Warhammer Dwarfs: Initial Impressions

So its finally happened.  Games Workshop went and gave the Dwarf army a new book.  It isn't like this was a surprise, many of us knew this was coming.  The company has been releasing new models over the month of February, and while the book wasn't in the initial two weeks of releases it is out now and I have my copy.  I picked the book up last night and so have literally only had it for about 8 hours and thus all of what follows are simply my initial impressions of the book and should be taken as such.  Warning!  I am going to complain a lot.  However I'm also going to type just as much that I am really excited about.  Warning out of the way let's begin!

First I'll cover the book itself.  The hardcover is of course nice just as all the hardcover books have been.  The full color is great and used very well in this book.  I really liked the map in after the timeline section.  The fluff is good although I admit to not having read all of it yet.  The cover is a great piece of art and speaking of such the artwork throughout the book I really enjoyed a lot.  I saw a lot of new and definitely some old, but overall I really enjoyed it.  The book seems well organized and easy to follow with.  A+ for the book itself.

Staring with the complaints I will go over the things that have been changed significantly (for the worse in my op) since the last book and go on.  The Organ Gun retained its original points cost and was upgraded to two artillery dice and a 30" range.  It did however become BS shooting which with the entire Dwarf army barring Hero's is BS 3.  I don't know if you've ever tried BS 3 shooting or not but it isn't good.  The Organ Gun can now also have 50 points of Runes which means you can make it better by giving it a +1 to hit rune.  This will increase it to 145 points and if you also invest in an Engineer character at 70 points you will be hitting on 3's, 4's at range.  So for 195 points you may get some good usefulness out of the gun but at that cost your losing quite a bit extra out of your list.

Goals and Meandering Thoughts

So here I am in mid February with a little post just to talk about what's up in my hobby. Number one is the fact that having finished my Skaven models on the 2nd I've moved on to some Terrain hobbying which is number 8 on my New Years list. To that end I have finished painting the parts for my graveyard.

Now the piece isn't completed yet.  All the parts still need a clear coat which I can't currently do because of the cold weather.  Also the base that is on is just a random forest base I had lying about so I have to construct its actual base for its permanent affixing.  Other than that I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  Tomorrow I'll be priming a bunch more terrain and tonight I began work on a well house for use with the Fortified Manor that I've got.

Episode #73: Triumph & Treachery Review

Hello everyone and thank you all for joining us once more for Episode #73 of the Waaagh Cast!  This episode finally see's our group getting around to covering the Triumph & Treachery supplement from Games Workshop and discussing both its rules and our personal feelings on it.

To check out the Battle Report from the game that Dan, Ryan, Dave and myself played you can click the link here to see it: Triumph & Treachery Battle Report.

We have the opinions of myself, Dave, Ryan and Chuck all gathered up into one so if your at all interested in T&T this episode is a definite listen for you!  Thanks as always and we hope you enjoy the show!

Download the show directly from this link: Episode #73
Run Time: 1 Hour 28 Minutes 52 Seconds

Setting Goals...and Completing them!

Goal check-in time!

Let's review the goals.

1. Buy No More Than 5 New Board Games
I think in 2013 I bought in the realm of 10 new games.  I think I should be able to stick to 5.
2. Participate in X-Wing League or Run Season 3 of Waaagh Cast Cup Blood Bowl League
I'm uncertain this will work.  Running the BBowl league is a lot of work and the local X-Wing
3. Play 4 Supplemental Rules Games
This one I can feel as practically done already.
4. Complete the Skaven
Totally doable
5. Paint 1,000 Points of Orcs & Goblins
Also completely doable
6. Attend Minimum 5 Local Events
Again! Completely achievable goal here.  Especially with me nixing out all out of town GT's except for BITS.
7. Top 10 Finish
This is a crapshoot.  With BITS being a 100 player tournament this year and me never scoring super well in tournaments I'm going to somehow have to take a hard army that doesn't make people hate it, play it well, somehow improve my sportsmanship scores (although I don't think I'm a bad guy I always perform low/middle in this category) and then I have to manage to get decent paint scores.  Not impossible, but I don't feel it is super likely.
8. Assemble 5 Tables of Terrain
Another uncertainty.  Last year I managed to assemble enough terrain to cover 2 tables, but none of that is painted still.  To paint and assemble not only those, but another 3 I think will be rough.
9. Run the Tournament
Dependant on the previous goal.  If I can actually get the stuff together this is totally achievable, but without the terrain clearly a failure.
10. Lose Weight
I have to get back to running and working on this.  Starting on new years day I began tracking my calories again with a resounding punch as I went a bout 1000 calories over that day.  As of the writing of this article I'm standing fast at my calorie goals the last couple of days.  Getting back to running is a bit more difficult.

The New White Dwarf - Thoughts...

Well the new brand of White Dwarf has begun today and with it the opinions of many gamers abound on the internet.  As I am one of many strongly minded gamers I figure I'll throw my 2 cents into the pot while the mag's are fresh in my mind.

Last night at midnite I was at our FLGS to pick up the mags and play some board games.  I purchased the White Dwarf Weekly as I intend to do for the first full month of its run.  While I did not purchase visions I did have a good long look through it from a friends copy.

Let's discuss the Weekly first.
The magazine is full size as the old White Dwarf magazines and seems pretty well put together.  The pictures are good and the stock it is printed on seems thicker than regular magazine paper giving it a sturdier feel.  It is composed well and everything reads as such.  They discuss the new models that are going up fro per-order to be released next week.  Included are the builders notes discussing why they sculpted the models as well as some painting and assembly articles.  Not big ones, but they aren't terrible either.  Their are of course a number of bits discussing upcoming releases still and an article by Jervis which in this 1st issue discusses a silly little game to decide who will go first in a battle.  A simple push your luck dice rolling game.  There was also a small discussion and rules "peak" at one of the new Dwarf special characters which gave you some of his rules but I'm certain not all.  Particularly since his stats and info didn't include his mundane equipment such as Gromril armor which was discussed int he accompanying article with him.  While I did enjoy the Weekly magazine I think that it was left lacking a bit.  There was no gaming article or modeling article which are two of the things i want to see.  I appreciate the painting article though and liked it.  Overall I'm middling on this magazine.  I will give it every hope that GW begins putting a little more pertinent content into the magazine and if they do it could/should be worth purchasing.  If I were to give it a grade I would say B- to a C.