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CHELTENHAM WARCHIEFS Specialist Games |
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Specialist Games is the
collective title of the non-core (Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000) games of Games Workshop. The website can
be found at (www.specialist-games.com). There as 8 to choose from: · Battlefleet Gothic – star-ship
combat in the 40K universe · Battle of Five Armies – battles
with armies from the end of The Hobbit using 10mm figures · Blood Bowl – fantasty American Football
(Grid Iron) using 28mm figures · Epic – large scale 40k battles, using
6mm scale figures · Inquisitor – skirmish level game,
using 54mm figures and set in the 40K universe · Mordheim – skirmish level game, using
28mm figures and set in the Warhammer world · Necromunda – skirmish level game,
using 28mm figures and set on a planet in the 40K universe · Warmaster – large scale Warhammer
battles, using 10mm figures Of these choices, Bloodbowl,
Mordheim and Necromunda are played most often. Within the Cheltenham Warchiefs,
it has also come to encompass other games as well, namely: · Warmaster Ancients - large scale historical
battles, using 6 or 10mm figures · Legends of the Old West - skirmish level
game, set in the Wild West (really?) using 25/28mm figures · Legends of the High Seas - skirmish level
game, set in the Caribbean using 25/28mm figures · BlitzkreigCommander (and ColdWarCommander)
- large scale modern (1936+) battles, using 6, 10 or 15 (or even 20!) mm figures · Victory At Sea – World War II fleet-based
naval warfare The first three are from
Warhammer Historical (www.warhammer-histotrical.co.uk), Blitzkrieg and ColdWar Commander are Warmaster variants written by Peter Jones (www.blitzkreig-commander.com), and Victory At Sea is from Mongoose Publishing (www.mongoosepublishing.com). |
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Warmaster, Warmaster Ancients, BlitzkriegCommander
and ColdWarCommander are all related games, in that the first one inspired the
other three. There are also Medieval, English Civil War and Napoleonic variants
available. Warmaster Medieval will be
released by Warhammer Historical sometime this year, and the others are available from the Yahoo Warmaster group. The key
feature of these games is command and control, rather than how good or bad units are. This means that the player has to be
able to cope with the fact that his troops may not do want he wants, when he wants! They are all fairly easy and quick to
learn, but take a few games to appreciate the subtleties, and to get used to not being so concerned with the abilities of
units. I have yet to have a game of BKC that I haven’t enjoyed (and I have yet to win one!) Personally, they have a great ‘feel’ to them, as they capture the grand scale of battles – in Warmaster
and Warmaster Ancients you are commanding whole armies, and in BKC/CWC you are commanding regiments or battalions, depending
on the scale you chose to play at. The default unit scale in BKC/CWC is a platoon ( approx 30 men or 4-5 tanks), but will
cope with units as sections or individual tanks. Another couple of pluses for these games is that a) there is only one book (except Warmaster Ancients, where
there two), so there is no need to buy a continuous stream of supplements; and b) due to the small size of the figures, armies
don’t cost too much. A 1000-point Warmaster Ancients army will cost between £30-40, depending on where you get the figures
from, and a BKC starter force is about the same. Legends of the Old West and Legends of the High Seas are a blend of
Mordheim and Lord of the Rings games.
They both are skirmish level games, involving a ‘gang’ consisting of Heroes, Henchmen and Hired Swords, but uses
the LOTR combat system. Figures-wise, there are few manufactures that make suitable miniatures, and one of the best would
have to be Black Scorpion Miniatures (www.blackscorpionminiatures.com). Mordheim and Necromunda are similar games, the main difference being the former is set in the Warhammer world, and the latter
in the Warhammer 40K universe. Each player has a warband or gang, and fight various skirmishes to improve the skills of the
warband/gang members, and to increase the rating of the warband/gang as a whole. After each game, income is acquired and can
be spent on recruitment, weapons or equipment. There are some subtle differences between the two games, In Necromunda, gang members are all individuals, where as in Mordheim
there are Heroes (individuals) and Henchmen (groups of 1 or more lesser mortals). In Necromunda,
skills learnt are determined by dice rolls (dependant on gang type and the type of gang member), whereas in Mordheim they can be chosen by the player. Both are good games, and can be played in under an hour, meaning you
can squeeze in a couple on a club night! Both sets of rules can be downloaded from the Specialist Games website for free. Blood Bowl is a great
game. Loads of fun, entertaining, the rules are available online for free, and only takes at most 2 hours to play. You will
only ever need a maximum of 16 figures (the maximum size of a team), and a pitch to play on. It is essentially American football,
but with loads more carnage (team members can die – especially if they are Halflings or Goblins!). It can be played
as a one-off game, or in an on-going league system, provided someone is prepared to do the (minimal) book-keeping this entails.
In my opinion, it is the best game Games Workshop have made! There are several members of the club with teams, and a league was run a couple of years
ago. Time to dust off the boots and polish up the knuckle dusters! |
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