Snake Eyes 2026 - Part 1

Another tournament is done and dusted. This time it's the second running of Snake Eyes, a team event with 4 players per team. Last year it was 3. Goodness knows what it will look like next year.

Army selection was a bit different from normal. The previous year there had been a cap on magic levels across the whole team. That was gone this time, but in addition to using the Grand Melee and Combined Arms limits, the following rules applied:

• Each player must use a different race
• All magic items (including extremely common) are unique and may not be taken
• more than once across the entire team
• Characters capped at 33%
• Flying and Ethereal units combined capped at 33%
• Undead cannot take Battle Standard Bearers
• No more than 2 of the same war machine from Special, and no duplicates from Rare
• No duplicate Behemoths (not counting mounts)

This all added up to make the army and list selection slightly headache-inducing, but eventually I decided I could field a semi-capable Wood Elf army with a couple of levers to pull, depending on what I found myself facing. 

Wood Elf Grand Army (2000 points)
Glade Lord (General) on Great Stag with Light armour, Shield, Orion's Favour, Dragon Slaying Sword, Sword of Might, An Annoyance of Netlings, Wild Rider Kindred
Spellweaver (Level 4, Lore of the Wilds) on Unicorn with Heartwood Pendant, Oaken Stave, Potion of Foolhardiness, Glamour Weave Kindred
23 Glade Guard with Fire & Flee, Swiftshiver Shards, Full Command, Razor Standard
12 Dryads with Nymph
10 Deepwood Scouts with Arcane Bodkins
5 Sisters of the Thorn with Handmaiden of the Thorn, Standard bearer
5 Wild Riders with Hunting spears, Light armour, Shields, Full Command
4 Warhawk Riders with Trueflight Arrows
Treeman with A Befuddlement of Mischiefs

No doubt this is far from the perfect Wood Elf army I could have chosen, but it included a few elements that amused me. Firstly, I liked the look of the Spellweaver. The Oaken Stave gave me some serious anti-magic ability, but her main party trick was going to be getting Dhurthu's Wrath and wailing on unsuspecting units that tried to get past her forest. That was the plan, anyway. Maybe not a perfect plan...

My general was also a bit of a question mark. I decided I needed the ability to kill something hard like a dragon, and he was my only hope. Of course, he was frenzied with 360 degree vision, so trying to steer him in the right direction could be a problem. I'd deal with that when it came up.

The heart of the army was the Glade Guard with multiple shots and the Razor Standard. They'd be rolling a ton of dice, and could potentially put a lot of hurt on something. That was exciting. The Scouts offered a little backup in terms of firepower, but it was going to be mainly about the Glade Guard.

Overall, I was a bit concerned that this army might end up needing a bit of finesse to use properly, and I really didn't have much in the way of practice with it. This was not a great combination, but it was the situation I had put myself in.

Each round, our team of 4 would be lined up against one of the other teams of 4. Then an some sort of intricate mating dance would take place in order to determine which army was facing which. Only 2 of the 4 tables had a scenario and objectives in play - the others were just playing Upon the Field of Glory. 

Game 1 - The Order of Questionable Chivalry
Matthew Soltys-Klein - High Elves
Upon the Field of Glory
Prince (General) on Star Dragon with Full plate armour, Shield, Opal Amulet, Seed of Rebirth, Sword of Might, Blood of Caledor
Archmage (Level 3 Battle Magic) with Silvery Wand, Sea Guard
6 Silver Helms with Lances, Heavy armour, Barding, Shields, Full Command, Ring of Fury
6 Elven Archers with Longbows
21 Lothern Sea Guard with Thrusting spears, Warbows, Light armour, Shields, Full Command
8 Dragon Princes with Lances, Full plate armour, Shields, Barding, Full Command, The Loremaster's Cloak
9 Sisters of Avelorn with Bows of Avelorn, Light armour, High Sister, Ruby Ring of Ruin
10 Sisters of Avelorn with Bows of Avelorn, Light armour, High Sister, Bow of the Seafarer
Lothern Skycutter with Cavalry spears, Shortbows
Too much of my attention during deployment was spent on trying to work out how to address the threat of the Sisters of Avelorn. I had to finish deployment before my opponent, and made the mistake of putting my Glade Lord pretty hard on the right flank. Naturally Matthew then placed his Star Dragon far, far away. I would get the first turn, but my ability to threaten the Star Dragon would be very limited. 

High Elf Hobby Update

It's been a while since I posted a hobby update, and my focus has been pretty firmly on my High Elves. I have decided that they will be my main focus for a while, because the army needs attention. Ensuring I make them my main focus in terms of events should help keep my hobby efforts similarly focused.

Basically everything I'm showing here has actually already appeared in my tournament reports, but I haven't had a chance to actually try to show them properly. So I'm playing catch-up.

This is the Blood of Caledor mage I put together for a tournament a couple of months ago. It's essentially a kitbash of the High Elf commander set and maybe a head and staff top from either the mage set or the dragon one.

Arc in the Old World 2026 Aftermath - Part 6

This is the sixth and final part of my report of the recent Old World tournament at Arcfest. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 6: Drawn Battlelines (Strategic Locations (3))
Daniel Griffin - Lizardmen (Renegades)

• Slann Mage-Priest (Level 4, High Magic, General, Battle Standard Bearer) with Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, Ruby Ring of Ruin, Becalming Cogitation
• Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaur with Heavy armour, Shield, Blade of Revered Tzunki, Talisman of Protection
• 20 Temple Guard with Halberds, Shields, Heavy armour, Full Command, Sun Standard of Chotec
• 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins, Shields, Light armour, Scouts
• 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins, Shields, Light armour, Scouts
• 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins, Shields, Light armour,
• 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins, Shields, Light armour
• Ancient Stegadon with Giant Bow
• Ancient Stegadon with Giant Blowpipes

In a small field, it was nice to see someone actually giving Lizardmen a run. I know they're not the greatest, but the Renegade pack does help quite a lot with a small number of changes.

Yeah, that Carnosaur... I couldn't fight that. Not with anything in my army. The blade ignores armour and ward saves, and frankly that's just not OK. And that's before the dinosaur starts tearing huge chunks off my relatively squishy dragons... No thank you. To be avoided. The Skinks scouted to try to bait my units toward the not-OK Carnosaur...

Arc in the Old World 2026 Aftermath - Part 5

This is the fifth part of my report of the recent Old World tournament at Arcfest. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 5: Encirclement (Strategic Locations (4))
David Hauser - Orcs and Goblins

• Black Orc Warboss (General) on Wyvern with Great Weapon, Full Plate Armour, Trollhide Trousers, Grisly Trophy Rack, Talisman Of Protection
• Orc Weirdnob (Level 3, Battle Magic) on War Boar with Spelleater Axe, Lore Familiar
• Orc Bigboss (Battle Standard Bearer) on War Boar with Cavalry Spear, Heavy Armour, Shield, The Big Red Raggedy Flag
• Night Goblin Oddgit (Level 1, Illusion)
• 16 Black Orcs with Full Command, Full Plate Armour, Great Weapons, (13 with Shields) Stubborn, Monster Hunter's Tapestry
• 35 Night Goblins with Shields, Full Command, Banner Of Swirling Wind, 3 Fanatics
• 9 Night Goblin Squig Hopper Mobs with Boss
• 11 Orc Boar Boys with Cavalry Spears, Heavy Armour, Shields, Big Un's, Full Command, Da Thinkin’ Orc’s ’At, Da Banner of Butchery
• Doom Diver Catapult
• Doom Diver Catapult
• Goblin Rock Lobber

I'm not gonna lie, I was so excited to play David. His army was so beautiful and retro. I did with the best army vote at the end of the event, which was not really surprising.

His army is so small! I mean, so is mine, but he didn't exactly need the whole deployment zone, did he?

Arc in the Old World 2026 Aftermath - Part 4

This is the fourth part of my report of the recent Old World tournament at Arcfest. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 4: King of the Hill (Baggage Trains, Break Point)
Jacob D'Arcy - Nehekharan Royal Hosts

• Tomb King (General, Hierophant, Level 1 Necromancy) on Skeleton Chariot with Heavy armour, Death Mask of Kharnutt, The Conqueror's Blade
• Tomb King on Necrolith Bone Dragon with Heavy armour, Blade of Antarhak, Talisman of Protection, Shield of Ptra
• Royal Herald (Battle Standard Bearer) on Skeleton Chariot with Shield, Armour of Destiny, Icon of Rakaph
• Skeleton Infantry Cohort (25 Royal Host Warriors, 18 Royal Host Archers) with Light armour, Thrusting spears and Shields (Warriors), Warbows (Archers), Nehekharan Phalanx, Master of Arms [Amulet of the Serpent], Standard bearer
• 3 Skeleton Chariots with Cavalry spears, Warbows
• 4 Tomb Guard Chariots with Halberds, Shields, Tomb Captain [Icon of Rulership], Standard bearer [Icon of the Sacred Eye]
• Tomb Scorpion
• Screaming Skull Catapult with Skulls of the Foe
• Screaming Skull Catapult with Skulls of the Foe

The scenario was King of the Hill, so the Sea Guard went near the centre to try to grab control of it. The 2 Screaming Skull Catapults seemed a bit ominous for my Dragons. I needed to get to those.

Arc in the Old World 2026 Aftermath - Part 3

This is the third part of my report of the recent Old World tournament at Arcfest. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 3: Close quarters (Strategic Locations (2), Domination)
Lachie Mulcahy - High Elves 

• Prince (General) on Star Dragon with Full plate armour, Sword of Might, Dragon Helm, Opal Amulet, Seed of Rebirth, Pure of Heart
• Archmage (Level 4, Elementalism) with Sea Guard, Ruby Ring of Ruin, Silvery Wand
• 27 Lothern Sea Guard with Thrusting spears, Warbows, Light armour, Shields, Full Command, Razor Standard
• 5 Silver Helms with Lances, Heavy armour, Barding, Shields, High Helm (champion)
• 20 White Lions of Chrace with Chracian great blades, Heavy armour, Guardian [The Loremaster's Cloak], Standard bearer
• 6 Dragon Princes with Lances, Full plate armour, Shields, Barding, Drakemaster, Standard bearer
• 10 Sisters of Avelorn with Bows of Avelorn, Light armour, High Sister [Bow of the Seafarer]

I had expressed my concern going into the event that I had no way to kill a Star Dragon, and knowing that Lachie would have one. Well, here we were, and Lachie was fielding a list that was pretty similar to the one he had last time we met. Hopefully this game would go a little better. At least my list was very different...

The armies lined up, objective on either side.

Arc in the Old World 2026 Aftermath - Part 2

This is the second part of my report of the recent Old World tournament at Arcfest. You can find the previous part here.

Game 2: A Chance Encounter (Special Features, Domination)
Ben Hallett - Jade Fleet

• Shugengan Lord (General, Level 4, Illusion, Lore of Yang) on Great Spirit Longma with The Monkey King's Wisdom, Scrolls of Wei-jin
• Shugengan General (Level 1, High Magic, Lore of Yang) on Great Spirit Longma with Celestial blade
• Gate Keeper (Battle Standard Bearer) with Celestial blade, Heavy armour, Shield, Banner of Swirling Wind, Sigil of Smoke & Powder
• 25 Jade Warriors with Shields, Heavy armour, Drilled, Stubborn, Jade Officer [Spirit Lantern], Standard bearer [The Jade Banner], Musician
• 8 Jade Lancers with Cathayan lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Barding, Ambushers, Drilled, Jade Lancer Officer [Ring of Jet + Charmed Shield], Standard bearer, Musician
• Cathayan Grand Cannon with Ogre Loader [Gunpowder bombs]
• Cathayan Grand Cannon with Ogre Loader [Gunpowder bombs]
• Cathayan Sentinel with Granite Sentinel
• Sky Lantern with Sky Lantern Crane Guns

This was only going to be my second game against Cathay, but I can't say as I was feeling very optimistic with 2 Grand Cannons that could double fire once, a Shugengan Lord that could easily kill a Dragon in a turn (maybe even without casting Spectral Doppelganger), and a Sentinel that could hit me with Monster Slayer... After a big win in the first round, this felt like it was likely to be a correction.

Last tournament, this deployment absolutely wrecked me. I had nowhere near enough room, my army was ill suited to it, and I had no idea how to approach it. This was a little better, although I realised after deploying the Dragon Princes that my opponent had cannons, and I might not get the first turn...