Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

Well. My last post, about taking it easy for a while, was over 2 months ago. Maybe I took things a little "easier" than I had anticipated. 2 months is a very long time between posts. And this was largely reflective of the amount of hobby-related stuff I was doing during this period. I might have played a single game of Kings of War during the gap. Maybe. 

I only really started to pick up a paint brush about a week ago, too. I really was slacking off admirably. Basically I was suffering a bit from burnout and a lack of specific motivation. And distractions always abound. Especially when you're kind of looking for distractions...

Anyway, as slack as I have been recently, I'm not dead. And now I'm looking to blow off the cobwebs a bit and get back into action. As I say, I've started doing some painting again, although thus far my progress has been limited. My efforts have been focused on getting my Ogre Siegebreakers closer to finished. I had deliberately held off adding colour to them for reasons relating to our Albion campaign, however things got a bit derailed there as we were coming up to the end, so it seems likely that we'll never actually get around to properly resolving it. It's a shame, but I guess these things happen. I actually have photos from at least 4 more games that were played, but those were so long ago now that I doubt I can remember the details to go with them...

Wait, I was talking about painting. Yes, I have been painting metal ogres.

When last we saw them, these guys were almost purely metal. Steel with a little brass on the shields.

They're still not done, but they're closer.

As I say, they're  not finished yet. I am now trying to clean up the eyes a bit, which is difficult. I am having trouble making sense of them. Maybe because of the variable quality of my moulding process, maybe because my eyes are tired. Anyway, you can't see this in these photos anyway.  I also need to go through and make some shoulder detailing, probably by sculpting a master on one guy and then using that to press mould it onto the others. I need more colour on the Ogres themselves. They're a little too... metal.

In other news, I have committed to a plan for Cancon, which is now about a month and a half away. I was tossing up several options, including Kings of War and even Blood Bowl. In the end I have decided to play Warhammer 8.5. Basically it's 8th edition with a few rules tweaks, many of which I agree with, and numerous updated army lists (notably those army books that were release prior to 8th edition, as well as most of the Storm of Chaos lists). In some ways this choice represents the easy option. I expect this event to be small and really relaxed. Less competitive attitude. Right now that is what I am looking for.

And what army will I use? Well, I haven't made a list yet, but I think I have decided on an army book. I suspect I will use Dogs of War.

Taking it easy

Sometimes it happens that when you push too hard to achieve hobby goals, you end up suffering from a level of hobby burnout. After all the rush around the most recent battle report, this has happened to me. I haven't painted anything, nor have I pulled my models out and played any games. And as a result, there has been no real activity on this blog either.

Obviously I have not been entirely inactive since my last post. Rather than trying to make myself spend time doing hobby stuff when I don't have the drive, I have been playing PC and video games instead. Normally these games and hobby stuff are warring for my time, and often the hobby wins out, either because I am working towards a specific goal or because time spent painting models feels like long-term progress and works better with watching TV shows with my wife. At the moment it's not really much of a decision, though. I might as well catch up on some of the games I've been ignoring.

Given there's not much happening on the blog from a hobby perspective, I figured I might as well discuss what I've been doing with my time.

MechWarrior Online

One game I had been meaning to try for years is MechWarrior Online. As someone who has played nearly every Battletech-related video game over the years, read nearly all the books and played the odd game on the tabletop, it's hard to believe that I have managed to wait 3 years since the game came out of beta before giving it a go. It helps that a number of friends have jumped in alongside me, so I'm not playing it all alone.

Give-away winners!

Well the time is up for our Grim & The Grave give-away, so it's time to announce the winners. I gathered all the entries together into a list and then rolled dice to determine the winners, as any true gamer would do.

So without further ado, our winners are:

• DeusArchon
• Tom Zom
• mpc

Each will receive a code for the DLC, just as soon as I work out how to send them messages. Maybe I have to add them as friends in Steam. Such mystery...

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who responded.

Giveaway - Total War: The Grim and The Grave

To celebrate the release of Total War: WARHAMMER The Grim & The Grave, I have 3 copies of the DLC to give away! Just leave a comment on this post, make sure you include something so I can identify who you are (Steam handle or something similar), and answer the following question:

• Do you come to Total War:WARHAMMER as a player (or former player) of the tabletop game, or is Total War your first involvement in the Warhammer world?

On Sunday (11/9/2016), 3 of the responses will be chosen at random to receive one of the DLC codes I have in my possession.

Answers will be used for the purposes of careful research (ie: I am just curious).

Also, if you have not already seen it, the guys over at Creative Assembly had a go at recreating the Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse at a more sensible level than the hilarious disaster I oversaw here. Go check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy63LVztvdY

The Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse: Total War

Having played through the Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse on the tabletop, the plan was then to go back and try to recreate it in Total War: Warhammer – The Grim & The Grave. Well, two of us did go through with the plan. The results were… interesting. 

For starters, although we’ve both played the game (James has played it a lot more than me), neither of us had ever played a multiplayer battle before. It was cool to see all the options, including being able to have up to 4 forces a side with either PC or human controllers. We decided to make use of this, as we realized that the battle we had fought was loaded with plenty of Lord choices, but you can only have one per army in TW. We also figured that it would be helpful to have PC allies controlling some of the forces to take the load off us a bit. We then set about roughly recreating the forces. The balance is a bit whacky given that unit sizes can vary wildly on the tabletop, but are set in TW. We went with what we felt best represented a TW version of the armies, which basically meant filling up all 80 available slots on either side. 

We chose the Castle Drakenhof map as it seemed a reasonable fit. We had no control over late-arriving flanking forces, which was slightly disappointing given that it’s something that happens regularly when you’re in the campaign. So we were not able to recreate the flanking element of the tabletop battle. Oh well, we figured we would just line things up and see what happened.

The loading screen. I was using Volkmar. James' lord was actually Vlad, so I assume he must have set a PC player as the no 1 player on his side for Ghorst to show up here. Or the game just moves in mysterious ways.

And then we launched the battle and my PC wept bitter tears of overloadedness.

The Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse: Part 4

This is the final part of the Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the main page here.

Empire Turn 4

Empire Turn 4

The battlefield was littered with corpses and broken bones and everywhere the snow was turning red with the blood of the living. The Empire lines were holding their own, however the right flank was being sorely tested and the Grand Theogonist himself was in grave peril.

The Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse: Part 3

This is a continuation of the Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the main page here.

Empire Turn 3

Empire Turn 3

Volkmar decides to get his hands dirty.

The Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse: Part 2

This is a continuation of the Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the main page here.

Empire Turn 2

Empire Turn 2

The Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse: Part 1

This is the first part of the Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse report. You can find the introduction here, and the main page here.

Volkmar pulled his cloak tighter to try to shield himself from the cold air as the war altar upon which he rode swayed slightly in the wind. Despite the fact that spring had arrived in the Empire before this expedition set out, winter still clung to Sylvania. A thick layer of snow lay on the ground and the biting wind and dark clouds overhead made it clear that more could soon be forthcoming. The Grand Theogonist had no doubt that these brooding clouds were the reason that Sylvania had not escaped winter’s clutches. It was said that these clouds were a constant presence over this land nowadays. Volkmar scowled. It had always been a cursed place, but now it was cursed, dark and cold.

Despite the snow, the army had been making steady progress as it pressed deeper into Sylvania far faster than would normally have been possible. The warnings which they were acting upon had stressed the need for haste, and to that end they had engaged a pair of wizards from the Light College to help ease their passage. The entire march across the Empire and into Sylvania had taken less than half the time it should have. Volkmar did not pretend to understand how the wizards achieved this (indeed, the less Sigmar-fearing men such as himself knew of such practices, the better), but it was hard not to notice that the days seemed to drag on far longer than normal, and the way the villagers they passed along the way seemed to be moving in slow motion. 

With any luck, their mission to thwart the plans of the foul necromancer Helman Ghorst would soon be accomplished. The force they had assembled was formidable and their arrival in Sylvania had been incredibly swift. Already the ruined towers of Vanhaldenschlosse were coming into view over the tops of the trees. If he were not Volkmar the Grim, he might have allowed himself a slightly satisfied smile.

As if to prove that he was right to be such a grumpy pessimist, these thoughts were interrupted by shouted warnings from the pistoliers at the head of the column, followed by pistols firing and the eerie howls of wolves. The familiar moment of queasiness came and went as the Light wizards aborted their time-altering incantations, and the world seemed to blur and then settle around them. The sights and sounds of the forest around them became clearer, and movement could be seen through the trees.

Ignoring the cold, Volkmar now shrugged the cloak from his shoulders and reached for his weapon. They had marched hard and could not have hoped to have made better progress than this. Now it was time to fight.

The packs of wolves and ghouls that threw themselves at the Empire army did little to slow it down as it marched the remaining few miles to Vanhaldenschlosse. The formations spread out into a battle line as they came to the clearing around the ruined castle. 

An army of the undead was ready and waiting for them.

Volkmar drew the horses pulling the war altar to a halt as he surveyed the enemy lines. The experience hard-won from countless battles over the years allowed him to assess the strength of the undead force, and it gave him some grim satisfaction. The army he led was the stronger. It would be a battle, but they had the advantage.

A tired-looking pistolier galloped up to spoil the mood. "My lord, more undead are approaching from the west. They will be here within the hour".

Volkmar’s expression darkened once more into its customary scowl. Whatever advantage they held, it would not last for long.

"Best get on with it then," he muttered.

The Armies

Vampire Counts

• HG Helman Ghorst
  Overall General. Master Necromancer (Level 4, Lore of Vampires) with Cursed Book, Talisman of Preservation on Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone
• LvC1 Luthor von Carstein
  General. Vampire Lord (Level 1, Lore of Vampires) with Armour of Fortune, Sword of Bloodshed, Shield
• HotHF Horror of the High Fells
  Strigoi Ghoul King on Terrorgheist with Red Fury
• AvC1 Abraxas von Carstein
  Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon with Heavy Armour, Shield, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Endurance
• MK Master Kraven
  Master Necromancer (Level 4, Lore of Death)
• N Necromancer
  Level 2, Lore of Death
• G1 80 Ghouls
  Led by Banshee
• Z1 90 Zombies
  Led by Wraith
• DW1 10 Dire Wolves
• GG1 20 Grave Guard
• FB1 6 Fell Bats
• V1 15 Vargheists
• H 5 Hexwraiths
• T1 Terrorgheist
• T2 Terrorgheist
• GG2 50 Grave Guard
  Razor Standard. Led by Wight King
• S1 50 Skeletons
  led by Vampire
• Z2 60 Zombies
• CC1 Corpse Cart
• BK1 10 Black Knights
• V2 Varghulf
• V3 Varghulf
• W1 6 Wraiths
  Led by Banshee
• BC1 Black Coach
• DW2 10 Dire Wolves
• FB2 6 Fell Bats
• BC2 Black Coach
• BC3 Black Coach
• BS 5 Bat Swarms
  led by Wight King on Barded Steed with Shield, Talisman of Endurance, Sword of Might
• BK2 15 Black Knights
• FB3 10 Fell Bats
• FB4 10 Fell Bats
• GG3 25 Grave Guard
• S2 60 Skeletons
  led by Wraith
• GG4 60 Grave Guard
  Banner of the Barrows, led by Wight King with Heavy Armour, Talisman of Endurance, Sword of Might
• G2 60 Ghouls
• Z3 44 Zombies
• Z4 40 Zombies
• VvC Vlad von Carstein
  Reinforcement General
• LvC2 Lucius von Carstein
  Vampire Lord (Level 4, Lore of Shadow)
• AvC2 Altschul von Carstein
  Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon with Heavy Armour, Shield, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Endurance
• G3 60 Ghouls
  led by Wraith
• G4 60 Ghouls
  led by Wraith
• DW3 10 Dire Wolves
• DW4 10 Dire Wolves
• V4 Varghulf
• V5 Varghulf
• S3 70 Skeletons
• Z5 50 Zombies
• GG5 45 Grave Guard
  Banner of Swiftness, led by Vampire (Level 1, Lore of Vampires) with Heavy Armour, Talisman of Endurance, Sword of Might
• BK3 15 Black Knights
• W2 8 Wraiths
  led by Banshee
• CC2 Corpse Cart
• FB5 6 Fell Bats

The Empire

• VtG Volkmar the Grim
  Overall General. Riding War Altar
• EG Empire General Franz Stark
  Right Flank General. Riding Barded Steed with Full Plate, Shield, Talisman of Preservation, Ogre Blade
• AL Arch Lector Derych
  Left Flank General. Armour of Meteoric Iron, Mace of Helsturm
• Grf1 Empire General
  On Griffon with Full Plate Armour, Shield, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Endurance
• Grf2 Empire General
  On Griffon with Full Plate Armour, Shield, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Endurance
• Grf3 Empire General
  On Griffon with Full Plate Armour, Shield, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Endurance
• BSB1 Battle Standard Bearer
  Barded Steed with Full Plate Armour, Shield, Talisman of Endurance, Sword of Might
• BSB2 Battle Standard Bearer
  Barded Steed with Full Plate Armour, Shield, Talisman of Endurance, Sword of Might
• BSB3 Battle Standard Bearer
  Full Plate Armour, Shield, Talisman of Endurance, Sword of Might
• WL1 Wizard Lord
  Level 4, Lore of Fire
• WL2 Wizard Lord
  Level 4, Lore of Heavens
• WL3 Wizard Lord
  Level 4, Lore of Light
• BW1 Battle Wizard
  Level 2, Lore of Fire
• BW2 Battle Wizard
  Level 2, Lore of Heavens
• BW3 Battle Wizard
  Level 2, Lore of Light
• Hal1 60 Halberdiers
  led by Captain with Full Plate, Shield, Sword of Might, Talisman of Endurance, Warrior Priest with Heavy Armour and Great Weapon, Witch Hunter with Brace of Pistols
• Hal2 60 Halberdiers
  led by Captain with Full Plate, Shield, Sword of Might, Talisman of Endurance, Warrior Priest with Heavy Armour and Great Weapon, Witch Hunter with Brace of Pistols
• Hal3 60 Halberdiers
  led by Warrior Priest with Heavy Armour and Great Weapon
• G1 60 Greatswords
  Razor Standard. Led by Captain with Full Plate, Shield, Sword of Might, Talisman of Endurance, Warrior Priest with Heavy Armour and Great Weapon
• Sw1 60 Swordsmen
  led by Warrior Priest with Heavy Armour and Great Weapon
• Flag1 60 Flagellants
• G2 40 Greatswords
  led by Warrior Priest with Heavy Armour and Great Weapon
• ICWWK 20 Inner Circle White Wolf Knights
  led by Warrior Priest on Barded Steed with Heavy Armour, Great Weapon
• WWK 20 White Wolf Knights
  led by Captain with Full Plate Armour, Barded Steed, Sword of Might, Talisman of Endurance
• ICKP 40 Inner Circle Knights Panther
  Steel Standard. Led by Captain with Full Plate Armour, Barded Steed, Sword of Might, Talisman of Endurance
• K1 24 Knights
  Led by Captain with Full Plate Armour, Barded Steed, Sword of Might, Talisman of Endurance
• K2 16 Knights
• Reik 16 Reiksguard
  Led by Captain with Full Plate Armour, Barded Steed, Sword of Might, Talisman of Endurance
• Demi1 10 Demigryph Knights
  Banner of Swiftness
• Xbow1 40 Crossbowmen
• Hgun1 40 Handgunners
• Hgun2 40 Handgunners
• Xbow2 16 Crossbowmen
• P1 5 Pistoliers
• P2 5 Pistoliers
• P3 5 Pistoliers
• O 5 Outriders
• Sp1 40 Spearmen
• Sp2 40 Spearmen
• FC 30 Free Company
• Hal4 35 Halberdiers
• Flag2 30 Flagellants
• Sw2 30 Swordsmen
• Xbow3 19 Crossbowmen
• A 20 Archers
• Hgun3 10 Handgunners
• Demi2 3 Demigryph Knights
• K3 10 Knights
• ST1 Steam Tank
• ST2 Steam Tank
• ST3 Steam Tank
• GC1 Great Cannon
• GC2 Great Cannon
• GC3 Great Cannon
• GC4 Great Cannon
• GC5 Great Cannon
• M1 Mortar
• M2 Mortar
• M3 Mortar
• VG1 Volley Gun
• VG2 Volley Gun
• VG3 Volley Gun
• RB1 Rocket Battery
• RB2 Rocket Battery
• E1 Engineer
• E2 Engineer

Deployment

Deployment

Along the Empire line.

The Battle of Vanhaldenschlosse: Introduction

And now for something a little different.

In honour of the new The Grim & The Grave expansion for Total War: Warhammer, we were invited to organise one of our traditional battle reports based around the characters being added to the game. We will then go back and try to recreate the battle in Total War, and see how that plays out.

Total War: Warhammer. The Grim & The Grave

Another War Altar

My painting priorities have been swirling around a bit recently, but over the weekend I finally managed to get something else finished.

The Grand Theogonist, Volkmar the Grim. I finally have a proper Sigmarite War Altar! Don't worry Ulric, you will always be my favourite. I am old school...

General update

Sorry for the lack of campaign updates. I seem to be a bit busy at the moment. I still have several games to catch up on, and one more game to organise. I'll get there in the end, I promise...

In general hobby terms, I have been slightly lacking focus again. I started working on some MOM Miniaturas Dwarves that I have been looking forward to tackling, but then shifting priorities mean that I have altered course again. I will have to come back to the Dwarves.

The almost-finished prototype is shown at the front on the right. They will have the same colour scheme as my old Marauder Ironbreakers. And the Siegebreaker Ogres, when they're done too.

Empire Swordsmen with special round Ostland bull-head shields. I hope to get 40 of these done in a couple of waves.

On the weekend I also managed to play another game of Kings of War. I had a camera with me, so took a few pictures. Some of them came out OK. But the game ended up a bit of a blow-out, so I thought I would just share a few shots here and be done with it. Busy busy busy, don't you know.

Lining up against Ben's Undead. Having not really done it before, I thought I would try a shooting-heavy list just to see how it performed, and then of course we rolled up a scenario where you have to move. An obvious flaw with this plan.

Convic 2016 Aftermath - Part 3

This is the final part of my Convic report. You can find the previous part here.

Day 1 had gone pretty well for me, but now we were heading into Day 2. Now we were using our full-sized 2000 point lists. I'll put all 3 of the remaining games in this one post. Hopefully the number of pictures won't break your browser. :P

Game 5
2000 points, Loot!
Ben Rantall, Ogres with Goblin allies

• Siegebreaker horde with Brew of Haste
• Boomer horde with Blessing of the Gods
• Boomer horde with Chant of Hate
• Berserker Brave regiment
• Giant
• Giant
• Red Goblin Blaster
• Red Goblin Blaster
• Grokagamok
• Army Standard Bearer
• Spitter regiment (Goblin allies)
• Mawbeast regiment (Goblin allies)
• Mawbeast regiment (Goblin allies)

Oh look, another Grokagamok! Perhaps we could have an epic Grokagamok showdown. Deploying against Ben's army immediately showed one of the weaknesses of my own list - I really only hard large horde (and even legion) sized units. It meant I didn't have a lot of smaller stuff with which to control deployment, objectives, or the game in general. Oh well, maybe I wouldn't need them.

2 Giants, eh? That could pose a problem. And that's Grokagamok standing next to them. So much hurtiness. The horde in front of him is the Siegebreakers.

Convic 2016 Aftermath - Part 2

This post is a continuation of my report of Convic. You can find the previous part here.

After a win and a loss with my 1000 point list, I was obviously in danger of getting comfortable with my army. So it was time to change things up a bit, and the next 2 games would be using the 1500 point list instead. More toys!

Game 3
1500 points, Dominate!
Rohan Keating, Empire of Dust

• Ahmunite Pharaoh with Boomstick
• Ahmunite Pharaoh with Wings of the Honeymaze
• Revenant Horde with Brew of Strength
• Mummy Troop
• Mummy Troop
• Enslaved Guardian Archer Horde
• Bone Giant
• Bone Dragon

Rowan had made the trip down from Sydney for the event and it was good to catch up. I preferred not to think about how he spanked me about up at Cancon, though. Time for revenge and stuff. Maybe.

On the bright side, my 1500 point list was not too dramatically different from my 1000 point one. I still had things like the Warlock and Berserker Braves, so I had at least some idea of what went where...

Nick came and visited the tournament in the afternoon, and ran off with my camera. Consequently I have a number of photos of people and models that have nothing to do with this game, but little in the way of the deployment on my own table.

I started by deploying my Shooter horde in a forest, because it seemed like the thing to do. It had a good view of the central objective, so it was not a bad place for a move-or-fire unit. Rowan then deployed giving them nothing whatsoever to shoot at. Kill-joy.

Convic 2016 Aftermath - Part 1

Convic was on the weekend, and whilst it was not the massive event is has been in the past, it was a lot of fun. This was my third Kings of War tournament and as usual, my preparation for it was less rather careless. I had played 2 games of KoW with Ogres before the event – one of them with the 1000 point list I would be using on the day (which was a game to teach one of my friends who was also entering the event how to play the game – so I guess my preparation was still better than some). I had only played maybe 3 games of KoW in total since Cancon back in January. Moving house and then running the Albion campaign had distracted me somewhat.

I’ve discussed it previously, but Convic required players to make 3 army lists of different sizes, because the game size grew as the event progressed. 2 games at 1000 points, 2 games at 1500 points, and then 3 games at 2000 points. My lists were:

1000 points:

• Horde of Warriors
• Regiment of Berserker Braves
• Regiment of Hunters with Brew of Haste
• Regiment of Shooters
• Captain with Blade of Slashing
• Army Standard with the Boomstick
• Warlock

1500 points:

• Horde of  Warriors
• Horde of Warriors
• Regiment of Berserker Braves
• Horde of Siege Breakers
• Horde of Shooters
• Horde of Boomers
• Captain with Blade of Slashing
• Warlock

2000 points:

• Legion of Warriors with Maccwar's Potion of the Caterpillar
• Horde of Siege Breakers with Brew of Haste
• Horde of Siege Breakers
• Horde of Shooters with Brew of Keen-eyeness
• Horde of Boomers with Heart-seeking Chant
• Regiment of Chariots with Brew of Courage
• Captain
• Grokagamok

As is my tradition, I will run through each game and try to convey what is going on in the pictures. Some details I will no doubt have already forgotten. I’m good like that. Anyway, on we go!

Game 1
1000 points, Kill!
Matt Laing, Dwarves

• Army Standard
• Organ Gun
• Flame Belcher
• Ranger Regiment
• Ironguard Regiment
• Ironguard Regiment
• Brock Rider Troop
• Brock Rider Troop

My first game was against Dwarves, which was good. At least I know what Dwarves do. I tried to set up sensibly, with the Warlock giving Inspiring to the Berserkers and getting his extra spell dice, the Hunters lurking on the other flank, and my Shooters with a reasonable line of sight.

The game is afoot! My Hunters are hiding in the trees on the right. You can't see them properly because they have artful huntery skills.

Convic Ogres

Convic was on the weekend and no doubt a tournament report will be coming fairly soon. However I thought I might make a separate post to show how I did from a modelling and painting perspective, given that I posted several times to show my progress in the lead-up. This is how things looked on the day.

My Convic Ogre family pic

The Shadows Return: Game 12

Norbert the Necromancer stood beside Korgorax, the Scourge of Albion and his new lord and master. The Wight Lord stood silently beneath the cover of the trees, looking out onto the valley. The area was lush and green, though slightly damp and boggy (so it was still relatively firm by Albion standards).  And the valley was a bustling hive of activity as the Lizardman army scrambled to recover from a recent battle. It was apparent that they had come off second-best, however the odd trophy that had been retrieved was enough to show who they had been fighting.

“It seems these lizards have also been fighting the Chaos worshippers,” Norbert said quietly.

Korgorax gave no indication that he had heard, continuing to stare out across the field as though he was looking for something in particular.

“My lord, there is no particular reason for us to fight these creatures,” suggested Norbert. “If they are fighting our rivals, perhaps it is better if we leave them to it and go around. We are lucky to have avoided being seen so far.”

Korgorax stiffened suddenly and gave an angry hiss as a figure moved into sight in the valley. This figure was a strange inclusion in the Lizardman force, as he was clearly human and dressed in the primitive garb of a Truthsayer. The fires in Korgorax’s eyes blazed as he stared at the human and memories flooded his mind of battles fought centuries before – battles against armies of men and giants, and invariably those armies had been led by the magic of the Truthsayers. His skeletal hands clenched and opened involuntarily as he imagined closing them about the throat of the hated druid.

The change in his demeanour was apparent to Norbert. Something had changed. “My lord…” he began, but was interrupted as the Wight Lord’s thoughts suddenly drowned out his own:

We fight now. Prepare the legions.

The Wight turned and stalked away hurriedly, followed by his pet Necromancer.

It was only once they were clearly gone that the Chameleon Skinks that had been all around them began to move, hurrying toward the Lizardman army to warn them of the enemy’s presence.

Our next battle takes place as Nick's Lizardmen are regrouping after their failed ambush upon Aaron's Chaos Warriors. Korgorax's Undead are now on the mainland and are making their way north. The Lizardmen simply got in the way. The scenario was a simple pitched battle.

Game 12: Ancient Scores to Settle

The armies line up with the Dire Wolves using vanguard on the flank.

Countdown to Convic

There are now 2 days left until Convic. In practical hobby terms, that means there are 2 evenings left. Needless to say, time is running out. Given I am being asked by a few people each day for progress updates, I figured I should just post a proper update here.

As of now, this is how my works in progress look:

This is the most complete of my WIP stuff - my Hunter regiment. I wanted to turn my Warhammer Hunter into the basis for a unit, but given he is on a 50x50mm base (with no hope of fitting on anything smaller), I had to improvise a bit to fill out the unit to the correct width (and mostly the correct depth, if you ignore the fat guy in the middle). That wolf on the right is on a 30x40mm base, chopped out of perspex (it was what I had lying around). All these guys need now is some static grass.

The last rush before Convic

Well Convic is in 5 days and I have been busy. Unfortunately I still have a lot to do. But I think I can get there.

First of all, I had to submit my lists for the tournament, which pretty much meant deciding what I would commit to getting ready before the event. These are the Ogre lists I came up with:

1000 points:

• Horde of Warriors
• Regiment of Berserker Braves
• Regiment of Hunters with Brew of Haste
• Regiment of Shooters
• Captain with Blade of Slashing
• Army Standard with the Boomstick
• Warlock

1500 points:

• Horde of  Warriors
• Horde of Warriors
• Regiment of Berserker Braves
• Horde of Siege Breakers
• Horde of Shooters
• Horde of Boomers
• Captain with Blade of Slashing
• Warlock

2000 points:

• Legion of Warriors with Maccwar's Potion of the Caterpillar
• Horde of Siege Breakers with Brew of Haste
• Horde of Siege Breakers
• Horde of Shooters with Brew of Keen-eyeness
• Horde of Boomers with Heart-seeking Chant
• Regiment of Chariots with Brew of Courage
• Captain
• Grokagamok

I'd make grand predictions of inevitable victory etc, but honestly I'll just be happy to get it all on the table in a completed state. Here is what I am still working on..

The final wave about to be undercoated.

Ogre Shooters on their way

My Convic preparations continue. I have been fiddling with lists a little bit, but I am rapidly running out of time. If I want to keep the bonus points for being organised, I need to submit my list on Friday. Realistically I am not going to get an enormous amount done between now and then, so I guess I need to base my lists on what I now know I can get done by the end of next week.

One of the things I am sure I want in at least the 2000 point list is a horde of Ogre Shooters. In the absence of any actual artillery, these guys are as close as you get. Kind of half way between artillery and regiments of missile troops. Also it's an excuse to model up Ogres who are wandering around firing actual bolt throwers that they have "borrowed" from some of the smaller races. If Ogres can steal cannons and shoot them from the hip, why not bolt throwers?

The models are gradually coming together. It's harder to pose these guys than most of the other weapons I've worked with, because the weapon doesn't just sit in the user's hands - it needs to be tucked under the arm if it's going to be posed anything close to firing. Not all of them will be like that, but I want some of them to be.

4 Shooters in various states of assembly.