Iron vs. Bone

  It took a couple of weeks more than we meant, but stuff came up and kept my wife and I from playing our game.  But we finally got to it.  And it was well worth it.

  To keep it small, we just did a 1500 point battle.  This allowed me to take my Ironjaws army as I only have 1440 points and no battletome to build battalions from, and she chose to go back to her Legions of Nagash with some ghosts splashed in there.

  The Ironjaws force was simple- a Megaboss on Maw-crusher, a Warchanter, a Warcaster, a Megaboss on foot, two units of Brutes, a unit of 'Ardboyz, and some Gore-gruntas.  This force is made from little more than the Start Collecting box, a Maw-crusher, and a couple of blister packs.  I can't wait to get more, but I have other (bluer) priorities right now.

The Ironjaws, ready for krumpin' some skellies!

  Her Legions Army plus allies was led by a Wight King and a Guardian of Souls, leading a mob of 20 skeletons and two units of 10 each, 2 units of Grave Guard, a unit of Black Knights, some Glaive-wraiths, and a couple of those beastly Harbinger things.  She also brought the Black Coach, hoping to give me something hard to have to beat.  The greenskins appreciated it...

Enough skeletons for many Anatomy classrooms!

  I'm still on the 'basic' terrain kick, so we used the standard green mat and just set up some natural features.  My wife then scattered ruins and more in there to look like an ancient, crumbling site of some importance.  After all, why else would we be fighting here?
  The battlefield was split diagonally and we each got to place an objective in our respective corners.  Basically, this mission was a "Capture the Flag" type and whoever controlled both objectives immediately won the game.  That meant that we had to think about guarding our own but also trying to steal the opponent's within five turns.  I like this scenario and it can be found on page 50 of the General's Handbook 2018.

The battlefield...

Deployment

  Our deployment was simple.  I deployed so that my Maw-crusher (heretofore known as the 'bowling ball') so that he could plug up the hole between the woods and the observatory.  The spell-caster deployed atop the flaming platform and oversaw the 'Ardboyz greedily looking at the Realmgate.  The Gore-gruntas deployed on the other side of the gate, basically holding up the flank, while the Megaboss and his Brutes took the woods in the middle and planned where to go.  It was a wall of iron that swung dangerously like a door and nothing would get through...
  She put her massive Black Coach in the middle to be able to lend her magical support to everyone around her.  The Harbingers and Glaive-wraiths flanked the wagon and effectively held that side of the board.  Meanwhile, her Guardian of Souls stood watch over her objective and the nearby gravesites, leaving the Wight King and his skeletal horde bunched up behind the observatory.  The Grave Guard led the way and her Black Knights stood behind the woods on the end ready to dive into whatever came through that pass.  While slow, her force was a sledgehammer ready to just overwhelm whatever came its way...

Turn 1
   Trying to be cunning, I gave her the first turn.  I was hoping to capitalize on the two-turns-in-a-row possibility and smash her with the brutality that is the Ironjaws' forte.  She used her battalion ability to move most of her sketelons forward, then moved them again so that they took up position blocking the approach through the observatory and woods.  Much like the dead would do, they clogged up the passage with bodies.  Well then...  The Black Coach glided into the center of the board and took stock of the enemy while the Harbingers and Glaive-wraiths took up their positions.  A little bit of dread magic in the air and her turn was done.  It was uneventful. but we know that's the worst part of any battle- the wait.
  As we know, Orcs aren't used to the wait and chose to immediately get into battle.  The 'Ardboys and Gore-gruntas simply consolidated around the Realmgate to ensure to funny business was planning on coming through that portal.  The Warchanter got a unit of Brutes frenzied and the Megaboss ordered the Ironjaws forward into battle, where they charged and immediately hacked the ghostly Black Coach down.  With a mighty roar, the first enemy unit felled was celebrated across the battlefield.  Enraged at not getting his chance, the Bowling Ball smashed through a unit of Grave Guard and mowed down almost all the skellies in the unit behind them.  This time, the beast let out the roar of slaughter.  For some reason, the rest of the undead showed no fear after this series of events...

End Turn 1

Turn 2
  So then comes the roll-off for priority in Turn 2...  and I don't win.  Her ghostly dice are making their presence known and steal from me my cunning plan.
  At this point, she sees her only option as swarming the massive Maw-crusher and possibly killing the main bulk of the Ironjaws' power.  Her Harbingers and Glaive-wraiths saw the perfect chance to get revenge and charged into combat with the Brutes aping around the wreckage of their prey.  The Glaive-wraiths and their ethereal form saved them from the Brutes' flurry of attacks, but the Harbingers did not fare so well.  Emboldened by fighting such massive creatures, the Brutes put all their strength into their fight with the Harbingers.  They lost half their number but took the mighty undead down quickly.  The Brutes survived the epic battle, but they gave all they had and collapsed from exhaustion during the Battleshock phase.  The Harbingers still got their prey, even if a little unconventionally.  The Grave Guard that were destroyed by the Maw-crusher were returned from a gravesite the powers of the Guardian of Souls.  The calm that was the undead's last turn was no more...

Legions of Nagash Turn 2

  The Ironjaws are still reveling in the glory of battle but are now a bit slowed down.  The center spearhead is gone and the rest of the vanguard is locked up and can't get away.  The Megaboss ordered the reserve line to consolidate and begin the attack in a different direction.  The 'Ardboyz moved toward the Warcaster and the Gore-gruntas fled off to start putting pressure along the backline.  The Bowling Ball continued to munch his way through all the bodies, killing another unit of skeletons and motivating the Gore-gruntas to finish off the Glaive-wraiths.  But the press of rusty spears and broken lances was starting to take its toll and the Maw-crusha was weakening.  It was at this point that the Wight King realized his tactical error- he never sent the Black Knights to claim the enemy objective and now they were moving back into defensive position.  The Bowling Ball tactic was working, but also unconventionally!

Ironjaws Turn 2

 Turn 3

  Okay, there's still a chance that I can get that two-turns-in-a-row instance going and finish this battle off.  We roll to see how that goes and... guess what.  It happens again.  Those blue dice of hers are way too powerful!

  At this point, the undead legion has little choice but to finish off the fights they're in and get ready for the onslaught.  They no longer have the speed to get to the enemy objective and they've failed to get anywhere near the grave-sites that could have allowed some overwhelming of the defensive line.  And because the Maw-crusha was still there, use of the Realmgate wasn't possible either.  That Maw-crusher had to go.  With buckets of dice representing an impenetrable wall of spears, it showed just how tough its hide really is.  But the Black Knights harassing it from the rear finally found a weak spot in the stone-tough hide and finished him.  The Maw-crusher was no more and the massive horde was now free to advance.  There may be hope yet for the undead...

Legions of Nagash Turn 3

   The battle was obviously in favor of the greenskins, but the objectives were not met.  Losing the Bowling Ball was expected and he served his purpose perfectly.  Now it was time to outsmart the skeletons with some cunnin'.  The Ironjaws and Gore-gruntas in the back line simply moved as fast as they could to the unguarded enemy objective and the 'Ardboyz moved to guard the friendly one.  The Warboss and Warchanter simply linked up and discussed a bet on how many they would each smash.  Now the calm for the Ironjaws suddenly set in...

Ironjaws Turn 3

Turn 4

  Surely I would finally win the roll-off and get my subsequent turn, right?  Right?!  Alas, it was not meant to be on this turn either.  Instead of being able to just smash over the inept undead, I have to trod my way through it, one bone at a time.  Curse those Ethereal dice!
  With her massive horde of skeletons free, they poured around the observatory and saw how long the trek was to their enemy's objective.  Worse, they saw the Warchanter and Megaboss preparing to take them down.  Unfazed, they simply advanced as far as they could.  Meanwhile, the Guardian of Souls summoned up a unit of skeletons to help guard her objective from the oncoming orcs.  It was now just about the waiting game...

Legions of Nagash Turn 4

    Now was the moment for glory!  The Warchanter got his Megaboss frenzied and then charged into combat, waving his bone-sticks and slaying a number of skeletons.  The Megaboss was hollering so loudly that he didn't notice his companion run off and so missed the chance to charge.  And by missed, I mean that I rolled snake-eyes.  No worries, I'll use my last command point to reroll this charge.  Aaaaand, I still fail with a '3'.  Maybe the Megaboss was a little too frenzied?

  The other side of the battlefield saw the Gore-gruntas roll well enough to smash into the newly-raised skeletons, gleefully showing the Megaboss how it's done.  The momentum of their charge was enough that they smashed all the skeletons apart except the champion, only to watch him crumble to the ground in fright (or just failing a battleshock test).  Now only the Guardian of Souls stood between the greenskins and victory. 

Ironjaws Turn 4

Turn 5
  It's the last turn of the game.  The conclusion is obvious, but victory has still not been officially achieved.  The undead had a chance to deny the orcs victory, but the orcs could guarantee it with the win of this priority roll.  I've lost every one of them so far, so surely probability will be on my side.  Surely.  But it wasn't.  Of course.  More trudging.


 In a desperate last bid, the Grave Guard rushed past the combat and tried to cover as much ground as they could to get to the enemy objective.  Unfortunately, undead are very slow and they were feeling it.  It was at this moment that the Wight King suddenly remembered that there was a Realmgate nearby, but his eagerness to kill the enemy and add them to the ranks of the Legion blinded him and it was too late.  The Guardian of Souls fought for her life and some skeletons slowly moved to possibly help out.  Again, it was their lack of speed that kept the undead's hopes down.  It was only a matter of time...

Legions of Nagash Turn 5

  That time was up as far as the Ironjaws were concerned.  They had the skeletons right where they were supposed to be- on the receiving end of a krumpin'!  The Megaboss was finally able to join the fray and his impact was felt immediately.  With the combined efforts of the Megaboss and the Warchanter, most of the horde of skeletons was immediately demolished, leaving only a dozen more to work through.  To the greenskin bosses, this was an easily manageable number and their slaughter would go on.  The Ironjaws that were following the Gore-gruntas rolled amazingly for their charge and roared into the Guardian of Souls, already desperately trying to avoid the blades and tusks of the beast-riders.  With reckless abandon, the Brutes swung until even an ethereal form couldn't protect and the character was destroyed.  With nothing left on the field to power the undead magic, the Wight King called the retreat and conceded defeat.  The Ironjaws owned both objectives and they still had the muscle to smash bones to powder.

Ironjaws Turn 5

  And her Legions of Nagash have lost a game!!!  Whoooo!!!  If you remember, they never lost in first edition.  Now, the new Age of Sigmar has made summoning much easier and the undead are actually top rankings in the tournament circuit.  But my Ironjaws were able to finally take them down!!!

MVP

  Lessons from the game- well, first I have to give it to my MVP.  This model is not only impressive on the tabletop, but he's also a beast in the rules- the Megaboss on Maw-crusher (or 'bowling ball', as we refer to him around here).  I wish that I had two of them because I think a one-two punch from a couple of these could be fatal to whatever I'm facing.  I have to note that he dies in every game that I use him in.  But the influence that he has on the opponent is fantastic.

  My wife has to remember a couple of things.  She's so used to the magical resilience of skeletons and the ability to heal and raise them that she forgets that there's objectives in the game.  If she had used her Knights to 'take the top off', it's possible she could have won the game in Turn 3.  If she had taken advantage of the Realmgates to put that pressure on, she could have probably won the game in the end, if not denied me the opportunity to steal a victory from her.  But she loves the 'recycle nature' of her army so much that she forgot the mission. 

  I'm happy that we got to play this game and I'm always happy when I can pull off a victory.  How's your gaming been going?  Let me know below.  And as always- Happy Gaming!

More Color in the Underworlds!

   As promised in my last hobby post, I would get some more of the Underworlds: Shadespire models painted and then post some pics.  After a couple of later nights (totally due to procrastination), I finally finished the models and got to taking the pictures- even if in terrible winter-season light and on a simple phone camera.  But hey, it's done!

  This time, I finished up the Ironjaws warband.  I have to admit that I did not enjoy painting all the yellow.  Priming the models in black and then painting them on the bases may not have been the wisest approach, but the warband did come out strikingly awesome.  I tried to keep the skin dark (they are the old school Black Orcs, known for their thick, dark skin after decades of fighting), which was very hard to do with the bright armor.  Some bright, stony weapons and a dark base meant that I was really messing around with color theory on these guys.  Let me know what you think of the efforts for sure.

Ironskull's Boyz

  My wife painted her skeleton warband way back in November to give us some painted models for our trip to Warhammer Citadel.  She painted almost all of these models in the short span of a game between me and my buddy and had them completely ready by the time we went to bed.  Talk about speed!

Sepulchral Guard

My favorite one...

  Now that those are all done, it's time to get to painting some Ultramarines.  Give me a couple of weeks and I may have to dive back into the Underworlds: Shadespire models and get those Dwarves and Skaven done.  But first, some blue!!!

  Let me know what you think below and if you've been working on anything.  Happy hobbying!

That wasn't that tough!

  It's not like I'm busy and have things like school and children to worry about.  Every once in a while I get to do some hobbying for myself too.  But just to make sure that I'm never not busy and can procrastinate with legitimate excuses on my stuff, I toss in some work for other people too.  I'm not running a business, but I don't mind putting paint to miniatures for friends and even those willing to throw some pocket change my way.  Plus, this allows me to take my time working on my own stuff.

The last time I painted some models for others...

  There's a group of guys that I hang out with outside the hobby (although they are comic book nerds, so really just a different hobby) and they are well aware of my obsession.  So much so, in fact, that leaving my buddy's house in late November saw a blister pack thrust into my hands and orders given to paint it.  The owner is a burly man that takes pride in his machismo, and the model he handed me is apparently his 'avatar'.  I had no idea and when I asked our mutual buddy about it, I found that the owner has an old tattoo similar to this on himself .  With that, I was motivated to do an even better job than normal.

  But here's the kicker- it's a Bones miniature.  If you haven't worked with these before, here's the deal- Bones are cheap, accessible models for RPGs that are often copies of metal Reaper miniatures.  It's an awesome product line, especially for the poorer gamers among us (the typical miniature is less than $5!).  Considering that character models for DnD typically run you around $12-15 each, a low-cost option is more than welcome.  Unfortunately, the plastic that Bones miniatures use is PVC, not the resinated plastic that higher quality companies typically use.  PVC is not great for priming and painting, even with a hard scrub.  In addition, the detail isn't nearly as crisp as I'm used to, meaning that the ability to pick out those details during the paint stage isn't as easy as I'd like.  But the models are still really good and not so much a bear to paint that I avoid it.

   This particular model is the Avatar of Resilience, represented as a anthropomorphized Rhino.  I searched and dug through the Google Images caches and couldn't find a painted example, so I had to make it up as I went.  I even joked, after such an exhaustive search (that took 20 minutes) that I must be the first person to ever paint the model.  FURST!  But I digress...

  The model has very few details to work with.  No armor, a tree branch holding a boulder as a weapon, and a bunch of leather belts were the only details to break up the tough hide of the Avatar.  That didn't leave me with a ton of options.  When I first started working in the model, I wanted to pour a ton of work into the skin.  I was going to do some green and brown washes under gradual layers of wet-blended gray to give that natural tone and still have depth.  It didn't work.  I had to resign myself to drybrushes upon drybrushes of gray.  I then had to figure out how to do paint the rest of the model and pulled out every shade of brown that I own.  But browns are grays aren't exciting or contrasting, so I was still a bit unimpressed with my work.  And that's when it struck me-

  Cheeta skin!!!  The orange and dark spots would stand out on the model and draw the eyes to something other than the rather prolific belly-bulge or massive head.  That was a blast to paint and I am now trying to think of a way to bring that into something else.  The cheeta-skin was definitely my favorite part of painting this model, not for the technique but for the eye-catching effect it brought.

  After that, it was all about the eyes and horn.  I did another exhaustive search on the Google Images for 'Rhino horns' and 'Rhino eyes' and found some interesting information.  First, the horns are not bone-colored like the comical 40k style leads one to believe.  In fact, Rhino horns are either the same color as their hide OR they get darker towards the end.  Just like the hide, I had grandiose visions of how I was going to paint that.  An attempt at feathering (the old version of that technique, not the amended modern meaning) failed, then an attempt at wet-blending again failed.  I had to settle for just a few layers and be satisfied.

  More surprising was the eyes.  I thought that Rhinos had all black eyes for some reason.  As it turns out, they have very human-like eyes!  From lashes to colored irises, their eyes contain much more detail than I first thought.  I had a bit of fun painting these eyes as opposed to actual human miniatures because, well, they were bigger and much easier to do.  It's those little things (or big things, in this case)...

  I finished him in a matter of hours, but spread over a few months.  There were many other projects that I had to plug through before I got to this one, but I was so happy that he was finally done.  When I delivered him to the owner and my mutual buddy to take to him, I received a text of great appreciation.  And that made the needless struggles of painting the model totally worth it.  It isn't the best paint job or most fantastic model I've ever done, but I'm satisfied with the results.

That Rhino was more fun that the last project I did for this guy...

I do highly suggest Bones miniatures for those RPG gamers that need some miniatures for cheap.  If you're not a Golden Daemon-level painter, these models are perfect for you and won't cost you an arm and leg (miniature or otherwise).  Reaper is even kind enough to provide advise on how to treat these models right on their site!  Check it out here.

Let me know what you think below.  And Happy Hobbying!