The Hrafninn Alfrostun | 1/5, built some Beastclaw =)

[Solaris]

Chapter 1: The Rise of Gestur

Spoiler

The wind was increasing in strength again, drowning out all other sounds with its howling. Day after day had passed, and it only ever got stronger, never weaker.  The wind in itself was more or less bearable, but the biting cold that came with it was tough to withstand for even the hardiest of warriors. And then there was that which it heralded…

Gestur looked out over the barren landscape. The Hrafninn Alfrostun had been scouring every nook and cranny of this desolate place, yet their prey was nowhere to be seen. Where could they have escaped off to so quickly? The Stormcast had struck quickly, appearing with lightning strikes all around the Beastclaw. As the battle raged around them, Frostlord Gunnlaug had engaged Thord, Lord Celestant of the Stormhost, in single combat. With only a few swings of his hammer, the Lord Celestant had prevailed, and Gunnlaug lay dead on the ground. Seeing the enemy general slain before them, the Stormcast got bolder, charging the reeling Ogors without hesitation, their war cries booming with thunder. However, a single voice cut through all of this. It started out as a muted snarl, but quickly rose in power until not even the battle cries of the Stormcast could be heard anymore. The whole battlefield turned to look as Gestur charged towards the Lord Celestant, bellowing at the top of his lungs. Picking up the dropped Frost Spear of Gunnlaug he lunged at the enemy and impaled him all the way down to the shaft. The Stormcast watched, mortified, as Gestur started ripping parts off of the still alive Lord Celestant, scarfing them down in grizzly fashion. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the life of Thord ran out and he disappeared into the Celestial Realm to be reforged in the furnaces of Sigmar. Reinvigorated by the thought that Stormcast could in fact be eaten, as long as you ate them alive, and the mighty battle cry of Gestur, the Beastclaw charged once more. Their morale broken, the Stormcast had promptly turned and fled. And now, they were nowhere to be found.

 “Lord. If we drag our feet here any longer, the Everwinter will catch up to us.”

The voice belonged to Korpur, Huskard Torr of the Alfrostun, who had moved up next to Gestur. Gestur was now Frostlord in all but name. The Ogors accepted his leadership, but they had not yet had the time to perform the Rite of Hoctgar, formalizing his position. Gestur knew that the words of Korpur were true – being the Alfrostun’s spiritual leader for decades, the Huskard had an unparalleled communion with the Everwinter.

“Where did we last hear from Flygur?”

Flygur was Gestur’s most trusted Icebrow Hunter. For as long as Gestur had known him, he had yet to lose track of his prey.

“Flygur last sent word to us from north.”

Gestur grunted. If Flygur was headed north, then the Stormcast were probably also headed north.

“Alright, ya mongrels, there’s nothing here. We march!”

Gestur waved his spear, indicating the direction to the rest of the Ogors, and set off.

Hey guys!

This is going to be the army log for my Destruction army! It's going to be (somewhat) focused on Beastclaw Raiders, but I intend to throw in a bunch of other Destruction factions into the army as well. I will post my army progress in this thread, and post some fluff every now and then to advance the storyline. The plot will be centered around the Hrafninn Alfrostun trying to hunt a Stormhost down, because let's face it, who can resist that juicy flavor of Sigmar's thunder boys? As of now, I only have a single model fully painted, but there are more to come, promise! I got inspired looking through vacation photos from Tanzania some time ago, and since at the time it was uncertain if my other army (Tomb Kings) would remain pointed in the next iteration of the GH, I decided to just go for it. The theme of my army will be the lumbering beasts of the savannah! I'm in a bit of a rush to get this army ready for some tournaments this year, so I will try to update regularly.

Cheers for now!

Korpur, Huskard Torr

Spoiler

Korpur, Hrafninn’s Huskard Torr has been with the Alfrostun for as long as anyone can remember. Some say that Hrafninn was originally a regular band of Ogor raiders, pillaging and pilfering to their hearts content, but with no connection to the Everwinter. One day, they found a single large block of ice in the center of an old battlefield. An old Ogor was frozen into the block of ice. The raiders decided to thaw him out – he had plenty of meat on him after all, who could say no to a feast like that? To their big disappointment, Korpur came out of that block of ice alive, and since that day, the Hrafninn raiders have been chased by a particularly aggressive Everwinter. What happened to Korpur before he was frozen into that block of ice, nobody knows. Some say that he was the Frostlord of an old Alfrostun, which was devoured by their Everwinter after losing a battle. Others say that he has the blood of ice demons floating through his veins. If there is even a shred of truth to any of these stories, nobody knows. What the Ogors do know is that Korpur has had the chance and ability to claim the title of Frostlord for himself several times, but denied participation in the Rite of Hoctgar every single time.

 

 

[HeadHunter]

Interesting choice of colors but I love your technique!

[Solaris]

Thanks! I was going for an African savanna kind of feel with the colors, and I think I achieved that. Compared to giraffes and zebras and the like, my color choices could even be called conservative It's very unconventional for Beastclaws though, and I get that it may not be everyone's cup of tea. Hopefully it will look really cool as a cohesive force! Also, with my dislike for green greenskins, more unconventional color choices are coming ;p

[Solaris]

Woop woop, played my first game with Destruction and my first game of the year today! A 1000-point battle between Ironjawz and FEC on a 4'x4'  board playing the Blood and Glory scenario.

Lists and battle report with photos in spoiler:

Spoiler

My list:
Megaboss, General, Battle Brew, Ravager
Warchanter
Weirdnob Shaman
10 Ardboys
5 Brutes
3 Gore-gruntas
Weirdfist

Opponent's list:
Ghoul King on Terrorgheist, General, Red Fury, Cursed Book
20 Ghouls
10 Ghouls
6 Horrors

We chose to play on a 4'x4' board due to playing 1000 points, and randomly selected the Blood and Glory scenario.

I deployed my Gore-gruntas on the objective on my left flank, my foot soldiers on the objective on my right flank, and the heroes in the middle. My opponent put the 20 Ghouls on the left side, 10 Ghouls and 6 Horrors on the right, and the Terrorgheist in the middle.

Battle round one saw some cautious movements forward from both sides.

I won the priority in battle round two, and set up to receive his charges. I put my Gore-gruntas in the way of his Terrorgheist and large Ghoul unit, my Ardboys as a screen in front of my Brutes to tank and take some casualties, allowing the Brutes to strike back.

Perfect! The Gore-gruntas take almost no damage from the Terrorgheist and the Ghouls, the Megaboss wipes out the small Ghoul unit and the Brutes and Ardboys go to town on the Horrors.

Battle round three doesn't see many map movements, the game has turned into a grind. The Megaboss assists the Brutes and Ardboys in wiping out the Horrors, and the Ghouls and Terrorgheist take out two Gruntas. Here I made a crucial error: when removing casualties, I took away the two leftmost Gruntas, freeing up the Ghouls. My hope was that the remaining Grunta would survive against the Terrorgheist for another turn - that was pure greed. The Terrorgheist had hit pathetically for two turns straight, but that is not something I should rely on. Instead I should have kept the Grunta in the middle alive, to bind up both the Terrorgheist and the Ghouls for another turn, and assume he would die. Instead, this happened:

My opponent ran the Ghouls up and charged my characters from behind, almost killing the Warchanter and Weirdnob. My Brutes and Ardboys are also engaged in combat, but mostly do not get within striking range. The Terrorgheist disposes of the last Grunta and is now free.

Disaster! My opponent wins priority for battle round four, and charges the Terrorgheist in. Of course, he gets the 6 mortal wound procc off and eradicates my Brutes. In my turn, I charge my Megaboss in in the hopes to salvage the game. The Terrorgheist proccs the 6 mortal wounds again, and the Megaboss is history. This is the situation at the end of battle round four:

I have my Weirdnob left on one wound, and 4-5 Ardboys. My opponent has his GK on Terrorgheist and a handful of Ghouls. Neither of us is in a position to win a major - since I won priority, I would have disengaged and ran across the board to take one of his home objectives, and he then doesn't have enough units to kill me, take it back and also take my two home objectives. He has killed more than me, so wins a minor because of that, and I'm not going to fight it out and risk him wiping me out in my turn and capping my two home objectives in his turn. So, regardless what he does, he wins a minor. We decide to end the game here.

I've already mentioned the error with removing the wrong Grunta. Leaving the middle one alive would have delayed the Ghouls for another turn, allowing me to mop up the last Horrors and repositioned. I'm fairly confident that my Ardboys, Brutes, and Megaboss would have been able to butcher the opposition with the support of my Warchanter and Weirdnob then. It is possible that I could have made a tactical retreat, to block his way and delay him even further at some point - I'm not entirely sure. I also made some positional errors due to not being used to the ranges of certain abilities, and outright forgot some other abilities. Being my first game with the army, I guess that's to be expected. What really decided the game was the two Gaping Maw proccs, wiping out my two heavy hitters. The fact that I failed literally all casting rolls with my Weirdnob, except for a first turn Mystic Shield that had no impact, was also a bit of a bummer since I paid 100 points for the Weirdfist formation

Blood and Glory on a 4'x4' between two 1000-point melee armies turned out to not be the most strategically challenging affair. It was virtually impossible to play the objective game without killing the other guys army first, so in the end it just devolved into a meat grind in the middle. Oh well, what can you do.

All in all, it was fun to play again, haven't been able to in a while. I look forward to playing another couple of games tomorrow

 

[Solaris]

Played another two games today! First game was a 1000-point Take and Hold vs Khorne mortals, and the second game was a 1500-point Border War against the same opponent that will be reported later.

Lists and battle report:

Spoiler

I ran the same list as yesterday, i.e.:

Megaboss, Warchanter, Weirdnob Shaman, 5 Brutes, 10 Ardboys and 3 Gore-gruntas in a Weirdfist.

My opponent ran:

Chaos Lord, Sorceror Lord, 2x10 Warriors, 5 Knights and 3 Skullcrushers, everything except for the Skullcrushers being part of the Godsworn Champions of Ruin battalion.

We played Take and Hold. This is how we set up:

I placed my Megaboss center, Ardboys and Brutes to the left with the Warchanter and Weirdnob, and Gruntas on the right. He placed his Skullcrushers on my left, 10 Warriors with Lord and Sorc Lord in the center, and 10 Warriors plus the Knights on my right.

I wanted to deny him on my right flank by running interference with the Gruntas, while crushing his forces on my left flank. I finished deploying first, and gave him first turn. I then moved up and positioned to receive his charges. That way, if I win priority I will get some good charges off, and if I don't I am still fine. Ardboys in front of Brutes and Megaboss for the counter pile in. Also, my Weirdnob did 5 mortal wounds on his Lord at 24" distance with an Arcane Bolt. Yay Weirdfist!

He gets priority for the second turn, and gets some charges off.

The Lord and right-hand group of Warriors also tried to charge, but failed. The fight is one sided. The Ardboys and Gruntas are too tanky, whereas the Brutes and the Megaboss are too killy.

On my turn, I blast the Lord to cinders with my Weirdnob, turning him into a Chaos Spawn. I know he technically has to pay reinforcement points for that, but I thought I'd give him that. My Megaboss Rampagingly Destroys his way forwards, getting within 6" of the Gruntas who then proceeds to roll a 5 of their Rampaging Destroyers move, allowing them to disengage from the Knights. The Brutes also disengage with Rampaging Destroyers, and start slogging towards his objective. My Gruntas move up the field in between his units, and charge the Sorc Lord.

This is the situation when we roll for third turn priority. All his ****** is dead, except for 10 Warriors and 4 Knights on the right flank.

I win priority. My Megaboss charges and kills the Spawn, my Gruntas set up as a shield between his remaining units and his objective, the Brutes continue slogging slowly towards it and the rest of my forces retreat back home to cover my own objective.

At this point my opponent has very limited options. He charges my Megaboss and Gruntas in the hopes of preventing me from taking his objective and get a major. The Megaboss suffers a few wounds, and one Grunta dies. In return, all Knights and a few Warriors die.

At this point my opponent gives up. He has killed 2 Ardboys and 1 Grunta in total, and lost his whole army barring 7-8 Chaos Warriors. There is nothing he can do to prevent me from both tabling him and taking both objectives in the fourth turn.

Lessons learned this game: The Weirdfist is actually pretty strong. Yesterday my casting rolls were abysmal, but with +6-12" range and +2-3 damage, as well as +1-2 to casting rolls, Arcane Bolt becomes a huge threat and a reliable sniping tool. My opponent made some big mistakes already in deployment, which allowed me to control the movement of his army with my Gruntas. Divide and conquer. He also charged me on my terms, and ended up getting decimated for it.

 

[Chris Tomlin]

Hey @Solaris,

Good thread you've got going here, sorry I missed it before! Nice mix of fluff, lists, reports and most importantly; photos! People love to see pics (though I'll admit it makes my viewing at work more difficult as a closet gamer haha!!), so you've nailed that.

The fluff and theme for the Beastclaw sounds cool and I like the African savannah look you've gone for and achieved. Basing really helps as it is, but perhaps you could look into some tall grass as well?

So that aside, Ironjawz are what you're playing at the moment and most interestingly the Weirdfist. It's cool to hear you are doing well with it, I'd love it to be good. I just think it's so meta dependant. As soon as you're facing some of the D3 ranged damage that's out there, I think it becomes an expensive liability. Remains to be seen though. Still, it's definitely fun so I'm pleased to see it getting some use.

What are your painting plans then? Plug along with the BCR, or has playing with the Ironjawz swayed you to prioritise them? Will the colour scheme / theme remain the same? Zebra striped Gruntas could be sweet!!

Keep up the posts. Good work,
Chris

[Solaris]

On 2017-02-22 at 4:04 PM, Chris Tomlin said:

Hey @Solaris,

Good thread you've got going here, sorry I missed it before! Nice mix of fluff, lists, reports and most importantly; photos! People love to see pics (though I'll admit it makes my viewing at work more difficult as a closet gamer haha!!), so you've nailed that.

The fluff and theme for the Beastclaw sounds cool and I like the African savannah look you've gone for and achieved. Basing really helps as it is, but perhaps you could look into some tall grass as well?

So that aside, Ironjawz are what you're playing at the moment and most interestingly the Weirdfist. It's cool to hear you are doing well with it, I'd love it to be good. I just think it's so meta dependant. As soon as you're facing some of the D3 ranged damage that's out there, I think it becomes an expensive liability. Remains to be seen though. Still, it's definitely fun so I'm pleased to see it getting some use.

What are your painting plans then? Plug along with the BCR, or has playing with the Ironjawz swayed you to prioritise them? Will the colour scheme / theme remain the same? Zebra striped Gruntas could be sweet!!

Keep up the posts. Good work,
Chris

Cheers, thanks man! I ordered some Woodland scenics tall grass and fallen branches a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the store lost its supplier and is looking for a replacement. Might take some time still before I receive the stuff.

On the painting table next is 2x5 Brutes, 3 Gruntas and a Warchanter, then I'll move into adding some grots for generic battleline. Otherwise, I can't legally combine Beastclaw and Ironjawz Following that, I'm getting the big Beastclaw box for another Thundertusk (Tungur, Huskard Eurl) and Frostlord Gestur on his Stonehorn.

In the end, my goal is to get tournament ready towards the summer, so my painted additions will follow along with what I want to run competitively. I'll still put together and test out other parts of the ranges though, they just won't get painting priority for the time being!

[Chris Tomlin]

Hey @Solaris,

Basing materials sound good. Perhaps cancel your order and shop online? I think the bits you've described will finish the models off perfectly.

I look forward to seeing what paint schemes you have in mind for the Orruks in your army.

Where abouts are you in the world? Sorry if I missed it.

[Solaris]

10 hours ago, Chris Tomlin said:

Hey @Solaris,

Basing materials sound good. Perhaps cancel your order and shop online? I think the bits you've described will finish the models off perfectly.

I look forward to seeing what paint schemes you have in mind for the Orruks in your army.

Where abouts are you in the world? Sorry if I missed it.

Yeah, I may just do that. Problem is that I already ordered through a webstore, and if they cannot find a supplier in Europe, I doubt I can. I will look at alternatives though.

Regarding my greenskins, the inspiration for the army is the tribes of the African savanna. My Ironjawz warclan will be called the Ruztbukkitz - infer from that what you will

I'm based in Southern Sweden, Lund more specifically. If you're ever passing by, don't hesitate to give me a shout! Aside from that, I will be attending a certain event in Derby involving 6 nations in June. Would be cool to meet some of the local Frostlords and Megabosses there for a pint or two!

[Chris Tomlin]

@Solaris - Awesome, sounds great! Looking forward to seeing them.

As for 6 Nations, I am currently one of the two reserves for Team England and regardless plan to attend the event, so I shall see you there!

[Solaris]

On 2/24/2017 at 11:22 AM, Chris Tomlin said:

@Solaris - Awesome, sounds great! Looking forward to seeing them.

As for 6 Nations, I am currently one of the two reserves for Team England and regardless plan to attend the event, so I shall see you there!

Cheers! It'll be a blast I'm sure.

Second game from last sunday we played 1500 points Border War.

Lists and battle rep in the spoiler:

Spoiler

I added another 5 Brutes to my Weirdfist, and my Huskard on Thundertusk. I know the it makes my list illegal, but I wanted to try out my one painted mini, and my opponent was fine with it. My list:

Megaboss, Huskard on Thundertusk, Weirdnob Shaman, Warchanter, 2x5 Brutes, 10 Ardboys and 3 Gore-gruntas in the Weirdfist formation.

My opponent added a Skullcannon and a Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury, and played:

Chaos Lord, Sorceror Lord, 2x10 Chaos Warriors and 5 Knights in the Godsworn Champions of Ruin battalion, 3 Skullcrushers, Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury and a Skullcannon.

This battle report will be shorter than the previous one, since I don't really remember the details. I deployed somewhat spread out, with 5 Brutes together with the Huskard on the left, the Gruntas on the right and everything else in the center.

My opponent put his Knights and Skullcrushers on the left, Bloodthirster with Sorc Lord and Skullcannon in the center, and the Warriors with the Chaos Lord on the right.

My opponent accidentally told me the wrong number of drops he had, which led to him finishing deployment first and deciding who gets the first turn. I let it slide, didn't really bother me and I don't mind the challenge of playing in suboptimal conditions. For some reason, he decided to go first.

In my turn, I moved my whole army up: Brutes just within 6" of the left objective, Ardboys forming a wall far up in the center, second Brute unit and Megaboss ready to counter-pile, and Gruntas blocking on the right. My Weirdnob left the Skullcannon at one wound left, so I blasted it out of existence with my Huskard. I'm not sure it was the right decision (5 wasted mortal wounds), but I was afraid he would put some wounds on the Thundertusk and reduce my damage. Next time, I might just blast the Bloodthirster to hell with both the Weirdnob and Huskard.

The behemoths staring off:

He gets priority in the second turn and charge with his Bloodthirster, 10 Warriors and the Skullcrushers, all into the Ardboys. I think he forgot to charge with his Knights here. He puts 3 wounds on the Megaboss with his whip, and then brutally murders him with the Bloodthirster. He proceeds to kill a few Ardboys, but doesn't do much more in the combat phase. I counter-pile in both units of Brutes, my Thundertusk, one Grunta and the Ardboys and decimate his Warriors, Skullcrushers and leave the Bloodthirster at 6 wounds exactly.

My turn! I shoot the Bloodthirster off the board with my Thundertusk and kill his Sorc Lord with an Arcane Bolt Weirdfisted up to 8 damage. Using Rampaging Destroyers, I disengage my unit of Brutes on the left, and put the last Skullcrusher in the coffin with my Huskard's Blood Vulture. I then charge the Brutes on the left into his Knights, and the Brutes on the right plus Gruntas into his second unit of Warriors. 

At this point my opponent concedes. He is fighting two losing battles on the flanks, and one evenly matched one that doesn't matter in the middle (Ardboys vs Warriors). Next turn he will likely only have his Chaos Lord and a couple of scattered models left, whereas I will still have most of my army intact. We are still equal in points (if I remember correctly), but he has no way of preventing me from running away in points by taking 3 or even 4 objectives in the next couple of turns. Major victory!

My opponent made a bunch of mistakes this game. Just like in the previous game, he allowed me to fight his army piecemeal with my full force. This led to half his force being decimated, while I suffered minimal losses in return. I could then turn my attention toward his remaining forces, at which point we both knew that he was screwed and he gave up. There's not really a whole lot for me to learn here - my opponent messed up, and I capitalized.

 

[Solaris]

Tried out some skin colors on my Brutes. Very much prefer the one on the right, and I'm pretty sure I will go for that one. The depth of the color doesn't really show at all in the picture, but oh well =)

[Solaris]

Finished my test brute some time ago! I have the rest of his unit plus my Warchanter in a late WIP stage, will update when they are finished.

Sadly the colors don't come out very accurately at all in the pictures, he looks much better in the flesh. Oh well. I will try to take better pictures when I post the whole unit!

[Chris Tomlin]

19 hours ago, Solaris said:

Sadly the colors don't come out very accurately at all in the pictures, he looks much better in the flesh. Oh well. I will try to take better pictures when I post the whole unit!

Ha! You sound just like me. Never happy with the photos I take of my models.

As it is, I really like the scheme you've got for. The dark flesh works perfectly with the overall palette, theme and basing. I like the battered armour look. The only thing I'm not 100% on (which may be down to the pics) is the red warpaint. I'm not sure if it's the right contract, but yeh like I say that could just be because the lighting is a bit dark.

But yeh, good work man, I like him! Look forward to seeing more.

[Solaris]

Update time! Finally finished the unit of Brutes and the first Warchanter a few days ago! I also managed to work from home this morning, meaning I could snap some pictures in daylight.

Ruztbukkit Warclan

Spoiler

The Ruztbukkits has been a constant plague of the Kimumi Plains for as long as anyone can remember. In typical Ironjawz fashion they are always on the move, never settling down for any extended period of time. Warlike beyond compare, this has led to most other Kimumu tribes, whether Human, Aelven, Duardin or Grot, feeling the brunt of the Ruztbukkit rage at one point or other. Some particularly devious minds have tried to manipulate, or even enlist, the Ruztbukkitz to do their bidding, so that they may spread their influence further and conquer their enemies. This inadvertedly ends in tragedy, as the Ruztbukkitz are a true enigma and are as likely to fight their allies as they are to fight their enemies. As long as they get a good scrap, they do not care much for whom they fight.

There is but one notion that the Ruztbukkitz respect: might makes right. This has led to the development of a rather peculiar tradition, where whoever kills the old leader becomes the new leader. They always follow their leader unquestioningly – if you don’t like what the leader says, you just have to kill him and become the new leader! Unlike other Ironjawz, the Ruztbukkitz do not care much about who the new leader is, as long as he is strong enough to last. Throughout the years, this has resulted in a number of peculiar situations, where they switched allegiance in the middle of battles as their current Megaboss was slain. At one point the human settlement of Sar Dalaam found itself a lot of trouble as a horde of screaming and chanting Orruks stood outside of its gates, trying to swear their allegiance to the Lord’s horse. There are also stories of how the Ruztbukkitz spent an entire season mimicking the bestial behavior of the great plainswyrm Mammoroth, after it ate their previous leader. Eventually, one in the endless line of challengers managed to slay the beast, and took the warclan out to rampage across the plains once more.

5 Brutes:

Warchanter Sik’beatz Bonkaz

Spoiler

Bonkaz is, according to himself at least, the best at riling up the boys for battle. Bashing skulls, rocks, tree trunks and anything else within reach furiously, he never fails to get the Ruztbukkitz amped up to fight (although sometimes the excessive head bashing makes them want to fight Bonkaz rather than the enemy). Holding immense pride in his unofficial position as the warclan’s premiere riler-upper, Bonkaz takes huge offense to the fact that his arch rival, Splat’brush Kubizt, makes the boys itch for a fight with something as stupid at paint. Something like that just ain’t proper! Bonkaz knows that the only true way to get the boys going is to make a lot of loud noise, and he works tirelessly to prove this to everyone in his vicinity.

With the arrival of the Hrafninn Alfrostun, Bonkaz has found a new, albeit deadly, subject to receive the attention of his Gorkstikk and Morkstikk. The large tusks of the Thundertusks just make the most marvelous sound when you hammer at them! The easiest way to get within reach of the Thundertusks is when they sleep, and Bonkaz regularly sneaks over in the dead of night to have a wild jam session with the sleeping animals. This is typically not appreciated by the hulking beasts, and Bonkaz has found himself frozen solid from their frozen breaths several times. The first time it happened, the Ogors had a Grot-tossing competition to decide who would get to eat Bonkaz as he was thawing over a camp fire. Winning the competition, Huskard Eurl Tungur was immensely disappointed when the Warchanter survived the ordeal. Since then, Tungur has kept a close eye on Sik’beats, waiting for his demise so that he can claim his prize.

On 3/6/2017 at 11:41 AM, Chris Tomlin said:

Ha! You sound just like me. Never happy with the photos I take of my models.

As it is, I really like the scheme you've got for. The dark flesh works perfectly with the overall palette, theme and basing. I like the battered armour look. The only thing I'm not 100% on (which may be down to the pics) is the red warpaint. I'm not sure if it's the right contract, but yeh like I say that could just be because the lighting is a bit dark.

But yeh, good work man, I like him! Look forward to seeing more.

Still not entirely happy with them, haha! I should maybe avoid direct sunlight next time. We're having a fantastic day here in Southern Sweden for once though! Thanks for the compliment! I am quite happy with the red warpaint actually, but now that I think about it I can go with the same white color that I used for the Thundertusk. The reason I went red originally was because of the grey skin color I was planning, but then I changed the skin color without considering the war paint, haha. I might switch it up later on, with some red and some white.

[Solaris]

I've managed to get some games in (fairly) recently. Will post some write-ups here to keep the log complete, though I didn't take enough pictures to do full reports (does anyone read and appreciate them anyway? lol).

First game was almost two weeks ago, against a 12-year old guy who's father asked for opponents on a facebook page. He didn't know the rules for matched play, and showed up with 1200 points worth of Khorne BB and Khorne Demons without any battleline. Fair enough! I played a Weirdfist with the Weirdnob, 2x5 Brutes, 10 Ardboys, 3 Gruntas, a Warchanter and a Megaboss. Writing a recap of this game is kind of pointless, since I made some stupid/risky plays on purpose to keep the game even. We played Three Places of Power, and in the end it all came down to the initiative roll for the fourth turn. We were even on points - if I won the roll off, my Weirdnob would blast the last couple of wounds off of his Bloodsecrator, and he wouldn't be able to score anymore. If he won the roll, his Bloodcrushers, who had been tied up by my Gruntas up to this point, would be able to charge my Weirdnob, and then I would be the one unable to score. Since it was getting really late, we decided that the winner of the initiative roll would win the game. I lost =) Some highlights from the game include when my Megaboss bursted his Bloodthirster down from full health to two wounds in one combat phase, and my Weirdnob rolling doubles and blowing his own head up two times in a row!

Played two games today, both at 1500 points, and both were the Border War scenario.

First game against Death in the spoiler:

Spoiler

My list in the first game:
Megaboss, Huskard on Thundertusk, Gitmob Shaman, 20 Moonclan Grots with spears, 2x20 Gitmob Grots with bows and 3x5 Brutes in the Brutefist formation.

My opponent's list:
VLoZD, Necromancer, Wight King with Black Axe, 3x20 Skeleton Warriors and 20 Grave Guard.

My gameplan here was to wait until he committed his deployment, then deny the flank he committed to and crush him on the other side of the map. It worked wonders - he put one unit of Skeletons, his Grave Guard and his Wight King on the right-hand side of the table. I put a unit of Brutes opposite to him, so that if he started moving his Grave Guard towards the center I would sweep in and take the objective from his hapless Skeletons. I put the rest of my units in a line from the center to my left flank. My goal was to quickly dispose of his VLoZD in the center or on the left, while his Grave Guard were either trying to corner my Brutes on the right or slowly slogging across the field. The VLoZD, with Red Fury and Tomb Blade, constantly casting Mystic Shield on himself, is a tough cracker, but I was confident that the mortal wound output from my Thundertusk and my Brutefist would be able to take him down. Oh how wrong I was!

This is the setup:

My opponent moved forward and capped both midboard objectives. In my turn, I moved up to the one on the left and took control of it with my massive number of Grots. My Thundertusk dealt 4 wounds to the Vamp Lord - good saves from him, but a solid start! I won initiative, and missed with my Thundertusk. Oh well! I then charged my two left-hand units of Brutes and my Moonclan in. Here I made a mistake - by charging my Brutes into the Skeletons, I had to leave a gap where his VLoZD could pile in and attack one of the units. I should only have charged the Grots in, and spammed the Skeletons with some arrows. The Vampire got two combat phases with Red Fury, and annihilated one of the Brute units. Ouch. In his turn, he killed the rest of my Moonclan and put one wound on the Thundertusk with Blood Boil. One crucial wound (not really, but I didn't check my warscroll properly and believed that one wound was enough to knock the Thundertusk down to d6 damage)!

I won priority for turn 3, failed to heal my Thundertusk back up, hit with his attack and did 1 mortal wound on the d6 roll. My Megaboss did some damage, and my Brutes failed rather miserably. On his turn, he recovered 5 wounds with the Chalice. He also started moving his Grave Guard toward the center, since I would no longer be able to stop him there. I believe he killed the last Brutes on the left-hand side this turn as well.

He won priority for turn 4, and we agree I was rightly and truly fucked at this point. My Megaboss with 20 Gitmob archers would not be able to put a dent in his VLoZD, and his Grave Guard would kill my archers in the center and earn enough scenario points to make it impossible for me to come back. We decided the game was over, and played out a hypothetical scenario in which I won priority, in order to see if I would be able to salvage the game. Long story short, i couldn't - the VLoZD ate the Megaboss and the Gitmob, my Thundertusk once again failed to heal himself and missed with his bad breath. I managed to take the right-hand objective with my remaining Brutes, but at the end of turn 4 I was nearly tabled and had 15 scenario points to his 29. GG!

Main lesson to be learned from this game is that if you don't read your warscrolls properly you will lose, and deservedly so. In addition, one Thundertusk can fail completely, and be a complete point sink if you're unlucky. Bringing in another one will more or less guarantee a stable mortal wound output, and massively improve their ability to heal themselves.

The next game was also Border War, against the 12-year old Khorne guy. I decided to play a somewhat gentler list, swapping the Thundertusk and Brutefist out for 3 Gruntas, a Weirdnob, the Weirdfist and 2 Fanatics.

My opponent ran a Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage, a Mighty Lord of Khorne, Bloodsecrator, Bloodstoker, 10 Bloodletters, 5 Blood Warriors, 20 Bloodreavers, 2x3 Bloodcrushers, a Skullcannon and a Korgorath.

I decided to do my best this game, in part because I think he noticed that I went easy on him last time, and in part because I was a little frustrated from losing the previous game (I mean come on, my Thundertusk dealt 7 wounds over the course of 4 turns, 3 of which were saved, what the heck is that about!) I will write a recap of the game tomorrow.

Cheers!

[Raptoria]

I'm reading! Loving the write ups, so please keep them up.

I also like what you're doing with the savannah theme for BCR, just might steal that

What colours did you use for the Orruk skin? Looks quite nice (I like it better than the one on the frostlord, to be honest.)

[Solaris]

30 minutes ago, Raptoria said:

I'm reading! Loving the write ups, so please keep them up.

I also like what you're doing with the savannah theme for BCR, just might steal that

What colours did you use for the Orruk skin? Looks quite nice (I like it better than the one on the frostlord, to be honest.)

Thanks! The Orruk skin is Rhinox Hide washed with Carroburg Crimson and then highlighted with a 60/40 mix or Rhinox Hide and Ratskin Flesh. Finally I add a tinge of Khorne Red to the mix to pick out veins.

I wanted the Orruks to be natives of the savannah, while the BCR ended up there more or less by chance. Therefore the BCR would have a lighter but somewhat sunburned skin tone, while the Orruks would be really dark.

[Solaris]

Update time! Managed to finish my Weirdnob Shaman and his Balewind Vortex. A failed experiment with Vallejo's fluorescent paints left the Vortex with a thick undercoat of paint that I couldn't be arsed to strip before repainting. As such, I am not too happy with it, but whatever, it's a terrain piece after all.

Weirdnob Shaman Profzor X

Spoiler

“Profzor” is a title this Orruk Shaman has claimed for himself after successfully publishing his “research” in a number of prominent scientific journals. He holds the record for the shortest editorial and peer-review process ever, achieved when he submitted his work titled “Orrukz iz bezt and diz iz why” (basically a long bullet list of the Orruks’ good points, “*Dey iz ztompy”, “*Dey iz ded ztompy”, etc…) to the “Excelsis: Zoology” journal. With the mad look in X’s eyes, and the horde of screaming and stomping Orruks outside of the city walls, it took the editorial board a mere five minutes to accept the manuscript for publication. After receiving his title in a similar manner, Profzor X is now one of the most distinguished Orruk scientists in the realms.

Aside from his noble scientific pursuits, Profzor X is akin to any other Orruk in his love for mindless violence. When he is not in the thick of it himself, he enjoys summoning in Balewind Vortex so that he can enjoy the carnage from a high vantage point, calling down the Foot (and other limbs) of Gork where it causes the maximum amount of mayhem. He also has a passion for putting things to the torch, and has created massive plains fires on more than one occasion. The Ruztbukkitz usually gather up and watch the sea of green flaming glory in mesmerized fashion until some of the ladz start burning, and they realize they have to make a run for it.

The past month or so I've played a bunch more games, and at this point I can't really remember them all. The one game I can remember is one I played the other day, at 1500 points with a mixed Destruction list against FEC using the Imprisoned in Ice battleplan from the Beastclaw Raiders book. A recap with the lists follows in the spoiler below:

Spoiler

My list contained a Huskard on Thundertusk, Moonclan Shaman, Gitmob Shaman, Grot Warboss, 60 Moonclan Grots with spears, 2x20 Gitmob Grots with bows, 3 Gruntas and an Aleguzzler Gargant.

My opponent played (from memory) a Ghoul King on Terrorgheist, a Varghulf, Crypt Haunter and Crypt Ghast Courtier, 30 Ghouls, 10 Gouls and 2x3 Crypt Horrors. He also had the Abattoir formation, I believe.

He started by setting up his whole army in the middle of the board. I then deployed my whole army as close to his as I could. In this scenario, his army was stuck in ice, and he had to roll for each unit in the hero phase to see if the unit broke free or if it remained frozen.

My plan was to make use of this and fight part of his army with my whole army, charging him with as much as possible already on the first turn. I charged his 30-man Ghoul unit with my 60 spear Grots and my Gargant, shot his general off the board in the first turn and charged his 10 Ghouls in the backline with my Gruntas as a diversion. Everything went according to plan, except for one small detail - the 30 Ghouls that I expected to be toast from my 60 Grots and my Gargant hardly took any damage at all, and killed the pathetic Gargant in return. On his turn, he got a long-range charge off with his Varghulf and put a bunch of wounds into my Thundertusk, reducing its damage output from 6 to d3 mortal wounds. My units continued being ineffectual, and my whole army slowly got whittled down by two thirds of his. At the end of turn 3 we called it quits, since I no longer had any chance of winning.

In the end, I was rather surprised by the pitiful damage output of the Grots and the Gargant. Sure, they are not the best combat units in the game, but if I had charged the 40-man Skeleton unit that I run regularly with my Tomb Kings into the same 30 Ghouls, there would have been absolutely nothing left to hit me back. The 60 Grots with Netters and Inspiring Presence were rather durable though, and I guess that is generally their function. I really felt that I lacked the tools I needed with this list (not surprisingly since the list was written for my 12-year old opponent with random Khorne units thrown together and I was too lazy to write another list for this stronger opposition), and so I will bring something more competitive next time.

Cheers!

[Solaris]

Got myself the Icewind Assault box and built Frostlord Gestur and Huskard Eurl Tungur! These kits are so much fun to build, and conversions are super easy since a lot of the parts are interchangeable with the Mournfang kit. I blu-tacked them together to snap some photos, but everything comes apart for priming and painting. I'm not sure about the broken tusk (though you see a lot of broken tusks in elephants for example), and might replace it with a whole one later on. Any opinions on that would be helpful =)

Frostlord Gestur:

Tungur, Huskard Eurl:

The Hrafninn gang, so excited to get these guys painted up!