To Ostland!

[Boreas_NL]

This all sounds strangely familiar... I also have a tiny superstition of painted models performing better. Don't know why my army isn't fully painted, but it might explain some things...

New units and characters require some 'breaking in', usually by getting killed in a suitably messy and bloody fashion. Sometimes I even do it on purpose, sending them on a doomed mission or assigning them a near-suicidal task...

[Astraeos]

There are all sorts of superstitions and beliefs in this hobby of ours. Apparently some people try to "Train" dice by praising the ones that roll well and punishing the ones that roll low! Jervis said in a WD that Andy Chambers used to violently throw low rolling dice across the room!

[Demoulius]

I know a faster way to punish the bad dice. Line them all up and randomly pick on out of the lot and burn him

Im sure it will scare the other dice to pick up their act

[Astraeos]

And if a small puddle forms around the dice, at least you know they were watching!

[Astraeos]

Right, large progress report! As I'm using Warseer's uploader again I have no idea what order my pics are going to be in so I'll just give general descriptions of what I've added and made!

First up, I bought the new Griffon and Repanse de Lyonnesse to start creating Lady Amelia von Krieger to lead my army in larger games! I'll saw off the arm and head (once I get a saw, payday's Monday) and see about attaching those plastic Empire general arms and hope they're not too big! I'm still looking for what I could use as a replacement for her head and I'm open to suggestions. Also I'll need to do something about the saddle as Repanse's legs don't sit comfortably in it! They're kinda elevated with a very clear gap in between, so I may have to fill it in or even try making a new one!
Too bad I got carried away and fully assembled the Griffon, but to be honest I couldn't wait to see it finished!

I've started putting my Outriders together as well! Nothing special so far but I did rip off the Free Company musician's arm. It was originally an Outrider bit anyway and I doubt I'll be using my Free Company command group anytime soon. The unit has two more guys to get built including the champion, who I'm doing a bit of conversion work on.
Speaking of the Free Company, I gave Heinrich a hat from the Greatswords box to differentiate him from the Free Company head that looks very similar to his. He now looks a bit like a Highwayman! You can see him in the pics somewhere alongside the plastic Engineer.

There's also the start of my Halberdiers in there too. I'm aiming to use heads with helmets for this unit, preferably the pistolier ones but I'll use what I can find. Annoyingly there's a few gaps on them. I also made two more Handgunners to replace the Marksman and standard bearer, one of those guys is actually made from a State Trooper body!

I also added a shot of that plastic Light Wizard! The scale is a bit dated and next to the newer models his sword looks like some kind of toy!

And lastly I managed to get Lucrezzia Belladonna off eBay (mistakenly listed as a Brettonian Sorceress) and while looking through my modelling drawers I found that Marco Columbo model that was released for the Lustria campaign many years ago!

[Boreas_NL]

I was going to suggest a head-swap but then remembered the boobs. The torso of the General doesn't have any, so that might be a problem... On the other hand, the new plastic General from the Gryphon kit is quite puffy...

You have some nice progress there, and some very nice models, too! Finding Marco must have been a real treat, it's one of the best models out there...

[Demoulius]

Hmmm boobs

Lovely update man nice to see you working on your empire again

[Astraeos]

Boreas- A female head on a male body might look odd. I'm not 100% sure, and I do already have a model to use! I just hope that the arms won't look too big, Repanse was originally released when I was still a young teenager! I still have that White Dwarf which had her release in it.

Demo- I never stopped working on them, I just haven't done an update for a while as I was doing little bits and pieces. I decided to wait until I had something a bit more substantial before I made a new update.

Thanks for your comments and looking guys!

[Astraeos]

Updates! Today's instalment sees the army's first battles and the Outriders finished including a converted champion. It's the head from the plastic General kit however I accidentally cut a little too close and ended up with a slope on the side of his head! So after a quick think I remembered the helmets from the Greatswords box and after a lot of cutting, trimming and filing I managed to get the head inside the helm. I think it looks pretty cool myself, adds a little ferocity to the unit.

There's also ten new Swordsmen added, bringing me up to thirty. As before, each guy has a different head picked from the archers, militia, Middenheimers and maybe the odd handgunner. I'm quite pleased that they each look individual, they really do look like a band that has fought besides each other for many a battle.

And finally some new Dramatis Personae. We have the new "Finecast" Witch Hunter and the classic Wood Elf sorceress that will serve me as Battle Wizard utilising the Lore of Life. I'm in a bit of a love/hate relationship with Whinecast, sorry, "Finecast", while I really like how easy they are to clean and put together I cannot stand seeing the pits and the occasional fragile bit. The ends of my Witch Hunters belt are both missing, one just wasn't on when I got it and the other snapped off with a tiny scrape while being cleaned. He also has the tip of his nose missing, I really wished I decided to buy him in person rather than ordering offline. I didn't notice anything wrong with him before I tore open the clampack and took my knife to him. I have some liquid greenstuff which I bought today (along with Demigryphs) so I'll have a stab at tidying his holes up. I like the idea of "Finecast" (I always say that sarcastically) but I really do wish that the quality control was a lot better and I sometimes think that they really should have tested the material a lot more, I hate having models that are "Sculpt it yourself". If I wanted to sculpt my stuff in any way I'd do it, but seriously just let me make the model straight from the box, PLEASE!
I have a Dark Eldar Mandrake somewhere who's missing a chin for crying out loud.

While I adore Games Workshop truly (and have done for huge portion of my life), "Finecast" is the one thing they've done that I really have a hard time standing with. It's kinda irritating they even call it "Finecast", fine implies top quality and seeing chinless Eldar and Isabella von Carstein with an Egyptian Pharaoh beard like protrusion is not really living up to the name is it? At the very least couldn't they leave some metal versions as direct only items?

Anyway, moving on. Last week I got to try my army in some 1000 point games! While I don't have any photographs (too busy trying to think how to use my army, first time and all) I can give you a recap of sorts.

My list was-

Warrior priestess with 2 Hand weapons and the Armour of Meteoric Iron.

Lvl 2 Battle Wizard with the Lore of Light.

29 Swordsmen with full command.

29 Halberdiers with full command.

5 Outriders with musician and Sharpshooter armed with a Grenade Launching Blunderbuss.

Helblaster Volley Gun.

My first game was against Tomb Kings. The opposing army featured two Warsphinxes! I ended up focussing my attention on these two trying to take them out while my opponents skeletons with the aid of some spell slowly whittled my army away. It was near the end of the game that I suddenly realised that I should have went straight for the skeletons and ignored the big stone cats!
Luckily his two catapults couldn't hit anything at all while my Helblaster merrily pumped out shots. Sadly every casualty I inflicted just got back up. My Outriders were fun to use and at one point I rolled so many hits using their Repeater Handguns that m opponent said that if they all wounded that I'd have killed it! Alas I failed to roll enough, but I certainly did inflict some damage and the Outriders themselves did well at distracting the Sphinx.
The Halberdiers took on the second one and held that up a bit but it was around then I knew I had lost. I tried a last ditch shot at glory by casting Shem's gaze at the Liche Priest but it got dispelled. Like every other spell he tried to cast.

The second game was against a Savage Orc list consisting of a big unit of Savage Orcs, ten Savage Orc boarboyz, three River trolls, one shaman and one or two big bosses! One was also the BSB.
My Helblaster misfired spectacularly (I rolled three misfires) and launched thirty shots before blowing up! The Shaman and Wizard were having the world's deadliest staring contest (Shem's Burning Gaze vs Gaze of Mork) while the Swordsmen advanced towards, then tried their best at fighting the Savage Orcs but ended up fleeing while the Halberdiers (with Priestess) were trading blows with the trolls. My Outriders were playing a game of cat and mouse with the boarboyz. Towards the end of the game after my Swordsmen rallied with the Savage Orcs only an inch or two away I tried Shem's gaze at the higher casting value using six dice. And now an episode of "When Desperation Tactics Backfire"! I rolled a double six meaning I got the spell off and burned some Orcs but I rolled a four for the miscast! The Wizard's magic erupted engulfing most of the Swordsmen and in the end left him on one wound the unit with only the champion, musician and a lone soldier still standing. At least it got some Orcs too, but now the odds were against me.
The good news was that two of the trolls died to the Halberdiers and the Outriders did a great job and moving backwards and forwards on one table edge, sort of keeping the Boarboyz out of the game.

I know I lost but I now know what my army can sort of do. The Helblaster is great fun and very satisfying when you have both hands holding a huge amount of dice, eagerly anticipating the damage it might cause. I liked using my Outriders, fast cavalry with BS4 and Repeater Handguns make for a very enjoyable unit. My Halberdiers did great, damaging Sphinxes and slaying trolls. The Swordsmen didn't really have a chance to shine and spent a lot of the time running away, a bit disappointing seeing as I made sure each of them had a different head to one another!
Next time I'll take a Great Cannon over the Helblaster though as I needed something to put some real hurt on the sphinxes, or any other large monster I might face. I'll also drop the magic armour and the wizard so I can take my own BSB and a Witch Hunter.

There's a campaign being arranged at the club where we each use a 1000 points list (and no changing once it's begun), so I've been busy building stuff. I have a cannon waiting on my modelling area and I really need to make more Halberdiers as at the moment I've been proxying them with some Dark Elves!

[Demoulius]

About the finecast model with missing nose and damaged belt, show the model a a local store (unles you painted it already) and they should give you a model with the damages. Kind of a shame that you have to go through that to get a good product but oh well... Also the reason I buy finecast models in the stores as your almost bound to find damaged models... Generally I find they have to take parts from 2 or 3 kits to assemble 1 intact model

Anyway nice to hear your getting some games played man! Always a shame if an army only collects dust

Facing 2 sphinxes in 1000 points? Uh, they can do that? Isent that "2 hydras in 1000 points" cheese level? Seems like a rather ****-ish thing to do if you ask me... Did they know it was your first game with the army?

The O&G army seems pretty balanced though.

How did your units work compared to what you expected them to do? Did they work for you? Also the outrider champ looks ace with that helmet, good job

[Astraeos]

He's already cleaned and glued to the base, I dunno if they'll exchange him or not. Most of the holes are only visible from a worm's eye view so I may be able to live with it for a while. I hate having to find finecast models, I really want an Isabella von Carstein for my Vampire counts (Lahmians, all girls like my Necromunda gang) but I've yet to come across one that I'll feel happy buying. It's not all bad with Finecast as I have a Vampire model that is actually almost hole free, just the back of her hand has a gap.

He knew it was my first game but as I said there's a 1000 points campaign going on where we can't change our armies once we start. So a lot of people have been trying to make some powerhouse forces, one guy has been trying out two blocks of Chaos Warriors in one!
On the subject of Sphinxes, apparently it's possible to get three and a unit of four chariots into a 1000 points.
I thought I might have stood a chance against the Orcs before my own stuff started to blow up!

I didn't set any real expectations as I decided to see what they could do. Hildegarde giving hatred to my Halberdiers worked well, too bad I kept forgetting her prayers! The only let down was my Swordsmen but they were led by my Wizard who isn't really a leader sort. Next time I'll try a Captain or Witch Hunter leading them.

[Demoulius]

Like the idea about your themed list. Should be more female fantasy armies

You cant really go wrong with a WP Specialy if you put those prayer to good use! A 5+ ward save can be huge! Specialy if used on a unit like greatswords Dont fret to much about losing though. I personally found out you learn the most from crushing defeats

Tbh though if your opponents are taking the most hard ass lists they can I dont see any reason why you shouldnt either Or at least adapt abit to deal with them. A cannon alongside the hellblaster should take care of that nicely! Failing that a unit of knights with flaming banner can dish out alot of hurt as well. They cant be thunderstomped and generally wont be hit on 3's

Or....you know field whatever the hell you want tbh! Its your army after all

[Nordic]

That TK list sounds like a tough nut to crack. The outriders seem to be a good unit though, plus adding demigryphs to your force should give it a little more oomph!

[Boreas_NL]

Cool to read you've played your first battles! For a 1000 points the list you used is pretty solid and well balanced, it pretty much contains everything you need... One change you might want to consider is to swap the Helblaster for a Cannon as the Outriders and Helblaster have a similar purpose (pumping put lots of hot lead in the general direction of the enemy) while a Cannon is very usefull for dealing with larger monsters, like the TK Sphinxes (two in 1000 points, ouch).

The new additions look sweet! The converted Outrider Champion is very nice, I might have to borrow the idea with the helmet for personal use. Giving all your Swordsmen different heads is a stroke of genius, it must look great!

How is your female General coming along?

[Astraeos]

@ Demo- I don't mind defeats, I've had more of them than I've had victories to be honest. I don't want to change things too much as this 1000 point list will eventually form a part of my eventual 3000 points list, like evolution if you will. I do have a box of knights sitting around though, but as I said I also have Demigryphs now.

@ Nordic- That TK list was pretty tough, if only I realised how to beat it sooner. I should've ignored the Sphinxes and went straight for the Liche Priest, I had a Light Wizard in my army. He should've have been on exorcism duty, not fleeing with my Swordsmen (and ironically he had that spell for automatically rallying troops).

@ Boreas- THe cannon is definitely in, but I love how fun a Helblaster is so in larger games both will be in my army! But I agree that the cannon will be needed more. Thanks for the compliments about my Outrider champion and I'm flattered you might borrow the idea! It was all necessity really, either do the conversion or buy a new Gneeral box to get the replacement head. And thanks for the complement about my Swordsmen too!
There hasn't been any progress on Amelia so far, I've been busy getting my army to 1000 points. Not officially there, as my Halberdiers are mostly Dark Elf stand ins (except the front rank which is Halberdiers) and my Helblaster is invisible, IE just the carriage sitting there with crew standing around it!

[Superdan21]

Good to hear you had some games and a play test, shame about losses but echoing everyone else that TK list sounds filth, I know the feeling my friends play skaven, woc, ogres and chaos dwarfs respectively so all I face is broken armies : P
List looks good glad to hear the outriders did well I've just been building some of them, oddly I've done a similar conversion to that generals head (though I've not used it yet)
Swordsmen look cool great idea having different heads for each trooper, really adds character, I thought about it for my state troops but there's over 150 of them now so probably would have been tough.
Not really much else to say other than agreeing with what's already gone, I think a cannon would make a big difference great for taking out beasties and other warmachines
Can't wait to see more

[Astraeos]

It seems that others are trying out powerful lists too, someone else was testing a list featuring two big blocks of Chaos Warriors supported by two small units of Chaos Warhounds.

A cannon is in the works right now and I have some Halberdiers waiting. I'm hoping to use mainly pistolier and other armoured heads on them to complement their stoic, militant sergeant.

[Lord Dan]

Sorry you didn't win, but I'm glad the game was fun for you in either case. You need to paint more models as penance for the loss, though.

[Astraeos]

Where does it say that in the rulebook!?

[Demoulius]

Page 255, heading 3, subjection J fourth paragraph: "Deciding who won. In the case that one party lost the game they will to paint a unit as penetance"