New Army Case / Display Board

I'm constantly looking for a way to easily and safely move my models around, and I'm constantly disappointed.  Foam is great for smaller armies, but it's tough with larger fantasy armies both in terms of setup time and the sheer amount of foam you need.  I have a nice wooden case, which holds a decent amount, but it weighs alot and is very large, so it only gets broken out for grand tournaments and the like. 

I think my latest attempt at creating a case might be the best so far.  I took a storage bin and lid, flipped the lid upside down, and glued some sheet steel to the underside of the lid.  The steel is painted, so that the lid can now be used as a display board, and my magnetized models now sit on the steel.  When I want to travel with the army or store it neatly, I can place the bottom section (the container) on top. 

The one downside is that I can't find a larger lid for even a huge storage bin, and will have to do some more looking around for that.  Right now, I can fit my 2500 points of Wood Elves on the bin I have, but I"ll need something larger for Beastmen or future projects that are not so compact.

Treekin Painted, and Hopefully Not Too Horrible!

I was pretty worried when I started my Avelorn army about painting the Treekin models.  I've only seen them a couple times where they looked good, such as Bobby's Wood Elf army.  The models themselves are...not great, but I've never seen an acceptable substitute unless one changes the entire theme of the army.

One of the things that changed my opinion of the models somewhat was the fact that I got them in finecast.  Call the material whatever names you like, but I once again got flawless models.  The benefits of having finecast was that I could easily change out the parts that I used for each Treekin.  My front rank, rather than having multiple unwieldy tree limbs all over the place, now have more "human"-like limb structures, which I think makes them more dynamic and easily recognizable as moving monsters, rather than weird, mutated trees. 

The second thing to do was to make sure that there was plenty of color on the models so that they weren't dull.  I picked out all the faeries in light purple, and did the eyes in the light blue from the regular elf models.  Then I made sure all of the vines and leaves were bright green, and even gave some treekin green hair and beards as the model allowed.  Basing was kept dense and colorful as well.

I hope you enjoy the models, and comments and criticisms are welcome. 

Branchwraith Painted

This is my Branchwraith for this month's Tale of Painters on Warseer, and is an addition to the Army of Avelorn.  She's converted from the Dryad kit, as I'm not really sold on any of the Branchwraith (or Drycha) models I've come across.  I'm running her as a Level One with a Cluster of Radiants (extra dispel die) for 140 points.   To keep her thematically consistent with the rest of the army, I've empahsized her leaves and used blues for her eyes, the owl's eyes, and on the stone behind her. 

This brings my total painted army so far up to 752, so not bad progress.  I would like to get the full contingent of Dryads done by the new year if possible and not derailed by lack of time and Skyrim. 

Army of Avelorn - Painted Glade Guard

I'm working on my Tale of Painters Avelorn Army on Warseer, and today is the day to report my monthly contribution. 

UNIT: Nineteen Glade Guard

HIGHS: I think my overall painting has improved from my last army, and continues to do so.  The basing looks great.  Every model has eyes.  I also wanted a banner that was easy recognizable as my flaming banner, so I bordered it with red and yellow, drew the elven rune for fire (thanks Google!) on it and put some jets of flame around the rune. 

LOWS: I'm not sold on the brown wash over green, and may have to go back and fix it.  The Glade Guard models also suffer from the same molding era as a lot of the Beastmen models, in that they have quite a few vague, half-formed details on the models that I find to be a pain. 

POINTS: Nineteen Glade Guard + Full Command and Flaming Banner = 262 Points.  Overall points are 262 + 350 for the Spellweaver for 612 points. 

NEXT MONTH: Dryads, which are surprisingly fun to put together.

Army of Avelorn: Painted Spellweaver

This will be my first entry for Warseer's Fantasy Tale of Painters, since the one model weighs in at around 300 points all by herself (the minimum monthly entry for ToP is 200 points).  I needed time to assemble some of the other models, like Glade Guard, so painting a single model seemed a great way to both get that time and to continue to work on the paint scheme. 

I'm pleased with the eyes, basing, greens, blue, and the wood.  I would have liked the Spites on the base to come out a little brighter, and I think the gold works well in some places, but lacks a bit of definition on her back.  Overall, I'm highly pleased with the results, and feel that this scheme will make a gorgeous High Elf / Wood Elf army...in a year or so. 

Comments and criticisms are always welcome. 

Avelorn Basing

One of the things that I've been dinged on in the past with my armies has been basing, and rightly so.  I went with plain sand (Space Marines and Dark Elves), plain winter grass (Bretonnians), and a mix of dirt and yellow/green grass that ended looking bland (Beastmen).  When I started the Army of Avelorn, I was determined that my basing would be excellent and would really add to the army. 

Basing for the army begins with either dark brown basing sand or a mix of said sand and painted cork (for back ranks).  Bright spring grass is added, followed by a combination of small rocks, lichen, and/or tufts of wilderness and swamp grasses.  The idea is to make a really verdant base, and use the cork, sand and rock to break up the colors with grays and browns. 

It's a bit more work than it's been in the past, but the idea is to constantly improve with the models, and I think it's a step in the right direction.

New Army: Avelorn

So, the Beastmen are done and dusted.  While they'll be the army I play with for quite a while yet, I have to keep my hands busy with a new project or two, right?

That new project is going to be the Army of Avelorn, which I've been dreaming up and for which I've been picking up models for almost a year and a half.  The army will eventually consist of hundreds of models, and by my estimation almost 10,000 points without upgrades, and will be playable as either a Wood Elf or High Elf army.

For those unfamiliar with the background, Avelorn is the wooded area of the High Elf island of Ulthuan, where their Everqueen lives.  The High Elf book describes the elves there are more "Fey" and similar to the Wood Elves, and notes the presence of Treemen and Dryads in the area.

I remember reading that and originally having the idea to make a large army that could be used with both books.  Plus, I really liked the theme, whereas I'm kind of lukewarm on just plain High Elves or Wood Elves.  Several other factors helped start me down the road, such as the great deal offered by Island of Blood and winning some old Wood Elf stuff in tournaments.  I want to do some overlap with models that count as things in both armies like Glade Guard counting as High Elf Archers, but don't want to force things and will have units such as White Lions being only High Elf White Lions.

With a new army, I'm also trying to improve the look of things.  I love my Beastmen, but there is always room to improve as a painter and hobbyist.  For the Wood Elves, I'm going to try and use more blending and bright color, and improve from plain basing to a much nicer, scenic look.

Anyway, here's some pictures of my first model, who will be a Glade Guard in a Wood Elf army and an Archer in a High Elf army.  I'm happy with the greens and blues especially, as well as the bow and feathers, but need to work more on the smaller eyes to make them pop. Comments and criticism is, as always, very welcome.

Island of Blood Sails In

My local store got its Island of Blood in this past Tuesday, and promptly doled them out!  I picked some copies up, and man is it nice!  I plan on building a nice Skaven and High Elf foundation from some boxes, and passing the rest on to Ebay.  I'll put up some links when the auctions are made.

Auctions are here:  http://shop.ebay.com/btuite1/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

The box set contains several things I really like.  Having a small rulebook is a fantastic thing, considering the enormous size and weight of the hardcover version.  More dice and templates are always welcome, as I'm always losing my scatter dice and templates at tournaments.  Every one of the sculpts is fantastic and highly detailed, and could be a centerpiece to an army.

Last of the Trollbloods: Dire Troll Bomber Painted!

Like my Khador and Imperial Fists, who have all wrapped up in the last month or so, my Trollbloods are finished now with this fantastic model, who brings the entire collection up around 110 points.  concept and pose of the Bomber, and wanted to add him in.

Unlike my Khador, my Trolls aren't going up for sale.  For now, they'll sit in the cabinet while old projects (Dark Elves and Beastmen) get upgraded for Eighth Edition and new projects (Blood Angels, Space Wolves, High Elves and Skaven) get started.  In the long run, I think this fella has a great gaming future...as a Hellcannon in a Warriors of Chaos Troll army. 

Warhammmer Fantasy: Eagles Tactica

One of our local players, Collins, has written a great tactica on the use of Eagles that I thought I'd share with all of you.  It's a nice list of the tricks he employs with his (four!!) Eagles during games.  Enjoy!

Trick #1, 'The Classic' War Machine Hunting

I thought that we may as well start off with a classic trick that I am sure everyone is familiar with. And that is warmachine hunting. Through my experience, most of all of my opponents warmachine crew have been s3 and ws2. That means that when you charge that warmachine with your eagle on turn two, which is almost inevitable, your opponents will be hitting you on 5s, and wounding you on 5s. Therefor, they only have 1/3 chance of doing a single wound to you. You, however, will be hitting on 3s, and wounding on 3s as well, so you should be getting 1.5555 wounds on your opponent (including your eagles stomp attack). That means you will be winning combat mostly every time. 1 from the charge, and 1-2 for wounds. From my experience, warmachines have low leadership, and will usually break even when beaten by 2-3 points.

A tip I would like to point out to everyone, is that your opponent will like sticking more than one warmachine together, usually on a hill. This means that if in your first turn, you move your eagle up on his flank and within charging distance of one warmachine, you can usually charge the closest one, beat it and run it down, while at the same time overrunning into his second warmachine, successfully taking out 100-200 points with your single 50 point eagle. Also, if you get this kind of charge off in your second turn, then you only are giving your opponents warmachines 1-2 turns to shoot, depending on who goes first.

Trick #2, 'Wizard Assassination'

Here is another classic that most of you must already know as well. Don't worry old experienced players, we'll get into some more complex tricks later, but this is for those of you who are relatively new and still need to learn the old tricks. Anyways, what you do here usually takes 2 or more eagles, but the pay off is well worth it. What you do is you charge in an eagle to the front of an opponents unit that is holding their oh-so-powerful-mage. Then, you direct all of the eagles attacks at your opponents mage. Because mages are generally fragile and do not have much protection, you should be getting 1.55555 wounds (stomp included). You're eagle will then surely be killed afterward. However, in your next turn you do the same thing, charge in with a second eagle. With two onslaughts of this, you should be averaging 3 wounds on their mage, and this is usually enough to kill it. And trust me, 100 points is well worth the points for your opponents mage, and stopping their magic relatively early in the game.

Trick #3, 'The Run-Down'

Now here is where things get interesting. This is the one trick that my opponents question/hate the most (other than Trick #5..). Let me set the scene for you:

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----[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]------------------------------------------
----[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]------[EEEEEEEEEEEEEE]----------------------
----[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]------[EEEEEEEEEEEEEE]----------------------
----[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]------[EEEEEEEEEEEEEE]----------------------
------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]---[GGGGG]----------
------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]---[GGGGG]----------
------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]---[GGGGG]----------
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Key:

[E] - Enemy Unit
[P] - Your PG Unit
[G] - Your Great Eagle

As you can see in this scenario, your two blocks of PG have just charged your opponents two enemy units. Your GE flies up to the right. You also notice the size and threat of the two enemy units that you just charged. You look at the larger enemy unit to the left. You realize that you have a good chance of tying/holding against that large unit with your PG, but you do not think you can beat it alone. You also look at your opponents smaller unit on the right. You think you can definitely beat that unit alone with your PG unit, but it may take two rounds of combat. Because you were smart and looked ahead, you moved your eagle to the right of the combats, and the reason why will become clear soon.

So the battle goes on. You turn out to be right, neither units go anywhere on your combat phase. Then it goes over to your opponents combat phase. Because you have numbers on the smaller enemy unit now, you break it and it flees. However, you decide not to chase after it with your PG unit. You instead reform looking to get a flank charge against your opponents larger unit, and you let the smaller unit get away, because you know that you need the help in the other combat.

So it is the beginning of you're turn now, and the scene looks like this:

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----[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]-------------[PPPPPPPPPPPP]-----------------
----[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]-----------[PPPPPPPPPPPP]-------------------
----[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]--------[PPPPPPPPPPPP]----------------------
------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]--------[PPPPPPPPPPPP]-------[GGGGG]----------
------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]------[PPPPPPPPPPPP]---------[GGGGG]----------
------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]----[PPPPPPPPPPP]------------[GGGGG]----------
------[PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP]---------------------------------------------
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So what do you do? You declare two charges. The first is your PG unit into the flank of the large enemy unit. The second, however, is your GE into their fleeing small enemy unit. You know that if that enemy unit rallies, you will have then gotten no points for it because of the new rules, so you chase it down with your eagle. You charge with your eagle and get the average of 19" charge range. Because they were only approximately 7" away from your eagle, there is close to no way they can flee far enough (and they have to flee, as they were already doing so) from your eagle, so once again that little 50 point model has made up for its points three fold or more, and allowed you to turn the tables on the other larger enemy unit.

Trick #3.2, 'Chasing Away', special thanks to Ptolemy

Here is another similar thing you can do, that helps you clear those smaller units on the board and gain you a few extra points in the game. When you charge a unit, and you know that they are going to flee, then you can charge them once again with an eagle. That way, they are forced to flee once again, either to be caught by your eagle, or run off the board. If neither of those things happen, then it is well worth moving that unit another 2d6" away from the action. Remember, your eagle only has to be within 22" of that unit to be able to declare the charge.

Trick #4, 'The Speed Bump'

This is a simple trick, but I find that it works rather well in slowing your opponents down to give you more time to shoot/magic their big combat units to give you a combat edge when they get to you. Pretty much all you are doing is flying your eagle up to their big units, then angling the eagle so that if the eagle is charged next turn, the big combat unit will overrun in a direction they do not want to go, or they can not charge and reform to get out of the way of your eagle, which you will then just move back and do it again, or they can charge, kill your eagle, and then not overrun, and move a total of one inch in their turn, instead of their typical 8-10" advancement on your line.

Trick #4.2, 'The Double Block', special thanks to geoguswrek!

This is very similar to 'The Speed Bump', however you would use it when it is not guaranteed that you're eagle would hold, ie. your opponent causes Terror. In this trick, you put two eagles blocking your opponents unit, and when he declares a charge against the first, you flee, but then he can only redirect into your other eagle. You flee a second time with the other eagle, and because each unit can only redirect one time in each turn (see page 18), your opponent is then forced to go after the second eagle. If you set it up right, this can lead your opponent into a bad position, sometimes setting you up for a flank charge.

Trick #5, 'The Place Holder'

This may just be my favorite trick of all to use in a game, because it catches your opponent off guard, and can help you get out of very tricky situations. Some of you may already know this trick from reading my past BatReps, and if so, kudos to you for reading my BatReps! Anyways, here is a situation where this trick could be applied:

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----------------------[EEEEEEE]---[EEEEEEEEEEE]------------------------
---------------------[EEEEEEE]--------------------------[GGG]--------
--------------------[EEEEEEE]--------------------------[GGG]--------
-------------------[EEEEEEE]-----------------------------------------
------------------[EEEEEEE]-------[EEEEEEEEEEE]------------------------
---------------------------------[EEEEEEEEEEE]-----------------------
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As you can see, your opponent has put a weak unit right in front of your PG unit, in hopes that you will charge it, beat it, and run it down. If you did this, then you would run into his second smaller unit. However, in doing so, you will have fallen into his trap, as he will then be able to flank you with his larger, more formidable unit. So what do you do? You declare two charges. Your eagle is conveniently placed on your right flank, so you charge the small unit right in front of your PG with your PG, then you charge the small unit behind that with the eagle. In doing so, you then proceed to beat that unit and chase it down with your PG, running into the small unit behind it. However, because you flanked that unit with your Eagle, you can then fight another round of combat in the same combat! You then can beat and run down that second unit with your PG, and in doing so get out of harms way from the flank charge.

Trick #6, 'Placement Stalling', special thanks to wamphyri101!

I believe that the placement of units at the beginning of the game is the one largest thing that will make or break the result of any game. Great Eagles, believe it or not, can give you quite the edge with this, and here is how. The very first thing you place down at the beginning of the game is your eagles. The more eagles you have, the more units your opponent will have to place down for you to see before you start putting down actual units. This way, you can 'pick your fights', so to speak, and place your units the way you want them in relation to your opponents units. I typically try to put my GEs on the flanks to begin with, because with their 20" movement they can get were they are needed relatively easily.

Trick #7, 'Combat Res Generator', special thanks to Xarhain!

Xarhain wrote:

One more basic tactic is the combat res generator. Often you'll have flown behind enemy lines to attack a war machine or attempt any number of the tricks listed above, but for some reason the eagle is no longer required. Maybe the cannon blew itself up or the unit you were stalling got purple sunned. Either way, you now have a free eagle you can charge into the back of a stalling combat. With the new lack of unit strength you get +1CR for charging and +2CR for the rear charge. You'll do a wound against standard infantry and maybe take one back. Instant +3CR, and a speedy unit involved in the combat to chase them down once they break!

Overview:

I guess what I'm really trying to tell everybody is this: think ahead! If you can think ahead a couple of turns, you can set up these neat tricks, and avoid tricks that your opponent tries to set up against you. A lot of this comes from me being an avid chess player, because in chess it is all about thinking ahead. I use the same skills in warhammer, and so far I am doing pretty well.

Commentary is welcome and appreciated.

Since some of the diagrams might come out funny on this site, here is a link to the original:  http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=33028&start=0

Identify this Forest Dragon?

This past weekend, I won a Wood Elf Forest Dragon at at tournament.  It's not the Sisters of Twilight set, but rather an older model with a David Bowie type Elf riding up top with his giant feather hat.  Does anyone recognize this model, and could tell me what edition or year it's from? 

This is the first model of my High Elf / Wood Elf joint "Avelorn" themed army, and it's always exciting to get something like that.  I really am tempted to tear into it and put things together, but I need to finish up some Beastmen, Khador and Trollbloods first. 

Video Battle Report: 2,250 Bretonnians vs. High Elves

We now resume our regularly scheduled programming!  Last week got crazy, with overtime at work, an extended interview, two 4th of July cookouts at our house, and a Warhammer Fantasy tournament.  Luckily, I took some pictures of some of my games on the way.

As promised, I'm breaking out my old armies for a last run around the 7th Edition track.  Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of playing Collins's High Elves with my Bretonnians.  My Brets haven't seen light in a year or so, and it was a lot of fun to give them a whirl.  Take a look to see how it went!

Incoming! Sea of Blood for Warhammer Fantasy!

Got an email from Games Workshop this weekend officially announcing the Sea of Blood boxed set.  While they didn't state what the armies would be, the picture above was included.  So it's either Skaven v. High Elves as suspected, or this is one heck of a trick they're pulling!   Here's the text of the email below:


"Incoming! The Island of Blood

The Warhammer world; it is a place riven by battle, where mighty armies clash for glory, honour or the entertainment of Dark Gods. Darkened skies, tortured by cataclysmic magics tear open and rain blood upon the ceaseless combatants and the landscape is wracked by the carnage around it. Trees writhe in mutated agony, lashing out with limb and branch and rivers flow thick with the corpses of the slain. All upon the land are consumed by the unending battle, an age of war in which victory and defeat hang in the balance.

Cast against this macabre tableau fight mighty armies -warriors by their million raise banners of defiance or icons of dismay, taking up arms in the clash for survival. Beleaguered and surrounded, the forces of Order fight desperately to stem the tide of the armies of Destruction. Delighting in the carnage and ruination, the Dark Gods look on.

The Island of Blood is but one battleground upon the face of the Warhammer world, a mystical and dangerous place that has been twisted and mutated by the warping power of Chaos. In ages past the Island of Blood was a battleground upon which armies have bled and died in the ageless battle for supremacy... and they will do so again. Soon.

The Island of Blood is the new boxed game for Warhammer and is released this September. Packed full of stunning plastic Citadel miniatures and containing all the rules, dice and templates you'll need to play, it's the essential purchase for fans of the Warhammer hobby.

Meanwhile, if you like the Battle for Skull Pass boxed game (and who wouldn't with all those Goblins and Dwarfs) then it only seems fair to point out that once the last few remaining copies are gone they're gone, and they're never coming back! Pick one up while stocks last.

In August we'll feature more information about The Island of Blood on games-workshop.com and the full details will be released in September's White Dwarf.

If you can't wait until September to get your hands on the new rules then don't forget that the new Warhammer Rulebook and complete range of accessories are available to advance order by clicking on the image below."

Slow Down and Smell the Roses!

In the past month, I've painted around 1500 points of Beastmen, an Imperial Fists Tactical Squad, Rorsch for Trollbloods, and around ten Khador models.  I've been efficient and organized, and I've enjoyed the experience.  I haven't had to sacrifice quality, because I've gotten to the point where I'm happily painting up to my optimal standard very quickly. 

And therein lies the problem.

Just as in every other aspect of the hobby, it is my belief that when everything is going incredibly smoothly with your painting, things have to change.  It's not my life goal to become some sort of sweat shop model painter, churning out good models at high speeds.  Instead, it's always been my goal to continually improve my painting.  While the work I'm doing makes me happy, I've stopped improving in the name of speed.

So here's the plan:

I'm going to finish my Beastmen, Khador, Imperial Fists, and Trollbloods for Libriarium Online's Tale of Painters.  Most of these are down to a few models, except for the Beastmen, which will involve painting a lot of Gors and some Chariots.

After that, I won't have more Privateer Press to paint.  As much as I love the models, I've come to the realization that I am not going to play Hordes or Warmachine.  I don't dislike the games, but I have limited free time, and as it stands, I like WFB a lot more than anything else.

What I will have is a) more Space Marine models than I can shake a stick at and b) a new Warhammer Fantasy army to start working on.

So I'll start painting the new Space Marines (Blood Angels?  Space Wolves?  Salamanders?) and probably what will be a joint High Elf / Wood Elf Avelorn themed army.  Instead of rushing them through, I'd like to make each of these armies an army of individual, detailed models where I push myself to paint and model my best work.

That's the plan anyway.  Here's hoping!

Tourney Batreps from 01/10/2010

 

After my big win at the first tournament on January 9th, I felt pretty good entering day two.  The one thing I didn't like was my list.  Since the tournament on the 10th was a League tournament, we had made our lists long ago and been playing with them for a few months.  Unfortunately, I had decided after my first game or so with the list that I really hated it.  It violated two of my cardinal rules, in that it was slow (or at least felt slow) and the units were too expensive.  It also didn't have a lot of "shock" hitting power.  The list was:

Lord with ASF Dagger, Potion of Strength, Pearl of ItP, Regen Armor

Hero with Pendant, Soulpiercer

Cauldron with Rune of Khaine, Manbane

Scroll Caddy

2 Assassins with Rune of Khaine, Manbane

23-24 Spears with War Banner

2 Units of Dark Riders

20 Black Guard, ASF with the Ring

Seven Shades

Hydra

1 Bolt Thrower

The Lord and Hero go in the Spears.

Game One

In my first game, I played Todd and his High Elves.  He had big units of Phoenix Guard and White Lions, two Tiranoc Chariots, mounted Lord and Hero in a Unit of Dragon Princes, two Level 2 Mages and the Banner of Sorcery, a bolt thrower, and two giant spear units. 

Todd played very aggressively, charging all his folks forward.  He was pretty bent on destroying the Black Guard with his High Magic, despite the Ring of Hotek being in there, and this went pretty badly for him.  He also liked to save dice to cast the High Elf spell that raises my casting values, despite the fact that I had no magic phase.  I think he may have been worried that I had some sort of cunning plan, unaware of the fact that I learned to play with Bretonnians and thus developed no strategies in this game except for "Charge!". 

Todd had deployed his White Lions off to one side of the board, and they were pretty much a nonfactor in the game.  He also inadvertently let me shoot his Dragon Princes in the flank with a Bolt Thrower a couple times as they chased Dark Riders around, which led to just the Prince and Noble Surviving.  Without the White Lions and Dragon Riders around, my Spears and Black Guard were able to kill the rest of his army, and by the end, he was charging his Noble and Lord into the Black Guard, which used their Combat Res. to run him down.  I had a few bonus points, and was sitting near the top of the tourney at this point.

Lunch was the finest (non-alcohol serving) place to eat, ever.  That's right, the K&W Cafeteria.  At this point, a scary lady who was serving broccoli gave me the evil eye, and I'm pretty sure that's what led to round three.  Crikey!

Game Two

In the second game, I ran into Blair, who is our local VC player.  While he's been playing for less than a year, Blair is very talented and a great guy to play against.  However, he had been making disparaging comments on the quality of the K&W Cafeteria, so I was ready to take him down.  Blair will also write a much better Battle Report for this match, hopefully, and then I'll post it here.

He brought a Lord Vamp, a Hero Vamp BSB, a Necro on Horse, and a Corpse Cart.   To ride shotgun, there were Blood Knights, Wraiths, Grave Guard, and some Ghouls and Zombies.   Lots of magic dice, and some bound items.  Yum. 

More or less, we managed to create an ubercombat in the middle of the Board, as everything charged everything else.  Although I almost broke once, I managed to hold on and eventually kill his Lord and BSB.  Meanwhile, while he killed lots of guys, most of them were Spearmen, so pointswise I had a big win. 

Round Three

For the third round, I was tied for first place.  Unfortunately, so was Lance, who is an excellent player, and who also had a lovely Dwarf Gun Line.  He had two units of Longbeards, two Units of Hammerers, four bolt throwers, two Organ Guns, a BSB, a Thane, and the Anvil.  Before the game began, I was pretty excited about my upcoming draw/minor win or loss. 

Basically, he had an excellent answer to most of the things in my army, like the Hydra, in the form of one billion flaming shots each turn.  If I had been in super cunning tournament mode, I guess I could have hidden a good part of my army in the woods for the whole game.  I'm just more friendly/aggressive than that, though.  Plus, I hate thinking.  See the "Charge!" strategy, above.

His anvil did explode on the first turn.  So I had that going for me.  When this happened, though, he pulled the rest of his army behind a hill, and formed his Hammerers two wide and ten deep with the BSB (and the remaining army) behind them.  In practice, this meant that I now got to use my two blocks of troops to pound away at his Stubborn LD9 rerolling units for the the rest of the game, with neither side really doing much of anything.  I killed one unit, and hacked on the other, and we called it a game.  I had a little bit of an advantage on scenario points, and edged him 13-12. 

Overall

I ended up in third place for the day, behind Ian Holland and Chad Hoggan.  The tournament was a great time, and I enjoyed all my games.  Thanks to Chad and Chris for organizing and running the league/tourney.  I'll be there next year!

Troll Bouncer

One of the great things about Privateer Press is their ability to make models in dynamic poses that somehow manage to hold together well. There are some models that I own that I worry about moving our touching, or that I can only pick up if I do so in a certain way. Most Privateer Press stuff, I'm lucky not to have that problem (GW's High Elf Dragon is another great example of a sturdy sculpt).

One of the models that really stands out as holding together well despite its design is the Troll Bouncer, which I painted recently. He's got that huge (and rockin') ball and chain going, but the chain fits snugly into the hand, and while the weight of the ball should be rough and pulling things apart, it holds well with a little green stuff.

Sure makes for an awesome model.