What's it all about? - Sigmar's Blood.

[Mr Mystery]

Hello, good evening, and welcome.

As an aside to my regularly irregular 'Getting to Grips With' threads, I bring you news of my latest purchase, Sigmar's Blood, a new campaign book from those nice chaps and chapesses in The Design Studio (to whom the book is credited to as a whole).

It centres on just two armies from Warhammer, namely The Empire, and Vampire Counts. Long story short of the, erm, story? Volkmar The Grim invades Sylvania to give Mannfred a proper kicking that's been a long time coming.

So far, so rather pedestrian. There's nothing in that which we as players can't really do ourselves. And at £25 a copy, that's a shame.

Or at least it would be a shame if this book wasn't something so much more!

Yes folks, not only is this a new story from The Old World, but this is to me, something entirely new altogether (though I never did partake in the really old campaign sets like Grudge of Drong, so perhaps one more veteran than I in that respect may be able to comment).

As mentioned, it has an entirely new backstory to the campaign, featuring well know and frankly well loved characters. The battles themselves impact on each other as all good narrative campaigns should, and you very much play your way through the story.

But oh Mr Mystery I hear you cry (I prefer to think of the voices as my interwebular chums, because frankly I won't admit I'm a little touched, as the Victorians might say) these armies aren't owned by everyone, and lordy, Warhammer can get pricey.

Well, you'd be quite correct. And those clever little flying GW monkeys have neatly side stepped that one. How? Each scenario introduces a small cast of units needed. And no overall points value. You see, it's all done on Battle Scrolls, something new fangled for this month (my first one was the digital rules for Be'Lakor). And it takes you through the campaign in neat, bite sized chunks.

For instance, the protagonists and antagonists for the first scenario are (quite cunningly. Or not, on reflection) the contents of the respective forces Battalion boxes, albeit with a badass Witch Hunter dropped into the Empire one for good measure (and who can resist shrieking 'WITCH!' at your opponents general. It can't possibly just be me, can it?). And that's it. Buy the Batallion for your force, and you're off. All in all, including painting to as nice as standard as you can manage/be arsed to achieve, I reckon that's about a month of gaming and general hobby shenanigans all in. Hurrah!

The next scenario introduces your second Battle Scrolls. For The Empire? Volkmar The Grim on his Pimp Wagon, an Arch Lector (also available in the same kit, but he'll have to get off and walk. That'll teach him to only be second in command!), and 20 Flagellants. This is added to the first Battlescroll. Nice, bite sized chunk yes! £32.50 for Volkmar, his dude and his car, with £32 for the Flagellants. Which is a wee bit cheaper than the first. Mannfred comes out swinging, as his Battlescroll features Count Mannfred (the mental hard one), 30 Zombies, and 3 Vargheists. £23.50 for Mannfred, £41 for the Zombies (two boxes, as they're only sold in blocks of 20, and c'mon, they're Zombies. You'll want moar for all the sneaky raisey tricks) and £29 for the Vargheists. Again, with the previous Battlescroll added. Lovely!

And so on and so forth across the 4 scenarios, so I'd imagine you get the general impression from that.

So as well as a campaign, you get a sort of tale of two gamers type affair. Which is perfectly awesome in my book!

Not all the units are quite as they are in their parent book however. Some get additional rules, some new abilities and so on. From reading through it, it does pour additional character into the forces, removing the anonymity sometimes found in Warhammer Characters (you, Witch hunter #3, who are you going to chin? Well, tonight Matthew, I reckon the witch is Necromancer #2).

All in all, I feel I got my monies worth out of this book, or at least I will once I find a willing gaming buddy to go through it with, tale of two gamers style.

It's part army book, it's part campaign, it's part 'tale of', part novella, part source book. In short, it's everything I love about Warhammer somehow squelched into a mere 64 pages. It's a god send for gamers tempted to start Warhammer, but daunted by the sometimes high starting cost of an army. By the end of the campaign, you'll have a decent little collection of models for the armies involved, and a good appreciation for how each army works, theoretically leading to more of an idea how you want to develop it further

It even has a summary up the back listing the stats (but not special rules) of each and every model/unit used in the campaign.

Top notch job, collective design studio team, I would tip my hat to you if I ever wore one!

[Lord-Boofhead]

I never did partake in the really old campaign sets like Grudge of Drong, so perhaps one more veteran than I in that respect may be able to comment

Judging by your review it is exacltly that, just pimped out 8th ed style.

[Mr Mystery]

Ah cool. I was about for them (started gaming with the lethal Gobbo spearmen edition...) but never played those sets. Not sure why!

As an addition, I would say for beginners to Warhammer, this book is pretty damned closed to compulsory if you want to start Empire or Vampire Counts, as it's a good way to get to grips with the art of gaming and collecting Warhammer.

For anyone more experienced, I'd say it's still worth looking into simply because it's got such a wide amount of concepts and indeed content.

I really, really hope this is just the first in a series of these books, with each covering different armies until they're all covered. I know I'll be buying one of each released, and not just because I'm a completest weirdo!

Main down point? The spine doesn't match those of the previous books for Warhammer. Pet hate of mine, and certainly doesn't impact on what's actually bound to that spine.

[Lord-Boofhead]

Main down point? The spine doesn't match those of the previous books for Warhammer. Pet hate of mine, and certainly doesn't impact on what's actually bound to that spine.

Yeah but So long as all the Campaign books spines match its all good hey?

[Mr Mystery]

Certainly hope so!

Wonder if this the Warhammer equivalent to the 40k Suppledex?

[klunc]

Main down point? The spine doesn't match those of the previous books for Warhammer. Pet hate of mine, and certainly doesn't impact on what's actually bound to that spine.

That said, it's in the same style, just with a black spine rather than dark red. So it fits and doesn't at the same time.

I picked mine up yesterday and as an Empire and VC player, I'm rather chuffed with it.

Also, thanks for another well written post Mr Mystery!

[Mr Mystery]

Now finished reading through the story as presented in the campaign book.

And it's pretty damned good!

I won't be drawn on the plot, as it has a sister volume novella which I shan't spoiler.

A definite recommended purchase for anyone who either plays Empire or Vampire Counts, and worth considering for anyone who is otherwise a fan of these two armies.

I'm sorely tempted to try out the Vampire side, buying as I go through the scenarios. Local GW manager (and former Boss) does Empire, so I may well be throwing down my dusty, maggoty gauntlet!

[Learn2Eel]

Very intriguing stuff. Thanks for the review! My Vampires don't really care about the struggles of Mannfred though

[Mr Mystery]

It's worth it........intriguing story is intriguing....

[Mr Mystery]

Local manager and former boss has an Empire army.

And now I have picked up the Vampire Batallion.

Gonna give Sigmar's Blood the full works, working toward a scenario each month! First game intended for 23rd January!