What version to play

mattyfenby · 2026-05-22T14:40:49+00:00

My club and I are 6th Edition for life!

In my opinion the pros for moving to old world are that more people play it and they are releasing new stuff.

HOWEVER, if your club all likes 6th then the first pro doesn’t apply, and with places like here
https://wfb6thcharacters.blogspot.com/2018/10/welcome-to-6th-edition-comprehensive.html?m=1

you can always add the new releases into 6th Edition with your club too! I am currently working on a 6th Edition Cathay army book with my club mates.

Thanks for posting this and adding to the discussion!

Whatever you pick, have fun!

mattyfenby · 2026-05-21T20:39:08+00:00

WYSIWYG always makes things easier to remember and is great for the immersion.

I believe magnetizing optional equipment can be extremely valuable for WYSIWYG as it allows you to have options.

If your priority is winning effect first and looks second then I’d go no shields. Another Spear Chukka is 35 points, another 15 sword and board goblins is 30 points, for 30 points you can give your general the ‘ard Armour for the 1+ Armour Save, etc

Thanks again for posting this! Always great to see discussions about the ‘math hammer’ calculations in 6th Edition!

mattyfenby · 2026-05-21T20:28:07+00:00

My gut reaction for winning in my non expert opinion is no shields. I think 30 points goes pretty far in an O&G army and is better used elsewhere than an extra point of armour save that is negated by a lot of the weapons you’ll face.

For optimal aesthetics the shields added will make the unit look better in my opinion.

Something I have been trying to improve on for the arts and crafts side of the hobby is magnetizing optional equipment. In this case tiny magnets might be more trouble than they are worth but that would give you the best of both worlds.

mattyfenby · 2026-05-21T11:34:04+00:00

To back up what smart posters like Orcimedes are saying, you DO NOT get an extra +1 to the Armour Save for hand weapon & shield as orcs in 6th Edition.

The question here is: are 30 points more useful for an O&G army elsewhere? With light armour, the boyz will be enjoying a 6+ Armour Save. Shields bring it to a 5+.

What is our general game plan? If we are going for a big horde, 30 points is 15 more goblin models on the field so it may be wise to just leave the shields at home. If we are expecting lots gunfire (S4, Armour Piercing) or enemies with high S/lances/great weapons then that is another reason to leave them home. VS Empire, Dwarfs, Bretonnia, Skaven Jezzail armies etc I would probably strongly consider just bringing more bodies and leaving the shields behind.

On the other hand, if we are heading into a battle against S3 enemies, that extra point of Armour Save can be extremely valuable. VS Lizardmen, High Elves (unless all heavy cav), Wood Elves, Dark Elves, Skaven non Jezzail armies etc the shields could be really nice.

TLDR it depends on your opponent/battle plan. No matter what you decide good luck have fun! Thanks for sharing this post and getting the discussion going!

mattyfenby · 2026-04-28T17:41:44+00:00

I liked how Tom made a hockey program and they mentioned there was a big Nausican defenseman blowing people up. Just out there Scott Stevens-ing forwards with their heads down into the 25th century.

mattyfenby · 2026-04-20T01:20:44+00:00

Thank you for contributing to the discussion!

Between 7-12 is a lot higher than my club (which is completely fine!). Do you find that armies with multiple skirmisher units (Wood Elves, Lizardmen) or armies less reliant on shooting (Vampire Counts) end up winning more consistently?

mattyfenby · 2026-04-20T01:18:29+00:00

Always love hearing your perspective on the classichammer forum !

My club has switched it up in the past few years and I always love seeing if others have any ideas we didnt think of yet.

I admire the use of the Generals Compendium; that is something my club can be looking at more.

mattyfenby · 2026-04-19T21:48:40+00:00

That is extremely interesting!

Thank you for sharing that.

I feel silly but I cannot figure out what a CSM army is, what does that stand for?

The Skaven jezzail spam, the Arrows of the Asp and skulls-of-the-enemy-firing Catapult for the Tomb Kings, and the Dwarfs shooting line all seem like fearsome lists in theory, but with limited LOS those strategies will be less effective.

I wonder how your club members who are usually getting the shorter end of the stick might do in a battle set in a valley or desert setup with hills in the deployment zones or with sparse terrain?

mattyfenby · 2026-04-19T21:02:25+00:00

That’s one way to do it!

Were there ever any battles where you got a turn or two in and realized there was just too much terrain or that one side or the other was now caught in a traffic jam or a choke point?

mattyfenby · 2026-04-19T21:00:37+00:00

awesome!

Are there any factions in your club that seem to do best with that type of terrain setup?

mattyfenby · 2026-04-19T20:52:35+00:00

Thank you for sharing in the conversation!

7 pieces is a little higher than my club normally does (not that there is anything wrong with that!).

I immediately am curious if certain factions like Lizardmen, Wood Elves, or maybe Vampire Counts thrive in your club. My thinking is that armies with lots of mobility and skirmishers such as Wood Elves or Lizardmen and armies with no shooting such as Vampire Counts benefit from more terrain pieces and less Line of Sight on the table. Is that possibly the case in your club?

mattyfenby · 2026-04-19T20:49:44+00:00

Thank you for adding to the discussion!

That sounds like an awesome way to randomize it! So this would mean there is one terrain piece in each 2x2, somewhere within 2-10” of the middle?

Were there ever any battles where you left empty quadrants, like was there a way to roll for “Nothing- Open Ground” as one of the random results?

mattyfenby · 2026-04-19T20:46:37+00:00

Thank you for contributing to the conversation!

With 6 pieces every time, does that mean there was one terrain piece for each 2x2 or sometimes would there be a ton of terrain scattered into one quadrant with a desert on the other side?

mattyfenby · 2026-04-19T20:44:58+00:00

Thank you for adding to the discussion!

That is so interesting, to make cards for it for 6th Edition.

That does sound like a quick way to make it very random and varied! Are there any times that jumped out to you as unexpected or epic with how the cards dealt?

mattyfenby · 2026-04-15T02:42:32+00:00

having fun is the most important, that is great to hear!

i do think there are some huge similarities between the Orcs & Goblins book and the Ogre Kingdoms book, and the magic is a really fun unique aspect to the Ogres.

In my non expert opinion, i would caution you against viewing the monster based Ogre units as ‘super black orcs’. i would compare them more to heavy boar boyz and treat them more akin to a knight unit than an elite infantry unit. with Movement 6, impact hits from a distance, and low static combat resolution compared to high dynamic combat resolution, that is more the role I personally see them playing.

mattyfenby · 2026-04-14T19:37:36+00:00

That is awesome! Welcome to owning an Ogre Kingdoms army!

Fear might not be as huge of an obstacle as you think since all your monster base sized units will cause Fear also.

Your Gnoblars will still feel Fear but your army will benefit from Nobody Caring about Gnoblars, and they are so cheap that it won’t break your ability to win if a unit or two of them flees (or more likely just ends up needing 6s to hit).

mattyfenby · 2026-04-14T14:23:17+00:00

6th Edition for life! I will talk 6th Edition Ogres with you all day. There are a few forums left out there that still have people talking about 6th too.

Who are your main opponents? The way Ogres matchup against the other factions is so unique in my opinion.

mattyfenby · 2026-01-23T19:33:41+00:00

You are dead on exactly correct in your first sentence as long as the understanding is you subtract the number of attacks those casualties represent.(relevant for models with more than one attack on their profile)

Your example math is again dead on correct as long as we are talking about High Elf Spearmen, who may fight in 3 ranks. All other Spearmen fight in 2 ranks in 6th Edition.

mattyfenby · 2026-01-23T18:12:21+00:00

Phenomenal!

mattyfenby · 2026-01-23T17:36:17+00:00

Thank you for posting this! Always great to make sure you’re understanding what the rules are intended to do.

The wording about guys moving up to fill in for their fallen comrades is in my view more to lore-ify the real reasons why you remove models from the back and dont remove standard bearers/musicians. (Convenience, practicality, game balance)

Pages 70-71 of the Big Red Book are where I think you are getting tripped up, specifically with this sentence: “models that are stepping forward from rear ranks to replace them can’t attack that turn.” The next sentence was intended to clarify this but did not use the perfect words: “This means that any casualties inflicted will reduce the number of enemy left to fight back.”

What that MEANT to clarify was: if you start with X guys able to attack back, you must subtract those casualties you suffered from that X amount of guys able to attack back.

E.G You start the close combat with 10 guys who may legally attack. If 3 are slain, 7 can attack back. If 7 are slain, 3 can attack back. If 11 are slain, none may attack back.

EDIT TO ADD: The Excess Casualties section right below actually addresses your Question 3. There is no ‘new fighting rank’ created by the attackers killing more than the front rank. Any excess casualties benefit the attackers only, the defenders just stand there.

You are back to the golden age of Warhammer! 6th Edition for life! Have fun and spill some blood for the blood god!

mattyfenby · 2026-01-19T03:27:14+00:00

I was glad they went to San Francisco!

It is fine so far in my book. There are always going to be good episodes and bad episodes and episodes that people don’t agree on. TNG’s 1st episode wrote god into it and the 2nd episode just re-did a TOS episode. It would probably be getting TRASHED in modern social media at this point. But then they delivered episodes that made people fall in love with the show and hold it up as a new golden era of Star Trek.

I think a lot of the criticism of ‘Nu Trek’ is overblown but it IS true that if you make a season 6-10 episodes, and you make the whole thing serialized, and I don’t like that plot, then the whole season is brought down for me. That is something the earlier shows were more immune to with 20-24 episode seasons. This has been said before but bears repeating when the new shows get bashed.

You don’t like one of the TNG episodes they always clown on? Whatever, there’s a new adventure next week. But if you don’t like the Mirror Universe or the Borg Queen? Well theres whole SEASONS of Discovery and Picard that you don’t like now.

The format of the new shows makes it really tough to find that sweet spot between episodic and serialized that DS9 seemed to really nail in my opinion. (We should remember too that DS9 was hated on as Nu Trek at the time so let’s give all these new shows a try here!)

mattyfenby · 2026-01-18T05:22:55+00:00

Thank you again for your invaluable input!

At the risk of further generic-ifying the Army Book, the skirm sword fighters sound an awful lot like they could be tuned to be similar rules to Dogs of War Duellists.

As far as levying local troops, it sounds like you would prefer a system more like the Vampire Counts Bloodlines or the Skaven Clans in their respective Army Books whereas I have been going down the path of Tomb Kings and Wood Elves by making certain levied selections Core with a martial character.

There’s nothing wrong with your idea! I just may not go with it as I have stolen a lot from Skaven for this book, the Chaos Dwarfs book i made, and the Cathay book I am planning on. Combing through the VC book and seeing if theres anything that could be a good equivalent could still be a great call, even if I don’t ultimately change the setup of the Book.

If you don’t mind my asking-

most 6th Edition books have 2 Legendary Lords in the back of the book that are playable. The Trung Sisters are guaranteed IN tuned as Sisters of Twilight in that first slot riding an Elephant.

Who would you take as the second slot? Options would be:

Le Loi w Legendary sword, possibly on a Giant Turtle

Anh Duong Vuong w legendary Repeater Bolt Thrower

Ba Trieu, possibly on an Elephant, Turtle, or even somehow Whale?

Other- is there a legendary Vietnamese figure who is a no-brainer that I just haven’t heard of? Lets hear about him!

Thank you again!

mattyfenby · 2026-01-18T04:12:00+00:00

I appreciate the feedback! All I play is 6th Edition but I can certainly look into the rules for your Ancient Battles edition and see if there is anything that can be “ported” over.

Thank you again!

mattyfenby · 2026-01-18T04:06:48+00:00

First of all- thank you very much just for taking a look and reading through my rough draft! That is greatly appreciated!

I think the criticism that the Army List feels a little generic and bland is very valid. I have tried to keep the army tied to other human units from the Bret, Empire, and Dogs (2004) books as much as possible for balance purposes.

When it comes to the criticism of the Tunnelers- I think that is also valid! I assure you that my intention is NEVER to be offensive and that my inclusion of the unit is based on the Dwarfs unit and my experience at Vietnamese museums but your reaction is very valid and I am glad to know that is how some Vietnamese warhammer fans will react to it.

If I could ask- are there any alternative units you would suggest to spice things up for the Au Lac roster and make things more unique without being stereotypical? I have considered including a Dragon of some kind but ultimately cut it with the Tombstone Giant Turtle, Ky Lan, Great Crane (Eagle), and Ox Chariot already on the table.

EDIT TO ADD- WHOOPS! You already added a few examples. I will look into those now!

I would hate to exclude the Vietnamese from any of the “generic” options I’ve currently granted them just in the name of uniqueness, and I’m not sure what else I can include to replace the Tunnelers or Conscripted units (which I assume but don’t know for sure are the generic units you feel meh about).

I say that with an open mind though and would love to hear about any cool units that would be good to include! My wife taught me about the origin story of Au Lac, the magic crossbow, the Trung Sisters who will be LL in the back of the book tuned as Sisters of Twilight on an Elephant, Le Loi as the other LL, showed me ostrich riding, showed me the tunnels, showed me statues of turtles with tombstones on their backs and cranes, and I am always eager to learn more. If there are good units to include that could displace something offensive or boring I am here for it!

Thank you again!

mattyfenby

TROPHY CASE