Command Groups

One thing thats always baffled me about AoA is the absence of rules for Command Groups - also referred to Champion Standard Bearer and Musician.

To my mind and hopefully most other people these make the "character" of the unit from an aesthetic view if nothing else.

Granted Champions you can buy for a VP cost when putting your army together.
Which leaves 2/3 of the minis in your little set useless apart from looking pretty and therefore a disincentive to paint etc when you could just knock out another couple of grunts.
And lets face it they always come in threes - unless its GW of course where you get those three and a couple of unit duplicates.........

I might trial the following - havnt calculated VP costs or anything...........

Standard Bearer - Standard adds +1 to the base morale of the unit - the last but one figure to be killed in combat ............that honour goes to the Champion of course!

Musician: Adds an optional +1 to the base movement - might come in useful on those charges that fall short - as above but buys the farm before the Standard Bearer

Themed Armies

Now, one of the great things I like about AoA is you can use any models you like unrestricted by manufacturers canon, rules on army composition of Army Books....

I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this one.........

Personally I collect the following.

Orcs and Goblins


Dark Elves


Undead


and I forgot Skaven when Yuber asked me in an earlier post.

Referring back a moment - collecting and painting is all well and good in itself again this is a personal thing and I have no idea on other gamers preferences........so I'll bore you to tears with some examples........

Skaven - or Ratmen - when I got the first batch of these I decided I didnt like the slightly grotty grimy GW versions. My Skaven/Ratmen are of White Rat descent


Dark Elves - To begin with I went with them as people think of them - dark clad hedonists with weird lizard things and repeater crossbows...........until I read the GW Sundering novels.
It has to be said here I could see Malekiths point of view throughout - for those that read/have read them.


Back to the main point.........there is.........



1) No mention of Cold One/Raptor knights

2) Repeater bows are only just making an appearance.


Taking into account the above I went for a Dark Elf Army at about the time the big falling out happened.

A combination of Noble Cavalry (Dragon Princes) and the old style metal Cold One Knights - on plastic barded horses.

Also Elves are Elves and I can use whatever the hell models I like so have started blending in some other what people would think of High Elves with the Dark Elves on the premise they would be similarly armed and armoured and have similar equipment...........as I was discussing with my mate the other week - quite a lot of its in the paint job.


In other words I see the different types of Elves at least as for as High and Dark go as being a mindset rather than a fashion statement !


Orcs and Goblins - this is a project thats quite new - but I know where I want to go with iit.....


Night Goblins with all sorts of creepy crawly allies like bat swarms and spiders......oh and some Savage Orc barbarian ally types - easily duped by the Night Goblin shamans.


Undead - here AoA saved my life because I got a load of Undead and then decided I didnt like the GW Vampire Counts too much - apart from some of the models as usual............
So I've built my Undead round a Wight King with skeleton knights, archers, spearmen and so forth

Miniature Review - Gamezone Female Dark Rider Musician

This is on my my painting table at the moment, having resisted the urge for a couple of months I finally took the plunge.

Things I recommend/like...Beautifully detailed sculpt - slightly smaller than GW Dark Riders which she'll be in a unit with.Probably one of the most aesthetically pleasing minis to look at I've stuck together in recent weeks

To beware of: It may not fit together prefectly when assembled - green stuff required

Thumbs down:No base supplied - whats that about?
The horses tail was puny so I replaced it with a GW one after some fairly serious filing

Cost £7.25 + free UK P&P from Maelstrom Games

Overall: 4/5

Familiars

I was casting my eye around my painting table the other day and saw three models that come as familiars with some of the GW figures....

Bastet - Neferatas Cat
Morgiana le Fays Toad
and the cute Deamonette from the familiars pack.

Quite a lot of wizards in traditional fantasy have familiars and I'm thinking about sending it up to the forum for playtesting.

I also want an excuse to use my minis in a battle naturally.........

Having thought about it they would have at the most 1/2 attack, add one magic point perhaps every other turn to the "owning" wizard (Not too sure about that one)
The owning wizard would benefit from for want of a better term the "look out Sir" rule where one lost wound would be taken by the familiar - owning players choice.

Comments ideas welcomed............

Welcome

Welcome - to the three of you.

I've heard of Yuber and Sukhe Bator on the AoA forums.

Armies of Arcana - What is it?

Hi - this is my first post on a new blog devoted to my efforts at painting and modelling my Armies of Arcana (AoA) armies

What is Armies of Arcana?

Armies of Arcana is turn based, tabletop wargame, originally designed by Thane Morgan, set in the fantasty world of Arcana. In Armies of Arcana, 2 (or more) players will take the role of generals, commanding an army of their choosing to defeat their enemies with sword, bow or magic.

What do I need to play?

Armies of Arcana can be played using figures from any manufacturer, and can be used across a variety of scales, although 15mm and 25/28mm are most common.