Four Weirdnobz revisit the classic A Tale of Four Gamers challenge with an Aelvish twist.

This series first started as A Tale of Four Gamers back when Paul “Fat Bloke” Sawyer was Editor of White Dwarf magazine. This period is what many consider the golden age of White Dwarf.

The article followed four gamers as they purchased, built, painted, and battled with their chosen armies over the course of 5 months. A Tale of Four Gamers debuted way back in February 1998 and was published in issues 218-223.

This format is extremely popular and has been repeated many times by Games Workshop throughout the years under the updated title: A Tale of Four Warlords. With the release of the Lumineth imminent, we wanted to do our spin on the popular format and welcome our new Aelf Realm-Lords.

The Realm-Lords

Jeff Gondeck, Jeff “V” Visgaitis, Kevin Zander, and Mat Robisch were brave enough to “volunteer” for this challenge. Let’s learn a bit about them and why they want to play the Lumineth Realm-Lords.

Thanks for agreeing to participate in the Four Realm-Lords. Can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

Jeff G: So my name is Jeff, I have been playing Tabletop wargames since 2004, started with 40k then moved to Warmachine / Hordes then made my way back to 40k then to AoS. My current armies are Chaos!, Orruk War Clans, and now Pointy Aelves. On the 40k front I currently have Custodes, Blood Angels, and Imperial Fists. I hate painting so this whole thing is gonna be painful.

V: Greetings! I was introduced to the hobby way back in the day through Space Hulk and Blood Bowl. I moved on to Warhammer Fantasy Battle with the 4th edition boxed set with High Elves as my army of choice. My group got into Mordheim which is my all time favorite Games Workshop game. We played hundreds of games and I was lucky enough to work on the Lustria: Cities of Gold supplement that was produced in Town Cryer Magazine. I moved on to Warhammer 40k and played that for quite a few years before being introduced to AoS when I moved to Texas. I got into the AoS tournament scene and met a lot of friends through The Texas Masters series. I’m currently serving as one of the AoS tournament organizers for Austin and I’m on the Texas Masters Council.

Kevin: I’m a software developer, gamer, Nissan Z-car enthusiast. My first encounter with Games Workshop was with 40k, where I got some Tau and played a few games. Didn’t really do much back then, then a decade or so later AoS is out and my friend Bryan is wanting me to get back into it.

Matt: I came over to Age of Sigmar after taking an extended break from Warhammer 40k. A scheduling issue prevented me from starting 40k back up because I couldn’t make the regular meet-up night, so I started painting up an army and gave AoS a shot instead. It turns out I’m much happier with the AoS rules than I was 40k, so I’m pretty well here to stay. I tend to take a fairly competitive angle on the game and look forward to getting some Tabletop Simulator games in with the army while we’re waiting to play in person again.

Why the Lumineth Realm-Lords? What drew you to this army?

Jeff G: I totally dig the Greco-Roman vibes they give off. While I already have a shooting army I really wanted models that don’t break every time I take them out for a spin (yes I’m talking about you Bull Centaur Taur’Ruk…). It also looks like a good departure from what I have been working on for the past couple of years.

V: I love elves! Dwarves suck BTW. Just kidding (not really…). I grew up reading Drizzt, Lord of the Rings, and Dragonlance (Gilthanas and Dalamar FTW!) and I typically play an elf ranger in D&D (Karimarr was my character during my high school years). I wasn’t a fan of what happened to the elves (er, Aelves) post End Times, so I picked up Khorne. Had a lot of fun with the army, but I’m looking forward to getting back to my Aelf roots and playing the good guys again. Plus, the new Lumineth models are just gorgeous.

Kevin: I’ve always been a fan of elves from all fantasy settings. When my friend Bryan introduced me to AoS he was showing me all the armies, and I asked if there were any elves to which he replied, “Yes, but not the kind you’re thinking of.” So I waited a while and was debating whether or not to get Sylvaneth, and finally there was an announcement that a new army was coming out: Lumineth Realm-Lords! So here I am, waiting to buy them to build and paint and maybe a little bit of play.

Matt: Pattern recognition.

Matt is undoubtedly the King of the Aelves here in Austin.

What are you looking forward to the most?

Jeff G: Fielding bricks of spear formations. One of my all time favorite models in the Privateer Press Range is the Temple Flameguard so seeing something that invokes that look and feel in AoS is great. Also looking forward to challenging myself to only use my Airbrush and cooler colors for the scheme as most my paint jobs as of late have skewed towards the reds / browns.

V: I’m mostly looking forward to not painting red (my 40k army is Blood Angels). I’m also excited to participate in the shooting phase and to sling some spells. I love Blades of Khorne, but it’s been almost 3 years. Really looking forward to getting something new on the table.

Kevin: I’m wanting to put a personal touch to the models. I have some ideas that I want to play with that I hope will really make them stand out.

Matt: Hopefully, wizards with a reliable source of bonuses to cast and unbind! On a more general army goals view, I tend to enjoy running well-rounded armies that can do a bit of everything. I believe it results in less of a “rock-paper-scissors” matchup that’s either won or lost at mission selection, and gives both players more agency to create and execute a plan, rather than one player having a decisive advantage to overcome. The initial literature on the Realm-Lords seems to imply they have tools for good shooting, good melee, good casters, and good mobility. Unless there is a glaring balance issue, that means either some of those will need to be eschewed to focus on one goal, or that a varied list with a combined arms approach should result in exactly the well-rounded all comers list I want.

Or they’re just disgustingly overpowered. I can work with that too, I guess.

Aelf Cows. Yes or no?

Jeff G: There is no battle cattle level.

V: I’ll admit, I was taken aback by the mad cows at first, but when you have gems like Matt’s response below, and the option of playing in Texas with your army of Teclis Longhorns, how can you possibly go wrong?

Kevin: Sure, why not, I don’t judge.

Matt: I don’t have any beef with the divine bovine, and I’d rather milk some grade-A humor from the battle cattle’s presence than be put out to pasture because I opted to skim over a prime opportunity.

Next time we’ll get some insight on how our Realm-Lords are preparing for their new hobby undertaking. See you then!