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