Gore Gruntas

 

As Olrog's notoriety grows he has attracted numerous new followers. Amough the most useful are a trio of Gore Gruntas. The Horde has been without cavalry for sometime and they provide a useful tactical and strategic addition. That is until Olrog works out how to control the beasts himself. 

Leviathan: A Challenge Accepted

Olrog sat hunched upon his crude throne. In the weeks since Bolg and Snikrod had left on the hunt things had progressed well. He had recruited several bands of Greenskinz to his service. His slaves had repaired the damage done by the Rogue Stoneboy and had been put back to work on the War Machine. Once the hunting party returned with the Stoneboy all would be ready. 

Ringoz was butchering an Aelf carcass at the base of the platform on which the throne sat.  Olrog gestured and Ringoz tossed him a thigh then grunted in surprise. Olrog looked up at the sound and saw what had caused the Warchanter to interrupt his meal.  The Aelf's blood was flowing uphill and pooling in front of his throne. The blood began to stretch into the air forming into a twisted humanoid shape. It possessed the character of both a man and breast moulded in grotesque parody of both. 

"Mojgorox" it rasped its fist thumping into its chest before pointing a clawed finger at Olrog 

"Artur Sigi and his griffin beastie become one under Tzeentch.  To get him now my father expresses passage through me"

Olrog clenched his fists at the mention of the hated Amber Mage. Waaagh energy formed around him, the pressure in the room building to a thunderhead. 

The bloody apparition raised its arm and gestured towards the path battered trough the jungle by the Stoneboy's rampage. With a bellowed Waaagh Olrog leapt to his feet and blasted the projection to mist with a burst of Wurrgog energy. The meaning of the visitation was clear. A challenge has been made.  Mention of the Chaos Trickster god meant it was also a trap but the Boyz had it seen it, making it one Olrog could not ignore.  Besides there was an empty trophy thong on Olrog's Juju Hacka ready for the Wizard's skull. Grabbing the Dragon bone weapon from the side his throne Olrog powered into the path of devastation cut by the Rogue Idol and the perusing Hunters. Olrog whooped with joy he would be joining the hunt. 

The Order of the Fiery Gate - Battle Report: Treasure Hunt

'There's ur-gold here... I can smell it,' said the Zangrom, peering over the blades of his axe as he stared over at the crumbling ruins just outside of the Hrukvorn encampment.

'Ruadhar wants the area mapped,' replied the Grungondi karl as he polished his magmapike. 'Nothing more, nothing less.'

'Isn't it out duty to reclaim the fragments of Grimnir wherever we know they are? You should know that better than any of us, temple guard.'

'My duty, grimwrath, is to obey the Runemaster of the Hrukvorn lodge,' replied the karl curtly. 'But if you will insist upon charging into unknown territory to sate you gold-lust, what choice will I have but to follow you? Grimnir help us, you are in charge of this mission.'

'Looks like we won't have a choice in the matter,' said Ulli, smiling darkly. 'Looks like my skeletal friend has come to make good on his threat.'

At the fire side of the ruins, the wight king could be seen pointing and shouting orders at his minions, a pitiful zombie shambling along at his side.

'He's got more of those... creatures with him...' said one of the vulkites who had come over to look.

'Creatures or nay, brothers, do you not feel the power of our god coursing through yours veins?' growled Ulli as he turned to address the fyreslayers under his command. 'I do. It cries out for gold! For glory! For the corpses of our foes cast down at our feet, cleaved in twain by the axes of our ancestors!'

The fyreslayers roared and cheered as Ulli paced back and forth before them, thick cords of muscle around his neck tightening as adrenaline and ur-gold intermingled in his blood.

'Who can stand before the cleansing power of fire? We are the anger of earth made manifest! We are Grimnir!

'KHAZUK!'

For the second part of our Skirmish series, Josh and myself would be playing Treasure Hunt from the newly published Age of Sigmar supplement. Playing again on a 4' x 4' table, we each deployed our entire force in a 12" x 12" corner of the board diagonally opposite one another. Five tokens were set up in the centre of the board as shown on page 23. Having finished deploying first, Josh decided to go first.

Note - As mentioned in my previous post, I realised upon writing that my own band was overpointed and will endeavour in future to ensure this doesn't happen again. I hope you still enjoy this post as a demonstration of the battleplan and Skirmish as a game mode.

Death: Turn 1

Wasting no time at all, Josh's dire wolves immediately rush towards the centre and top-centre artefacts, whilst the rest of his army slowly advanced behind them.

Josh now had the opportunity to search through two of the hoard piles for an artefact, but was unable to recover anything.

Order: Turn 1

I opted to rush forward with all of my fyreslayers towards the bottom-centre hoard pile, pushing my grimwrath and hearthguard to the fore to allow me to advance on the centre if needed.

I managed to get one hearthguard within 3" of this hoard, allowing me to search for an artefact. I also was unable to find anything this turn!

Priority

Josh (Death) won the priority roll for this turn and naturally chose to take the first turn in the next battle round.

Death: Turn 2

Josh continued his push to the centre ground, this time having some of his wolves circle around to the centre-right hoard. Unfortunately, one of his wolves started the turn a bit too close to a realmgate and was zapped for 1 wound.

Josh was able to search 3 hoards this turn, and managed to find 1 artefact in the dead centre of the board!

The rotting canids raked frantically at the ground, scrambling over one another in their desperation to get at whatever it was lay beneath the rancid ground. Running at the head of the fyrd, Ulli gritted his teeth and his knuckles turned white as he envisioned his axe bisecting the creatures before him. His grip slackened and his eyes widened as one of the beasts hauled from below the ground a circlet of gold, the morning sun flashing brilliantly off of its shining surface.

The Zangrom cackled wildly, his eyes ablaze with the power of the duardin warrior god.

'They bring us treasure from Grimnir, warriors of the Hrukvorn!' roared Ulli. 'Let us thank them!'

Order: Turn 2

My fyreslayers continued rushing towards the centre. With the newly revealed artefact, and the choke point between the two ruins either side, I decided to commit my warriors to a full-blown clash in the centre of the battlefield.

I was unable again to find an artefact in the bottom-centre horde, and meanwhile had my auric hearthguard (who I had decided would remain near the bottom-centre horde) pepper the dire wolves with molten rock bolts.

Priority

I managed to win the roll-off this time, and took priority.

Order: Turn 3

The grimwrath charged into the dire wolves at the centre, alongside his trusty hearthguard and a few of the vulkites. The grimwrath himself was wholly underwhelming here, failing to kill a single wolf. It is worth noting, however, that the dire wolves were doing phenomenally well with their saves, too.

However, the combined charge of the vulkites and the hearthguard proves too much for the dire wolves to withstand, and they slay the dogs to claim the centre artefact.

Still no artefact found at the bottom-centre hoard.

Death: Turn 3

Josh runs one of his dire wolves over to the centre-left hoard in this turn in a bid to maximise his chances of finding another artefact, taking care to make sure the wolf remains outwith the 3" of the Cursed ruin (which has a chance to inflict mortal wounds on him). Despite having models within range of 3 of the remaining 4 hoards, nothing turns up.

Elsewhere, the wight king and his entourage finally arrive in the centre of the fray. More dire wolves circle around behind the fyreslayers.

Just as Ulli bent down to retrieve the circlet laying in the earth, the hearthguard readied their poleaxes, whirling the braziers and shifting their stances in anticipation. Up ahead, the wight king strode forward, dark energy coalescing about him wherever he went. His hounds ran before him, howling and barking with all the savagery of living hunting hounds. The undead king drew his dark blade with a his and struck it against his shield in challenge.

The wight broke into a charge, rushing straight for Ulli and his fyrd, and Ulli answered in turn.

With a bestial roar, the Zangrom leaped into the air, his axe whirling about him and leaving fiery contrails in the air wherever it went. The wight drew close, and the axe came down. He brought up his shield to block, but underestimated the force of the blow, which knocked the shield down and crashed into the king's shoulder and brought him to his knees. Ulli landed ungracefully on his knees and the wight king stood back to his full height, his armour rent, his shield battered, and his bones broken. With a bass growl, Ulli leapt at the wight king once more with renewed fury, swinging his axe wildly at his foe. With dexterity that belied his appearance, the dead monarch, deftly blocked and parried the Zangrom's blows.

Ulli's breath came in heavy rasps as he sought to recover from the flurry of blows he had delivered. As he heaved his axe up into an attacking stance once more, the wight king brought his black blade down upon the fyreslayer, he quickly blocked the blow with the haft of his weapon. The wight swung his shield around and clattered it off of the Zangrom's body, leaving little more than a bruise where the blow had landed.

The two combatants staggered back to their feet and began circling one another again - the wight king cold and expressionless, the grimwrath grinning maniacally.

The wight king grossly under-performed here and whiffed all of his attacks, much to Josh's dismay (understandable considering how much of a powerhouse he was in the last game). My general managed to inflict a mighty 4 damage upon him, even with his 4+ save after rend and his 6+ death save. Despite managing to do so much damage, and weather so much myself, Josh was firmly in control of the centre ground at this stage with his superior numbers.

Priority

Once again, I won the priority roll and seized upon the opportunity to take the first turn of the round.

Order: Turn 4

Here I had the remaining hearthguard and vulkites charge into the centre. The combined shooting of the fyresteel throwing axes and the magmapikes did little damage, but I did manage to pick off at least 1 or 2 wolves. The slingshields managed to pick up a wound here and there too. But it was the combined killing power of the grimwrath and the hearthguard that slew the wight king and the remainder of his minions in the centre.

Having lost their general, the remaining members of the undead warband were reduced to Bravery 5 and were at the mercy of battleshock. 4 models in total were lost to battleshock, leaving 2 models in total in Josh's warband.

Death: Turn 4

In a last ditch effort, Josh had each of his remaining models search a hoard, but to no avail.

Result: Order Major Victory

Ulli spat upon the smoking ruins of the wight king's skull, having sent his soul howling back to Shyish. He returned his attention to the circlet the hounds had dug up, which the hearthguard were admiring amongst themselves, and greedily snatched it from the hands of the karl.

He held it up to the light, giddly watching the rays of the dim sun playing along its contours.

The Zangrom smirked.

'Ur-gold,' he said.

Summary

I felt that I was truly able to take advantage of my warband's synergies in this game where I hadn't in Clash at Dawn due to the random deployment. This is one of the single most enjoyable battleplans I've played in Age of Sigmar let alone Skirmish. I really liked the risk-reward dichotomy - not knowing where and when an artefact could appear makes for an interesting game. I was quite fortunate that nothing appeared in Josh's half of the board, and this again underpins to me that I could perhaps use a few cavalry or flying units to extend my reach as and when needed. Treasure Hunt is an excellent battleplan to play if you like having to alter your strategy on the fly. Josh and I have even discussed the possibility of altering it for use in the mega battles we like to organise every so often.

On another note, it was nice to finally see the grimwrath come into his own. I've used him in a few games of varying sizes now and I was always a bit underwhelmed by him. He definitely seems very well suited to skirmish.

The Order of the Fiery Gate - Battle Report: Clash at Dawn

Though darkness concealed much of the horrors of Mount Dextrous from sight, the stink of the Questing Reek still assailed the senses. Ulli Zangrom - grimwrath of the Hrukvorn lodge - grimaced as he peered into the darkness and could only make out but a handful of the scouting party he had been given command of.

'We're spread too thin...' whispered one of the hearthguard at the Zangrom's side. 'If we were to be ambushed here...'

'Words are wind, flameling,' said Ulli in response. 'Keep those sorts of helpful observation to yourself.'

The Zangrom cursed as he peered into the distance and could vaguely make out the glowing brazier from the vulkite karl's warpick disappear amongst a copse of dead trees. Just as he turned to speak to the fyreslayers following at his heels, a baleful, rasping howl filled the dead, pre-dawn air and was quickly followed by a chorus of hoarse barking. From within the ruins up ahead, a dim and unnatural light began to glow.

'The dead are waking,' said the grimwrath, tightening his grip around the haft of his fyrestorm axe. 'Make for the woods. Those idiots are as good as dead if we don't get there in time.'

Having recently procured a copy of the new Skirmish book for Age of Sigmar, my friend Josh agreed to play a couple of games both to help me out as part of the campaign, and also out of personal interest as a long time fan of Mordheim and other similar systems. As the objective states that two linked games of Skirmish are required, it seemed fairly sensible to give the Shadespire campaign a whirl. With Josh playing Death and myself playing the Fyreslayers, we set about playing Clash of Dawn.

Note - At the time of writing I realised that I had miscalculated my points and had a few more models on the field than I should have. This is something I will address for future games, of course! In the mean time, I hope you all still find these reports beneficial in some capacity - even if it is just as a demonstration of how Skirmish works!

For those who have not yet played, this scenario requires that the table (a 4' x 4' is recommended) be split into four quarters, numbered 1-4. During deployment, a dice is rolled for each individual model. The result determines which quarter they must be deployed in, with results of a 5 or 6 allowing the player to choose placement. The usual restriction of remaining 9" away from the enemy applies.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to keep my Vulkites together, and the ended up in the forest deployed thusly:

I was not so fortunate with the majority of my hearthguard and my general, who ended up scattered throughout the various corners of the board.

Josh's grave guard and wight king ended up staring them down on the other side like this (you can just about make out the woods in the bottom left of the picture):

Josh's warband included a number of dire wolves which ended up scattered throughout the board, in addition to a few more grave guard he deployed inside buildings. It became immediately apparent where the bulk of the action would take place, however!

Josh finished deploying first, and so took priority for the first turn.

Death: Turn 1

The wight king activated his Merciless Killer trait, adding +1 to wound to himself and friendly units within 6". Elsewhere on the board, the dire wolves and remaining grave guard began converging upon the berzerkers within the forest.

As expected, the Wight King and his band of undead miscreants immediately began slaying the defiant duardin:

As I recall, 2 fyreslayers were downed in this confrontation, meaning Josh only needed to kill 8 more to win. The vulkites performed rather underwhelmingly here, but did manage to remove a dire wolf and a grave guard or two:

Nevertheless, the held their ground in the battleshock phase.

Order: Turn 1

Having pinned the wight king and his bodyguard in combat, I sought to bring Josh's army down the my auric hearthguard's respectable shooting. The other nearby pike-wielding fyreslayers advanced as far as they could to ensure they were well within the required 12" as shooting was curtailed in this turn by the pre-dawn darkness. Elsewhere, my stranded hearthguard and general began the slow trudge to the fray:

The auric hearthguard loosed their molten rockbolts into the undead, only slaying the grave guard standard bearer after he soaked up 4 of the 6 shots hurled at him.

Another vicious round of combat sees the forest once again grow emptier:

The wight king - who already has a phenomenal 3+ save - was utterly immovable in the forest which granted him a 2+ save. Though most of his warriors - excluding one surprisingly agile zombie! - were vanquished, he fought defiantly on, cleaving into the fyreslayers with ease.

Priority

I won the priority roll and so took the first turn in the next round.

Order: Turn 2

Here I attempted to charge my general and accompanying hearthguard at the dire wolves making their way into the vulkite flank. The grimwrath failed his charge, but his two hearthguard rushed headlong at the undead hounds:

I managed to kill the last of Josh's grave guard in this turn, and I did shave off a wound here and there on his dire wolves, but they were proving a menace to deal with in this game being 2 wounds a piece and surprisingly numerous for something so tough and agile. My vulkites failed to wound the wight king once again.

Death: Turn 2

The remainder of Josh's dire wolves charged into the fight to set about my vulkites. My hearthguard karl killed the wounded dire wolf in the centre of the field meaning that I had vanquished a sufficient number of Josh's warband to claim victory!

But another dire wolf killed him back!

Result: Draw

'Fall back, you idiots!' barked Ulli at his warriors as the dragged their wounded brethren from the field.

The wight king - protected by his rotting pack of dogs - also appeared to be quitting the field. The creature glared across the ruins at the Zangrom and pointed his dark blade directly at him before defiantly drawing it across where his throat would once have been. He even seemed to throw back his head and cackle silently at the gesture.

Ulli glowered back at the undead warrior, cracking his knuckles one by one as he did so.

Summary

Having played The Lord of the Rings: Strategy Battle Game a few times, I felt that this was very similar - especially as Age of Sigmar also uses the similar Priority system. Skirmish also has me excited at the prospect of using some units and characters that ordinarily I perhaps would not have an application or use for in larger games and I will most certainly be looking into perhaps adding some faster units like Skywardens or Wild Riders for grabbing objectives and such.

This particular battleplan makes for a very short game. I also felt at quite a disadvantage as a Fyreslayer player here - I am quite reliant on synergies to make my army work, and the mediocre movement stats of my pure infantry warband meant that recovering from the random deployment was quite difficult.

On the other hand, Josh's very mobile army was able to recover very easily in this scenario and has me considering adding some sort of equivalent unit to my own warband. He very easily circumvented the random deployment issue and was able to quickly converge on the area where the bulk of the combat took place. At 2 renown per model, dire wolves are an absolute steal for what they can do in Skirmish games.

Clash at Dawn definitely underpins the need for versatility in a Skirmish warband, and it is definitely something I will have to consider going forward - particularly as I am in the habit of wanting to field as many fyreslayers as possible!

Update for Judicator Squad Keystone

I realize that it's not a new model, but it's what I've been working on in May. I figured out how I was going to base my Stormcast and have been in the tedious process of removing them from the bases and then building the bases. Since these three squads were already finished paint-wise, I figured I'd start with their bases.

Squad Keystone

It's a pretty simple basing scheme. I bought a little roller from GreenStuffWorld and some air dry clay. Rolled out the clay onto each base and trimmed the excess, then left it to dry for a few days. After priming I just dry brushed celestra grey onto the brick parts and put gold on all the parts I wanted to be gold. Quick varnish to protect and blam, you have a finished base that looks like they're walking down the streets of Azyr.

Leviathan, Olrog Reveals his plan

The brooding silence of Mount Drextros was broken only by the shuffling feet of slaves and the harsh crack of the Orruk overseers' whips. The shambling figures represented a broad spectrum of the races found across the Realms, Human, Aelf, Duardin, Grot and Ogor all were goaded and driven into the black maw of the mine entrance. Few would see the light of day again. Shackled captive Ogors shunted wheeled cart filled with rust veined rocks in the other direction. 

Olrog stood on a nearby hillock observing the toil with a self satisfied smirk. 

"Iron Rock" he muttered to the gigantic Megaboss at his side 

"Wotz it for?" Bolg enquired with a puzzled expression 

"To make an Idol" 

Next came the inevitable "Wotz an Idol?" 

"It's like a statue dat moves"

"So it's a Stone Boy den"

Olrog's eye's widened slightly in surprise at his lieutenants recognition, before remembering the Megaboss has ruled his own horde and fought many battles across the Realms before his "recruitment" he'd probably seen a thing or two.  

"Yeah datz it"

"Wot do we need it fer, Boss" use of the honourific showed Bolg was aware he risked the Prophet's wrath with his persistent questioning. 

"Coz I sed so!" Thought the erstwhile Warboss, but something stayed Olrog on this occasion and he felt compelled to share his vision. 

"Do you member when Gothrog and iz Boyz got et by dat Pansy Dragon?" 

"Yer Boss, it woz pretty funny" 

Olrog was forced to concede that it had been pretty amusing seeing the scheming Irongut disappear into the Dragon's gullet, pretty fortuitous too considering he was getting a little too ambitious. 

"Yer right Bolg, but I can't have my best Boyz keep getting eaten by big flying lizards all da time when dey should be stomping oomies an stunties". Olrog realised he'd used too many words Bolg's eyes had glazed over and he'd taken to hitting a nearby tree with his Boss choppa. Olrog smirked to himself no danger of that one getting too ambitious or ambitious at all for that matter. 

It had taken months of ceaseless toil and and expended the live's of countless slaves but the Idol was near completion. Olrog directed two of his Brutes as they fixed the mask to the Idol's head and it was ready. 

In his fastness deep in the Great Green Torc Olrog  stepped back admiring the fruits of his labour. He was pleased, it was a fitting monument to Gorkamorka. Of course it was always meant to be more than a mere statue but than didn't mean it's majesty was lost on him. Bolg shambled to his side. 

"It's pretty big boss" he spoke with typical understatement. 

"It's supposed to be" came Olrog's retort, he was beginning to wish he'd employed someone a little more insightful as his second in command. Then Bolg surprised him, 

"Youse sure this is a good idea Boss?" 

Olrog started at his subordinate's caution not least because of the implied forethought. 

"Why's dat?" 

"Dem Stone boys can be a bit unpred..... unpredick...... dangerous"

"Dats the point Bolg, it's supposed to crump stuff up good, youse just sulking cos it's bigger dan you"

Bolg shrugged noncommittally. Olrog turned and gestured the waiting Boyz forward.  In to hall trooped the entirety of the Horde, lumbering Brutes, unstable Bonesplitterz and steel eyed Boyz. They gathered in an unruly mob around the Idol the largest shouldering their way to the front. 

Olrog nodded to himself as he took in the sight, the spiky oomies needed blood to power their magic, pansys and oomies needed powerful artifacts to call forth eldritch powers all he need was his boys. Basking in Greenskin superiority Olrog raised his arms and a hush descended across the hall. He opened his lungs 

"Waaagh"

The Horde echoed his cry

"WAAAAAAAGH"

The defending bellow shook the timbers of the hall, hairline cracks snaked across stone floor. A spectral Green figure coalesced above the Idol before settling across it like morning mist. 

The Idol raised its head a sickly glow eminating from its eyes. It paused a fraction as if staring at an object In the distance, then with surprising speed and a thundering roar it lurched forward into a run. With a whoop of unbridled joy Blog leapt at the stone monstrosity swinging his choppa. The Idol caught him with a backhand blow sending the Megaboss crashing clean through the wall of the hall in a tangle of iron plate and timber. With all the power of the avalanche of rock that it was the Idol bowled the assembled Boys out of its way smashing its way clear of the Orruk encampment before disappearing into horizon. 

"Impressive" Olrog muttered to himself, he did need to get the Idol back though and he was not going to chase it around and Bolg was likely to attempt to smash it up if left unsupervised. Then he had it, 

"Lissen up youse Gitz" he barked at his Bonesplitter bodyguard, "Da one of youse who brings me da biggest catch gets to lead da boys to bring da Stoneboy back". Ever willing the prove their prowess the Bonespliterz barely paused for thought before pouring into the surrounding jungle to hunt. 

The Saurian burst from the undergrowth in a spray of shredded vegetation and tree sap. It's headlong charge did not slow as it cannoned across the clearing and back into the jungle. The Beast was a mighty apex predator of prodigious size and ill temperament but it was not hunting it was fleeing in terror.  It's assailant had looked like any other meal but walked on two legs. It moved so fast and hurt the Beast with it long fang. The Beast had fled from the danger but that had been many hours ago and it was tired to the point of exhaustion. The Beast was fast no meal had ever out run it and it would escape now. 

The Beast felt more tired than it ever had, its legs buckled and it slowed to walk. It felt out with its hearing, nothing was behind it, it was free. Exhausted it collapsed to the ground to rest gulping  large rasping breaths of air. A low humming sound triggered it's instincts. Jerking it's head up the Beast saw the Two Leg prowl out of the trees ahead of it. The Beast tried to stand but it's leg leg failed. The two leg bared its teeth and pounced. 

Snikrod plunged his Sitka Harpoon in the Saurian's brainstem ending its resistance. He had pursued it to exhaustion and it was unable to stand let alone put up a fight. Snikrod set about the grisly task of securing his trophy. Olrog would know his worth. 

Olrog nodded in appreciation at the giant Saurian head that had been laid out in offering before him. 

"You done well Snikrod" Olrog proclaimed "Take da big lads an da Spliterz an git da Stoneboy!"

Snikrod turned to leave "Wait" barked Olrog "Bolg you go an all". Snikrod's eyes narrowed briefly but he accepted the order with a tilt of his head. The gesture was not lost on Olrog, nor was the the glare of ambition in the hunter's eyes, he beckon his enforcer in close, 

"Lissen, Bring da Stoneboy back but leave da Hunta" 

Blog grimly nodded his head, this was a task he'd completed for the boss before.  

**********************

To bring his master plan to fruition Olrog has sent Snikrod Da Hunta, along with Bolg and his toughest Boys to recapture the escaped Rogue Idol. Olrog remains in his fortress amidst the jungles of the Great Green Torc. Intent on rebuilding his Horde and completing his mighty Warmachine 

May Monthly objective

Hi Guys sorry its a late monthly objective, but its a nice easy one this month anyway! So everyone should have a small little warband painted up now and now is the time to start your games and campaign in the Mortal Realms!

This month your objective is to play 2 linked games of Hinterlands or AoS Skirmish (should it drop in time), by linked games I mean, just continue the story or campaign over into the second game.

If you complete this objective you will receive 4 bonus tiles!

Also if you are new or haven't posted yet... get a blog post up and you'll gain an automatic 5 tiles!

Good luck everyone. Loving the progress so far

The Order of the Fiery Gate - The Putrid Bog

Folkvar glowered down at the map spread out on the table before him. Etched into the dirty parchment was a map of the Great Green Torc. Various carved pieces of stone used to represent his own forces - as well as those others his scouts had thus far reported - had been placed upon the map at their respective locations.

'The skyborne duardin based at Castle Neonatus appear to have been quiet for some time, though my men and I have made no attempt to communicate with them as of yet,' explained the Prosecutor Prime currently addressing the room.

'My men report having spotted a great horde amassing to the east bearing the mark of the Blood God, but they are yet some distance from where we are. Most troubling are the reports of Skaven activity within Mycelia.'

'Are they aware of our presence, Prosecutor?' asked the Runefather.

'I do not believe they are, my lord.'

'Good,' replied Folkvar as he stood to his feet and leaned over the map. 'Get us a location on the thaggoraki. Alsvir will take Ulavesht, the Grongundi and a berzerker fyrd. Hakon will take my hearthguard and tunnel them into the heart of the filthy horde. I'll take the Irondrakes 'round the other flank.

'Let's ambush these little shits.'

*

The duardin marched silently through the fungus-infested groves of Mycelia, the land steadily giving way to the corrupting presence of the skaven. Folkvar walked alongside Brim - his magmadroth - as the colossal beast crept along low to the ground, full aware of what his diminutive allies were planning. A warpstone stink began to suffuse the air and an unnatural green glow could be seen in the clearing up ahead. Raucous chittering and cackling filled the fungus forest and the stink of the rat-men was carried downwind by the sorcerous storm gathering before the duardin army.

Folkvar clambered quickly onto Brim's back, heaving his grandaxe into the air as he turned his steed about to face the duardin arrayed behind him.

'Grimnir guide your steel, brothers. Show no mercy to the vermin.

'KHAZUK!' roared Folkvar.

The duardin echoed their leader's cry, then charged into the glade.

A great pillar of warpstone stood in the centre of the clearing, the land all about the unclean structure sick and deadened. Many of the skaven shrieked in fear as the fyreslayers charged into the clearing but were quickly goaded into ranks by the vicious creatures surrounding the green obelisk.

Once the creatures at the centre were satisfied that the orders they had barked would be seen to, they once again turned to the great shard at the centre of the verminous horde, raising their hands above their heads and gnashing their teeth in what appeared to be supplication to their god.

'The stone!' roared Ruadhar, who had been following up the rear of Folkvar's detachment. 'They're trying to charge the stone! Stop the bastards before it's too late!'

'You heard him, duardin! Into them!' roared Folkvar.

With renewed zeal, Folkvar's berzerkers charged straight into the skaven gathered before them. The Irondrakes halted behind them and began blasting away into the mass of furry bodies, felling many of the beasts as they did. Skjor stood behind the berzerkers holding the icon of Grimnir aloft as he sang the hymns of the Hrukvorn lodge, whilst Brim belched great gouts of magma at the chittering hordes.

On the other side of the clearing, Alsvir and the Grungondi burst from the fungal forest and unleashed their magmapikes upon the rat ogors lumbering towards them. Each time one of the beasts fell, the temple guardians gave a cheer. Before long, the joviality of the Grungondi was snuffed out as - to their horror - the charred bodies of the beasts stood back up and lumbered onward to join their brethren.

Likewise did the skaven warriors felled by Folkvar's vulkites stand to their feet again and rejoin the battle.

'What devilry is this?' spat Skjor as he lowered his standard, the berzerkers having rushed out of his reach.

'There's no sorcery at work here, flameling,' grumbled Ruadhar, desperately looking for the ideal spot to open the earth up from underneath the skaven. 'Tis but the nature of this world. Look.'

At that very moment, a vulkite was skewered upon a rusty spear. The assailant drew his weapon out from the guts of his victim and turned to rejoin the battle, only to have his skull caved in with a warpick. The unfortunate vulkite slumped to his knees, his slingshield and warpick hanging loosely in his hands. As he began to topple back, a shimmer of light shot up from the earth and up through the duardin's body. With a shake of his head that sent his crest flapping to and fro, the young fyreslayer leapt back to his feat and charged back into the fray.

'The air is thick with the essence of life,' said Ruadhar. 'And it seems this place is indiscriminate with its gifts...'

Raising his grandaxe high in the air, Folkvar kicked his heels into Brim's flanks and the two entered into a charge. Duardin and mount hurtled forward into the heart of the skaven ranks, straight for the stormvermin protecting the cabal at the centre of the army. Just as he drew back his weapon to take his first swing at the creatures scrambling towards them, Folkvar felt Brim lurch to one side and was almost thrown from the magmadroth's back.

He glanced down at the earth below them. The corrupting influence of the skaven's warpshard was beginning to tell and was turning the land beneath them to a poisonous bog. Brim roared in frustration as he fought to free his legs from the greenish soup he had become mired in. The stormvermin scrambled over the magmadorth's body, stabbing at the beast with their vicious halberds. Folkvar fumed at the skaven, swinging his grandaxe in great arcs but failing to land a single blow as the frenzied creatures leapt clear of the runefather's weapon.

Brim's roars of frustration turned to roars of agony as his volcanic blood seeped out into the earth. With his foes pressed so close about him, Folkvar could not swing his axe and so was pushed from the saddle. Bleeding from a hundred cuts, the runefather continued to roar his defiance, pushing his foes back with the haft of his axe as he fought his way back to protect his steed and friend. His hands slick with sweat and blood, his grandaxe slipped from his grip and he resorted to fighting off blows with his arms. Were it not for the essence of his god flowing through his veins, his limbs would have been cut to ribbons. As it was, Folkvar fought back with all he could as he also was sucked into the bog. And as quickly as he had been set upon by them, the stormvermin ran off to join some other fray - white spittle frothing and their filthy mouths, halberds slick with the blood of both duardin and magmadroth.

Folkvar saw his axe glisten a few feet in front of him and shambled through the bog to rescue it from oblivion. Using the weapon as a walking stick, he trudged through the filth covered in mud and blood towards where Brim lay. The creature's fire had cooled to a dim blue and his breaths were short and shallow. He lay his free hand upon the creature's side and pressed his forehead to the scales, savouring the dwindling heat emanating from the noble beast.

'Stay with me, lad,' rasped Folkvar. 'Stay with me...'

Alsvir's vulkites were tossed aside like so much kindling by the relentless onslaught of the rat ogors, and it was not long before the Grongundi were either beaten to oblivion beneath their mutant fists or were forced to quit the field. Ulavesht - Alsvir's mount - had also been badly beaten, but trudged on towards the warpstone obelisk at the Runesmiter's behest with the rat ogors in tow. The Irondrakes had reaped a heavy toll upon the skaven, and with their assistance Folkvar's vulkites had cut a swathe towards the centre of the army and stood defiantly before the skaven in defence of their wounded runefather, cutting down any ratman who strayed too close.

Ruadhar scowled as the obelisk at the centre began to give off energy in wild green arcs, the skaven cackling gleefully as the land around them slipped into a still greater state of ruin. The Runemaster slammed his staff angrily into the earth, just as Hakon arrived with Folkvar's hearthguard in tow.

'The day is lost,' barked Ruadhar to his apprentice. 'Prepare to retreat.'

'You can't be serious! We only just arr-'

'Do as you're thagging-well told, flameling!' snapped Ruadhar as he rushed over to the other side of the field.

'Prepare to retreat!' he roared to the karl helping Folkvar to his feet, the last duardin standing from his regiment.

As the duardin about him began to quit the field to the sound of the gleeful cackling and shrieking of the skaven, Ruadhar began a booming chant, focusing all his might upon the patch before him. The brazier atop his staff roared to life and the runes in his flesh burned bright as the earth began to crack and steam. As Ruadhar carried on with his ritual, Ulavesht heaved Brim onto her back, the great black limbs of the wounded beast hanging limply at either side, and steadily began making her way toward the Runemaster. Just as she approached, a fountain of magma burst from the ground like blood from a wound, revealing a great opening in the ground. Alsvir rushed through first, followed by the vulkite karl and the gravely wounded Folkvar, and then Ulavesht bearing the wounded Brim. No sooner had the red tail of the magmadroth disappeared than Ruadhar began focusing with all his might to seal the opening in the earth. His staff blazed and his body trembled, and a thin trickle of blood ran down his nose and dripped from his chin to the ground. As the earth slammed shut, his legs gave way way from under him, but he did not hit the ground.

'Move you old fool!' snarled Skjor as he dragged the Runemaster away from the cracked earth.

Ruadhar looked back upon the battlefield - upon the site of the warp-ritual and the skaven cavorting maniacally about it.

'This is not over...' he hissed as he trudged off into the fungus forest, his arm slung over Skjor's broad shoulders.

April Challenge Complete: Gut Rippa's Maniaks

Always to be found in the thickest of the fighting, the mob known as "Gut Rippa's Maniaks" are the embodiment of GorkaMorka's "Brutal, but Kunnin'" nature. Long ago having dispensed with such things as "taktiks", the Maniaks charge headlong into the foe, hacking and slashing with wild abandon. 

The Order of the Fiery Gate - The Grongundi

Ruadhar slammed his staff impatiently into the ground as the gate of the newly captured fortress was reduced to so much kindling. A trio of gargants shambled into the keep, swinging improvised weapons consisting of pillars of stone and tree trunks about them with wild abandon. The fyreslayers' seraphon allies plunged in to meet this new threat head-on, whilst the lodge's fighters fought the assailing greenskins at the breach on the western wall.

'What are you doing back here?' growled Ruadhar to the battered and bloodied Ironwarden staggering up the ramp towards the Runemaster.

The Iron Fist

As the Waaagh energy released by Olrog blasted out it transformed not just him. The Ard boys were similarly elevated becoming full blow Ironjaw Brutes. Their armour blasted back to the bare metal they are Olrog's elite, clanking behemoths of tarnished iron plate and Orruk flesh. 

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I cannot remember a unit I've enjoyed painting as much as these Ironjawz. The way GW produces the current plastic models makes painting them so enjoyable. The multitude of parts does increase the time it take to build but provides much crisper detail.  Gone are dead areas in the detail that occur on the older models such as the Ard Boyz where it became a little difficult to tell what is supposed to be metal and what is cloth.  Due to the level of fun I was having with these I took a bit more time than I usually do adding extra layers of highlighting and using glazes between them to blend the colours togeather. I'm enjoying adding new techniques to my skill set.

Judicator Squad Keystone

When the Stormcast are in battle you need not look farther than at the center of the line to find Judicator squad Keystone. Since even before the Aelves went their separate way, Keystone has always been the strong anchor for the rest of the line, silently putting Skybolt arrows where the enemy are pushing the hardest. Lead by Judicator Prime Mazeon Keystone, they have been the constant that has saved more of their brothers from reforging than any other factor.

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For April's bonus objective I decided to paint up my Judicator squad. I followed Duncan's how to paint stormcast video because I really like that paint scheme. Also Duncan does many steps in there that I haven't done before, lost of shading and highlighting. I wanted to up my painting game so I tried to follow his example very closely. 

These are all done save for the bases. I am planning on rebasing my whole army, and the bases need to be made separately. It's gonna be my next job, but it will take me a while.

Hinterlands: Praetorian452 vs Jon

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Knight-Azyros Halver Aura crouched atop the remains of a once grand building. He could see some activity in the distance. His keen vision was unable to discern whether this was the band that they were looking for, but it was worth checking into.

Flying down from his perch, Halver alighted next to Lord-Relictor Gervas Warden. The Relictor wasn’t quite the same after his reforging from the skirmish with the Ironjaws, his armor didn’t seem to be quite as lustrous as it had been beforehand.

Halver cleared his throat, “There’s some commotion up ahead. Looks like a small band. I couldn’t tell what they were doing though.”

The Lord-Relictor looked down, the sounds a whispered prayer coming from his helmet. “This is where the darkness I felt is coming from. They must be performing a dark ritual in honour of Nagash.”

With that they rushed off. Each man heading toward the enemy as fast as they could.

They must have been noticed, there was the sound of stamping hooves and a blood curdling scream from a Vampire-Lord that alighted on top of a rock in front of Halver. The Vampire looked down at him and screeched, ”You cannot stop me, son of Sigmar! I will gain the power I want!”

With that she lept at him with a speed that surprised the reforged warrior. She slammed into him with enough force to drive her sword through his heart and send him soaring back to Azyr.

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Liberator Oses watched aghast as Knight-Azyros Aura shot into the sky as a bolt of lightning. The Vampire was much more powerful than her small stature lead one to believe.

He turned just in time to see Liberator Ildir ram his blade into a charging Skeleton Knight and see it crumble into a pile of bones. Calling out to him he said, “Ildir, Make for the Altar! We’ll hold them here.”

Before he could move himself he watched both the Vampire and another Skeleton Knight charge Lord-Relictor Warden. The two deathly warriors started pummeling Warden with abandon.

As fast as his feet could take him he made for the skirmish. With a mighty yell he swung his Grandblade into the Vampire. She started to turn and raise her blade, but was too late. His sword swept past her guard and cleaved into her, spattering gore across him and the rest of the combatants.

Oses looked up just in time to see the Skeleton Knight drive it’s spear through the Lord-Relictor. He cried out as Warden vanished in a flash of light.

Oses tried to take out the Knight that had killed the Lord-Relictor, but the knight had seen him coming. He managed to keep him tied up, each warrior unable to gain the upper hand.

Oses heard a resounding boom, felt it reverberate through his body. He instinctively knew that this must mean Ildir hadn’t made it in time.

At his feet he heard a groan. He looked down and saw a dark light spilling from the wound in the Vampire. She was regenerating as he watched.

Without a second though he called out to the other two Liberators, “Make for the Realmgate!”

With that the Stormcast retreated, leaving the un-dead warriors to revel in their victory.

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Praetorian452 (Scott):

Warband Name: Sigmar’s Hidden Blades

Halver Aura - Knight-Azyros

Gervas Warden - Lord-Relictor

Tithgar - Liberator Warhammer/Shield

Ildir - Liberator Warblade/shield

Oses - Liberator Grandblade

Jon:

Warband Name: Raiders of Death

Neferet - Vampire Lord

Flag - Black Knight with flag

Spear - Black Knight with spear

Hell - Hell Knight

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I played a third game against a different buddy’s Death Warband. We didn’t take any pictures of this one either. So I’ll just give a good story for it.

We played the Ritual battleplan with myself as the Disruptor and Jon as the Ritualist. In this battleplan one player sets up an objective on the center-line and within 1” of their board edge. The goal of the Ritualist is to finish the ritual, in every one of their Hero phases the Ritualist rolls a die and adds that to the previous roll. When the count of the rolls reaches 20 or more and the altar isn’t broken, the Ritualist wins.

The goal of the Disruptor is to make it to the objective and roll a die, on a roll of 4 or more the “altar” is broken and the ritual disrupted.

I managed to get first turn and just used it to move up. I had a long way to go and anyone who plays Stormcast knows that they aren’t the speediest in the movement phase. Liberal use of runs and my Knight-Azyros being able to fly brought me close to the middle of the board.

Jon rolled a 5 for his Ritual roll, starting off strong.

Jon’s Vampire Lord was then able to move up and was able to charge the Azyros with his Vampire and the Warblade Liberator with the Hell Knight. The Vampire Lord started the combat by completely smashing the Azyros into paste and sending him back to the celestial realm, those D3 damage per wound is brutal when you end up getting 3 damage and only have a 3 wound model.

The Warblade Liberator pulled out his Underdog gambit of the Poison Blade, instantly killing the Hell Knight. Underdog gambits are designed to even the playing field if one warband had more leftover gold upon creation than the opponent. I was lower in points by a 8 gold, so I managed to roll the Poison Blade as my Gambit. It allows you to, once per game, use the Poison Blade instead of your normal attacks and it caused D6 mortal wounds.

I waited too long to write this up, so from here out the details are a little fuzzy. Turns went back and forth with the Flag knight and Vampire Lord charging the Lord-Relictor and the Grandblade Liberator counter charging. The Lord-Relictor was killed and the Grandblade killed the Vampire. He then got stuck in combat with the Knight for the rest of the game.

Jon’s rolls for the next couple turns were: 2-4-3. This left him at 14 total through turn 4

The Warblade Liberator made a desperate run to the Altar to try to break it. Turn 4 we had some discussion as to what I should do with the Liberator. Jon only needed a roll of 6 to win the game and as I went second this turn, so I needed to plan properly. I could just run the Liberator and try to get close to the objective, but I needed to be 1” away in my Hero phase to break it. My other option was to charge the Knight guarding the Altar and hope for big numbers on my roll to get to the “back” of the knight since he was pretty much standing on the Altar.

I ended up doing the charge and making it close enough. And we didn’t do any damage in the combat phase, but that was a secondary concern.

Everything depended on two things: 1) The initiative roll, 2) Jon’s Ritual roll.

If I got the initiative then I had a chance of winning. If I didn’t my chances were much smaller, but still existent since Jon needed a 6.

We rolled for initiative and Jon won the initiative, and promptly rolled a 6 for the Ritual.

It was a good game, very tense at the end.

Jon got enough Gold coins as his winnings to add a Cairn Wraith to his warband and leveled up the Flag Knight.

My heroes both recovered without any negative effects, with my Azyros again rolling miraculous recovery and getting 9exp for the match. The Grandblade Liberator managed to level up again and on the advancement table gained +1 to wound, so now he’s basically a hero in stats.