Finally!!! WFB Armies Stygian

[StygianBeach]

So I have finally made a real start in making my own custom Warhammer Armies book.

The army is from another gaming system, but that system is no longer in print sadly. I apologise if people think this is a reference to the Stygian from Conan.

The Stygian in this case are Snake/Lizardmen with an Egyptian theme to them.

They were released as an expansion to the Chronopia Wargame in 1998.

So far I have only made the cover and thought about the Stats for the grunts. Bascially the army will be Fast and HtH orientated, kinda like an army of big Skinks. However most of the book has not been written, but Slow progress is better than no progress.

[StygianBeach]

Okay, so I have finished 1 page. This is the Entry for the Basic Stygian Warrior. After looking at it I think it needs a border, but apart for that I think it looks okay...

Any feedback would be appreciated... spelling errors... crap written fluff.... Dont agree with the Stats or special rules... or like it...

Onto the next unit...

Double post for the win!!!!

[sulla]

Leap; s3 impact hits from the entire unit would be quite powerful I think. The warhammer convention is generally for only the front rank to inflict impact hits, rather than the whole unit. Consider 40 models all doing an automatic hit before the combat proper has started...

Other than that, they are 2 attack s3 models with only moderate initiative and (I imagine) not much armour to protect them. The fluff mentions poison and hw,shield for the talons and a bunch of stuff for the normal warriors, but with those stats it would be halberds/great weapons as the pick of the bunch depending on the initiative of your opponents.

Other than that, the rules are fairly minimalist, which is good. Pricewise, I would compare them to 8th ed orcs. You have higher Mv, ws, I, A and Ld, plus impact hits but don't get the choppa rule so you would be looking at a fair bit higher than them. Will that make the army too small visually? If so, you may need to reduce a few of those stats.

Development wise, small numbers of good but fragile troops lead to glass cannon type armies which win big or lose big depending on enemy shooting/magic.

[StygianBeach]

Leap; s3 impact hits from the entire unit would be quite powerful I think. The warhammer convention is generally for only the front rank to inflict impact hits, rather than the whole unit. Consider 40 models all doing an automatic hit before the combat proper has started...

Other than that, they are 2 attack s3 models with only moderate initiative and (I imagine) not much armour to protect them. The fluff mentions poison and hw,shield for the talons and a bunch of stuff for the normal warriors, but with those stats it would be halberds/great weapons as the pick of the bunch depending on the initiative of your opponents.

Other than that, the rules are fairly minimalist, which is good. Pricewise, I would compare them to 8th ed orcs. You have higher Mv, ws, I, A and Ld, plus impact hits but don't get the choppa rule so you would be looking at a fair bit higher than them. Will that make the army too small visually? If so, you may need to reduce a few of those stats.

Development wise, small numbers of good but fragile troops lead to glass cannon type armies which win big or lose big depending on enemy shooting/magic.

Hay.. thanks for the comments. Yeah... Leap should just be impact hits... Unless I can figure out a way to make Leap more Leapy without being silly...

Equipment wise. Normal Warriors get Light Armour and Halberd/Great Weapons. (free swap)

Talons get Light, shield and option of throwing darts and poison upgrade (must take both).

With the Stats as they are I was thinking 9pts each (with no upgrades). With Talons and Warriors costing the same.

I was thinking they would be somewhere in between Orcs, Skaven Night Runners and Saurus Warriors. But actually, with the whole points cost thing I am really clueless. The only Stat I am not willing to change is Mv, as changing Mv kinda kills the fluff about them being fast. The rest are as clay...

I am currently working on the next core unit, so I will change Leap when I post that.

[StygianBeach]

Ah.... more double posting.

Updated first Warrior entry... added 2nd Bestiary entry...

Is the formating okay? Feel free to moan.

Is the fluff okay?

[StygianBeach]

Ah.... more double posting.

Updated first Warrior entry... added 2nd Bestiary entry...

Is the formating okay? Feel free to moan.

Is the fluff okay?

Okay... tripple post FTW.

SO, the 3rd Core unit is in there. I will do 1 more core unit.

Its gonna be a Snake Swarm... then on to the Specials... The fluff on this one might take a while.

Right now I am thinking Stygian Warrios should be 8pts each. This is half way between Saurus Warriors and Skink cohorts.

Any ideas?

[Last Edition]

Looking good so far. However, Coldblooded and Elven-high initiative does not ring well with me, but its your list.

Don't bother with point costs until you have an overview of your entire list. I would however started to figure out what should be this army's weakness, because right now, they don't have any - superb movement, good to decent Weapon Skill, impact hits off-sets average strength, good toughness, good initiative, lots of attacks, and good leadership....

[StygianBeach]

Looking good so far. However, Coldblooded and Elven-high initiative does not ring well with me, but its your list.

Don't bother with point costs until you have an overview of your entire list. I would however started to figure out what should be this army's weakness, because right now, they don't have any - superb movement, good to decent Weapon Skill, impact hits off-sets average strength, good toughness, good initiative, lots of attacks, and good leadership....

Good point. hmm.... I was thinking they would have very little shooting, and no war machines.
Also, there will only be 2 units that go above M6. One being a M7 Hero the other being a Flyer.

They will have 3 big monsters though, and a Salamander (without skink handlers) in Special.

Thanks for the post, it inspires me to work faster......

I have been considering dropping the Attacks to 1. The only reason the Attacks are at 2 is because of The old Saurus Bite attack rule.
As you probably know, this got streamlined in 7th as a 2nd normal Attack.
I always thought the Stygian should get a bite attack aswell, so the 2nd attack represents the streamlining of this attack.

Okay, that leaves Initiave and Toughness... I can picture myself cutting I a point.... Especially without climate rules. Sure Stygians can have high I in the Desert...
but outside of the heat, they should be snails...

So much to consider... shame I am working on the most boring unit in the army at the moment... Desert Swarm!!!!
Maybe I skip it..

[StygianBeach]

Double posts.. my best friend...

Okay, after many episodes of Battlestar Galactica, I finally took the time to finish what I initially thought would be my last core option.

I just thought of another core option... Or maybe they should be Special?

Desert Skinks!!!!

Skinks armed with Short Bows....

I have dropped the initiative by 1 point since last update, and added in the Desert Swarm.

Next I will work on the Specials.

Guardians: Just like... Minos, Trolls, Ogres.

Enbalmed which are Mummified Guardians.

Venom Wyrm: Salamander without Handlers.

Stygian Wrym: Like Razordon Warpgrinders.

Hammer Wyrm: Impact hit Salamander without shooting.

Drugged: Weak Flagelants.

Any comments, reccomendations, suggestions or critisms.. then let me know..

[StygianBeach]

Tripple post!!!!

Okay, so I have added in the first Special unit. This took a while.. fluff takes so long to write... Also a minor adjustment in text at the end of the Swarm entry.

Now, I am sold on the idea of Desert Skinks. Basically the same situation as Desert crocodiles. They lived in that area before it was a desert. It became a desert, and they adapted to life with less water/forests/food.

If crocodiles can do it in real life, then skinks should be able to do it in Warhammer life.

They were an independant tribe of Skinks, the Stygian found them, hunted them. Then when they found out they could communicate mentally with them enlisted their help (much like in post roman eastern europe with the Avars enlisting the help of the Slavic tribes).

It is great that the old 5th ed Skinks are smaller than the 6th - current skinks, as this is consisten with the Desert Skink idea.

Any feedback is welcome... any!!!!

....and, as always.... thanks for reading.

[Last Edition]

Your units and army is coming along nicely, I really like it. A few notes and suggestions though:

Small (swarm special rule): Not need for this rule due to Warhammer's true line of sight rule.

Four Arms (Guardian special rule): I would just put these additional attacks into their stat profile, and just put their flurry of attacks nature into their background - few and simple rules are always better.

As for the guardians, I assume they are monstrous infantry? With their good offensive hitting power and 5+ scaly skin save, I would not give their any additional armour due to balance. other than that, great job

[StygianBeach]

Your units and army is coming along nicely, I really like it. A few notes and suggestions though:

Small (swarm special rule): Not need for this rule due to Warhammer's true line of sight rule.

Four Arms (Guardian special rule): I would just put these additional attacks into their stat profile, and just put their flurry of attacks nature into their background - few and simple rules are always better.

As for the guardians, I assume they are monstrous infantry? With their good offensive hitting power and 5+ scaly skin save, I would not give their any additional armour due to balance. other than that, great job

Hay, thanks for the reply.

Will drop Small in the next upload.

Yep the Guardians are Monstrous Infantry. The 4 arms special rule was in there because their Standard weapon is a Flail. I was thinking 5 Flail attacks would be too many. I just give them 4 Attacks and drop the special rule, much easier.
I was planning on giving them light armour, would 4+ save be too much on 3 Wound T4 Monstrous Infantry?

....and, as always.... thanks for reading.

[Last Edition]

Yep the Guardians are Monstrous Infantry. The 4 arms special rule was in there because their Standard weapon is a Flail. I was thinking 5 Flail attacks would be too many. I just give them 4 Attacks and drop the special rule, much easier.
I was planning on giving them light armour, would 4+ save be too much on 3 Wound T4 Monstrous Infantry?

4 attacks w/flail and 4+ save sounds like a good plan - Nasty, and they should be, from what I could read in their background Cool unit!

[StygianBeach]

Okay, finally added in the Desert Skinks. I kinda went a little overboard with the fluff though.

I am thinking they will be special and not core. They will also get a Hero and Lv2 Mage option added to the heroes.

[Tayrod]

Hi there, looks good. The fluff on the skinks seems a bit (err) unlikely, and maybe you should make it so that only the units in B2B gets impact hits - or the unti causes D6+1 impact hits (first wave, kinda thing) , but other then that, looks good.

[StygianBeach]

Hi there, looks good. The fluff on the skinks seems a bit (err) unlikely, and maybe you should make it so that only the units in B2B gets impact hits - or the unti causes D6+1 impact hits (first wave, kinda thing) , but other then that, looks good.

Hay.. Thanks for reading.

About the skinks... there was a some stuff I was thinking, but didnt write as how to make it more reasonable. The idea was that there was a spawning pool trapped under ground (beneath a collapsed temple) that kept on spawning Skinks. After a few generations they began to hate the Slann and abandoned the old ones, at which time another God spawned a prophet (along the same lines as the Chaos Dwarves god). They follow this Gods prophet, and make it to the surface, and because of their resentment of the Slann they stay in the desert and adapt (and make their own babies).

Otherwise I am open to suggetions.

With regards to the impact hits, am I writing the rule poorly?

I only mean for the front rank to do 1 impact hit each for each model that makes it into base to base contact. So if a Horde of Stygian Warriors charges another horde it would do max 10 strength 3 impact hits.