From StuartL - Oldhammer Lizardmen - The Challenge Star - 115 Points

Hello all,

My minion set me the challenge of painting up a unit of Lizardmen for the Challenge Star, based on my post for Noel's Comet.

Before I get to the actual models, I would just like to say one small thing. Warhammer Fantasy Battles was a terrible game. 

Don't get me wrong, the lore, the minis and the concept were all fantastic, but the game itself was (IMHO) terrible. For what was supposed to be a mass battle game, you had skirmish style individual model removal coupled with incredibly complex and restrictive movement rules. So you got a game where a unit of 5 goblins could send a regiment of heavy cavalry charging off in the wrong direction and as the game went on, you wound up with units of 3-4 guys taking their flags for a walk. When GW decided to nuke the Old World setting, I didn't lament the death of WFB as a game, but rather the fact that the company got rid of all the good parts of the setting along with it.

For fantasy games there are now a lot of clones, homages and fan-made versions of WFB, not to mention AoS. Having read through numerous sets of rules looking for that one game that could replace and improve upon WFB and sadly I haven't found one that really fits. Kings of War comes close, but I like a lot of interaction in my games and KoW doesn't seem to have much. Oathmark has some great minis, but it's another skirmish game wearing a mass battle hat.

As I mentioned in the Noel's Comet post, I was able to mix and match rules that I liked from a variety of game systems to put together a game that I (and my friend) wanted to play. We managed a few games of it and came up with a couple of rules tweaks that we were happy with in between Corona lockdowns. 

With my challenge decided, I dug out my old Lizardman army and got to work. As this is the first unit for the newly repainted force, it seemed best to lead from the front. Commanding the army will be a Slann Mage-Priest, being borne into battle by his Temple Guard. Any old school WFB players who haven't already closed this post in disgust will probably be frothing at the mouth at the addition of the most vile heresy of a round base. The Slann's original sceptre sadly broke off long ago, so I replaced it with a plastic part from another kit. 

One of the things I am aiming for in my own ruleset is having characters be more integral to units. So, I need a unit for the Slann to be integral with.

In my collection I have a bunch of old Temple Guard. Sadly I didn't have a unit champion, and I had to convert a standard bearer from some leftover plastic parts, but these 11 models will form the Slann's Honour Guard. 

I purchased a bunch of 150mm x 100mm bases from Warbases when I started this project and I plan to use them as multibase movement trays. I used Vallejo basing material to texture the base, leaving slots for the models to be put into. I also added a couple of little lizards as decoration, (In the bottom left of the pictures above and below), but I think I need to brighten them up a bit as they are kind of lost among the flock.

All of the models are based individually so that I can use them for skirmish games (Saga: Age of Magic primarily), but for my own rule set the unit will always be deployed in full, representing a larger regiment in the same way as most historical big battle games. When the unit takes enough hits or fails a morale check, all of the models will be removed at once. No more finishing the game with units consisting of one or two stragglers. Warbases also supplied me with some dice frames so that I can track the hits on a unit using standard GW dice. If GW does reboot WFB and IF I want to try it, I can use the dice on the tray to indicate ranks and files.

So, before the Oldhammer lynch mob catches up with me, I'd better check the points here. 

There are 15 Lizardmen warriors including the litter bearers. There is also the Slann atop the litter and the litter itself. If the litter is counted as equivalent to a 28mm mini, then there are a total of 17 figures in this entry.

17x 28mm minis = 85 points.

Challenge Star = 30 points??? I am not 100% sure about this, hopefully my minion can check it.

Grand total 115 points.

There are also several skulls here as the Lizardmen are all wearing skull helms, plus three other skulls dotted about for a total of 18 skulls.

Skullz Total 128

And that means that I have covered all of the planets in the Challenge XII Quadrant and the star itself. I still haven't taken a trip on Lady Sarah's Star Yacht yet, plus there are still a couple of weeks to go in the challenge. Provided that I can stay one step ahead of the square base fanatics I should still be able to reach my target of 2000 points.

A fearsome unit of Lizardmen and I love that blue Slaan.  I also really like that you're home brewing your own rules to suit you views and needs.  Perhaps you'll share them when you've got them fermented properly.

I'll let others take up the Oldhammer banner, but I will say that it's a matter of taste.  Historically WHFB was basically warmed over old school ancients rules such as feature in Donald Featherstone books (if you're as old as I that's where you started this hobby).  WHFB was never my thing, but the old school toy soldier rules were.  I've manoeuvred 48 man battalions of Airfix Napoleonics, played with 54mms, guessed ranges in 1:1200 scale Fletcher Pratt naval games and fired spring loaded cannons at toy tanks.  It's all good fun, but it requires the right mind set and has its limitations. 

Anyway, great work on completing your final challenge and stopping at everyone planet in the system along the way.  I am surprised that you've not taken a star Yacht ride yet, but since you've haven't skipped over anything you haven't needed to.