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I’ve been having a blast playing on the Silesian Trenchline scenery set for the last two weeks. Spoiler Alert: The set has been completed for quite some time now. That out of the way, let’s rewind a bit and get right back to where I left in the Silesian Trenchline part two article. That would be the undercoat…
In order to save time I prefer to get everything built first, then apply undercoat wholesale. This is where two 2×4′ folding tables and a set of thin HDF trays tends to come in handy. I go one tray / large piece at a time, spraying black undercoat where it’s required. I then set the tray on one of the tables and get another one. Once out of free space, I stack the trays on top of the previous layer, using small plastic cups as supports with a minimal point of contact. Fifteen minutes later everything’s nicely black.
For the painting process I went with a trusted, simple color scheme. The goal of which was to produce effective results while being easy to repeat across the entire set or to return to with any new scenery additions in the future (Such as the Antenna Cross added later on).
The core list of paints and a video tutorial following each step of the painting process can be found at Tutorial: Painting Trench Crusade Antenna Cross.
Easy to say the painting process was much faster than the building and modeling part. One to two hours of airbrushing followed by a few more hours spent on detailing. Finally a break after applying the AK Interactive Dark Earth texture on top of each piece, to come back another day and finish with a round of drybrush, apply varnish, add a few dozen Gamers Grass Brown 2mm tufts and call it done.
Although the Silesian Trenchline was complete and I had a few games on the set, the inspirational release never came. A few days later I still felt hunger for more Trench Crusade scenery for my tiny dudesmen to explore. The set felt complete and was pretty playable, but upon giving it more thought I figured to double down on some fancy centerpieces – or at least fancier than the ones I already had…
First, I added the probably most iconic Trench Crusade scenery piece – the Antenna Cross. I used a widely available STL with a few tweaks to increase playability and set the piece within my existing scenery set visual cues. A large wooden step around the base of the cross with a small sniper’s nest mid way up the cross and some Sandbags here and there made it work. I felt sated for the day…
The very next day, I had to come back to the project for another round. Got super inspired with a set of DIY objective markers seen at a local Discord – just had to make a set of my own. Nothing special, just a mix of resized 3d printed weapons, crates, ammunition and candles. I threw in a Meshmixered statue of Saint Karen – Patron of Supplies Acquisition, for a strongly themed secondary centerpiece.
Done in two hours, with a bit more work put into making the objective markers pop on the gaming board, finally put my scenery hunger to rest. For now…
This is it. The Silesian Trenchline is now ‘fully’ completed, ready to be fed the blood of plastic fighters. Will it ever get expanded? Maybe, but I already moved on to more projects, including half a dozen commissioned lightweight Trench Crusade scenery sets. I also feel like putting a lot more games in, before deciding what scenery might improve the playability on the Silesian Trenchline. If you have any fun ideas – be sure to drop them in the comments below. Until then – keep your helmets on!
hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
It has been a few days in the grips of the Trench Crusade fever. The squad and I had a few games, and went deep into the no man’s land. With the construction of the Silesian Trenchline (part one) we have crossed the point of no return. In order to finish the scenery set and be able to play the game for real, an array of proper peripherals and extras had to be made. So here we are…
I kicked off with a set of most essential peripherals, being the walkways, ladders and firing steps. These are necessary to get the most out of the entire trench line. Fortunately they are also fast and easy to make.
For the walkways I used two thin pieces of 3mm thick plasticard to support the length and adhered some broken stirring sticks on top. I was considering cutting the sides to fit the ‘rails’ underneath but ended up liking the ramshackle look.
The ladders were made by gluing a few steps on top of two, precisely cut, stirring sticks. I then glued decorative halved balls to fake nails. Not very realistic, but a cheap additional detail to spice things up.
Finally I used the leftover sides of the XPS foam as the base for the firing steps. These got cut into 4″ and 6″ long pieces then covered with PVA glue and stirring sticks one side at a time. Once properly adhered, the stirring sticks got nipped off. The process was then repeated on another side until completed, resulting in a set of very light, but durable firing steps.
The Extras such as damaged barrels, stacks of ammo crates etc. are great to hinder miniatures movement and provide some additional cover on the board. Most importantly this type of scenery adds much needed detail to the composition and can be moved around easily for best visual results.
I used a bunch of 3d printed elements (full list at the bottom) and mounted them on a 3mm thick plasticard with cyanoacrylate glue. I then added some small gravel and poured thin cyanoacrylate on top, sealing it with an activator. This created extra texture and volume around the 3d printed objects. I then cut off the excess of the plasticard, forming an irregular shaped base for each piece. In my opinion this makes the scenery look less artificial and allows for individual pieces to be combined into larger shapes by siding them with one another.
The scenery set was taking shape, but it still lacked the most important thing – the ‘soul’. The Trench Crusade follows a certain artistic theme and I wanted to tap into it and create some memorable centerpieces. Elements of scenery not just to steal a glance or two, but seem significant on the gaming board. To try to achieve this goal I have built two shrines, by breaking and mixing 3d printed elements with stirring sticks. I then based both of them on 3mm plasticard, then combined them with two smallest pieces of the trench wall – both of which have a straight vertical space designed for this particular purpose. Gravel and super glue followed to build volume and texture.
No proper Trench Crusade board should be devoid of Bunkers and I have added three 3d printed pieces to the set. All properly based on 3mm thick plasticard and surrounded with extra details. I used this opportunity to introduce two rows of anti-tank fortifications to go alongside one of the bunkers, further enhancing the militaristic theme of the set.
In order to push the overall theme of the set one step further I glued a few dozen sandbag barricades along the trenches with the PVA glue. Initially I planned to keep these separate, but a few test games convinced me otherwise. The reduction of modularity was a fair price to pay for the decreased setup time, comfort of use and improved transportation.
With everything built and ready, the undercoat followed. A lengthy process of mounting every scenery piece on top of a tray with two sided tape, then spraying black undercoat all around. I do like my undercoat done right after all…
And with that out of the way the only thing left seem to be the painting process, but this I will leave for the next article – coming soon. In the meantime feel free to engage with me about this project at Scarhandpainting social media or down in the comments below. I’d be happy to chat 😉
List of used STL files:
Sandbags & Barrels by DICEVERSE
Bunkers by GRADDESIGN
Tanktraps by BIMBUSPRINTABLES
Cannon Ammunition Crates by MKHAND_INDUSTRIES
Cannon Shells by MKHAND_INDUSTRIES
Artillery by ALPINEWEISS3D
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
The Trench Crusade got me my friends. Apart from the allure of the online hype, a lot of my buddies spent the last few weeks entrenched in mud, inviting me in. I gave up and fell victim to their plea for reinforcements. If you follow my blog for a while, you already know that when I get into a game I go all-in, thus here we are – I am making the Trench Crusade gaming board. Now put your helmets on and follow me into the Silesian Trenchline.
Usually, when planning a scenery set for miniatures wargaming, I start by making a rough sketch, or set up a provisional board to gauge how much scenery elements feel right. With the Trench Crusade, the community is wildly creative. Scrolling through some amazing examples of gaming boards online I got an idea of how much stuff there should be and how I’d like to approach things. I purchased a few pieces of 50mm thick Styrofoam (XPS foam), a large bottle of PVA glue, 1L of brown acrylic paint, few packages of thin wooden stirring sticks and got to work.
The core concept of the board was to have it modular, but not limited to square panels. The brilliant idea of creating trenches via stacking walled hills on top of the battlefield really spoke to me thus I went with that. I’m not one to sit down and precisely measure stuff and prefer to work fast and intuitively. The way I do things is cut a single piece of material, then use it as a measuring tool and cut the rest following the lines of the template and a piece of straight board or something currently at hand. I find minor lapse in precision working for the visual benefit and realism of the scenery set. This is what I did, cutting a single 4×4″ triangle and using it as a tool to mark core shapes in XPS. Once done I cut out the shapes with a wallpaper knife.
For the angled sides of the ‘hills’ I marked the top of each piece with a marker, following a previously cut piece of XPS about 1″ wide. This way I had the top of the slope, the supposed bottom being the actual edge of each piece. I then cut, focusing on holding the knife in a steady position and following the imaginable angle between the two lines, not caring if I made any slight errors on the way.
Once I had a few core shapes I set them up on a 4×4 gaming mat in order to see how the set ‘feels’ and how much I need to add to reach the goal.
I wanted to have my ‘trenches’ textured with something simple, but effective and look rough. I chose to go with gluing texture on top of the walls with PVA glue. For this I cut old wallpaper alongside a piece of badly damaged transportation paper into strips slightly wider than the height of the ‘walls’. Glued them one at a time on each scenery piece, then upon reaching the second round I used scissors to cut off the excess of the dried out piece, before adding another one beside it.
I then used a large synthetic brush and sealed everything with a mix of PVA glue and water. Left it to dry afterwards.
Once the scenery was completely dry, I used a portable gas burner to diversify the texture on top of each piece – done outdoors. I then used PVA glue to mount some roughly cut stirring sticks in semi regular intervals on the sides of the trenches. Finally, using Super Glue, I glued a lot of these 3d printed crosses on each wallpaper covered side, then cut the bottom excess using clippers. This provided a visually interesting setting composition with just enough detail to fit the world of the Trench Crusade, but not too much not to stand out from under the actual scenery.
The final step for the day was to seal everything again. I mixed water, PVA glue, brown acrylic paint and fine decorative sand then used it to apply texture on top of each piece. I then added a bit more paint and water into the mix and gave the sides a spin. With the help of my valiant daughter we’ve done another round just to build up volume and increase future durability of the scenery.
The pieces got stacked on top of one another and left to dry through the night, while I sat down to tinker with some extras, mainly walkways, ladders and trench platforms, but I will leave that for the upcoming Special Project: Silesian Trenchlines part two – Peripherals and Extras.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. Today I’m here to share some of my maritime experience.
In my opinion the Armada is as balanced and close to being perfect as a miniatures game can be. That being said, there’s always room for improvement. In my opinion it lies within the responsibility of the local game animators to adjust any game to better suit their community. On top of being a member of the Mantic Rules Committee for Armada, I have been running successful Armada Events for years now. Being so invested in the game I am constantly at the hobby frontlines, talking game balance with players, resolving rules issues and more. This led me to pinpoint a few neuralgic areas that might unintentionally lead to a slightly worse game experience. Below is an Unofficial Errata, very well received by my community, that I am using at local events. Some of these might or might not find their way to the official Mantic Games errata, nothing is certain. For now you are welcome to use these rules changes in your local games of Armada.
Throughout my personal Armada experience the Collisions is the part of the rules that both my community and the players online seem to have the most problems with. Resolving Evade/Collision related movement might at times be unintuitive and when abused, by more experienced players, allow to set enemy ships on a Collision course on purpose (As described in the Collisions Baiting article). Because of that I tidied up the ruleset to resolve most issues:
Collisions – Evading (p20RB): Replace the second paragraph with the following:
However, if the ship doesn’t have the Movement value to clear the other ship in the current Move Step, it must instead stop just short (a few mm) of actual contact with the other ship. The Activating ship must now turn the smallest amount possible, and enough to just clear the other ship and any other obstacles with the remaining movement value in its current Move Step, even if this means turning further than would normally be allowed and through the bases of the other ship and the obstacles themselves. It can then continue the rest of its Activation as normal.
In a rare scenario when it is clear that no amount of turning will see the active ship clear of the other ship and all potential obstacles, the initial Collision cannot be Evaded.
Collisions – Colliding (p20RB): Replace the fifth paragraph with the following:
The Activating ship must now turn the smallest amount possible, and enough to just clear the other ship with its next Move Step, even if this means turning through the base of the other ship. The activating ship does not continue any further movement for this Move Step.
In case the turn to clear the other ship is blocked by any obstacles from both sides, do not turn the active ship and set its Speed to Anchored instead.
Examples:
Example A – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned left, the shortest possible* route to clear the other ship.
*Following “Ships cannot normally move or turn through other ships or
terrain (see Collisions on page 20).” from page 16 of the Rulebook.
Same result if the test to Evade was failed.
Example A – U.Errata:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned RIGHT, the shortest possible route and through the other ship to clear it.
Same result if the test to Evade was failed.
Example B – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned right, the shortest possible* route to clear the other ship. There is another ship in the way. What happens? Another test to Evade? If passed, is the Active ship bumped back to the previous course, the shortest possible route to clear the second ship?
*Following “Ships cannot normally move or turn through other ships or
terrain (see Collisions on page 20).” from page 16 of the Rulebook.
Same question if the test to Evade was failed.
Example B – U.Errata:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned LEFT, the shortest possible route and through the other ship to clear it and any surrounding obstacles.
Same result if the test to Evade failed.
Example C – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It can barely turn left and right as both sides are blocked by other ships. How should this be resolved in accordance to the rules?
Same question if the test to Evade failed.
Example C – U.Errata:
Same as B after the change.
If the test to Evade was failed, after a Collision the activating ship is left in place and its speed set to Anchored.
Example D – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It then turned right, the shortest possible route to clear the other ship. There is a Sandbank in the way. What happens? Another test to Evade? If failed, does the ship roll to Cross the Sandbank?
Same question if the test to Evade failed.
Example D – U.Errata:
Same as B after the change.
Same result if the test to Evade was failed.
Example E – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. It can then turn either right or left, the shortest possible route to clear the other ship. One side is blocked by another ship, the other by Rocks. What happens if the active ship turns into rocks? Would assume a Collision. If turned left to another ship, another Evade test then if passed bumped back?
Same question if the test to Evade failed.
Example E – U.Errata:
Same as B after the change, except due to same distance the active ship can choose direction.
If the test to Evade was failed, after a Collision the activating ship is left in place and its speed set to Anchored.
Example F – Current Ruleset:
Active ship X passed a test to Evade and stopped short right before the other ship. How to turn it to clear the other ship?
What if the test failed, a Collision ocured and the active ship must be turned to clear the other ship with any future Move steps? There’s no room to do that.
How to even resolve this?
Same question if the test to Evade failed.
Example F – U.Errata:
There is no way for the active ship to turn, ignoring the other ship and any obstacles to clear them. Test to Evade automatically fails. Collision occurs, after which due to all sides being blocked the active ship is left in place and its speed is set to Anchored.
Sometimes, because of multiple negative To-Hit modifiers, stacked on top of one another, it is impossible to hit a closest ship. The rulebook does not allow to ignore such targets, resulting in situations when Inexperienced and Regular crewed ships can be completely blocked from shooting at an entire enemy fleet, because of a single Small target in the way. With fleets such as the Twilight Kin and the Trident Realms introducing additional negative To-Hit modifiers it seems important to resolve the issue…
Gunnery Skills (p22RB): Ships with Inexperienced and Regular crews, must target the closest available enemy ship in each fire arc (that is at least Partially Visible – see opposite). If the closest enemy ship is a Squadron (Tiny), has Surrendered or is Grappled with a friendly ship, or requires a roll of “11” or more to-hit, it can be ignored however, and the next closest enemy targeted instead.
Veteran crews may target any enemy ship in range in each Fire Arc (that is at least Partially Visible) if they successfully pass a Skill Test (for each Fire Arc being used). If the test is failed, the closest enemy ship must be targeted as described above.
In order to level up the playing field for the Ghost Fleets I have added a small change to the Spectral Form rule. Previously the rule allowed for the enemy ships to move through the Ghost Fleet ships freely, all the while banning the Ghost ships themselves from doing so. Additionally it was too easy to set up a line of ships to sling shot enemy ships into Rocks or through the board’s edge (As described in Movement Slinghshoting article). Now neither Ghost Fleets nor any other fleet can set up a collision course on purpose, unless RAM (x), and both will have to pass a Skill Test to Evade before passing through one another.
Spectral Form: If a ship from this fleet Surrenders, is Grounded, or its SPs have been exceeded, remove the model from the table. Ghost ships do not suffer or inflict collisions with other ships. Instead, if the Evade test is failed, the activating ship completes its move as normal. If the activating ship would not end clear of the other ship, add enough movement until it does end clear, and then continue with the Activation. Each ship passed through (including the Ghost ship) will cause damage equal to a D10 plus its own CS to the other ship. e.g. An Elohi with CS 4 collides with a Spectre with CS 6. The Elohi inflicts 1D10 + 4 damage to the Spectre, and the Spectre inflicts 1D10 + 6 damage to the Elohi. Tiny ships take and inflict half damage (rounding up). Note that Ghost ships cannot deliberately ram/pass through an enemy ship. Ghost ships can never be set ablaze. Ghost Fleets always have Regular Crew, and this cannot be changed.
Got expanded in order to remove some bad game experience shenanigans from the game. No more “Dwarf Hunter Torpedoes” previously allowed by the rules as written.
Oars/Engines (p.36RB): Add the following paragraph:
Please note the Oars/Engines turn, at the start of a move step, cannot be used to set a ship on a Collision course in its next move step (unless another rule allows for a second turn between these move steps).
Q: Is it obligatory to use Oars/Engines before the move step if it allows to avoid a potential Collision?
A: Yes, unless another rule such as Ram (X) allows the ship to collide on purpose, it is obligatory to use the Oars/Engines if it allows to avoid a Collision.
Addressed a few Fleet/Ship Rules and Upgrades that required attention. Done in a way that does not meddle with points values.
Elohi’s “Halo of Light”: If upgraded with Aegis Shield, add +1 to the amount of Damage that is reduced and lower the Damage requirement to use the reduction to 5 or more Damage.
Yinn Greythunder: Once per game, this ship may fire twice from one of its gun positions, but with an additional -2 to-hit modifier.
Kopeshii’s “Terror”: Enemy ships must re-roll successful Curse of Undeath Skill Tests when involved in Boarding Actions with this ship. This Ship has Ram [1] special rule and Grappling Hooks for free, not counting against the normal upgrade limit.
Baanshe’s “Banshee’s Wail”: Enemy ships suffer a -1 to-hit modifier on any Boarding Action attack rolls they make, while within 3″ of this ship.
Neddlefang’s “Attrition”: Friendly ships add 1 damage (to a maximum of plus 3) to any normal Shooting attack (from a Weapon Position) for each other Friendly ship with this rule within 6” (the attack must cause at least 1 damage itself for this to count). Extra damage is not added to results on the Critical Hit table. Add extra damage after any multiplication (such as Point Blank and Raking fire).
Ocarina of Korgaan (p.43RB): Once per game, instead of Rolling for Wind, so long as the ship with this Upgrade is still in play on the table, the owning player may choose to use the Ocarina of Korgaan. If so, first pick the clockwise or counter-clockwise then roll a D10 and Move the Wind Rose that many compass positions in the chosen direction. This may be done from Turn two onwards (unless the scenario being played has other winds rules in place for that Turn). If both players have this upgrade and want to use it in the same Turn, roll a D10 each. The player with the highest score gets to choose this Turn. The losing player may then use the upgrade in any following Turn.
Contrary to the above, this section presents the ideas of rules updates that can be used to modify your games, similar to Full Wind Rules (Rulebook), Night Fighting (Seas of Dread) or Random Winds (Seas of Dread). The rules that got changed are working correctly and as intended, but can be adjusted for a more smooth gameplay and a slightly different tabletop experience.
The Indirect Weapons missing and then scattering seems like a cumbersome, time consuming and rarely effective ruleset. It takes a lot of effort to implement and rarely produces any real impact on the game state. Still, it is a major component of the Indirect Weapons identity and for this purpose, instead of removing it completely, I have decided to rework the rule.
Indirect Weapons (p.25RB): Replace the first paragraph with the following:
If an Indirect Weapon misses on a natural roll of “1” it will scatter towards another close target. The Indirect Weapon will then hit any ship within 3” from the initial target (chosen at random in case of multiple ships within that range). If there are no ships within 3” of the initial target ship, or the only ship within 3” is the firing ship, the shot misses instead.
Additional notes: Even though it might seem like the Indirect Weapons got straightforward better with the additional 10% to-hit chance, when there’s a viable secondary target in range – it can easily be played around by keeping ships in a wider formation. Moreover, getting close to enemy ships seems like a viable tactic to protect against Indirect Weapons and creates an opportunity to ‘score’ extra hits against the enemy fleet with their own guns. Furthermore this change incentives Regular and Veteran crew IDW platforms, above quantity.
Ships on Fire is a rather contentious part of the Armada ruleset. In some situations the game forces players to choose between two bad outcomes, by either crashing into terrain, or risking an expensive ship being removed from play due to a bad roll of “1” on a D6. At the same time risk adds excitement and provides a memorable cinematic moment. To mitigate the impact, but keep the spirit of the rule in place I have made the following change:
Ships on Fire (p.28RB): Replace the fourth paragraph with the following:
If the test is failed, the ship will suffer D3 Damage if Tiny or Small, D6 Damage if Medium, and D10 Damage if Large or Extra Large. In addition, if the Skill Test rolls a natural 1, the fire reaches the ship’s ammunition and the ship is immediately Crippled (suffer additional Damage to reach the Nv), or if already Crippled it explodes instead! All other ships within 4” of the exploding ship suffer D10 damage (roll separately for each ship). The exploding ship is destroyed, remove it from play.
The Fliers is a mostly forgotten addition to the game brought in with Seas Aflame book. Because of a rather strict movement ruleset combined with a movement related attack requirement, the Fliers struggle to deal consistent damage and follow up their targets. The below change is meant to add movement flexibility and skirmish opportunities more in line with Fliers fluff and role they are meant to fulfill on the gaming board.
Fliers Movement (p.6SA): Replace the second paragraph with the following:
To change direction, once during their Activation the fliers turn on their centre point in the same way that Squadrons do. However, they must move at least 4” forward in a straight line before they can execute a turn.
Hover (p.6SA): Replace with:
If a flier has the Hover special rule, it can turn at any point during its move and can ignore the requirement of a minimum of 4”, moving anything between 0” and up to its full Movement value.
A fun way to mitigate luck factor and give players a batt to bonk lucky opponents with…
Whenever a player scores a Critical Hit / Crushing Blow on an unmodified roll of “10”, they take one of the Cursed Charms and add it to their pool, up to a maximum of ten Cursed Charms held by each player at any given time. Cursed Charms can then be spent by the opposing player to pay the cost of the following actions:
3 Cursed charms: Force the opponent to re-roll a single die.
5 Cursed charms: Cancel one opponent’s re-roll ability (such as Master Gunner, or Mastery of Flame).
7 Cursed charms: Force an enemy ship to automatically Fail a Skill test roll (Including Nerve Tests).
10 Cursed charms (held by the opponent at the end of the game): Earn 1VP
A tool to mitigate the Ghost Fleets low interactivity based playstyle and provide incentive for a more aggressive play. A nod towards beginner players who oftentimes jump into the game with a Ghost Fleets only to find themselves fielding one of the most skill dependent fleets. Finally a fix to the Wards of Binding, making this 5pts. cost upgrade actually worth the points.
Add the following Fleet Special Rule to the Ghost Fleets:
Shimmering Specters: If a ship from this fleet is destroyed, except if either Surrendered or Grounded, roll a D10. On a roll of “9” or “10” do not remove the ship from the game. Instead the ship remains in the game with half of its starting SP rounding down, Crew Level reduced to Inexperienced and Speed set to Steady. This ship then counts as Activated until the end of the next Turn.
I will keep the above list up to date, adding and removing things if they happen to show up in future Errata so stay tuned and remember – this is all Unofficial, to use at your discretion.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said, I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in the rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. Today I’m here to share some of my maritime experience.
Armada is a fast and relatively simple game to play. So far the Mantic games have done an amazing job keeping the rules mostly smooth and the faction balance in place. Still it is a wargame with (as of today) rules spread across three books and fifteen factions. With such a wealth of rules there is no way to avoid a few niche rules interactions that might feel a bit unintuitive to newer players, such as Baiting Collisions and awkward Visibility cases to name a few. This is also the case with ‘Slingshooting’ – an interaction allowing players to increase movement of their ships by leveraging Move based rules to sail through friendly ships.
There currently are two fleets capable of Slingshooting: the Tridern Realms (Fully Submerged) and the Ghost Fleets (Spectral Form). They both follow a similar slingshot mechanic, but with its own set of pros and limitations.
Fully Submerge, the Trident Realms faction rule
“Trident Realm ships can automatically Fully Submerge to avoid other ships that they would otherwise collide with during their own activation, as long as the Trident Realm ship can be placed with its rear base edge a few mm clear of the other ship, following the same initial trajectory. This completes the movement of that Move Step, and the ship continues with its normal activation. Any Shooting attack during this activation will be with an additional -2 to-hit modifier. This modifier is not cumulative with the -1 to-hit modifier for having rolled to evade during the activation. If the ship cannot be placed with its rear base clear of the other ship, the normal evade procedure must be undertaken. A Trident Realm ship may only Fully Submerge once during its activation.”
The Trident Realms ships are allowed to completely avoid one Collision per Activation, but going under and effectively moving to the other side of the obstructing ship instead. The procedure works as follows:
Although the Fully Submerge rule allows to avoid collisions, the Trident Realms ships are still a subject to the Avoid Collisions While Moving rule (Rulebook p.16) stating as follows:
“If it is not the last Move Step in a ship’s activation, ensure its forward movement in the next Move Step will not result in a potential collision (with terrain or another ship). If this would result in a potential collision, alter the ship’s turn to avoid this as much as legally permitted.
Sometimes however, due to forward momentum, lack of turn angle, poor planning or just bad luck, collisions will be unavoidable (see page 20).”
What this means is, even though the Trident Realms ships have a tool to “avoid other ships that they would otherwise collide with“, Rules as Written, they are still not allowed to set themselves for a “potential collision” during Move Steps other than the “last Move Step”.
Trident Realms painted by Michał “MiSiO” Ciemniewski
Example A: During Activation a Gun Turtle (Main Battleship M) sets itself up 4,5″ directly in front of a Giant Squid (Main Battleship L). When activated, during first Move Step the Giant Squid is on a collision course with the Gun Turtle, elects to Fully Submerge and moves behind the other ‘fish’ adding the length of both the Gun Turtle’s and its own base to the movement, effectively doubling the movement in this Move Step. It then continues the Activation as normal.
Trident Realms painted by Michał “MiSiO” Ciemniewski
Example B: An enemy Abess (Main Battleship L) is positioned so that the Giant Squid (Main Battleship L) will inevitably end its first Move Step within the Basilean ship’s Broadside Arc and possibly trigger a Fire as She Bears salvo. The Wyrm-Drawn Sloop Squadron (Support Ship T) Activates next. To avoid the Basilean trap the Trident Realms player moves the Squadron 4,5″ in front of the Giant Squid. The Giant Squid Activates next and elects to Fully Submerge moving behind the Squadron and finishing Move Step outside of the Basilean Broadside Arc.
Even if the Basilean player decided to use Fire as She Bears against the Squadron, the Giant Squid would end up safe.
The Fully Submerge Slingshooting is free of any downsides other than planning ahead of time and setting up miniatures to be able to benefit from the extra movement. Depending on situation you can set up a fast smaller ship ahead of a heavier, much slower and much more melee capable fish, such as a Lieviathan, to close the distance in a single rapid hoop. What if it allowed the Larger ship to attempt a Grapple after an extended Battle Speed, when it would otherwise be unable to reach near the target? Or, when threatened with a Fire as She Bears, move chaff in the way to Slingshoot a more expensive ship beyond the enemy Broadside Arc. Sleazy fish tactics, or just naval superiority of the Trident Realms?
Spectral Form, the Ghost Fleets faction rule
“If a ship from this fleet Surrenders, is Grounded, or its SPs have been exceeded, remove the model from the table. Ghost ships do not suffer or inflict collisions with other ships. Instead, the activating ship completes its move as normal. If the activating ship would not end clear of the other ship, add enough movement until it does end clear, and then continue with the Activation. Each ship passed through (including the Ghost ship) will cause damage equal to a D10 plus its own CS to the other ship. e.g. An Elohi with CS 4 collides with a Spectre with CS 6. The Elohi inflicts 1D10 + 4 damage to the Spectre, and the Spectre inflicts 1D10 + 6 damage to the Elohi. Tiny ships take and inflict half damage (rounding up). Note that Ghost ships cannot deliberately ram/pass through an enemy ship. Ghost ships can never be set ablaze. Ghost Fleets always have Regular Crew, and this cannot be changed.“
The Ghost Fleet ships do not suffer Collisions with other ships, but pass through one another by adding movement necessary to do so. The procedure works as follows:
On most occasions this will happen naturally on a Ghost ship’s Activation – an Enemy ship is in the way, Ghost ship moves through, they both deal damage to one another, end of story. To avoid dealing devastating damage to the enemy fleet there’s a limiting factor in place in the form of “Note that Ghost ships cannot deliberately ram/pass through an enemy ship.”, similar to “Players must avoid deliberately ramming or colliding with other ships and terrain, unless a rule says otherwise.” from Collisions section in the Main Rulebook. Note the Spectral Form’s choice of words, that refers to “enemy” ships exclusively. This means that although passing through friendly ships will still cause damage to both ships, the Players are allowed to deliberately position their ships and move through friendlies.
Example C: With its second Move Step a Phantom (Main Battleship M) sets itself up on a ‘collision*’ course with a Spectre (Main Battleship L) at a distance of 4,5″. On its next Move Step the Phantom will move 4,5″ and through the Spectre adding the length of both the Spectre’s and its own base to the movement, effectively doubling the movement in this Move Step. Both ships will deal damage to each other.
*Ghost Fleets ships are unaffected by Collision rules with other ships. I used ‘collision’ for a lack of a better term.
Example D: With its second Move Step a Spectre (Main Battleship L, base length about 4″) sets itself up on a ‘collision*’ course with a Shadow (Support Ship T) at a distance of 3,5″. On its next Move Step the Spectre will move 3,5″ and through the Shadow adding the length of both the Shadow’s and its own base to the movement – BUT – there is another Shadow in the way (further 3,5″ away) and then a Wight (Support ship S) another 3,5″ further. The Spectre would effectively multiply its movement exponentially, but will damage and in return be damaged by all three friendly ships.
*Ghost Fleets ships are unaffected by Collision rules with other ships. I used ‘collision’ for a lack of a better term.
Although much more risky than the Trident Realms Slingshooting, the Ghost Fleets mechanic has some niche uses. For starters let’s say that in the last turn of a seemingly lost game of ‘sink and survive’ type Scenario, the Ghost Fleets player may want to sacrifice some chaff (T ships are usually worth 0 VP when destroyed in such scenarios) to position the active Large / Extra Large ship in range of all weapons and try to sink a barely afloat enemy ship/s. Or in a ‘area control’ scenario friendly ships can be used as a springboard to Slingshot the active ship into the VP worth area on the board. Niche? Yes! But can it be meaningful? Definitely, to a point of winning the game with. Food for ghostly thoughts.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in the rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. Today I’m here to share some of my maritime experience.
With new book on the horizon, new fleets on the way, introduction of STL files, easier than ever rules accessibility via Mantic Companion and finally Warhall, the Armada has entered a golden age. I would bet my boat that the number of games played across the globe will increase drastically. This is mainly due to the influx of new players coming into the game on a wave of excitement.
I know for a fact that some games of Armada can sometimes drag a bit, but it does not have to be this way. In order to keep the games fast paced and fun for everyone, especially new players, why not try to speed up your play like a pro?
Below I will present to you a few tips that changed the way I play miniatures wargames, that I then implemented to improve time management during my Armada experience.
Know your fleet
Knowing your fleet and especially rules available in your list is the key to maintaining a smooth thought process when strategizing. Sure, checking stats of particular ships mid-game is a common thing, but fleet-wide rules and important upgrades should be engraved in your memory before the game. This will also help prevent decision paralysis, that is one of the most prominent Player Downtime* factors.
*Player Downtime is when one player is forced to wait for the opponent, with no interaction between the players.
Skip on Ship Cards
Ship cards look cool, but result in a messy, difficult to manage lists with all the counters, upgrades and stuff just mixing around. Instead I recommend using either printed lists or the Mantic Companion Play (beta) app. Not only will all upgrades be in place, but also stats will get adjusted automatically (Sturdy Construction, Ogre Mercenaries), plus you will be able to skip on most gaming tokens. Printed lists are very pencil friendly (damage, fired, blaze, surrendered), whereas MC Play allows to track everything in-app. No need to search and adjust tokens means less wasted time.
Keeping Stuff Organized
Keeping tokens, turning arcs, templates and dice well organized is key to avoid searching for particular game aid mid-play. This can be done before the game, but I also advise putting an extra effort to move things back to their designated area after using them. This way they will be there next time you need them.
Single shot Dice selection
There’s really no need to pick a particular colored dice for a single shot. Same goes for multiple shots of one weapon type (like 4H broadside). Grab any D10 and roll!
It might also be applied to two weapon types rolls of uneven number of shots. Like if you fire two H and one C, two dice of color A plus one dice of color B will leave things obvious without the need to waste time searching for appropriately colored dice. A heads-up in line with “Blue is L” when rolling will clear things out even further.
Single Dice Rolls and Mods
While on the topic of dice rolls, skip on counting Mods for single dice rolls before the roll. More often than not the result will be obvious, like if you try to hit with Indirect Weapon against a faraway, fast moving, partially visible target and roll 5 or lover you don’t even need to to count the Mods and waste your time. Same goes for Nerve Checks, Evade Rolls and other Skill Tests of either “1” or “6”. These two results alone transfer to 33% chance of saving time counting Mods if you roll the Dice first.
Speed and Damage counters
If there’s one thing that really slows things down in Armada, that would be speed and damage tokens management. The solution would be to use either multi faceted dice, or special counters. There’s plenty of these available on Etsy. Alternatively a sheet of adhesive tape and erasable pen will make your life so much easier.
Laser Pointer
Flat line laser pointer is a precision tool, perfect to manage activation order and firing arcs. With this puppy you will save time otherwise spent on moving around the table with a tape measure, or eyeballing and arguing over activation lines. You can grab one from The Army Painter, or google search for alternatives.
Chess Clock
No, I ain’t suggesting you play with a chess clock, switching time with your opponent. Chess clock is just a fine tool to have standing and running beside the board in order to better manage remaining time. I find the sole presence of timer ticking down to be good for motivation and decision making.
Reference Sheets
It’s always good to have a copy of the Rulebook at hand, just in case. Still, when it comes to consulting the reference sheets the main book might be a bit unwieldy. This is why I recommend printing a copy of Reference Sheets. Can be done in horizontal two on one pages setup to save space around the gaming board. Checking Wind roll, Critical Hits, Boarding Actions and Weapon ranges will become as easy as glancing sideways.
Marking Deployment
To ease the decision process for deployment it is good to mark the entire Deployment Zone beforehand. This way you will outright see all the available space to deploy your ships to.
Shoreline markers
Marking Shorelines ahead of time can be a great help. Skipping on all the measuring will definitely ease the decision making and speed up the game. Shoreline markers can be made with thin translucent plastic, acrylics or just sheets of paper and they do not have to be precise. In my opinion WYSIWYG* Shorelines are fine, even if not precisely 2″ wide around the island, as long as both players agree on it before the game. Personally I use ”Round Acrylic Disc F” from Amazon. These are 1mm thin round acrylics and they have met with fantastic reception at the latest local Armada event and in-house games.
*What you see is what you get.
Rapid Deployment / Let’s Move Out!
While on events, be sure to carry your miniatures in a way that allows for fast deployment. It can be anything from a simple flat pad, up to a professional miniature carrying case. Anything that does not require you to wrap/unwrap your miniatures every time you start a game is a win.
On that note, remember to grab all your stuff and put it in one place right after the game. Once the next round of pairings is out, everyone will start to move around, searching for their appointed tables. Nothing worse than arriving at the game table only to wait for someone else to come back from a smoke break and start packing their things.
Try Not to Overthink It
Armada is meant to be fun, for both players. Try not to overthink your play and just go with the flow. The more games you play the better you will become at managing your ships. Being human means learning by making mistakes. You need to make some in order to grow as a player. It is an integral part of evolving, adapting, and overcoming.
Now you have the tools to Speed Up Your Game. Let me know if there’s anything I missed. I would also love to know if any particular advice is new to you. Until then – have a great Armada gaming!
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Transporting your miniatures should be smooth and easy. No company seems to embody this philosophy better than A-Case. A relatively small company from Poland, dedicated to producing the very top miniatures transporters. Their entire shtick revolves around magnetism and believe me – Once you go magnetic there’s no going back!
A-Case is best known for their Hybrid series magnetic cases, coming in four different types (and sizes), but there’s more to the line than meets the eye. Lately the company released a Magnetic Token Box, a peripheral accessory fully compatible with their cases. The item is a huge step in improving the comfort of miniatures transportation. Today I will focus on this awesome gadget and present to you its many advantages.
The Magnetic Token Box is an accessory dedicated to transporting a variety of wargaming peripherals, be it dice, laser pointers, gaming tokens and more. Each box is 3d printed with an integrated powder coated metal lid. There are five strong magnets mounted in the underside to immobilize the box inside an A-Case transporter or on top of one another. Boxes come in four colors (Red, Blue, Black and Grey), each 18cm long, 12cm wide and 3cm high (about 7x5x1″). Within you will find adjustable compartments consisting of five powder coated metal walls.
Magnetic Token Box is more than just your typical dice/token holder. It has a wide range of features. The most interesting of, are compatible with the magnetic theme of the A-Case products.
Although I have purchased both boxes used in this review fairly recently, I have been using the beta version of the Magnetic Token Box since last year. I have provided feedback, then watched as the design evolved through multiple iterations, new features being added, size adjusted. I can only say that the actual product got optimized to a point where I consider it perfect for wargaming related needs. The quality is great and the long list of features and possible uses is just mind blowing. It is also pretty well priced for what it offers. Magnetic Token Box is LEGO level of brilliant. I wholeheartedly invite you to try the product out.
I hope you find this review interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. Today I’m here to share some of my maritime experience.
Brutal naval warfare of Armada is pure chaos. Ships colliding with one another is a common sight on the gaming board. Even though the rules forbid colliding on purpose* there are ways to exploit collisions for an advantage. This strategy is known as Collision Baiting and I will show you how to execute it, as well as what is and is not permitted by the rules.
*Unless special rules allow it like RAM (x) etc.
Avoid Collisions While Moving, Rulebook p.16
“If it is not the last Move Step in a ship’s activation, ensure its forward movement in the next Move Step will not result in a potential collision (with terrain or another ship). If this would result in a potential collision, alter the ship’s turn to avoid this as much as legally permitted.
Sometimes however, due to forward momentum, lack of turn angle, poor planning or just bad luck, collisions will be unavoidable (see page 20).“
Collisions Rulebook, p.20
“Players must avoid deliberately ramming or colliding with other ships and terrain, unless a rule says otherwise. Orcs for example, delight in the carnage caused by ramming their ships into the enemy!
However, on occasion, a newly Activated ship may have no option but to collide (perhaps due to poor planning!).
Only consider the bases of the ships (or terrain features) involved when checking for collisions.
If faced with more than one accidental collision target, the player using the Activating ship can choose which one to hit.”
Rules out of the way: During ship’s activation and when moving a ship, a player is not allowed to set a collision course for the NEXT MOVE STEP on purpose, unless there is no other choice or the ship has a special rule that would otherwise allow it. This does not affect the last Move step.
Some basic examples below.
The Gur Panther, moving at Battle Speed, just moved it’s first Move step. With a 30* turn the Gur Panther is capable, and so it must set a course to avoid a collision before it’s second Move.
The Gur Panther moving at Full Speed, that had just made it’s first Move. There is no immediate collision threat for the next Move, thus the Gur Panther does not have to turn and is allowed to maintain it’s course. It is legal to stay on course, even though, due to lack of other options, the ship will be forced to collide during third Move step.
After second Move the Gur Panther find’s itself in a position where it cannot avoid a collision. It is forced to stay on course and suffer the consequences.
The Monolith made a final Move of it’s activation. During final Move the ship is not forced to avoid potential collisions and can instead ‘prime itself’ for one. With favorable winds and failed Evasion tests the Monolith will crash into the Gur Panther on it’s next activation.
This example shows an “honest mistake” referred to by the rules. Let’s say the wind blew from the North. Gunbrig moved Full Speed to set itself between the Soulhunter and the Gur Panther. Being a small (priority) target makes it more difficult to hit by the Soul Hunter and with wind blowing from the North the plan is to activate right after and move out of the Gur Panther’s way. But oh no! The wind changes direction to North/East. This means the Gur Panther is to activate first and the Gunbrig is in it’s way. A potential collision is imminent.
We now know that under normal circumstances a ship is not allowed to deliberately move to collide during it’s activation. Still this leaves the doors open for a little exploitation. Players are allowed to set up their ships in the way of incoming enemy. This strategy is called Collision Baiting and apart from potential damage and negative mods dealt to enemy ship, it can also prematurely end it’s activation!
The basics is simple: End your ship’s Move upfront and close to enemy ship in a way that will force an Evasion test. If both ships fail their tests – CRASH!
This can be used to deal damage to enemy ships, but also disrupt (end) their next activation. More so, even a passed skill test to Evade will stack a negative -1 To-Hit mod on the enemy ship and can result in course alteration, forcing it to head out for another potential collision! Furthermore a ship cannot shoot throughout the Move step when it Evades.
Few examples below.
The Gur Panther finished it’s Move in front of Drake. Drake activates next and is forced to Evade and risk a collision. The Drake will suffer a -1 To-Hit for all it’s shooting and potentially suffer damage wasting it’s entire activation.
A Sloop Squadron finished it’s Move in front of Drake. Drake activates next and because Sloop Squadron is a Squadron, the Drake can elect to auto fail it’s Evasion test. If the Sloop Squadron fails as well, the resulting collision will not end Drake’s activation, but will still deal some damage and a -1 To-Hit mod.
Collisions with Squadrons do not force enemy ships to alter course, deal only half the damage and do not end ship’s activation. Still the -1 To-Hit mod can make a difference and the enemy ship will not be able to shoot during this Move step.
The Gur Panther decides to implement some nasty tactics. It ends it’s final Move step in front of Drake and in a way that will force the Extra Large ship to Evade. If any of the two succeeds Evasion Skill Test, the Drake will turn the minimum distance to clear the Panther – and as a result head straight for the Rocks. Rocks cannot be Evaded and apart from dealing damage and ending Drakes Activation, they will also ground the ship for good. Just brutal!
Now you know the variety of Collision Baiting tricks. Set sail and make enemy ships suffer. Just make sure not to set up in front of enemy ships with RAM (x), as the result might surprise you… in a bad way.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Carrying your miniatures around should not be a challenge. No need to waste time and risk miniatures getting damaged with foam or other old school transportation methods. Once you go magnetic there’s no going back – at least for the vast majority of us, hobbyists. And when it comes to magnetic it would be difficult to argue the A-Case is at the very top of the food chain, producing high quality, stylish and user friendly miniatures carrying cases.
Today I will present to you the latest A-Case’s release – the “Carrier” magnetic backpack for miniatures.
Side note: Before we dig in, please allow me to emphasize that the reviewed item was purchased and not a gift. That being said, throughout the years of using A-Case products I got to personally know the owner and we became real life friends. I am a big sucker for anything A-Case, do my best to support the company and as such, my opinion is surely compromised.
That out of the way, let’s focus on the backpack itself. A-Case Carrier is a fourth magnetic transporter for miniatures in the current “Hybrid” series . It follows the same design philosophy. Black, powder coated and lightweight aluminium frame inside a poliester binding. Three to six removable shelves and some metal pins to lock them in place. I have already covered the basics in previous A-Case Review, but what sets this particular model apart is definitely it’s size. 39,5cm height, 19cm width and 15cm depth of transportation space packed within a more or less 45cm x 35cm x 20cm backpack with straps and extra pockets. Thanks to increased height the Carrier can pack anything between a skirmish and a medium sized forces from any mainstream range. Plus, being a backpack, is is very comfortable to carry around.
The Carrier, just like all other A-Case transporters, is very user friendly. This includes a simple and intuitive build, presented below:
The A-Case Carrier seems like the very peak of magnetic transportation. I know for a fact that the designer had put a lot of thought into its creation. I myself had thoroughly tested the beta and must admit that all the extra features, size and weight had greatly exceeded my expectations. Still, what some prefer, others might find to be inconvenient. For the purpose of this review I will set aside the basic pros and cons of magnetic transportation and focus on immediate differences between the Carrier and the rest of A-Case’s range.
The Carrier expands Hybrid series range in a previously unexplored direction offering a relatively compact, airline friendly, carry-on size combined with extra height and additional peripheral space. Suitable for both skirmish and low points battle sized games, it is a transporter that you can simply put on your back and take to a gaming event. In my biased opinion, the Carrier is a fantastic miniatures transporter and I am very happy with the purchase. Once again the A-Case did not disappoint.
I hope you find this review interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. Today I’m here to share some of my maritime experience.
Visibility rules in Armada are pretty straightforward, still every now and then I meet new players that get confused. In this article I would like to provide a little breakdown with solid examples. Hopefully this will help everyone to understand how Visibility and Partial Visibility works in Armada.
Visibility, Rulebook p.23
“A target must be at least Partially Visible in order to fire upon it.
Taking a bird’s eye view, if no line can be drawn in the Fire Arc from anywhere on the base of the shooting ship to any part of the target’s base without crossing another ship, model or terrain feature, then visibility to the target is Blocked and the ship may not shoot it.
When shooting, if either or both the following conditions are true, the target is Partially Visible to the weapons firing from a position/Fire Arc. The target may be fired upon, but it will be more difficult.
When checking Partial Visibility in other situations (e.g. Nerve Tests, see page 29), only consider the first condition above.
In all other cases, there is Full Visibility to the target.”
Right off the batt the Visibility rules focus on Partial Visibility and when it occurs, rather than the other way around. Allow me to provide a different approach to explain the rules.
If you CAN’T draw an unobscured line from any point of your ships base to any point of enemy ships base there is NO visibility.
If you CAN draw an unobscured line from any point of your ships base to any point of enemy ships base there is PARTIAL visibility.
Furthermore, if you CAN draw an unobscured line from any point of your ships base to MORE THAN HALF enemy ships base AND MORE THAN HALF enemy ships base is WITHIN your ships Fire Arc, there is FULL visibility.
In short: In order to achieve Full Visibility you have to be able to ‘see’ more than half enemy ships base and more than half of enemy ships base must be within Fire Arc of your ship. For anything else than Shooting you only need to ‘see’ more than half enemy ships base to achieve Full Visibility.
Take note that in order to shoot at an enemy ship, it must first be within the Weapon Position’s Fire Arc at least partially.
Now’s time for some in-game examples.
Example A: Monolith vs Boomboat
One condition met.
Result: Partial Visibility.
Example B: Monolith vs Boomboat
Both conditions met.
Result: Full Visibility.
Example C: Monolith vs Boomboat
One condition met.
Result: Partial Visibility.
Example D: Boomboat vs Monolith
One condition met.
Partial Visibility.
Example D might seem a bit counterintuitive. Both ships are broadside to broadside and it might feel odd for the Boomboat to be shooting at a -1 To-Hit, but this is how the rules work. In the other hand this approach simplifies things for general gameplay and works well within the core game mechanics.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
