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.

The Shadows Return: Game 11

The perpetual game of catch-up continues. In this encounter, the main Empire force has finally made it onto the Albion mainland and is marching north from a far more southerly landing point than they had originally intended. Unfortunately they hit the Dark Elves who were on their way south...

Stefan the Black stared hard through the misty rain at the ground below. He shook his head to get the water out of his eyes, but it did little good; within moments it was as though he was blinking through tears again. He was soaked, his armour was soaked, and his mount, Nightwing, was also soaked. The Griffon didn't seem very happy, either. He was more irritable than usual and fought his rider's commands. Stefan didn't know if Nightwing was responding to his own foul mood, or was just as sick of being in the rain as he was. As they all were, really. 

This whole expedition had been an exercise in misery. Albion was a dreadful place. It was in the middle of nowhere, cursed with the most unrelentingly lousy weather Stefan had ever encountered. And it was seemingly crawling with enemies.

Stefan recognized the shrieking of harpies long before he could make out their dark shapes through the mists. When he did finally see them, he could see them heading directly for him. Like they had known where he was long before he could have spotted them. This was impossible, of course. A harpy’s eyesight was really not much better than his own, and the rain would have been just as impenetrable for Nightwing's keen vision. More than likely the miserable creatures were attracted by his mood, thought Stefan.

It was only as he banked away from the approaching harpies that he noticed the dark shapes of the enemy columns advancing across the muddy fields below.

We need more Ogres!

Having committed to taking Ogres to Convic, I have a lot of work to do between now and July 9. I need to work out the specific lists I want to take, and then I need to make all the models I will need. Or I need to look at the models I have, and make lists based on that. Unfortunately these approaches are kind of mutually exclusive. Do we start with the chicken, or the egg?

The natural course of action is to procrastinate. I have not really sat down and made a concerted effort to make lists, largely because I know that I will somehow decide that I want to use things that are simply impossible for me to prepare in the time I have available. I am really silly like that. 

In the meantime, I am cracking on with getting as many models ready as I can. I am trying to go for a sort of compromise between the chicken and the egg. I am looking at the army list with an eye to what I think I will want to use, then trying to use that as a guide for what to work on. Then I can admit defeat at some point and commit to a list based on what I managed to get done. 

Siegebreakers 7, 8 and 9 on their way. I am not even sure if the units look better with 6 models jammed together or 5 slightly more spaced (the models are very big, after all), so I might settle for making 10 and a couple of spacers between now and Convic.

Getting back into the KoW mood

Recently the campaign has absorbed most of my gaming effort and attention. Well, that and things like Warhammer: Total War. As a result, I think I have only actually played 1 game of Kings of War since Cancon back in January. Seems hard to believe. Anyway, although I need to keep the campaign ticking over and bring things to a proper conclusion, I also need to start getting back into the swing of things with KoW. The main reason being that Convic is now less than a month away. 

Convic has traditionally been a Warhammer Fantasy and Warmachine/Hordes event, but this year it's running KoW. I think this is a good thing, but it has also retained its traditional format of running for 2 full days and it seems like people have not really rushed to embrace it. I think the local KoW community is still finding its feet, and whilst an event on a national scale like Cancon was able to bring together enough players for a 2-dayer, Convic is struggling to get traction. I think it's just that people currently prefer the ease of 1 day events. They're not yet at a point where they are willing to go to the inconvenience of setting aside an entire weekend, as they did in the past for Warhammer.

Anyway, Convic is also doing some interesting things in terms of army sizes, with 3 different lists being used (all from the same race) - 2 games at 1000 points, 2 at 1500 and 3 at 2000. It should be interesting. The variety is probably not that important for someone like me, given I have not been playing much at all. But it will make people think a bit more. This is good and bad. I don't really want to think...

My game on the weekend against Drew's Ogre pirates

The Shadows Return: Game 10

And now for something a little different, we found an excuse to use one of the original scenarios from the Dark Shadows campaign book. It was another Ambush using the rules from the 6th edition rulebook (yes I know, this should be ringing alarm bells already given our previous ambush attempts). The difference here was that the defending army is trying to force its way through the narrow passage past the mountains to the north of the island, and they are set upon by a pack of monsters. 

We had great fun digging through my pile of available monsters the evening before, picking things that seemed reasonable from the Storm of Magic book and giving them various upgrades. We tried not to take anything that seemed unreasonably powerful, and ended up with something like the following:

• Giant
• Giant
• Giant
• Griffon (with ASF and Devastating Charge)
• Wyvern (with Killing Blow)
• Wyvern (with Tail Attack)
• Wyvern (with Impact Hits)
• Young Dragon
• Arachnarok
• Pack of 3 Sabretusks
• Pack of 3 Sabretusks
• Troll

Somehow we got carried away explaining why such an eclectic band of monsters would be banded together in this way, and it seems that Owen took them to heart as he wrote up the account that follows:

Game 10: The Giants' Causeway

It was mid afternoon when Edna the troll saw him. The most handsome, most ripped, most utterly adorable thing she’d ever seen. He was dressed in ragged trousers, and was striding across the stony ground effortlessly carrying a great ogham stone above his head, following the big shiny red men with a look of intense concentration. Just one look was all it took, and Edna was in love, but how could she make this handsome and virile adonis notice her? She looked about her blankly, her gaze falling on a crumbling stone idol, which lay fallen on the ground. Picking this up and raising it above her head in imitation of her beloved, she set out after him, drooling quietly, the world around her much fuzzier and pinker than usual.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Edna follows her dreamboat into battle.

Metal Ogres march forth

On the weekend some of my home-made Ogre Siegebreakers got their first outing in the campaign. I still have not really "finished" any of them, however they are about as done as they need to be for my current purposes. I figured I should probably show where they are currently at.

6 Ogre Shieldbreakers with basically no colour on them at all. Very dark, very metal.

The Shadows Return: Game 9

The campaign is continuing, and I am gradually falling further behind in my reporting. In an effort to speed things up a little, I am going to lean more heavily on Owen's note-taking for Game 9. Instead of writing the whole thing up narrative-style and then including his notes at the bottom, I am going to build the report around his notes and then including my own stuff in the captions. I'll also clarify some stuff in italics.

Consider this a warning, I guess...

The marshes were eerily quiet as Mana-mana crept through the slimy undergrowth to Qur'myt's position under a drooping swamp tree. He stopped next to the Slann's palanquin and waited to be acknowledged. Eventually the Skink perched upon the arm of the palanquin turned to looked at him and nodded.

"All forces are in position, Lord Qur'myt," he reported. He paused a moment, then went on in a rush, "We are not ready for this engagement, Lord Qur'myt. We have only just regathered after our encounter with the Druchii. We need more..."

He was cut off abruptly by the Slann's voice booming in his mind, DO YOU DOUBT MY JUDGEMENT, YOUNG PRIEST?

"No my lord, but perhaps we need more..."

THAT CERTAINLY SOUNDS LIKE DOUBT. DO NOT FORGET WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THIS HUNTING PACK. GO BACK TO YOUR POSITION AND AWAIT MY SIGNAL.

Mana-mana scurried off quickly. He cursed himself for his foolishness. Qur'myt was a mighty Slann Priest, thousands of years old and the veteran of countless battles. He was fortunate to have received such a light reprimand for his temerity.

As he passed Ivyl-Knivyl however, his doubts redoubled. The fearless Chieftain was wrapped head-to-toe in bandages a he sought to recover from the battering he so recently received. A lesser Skink would have perished, but Ivyl-Knivyl was no lesser Skink. Nevertheless he swayed atop the back of his new Stegadon mount like a little drunken mummy.

Mana-mana knew in his heart - they were not ready for this ambush.

*****

Char'Drex stomped through the swamps at the head of the column. Each step of his blisteringly hot daemonic hooves caused the marsh water around him to boil and hiss. He paid little attention to picking the safest path. He had no fear of a mis-step. And if those behind him were unable to follow where he led... well they were not worthy to follow him, were they?

The sound of beating wings approaching caused the daemon prince to look up overhead. A Manticore swooped down and landed on some of the marginally firmer ground nearby. Peter, the army's sorcerer, sat upon the back of the beast. "Lord Char'Drex, I believe we are about to be ambushed. Lizard creatures have surrounded our column."

The daemon prince snorted in amusement. "Do they mean to attack us, or do we need to go and look for them?"

"I believe their attack is imminent, my lord."

Char'Drex smiled. "Good!"

Right then, on we go!