Games Workshop Thanquol & Bone Ripper Skaven Warhammer

Our Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review By: Kelly

The mighty Boneripper protects his master Thanquol with his savage bulk and a choice between Warpfire Braziers and Warpfire Projectors. Thanquol has some amazing fluff written around his addiction to warpstone, which fuels and boosts his megalomania, paranoia and fantastic spell casting abilities.

He can cast two spells in your hero phase and unbind two spells in your opponent’s hero phase as well and the Warpstone Addiction rule gives him an automatic spellcasting reroll on a 2+ but on a 1 he can’t cast anything. Boneripper can drop an automatic 2d6 (two six sided dice) wounds with his Warpfire Projectors, which is savage to any unit that comes within 8” of them. The Warpfire Braziers net you 4 attacks with d6s hitting on a 3+ with -2 rend and a whopping 3 damage each. Either choice works well and can consistently deal damage so pick the one that works best for your play style.

Thanquol and Boneripper are a beastly Hero Unit choice for your Skaven army in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar and are a great pick as your general with a Command Ability granting a 6+/5+ invulnerable save to any unit. Thanquol’s Warp-amulet allows them to heal a wound every hero phase, as well making them tough to kill without consistent damage being done. Just keep him in range of some blocking support to keep powerful ground units away from him while Thanquol unleashes his powerful spell-casting and Boneripper hoses anything down that gets close with the Warpfire Projectors or smashes them into piles of goo with the Warpfire Braziers.

The kit itself is well designed and fairly easy to build with the normal patience and time miniature modeling requires. There are only a few joints that may require gap filling during construction and they are small enough that Games Workshops Liquid Greenstuff works great to fill them in. Games Workshop recommends and age of 12+ for the majority of their products, but younger kids can still paint them after an adult handles the hobby knife and plastic glue putting the kit together.

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is a fantastic fantasy miniatures wargame, with many different armies and army themes to choose and build from. Miniature wargames are a combined hobby of miniature modeling/painting and an exciting, strategic, dice based simulated battle.

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February 18, 2019 0

Dungeon Roll Dice Game

Our Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review by: Kelly

Dungeon Roll by Tasty Minstrel Games is a fantastic dice rolling, dungeon delving game for one to four players and a recommended age range of eight plus. However, with some minor coaching, our six-year-old Robby was able to pick it up and play easily.

In Dungeon Roll each player has a character they play (the player type can either be handed out randomly, or chosen by each player depending on the rule set you choose), which hearken to the types of characters you’d see in a Dungeons and Dragons style game. Each have different passive and active abilities to aid your party in the dungeon.

One of the fun aspects of this game is that every player gets to takes turns being the Dungeon Lord (Dungeon Master). The Dungeon Lord rolls the dungeon dice to reveal monsters to slay, magic scrolls and potions. Meanwhile, the challenging player tries to defeat the dungeon levels and collect treasure and XP.

Our son had a great time being the Dungeon Lord and rolling the “bad guy” dice for Mom’s party to fight. He did sometimes find it hard to remember to advance the dungeon dice as the levels increased, but with a little coaching, he was able to make it through the full game like a pro.

It took us a few rolls to get the game-play down, but once we did, we all had a ton of fun. The game gets into a rhythm as play goes around the table, turning Dungeon Roll into a quick-paced game for family game nights. It would be a fun transition game to play between your favorite card games and board games, as play typically lasts fifteen to thirty minutes.

Dungeon Roll is also quick to learn and accessible for a new players. Dungeon Roll originally came to life on Kickstarter and crushed their goals early in the campaign. Dungeon Roll was so successful that it’s now available just about anywhere that board games and card games are sold. Check out Dungeon Roll for yourself and see if it fits into your family game nights as well as it does ours.

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February 18, 2019 1

Games Workshop Nighthaunt Hexwraiths

Our Rating: 5 of 5

Review by: Kelly

Hexwraiths are an amazing cavalry battleline unit for a Nighthaunt allegiance army in games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. I have to admit, i’m massively biased when it comes to Hexwraiths, I absolutely love them! And Games Workshop indulges my love of Hexwraiths with the Deathriders Battalion Warscroll in the Citadel Nighthaunt Battletome.

The Deathriders Battalion include two units of Hexwraiths (I run two units of ten), A Black Coach and one or two Dreadblade Harrows (I run them both and call them the Murder Bros). All of the units in the battalion get plus one to their charge rolls. And if they roll a nine plus on the charge, they can immediately pile in and fight a round of combat. This is amazing because they can still be selected to pile in and fight as normal during the Combat Phase. I run a two thousand point list based on this battalion and it is tons of fun!

Hexwraiths are available in units of five in their own box and in the Start Collecting: Malignants box. They have two wounds each, a whopping twelve inch move, and a four plus save. They have four attacks split between their Spectral Scythes and their Skeletal Steed’s Hooves and Teeth with fairly modest attack profiles. But the Spectral Scythes do automatic wounds on a hit roll of six. The unit leader is a Hellwraith and gets and extra attack with his Spectral Scythe. To top that off, if you make a move across an enemy unit, roll a dice for each Hexwraith that passed through an enemy model on a five plus the unit suffers a mortal wound.

I like to charge them in for a round of combat, then move through the unit im fighting, do those extra mortal wounds, charge, then pile in and attack again. I back up each unit of Hexwraiths with a Vampire Lord ally (only available through Games Workshop) to give them extra attacks and bring back dead models/heal lost wounds. Always ensuring the Hexwraiths are dealing damage and staying at a reasonable unit strength.

Hexwraiths are an amazing option for your battleline units in your Nighthaunt army for games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. They are a must buy to at least have a fast, heavy hitting unit for capturing objectives or flanking enemy units.

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February 18, 2019 0

Games Workshop Age of Sigmar: Stormcast Eternals Judicators

Our Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review by: Kelly

Games Workshop Judicators, like Liberators, are a battleline unit for Stormcast Eternals armies in games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. However, Judicators are a ranged unit equipped with either Skybolt Bows or Boltstorm Crossbows. One in every five models may instead be armed with a Shockbolt Bow for extra hits or a Thunderbolt Crossbow for an almost automatic D3 wounds on large model count units.

The leader of the unit is Judicator-Prime who gets plus one to hit with his weapons. Boltstorm crossbows are the option for down and dirty encounters with their lowered range of only twelve inches compared to the Skybolt Bow’s range of twenty-four inches. However, the Boltstorm crossbows get one extra attack if the unit didn’t move during the movement phase. This allows the crossbow equipped Judicators to really put out a hail of withering fire against enemy units.

The reduced range of the crossbows can open up your Judicators to being charged and bogged down in melee. I find it very effective to screen them with either a unit of Liberators or some Paladin Protectors. Add in a hero or two, like the Lord-Castellant, and you can fairly easily lock down an area of the battlefield.

Being able to take Judicators as a Battleline unit opens up some interesting possibilities for shooting army of Stormcast Eternals. Especially with the recent Stormcast Eternals Sacrosanct Chamber releases, you can really build a mostly shooting army pretty easily. Units such as the Celestar Ballista & Castigators go really well with Judicators in this case. I’m personally planning on setting up a shooting army of Stormcast Eternals with twenty Judicators, three to four ballistas, some Castigators, a Lord-Ordinator general and some Vanguard-Raptors and Vanguard-Hunters.

Judicators are a great ranged option for your Stormcast Eternals Armies and are pretty flexible depending on how you want to play them. The sculpts are beautiful detailed as we have come to expect with Games Workshop’s models. The only issue I have with the kit is that there really isn’t a lot of variety of poses with the models.

I would have liked to see a few more dynamic shooting poses with them. But Games Workshop fixed that desire with the release of Castigators. Castigator’s easy to build kit and their standard kit have different poses with some models holding their bows in the air or aiming and feature both male and female characters. It’s so much easier to build a unique and varied looking unit with access to that variety. Definitely check out Judicators if you are planning a Stormcast Eternals army for your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

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February 18, 2019 0

Games Workshop Warhammer 40k: Knight-Vexillor

Our Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review by: Kelly

The Knight-Vexillor is a great support Hero for your Stormcast Eternals armies in games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. The Knight-Vexillor’s sculpting is gorgeous and fits in well with the Stormcast Eternals esthetic. Games Workshop has done a great job, as usual, designing the look of the Stormcast Eternals.

The Knight-Vexillor can then either take a Meteoric Standard or a Pennant of the Stormbringer. The Meteoric Standard allows the Knight-Vexillor to call down a fireball during your hero phase by picking a point with twenty-four inches of the model. Every enemy unit within 2D6” of that point suffers D3 mortal wounds. This is a great ability to soften up some frontline units or a hero ball.

The Pennant of the Stormbringer allows the Knight-Vexillor to teleport a friendly unit to any point on the battlefield as long as it is more than nine inches from enemy units. Again the model can only use this ability once per battle. This ability can allow you to suddenly pop a unit behind enemy lines or to a previously out of reach objective giving your Stormcast Eternals some great flexibility to redeploy mid battle.

No matter which one you take, after you use the once per battle ability, the Knight-Vexillor can still give units charge rerolls with their Icon of War ability as long as they are within eighteen inches of the Knight-Vexillor. The Knight-Vexillor is fairly decent in combat himself as well with four attacks hitting on a four plus and wounding on a three plus and one damage each. The Knight-Vexillor only costs one hundred and twenty points in pitched battles making it a great filler hero for rounding out a list where all of your other needs are met. Check him out for your Stormcast Eternals army in your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

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February 18, 2019 0

Games Workshop 40K Age of Sigmar Stormcast Eternals Paladins Retributors

Our Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review by: Kelly

Paladins are a must buy for your Stormcast Eternals armies for games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Boxes of Games Workshop paladins can build three different sects: Retributors, Decimators, and Protectors. No matter which version you choose, these big boys have three wounds each, a four-inch move, a four plus save and are bravery seven. Each type of paladin is equipped with a different weapon. These weapons give the paladins amazing flexibility in their role on the battlefield. This allows you to build a versatile army built of primarily paladins since you can take two minimum units of Judicators for your battleline units in a Stormcast Eternals allegiance army.

Two in every five models of paladins can take a Starsoul Mace. In general, you’ll want to take the maximum number of Starsoul Maces. They do an automatic D3 wounds per Mace on a hit roll of a two – five. On a six they do D3 plus one wounds instead and a hit roll of a one misses. Starsoul Maces are consistent damage output for units of Paladins, no matter which variant you take. The only time I don’t take maces is with Decimators.

Decimators are equipped with Thunderaxe’s that make a number of attacks equal to the number of enemy models within two inches of each Decimator. Up against large blobs of enemies, Decimator paladins do exactly as their name implies, they are capable of completely destroying a large blob of one wound low bravery models in one round of attacks. And Decimators reduce the bravery of enemy units in the battleshock phase by two, increasing the chance of extra models running away.

Protectors are equipped with Stormstrike Glaives with a whopping three inch range. Stormstrike Glaives are designed to deal massive damage to monsters with their Deathstrike ability. Deathstrike turns hit rolls of a six into d6 damage instead of one. Stormstrike Glaives also allow Protectors to knock missle weapons out of the air with their Storm-shield ability, giving them plus one to their saves against shooting attacks as well as boosting the save of any units being shot at that are wholly within six inches of a unit of Protectors. Taking Starsoul Maces are a great option with Protectors for consistent damage output against a variety of enemy units.

Retributors are equipped with Lightning Hammers that do two damage with each hit and do an automatic two mortal wounds on a hit roll of a six. Retributors are the best all around version of paladins for doing consistent wounds to just about any enemy unit they get in close combat with. They have the shortest range of any of the paladins at one inch. Taking the maximum number of Starsoul Maces with units of Retributors is pretty much required to boost the damage output of the unit.

Paladins are more or less required when building armies of Stormcast Eternals for your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Their flexibility means building at least one unit of each type a must for your collection. Further boxes can be collected to build up an army of mostly paladins which can be great fun on the battlefield. These boxes also contain a ton of extra bits making them useful when kitbashing or converting other models. Paladins were once available in box by themselves in a unit of five models you could build into any type of Paladin. They were also available in the Storm of Sigmar box in a unit of two Retributors. If you’re lucky, you can still find them in the Stormcast Eternals Start Collecting box in a unit of two Retributors.

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February 18, 2019 0

Games Workshop Warhammer Spirit Hosts

Our Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review By: Kelly

Games Workshop Spirit Hosts are a fun little unit for your Nighthaunt army in games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Spirit Hosts are available in a unit of three in their own box and in the Start Collecting: Malignants box. Units of Spirit Hosts can be any number of models but I highly recommend taking them in a minimum unit of at least three. A unit of three is only one hundred and twenty points per the 2018 Generals Handbook which makes this the perfect filler for that last bit of points in your list. And boy are they worth the points even in units of only three.

Spirit Hosts are also a battleline unit if your army has the Nighthaunt allegiance so taking massive amounts of them and spamming their crazy six attacks per model is viable. Spirit Hosts are tough with three wounds each and a four plus save. While they only hit on a five plus and wound on a four plus, their number of attacks generally guarantees wounds going through every round of combat. And if the hit roll is a six, they inflict an automatic mortal wound!

The sculpts of the models are really cool looking with each model having three spirits floating around with their Spectral Daggers. However, whoever designed the model and build instructions was a sadist. There are so many little bits that you can accidently break off cleaning up leftover sprue on the pieces. And there are several points where you have to glue pieces together and let them sit for a while before gluing on the next piece. This makes building the models themselves a rather tedious and delicate process. And they are as delicate once built as a lot of other Nighthaunt models, so they have to be more carefully stored and transported.

Spirit Hosts are a fantastic option for your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar by Games Workshop. They do well as long as you take at least a minimum unit of three, and can really put the hurt on in units of nine or twelve. Check them out for your Nighthaunt army today!