What a Week!

Well that was unexpected, everything went tits up at work with deadlines popping up everywhere meaning most of my social life for this week has gone out of the window (boo!). It also means I've made no progress with my Nids and at the moment sits with a cabinet full of grey plastic waiting for the moment to prime everything with the Skeleton Bone Spray!

I did manage to test one Gaunt with the Army Painter Strong Tone and after drying for 24 hours it looks to have dried pretty darn good. As expected I need to use the Anti-Shine Matt Varnish over the top as it's rather bright and shiny at the moment. I think my plan this week, as the mrs is working nights again, is to get alot of the Gaunts and Warriors that are primed all painted up and ready for painting on dip.

Then I can do another batch of dipping in one night and have the starts of a finished army already. I've still got to base all the models after painting but I think, especially for the smaller troops, I'll be doing a very basic base and paint scheme while focusing on the larger models for details on the models/more detailed basing.

Now the clocks have gone forward and the nights are lighter I can do quite a bit of priming in the evening, hooray! Well once the weather has decided whether it wants to be dry or raining/foggy. Once I get the majority of the troops done I can get them packed away in a carry case so I can focus on building/painting the larger monsters to fill the display cabinet.

I did participate in the NAG Fantasy Tournament a couple of Sundays back now. I didn't fare the greatest (3rd from last) but it was such a fun day. First game I played James in a Beastmen vs Wood Elves affair, I won the roll and chose to use the Beastmen however I didn't realise the shooting prowess of the Wood Elves and those pesky bowmen of the forest had shot the majority of my Combat-orientated army off the table before I could get across. Also who's idea was it not to give the Ghorgon no armour save what so ever?

Second game I got to try out the new Dwarves against a Skaven list manned by Martin which I was really looking forward to. I absolutely loved this army and the new units including the Gyrobomber that in one turn almost wiped out the Hell Pit Abomination in one turn. I used the Gyrocopter to great use too flying right up to a Stormvermin unit and almost covering the whole thing with a Flame Template. There were a lot of crispy-fried Skaven after the template lifted. I did win but after initial thoughts by both of us of a 20-0 win my inability to completely wipe out a unit meant it was a 16-4 victory instead. Not too bad for the new Dwarves but I'm holding off any urge I have for a stuntie army.

Finally it was Daemons vs Lizardmen against another James. I wasn't fussed on which army I got to use having both of these sitting in a cabinet at home and yet to be able to field them. James won the roll and chose the Daemons so I finally got to try the Lizardmen. My first turn the Salamanders moved forward and both flame breaths rolled a 8 on the distance and covered the Plaguebearers Units. 26 hits, 20 wounds and 16 dead on the first turn....that was an amazing thing from the Salamanders who then spent the rest of the game in close combat with the Beasts of Nurgle. Unfortunately the Salamanders were really only the one thing which did well as the Bloodcrushers one hit killing blowed by Scar Vet on Cold One and my Skinks were wiped out before they even got to hit back by Chariots with a ridiculous amount of impact hits.

So yeah not the greatest in games across the board but some very enjoyable games none-the-less. There is talk of a 4-Player Triumph and Treachery game a week on Sunday which I've been invited for. I think I'll give either my Lizardmen or Empire a run out for that game which should be a great laugh for the day.

Stayed tuned later in the week for more updates on the Nids.

NAG Tourne

A-Hoy-Hoy fellow readers, I've been rather busy the past couple of weeks working on the same database day in and day out at work which has sucked all life out of me...but I'm back and better than ever! So what have I been up to in the past couple of weeks then?

Well the Lizardmen army is slowly beginning to grow into a huge force, after winning two metal Salamanders and four metal Terradons on eBay for the paltry sum of £10 I've got them fully stripped, broken down and reassembled ready for priming. One of the Terradons has a huge hole where the metal body and wing would not meet up so I'll be venturing into my first forays of green stuff, granted it's just to fill a hole but you've got to start somewhere right? The first unit of Skink skirmishes have been finished, bar finishing off the basing.

The Skinks Are Coming!!!

So yeah they've got a pretty basic paint scheme going but they look pretty effective as a group, really need to get the camera set up rather than relying on the iPhone. I've started making a start on the Cold One Calvary I've got as well. I know they're not the grestest units for Lizardmen but they're already primed, and I love the idea of Lizardmen riding Cold Ones, first tester model came out okay after doing a basecoat of Death World Forest and then bringing the green colour up using multiple heavy washes of Athonian Camoshade.

Apart from that I've participated in my first tourne! The gaming club up in Blyth, NAG held their quarterly Fantasy tournament and this time around we used the Swedish Comp rules, which I've got to admit was a bugger to compile a list from for Ogres. Basically it's a 2400pts Army, then you have a score of 300, for each unit and size of unit there's a specific deduction eg -10 for Lore of Death on a Slaughtermaster, after all the subtractions you then divide the score by 10 and you've got your comp score. For some armies it's alot easier than others and for the Ogres almost everything is comped quite highly, meaning I was struggling to get between the 8-14 score that was required. After dropping the Lore of Death for Beasts I managed a 10 list which I took last Sunday. The list was as followed;


+ Lords + (388pts) 

Slaughtermaster
Ironfists, Lore of Beasts, Wizard Level 4
Magic Items - Armour of Destiny, Staff of Sorcery, The Other Trickster's Shard

+ Heroes + (535pts) 

Bruiser
Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Armour
Magic Items and Big Names - Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation

Bruiser      
Great Weapon, Light Armour
Magic Items and Big Names - Armour of Silvered Steel,Ironcurse Icon

Butcher     
Lore of the Great Maw, Wizard Level 2
Magic Items - Dispel Scroll, Ruby Ring of Ruin

+ Core + (698pts)

Gnoblars             
Gnoblar Trappers, 40x Gnoblars

Ironguts
Bellower, 7x Ironguts
Standard Bearer - Standard of Discipline

Ogres
Bellower, Ironfists, 7x Ogres
Standard Bearer - Look-out Gnoblar (Look-out Gnoblar (AB-32))

+ Special + (587pts)

Leadbelchers
Bellower, 5x Leadbelchers

Mournfang Cavalry     

Bellower, Heavy Armour, Ironfists, 4x Ogre
Standard Bearer - Dragonhide Banner

Sabretusk Pack

Sabretusk Pack

+ Rare + (170pts)

Ironblaster


So a pretty standard list which probably explains the 10 for the score for the list, however it was using things I already had so I didn't really have a chance to try something fluffy and less comped. So the games themselves... Won 1, Lost 1, Drew 1. Which for my first tournament/proper day of constant gaming I'm happy with.

GAME 1 - vs. Warriors of Chaos

In the first game I faced Martin(Sorry if I've got your name completely wrong!) and his Nurgle Warriors of Chaos. Along with the normal Warriors and a huge block of Marauders was two units of Skullcrushers, a Daemon Prince and two units of four trolls. Thankfully I got the first turn and used my Leadbelchers to take out one of the Trolls which in turn panicked the unit off the table. My Sabertusks did their usual run up the board to distract and one of them blocked off a full Troll and Dogs unit. Suprisingly the two units only managed a single wound and the Sabertusk ran away while the other Tusk stayed on the board the whole game being completely ignored and just running around aimlessly. The Mournfang showed their worth smashing through the other Troll and dog unit and overunning just two inches short of the Skullcrushers which meant next turn they were charged by both them and the Daemon Prince.

After the combat the Daemon Prince was left with two wounds and though the Mournfang lost and combat and were overran it meant both the DP and Skullcrushers were completely isolated in the corner of the table for the rest of the battle. The Ironguts and Ogres marched forward and chomped through the Warriors while the Gnoblar trappers stayed on the flank of the Ogres which meant the Marauders (who had been kept in the same place with the The Curse of Anraheir most of the game) couldn't side charge the Ogres. The Ironblaster did what he does best and fired through the ranks of the Warriors and the Leadbelchers were overan by the other unit of Skullcrushers again keeping them away from the rest of the battle.

As the time limit expired we totted up the totals and I had won by about 200 victory points giving me a 11-9 victory, however comp score difference was added to the total which ended up evening out the score and making it a 10-10 draw. Was a really enjoyable game and was my first experience of the Warriors of Chaos. The mark of Nurgle really screws around with combat with a -1 to hit all the time. I think, with it being my first game, I was definitely a bit more defensive than I should've been and it took a good few turns before combat occured which probably cost me dearly. I should've just done the traditional Ogre march and crush tactics rather than worry about being charged myself.

GAME 2 - vs. The Empire

Up next was a game against Jim and his Empire list. I was well and truly wiped off the table in this game with a 20-0 loss. Jim had a great list of Artillery (well they're Empire duh!) and the Lore of Metal which just tore shreds through my army. It started well with the Mourfang just ripping through his Demigryph Knights in the first turn. However with not really knowing the knowledge of the Lore of Metal spells I tried to dispel the wrong ones and it meant the more devastating spells tore apart of my units, buffed his and generally just outplayed the Ogres at every turn. So I thought I'd try and give him some artillery for good measure but I rolled a misfire first turn and it couldn't fire until Turn 3. His cannon took that opportunity to smash my Ironblaster to pieces before it could fire again, at least I thankfully took out the Helblaster before he could use it with the Flock of Doom.

After that it was fighting a lost cause, marching the two units up into his main forces I knew I would be outnumbered and soon experienced it with being charged in the flank, rear and front with horses, swords, halberds and everything else. Despite the Ogres putting up a valiant smash and stomp assault the numbers were too much and both units were over run. With only my Gnoblars and three Leadbelchers left on the table I conceded after being well and truly out tacticed and magiced (making up words now).


GAME 3 - vs. Daemons of Chaos

Finally was the game against fellow James' Tzeentch Lore-focused Daemons of Chaos. This was the funniest game I've played in my short venture of Warhammer Fantasy. Firstly the amount of casters that he had in the army was ridiculous and basically gave him the full spell list from the Lore of Tzeentch and Lore of Metal. Each channel attempt had him rolling 7-8 dice a time. 

So basically James sat back on his edge allowing me to march forwards, his Skull Cannon and my Ironblaster seemed to have a game of being the most friendly artillery you could find and almost offered each other to blow them up, unfortunately for me it was the Skull Cannon who finally found it’s mark and wiped the Ironblaster out. The Mournfang continued their rampage, which was a theme for the whole of the tournament and cleared out the harpies on the left, ran into the Skullcrushers and then overran into the unit of Pink Horrors behind them. The Ogres despite, being chaff blocked by flamers and furies, finally got through and ran into a unit of Bloodletters and wiped the full unit bar one. The Ironguts lined up their charge for the next turn and the Leadbelchers even marched forward. As was the theme of the game as a laugh the Gnoblars marched forced and charged a unit of Pink Horrors and being a 10-wide horde managed to win the combat much to the amusement of both of us. I wasn’t really expecting the Gnoblars to do much but they’ve definitely been a worthwhile investment for just 125 points!

Then the most annoying/funniest thing happened three times in row, despite James throwing 6 dice and most spells and not miscasting I threw three dice on a spell, three turns in a row and miscast every single time! Thankfully the Slaughtermaster and unit was decimated and despite rolling either 5-6 every time with the S10 hits I only cause a couple of wounds on the full unit and even wiped out one of his units that was in combat with! It’s got to be one of the unluckiest but funniest things I’ve had happen and I think James was frustrated that despite all of the miscasts I still had a full unit of Ogres running towards his units at the back of the table.

After finishing turn 5 and the tide of the battle very much in my favour James called it as a 20-0 to me, I don’t think it would’ve been that dominant if we had totted up all the totals and point costs. Also taking into consideration both his screamer units were on my side of the board but away from the battle, I think I was lucky to have the 20-0 but it was definitely a dominant display by the Ogres against the Daemons. The total randomness that happens with the Daemonic Instability can sometimes be laughable and also makes you feel a little sorry for the player.

After a full days gaming and three games I ended up finishing 7^th out of 16! Not too shabby for my first ever tournament and was such a good experience against three very friendly players. I’m not sure how but I also won Best Sportsmanship! Thanks to Jim, James and Craig for all voting for me, it was great to play all three. At the end we were talking about sorting out a tourney for Feb/March time and the talk is about possibly doing 1500pts but the armies are already on the table and we get assigned a random table/army meaning you cannot tailor the armies to yourself and you have to learn how to play possibly an entire new army. Sounds really cool and I’ll definitely be up for it! It was nice to hear from a few of the guys that they read the blog, least it's getting some readership!

So yeah, two weeks and it’s been bloody busy but great fun at the same time! Now to focus on getting the Lizardmen painted up and hopefully at some point this blasted weather will hold up enough to get some priming done!

Ogres Smashed

So Sunday's game against the Vampire Counts was an absolute mess and loss miserably. A combination of not realising Vampire Counts were Unbreakable in combat and a mass session of rolling 1s and 2s my Ogres were stomped off the battlefield! I enjoyed the game don't get me wrong, it was nice to play a bigger game and get some training with the Ogres against a fellow new player but I definitely learnt some things yesterday;

• Mournfang Are Devastating - First turn they smashed into a unit of 25 raised zombies. Wiped them out with ease with taking no wounds and then overran into a large group of ghouls. After that a unit of 10 Hexwraiths accompanied by a mounted Vampire charged the front too. The 4 Mournfang spent almost the whole battle fighting these two units wiping out all but one of the Hexwraiths and numerous ghouls before finally dying in the last turn. If Vampire Counts weren't Unbreakable I would've easily broke both of these units in the first couple of turns. 

•  Target the Characters - This was my naivete in the game but I didn't realise you could target characters within units in close combat. If I'd known that from the off I would've tried to take out his Vampires and Vampire Lord before they started dishing the pain. At one point when the Ironguts engaged the Vampire Lord and Graveguard the Vampire Lord was rolling 7 re-rollable attacks hitting on a 2+, getting about 5 wounds unsaved (mainly due to my awful armour saves) then rolling another 5 attacks.

•  I Must Get Better at Deployment - I used my two Sabertusks on the flanks on the first two drops as they're meant to. However Harper had 2 units of 5 Direwolves to use as the same. Meaning that after two deployment drops each I still had no idea what he was lining up with. I tried to match up certain things against each other, however lining up the Ironblaster up against the Terrorghiest was probably a wrong move as he basically flew it straight over first turn and then screamed the cannon to death without me getting to use it.

So yeah a great day and I'm looking forward to playing the tournament on the 2nd Feb, even if I'll probably be propping up the table!

Once the tournament is done I'll be then focusing on getting a big enough Lizardmen army on the go. I won a Stegadon off eBay for less than £20 so it'll be a welcome addition. I already have plans to pick up a Slann Mage Priest, Skink Priest, some Ripperdactyls and the awesome Carnosaur model next month after payday. From there I'm hoping I'll have the makings of a decent Lizardmen army to get stuck into!

A Short Update

Greetings!

Been a bit hectic recently, finally finished my Warhammer training on Monday night huzzah! Though my deployment against The Beastmen was completely borked, something I've got to get used to and learn from, and I ended up loosing the game.....

Fear not for I'm going to be playing my first proper game of Fantasy on Sunday against a fellow newbie at Blyth! Though I won't be taking my Empire this time around. I've signed up for the quarterly tournament (why?) on the 2nd Feb and with the points being 2400 I thought it would be a great chance to use my Ogre army! So this Sunday I'm going to be bringing them to Blyth for a couple of games so I can get use to them/learn all the special rules that go along with these brutes. Still got some custom Gnoblar Trappers, using the bear traps on the Ogre sprues and cocktail stick spikes, to make before then; so hoping they can be sorted either tonight or tomorrow.

So with Warhammer World screwing everyone over about Invasion trips and the Winter Crusade coming to a screeching halt I was a little pissed that I started my Empire army with the hopes of getting it out on the Warhammer World's boards. It's probably why painting them has taken such a big step backwards that I'm not fussed if they take to the table primed and that's it.

What I have been painting finally is an army I've been looking so forward to starting ever since I bought my first few models last year and that's my Lizardmen. After buying close to 70 x Saurus, 40 x Skinks and 8 x Cold One Riders off Ebay cheap they unfortunately sat in my display cabinet doing nothing. Well now in the past week I've been slowly sorting out colour schemes to batch paint them and after some experimenting I've got a simple but effective scheme that I'm going to be using. In the last two nights I've already painted 14 x Skinks and got my Saurus warriors paint scheme nailed down too. Hopefully this weekend I can get the rest of my Saurus fully primed and also crack on with the rest of my Skinks. Oh and today I bought the first of two-planned Bastiladons for my army. Cannot wait to get that bad boy built and ready for painting!

So until the Ogres come to play on Sunday I'll keep you updated and hopefully get some pics up of the Lizardmen soon!