by Peter Atkinson

Happy Battlescroll Gnashtoof Points Drop Day!

Anyway. Welcome to our monthly roundup of what’s been going on in March for the game generally and the Craichouse in particular, with a hitlist of what’s been published here on the blog plus a look ahead to what’s coming up in April.

I understand that most people were hoping for more from those Adepticon reveals, but I reckon there’s actually a fair bit to pick out of the GHB announcement:

Firstly, they’re bundling up the book with some cards and objective markers – which is another way of saying get ready for a price hike. The cards do look useful to own but like a lot of people, I really don’t need any more objective markers in my life, so this might be the Handbook where I finally jump off the bus. It’s a shame because I’ve got an unbroken collection of GHBs all the way to the very first, but I reckon it’s time to say Waha 👋. Those cards do look genuinely handy to have though, and they might get a few waverers over the line.

In terms of content, I already have three big wishes for the next GHB:

1. Destruction to get a fair shake on secondaries, because they (predictably) got the shitty end of the stick in the initial batch.
2. Complete overhaul of how Battle Tactics work, because what we have now is boring and puts the game on rails. Spearhead and 40K both have superior systems, so let’s fix this shit.
3. Refresh of Enhancements, because the battletomes we’ve had so far are generally just lazy reprints of the faction packs¹, and that’s not good enough. So let’s put a bit of zing in the salsa, and the GHB is the perfect forum for that.

And with that in mind, here’s the snippet that got me harder than scoring Time to Get Stuck In!:

BAM! Now that’s exciting. I’m a strong believe that battle tactic arse-scratching is a major source of dead time in AOS4 games, and it sounds like this will save a bit of time at the start of your turns too. I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly ready for a big shake-up to AOS4 and I’m pretty optimistic about this announcement. Keen to learn more.

And the last thing to say about Adepticon is that Joel McGrath’s Sons of Behemat list went 5-0 at the event (piloted by AOS Coach). I was born too early to see flying cars, born too late to see dinosaurs, but born at just the right time to witness this all-conquering army. That’s a clean sweep at another big event right after Joel himself won Cancon with this army. Great job on creating the list mate.

Vale, Doom and Darkness

It’s the end of an era for Aussie YouTube, as the mighty Doom and Darkness channel has been pulled down. Even though Michael was no longer publishing regular videos, I did like knowing that the back catalog was available, so I’ll be having a drink this weekend in the channel’s memory.

This channel was huge in 1st and 2nd Ed AOS, and while the rest of us who were around in those days are still spending our weekends playing toy soldiers with assorted nerds and weirdos, Michael’s transformation into Australia’s premier sex machine appears to be complete. I know which one of us is the mug here.

Michael was unfuckwithable and never shy to call it as he sees it. I especially enjoyed the short-format, exciting batreps that gave you a great feel for the flow of the game, and I’m glad we got to enjoy the channel’s victory lap with all those videos released at the AOS4 rollover. So let me just say goodbye and good luck to The Mighty Doom. A true King is never forgotten.

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Now let’s get into it.

Indexhammer: March ’25

First up, the mighty Cal McMurray wrote up his eye-catching King Brodd list. This army went within a whisker of winning a GT, and bashed out an eye-popping amount of mortal damage along the way:

4 Models, 4 Wins and 357 Mortal Wounds: Meet the Belfast Giants

And we wrapped up our Matched Play map campaign! I’m rapt with how it went and we’ll be back with something fresh next year. Our annual Global Campaign is open to all Patrons, and we had people around the world logging their matches and strategising over the map together. You can check out the endgame here:

Born in Fire, Bound by Blood: Concluding Our Secrets of the Agloraxi Campaign

What can you do if GW never gives your favourite army any releases? You make your own. So I scratch-built a Bonesplitterz-themed Mighty Boar Chariot which I’ve been running with Kragnos’s warscroll. And when the Ladz go to that great hunt in the sky, maybe it’ll see some future play as a Gitmob-adjacent Kragnos in a Gloomspite army:

Swine and Punishment: Bonesplitterz at Vic GT

And still in the hobby space, check out this heavily-converted and heavily-cool Sons of Behemat army. The first half is a detailed “How To”, the second half is a bunch of photos to fap over:

Hobby Saws and Giant Roars: An Award-Winning Mega-Gargant Army

Around the Craichouse

Thank you and welcome to our latest Patrons:

• Brian Scott Oplinger
• Dylan
• Martin Clarke
• And Bingus, who upgraded

You guys are the reason we whip out the keyboard after a long day at work, and we will never stop being grateful.

On the tabletop this month, our Aussie contingent – writers and Patrons – were out in force at Vic GT. Pat was TO and let’s hear it for Joel McGrath who made the podium with his Stormcast (playing off on Table 1, Round 5 for the event win) and Hakan Sjolin who belted out a very strong 4-1 with his Seraphon:

The winner was Sam Sims-Bailey who will see his name etched on this sick perpetual trophy:

We had a Plastic Craic team in the Saturday night quiz and it was great to spend some time with the legendary Maximus:

What’s your favourite kind of footy? The loosely-controlled mayhem of Aussie Rules, or the smash-mouth brutality of NRL? Our footy tipping comps for both are in full swing, and while I’m doing crap in the AFL comp…:

…I’m bang in contention in the NRL (so far):

Both comps are open to all Patrons and I’ll sort out some sort of prize for the winners of each.

Patreon articles

In addition to the articles on the main site, we published a bunch on our Patreon site in March too:

• We looked at some game-design lessons that our game could potentially learn from other systems
• We reviewed the industry data for the top selling wargames in the market
• And we shared a little tip for getting technical with a universal battle tactic

So What’s Next?

Here’s what’s coming up in April:

• We’ll be carrying on the tradition with our annual April Fool’s spoof
• Pat has some thoughts to share on Listbuilding in AOS4
• Remember that Greatest Warhammer Art competition we did ages ago? That’s gonna fire back up
• Zak has a warscroll wishlist to share
• And Seanzor has a piece on improving your miniature photography to look forward to

Our biggest hope is to give our Patrons something worthwhile to read every week, and hopefully this program for April and beyond will deliver that for you. Our Discord is for Patreon members and writers only (No Dickheads Policy), and membership is priced at a level that everyone can afford – so if you want to join us, you know what to do.

Have a great month in April, nerds – see you on the other side.

If you’d like to help us continue our work, we’d love to have your support. All Patreon Tiers include Discord access, exclusive articles and regular contests. Our Tiers are priced to be within everyone’s reach, so please click here to join us today!

1. Or in the case of Kruleboyz, actively destructive ↩︎