My Minotaur Maze Adventure (Part 1)

 

"Mooo-baaaah!"

Ok, "adventure" maybe trying to sell this thread a bit strong, but it has been a long year of occasional tinkering since I first posted my intentions  regarding this army.  I finally found a bag of random Beasts of Chaos metal bits, that I had been trying to find for a few years, and one of the things I found was an almost complete minotaur.  He was just missing his horns and lower jaw. 

"I'm not the MAN I used to be,"

After scouring the usual online sources, any bitz I did find were extortionately priced. Too high for my meager hobby budget! So I brainstormed  for alternative solutions and came up with one that I thought might just do the trick. I was looking at the Skulls boxed set and noticed all those beastmen skulls. Most of which are too long or ornate to stick on a random dude's base. Curiously, there are no bull horns in that set. I know of a few Goff Ork and fantasy orc  players that wouldn't have minded to have those in this set, but I thought II would try out the skull with the long goat horns any way.  After all, these guys are Beasts of CHAOS and should have a diverse range of mutations and horn styles. 

Horns again.

I drilled and pinned the horns onto the metal minotaur head. On the same sprue there was also a jaw that fit very well onto this guy so I went ahead and attached it also. 

Jaw restored.

Next I sculpted some green stuff over and into the gaps on the minotaur's head. 

"It's not a toupee!"

I did likewise for the jaw bone as well. 

Green stuffed jaw.

Next I used a sculpting tool to try to replicate the fur on the minotaur's head and neck. This turned out OK I think, but the real test will happen when I finally paint him. 

Greenstuff in the gaps.

With the left over greenstuff I tried to fill a gap in his weapon arm and I put the rest on the back of the base to try create a small burrow of some sort. 

Greenstuff done.

Now I am waiting for the green stuff to set before I attempt to do anything else to this model. It will be a while  before you see Part 2 to this series, but I assure you that it will happen before the decade ends. Maybe. 

Battle In The Old World!

 

The heat of battle.

The stars were crossed, the runes were cast and someone performed augury on a rat. Yes, after a very long time, The Bob* and I finally managed to make a game happen**. And what a bloody affair it turned out to be! 

It was satisfying to deploy an army of mostly painted miniatures. Half of which were fully painted while the other half was at least half painted. None of these half painted units have been shown on this blog yet, so this report is their debut.

Mustering in the hanger bay o' pre-deployment.

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The Masters of Hoeth [1000 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, High Elf Realms, Open War

===

++ Characters [158 pts] ++

Noble (Loremaster) [158 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Sword of Hoeth

- Heavy armour

- General

- On foot

- The Loremaster's Cloak

- Seed of Rebirth

- Earthing Rod

- Loremaster

++ Core Units [275 pts] ++

10 Elven Archers [135 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Longbows

- Light armour

- Veteran

- Sentinel (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

5 Ellyrian Reavers [140 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Shortbows

- Light armour

- Scouts

- Skirmishers

- Harbinger (champion)

- Standard bearer [Banner of Ellyrion]

- Musician

++ Special Units [487 pts] ++

10 Swordmasters of Hoeth [168 pts] 

- Swords of Hoeth

- Heavy armour

- Drilled

- Bladelord

- Standard bearer

- Musician

10 Swordmasters of Hoeth [168 pts] 

- Swords of Hoeth

- Heavy armour

- Drilled

- Bladelord

- Standard bearer

- Musician

8 Shadow Warriors [151 pts] 

- Longbows

- Light armour

- Feigned Flight

- Shadow Walker [Seed of Rebirth + Burning Blade]

++ Rare Units [80 pts] ++

Eagle-Claw Bolt Thrower [80 pts] 

---

Created with "Old World Builder"

[https://old-world-builder.com]

The Empire Knights and General. 

Bob mustered his Empire army. 

76 pts- Captain of the Empire, Battle Standard Bearer, Full Plate Armour

119 pts- Captain of the Empire, Shield, General, Barded Warhorse, Full Plate Armour, Sword of Might, Talisman Of Protection

80  pts- Master Mage, Wizard Level 1, Battle Magic, Dispel Scroll

128 pts- 5 Empire Knights, Lance, Preceptor, Standard Bearer, Musician

80 pts - 10 State Missile Troops, Handgun

80 pts - 10 State Missile Troops, Handgun

105 pts - 15 State Troops, Halberd, Sergeant, Standard Bearer, Musician

135 pts- 15 Veteran State Troops, Shield, Sergeant, Standard Bearer, Musician

185  pts- 15 Empire Greatswords, Count's Champion, Standard Bearer, Musician

We agreed to keep things simple, nothing too over the top or powerful, and focus on learning the rules. The only war machine was the High Elf bolt thrower, and we had one Calvary unit each. 

We also only had one mage each who were only level 1 wizards. 

The Empire battle line. 

We agreed to play the Pitch Battle scenario from the BRB as the focus in that mission is the accumulation of Victory Points by the elimination of the opposition. Death was on the line. 

The High Elf deployment. 

The face off. 

Turn 1

Lots of mass movement occurred in this turn. However the Empire hand gunners spot movement in the nearby woods and fire upon the Shadow Warriors. Their Evasive skill proved quite helpful here, but even more so when all the successful shots failed to wound. 

"Are those apes shooting at us?!"

On the High Elf turn, the Bolt Thrower picked off an Imperial Knight as they crested the small grassy knoll. 

"Nice shot!"

Turn 2

The Knights charge into the closest unit of Swordmasters. 

The foe is engaged. 

They were all cut down except for the attached General  who was now wounded. The General slayed a single Swordmaster. 

"Horse meat is back on the menu!"

Failing morale by a lot, the General turned and fled. The Swordmasters tried to catch him,  but even their agility was no match for a terrified horse. 

"RETREAT! RETREAT!"

Feeling cocky, the Swordmasters charged the Empire Greatswords. But were ill-prepared for the post 1.5 FAQ counter attack (even though those same rules just helped them defeat the Knights and route the General)  and were slain down to a single Elf! Ouch! 

Hubris revealed. 

The second unit of Swordmasters, with the attached Loremaster, charged the Veteran  Empire State Troops. The Loremaster found himself in combat with the Halberdiers. 

The Loremaster's folly. 

This also proved foolish as the Vet. State Troops were also joined with the Army Battle Standard who assisted them with Combat Resolution to the point that the Empire won the combat!  They pushed back the Swordmasters, while their Loremaster was left behind, trampled into the mud by the Empire Halberdiers. 

A clash of Great weapons! 

I don't have a pic of this next bit, but the 10 man unit of Handgunners were wiped out from all my missile troops (Bolt Thrower, Reavers, Shadow Warriors and Archers) focusing their fire on them. 

Turn 3

The General Rallies (rolled double 1s!) and joins the Greatswords. 

The Halberdiers flank charge the Swordmasters.

"Pig-pile on the elves!"

Despite being piled onto by the blood thirsty humans, the Swordmasters were not destroyed as they were pushed back in good order.  But their numbers were being reduced for sure! 

The quagmire continues...

Over on the other flank the combined shooting from the High Elf force riddle the remaining handgunner who just would not flee the battle. It was up to the Reavers to set up a charge and hopefully finish them off next turn. 

"I say ol' chap, they're coming right for us!" "Huh, who?"

Looking over their stats, it occurred to me that the HE Archers were not exactly a push-over when it came to melee, so in a desperate gamble to save the dwindling Great Swords, I sent them charging into the rear of the halberiers. It was a crazy melee as you could guess from this photo. The sword and shield bearing State Trooper took the brunt of the casualties but the Army Banner continued to turn the tide for the Empire. 

The archers dive in. 

Turn 4.

Consumed with frustration (because at this point neither one of us could get a spell to go off), madness and perhaps a touch of malice, the Empire Wizard finally manages to cast Pillar of Fire into the woods! 

"Muhaha! Die elf scum!"

The Pillar of Fire comes scary close to the skulking Shadow Warriors within it. 

Things get heated in the woods. 

Meanwhile the  meatgrinder in the middle continued on as the Great Swords joined the ruckus, felling the last of the Swordmasters. 

(Leave it to us noobs to complicate things).

Half of the Shadow Warriors were immolated as the Pillar of Fire moved over them. The screams still haunt this area even still...

Meanwhile the Archers defeated the halberiers causing them to route. The last State Trooper with the Battle Standard were not at all bothered by their panicking brethren as they continued to gather war trophies from the fallen High Elves.  

SO much death. 

The Reavers succeed in defeating the handgunners in melee and running them down as they attempted to route. To be fair, it was the horses who did most of the killing (of course). 

Horses for the win. 

Turn 5

Seeking a bigger war trophy the Battle Standard and his State trooper buddy charged the Bolt Thrower. The crew put up a valiant fight, killing off the last State Trooper bu the Army Standard still eeked out a win, destroying the War Machine and it's routing crew. 

"Me son will like these 'ere helm feathers!"

The Great Swords butchered the archers, only the Sentinel (i.e. Champion) survived as the found safty in the woods. 

On the High Elf turn, there wasn't much more to do. The hot and smoldering Shadow Warriors emerging from the burning woods to perforate the wizard with arrows, ending his witchy ways (for now). 

Within minutes of our set time limit, and seeing the state of things, we decided this was a good place to stop. It was a total blood bath, with no unit left unscathed. 

The shattered forces. 

Tallying up the VPs as per the scenario rules, we determined the following scores:

High Elves:  574

Empire of Man: 708.

A resounding victory for the Empire!!!

Whew! That was a fun game. 

It looked grim for the Empire in the early stages of the game but when the Great Swords stomped the crap out of the Swordmasters, clearly it was not going to be so easy for the elves. I would say that the Great Swords were the MVP of this game. 

I was impressed with what the elves can do with shooting, and having experienced it now, I think I can form a more focused strategy with them going forward. 

I will say this though: 'new model syndrome" is a thing for sure! All of my fully painted models were all eliminated and all the survivors are from units I have yet to finish. Total weirdness.

My biggest mistake was not continuing after the General. Not only was he worth a lot of VP, but bonus VP as well. Die and learn, right?

Well we both had a great time, and we are already talking about doing another one soon. 

"I'll get you next time elves, and next time my fire will be even hotter!!! Muhahaha!"

*He doesn't blog anymore but I love to remind the world that he used to as I enjoyed his posts. But if you are determined enough, you might be able to find him on Instagram...

** Also thanks again to The Outpost for allowing us to stay after hours so we could make this happen. You guys rock!!!

Loremaster

 I wanted one of these guys to lead my Swordmasters of Hoeth themed force. So when it was rereleased recently I made sure to get one. 

I couldn't seem to find many painted examples out in the wild of this model that wasn't all angled in the same direction. So I had a difficult time trying to figure out what was what with some of the details on the backside of this model. however I was able to find an old tutorial that helped me out with some of the areas I was confused about.

Contrast Paint Basecoats.

I followed the steps I laid out in the Swordmasters posts for most of the miniature. 

one of exceptional areas being the spell effect manifesting from his hand. I decided to go with a pinkish color as opposed to the greenish one GW used on the packaging photo. . I  kept thinking it looks like he's stopping a snowball so I wanted to paint it a color that would do the most to avoid that comparison.

I thought that there was so much ornamentation on the front of this model that I needed to try to break that color quagmire. I chose to make the necklace a different color of gold to help it stand out better. Just below his belt there is a pair of crescent moon charms that I wanted to make stand out  better.  I decided these would look interesting as jade. After painting them I was very pleased with how they turned out. 

The next area of interest is the cloak. I made it fade from dark blue into a purple. Normally on the cloaks and Shields of my High Elves I tend to paint stars over a twilight colored background. But I like how this looked as is, so I left off the stars. If I change my mind  down the road I suppise I can always revisit this model. 

When he was done, I just added some grass tufts and a few leaves to top him off. 

And now he is ready to lead the Swordmasters of Hoeth to battle. With luck that will be sooner than later!

"Onward to death!!!"

The Swordmasters (Part 4)

 

Unit 2 finished.

Continuing from last time, here is the command section of Unit 2. These are the last three models I need to complete to finish the unit. The delay was caused by how I had to base these guys and build up the scene  on their individual bases. 

The Bladelord.

Basecoats. 

I made this guy's base to seem as if he is standing over an animal's warren or den.  It reminded me of the farm I lived on in Berkshire  back in "80s which seemed to have biggest rabbit population I have ever witnessed. 

Fully painted. 

The Standard Bearer.

Base coats.

This base was very craggy and rocky and I think it came out well. The fallen leaves help sell the scene I think. I am really pleased with how the banner turned out. It is mostly Asurmen Blue faded down to a light blue. The trick is to paint it upside down so that the Contrast Paint runs toward the top and collects to darken at the top. 

Fully painted.

The Musician. 

Base coats.

This guy's base isn't nearly as rocky as his peers but I still think he looks quite commanding on his tactical... mound.

Fully painted.

Blow that horn brother!

And here they are joined to their unit. 

Joined to their unit.

And that's twenty Swordmasters of Hoeth painted over the course of just a few weeks.  And there was also a bolt thrower done in the same period. 

Twenty Swordmasters! 

Well, there are even more units in the works as I progress towards getting up to a 1000 points of fully painted High Elves. Keep watching out for those updates!