"War on a New Scale" - An epic battle on the front of the Warmaster Rulebook
The concept was that rather than the "a punch up in a pub car park" of the 1:1 scale Warhammer, that claimed to be a "mass battle" game but actually usually only ended up with company sized engagements - Warmaster would represent huge armies representing tens of thousands of warriors per side.
The game attempted to bring more sophisticated and streamlined mechanics into fantasy gaming from historical games. The units moved via "orders" rather than "point and click" movements. And the units themselves didn't represent the 30 to 42 figures represented on the stands, but rather hundreds of warriors. Although the base size for a single "stand" was always 40mm x 20mm the base sizes tied in with Warhammer.
A unit of Chaos warriors or Orcs would consist of 30 figures and perhaps represent 600 warriors. Units based on 20x20mm bases in Warhammer would have more figures. Humans and Elves for example would be 36 to a unit and would perhaps represent more warriors on the battlefield - perhaps 720 (20 warriors to one figure is a fairly standard historical mechanic). The number of figures wasn't important, it doesn't matter how many figures are represented - the important thing is the footprint of the stand, and units usually consist of 3 stands.
Although in production for 13 years from 2000 to 2013, Games Workshop (perhaps in this period in their most cynical corporate period) never supported the game to the level it really deserved according to those in the know (such as the author). This is a shame as the miniatures sculpted for the game are some of GW's finest, by a who's who of Oldhammer sculptors, resulting in the fact that they demand a premium on the second hand market even though many third party manufacturers make great proxies to those with the patience to look.
I have promised a couple of people that I will do a 28mm conversion ruleset based on 100mm x 50mm movement trays (8 Orcs per stand or 10 dwarfs / humans etc) and I promise this will follow at some point. This will be designed for those 12 foot by 6 foot 28mm games we often see at Bring Out Your Lead with 15,000 points a side that take 8 hours to reach turn 4. With Wamaster this kind of 28mm game could most likely be nailed in 4 hours.
I often refer to Warmaster as "Kings of War for adults". Yes I am blocked from the KoW fanatics page. I am as proud of that as a progressive band was proud of being banned from selling records in Apartheid South Africa.
Anyway...
I have posted bits and pieces of my burgeoning fantasy armies on Facebook, and a fast orc tutorial on this very Blog. However on this occasion I want to discuss Warmaster Ancients.
Warmaster Ancients was published as part of the Warhammer Historical Range and to all intents and purposes was a Warmaster second edition. It dialled down the over-powered "shock" cavalry and introduced Blood Bowl-style "skills" as special rules for certain troop types. As far as I am aware a second edition of Fantasy was written and handed in by Mr Priestley largely based on Ancients - but he was told they were not going to publish and probably never will. A fairly large worldwide community keeps the game alive with a living rulebook.
So being the foolish, impulsive type - I entered a Warmaster Ancients tournament at the Bad Moon Café in Borough in London in the middle of January. I was encouraged in this foolish decision by other Warmaster players and the promise of fresh pizza and ale from the Kernel brewery.
Then I remembered.
I didn't have an Ancient army in 10mm.
So I headed over to Adler Miniatures and got one.
As my local gaming club now meets in the Uxbridge Conservative Club, I simply couldn't think of a better way to represent them by playing as the French. So I bought a very nice bunch of Gauls. These will double up as a McDeath led Albion army for fantasy.
Ancients has a lower tourney points total than Fantasy (1,250 compared to 2,000) but the troop types are more basic. There are obviously no expensive giants or dragons, ogre mercenaries or trolls or dwarf cannons. So my army isn't going to be any smaller really.
In Warmaster heroes are not Death Stars but rather a token from which you make your orders. They can join units and give bonuses in combat but on their own they are simply overrun in combat. Any army must commit a certain amount of points on heroes. A general for instance is as you might expect compulsory.
To differentiate generals and heroes from standard units with their rectangular bases, most players base the commanders on round bases. This isn't compulsory at all but most people do it. In the UK our coins are the cheapest way of basing and 2p, 1p and 5p are often used and are actually cheaper then plastic and MDF. They are also magnetic for those using magnetic sheet lined cases as a travel solution.
Going through the Gallic list I decided on the following army:
Command Structure:
General with Vercingetorix upgrade = 125 pts
(command value = 8; command range = 100cm; adds +2 attacks to any unit he has joined; all leaders and subordinates within 20cm of the great Gallic Warlord can issue orders at his command value of 8)
x1 Warlord = 60 pts
(command value = 7; command range = 60cm, adds +1 attack to any unit joined)x2 Chieftans @ 30pts = 60pts
(command value = 7; command range = 20cm; adds +1 attack to any unit joined)
Total Command Structure: 245 points
Rank and File:
x2 Bodyguard Infantry @ 55 pts = 110 pts
(Move = 20cm; Attacks = 3; Wounds = 4; Armour = 6+; *special rule = WARBAND)
x13 Warrior Infantry @ 35 pts = 455 pts
(Move = 20cm; Attacks = 3; Wounds = 3; Armour = 0; *special rule = WARBAND)
x4 Foot Skirmishers @ 30 pts = 120 pts
(Move = 20cm; Attacks = 1; Ranged Attacks = 1; Range = 15cm; Wounds = 3; Armour = 0; *special rule = WARBAND / SKIRMISH)
x3 Noble Cavalry @ 80 pts = 240 pts
(Move 30cm; Attacks = 3; Wounds = 3; Armour = 5+; *special rule = WARBAND)x2 Mounted Skirmishers @ 40 pts = 80 pts
(Move 30cm; Attacks = 1; Ranged Attacks = 1; Range = 15cm; Wounds = 3; Armour = 0; *special rule = SKIRMISH)
Total Rank & File = 1,005 points.
Total = 1250 Points.
Please note that the stats are per stand. So a unit of bodyguard infantry (3 stands) rolls nine dice in combat if it doesn't have charge or pursuit bonuses or terror or flank/rear penalties. It will lose a stand every 4 wounds and has armour of 5+ which is its saving throw.
So how am I progressing thus far?
VERCINGETORIX:
The mighty Gallic Warlord who united the Celtic chieftains to deny Caesar.
I'm a huge fan of the late Angus McBride's work. As a child my dad had countless Osprey books with his colour plates. So I tried to base my General on this piece from "Gallic and British Celts".
I've used 3 cavalry figures and a semi naked chap with a standard running alongside. I was a bit worried about the mix of a foot slogger on the same base as the cavalry at first but I don't think it looks too bad.
Yes I have used tweezers to straighten out that banner since I noticed it in the photo
I had wanted to do everything on Vercingetorix in the same colours as Lionel-Noel Royer's famous painting (fist pic in this post), but the ivory coloured cloak and white horse did not translate into 10mm miniatures.
This command base was painted with standard acrylics by various manufacturers with oils on the horses. The shields are Adler decals designed for their own miniatures.
x2 CHIEFTANS:
Quite simple these chaps. When I started the first unit I was sticking to the GW method of 12 humans to a stand and therefore 36 to a unit. I noticed that when I looked at other scales and other Gallic armies that the warriors were based slightly less dense. I've therefore cut it down slightly to 9 to 10 per stand to give the warriors a slightly looser formation without making them look like skirmishers. A three stand unit is now around 27 to 30 per unit. That left me with a couple of leftover chaps. I stuck them to 5ps and these are my x2 "chieftains" which are ranked as "subordinates" - the lowest command bases in my army.
Painted with standard acrylics by various manufacturers. The shields Adler decals designed for their own miniatures.
Unforgiving close-ups. The 5p base rims need another coat!
x2 MOUNTED SKIRMISHERS:
"Lightly armed mounted tribesmen armed with Javelins"
Adler are one of my favourite - no scratch that - they are my favourite small scale manufacturer. I have way more than is normal of their 6mm ACW stuff. However one criticism is that the weapons (spears and swords) are realistically thin. This means they can be very delicate.
To prevent any issues later I decided that in the skirmish units I would replace the cast-on javelins with brass wire. It does end up making the casts look clumsier than they are but they are going to be transported and played with so I thought this would save me ball-ache in the future.
With hindsight I wish I'd based them in twos and therefore 6 to a unit to massively differentiate them from my Noble cavalry but it's done now and I'm not rebasing when time is of the essence!
One unit has oils on the horses and for the other I used contrast paints. As I can't tell the difference from the photos or three feet away I made the executive decision to use contrast paints going forwards due to the time pressure. Apart from the metallics everything else is contrast paint for speed reasons.
Again - no I didn't freehand the checks. They are Adler's own decals.
Some crushed seashell on the bases.
x2 Units of mounted Gallic Skirmishers
NOBLE CAVALRY:
"Wealthier and better equiped warriors fighting on horseback - armed with long swords, spears and javelins. Carrying shields, with many wearing mail and helmets."
There will be three of these in total but I only have one unit done to date.
Warmaster Ancients dialled down the "shock" nature of cavalry. To put it simply in Fantasy all cavalry is "shock". That means it is based with the 20mm edge being the front rather than the 40mm edge. This may not sound like much but it gives cavalry the advantage when it attacks of concentrating three stands of attacks against 2 stands of an infantry unit.
This provided me with a quandary. This gallic army will also provide me with a fantasy Albion army led by McDeath. I just need to add in a giant or two, some ogres, maybe some eagles etc. The noble cavalry will be my Albion cavalry also...but this means that they will be based facing the 40mm edge for ancients and the 20mm for fantasy. What to do?
My solution was to buy some 20mm square bases from Precision Wargames Supplies and I based my cavalry in twos on these steel bases. I then cut some 20mm x 40mm bases from thin magnetic sheet.
I can now base these for both games simply by rotating the steel on the magnetic sheet.
The steel bases were £0.15 each which I thought was good value. Especially as it saves me £5 buying a new unit and hours of painting.
Only another 2 units (24 minis) to do.
Front view of the Noble Cavalry
Rear view for those of you that like that sort of thing
Showing the basing orientation of Ancients on the long side of the base
The difference for Fantasy basing. Denser and more impactful
More concentrated in Fantasy. Typically on the charge getting in twice the atacks of the opponent
INFANTRY SKIRMISHERS:
"Young or poorer individuals armed with bows, javelins or slings."
The skirmishers in a Gallic army are generic and have the half range rule (15cm instead of 30cm missile range). As such as I have decided to go with x4 units and as Adler do a variety of skirmish sculpts I have done a unit each of slingers and bowmen (each can be used in Briton or Germanic armies) and x2 units of Javelins. In my army all skirmish units have the same stats.
I have used 4 to a base for the slingers and Javelins and 5 to a base for the bows. The extra space lets me do a bit more terrain stuff on the base. The Javelins need a bit more work but are nearly table ready.
All four generic skirmish units
A unit of bowmen with javelins behind
Slingers with Javelin support
For speed these units were painted with contrast paints. The rocks are either crushed seashells, bashed Woodnland Scenics rock moulds or tiny stones collected from the canal tow-path in West Drayton.
BODYGUARD INFANTRY:
"A band of professional warriors armed with long swords and shields, many wearing chainmail and helmets."
I'm allowed a max of 2 of these units in a 1250 point list so I'm taking them both. They will be my only elite infantry and my only infantry with a saving throw that won't die ridiculously quick. That saving throw is still only 6+ but you have to take what you can.
Although Adler make heavier Gauls I chose to put a mounted commander on the command stand to help identify the elite units for my oponent in a game. This is similar to to one of the command strips of the elf army and I felt a nice doff of the hat.
I only have one unit finished with one unit WIP.
The mounted chieftain should help differentiate the bodyguard units on the tabletop.
WARRIORS:
This is the hardest part. I need to complete x13 units. So at the time of writing I have x3 completed and 1 nearly there (as well as most of the second unit of bodyguard).
x1 of my units is a naked fanatic unit (Gaesatae) which in my Gallic army will count as standard warriors, but in a Briton unit can be used as fanatics.
So another x9 of these units to do in about 3 weeks.
All done in contrast paints with Adler decals for the shields.
Ah...the joy of cutting out decals with nail scissors
A brigade of Gallic infantry (x4 units in base to base contact)
Probably not historically accurate but I had some Roman heads and a Roman Eagle spare lol.
So I now just have x11 infantry units and x2 cavalry units plus a Warlord command base to do.
And about 3 weeks.
Wish me luck.
No really...wish me luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment