My Warhammer Fantasy Blog

Moving over to Wordpress

2010-08-03T10:51:00.000+01:00

I am saying goodbye to this blog and moving over to blogging all about my hobby on Wordpress.

Why? Well my hobby has changed over the past couple of months, I am starting to play and get interested in more war gaming rule sets. At the moment its Warmachine which is taking up a lot of my time. So much that I haven't yet picked up the new 8th edition Warhammer Fantasy rule book. But I will at some point!

Because this blog was Warhammer Fantasy focused, I needed to change the blog to reflect the changes in my hobby. So instead of changing this blog, I created a new blog on Wordpress and imported all the posts over.

I hope that all my regular visitors will still follow my ramblings on my new blog.

Click here for the RSS feed on my new wargaming blog.

Click here to see my new war gaming blog.

My 2010 Resolutions Progress

2010-07-01T11:39:00.001+01:00

I have to thank the Boisterous Exuberance blog for reminding me of my 2010 new year resolutions. So here is the progress I have made during the first six months.

Continue to spend at least 30 minutes most evenings away from the television painting my miniatures.

Achieved. I now have a Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth box set to keep me busy in the evenings.

Join a club and play more often against other people. Aim is at the very least 2 games a month.

Achieved. Myself and my son Tyler now attend the gaming nights at Maelstrom Games at least once a week.

Complete painting my 2250 points Warriors of Chaos army.

Achieved. This was completed back in February for the Gobtyks tournament.

Complete painting my new army Dark Elves, so I can field at least a 1999/2000 point army.

Binned. Difficult to paint an army when its all sold on ebay!

Terrain, I need more. At least two woods and two hills.

Binned. Been playing more often, but at the gaming nights at Maelstrom Games. Hence the need for more terrain isn't high on my list at the moment.

Play in at least six tournaments during the year. I have already earmarked ten tournaments.

On Target. Have played in four tournaments during the first half of the year. I was planning on attending Autumn Incursion at Maelstrom Games in August, but don't think I will be able to attend now. Will definitely be attending Immortal War III at the Sutton Immortals in November, that's if I can get a ticket. Apart from these two I am not planning on attending any others.

Expand my Ogre Kingdoms or Warriors of Chaos army to 2999/3000 points to play in larger army size tournaments.

Achieved. This was completed back in June for the Summer Incursion tournament.

Achieve a UK Warhammer Fantasy Battle Tournament Ranking of at least 250 in 2010.

Binned. Really not too bothered with this. It would have been nice to achieve this year, but Warmachine has got my attention now.

With the Ogre Kingdoms I am waiting on a new army book and miniatures before progressing any further. Knowing my luck I will start painting more miniatures, then new miniatures and a new army book would be released. I am hoping this will be later this year, or early next. The rumoured 8th edition errata for Ogre Kingdoms may change my mind on this.

The Warriors of Chaos is an awkward army for me at the moment at 2,000 and 2,250 points my Daemon Prince doesn't fit within the new army composition rules, unless I drop him down to a level 3. Rumours on the UK tournament scene is that 2,400 will probably be the new limit. Therefore I am now 351 points short of a tournament army, so probably a new block of fifteen Warriors is in order? Of course a block of eight Chaos Ogres from the Ogre Kingdoms army could also fit in nicely!

With both armies, I need to wait two weeks for the new rule book and hopefully the rumoured erratas before making a decision!

Regarding Warmachine I now have the Protectorate of Menoth box set built and primed ready for paint. So will be concentrating on painting this army to the very best quality I can achieve. I have found over the previous two years that the quality I spend on painting has decreased, mainly due to getting an army on the table. Therefore the Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth army will take as long as it takes to paint to the highest quality I can achieve.

Single figure painting has also made it back into my hobby recently. I was inspired by The Basement demo day at the Summer Incursion to get back into single figure painting. The miniatures on display were absolutely stunning. Plus The Basement are having another demo day at Maelstrom Games this month, so I will be attending that for more inspiration.

So onto the revised resolutions for the remainder of the year.

Build up my Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth army to 35 points, fully painted.

Play a game of Warhammer Fantasy and/or Warmachine at least once a week.

Paint a single figure to the highest quality I can achieve.

Post more regularly on this blog and reflect the changes to my wargamming and painting hobby.

Another Change of Direction

2010-06-17T07:05:00.000+01:00

Well it seems that my wargamming is going to take another new fresh change of direction. I did plan on painting a Dark Elves army, but the army is being sold on ebay. Got to admit after purchasing the miniatures I couldn't find the motivation to paint them. Plus with the new Warhammer Fantasy rules coming out next month, and I think the Ogres and Warriors will need some more units painting. Will still definitely be playing the new Warhammer Fantasy rules. But a new army is being put on hold probably until next year.

Reason being... Well recently my son Tyler has got back into the hobby. So instead of investing in another Warhammer Fantasy army which can be very expensive, we opted for a demo game of Warmachine at Maelstrom Games. Having had the demo Tyler has opted for a Khador force and I have chosen the Protectorate of Menoth purely for the painting possibilities. Hence the selling of the Dark Elves army to aid in purchasing two Warmachine armies and the Rule Book.

Also I won the Infinity rule book at Summer Incursion for my last place. At first glance of the book my initial reaction is that it looks like a kids game, with a cartoon look n feel. But Dan at Maelstrom Games informs me that is it one of the best tactical games that they sell. So will probably be putting together a small force to play some Infinity.

Plus recently myself and Tyler have been attending a few gaming nights at Maelstrom Games playing Warhammer Fantasy up until now.
Whilst there I noticed some people playing Black Powder with Napoleonic 28 mm figures. The battlefield looked stunning, this has really caught my eye. So will probably get some Vitrix or Perry miniatures to paint, see how that goes. Will start with painting some units and get the rules at a later date.

So the title of this blog is going to have to change may be to "My Wargamming Blog", and possibly change the banner! Will have to find the time to make some changes!

Summer Incursion Aftermath

2010-06-16T10:24:00.003+01:00

Had a brilliant weekend, six great games and opponents. Tournaments at Maelstrom Games always live up to expectations. The tables, scenery, food and overall experience was excellent as always.

The gaming hall during Saturday morning

Game 1 - Andy with Tomb Kings

Loss by 1298 victory points (Massacre). Andy only took three units of chariots, which all ended up in his dead pile. The Ogres high strength attacks took care of those! Yet I couldn't get to grips with the scorpions and magic. Excellent game and I didn't expect to get anything out of Tomb Kings.

Game 2 - John with Beastmen

Loss by 2087 victory points (Massacre). This was a bloodbath! A very different build of Beastmen army to that I had faced before, with a lot of of monsters. The minataurs are nasty especially in a unit of six. Everything I threw at them just bounced, but in the end the unit was below half strength. John managed to remove all of my army from the battlefield, it wasn't pretty on the start of turn 6 so I conceeded.

Game 3 - Dan with Skaven

Loss by 993 victory points. After two massacres in the first two games I faced Skaven with the Furnance. I did managed to kill the Furance in turn 5 along with a few other units. But I just couldn't get to grips with Dan's army.

Game 4 - Sam with Daemons

Loss by 604 victory points. This was Sam first tournament and Sam's first win! Sam took a very small Daemon army with a Lord of Change, two units of 10 Bloodletters and two units of 20 Daemonettes with a few Heralds thrown in. My Leadbelchers put a couple of wounds on the Lord of Change, and the Scraplauncher impact hits finally got him down to half wounds! My Ironguts managed to see off the two units of Bloodletters, but the Daemonettes units stayed around. This was a hidden deployment scenario, I wrote where in my deployment zone I was placing units then Sam deploys his whole army. Sam deployed all of his units behind a building in his left corner and the Lord of Change behind a wood on his right. Unfortunately this only left one flank available for me to attack and a very small frontage because of the building and other terrain.

Game 5 and 6 were against brothers Dave and Edward Barfield. Two of the best opponents I have ever played. These guys play the game and have a laugh, absolutely the very best two games of Warhammer I have played by a mile.

The Barfield brothers face off for a battle!

Game 5 - Dave with Orcs n Goblins

Draw (15 victory points difference). At last a Orc n Goblins player. After 25 tournaments games since I started playing tournaments I finally played a Orc n Goblin army! This was a random deployment (roll a dice and lookup on a table for which type of unit to deploy). Again another length way deployment, so a lot of combats in the middle of the battlefield. I didn't expect Ironguts to defeat Dave's two units of Black Orcs, but they did! What aided in me losing the game were the Fanatics (of which I entirely forgot about!). I found my self needing to slow down the progress of a large unit of Night Goblins, plus take some Wolf Riders on the same flank. So I stupidly charged my Tyrant out of the Maneaters into the Night Goblins (Yep you guessed it) two Fanatics putting four wounds on my Tyrant!!. Then the Black Orc hero finished the Tryant off in the challenge. A really fun game and at least I didn't lose!!

Game 6 - Edward with Vampire Counts

Loss by 1362 victory points (Massacre). This is getting to be too much of a coincidence, facing Vampire Counts on the bottom table last game of a tournament. In the seven tournaments I have played this is the third time this has happened. As per usual another massacre against Vampire Counts. Having only a single butcher and a single scroll I couldn't stop the contant raising, needing to keep the dispel dice for the movement spells. Most of the Skellies and Zombies were upto full strength by the time my units hit them so a bit of a bloodbath. I never play well against Vampire Counts with Ogres and this was again one of those games. But Edward was an absolutely brilliant opponent to play.

Final Words

So in the final placing I finished in last place, my third last place in seven tournament! But had a brilliant weekend, the Barfield brothers were the highlight of my weekend! So where did I go wrong? I should have played smarter against Sam and his Daemons, at least getting a draw. Not remembering the Fanatics and stupidly charging my Tyrant out of the unit most definately lost me the win against Orcs n Goblins.

For my last place I was awarded an Infinity rule book, which is a sci-fi skirmish game. So will probably get a small force for that together and give it a try!

I would like to mention Craig Johnson who also took a Ogre Kingdoms army and finished in 4th place. Well done Craig!! In the hands of a very good general the Ogre Kingdoms can put up a fight against the other armies.

I will most definately be returning to Maelstrom Games in the near future. I am planning on attending the Dragon Slayers one dayer in July and the Autumn Incursion in August.

Tomb Kings and Beastmen

2010-06-09T16:50:00.003+01:00

The draw for the first two rounds of Summer Incursion has been posted on The Warhammer Forum, and my Ogre Kingdoms have been drawn against Tomb Kings and Beastmen. Both of these armies allow my Ogres to take an additional 250 points. So what to take?

I have the option of two units of two Leadbelchers, or a unit of two Leadbelchers and a unit of three Bulls with additional hand Weapons, or a Hunter with Beastkiller, or a Hunter with Seigebreaker.

Against Tomb Kings I think my best bet is probably the Hunter with Seigebreaker auto hits and D6 wounds should make a mess of some chariots. I have seen this Tomb Kings army at Gobstyks earlier in the year and it has a bucket load of chariots, so tempted with the Hunter. Also we have the Bullgorger cast on my three units of Ironguts for smashing chariots, should be fun. Could the Butcher with his immune to poison tackle the swarms, may give it a go?

Against Beastmen again I am tempted with the Hunter with Seigebreaker or may be the two units of two Leadbelchers. Depends on how many chariots I will be facing.

I haven't played against Tomb Kings or Beastmen with my Ogre Kingdoms yet, so the first two games should be fun.

D' Oh

2010-06-06T10:55:00.003+01:00

I had a game over the weekend with my eldest son. I played with the Ogre Kingdoms and Tyler played my Warriors of Chaos in a 2,250 point game. The Warriors of Chaos came out on top with a marginal victory, which isn't bad as Tyler hasn't played for around three years and only just picked up the Warriors army list before the game!

One thing came up in the game which got me thinking. Tyler cast a spell with his level four Deamon Prince. The spell was cast successfully, yet Tyler picked up a dice to re-roll because the Deamon Prince had Tendrils. I said "Why are you doing that, the spell is cast?", Tyler replied "Because changing this roll of a one makes it harder for you to dispel".

D' Oh.... Bleeding Obvious, yet I had never considered re-rolling a dice for a successfully cast spell, Stupidly in my mind I would only re-roll a dice for a unsuccessfully cast, that being my reasoning for that item being in the list.

Yet Tyler didn't have any preconceptions behind my reasoning why the item was in the list. Because of this his view having only picked up the army list was completely different to mine. The item says can re-roll a casting dice, so he did.

So a very valuable lesson learnt. Even though you don't need a re-roll to cast a spell, taking the option could improve the chances of Irresistible Force or making it harder to dispel.

This may seem obvious to others reading this post, but to me at the time it wasn't.

Summer Incursion Painting Progress

2010-05-24T11:45:00.000+01:00

With only fifteen days until the Summer Incursion and I still have a hell of a lot of painting to complete. Both the Scraplauncher and Gorger need gloss and matt varnishing. The Gnoblar Trappers are only partial painted. And the forty Gnoblar Fighters are built and primed along with the movement trays. Plus I want to make some more mushrooms for the extra units to tie them in with the current army. As well as static grass and bits and pieces on the bases there is a lot to do.

So I have drawn up a plan. If I stick to it religiously then I may be in with a chance, but its going to be tight.

Back to the painting table.

Spangleshard v Wyrdstone Necklace

2010-05-15T11:31:00.001+01:00

I have always taken the Wyrdstone Necklace on my Tyrant. Recently I have been looking into the comparison between the Spangleshard Talisman and the Wyrdstone Necklace.

The Wyrdstone Necklace grants a 5+ Ward Save with the minor negative that the Tyrant could take a wound after deployment.

The Spangleshard Talisman is a strange on. If wounded by strength 7 or better then you get a 3+ save. A strength 6 attack and its a 4+ save, Strength 5 is a 5+ save. Therefore attacks greater than Strength 5 the Spangleshard Talisman is better than the Wyrdstone Necklace.

Here is the snag against strength 4 the save is 6+ and strength 3 no save at all. This leaves the Tyrant at risk against normal infantry, magic missiles and Elven shooting when taking the Spangleshard Talisman over the Wyrdstone Necklace. Also the Spangleshard Talisman cannot be used against automatic wound items, but I don't see these very often.

I am now considered the Spangleshard Talisman on a Hunter, but at 30 points it restricts the magic weapons available to only the Sword of Might.

One option I quite like the look of is the Spangleshard Talisman and the Beastkiller big name on a Hunter. This combination could be used against dragons typically giving a 4+ save, also causing multiply wounds. I think I will probably run this combination for the Summer Incursion in a couple of weeks.

Ogre Kingdoms Painting Progress

2010-05-01T09:47:00.001+01:00

With forty days remaining until the Summer Incursion tournament at Maelstrom Games I still have a load of painting to complete. Progress was slow during April, the Scraplauncher, Gorger and Gnoblar Trappers have all been built and primed. The Gnoblar Fighters are still on the sprues. I have concentrated on painting the Scraplauncher first because it was the largest model. The base and Rhinox are complete with the Scraplauncher its self and Gnoblars only half way done. The construction and painting of the Scraplauncher has taken longer than I expected!

I guess by next Friday the Scraplauncher will be complete. Next weekend I will start on the Gorger, followed by the Gnoblar Trappers. The Gnoblar Fighters I am leaving until last. This will leave me probably only two weeks to complete two units of Gnoblar Fighters. Its going to be tight with the deadline for army list submission being the 4th June. Every Ogre Kingdoms miniature I own in already in the army list, so there is no room for tweaking the list should I fail in painting these in time.

When all these are complete I can field a 2,999 point Ogre Kingdoms army, the only units I won't have are Yhettees and a Slave Giant. I am really hoping for a new Ogre Kingdoms army book this year after 8th Edition. With the possibility of different miniatures and different rules the future could be very interesting for Ogre Kingdoms players.

Back to the painting table!!

Summer Incursion Ogres

2010-04-24T10:35:00.006+01:00

Summer Incursion is a two day, six game tournament with the same rules pack as for the Winter Incursion. At Winter Incursion I took my Warriors of Chaos, but this time its the Ogre Kingdoms which will be gracing the battlefields at Maelstrom Games.

I have made the following decisions in building the list.

Include two units of twenty Gnoblar Fighters in the core 2,000 points. Primary use is to contest a table each.

Include a unit of Gnoblar Trappers in the core 2,000 points. Primary use is harass and march block the enemies battle line.

Only include a Tyrant and Butcher in the core 2,000 points. This means my main core 2,000 points can be bulked out with units.

This might sound strange but I have never run Sword Gnoblars, Brace of Handguns or a Tenderizer on a Tyrant. Also I have never run champions in any of my units before, but Randriod on a recent episode of the WaaghCast has opened my eyes to the benefits against shooting. Also I will be taking a Scraplauncher, Gorger, Gnoblar Fighters and Trappers again these are a first for my Ogre Kingdoms army.

At the moment this list is the basis for some practise games which I intend to play before the tournament. I am hoping to get in around six games. The core 2000 points will be played against only Orc & Goblins and other Ogre Kingdoms armies.

Tyrant (303 pts)
Heavy Armour, Luck Gnoblar, Tenderizer, Sword Gnoblars, Brace of Handguns, Wrydstone Necklace

Butcher (180 pts)
Bangstick, Dispel Scroll

Bulls x 3 (147 pts)
Crusher, Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon

Bulls x 3 (147 pts)
Crusher, Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon

Ironguts x 4 (247 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer, Look out Gnoblar, Rune Maw

Ironguts x 4 (227 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer, Look out Gnoblar

Ironguts x 3 (194 pts)
Gutlord, Bellower, Standard Bearer

Gnoblar Trappers x 9 (54 pts)

Gnoblar Fighters x 20 (40 pts)

Gnoblar Fighters x 20 (40 pts)

Leadbelchers x 2 (120 pts)
Thunderfist

Leadbelchers x 2 (120 pts)
Thunderfist

Maneaters x 2 (180 pts)
Heavy Armour, Great Weapons

For the reserves I can take 4 options totaling no more than 250 points each. I am still undecided what reserves to take against each army.

Against Beastmen, Bretonnians, Dwarfs and Tomb Kings I can take 1 reserve

Against Dwarfs of Chaos, High Elves, Warriors of Chaos and Wood Elves I can take 2 reserves

Against Empire, Lizardmen, Skaven and Vampire Counts I can take 3 reserves

Against Daemons of Chaos and Dark Elves I can take 4 reserves

Reserves A (probably going to be used every battle)

Scraplauncher (165 pts)

Gorger (75 pts)

Reserves B (my next most probable units to use, unless I think a Hunter to be more useful)

Bulls x 3 (127 pts)
Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon

Leadbelchers x 2 (120 pts)
Thunderfist

Reserves C

Hunter (215 pts)
2 x Sabretusks, Seigebreaker, Talisman of Protection

Reserves D

Hunter (235 pts)
2 x Sabretusks, Beastkiller, Greyback Pelt

Therefore I now have the following to build, paint and base for the 12th June.

1 x Scraplauncher

1 x Gorger

9 x Gnoblar Trappers

40 x Gnoblar Fighters

More Movement Trays

I have a lot of painting and some practise games to get in before the 12th June. Really looking forward to this event, and hoping to see all my 2,999 points of Ogres on the battlefield against either Dark Elves or Daemons!

Pins, pins and more pins

2010-04-11T13:52:00.000+01:00

Over the past twelve days or so I have been busy constructing my Gnoblar Scraplauncher and its finally nearly built, just some green stuff work to do and it can be primed.

I used 27 pins in the construction of the Scraplauncher and Rhinox, along with another 7 pins for holding the Gnoblars to the Scraplauncher thats a massive 34 pins in total. Without pinning then super glue alone simply wouldn't hold this thing together with a level of convidence that it isn't going to come apart over time.

This thing is also heavy, the Scraplauncher and Rhinox together weighs a hefty 210 grams!

Magnets and Movement Trays

2010-03-28T15:54:00.006+01:00

Whilst playing with the Ogre Kingdoms army without Gnoblars I never saw the need for magnetised movement trays and miniatures. However now the Warriors of Chaos have found their way on to the battlefield with ranked up units I need some magnetised movement trays.

So I turned to OG Games to purchase some Rare Earth Magnets, I got 100 for £10.00 at 10p each I think thats a bargin. Next some sheets of A4 Magnetic Paper to stick onto the movement trays, at £1.40 per sheet another bargin. I opted for the Games Workshop Modular Movement Trays as I have used these on my Ogres and found them to fit the job nicely, however you don't get enough corner pieces if you want a border on all four sides (cuts the number of movement tays in half). Priced at £5.40 I could assemble the 8 movement trays I required.

First I assembled the movements trays. The A4 Magnetic Paper was cut to size and stuck in place on the base of the movement tray. The magetic paper was only 0.3mm think so doesn't raise the miniatures to high off the base of the movement tray.

Next I fixed the rare earth magnets to the base of the miniatures. The magnet were just short of being flush with the base, so used some Milliput to fill in the gap. A drop of super glue, onto which the Milliput was placed. Then another drop of super glue onto the Milliput and the rare earth magnet was pushed into the Milliput on a flat surface. This ensured that the magnet was flush with the bottom of the base. The cavalry bases needed some of the plastic cut away to accomodate the magnet.

While these were drying I applied PVA and sand to the borders of the movements trays. Once dry I painted the borders. I decided not to paint the magnetic sheet as it looks very similiar to Scorched Brown. My painting technique for borders is..

Prime Chaos Black
A coat of Scorched Brown
Heavy dry brushing of Graveyard Earth
Light dry brushing of Bleached Bone

To complete a coat of gloss varnish Ard' Coat for protection, followed by a coat of Testors Dull Cote to dull it down again. Static grass was applied in places.

At £18.20 to assembed thats only £2.27 per movement tray and the whole army is magnetised. Bargin!!

Change of Direction

2010-03-27T16:27:00.002Z

My plan for the remainder of the year, was to play with my existing Warriors of Chaos and Ogre Kingdoms builds. This was so I could concentrate on painting on my Dark Elves. However there are a few tournaments which I would like to attend that are 2,999 points when taking an Ogre Kingdoms army. So a change of direction for the remainder of the year. One of my new year resolutions is to "Expand my Ogre Kingdoms or Warriors of Chaos army to 2999/3000 points to play in larger army size tournaments" anyway.

So for the next two months the Dark Elves will be put on hold and I will be painting an extra 500 points for my Ogre Kingdoms.

Ogre Kingdoms army additions...

Additional Maneater to make a unit of three.
A Gorger which primary use is to harass all these bolt throwers I keep coming accross.
A unit of Gnoblar Trappers to harass and march block the enemies battle line.
A Scraplauncher for some range attack ability.
I may also go for another Butcher to replace one of the Hunters.

So onto another of my new year resolutions, "Join a club and play more often against other people. Aim is at the very least 2 games a month". I haven't managed to join a club in my area yet this year, but this is going to change! I desperately need some more practise games with my Ogre Kingdoms if I am going to better myself at Warhammer!

The Warriors of Chaos will be put in the display cabinet and the Ogre Kingdoms back in the army case, reason being "Five dice Infernal Gateway on that unit" is getting boring and predicable, plus I find my Ogre Kingdoms more challenging to play with.

My next tournament is the Summer Incursion at Maelstom Games in June, I am not planning on attending any others until then. So it will be 2,999 points of Ogre Kingdoms on the battlefield!

Winter Incursion Aftermath

2010-03-26T16:43:00.007Z

Over the weekend I attended my first two day tournament at Maelstrom Games in Mansfield. This has to be the best tournament I have attended to date. The tables, scenery, food and overall experience was excellent. I had six great games against brilliant opponents. All in all a fun weekend, I would definitely recommend Maelstrom tournaments.

I ended the weekend in 29th out of 30 players, avoiding last place. My target for the weekend was to at least win a game and avoid last place. My best results out of the six games was a draw, but I did avoid last place!

Game 1 - Kirt with Lizardmen

A first for me playing against Lizardmen. Sadly a massacre lose by 1,241 points. This was a long ways deployment scenario, not good for an army with movement four. Didn't roll up Infernal Gateway on either my Deamon Prince or Sorcerer, but as the weekend spanned out this didn't really matter. I had 250 more points in this game, so on came the Chosen. I was happy with the way I played, but Kirt and his Lizardmen were by far better.

Game 2 - Andy with Warriors of Chaos

On to game 2 and I played Andy from Andrath's Wargaming Blog. So a "Battle of the Blogs" so to speak!! The game ended in a draw, with me up by only 57 points. If I hadn't had charged my Daemon Prince into a unit of four Chaos Ogres then the Daemon Prince would probably have not ended on half wounds. This could have possible cost me the win. The plan for the weekend was to keep the Daemon Prince out of combat and hidden from shooting, but I just couldn't resist.

Game 3 - Alex with Dark Elves

A solid lose by 937 to end day one. Alex's Death Hag raped my entire first rank of Chaos Warriors in a combat. I did managed to kill the Dragon with Flickering Fire and Infernal Gateway. Managed to get Pandemonium to remain in play for most of the battle. The bolt throwers and hand bows were a real pain, Alex played well his shooting, along with hatred did a lot of damaged. Not to mention that Death Hag!

Game 4 - Ed with Dwarfs

Another first for me playing against Dwarfs. However another massacre lose to start day two! This was another deployment scenario, I had to write down my deployments then Ed got to deploy his whole army. I then revealed my deployments. Basically it ended up with Dwarfs in one corner to my left and the bulk of my army in a corner to my right. So I could either hide in the corner and play for a draw or walk diagonally across the battlefield towards the gunline. I chose to make a game of it and started walking. Big mistake!! Ed's gunline was on fire all game, not one misfire and all his range guesses were spot on. The cannons, bolt throwers and stone throwers completely raped my entire army!

Game 5 - Rich with Beastmen

Yet another first for me playing against Beastmen. And yet another massacre lose. This was another long ways deployment scenario with a random deployment. I never really got to grips with this game. Rich played his Beastmen army excellently, whilst I reacted to his army. A large combat ensured in the centre of the battlefield, I lost and it was really all over.

Game 6 - Guy with High Elves

Last game and another shooting army and archers, bolt throwers and a dragon. And another massacre lose. No scenario's here just a pitched battle. Again I never really got to grips with this game either. Too much shooting and just couldn't get to grips with the dragon.

Final Words

The Dice Gods were not favourable for me over the weekend. I did roll up Infernal Gateway in all but the first game. But I never rolled the magic number for the strength all weekend. In fact I would say that over the six games Flickering Fire was more destructive than Infernal Gateway. I had started the weekend five dicing Infernal Gateway, but come the end was two dicing Flickering Fire and four dicing Infernal Gateway.

The Chaos Spawn was a complete waste of time and points. In six games I didn't roll a single dice in close combat. Not being able to control the movement was a pain.

So with the Warriors of Chaos I have now played nine games at two tournaments, won one, drawn one and lost seven. The one game I did win, I really don't look at as being a win. That game was won because I cast Infernal Gateway on a Vampire Lord and removed the unit, game over for the Vampire player. My Warriors of Chaos army build isn't really up to the task, with Infernal Gateway being the key component. I have found that the Magic Phase for me and my opponent gets a bit boring. How many times can you say "Infernal Gateway on that unit" over a weekend, without sounding boring and predicable?

So I am taking a few months off tournaments and Warriors of Chaos for a while to practise with my Ogre Kingdoms. Hopefully I will be attending the Summer Incursion in a few months time, and with my Ogre Kingdoms. As I find my Ogre Kingdoms more challenging to play with.

All in all an excellent tournament really enjoyed the weekend and every game.

Eve of the Winter Incursion

2010-03-19T14:21:00.004Z

At the weekend I am off to Maelstrom Games for their first ever Warhammer Fantasy Battles tournament, Winter Incursion. Its a two day, six game tournament with some scenarios (mostly around deployment) thrown in to mix things up a little. The armies have been banded according to their relative strength, which allow the weaker armies more points on the table in the form of reserves.

The points limit is 2,000, but against certain armies I will have reserve units up to the value of 250 points. So against Empire, Lizardmen, Skaven and Vampire Counts I have one reserve. Against Deamons of Chaos and Dark Elves I have two reserves. But against Bretonnians, Dwarfs, and Tomb Kings my opponent can take reserves, and against Ogre Kingdoms and Orc and Goblins my opponent has two reserves.

Because of the army banding system in place, in the first two games I will avoid playing Deamons of Chaos, Dark Elves, Ogre Kingdoms and Orc and Goblins. However no Ogre Kingdoms and Orc and Goblins armies are present at this tournament.

So onto the list. I have dropped the Black Tongue, it did nothing in my last tournament. The Rod of Torment is in and on the Battle Standard Bearer. I had to move around the Arcane items because I noticed that one of the sorcerers at my last tournament had two arcane items (naughty!).
Unfortunately this has mean't that I have lost a scroll, because the Infernal Puppet and Spell Familiar had to be on seperate sorcerers. Another change is Mark of Slaanesh on the Warriors and Knights.

My Core 2,000 points.

Daemon Prince (General) (575 pts)
Level 4 Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Tendrils of Tzeentch, Bloodcurdling Roar, Fury of the Blood God, Causes Terror, Fly, Stubborn, The Will of Chaos, Scion of Chaos

Chaos Sorcerer (200 pts)
Level 2 Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Dispel Scroll, Spell Familiar, Conjoined Homunculus, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Sorcerer (136 pts)
Barded Chaos Steed, Infernal Puppet, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods, Lores of Death or Fire

Exalted Champion (Battle Standard Bearer) (195 pts)
Battle Standard, Sheild, Rod of Torment, Mark of Tzeentch, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Warriors x 13 (293 pts)
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Wrath, Shields, Mark of Slaanesh, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos

Chaos Marauders x 15 (95 pts)
Marauder Chieftain, Musician, Standard Bearer, Flails, Hand Weapon, The Will of Chaos

Marauder Horsemen x 5 (110 pts)
Marauder Chieftain, Musician, Standard Bearer, Shields, Throwing Axes, Hand Weapon, The Will of Chaos, Fast Cavalry, Horse Lords

Chaos Warhounds x 5 (30 pts)
The Will of Chaos

Chaos Warhounds x 5 (30 pts)
The Will of Chaos

Chaos Knights x 5 (280 pts)
Knight Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Rapturous Standard, Mark of Slaanesh, Barded Chaos Steed, Shield, Ensorcelled Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Causes Fear

Chaos Spawn (55 pts)
Causes Fear, Unbreakable, Lurching Horror, Flailing Appendages

My Reserves. The Chosen I will play against Empire, Lizardmen, Skaven and Vampire Counts.
And the Ogres for Deamons of Chaos and Dark Elves.

Chosen x 8 (237 pts)
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Rage, Shields, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Chosen of the Dark Gods

Ogres x 4 (250 pts)
Chaos Armour, Great Weapons, Standard Bearer, Mark of Khorne, The Will of Chaos, Causes Fear

There are a lot of the top players in the country attending with nearly half in the top one hundred.

So onto my usual topic for every tournament, my target. This time around my target is to at least win a game out of the six I will be playing. I am expecting to finish near the bottom (if not bottom), purely because I haven't had any practice with the army. Also not expecting to get close on the best painted army, there are a lot of excellent painter attending.

UK WFB Tournament Ranking

2010-02-25T17:47:00.000Z

I started the UK WFB Tournament Rankings for this year in 945th place, I have now risen to 712th after placing 21st at the Gobstyks event. Thats a jump of 233 places in the first two months! I have still to achieve my new year resolution target of top 250, but I have made a good start in getting there. Unfortunately my next tournament Winter Incursion being held at Maelstrom Games will not be included in the rankings, this is the decision that Maelstrom Games have taken. Here is my tournament record so far.....

The rankings have recently been moved to a new website Rankings HQ. Its a brilliant web site containing rankings for WFB and 40K from all over the world.

My Dark Elves Army Pledge

2010-02-23T12:24:00.001Z

I have been building my collection of Dark Elves the past couple of months and have managed to accrue...

A Sorceress on Pegasus
An Assassin
48 Warriors
15 Witch Elves with full command
6 Harpies

Still plenty of miniatures to purchase. I am definitely going to include a dragon in the army for a centre piece.

So onto The Pledge. This army is a painting and basing project to see how far I can push my army painting skills. I want to paint this army to the highest quality I possibly can. So I have come up with the following rules, which I have promised myself I will not break.

Study painting and basing tutorials on the net.
Understand and study the colour wheel.
No time constraints or dead lines.
No visible mold lines or joins.
Wash all miniatures prior to priming.
Check for mold lines after priming.
Prime with Skull White.
Water down the paint.
Never paint straight out of the pot.
Use alternatives paints, Vallejo or Cote d'Arms and Windsor and Newton for inks.
Only include miniatures in the army I would like to paint.
If I spot something to tidy up, change or still to do write it down so don't forget.

I have my Warriors and Ogres for gaming and tournaments and will not be expanding these in the near future. I want to concentrate on this Dark Elve painting project. Not even a new Ogre Kingdoms book and miniatures will take me away from this project. I would like to field this Dark Elve army at a tournament near the end of the year (may be as a small force), but I will not break one of the rules and rush the project for a tournament. So this blog could turn into a Dark Elves painting project blog for the remainder of this year and possibly into next year.

I am going to start with the Sorceress on Pegasus which is the Morathi on Dark Pegasus miniature. Then probably move onto the Assassin, Harpies and Witch Elves.

GATEWAY!! Take it off

2010-02-21T12:04:00.007Z

Why is this post titled GATEWAY! Take it off? I will explain....

Yesterday I attended my second tournament of the year at the Gobstyks Gaming Club in Lincoln. It was a one day event with 30 players. No composition and special characters were allowed, so GT style lists. I had been frantically been painting my final units of Marauder Horsemens and Chaos Knights for my Warriors of Chaos army in the previous week, and they were ready. So the Ogre Kingdoms stayed in the display cabinet and the Warriors of Chaos took to the battlefield for the first time.

Game 1 - Sean with Vampire Counts

Why do I always seem to face Vampire Counts at every tournament I attend? Sean took a large block of around 20 Grave Guard and placed all his Vampires in it including his Lord and Manfred.
The unit looked menacing of the battlefield. My initially thoughts were nothing in my army can take that unit on in close combat, not even the knights and with no ranged shooting I was going no where near it. I only had one option to tackle that unit, Infernal Gateway. Along with two units of Wraiths Sean's army was going to be hard to defeat. I had cast Pandaemonium on my first turn to slow down the raising and movement of the Vampires, my plan was to attempt to keep this spell in play for most of the battle. Turn 2 started and I was avoiding getting into combat. Next the magic phase, I targetted the massive block of Grave Guard and Characters with Infernal Gateway, Irresistible!! Followed by rolling 11 for the strength, GATEWAY!! Take it off. Sean was not happy, two turns later and his army had crumbled into dust.

I had ended my first ever game with Warriors of Chaos with 2,948 Victory Points a Massacre win!

Later Sean told me that the unit of Grave Guard and Characters was worth 1,500 Victory Points. I explained he gave me no options to tackle that unit apart from Infernal Gateway, "played for and got" I think is the phrase!

Game 2 - Michael with Warriors of Chaos

I was on Table 1 second game playing Michael who works for Game Workshop. Hang on a minute... I shouldn't be on table 1, I usually take a soft Ogre Kingdoms army to tournaments and play on the bottom tables! Michael's army was mostly Warriors and Knights a harder list than mine. A fun game, but Michael gave me a lesson on how to play with the Warriors of Chaos. We had both taken the Puppet and Black Tongue, it was a game with both of us adjusting rolls on the Miscast Table! Michael's dice were on fire all game, he mostly got off all this spells and dispels. It ended with me on a Massacre lose. An execellent game, I learn't a lot by playing another Warriors of Chaos player.

Game 3 - Neil with Warriors of Chaos

Table 8 this is more like it, and Neil with another Warriors of Chaos army. It was a fun and close game, but sadly another lose. Again another lesson on how to play with the Warriors of Chaos.
My deployment and movement really let me down this game but Neil played an execellent game. I ended the game with only a unit of knights and my Daemon Prince left standing, but had made a respectable dent in Neil army. However it was all the small stuff I had taken out, so my Victory Points was only 823. I had lost my level one sorcerer (scroll caddy) early in the game, followed by me throwing double 1 and double 1 on my level two sorcerer. Which only left my level four Daemon Prince for most of the game. However my Daemon Prince was the star of the battle. I can't remember how many 4+ ward saves I rolled on the Daemon Prince, but it was a lot!

Final Words

Really enjoyed the day, had a great time with three brilliant games against excellent opponents. I ended the day in 21st place out of 30 players, really happy with my overall standing. But most of all enjoyed playing the the Warrior of Chaos. It really was Gateway for the Win, well at least once!

Winter Incursion 2010

2010-02-07T11:14:00.004Z

The rules pack for this tournament is now available on the Maelstrom Games web site, so I downloaded it. Its 32 pages and excellently put together, the best tournament rules pack I have seen.

Its a two day, six game tournament with some scenarios (mostly around deployment) thrown in to mix things up a little. The armies have been banded according to their relative strength, which allow the weaker armies more points on the table in the form of reserves.

I would have liked to take my Ogre Kingdoms to this event, as the results are not going into the UK rankings.
But I need 2,000 points of Ogres plus four reserves at 250 points each. I can muster 2,500 points army, but not 3,000. I did look at including a Scrap Launcher, some Gnoblar Fighters and more Irongut or Bulls. I even considered making both units of Leadbelcher 5 miniatures wide, and adding another 4 Maneaters. But the cost and limited time available to paint mean't that the Ogres will have to stay at home for this one. I am not going to compromise the painting quality of the army to meet a tournament deadline!

The Warriors of Chaos are in a different army bracket to that of the Ogre Kingdoms. I need 2,000 points of Warriors of Chaos plus only two reserves at 250 points each. I will have 2,250 points painted, so only need another 250 points. Here's the plan... A unit of Ogres from my Ogre Kingdoms army not sure on the upgrade yet, may be additional hand weapons with Mark of Khorne?

Really looking foward to this one, it will be my first two day, six game tournament!

40K IG Catachans For Sale

2010-02-01T20:49:00.003Z

I am selling my Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard Catachan miniatures. They have been painted to a good gaming standard. I have had these since early 2008 and they have just sat in the display cabinet. Click here for the ebay auction.

Imperial Guard Catachan Jungle Fighter Captain
Imperial Guard Catachan Officer with Chainsword
Imperial Guard Catachan Officer with Power Fist
21 Imperial Guard Catachan Jungle Fighters
3 Imperial Guard Catachan Heavy Weapon Squads
3 Imperial Guard Catachan Snipers
2 Imperial Guard Catachan Sentinels

I am selling them to help fund my Warhammer Fantasy Dark Elves army!

Warriors of Chaos 2250 points

2010-01-30T10:51:00.001Z

I have been pouring over the Warriors of Chaos army book recently in the attempt to get my first Warriors of Chaos 2250 point army ready for its first tournament outing in February. The Warriors of Chaos army book has a lot more effective magic items, gifts, etc than the Ogre Kingdoms and far less restrictions. Because of the better choices it has taken me a lot longer to build an initial list!

Daemon Prince (575 pts)
Level 4 Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Tendrils of Tzeentch, Bloodcurdling Roar, Fury of the Blood God, Causes Terror, Fly, Stubborn, The Will of Chaos, Unit Strength 3, Scion of Chaos

Chaos Sorcerer (210 pts)
Level 2 Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Infernal Puppet, Spell Familiar, Conjoined Homunculus, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Sorcerer (151 pts)
Level 1 Sorcerer, Barded Chaos Steed, Dispel Scroll x 2, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods, Lores of Death or Fire

Exalted Champion (190 pts)
Battle Standard, Sheild, The Black Tongue, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Warriors x 13 (283 pts)
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Wrath, Shields, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos

Chaos Warriors x 10 (245 pts)
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Warbanner, Shields, Mark of Khorne, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos

Chaos Marauders x 15 (95 pts)
Marauder Chieftain, Musician, Standard Bearer, Flails, Hand Weapon, The Will of Chaos

Marauder Horsemen x 5 (110 pts)
Marauder Chieftain, Musician, Standard Bearer, Shields, Throwing Axes, Hand Weapon, The Will of Chaos, Fast Cavalry, Horse Lords

Chaos Warhounds x 5 (30 pts)
The Will of Chaos

Chaos Warhounds x 5 (30 pts)
The Will of Chaos

Chaos Knights x 5 (270 pts)
Knight Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Rapturous Standard, Barded Chaos Steed, Ensorcelled Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Shield

Chaos Spawn (55 pts)
Causes Fear, Unbreakable, Lurching Horror, Flailing Appendages

Even though the Daemon Prince has a few short comings it is a MUST HAVE for my Warriors of Chaos army. The Sorcerer Lord on Dragon may be more effective, but I really like the Be'Lakor miniature.

The main problem with a Daemon Prince is that it doesn't have access to any Magic Items, therefore no access to Dispel Scrolls or Magic Attacks. So to overcome this problem I have included a Level 2 Sorcerer equipped with the Infernal Puppet, this should help keep the Deamon Prince alive. Because the Infernal Puppet is 35 points I couldn't have a Dispel Scroll, so another Level 1 Sorcerer equipped as a Scroll Caddy to aid in Magic Defence is also in the army. Yes I know the army is a "Gateway for the Win" build, but what else can you do with a Daemon Prince with no magical attacks, armour, etc?

The Black Tongue is on the Battle Standard Bearer as both hero level Sorcerers are loaded with arcane items.

This list will probably change through out the year, as many "comp'ed" tournaments don't allow such combo's as the Black Tongue and Infernal Puppet. I have also seen Tendrils of Tzeentch banned in some tournaments.

Every thing in the army is painted apart from the Chaos Knights and Marauder Horsemen, currently only have 19 days before its first tournament outing to get these completed. Plus I want to get at least a couple of practice games in before then. If I fail in getting the Marauder Horsemen painted for the tournament then I could swap in some Chaos Ogres, but that will be a last resort.

The Black Tongue ?

2010-01-28T08:36:00.003Z

I have recently been putting together the basis of a Warriors of Chaos army for my next tournament. The one item that I am struggling over is The Black Tongue.

On first glance it looks like a must have item, at 50 points my plan was to put it on my exalted BSB. Combined with the Infernal Puppet this could be a lethal weapon.

The reason for it being on the BSB is that both hero level Sorcerers are loaded with arcane items, and my lord is a Daemon Prince which cannot take any magic items.

Then we read the "small print", owning character takes a wound that may not be saved by any means. So in order to hopefully remove an enemy wizard I put my character on half wounds giving away around 100 victory points. If the roll of a 2 on the miscast table removed both the wizard and its mount, then I could understand anyone taking this item.

For example a Dark Elf Sorceress Lord would be around 300 points meaning that I benefit 200 points. But it all depends on my opponent rolling in my favour on the miscast table, then myself rolling favourablly for the Infernal Puppet.

I could possibly lose 100 victory points for no gain?

The Waaaghcast - Episode 28

2010-01-24T11:25:00.003Z

I have recently been listening to The Waaaghcast podcast, catching up on the inital episodes.

Last week was the release of episode 28 an Ogre Kingdoms army review. The army review was by Randroid of the Drinkin' and Modelin' blog. It was an excellent army review and episode, Randroid talks about every unit in the Ogre Kingdoms army in detail. I have to admit have listened to this episode many times in the car on my commute to and from work.

Secondly on the topic of Ogre Kingdoms, The Bellower a webzine has recently been released on The Ogre Stronghold forum. The Bellower has been excellently put together with some very interesting and some funny articles. There is an Agony Aunt section "Ask Aunt Doreen", which is particually funny. A section on Joel Henry's army, Pros and cons on the Ogre Kingdoms.

Unseen Lerker

2010-01-19T12:35:00.002Z

At the Winter War in Reading on Sunday, Issac Alexander (Bobo the Vampire Monkey on TWF) or "Bobo" for short announced a new brand new gaming magazine, Unseen Lerker.

Unseen Lerker is the latest bi-monthly gaming magazine covering not only Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but also other games that they think will take your interest. The first issue of the magazine is currently being printed, but until then you can get a sneak preview of Issue 1 on their website unseenlerker.com. One of the unique things about this magazine is that they will be actively encouraging readers to double as contributors.

Issue 1 highlights are Russ Veal’s Chaos Army, an interview with Marcelo Rouco regarding Special Characters, coverage of the biggest tournament in Denmark Giant Fanatic, a tactics article, and a 10 page battle report between two of the UK’s best players Andy Isherwood and Andrew Chesney.

Im sure this is going to be a great gaming magazine, so keep an eye out for subscription details at unseenlerker.com.

Winter War 2010 Aftermath

2010-01-18T10:34:00.003Z

Really enjoyed the day with three great opponents. My performance on the day was in a word "abysmal" last place collecting the wooden spoon award.

With 68 players all the army races were represented, which is good to see. Dark Elves were represented the most with 9 armies at the event.

Game 1 - Jon with Dark Elves

This was my first tournament game against Dark Elves. I lost 19-1. The shooting which included 2 bolt throwers, 2 chariots, and 2 units of shades raped my entire army through out the game. The Ogres toughness whilst helped wasn't enough for the amount of shots. I did managed to panic the Hydra in the fist turn with braingobbler, which only needed to roll average to flee off the board. So what did Jon roll? Double 1! Next turn the Hydra rallied.

Game 2 - Jack with Dark Elves

Another Dark Elves player! Jack had been beaten my another Ogre Kingdom player in his first game, so ironically we both had the same army to contend with in the second game. Another lose 20-0. In Jacks first game his Dragon Mage failed a braingobbler and fled of the board in turn 1, I had no such luck! A little less shooting in Jacks army, but he played well. Only a lonely Irongut standard bearer remained on the battlefield at the end of the game.

Game 3 - Luke with Vampire Counts

In my last three tournaments I have played Vampire Counts every time. Another lose 20-0. One of the Hunters harpoons managed to kill three out of the six Black Knights with a flank shot but in the following turns the raising add another, so above half strength. Luke managed to remove all my models from the board.

Final Words

Really enjoyed the day, had a great time. But disappointed with the way I played. Two Hunters isn't really the best tactic for Ogres to take to a tournament. For the points spent on the Hunters, I could have another Butcher or Bruiser, and spend the remaining points on some more Bulls. Something to consider for the future. But for the immediate future in tournaments it going to be my Warriors of Chaos.

Eve of the Winter War 2010

2010-01-15T16:51:00.002Z

On Sunday I will be leaving early in the morning for the two hour drive down to Reading for my first tournament of the year Winter War 2010 held by the Spiky Club. This should be the last tournament outing for my Ogre Kingdoms army for a while, as the painting of my Warriors of Chaos is progressing nicely.

One of my new year resolutions is to achieve a Warhammer Fantasy Battles UK ranking of at least 250th, I am currently 955th so have a lot of catching up to do! So I have done some calculations and I need to be placed 44th or better to be on target. Of course should I not meet this target of 44th there are still plenty of tournaments this year to achieve my target. After some more calculations I estimate that somewhere around 28 tournament points should see me finish in and around 44th place out of the 72 players.

However because its the first tournament of 2010 and only my fourth a more realistic target would be to avoid being in the bottom ten places, if I do this then I will be very happy. Its always healthy to have a target!

*** Update: First round draw has been posted on TWF and it Dark Elves round 1 ***

This is my Ogre Kingdoms 2250 point army build that I will be taking.

Tyrant (286 pts)
Heavy Armour, Luck Gnoblar, Sword of Might, Wrydstone Necklace, Daemon Killer Scars

Butcher (180 pts)
Bangstick, Dispel Scroll

Hunter (235 pts)
Sabretusks x 2, Beastkiller, Greyback Pelt

Hunter (200 pts)
Sabretusks x 2, Beastkiller

Bulls x 3 (127 pts)
Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon

Bulls x 3 (127 pts)
Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon

Ironguts x 4 (247 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer, Look out Gnoblar, Rune Maw

Ironguts x 3 (174 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer

Ironguts x 3 (154 pts)
Bellower

Leadbelchers x 3 (165 pts)

Leadbelchers x 3 (165 pts)

Maneaters x 2 (180 pts)
Heavy Armour, Great Weapons

I have given both the Hunters the Beastkiller big name, as I plan to use these to hunt down large monsters and dragons. Daemon Killer Scars on the Tyrant makes him cause Terror, not used this item before could be interesting on the effect if any!

Depending on terrain and my opponents army I will probably deploy both Hunters on a flank together and both Leadbelchers together on the other flank. The butcher will be deployed centrally. I could put both the Tyrant and the Butcher in the 4 strong Irongut unit, again this is dependant on my opponents army. This will be my first tournament with both Hunters, let see if two are better than one!

I will be posting the usual tournament report sometime next week.

Leaf Litter

2010-01-14T08:43:00.004Z

I have purchased some Leaf Litter from Antenociti's Workshop and it arrived this week. Leaf Litter is a bag containing a mixture of natural materials which can be used to model fallen leaves, wind blown leaves, climbing plants, dead ivy leaves and brown vine leaves.

I wanted to add some more detail to my Ogre Kingdoms army bases and movement trays, and thought some sprinkled leaves would do the job. I purchased the three different shades (brown, green and light green).

I would definitely recommend this product and Antenociti's Workshop, after purchasing a few items from them I have never had any problems and the products are always of an excellent quality.

Winter Incursion 2010

2010-01-11T17:37:00.003Z

Winter Incursion 2010 is a new Warhammer Fantasy Battle tournament hosted by Maelstrom Games in Mansfield, England and their first Warhammer Fantasy event. This is a two day event taking place on the 20th and 21st March 2010.

I noticed that the tickets were on pre order before christmas. But here is the snag.... It is my wife birthday that weekend so didn't bother pre ordering a ticket. So this week I get home from work, and my wife tells me that she has pre ordered the ticket for me as a present. I love my wife!

My wife parents live just up the road from Maelstrom Games, so my wife and the children can spend the weekend at her parents while I go and play Warhammer!

Don't know what the army size and comp restrictions are at the moment, apparently these details should be finalised by the end of next week. But what I do know is I will be taking my Warriors of Chaos.

On the topic of my Warriors of Chaos.... I have completed painting on the Daemon Prince, Warhounds and started on the Knights. With only the Marauders Horsemen and a Sorcerer to complete should have these done in time for the Gobstyks event in February. If not I can always put a unit of Ogres in the army to bring upto 2250 points.

So thats three tournaments in the first three months of 2010. I am turning into a bit of a Warhammer Fantasy Battle tournament whore! Need to sign up for a tournament in April now!

Gobstyks 2250 WFB

2010-01-06T09:45:00.011Z

I have entered my second tournament of 2010, the Gobstyks 2250 WFB Tournament is being held by The Gobstyks Gaming Club on Saturday 20th February 2010. It is another one day 2250 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament.

I will be making every effort to paint my Warrior of Chaos for this tournament. However I can always fall back on my Ogres.

My 2010 New Year Resolutions

2010-01-01T10:27:00.001Z

At the beginning of 2009 I started this blog by setting some new year resolutions. So again for 2010 I have set myself some resolutions for the year.

Continue to spend at least 30 minutes most evenings away from the television painting my miniatures.

Join a club and play more often against other people. Aim is at the very least 2 games a month.

Complete painting my 2250 points Warriors of Chaos army.

Complete painting my new army Dark Elves, so I can field at least a 1999/2000 point army.

Terrain, I need more. At least two woods and two hills.

Play in at least six tournaments during the year. I have already earmarked ten tournaments.

Expand my Ogre Kingdoms or Warriors of Chaos army to 2999/3000 points to play in larger army size tournaments.

Achieve a UK Warhammer Fantasy Battle Tournament Ranking of at least 250 in 2010.

My 2009 Resolutions Complete ?

2009-12-24T10:02:00.006Z

At the beginning of the year I set myself some resolutions for the year. Click here to see the blog post.

Spend at least 30 minutes most evenings away from the television painting my miniatures.

Achieved; I spend most evenings away from the television painting my miniatures. Had a few lapses over the year.

Complete the painting of my Ogre Kingdoms army to 2000 points.

Achieved; I now have 2500 points full painted.

Join a club and play more often against other people. At the moment only played against my son Tyler at home.

Not Achieved; Haven't really found the time in the evening to join a club and attend regularly.

Expand my Warriors of Chaos army to 2000 points.

Achieved; I now have 2250 points but NOT fully painted.

Build a gaming table for home, with at least three fully painted scenery items.

Achieved; I now have a gaming table, but only two fully painted scenery items.

Complete the painting of my Warriors of Chaos army to 2000 points.

Not Achieved; I now have 2250 points but NOT fully painted.

Expand both Warriors of Chaos and Ogre Kingdoms armies to 2500+ points.

Not Achieved; Only my Ogre Kingdoms can be played at 2500 points. The Warriors of Chaos can only field 2250 points.

Play in at least one tournament.

Achieved; Played in the Leicester Squiggle, Immortal War, and the Destruction Derby tournament.

Keep this blog up to date.

Achieved; Over 150 posts in the first year.

Really happy with my progress in the hobby over the last 12 months. The only resolutions which I didn't achieve was to expand my Warriors of Chaos to 2500 points, to have at least 2000 fully painted and to join a club and play more often against other people. I am not too bothered by this, as I can now field a 2250 point Warriors of Chaos army in a game. I will however be trying to find time between work and home life to attend a gaming club or clubs in 2010.

Without these goals I would probably still be painting my Ogres and not played any games or tournaments.

Next my new year resolutions for 2010!!

2010 A Year For Fantasy ?

2009-12-23T13:26:00.005Z

Next year 2010 is widely rumoured to be a year for Warhammer Fantasy! One such rumour is that the game will get an 8th edition rule book in the autumn. We do know that Beastmen are to be the next army to have a new book published, and that this will be in February. Another rumour is that Tomb Kings will be published after Beastmen?

Here is a break down of the army books published (to my knowledge) in recent years. This year 2009 has been a quiet year for Warhammer Fantasy Battles with only two new army books published.

2010 Tomb Kings (Rumour), Beastmen

2009 Skaven, Lizardmen

2008 Warriors of Chaos, Dark Elves, Daemons of Chaos, Vampire Counts

2007 High Elves, Orc & Goblins, The Empire, Dwarfs (could have been 2006?)

This leaves the three armies I have listed below in order (to my knowledge) of when the current army book was published. Will these armies receieve some attention from Games Workshop in 2010? Another rumour says that all armies without a 7th edition army book will have new books published from spring onwards, before the rumoured 8th edition?

2005 Wood Elves

2004 Ogre Kingdoms

2003 Bretonnia

We have recently seen a new Dwarfs FAQ being published, why after 3 years did Games Workshop feel that an updated FAQ was required for Dwarfs? Could it be that all the armies will have an updated FAQ to bring inline with a new rumoured 8th edition? Will we see a flood of updated FAQs in 2010?

Another rumours is that Chaos Dwarfs will return with a new army book? The current 7th edition rule book contains a breif description of the Chaos Dwarfs along with profiles for the units, so this does indicate that back when the 7th edition rule book was published Games Workshop were intending to keep Chaos Dwarfs.

Regarding my beloved Ogre Kingdoms it is rumoured that the Ogres and Dogs of War will merge into a new army? It is stated in the 7th edition rule book that Chaos Dwarfs trade weapons with the Ogres, will we see a Chaos Dwarfs, Ogre Kingdoms and Dogs of War new army?

My last rumour is something Warhammer Fantasy based is being released in March, what I don't know?

How true are these rumours going to be? However all the rumours are indicating that 2010 will be a year for Warhammer Fantasy Battles!

Warriors of Chaos 2250 points

2009-12-19T22:56:00.030Z

This is my first 2250 point Warriors of Chaos army. I am planning on attending a 2250 point tournament in February next year. So hoping I can get the army fully painted in time, well that is the plan.

Daemon Prince (575 pts)

Level 4 Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Tendrils of Tzeentch, Bloodcurdling Roar, Fury of the Blood God, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Sorcerer (191 pts)

Level 2 Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Infernal Puppet, Chaos Steed, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Sorcerer (190 pts)

Level 2 Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Dispel Scroll x 2, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Exalted Hero (190 pts)

Battle Standard, Shield, Rapier of Ecstasy, Favour of the Gods, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Warriors x 10 (225 pts)

Musician, Champion, Standard Bearer (Warbanner), Additional Hand Weapons, Shields, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos

Chaos Warriors x 10 (265 pts)

Musician, Champion, Standard Bearer (Banner of Wraith), Shields, Mark of Khorne, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos

Chaos Marauders x 15 (110 pts)

Musician, Champion, Standard Bearer, Flails, Light Armour, Hand Weapon, The Will of Chaos

Marauder Horsemen x 5 (110 pts)

Musician, Champion, Standard Bearer, Shields, Thowing Axes, Hand Weapons, The Will of Chaos, Fast Cavalry, Horselords

Chaos Warhounds x 5 (30 pts)
The Will of Chaos

Chaos Knights x 5 (270 pts)

Musician, Champion, Standard Bearer (Rapturous Standard), Ensorcelled Weapons, Chaos Armour, Shield, Barded Chaos Steed, The Will of Chaos, Causes Fear

Chaos Spawn (55 pts)

Causes Fear, Unbreakable, Lurching Horror, Flailing Appendages

With 10 power dice, 6 dispel dice and 2 dispel scrolls its a very magic heavy army. All the sorcerers have the mark of Tzeentch.

My 2010 Tournament Calendar

2009-12-16T23:07:00.009Z

I have earmarked these tournaments in 2010 as the ones that I would like to attend. I have already entered Winter War and the Gobstyks 2250 WFB events. Along side each is the army which I will probably be taking. One of my 2010 new year resolutions will be to play in at least six tournaments during the year.

January - Winter War (Ogre Kingdoms)

February - Gobstyks 2250 WFB (Ogre Kingdoms or Warriors of Chaos)

March - Call to Arms (Warriors of Chaos)

May - Open War 13 (Warriors of Chaos)

June - Battle of the Chumps (Warriors of Chaos)

September - Leicester Squiggle (Warriors of Chaos)

October - Mansfield Maul (Ogre Kingdoms or Warriors of Chaos)

October - Open War 14 (Warriors of Chaos)

November - Immortal War (Dark Elves)

December - Destruction Derby (Dark Elves or Warriors of Chaos)

My Lessons Learn't List

2009-12-15T11:57:00.005Z

Back in October I started a lessons learn't list after my first tournament, since then I have played a few more games and learn't a few more things. With practice and a lot more games then this list will hopefully grow some more.

For instance the initial entries of Remember Musicians have +1 to rally and Have a plan or plans for each phase have not occurred since. I always remember the +1 to rally, and have used my Ogre Butcher to better effect.

Question something if in doubt. Something came up in a game a recently, whereby a flying unit charged a unit of Irongut in the flank. To do so they had to land in a wood, as the Ironguts flank was touching the wood. Upon reading the rule book later, I found that flyers cannot land in a wood. I did think about questioning this at the time, may be I should have.

Don't be afraid to play for a draw. Having played two tournament games against Vampire Counts, I have found that my Ogre Kingdoms cannot contend with the Magic that Vampire Counts bring to the battlefield. Playing for a draw may lead to a boring game, but at least I will have something that resembles an army on the battlefield at the end. This also ties in with the Think of current tournament placing entry in this list.

Magic defense. At least a single dispel scroll. There is a lot of magic heavy armies out there at the moment. The first time I didn't take a dispel scroll was when I lost 350 points to Infernal Gateway. This undoubtedly lost me the game.

Deployment (stop and think). I had a terrible deployment in one of the tournament games recently. I need to stop and think about not only deployment, but also subsequent movement with difficult terrain on the battlefield.

Remember affects of weapons. I can recall recently that I had forgot the +1 strength for the great weapons on the Ironguts.

Remember unit special rules. Stubborn, Causes Fear for example. I can recall a couple of moments during the Squiggle tournament where I forgot Maneaters are Stubborn and more distrurbingly forgot Ogres cause Fear.

Remember Musicians have +1 to rally. Again I can recall couple of moments during the Squiggle where I forgot this.

Have a plan or plans for each phase. The Magic Phase for example. The Butcher was completely wasted in some games due to poor deployment and movement causing him to be out of range.

Think of current tournament placing. All I needed to do was not lose by a massacre in the last game, and I would have avoided last place. I should have recognised the fast moving chariots and cavalry, two bolt throwers, two shooting unit and lots of magic. If I had deployed deep and hid out of line of sight then I might have avoided last place. Would have been a boring game though.

My Next Army - Dark Elves

2009-12-14T10:02:00.004Z

Over the past months I have been considering which army to collect and paint next. My initial thoughts were either Vampire Counts, Wood Elves or a Khorne Daemon army.

I purchased the Dark Elves army book on the day of release back in 2008. The army was going to be for my son, who wanted at the time to get back into Warhammer Fantasy. But he lost interest shortly afterwards.

In November this year at the Immortal War tournament I won a box of Dark Elves Warriors for best painted army. So my fate was sealed, with my Dark Elves army book and a box of Dark Elves Warriors it was going to be Dark Elves.

This army project will be purely a painting and basing miniatures project. Although the Dark Elves are considered to be one of the best armies at the moment, the army list build will be based around the miniatures I would most like to paint not which units are better on the battlefield.

I will be collecting all the miniatures I want to paint first, then when I have all the miniatures only then will I commence building and painting. I am not expecting to start building and painting until around April next year. The Warriors of Chaos project will probably take me until March to complete anyway.

My target is to have a fully painted Dark Elves army by November next years for the Immortal War tournament, leaving me around eight months to complete.

My 2009 UK WFB Ranking

2009-12-11T22:56:00.001Z

Well after my first three tournaments I finished the 2009 UK Warhammer Fantasy Battle Rankings with a ranking of 955th. Unfortunately the Immortal War result has not been included, which won't really improve my ranking anyway.

A lot more tournaments next year, and I will be improving on this!

Winter War 2010

2009-12-10T17:12:00.001Z

I have entered my first tournament of 2010, the Winter War is being held by The Spiky Club on Sunday 17th January 2010. It is a one day 2250 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament.

It will be another outing for my Ogre Kingdoms. I will be putting an army list together which will comprise mostly of my Destruction Derby list plus an addition Ogre Hunter. Experience tells me that I need another Ogre Butcher if the list is going to be more competative, but I want to concentrate on painting the Warriors of Chaos army. So my second Ogre Hunter will be in the army for the first time.

I may consider getting two or three units of Gnoblar Trappers. The extra two Ogre Hunters allow the list to have an extra unit of Gnoblar Trappers per Hunter, so I can have a maximum of three units. I will need to drop a unit of Bulls to accomodate the extra Gnoblar Trappers units, this will still leave me with a single unit of Bulls and three units of Ironguts. This should be an interesting painting project over the Christmas break!

The two units of three Leadbelchers served me will in the Destruction Derby tournament, so these bad boys will remain in the army list.

The tournament has some very hard "comp" restrictions on the other armies. Ogres aren't hit by the comp at all, but then again do not benefit.

Destruction Derby III Aftermath

2009-12-06T10:54:00.004Z

Had a brilliant day with three great games. My thanks goes out to the Ben's for hosting such a wacky tournament, and to my three opponents on the day. I finished the day on 31st out of 36 players, which I am well chuffed with.

A "no comp" tournament with wacky scenarios is a great laugh, the scenarios really helped in leveling the playing field for armies such as Ogre Kingdoms.

Photo courtesy of Bad Dice

Game 1 - Paul with Warriors of Chaos

This was the wound Stinkcrapp Bumfeeler the Night Goblin Shaman more than your opponent scenario. Plus at the end of every turn the Goblin summons the power of his gods, all units that caused a wound to Stinkcrapp in that turn are hit by the Foot of Gork spell.

I managed a WIN! wounding the Night Goblin Shaman 10 times to Paul's 6. Also getting a Marginal Victory 1297 to 961 on victory points. The two units of three Leadbelchers didn't misfire all game, and along with the Butcher with Bangstick and Bonecruncher did all the wounds to the Night Goblin Shaman.

All game I just concentrated on wounding the Night Goblin Shaman. My deployment was key with both units of Leadbelchers, the Butcher and the Hunter all deployed centrally I could inflict the most wounds with these. This left the remainder of my army to just get in the way of the Warriors.

Game 2 - Stuart with Vampire Counts

This game followed all rules for a pitched battle, along with a few extra rules to shake things up a bit such as no models can fly, all units are affected by the Rain Lord spell and at the start of each players turn roll a dice for all your units, on the roll of a 1 the unit is hit by a Forked Lightning spell.

After my experience against Vampire Counts at the Immortal War tournament, my plan was to avoid combat as much as possible and play for a draw. Alas I lost this game 654 to 165 a Marginal Lose. I am happy with the result, I avoided the massacre which happened against Vampire Counts at the Immortal War tournament. Had a unit of Leadbelchers stayed alive, and I killed one more single skelly it would have been a draw.

With only a single Butcher with a single Dispel Scroll and with only three dispel dice I couldn't stop the raising. I found that after two turns I needed to save all my dice for the movement and always strikes first spell. These spell seems to be harming my units the most.

There was a vital combat in the middle of the table for a couple turns. I had a unit of three Bulls in the front and a unit of three Leadbelchers in the flank of a unit of skellies. I did manage to get this unit down to a single model over the three rounds of combat. But the next round of combat they were back to full strength of 15. Stuart managed to get the spell off which gives Always Strikes First with an irresistible force on the unit of skellies. This unfortunately sealed the fate of the Ogres in that combat.

Even though I lost by a Marginal Victory, I was happy with how I fought the Vampire Counts.

Game 3 - Adam with Bretonians

This was the get units wholly in your opponent’s deployment zone to score scenario points. Plus the in the centre of the table is a rift that leads directly into the Realm of Chaos itself! At the start of each player’s turn the rifts move 2d6” in a random direction, any unit touched by the rift are immediately affected by the Infernal Gateway Spell. The rift moves through units like a fanatic does. The Infernal Gateway rift didn't play any part in the game it just moved over to the left every turn and out of the way of each army.

A Massacre Lose scoring zero scenario points, and only a few victory points.

Really messed up deployment in this game BIG TIME. The scenario meant that you couldn't deploy within 12" of the short table edge and with a 12" wide difficult terrain in my deployment zone to the left meant that I had 3 feet to deploy in. Also I had another smaller piece of difficult terrain to the front of my deployment zone.

Having deployed my army completely wrong and giving Adam the first turn it was all over bar actually rolling some dice. I should have used the terrain to my advantage and not to my disadvantage (which I managed!). Not going first also meant that I couldn't get my army out into the space of the centre of the battlefield.

After turn one with the Bretonians marching the full 14" my whole army was pinned down in a small space with Pegasus Knights to the flank. It was a mess!! With no table space left to flee the charges by turn four it was all over.

Final Words

Really enjoyed the day, had a great time. A result of 31st out of 36 players I am well happy with.

I have discovered that opponents really don't like the Trollguts spell going off and two units of three Leadbelchers seem to scare them!

Well thats the end of the 2009 UK tournament year. I am hoping to attend a one day tournament in January next year, which will be another day for my Ogre Kingdoms army. After that I should have my Warriors of Chaos fully painted, so they will have a day out at a tournament soon.

Vallejo or Coat d'arms

2009-12-03T17:20:00.000Z

I have been looking into re-stocking some of my paints. So a trip to my local GW to pick up some paints and found that I was paying almost £5 for 2 pots of 12ml paints.

At the time I thought that almost £5 for two pots of 12ml paints is ridicious.

Up to now I have always used Citadel, but the price of alternatives are very appealing. Maelstrom sell Citadel paints for £1.96 and at GW its £2.20. I would imagine that Maelstrom are still making a profit at £1.96.

At Maelstrom I can get ...

Citadel 12ml for £1.96, thats 6 pence per ml
Vallejo 17ml for £1.35, thats 12 pence per ml
Coat d'arms 18ml for £1.53, thats 11 pence per ml

Citadel paints are double the price of Vallejo and Coat d'arms per ml, are they really that much better?

So I posted on The Warhammer Forum on the topic of Vallejo or Coat d'arms asking which of the alternatives Vallejo or Coat d'arms have you used and which do you prefer over Citadel?

The thread turned into a rather heated debate over the Vallejo range. Here is my favorite reply to the post.

GW paints are the worst avaliable on the market today. They use solid, cheap pigment and poor quality carrier, so that they don't cover well and they seperate. They are produced by the lowest bidder so don't be surprised at the quality.

Valejo aren't much better. They seperate because they are too thin; the carrier and the pigment aren't good. The first warning should be that the stuff comes out of a dropper bottle.

Coat d'arms is produced by a company called HMG, Coat d'arms is their own brand. Same company produces Foundry and Privateer Press' P3 ranges as well. Foundry is the best avaliable on the market. P3 is as good but a much smaller range. Coat d'arms is very good but not quite the spec of the other two.

All 3 use liquid pigment in large quantities, in good quality carriers, so that seperation isn't an issue and so that when, even diluted to greater than 1:10, the amount of and quality of the pigment still gives strong, smooth coverage.

GW washes are alright, they are just paint and mixing medium pre-mixed, so good for consistency but again not good quality for the price.

GW foundation range is a cheap attempt at emulating the quality, high pigment paints produced by HMG (whom no longer supply GW due to GW asking HMG to compromise on quality of product to reduce cost to GW [not cost to consumer notice, cost to GW], GW's reputation for good paint is built on the fact that HMG was the supplier when they first released paints, that stopped when the paint sold switched to the hard plastic pots with screw lids which were made in France. Today they are made in China. It's fair to say the current product doesn't live up to the reputation of the original).

GW metalics are run of the mill. Many people find them easier to use than other brands as they are weak and lacking in pigment in comparison. That does not make them good, it makes them easier to use than quality metalics which take getting used to.

GW's old inks were decent (not the original inks, but the ones that came in the hard plastic pots with white screw lids, the French company behind those did good ink), but at the price were not any better than W&N.

Valejo ink isn't bad.

P3 ink isn't bad, but Foundry and CDA ink isn't very good, sadly it's the one thing HMG don't do well.

Go to W&N for inks, it's what they specialise in.

Anyone buying from Maelstrom should be looking at Coat d'arms and P3. They won't look back.

So for my next big army painting project I am going to use the Coat d'arms range.

Destruction Derby III

2009-12-01T10:50:00.004Z

On Saturday I am attending my third one day tournament. The Destruction Derby III being held by the Derby Wargames Society and the Bens of Bad Dice podcast fame. I am a late entry off the reserve list, hence this post is so close to the tournament date.

This year you can bring whatever you like upto 2013 points. If it has been published by GW you can bring it. This includes storm of chaos (that hasn’t been replaced by a new book) White Dwarf lists, chronicles, journals, and back of the army book lists. If I had plenty of time, then I would have purchased Skragg the Slaughterer and a few Gorgers.

They have decided to do away with the comp(laining) and have some fun, with 3 whacky scenarios. Looks like its going to be a lot of fun!! I have included the scenarios from the rules pack...

The Funhammer

In all 3 games if the same special character faces itself (i.e. Kairos vs Kairos or Thorek vs Thorek) only 1 will turn up. Roll a dice to see which player gets to use him.

Game 1 – Get ‘im!!!!

Stinkcrapp Bumfeeler the Night Goblin Shaman is high on magic mushrooms. He has been ‘interfering’ with the King’s daughter and has a huge bounty on his head. Whoever brings his mangled corpse to the king collects the gold.

Players deploy and start the game exactly like a pitched battle. Stinkcrapp starts the game in the centre of the table.

Because he is so off his head on magic mushrooms Stinkcrapp is Immune to Psychology and feels no pain. Any attack from any source (be it close combat, magic or shooting) can only wound him on a roll of a 6, multi wound hits will do only 1 wound. He can be shot and charged like a single character, and is only affected by spells with a strength value.

Every time he takes a wound he is knocked back d6” for each wound caused, exactly as if he was fleeing from a charge (a unit of bowmen doing 2 wounds will push him back 2d6”) In combat he is hit automatically and will always flee at least 1d6” even if not wounded. The charging unit CANNOT PERSUE.

At the end of every turn the Goblin summons the power of his gods, all units that caused a wound to Stinkcrapp in that turn are hit by the Foot of Gork spell.

Victory Conditions

The winner of the game is the player who does the most wounds to Stinkcrapp. Victory points are calculated as per pitched battle

Game 2 – The Storm of Chaos

While perusing the goblin into the far north two armies have come to battle in the chaos wastes and an eldritch storm is closing in.

No models can fly in the storm.

All units are affected by the Rain Lord spell from the lore of Life (Wfb rulebook page 118)

In addition to this at the start of each players turn roll a dice for all your units, on the roll of a 1 the unit is hit by a Forked Lightning spell from the lore of Hevans (Wfb Rulebook page 116). Any unit with a ward save are affected on the roll of a 1 or 2.

Victory Conditions

The game follows all rules for a pitched battle

Game 3 – Pandemonium

All signs of the goblin are lost, the storm has blown over but you are now lost deep in the Wastes of chaos and strange occurrences have started to happen.

As you stumble across another army Pandemonium ensues and the world as you know it starts to end.......

The whole Battlefield is affected by the Pandemonium Spell.

In the centre of the table is a rift that leads directly into the Realm of Chaos itself! At the start of each player’s turn the rifts move 2d6” in a random direction, any unit touched by the rift are immediately affected by the Infernal Gateway Spell. The rift moves through units like a fanatic does.

In the confusion to escape the madness of the chaos wastes you are convinced that the way home lies beyond the opposing army.

Deploy and Start the game in the same way as a pitched battle.

Victory Conditions

At the end of the battle each of your units wholly in your opponent’s deployment zone scores Scenario points equal to its victory points. You score half points if the unit is at half strength or less and full points if it is above half strength. The player with the most Scenario points wins the game. Victory points are calculated as per pitched battle

Looks like these scenarios could aid the Ogres a bit...

Can the Leadbelchers inflict plenty of wounds to "Stinkcrapp Bumfeeler" the Night Goblin Shaman in game 1?
How badly will the Rain Lord spell affect the Leadbelchers in game 2? Only if I fire!
With plenty of units, how many can get over to the opponent’s deployment zone in game 3?

Look out for the funhammer aftermath report on Sunday!

Remainder of 2009

2009-11-26T10:39:00.001Z

For the remainder of 2009 I am planning on completing the painting of the remaining miniatures for my 2000 point Warriors of Chaos army. I have these to complete...

5 Chaos Knights
5 Marauder Horsemen
10 Chaos Warhounds
Daemon Prince

Will also need some movement trays which will probably be magnetised. Also want to improve on the bland bases which I currently have on my Warriors and Marauders.

My current Warriors of Chaos army consist of....

1 Mounted Chaos Sorcerer
1 Exalted Heros
1 Exalted Heros with Battle Standard
15 Marauders
14 Warriors
11 Warriors (mark of Khorne)
1 Chaos Spawn

I was hoping to complete this army by the end of 2009, well that was the plan at the start of the year. But I am now not expecting myself to complete painting all of these miniatures by the end of the year. I would like to complete these by the end of February 2010. Then its on to my next project which is going to be Dark Elves, but more on those in the future.

Immortal War II Aftermath

2009-11-23T23:12:00.002Z

Had a great time and three great games. Plus I won the best painted army award, winning a Dark Elves Warrior box set and a Certificate. I ended up in 23rd place out of 24 players, and avoiding last place. Well chuffed!

It was a 1999 point tournament with no comp other than no special characters. I took my Ogre Kingdoms with no magic defence. Lesson learn't here is always take plenty of magic defence to a "no comp" tournament, as the games will demonstrate.

First game was against Steve with Warriors of Chaos which ended in a minor lose. Steve's first turn he managed to cast Gateway and removed my Irongut unit with Butcher thats 334 points gone and my only magic attacks in the first turn. I managed to get some units into combat which got me some points back. I was happy with a minor lose especially with losing my Irongut unit with Butcher to Gateway on the first turn. Had to question how a level 2 Tzeentch wizard can manage to cast Gateway. At least a single scroll and I would have avoided Gateway.

Second game and another Steve this time with Wood Elves. Massacre lose on turn 5. A nightmare of a game for my Ogres up against 4 units of 10 Dryads, 3 units of archers, 2 units of fast cavalry and a treeman. The skirmishing Dryads and archers reeked havoc. I did manage to get my Bruiser into combat which killed the Alter Noble in a challenge. But I couldn't contend with the Dryads and Archers.

So going into the last game I thought probably a game against the Orc and Goblin player. But facing me across the table Vampire Counts. What am I doing playing a Vampire Count army on the bottoms table in the last round, I had to ask my self!?

So last game was against Dave and his Vampires. Massacre lose with all models removed from the battlefield! I was controlling my right hand flank with my 2 units of 3 Leadbelchers up until turn 4. Well that is until they fired. The potential 60 shots had the Vampires reversing for 3 turns. But a sudden rush of blood and I fired both units, resulting in only 6 shots and 4 misfires. Lesson learn't here is 2 units of 3 Leadbelchers together on a flank can be good, just don't fire! I fed the Maneaters to the Wraiths hoping that being stubborn would hold for a turn or two, but didn't! In the end Dave's magic reeked havoc and with only 3 dispel dice and no scrolls I was completely helpless, there were raised skellies every where.

Anyway I really enjoyed the day and will be attending more tournaments next year. Will probably be taking the Ogres to my next tournament after that it will be my Warriors of Chaos.

Washing Miniatures

2009-11-20T22:57:00.003Z

Ever since I was a kid making Airfix and Tamiya kits I have washed my miniatures in warm soapy water before priming. This is because a release agent similar to WD40 is applied to the mold which aids the frame/sprue to exit the mold easier, thats what my father told me.

However when giving this advice on forums I have always got slated by other members, saying that they have never washed a miniature and never had any problems.

Then today I find a post on the Games Workshop blog regarding a 40K gameboard.

I quote from the blog...

"All plastic models have a release agent applied to them during the casting process; this allows the frame to come out of the machine. The Gameboard is no different and Ray of the Warhammer World scenery team recommends washing the Gameboard sections with soapy water to get the residue off before painting."

Thank you Games Workshop! And to all those on various forums who have slated my advice in the past "I told you so..."

Image used is courtesy of Games Workshop, used with out permission.

Eve of Immortal War II

2009-11-20T13:26:00.006Z

Tomorrow I play in my second tournament "Immortal War II" being held in Sutton Coldfield and hosted by the Sutton Immortals gaming club. Its another one day, three game, 1999 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament.

I have changing the army list slightly from the army I took to the Leicester Squiggle tournament. Reducing the Irongut units from 4 models to 3 and increasing the Leadbelcher units up to 3 models, plus giving the Leadbelchers a Bellower each. The magic items on the Hunter and Butcher have changed as well.

My Ogre Kingdoms Army List

Bruiser (174 pts)
Army General, Sword of Might, Wyrdstone Necklace, Heavy Armour, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Ogre Club

Butcher (175 pts)
Bang Stick, Skullmantle, Hand Weapon, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Immune to Poison

Hunter (235 pts)
Sabretusks (2), Talisman of Protection, Greyback Pelt, Light Armour, Sic 'em boys, Loner, Ogre Club, Harpoon Crossbow

Bulls x 3 (127 pts)
Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Ogre Club

Bulls x 3 (127 pts)
Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Ogre Club

Bulls x 3 (115 pts)
Bellower, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Ogre Club

Ironguts x 3 (179 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer, Look out Gnoblar, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour

Ironguts x 3 (179 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer, Look out Gnoblar, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour

Ironguts x 3 (154 pts)
Bellower, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour

Leadbelchers x 3 (175 pts)
Bellower, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Light Armour, Leadbelcher cannon

Leadbelchers x 3 (175 pts)
Bellower, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Light Armour, Leadbelcher cannon

Maneaters x 2 (180 pts)
Heavy Armour, Great Weapons, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Immune to Psychology, Stubborn, Ogre Club

1001 Gnoblars

2009-10-27T22:08:00.001Z

I discovered these videos on You Tube after listening to the recent episode of HeelanHammer.

An army of 1001 Gnoblar at the Crossroads tournament in the US. I won't spoil it for you, and tell you what happens. Enjoy!

Leicester Squiggle Wooden Spoon

2009-10-21T21:41:00.003+01:00

For my last place at Squiggle tournament I was awarded the "Wooden Spoon" prize, a £10 pounds discount voucher at Gifts for Geeks. Its a bit ironic that I had purchased most of my Ogre Kingdoms army from Gifts for Geeks.

So I opted for the Games Workshop Battlemat, which arrived today and I am very happy with it!

I am currently building a gaming table for home, so this is just the thing I needed. The gaming table comes in 3 parts of size 4" x 2" which are bolted together. I may even change this so it comes in 6 parts of 2" x 2". Will post some pictures when it completed.

Army Painting Inspiration

2009-10-14T11:05:00.007+01:00

I found the high level of quality painting at the recent Leicester Squiggle tournament to be inspiring. All the armies nominated were excellently painted, putting my Ogre Kingdoms army to shame.

I will be trying to finish my Warriors of Chaos by the end of this year. I have 5 Chaos Knights, 5 Marauder Horsemen, 10 Warhounds and a Daemon Prince to complete painting. This will leave me with 2000 points of Warriors of Chaos and 2500 points of Ogre Kingdoms for gaming during 2010.

Then I will start a new army project in early 2010, the aim of the new army will be purely to improve my standard of painting. I have drawn up two armies I find appealing...

All Khorne Daemons; With a Bloodthrister centre piece. The whole army painted in various red, orange and gold tones.

Wood Elves; Probably an autumnal theme with lots of oranges, yellows, reds and golds. But the standard green theme is also very appealing.

I will be making three variances a 1999, a 2000 and a 2250 point army. At the moment I can't decide which army to choose.

But what I do know is that I will be spending a lot of hours, care and attention to detail on this army. It will more than likely take a year to 18 months to complete, so I am not expecting this army to grace any gaming table fully painted until 2011.

UK WFB Rankings

2009-10-13T13:52:00.005+01:00

I am now on the UK Warhammer Fantasy Battles Rankings! With a starting ranking of 949th. Its not earth shattering, but its a start!

Bellowers How Good are They

2009-10-12T16:04:00.002+01:00

Bellowers (aka Musicians) in my mind are a must in any Ogre Kingdoms army.

The "To Rally" roll for an Ogre bull unit is on a 7+ that's a 58% chance, roughly half.

With a Bellower then its on a 8+ that's a 72% chance, nearly a three in four chance. The 14% chance increase for only 10 points is a massive benefit.

A unit of Ironguts chances of rallying increases 11% from 72% to 83%.

Also bear in mind that a unit of 3 models can never go under the 25% model count limit to be able to rally, so therefore even with a single model remaining you can still rally the unit.

In my mind along with the drawn combat +1 combat resolution benefit, every unit that isn't Immune to Psychology must have a Musician.

Keeping the Ogre Hunter Alive

2009-10-10T17:44:00.006+01:00

My Ogre Hunter died every game at the recent Squiggle Tournament, it was like hemorrhaging 235 points every game. It was kitted out with Beastkiller and Greyback Pelt. Beastkiller was a complete waste of points. My inability to use the Hunter effectively rendered the Greyback Pelt useless as well.

Do I keep the Sabretusks?

The Sabretusks provided protection against ranged attacks, randomizing hits So I am keeping these bad boys.

Having looked at the Big Names and Magic Items (and there is not a lot to choose from) I have come up this a short list of useful items...

Deathcheater; Once per Game. Forced to re-roll all successful rolls to wound (need to be in base contact).

Mastodon Armour; 5+ Armour Save. If killed not in close combat. 2+ restored on 1 wound.

Greyback Pelt; +1 to hit in close combat.

Spanglehard; Roll higher than "To Wound roll".

Gnoblar Thiefstone; Magic Resistance.

Talisman of Protection; 6+ Ward Save.

The Wyrdstone Necklace will be on the Bruiser General, so not on the list.

Then we have the Butchers Magic Spells...

Toothcracker; +1 Toughness and Stubborn. Butcher takes a Strength 4 Hit.

Trollguts; Magic Resistance(2) and Rengeneration. Automatically takes a wound.

I already have protection from ranged attacks from the Sabretusks, just got to bear in mind if these are released will lose this benefit. I could cast Trollguts on the Hunter early in the game, giving Magic Resistance(2) and Rengeneration.

My only conclusion is the key to keeping the Hunter alive is in deployment and movement. Think about the Hunter first whilst deploying, keep close to the Butcher if possible. Use the Sabretusks effectively.

So this will be my Hunters items (for now!) ...

Greyback Pelt, Talisman of Protection, Cast Trollguts or Toothcracker on the Hunter.

A Butchers Magic Phase

2009-10-04T09:35:00.011+01:00

A couple of days ago I mentioned my Lessons Learn't List. I found that my Butcher was completely wasted in games due to poor deployment and movement causing him to be out of range. Therefore I needed a plan to overcome these problems.

Because the Butcher does not roll for his spells at the start of the game and knows all the Gut Magic spells, I can draw up a plan and stick to it.

My Butchers Magic Phase is going to be about causing Panic. With a ranged Magic Missile Bound Spell, and two other ranged spells I have three attacking spells to force a Panic Test on the target unit or hopefully units.

Coupled with the Skullmantle which causes the target unit to suffer a -1 penalty to their Leadership this could be a lethal combination.

For deployment my Butcher will always be deployed in a unit of 3 Ironguts with a Standard Bearer along with a Lookout Gnoblar. This unit will be deployed centrally in my battle line.

First the long range spells....

Bang Stick; Range 24". Bound Spell. Causes D6 Strength 4 Hits.

Bonecrusher; Range 18". Causes 2D6 Strength 2 Hits no armour save. Butcher takes a Strength 4 Hit.

Braingobbler; Range 18". Unit must take a Panic Test.

Next a defensive spell to regain a wound...

Bloodgruel; Butcher Regains a Wound on a 2+.

Finally we have the short range spells, which are all range 6" and all remain in play. Because of the short range I have found that these are very much reliant upon the movement phase.

Toothcracker; +1 Toughness and Stubborn. Butcher takes a Strength 4 Hit.

Bullgorger; Butcher must pass a Strength Test. +1 Strength.

Trollguts; Magic Resistance(2) and Rengeneration. Automatically takes a wound.

So there we have a plan for how I am going to play my Butcher. I know that the "internet" optimal Ogre Kingdoms army contains two or three Butchers, but I like my Hunters miniatures and am not going to drop them just yet!

Next how to keep my Hunter alive?

Warriors of Chaos 1500 pts

2009-10-03T10:52:00.003+01:00

I have put together this 1500 points Warriors of Chaos army to play some games against my Ogre Kingdoms army with my son. I have changed the previous list adding the Chaos Knights and Chaos Warhounds. Everything is fully painted except the Chaos Knights and Chaos Warhounds. I just need to add a Daemon Prince and some Chaos Marauder Horsemen to make this a 2000 point army.

Exalted Champion (180 pts)
Axe of Khorne, Fury of the Blood God, Shield, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Exalted Champion (175 pts)
Battle Standard, Sword of Might, Bronze Armour of Zhrakk, Sheild, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Sorcerer (196 pts)
Level 2 Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Dispel Scroll, Conjoined Homunculis, Barded Chaos Steed, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos, Eye of the Gods

Chaos Warriors x 10 (200 pts)
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Additional Hand Weapon, Shields, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos

Chaos Warriors x 10 (245 pts)
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, War Banner, Shields, Mark of Khorne, Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Will of Chaos

Chaos Marauders x 15 (110 pts)
Chieftain, Musician, Standard Bearer, Flails, Light Armour, Hand Weapon, The Will of Chaos

Chaos Warhounds x 5 (30 pts)
The Will of Chaos

Chaos Warhounds x 5 (30 pts)
The Will of Chaos

Chaos Knights x 5 (275 pts)
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Rapturous Standard, Ensorcelled Weapons, Chaos Armour, Shield, Barded Chaos Steed, The Will of Chaos, Causes Fear

Chaos Spawn (55 pts)
Causes Fear, Unbreakable, Lurching Horror, Flailing Appendages

A Lessons Learn't List

2009-10-02T10:24:00.004+01:00

A while ago now on an episode of PodHammer, it was mentioned that a certain player after every tournament/game wrote down a list of every thing that he stuffed up on. This list was then added to after every tournament/game, and used as a reminder of where improvements in his game could be made.

So here is the start of my list...

Remember unit special rules. Stubborn, Causes Fear for example. I can recall a couple of moments during the Squiggle tournament where I forgot Maneaters are Stubborn and more distrurbingly forgot Ogres cause Fear.

Remember Musicians have +1 to rally. Again I can recall couple of moments during the Squiggle where I forgot this.

Have a plan or plans for each phase. The Magic Phase for example. The Butcher was completely wasted in some games due to poor deployment and movement causing him to be out of range.

Think of current tournament placing. All I needed to do was not lose by a massacre in the last game, and I would have avoided last place. I should have recognised the fast moving chariots and cavalry, two bolt throwers, two shooting unit and lots of magic. If I had deployed deep and hid out of line of sight then I might have avoided last place. Would have been a boring game though.

It all comes down to the 7P's Acronym...

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Immortal War II

2009-10-01T17:10:00.005+01:00

I have entered my second tournament "Immortal War II" being held in Sutton Coldfield and hosted by the Sutton Immortals gaming club on Saturday 21st November.

Just like my first tournament its a one day, three game, 1999 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament. My Ogre Kingdoms will be having another outing.

I will be changing the army list slightly, probably reduce the Irongut units from 4 models to 3 and may be increase the Leadbelcher units upto 3 models. I will also have another look at the magic items on the Hunter and Butcher as well.

I will be giving my self another target for this tournament, and thats not to finish in last place. I want to at least improve on my last place at the Leicester Squiggle.

The tournament is 7 weeks away so I need to get some practice in. I will post a tournament report on how I got on after the tournament.

A link to the post on The Warhammer Form can be found here

Leicester Squiggle Army List

2009-09-28T12:57:00.005+01:00

Here is my Ogre Kingdoms army list I used at the Leicester Squiggle tournament.

I will be making a few modifications for any future events. Will probably drop the Ironguts down to 3 from 4, and make the Leadbelchers 3 models.

Bruiser (174 pts)
Army General, Sword of Might, Wyrdstone Necklace, Heavy Armour, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Ogre Club

Butcher (180 pts)
Bang Stick, Dispel Scroll, Hand Weapon, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Immune to Poison

Hunter (235 pts)
Sabretusks (2), Beastkiller, Greyback Pelt, Light Armour, Sic 'em boys, Loner, Ogre Club, Harpoon Crossbow

Bulls x 3 (127 pts)
Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Ogre Club

Bulls x 3 (127 pts)
Bellower, Additional Hand Weapon, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Ogre Club

Bulls x 3 (130 pts)
Bellower, Ironfists, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Ogre Club

Ironguts x 3 (179 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer, Look out Gnoblar, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour

Ironguts x 4 (222 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour

Ironguts x 4 (222 pts)
Bellower, Standard Bearer, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour

Leadbelchers x 2 (110 pts)
Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Light Armour, Leadbelcher cannon

Leadbelchers x 2 (110 pts)
Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Light Armour, Leadbelcher cannon

Maneaters x 2 (180 pts)
Heavy Armour, Great Weapons, Causes Fear, Bull Charge, Immune to Psychology, Stubborn, Ogre Club

Leicester Squiggle Aftermath

2009-09-27T21:31:00.006+01:00

Firstly I would like to thank Will and Hutch for running the tournament. I had a great day and will definitely be back for some more next year.

I ended my first tournament in last place on 17 tournament points. In my original post (click here) I had said that my target was 17 points, that I would probably end the tournament in last place. That's exactly what happened.

First game was against Garath and his Skaven. Highlight was on Garath's first turn his war machine (not sure what it was) misfired and blew up. Really didn't play this game to the Ogre's strengths against Skaven, Garath had commented on this at the end of the game. Result lost by a Massacre.

Second game against Ben a fellow Ogre Kingdoms player. Highlight was a unit of Ironguts killed Ben's Bruiser General with Tenderiser. Result Marginal lose.

Looking back at the tournament going into the last game, all I needed to do was avoid a massacre to avoid finishing in last place. This wasn't in my mind whilst playing the game unfortunately (a lesson learnt for future tournaments).

Final game was against Dave and his High Elves. Dave's magic, shooting, fast cavalry and chariots was my down fall. I only managed to get a single Maneater into close combat after the other had been shot and magic'ed to death. I ended up losing 940 victory points, less than 900 would have meant avoiding the massacre. Highlight was scoring zero victory points and only killing a single spearman. Result lost by a Massacre.

Looking back on the Tournament should I have played a more "Tournament Style" game in the last round and deployed deep and hid my army in and behind the woods for six turns out of range of Dave's magic and shooting and played for a draw?

What did I learn playing with my Ogre Kingdoms...

Hunter died every game. Being my most expensive unit, it was like hemorrhaging points every game. I like the model, just need to learn how better to play better with this miniature.

Butcher needs to be upfront and within 6" of units. Bangstick and the Magic Missile spell were useless for most of the games because either my army was blocking line of sight or other units were out of 6" range.

Learn to play the terrain better. For example I could have hidden the Hunter behind a wood and then moved through the wood at normal movement rate with the Greyback Pelt which he had. May be this is why the Hunter died every game?

Irongut units 4 wide were difficult to move. May be a smaller frontage would be better?

Need to think smarter during Deployment. Found that placement of Hunter was difficult with an entire army already deployed.

Leadbelchers; Thinking a unit of five would be more beneficial than two units of two.

The level of painting at this tournament was in my mind to a very high level. I voted for Joe's Dark Elves, which was voted in second place with Joel's Ogre Kingdoms taking first place by a single vote. Another army to mention was Andy's Warriors of Chaos, click here to see pictures on this blog. It was a close call between Joe's Dark Elves and Andy's Warriors both painted to an excellent standard.

My brain was completely frazzled by the end of the day. But I now have the bug for more Warhammer and more Tournaments, so this is just the start!

Closing words ....

Warhammer Tournaments are like
"Playing Warhammer at 100 miles per hour"

Leicester Squiggle Tournament

2009-09-22T11:54:00.004+01:00

With less than 4 days till my first tournament and I thought that I would post an update.

My Warhammer gaming experience is around a dozen games of 1000 point games with my son at home and at Warhammer World around 18 months ago. These games were with my Chaos Warriors (Hordes of Chaos as it was then) and my sons Orc & Goblin army. Since then my son's interest in Warhammer has declined and frequency of games played. Therefore my time and effort has been spent building and painting my Ogre Kingdoms army.

So going into my first tournament with my newly painted Ogre Kingdoms army here are some facts...

Only ever played against my son.
Never played a game with my Ogre Kingdoms army.
Never played a 2000 point size game.

So what have I done to mitigate my certain defeat... Had my head in the rule book for the past weeks, and I am hoping to find some time to visit a local gaming club near to where I work to hopefully get at least one game in before the weekend.

The tournament scoring for the Leicester Squiggle doesn't seem to favour a massacre over a marginal win with only 2 points difference. But if you lose by a massacre over a marginal lose then the difference is 6 points. So my aim is to not get massacred, and play for the draw hoping to get marginal or solid loses. This may seem a little defeatist, but a complete novice playing one of the weakest armies I am not expecting any great wins!

Anyway I will post a tournament report or should I say the "aftermath report" and hopefully some pictures next week.

Vocabulary of the Gamer

2009-09-20T18:32:00.004+01:00

There are two words in the gamers vocabulary which I tend to only hear around gamers and especially gaming pod casts. I find that these two words aren't used outside of the gaming world with as much frequency. These two words are "Awesome" and "Cool".

The worse pod casting offenders seem to be World's End Radio, the use of these two words is very prevalent with a very high frequency per episode. HeelanHammer uses the word "Awesome" to described their premium content section, even going to the extent of “Super Awesome”.

A search of the word "Awesome" against the Bell of Lost Souls website returns 25 pages on Google, “Cool” returns 35 pages. Search for the word “Brilliant” and Google only finds 5 pages. Therefore proving my theory that gamers use the words "Awesome" and “Cool” more than other words such as “Brilliant”.

So next time you are listening to a gaming pod cast or with your mates gaming at a club, listen out for these words. Second thoughts better hadn't, it might start bugging you as much as it does me!

What have I been up to ?

2009-09-04T22:38:00.002+01:00

I haven't posted on the blog for a month now, been busy building 10 Chaos Warhounds, 5 Chaos Knights, my Hellenika Spartan 300 Girl miniature and a 6" x 4" gaming table. As well as not posting in the last month, I haven't picked up a paint brush either.

I have sent my list in for the Leicester Squiggle tournament on the 26th of this month. With 21 days remaining I need to seriously get some practice. The list is basically 29 Ogres and 2 Sabretusks (there's a clue on one of my Heros!).

Will post some pictures of all the miniatures and gaming table soon.

Hellenika Spartan 300 Girl

2009-08-05T22:45:00.003+01:00

My spartan miniature of Hellenika has arrived from Kabuki Models. The quality of the metal casting is excellent with very few mold lines.

The miniature was well packaged and dispatched very quickly. I will be keeping an eye on this new miniature company for future products.

I will post some pictures of this brilliant miniature once completed. It may be a while because I'm going to take my time and give this miniature the time and attention is deserves.

Ogre Kingdom Army Pictures

2009-08-01T22:24:00.000+01:00

After a year in the painting my 2500 points of Ogre Kingdoms is complete.

I have been busy this evening taking pictures of all the units, cropping the pictures and posting to the blog.

So here are all pictures of all the units in the last 13 posts!

Your feedback would be very much appreciated.

Maneaters

2009-08-01T22:21:00.005+01:00

Tyrant

2009-08-01T21:48:00.005+01:00

Butcher

2009-08-01T21:45:00.004+01:00

Hunter II

2009-08-01T21:43:00.004+01:00

Hunter I

2009-08-01T21:42:00.004+01:00

Ironguts III

2009-08-01T21:40:00.005+01:00

Ironguts II

2009-08-01T21:38:00.004+01:00

Ironguts I

2009-08-01T21:36:00.004+01:00

Bulls III

2009-08-01T21:34:00.004+01:00

Bulls II

2009-08-01T21:33:00.004+01:00

Bulls I

2009-08-01T21:30:00.004+01:00

Leadbelchers II

2009-08-01T21:27:00.004+01:00

Leadbelchers I

2009-08-01T21:24:00.003+01:00

The Glorious Banner Exchange

2009-07-31T10:15:00.003+01:00

The Glorious Works has started a banner exchange to help increase traffic to blogs whilst sharing viewers with other like minded individuals. If you'd like to join the banner exchange then please email The Glorious Works (email address can be found on his blog (link above) with the subject line The Glorious Banner Exchange.

My Banner

Magic Cards

2009-07-27T17:07:00.004+01:00

I found these Warhamer Fantasy Magic Cards on the web at http://www.warhammer.baronwolf.com. Download the pdf for the Lore you are interested in and print them out.

The designs are excellent, this is really an impressive piece of work.

Click here for Link

Battle Reporter Community

2009-07-27T10:44:00.008+01:00

I recently joined the Battle Reporter Community, my username on the forums is msehammer.

The blog provides up to the minute Games Workshop and Warhammer news, Warhammer Fantasy tactics, Battle reports. And the friendliest Warhammer forum you will find.

Click on the links and join up!

Blog
Battle Reports
Forums

Use the Battle Reporter Search on my blog side bar to search the Battle Reporter blog http://2d6.blogspot.com. You can search by any criteria, eg. army, points value, unit, or author.

Chaos Dwarfs

2009-07-24T10:18:00.004+01:00

Far to the east in the ash-strewn lands of the Chaos Dwarfs lie the towers of Zharr Naggrund. In these blackened spires the Chaos Dwarfs plot their overthrow of the west and their eventual dominion over the world.

The 7th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Rule book contains little information regarding the Chaos Dwarf. The profiles for the army are printed in the back of the book. Along with a statement saying "see the GW website for more information".

Since I have been into the hobby I haven't seen any information regarding Chaos Dwarf on the GW website. Threfore I have included the rule set for the Chaos Dwarf on my blog.

Click on the image for the pdf rule set.

Warhammer Warbands

2009-07-24T08:36:00.003+01:00

Warbands are simply scaled-down Warhammer armies. In essence, Warbands are the same as standard, tournament-sized armies but are simply in a growing stage.

The term Warband describes a Warhammer force in the range of 100 to 500 points. Warbands are not quite large enough to be called armies but are big enough for unit-level gaming (as opposed to gaming on the individual-warrior level, as is the case with games like Warhammer: Skirmish or Mordheim). Players can imagine their Warbands as patrols, reinforcements, special contingents sent off to accomplish specific tasks (e.g., raids, sabotage, assassinations), or simply a small force in the growing stages.

Click on the image for the pdf rule set.

100 Posts

2009-07-20T18:10:00.003+01:00

100 Posts !!

I started this blog back in January, just as a method of documenting my progress in the hobby during the year. Especially to document the progress against my new year resolutions for 2009 (click here for post).

At the back end of last year I found that I was spending far too many hours of an evening and weekends sat in front of the television watching mind less crap. After spending a whole two week break from work over Christmas without even picking up a paint brush I decided that things had to change. Hence this blog was born on the 1st January 2009.

Since then I have changed the look of the original blog quite considerably, given the blog a banner, posted pictures of my various miniatures. I still haven't posted pictures of my Ogre Kingdoms army, but these will be up on the blog in the coming weeks.

I would just like to thank all the readers who regularly visit my blog.

Testors Dullcote Lacquer

2009-07-19T17:43:00.008+01:00

I have been using the bottled Testors Dullcote Lacquer with great success. This stuff along with the spray can version is excellent. The finish is truly dead matt.

If you have smaller items for basing, etc then use the bottled Dullcote it goes on dead matt and dries within seconds. It also saves on the more expensive spray can version. Also use it to touch up the finish after spraying.

You can purchase Testors Dullcote in spray cans and bottles from Antenociti's Workshop in the UK.

Ogre Bruiser Weapon Upgrades

2009-07-19T15:21:00.007+01:00

Been thinking about the Weapons and Magic Items for the Bruiser in my 1999 point Ogre Kingdom army. My initial thought was the Skull Plucker (which gives the Bruiser killing blow). Advice given on a few forums advised against it and proposing a Great Weapon as being the better option. I was always aware that characters could have magic items, giving them "Immune to Killing Blow" making the magic item useless.

The Tenderiser is out, because the Bruiser can only take 50 points of Magic Items, and I want the Wrydstone Necklace for the Ward Save.

The Siege Breaker has never been in my thoughts, its a "double edge sword" as enemies Initiative could be higher than the Weapon Skill. The Siege Breaker only real use is against Chariots, etc.

Therefore I used the computer program I developed a couple of months back (original post here) to calculate the best option. Each option was used against a Chaos Exalted Hero with a Shield and 5+ Ward Save. These are the results of combats, the percentage being the number of wins over 300 combats.

Sword of Might	82%
Skull Plucker	82%
Sword of Battle	71%
Sword of Striking	68%
Tenderiser (Without Ward Save)	68%
Skull Plucker (Immune to Killing Blow)	64%
Great Weapon	63%

The Sword of Might is the option to go for, winning a massive 82% of the 300 combats. Funny thing its the cheapest Magic Weapon available.

The Skull Plucker scored 82% as well, but against an enemy which is "Immune to Killing Blow" this is reduce to 64%. As mentioned in my original post the Tenderiser with out a Ward Save is not that impressive. With a Ward Save then the Tenderiser scores 85%, but I haven't the points on a Bruiser.

The most bizarre result is the Great Weapon coming last at 63%. Just goes to show, don't always take advice on Forums.

Painting Ogres Update

2009-07-11T09:13:00.003+01:00

All my 2500 points of Ogre Kingdoms miniatures are now fully painted, varnished and based! I did set myself a target of the 21st June (click here for post) to complete so only a few weeks out, and I have been away for a few weekends lately. Without setting myself this target I feel that I would have been way off completing.

Whilst the target was not fixed in stone, it did provide the motivation to get this army fully painted. We all need a little motivation from time to time. I will be posting pictures of the complete army over the next couple of days.

My next project will be to complete my Warriors of Chaos army to 2500 points, which currently stands at around 1300 points. Will need a Lord (probably a Daemon Prince), some Knights and Warhounds.

The Games Workshop Blog

2009-07-10T18:37:00.004+01:00

Games Workshop have started their own blog titled What's New Today @ Games Workshop.

Click the link below to subscribe.

http://feeds.games-workshop.com/TheGamesWorkshopBlogEN

Some of the recent articles posted...

Skyshield and Valkyries
Planetstrike Know Thy Foe
UK School League National Final
Warhammer 40,000 Scenery Focus
Planetstrike articles and a Phil Kelly army list

I will be keeping an eye on this blog, could have some very interesting insights in the hobby.

UK WFB Rankings

2009-07-09T18:14:00.008+01:00

The Bad Dice Podcast and Irresistible Force have joined forces to bring you the UK WFB Rankings.

Irresistible Force have been running the Australian rankings for a number of years and over the last few months The Bad Dice Podcast has been in talks with them to bring the UK Rankings up a to the same standard as the Australian system.

The way the rankings are worked out is the same as it was last year (it was the Irresistible Force system that we used last year) and are roughly based on the ATP Tennis ranking system.

To summarise, The system basically awards a nominal value for tournaments of a certain size and then gives descending amounts for each place below the first based on a fixed increment determined by the size of the field. A players best 4 scores are then used to ascertain his ranking score. No.1 will be the player with the highest score.

The full information about how it works can be found here

The rankings will be updated every time an event is submitted. The rankings show results from a rolling 12 month period, as a new event is submitted the previous years are moved into archives and do not count towards your score.

UK WFB Rankings

Will be interesting to see how close to the bottom I will be after my first tournament 'The Leicester Squiggle' in September.

Movement Trays

2009-07-06T11:27:00.002+01:00

I was going to order 16 pre-built resin movement trays for my Ogre Kingdoms army totalling £24.90 (which included £7.50 postage and packaging) from a company in the UK. The cart and checkout process on the web site didn't show the postage and packaging, until the very last stage, even after entered delivery details. This annoyed me, but when I saw the postage I decided to look elsewhere.

So I decided to opt for two packs of the Citadel Modular Movement Trays from Maelstom Games at £10.80 all in. Spent a day building the trays and applying sand for texture and I have saved myself over £14!

Just goes to show contrary to popular believe that sometimes Games Workshop products are cheaper. Especially when ordering from Maelstom Games.

2009 Resolutions Update

2009-07-05T22:38:00.007+01:00

At the beginning of the year I set myself some resolutions for the year. Click here to see the blog post. After six month this is how I have achieved.

Spend at least 30 minutes most evenings away from the television painting my miniatures.

Achieved; I spend most evenings away from the television painting my miniatures.

Complete the painting of my Ogre Kingdoms army to 2000 points.

Achieved; Only got to paint 2 Ogre Hunters to achieve 2500 points full painted.

Join a club and play more often against other people. At the moment only played against my son Tyler at home.

Not yet achieved; Haven't the time at the moment.

Expand my Warriors of Chaos army to 2000 points.

Not yet achieved; Been concentrating on my Ogre Kingdoms army.

Build a gaming table for home, with at least three fully painted scenery items.

Not yet achieved; Been concentrating on my Ogre Kingdoms army.

Complete the painting of my Warriors of Chaos army to 2000 points.

Not yet achieved; Been concentrating on my Ogre Kingdoms army.

Expand both Warriors of Chaos and Ogre Kingdoms armies to 2500+ points.

Not yet achieved; Expanded Ogre Kingdoms to 2500 points.

Play in at least one tournament.

Achieved; Signed up for the Leicester Squiggle tournament in September.

Keep this blog up to date.

Achieved; Nearly 100 posts in 6 months.

Hellenika Spartan 300 Girl

2009-06-27T09:18:00.009+01:00

I was doing a search of the web for Spartan miniatures and stumbled upon this beauty on ebay.

Its from Kabuki Models, click here for website. They seem to be a new company with a small range, I am very impressed.

This is a 35mm miniature from the 21st Century Pin-ups range, the model is sculpter by Gael Goumon and casted in finest white metal. It comes unassembled and unpainted. The model is painted by Angel Giraldez.

Other work from this company can be found on Cool Mini or Not click here for the website.

After spending a year painting Ogre Kingdom miniatures I wanted to paint a single figure and something completely different, this one will do very nicely.

I will post pictures when I have assembled and painted this miniature.

The Leicester Squiggle

2009-06-24T12:47:00.002+01:00

I have entered my first tournament the "The Leicester Squiggle" being held in Leicester and hosted by the Leicester S.Q.U.I.G gaming club on the 26th September. Its a one day, three game, 1999 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament.

I will be taking my Ogre Kingdoms, I just need to whittle down my existing 2500 points to 1999 points. The maximum number of tournament point available is 50, so I am giving myself a target of 17. I will probably end the tournament in last place, but with being a novice and using probably one of the weakest armies in the Warhammer world at the moment I will be happy with that.

The tournament is 14 weeks away so had better get some practice, haven't yet played a game this year (too busy painting, working). I will post a tournament report on how I got on after the tournament.

A link to the post on The Warhammer Form can be found here.

Fathers Days 2009

2009-06-21T10:05:00.008+01:00

My kids, with the help from my wife bought me some new brushes for Fathers day.

I had hinted that I quite liked the look of some Pure Kolinsky Sable brushes, from a company I found on the web Rosemary & Co Quality Artist Brushes.

Snippet taken from their website on these Pure Kolinsky Sable brushes...

This is the top grade of hair for holding capacity due to the perfect ‘belly’, excellent snap and spring. Selected and made by hand enabling the brushmaker to ‘feel’ the belly and thus form a brush head which is symmetrical and tapered to perfection. The high cost of the hair being the only major drawback (usually weight for weight three times the price of gold). Once used however the difference compared to others is well worth the difference in price. Consider Kolinsky Sable a long term investment. Personally as a brushmaker this is my absolute favourite hair to work with, indeed a privilege.

I will be using these brushes on my next project, which is probably going to be the Chaos Lord on Juggernaut, or some Chaos Knights.

These brushes look and feel excellent, I will post a review once I have used these.

Lord of the Rings - Mines or Moria

2009-06-20T23:25:00.007+01:00

I bought myself the Lord of the Rings Mines of Moria box set for my birthday back in 2007.

I wanted to include pictures of all my painted miniatures on this blog so have included these miniatures as well, still need to photograph the goblins.

May be one day I will get more involved with Lord of the Rings and the new War of the Ring games. But at the moment my focus is purely on my Warhammer Fantasy miniatures.

Lord of the Rings - Gandalf

2009-06-20T23:23:00.003+01:00

Gandalf

As explained in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf spent the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings travelling Middle-earth in search of information on Sauron's resurgence and Bilbo's mysterious ring, spurred particularly by Bilbo's initial misleading story of how he had obtained it as a "present" from Gollum. During this period he befriended Aragorn and first became suspicious of Saruman. He spent as much time as he could in the Shire, strengthening his friendship with Bilbo and Frodo, Bilbo's heir.

Lord of the Rings - Gimli

2009-06-20T23:21:00.003+01:00

Gimli

Gimli was introduced in the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, at the Council of Elrond Half-elven, which he attended together with his father to bring news of his home, Erebor (the Lonely Mountain). There they learned that Bilbo's kinsman Frodo now owned the One Ring, a Ring of Power forged and then lost by the Dark Lord Sauron. The Council decided to have it destroyed by casting it into the volcanic Mount Doom in Sauron's domain of Mordor. Frodo volunteered for the task, and Elrond chose eight people of varying races to aid him in his task — including Gimli. Thus, the Fellowship of the Ring was formed.

Lord of the Rings - Aragorn

2009-06-20T23:17:00.003+01:00

Aragorn

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn joined Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's adopted heir, and three of his friends at the Inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree. These four had set out from the Shire to bring the One Ring to Rivendell. Aragorn, going by the nickname Strider, was aged 87 at that time, nearing the prime of life for one of royal Númenórean descent. With Aragorn's help the Hobbits escaped the pursuing Nazgûl and reached Rivendell. There, Aragorn was chosen to join the Fellowship of the Ring that was formed to guard Frodo, who was charged with destroying the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. Besides Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo, the company included Frodo's cousins Pippin and Merry, Frodo's faithful gardener Samwise Gamgee, Legolas the Elf, Gimli the Dwarf, and Boromir of Gondor. Before the group set out, the shards of Narsil were reforged, and the restored blade was named Andúril.

Lord of the Rings - Boromir

2009-06-20T23:15:00.003+01:00

Boromir

Boromir first appears in The Lord of the Rings arriving at Rivendell just as the Council of Elrond was commencing. There he tells of Gondor's attempts to keep the power of Mordor at bay. He attempted to persuade the Council to let him take the One Ring to Gondor so that it could be used in the defence of the realm, but he was told that it could not be used without corrupting its user and alerting Sauron to its presence. He accepted this for the moment, and pledged as part of the Fellowship of the Ring to keep Frodo safe.

Lord of the Rings - Legolas

2009-06-20T23:11:00.004+01:00

Legolas

Legolas was introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring, at the council of Elrond of Rivendell, where he came as a messenger from his father to discuss the escape of Gollum from their guard. Legolas was chosen to be a member of the Fellowship that intended to destroy the One Ring. He accompanied the other members in their travels from Rivendell to Amon Hen, serving as the group's archer.

Lord of the Rings - Sam

2009-06-20T23:03:00.005+01:00

Sam (Samwise Gamgee)

Samwise Gamgee is first introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring. Sam is Frodo Baggins' gardener, having inherited the position as Bag End's gardener from his father, Hamfast "Gaffer" Gamgee. At the time of the War of the Ring, Sam was living in Number 3, Bagshot Row with his father.

Lord of the Rings - Pippin

2009-06-20T23:01:00.004+01:00

Pippin (Peregrin Took)

Pippin was the only hobbit who had not yet reached his 'coming of age' when the Fellowship set out (being eight years younger than Merry, while Frodo himself was 50 years of age) and was therefore still in his 'tweens'. He was a worthy accomplice to Merry's plans, but showed his youth as well; he was still a cheerful, if occasionally thoughtless Hobbit, and was first to miss the comforts of Hobbit life. At Rivendell, Elrond almost denied Pippin the chance to accompany Frodo, nearly deciding to send Pippin and Merry as messengers to the Shire. Gandalf, however, supported his and Merry's claims of friendship and loyalty, and they were chosen as the last members of the Fellowship.

Lord of the Rings - Merry

2009-06-20T22:58:00.004+01:00

Merry (Meriadoc Brandybuck)

In The Lord of the Rings, Merry was often considered, and was described by Tolkien as, the most perceptive and intelligent of the hobbits: for example, even before Bilbo Baggins left The Shire, he knew of the One Ring and its power of invisibility. He guarded Bag End after Bilbo's party, protecting Frodo from the various and often unwanted guests. He has a knowing manner and a teasing sense of humour so obviously innocent and well-meaning that they are impossible to resent. (In one incident, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins accuses Frodo of being a Brandybuck and no true Baggins; Merry assures Frodo "It was a compliment; and so, of course, not true".)