[Lord of the Night]

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=11500028a

The new Warhammer boxed game is awesome! It's by far the best one yet and in my opinion the best box set we've ever released - there's an Elven Prince riding a huge Griffon in it! Please forgive my gushing; I know it's unfair of me to mention it when it's not available for you to order yet, but it's gorgeous and I'm brimming with excitement about it. Not to worry though, rather than rush home with the copy I managed to acquire (see also 'blag') this morning, I thought I'd share the opening of it with you. So without further ado, here's a look at The Island of Blood.

The first look at the Island of Blood boxset is here, and some nice pictures of the model sprues. And a confirmed advance order date of August 10th.

 

[Warlock in Training]

Nice its unbox, but have to wait till next week to see what Exactly is in there.

 

[Lord of the Night]

GW have confirmed the two heroes are an Elven Prince on a Griffon and a Skaven Warlord. Two pretty good heroes but i'd prefer a High Elf Lord on a Dragon.

 

[GreenFaceMonkey]

Not bein funny, but next to the old Goblin warboss and piddly squig, a griffon of that quality isnt bad!? Askin for dragons seems a little cheeky, a plastic dragon would require as many frames as one of the starter box armies haha Nice thought tho..

 

[VeronaKid]

Lord of the Night-

What's actually funny is the last time that the High Elves were in a box set (waaaay back in 4th ed, I believe) the elf lord that you got was actually a cardboard tile with Eltharion's picture on it. The leader of the Goblins? A similar tile with a picture of Grom. So, an actual prince on a Griffon is a pretty huge leap from there.

I won't even go into how much better the new Reaver Knights look compared to the old plastic elf models. . .:grin:

Sure a dragon would be nice, but that's already available for purchase. I am happy to see a brand-spankin' new prince.

Cheers.

 

[Squeeking up on people]

besides if they gave you a dragon they'd be cutting in on ForgeWorld's stuff

Anyway I can't wait to get my hands on this box, the new rat ogres are so much better then the old ones

 

[Styro-J]

They wouldn't be cutting in on the Forgeworld stuff since, as Veronakid pointed out, Games Workshop already has their own High Elf on a Dragon out for purchase. That wouldnt be too great for this box set though as that type of Lord costs a ton of points, not the kind you would likely run with just one or two of these boxes.

 

[Stella Cadente]

if I had any interest in herohammer or magichammer I'd be tempted by those plastic elves, and especially that griffon

 

[Elemental_elf]

if I had any interest in herohammer or magichammer I'd be tempted by those plastic elves, and especially that griffon

Fantasy is much more Infantryhammer than the two you listed now that 8th has been released.

Also, I'd contend that 40k is very much herohammer now-a-days.

Back on topic: The Griffin is weird looking. I dislike it's claws. The rest of the models look great, I can't wait to buy multiple sets of the High Elves!

 

[Stephen_Newman]

I agree (and I can't believe I am saying this) with Stella. There is more focus on magic powers with lore attributes and such. Also the fact half the total points value of an army can be spent on Lords and Heroes means that Herohammer has increased in my opinion since it allows MORE lords to be taken at lower games.

 

[Masked Jackal]

I agree (and I can't believe I am saying this) with Stella. There is more focus on magic powers with lore attributes and such. Also the fact half the total points value of an army can be spent on Lords and Heroes means that Herohammer has increased in my opinion since it allows MORE lords to be taken at lower games.

However, those Lords have a much lesser impact, and magic is a very risky thing to use. The real problems are not what Stella has implied.

 

[Stephen_Newman]

It has reduced the qualities of lords by shoehorning players to spend less on magic items but allowed people more lords in general. The only change I had to make to my high elves is to get rid of 15 swordmasters to make a spearmen hoard. Hy leaders of Telis, a Mage, Caradryan and Korhil was unaffected. (Except that Teclis just got even better)

 

[Stella Cadente]

Fantasy is much more Infantryhammer than the two you listed now that 8th has been released.

I'd have to call rubbish on that, I've watched allot of games now 8th has come out, and I've always noticed one thing, the magic area of the rulebook is always open, everyone goes on about how this spell and that spell is going to decimate everything, and then it happens exactly as said, seems like a waste of time.

and if a hero is still able to kill dozens of models in 1 round of combat, without even requiring the aid of the 50+ extremely cheap bodies protecting him to win, how is that still not herohammer?, its just herohammer in larger arrow catchers, or basically giving that hero (or group of heroes) 50+ wounds.

 

[Aramoro]

If both players are using balanced armies then most of the ridiculous spells will get fizzled with dispells or get miscast so spectacularly that your Wizard dies. Casting the high level Dwellers from Below or something pretty much guarantees exploding your own face.

Heroes are powerful don't get me wrong, but a cannonball to the face will usually disabuse them of any illusions of grandeur they had. Especially ones on Flying Monsters. Poor leon over 700pts that can be instant killed with a cannonball.

Aramoro

 

[Masked Jackal]

I'd have to call rubbish on that, I've watched allot of games now 8th has come out, and I've always noticed one thing, the magic area of the rulebook is always open, everyone goes on about how this spell and that spell is going to decimate everything, and then it happens exactly as said, seems like a waste of time.

and if a hero is still able to kill dozens of models in 1 round of combat, without even requiring the aid of the 50+ extremely cheap bodies protecting him to win, how is that still not herohammer?, its just herohammer in larger arrow catchers, or basically giving that hero (or group of heroes) 50+ wounds.

1st: The people you've seen probably are idiots and don't have proper magical defense. Just take a look through some of the new scrolls in the rulebook. Using those uber-spells when one of those is handy is akin to killing your wizard.

2nd: A hero DOES require cheap bodies to help him win. A single hero charging into combat will just get mired and eventually killed through combat res.

 

[CaptainBudget]

:goodpost: I defo agree with both points.

I actually find it easier to defend against magic in this edition (even against my regular opponent's Tzeench army), though you should ALWAYS take a dispel scroll just in case. Just take a decent wizard or two and a dispel scroll and you're generally OK I find. As you said you really do have to be a numpty when it comes to magic defence for the magic phase to be that open.

Also, whilst Combat res has been tweaked a little so kills count for more (i.e. more attacks being made = kills more important overall), the standard 3 ranks and banner still make a big difference (unless you're up against 24 frenzied chaos warriors then everything goes out the window). A hero/Lord therefore has to score an average of 4 kills each turn to draw the combat, which is a tall order given they rarely have more than 5 attacks. The only exception is a Tomb King with Scorpion armour and spear of Antarhak (you can only ever loose 1 wound from combat res, and the spear give you one wound back per kill, effectively making him immortal), but that's fairly pointless as you NEED him to support your main line with his "my will be done" to get bonus attacks/shooting/charges.

I wouldn't call it herohammer yet. In fact I think it's all very well balanced.

 

[Bindi Baji]

honestly people, you should know by now that arguing a point with stella is as effective as asking for a bacon sandwich in a synagogue

 

[Bubblematrix]

honestly people, you should know by now that arguing a point with stella is as effective as asking for a bacon sandwich in a synagogue

I just can't wait for a LotR second edition and see Stellas response, the way he lays into almost everthing else if GW dicked around with his preffered games then it would certainly produce some very interesting and original rants.

On subject, I look forward to learning to play WFB from the box. I have never played it, though I bought some skaven back in the past. The models look good and it will be interesting to start an army from a boxed set and zero knowledge - basically the novelty of WFB for me will be the main attraction and this boxed set looks like an ideal springboard into the setting.

 

[Stella Cadente]

honestly people, you should know by now that arguing a point with stella is as effective as asking for a bacon sandwich in a synagogue

especially if my experiences are completely different, it kinda pisses me off that EVERYONE and there dog expects everyones experience of herhammer/magichammer to be the same, that its a game that shits rainbows and happiness from its greasy money filled ass.

fraid to say its not, all I experienced of previous editions was heroes decimating armies alone and Magic dominating the board, after watching 8th (since I have no interest whatsoever in a shit game) I really see no difference except that army killing hero now sitting in a unit which only exists because GW knows your gonna spend more money to make it.

I just can't wait for a LotR second edition and see Stellas response, the way he lays into almost everthing else if GW dicked around with his preffered games then it would certainly produce some very interesting and original rants.

1: I doubt GW would make another edition since it has no SPESS MAHREENS, and if they did as long as its done by the same people I see no problems, if not I can stick to using the current LOTR system.

2: what do you mean IF GW dicked with my favourite systems?, they already did long ago, BFG, necromunda, mordheim, inquisitor, all systems long forgotten by GW and the worthless crowds of people now infesting GW.

 

[Bindi Baji]

it kinda pisses me off that EVERYONE and there dog expects everyones experience of herhammer/magichammer to be the same

I really don't expect that seeing as one of my first games featured a special "magic mushroom" penalty rule