Alternative Miniatures: Cathay

Here's a collection of models suitable for anyone interested in doing a Cathayan army:

Black Hat
Assault Group
Curteys
Renegade Miniatures
Perry Miniatures
Old Glory
Reaper Miniatures
Cavalcade
Scheltrum
Hell Dorado
Newline
3D Model Studio
Watchful I

As per usual, write in the comments if you know of any more suitable miniatures.

Alternative Miniatures: Kislev

Finally getting back to doing this series again, this time focusing on where to get models for your Kislev army, without having to use actual Kislev miniatures since they are no longer in production.

Warlord Games
Assault Group Cossacks
Assault Group Russians
Assault Group Tatars
Old Glory Eastern Renaissance
Old Glory Cossack Wars
Wargames Foundry Polish
Wargames Foundry Cossacks
Gripping Beast Russians
Privateer Press War Bear
Privateer Press Woodsmen
Reaper Winter Witch

Write in the comments if you know of any that I have missed.

Regiments of Renown beta update out now!

Only posted this on DoWO so far, so figured those who might not visit that site might have missed it.

Changes:

• New high-res cover, changed to the same as the Dogs of War book for consistency, since people had commented on the old cover being somewhat "misleading" in that it didn't have anything to do with the RoR's in the book.
• Re-done layout to eliminate empty space on the pages.
• New stat boxes to line up the characteristics properly (please make sure they all are correct, some are intentionally changed).
• Revised points cost for most units.
• Birdmen no longer Ambush.
• Manflayers +1 WS, ASF, Murderous Prowess.
• Wolfboyz +1 WS like the 5th ed rules to make them stand out from common hobgoblins.
• Rebalanced Goblin-hewer; it now fires D6 shots per rank, but each shot must roll to Hit individually rather than just firing once.
• Giant of Albion have Ld10 like normal Giants, Hengus gains +1 to dispel.
• The Fighting Cocks have BS5, like their 5th ed rules to stand out more from normal halflings.

This is still subject to change (hence it's a beta) but you can still take a look at it current changes until the finalized version is out.

Download 

At the moment, I'm not working  much on any of the books and don't expect to be doing so during December either. However, you can look forward to see some new material come January, with updates to the Special Characters book as well as the finished 4.2 version of the DoW book.

Restructuring the site

As you can see, I've made some changes to the top of the site in regards to how you can find the books. The old system was rather fiddly and didn't even out very well, so I'm hoping that the new drop-down menu will remedy that. From here, you pick expansions, army books or other smaller downloads and go directly to either Google Drive, Issuu, Scribd much easier than before.

Obviously, this is still a work in progress as I'm just learning how to use css code properly, so not all features will be available right away. Hopefully I'll get this sorted during the week. Until then, you can still download all the google drive versions of the latest major books using the new menu.

Edit: All links should now be in place, except for Fimir and Classic RoR since they too will be restructured from their current format. There are still some issues with the menu that I haven't been able to fix yet, but I'm having some more tech-savvy friends of mine look into it during the week. That said, everything should be much more easily accessible than before, allowing me to clean up a lot of the clutter from the site.

I've also reset the poll now that all army books have gotten their full updates for 8th ed. I've removed the option for the Fimir since they will appear as an AC list instead. 

Dogs of War 4.2 (beta) out... since 2 weeks ago!

Never actually posted this on the blog since it's not the finished version, but in case you are a DoW player, this should still be worth reading for you. The beta version for the next DoW update contains the following changes from the current "official" version: 

• Pikes nerfed and simplified.
• Added Assassins as a Hero choice.
• Added Broken Lances as a Core choice.
• Cavaliers are now called Freelancers.
• Pit Fighters added as a special choice.
• Merc Elves now has ASF.
• Ballistas added as a special choice.
• Espringals are now called Scorpions, no longer ignore armour saves.
• Ribaults added as a Rare choice.
• Griffon added as a mount for Merc Generals.
• Hurcio's Club replaces Blackbeard's Cutlasses.
• The Arbalest now fires like a Bolt Thrower.
• Justintine's Paychest added as an Enchanted Item.
• Hedge Wizard's Staff is now called Staff of Fickle Fortune, 45 pts.
• Pikemen, Crossbowmen, Dwarfs, Espringals slightly cheaper.
• Norse Marauders can no longer take flails.
• Racial Distrust replaces Hard to Hire and Distrust
• Warhammers added (option for Merc Cap and Broken Lances)
• Light crossbow buffed to Strength 4, nerfed to range 16"
• Leonardo may now use all of his Genius abilities, 135 pts
• Prism of Power one use only
• Hot Pot now ignores armour saves, 75 pts.
• Re-formatted army list.
• Tons of improved editing throughout the book.
• A bunch of new background for many units.
• Various small bugs fixed and improved rules clarifications.

Download 

The beta version will be in playtesting for about 1-2 months to collect feedback before replacing the current version. I don't expect to be working that much on the books during November what with gaming season 2013 underway, so it might also take a while for me to respond to any messages you might send. Thanks for understanding.

Current Projects

Had to remove the "Predicted release order" side-gadget from the site due a java-error, so here's what's currently in the works, using fancy words!

Right now I'm working on a rather large update for the Dogs of War book that will streamline many rules, add more units, and make the RoR book easier to navigate. If you want to pitch in with ideas and feedback, you can do so here (note that you need to be a member of the forum).

After the Dogs of War update, I will most likely be updating the Special Characters book, adding all 7th ed characters as well, including Dogs of War and Chaos Dwarfs.

After that, I will probably start working on the Allied Contingents book, which will release as "Early Access" with only some of the lists from the start. These will be updated rules for Gnoblars, Zombie Pirates and the Army of the Cairns. After that, Border Princes and Fimir will follow, with Khuresh and Fishmen (won't be the name ofc) making up the last part (unless more races gets added later).

There will most likely be plenty of smaller updates with bug fixes for the other books as well along the way.

New Cathay update out now!

Rather small update, changes the following:

• Shroud of Darkness lasts until start of caster's next phase.
• Nerfed Earth Eruption.
• Meteor Rain now rolls for radius rather than diameter, nerfed to 2D6".
• Several rules better clarified.

Google Drive only.

Regarding the Fimir

Unfortunately I might have to put the Fimir book on ice for the time being, as I have been unable to secure permission for the art from Warpstone 25. I haven't gotten a "no" either, but since I don't want another situation like the one with the previous version, I'd rather not use any of their material without a clear go-ahead.

Instead, I think I will incorporate the Fimir as an allied contingent in the upcoming book. This allows me make a more condensed Fimir list with only the most fitting units as opposed to stretching the list thin (considering Albion and Wood Elves already are based on Celtic mythology). There will still be background and art, only a smaller amount of it. It's still possible I'll make a new full version at some point in the future though if I'll have enough ideas and material, but for now, I'd rather have a playable version that is short and sweet rather than long and bloated.

On the plus-side, this means that I can push up the release date for the Allied Contingents book, so you might be able to enjoy those army lists much sooner than previously planned.

New Knightly Orders update out now!

Pretty big update, changing the following:

• Rules and background for Knights of the Vengeful Sun and Knights of Taal's fury added.
• New page backgrounds.
• Improved layout and editing throughout.

New Bretonnia update out now!

Relatively small update, changes the following:

• Louen must be the army's general, has options for different mounts.
• Fay Enchantress gains bonuses to cast spells from the lore of life or Lady.
• Bohemond now has the Virtue of Heroism.
• Tancred has the Draught of Strength, Prayer Icon back to general magic items.
• Jules 30 pts.
• Improved army list graphics and "fluff blurbs".
• Improved formatting and spelling errors fixed.

Review: Dark Elves

This is something I wanted to do for a quite a while, but since I don't play HE or Lizardmen, I didn't get their books at release. I do however play Dark Elves, so here's my initial take on the new book in regards to the units, rules and army list. Things that are mostly unchanged are not mentioned.


Army Special Rules:

• Not a fan of ASF, and really wish GW would have abolished that rule with the HE book earlier this year. The whole point with Elves is that they have high Init, so why add ASF on top of that? It's not really as if they need re-roll to Hit on every damn attack, as no other army has this kind of huge racial bonus.
• Murderous Prowess allowing re-roll of 1's To Wound is nice, kinda prefer that over the old hatred, which felt rather "meh" as an army-wide rule. Good choice vs HE's Martial Prowess.
• Eternal Hatred only applying to High Elves is fine, plays up their conflict more. However, this will rarely get used since they have ASF and high Init. already, further highlighting the issue with ASF.
• Hekarti's Blessing is fine, giving the Sorceresses +1 to cast.

Characters:

• High Beastmasters are now a lord choice, and comes with a free Manticore or chariot. What's rather annoying and confusing is that you cannot field him on foot, despite the current available model and artwork shows him on foot. The name High Beastmaster is rather weird as well, seeing as there aren't any normal beastmasters to begin with! There's also no hero version, which is rather disappointing.
• Fleetmaster is practically useless. Less attacks and WS than a Dreadlord, no equipment options or mounts, only 50 pts of magic items and more expensive. Why bother?
• Assassins are characters again, though I don't really see them getting much use. At 90 pts, he does not get any ward saves unlike the Skaven Assassin, though he can buy magic items now. I will probably try them out, but doubt that they will become a mainstay unit.
• Cauldron of Blood is still great, now giving a ward save to the unit it is in, and can cast a bound spell that gives a unit Frenzy or "super-frenzy". In addition, friendly units within 6"gets to re-roll all failed rolls to wound, similar to the Hurricanum.

Core Units:

• Warriors are now divided into 3 units; Dreadspears, Bleakswords and Darkshards, costing 9, 9 and 12 pts respectively. A rather hefty, but needed, points increase. With ASF and Murderous Prowess, these guys are suddenly a lot more useful in combat. No real complaints here, though I don't think they should be allowed to take magic banners, they are just levy troops after all.
• Corsairs are up 1pt, but also have a constant 4+ save now. Fairly balanced compared to the normal warriors.
• Dark Riders are down in price and with cheaper x-bows to boot. You will probably see a lot more of these guys on the table from now on.
• Witch Elves have moved to core for some reason, a choice I'm really not a fan of, despite owning close to 40 of them already. At only 1pt more than the previous edition, they are a lot better than past edition, and will most likely outclass all other infantry in the core section. Compared to corsairs, they gain +1A, ItP, and Poison, while losing the 4+ save, making them considerably better for the same price. Considering the slew of special rules that really makes them elite units, there's really no good reason for them to be moved to core. I'm guessing this was due to GW wanting to sell more of their new plastic kits rather than thoughtful game design.

Special Units:

• Cold One Knights are more expensive, but also practically auto-wound on the charge now. The Cold Ones themselves have gained an extra attack as well. They should be really cost effective now despite their overall squishyness, will be interesting to try them out.
• Black Guard are up 2 pts without gaining anything meaningful. Compared to the other choices, I fear these guys will be mostly overlooked from now on. Not a great move imo.
• Executioners stayed the same, but with ASF they are considerably better, no longer striking last. Combining this with the Frenzy spell from the Cauldron and these guys can tear through almost anything. Yikes.
• Bolt Throwers moved to special for some reason, a move I'm also not a fan of. It did drop a lot in price, so they should finally be worth taking now at least.
• Harpies costs 15(!) pts now, 4 more than the old version, and are also a special choice. Fairly useless, in other words. Moving them to special would have been enough.
• Scourgerunner Chariot is fairly interesting since it actually feel different from the Cold One, unlike most other chariot dual kits. It comes with a S7 bolt thrower (rather similar to the Hobgoblin War Wagon, interestingly enough) with bonuses against monsters. About the first time I'm actually glad to see 2 different chariot units in an army.
• Hydra is even cheaper than before now, and have 8A by default. It did however, lose Hatred, Regen and the breath attacks (it's an upgrade now), and the attacks are dependent on the number of wounds. Its new version of regen is a huge improvement though, and hope they make something similar to the normal Regen rule in 9th ed. I really like the new rules, though putting it in the special section feels wrong, it fits much better as a rare choice.

Rare Units:

• Doomfire Warlocks feels rather "meh". They are a good unit, but I'm not really a fan fluff-wise. They are another fast cavalry unit with poison and a 4+ ward that can also cast spells. They are pretty much an improved close-combat version of Dark Riders, but I don't really see them doing anything that couldn't be done already.
• Bloodwrack Medusa (wonder if they read the Amazon book ;) is a really cool inclusion, but the solitary version really feels out of place here. As a single-model rare unit with no saves and T4, W3, I'd be surprised to see it survive even one turn against shooting or spells. At 90 pts, this is pretty much just free points for your opponent.
• Kharibdyss, another inexpensive monster, it's very similar to the Hydra except is has more strength, less attacks, and poison. And no regen. It's not terrible by any means, but it doesn't really feel like it does anything the Hydra doesn't already. It can be used more as a support unit with it's anti-leadership rule and doesn't grow weaker as it loses wounds, but it still feels like a relatively unnecessary inclusion.
• Bloodwrack Shrine is rather similar to the Cauldron, giving bonuses to the Dark Elves while debuffing the enemy. It has more offensive capabilities, but can not be included in another unit. Relatively interesting, but without any saves it can be destroyed by a single cannon ball without too much effort. The Cauldron is a lot better option for only 15 pts more imo, though it requires a Death Hag to operate it.
• Sisters of Slaughter, another new unit, is actually a rather cool addition. With WS6 and A2 they are the most elite fighting unit in the army, even beating black guard, but they are only S3 and armed with hand weapons. Sporting a 4+ ward in close combat, they also gain bonuses against stronger or more skilled opponents so they are best used against lightly armoured elite enemy infantry, where they gain +1 to hit and to wound.

Conclusion: Giving the Dark Elves more of a Greek/Roman emphasis is definitely a step in the right direction with the inclusion of Gladiators and more mythological monsters. Aside from the army-wide ASF and a some less than great placements in the army list section (Witch Elves should be special as should Warlocks or Sisters, bolt throwers and hydra should be rare, and the medusa should be a hero imo), and some poor internal balancing, the new Dark Elf book does feel like a decent improvement for 8th ed, though I actually preferred the 7th ed book despite its cheesiness. While almost everything got better, it also become more expensive, and most of the insane magic combos are gone too. Though far from perfect, I think most Dark Elf players will still enjoy most of the changes and their opponents will hopefully curse them less.

Pros:

• Mostly good art and graphics.
• More inspiration from Greek/Roman culture.
• Better external balance.

Cons:

• Layout feels worse than previous 8th ed books.
• Too many units are squeezed in on the same pages.
• Worse internal balance.

Total: 3,5/5

New Nippon update out now!

Fourth one today! A little bigger this time:

• Katanas now only gives the Parry rule, this is to reduce the number of special rules already in play and make other weapon options more attractive. Daimatzu Mon now allows re-rolls instead.
• Samurai Characters may now only join samurai units.
• Some poisons have been removed, Ninja equipment moved to old Poison page.
• Battle Maidens are now called Onna Bushi.
• Some new art (check out the timeline!).
• Improved layout and formatting.
• A couple of spelling issues fixed.

Google Drive only.

New Norse update out now!

Another small update, this time for Norse:

• Improved formatting and layout.
• Some new art (including a new cover).
• Spelling errors fixed.

Google Drive only.

New Sartosa update out now!

Small balance update, changes the following:

• Deck Cannons must now buy special ammunition.
• Hell-hammer Cannons firing function and points cost re-worked.
• Increased cost for Triple Barrel upgrade.

This update only applies to the Google Drive version.

Wood Elves (supposedly) out in May!

Seeing as I still get quite a few emails regarding updating the Wood Elf book, I figured it would be nice for you guys to know that Wood Elves are going to be released in May according to 40k Radio whose info was 100% correct regarding the Dark Elves and Space Marine release. So, only 8th more months until you have an updated book in hand, which will (hopefully) be more play-tested than any version I would put out ;)

New Estalia update out now!

Small update here, changes the following:

• Double-spread pages now align correctly.
• Multiple spelling errors fixed.
• Some new art.
• A few minor bugs fixed.

Edit: Turns out me fixing some of the bugs caused some new ones to crop up! These have been fixed, though this only applies to the Google Drive version.

New Chaos Dwarf update out now!

Turns out those 2 weeks just became one! This reasonably large update for Chaos Dwarfs changes the following:

• 2 new special characters: Ghorth the Cruel (as per popular demand) and Hothgar the Renegade, Sorcerer of the Forge (as mentioned from the Siege of Volganof). I intended to add Tordrek Hackheart as well, but seeing as he isn't a "real" Chaos Dwarf and would fulfill a role too similar to Hothgar, I decided to leave him out.
• Re-formatted background section. Some more fluff has been added to the Dawi Zharr and history sections as well as the timeline, and some trimming down have been made in the Dark Lands section.
• Improved army list graphics.
• Bazukas and Inferno Guns are now taken as support units to Chaos Dwarf Warriors rather than stand-alone units.
• File size down to 8MB.

Upcoming updates and a short break

In case you were wondering what is being worked on right now, the answer is "not much".  The next book to be updated is Chaos Dwarfs, which will get 3 new special characters and see some changes in the army list section, along with an almost completely re-formatted background section. I will probably finish this late September or early October, seeing as there is quite a lot of stuff to fix.

After Chaos Dwarfs, the Fimir will get their proper 8th ed update along with a new background section. The book is currently in pre-production, and will most likely not be released until late October at earliest.

Right now I'm on a bit of a book-break, instead focusing on painting and the new slew of video games ready to hit (and Rome II is finally getting to a point where it might actually be playable with patches and mods). It's unlikely that you'll see many updates during November as well with a new Call of Duty and Battlefield coming out, so if I haven't almost finished the Fimir book until then, that one probably won't be done until mid-December.

And with that I'm off! In case you don't love clicking the F5 key a lot, I recommend you revisit this site is about 2 weeks or so when I might have something new out ;)

Dogs of War "For Hire" table for unofficial armies

Seeing as this has been a pretty common request for a while, I felt I probably should indulge it. So here you go, a table that lists which Regiments of Renown each of the unofficial army books (as well as Chaos Dwarfs) can take:

For Hire

And as a bonus, here are 3 Regiments of Renown I wrote a long, long time ago way back in a time known as 2009 (before starting on the Araby book even!). The fluff is a little lacking, but the rules are rather fun to play around with. Let's face it, who hasn't dreamed of having super-heavy dwarf cavalry? ;)

Raven's Rangers, Palindor's Praetorians, Curin's Cataphracts

Large Cult of Ulric update out now!

Didn't have to wait long for that one! This reasonably large update changes the following:

• Added double page spreads and a back cover.
• New page backgrounds.
• Re-done formatting and layout.
• New unit: Children of Ulric.
• A couple of smaller balance changes and spelling errors fixed.

The Cult of Ulric book is now on par with the other 8th ed army books, clocking in at 64 pages. File size is also down to 7MB. Enjoy!

New Cathay update out now!

Pushed this one forward a bit since I felt more like working on layout and graphics than writing fluff at the moment. No rules changes, but I've aligned the pages better, added some more fluff to the history section, added double-page spreads after the cover and before the end, and pimped the army list section quite a bit, along with new frames for the "fluff blurbs" in the bestiary section. All in all, I would definitely consider Cathay being the most good-looking book in terms of graphical quality now (though Nippon and Norse are pretty close!).

Oh, and file size is also down to just 10MB now, a little more handy.

New Hobgoblin update out now!

First day patch as usual, fixing the following:

• Scorpion Riders now priced properly.
• Dread Maw points costs rebalanced (no clue what Forge World was using as a formula, but it certainly doesn't seem correct).
• A couple of spelling errors fixed.

I'm fairly certain there's plenty of minor issues left to resolve, but that should be the most obvious ones fixed at least.

More fixes:

• Ghazak Khan and Hobgobla Khan now properly priced.
• Multiple spelling errors and minor bugs fixed.

Warhammer: Hobgoblins proper 8th ed update out now!

Well I said "a while", and it's been one and a half week, which I figured was long enough (plus I had more time than expected with Rome II being a total disappointment).

Anyway, this update contains the following:

• New units: Spear Chukkas, Giants, Scorpion Riders (replacing the Sabretusk Riders), Deathclaws, Thunderbirds and Dread Maws (replacing the Deathworm).
• New special character: Hobgobla Khan, the Scourge of the Steppes. Gorduz Backstabber has been removed since he serves the Chaos Dwarfs rather than the Hegemony.
• Improved layout and formatting throughout.
• History consistent with other army books.
• Timeline added.
• Full colour art (with some tinted images).
• Lots of balance changes.
• New army-wide special rules.
• New spell lore.

The new version clocks in at 66 pages, so it's quite a bit longer than the old one. File size is also down to just about 6 MB. Enjoy, and as usual, let me of the bugs that have surely cropped up!

 

Google Drive Download below:

Warhammer Armies - Hobgoblins by Mathias Eliasson

Development update: Hobgoblins

Have made pretty good progress with the book so far, and it looks like it will be looking better than I initially expected! The Bestiary and special characters are already finished (and there will be quite a few new units after all!) and I'm currently going through their magic items and spell lore at the moment. The book will probably see a release later this month.

Current Progress:

Contents/credits - done
Society - done
History - done
Timeline - done
Geography - done
Bestiary - done
Special characters - done
Spell Lore - done
Magic Items - done
Army list - done
Summary - done

New Halfling update out now!

This takes care of the following:

• Normal BSB may be taken.
• Beeswarms slightly cheaper.
• Multiple bugs fixed.
• Fonts embedded into the doc before printing (you're welcome RockinReaper ;)

New Halfling and Kingdoms of Ind udates out now!

These fixes the following:

Kingdoms of Ind:

• A couple of spelling issues and rules clarifications.

Halflings:

• Enchanters may now use as many power dice as normal wizards, they are gimped enough as it is.
• Beeswarms gains +D6 attacks.
• A couple of spelling issues and minor bugs fixed.

New Nippon update out now!

Third update this morning, and I haven't even eaten breakfast yet...yikes! This update merely improves the layout a bit to make the book more consistent with the other releases by placing the text for Nippon's society before their history, and making sure all double-spreads align correctly. Hurray for symmetry!

New Araby update out now!

The promised Araby update! This one contains the following:

• New Special Character: Sinba'ahd - Corsair Lord of Lashiek, with background written by Stefan Wolf.
• Zealotry nerfed: it now only applies to Psychology tests, not Break tests. This is because I wanted the army to retain their strong leadership through their faith (hence they are still resistant to Fear and Panic) but I also wanted them to be more of a quicker attack force as opposed to be slugging it out in prolonged combat. Due to this, prices have gone down for most troops again, though they are more expensive than before the rule was introduced altogether of course.
• A couple of spelling issues and bugs fixed.

Thinking about... fishmen??

A scary fact: after I finish the new Hobgoblin and Fimir updates, all books will have gotten their proper 8th ed upgrades, meaning that apart from minor updates and polishing the existing material, there's not a whole lot left to do with the Warhammer world (well, there's still Storm of Chaos and Allied Contingents I suppose).
At any rate, this has got me pondering about the fishmen, long seen as nothing but a joke in the Warhammer world, even though they definitely exist (the Lizardmen, Dark Elves and Warriors of Chaos books all mention them). Though I don't intend to bite off more than one can chew, so any such list would probably just be released as a smaller army list in the same vain as Zombie Pirates, meaning it would appear in the Allied Contingents book in this case.

So what's the general thought of Fishmen as a playable army? Is that something anyone would find interesting, or is it better to keep them as the butt of many jokes?

Details for upcoming Hobgoblin update

But this one won't be out for a while, and this time I mean it! I think...

Anyway, this update will be rather similar to the Halfling one in that it will mostly be a graphical upgrade, although their army special rules will be different along with some other balance changes. Their history section will also be rewritten a bit to be more consistent with other books (the current version is frankly a mess), namely Cathay.
Unfortunately the book won't look anywhere as good as some of my better ones due to a distinct lack of artwork available. That said, I estimate it will still look about 148% better than the current version, so that's always something.

I currently have plans to include at least one new unit (you'll see it once it's out ;), and I will also finally include rules for the mighty Hobgobla Khan himself! Release date; probably September, it depends on how much new writing I have to do. Still, with 3 books out in August alone, I think I deserve a bit of a break anyway ;)

Warhammer: Halflings - proper 8th ed update out now!

Scarily fast, I know! I guess the prospect of Rome II consuming all other upcoming free time means I subconsciously feel a need to work my ass off until then, but I think the results should very well be worth it!

Anyway, this new, full colour version of the Halfling book features the following:

• Much improved layout and formatting for better readability, the amount of repetition in the text has been toned down considerably. The sections of the book are much better laid out in separate parts with better in-dispersing headlines as well.
• Full colour, most of the art is entirely new.
• No more empty space on any pages.
• Tons of re-balancing: prices for most infantry have gone up 1 pt, but the cavalry has generally gotten cheaper. Magic has been nerfed considerably to a more supporting role in keeping with the background. Their Magic Lore has unfortunately gone, but might reappear at some point in the future when I have a good idea of how to deal with it.
• A new special character, Hisme Stoutheart (who really should have been in the army from the start!).

Oh, and don't let the new "dark" cover frighten you, they are still as much a "comedy" army as ever ;)

Anyway, enjoy, and let me know if I've totally ruined the army by hitting them with the nerf-bat too hard!

Google Drive Download below:

 

Bretonnia removed from Scribd a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶s̶s̶u̶u̶

It appears Bretonnia has been flagged by their systems, because both got instantly removed when I uploaded the recent update (already available on Google Drive) about 15 min ago, so you are unlikely to see it appear on these sites again. Not to fret though, the book is still available through Google Drive as normal, and will hopefully stay there until we get an official update at least!

Edit: Weirdly enough, the book just became available on Issuu again! So, gone from Scribd, still on Issuu and Google Drive.

New Kingdoms of Ind update out now!

The usual first bug-fix patch, this takes care of some spelling issues and some minor rules balances.  Kalaratri now has 3A basic instead of Extra Attacks (2), and Marus do not have the armour piercing rule.
That's pretty much it, not too shabby considering it's practically a new release.

Details for upcoming Halfling update

Time for the short furry-feeted ones to get colorized! I'm not gonna put a date on it since I do intend to make room for other things (mainly video games, plus that thing called "work"). However, this shouldn't take too long to get done with mostly editing needed, as opposed to having to add/rewrite a ton of fluff.
The book will most likely not see any new units, but there will be a few more special characters added at least, including the famous Hisme Stoutheart. Overall, it will mostly be a major facelift with much improved layout and formatting (can't believe how much progress I've made on that front since early 2012) as well as some re-balancing (expect prices to go up). I would guess September, but I'm not promising anything.

Current Progress:

Contents/credits - in progress
Society - done
History - done
Timeline - done
Geography - done
Bestiary - done
Special characters - done
Magic Items - done
Army list - done
Summary - done

Update 1: Lot of progress has been made already as you can see! I've done some major editing in their background section, so you should see a lot less repetition in the text compared to the old version, and every it much better laid out for easier reading.
The special characters will take a while though as they need a lot more fluff to fit a whole page, and their magic lore will probably be rewritten completely. The army list too needs to be re-done, since I'm using different templates for it in the newer books. Still, a mid-September release looks very much plausible now, if not sooner.

Update 2: Turns out "sooner" means "this weekend". Writing fluff for Halflings turned out to be surprisingly easy, meaning I now only have the army list left to do really. I will probably finish that part later today or tomorrow, so you can expect to see the new version on Sunday at least.

Warhammer: Kingdoms of Ind proper 8th ed update out now!

Done faster than expected, and I didn't even have to rely on Stefan to help finish it (some sacrifices to the Holy Toaster was enough). The book isn't quite finished just yet though, page numbers are yet to be added to the Summary page, and there will most likely be added another Special Character; these changes will probably be added in a week or so. Apart from that, the book is pretty much finished, sans all the spelling errors and bugs I'm sure are littered all over the place (volunteer proof-readers; go nuts!).

Clocking in at 86 pages, the complete Kingdoms of Ind book now finally has a complete background section along with the 8th ed update, so for those of you who have been wanting to read up on Ind, you can now finally do so! I went with a heavy emphasis on the Mahabharata and Ramayama för parts of the fluff, which I do think could have been Warhammer-ized a bit better; so I might go back to the fluff at a later point and improve upon it. Even so, Ind's history is far from being just a rehash or real India's history, instead drawing much more upon myths and fictional work. Overall, the book mixes Ancient India with the Vedic Pantheon, as well as a bit of the Mughal Empire and the Sikhs. Should be something for everyone, I hope.

This new update of the book features the following:

• Background on the Indan society; the caste system, their religion, and their relationship with the rest of the world.
• History of Ind; the war of the Deva, the creation of the Kingdoms, heroes of legends, civil war, war with Cathay and Tilea, Ind today, and a timeline.
• Geography of Ind; descriptions of flora and fauna, the 7 kingdoms, and a map of Ind.
• New units: Vishkanyas, Urumi Swordsmen, Snake Swarms, Thugees, Maiden Guard, Holy Warriors, Bengal Riders, Ganeshans. Some of the older units have been renamed and/or replaced by the new ones.
• New Special Characters: Lord Darahma, Karishna, Urjana, Parashuruma (all based on famous Indian heroes). Akbar the Great, Farah and Malik are gone.
• Full colour update, with tons of new artwork and fluff for the units.
• Rules updates and changes to bring the army into 8th ed properly.

So there you have it, the finalized Kingdoms of Ind as promised. Only took about 2 years ;)
Enjoy, and let me know of any bugs and errors as usual!

Google Drive Download

   Warhammer Armies - Kingdoms of Ind by Mathias Eliasson

Large update wave out now!

Having gotten some proofreading help on a large part of the books, this update consists of fixing spelling errors, formatting errors, improves the layout, and clear up ambiguous rules, which should eliminate most, if not all, question marks regarding how to resolve certain situations.

Updated books:

• Albion
• Amazons
• Bretonnia
• Dogs of War
• Kislev
• Nippon
• Norse
• Pirates of Sartosa
• Empire Knightly Orders

Because of these generally being smaller scale updates, they are only available on Google Drive for now.

New Pirates of Sartosa update out now!

As per usual during the first week of bug-hunting, updates are to be had. This one takes care of the following:

• Naval Bombardment can now only be used once per game.
• Pirate Crew can take boarding pikes (halberds)
• Various spelling errors fixed. 

Edit: Another new update posted, fixing the following:

• Ghost Pirates are gone.
• Dead Man's Chest now allows one unit to be transformed into Undead for the rest of the battle.
• Some minor spelling issues fixed.

Edit: New update posted (Google Drive only), fixes the following:

• Sea Dogs now have correct movement.
• Fixed contents table.
• Fixed Summary table
• Dead Man's Chest bumped to 65 pts

Development Update: Kingdoms of Ind

Best be working on this one right now, because it's unlikely I'll have the time once Rome II: Total War comes out, when life as I know it will surely cease to exist in favour of conquering the world in an expected stroke of megalomania.

Anyway, the Kingdoms of Ind are progressing rather nicely, with most of the bestiary already being done, along with the society and geography sections. History will take longer to go through, but I have a decent idea of what I want to include at least.

It's not very likely the book will be finished this month since it's so much new background to be implemented, but it might see a September release. It will most likely depend on how much support I can count on from Stefan (who co-wrote Sartosa with me). Regardless, you can finally look forward to having a complete Kingdoms of Ind book in the near future.

Current Progress:

Contents/credits - done
Society - done
History - done
Timeline - done
Geography - done
Bestiary - done
Special characters - 5 done, probably 1 more to add.
Spell Lore - done
Magic Items - done
Army list - done
Summary - done

Update 1: Finished the Bestiary. A few units are gone, but have instead been replaced with new ones, and several more have been added. Special Characters will lose 3 of the old ones, but will gain at least 3 new instead. Magic Items will be divided into 2 sections; one for the Devas, and one for the human characters. History is progressing rather nicely as well, and is currently about halfway done.

Update 2: Not much left to do on the book now! Need to finish the section detailing the war between Ind and Cathay, their spell lore, and hopefully have yet another special character to add, and then I'm pretty much done! With one week still left to go until Rome II, it might be possible to see this one out first.

And just 'cause I feel like it (and need to upload it eventually anyway), here's a sneak peak at the cover:

Arrr! Warhammer: Pirates of Sartosa finally out now!

Yarr me mateys! Shivers the timbers, raise the sails, and other pirate slang! After almost a year in on-and-off (mostly off) development, I (Mathias) and Stefan Wolf are proud to present: Warhammer: Pirates of Sartosa!

Containing pretty much every pirate stereotype imaginable, this book finally allows you to play an all-pirate list in Warhammer! Cutlasses, pistols, bucklers and blunderbusses are at your disposal, supported by cannons of all sizes with different types of ammo and upgrades. And naturally, since this is a fantasy game after all, there's quite a few sea creatures to go around as well. Were-sharks and sea giants anyone?

The book comes in at a total of 100 pages, with a ton of background on Sartosa, the pirate life, famous pirates and the story of Dreadfleet, all surrounded by high quality artwork. So enjoy pirate fans, I think you are going to like this one!

P.S. In regards to the poll, I intend to reset it once all books receive their proper 8th ed updates, thus giving each book a fair chance in the voting.

Edit: First revision is up, taking care of some rules clarifications and fixes some spelling errors.

Google Drive Download 

   Warhammer: Pirates of Sartosa

New large Nippon update out now!

Expecting Sartosa were you? Do not fret, it's till being scheduled for the end of this week. In the meantime, I've finished a rather hefty update for Nippon, containing the following:

• Improved layout with new page backgrounds and graphics.
• Some minor rules-changes and tweaks, katanas gaining a slight buff.
• Edits in the background section for better consistency.
• Plenty of new artwork throughout.
• Timeline increased to 2 pages. Try to spot all the movie references if you can!
• New rare unit: Ryujin - water dragons. Now you can stop nagging me for them ;)
• File size down to 10,7MB.

Regarding Uploading

Something I've wanted to bring up and that has been known to me for quite some time, which is frankly a bit of a pet peeve, are people uploading my books to Scribd and Issuu (and to a smaller extent Rapidshare and the like). Now, there's a pretty simple reason for this; namely that all books are already on both Scribd and Issuu to begin with, meaning that there are now multiples of each book floating around on the same website.

Why is this a problem? Well, mostly this is an issue since these other uploads are not being updated like my original versions, meaning people might download and use them by mistake instead. Sure, they are still my books, but there's a reason why I keep updating them, and with 10 different versions of just my Nippon book floating around on Scribd, people can easily get confused. Luckily it's usually my latest versions that show up first in the search results, but this is not always the case despite them having the most reads.

If I for some reason would be unable to keep updating the books and they would eventually be removed, then by all means re-upload them, but until then, there's no point in uploading yet another [outdated] version of my books to one of these sites. If you are reading this and have done so, I would appreciate if you would delete any such document. I'm not going to start chasing people with C&D letters or claim breach of copyright (how hypocritical that would be!), but I'm rather politely asking you to not confuse people needlessly.

In regards to uploading these books to different file sharing sites I have less of an issue with since this has mostly been done to allow people to download them without having to register to Issuu or Scribd (which has been an "evil" necessity), but again, this means people will get their hands on outdated rules. With the new download option on Google Drive, you no longer need to register at all, so these types of services won't be needed as long as the books remain there.

Some New Blog Features

Using the awesome power of trial and error (sans the error) I managed to figure out how to put the Google Drive links in the title of the books of the top and bottom of the page in order to save space. So, to view or download the books, you can either:

1. Press the cover to read and download on Issuu (if you can find the secret download button that is)
2. Press the army's name above the cover to read [the smaller file versions] and download without registration on Google Drive.

In regards to Google Drive, it's unfortunately not an ideal solution, since the syncing will stop and the files will be deleted from the cloud if my hard drive should crash (not too likely since it's a new SSD drive which should last about 10 years or so), but as long as I can remember to stop the syncing before that happens or before reinstalling windows it should be a-okay. So in case the files should suddenly be unavailable for some reason, you can assume they will be re-uploaded rather soon. In case I might not notice it myself, feel free to shoot me an email.

Which brings me to the second new feature: a proper contact form.
Hidden deep within the second page of Blogger's gadgets, I found a better way than just list my email on my profile, which have probably made it rather easy for spambots to reach me (I really don't need any viagra, honest! Though I do appreciate winning the lottery without entering and being the heir of so many Nigerian princes...). As such, you can now easily message me with any questions, feedback and what have you directly through this website instead. Pretty nifty!

Oh, and I've also changed the language of the blog to proper English, meaning it will read "comments" rather than the Swedish "kommentarer" etc. from now on.

All books now available on Google Drive!

Update: Since the links below are no longer valid, I recommend using this link to download all books instead.

A truly joyous occasion! Google drive is now finally usable as a valid hosting service, allowing me to sync up all new documents directly from my computer! This means that you can both preview and download all books without having to be logged in to Facebook, Scribd or Issuu. Huzzah! I will still keep supporting the Scribd and Issuu versions, but for future reference, I suggest you use Google drive to download the books directly.

Download:

Albion
Amazons
Araby
Bretonnia
Cathay
Chaos Dwarfs
Cult of Ulric
Dogs of War
Estalia
Fimir
Kislev
Nippon
Norse
Halflings
Hobgoblins
Kingdoms of Ind
Empire Knightly Orders
Regiments of Renown
Classic Regiments of Renown
Special Characters

Development Update: Sartosa

Sort of a re-post, but figured it would be a hassle to have to go to the second page just to check how the progress is going. Just finished the last bestiary entries, which pretty much just leaves the Special Characters and army list left to finish. Unfortunately, special characters tend to be one of my weaknesses (unless I have a strong idea before hand) and Stefan is currently unavailable to help me out, but hopefully it won't take that long to get those done as well. It's still looking like a release mid-August will be plausible.

Current Progress:

Contents/credits - done
Society - done
History - done
Timeline - done
Geography - done
Bestiary - done
Special characters - don
Spell Lore - done
Magic Items - done
Army list - done
Summary - done

The book is currently awaiting final proofreading before being released. Expect it later today.

Annoucing: Storm of Chaos

Well here's some nice news: I've been asked to do the PDF for the upcoming Storm of Chaos 2014 campaign, due next summer in commemoration of the original Storm of Chaos campaign (which was incidentally the same year I got into Warhammer...time sure flies fast!).

While I won't have much to do with the actual rules here (I might do a little consulting, but that's about it) you can still look forward to having another really good looking book to go through. And, if there's time, I might make a redux version myself at some point after the campaign is finished with the complete background for the campaign as well.

Bear in mind that it will take quite a while until you'll see the finished product, seeing as that's not up to me. I'll will of course keep you posted when I know more. Meanwhile, you can check out the campaign and the current playtest lists here in the meantime:

http://storm.bugeatergames.com/

Spotlight: Other fan-made Army Books

While this may or may not be news to you, there are actually *gasp* more people than me who have made their own army books, and I am going to dedicate this post to do a little review of some of my favorites (of those updated for 8th edition).

(Note: I have tried to be as impartial as possible, and I'm well aware that my own books are far from perfect. If I could make an unbiased review of them as well, I would!)

Chaos Dwarfs

by Thomas Heasman-Hunt

This book has been supported for a very long time and seen a ton of revisions, and is today one of the best unofficial books out there. There's a multitude of choices all nicely laid out, and it's pretty well balanced too. The author also wrote the whole thing himself, which is more than I can say for my version, where I only wrote a few unit entries from scratch and edited the rest. The layout and formatting is also incredibly well done, with every row on the pages being filled and each paragraph ending right at the border of each page or column. It almost feels like a machine made it, in that it looks almost too perfect!

Criticism would have to be against the somewhat lackluster presentation in the page backgrounds - they are not bad, but the simple parchment feels rather generic and could use a bit more of a "Chaos Dwarf feel" to it in my opinion. Then again, I'm a sucker for graphic design, and this doesn't really affect the overall quality of the book that much.

I do think that some of the units lose their charm with war machines simply being divided into "mortal engines" and "daemonic engines" with upgrades to allow you to build your own unit. While this was understandably partly done to avoid IP-infringement on GW, it feels a bit impersonal to have to build your own Deathshrieker rather than picking "the real one" from the bestiary, as the background generally suffers for it. All in all though, it's a really great book.

Summary:

Layout: 5/5
Graphics: 3/5
Rules: 4/5
Background 4,5/5

Overall: 4,5/5

Tribes of Norsca

by Grim Squeeker

Publish at Calameo or read more publications.

A truly all-encompassing Norse book, containing 2 whole army lists, one for the southern tribes, and one for the northern ones. Though this diversity comes at a cost, as the lists feel a little stretched thin in places. With Norse essentially being a sub-army of WoC, having two Norse lists stretches the material even further to a point where it feels both rather overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time, with a multitude of choices that ultimately feels rather samey.
That's not saying that either part of the list is bad, only that it would probably have been a bit more flavorful with sticking to making one great list rather than two merely good lists. That said, there's quite a bit of cool stuff to find, and each unit do have it's own unique special rule to make it stand out, even if many of the units from Ejsgard and Midgard are essentially mirror versions of one another.

Graphics are quite nice as well, with quite a bit of Norse influences to go around. The normal pages can feel a bit empty sometimes, and the unit entries can be a little light on fluff in some cases. There's also quite a lack of colour images in the book, and the art selection is a bit uneven in terms of quality. Layoutwise the book is pretty damn good though, even if some images are stretched more than they should. The background is - like my version - a mix of Citadel Journal, Tome of Corruption and other sources, though the author also wrote quite a bit himself in the unit entries. He expanded upon the differences between the Chaos-influenced northern tribes and the neutral southern tribes, whereas I made more of a "generic" Norse list myself - which you prefer I'll leave up to you. All in all, the background is nicely done, so no real complaints in that department.

Summary:

Layout: 4/5
Graphics: 3/5
Rules: 3,5/5
Background 4,5/5

Overall: 4/5

Nippon

by Tyler Stone

 

A rather newly released book, this version of Nippon is brimming with personality - a little too much perhaps. This book focuses heavily of Japanese culture and mythology rather than historical accuracy realism, making it a good choice for those preferring the more exaggerated nature of  the Samurai from anime and manga, though history buffs are likely to be a bit disappointed in how unrealistic it is. Each Samurai is at the same power level as a Chaos Warrior, which is personally not something I would have done myself, though I'm sure some people will prefer it over the more realistic Samurai. There are a ton of mythological creatures as well, even more so than my book, for those who like that aspect. The background was also written from scratch and is mostly really good, although I was not a fan of the portrayal of Cathay as it felt rather haphazard and illogical in some places.

Graphically speaking, it's really good-looking, even more so than my own version in some places to be honest (though I have a patch planned to remedy that ;). The artwork is mostly from L5R which feels a little out of place since the clans are wholly different, but it is of high quality at least, even if some of pictures are a bit low-res and blurry. Layout fares a little worse though, with images often being to close to each other or the text, or not reaching the page borders properly. Fluff blurbs also clip through each other some times, and have a bit too thick borders to really fit properly. That said, it is generally a gorgeous book to look at it, and really evokes that Japanese feeling.

Rules-wise it's very interesting, but also cluttered. The list has a ton of flavour, perhaps more-so than mine, but unfortunately the sheer number of rules might deter new players. There are special rules for weapons, general Samurai special rules, unique Kei special rules for each unit, Taiko Drum bonuses, spell bonuses, Clan Mon bonuses, you name it. Coming from a similar early version of Araby, having to remember that many rules for each unit (sometimes 8 or more!) I fear the gameplay would be stifled and more time would be spent looking through the rules than actually playing the game. Sometimes streamlining is for the better, even if it means trimming down features. Points costs have been rather uneven, but have mostly been patched now from the looks of it.

Summary:
Layout: 3/5
Graphics: 4/5
Rules: 3/5
Background 4/5

Overall: 3,5/5

Other mentions should go to:
Dwarfs of Chaos by Kevin Coleman (7th ed)
Cathay by Stefan Rarton-Ross (6th ed)
Estalia by Rodrigo Merino (Spanish, 7th ed)

If there are any other fan-made army books out there that you think should be added here, let me know in the comments, it's very much possible I've missed a few!

Regarding FAQ's

Seeing as I have gotten quite a few emails over the years regarding the Warhammer Armies Project, I figured I'd just make a small mention to answer some of the more common questions publicly for future askers.

Question: Can I translate these books to my own native language?
Answer: Of course, but you will have to re-do the layout yourself in that case. I can only take responsibility for the English version.

Question: Do you want any help with editing/grammar fixes?
Answer: Most certainly! Just email any bugs you find or revisions you make to me and I'll update the books in question.

Question: Do you want playtest feedback?
Answer: Definitely! That's the best way for me to see what needs changing in the books to make sure they are balanced.

Question: Can I use parts of this book for my own project?
Answer: No problem, as long as credit is given. Depending on how much you use, it would also be a good idea to mention the people in the "additional materials" section of the books, or simply link to the book in question.

Question: I'd like to change a few things in this book, is that okay?
Answer: Absolutely! These books are more or less just my take on the Warhammer World, based on what GW has originally written. Anyone who wants to tweak them to their own liking are most welcome to do so.

Development update: Sartosa

Just letting you know the project hasn't died down or anything, since it's been almost a month since my last post. I and Stefan Wolf have been going through the basics of the army list so far, and are pretty much done as far as unit selection goes. Rules have been discussed on a more basic level, but are yet to be finished. Most of the background for the bestiary is done as well, and so is the main background. Magic items and lore are still on the to-do list.

I don't think we will be able to finish the whole thing this month since it requires a lot more work than just updating an old list, but hopefully it should see an August release at least. And from what we have so far, I can rather safely say that it is going to look great, so stay tuned for more updates later on!

New Albion update out now!

This takes care of some bugs and clears up the descriptions of some things, as follows:

• Gaelic Fury leadership penalty is now only affected when taking Break tests, not every turn.
• Clarified description for the flying Chariot magic item.
• Re-done the effects of White Hilt.
• Elemental power is now an augment spell.
• Fenbeasts can be included if you have a Druid.

Warhammer: Albion proper 8th ed update out now!

Finally finished! This is a pretty hefty update, containing nothing less than 18 new pages. Gameplay-wise, the army might be a little weaker with slightly more expensive troops and the loss of Devastating Charge, but Albion should now be a lot better accustomed to 8th edition. And for those of you who prefer Scribd instead of Issuu, Albion is finally back on the website!

New features are:

- Extended history for Albion, including Dark Shadows and the history of the Gaels.
- A timeline of Albion.
- Completely revised geography section.
- New units: Hunters and Centaurs.
- New Special Characters: Dural Durak, Morrigan and Connor McFeud.
- Completely revised Magic Item section.
- Various rules changes to bring the army up to date.
- Full colour update (with some tinted images).

And as usual, let me know of any bugs you find. Hope you like it!

Download:
Issuu
Scribd

Details for upcoming Kingdoms of Ind update

Also known as "the book that was never finished" (by me at least). Well, this summer I aim to change that. Ind will finally have a complete background section with history, geography, and a decent amount of society. It won't be a huge tome, but they will get around 25 pages or so to describe the faction in more detail.

As far as the army list goes, it will see a pretty large expansion in terms of units. At the moment, these additions will be the following:

Vishkanya (assassin character)
Rajputs (basic infantry)
Urumi Swordsmen (basic infantry)
Snake Swarms (swarms)
Thuggees (skirmishing main line unit)
Bengal Cavalry (MC)
Ganeshas (MI)
Lore of Eternal Truth (spell lore)

I would also like to be possibly expand upon their mythological units with more options. So for those well versed in Hindu mythology, what other creatures not already in the book would you like to see make an entrance?

Do note that the Kingdoms of Ind are scheduled sometime after Albion and Sartosa, so do not expect this book for a few months still!

Development Update: Sartosa

Yes, this book has not been forgotten, even if it was announced about half a year ago! I have been working on it quite a lot these past two days, and have finished the main background section except for half of the timeline. From the looks of it, the book will be about 90 pages, which is quite a lot considering it's rather limited subject matter. It will also be really nice on the eyes, utilizing some of the graphics from GW's Dreadfleet game for a really professional look.

Rules are about half-finished at the moment, and will stay that way until the 5th of June when my co-author Stefan Wolf will be available to discuss them. This is the first cooperative book I've made since Dogs of War, so it might take a while to go through all nagging, arguments and verbal pie throwing (slightly exaggerated) until it's finished, but it should hopefully see a release some time in July. Until then, you will still have Albion to look forward to.

Current Progress:

Contents/credits - in progress
Society - done
History - done
Timeline - done
Geography - done
Bestiary - almost done,
Special characters - half-way done
Spell Lore - done
Magic Items - done
Army list - in progress
Summary - in progress

New Amazon update out now!

This update takes care of the following:

• Mistress now 55 pts.
• General re-balancing of power and cost of High Age artefacts.

Amazons Day 1 Patch out now!

Based on feedback, this update takes care of the following:

• Jungle Stalkers 14 pts
• Priestess 85 pts
• Coatl 265 pts, no longer lvl 1 Wizard.
• Avatar of Rigg 275 pts, no longer ethereal.
• A few stat-bugs fixed
• Some layout issues fixed.

Let me know if you find anything else!

Warhammer: Amazons proper 8th ed update out now!

3 years since the last update, so it was about time! And again, thanks to Stefan Wolf for helping me flesh out the background for many of the units! This new update features the following:

- 4 new units: Jaguar Hunting Packs, Terradon Riders, Medusas and an Avatar of Rigg.
- 2 new special characters: Lwaxana and Lysippe.
- New/updated Magic Items.
- Timeline for the Amazons.
- Much edited background section.
- Units now have access to a multitude of High Age Artefacts.
- Complete 8th ed revision with full colour artwork and layout.

Let me know how the army fares if you test it, some prices and options might need some changes to be worthwhile in keeping with the army's playstyle.

Development Update: Albion

Look like this might be a pretty quick one, have already got the main part of it done. Will update this post with further progress.

Current Progress:

Contents/credits - done
Society - done
History - done
Timeline - done
Geography - done
Bestiary - done
Special characters - done
Spell Lore - done
Magic Items - done
Army list - done
Summary - done

Edit: most of the book can probably be finished during this week, but I will need to wait until I receive my newly bought copy of WD262 to finalize Albion's history (apparently I didn't have quite the whole collection). Hopefully this will take about 10 days at most.

New Dogs of War update out now!

This update takes care of a bunch of formatting errors and adds a lot of clarifications to multiple rules. I've also spruced up the army list section a bit with new frames, and aligned the intro pages to each chapter correctly. File size is now down to 9,14MB.

Details for upcoming Warhammer: Albion

While I'm waiting for Stefan Wolf to finish working on the fluff for the Amazons, I've started to work on Albion, a book sorely in need of an update. In terms of background, the book will be a lot longer; I've tracked down all the old material from the Dark Shadows campaign, so the book will have more info in both its history and geography departments. I've also changed the fluff for the tribes, and done quite a few changes to their society section.

For the rules, Furor Celtica will see some big changes. Albion will still be all about getting the charge, but you won't be seeing Woad Raiders with 4(!) attacks each any more. As far as new units go, I haven't added anything yet, and at the moment, I don't really plan to, since Albion is kind of a limited faction who also shares its mythology with both Fimir and Wood Elves already. All in all, the army will get a nice face-lift and be better balanced for 8th ed.

Edit: Actually, two new units will be added: some simple scouts in the form of Hunters, and some Monstrous Beasts in the form on Centaurs (which are different from Centigors, obviously).

New Araby update out now!

Pretty important update here. I've re-included Imams and Dibbukim as options for the Warriors, albeit in a slightly weaker form. More important however is the change in their army-wide special rule, which is completely new. Rather than just have a one-turn bonus to the army, I wanted to give them something that would reflect upon the real Saracens' religious focus and fearlessness in battle as well as their speed. As such, all models with Zealotry roll 3D6 for Psychology tests and Break tests (still not as good as Cold-Blooded!), and also re-roll 1's when charging. Of course, this means that there have been points increases almost across the board.

Among other rules changes, I've given the Desert Riders a pretty big boost. They now do not lose their Swiftstride rule when using Fire and Flee, and they also do not suffer movement penalties for moving and shooting, giving players a bigger incentive to use them in larger numbers like the Saracen armies did.

Unfortunately Issuu has some issues (pun not intended) with uploading again, so for now, please use the Scribd version instead.

Edit: Issuu version is now up, Scribd version has been patched with the correct strength for Janissaries.

New Norse update out now

A pretty small update, makes some changes yet again to Counter-charge, and also makes the Huscarls slightly cheaper with great weapons. I've also made it more printer friendly, with all intro pages being correctly aligned. File size is now also down to a much smaller 8,65MB.

New large Araby update out now!

There we go, finished the new version of Araby! No huge changes in terms of rules, but I've removed Dibbukim and Imams in order to streamline the basic warriors a bit and avoid having to deal with too many special rules, and some points costs have gone down along with some minor stat changes. Holy War also works a bit differently now.

The book has been given a new more dynamic cover which feels more in line with the 8th ed covers, and have new page background as well, along with plenty of new artwork. I've removed a couple of pages from "the Arabyans" chapter, but have increased the page count for their history and geography instead. I've also given them a new map which shows all of Araby, along with a lot more details.
File size is also down to less than 9MB.

Anway, enjoy!

Another Kislev update out now!

And this is why I shouldn't neglect my sleep... Rangers are now accurately priced and cannot be the army's General, Boyars can be BSB's, and some profile errors have been fixed.

New Estalia update out now!

Nothing major, just the usual Day 1 patch (except that it is much later). Only a few spelling errors and minor bugs, now taken care of, as well as a few minor changes to their timeline and background section. File size is also down to 9,5 MB from than 41, so it's also much easier to have on smartphones and the like if you use it.

New LARGE Kislev update out now!

Emphasis on large; I had to redo the entire layout (have been working on it almost 24 hours straight), but it was worth it! New backgrounds, new army list graphics, new artwork, no B&W pics (some are still tinted though). I also did a major revision on their background, I've scrapped about 30 pages of fluff (most notably religion, magic, and politics), but have extended the unit entries a bit instead. This was partly to get the book more in line with the other army books, and also because it is meant to be an army book rather than a source book; as such, it has more focus on their land and history, and less on their society.

As for new rules goodies, I've included a Ranger character (based on the Kislev ranger from Mordheim) and allowed Priests of Ursun to be taken as Lord choices as well as heroes. Nothing major in that department, but it sure looks a lot better now visually.

I have also decreased the file size to only 10MB and I'm now able to print directly to PDF from Word, which will really speed up the printing process in the future. 

Enjoy!

Edit: Uploaded a new small revision that fixes some layout issues for intro pages as well as flips page numbers and backgrounds the correct way.

Edit 2: uploaded yet another version that makes some minor changes to the "Kislevites" section. Man, I love being able to save directly to pdf, saves so much time with smaller updates!

Some good and some "bad" news

Starting with the "bad" news first; though these are not as much bad as they are just a change of form. I'm officially cancelling Cult of Slaanesh and Mercenaries of Tilea as stand-alone projects, as they will probably be made part of the Allied Contingents book down the road instead. This gives me more time to support the already existing books instead, which are already time-consuming enough as it is.

Speaking of supporting the already existing books, good news are that I have just recently upgraded to Word 2010 and increased my Photoshop skills, which will allow me to improve the graphic quality of the books even further. Kislev and Araby are both scheduled for makeovers now, which will greatly improve their layout as well as making a few rules changes. Cathay and Nippon will follow at a later date.

I have finished most of the work on the Amazon book now, with pretty much only half the army list left to go for myself (currently waiting for Stefan Wolf to finish his parts of the fluff, which will take a while (fortunately!). Having some trouble deciding on the power level of their artefacts, but I'll get around it soon. For now, you can look forward to seeing improved versions of Kislev (will also be considerably shorter) and Araby.

Development Update: Amazons

Been working on the Amazon list a bit (more than I should really!), and I'm making decent headway. Most of the bestiary is finished, and I'm getting help from Stefan Wolf to flesh out the fluff of what's left. Their main background section will have a bit more fluff in it as well, particularly their history section (which will also be fleshed out by Stefan Wolf), which only mentions their origin and myths at the moment. They will also have a real timeline this time around.

As far as units go, they will get 4 new ones in total (Beast Mistresses, Terradon Riders, Medusas and an Avatar of Rigg), and 2 new special characters (Lwaxana, a lvl 4 Voodoo caster, and a Lysippe, a mounted character). 2 of the old units (Pygmies, Handmaidens) are gone. High Age Artefacts will be available to most units as upgrades.

From the looks of it, I will probably be able to get it out at the end of the month, depending on how long it will take to finish the new fluff.

Current Progress:

Contents/credits - done.
Society - done.
History - done.
Timeline - done.
Geography - done.
Bestiary - done.
Special characters - done.
Spell Lore - done.
Magic Items - done.
Army list - done.
Summary - done.

Poll added: Which is your favourite army book?

Just for a little bit of statistical fun: which is your favorite army book(s) of those available here?
I have only included the "main" ones that can be used as stand-alone lists, and not the expansions. Feel free to pick several options if you want (but preferably no more than 3).

Edit: Apparently Blogspot have some issues when it comes to polls, making votes mysteriously disappear (as has been the case here already only 5 hours in!). I will be looking into replacing the current one with a better alternative.

Edit 2: New poll up and running! Never-closing, 3 answers max, no repeat voting - all better, in short! Sorry for the inconvenience, I hope you will take the extra 3 seconds required to vote again in the new poll ;)

Details for upcoming Warhammer: Amazons

Don't expect this update too soon (I mean it this time!), I'm only letting you know of what to expect when I get there. I might finish Pirates of Sartosa first, but that won't be until June at least.

The Amazon list will see some large changes in how they play, but there won't be ton of new units to choose from. Instead, the army will be reworked into much more of an elite glass-cannon force, with better troops, better weapons and better protection. This is a throwback to the original GW Amazons from the 80's, where they actually had 40k weapons like Bolt Pistols and Needlers (of course such silliness won't appear here!), and as such, the new Amazon army will rely much more on Old One technology than the current list. Expect magical attacks, wards as well as poisons to become much more common.
Most of these changes will probably be in the form of upgrades however, so those who prefer the simpler Amazons with just spears and bows will be able to field just that, and those who want an elite force with magic items for everything will be able to play that as well.

New units will be featured in the form of Medusas (MI), Beastmasters and an Avatar of Rigg, their Goddess. Handmaidens will likely disappear, as will Pygmies. If there are any other potential units you would like to see in the list, let me know in the comments.

Warhammer Estalia: Proper 8th ed Update out now!

Well that was done a lot faster than expected, and I didn't even need to call for "backup" on this one! Looking back at the old version, I really have to say I did a rather poor job with it, both balance and editing-wise. There was a ton of inconsistent parts, like the Inquisition being started by nothing less than 3 different people and all at different points in history, in addition to poorly translated Spanish-to-English text (my bad) and plenty of grammar issues throughout, as well as poorly put together backgrounds for the units themselves.
Fortunately, this new version fixes all of that, and everything should now be much, much more cohesive and easier to read, not to mention looking a lot nicer too!

I would also like to give proper credit to Steven Lewis and Steve Darlington, whose names I completely missed to include the first time around. Steven wrote a significant part of Estalia's original history section, and Steve wrote parts of their geography and society.

Balance-wise the book is likely weaker now, with points increases almost across the board, and many special rules have been nerfed and tweaked, though it will still require play-testing to know if anything else needs changing of course!

A summary of the new things in Warhammer: Estalia:

• Almost completely revised history section, including the timeline.
• New army-wide special rules: Tercio Formation, Estalian Steel, and revised Tactical Supremacy.
• New units: Almogavars, War Dogs, Mountain Guns. Missionaries, Serfs, Inquisitorial Henchmen are no more.
• Revised units: Diestro are now characters, Handgunners are a core choice, and Royal Guard replaces Arqubusiers, among several other changes.
• New Special Characters: Isabella Giovanna Luccelli, Grand Inquistor de Hojeda and Maria de Salvo. King Miraz is no more.
• 9 new magic items replacing the old ones.
• Full colour layout: I don't consider it my best work, but it sure is prettier than the last version, and some of the new artwork is absolutely fantastic!

Enjoy, time for me to turn back the sleeping rhythm once again, followed by a short but needed break!

Download:
http://issuu.com/m4cr1ii3n/docs/warhammer-armies---estalia_20100908_225012
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36852581/Warhammer-Armies-Estalia

New updates for DoW, RoR and CRoR out now!

A rather overdue update that takes care of some bugs and updates a few things in these books, namely the following:

Dogs of War:

• The text for Mighty Athlete is now left aligned.
• Text for the paychest is no longer cut off on the last row.
• Some new artwork for the units.

Regiments of Renown:

• The Manflayers's repeater crossbows now has range 24".
• Asarnil updated for HE 8th ed.

 Classic Regiments of Renown:

•  Elfwing cavalry updated for HE 8th ed.

Development update: Estalia

Been working on Estalia little by little, and have just finished the Bestiary so far, along with most of the special characters. The book might be a few pages shorter than the last version as I intend to trim down a few sections for better pacing, and remove the many mentions of the Empire currently in it. I will also put more time into editing the text to get rid of any Spanish artifacts that are still in the book from the first time I translated the text, so the grammar should see plenty of improvement as well.

Current Progress:

Contents/credits - done.
Society - done.
History - done.
Cult of Myrmidia - done.
The Inquisition - done.
Timeline - done.
Geography - done.
Bestiary - done.
Special characters - done.
Magic Items - done.
Army list - done.
Summary - done.


Update 1: Finished the special characters (3 new ones, and 1 old one removed) and the magic items (almost all new), as well as finished editing their history section. I have trimmed it down considerably, but the grammar is improved and all previous inconsistencies should be gone now. The Inquisition and Society sections will also be shorter, but more cohesive.

Update 2: Once again I manage to surprise myself in how fast I can work when I put my mind to it! Everything except for the army list, credits and summary is now finished. If possible, I will try to finish the book tomorrow and have it uploaded by night.

Cancelling Wood Elves

A bit of unfortunate news here, but quite important ones. Apparently GW has been on the war path lately and been shutting down blogs that contain images of their own products (example: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/524002.page), and since this blog is practically doing that with some of their older material (though they mostly seem to be caring about the new stuff) I don't want to put more fuel on what might be an ensuing fire.

I have not yet received any C&D letters from GW, and I might not get that either, but I want to stay on the safe side and not venture further into their IP territory. As such, I will not be continuing work on the Wood Elf book for the time being, and might take down or at least redo large parts of the Chaos Dwarf book to remove a lot of the features from Tamurkhan.

If rumors are true though, the official Wood Elf book is not too far off, so you might not even need my version for more than a few months anyway.

In any case, the other army books will still be supported as normal, with Estalia making decent progress at the moment.