The Empire Responds to the invasion of the Uruk Hai

The overall time it has taken is 35-45 hours. The cost in the end is principally paint, glue and a couple items like the stargate, and a couple bits of second hand GW gribblies like a crane, some scatter terrain and some second hand Mantic sci fi doors. The rest is entirely rubbish. Bits that fell off my van, broken dishwasher spares. Some stuff from a toilet cistern, a boiler manifold and good old Dyson hoovers with fridge packaging. Overall the cost is around £85-95.

This project has been a pleasure to bring together. It has been cheap, dirty and quick. But it looks just fine. Its crudity and speed of assembly has been masked by the process of layering details and spray finishes. It becomes a backdrop to the real focus of the board, the miniatures. Much of the supremely detailed and high end finishes on some boards leaves me flat when I experience it in anything like real world situations, it’s too detailed. But for photographs and dioramas the high end finishes are breath taking and leave me droooling. But to game and experience as a gamer? Too much going on for a game, I get lost and lose miniatures in it. So for gaming, this system is perfect, it shows a scene while emphasising the playing pieces. The miniatures.

I’m never going to paint these, I shall spray them in group colours and perhaps add dots for those troops who need to be distinguished in some way. It’s going to be my jobbers set of easy evening gaming. A proper posh version of risk. Everything I wished risk was. That way it won’t detract from my passion for 28mm.

This whole lot plus a couple fantasy additions pack into the core push of pike box. It takes up such a small amount of space.

I’ve heard it asked before but it has only resonated with me recently. A friend said he doesn’t want to invest in a dead game.

When is a game dead? It struck me he was talking nonsense on stilts, covered in Jam. Is Chess dead? It must be, I haven’t seen the original company supporting their chess creation? But I do suspect people are playing it. Expanding on it. Enjoying it even!? The strangest of thoughts, enjoying a game that has outlived its creators. What next, reading books by dead bastards too? I only read books that are supported by the living, speaking for myself. Necrophilia is outlawed after all.

Im playing Warhammer. And having a brilliant time with it. I have recruited 4 new players to my game and they are all local bods that I’ve bumped into through various life situations. Fellow parents at my children’s school, old friends that like playing board games and want something different. Work colleagues, suggestions from my wife who was told a friend of her friend has a husband who has warhammer on his shelf……etc etc. only one two out my 6 players have done and like doing the hobby side. The other four love the social and enjoy a game that is different from the others they have played. There are some others on the periphery who are interested too, who may want to buy proxy models and download or buy old copies of the rules.

The game is a blend of 4th Ed (early 90’s) and 6th Ed (early 2000’s) with some group house rules adopted from various other games. All of which are this mystic dead game status. But we play it. We invest in it. We enjoy it. How the fUck is that dead!?!

If it’s the hype of newness you want then that is subjective as this old game is new to all these others who bring different playstyles to this old game. I very much doubt that these people have played this game in all its iterations and variations, all its factions with all its scenarios and tactical situations and challenges. If they found a group of people who like it and are willing to play more than the bland, here’s an army either side, they are ‘balanced’ (whatever the hell that kettle of fish means) and they clash head on. Boring. What about the all the variations from history you could drag in? All those battles and engagements from history which where never, ever, at all, balanced. Use your imagination for Feck sake!!!

So we played gaslands instead. ?

What would Uruk hai heavy cavalry look like? Wargs are wolves by nature and their backs would not take the strain . So some form of oxen? A horse from the black numenoreans? What would they be armed with? Would it be more Cataphracti in style or Roman heavy cavalry type or later knights?

My army could do with one unit of heavy cavalry and it should be Uruk-hai flavour.  I could test out a spare warg rider and blend it somehow?

Also my empire baggage train is coming along nicely and I’m onto the very last kislevite, the Tsar Queen on polar bear! Brilliant.
With the baggage train has come some learning, I was googling war wagons and seeing £150 and thinking no. But during the google something came up, war wagons where real things. Muskevites had them. The Chinese had them and some medieval Europeans had a version of them. I didn’t know this I always thought it was GW high fantasy! I now need to make my religious wagons rules that reflect war wagons in history and make two war wagons to go with my train. 1st corp seem to have a couple nice ones as do an Spanish company for 35 euro. Where else may have some?