10th August - Hordes Progression Update

Just a quick update to begin with, I'm still around it's just been a crazy few weeks with work though that will now be the end of that. I've managed to get a couple of small games in and there'll even be a battle report coming later today/tomorrow.

In the meantime I've got a few WIP pics from my Hordes Legion of Everblight starter box. I've been following along the painting guide provided in the box although I've made a few slight changes to a few of the tones and shading/highlighting steps.

I think they're coming along nicely, the Shredders and Neraph are pretty much up to basing (The Seraph's wings still need shading/highlighting) and the Nephilim isn't too far off. The Warlock still needs a lot of work although the armour and cloth are the only bits left really and that will finish her off.

Also a quick shout out to The Brother and The Eldest Nephew who headed off to the local Saga tournament last weekend (I had to work so missed out this time) and managed to take out first and third place respectively. I'll put up a quick link to his blog post here if you wanna check out a few pics from the day and a quick description of the three battles.

18th July - Mini-Update

So it's been a bit of a crazy month both in and out of work, which of course has had a bit of an impact on my hobby time.

While not completely ground to a halt I've really not got a hell of a lot done in the last couple of weeks. I've managed to assemble both my Hordes and The Wife's Warmachine starter boxes put together and we've played through the training books and had a couple of quick games. I'm hoping to get some form of games in with The Brother sometime soon but he's not exactly at his most available himself at the moment so we're trying to work something out in the near future.

I'll put up a couple of quick pics of the assembled minis and hopefully I'll manage to get a bit of a base coat on my gear tomorrow before I have to head into work, fingers crossed.

Hopefully I'll have something with a bit more substance to post next time round :).

4th July - Saga vs The Youngest

It's been a while and I felt like pulling out Saga so The Youngest and I decided to get a game in between her Irish and my Vikings. She set up the table yesterday and we got down to business this afternoon. Her favourite scenario is The Battle of the Warchiefs so that's what we decided to play.



The Youngest won the deployment roll, but I managed to win initiative and the battle was underway.






Hearing the hounds baying through the woods the warriors on the flank held their position waiting to see if the beasts appeared. Meanwhile the rest of the warband moved forward with the right flank of warriors moving at a rapid place to get into position. The Irish warband responded with their own advance with the warhounds bursting from the woods but falling just short of the Viking Beserkers.


The warriors took the opportunity to smash into the side of the Irish beasts killing two of them in the initial melee then following it up with a second attack killing another three beasts without sustaining a single casualty of their own and forcing the beasts back into the woods. The rest of the Viking warband held the line waiting to see how the Irish responded and looking for weak points in their line to get their chance at the enemy warchief. Some hidden Irishmen in the nearby rough ground attacked the Viking Beserkers with a hail of sling stones but the lightly clad warriors easily avoided the attacks.

On the right flank a band of Irish warriors moved forward harrying the Viking warriors killing one man with their Javelins.





On the other flank one of the Irish Champions charged the warriors standing upon the fallen warhounds and while three Viking men fell the brave Irish man was taken down and two of the Norsemen awoke to find themselves at the gates of Valhalla due to their valiant efforts.





He was quickly avenged however as the trailing Irish  Hearthguard swiftly connected with the bloodied warriors, killing the remnants of the tattered unit though at the cost of two of their own.

The dogs were suddenly silent as the Norse trickster Loki appeared and led them off to their doom. Meanwhile the Viking Warchief and his attending Hearthguard peel off in an attempt to close with his Irish counterpart and bring this skirmish to a close. Seeing their Warchief head over the Viking warriors close with the Irish unit but they are driven off.

The hidden Irish patriots attempt to kill some more Norse warriors but they are unable to bring down a single man. However fueled by their success in holding against the Viking assault the Irish Warriors hurl their javelins again felling the remaining men.

Finally the leash is removed from the Beserkers and they rush to close with the nearby Irish Hearthguard. But the Irish defense proves to be too high for the crazy Norsemen and after some intense fighting a single Beserker is left to stagger away leaving the Irish Hearthguard out of breath but undamaged. On the other flank the Hearthguard move to clear out the Warriors but the Viking assault seemed to be faltering and a half strength Viking unit was pushed back with killing a single Irish warrior.

Again the hidden Sons of Ireland send out an ineffective attack but once again the Warriors and two solid streams of javelins leave the men dead on the ground and the Warchief exposed. On the other flank the Irish hearthguard move up and finish off the last Beserker.




Seeing his men all taken down around him the Viking Warchief decides to go down fighting and charged into the Irish warriors. The fighting is fierce but he is forced to pull back as all his blows somehow managed to only hit the Irishmen exactly where their flimsy armour was. The mighty Viking Warchief was then peppered with stream after stream of Irish sling and javelin fire but their was no way he was going to fall to such a cowardly method of fighting. Realising this the Irish warchief sent his champion in to confront the lone Viking while pulling back slightly for safety himself the cowardly dog. The Champion closed with the Norse Warchief and while he did manage to connect with the giant warrior he succumbed to the Vikings fierce attacks.

Staring at the retreating form of the Irish Chieftain the Viking shook himself off and ran after the cowardly man deciding to bring him down, avenge his warband and send the rest of the Irish dogs slinking back to their kennels. He managed to chase him down and with a quick cry to Frigg for endurance the two opposing warchiefs clashed. The fighting was intense but the superior warrior won the day with the Irishman only managing to nick the Norseman while his blows fell heavily and true bringing the head of the Irish clan to his end and winning the day for the Vikings.

That was one of the most enjoyable games The Youngest and I have had to date. It was neck and neck the first few turns and I was pretty certain I was out of the running after my woeful fourth turn especially when she answered it rather strongly taking me down to the single man. Great game and hopefully we can squeeze in another game of something before she heads back to school next week.

I have got those Hordes models together so I'll get a quick update up tomorrow just showing the progress and if I get time I'll get The Wife's Retribution models together as well.

30 June - Hordes Legion of Everblight Battlegroup Unboxing

Well I thought I'd try something different with this. The Brother and I had a quick look at WarmaHordes while down at Cancon earlier this year and liked what we saw. While we had picked up the 2nd edition rule books we had yet to purchase models to go with them (actually The Brother had bought a couple of random Cryx bits now I think about it). So with the announcement of 3rd edition I figured it was a great time to have a look at the system and get some plastic to back it up. As the title suggests I've settled on the Hordes faction Legion of Everblight. The Wife has picked herself up a Retribution of Scyrah box. Toby's also jumped on the bandwagon with his Trollblood battlegroup that I'll drop off to him later.


So as to the something different I thought I'd do a little unboxing post today then as I move ahead with assembly and painting put up some updates. I'll be honest I've lost a bit of momentum with the Home Raiders Lilliputians so this will be a nicely timed break.

So after opening the box you can see that there is quite a lot packed into such a small space.








I can see the mini rulebook being handy for a table side reference saving quite a bit of wear and tear on my hard backed full versions.








The Introduction guide is a nice touch starting with some basic faction fluff, a brief description of the provided models in the box along with basic team tactics; and a couple of expanded 75 point lists when you're ready to expand you collection. The second half of the booklet has some step buy step painting guides if you were looking at using the studio colours.

Shredders

Nephilim Bolt Thrower

On to the minis. The box contains a warlock Kryssa, Conviction of Everblight and four warbeasts. Two of the lessor Shredders, a Nephilim Bolt Thrower and a Neraph. The casts look pretty good on first inspection and after a quick dry fit I'm not expecting too much hassle getting them together and onto the table. They all come with a reference card so you can keep track of wounds, quickly find stats and look up abilities.

Neraph

Kryssa, Conviction of Everblight

  

The Basic Training guide is basically a little mission book designed to teach you the basics in a step by step manner.








The last few contents are a really nice touch. A sturdy paper measuring stick, some generic tokens with a nice blank patch so you can use a wipe-able marker to keep track of game effects, some d6s and a double sided play mat.




Hopefully I can get some time in over my weekend and at least get the minis glued and primed.

27th June - The Great Niece and Nephew Invasion

With the school holidays it was finally doable for The Sister's and The Brother's kids to come over for a play. After a bit of a movie night (Independence Day) on the Sunday we woke up this morning and headed downstairs for a game. A brief discussion later and a scaled down Frostgrave was on the table ready to play.

We had three chests in the centre of the table guarded by large constructs who all had three lives each due to their job as the magical protectors of the chests. While the constructs were alive they could also summon a single previously fallen adventure from the many skeletons littering the hoard. My sister's eldest decided that fortune would favor the bold and charged in hard and fast but was soon surrounded and pulled down but the silent guardians. The Brother's daughter and The Eldest played with more of a skirmish style and carefully drew out the constructs one at a time picking them off with a combination of their archer and elemental bolt spells. The Youngest however played the role of the scavenger picking off the odd skeleton but carefully skirting the larger monsters grabbing the first chest of the game and handing it along all her troopers getting it out quickly and efficiently. The Brother's Daughter and The Eldest then came to a truce splitting the last two chests between them.

After lunch we had a bit of a painting session with The Brother's Daughter and both of The Sister's Sons sitting down with some Mantic Deadzone plague zombies for a bit of a paint. It was the elder nephews first attempt at painting and I think he's done a pretty good job. I'm sending some wargame factory kits home with the nephews for them to put together and get a bit of practice on (of course they are my mother's that I was supposed to sort out for her, but you should see the size of my painting queue as it is)(also do have her permission) and then I believe they're going to have a go at painting up the set of Dungeon Saga I bought them for Christmas last year.

Elder Nephew

Younger Nephew

Niece

We'll be settling in again for another movie tonight (Ghostbusters) and then maybe a game tomorrow morning before they get picked up.

On the kickstarter front I've been trying to slow down a little and with some success but I've jumped onto the Miniature Wargaming: The Movie one currently running and from the few sneak peaks I've seen on Beast of War and the intro video on the kickstarter page itself I think it looks like something worth getting behind.