A Walk Down the Village Street

After a medium long break from house building, I have finally finished the first of my new style Games Workshop scale houses. This one was based on a house from the amazing Pardulon website. If only I could afford it I would snap up all of their stuff! It's been an arduous process building my own but I'm glad now it's done.

And now my son Horatio has recaptured the house building bug! He's working on a new house for me and this has prompted me to go out and buy materials to finish the market hall I've been doing and maybe start another house similar to this one!

Reorganisation

So after a quick shuffle I've streamlined the look of the home page here and moved the campaign map onto its own page.

Now, in concert with How the Campaign Works we should have a much better overview of how everything fits together.

I've put both the current map AND the blank map not showing any armies on it. This second one gives a chance to see what the terrain in really like in the border princes. I've also put a key for all the different types of army moving around. Hopefully it should now be clear.

I'm back!

After one of the worst flus I've ever had I am now back in front of the computer with some nice pictures of my newly finished Empire army.

It adds up to 1647 points (which is a nice size for a good sized game) and though I have more unpainted guys it is now in a fully playable position.

The first new unit is this unit of Greatswords, which you may notice is combined with those Sisters of Sigmar I decided to conscript the other week. Rather than have two ten-man squads I thought I'd try them out together and they look pretty good (if I do say so myself). I also whacked my Battle Standard Bearer in there.

Next up I finished a unit of Swordsmen. With this second block of infantry I'm now in a good position to hold the line once the enemy closes with my ranks.

If you look closely in the front rank you'll spot this guy.

He's a Scibor ministure I'm using as a Warrior Priest that I particularly like.

The great thing about my Empire (ahem) New Sylvanian force is that I have three discreet sets of charactres to lead it, creating three distinct themed armies with variations in between.

1. All non magical characters
2. All Warrior Priests
3. All Wizards.

The basic army I plan to play with next actually combines 1 and 3. The benefit of having different themes in my campaign is that each can represent a different army on the map.

I can't wait to give them a go!

Just have to wait for my wife to recover from the flu now...

Tactica: Challenges

This post has been updated here.

 

Just some of my brief ruminations on how to deal with challenges in Warhammer...

Let’s think about the different situations:

·         Your character is better than my character.

o   I accept with my champion (or challenge myself using him).

§  You kick his ass and get +5 overkill but rather than real wounds on the unit, those are virtual wounds that only affect the combat resolution. I’ve limited the number of wounds he can do to 5 plus my wounds and my guys are still alive.

o   CONCLUSION: Do challenge with champion

·         The characters are evenlyish matched.

o   I accept the challenge (or make my own).

§  It’s a cool fight that improves the narrative. Excess wounds aren’t wasted because if you’d not challenged and just allocated your attacks against the character then they wouldn’t be used for Overkill.

o   I accept the challenge/challenge myself with a unit champion?

§  You kick his ass while my character does more wounds against the unit. You get good overkill while I get good real wounds. I lose one guy, you lose several guys. We both do the same amount of wounds (all things being equal) but you’ve lost more men. I can still allocate an attack or two against the champion.

o   CONCLUSION: Do challenge with champion

·         My character is better than your character

o   If I challenge then you might take challenge with champion, putting me in a bad position

o   If you accept with a character I kick his ass and get overkill but could I have killed more unit guys?

o   CONCLUSION: ???

·         I challenge with a uber character on a monster.

o   You accept the challenge with champion or character.

§  I kick his ass and get overkill. Your unit can’t fight back. I win.

o   You don’t accept with character. I kick unit’s ass and you do minimal damage back. Your character is wasted.

o   You don’t accept with champion. Your character and unit can do a fair amount of damage.

o   CONCLUSION: Always challenge with monster characters and hope they don’t know retiring champion trick.

·         You attack me with an uber monster character.

o   I accept the challenge with good character and maybe do a few wounds before dying. But probably die first. You get good combat result. My unit can’t attack.

o   I accept with my champion. You kick his ass worse. My unit and good character can’t attack.

o   I refuse the challenge with my champion.

o   My character and unit can still fight as normal.

o   CONCLUSION: Refuse challenge and retire champion.

The top tip here is to kill the monster as priority. However good their character is, removing their transportation will limit the damage they can do to the rest of the army. Further, mounts tend to have less armour.

OVERALL CONCLUSION: Always take a unit champion and use him wisely.

On The Painting Table: The Flying Carpet Guy!

Okay. Now how cool is this model?

As far as I know he's a very old Games Workshop model. I'm going to be using him as a wizard in my Empire army. However I'm also considering using the rules for him to be found in the excellent Araby army book on Battle Battle Reporter Forum  (they have loads of amazing army lists for obscure Warhammer races).

They have a nice little spell lore of the desert (which would be nice and characterful). I might even add in a couple of allied Araby units like Djinn or something in the long run!

A Humble Retraction

I would like to retract the unkind comments I made regarding my good friend Mike’s sportsmanship during the battle report “Massacre in the Valley of the Skulls.”

He didn’t selfishly push forward toward anything. Nor was he viciously amoral or weak minded. Nor did he have a desperate and cowardly need for glory. His need for glory was very healthy and well-balanced.

He did have a voracious appetite to inflict suffering but it was directed at my ogres and not at me as a player.

I find Mike to be a kind and generous young man with a gentle heart and an unparalleled skill on the gaming board. He is also a snappy dresser and an excellent miniatures painter. Just look at the cloaks on these Chaos Warriors!

Once again, I’m sorry Mike. You’re a wonderful, wonderful man.

Massacre in the Valley of the Skulls

Daemons and Warriors of Chaos (Mike) vs Ogres (Tim) 

With their north eastern front collapsing to the onslaught of the Tempestrians, the Ogres were in dire need. All available reserves needed to be funnelled eastward to combat this threat before their lands were overrun.

But they were also assailed to the south and the west with encroaching Dwarfen and Chaos forces and a quarter of their army had been committed against the approaching Chaos horde. The Ogres only hope was to quickly despatch the Daemons then remanoeuvre into position to engage the knights.

The Valley of the Skulls was a terrifying place. Cracks in the earth spewed roiling pools of boiling blood and in the turmoil, gigantic gore-soaked skulls gaped up at the black sky. At the head of the valley, a pair of gargantuan skulls rose from the lakes there, sinister magic throbbing within them and poisonous vapour seeping from their pulsing hate-filled eyes.

But the Ogres knew no fear as the chittering, baying hordes of Daemons clambered toward them. They formed a battle line and advanced, but the bubbling skull pools hemmed them in, making free movement impossible. The Tyrant leader held, trying to lure the Daemons into the narrow channels but they halted, unmoving, hurling torrents of flame into the Ogres. There was no choice but to move forward so they raised the blunt-edged swords and began the bull charge.

Their charge was not fast enough. The Daemons surged forward at the last second, catching them in their flight, striking hard and fast and the Ogre units were snarled up in the narrow gaps preventing them bringing their full force to bear.

A Herald of Khorne riding the back of a Juggernaut called out a challenge to the Ogre Tyrant and he accepted but before he could strike a single devastating blow (that surely would have easily defeated his opponent and carrying him on toward a glorious win) the Herald committed what to all intents and purposes was an impossible assault. Breaking all the laws of probability and physics, the Herald swung his mighty sword and clipped the Tyrant’s head from his shoulders in a single killing blow. There was no way it could have or should have happened but it did.

The Daemons had spontaneously materialised in the Border Princes when Nagash brought the warpstone meteors down but now elite Warriors of Chaos marched alongside them, drawn to the carnage and ascendency of the dark gods. They charged into the Ogre Ironguts and despite the great strengths of the monsters they were hacked down, driven off and run down. Once again the Ogre army was disintegrating!

The spectre of the Ogre Tyrant manifested itself, haunting its place of decapitation, taunting the daemons; demanding to know how they had managed to break the rules of combat and even now selfishly pushed forward toward domination. But his words meant little. The Daemons cared nothing for sportsmanship or morality. They cared only about their vicious amorality; their desperate and cowardly need for glory and their weak-minded and voracious appetite to inflict suffering on their opponent.

In minutes every Ogre in the Valley of the Skulls was hacked to pieces. None remained to contest ownership of that realm. The Daemons had won their first victory and the Ogres grip on their kingdom was slipping further and further away.

I Just Remembered a Rule!!!

How many times have I played a game of Warhammer, only to remember a rule after it is too late!

Like when my Skaven Screaming Bell "failed a break test" and fled, getting run down. It was weeks later I realised it was unbreakable!!!!

So I played a game tonight with my good friend Mike where a foolish ignorant mistake on my part led to a combination of good-natured ribbing and enraged imagined head-butting.

Killing Blows do not affect Monstrous Infantry. Unfortunately I didn't realise this when they were applied, in a challenge, to my Ogre Tyrant. Over the rest of that combat I later worked out I would have done a whopping twenty one wounds had I read the rulebook properly.

Boy have I learned my lesson!

I hope...

Mike and I also learned a valuable lesson about supporting attacks from second rank models being limited to one attack per model. The amazing success of his Plague Censer Bearers in our last game can be knocked up to that one.

Not that I'm bitter. Oh no!

Well... maybe a little.

Alright, a lot.

So, to remind myself:

• Killing Blow doesn't kill Monstrous Infantry!
• Second rank models only get one attack!
• Don't forget fear checks!
• And don't forget stomp attacks!

And maybe I won't get my ass kicked quite so badly in future!

Massacre in the Northern Pass

Ogres (Tim) vs Tempestrians (Gill)

On the northern border of Tempest Falls, the war against the ogres was raging, but reinforcements were funnelling up from the capital and if the ogre front collapsed then the knights would sweep through their mountain realm, capturing ground freely and wiping them out.

And all of this was in line with the dark plan of Nagash and Methuselah, manipulating the pure-hearted knights to open up the route of the undead into the Empire.

The ogres were not about to relinquish their domain however. Waiting until the Tempestrians moved into one of the broad mountain passes, King Maw raised his mighty hammer and bellowed a challenge to all his warriors. A dozen knight heads from each of them and they’d dine on canned food that night!

The ogres charged, roaring in defiance at the elite warriors of the Tempestrians but the knights calmly manoeuvred their lance formations into positions and signalled the archers to take aim. They waited until the Ogres were in position and let rip. The arrows drilled Ogre flesh, bringing down half a dozen right away. The catapult flung massive boulders into the Ogre ranks, crushing a dozen more.

Then the knights charged, catching the depleted Ogres on thrusting lance-tips and impaling them. The Ogre Butcher tried to conjure magic to bolster their strength and toughness but a unit of questing knights hacked him into pieces with their great weapons as he struggled to form the garbled syllables of his spells.

In scant minutes the entire Ogre force wasn’t fleeing. It was utterly obliterated. And the knights of Tempest Falls were all but unhurt.

Half of the Ogre front line had been massacred; completely devastated, leaving the northeast part of their realm completely undefended. If the coming battle at Old Dwarf Bridge ended in the same way – and all indications said that it would – the Ogres were close to being finished.

On the Painting Table: Dwarf Thane & Battle Standard Bearer

Just a litle view of my attempt to make my Dwarf army more compliant. Up until now I haven't had a second Thane and a Battle Standard Bearer is fairly crucial in the new Warhammer rules.

A Trip to the Lake District

A while ago I started work on a major scenery project. I haven't quite finished it but I've now acheived my initial target.

Just before Halloween I bought two gigantic skulls that glow and issue mist from their eyes (how cool is that?). This got me off my fat idle arse enough to build the first stage of my Valley of the Skulls. But the big skulls needed a waterproof base to stand on. Hence my lakes. The smaller ones are built on cardboard but these two big beauties are actually covered in plastic tablecloth material!

That's an Ogre Tyrant for scale.

Now all that was left was to add the skulls and sit back to enjoy it all.

Here was can see the full extent of my skull-inspired terrain and associated water features.

Not as much mist comes out as I'd have hoped but there is a lot of mist inside the skulls and lit up it looks amazing!

The Last Moves of Turn One!

At last, the final moves of the end-turn Strategic Movement Phase have been completed... with some surprises.

First the Tempestrians: three armies forging north to open the way for supplies from the Empire and wipe out the Ogres and four south, three to seal the doom of the Vampire Counts, applying furth pressure to that inflicted by the Skaven; and one to open the route down the Old Silk Road to Malko.

Now, finally, precious supplies can reach the beleaguered capital of New Sylvania, strengthening their armies. And also a message for Marcus von Drak, the Hero of the New Sylvanian people...

The Tempestrians had seen his lost Runefang, wielded by Rebecca, the Vampire Countess! Now, finally, he knew where it was.

Meanwhile, far to the northwest, the Dwarfen realms are being invaded by a new but ancient enemy: Wood Elves! But rather than act predictably, the Dwarfs have done the opposite. Instead of sending all their forces to meet the treat, they have left a goodly portion in Karak Hirn to defend its hallowed halls. And meanwhile, the eastern garrison have abandoned their fortifications and struck west, capturing Ogre territory and reopening Black Fire Pass.

Now two ways lie open to the Empire for men and supplies to be sent south. The way is open between Tempest Falls and New Sylvania as old allies reunite. And the Tempestrians look set to steamroll their way across the land to both north and south in their verve to fight for their glory and their honour.

Turn one is over. It is time for turn two!

On the Painting Table: Empire & Skaven Characters, Sisters of Sigmar and Spiders!

Just a selection of the ongoing projects I've been working on this week...

Click on the image to enlarge it.

A Goth Sorceress from Reaper Miniatures I'm using as an Empire Wizard.

My new Empire Battle Standard Bearer and a Skaven Warlock Engineer



A new use for my Mordheim Sisters of Sigmar! As an Empire unit!

And yet more spiders! That's two fifty strong units - using the rules for Night Goblins with spears and nets (evil laughter). 



The Tempestrians: A New History

If you look to the right you will see that a new page has been added detailing the complete history of the Tempestrians (my Bretonnian army) and the Orcs of Gaping Jaw.

I actually started this well over a month ago and it just kept growing in scope, incorporating elements of an old roleplaying campaign as well as a lot of other stuff. The characters carried it away somewhat. I'd be eager to hear what anyone thinks if you'd like to post a comment...

Strategic Movement

The armies are moving ever quickly, each trying to strategically outmanoeuvre its neighbours...

The forces of Chaos have moved north into an Ogre-controlled region, expanding their realm despite the encircling Wood Elf armies. And a second chaos army has appeared spontaneously from the warp in the northern provinces of the Barrow King realm, throwing the Barrow King  plan into disarray and apparently breaking the treaty between Nagash and their daemonic masters.

The Men of New Sylvania, facing very difficult decisions have moved in two directions. They have attacked once more the Skaven force they fought within the Sleeping Woods, pinning them in place to prevent their reaching Spikehole quickly enough to defend it from the closing undead. More precariously, the New Sylvanians chose not to withdraw to Aldium, instead risking a frontal assault on the Barrow Kings north of there. This move would expand their realms but risked the loss of the town to the living dead.

Almost completely pinned, the only Skaven army that could risk movement was the force that had recently taken Fortress Malefic. Knowing the Vampire Counts would be racing south to retake their realm and conscious of the joint threat against their own capital, they have struck north to Blood River, pinning the vampires there.

Next come the Ogres, marching stolidly southeast toward the castle kingdom of Tempest Falls, strongest of the realms in the Border Princes. Each step they take captures ground held by the Tempestrians and the knights are brought to battle on the banks of the Upper Thunder River. The incursion of Chaos into their realm does not go unnoticed however. The Ogres do not take kindly to this and strike southward to eliminate them immediately.

The Wood Elves, spiteful, hateful creatures that they are, have two objectives. The first: the cleanse the forest of the foul taint of chaos; and second: to eradicate their ancient enemies, the Dwarfs. They strike west, into the lands of the Dwarfs; the build up to a major offensive at their home. And if the Orcs come in the way, well...

In a highly precarious position, the Vampire Counts have acted both defensively and offensively. Moving east into the Iron Claw Orc Camp, a special map section, they will hopefully hold on to that important area and at the same time, possibly be able to provide support for two adjacent battles. Meanwhile, they strike at last at Spikehole, the Skaven capital.

Moving up to support the Vampire Count assault on Spikehole, the Barrow Kings continue their plan to capture all the land south of the Old Silk Road. With their forces already pinned in two places, they are left with only limited manoeuvrability, but what they have they take advantage of. The Barrow Kings attack the new source of Chaos in their realm and perhaps most tragically, invade the peaceful town of Aldium, taking it for their own.

Now, only the Tempestrians and the Dwarfs remain to move. When that happens, the first campaign turn will be over and the battles will commence!

The Orcs have Moved!

Seizing the inititative, the Orc and Goblin armies have moved first, taking the red-lined special realm of Tor Anrok. This will count as two realms if they can hold onto it, while depriving the Dwarfs of two. Fearing Dwarfen reprisal they've struck north, locking a Dwarf army in place.

Wary of losing control to their south, an army of Orcs has taken up station close to their border to protect against the Barrow Kings while further south, basking in their recently won glory, the Goblins have neglected their Skaven allies and pushed onwards into Barrow King territory, locking an undead army on the Blood River bridge.

Whether to lock the Vampire Counts poised next to the Skaven capital was a bit of a moral dilemma but hey! They're Orcs! They do what they want!

Whether the Skaven will see it that way is another matter...

End of Turn One!

The first web-published campaign turn in the Last Chance War has now come to an end with some shocking results! This is how the map now looks.

• The Barrow Kings and Tempestrians are doing best with large tracts of land claimed while weaker realms like the New Sylvanians and Chaos Daemons have only small holdings. 
• Previous underdogs, the Skaven and Ogres have bitten back nad proven themselves surprisingly resilient.
• The Vampire Counts have lost their capital and are now at risk of being wiped out but they hover close to the Skaven capital, ready to strike.
• The Dwarfen realm is expanding in the north east, hammering the Orcs & Goblins against the anvil of the Barrow Kings.
• The capricious Wood Elves control much of the north but must eliminate the chaos infection in the midst of Bloodroot Forest.
• If the Tempestrians strike quickly then they may be able to snap up the lands controlled by the Vampire Counts, but to do so will leave their New Sylvanian allies at risk.
• The Men of New Sylvania are in a very precarious position and must tread carefully lest they be exterminated.

So far the victories and losses have panned out like this:

As far as the different players are concerned, it looks like this:

(Although to be fair, Joao has only played one game)

The armies will soon move. I have already determined the order of movement:

1. Orcs & Goblins
2. Chaos
3. New Sylvania
4. Skaven
5. Ogres
6. Wood Elves
7. Vampire Counts
8. Barrow Kings
9. Tempestrians
10. Dwarfs

 This strategic movement will determine the match-ups for the coming campaign turn.

Let's see how it develops...

Winter’s Bitter Grip

Tim (Goblins) vs Gill (Barrow Kings)

As the war continued in the north and east, the relentless advance of the Barrow Kings in the southwest continued almost uncontested. Few of their forces had been brought to arms and now the Barrow Kings were beginning to enact their most diabolical plan.

Of all the forces involved in the Last Chance War, the Barrow Kings were in perhaps the most secure position. Their western and southern flanks were completely unassailed. To their north, the Orcs were caught up in warfare with the Dwarfs. To the northeast lay the weak and largely defenceless realm of New Sylvania; and to the east, they and the Vampire Counts had the Skaven in a closing fist.

If the Barrow Kings could eliminate all opposition south of the Old Silk Road, creating an unbroken link with their undead allies, there would be nothing to stop them sweeping north. To achieve this, the New Sylvanians and Skaven needed to be wiped out but before that could achieved, the Skaven’s allies, a colony of filthy goblins lurking in the south woodlands, needed to be eradicated.

Autumn had come to a close and winter was now here, and with it, the first snows! In a sudden blizzard, the flatlands south of the Sleeping Woods were covered in an unbroken blanket of white. But this didn’t stop the Barrow Kings. They had no sense for the cold and strode purposefully through it. Up ahead the Goblins massed, waiting on either side of the fast flowing Blood River. And there was things in the midst of the Goblin army that had never been seen before: giant spiders! There were hordes of spiders the size of dogs and more the size of horses, forest goblins from the Sleeping Woods on their back. And in the centre of the waiting ranks was the Spider King, a diminutive but powerful Forest Goblin on the back of a gigantic spider!

The battle lines approached one another but before they could come into contact a series of explosions sounded as huge chaos=spawned meteorites from the dark moon of Morslieb crashed into the snow-packed earth.

Unheeding of the danger the forces came into conflict but it was immediately clear that the river was their biggest adversary. Come up on either side of its banks, both armies had their forces split and both were split unevenly. On each side of the river either the goblins overran their skeletal foes or the undead wiped out the greenskins. It was all going to come down to which side of the river fell first but even though the barrow Kings managed to destroy the forces on one side of the river, by the time they had forded the fast moving current, many of their force had been swept away.

The magic of Phallicbone, the Great Orc Shaman accompanying the Goblins pulverised his enemies and then, at the pivotal moment, reached out and crushed the Liche High Priest who controlled the undead horde.

After that the battle was lost for the Barrow Kings. The Goblins closed on their ranks but their skeletal bodies were already clattering lifeless into the ever-deepening snows.

The Barrow King’s gambit had failed. The fate of the southern Border Princes, and with it the entire Old World, remained undecided.

Great Lakes

So getting motivated to do my Valley of the Skulls I decided I also had to create lakes big enough to house the gigantic smoke-emitting skulls I haven't yet completed. However in the process I thought I might as well produce some smaller lakes and ponds (and repaint the one I'd made already).

The idea of the smaller ponds is so that they are small enough to look pretty and provide some tactical advantage but not big enough to cause too many traffic jams.

You can imagine a unit of archers deploying behind a pond to deter chargers or some skirmishers hiding from missile fire by lurking up to their noses in the shallows.

And they look pretty nice.

I decided in the end to go with a greenish tint rather than the traditional blue and I think I made the right choice. And they can double up as marshes if required!

The process of creation (if you're interested) was as follows:

1. Cut a piece of stiff card into a pleasing shape.
2. Mic up some powdered all-purpose filler.
3. Make a little mound round the edge of each pond.
4. When dry, spray black.
5. Paint the water Catachan (dark) Green.
6. Ink near to the edges with Badab Black ink.
7. Feather this gently towards the middle, fading it slowly out.
8. Higlight the middle of the pond outwards with Catachan Green again.
9. Highlight from the middle (but not as far) with Knarloc (mid) Green.
10. Highlight again with Camo (light) Green.
11. All highlighting should be gentle and feathered, blending into the layer below.
12. Varnish with yacht varnish