March Games

Well... February was a bit of a bust.. 

We were kind of slow to get things started in March, cancelling Warhammer Quest the first two weeks, and then moving it to Wednesdays in hopes that might work better.... but it didn't.  

Thursday, 12 March 2026

Vera (the human formerly known as Orion) had some extra time off so we met up to give Warcry a try. 

You can read about the game here:

Warcry - No Quarter! 

Saturday, 14 March 2026

On Saturday it was Amanda's turn to give Warcry a try! 

You can read about that one here:

Warcry - Cursed Relic 

Aaaaand that was it! Two games of Warcry... 

Warcry - Cursed Relic

On Saturday afternoon Amanda and I sat down to try out Warcry. 

She wanted to try using her Sylvaneth and so I helped her put together a small warband. I ended up using the same warband I'd used in my game with Vera a few days earlier.

She ended up fielding:

• Kurnoth Huntmaster with Kurnoth Great Sword
• Branchwych
• Kurnoth Hunter with Great Bow
• Kurnoth Hunter with Great Bow
• Gossamid Archer
• Gossamid Archer

The Nighthaunt force I fielded:

• Knight of Shrouds on Etherial Steed
• Dreadblade Harrow
• Dreadblade Harrow
• Chaingast
• Chaingast

We rolled for a scenario and got Cursed Relic, which saw a treasure token placed in the center of the table and could be picked up. Whoever was holding it at the end of the game won. (OR if no one was holding it, whoever had the most miniatures within 3" of it at the end of the game won). Also, the treasure token was cursed, so anyone holding it at the end of their activation took d6 damage!!

All set up and ready to go. 

Apparently treasure tokens can be picked up for free (no special action required), at any part of a move, as long as a model passes within one inch of it...? But it requires an action to drop it... I was surprised that picking something up didn't end a move! I'll have to go back and reread that! 

So, having the initiative in the first round, my Knight of Shrouds galloped up, grabbed the treasure and galloped as far away as he could - back in the direction he'd come from - and then dropped the treasure so he wouldn't have to take any damage from it! 

The Kurnoth Huntmaster moved up a bit, used the Envoy of the Everqueen ability to super-buff every Sylvaneth within 6" of the Huntmaster (because the value of the ability was 6, they added +3 to Strength AND Toughness attributes!)? and then took a wait action. 

The chaingast threw chains at him. 

Kurnoth Hunter took some shots at...? A Chainghast...? I think, dealing some damage. 

One of the Dreadblade Harrows charged in to the Huntmaster, hoping to hold him up and keep him from advancing towards the Knight of Shrouds... it was unlikely the Dreadblade Harrow would deal nearly enough damage to take down the Huntmaster, even if they fought for the next four rounds... 

The Huntmaster reacted and dealt the Dreadblade Harrow some damage. 

Gossamid archers moved up and shot arrows at the Knight of Shrouds. 

Now... initially I'd read the deployment map all wrong... I'd thought my own reinforcements came in behind me, but at the beginning of the second round, when reinforcements were to arrive, I happened to look at the deployment map and realized it was the opposite of what I'd thought and the Sylvaneth reinforcement were coming in behind me! 

WHOOPS! 

Luckily, I again had the initiative, and went first with the Knight of Shrouds, picking up the Cursed Relic (before either of the nearby Sylvaneth did the same and scarpered with it!)... then charged into the Branchwych to see if I could deal some damage to her BEFORE Amanda had a chance to use the Envoy of the Everqueen ability again (as Amanda had rolled ANOTHER Quad set during initiative!?) and give her +3 Toughness and +3 Strength 

As the Branchwych didn't need the ability, the Huntmaster used it and hit the Dreadblade Harrow HARD!!! Bringing it to within one or two of it's Health limit! Later in the round, a Gossamid archer stepped in and finished it off! 

Kurnoth Hunter shot at my arriving reinforcements...

And then I forgot to take pictures for the next two rounds... 

mostly it was static, belligerents had been paired off and just hammered on each other, neither really having much chance of single-handedly taking down their opponent... 

In the third round, the Knight of Shrouds did finish off the Branchwych... 

In the final round, the Knight of Shrouds galloped away from the Gossamid Archer he'd been fighting and tried to get as far from ALL of the Sylvaneth as possible... The Knight of Shrouds had pretty good move, so could easily get far enough that the Kurnoth would not be able to get to him. He needed to be far enough away that, if the shooting took him out, there wouldn't be any Sylvaneth close enough to dash in and pick up the treasure! 

(or perhaps the Gossamid archer had withdrawn from combat and shot at it, and opened the Knight of Shrouds to be an available target for ALL of the Sylvaneth shooters!) 

All the other surviving Nighthaunt rushed to their Knight's aid!surrounding him so that if he was taken down, there'd be enough of them nearby contesting the dropped treasure they would maintain control of the Cursed Relic. 

Afterwards, we realized Amanda has a faction reaction (Vengeful Spites!) that she COULD have made good use of that could potentially have dealt a lot more damage to my Nighthaunts! 

As it was the game was VERY close - the Knight of Shrouds had been reduced to his last few health. In the last round I think I'd used a Respite ability and that is the ONLY reason he was still alive at the end of the game. A bit luckier rolling on Amanda's part could have seen him destroyed by the Branchwych and Gossamid archer he'd been fighting... then the nearby Kurnoth Hunter could have stepped in and picked up the Relic and there was NO WAY I'd have been able to wrest it from that beast by the end of the game! 

Warcry does not seem like an exceptionally deadly kind of game... It's not super easy to take an enemy out unless they're weak and your fighter is exceptionally hard-hitting and/or has some wicked abilities that buff them, or you can get multiple fighters to gang up on one... it seems more like a game of positioning and maneuver. Which is kind of interesting. Maybe we've just not been playing with the right sort of things. I feel like maybe the better strategy is to have 2-3 hard hitting heroes, then a bunch of chaff - as many low-point heroes as possible to hold position or act as speed-bumps to tie up opponents Heroes...? 

It would be fun to toy around with this some more! I do have a LOT of options for forces I could field! 

Warcry - No Quarter!

I picked up the Core Rules and the four Grand Alliance books for the first edition of Warcry... and then played it ONCE...!? I liked it. I think Finnegan did too. Seemed like a clever little game that needed some more exploring... but then we never did play again!? I think that was also around the same time I picked up Warhammer Underworlds and kind of just ended up playing that... a LOT! 

Apparently, at some point, I bought the second edition books for Warcry - this time only two - Core Rules and a single compendium of ALL the warriors that can be played... and then never got around to trying it out... UNTIL NOW! 

This kind of came about because Amanda and I are planning a trip to the UK and part of that trip will likely include a visit to Warhammer World and when I mentioned all the events that go on there, Amanda suggested we play in one?! I'd not really thought of that - not being that much of a competitive tournament player... but once she'd suggested it, I though it might be fun to say I've played games at Warhammer World... Because we're travelling around a bit, it would not be practicable to bring full 40K or Age of Sigmar armies with us and lug them around (even spearhead might be a bit much!)... but if there happened to be a skirmish game event - Kill Team or Warhammer Underworlds or WARCRY - that might be more doable. So, we decided it was time to try out Warcry! 

Amanda's had a pretty busy few weeks since returning home from a little trip to the wet coast, and we just haven't found time to try it out yet. 

Vera (the human formerly known as Orion) had some extra time off work, though, so we met up Thursday evening to give it a try. 

Vera brought her Soulblight Gravelords along and cobbled to gather a warband:

• Kastellan (Blood Knight Champion)
• Blood Knight with Templar Lance
• Vargheist 
• Skeleton Champion with Halberd
• Skeleton Warrior with Ancient Blade
• Skeleton Warrior with Ancient Spear
• Skeleton Warrior with Ancient Spear
• Skeleton Warrior with Ancient Spear
• Dire Wolf

I quickly put together a small force of Nighthaunts

• Knight of Shrouds on Etherial Steed
• Dreadblade Harrow
• Dreadblade Harrow
• Chaingast
• Chaingast

We set up some terrain and rolled for a scenario to play and came up with No Quarter! The battlefield is divided up into four quarters and whoever controls the most quarters at the end wins... To control a quarter, however, one needed to have at least one of their own models wholly within said quarter - and NO ENEMY within said quarter... it seemed an exceedingly difficult thing to do... unless you could whittle your opponents force down to three or less... and still have at least four of your own... that were spread out enough to have one in each quarter?! 

Set up and ready to go. One Battlegroup didn't show up until the second round - for both of us that included our leaders!? 

I had two chainghasts halfway up the middle. Orion had a band of Skeletons in a similar position (they are hiding behind the building opposite!). On one flank I had my two Dreadblade Harrows. On the other was the Vargheist with another Skeleton. 

Somehow one of my Dreadblade Harrow galloped clear across the table to fight a skeleton!? 

The Chainghasts got stuck in with the Vargheist in the middle of the table. The other Dreadblade Harrow joined them... 

On the second round the Blood Knights came galloping onto the table and the one with the lance charged my Dreadblade Harrow and stabbed them right in the etherial bits! 

The Kastellan galloped in and smashed through the Dreadblade Harrow as well... it took a Skeletal warrior to sneak up and finish off the Dreadblade Harrow. 

The Knight of Shrouds galloped onto the field of battle and put down a rather mangy-looking Dire Wolf! 

aaaaand then a couple more rounds happened and I didn't take any pictures... I was too busy looking things up and trying to figure out how to play the game. There isn't nearly as much stuff to keep track of compared to Age of Sigmar or Warhammer Underworlds - it is a pretty slick and simple system... but still fairly new and different enough it required checking on things and re-reading rules... I think after a few games I should be running a bit more smoothly! 

In the end it was a draw... we both had models in all four quarters. As I'd suspected, it turned out to be a very difficult scenario to WIN at! 

Doing a little MATH-HAMMER and considering the short length of the game, how slow a lot of units move, the number of models and how many attacks they make and how effective those attacks are and the health scores of various models... it seems like it would be a very difficult game to do... well... much of ANYTHING in the four short rounds that are played?! I guess we'll have to play it some more and try out some different forces and scenarios. 

I probably should have ignored he Vargheist... maybe tried to tie it down with one or both of the Chainghasts and galloped about with the others trying to take out all the little skeletons... 

Age of Sigmar - Chaos Warrior

 The Free Miniature-of-the-Month at the Warhammer Store for October was a Chaos Warrior armed with a Halberd. I tired to paint mine with a similar palette to Khagra's Ravagers, which I painted three and a half years ago! 

Korgash the Sullied

Korgash with the rest of Khagra's Ravagers!

Not that I can use him with them in Warhammer Underworlds... or that it's a useable unit in Age of Sigmar... I guess I could build a Warcry warband around this bunch - or maybe a Song of Blades and Heroes warband...?

Despite implying that I would NOT be completely distracted by the LOST PATROL miniatures... 

I am completely distracted by the Lost Patrol miniatures!! Luckily, there are only 17 of them (plus six tokens) and they are at least half done. I'll probably finish them up in the next few days - just so I can try out the game. It is not eliciting any sort of desire to paint MORE Space Marines... or Genestealers... or... anything 40K, so that's good!

If anything, I want to completely shift focus to Slaves to Darkness!!!

Grombrindal, The White Dwarf - FINISHED!

 In addition to Glaurio Ven Alten III, I finished up Grombrindal, The White Dwarf this week! 

Grombrindal, the White Dwarf. 

This was one of those minis that felt like painting it went on and on and oooooonnnnnnnn.... Everytime I THOUGHT I was finished, I'd turn it round and realize, nope I'd forgotten this little detail or that... eventually I had to just say, Nope... that's all I'm doing... I'm calling this done. 

Grombrindal's back

There were rules for Grombrindal in ALL THE GAMES in the 500th issue of the White Dwarf magazine (Age of Sigmar, Warcry, Warhammer Quest, and Warhammer Underworlds). I'm MOSTLY interested in the Warhammer Underworlds (at the moment) but will at SOME point this year get playing Warhammer Quest and I would like to play Warcry... (all the hubbub about the NEW EDITION of Age of Sigmar has even gotten me thinking about playing THAT again!? though the rules on this card won't be relevant as they are overhauling all the stats and stuff, again...) 

(I momentarily had a panic when I went to take the above photo and I COULD NOT FIND THE WARHAMMER UNDERWORLDS CARD!?!? It took some searching, but the card was located... everything is fine now... relatively speaking...) 

Grombrindal in the Deathgorge. 

I am hoping to try out playing Gombrindal in a game of Warhammer Underworlds Tomorrow evening at the local Warhammer Store! Stay tuned for a game report. 

Grombrindal, The White Dwarf

 Wasn't really PLANNING on doing this... buuuuuut.... 

I bought White Dwarf #500 this weekend....

...AND the special Grombrindal, the White Dwarf miniature  

Largely because the White Dwarf had rules (and cards!) for including Grombrindal in ALL THE GAMES: Warhammer Underworlds, Warcry, Age of Sigmar, and Warhammer Quest. All games I am interested in playing right now(though some more than others!) 

(already have him assembled!)

Rat Ogors

These have been, like, 95% complete for MONTHS and haunting the corners of thepainting desk for far too long! I've been getting together with a couple of friends on Discord for a paint and chat on Sunday afternoons for the last month, and when I was trying to decide what to work on this week... I decided it was time to finish these off! We only get together for a couple of hours and I figured there would be perfect, not so much work to be done that I'd be super focused on painting and not keeping up with the conversation... and it would mean two large based minis OFF of my painting desk

Rat Ogors

The miniatures are the old metal original Rat Ogre models from Citadel Miniatures. the one without the sword I think doubled as a Blood Bowl player. 

I put them on 50mm bases - as that is the current "recommended" size for Rat Ogors... and the bases seem a touch big. The newer plastic ones are considerably bigger (and that's what the recommended base size is based on). I probably could have gone with 40mm... but I think I'm just going to leave them for now.  

I have three or four more Rat Ogors to paint, but they're all newer models - the last of the metal ones that were made. They're bigger than these and don't look so ridiculous on 50mm bases. So, for consistency, I'll probably keep them all on 50mm bases. 

I think I have enough Rat Ogors that there could be one for every warband - if the players felt like they wanted one! 

I should really get a game or two of Warcry in - that might get me motivated to paint some MORE of these Skaven! 

Game Plan 2023 - Q3

Holy Carp!? How are we already half way through the year!? 

Lets start by looking back at the Q2 Game Plan...

Games

I didn't really have any idea what sort of games I might play for any sort of Quarterly 5x5 Challenge... I did end up getting sort of close to playing five different games, five times! And, despite only playing ONE GAME in June, played over thirty in April and May... 

Here are the games I played this past quarter: 

• One-hour Wargames x5
• Wingspan Asia x4
• Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure x4
• Wingspan x4
• Agricola x3
• Century: Golem Edition x2
• Tinderblox x2
• Azul x1
• Beyond the Sun x1
• Boss Monster 2: The Next Level x1
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig x1
• Cryptid x1
• Imhotep x1
• Lords of Waterdeep x1
• Shakespeare x1
• Splendor x1
• Tyrants of the Underdark x1
• Vinci x1
• Xenos Rampant x1

What I've played, so far this year... 

• One-Hour Wargames x20
• Codenames x11
• Wingspan Asia x7
• Splendor x5
• Wingspan x5
• Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure x4
• Agricola x3
• Century: Golem Edition x3
• Codenames: Pictures x2
• Tinderblox x2
• Azul x1
• Beyond the Sun x1
• Boss Monster 2: The Next Level x1
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig x1
• Cryptid x1
• Hellboy: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Imhotep x1
• Kingdom Builder x1
• Lords of Waterdeep x1
• Shakespeare x1
• Terraforming Mars x1
• Terraforming Mars: Prelude x1
• Tyrants of the Underdark x1
• Vinci x1
• Xenos Rampant x1

Any possibility there might be a 10x10 in there...? Certainly there could be five games I'd play 10 times this year (One Hour Wargames and Codenames I've already done, it would be easy enough to get in five more games of Wingspan, Splendor and Wingspan Asia)... If I actually got going on playing Kill Team and Warcry, it would be easy enough to get in ten games of each of those... but that's only seven. Maybe if I ended up running a role-playing game in the fall and/or another online campaign...? 

Maybe I just need to try and play some games and see what happens.  

Miniatures

I didn't get a tonne painted... and I DID buy a few things... but I don't really see any need for any more purchases in the foreseeable future (Unless I got playing 40K on the regular and decided to pick up a few Harlequins or other Aeldari to fill in holes in 40K armies...) 

Q3 Game Plan

Things are still very much up in the air. The basement renovation still drags on and there is a lot to do before it's going to be finished. Demolition is complete, the last of the plumbing has been upgraded and concreted has been repoured... But things are kid of on hold now, until the end of August, when the contractor we hired to do all the finish work is available. So, I probably won't have full access to the game room or a proper hobby area until Q4...  That will limit what kind of gaming and hobby projects that can be worked on.

Also there are a few vacations being planned for this summer. Amanda and Keiran are heading off to visit Amanda's folks and sister and her family later in the summer. Then Amanda and I are theoretically going off on a vacation of our own afterwards  (as well as maybe a few shorter excursions earlier in the summer...?) 

Still... I would like to get going on some games of Kill Team and Warcry. I'd like to finish up a few of the new kill teams and Gallowdark terrain and a few more skaven for Warcry.

Hopefully we can still play a few board games from time to time. 

Not much of a "plan"... but... It's about the best I can manage right now. 

Hopefully by Q4 I'll be back into the swing of things... 

Kill Team: Ashes of Faith

 

GADDAMNIT!?

I SWEAR this is the last one... I.... I... just couldn't pass on this one. I've been waiting for an Inquisition box since they released the Rogue Trader box for the PREVIOUS edition of Kill Team!? 

Honestly, I'm not WOWed by the new inquisition miniatures, per se... I have ones in metal I'd be happy to use. If that were the ONLY thing of interest in the box, I could have let it go... All together it is an iNsAnE deal like, less than half the cost of buying all these things separately... Do I need ALL THESE THINGS...? Well, I can make use of them for sure.  I mean, I have inquisition stuff for 40K... I have Guard... I have Chaos Space Marines - and all Cultists are the new(-ish) cultist minis they released with the latest Chaos Space Marine codex (last year?)... which... I never bought (I wasn't playing THAT much 40K and wasn't working on the CSM and I'm still holding out that there's going to be an Emperor's Children Codex at SOME point!?) 

What really drove me to get this was the campaign - it includes a new campaign system that pits an inquisition force against a Chaos cult... and you know I LOVE campaigns!? Well, I love the IDEA of campaigns!? 

Speaking of campaigns... 

I also discovered that there are a few Age of Sigmar models that are STILL produced in METAL!? So I picked up a few Skaven that I don't have any of... yknow... for the upcoming (SOMEDAY!?) Warcry Under-Carngard Challenge... 

Now to get assembling and painting some of this stuff!? 

Warcry Campaign - The Under-Carngard Championships

The UNDER-CARNGARD CHAMPIONSHIPS is the working name I’m giving to this in-person, Warcry narrative campaign weekend I’m planning to run at some point. (If anyone has a better idea for a team, I’d love to hear it!?). I’ve mentioned it before, in other posts about other things, but thought I’d do a post just about the campaign - to have a place to out all the thoughts and be able to refer back to. I haven’t worked out ALL of the details. I haven’t worked out MANY of the details. What I do have is this…

The campaign would take place in the city of Carngard. Well, BELOW the city of Carngard. Cargard its located on the Bloodwind Spoil - a region in the Eightpoints between two highways from the Varanspire to the Realmgates leading to the realms of Chamon and Ghur.. Carngard, also known as Reaver city, is run by a cabal of Chaos warlords and has slave markets and gladiator pits and all sorts of sordid nastiness. Below the streets and alleys of Cargard, however, a massive infestation of Skaven lurks in a sprawling warren of caverns and tunnels. 

Players in this campaign would each control a Skaven warband that is vying for control of the Under-Carngard. 

I have a fuck-tonne of old metal Skaven miniatures. Forty-three are painted, I still have about sixty still to do. I should have enough to make almost NINE Warcry Warbands when I'm done! I may or may not attempt to acquire a few more just so there are a few more options... 

Ideally I'd like to have EIGHT players - nice even number. Hopefully if we got through six rounds MOST players would get to play MOST of the others...? 

I have a BUNCH of cavern terrain. Enough to make a few Warcry battlegrounds and have materials to make a few more (maybe mid summer terrain week out in the garage) . 

We made good use of the cavern terrain in the Shadow War Armageddon campaign! I think the Warcry boards are about 22"x30". The modular cavern terrain are based on 30cmx30cm squares - a little less than 12"x12" so six would be needed for a Warcry battleground - just the stuff on the table in the picture above would make three of them. I'm sure I have more than just this! 

Initially I though I’d organize all the Skaven into warbands myself, maybe with themes running through them - all from one of the Great Clans (Scryre, Verminus, Eshin, etc) or colour coded - like sports teams - with their raggedy clothes using teh same palette and names printed in different colours on their bases to denote which warband they are in... But now I’m thinking I’ll just have them as a big POOL and at the beginning of the campaign all the participants will DRAFT their warbands at the beginning of the campaign! (Then no one can complain I made shitty warbands and they lost because of said terribly made-up warband - which would be fair, I’m okay at making up stories and background fluff and themes and colour coordinating… any army or warband that I’ve made that was actually competitive, was entirely a fluke…)

I’m not certain about the first round, it might just be a roll-off… But there might be a bidding round - bidding for how many points LESS than the normal 1000 points you’re willing to start with? Lowest bider goes first, ties roll off? (OR maybe it will just be whoever commits/signs up first!). Regardless, after the first round, drafting would take place in order of least total accumulated points to highest. Rounds continue and players draft until they’ve reached the point total they bid to start the campaign with (or 1000 points if we’re not bidding). 

It’s been a long time since I read the Wacry rules… and those were the rules for the previous edition… I’d LIKE there to be a narrative element to it, whether using parts of the actual Narrative Campaign rules presented in the game.

I like the idea of having an area control element. I’d make a map of locations under Carngard. Each location controlled might give some sort of bonus - during the campaign and/or as extra victory points at the end of the campaign. Each round different warbands could challenge each other for control of various locations. Players would start with one area. There would be other uncontrolled regions at the start. The first few rounds players would be challenging other to take control of uncontrolled regions. Thereafter, they would be fighting to retain their own regions or take over regions controlled by others. I’ve sketched out a few map ideas, but was generally thinking if there were regions equal to two or three times the number of players, in two to three rounds (assuming players were only fighting over uncontrolled regions) those regions would be snapped up and the remaining campaign could be fought over ones controlled by players. 

Rough-doodly-sketch ideas for maps... areas controlled wouldn't necessarily have to be contiguous! 

I’ve used a Swiss-draw format to determine opponents at weekend campaign/tournaments in the past and that didn’t always work out. During the Ronin campaign two of the players that did the best ended up playing each other three times!? They got along and had a great time, so that was okay… Conversely, the two players that were at the bottom of the standings all weekend ALSO ended up having to face each other three times and were absolutely SICK of each other. 

I though this time we might use standing to determine who gets to challenge other players. The players with the lowest standing get to choose who they challenge each round. They can either challenge a warband to fight over a Narratively, those that are winning need time to consolidate their new holdings and the losers are desperate to attack and gain (or regain) control of locations? Functionally, at least those that are losing have some choice in who they face and can switch things up if they’re not having fun losing to the same player time and time again! 

Or maybe warns that LOST in the previous round, get to choose first, in order of lowest overall standing to highest. The CAN challenge someone who also lost, that would just mean that later challengers would include someone who won in the previous round, but they would go after all the players that lost, and would choose in order from lowest overall standing… though they’d likely be the last to challenge another player and the last to challenge won’t really have any choice in WHO they challenge, just WHERE they challenge them… 

What if a player ends up challenging someone who doesn’t control any territory, and there is no uncontrolled territory…?! Hmmmmm… things to think about. 

WHEN will I run this…? I don’t know yet. Obviously I need to paint the rest of the Skaven… and need to finish the basement renovation (which is on track to be completed by the end of the summer!). If I got REALLY motivated, I could potentially run it this fall. Or I could run it for next February’s Winter Wargaming Weekend/Wargaming Birthday Bash. Or maybe next summer… 

I mean, once I get the stuff DONE, there’s no reason I couldn’t run it multiple times!?  (Of course when have I ever done that? Still have all the armies for a 1066-ish DBA campaign… Still have all the armies for the Ronin campaign…) Or maybe I could find a use for the rats in some OTHER type of event. Maybe something more like a co-operative tabletop series of adventures or role-playing weekend campaign - where players are all members of a party of heroes sent to deal with a Skaven infestation below one of the cities of Sigmar in the Mortal Realms!? (Hmmmmm… I really like THAT idea…) 

I guess I best start with actually READING these current Warcry rules I’ve picked up and play a few games with the rats I’ve got painted! 

The Skaven

A number of years ago I kind of inherited an army of old Skaven. Among them are a LOT of old metal ones - like almost enough for an army of their own. Mixed in were plastic ones of various vintages (including some of the original plastic Skaven!) and a pile of metal Ral Partha Ratlings. 

Most of the painted plastics and Ral Partha ratlings were rebased to form a Horde-based Hordes of the Things army of rat-peoples. They are still based as such. 

The old metal GW Skaven all got stripped and rebased and I've been slowly plucking away at them from time to time. I got a bunch done a few years back to play Warcry with them. 

I've been thinking about working on them again and contemplating a few possibilities. 

First, I've got it in my head that I want to host a weekend Warcry campaign/tournament - The Under-Carngard Championship (?) where all players select a warband of Skaven supplied by me to vie for control of the Under-Carngard. 

(it's a city in the Bloodwind Spoil at the Eightpoints - above ground the city is ruled by a bunch Chaos Warlords, but below the surface of the streets there is a massive Skaven infestation!) 

Second, I've wondered if, when all painted, I'd be able to make some sort of Dragon Rampant Army out of them. 

Third... there are a lot of them... I wondered if I might be able to cobble together an AGE of SIGMAR army out of them. I don't actually HAVE the Skaven Battletome (and am in no rush to run out and buy one!? I was just curious to see if it was a possiblitity and use the online Warscroll Builder to see how much I could cobble together!?) 

Of course they could also be used for any number of other skirmish wargames of role-playing games, including (but not limited to) Soulbound (Age of Sigmar RPG), Song of Blades and Heroes, Frostgrave (maybe? Two of the Grey Seers could be Wizards and the other soldiers - or they could be used as monsters), Rangers of Shadowdeep (? - maybe? haven't read the rules yet... I'm hoping just about anything could be used)

So What do I HAVE....?

PAINTED

All of the painted stuff so far... 

I recently touched up the bases - blackening the sides, for a bit more contrast (they had been grey, previously, and it was a bit much with most of the top being grey!) - and picking out a few stones on each base to make into Warpstone - just to break up the monotonous grey a bit more. 

Two Grey Seers and a Plague Priest. All three are Leaders/Heroes in Warcry and Independent, Leader-Character models in Age of Sigmar. 

Clawlord and a Scryre Acolyte. 

The Clawlord is a leader/Hero model in Warcry and an Independant Character Model in Age of Sigmar. 

Perhaps it could be fielded as Elite infantry in Dragon Rampant - along with a few other similar minis (I have a few I'm calling Clawlords!?) 

The Scryre Acolyte is not a leader - I just have the one and it somehow ended up in the picture with the Clawlord... there are four more to paint which would make a unit. 

Not sure what to call this one... Warlock Bombadier? They're the only hero/character model with a longer range weapon (though in Warcry it's range is 6-15" - suggesting it's an indirect weapon - like a mortar or grenade launcher... I guess I could say it's too long and unwieldy to aim at anything close?

In Dragon Rampant, it could be added to the Elite Foot unit with the other Clawlords. Use it as an excuse to give them missile attacks. (I guess Grey Seers could be added to the unit as well, adding to the argument for a ranged attack) 

Six Stormvermin. I'm not sure if any of these were ever called Stormvermin... they may just supposed to be Clan Rats. I decided to differentiate them by saying any of them that are wearing helmets are Stormvermin, those without helmets are Clanrants. 

Probably call them Heavy Foot in Dragon Rampant? Realistically, these would be at best, light foot and the Clanrats would all be Ravenous Hordes... but I just don't think I have nearly enough models to call all the Clanrats Ravenous Hordes!? 

Six Clanrats! 

Five Gutter Runners and one Night Runner. 

Conveniently, Gutter Runners are fielded in units of five for Age of Sigmar.

For Dragon Rampant, I could add in the Night Runner and call them a unit of Scouts! 

TWELVE Giant Rats and a Pack Master! 

Fielded individually in Warcry or in units of 6 or 12 in Age of Sigmar. Teh Packmaster is a separate character, I guess...? 

Not sure what I'd call it in Dragon Rampant... How effective are giant rats!? Maybe just call them Ravenous Hordes? 

Two Plague Monks. Unfortunately, the one on the right of the picture, is the same model I used as a Plague Priest above. It seemed silly and unnecessary to have TWO plague Priests... though I may yet rebase it and call it such. I could also call it a "Bringer of the Word" - which is the leader of a unit of Plague Monks - which is still on a 25mm base, but is a Leader/Hero model in Warry. 

Two Warp-lock Jezzail teams. Fielded individually in Warcry, in Age of Sigmar they are fielded as units of three teams. I would likely field them similarly in Dragon Rampant (as a reduced model unit of Heavy Shooters) 

So, in total, that was...

• 1x Clawlord
• 2x Grey Seer
• 1x Plague Priest
• 1x Warlock Bombardier?
• 1x Scryre Acolyte
• 2x Warplock Jezzail Teams
• 12x Giant Rats
• 1x Packmaster
• 6x Stormvermin
• 6x Clanrats
• 5x Gutter Runners
• 1x Night Runner
• 2x Plage Monks

STILL TO PAINT

All of the minis still to do. 

Arch-Warlock and Thanoquol (a named character in Age of Sigmar, though the current iteration of the character is riding atop a giant, four-armed mutant Rat Ogor named Boneripper... and must be fielded as such... So, I guess I could just call him anohter, fancier, Grey Seer)

In Dragon Rampant I am fond of fielding Wizards as Light Missile, Single Model Units (the shooting representing a ranger attack of sorts, and all the strength points representing magical defences. Though, perhaps, since I have them, they could be fielded as Reduced Model Units along with a few of the Grey Seers...?

If I were to field these as a Frostgrave warband, either of these could be the Wizard and the other Grey Seers would be their apprentices. 

Two Clawlords. Independant Character models in Age of Sigmar and Leader/Hero figures in Warcry. 

Two more of these minis... but on smaller bases. I could rebase and call them MORE... Or they could be Clawleaders or Fangleaders (leaders of Clanrats and Stormvermin, repectively) they are just part of units in Age of Sigmar, but are considered Leader/Hero figures in Warcry. 

Not sure what I'm going to call these two Skaven with warp-lock pistols...? Warlock Engineers? They have a short 8" range attack in Age of Sigmar...? 

Nineteen more Clanrats!  The one up front, with two had weapons held aloft, could probably be a Clawleader (the leader of a unit of Clanrats in Age of Sigmar and a Leader model in Warcry) 

Five More Stormvermin... I think two of them are supposed to be Fangleaders (leaders of units of Stormvermin in Age of Sigmar and a Leader model in Warcry... but I think I'll just use them as regular Stormvermin and use one of the pointing rats as a Fangleader) 

These are two more Beast Masters. I was tempted to take the larger one and put it on a 32mm base and call it a Master Moulder...

Packmasters are fielded in units of three, however... and three is what I'd have here, if they all got painted... so maybe I'll keep them as such. 

Two Rat Ogors

The Dragons Den has a bunch more of the more recent metal Rat Ogors... I am tempted to pick a few of them up... 

Four more Scryre Acolytes. 

Adding these to the one I have painted makes five - and these just happen to be fielded in units of five in Age of Sigmar! 

I forgot to take pictures... but I have another FIVE of these... but don't have the backpacks for them... Not sure what to do with those. 

I made another into a sci-fi mini by giving it a spare space marine backpack and swapping out the globe in it's hand for a bolter... 

This is also an old, OLD Poison Wind Globadier (so, now a Scryre Acolyte) - it's a bit smaller than the others. 

A sixth, then... not much use for Age of Sigmar... but perhaps it could be added to the unit for Dragon Rampant! Maybe a Reduced Model unit of... something with short ranged weapons (Light Foot, perhaps, with mixed light missiles) 

One more Plague Monk with Foetid Blade and Woe Staff. 

Not enough Plague Monks to make any units in Age of Sigmar or Dragon Rampant - unless I thought of a use for the Plague Priest in DRagon rampant and these ended up being attendants (to make it a reduced-model, rather than single-model unit?) 

ONE Plague Censer Bearer

Two more of these guys I was calling Grey Seers - but on smaller bases... I'm not sure what to do with them. I guess I could put them on larger bases and call them MORE Grey Seers - just in case EVERYONE Really wants one for their Warcry Warband - eiher as a leader or a champion/hero

Four Warp Fire thrower Teams. One of the later models, the other three are the original warp fire throwers. 

Unlike the Jezzails below, it looks like the teams are individual units on their own in Age of Sigmar. 

For Dragon Rampant these could all be glommed together into a single, reduced-model unit of either Heavy or Light Missiles? I'm not sure - but with reduced range, but maybe something that makes them a little more BRUTAL. 

I do have four more Jezzail teams as well - currently based for Hordes of the Things (not sure if they were used as "Artillery" or "Shooters"). These could, at some point, be removed, stripped, rebased and repainted... 

In Age of Sigmar, these are fielded in Units of three teams - and count as "Artillery" - so if ever I wanted to include a unit of Jezzails in an Age of Sigmar Army, I'd need at least one of these to complete one unit (and could use the other three as a second unit!) 

For Dragon Rampant, I feel like they could be Heavy Missile, Reduced Model Units (Three teams being one unit, each base being worth four strength points) 

NEEDING REPAIRS/ASSEMBLY 

I have a handful of things needing repair (or assembly) before they can be painted. 

Three more Clan Rats and four more Gutter Runners. 

Not quite enough Gutter Runners to field a second unit in either Age of Sigmar or Dragon Rampant. I see on the GW website, they still sell them (new models) as METAL miniatures...? Maybe I should order one pack - as that would be enough to make a second unit of these in both games...? 

Old Skool DOOM WHEEL!? 

Stuff needing to be painted includes... 

• 2x Clawlord
• 3x Grey Seer
• 1x Arch Warlock
• 2x Warlock Engineer? 
• 5x Scryre Acolyte
• 4x Warplock Jezzail Teams
• 4x Warp Fire Thrower Teams
• 2x Packmaster
• 6x Stormvermin
• 20x Clanrats
• 4x Gutter Runners
• 1x Plague Monks
• 2x Rat Ogors
• 1x Plague Censer Bearer

FORCES 

So what CAN I put together with ALL of this Once they are all painted!? 

I would have:

• 3x Clawlords
• 5x Grey Seers
• 1x Plague Priest
• 1x Warlock Bombardier
• 2x Warlock Engineers 
• 6x Scryre Acolytes
• 6x Warplock Jezzail Teams
• 4x Warp Fire Thrower Teams
• 12x Giant Rats
• 3x Packmasters
• 11x Stormvermin
• 26x Clanrats
• 9x Gutter Runners
• 1x Night Runner
• 3x Plage Monks
• 2x Rat Ogors
• 1x Plague Censer Bearer
• 1x DOOM WHEEL

WARCRY

I actually just picked up the new edition today... I hope there isn't ANOTHER new edition before I get around to running a tournament... 

As i understand it, the basics of warband construction is... you get 1000 points to spend on 3-15 fighters, no more than three can be heroes (unless you're starting a Narrative Campaign, then you only get ONE!?), at least one must be a hero and is your leader. 

Of the painted models I have five heroes totalling 775 points. There are 36 other fighters totalling 2890 points. I have a grand total of 3665 points and 41 miniatures. I should be able to make THREE warband out of these! 

adding in all the unpainted miniatures I would have... 

Heroes

• 3x Clawlord @175 = 525
• 5x Grey Seer @140 = 700
• 1x Plague Priest @150 = 150
• 1x Arch-Warlock @170 = 170
• 1x Warlock Bombardier @170 = 170
• 2x Warlock Engineer @130 = 260
• 2x Fangleader @150 = 300
• 1x Bringer of the Word @130 = 130

Total - 15 Heroes, 2405 Points

Other Fighters

• 6x Scryre Acolyte  @80 = 480
• 6x Warplock Jezzail Teams @150 = 900
• 4x Warp Fire Thrower Teams @110 = 440
• 12x Giant Rats @70 = 420
• 3x Packmaster @70 = 210
• 8x Stormvermin with Halberd @95 = 760
• 2x Stormvermin with Halberd and Shielf @80 = 160
• 25x Clanrats @70 = 1750
• 9x Gutter Runners @90 = 810
• 1x Night Runner @75 = 75
• 2x Plague Monks @80 = 160
• 2x Rat Ogors @225 = 450
• 1x Plague Censer Bearer @105 = 105

Total - 81 Fighters, 6720 Points

The Grand Total being... 96 fighters, 9125 points

So... it is conceivable, that I could field up to NINE warbands!? Y'know, if they were ALL painted and it kind of worked out. I think it more reasonable that I could have seven or maybe eight playable ones. At seven warbands there could be two Heroes per warband.... but that would be an uneven number and not really work out for a tournament. EIGHT would be ideal... Ehhhhh... maybe, if it actually seemed like I might get these done, I could pick up a Master Moulder (they're still apparently metal miniatures) and that would make 16 heroes - two for each warband. 

I need to finish painting another 60 miniatures or so... Doesn't seem SO hard. Mind you I only painted that many in all of last year... Of course, I've painted almost that many so far THIS year... Hard to say. If I did five a week,  I'd be done in 12 weeks. I COULD be done by the end of July... IF I stayed focused and got five miniatures done each week. 

Is this stupid? Probably. 

Do I have enough cavern terrain to make four little battlefields...? Maybe... a few of the rounds could be larger four-player mega-battles...? 

AGE of SIGMAR

As I said, I don't HAVE the Battletome and have no strong desire to get one at this time... but I quickly threw things into the online Warscroll Builder at the Warhammer Community website and here's what I came up with (assuming all the miniatures I have got painted)... 

LEADERS

• Arch-Warlock (150) 
• Clawlord (110) 
• Clawlord (110) 
• Grey Seer (120) 
• Grey Seer (120) 
• Plague Priest (100) 

UNITS

• 20 x Clanrats - Rusty Spear(100)
• 12 x Giant Rats (120)
• 5 x Gutter Runners (100)
• 3 x Packmasters (60)
• 2 x Rat Ogors (140)
• 5 x Skryre Acolytes (70)
• 10 x Stormvermin - Halberd (130)
• 1 x Warpfire Thrower (70) 
• 1 x Warpfire Thrower (70) 
• 1 x Warpfire Thrower (70) 
• 1 x Warpfire Thrower (70) 

ARTILLERY

• 3 x Warplock Jezzails (120) 
• 3 x Warplock Jezzails (120)

TOTAL: 1950/2000

WOUNDS: 125

LEADERS: 6/6

BATTLELINES 2 (3+)

BEHEMOTHS 0/4

ARTILLERY 2/4

ARTEFACTS: 0/1 

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS: 0/3 

ALLIES: 0/400

REINFORCED UNITS: 1/4 

DROPS: 19

I'm not sure how the Clans all work. It seems like if it's declared for a particular clan, certain other units might count as "Battleline"... but I'm not sure how that might restrict other units? Otherwise I'd have to find another unit of Stormvermin or Clanrats - trying to find old metal ones might be prohibitively expensive... Do they do "Open Play" in Age of Sigmar? 

Oh, apparently I didn't even add in the Doom Wheel!? That's another 160points. So I have MORE than I need for a 2000 point army!? 

I wonder if there is a rule in Age of Sigmar (like in 40K) where you can't take more than three of any one type of unit that isn't a core unit? This would only really affect the Warp Fire Throwers.

DRAGON RAMPANT

And then how would I field them in Dragon Rampant... I have to admit, I haven't given it a tonne of thought. But just quickly, I could potentially field something like:

Arch-Warlock and attendants (6) - Elite Foot, Missiles - 8AP

• Stormvermin (12) - Heavy Foot - 4AP
• Clanrats (12) - Light Foot - 3AP
• Clanrats (12) - Light Foot - 3AP
• Giant Rats (12 - 11 rats, 1 packmaster) -  Ravenous Hordes - 1AP
• Gutter Runners (6) - Scouts - 2AP
• Rat Ogors (2) - Offensive Heavy Foot, Reduced Model Unit - 6AP
• Skryre Acolytes (6) - Light Foot, Offensive, Short-Ranged Missiles, Reduced Model Unit  - 6AP
• Warplock Jezzails (3) - Heavy Missile, Reduced Model Unit - 4AP
• Warplock Jezzails (3) - Heavy Missile, Reduced Model Unit - 4AP 
• Warpfire Thrower (2)  - Light Foot, Short-Ranged Missiles, Fearful, Reduced Model Unit  - 2AP
• Warpfire Thrower (2)  - Light Foot, Short-Ranged Missiles, Fearful, Reduced Model Unit  - 2AP
• Doom Wheel (1) - Greater Warbeast, Single Model Unit - 6AP

That's a total of 43 Army Points - LOADS to play in a campaign with! 

So.. What to Do... What to Do... 

If I could wave a magic wand and decide what I was going to paint for the next year and stay focused on that - and wave another magic wand that would conjure up players that could commit to playing in a game... As of writing this, I'd like to start cranking through these and plan to host a Weekend Campaign, either in the fall or for a revived Winter Wargaming Weekend/Wargaming Birthday Bash next February...?

Ideally I'd like to get a few Kill Teams (and some terrain!) done and play a bit of that over the summer... but also mix in a few games of Warcry - just to get some experience playing that (I wonder if I have enough Daughters of Khaine painted for Amanda to play... I could knock off a few more to make that happen, maybe!?) 

I guess if the Under-Carngard Warcry campaign wasn't until next February, I could alternate between batches of Skaven and Kill Teams - just to mix it up, keep it fresh...?

Also I'd like to get a BUNCH more rebasing done - moving into the fall - and finish up a few more units for a few of the other Fantasy armies so they could be used for a campaign over the winter. It would be similar to the Back of Beyond campaign, but using Dragon Rampant to play out the tabletop games and using a campaign system based on the original Mighty Empires!