The Battle of Bumpkin: Part 2

This is the second part of a battle report. You can find part 1 here.

Empire Turn 2

Empire Turn 2

Owen:
GREG TWO: The Gregoning.
Greg does not have to do steam points anymore, but DOES need to do stupid tests. Pegacaptain is okay, as does everyone else who could be dumb.

The Battle of Bumpkin: Part 1

A 2500 point battle report between Nick Gentile's Dark Elves and Greg Johnson's Empire, as chronicled by that most questionable of note-takers, Owen Top.

Hellebron stalked through the burning human village, a scowl of dissatisfaction upon her face. Blood dripped from the blades she carried in either hand, but it did nothing to brighten her mood. She had been persuaded to launch this raid upon the northern Empire town of Bumpkin with the promise of a large population with weak defences. It was a certain slaughter. She and her sisters would bathe in an ocean of blood. The mere thought of it had been enough to get her ancient, withered heart racing.

She should have known the promises were too good to be true. By the time her forces had landed near the town, the humans had already raised the alarm, and many had fled inland, preferring to take their chances with the dangers of the forests than standing to face the fate awaiting them at the merciless hands of the Druchii. The town was still defended by a combination of soldiers and militia, however they were relatively few in number and the fight was over quickly. Worse; they had stood their ground bravely and died fighting. There had been precious few victims left for the Khainites to torment and murder in a satisfying manner.

With most of the town's inhabitants long gone and no real sport to be found, Hellebron had been forced to draw what satisfaction she could from murdering the odd litter of adorable puppies that had been left behind. Even this had done little to lift her spirits. With so little bloodshed to be enjoyed, the frown furrowing her brow at that moment would likely be stuck there permanently. She could almost feel her youthful complexion fading as her aggitation increased. If should could not revel in a true slaughter, the least she could do was to enjoy a little more suffering. Perhaps she should torture her scouts who had brought her on this fruitless expedition in the first place. And then maybe they could take a detour on the way home, and find some cute little baby seals to destroy.

The thought of making something cute and cuddly suffer lifted her mood somewhat, as one of her scouts (who would soon be suffering terribly at her hand) hurried toward her. "My queen," he saluted. "Another force of soldiers approaches. It seems they have ridden to try to relieve the town. The human Emperor's personal standard flies with them."

In spite of her previous brooding, Hellebron could not help but smile wickedly at this news. Perhaps she would have a chance to cause some real suffering today, after all.

Arachnaphobia

Well I have certainly been lax in terms of the blog recently! Sorry about that, I am still trying to recover from a bit of hobby burnout after the Duelling Gamers, and I seem to have had a lot going on elsewhere.

To make up for it a bit, there will be a battle report appearing in the next day or two. Not a massive one - just a sensible 2500 point game.

In terms of painting, I am struggling away on an Arachnarok. It's been a very frustrating model to paint. I didn't plan it very carefully beyond "I think I'll make it red", and it turns out these things have far more detail on them than I would ideally like. Spiders and Goblins everywhere. I had the spider looking mostly painted after one or two moderate sittings, but then came a wave of details and fiddling that make little visible improvement. Still, the spider himself is now basically done...

Pretty much there, right? He's even got static grass on his base!

Oh, wait a minute...

Unfortunately there is still the howdah full of Goblins to go. These guys were what broke me during my most recent painting session. It really would have been better to paint them before they were glued together. Sigh. Hopefully another session or two and I can call this thing finished. Then I just need to work up the courage to paint the second one, which also has its crew already glued to the howdah... :(

Curse their beady little undercoated eyes. So much fiddly on one impressive model.

Breaking it up a bit

It's been a while since my last post. This is partly a natural lull after pumping out my Axemaster tournament report, but it's also because I've been in a bit of a hobby slump recently. After 2 tournaments in quick succession (one of which included a mad rush to get my army ready), I now have nothing on my radar until Cancon in January.

I haven't even acknowledged my abject failure in the Tale of Duelling Gamers yet. The challenge finished at the end of September, and I failed to do anything about my quotas for the last 2 months. In August this was because I was completely focused on the Empire Ogres for Rumble, and then in September it was basically because I was burnt out from the previous month. So I only managed to paint Dwarfs for 4 of the 6 allotted months. In this regard, my efforts were a failure. In practical terms however, I did fine. My output for the 6 months was as follows:

• 20 Dwarf Slayers
• 27 Dwarf Quarrellers
• 11 Dwarf Thunderers
• 16 Dwarf Irondrakes
• 16 Dwarf Ironbreakers
• 12 Dwarf Miners
• 1 Dwarf Cannon
• 3 Dwarf characters
• 3 Ogre Leadbelchers
• 4 Ogre Bulls/Swordsmen
• 1 Ogre Ironblaster
• 5 Ogre Sabretusks
• 4 Ogre characters
• 1 Empire Captain to ride a Pegasus

If I managed that level of productivity every 6 months, I think I'd be pretty happy. So really I don't feel like I failed too badly. I just failed to focus, and didn't spread the load as well as I might have...

Anyway, as I continue to recover from my earlier burnout and without a clear goal in sight in terms of an upcoming tournament, my hobby efforts have been pretty confused and random. I've dabbed some paint on a couple of models, but I haven't produced anything even remotely close to a finished product.

Axemaster 2014 – Part 6

This post is a continuation of my account of the recent tournament, Axemaster 2014. You can find the previous part of the report here.

Game 6

Ben Wadsworth, Warriors of Chaos

• Chaos Lord of Tzeentch on Disc of Tzeentch with Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command, Dragonhelm, Flaming Breath, Soul Feeder, Great Weapon, Shield
• Exalted Hero of Tzeentch BSB on Barded Daemonic Mount with Armour of Destiny, Scaled Skin, Great Weapon
• Chaos Sorcerer (Level 2, Lore of Tzeentch) with Chaos Familiar
• Chaos Sorcerer (Level 1, Lore of Metal) with Dispel Scroll
• 17 Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch with Full Command, Shields, Gleaming Pennant
• Chaos Chariot of Nurgle
• Chaos Chariot of Nurgle
• 5 Chaos Warhounds with Vanguard
• 5 Chaos Warhounds with Vanguard
• Chimera with Flaming Breath, Regenerating Flesh
• Chimera with Flaming Breath, Regenerating Flesh
• Hellcannon
• Giant

Comp Score: 2

After 2 big losses I felt like reality had reasserted itself and my place in the field had been corrected, so I hoped to do a little better in my last game. I've been wanting to play Mr Wadsworth (the man behind Shirts off Warhammer) for a while, and now I had my chance. Unfortunately when I looked at his list, I realised I might have some difficulty getting rid of some of his characters. Ah well, what was the worst that could happen?

Game 6 deployment

Axemaster 2014 – Part 5

This post is a continuation of my account of the recent tournament, Axemaster 2014. You can find the previous part of the report here.

Game 5

Simon Kwok, Empire

• Arch Lector on War Altar with Talisman of Preservation, Charmed Shield, Van Horstmann's Speculum, Great Weapon
• Wizard Lord (Level 4, Lore of Light)
• Captain BSB with Obsidian Lodestone, Full Plate Armour, Enchanted Shield (not really sure for this guy)
• Battle Wizard (Level 1, Lore of Light) with Dispel Scroll
• Battle Wizard (Level 1, Lore of Light)
• Witch Hunter with Brace of Pistols
• 40 Halberdiers with Full Command
• 30 Spearmen with Musician
• 30 Spearmen with Musician
• 10 Archers
• 4 Demigryphs with Standard, Musician
• 4 Demigryphs with Standard, Musician
• Celestial Hurricanum
• Steam Tank

Comp Score: 3

This was not a match-up that my army fancied at all. A double-Banishment "light council" backed by 2 cannons. It was precisely the sort of list that my Griffons wanted nothing to do with. And I couldn't even rush into combat for fear of what the Demigryphs and Steam Tank would do to my units. In conclusion, Simon's list was obviously better constructed than mine. I knew it would be a struggle, so just resolved to have some fun and get it over with...

Deployment. My second Griffon is almost in the picture on the left.

Axemaster 2014 – Part 4

This post is a continuation of my account of the recent tournament, Axemaster 2014. You can find the previous part of the report here.

I spent the start of Day 2 sending SMSes to friends to see if anyone could either assist me or play in my place for that day, as I had basically no voice. Given how noisy the tournament venue was, I was not at all convinced that my opponents would be able to hear me, and I figured this would only get worse with the strain. Unfortunately nobody was available, so I just had to try and tough it out. Hopefully I wouldn't be reduced to expressing my intentions through the power of interpretive dance before the day was out...

Game 4

Aaron Graham, High Elves

• Prince on Star Dragon with Talisman of Preservation, Star Lance, Charmed Shield, Heavy Armour, Lion Cloak
• Noble BSB on Barded Steed with Enchanted Shield, Dawnstone, Sword of Might, Heavy Armour
• Noble on Great Eagle with Heavy Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Lance
• Noble on Great Eagle with Heavy Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Lance
• Noble on Great Eagle with Heavy Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Lance
• 9 Silver Helms with Full Command
• 6 Silver Helms with Musician
• 6 Silver Helms with Musician
• 6 Silver Helms with Musician
• Tiranoc Chariot
• Tiranoc Chariot
• Great Eagle
• Great Eagle
• Frostheart Phoenix
• Frostheart Phoenix

Comp Score: 3 or 4

So coming into this game, I think there were maybe 3 of us all on about the same score at the head of the field. Given my list I figured that wouldn't be me, but you never know. To say that Aaron's list was fast is a bit of an understatement. 8 flying models and the rest of the army had Movement 9. This was going to make it difficult for me to control the terms of the game, but at least he had no magic whatsoever. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.

Deployment.