Even the trees walk!

  In case you haven't been keeping up, Underworlds is our favorite game for this family.  It's the one that requires the least amount of setup and has the least amount of rules, and models are really cool.  We know that I'm into anything GW, and that I will recruit anyone I can to play, even my poor innocent children.  

  My son obviously plays all the games with me and he's already picked up and used a good number of the warbands.  My wife is all about her Death armies and that definitely is represented in both the setting and the two warbands that she forced me to pick up (it took so much convincing...).  But my daughter had not yet gotten into these games with us and, well, I just couldn't let that stand.  

  Owning all the warbands (and cards and White Dwarfs that even mention the game), I laid them all out in front of my daughter and asked her which one looked like her favorites.  She was stricken by the tree-ghost thingies.  Ylthari's Guardians it is!

  So I went to work furiously trying to paint these things and get my daughter interested in playing.  Maybe if there was some color on the models, she'd be able to understand what the warriors do and how to use their special abilities.  When the models were done, her mom and she played a game using all painted miniatures and it was much easier for her to keep up with everything.  Admittedly, I did not have a fun time painting these models- too many spindly details overlapping too many other spindly details!  But the final result was awesome and accomplished the purpose.

  Before I get to the pictures, I must disclose that I dusted off the old digital camera.  You see, the camera in my phone finally succumbed to years of drops and stopped working.  Unfortunately, I became spoiled and forgot how to use the real camera, so please forgive the poor picture quality...

Ylthari's Guardians

I forgot to turn the flash off...

And then I forgot how to focus...

  And that's it!  It took me a few weeks to finally finish them (and really about five days) because of some experimentation that didn't quite work out.  But they're done and great models to boot!  As far as their strategy in the game- 

  It's best not to put these warriors too close to the enemy's territory as they aren't the most resilient tree-stock around.  With some range and magic, plus the ability to cause additional damage and wound repeatedly, these is a 'rope-a-dope' warband in that it's made to wear the opponent down.  Few in number and requiring crits on the dice rolls to do anything, they aren't immediate masters like the Chaos and Stormcast warbands.  But some cunning and timing and they can be outrageously frustrating for the opponent.  

  Let me know what you think below and what warband you play if you play this game. 

Happy Hobbying!

The old Chaplain has a point!

  My son and I were going through one of my many bitz boxes for Space Marines and we dug out the baggie of Ultramarine stuff and found a great deal of nostalgic parts.  Between the ancient Scout models (the first plastics that had mohawks and probably should have been in a board game rather than used in a wargame), the 2nd edition Assault Squad (all armed with weapons that haven't been legal since the AP stat first went away), and the dozen Chapter banners from the Honour Guard (did I mention that I bought a few too many boxes of that unit that I now can't use?), there happened to be the bitz for a special character that hasn't gotten any love in a long time.

  Now we know that the Ultramarines have a few too many characters, including a tank commander, and many of them haven't really been used in a while.  Sergeant Chronos saw a little bit of love because people wanted BS 2+ (or 5 if you remember the old days of three years ago) Land Raiders and Annihilators.  Chief Tigurius saw love because people loved that double-tapping psychic powers with rerolls and the knowledge of every power ever to grace the galaxy.  Marneus Calgar even saw a little bit of love once his power fists no longer struck last and he became the monster in close combat that he was supposed to be.  But the other characters, like my beloved Captain Sicarius, never got the respect they deserved. 

  But none of the characters were as forgotten as the old Chaplain Cassius.  In fact, he's gotten so little love that GW even had to release a boxed game with a throw-back version of the dude just to remind people that he exists!  Admittedly, that plastic model was absolutely awesome, especially when compared to the newest metal/resin version from 5th edition (the original one wasn't as bad, but was definitely old).  So why did he get no love despite the overwhelming number of Ultramarine players around the world?

  Before this edition, characters used to be able to join units.  Chaplains were especially prevalent because the buffs they offered to the units they joined were undeniably awesome.  But the majority-toughness rules that were meant to balance the game instead hamstrung Cassius' only advantage outside fighting Tyranids- his toughness 5.  While that is a representation of his unkillable nature and bitterness that overwhelms even mortal wounds, he never got to use it until his entourage was killed.  And by that time, he was probably nearly dead as well. 

  The reason I'm on this subject right now is because, as we dug through the bitz, my son asked me why I never used him.  I explained the big problem with the character and he understood, but he still has that kid-like enthusiasm for very model in my collection (and I have a lot).  He even pulled all the bitz together and grabbed the superglue for me get to work before I chased him and his handful away.  It was cute, if pointless.  That is, until I started thinking about it.

  One of the problems that I have with Chaplains in the game now is that they have to 'pray' to get their buffs off.  My dice-rolling is terrible enough without having to worry about losing out on special abilities that I pay for simply because that always-unwelcome '1' pops up on the die.  But this did give the opportunity to add some powers to the Chaplain that weren't there before.  If you remember the special edition Chaplain model for the Dark Angels from the Dark Vengeance set, that was a character with special rules that more benefited shooters than chargers.  And now all Chaplains have that ability with a couple of their litanies.

  With the creation of the litanies geared towards shooting, Chaplains suddenly became a little more multi-purpose.  Catechism of Fire and Recitation of Focus adds one to wound and hit, respectively, for shooting attacks of nearby units.  And I don't know if you know this, but Ultramarines are a bit geared to shooting as well.  So a Chaplain buffing Ultramarine units?  Oooh...

  Unfortunately, Chaplains can only pray for one litany a turn, meaning that it would take two of the characters to take full advantage of that buff.  Here's where we get back to old man Cassius- he can pray for two litanies a turn!  That means that the Chaplain tax can be reduced by not having to pay for a second one, and the old man can lounge around with Devastators rather than put himself in those situations that led to his bionic mess.  And if the enemy gets close, or the Devastators decide to take advantage of the move-and-fire benefit, there's a mean old Chaplain to protect them!

  Chaplain Cassius didn't get any love for the years that he existed, but maybe this edition will change that.  His ability to double-buff units and still be a beat-stick with a more survivable toughness stat means that he's no longer the slouch that he's been.  Chaplain Cassius finally has a purpose!

  Have you found any other gems in the codex?  Are there any other units that are good enough to be used when they weren't before?  Let me know in the comments below.  And if you just happen to be a follower of the Cassius, definitely toss a shout-out below. 

  In the meantime, Happy Gaming!

Death is also Ethereal in the Underworlds

  In my last post, I mentioned the Nightvault game.  Being a huge fan of the undead, my wife absolutely had to get that new set and the ghostly warband it contained.  Because of course she can't just be happy with skeletons.  She also had to have the ghosts.  I dread the day when GW releases the ghouls and vampires and zombies for Underworlds...

  What's interesting about this warband is that I also picked up a couple of the technical paints for her to try out.  Hexwraith Flame and Soulstone Blue were made to paint the new ghostly Nighthaunt models and she was excited to give them a try.  Not being a professional painter like me and my ilk (although she is artistic and her mother teaches canvas painting courses for a living), anything that makes this easier was great in her book.  In addition to those colors, she also took advantage of the Ryza Rust dry color for obvious reasons- undead aren't exactly cleaning and oiling their blades after every battle!  And better yet, it took her just a few hours to get the whole warband done. 

  Just like last post, I took pictures of the models in front of a black background and a white, curious to see which one I like better.  The black background makes the colors pop more, but the white background shows off the detail more.  I just can't figure out which one I like better...

Thorns of the Briarqueen

  I'd say her results were great no matter which background I chose.  I love my wife so much...  I just hope her playing all these death armies isn't giving her any ideas- I don't have life insurance!

  Again, let me know which background you like better.  I invite advice in this as I'm still learning.  Otherwise, as always- 

Happy Hobbying!

Stormsire and skills

  Shadespire is the first 'edition' of Warhammer Underworlds, and the second is known as Nightvault.  This came out a year ago and, by the time you're reading this post, will be out of print and setting up for the third 'edition' called Beastgrave.  Thank the Emprah that I've kept up with everything and have purchased every warband as it gets released.  I need all those cards! 

  Anyway, the starter box for Nightvault came with two warbands.  Last November, my buddy came down and we planned a trip to the Warhammer Citadel.  We were under the impression that we could only use fully-painted models (it turns out we were wrong), so the three of us (my wife, my buddy, and myself) all pulled out the paints and got to work the night before.  I spent all my time finishing my Reaver warband while my wife finished both her undead bands (more on her ghosts next post).  My buddy, on the other hand, started completely fresh and painted up the entire Stormcast warband from this kit. 

  Let's talk about my buddy's skills for second.  He's as skilled as I am at painting, working for the Emprah for a while and being trained by Golden Daemon winners as well.  But he's more experienced than me- he paints all the time and has a few more finished armies than I do (but not by much- he likes gaming more than painting).  The reason this matters is because I had a very poor time with the primer on these models and couldn't find my proper colors (like the expensive Retributor Gold spraypaint I had bought not long before the visit).  So my buddy was saddled with some poorly primed models and hand-painting method that he likes to avoid.  As you can see in the pics below (black background), the fuzzy primer still showed through and could have really damaged the professional appearance we both appreciate. 

When primer goes wrong

   As you can see, he did an absolutely FANTASTIC job painting these models despite the obstacles.  He wasn't happy with them, but a single night's work and terrible primer still led to models that would look good on any tabletop. 

  I decided to give the models another series of pics with a white background to see if that would improve the appearance.  This is where the darkness shows through.  My buddy likes to paint in darker tones (it's called "grimdark" for a reason!), but it was also the quality of my phone camera.  While not bad (every pic you see on this blog is taken with that Galaxy S6 that's been dropped enough times that the camera now vibrates), the white background really mitigates the color-strength (there's a word for that but I can't remember it right now). 

Stormsire's Cursebreakers

 

 

  I'm always learning and trying to get better and the lesson for this post is that I need to choose which is better- white background to mute the texture or dark background to pop the color.  Hmmm...  Otherwise, this shows how amazing my buddy's skills are when it comes to painting.  Oh, and we didn't even use them at the Citadel the next day as we reverted to our former careers and got into hobby conversation and sales mode.  Plus, the Citadel makes great coffee and that may have distracted me from pulling out the game.  Whoops!

  Let me know what you think is better- the black background showing the fuzzy primer or the white background losing the color.  Your advise is always appreciated.  And of course-

Happy Hobbying!