Kessler

I finally finished my last converted maneater. Converted from Stonehorn spare ogor, I tried to make it similar to Golgfag model. So I added horns on a gutplate and made a cloak from greenstuff, which was my first and therefore quite a challenge. And it did not turn out as well as I had hoped. But for the first one it is okay, I think. View the full article

So, I finally got to rebase all my ogre models. Instead of plain black painted square bases I now have round bases with agrellan earth, stones etc. Looks so much better. I also completed Stonehorn and Thundertusk, both great models and lovely to paint. I will post post pictures of both round bases and new painted models as soon as I get some pictures done. To sum up this year hobby-wise: it was surprisingly fun. I painted my first model ever in March, this year. I took a look on it today and it was pretty funny to compare it with my last model. As I recall, it was pretty hard to paint, but it turned out better than I hoped. Inspired, I youtubed and googled for some time, watched some tutorials and started to paint more and more. And I must say, as an encouragement to all newcomers, the learning curve was fast. And simple. I learned some tricks and after 9 months I think I manage quite well with decent tabletop quality models. And here are the pictures of my very first model, Bretonnian Bowman, and my last model, the Thundertusk. Just to compare. Merry Cristmas and happy new year everybody! View the full article

The half orcs on Crimson Rock were essential for both sides. The battles on the borders were decisive. Battleplan: The Border Wars (points collected by having most units around the objectives). Armies: Points: 2000 Bretonnian army: 5 Grail knights 5 Grail knights 8 Knights of the Realm 1 Field Trebuchet 5 Freeguild Outriders 5 Mounted Yeoman 20 Peasant Bowmen 12 Freeguild Greatswords 10 Freeguild Handgunners 1 Empire General (general) 1 Paladin 1 Battlemage 1 Damsel of the Lady Orc army: 1 Frostlord on Stonehorn (Brew, General, Ravager) 1 Huskard on Thundertusk (Brew) 2 Mournfang Pack 2 Mournfang Pack 10 Savage Orruks 10 Savage Orruks 10 Savage Orruks 1 Icebrow Hunter (Brew) 2 Frostsabre 2 Frostsabre Beastclaw Avalanche Skal Orcs put down some points less, so he rolled on Triumph Table and got to reroll saves. Pre-battle strategy: put all on one card, get first round, cross 24" and charge into Grail Knights and deny their charge. Appear close to Trebuchet with the Hunter and Frostsabres, shoot down the crew and charge into Bowmen to deny the Arrowstorm and some hero. Move close with the Thundertusk and kill the General with Ice Blast and use Vulture to get the Bowmen under 20 models to deny x4 arrowstorm. Move to objectives with savage orruks and keep Bretonnian units busy until orcs have enough points to win. 1st ROUND Shock and Awe. Turn 1: 5 Mounted Yeomen moved close to objective with their special ability. Orcs took the initiative. The Hunter appeared and drank two swigs of the Brew. I figured he'll die anyway next round. Frostlord used his General's ability for rerolling charges for Beastclaw units. Frostlord ran forth, others moved. Huskard moved and blasted the general away with Ice Blast, Hunter shot but managed to hit with only one in spite of +2 to hit and wound. Killed two crew from the Trebuchet. Mournfangs shot, killed one Grail Knight and Blood Vulture killed a Twohander. Savage orruks made a lucky charge to Mounted Yeomen and got more models around the objective. All Beastclaws charged and made ton of mortal wounds: only 1 from battalion, 4 from Stonehorn charge, 2 from Mournfangs. Frostlord attacked first and deleted 4 Grail Knights and 7 Knights of the Realm. And he did not roll very well. Terrible. Mournfangs did not do well, Hunter attacked the Bowmen, Frostsabres the Damsel and Trebuchet crew. Trebuchet was eliminated as were most Grail Knights and all Knights of the Realm with Battleshock. At the end of the combat round orcs had dealt 58 wounds and lost one Mournfang and one Frostsabre. I think orcs got altogether 10 wounds. Orcs: 5 VPs Turn 2: Bretonnia could use general's powers, cast some spells. No arrowstorm due to the units within 3", Bretonnian shooters got -1 to hit due to Avalanche's charge and could not kill anyone. In combat round orcs got some wounds and one Frostsabre was killed. Mournfangs missed basically all attacks and failed miserably as always. Stonehorn saved with mostly sixes and rolled mostly 1s to hit and killed Paladin and no-one else. Bretonnia: 1 VP 2nd ROUND Orcs won priority roll and there we decided to end the game as Bretonnia was mostly killed and orcs having most army intact. Orcs claimed major victory. SUMMARY: Well... I'm afraid it was a boring game for my partner. So I won't be using that list again. 18" charge range together with Destruction Alliance Ability is rather terrible. The alfa strike was thrice as bad as I had thought. But it was nice to try it out. Frostlord's fist attack was terrible. And such a pity Mournfangs are so weak - they are my favourite models and therefore will probably be in my list in the future as well. The tactics work well: killing the General, eliminating the Trebuchet and denying Grails' charges and Bowmen's arrowstorm were decisive, killing so many Grails etc at the first round was a bonus. Sending in Stonehorn/Mournfangs as multi-wound tanks to keep enemy busy and take the objectives worked also well. BATTLE BONUS: increase the range of all generals command abilities and traits by 6“. 3 points from major victory. View the full article

As a little side-trek from destruction, I painted a ghorgon for my kid to play with. The model is HUGE. It took ages to complete. Skin was done with two layers of Cadian Fleshtone plus three layers of red shade. It took some time till I got used to covering so large area with shade, so it is not as smooth as I wanted. I messed up a bit the first layer and could not repair it later. The horns blending I drybrushed (but the brush was just a tiny bit wet) as recommended by ConOgre in his youtube channel: https://youtu.be/n_BzSWJK3qc And that turned out really well, I am very happy with the result. It was a training for my next mournfangs :). I used Ushabty bone, Sepia shade, then Skrag brown+Mournfang brown+Rhinox hide+Abadon black. View the full article

Orcs had found a ruined citadel near the border of the vale. Hastily they started rebuilding it, but Bretonnian scouts reported about the danger and army of Grail Knights set forth. Battleplan: The Monolith (one side has to build a monolith: roll 1d6 each hero phase, 20 points needed to complete, +1 for general adjacent to it, opponent can desecrate it if within 3 inches and rolls 4+; victory conditions: major victory for completing or desecrating the monolith). Matrix result: did not use, as it would have ruined the point of the battleplan. Armies: Points: 1500 Bretonnian army: 6 Grail knights 6 Grail knights 5 Freeguild Outriders 5 Mounted Yeoman 20 Peasant Bowmen 10 Freeguild Greatswords 10 Freeguild Handgunners 1 Empire General (general) 1 Paladin 1 Battlemage Orc army: 5 Ironguts 3 Ogors with 2 clubs 3 Ogors with 2 clubs 5 Savage Orruk Boarboys 20 Savage Arrowboys 10 Savage Arrowboys 1 Savage Big Boss (general) 1 Butcher (with Talisman) 1 Bruiser Standard Bearer (with Battle Brew) Kunnin Rukk warscroll battalion Bretonnians calculated and put down some points less, so he rolled on Triumph Table and got to reroll hits. Pre-battle strategy: use arrowboys with Kunnin Rukk to take down Peasant Archers to deny x4 Arrowstorm, use arrowboys with Kunnin Rukk to kill some Grail Knights, then use all savage orruks as meatshields and chaff to keep the knights from advancing. Then take in the Grail knights charge with ogors and trike with ironguts from behind the lines. 1st ROUND Turn 1: Bretonnia gave initiative to orcs. Orcs rolled 6 for the Monolith, added 1, 7 points! Orcs used Kunnin Rukk to advance with 10 arrowboys and shot the yeomen, killed 2. Moved other units a bit. Butcher tried to cast Mystic Shield with +1 bonus, but failed, rolled 1, took 1 damage, rolled 1 with cauldron, took 2 damage. Fortunately the Talisman saved from 2 wounds. Turn 2: Bretonnia moved forward, charged to 10 arrowboys, killed them, but putting them in reach of 20 arrowboys - hoped that orcs get the initiative next round. Freeguild Handgunners chief shot with his 30" range gun. 2nd ROUND Turn 1: Bretonnia won initiative (and all other initiatives, as always). So the Grail Knights charged to 20 arrowboys in cover, killed 6 (lucky saves in cover), 3 more fled. Some shooting from Handgunners and bowmen. Other units moved forward, second unit of Grail Knights charged to boarboys, killed 4. Last boarboy fled. Turn 2: Orcs rolled 5 for the Monolith, added 1 and 13 points altogether. Orcs had a chance to charge the grail knights. 3 ogors charged the outriders, killed 2. Ironguts got +1 to hit from alliance ability, charged grail knights, killed all 6 of them. Savage boarboys killed one grail knight, and fortunately survived with 2 models against grail knights! Bucher tried to cast spell spell and use the cauldron, but rolled 1 again both times, which put him to 2 wounds. That gluttonous useless ******. And I forgot the Talisman saves. 3rd ROUND Turn 1: Bretonnia won initiative. Surviving Grail Knights killed arrowboys. Other units on foot moved forward, but were still too far away to cast spells etc. Peasant bowmen made arrowstorm to ironguts, 84 hit rolls (4+ hit thanks to Paladin close by, 4+ wound). Fortunatey they did not roll well, 17 successful wound rolls. And even more fortunately - ironguts rolled incredibly well, 5 wounds altogehter and only 1 perished. No battleshock thanks to Inspiring Presence. Turn 2: Orcish masons worked feverishly and rolled 4 for the Monolith, added 1 and 18 points altogether! The citadel was almost complete. Butcher tried casting a spell again, and being furious for inflicting 7 wounds on himself, cast Voracious Maw on 5 Grail Knights. Killed 1 with first bite, then the Maw bit again and 1 more died. Then it was satisfied. The butcher ate from the cauldron, gave +1 to hit for ogors. 3 ogors moved back to defend the citadel, 3 other charged the greatswords, killed 6 (with +1 boost from the butcher). Paladin and greatswords hit back and 2 ogors died. Bruiser shot grail knights, killed one. Ironguts charged the grail knights and killed them. 4th ROUND Turn 1: Bretonnia won initiative. Tried to kill the general with hadgunner chief, but missed. They had no chance to get close to the Monolith before my next hero phase, and my next roll minimum was 2, so 20 points guaranteed. Orcs claimed major victory. SUMMARY: After the first round with Bretonnia attacking 2 turns in a row everything seemed lost to orcs: most orruks killed, 12 grail knights very close to the Monolith, plus 5 outriders and 3 yeomen, with the rest of Bretonnian army coming up from behind. I had lost 23 models, opponent 2. But thanks to lucky Maw, and mostly thanks to boosted ironguts the tables turned quickly. I managed to kill off whole horse riding part of the army, and foot soldiers just couldn't get close enough. If Monolith rolls hadn't been so good, things would have been different. Bruiser Standard Bearer helped to make additional 4 mortal wounds, but stood most of the time pointlessly. Probably it's better to use one wizard instead: less melee power, but more maneuverability and more flexibility. The Butcher failed in everything except the last spell. And caused himself 7 wounds, but fortunately healed 1 and the Talisman helped to fend off 2. The arrowboys should have been more in the back to avoid grail knights' charge, and then shot them with +1 bonus and kunnin rukk for 120 hits. Otherwise the meatshields worked - grail knights charged and killed the boarboys and ogors/ironguts got to charge them, arrowboys kept the other unit of grail knights in place. Grail knights are still awful - they had 3+ to hit, rerolling misses, 3+ to wound, save 2+ (mystic shield or cover), 2 damage. Basically an auto damage from all models if they charged. BATTLE BONUS: 1 additional artifact: mail with 3+ save, ignores rend; 3 points from major victory. View the full article