Gorram is going to Warhammer World

After 40 termagants yesterday, I wanted to move onto something a bit more exciting today.

If nids are the project then now is a good time to get into them. I take a week off in early January every year and I love starting the year by cracking an ungodly amount of time into a new project. I have problems. This is that week. Today was census day.

Last year I put pretty much every project into its own RUB but the nids actually fill one and a bit. At some point in the past I have built a Screamer-Killer and a psychophage. I also didn’t take a hive tyrant and a tyrannofex out of their boxes. This then is what the pile looks like

Sundancer informs me that lists are better than spreadsheets so I gave that a shot… but on square paper so I don’t have to suffer too much away from the joy of cells.

The list then is:

• 2 x Hive tyrant/winged hive tyrant/Swarmlord
• 1 x Tyrannofex
• 1 x Parasite of Mortrex
• 2 x winged tyranid prime
• 1 x neurotyrant (with 4x neuroloids)
• 2 x Screamer-killer
• 2 x psychophage
• 20 x gargoyles
• 40 x termagants
• 6 x Von Ryan’s Leapers
• 4 x ripper swarms
• 22 x neurogants
• 10 x barbgants

This is basically two halves of the Leviathan box plus other things that I bought cos I thought they looked cool. I have no idea how they play. Perfect time to make a list. For the tournament (very loose term here; it is two games played just to introduce the idea of how tournaments run) mostly don’t apply but are as follows:

1. Your army should not include any large “centrepiece” models, like a Primarch, a named C’tan, Super Heavy Vehicles or a Greater Daemon.
2. If your faction is Imperial of Chaos Knights you may include a maximum of 1 titanic model.
3. Your army should contain no more than 2 models or 400 points (whichever is lower) of Monsters or Vehicles with a toughness value of 10 or higher.
4. Your army should contain no more than 200 points worth of models with the Epic Hero keyword.

Only number 3 might matter for me but when I looked through the codex it turns out I only have three models that count and I know I don’t want to bring two hive tyrants or the tyrannofex to this level of game.

I went about making up a list using the app which, once you’ve put in the code from the back of your codex is actually a very good app. Responsive and does everything I’m used to in the Mantic Companion except it is actually an app and not just a website.

The codex? Oh yeah, I had to buy one of those and the card for this year’s Chapter Approved to be able to play but thankfully I got a Goblin Games voucher for Christmas so it almost doesn’t feel like I spent real money on something. There isn’t a way to buy just a digital code anymore but as someone who likes to mark and notate books, this isn’t a detraction for me.

Back to the list writing.

This is going to be a wall of text but it is about where my mind is so, believe it or not, this is a condensed form. The hours of mental toiling that went into getting here over the past two weeks doesn’t even bear thinking about 😊

Through my work I’ve been given a chance to go to a training day at Warhammer World in May. I’ve never been and who can say if I’ll ever make it back. If you don’t drive, it is an awkward and/or expensive place to get to from where I live in Scotland. The trip is for work but it isn’t being paid for by work so whatever I can save between now and then goes towards things like taking the train instead of the overnight coach (£210 vs £47) and a nicer hotel.

With this in mind, I’ve decided that I really want to make something of a pilgrimage out of it. I haven’t really played a mainline GW game in the last decade but they still influence my hobby and I spend money on their models every year. The training day is going to be an all-day thing so I figure I’ll go a day or two early and go round the place as a tourist first and foremost. Then I’d love to be able to get some games in of something just so I can say I’ve gamed at Warhammer World. Sad, innit? I’m dead excited though.

Here’s the thing though – what can I play? In terms of things I own there are six different game systems I have at least the beginnings of, if not a whole army’s worth of models for. Currently I don’t play them though and so I’m not part of the communities enough to know how easy it will be to turn up and play. I’m pretty sure there will be other people on the training days who will bring their armies but I’d rather not rely on that. Looking at my options they are as follows:

• Warhammer 40K – I bought a ton of the new Tyranids back when tenth launched and easily have three thousands points worth all sitting on sprues. This would be the easiest system to get games in between now and May. The community here was pretty rough when I last played back in eight edition but there has been a new club open in the last year or so that seem to be trying to be more fun and less “those kind of players”. I suspect it will also be what anyone coming to the training day is most likely to bring.
• Horus Heresy – bought just last year, I have the beginnings of a HH Alpha Legion army but I don’t want to rush these and getting to a decent game size would involve a lot of extra money still to spend.
• Legions Imperialis – I have a couple of thousand points of Sons of Horus already painted for LI and easily double that in the stash which could be painted up and added. I don’t know how easily I can get games in though as only one or two people locally have armies.
• Adeptus Titanicus – this is one of those games that I have models for accidentally. I have them for Legions Imperialis but none of them have been painted yet. I’d still have to spend a couple of hundred £ to get a full force and the rules. This one, as much as I’d love to get into it after watching a bunch of videos since the game came out, feels out of reach right now. 
• Middle Earth SBG (MESBG) – the game I have three fully painted armies for and have never played. I know there are people locally who play regularly enough that I would be able to learn the game properly before the pilgrimage. I think I bought the new books when the current edition launched. I don’t know how easy it will be to get games in at Warhammer World but this is something that I can look into while working on other things.
• The Old World – I have the models and I can get together an army. There are people locally who play and I have the rulebooks that I would need. The same concerns about setting up games there as for MESBG.

I’ll be honest, right now I don’t know which way to go. In terms of ruling out things, HH and AT seem like pipe dreams at this point without coming into money in the next wee while. LI would mean arriving probably only having played a couple of games and I don’t know that would be the most enjoyable experience for me or any opponents I can rustle up.

As for the remaining three; only one, 40K, involves a big hobby push so I can get started on that while I decide. The community for 40k round here seems to be improving so I’ve gone a bit wild and booked a spot on a beginner’s 1k “tournament” in early February as a way to motivate painting and push me into meeting new people. They also run beginner nights with a lot more emphasis on casual fun so I’m going to try and get myself to some of those.

For Old World and MESBG, there will be some new people to meet but at clubs where I’ve been before. I can probably get starter games in with them fairly easily and it won’t involve having to paint lots. The real question with each of them is how do I find players who will be near Warhammer World and able to play? These are things I’ll need to look into over the next few weeks.

For now I can start on the Nids…