Care to stick your head above the trenches?

Ever since I started writing this blog back in October last year I’ve been surprised and humbled by the amount of kind comments and positive feedback I’ve received from the wargaming community. To a man and woman you’re all fantastic people and I think it’s time that this blog expanded somewhat to enable more contributions from the Warmonger Family.

To this end I would like to invite you to write my blog for me submit guest articles of your own choosing for publication on this blog.

These can be about anything you like, so long as its wargaming or roleplaying related. For example, if you have a really cool background for your favourite army please share, some photos would be awesome too. If you have some insights you’d love to get off your chest, by all means. Heck, if you’re organising a tournament or if you run a gaming store or club, feel free to write about it here.

This is open to anyone, whether they have their own blog or not. There are no word limits and you’ll always get the final say in how I present your musings.

If you’d like to get involved I’ve even gone ahead and set up an email address for you to submit your articles, pictures and questions. It’s ramblingsfromthetrenches@virginmedia.com

As always you can also contact me here, on Twitter and via the blog’s Facebook page.

I hope to hear from you guys and gals soon,

John

Chaos Rising

The tubes have been alive with whisperings from The Warp of late and after much speculation GW has today released this:

Other sites have been somewhat more forthcoming with The One Ring releasing this image apparently showing what shiny whatnots will  be released next month.

The general consensus is that a new Chaos Codex is due in August/September with sites like Bell of Lost Souls gleefully disseminating potential details.

I can’t wait, my Chaos Marines force has been slowly stagnating in various to-do piles for the better part of two years.  Indeed my only post thus far has been my first ever one where I sketched out some of their basic background, and quite a bit of it has changed since then!
Let’s hope that the first 6th Edition Codex sets a good standard for the rest to follow.

 

Pariah Extract

I’ve been waiting for this book for many years and while it’s not out until November, those lovely folk at the Black Library have published an extract which you can read (and re-read, and re-read) here.

This is a heck of an achievement. The Bear is one of the gents who prodded/threatened/inspired me to start my own blog.

Long may his continue!

The Wargaming Bear

I am truly stunned like really really stunned.

Never in my wildest days would I think I could hit 1000 posts when I started this blog never mind the fact I have been doing a post a day everyday for most of the blogs history.

Thank you all for keeping coming back and actually let hit some (in my humble opinion) amazing numbers.

To give you an idea I started in 2010 and since then I have doubled my monthly average year on year so my current average views already for this year is 300+ per day. Huge thank you.

The other thing that has kept me going is the HUGE amount of new guys coming out of the woodwork for this hobby. Some great miniatures, games and hobby-related gubbins means you could literally play a different game every day of the year and not be disappointed 🙂

So looking…

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Army Builder vs GW

Yesterday Bell of Lost Souls reported that GW had issued a take down notice to Data Files R Us regarding the Army Builder files they host. Lone Wolf Development, the company behind the program issued this statement on their forum which places a fairly optimistic spin on things:

This could easily just be someone on the GW legal team doing a zealous sweep of anything that uses GW’s IP, without any awareness of the long-standing allowance of AB data files. Or it could mean something has fundamentally changed in GW’s philosophy towards AB. However, given that they have not contacted any of the data file authors themselves, including the high-profile 40K data file team, it seems to us that it’s probably the former, and that’s our working assumption right now. We’re in the process of reaching out to GW to learn more, but we’ve heard nothing yet from GW ourselves.

While I hope this is the case I do worry for the future of not just this app but also the likes of Battle Scribe and Quartermaster. While the programs themselves are completely fine, if GW and other games companies start flexing their legal muscles it may well become harder to create, source and host the necessary data files to use these list-builders.

In my opinion these programs can only help increase the popularity of wargames in general. Not everyone finds it easy to scour their army books for the umpteenth time to squeeze the most effective force out of their points allowance. Also, some people (myself included) are terrible record keepers and find the ability to retain previously used lists on their PCs, tablets and smart phones incredibly useful.

As Lone Wolf states, the developers have a symbiotic relationship with the games companies. Long may it continue.

The Rock in The Badlands – Eleonore’s Second Letter

Excerpt from the records of the Dukedom of Parravon. Correspondence dated c1550 (2528 Imperial) to Sir Redemond of Parravon, from Eleonore (a damsel of The Lady, attached to the court of Sir Redemond).

 

My Noble Lord,

 

Since our last correspondence our fortunes have been mixed. Sir Ectorde and his retinue arrived safely some four days ago, they are battered and weary from their arduous journey yet their spirits remain high and have uplifted us all.

En route to our camp, Sir Ectorde encountered an insensible man of indeterminate breeding, by your nephew’s account he was on the precipice of death. In his dying moments he told that his settlement was attacked by a horde of rat men who put all they could find to the sword.

As you know all too well, these fell creatures are drawn to sources of Warp Stone so upon hearing Ectorde’s report I immediately assembled a scouting party and sought out this place.

Upon our arrival we found the village in ruins, half-eaten bodies lay everywhere and I pray to The Lady that the poor wretches were dead before the feasting began. Of the Skaven however we saw no sign until it was far too late.

Seemingly from nowhere our foes appeared in numbers far exceeding our own. Almost immediately Sir Michael called a charge and his fellowship sallied into the waiting blades of the enemy’s most capable warriors. I believe Imperial scholars refer to these creatures as ‘Stormvermin’. At the same time, Sir Hugues took his knights round our left flank and overran a wretched unit of sickly looking creatures who did more damage to their benighted kin as they scrambled from the field.

Alas, this early success was not to last and before my eyes our knights were immersed in a seemingly unending tide of greasy fur and sharp claws. From my place within Sir Michael’s Fellowship I saw our indentured bowmen suffer horrendous casualties and while our nobles faired far better I knew it was only a matter of time before the sheer number of these vile creatures would be the end of us.

Knowing this, I ordered the retreat and quit the field. The Lady was kind to us that day and, while many of Bretonnia’s noble sons were injured, all were able to fight again.

That night as I slept I had a vision of a blighted forest which restless dead had claimed as their own. I was certain that somewhere among the trees would be a quantity of the rock we seek and that other forces were marshalling for the same purpose.

At sunrise I reviewed the latest reports from our yeomen scouts and after meditating further I knew where we needed to go. The forest in question was a two day march from the camp so we had no time to loose.

Our journey was for the most part uneventful however as we drew ever closer to our destination I began to sense a malevolent, familiar, presence and I was certain that the necromantic horde we encountered before was intent on claiming the forest’s prize.

As we entered the tree line I observed pockets of etheric vapour drifting throughout the forest, wherever they went any creature caught within exhibited strange and unpredictable behaviour. Some even succumbed to the foulness. This hindered our progress significantly and too soon our scouts sighted elements of the undead force we had encountered before.

Unlike our first encounter I detected a change in the balance of power between myself and the enemy’s foul mage, where before I found his presence near unbearable I felt the power of The Lady swell within me, I felt certain of victory.

Immediately I ordered our battle line to form, my wariness of the prowling mists proved correct as it soon touched a unit of bowmen forcing them to withdraw from their position.

Soon the vile corpse army made themselves known; unlike our previous encounter I ordered our cavalry to hold while our bowmen unleashed torrents of arrows into the enemy’s midst. Before too long I felt the enemy necromancer’s dark magics building and was certain he was about to attempt to augment his forces, I attempted to counter this but was too late and to my despair I saw those we had felled rise and resume their places in the foe’s ranks.

Here The Lady made her presence known. Just as I thought all was lost we saw the deadly mists move towards the enemy’s lines and cause untold damage. After a further volley of arrows I ordered Sir Michael’s men to charge the unit of skeletons approaching our left flank, I joined them as they headed to glory.

The combat was long and arduous, we inflicted heavy losses on them but like all such creatures they did not break. Only my magics kept us from harm but I knew that this was unlikely to last since unlike us they could replenish their number, or so I thought.

As the battle progressed I felt the winds of magic more strongly than I have ever before, whenever my foe attempted to conjure reinforcements I easily blocked his attempts and the times were I was unable to he was unable to complete his incantations. Thanks to this we were able to see off their heavy infantry and, with Sir Hugues and his knights we rounded on the remaining enemy forces and drive them from the woods.

After the last of the creatures had made their escape we uncovered what they coveted, in a clearing was a crater fully ten metres across and in that we found ten sizeable rocks of the purest warpstone I have ever encountered. Returning it to our camp cost the lives of three mules and five peasants, as I’m sure you’ll agree my lord these were nescessary losses.

There is much more of this rock out there my lord and I am more convinced than ever that the situation in the Badlands needs more attention. I petition you to send whatever you can spare from the northern front to aid us for I fear that in spite of this victory far darker times lie ahead.

I am your humble servant,

 

Eleonore