How to connect to the wider Age of Sigmar Community

Hey Everyone and happy Friday!  Years ago when I began my hobby journey and began laying Warhammer I never imagined how it would become more than a hobby and truly a part of my life.  I cannot see any future that does not involve Warhammer and Tabletop Wargaming as a key aspect of my life.  Beyond being a healthy and enjoyable hobby I have come to realize, over the past year or so, that it is a community of so many different people.  This community is the single greatest part of this hobby.  There is no doubt that completing your latest model or army is satisfying and making a podium at a tournament is thrilling, but the best part is sharing it with the community to give it true meaning.  My hope for this article is to help you branch more and more into our community (please note this will be from my perspective in the U.S.).

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!