The Grand Tradition Of Losing

Today my old opponent S and I travelled to Warhammer World and played two games of Warhammer Fantasy 6th Edition. We each brought two 2,250 point armies, I wrote (well, adapted) two scenarios, and we randomised things by rolling to see which army we chose first, and what scenario we'd be fighting. The first game was my Skaven versus S's Wood Elves, and the scenario was a slightly adapted Breakthrough - the Wood Elves having to get units into my deployment zone and I had to stop them:

Deployment from my side. The terrain was placed then its position scattered 2d6 using the "Storch Method" named after a fellow on one of the 6th Edition Facebook groups

Wood Elf deployment! The Skaven line looked quite formidable...

End of Turn 1 from the Skaven point of view - you can see where the Stormvermin had run away for a bit after taking a bunch of casualties to shooting. I remembered after the game that they had a 4+ ward save against shooting that wasn't S5 or greater. You can also see that the right-hand Clanrat unit is missing two ranks... that's because the Ratling Gun that's pointing at them misfired (of course) and instead of obliterating the Scouts that are behind the grey woods in the middle, pumped a spray of lead into their comrades instead. Yes-good! All as the Horned Rat wills-demands!

End Turn 1 from the Wood Elf perspective. Those Scouts were very lucky that I got greedy with the Ratling Gun...

End Turn 2, Skaven view: the poison wind globadiers were initially charged by an Alter Kindred Noble, but a Stand and Shoot with poison gas killed him outright! So they then got pasted by arrows, and the Warlock Engineer decided discretion was the best part of valour and ran away errr performed tactical repositioning. The Stormvermin had regained their position in the line and were now Frenzied thanks to the Grey Seer. The Tunnel Team hadn't bothered showing up this turn sadly.

End Turn 2, Wood Elf view: the rat swarms did a great job of stopping the Wardancers, but the Wild Riders and Warhawks were posed to be a serious pain. The Glade Guard has killed the Ratling Gun, and one of the Spellsingers had used a spell to turn one of the Warpfire Throwers into mush.

End Turn 3, Skaven View: at this point I conceded. My Clanrats were dead or fleeing, my Rat Ogres wildly out of position, my Jezzails unable to do anything as the Eternal Guard were hiding in the wood, the Tunnel Team having arrived late were unable to get a charge off and were now sitting ducks (rats?), and S still had almost every unit entirely intact.

End Turn 3, Wood Elf view: The Gutter Runners, late and unable to catch the elves. The Treeman standing victorious where the Stormvermin had once been - Frenzied they may have been, but they whiffed! Only the Jezzails and Rat Ogres remain to oppose the Asrai.

A very funny game which really did hinge on the Ratling Gun misfiring in Turn 1 and blasting my own unit - if it had killed the Scouts instead, then I would have taken far less casualties and maybe even managed to get my Assassin out! As it was, the failure of the Weapons Teams and the running away of the rats spelled doom. The Horned Rat was not smiling on me today.

Lessons Learned: Remember your rules! I forgot to give my Stormvermin their 4+ Ward save against magic and mundane missiles of S4 or less thanks to the Umbranner, and the miserable Leadership 5 of most of the Skaven should have been boosted by their rank bonus, making most of the tests I took should have been on at least an 8 - but, again, I simply didn't remember. I think the Tunnel Team would have performed a little better if I'd given them slings to shoot with, but there we go.

After a spot of lunch outside from a little food van - as Bugmans' is being renovated - we returned to play the second game. This was an adapted Ambush scenario, with the Ogres defending and the Night Goblins attacking. As before we placed the scenery then scattered it 2d6 inches:

 

Deployment - the Night Goblin left, with the mercenary ogres and various comedy units

Deployment - the Night Goblin right and main force, with all the actual gobbos and the trolls. You can see the Ogre force clumped around the farmhouse ready to take them on

End Turn 1: A little animosity over on the right had staggered the advance, but the first fanatic to be released killed one of the Hunter's hounds. The Trolls had actually been able to move despite my risky positioning of them!

End Turn 3 - I didn't take a photo at the end of turn 2 I think! The slave giant had charged my Ogres in the rear and lost, running away, my own giant had charged some Bulls in the rear and they just didn't go anywhere either. The Trolls got wrecked by the Yhetees, various Fanatics had killed a few Bulls here and there, and the Leadbelchers had been eating Snotlings quite happily... but they were now open for a charge from my own Ogres! Meanwhile the Gorger had arrived and was poised to do some really quite nasty stuff to my poor gobbos

End Turn 4. The Leadbelchers had been wiped out by the Ogres, the Squig Herd had finally got into combat with Stanley the Slave Giant, Bert had been done in by the Tyrant, my Warboss' block of gobbos had fought off the hunter and two units of Bulls... and then the Yhetees and Gorger wiped out a block of spear goblins in a single round of combat, while one of the Butchers panicked my other block of spears with a dastardly spell!

End Turn 5, endgame state: The squigs had eaten the giant then been panicked by magic, while all my big blocks of Night Goblins had been destroyed by breaking and being run down (or just being run down). The Fanatics had managed to kill a couple more Bulls though, and put some wounds on a Butcher, so it wasn't all bad news.

Another fantastic game (even if I did lose again), and one that - with a couple of better dispel rolls (or extra scrolls!) would have seen my Night Goblins hold on a bit longer. The Trolls probably should have stayed back as a flank guard like they were supposed to be, but the Gorger in the rear was a bad time for all concerned. A great laugh and a fantastic introduction to the lunacy and chaos of greenskin armies. 

Lessons Learned: More Fanatics. Risky, but both funny and dangerous. Also while the Trolls were a threat, they didn't like the magic weapons of the Yhetees and were too isolated - they need to be closer to my main line. Other than that, a pretty decently bad performance as expected, and I enjoyed it very much, which is the most important thing.

Overall a good fun day out with lots of dice rolled and two armies that I've never played with before seeing the table for the first time. Jolly good stuff all round.

The Vlka Fenryka Arrive

With the Skaven and the Jade Falcons done, I have been at a loss as to what to paint. I had been thinking about High Elves, but in the end I have plumped for Space Wolves. Weirdly, I seem to be missing a Blood Claw - I had built a group of 8 plus a Wolf Guard, to be accompanied by a Wolf Priest, all in a Rhino - so until I can find that one or build a replacement I'm going to work on the Grey Hunters, Long Fangs, Runepriest, Iron Priest, and Venerable Dreadnought:

Also visible are the two 8mm scale Rhinos for the Horus Heresy Epic game, the name of which escapes me

 Frustratingly I seem to have run out of the blue-grey that I used for the armour on the existing, painted, Space Wolves - I'm pretty sure it's now known as Russ Grey, or Fenrisian Grey. I'll have to pick some more up before I can make much progress, but I can at least work on the Iron Priest and Runepriest.

If I can't get hold of the right paint, I'll probably pivot to trying to finish my Mordheim City Watch warband, which is a counts-as Reiklanders group meant to represent, well, the City Watch who didn't leave the city in the aftermath and who are trying to maintain law and order in the face of the chaos (and Chaos). 

Oh, and because I can, here's a (poor quality) army photo of my Skaven:

Spot the Plague Censer Bearers pretending to be something else...

 

At Last! The Machinations Of The Horned Rat Come To Fruition!

Well that's quite a title for a silly little blog post, but there we go. I didn't do any work on them yesterday because I was busy with various other things and then went to bed early, but today - despite going to see the really beautiful Flow at the local cinema with P - I managed to get the last Clanrat block and its Warpfire Thrower team done, which means that the Skaven army is finished! Huzzah!

Warpfire Thrower team from the 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle starter set (I think). This pair are from Clan Skryre, as evidenced by the red hood on the operator.

Rear view, showing the huge wood-and-brass tank of warpstone infused goo that gets turned into a pressurised stream of burning doom

The business end - horrible death for someone, even if it is the operators sometimes

View showing the armour worn by the operator and the huge weight of the fuel tank

Rear (fourth) rank of Clanrats from the Order of the Grey Seers' vast pool of disposable - err indispensable - minions

Rear view, showing what they look like when running awa- tactically withdrawing to a more advantageous position

Third rank, with more armour showing this time as well as an array of quite vicious looking clubs

The armour might not be in the best condition, but it'll stop a blade (usually)

Second rank, with helmets and swords (mostly)

The clothes are ragged, but the hoods are uniform because how else will the Grey Seer know what regiment they come from (not that he really cares)

The front rank, led by an aspiring Stormvermin candidate who actually has white clothing!

I'm a huge fan of the little rat on the musician's bell

Another view of the command group, showing one side of the banner and the details on the Jes Goodwin sculpted champion, which looks not even slightly out of place next to the plastics from nearly 20 years later

Front view of the champion, showing the strange globes of ... something, as well as the chunk of polished warpstone as a decoration at his throat - and a great shot of the little bell-rat

The whole ensemble in their glory!

With the completion of the Skaven, I can move onto the Jade Falcons for Battletech and then, after that, probably stick with the Warhammer Fantasy theme and do some High Elves. But perhaps something else will call to me...

Painting Points:
Today: 22
This Week: 22
2025: 289

Half-Way There

Well, it turns out P and I aren't going to Empire E1 this year after all, for a variety of excellent reasons. To make up for it, I sat down this evening and cranked out all the last little bits on the Clanrats before applying the Agrax Earthshade to them all:

I'm so close! So close! In the next couple of days - certainly before the end of the week - I'll have finished this unit, and with it, my 2,000 (ish - it can go up to about 2250) Skaven army. I'm very excited by this prospect, because it'll mean that I now have viable, fully painted, Warhammer armies for the Empire (~5-6,000 points), the Vampire Counts (~4-5,000), Night Goblins (~2,000), Skaven (~2,000) and Dwarfs (~2,000). I also have a High Elf army that needs painting, and chunks of various other forces - not to mention the rather large Tomb Kings army for The Old World.

Anyway, time to let all that Agrax Earthshade dry overnight and then I can settle into a day or two of finishing and detailing.

Two Things At Once

I cracked and put some paint on the Jade Falcon battlemechs. I couldn't help myself. I was in a paint funk and needed to do something to snap out of it, so on went the Castellan Green that is their base layer - the pale sand and mid brown camo blotches are next.

But, funk broken, I then went in and did all the fur on the Clanrats, which means I just need to do the skin and the little rats (and some wrapping and cloth) before I can slap the Agrax on...

I'm so close to finishing that block of Clanrats, and it seems so far away! 

Leatherwork

Almost no progress today, really, but the leather has all been done now. P also did some more work on the Alpha Strike cards for me, too, but that'll have to go on hold for a while. We're trying to get the backs to line up properly and it's proving weirdly hard!

 

At least now it's just down to the fur, rats, and skin...

Engage Tortoise Engines

 I'm probably not going to get this unit of Clanrats finished before Thursday, when P and I are going to go to the UK's largest festival LARP, Empire, for the first time (as crew). However I am making forwards progress and the Clan Jade Falcon star (now undercoated) is sitting on my painting desk reminding me that once the rats are done I can make a start on the funky stompy robots...

 

What I've done today is to apply all the gold and basecoat the wood areas, meaning now I "just" need to do fur, skin, and leatherwork (plus perhaps some detail on the champion) before I can Agrax them and begin the process of finishing them off.

The Slog Resumes

I often find (probably because of my ADHD) that towards the end of a particular project my enthusiasm for it wanes a bit, and something New and Shiny comes along. The last block of Skaven (and their weapons team) is no different. Today I could have got them to the Agrax Earthshade stage, I certainly had the time, but I spent it making Battletech army lists for Alpha Strike instead. 

Not that I didn't do any painting - oh no! I managed to get the cloth done, at least, meaning I just need to do the wood, gold, small rats, leather, fur, and pink bits before I can hit everything with Agrax:

 

I'm still finding myself frustrated by the positioning of the champion in the regiment, though. The problem is his bloody sword - it sticks out well into the middle of the base behind it, forcing the mini behind him to the side at a strange angle. I think I may have to find a square base and cut a new hole in it, or just cut the slotta bit off the feet of the clanrat and reposition it. As it is it just bothers me!

More-Extra Clanrats, Yes-Yes

Today has mostly been about protesting against the UK Supreme Court's bizzare and entirely bigoted decision to define the concept of "woman" in a reactionary and conservative way (as well as defining what a lesbian is), but I still managed to find time to get started on the second and last block of Clanrats:

 

These are Island Of Blood (8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy starter set) miniatures with a 1990s (or even 1980s, I'm not sure) Skaven champion leading them

I'm hopeful I can get these done early next week, and if I really knuckled down I could probably get the back of them broken tomorrow - certainly up to the Agrax stage. On the other hand that is a lot of work so I might not...

The Rat-Men March

With some significant focus (despite also playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons over Discord) I managed to finish the first block of Clanrats, as well as undercoating the last regiment and its Warpfire Thrower Team:

Rear rank - these are the least armoured

As you can see, no armour, and (very) ragged clothes

Third rank. I particularly like the Skaven wearing a rat as a hat

This rank has some armour - it's all rusty, obviously

Second rank - now we're seeing helmets, too

Still, however, not every rat-person has back pieces to their armour

Front rank and command group. The banner has the rune of the Grey Seers because these Clanrats are part of the Order of Grey Seers, rather than any of the major clans

The champion is black-furred and on the way to becoming a Stormvermin, but not quite highly ranked enough to have enough slaves to have his armour and weapons properly cleaned

The whole regiment all together (apart from the Warpfire thrower team, which I painted earlier)

With the spear-armed regiment done, and the last block ready to start, I'm very much on the last leg of the Skaven army and I'm beginning to think about the next thing, which will be another five Clan Jade Falcon battlemechs.

Painting Points:
Today: 20
This Week: 20
2025: 267

A Little Of This And A Little Of That

Today I spent much of the time profusely thanking my partner, P, for doing some Clip Studio Paint wizardry with some personalised Alpha Strike Cards I made using the Master Unit List's card customiser. Then after they were printed, I went and laminated them so now when I play with my friend C I can use a dry erase marker to track what's happening to my poor Jade Falcon clanners.

The first batch!

 
Then after that, I sighed deeply and painted all the pink on the Clanrats and then soaked the whole regiment in Agrax Earthshade, which leaves them about half done - I'm hoping to get them done before the weekend:

I've also arranged to go up to Warhammer World in May and play a couple of games of 6th Edition Warhammer Fantasy with my long-term opponent S - this will see my Skaven and Night Goblins hit the field for the first time.

Batch Painting, Oh No

Didn't do anything like the amount I wanted to do today. I blocked out all the fur (three different browns), made a start on the pink parts, and went Nope.

I'm not entirely sure why, but I just couldn't face doing another 19 sets of ears, paws, tails, and noses... a job for tomorrow, I think.

Spears Are A Good Weapon

Spears are great because you can poke the enemy before they can poke you, you see. Why is this relevant? Because the first regiment of Clanrats I'm working on for the army is equipped with spears! I ended up deciding to give them white hoods and white shields to represent that they're "loyal"* to the Council of Grey Seers:

The closer to the back you get, the less armour's being worn, which I think is quite nice thematically (and is actually something I've done in other armies too). 

I need to paint the fur and pink bits (paws, ears, noses, tails) before I get to the Agrax Earthshade stage, but once I get that done I reckon I can finish them before the end of the week, which suggests I might be able to get the other regiment and its Warpfire Thrower team done some point next week. Exciting!