Trio of horses

Sadly this will be a short update.  I put the finishing touches on the troll but since those were small changes I didn't take another picture of it.  I did more work on the Valiant but it literally fell apart when I was trying to picture it.  I have since glued it back together and will picture it next week.  The only thing left that I worked on are these trio of Chaos Knight horses.  Once the Valiant is done I will probably add these to the painting log.  Next week I will be going back to the forsaken but I'm thinking I will be working on only two or three so I can get a few models done.

My troll

I passed on working on the forsaken this week.  Instead I attempted to finish a single troll.  I figure since it only needed small touches I would finished the troll and do some work on the Valiant.  That was a mistake.  Every time I thought I was done with the troll I notice sometime else, usually really small, that needed to be done on it.  I did get to do some work on the Valiant, but not as much as I had hope.

I'm going to spent another hour sometime this week on the troll max and then call it done.  I just realize that it will be the first piece that I have ever finished.  The forsaken break will continue next week as I need something else to work on.  Update on the campaign will be forthcoming later this week.  Until then....

Beach Landing Megabattle

Backstory

Maritime scouts have learn the location of an unknown island.  With rumors of it possibly being the site of lost arcane treasures the scouts pass this information on to their lords, kings,  generals or whatnot.  Many of these rulers determine that the island could provide a valuable strategic advantage and the chance of gaining artifacts was too much to pass up.  The naval forces of these nations/war bands were launched with some of their rulers taking charge of the expedition personally.  The waters around the island soon became a battlefield as these forces arrive nearly all at once.  During the chaotic naval conflict three armies manage to get a small band onto the island shores.  The three armies were Ogre Kingdoms, High Elves and Warriors of Chaos.  All three bands had the same goal and that was to secure a foothold on the island.  However to all three surprise, the unknown island was not vacant.  A large force of Skaven were waiting on the shores to give the visitors the warm welcome the cowardly and cruel race is known for.

Overview

The battle was divide into two sides, the attackers and defender.  The attackers (Ogre Kingdoms, High Elves and Warriors of Chaos) each had a force worth 500 points and a free Battle Standard Banner.  The Skaven defender had a force roughly equal to the other three combined.  The objective for the attackers were to get their Battle Standard across the board the fastest.  If multiple Battle Standard die then the one whom made it the furthest will count as the winner.  The only objective for the defender was to make life miserable for the attackers.  The attackers shared the same turn.  They were not allies and count each other as enemies for determining viable targets.  The order in which the attacker's actions are resolved was decide at the beginning of each turn by a contested roll..  Each attacker had their own magic phase.

The Battle

The attackers deployed as close to each other as possible.  Chaos had their eye on the elves and the Ogre had theirs on Chaos.

The defenders waited patiently, some in a wildwood which claim a rat.

Turn 1

The attackers had first turn.  Chaos wanted to march forward but the forsaken had other ideas.  The lure of elven flesh so close to them prove to be too much for the warriors to resists.  The frenzy forsaken failed their leadership test to follow orders and charged the elven archers.

Everyone else march forward.  The magic phase was uneventful.  Not surprising with Chaos and Ogres only having a single level 1 wizard.  The Skaven only had 2 level 1 wizards themselves.  The only unit on either side that had any shooting abilities were the elven archers whom had a forsaken problem.  Moving on to the close combat phase, it was not a pretty sight for the elves.  Losing about a third of the unit and doing no wounds back the archers broke from combat and the forsaken were more than happy to run them down.  Unfortunately for them this essentially put them out of the battle as well.  At least Chaos earn first blood! (meaningless in this scenario)

The Skaven turn was pretty simple.  Giant rats charge the high elf cavalry and everyone else move forward.  Nothing significant happen during the magic phase and no unit was capable of firing in the shoot phase.  In close combat the high elves just edge out the giant rats.  The rats failed their leadership and flee.  The high elves was going to chase until it was reveal that a unit of clan rats were in the way.  So instead the high elves reform to narrow it front now it can ride pass the clan rats for victory.

The line of yellow dices shows the actually location of the clan rats behind the forest.  Being at an angle the clan rats' rear block the cavalry pursuit.

Turn 2

The high elf cavalry charged the fleeing giant rats.  The distance the rats flee was greater than the high elf charge.  Failing the charge only allowed the high elves to move forward a few inches.  This gave Ogres and Chaos a chance to catch up.  The Ogres issued a charge of their own on clan rats and made it.  Chaos had to make a decision.  They could move towards the high elves and try to slow them down with their one spell or to go for a long charge which would put them back into the running.  No guts, no glory Chaos went with the charge and needed a 9 on 2d6.  Rolled 9.

The magic phase this time was a game changer, though not in the way people initially thought.  Chaos single spell was Cacophonic Choir and it has a 12 inch range.  Both Ogres and High Elves were out of range for the spell.  So Chaos tried to cast it at the increase value of 24 so it would hit nearly every Skaven unit.  Chaos hit 24 on the nose with no miscast.  Skaven tried to dispel but rolled mostly 1s and 2s.  Every unit that was wounded by Cacophonic Choir gains the Always Strike Last and Random Movement special rule for a turn.  The caster also gets to roll one die for each wound cast by the spell which will increase his weapon skill, initiative and attacks due to the lore attribute.  Chaos only got 2 successes on 19 dices.  The close combat phase was extremely bloody for the Skavens.  The Slaanesh Chaos Warriors decimated the clan rats and ran them down, which place them into first place at the moment.  As bad as Chaos beating was, Ogres deliver an even bloodier result.

The pile of rats were the numbers the Ogre killed and only received 1 wound in return.  The only way the cowardly Skavens were going to hold their ground after that assault would be to get insane courage on their leadership.  Their leadership roll was ...

By the end of the attackers second turn it was an extremely close race.  Whoever manage to get move first between Chaos and High Elves on the next turn would be able to march off the board and earn the victory.  Ogres were still in it if they could break and overrun the clan rats on the Skaven's turn.  That was what the standing were ... that was until we remember most of the Skaven units now had the Random Movement special rule.  That rule allowed the Skaven to make charges that were impossible before.  Chaos got reared charged by plague monks and High Elves got flank charge by more clan rats.  Ogres got the side charge they knew was coming.  Still in close combat things went to the attackers favor, well mostly.  The High Elves beat back their opponents and didn't pursuit when the rats broke.  The Ogres erased the clan rats in their front which caused the flank unit to panic.  The Ogres also choose not to pursuit.  Chaos had a much harder fight but they also prevailed.  Unfortunately for them the plague monks did NOT break which pretty much sealed Chaos fate.  Chaos reformed to face the monks so they unleash their full hatred on them for being deny victory.

Turn 3

With nothing to hold them back now the High Elves marches off the board for the win.  Ogre still had a fair amount of ground to cover and was afraid that Chaos might annihilate the Skaven too fast.  So the opportunist Ogres charged Chaos in the flank.  The move also place Ogres' battle standard past the Chaos one.  The magic phase gave Chaos one last chance to change its fortune by casting an irresistible Cacophonic Choir on the Ogres.  While the miscast did nothing, the damage was not enough to make much difference.  Chaos was routed in the close combat phase.  Since the Ogres' battle standard was further than where the Chaos battle standard had fallen, Ogre Kingdoms claimed second place and the battle was over.

Valiant at last!

I finally got started on the Valiant.  It only has two colors at the moment but at least its a start.  I will be finishing the black and adding red this week.  I also made progress on the forsaken though its a little hard to tell in these pictures.  Everyone horns is painted bone white while the scythe blades is painted silver.  That and they are based now.  I will probably only dedicate another two weeks to the forsaken as I am getting close to the point where I am just working on small details/mistakes in which I make more mistakes that needs to be fix up.

I am still working on the mega battle report.  I hope to be done with it by tomorrow .

Lore and Labels

One of my goals with the next campaign (which kickoff yesterday) is to maintain an updated record of my participation.  I will accomplish this through writing short stories of campaign event from my armies point of view and summary reports of battles, player interactions and campaign meetings.  To make it easier to know which post are campaign related I will be using two labels: "Lore" for the fiction and "Report" for the summaries.  Logos for each will be displayed at the top of the post as well.  Said logos are shown below.

I still have a fair amount of work to do before the GM Campaign's first meeting this Friday.  I need to write up a 5000 point list and decide on the storyline behind my army.  I have used two different storylines in campaigns before though neither got very far.  The first storyline center around the army's leader Chaos Lord Amirren.  Amirren was a powerful warrior, cunning tactician and an accomplish sorcerer.  His greatest strength however was his charisma.  Using only his persuasive wit (and martial prowess for some) he earn the complete loyalty of 9 Lords of Chaos.  These lords do not like each other at best but they held Amirren with such respect that they would do anything for him.  I did not have names for all 9 lords but I did have personalities and characters traits for most of them.  I really like the story opportunities with this setup because it would allow for personalities to grow and clash.  I was a little hesitate to continue this storyline however for two reason.  For one that campaign was a disaster from a narrative point of view.  The point of doing a campaign story is to let the results of the battles decide the fate of the story.  In that campaign most of my characters were captured or killed by the end.  On the flip side that campaign had a few other issue with it that I will not go into here.  However I do feel I have enough of a case to "reboot" the storyline even though I feel conflicted about it.  But the second reason I was hesitate has a much stronger case.  I can not give Chaos Lord Amirren the stats to properly portray him in the new Warriors of Chaos book.  In the new book I have lost the item "Book of Secrets" which allowed a Chaos Lord to also be a sorcerer.  Being a warrior and a sorcerer on the battlefield was one of Amirren's central themes.  An option would be to run the army without its charismatic leader but that would feel a little wrong.

The second storyline I have used in a campaign was in the brief Blood and the Badlands.  The Arkyrian Cabal was a secret society of sorcerers whom members have infiltrated various armies around the world.  The idea was that they reveal themselves right before the start of the Blood and the Badlands and I do want to tell that story when I redo that campaign.  Since so much of the Arkyrian story was made for a campaign that has yet to happen, I am unsure at what direction to take it in the GM Campaign.

I do have ideas for a third Chaos storyline but much of that is still being develop.  I also want to kick that army off with a series of short stories that I have yet to start.  That means I am left with using either Amirren or Arkyrian storyline for the current campaign.  Decisions, decisions...

Tomorrow I will post a battle report of yesterday's mega battle

Forsaken 3

I had hope to be finished or near finished with my forsaken by this update but sadly that did not happen.  The only painting I was able to do this week was today at the shop.  Still, progress is progress.

The campaign will kickoff this weekend with a mega battle.  These forsakens will be apart of my forces in that battle so I will be basing them this week at the very least.

Progress on Forsaken

Here is my second paint log.  I still have not touch the Valiant.  My progress on the forsaken feels so slow.  I need to get a move on since I want to use them in the opening battle of the campaign which is less than two weeks away if not sooner.  Still comparing this week pictures to last weeks gives me hope to continue working.  I did not do as much work at the shop as I would have hope and ran out of time for pictures.  These pictures were taken at home which was a mistake.  It took me 60 plus shots to get 3 pictures that was not blurry.

The arm came off from me dropping my clippers on them.  Fortunately it was just the glue giving out.  I haven't re-glued it yet because it is easier to paint.  Everything should be on bases and nearly done by next week.

Forsaken Paint Log

This is my first attempt at my paint log and its very embarrassing.  However the point is to get me to make progress on my painting so here it is.

These pictures show that not only do I need practice painting but also in photography.  Still I am happy to be making progress.  Sadly I've only prime my Valiant so there is no picture of it yet.  Hopefully I can show it off next time.

What's Next

I have several new projects I will be starting soon on this blog. Foremost among these have to do with the Master's Campaign. The Master's Campaign combines rules from several different campaign systems. Army lists are static. Once written our army list do not change and we keep track of where each unit is located on the game map. Casualties from battles can become permanent so attrition becomes a factor in the campaign. There will be points where we will get resources to resupply our armies. I will not be running the Master's Campaign but I will be participating. I've learn the campaign is starting a lot sooner than I thought so I have work to do. I do not know what role this blog will have in the campaign as some of that will depend on the GM. However the GM has a story to tell with the campaign and I will like to use this blog to enhanced my involvement with said story.

Campaign aside though somewhat related, another project I will be starting is a painting log. Taking pictures of my Badlands campaign reminded me that I have a lot of minis that I need to put together and paint. I hope having a showcase here will encourage me to pick up the brush more. My showcase will include items outside of my Warriors of Chaos army. A friend has gotten me interest in BattleTech recently. Starting a new miniature game with a model count much lower than I use to, it should be easy to keep the army painted. First thing on my paint log is to complete and paint 10 of my custom Forsaken models and paint my currently only BattleTech model, a Valiant.

The last set of projects will be me writing articles and a story. The first few articles I want to write will be mostly about Warriors of Chaos but it is my hope to eventually write worthwhile articles about other Warhammer armies, other aspects of the hobby as well as other miniature games. And lastly, I have an idea for a three part story that will tell the beginnings of a Warriors of Chaos army I will like to play in a campaign sometime.

Farewell to Badlands

This post will be the final chapter of my short lived Blood and the Badlands Campaign.  At least with this version of Badlands.  I took pictures during three of the five campaign battles that we had.  The idea was to write battle reports of what happen and include some of the pictures.  I never got around to writing those battle reports but I still have the pictures.  Here are some of the pictures with comments on what was going on.

The first set is from the Daemons vs Warriors in Turn 1.

Daemons lining up for war

 Warriors doing the same

The dreaded Chaos Knights with the BSB on Daemonic Mount prepare to charge a horde of Plaguebearers.

Beast of Nurgle vs. Nurgle Warriors.  Having their own private battle while everyone else is ...

Here.  This was a nightmare for Daemons.  The Chaos Knights got the ultimate blessing from the Warshrine.  They were a nearly an unstoppable force destroying everything in their path.  Getting help from an equally hard to kill Warshrine with Chaos Trolls flanking made this a very sad day for Daemons.  The horde of Bloodletters behind the Plaguebearers did not fair much better.

The next set was from Warriors vs. Lizardmen from Turn 1

Chaos lining up

Lizardmen lining up

Funniest part of the game.  Saurus Warriors needed an 8 to charge the Khorne Warriors.  They failed.  So the Khorne Warriors charged needing 6. They failed as well!  I imagine both side saying "Come and get some! No you come here and get some!"  When they finally got into combat, the Khorne Warriors lost combat and broke.  They managed to rally and were charged again.  Out numbered and without frenzy, they won the second combat.

The last two pictures are from Warriors vs. Lizardmen rematch from Turn 2

The calm before the storm of battle!

The game was won/lost right here.  Vanacyr leaded her block of Slannesh Chosen into battle against Lord Khakro and his Temple Guards.  The two side hacked at each other for 3 full turns.  On the last turn of the game Saurus Warriors manage to make a long flank charge and killed the Chaos BSB.  The Temple Guards were wiped out but Lord Khakro survived and with the help from the warriors won the battle.  Vanacyr broke from combat and was ran down, moments away from the game being declared a draw.