Beastmen Review - Khazrak The One-Eye

A Beastmen With A Whip
I normally don't look at Special Characters, however I've been re-reading through the Beastmen book from top to bottom looking for inspiration and one of the named characters really stood out - and this was Khazrak The One-Eye.

I've recently been trying to find cheap and simple ways to try and change up the way my army plays, and Khazrak has a few quirky rules which could cause a few problems to a range of different armies. The first that got me thinking was his Bestial Cunning rule which allows Ambushers to re-roll their result when entering the board, this could potentially add a bit of spice to the ambushing system which I barely ever use. You would have to design an army around him however, and you could split your Gors down into units of 20, however I've been toying with the idea of adding small units of Ungors and Raiders which will give your opponent a whole range of annoying units to deal with in his periphery. I guess it's not going to be game-breaking but it would be fun to try out at some point!

Khazrak's really exciting features however is his whip Scourge and his Dark Mail, effectively he can distribute a single hit on every model in the front rank at Strength 5 as opposed to making his usual attacks. This would be devastating against hordes especially with Primal Fury as you could potentially wipe out 7-8 models in one go - and as a devout Beastmen player that makes me very happy... The Dark Mail would be great in challenges as he stops magic weapons from working in combat, so if there is a killer character in your opponents army then you can reduce his effectiveness drastically.

So I'm thinking of giving him a try however the army might fall apart without the Crown of Command Beastlord but it'll be interesting to give it a go. The guerilla warfare style Beastmen army is something that simply doesn't work and perhaps Khazrak will bring a bit of reliance to the system, simply being able to re-roll as result of 1 is worth it, however we'll have to see how much staying power he truly has.

Food for a goats thought...

T&H Miniature Review No.4

T&H Miniature Review
So it's been a while since I did a miniature review, but thankfully there hasn't been many Warhammer releases since I started... So here we go, hopefully there will be more to come in the coming weeks!

Treeman, Treeman Ancient & Durthu
Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves - Plastic Box - £37.00
This kit was released at the beginning of May, three months ago, and it is a real treat for Wood Elf players. The kit itself makes 3 different variations of the Treemen, one being the standard version alongside an Ancient and the Wood Elf special character Durthu. Not the kit is completely customisable so you can mix and match different arm elements to give you multiple versions from the same kit.

Overall the miniature is stunning, it's a hard thing trying to imagine what a living tree looks like, and I guess Games Workshop will have struggled to get Treebeard and all of the Ents out of their head. In the end they've tried to go with a Dryad inspired look for their Treemen which I believe is the correct route. The amount of detail is superfluous and I would watch a painting video by the GW youtube team if you want to truly see the model in its full glory. GW - Painting Durthu

Some of the elements aren't so good, I think the Strangleroots look a bit too Tyranid too me, however the Ancient with the staff and the Durthu's sword are fantastic additions. Overall I think this kit will be a lot of fun to paint and can be a beautiful centrepiece to any Wood Elf army, although I don't imagine you'll see too many in competitive games.

T&H Score (9/10)

Araloth
Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves - Plastic Hero Clampack - £13.50
Another release that coincided with the larger Treeman kit was the Araloth special character which is another clampack release that we're becoming accustomed too. This model has a lot of movement included into it but has an exceptional amount of height and strength that other hero Elf models do not have.

He's not overly detailed however, but he's been kept simple and pure which really works, it could have been too easy for Games Workshop to cover him up in nymphs and leaves to try to make him look Wood Elf'ish. Instead they seem to have designed a new look for the Wood Elves which is distinguishable from the Dark and High Elves and is made their own by the new Eternal Guard (but we'll look at them next week).

I can see every Wood Elf army having an Araloth miniature included, either as a standard Hero or Lord or perhaps converted into a BSB which wouldn't be too hard as he'd holding his spear in a great convertible position. The only bugbear I have with him is the lack of customisability, although he's a Special Character like Grimm it would have been great to have a different head or shield so that the kit offers up a bit of variation. Although overall this model is another great character kit from GW and hopefully they'll continue to churn them out in the future.

T&H Score (8/10)

 

40k Takeover - Perhaps Not

Is 40k Truly Taking Over?
Well in some ways, 'yes it is' however hasn't this always been the case for a long time now?

So before I get started on what is happening on the Warhammer vs 40k front I want to make it clear that these are my informed personal opinions. I'm all for more fantasy but I want to explain why 40k is taking all the limelight at the moment. So here we go!

40k Is 'Hot of the Press!'
Simply put the new Warhammer 40'000 7th edition has only just been released which warrants a plethora of new releases to coincide with it. Now you may be thinking, 'Well when Fantasy 8th edition was released we didn't get an Armybook until March the following year!' Which is true, but I think GW clearly learnt from their mistake as it was too long before the 8th edition cycle got started following the release of the rulebook and starter set. I think that Fantasy suffered due to this and they are trying to stop this from happening to 40k this time around.

This bodes well for Fantasy 9th Edition though, as in theory we should get a lot of Armybooks and goodies blocking out the release schedule when it is duly released.

40k Is 'A Bigger Seller'
It pains me to say this, but it sells more, has a larger reach and is better for new players to pick up and play from scratch. Fantasy struggles on all of these fronts, and I think it's mainly because it has negligible appeal to youngsters, my reason being that if Little Jimmy wants to play Ogre Kingdoms then Jimmy's Daddy will most likely have to get involved and will potentially start a force of his own to help Little Jimmy. 40k does this really well as its world is more immersive and ignites kids (and adults) imagination, as Sci-Fi is cooler right? Okay so Fantasy is never going to be as big as 40k but it should be able to draw people in, and one of the things it needs is a more immersive background and an army that potential new players will look at and go, 'That's Cool'.

Bretonnia 'Should Be' the Space Marines of the Warhammer World
Bretonnians are knights in shining armour, and if there's something that potential Warhammer players should lap up like chocolate ice cream it would be a modernised Bretonnian army. If they could take the force and totally re-imagine it to give it a signature like they've done so well with the Space Marines identity then I see no reason why people wouldn't be blown away. I personally believe that if the Bretonnians could become the poster boys of the Warhammer World then the effect they would have on the game would snowball. Essentially a lot of players would come out of the woodwork to play their old favourites, whilst a whole plethora of new blood would take arms to field an army of knights battling against the monsters of the old world - and due to this influx of people all of the other armies would benefit as more players would get involved and take up arms.  

But why is it so Barren at the Moment?
Fantasy is on the back burner compared to last year, which was fantastic! Having 5 armybooks in one year is unheard of however does anyone remember the year before? I think we had Vampire Counts in January and The Empire in April and then we had sweet F* all for the rest of the year due to 40k 6th Edition. So unfortunately I would not be surprised if we didn't get anymore Fantasy for the rest of the year, there may be a few kits here and there but I think we're going to have to wait our turn.

40k has also had a huge block due to a new release method, this being the Stormclaw boxset which I think is a fantastic idea. It allows two players to get involved in the hobby in a new way, effectively it has two armies which have both been updated either side and gives a new player the all encompassing effects of the GW release schedule. We've had Orks since late May, until last week when the Stormclaw boxset was released and now it looks like a Space Wolf codex is imminent with another month of releases. Which leaves no room for the classic Warhammer players to get any new goodies, and by the sounds of recent rumour rumblings I think the most we'll see for Fantasy are a few new Daemon kits.

Reasons NOT TO Panic
This has happened before only two years ago and cricky heaven forbid we get the repeat of 2009 where all we had for 10 months of the year were some Empire kits... Warhammer has had some truly barren periods and I think that the rest of the year will be extremely similar to 2012, we may get a couple of kits near the end however I'd be pleasantly surprised if we got another armybook. So bring on 2015 when hopefully GW make the most of their weekly White Dwarf format and start supporting both their systems, we can only hope. And the hobby would benefit hugely from a duel campaign set like Stormclaw, imagine having once a year a set that has two different armies that coincide with an armybook either side of the release. Say for example having Bretonnians included with the Beastmen allowing people to sink their teeth into both armies cheaply, it has to be an exciting prospect!

  

T&H - Up In Flames

T&H - Up In Flames

Well I've decided to try and get back into this blogging business... T&H started out so well and has ended up simply going up in flames. There's been a few reasons for this, mainly that I have been wrapping up my final year of studies at university which has also resulted in me being unable to play what so ever!

So T&H had to suffer and I've not touched it at all so I'm sorry to all the Beastmen players out there I truly am!

However over the next few weeks I'm going to rebuild this blog from the bottom up and start working my way through the book again as well as showcasing my Hobby adventures. So stick to it and I'll be back soon delivering the smut of the Warhammer world in all its horny glory!

A Bucket List - Beastmen Barmy Army

What Next?
So I've not been tempted by the Dwarfs, for a variety of different reasons, and I realised that if I poured my heart into a new army I'd neglect my Beastmen due to time issues - and this shouldn't be allowed to happen!

To counteract this, I've made a few decisions of how I'm going to move this army forward, and devised a Hobby Bucket List to improve my dastardly Beastmen...

So here it is:

1. Re-Base The Entire Army - Some of you may have noticed my efforts to get the entire army re-based. I've moved away from the awful brown autumnal theme and gone for a rugid winter theme using Icicles, Snow and Grass Tufts. However I've still got a lot of Gors to do - all 80 of them...
2. Unit Fillers - I've always toyed with the idea of doing something to make the units look a bit more interesting, however I've never got around to it. So it's time to get something built up, I've got some ideas like using Citadel trees and making some Herdstone style pieces to fill gaps and give a bit of height to the units that are currently a bit stale.
3. Terrain - As well as making some Unit Fillers I'm going to make a whole tables worth of 'themed terrain' these will look similar to the unit fillers. The main concept is to make it look like a wintry forest that the Beastmen have lived in for hundreds of years, perhaps hoof marks in an icy bog, or bloodied markings on dead trees etc.
4. Get Stuff That I Don't Have - I want to expand the collection, the main candidates will be a unit of Centigors alongside Ghorros Warhoof, a Cygor and a Giant. However I've been looking at purchasing a few other items for friendly games, mainly the Skin Wolves for a bit of fun, but primarily I've been toying with the idea of adding Dragon Ogres to my army. All for fun, just to simply spruce the army up a bit.
5. Play More Games - I've only played 2 games this year, and my hobby panes have been growing recently so I want to at least play 2-3 times a month.  

Hobby Horns - Ungors Bases

Hobby Horns - Ungor Bases
So I've finally got some basing done, managed to pick up a Northern Waste kit and get some ice and rocks on the bases. I spent a bit of time trying to think of a few ways to get some elevation onto the bases that a few people had commented on, but it just didn't seem plausible.

I'm going to increase the size of the Ungor Herd unit as well as grab a few more Ungor Raiders as I think it could be fun to run larger units. But instead of simply painting more miniatures I thought I'd try my hand at doing some unit fillers as I've never had the opportunity to do this before - so if you've got any ideas then let me know!

 

Lack Of Updates - Hold Your Tuskgors

What's Going On?
Don't worry fellow Beastmen lovers, real life is getting me down at the moment due to different commitments so I've been unable to post anything new for a while.

I'm hoping to get back into posting regularly as soon as possible, as well as getting the final findings from the questionnaire.

And there's been some progression in the miniatures department to which I'll get some photos done and post them up soon. So hold your Tuskgors cause things will be spicing up nicely soon!