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Armies of Arcana

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RocketToad10 Mar 2008 7:09 a.m. PST

Thanks to everybody who made the pairs event at London Gamers the biggest AoA event yet with 16 players bringing 5000 point armies.
I did remember my camera this time, which for some reason garnered some ridicule from small sections of the crowd.
It did however do the job and I hope the following pictures from the event will portray some of the great moments of the days action.
We had many different armies on display.
In terms of the variety of armies in attendance there was an Undead army , a Giant Kings army, a Barbarian army, Sylvan Elves, High Elves and Dark Elves, Goblins, Pigmies, Orcs, Ratmen, Lizardmen and of course Pigmies.
I'm looking forward to seeing a Lyonesse army on the tables at some stage in the near future.

Anyway here are some photo's I took during the event, I hope they come out all right…

First up here is Bungles army of The Giant Kings.
Bungle picked up a prize for his heavy conversion ideas and paint work.
Heavily converted from plastic Ogres complete with Tartan trousers, check out the rollers…

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Traffic jam on one of the objectives.

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Keep it flowing, roller convoy…

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Up close and personal this is the last thing seen by many of the creatures and beings that were confronted by the Giants roller gang. :twisted:

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… and here they are on the move across the board to make a 'cordial acquaintance' with the models on the other side of the table.

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Bungle was my partner in the first pairs match and as he had the Giants so I had the Pigmies in a loose alliance known as 'Little 'n Large'.
Here is the little half of the team, the new look Pigmies I picked up from the clever chaps at Bolt Action Miniatures…
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A close up of the new pigmies on the tabletop…

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A group photo here showing the new Centaurs at the front of the picture with lurking Hydra in the forest….

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RocketToad10 Mar 2008 9:24 a.m. PST

In the second game across the table from me was Andy who had travelled from the far side of Southgend for the event.
A very pleasant fella that I had not had the good fortune to meet of play before this event.
He was brandishing not one, but two Westwind Productions Dwarf War Mammoths.
Glorious models and very nicely painted by Andy.

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I got to meet them up close and personal on a couple of occasions. It was a humbling experience. Here's the first occasion.

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… and here's the second occasion. Talk about little and large, this was David the Pachyderm versus Goliath the Mammoth.
It begs the question, "What Happened next?"


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I didn't have a bloody smudge to put down on the battlefield but it would have been appropriate if I had. :oops:

brave face10 Mar 2008 9:24 a.m. PST

Very nice pics RocketToad, I'll look forward to seeing more!

I recognise those Kallistra Pygmies, but those masked ones are new from Bolt Action you say? I'll definetly have to check them out.

Cheers, David

brave face10 Mar 2008 9:31 a.m. PST

Wow, very nice Mammoth indeed (and I just saw 10,000 BC yesterday too)--I hadn't see it before, not keeping up with West Wind like I should, I guess!

And are those masked Pygmy things some kind of centaur?

RocketToad10 Mar 2008 9:40 a.m. PST

The Centaur bodies are all Kallistra models.
They are the Pigs they make for their Pig riding Pigmies.

The Bolt Action Miniature pigmies as Centaurs I simply chopped of the head of the Kallistra Boar, and chopped away the legs of the BAM Pigmies and then green stuffed them together and made fur to cover the gaps.

My mates Mrs referred to them as Llamas.
That broke me.

The list is taken from the Halfling and Centaur Woodland Coalition list from the Armies of Arcana Rulebook.

brave face10 Mar 2008 10:07 a.m. PST

Thanks!

RocketToad10 Mar 2008 10:18 a.m. PST

Dodgy Damage Doyle was keen to make an impression with his doughty Dwarves at this event.

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He even whipped out one of these contraptions that I had not seen on a tabletop for a long time…

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Anyone recognise this chap from the South London Warlords? Saddam was caught doing a spot of rules lawyering… err … I mean selecting a spell… :P

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Here he is showing off the likeness of his Rat Avatar… to his T-Shirt.
:twisted:
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His Ratmen Army was approaching 300 models. In the centre right of the next picture you can see two separate units of Slaves surging forward, and another at the loewer right of the picture.
They were 50 models strong in each unit.
That's 150 slaves right there for starters :shock:

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He was also fielding this rather lovely heavily converted Ratmen Eldritch Cannon contraption just for good measure.

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Elvenblade10 Mar 2008 3:25 p.m. PST

Top day, top guys, top games. The event saw all the stops pulled out model wise. These rules allow for almost anything and it will invariably end up being balanced points wise.

RocketToad10 Mar 2008 4:01 p.m. PST

Here's a picture of Desc's large Dark Elf army crammed into one shot, there's a lot of cavalry tucked away in there.
In the front lower right is the large flightless bird cavalry soon to be released by Terrain Warehouse.

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Here is two of the Dark Elf cavalry units charging into the Wood Elf units of Dr Moreau.

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A close up of the Terrain Warehouse Lava Giant about to put the hurt on to some Ghouls.

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Elvenblade11 Mar 2008 5:27 a.m. PST

Love that lava giant. I feel a purchase coming on…..

RocketToad11 Mar 2008 11:04 p.m. PST

You do get a very wide variety of models from all sorts of manufacturers in Armies of Arcana.
Thats a bonus for not having brand specific restrictions on model choices.

Mooseworks812 Mar 2008 8:20 a.m. PST

Thanks for the pictures Rocket.

RocketToad12 Mar 2008 1:39 p.m. PST

You're most welcome, I'm very fond of photos for relating action on the tabletop, especially if it has quality terrain etc.

Jason B12 Mar 2008 5:23 p.m. PST

That was a very enjoyable set of photos. Thanks for taking the time!

RocketToad13 Mar 2008 12:55 p.m. PST

You're most welcome.
We had a great time.
I'm so glad I found AoA because if I hadn't all my armies would have gone via eBay by now.
Instead I'm having the most fun I've ever had in my gaming history.

RocketToad15 Mar 2008 5:53 a.m. PST

Shoreboy's lovely High Elf Army picked up a painting prize.

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Here is most of the crew that took part in the occasion…

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Zinkala15 Mar 2008 8:18 a.m. PST

I love all the conversion work different people have done on their armies. That's one thing I really like about AoA, lots of possibilities for modelling. Good to see the system getting that much attention somewhere.

RocketToad21 Mar 2008 3:02 a.m. PST

These kind of events encourage the players to go to the next level.
They also offer gamers with busy schedules a target to work towards in their spare time.

Marshal Mark22 Mar 2008 7:23 a.m. PST

Is there a review of AoA anywhere on the web ?

Zinkala22 Mar 2008 8:37 a.m. PST

I did one up over a year ago and posted it on several forums. It's buried deep now but I'll take a look around and see if I can find you a link. I think I still have it saved on my old computer too.

Zinkala22 Mar 2008 9:13 a.m. PST

Sorry about double posting. It was easier than I though to find my review on Warseer.

link

If you want more information check out the main website and the forum here.

thanesgames.com

Marshal Mark22 Mar 2008 9:22 a.m. PST

Good review, thanks. It sounds very interesting. Are there any command and control rules (unit or brigade orders, restrictions or what units can do, etc) or can you move all of your units wherever you like each turn ?
Are there different troop types, so that some troops are good in rough terrain, some are good vs mounted, etc ?

Zinkala22 Mar 2008 1:16 p.m. PST

No command and control rules as such. There's no specific general on the field. No radius of control or morale modifers for proximity. Characters give a bonus to the unit they are in but nothing to neighbouring units. There are some optional C&C rules available but I've never played using them. As far as I know they were experimental from the author.


You can basically move all your units however you like and they obey. Berserk troops are the exception to this as they may head towards the enemy whether or not you want them to. No random movements either except when fleeing. Having your morale broken is about the only thing that removes the players control of his units. And even then you have a fair bit of leeway in choosing how they flee.

There are different movement abilities for certain units. For example all sylvan elves have forest walker which allows them to move through woods with no negatives and all ratmen have swimming which allows them to cross water terrain easily. Almost all units have the ability to skirmish(some suggest that this should be called loose order) or be ranked up. Skirmishing gives you bonuses for moving through difficult terrain but you loose bonuses on morale for melee combat. Some armies have units with special movement traits that aren't standard. A good example is dwarf mountain goat cavalry that can go through rough terrain and hills easily.

There are a variety of troop types differing depending on the army list. Most work as you would expect for their weapon type. Some units have multiple attacks or multiple ranks which is good for hitting cavalry as they have 2 wounds. Some are heavily armoured and make for good defensive blocking. Others are faster and better for offensive manouevering. So you definitely have options.

RocketToad31 Mar 2008 9:30 a.m. PST

I think that sums it up nicely Zinkala.

Bottom line is it cetainly seems to be catching on slowly especially among the older Warhammer players looking for something a little more challenging, or more balanced, with a lot more figures on the table top.
Some WAB players have taken up the system as well.

There is a glitzy new rulebook in the offing in just a couple of months.

RocketToad06 Jun 2008 12:01 p.m. PST

Next tournament scheduled for the first Sunday in October.

At London Gamers in Richmond in London.

RocketToad21 Jun 2008 11:30 a.m. PST

Details of the next tournament are up on the main forum here…

link

RocketToad23 Sep 2008 5:19 a.m. PST

Next tournament is on 5th October and it will be in Southend by the Sea as AoA takes to the road to find new players.

Sorry - only verified members can post on the forums.