A FREE new Warhammer Army Book .pdf in the shape of luscious, scantily clad (and dangerous !) warrior women from Lustria - Amazons (for the 8th edition rulebook).
Another top quality army book from Mathias (now famous for his brilliant unofficial army books - all 9 of them plus Regiments of Renown !).
The Amazons Army Book is a 60 page, 20 mb pdf (which can be downloaded or viewed online)
The army book has been added to the Battle Reporter forum and has it's own forum page. You can see and comment on all of the unofficial army books here (no need to be a forum member* and all the army books are completely free with no catches) :-
Battle Reporter Forum - Unofficial Warhammer Armies
* although we'd be really pleased to hear your feedback.
Here's a quick review, from what I've read so far...
Amazon - a new Warhammer Fantasy Battle Army for 8th edition
A quick army book summary:-
11 pages of the Mistresses of the Jungle and Handmaidens of the Gods including a map of Lustria. This section covers the origins of the Amazonians, their mythology, nobility, appearance (generally hot !) and their military. The background fits very snugly with the Old Ones and Lizardmen fluff.
5 pages on Amazonia which focuses on the birth of the amazon tribes, key locations, their timeline and important events such as the Coming of Rigg and the impact on the Amazon culture and religion.
21 inspiring bestiary pages which details :-
The Lord and Hero character classes, 5 core units choices (such as the Piranha (scouts) and Eagle Warriors and Jaguar riding Huntresses which act as fast cavalry), 6 special units (like the Handmaidens, Plumed Archers, Culchan Riders and even Pygmies !) and 3 rare units (Gorol - Giant Gorillas !, the Noblewoman and the Coatl, a lvl2 magic using, terror causing monster with a handy T5 and 4+ ward save).
The presentation and feel of the army book is fantastic and you begin to get that familiar, "I'd love to collect this army" feeling. This is made even more tempting by the whispered promise of routing your enemy with a nubile female army :)
The army book comes with 6 of it's own magic spells from The Lore of the Serpent (a relatively low level but easy to cast magic with a combination of direct attack, augment and hex spells). Priestesses can also choose from the lores of Heavens, Light, Beasts, Life and Shadow so there's no shortage of magic options. The army wide special rule enthuses battle successful units with extra energy to pursue foes and additional combat resolution in future engagements which is a very interesting and quite unique feature.
The army feels somewhat Elvish, (maybe more Wood Elf like) in so far as the troops are elite-ish warriors with plenty of missile weapons but they posses a somewhat glass-like jaw. Amazons might be suited to ambush type tactics and a quick hit and run approach with relatively cheap core scouts. They also benefit from generally being able to negotiate difficult and wooded terrain more safely than others. The Amazonians main disadvantage is certainly their average toughness of 3 and a lack of war machines for long range offense. The army's strengths lie in the the better than average Ws4 and a better than average leadership which includes some core units with a leadership of 8. The army is also relatively fast moving into combat and pursuit and benefits from relatively cheap fast cavalry. The hard hitters can be found in the form of Special Unit Totem Guardians, they have Ws4, Str4 plus great weapons and are stubborn for a quite friendly 12pts.
There is a very nice selection of 39 varied and imaginative magic items. My personal favourites are; the Sword of the Protector which bites deeper with more successful hits (represented by +1 str per hit); the Mystic Power Bow, a long bow that inflicts wounds that cannot be saved in any way (for a neat 25pts); and the Blue Stump Brew Enchanted Item - a one use item that allows you to increase any of your stats by d6 (for 1 full turn), either a single stat or by distributing the d6 roll result across any number of stats - now that could come in handy (esp. for wounds !)
Personally, I feel that the most compelling reason to collect the army is because it is almost totally female (bar some beasts - which might also be female I guess) and it really is something completely partly in gaming terms but more so in collecting and painting terms. The miniatures themselves might be tricky to collect, it would be a challenge but I know there is a Amazonian Warband for Mordheim and I believe citadel came out with some many moons ago.
Here's a sample of some of the high quality you can expect:-
And last but most importantly, here's the army list for you to peruse.
Enjoy reading and remember we welcome all feedback and would love you to join our forum. Also, don;t forget to give Mathias a firm and friendly pat on the back for all his hard work and amazing input into our hobby.
Here's a slideshow of the other Army Books in the forum, all free to view online or download:-
(and here are my other
unofficial Warhammer Fantasy Army book reviews - click "Older posts" to see all)
All of the armies feature in this article and on the forum are
completely unofficial and are in no way endorsed by Games Workshop.
