Weekly Hobby Update : 10-11-17

Hey Everyone!  It has been a flurry of Hobby for me this past week as the approaching date for Armies on Parade draws near.  Thankfully taking a drybrush technique for the bulk of the army has paid off and I have turned out just over 1000pts for my display board as well as three Citadel Woods.  My Harvest Sylvaneth really came together quickly at a decent Tabletop Quality and I it was fun to use bright colors such as orange and yellow which I don't normally use while painting with any regularity.

I still need to base the army, but the basing will be similar to how I am making my display board so I will do that all of once instead of making two smaller batches of the basing texture paint.  There is quite a number of pictures below of the painted force.  I doubt I will get to it before Parade Day, but I do plan to add more to the army int he future to be able to field a fun 2000pt army with Alarielle at its head.

My Views on the "Required Paint Scheme Rules" Debate

Hey Everyone.  This past week we have seen a debate regarding the controversial topic of requiring specific paint schemes to unlock certain battalion rules in Age of Sigmar.  We saw precursors of this with Stormcast Eternals and Kharadron Overlords Battletomes, but the new Season of War: Firestorm campaign box has added additional bonuses to specific Free Cities from The Mortal Realms.  I want to be upfront from the beginning that I respect the debate and those debating it as arguments for and against the handling of these new rules have validity.  I feel the debate is necessary, but it has overshadowed other great things part of this release.

The extra battalions, in essence, add free formation rules for a specific set of allies with the requirement being that the army you deploy are from the set list of allies and are painted in the scheme of the Free City.  No need to pay extra points and they can be in addition to battalions you can buy normally if you build your army within an allegiance that is part of the set list of allies.  The only requirement is that your army is from specific factions and, controversially, it is painted in the colors of the Free City.

The debates have been heated in some cases and civil in others.  I have seen both sides to the argument bring valid points to the debate as well.  There is a topic thread going on over at The Grand Alliance as well if you wish to check it out.  I don't plan on going into the debate here despite what the title of the post might indicate because T.O.'s will make their call on the subject in their event packs.  Some will require the painting specifications as per the written wording while others will not.  This decision will not be a deciding factor in what events I will attend.

What has really got worried about the debate is how it has overshadowed the biggest part of this release.  When Age of Sigmar began we saw Stormcast Eternals fighting back against Chaos and saving people who managed, against all odds, to survive The Age of Chaos.  The shattered remanents of all the cultures were clinging to the thought of surviving another day, but hope grew after Sigmars triumphant return.

That hope was Season of War: Seeds of Hope campaign which was a great event that inspired a lot of exciting games as we all enthusiasm in tracking how our allegiance was doing in our respective cities and perhaps most importantly gave us something to anchor ourselves to within The Mortal Realms.  Recently we had the release of Season of War: Firestorm which is a continuation of the narrative in the form of a map campaign.  It is a great box set and I highly recommend picking one up to run campaigns for your club or gaming friends to enjoy.

At this point, you might be wondering where I am going with all of this so I will get to the point.  I am not unhappy that this debate has arisen as I see both viewpoints, but respectfully do not count myself in either field.  What I feel is being missed and being overshadowed by this debate is we now have real cities in the realms once more.  That is what I choose to focus on as it is driving my hobby more and more.  Those who are debating and choosing which side of the fence they sit have every right to do so and I respect the arguments both sides are bringing as they all have a validity since Matched Play is a very large part of our Community.  However, I hear very few voices talking about the importance of these cities and what they bring to the lore of Age of Sigmar.

In 8th ed. Fantasy people proudly painted their models as Reiksgaurd, Saphery, and Barak Var to name a few.  Not everyone did this and many players chose to make their own schemes from a city created by their own imagination, but people rallied their army around places within the lore.  I had a large army of High Elves from Ellyrion, famous for their horses so I almost always added some cavalry to my forces for example as I felt a connection to that place in my mind.  There weren't additional rules at that time so there was no need to worry about a debate such as the one going on, but some of us still wanted to anchor ourselves to a specific city and feel connected to this fantasy world.

The World That Was is gone, but now we have The Mortal Realms.  Instead of Altdorf, we have Greywater Fastness.  We have The Phoenicium to replace The Shrine of Asuryan.  We have places of importance that will anchor our stories and narratives and we have wanted it since the release of Age of Sigmar.  Now we can establish Cities in the Realms as well with tools to help us build our own Free Cities, granted without additional layers of abilities.  Some of the greatest Hobbyists in our Community have been embracing this with their armies for quite some time and I hope to begin building my Free City soon as well.

To Wrap up my thoughts I worry that things such as "Generating Your Free City" and all the Cities now established within the lore will be lost in the shuffle.  It is a great time to be in the hobby and an even better time for Age of Sigmar as we finally begin diving deeper and deeper into parts of the setting that really give it character.  I hope as the debate settles we will see more and more focus from within our community on these cities and what they each represent as more is revealed about the setting we all know and love.

Until next week, Happy Hobbying!

Weekly Hobby Update : 10-4-17

Hey Everyone!  This past week has been full of hobby, and gaming (and painting my deck) so as usual here is my current hobby and recently played games.  This past Saturday was an Age of Sigmar Club Day at one of my local clubs.  We played Skirmish and a few rounds of 1000pts matched play using the scenarios from GHB2017.

It was exciting to finally get my freshly painted Blades of Khorne on the table and they had a good showing overall and I learned a few lessons on playing the army as well.  The army wasn't built with a competitive focus, but with a few tweaks and additions, I could turn it into a more competitive force.  I really enjoyed how the army played and the level of synergy and positioning required to do well it is safe to say they are much less forgiving than my Stormcast Eternals.  It looks like I will be busting out the Ulthuan Grey again in the future.

I was finally able to begin making headway into my Armies on Parade force as well.  I picked up a Rustoleum Camouflage Spray Paint (Earth Brown) to prime my force after hearing it recommended numerous times on Tabletop Minions Youtube Channel.  After the primer dried I can see why it was it has been suggested so often.  It has absolutely no shine and considering its use for painting Camouflage it should not have been a surprise at how Flat it came out.  It is great stuff but is limited in its color range at the moment.

I plan to work on the army at least a few hours a night as I only have 21 days to complete it all before the big event.  I have a feeling the display board will take just as many hours as the army to complete, but a deadline is the best motivation!

Don't forget to tune into Warhammer TV on Twitch this weekend to watch the Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament Final Stream.  It promises to be exciting games to watch as well as seeing the Twitter Feeds fill up with Age of Sigmar goodness.  It should help motivate me to get a lot of work done on my Sylvaneth I am hoping.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!

How to Build your Free City

Hey Everyone!  The Warhammer Community team released an article earlier this week on generating a random Free City (Check out the original article here).  The concept really captured my imagination so I wanted to dive into creating a randomly built Free City within Age of Sigmar using the Charts from the Article as well as various other tools online.  I might even paint up a hero or unit to represent a city in the future, but my current project is taking up all my time so a side project like that will have to wait for a bit.

I have always enjoyed tools such as this as it leaves it up to Luck, Fate, or whatever you wish to call it.  The fun of finding out what you might get is a thrill in and of itself, much like opening a random pack of Magic The Gathering Cards I feel.  I don't play Magic The Gathering anymore, but I still buy a blind pack from time to time for the fun of what I might get (hopefully Elves).  After you have the basics from your randomly generated city you can them craft its story in as much detail as you wish.  With the Cities being set within The Mortal Realms almost anything is possible.

To begin building the city we can use the charts from The Warhammer Community Page's Article.  We will also need a few D6 as well to use the charts.  You can roll physical dice, but if you are wanting to build a Free City along with me you can use this Random Dice Generator here.

To Begin we need to generate our Free City Name.  First, we Roll D66 (using 2d6).  My dice came up 52 so I will begin with "Bale".  Secondly, we roll D66 again and my result is 25 so my Free City is named "Bale Port"!

Next, we need to generate a bit more detail about our new City "Bale Port".  First, we will see what Realm or Realms we will be settled by rolling D33 (roll 2d3).  My Result came up as 5 and 6 so it looks like "Bale Port" will be a Twin City.  After 2 more rolls on the chart, Bale Port is a Twin City between the realms of Chamon and Ghur.  Second, we need to see how large our new city will be so we roll a single D6.  I toss the die and get a 5.  It seems "Bale Port" is a decently sized City.  Last we should find out who lives in Bale Port so we go to a single D6 once again and roll it D3 times.  I rolled a 4 so there will be three races making up the sum of the city's populace as I get a bonus roll due to the size of my city.  I roll a 2, 1, and 3 which gives me Aelves, Humans, and Duardin which seems a pretty typical cast of characters.

After we have the basic Census of "Bale Port" generated it is time to add the exciting and strange details about our city that we can use to expand upon within our Narrative.  Since I am City Sized I will add 1 to my D6 roll to a maximum of 6 for the Number of Distinguishing Features my City contains.  I roll a 2 and add 1 to give "Bale Port" D3+1 Distinguishing Feature of General Novelty which gives me D3+ 1 Features.  I roll a 4 on the die and then add one for a total of 3 Distinguishing Features

To find out my features I go back to D66.  I roll 25, 52, 46.  "Bale Port" will have a Kharadron Overlords Trading Port, a Notable Freeguild, and a Relic from The World That Was.  Not a bad selection at all.

Next, we need to find out what our city looks like on paper.  We could draw out a map or simply let your imagination dictate how everything is laid out.  However, for our purposes, we will use a City Map Generator that was shared by Runebrush over on The Grand Alliance Thread about the article.

The City Map Generator is located here and after we adjust a few settings we can randomly generate out the city.  Since I have rolled a Twin City I will be making 2 maps to fuse together.

 

Now that I have a layout for my city I can begin to see where my Landmarks might be at and begin crafting my story, but before I dive into Bale Ports Narrative I must first find some colors for Bale Ports Flags!  Once again I decided to go to a Random Generator for Colors to see what fate has in store for me.

The Color Scheme Generator I used can be found here.  I let the colors generate a few times and eventually locked on one I liked and proceeded to generate a few more times to find something suitable for my needs.  The colors are a bit dark, but I can work them into my narrative quite well.

So we now have everything our city might need except its story.  Why is it here and why is it still here?  Who are the major players and their motives?  How does this Twin City rely on each other for survival?  Now is the time to answer all these questions and the real crafting can begin.  Time to put on my NEO hat and get to work.

"Split between the Realms of Ghur and Chamon is the City of Bale Port.  Each Sector was it's own Hamlet without a connection until the Relamgate was discovered and they merged into a single thriving City after the Realm Gate Wars in what was known as The Seeds of Hope. 

The Chamon Sector was founded by the Dispossessed Clan Guinnieson who lost their Mountain Hold during an assault by Tzeentch Daemons.  Despite their defenses, the Daemons found their way into the hold where they began melting into Molten Lead, filling the entire hold and eventually solidifying.  Clan Guinnieson has held a Grudge against Tzeentch ever since and developed a grim nature even for Duardin.  This sector is also home to a Kharadron Overlords Trading Post which offers support in defense as well as trade.  The Trading post is maintained by Clan Guinnieson and sees various Skyports coming and going.  Its reinforced structure offers a safe harbor from the Copper Storms prevalent in the area for their vessels.

The Ghur Sector was is home to Aelves from many walks of life.  Aelves known as Wanderers Keep the sector safe from the outside preferring to stick to the wild over a walled city.  Inside the walls, the core sect of Aelves identifies as part of the Darkling Covens know as The Duskhearts.  They rule with a hard, but fair hand.  They work closely with a group of Scourage Privateers who are given free reign of the docks in exchange for their food, clothing, and if the rumors are true slaves for the unseen, but the still known Daughters of Khaine presence.  The Daughters of Khaine are more than simply tolerated however, they are the keepers of a great artifact.  This artifact is also why Wanderers have kept so close the area and offered their service.  They hold the remnants of  "The Reaper" which to the Wanderers is a legend beyond legend as it was believed to be the greatest of work by a great weaponsmith from the World that Was and during the time long lost was wielded by their ancestors.  The Daughters of Khaine and Darkling Covens also know the legend, but know that the weapon is but a shard of the great blade originally wielded by Khaine himself.

Normally these two different races would be hard pressed to live in peace, but a Freeguild of Notability occupies both halves of the city and while they don't involve themselves in the public affairs of each sector they do garrison and patrol the city as a whole and are the core defenses within the city.  The Freeguild is known as "Amala's Adamant" are veterans who held secure Greywater Fastness during The Seeds of Hope and after boredom set in shortly after setting off for more adventure.  They are who found the Realmgate connecting the cities and have been the guardians of it ever since, which helps to keep the separate sectors working in cooperation.

Despite the differences amongst the races within Bale Port, they have found a working relationship that has allowed the city to grow and thrive.  Both sectors rely on the other for support and while tensions run higher than other Twin Cities both sides offer full aid when the other comes under attack.  Both sectors also maintain a small garrison of Honor guard who resides in the opposing sector as a sign of their willingness to work together and to keep an eye on each other as well if they are being truthful.  Together they survive and together they thrive as they all shout "No City for us beyond Bale Port!"

The Banner of Bale Port

There you have it, a narrative for my generated city that is even now making me want to create a small army to portray them on the battlefield.  I really encourage everyone to try this exercise for themselves and create your own part in The Mortal Realms and perhaps inspire yourself on your next army!  If you do run through this exercise please let me know as I really enjoy seeing what everyone created or feel free to head over to The Grand Alliance Thread created about others Free Cities.  I truly hope Gamesworkshop continue to give us these tools in the future as they are fun to use and help spur our hobby forward.  Until next week, may your Free City's banner always fly and Happy Hobbying!