Cities models

[Lord of the Isle]

I have just started recollecting after more than a decade! I’m buying models mostly for aesthetic / nostalgia value but with half an eye on a future Cities force

so far I have -

Old metal Isabella von Carstein (Darkling Sorceress)

Alith Anar (could serve as Nomad Prince, Shadow Walker or something in between?)

5 Shadow Warriors

The Mordheim Elf Ranger

Korhil (both possibly Fleetmasters?)

The Mordheim Pirate Captain (Fleetmaster or Freeguild?!)

The 1995 axe wielding Dark Elf Corsair (Corsair champion or Fleetmaster?!)

In the pipeline currently are -

9 Lothern Sea Guard (dreadspears, darkshards or Corsairs?)

Mordheim Aenur the Sword of Twilight (Nomad Prince poss again? Or Assassin?)

Th Mordheim Freelance Knight Mounted and Foot (Freeguild something? General or pistolier / outrider champion? Blood Knight merc?)

A weird big Mordheim Cult of the Possessed gribbly that came along for the ride (could end up a Sylv? Or an FEC merc?)

Any tips for using and / or expanding these much appreciated, also advice on which city. I’m only interested in friendly play so mercs etc cool as long as background works out!

PS In terms of background I’d like them to be from Azyr but unhappy w Sigmar and the Stormcasts. A haughty, aggressive aelvish noble family plus human vassals, out to colonise Ulgu and or Shyish. Some humans among them unknowingly tainted by vampirism? Maybe even some of the aelves?

EDIT: Aenur, the Freelance and the possessed have escaped out of my budget! But def still intend to find first two

EDIT: got Aenur!

Edited August 22, 2020 by Lord of the Isle

[Lord of the Isle]

No one? TMI?!

TDLR - so far in my eBaying adventures I’ve ended up with six Shadow Warriors led by Alith Anar, four (a)elf characters on foot, a vampire who could easily be a sorceress and (new one) a pirate who could easily be a vampire.

Seems like fate / taste is leading me down some kind of aelvish vampire pirate route but I would really appreciate any advice as to where to go from here!

[dekay]

Alright. First of all, this looks like a great classic model collection!

At first glance, what you have is extremely hero heavy (Mordheim knight on foot is a better model for freeguild general then actual freeguild general model is. You're from now obliged to use him in every list :D).

If you were able to find one more blister of 3 classic shadow warriors, than together with mordheim ranger and one of the characters as a champion, you have a playable unit (aenur would fit the best, but he can also be a nice battlemage and you could use more caster models).

Apart from that, your picks seem pretty solid. Now on to units, and, in all actuality, it will be pretty easy: CoS characters have pretty narrow range of units they can support. You know what characters you have, you need to get them some troops to command.

So, you will need some darkling covens infantry (and funnily enough, they are all good, only their functions differ) for the sorceress, some freeguild troops (on foot, as you lack a grifffon) for the general: handgunners are very good, and guard with sword and shield are one of our best screening units. Greatswords are not bad as well, but honestly I'd advise some of their aelven equivalents. And, for the Nomad Prince, both sisters of the Watch and Eternal Guard are considered pretty solid.

Fleetmasters see some use as well, but it's usually in forces really themed around corsairs and (even more so) scourgerunner chariots.

As you're intending them for friendly games, a healthy mix of different subfactions will serve you well, no need to overtune the list.

[Lord of the Isle]

Thanks for this, really helpful! So doesn’t really matter which city I should say counts as?

I should add I’ve lost the Freelancer for now - but gained a Mordheim / Sartosa pirate captain!

Edited August 23, 2020 by Lord of the Isle

[dekay]

As for particular city:

With so many elves you should probably avoid Greywater Fastness, because it doesn't rally offer them much. Phoenicium is...weird, let's call it so it's probably not the best choice as well. All the others can work pretty well with what you have, it just depends on your future units and what aspects of the army you want to capitalise upon. 

Just remember: cities being themed around particular races is mostly a misconception. Try to avoid thinking, say, Hammerhal is for freeguild, but rather think what can a city do for your army in particular. For example, hammerhal gives command points for banners. Banners held by an elf or a dwarf are working just as well as human ones. Living City may seem like it's themed around wanderers, but it actually supports say, disposessed, just as well. Tempest's Eye is very universal, but you should probably avoid units that are buffed by standing still, regardless of their race. Anvilgard might seem like a corsair city (and is a bit tricky to play, be warned) but it can work pretty well with freeguild and covens, and so on. Hallowheart works with basically anything as long as you take a lot of wizards.

[Lord of the Isle]

Extremely helpful once again! I had vaguely considered both Hammerhal and Living City because of the models I like, but I’m far more drawn to Anvilgard theme and some of the character perks like Secretive Warlock!

You seem to rate Darkling infantry way above Corsairs?

Definitely considering Swordsmasters as Executioners

Also love idea of Aenur as Battlemage! Grey most easily adapted but a bit redundant plus the Darkling? So might star up his cloak and make him Celestial. Someone else can step up as Prince and / or Assassin

I had considered an old Dark Elf manticore to become a dragon or griffon but it has got pricey

EDIT: Aenur as a Celestial battlemage in rules and an aelven Hoeth style loremaster/swordsmaster in background, perfect. Could even convert him some kind of Hurricanum down line 

And going to make freeguild as Dogs of War / Mordheim as poss without breaking bank

Edited August 23, 2020 by Lord of the Isle

[dekay]

5 hours ago, Lord of the Isle said:

You seem to rate Darkling infantry way above Corsairs?

All right, time for a long post ; )

 

Let's put it like this: Corsairs are terrible. Keep that in mind any time you plan on using them, because they're a fascinating combination of being really bad, and being extremely receptive to large number of buffs. Entirety of corsair tactics is making them not terrible, all up to making them good.

First things first: there are two possible weapon options they can have. A handbow and a second blade. This very much determines their role: handbow corsairs are a screen/chaff/objective holder unit. They work best in units of 10, to keep them cheap. They can be used to fill the minimum requirements of Anvilgard battalion as well. Just... don't expect them to do much fighting. They are bad. But they are also cheap and not bad enough to be utterly ignored by the enemy, and they get some extra durability against shooting.

Let's talk about dual blade corsairs though, because this is where things get funny:  Each one of them has two bad attacks. If the unit is large enough, they get +1 to hit. So that's a start!  And, coincidentally, if you take a full unit of 40, they get even cheaper. So let's do that. Now, look at the Fleetmaster. Fleetmaster has an ability giving their melee weapons +1 attack. Nice. But wait' there's more! Each of their attacks comes from a separate weapon profile, so it's +2 attacks each (with +1 to hit for being a large unit!). With 4 attacks a piece, they are now more than twice as killy as their initial stats would suggest. But wait, there's still more! We have multiple ways of increasing their hit chance even more: Hurricanum gives them a further +1 to hit (to total of 2+) while one of the universal command skills (or knight azyros) allows them to re-roll 1's as well. So now we're talking a 40 men blob where everyone has 4 attacks (realistically, not all 40 will get to combat, but hey, they're cheap and it's one more reason to take full unit!), all those attacks hit on 2+ re-rolling 1's, half wounds on 4+ and half on 5+. Still not awesome. But now let's get to what particular cities can grant them:

Hallowheart!

Ignite weapons spell, +1 to wound! Warding brand! Killing them in melee wounds enemies! Combine this with Hallowheart insane casting bonuses and you can actually count on those spells working when you need them.

Tempest's Eye!

+1 save in the first turn, boosting their armour against shooting to 3+, so more of them will actually get to combat! Access to items for both re-rolling failed charges and granting immunity to battleshock (so the enemy must physically remove all 40 of them) and, probably the best thing, Aura of Glory spell. Remember this hurricanum that accompanies them? Now it can give their weapons +1 attack. And remember, they have two separate weapons. 6 attacks a piece yo!

Anvilgard!

There's 40 of them. So removing one to give them and everything around them immunity t battleshock is very solid. And, as a part of battalion, they get +1 to wound against monsters. Not as good as flat +1 in hallowheart buuut, speaking of spells, Anvilgard's great strength is their Vitriolic Spray. Spell that straight up removes armor from one enemy unit. You have guys with 4 attacks each, with no rend, so armor is their biggest weakness... if it's gone, they turn to actual blender. Your opponent will do everything to block this spell, though, so plan it well.

And that's a basic gist of making corsairs good ; ). Is it the best tactic? Hell no, it's complicated and involves many moving parts. Is it fun, especially in friendly games? Very much so!

 

So let's talk about darkling infantry:

Executioners and black guard are more or less the same in function. Mathematically, black guard hit harder but are more expensive. It's your choice, honestly, but if you take executioners, it's best to take a full unit due to their horde discount. Keep in mind, both are generally worse than Phoenix guard, so if you're using them, you should use them in a way that Phoenix Guard won't allow. Namely: A sorceress gives them access to charge after running. This makes them much faster, and opens up a possiblity to use them even for the 1st turn charge! (if the sorceress is on a dragon, she gets a second ability increasing their hitting power as well, and Anvilgard is a good place for dragon sorceresses. Drakescale cloak greatly increases her survivability, drakeblood curse is free, so you should be taking some monster anyway, and vitriolic spray is short ranged so her being closer to the enemy might be useful).

Bleakswords and Dreadspears are... not all that good combat units, but they're good screens, are reasonably resilient and, most importantly, make for a cheapest sacrifice for the Sorceress. Not a very glamorous job, but a unit of 10 is a very common sight. You will rarely need many of them, though. Unit of 10-20 to serve as a sacrifice fodder/screen/honored retinue is enough.

But Darkshards! Darkshards are another great use for the sorceress run and shoot ability, because unlike most of our other shooters, they lose nothing when firing on the move. Individually, their shots are bad, but they are cheap, they are accurate, and most of what I said about Corsair buffs works on them as well (disregard the fleet master and in Tempest's Eye exchange Aura of Glory for Hawk Eyed ; )). With move, run and 16 weapon range, they can reasonably threaten the enemy even if its the 1st turn and you went first. And they're good for blood sacrifices as well.

[Lord of the Isle]

I will keep studying above with care!!

However I’ve just found and captured a reasonableish large beautiful old DE manticore

currently riderless so general on griffon, dreadlord or sorceress on dragon all suddenly options!

[Lord of the Isle]

So, all too much eBaying later, the sequel:

I now have:

1 Vampire (Darkling Sorceress)

Around 10 Shadow Warriors (including various hero options who could represent eg a Nomad Prince or Battlemage)

Korhil (a Fleetmaster?)

The Mordheim / Sartosa Pirate Cap'n (could be Freeguild General or just Champion)

TWO Aenurs (terrible accident...)

A Manticore (Griffin or Dragon?)

A choice of a converted Morathi or the Tzarina to ride it (Sorceress or General?)

Four Mordheim mercenary heroes (Freeguild champions?)

A Dark elf Assassin (phew easy Shadowblade)

About 20 Empire militia w assortment of melee weapons

10 Corsairs with handbows

An Arabyan Wizard on Flying Carpet (Hurricanum?)

Vespero and five of his Vendetta (Freeguild? Corsairs? Something aelven?)

About 15 Empire militia w assortment of missile weapons (Handgunners? Crossbowmen? Archers? Even Darkshards?)

10 Swordsmasters (Executioners)

10 Doomfire Warlocks (Sisters of the Thorn? Pistoliers? Outriders? Dark Riders (they are already assembled as warlocks tho))

 

In the pipeline are, most importantly, a horde more Corsairs but I'm not sure if I'll win them

 

Any advice on the above as ever appreciated! At moment as things have gone so human and Freeguildy I'm leaning towards manticore rider being a gen of griff, perhaps a Secretive Warlock if I go for Anvilgard. But I am all too aware these guys have more coolness than punch

I suppose I could even keep the Manticore riderless and use it as a Hydra / Kharybthyngy?

 

 

 

 

 

[Lord of the Isle]

now bolstered the above with 10 Darkshards and a Mordheim Witch Hunter hero with great sword...

[Greybeard86]

I am in a similar boat, I collect for the models, mostly, but also would like to throw them together for games (and not get stomped all the time :P).

Just felt like showing some love for the thread; in my case I have mostly dwarves, but I am putting together a small force of the old wood elves led by orion (mixed in with thematic new units like skaeth's wild hunt).

In any case, I hope your army remains playable for years to come, and would love to see some pictures of the efforts!

[Lord of the Isle]

I’ll try and put up some pix ASAP...not much currently painted. List in more recent forms on my Ranald thread and the Hallowheart thread!