Cancon 2018 Aftermath - Part 1

Cancon is done and dusted for another year, and I survived once again. Honestly survival was one of my key motivators this year - the conditions were pretty oppressive at times in terms of heat and humidity, and despite spending the first day of the convention just wandering around and talking to people, I was exhausted. So I was really worried about how I'd hold up over the next 2 days when I'd also be playing 7 games of Kings of War. Suffice to say I decided I'd be happy with being able to walk out the door at the finish, so I was determined not to exhaust myself over-thinking my games.

As I mentioned previously, I decided to take Elves to the tournament. I had basically never used them before (I did once when the 2nd edition rules were still in beta), and I hadn't played any other games of KoW in a year either. So I was going to be a bit rusty, even if I did want to be competitive. This also contributed to my "take it easy" philosophy. I was there to blow off the cobwebs, play a few games, meet some people, and generally make up the numbers...

This was my army list:

• The Green Lady with 1 Sabre-Toothed Pussycat
• Tree Herder
• Drakon Rider Lord
• Elven Mage with Fireball, Bane Chant
• Horde of Therennian Sea Guard with Chant of Hate
• Regiment of Palace Guard
• Regiment of Stormwind Cavalry with Potion of the Caterpillar
• Green Lady's Wild Guard (Regiment of fancy Hunters of the Wild)
• Horde of Forest Shamblers
• Bolt Thrower
• Bolt Thrower

I had intended to try to paint up a new regiment of Stormwind Cavalry for the event, but ended up being extremely busy in the lead-up and it soon became apparent it wasn't going to happen. I didn't even really finish the Green Lady, but she was usable enough.

Anyway, this is how things went on the day...

Game 1: Scavenge

Tony Winmill, Goblins

Tony was very nice and helpful, happy to explain how the scenario worked and also what this "Blood boil" spell was that he was carrying on his 3 wizards. It was quickly becoming apparent to me that my lack of practice would be exacerbated by my lack of familiarity with the Clash of Kings rules. Oh well, what was the worst that could happen?

The first game was always going to be rough. I had never deployed this army before, and had to try to remember rules and other inconvenient things...

New year, new challenges

Happy new year, everyone! I hope the holiday season was good to you, and Santa showered you with an unseemly amount of hobby goodness.

Naturally I spent the holiday break doing things other than updating the blog, which has become a bit of a theme. But I have been up to a few hobby-related things, so it's clearly time for an update.

First up, I am in the midst of preparing for the annual pilgrimage that is Cancon. For the third time I will be playing Kings of War at the event, and this time I have decided to take Elves. I think I have only used Elves once, in my first ever game of KoW. And naturally I will not be playing any practice games. In fact I don't think I've actually played a game of KoW since last Cancon. So yeah, what could go wrong?

Of course, it wouldn't be tournament preparation without trying to use the event as motivation for getting something painted. This time I have decided to paint up the Green Lady, a sabre-toothed pussy cat for her, and a regiment of Stormwind cavalry. In Warhammer terms this is Ariel, Queen of the Wood Elves, and a regiment of Silver Helms. 

Every time I go to paint Elves, I am reminded how much hard work I find it. They have far too many fiddly details that you either spend ages painting properly, or feel like you cheaped out by trying to ignore and hide it. This is probably why I've been avoiding painting these Silver Helms for about 15 years... It's time. I'll just try to ignore the stares of the 30 or so unpainted ones that were sitting behind this batch.

As for Ariel, I've had the model for about 20 years when I got her as part of the prize for the first tournament I ever entered. She has sat partly assembled for most of that time. Better than her husband, I guess. I got Orion at the same time and he's never even seen glue...

OK, so she's meant to be on a 40mm base. She balances remarkably well on a 20mm though, which is what she'll need to do when she is being the Green Lady. After all, she's just an Elf. A really, really tall Elf.

Ever so slowly...

Wow, it's been months since my last post. 

So what have I been up to? In terms of miniatures, I've not achieved an awful lot. I've played a couple of games of Warhammer, using a modified version of 8th edition that we're considering adopting as the normal rules at the club. Might as well tackle some of our bugbears in the rules when we're not playing as part of a wider tournament community. I've even got a few pictures from some of the games we played. I might put them up in a later post.

I have finally finished painting my old Skarsnik and Gobbla models. I've been idly working at these guys for months. I haven't had any particular reason to hurry them, and I can't say as they were the sort of models that really painted themselves. I had in mind to paint them as per the GW studio version of the time, but in the end there were things I didn't like about it, so I went more with an "inspired by" sort of vibe.

Gobbla. I really should have blown the stray static grass off the model before I took his photo. You don't really notice these things until they get zoomed in.

Hobby update

Yes I am quiet at the moment, but I am still working on the occasional model, either for a particular purpose or just because I was looking for something achievable to work on. These varying motivations resulted in the 2 models we have here.

I painted Azhag the Slaughterer in a hurry, because I told Tim I'd get him done before the Grudge Pony battle. Given he was not even assembled at the start of the week, it was nice to get him done by the weekend in the time I found during the evenings. Much as I would love to have had the option of painting up the fancy, most recent version of Azhag that GW produced, he was always a bit steep price-wise. And I had 2 of this guy lying around. Or maybe 3, if you count one who has been having a bath in paint stripper for about a year. Your time will come, little Azhag the Third...

The Wyvern has been painted for years. Azhag himself was a little late to the show. Apologies if some of these pics are a bit blurry. My arms were a little tired and shaky from embarrassing myself at the gym shortly beforehand. Part of why I took photos instead of painting something else...

The Grudge Pony - Part 2

This is the second half of a Warhammer Fantasy battle report. You can find the first part here.

Orcs and Goblins Turn 3

Tim spent some time trying to decide whether it was worth sending Azhag into the front of the Longbeards, whilst the Trolls hit them in the flank.

The Grudge Pony - Part 1

A 5000pt 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle report

Time for another game of Warhammer Fantasy. A traditional Orcs vs Dwarfs bash, with a couple of special characters and an objective in the middle to fight over. Whoever is closest at the end wins. Simple enough, right? I took photos, so I'll present the game as a bare bones battle report, with no maps or anything exciting like that. Just pictures and captions. At least that way it actually gets done...

Thorgrim scowled down from his throne at the ranger before him. Feeling the weight of the High King's displeasure, the ranger was doing his best to use his skills of stealth and concealment to sink into the stone of the throneroom floor and disappear. 

"What do you mean, 'misplaced'?" growled Thorgrim. He glanced at the Great Book of Grudges that sat open before him, and his fingers twitched involuntarily toward his pen. 

The ranger saw this, and blanched. "We were ambushed by Orcs on our way through the valley, My Lord. We were able to drive them off and guard the caravan, but it seems one of the grudge ponies must have left the path in the confusion..."

The knuckles of the King's other hand whitened as they tightened their grip on his empty tankard. "So you defeated the Orcs, and the one thing you managed to lose track of was my personal shipment of Bugman's XXXXXX?"

The ranger nodded slowly, barely daring to breathe.

"Tell me," Thorgrim spoke slowly, with exaggerated patience, "when you realised my beer was missing, why did you not go back and find it?"

"We did go back, My Lord. But the area is now swarming with greenskins. They probably have the pony by now."

Thorgrim growled and slammed his empty beer mug down on the army of his throne, snatching up the pen with his other hand. He then paused a moment, calming his breathing. The ranger cringed as the King glared at him from beneath his bristling eyebrows. 

When Thorgrim eventually spoke, it was with the same exaggerated calm. "I understand, ranger. I'm sure you did your best. I have only one more question for you. How do I spell your name?"

*****

Azhag smiled as he watched the Goblins capering around the captured grudge pony. They jeered and poked at it with spears, but the stolid beast simply stood there, stubbornly ignoring their attentions. Truly, the Dwarfs had found beasts of burden that mirrored their personality impressively.

The Goblins rummaged around in the small wagon behind the pony, and eventually one of them produced a small beer barrel, emblazoned with the markings XXXXXX.

"Yesssss," hissed the voice in Azhag's head. He could feel the satisfaction emanating from the crown on his brow. "This is the one. The Dwarf King will leave the safety of his stronghold to retrieve this wagon."

Azhag's maniacal laughter echoed that of the crown, and as usual his ladz did their best to ignore it and get on with the important business of tormenting the pony.

The Armies

Dwarfs

My army was really based around my desire to use Thorgrim Grudgebearer again. He's a cool model and had only ever seen use once before. The size of the game had a lot to do with his presence, too. A 650 point, largely unkillable lord kind of demands a larger game in order to maintain some sort of balance. I decided to go relatively light on the artillery, instead making sure it would be relatively reliable with the help of some runes. I also knew Tim would have multiple hordes, so I ensured I would have a couple to face off against them. In the end it was a fairly "elite" army, with no regular Warriors. I really need to get some more normal Dwarfs painted to give me more options in that regard.

• Thorgrim Grudgebearer
• Daemon Slayer with Runic Weapon with Master Rune of Swiftness, Rune of Fury
• Runelord with Runic Talisman with Rune of Spellbreaking, Gromril Armour with Rune of Stone, Great Weapon
• Thane with Battle Standard, Gromril Armour with 2 Runes of Iron, Rune of Stone, Great Weapon
• Thane Helga with Gromril Armour with Rune of Stone, Runic Weapon with 2 Runes of Cleaving
• Josef Bugman
• 20 Quarrellers with Full Command, Great Weapons, Shields
• 20 Thunderers with Full Command, Shields
• 40 Longbeards with Full Command, Great Weapons, Shields
• 30 Slayers with Standard, Musician, 1 Giant Slayer
• 34 Ironbreakers with Full Command
• 19 Hammerers with Full Command, Shields
• Gyrocopter with Steam Gun
• Gyrocopter with Steam Gun
• 16 Irondrakes with Full Command, Strollaz's Rune
• 17 Bugman's Rangers with Full Command
• Cannon with Rune of Forging
• Organ Gun with Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Forging

Orcs and Goblins

Tim's army was built around Azhag the Slaughterer, who I had agreed to paint up in the week before the game. It gave him a centrepiece to offset Thorgrim. He then showed admirable restraint in fielding no other Wyverns and only 1 Arachnarok. I think he sort of ran out of points after building out his army with multiple large blocks. He ensured he had a few war machines. Again, my Orcs and Goblins need a bit of painting attention in order to offer more options around things like this. My Goblin Spear Chukkas are battered about, and I don't have anything more than what he chose in ready-to-use condition. I think I have a few projects to work on.

• Azhag the Slaughterer 
• Orc Big Boss in Boar Chariot with Battle Standard, Armour of Destiny
• Savage Orc Shaman (Level 2) with Lucky Shrunken Head
• Night Goblin Big Boss with Basha's Axe of Stunty Bashin', Short Bow; Light Armour; Shield
• Night Goblin Big Boss with Seeds of Rebirth, Short Bow; Light Armour; Shield
• Savage Orc Big Boss on Boar with Dragonhelm, Great Weapon 
• Black Orc Big Boss with Heavy Armour, Shield
• Black Orc Big Boss with Heavy Armour, Shield
• 98 Night Goblins with Spears, Full Command, 3 Fanatics
• 31 Savage Orc Big 'Uns with Full Command
• 39 Orc Boyz with Full Command, 2 Choppas
• 39 Orc Boyz with Full Command, Shields
• 10 Goblin Wolf Riders with Musician, Spears, Short Bows, Shields, Light Armour
• 10 Goblin Wolf Riders with Musician, Spears, Short Bows, Shields, Light Armour
• 40 Black Orcs with Full Command, Shields
• 9 Savage Boar Boyz with Full Command, Spears, Shields
• Orc Boar Chariot
• Orc Boar Chariot
• Arachnarok Spider
• Mangler Squig
• Mangler Squig
• Rock Lobber
• Rock Lobber
• Doom Diver
• 4 Stone Trolls
• Giant

Deployment

The armies line up. Note the Grudge Pony in the centre of the table. That was the sole objective of the game. Kills didn't matter.

Bit of this, bit of that

Apparently another month has passed since I last posted a blog update. Time flies. How it can fly by with me achieving so little... I don't really know. I guess I have just been generally unproductive.

So what have I achieved?

Just in the last few days I have actually finished painting a few models. These are Warrior Priests produced by MOM Miniatures. Models I acquired to help plug one of the gaps in my Empire army - a bit of a lack of Sigmar-centric faith. This all stems from how the army evolved over time. Originally it was going to be a Dogs of War army, and then it was going to be an Ulric-themed force. It eventually outgrew that, however. So these guys help balance the Warrior Priest side of things for the overall force.

3 painted Warrior Priests. As usual these days, there are things that I can see that could have been done better, or could use extra attention. Unlikely to happen, really. They look done enough.

These are really nice models, and a very affordable way to help with the fact that I basically don't own any "proper" GW Warrior Priests.