My 2009 Resolutions Complete ?

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 ?

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 ?

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

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

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

Tyrant