New Year New Post, Part 2

So what else have I done in the past three months? Well The End Times has kicked in full swing in the Warhammer world and for some reason the idea of a Chaos Legions army really sounded like a good idea, finding a decent deal on Wargaming Trading page on Facebook I found myself with quite a rather large collection of unmade current edition Chaos and Beastmen figures!

Just some of the Chaos that I Got!

I don’t have a clue what came over me, most of the models are still unbuilt, I did make an attempt of a Beastmen BSB and Beastlord and the unit of Chaos Warriors I built and started to paint as Khorne Warriors I’ve been a little underwhelmed with. I know Chaos Warrior armies can be low numbers and really competitive but I’m honestly not sure whether I can see myself to build, paint and play another Fantasy army at the moment. I’ve got so many Beastmen models to build it’s a daunting task, I’ve gone from one horde army of the Vampire Counts to another Horde army of Beastmen. I think realistically thinking I’ll probably resell all of this and hopefully someone else will have more luck than I did!

One of my resolutions for 2015 is not to impulse buy, last year I had a rather bad habit of jumping from army to army, something which I think a lot of wargamers do, but I’d buy enough for way over the normal points limit and then struggle to complete it and sell it on. This year I want to make a concentrated effort on the armies I own and get them finished and fully painted/based.

The armies are as followed;

Warhammer Fantasy

Ogre Kingdoms – Finish painting my first Fantasy army when I got back into the army. I’d say I’m about 75% of the way through this army but still need to paint a few of the bigger things. I do have an unbuilt Thundertusk which needs building at some point too.

Vampire Counts – As mentioned I’ve made a good start but still have a lot to do for these. Obviously being a horde-style army each unit is 40 strong so it’s a big task for each unit. Though if they’re as simple as the Zombies to paint, I feel I could get through the army quite quickly.

Empire - I’m not too sure what to do with my Empire. I’ve got a pretty big force built and mainly primed but whenever I pick them up I cannot for the life of me get motivated to paint them up. It also doesn’t help whenever I play them on the table they’re boring to play. It may well be the case that I sell these rather than trying to paint them up.

Bolt Action

German Waffen SS – This was a Christmas present and spent the Christmas week building it all. Now with the weather being it’s normal British weather I’m finding it pretty hard to get anything primed. I unfortunately don’t have a garage or anything so have to go outside in the shed so I really need a decent mild temperature. As mentioned in Part 1 this is more of a modelling and painting project so I’m not too fussed if this takes me longer to get these painted and sorted.

Warhammer 40K

Necrons – I’ve got about 90% of everything painted. I’ve got one unit primed and halfway painted and then a couple of units still to build. I’ve not really played much 40K recently so it’s not a major rush to get these finished but with the new Necron Codex coming out I’d like to get these finished so I can properly learn 40K in the near-distant future.

Space Marines – This was actually meant to be my winter project and wanted to get everything built and primed over the Christmas period. That obviously didn’t happen with so many other things happening! I really want to make a effort to get these done as they’re going to be pretty simple to paint and build. I know I’ve got a weekend in March where the fiancé is going away with work friends all weekend so I might very well just spend the whole weekend building and priming it all.

Infinity

PanO – Everything is primed and I just need to paint the Military Orders up. Unfortunately not many people are playing the game at the club and that’s after the Version 3 rules which came out recently. These shouldn’t take too long to get done so I might just need a weekend or two to focus and get them done.

Morats – Again these are all primed and half painted but need finishing off. I think my motivation for them have really died down now no one plays at the club but I think I need to make a focused pledge soon to get them done and relearn Infinity. But it’s not a major rush to get them done at the moment.

So yeah quite a few projects, and I’ve also got one bigger one that I’ll be mentioning in a blog post this week. Something that I’m looking forward to being a part of and it’s for a brand new system that I’ve not learnt yet. It’ll probably get me visiting a couple of different North East clubs to play the game but I’m already really looking forward to jumping into this and learning to play it.

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!

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!

Happy New Year!

A very Happy New Year to everyone! Hope Santa brought everything you all wanted and the hangovers have been taken care of by now. I had a very relaxing but also hectic Christmas period including driving 5-hours home at 3am on Christmas Day with the Girlfriend after she finished work and then driving all the way back on Boxing Day evening. Though I wouldn't have swapped it for the world as it was such a good day with all the family.

So what did Santa (girlfriend) bring me this year for my Empire army?

1 x General/Captain of the Empire set - Always wanted this set and it's a great box including many options for both a mounted and standing Captain/General. I'll definitely be using the standing Captain and probably give him a Sword/Shield combo for that added protection. I'm not the biggest fan of Knights in my Empire army but think I need to use them more and if they work I'll be adding the mounted model to this unit.

1 x Box of Empire State Troopers - going to be building these tonight or tomorrow to make another 10-man Halberds for my unit. The final plan is to have a big block of 38 and also include a Empire Captain/General and Warrior Priest. After this box I'll be at 34 add my Captain and Warrior Priest and I only need four extra troops, I think I'll be adding another unit filler (maybe use one of my Ogres) to this rather than shelling out on another box.

1 x Warrior Priest with Extra Hand Weapon - Little did my Girlfriend know but I've already got this model, though I'm not complaining because I love this model so I'm sure I'll be able to use it somewhere in the army.

1 x Warrior Priest with Hand Weapon and Shield - Who says you cannot have enough Warrior Priests? I do possibly have a plan with this one by maybe using it as a Arch Lector but I'm still not sure. I think I need to build everything first and then work out an army list to decide what to do with him.

1 x Box of Demigryph Knights - Yep the mothership of all Empire forces and the box set I've wanted since I started my Empire force. These will definitely be built tomorrow night as I've got my final training game on Thursday night at Games Workshop Metrocentre and want these bad boys on the table.

So yeah I feel extremely spoilt but now my painting backlog is a hell of a lot larger than I was expecting. To have a 1,500pts Empire Army fully painted by end of Jan is going to be one huge task. Thankfully I've not got much planned this month so I expect it'll be a few late nights to get them all up and tabletop ready.

Unfortunately with the Xmas period I've not had the chance to do much painting and when I did have a bit of time I touched up the Tau Hammerhead which just needs the Ion Cannon and Railgun end bits painting before it's finished. I was really hoping to get a real good start on getting everything sorted but now I've got roughly four weeks to fully paint everything I have. The one problem I've got is the weather is beginning to turn and everything needs priming. I might need to chance it by spraying in the shed, and then bringing the guys straight into the house. This is where the pain of not having a garage shows.

Anyway onwards and upwards, New Years resolution is to get everything I own painted by the end of the year. Empire will be done one way or another by Feb so after that it'll be finishing off the last remaining few of my Ogres, the Tau and then see what happens.

Battle Report 1,000pts Empire vs Beastmen

So I took part in my first big battle tonight as apart of my training sessions at Games Workshop Metro Centre. After slowly picking up the rules with 1/2 units at a time me and Carl decided to up the ante a bit tonight and both run 1,000pt lists with our new army. I took my Altdorf Empire while Carl used his big blocks of Beastmen.
These are the armies;

EMPIRE
Battle Wizard Lord - Lvl3 Lore of Beasts
Master Engineer
Warrior Priest
20 x Spearmen w/Light Armour and Shields
24 x Halberdiers
- 9 x Handgunner Detachment
- 5 x Archer Detachment
Helblaster Volley GunGreat Cannon

BEASTMEN
*Roughly
Great Bray-Shaman - Lvl 3
40 x Ungor Herd w/ Spears
30 x Gor Herd w/Shields
30 x Bestigorg Herd
So this is how the game panned out;

DEPLOYMENT

Carl won the roll and decided to deploy first. He was over pretty quickly so ended up having some extra units to get a good defensive line going. My Master Engineer joined the Volley Gun on top of the hill. The cannon just off to the side to support the Halberdiers and the two ranged detachments. Spearmen off to one side to protect against the Gor herd on the left hand side of the table. Warrior Priest and Battle Wizard Lord both joined the Halberdiers.

BEASTMEN TURN 1

Basically everything marched forwards as expected. Poor dice for Magic and his attempt of Bestial Surge was easily dispelled.

EMPIRE TURN 1

The Spearmen march into the woods to stop the Gors however the trusty servants of The Empire walked straight into a Wildwood suffering two casualties as mysterious creatures within strike without warning. I roll big on the magic and the Battle Wizard Lord casts The Curse of Anraheir onto the Bestigors, hopefully the difficult terrain will halt their progress next turn allowing the cannon and Helblaster to show their worth before the Bestigors can get to our lines. Wyssan’s Wildform is then successful on the Spearmen for the forthcoming battle with the Gors. Finally the Flock of Doom is casted on the Ungors claiming 4 unfortunate victims. The power of the Helblaster Volley Gun is unleashed! A whopping 22 shots ring out across the hill and after the smoke clears there are 14 more Ungors lying crumpled on the floor, scared to face it again the Ungor startle and turn back to retreat. Meanwhile the Cannon over shoots its target while the Handgunners and Archers take out 1 Bestigor each.

BEASTMEN TURN 2

The Ungors fail to rally and flee to just before the table edge. Despite having The Curse of Anraheir the Bestigors march forwards and lose three more servants of Chaos to the difficult terrain. The Gors unsurprisingly charge headlong into the Spearmen, however whatever is lurking the Wildwood seems to be staying away as the two big units beat each other with Shields and Great Weapons. Thankfully with Wyssan’s Wildform the boosted Spearmen take out three Gors and they return with 5 casualties. Despite losing combat the Spearmen hold for another round making the leadership test just! Again Carl unsuccessfully tries to cast Bestial Surge.

EMPIRE TURN 2

Everything holds, the Helblaster fires off 12 rounds of shots this time towards the Bestigors however only 5 are dropped, the cannon tries to grapeshot into the Bestigors and only manages two measily shots which do absolutely nothing. Meanwhile after failing every spell in magic the Gors wipe the floor with the Spearmen and run down the remaining fleeing souls coming up only a few inches away from the side of the Helblaster! Thankfully the Beastmen will need to waste at least one turn to just get into position. Here's hoping the Helblaster can lay waste to almost a full strength Gor Herd in the next turn!

BEASTMEN TURN 3

The Ungors rally! Though their quite far away from the battle and will take another turn at least to get anywhere near marching. The Bestigors and Shaman charge the cannon while the Gors pivot to face the Helblaster and charge next turn. The Shaman casts Mantle of Gorok with Unstoppable Power, then gets lucky rolling gaining +6S and +6Attacks but losing a wound. However due to the miscast the Shaman explodes taking down five Bestigors and himself with the power! So glad the magic was out of it. The rest of the Bestigors tear apart the cannon and all but one of the crew who is overun and sets panick in the Archers who just witnessed the massacre. The Bestigors just stay on the table as the Archers run straight off probably to find more reinforcements!

EMPIRE TURN 3

The Halberdiers and Handgunners both pivot to prepare for the Gors and Bestigors. The Helblaster pivots and at almost point blank range knowing that it'll be their last chance to fire and trying to rush it only manages a below-average 10 shots. Though 5 more Gors drop dead, the Wizard attempts to slow their progress yet again by casting The Curse of Anraheir on the Gors.

BEASTMEN TURN 4

The Bestigors reform to prepare for the Halberdiers next turn. The Gors charge the Volley Gun, crew and Master Engineer. While the Engineer's pistol takes one Gor out they're almost lambs to the Beastmen slaughter as the four men valiantly fight to the literal death. The Gors march forward ready for the Halberdiers.

EMPIRE TURN 4 

The Halberdiers charge headfirst into the Gors. Warrior Priest calls to Sigmar and gets the unit to re-roll to wound. The Wizard also successfully casts Wyssan’s Wildform on the Unit to toughen them up even more however The Curse of Anraheir is sucessfully dispelled against the Ungors. The Handgunners seeing their regimental brothers locked in combat take aim at the Bestigors who are eagerly looking at the Halberdiers, only one of the Beasts drop though to the armour-piercing rounds. The Gor champion foolishly challenges someone and the Warrior Priest with two hand weapons takes him out before they can even get a hit in. The rest of the Halberdiers urged on by their Warrior Priest and feeling the blessing of Sigmar lay waste to the remaining Gors and without think turn their attention on the Bestigors who prepare to charge.

BEASTMEN TURN 5

The Ungors manage what I thought was the impossible and charge into the rear of the Halberdiers! The Bestigors charge into the front of the unit too making the soldiers of Altdorf sandwiched between these foul beasts. Thank god for Wyssan’s Wildform being active though. The Bestigors are cut down to just one remaining beast and despite needing Double 1s Carl manages it! The Ungors cut down a few Halberdiers who in turn return with 2 victims. The Handgunners watch on from the side nervously.

EMPIRE TURN 5

The Wizard feeling cocky tries to uneedingly cast Wyssan’s Wildform and manages it with uncontrollable force! A small round S10 template around the Wizard goes off killing two of his own men and knocking a wound off himself. Strengthed due to the spell the Halberdiers finish off the remaining Bestigor and two more Ungors, who frustratingly kill two spearmen too. With the combat a draw it looks like the final Beastmen turn will be the finishing point.

BEASTMEN TURN 6

Thankfully the Halbediers finish off the Ungors with Carl somehow managing to roll 1s and 2s on every attack he had! VICTORY TO THE EMPIRE!

Post Match Analysis
To be fair it was a very close call in the end. When I looked at deployment I thought I'd have a rather easy shot at winning this but then again that's my noviceness kicking in, because big blocks of infantry really do suddenly ware everything down in Warhammer Fantasy! My cannon again failed and I think part of it is due to me still learning how to use it. This is the third time I've used it and overshot every single shot in it. The star of the show though was definitely the Helblaster Volley Gun, in the very first turn and even at long range it ruined the huge block of Ungors, then at point blank range it took a good chunk out of the Gors too. Being able to use the Master Engineer ballistic skill definitley helped and thankfully I didn't need to use the re-roll ability on a misfire.
Overall a great enjoyable game and cannot wait for next week where we've agreed another 1,000pts on the table is the way to go. This time though I may try something different with some Knights of the Inner Circle and maybe a Mortar!

Working Out Empire List

So as I mentioned I've got a battle on Thursday night at Games Workshop Metrocentre, 1,000pts of my 

Empire against a 1k Beastmen army. I've been slowly putting a list together with the models I've got so far but still trying to finalise what to put in.

So far I’ve got this as a list but still need some help;
 
Lords
Battle Wizard Lord (in Handgunner Detachment)
Lore of Life or Beasts, Wizard Level 3

Heroes
Warrior Priest (in with Halberdiers)
Additional Hand Weapon, Heavy Armour, Helm of the Skavenslayer


Core
Halberdiers x 24 (Full command)
Detachment - Handgunners x 9
Spearmen x 20 (Full Command)
Special
Great Cannon (120pts)

Rare
Helblaster Volley Gun
Now this comes to 874pts, I could add 5 x Knightly Orders Inner Circle plain (no command) to make it 999pts.

Other models I’ve got at the moment that I could add;
Battle Wizard
Witch Hunter
Master Engineer
More Handgunners
10 x Archers
Mortar

Still need some tweaking, I'm thinking maybe an extra Handgunner Detachment for the Halberdiers and then a Dispell Scroll for the Wizard and Shields for the Spearmen. To get the full 1,000pts.

The Armies So Far

So since July I've acquired quite the collection of Warhammer Fantasy models, I started with an Ogre Kingdoms army; something a bit bigger than normal Fantasy armies to get used to painting again and also an army that doesn't need as many models as 'normal' forces to be complete.

That doesn't mean it's not a huge force, I've so far got the following;

1 x Firebelly
1 x Slaughtermaster
1 x Bruiser BSB
12 x Ogres
6 x Ironguts
4 x Mournfang Cavalry
8 x Leadbelchers
1 x Ironblaster
1 x Thundertusk
3 x Sabretusks
20-odd Gnoblers

The majority are fully painted, I've still got a couple of Ogres to finish off along with the Slaughtermaster. I'll try and get some photos up in the next couple of days.

Recently, since September, the Metrocentre GW store has been running a Winter Crusade where everyone starts a new army and then as long as we have a fully painted 1,500pts army for the end of Jan we're all off to Warhammer World to use our new forces. Now I've always been a huge fan of The Empire, something about the regimental core mixed with the blackpowder warmachines that really grabbed my attention as a kid so it was obvious that would be my next army for The Winter Crusade.

While I'm still slowly building Henry Krtuz Altdorf Relief (working army title) the army is already bigger than 1,500pts and I've still got Christmas, where I know the girlfriend has bought me some more Empire-goodness, to go!

I've been re-learning the rules with my Empire army working out what works for my force and what doesn't and so far this is the collection I've amassed, again pictures to come in the next few days;

1 x Warrior Priest with Extra Hand Weapon
1 x Kitbased Witch Hunter
1 x Mounted Wizard
2 x Wizards
1 x Master Engineer
24 x Halberdiers (20 troops and a 4-man Wizard Unit-Filler)
20 x Spearmen
20 x Handgunners
Handful of Archers and Crossbowmen
8 x Knights
1 x Great Cannon
1 x Mortar
1 x Helblaster Volley Gun

So yeah quite a list with alot more to come after Christmas Day! I really need to get on painting the models I've got at the moment because I can easily see January being a month of constant painting. Rather than going for the half and half down the middle for the uniform I've gone for the easier to paint Red top/Blue Bottoms or Blue Top/Red Bottoms.

I'll get some pictures up soon along with my next battle report which is my Christmas lesson on Thursday night 1,000pts vs GW Carl's pesky Winter Crusade Beastmen!