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.