Warhammer Fantasy Battle Tabletop Gaming: Estalia a new WFB army book pdf

A new fan-made Warhammer Fantasy Battle Army pdf - Estalia has just been released by Mathias (one of the Battle Reporter forum members)

Note: while Mathias is a genius in army book design he does not work for GW and...

this army book is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop.

Like all of Mathias' army books this one is top quality and can be viewed online or downloaded (as a 36meg, 110 page pdf) for free ! You don't have to be a Warhammer Battle Reporter forum member but we'd love you to join and to hear your feedback.

The Battle Reporter forum also plays host to many other unofficial Warhammer army books that are all ready for use on the tabletop battlefield. You can find Estalia along with Albion, Araby, Cathay, Dwarfs of Chaos, Kislev, Nautica, Nippon and Norse here:-

10 FREE Unofficial Warhammer Army Book Pdfs

The Estalia Army Book features everything you come to expect from the superb army books that Mathias designs:-

There is a 25 page introduction to the background, culture and history of Estalia, "the land of the setting sun", spanning from C-1700 to 2504.

An excellent 3 page story of "The Last Battle" of "The War of Blood", a 2 page map of the regions, an in depth look at the people's of Estalia (covering the social classes from bullfighters through to pirates) and several pages covering the various Kingdoms and a large section on... gulp... the Inquisiton !

The Cult of Myrmidia spawns a new magic Lore called, unsurprisingly, The Lore of Myrmdia which is primarily a magic that inspires leadership and grants protection. There are several augmentation spells such as the ability for the whole army to benefit from their General's leadership wherever he is on the battlefield or the Shield of Myrmidia which bestows a 5+ ward save against missile fire for all units within 12".

The bestiary is a work of art and brings a lot of character to the army which is largely based around it's unique level of discipline which enables it to rally, march, reform and redirect charges more readily.

The army contains 13 Lord and Hero level characters including special characters (not least El Cid who's quite a master with two swords, re-roll failed "to hit" and failed "to wound" and count each wound as d3. Also, not forgetting the very confused but hard to kill Don Quixote who sounds like a mixture of fun and frustration to play !) The characters benefit from a variety of mounts such as Griffons, Pegasi, an Altar and even a bull !

There are 9 core units, 6 special units and 3 rare units. The core is what you would expect from a Pseudo-Spanish army (Pikemen, Arbelasts (Crossbows), Sword and Buckler soldiers (the buckler can be used as either a hand weapon or a shield), Lancers, Jinetes (Fast Cavalry) and the literally "dashing" Diestro skirmishing unit that can move out of combat at will (providing it passes a leadership test), Marines, Serfs (think Skaven slaves !) and Missionaries which can be bought as a unit upgrade that enhance the unit's combat resolution.

The Special Units section is where it gets really interesting with elite Knights of the Blazing Sun, mounted Conquistadors (mounted hand gunners), Arquebusiers (lethal Bs4, 30" hand gunners !), Grenadiers (my personal favourite), Mountain Bandits (fast foot scouts) and the Sisters of Myrmidia (with High Elf, extra rank spearmen-like ability).

Rare units comprise the Black Watchmen (stubborn, hate filled and fearless) Culverin (a cannon with a close range scatter-shot) and last but not least, rampaging bulls chained to tar soaked burning logs (a bit like very large goblin fanatics - best avoided by the enemy !)

On top of all this are nine very interesting and imaginative Inquisitorial powers which cannot be nullified. Some examples are Holocaust (small round template strength 5 hits in combat), Sanctuary (which effectively prevents attacks against the Inquisitor by Daemons) and Hammerhand (which can double the inquisitor's strength for a turn). The Inquisitorial Powers are a very nice touch and will make it great fun to include an Inquisitor and should help to keep the enemy guessing.

Finally, there are almost 50 unique and original magic items. I haven't been through them all yet so you'll have to check them out for yourself but I do like the look of the Staff of Tomas the Pure that can fire D3 str5 24" lightning bolts per turn - with no armour save and d3 wounds. Bring it on !