The New Vox Caster

Heya All,
It's been a while since the vox caster has seen any activity. I've been thinking about setting some direction for Vox caster. As for the direction to take, I was thinking of going back to the roots of the hobby, that is to 'build the hobby', ala Games Workshop style.

This is a good tool for me to also pace myself. As you know, working from home it's really really easy to get distracted... I've been playing far too much Rome Total War. So I hope to put up what I've done once every two days. The idea is to inspire all of us to greater heights in the hobby. If you guys have any exciting thoughts or fluff or new painted models or rumours to put up... please feel free to use the Voxcaster.
Also, I've now allowed other people to view our blog without the need of an invitation. Now you can let people know about the voxcaster.

So to start things off, here's my latest work... Captain Stern of the Daemonhunters. It's now on Ebay going for US$15.

Dear Junx, given our really hectic schedules, I think it's almost impossible for us to coordinate working together. So if you'll forgive me, I've decided to go ahead with my selling models on Ebay.

Cheers!
 

Forum for Discussion

Hi guys,

I think a forum will suffice more for our purposes cos it allows avatars and photos and stuff... I've created one at :

http://www.setbb.com/phpbb/index.php?mforum=voxcaster

Just sign in and let's try and keep it alive folks!! Also please note that there are some rules like:

5. We remove all inactive forums weekly (there is no posting within 60 days).

6. We review our forums regularly and will remove any forums which violate our Term of Services.

Oh dear! Time to head to the hills!

I've got to hand it to Junx and his woodies. As he smashed aside my 8 game no loss streak (7 wins, 1 draw). As I sulk in my little corner it's time to place my thoughts to the whole game. Remember, this is just my thoughts from ONE game against wood elves, so it might be shock, awe or general soreness.

As I have feared, the wood elves are truly a force that the Ogres cannot handle well. Slippery as an eel, it made me hard to focus on any one single element to tackle, thus my battle plan was to advance headlong into the waiting ambush of the wood elves. I guess it was frustrating to fight such slinky troops, for unlike the beastmen (who are close combat orientated), the woodies can hide in woods and shoot you with their lousy arrows... which leads me to...

their archery...

If you think High and Dark Elven shooting is deadly, man, you've not seen the wood elves yet. Let me demonstrate the vicious firepower of Wood Elf shooting, a Toughness 5 Gorger (with 4 wounds) approaching the rear of a unit of 10 glade guard and in one round of magnificent shooting, the gorger lies dead and bleeding on the forest floor. Granted that Junx in his typical jammy moment rolled extremely well, but it was the elven shooting that allowed even a remote chance of killing the gorger. Here's how, the glade guard turned around and fired 10 shots into the degenerate Ogre, the Wood Elves don't suffer modifiers for moving! So they shot on a "3+" to hit, junx got 7 hits, which is mathematically average. However at short range (which is still not really short at 15 inches), they have +1 Strength! That means that they also get -1 Armour Sv... scary, but doesn't apply to the gorger since he's only got a loincloth over his privates, but it means everyone else will get hurt. Here Junx got jammy and got 5 '5s and 6s' and easily killed the gorger. Now, you might think that's no big deal, it's just a gorger, but their archery is devastating as they later panicked off a unit of Ironguts from shooting casualties...

...still not impressed? The unit probably cost 120 points.

The next irritating thing is Wood Elves are really adept at choosing their fights. They can really manuever their troops. Unlike the beastmen, where the Gors can get unruly plus the fact that only the Beast Herds are the skirmishy ones, the Wood Elves (at least Junx's woodies) are generally in skirmish formation. This is generally not without disadvantages, it means they have no ranks, but sadly this is something the Ogre Kingdoms cannot take advantage of as we have no ranks too... hahaha. Anyway, by being generally slinky, they'll edge to the rear of your armies throwing your plans into confusion as you struggle to bring your troops to bear but the Elves will generally prance away... coupled with the fact that Wood Elves are really tough and can absorb quite an amount of punishment in combat to boot!

... huh?! What am I saying? Toughness 3 Elves? Come on Jason, you must be really sore to say that...

... Allow me to explain. Firstly, most elves have some form of ward saves, whilst they have not much armour, they do have plenty of ward saves. Wardancers, wild riders, dryads all generally come with a ward save. Although the ward saves don't protect you from magical sources, it does help ping away many wounding hits, and lets face it no normal footsoldier will be armed with magical weapons. Spells? The wood elves have good anti magic too. Example, a unit of 3 Leadbelchers charge into a unit of 8 Wardancers. After rolling, I score 3 wounding hits! Yay! But the Wardancers have an aspect that allows a 4+ Ward save. So Junx pings off 2 wounds, and I kill 1 Elf. 1 Elf! Arghhh... So with 7 elves left, hitting on 3+, the cockanathan actually caused 3 wounds and killed an Ogre! It was not jammy because each Wardancer has 2 attacks (14 attacks! horrors!) and they're at strength 4! So guess what, my Ogres decided to run away in the face of such brutal blades... as the wardancers twirl and twirl, ogre arms, legs and noses flying everywhere...

The next reason why they're so resilient is that the wood elves are mostly immune to psychology. Wardancers, wild riders, Dryads, tree kin, tree men are immune to psychology. This pretty much took away my fear causing advantage. As the rest of the army like Glade Guard and Eternal Guard are not immune, they're generally skulking at the back of the opponent's table half. And if you do appear near, they're general should be nearby and basic leadership of 8 to 9 is nothing to laugh at.

You might think immunity to psychology is a double edged sword... you cannot flee. But this disadvantage is very much not so prominent in Wood Elves. As they have the ability to skirmish, generally you will not find them in your charge arc, as they'll easily skirt to your flanks and rear instead. So, if you do charge, that's because the Elves want you to...

Okay, enough ranting. I have only one line to summarise everything...
"I WANT A REMATCH!"

Hur Hur Hur.

What Great Migration??

Seeing the great Treeman Baerlorn fall to the Ogre Tyrant's club, Kithrai decided to retreat to the glade guards' position. Not daring to betray the Great One's efforts in buying the kin of Athel Loren more time to mop up the rest of the Ogre's army.

As he ran, Kithrai could hear Mindai's Wardancers wild calls and jeers as they ran down yet another of the foul Ogres that dared befoul Athel Loren with their presence. He reached the Spellsingers' positions and they raised their voices in song to the forest, summoning the trees to do foul battle to the enemy Ogres who have so foolishly run in the glade of trees in their panic to get away from Mindai's dancers.

Dryads came out of the trees just then, watching as the foul Ogre Tyrant thrashed about blindly, having lost both eyes in his battle with Baerlorn. As Kithrai reached the position of Danae's guard, he said coolly, "Let your arrows fly straight and true my friend, cut the foul beast down!"

With a signal, Danae and her glade guards took aim and let fly at the blind beast. When they were done, the Ogre looked more like a porcine porcupine than the dangerous creature that it was only hours before.

"It is done." Sylvanos appeared out of the shadows with his bodyguard, asking his troops to sound the signal to disappear into the solace of the forest once again, to let the headless corpse of the Ogre army go. As the forest shows its savagery, so too does it show its mercy in letting the creatures live.

"Thank you for your help, my Lord." Sylvanos said. With that, Kithrai disappeared into the ken of the forest, ready to come to aid the forest should danger come once more...

Travails of A Wood Elf Playa

Sigh.. Junx Calculated his list of Wodd Elf models he wanted and after adding up all the prices, it came up to about SGD$900!!! Even with the 15% discount for online buying, it will cost moi about $700.. hai...

Notice: In a bid to raise funds for the "Nature's Kindred Fund" (Aka NKF) , Lord LaCroix has generously decided to open the doors for the High Elf Lord Ithelien to buying armour and purebreeds from his stables.

In other news, the NKF impetus has gone to new heights on the otherly 40k dimension. The Sisters of Nightingale have gone ga ga and are selling everything not bolted down in a bid to prove their faith to the Holy Emperor's new pet peeve.

Nurgle paid a visit to my house

Dear all,
Recently the great bubonic one paid a visit to my humble abode.
My poor little baby thing got infected with Nurgle's virulent windpox (aka Bronchitis).
My wife has been afflicted with the Nurgle's Infamous Airglop (aka influenza, flu)
I've been affected by Nurgle's Throat Buboes (aka sore throat)
We're all feeling better thanks to the Great Maw's blessing...

The Call of Battle

Calling everyone who is free on the 23rd SEpt Fri... I'm free on the 23rd and would like to propose a gaming session on next Friday after work.. Who can make it to battle with the Ravening Hordes of the Great Devourer??

Votes for Campaign

I vote for a 40k Tourney! Cos Kelvin is more versed in 40k and I'd like to test out my new Nids!! In any case, I'd like to start up my woodys first before I take part in the Fantasy stuff, which is why I vote for 40k!

Not to mention we've hardly played 40k, so it'll be a chance to really get to grips with the nuances of the game. Also, We are letting ALL that terrain go to waste if we are only playing a couple of games with the new terrain right?

P.S: Guys, try to use the comments instead of posting leh.. otherwise very difficult to keep it all organised. :)

Campaign II

Hur Hur Hur.
Sounds like fun!
2400 points of hungry guts sounds like just the ticket! (Time to assemble my new Leadbelchers!)
I don't mind a allied army fight. Although, how would you guys sort out the Lords issue.

Okay, lets consolidate what we want to do... we can do one of the following:
1. 40K Tournament.
2. Fantasy Tournament.
3. 40K Campaign.
4. Fantasy Campaign.

If we're to play a campaign, I suggest playing a Tree Campaign or something equally simple...

Please send some feedback.

Campaign

Hi All, like the storm of chaos, why dont we start a campaign based on the ogre invasion?
or a 2400 point battle where by chaos and tomb kings get 1200 each to try and defeat the ogres?

just a thought. our background is already there, the ogres rampaging all over the known world...

The Great Migration goes on...

Err... I hate to remind you. Isotep was also eaten by the Gutlord, Brusk. *I'm so sorry, I mistook the Liche Priest for the Tomb King... So it's Himotep.

He smashed asunder the Khemrian chariot that once carried the proud prince with a wide sweep of his great weapon. He saw his adversary half buried under the debris of the chariot, struggling to regain his feet. He reached down and casually plucked the hapless tomb prince from the wreckage with his pudgy fingers. He laughed heartily at the vain attempts to escape by his prisoner, but unfortunately was caught fast within his iron grip. He raised the mummy toward his mouth, eager to rip its head off with one colossal bite.

Himotep shut his eyes and opened his mouth in a mock silent scream...

Unfortunately, Setep now lies within the gut of Ghrund Hammerfist, waiting to be digested... the vile acids of Ghrund's stomach slowly slough away the dried flesh off his bones...

Now let's see, who we've eaten...
- Lord Kasfield's Empire. *Lord Kasfield survives.
- Ithelien's High Elves. *Ithelien survives.
- Sean's Lizardmen. Sean's Oldblood chased down and eaten by Brutan. Hur Hur Hur.
- Lord Yesoix LeCroix's Bretonnians. Lord Yesoix LeCroix survives.
- Kenneth's Dark Elves. Kenneth's Highborn survives.
- Setep's Tomb Kings. Setep slain in mortal combat and eaten by Ghrund; Himotep slain in mortal combat and eaten by Brusk the Gutlord. Hur Hur Hur.
- Kafzi-el's Undivided Chaos Mortals. Kafzi-ei chased down (along with BSB guy) and eaten by Ogre Bulls. Hur Hur Hur.

Hur hur hur.

We'll be Back

The winds of Khemri carried a foul stench this day. All around laid the broken chartiots of the Army of Setep. Isotep looked at the carnage wrought by the Foul Ones, the Tombs of his Great King Setep befouled by these fat beasts from the South...

Isotep thought back to just 1 month ago, when the Chosen One had vanquished the first of the foul Ogres' Tyrant lord, holding back the Great Migration. But alas, it seemed that the new leader of the beasts carried with him a weapon of dark magic that had been his Lord's undoing...

If he still had face muscles, Isotep would have winced, for the King will be displeased at the defeat this day... No matter, the Gods had decreed that the armies of his Lord Setep shall rise in Glory again!! The battle might be lost, but His Will shall yet be done!

For now, let Isotep and his priests gather what they could of the remnants of his great Army and prepare the rites of Djestra once again...

Let the war begin!

Fortune is fickle

Fortune is fickle


The gods have deserted me. Out of favor is the one who was great. My body battered and torn, sprit lifted up from these hallowed grounds to feel the agony the defeat.

I too lightly looked upon the great migration, with contempt in my heart and blackness in my mind. Too drunk was I from the glories of previous triumphs that a mist of light-headedness descended upon me as battle commenced ( not too mention also using suspiciously Elven looking chaos knights, I knew I was cursed the moment they joined my army).

The gods deserted me, my amour failed and the once proud herald of chaos fled from whence they came.


Th3 agony of defeat, the pain of battle ….all so pleasurable…….

Call to War

I Kafzi-ei, call upon all the brave to declare an alliance against the great migration, to stop these foul beings in their path.
Band together and they shall fall.

Double Eagle

Despite all the resistance by my gut feelings, I ignored the screams of agony by every sane brain cell I had and spent $13.50 to buy Double Eagle...

For those with a lack of RAM, Double Eagle is a Dan Abnett novel about fighter action over the Sabbat Worlds.
The reason why I'm writing is out of guilt (for spending money which equates to two pots of paint) and also I've had bad experiences with GW novels.

Maybe it's my reading habits, but the scary trend with reading GW novels is that I've gotten bored with several of them and I've even failed to complete a few... Like
Star of Erengrad - God! I don't think I finished 17 pages before it flew off my hands.
Execution Hour - Ah the battlefleet gothic book. I enjoyed this one, not thoroughly but it was a decent read. The plot was a little lame but the ship to ship battles were engaging and really made me want to play BFG.
Shadow Point - The sister BFG book. Now this was CRAP. Although the characters returned and the introduction of the Eldar, the plot was again lame (i can't even remember what a 'shadow point' was) but most importantly, the ship to ship battles (which saved the first book) was sadly downplayed, and I don't think i finished the book.
Draco - Then came the Draco series. About an inquisitor. I survived the first book, but never had the courage to read the other two... sad thing is I already own them.
Xenos/Malleus/Hereticus - I read xenos already, despite much acclaim from everyone, I remain unimpressed. I've heard Junx mention that I should stick it through and go on to read the second and third book. Maybe I should, sigh.

Well, I've started reading 3 pages last night, and the Double Eagle shows some promise. I'll have to keep you posted.

The reason for my gripes is that it is obvious that fluff is now mainly handled by the Black Library, but if they keep working on things that are insignificant, the stories in my opinion are losing direction.
It used to be the Games Designers who dictated what happened in the 40k and Warhammer universe. Andy Chambers would set a certain direction along with Gav Thorpe (Fantasy) like a Role Playing Game, coupled with the fact that they wrote the rules, the game developed at the same time as the fluff. But recently, nothing significant has happened and it's depressing.

Take for example, the Armageddon campaign that happened several years ago. Important things did happen that made the main story flow, Orks battered the Blood Angels to the point where they are in a recovery stage. Captain Tycho succumbed to the Black Rage and sacrificed himself. At least even Yarrick aged. I wasn't a 40K fanatic then but I was caught up with the stories, and made me want to collect Blood Angels. New units, like the Armageddon Steel Legion were created. Cadia on the other hand paled a lot in comparison. They introduced 13th Co, and Eldar strike forces, but fluffwise things didn't really matter. We've read about 13th Co, black guardians... nothing really new, just new rules to old fluff. But at least the setting was important, the 13th Black Crusade is fluffy. The only major loss was the relictors who got betrayed by a Daemon possessed Inquisitor. Relictors? Do you really care? Not me, it's not as if it was like Ultramarines (now that would be a story) who got beaten to pulp.

The heroes of the current age were spawned from Battle Reports from really old White Dwarfs. Ghazhkull, Yarrick, Tycho and several others like the Ulthwe Farseer (can't remember his name). were all from battle reports, and although it might have been rigged at least they built a name from themselves through battles.

It doesn't happen anymore. The characters from the current fluff aren't like major heroes. Maybe I don't read that much Black Library stuff to really know what's going on. But I just think the Warhammer universes have become just settings for games. True, they've delved into a lot more details, like the shapes of imperial canteens and how many teeth a skaven has, but suddenly, I felt that the big picture is lost.

Battle reports turn into Army Intros, it doesn't matter who wins or who loses, it's just a game. It seems that nothing has happened after Cadia fell. And it seems that the Storm of Chaos didn't blow... I mean, Archaon fought till Middenheim, but the old city held, who cares about the hamlets and villages, it's probably being rebuilt anyway. What next? nothing. No fluff in Dwarf or anywhere... everyone has gone to Lustria.
Cadia? Oh the imperials left the main planet, recamped themselves in a nearby moon. Meanwhile, with chaos capturing the pylons, what will happen? Will Chaos flow forth? Are the pylons of Necron origin? Nothing! It seems that Macragge is under attack again. (Oh, it's more new rules to old fluff... no? It's worse? It's old rules to old fluff but new miniatures...)

Arghh! It's frustrating!

Sorry! Rant over... *breathing regulates again*

To clear the air II

Okay,
It seems that the tourney rules are generally accepted without major gripes.
To further answer dylan's questions, I did think of a simple say 2k game for our tourneys, but I decided to add the 250 points in as a surprise element, otherwise we'll know what we're playing against all the time and that i feel kills a bit of the suspense.
Fluffwise, after the bulk of the army leaves camp, it's not surprising for armies to receive some minor reinforcements or ragtag troops signing up. Or the general picking a different blade to bring to battle.

Promoting generals is a great idea! But my fear is that it unbalances the gameplay and brings unfair advantages to a winning player. Afterall its a tourney not a campaign...

great horned rat

House Rules

Okay, as per what Ithelien wishes:

Our house rules are not many as yet...
- Massed Archery:
A unit armed with missile weapons of strength 3 and below, may have a second rank fire their missile weapons provided that the unit remained stationary (no reforms, turns or wheels) throughout the movement phase. If the unit is located on a hill, then a third rank may fire.

- Strength 8 to destroy chariots:
As many characters (ie with a cheapo great weapon) and monsters have easy access to strength 7, only strength 8 can destroy chariots with one successful wounding hit.

- Lores of Magic:
The trial lores of magic for Heavens, Beasts and Life? (can't remember) are being used. So don't refer to the rulebook for these lores.

- Against the Odds!:
If it is such that a losing unit is so badly beaten during close combat, that the combat resolution score modifies the resultant break test leadership roll to the point of 'autobreaking', then the unit is still allowed a roll of 2D6. If a 2 is rolled on the total score of the dice, then the unit counts as passing the resultant leadership test. Note that it is a roll of 2D6, and not anything else. So armies/models, like lizardmen with their coldblooded rule, that play around with leadership rolls will still only roll 2D6.

Thats it for now!
great horned rat

House rules

Hi all,

i think its a good idea to make a list of all the house rules we are playing with. Kelvin may not know some of them i quite frankly have forgot some of them also..

we can use this blog site to update and keep current our house rules.

To clear the air

Okay, got some feedback from you all, and thought I should clarify stuff.

*Magic Items for units, normally banners, are all purchased with the final 250 points.
The 250 points are for us to spring minor surprises unto our unwitting foes, and also to tweak our armies to suit the opponent... like you might want a cannon when facing chaos, but you might want a mortar when facing skaven, for instance.
It's not really a strict rule. But the key thing to remember is, that the first 2000pts is permanent. So if you want to stick a warbanner in a unit with your initial 2000pts that's fine, but then you'll have a warbanner throughout the league stage. Not a bad thing, but it means that we all will know prior.

Yes. All army lists are open for viewing. See junx, I'm fair... Hahaha. I've already written down my list. After I receive all the lists, I'll put them up for all to see. And then it's final, it cannot be changed, though you'll still have 250 pts to play with.

Character names should be included... it makes it fluffier. But I'm not too worried because you guys are pretty imaginative and have already got named generals already... Just work on your minor heroes. Ghrund is my new Tyrant name.... hur hur.

I don't think we'll use the mission generators, although I did think about it. I am concerned that it'll make the pregame set up too lengthy and bulky to handle. I think with new opponents all round and the scenarios to twist it a bit, will be good enough. As the scenario generators include more VPs and things to remember, and since its a tourney, we cannot afford to miss things out, otherwise it's not fair. I think we should just try out a basic system first. Once we get the hang of things, we can complexify the next tourney.

Wizard upgrades, in my opinion, should be included in the first 2k. But as above, it's not strictly compulsory, you can always add the upgrade in the 250 pts, for flexibility reasons, it just means that you don't have that many spare points after the upgrade...
example.
35 points for wizard upgrade = 215pts left
say, 100 pts for lord items = 115 pts left
1 scroll and 25pt item for mage = 65 pts left
25 point sword for hero = 40 pts left.
warbanner in hero unit = 15 pts
1 swordmaster = 0 pts left.

Ultimately, the 250 pts is for pure flexibility.

Also, as this is a tourney, although a rather inofficial one, we should also refrain from side seat comments, and only an arbiter who can clear and clarify stuff on the field.

the great horned rat

Massacre at Hedgewood

3 natures that heaven does not will- incontinence, malice and mad brutishness. 3 qualities treasured by other entities forsaken from grace.

Memory, buried deep within the forests of my mind, faint glances of a past where my being owed a devotion to another path, another life. Till I met my guide in the middle of the journey of my life, I came to myself in a dark wood where the direct way was lost. He showed me wonders beyond the realms of mortal comprehension, and my life was a stranger I ceased to know. He showed me dark paths that brought excruciating ecstasy, where imagination ruled over natural law, baptized into the depths of hopelessness by fire and blood, reborn as Kafziel, Exalted champion of Chaos.

As I watch Hedgewood burn, souls offered up to the dark masters for their pleasure. How easy any one of these souls could have taken the path trodden by me, and yet they burn, fated to suffer eternal terror.

Infantry holding the middle and Chaos’ finest on black steeds thundered up on my left destined for empire guns. Met head on be the priests of Mor and blood was shed on Hedgewood soil. Ogres moved up to reinforce the left while I committed my infantry to threaten the center eventually achieving the breakthrough in the center while I rode with my personal guard breaking through on the left. Men of Sigmar were no more.

A worthy foe, I salute thee. Makes victory all the more sweeter. I drink now the nectar of your souls in the consuming light of the hamlet known once as Hedgewood.