The Nauticans are back... almost !

For anyone following this unofficial Warhammer army project, I have some good news.

I will be updating the army book in the next month because I have a week to book off work. The army will be getting some new units, special rule simplification and a full update to 8th edition rules.

I can't wait, so I've already started work but I don't suspect I'll have time to finish it all off and give it a polish until my holiday.

I'll be bringing both the army book pdf and this blog up-to-date.

I'll keep you posted,
Sigmar

PS. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me throughout this project. It has been going on a L-O-N-G time so thanks for your patience. It's time to put this baby to bed and present a balanced playable list so I can carry on collecting my Nautican minis and concentrate on painting them rather than writing about them :)

The Nauticans grab a new look - just in time for Warhammer 8th Edition !

I found a nice-to-look at "sea view" for the finned men, mermaids and creatures from the deep.

This is it, I hope you like the new Nautican site. I'll be updating the army list soon so please don't forget my fish boys :)

Thanks folks,
Sigmar

Nautican Warhammer Army Promotion Video on Youtube

I pieced together a quick Nautican Fantasy promo video on Youtube yesterday to try to raise a bit of interest in the army for more feedback and hopefully play testing by someone other than me :)

Anyway, here it is... turn your volume on for the "Jaws" theme tune.

Wave Breaker base size correction and pts reduction

The Armorcast.com Komodons have a base size of 25mm not 20mm.

From looking at various forums I believed that the Komodons had a base size of 20mm. The base size is in fact 25mm so I am adjusting the Wave Breaker profile to 25mm and reducing the pts cost from 6pts to 5pts. This change will take effect in the next draft of the army list (that is, after draft 5.0) .

This is probably good news for anyone who wants to collect the army because it effectively means that people can use Komodons (which have an excellent large dorsal fin with spines and a great tail fin - see pic) as Trident Guard or Wave Breakers. Likewise, if you want to save money you can now use Saurus Lizardmen and Temple Guard as Wave Breakers and Trident Guard.

Draft 5.0 of the Nautican unofficial Warhammer army has been released

Nautican Warhammer Fantasy Army pdf updated to draft 5.0

(click the army book cover to view online or download pdf)

I've tried to take into account much of the feedback from various forums, in particular warseer and warhammer.org.uk

Important: I have only updated the pdf to draft 5.0. This website still contains draft 4.0. I will update this over the next couple of weeks.

The changes are mainly balancing. There are no new units or rules (except Seaweedlings that are now proper swarms). Several rules have been simplified and some special rules removed.

Here's a summary of changes:-


Army Wide Special Rules
--------------------------------------------

Water feature terrain placement
Simplified Sea Storm movement penalty
Reduced likelihood of storm continuing
Sea Storm bound Lightning Bolt spell - cast once only at beginning of battle
Removed Chanty Singer (casualty rule)


Aqua Lore
--------------------

3 - Sea Surge - removed +1 inch per magic level of the caster
5 - Water Elemental - changed desc so only 1 can be raised at any one time and must be within 18" of a water feature, increased casting power from 9 to 10, stubborn instead of unbreakable, leadership 8 instead of 10
6 - Tidal Wave - complete rewrite


Core Units
----------------------

Coral Hunters
- Safety in Numbers rule removed

Crest Riders
- Safety in Numbers rule removed
- Wave Breaking charge simplified
- Restriction on use, depends on number of Mermaids or Sirens (2 per mermaid, 1 per Siren)

Wave Breakers
- pts value increase from 5pts to 6pts

Sandgangers
- removed immunity to missile fire
- removed regen 6
- added immunity to poison (they're made out of sand !)
- reduced basic profile stats Ws2, S2
- added "Crumble" rule
- pts reduced from 6 to 5

Stingrays
- barb charge reduced to from str+2 to str+1
- restriction on use, (units after the 1st must be taken as special or rare)
- minimum unit size increased from 3+ to 4+
- leadership increased from 6 to 7


Special Units
-----------------------

Aqualops
- Seaweedlings changed to swarm bases (d3 swarm bases rather than 3d6 individual Seaweedlings)

Interceptors
- Angular Attack rule greatly simplified
- Leviathan Charge rule greatly simplified

Tripoon Battery
- pts increase from 95pts to 115pts


Rare Units
-------------------

Leviathan
-some commentary changes (reverse table under control on 2+

Fortunis
- removed leadership rerolls
- removed missile fire rerolls
- magic rerolls exclude miscasts
- pts cost reduced from 240 to 180


Magic Items
---------------------

Weapons

Sea Staff - removed minor rule (incoming magical attacks) for simplication
Swordfish Broadsword - removed "not subject to always strikes last"
Snake o' Nine Tails - reduced strength from 3 to 2,

Armour

Crystal Crown - removed "shatter rule" for simplification
Great Clam Shield - removed rebound of saved attacks

Arcane Items

Muses Harp - changed leadership test -1 to leadership test, power expended on roll of 1 or 2 (not 1)
Knowledge of Shoal Strength - removed +1 to cast from "donated" power dice
Emerald Eye of the Kraken - increased from 30 to 40pts
Coral Amulet - removed "even if fleeing"

Enchanted Items

Dream Staff - no longer bound spell just one use
Book of Maliase - power depleted on a roll of 1 or 2 (not 1)

Banners

Venomous Spine - increased from 30 to 35 pts
Sea Sponge Standard - removed extra power dice for absorbed spells


Miscellaneous Corrections:
--------------------------------------
- change Kraken Shield to Leviathan Shield (Nautican Lord, Nautican Prince, Trident Guard)
- change all references to Manta Rays to Sting Rays

Note: this army is totally unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop

Nautican Warhammer (unofficial) Army PDF released (draft 4.0)

The new Unofficial Warhammer Army - the Nauticans, now available as a PDF

Well folks, we made it to the first downloadable draft version of the army list. Thank you to everyone in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle community for helping to make this happen.

This draft is to encourage some play testing and feedback. The army is not yet the finished article but we think it's getting very close.

Download the free Nautican (unofficial) Warhammer Army pdf

Please feedback all comments to:-

the Nautican Project thread in the Battle Reporter forum

Note: you will need a valid email address to join the forum (which only takes 2 minutes) but don't worry you will not be spammed and nobody will ever find out your email address. We typically send out 1 forum newsletter every 4-6 weeks and you can unsubscribe in the user control panel if you want to.

You can follow my progress in building this army and thoughts on rule changes and fluff in the Nautican Design Notes site

The Nautican Army List is completely unofficial and is not endorsed in any way by Games Workshop

New Nautican Hero Unit Added: K' Li Mare

New Nauticans are breaking the surface waves while some others are destined to sink into the depths of Warhammer obscurity...

I'm drip feeding changes into the army for the next week or so. I think it's the best way of progressing because sadly I don't have enough time to spend a whole weekend on the project at the moment :(

Anyway, first up, a new hero unit to lead the Octobipods into battle. I felt they needed something to provide a bit of protection from ranged (Bs) direct fire weapons (although they remain quite vulnerable to panic attacks !) and a boost to their leadership.

K' Li Mare - the Octobipod Matriarch


I have loads more changes planned but like I said I don't have time to add them altogether so please check back once every few days. In the meantime, for those of you not checking the Design Notes blog, here's a probable new Rare Unit:-

Fortunis the Giant Ethereal Sea Turtle (on my Nautican design notes blog)

New Nautican Artwork: Wereshark and Octobipod

Gareth Pannan has come up trumps again with some great new Nautican Artwork

The Octobipod and the Wereshark (both Rare Units, although you can take an Octobipod special unit if the army includes an Octopus Giganteus)

Weresharks do not take kindly to Empire soldiers relieving themselves in the sea ;)

Click here to see a slideshow of Gareth's excellent Nautican artwork

The Nauticans faced off against the Lizardmen 2250pts

A brutal Warhammer Battle, lots of ebb and flow - the Nauticans coming of age !

Read the Nautican Army playtesting findings here.

"the jungle was left silent but for the screeches of the dying and the crack of scales and bones as vermin and other scavengers feasted..."


Image used with permission of dragon rune miniatures

"Recent Nautican Design Notes" - Widget Added

It just got easier to keep up-to-date with Nautican Army Design News

I have added an excellent widget (see left had side bar) which shows the last 6 most recent posts (and thumbnail pics) on the Design Notes site (naut2.blogspot.com).

So now you can just check this Army List site to see if there are any updates on the Design Notes site.

One more for the road... err... I mean Sea !

A new Nautican Unit - probably

I stumbled upon a great metal miniature which seems ideally suited to the Nautican Army (see pic !)

I've started a discussion on the Nautican Design Notes site

Or you can join the Reporter forum - Nautican Units thread

Let me know what you think. Thanks everyone,
Sigmar

Edited: 20th July 2009 - 10:30pm GMT

The Octobipods have been added in place of the Man o' War:-
http://naut1.blogspot.com/2009/07/octobipods.html

see the design note for the reasoning:-
http://naut2.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-of-man-o-war.html

Needs must when the devil drives !

a new profile description for the King of the Seas

Axinous, a battle reporter forum member, found a great new mini for the King of the Seas recently. The mini didn't quite have the requisite armour so, because he's a great miniature, I've changed his description rather than try to look for a better mini. Profile stats stay the same.

taban-miniatures.com King of the Seas

Image used without permission (I've asked but not received a response yet. This miniature is just too good to not tell you about !)

Also, I've added a great painted pic of a model that we're suggesting will make a good Siren. The model was kindly painted by Pascal Rooze, one of the expert painters (actually, the best painter!) on the Battle Reporter forum.

The Siren pic is on the Siren Character post and will be in the final pdf and there's more on the battle reporter forum in the form of a start to finish Siren work in progress

more Nautican type miniature suggestions added

It's slow work but I've added some Sirens, Chanty singers and Vortex

They are simply suggested miniatures and you're free to find and choose your own (or convert existing models) providing the base sizes are correct. All the images link to eBay auctions to give you an idea of cost in putting the army together.

I'll put some more online every few days. Check the slide show at the bottom of the page for some others I've identified as possibilities.

The Trident Guard and Interceptors will probably be GW's Lizardmen Temple Guard and Saurus while the Coral Hunters and Crest Riders will probably be Skinks.

Suggested Nautican Miniatures with links to eBay sales

Links to eBay auctions and buy it now sales added for Nautican Characters

Several people have asked where they can get miniatures to field in the Nautican army so I'm adding all the images of miniatures I have found so far to the bottom of the home page with links to current eBay sales (I have started with some characters but I think I have identified about 15 of the units now so they'll be going up soon aswell).

Just click the miniature you're interested in to see a list of all the ones available in eBay.

Note: If you only want to buy from your own country simply change the location in the Refine Search column down the left hand side of the eBay results page.

Miniature image used with kind permission of reapermini.com (painted by Marike Reimer)

new Nautican Warhammer Miniature Slideshow on design notes site

I have added a slideshow to the Nautican Army Design Notes blog of miniatures I'm using for various Nautican Army units.

Here's Goroloth, the miniature I'm proposing to use as a Leviathan.
(click to greatly enlarge pic, the Empire handgunner is just their for size comparison and for food !)

check out the Nautican Design Notes site for daily updates

I placed an order for some of the Dark Heaven miniatures produced by Reapermini.com. I found some decent Sirens, a great Vortex miniature (I'll have to change Vortex's description to Vortices because there are 2 of them in a single model) and some other Nautican type characters including Zharc, the Shark Headed Nautican...

When I get the minis I'll post some pics on the design notes site:- http://naut2.blogspot.com/

I'm updating the design notes site every day with my thinking behind the army, models & conversion ideas, painted models as I finish them and tactics (coming soon).

Image used with kind permission of reapermini.com

new Battle Report vs Goblins 1000 pts

The Nauticans are lead into battle once more against the filthy Greenskin hordes !

Thanks to John at Stumpyheaven.blogspot.com for fielding the Nauticans in another playtest. Nauticans vs Goblins Battle Report

You can discuss this battle in it's very own Battle Reporter Forum post.

new Design Notes site for The Nautican Warhammer Army

I've created a new site for the Nauticans...

...to get some quick feedback (with polls) and also to allow me to more easily communicate the thinking behind the army, future plans etc.

http://naut2.blogspot.com/ (Nautican Design Notes)


Best of all, I can update it from my mobile on the train to work ! :D

Some "Nauty" con tweaks being implemented already !

I'm afraid we've already spotted a couple of issues with the Nautican Army list

So I'm going to make a few very minor changes this weekend because we're working on getting this list into a downloadable pdf "Army Book" (hopefully by Monday 18th May)

We also have a few new pics to present thanks to Gareth Pannan.

Here's one of an Interceptor (click to greatly enlarge pic in a new window).

added Nautican Battle Count to front page

Added a count of known playtesting battles and the result to the main page

...I thought readers might find it interesting to see how the army is performing on the battlefield.