Heffengen

I realised during last week that we were about to enter December and I really hadn't gotten the ball rolling in terms of this year's "big game". It seems to have become an annual event now, and I see no particular reason to break the pattern. Anyway, all the End Times stuff has thrown whatever plans I might have had into something of a spin, so I've decided to embrace it and use some of the material from the Nagash book. This year (well, technically it looks like it will happen on January 1st next year) we shall recreate the Battle of Heffengen.

For those who don't know (and without giving too much away for anyone who is worried about spoilers at this point), Heffengen saw a large Empire army led by Karl Franz intercept a Chaos invasion that had burst through the human defences to the north. As things started to look grim on the Empire flank, an Undead army led by Vlad von Carstein intervened.

The battle is actually covered by 3 separate scenarios in the End Times: Nagash book. I have decided we'll roll the scenarios together into a single large game involving 8 players.

The players are lined up and I'm starting to gather a list of the forces we have available so that I can determine the final size of the battle. My suspicions are that the limiting factor will be the Empire side, so of course I am doing what I can to bolster that side of things. I'm finally adding a third "region" to my own Empire army - something I've been planning to do for a long time.

10 Handgunners in the black and red of "Ostland" (shhh, don't tell the proper Ostland players. They will point out my scheme is wrong)...

End Times Unending

The End Times, it seems, are relentless. I had not even finished reading Warhammer End Times: Glottkin when I received an email from Games Workshop telling me I could pre-order yet another book in the series, this time Khaine.

When the Nagash book was announced, I think most people were pretty happy about it. Finally here was something that actually moved the story forward; probably the first real change to the status quo in 20 years. The situation of the Old World would change, characters would die, etc. I’m not quite sure how prepared we were for the sheer number of special characters that would meet their demise in that first book, but it still felt like a step in the right direction.

What I certainly wasn't ready for was the sheer rate at which these books are coming out. I feel like I am barely getting time to process what I am looking at before yet another chapter in the story arrives. By the time the Khaine book arrives, I still won’t have played a single game using the rules from either of the first two books. My wallet may not have recovered in time either, but then GW are helping me out there by having ridiculously low stock levels and making it impossible for people to buy the thing. So yay for them, I guess…

Arachnarok done

I am finally calling this stupid Arachnarok done. Is he a work of art? No. But he (and the teeming horde of Goblins on his back) is covered in lots of paint, and that will have to do. He has taken enough of my time.

One painted Arachnarok, ready for battle.

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.