Basing versatility

It has been a pretty quiet holiday period for me in terms of hobby activity. There has been a lot of other stuff going on and it's seen me either too busy or too tired to sit down and try to do anything productive. However next weekend is Cancon, and having committed a long time ago to going, I finally need to start paying attention and work out what needs to be done.

I've made the trip up to Canberra for Cancon maybe 15 times in the past, and every single time I have played Warhammer Fantasy. That is not really an option this time, with the choice coming down to either 9th Age or Kings of War for those who were looking for a game of that type. I chose Kings of War, put in my registration, and then gave it no further thought. It's only now that I've really started considering what army to take. I couldn't really pick something requiring a lot of preparation, so I've settled for something different that still uses what I have already available - League of Rhordia.

Unfortunately I am decidedly weak on the Halfling front, so my army will really just be making use of the human choices in the list so I can use some of my Empire stuff that doesn't get a run in the Kingdoms of Men. Exciting stuff like Wolfygryphs and Volley Guns and Steam Tanks...

Anyway, with this in mind I managed to get myself to sit down and finish my unit of Republican Guard, so I now have the 40 models I need to field a horde of Dogs of War in the Rhordia list. They're funny - pikemen so heavily armoured they waddle along at the speed of Dwarves. I also needed to do some work on my Wolfygryphs, because they're on 50x75mm Warhammer Monstrous Cavalry bases, which is not right for use in Kings of War (they should be on 50x50mm). So some re-basing was required.

Bases! As usual I cheated as much as possible and asked Pete to 3D print me what I needed. But wait, you can't fit Demigryphs on those...

Shattered Dreams and Hopes Lost

My last post described the rules we would be using for a moderately large game last weekend. The intent was to try to break the pattern that we commonly see in multiplayer games, when the larger game turns into several smaller parallel one-on-one games with little interaction between them. Well we tried things out, and this is how they went.

This was never intended to be a really fancy report and I was playing at the same time as taking pictures, so the presentation is not all it could have been (some of the photos are really blurry). Oh well.

We played with about 17,000 points per side, with each player commanding a little over 6,000 points. It was all kind of thrown together with the models that I already had at my place, so the composition of the armies might not have been all that it could have been.

Armies 
High Elves (Empire West)

• Prince on Star Dragon with Shield; Armour of Destiny; Star Lance
• Teclis (Lore of High Magic)
• Archmage (Level 4, Lore of Death)
• Annointed of Asuryan
• Noble with Battle Standard; Halberd; Armour of Caledor
• 50 First Spearmen with Full Command
• 40 Lothern Seaguard with Full Command
• 15 Silver Helms with Shields; Full Command
• 12 Archers with Standard; Musician
• 12 Archers with Standard; Musician
• 15 Dragon Princes of Caledor with Full Command
• 40 Swordmasters of Hoeth with Full Command; Razor Standard
• 30 White Lions of Chrace with Full Command; Gleaming Pendant
• 40 Phoenix Guard with Full Command
• Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
• Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
• Frostheart Phoenix

Empire Centre

• General on Imperial Griffon with Great Weapon; Full Plate Armor; Talisman of Endurance; Dragonhelm
• Balthasar Gelt
• Wizard Lord (Level 4, Lore of Life)
• Captain with Battle Standard; Barded Warhorse; Full Plate Armor; Shield; Sword of Might; Dawn Stone
• Warrior Priest with Great Weapon; Heavy Armour
• 30 Knightly Orders with Great Weapons; Full Command
• 16 Reiksguard Knights with Full Command; Banner of Swiftness
• 60 Greatswords with Full Command
• 60 Halberdiers with Full Command
• 40 Swordsmen with Full Command
• 5 Demigryph Knights with Full Command
• 20 Handgunners with Standard; Musician
• Great Cannon
• Helblaster Volley Gun
• Celestial Hurricanum
• Steam Tank

Empire East

• Arch Lector on War Altar with Armour of Destiny; Mace of Helstrum
• General on Imperial Griffon with Great Weapon; Full Plate Armor; White Cloak of Ulric
• Wizard Lord (Level 4, Lore of Heavens)
• Wizard Lord (Level 4, Lore of Light)
• Captain with Battle Standard; Barded Warhorse; Full Plate Armor; Shield; Opal Amulet; Sword of Anti-Heroes
• Warrior Priest with Great Weapon; Heavy Armour
• Master Engineer
• 30 Knights of the Inner Circle with Full Command; Steel Standard
• 30 Knightly Orders with Full Command
• 60 Flagellants
• 60 Halberdiers with Full Command
• 60 Halberdiers with Full Command
• 40 Spearmen with Full Command
• 20 Handgunners with Standard; Musician
• 16 Crossbowmen with Standard; Musician
• 16 Crossbowmen with Standard; Musician
• 5 Demigryph Knights with Full Command
• 40 Greatswords with Full Command
• 5 Outriders with Sharpshooter
• Great Cannon
• Great Cannon
• Helblaster Volley Gun

Chaos West

• Daemon Prince of Khorne with Chaos Armour; Daemonic Flight; Exalted Gift (+3 Strength)
• Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury with Greater Gift (+2 Strength?); Greater Gift (+1 Toughness)
• Keeper of Secrets (Level 4, Lore of Slaanesh) with Greater Gift (+2 Attacks); Greater Gift (something)
• Herald of Slaanesh with Battle Standard; Greater Locus of Swiftness; Greater Gift (2+ Armour)
• Herald of Nurgle with Lesser Locus of Virulence; Greater Gift (Fencer's Blades)
• Karanak
• 30 Daemonettes of Slaanesh with Full Command
• 20 Bloodletters of Khorne with Full Command
• 40 Plaguebearers of Nurgle with Full Command
• 10 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch
• 6 Beasts of Nurgle
• 6 Fiends of Slaanesh
• 23 Flesh Hounds of Khorne
• 4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne
• 5 Seekers of Slaanesh
• Soul Grinder of Slaanesh with Daemonbone Claw; Phlegm Bombardment

Chaos Centre

• Belakor 
• Chaos Lord of Tzeentch on Daemonic Mount with Barding; Shield; Hellfire Sword; Talisman of Endurance
• Sorcerer Lord of Tzeentch (Level 4, Lore of Fire (yes I know)) on Disc of Tzeentch with Talisman of Preservation, Sword of Anti-Heroes, Scaled Skin
• Exalted Hero of Tzeentch with Battle Standard; Shield; Barded Chaos Steed; Dawn Stone; Sword of Might
• 30 Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch with Halberds; Shields; Full Command
• 20 Chaos Warriors of Khorne with Shields; Full Command
• 25 Chaos Warriors with Halberds; Full Command
• 40 Chaos Marauders of Slaanesh with Flails; Full Command
• 20 Chaos Knights of Tzeentch with Ensorcelled Weapons; Full Command
• 12 Chaos Knights with Ensorcelled Weapons; Full Command
• 8 Dragon Ogres with Great Weapons; Light Armour
• Hellcannon

Chaos East

• Galrauch, The Great Drake
• Great Bray-Shaman (Level 4, Lore of Beasts)
• Wargor with Battle Standard; Great Weapon; Trollhide Armour
• 50 Chaos Warriors of Slaanesh with Halberds; Full Command; Banner of Swiftness
• 40 Gor Herd  with 2ndWeapon; Full Command
• 3 Chaos Chariots (operating as a single regiment to keep things tidy)
• 28 Chosen with Great Weapons; Shields; Full Command
• 10 Chaos Ogres of Slaanesh with Great Weapons; Heavy Armour; Full Command
• 1 Doombull with Great Weapon; Armour of Destiny; Gnarled Hide
• 11 Minotaurs  with Great Weapons; Light Armour; Full Command
• Dragon Ogre Shaggoth with Great Weapon; Light Armour
• Dragon Ogre Shaggoth with Great Weapon; Light Armour
• 10 Chaos Knights of Slaanesh with Lances; Full Command

Deployment
There was some debate over how best to handle deployment. In the end it was a roll-off. The losing side had to deploy one of its 3 contingents first. Then the winning side had to deploy 2 of theirs, then the losing side had to deploy both of their remaining contingents before the winners placed their 1 remaining force. In this case the Empire won the roll-off, so the last thing deployed was the Empire centre (me).

The forces lined up along the table. The circles show the area of the rifts if they are opened (control comes from unengaged units standing on the marker in the centre at the start of their turn).

The Field of Shattered Dreams

This is a scenario intended for use in large (multi-player) games of Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition.

The intent is to allow 2 teams of players to fight an objective-based scenario, but where there is more point to controlling the objectives before the end of the game and where it is easier for players to take a direct hand in each other's area of the field (rather than pretty much playing 3 separate games alongside each other, as can happen in a game like this).

The Field of Shattered Dreams

Deep within the borders of the Empire, a coven of Chaos sorcerers performed a ritual to open a rift into the Realm of Chaos. This rift was intended to allow a flood of daemons to enter the mortal plane and cause havoc within the heart of the Empire whilst an army of mortal Chaos worshippers advanced under the cover of the confusion that followed. 

Well that was the plan, anyway. Unbeknownst to the sorcerers, their actions had drawn the attention of the Colleges of Magic in Altdorf. A response was hastily arranged, and at the height of the ritual the Empire wizards struck. The spell could not be entirely stopped, but the outside interference caused the rift to fragment, shattering into several smaller parts. These smaller rifts lacked the direction of the original spell, and as such they fell dormant, waiting for someone to seize control.

A mad scramble ensued as the mortal Chaos invasion force rushed to claim control of the rifts, whilst the Empire response force held what they could and waited desperately for aid.