Of all the games ever released by Games Workshop, in my opinion one has always stood head and shoulders above the rest. The rules are ambiguous and poorly tested but the concept is perfection given injection-moulded, punched-card form. Instead of taking on your mates, you team up to venture into […]
Warhammer Quest was always a game that could suprise people. I’ve often found it to be the best thing to break out when faced with a tough crowd, amongst those who wouldnt normally play a wargame or an rpg. Every GW critic, every cinic fell in love with the game […]
Of course the satisfaction of owning a complete set is somewhat dimmed if it isn’t painted, and therein lies the problem. I dont have the greatest of willpower when it comes to painting but I was determined to see this one through. I wanted to keep the boardgame feel and […]
Some pictures from the trip to Tom and Jo's place in Shrewsbury, henceforth referred to as Hinterzerg. Mostly pictures of us playing through levels 2 and 3 of Warhammer Quest (Full write-up of the campaign and encounter tables to be added to the wargames section soon). Also some pics of the board game "Carcassonne".
These things always have a way of starting fairly innocuously. Tom and myself were sitting around, enjoying a frosty beer after a particularly hard fought game of “Battles for Empire” (Anglo-Zulu War). To hand was a box of old magazines which I was too sentimental to recycle, mostly ‘White Dwarf’ […]
So, with this initial idea buzzing around my head I started to round down the specific details. Firstly miniatures scale. This was a bit of a no-brainer as the scale it pretty much dictated to you by GW when you choose fantasy. Although I love 6mm as a scale, there […]
For 1AP per element, lurkers are cheap and if used correctly, highly effective. +2 in combat they are hardly the best combat units available, but their ability to appear an any area of ‘bad going’ entered by the enemy means they can cause havoc in your opponents line disproportional to […]
Ok, so now the grunt work begins. I would sorely love to walk into games workshop and pick up 2x 8000 point fantasy armies to game with unfortunately on my quite meagre paycheque this wasn’t going to happen without t a lottery win. The next best manufacturer of fantasy figures […]
Behemoth is one of the most powerful unit types, with a +4 vs foot and a +5 vs mounted, there is very little that can win in a 1-on-1 fight with a behemoth. Spear is probably the best thing to hold the line against behemoth with, but even then its […]
Even for 4AP per element Heroes are simply sick. They can cover great distances quickly at 500p per turn,and +5 vs all enemies makes them unstoppable in combat . The only elements that get a quick kill against them are paladins or artillery (Neither of which the opposing side have) […]
Rider is one of my favourite unit types in the game. 2APs get you a very fast unit, being able to cover 500p in good going, with a +3 in combat against all unit types. Like all mounted units they are destroyed if they loose whilst in bad going, but […]
Magician, or Caster as we sometimes refer to them, are one of those unit types which give Hordes its character. They are powerful, but not ‘broken’, they provide the longest range attack in the game, and require no line-of-sight to do so. For a whopping 4AP you definitely get what […]
Blade represent high quality well drilled infantry, moving in tight formation. For this reason they are slow (Equally in Bad going or in the open), but do very well in combat against other foot units (+5). The are vulnerable to Mounted units however (only +3). They are Quick-killed by Warband, […]
In the first edition of Hordes of the Things, Warband was definitely the worst troop choice going. At twice the points cost of Horde it was only slightly more combat effective. Thankfully in 2nd Edition they were buffed slightly, and the semi-official-unofficial errata to the HoTT rulebook brings them up […]
Spear elements in hordes? Solid .. like totally solid, solid as a rock. Spear gets +4 vs anything, with a +1 on top for a supporting rank, meaning they can take care of most foot and mounted units, and can double-rank to hold the line against behemoth, knight and even […]
Shooter, or ‘bow’ as I call them, is probably the most powerful unit type in the game. Although I am not going to claim they are “Broken” as such, they are slightly undercost in terms of points. Faster than most foot units, they fare well in bad going and have […]
Artillery is one of the more interesting units from Hordes. A 500pc attack range is devastating, they freak out behemoth and dragon (causing a flee rather than a recoil), and can cause recoils on most other units long before they are under threat. However they are quick-killed in close combat […]
Beasts work best in bad going, they are the only mounted unit which can fight in bad going and not suffer a penalty. Combines with lurkers a cunning player can pretty much command all the areas of terrain on the table and funnel their opponents troops into convenient locations. 2APs […]
Knights are best in the open where they can roll over foot units. 2APs gets you a fast moving unit with +3 vs foot, +4 vs mounted and a handful of quick-kills against various foot units in the open. They don’t do very well at all in bad going. They […]
The night before salute was the debut of my 28mm “Hordes of the Things” game .. although we only got 4 of the intended 6 armies on the table, a close fought game ensued. Armies were 36 points per side (keeping the standard D6 pips). Mat and Tom took the ‘Forces of Light’ (Men and Elves), and Alex and James commanded the ‘Forces of Darkness’ (Mostly Greenskins and Chaos Worshippers). Although The Forces of light commanded the early game, with withering ranged fire from Bow and Cannon and a superbly effective cavalry charge by Mat, the Forces of Darkness slowly turned the tide with a countercharge of Ogres and Vicious Ariel attacks by Dragons. Allied Spellcasters held the line briefly, but were brutally cut off and killed by aerial attack. End Result : 2 Light-Side Commands Demoralised to only one Dark side Command demoralized. Victory to the night, but rematch pending.
