Uncharted Seas: the Factions

I recently finished reading the rules for Uncharted Seas, a fantasy based naval game. I have decided to get into this game for two reasons. Firstly, I have been active in a map based fantasy campaign, and am in the early stages of planning a map based LotR campaign for the Spring. Secondly, I think the rules for Uncharted Seas appear sound and simple, and the model lines appear good as well. Both good rules and good models should allow for a fun experience. As soon as I play a game I will post further thoughts, but for now I want to talk about how to incorporate the 8 different Uncharted Seas factions into either Warhammer Fantasy Battles or LotR.


Elves are elves. With Warhammer Fantasy these could be either High Elves or Dark Elves. Certainly Wood Elves as well if they leave their green forest. With LotR these again can easily be representing High Elves in particular or elves in general.


Dwarves are also dwarves. With Warhammer as well as LotR these will fit well enough. Sure the Iron dwarves may be a tad more technologically advanced compared to LotR dwarves but close enough.


Orcs are orcs. They should fit with either Warhammer orks or LotR Angmar or Mordor list.


These humans are a perfect fit for Warhammer Empire. They should also be acceptable for Bretonnians. With LotR they could represent any humans but at a more technologically advance level. Personally I would keep these are Gondor, Arnor, and perhaps Rohan.


These undead should be fine with either Warhammer Vampire Counts or Tomb Kings. They might also be a reasonable option for the undead of Angmar or Gondor in LotR.


These guys are technically dwarves with magic casters so for Warhammer the natural fit would be Chaos Dwarves. However, if you leave the dwarves aside, they should be good for Skaven as well. The closest LotR faction to this might be Isengard.


Not sure how to fit these guys in with Warhammer but I think with the background of elite warriors, magic casting, and availability of flying dragons make these reasonable proxy for Chaos Warriors.


These guys might be good proxy for Ogre Kingdom because of their powerful cannons ... but not really. For LotR I think they might be reasonable Fallen Kingdoms of Khand in particular, but also Umbar and maybe Harad.

Don't know where to fit Ogre Kingdom but maybe the Ralgard might do. Just don't take balloons?

Edit:
On second thought, a ninth faction is coming out for Uncharted Seas, the Sky Pirates. The idea of a pirate fleet of balloons from the Ogre central homeland is fairly appealing.

Edit 2:
On third thought I think the Dragon Lords would also be reasonable proxy for Lizardmen. They have a carrier of mini-dragons that could be modified to be a carrier of terradon riders.

Warhammer: Characters Role

With the new Lizardmen Army book out, I have returned to tuning my 5 separate Lizardmen armies (armies, not lists). As most, I started with thinking about Lords and Heroes and I have come up with the following in order of needs.

1. The General. This role is mandatory for all armies. First consideration is that he has to have the highest leadership of your characters. This stipulation alone means that if you want a wizard to be your general, he will almost has to be a Lord level character. Second consideration is that regardless of what army you play (though Vampire Count in particular) he must be protected at all cost. Even if you play a regular human army, many competition scenarios award extra points for killing your opponent's general. With this in mind, if you choose a fighter as your general, you will be unlikely to throw him into combat on a regular basis, making a Lord choice somewhat of a waste.

2. The Slayer. This role is essential for nearly all armies. First consideration here is that this character is designed to kill characters and or large monsters. As such, ideally he should be a Lord level fighter tooled up to fight, kill, and maim. However, a lord level character in most armies will typically will have the highest leadership and thus will be forced to be your general. Except for Lizardmen, a Hero is what you will end up with here. Second consideration is that his model should be as mobile as he can be in order to chase his prey down. A monster mount would be great but again most monster mounts are only available to Lords rather than Heroes. Finally, in the absence of characters or monsters to kill he can always hunt artillery.

3. The Battle Standard Bearer. This role is helpful for most armies. First consideration is whether you really need one or not. In order to get the best use of one, you will have to cluster your units around him. While this may not be such a bad idea, it may limit your force tactically. Second consideration is whether he will carry a magic banner, or be "inspirational" and armed for combat otherwise. Taking a magic banner will be the most traditional role but again would also make him more tactically limited. One options would be for him to function both as a "Slayer" and a BSB (Battle Standard Bearer). This combo advantage would be he would be more resilient in combat resolution and his disadvantage would be the higher 25 points cost. Regarding victory points if standard VPs are only awarded to over-running units, then this would not be a problem as he should be fighting challenges (and either winning or dying), taking on small units with easy wins, or re-rolling break tests and passing them. The third consideration is whether he can be a Battle Standard Bearer and a Wizard. Only a few armies allow this option but if possible, this would make a decent combo allowing the character to remain with the main battle line protected, inspirational, to either cast spells and or dispel them as a defensive wizard. Finally, only one army that I know of will allow you to take a General-Wizard-Battle Standard Bearer combination and that is Lizardmen. This is a great combo for a more balance offense/defense or just defensive minded Lizardmen player.

4. The Supporter. This role is really optional for all armies. The first consideration here really is whether you need to take a wizard for magical defense. This character will almost certainly be a Hero level. If you have already taken a wizard as your General, then he will be a much more powerful offensive spell caster. If you have not taken any wizards at all then it means you have gone with Fighters for your characters and might need some magic defense. The second consideration here is if you have no needs for a wizard in this slot, a fighting hero to lead/buttress a flanking force/unit separate from your slayer. Under most circumstances more troops might be better than another fighting hero.

New Game

Despite my intent of just sticking with the armies i already have and concentrate on terrain, i have started LotR.
But i don't regret it for two main reasons.
Firstly, it allows me an opportunity of getting some friends into gaming. Having friends to play with can never be diregarded.
Secondly, after skimming the rules, i think it is a better game system than Fantasy Battle. For battles, i think Warmaster does a much better job of representing epic battles.
And thirdly (yes, i said "two main reasons" but this is just a minor reason) is that the human armies i have chosen will allow me to use my human warhammer houses. So in a way, it is still about terrain?

The armies i have chosen are as follow. Each will be built to 500-600 pts.
1. Easterling
2. Rohan (Theoden's Host, but led by Erkenbrand)
3? Khand or Lorien
4? Lorien or Khand.

Photo: GT Lizardmen Army

Warhammer Terrain

I have decided to make building terrain as my 2008 modeling project. I have started with the warhammer models by GW. While the fit of the pieces seems inadequate (the corners of the buildings do not glue readily at a right angle), there are plenty of left over accessory pieces that can be used for customization and home-made add-ons. Thus far i have build one fortified manor (with a custom roof for the tower), combined two towers to make a small keep, and combined two houses to make a larger one (with another custom roof for the addition). I am contemplating building another tower as a clock tower, and perhaps a fortified house as well. I will try to get pictures tonight to post.

New Year's Plans

Last year I built an entire 3k army for GT. This year I think I will play the same army in all my tournament plays. As for building projects, I will focus on terrain. I have the City of Death kit for 40k and the Warhammer building set for Fantasy. I am really looking forward to this year's project. I need to get a digital camera for this.

Baltimore GT

This post is a month past due but here it goes. I took a Sacred Host of Quetzl to the Baltimore GT this year. I took a ballanced list with 25% characters, 50% core, and 25% special. I took no large monster. I was rather shocked that some of the list i faced were so over powered.
Game 1: I faced a Tzeench demon list with a greater demon. Narrow lost.
Game 2: I faced a balanced lizardmen list. Marginal win.
Game 3: I faced a lizardmen list with a carnosaur (and a stegadon?). A tie.
Game 4: I faced a Nurgle list with a dragon. Wiped out (some very poor gaming decision on my part)
Game 5: A Knight's errant list. very balanced and characterful. A tie. My most enjoyable game.

Next time I think I will take some thing more powerful. Or at least gear the army to large (flying) creatures.

On a side note, I was also surprised that the 2 lizardmen opponent had not heard of the sacred host list.

Saurus Warriors 2

Just finished my first batch of saurus warriors. Over all, the models are better than i expected but my painting algorithm and color scheme did not turn out as i expected. It is too late really to change my color scheme but the painting algorithm will be changed.

For my next batch, I will start as below:
1. Eyes = bad moon yellow
2. Skin = bronzed flesh
3. Scales & teeth= bone
4. Wash: a mix of 9 part water, 1 part blue, 0.5 part yellow
5. Mouth & feathers: magenta
6. Leather: snake bite
7. Wood: scorched brown
8. Weapon: brass
9. Jewelry: bronze
10: standard: burnish gold

there is something wrong with the washing step. maybe it is too dilute. i do not know.

yes, i really need to take some photos.

71

Finally finished all my skinks, all 71 of them. Over all it took more time priming and assembling them than actual painting them. At least it seems that way. Not perfect, but i think they turned out alright. Now on to the Saurus. I will have to modify my inking of them i think.

Baltimore GT

Got my ticket last week. Now I have a deadline for finishing my Lizardmen!

Saurus Warriors

I didn't realize that it has taken me so long to assemble the saurus warriors!
Over all i came to like the models more than i thought i would. I had problem with the fit of the leg to the body, leaving wide gaps. I tried to trim back the peg in the leg but this still didn't fit it. Otherwise, the arms fitted well, and there were plenty of options for the arms and head. Now i needd to prime them.

Saurus Riders

I've finished priming and 90% assemblage of the saurus cold ones riders.

Overall I think the model kit was pretty good with sufficient variation and details. While the ball-in-socket torso-pelvis joint was interesting, I am not sure this really added much to the variety of poses. But it was a secure joint and again I think the arms-shoulder joint should have been of similar design as well. I am also perplexed as to why the shield arm was integrated with the shield itself. As such, I have not glued them to the body and this will likely leave a painting seam at the left shoulder attachment. I guess I can paint the shield-arm first, then glue them to the torso and then paint the torso. Weird.

Next are the saurus warriors themselves.

Cold Ones

There are two things i want to comment on regarding the lizardmen cold ones. Firstly, the sculp and posing is only acceptable and far from inspiring. I think it would have looked better if the cold ones were more vertical and less horizontal. Secondly i think the modelling assembly was easy and this was a nice change from the skinks. I've finished assembling and priming them. Now onto their riders.

Skinks and tournaments

I finished assembling my skinks tonight, all 72 of them. But they will remain in the primed state until i can get around to painting them.

Spoke to my co-lizardmen friend tonight. Originally we were aiming for tournament play in Chicago at the end of March but with the slow pace i am going building my army, i just don't think i will make it. If not Chicago the next one on the calendar is Atlanta at the end of April. Kinda skeptical about that one as well.

Skinks arms and torsos

Spent the night assembling skinks. I hate assembling these models because the arm interface with the torso is flat. In order to stick them together it only take a few seconds but inevitably glue gets on your finger at minimum, it not glue and the arm itself. It would have been better to use some sort of ball and socket.

New Army

One of my best friend got me into miniature wargaming almost a decade ago. I already had a history of wargaming long before that dating back a quarter of a century or so. It was the three dimensional aspect of the game that made it better than cardboard chits pieces. It was both the appearance of models on that table top as well as how the pieces feel in your hand. Chess players would certainly understands this when comparing computer chess to actual chess board games. The games we settled on were from Games Workshop, primarily Warhammer but also 40k and Battle Fleet Gothic. I have also delved into Warmaster and am very much interested in Epic as well.

About a year ago this same friend and i, now separated by a thousand miles, started talking about building the same identical army. The reasons were many. One was so we can directly compare our ability beyond army composition. Second was to share a common platform when talking about tactics. Thirdly so that when we visit each other we can play with an army that was already familiar. We decided upon a GW Warhammer Fantasy Battle army that would meet the requirement of GW Grant Tournaments, as these were the most likely events we could attend together. We scoured the army books for an army that would fit both our expectations and gaming needs. Firstly the army had to be affordable in terms of both time (hordes army like Skaven were thus promptly ruled out) and money (Demon and Beastmen armies were then eliminated). Secondly the army had to be tactically flexible and most of the Chaos armies as well as Dwarves were out. We considered briefly Undead (Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings) but saw them a too favored in tournament settings. We also considered Wood Elves but after several rounds of list buildings we just could not get something that felt right. We nearly settled on a Bretonnian army but were concerned they did not have sufficient resilience against armies such as undead. Finally we settled on Lizard men and after several months of tweaking the list, we agreed.

For Christmas we each bought the battalion boxes for our new army. Last night I assembled my first models.