EVENTSPOTLIGHT:GIANT FANATIC

BATTLEREPORT:MEETING OFTHE MINDS

INTERVIEWWITH

AUSTRALIAN #1

ARMYSHOWCASE:RUSS VEAL'S

CHAOS HORDE

TACTIC-ATTACK:DEPLOYMENT

Issue #1Dec 2009 ‐ Jan 2010

TAKI&G TOY SOLDIERS FAR TOO SERIOUSLY

1001 REVIEWS(well, four anyway)

OURAIM......is simple - to play some games, have somefun and ultimately produce articles which arenot only interesting for you to read, but alsofor us to write! Unseen Lerker is currently alabour of love, and though we naturally wantto do our best to keep this going for you for aslong as possible, we cannot promise anythingbeyond what circumstances allow. The currentproduction rate is one issue every two months,but depending on how much you enjoy it thismay well increase or decrease in the nearfuture. So if you do love it, write to us!

HAVE YOU SEE&

LERGY THE LERKER?

This is Lergy, Unseen Lerker'sofficial mascot. He's an insatiablelittle fellow who gets up to allsorts of mischief and turns up inthe strangest of places.Unfortunately we here at the officehave a hard time keeping track ofhis antics all the time, slipperylittle sucker that he is.

If you happen to see Lergy doingsomething suspicious somewherein these pages, send us an email atlergy@unseenlerker.com and let usknow which page number(s!) he'son. The first person to send in theall correct page numbers recievestwo free Unseen Lerker dice.

WHAT IS U&SEE& LERKER?Unseen Lerker is a brand new magazine which covers notonly on Warhammer, the game of fantasy battles, but also onrelated gaming experiences like computer games, boardgames and alternative, often ridiculous sports that like-minded readers such as yourselves might be interested in. Wehope to not only give you the gaming experience you crave,but also challenge you to go venture outside your comfortzone a little and try out some new things you might not havecome across before.

The team behind Unseen Lerker is a group of enthusiasticindividuals who are all gamers just like you, and everyaction-packed issue they will be going 100% towardsmaking this the best read possible. Please support us so thatwe can continue supporting you.

The Unseen Lerker Team

HOW IT ALL BEGA&

The idea for this magazine took a long time to come to fruition.Originally when the creator (Isaac Alexander) came up with it, hethought it would be a piece of cake to put together a magazine aboutgaming, a subject he already knew so much about. He soon discoveredthat making a magazine, however, was a subject he knew nothing

about. Thus he turned to the aid of Chris Fitzsimmons, one ofthe many friends he's met onhis travels through Europeand England, who just sohappened to be a magazineeditor by profession. Aftermuch nagging Chris agreedto help out, and little bylittle some sense managed totrickle through into Isaac'srodent-powered brain. Alsoenlisted to help out wereBryan Carmichael, boasting

an impressive technical background and more than a little businesssense, and up and coming illustrator Max Karpsten, plus a bunch ofother people who were mercilessly roped into contributing. All ofthose involved in the project have put in countless hours of hardlabour in order for this product to exist, for which the editor wouldlike to convey his most heartfelt thanks.

One of the core goals for this magazine is that it appeals to aninternational audience; a product that any gamer in any country willget something out of reading. In order to further this sense of globalunity we will be publishing articles from people across the world inevery single issue - so if you think your country's gaming scene hassomething worth reading about, let us know!

LLEERRKKEERRUUNNSSEEEENN2

CREDITSThe Unseen Lerker Team

Editor:Isaac “Bobo” Alexander

Technical Support:Bryan "Ubertechie" CarmichaelChris “Fitz” Fitzsimmons

Tactics:Loke “Gronx” Andersen

Hobby Corner:James "Domus" Hyde

Lead Artiste:Max “Brakken” Karpsten

Contributors

Marcelo Rouco, Russel Veal,Thomas Laurfelt, Ben Curry,Kjartan ickelsen, Asger SamsGranerud, Chris Fitzsimmons,Andrew Chesney, AndyIsherwood, Zach Kin-Wilde.

Special Thanks To

"Perambulator"

www.unseenlerker.comeditor@unseenlerker.com

Well, for those who don't know me, I've been posting battlereports on the internet for several years now, with very positivereviews. On more than one occassion I was even told that readingmy reports was a preferable activity over reading White Dwarf. Ididn't think much of it at the time, figuring it was just one morecrazed fan trying to get close enough to steal my awesome top hat(stay away, I mean it), but after a while the wheels in my headstarted turning and I thought it might actually be worthwhileputting my (alleged) talents and free time to use. I am of coursevery enthusiastic about the hobby in general, and play a greatdeal of games on a regular basis (more than is healthy, really). Irecently left my home country of Australia for the slightly lesssunny expanses of Europe and here I have met a great number ofequally enthused gamers, hobbyists and collectors, many ofwhom have become great life friends of mine, and many morewho may be appearing in these very pages before too long.

What you are reading now is the collaboration of many hardworking individuals putting together a product that will hopefullybecome an internationally used source of education, inspirationand amusement.

I hope you enjoy reading Unseen Lerker, and look forward toseeing you around.

Isaac "Bobo" Alexander

EDITORIAL

Isaac "Bobo" Alexander

Welcome to Unseen Lerker, a brand newinternet-based magazine talking not onlyabout that game we all know and love,Warhammer, but also about other funthings we think readers will be interestedin. Why make a web magazine, you ask?

LEGAL DISCLAIMERThis web magazine is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited.The Chaos devices, the Chaos logo, Citadel, Citadel Device, the Double-Headed/Imperial Eagle device, 'Eavy Metal, Forge World, Games Workshop, GamesWorkshop logo, Golden Demon, Great Unclean One, the Hammer of Sigmar logo, Horned Rat logo, Keeper of Secrets, Khemri, Khorne, Lord of Change,Nurgle, Skaven, the Skaven symbol devices, Slaanesh, Tomb Kings, Trio of Warriors, Twin Tailed Comet Logo, Tzeentch, Warhammer, Warhammer Online,Warhammer World logo, White Dwarf, the White Dwarf logo, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units,illustrations and images from the Warhammer world are either ®, TM and/or © Copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2009, variably registered in the UK andother countries around the world. Used without permission. No challenge to their status intended. All Rights Reserved to their respective owners.

CONTENTSGLOBAL GAMI&G GATHERI&GS

The next three months in wargaming.

TOUR&AME&T SPOTLIGHT

Bobo sticks his head into the biggesttournament in Denmark: Giant Fanatic.TACTIC–ATTACK

Deployment: easy to mess up, difficultto master. Master Loke reveals all.HOBBY COR&ER

Ten Basic Modelling Tips.

SPECIAL CHARACTERS

Marcelo Rouco, the current #1 inAustralia, lets us pick his brains.

461151

16

ARMY SHOWCASERuss Veal's beautiful Chaos army.

MEETI&G OF THE MI&DSLizardmen and Daemons of Chaos clashin a battle of the titans.RA&TS & REVIEWSOur crew of (mostly) willing volunteerstest, rate and review all the latest toys!

THE BIT AT THE E&DWhat you can do for your magazine,competitions, submissions, and muchmore.&EXT ISSUEJust when you thought it couldn't getany better - it does.

2124

538304

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR3

Photo:www.greenclinic.com

Flags:www.flags. net

LLEERRKKEERRUUNNSSEEEENN4

GLOBAL GAMING GATHERINGS

Event name: KohortexDates: 9th JanuaryCity & Country: Bydgoszcz,PolandWebsite

Event name: Bad Dice MastersDates: 9th, 10th JanuaryCity & Country: Derby,EnglandWebsite

Event name: The Conflict GTDates: 16th, 17th JanuaryCity & Country: &ew Jersey,USAWebsite

Event name: Grimgor TeamTournamentDates: 23rd, 24th JanuaryCity & Country: Le Barcares,FranceWebsite

Event name: Sheffield SlaughterDates: 30th, 31st JanuaryCity & Country: Sheffield,EnglandWebsite

Event name: DogConDates: 30th, 31st January, 1stFebruaryCity & Country: Sydney,AustraliaWebsite

Event name: Full Tilt 8Dates: 7th FebruaryCity & Country: Leopoldsburg,BelgiumWebsite

Event name: GWThrone ofSkulls FinalDates: 6th, 7th FebruaryCity & Country: &ottingham,EnglandWebsite

Event name: Arena Krieg IIDates: 13th FebruaryCity & Country: SchießstandAdlum, GermanyWebsite

Event name: The Chalice ofDreamsDates: 20th, 21st FebruaryCity & Country: Lourdes,FranceWebsite

Event name: Marauders WinterDoublesDates: 21st FebruaryCity & Country: Stockport,EnglandWebsite

Event name: Hoosier ChallengeDates: 27th, 28th FebruaryCity & Country: Evansville,USAWebsite

Event name: MerseysideMeltdownDates: 6th & 7th MarchCity & Country: Liverpool,EnglandWebsite

Event name: LonewolfGTDates: 13th, 14th MarchCity & Country: Dallas, USAWebsite

Event name: ChemnitzerWHFBTournamentDates: 27th MarchCity & Country: Adort, GermanyWebsite

Event name: Monster Brawl VDates: 27th, 28th MarchCity & Country: Muttenz,SwitzerlandWebsite

plus more coming soon...

Is your event missing?

If you know of a tournament or gaming event that we don't and you think it warrants a mention in theGlobal Gaming calendar, send us an email with the details at global@unseenlerker.com.

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH

For individual tournament details and websites please see the Global Gaming calendar on our forum: www.unseenlerker.com/forum

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR 5

Russ Veal'sAWESOMEChaos army.Check it outon page 21.

Only in Unseen Lerker.

LLEERRKKEERRUUNNSSEEEENN6

TOURNAMENT SPOTLIGHT:

Picture:www.avalon.dk

Giant Fanatic, long reputed to be one of the best

tournaments in Europe, recently ran in Copenhagen for the

12th time since its initiation. And what a blast it was!

The event took shape in 1998, funded and organised by ahobby shop called Fanatic. The owner, Jonas Faering, hadoriginally planned it as a business venture with the side motiveof trying to expand the local gaming community. The eventwas immensely popular, with over 1500 people visiting,shopping and gaming over the two days, and before anyoneknew it Giant Fanatic was a regular feature on everyone’scalendar. Since 2008 a group of independent gamers have takenover the organisational side of things, and by all accounts theevent just keeps getting better and better.

Giant Fanatic is held on the first weekend of October in theRemisen sports complex in Østerbro, Copenhagen. Scores ofeager pilgrims make their way there each year, with gamers

from Norway, Sweden, England, and thisyear even Australia making up 20% of thefield. It is very much an internationalevent; an opportunity for like-mindedpeople to get together for a few days andtrade stories, eat curry, drink beer, andmaybe even play some toy soldiers.

The tournament prides itself on its unique nature.Every year it attempts to set the benchmark forinnovation, whether it’s through new, funkyscenarios and restrictions, incredibly high qualityterrain, on-the-dot organization, or amplifying thetournament’s social aspect. Many times it hashappened that Giant Fanatic will trial some newidea, and within months or even weeks othertournaments have followed suit and adapted toboast something similar.

The calm before the storm. . .

Avast!

Last minute painting.

Model by

Ben

Johnson.

Raargh.

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR 7

Bobo: So, Asger, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself? What is it that makes thehobby ‘tick’ for you?

Asger: I enjoy playing games, almost any games. More to the point I enjoy challengingmental puzzles, and games give me a good opportunity to fulfil that in a pleasant and socialway. More than that, I enjoy meeting new people and finding out what makes them tick, andplaying against someone in Warhammer is more or less the perfect avenue for this.

Bobo: Do you think this is one of the reasons why you’ve put so much work into organisingGiant Fanatic? From what I understand you’ve been working on it tirelessly since last year’sevent.

Asger: That’s right. Unfortunately I am also a perfectionist and like my fellow TOs I want toensure that we go 110% towards making GF the best event possible, year after year.Hopefully all the hours we’ve put in beforehand are reflected in the quality of the two dayspeople get to experience.

Bobo: Having been there, I can certainly say it was! Apart from the high level ofprofessionalism and work about the tournament, what would you say separates it from all theother tournaments going around at the moment?

Asger: First of all, location. GF is currently the only major tournament being run in centralCopenhagen, which makes it a lot easier for people to get to. Second, I think the methodologywe use to construct the tournament really tends to set it apart.

Bobo: Oh? And which methodology might that be?

Asger: As we all know, composition and restrictions and such are very sensitive subjects.Tournament organisers are constantly trying to come up with a new system to try and bringthe different armies into “balance”, with varying results. At GF we’ve more or less scrappedall that, because we can accept the fact that it’s nigh impossible to balance the game, andoften attempts to do so merely unbalance it even further. The systems we implement are notintended to be perfect, just different. We’re not afraid to try new things, and if we canchallenge players to think outside the box, both with list building and during their games,then we consider our system to be a success.

Bobo: Sounds like a very unique approach to planning a tournament. Any ambitious plansfor next year?

Asger: (chuckles) Well, I don’t really want to give anything away, but I will say this: “tailoryour own tournament.”

Bobo: What on earth does that mean?

Asger: If I told you, I’d have to kill you. I can tell you something else exciting though. Thisyear we attempted, through judicious use of technology and people who know how to use saidtechnology (i.e., not me), to implement and SMS draw system. It didn’t quite work out, butnext year we should hopefully have it up and running.

Bobo: An SMS draw? Is that kind of like phoning a friend on Who Wants to Be a Millionare?Asger: Essentially, when you sign up on the website you can list your mobile phone numberwith your registration details. Then on the tournament weekend, right before each roundstarts, you will receive a text message with your table number, opponent’s name and army,plus the finishing time for the round. It’s a totally unnecessary feature, but it’s so cool wecan't resist!

Bobo: That does sound cool! Well, thanks for your time, Asger, it’s been a pleasure chattingwith you. Good luck with your preparation, and we’ll see you again at GF13!

Asger Sams Granerud is one of the three instrumentalindividuals behind getting Giant Fanatic to run smoothly.Our reporter in the field, Bobo, caught up with Asger toget some inside gossip.

BEHI&D THE SCE&ES:

INTERVIEW WITH AN ORGANISER

LLEERRKKEERRUUNNSSEEEENN8

The consumer says...Thomas Laurfelt

Thomas, is this your first time at Giant Fanatic?

o, not at all. It’s a fantastic event and I have been coming formany years.

And how would you rate GF12 compared to previousyears?

It’s much the same, to be honest. Same venue, a lot ofthe samefaces. One thing I have noticed is that the organisation justkeeps getting better and better. They’ve run a really tight shipthis year – I think they’re going to struggle to improve forGF13! Another thing is the terrain that they’ve specificallybuilt for the scenarios. It’s really high quality, and gives thetournament a very professional feel to it. ot to mention thescenarios are fun!

What’s been your favourite thing about the event?

I actually really liked the fluffquiz! It’s something a bit out ofthe ordinary, but I think the background stories are just asmuch a part ofWarhammer as any aspect ofthe game. It wasreally fun to go around and chat to other players about whatanswer they put to which question, and wondering how manywe were going to get right.

Ben Curry

Ben, this is your second time at Giant Fanatic, what do youthink of it compared to other tournaments you’ve played,whether in England or abroad?

I like it. It has a very unique feel about it, with the heavyemphasis on scenarios and soft scores. There are lots of‘serious gaming’ tournaments going around these days, but thismakes for a refreshing change ofpace and really forces you torethink the game a bit.

What was your favourite thing about the event?

I love travelling to tournaments, purely for the fact that I get tomeet and game with people I normally wouldn’t see. This yearalone I’ve made great friends with guys from France, Belgium,Germany, orway, and Denmark too. It’s a very social hobbyfor me, and GF really lets me get as much out ofthat aspect aspossible.

So you’re coming back for GF13, do you think?

Already booked, baby!

Wood Elves by Matt Oakley.

Ork

Warboss by

Kasper Rud

Pederson.

War Hydra by

Thomas Kragh.

Gamers in action.

All photos taken by IsaacAlexander.

Where: Remisen sports centre, Østerbro, Copenhagen, DenmarkWhen: 1st – 3rd of October, 2010Website: www.giantfanatic.dkWhere to stay: Hotel Rye, http://www.hotelrye.dk/english.htm

All in all, Giant Fanaticwas a very unique eventwhich not only promisedan interesting and funweekend, but managed todeliver it in full. If you likechallenging armies,outstanding terrain, stellarorganisation, weird andwacky scenarios, and agreat social atmosphere, besure to be there next year!

Until then, we were morethan happy to present thisevent the much coveted:

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR 9

Kjartan Nickelsen - WINNER

AWARDS:

1st OverallBest NewcomerBest Team

Kjartan, congratulations on your outstanding performance! How does it feel to win the first GF you’ve been to?

Fantastic, obviously! I’ve been playing tournaments for two years now, but never been to one in Copenhagen before. Suffice tosay I will be coming back.

Can you tell us a bit about the army you were using?

Two ofmy friends and I were all playing a similar list, based around ‘Ole’, a Greater Daemon ofurgle. The rest ofmy listcontained a urgle Herald in a block ofPlaguebearers, 2 units ofurglings, 6 Flesh Hounds, 6 Flamers, two units ofHorrors,and some other bits and bobs.

Interesting list. The big green fellow doesn’t normally see a lot of action compared to the other Greater Daemons. Didthe rules pack influence your choice there at all?

Ofcourse. Bloodthirsters and Chickens ofChange were banned, and so was Siren Song which makes the Keeper a much lessattractive option. But Ole is great fun, probably the toughest unit in the game, and I think his urgling creating ability is reallywell suited to these scenarios.

Very true. So was your basic tactic just to swarm up the field with &urglings and watch the opponent drown in them?

There’s obviously a little more to it than that, but yeah, drowning in urglings is always fun.

What did you think of the rules pack as a whole?

I think it’s great. The nature ofthe restrictions really forces people to explore other routes to victory with their armies, ratherthan rely on the ‘same old same old’ stuff. For example, with a total ban offlying large targets some armies suddenly becomemuch easier to deal with, while others become much more viable to play with. I think anything that promotes creativity in armybuilding is good for the hobby.

DETAILS FOR NEXT YEARUnseen Lerker

Gold Star

OfApproval

The Giant Fanatic Team.

LLEERRKKEERRUUNNSSEEEENN10

Playing toy soldiers is all very well and good, but it's time to GET PHYSICAL!For something totally different, why not try:

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It's a goodworkout ANDprovidesfriendlycompetition!

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*ot yet confirmed by

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Increasesyour health!

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And to keep your strength up, don't forget to eat this issue's Featured Food:

Recently votedthe mostpopular take­out inGermany!

A little bitfatty, but ohso tasty!Quick.Easy.Affordable.Delicious!

Invented inTurkey.AvailableEverywhere.

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR 11

Loke "Gronx"

Andersen

Loke Daugbjerg Andersen is a Danish exile currently living in Vietnam. He has a

wealth ofprevious gaming experience, but more importantly he has lots oftime on

his hands and enough knowledge ofthe English language that he makes the ideal

minion for this tactics segment. For his first column we tore him away from slurping

noodles and whittling bamboo flutes to talk about a subject which baffles every

Warhammer player at one point or another: deployment.

TACTIC–ATTACK!Loke: Greetings most honoured people, goblins and gremlins. The kind editor has allowed me to share athought or two in this part of this work of his, so I've decided to go through a few aspects of the game,outlining mechanics, tips and tricks useable for both beginners and more advanced users alike.

The art of deployment actually starts when you put your list together. Since this part isn't about listconstruction, I'll simply add a few general ideas.

When constructing your list, you'll probably have a good idea about how your list is going to work. Thereare a wide range of different kinds of lists, so I'll try to split them into 4 main list types:

The gunlineThese lists typically rely on superior, mostly stationary, ranged power. These lists typically consist ofseveral war machines, 3+ units of shooting infantry, along with either anvil units or hammer units. Anvilunits are units such as most dwarven units, units capable of taking the charge from an enemy which hasbeen softened up by the shooting and either stalling them or breaking them again. The hammer units aremost often some kind of cavalry or other such elite unit, capable of charging the softened up units,breaking and running through the enemy's advancing troops.

The fast and the furiousThese lists typically rely on getting over the table in a hurry with fast elite units, often suplemented bymonsters and fighty characters. They will typically start charging the enemy in turn 2, trying to end thefight before their inferior numbers becomes a problem.

The hordeThese lists simply try to swarm the opponent, present the enemy with so many targets that eventuallythey'll start breaking, as soon as the infanry starts hitting the enemy's flanks.

The moving and shooting pestilenceThese lists typically consists of several units capable of inflicting ranged harm to the enemy while dancingaway from their charges, these lists typically relies on magic to add to the mobile damage, while having afew mobile hard hitting units, typically monsters, chariots and other units with a small frontage.

When designing your list, try to figure out how important it is for you to start, as opposed to how muchyou want to control the deployment phase. If getting the +1 to start is very important to you, try tominimize the amount of deployment entries you have, while still maintaining your strengths. If you wishto control the deployment, the opposite of this holds true, try to include as many cheap units as you can,such as warhounds, goblin cavalry, skink skirmishers and such, as this enables your deployment of yourmore expensive workhorses.

LLEERRKKEERRUUNNSSEEEENN12

Now onwards to the game itself. Imposing your will, or plan if you want, on the opponent, is what you'reaiming for. Before deploying, start with analyzing the opponent’s army, you should, with a bit ofexperience, be able to see which one of the armies is the more aggressive one.

If you have the offensive army, you must keep things like escape routes in mind, try to deploy centrally,with a strong flank if the opponents army is stationary. If you're the defensive player, you must try to lureyour opponent into a position where his units will clump up, get stuck in each others paths, or be delayedwith a minimum of sacrificial units spent.

Having a pre planned deployment without knowing the terrain is a recipe for failure. You should almostalways consider the terrain available to you, try to use it or limit your opponents usage of it,

If you're using either the gunline or the horde, you might want to pre-plan your deployment, with thegunline try to visualize lines of fire, consider how hills or houses might grant you line of sight advantages,or deploy a few units near a hill, and the others far away from it, as the opponent might assume youmaking a castle of units on the hill. (See diagram below for an example. )

With the horde, it is usually important to keep your general quite centrally for LD purposes, so considerthis while trying to fit all your units in between pieces of terrain. You have to keep panic in mind whenplaying with a horde, so make sure that you aren't deploying small units with US5+ near the centre, asthose units can cause 5-6 panic tests if they get wiped out by magic or shooting.

An example of a well executed deployment strategy. An empire player having more deploymententries than the Warriors of Chaos opponent decides to fool the opponent into thinking that he’llcastle on the hill, like most defensive armies with war machines would usually do. The smartthing to do now, would be to deploy the rest of the units, including war machines, on the leftflank, since this would give you at least one more turn of shooting before your expensivemachines and characters get threatened.

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR 13

With the two more mobile army setups, you must try to limit the use of either your opponents shooting ornumber advantage. Try to use terrain to keep your expensive units out of the sight of massive shooting,use forests, flanks, hills, other units to block LoS while either advancing, or shooting pieces of youropponents army. Deploying heavily on one flank can force shooters to spend 1-2 turns moving, forcehorde armies to turn, blocking their own movement, making it easy for you to engage him with a smallerand more compact list.

The ideas that I've touched on here are obviously just a few examples of the myriad of tricks and traps youcan learn along the way, but I'm quickly running towards my maximum article allowance here, so I willquickly summarize (damn right you will - Ed.):

- Find out who the aggressor is, if his army benefits from being aggressive use it against him whereverpossible.- Analyze terrain, where do you want the main battles to take place; how you can avoidshooting/maximize the amount of time you have for shooting.- Put down fast/inexpensive units first, before committing to a plan.- With a more mobile army, use flanks and terrain to divide or bottle up the opponents army.- You aren't killing the opponent’s army in the deployment phase, but your actions here will dictate theflow of the game, dice and deployment wins games.

In this Lizardmen vs Bretonnia matchup, the Lizardmen player has decided to bring eight smallexpendable units: the Skinks, Terradons and the Salamander, which forces the Bretonnia playerto deploy his whole army before the Lizardmen player puts down the Stegadons, Kroxigor,Saurus and characters, an almost perfect example of a refused flank deployment. The planfrom here on out would then be to move the left side around the forest, quickly demolishing theleft side knights and forcing the Bretonnia player to turn towards his flank if he wishes to engagethe valuable units.

LLEERRKKEERRUUNNSSEEEENN14

Russ Veal'sGLORIOUSChaos army.Check it outon page 21.

Only in Unseen Lerker.

James

"Domus" Hyde

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR 15

THE HOBBY CORNERDomus: When called upon by the internationally infamous (as in very famous, not famousin a bad way) Bobo to provide some hobby tips for his magazine, I was more than willing tooblige and share some tips I’ve picked up over the years. I got into the great miniaturehobby back in the 90’s with a game called ecromunda, got busy doing other things andcame back with a vengeance in 2003 around the same time that GW’s Hordes ofChaosarmy book was released. I’ve since been inspired by some ofthe great artists in our hobbyto create armies with a significant visual theme. Here are some tips (in no particular order),and hopefully there will be something here for everyone.

For thoseunaware, Domus owns about 54 orangearmies ­ Ed.

Stripping Miniatures

Editor's note: Simple Green canbe difficult to get ahold of outside of the US.Similar cleaning products should do the samejob, but remember to test them first!

~ Ten Basic Hobbying Tips ~

LLEERRKKEERRUUNNSSEEEENN16

~ Special Characters ~Bobo: Marcelo, thanks for taking the time to speak with us.

Marcelo: My pleasure, Isaac, I always enjoy any excuse to talk about Warhammer.

Bobo: Why don’t you start off by telling us a little about yourself? How did you originally get into wargaming?What are your favourite things about playing it?

Marcelo: In high school I used to play Dungeons & Dragons role playing games and I enjoyed competing as part ofthe school chess team. About five years ago I came across a Games Workshop store and Warhammer seemed tocombine the best of the things I most enjoyed of those high school games. Meaning the fantasy background ofD&D and the strategic competitive nature of chess.

Bobo: So, obviously we want to know how you’ve managed such a phenomenal gaming feat as you have this year:the epic 397 rankings score and the undisputed #1 rankings position. You’ve been playing competitively for a fewyears now, what was different this season?

Marcelo: This is my 5th year of Warhammer and 4th year of tournament play. My first four years of Warhammer Ispent playing exclusively with Bretonnians and was Best Bretonnian General in the Australian rankings for thethree years I competed with them. Although I was the #1 ranked Bretonnian player in the Oz Rankings for so long, Inever finished the tournament year as the Overall #1 until now. I only enjoy playing armies of good alignment, Ihave never played with evil armies. After 4 years of Brets I needed a change and decided to use High Elves for the2009 Tournament year. I found High Elves to be far better equipped to handle the newer power armies (VampireCounts, Daemons and Dark Elves) than Brets.

Bobo: Speaking of your High Elves (and a very nice looking army you have, by the way), tell us a bit about them.What appeals to you about the army, what sort of list do you traditionally use, and what sort of battle plan do yourgames usually revolve around?

Marcelo: What I like about High Elves is that they are able to compete in all phases of the game and tailor the armyto any type of play that you may wish. Unlike the Brets I was used to, which had very limited magic and shootingand relied heavily on breaking units on the charge in combat, with HE you can accentuate shooting, magic, or closecombat and combine these three in any dosage you desire.In my case, it was a very balanced force that relied on troops rather than characters. I like building lists that are wellbalanced to take on all comers and that rely on the combined used of weak to medium strength units to win gamesrather than relying on strong units to do the job. Anyone can throw a Dragon, Greater Daemon or War Hydraforward, it takes far more skill to win through the combined use of units that can only end up on top by workingwell together.

Marcelo Rouco is currently the #1 ranked Warhammer player in Australia. Thisyear he managed to win no less than three of the major events in Australia andNew Zealand, rocketing himself to the leading seed with a total rankings scoreof 397.8 out of 400 – a feat unmatched by anyone in the rankings’ history. Ourreporter in the field, Bobo, managed to clobber his way through the horde ofscreaming fans to find out from Mr Rouco just how he became so successful.

Archmage: level 4, elven steed, Jewel of the Dusk,2x Dispel ScrollNoble: barded elven steed, battle standard, dragon armour,shield, Helm of Fortune, Sword of Might15 Spearmen: standard, musician10 Archers10 Archers15 White Lions: standard, musician, Lion Standard

15 Pheonix Guard: standard, musician, WarBanner5 Dragon Princes: standard, Banner of Ellyrion5 Ellyrion Reavers: spears and bows2 Lion ChariotsGreat Eagle2 Repeater Bolt Throwers

Marcelo's 2009 High Elf Tournament Army

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Marcelo: As you might notice, there is no single 'power unit' in my army list. It only has 2 characters and not asingle unit champion. Points were saved wherever possible to put more troops on the ground. Any of those unitswould be in serious trouble if it tried to work unsupported. So when I built the above list I split it into combatgroups that would always deploy and work together. Typically with an anvil unit that should be able to hold thecharge of most units for a single turn while a second hammer unit (often the weaker of the group) would hangfurther back waiting to come in for a flank charge in my subsequent turn). Combat groups were Phoenix Guard(Anvil) with Spearmen (Hammer) which would deploy around the centre of the table. White Lions (Anvil) withDragon Princes (Hammer). Both these units can go through forests unhindered, the BSB would always go with theDragon Princess, adding punch to the unit but more importantly giving the re-roll on stubborn for the White lionsbreak tests to make sure they held no matter what charged them. This Combat group would deploy off to one flank.Behind and between these two combat groups would sit the fire base: both units of Archers and the Bolt Throwers.The Wizard general would start in the Phoenix guard and move to the Archer or Bolt thrower units when the enemygot too close to the Phoenix guard. The two Lion Chariots were the flexible (react to the enemy) 3rd combat group.They are a decent unit on their own but devastating when they both charge together. There is not much that canstand to a 2 Lion Chariot combined charge. The fast Cavalry and Eagle have the job of slowing down the enemy bystopping march moves which gives more time for the shooting and magic to weaken the enemy as well as divertingenemy units to stop multiple charges on my anvil units. The Anvil units could hold a charge from any one enemyunit but are not strong enough to take a charge from two enemy units, and they had to hold for the hammer units tocome into the flanks of whatever charged the anvil units.

Phoenix Guard and Spearmen - Marcelo's Anvil and Hammer

ofchoice.

A solid firebase is one ofthe High Elfarmy's main strengths.

Few enemies make it across the board unscathed.

Bobo: What is your favourite unit in the army from a gaming point of view and why?

Marcelo: With both Brets and High Elves, my favourite units were the Fast Cavalry units. These units allow you tochoose your combats, by diverting enemy units that you are not yet ready to fight. In Warhammer, if you candictate which enemy units you fight and when, you’ve won the game.

Bobo: What advice would you give to other players who are attempting to improve their gaming, perhaps follow inyour footsteps? (don’t worry, we won’t tell your rivals)

Marcelo: Drop all the very strong units/characters off your list and challenge yourself to play with weaker units. Ialways get a “Yeah, right, as if I would do that” type response to my comment whenever I’m asked. The reality isthat if you are relying on your uber unit/character to do lots of damage to win you the game than you will never bestretched as a general or learn as much as if you were trying to win with weaker units in your army. We learn farmore when we lose games than when we win them. So don’t be afraid to play with weaker lists and lose games, it’spart of the learning process, and you’ll become an ever greater general the more you do so.

Bobo: The Australian ETC team was recently announced, the eight top players who will be travelling to Germanyin August to compete in the world’s largest teams event, and you are naturally at the fore. What are your thoughtson the tournament as whole, and what are you most looking forward to about it?

Marcelo: I’ve never represented Australia in any event and doing so in something I enjoy doing as much asplaying Warhammer is a very exciting prospect. I look forward to becoming an even better general by playing theworld’s best Warhammer players. No matter how my games go I’ll come back happy. When I win I’ll be proud ofcontributing to Australia’s result and when I lose I will be taught a generalship lesson that I would not haveotherwise learnt.

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component where there is peer group pressure to moderate lists. Even though our team toughened up their lists theystill had very weak lists compared to the field, we’ll be better prepared with stronger lists this year.

Bobo: Do you have an all time favourite quote and if so, what is it?

Marcelo: “It's not what happens to you that defines you, it's what you do about it.” Often things happen to us thatare beyond our control, whether it’s in life or during a game, we can choose to be defeated by it, or pick up thepieces to get up again and continue trying. I believe these choices that we make along the way are 99% of thereason each one of us is where we are today.

Bobo: Finally, what three words would you use to describe yourself - whether as a person, a gamer or a crustacean?

Marcelo: Mmmmm, that’s tough, as outsiders might see us very different to the way we see ourselves. But I’ll havea crack: focused, competitive but generous (away from the gaming table!).

Bobo: Well, it’s been an honour chatting to you, Marcelo. Best of luck to yourself and the rest of the Australians atthe ETC and we look forward to seeing you again there.

Both the Lion Chariot and Great Eagle fill invaluable roles

within Marcelo's battle plan.

Bobo: The Australians managed to achieve 11th placeoverall (out of 28) on their first attempt last year. How isthe team altering their preparations this year and how doyou think you will fare as a result?

Marcelo: Last year was Australia’s first at the ETC, andconsidering the issues that a first time competing countryneeds to face I believe they did very well. Many of therules interpretations at the ETC were different from whatwe were used to playing here, such as units fleeing offthe board being destroyed when they touch the tableedge and causing panic at that point to all friendly unitswithin 6 inches, and there were 3-4 others that if you arenot used to playing them in that manner it can reallyundo some of your games or not see opportunities tocapitalise on. This year we have been implementing allthese ETC rules interpretations into our tournaments, sowe won’t have any rules surprises that cost us games.Also in Australia we have a very strong composition

Despite being a competitive player, Marcelo is known forbeing a gentleman both at and away from the gaming table.

Andrew Goodman,the Australiancaptain from 2009,demonstrates to theteam how they aregoing to crush theirfoes. . . using teammember JeffGalea'shead.

The Australian teamplaced 11th overallat last year's ETC,and have their sightsset high for 2010.

Marcelo's 2009tournament recordincludes:

Ides of March ‐ 1stConVic ‐ 1stPilgrimage ‐ 11thFields of Blood ‐ 1stOrktoberfest ‐ 3rd

Photo:Oz-Vagabonds

Photo:Oz-Vagabonds

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Every issue we like to find out just what kind ofmusic the readers of Unseen Lerker have been

listening to and enjoying. Being the first issue, we obviously have no idea what that might be, so we

had to ask a few of the people here around the office. Send in what you're listening to plus a very

short description of what you liked about it, using the below format, to music@unseenlerker.com.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

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AArroouunndd TThhee WWoorrlldd

Want your picture in here?Unseen Lerker is a truly global magazine - we want everyone in the world to be able to appreciatereading it. To spread word of its existence, we are looking for our readers to take Unseen Lerker to themost unusual places on earth. To get yourself in the magazine, simply send us a photo of yourselfsomewhere fun with either a copy of the magazine or one of our t-shirts, mugs or hats tolookatme@unseenlerker.com. Don't forget to include your full name and location!

Hamlet's Castle

Old Town Jail

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AARRMMYY SSHHOOWWCCAASSEEBobo: So tell us, Russ, just what is it that makes agood painter?

Russ: A lot of people I have spoken to over theyears think there is some trick to painting that goodpainters know and they don’t. I get asked a lot –how did you do the weapons? What’s your recipefor gold? Etc etc… well I want to say with a brushand a good eye for colour and years and years ofpractice but people often look at me like I amharbouring some great secret for myself! Therereally is no trick to it just lots of practice andpatience.

For me to be a good painter you need to always tryand improve with each model/army you paint. I amstill learning new techniques and improving, eacharmy I tend to try something new even if it’s justuse of a different medium or one new technique.There are painters out there who really put mystuff to shame but that’s good because it showshow much more I can learn and improve. I paintfor myself and if other people like my work thenthat’s great and I get a kick out of it.

Bobo: You have a lovely looking Chaos army here.How many hours of work would you say went intoproducing it?

Russ: Well I didn’t really count but I started thearmy back in Dec 08 and finished it in September09. First unit I produced was the chosen – thesetook a long time (all my free time over xmasbreak) in between family stuff and xmas/new year.The first unit is often to hardest because you arestill thinking about colour scheme and how to goabout painting the models once you have thatdown and look of the army decided upon you canreally motor along but it does start to get tedious. Itook several breaks from the army, just doing otherprojects until I felt the enthusiasm to paint themagain.

Russ Veal is one of the most active tournament players in England, and hasqualified for the UK Masters event both years it has been run. In addition tobeing a good player, Russ’s hobby talents also extend to painting and modelling,and this year his Warriors of Chaos army won the Best Painted prize at three ofthe most prestigious events of the year: the Warrington GT, the Throne of SkullsGT Heat 2 and the UK Masters. We managed to strap him into a chair, get theswinging lightbulb out, and find out just how he makes the magic happen.

Bobo: What is your favourite piece in the army and why?

Russ: The warshrine for me stands out because I don’t usually do a lot ofbig conversions in my armies, I am really pleased how this turned out. Ithink it’s the fact its pretty unique and came together from bits I had lyingabout, Its flagellants pushing it, a corpse cart mixed with an orc boarchariot, the mordheim beastmaster as the driver, some skull piles and plasticskulls I had lying about with the defiler back banner and various other bitsand pieces! I decided to make the two shrine guards to frame the shrine offnicely, originally I wanted it to be all on one base but this was not practicalfor gaming so I made it modular and just about squeezed it on a chariotbase!(pictured below)

Russ: "I am working on myVampires currently – not thesame standard as my Chaosbut I am experimenting withspeeding up the processwithout sacrificing the qualityto much. This basicallyinvolves experimenting withsome "after dip" blends andinteresting basing to set thearmy off and taking time oncentre piece units andcharacters. I'm liking thelook of it so far, and the bestthing about it: I should havea gaming army ready a lotquicker than if I took thesame approach as with myWarriors of Chaos!"

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Bobo: What advice would you give to young aspiring painters who are trying to improve their skills, orsomeone trying to take out a Best Painted prize like you have done?

Russ: Well improving your painting and going for a best painted army prize are very different aspects.Getting your army noticed, picking a striking colour scheme, basing, centre pieces and executing it wellare some of the best ways to win army painting awards – I think consistency is a massive factor inwinning best painted awards, it needs to look like a cohesive force. Single model painters look at a figureand come to a colour pallet, setting and look for that model, when you do an army it’s the same process onthe whole. I consider myself an army painter and have yet to really delve into single figure painting.

As for improving your skills – apply yourself and practice. Read guides, watch good painters. Learncolour theory and try and always improve your work from piece to piece. But it’s important to rememberfind your own way, take the bits you like and leave the bits you don’t and find your own style. Experimentand have fun and feel proud of the models you have painted, you are only competing with yourself eachtime to get better.

Next issue,SNEAKPREVIEW:The EternalWaagh!

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR 23

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MEETING OF THE MINDSA Daemons of Chaos vs Lizardmen Warhammer battle report.

PrefaceFor our first Unseen Lerker battle report, we wanted to give you a hard-fought battle between two of thetop armies going around. Daemons of Chaos and Lizardmen are both forces to be reckoned with at themoment, so now all we had to do was find a couple of monkeys to play the armies...

About the playersAndy Isherwood is one of the most prolific Daemon players in England, having won half a dozentournaments including the Irish GT and the Throne of Skulls GT Final with them in the past 12 months.He has qualified for the UK Masters both years it has been run and is being tipped as one of the favouritesto win it this year.Andrew Chesney is rated among many to be one of the best players in England, with a wealth of gamingexperience in his past and present (and most likely future too, provided the Hungarian immigrationauthorities don't catch up with him). His Lizardmen have scored him numerous podium positions in thelast year, including 2nd overall at the WPS Club Challenge, one of the largest tournaments in the UK.

Together Andy & Ches make a formidable force when they enter tournaments together, under the nameTeam GloboGym, and it is not an uncommon sight to see them in 1st and 2nd position in the final resultsstandings. Both players tend to play very aggressively, so whatever happens we're guaranteed to see agood scrap!

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since the Club Challenge and needed the exercise. Although I had painted a few extra units including twoStegadons, some Chameleons and a Carnosaur I decided that 24 hours wasn’t enough time to get my headaround a new style of play. Therefore I just went with my exact CC list, and Sammy the Slann made hiscome back. I had a passing word with Andy to make sure we weren’t going to spoil the report with himusing his GT list and ripping me a new Chaos gate in two turns. He agreed that he wouldn’t take the -2Leadership banner and also dropped Siren Song.... phew.... All I had to do was not take Bane Head, whichI never take anyway.

The basic battle plan was to take Shadow magic, and as I knew all the spells could guarantee an attempton both Unseen Lurker and Pit of Shades (with the judicious use of the extra power dice per spell). Theonly way I have found at having a chance of beating Daemons is to get on the front foot and give themlittle room for manoeuvre. The Piranha Blade veteran would try to chop up the Flesh Hounds whilst theSlann dropped things down big pits. Game on!

Andrew Chesney

Ches: When Bobo approached me with his great idea for a gaming magazine andthen followed it up with the offer of playing the very first battle report to grace itspages, I naturally jumped at the chance. It was only later I found out that I wouldbe playing good friend and Ibis Miniatures business partner, Andy “Thirster”Isherwood... Oh well, there had to be some downside I guess!I was planning on using one of my better painted armies as the photos of the gamewould indeed reflect upon me. I settled on Lizardmen, they hadn’t had a run out

Slann Mage Priest ‐ 480Battle Standard, Becalming Cogitation, FocusedRumination, Focus of Mystery, Divine Plaque of Protection,Itxi Grubs, Dispel ScrollSkink Priest ‐ 435Level 2(3), Engine of the Gods, Wardrums of Xahutec,Plaque of TepokScar Veteran ‐ 133Cold One, Light Armour, Shield, Burning Blade of ChotecScar Veteran ‐ 160Cold One, Light Armour, Enchanted Shield, Piranha Blade

12 Saurus Spearmen ‐ 174Full Command12 Saurus Spearmen ‐ 162Standard, MusicianSkink Cohort: 16 Skinks, 2 Kroxigor ‐ 212Full Command10 Skink Skirmishers ‐ 80Javelin & Shields3 Terradons ‐ 903 Terradons ‐ 905 Saurus Cavalry ‐ 230Standard, Musician, Huanchi’s Blessed Totem

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Andy Isherwood

Andy: I was quite looking forward to playing Ches in this game. We work in thesame office, so get to play against one another quite frequently, but naturally thistime was something a little more special - there was real pride on the line! Now,seeing as Ches and I play so often we more or less know how the other guy isgoing to approach the game before deployment even starts. We have similar ideasabout how to build armies and what tactics to use in what situations, and I think bythis stage Ches has almost figured out how to beat my usual Daemon army (basedaround Barry the Bloodthirster). So, in an attempt to throw my old adversary,

Lord of Change ‐ 600Level 3, Tzeentch’s Will, Power VortexHerald of Tzeentch ‐ 225Flying chariot, Master of Sorcery, Spell BreakerHerald of Nurgle ‐ 190Palanquin, Stream of BileHerald of Khorne ‐ 215Juggernaut, battle standard, Armour of Khorne, FirestormAxe

10 Horrors ‐ 138Standard, musician10 Horrors ‐ 138Standard, musician11 Plaguebearers ‐ 187Full command, Standard of Seeping Decay5 Furies – 606 Flesh Hounds – 2105 Flesh Hounds – 1751 Fiend of Slaanesh – 551 Fiend of Slaanesh – 55

I decided to dust off some of my more 'interesting' units from the cupboard and see if I could surpriseChes with a trick or too. The most radical change I made to my usual list was swapping the Bloodthirsterfor a Lord of Change with the Will of Tzeentch ability. Normally I would also take Mastery of Sorcery inorder to get full knowledge of the Shadow deck (an amazing lore that we here in the office use a LOT),but I thought I would be even sneakier by instead getting the extra power dice ability and just castingChes's Shadow spells against him using Glean Magic. Sneaky, eh? I backed this up with the usualassortment of Flesh Hounds, Furies and Horrors that are the stables of most Daemon armies, plus my dualsingle Fiends which I have really grown to love. I also included a chariot-mounted Tzeentch Herald withthe Beasts lore, also not something I usually use. His job was to run around and try to either Beast CowersChes's Engine or Saurus Cavalry, or cast Wolf Hunts on my combat units to get them stuck into Ches'stroops. The final inclusions I made were the Khorne BSB on the juggernaut and a solid block ofPlaguebearers with a Herald leading them. Together these two units are probably the best offensive anddefensive combat units in the game (respectively), and I knew Ches was going to have to use a lot ofresources if he wanted to try and get rid of them. As for plans, I find they rarely survive first contact withthe enemy, so mine are always the same: run at the enemy, cast some magic, and argue about the moralhigh ground later. Simple.

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Deployment was a fairly simple affair for both sides. Ches deployed the bulk of his forces in the centre ofthe battlefield, with the Skink Skirmishers heading for the difficult terrain piece, the Engine anchoring thenorth, the Cohorts sneaking around the south, the cavalry in the centre, and the rest of the Slann's minionshanging around the big boss himself.

For Andy's part, he'd had his deployment zone split by an inconvenient difficult terrain piece, but he didn'tseem overly worried since he was planning on pressing in on the Lizards from multiple angles anyway.He had the Plaguebearers plonked on the south side of the terrain piece, opposite the majority of Ches'sforces, while the Khorne and Tzeentch Heralds were leading the faster contingent coming from the north.Andy ummed and ahhed for a while about where to put the Lord of Change, not wanting to expose him totoo much poison shooting or any first turn Unseen Lurker possibilities, and finally settled for plonkinghim right opposite the Slann. What do you get when two of the most powerful wizards in the old worldmeet? We'd soon find out...

Lizardmen

Slann

Lore of Shadows: allspells

Skink Priest

Lore of Heavens: 1,3,4

Daemons

Lord of Change

Lore of Tzeentch: allspells

Herald ofTzeentch

Lore of Beasts: allspells

Horrors

Flickering Fire ofTzeentch

Magic

The Setup

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Turn 1Ches managed to win the firstturn and his Lizardmen leaptinto action. In the south theCohorts made a beeline for theHorrors opposite them, while theSkirmishers took up residence inthe terrain and everyone elsejostled for position. Most of theLizards had surged towards theDaemons southern contingentwith the Lord of Change andPlaguebearers, but the Enginehung back to hold off Andy'sother flank.

In the magic phase, Ches beganby killing a Furie with ForkedLightning, then used his IxtiGrubs to ensure that Pit ofShades went off, but in return

Andy used his Tzeentch's Will re-roll to ensure it was dispelled. Then came the four-dice Unseen Lurkeron the Saurus Cavalry with Piranha Blade Veteran. Andy began to utter the words "Spell Breaker" butthen saw the three sixes that Ches had managed to roll and snapped his mouth shut. The Cavalry hurtledforward with another six on their Huanchi Banner to crash into the nearest Flesh Hounds! A turn onecharge!

In combat, the combined attacks of the cold ones, Saurusriders and Scar Veteran managed to cause seven unsavedwounds on the Flesh Hounds, who only managed to killone model in return. The post-pop result was that a singleHound still stood, with the Saurus Cavalry deep into theDaemon lines.

Andy began to declare some charges, with the Lord ofChange aiming for the Saurus Cavalry's flank and thePlaguebearer block heading for the front. He paused in hisenthusiastic declarations as he heard some faint sniggeringfrom the other side of the table. Andy looked at thesituation again, and realised the predicament he was in. Ifthe Lord of Change didn't charge then he would be in the way and subsequently block the

Plaguebearers' charge as well. But if he didcharge, not only would he be wasting all his juicymagic potential, but in trying to pursue theCavalry he would land himself right in the middleof the Lizardmen army. Andy thought better of itand didn't charge.

Instead he flew the Lord of Change to a saferposition, waited for his northern combat flank toarrive, and tried to drop the Slann down a big holeusing his own Pit of Shades spell. Ches used allhis dice to stop it, which meant a few Skinks fromthe Cohort died to Horror magic, but no-onereally seemed to notice. In combat, the last FleshHound died.

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Turn 2With the Saurus Cavalry nowunengaged, their Scar Veteranleader ordered them to ignore thelooming Plaguebearers and reformto face the flank of the nearby Lordof Change. The Slann moved up,suspiciously within Lurker range.Nearby, the Saurus units weren'toverly keen to fight the KhorneHerald and his Flesh Houndsentourage so the Terradons, whohad just finished dropping rocks onthe Furies, were ordered tointerpose themselves between theFlesh Hounds and the Saurus. Themagic phase saw Pit of Shades miscast and give the Slann a wound, while Unseen Lurker on the Cavalryfailed to cast by one. Shooting and a bunch more rocks killed off the right flank Fiend of Slaanesh, whohad been sneaking around to cause havoc in the following turns.

Andy was now presented with several juicy options - to get his Slann into Lurker range Ches had beenforced to also leave it within charge range of the Lord of Change. However, a successful flee move fromthe Slann would leave the Lord of Change open to be flank charged by a full unit of Saurus. Andy wentfor the sensible option and instead charged the flank of that same Saurus unit, figuring he would be able

to turn around and wrap up the Slann in the next coupleof turns. The Saurus expectedly fled and escaped (just!),leaving the Lord of Change in an excellent position tocast Gift of Chaos on the nearby Lizardmen units, whichkilled almost a dozen models total from five differentunits.

The Plaguebearers also charged the exposed flank of theSaurus Cavalry, who proceeded to flee 18" on three diceand end up back in the Lizardmen deployment zone!Those guys really like to roll 6s!

Elsewhere, Andy well and truly destroyed the blockingTerradon unit by charging them with the TzeentchHerald's chariot, the remaining Furie and by sending theKhorne Herald out of his unit. The Tzeentch Herald alsotried to cast Beast Cowers on the Engine of the Gods,who was currently being marchblocked and diverted bythe other Fiend of Slaanesh, but Ches obviously had bigplans for the dinosaur and used his solitary Dispel Scrollon the attempt. The Khorne Herald overran through thebloody remains of the Terradons and slammed into theSaurus unit behind containing the other Scar Veteran.Ches was running out of diverters, and the FleshHounds were about to hit home.

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Turn 3The turn began with the SaurusCavalry rolling a '10' for their rallytest. Andy jumped in the air andcheered - their general's Ld was only9! Ches just shook his head kindlyand pointed to the word "musician"on his army list. The unit rallied toface the Lord of Change's rear.

The fleeing Saurus Warriors alsorallied to face the flying Daemon,and the Slann turned around for somemore Lurker action. The TzeentchHerald prepared his Spell Breaker...

This time is was Ches's turn todeclare some charges - the Skink-Kroxigor Cohort charged the Horrorsthey'd been chasing, and managed tocompletely destroy the unit incombat.

On the far north flank, the Engine of the Gods wasbeing harassed by the remaining Fiend, but insteadof charging it Ches unexpectedly revealed theWardrums of Xahutec and using the monster's freepivots walked straight around the annoyingblocker, preparing to blast the cluster of Daemonsin the center of the board. The Burning Alignment,despite capping out at a range of 6", managed tokill not only the Fiend, the remaining Furie andfive Horrors, but also put a wound on the TzeentchHerald and managed to completely obliterate theKhorne BSB fighting the Saurus spearmen! Turnsout that Engine isn't just a pretty face afterall...

Things went from bad to worse when theSlann managed to cast his secondIrresistible Unseen Lurker spell of the game,propelling the Saurus Cavalry and ScarVeteran into the Lord of Change's rear. Incombat the two characters fought achallenge, which saw the Saurus hero getpounded into the dirt by the GreaterDaemon, but not before he and his cold onemount managed a combined three woundson their foe. The Scar Veteran's sacrificewas not in vain, and with the unit'sadditional combat resolution added in aswell the Lord of Change lost his hold onreality and disappeared back into the warp.Things looked grim for the Daemons - couldthey pull it back?

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Turn 4It was make or break time for the Daemons. Something had to happen and it had to happen fast. TheFlesh Hounds, sadly no longer joined by their fearless leader the Herald, ploughed into the front of theSaurus in front of them. A solid of amount of chomping ensued and a handful of hardy Saurus fell, but

the return attacks from thesecond rank of spears and fromthe Scar Veteran easily equalledthe combat resolution score andsaw the Hounds off by the endof the second round.

Next to this combat, thechariot-riding Tzeentch Heraldswooped up onto the hill to geta better look over the battlefieldand try and get in on someclose quarters action himself.While he was waiting though,he did his best to try and slowdown the Engine of the Godswith Beast Cowers and alsogive himself a little more speedusing Wolf Hunts, but heproved no match for the

Elsewhere, the SaurusCavalry obviouslydecided they'd doneenough work for one dayand failed their stupiditytest, ambling forwardinto their pedestrianbrethren instead ofgetting back into theaction, while the Slannretreated slightly into therocky ruins and theremaining Skinks andTerradons ran hither andthither spraying poison atthe Plaguebearers (who,being essentially walkingsacks of disease andpoison, were none tooimpressed).

Slann's Becalming Cogitation and floundered in trying to get a spell off.

The Daemon army was in tatters, but the Tzeentch Chariot was in a verythreatening position on the hill and the Plaguebearers were ready to pounceon the disorganised Lizardmen forces. Could they still snatch victory fromthe jaws of defeat?

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Turn 5Ches's second last turn beganwith the Skink-Kroxigor Cohort,who had finished dealing with theHorrors and turned around to re-enter the battle, charging thePlaguebearers in the rear. Despiteonly killing one Plaguebearer andlosing two of their own return, theCohort managed to win combatby enough to send another fourPlaguebearers into the ether.Nearby, Ches had completelyforgotten that the rocky terraindid not prevent flying movement,and with a great deal of(warranted!) glee Andy declared acharge from his Tzeentch Herald'schariot into the Slann! That couldbe a very quick case of roadkill!

The charge was half an inch out of range. Much cheering (from Ches)and booing (fromAndy) ensued.Fortunately for the Herald his failed charge also happened to fall justshort of the difficult terrain, which meant he didn't take any damagefor entering it. Unfortunately for the Herald he was then subjected toanother Engine blast and charged in the flank by a whole unit ofSaurus, who had thus far done very little and were itching for a fight.Despite valiantly dragging down two of the Saurus in combat, theircombat resolution proved too much to bear and the Heralddisappeared back into the warp with a shriek and an explosion ofsmelly purple smoke.

The Slann sensibly fled, but Chesonly rolled two inches on twodice for his distance! There weremany oohs and aahs from thespectators around the table as thetape measure slithered out to giveits verdict...

In the combatbetween theCohort and thePlaguebearersthings quicklyswung in favour ofthe Daemons whenthe Nurgle Heraldand his palanquinmoved intocontact. TheLizardmen werebroken shortlyafter and run downby thePlaguebearers' 10"pursuit move. Thiscarnage panicked anearby unit ofTerradons, whofled deeper into theDaemons'deployment zone.

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Turn 6

With only the Herald and a handful ofPlaguebearers remaining from the onceferocious Daemon army, the game'sconclusion was inevitable. However, Andywas determined to fight on and kill as many ofhis cold blooded enemies as possible.On the Lizardmen side, the Terradons and theSlann both managed to rally, and in a none-too-subtle move Ches pushed his SaurusCavalry (now containing the Burning BladeScar Veteran - hopefully his fate would be lessviolent than his brother's) towards thePlaguebearers. The Engine glowered nearby.The magic phase kicked off in full form withthe Slann achieving his third Irresistible Forceof the game, this time on Pit of Shades. Thissaw all the remaining Plaguebearers be suckedinto the magical vortex, save for the Championand the Herald, both of whom had obviouslybecome leaders because they knew how topush underlings into swirling black voidsinstead of themselves (they both made theirLook Out Sir rolls).Sadly for Ches (Andy: "Yeah, cry me a river.")the spell he really wanted to cast, UnseenLurker on the Saurus Cavalry, fell woefullyshort of the required casting roll and the turncame to an end.At the beginning of his turn 6, Andy had avery long, thoughtful look at the battlefield.After a moment's consideration, he made useof the only option left to him - he charged.

Combat, however, proved to be far less of adramatic affair. In a challenge between theScar Veteran and the Herald, neither herocould overcome the other, while thePlaguebearer Champion did manage to dragone Saurus rider to the ground while dodgingthe return attacks, claiming half points for thetroublesome unit. This left the Daemons losingthe combat by one, but Andy rolled acomfortable '4' for his Instability test, and thegame came to a close. Phew!

RESULTLizardmen: 2665 VPDaemons: 831 VPMajor victory to the Lizardmen

First of all, I totally forgot about the Wardrums. BIG mistake. As demonstrated in the game, it is a verybad idea to send characters out by themselves when there's an Engine loitering in the vicinity. I honestlythought I would get away with sending my battle standard bearer out on the grounds that the Engine wasbeing marchblocked and diverted by a Fiend. Even if Ches just walked around the Fiend he would stillneed at least a 10" roll on the blast to reach my Herald. Wardrums halved that required distance - solesson learned there.

Second, why the heck did I charge the Lord of Change at Ches's Saurus? It was possibly one of the mostobvious traps Ches could have laid, and I fell right into it. Even if I'd killed the unit it wouldn't have beenworth it since it put the Lord of Change in such a bad position. Much better would have been to scrap theplan of using Ches's Shadow magic against him (which was cute in theory but not really that brilliant inpractice), and fly over to blast the bejeezus out of the Engine using the massively destructive Tzeentchlore. I'm quite confident I could have killed both the Priest and the Stegadon in a single phase, and afterthat it would have been a simple matter of wrapping up the Lizards' left flank and rolling onwards till wereached the Slann. As it was all the Lord of Change ended up doing was blocking my Plaguebearers'charge before being spitted by those infernal Saurus Cavalry!

Oh well. Next time I'll take my Bloodthirster, and we'll see how much Ches's Saurus Cav like sevenstrength seven attacks up the jaxxie!

either me running away to safety or the Lord of Change sitting in front of my lines.From my side of the table I feel that the bait I set for the Lord of Change on the 2nd turn cost Andy anychance of battering me. The Khorne Herald had been blocked so had to charge out of his safe FleshHoundy home and beat up some Terradons, hoping to eventually beat up the Saurus. This was alwaysgoing to mean the Engine blast was absolutely crucial. If the Lord of Change had flown over and blastedhim there would be nothing I could do about it, as it was I scrolled the Beasts Cowers that would havepinned him - killing the Herald and sweeping the field clear of Daemonic filth.

Of course a second IF casting of Unseen Lurker to get the freshly rallied Cav into the rear of the Lord ofChange was pretty useful! I’ll take luck over skill anyday.

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Ches: Well that went better than I could have expected! Having to use the Itxigrubs on the first casting of Pit of Shades was annoying but following it up with atriple six for Unseen Lurker on the Cav with the Piranha Blade in was just ace. Itpinned Andy down, as well as costing him the unit of Flesh Hounds.I was pretty confident that all the counter charges he could attempt would result in

Andy Isherwood

Andy: So many excuses, so little time... I must say Ches thoroughly outplayed mehere and definitely deserved the win, so congrats to my opponent and businesspartner there. There were a few big instances were the dice really rocked the boat,so to speak, but they really only compounded the mistakes I made. Let's have alook at those, shall we?

Unit OfThe Match:

5 Saurus Cavalry - 230ptsStandard, musician, Huanchi's Blessed Totem

Add Scar Veterans to taste and watch this powerful heavycavalry unit go through entire armies by itself. For besteffect we recommend combining it with judicious use ofthe awesome Unseen Lurker spell!

Andrew Chesney

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hate, he reinforces your desire to lash out at them when he guts, maimsand cleaves. You will never be disappointed with Kratos’s badass attitude.This game is high in entertainment value for onlookers, except that theywill want to rip the control from your hands for their own heroic smashingsession. Another surprise is the camera control: there isn’t any. Thecreators have cleverly programmed the camera placement for every sectionof the game. Not only does this allow you more concentration on movingyour character, but they also use it to advantage by moving the camera toproduce captivating cinematic shots. This just adds to the giant podium onwhich God of War stands.The four main titles in the series were only released on Sony consoles. Butit is definitely worth buying a platform for playing these games. Without adoubt, this series is in my top five favourites. I’d like to suggest somethingsimilar to these hack–and–slash games, but nothing compares. They’rebrilliant.

Zach Kin-Wilde

You may never have thought that crushing heads, tearing limbs off living bodies andripping eyes out of faces is so very satisfying—until you play God of War.God of War is a game series that began on March 22, 2005 and consists of five titles; thefinal in the series will be released in March, 2010. The franchise creators, SonyComputer Entertainment, bring a whole different look to Greek mythology, as well asgaming. Everything from the visuals to gameplay is detailed and intense.

Shadow King, written by Gav Thorpe, is the second tale in the Sundering trilogy. Thispart of the Time of Legends collection, set in the Warhammer world, charts the fall ofthe High Elves and the rise to power of the Dark Elves and their Witch King Malekith.The story is told not from the perspective of Malekith, but from that of Alith, youngestson of the house of Anar, a noble family of Nagarythe. It is a tale of anger, revenge anda bitterness born as the elven race tears itself in two. What makes the writing of allthese books, and by extension the Horus Heresy series, interesting is that we know howthe story ends. The only room to manoeuvre for the authors comes the bits in themiddle. I'm impressed with Thorpe's choice to avoid the obvious option of continuing ashe left off in the first book (Malekith), by telling the tale from the point of view of theDark Elves. Instead he chooses to allow us to watch through the eyes of the Naggarothiloyalists as their race teeters on the brink of destruction at the hands of Malekith andhis Mother, Morathi. Looking at it as a piece of the Warhammer canon, Shadow King isanother great addition. I like where Thorpe takes his hero in the story. The use of theShadow Warriors is a great way to express the real cost of the sundering. Also the fillingout of the backgrounds of both Morathi's pact with darker powers than even herself andthe origins of Helebron (who makes her debut here) is great stuff for any self respectingfluff geek. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the book is let down by its very linear plot.That's just how Thorpe does things. There aren't any sub‐plots, or interweaving layers,or the other things that make you have to think when reading it.Don't get me wrong, Shadow King is certainly a step up for Gav Thorpe. I think it's hisbest yet. I just wish he wasn't practicing on my favourite fictional universe. TheWarhammer world has the potential to provide a huge depth of field for a fiction writer,and after reading Shadow King, whilst I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it, Ican't help but wonder: “What if Dan Abnett had written it instead?”

Chris Fitzsimmons

The story begins with Kratos, a Spartan captain. After serving the Gods of Olympus for many years, he isbetrayed and pulled into a spiralling journey of revenge. As he goes up against gods and demons you love to

JUST DON'T GO THERE:Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

OLD BUT GOLD:Casablanca (1942)

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Daybreakers they carry on in the remains of our world almost as if they were human, with the notableexceptions of sun‐proof cars, warehouses of humans strung up to be converted into fast food, degeneratingmonster‐vamps tearing each other to bits beneath the subway, and asking for an extra dollop of blood in yourcoffee instead of cream.The story is fairly simple: the new vampire world is starving to death. Their usual meal of choice, the humanrace, is almost extinct, with only a few desperate survivors battling on. Meanwhile the lead vampire bloodscientist (played by Ethan Hawke) is equally desperate working on a blood alternative at the same time asstruggling with his moral issues relating to being a vampire. Sam Neill, playing the billionare vampire villain, hasno such deliberations and happily slaughters anyone who gets in his path.Overall the film was passable as an interesting take on the genre with one or two scary moments (I flinchedevery time a bat flew past ‐ such a girl) and a couple of scenes which might make you smile. It's by no meansthe best vampire flick that has come out of Hollywood in the last decade, but it's far from being the worst.

Isaac "Bobo" Alexander

As far as this sudden epidemic of middle of the road vampiremovies goes, Daybreakers wasn't bad. It's set in a future world inwhich earth's population is plagued with an epidemic of its own:Sam Neill. No, just kidding, it's vampirism. The unique thing aboutthis film for me was the premise it was made under. Vampires areusually portrayed as brooding and menacing creatures, but in

No, I don’t mean the freedom when Mel Gibson (or was it William Wallace?) brandishes his sword in front of his countrymento reclaim his country from the fiendish English. I mean the freedom that is riding a motorcycle. I haven’t been ridingmotorcycles for long, but I have now tasted the invigorating freedom that it brings. I was never a huge fan of motorcycles,nor did I hate them. I just had no interest in them. On occasion I’d walk pass one and it’d be nice to blissfully dream abouthow awesome it would be to ride a motorcycle and then it’s gone in a fleeting moment like the memory of a long lostdream. Circumstances change and suddenly I’ve booked in my training course to learn how to ride a motorcycle. All nervousand kiddy like, I groan through the initial walk through on what the bits on a motorcycle are. That’s a clutch, that’s thefront brake etc etc. It’s finally over and the trainer let’s us get on the motorcycle. I sit down, grab the handles and I am inlove. At the instructors word I try turning the engine on – a massive let down as I have no idea how to do it. I finally figureit out like and that fleeting dream has come true. It’s totally awesome. And within a weekend, I have my licence, all mymotorcycle gear and a motorcycle. Second‐hand albeit, but still something decent to learn on. The ride home after pickingup my motorcycle was the most nervous I’d been in a very long time. Stalled it once on a hill start and was going slow as aturtle on crutches. But it’s been two long months and I’m growing with confidence everyday. Now, most people would tellyou you’re just going to become a statistic. This was probably one of the reasons why I never did get a motorcycle. But afterreading up on the topic and talking to friends who I never really realised had motorcycles; it's only as dangerous as you wantit to be. Yes, there are inherent risks, but that's life isn't it? You can take as many precautions as you can to lower the levelof risk, the primary method being to have full kit. While legally only a helmet is required, most enthusiast riders would sayeverything is mandatory. That's gloves, jacket, kevlar jeans, boots and most importantly a helmet. Then when you do yourtraining there’s tips and tricks for on the road, for example don’t ride in the centre of the lane due to the oil that car’s spillor riding on different sides of the lane to move away from the trucks that are buffeting your motorcycle or to increasevisibility for the upcoming blind spot. If you take responsibility for yourself and keeping yourself aware of what is goingaround you, then you may just potentially have a very safe run and never get into an accident. Motorcycling is undoubtedlyone of the most enjoyable things I’ve done. Getting on a motorcycle on the weekend and just cruising can be described asZen‐like. Nothing holding you down. Just you, the open road and your trusty steed. Freedom.

John Doe

Everyone loves to have a good rant. Don't deny it, we know you do. To get a bit ofmental stimulation going for our readers (hard work, we know - sorry) we're openingthis space every issue to the most interesting 500 word 'rant' about any subject at all.And what's better, you get to remain completely anonymous! Send your piece torants@unseenlerker.com. (&ow, we say "any subject", but anything considered toopolitical or offensive is likely not to be published. Thanks.)

Freedom

(1991)

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For this issue, OG Games have generouslyprovided a £20 gift voucher for us to raffle off.To find out what you can spend it on, checkout their website at www.oggames.co.uk

Also, at least once per issue we will begiving away some of our exclusiveUnseen Lerker merchandise. This time -dice! One lucky reader will recieve tencustom Unseen Lerker dice, availableonly through us.

And the best bit?By subscribing to Unseen Lerker you will be automaticallyentered all of our competitions. That's right, you don't haveto do a thing! We'll be announcing the winners on ourforum (www.unseenlerker.com/forum) shortly before therelease of Issue #2, so keep your eyes peeled to find out ifyou've won!

What's more, at everytournament or event that we areat promoting Unseen Lerker, wewill be giving away a freeyearly subscription to both firstand last place!

the end bit

UUNNSSEEEENN LLEERRKKEERR 39

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