Kallus had flawless eyesight. He was sure he was the first of his army to spot the mechanika abominations across the other side of the burning village. Even the eyeless beasts under his command had not perceived the rapid advance of the Cryxian helljacks yet. Kallus had not spotted what was commanding them, but there were few of the undead elite capable of effectively control so many ‘jacks. He counted at least four heavies and three light ‘jacks. He would need to show control his own beasts and troops as forcefully if he was to win the day.

The pace of the helljacks was stunning. The legend that is Deathjack slammed into a Nephilim Soldier he sent forward to intercept it. The beast was devoured body and soul, fueling Deathjack’s seemingly boundless rage. Kallus commanded the Warmongers and his Carnivean to shore up the right flank. A Harrower hurtled into a group of Legionnaires on his left and carved through four of them before he even had a chance to react. He focussed everything on the left flank to destroying it. As he did Deathjack plowed forward into the Ravagore. It smashed aside several Legionnaires along its path, Incubi instantly exploding from their flesh. The abomination struck home with unerring accuracy, but failed to fell the beast. Kallus again had to focus all of his energies on his left flank if it wasn’t going to falter. He commanded everything he had to attack Deathjack, bolstered his own power and charged into the fray. Deathjack seemed to phase between the real world and some other plane. Several of Kallus’ blows failed to meet his target. Things were not faring much better on the right. He was struggling to control the Carnivean and the Warmonger numbers had been depleted.

Deathjack was quick to retaliate, striking down the Ravagore, a Foresaken and a Shredder in a whirlwind of violence. Kallus redoubled his efforts as his army began to dwindle. He swung again and again at Deathjack and a Slayer which had arrived. Again he failed to connect with his targets. The combined blows of Deathjack and the Slayer wore him down, until his armour failed, he fell to the ground and the world went black.

This was a fun game, but I barely got into the fight. I overstretched on my right flank and my dice failed on the left flank. That said Peter played well and got several ‘jacks on top of my army early. Had I been able to connect with Deathjack and deal even semi-respectable damage I may have been in with a chance, but it wasn’t to be. That said, one of my Warmongers on the right flank managed to charge Mortenebra reducing her to just three boxes. The Deathstalker had just missed her too, so a flukey win could have been mine! Peter suggested I write this battle report as -

Today I hid behind a shed for ages until I got bored and decided to try hitting Deathjack. That didn’t go too well and a Slayer snuck up destroyed my shell. Could’ve been worse though, at least I didn’t get corroded to death like that Ogryn!

Until next time,

Owen

No related posts.

I wanted to filed my newly painted Gun Carriage, so it was the first model I added to my list. I’ve been having great fun with Strakov recently, so he was definitely the ‘caster I wanted to field. I rarely use him without Beast-09 and a Devastator. Sylys Wyshnalyrr is a model I’ve wanted to use as I think he is potentially great for Khadoran ‘casters, so I added him to the list (spolier alert – he was great!). The rest of the list revolved around ranged support (Widowmakers and Marksman) and some melee punch (Great Bears, IFP and Shocktroopers). Reinholdt was added as I had a point to spare. Here’s a full rundown of my list -

System: Warmachine
Faction: Khador
Casters: 1/1
Points: 50/50

Kommander Strakhov (*6pts)
* Beast-09 (11pts)
* Devastator (9pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Gun Carriage (9pts)
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (proxied by Oridic Pistolier)(1pts)
Widowmaker Marksman (2pts)

We played the Incursion scenario (three flags; one randomly disappears at the end of second round; first player to three control points wins) from the SR2012 Beta, though it hasn’t changed much from its previous incarnation.

Anthony had the first turn and pushed up aggressively. Scaverous moved up through a wood with a Skarlock and Malice close by. In the centre the Banes moved up quickly with the Biles behind them. On the right Crowe’s moved up. On each flank a contingent of Warwitch Siren, Ripjaw and Pistolwraith moved forward.

In response I pushed my whole force up. Strakhov put Sentry onto the Gun Carriage and Superiority onto Beast-09. The battle engine pushed trampled forward and took out of range shots towards Crowe’s and the Banes. I killed one Cutthroat. Beast-09 and the IFP moved up my left flank (opposite Scaverous) and the Great Bears moved up the right (opposite Crowe’s). The Devastator trundled forward and the Widowmakers camped out in a wood.

Anthony attempted destroy Beast-09 through Telekensis-ing Malice and Beast-09 and then dragging Beast into contact with it. The plan was to serve Beast up to the Banes. Bad dice foiled the plan, dooming Malice on my next turn. On the right Crowe’s Cutthroats were ineffective against the Great Bears (a theme that would mostly continue). My Gun Carriage moved up to contest a flag in the centre, killing a Bane and blasting Biles apart while Beast-09 decimated Malice. The Shocktroopers and IFP beat up the Ripjaw on the left while the Great Bears went to town on Crowe’s. I managed to pick up a control point in the centre.

In response the Banes tore Beast-09 apart and a single Bile Thrall managed to purge, killing two IFP, three Mechaniks and my Reinholdt proxy. At this stage the attrition was starting to mount! With a bit of effort I managed to clear enough Banes to score another control point in the middle. This involved effectively sacrificing the Devastator. Scaverous had moved forward and tore it apart while the Banes took the Gun Carriage down. On the final Great Bear died to a Ripjaw, scoring Anthony a control point.

Strakhov has a fun spell, Battering Ram, but I rarely getto cast it. As Anthony only had one model contesting each of the two control points I had an opportunity to score on either. I used Strakhov to push the Ripjaw 3″ back (on my second attempt after rolling three 1′s). The Widowmakers then ran in for the scenario win.

[Show as slideshow]

Closing Thoughts
The Gun Carriage performed very well. It takes a bit of getting used to as the trampling and charging are the best ways to get it moving. This requires giving it a little space. The rough terrain areas left by the cannons are pretty useful, but the best element of the Gun Carriage is how formidable it is. A few Widowmaker shots can clear out an area for the Gun Carriage to trample to, thus making it a pretty scary spectre. I look forward to fielding it again.

Until next time,

Owen

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I felt a little bad for Conor when I pulled the trigger on the assassination. He was already a little disillusioned after Deneghra’s feat turn. Denny managed to get Crippling Grasp on to him from about 19″ away (thanks to a Defiler that ran into arcing range). Tartarus then finished off the Sword Knights creating three Bane Knights who had a charge angle on the enemy warcaster. A lone Thrall and a load of Knights charged Siege Brisbane (who was on -2 DEF and -4 ARM). I felt dirty.

It was a fun game, though I’m not sure Conor would review it that way!

Owen

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Warmachine and Hordes

In the last year the majority of the games I’ve played have been of Warmachine and Hordes, and I definitely consider it to be my main game. I currently have Khador, Mercenaries (mostly Privateers), Cryx and Legion of Everblight factions. Here’s an overview of my collection of models -

Oh yeah, I have a proxied Circle Orboros force too! As you can see I pretty much have everything painted that I own. In the last year the Mercenaries have seen quite a lot added to them, as have Legion. To Khador and Cryx I’ve added the odd model here and there.

In terms of play time Khador and Legion are still my primary factions and I think that will continue, though the Mercenaries are getting a decent amount of play. I’ve done well in competitive play this year with all three of those factions, so I think my standard of play is pretty good. I’ve also played a lot of campaign games, both physically and over VASSAL. I’m really enjoying Warmachine and Hordes and that is set to continue.

In the coming year I’d like to do a couple of things from a painting and modelling perspective – add the Gun Carriage and some more infantry to Khador is one of my main priorities. For the Gun Carriage I’d love to create a diorama base. I have some ideas – more on that in the next month or so! Legion is ticking over quite well. I see myself adding just a few bits to Legion when Domination comes out, maybe Kallus’ character beast and the Legionnaire’s UA. I’d also like to add some models to Cryx to do Skarre’s new theme force from a recent No Quarter. I don’t plan on expanding the Mercenaries this year, though I can seem myself adding a Freebooter warjack to complete the Pirate ‘jacks!

From a gaming perspective I’d like to increase my Press Ganger activity – family life has been pretty hectic with Ciarán’s birth this year, but I’ll hopefully have more time in the coming year. I plan to run the Journeyman Slow Grow League this side of Christmas as well as running a couple of tournaments. I’m going to keep up the campaign play as it’s just silly fun! I’ll probably expand the ANNIHILATION system next year, though I’m not sure what direction to take it in yet. One other thing I’d like to do is to reflect on how much MkII game time my Warcasters and Warlocks have seen. I definitely have my favourites, but I need to consciously try to use my less competitive models.

Next up in the audit: Malifaux!

Owen

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In Kallus’ force I had a Ravagore, Carnivean, Shredder, Shepherd, Deathstalker, max Warmongers and max Legionnaires. This was my first game with Kallus and I wanted to see how he fared with a mixed force. His abilities mostly seem to support infantry, but Dark Guidance is a great spell on beasts too. It is expensive for a 6 Fury warlock… Incite gives the Legionnaires decent punch and they, along with the Warmongers will also benefit from Dark Guidance. The Shredder is there for his animus and a damage transfer if needs be.

It was a good game, but I didn’t learn too much about Kallus. The +2 DEF on his feat for soulless models is great. It protected him from Skarre and made the feat Incubi tricky to hit. Dark Guidance is pricey – between greedily casting it and leaving Kallus on zero Fury I nearly lost the game. I needed to repair the Carnivean after some decent Leviathan ranged attacks, but I should have let Incite drop to leave him with a transfer. He will always be short on Fury when casting Dark Guidance, but the Carnivean did make six attacks including its charge and hit with all of them thanks to the extra die to hit. It was a thing of beauty! The Incubi are useful, but like most defensive feats rely on your opponent, so a canny opponent can minimise the impact, or plan to take out the Incubi created.

I think Kallus could be very solid. I’m looking forward to getting more games in with him.

Owen

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On my turn Absylonia put Forced Evolution not the Ravagore and granted herself flight and reach to make it into the Warwitch for the kill. Next up the Ravagore charged into the Ripjaw, one shotting it. This let the Shredder go Rabid and finish off the Necrotech in the middle of the control zone. The final part of the plan involved the Carnivean, which had reach thanks to Playing God, totalling the Slayer. It charged in and scrapped it. That would be a control point with Peter a little out of position to challenge the scenario.

I had Mortenebra’s per Skarlock and Deathjack to deal with in order to win the Scenario. Absylonia cast Forced Evolution on the Carnivean, to buff his strength, and then charged Deryliss to take him out. The Carnivean then performed a Double-handed Throw on Deathjack to get him out of the zone. The game was mine.

That was a fun game. Beasts and ‘jacks make for an impressive spectacle.

Owen

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Game 1 – Retribution (Christoph)

This game was a big loss for me. It was the Revelation scenario and I kept my force slightly right, but the rightmost flag disappeared. I caused a lot of damage to Christoph’s Rahn led force, but I completely failed to challenge for the scenario. He nearly assassinated me too! It was a good game, but I didn’t play well.

Game 2 – Legion of Everblight (Stu/Bye)

I played the TO as this was a bye round for me. I used Karchev as Stu had a Tier 4 Absylonia list. It was a fun game, but the super Angelius was nigh unstoppable. It assassinated Karchev after dancing around my army. The game was great fun and was everything Warmachine and Hordes should be – big machines clashing with large beasts. Stu’s heading over to Gencon so he’s offered to do some ninja shopping for me – woot!

Game 3 – Trollbloods (Jason)

This game was a good example for why you should play scenarios when practicing. It was the Sacrifice scenario, but to date Jason had only been playing ‘caster kills. I went full tilt for the scenario as I had a Devastator who could be ‘sacrificed’ – you got to love ARM 25! Gunnbjorn (proxied) and his ranged-centric list never really got into the game as Occultation on Strakhov spoiled their fun. I won on scenario.

Game 4 – Cryx (Tomek)

Between the bye and the win I was right back in the hunt for a place, but as you can see from above things didn’t go to plan. Tomek won the game and claimed 2nd place.

It was another fun day. I’m glad I didn’t bring Harkevich. I need more practice to figure out what army (if any) works best with him.

Owen

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Game 1 – Skorne (Harry)

Harry lives in the same town as me, so we get to play quite a bit and one of the practice games I had in the lead up to the tournament was against him. We played the ‘Process of Elimination’ scenario. Harry used pMakeda and opted for my Saeryn list. I played much more aggressively than I had in our practice games, but resisted the temptation to kill any of Harry’s infantry on his feat turn (I’ve learned that lesson!). I used the Warmongers and Gobbers to screen Saeryn and pushed the beasts forward as a feat-protected meat shield to hold most of Harry’s force in place. This really put Harry on the back foot and once I’d taken out one of his two heavies things didn’t look good for him. I managed to get the warlock kill and secure my second Control Point in my final turn. It was a good game, but Harry’s dice luck was atrocious (again!).

Game 2 – Protectorate of Menoth (Pádraic)

I think the picture tells the story of this game. Pádraic had a by in the first round and brought pKreoss. I opted for my Thagrosh list, which was a mistake as I had no practice with it. Anyway, he pushed a full unit of Zealots under Greater Destiny up into my half of the board and then proceeded to ‘Pop and Drop’ Thagrosh with lots of fire bombs. Ouch! The less said about that the better. It did mean we could break early for lunch and found a really nice Chinese restaurant nearby!

Game 3 – Skorne (Spencer)

I’ve only played Spencer a couple of times before and like all of the other guys I played he’s a great opponent. I’ve fought his Cygnar before, but this was the first time playing against his Skorne. He had pMorghoul and the Molik Karn bullet. Learning from my mistake of the last game I went back to my Saeryn list. The scenario was ‘Capture the Flag’, but I really didn’t fancy having to get through the whole Skorne army to get near my flag. I feinted to the right to make it look like I was making a play for the flag and then swung back to protect my flag, making the Skorne come to me. Molik charged from an impossible distance to kill my Angelius, only for me to Respawn it! Spencer didn’t realise Respawn was within 3″. The Angelius tore Molik apart in retaliation. On my left Spencer’s Totem Hunter systematically tore through my Warmongers, killing each and every one during the game. In turn 3 I saw an opportunity to seize a Control Point with the Angelius and went for it. It ran forward and I cast Blight Bringer onto it to clear the infantry (Paingivers) around the flag. Morghoul finished off the Angelius and then sprinted into a location near Saeryn. Saeryn chucked a Thrown Spur at him for 11 damage (which couldn’t be transferred due to Grievous Wounds). The Ravagore finished things off (in Melee!). That was probably the closest fought of my games.

In the end I picked up second place (on strength of schedule) and Kommander Harkevich as a prize. Ciaran (another local PG) took the win and Anthony (another regular opponent) came third. I really enjoy the SR2011 format and Warmachine/Hordes lends itself to competitive play as the rules are very tight. Big thanks to Stu for running such an excellent tournament (despite his laptop crashing half way through!). Fun way to spend Father’s Day…

(I’m the goofy looking one in the blue and white striped shirt!)

Owen

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The Armies

My force consisted of Saeryn, an Angelius, a Ravagore, a Raek, a max unit of Warmongers, a Warchief, a Shepherd, a Deathstalker, two Spell Martyrs and the Swamp Gobbers. I’ve wanted to field the Ravagore and Raek since I painted them. The rationale behind the whole list is survivability – the multi-wound Warmongers make a great screen and allow Saeryn to operate forward if needed and here feat coupled with the Swamp Gobbers make her hard to kill. The Angelius and Raek are great Blight Bringer targets. The Ravagore can either operate forward or back of the main line – it’s decent in melee and has one of the best ranged attacks in the game.

Anthony’s force was made up of pDenny, a Ripjaw, a Deathripper, max Bane Thralls plus UA, max Satyxis Raiders plus UA, Banelord Tartarus, two Warwitches, a Pistolwraith and a Skarlock. That’s a very competitive list and everything in it can fulfil multiple roles. Thankfully I’m familiar with most of the list, so I knew what was facing me across the table.

The Battle

I won the starting roll and opted to go first. Probably a mistake as the scenario kicks in on the 2nd Player’s 2nd Turn, but I pushed the army forward and cast Respawn on the Ravagore. Already I started to get into caught up in the terrain. This generally isn’t a problem for Legion, but we were fighting in an abandoned mining town. Pathfinder and Eyeless Sight weren’t a whole lot of use and my medium based infantry began tripping over each other. I needed to move my army up to contest the control areas, so a flanking deployment wasn’t really an option.

Deneghra’s feat caught most of my army apart from the Saeryn, the Gobbers and the Raek. Saeryn used the Raek’s animus to move out of melee with the raider, turned and killed her with a thrown knife. She then cast Blight Bringer defensively on the Angelius. The Raek moved to block line of sight to her (as much as was possible) as did the Spell Martyr. The Ravagore moved back slightly (it had an effective SPD of 2″!) and dropped a surprisingly accurate AoE killing three Banes.

Owen

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Toruk’s spies had failed him. The Scourge Bringer had been rediscovered and he only found out about it weeks after. This failure would have to be rectified, but in the meantime he needed to retrieve the weapon from Everblight’s minions. Toruk does not like to rush things, but in this instance he had to dispatch a fast moving force to advance into the frozen north and take the weapon.

He usually fostered, and at times perversely enjoyed, the rivalries of his Lich Lords, but now was not the time for petty jealousy. He issued a direct order to Asphyxious and Venethrax that they must work together to sieze this weapon. He knew neither would receive this order well, but he was sure their mutual distain would push them to take extreme measures on his behalf. The Scourge Bringer must be his.

Campaign Overview

The Frozen North campaign is part of the Cryxian Ambitions arc of The Orgoth Legacy. During this campaign the Cryxian forces clash with the Legion of Everblight in an attempt to sieze one of the three pieces of the Scourge Bringer weapon. It is a team campaign that involves four players and is played over five games, of which the finale is a team game.

Frozen North (Rules PDF) is a derivative of the ANNIHILATION v1.1 campaign system, so the attrition suffered to each force was going to play a significant part in how the armies fared. Players could pool their armies and decide how they wanted to share losses.

Campaign Report

Here’s a quick video with a report on how the campaign played out -

As you can see, the Cryx won out in the end after a closely fought campaign. The finale was a do or die game for them as the Legion army was in a more competitive shape following the previous games. Here’s an example of how attrition changes how you approach the game – after a bad start to Game 4, Peter decided to concede to Joe. This was against the backdrop of the losses he had suffered to me in Game 1. Had he not done so, there is a strong chance that the Cryx force for the final game would have been severely weakened.

The campaign was great fun, though I think we all agree that the weather rules were a bit annoying! Anthony and Peter deserved the win after playing a great team game. The feats of their ‘casters (eDeneghra and eSkarre) combined nicely and they used them to great effect.

With the Scourge Bringer in Cryxian hands the story arc for The Orgoth Legacy has really opened up!

Owen

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The Orgoth Legacy Overview

It all began with an opportunistic campaign that I played with Clay and Dan in Orlando late last year called Scourge Bringer. The idea of the narrative campaign is simple – every campaign, a sequence of at least a few games would carry the story forward a little. Scourge Bringer began it all with a mad scramble between three powerful warlocks/warcasters for pieces of a powerful Orgoth Weapon, the Scourge Bringer. Thagrosh and the Legion of Everblight won out after three hard fought games and won this dubious prize. Dubious for it is a weapon, that once assembled, has the power to slay a dragon. As Everblight is still gathering strength he ordered his minions to keep the weapon pieces separate and keep them safe.

To that end Vayl spawned three unique beasts in the Shard Spires (Northern Khador) and installed a weapon piece in each. These bestial vessels were continuous eroded by the weapon, but were designed to regenerate rapidly. For additional security each beast was frozen in the core of a glacier, but before the final beast named Vylodectes could be entombed the Legion were set upon by the audacious Cryx. Enter the Frozen North campaign, a part of the Cryxian Ambition arc. The forces of Cryx clashed with the spawned beasts initially resulting in a vicious stalemate. However, the Nightmare Empire overcame the Legion forces, destroying Vylodectes and seizing the weapon. Traveling through Khador is hazardous and the Cryxians have clashed with Pirates (The Landing), Trollbloods (Flanking Move) and finally each other (Power Struggle; yet to be played). The great draconic powers now possessed pieces of this most dangerous weapon.

However, Legion and Cryx aren’t the only factions with an interest in the Scourge Bringer. Recently the religious zealots from the Protectorate of Menoth have begun moving into Southern Khador as they begin moving towards what they view to be an abominable creation. They seek to use the power of their creator to purge the Scourge Bringer from Caen.

The interests of the enigmatic Skorne are less easy to decipher. They have clashed with the forces of Legion as they too show their interest in the ancient weapon.

Progress to date

Here’s a breakdown of the games played to date.

• Scourge Bringer (three games; Legion vs Khador vs Circle; Vescheneg Headlands) – COMPLETE
• Cryxian Ambition (eleven games)
• The Landing (one game; Pirates vs Cryx; Outside of Ohk) – COMPLETE
• Frozen North (ANNIHILATION team campaign (five games); Legion vs Cryx; The Shard Spires) – COMPLETE
• Flanking Move (ANNIHILATION campaign (four games); Trollbloods vs Cryx; Scarsfell Forest) – One game left
• Power Struggle (one game; Cryx vs Cryx; Outside of Ohk) – Not played yet
• Menite Incursions (four games)
• Near Fort Bruzig (altered ANNIHILATION VASSAL campaign; Protectorate vs Khador) – One game left
• Inflicted Pain (four games)
• Near Bloodsmeath Marshes (ANNIHILATION campaign; Skorne vs Legion) – Two games left

So, the campaigns are progressing well and I’m getting lots of games played. Once the Cryxian Ambition arc is finished I’ll figure out where the story can go next.

Owen

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The idea behind this is pretty simple. Campaigns usually fail because they involve too many players and take too long to play. I wanted a campaign that wasn’t going to fall into those traps. Enter the idea of a narrative campaign. It’s simply a story arc to house several smaller campaigns.

The Orgoth Legacy is such a narrative campaign. At the moment it is the story that houses Scourge Bringer (bespoke campaign), Frozen North (ANNIHILATION derivative), a campaign between the Legion and Skorne (standard ANNIHILATION), a campaign between Khador and Menoth (VASSAL-based ANNIHILATION), and a campaign between Trolls and Cryx (standard ANNIHILATION). All of these factions are being drawn into a fight over this powerful weapon.

As each campaign is only 3-4 games they are fairly easy to run and the results are fed into the overall story. Will the Cryx be able to sieze a weapon piece from Legion? Will the Menites be able to make their way north through Khador? What is the Skorne’s interest in this weapon? Will the kriels of southern Khador be overrun by the advancing Cryx?

All simple story tangents that feed into the overall arc.

Owen

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Owen

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1. Undercoat I used Gesso to undercoat the model as it’s too cold to reliably spray. Cold and humidity can cause misting on miniatures that are sprayed. For any bit that are missed I use a watered down Chaos Black to cover them. I also glued the sand to the base as I was basing another miniature anyway.

2. Flesh Next up is the skin and there is quite a bit of it on Skarre! I used a watered down Tallarn Flesh as the base coat and then applied increasing amounts of Elf Flesh to the layered highlights. Then I added Skull White in the next couple of highlights.

   For the eyes I used Bleached Bone as the base, trying to leave some black around the edges. Chaos Black was used to dot the eye. I added a tiny bit of Hormagaunt Purple to one of the medium flesh highlights and applied it as eye shadow.

   Finally I added a small bit of Mechrite Red to that same flesh highlight to paint the bottom lip.


3. Purple Coat The coat was based Hormagaunt Purple. It’s a Citadel Foundation paint and I usually find it best to water these down a good bit. Next up were three highlights, each with an increasing amount of Skull White, the first of which was 1:1. Last up was a wash of Leviathan Purple.

4. Cloak The cloak was painted in a similar manner to the coat. The base coat was Greatcoat Grey and Blue Ice (2:1) and there were three/four drybrushed highlights with Skull White added. This was then washed with a 1:1 mix of Asurmen Blue and Badab Black. Ice Blue was used for the glow of the Necrotite.

5. Hair, Horns and Leather The hair was based a 1:1 mix of Chaos Black and Codex Grey. It was then painted with Codex Grey by drawing the edge of the brush across the ridges in the hair. Finally the prominent hair detail was highlighted with Fortress Grey.

   The Horns and Leather were painted using the same scheme – Khemri Brown as a base, with increasing amounts of Bleached Bone and then a Devlan Mud wash. The Horns received more highlighting.


6. Metals The metals are the final step and require the most care. I tend to leave metals to last if I can as I’m very lazy at changing my water and I don’t want metallic flecks contaminating the other colours! There are two metallic colours – Steel and Brass.

   For the Steel I based using a watered down Boltgun Metal, I highlighted with Mithril Silver and washed with Devlan Mud and Badab Black.

   For the Brass I based with a 1:1 mix of Khemri Brown and Brass Balls. This was highlighted with a 1:1 mix of Brass Balls and Shining Gold. It was then washed with Devlan Mud. I did both of the metal washes after I’d changed water and thoroughly washed the brushes.

I think Skarre’s turned out quite well. I like the cartoony quality of the flesh and how vivid the purple turned out. I considered detailing the trim of her coat in gold, but that seemed like too much effort!

Hope this painting guide proves useful.

Owen

PS I photographed the paints used in each stage too.

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This was the third and final piece. Vayl had successfully embedded the other two into creatures spawned in her master’s draconic image. There were several failed attempts before the first creature was created. The Scourge Bringer pieces decayed the body and minds of draconic spawn and developing a suitable vessel had required all of her sorcerous abilities. Each newly spawned creature would bubble and dissolve before her eyes until only the weapon piece was left in a pool of ichor.

Three months had passed since the first success. The haft of Scourge Bringer was installed into a new creation and then buried in the heart of a glacier. Everblight knew the danger this weapon represented to himself and other dragon kind. He was tempted to wield it against Toruk, but he needed time. Time to understand this weapon, time to tame it. The first step was to contain its contagian. He had a great patience that no mortal, not even his most powerful servants, could understand. He would wait. The weapon’s time would come.

Vayl’s final creature was a masterpiece. Everblight had maintained an almost continuous link with her while she carried out this most important work. His influence was apparent not only in this creature’s appearance, but also in demeanor. It had a cunning and will not usually present in the spawned creations. It was almost a shame that its fate was to be buried in a glacier like its siblings. The creature was all muscle, sinew and fangs, with a malice that Everblight suspected was a symptom of the weapon fragment at its core.

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Round 1

My army was made up of two Defilers, 10 Bane Knights, Tartarus, 10 Mechanithralls, a Skarlock and Skarre. My first turn was quite pedestrian. Everything ran up except the Skarlock which moved up to cast Ritual Sacrifice on one of the Mechanithralls.

Even at this stage things weren’t going that well. Tartarus was out on the flank and I was using terrain to screen my Banes versus an army with Eyeless Sight! Speaking of Eyeless Sight, why was Skarre up there and not behind a ‘jack!

Joe’s army was comprised of a Ravagore, an Angelius, a Nephilim Bolt Thrower, a Shredder, two Shepherds and a Spell Martyr. That was led by Saeryn, who is one of my favourite warlocks. She has a stunning feat and a great spell list. Joe started with her and cast Respawn on the Angelius and Banishing Ward on herself. The Ravagore moved forward, put its animus up and took a shot at Tartarus. It just missed and scattered off behind Tartarus. The Angelius and Nephilim moved up the threaten the right flank. The Shredder moved up and put Tenacity on the Ravagore.

Round 2

At the start of my turn I rolled 5 for Ritual Sacrifice giving Skarre 11 focus. I decided to leave it on her and bring some pain to the Ravagore. The closer Defiler moved up and took a shot it. I missed, but at least I was sure I was in range for a few Hellfires. It took all of the focus, but I managed to do a whopping… Nah, it wasn’t that whopping, I just about managed to do half of the boxes on it. Tartarus moved up and Cursed it, but the Bane Knights were out of range, so they just moved up.

On the right the Mechanithralls moved around Skarre to try to give a bit of protection and the Skarlock again cast Ritual Sacrifice.
This was Joe’s big turn. He moved the Ravagore up and took an Eyeless Sight shot at Skarre, but just missed. The scatter, however, took out the Mechanithrall screen. Saeryn attempted the Breath Stealer Skarre through a Spell Martyr that moved up into position, but the shot just missed. Saeryn feated. The Nephilim then moved up and sent a bolt straight at Skarre scoring a critical hit! It did a load of damage and knocked her on her ass. The Angelius ran up to engage Skarre (thankfully, just out of Saeryn’s control area).

Round 3

I was in quite a bit of trouble now. All of Saeryn’s army except the Shepherds and the Angelius were immune to melee attacks, so that pretty much neutered the Banes. I started my turn with Skarre and feated taking five more wounds. This left her on one. I forgot completely that her feat adds to strength as well as armour. This mattered as it would have been an extra 20 boxes on the Angelius after Skarre hit it four times! As I’d forgotten it the Angelius wasn’t destroyed. I also forgot she was knocked down, so I should have shaken effect too. Doh! Mistakes lose games. I arced another Hellfire at the Ravagore and shot it with the Defilers for little damage. The Mechanithralls tried to finish off the Angelius, but failed. The Banes moved up to surround the Ravagore.
Joe could see the end in sight. He firstly moved the Nephilim across to take a shot at Tartarus. It struck home and killed him outright. The Shepherd then moved out of Saeryn’s way, so she could get as close to the Angelius as possible. This gave her range to cast Blight Bringer. With her last Fury, she boosted the damage on Skarre, ending the game. Nicely played Joe!

It was good game. In retrospect I should have moved my army up in waves with the Banes leading the way. Skarre’s feat would make them vicious on the charge and quite survivable to the counter attack. They are a little too slow to go the long way around.

Owen

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Enjoy,

Owen

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She managed to get Backlash onto my Nomad and between 4 Mechanithralls and Brute Thrall dished out eight points of damage onto Shae before the ‘jack was totalled. In the end the Commodore, with Money Shot from Lord Rock Bottom, blasted the Pirate Queen into oblivion.

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On Tuesday I played my final game of the Blasted Heath league against Eoin and his Protectorate army. We played a 75pt game with his force being led by Amon and mine by Deneghra. Of my three ‘casters Deneghra is the one I have least experience with, but I have fought against her a few times recently, so I had a good idea of what she was capable of. We played the Killbox scenario and I got to go first. I think Eoin was a little shocked at how fast the Cryx moved across the board. My intention was to use the terrain, namely the wood and pond, to my advantage by advancing my force to the right of the wood and through it. I had three opportunities to cast Ghostwalk per turn with Deneghra, the Skarlock and Deathjack. Coupled with Ghostly on the Bane Knights and Tartarus a lot of my army could ignore movement penalties for entering terrain.

I had a unit of Sea Dogs supported by Mr. Walls and Lord Rockbottom and they were possibly unit of the game. On Deneghra’s feat turn, which I dropped in turn two, they took out the Fire of Salvation (who also had Parasite cast on it) and a Revenger. They then swung around into the backfield and harried the rest of the Menites. This allowed the Bane Thralls to get stuck in and do some more ‘jack wrecking.

Seeing a Defiler spray and then arc Venom twice onto some bunched up Flameguard and Knights Exemplar was a nice moment too. Bile Thralls taking out half a unit of Zealots, a unit of Daughters and practically a full unit of Bastions was just gravy. I’m beginning to suspect I might be more of a Cryx man than a Khador man!

The ‘caster kill went to the Pistol Wraith who managed to get two turns of shooting on Amon (supported by some Pirates). It was a good game.

Owen

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I played two multi-player games for the Blasted Heath season in the Shattered Grounds league. There are two options when it comes to multi-player games – King of the Hill and Unlikely Alliance. The first is a free-for-all and the second is a cooperative game. If you’re playing in the league both are worth looking at as they reward the extra organisation with extra league points. If you’re not in the league then they are worth looking at because they are just damn good fun!

King of the Hill

This scenario should be pretty familiar to most players. You win by being the last ‘caster standing or the first ‘caster to get 3 control points. Warcasters/warlocks are awarded one control point for being on the central hill at the end of their turn (from the second turn onwards).

Our game was a four-way 25pt battle for the hill with Grissel, Xerxis, Venethrax and Goreshade (me) all competing for the win. Grissel fell early, so the game was only going to be contested by the remaining three. I played a very cautious game, mostly because of Xerxis Bile Thralls nearby that could seriously dent my army. We swapped Bile Thralls and managed to take out a few Skorne Swordsmen with them too. Venethrax made the first move for the hill and was quickly joined by Xerxis. They traded blows, but didn’t wipe out each other. I saw an opportunity, but knew it needed to stick as Venethrax was on 2 control points. I moved Goreshade up, feated and sent the Bane Thralls to finish the Cryxian ‘caster. Xerxis had an awesome turn and managed to clear out six Bane Thralls – it was something to behold. He was now sitting on 2 control points. My turn came around and this had to be it. I positioned my Mechanithralls out of the way and charged Goreshade in. Smack, transfer, smack – game over. Goreshade wins.

The nice thing about this game is that all players get league points for playing the game equal to the game size, plus the bonus points (5pts each in this case). The winner gets the bonus points on top of that too.

Unlikely Alliance

This scenario is epic, not because there is anything particularly special about it, but because there are likely to be an awful lot of miniatures on the battlefield! It’s simply a ‘caster kill scenario with two players on each team. We had 50pts per player, so that was 100pts a side. It was truly magnificent to behold. We randomised which players were on which team and it ended up that myself and Anthony (Cryx and Cryx – sweet!) would play Skorne and Trollbloods (talk about an unlikely alliance!).

The thing I enjoyed most about this game was the talk-out-loud tactics that each team employed to coordinate what they did. For example, on turn three Anthony and I decided we’d pop both Deneghra’s and Asphyxious’ feats to try and take out Xerxis. This required positioning arc nodes, getting Hellfire off with a Skarlock to try and clear an Agonizer, moving Deneghra up, feating, casting more Hellfires, getting Asphyxious into position, casting more Hellfires (through a different arc node), feating and casting yet more Hellfires. That’s a little tricky to coordinate when there’s just one brain controlling the army, but try it with two brains! The great (an possibly horrific thing for Xerxis’ controller, Harry) thing is that Anthony and I needed to talk through that in advance and then communicate what we were doing through the turn. Harry saw (or at least heard) it coming, but could do nothing about it. The writing was on the wall for Grissel and despite a valiant attempt the might of two Cryx ‘caster (with fantastic synergies) was too much for the Trollbloods to overcome.

Not only was this a fantastic game, but everyone was a winner as far as the league was concerned. The 50pt per faction is actually counted as game two rows lower, e.g. 100pts. All participants get at least 8pts and the winners get 12pts. Nice!

I netted 19 points yesterday. A pretty cool Father’s Day present.

Owen

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Harry and I played two games this evening (over a couple of beers) – a 20pt game and a 35pt game. I decided to use Goreshade in the first game. He was accompanied by Deathjack, a Slayer, six Mechanithralls and six Bane Thralls. I’m not going to give a blow by blow other than to say I played a very cagey game and seeing Deathjack trample a complete unit of Swordsmen and later charge eMakeda (and crush) was a beautiful thing (photographed right).

Game two went well too. This time I used pAsphyxious supported by a couple of Arc Nodes, Deathjack, Bane Lord Tartarus, Bane Thralls, Bane Knights, Mechanithralls and a Skarlock. I had the opportunity about half way through the game to attempt an assassination by arcing Hellfire onto a furyless eMakeda. I hit her and did 10 damage. Asphyxious feated for 7 more focus and I rolled a boosted attempt to hit again. I didn’t get the 8 required! eMakeda survived another turn or two, but after Deathjack took out a Titan and the Mechanithralls reduced a Rhinodon to one wound the writing was on the wall for her.

Both games were great fun and Harry’s an excellent opponent. It’s a good start to the league for me and my attempts to get to know Cryx better. I hope I’m not relying on Deathjack too much, though. He’s fantastic, but at 12 points he’s pricey. Anyway, hopefully I can continue the winning trend tomorrow evening.

Owen

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Owen

PS The base isn’t quite finished. That can wait until tomorrow!

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PS Here’s a picture of him undercoated -

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