Ish

No one should have to play in a Games Workshop store.

Would anyone object to my using Necromunda Enforcers in Kill Team? Counting them as Tempestus Scions or Space Marine Scouts perhaps...?

Music 10/5 Say what you will about the Star Wars franchise (even the most devout Fandalorian has to concede they’re of variable quality) but there’s no denying that John Williams’ scores are outstanding.

As soon as those PowerBall numbers come through, I’m going to have a massive army of their Faux-Bretonnians.

If you’re only looking for a single mini to use as a hero, check out Gamezone Minitures, they have some absolutely gorgeous models... €12.00 is a bit much to try to build units (let alone armies) out of, but for a single hero it ain’t bad. The “Major Guardian Hero on Horseback” from their mummified undead line, with a weapon swap to a more European sword and a knightly headcrest on the helmet (or a full head swap) would make for something that should serve your purpose:

Star Wars: Imperial Assault is basically a themed re-skin of Descent: Journeys in the Dark, which was basically an improved HeroQuest... The combo-hybrid board game / roleplaying game / miniatures game is usually a pretty good starting point. Plus, I’m told the young people like them Stars War movies. Zombicide is mostly a board game, but uses a lot of minis and has more expansion sets than can be counted. I’ve never played it, but it’s pretty popular, so it must be doing something right. WarCry and Shadespire both seem to be really popular, but I haven’t played them. Frostgrave is a “real” miniatures skirmish game, but the investment is pretty low: 8-10 minis per player on average, rarely more than 12; you probably already have a ton of generic fantasy minis and terrain already; and the rules are about on par with D&D 3.x or 5e in complexity... and the rulebook only costs $25. Probably one of the best “intro” miniatures games out there right now.

If youse expery-ants a Waaagh! lastin’ four or moar hours, consult a Witch-Dok immeedee... immy... uh... really soon.

I dunno... I loved Car Wars once upon a time, but it is going to have to be a truly spectacular reinvention of the game to make me give up Gaslands.

I did say “if.”

This Tuesday! Tuesday! Tuesday! The bravest young men and possibly even women in this greatest of mid-sized media markets in the Pacific Northwest will risk their lives in the greatest sporting event on two, four, or sixteen wheels! It's time for Gaslands!

Vintage 1984 informational video from GHQ Models extolling the virtues of their hex-based terrain system (which they still sell today). Crack open a Coors, light up a Pall Mall, crank up your favorite Dokken album...

Oh man! Talk about a blast from the past... I had three or four of these as a kid, but could ever get anyone to play with me.

If that means we need another player to drop out to keep the number of teams even, I’ll throw myself on the grenade. My work schedule is rather odd, so scheduling games will probably be hard for me / annoying for others at best. Still, people should feel free to add Another Ish to their in-game contact lists or whatever they call it, for casual games.

You don’t actually have to do any weathering. Wait about an hour after feeding and the new baby will cover themselves in Stirland Mud and Nuln Oil automatically.

I thought I had joined...

ÅSKLANDERS SECOND DRAFT --- Characters --- 200 - Åsklander Chief - General Jarl, General, Shield (5), Spear (5), Heavy Armour, Longship Raid (50) 230 - Åsklander Chief, Great Weapon (10), Heavy Armour, Battle Standard Bearer, Raven Banner (60) 210 - Seidhkennar, Wizard Adept (75), Witchcraft 210 - Seidhkennar, Wizard Adept (75), Shamanism --- Core --- 490 - 40x Åsklanders, 40x Spear and Shield (120), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 490 - 40x Åsklanders, 40x Spear and Shield (120), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 210 - 20x Åsklanders, 20x Bow (4+) (40) 95 - 5x Warhounds 95 - 5x Warhounds 210 - 20x Åsklanders, 20x Bow (4+) (40) --- Special --- 660 - 30x Huskarls, 30x Throwing Weapons (4+) (120), 30x Replace Shield with Great Weapon (60), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 447 - 20x Berserkers, Paired Weapons (60), Champion, Musician 216 - 3x Ice Trolls --- Legendary Beasts --- 475 - Jötunn --- Total --- 4,238 So, second draft. Same basic theme of running with mostly big blocks of infantry and less reliance on big scary monsters. The Jötunn is really big and scary, true, but I see him working more as an “anti-monster monster,” who will mostly be there to put pressure on the other team’s big guys. Likewise, the trolls are meant more for defense than offense. The standard idea is still to use Longship Raid on the Jarl and Berserkers; plop the Spearmen blocks on either side of the Huskarls (with the BSB); and then just fight it out as a good old hammer and anvil. Still have room for 250+ points of magic items and other upgrades. Probably the Harp of Braggi for the Jarl (for a big leadership bubble) or a magic weapon (because hitting harder is never a bad thing). I’m also wondering if one (or both) wizards would benefit from a chariot.

This is the way.

Does anyone really need anything other than LRMs and ER Medium Lasers? All I need is a cockpit on legs that shoots missiles out of boxes.

Aren’t there only, like, two-and-half factions? Empire, Rebellion, and Bounty Hunters... I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I last looked at the game, maybe the prequel/sequel stuff counts as different factions. Anyhoo, my general advice for all wargames is to pick the faction you like the most on a personal level. You’re going to be spending your own money on ‘em, putting your time into building/painting ‘em, looking at them while they sit on your bookshelf, and so forth. Don't put that investment into collecting an army you don’t like. That’s why, when I played, I choose the Galactic Empire. Keeping the galaxy peaceful, secure, and spreading the cause of freedom, unlike those monarchy-loving religious zealots in the so-called “Rebellion.” Plus, TIE Fighters look sweet.

No disintegrations.

History (of the most recent two and some change centuries) is mostly about studying how much the Sociologists and Psychologists got things terribly wrong; which led to the Biologists, Chemists, and Physicists coming up with new and creative ways to kill people. History (of the ten or twelve centuries before that) is mostly about studying how much the Theologians and Philosophers got things terribly wrong; which led to Metallurgists and Physicists (even though we didn’t call them that yet) coming up with new and creative ways to kill people. History (of the ten to forty centuries before that) is called Anthropology and is about studying how Homo sapiens came up with new and creative ways to kill other people. Before that we’ve got Paleoanthropology which is about studying how H. sapiens came up with O.G. ways of killing H. neanderthalensis and the other closely related species so we could become the only people.

That hits a little close to home. Would anyone like to loan me $150,000 so I can spend a decade turning my theories on the role that Emperor Manuel I Komnenos may or may not have played in the failure of the Second Crusade into a Masters' Thesis? Anyone?

The only options for shooting are the basic Åsklanders units given bows; I can have as many units of them as I want but up to 60 models in the whole army at 9 Points a model; Alternatively, the basic Åsklanders units can be given throwing weapons, again any number of units but only up to 40 models in the whole army. Huskarls can also be given throwing weapons... And so can Åsklander Flayers, which are a sort of light-but-still-monstrous cavalry option. No cannons, no catapults, et cetera, which really limits the shooting game. I probably should take one of the three 40-strong blocks of Åsklander spearmen and break it up into one 20-strong unit of Åsklanders with bows and then bump the other two spearmen blocks up to 50-strong. Adding throwing weapons to the Huskarls is also a good idea, they ain't great, but it would probably catch a lot of people by surprise. I'll need to double check the rules, can archers shoot "over" friendly units? WHFB waffled on that between editions... Twenty bows ain't great shooting, but its enough to soften up the enemy a bit. If I can park them behind the big spear blocks, they'd prove pretty damn durable (since Battle Focus makes even Åsklander archers pretty tough). My WHFB 8th Edition armies were Tomb Kings and Dark Elves early on before they got their "8th Edition Army books and they had stupidly broken shooting and magic due to the quirks caused by the change in editions. Then I switched to Empire. In all three armies, I tended to run lean-and-mean characters with minimal magic items and XBAWKSHUGE blocks of rank-and-file Core Unit infantry. I've always found that given a choice between a 100-point sword for a hero or 100-points of basic grunts, the basic grunts tend to be more useful. I see characters as force multipliers rather than offensive units in their own right... If I'm reading the stats right, the Åsklander Chief has pretty mediocre offensive/defensive stats and the Åsklander Seidhkennar the standard issue "squishy wizard." So, even if I did load them up with the Sword of Nuclear Armageddon +3, Armor of Indestructible Spikey Bitz +6, and the Helmet of Super-Duper Speed +9, they're still going to get curb-stomped by damn near anyone else's combat lord. The Åsklander Chief should do okay against other "mere mortals" like Sonnstahl Marshals or Equitaine Dukes, but I don't have any illusions of him taking on dragons and demons.

One of us, one of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble. We accept him, we accept him. One of us, one of us!