World of Warcraft: The Battle for Azeroth

People have been asking me what I think about the next Warcraft expansion, Battle for Azeroth. I'm pretty excited about it, mostly because it seems Warcraft is finally at the point where they can do storyline updates for Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms without completely overwriting the older content, like they did in Cataclysm.

How big is an island?
Two new continents were announced at Blizzcon - Kul Tiras and Zandalar. As these are both actually islands, it is apparent that they mean continents in a game sense rather than a geographical sense. Places in Warcraft are not really to scale, or it would take us days to travel from Stormwind to Silvermoon. So despite the new places being islands, I expect they will be pretty big game-wise. 

The Seventh Kingdom
Kul Tiras! We've been waiting for Jaina's homeland to appear for a very long time. It is especially welcome after she was sidelined in Warlords of Draenor and unceremoniously replaced by Khadgar in Legion. It also means that all seven of the human kingdoms from Warcraft II are now in the game. (For those keeping track they are: Stormwind, Lordaeron, Stromgard, Alterac, Dalaran, Gilneas, Kul Tiras.)

The Banshee Warchief
How badass is Sylvanas in that trailer? Apparently she still has access to her old banshee form from Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. I think Vol'jin was right to appoint her as his successor at the start of Legion - she was the only person with the knowledge, experience and drive to lead the Horde to victory against the Legion. We knew she would be a problem afterwards, but that was something we only had to worry about if we didn't lose to the giant demon army. 
 
The Lion King
King Anduin Wrynn looks so young, because he is so young. King before his time...but he's stepped up in the wake of Legion. Its confirmed that despite his awesome lion-helmeted plate armour and considerable skill with his father's sword, the new king has not become a paladin. (I reckon he just transmogged Wrynn family heritage armour over his robes). The fact that he's a priest may be important for future story as it means he can access both the Light and the Void and understands that there can be balance between the two.

Who shot first?
You may have heard that it was 'confirmed' in an interview that the Horde starts the war by burning down the night elf capital Teldrassil - but that is just a rumour. We don't know whether the Alliance attacked Undercity in retaliation for Teldrassil, or if it is the other way around. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd actually go with the Alliance hitting Undercity first, as the siege of Undercity is what is depicted in the trailer, and the last few expansion trailers have shown how the story starts. I think it would be cool to do it that way around, as Genn has been pushing for an attack on Sylvanas since Cataclysm, and I got the feeling in Legion that Anduin's main reason for not attacking the Horde was that we had another bigger threat to deal with.

Counting the Cost
I feel for the night elves, as they have lost so much over the years, and now it seems they will lose their capital, and have to flee to the Eastern Kingdoms. But, they aren't necessarily going to be refugees. They provided a home to the Gilneans since Cataclysm, so I'm sure that they will be welcomed in kind. As for the Gilneans, they've now lost two homes to Sylvanas. If we can find some way to remove the taint from Gilneas, though, they can finally return to their original kingdom.   There's also the possibility of settling in Duskwood which has an old connection to the Scythe of Elune, and thus to the night elves and worgen. Plus, Duskwood needs new guardians due to events in Legion. As much as I feel for them, however, I think taking out Undercity and reclaiming Gilneas, Lordaeron and Stromgarde is worth losing our holdings in Kalimdor for. The night elves only had true control over Teldrassil and Feralas anyway, most of their other holdings in Kalimdor were already lost, or too heavily contested.

A broken Circle?
One thing I am wondering about is what will happen to Moonvale and Mout Hyjal. Both have traditionally been held by the Cenarion Circle, which consists of not only tauren and trolls, but also night elves and worgen. We don't know how Sylvanas will view the druid organisation. Will she just let them be, or does taking over Kalimdor for the horde mean that Moonglade is tauren and troll only now? Will the night elves even want to keep working with tauren after the Horde burns down a dragon-blessed world tree?

Allies for the Horde
The most exciting news here is that the Horde are getting nightborn, a branch of the elven race that is obviously based on the drow in other fantasy games with their elegant cheekbones, dark skin, white hair, and strong affinity to arcane magic. This gives the Horde another 'pretty' race, but more importantly, is the first time we've been given a playable race after we played though a lengthy endgame campaign involving them. Their story was a major part of Legion's first half, and though the fight moved to Argus for the second part, Argus pales in comparison to the Suramar campaign. It is widely considered to be the best storytelling WoW has ever done.

Which is why I'm a bit sad that they went and joined the Horde. That said, the storyline reasons are valid, and I am happy they didn't make them a cross-faction race like the pandaren.

Zandalari trolls are cool. When they are not trying to murder us, that is. Remember that old trailer of Vol'jin walking away from the council of trolls all by himself? Oh how times have changed. Why exactly the Zandalari would join a faction that has largely been responsible for the downfall of four troll kingdoms remains to be seen - it's probably linked to events in the Horde campaign on Zandalar. It should be an interesting story.

As for the Highmountain tauren...as cool as they are, I really don't think that having moose antlers justified counting as a separate race. Why can't they just give the normal tauren race moose antler options?

Allies for the Alliance
We get Dark Iron dwarves! It's about bloody time we can play as them, as Moira's clan joined the Alliance seven years ago in Cataclysm, and more recently were instrumental in our victory on alternate-Draneor. Turns out they're actually decent chaps when they're not enslaved by Ragnaros, and they have turned out to be much better engineers than the Bronzebeards. We don't even need gnomes anymore!

We're not entirely sure what void elves are. They are the only one of the new races that we have not seen before, and they are associated with Alleria Windrunner somehow. Are they the high elves finally returning? Are they a group of blood elves who got addicted to void instead of fel and then defected back to the alliance? They certainly look cool, and along with the worgen and Dark Irons, make the Alliance just a little bit edgier.

It makes sense that Turalyon and the Lightborn would join up with their brethren.Turalyon is still the heir to Lothar's legacy, and there are not a whole lot of draenei still alive. But again, why are Lightborn a separate race? I doubt there is much difference between having a lifespan of over ten thousand years like normal draenei, and being immortal like the Lightborn, and the only visual difference between them is that their eyes glow yellow instead of white.

Nevergreen War Report

A couple of months ago, I was chatting to Rowan about Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, and mentioned that I wished they would do a campaign for AoS similar to the 'Fate of Konor' campaign for Warhammer 40,000. His reply was 'Why don't we just run one?'

And so we did.

As the General's Handbook 2017 had just come out, I decided to make each week based on one of the new matched play battleplans. The idea was that the armies were trying to locate a hidden fortress in the Nevergreen Mountains. They would start out at the Festermere Realmgate, and fight their way over Greywater Reach, through the Chiltus Forest, and then up into the mountains. There would also be painting challenges or each week.

Although the forces of tzaangor shaman Y'es Strangefeather took the early lead, conquering Festemere, Greywater and the Chiltus Forest, the darkling aelf Averlaine Silvermoon played the long game, overtaking them in the narrow and deadly Nevergreen Pass. Despite numerous losses and severe injuries, the ironjaws megaboss Dakkbest Ironcheekz' dogged persistance eventually overcame Y'es as well. In the end, Averlaine outmaneuvered Dakkbest Ironcheekz, just beating him (by two points) to claim the Unseen Fortress for herself!

Megaboss Dakkbest was not the best after all.

The campaign was not as popular as I had hoped, with only Rowan and I playing more than a couple of games and trying to complete the painting challenges. But it was still fun, and it did achieve the goal of teaching us all the new battleplans from the new GHB. I will definitely run another one next year after the next GHB comes out.

There is a special hero trait everyone who participated gets, as a special thanks for supporting the Unseen! If you missed out, remember, you can earn this reward next year too!


Veteran of Nevergreen - Add one to the hero's Wounds characteristic.

This is a special trait that can only be taken by the heroes below. This trait can be used even if the hero is not the general of your army. It can only be used in friendly games and campaigns, not in tournaments or any event that requires an entrance fee.

* Averlaine Silvermoon (Darkling Sorceress - Keith)
* Dakkbest Ironcheekz (Ironjaws Megaboss - Rowan)
* Harrowhorn (Treelord Ancient - Wade)
* Kroxoatl (Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaur - Kyle)
* The Unnamed (Vampire Lord - Andrea)
* Xihuitl (Saurus Oldblood - Celeste)
* Y'es Strangfeather (Tzaangor Shaman - Darrryn)


I am also writing a story based on the narrative of the campaign. You can read the first part here!

Nevergreen: The Coven

Anvilgard, Aqshy

Three aelves and a human sat around a large table of red-veined marble.

“It's in Ghyran,” said Crisselda, an elderly crone with bone-white hair who exuded an aura of dark, oppressive menace, “A place called Nevergreen. Ever heard of it, Lorren?”

“Mountain range, west of Hammerhal,” grunted the human, a grizzled grey-stubbled man who was clad in black sigmarite plate edged with gold. A charcoal-feathered gryph-hound lay on the floor next to his seat, and a lantern-staff rested against the wall, signifying his position as a Lord-Veritant, one of the few amongst the Stormcast Eternals who were trained to fight sorcery.

“Could we could use their Realmgate?” asked Averlaine, a striking red-headed aelf sorceress. She was the youngest in the room, but seemed to be the most powerful, the air around her literally crackling with sorcerous energy. An ornate sigmarite chalice sat on the table in front of her, the liquid within shedding a pale blue-green light. Faint susserations emanated from it, whispers of the aelven spirits captured within, sequestered safely from the dark god Slaanesh.

Age of Sigmar: First Impressions of the General's Handbook 2017

I've been very excited about getting my hands on the new General's Handbook, mostly for the new Darkling Coven allegiance abilities. The Warhammer: Age of Sigmar General's Handbook 2017 has some significant changes in all three forms of the game.

Open Play has a new section on the Open War Cards, which are pretty cool. It does, however, require you to buy said Open War Cards. There are also a lot of new optional rules for Open Play, including something called 'the Fog of War' which limits communication between allied players to messages sent to each other via units on the battlefield.

I was hoping for a battleplan in the Narrative Play chapter that was on the level of Death of Nagash from the first handbook, but they have gone in a different direction. Instead of recreating key battles from the storyline, they have opted for outlining rules that allow you to decide where your battles are taking place, with Time of War rules for seven of the mortal realms. Azyr is the only realm with no rules, as it is safely sequestered behind sealed realmgates. This chapter also has rules for Siege battles, that are flexible enough for you to create anything from the siege of a Chaos Dreadhold to an attack on a Sylvaneth Wyldwood.

The new rules in Open and Narrative Play can be combined to make your battles seem more realistic - by which I mean, it draws you into the idea that these are battles taking place in a specific place and time in the mortal realms, with armies that have something tangible to gain or lose.

The new Matched Play battleplans look interesting. It gives us new things to try out, as the battleplans from the first handbook were getting a little stale. I don't think I can give a lot of feedback on them until I've tried them. Concerns have already been raised about certain army builds being able to win Scorched Earth on turn one. We will have to wait and see if it is a big enough problem to warrant a change.

Most of the point adjustments are sensible. A lot of unit that were not played often dropped in price. A few key powerhouses were made more expensive - Kurnoth Hunters went up by 40 points, for example. The big change is that most Warscroll Battalions went up by at least 100 points. I think this is a sensible change, as not only do they grant access to new special rules, they also let you pick an extra Artefact of Power, and allow you to deploy faster.

The new ally rules breath new life into a number of minor factions that never get played on thier own due to a small number of options or expensive models, such as Collegiate Arcane and Aleguzzler Gargants. It also gives armies that lack units to perform certain roles a way to make their forces more balanced. Darkling Covens, for example, can now take some mounted or flying units to compliment their infantry, Wanderers can add a Treelord to give them a behemoth, and Stormcast can slot in a wizard or two to give them some spells.

The chapter on new allegiance abilities is very exciting. Quite a few armies had battletomes that were released before allegiance first appeared in the original GHB. Though the posterboy armies of Khorne and the Stormcast Eternals got new battletomes with allegiance abilities, every other army with an early codex had a problem. Before, it had felt like an advantage to have one, now it felt like a disadvantage. The GHB2017 fixes this by giving allegiance to Seraphon, Fyreslayers, Skaven Pestilens, Ironjaws and Flesh-Eater Courts. (Everchosen is notably absent from this list, but the default Chaos abilities suit them fine.) In addition a few armies that are not expected to get thier own codexes also recieved some welcome abilities - Darkling Covens, Dispossessed, Free Peoples, Wanderers, Brayherd, Slaanesh, Slaves to Darkness, Skaven Skyre, Nighthaunt and Soulblight.

With regards to the generic allegiance abilities of the four Grand Alliances, the rather lackluster Order abilities got a boost. Order's battle trait now lets them reroll battleshock for any unit in their army - they no longer have to be near the general. The inspiring command trait was therefore reworked to now make anyhing within 6" of the general ignore battleshock completely, which is quite powerful. Most of the Artefacts of Order are unchanged, except for the Phoenix Stone, which was buffed to heal one wound in every hero phase.

The Chaos battle trait has been adjusted, instead of being 8" from a hero, it now works 12" from your general, and 3" from any other hero - emphasising the importance of your general. Command Traits are mostly unchanged. For artefacts, Daemon Weapon was severly nerfed (and simplified), it now deals a mortal wound on wound rolls of 6+.

The Destruction battle trait, Rampaging Destroyers, has been changed almost beyond recognition. To be fair, it was insanely powerful.It allowed Ironjaws and Beastclaw Raiders to surge across most of the map in a single turn, and there was little you could do to stop the first turn 'alpha strike'. Instead of it being a free D6 move for anything within 6" a hero, it now requires your general and each of your heroes to roll a dice. If you somehow manage to roll a 6, then one of the units within 6" of your hero can either move 6", charge, or pile in depending on how close it is to an enemy unit. The general does get a +2 to this roll, making it a 4+ for him. The Ravager command trait adds an additional 2, for a 2+ roll,  which is the only thing that makes this ability reliable in any way. The infamous Battle Brew is a lot more risky too now, it deals D6 mortal wounds on a double swig instead of just 1.

Death's battle trait now requires units to be within 6" of a Death hero instead of 10", and Ruler of the Night extends this to 12" instead of making it a 5+ save. Red Fury is now a straight 5+ roll instead of being based on the number of wounds dealt. Before, big Deathlord heroes like Mannfred could easily deal more than six wounds, making Red Fury a guaranteed extra set of attacks. Now it only works 1/3 of the time. The Tomb Blade artifact has also been changed to only heal on wound rolls of 6+. The Ring of Immortality has been altered too, it now requires a 3+ roll to activate, and it is now worded so it doesn't require reinforcement points to use. So, technically a nerf overall, but a buff for matched play.

I will be taking a closer look at the main Warhammer factions who gained new abilities in the weeks ahead.

Blood Bowl News: Banshees Win Championship, put the 'Star' in Starfire

Breaking News - The Banshees have become the first Unseen League Champions, beating the Green Unseen 2-1 in an action-packed final game. The Banshees struggled in the first half, as Dextra Windstrike and Malace Shade found themselves hip-deep in a swarm of goblins, unable to break free. The second half swung the game in their favour, as Kate Khaine scored an early touchdown, followed by Avele Rainjackal pulling off one of the Banshee's infamous 'banshee blitzes' to put the game 2-0 in favour of the dark elves. The Greens pulled out all the stops, sneaking a chainsaw onto the field on multiple occasions, and even blackmailing witch elf Hecate Shrike into blocking one of her own teammates, but were only able to pull one back in the dying moments of the game, when Burt the troll smashed a path clear for Wado to score. Sadly, Wado was killed soon after this by an exploding goblin grenade.

Hot on the heels of her previous achievement, Banshees' runner Korandir Starfire was awarded the prestigious status of Star Player, ending the season with a total of fourteen completed passes, three touchdowns, one casualty and three 'most valuable player' awards.

Earlier, the Orange Rats had their hopes dashed in the semifinals against Green Unseen, when gutter runner Rat Lee fluffed an easy touchdown by fumbling the ball twice in the dying moments of the first half, allowing the Redcaps to coast to a 1-0 victory.

A new Blood Bowl season will start on April the 7th, at this year's Icon By the Sea.

- Rooters

Blood Bowl News: Playoffs Decided, Starfire Earns Accolade

With the results of last night matches, we now know what the playoffs will look like, with league leaders the Banshees coming up against the fourth-place Gunnar Uffe on Saturday, and the Orange Rats playing the Green Unseen on Sunday morning. The winners of each semifinal will face each other in the finals on Sunday afternoon, with the final winner receiving the coveted Invisible Trophy.

The coveted Invisible Trophy

After her team's 2-0 win against Gunnar Uffe last night, Koriandir Starfire, runner for the Banshees, became the first league player to earn the status of Emerging Star. The match, in which she completed two passes, scored a touch down, and earned 'most valuable player' was one of the Banshee's bloodiest yet, leaving kicker KJ Blackthorn and witch elf Hecate Shrike hospitalised, and lineman Laalia Tyrin-Stillwater dead.

In an interview after the match, Starfire called her accolade 'a team effort', saying that she could not have done it without the help of Dextra Windstrike, Hecate Shrike and Veera Voidfire, before stating "Laalia paved the way for us, and we will always remember her." When asked about facing Gunnar Uffe again on Saturday, Starfire said "We aren't scared of them. We are the Banshees. We are invincible."

Starfire has scored four touchdowns, completed seven passes, caused one casualty, and been awarded MVP twice this season. The Banshees play the Green Unseen on Friday, before going on to face Gunnar Uffe in the semifinals.

Blood Spatter: Week Four

Greetings sports fans, and welcome to Blood Spatter, your weekly look at Blood Bowl! I'm Bill Billingham, and alongside me is Erin Eventide. Hello Erin!

Hello once again, Bill!

Well we're getting close to the playoffs, and the Banshees have been playing hard, taking on both Gunnar Uffe and the Glenwood Okes.

I think the Banshees underestimated Gunnar Uffe. They kicked first and tried to pull off a blitz kickoff, with Sinestra Windstrike breaking though the Norse defensive line, only to have the Norse push her into the crowd. The Banshees pride themselves on avoiding crowd pushes, so this was quite upsetting for them, especially as Sinestra was injured.

They haven't come up against another team that uses frenzy, and I don't think they were prepared for it. The game had barely started, and they were already down one of their best players. Fortunately, they kept possession after the throw-in, and pulled off a right-wing push. The Gunnars pulled one back, but were eventually outplayed by the Banshees, ending with a 3-1 score, with touchdowns by Veera Voidfire and Wisla Moondragon. Interestingly, most of the touchdowns in this game were scored by linemen, as the Gunnars marked the Banshees' witch elves and blitzers very effectively.

It was a pretty brutal game Bill, the Banshee's armour was really put to the test as the Gunnars put constant pressure on their defensive screens. On the other hand, the Banshees really struggled to bring the Gunnars down. There was a lot of blood, but no casualties. I guess that's what happens when two really tough teams clash. I do feel that the Gunnars didn't use their yhetee very strategically, they need to work on controlling him better, using him to take out well-armoured foes.

I don't think that Gunnar Uffe are quite there yeti.



I am going to murder you.

Well...anyway. Onto the next game, Banshees vs Glenwood Okes. The Okes chose to kick, meaning the Banshee's couldn't do their typical defensive stalling start. Instead they went for a quick touchdown, via Avele Rainjackal. But they really struggled to hold the left wing without Sinestra Windstrike. At first they put Kate Khaine there, but she was unable to stop Longstrider from breaking past her and levelling the score at 1-1.

It was a real weak point in their line, Bill. Daala Darkleaf held the centre really well as usual. She's pretty tough, as she takes a lot of hits, and often has to face down much bigger opponents. But this time she inflicted a casualty of her own, smashing Sylvana Willowwand's hip pretty badly. Dextra and Shrike did well on the right, those two are a really good team.


Realising she had to try something else, Tess Ravenblade put herself on the wing, only to suffer a blow to the head from one of the Okes twins, Edric Foxblade. With their Captain down, Dextra and Shrike went for a superb running play down the right, with Shrike scoring a second touchdown for her team, hoping that Ravenblade would be able to come back on.

Unfortunately Tess' had suffered a mild concussion, and was off for the rest of the game. Things only got worse after Longstrider's tackle broke Kate Khaine's arm. She refused to stay off, however, and made the Banshees' apothecary pump her full of painkillers before going back out again.

I'm not sure Khaine is entirely sane, Erin. But the Banshee's left wing woes were far from over. At the beginning of the second half they put Rainjackal there, but she immediately suffered a nasty eye injury after a tackle - again from Edric Foxblade - and it's severe enough to make her miss the next game too.

Fortunately Sinestra will be back by then. Rainjackal is useful, with her ability to strip away the ball from a carrier, but the Banshees do have other players with similar skills. They might have to consider risking Starfire on defense though, if they don't want to lose their speed advantage against non-elf teams.

Wisla Moondragon was next off the field, also with a broken arm, caused by the Okes' journeyman, Elena Oakenrun. With the casualties mounting up, the Banshees defense was faltering, and they resorted to fouling the wardancers and pulling off a heel turn to keep the Okes at bay. Despite being bloodied, Dextra Windstrike scored another two touchdowns, the second one set up by amazing tackle by Shrike deep in the Banshee's half, where she scooped up the ball and passed it off to Dextra.

That was a great play, Bill! Starfire's performance this game was...not great, most of her passes were unsuccessful. Fortunately, Dextra, Shrike and Khaine played amazingly, showing how much depth there is in the team. The Okes were a bit unlucky not to score a couple more touchdowns, they came close quite a few times.

So, how is it looking for the playoffs, Erin?

Well, Bill, the Banshees are undefeated and firmly in first place, no one can catch up to their 22 league points. They will play against the fourth place team in the semis - either the Glenwood Okes or Gunnar Uffe. That leaves the Green Unseen to play the Orange Rats in the other semifinal.

Well, that's all we have time for folks! She's Erin Eventide, and I'm Bill Billingham, and this has been Blood Spatter!

Blood Spatter: Week Three

 

Greetings sports fans, and welcome to Blood Spatter, your weekly look at Blood Bowl! I'm Bill Billingham, and alongside me is Erin Eventide. Hello Erin!

Hello, Bill!

This week we had a pretty big match - the Banshees playing their second leg against the Orange Rats. The first leg was a 1-1 draw, and for both teams, the only game that they hadn't won.There was a lot of pressure on both sides going in.

I'm pretty sure that the winner of this game will go on to top the league standings, Bill! Both team managers admitted that they were very worried about this game, and with the Rats reputation, the Banshees' manager - Keith Gammage - even told his players that it was more important for them to avoid injuries than to score touchdowns.

They Banshees kicked first and, kept both Starfire and Voidfire in reserve to protect them from injury. The Rats lived up to their reputation for speed, pulling of a quick snap move as Blackthorn's kick sailed across the field. The Banshees' plan was obvious from the start, as their witch elves went straight for the Rats' blitzers, trying to mitigate the damage they could do, whilst one of the twins faced off against Fluffy the rat ogre on the left wing.

I found myself holding my breath every time Fluffy swung at Sinestra, as an injury to her would seriously damage the Banshees' defense, they heavily rely on her to hold the left wing. But she is an incredibly skilled player, and dodged and blocked amazingly.

The Banshees were rightfully scared of the Rats' speed, and, having dealt with the blitzers, the witch elves darted into the Rats' half. With Kate Khaine closing in on him, Rat's Kicker Tom Ratley threw a Hail Mary pass that landed right on the Banshee's touch line. Captain Tess Ravenblade sprinted to scoop up the ball, getting there just ahead of three Rat's players.

Some people have questioned why Tess is the captain, but her amazing defense here saved the team, and turned the game around. The Rats found themselves out of position as Dextra Windstrike ran the ball down the right wing to score the first touchdown, while Kate Khaine stopped the Rat's backs from intercepting her.

For those wondering why they haven't head her name before, this was Kate's first game for the Banshees, and her appearance on the pitch was a complete surprise, as the Banshees hadn't even announced her signing. What can you tell us about her, Erin?

She played for the Birds of Prey, a minor league team in the Northlands, and was top scorer for them for three seasons. The Banshees apparently paid a six-figure sum for her. I think they kept her signing quiet so the Rats wouldn't have a chance to prepare for her.

Well it worked, cause she went on to score the Banshee's second touchdown, and then a third in the second half.

The Banshees were not exactly playing fair this time around, from keeping Khaine a secret, to preventing a Rats' touchdown via heel turn, and even committing a number of fouls in an attempt to injure key Rat players. Late in the second half, KJ Blackthorn became the first Banshees player to be sent off the field by the referee!

The Rats' fans must be pretty disappointed, because not only did their team lose 0-4, they didn't cause a single casualty.

Gunnar Uffe busy applying their warpaint.

But onto some more big news - a new Norse team joined the league, the Gunnar Uffe. They field brutal berserkers, werewolves and even a yhetee! Their first game on Wed was against the Green Unseen.

Gunnar Uffe are not a very fast team, but they're strong and hard to bring down.

The Orange Rats may no longer be the most deadly team in the league. Goblin player Mark was carried off the field after a crunching tackle by Bjorn Stormholt, and later died of his injuries, while Kyle 'the Minion' suffered a fractured skull after being knocked down by Gunnar linesman Bran Redmaw. As if this wasn't bad enough, Redcaps troll Mikal injured his own teammate Darr whilst attempting to throw him across the field.

The Redcaps played really well despite the hard knocks they took, slowing the game to a pace that favoured them, and dodging away from tackles as much as possible. Speedy, Wado and Karth all scored touchdowns, and Gunnar couldn't find a response as the clock ran out, ending the game 3-0 in to the Redcaps.

The goblins also continued their cheating ways, as this time they snuck grenades onto the field! The play of the week was when the thrower chucked a grenade at the Gunnars, only to have Kvarl Hammerfist snatch it out of the air and toss it back at him! Fortunately, Wado had enough presence of mind to catch it and drop it at the feet of the Gunnars, who went flying though the air in every direction!


The Redcaps also played the Glenwood Okes, who started off the game by scoring a very fast touchdown.

The Redcaps responded rather violently, their strategy being that the Okes can't score of they're all dead. Both trolls smashed as much as they could, Pog Stevo brought out his infamous chainsaw, and they sent on a crazy fanatic who ran in random circles hurting both friend and foe. By the end of the game, the Okes were down to three players, four had been sent to casualty, and the Redcaps had scored two touchdowns! Winning 2-1.

The Redcaps have jumped into 2nd place, though, the Rats have a game in hand and are close enough to reclaim their place.

Well, that's all we have time for folks! She's Erin Eventide, and I'm Bill Billingham, and this has been Blood Spatter!

Image from Games Workshop. More info on the Blood Bowl game at www.bloodbowl.com.

Blood Spatter: Week Two

 

Greetings sports fans, and welcome to Blood Spatter, your weekly look at Blood Bowl! I'm Bill Billingham, and alongside me is Erin Eventide. Hello Erin!

Hello again, Bill!

This week we only had two matches, the Orange Rats against the Glenwood Okes, and the Banshees playing the Ridgeback Raiders.

High-Tec League Standings Board

The Rats versus Okes match was as exciting as expected. They played the throwing game well with a great touchdown by catcher Arya Zephyrwisp off  of a throw by Gildas Greenleaf. The Rats looked to equalise late in the first half, before Bran Silverhand pulled off an amazing tackle on the Rat's catcher, Tom Ratley, to deny the touchdown. Gutter runner Barry Ratten, nicknamed 'the Flash' by his fans, equalised in the second half.

The Rats lived up to their reputation, causing 4 casualties, and the numbers game caught up with the Okes, as the Orange Rats scored again, right in the final moments of the second half, with Silverhand unable to repeat his move from the first half, ending the game 2-1 in favour of the Rats

A real nailbiter, Bill. Ratley is the top scorer in the league so far.

Orange you glad you were watching, Erin?

... Nuffle save me.

A couple of days, Okes manager, Wade Wonfor, announced that they had hired a new lineman, Gregor Istari, who captained minor league team the Red Stars last year. He is replacing Legolas Moonglove, who died due to injuries sustained in a match against the Banshees.

Good news, hopefully this means the Okes will no longer need to hire temporary journeymen.

They will for the next match, as three of their plays are out for injuries, including crowd-favourite Aric Foxblade.

Bad news for his fans, Aric suffered a severe hip injury, and the apothecaries don't expect him to make a complete recovery.

The big story of the week, however, was the return of the Ridgeback Raiders as an undead team, for a rematch against the Banshees. Their new status sparked off quite a big controversy, with questions as to the legality of such a move. The Redcaps were actually scheduled to play them, but pulled out of the match, petitioning the NAF to consult the holy books of Nuffle to ensure such a move is not against the rules.

The Redcaps were well within their rights to do that, but as for those who are critical of the Raiders, they just wanted to improve the skill of their team after their defeat, and becoming undead did actually improve their skills. However, the Banshees team they played was not the one from the opening match.

You at home will remember our discussion of Laalia Tyrin-Stillwater's drive against the Redcaps last week. We may have been wrong about it being a spontaneous move.

Yeah, the Banshees have been learning from each of  their games, and have combined that right-wing drive - featuring a ball carrier being guarded by Dextra Windstrike - with Kori Starfire's signature dump-off pass that they used so effectively against the Oakes. The general setup of their new play is to send Kori down the right wing with the ball, guarded by Dextra and Hecate Shrike, with Veera Voidfire as a backup. It is really difficult to get past Dextra and Shrike, tackle Kori, and also stop Veera catching the dump-off.

Seems the Banshees were testing out this new strategy last week, with Laalia as a guinea-pig. They pulled this off twice against the Raiders, but the undead threatened to score a number of times, and eventually pulled one back. The final score was 3-1 to the Banshees.

They also played a lot slower, and didn't run out of steam like they had in previous games. They have learnt how to pace themselves!

So, tomorrow we have two big games: the Banshees play the Rats, and the Glenwood Okes play the Ridgeback Raiders.


I know the big game is the Banshee's and Rats, as they are both undefeated, and this result will probably determine who places first and second in the standings, but I'm really excited to see the fast Oakes fight the Raiders, who are quite slow, but really tough.

Well, that's all we have time for folks! She's Erin Eventide, and I'm Bill Billingham, and this has been Blood Spatter!

Coach kills entire team, raises them as undead - Unseen Blood Bowl News

Breaking News - Ridgeback Raiders team manager, Jared Ridge, showed up to a match against the Green Unseen accompanied by ten skeletons, two ghouls and a pair of wights. Upon questioning by match officials, it was revealed that after his team's 0-4 defeat by the Banshees, Ridge had killed his entire team and raised them as undead, in an attempt to improve their skills on the field.

The goblin team refused to play the Raiders pending an investigation by the NAF into Ridge's claims, however, the entire Banshees team showed up unexpectedly to replace them. Banshees' manager Keith Gammage stated, "I have known Jared since our days in the Highlander League, where his nickname was 'lich lord'. Like trees, undead are people too, and we support their right to play Blood Bowl."

Jared during a Highlander game. (Source: Svetlin Velnov)

Although the Banshees won for a second time, Ridge's plan seems to have been successful, as they lost by a smaller margin (1-3) and suffered zero casualties. After the match, Banshees' captain Tess Ravenblade praised the Raider's toughness and ability to break up opposing formations, saying that the win had been an uphill battle. The Raiders captain made a vague roaring noise that we could not translate.

Jared Ridge was not interviewed due to safety concerns voiced by reporters. Blood Bowl commentator Bill Billingham said that it was highly likely that the NAF investigation would clear Ridge's team to continue playing in the league, as many necromancers had fielded undead teams in the past.

- Rooters

Blood Spatter: Week One

 

Greetings sports fans, and welcome to Blood Spatter, your weekly look at Blood Bowl! I'm Bill Billingham, and alongside me is Erin Eventide. Hello Erin!

Hello again, Bill!

So last week, you said you were really excited to see the match between the Banshees and the Glenwood Okes, did it live up to your expectations?

It really did, Bill. Both teams are fast, excellent at passing, and can pull off complex strategic plays. The Banshees won the toss, and as usual, decided to kick. They have a lot of faith in their ability to defend well and force turnovers.

The Oaks were looking like they would score very early, as their catchers easily dodged past the Banshee's forwards, while their thrower went for a long-bomb pass. But then centre forward Daala Darkleaf pulled off an amazing airborn intercept, passing to runner Kori Starfire, who made a break for the touchline. She wasn't fast enough to outpace the Oakes though, who quickly converged on her.

Yeah, it was looking pretty bad for Kori - until she threw a dump-off to Avele Rainjackal, and the Oaks were suddenly out of position, blocking a player who didn't have the ball, while Rainjackal scored.

It was a real back-and-forth game after that, both teams nearly scoring on multiple occasions. The Banshees struggled to keep the Okes under control, who dodged away from blocks over and over again, and outran the slower Banshees. And here we saw an interesting tactic - they couldn't do much against the wardancers, so they avoided them, and concentrated on cutting off their support instead, whilst keeping to a 7-4 formation in case the Oaks broke through the front line.

The Oaks are not as tough as the Banshees, who made full use of this by stunning as many opposing players as possible. Then late in the second half, the Okes showed some of their strategic genius, by forming a cage with their wardancers at the corners, forcing the Banshees to commit players to tackling the wardancers - only for the Oaks to disengage and run the entire cage across the field to the right wing!

The Banshees suddenly had to send most of their back line in to defend the right wing, so when Okes lineman Aric Foxblade broke though, the only player left between him and the touch line was kicker KJ Blackthorn. The Banshees had been outsmarted, and it looked like Foxbalde was going to score.

Blackthorn is a favourite amongst Banshee fans, and the familar cry of 'BLACKTHOOORN' rose up from the crowd as she blitzed into Foxblade right at the touchline, knocking him down and snatching up the ball, before throwing a long bomb to the captain, Tess Ravenblade, in centre-field. It looked like the Banshees were going to pull off an incredible last-minute touchdown, but again they were not able to outpace the Okes, and the game ended 1-0 to the Banshees.

Looks like Blackthorn is really becoming a thorn in the side of the opposition!

Stop that.

But, sadly, the game will be remembered more for the death of Okes lineman, Legolas Moonglove, than the heroics of Blackthorn. Legolas was badly injured after a crunching tackle by Kori Starfire, and died a few days later.

Look, I don't want to minimise his death, but this is Blood Bowl, Bill. Everyone wears armour, but sometimes things go wrong and people die. We know this. I think the media has been very unfair to Kori. And Greens player Shellee died in the match against the Orange Rats on Sunday, and no one seems to be talking about that! Are dryads more important than goblins? Do you even know which Rat it was that killed her?

Well, no, but that's only because half of the Rats team don't actually have names, Erin. And because no one cares about skaven anyway, whereas Kori is a pretty high-profile player.


-sigh- Can we just talk about Sunday's match between the Green Unseen and the Orange Rats?

The Greens were sporting some fancy new kit with red hats that has earned them the nickname 'Redcaps'. Last week, we called the game between the Rats and the Banshees a bloodbath, but now it looks tame in comparison.

The goblins came up with some decent strategies, only to have them all go horribly awry. They tried to counter Fluffy the rat ogre by sending Pog Stevo at him with a chainsaw, but that backfired as the rat ogre kicked him over, and the goblin was injured by his own illegal weapon.. Then their squig, 'Speedy' Zug grabbed the ball and sped down the left wing, protected by Burt the guard-troll and a a screen of redcap goblins. However, and a blitzer who seems to go by the name of Punch broke through the screen and stripped the ball away, setting up a turnover and touch down.

The game went from bad to worse, as the Skaven fans invaded the pitch, stunning the better goblin players,which allowed them to score a second touchdown. The scored again in the first half, and three times in the second.

All told, there were nine casualties, five goblins, three skaven, and Fluffy the rat-ogre, two pitch invasions by the fans, and four goblins were sent off for breaking the rules by sneaking weapons onto the field or committing fouls. But the worst casualty was when Burt the troll attempted to throw Speedy, but instead managed to do nothing but slam him into the ground.

The skaven team didn't come out of this too badly, Fluffy the rat ogre and one of the skaven gutter runners are out for their match against the Okes on Wednesday, but the Greens took a bit of a beating - the death of Shellee, smashed ankles, a shattered skull and various long-term injuries meant that they were short on players for their match on Monday against the Banshees, whilst the Banshees fielded thier new player, witch-elf Hecate Shrike. Again they chose to kick, leaving Starfire on the sidelines, Banshee manager Keith Gammage having stated that they would save her for offensive drives.

That match started off with quite a bang, Bill!

Right as the Banshees kicked the ball to the Greens, Laalia Tyrin-Stillwater made a completely unexpected break down the right wing, scooping up the ball before the goblins had even realised what was going on.


I think it even took her own team by surprise, Bill. The right wing blitzers had to scramble just to keep up her, let alone protect her from the back-line goblins. The only person on either side who showed any presence of mind was the Banshee's captain, Tess Ravenblade, who took advantage of the confusion to blitz into Pog Stevo, who had pulled out his chainsaw and was obviously planning to try and injure the Banshee's centre-forward. But he was the one suddenly being rushed back to the dugout with severe injuries instead.

Tyrin-Stillwater's tactics paid off, and she scored an early touchdown for the Banshees.


Damn, if it wasn't one of the most spectaular plays I've ever seen, Bill.

In response, the Greens were far more careful on their second drive, forming a cage. But they underestimated the Banshee's speed, and Tess Ravenblade managed to dodge into the Green's half and tackle the ball-carrier, before breaking away to score her first touchdown.

The goblins' offense was struggling a bit, showing how much they relied on Speedy, who was still injured from Burt's botched throw in their previous game. The trolls did manage to injure Daala Darkleaf, and after some though, they decided to send in Starfire,, who made a great drive down the left wing, but the Greens were prepared for her dump-off pass, and stalled the Banshees until the half ended.

The goblins kept up their stalling tactics in the second half, making the Banshees work very hard to gain ground, and towards the end of the half, both teams seemed to flag a bit, missing easy passes and pick-ups.

Yeah, we saw it in their game against the Orange Rats, and to a lesser degree against the Okes, but the Banshees do seem to run out of power toward the end of the second half. They did win 2-0 however.

They are still undefeated after four game, and currently lead the league by a good margin, though the Rats could close the gap if they beat the Okes on Wednesday, and then the Rangers, a game that hasn't been scheduled yet.

I'm excited to see the Okes and Rats play, the Rats are the only team faster than the Okes, but the Okes have near-flawless passing skills, something the Rats can do, but don't excel at. I suspect it might be quite a high-scoring game Bill!

Well, that's all we have time for folks! Join us later this week for in-depth looks at some of the teams and players. She's Erin Eventide, and I'm Bill Billingham, and this has been Blood Spatter!

Images from Games Workshop. More info on the Blood Bowl game at www.bloodbowl.com.

Okes Player Dies - Unseen Blood Bowl News

Breaking News - Glenwood Okes lineman Legolas Moonglove died this morning, from injuries sustained in a mach against the Banshees on Wednesday evening.

Legolas Mooonglove as a Starwood Forest lineman during the 'ranked play' era.

Okes manager, Wade Wonfor announced the tragic death during a brief press conference a few hours ago, going on to say "We are saddened to have such a talented young player with so much potential cut down in his prime. Our loss will only serve to motivate us further to honour his memory. Our hearts and prayers go out to Legolas' family in this hard time."

Moonglove was rushed off the pitch late in the second half, after a flying tackle by Banshee runner, Koriandir Starfire, sent him crashing to the ground. It was later revealed that he had sustained massive damage to his upper xylem system as well as multiple broken branches and a splintered jaw. Yesterday Moonglove was in a stable conition, but it quickly deteriorated overnight.

On Thursday morning, Banshees manager Keith Gammage announced the signing on of witch elf Hecate Shrike, and rumours quickly began to circulate that Starfire was being permanently benched by the Banshees due to increasing pressure from 'plant rights' activist group PETP. PETP routinely stages protests outside the Oakes stadium over their use of dryads and other plant-creatures in Blood Bowl tournaments, and the serious nature of Moonglove's injury had sent them into a frenzy, leading them to picket the Banshee's training grounds.

Starfire has been unavailable for comment, however, in an interview with us, Gammage has slammed the rumours as 'complete nonsense', saying, "It was always the plan to hire Hecate when her contract with the Darkland Rangers ended, in order to take the pressure off of Kori. Kori's astonishing success on plays unsuited to a runner are a testament to her sheer talent, which is why we don't want to overextend her, and will only be fielding her on offensive plays. She is not being 'benched', and is actually good friends with Hecate from their club days. Needless to say, she and our entire team are saddened by the death of Mr Moonglove, as we have great respect for the Glenwood Okes team, and have always believed that trees should be allowed to play Blood Bowl."

Legolas Moonglove first rose to prominence when his team at the time, Starwood Forest, won the Athol Loren Cup. His signing onto the Glenwood Okes was his chance at stardom, now sadly cut short. Legolas is survived by his wife and six seedlings.

- Rooters

Blood Spatter: Blitzmania Kicks Off!

 

Greetings sports fans, and welcome to Blood Spatter, your weekly look at Blood Bowl! I'm Bill Billingham, and alongside me is Erin Eventide. Hello Erin!

Hello Bill!

Well, the Unseen League kicked off this Saturday, and what a start it was! The first game was a showdown between the Banshees and the Ridgeback Raiders. The Raiders, named after owner Jared Ridge, are a pretty new human team that were put together at the last moment. We don't know very much about them. The Banshees on the other hand, have been playing in the minor leagues for a while. What can you tell us about them, Erin?

Well Bill, the Banshees are a dark elf team, notable for being all-female and for dressing in garish magenta. They are owned and managed by Keith Gammage, and are focused on a fast-defensive playstyle.

They also field a pair of identical twins as their wingmen. I can't tell them apart.

That's what player numbers are for, Bill.

It was a cracker of a game, that's for sure, with the Banshees scoring a total of four touchdowns, three of which were made possible by quick passes or handoffs by lineman KJ Blackthorn, earning her the coveted MVP award! The final score was 4-0.

I must point out that the scoreline wasn't a good reflection of the game at all. The Raiders didn't play badly by any means. They had good solid strategy, and managed to punch holes in the Banshee's defense on multiple occasions, only to have unlucky fumbles cost them a touchdown.

There was only a single casualty in the game, to one of the Raider's throwers, unfortunately, we have not recieved any news as to how badly he was hurt.

But onto the next game! It kicked off shortly after the first, and was between the Green Unseen, a goblin team managed by Brad Petzer, and the Glenwood Okes, a wood elf team owned by Wade Wonfor.

Bill, there are so many levels of pun in that last team name, I literally can't even.

The wood elves team was actually comprised entirely of dryads, and probably would have terrified anything smarter than a goblin. As expected, the Green Unseen spent most of the time cheating, and getting away with it, and squig-riding goblin Zug 'Speedy' McGuffin even managed to score two touchdowns, winning the match 2-0.

Quite an upset, Bill, as goblins winning games of Blood Bowl is incredibly rare. I guess we will have to wait and see if this is a fluke, or if a goblin team has finally come up with a formula for success.

Two dryads were sent off due to injuries they sustained, but Wade has told us that he is confident will be back in time for their next game. I wonder though, if his bark is worse than his bite.

...just no.

The Greens didn't come out completely unscathed either, as Aric Foxblade threw a crunching tackle at the goblin Zig, who had to be rushed off the field. We hear that he has suffered a completely smashed ankle, and will have to miss at least the next game.

That's a nasty one, there's no telling how long it will take to heal, or if Zig will ever be the same again. I look forward to the Okes next game though, as some of their player showed great potential for growth!

The third match saw the Banshees go up against the Orange Rats, a skaven team owned by the plague lord, Michael Thurley. I wonder if the Banshees are quite sane, deciding to play two matches in a single day.

I think perhaps the Banshees fell victim to the flaw of every elf, overconfidence. And I'm allowed to say that Bill, cause I'm an elf. But lets talk about the Rats. I hear you've been keeping an eye on them in the minor leagues.

Every Rats match I've seen has been a bloodbath, and this was no different. Four casualties and 7 knockouts in a single game! One of the twins went down early in the first half, and didn't get up again. The but Banshees responded by scoring a touchdown anyway, courtesy of lineman Daala Darkleaf and then frustrated the Rats by consistantly marking both Gutter Runners, negating thier superior mobility. Unfortunately, they lost Daala to a slamming tackle by Fluffy the Rat Ogre, meaning they went into the second half two players down.

Daala has scored a touchdown in every game the Banshees have played, earning her the nickname 'Darling'. Her teamates were NOT happy about the injury, Bill.

Yes, which is why early in the second half, they ganged up on Fluffy, and a flying tackle by the remaining twin sent him to the hospital. Even so, the Rats managed an equaliser, and though the Banshees threw everything they had at the Rats, they were unable to score a decider, leaving the match as draw.

I think the Banshees just ran out of steam at the end of the game, they'd done too much running and taken too many blows. I don't think they'll be playing a double-header again. My sources do tell me is that all of their players will be making a full recovery before their match against the Glenwood Okes on Wednesday.

With the reputation the Rats have, I think the Banshees are counting themselves lucky to have both drawn the game and not have suffered a permanent injury. They lead the league, with 4 points, with the Green Unseen in second at 3 points - but the goblins do have a game in hand. It's all to play for! So, Erin, before we go, what are you looking forward to the most in the weeks to come?

I think the match between the Banshees and the Oaks! I don't think the Banshees will have an easy time of it, as the Oaks are better at punching though defenses than the other teams the they have enountered. Gildas Greenleaf in particular is a player to watch, as his passes are something special. How about you, Bill?

You know I love the twins, Erin. Hope to see them blitzing all over the field on Wednesday. But that's all we have time for folks! She's Erin Eventide, and I'm Bill Billingham, and this has been Blood Spatter!

Images from Games Workshop. More info on the Blood Bowl game at www.bloodbowl.com.

Warcraft/Age of Sigmar: Heroes of the Broken Isles

Bellowing an unintelligible warcry, the orc champion charged at Selena, slashing an axe towards her throat. But as the weapon touched her, the night aelf's form disintegated into mist, revealing her true location a few feet away.
"Deceitful witch!" yelled the orc, and swung at her again, but he was knocked off balance by an arcane bolt. The white-haired sorceress Lyana stood nearby, her staff glowing, a smirk on her face.
The orc turned towards the new threat, and swung a third time, but this time there was a blur of motion, and a fiery green blade parried the axe. A blind, shirtless aelf, covered in glowing green tattoos, and wielding a pair of warglaives now blocked his path.
"Go! You two can save the Ancient! I'll hold this one off."
'But..." started Selena. Her eyes swept over the battle in the field ahead. It was not going well. All the Sentinels and Black Guard were dead.  Only the spectral Nightwatch were still holding ground against the orcs, though as she watched, two of them dissipated. They would not last much longer. She hated leaving people behind, but the Nightwatch were cursed to haunt the realms forever - they could be temporarily destroyed, but they would return eventually. Selena turned to Lyana, who stretched out a hand. Selena grasped it, and the two of them vanished in a swirl of arcane magic.

Demon Hunter
Name: Cordon Shadowfury
Role: Hero
Warscroll: Witch Hunter
Made out of: Wild Riders, Sisters of the Watch, Black Guard, Chaos Warriors, Spirit of Durthu

Shadowfury was the first night aelf hero I built, constructed out of bit from all sorts of sets. His body and limbs are from Wild Riders, which, being mounted, are not really suited to standing. Fortunately, by placing him on a rusted metal thingy that comes in the treelord box, and using a bit of liquid green stuff to fill in the gaps, he came out ok. His warglaives are actually bows from the Sisters of the Watch box, with the arrows cut off, and donated to me by Brad. Warglaives in Warcraft are usually more glowing than actually on fire, but, hey, I have to work with what is available. Lastly, he has a Black Guard head, with a blindfold made of green stuff, and horns that I cut off a Chaos Warrior helmet (donated by Michael) and glued onto his forehead. Which was quite a delicate operation.

Shadowfury is currently dead, slain by Brad's orcs, but his death was not in vain - it gave Lyana and Selena enough time to escape. Of course, if you have played World of Warcraft, you will know that it is not very hard to bring demon hunters back from the dead. Initially I used Shadowfury to reperesent the aelf Assassin unit, but I've decided that when he returns he will be played as a Witch Hunter, cause they get bonuses when fighting daemons and spellcasters. The fact that Witch Hunters have a ranged pistol attack was a problem for me at first, but now I've played one in Warcraft, and discovered that they can throw their glaives at things, and it turns out that in Age of Sigmar pistols and thrown weapons have the same 9" range. He doesn't have the aelf keyword sadly, but that's ok, aelves don't really like demon hunters anyway.

Keeper of the Grove
Name: Califax
Role: Hero
Warscroll: Archmage
Made out of: Wild Riders, Dryads, Branchwytch

Though he looks pretty impressive, Califax was not very hard to make. All I did was cut of the head of a Wild Rider mount, file off its saddle, and then stick the body of the Wild Rider onto the remains of the mount's neck, using an arm from a Sylvaneth Dryad to depict his tree-claw. Finding a good warscroll to use him for was much harder. I was planning on making an archmage model based on Farondis from Warcraft, but then I discovered that the Archmage unit can be given a mount for free, and there's no real drawback to it, so why would you play an unmounted Archmage? I was annoyed about this until I realised that Califax would make a pretty good mounted Archmage instead.

Califax joined the army after Lyana and Selena rescued the Ancient Protector (a treelord), forging an alliance between the ancients and the night aelves.

Shadow Warden
Name: Mirana Starlight
Role: Hero
Warscroll: Tenebrael Shard
Made out of: Anointed, Wild Riders, Black Guard, Spirit of Durthu.

Making a Warden was the hardest of . I knew from the beginning she would use the speedy, teleporting Tenebrael Shard warscroll, but actually making a model that had the unique armour and weapons of the Wardens was quite a challenge. Her body is that of the unmounted Anointed from the Flamespyre Phoenix box. Her head is not actually a head at all - it's from the top of the Wild Riders banner, with the antlers cut off and replaced with a Black Guard ponytail. The arms are also Black Guard. The closest I could get to a crescent umbra weapons was to cut a piece out of the sword from a Spirit of Durthu.

Mirana's job is not to take out heavily armoured units. Those will most likely survive her attacks and then hit her back, which is bad. She is really good at taking out lightly armoured units - battleline units, artillery crews, and wizards with bad saves.

Priestess of the Moon
Name: Selena Starlight
Warscroll: Loremaster
Role: Hero


This one was easy mode, as the Mistweaver Saih model looks a lot like a Moon Priestess. She lacks the tiger and bow, but that isn't very representative of how Moon Priestesses act in WoW anyway. That pic is not my actual model, which is still unpainted. It is the colour scheme I intend to use, however. I am torn between using her as an actual Mistweaver Saih (which is a pretty cool wizard) and finding a priest-keyword warscroll to use instead. It doesn't help that Moon Priestesses in Warcraft appear to be some sort of cross between a druid and a priest.

Highborne
Name: Lyana Lunastre
Warscroll: Sorceress
Role: Hero

For thousands of years the night elves banned arcane magic, sticking to druidry and holy magic. But recently the Highborne who survived secretly places like Dire Maul and Suramar have returned to night elf society.  Lyana represents this reborn aspect of the night aelves - and hails from Surmar, where the night elves were altered over time by magic use to have blue skin and white hair. She is also the strategist of the group, able to give orders to the battleline and other non-hero units.