Snake Eyes Aftermath - Part 5

This is the final part of my report from the recent Snake Eyes Warhammer: The Old World tournament. You can find the previous part of the report here, or go back to the start here.

We were now coming into the final round, and finally ran into people we knew. Well, we knew most of them. I've never met Randy before, and he was the one I ended up playing.

Round 5: The Dwellers Below ft. Randy 

Sam 
Daemons of Chaos 

• Lord of Change (440) 
• General
• Twin Heads
• Iridescent Corona*
• Level 4 Wizard
• Battle Magic
• Tzeentchian wand 
• Herald of Nurgle (150) 
• Winged Horror
• death’s heads 
• 8 Chaos Furies (112) 
• Daemons of Khorne 
• 8 Chaos Furies (112) 
• Daemons of Khorne 
• 8 Chaos Furies (112) 
• Daemons of Khorne 
• 6 Chaos Furies (84) 
• Daemons of Slaanesh 
• 6 Chaos Furies (84) 
• Daemons of Slaanesh 
• 4 Flamers of Tzeentch (167) 
• Champion 
• 4 Flamers of Tzeentch (167) 
• Champion 
• 3 Flamers of Tzeentch (127) 
• Champion 
• 6 Plague Drones of Nurgle (439) 
• Champion
• Standard Bearer 
• Standard of Seeping Decay Plague Proboscis 

Randy (C) 
Empire Knightly Order

• Chapter Master (172) 
• Battle Standard Bearer
• Demigryph
• Full Plate Armour
• Wolf Hammer
• Order of the White Wolf 
• Grand Master (294) 
• Shield, 
• General
• Pegasus
• Full Plate Armour
• Dragon Slaying Sword
• Ring of Fortune
• Paymaster's Coin
• Wolf Hammer
• Order of the White Wolf 
• High Priest of Ulric (133) 
• Barded Warhorse
• Heavy Armour
• Great Weapon 
• 4 Empire Knights (96) 
• Order of the White Wolf 
• 4 Empire Knights (96) 
• Order of the White Wolf 
• 8 Inner Circle Knights (353 pts) 
• Order of the White Wolf 
• Stubborn 
• Full Command 
• Witch Hunter's Ward 
• Tapestry of Sigmar's Triumph 
• 4 Demigryph Knights (285) 
• Order of the White Wolf 
• Full Plate Armour
• Wolf Hammer 
• Full Command 
• 4 Demigryph Knights (285) 
• Order of the White Wolf 
• Full Plate Armour
• Wolf Hammer 
• Full Command 
• 4 Demigryph Knights (285) 
• Order of the White Wolf 
• Full Plate Armour
• Wolf Hammer 
• Full Command 

Jabe 
Orcs and Goblins 

• Black Orc Warboss (341) 
• Great weapon
• Full plate armour
• Shield
• General
• Wyvern
• Talisman of Protection
• Trollhide Trousers 
• Night Goblin Oddnob (200) 
• Level 4 Wizard
• Idol of Gork
• Waaagh! Magic 
• Night Goblin Bigboss (55) 
• Battle Standard Bearer 
• 16 Black Orc Mob (282) 
• Full plate armour
• 10x Shields
• 6x Great weapons
• Full Command
• The Big Red Raggedy Flag 
• 30 Night Goblin Mob (182) 
• Full Command
• 3x Fanatics 
• 30 Night Goblin Mob (182) 
• Full Command
• 3x Fanatics 
• 8 Orc Boar Boy Mob (205) 
• Full Command
• Cavalry spears
• Heavy armour
• Shields
• Big 'Uns
• Da Thinkin' Orc's 'At 
• 5 Night Goblin Squig Hopper Mob (60) 
• 5 Night Goblin Squig Hopper Mob (60) 
• Goblin Bolt Throwa (45 pts) 
• Doom Diver Catapult (95) 
• Doom Diver Catapult (95) 
• Mangler Squigs (95)

Unfortunately for this game, we were on the row of tables against the wall, and I was right on the wall. What this means is that the lighting was my enemy for photos. Most of the Empire will look like silhouettes with long shadows, rather than painted models.

Snake Eyes Aftermath - Part 4

This is the fourth part of my report from the recent Snake Eyes Warhammer: The Old World tournament. You can find the previous part of the report here, or go back to the start here. 

After Round 3 there was dinner at the venue, followed by Warhammer-themed trivia contest. This was fun, with a range of questions based on the background fluff, or things like "list all the special rules for a Night Goblin regiment", plus silly bonus "mathhammer" rounds where they got the teams to propose things like a combo to generate maximum possible combat resolution from a Slann in a round of combat, or the maximum possible distance a unit could travel in a single movement phase.

The whole thing was a good laugh, and in the end we won the trivia by the narrowest of margins after being forced into a tie-breaker where I had to go head-to-head with Chris (captain of the other leading team) to recite the profile of a Warpfire Dragon (something chosen at random by the organisers).

Anyway, the following morning we were back for Round 4. After a good win in the previous round, we were now probably working our way back up into the middle of the field. 

Round 4: Optimised Jank

Daniel Yam (C) 

Warriors of Chaos

• Chaos Lord (Big Barry) [597 pts] 
• General 
• Shield 
• Mark of Nurgle 
• Chaos Dragon 
• Ogre Blade 
• Enchanting Aura 
• Favour of the Gods 
• 6 Chaos Warhounds [41 pts] 
• Vanguard 
• 5 Chaos Warhounds [35 pts] 
• Vanguard 
• 4 Chaos Knights [130 pts] 
• Champion 
• Lances, Shields 
• Mark of Khorne 
• 5 Chaos Knights [161 pts] 
• Champion 
• Lances, Shields 
• Mark of Khorne 
• 7 Forsaken [133 pts] 
• Forsaken by Slaanesh 
• 3 Dragon Ogres [189 pts] 
• Great weapons 
• Heavy armour 
• 6 Chosen Chaos Knights [336 pts] 
• Champion [Brazen Collar + Charmed Shield] 
• Standard Bearer [Icon of Darkness] Musician 
• Lances, Shields 
• Full plate armour 
• Mark of Nurgle 
• Drilled 
• Warpfire Dragon (Wide Wallace) [374 pts] 

 
Michael George 
Dwarfs: Expeditionary Force 

• Engineer Sapper [128 pts] 
• General 
• Handgun [Master Rune of Bursting Flame, Rune of Rapid Fire] 
• Runesmith [145 pts] 
• Full plate armour 
• Shield 
• 3 Rune of Spellbreaking 
• Engineer [108 pts] 
• Handgun [Rune of Rapid Fire, Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Molten Steel] [Rune of Stone] 
• Engineer [118 pts] 
• Handgun [Rune of Concussive Force, Rune of Rapid Fire] 
• [Rune of Stone] 
• Expeditionary Marksman 
• 2 Scout Gyrocopters [120 pts] 
• 2 Scout Gyrocopters [120 pts] 
• 10 Thunderers [125 pts] 
• Veteran(champion) [Handgun] Shields 
• Expeditionary Marksmen 
• 10 Thunderers [125 pts] 
• Veteran(champion) [Handgun] Shields 
• Expeditionary Marksmen 
• 10 Rangers [156 pts] 
• Ol’ Deadeye(champion) [Crossbow] Crossbows, Throwing axes 
• Great weapons 
• Shields 
• 2 Gyrocopters [130 pts] 
• Brimstone guns 
• 2 Gyrocopters [130 pts] 
• Brimstone guns 
• 2 Scout Gyrocopters [120 pts] 
• 2 Scout Gyrocopters [120 pts] 
• Cannon [120 pts] 
• [Rune of Reloading, Rune of Forging] 
• Cannon [115 pts] 
• [Rune of Forging] 
• Organ Gun [120 pts] 

Ben Hannan 
Beastmen Brayherds 

• Great Bray-Shaman [325 pts] 
• General 
• Level 4 Wizard [Elementalism] 
• Tuskgor Chariot 
• Hagtree Fetish 
• Talisman of Protection 
• Great Bray-Shaman [270 pts] 
• Level 4 Wizard [Elementalism] 
• Tuskgor Chariot 
• Earthing Rod 
• 6 Gor Herd [48 pts] 
• Ambushers 
• Tuskgor Chariot [85 pts] 
• Tuskgor Chariot [85 pts] 
• Tuskgor Chariot [85 pts] 
• Razorgor Herd [52 pts] 
• Razorgor Herd [52 pts] 
• Razorgor Herd [52 pts] 
• Razorgor Herd [52 pts] 
• 3 Dragon Ogres [189 pts] 
• Great weapons 
• Heavy armour 
• 3 Dragon Ogres [189 pts] 
• Great weapons 
• Heavy armour 
• Razorgor Chariot [120 pts] 
• 5 Harpies [55 pts] 
• Gigantic Spawn of Chaos [170 pts] 
• Spawn of Nurgle 
• Gigantic Spawn of Chaos [170 pts] 
• Spawn of Nurgle

What were these lists? Admittedly the Chaos one looked like things we'd seen before (with the exact same Dragon again), but the Beastman list was a monstrosity with all 8 levels of the team's magic, and the Dwarf list had 12 Gyrocopters. Well, I guess they did call themselves "Optimised Jank"...

We could not in good conscience give Tim's army (with no magic defence) the Beastmen, so I ended up facing it. Between them the Shamans had 2 copies of Viletide, 2 copies of Wind Blast, and sundry other tricks. 

Look at this weirdness. With the tiny Gor unit in ambush, there were only 3 units with more than one model on Ben's side of the table, and even those units together only added up to 11 models.

Snake Eyes Aftermath - Part 3

This is the third part of my report from the recent Snake Eyes Warhammer: The Old World tournament. You can find the previous part of the report here, or go back to the start here.

Two rounds into the event, at least we no longer had the absolute minimum number of battle points possible. So we were improving!

Round 3: Undead, Unholy & Unapologetic

These guys were a bit of a curve ball, because they had to change one of their players (and lists) at the last minute. What would have been a Slaanesh Daemon army suddenly became a Lizardman list with 2 Carnosaurs!

Kingsley - “Undead”
Tomb Kings, Mortuary Cults 

• High Priest (395 pts) 
• General 
• Necrolith Bone Dragon 
• Warding Splint 
• Hieratic Jar 
• Necromancy 
• Arch Necrotect (90 pts) 
• 10 Ushabti (497 pts) 
• Greatbows 
• Ancient (champion) 
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archers (55 pts) 
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archers (55 pts) 
• 5 Skeleton Horsemen (55 pts) 
• Tomb Scorpion (77 pts) 
• Ambushers 
• The Terrors Below 
• Tomb Scorpion (77 pts) 
• Ambushers 
• The Terrors Below 
• Necrolith Colossus (160 pts) 
• Casket of Souls (135 pts) 
• Necrosphinx (200 pts) 
• Envenomed sting 
• Necrosphinx (200 pts) 
• Envenomed sting 

Fletcher - “Unapologetic” 
Orc & Goblin Tribes, Nomadic Waaagh! 

• Kiknik Toofsnatcha (105 pts) 
• General 
• Goblin Warboss (192 pts) 
• Great weapon 
• Wolf Chariot (Third Giant Wolf) Armour of Silvered Steel 
• Talisman of Protection 
• Goblin Bigboss (125 pts) 
• Light armour 
• Shield 
• Battle Standard Bearer (Da Angry Ladz Flag) 
• Giant Wolf 
• Biting Blade 
• Goblin Oddnob (175 pts) 
• Level 4 Wizard 
• Giant Wolf 
• Waaagh! Magic 
• 24 Goblin Wolf Rider Mob (340 pts) Shields 
• Cavalry spears 
• Light armour 
• Reserve Move 
• Ambushers 
• Close Order 
• Horde 
• Boss (champion) 
• Standard bearer (Da Banner of Butchery) 
• Musician 
• 2 Goblin Wolf Chariots (111 pts) 
• Standard bearer 
• 5 Goblin Wolf Rider Mob (60 pts) 
• Shortbows 
• Feigned Flight 
• 6 Orc Boar Boy Mob (190 pts) 
• Cavalry spears 
• Heavy armour 
• Shields 
• Big 'Uns 
• Boss (champion) 
• Standard bearer (The Big Red Raggedy Flag) 
• Musician 
• Black Orc Boar Chariot (134 pts) 
• Great weapon 
• Black Orc Boar Chariot (134 pts) 
• Great weapon 
• Black Orc Boar Chariot (134 pts) 
• Great weapon 
• Bonegrinder Giant (300 pts)

Toby - "Unholy" "Unexpected" (I don't really know what they were calling him, but he was a last minute addition, so...

Lizardmen

• Saurus Scar-Veteran [311 pts] 
• Cavalry spear
• Shield
• General
• Carnosaur
• Glyph Necklace
• Saurus Scar-Veteran [266 pts] 
• Cavalry spear
• Shield
• Carnosaur
• 20 Saurus Warriors [301 pts] 
• Shields
• Spawn Leader (champion)
• Standard bearer
• Musician
• 20 Saurus Warriors [321 pts] 
• Thrusting spears
• Shields
• Spawn Leader (champion)
• Standard bearer
• Musician
• 5 Cold One Riders [216 pts] 
• Cavalry spears
• Shields
• Pack Leader (champion)
• Standard bearer
• Musician
• Jaguar Standard
• Bastiladon [175 pts] 
• Solar Engine
• 5 Cold One Riders [221 pts] 
• Cavalry spears
• Shields
• Pack Leader (champion)
• Standard bearer
• Musician
• War Banner
• 3 Kroxigors [147 pts] 

I have no idea which army we led with in the pairings. We were all pretty tired. But somehow I ended up matched against the other Orc and Goblin army. It might have been intentional. On someone's part, anyway...

Deployment was a bit strange, with a whole ton of Fletcher's army (the huge Wolf Rider unit, Kiknik and the BSB) getting ready to ambush from somewhere.

The slow grow continues

Another month has passed (well more than a month, really) and there has been some limited progress on the painting front. I'm not really sure what my target was as the month started, but I ended up scrambling to reach my target by painting a couple of cannons toward the end of the month, and that was enough for me to at least be on track from a points perspective. I'm not proud, I'll take that.

10 Handgunners, including 1 champions with Hochland Longrifles (they're meant to be used as a couple of small detachments with the Halberdiers). Of course they're all on 20mm bases (all of my stuff will forever be on the old bases, and just lean on adapters).

Snake Eyes Aftermath - Part 2

This is the second part of my report of the recent Snake Eyes Warhammer: The Old World tournament. You can find the first part of the report here.

After our glorious showing in the first round, we were at the back of the pack. Time to see if we could maintain that, or if we were going to slip up and actually get some battle points...

Tom Stockdale
Vampire Counts

• Master Necromancer [425 pts]
• Level 4 Wizard
• General
• Mortis Engine
• Sceptre of De Noirot
• Crown of the Damned
• Tomb Banshee [90 pts]
• Wight Lord [85 pts]
• Lance (when mounted)
• Heavy armour
• Shield
• Battle Standard Bearer
• Skeletal Steed
• 25 Grave Guard [343 pts]
• Seneschal
• Standard bearer - Drakenhof Banner
• Musician
• 32 Zombies [96 pts]
• 5 Dire Wolves [46 pts]
• Doom Wolf
• 5 Dire Wolves [46 pts]
• Doom Wolf
• 9 Black Knights [310 pts]
• Hell Knight
• Standard bearer - Standard of Hellish Vigour
• Musician
• 3 Spirit Hosts [147 pts]
• 5 Blood Knights [271 pts]
• Kastellan
• Standard bearer - Rampaging Banner
• Musician
• Varghulf [140 pts]

Ben Yuill (C)
Bretonnian Exiles

• Baron (307pts)
• General
• The Exile’s Vow
• Virtue of Knightly Temper
• Royal Pegasus
• Shield
• Frontier Axe
• Gauntlet of the Duel
• Falcon-horn of Fredemund
• Baron (279pts)
• The Exile’s Vow
• Virtue of Heroism
• Royal Pegasus
• Charmed Shield
• 2x Lucky Heirloom
• 10 Mounted Knights of the Realm (311pts)
• The Exile’s Vow
• First Knight - Antler’s of the Great Hunt
• Standard Bearer - War Banner
• Musician
• 15 Peasant Bowmen (85pts)
• Skirmishers
• Standard Bearer
• Musician
• 12 Peasant Bowmen (65pts)
• Skirmishers
• Musician
• 12 Peasant Bowmen (65pts)
• Skirmishers
• Musician
• 5 Pegasus Knights (321pts)
• The Exile’s Vow
• First Knight
• Standard Bearer - Banner of Honourable Warfare
• Musician
• 4 Pegasus Knights (266pts)
• The Exile’s Vow
• First Knight
• Standard Bearer - Banner of The Zealous Knight
• Musician
• Border Prince Bombard (100pts)
• Border Prince Bombard (100pts)
• Trebuchet (100pts)

Peter Reilly
Tomb Kings of Khemri

• Tomb King (441pts)
• General
• Necrolith Bone Dragon
• Great Weapon
• Shield
• Armour of the Ages
• Talisman of Protection
• Mortuary Priest (85pts)
• Wizard Level 1
• Lore of Nehekhara
• Amulet of the Serpent
• Mortuary Priest (55pts)
• Wizard Level 1
• Lore of Nehekhara
• 39 Skeleton Warriors (235pts)
• Thrusting Spears
• Master of Arms
• Standard Bearer
• Banner of the Desert Winds
• 42 Skeleton Archers (210pts)
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archers (55pts)
• 6 Ushabti (301pts)
• Ancient
• 3 Ushabti (147pts)
• Great Bow
• Tomb Scorpion (70pts)
• Tomb Scorpion (70pts)
• Necrosphinx (195pts)
• Casket of Souls (135pts)

I ended up matched against the Vampire Counts, after we led with our Chaos army so that he could avoid the monster-hunting Bretonnian army. Tom was using a borrowed army, which became apparent when he went to roll for a break test with his undead... That's OK, we sorted that out pretty quickly. They were also on the wrong sized bases. Very old school. Not at all like my much older models on new-fangled base adapters! Moral high ground for me!

This was one of 3 Vampire Counts armies in the field, which is more than you might have expected given the character and magic limits. Dire Wolves vanguarded forward on the flanks, and Tom got the first turn.

Snake Eyes Aftermath - Part 1

Recently we attended a slightly different Warhammer: The Old World tournament. This was an event with teams of 3 players, where each round the team would be matched against another team. A matching system similar to that used by the ETC was them employed to determine which armies would face each other on the tables, and the results were then tallied together at the end. A rather gentle "capping" system was in play, meaning that despite each game being determined by a 20-0 system, the overall team results would never be more than 20 apart. So the team would always get at least 20 points, and could never get more than 40. This essentially means the teams move around on the leaderboard exactly the same as solo players would with the normal 20-0 scoring system. It was a 5 round event over 2 days, and there were 14 teams in attendance (so 42 players).

There were some interesting rules in place for army selection. Every player in the team had to take a different race, and they couldn't duplicate magic items across their lists (so only 1 Ogre Blade between the 3 players). You could also only field a combined total of 8 levels of magic, and characters were capped at 600 points despite the armies being 2000 points. There were also some rules around spamming duplicate choices, but it all added up to mean that army selection was interesting. How would you spread the magic levels across the armies, which ones would work best with only 600 points of characters to work with, and did you need to look at armies like Dwarfs or Daemons, who don't need to fight over the magic items?

We ended taking a combination of Empire, Orcs and Goblins and Warriors of Chaos. Across the event there was a pretty wide range of armies in play, with only Wood Elves, Ogre Kingdoms and maybe Dark Elves not represented at all. Amusingly there was an identical over-equipped Chaos Lord on Dragon that managed to make its way into 4 lists (including ours). 

Tim grabbed some quick photos of our armies when they were arrayed for the army parade. I failed to do so, because I'm a useless blogger. This was my Orc and Goblin army

Pete's Empire army, which was slightly less White Wolf than it really looked.

Tim's Warriors of Chaos army.

This was my list. Honestly not the most carefully designed thing in the world, but I managed to play a couple of practice games with it, and I didn't do too badly in those games. I also liked actually having some infantry... Unlike my teammates.

The slowest of slow grows

In my previous post I indicated that I was going to be launching into another "slow grow" painting challenge. Well at the time, I didn't really understand just how much emphasis was going to be on the "slow" part of things...

May was the first month of the challenge, and we set off with a group of us declaring our planned involvement and what we were going to be working on:

• Me - Nuln Empire
• Noakes - Bretonnians
• Sean - Daemons
• Tim - Skaven
• Pete - Vampire Counts
• Hamish - Beastmen
• Jono - Wood Elves

The general guide was that we'd work on a rough target of about 250 points a month, with the aim of putting together a usable force over 8 months or so. All pretty simple, not very formal in terms of what order things were worked on. It's just meant to give some shape and motivation for getting some painting done.

Anyway, May is now done, and between us we have... not a whole lot to show for our efforts. Here's an update:

Me (Nuln Empire):

I figured I was starting the month with momentum on my side, having just worked my way through a regiment of Handgunners, and a War Wagon before that. This made me confident that I could tackle a relatively big opening month, and I declared I was going to paint a regiment of 20 Halberdiers and 10 Handgunners as their detachment.

How it started: 10 Halberdiers, 10 Handgunners, and a bonus Engineer. If I got all of that done, I'd be off to a flying start.