A Chaotic Encounter

 

Queen Helga confronts the Silver Jarl.

Determined to settle her most recent grudge, Queen Helga pushed her force deeper into The Wasteland hunting the Cathayan warhost that her force recently fought against. Unfortunately she ran into a far nastier foe: The Gray Reavers. A band of ruthless savages descending from the land of ice, snow and furry beasts led by the even more ruthless Silver Jarl. 

Somewhere in The Wasteland. 

The field of battle was grey and desolate. A small thicket of scraggly trees and thorn bushes grew on one end, while the crumbling ruins of a long forgotten settlement stuck out of the dry and arid ground of the other end. 

We both showed up with small armies totally 1250 points each.. 

The Gray Reavers. 

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Warriors of Chaos [1241 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, Warriors of Chaos, Open War

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++ Characters [317 pts] ++

Exalted Sorcerer [90 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Light armour

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Chaos Undivided]

- Wizard [Level 1 Wizard]

- On foot

- Daemonology (randomized spell: The Summoning.) 

Chaos Lord [227 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Full plate armour

- Shield

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Chaos Undivided]

- General

- On foot

- Giant Blade

++ Core Units [578 pts] ++

15 Chaos Warriors [228 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Shields

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Chaos Undivided]

- Champion

- Standard bearer

- Musician

15 Chaos Warriors [228 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Shields

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Chaos Undivided]

- Champion

- Standard bearer

- Musician

15 Chaos Marauders [122 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Light armour

- Shields

- Chaotic Cult [None]

- Formation [Close Order]

- Marauder Headman (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

++ Special Units [346 pts] ++

Chaos Chariot [110 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Halberds

- Mark of Chaos Undivided

5 Chosen Chaos Knights [236 pts] 

- Lances

- Shields

- Full plate armour

- Barding

- Mark of Chaos [Mark of Nurgle]

- Champion

- Standard bearer

- Musician

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Created with "Old World Builder"

[https://old-world-builder.com]

Queen Helga's Entourage

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Helga's Entourage  [1250 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, Dwarfen Mountain Holds, Open War

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++ Characters [285 pts] ++

Queen Helga [177 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Full plate armour

- Shield

- General

- On foot

- Rune of Speed

- Rune of Cleaving

- 2x Rune of Shielding

Engineer [108 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Heavy armour

- Handgun

- Rune of Shielding

- Rune of Rapid Fire

- Rune of Accuracy

++ Core Units [355 pts] ++

10 Dwarf Warriors [115 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Shields

- Veteran (0-1 unit per 1000 points)

- Veteran

- Standard bearer

- Musician

10 Thunderers [115 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Handguns

- Heavy armour

- Veteran (champion) [Handgun]

- Standard bearer

- Musician

10 Dwarf Warriors [125 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- Great weapons

- Shields

- Drilled

- Veteran (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

++ Special Units [248 pts] ++

Cannon [110 pts] 

- Cannon

- Hand weapons

- Light armour

- Rune of Reloading

- Stalwart Rune

8 Miners [138 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Great weapons

- Heavy armour

- Blasting Charges

- Veteran

- Prospector (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

++ Rare Units [218 pts] ++

10 Irondrakes [218 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Drakeguns

- Full plate armour

- Drilled

- Ironwarden (champion) [Trollhammer torpedo]

- Standard bearer [Rune of Battle]

- Musician

++ Mercenaries [144 pts] ++

3 Imperial Ogres [144 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Heavy armour

- 1x Great weapons

- 2x Light cannons

- 3x Ogre pistols

- Captain (champion)

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Created with "Old World Builder"

[https://old-world-builder.com]

Dwarf Deployment.

I wanted to change up Queen Helga's list from the last time I used it. With Helga herself I removed the Rune of Adamant and gave her double Rune of Shielding. This was an effort to try to free up points for things elsewhere in the list. One of the the most obvious additions to the list was the hiring of a trio of Imperial Ogres. Thankfully they made their pre-game roll and showed up on time and (allegedly) sober.  

Chaos Deployment.

I can't speak to the decisions Bob made for his Chaos force other than that he eschewed all missile weapons in favor of getting up close and personal. His Sorcerer rolled The Summoning for his pre-game spell selection. 

TURN ONE 

All of the Chaos force marches forward! 

The Dwarfs focus on a a unit of Warriors and pick off a few of them with shooting from the cannon and the Iron Drakes. The Thunderers did not net any kills. 

CHAOS TURN TWO

In the previous turn, the Imperial Ogres shot their Light Cannons into the woods hoping to hit the Chaos Knights that were smashing their way through it. They missed every shot. Now that they were being charged they Stood and Shot and again missed with each shot. The Chaos Chariot crashed into the unit of Dwarf Warriors on the board's edge but only killed two of them. In return, the dwarf counter attack rolled only 1's and 2's on the dice! Somehow, we managed to get a drawn combat our of that mess. 

DWARFS TURN TWO

Helga and her unit of warriors charge the Chaos Warrior unit. 

Helga Challenges the Silver Jarl who eagerly accepts the it. 

The result is that Helga loses two Wounds, and her Warriors didn't achieve enough kills to win the fight. The unit Falls Back in Good Order. 

turn 3

The Knights win the fight against the Ogres even though the Ogre Captain with his mighty double handed weapon damn  near wiped the floor with them. The CR determined that the ogres lost.. He fails  the break test and runs away. I can't recall if the Knights restrained themselves of just failed to catch him. 

Meanwhile another unit of Chaos Warriors join the fray as the Silver Jarl and his unit charge Queen Helga's unit again. Helga once again accepts the challenge from the Silver Jarl. 

Although she and her unit held firm, the CR of the opposing force was overwhelming and they ended up breaking. 

Both units pursued and ran down the retreating dwarfs.  Thus Helga was defeated again. 

Dwarfs Turn 3

During the rally phase the Ogre Captain rallied! He turned to face the Knights defiantly.  Finally, the Miners show up, however my placement of them could've been better as I had a tough time maneuvering the unit. I had a lot of shooting to perform but my dice rolling stymied my hopes for  gaining any sort of edge over these guys. 

In the close combat phase the Dwarf Warriors continued to keep the Chaos Chariot locked in combat. Bob said of the situation: "If it helps that's really annoying."  

Chaos Turn 4 

Chaos finallt gets the big charge that they've been aching for: three units manage to get charges off.. The Marauders charge the Iron Drakes (kill two of them with their Stand and Shoot option), The Thunderers kill a Chaos Warrior with Stand and Shoot. And finally the Ogre Captain chose to stand and shoot, he raised his pistol and brought down the Chaos Knight's Standard Bearer with a single shot! It was an awesomely heroic moment. However the Ogre was defeated by the Chaos Knights unit Champion. He used his follow-up move to get a bit closer to the Dwarf Warriors that have bogged down the chariot for most of the game. 

The Thunderers held against the Chaos Warriors despite their situation worsening, But more dramatically the Iron Drakes won their combat against the marauders and actually managed to run them down after they broke,. 

Dwarfs Turn 4

The iron drakes redressed their ranks to take full advantage of their firing potential and opened up on the Chaos Sorceror who found himself in their sights. Amazing he lived through that but the Troll Hammer Torpedo found it's mark and exploded him violently across the battlefield. 

Turn 5

The Knight Champion and Chariot finally killed of the unit of Dwarf Warriors over on my left flank, 

I managed to successfully snipe the Silver Jarl with a cannon ball, but he made his save! We imagine he swatted it aside like it was little more than a dodgeball., 

We called it there. it was clear to us that the dwarfs would have to have  a miracle happen in order for the dwarfs to turn this encounter around.  Just look at the difference in captured banners alone: 

4 Dwarf banners captured to 1 Chaos banner captured. 

The final tally once all the points were calculated was Chaos 1220 to Dwarfs 321. ouch. 

That's not to say that I didn't kill a lot, I did, It's just I didn't finish off enough full units for it to make a difference. 

Chaos dead pile.

Dwarfen dead pile. 

Still it was another fun game despite my dice begging me to turn them into slingshot ammo. I think I switched dice four times before settling on a set that wasn't straight up embarrassing me. I do think I have put Queen Helga through enough lately, so I am going to give this particular army list a rest. I'm not done with dwarfs, just done with this specific theme.

 My favorite dwarf unit of the game, despite it not working out the way I envisioned, was the Imperial Ogres. I think I want to try them out with just double-handed weapons and Ogre pistols next time I use them. My Canon did well, especially having the Engineer's re-roll which made a big difference to it's performance. I think I want to field my organ gun next time simply because I have yet to use it. But only if the Engineer is there to support it!

The Chaos side was pretty solid. Although the Marauders feel victim to "new model syndrome" and was the one unit the dwarfs successfully eliminated completely. The Silver Jarl has claimed his trophies and we shall see if he makes another appearance soon. 

March for Macragge '26 (Part 2)

 With all I have going on, I managed to make a little progress on these guys. 

First off, I basecoated them using an ancient Citadel Colour: Space Marine Blue. This is still my favorite dark blue but I'm starting to run low on it and I really should try to find a replacement for it sooner than later. 

Space Marine Blue.

The next layer is still a current color, and that is Macragge Blue. 

Macragge Blue. 

...and that's as far as I got.  To see my recipe for this scheme check out Ultramarines Color Scheme Test. 

-Until next time!

March For Macragge '26 (part 1)

Assault Intercessors squad 3.

Another month arrives and with it another painting challenge. This one is March for Macragge. This is something the hobbyists on the Ulramarines, Strategies & Tactics Facebook Group do every year. Essentially members commit to completing an Ultramarines specific project by the end of the month of March. I decided to commit to finishing another squad of Assault Intercessors. This is the third squad of five Assault Intercessors that I assembled two years ago (I had to skip out on this challenge last year).  I primed them in Chaos Black and... never touched them again.

Sergeant with Thunder Hammer.

This will be a real challenge for me as this month also sees me back at the drawing board producing new artwork for the first time in about a year. So free time will be a bit more precious than it usually is, but I think I can make it work.  After all, March is a long month! 

The Blue Horror Picture Show (Part 1)

 

Classic Blue Horrors.

What do you do when you thought you had 20 mint condition Blue Horrors sealed in blister packs but you only actually have 12? 

12 metal Blue Horrors.

While handling these blister packs one of them randomly opened spilling forth it's contents into the fresh air for the first time in 30 years.  So I figured I would just go ahead and paint them up. I used Contrast paints on them:  Asurmen Blue and Skeleton Horde.  That's it. Ok, a dot of yellow on their eyes, but really, that's it. They are battle ready and don't look half bad. 

Even Tzeentch protests industrial pollution 

Okay, so back to the numbers challenge that I started this post with:  I am short six models. I really want a big 20 model horde. Well, trying to fill that difference with second hand miniatures from eBay is proving to be quite a challenge, both physically and financially.  

So I tabled that idea and went ahead with working with the plastic set that I have. These are awesome models also, plus they also come with Brimstone Horrors.  Building them was trickier than I imagined they would be,  but I really like them a lot. 

Plastic Blue Horrors, primed. 

They have a few more details such as flames and jewelry items that will make them a little more time consuming then the metal ones above. But time is something I am out of so maybe I can get them done in another post? 

Coming up in March: A return to 40k, and back to doing some art. I hope you'll come back to see it then! 

Eltharion (Part 2)

 

Eltharion is finally complete.

Continuing on from Part 1

Ulthuan Grey.

When it came time to chose a color for the long blind fold, I wanted something to contrast against the other colors. But I didn't want it to clash either. The painted example GW presented in their publicatuons had a red blind fold but I decided that it reminded me too much of blood which gives the impression that this is a fresh wound. 

Luxion Purple, a contrast paint, proved to be the solution here. It's a hotter color than the other colors but keeps a footing on blue side of the color wheel. Historically purple clothing has always had a royal connotation due to it's rarity, and I like the subtle implications of that here. 

My plan from the beginning (as far back as early '00s) was to paint the evening starfield on the interior of his cloak. It's an ongoing theme for this army and I think it worked out great on this model. 

Finally, after two decades Eltharion the Blind was attached to his weapon, The White Sword (sounds like an English pub doesn't it?). 

And here he is with some friends. I think he fits in well with them, despite not having a pointy helm. 

"Point me in the right direction lads!"

When he will meet his tabletop debute is anyone's guess, but it won't be until after it warms up enough for me to spray a sealer on him to help reduce chipping. 

"Challenge accepted! So, which one of you is Pink?"

Eltharion (Part 1)

 Eltharion. 

Not the Grim one, the blind one.

At some point in the 6th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle GW had the "genius" idea* of taking one the iconic High Elf characters and turning him into a blind swordmaster.  By no means is this miniature an improvement over the incredible original, but I thought he was cool enough. Also his rules,   at the time, were just awesome. In fact when I read them again recently it was a stark reminder of just how tuned down TOW is compared to the earlier editions of WFB. 

So I got this miniature back when it was sparkling new.  But for some reason now lost to me,  I just never managed to complete it. The White Sword was the only piece of the miniature that I consider 'done and all these years later I am still very happy with it. Although it's not very white is it?

The White Sword.

The first thing I need to do before I proceed with finishing this guy is to address the base. I saw no need to remove and scrap his base, so I chose to use an expansion ring to extend it out to a proper 25mm. 

It fit perfectly and after some modelng lue was officially now on a 25mm base. 

To bring it all together some grit was then added to the extension. 

And then I  painted it so as to blend the old with the new, and presto! 

As I continue to work on this chap,  I will brighten those rocks up a bit to conform with the rest of my High Elf models.  

*Add sarcasm.

Handmaiden of the Everqueen

I was about to order the release of the 8th edition era Handmaiden of the Evergreen, when I remembered that I had two of the older models from the '90s. It didn't take me long to find them. One was primed black (back when I was working on the High Elves in the early '00s, black was my primer of choice) and the other was bare metal. She is armed just like the "current" model, although she is probably a bit smaller. 

I started off with Contrast Paints. Specifically Aggarros Dunes for armor and hair, Space Wolves Grey for the areas that are going to up white, and Asurmen Blue for the interior of her cloak.

Retributor Gold was painted on the armor next. This was followed by Auric Armour Gold.  

I used an old classic on the hair. A craft paint called Lemonade by Folk Art. I think is my favorite part of the model. 

Stormhost Silver was added as a final highlight to all the metal areas. 

The skin was done using Guilliman Fleshwash, Cadian Fleshtone, Eldar Flesh and a final highlight of Palid Flesh. I added a light dry brushing of Whitescar as a final highlight to her hair. I guess that's a frosted look now? Not sure about that terminology but it feels right....

Once the gemstones were painted the miniature was essentially done. A grass tuft was added to the rear of the base, and of course the base rim was painted using the classic Goblin Green.

Now I just need the outside temperature to warm up so I can seal the model to protect it from chipping ( It's metal after all). In the meanwhile I suppose I can set up some interesting photos using her. 

She doesn't just face her demons, she challenges them.