Time of Legends, An Age of War

This is a dark age, a bloody age, an age of daemons

and of sorcery. It is an age of battle and death, and of the

world's ending. Amidst all of the fire, flame and fury

it is a time, too, of mighty heroes, of bold deeds

and great courage.

At the heart of the Old World sprawls the Empire, the

largest and most powerful of the human realms. Known for

its engineers, sorcerers, traders and soldiers, it is

a land of great mountains, mighty rivers, dark forests

and vast cities. And from his throne in Altdorf reigns

the Emperor Karl Franz, sacred descendant of the

founder of these lands, Sigmar, and wielder

of his magical warhammer.

But these are far from civilised times. Across the length

and breadth of the Old World, from the knightly palaces

of Bretonnia to ice-bound Kislev in the far north, come

rumblings of war. In the towering Worlds Edge Mountains,

the orc tribes are gathering for another assault. Bandits and

renegades harry the wild southern lands of

the Border Princes. There are rumours of rat-things, the

skaven, emerging from the sewers and swamps across the

land. And from the northern wildernesses there is the

ever-present threat of Chaos, of daemons and beastmen

corrupted by the foul powers of the Dark Gods.

As the time of battle draws ever near,

the Empire needs heroes

like never before.

One of my favourite hobbies is Warhammer, both Fantasy and 40,000 (40K, as it is affectionately known). There is something exquisitely satisfying about two armies on a table clashing for victory in a battle of supremacy. The only thing to make it an even better experience is if both armies are fully painted and the table has enough terrain to make it an interesting game. Not that there is anything wrong with a plain field of bloodshed, but terrain just adds that much more to the game.

Warhammer is a very social game as well. I've met some great people while playing Warhammer. It's like having a board game night with friends, just much more involved than a typical board game. In fact, if I am trying to explain Warhammer to someone that is the line I use: It's like a game of Risk, but much more involved.

How is it more involved than a game of Risk? Well, for starters, nothing is assembled or painted when you get it. You are literally BUILDING an army and painting it so that you can play. After you have an army built and all the necessary elements (core rule book, dice, tape measure, relevant army book [or codex for 40K], any templates that may be needed, etc...) you can throw together a game and pulverize your opponent!

The following pictures go through the necessary steps to building an army.

As stated above, I do enjoy both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K. I command a Wood Elf army for Fantasy and a Space Marine army for 40K. When the new rules were released for 40K, I took the small Chaos Space Marine force in the Dark Vengeance starter set and put together a Chaos Warband. For Fantasy, I took the elements in the Isle of Blood set and am working on a small High Elf party (which is currently my obsession) What follows below are some photos of minis that I've painted up for my various armies. Unfortunately I don't have any of my High Elves painted up, but I have Wood Elves, my Emerald Saints Space Marines and my Pyre Chaos Warband. Hopefully the colours (and models) are enough to differentiate  the factions from one another. Enjoy!!