WAB 2 First Game

Joe and I got together today to try out the WAB 2 rules. Joe has the rules and has played one game already. I do not have the rules and have never played the new version.

Joe brought his Celt barbarians and I took my 2000 pint Northumbrian Saxon army. The table was mostly open. The terrain generation system seems to favor a table with little terrain. We play a simple pitched battle type game and since we both had foot armies we deployed 12" in.

The battle was very fast and very simple. Joe moved very quickly across the table and was in charge range on turn 3 (top). I only moved once and then went into shieldwall. The game consisted of one round of combat and that was it. We had 4 combats on turn three and Joe won 2 and I won one and the fourth was a draw due to a stubborn unit. The two units of min that lost combat were destroyed and the one unit of Joe's that lost was also destroyed. I lost a couple more units due to panic and the game was over.

My overall impressions of the game are positive. This game was much quicker than I would have liked but it worked to introduce me to the new rules. I learned quite a bit about the game. The first thing I learned is that skirmishers are not worth much. Because of the new army break-point rules they seem to be more of a liability now. The reduction of the rank bonus from a max 3 to a max 2 means that most of my units are now too deep. It seems like wider and shallower units are the new norm. Another change brought about by the change in the army break-point is the need for more units. Having a small number of large units is not longer an advantage - more small units is the way to go (I think).

So those are my impressions after a single and game and having not read the rules. I need to order the book soon so I can get a better feel for the changes. One thing is clear, this is a different game and your old armies and play style may not work.

Old School Stuff - WAB Early Crusaders

This is my first army for Warhammer Ancient Battles. It represents an army from the first crusade. I was just learning how to do the 'dip' method and I made a ton of mistakes while painting this army.

All the figures are from Gripping Beast and are from a bunch of different lines. One key to a crusader army is variation. These guys came from all over and they should not have a uniform appearance.

The first couple of pictures are of the general and the mounted knights, the core of the army. The fires are mounted Normans and Crusaders. There are also some El Cid Spanish mixed in.

Next are the dismounted knights. These are a must have for a crusader army as at any given time up to half the knights were without horses. These figures are a mix of dismounted Normans and Crusaders. There are also some Anglo-Danes as well.

Next are the crusader spear men. Again we have a mix of figures, most are Normans but there are also Crusaders and Anglo-Danes in the mix.

The next unit I call Greeks. They are meant to represent Greek volunteers and the figures are Dark Age Irish and Byzantines. They are the same stats as the unit above.

This is a unit of European Archers. The figures include Normans and Spanish.

Finally, we have the religious pilgrims. This represents the unskilled troops that joined the army strictly for the religious aspect of the crusade. In game terms they are not very good but they are extremely annoying to your opponent. The figures are mostly Dark Age Irish with some Norman priests and monks mixed in.

This was a fun army to play but, sadly, it no longer exists. The figures that make up this army are still in my collection but they now make up my Norman and Saxon armies. I have been waiting for many years for a new Crusader book to come out for WAB so I can make a new crusader army.

Old School Stuff - WAB Arabs and Saracens

It is time for the next installment of Old School Stuff! Today we have my second Warhammer Acients army - Arabs and Saracens. This army was collected and painted many years ago, perhaps 1999-2000. The figures are a mix of different brands.

The first unit is the Army General with a unit fo Ghulams. These figures are all Qualitycast, which I don't think you can get any more.

Next is another unit of Ghulams, this time the figures are from Old Glory. This unit was painted by a friend, Kevin Shope, who is now MIA (Kevin, if you are out there give me a shout). Ghulams are a must for this army. The are tough fighhters, excellent shots and have all sorts of stupid horse tricks.

The archers are also Old Glory figures. I think there was two units in this army but I can't remember. Lots of bow is a must for an Arab army.

A unit of Auxilliary Infantry is a very useful unit. As light infantry they are very quick and javalins allow them to reach out to the enemy. They are cheap too. These figures are Old Glory.

The unit below is a small unit of Arab Spearmen. This unit includes the Army Standard Bearer. The figures are mostly Old Glory with a small number of Qualitycast.

The next is a unit of Religous Volunteers. These figures are a mix of Gripping Beast and old Qulaitycast miniatures.

Not pictured, for some reason, are two units of Turkish Light Cavalry. This is a 2000 point army and was a real blast to play. Unfortunately, I sold the army to a friend a few years ago.

Saxon Army Restoration Part 3

Just a quick update on my Saxon army restoration project. I completed these archers a couple of weeks ago but I had a little trouble with my Vista computer...and...well, I lost the before pictures. No worries, they looked pretty much like the other two units.

I have started on the first formed unit for this army, but I have been a little distracted with other projects lately. I am not sure when I will get back to this but I will.

Saxon Army Restoration Part 2

Here we have the next installment of the Saxon Army restoration. This time we have 8 Dark Age Irish in need of some attention.


This unit has many of the same issues as the first one. One major problem, however, is the skin...its orange. I am not sure how that happened exactly but it must be fixed!


Here is the after image. Looking much better I think. Not award winning but very nice tabletop quality.

Saxon Army Restoration Part 1

After more than a year away from Warhammer Ancient Battles our local group is planning a couple of games days in a couple of weeks. This means it is time to pull out my Northumbrian Saxon army and take stock. I painted this army several years ago and it has been my main army since the release of the Sheildwall supplement for WAB. That makes it about 6 years old.

During that time the army has seen lots of playing time and transport time. In fact, this is the army I took to Historicon 2004 for the WAB tournament. Needless to say, it is starting to show some ware.

This is the first in what will be a series of posts tracking the restoration of this army. I know I will not have this done for our games later in the month but it is a great excuse to get started.

I have a lot of experience with army restorations. It seems that most of my projects involve large amounts of used figures and models. In fact, this army was built with about 50% used models. This project will be a little different, however. For this project I will be doing some touch-ups and highlights along with freshening the bases. The army is very large with about 160 figures. Back when i painted it I wanted to get it on the table quickly so it was speed painted and dipped.

In the Before picture above, you can see the heavy coat of dip as well as some of the damage to the figures. There is also a lack of detail in the painting. The flock is almost entirely worn off the bases. Frankly, they look like crap.

Here is how they look after my restoration work. I have painted highlights directly over the dip layer. This is possible because the figures had already been dull coated. I have also re-flocked the bases. This is about an hour of work and I think they look much better.

Eight down and only 150+ to go.

Kiev City Militia

Here is the next installment of my Rus army for Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB). This is my Kiev City Militia. These are generic infantry, equipped with thrusting spears and shields. I wanted them to be plain but slightly uniform in appearance. I kept the pallet more restricted than I would normally do for a dark age army.

Next up for this project will be a unit of Varjazi. This will probably take several months as I have a bunch of stuff in the painting queue.

The Danes

The Danes are done! Not bad, it took just about a month of painting to finish this unit of twenty. These figures were donated by Gripping Beast as a prize in one of our North Phoenix Irregulars Wild West WAB Tournaments. I did not win these, I am not good enough at WAB for that. I traded the winner for something...I can't remember what.



Next up is the Kiev city militia, I think.

Viking Musician

Viking Standard Bearer

Well, he has no standard yet, but he will. This is the second installment in my Viking unit. This is a figure by Gripping Beast, as was the first figure. This is my favorite miniatures company.

Viking Leader

This is the leader for my first unit of Vikings. These guys will be used as Danes for the Rus army that I am working on. Eventually I will use this unit as the basis of a Swede army.



This is the first of a 20 man unit so there will be more to come.

Warhammer Ancient Battles Tournament

My local game group, The North Phoenix Irregulars, is holding our annual WAB tournament on June 9th. Checkout the website for more info - http://wab.bluedream.com/. Please check out the list of sponsors for the event