Burrows and Badgers update 4

So finally finished the Undead starting warband. As it stands, these are the models will be used, though if more Stable Ghasts get made before I run this crew then I'll work the list around adding one as the second in command.

Leading them is the (former) Lord Alessandro Von Ottington the Second, a once noble (if heavily flawed) Paladin of a holy order who was cowardly (his words) murdered out of jealousy. The truth is more that he was a somewhat ruthless individual who tended to upset other noble families, but more so his own. He was 'removed' due to the risk he posed and for the safety of all around him. That was a long time ago and when his corpse suddenly woke up one day, he felt the need to seek revenge, if not for his murder then for the fact he was dumped and buried in a ditch and not in the family crypts.

So far the only other character named is his second in command, a Stable Ghast (who is currently the Mist-Ghast fox model), who goes by the name Sir Gradee. Lore wise, Sir Gradee will represent Lord Ottington's right hand man and the one who carries out his Lords orders with a cruelty that is second only to that of Lord Ottington himself. The Mist Ghasts themselves don't have names as they are just servants to Lord Ottington and he cares not to learn the names of such simple servants.

While this may seem like a rather evil and dark crew, they are mostly played up as a joke. Despite all his power and his arrogant nature, he is sort of a bumbling fool who's original downfall was because he was too blinded by his own entitled and vain view of himself. Death hasn't changed that and if anything, has only made it worse. Sir Gradee is smarter and more capable, but his unquestioning loyalty to his Lord means that even when successful, Ottington's own plans still fail to some degree.

While I'm slowly accepting of the flames I've painted, I thing the ground lighting is still terrible. This is just part of learning to accept my limitations and just appreciating that I managed to complete a project. This time I actually remembered to take note of all the paints I used so that when I eventually do start to add more Mist-Ghasts down the road, I know which colours I used in this project (Sorry, photo still isn't as good as it should be. Probably need better lighting setup). 

A big thank you to Michael Lovejoy, who was able to answer my questions about Stable Ghasts and now that I have had it confirmed that they can use magic and ranged weapons, I feel even more excited to see just what I can do with this Warband. I'd like to play this allegiance as more of a misadventures series of events, where the games feel like that if win or loose, it's the story that plays out that is the real joy to be had. 

Burrows and Badgers update 3

So the release of 2nd edition has really boosted my creative spark (despite how terrible a year it's been for me) and has given me the motivation to at least get some painting done. With the Mosston Village River Defenders starting force now complete, I have started expanding beyond that. While I wait for the starter sets to go back into stock, I have decided to work on other stuff in between (sorry if the photos are a little blurry, sort of rushed for time. Will try to have better ones in the next update).

The first thing that needed to be finish are the three objective markers you need for each warband. I used two from one of the objective marker packs, but felt the sleeping mouse might be too much for me to do as I try to get through my massive painting pile, so instead used a small treasure pile from a D&D pack I bought years ago when I was wanting to make terrain.

I feel like these markers are a great in telling a story for the warband as Mosston is a sort of tiny village where traders can stop and rest on their travels. These markers represent the various stuff that could belong to traders that the warband needs to protect in order to return them to their owners.

Beyond that, I have started painting some Undead in order to build an Undead warband. I've completed three so far with various levels of success. My overall problem is that I'm far too much of a perfectionist and as a result I rarely get anything done, so my overall goal is to achieve a point in which I can say "that's good enough, let's finish it".

So far I think it's going well. Given how hard things have become for me, I must say that I'm quite happy with how this is turning out. I still have three more Mist-Ghasts (Hare, Squirrel and Mouse). This would technically be enough for a Ghast only band, though I will eventually add more to them soon. I do want to try and add a green light onto the grass, but still not sure if I should attempt it. As for names and story lore, I'll work on that a little more once I've completed the warband.

Overall, this has been a rather productive month, given the situation, and feel happy with the direction these models are going in. 

Opinionated Look At: Burrows & Badgers 2nd Edition and My Warband

So I'm a little late to the party on this one, but Burrows and Badgers now has a 2nd Edition. Normally I would try (and fail) to review such books, but by this point there are far better reviews of this edition out there that would far succeed to explain the rules and changes to them better then I could. Instead, I'm going to be giving a brief overview followed by some of the changes I have made to my own warband. So lets start with the basics.

What is Burrows & Badgers?

Burrows and Badgers is a narrative skirmish game featuring bands of anthropomorphic animal adventurers who battle and grow over the course of several or more engagements. As you play, your band members can earn experience and gain skills, at risk of suffering permanent injuries and even death, such is life in the lands of Northymbra and beyond. You can also purchase equipment and even expand your Den. With a variety of species with different stat types, there is a lot of options for you in the creation and growth of your band. Fate points (used for things like re-rolls and such) have changed to now being bound to each warband member as opposed to just being the warbands total for use, making it more about the models over the warband as a whole.

Changes to Band Creation

So there has been a somewhat overhaul and expansion to the process of creating a warband. There is some new species added, while a number of current ones had some cost changes, with some costing more while others costing less. They also now come with a level rating, which is used for determining the strength of your band, which will come up in a number of main quests (this games missions). There are now no longer any bonuses for single species warbands, but the number of magical archetypes have increased and a number of spells have had some tweaking to them for balance.

However, the biggest of the changes are to the Allegiances. In first edition there were a total of four and while three have returned, more have been added to bring the total to ten. These are:

• Royalists (loyalists to the Kingdom) 
• Rogues (bandits and thieves)
• Freebeasts (a meritocracy that has flaws)
• Kindred (woodland defenders who travel light)
• Witch Hunters (fanatic zealots who despise magic users...except their own) 
• Wildlings (wild beasts who despise the technological advancements)
• Arcane Conclave (magic-users only faction)
• Undead (the restless dead, either led by a Necromancer or by strong Stable Ghasts)
• Routiers (a mixture of grizzled veterans and inexperienced youth)
• Hillfolk (think Scottish clan highland warriors)

The Wildbeasts allegiance has sort of semi split between the Kindred and Wildlings, though thoses existing warbands could easily pick which of those two best represent them. On top of that, it's not just an expanded roster of Allegiances, but the changes within them. In first edition, an Allegiance came with three things: A specific allegiance starting bonus, a pick of one of two Dens and an allegiance specific Den upgrade and a list of Magical Archetypes that the allegiance has access too. These have had some alteration to them as well as an expansion.

Now an Allegiance comes with: 

• Starting Bonus - a specific set of starting stat or skill buff for (mostly) two models of your choice.
• Special Rule - a rule which will effect creation and/or limitations to your warband.
• Den - Your starting Den upgrade.
• Allegiance Archetype - Which chart you roll on when leveling up a model.
• Magical Archetype - Which Archetypes you can pick from.
• Support Quest - A set mini quest your allegiance can uses when playing games.
• Rare Items - A list of rare items available only for warband creation, after which any future purchases for rare items must follow the normal rules and costs as part of after battle sequences.

So first off, you no longer can pick your Den. Instead, your Den is now a blank slate with the starting upgrade the only starting option, though at least two of the upgrades you can get later on are similar to the rules of two of the original Den choices. Likewise, the Allegiance starting bonus has been split into the Starting Bonus and Special Rule, and have had some changes to the original existing allegiances. This means that some warbands of old (like my own) will probably need to alter a few things to better adjust to these changes, but in no way do I consider this a bad thing. Support Quests I found rather interesting as they give a thematic option to earn experience and fate points that are in line with your allegiances style.

 Changes to the Mosston Village River Defenders

The new Mosston River Village Defenders

So as stated early on, I was going to talk about how the changes effect on my own warband. A while back I started working on my own warband for 1st edtion, seen in both Part 1 and Part 2 respectively. Back then I was still fleshing out their story, so with 2nd edition I realised that I needed to make some changes to reflect both the new edition and the starting warbands members.

The only visual changes was Ghost getting darker clothing.

First off, the changes to the Freebeasts means that since the 'Fingers in Pies' rule has gone and so Brianna no longer has her original armour, she will replace her Light Shield for a Buckler and take up a suit of Very Heavy Armour. Since I'm an idiot who doesn't read the rules correctly, I only recently learned that the Special slot for items can be used for a weapon or shield, so will probably give her the Parry or Shield Master skill to help with her blocking (It is very important to read the rules, otherwise people can take advantage of that). Ghost still keeps his skill, but is down to a single one handed weapon, though I am still trying to decide whether to take a Camouflage Cloak or Light Armour for him. The great Gurrumarra is unchanged. Ginnette has had her weapon and relic replaced with a Mage's Focus item and has had her spell replaced with Delay from the Fate-weaving Archetype, but also now gets a Presence stat increase thanks to the Freebeasts starting bonus. 

The two newest members.

Miranda and Emrick have now stayed behind in the village (probably to be rehired later on, though Emrick may end up becoming part of a Kindred warband), instead we see two new characters with Ellanor (the third member to the band's own Hedgehog sisters) and Cindi (a grey Squirrel from a migrant family who's obsession with the finest of fabrics leads her to create a very clashing outfit). Ellanor will be the groups Archer, with a bow, one handed weapon and light armour who also benefits from from an Awareness stat increase from the allegiance starting bonus. Cindi will also start with a Mage's Focus with the spell Cure from the Natural Archetype, giving the crew a healer as I feel they will need it given how light they are compared to the armoured Brianna.

This gives my six out of the maximum of ten band members, giving me some choices for future band members, though after finally getting around to watching season 1 and 2 or Redwall and onto season 3, I now really want to add two mice characters to be a sort of Matthias and Cornflower like characters for the group. Always an excuse to add more to my ever growing Burrows & Badgers collection

Overall Thoughts

Having got over the various rules, allegiances, spells and skills, I have to say that I am really liking this new edition. I always feel like each new edition should always be an improvement over the previous one, changing just enough so as to make playing it more fun, while adding just enough that it doesn't overwhelm new players and I generally believe that this is just that. The added allegiances certainly add more play style options and I look forward to making more warbands in the future.

The fact this game has gone under the radar for so many wargaming channels is an absolute shame and I wholeheartedly recommend giving it a go. There will be some channels giving it a shot, so I suggest starting with watching them play and decide if its something you might be interested in. Heck, I'll even give you a head start by recommending this one here to start with.

Overall, I look forward to what adventures my merry band of noble defenders get up too and what stories they might tell in these games. 

So do I recommend this game? Of course. If you're looking for a narrative style skirmish game where your warband grows is power, characters gain skills at the risk of injuries and let battles tell stories, then definitely give this one a look. 

So not what I had hoped for

 So didn't end up getting as much out as I had hoped when I returned to this Blog, probably should have expected it given how this time of year tends to hectic. With so much going on (and social anxiety going through the roof), I haven't been able to get nearly as much done as I wanted. That said, a good opportunity to show off one model that is just about finished: 

So was working on a Gloomspite Gitz Xmas theme Warcry warband (with some of those past GW Xmas Red Gobbo/Black Gobbo models to lead it) and wanted to add a Troggoth, but couldn't come up with a good design. So instead decided to do a Xmas themed Treeman to act as a good proxy model for one. The hardest part is trying to find a good star for the top. Been looking at a variety of options and even a few Bad Moon parts, but so far nothing feels right. Will keep looking, but for now there are other things that need attention.

That said, don't think I have forgotten about my custom Skaven hero. The Anvil of Apotheosis has allowed me to create a number of new Skaven characters to add to my ever expanding lore and the current one is a rather insane Warlock Engineer named Ziggit Zapgnaw and his *ahem* custom chassis. Here's a teaser of it:

Most of his parts are complete, it just needs a few more bits and a front covering to complete it. I'll give more information on him as the project continues, but he will be taking the Path of the Warrior as he is a rather angry and arrogant creature. He is also so paranoid that he would rather spend his time on the battlefield taking on the enemy then to be next to his fellow Skaven (most likely a side-effect after what the Forge Master did to him). 

I look forward to bringing more of my miniature projects back as I try to make a real effort in working on them throughout next year. Until next time.

It's a start

So just got the Skaven opinions up and although it isn't me best work, it's a start. Expect more to be added here before this years end.

Skaven Battletome 4th Edition - Thoughts and Opinions

I have returned once again to the faction that really boosted my love for the hobby, those lovable ratmen, the Skaven.

I've always been cautious when it comes to Skaven representation as these editions come out, so when the previews for the new range came out I was both excited and concerned. Thankfully (for the most part), I can honestly say that I love what has come out so far for them. If you are reading this expecting a complex deep dive or an in-depth look at rules and units, it's best to look elsewhere for that. It's not that I don't want to look at this Battletome more in-depth, I just don't have the time, though I may come back later on for that. Instead, this is just a few personal opinions on the book. So with that, lets get started.

 The Lore

Lore wise, congratulations to The Great Horned Rat for his ascendance to officially becoming the 5th Chaos God. While he has always been a Chaos God, he never had the level of status of one of the main four and with Slaanesh still not back, he has played the game well enough to be able to sit at the big table now. The fact that he now has an official emotion that defines his power, the mortal emotion of Desperation, really cements his power as a 5th Chaos God. It's just nice to see him get some more development in this area. The idea that the main four Gods think they are still in control while the Horned Rat pretends to be their pawn for his own benefits shows how far his manipulative skill has grown since the Old World.

I'm still disappointed that Thanquol got little Lore wise compared to the two new named characters, both whom I have mixed feelings on. Still, there is still a lot on the Clans and units to help people who are new to Skaven to get an overall understanding of their race and how insane and evil they are.

The Bad

So let's get the things I don't like out of the way and the one major issue I have with: Gnawholes. Yes, Gnawholes. While yes, with the various holes in reality bursting open and Skaven poring out of them is fluffy given the narrative they are weaving, I truly hate the idea that your main rules mean you need to use faction terrain just to have any competitive chance. I now know how depressing a Sylvaneth player must feel when they want to build an army (though I feel with that faction it could simply be resolved by just having terrain already in their deployment zone count as an Awakened Wildwood, with them using abilities and spells to make other terrain pieces count as Wildwoods). Some will be fine with it, but it's something I take issue with and makes things like Stormfiend Grinderfists and Warp-Grinders feel like a waste.

If you were also a fan of Eshin or Pestilens, then it's a complete bag of disappointments for you as both factions lost units and got little to replace them. Pestilens lost their Plague Priest on foot and their Plague Censer Bearers, but did get their Underworlds Warband to now count as a Plaugepack, which is more like a Plague Priest on foot with entourage. Eshin on the other hand lost their Gutter Runners and their Underworlds Warband got sent to Legends. As if insult to injury for them, they got skipped over for a Battle Formation. No doubt they'll have something to say at the next Council meeting.

Yes, Moulder lost Giant Rats and Rat Swarms, but they did get a Brood Terror. It will be up to their player base to decide if it was a good trade off.

The Mixed

Now mixed bag. I don't know about Krittok Foulblade, though that may be more down to him just not being interesting enough to me. Sure he had a Verminlord trapped in a sword, but I need something that makes him stand out from other Skaven characters. Speaking of Verminlords, we also got another type of Verminlord, though not one that represents Clans Skryre or Moulder (though both Clans do have a lot more going for them, so it seems reasonable that such Verminlords aren't a thing yet). Vizzik Skour represents the more single minded devotion of faith to The Great Horned Rat and one who may inadvertently be responsible down the road for another civil war amongst the Skaven. Verminlords were never a thing for my Skaven, but he seems like his rules look decent enough and he does have his own Army of Renown.

 The Good

Now what do I like? Returning to the Armies of Renown, both look very thematic, with Thanquol's own Menagerie of monsters being rather 'Thanquol' in nature. I actually like the idea of having armies themed around special characters as it adds both a new unique playstyle to a faction, but also adds to the Lore of those characters. Obviously it will be some time before enough Battletomes are release to see how well this idea is handled.

We also can't go past all the neat stuff Skryre has gotten. It's no secret that my allegiance is to Skryre as I have long since been a fan of things like Techno-Sorcerey. So obviously when all the kit's were reveled, I was obviously was excited. So what did I think worked and what didn't. Well to get the negatives sorted first, I wasn't a fan of Weapon Teams being in units of three and Doom-Flayer's in unit's of twos, though I am slowly warming up to it. It just felt at the time that many of us didn't have the right number of same models to fill a unit and will still be some time until I have all the options available to me.

That's not to say they aren't good. They still get the benefits of Clanrat protection for the Weapon Teams and you could just have a full six Rattling Guns to just unload on your opponents. The new Warpvolt technology is good, though limiting it's bonus to Anti-Cavalry was a good idea, but you should run them with the new Warlock Galvaneer as he does give them a good once per battle buff. As for said Doom-Flayer's, they are still great Anti-Infantry killing machines, though I feel they would work well with a Warp-Grinder to have them burst out of the ground and go charging into an enemy. The Globadiers are also great looking, though a little unsure how effective they can be as they are competing with the Weapon Teams. The Ratling Warpblaster is good, but feel that it may have been pushed into a list full of War Engines, so time will tell how well they are incorporated into Skryre lists.

Also, just going to say it, that Brood Terror model looks great. There is an argument to be made over the Brood Terror vs Hellpit Abomination, but I'm the kind of person who would take both simply because both a great looking models and I prefer variety over competitive.

It's probably something I think most Skaven lovers will agree and that all these new models just look amazing. The design team have out done themselves on this and it should be acknowledged. Actually, the art in the book is also rather great. Good year for Skaven creativity overall I say.

Path to Glory

This brings me to the other thing I really wanted to talk about, Path to Glory. Or rather, the Anvil of Apotheosis to be more precise. For a while now I have felt that the creativity was missing from this hobby and I guess I feel it's because many YouTube channels seem to focus on playing like tournaments as opposed to just playing games for fun. Even modern White Dwarf issues lack the creative articles on things like kitbashing or designing a Nemesis for your army to fight against. Path to Glory has always been the fantasy version of army building while still telling a story and I feel that this hero creator with the Anvil of Apotheosis might be the thing that sparks my creativity back with all this.

To sum it up, you get to create a Hero based on destiny points and the points cost associated with it ( 10DP for 150pts, 30DP for 250pts and 50DP for 350pts). This Hero can be your Warlord and as such I do believe it overrides the 300pt limit on the Warlord roster, as there is nothing to suggest it doesn't (not that it should matter as your playing to have fun right?). Your Hero starts of with base stats and a base weapon, you spend your destiny points to improve that hero over several sections. For the Skaven, these sections are:

• Great Clan (the Clan your Hero is from)
• Origin (pick one to add it's benefits)
• Flaw (optional negative, but gives you more DP to spend)
• Mount (So a Skryre Contraption or various Moulder Beasts)
• Mount Upgrades (upgrades for mount - buffs or companion weapons)
• Character Upgrades (upgrades stats, main weapon, an extra range weapon, gaining the wizard/priest status etc)

From here your Hero is ready to go. Just pick a Path for them to follow and play some games. You can just use the normal models to represent them, but I can definitely see people kitbashing all sorts of characters in the future and as more Battletomes come out they will no doubt make things more interesting for the various factions. I've already started my own unique character, an insane Warlock Engineer in a large walking Skryre contraption, though am also going to make slightly modified Brood Terror to have as a Moulder Hero in his own Path to Glory, but still usable in normal games (where as my Warlock will not). 

Overall

So what are my overall feelings with this Battletome? Well it's brought me back here to talk about Skaven, so I'd say that's a rather big positive for me. Am a little bummed about how badly Eshin was shafted compared to the other Clans, but overall it does feel like it still has the fun and charm of what I like about the Skaven that actually makes me want to play them in Age of Sigmar. I was even able to dust off an old model and bring him back, so who knows where this will all go, but hopefully I'll start getting some more Skaven stuff put up here over the next few months.

We shall see.

He's needs a few repairs, but Skrag the Gatekeeper has returned.

Been a while

Oh boy, has it been a while since I put anything up on here. It was always my intention to continue this Blog with regular updates, but as with all things in life, things never go the way you plan. It's not like this is the only thing of mine that hasn't been updated in a while if you follow some of my other media spots.

I'm hope to change that over the next few years as I push myself to achieve some level of momentum for my various plans and projects. The first will be my look at the recent Skaven Battletome, which will be more of an opinion and thoughts piece as oppose to an actual review. This is due to the fact that I simply can give a proper review on something I don't regularly play and so will instead talk about what I like and dislike with hopefully a more friendlier viewpoint (as oppose to just being angry about something). Won't be the greatest piece, but I look forward to talking about the little ratmen again. Should be up within the next week or so.

Let's see what happens.