Fire!

No, not The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, rather a unit of archers.

A measly unit of 10 archers, mind, but a unit nonetheless. And that takes me to three units in total. That deserves a Xander happy dance!

Gotta love a snoopy dance!

As I have mentioned before, I like the detail on the archer models, and decided to include lots of little, characterful things like turnips, rats, rabbits an dead birds hanging from the archers' belts. It struck me that they'd likely be hunters, poachers even, and would probaly serve as foragers too (though whether officially or not may depend on the leniency of their liege-lord!).

With every archer down, I grew less enamoured with the fiddly bits, although once they were done, I do like the rag-tag look of them. Have a gander:

Go on, charge us. I dare you!

My only issue with them is the two guys on the left. The command bodies from the Bret. men at arms boxes are really distinctive, and the two here both have relatively decent armour, considering they're supposedly peasant scum. I've tried to cover some of it with colour, but I'm still not loving them.

The Ninth Age rules currently have a bowmen upgrade -  Brigands - that may be worth taking though, and I could see them fitting that type of unit, I suppose. Maybe their armour was looted from fallen enemies?

In addition to finishing the archers, I also finished the missing man at arms, taking that to a properly legal unit of 20:

Better late than never!

So all in, that's three minimum strength units down. I've got 3 more knights in progress, and a base-coated/washed Damsel to finish. And I'll be assembling some mounted yeomen and Knights Aspirant too.

Here's my little warband as is:

Three, count 'em, three whole units!

Now I just need to pin down Andy Lawhammer for a game!

Men at arms

A very brief update today on my burgeoning Bretonnians. Very, very slowly burgeoning, but still.

Now, time for the peasants! 

I'm taking a little more time on the Knights, as I want each Knight of the realm to look reasonably impressive on their own, but I thought it would be good to paint up one man at arms and one archer.

No, not you Man at Arms! 

 Now, obviously these guys are designed to look good en masse, so I needed to spend a lot less time on them per miniature; so simple colour schemes and one stage highlights all the way!

For the Men at Arms units, I've decided to stick to my Lord's colour scheme: i.e. mostly black. So, a simple black undercoat, pick out details in flesh, brown and dark metal, wash the detail colours, quick highlight, then quick highlight on the black with Eshin Gray: done. All that remained was to add a transfer (courtesy of Citadel Six) and he was finished. The uniformity of the transfer will really help make them look like one big unit.

On his own: not so much with the fearsomeness. 

I'm pleased with the end result: though basic, he was damned fast to paint, and once he's ranked up with several friends, I'm sure he'll look more impressive.

Next, the archers. Now, the Men at Arms, I reasoned, were actual peasant militia, outfitted & equipped by their lord: in this instance, my general Andre de Lisque. Hence, they'll be in his colours, with his sigil on the shields. The models back that uniformity up: they're not identical, but they're fairly homogenous, and I've avoided adding any extraneous details to them.

For the archers, though, I fancied a more rag-tag approach. I see these guys as hunters, gamekeepers (and maybe even poachers in desperate times!) who're just rounded up to come with the army. Their role as scouts / foragers for the army would make them more independent, and they'd be less uniformly drilled or outfitted than the Men at Arms. 

So I've decided to paint them all slightly differently: mostly leaning towards a green/brown palate, but with plenty variation. Here's the first one:

Twang!

So I've let more colour in there, but kept it reasonably muted. The blue matches another Knight of the Realm (a standard bearer WIP) as my idea is that the archer units will be made up from peasants "belonging" to different lords, i.e. different Knights of the Realm. 

The models reinforce this heterogeneity too; there's lots of different details and various accoutrements you can add to the models, which reflect the independence of these foragers. For instance, this chap has a mallet (for putting in stakes / tents, and a hand weapon in a pinch), and on his back he has a pigeon that he's presumably taken down earlier (and kept for supper).

Yep, that's a pigeon in a pouch. Coo. 

Both models were actually very quick to paint, and while individually they are less impressive, once ranked up I'm sure they'll look good. 

My next WIP is the aforementioned Knights of the Realm standard bearer; hopefully I'll get him done soon. In the meantime, here's my mighty army so far: three whole models! 

Arrayed against the many splendour'd hordes of Elves, the Undead and the Empire of Men, General De Lisque couldn't help but feel somewhat outnumbered.

Until the next time!

VBB

Lord of the Waaagh!

The forest near them burst into uproar. Demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green rushed out howling...stark naked save for the paint and a belt was... One Eye.

With apologies to William Golding, but the Lord of the Flies quotation felt apt, as I've painted my first 5 savage orc boar boys. :)

One Eye's Wild Boyz! Oink!

That takes my army up to 1644 points without magic items, a doable 2K with.

Lords - 320
Morthang (Black Orc Warboss) on Wyvern - 320

Heroes - 349
Drogrot Gorkeye (Orc Shaman - lvl 2) - 100
Mord (Goblin Shaman - lvl 2) - 90
Big Toof (Savage Orc Big Boss) - 77
Leadbelly (Orc BSB) - 82

Core - 705
Skargutz Boyz (10 x Savage Orc Big Uns & command) - 145
Da Red Skullz (15 x Orc Boys & command) - 140
Da Stikkaz (20 x Goblin archers & command) - 110
Da Skuttlerz (10 x Spider Riders & command) - 160
Da Howlerz (10 x Wolf Riders & Command) - 150

Special - 370
Da Iron 'Eadz (5 Orc Boar Boyz & command) - 135
One Eye's Wild Boyz (5 Savage Orc Boar Boyz & command) - 135

The extra 10 Savage Orcs I have on the go will add another 110 points, which is a better total for points, pre-magic items. I've also always got the option of demoting a big boss should I need to (or playing sans-Lord on Wyvern, which would save a lot of points!). 

So that's that for now: should have an update on my Bretonnian Lord soon, just waiting on some custom transfers to arrive. More on that anon!

VBB

Victory! (and not quite victory but not quite utter defeat either!)

As Andy Lawhammer mentions here, and t'other Andrew mentions here, I played a couple of games on Saturday.

The first, against Andrew Bell's undead, was an overwhelming victory for my ladz. Cue happy orcs.

ERMAHGERD! WE WON!

My army mostly performed well. A little bad luck, and a little good; Andrew B was hamstrung by the theme of his army. He wants one led by his PC from our RPG, who is not a vampire, so he has been having a necromancer lord as his general. It turns out necromancer lords are allergic to Black Orc Warbosses. Who knew? Ultimately, my plan was to wipe out his general and back up necromancer. With Orcs, that wasn't so hard. We called it quits in turn 4, as I still had most of my army alive, and he'd lost a chunk of units and both necromancers. That'll do, Orcs. That'll do.

(Andy Lawhammer and I prevailed upon him to use the vampire rules to represent his character (Eichengard) as it's a better fit. Eichengard is tough, a skilled fighter, and rubbish at magic. A rock hard vampire with level 1 necromancy is a much better fit than a level 4 necromancer who is squishier than a marshmallow.)

Not Eichengard

So, to the second game.

As we are still taking a while to play (though we are getting slowly faster, if that makes sense), we decided to make our next game a threeway (steady now!) using the battle royale scenario.

Would it be gauche to mention the lack of a Cathay/Nippon GW army?

We diced off, with Waaaagh Morthang forced to deploy in the middle, the Nulners on one flank and the Restless Dead on the other. I made the decision to focus on Nuln first, as my orcs hadn't eaten any 'oomies for a while, and I knew that if I got bogged down in the undead army, the Empire would fire their cannons and handguns at us both to devastating effect.

I'm hungry for manflesh. Oooer, fnar fnar!

While my orcs did rout the Imperials, it was at devastating cost. My Warlord fell to the Imperial General: Black Orc and Wyvern both underperformed, and the lack of a ward save / anything more than heavy armour meant he fell too easily.

Ultimately, I could only put up a token resistance to the undead, and our final VPs (based on generals, and objectives held) were Undead 3, Orcs 2, Empire 1. If the Wyvern had rolled more than one on his Thunderstomp Morthang would have lived and I'd have got a tie. Still, such are the vagaries of fate!

Lessons Learned
So the games gave me a few things to think about.

Firstly, I need to bulk up my units, especially my Orcs, Savage Orcs and Boar Boyz.

Secondly, I need a couple more characters, including a beefier Savage Orc and a Battle Standard Bearer.

Thirdly, if I'm playing undead, I need a few magic items. Stinking Ethereal units.

I've ordered some more troops, but I have movement on the characters already. Ladles and jellyspoons, I present...Big Toof.

Big Toof. Waaagh and what not.

This is another Avatar of War miniature and I love it almost as much as the shaman. Almost. I did a SHOCKING job on the mould lines, but I tried to make up for that with some more elaborate warpaint. This guy will go with Skargutz's Boyz, giving them a bit more oomph (and, against the Undead, having a cheap magic weapon to let him wade into those stinking ethereal units).

I am looking forward to seeing how he gets on.

Tomorrow I'll be picking up the annoying second shaman model, which I'll be converting to a battle standard bearer, thanks to some Undead bits and bobs given to me by Andrew B.

So that's all for now. The army continues to take shape, and with our first crushing victory I can feel the Waaagh energy growing!

Army Building

So I recently played my second game in our personal Warhammer Rennaissance, this time against Andrew (700 points). Once again, it was a draw, with me ahead on VPs, but not enough to classify as a win (I was 75 VPs ahead, when I needed 100). Nooooooooooo!

Noooooooooooooooo!

Also, it's the second time in a row I've forgotten about my choppas special rule (+1 S in 1st round of combat for Orcs). Not a massive deal, but given how narrowly his necromancer survived, it may have made a difference. Next time I'm going to write it on my hand or something. 

Still, it's a learning curve, and I suspect that when next we meet, I'll be facing more than one necromancer. After the game we had the usual tidying up debrief; Andrew realised having one or two low level spell casters to back up his General would be a plan, and I realised I needed to bolster my army's leadership. 

I also realised that I'd been misreading the rules when it came to characters. I had somehow convinced myself I couldn't take Lord characters unless I was playing over 2,000 points. I have no idea where I got that from, as it ain't in the BRB or the Orc Army Book. I also realised I can have 25% Lords and 25% Heroes. Suddenly, I realised I have a bigger army than I thought, as the wyvern I bought didn't have to sit on the bench for an age. 

GW's awesome Azhag the Slaughterer model: waaaagh!

Here's what I own, right now (not all painted).

Lords: 345 points

Black Orc Warboss on Wyvern (using Azhag the Slaughterer model)

Ruby Ring of Rhuin*

345 points

Heroes: 190 points

Orc Shaman

Level 2

100 points

Goblin Shaman

Level 2

90 points

Core: 805 points

Forest Goblin Spider Riders

x 10, full command

160 points

Wolf Riders

x 5, shortbows, shields, musician

70 points

Wolf Riders

x 5, shortbows, shields, musician

70 points

Goblins

x 20, shortbows, shields, full command

110 points

Orc Boyz

x 15, shields, full command

140 points

Savage Orc Big 'Uns

x 20, additional hand weapon, full command

255 points

Special: 135 points

Orc Boar Boyz

x 5, Spears, Shields, full command, 

135 points

So my totals are:

Lords:    345

Heroes:  190

Core:      805

Special:  135

Total:    1,475

25% of 1.475 is 369, meaning my Lord is just under 25% and my core is well over it. Slam in a couple more magic items (Banner of Discipline? A magic weapon for the Warboss?) and I have a legal 1500 point army!

It's not a great army, by any means, of course. The Orc Boyz and Orc Boar Boyz both need to be bigger. I could really do with some Ld boosting stuff too (Battle Standard bearer? Banner of Discipline? Crown of Command?). 

But it's a 1,500 point army. Cue happy dance!

Numfar! Do the Dance of Joy!

*Ruby Ring of Rhuin - this is actually a sword. It's the Grudgebringer Sword (as featured in Warhammer games "Shadow of the Horned Rat" et al), which in our WFRP game found its way into the hands of a Black Orc. I've converted the sword onto the model, so will always take it for character reasons. More on that once the big fella is painted!

So simply by including the handful of unpainted minis I own, I can more than double the points of my army. Nice! I could also drop a couple of redundant bosses (Goblin archers, I'm looking at you) to get some extra magic items. 

I'm feeling pretty dang pleased with that. And keen to get that Wyvern painted. So enough spraffing.

To the bat-drybrush!