Nicodemus:
I’ve been putting a bit of time into building up my ideas over the past few nights. I’m trying to keep the fluff and details to a minimum (there needs to be some though) so that I can create a very short army book, along the lines of the Gnoblar Horde list from WD. That was 7-pages long, so my plan is to try to stick as close to that as possible and it means chopping back everything to only the essentials.
I have loads of notes typed up, some characters and lots of profiles created. Without putting it all here (and before I finish the first draft), Here’s what I have for idas so far:
Overall the army is subject to some special rules:
Dissension - like Animosity, but slightly worse than the O&G version. Rolling a 1 has as slightly higher chance of causing wounds to your units, and the number of hits depends on how many ranks the unit has!
Greedy Slaverz - negates Dissension when they are within 12" of the enemy, which balances out the fact that Dissension is worse than Animosity. If a unit within 12" of the enemy has a musician the musician sounds the call to battle and any units within 6" of the musician that’s sounding the call also ignores testing for Dissension.
Hobgoblin ‘society’ is comprised of a few major factions which helps define how their army is comprised and where things come from:
Clans of the Steppes - largely nomadic and widely dispersed clans, not organized but they are by far the most numerous
Source of: Warriors, alchemists, shamen, sneaky gits, assassins, madd bomberz
Wolf Tribes - are responsible for breeding and training of these important animals for hunting and as war mounts
Source of: Wolf mounts, wolf packs and Hobgoblin Packmasters
Slavers - roam the lands as slave hunters and traders, important part of their economy and work force
Source of: Slave drivers, slave rabble and slave caravans
Liberators - former slaves (mostly of Chaos Dwarfs) who have organzied themselves and now control vast wealth and contonue to fight and free Hobgoblin slaves (when it suits them)
Source of: Elite warriors (who are not subject to Dissension)
So far I’m going rather heavy on the characters as a way to build in fluff and add several unique aspects to the army.
Lords
Ghazak Khan (has an optional upgrade to replace his wolf mount with a Rhinox, but he loses Fast cav)
Gorduz Backstabber
Trogdor, The Fiend of the Crag (combination Dark Alchemst and Shaman, he’s the only way to get the Lore of Metal into the army and can mix potions on the fly with his Volatile Mix special rule. If he’s taken as the General he allows Madd Bomberz to be taken as Core instead of Speicl and Assassins to be taken as Special instead of Rare… all of which would make for a pretty crazy, if unpredictable army)
Gurdoz, Liberator of the Daemonforge (former Chaos Dwarf slave, now in control of a forge which had been kept secret from the Chaos Dwarfs. He liberated his Hobgoblin brethren but kept the remaining slave contingent to maintain the forge. It’s ample armoury keeps him and his men well armed! He has a Daemonic Hammer and an anit-magic/anti-wizard shield that makes him the bane of Sorcers! He also has a special ability called Subjugate the Dissident that negates Dissension while in range. Also allows his elite Hobgoblins to count as Core)
Throg (Inspired by the old Citadel collection of Hobgoblin Throg and his minions, Throg is still known for his taste for Dwarf flesh and his Feast of the Dwarf King special rule can trigger a Fear check in nearby Dwarfs when he consumes Dwarf flesh, or Terror if he consumes the flesh of a fallen Dwarf Lord… although those same Dwarfs are also subject to Hatred afterward as well!)
Dradoz High Shaman (Just the elite shaman of the Hobgoblin army. He’s Lv 2, can be upgraded to Lv 3, knows all the spells of his chosen Lore and rides a Wolf, thus making him the only fast cav caster in the army!!)
The rest of the army is comprised of:
Heroes
Hobgoblin Hero
Dark Alchemists (basically have unlimited potions which grant limited spell-like effects, the type of which are determiend at the start of the game)
Shamen (spell casters)
Core
Warriors (+wolf riders, + options for lots of add-ons, similar to the O&G Nasty Skulkers or Skaven Weapon Teams)
Slave Rabble
Hobgoblin Packmaster and Wolves
Special
Gurdoz’s Liberated Hobgoblin Elite (not their final name… think elite Warriors, like Stormvermin or Black Orcs, etc.)
Bolt Throwers
Oglah Khan’s Wolfboyz
Madd Bomberz
Sneaky Gits
Rare
Assassins (have the Ambush rule)
Slave Caravan
Rocket Team
Giant
War Trolls
Ogre Traders (part of the slave trade aliance)
Mad Mordecaz Chaos Dwarf Slave Dealer (part of the slave trade aliance, Chaos Dwarf character on a warmachine/slave cart and his unit of Chaos Dwarf guards and their slaves, but can’t take him and his unit in an army that includes Gurdoz or his elite guard)
Magic Items
Axe Headroom 70 points
Magic Weapon
Stolen from Zharr Naggrund in the wake of the cataclysmic destruction of one of the Daemonsmith forges that levelled a great section of the surface level of the evil Dwarf city, this daemonic axe is apparently the last axe ever forged by the mad Chaos Dwarf Daemonsmith, Bozrikk the Possessed. Axe headroom bestows the Killing Blow special rules to all close combat attacks made by the wielder. Furthermore, armour saves may not be taken against close combat attacks made by the wielder of this weapon.
Armour of the Wind Fortress 75 points
Magic Armour
Stolen from Cathay generations ago, the details of this unique armour besides its name have been lost to time. With a great rush of wind this armour allows the wearer to instantaneously shift his body from one place to another nearby. Once each turn, at any time during the turn, including before or after moving, the wearer of the Armour of the Wind Fortress may be placed anywhere within 6�?� of his initial position. The model may be placed facing any direction at its new location, but must be at least 1�?� away from any friendly or enemy models. This ability can be used to immediately leave a unit, but it may not be used to join a unit, and once locked in close combat the Armour of the Wind Fortress cannot be used to escape. Because of its unique properties, however, the Armour of the Wind Fortress also makes the wearer harder to hit in close combat and close combat attacks are made at -1 to hit.
Wyrdstone Crown 20 points
Magic Talisman
Said to have been plucked from the bones of a dead Ogre while scavenging the scene of a great battle, many long jagged shards of black stone that radiate an otherwordly green glow were spirited away by an opportunistic dark alchemist. Unable to make use of the shards in his alchemical concoctions the alchemist fashioned the shards into a crown in the hopes it would add to his aura of mysteriousness. Indeed, it did just that. The Wyrdstone Crown grants the wearer a 5+ Ward Save, if the result is a 1 the bearer suffers a permanent -1 penalty to his Leadership with no saves allowed.
Lucky�?Ts Paw 35 points
Magic Talisman
Lucky was a wolf of gentle disposition and an uncanny ability to avoid harm even under the most dire of circumstances. Such was his reputation that he quickly became a treasured companion of the greatest Khans, being taken as by victorious Khan leaders as lesser Khans fell, until finally, Lucky met his last master, who realized that none of the other Khans had been any better off and that Lucky was the only one to ever avoid harm. He was quickly dispatched and the Khan leader had a new trinket to bring him luck �?" one which was much more portable, didn�?Tt require food and did indeed bring luck to the bearer. Lucky�?Ts Paw grants the wearer a 5+ Ward save.
Banner of the Steppe 65 points
Magic Standard
A unit with this magic standard gains the Vanguard special rule and can re-roll its charge distance dice.
Book of Forbidden Teachings 100 points
Arcane Item
Liberated from one of the many Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer statues that line the road leading to Zharr Naggrund, this ancient book details in the inner workings of Chaos magic and the teachings of the Fire Dwarf�?Ts dark god, Hashut. The bearer gains access to either the Lore of Hashut or the Lore of Fire (you must choose before deployment) and is treated as a Level 1 Wizard for the purposes of spell casting.
That’s it so far… I’ll likely need to take more stuff out to make it fit into a smaller document, but at this stage there’s probably enough good stuff to work from that taking some things out will make it better.
C&C are much appreciated!! Just keep in mind this is all still in draft form and rather rough :idea
~N
I was going to set mine up to be in line with the 8th ED format as well. I must say though… you’re quick! Did you have a template already setup for the army list part ahead of time??