The Grumpy Gnome‘s Fantasy Projects Blog (latest update on page 61)

[Grumpy Gnome]

Thanks mate. Some things are ok as filler for the table I suppose and do not need the same standard as heroes.

I have plenty of older sculpts my wife is not a fan of. Do you prefer painted or unpainted? Round base or square? Just the typical 80’s wood elves or the more Celtic looking ones? Metal or plastic? Just GW or lookalikes such as Harlequin, who make wood elves that have the same aesthetic?

Also, you might find some of my current works in progress interesting.

Some Oathmark Dwarves with extra bits from my bits box. A GW Dark Elf converted to be a Black Numenorean banner bearer. A kit bashing of a Haradrim Captain using Gripping Beast Arab Heavy Cavalry And GW High Elf bits, as well is some greenstuff sculpting. I thought the bow bit converted to a scabbard was clever idea but not sure others would agree. And a fellow I suspect will become a Dunland Wildman.

[CookAndrewB]

Those dwarves look the part to me. Can't wait to see them painted up. Are you going to give them some under mountain  halls to guard?

Terrain and table looks great in the last battle report. I'm afraid I don't have any feedback beyond enjoying the eye candy as always.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Thanks for the kind words.

At this stage we do not have any underground terrain planned. There are so many things I want to do but only so much time, money and storage space.

I still have not figured out how we are going to adequately represent the Cave Drake scenario that is the culmination of our first campaign.

[ColonelMutumbu]

I would be wary of adjusting the ranges of the bows in the at night scenario because they also get +1 to wound and that can really make a big difference in battle companies.

[Grumpy Gnome]

My wife and I already agreed to remove the +1 strength adjustment on bows at night no matter the range as neither of us felt the reasoning of it made sense. Neither of us think of folks dodging arrows as if at a Larp event.  It makes some sense for accuracy and penetration for shorter range but that goes down the slippery slope of crunchy simulation and away from quick, streamlined gameplay. And that balance between game and simulation is a tricky one!

Really what we want is a consistent rule for night between Battle Companies and SBG as we intend to evolve our Companies to eventually be used in SBG games.

We are not shy about using house rules. My wife is less enthusiastic about them than I am but I see no reason not to change a rule if both players agree to it. I grasp the need to ensure house rules do not break a game, that is a serious risk, but house rules can greatly improve a game as well. That is why I am constantly looking for and asking about the house rules other folks use.

Take for example our house rule that Haradrim can use shields. I get that some folks think that the lack of shields is a penalty to balance out their strengths and give them a different flavor from other factions with shields. But it is contrary to Tolkien lore and illogical in my opinion. Yeah, I get that GW was trying to stay true to the movies.... but if that alone was a driving factor than the Goblin Town Goblins would have access to bows. So I sometimes wonder if equipment lists are based on what sculpts have been made rather than what sculpts have been made being based on equipment lists.

Hence we have a house rule that all factions get access to mundane weapons, armor and shields unless it breaks lore. If someone wishes to put forward an argument against this house rule, that it breaks the game, I would welcome the debate.

[Grumpy Gnome]

So, in preparation for gaming this weekend.... some Wildmen and Dwarves!

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2020/06/19/wildmen-and-dwarves/

I am particularly pleased with how the Oathmark Dwarves painted up. More information on the blog, as usual. Feedback welcome!

[mirjeki]

Great work on those dwarves. You've made them look really expressive. I'd fight alongside those stout lads.

[Bearwoodman]

Those Dwarves look impressively determined (and the shield subtle but intricate shield design fits their look perfectly)!

[Grumpy Gnome]

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words.

[scatterbrains]

They did turn out great, the guy with the double handed axe is wearing a particularly cool helmet!

[Grumpy Gnome]

Glad to hear you like them mate!

Our next battle report, first one with my new Dwarf company....

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2020/06/22/back-in-old-oak-a-new-battle-report/

This game really got to me, in regards to the impact of unlikely dice rolls. Both for and against me. Having a single Ruffian roll a six twice, once in the duel roll then to wound, followed by a failed fate roll on my part. And in another fight rolling a duel roll of two against two opponents, only to have my wife roll double ones!

You can have all the advantage and sound tactics only to be foiled by a random dice roll.

[ColonelMutumbu]

Re house rules above, for sure its your hobby after all, too many people these days seem to buy into the tournament/GW line that its their hobby and you just get to give them money to enjoy their vision whether or not you agree, a totally fine approach if thats what you want, but not the only way.

If you've already removed the +1 to wound in this case then changing the range becomes less important. I was really just passing on a warning as someone who has been there.

Some nice kitbashing going in this thread btw

[Grumpy Gnome]

I may have come across a bit abrupt above... if I have I apologize. I remember when GW was encouraging players like me to use our own fantasy minis to make crazy games of Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader. I miss those days. Too many times in the 90’s I was put off by unfriendly, over competitive tournament players at local GW stores as well as over bearing, arrogant GW staff.

Listening to Rick Priestly talk about how GW developed SBG just reinforces my feeling that the game is not as fine tuned, nor currently supported, as either my wife or I would like. We are trying to learn not just by doing but by asking folks like yourself who has been there. So we appreciate hearing your thoughts and experiences.

As we continue to game we both seem to feel the archery in the game goes wildly from devastatingly effective to disappointingly ineffective. Maybe the strength adjustment for night could help smooth it out but I think at this point it would just further exacerbate the problem. If we did use a strength adjustment it would likely be based on the range rather than amount of light.

That said, after the last couple of games I also feel like the melee combat can go the same way. A couple of turns of ineffective fighting, with folks getting pushed around and then suddenly a turn where you see several folks taken out one after another. All down to what feels like a little too random dice rolls. But I suppose the random nature makes for unpredictable narrative building.

And maybe as we become more familiar with the mechanics it will feel less random. As it is now, guessing whether it makes sense to wield two handed or to use a special strike given the attached penalty is a real guessing game.

Quick rule question, when you have a two handed axe can you use two handed and piercing strike? Can you only do one or the other?

Thanks for the kind words on the kit bashing. I am looking forward to getting them painted.

On another note, wordpress really messed up my last blog entry. I had to delete it and rewrite it. I was pretty tempted in the early hours to just stop blogging because it is a lot of work and so few folks read entries. After a few hours of sleep and some coffee I decided to keep going, at least until we finish this campaign.

[Wilgut Spleens]

Hi Rick,
Just thought I would say hello!
I could not agree more with your ideas on the Haradrim
I have written my own profiles for the Haradrim based on what Tolkien has written and my imagination.
Feel free to use any of it

[ColonelMutumbu]

I may have come across a bit abrupt above... if I have I apologize.

I didn't think you did, just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't imposing my will on your hobby, just offering my two cents.

Listening to Rick Priestly talk about how GW developed SBG just reinforces my feeling that the game is not as fine tuned, nor currently supported, as either my wife or I would like. We are trying to learn not just by doing but by asking folks like yourself who has been there. So we appreciate hearing your thoughts and experiences.

I would say that its definitely not their best supported game but its very well balanced. Battle companies on the other hand is not well balanced imo. You just have to look at the relative points values of the different default starter companies to realise that some some very big advantages over other ("cough" rangers of the north "cough"). My group and I play massively tuned version that I could send you a copy of if you had any interest in seeing the changes we made to the system as inspiration.

As we continue to game we both seem to feel the archery in the game goes wildly from devastatingly effective to disappointingly ineffective.

Archery is definitely an interesting beast in SBG, very few armies will reliably get most of their kills from it. It's most often useful to dismount the big scary heroes. (aragorn, boromir and such like) and for area denial. Melee you have look for the traps i.e. charging cav, outnumbering for reliable killing power. I think as you master that sort of thing as you say , you will have a better idea of when you will get rid of models or just hold.

Quick rule question, when you have a two handed axe can you use two handed and piercing strike? Can you only do one or the other?

You can definitely do both, Two handed is the weapon type, and piercing strike is the special strike.(this applies even to hand and a half weapons) Piercing strike-two handing is a favourite of mine with my Khand. Two handing is situational, more useful when you have higher fight value as the risk of losing because of it is lower, if you are piercing striking keep a close eye on the wound chart to work out if it is worth doing. For example if you are s3 and the enemy is def 5 its not worth it as you still need 5's. But if they are def 4 it makes it 4's to wound. So don't be mindless with special strikes I geuss is what I'm trying to say.   

 A blog called Drawn Combat has some articles with statistics re winning fights if you are interested in that kind of thing. Much too tournamenty for my liking but knowing them might increase your enjoyment (https://drawncombat.blogspot.com/)