I had some free time during the day today, and so I shot a quick Unboxing video for my Tomb Kings Casket of Souls.
Thanks for watching.
I had some free time during the day today, and so I shot a quick Unboxing video for my Tomb Kings Casket of Souls.
Thanks for watching.
Since I was taking some pictures the other day I felt I should get some shots of my Tomb Kings collection. Once again, I apologize for the picture quality. I still haven’t found my battery charger and it’s getting annoying.
So, here is my All On The Table post for Tomb Kings, showcasing what I have, where I am in terms of painting, and where I am planning to go with these ancient undead.
Here is everything I have built:
This is mostly how I got the army from Andrew. Well, half, at least.
Other than the Tomb King/Prince on the left, these are Reaper models from their Warlord range. I had bought these a few years ago, intending them to be villains in pulp gaming, but I never got that far with the pulp stuff, sadly. And not surprisingly. They can represent Tomb Kings, Princes, Liche Priests, Necrotects, etc.
We’ve seen these guys before. Here are the 23 painted Skeletons (minus shields), 3 partially-built, and 3 command models.
3 built and primed (minus crew) Chariots, and 8 partially-built Horsemen/Horse Archers. I’m still not sure which way to build them.
You’ve also seen this guy, the Warsphinx. I like how he looks. And in front of him are some Tomb Swarm that came with the army.
And here are some box I bought off of Ray. Three more Chariots, and the metal Casket of Souls. He was selling them at a great price, so I couldn’t pass them up. I’ll explain why I bought the Chariots in a sec. I will be doing an unboxing video of the Casket ASAP.
The Future of the Tomb Kings
Well, I don’t really want to spend too much more money on buying more for the Tomb Kings. Mostly because I already want to move on the Ogres 🙂 But otherwise, I don’t want to keep adding units that will not get painted. I already have a whole lot to paint, and I want this to be a fully painted army.
That said, here are some things I am actually considering:
I’m on the fence about units like Tomb Guard and the Screaming Skull Catapult. The TG are a great unit, especially with a Prince or King and a Necrotect, giving them higher WS and Hatred, atop their Killing Blow. Again, maybe these will be down-the-road units if I continue to enjoy the TK. It’ll make the decision easier if I can find some cheap kits. I do like the sculpts, I must say. And the catapult, well, I do like having warmachines, but maybe I should stay away from them, since all of my other armies (Skaven, Empire and soon Ogres) have some.
Most importantly I just want to get what I have painted. It’s coming along. Slowly but surely. I’ll have to be sure to get some more done this week. Maybe work on the Chariots, or go back to the Warsphinx.
I think that’s all for now. I’m sure there is more I can say, but it’s late, this is my second attempt at writing this (sometimes pushing “Save Draft” works against me), and I have to go tend to my baby. So keep an eye out for more updates on the TK and the Showgirls this week.
Thanks for reading.
Over the past week I’ve been working slowly on this beast…er, Animated Construct. Here is where I am right now:
(Extra apologies for pictures quality. My camera battery is drained and I have no idea where my charger is!)
The Warsphinx mount is nearly complete, as I just need to pop in some colour on some of the detail areas:
And after that, I’m going to take a break to work on another Showgirl, before coming back to finish the howdah, crew and the base.
I borrowed the ‘marble’ technique from mavnav on the Tomb Kings of Khemri Forum, with a slight alteration. His recipe is:
All over a white prime. However, as I started working on it, I was putting down much lighter washes than he, I believe, so mine came out:
I could have saved those extra steps if I had just used thicker washes, but that’s alright, I got to experiment a little and I am happy with the blue-heavy outcome. Another difference in my version is that I painted the gold first. I probably spent too much time getting near-perfect edges, as most of them got a little bit of wash on them, and I’ll have to redo them anyway.
I’m quite happy with how it is turning out so far. And the wash technique is much simpler than other marbling techniques that I have seen.
I am sure I’ll have the rest of the details finished by tonight, and hopefully the rest of the parts by end of this week, early next week.
I’m also preparing an All On The Table post for Tomb Kings, where I will showcase what I have and where I am going with the army. Expect that tomorrow. And I might have another Unboxing video coming soon. Oooh!
Thanks for reading.
Well, during my 3-week hiatus I did manage to get a chunk of progress done on my new Tomb Kings army. Not ahugechunk, but a chunk nonetheless.
Here is the current state of my Skeleton Warriors.
I opted to go with Warriors and not Archers. That may turn out to be a mistake on my part, time will tell, but there’s just something about Archers that makes them second-choice for me.
I decided to build them with a mix of hand weapons and spears, as I like the way units look all mixed-up like that. As Andrew has started building them, the majority have unadorned heads, which he prefered, and I do not. I would have liked all them to sport the TK headgear, but I chose not to go back and switch the heads, as I just want to get this army painted. Yes, my goal is to actually finish painting this entire army, which I was never able to do with Skaven, High Elves or Empire. And as I am not (currently) planning on making this a huge force, this is quite a possible goal for me.
Anyway, after finishing building them, I added play sand to their bases (even though to scale the desert sands would not be so visible) and primed them white. Next came a wash of GW’s new Seraphim Sepia shade all over. I went with only one coat, as I got the bone colour I was looking for, although another wash of the face and ribs would probably look good on them. However, they are just rank n’ file troops and their shields will cover most of their bodies, so I’ll probably just leave it. Their weapons got Quick Silver on the metals and Bloodstone on the wood. The metals got two washes of Ogryn Flesh wash. They didn’t exactly turn the bronze they should be, but I like it and will do it for the rest of the army (but not other armies). Some Vallejo Glorious Gold where applicable, a little bit of Meredius Blue on the headdresses, and finally the base got Rucksack Tan, including the edges. And voila, 20+ Skeletons awaiting shields (which are yet to be started).
For standard troops, I’m quite happy how they turned out. Most other figures in this army will get the same attention. Only some characters and centrepiece models (Warsphinx, Casket) will get a bit more love. As usual, on the tabletop they look exactly how I would want them, and the speed at which I work on them will help me get this army fully painted.
Oh, and I did start building the command models. They are a mix of Warrior, Charioteer and Warsphinx Tomb Guard bits. I somehow forgot to add an arm to the musician before priming, so I’ll have to fix that. The standard bearer was not complete when I primed the rest, so he’ll get his prime on with the next batch of models/shields.
Speaking of the next batch of models, tomorrow I’ll show you how the rest of my army looks, and talk a little about where I am going to go with them.
Here is a sneak peak of one my favourite parts of this army:
More on that one tomorrow!
Thanks for reading.
I wrote this post last night, assuming I would have time to take pictures today. I did not. Here are the words, I’ll add the pictures tomorrow.
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Well, it’s been over a week since I put up an update. Things have gotten busy lately, with my son turning 1, and my wife being pregnant again, and all the other fun things in life. All this means that I’ve had very little time as of late for hobby time, although I have been getting my regular gaming in on Tuesdays (this past Tuesday my Skaven got crushed by the Orcs & Goblins, while my Ortegas massacred the Viktorias).
I’ve technically got a lot on the ‘bench right now. Here are the top four projects that I am working on, with a special mention of what else is around at the end.
Tomb Kings
That’s right, my 4th WHFB army! Well, actually my 3rd, since I traded my unused High Elves for Andrew’s unused/unwanted Tomb Kings. I only played the Elves a couple of times last year, and although I did end up buying a bunch for the army, they sat stagnant. At first I used Skaven most of the time, then Empire once the Tale of Gamers started. Since we got back to playing WHFB these past couple of months, I’ve been using mostly Empire, and now a little Skaven, while the Elves still sat idle, only coming out as proxies in big Empire games. Don’t get me wrong, I like the High Elves. They’ve got the skills, the special rules and an aesthetic that, combined, I enjoy. I just never sat down and got them on the table.
Well, now that’s Andrew’s job, as I’ve got Tomb Kings to worry about. And worry about them I have! The last three nights or so I’ve been pouring over internet forums and galleries, White Dwarf magazines and the army book, trying to figure out what I want to do with them. I’ll save my “new army smell” post for later, when I go over my initial thoughts on the army before I start actually playing with them.
So here is a shot of what I have so far:
*picture*
The army book, Nehekharan Lore deck, an older Battalion (32 Skeletons, 8 Cavalry, 3 Chariots), 4 Tomb Swarm and some Lords & Heroes proxies. There is a lot to build, and I think I know how I’ll start the army off.
I’m already trying to make some trades with fellow local gamers for their unwanted TK stuff, while at the same time figuring out what else I need to buy. I’m going to also get some games in with them over the next few weeks, shelving my other armies for now. This coming Tuesday, for instance, will be my first game with them at 1200pts against one of Andrew’s armies…potentially his ‘new’ High Elves.
I’m looking forward to this new army, although I feel bad looking at my big bin of Empire and Skaven models that are now going even further back in the painting qeue. Sorry guys. And rats.
Showgirls
I think I mentioned previously that I bought a complete Showgirl crew for Malifaux off of Scott a couple of weeks ago. It was a good deal, and it was time I tried using a more challenging crew. Especially after my Ortegas once again routed Scott’s Viktorias this week (Perdita’s Family now at 6 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws). Colette and her Showgirls are definitely going to give me the challenge I need.
Here they are, in all their black-primed glory:
*picture*
Now, I am not used to black-primed models. I would definitely have preferred a white start, but this is part of the deal when you buy models off of someone. At least they are only primed, so I will be working from the ground up. Or the stage up. Speaking of which, I need to order those wooden plank bases…
I’m already booking my first game with them with Scott for two Tuesdays from now. We’re both looking forward to seeing them on the table. Probably him more so, a) because they were once his, and b) since it means he won’t have to face the Ortegas!
Outcasts
I have finally started painting my Outcasts for Dark Age! Yeesh. I let other stuff get in the way too long, and after a couple of days’ worth of breaks (it’s nice living close enough to work that you can come home at lunch) I’ve gotten the 3 Wasteland Warriors started.
*picture*
While this is all I have so far, it’s a lot better than what I had two days ago. I could hardly believe it had already been a week since I put brush to model. Time flies when life gets busy.
I don’t want to put any more timeframes on this project, as I’m already way late with my original plan. Let’s just say these 3 models are my current focus on the painting table.
Andrew and I are going to finally sit down (well, stand up more likely) for a demo game of Dark Age this Tuesday, so I’ll have to go through the rules again so I can teach it properly. It’s going to be weird, though, using only one or two dice at a time, compared to the bucket-full for WHFB or the deck of cards for Malifaux.
…Others
Here are the other projects that are around my workbench, but are not at the forefront.
Khaliman Republic
The catpeople for the Alkemy Tale of Gamers. Which, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess, will be another failed group project. I know Andrew is focusing on Malifaux, Rob has been on vacation, and Ilan is, as usual, lost in Time and Space. So, with 2 of the models finished, I might actually hold off on more for now until I know I’m not the only one working on them.
I don’t mind this time if the project fails. I’ll plug away at the models more slowly, as filler paint projects between the more important ones, and eventually have all 13 painted. But if it’s not going to be a priority among the group, I won’t make it a priority for myself, either. Heh, not like I don’t have enough on the go as it is!
Dreadfleet
As part of the Tomb Kings/High Elves trade with Andrew, I also received his copy of Dreadfleet. Of the two of us, I am much more likely to get it opened, painted and learned, so it was an ideal sweetener, as the HE army came in at a bit more than the TK.
I will likely be learning the rules to demo the game in the next few weeks, but I am not exactly planning on building and painting the models just yet. They will come, but just not yet. I’m both excited and nervous about painting them up, as the studio paintjobs are great, as are the ones found on Stahly’s Painting Log, so I’ve got my work cut out for me.
Dead Doxies
I have a pair of Dead Doxies, Belles for the Malifaux Resurrectionists, waiting to be cleaned, primed and painted. They are going to be a welcome addition to my Seamus crew, either as themselves or at the least as alternative Rotten Belle models, so that I can summon a couple more during a game. This will please Scott, who would rather summoned models actually be the represented models. Pfft…the things I do to please Scott.
* * * * *
Well, that’s about it. There are plenty of other planned, postponed and potential projects around here in the chaos that is my office. But for now, the above are what I shall be working on right now. Hopefully by the next Workbench Update I will have completed something substantial. Keep an eye out for something or another!
Thanks for reading.
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:
And the Captain got:
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.
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
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
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.
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
Lizardmen
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.
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
Lizardmen
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.
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
Tomb Kings
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.