EXT: Log Fence

I think the most important thing about making model terrain is the excellent excuse it gives you to eat more lollies.

Vermin Brown planks with brown ink freehand, Scorched Brown mud, black with grey drybrush stones. Lovers of detail will note that the lollies were originally Pear Splits from what used to be Walls. But walls made of planks wouldn't be the same.

This ought to have been the work of about two hours, not including drying time, but it's somehow taken me nearly three weeks. Slight hobby slump, other than actual battles, at the moment - I really don't have much that I fancy painting right now. That's about to change, with some generous donations from General Stylus, but all in good time...

Da Monstaaagh! Mash: Savage Orcs vs Warriors of Chaos

It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Prebattle

My turn to host the SkypeBoot, and that meant only one thing: up into the attic to blow the cobwebs off the Big Board!

The foundation of our 6th Edition battles.

After printing out all the spell cards for Big Waaagh! and Little Waaagh! (why, GW, why wouldn't you just sell them to me?), I became quite industrious with cardboard cut-outs. 

I've long-coveted Gen East's Arc of Visibility, and finding none in the online stores, went ahead and printed my own:

I See You.

As well as some Animosity Counters, to remind me which of my units were squabbling.

My hopes weren't high.

Forces

I knew I'd likely be facing a lot of tough infantry, so went for an army of cunning brutality (rather than brutal cunning).

• The Big 'Uns have never let me down yet, so I went with a whopping 32 of them (I thought a horde formation would be too unwieldy - and most of my attacks come from the front rank anyway - so I went 7-wide, which would allow for manoeuvre, but also maximise attacks against any 5-wide unit)
• An 8-strong unit of Trolls was my other big hitter. I've never used Trolls in these numbers before, but if they could do what they were told, they could be awesomely effective.
• The small unit of Boarboys was just to clear away any chaff units that might upset/redirect my big units.
• The Giant to perform a similar role - hold up a flank, or stop any nasty monsters getting to my main units.
• And finally a chariot, because they usually come in handy for support.
• My general was a Lv 4 Shaman, kitted out with the optimum combination to boost the Big 'Uns and protect himself (if I could cast Fists of Gork as well, he'd be something of a combat monster himself)
• I took a Battle Standard, as I needed the leadership to restrain Frenzy and keep the Trolls from going stupid.
• I also added another Big Boss to the unit, partly to have someone to accept challenges (and keep my General and BSB safe) - I also had it in mind that he could leave the unit and lead the Trolls, if needed (like if my General suddenly expired).

For spells, I rolled Brain Bursta, 'Eadbutt, Fists of Gork (yay!) and 'Ere We Go. A decent enough mix, although it's been a while since I went to battle without Foot of Gork (must be getting its verrucas seen to).

Da 'Eavy Mob

Go big, or go home.
And I was already playing at home.

Skullfink da Arkane, Savage Orc Shaman Lord – Lvl 4, Lucky Shrinken Head. Fencer's Blades Obsidian Trinket

Noggchoppa, Savage Orc Big Boss BSB - Great Weapon, Standard of Discipline

Rokhamma, Savage Orc Big Boss - Additional hand weapon. Potion of Speed
32 x Savage Orc Big 'Uns - Additional hand weapon, Big Stabba, Full Command
5 x Savage Orc Boar Boyz - Spears, Shields. Musician
1 x Boar Chariot

8 x Common Trolls

1 x Giant

1600

My opponent was to be Kraken, who will be representing himself in bold type.

Shadows 'n' Marauders

Finally, an army I could take my heavy infantry blocks against without a grim feeling of futility! Merely cautious anxiety instead. Orcs and Goblins can hit just as hard as Warriors in close combat, and are an unpredictable foe at the best of times. 

• Savage Orcs would mean a massive pack of naked savages. What better to meet them than an even more massive pack of naked savages? Fifty vanilla marauders, please. 
• Two units of WoCs, for versatility and general menace
• Another crack with the SlaanOgres, as flank guards
• Nothing says 'I'm going to kill the giant I suspect will make an appearance' like a Daemon Prince of Khorne. With wings, for flanking. 
• Lore of Shadows has good spells for nerfing tough, strong foes. Or outright killing them with initiative tests. A level 2 sorceror for that. 
• Battle standard bearer and banner of discipline would be needed - with the general flying around bellowing and killing, I'd need the leadership bonuses to hold a line.
• Spawn! Because they're rubbish but entertaining, and I reckoned they might work to disrupt or hold off flankers for a bit. I had a susicion those painted river trolls I'd seen might be coming out, so some fiery Tzeentch spawn to burn them and a nippy Slaanesh spawn to tickle them. 

All those marks of Slaanesh and naked marauders made me decide this is clearly a fairly S&M army, hence its title. Makes me uncomfortable, though. Good old fashioned Tzeentchians next time round for me. 

I got the full Edgar Allen of spells - both Pit of Shades and Penumbral Pendulum. Getting both off in one turn would probably be unlikely, though, so I swapped the Pendulum for Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma - good synergy between the two. By firing a cheaper miasma off I could potentially burn dispel dice for a knockout punch.

Matt Daemon, Daemon Prince - Chaos armour, Daemon of Khorne, Daemonic Flight, Soul Feeder
Kelmoth Shadepit, Chaos Sorcerer - Lv 2 Shadow, Dispel Scroll, Enchanted Shield
Jerek Darkoby, Exalted Hero BSB - Standard of Discipline
50 x Chaos Marauders - Full Command
10 x Warriors of Chaos - Shields, Full Command
10 x Warriors of Chaos - Shields, Full Command
4 x Chaos Ogres - Mark of Slaanesh
1 x Chaos Spawn - Spawn of Slaanesh
1 x Chaos Spawn - Spawn of Tzeench

1600

In Glorious Technicolour

In Close Proximity

From the Dettol it rises...

Dettol has long been my stripping agent of choice: cheap, clean and safe, and as long as you obey the rule not to bring in soapy water until the model is fully cleaned (otherwise your toothbrush gunks up), your model will be fully restored.

I live again!

(I guess the *other* rule is that you should use an old toothbrush, not your current one, but I hope that's evident).

But I've never really tested its limits. The majority of my restorations have been metal miniatures with water-based paint (often with no base and no varnish - the whole reason they were getting stripped was because the paintjob was rubbish) - and with metal, you could really throw any substance at it, scrub hard as you like, and still get the paint off without damaging the miniature beneath.

But what about plastic? Some of the early paint strippers I used were so strong they would melt away anything that wasn't metal. Dettol seemed to be okay (having tested it on a few slottabases), but would it remove a stubborn paint job, and still leave the model beneath intact?

Trying out the new rules

Reinbowarrior had recently purchased the new shiny 7th edition rule books for 40k. Whilst I have to admit that the production is nice, and the split into three books works well for what actually is needed (and probably better on the spines) I will wait for the a5 book of only rules to become available. Whilst a book of fluff and a book of pictures are nice: they are not worth the extra expense. Plus I really don't 40k with many people and they probably have books already.

So what's changed... well it's hard to tell. I kept getting confused by fantasy rules, so if there was a change from 6th to 7th I may have missed it. One that was hard to miss was the psychic phase.

I was umming and arring between playing tau and daemons (they are my two 40k choices), and I had played nurgle quite a bit, so I knew it would not be them. Reinbow then requested that I took daemons to make sure we could play test the psychic rules, so tau were out. He took 'nids, so that he could do the same. I had tried a Tzeentch list previously once in 40k and played so badly and was utterly annihilated, I thought I would give it another go... I didn't realise how good it could have been.

EXT: Frosty Bogs

Dirt cheap, these. Or cheap dirt, one of the two.

As part of my continued thrift drive, I'm trying to find things I can make and do that cost no money at all. Or at least very little - a fresh bottle of PVA from a local modelling store was the only thing I bought for this project.

They're based on card taken from some household litter coated with PVA and sand (the Dreadstone Blight is on a pizza box). Once the PVA is dry, I washed in very watery Scorched Brown paint for the lighter bits, same as the rest of my bases, and Vermin Brown for the darker areas. Scorched Grass and Middenland Tufts for the greenery.

Doomfired: Chaos Warriors vs Dark Elves

It's All Skype Fight Night!

I'm not sure what I was thinking, challenging the Dark Elves. Coming hot on the heels of a sound tabling to their woody cousins last week, picking a fight with another potentially very shooty army was probably just asking for it.

With that in mind, I set about picking some solid infantry and some faster flankers. One with the inevitable Doomfire Warlocks in mind.


Courageous Chaos Warriors

Chaos Sorceror Lord lvl 3 - Lore of Shadow, enchanted shield, talisman of endurance, dispel scroll
Exalted Hero BSB - Standard of Discipline
Sorceror of Tzeentch lvl 1 - Mark and Lore of Tzeentch, mounted on Warshrine
15 Chaos Warriors - shields and full command
30 Chaos Marauders - shields, light armour, full command
6 Chaos Ogres - Mark of Slaanesh, full command
Gorebeast Chariot - Mark of Tzeentch

Yeah, we've crossed the line. Bring it. 

Is it terribly cheesy to tool up your ogre unit as Doomfire hunters? Maybe. Although I doubt it's a common tactic, and at least I have them painted up authentically. And let's be honest, they're unlikely to ever reach the target, but it's nice to have the threat on the table.

Shadow Lore principally to try and get some movement restriction (Miasma) on the table. I toyed with some shooty Lore of Fire and hoping to get the flame cage spell, but I'd rather have something reliable. I also got the Pit of Shades and Enfeebling Foe for the boss, who was also porting enough armour to be a reasonable prospect in a fight as well.

His backup sorceror, an attempt to give the warshrine some ranged firepower, rolled the terrifying Infernal Gateway spell, just about the best result he could get. I'm not keen on the Lore of Tzeentch, although it certainly promises to be entertaining. Rules-wise, I think Nurgle has all the best cards, which seems backwards to me, but hey ho.

Now let's see what I'm up against.


Dastardly Dark Elves


Supreme Sorceress lvl 4 - dark steed, talisman of endurance, dispel scroll
Master - Great weapon, heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, cloak of twilight, dark pegasus
Master BSB - Dawnstone, steed, halberd, heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, shield
9 Dark Riders - repeater crossbows, shields, command
5 Dark Riders - repeater crossbows, shields, musician
10 Darkshards - repeater crossbows, shields, Banner of Eternal Flame
8 Doomfire Warlocks - Because why wouldn't you
3 Reaper Bolt Throwers - Yes three
5 Harpies

Fielding a lot of cavalry and warmachines really plays to the traditional weaknesses of my proxy collection. The Reapers were played by a trio of Naggarond monsters - the spitting hydra, the spike-flinging black scorpion and the giant phlegm-coughing tentacled worm beast thing. Sticklers for tradition, those Dark Elves. 

Yes, here we go again. Shooty mobility all over the shop, with some really nasty firepower in the form of bolt throwers and an assassiny Master on a dark pegasus. At least I got the Doomfire Warlocks right, I was half dreading an unexpected block of Witch Elves or similar. Come back, Wood Elves, all is forgiven.

Nobody Expects

I mentioned these in passing the other day (you know, when we won an award, did we mention that?) and here they are.

Acolyte Raviel Hoth and assorted servoskulls

These date back to the golden age of yore, when General Leofa and I shared a house and played Advanced Heroquest to pass the long summer evenings. They were promoting the newly released Grey Knights/Inquisition army list back then, with spanking models to match, and I went out and impulse bought as many as I could. Which back then, because I was still a working doctor, was most of them.

Techpriest Graiph, the Daemonhost Sahaedra, Thorian Inquisitor Brend Morowicz and a passing Callidus Assassin

EXT: Ruined Tower

I loathe painting scenery. It's my thrifty Scottish blood - 8 square inches of plastic woodwork seems to absorb two thirds of a pot of paint. Before I know it, there's no brown left and all my spears get orange handles shaded with black ink.

However, needs must when the devil drives and your stock of models is low. If I'm going to be remote hosting battles on my kitchen floor (Mrs K is delighted that I've taken a renewed interest in mopping it), I need something more than British Survey Map standard icons drawn on paper.

This might do.

You probably spotted this Dreadstone Blight in the last battle report. It's been lurking in the back of my cupboards for some time, half-assembled and undercoated. I undercoated it Astronomicon Grey, which is exactly the same colour as GW sprues. If ever paint felt wasted going on, that was it.