Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Battle of Windle's Tower (Battle Report Part 2)

vs.


Turn 1



Turn 1 was almost (see below) purely a movement and position round for both armies.

General Lakait

The Wood Elf Spell singer spent the first turn in cover of the woods this central position made her a less desirable target and allowed her to cast spells at all three units in the army.

General Lakait said: “Standing on the edge of the woods, to provide soft cover and still be in range to cast on the Eternal Guard units. I cast the fear spell on the noble's unit and tried to put Ariel's Blessing on the general's unit. Recall, that he had a terror causing banner, so he didn't need the other spell.”

The larger Eternal Guard moved up to within an inch of the wall and waited for the Hellpit to charge.
(Editor’s Note: Lakait did not want to lose a rank of spear attacks by charging the hellpit.)



The second unit of Eternal Guard moved into the gap between the walls.



The Glade Guard Made a Bee line for Windle’s tower moving to 1” away after a march move.



Warlord Scratcheye

The Jezzail team moved into the abandoned Watchtower.



While the Hellpit Abomination, The unit of Standard slaves, and the Storm Vermin moved forward for position. The Hellpit rolled a measly 5” and did not get to engage the Eternal guard unit it was trying to attack. The second unit of slaves (Skinks) ended up stuck behind the hellpit and Storm vermin so opted not to move. The unit of Clan Rats moved towards Windle’s tower.

Lakait-
“(He) didn’t try for the tower because Scratcheye decided that I was closer and would get there first. I think this was a mistake because he wasted a turn where he could have assaulted the building.”

Ratling The Mad -
“I want to say that I had a perfectly good reason internally for not going after the tower, that being that since it was placed slightly further toward her side and with it being very likely that she would take first turn, it didn’t seem likely that I would beat her there, so I prepared for an assault. “

The warlock Engineer hid behind the trees to watch the opening shots of the battle from relative safety

Lakait -
“Tried to skitterleap, but I threw all my dice at dispelling it. He had no shots for his magic missile spell, so that ended magic.”

Ratling The Mad-
“I also didn’t expect my magic to be so shut down, but I guess it was a mistake to position things so that in order to cast one spell, the other one HAD to go off.”

The Ratling gun moved for a better position so could not shoot that turn.

The only real action came from the poison wind mortar that fired an indirect poison globe that managed to shatter almost directly over the 2nd unit of Eternal guard destroying most of the unit.




Lakait had this to say regarding the mortar shot: “Direct hit. Deviation was absorbed. I was grinding my teeth...loudly. Still, it was a good move.”




Turn 2



General Lakait

The Spell singer Moved out of cover and tried to get into position to cast spells on the Lords Eternal Guard unit. She also took a potshot at the Hell pit but missed. (She was armed with a Magic arrow that causes a panic check if a single wound is caused)

Lakait-
“Spell singer repeated her actions from turn one. I think I might have moved her around the board some. I tried to keep her behind other units and out of the line of fire, but I was careful to make sure that she could still see and cast onto the Eternal Guard.”
Lakait-
“ The fear spell (I need to look up the name) worked, but Ariel's Blessing failed again.”
The Lord’s Eternal Guard Unit held their ground and did not move as they prepared for the inevitable charge of the Hellpit Abomination.

Lakait-
“Eternal Guard did not charge anybody because I didn't want to lose my extra rank of fighting with the spears. This bit me in the butt with the Hell Pit because I took impact wounds from the hellpit.” See below…



The Hero’s unit of Eternal Guard also stood pat waiting to get charged so they could use their spears and high initiative to good use. (as well as the unit was in no shape to face the Storm Vermin or even slaves head on.)

The Glade guard made it into the tower and opened fire on the unit of slaves in front of the hero’s Eternal guard breaking them and forcing them to flee.




Lakait – in regards to the shooting of the slaves “it worked to my favor with the SLAVES (the Storm Vermin were behind them) because I hate slaves and I was able to shoot at them in the Shooting Phase.” This made it so the eternal guard would not face that block of slaves again.

General Scratcheye

The Skaven slaves that broke by shooting did not rally and continued to run away.
Likait-
“Or you could say...The Glade Guard forced a panic check for the Slaves, by killing at least 25% of the unit. They ran directly away from the threat, but didn't get very far. As a result, they blocked the Hell Pit for a while, I believe. Though we might have moved them so that they were out of the way of both the Hell Pit and the general's unit. I'm not sure now. I know that they were at least 1 inch away from my general's unit. They quickly outpaced their general's area of influence and were never able to rally. They had no further impact on the game and need not be mentioned further.”

The Skink Slaves Moved slightly forward but were still behind the hellpit Abomination so could do nothing else.

The Skaven Clanrats charged the tower and were able to drive the Glade guard out!

Likait-
“Rat b@stards”

The Storm Vermin charged the Hero’s Eternal Guard and managed to destroy the unit except for the valiant Noble who held his ground in bitter defiance!

The Hellpit managed to reach the Lords Eternal Guard and slammed into them with serious impact hits killing 3. The wood elf Attacks were fast and furious managing to get 6 wounds in the first round of Combat. The Hellpit failed all of its Regeneration saves and died!




Likait-”(Hellpit) killed three of 15 with impact hits. General got 5 attacks, Champion got 3 attacks, musician/standard bearer/guard in first row got 2 attacks each, 5 men in the second rank got 1 attack each, remaining 2 men in the last rank got 1 attack each. This resulted in 21 dice being thrown at the Hell Pit for attacks. Unlike when the Glade Guard fought the Clan Rats, I did not choke on my rolls and managed to do all 6 wounds before he ever laid a tentacle on me. Chant it with me now: Eternal Guard Rocks! Eternal Guard Rocks!”

Ratling the Mad-
“If I had looked up what regeneration actually does, it might have lived, Just sayin”

The Jezzail team took shots at the Tree singer but did not manage to do any harm.

The Ratling Gun team shot at Tree singer but misfired and shot all shots at strength 2 and also did no damage.

The Poison wind mortar fired again but went off course causing no damage.

The Warlock Engineer moved into the woods and attempted to Skitterleap but was unsuccessful.

All in all this was a poor round for the Skaven.

More to come in the final installment. Stay tuned!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

The Battle of Windle's Tower (Battle Report Part 1)

vs.


Warlord Scratch Eye looked upon the abandoned tower near the Bretonnian border and squealed with Glee. His small war-band had surfaced 3 days earlier, and so far remained undetected. “This man house-cave will make a nice-nice place to plan my raid,” thought the warlord. A week earlier, the gray seer known as "Brain-Brain" had been blessed with a vision that foretold that a large chunk of Warpstone would be found on the border of the cursed Elfthing forest (Athel Loren) and the Manthing realm of Bretonnia. Warlord Scratch Eye was summoned by representatives of THE THIRTEEN to go forth and acquire this prize. As his forces approached the old tower, a horn sounded from a nearby wood, immediately followed by war cries as several dozen Wood Elf warriors seemed to materialize from nowhere on the other side of the tower. After a moment’s hesitation, Warlord Scratch Eye ordered his forces forward. The Battle was on!

This is a report for a battle between the Wood Elves of Athel Loren and the
vile Skaven raiding party of the Evil Warlord Scratch Eye. My wife who will
hence forth be referred to as Lakait took the role of the Wood Elves while
my son (Known in Skavenblight circles as Ratling the Mad) headed up the
Skaven army. The battle was fought on June 12th 2011 to an agreed point
total of 1000 points. The opponents agreed to the “Blood and Glory
scenario” (Page 148 of the rule book.) Once this was complete terrain was
laid out and the map looked something like this




Here are the armies of each player

SKAVEN (Starting Banner Points 4)

General- “Scratch Eye” – Skaven Clan Chieftain
Warlock Engineer- “Ratling the Mad (No relation)”- Level 2 Caster
Storm Vermin- “The Spartans”- 20 Storm Vermin with Shields + Ratling Gun+ Banner
Clan Rats- “Itchy Eye Clan”- 20 Clan Rats with Shields and Hand weapons + Poison wind Mortar + Banner
Jezzail Team- “Manthing Killers” – 5 Jezzail w/ sharpshooter.
2 Slave units- (Slave units don’t get cool names)- one of normal Skaven Slaves and one of captured lizard man Skinks.
Hell Pit Abomination- “Black Death” – 1 Hell Pit Abomination


Wood Elf (Starting Banner points 5)

General- “” – Wood Elf Highborn (Lord)
Lieutenant-“”-Wood Elf Noble (hero)+ Eternal Kindred
Spell Singer-“”- Wood Elf Spell Singer (Hero)
Eternal Guard-“”- 14 Eternal Guard w/ Wailing Banner
Eternal Guard-“”- 10 Eternal Guard w/ Banner
Glade Guard –“”- 10 Glade Guard w/Banner


The armies were deployed in standard style with each player taking it in turn to place Units. When finished the Map looked like this.






In the next installment we will cover turns 1 and 2 then in the 3rd and final installment turns 3, 4, and 5 will be covered. (Here is hint: the game only went to turn 5)

See you next time...

RGH

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Anyone else think this is a stupid idea?


Of course I am used to it. my issue regularly shows up several weeks late anyway. nothing like getting the preview of a new release 2 days after the release date... :p

Makes me wounder what the meeting must be like...



Seriously!

RGH

Sunday, June 26, 2011

STORM OF MAGIC (FANTASY)



For the new Storm of Magic stuff coming next month GW is looking for pics of gamers Monsters and Wizards...

Read about it here.

I have decided to enter I would be surprised to get my stuff on the site but stranger things have happened.

Here is what I wrote

---------------------------------------------------------------
Good Evening,

Thanks for creating this opportunity. I am submitting 2 entries so keep reading.

First up...

The Dwarf Giant Slayer - A giant who's entire family has been killed by evil Dwarf Slayers and who has now taken up the Slayer oath himself

The Build- This is the Standard Giant kit but with a few minor add ins. The Mohawk and pony tail were made from Green stuff. You may also notice the prisoner in the cage as the tied up slayer from the old Skull pass box set.

Painting- Flesh was done with Dwarf flesh with a paint wash of 50/50 tanned Flesh/Dwarf Flesh (Pre-Wash era) for shade and 50/50 Dwarf flesh/Elf Flesh for highlights. Cloth- various browns and grays to bring out the patchwork look. Ribbon was done in Blues (Ultra marine and Enchanted) to contrast the browns and grey. Scales and Shields were done in Greens and reds for variety.

Battle Plan- This Giant tends to work with my Orc and Goblin Army although it sometimes get used with Chaos Warriors and Beast-men. (Any chance he can get to kill Dwarfs!!!) This Guys strategy is pretty simple Charge forward and engage the enemy as soon as possible. The idea is to lock up before he gets shot to death.

Highlights- My favorite thing about this model are people's reaction to seeing it. The Idea of a Giant dressed as a Dwarf Slayer draws a lot of attention (as well as firepower. Grrr)

Next...

The Vampire Wizard- An evil vampire in the Spirit of Nosferatu

The Build- The base of this kit is the Plastic Empire Wizard. The head and left hand are from the Ghoul Sprue. This was an entry in the "design a Wizard" contest GW ran in 2008 or 2009. (the other was the Tau Space Pope- I included a pic of him just for fun)

Painting- The inner robes were done with a Mechrite Red base with Blood Red highlights this was washed with Baal Red wash for shade (put on after the highlight to blend the colors) The outer robe was done with Bestial Brown base and Snakebite leather highlights with a Devlan Mud wash. The Skin was done with Space Wolf Grey base with a white drybrush then washed in Purple wash and Blue Wash. when dry a highlight of Space wolf grey on the edges to bring out the details. The Scythe was done in browns, greens and reds

Battle Plan- Originally this guy was built to represent a Hierophant (Liche Priest) in a Barrow King (Tomb Kings) army (Based on a page of fluff from the old Army book) and he may still fill that roll if I ever find time to finish that project. Till then he fills the roll of a Vampire count. I usually give him The level 3 Upgrade and the Blood Drinker Blade along with the powers: "Lord of the dead". "Master of the black arts", and "Supernatural terror" Making him a truly Nightmarish master of Magic and death.

Highlights- My favorite thing about this model is the way the Ghoul and human wizard parts blend together so well. I was even able to make the human wizards hand look like a Ghoul hand with just a little work with a hobby knife. I also think he captures the spirit of a truly ancient Evil.

Thank you,
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are The Pictures I submitted

Giant Dwarf Slayer

Vampire Wizard

And Just for Fun...

The Tau Space Pope



Enjoy

RGH

Friday, June 24, 2011

The Last week...



Hello All,

The RGH here with a Hobby report. My report is as follows.

There is no hobby report.

Instead I have spent the last week in in exile (last weekend) and as part of a local (My kitchen) disaster recovery team.

Last Friday (June 17th) the renovation team working on the apartment above mine cut into the fire sprinkler system and ruptured a pipe causing a torrent of water to flood that apartment then flow through the walls down into mine. about 30 seconds later the pressure change in the fire suppression system caused the alarms to go off. The fire department showed up 20 minutes later. Water was coming in through every seam and corner. it was a constant flow not just a bad drip. You could see it traveling across the ceiling. It was Bad.

Like this but not nearly as cool!

It took the Fire department 45 minutes to find the proper valve to shut off the water. The entire time the alarms continued and my apartment began to float away. :(

The cat went ballistic and scratched the hell out of me when I attempted to get her out of te apartment. She had to be taken to a relatives house to calm down.

When it was over there was around an inch of standing water in my kitchen and a big part of the carpet on the dining room was soaked. Looking up you could see the water trail clearly (Still dripping.)

The Contractors took full responsibility for the incident and offered to make repairs but the Apartment management decided to go with a company that specialized in this sort of disaster. These guys are real pros. They came in the same day and and tore out all of the bad drywall, carpet padding, and ceiling padding. They placed 5 Heavy duty floor/ceiling drying fans in the kitchen and dinning room and a dehumidifier the size of R2-D2 in the kitchen in an attempt to dry the place out fast.

Looks like a Whistle

The D in R2-D2 stands for Dehumidifier


We were told that we could not stay in the apartment for at least 24 hours (We ended up staying away for 48.) We stayed at the relatives house with the Cat. I hardly slept (Damn lumpy couch.) When we could get back in the fans and stuff were still working (Loudly.) We ended up holding up in the back bedroom till everything was fixed (Tuesday) going out only for work and other necessary reasons. By COB Monday the drywall and insulation was back up and the walls and ceiling repainted. By Tuesday the carpet padding was done.Tuesday night we started putting our home back together.

While we were displaced The wife and I worked on Fantasy army lists in Army builder. We put together some crazy stuff that we hope to try out as soon as we get the apartment back to fighting form...

Later

RGH

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Happy Birthday RGH!!!




Hello All,

Can you believe it's been a year since post #1? Twelve months and 73 posts
later the RGH is running strong!

Since starting this Blog a lot has happened in the Wargamming world:



We saw the release of Warhammer 8th ed to mixed reviews (I am still not
sure if I really like it or not.) Bye bye guess range hello Uber Magic.



Malifaux hit big with the release of two new books in less than a year
"Rising Powers" and the condensed Malifaux rulebook (pocket size) GOOD
stuff!


(Aged since 1998)

40K brought the Dark Eldar and Grey Knights out of the cupboard and back on
the table with new codices. This is some serious S**t for the Dark Eldar
since their last book goes all the way back to the last millennia. The Grey
Knight inspired me to build a GK army. (more later)

(Now in Hardback)

The first books for 8th ed Fantasy finally came out in early 2011 with the
release of "Orcs and Goblins" Army book in full color hard back followed a
few months later with "Tomb Kings" Army book also in color/ Hardback
format. This looks like the shape of things to come. (Note- I like the
color/hardback format. it is nice but I prefer a soft cover B/W book for
actual use)



Warmachine/Hordes saw the release of a new edition as well as lots of new
stuff including large war machines. Not really sure of the details on this
as I don't play this system. (Yet...)



GW Raised their prices (again) in June of 2011. up to 22% on some stuff.
This is outrageous but no one is twisting your arm to buy so no complaints
here.



Citadel FINECAST Resin started at the end of May 2011 and ushered in a new
era of miniatures- All Plastic all the time.(Resin is plastic) We can all
thank China for this one... :) I like the new direction. The fincast models
are SOOOOOOO much easier to work with than the old metal and the quality is
"right there" if you know what I mean.



I attended the Nova Open in 2010 as an amateur photographer and got lots of really amazing shots of some of the best looking armies I have ever seen. I met the folks from the 11th company and the Gamers lounge along with many others! I am looking forward to Nova 2011 and beyond.



That is just the basics. I will not even go into how the various games have changed play styles (several times) in the last year. It would be too long of a post. And besides I think the guys at BOLS cover that pretty well already.



On the personal side I became a pet owner (Never had one before not even a fish) The cat is great. Best backup alarm I have ever had. :)

So in closing June 2010 to June 2011 was pretty interesting period to be in this hobby. Lots of Win! A fair amount of lose! But in all a great time to be a war gamer.

Thanks for watching!!!

RGH

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Hobby Update 6/9/11

Hello All,


Just a quick Hobby update to keep everyone in the loop on my current projects.

First off The Grey Knights project

Due to the recent price increases I was forced to drop my original idea of one unit at a time. Instead I have decided to jump straight in with several purchases over the last few weeks.
I have not developed a proper list but I have decided to go Vehicle heavy (A change for me since most of my 40K armies are infantry driven.)


I have managed to complete the Dread Knight in all its Glory... (I love magnets)
The Basic Model
accessories

Loaded with Guns and Sword

Hammer time

I also modified this Fantasy Empire Warrior Priest into a Grey Knight Inquisitor I shall call him "mini Coteaz"

He knows the bird is the word

OTHER STUFF

Painting has been at a low for the last few weeks and my update shows it. Here are a few pics of other stuff I have
been working on

The two lizards are rubber toys I picked up at a Craft store and repainted.



The Giant Skeleton is from Reaper.

Sort of Tomb King like... :)

As always- enjoy!

RGH