Arcane Journal: Empire of Man

 Arcane Journal's are like smaller scale army books for The Old World, as they supplement the relevant army list book for your force.

 

 

So inside you won't find the full army list, as the Grand Army or "general" rules are in Forces of Fantasy / Ravening Hordes relevantly, but fluff out your army of choice instead with extra rules.

 

The Journal comes as a 48-page soft cover book, following the line of high quality publications with gorgeous art and pictures as usual from Games Workshop.  You can say a lot about their craze to sell books, but the products ARE top notch in design.

 

 

The first part of the book contains all the lore for the era of the The Old World, with the Empire still fractioned after the times of the Three Emperors, and it's Elector Counts still vying for dominance.  Yet it also shows how the nation comes together as one against a common enemy like a waaagh or a Chaos invasion.  This also shows with a historical scenario right before we get the lovely picture pages.

 

The second part of the book is the "juicy stuff", first with two specialised Armies of Infamy: The City-State of Nuln list which is all about blackpowder weapons, and the Knightly Orders which center around (malleable) knightly forces of heavy armed knights.

 

 

Following these two army lists, we get the new special characters, including the Grandmaster of the Knights Panther inspired in the early 90s artwork by John Blanche, the new units to use in your army like Road Wardens, and the list of Empire of Man specific magical items.

 

So a nice little addition to your forces of the Empire, and while non of the Infamy lists are really overpowered, they add a good flavour to a thematic army, especially to try out in some casual plays.

The Secret Kingdom

 Saturday evening movie time with Noshi, and recently we fell upon The Secret Kingdom.

A little fantasy movie that looks promising from the description, this australian made movie is one of those innocent young adventure flavour movies.

Taking place in Australia in the 1960's, Peter is a 12 year old with some strange habbits.  His family moves to a spooky little house in the countryside, after losing their main residence.  But the very first night in the house, the floor rips open, swallowing Peter and his younger sister Verity.

They arrive in a land inhabited by Pangolin, and they hail Peter as the prophetised king.  What follows is a journey to get home, in which Peter and Verity must solve riddles, while trying to escape from a mysterious evil being called The Shroud.  This takes them along various locations, and they meet a dragon who joins them on their quest.

But this dragon actually turns out to be the reason of evil, and as Peter comes to terms with what actually happened to Verity, who died years ago and the cause of his strange quirks as he faces this trauma, he manages to overcome The Shroud.  This was a mental defence he had installed himself, but hampered him in his daily life as a result.  Verity remains behind in the Underlands as the new queen of the Pangolin, as Peter returns to his home.

Okay, so the special effects are average, and the story at times drags a bit to much in dialogues.  But while you can't expect the next The Neverending Story or the likes from this little film, it wasn't all that bad as some reviews make it appear to be.  It is what it is, a non-high budget, fantasy themed journey of a young boy with a trauma.

Enjoyable for a lazy evening, nothing more, nothing less to be honest as such...

The substitute Bull Centaur

 Well, Games Workshop still hasn't made additional copies of their Bull Centaurs for Blood Bowl, so it was time to make a stand-in.

 

Because the 28th of february I have a game going, and the newest addition to the Vongalazthag Violators needs to be on the pitch.

 

 

To that end, I took one of the heaps of 3D printed Fabelzel Bull Centaurs in my bits box, and moving aside other paint projects went to prepare him.  That meant clipping of his weapons and put him on a suitable round base.

 

 

He also got the painting crash course, in order to get him ready to take to the pitch as swift as possible ("swift" might be relative for a massive chunk of armoured Dwarf and Bull hybrid), but The Raging Trainwreck is ready for the game until I get my hands on the official ones to go with the team.

 

 

Now to just pummel those Skaven whom are hundreds of rating points above me into the pitch!

TSA Escalation League 2025: Round 2 - The Oldest of Enemies

 Time for the second round of the campaign, and my Marienburg army faced their oldest of enemies, the Orcs and Goblins Tribes.

As Patrick had lost his first game, this meant I had a very slight points bonus compared to the Greenskins, and my "mighty" force of 740 points now had been reinforced with a new general, commands for the rank and file units, and a crazed Doomseeker joining the fray.

Opposing me, the greenskins brought the following horde to the battle, and I had a 35 points bonus as my opponent Patrick had drawn on bonus objectives in the first round, so numbered only 705 points.  The green horde at the other side of the table contained a General on Boar and his righthand, a level 3 Goblin Shaman.  A big block of Night Goblins harbouring 3 Fanatics, a block of Orc Archers, 5 Boar Riders and 5 Black Orcs made up the ranks of the army.

 

 

The scenario was a Flank Attack, with the League secondary objective being Hold the Ground, for getting scoring units near the statue on the hill in the middle of the field.

 

  The Empire force deployed on one flank around a forest, with the Halberdiers and Doomseeker making use of the flanking deployment.  The Greenskins all remained together though...

 

 

The first casualties fell to some shooting in the first round, with two Black Orcs falling to crossbowbolts, while one handgunner was taken down by the Archers.

 

 

 But in the second turn the lines started to close, as I moved the Halberdiers near the objective in the hopes they would survive the initial charge and score a point for the secondary target.  

 

 

The Boars where hit by the Summon Elemental Spirit, taking two of the slavering beastriders down.

 

 

 But with the Doomseeker unable to charge due to a Hex, the remaining boars crashed into the Halberdier unit.  The Champion challenged the Boar rider champion, but fell to the savage warrior, but somehow the unit held on for dear life.

 

 

As the small Black Orc unit was shot down by the Empire missile troops, the Halberdiers went above and beyond, actually taking down two more boar riders.

 

 

 But then the fickle Spirit moved through the combat, thinning the ranks but also taking down the last boar rider, while wounding the Doomseeker who still was wandering around aimlessly.  

The general then crashed into the weakened Halberdiers unit, who somehow still managed to bravely remain, after the beast had ran first into the Doomseeker and taking her down.  Yeah, she was pretty useless...

But with the Halberdiers holding on, and the Greatswords and General getting near the objective, the secondary would certainly be mine this game, as he only had his general left as a scoring unit.   

The Night Goblins joined the melee, and now the Halberdiers where finally taken down, breaking from the fight and allowing the opponent to pursue.

 

 

 This left the general ready to charge the crossbows in my turn, and from within stand and shoot range, so this looked grim for the missile troops.

 

 

 As he crashed in, the somehow still surviving, but battered archers thundered into the flank of the Greatswords.  I totally fumbled almost all attacks, then fled a full 3 inch.  So exit the general and the elite warriors, as well as any possible chance of grabbing a victory, certainly after the three fanatics had crashed through the unit as well.

 

 

The crossbowmen held on though,  and after retreating the general decided to go for a squishier target with the Wizard.  Yet the old man somehow avoided injury, even though he couldn't take down the orc either.  

But the battle was fought, and the savage orcs stood victorious over the ranks of Marienburg.  The total end result was 685 versus 321, but I did obtain the bonus points for the secondary objective.  That means the force will see some expanding to 960 points for the next round, and the last one without my beloved cannons...

 

But the reality is, Marienburg is being invaded from all sides!

 

 

On Tour to the Frituur 14: Frituur 't Pleintje in Adinkerke

 After a very fun day in Plopsaland De Panne, the report which could be read here a few weeks ago, we did need to charge the electric car in order to get home.

And grabbing fries for dinner while the car charged, we struck two birds with one stone...

Located nearby the amusement park, in the village of Adinkerke, is frituur 't Pleintje, a barack style building with a small yet cosy seating area.  We had found it by googling to nearby charging pole's, so a short 7 minute walk later, the family sat down to order.

While the owner might not have the multi-tasking speed of the typical big city places, it didn't take to long for our order to be prepared, and it was nice and busy in the place.  Guess it must be the most popular place of the small communal village.

My Order

I ordered of course fries, accompanied by fresh tartare saus, a cervela (called "look worst" in this side of Belgium) and a Bicky Burger.  The fries where baked nicely dry and crisp, the sausage was an excellent moist pink still inside and the tartare sauce was nice and refreshing.   Nothing at all wrong with this order as such I must say.  They also had a wide assortment of homemade Burgers, wraps and loaded fries, but I didn't try those out, yet was amazed by the size of their menu card.

My part of the bill for all this was 12.70 euro, so that is also in line with what most places charge for this amount of fries and snacks, so that was nicely on point as well.

Conclusion

To be honest, I can't say anything negative at all for this place.  It is what it is, a decent, on point little frituur found in a corner of Belgium.  Definitly worth to pass by if you've been to the Plopsaland park and want to make a very short detour on the road home for some fries.

As such, I'm rating it with a solid 7.5 score, because as I said, it is just perfectly what you expect from this sort of small local places.

On the Painting Desk 318

 Well, did some cleaning up this week of the desk (and well, the mancave) and put some models in the cabinets for now.

 

I'm currently re-aranging my cabinets you see, and unfortunatly the planned Old World tournaments have to be scrapped of the agenda, the reasons being a holiday weekend, and a booking for the Antwerp Tattoo Convention.

 

 

So that means the Sneaky Gitz are off the priority list for now, and the desk has been tidied up with things that really need to get finished better sooner then later.  I did put on the entries for the next round of the Escalation League already, as the cannons are being rolled out that turn. 

But first let's see how far we get this week on those Pistoliers...

Warhammer Underworlds solo: A Crushing Terror - Besieged: The Skinnerkin

 And so we come to the final scenario of A Crushing Terror for the Flesheater Court's kitchen crew, the Skinnerkin.

Can Gristla Tenderhook and her crazed butchers become the first of the warbands to complete all three scenarios succesfully, or will the mighty beast escape as it's layer is discovered and besieged!

Setting up the board, the Crusher deploys on the far edge of it's escape hex, the Skinnerkin placing themselves in it's path to stop it.

The opening hand is drawn, and we are ready to play out the scenario.

The Crusher immediatly makes a double move, stopping on top of an objective counter.

Using his crusher and his throw reactions, he inspires as he throws the objective to the nearest enemy, the poor Carnskyr.

Suprised by the sudden throw, the bat-beast is hit thanks to the Innate hammer success of the Inspired Fomoroid, taking two damage.

As the Fomoroid is within 4 hexes of it's escape, one of the Skinnerkin inspires, Kretch being as such the first one.

Aspiring Artisan is played in order to have full re-rolls on the next attack action, while The King Hungers grants two additional dice.

Kretch charges the large beast, waving his cleaver in a vicious arc towards the monster's knees.

The attack succesfully lands, and due to a critical being in there, does it's full damage of three on the beast.

Kretch then receives an upgrade as per the scenario, Calloused Hands making sure he will survive a single attack from the Breaker of the Fomoroid.

But the Crusher turns himself to the Carnskyr first, squeezing the unlife out of the beast with it's might hands.

Seddrik the Chain throws himself into the fray, charging in with his chains whirling around his head.

Luckily, he has two successes thanks to Kretch's presence, as that passes the near perfect defence roll of the Fomoroid and wounding it for an additional wound, and giving him an upgrade granting him Cleave on his attacks.

The Crusher then attacks Kretch, who survives thanks to his Calloused Hands upgrade, leaving him with a single wound remaining.

Gristla is the next to inspire, the kitchen chef getting ready to fillet the big beast.

She charges the beast in the back, setting to work.  Her attacks hit the monster, doing a further two wounds to the behemoth.  

As this gains them their third haunch counter, the Skinnerkin all inspire now in the thrill of the hunt.

But Seddrik doesn't enjoy this moment for long, as the Crusher smacks him out of the game with the Breaker action.

Pewdrig now charges in as well, hoping to do his part.  And he certainly does, as his attack goes past the defence of the big beast and takes it over half of it's starting wounds.

With 8 wounds now inflicted onto the beast out of it's starting 12, it is time to go to round 2.

A new hand is drawn, and the Skinnerkin prepare their knives and cleavers to take the big monster down hopefully.

But not before the Crusher first uses his Breaker on Pewdrig, one-shotting the Flensemaster in a savage blow.

In the power step. Midden-heap Scavenger, which only works for the Carnskyr, is cycled for Head Chef.  Greedy, Greedy! is then played to give grievous on the next attack.

A Precise Fillet is also played, and as Gristla did roll two successes but no crits, turning her attack in a single critical hit which the beast fails to defend against.

This brings the mighty monster down to a single wound remaining, while Gristla gets another upgrade for doing some ping damage.

The Crusher attacks the head chef, but as she is 4 wounds the Breaker action leaves her at a single wound remaining, just like Kretch.  That means the Skinnerkin will have two chances to land a succesfull attack and take out the last wound before the Breaker takes them all down.

But that is all for nought to think about, as the next attack from Gristla easily bypasses the monster's defence.

And with the exit so near yet so far, the Fomoroid Crusher is laid down by the Skinnerkin for the final time.  His body will be cut to pieces and the Summer Court will feast on his flesh tonight!

And there we have it, a warband that actually succesfully made it through all three of the scenarios, Gristla being the cause of the big beasts demise in all the scenarios.

Join back soon for more A Crushing Terror solo games, as I will be putting more warbands against the beast, but now, the Skinnerkin "edition 1" cards go into the "dark box in the garage" as they waved off this edition of Underworlds.