Empire General and Captain – Complete!

Heh, once again I find there is a thin line between ‘nearly there’ and complete.  For all intents and purposes, these models are indeed finished:

Except for a couple of touch-ups here and there, and another coat of brown and some static grass on the bases.  But as with the General’s horse and the Battle Wizard, I’m quite fine with their current state and will probably leave the finishing touches for a later date, and instead focus on models that have a much longer way to go.

So, the general got:

• Clothes: Khador Red Base base, Baal Red wash; Morrow White in the arm puffs both before and after the wash.
• Armour  & Sword: Pig Iron base, Badab Black wash; Glorious Gold trim, hilt and details, with Gryphonne Sepia wash.
• Feathers: 2x Asurmen Blue wash; Gryphonne Sepia wash over white.
• Face: Midlund Flesh with Ogryn Flesh wash.
• Gloves: Thamar Black with Trollblood Highlight highlight.
• Skulls: ‘Jack Bone with Gryphonne Sepia wash.

And the Captain got:

• Clothes: Khador Red Base base, Baal Red wash; Morrow White in the arm puffs both before and after the wash.
• Armour & Mace: Pig Iron base, Badab Black wash; Glorious Gold trim, hilt and details, with Gryphonne Sepia wash.
• Leaves: Wurm Green base, 2x Thraka Green wash.
• Face: Midlund Flesh with Ogryn Flesh wash.
• Gloves & Boots: Thamar Black with Trollblood Highlight highlight.
• Skull: ‘Jack Bone with Gryphonne Sepia wash.
• Battle Standard Cloak: Cryx Bane Base base with Badab Black wash.
• Battle Standard Skeleton: ‘Jack Bone with Ogryn Flesh wash.
• Battle Standard Ribbon & Shield: Khador Red Base with Morrow White; Glorious Gold sigil.
• Battle Standard Feathers: Badab Black wash over white.

Easy peasy!

My Empire army is (very) slowly looking better and better as more models are painted.  However, I do have a feeling that I won’t be getting through too many of the rank n’ file models anytime soon.  I’ve just got too many other models to paint for lower-number-of-models skirmish games to focus on mass-battles armies right now, even though I’m playing the game every other week!  Thankfully, my group does not care so much about these big armies being painted, or proxying.  Or proxying Empire models with High Elves and Skaven, for that matter!   I’d like to at least build everything I use in my lists, so I don’t have to use inter-species proxies.  But even that might not happen in the near future, let’s not kid ourselves.

Regardless, I am quite enjoying playing WHFB regularly, and I like having a newly painted model every few weeks to bring to the table.

Now, back to painting some skirmish models!

Thanks for reading.

Empire vs. Lizardmen (2000pts) – 5/8/12 (Part I?)

The long-awaited 2000pt game between Andrew’s Lizards and my Empire finally happened!  Well…half of it.  We started late, took a long time to set up and get going, and had to call the game after only two turns.  The “?” in the title refers to the fact that I took pictures, video and notes about exactly where all of the units ended the game, so if we wanted to actually set up the table as we left it and finish the game, it is quite possible.  At the very least we’ll roll up ‘the battle.’  You’ll know the one I’m talking about by the end of this report.

Empire

• Templar Grand Master (General)
• Wizard Lord, Level 3, Light (Banishment, Shem’s Burning Gaze, Birona’s Timewarp)
• Captain (BSB)
• Warrior Priest, Mounted
• Warrior Priest, On Foot
• Warrior Priest, On Foot
• 29 Swordsmen, Full Command
• 28 Swordsmen, Full Command
• 20 Handgunners + 10 Militia (Detachment)
• 12 Knights of the Inner Circle, Full Command
• Great Cannon
• Great Cannon

I went with two new things with this list.  The first was using a Templar Grand Master as my General.   Since I’ve been using the Knights as my beefy, hard-hitting unit, I figured I would strengthen their leader.  I also added a Warrior Priest to each of my combat units, giving me free dispell dice, some more spell options, and Hatred for their units.  When first getting into Empire I wanted to try a religious-themed army, but that never panned out (I stopped buying and building the army…and playing the game!…for a number of months).

Lizardmen

• Slann Mage-Priest (General/BSB), Level 4 (Earthborn, Shield of Thorns, Flesh to Stone, Dwellers Below)
• 21 Saurus Warriors, Musician/Standard
• 21 Saurus Warriors, Musician/Standard
• 21 Saurus Warriors, Musician/Standard
• 16 Temple Guard, Musician/Standard
• 10 Cold Ones, Musician/Standard
• 5 Terradons
• Salamander Hunting Pack

New for Andrew in this list were the Terradons.  Getting the first turn, he announced that they would likely be cannon-hunters.  I cringed when I saw that the Slann, of course, rolled up Dweller’s Below.  Thankfully my Wizard Lord was equipped with the Seal of Destruction, a Dispell Scroll with the potential to make the Slann forget the spell.  Guess what I was saving it for.

Setup & Deployment

We rolled up the Watchtower scenario, and I got to control the tower.  However, not having a 20-man unit (the Handgunners could not be used as they had the detachment…crud), it was left empty.

In the middle is the Watchtower.  ‘Above’ it is a Charnel Pit, with an Elven Waystone beside that.  ‘Below’ the tower is a Sinister Statue.  There is a forest to the ‘left,’ and a hill to the ‘right,’ with another forest nearby that.  On my right there is an Anvil of Vaul.  There are also two walls on the board, the ‘top’ one being a Ghost Fence (hence the skull, of course).

The Sinister Statue right in the middle of my zone forced me to split my army, and keep everyone 6″ away.  I chose to keep the Cannons in the middle, to give them free range of the battlefield.  I left the Knights on their own, hoping they would be able to take care of themselves, and stuffed everyone else on the other side, hoping their numbers would be able to keep them safe and potentially sweep around.

Andrew had a wide frontage among his units, and so spread clear across the table.  He planned to use the Ghost Fence as a charge deterrant agains the Knights.  Otherwise, the plan would be to move up, get stuck in combat, pwn the pesky humans, and win.  The Cold Ones would sweep around to take the Knights out, who were likely to go after the TG and the Slann, regardless of some spooky fence.

Turn 1 – Lizardmen

As I ‘controlled’ the Watchtower, Andrew went first.  Everyone Marched up, including the Terradons who had Vanguarded ahead already.  They got in the blindspots of both the Knights and Swords #1, but was forced to be in range of both the Sinister Statue and the Cannons’ grapeshot (which Andrew forgot about).

The Slann put Earthborn on his unit, Shield and Flesh were dispelled, and Dwellers failed to cast.  The Terradons’ javelins failed to hit, and the Salamander’s flame fell short.

Turn 1 – Empire

Thanfully Andrew’s turn was lackluster, so I had a chance to deal first blood.

The Knights attempted the charge into the TG, but failed and moved up 5″ instead.  The Militia, however, made the charge into the Sal’s flank, which Andrew was not expecting, and did not account for when he moved it there.  The Swords just moved up a couple of inches, necessitating a roll of 10 if the Saurii wanted to charge them next turn.

The Wizard Lord managed to Irresistably cast Banishment on the closest Saurus block, but of course rolled snake eyes for the 2d6 hits!  Only one Lizard succumbed.  The Miscast roll cost him a Level and the spell.  The rest of the dice were used by the Warrior Priests to try and make their units Unbreakable, but Andrew used all of his dispell dice to cancel them.

The Handgunners managed to drop another 2 Saurii from that #3 unit, while one Cannon got a whopping 10 grapeshot shots on the Terradons (oh, who had lost 1 model and another wound to the Sinister Statue).  But, just now I realised that I think I used grapeshot wrong!  I rolled a 10, but I thought they were auto-hits.  Apparently those are the number of hits I need to roll using the crew’s BS.  I’ll have to figure that one out after I finish this report!  Anyway, the other Cannon blew up the Ghost Fence.

In combat, the Militia lost a fighter and wounded the Sal, and because of the flank charge won and forced a Flee!  They failed to catch the Sal, which was not nice.

Turn 2 – Lizardmen

The Salamander rallied and maneuvred to the side of the Militia.  Saurii units #2 & #3 marched up, not attempting the charge.  Unit #1 moved up I think to divert my charge, away from the TG to protect the Slann, but the TG tempted Fate by moving sideways somewhat behind the Saurii.  If the Saurii took the charge and lost, the Knights would hit the TG!  Andrew took the chance and later admitted to not having planned it through well.  The Cold Ones moved around, ready to charge the flank or rear of the Knights next turn if they got into a fight with the Saurii.

I spent all of my dispell dice knocking down the first three spells and used my Seal of Destruction onDwellers, which Andrew saved for last.  I rolled a 4 to make the Slann forget the spell.  What a relief!  Last game that spell was über deadly, so it was nice knowing that it wouldn’t be coming up this game.  It cost me some points to make it happen, but they were points well-spent.

The Salamander burned up 4 more Militia, who ran away because of it.

Turn 2 – Empire

Let the bloodbath begin!

The Knights charged into the Saurii, and the Swords each took on the other Saurii.  The Militia rallied and moved to provide a flank charge next turn.

It was now I realised that my Wizard Lord was misplaced, being at the far right of the unit, rather than the left where he should have been.  This meant he was out of range to use Birona’s Timewarp, so was stuck tryingBurning Gaze at the Sal, which was dispelled.  The Warriors Priests used the remaining Power Dice to each castSoulfire, causing d6 S4 hits against the enemy units they were engaged with.  Awesome!  Unit #1 lost 3, #2 lost 0 and #3 lost a hefty 6!  Ouch!

The Handgunners fired well, needing 5s to hit and 4s to wound, and managed 5 wounds on the Salamander.  “Did you add the -1 for Skirmishers?” Andrew asked?  Crap, okay, roll again.  Well, this time I needed 6s to hit, and I got an unbelievable 11 6s on 20 dice!  11!  Craziness!  I got 8 wounds this time, but I brought it back down to 5 because I made the mistake the first time.  Regardless, enough wounds went on the Sal to drop it.  The first Cannon Misfired, but it was only a minor malfunction and nothing happened.  The second blew away two Cold Ones right from under their riders.

The first Swordsmen unit only managed 2 kills, even with a Warrior Priest, a Captain with Biting Blade and Hatred among the Swordsmen.  They took 3 dead in return (not shown), including the Warrior Priest, but because of ranks, the charge and the BSB, they won combat.  The Lizards stayed.  The second Swordsmen unit only managed 2 kills as well, lost 4 including the Warrior Priest, but again because of the ranks and charge, they won, and the Lizards once again stayed.  I’m not sure exactly how many Saurii the Knights killed in their combat, but after the charge and ranks and losing one model (love that 1+ armour save!), they managed to win combat by 7!  Man, Templar Grand Master + Warrior Priest’s Hatred + Knights of the Inner Cirlce = deadly!  Anyway, unable to roll snake eyes on two break tests, the Saurii fled, got caught, and the Knights charged into the Temple Guard unit. Eek!

And this will be ‘the battle’ that I mentioned earlier.  It would occur on the Lizard’s next turn, but since it was too late we couldn’t play it at the time.  Again, we might just roll for it while chatting online, or set up the table like we left it and finish it properly.  Either way, we determined that the Cold Ones could just get into the flank of the Knights, although they would have to skirt through the Mysterious Forest on the way through.  One could only hope that the Dangerous Terrain test would help me by dropping a few more of their numbers.

‘End Game’ Thoughts

Some slight and not-so-slight errors on both sides cost us each some things here and there.  The Terradons dying way to early due to poor planning.  The Wizard Lord not being able to influence his friends also due to poor planning.  Etc. etc.  On the good side of things, I like my list for the most part, but will probably try a variation of this for my next 2000pt game.  The Warrior Priests are pretty cool, as is the Templar Grand Master, but are they worth all those points?

Anyway, his is how we left it.  What will happen?  Who will win?  Will we even ever find out? *dun dun dunn!*

Thanks for reading.

Empire vs. Lizardmen (1600pts) – 4/24/12 – Video!

So, trying something new, I’ve put together a video batrep of our latest WHFB battle.  It is nothing special, as I’m just trying to see what works.  As I don’t have a mic, I can’t do the kind of batreps that I usually like to watch on youtubes.  I need to get one.

This game was a pretty bloody game, with some deadly spells, some runaway Lizards, and lots of other craziness.  That you can’t tell from the video.

Empire

• General of the Empire, mounted
• Captain of the Empire, BSB
• Wizard Lord, Level 4, Light
• Battle Wizard, Level 2, Light
• Battle Wizard, Level 2, Light
• 13 Knights of the Inner Circle
• 25 Swordsmen
• 24 Swordsmen
• 17 Halberdiers
• Great Cannon

Lizardmen

• Slann Mage-Priest, Level 4, Life, BSB
• 12 Temple Guard
• 21 Saurus Warriors
• 21 Saurus Warriors
• 5 Cold Ones
• 5 Cold Ones
• Salamander Hunting Pack
• Salamander Hunting Pack

The setup looked like this:

I was expecting Andrew to write a report, so I didn’t myself.  He didn’t get a chance to, and now I’ve forgotten the details of the game.  I do remember that the Slann cast Dwellers Below, once to devestate my #2 Swordsmen unit, and again to really diminish my Knights, including the General.  They were shocking rolls, and took out large chunks of my army.  There were also three Fleeing Lizardmen units at one point, which is totally unheard of.  But of course they rallied and came back to the fight.  There were other goodies, but again, I’ve forgotten.  So instead of writing a report, I present to you this video!

know it’s not much.  I’ll try working on this kind of video in the future, but I would rather get a mic and do it that way.  Look for more videos soon.

Thanks for reading.  And watching.

Empire vs. Lizardmen (1000pts) – 04/10/12

Howdy! I just got back from vacation, which is why I haven’t posted in two weeks.

This game took place two weeks ago, and I had started writing a report, but did not get to finish before going on vacation (the next day).  Since I really don’t feel like watching the entire video I took to write out this report, I’m just going to post what I’ve already written, add a Battle Chronicler image I threw together just now, and hopefully Andrew can write about it in a comment.

I should play a game or two tomorrow night that I’ll write about.

 * * * * *

Back to our regularly scheduled programming, I once again faced Andrew on the WHFB battlefield.  I used a list similar to Monday’s, while his had a surprise for me: Cold One Cavalry!  This was his first time tabling them.

Like the last report, this one will not be as detailed as usual, but I hope you can follow along and enjoy anyway.  If there are extra typos, or things seem a little awkward, I did have a large glass of wine while doing the dishes when I got home, and I’m writing this at nearly 1am.  Please forgive me

Empire

• General of the Empire (mounted)
• Captain of the Empire (BSB)
• Battle Wizard (Level 2, Light)
• 21 Swordsmen
• 20 Halberdiers
• 11 Knights of the Inner Circle
• Great Cannon

Lizardmen

• Skink Priest (Level 1, General)
• 20 Saurus Warriors
• 20 Saurus Warriors
• Salamander Hunting Pack
• 8 Cold One Cavalry

Like I said, this was Andrew’s first outing with the Cold Ones.  He also substituted a second Salamander for more rank and file Saurii.  This would pay off later on.

I went with a similar list to the one I took against Steve’s Tomb King.  I beefed up the Knights to Inner Circle (S+1), swtiched one unit of Swordsmen to Halberdiers, dropped the Wizard by a level, and improved the Captain-General to a full-blown General.

As the terrain we rolled up had absolutely no impact on the game, I just threw in some cliffs that I think look cool, and were fun to make.  The actual game had various hills and a pair of walls, but nothing that mattered during the game.

The Battle

I’ll make this quick.

By the middle of the game, my Knights were in combat with SW2, doing very well.  My Swordsmen were entrenched with SW1, doing very well to stay alive, if nothing else.  If not for the courage of the Captain (emboldened by his Battle Standard and the nearby General’s Leadership), they would have died long ago.  Instead, the Captain and his diminishing unit held their own round after round of combat.  The Cold Ones, who had started just too far away from the battle (they were deployed early), failed a charge that would have brought them into combat with the Great Cannon, which cost them a round of joining the battle and made them the target of a grapeshot attack.

By the end of the game the Knights had rolled over the Saurii, swung around the back and charged the rear of the other Saurii.  The Captain managed to survive the Lizard onslaught, and be the last man standing for the Empire…until he was joined by the Halberdiers beside him, and the Knights in back.  The Great Cannon had finally succumbed to the Cold Ones, quite easily, who were swinging around to join the battle, but just a couple or turns too late.

The outcome was an Empire victory, which I owe to a) the strength (and Strength) of the Knights, b) the steadfast courage of the Captain (who against all odds survived long enough for reinforcements to join), and c) the misplaced Cold Ones not having the desired impact on the battle that they should have.

I know we will see more Cold Ones in our upcoming battles, so it’s going to be a matter of figuring out how to take them out ASAP.  Which also goes for the Saurii.  And pretty much any other Lizard unit.  I find that with the Lizards, every unit is, at all times, a threat.

Well, we’re facing off again tomorrow night.  1600 points.  Oooh.  Expect a report from Andrew on that one.  He wants to give it a shot, and I’ll either write one on the Malifaux game I play with Loy beforehand, or just spend the time prepping the my next two workbench projects: Outcasts (Dark Age) and Khaliman Republic (Alkemy).

Thanks for reading.

Empire vs. Tomb Kings (1000pts) – 04/09/12

Before you jump to conclusions, this battle was in fact not played against Andrew!  Nor was it played on a Tuesday night at Meeplemart!  Unheard of!

Well, it was played at Meeplemart, but on Monday, mid-day.  I was sent home from work because I wasn’t feeling well (I was told to go home, and I’m not one to argue a day off), and I started feeling better shortly.  So messaged Steve at Meeplemart who I was supposed to play a game with the night before, but couldn’t because I ended up drinking at my family’s Easter dinner and couldn’t drive.  So I made it up to him and came over during the day.

I used one my 1000pt Empire lists against the Tomb King list he used against Andrew last week.

This report will not be as detailed as they usually are.  I didn’t bring any of my cameras, nor do I want to spend the next few hours writing up a report.  But I’ll give a brief summary of each turn, and then some of the points of our post-game discussion.

Empire

• Wizard Lord (Level 3, Light)
• Captain of the Empire (mounted, General)
• Captain of the Empire (BSB)
• 11 Knights
• 20 Swordsmen
• 20 Swordsmen
• Great Cannon

Tomb Kings

• Liche Priest (Level 3, Hierophant)
• Tomb Prince
• Tomb Herald
• 23 Skeleton Spear Warriors
• 12 Skeleton Archers
• 12 Skeleton Archers
• Tomb Skorpion
• 3 Sepulchral Stalkers

N.B. Steve actually only deployed 10 Archers in each unit, instead of 12, which may or may not have impacted the game much.  Always the optimist, I like to think it would have.

Turn 1

Steve got the first turn.  The Warriors stayed put, waiting for me to come to him, while the Archers moved up 2″ to be able to hit anyone.  Magic I think was dispelled, and shooting the Archers ended up doing little-to-no wounds.  I think they all shot at the Wizard’s Swordmasters, but maybe one unit shot at the Knights.

I on the other hand moved all of my units up, the Swords going up 6-8″, the Knights getting a bit closer for a charge next turn.  The cannon took a shot and wounded the Herald, who had failed his Look Out Sir! roll but luckily I got a 1 on the d6 for Multiple Wounds, and dropped three Warriors.

Turn 2

The Warriors stayed put again, the Archers moved back 2″.  The Skorpion Misfired on his un-earthing, then rolled a 1 to die outright.  This was highly unfortunate for Steve, and I always hate when things like this happen to new players, or guys trying to learn and enjoy their army. Bah.  The Sepulchral Stalkers unearther safely.  Magic, I dispelled the spell that would have made everything dangerous terrain for my Knights, and then the Priest failed to cast the Multiple Shots spell by 1!  Luck was currently not on Steve’s side.  The Stalkers managed to drop a single Knight with their Gaze, on 14 hits, but one Stalker also took 2 Wounds to a Misfire.  The Archers I believe just aimed at the Swordsmen, but only managed to drop one.

I charged the Knights into the middle Archer unit, while the Swordsmen just moved up, readying for a charge next turn.  I unintentionally cheated by having the Wizard cast a magic missile at the Stalkers.  This cheat would have changed the game, I think, so I have to go and tell Steve so he knows.  The Cannon shot at the Stalkers as well, and by the end they were down to one guy left of the initial three.  The Knights managed to wipe out 7 of the Archers, and the others died due to their Unstable rule, and the Knights just overran onwards toward the board edge.

Turn 3

The Warriors spun around to face the Knights instead of charging the Swordsmen.  The Priest gave his Archers Multiple Shots.  The Archers shot at the Wizard’s Swordsmen, with I think a couple of casualties, and the Stalker shot at the Cannon, with no casualties.

The Knights spun and stayed put.  I was going to move them in between the TK units, avoiding combat, but I felt that was cheap and would make Steve unhappy, so I let them get ready to take the charge.  The Swordsmen on the left failed a charge into the Warrior’s rear, but moved up 6″, while the other Swordsmen charged into the Archers.  The Wizard gave his unit and the Knights “pass all Leadership tests,” which would help with the coming Fear tests they’d have to take.  The cannon managed to hit the Stalker at close range…I forgot all about Grapeshot until right now.  Dang, that would have been handy.  Dang.  Anyway, they did a wound to the Stalker.  In combat, the Swordsmen dropped some Archers, who also dropped some Swordsmen, so it wasn’t a complete rout, and both units stayed around.

Turn 4

The Warriors charged into the Knights.  The Priest gave the both units an extra Attack (I failed to dispell it), as well as a Ward Save on the Warriors, I think, but we both forgot by the time combat came around (having the Magic cards is SO good, not having them is SO bad!).  Some Archers came back because of this.  The Stalker failed to gaze the Cannon crewman, again.  I think at this point Steve realised he should have just charged in.  In combat, the Archers were annihilated, with the Priest standing alone against 14 Swordsmen and a Wizard.  The Warriors were whittled down a bit, but they managed to kill two Knights in the process.  Oh, and the Herald accepted the Captain’s challenge and was slain for it.

The Captain’s Swordsmen once again failed to charge into the rear of the Warriors.  The Wizard once again gave both units auto-pass on their Leadership tests.  The cannon overshot (again, I forgot about grapeshot).  The Swordsmen killed the Priest (no one died to crumbling).  The Knights whittled the Warriors down a bunch again, down to two rows, and the Warriors killed two more Knights.

Game End

At this point Steve gave up, as there was nothing much else he could do.  It is quite unfortunate that the dice were not his friends this game, as he failed a lot of Archers shots, and the Skorpion dying right off the bat was not helpful.  I did cheat with the Wizard’s magic missile, which I’ll apologize for.  That could possibly have changed a lot about the game.

Post-Game Discussion

Steve is still new to WHFB, especially 8th Edition and the new Tomb Kings book, so a lot of rules are either shady or altogether-unknown to him.  I’m no pro or veteran of the system myself, only having played for a year and a bit,  but I did try to go over some points with him, that perhaps could have led to a more successful TK outing.

One was that he probably should have been a bit more aggressive.  Early on he didn’t move up much, which I personally think was one of his downfalls.  I suggested that his Warriors should have moved up and gotten into combat with the Swordsmen on Turn 2, or 3 at the latest, what with their WS 5 thanks to the Prince and regrowability thanks to the Nehekharan lore attribute.  PLUS the extra rank from spears.  So the only things I had better than him were Initiative and 5+/6+ saves.  To stop the Knights from crashing into their flank, he could have had the middle Archers move up into speedbump/redirection position, forcing me to wait a turn or two to get into combat with them.  That would have given them two turns of shooting, before valiantly sacrificing themselves for the cause.  And then, the Sepulchral stalkers could have charged the rear of the Swordsmen, giving him +3 to combat res for that turn, plus gotten them out of the way of magic missiles and cannon shots, as they would be engaged.  I don’t think he felt that any of this would have helped, as he thinks his guys are just too flimsy and weak to do much.  Meh, it’s his loss!  Maybe next time he’ll think more like that.

Another point I tried to make was that after watching a video on youtube about the magic phase, by one of my favourite youtubers OnceBitten360, aiming for one spell a turn is good, with extras as a bonus.  Also, the ‘think big, think ahead’ idea is something to deal with.  In the end I think he pretty much did this sort of thing during the game, but I dispelled enough of the spells for it not to matter.

Anyway, Steve was not too impressed with his army after two crushing defeats.  But the fact that we’re playing at less than half of the ideal points value for WHFB games does not help, especially for armies like TK that do better at higher point levels than Empire.  But he said that he’s reserving judgement for playing bigger games, which is great.  I don’t enjoy the game at 500 or 750 either, and I think that once we all start playing at 2000 points, we’re going to start having real fun with this system.

The WHFB fun is going to continue tomorrow night, when I should be playing both WHFB and Malifaux.  Hopefully even more than one WHFB game, which would be ideal, but I’m not counting on it   If only we can talk less and play more!

Thanks for reading.

Empire General’s Warhorse – Complete!

I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago, but managed to not yet publish it.  Please enjoy.

* * * * *

As an interlude between the first 11 and last 3 Dragyri Slaves, I decided to put my Empire General’s horse on the painting table.  And now he’s pretty much complete.  I might find highlights or touch-ups to add at some point, and grass one day, but otherwise he’s done.

• Flesh: Bootstrap Leather, Ogryn Flesh wash.
• Hair: Umbral Umber, Bootstrap Leather highlight, Ogryn Flesh wash.
• Hooves: Thamar Black, Trollblood Highlight, Badab Black wash with hair as above blended into flesh.
• Armour: Pig Iron, Devlan Mud wash.
• Gold: Vallejo Glorious Gold (over Pig Iron), Gryphonne Sepia wash.
• Cloth: Khador Red Base, Baal Red wash; Cygnar Blue Highlight, Asurmen Blue wash.
• Skeleton: ‘Jack Bone, Glorious Gold, Ogryn Flesh wash; Wurm Green leaves, 2x Thraka Green washes, Wurm Green highlight.
• Base: DecoArt Burnt Umber.

* * * * *

When I worked on this guy I was planning on painting up some more horses, but once I packed them up to play at Meeplemart that Tuesday I just left them in the case.  It was then that I got busy, so I haven’t come back to either the other horses or the General and Captain.  They’ll be interludes between the Outcasts and Khaliman Republic, for sure.

Thanks for reading.

Workbench Update – Malifaux, Dark Age, Warhammer Fantasy

Over the past week I’ve gotten less done than anticipated, but I did spend one night playing (Tuesday) and one night writing about it (Wednesday, you can see the Malifaux batrep at Tale of Gamers).  I spent the other nights either painting a little, surfing the net, playing Call of Duty, or sleeping early.

Here’s a comprehensive list of what’s on the painting table right now:

Malifaux

Well, last week I said I needed to pick up Abuela Ortega, and I did!

At 7ss she will allow me to play 35ss games with the Ortegas.  7ss is a lot, especially when the only thing I really want her for is her healing ability.  She does have a couple of other spells and abilities that can be useful, of course, like another Obey to use.

Hopefully she’ll be painted soon and I can get her on the gaming table in the next week or two.

Dark Age

Last week I was up to 7 Slaves complete, and early this week I added 4 more.  Like I mentioned, working on too many models at once is a bad idea for me, so I took 4 and worked on them as a small group until finished, leaving me with these three:

These last three are about halfway finished.  I’ve done the skin and most of the cloth, so now all I need are the rest of the cloth areas, the strapping and weapon details, touch-ups and washes.  Done.

I went ahead and ordered Dragon Forge bases for my two warbands.  The Dragyri are getting the ice-themed ones that I was on the fence about (clearly I teetered over to the ‘do it’ side of the fence), and the Outcasts are going to get a mixture of Wasteland II and Urban Rubble, since I already had a few of each lying around and didn’t want to go and spend even more money.  Adding $1-5 more per figure can make an army expensive, especially when the Dragyri starter alone comes with 15 models!

The goal is to have these three guys done by tomorrow night, so I can start on the last model of the warband, the Soul Warden:

I hate the way gesso priming looks before paint is on the model, but it’s amazing how afterwards it’s so smooth you couldn’t tell the difference.  And it sure beats getting the grainy texture a poor spray prime might leave behind, like on my Empire General below.

Warhammer Fantasy

Last week I said I had put the General and Captain on the desk, but in fact I went ahead and painted the General’s horse up instead, as he was already started previously.  Here is the horse underneath the General that I started working on a couple nights ago.  I’ve got a better picture of the horse alone, but I’ll post that when I share the complete trio of models later this week (hopefully).

You can see the grainy texture on the General’s armour.  When I was batch priming my Empire models last summer, most of them turned out perfectly, but one group did not.  I believe it was the General, Knights and Pistoliers that got it bad, and only the riders! All of the horses turned out just fine.  Oh yes, primer can be just as fickle as the Fate deck in Malifaux.  Oh yes.

Speaking of the other horses, quite liking how the General’s horse turned out I put two more horses back on the table.  This is as far as they got last year, the Pistolier’s horse halfway-ish and the Knight’s horse nearly there:

And finally, here is the Captain who got a bit of colour this week as well.

Once the Captain and General are finished, they’ll join the Fire Wizard as my first three complete models for my Empire army.   Only a year later than when we started that first Tale of Gamers back in May of 2011.  Man, that went nowhere.  So what did we do? Tried again with Heavy Gear Blitz! Which also went nowhere.  Even nowhere-er, actually, because at least with WHFB we played some games and got a bunch of hobbying done.  With HGB, I’m the only one who finished my models up – even though it did take me a few months after we had un-officially halted the ToG.

Tale of Gamers

So what else would we do other than to plan anotherTale of Gamers!  This one will work, I swear!  Not sure if I mentioned it yet, but we will be starting an Alkemy Tale of Four Gamers in a few weeks, as soon as I’ve finished my Dark Age stuff.  But you’ll have to go to Tale of Gamers for all of the progress on that, other than my Workbench Updates here.  It’s hard juggling two two blogs, you know?

Thanks for reading.

Workbench Update – Stormsmiths, Old West Buildings

Not only did I finish (sans gold shine) my Imperial Armada starter this week, but I also put the finishing touches (sans gold shine) on my Empire Fire Wizard for WHFB.

Admittedly, he didn’t have much left to be finished, but I’m glad he’s done.  He’s my first Empire model that is complete, which is sad since I’ve been playing Empire since last May.  Our WHFB Tale of Gamers challenge faltering, stalling and ceasing didn’t help with completion.  Neither did picking up Heavy Gear Blitz with Andrew and Rob…which we proceeded to not actually play.  I may try and convince Andrew to make sure his starter for that is built, and we can try it one of these Tuesdays.

Anyway, I digress.  What’s on the workbench right now?

Stormsmiths

Yeah, these guys are still waiting, but they’ll get their chance now that the FF models are done.  In fact, they are both sitting right here, beside the little pots of paint that I need to paint them.  Now that’s preparation!  You can even see their painted compatriot urging them on in the background.

Old West Buildings

These beauties are in the same state as they were last weekend, as it was only yesterday that I picked up the other colours I need to paint them. But now that I have them, they’re going to get done.  The brown I put on them worked quite well, actually, so hopefully the other colours go on the same.  I’m also hoping the colours I picked up are going to look good.  If not, they only cost $1,and I can  always get a few other shades of the colours I got.  You can see the paints newest paints in the picture here.  They are “DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylics.”  Look for an update on these in the coming days.

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That’s all that is actively being worked on right now.  I’m going to focus on these until they are done, and then I can move on.  To what?  Stay tuned to find out!

And just for fun, here is a ‘snapshot’ of my workspace as it stood this morning:

See if you can figure out what’s what!

Thanks for reading.

A Tale of Two Brothers: Raye

[Last night I managed two games of Warhammer Fantasy with Andrew.  I felt like writing some fiction for it, instead of a regular Battle Chronicler report.  Please enjoy!]

The town of Meepleton had never before borne a single mage, let alone two at once.  Even more novel, they were brothers, twins at that, Raye and Blaise, both with the surreal power to control the Winds of Magic.  As young children they caused much grief for their noble family, one of the founding families of the town, having to put up with their magical antics at home and in public.  As they got older, though, their control over the Winds became stronger, and soon they were competing with each other, besting each other with spell after ever-more-dangerous spell.

One day they agreed to an ill-fated challenge.  They were each to raise an army, travel to the frontier and battle some enemy of Man or another, and return with the glory of victory, or the shame of defeat.  And on their 28th birthday the day had come, when they parted ways and set out from the safety of Meepleton.  Their armies were readied, their plans laid, their destinies set…

Raye, the older of the twins, was a master of the Lore of Light.  His powers allowed him to cleanse and purify, using the magic that permeated the world to bring order and balance.  He was also headstrong, and a good leader of his men, who trusted his judgement and had faith in his abilities.

So when Raye and his armies arrived at the treeline of a dark and foreboding forest, they did not hesitate when he led them within.  His staff shone with the Light of Lights, brightening the gloom around them, keeping what evil spirits that lay beyond.  The men of Raye’s force could feel the touch of Chaos all around them, but stood fast within the protective glow of their leader.

As they came to a clearing they spread out, noble Knights on their trusted steeds to the far left; skilled Crossbowen to Raye’s immediate left; and to his right, his loyal and highly-trained Swordsmen, eager to follow Raye’s word, but wary of the impenetrable darkness on the far side of the clearing.  The men whispered, the horses shifted, but still Raye’s small army stood fast and brave.

And in an instant the quiet of the dark forest turned to the tumultuous roar of a stampede of wild, unreal creatures of Chaos.  There was a roiling mass of pink bodies, arms and legs, tentacles and tongues waving about, bodies hopping over one another as they surged forward.  There was an unholy scream as three beasts flew through the air, as if they were marine animals in their home environs.  A lumbering monstrosity galloped forward, a tinted cloud surrounding its body.  And a powerful-looking humanoid creature, feminine qualities obscured by its unnatural aura, led the charge of a cohort of similar feminine creatures, pincer-clawed and savage-eyed.

As the varied force of Chaos came forward, Raye stepped forward and called to his men, “Let us vanquish these vile creatures from this land!  Let us usher in the Light, and expell the Darkness!  Forward!”

And on his command the wizard’s men moved forward slowly, their expressions grim but their resolve steady.  Raye himself summoned the Winds of Magic to his bidding, the air around him crackling and the once-dark forest now brightened by the power surrounding him.  He sent forth a beam of light from his staff towards the mess of pink bodies, nearly half of them disappearing as it passed.  The Crossbowmen, seeing the numbers of that group drop, took aim upon those that remained and let loose their bolts.  As if imbued with magic themselves, the shots found their mark, dropping more of the creatures.  Soon there were just a handful of them left, easy pickings for the Swordsmen that rushed towards them.

The beasts of Chaos, though, were not slowed by this show of force.  They continued to surge forward, their dark intensity increasing as they neared.

The horses of the Knights whinnied and stuttered, but they were reigned in just before their riders urged them forward in a charge against the feminine Daemons.  Bodies crashed, armour clanged, and flesh was torn.  When the Knights’ lances were bloodied and broken, they were dropped and replaced by swords, which began hacking at the Daemonettes.  Fighters on both sides fell, but in that melee they remained as bodies dropped all around. 

Nearby the Crossbowmen took aim at the lumbering beast, loosed their bolts but this time watched as their shots did little damage, and the beast kept coming.  Raye, his staff swirling, urged his men on.  The Swordsmen charged into the remaining pink horrors, and cut them down with ease, losing none of their own.  Triumphantly they continued forward, already swinging around to face the rear of the chaotic forces.

The Daemonettes, many fallen to the blades of the Knights, were urged on by their Herald, and continued to attack their mounted enemies, never giving ground.  The melee was joined by the screaming, flying creatures who crashed into the flank of the Knights.  Eventually, the mounted nobles could not withstand such onslaught, and after laying waste to numerous Daemons, were forced to flee.  Sadly, though, their steeds were too tired, and could not outrun the now-embibed Daemonettes, who cut them down from behind.

Seeing this, the Crossbowmen said a quick prayer for their fallen comrades, but did not hesitate to loose another volley into those Daemons, felling a handful more.  Raye, deeply saddened by the loss of his Knights, many of them his close friends, faltered.  As the single Fiend rushed forward towards the Crossbowmen he took a step backward, but seeing the resolve in his men he grew brave once more, and stood his ground.  He again called upon his magical powers and send another beam of pure Light towards the Fiend, who seemed to burn with the raw power hitting him.

It seemed that in a final push, the Daemons took aim at the Crossbowmen and charged as one.  The odds seemed stacked highly against the ranged fighters, with their mounted allies defeated and the Swordsmen too far away to help in this crucial moment.  But fear they did not, falter they did not.  Instead, they took careful aim, and as the creatures of Chaos came rushing in they let loose one last volley.  The bolts hit the onrushing Daemons with precision, and one after another they fell, from the flying screamers to the lumbering fiend to the creatures’ leader herself.  All of them dropped, dead or nearly so, hatred seething in their dying eyes.

It was all over.  Raye surveyed the battle field.  His expression was grim, and heart heavy over the loss of his Knights.  But the rest of his forces had survived unscathed, and this band of creatures of Chaos had been defeated.

As his men made a final sweep of the clearing, dispatching any Daemons still writhing on the ground, Raye stopped to wonder how his brother, Blaise, was faring.  Had he found his own enemy?  Would he be as triumphant?

Mustering The Troops

I am pretty excited to play Warhammer Fantasy again tomorrow.  It has been quite a few months since my last game, and I’ve had an increasing itch to play lately.  We are only playing 500pts, which won’t be as awesome a game as one at higher points would be, but it’ll be nice to get a game finished in an evening, and refamiliarize ourselves with the rules. 

I’ll be bringing my Empire army, everything that was built (and based and primed, and some with a little paint) for our Tale of Gamers challenge last summer:

Andrew already knows my list, so I have no problem posting it:

• Battle Wizard, Level 2, Lore of Light (or Fire)
• 19 Swordsmen w/ Duellist and Standard Bearer
• 7 Knightly Orders w/ Standard Bearer
• 10 Handgunners w/ Marksman

I have a couple other variations of this list that I considered, where I drop some Knights or the Marksman, add some Swordsmen, etc.  Another has Halberdiers instead of Swordsmen, giving up the Parry save and increased WS for higher S.  Since they’re built as Swordsmen, I’ll play them like that now.  Hopefully I can get some other State Troops built as Halberdiers soon, so I can field them properly.  I bet they’ll be able to hurt the Lizardmen a little more than the Swordsmen do.  I can’t recall of the Parry save and higher WS is worth it against Lizards.  I’ll find out tomorrow!

I will probably be facing a Skink Priest, 2×10 Saurus Warriors and a Salamander.  All of that is deadly to me.  I need to get rid of that Salamander ASAP, and hopefully take out a few Saurii before they get into combat with my weaker troops.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the game.  I have to go finish packing, and plug my camera in.  One of the things I enjoyed most about playing WHFB last year was writing battle reports with Battle Chronicler afterwards.  So you can expect a report ASAP.

Thanks for reading.

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