Wargaming for Ponies

by Mystic Sunrise

Prologue

Sci Twi pinched her nose as she and Pearl waited outside the Wondercolt statue. "Are you really sure this is a good idea?"

Pearl shrugged. "Hey, the princess's the one who asked me. She seemed really interested in it when we talked about it in Equestria. I don't see what's so wrong with this." She smirked. "Besides, I've seen you at Games-Workshop's store before."

Twilight rolled her eyes. That was true, even though she didn't really play the game itself. "Point. Knowing me as I do, I just hope Twily brought enough bits for at least a model or two."

Before Pearl could respond, the portal shimmered, before Princess Twilight came stumbling out, grabbing onto the base to steady herself. "I will never get used to that, no matter how many times I do it," she grumbled.

Twi giggled as she kissed her girlfriend. "Join the club. One of these days, we really need to make this more of a fun trip." She saw the backpack the princess was wearing. "Are you planning to stay for a while?" She smirked. "Do I need to worry about losing you to a younger model?"

Pearl blushed, while Twilight giggled, booping Twi's nose. "As if. Rainbow would kill me if I did something like that. And I did bring a few things, just in case I do stay longer than a day." She looked at Pearl with a worried look. "Um. That is not a problem is it?"

Pearl shook her head, smiling. "Naw. Mom and dad know all about Equestria and magic, and all of that. Hell. They've known it since before I was born. And with Rainbow having stayed over a few times now, I can make room for both of us if I need to."

Twilight sighed in relief, before tilting her head. "I do not know why you said I should bring some money with me. Or how much I needed. So I brought several hundred bits, just to be safe. I think that comes out to several hundred dollars."

Pearl smirked. "You say that, Twilight. But I saw the look in your eyes when I explained it to you. Even if you don't start playing Age of Sigmar, you'll want a few models of your own. Trust me. I was the same way once."

Twilight rolled her eyes, while Twi giggled before departing. "Have fun you two. Me? Another test from Professor Kazumi. I don't know why she seems so interested in me."

Pearl just smiled as she and the princess went in another direction. "Oh, she has her reasons. She always does."

Twilight wanted to ask about that but felt it wasn't her place. "So where do I even start with something like this? There has to be something for a beginner like me."

Pearl nodded happily. "There is. Luckily, AOS just changed over to 3rd Edition, and I have the Core Rulebook. That's usually a good place to start. It's also a good place to get an idea of which army you might wanna collect and play with. Rainbow's actually read the whole thing through. Still don't know if she plans to play or not."

Twilight nodded. It was a good idea. But she was still a long way from making any kind of decision about any of this.

---

For as hot-headed and passionate as Pearl was, Twilight was pleasantly surprised to find that her bedroom was clean and not a disaster zone as she had almost thought it would be. Alongside a tv, there were the usual things to be found in most girls' bedrooms, with Pearl's bed able to look out a nearby window.

What stood out, however, were several display cases alongside a long wall. One held quite a few mechs of some kind. Rainbow had mentioned them several times. Gunpla, Twilight believed they were called. She made a note to look at them at some point. They looked rather interesting.

But it was what was in the other two cases that held her attention for the moment, as she walked over and looked inside. She understood enough of Age of Sigmar to know that they were all Stormcast Eternals. There were three distinct color schemes she could see. One was a lustrous black, another was a dark purple, and the third was in an iron and purple color scheme. All three had gold along the edges of many armor sections.

But what stood out for the princess was the diversity of the armor types Pearl had on display. All shared a common design aesthetic, but there were major differences between them that even Twilight could see.

Pearl smiled as she joined her, putting her own things down on her bed. "Not bad for seven years of work, huh? Comes in handy when I have the cash to spend. I haven't gotten any of the new Thunderstrike armor from Third Edition yet, though I want to."

Twilight gave her a curious look. "Why does the armor look so different? It is not the different color schemes. Even I can see there are differences here."

Pearl nodded as she pointed at the black-armored models. "There is a reason for that. My Sons of Mallus here are meant to be an Exemplar Chamber. Or at least part of one. They're part of the Paladin conclave. Elite reserve basically."

Twilight nodded. "And the Paladins all have the same weapon why?"

Pearl smiled widely. "It's all based on a passage from the old battletome. They're all Decimators, armed with Thunderaxes. The guy out front is Lord-Castellant Selithon Blackstar. I'm working on Lord-Celestant Cornus Bloodshanks and Lord-Relictor Vorghinus Direcaller now."

Twilight giggled. And ponies thought she could lecture. But something stood out. "You gave them names?"

Pearl giggled. "Well yeah. My Heroes at least have names. I am still working on giving all of them a name. Same with my Astral Templars and Blades of Dawn."

Twilight was surprised by this, but what did she know about all of this, as she looked down at the second shelf. She was surprised to see what they were wearing. "Do these have a thing for robes or something? They remind me of the robes a Court Mage would wear."

Pearl giggled. "Not really. This is meant to be a Sacrosanct Chamber for my Astral Templars. Magic-use heavy is their thing. I blame Kazumi for this one actually. She can really unleash the storm when she's mad." She shuddered at the memory. "Luckily it wasn't aimed at me," she grumbled as she pointed at the models out front. "Lord-Arcanum on Celestial Dracoline, Arcine Crow-Fighter. Lord-Exorcist Arcor Beast-Crusher, and Knight-Incantor Thostonsiba Valorborn."

Twilight rolled her eyes. She would have to take Pearl's word for it. "Do they have their own models, or do they all share the same?"

Pearl shook her head. "No. They do have their models. The Sequitors have a Stormsmite Maul and Soulshield, the Castigators have a Thunderhead Greatbow, and the Evocators have a Tempest Blade and Stormstave. I'm working on getting a Celestat Ballista though."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she looked down at the final shelf, and was surprised to see how empty it was. Only a Lord-Celestant riding atop a dragon of some kind. But not like any she had ever seen in Equestria or the Dragon Lands. To her surprise, though, the rider was a woman. "I give up on this one. Is there something wrong? There's only one model. And that is like no dragon I have ever seen before."

Pearl shook her head, sighing as she looked over at her desk, which was crammed full of sprues, half-finished models, and paint. "Nothing's wrong. I just started this Blades of Dawn army. This is going to be an Extremis chamber. She's Lord-Celestant Henys the Reverent, and she's riding a Stardrake. Everyone in this chamber rides a Stardrake or a Dracoth. I don't have anyone else at the moment to show the differences."

Twilight's mind finally could not take anymore, and she flopped down onto the floor with a groan. But she was impressed by all of this. "I am impressed, Pearl. Even though a lot of this is going right over my head. But why this last one?"

Pearl shrugged as she flopped down onto her bed. "Dad. The sea has been his whole life. His whole family's basically in one form or another. So I couldn't help it even if I tried. It's in my blood."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she sat up and looked at the first shelf again. "And the Sons of Mallus?"

Pearl seemed to deflate a bit. "They were my first army. I've won several local painting competitions with them. And lost a few as well. I wanted to do a Stormhost that no one else in Canterlot was doing, and they don't have a lot of information on them in the fluff. So I have more freedom there to make things up for them as I build. That could change of course. Same with my Blades of Dawn."

Twilight was surprised by one bit in particular. "They have painting competitions for these?"

Pearl nodded excitedly. "Oh yeah. The big one most Warhammer players aim for is Golden Daemon. Maybe even the coveted Slayer Sword for the overall winner. I am so not there yet." She sighed. "My first competition? Came in last place out of ten entrants."

Twilight's heart dropped. "I am so sorry."

Pearl waived it off. "Don't be. Yeah, my pride took a big hit that day. But it was a learning experience. And everyone was super nice to me as well and helped me get better. We've lost a couple of people from that first group. Moving away mostly, and we've got a few new players as well. But we still help each other out. Except when it comes to beating each other of course."

Twilight smiled. It was always good to hear something like this. Competition was never a bad thing. But when they all helped each other to get better afterwards, especially for the one who came in last? Then they were all winners. "Okay. I admit that I am interested now. But where would I even start?"

Pearl grinned as she rushed over to her desk and pulled out a drawer. Rummaging around a moment, she pulled out a single model and handed it to Twilight. "I've had him since I first started the game. I never painted him since I could never make up my mind what Stormhost he's part of."

Twilight looked the model over. She recognized it as one being used in Pearl's Blades of Dawn. "What is he exactly? You did not say."

Pearl nodded. "He's a Liberator. Line infantry basically. He's got a Heavens-wrought Weapon and Sigmarite Shield." Looking over at the emptiest shelf, she pointed out the squad there. "One of them has a Grandhammer and another has a pair of Warblades. Rule of cool mostly. Using them in-game comes second."

Twilight's head was spinning once more. "And how should I paint him? Even if this does turn out to be a one-off thing, I cannot leave him like this. It just does not feel right."

Pearl nodded happily. "That's just it. There is no right or wrong way to paint him. It's your choice." Moving over to a nearby bookshelf, she pulled out something called the Stormcast Eternals battletome. "But if you don't want an eyesore on your shelf, or still can't choose. there's plenty in here that can help."

Twilight blinked as she took the book. It did have a nice cover, and it was decently thick, so it was not a quick read at least.

Pearl stood and headed for the door. "Come back to me once you've read up to the Forces of Sigmar section. We can go from there. Everything past that is for if you want to play the game itself. And for crying out loud. Use my bed, not the floor. A princess shouldn't use the floor like this," she giggled, before dashing off.

Twilight huffed but did as she was told. Pushing aside the idea that this was still a bad idea, she began to read.

Author's Note:

These are the Sons of Mallus. For those wondering anyway. .

Pearl's Exemplar Chamber army is based on this little snippet from the 2nd Edition battletome:

When the siege towers of Dagram Thule approach the Baeyrd lodge in Aqshy, twenty retinues of Decimators from the Sons of Mallus strike down into the Chaos horde's midst. Led by Lord-Castellant Selithon Blackfist, they cleave their way toward the towering constructs before hacking the legs from the twisted gargants that push them. In doing so, they save the magmahold and forge an unbreakable bond between their Stormhost and the Fyreslayers lodge.

Comments

[The Blue EM2]

Nice to see a story about the hobby on here.

[warpsmith]

Just don't paint your models on the hobby store with other brands paints. I was told not to by a employee when i pulled some of army painter paints.

[Mystic Sunrise]

11214548
Seriously 😑? Stupid rule.

11214540
I know right? Much easier to do a crossover with the hobby, and not the universes. Don't think there are any more stories like this around here. Sadly 😥.

[The Blue EM2]

11214558
I know. Sad.

[Iron Comet]

Lots of other wargames put there as well. I'm a long time Battletech player but for Games Workshop I only do Horus Heresy these days.

[Aresnightsworn]

As a collector of war gaming miniatures, I approve

[SuperSaiyanDiclonius]

11214558

11214548
It would actually pretty funny in the fic. Like say, have the human form of Chancellor Neighsay butt heads with Twilight over some of the stupid shit like this that have made Games Workshop infamous.

Also, I would love to see her reaction to some other Armies...maybe even 40k

[Mystic Sunrise]

11214807
No 40k in this one. Aside from being in the store of course. But I'm sticking to AOS for this one. As for Neighsay? I've been debating how much I'm going to keep GW as infamously stupid as they are. Or not.

This is not a 100% carbon copy of our world remember. So changing things are bound to happen.

11214717
Oddly, this whole idea actually started out as Twilight discovering the Horus Heresy game. But that never got far enough in development before I dropped it. And here we are.

11214785
Which ones? There's a ton of them.

[Aresnightsworn]

11214820
Warhammer 40k ironically enough

[warpsmith]

11214717
Yea same, started building my iron hands legion company of bitter iron rite of war formation. HQ Autek Mor, 20 medusan immortals, 10 support squad with grav guns, 5 heavy support squad with auto cannons, 2 apothecaries, 1 pravian, 2 rapier laser destroyers, 5 gorgon terminators, land raider proteus, sicarian venator, 3 vorax automata. Currently waiting for second edition rules before i go any further.

[Iron Comet]

11214951
Dark Angel's. Just got my Lion model and I'm working on a Breacher Squad now. But I'm mostly focusing on Tac squads. 20 man tac squads all armed with Bolters. All the Dakka.

[SuperSaiyanDiclonius]

11214820
Fair enough. For GW's bullshit vs cartoon fantasy, I would say just keep it limited to Neighsay the store owner constantly going on about how he would run the company.

Also, between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who collects Greenskins?

[Mystic Sunrise]

11215098
Honestly, there's no real reason to even have Neighsay here period. He still exists obviously. But still.

11215058
I see you have excellent taste in Legions. Playing the 1st myself. Very little progress though.

11214951
One of these days, I do wanna collect Iron Hands as well. Just look so cool.

11214839
Go figure.

[Iron Comet]

11215339
Played Dark Angel's starting from the last days of Rogue Trader up till the end of 4th. The Codex Creep stopped me from continuing into 5th. Horus Heresy got me back into 30k more because I liked the idea of building a Legion.