I arranged a small gathering on the island of Funen in Denmark. People from all over Denmark joined me in playing Warhammer Renaissance, including the author of the re-write, Balder. The day started at 10 AM and gaming commenced at 11. Then we had three games of 1,500 points of Warhammer until 8 PM in the evening. It was tremendously funny and I really enjoyed all my three games. I brought an Orc army with a few Goblins, and of course nothing worked for me at all. This was sort of the intention for bringing Orcs though. I enjoy to resign from responsibility and just let the army do its thing.

In total we had 10 players. In addition there were a few onlookers and cheer leaders. The pairing of people was done by me, and tried to make sure that only people who were not familiar already, got to meet each other. The whole point of the event was to connect and network across the group of people into this game. So playing someone from your regular gaming group was not ‘allowed’.

I didn’t announce any winners of any of the games, nor did I necessarily tally the points or dictate what scenario was to be played. So in essence it was a Bring & Battle to the core. Additionally, I had encouraged people to bring fun lists that weren’t power gaming hell pits. I didn’t go through all the lists, but I think it looked pretty alright. The only guy who managed to win all games was an Orc & Goblin player which, I think, says it all really.

Here follows a brief description of my games:

Game 1

My first game was against Jeppe who had brought a stunning Orcs & Goblin army. There wasn’t a dry eye in sight as he unwrapped the miniatures and started setting up. As one guy put it: Straight from the pages of a ’94 White Dwarf.

We fought ‘Take the Relic’ in which a central objective is to be taken… In the end the Green Skins won. Let’s just leave it at that…… haha! No, of course I lost big time. I had no answer for his magic, and my dice rolling was dismal. On top of that animosity reared its head a lot in this game. Unlike Jeppe, I didn’t bring a battle standard, and I managed to stick my Trolls way outside the reach of Rhedd Toobork’s leadership range.

Jeppe’s painting style is sooo ‘eavy metal that it almost hurts! Kudos!

Game 2

The second game turned out to be against Rune and his evil Chaos Dwarfs. Or more like – his few Chaos Dwarfs overlords with lots of Hobgoblin slaves. The game revolved around three houses, and the army in control of the most houses at the end of the game claimed the objective.

Rune, however, didn’t think much of this scenario, and shrewdly started obliterating the objectives using his ‘Eruption’ Chaos Dwarf spell. I, on the other hand, had failed to appreciate just how bad an Orc without sorcery can be, and had chosen to make a list with no shaman at all. It was an unbalanced act, and my attempts to dispel the foul Chaos Dwarf magic failed. I had even brought a Banner of Spell Protection, but as it was in a regiment occupying a building, it had stopped working.

To my great surprise my guessing for my stone thrower was spot on the whole game through. However, the deviation was also spot on at making my stones miss the entire game… very few casualties were taken.

Game 3

My last game was against Tor and his Skaven army. This was just a scrap for victory points, and no scenario. I’d never played against Skaven and only played them briefly in 6th edition myself. I expected lots of magic and shooting, coupled with some hard-to-break-as-long-as-our-numbers-are-up troops.

I was not disappointed. Tor turned out to be a very good player, and tried setting up numerous traps for my stoopid Orcs. I wasn’t really punished by any of them. My Shaman was quickly dispatched by his magic, and on the whole his spells had the potential to really maul my army.
To my luck my Giant managed to charge into his centre and break a lot of morale in one of the final rounds. A few mistakes were made, and in the end we called it a win for the Orcs. However, it was clearly a loss for the Skaven, despite the Orcs and not because of the Orcs! more than a win for the Orcs…

Once again my Forest Goblins managed to spend most of the game in a state of animosity induced torpor… the one time they actually deploy behind a forest they choose to blunder out of it! Aaaargh!

Impressions from other armies and games

Here follows a selection of images (mostly taken by Balder):

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Conclusion

I think the day was a great success. Everyone I have talked to since the gaming day have been inspired and wanting to paint more and tinker with their armies. This is the true mark of a great day of gaming. I will be back with Bring&Battle II in April/May 2022.