Speed Painting: Warrior Priest

I wanted to get models painted quickly this week in order to use them in a game of Pathfinder this weekend.  While I could come up with models for a rogue (Dark Elf Assassin), ranger (Wood Elf Glade Guard Champion), and fighter (barbarian model I once painted), I didn't really have anything for a human cleric or wizard. 

I ended up digging a warrior priest out of my bits box.  I have no idea where he came from or why I have him, although I most likely won him somewhere as a door prize or something similar.  Regardless, he was assembled and primed and sitting in the box, so he was ready to go. 

I spent about an hour painting him up, and am decently proud of the white robes, especially at speed. 

Brawler Bash IV - Day One

After Brawler Bash, I scribbled down my thoughts about my games so that I could copy them here.  Now that I have the chance, I'll attempt to read my chicken scratch and give some short battle reports. 

Game One

My first game was against Jerry, who I played and lost to in the final game of last year's Bash.  I was hoping to even the score.  Jerry's Empire army was very cool and well done, with a Sigmarite Zeppelin representing a Hero on Pegasus, and every model having individual colors and heraldry.  He had (roughly):

Arch Lector on War Altar
Level 4 Shadow Mage on Foot (in a unit of Swordsmen)
BSB Captain and War Priest in a unit of ten Knights
Captain on Pegasus
3-4 Big Blocks of Swordsmen
A Horde of 40 Halberdiers. 
2 Cannons, a Hellblaster, A Mortar, and a Steamtank.

Our mission was Dawn Attack.  Jerry's game was a story of bad luck, whereas I couldn't roll badly.  He deployed a coupld warmachines and his big troop blocks in the center, with a Steamtank and Zeppelin on one side and his Knights and Altar with his other Warmachines on the other.  I countered by covering one corner opposite his Steam Tank with almost my entire army, with one Razorgor opposite his Knights and Warmachines on the other side of the board.

On my first turn, my Level 4 pulled off a Purple Sun, which went 30 inches and destroyed his Steam Tank.  Meanwhile, my Razorgor opposite his Knights moved up the board to threaten his war machines.  Jerry took the bait, and used his Knights to block the Razorgor on his turn.  He moved up a bit and shot a bit, but nothing major occurred.  On my second turn, my Level 4 again hit a 30 inch Purple Sun after my Shadow mages lowered his War Altar's initiative, and the Altar was destroyed.  The Sun also clipped his Level 4 Mage, which failed her Look Out, Sir! check and died as well.  At this point, my Razorgors had also gotten into his war machines.  There was a little more shooting, but Jerry's dice continued to desert him, and between my magic and my Bestigors, I took his Knights and remaining characters down.  In the end, Jerry's Horde failed a stubborn check after losing combat to my Bestigors, and fled off the table.  At that point, he called the game. 

Jerry was a great opponent again this year, and went on to win his other four games and finish 5th overall for the tournament. 

Game Two

My second game was against Jason, who had his Daemons.  The scenario was a modified Watchtower, in which the watchtower itself was replaced by a hill.  Units touching the very center of the hill became stubborn, and whoever controlled the hill at the end of the game won the entire game.  Jason had:

Greater Daemon of Tzeentch with Lore of Tzeentch
Herald of Tzeentch with Lore of Life
2 Units of 35 Bloodthirsters
Two Small Units of Screamers
A Unit of Furies
Six Bloodcrushers

Jason won the game in the first turn, by winning the roll to go first and marching both units of Bloodletters onto the hill.  One unit became stubborn, and if that unit was destroyed the other unit would be the closest to the hill's center and become stubborn int it's place.  This was a masterful move on his part, and meant that destroying his entire army was really the only way I could have a shot at winning the game.  I grinded the Bloodletters, but couldn't kill them off by the end of Turn Six. 

This was my second time playing Jason, and he is a great player and a ton of fun to play against.  The scenario was a bit rough on me, but I look forward to our next game.  Jason went on to win Best General at the Bash and place second overall. 

Game Three

Michael was my third round opponent, and had flown up from Texas to attend the Bash and visit our mutual friend Lance.  He borrowed Lance's Empire for the tournament, although his normal army was Skaven.  We played the Blood and Glory scenario, and the matchup did not favor him.  He had:

A War Altar
2 Level Twos
Swordsman and Halberd Blocks
Several War Machines
A Steam Tank

Michael started with six Fortitude.  I have trouble remembering his exact list, as our game was very short.  There was minor shooting on his part at my large (45) Gor block, but my Level 4 quickly sniped his General off the War Altar.  I then plowed my Chariot, Razorgors, and a unit of Bestigor into one of his smaller units with a standard, and ran them off the table.  Because of Blood and Glory, his army then broke automatically, giving me the big win.  Michael was very gracious and a great opponent, even when things went against him that quickly. 

Beastman Herdstone Unit Fillers

Because Bestigors are really, really expensive.  Seriously, Eighth Edition made big blocks of infantry awesome, and that's been a lot of fun, but the cost of armies has gone way up along at the same time.  A block of thirty Bestigors is about $120 U.S. at retail.   I use a couple of these "herdstones" in each unit to fill the unit out, without breaking the bank.

The stones themselves were easy to make.  I took some oven-bake clay from the local craft store, and molded the shape out.  After they baked, I painted them in stone colors, and then put a little dab of bloody rune on each one.  They're on fifty millimeter bases, so each represents four Bestigors in a unit.  I  space them out in the second-fourth ranks, and they fit in really well.

I will most likely do something like this for all future armies, like flagellants dragging a shrine, etc.  It saves me some money, and adds a little something extra to the army, so everyone wins!

The Battle of Five (or More) Warhammer Armies

So I've written up a scenario that we'll hopefully be playing here in the next few months.  I like to watch this for inspiration:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y30LAj502mY



___________________________________________________________________________

Scenario:  The Battle of the Five (or more) Warhammer Armies

Players:  Five (or more).  Fluffwise, these consist of two or more forces of order armies, Skaven, Beastmen, Lizardmen, and Orcs.  Feel free to swap out armies if convenient.

Points:  2,500 points outer (evil) army.  3,000 points per (center table) army.  These points should adjust to provide some semblance of balance (at about a 10:6 ratio), although evil should always outnumber good.

Deployment:  The center table defenders deploy anywhere on the center table.  The outer table attackers deploy within 12” of their outer board edges. 

First Turn:  Defenders go first

Game Length:  The Game will last for six turns, or until a time limit is reached.

Victory Conditions:  Each player has secret conditions. 

Scenario Special Rules:  Lots!  Coming Soon!

Map:   

Fluff: 

Bobo was scared.  He’d stolen the Ring from the scary dragon, Flogg, just like the old Sorcerer Randalf had asked him to do, but ever since then, things had gone horribly wrong.  Randalf and the Dwarfs that were supposed to protect him were drunk, Flog the Dragon was pissed, and Bobo’s pants were sopping wet down the front. 

“No worries, Bobo”, grinned Randalf, “I’ve got this here horn, and I’ll blow on it to summon some allies to help us out.  Pretty soon, we’ll be up to our arses in archers and eagles”. 

Randalf whipped out his horn and went to blow.  Unfortunately, his mouth was still filled with “pipeweed” smoke, and a hacking cough struck him just as he sounded the horn.  The resulting note sounded something like a cross between a startled sheep and a wet fart.

Beastlord (or Beastlady, as she preferred) Gortia Gorson led her herd through the woods around Mount Boom carefully.  No longer satisfied with petty loot and plunder, Gortia had become a militant anti-man zealot after a late night jam session with her Gor-crush Malagor at the Herd Stone last Boxing Day.  She was on the lookout for any settlements to defile, loot, and hopefully poop on. 

Randalf’s “note” sounded in the air.  To all the Beastmen, it sounded like the world’s most awesome Bray-Horn.  Gortia smiled and turned to address her herd.   

“Let’s get moving, boys!  There’s more Beasts ahead!

Randalf looked down at the horn and frowned.  Whatever note he had blown, it hadn’t summoned much help.  Bobo looked even more terrified, and several Dwarfs looked ready to sick up. 

“Ah ha!”, exclaimed Randalf, “I’ve got the ticket!  What I’ll do is jazz up the next note with a little Razzle Dazzle Magic ™.”  He sniffed at the Winds of Magic.  They seemed pretty ripe!

Glowing with power, Randalf blew into the horn.  On the plus side, the horn blew a perfect, beautiful note.  On the down side, Randalf exploded.

When the smoke cleared, Bobo and the Dwarfs found Randalf stunned on the ground.  “Well”, groaned Randalf, “I sounded the horn with Irresistible Force.  Unfortunately, that’s also a miscast in this edition”. 

To the east, the Eagles and their Wood Elf friends heard Randalf’s call, and took to the air immediately to go to his aid.  The majestically soared over the trees, true friends and allies to Randalf’s cause.  Sadly, as they flew, the air around them grew hot and then exploded in a white hot burning ball of unnatural miscasted Strength Ten D6 Wound Ouchies.  When the light cleared, only a few eagles remained, and the green fields and trees below had been replaced with a squalid swamp and unnatural temple.  Lizardy eyes glared up at the eagles.

“What. The. Croak.”, snapped the High Slann Slippimus Prime.  “I don’t know what jerk mage summoned us up on accident, but we’re going to follow those feather Pteradons up there and kick his butt”. 

Meanwhile, up in “Da Hills”:

“Boss, we’ve been after these Stunties for days”, complained a Big’Un, “When are we gonna bash sum heads?”

General Bork gave his troops the stinkiest eye an Orc can give. 

“Shut it up, you lot!”  He chopped a nearby Gobbo in half in irritation. “We’ve almost caught ‘em.  I can feel it.  Plus, listen to dat racket down there near the mountain. We’ll smash ‘em up good, and Gork’ll be proud.  Chargelzors!”

The woods were rustling, there was a new swamp to the east, the sounds of a Waaaagh could be heard from the hills, and most of the Eagles were BBQ.   Even Randalf looked worried. 

The only place left to look for help was to the west, in the small settlement of Durham nearby.  Randalf tooted despondently on the horn again, hoping to summon some men, at least.  Amazingly, he saw men approaching!  Unfortunately, they looked like they were in bad shape. 

One of them screamed, “We’ve been swarmed by rats!” and fainted dead away.  Bobo peed in his pants a little more. 

In Durham, Gray Seer Burns stroked his whiskers.  “Exxxxcelent!”, he hissed.

The plan to take Durham had gone well, using only some cheese, a Pied Piper, and twelve cucumbers.  His alliance with the Vampires was underway…for now…and no man-thing remained in the town.  Burns could now launch his raid on Mount Boom, and steal all of its magical artifacts.  Enough Slaves could take down a dragon, and no other inconveniences could stand in his way.  Mounting his Bell, Burns screamed to the sky.

“Rat-ulators!  Mount up!”

All around the Dwarfs, things were going badly.  Nowhere seemed safe, and the Dragon was coming out from the mountain.  They had some guns, and some knights, and quite a few peasants, but they were completely surrounded!

Bobo had to get out of here!   His hand crept towards the Ring….

The Ally Matrix?

Apparently, the Eighth edition has an ally matrix in it for people teaming up in games.  They've developed forces of order and destruction, with a couple neutral armies in the middle.  Now, I'm all for team games of Warhammer, but I'm not sure that it really needed official rules on who can team up and who can't. 

Warhammer has always been a rich, varied universe in both versions.  Lumping armies together into "the good guys" vs. "the bad guys" ignores the fundamental idea that everyone is more or less at odds all of the time.  Even then, some allies don't make sense.  Dwarfs and Wood Elves?  Lizardmen and Empire? Beastmen and Skaven? Sure, you could justify these, and I think you should play them if you want to, but is it really any easier than just playing what you wanted in the first place, without a matrix to limit things? 

Good ally rules will be a plus, though, so outside the matrix, I am really looking forward to seeing what GW has in store there!

What's Your Local Meta?

 

It's my belief (and a not too controversial one) that the way we play is shaped by the players around us.  While there are many aspects to this, one of the most basic things we can look at are the armies around us.  While planning for a local tournaments, many of us think about the armies we are most likely to face.  For Warhammer Fantasy, I know that the following armies are in the area and likely to appear.

One Bretonnian

Two Dark Elves

One Daemons

Two Vampire Counts

One Warriors of Chaos

Two Lizardmen

Two Skaven

One Dwarfs

One Empire

One Orcs and Goblins

One Ogres

It's a good mix.  I also know that magic is not super popular in the area, but that I have to be prepared for a decent chance of hitting either Vampires or Lizards, who can maul you with the magic phase.  I know that with my Dark Elves, I can usually get a speed advantage on many of the armies.  I'm lucky in that Daemons are relatively rare in the area.

So what's your local meta look like? 

Three Little Batreps from January 9th

Like I mentioned, this past Saturday was an open tournament in Charlotte, NC.  There was a comp system in place, which used a checklist of "bad things" you could take in your army, each one giving a point.  The only limitation was that you couldn't go over twelve of these points.  In general, there were some pretty hard armies there, including mine.  Considering I was playing slower, softer Dark Elves on Sunday, I took a variation on one of my old favorite speed lists.

My list was (approximately):

Dreadlord on Black Dragon with Pendant and Crimson Death
BSB on foot in Black Guard with Regen Armor and Soulpiercer
Death Hag with Cauldron
Three Dark Rider groups of five with Crossbows
Twenty Black Guard with ASF, Ring of Hotek
Cold One Knights with Standard of Slaughter
Cold One Chariot
Reaper Bolt Thrower
Hydra

Game One

My first game was against Eric and his Tomb Kings.  He had (very approximately):

A Casket of Souls
A Hierophant on Foot
A Prince on Chariot
A King on foot with Destroyer of Eternities with Tomb Guard
Tomb Guard
Two Blocks of Skeleton Archers
Two units of 3-4 chariots.
Two Scorpions
Screaming Skull Catapult

There wasn't a ton of cover options, and he went first. He didn't move much, and his catapult missed twice.  It was, in his own words, a very windy board.  I had to let most of his magic go, but it didn't cost me too much at that range.  I failed to dispel the Casket, and it killed a few Dark Riders. 

In my turn, I moved up, and more or less grabbed my ankles in preparation for his next round of magic and shooting.  I just had to take it, since there was no cover and no chance of him coming to me, so I put everything out there to give him too many targets. 

Luckily, his Catapult refused to play ball again.  He did have a Scorpion pop up and charge my Dragon, but he went for my Lord and his attack bounced off my pendant.  His Archers shot repeatedly into my Hydra, but couldn't do much of anything to it.  I dispelled his Casket. 

I then flew my Dragon to where his Prince and Chariots were hanging near his board edge and breathed on them.  I positioned the Black Guard so that he'd charge them with his Chariots in order to get away from the Dragon. 

He shot at my Dragon with his Catapult, but failed to wound.  His other Scorpion misfired and died before it came on the table.  He did manage to get his second group of Chariots into my Chariot in the side, which caused my Chariot to flee into the woods.  Unfortunately, he failed to restrain and chased me into the woods as well, which destroyed his Chariot group.  My Black Guard ate his Chariots. 

I charged my Dragon into his Catapult and smashed it.  At this point, he had some skeletons, his Casket, and Tomb Guard with King.  I brought the Dragon back on the board behind his Casket.  Unfortunately for me, he had Banner of the Sands, and reformed his Tomb Guard and charged the Dragon.  With the Destroyer of Eternities (or whatever it's called), he beat up on the Dragon and Rider, who fled off the table.  Whoops!

The game ended with a Solid Victory for me.  I didn't pick up any of the bonus points though, so I wasn't at the top for round two. 

Round Two

In the second round, I played Dan R. from Charlotte and his Empire.  He had (Dan, correct me where I screw this up): 

Arch Lector on War Alter
Two Priests
A Wizard
Lots of Cannons and Hellblaster Volley Guns
Small Groups of Shooty Troops
Three Units of Knights

Once again, there wasn't a lot of cover, and I opted to just throw everything out there.  His cannons killed my Hydra immediately and put some wounds on the Dragon.  It was exceptional aim and rolling.  He also managed to use the Orb of Thunder to stop my Dragon from flying.  My dragon hobbled around killing some small troups, and eventually came into contact with his Alter.  It beat the Alter to death slowly, barely surviving with one wound, which I eventually lost to small arms.  The Lord survived, but on foot. 

In the meantime, the middle of the board had remained kind of blah, with not a whole lot of killing going on anywhere. Small points were exchanged, but the game ended in a draw.  Oddly, the scenario extra points were worth almost as much as the regular game, and I ended up with as many points as someone who won big.  This put me in fourth place for the final round.  First and second place were well ahead, though. 

Round Three

In the third round, I drew Jon from West Virginia.  He was a great guy, and a lot of fun to play against.  Unfortunately, everything that went poorly for him did.  He had an Empire Army, but was not gun heavy and had no Alter. It did have a Steam Tank, but he deployed it pretty far over on one flank.  My Dragon went on the opposite flank.  It's a pretty easy sum up:

My Dragon advanced up his flank.  He couldn't see it with his big guns.  Then the Dragon his a unit on one flank of his line, which fled through the rest of his army.  This more or less paralyzed the army, and the dragon continued down the line, eating and making happy dragon gurgles. 

I should stop here and mention that my Dragon's name is Steve.  Jesus is his copilot and he enjoys fly fishing.

I got him to charge my Cauldron with his Steam Tank...and the Cauldron beat his Steam Tank to death over eight rounds of Combat.  The Cauldron can manage some impact hits, and I had plenty of Strength Six attacks going back.  Thanks Manbane!  I'm buying an Engineer hat for my Death Hag. 

Halfway up the field, I stopped moving my Black Guard.  There was simply nothing to do, as Steve had chomped his way completely through Jon's army.  I've never seen a Dragon get that excited. 

Because the game was over so very quickly, I had time to make sure and score every possible bonus point.  The guys at the top table drew, and this vaulted me to first place.  It was unexpected, but a lot of fun.   I had a blast, and went out for proper libations in order to prepare for the next tournament on Sunday. 

Short Tournament Recap - Sci Fi Genre 11/21/09

So I played in another one of the bimonthly Sci Fi Genre Fantasy Tournaments, something I always look forward to doing. It was the regular deal, 2250 points and three rounds. The scenarios were Thanksgiving themed, which was pretty fun. I managed to pull out a first place finish out of thirteen players attending, and had three good games. One of these days, I'm going to remember the whole camera thing, so I can start doing battle reports on video again.

I ran my Dark Elves with some of the old tricks, being as I'd been running them without for a while. I had the Pendant on my Lord riding a Black Dragon, a Cauldron of Blood, and a Scroll Caddy. Three units of Dark Riders, Black Guard with the Ring and an Assassin, and a small group of Shades. And of course, the Hydra and two Bolt Throwers.

Round One

In the first round I played Chris with his Empire. I think I played him a year ago with the same list, which had two units of Knights, two or three infantry blocks screened by skirmishers, a War Alter, and a Steam Tank, plus two cannons, two mortars, and a Hellblaster Volley Gun.

He had some bad rolls, missing with his big guns in the first round aside from putting a couple wounds on my dragon. Like most gun lines, things began to fall apart quickly as I pulled my army closer to his, and I quickly began to make a mess of things in his front. His Alter Priest was not equipped with the Speculum, and so my Assassin and Black Guard slowly chewed it up. The Dragon and Hydra ate war machines and then went to work on the infantry block. I managed to hold down the Steam Tank with the Cauldron of Blood, which can manage impact hits beautifully.

The scenario involved bonus points for capturing a turkey in the middle of the table, which I did early with some Dark Riders. I ended with a massacre, having nearly wiped everything he had off the table.

I'll try and get the other two rounds up tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!