And now for something completely different...

The assignment for my Advanced Composition class was titled "Your Journey to Literacy". Since half of the two-part assignment was to be a visual component, I opted to chronicle my development as a painter of all things fantastically small. I offer my efforts here for your perusal and, hopefully, enjoyment. Please feel free to offer feedback as this assignment isn't due until Friday the 30th.

Also, please ask any questions this presentation might inspire. I'm always thrilled to talk about the hobby.

GW switching from metal to resin...and a price increase?

 MiniWar Gaming article

While I abhor metal miniatures and all that they represent, I'm not that big of a fan of resin either.  I also enjoy price increases about as much as a swift kick to the tender parts.  I need a new hobby.

Genoside throws down some Warhammer Fantasy

Genoside is a quiet, but key member of the team. One of his many qualities is that he is the only member that plays Warhammer Fantasy. Go figure right? Most of us get our fantasy fix from D&D (Pathfinder now actually) and our Sci Fi fix from 40k. Despite Genoside's best efforts, neither our wives or our limited paychecks will allow us to get into that game full time. In the spirit of full disclosure, however, I must say the Genoside has offered us all the use of one of his many armies. Anyway, here's Genoside:

Hello - Genoside here and I am kind of the ghost player of the group...always buried with work and if I get free time it is usually spend with the wife. After receiving the new 8th edition of Warhammer, however, I forced myself to get a game of it the other night. This is a great start for the new edition since I only played a handful of games of the previous edition. My opponent was a new guy to our group that happens to be a local dentist.

Battle set up was standard mission with no special terrain rules. In the new rules there is all types of terrain rules that effect the game such as rivers becoming blood rivers and that alone can completely change the game. We were going to have enough trouble stumbling through the rules, we didn't need anymore stuff to remember.

For the 2000 point battle I was taking my standard Empire army. Luckily for me having played since 3rd edition I have learned not to build an army around the cheese of the month items because they tend to go away quickly. I went with my stock build that I have used since 5th edition.

My opponent for this game took Dark Elves. This really troubled me because in the new rules close combat order is determined by initiative rating and the Dark Elves have a rather high one. As planned, the game started slowly having not to confuse rules from previous editions and ended early due to the fact that we are old men now and can't stay up late anymore. Anyway, I'm not going to bore anyone with the battle report since most members of Team Snake Eyes refuse to play Warhammer; I will only list the Pros and Cons of my first game.

EDIT: Check out the comments for Genoside's stock Empire list

Cons
Magic was a big shocker. It was quite deadly now...you either do very well with it or nothing at all. No real in between. So mages now are a big gamble in my eyes. Random Charge: My heavy knights were only like 12" away from his heavy knight unit and with the new rules of charging, you roll a number of D6's and add your movement. Mine was 3d6 (pick the two highest) plus my movement of seven. In true Team Snake Eyes fashion I rolled two ones and a two for a total of three which left me two inches short of finishing the charge. Next turn he was nice enough to roll right in and charge me with his higher initiative.

Pros
The rules seem a lot cleaner. Bolt weapons still need line of sight but stone thrower type weapons (artillery) can now shoot indirectly, following rules close to the current ones in 40k. I couldn't hit anything to save my life, but I really liked this rule. Support Attacks. Now, not only does your front rank attack the second rank gets to attack also. Plus, with the new horde rule (units that are 10 wide) a third rank can attack. This makes combat a lot nastier and seems to speed up the game a lot. One thing I know I need to get more games in, so I am not so rusty and make simple novice mistakes.