracoth, is a fierce fighter too. Not only does it have the ability to breath lightning upon the battlefield, but it's attacks are vicious, with the ability to do a staggering amount of damage on a high attack roll, as if it knows how to dig those teeth and claws into the weak points of an enemy.
Lord-Relictor
The Lord-Relictor are an interesting part of the Eternal armies. Their armor and reliquary are decked out in icons of death and their abilities seem to stem the Realm of Shyish itself. While an average hand-to-hand fighter, the Relictor's abilities with his Reliquary are his main draw.
He can both heal or harm those around him, either calling down a lightning storm or using the powers of the Realm of Death to get the Eternals back on their feet. It's called out quite explicitly in the fiction that a deal with Shyish and the purple magical energies from that realm are behind this magic which leads one to wonder what deals were struck to make that happen.
Prosecuters
Prosecutors are most certainly the fastest units in the Starter set, not just because of their increased movement, but because of their increase charge. They both get another D6 roll and can have a max of 18" on a charge. On top of that, they spawned magical hammers that they can either throw or use hand-to-hand. They are very much the Eternal's strikers. They can move in, striking as they go, charge in to strike, then move back out to another target.
Retributors
The heavy troops of the Eternals, their two-handed hammers are designed just to hit hard. Not only does each attack do 2 damage, but on a 6 to-hit, they do 2 Mortal Wounds, called Blast to Ashes. It's mentioned that their hammers are imbued with ensorcelled sigmarite that allows them to chanel the energy of storms then release them. This is certainly reflected in their attacks.
Liberators
Finally, we have the Liberators, the rank and file troops of the Eternals. While they are mostly regular troops, they have a few pieces of lore we can get from it. One, the Sigmarite Shields allowed re-rolls on 1 to Save, showing their superior construction to take hits. Also, there is the Lay Low the Tyrants ability, allowing them to better at hitting units with 5 or more Wounds. This shows that their training is meant to take down heavy hitters and important players of their enemies. While they can take out rank and file troops, their expertise is against specific important enemies, not masses of troops.
Next, we look at the forces of Khorne.
That said, the warscrolls are obviously the place where you can find that mixture of lore with rules. So each time I look at a model, I'll be looking at it's warscroll to see what lore we can pull off the abilities, as well as looking at the abilities themselves.
So let's see what the Starter Set has to offer:
Lord-Celestant on Dracoth
What can we learns about the Lord-Celestant from his warscroll? Firstly, he is the consummate battle leader, and most likely the pick of General when used in battle. The warscroll itself states they lead Stormhosts into battle and that combine with his Command Ability to make units around him ignore Battleshock tests helps solidify that.
He's not afraid to get in and do damage himself though, he's skilled, shown from the low target numbers for hitting and wounding. If he charges, he gets extra attacks, showing that he doesn't sit back and watch others fight for him.
His mount, the Dracoth, is a fierce fighter too. Not only does it have the ability to breath lightning upon the battlefield, but it's attacks are vicious, with the ability to do a staggering amount of damage on a high attack roll, as if it knows how to dig those teeth and claws into the weak points of an enemy.
Lord-Relictor
The Lord-Relictor are an interesting part of the Eternal armies. Their armor and reliquary are decked out in icons of death and their abilities seem to stem the Realm of Shyish itself. While an average hand-to-hand fighter, the Relictor's abilities with his Reliquary are his main draw.
He can both heal or harm those around him, either calling down a lightning storm or using the powers of the Realm of Death to get the Eternals back on their feet. It's called out quite explicitly in the fiction that a deal with Shyish and the purple magical energies from that realm are behind this magic which leads one to wonder what deals were struck to make that happen.
Prosecuters
Prosecutors are most certainly the fastest units in the Starter set, not just because of their increased movement, but because of their increase charge. They both get another D6 roll and can have a max of 18" on a charge. On top of that, they spawned magical hammers that they can either throw or use hand-to-hand. They are very much the Eternal's strikers. They can move in, striking as they go, charge in to strike, then move back out to another target.
Retributors
The heavy troops of the Eternals, their two-handed hammers are designed just to hit hard. Not only does each attack do 2 damage, but on a 6 to-hit, they do 2 Mortal Wounds, called Blast to Ashes. It's mentioned that their hammers are imbued with ensorcelled sigmarite that allows them to chanel the energy of storms then release them. This is certainly reflected in their attacks.
Liberators
Finally, we have the Liberators, the rank and file troops of the Eternals. While they are mostly regular troops, they have a few pieces of lore we can get from it. One, the Sigmarite Shields allowed re-rolls on 1 to Save, showing their superior construction to take hits. Also, there is the Lay Low the Tyrants ability, allowing them to better at hitting units with 5 or more Wounds. This shows that their training is meant to take down heavy hitters and important players of their enemies. While they can take out rank and file troops, their expertise is against specific important enemies, not masses of troops.
Next, we look at the forces of Khorne.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Weekly Shopping List: Week 5
I'm back from Gen Con and it looks like I missed a bunch of releases, let's check them out:
Week 5
White Dwarf 79: Besides pimping the new products that will be out next week, this issues blurb seems to mention a look at the Realm of Death and that's about it. With so many new releases, it looks like they'll get the lion's share of the content.
Paladins: Though listed as a separate entry three times, this is actually one model kit. Whether you're making Retributors, Protectors, or Decimators is based on which weapons you choose to use. I suppose the separate entries are because there are separate warscrolls of each, but it's slightly confusing. They're $8 more than the standard 5 unit set (at $58 total), to account for... the bigger weapons? I don't understand the price hike.
Numinous Occulum: Another awesome looking terrain piece, this piece of ruin with an iron work ball on top seems to give some good boosts to Wizards.
Dragonfire Dais: They continue to impress with terrain pieces, I like the look of this terrain a lot. Looking at the warscroll, this seems to cater to Priests as opposed to Wizards like the piece above.
The Realmgate Wars: War Storm: Another new piece of fiction, this one seems to continue where the previous left off, as well as look at some of the other assaults taking place. This appears to be the fiction behind the big book, as was the Gates of Azyr was the fiction behind the Starter Set.
Next we get our first Sylvaneth pieces! Yes, these are all repackages, but it's the first time they are introduce in Age of Sigmar, so let's take a look.
Sylvaneth Treelords: Once again, this is listed three times (to accommodate Warscrolls), but it is one model. Whether it's a standard Treelord, Treelord Ancient, or named character Durthu all depends on head and weapon assembly. It's $61 for a decent sized model.
Branchwraith: The casters for the Sylvaneth, this is a single model for $15, though it is apparently a hold over Fine Cast model from the description.
Dryads: Finally we get Dryads, 16 of them for $41 bucks which isn't a bad deal at all in GW terms. Neat looking models to add as your base troops for tree people units.
These are mixed in with a bunch of compilation sets that mix and match the above in ways that aren't really a value, the standard GW fare. As well as a pain compilation that covers most of the basic colors used to pain Sylvaneth model.
While there are a lot of cool pieces, this week is a back order week for me, I want to catch up on a few minis that have gone before.
Week 5
White Dwarf 79: Besides pimping the new products that will be out next week, this issues blurb seems to mention a look at the Realm of Death and that's about it. With so many new releases, it looks like they'll get the lion's share of the content.
Paladins: Though listed as a separate entry three times, this is actually one model kit. Whether you're making Retributors, Protectors, or Decimators is based on which weapons you choose to use. I suppose the separate entries are because there are separate warscrolls of each, but it's slightly confusing. They're $8 more than the standard 5 unit set (at $58 total), to account for... the bigger weapons? I don't understand the price hike.
Numinous Occulum: Another awesome looking terrain piece, this piece of ruin with an iron work ball on top seems to give some good boosts to Wizards.
Dragonfire Dais: They continue to impress with terrain pieces, I like the look of this terrain a lot. Looking at the warscroll, this seems to cater to Priests as opposed to Wizards like the piece above.
The Realmgate Wars: War Storm: Another new piece of fiction, this one seems to continue where the previous left off, as well as look at some of the other assaults taking place. This appears to be the fiction behind the big book, as was the Gates of Azyr was the fiction behind the Starter Set.
Next we get our first Sylvaneth pieces! Yes, these are all repackages, but it's the first time they are introduce in Age of Sigmar, so let's take a look.
Sylvaneth Treelords: Once again, this is listed three times (to accommodate Warscrolls), but it is one model. Whether it's a standard Treelord, Treelord Ancient, or named character Durthu all depends on head and weapon assembly. It's $61 for a decent sized model.
Branchwraith: The casters for the Sylvaneth, this is a single model for $15, though it is apparently a hold over Fine Cast model from the description.
Dryads: Finally we get Dryads, 16 of them for $41 bucks which isn't a bad deal at all in GW terms. Neat looking models to add as your base troops for tree people units.
These are mixed in with a bunch of compilation sets that mix and match the above in ways that aren't really a value, the standard GW fare. As well as a pain compilation that covers most of the basic colors used to pain Sylvaneth model.
While there are a lot of cool pieces, this week is a back order week for me, I want to catch up on a few minis that have gone before.
Inventory
Box Sets
Age of Sigmar Starter Set
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 75
White Dwarf 76
White Dwarf 77
Age of Sigmar Painting Guide
Age of Sigmar Book
Fiction
The Gates of Azyr
Assault on Mandrake Bastion Quick Read
Beneath the Black Thumb Quick Read
Terrain
Ophidian Archway
Others
Age of Sigmar App
Pre-Ordered and/or In Transit
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 78
Fiction
The Realmgate Wars: War Storm
Stormcast Eternals
Judicators
Age of Sigmar Starter Set
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 75
White Dwarf 76
White Dwarf 77
Age of Sigmar Painting Guide
Age of Sigmar Book
Fiction
The Gates of Azyr
Assault on Mandrake Bastion Quick Read
Beneath the Black Thumb Quick Read
Terrain
Ophidian Archway
Others
Age of Sigmar App
Pre-Ordered and/or In Transit
White Dwarf/Hobby Books
White Dwarf 78
Fiction
The Realmgate Wars: War Storm
Stormcast Eternals
Judicators
Wish List
White Dwarf 79
Terrain
Baleful Realmgates
Dragonfire Dais
Numinous Occulum
Stormcast Eternals
Lord Celestant
Liberators
Lord Castellant
Paladin Decimators/Protectors/Retributors
Sylvaneth
Branchwraith
Dryads
Treelord/Ancient Treelord/Durthu
White Dwarf 79
Terrain
Baleful Realmgates
Dragonfire Dais
Numinous Occulum
Stormcast Eternals
Lord Celestant
Liberators
Lord Castellant
Paladin Decimators/Protectors/Retributors
Sylvaneth
Branchwraith
Dryads
Treelord/Ancient Treelord/Durthu
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