Reigniting Old Grudges (Battle Report)

 

"Come and get it!"

Once again The Bob and I convened to conduct a battle in The Old World. This time he chose to play High Elves and I decided to finally introduce my Dwarfs to a battlefield. A classic grudge fight indeed. Bob and I like to set up battlefields that look like battlefields but at the same time seem to also be fair with the cover and higher terrain. Of course with Fantasy we have to also keep it sparse and open so that there is room to fight. 

The battlefield.

Ok, let's check out these lists: 

110 - Mage, Wizard Level 2, High Magic (Spells randomly generated at set-up: Firey Convocation and Shield of Saphory. 

128 - Noble, Full Plate Armour, Shield, Pure of Heart, General, Sword of Might, Talisman Of Protection

197 - 15 Lothern Sea Guard, Shield, Sea Master, Standard Bearer, Musician

138 - 5 Silver Helms, Shield, High Helm, Standard Bearer, Musician

181 - 10 Phoenix Guard, Keeper of the Flame, Standard Bearer, Musician

158 - 10 White Lions of Chrace, Valour of Ages, Guardian, Standard Bearer, Musician

80 - Eagle-Claw Bolt Thrower

The High Elves nuster.

===

Helga's Entourage  [999 pts]

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

===

++ Characters [314 pts] ++

Queen Helga [247 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Full plate armour

- Shield

- General

- On foot

- Master Rune of Adamant

- Rune of Speed

- Rune of Shielding

Special Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Dwarf Crafted, Gromril Armour, Gromril Weapons, Hatred (Orcs & Goblins), Magic Resistance (-1), Rallying Cry, Resolute, Stubborn

Thane [67 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Full plate armour

- Shield

- On foot

- Enchanted Rune

Special Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Dwarf Crafted, Gromril Armour, Gromril Weapons, Hatred (Orcs & Goblins), Magic Resistance (-1), Rallying Cry, Resolute, Stubborn

++ Core Units [362 pts] ++

10 Thunderers [110 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Handguns

- Heavy armour

- Veteran (champion) [Handgun]

- Standard bearer

Special Rules: Close Order, Dwarf Crafted, Hatred (Orcs & Goblins), Magic Resistance (-1), Resolute

10 Dwarf Warriors [105 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Shields

- Veteran

- Standard bearer

- Musician

Special Rules: Close Order, Hatred (Orcs & Goblins), Magic Resistance (-1), Resolute, Shieldwall

12 Dwarf Warriors [147 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Great weapons

- Shields

- Veteran

- Veteran (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

Special Rules: Close Order, Hatred (Orcs & Goblins), Magic Resistance (-1), Resolute, Shieldwall

++ Special Units [105 pts] ++

Cannon [105 pts] 

- Cannon

- Hand weapons

- Light armour

- Rune of Reloading

Special Rules: Hatred (Orcs & Goblins), Magic Resistance (-1), Skirmishers, Stubborn

++ Rare Units [218 pts] ++

10 Irondrakes [218 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Drakeguns

- Full plate armour

- Drilled

- Ironwarden (champion) [Trollhammer torpedo]

- Standard bearer [Rune of Battle]

- Musician

Special Rules: Close Order, Detachment, Gromril Armour, Hatred (Orcs & Goblins), Magic Resistance (-1), Resolute, Runes of Warding, Stubborn

---

Created with "Old World Builder"

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

The Dwarfs muster and review their books of grudges.

We are playing Pitch Battle, and after the roll-off I deployed first, and we took it in turn with placing our units, I finished first which gave me a +1 one on the "who goes first" roll-off. I ended up going first. 

High Elf Deployment. 

Dwarf Deployment. 

TURN ONE. 

The Dwarfs were too far out to hit anything and the cannon missed. 

The High Elves moved up, and repositioned their units while peppering the Thunderers with arrows from the Seaguard and the Bolt Thrower. A few of the Thunderers fell to this cowardly assault, and they shouted defiant curses at the treacherous elves.  

The dwarfs take casualties from shooting.

TURN TWO

Stymied by the High Elf maneuvers the Dwarfs struggled to get into position for either a charge or for shooting. The cannon missed again sadly, but at least now I was getting used to how to use the thing. None of their other shooting managed to eliminate any Elves as the crafty bastards kept making their saves!

The High Elves brought the fight to the dwarfs with the Silver Helms crashing into the Thunderers. Much to my surprise the Thunderers were not killed outright nor did they break. Again, we marveled at how the mounts out-performed their riders. 

The Silver Helms charge! 

TURN THREE

The Dwarfs start out Turn 3 with a pile of dead and no defeated High Elves to show for their efforts. This was about to change. Finally, the cannon hits the Sea Guard killing three of them. The Queen and the Warriors with the two-handed weapons charge the White Lions, Queen Helga issues a challenge to the High Elf Army General, and she manages to fell the High Elf leader in single combat. Despite this awesome event, the unit over-all was out-fought by the White Lions who won his combat. Thanks to Queen Helga's Leadership they did not break. 

Killer Queen.

Not at all stymied by the Dwarfen turn of luck, the High Elves pressed their advantage and continued with their assault. The Phoenix Guard charged into the Thane who was joined with the Warriors with Hand Weapons and Shields. The Thane Challenged the Phoenix Guard Champion to a fight but he wimped out and hid behind the cloaks of his men. Perhaps they were demoralized by that cowardly act, but the Phoenix Guard lost that combat but they did not break. Ok, in reality the 1.5 FAQ that helps out infantry, particularly those fighting with sword and shield, was really the decider here. 

The Phoenix Guard fall (worry not,, they'll rise from the ashes).

Despite that win for the dwarfs, the rest of the turn all bad news for them. The Silver Helms finally finish off the Thunderers, and the Warrios with th e double-handed weapons were wiped out. Queen Helga, now on here own, failed her break test and was ran down by the White Lions. That event alone has earned the High Elves a page in the Book of Grudges. 

TURN FOUR

Oh, not a happy sight for the Dwarfs is it? Clearly the field is being controlled by the High Elves at this point. I tried in vain to get the Iron Drakes into a position which would allow them to be in this game somehow. The Ironwarden did kill a Seaguard with a Troll Hammer Torpedo, but the rest of his lads were out of range. In an act of desperation, the cannon crew fired grapeshot into the approaching White Lions and they actually managed to kill one of them. Pressured by his men, the Phoenix Guard Champion accepted the challenge from the Thane and, as he feared, was slain. 

Not looking good foe the dwarfs.

The White Lions charge the Cannon, and amazingly, one of the crew takes one of the Lions out. It was all in vain though as the White Lions utterly destroyed the cannon and the crew in return. 

Battle foe the battery.

And the Thane with his unit of Warrior wipe out the Phoenix Guard. 

TURN Five

When the Thane looked about he saw that this battle was a disaster. Both of the armies had lost their leaders but the High Elves had many more units still capable and strong. Both armies fired at each other but the few casualties inflicted failed to make a difference. 

Fire fight!

With the dead leader bonuses added, the banners collected, and the dead tallied up, it was a strong victory for the High Elves 764 points to my....well, damn, I didn't record the score for the Dwarfs but it was no where near the High Elf score. 

So what went wrong with the Dwarfs? Mostly my inexperience with them. That 3 Movement is a serious factor against them and I think you have to really pick a point on the battlefield as you start deploying that you are going to defend to the death and just take it. They are not good at maneuvering and none of them have an Open Order formation to assist them. The Irondrakes felt this the most as they were put down to counter the High Elf Calvary who, wisely, were not about to just charge into those waiting guns, As a result they spent much of the game just trying to get into a position where they could participate in the battle. My in experience with the cannon was also on display here but at least I didn't blow it up! The Queen was a rock star, and if it weren't for my failing that break test I think she would have cut down more of the White Lions. My MVP was clearly the Warrior with the hand weapons and shield, they were just stellar. As much as I want to change a few elements of this list, I do think half the battle was lost for me at deployment, so I want to give this list a second shake before I revamp it. 

As for the High Elves, Bob played them very well, and I don't think there is anything he did I would do differently. It's a dice game after all, and they have a way of confounding the most perfect of plans, but this time the High Elves overcame the odds and pulled out a solid win.  But it is worth noting that for the second game in a row, we both saw the Bolt Thrower perform better than the internet says it should. Perhaps they're not using it right? Regardless, the temptation to get one for my dwarfs is indeed very strong. 

All-in-all it was a fun game! We hope you enjoyed this report, and we hope to get another one played soon. 

"There's another one, fire!!!"

Blackorctober (Part 4)

 Trick or treat? Definitely a treat as I got this unit finished on the last day of the month. I will briefly go over some of the final steps. 

All finished and just in time.

Alright, so last week I got the unit champion finished, and now to get the rest of these brutes to that point.  Most of the steps I used on that champion are the steps I used here but with a few exceptions. 

Cleaned up base coats with Agrax Earthshade added to armor recesses.

I imagined that the Champion would have gear that was in better shape than his crew, so their stuff is bit more gnarly and oxidized. 

Mid-coats

This was mostly done using Cryptek Armourshade Gloss on most the exposed metals and on the weapons. Their stuff isn't as rusty as the gear that my regular orcs utilize, but it's not exactly "off the shelf" either. 

Highlights. 

I swear I spent more time touching up and seeking out missed details on these guys that I did the main paint job (admittedly, I could've been a bit less sloppy, but, hey, they're orcs!). These old metal miniatures are surprisingly detailed. But, I appreciate them even more now because of it. 

After the tufts were stuck onto their bases, I pretty much decided that they were done. The last thing that needs to happen is that I need to seal them with a varnish. These guys are metal and a bit heavy and I suspected they'll chip easily if I don't take that precaution. It's not lost on me that I painted on so many chips to their armor that real chips and dings might not be so obvious at first. 

But that's a wrap, and another Orctober is about to be behind us. But these guys are hopefully just getting started as I am eager to get them onto a table and into a battle as soon as possible. 

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 5)

 Alright, this guy is now done! He is glued together and his iconography is completed. The only thing I haven't done is a sealer to protect the model from chipping, but the weather is too icky right now to attempt it. 

Done and ready to kill.

He might seem a tad bit plain, but I didn't want to go crazy with decals and icons, so I went with a "less is more" mindset, and just stuck a skull in a triangle on his leg. I suppose it's a campaign badge? 

Check out that sexy badge. 

I was unable to locate the Lion decals I bought ages ago, so I just went with a  crude hand drawn badge. This matches the rest of my Celestial Lions force who have similar iconography. My head-canon for this is that these are hand painted by the individual Trooper, and artists they are not. 

Honor thy chapter.

And that's it, another Dreadtober is wrapped up and done.  I am already thinking about next year,  and I have a lot of options to mull over. But as a final parting shot, here is Shiney compared to my pledge from last year, who is double the size of this relic from the '90s. 

"Stand back squirt, I've got this!"

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 4)

 

Mostly done.

And now we enter the final stretch. I have made considerable progress since Part 3 was posted, to the point that all I have left to do is the iconography. I didn't take WIP shots as most of the progress was pretty much clean-up and detailing. I did add blue to the sarcophagus help punch out the details better (thanks to comments on Part 3 for the suggestions). 

Human Flesh Wash on metal. Feels wrong huh?

The most important thing I should note is the use of Flesh Wash (the old '90s version) which used as a way to apply so low-lights to gold armor. This turned out  enter than I had hoped and really made me a lot happier with how this has turned out. Although the gleaming nature of all this metallic paint has .ade capturing that effect in a photo a bit challenging. 

Some of the details of this thing are practically subtle compared to the modern Dreadnoughts and vehicles, so I had to reference a photo from way back in the day when this miniature was first released to get a sense of what the heck I was looking at. The colored lights on the lower part of the sarcophagus was the most obvious thing I adapted. As far as all the details on the tubes and wire, I just don't hate myself enough to copy that! 

Our spiritual successor.

And of course, no banner on mine! 

Blackorctober (Part 3)

 Moving on from where I left things in Part 2, you can see that I have finally achieved total surface coverage with my painting on these guys. All the armor, weapons and flesh was covered, tether liberally, with Black Templar Contrast paint. 

Red ones go faster yes?

I had to go back and paint Corax White on the red areas that accidentally got black paint on them   before repainting Baal Red back onto the armor. I was really sloppy with the Black Templar paint so this was a bit of a process, but the models already look better for it.  A few of these models have skulls, and Skeleton Horde was painted on them. The model with the most skulls is the standard bearer who has a whole collection of them dangling from his banner. Speaking of which, the banner has a classic evil sun totem which I used Blood Angel Red Contrast Paint on. 

Banner guy.

From here on out, I decided to focus on the leader of the pack, who is an older miniature from the '90s and was sculpted by a different sculpter than the other guys. I think these differences help him stand out from the others and I think I like that a lot. If you got this model when it first came all, he was leading a rabble of black orcs who were all in the same pose, making it a little more challenging to pick him out of the mob. 

Black Templar coat.

On top of the Black Templar Contrast Paint I added a layer of Caliban Green. 

Caliban Green layer.

Next I added Snot Green. The last time I painted a black orc I used Bilious Green at this step but I found it to be too intense, and I really had to work at bringing it back down to a darker tone. Snot Green, although intense, is a darker color so I hope this will be easier to work with. 

Snot Green.

You got to admit, he just screams "90s red era at this point doesn't he? I really like the way the red just pops visually, so I reinforced that with an edge highlight of Evil Suns Scarlet. 

Nuln oil wash.

A wash of Nuln Oil took the edge off of the flesh, and I think I am good with this at this point. I was impressed with the way the Black Templar low/highlighted the axes, so in an effort to preserve that effect I used my trusty old Aleenes Gleams Pewter to basically trace over the natural highlights caused by the Black Templar paint. I think this met my expectation rather nicely. The metal of the chain mail was painted also using Pewter but with a coat of Nuln Oil Gloss applied over that. 

And we are at the finale now:  the most important part here, subtle though it is, was adding Agrax Earthshade to the recesses of the red armor. This gave it a bit of depth and grit that the armor seems to be lacking otherwise. 

Finished.

I used some thinned Hobgrot Flesh on his knuckles and prominent facial features  for a final highlight of the flesh. I think I like how that turned out. Next I added a few vertical lines of Hobgrot Flesh to his big bottom lip. Then I applied two coats of Carroburg Crimson on that lip. And I think that's turned out alright. 

3/4 shot.

I edge highlighted the two axes with Stormhost Silver. This really gave these weapons a gleaming vibe I like. Normally I try to make my orc (and ork) weapons a bit more browned, rusty and used looking, but these guys are coming straight oughta Zufbar and I imagine that their diminutive hosts hook them with some finer kit than their Badlands brethren. Never-the-less I wanted to rough up their armor a bit, so Stormhost Silver was used (randomly) on the armor edges 

Backside details.

And that's prety much it really. Next week I  will be applying these same techniques to the remaining Black Orc mob. 

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 3)

 This week I have made a bit more progress from were we left things last week. 

I used Leadbelcher over all the components that are painted black. Then I used classic Shining Gold as an edge highlight. 

After that, I paint the left should blue. This is where the chapter icons will go.  I used Stormhost Silver to highlight all the rivets and bolts. I so used is as a subtle edge highlight. 

I used Stormhost Silver to highlight the skulls and a acquilla icons that are scattered across the model. 

I am not too sure I like that result, so I might try some ideas to see if I can't visually punch some of those icons out. 

Blackorctober (Part 2)

 Continuing on from Part One, I was finally able to get some paint onto these guys. 

By "some" I mean just Baal Red Contrast Paint all over their armor. And brown paint and washes on the base. I really stlopped on that red and I have spent a good bit of time just touching up some of the areas where I was a bit too sloppy. 

The Baal Red is a very intense color. To the point that these guys remind me of a Blood Bowl team. It doesn't hurt that the Black Orc  Blockers from the 3rd edition of Blood Bowl were clearly patterned off of the Black Orcs from that time, right down to the pose!

My favorite miniature of this unit is easily the standard bearer. It's such an imposing banner and so well sculpted. It's got a good weight to it also, which is something you rarely get in a modern miniature. I am looking forward to making more progress on this guy and the rest of his red armored companions. 

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 2)

 Welcome to the second part of this year's Dreadtober challenge. In Part 1 I spelled out the plan, and now I'm plowing ahead with it.  To start, I shook up a can of Krylon 18kt Gold Plate spray paint and took it and this hunk of metal outside and blasted away. Afterwards I used classic Chestnut ink (I am so glad I still have some of this!) and used it to darken all the joints and recesses. 

A 41st Millennium solid gold dancer. 

And then I used Abaddon Black to basecoat the areas that are going to end up a silvery metal as opposed to gold. 

Black basecoats. 

That's all the progress I made on the miniature itself, but I did almost finish his base. Just a few minor things to finish on it (the skull and bullet casings specifically) and it's done. 

The base. 

We'll see how much further I get with this next week, but so far this is rolling along well. 

Black Orctober (Part 1)

 Orctober* is here! 

Metal Black Orcs.

I don't usually get a chance to do both Orctober and Dreadtober (although I have combined them in the past), but this year I am going to go for it. I recently found some classic metal Black Orcks from the turn of this century, plus one guy, the leader, who is from the mid '90s. 

Mid-'90s Big Boss.

The set I had included a single plastic guy converted to be a rear rank stand-in.  That model just wasn't going to work for me however, so I tracked down this muscian guy to add to the unit, since this collection was lacking one. He currently stands out due to the shiney and clean appearance versus the guys who have been stripped of their previous paint coatings. 

The command group.

Here are some of the rank and file guys. They're oddly posed but that's more of a production choice I think than anything else. Regardless, I really like these models and have always wanted them, so I am glad to have finally achieved that goal. 

They rank up so much better on 30mm bases. 

Ok, so yes, these are rescues. They spent about a month soaking in diluted Superclean to get their previous painting efforts removed. Speaking of which here are some examples of what they looked like prior to being stripped. 

At least he had a great dental plan.

Metallic Green skin. 

Yell loudly and beat 'em with a big stick. 

Ok, so that's my stated goal for my fantasy regiment in Orctober. 

'ere, we, go!!!

* or Orktober,  as those who are  going to set a 40k hobby goal this month.