Hello all!
My local GW, Leamington Spa, is running a Tale Of... starting at the end of August until the end of December. Now as luck would have it, I've recently been re-reading my old White Dwarfs for 2nd Edition 40K stuff, and one of the series that I'd read was the original (and best) Tale of Four Gamers involving Roy Barber (Skaven), Richard Gunson (Bretonnians), Paul Sawyer (Beastmen) and Richard Hobson (Wood Elves), over WDUK issues 217-222.
So, in homage to those fine gentlemen and their brilliantly inspired series, I thought I would copy them and take part. The rules I will follow are:
1) The army is to total 1,000 points by the end of the four months
2) I will spend the same amount as the original budget - £50 in month one, £25 a month thereafter
3) Each month I must end with everything I bought having been fully painted and based
With that out of the way, I sat and thought long and hard about my army choice. I already have big Empire and Vampire Counts armies, and small forces of Bretonnians, Dwarves and Chaos, so I didn't want to do any of those. Orcs and Goblins and Skaven both have impressively high model counts even at low points values, so they were out as that would probably launch me well overbudget. That left Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, Tomb Kings, Beastmen and Ogres.
Wood Elves I discarded because I only want to do Forest Spirits and the models for Treekin and the like are out of the £25 a month band. Ogres are not really my cup of tea, so they went, and Tomb Kings are too similar to my Vampire Counts so they were a no as well. I thought about Beastmen, but the models just aren't as cool and intimidating as they were back in the late 1990s, so out they went too!
That left the High Elves and their evil cousins, the Dark Elves. Now I was onto something! In my own personal corner of the Warhammer World, the Border Principality of Tyrka, there is a High Elf settlement, the trading city of Tor Sethain, and there are frequent raids on the coast and sometimes deeper inland by raiding parties from a Black Ark that frequently sails down the Black Gulf.
Out came the army books and I jotted down some ideas. The first was a fairly classic High Elf Citizen Militia force from Tor Sethain - a Prince, a Noble, a Mage, two blocks of archers, a block of spearelves and some Silver Helms. The second was a Dark Rider scout/raider force consisting of two Masters on Dark Steeds, a Sorceress on a Dark Steed, three units of six Dark Riders, and a Scourgerider Chariot just because.
Then I looked at how much each would cost me and what I'd have to buy each month to build the army. Out went the Dark Elves!
All of which means that the Defenders of Tor Sethain will be my contribution to the Tale Of... at Leamington. And here's the list, after having slightly reworked it to prevent it being illegal (oops):
Duke Rallion of Tor Sethain on Ithilmar barded steed, with heavy armour, shield, hand weapon and lance - 113 points
Count Torvenneth with Battle Standard, heavy armour, shield and hand weapon - 111 points
Nia, Second Circle Mage of the Tower, hand weapon, Dispel Scroll, Khaine's Ring of Fury - 170 points
The North Gate Guard:
10 Archers with hand weapons and longbows - 100 points
The South Gate Guard:
10 Archers with hand weapons and longbows - 100 points
The Merchant District Militia:
19 Spearmen with light armour, shields, spears and full command - 201 points
Nobles of the Tower District:
8 Silver Helms with barded steeds, heavy armour, shields, lances, hand weapons and full command - 214 points
Total Points Cost: 999 points!
My purchasing plan is as follows:
August-September: High Elf Nobles box, Alarielle the Everqueen, box of Silver Helms (£49, £1 left over)
September-October: High Elf Archers box (£20, £6 left over)
October-November: High Elf Archers box (£20, £11 left over)
November-December: High Elf Spearmen box (£20, £16 left over)
Amazingly, in four months, and for less than my budget of £125, I will have a 1,000 point army! Admittedly, back in the day, the original ToFG crew could use Grand Openings to pick up bargains such as "Buy three boxes/blister packs and get the cheapest free!" so they ended up with armies larger than they could have afforded otherwise, but I'm still very impressed that it's at all possible to get anything even remotely playable so quickly nowadays without recourse to one of the starter sets.
I'll be chronicling my efforts here, and on my blog, too.
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Originally Posted by Gen.Steiner
