Mighty Empires

Before I start this entry proper I need to apologise for my absence from the blog for the last few weeks.  Unavoidable workloads and family commitments have led to me having very little time to spare for my favourite hobby.  That done, on with the good stuff:

A few months back GW released the new Dwarf army book, Porker being and avid dwarf player was understandably quite excited by this.  We have decided that the best way to test the limits of the new army book is to throw it into a campaign.  A series of battles where nothing is expected and battles are not always even fair.  There are various types of campaign you can run but to my mind the big daddy of them all is a full Mighty Empires campaign, I’m not referring to the scaled down version GW released a few years past either.  I’m talking about the serious multi-season epicness that was released sometime in the early 90’s.

Box cover art

Some of the older GW fans will hopefully remember this but even if you don't let me briefly explain how the system works.  In basic terms a world map is created using hexagonal tiles, opponents then each gain control off a small section of this realm.  Once the capital cities have been established each empire has an allotted number of points from which they can create banners (armies).  It’s entirely up to each player how they split their points and how many banners they create.  There are advantages to both few larger banners and numerous smaller banners.  Players then take it in turns to move banners around the map where they can encounter random events, new settlements or other players….

Old tiles and tokens

One thing the newer version got right however was the map pieces.  The old tiles still fill me with a appropriate level of nostalgia but are impractical for keeping long term maps set up.  The newer interlocking plastic tiles are much smarter and can be picked up as a whole and stored safely out of the way.  Our plan is to use this map for all ongoing battles for a while and the continuing campaign to last for several months with the possibility of other players joining later on.  There is no way I am prepared to stare at an unpainted map for that long.  

So yesterday I arranged the map in a manner that was ascetically pleasing and undercoated the whole thing with black paint.  Due to the river running through the map it was more difficult than you might think, trying to avoid it doubling back on itself and still keeping it looking natural. I'm not intending on making the map my masterpiece but I think a decent base colour with maybe one or two layers of dry brushing should give us something pleasant enough to look at over the coming month.  I will of course show a finished map when it is complete.  P.S. I am well aware of the fact that my photography makes the map look as though it takes up a sizable chunk of my garden and isn't in fact only 20" wide.

I will leave you now as I have several forces to pick.

GragwaZ