Cancon 2024 Aftermath - Part 1

The Old World is upon us, although in some parts of the world we can't yet get our hands on the books. Nevertheless the local community is abuzz with the new rules and what the game is going to be like. This the was the rather strange backdrop for what may yet be my last ever 6th edition Warhammer fantasy tournament. Of course, I probably thought that 18 years ago when 7th edition arrived. Time moves in mysterious ways...

I initially submitted a Drycha list that included 2 Treemen. That's tough, but without a BSB to help them hold their ground, and a list with not a lot of other options, I had assumed it would be OK. The organisers disagreed however, and asked me to remove one of them. So then I found myself with a list containing more Treekin and Wild Riders than I expected. I was rather concerned about how it might hold up, given a lack of real spine. Dryads are very solid, but with no ranks or real bulk, the Dryads were meant to be my staying power. Oh well, trees are trees, right?

• Drycha (Level 2, Lore of Athel Loren)
• Glamourweave Spellsinger (Level 2, Lore of Athel Loren) on Elf Steed with Dispel Scroll
• 12 Dryads with Branch Nymph
• 12 Dryads with Branch Nymph
• 8 Dryads
• 8 Dryads
• 3 Treekin
• 3 Treekin
• 5 Wild Riders with Musician, Standard
• 5 Wild Riders with Musician, Standard
• Treeman

Full disclosure, I actually won Cancon maybe 19 years ago with a list a bit like this one - a Treeman Ancient instead of Drycha, no Wild Riders and even more Dryads. The army book was new and I was excited to finally be able to make an all-tree army. I didn't realise quite how tough the list would prove to be. I then won another tournament a few months later, which proved it was no fluke. I decided the army was clearly easy mode and retired it from events for a number of years. I went back to losing with things like Ogres and Orcs. As a result of all this, I knew the army would perform OK this time around. The list is a bit different with Drycha at the helm, but an army that's entirely immune to psychology was always a leg up in 6th edition - there's just so much less that can go wrong.

Everything Old is New Again

Unless you have been living under a rock with excellent sound-proofing, you're probably aware of the impending release of Warhammer: The Old World. Pre-orders are already sold out pretty much everywhere, and the products are due to release on January 20 (or February 10 if you live here in Australia, because time works differently here). 

TOW has been the subject of rumour and speculation for years now, ever since GW first announced that it would eventually be coming. I've tried to avoid buying into it, largely because the conversations normally centered around wishlists and wild hopes rather than any solid information that had been released. It's only in the last few months that they really started to ramp up the release of details, and honestly what I've seen is more promising than I would have dared hope for. The game definitely sounds like an edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. 

There are countless details that we won't know for sure until we actually have the rules and can read through them. but I will definitely be giving it a try. I declined to join the stampede of people rushing to get onto the limited list of pre-orders, so it remains to be seen how long it will take me to actually be able to dig into it.

In the meantime, Cancon is on in a couple of weeks and I will again be playing 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy. It may be a little bit difficult to focus on the old edition with a new one arriving around the world at about the same time. Honestly I have also had a lot of trouble deciding on a list that I was actually motivated to play. In the end I've submitted a Wood Elf Forest Spirit list led by Drycha. I used a list like this at an event back in 7th edition, and it resulted in one of the most amusing games I've played. I figure it should be a relatively straightforward army to play in my somewhat distracted state, so hopefully it won't be a complete disaster.

Anyway, at the rate I've been posting, by the time you hear from me again, a new edition of Warhammer will be out! How exciting...

Wood Elf Hobby Progress

The lead-up to Bendigo Besieged was a bit of a hurry for me. It probably shouldn't have been, but it turns out I was fighting some health issues that were affecting my energy levels, and it made a relatively small job feel like a major undertaking. I had decided to take Wood Elves into the tournament because I never really got a chance to use the 8th edition Wood Elf book. This is all well and good, but for all that I've had a Wood Elf army for nearly 30 years, it's generally not been my go-to force for most of that time. The army has suffered a fair bit of neglect, and it needed work.

I decided I wanted to use a Lord on Stag, as it was a comp bonus and worked OK with my silly Moonstone of the Hidden Ways plans. I had a model that I picked up second-hand at some point, but it wasn't painted - I had never used it before. I also decided to include Waywatchers. I had never used them before either, so they were obviously not painted either. And I wanted to use Wardancers, which I hadn't used since 5th edition... And their paint jobs reflected this.

I did hatch these plans weeks in advance, so there should have been time to deal with all of these issues, as well as sundry extra things like an extra Warhawk Rider. I dragged my feet a while, but eventually knuckled down and got most of what I needed done. There were some other things I might have added like a new BSB and even a more suitable Spellweaver, but I was running out of time and I got distracted near the end by doing some extra stuff for a friend's army at the last minute.

Anyway, these models have already appeared in my report of the tournament, but here are some better shots of them.

Yeah, his spear is bent. Not sure when that happened, but I'm worried the paint will immediately fall off if I bend it back. I'm not a big fan of this model. Wood Elves from this era in general seem to be covered in layers of nick-knacks and details, and if you're trying to use a relatively limited colour palette, you end up looking for endless variations of the same colours to try and pick things out. I prefer the older models. This guy in particular is not really posed well for a general - leaning forward, his face half-covered in a mask and leaning into his own shoulder.

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 5

This is the final part of my tournament report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 5 - Battleline
Tim Jarman - Empire

• Marius Leitdorf, Elector Count of Averland with Full Plate Armour, Barded Steed, The Averland Runefang
• Battle Wizard (Level 2, Lore of Fire) with Dispel Scroll
• Warrior Priest with Additional Hand Weapon, Light Armour
• 20 Free Company Militia with Additional Hand Weapons, Champion
• 10 Handgunners
• 8 Inner Circle Knights with Full Plate Armour, Barding, Lance, Shield, Full Command
• 28 Spearmen with Light Armour, Spears, Shields, Full Command
• 3 Demigryph Knights with Full Plate Armour, Barding, Shields, Halberds
• 25 Flagellants with Flails, Champion
• Great Cannon
• 24 Greatswords with Great Weapons, Full Plate Armour, Full Command
• Mortar
• Helblaster Volley Gun
• Steam Tank

My final game would be against an Empire army that had managed a comp score of 10, so it should suggest a relatively even fight. Much of the threat from the list came from the Steam Tank and artillery, but I was sure it would be just fine...

Marius Leitdorf! He must be one of my favourite characters in Warhammer. A lunatic with a deadly blade who can receive tactical instructions from his horse...

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 4

This is part 4 of my report of a recent tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 4 - Dawn Attack
Lachlan Hutchinson - High Elves

• Prince with Light Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Great Weapon, Blade of Leaping Gold, Talisman of Endurance
• Handmaiden of the Everqueen with Light Armour, Spear, Bow of Avelorn, Sword of Striking
• Mage (Level 2, Lore of Beasts)
• Mage (Level 2, High Magic)
• 30 Spearmen with Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Full Command
• 30 Spearmen with Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Full Command
• 20 Archers with Longbows, Musician
• 20 Archers with Longbows, Musician
• 25 White Lions of Chrace with Great Weapons, Heavy Armour, Lion Cloaks, Full Command
• 20 Sisters of Avelorn with Light Armour, Bows of Avelorn
• Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
• Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower

Right, so first off, this is the strangest High Elf list I've ever seen. It must have been about a 7 for comp, but frankly it deserved more. The list put out a lot of shooting, but that was probably its main redeeming feature. It had none of the elements you'd normally expect to find, toughening up the combat potential of the army. The Prince lacked punch, the Mages had no items at all. The army had no BSB, cavalry, or monsters. It did feel like a proper citizen levy-based High Elf army. But it also felt under-powered, even against my 11 comp Wood Elves.

At this point I had lost 2 of my 3 games, although my battle points were not looking too bad because I'd managed to avoid big losses. I believe the match-ups were being done simply on wins and losses, so presumably Lachlan was also on a single win up until this point. 

Lachlan's army was an interesting mix of Citadel models and 3D prints that he had actually designed himself. The Spearmen and Archers (by far the bulk of his army) were all his doing. I was very impressed.

These Spearmen could do with some shields and paint, but they do look the part.

These ones look a bit more complete. The Bolt Thrower crew were also his digital handiwork.

The Archers were his doing too, although the Mage is a digital kitbash based on a Last Sword model.

It was Dawn Attack again, so we were rolling to see where our units went. Nothing too dramatic happened there. Lachlan ended up with a Spearmen unit by itself on the flank, and my Dryads were across from them (the Waywatchers appeared there later, when I couldn't find a good place to deploy them near the High Elf lines).

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 3

This is part 3 of my report of a recent tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 3 - Blood and Glory
Chad Smith - Beastmen

• Beastlord with Great Weapon, Armour of Destiny
• Great Bray-Shaman (Level 4, Lore of Death) with Talisman of Preservation
• Wargor with Battle Standard, Heavy Armour, Shield, Gnarled Hide, Beast Banner
• Bray Shaman (Level 1, Lore of Shadow) with Herdstone Shard
• Bray Shaman (Level 1, Lore of Beasts) with Dispel Scroll
• 39 Gor Herd with 2 Hand Weapons, Full Command
• 20 Gor Herd with 2 Hand Weapons, Full Command
• 33 Bestigor Herd with Heavy Armour, Great Weapons, Full Command, Standard of Discipline
• 10 Ungor Raiders
• 10 Ungor Raiders
• 10 Ungor Raiders
• Tuskgor Chariot
• Tuskgor Chariot
• Razorgor
• Razorgor
• 5 Harpies with Scout

Apparently Chad's comp score was -1, which I think was the worst I faced in the event. Beastmen unfortunately tend to be faced with the choice of either going hard with their list, or getting smashed. Chad had opted for the former approach. As it was being laid out opposite me, I wasn't feeling great about the chances of my squishy Wood Elf list...

The scenario was a variant of Blood and Glory, where breaking the enemy army didn't end the game - it just granted 600 bonus victory points. It still meant the deployment zones were closer together than normal, with dead zones on the flanks.

 

Chad had pretty much complete control of the deployment phase, with piles of low value units to place before he put down anything important. I put the Glade Guard on the hill, the Treekin and Lord behind a forest they could teleport from (if they got the chance), and did my best with the rest of the stuff without knowing exactly where the key enemy stuff was going to be.

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 2

This is part 2 of my report of a recent tournament. You can find the previous part here.

Game 2 - Dawn Attack
Harry Pearse - Dwarfs

• Lord on Shieldbearers with Gromril Armour, Great Weapon*, Shield, 2 Runes of Striking, Rune of Might, Rune of Iron, Rune of Preservation, Rune of Stone
• Runesmith with Gromril Armour, Shield, 2 Runes of Spellbreaking
• Thane with Battle Standard, Gromril Armour, Shield, Master Rune of Grugni
• Thane with Gromril Armour, Shield, Dwarf Pistol, Rune of Stone
• 50 Dwarf Warriors with Heavy Armour, Shields, Full Command
• 10 Thunderers 
• Cannon 
• Grudge Thrower with Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Penetrating
• Gyrocopter with Brimstone Gun
• 35 Hammerers with Heavy Armour, Shields, Great Weapons, Full Command
• 10 Miners with Heavy Armour, Great Weapons, Champion
• Organ Gun with Rune of Accuracy

*When I first read through Harry's list, I assumed he'd decided that Strength 4 on his Lord was enough, provided that it would double against Toughness 5 or more. It turns out he'd missed the rule saying the great weapon counts as a hand weapon anyway because of the runes. In Harry's defence, it took several of us waaay too long to find the rule in the book that we all knew was there somewhere. I had actually given up and decided they must have dropped the rule in the latest book when someone finally spotted it right where we had all been looking. 

Honestly, against my list the great weapon probably didn't matter much anyway. The Lord was sitting happily in a unit of 35 Hammerers, along with every other character in the army. I guess it's what you would call a "traditionalist" Dwarf approach. Take every egg you can find, and stuff it in the Hammerer basket. Not the way I do things, but I'm a weirdo and not really a proper Dwarf player. When we went to KFC immediately before, Harry put his name is as Grombrindal up on the screen. I should really just defer to his superior Dwarf cred...

The scenario was Dawn Attack, which means you do have to nominate units for your characters before rolling to see where they all end up. I've been cruelled by this a couple of times, but this time the dice were merciful and my deployment more or less made sense.

That is certainly a unit.