Warhammer Armies: High Elves - A Review

A few weeks ago, the eagerly anticipated High Elves 7th Edition hit the GW shelves....except for me where it hit my letterbox a few days before it hit the shelves. Nevertheless, whether it hit the shelves, your letterbox, the door or any other part of a building that involves postage delivery, the HE book did not disappoint.

Rumours that HE would be the next armybook released after the Empire were afloat as early as January this year. Had the expansion Mighty Empires not been released we'd likely have seen the HE hitting the shelves back in June. Regardless, it was worth the wait. The book comes in at a whopping 104 pages, the largest army book in both ranges. It's not only filled with the standard army list and painting guides, it also boasts a huge background section, detailing the tales of the Elves from the first Phoenix King Aenarion, right up to the present day Finubar aswell as describing the heroics of the previously minatureless Alith Anar and the revival of the 5th Edition character Eltharion the Grim.

Whether you're a Warhammer buff or not, if you're a fantasy fan this book is certainly worth the read, if only for the history section. I would even suggest that the Warhammer world is a "more truthful" fantasy than LoTR could ever be. The distinction between High Elves, Wood Elves and Dark Elves is made more clearer than ever in this edition, both in the history and the armylist. The fabled "War of the Beard" (the war between the High Elves and Dwarfs) takes a minor role in this edition, and instead, the authors put more emphasis on the continued fighting between the High Elves and their bitter cousins the Dark Elves.

Keeping in mind that Warhammer is a game the developers went about pressing home the ruleset of the HE, truly making them a distinct army and yet keeping them faithful to the background. The first key area this arises in is the controversial Speed of Asuryan rule, which grants every HE unit the "Always Strikes First" special rule. This basically renders the advantage of an opposing army making the charge against the HE useless, as they will strike first against you anyway. The best visual analysis to justify the idea comes from the opening scene of the Fellowship of the Ring. True the HE in the LoTR are nothing like the ones of the Warhammer world, but the idea of the High Elves being an elite exceptionally trained martial force is pressed home time and time again in the background, and the developers justifiably incorporated this into the rules. This was further boosted by the HE being allowed to take 0-6 Special choices at 2000 points, aswell as moving White Lions, Silver Helms and Phoenix Guard to special choices aswell.

Despite Speed of Asuryan, the famous HE units also received upgrades. Swordmasters and Dragon Princes now have 2 attacks, White Lions have heavy armour, Phoenix Guard have a 4+ Ward save and Shadow Warriors have WS5. However, to balance this out most units rose in points cost, and Itihilmar barding was lost from the wargear completely.

Aswell as the upgrades, the HE received new units in the form of the Dragon Mages and Lion Chariot. Like the idea of the "elite army", Dragons played a key role in the history of the HE, and the developers introduced dragons back into the list. Both Princes and Archmages can now ride dragons for instance. The Lion Chariot is arguably the most original thing GW has ever done. Rather than have the classical chariot pulled by horses, they thought "Hey, let's do something different". The result was a chariot being pulled by white lions, and yes there is a connection to the White Lions mentioned for people unfamiliar to the game.

If I had to find one disappointment in the book it would be the inclusion of Eltharion the Grim. In 6th Edition, Eltharions rules had been rewritten as Eltharion the Swordmaster, who's background and history had been developed following the transition from 5th to 6th Edition. This character was far more interesting and to use the improper adjective: "more characterful". It was disappointing to see GW wipe his 6th Edition incarnation off the map, and forever lock him in history as Eltharion the Grim.

The range can be found here:
http://uk.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.uk?do=List_Models&code=300988&orignav=13

Truely GW have outdone themselves with this latest edition of the HE, and one would hope that the standard will be maintained for future releases next year and thereafter.

~The Damo

Top Ten Movie Fight Scenes!

I'll admit that I'm far from the greatest film connoisseur there is, in fact I'm probably the farthest thing from one and if you're looking for anything film related, then Catherine's blog is probably the place to be.

However, that being said, I enjoy my films. And who doesn't right? So I thought that for this Top 10, I'd do my favourite fight scenes. These aren't necessarily "The Greatest of All Time", hence why I averted to leave that out of the title of the blog.

These are my favourites, whether they're the ones I laughed at most or just really enjoyed cause they kicked ass!

So here we go:

10. Indiana Jones Vs Arabian Swordsman (from Raiders of the Lost Ark)


9. Maximus Vs Stupid Ass Gladiators (from Gladiator)


8. Happy Gilmore Vs Bob Barker (from Happy Gilmore)


7. King Leonidas Vs Persian Army (from 300)


6. Channel 4 Vs Channel 9 Vs Channel 2 Vs Public News Vs Spanish Language News (from Anchorman)


5. Rocky Balboa Vs Ivan Drago (from Rocky IV)


4. Beatrix Kiddo Vs Elle Driver (from Kill Bill: Volume 2)


3. Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi Vs Darth Maul (from Star Wars: Episode 1)


2. Neo Vs The Smiths (from The Matrix Reloaded)


1. Yu Shu Lien Vs Jen Yu (from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)


Running the Marathon in two years time with KT!

~The Damo

AVGN - Dragon's Lair

Afternoon all, the Nerd returns from a short break with a video as requested by all his fans of 'Dragon's Lair' on the NES, possibly the worst game ever made for the system. Seriously...that's not cause the Nerd is reviewing it!

Anyway, I also completed Call of Duty 4 and the review is on the way as well as some comments about Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga on PS3.

Enjoy:



Oh...and England were knocked out!!! Not that I can talk since Ireland were crap, but it's moments like last night that just make the week!

~The Damo

Blog Update

Apologies to all my fans but I've had much on my hands of late, be it college, football coaching, first aid, painting, etc and as such I haven't had much time to blog up here.

In news: my Warhammer Spearhead box set arrived with the glorious new High Elves book which I will discuss up here in the near future. My team remain unbeaten in the league with 5 out of 5 wins. Should you like to go see our home games in Beechfield Park let me know and I'll give you the details! Maria's birthday is coming up soon and I plan to lavish her with gifts, my sights are set on Diego's Adventure Base. (Yes it's a girls toy despite the boyish phrase "Adventure Base" in the name). In the John's the adult course has started and as soon as that is finished Paul has me set in line for an EMFR course!!!

In college....well nothing's really happened.

ANYWAY

In short I thought I'd give you an idea of what's coming up:

• The next issue of Grinds My Gears, delving in the vile world of the British Media
• Warhammer Armies: High Elves - A review
• Call of Duty 4 - a review...as soon as I buy it
• Top Movie Fight of All Time

That's all I think.

Don't forget to read the first Awesome Award blog below!!!!!

~The Damo

The First Awesome Award!!!!

Not being a particularly "awesome" person myself, in fact I've never been told I'm the "A" word...though I have been called other "A" words before, I thought that in my trend of doing blogs in series like GMG, Greatest of All Time and Top Ten's, I figured I'd start yet another series entitled "The Awesome Awards".

Just because I'm not deemed "awesome", it doesn't imply that I don't have a lot of awesome to give out. So, for the first award, I'm going to give this one to one of the most awesome people I know.

And the Awesome Award goes to....
Some of you know her, some of you don't. I wish I could lie and say that this person is so mysterious that if I actually told you her name I'd have to kill you and ergo I would have to kill myself because I wouldn't be allowed to know her name either BUT.....

The opposite is true. At least to me this person is far from mysterious, though I do question some of her quirks like the milk ordeal and the likes. But such a petty quirk fails to diminish the sheer awesomeness of this person! I should probably also mention at this point her incredible super powers aswell. Only recently did I send a text "Hey, are you coming online today?" and within a millisecond she was there online saying "Hello". As far as I see it this is either one of two superpowers: (1) Gift of foresight; that I was going to text or (2) Super Speed; receiving the text, turning on the computer and signing in all in a microsecond.

There's plenty of other things I can say about this lady, she's; charismatic, affectionate, tender, honest, exciting, respected, elegant, intelligent, nice and enamored. Whenever your in trouble, she'll be there - like Dangermouse, power house...he's the fastest he's the strongest he's the best!! Sorry, got sidetracked.....

She'll always listen to you whenever you want to say something, even if its the biggest piece of bullshit you've ever spewn out of your mouth in your life, which she usually responds with a "OOOOooooook" or a ":)". What more could you ask for from such an awesome gal?

Well she does have more! Whether it's an interesting story, or a slice of gossip, or maybe an enlightening film review she never fails to have something to say that will captivate you and further tip the awesome gauge that runs in everyones heads. Coming with this girl the package includes an expansive music taste which puts you and I and the rest of the world to shame, an incredible music talent that rivals the greats, an intellect sophisticated beyond its years leaving you enlightened and happy, a sense of humour only bettered by the great Clive Anderson, a personality that would woo in the most dashing of all Prince Charmings and a smile that could make you melt....if you were an ice cream ;)

You know who you are!

~The Damo

Lack of Posts....

Apologies to readers but I'm currently swamped with college work and study and hence have been unable to spend time writing anything decent up here.

In the meantime, enjoy this beginners guide to identify people by what they drink:


PEOPLE & THEIR DRINKS

A recent magazine survey, interviewed fifty bartenders and they were asked if they could identify a customer’s personality on what drinks they ordered?

Although interviewed separately, they concurred on almost all counts.

The results:

If Women Drink ...

Beer

Personality: Casual, low maintenance; down to earth.

Approach: Challenge her to a game of pool.

Cocktails or Blender drinks with umbrella

Personality: Flaky, annoying, dizzy, and a pain in the ass.

Approach: Avoid her, unless you want to be her cabin boy.

Mixed drinks - no umbrellas e.g.; Gin and tonic / Scotch and soda

Personality: Mature, has picky taste; knows what she wants

Approach: If she wants you, she’ll send YOU a drink.

Water

Personality: Pretentious and is looking for a serious relationship.

Approach: Don’t.

Wine - (bottled, not 4 litre cask)

Personality: Conservative and classy, sophisticated.

Approach: Try and weave Paris and clothing into the conversation.


Bacardi Breezer, Red Square, Archers Cooler, Smirnoff Ice, Mudshake etc.

Personality: Easy; thinks she is trendy and sophisticated actually has no clue.

Approach: Make her feel smarter than she is... and you’re in.


Cape Velvet

Personality: Annoying voice, bit of a tart.

Approach: Stand close and mention the alley next to the pub.


Shots and Slammers (Tequila, Vodka, Aftershock etc.)

Personality: Hangs around with male work pals or looking to get drunk...and naked.

Approach: Easiest hit in the pub, Nothing to do but wait.......

IF MEN DRINK... (As always, very simple and clear cut.)

Cider

He’s probably under-aged and wants to get laid.

Cheap Domestic Beer

He’s poor / student and wants to get laid.

Castle Lager Beer

He likes good beer and wants to get laid.

Imported Beer

He’s old; he likes good beer and wants to get laid.

Guinness

The man is a rapist and will get laid one way or another.

Water

He just threw up and is trying to wash the taste out of his mouth so that he can still get laid

Wine

He’s hoping that the wine thing will give him a sophisticated image and help him get laid.

Vodka or Brandy

Extremely horny hound, would shag a warm scarf. Desperate to get laid.

Port

Thinks he’s sophisticated, secretly likes men and wants to get laid.

Whisky

He doesn’t give two $hits about anything and will hit anyone who will get in his way of getting laid.

Jack Daniels

Not as masculine as the whisky drinker, knows all about feminine activities (knitting, crochet etc.) to weasel himself into getting laid.

Rum or Tequila

Likes fighting almost as much as getting laid.

Bacardi Breezer, Red Square, Archers Cooler, Smirnoff Ice, etc

He’s gay (blatantly) - don’t turn your back or pick up any dropped change.

Its true!!!

~The Damo