Ancient Hate Fight

 

Welcome back to another tale of battle. This one features my Dwarf army vs. Rob's Goblins. The original plan was to do what we did last time and have Bob and I throw a combined force at his greenskin horde. Only Bob couldn't make it so Rob tooled his army down to 1,000 points and we set about playing another Pitched Battle. 

The Dwarf army

===

Helga's Entourage  [999 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, Dwarfen Mountain Holds, Open War

===

++ Characters [242 pts] ++

Queen Helga [242 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Full plate armour

- Shield

- General

- On foot

- Master Rune of Adamant

- Rune of Striking

++ Core Units [275 pts] ++

16 Dwarf Warriors [200 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Shields

- Veteran

- Veteran (champion)

- Standard bearer [Rune of Battle]

- Musician

6 Dwarf Warriors [75 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Shields

- Drilled

- Veteran (champion) [Rune of Speed]

- Standard bearer

++ Special Units [110 pts] ++

Cannon [110 pts] 

- Cannon

- Hand weapons

- Light armour

- Rune of Reloading

- Stalwart Rune

++ Rare Units [193 pts] ++

10 Irondrakes [193 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Drakeguns

- Full plate armour

- Drilled

- Ironwarden (champion) [Trollhammer torpedo]

- Standard bearer

- Musician

++ Mercenaries [179 pts] ++

4 Imperial Ogres [179 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- 4x Great weapons

- 4x Ogre pistols

- Captain (champion)

---

Created with "Old World Builder"

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

===

Orc & Goblin Tribes [986 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, Orc & Goblin Tribes, Open War

===

++ Characters [383 pts] ++

Goblin Oddnob [245 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Wizard [Level 4 Wizard]

- General

- On foot

- Idol of Gork

- Power Scroll

- Dispel Scroll

- Waaagh! Magic

Night Goblin Bigboss [80 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Battle Standard Bearer [War Banner]

- On foot

Night Goblin Bigboss [58 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Additional hand weapon

- On foot

- Potion of Strength

++ Core Units [603 pts] ++

28 Night Goblin Mob [224 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Thrusting spears

- Shields

- Netters

- Boss (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

- 3x Fanatics [Fanatic ball & chain]

29 Night Goblin Mob [228 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Thrusting spears

- Shields

- Netters

- Boss (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

- 3x Fanatics [Fanatic ball & chain]

13 Night Goblin Squig Herd [151 pts] 

- 7x Squig Herder

---

Created with "Old World Builder"

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

The field of battle.

How about some lore to set this thing up?

 When we last saw Queen Helga her force was defeated by the Chaos Warriors of the Gray Reavers in the Wasteland region of the Empire. While her demoralized army was making it's way back towards her mountain hold, reports of a goblin army marching towards a small village of men reached her. Sending word to another Dwarf army nearby, they both agreed (via carrier pigeon) to meet outside the village and together they would crush the goblins. Helga's force arrived, the other army did not. Seeing that the opposing force was much smaller than the original reports suggested, Helga made the gamble and decided to lead her force into the village anyway to try to hold it from the foul green skin menace...

   

TURN ONE

Dwarfs first Turn.

The Dwarfs went first. Pretty much the whole army surge forward, as fast as their lil' stubby feet could carry them. The cannon shot and it missed dramatically. 

End of Dwarf Turn 1

The Goblins did like-wise but the Oddnob successfully cast Foot of Gork right in front of the 16-man Dwarf Warrior unit with the Great Weapons. 

TURN TWO

The Foot of Gork scatters onto the 16-Man Dwarf  Warrior unit with the Great Weapons, killing three of them. The dwarfs unleashed a hail of bullets via the Iron Drakes who kill two goblins from the big block closing on them. The cannon also fires but only kills a single gobo. 

Then the Fanatics were released. 

Two of them passed through Queen Helga's unit of Dwarf Warriors with the Great Weapons killing four more of them!

Fanatics unleashed.

TURN THREE

The Foot of Gork wanders onto the Iron Drakes stomping four of them into paste. 

The lines up for a perfect trick shot and...blows itself up!

The Iron Drakes only kill two more goblins. Which is not a good trade-off for the losses they just endured. 

The Imperial Ogre mercenaries an the smaller Dwarf Warrior unit charge into the Squigherders. This turned out to be a bad idea as lost combat  by two CR. The dwarfs were pushed back but the Ogres stayed in the fight. 

Pushed back but still wanting to help.

Queen Helga and her Great Weapon wielding dwarfs charge the large unit of goblins that hosted the Goblin command. The Goblin netters made things more challenging for the dwarfs  also.  In the excitement of it all, In the excitement of it all, I totally forgot to have Helga issue a challenge. I think this would've made a difference, as her side lost the combat. . They make the Break Test however and they stay in the fight. 

Sprawling Melee!

At the start of the Goblin Turn a Fanatic tears through the big fight in the middle of the board killing three models for each side. The other two Fanatics both rolled doubles and strangles themselves. 

At the other melee the squigs kill another Imperial Ogre.

Those things are tough! 

The fight in the middle of the table goes totally afoul for the Queen, as they lost the fight and the Break Test (I rolled an 11!). Then I rolled very low on the flee distance, something you don't want to when playing units with the Resolute special rule. The Goblins take full advantage of this and run them down, eliminating the Queen from the fight!

TURN FOUR

More Fanatics are released and crash into the Iron Drakes , killing three more of them. The Imperial Ogres finish off the Squig Herds whose dramatic demise kills most of the small Dwarf unit, leaving only two behind. They regroup, look around, and realize that there isn't much of an army left for them to support. 

"Oy, where did dat Queen go? She still has to pay us!"

So with only a hand full of models left (like, I could literally hold the survivors in one hand), and the remaining models left from the unit of Iron Drakes surrounded by a tria of whirling Fanatics. concession seemed to be the only option left for the dwarfs. 

This looks Ike the end...

The finally VP tally was:

Dwarfs:  168

Night goblins: 769

Hahahha, yowza! That was a fun game, but it really went south for the Dwarfs very fast. Most of it was a result of the dice. The most dramatic failure in the game was probably the cannon failing to kill more than just a single goblin before it blew itself apart. Then came Helga's notching of the break test followed by a very low flee roll. A lot of it though was simply the way the army was built. It was just not equipped to handle these massive units. These goblin units are so big that they absorb range attacks like a sponge, and they absorb melee attacks almost as easily. Well, these goblins are definitely going into the book! 

Jacobus Vyne in the Old World

 

Warhammer Quest: Dark Water has some interesting models for sure. But as soon as I saw him I knew I had to get Jacobus Vyne and his animated leaf familiar. 

He is a way taller than his older counterparts, but that's cool. It reminds me how Gandalf the Grey towered over everyone else. The more realistic proportions give him a small head than the older miniatures which, to me, helps to imagine that he is a tall old guy. 

I used Contrast Paints almost exclusively on this miniature. Militarum Green, Creed Camo and Aeldari Emerald are the three dominant colors here. 

Anyway, the brevity of this post is a result of me not taking WIP pics or notes as I worked on this. I have to admit, I had a lot of fun jamming away on this guy. I even went just on the flocking stage giving him a variety of tufts, leaves and even a cat tail! 

Hopefully this guy will hit the table in the near future as I get my old Reiklanders rebased and battle-ready! 

Slayers! (Part 1)

A Slayer charges in!

What do you do when you're down with the illness? Well, if one's not too ill, you jam out some models!  In this case I assembled 26 Dwarf Slayers onto their 25mm bases with basing grit added. Then they were primed. 

A horde 'o Slayers primed.

 

This will either make for a massive unit, or I  can break them up into smaller units. I definitely like having this option. Also I have the restrained slayers (which I promise, I have not  forgotten about) which can also be used to fill out the ranks. I pulled an old Citadel Catalog from the shelf  and began separating them based on their level (ie Trollslayer, Giantslayer, Dragonslayer  and Daemonslayer) and a fifth group of the few I couldn't figure out or that the catalog lists as just "Slayer". 

Primed, with Skeleton Horde on skulls.

These first four models are the ones I couldn't figure out,, so I chose them to launch this paint party.. I started off with Contrast Paints. Appropriately Fyreslayer Flesh was painted into their flesh. Their hair was coated in Magmadroth Flame and Snakebite Leather used on their boots (except for the guy who was barefoot that is). 

Contrast paints started.

Then Black Templar was painted onto the weapons. I used Snakebite Leather on their boots and Warp Lightning (a deep green) was used on their pants. I had to apply two coats to get the coverage I wanted with the greens and flesh. 

Contrast Paint stage complete.

After some touch-ups (because I can get a bit sloppy with Contrast Paints) it was time for the traditional acrylics. 

I used Cadian Fleshtone in a very conservative layer onto of the Fyreslayer Flesh. An even more conservative highlight of Kislev Flesh was added on top of that. Firedragon Bright was carefully added as a highlight on the hair. 

Close-up at this step.

After those touches were added, I finished up the weapons using Leadbelcher and Stormhost Silver.

. I then, as best I could, added straight white stripes onto their pants.  This turned out as well as I had hoped considering how small the surface area was that I had to work with, and how wrinkled the fabric of their pants happens to be. 

I used a blue .05 Micron to draw some simple tattoos onto these guys. Most of them have them on their arms in form of lines, faux-celtic knots, or wavy lines. One guy has a heart with "Mom" above it. And another one has "LIV" and "DIE" on either hand. The guy below has a spiral on his back. 

Spiral tat.

Simple designs they are, but it does give each guy an additional sprinkle of character. So in my "head canon" (since I have been fruitless in determining what the actual canon is) I'm feeling that the more accomplished the Slayer, the more tats he'll have. So my Daemonslayers will likely look like crazy half-smurfs by the time I get to them. The Trollslayers are next, and I will advance their tattoos up to thicker patterns close to the examples I found in the tutorial from the 2004-05 Edition Games Workshop US Catalog. 

Chaos, Confussion and Calamity (Battle Report)

 

We all got together at the local gaming location to a ga.me of the Old World. "We" being myself, The Bob and Rob. (The host of long lost Murl' Workshop blog from aeons ago).  Rob had just finished updating his goblin horde to 25mm bases and was eager to finally play the game. He wanted to have 2000 points of Goblins vs. 1000 points each of a combined force of whatever Bob and I decided. We went back and forth before finally deciding on Chaos. 

I have been tinkering away on Tzeentch Daemons since the Holidays and finally had enough  basecoated to make this happen. I figured this would be a good shake-down game to try them out.

===
Tzeentch Horror Show [999 pts]
Warhammer: The Old World, Daemons of Chaos, Renegade, Open War
===
++ Characters [295 pts] ++

Daemonic Herald of Tzeentch (Moon Head)[205 pts] 
- Hand weapon
- Flames of Tzeentch
- Level 3 Wizard
- General
- Disc of Tzeentch
- Daemonic Robes
- Daemonology (Rolled up spells: Daemonic Vigor, The Summoning and Daemonic Familiar)

Daemonic Herald of Tzeentch (Bird Head) [90 pts] 
- Hand weapon
- Flames of Tzeentch
- Wizard [Level 1 Wizard]
- On foot
- Daemonology (Daemonic Vigor)

++ Core Units [445 pts] ++

10 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch [183 pts] 
- Hand weapon
- Flames of Tzeentch
- Iridescent Horror (champion)
- Standard bearer [Banner of Change]
- Musician

- Scintillating Sorcery generated spell: Miasmic Mirage

10 Blue Horrors of Tzeentch [90 pts] 
- Hand weapons
- Flames of Tzeentch

10 Blue Horrors of Tzeentch [96 pts] 
- Hand weapons
- Flames of Tzeentch
- Ectoplasmic Horror (champion)

2 Brimstone Horrors of Tzeentch [76 pts] 
- Hand weapons

++ Special Units [259 pts] ++

3 Screamers of Tzeentch [132 pts] 
- Lamprey's bite

3 Flamers of Tzeentch [127 pts] 
- Hand weapons
- Warpflame
- Pyroclaster (champion)
---
Created with "Old World Builder"
[https://old-world-builder.com]

 Bob has also been slapping paint onto his chaos force (the No Longer Gray Revears) and he was keen to let them out for some bloodletting. 

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Warriors of Chaos [991 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, Warriors of Chaos, Open War

===

++ Characters [267 pts] ++

Chaos Lord (The Silver Jarl. Although he's no longer silver) [267 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Full plate armour

- Shield

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Chaos Undivided]

- General

- On foot

- Crown of Everlasting Conquest

- Giant Blade

++ Core Units [403 pts] ++

10 Chaos Warriors [158 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Shields

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Chaos Undivided]

- Champion

- Standard bearer

- Musician

10 Chaos Warriors [158 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Shields

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Chaos Undivided]

- Champion

- Standard bearer

- Musician

10 Chaos Marauders [87 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Light armour

- Shields

- Chaotic Cult [None]

- Formation [Close Order]

- Marauder Headman (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

++ Special Units [321 pts] ++

5 Chosen Chaos Knights [211 pts] 

- Lances

- Shields

- Heavy armour

- Barding

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Chaos Undivided]

- Champion

- Standard bearer

- Musician

Chaos Chariot [110 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Halberds

- Mark of Chaos Undivided

---

Created with "Old World Builder"

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

Chaos Warriors Deployment 

Darmons of Tzeentxh deployment.

===

Orc & Goblin Tribes [1988 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, Orc & Goblin Tribes, Open War

===

++ Characters [736 pts] ++

Night Goblin Warboss [151 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Additional hand weapon

- Light armour

- General

- On foot

- Duellist's Blades

- Potion of Strength

- Fungus Wine

Night Goblin Bigboss [105 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Battle Standard Bearer [The Big Red Raggedy Flag]

- On foot

Night Goblin Oddnob [230 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Wizard [Level 4 Wizard]

- On foot

- Idol of Mork

- 2x Dispel Scroll

- Waaagh! Magic

Night Goblin Oddgit [125 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Wizard [Level 2 Wizard]

- On foot

- Power Scroll

- Dispel Scroll

- Waaagh! Magic

Night Goblin Oddgit [125 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Wizard [Level 2 Wizard]

- On foot

- Dispel Scroll

- Power Scroll

- Waaagh! Magic

++ Core Units [1252 pts] ++

28 Night Goblin Mob [224 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Thrusting spears

- Shields

- Netters

- Boss (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

- 3x Fanatics [Fanatic ball & chain]

29 Night Goblin Mob [228 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Thrusting spears

- Shields

- Netters

- Boss (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

- 3x Fanatics [Fanatic ball & chain]

29 Night Goblin Mob [228 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Thrusting spears

- Shields

- Netters

- Boss (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

- 3x Fanatics [Fanatic ball & chain]

23 Night Goblin Mob [204 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Shortbows

- Netters

- Boss (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

- 3x Fanatics [Fanatic ball & chain]

13 Night Goblin Squig Herd [166 pts] 

- 12x Squig Herder

10 Goblin Spider Rider Mob [202 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Shields

- Cavalry spears

- Shortbows

- Light armour

- Boss (champion)

- Standard bearer [Da Spider Banner]

- Musician

---

Created with "Old World Builder"

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

Gobo deployment.

So this was a bigger game than we usually play and with all the craziness happening I just failed to take good notes. As a result this report is actually more of a summary. A "highlight reel" in a sense. 

Turn 1

The forces of Chaos surge forward, Moon Head was able to put Daemonic Vigor onto the Chaos Knights which would help them soon. 

Chaos surging forwards

One of the Night Goblin spellcasters was able to smash the Chaos Knights with a Foot of Gork spell. This was followed by three Goblin Fanatics spinning their way. After all of that, only two knights were left alive but they did not panic. 

Left flank movements. 

Turn 2

The Screamers declared a charge and one of them was wounded on the way in. Much to my disappointment they failed to deal the damage I thought they would and were wiped out by the Spider Riders!

Well, it felt like a good idea...

The Squig Hoppers and the Chaos Warriors had a major fight in the woods, with the Warriors coming out of the woods victorious. 

Hoppers vs. Warriors. 

Turn 3

The Chaos Knights and  the Chaos Chariot are charged by a massive brick of Goblins. 

Engaged!

It didn't go as planned for the Goblins who lost and Fell Back In Good Order only to be caught by their pursuers, thus becoming engaged once again. 

Re-engaged!

 The Blue Horrors get charged by the Squigherders and five of them are burnt up with Stand and Shoot. The Blue Horrors win the combat which causes the whole herd to basically explode doing some damage to all the units within 9"! Although this "explosion" didn't wipe out any other units it did put some hurt on most of them.  

BTW, who needs cards when we have tons of free Post-its?

As expected, the now "counting as charging" Knights and Chariot wiped out the large Goblin unit that they were engaged with and now set their sights on the large unit that the Goblin leader was skulking in. 

Turning their attention to their next victims.

Turn 4

Out came the Fanatics. Most of whom tore into smaller unit of Chaos Warriors on foot, completely destroying the whole unit! 

The Brimstone Horrors charge the Spider Riders, taking a wound on the way in from Stand & Shoot. I had hoped to just tie up the Spider Riders, but to my complete surprise they broke them and ran them down! 

Brimstone Horrors proving their worth.

The next two pics tell a visual narrative of what happens when a pair of Fanatics pass through a unit of Blue Horrors:

Before the saves...

After the Saves.

Turn 5

With a lot units still in the game and getting entangled in melee, the most notable thing that happened was that a block of Goblins charged in and finished off the Blue horrors, who had been ripped apart earlier by the Fanatics. As you can see from the pic below, the Blue Horrors made their saves, it was the Combat Resolution and the resulting Daemonic Instability that kicked them back into the Realm of Chaos.

"Make four 5+ Ward Saves!"  :Ha! made them!" "Ok, let's add up the CR..." 

it was getting late and we decided to call it here. It was a grueling fight, but once the numbers were crunched, this is how it turned out: 

Chaos:  767

Night goblins: 403

Not a bad show for Rob's first game of TOW and with another round or two he could have easily closed the gape. To quote Rob when it was all over: "I can play more games of this!" 

And we will!

Miner's Report! (Part 2)

I keep doing this: I set up a new 'series' or 'thread' as a Part 1 post only to  have Part 2 never materialize or show up extremely late. This is one of the later examples but this one isn't nearly as late as some other examples we could find on this blog. But, hey, at least I get back around to these things eventually. And that's what we have here today, an update on my Dwarf Miners. 

Command section.

Back in Part 1 I had made the statement that I was probably going to paint over all of these guys, but I had a change of heart when my young daughter said how much she loved the dwarfs with the pink beards. So I opted to keep the beards as they were: metallic pink. I think they turned out OK, but my daughter thinks they're the best thing ever so, who am I to challenge a 4 year old girl's innocent perspective?

The full line of eight.

With those guys as finished as I felt I was going to get them, I turned my attention to the two metal guys that I was going to use as filler to get the unit up to a ten man dwarf squad. But they look radically different. They project a completely more hardened vibe. And they look better. So, after I finished these two chaps I decided that I am going to track down more of these metal dwarfs to make a whole new unit out of them. Gee, I think the whole "dwarf miners" theme is starting to dominate my dwarf army. 

Two metal guys (cue bad-ass guitar solo).

Ok, I got to ask: does anyone know if someone out there has ever painted any dwarfs (dwarves if non-GW) in Disney's Snow White color scheme? Not that I want to do it, I'm just curious...