WHFB report: Clash of the vanguards

Hi everyone! First battle since the lockdown has lifted, three months without any game … rude! I played this game with my brother and we used the set of rules from the 4^th/5^th edition of WHFB. Both army count 2500pts and we apply several limitations about the total value of magic items per characters to avoid…. You know, Herohammer.

This battle is supposed simulate a Dark Elf invasion of land ruled by several Necromancers. Only the vanguards are involved in this first encounter. The result of this clash will give the initiative to the winner side for the next large battle scheduled for the late summer with a group of funboyz (GW Old-school-friendly).

Dark Elf army :

From left to right. Upper line : Bolt thrower, Cauldron of Blood, War Hydra, crossbowmen, Sorcerer on Pegasus and a second Bolt Thrower.

Lower line : Dark Riders, Witch elves, Corsairs with an Hero and The ColdOne Knights with an Hero. The General is inside this last unit.

Undead army :

From left to right. Upper line : Carrions, Death Riders, Skull Chukka and a Chariot

Lower line : A second Chariot, Zombies with an Hero and a Necromancer Lv3. Skeletons with the undead General a Necromancer Lvl4. Wraiths and Mummies.

Initial deployment:

We played a scenario named “Surprise”, this is a “ranged battle” with a slight variation during the deployment. The first side that finish the set up his troops can move one unit (up to 4ps) for every units set up by the opposite side. It mean that if you have too many troops your opponent can move his troop meanwhile the end of you deployment. Here the Death riders moved up to 8ps.

Overview of the inital deployment

First part of the battle : Turns 1 to 3

Shooting Phases : The both throwers were particularly inefficient at the opposite of the Skeleton catapult which hit the Cold-One unit and pulped 2 of them.

Magic phases : The Necromancers demonstrated all their power, boosted by several magic Items. They casted a continual flow of spells like “Summon Skeletons horde” or “Dance Macabre” to reinforce the units on the battlefield and help them to reach the combats. A key point of the battle appeared during the first magic phase when a tremendous “wind of death” crossed the Dark Elf battle line. It carrying a Bolt Thrower and made 5 wounds to the War Hydra.  After what, this spell was absorbed by a Magic Drain from the Dark Elf Sorcerer. This last one, tried to trapped the Undead General into the Aldred’s Casket of Sorcery, luckily she failed a fear test and finaly never reach the Necromancer. Sneaky Dark Elves!

Summon Undead Horde, again and again, etc...

Combat Phases :   The Dark Riders, the Cold One Knights and the DE General were mired during all this first part of the battle by the undead Chariot, the carrions and the Death Riders. Despite the Van Horstmann's Speculum the Undead Hero return to dust by the hand of the DE General, followed by all the other undead involve in this fight.

In the middle of the battlefield supported by several “Dance Macabre” the Mummies and the second Undead Chariot engaged quickly the Witch Elves who suffered of a load of wounds and failed their break test. The Chariot finally caught up them! The wraiths engaged the pack of Corsairs but even if they’re ethereal, they lost the fight by the combat result. They failed their break test and vanished in a fetid ghostlike smocks.

Before the clash of the mounted troops

The Mummies are Smash-up the Witch Elves

Last moment of the Ethereal Abominations! 

Last part of the battle : Turns 4 to 6

Shooting Phases : As the first part of the game the last Bolt Thrower never find the right angle to pay for it self. The Dark Elfes Crossbowmen were too far from the undead lines to made some damages. The Skull Chukka never hit as well as in the first part.

Nice chap! But too far from the opponent battle-lines

Magic Phases : The magic items of the Necromancers progressively disrupted by their over using. Reducing the flow of spell casting : “Summon Skeletons horde” and “Dance Macabre” to keep getting bogged down the Dark Elf Mounted troops. The Undead General casted a “Curse of the years” against the Corsairs… Only the standard bearer survived at the and of the battle.

The Dark Elves Sorcerer was particularly efficient to counter spell and find the power to cast some spells like “Soul Drain” and “Blade Winds”.

Combat Phases : In spite of heavy loss of the Cold One Knights, the DE General and the Dark Riders smashed up the last wave of freshly summoned Skeleton. They never reached the Undead command unit. In the middle of the battlefield the The Corsairs and the War Hydra resisted and finally defeated the Mummies and the Last Undead Chariot. The Mounted Dark Elf Sorcerer engaged the Skull Catapult and shattered to pieces the crew.

The Dark Elf General still keep bogged down!

Nasty Girl !

Black Ark Corsairs suffer from a tremendous "Curse of the Years"

Conclusion:

Dark Elves 11pts – Undead 8pts. Minor victory for the sons of Naggaroth. The Undead Magic phases were fantastic and I casted many Spells to boost my troops but the lack of powerful characters in close combat was patent. I have to integrate a Vampire Count for exemple…

I have to mention the dice were not on the side of the Dark Elf General but he finally kept a cool head and made the right choices at the right moment! Glory to him!

 

Space Hulk : The Nexus campaign

Hi there! During the lockdown, I've been initiated to a new ritual :  The weekly video painting meeting ! Every saturday afternoon with a handful of oldschool lovers!
In my case, I've never painted miniatures while chatting for 2 hours. So, I advise you to choose the kind of models rather easy to paint and by this way you focus easyer on the chat.

These plastic Terminators are greatly indicated to do the trick. Ok, these marines are crappy and we're according that it's going to being challenging to make an acceptable job without an addition of Geenstuff. More details could't make them even uglier. As you could see I added : Blood tears, crux and purity seals.

The result is fairly acceptable and these plastic marines could join the ranks of their lead brothers. This unit is also the last part of the Nexus campaign project. In deed, they were the last remaining unit to paint for playng the campaign without using models already dead during the last mission. I'm feel better now!

Landsknecht Dwarf army : Allied Empire Knights

Hey! Might the last unit of the project. These allied Knights have for function to add a stand alone fast strikepower and/or support the dwarf infantry troops on the battelfield. As the rest of the army, I opted for bright and mixed colors inspired of course by the renaissance era.

Models come from Casting Room and Perry miniatures. I mostly added some putty to create the skirts. I've bought some Gendarmes from the foundry miniatures range but finally I haven't used them because the horses are smallers.

Banners are inspired by the famous serie of pictures from theTriumph of Maximilian (a rather renowned Dwarf Emperor). The double-headed Eagle is the icon of the Holy Dwarvan Empire and the second banner is a personnal creation. The Lady keep a cavalery spear in her left hand and a leather purse full of gold coins in her right hand. She's protected  by a shield marked by the Maximilian Heraldry. To finish the banner remind the War Cry of the unit "Besogne faite, argent apprête". We can translated it by "Job done, get the money ready".

 

Man O' War : Black Ark of Naggaroth

Ahoy! Today I share these pictures of my brand new Dark Elf fleet Mother-ship.

Black Arks are the largest vessels commanded by a Dark Elf Corsair, vast floating fortresses capable of carrying thousands of warriors and slaves. Their sorcerers summon beasts up from the deep which fortifications are then built on. These ‘living ships’ always travel with a Black Ark, and drive fear into the hearts of all the corsairs would prey upon.

In France, some gamers continu to play ManO'War. To promote and help the new comers to build their own fleets, they purpose all the range in resin and including masts and sails in resin too.  If you interrested to play this game and save some bucks, leave me your email in the comment section.

Pertinent MP3 to play! Cheers!

Space Hulk : Space ship avatar

Hi! The function of this miniature is provide a concrete representation of vessel visited by the marines during the campaign. I ordered the model several weeks before the deadline project (BOYL19) but the parcel never arrived on time, in fact, more than one month after the UK event.

I bought this miniature on the Brigades Models web site. Their range of Space Ships is pretty massive and I admit is difficult to resist to compulsive buying! I particularly love the the British Space Ships Fleet.

The Galactic Trade League (GTL) declared The Perseus Space ship lost for 243 years. This factory vessel is a recycled Military ship from a far Human Nation of the know Univer. These massive Starship is labeled SFS-102 Fisher class Super-Dreadnought, it was disarmed and modernised to transport and transform ores from new colonised planets across the galaxy.

The Perseus was located by the GTL a short time ago and after an unsuccesful attempt to take the control of the Drifting Spaceship carcass, the status of the vessel was modified by the GTL as "Infected SpaceHulk" +++ Report sent to the Administratum +++

Last picture of The Perseus SpaceShip before its lost



World Edges Campaign : Battle report 2

Hey! I hope you enjoy the lockdown in your dungeon and everything alright? From my side, I stopped the work at home and  now I'm in short-time working (chômage partiel) since one week.

I discovered a recent interrest for drawing maps. I know, there are applications online to creat these maps but I prefer whenit's Home-made! They add an old school flavor to the blog and add a new dimension to these reports. No doubt! It make sens for simultaneous actions on the battlefield, more maps and less words !

Introduction

The Greeskins try to reapropriate a part of their lost campaign baggages. Dwarves leaders laying a trap to the Orcs troops, they use the baggages to force the Orcs  to go through the pass. This tight path is tactical advantage for the lesser Dwarf Army. The baggages are represented by two chariots.

The noise of the recent battles in the World Edges mountains awakned some cave dwellers. They're represent on the battlefield by this 1D6 Squigs and 1D3 Trolls. They are deployed at the begining of the game and move in random direction at every compulsary phase.

We played this game twice, indeed, the distance between both deployement areas were too long in the original scenario. More over, in the first game I built a classic Dwarf shooting list and the result was a one-way game without real interrest for O&G player. So we decided to play again this scenario with some appropriates corrections, 40ps between the battle-lines (check the scenario here).

O&G Army (2000pts)

From left to right. Upper line : Giant Spider Riders (N), Doom Diver Catapult (G), Wulfboyz (F), Rocklobber (J), Pump Wagon (M).
Lower line : Black Orc with general and Great Banner (I), Savage Orc with Shaman (L), Night Goblins (H), Snortas with Orc Hero.

Dwarf Army (2000pts + 500pts)

From left to right. Upper line : Hammerers with Dwarf Hero and Runesmith (B), Ogres Allies (D), Dwarf Hallebardiers with General and Great banner (C)

Lower line : Organ Gun (E), SwivelGun as Bolthrower (A), Dwarf Spearmen (Reinforcement), Gnomes as Dwarf Warriors (Reinforcement)



Inital deployement. Trolls (T) and Squigs (S)

Battle report

The report is splitted in three parts. Concider every map is an overview of 2 game turns.

Turns 1 & 2 : Mess between the two battle lines!



The first turns was perturbed by the Cave-Dwellers. Particulary when the green Troll move in direction of O&G battle line. Indeed, when he approched to the Night Goblin horde, 3 Goblin-Fanatics get out from the Gobbo ranks. The Troll fell under the blows of the Black Orc General who by the way dodging a nice Vomit strick!

Inspired by their General, the Snortas 'll show 'im and charged the approaching Squig. Of course the monster fail his breacktest and flee. But the bad thing for the the Boar riders was the fail of their command test to avoid the pursue. It result their presence alone at the center of the battlefield. They suffered from a crossfire of the Bolthrower and the fearsome Organ Gun. None Snorta survived... At this points of the game the O&G lost 25% of their troops.

On the other side of the pass, the Dwarf battle line was less perturbed by the Cave Dwellers. The orange Troll quickly leaved the battlefield, meanwhile the blue Mohawked Squig was slainned by the Dwarf Hallebardiers. Dwarf Army advance as a pack and stay close to the General and the Great Banner.



Turns 3 & 4 : The second part of the battle was dedicated
to reciprocs charge movements

The O&G War Machines pounded constantly the dwarves troops but the frequents misfire not allowed the creation of a signifiant breack in the dwarf battleline.

Before strangling himself with his ball&chain, the last Goblin Fanatic stricking the Wulfboyz. Casualty were heavy and the panic seized the Goblin Wolf Riders. The Night Goblins unit kept their calm and made manoeuvres to reach the first chariot.

The Pump Wagon and the Giant Spiders charged the Ogres. The impacts hits from the Snot wagon make the different (as in the first battle) and Slain up to 2 Ogres.

Althought the combat result was unfavorable to the Ogre, they benefited from the combined effects of the Master Rune of Groth One Eye encrusted in the Great Banner  (every unit stubborn at 12ps around the banner) and the CD of the General. In others terms, Ogres was Stubborn with CD10. The fight endded after several rounds, the low CD skill of the Goblins and the striking force of the Ogres finally incitated the Greenskins to flee, without pursue of the Ogres Hallebardiers.

Overview before the O&G charges

Despite the progressive decrease of his warband (Thanks the Bolthrower!) The Black Orc General brandished his blade and charged the Dwarf Hammerers. Characters attacked first, the O&G General bore the Dragon Blade (1hit =2hits) but got nothing!
Both units troopers were equiped with heavy weapon, Hammerers had a better Initiative and attacked before the black Orcs.

The Dwarf Hero present in the unit bore a Magic Item which permit to improve Skills of the unit (+1 to M or S or Armour save), It made the difference and permitted the Hammerers to finally win the combat. After several rounds the Black Orcs General, the Great Banner and the remaining troopers flee, without pursue of the Dwarves.

Meanwhile the Dwarf Reinforcement arrive on the battlefield and add 500pt of fresh troops in the balance readdy to keep the Orc Idol chariot..

Turns 5 & 6 : Both army secure their objective

Last part of battle, the Organ Gun raored again and renders harmless the Savage Orcs. These Frenetic troopers were finished by the Ogres. A shaman (lvl2) was present in this unit, Magic phases were not decisive for O&G firstly because the spells draw were unadapted for the context, secondly because my Runesmith bore an artefact encrusted by 3 antispell runes. And thirdly, the magic winds were rather quiet.

Conclusion

The advance of the Dwarf army in close orders and constantly inside the bubble of the General CD and the Great Banner effets, was successful. I strongly believe that the lost of Snortas unit was a hard blow and was the begining of the end for the O&G army. About the objectives, both armies controlled one baggage chariot. It mean the O&G army will add 150pts to it ranks for the last battle.

We waiting for the end of the lockdown to play the last scenario of the campaign, I'm looking forward to play this game. Meantime, I wish you a lot of great moments with your familly and nice hobby times! Take care :)