Slow, quiet progress

It's been a long time since I posted a hobby update (over a year, it seems), so here is a bit of a catch-up.

First of all, I spent a fair bit of time painting battlemechs and tanks for games of Alpha Strike with friends. I probably did more than I needed to, but that doesn't mean I'm done (you probably know that about me by now)...

My current Steiner force, painted in dribs and drabs across the last year. I've shown some of the tanks previously, but there's well over a battalion of stuff all told. It's not well balanced in terms of the mechs I got finished. I need to add some more light and medium mechs, maybe some infantry or battle armour...

It hasn't all been mechs and tanks, of course. I played in 2 Warhammer: The Old World on either side of Christmas, and needed to paint things to get my armies ready for both of those events. Firstly for Axemaster, there were various gaps that needed to be plugged...

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 6

This is the final part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 6 - Command & Control
Callum Borthwick - Ogre Kingdoms

• Tyrant on Thundertusk with Deathcheater, Ironfist, Light Armour, Tenderiser, Talisman Of Protection
• Slaughtermaster (Level 4, Battle Magic) with Deathcheater, Grut’s Sickle
• Bruiser with Battle Standard (Bull Standard), Deathcheater, Light Armour
• 20 Gnoblar Fighters
• 6 Ironguts with Great Weapons, Heavy Armour, Full Command, Veteran, The Blazing Banner
• 6 Ogre Bulls with Ironfists, Light Armour, Full Command, Cannibal Totem
• Ironblaster 
• 4 Maneaters with Light Armour, Full Command, Immune to Psychology, Poisoned Attacks
• 4 Mournfang Cavalry with Light Armour, Ironfists, Full Command
• 3 Yhetees with Greyback, Scouts

These Titan Forge Ogres are very nice. That is a Tyrant on a Thundertusk. Naturally it scuttles sideways (he's facing the camera)

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 5

This is the fourth part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 5 - Mountain Pass
Chris Ashton-Jones - Orc and Goblin Tribes

• Goblin Oddnob (Level 4, Waaagh! Magic) on Arachnarok Spider with Talisman of Protection, Lore Familiar
• Goblin Oddnob (Level 3, Waaagh! Magic) on Arachnarok Spider with Spidersilk Lobber
• Goblin Warboss on Gigantic Spider with Light Armour, Backstabbers Blade, Da Thinkin’ Orc’s ‘At, Charmed Shield
• 12 Goblins with Short Bows, Boss, Skirmishers
• 12 Goblins with Short Bows, Boss, Skirmishers
• 5 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician, Boss
• 5 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician, Boss
• 5 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician, Boss
• 5 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician, Boss
• 12 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Full Command, Spider Banner 
• 12 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Full Command
• Arachnarok Spider with Spidersilk Lobber -345pts

Wow, what a list. All Goblins - all Forest Goblins, even (technically the infantry were not, but clearly they would have been, had that been an option). It made for a very narrow selection of troops with a terribly low Leadership. It looked great, though. I told Chris that I loved his army, but I thought he was very brave...

All the spiders, all the time!

Man, look at that thing! That's the Oddnob who was leading the army.

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 4

This is the fourth part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 4 - Meeting Engagement
Troy Kent - Orc & Goblin Tribes, Nomadic Waaagh!

• Black Orc Warboss on War Boar with Full plate armour, Trollhide Trousers, Da Choppiest Choppa, 'Eadbuttin' 'At
• Black Orc Bigboss on War Boar with Battle Standard (The Big Red Raggedy Flag), Full plate armour, Trollhide Trousers, Great weapon
• Kiknik Toofsnatcha on Chompa with Da Boss's Trophy Rack, Da Skull Smasha, Cavalry spear, Shield, Light armour
• Orc Weirdnob (Level 4, Waaagh! Magic) on Wyvern with Talisman of Protection, Idol Of Gork, Ruby Ring of Ruin
• Goblin Bigboss on Giant Wolf with Cavalry spear, Light armour, Shield, Wollopa's One Hit Wunda, Potion of Foolhardiness
• Goblin Oddgit (Level 2, Elementalism) on Giant Wolf with Idol of Mork
• 14 Goblin Wolf Riders with Shields, Cavalry spears, Light armour, Close Order, Full Command, Da Spider Banner
• 3 Goblin Wolf Chariots
• Goblin Wolf Chariots
• Goblin Wolf Chariots
• 5 Goblin Wolf Riders with Shortbows
• Black Orc Boar Chariot with Additional hand weapons
• 13 Orc Boar Boys with Cavalry spears, Heavy armour, Shields, Big 'Uns, Vanguard, Boss (Da Thinkin' Orc's 'At), Standard bearer (Da Banner of Butchery)
• Orc Boar Chariot
• Black Orc Boar Chariot with Additional hand weapons

Meeting Engagement meant diagonal deployment zones only 12" apart, and rolling to see which units would start as reserves that only arrived from Turn 2 onward. My Bloodletters and a unit of Furies started off the table. Troy lost his Boar Boy unit and one of his Black Orc Chariots. By the time you include the Wolf Riders with 2 characters who were already voluntarily ambushing, he was very thin on the ground.

I deployed aggressively. I figured it would be worth it, if I got the first turn. Troy's characters were all floating loose up the back, without a unit to deploy in.

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 3

This is the third part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 3 - Flank Attack
Koen Garlick-Trease - Tomb Kings of Khemri (Mortuary Cult)

• High Priest (Level 4, Necromancy) with Hand Weapon
• High Priest (Level 4, Elementalism) with Hand Weapon, Amulet of the Serpent
• Arch Necrotect with Hand Weapon, Light Armour, Whip
• Mortuary Priest (Level 2, Elementalism) with Hand Weapon, Battle Standard Bearer
• 39 Skeleton Archers with Hand Weapons, Warbows, Master of Arrows
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archer with, Hand Weapons, Warbows
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archer with, Hand Weapons, Warbows
• 8 Skeleton Skirmisher with Hand Weapons
• 4 Tomb Swarms
• 6 Ushabti with Hand Weapons, Heavy Armour, Greatbows
• Tomb Scorpion with Ambushers, The Terrors Below
• Tomb Scorpion
• 5 Venerable Ushabti with Hand Weapons, Heavy Armour, Ritual Blades
• 5 Venerable Ushabti with Hand Weapons, Heavy Armour, Ritual Blades
• Casket of Souls
• Necrosphinx

Man, that was a lot of magic. 10 spells plus the casket, and the ability to boost the casting values on his spells by harvesting the swarms (I found out how that worked as we went along)... I was a bit worried about how this would go. Mercifully it wasn't as bad as it might have been, given Koen was more interested in using the casket for the Light of Protection than the Light of Death.

Man, that is a bunker. All of the characters were piled into the big Skeleton Archer unit, which of course meant they'd be firing poisoned arrows thanks to the Amulet of the Serpent. The Venerable Ushabti went on either side in slightly jammed formations (I don't think Koen fully realised how awkward it would be to get them out of those shapes without advancing).

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 2

This is the second part of my Cancon report. You can find the first part here.

Game 2 - Break Point
Nick Kylling - Warriors of Chaos

• Chaos Lord with Full plate armour, Shield, Chaos Steed, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Ogre Blade, 2x Favour of the Gods, Enchanting Aura
• Sorcerer Lord (Level 4, Battle Magic) with Heavy armour, Chaos Steed, Mark of Tzeentch, Spell Familiar, Infernal Puppet, Ruby Ring of Ruin
• Sorcerer Lord (Level 4, Daemonology) with Heavy armour, Chaos Steed, Mark of Tzeentch, Rod Of The Damned, Lore Familiar
• Aspiring Champion (Battle Standard Bearer) with Lance, Heavy armour, Shield, Chaos Steed, War Banner, Favour of the Gods
• 10 Chaos Knights with Lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Full Command, Banner of the Dark Powers
• 7 Chaos Knights with Lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Mark of Tzeentch, Champion
• 5 Chaos Warhounds
• 6 Chosen Chaos Knights with Lances, Shields, Full plate armour, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Drilled, Standard Bearer, Champion with Brazen Collar
• Dragon Ogre with Great weapon, Heavy armour
• Dragon Ogre with Great weapon, Heavy armour
• Dragon Ogre with Great weapon, Heavy armour
• Gigantic Spawn of Nurgle

So I was only one game into the tournament, and I was already too high up on the tables. Nick had devised a far more competent list than mine, and it didn't look like a great match-up for my army. The Bloodthirster was still scary and the Daemon Prince was good at armoured targets, but my units... Also Nick's army was absolutely loaded with anti-magic tricks, so that was likely to interfere with anything I might be able to do there. I celebrated this by rolling the worst spells I possibly could for my backup wizard, and off we went.

There are so many points in that unit. The Chaos Lord, one of the Sorcerer Lords and the BSB are all jammed in there. I wasn't sure what I could do about that, with the Chaos Lord having the Ogre Blade and an aura that would make the Bloodthirster strike last.

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 1

A Bloodthirster went to Cancon, and met many interesting people. There were few survivors. Cancon this year involved a 6 game Warhammer: The Old World tournament spread across 3 rather warm days in Canberra. I took Daemons of Chaos, having dabbled previously at Axemaster with Dwarfs. This is my story...

My Army (2389 points)

• Bloodthirster of Khorne with Armour Of Khorne, Bloodflail
• Daemon Prince (Level 4, Daemonology) with Æther Blade, Twin Heads, Heavy Armour, Fly
• Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut with Hellblade, Light Armour, Daemonic Locus,
• 16 Bloodletters of Khorne with Full Command
• 7 Chaos Furies of Khorne
• 7 Chaos Furies of Khorne
• 5 Flesh Hounds of Khorne with Vanguard
• 4 Bloodcrushers Of Khorne with Full Command
• 4 Fiends of Slaanesh
• 3 Flamers of Tzeentch with Exalted Flamer (Level 3, Daemonology)

I chose a daemon army for a number of reasons. I had trouble getting through my games at Axemaster, and an army that can't break from combat and can't even choose to flee from charges felt like it might be quicker to play. I had also come to the conclusion that a Bloodthirster might be one of the few things that could really scare huge models like lords on dragons (whilst being nowhere near as tough in return), so that seemed like it might be a fun place to start. 

One of the things I took away from Axemaster was that it is extremely easy to get pushed around by your opponent's magic, especially when they take a whole lot of it. When my Dwarfs had a single level 1 dispeller, I had pretty much no chance of stopping anything. My Daemon army was determined to stand up better in that regard. I had a level 4 wizard in the Daemon Prince (even though that felt like a lot of character points alongside the Bloodthirster), and I was somehow able to get a backup level 3 (in case the Daemon Prince was indisposed) in the form of the heavily upgraded Flamer champion. I wasn't sure this was really a good idea (I still am not sure), but it gave me the giggles, so I went with it.

My army was fast, especially when you consider the Furies and Fleshhounds could all vanguard before the game. The Bloodletters would likely get left behind and probably wouldn't offer much in the games, but frankly I wanted to include some infantry (and some of the proper core warriors that belonged to my nominal "core" Chaos God). No, infantry are not great in The Old World. People would likely shy away from them. All the more reason to take them. (I am very contrary, and like making life hard for myself). 

Did I think this army could win a tournament? Realistically probably not, and my one practice game that I found time for in between painting sessions certainly did not bode well. This didn't really bother me. Hopefully I'd just have some fun waving a Bloodthirster around.

Game 1 - Open Battle
Michael Marston - Wood Elf Realms

• Glade Lord on Forest Dragon with Great Weapon, Armour of Silvered Steel, Talisman Of Protection, An Annoyance of Netlings, A Befuddlement of Mischiefs
• Glade Captain Battle Standard Bearer (War Banner) on Great Stag with Great Weapon, Helm of the Hunt, Shield
• Spellsinger (Level 2, Battle Magic) on Elven Steed with Lore Familiar
• Spellweaver (Level 4, Battle Magic) on Warhawk with Oaken Stave, Ruby Ring of Ruin
• 8 Deepwood Scouts with Musician, Hagbane Tips
• 8 Deepwood Scouts with Musician, Hagbane Tips
• 5 Glade Guard with Hagbane Tips
• 5 Glade Guard with Hagbane Tips
• 5 Glade Riders with Musician, Reserve Move, Hagbane Tips
• 5 Glade Riders with Musician, Reserve Move, Hagbane Tips
• 5 Sisters Of The Thorn with Full Command
• 3 Tree Kin
• 7 Wardancers with Bladesinger, Additional Hand Weapons
• 5 Wild Riders with Shields, Wild Hunter, Standard Bearer, Banner of the Hunter King

Wow, straight off the bat I had run into a dragon! I guess I would get to find out pretty early whether a Bloodthirster really could kill a dragon. This tournament was being played without the latest errata (which had been released only a couple of weeks beforehand), so the Sisters of the Thorn were still choosing their spell. I guess the plan was to get 3 copies of Pillar of Fire, which he did.

The battlefield once deployment was completed and my units had vanguarded. Michael elected not to scout forward with his Deepwood Scout units, instead putting them over on my left.