Warbands of Spitewood

 Well... this arrived... 

Warbands of Spitewood

It's the cards for all the warbands being rereleased in the four Grand Alliance boxes of four warbands from first edition. I wasn't sure about getting it... but... 

I HAVE ALL THE WARBANDS for this series... Not all of them are painted (9/16 are fully painted and ready to play!)... and, to be honest, I have not played the game once this year.... 

and... I'm not going to lie, here... sitting with this small pack of cards... I do not feel as though I'm in the presence of EIGHTY FUCKING DOLLARS worth of gaming materials... I was looking at Finspan a few weeks ago during the Anniversary Sale at Dragon's Den Games (from Stonemaier Games - same people that made Wingspan - one of our MOST PLAYED games over the last five years...) and it was only SEVENTY DOLLARS... FOR A WHOLE FUCKING GAME!? 10x the weight of this in paper, card and ink!? 

I though, when I picked it up, "Maybe I'll start playing again" and "Well, I shouldn't have to do this again"... except that there were 58 warbands in first edition... They CAN do this again next year... and probably again the following year (but will have to rererelease another warband.. or maybe mixing in some second edition warbands into the boxes...) 

Sorry... just feeling a little salty today... feeling like I have not made great life decisions this afternoon. To actually play the game on the regular, I'd have probably spend another $100 to pick up the three newer decks that I don't have. 

If I was playing this regularly... and it was the ONLY thing I was really playing (other than Warhammer Quest and/or a role-playing game) - which it was, for a while - this wouldn't be such a big thing... a few hundred dollars a year for a game that I play a few times a week, every week. That's nothing... but for a game that has been side-lined and not likely to be THE GAME I'm focused on and painting stuff for and playing regularly... I think it's just gotten to be too much. 

You can see all my painted Warhammer Underworlds warbands on the gallery page:

Age of Sigmar - Warhammer Underworlds Warbands

Game Plan 2025 - Q1

Well, happy new year, everyone!

In my brain, 2025 still seems like it should be in the FAR FUTURE where we all have spinner cars or jet packs and there are off-world colonies...  

Having reviewed last year's shenanigans in the previous post... what do I have planned for THIS year - or at least the first three months of this year!?

Well... 

GAMES

I guess I will just continue on with what I've been doing... ?

Warhammer Underworlds

This was my MOST PLAYED game last year, by loads. In the first six months I played 75 games? There was a bit of a dip in the third quarter, but we started playing again in the last few months after the release of the new edition! 

Is it going to be my most played game again this year...? I don't know... Maybe not... Probably not... There have been some hiccups with not being able to get cards to play with some warbands and so some of the initial enthusiasm fizzled before we could really get playing and interests have wandered. Also, I've kind of just been busy with Warhammer Quest and Soulbound... But I do hope it gets going again and we continue to play this fairly regulary! 

 

Warhammer Quest

We FINALLY got to playing Warhammer Quest again last year, Starting with Shadows Over Hammerhal through the summer and fall and then started Warhammer Quest: Cursed City just as the snow was starting to fly! 

Really enjoying it so far. Looking forward to playing lots more in the new year! 

My hope is to continue playing this weekly with Amanda and Finnegan (and any others that happen to join us!) until we get through it - finishing up the first campaign and then moving on the Night Wars! 

Will we get to Night Wars in the first quarter...? Unlikely... But I have it... we'll get to it.. It COULD take THIRTY or more games to get through the first campaign in Cursed City... so we will likely be playing the base game well into Q3 and maybe only finishing Night Wars by the end of the year!

(Maybe there will be a NEW Warhammer Quest out by then!!)

Role-Playing Games 

I FINALLY got a campaign of Soulbound going this winter?! TWO, actually!? I hope to continue through the next year!!!

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

(like... the miniature battle game... all of the above are games are set in the Mortal Realms of the Age of Sigmar, but this bit is about the actual battle game called Warhammer Age of Sigmar) 

(Image ©2024 Games Workshop)

In the summer I'd been pretty stoked about Warhammer Age of Sigmar! I painted three whole Spearhead armies (and acquired FIVE OTHERS by the end of the year!?). I even played in the Spearhead league. I'd been excited about playing in the Warhammer Store's Path to Glory Campaign... but through the fall interest waned as I got my Warhammer Quest campaign going again and the new Warhammer Underworlds was released.... 

I do hope in the new year I can get going on this again. I've been thinking for months about organizing a turn-based, Path to Glory map campaign. Will that happen in the First Quarter? I don't know... 

(Image ©2024 Games Workshop)

There is a Path to Glory book coming out in just under three weeks. 

I'd been thinking about possibly running a map campaign using elements of Mighty Empires (1990)... and the current Path to Glory... setting it on an island off the East coast of The Parch on an Island that was once ruled by a Khorne (or Slaves to Darkness?) Warlord, but recently there was some sort of challenge and infighting and left the Chaos forces weakened and other factions have used this opportunity to encroach on the Chaos forces lands... I imagined running it as a GM (because these things generally work better with a GM!) but I could play smaller forces still holding lands that that they players try to take over...? 

This "Ravaged Coast" it turns out, is the east coast of The Parch!? 

So, obvioulsy I'd be incorporating that... 

Or maybe we just do it without a map.

More on these plans SOON! 

Other Board Games

We did not play as many Board Games last year... 

It'd be nice to play a bit more, from time to time... Maybe organize Game Nights on Fridays or Afternoons on Saturdays...? 

Solo Miniatures Games...?

When I have the time, I'd love to continue some of the Solo gaming campaigns I've started... 

Five Parsecs from Home 

Five Men in Normandy 

And maybe start one for Devilry Afoot! 

Will I actually get to ANY of these In Q1...? I don't know... It's still something I regularly think about, though! 

Warhammer 40,000!?

(Image ©2024 Games Workshop)

There is a new Aeldari Codex on the way 

(Image ©2024 Games Workshop)

and an Astra Militarum one! 

(Both probably in the first quarter...?) 

(Image ©2024 Games Workshop)

and an Emperor's Children Codex hinted at for sometime this year!!! 

Could all this mean a return to playing 40K...? 

Maybe...? 

(I should pick up something with the Crusade campaign rules...) 

Will any of that happen in the First Quarter? I don't know... I have my doubts... but it's on my radar again, as is Wrath & Glory! 

What ISN'T on my radar is Kill Team... I'd rather play smaller 40K battles... or use some other sci-fi skimish rules. Or just play Wrath & Glory. There, I said it... I don't love Kill Team! I mean, if someone else I knew and regularly played games with suddenly LOVED the game and was willing to organize games, I might be convinced to show up with a team I have... but I just can't keep up with it and don't have the headspace for another set of rules. If I were to play a skimish game from GW set in the 40K universe, it would probably be Necromunda! 

MINIATURES

The plan is mostly just to keep painting miniatures I already HAVE for the games mentioned above... and try to not buy too many MORE!? I definitely feel like I went a bit overboard last year as I got back into Warhammer Age of Sigmar... but I feel like things have calmed, somewhat. I got what I got and now I just need to keep painting! I may or may not pick up any new Warhammer Underworlds warbands as they come out...? (Still haven't picked up the Jaws of Itzl or Grandfather's Gardeners - released this past month!) Otherwise, I think I'm good for MOST things...? 

If a whole new Age of Sigmar Warhammer Quest game dropped... I... I might be tempted to pick it up for when we're done Cursed City! If it was another 40K one... I don't know... we still have a BUNCH of Blackstone Fortress that we never finished playing through. 

Age Of Sigmar

As I seem to be working on Age of Sigmar stuff still. I will probably continue to work on some of these... I'd like to focus on finishing off the last few Nighthaunt and Sylvaneth miniatures (as there are about a dozen miniatures for each force), then shifting to work on Soulblight Gravelords and/or Slaves to Darkness - trying to get the Spearhead Armies for both finished, and then expanding on that to build a 1000 point Paths to Glory Armies and then just adding options... 

Another idea I had, though, was to try and assemble ALL THE MINIATURES and organize them into proper storage spaces (instead of heaped in cardboard boxes around the painting area... and THEN get going on Soulblights and Slaves to Darkness. 

Of course, since I have an in-person Soulbound RPG going that I DO like to use miniatures in... what I'm working on from week to week may very well be dictated by what I need for the next weeks game! 

Initially I'd planned to include a status of ALL THE FORCES in this post... but then that seemed a bit much. Perhaps I will do that in the new year... though the Gallery pages for each are pretty much up-to-date, so:

Age of Sigmar - Hedonites of Slaanesh

Age of Sigmar - SoulBlight Gravelords

Age of Sigmar: Stormcast Eternals

Age of Sigmar: Nighthaunt

Age of Sigmar - Daughters of Khaine

Age of Sigmar: Slaves to Darkness

Age of Sigmar: Blades of Khorne

Age of Sigmar: Sylvaneth

Age of Sigmar - Skaven - PLASTIC!

(at some point I plan to do one for all the METAL Skaven I have!) 

Though the above links are up-to-date as the time of the initial posting of this Plan... As they are continually updated, they won't provide a snap-shot of where things were at during the beginning of this planning cycle... Perhaps I will do a post for each in the new year - to give a snapshot of where things were at the beginning of 2025! 

Warhammer Underworlds

I feel like the end is in sight with these (as in finally finishing painting all of them... not, like, getting rid of them or anything!?)... a bit of a push and I feel like I could get all caught up with these... which would be pretty cool... It HAD been my play to try and get them ALL painted last year - and I did get a bunch painted (and even more mostly painted!?)... but then OTHER Age of Sigmar games distracted me away... 

I still have 18 Warbands that I need to paint! (but 34 warbands are PAINTED!) 

Still to DO:

1. Gorechosen of Dromm
2. Starblood Stalkers
3. Skaeth's Wild Hunt
4. Crimson Court
5. The Gnarlspirit Pack 
6. The Exiled Dead
7. Spiteclaw's Swarm
8. Skittershank’s Clawpack
9. Zarbag's Gitz 
10. Brotherhood of the Bolt
11. Myari's Purifiers
12. Shadeborn
13. Headsmen’s Curse 
14. Domitan’s Stormcoven 
15. Hexbane’s Hunters
16. Grashrak's Despoilers
17. Emberwatch 
18. Zikkit’s Tunnelpack

(I guess I still have extra copies of Steelheart's Champions and the Storm of Celestus... but I think of them more as units for my Age of Sigmar Stormcast Eternals forces - as I'm painting them in the blackened armour of the Anvils of Heldenhammer) 

Will I pick up any of the new ones...? I don't know... I kind of like the new Nurgle Daemon warband - Grandfathers Gardeners... but I kind of feel like I want to get a bunch of the ones I HAVE painted before I get any more! 

Warhammer Quest

I don't really have a lot left to paint for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City!? At least not for the first quest - contained in the core box. Just Torgillius the Chamberlain and two of the Mysterious Objects. 

The only thing I still have to to acquire and paint for Night Wars is Radukar the beast, and I still have to paint the Fell Bats and Vampire Lord. 

I guess there are a few things to paint for Silver Tower, should we decide to play that!  

Will there be a NEW Warhammer Quest this year!? I feel like we're a little overdue for one... but that probably won't be until at least Q3 or Q4... 

Warhammer 40,000

Even if I return to 40K, there's not a lot I'd need to BUY (other than possibly the new Codexes!)... This is very LOW priority stuff for Q1 and I likely won't get to working on ANY of it... but maybe sometime this year... 

Whenever the new Emperor's Children Codex is released (which will probably be later in the year...?), I will probably end up buying some of the new Noise Marines (at least ONE squad of those - despite already having 30!?) ... and.. well... we'll see what else they release along with it and if I'm feeling like it's time to play 40K again! 

I have no interest in any of the new Eldar or Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum stuff... I mean, it all LOOKS GREAT! But I already have SO MUCH STUFF for both armies, that I am totally happy with... I imagine I'll just need to do some minor reorganization of the two forces for the new edition codexes and get painting the stuff that isn't finished yet!! 

There is that the Ratling Sniper Kill Team for Kill Team... I will probably breakdown and buy that... Not to play Kill Team... just to potentially use in other games (40K or Wrath & Glory). I think I need to finish Provisionally Prepared before I buy any MORE Ratling Snipers! 

What I DO need to do is take stock and reorganize these forces for the new (but not SO new) edition and figure out what (if anything) I need to finish painting to make a playable force with some options... 

Perhaps I'll work on that in Q1 - take stock of Astra Militarum, Aeldari and Emperor's Children forces and post a status update for each and what the plan is for if/when I get back to playing! 

Other Games

The other games I mentioned.... Devilry Afoot, Five Parsecs from Home, and Five Men in Normandy... I can't imagine needing to buy anything. I likely won't need to paint much, even if I do get playing again, I have LOADS of useable stuff for all of these games. Including stuff I could paint for them as new opponents! 

Maybe I could build some terrain, though!? 

Occasionally I think about reorganizing existing - Greeks and others.... I may or may not get to that..  

 

Work-in-Progress Wednesdays

Not sure if I'm going to continue with that... I'd kind of started that earlier in 2024 as a way to FORCE myself to engage with the blog and share what I'm working on, even if I wasn't getting much DONE... and kind of force myself to work on SOMETHING each week, even if I wasn't getting things done... (also because I was taking pictures of what I'd been working on to post in groups on Facebook or Discord that have Work-in-Progress Wednesdays - to keep people engaged and encourage each other to keep going!) 

This was largely because for the last few years I have not been blogging so much, at least, not on THIS blog... I'm not sure it's really necessary to continue doing this... I seem to be back and painting and playing games... (though I have not been doing nearly so much drawing or painting of pictures...) 

What are YOUR plans for the new year!?

(Gaming or Otherwise!) 

Work-in-Progress Wednesday - 20 November 2024

Every week... I sit down to do this... 

and this is what my painting desk looks like

and over to the left... 

and the bit on the right... 

I don't even want to show you the stuff piled up on the floor around it or on the shelves behind... 

It's a MESS! 

But I do this as it FORCES me to tidy up that mess a bit and reevaluate what I'm doing and think about what I SHOULD be doing and hopefully keep myself focused and on track... it doesn't always work... 

Looking at these pictures, I started feeling like these all look pretty much the same as they did last week!? What did I even do!? but then I looked back on my blog and saw I'd finished up Jelsen Darrock and three Vyrkos Blood-Born and THE VARGSKYR!? And they were a lot of work! 

So this week... 

Most recently, I started assembling the miniatures from Embergard. The Stormcast Eternal Embergard are assembled (above)... 

and I've STARTED assembling the Skaven... which are a huge pain in the ass and I am NOT looking forward to trying to paint these... 

I also have these three other Warhammer Underworlds warbands lingering on the desktop... I think only the seraphon saw any work done on them this past week.

Having played Emberwatch on Saturday and seen Sunday's announcement that the Warbands of Emberwatch card expansion (which will include Warscrolls and fighter cards for two of these warbands) will be out on 7 December, I now have a deadline to try and get these done by... They probably won't see a lot of work THIS week, as I have a more pressing deadline!

Next week we will be starting Warhammer Quest: Cursed City and I will need these ZOMBIES finished!!

(We finished up Warhammer Quest: Shadows Over Hammerhal last night, and I just remembered I did not finish the game report last night! So I shall have to finish that up after I complete this post!) 

I will also need these rats! 

I might also need some of these...!? I'm not 100% sure what most of these are for, to tell you the truth... I've READ the rules and I've seen no mention of Diregoyles or the undead cats or the gravemarkers... unless they're ALL just optional Mysterious Object markers? Maybe they turn up in Crises or Events - I have NOT read through all of those! 

I don't NEED any of these Heroes, as I have four done.. but I will probably try to get at least two more done for next week (Dagnai Holdenstock and Qulathis the Exile)... just... because...  

Other things lurking on the desktop

These three random heroes/adventurerers... 

Saviours of Cinderfall... just need to finish up the Gryph-Hound and Girlz... 

A smattering of Slaves to Darkness stuff... I will probably switch gears once I finish up the Cursed City stuff and start working on these again. As with the Warbands of Embergard, the new Slaves to Darkness Battletome and Darkoath Spearhead army will be released on 7 December and that's getting me pretty excited about getting to work on these!

I STILL have all these Nighthaunt miniatures kicking around on the desk... I just can't put them back into storage... there are only these ten left to finish off ALL THE NIGHTHAUNTS!? I even did a little work on these, this past week - all the rusted metal on the Craventhrone Guard! 

Maybe after the Warhammer Quest stuff is done, before I get to into the Slaves to Darkness stuff,  I just need to focus on these for a day or two and get them all DONE!!!

Oh... I guess I DID get distracted by ANOTHER rebasing project and that took up a lot of time and space this past week... but have since been moved OFF of the workbench for the time being... I just need to do some flocking on the painted ones! 

So... for this coming week... The priority really NEEDS to be those fucking zombies that i just don't want to paint... but NEED to paint... and the rats. Maybe a Hero or two. and/or Gorslav the Gravekeeper! 

What have YOU been working on this past week? 

What are YOUR hobby priorities for the next week or so!? 

Warhammer Underworlds: Embergard - First Games

A whole new edition of Warhammer Underworlds was realeased this past weekend on Saturday. While there have been little rule tweaks and minor changes and additions along the way with each new setting/"Season" of the game, this was the first true NEW EDITION for the game! ALL of the stuff released up until that point was still stuff you could play with Warhammer Underworlds: Wintermaw - the last release (realier this year) of the previous edition. It wasn't COMMON to find people playing games with the older cards - but you could use any of them in relic format! It also wasn't terribly common to see people playing with a lot of the older warbands - largely due to "power creep" - the older ones just aren't as effective against newer warbands... but it could all be used. 

ALL the old cards are no longer playable with this new edition. I mean, you CAN still play with ALL THE OLD STUFF... just not in games using this new edition! 

Orion went and picked up her copy early on Saturday and then came by my place to play a few games. We had to use fighter and warscroll cards I printed off at home on our black and white laser printer... which were not the easiest to read!  

GAME ONE

Orion played Ironsoul's Condemnors and I tried playing the Thricefold Discord. Mostly because they only needed three fighter cards printed and cut out each! 

I played with "Flex" deck; Pillage and Plunder, which had me Delving treasure tokens (flipping them over) to gain glory points. 

Orion played with the "Stike" deck; Blazing Assault... which scores a lot for being aggressive and fighting and killing stuff...? 

The new board is... well, ONE board! No more each player picking one and setting them up offset or lengthways! 

Brodus started things off by charging in and giving Vexmore a good bash! 

Bit of a melee going on off to one side and Vashtiss feeling a little left out! 

Tavian taking a swing at Vexmore. I think they took the daemon out... I was down to two by the end of the first Round. 

VAshtiss whacking Brodus in the back, trying to finish him off! 

Ganging up on Lascivyr... they have one more wound than in the previous edition... but wasn't enough to keep them alive against a pair of big powerful Stormcast brutes. 

Starting off the third round, Vahstiss attacked Brodus and Finally finished him off!

Then she moved as far away as she could to just try and stay alive and maybe flip that last treasure token...? I think I had a card that moved her to a Treasure token or start hex in enemy territory... and then I moved to try and stay out of their charge range...? 

Some how Tavian got to Vashtiss... with some kind of boost to speed... I was excited because I actually rolled a crit and a success for defence.... 

Somehow Orion was rolling FIVE dice and rolled a Crit and FOUR successes!?

Orion won 16-9. 

Vexmor is arguably worse in this edition... deals less damage and lost the Locus of Indolence ability... They gained the Indolence ability which gives them +1 attack dice and grievous (+1 damage) IF they don't have any move or charge tokens... Meh... 

Vashtiss also deals less damage AND had lower defence!? Loses the Locus of Paramouncy (adjacent enemies cannot be supported). She and Lascivyr have a new ability called Evasive on the warscroll, allowing them to roll an attack die when they would take damage and on hammers or crits reduces by one to minimum of one... 

Lascyvr has lower defence, but one more would/health... No locus of Carnality. 

Being Daemons of Slaanesh, I really wanted to love these and have some fun with them... they did a lot of FUN stuff in the previous edition... but they're feeling pretty... "meh"... 

GAME TWO

Four our second game we switched things up. Orion had a go at playing the Thricefold Discord, but played them with the "Mastery" deck - Countdown to Cataclysm! I played the only other warband I'd printed and cut out cards for - the Thorns of the Briar Queen - and paired them with the last deck in the box, the "Take and Hold" deck; Emberstone Sentinels. 

I took a lot less pictures for some reason...

This was the state of affairs at the end of Round One/Beginning of Round Two.

Things had NOT been going great for me. I was down three and another was wounded - every activation Orion had (but one) killed one of my Chainrasps (and the other one wounded one...) I had dealt some damage, but the Daemons of Slaanesh were all still there and taking a Chainrasp out with every shot. 

I was concentrating a little too hard on the game and forgot to take any more pictures until the very end!? I finished off the two wounded Daemons and killed the third... but had lost two more Chainrasps in the process. 

I'd gotten my last two fighters onto Treasure Tokens in Enemy Territory (even have Delve one to make it a Treasure Token again) to score one last Objective Card worth THREE POINTS... then realized, after all that effort to get them there, it had said two or more friendly fighter WITH A COMBINED BOUNTY OF THREE holding... ALL of my fighters are only worth ONE bounty... I'd have needed THREE fighters to score it... 

Somehow I eeked out a victory; 14-11...? 

I like it so far. As with everything, it will take some getting used to. I'll need to play a few games with each of the four decks and then maybe start tweaking them. while those that LOVE deck building are lamenting the lack of cards, I don't mind that there is limited stuff, for the moment. Less stuff to learn/keep track of. Less overwhelming when trying to decide which to pair with which. 

There will be two more decks in two and a half weeks. Reckless Fury is another Strike Deck, and Wrack and Ruin is a Mastery deck... 

Hopefully I can find something good to pair Wurmspat with and they won't suck so bad in this edition!

By the time we were done, it was later in the afternoon and there'd been some freezing rain and the streets were like skating rinks and I was just not feeling like going out in that... I figured I would wait until Sunday when it was forecast to be +7°C! 

Indeed it did warm up - and was really quite nice out! 

So I rolled out to Dragon's Den Games and picked up my copy.  

all the stuff in the box!

I also rode out to Staples to pick up the cards I'd ordered printed... I only uploaded four of the warbands to start with. I've never had things printed there before and didn't want to just PRINT THEM ALL in case the print quality or paper quality sucked (I ordered them on card stock). They turned out pretty nice.... 

After an evening of "arts and crafts" (cutting and then gluing the fronts and backs of fighter cards and warscrolls together) I have fighter cards and warscrolls for four warbands ready; Thricefold Discord, Mollog's Mob, Zondara's Gravebreakers, and Cyreni's Razors. The first three are ones I like the idea of and thought would be fun to try playing. Cyreni's Razors was one of the ones that got it's own separate pdf and custom Warscroll that I thought Amanda might play. 

All the warbands that were released in the last year got separate pdfs with Fighter cards and custom Warscrolls. There are sixteen that are being re-released in four boxes of four that are only getting printed fighter cards and warscrolls - either in the boxes with the miniatures, or in one deck including all sixteen (conveniently, I have fifteen of the sixteen, so I'll be buying the deck!). 

The rest of the warbands - those not released in the last year that are not being re-released... did get PDF fighter cards, but did not get custom warscrolls. There are two very generic warscrolls for each Grand Alliance (Order, Chaos, Death, Destruction) from which those could be picked. They were released in one big 47-page pdf... and I didn't want to mess with print ranges and stuff the first time I uploaded stuff, and definitely didn't want to print off all 47 pages in that first go around - since I didn't know how it would all work out.... I'll probably be printing off all the cards for all the others soon enough. 

That'll be a lot of cards to cut and paste... which will I do first!? Maybe the Generic Grand Alliance Warscrolls... and then Wurmspat (for me!) and Morgwaeth's Blade Coven and Elathain's Soulraid for Amanda! The soulraid looks fun,