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In this blogpost you'll find a Warmaster battle report. Yes, it's not a typo, it's not a Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles (5th Edition) game that you see in the pictures.
Quite some time ago I made a simple conversion of the WM rules so that they would work with 28mm (hero scale) miniatures too. Why, you'd ask? Well, ever since my first Games Workshop Ltd. boardgame (HeroQuest) I have been collecting 28mm Old World miniatures. Also, almost all of my scenery is 28mm scale. I love the toys but the game takes too much time. Warhammer is a detailed tabletop wargame, where Warmaster gives up on detail but simulates the battle very well. AND is situated in GW's Old World. My favorite setting.
( My low impact conversion from WHFB to WM is in blogpost 38814. )
Scouts reported a large Beastmen army making way to the Bretonnian village Grimeaux-en-Seour. Traders in the village have good a relationship with the nearby Dwarf kingdom. A defense is organized, determined to hold and end the Beastmen invasion nearby the river La Seour.The Dwarfs:strip_icc()/pic5643247.jpg)
Bretonnia:strip_icc()/pic5643248.jpg)
For this 1400 points battle I used a scenario from the rulebook, page 82: The Battle Of Grim-On-Sour. I wanted some objectives to fight for and I really liked the simple but effective special rule for the river scenery. The objective in this game was for the Beastmen to set on fire as many buildings as they could. This would give them many extra victory points. The defenders had to prevent any building in the main village to catch fire. I placed two towers and one farm outside the main village, and 6 buildings in the main village. It sure looked sour for the defenders of Grimeaux-en-Seour...
Round 1:
Filthy Chaos Hounds were released as a first wave. The dangerous beasts crossed the bridge closest to the village. The nearby Bretonnian Grail Knights and Knights of the Realms reacted immediatelly and charged the trespassers. Hooves and lances killed all of the foul animals, but two Knights were dead... (Equals one WM stand.)Charging Knights roll a lot of dice!:strip_icc()/pic5643249.jpg)
On the other bridge over the river La Seour another combat started. A Beastman Charriot raced over the bridge. Battle-frenzied Trollslayers ran towards the incomming danger plotting to stop and destroy the Charriot before it set foot on their side of the river. They managed to inflict serious damage but were eventually overun. (One WM Charriot stand was destroyed. Represented by 3 hit points behind the miniature.)Clash at the far Bridge:strip_icc()/pic5643250.jpg)
Round 2:
Some chaos in the Chaos ranks stalled the units commanded by a nearby Bray Shaman. (Failed command roll...) But orders from the Beastlord general managed to manoeuver the horde. A Bestigor brigade took the furthest bridge and Minotaurs claimed the bridge nearby.
These manoeuvers insitgated an immediate response by the Grail Knights which totally destroyed the Minotaurs, but this unfortunate clash ended in a suicide for those brave Bretonnians... The bridge was cleared at a high cost.:strip_icc()/pic5643255.jpg)
The White Dwarf, known from famous fights at Karak Varn, assisted by the mighty Dwarf General, charged the Bestigor brigade. With succes! After three rounds of battle the foul Beastmen brigade was destroyed. Second bridge secured!Battle Queue:strip_icc()/pic5643251.jpg)
The Dwarfs are quite busy...:strip_icc()/pic5643252.jpg)
To the White Dwarf's left flank another Dwarf regiment was charged by Minotaurs who recently crossed the river. The Minotaurs scored 13 hits, of which 9 were unsaved... One Mino died in return.
Round 3:
The Chaos Thugs (which count as Herdkin) that crossed the river in the earlier round fired their Arrow to great effect onto the Dwarf Cannon crew. One Cannon and its crew took enough hits to be out of action.
In the valley in front of the Cannons the Dwarf regiments suspected a new charge of the Beastmen Charriot and they succesfully fell back to safety.
The White Dwarf's regiment gloriously advanced to the bridge but was flanked and wiped out by the Charriot charge. (I'm sure the White Dwarf secretly escaped unharmed to perform new heroic quests...)
The remaining Dwarf regiments charged and pushed back the Beastherd into the river.One bridge secured:strip_icc()/pic5643261.jpg)
Round 4:
A brave Bray Shaman joined the Chaos Thug regiment and performed a suicide charge on the Dwarfs. The Shaman had not been quite usefull in casting magic spells, issuing command and now he also fails in battle...Defend the village!:strip_icc()/pic5643257.jpg)
Stop that charriot!:strip_icc()/pic5643258.jpg)
The vicious struggle for control of the bridge nearby the village continues when another Beastmen Charriot charges and wipes out a regiment of Bretonnian Knights of the Realm. (One of three Charriot stands is lost in doing so.)
The Dwarfs are confused by al the skirmishes and fail their command phase.
High above the battlefield the Bretonnian general follows the flow of the battle. Seeing the confusion of the dwarf army and the deadly loss of the first bridge he makes a valliant decision: the Pegasus swoops down and joins battle with another regiment of Knights. They charge the Charriots, who are joined by their Centigor hero. The Bretonnian defenders rip through the Charriots and kill their Centigor leader."Give them not an inch! Chargez!":strip_icc()/pic5643259.jpg)
Round 5:
The Beastlord was pretty sure of his victory when he initially decided to lay waste to this petty Bretonnian village. But now seeing all his beastly followers falling to the swords and hammers of both humans and Dwarfs, he's not so sure anymore.
But at the far side of the battle his eyes catch a glimpse of the invigorating color of flames. A farm is on fire! Two Minotaur are wrecking the farm and outhouses.Burn that down!:strip_icc()/pic5643260.jpg)
The Beastlord orders Goristro, his Shaggoth stronghand to take the second bridge. The general himself charges to the other bridge together with a Beastherd brigade.
The final battle between both Bretonnian and Beastmen generals begins. The dice gods really favoured the human forces here... Bretonnian Knights score 7 hits, where the Beastmen score 0. The Beastmen are pushed back 2cm. Followed by another 2 hits by the Knights. The Beastlord is killed.The evil general is dead. The village is safe!:strip_icc()/pic5643262.jpg)
Conclusion:
- when I set up this battle I really thought Beastmen would win. It seemed impossible to protect all houses. But rolling a six to light fires is quite rare. And reaching the village seemed more difficult than anticipated.
- The dice gods really favoured Dwarfs and humans in this game. But not in such a way that it damaged the fun of the story. The battle felt tense.
- I made an error in linking my miniature to the rights stats. Early game I used the stats for a Beastherd instead of Bestigors. A mayor mistake that favoured the Dwarfs. That's why in the final battle, when the Beastlord fought side by side with his Beastherd brigade, I used Bestigor stats! But not even that could help them...
- Not much rules questions arose from this battle, except for a question I apparently had in earlier games too: a unit supported by another units, loses this support when one rank is killed because you remove stands from the back of the unit. This is a little bit odd, but it's the official rule.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and report. Please try playing Warmaster with 28mm miniatures yourself. It's all official GW, it's the Old World and it's fast. Awesome!
Miniature Games Construction Yard
In this blog I'll talk about various miniature games. Custom miniatures and minor conversions are my favorite pastime. I'll cover scenery making and painting too.
The WIP you'll see here is all about Necromunda, Epic 40,000, Warhammer Fantasy 5th Edition, Warmaster, Warhammer 40K 3rd Edition and Lord ot Rings.
Archive for warmaster
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Fri Sep 11, 2020 6:00 am
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Time for my constructed (but not fully painted) Beastmen and Dwarf armies to hit the gaming table. My mancave is not large, but I managed to install three polystyrene insulation plates as a table on top of my small desk. A large brown curtain will act as muddy ground.
Battle report will follow soon...
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What follows is the Warmaster battle report I promised in blogposts 85045 and 85043.
Orc general Gutrok and his warband is marauding the outskirts of the Empire for quite some months. Many villages have been plundered, but no great cities have suffered any assaults yet. That's why the Empire troops are ignoring warboss Gutrok and his greenskins for the moment.
The greenskins warband however is approaching a High Elf outpost. And the elves have prepared to stop Gutrok's menacing force.:strip_icc()/pic4684014.jpg)
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1000 Points of Warmaster 28mm units on each side, the Orcs are taking the first turn.:strip_icc()/pic4684019.jpg)
The game went off with a slow start. The Orc General was unable to get his main retinue moving, where fortunatelly his Goblin Hero managed to gain terrain on the left flank. The Wolf Rider made good pace and the Orc Shaman flew his Wyvern over the nearby farmhouse to oversee the action.:strip_icc()/pic4684017.jpg)
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The High Elves initiated a counter-move to bock the progress of the green horde as soon as possible. The Gryphon-mounted General planned to rip those annoying Goblin foottroops to pieces with the help of the stout Silver Helms (which, in my army, are plain bone-white-helms). On the High Elves' left flank the fast cavalery started a flanking manoeuvre with the intent to run over the stagnant Orc units./pic4684024.jpg)
The Orc Shaman did not sit idle and watch. He noticed those pesky pointy-eared archers creeping closer and closer. Time for some great Orc Waaagh magic! -*
!STOMP!*- The foot of Gork himself crushed some poor Elves deep into the soil. Leaving behind a small puddle as deadly reminder to the Orc's presence.:strip_icc()/pic4684025.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic4684028.jpg)
Enraged of the loss of his loyal archers, the High Elf General orders his Gryphon to render the Goblins to shreds.:strip_icc()/pic4684029.jpg)
My love of using vintage cardboard templates encouraged me to unleach another magic spell from the fingertips of my High Elf Wizard. Alas, no luck in doing any considerable damage... Those Wolfriders are nimble and fast, avoiding the magic power.:strip_icc()/pic4684030.jpg)
To cut a long story short, later in the game the Orcs and accompanying Giant managed to get into close combat range. But the persistant defence of the Elves kept them at bay and scattered the green horde... Gutrok will have to gather him a new warband to ravage the Empire.
Thu Apr 18, 2019 12:28 pm
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Warmaster is basically a two-player game. One player controls an army and battles against the army of the second player. In the rulebook there is a chapter about playing a game with several players on each side. I wish to expand a little bit on the multi-player idea.
Warmaster - Alter Ego
Number of armies: 2
Number of players: 2 to 6
Each player receives one alter ego. The alter ego being either General, Hero or Wizard. No more characters than players are allowed in the game. Adapt the armies accordingly.
Warmaster - Hero Quest
Number of armies: 2
Number of players: 2 to 6
Each player receives one alter ego. The alter ego being either Hero or Wizard. Only Heroes and Wizards representing players are used in the game. Each army's General is controlled by the friendly players in a co-op style. This "Hero Quest" multi-player variant requires more negotiation between players than the "Alter Ego" variant.
Warmaster - Triumph & Treachery
Number of armies: 3 to 5
Number of players: 3 to 5
Each player controls one army. Use the Warhammer: Triumph & Treachery rules, cards and tokens. Apply modifications where conversion from WHFB to WM is required.
The T&T expansion came with tokens to keep track of victory points and to use as currency for bribes. The included currency/victory tokens do not have a printed value. So the "coins" are usefull in any game. Also in Warmaster (28mm).
Mon Apr 30, 2018 6:05 am
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Warmaster 28mm: Beastmen versus Bretonnia
17
Apr
2018
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In two previous blogposts I told the sorry tale of a small village in Altdorf. First the town got overrun by living dead, and later the village was reclaimed by valiant knights from Bretonnia. The latter decided to stay there after their victory and rebuilt the village including some minor defenses.
Some keen followers of my blog might have noticed the trick I performed with my scenery. In between battles I slightly moved all scenery to the left. The cemetary and windmill from the first battle disapeared from the table and more details of the village appeared. Now for this third battle in row I did not change the coordinates but went forward in time by adding some buildings and fortifications. The Bretonnian tents, village fountain and defensive stakes made the town more "knightly".:strip_icc()/pic4055912.jpg)
A loud bellowing announced the approach of a foul horde... Beastmen! Beastlord Gorthor Broadhead shouted his battle commands and many hooves stormed towards the first buildings of the village. The Bretonnian soldiers were taken by surprise but quickly rallied to the defense.:strip_icc()/pic4055911.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic4055913.jpg)
A Knights of the Realm unit took the main road onto the center of the battlefield and charged a Beastherd unit, soon the nearby unit of Chaos Marauders (a.k.a. Herdkin) joined the combat engagement.
Meanwhile the other Beastherd unit and more worryingly the Minotaurs unit moved forward. The human general ordered his mounted Squires to leap around the village square trying to find an exposed flank of the enemy units. A small unit of Men-at-Arms moved towards the Knights to be ready for action when needed.:strip_icc()/pic4055914.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic4055915.jpg)
The mounted Squires managed to slay the nearby Beastherd, ignoring a unit of Chaos Marauders. The horseback riders in turn were charged by the Minotaurs. The result was devastating for the Squires, but they managed to take down one Minotaur (and allmost another one, but the Beastmen player choose to fall back and discard remaining hits).
In the fight between Knights znd beastmen only a handfull of Chaos Marauders remained. That's where Gorthor Broadhead entered the combat engagement... to his loss. The beastmen's general fell and his remaining force fled into the woods.
Another valiant stand by the Bretonnians!
Attachment: Warmaster 28mm Rules
Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:00 am
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All peace and quiet...
:strip_icc()/pic4049643.jpg)
...
The sound of trampling hooves and clancking armour is nearing the haunted village. Bretonnia to the rescue! Another Warmaster battle report with Warhammer miniatures just started.:strip_icc()/pic4049637.jpg)
It seems Vampire Lord "The Red Duke" has employed a Necromancer to further expand his army and lead the undead horde. The Bretonnian Knights of the Realm take position and try to storm the undead in the flank.:strip_icc()/pic4049638.jpg)
Meanwhile the brave (or ignorant) Men-at-Arms henchmen unit charges the first wave of Skeletons. The Zombies in reserve are slowly turning to throw themselves onto the fighting henchmen.:strip_icc()/pic4049639.jpg)
The mounted Squires and the general seal of the entrance to the village. Not a single undead creature must escape! Should the Men-at-Arms fail to destroy the undead horde, the cavalry will stomp them down.:strip_icc()/pic4049640.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic4049641.jpg)
The Necromancer notices the flanking manoeuver by the Knights of the Realm and anticipated by sending a flock of Giant Bats on an intercept mission. The squeeking winged monsters throw themselves onto the Knights biting and clawing. The horses come to an abrupt halt and fierce combet commences.:strip_icc()/pic4049642.jpg)
The rabid bloodsucking creatures managed to render the unit of Knights utterly useless. Knights and horses died or fled... The Bretonnian general quickly antcipates by sending the mounted Squires to plug the hole in the Bretonnian relief army's flank.:strip_icc()/pic4049644.jpg)
The Red Duke struggled to get his skeleton units in tactical position. The fast Squires charged into the fight between Zombies and Men-at-Arms. No help from the undead leader made any change. Bretonnia came here to win, and that's exactly whzt they did. At great cost, the brave Knigts of the Realm will be missed and a ceremony to honour their valiant deeds will be held in the reclaimed chapel.:strip_icc()/pic4049651.jpg)
The flow of the game went really smooth. Playing Warmaster battles with 28mm miniatures is great for playing narrative games in a small amount of time. The same battle with Warhammer Fantasy Battle rules would have taken up to three times more time to finish.
Attachment: Warmaster 28mm Rules
Tue Apr 3, 2018 6:00 am
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Warmaster 28mm: Vampire Counts versus The Empire
24
Mar
2018
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Away with boring miniature paintjobs, I want to play a game! So I draped my desk in green cloth and started constructing an nice little village somewhere in the province of Altdorf. There were stables nearby, a windmill present and offcourse they had an old cemetary in the neighbordhood. Now that's exactly where things went wrong for the innocent villagers... Vampire Count "Red Duke" raised a small army of shambling zombies and raised some more when in the vicinity of our subject village. Deep in the woods they could hear the eerie howling of a pack of Dire Wolves running towards the cottages.
:strip_icc()/pic4049614.jpg)
No worries, an Empire brigade bravely envelopped the village in order to defend it and to destroy this evil undead threat. A brigade of Halberdiers entered the battlefield by road while a Cavalry unit shielded by a unit of Crossbowmen protected the willage square. The crossbows immediatelly started shooting their deadly bolts towards the horde of Dire Wolves, succesfully halting them.:strip_icc()/pic4049613.jpg)
The wolves seemed hesitant to blindly storm through an avalanche of steeltipped bolts. This actions shows that the Warmaster rules for shooting does not inflict many casualties but can be tactically positionned to halt certain enemy units.:strip_icc()/pic4049612.jpg)
The small brigade of Halberdiers charged the incomming Zombie unit and hacked into the undead round after round, gradually gaining ground and capturing the center of the battlefield.:strip_icc()/pic4049615.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic4049616.jpg)
With a little help from the Empire General the Halberdiers managed to hack down the first wave of skeletons in close combat.:strip_icc()/pic4049617.jpg)
The Vampire Lord himself tried to tip the balance by joining combat. With succes! He killed the Empire General rendering the entire Empire army useless and filled with fear. The village is lost. Victory for the Undead! Soon the place will be crawling with undead servants...
Sat Mar 24, 2018 6:00 am
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Workbench is now a Temporary Gaming Table
20
Mar
2018
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Just a short update about what's happening on my workbench. I've been painting Blood Bowl (Third Edition) teams but got bored by the repetitive labour. So I took my green tablecloth and started building an Old World town somewhere in The Empire. This town just happened to be the target of a sinister Necromancer and a battle commenced... I'll post a nice gaming report with pictures later here in my blog.
Spoiler: the town got overrun and was saved by Bretonnian allies. But these new inhabitants now face a beastly enemy: Ungors!
In the battles I used miniatures from Warhammer and I combined them with the Warmaster rules for 28mm games.
Invalid tweet.
If you wish to follow my painting and scenery-building activities, I'll post snapshots at my Twitter account TocosNest. Would be great to have more followers
Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:17 am
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The Warmaster army lists are quite complete except for a couple of the latest releases from Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
In this blogpost I want to provide some unit stats for those missing units. Where to find miniatures for these units is another question. But after reading this article you'll probably start hunting webshops...
HIGH ELVES
Frostheart Phoenix = counts as giant eagle
Flamespyre Phoenix = counts as giant eagle
Lothern Skycutter = Chariot mount with flying, +3 Attacks, +35 points
SKAVEN
Stormfiends = Rat Ogres with Leadbelchers special rules and 3/D3 Attacks
Plague Claw = counts as Chaos Dwarf Earthshaker Cannon
Abomination = counts as Chaos Spawn
Doom-Flayer Weapon Team = Chariot mount for a Warlock, +10 points
THE EMPIRE
Demigryph Knights = Knights + 30 points (Vicious fighters*)
Rocket Battery = Chaos Dwarfs Death Rocket
Celestial Hurricanum = counts as War Altar
Luminarc of Hysh = War Altar + Ball of Flame (immune to dispell) + 55 points
OGRE KINGDOMS
Ironblaster = 1 Unit Imperial Cannon with Attack 1/4 + bounce, 85 points
Gnoblar Scraplauncher = counts as Chaos Dwarf Earthshaker Cannon
Stonehorn = Rhinox mount
Thundertusk = Rhinox mount
LIZARDMEN
Bastiladon
Monster 10/3 10 3+ - 1 300 -/1 Fear, Gaze of Sotek (immune to dispell), Badly Hurt: 5/2 Attacks, 5 Hits.
Chameleon Skinks
Infantry 2/1 3 - - 3 40 2/- Skinks, Ambushers (like beastmen ambushers).
* From the Warmaster "Battle Honours" article by Wayne Roziers.
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Part 2: Warmaster 28mm - High Elves versus Bretonnians
Time for the Bretonnains to make a point. The point being: "Elves, GET LOST!".:strip_icc()/pic3425446.jpg)
The Bretonnian hero under the name The Red Knight directed the mounted Squires to charge the High Elves Silver Helms. Unfortunatelly the rookies were too slow and the command failed. Soaring over the battlefield on his pegasus, the general then shouted his order to the Men-At-Arms unit to charge forward. The infantry unit ran forward and reached their target. Combat followed and they were almost wiped out, taking a single stand of High Elf cavalry in return.:strip_icc()/pic3425447.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic3425448.jpg)
The battle reaction of the High Elves was simple: two infantry units charged by initiative. The High Elf general joined the fight. The following combat wiped out the remaining Men-At-Arms and the other fight was between High Elves Spearmen and Bretonnian Knights. The Knights held their ground but couldn't prevent losing one stand.:strip_icc()/pic3425449.jpg)
Finally The Red Knight got the Squires into combat and joined the fight himself! Ready to take down the enemy general. Since this was possibly the decisive combat where the High Elves could lose the game by losing their general, I first handled the other combat between High Elf infantry and Bretonnian Knights, strengthened by the presence of their general! He was quite safe, the High Elves had only 4 dice to roll and wouldn't be able to destroy the Knights and general. The High Elves died...:strip_icc()/pic3425450.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic3425451.jpg)
The Red Knight swung his mighty blade and hit the High Elf general full on his helmet. The Elf toppled from his horse and this ended the battle. The Bretonnians managed to protect their realm against unwanted tresspassers."GO HOME!":strip_icc()/pic3425452.jpg)
You might have noticed the special dice with only swords on the sides. Varying from zero up to two swords. I find these dice very useful to indicate remaining hits. I believe these dice come from the Dungeons & Dragons boardgame.
PS: I forgot to use the rules for psychology (Terror) when fighting with my Bretonnian general mounted on a pegasus...
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