|
 WHITE
DWARF #288 JANUARY 2004
This
month's White Dwarf is packed with Warhammer-related
goodness! Since Games Workshop is rolling out the new
Bretonnia army this month it shouldn't surprise anyone that a lot
of this issue's content is related to Bretonnia. Warhammer Chronicles:
Bretonnian Designer's Notes: In this article author
Anthony Reynolds gives his thoughts on the development of the
Bretonnia army book. Even if you are not a Bretonnia fan
this article was very interesting to read. Warhammer
General's Compendium: Campaigning in the Vallie Grismerie of
Bretonnia: Eric Sarlin, coauthor of the General's
Compendium, has developed a map-based campaign set in Bretonnia
which is compatible with the campaign rules found in that
book. The campaign includes new special rules and scenarios
specific to this campaign including Jousting! There are also
several mini-articles within the greater article which describe
how to create terrain pieces like a Chapel, a very neat looking
pond, houses and some campaign specific pieces. This issue
also includes a full-sized color campaign map in the same style as
the one that came with the General's Compendium only this one is
designed so that you can line up several copies of the map
together for really large campaigns. If your group contains
a Bretonnia player you may want to give this campaign a
look. If you aren't interested in the Bretonnia campaign but
do play map-based campaigns using Chapter 2 of the General's
Compendium there is an amendment to the rules for
"Scattered" banners which fixes the only (minor) flaw in
an otherwise brilliant rule set. Old Weirde's
Incunabulum: This is an essay on the fauna of the area known
as Troll Country. If you like Warhammer fluff this
article may interest you. It even has front and pack
hand-drawn illustrations of different types of creatures that
inhabit the area. These illustrations may be of interest to
those who are looking for ideas on different color schemes to
paint their Trolls. Bretonnian
Heraldry: Essential Guide: Tammy
Haye of the 'Eavy Metal team explains how to design and paint
Bretonnian Heraldry. If you aren't a Bretonnia player you
may not have a lot of interest in the actual article but I must
say that the article's illustrations, which includes dozens of 'Eavy
Metal painted Bretonnian Knights, is breathtakingly
beautiful. Every time I look through this magazine I can't
help but be amazed. Warhammer
in a Flash: This article is one of my favorite in the
magazine. They have taken the UK Border Patrol rules and
have modified them somewhat. For those who don't know,
a Border Patrol (Or Warhammer in a Flash, but I like Border Patrol
better) battle is fought with 500 points, is played on a 4' by 4'
area, is scenario-centric and is designed so that you can be
set up, play the battle, and be cleaned up in under an hour.
Because of the small points value there are additional rules and
restrictions to building your army which keep players from finding
gimmicky unit or character combinations or from creating one
single "uber-unit" upon which the whole game
rests. The rules modifications are very simple and
logical. I've played several of these battles already and I
must say that it's every bit as fun as regular games of Warhammer
with larger armies. In fact, it's more tactical.
Because you usually only have 3 or 4 units you have to be even
more thoughtful in your actions. You can't rely on the
"stretch your army across the table" method of covering
your flanks and recovering from a serious mistake is
challenging. Included are all of the rules and three
scenarios (with a table if you want random scenarios), pictures of
four GW employee armies with comments on their construction, tips
and tactics and information on running your own league. If
you've just started a new army and don't have a lot of points this
game is a great start. If you're trying to teach someone how
to play Warhammer this game is far easier for a newb to manage and
learn from than a full-sized game. The Loss of
the Solland Runefang: This is another fluff
article. Written by Graham McNeill it's a chapter from the
birth of the Empire. This article also recounts the invasion
of the Empire by Orc Warlord Borbad Ironclaw! Battle
Report(s!): For the Lady, Charge!: Besides the Warhammer
in a Flash article, this article is one of my favorites in this
month's magazine. It's not one but two battle reports!
Gordon Davidson, a veteran Orc and Goblin player (wohoo!) faces
off against Anthony Reynolds, author of the Bretonnia book, who is
using (shock!) Bretonnia. If you are a fan of battle reports
like I am it is worth getting this issue for this article
alone. Gordon's Orc and Goblin army (3,000 points) is
extremely colorful and the Halfling flail conversion he did to his
Giant shouldn't be missed! Anthony uses the 'Eavy Metal
painted studio pieces and, really, who wouldn't!
This 2 page article is a preview of the new 900+ page catalog from
Games Workshop that is coming in February. It gives a basic
synopsis of what will be offered in the book as well as a look at
a few of the book's pages.
Building
Osgiliath Ruins: Technically this is a Lord of the Rings article
but it's a step-by-step article about building ruins and could be very useful
to terrain builders. |
