I loved Warmaster when it came out. There was something about the scale of the battles, the fluidity of the rules that made it the perfect package for me. I played it a lot. However I think the last time I played a game against another person was at Winter Warmer 2008. Or just over fifteen years ago.
However the rise of the 3D printer and the availability of some great STLs means a resurgent interest in the game. I'm lucky in that I have a load of original metals, mostly painted, so I can just get on and play. But I lack opponents, however Matt and Martin were interested enough to indulge me and came over for a game.
The community seems to have largely moved to the free Warmaster Revolution set so that was the rules we'd be using. I ordered a physical copy from Printpond which cost just over a tenner and arrived within 24 hours. Bargain.
I would be taking Empire and the two Ms would command the Chaos force.
The view from the Empire side.
I took a hero on Griffon. Because cool. And a big block of knights. For the same reason.
I also had a Steam Tank. Turn one the General tried to order it and rolled a double six. Fortunately Generals can't blunder. Unfortunately the Steam Tank's special blowing up rules overrule the no blunder rule. So the Tank wouldn't be moving for the rest of the game. Sigh.
The general's failed rule rather stymied any advance on my right.
Over on my left the Chaos Marauder horse bravely charged the knights. I'll win this easily I thought.
Reader I did not win it easily.
Back on my right the hero attempting to command the pistoliers (just out of shot on the right) also managed to blunder, giving them a permanent -1 command penalty. Double sigh.
The Chaos forces had no such trouble rumbling up and their Deamonic general positioned himself in the centre.
The knights v. horse fight chugged on into a second turn.
More poor command left the infantry straggling behind.
Finally the pistoliers made progress but I had flyers (harpies technically) in back field.
Finally the knights started winning
I detached some crossbows to see off the flyers.
But they only drove them back to the very edge of the board.
Suddenly Chariots were bearing down on the guns.
Unfortunately they came to a halt in a somewhat exposed position.
Some of the White Wolves pulled back to preserve themselves
As the Chaos Knight cavalry arrived to show the Empire how it should be done.
The remains of the Chariots were blasted back by the canon and helblaster.
The super annoying flyers finally charged home.
The Empire knights were being beaten up
Both heroes had joined the fight.
And then my camera ran out of power!!!
I grabbed one more picture with my phone, which shows the infantry battalion on my left finally contacting the Chaos central battalion. The Flagellants certainly handed it out in the first round, but were then ripped apart by vengeful Marauders.
Soon after this we called a halt (Martin's Sunday dinner was getting cold)
The Empire had lost slightly more units, but were further from their break point. The Chaos forces had more potent troops remaining though. Probably a minor Chaos victory.
It was great to get Warmaster out and on the table after so many years. The manoeuvre and scale were every bit as great as I remember. The combat did seem to bog down and be a bit fiddly. Partly i think that's because we were checking a lot of things, as well as getting quite a bit wrong it later turned out. But also I think my gaming tastes have moved on to simpler fare. But that's a minor quibble - I really enjoyed it and hopefully I'll be able to persuade the chaps to play again soon.
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