Troll Tales

A bit of a break while I move countries...

2011-08-15T21:16:00.001+02:00

I apologize for the sudden drop in blogposts. For those who are not in the know, I'm currently moving from Umeå in Sweden to Orlando, FL in the U.S, to attend graduate school. Until I'm settled in properly, my postings will be a bit more sporadic. Don't worry, it won't take that long, and Troll Tales will be back soon.

Orc Arrer Boyz painted

2011-08-09T23:07:00.000+02:00

Still continuing on with the Orc theme; here are my smaller mob of Arrer Boyz. I wanted to capture some of the greenskin squabble, as per usual, along with some orc brutality, so I included the metal animosity scene from the GW Collector's range. I think it works quite well alongside the rest of the boyz.

As you'll probably notice, most of these are the old metal boyz, but I've added in two plastic boyz with bitz from the Orc Boar Boyz kit; the musician, as you can see, has got a horn to blow in courtesty of said Boar Boyz.

I usually want my Arrer Boyz small, to go on a flank and shoot down diverters before supporting charging whatever is fighting my larger mobs. Arrer Boyz are, after all, one of the best shooting units in Warhammer at fighting in close combat.

Orc Warboss painted

2011-08-07T23:19:00.015+02:00

Since we're doing another string of Orcs these days, I decided to paint my Orc Warboss and his Snotling squire. This model is from Games Day 2007 (I think) and ties in nicely with other releases. The shield (on his back) is quite similiar to the Black Orc Warboss model, and his choppa fits well together with the choppa on the Orc Shaman model. You also have the typical orcish scale on his clothing, much like the Giant, and his face reminds me a lot of both the Shaman and the BSB from yesterday.

He's also quite big compared to his Orc Boyz - finally a Warboss that stands out from the crowd!

Orc BSB painted

2011-08-05T23:23:00.000+02:00

I finally got around to taking some photos of my Orc BSB that I finished painting a couple of days ago. This model, as I was told by one of my readers, is from an older, limited edition Army Box deal.

Despite the sculpt being quite a few years old, the model was still a joy to paint. Easy to assemble, and a good amount of details that were easy to reach and pick out.

The paint scheme is similiar to the rest of the Orc part of the army, of course, mainly beige and red, with checker patterns and rusted metal.

As always, check out the Flickr gallery to view the model from other angles.

Wood Elves vs Empire, 1500 pts

2011-08-04T23:31:00.004+02:00

This past weekend I tried out part of my Wood Elf Host against the might of an Empire army. We decided to play at a smaller point level than usual - 1500 points each - which actually makes for an enjoyable little battle, while still giving off a feel of two actual armies engaging. I definitely felt more comfortable with my MSU army at slightly less points.

I had brought a Lifeweaver with a Dispel Scroll and a Noble BSB with the Hail of Doom Arrows and Asyendi's Bane. They would run with ten Glade Guards, while two units of five Glade Riders made out the vanguard. 8 Dryads went into my forest, while three Treekins and a Treeman made out the Forest Spirits. Finally, a Great Eagle was flying above the battlefield. My spells were Awakening of the Woods, Flesh to Stone, Regrowth and Shield of Thorns. Not my most effective spellbook, for certain.

The Empire forces were led by an Archlector on foot, a Captain with the Banner of Eternal Flame imbued on the Battle Standard, possibly imbued by the Bright Wizard who was walking by their side. All three of them joined up with a grizzly unit of around 20 Greatswords, while a unit of around 30 Swordsmen marched next to them and 10 Flagellants were howling from their side. On the far flank, five Knights awaited next to a regiment of 10 Crossbowmen, protecting the artillery train consisting of a Great Cannon, a Mortar and a Rocket Battery. A Master Engineer stood nearby with a Hochland Long Rifle. The Bright Wizard knew the spells of Fireball and Fulminating Flame Cage.

Things of note:

Great Cannon - Of all the Empire artillery, I figured the Cannon was the greatest threat to my Host and decided to focus my arrows on that one early on. When playing Wood Elves, I believe it is of utmost importance to focus your fire and take out the greatest threats to your army - usually very mobile enemies or artillery that can threaten your Forest Spirits. After I deployed both my Glade Riders and Dryads on one flank, my Empire opponent commited a slight mistake in placing his Cannon slightly ahead of his Crossbowmen. This usually doesn't mean much, but against my Longbows that meant I could move out of firing range of the Crossbows while still within range of firing at his Cannon. My Glade Riders vanguarded out of harm's way, while the Dryads remained within the forest for a total of -3 modifier to the Crossbows. With Regrowth available, I felt quite comfortable in letting them get shot at.

Meanwhile, I unloaded all my arrows into the Cannon while my Treeman hid behind a large boulder to hopefully keep him safe. Despite rolling poorly for my Hail of Doom (firing a mere 4 shots) I managed to take out the Cannons in two rounds of bowfire, after it had failed to hit one of my Treekins with the Treeman hiding out of sight. The Crossbowmen, rather than moving out early, elected to fire into the forest but couldn't do much against the Dryds hiding there while tempting the Knights to charge in to fight them. Frustrated by their targets, the Crossbowmen moved into range of the Glade Guards after two rounds, but by then I could move close with my own longbows and shoot them down. I was quite pleased by this move, abusing my mobility and the terrain to my favour, as Wood Elves must do.

Forest Spirits - With the Cannon disposed of, I felt comfortable moving out with my big hitters. Hiding behind a huge rock meant charges would be awkward to complete, so I had to move out close to my foes if I wanted to engage them. The Treeman marched up close in front of the Greatswords and roared his challenge (while forgetting to strangle root them!) while the Treekin moved up towards the Swordsmen. Each of them were protecting the flank of the other, preventing any combination of charges: if the Empire wanted to charge, each unit would have to charge the foe I presented them with, or not charge at all. I felt comfortable with the Treekins against the Swordsmen, with them wounding me on 6's, but the Treeman would be stung on 5+ by the Greatswords, and the Archlector would even harm me on 4+. I hoped to improve my odds in the Magic phase, but my attempt at Flesh to Stone was dispelled, barely.

The Empire, with no real shooting to threaten my Forest Spirits and magic being so fickle, elected to charge in, which was probably a good idea. You always want to charge an army with Lore of Life when their spells are either not active or remaining in play, rather than being charged and then unable to counter their spells in their own phase. Despite Hatred in their first turn, the Greatswords only managed to hurt the Treeman twice, after revealing their flaming attacks, amounting to four wounds on the giant tree. But it was a little too late, as by then the Treeman had cleared out the entire regiment of Greatswords, who held on stubbornly until the end, leaving only the characters remaining. Although the Archlector was never wounded, he was also no longer stubborn once his men died in droves to the stomping of the Treeman, and he promtly broke from combat and was chased down. The Swordsmen, sadly, suffered a similar fate to the Treekins, whom they were wounding on mere 6's, and were trampled to their deaths or chased off in the latter rounds, with the Treekins having suffered only a single wound from several rounds of combat.

That left only the single unit of Flagellants alive, as my Great Eagle chased down the Mortar crew and some Glade Riders rode down the Rocket Battery. However, not before the Rocket Battery could fire off its final load and watch as the rocket landed directly ontop of my Glade Guards, killing every single one of them and sending the Lifeweaver and the Noble scrambling for cover. It was short lived, sadly, as the Lifeweaver then blew up his Noble friend after a horrendous miscast, and later paid for his mistake as the Bright Wizard threw a Flame Cage around the fragile elf and fried him alive. Still, even with my General and Battle Standard disposed of, the Empire army had been cleared of resistance and broken in combat. Victory was mine.

Monthly Highlights, July 2011

2011-07-31T23:14:00.003+02:00

Here are the highlights from this past month, which featured the introduction of my new upcoming army project - Wood Elves. The next month of August will feature the wrap up of my Orcs and Goblins unit-by-unit review and the conclusion (at least for now) of my Orcs and Goblins painting project. Thanks for reading Troll Tales!

Painting:

Battle Reports:

Army lists:

Orcs and Goblins, 2500 points, Footsloggin' Horde

Army book review:

Wood Elves:

Squig Herd Dioramas

2011-07-30T23:59:00.000+02:00

I figured I had to heed my own advice from the Squig Herd Review and try out the Squig Horde. So I modelled a couple of light dioramas - an additional 16 Squigs - to make sure I could reach the golden number of 30 cutthroat mushrooms.

Similar color scheme like the previous Squig Herd; variations on Blood Red, Goblin Green and Vile Green.

O&G vs Ogre Kingdoms, 2500 pts

2011-07-28T23:47:00.000+02:00

For one of the final games with the Orcs and Goblins (for now) it was only fitting that I pit them against their old nemesis Ogre Kingdoms, right before their new rules book come out. My opponent, in preparation for a tournament down south that allow special characters, had brought Greasus Goldtooth as his General and BSB. Thus the Gut Magic had to be handled by two Butchers instead. Greasus joined up with a big unit of Bulls, as did the two Butchers and a Bruiser with The Other Trickster's Shard to make sure Greasus' attacks weren't warded off. That massive unit of flap didn't leave much else to round off the army; a unit of six Ironguts and a unit of eight Ironguts, 20 Gnoblars and a Giant rounded off the force.

The armies after deployment

As it happened, I had decided to try out an army lacking a Warboss in favour of even more mobs of fighters; trusting instead in the leadership of my Savage Orc Great Shaman. He was leading a unit of 28 Savage Orc Big 'Uns, alongside a Black Orc BSB, and deployed straight across from the Bulls. They were flanked to their left by a unit of 40 Night Goblins, 8 Trolls, 30 Squigs with their handlers and a Mangler Squig, with the plan to take out the 8 Ironguts and sweep in for the flank on Greasus' unit of Bulls. To the right went my 3 Goblin Wolf Chariots and 21 Black Orcs to match up against the Giant and 6 Ironguts. To redirect and hit soft flanks I had brought two lone River Trolls. In the back, behind the action went my 20 Night Goblins with short bows, joined by a Night Gobbo Shaman. Sadly, I rolled up all the wrong spells of the Big Waaagh! and missed out on both the Foot of Gork and 'Ere We Go! so I had to depend on minor cantrips instead. The same thing happened for my Night Gobbo, who only got his Magic Missile (not really useful against the three big Ogre units) and Naughty Stabbin'.

Things of note:

Goblin Wolf Chariots - As usual I looked for a juicy target to suicide charge into early on for the over-eager Wolf Chariots. On the right flank, the Ironguts had moved up to block them from charging into the Giant, which was a sound move. However, if the Guts were to die I could overrun into the Giant, whose potential for mayhem worried me slightly. So in went the Chariots, with the Guts thrusting in their bellies and big weapons to take out the Gobbos. 19 S5 impact hits later and a couple of nice spear thrusts from the gits in the wagons had only a single Irongut standing - the Standard Bearer - who promptly went down with the flag after failing his Insane Courage check. Howling, the Chariots overran into the Giant and were then counter-charged by the Gnoblars in the rear. That didn't matter, as again their impact hits killed off the Giant before he could bash them, and the Gnoblars then failed to catch the Wolf Chariots who fled far away, having taken out around 5 times their point cost in two rounds. A good start.

Ogre Bulls and Greasus - The big worry, however, was still the massive unit of Bulls led by Greasus himself. Early on, they were staring in horror at the Mangler Squig as it bounced its way towards them, with spells failing to kill it off. That was until my Squig Herd, eager to chew ogre fat, failed their animosity check and had to charge. That would send them running over the Mangler Squig, to my own horror, so instead of waiting another round before engaging while my Mangler Squig took out some Bulls and the Wolf Chariots could rally, I was forced to call the charge early (for some reason this always happens to me...). A lone River Troll charged in to die on the Mangler Squig, while the Common Trolls and the Squig Herd combo charged the front of the Bulls. To the right, the Black Orcs were left to chase after the Gnoblars who elected to flee. The Savage Orcs couldn't really fit in anywhere, and were hindered by a large impassable stone wall, so they held back to watch the mayhem that followed. Besides, I wanted the Trolls to match up against Greasus on the side of his unit rather than my infantry units, to prevent the Ogre King from thunderstomping me. The Horde of Squigs ate three Bulls early on while losing five of their number in return. Greasus and his pet Bruiser were forced to fight the Trolls, who ended up regenerating every single one of the wounds inflicted on them (my opponent rolled quite poorly here, I should add) and the Trolls took out a few wounds on both Greasus and the Bruiser in return. Losing by plenty, the Ogres revealed the Crown of Command carried by one of the Butchers in the second rank, which resulted in them passing their breaktest. However, help was nowhere to be found for the fat ones, since I had placed my Wolf Riders to redirect their backup of 8 Ironguts out on the left flank, meaning the Bulls were stuck in combat on their own. Not even their Gut Magic could do much to help them, with my Great Shaman dispelling all their augment spells with little difficulty.

Greasus and his Bulls go up against Trolls and a Squig Herd

The next round of combat saw the champion of the Bulls being chewed up by the Squigs, forcing one of the Butchers to take its place in the front rank, while the Trolls took down the last wounds on the Bruiser which brough the last Butcher out. Finally, Greasus again failed to wound the Trolls with his attacks and, despite his toughness of 6, was pulled from his throne by the Trolls. Losing both their General and Battle Standard at the same time sent the Bulls running, but the Greenskins chased them down.

That left the 8 Ironguts, after disposing of the Wolf Riders, to take on a horde of Squigs, 8 Trolls and two untouched units of Black Orcs and Savage Orc Big 'Uns, and it was my round three coming up. Of course, that would not have gone well at all, my opponent also realized, and the Ogres elected to surrender, giving the Greenskins a massacre in what might just have been their final game. At least for now. Of course, one never knows where next the Waaagh! will hit.

Review: Squig Hoppers

2011-07-24T23:36:00.005+02:00

Squig Hoppers on an old CD

Squig Hoppers have gone from being the ultimate mobile and hard-hitting unit of the past edition, to become a specialized unit suitable for very specific tasks, while not fit for the do-all role they once held. Accordingly, they also dropped quite a few points because of this, making them at least moderately attractive to field from a competitive perspective (not to mention still being the most amusing unit in our army).

They're still hard-hitting and mobile, but since they're skirmishers they won't be sending many ranked up infantry units running on their own, and with attacks coming back at them (and themselves having only a moderate initiative) they will take casualties in return. Also, they are now classified as cavalry models, which makes sense and gives the hoppers a 6+ armor save and gives the model an additional S3 attack. More importantly however, it means that only the Night Gobbo on top will be allowed a support attack if you keep Squig Hoppers in your second rank. This means, of course, that Squig Hoppers won't really rise in effectiveness just because you bring larger mobs of them (like for example the Squig Herd).

They do, however, still get to charge in any direction, and enemies won't have the time for a charge reaction. This makes them quite effective at chasing down smaller missile units, who will be firing at them with a -1 modifier due to the Skirmish rule as they bounce across the battlefield, and will eat their faces once they make it there. It is also quite useful to have your Hoppers chase down Scouts and/or warmachine hunters such as Harpies, Skinks, Waywatchers, Great Eagles and Shades, who otherwise might be difficult for Greenskins to handle. Since our artillery is quite important to us, keeping a small unit of Squig Hoppers bouncing around behind your lines to chase away Fast Cavalry is a cheap investment that might end up paying off big time.

Squig Hoppers really do shine when they get to abuse their random movement, which is truly an undervalued attribute in the 8th edition ruleset. At all times, the Squig Hoppers will move 3D6, no matter if they're charging, pursuing or fleeing. This opens up a lot of possibilities. For example, if an enemy elects to flee from your hard-hitting infantry troops, it is quite possible for the Squig Hoppers to catch them in the random movement phase. Where your Wolf Riders would force an already fleeing enemy to flee a second time if they charged (also useful in some situations), no reaction is allowed against random movement, meaning the hoppers would simply hop into the enemy and destroy the unit. Similarly, if your infantry units are fighting enemies where it's likely they will beat them, the Hoppers can bounce into the enemy flank, inflict some additional wounds, but most importantly chase down the broken enemy with 3D6 against 2D6 for the pursue rolls, making it unlikely for the enemy to escape and allowing your infantry units to reform to face new enemies instead of wasting time chasing down beaten foes. In much the same way, as long as more than 25% of the unit is alive afterwards, Hoppers can act like a sniping unit by hopping into stronger foes, inflict some pain (maybe take out a soft-bellied wizard?) and bounce to safety leaving little chance for the enemy to chase you down, even if they're Swiftstriders. As long as you roll average for your 3D6, you should get away.

Finally, a fun change to the Squig Hoppers rules now allow Night Goblin Bosses (War or Big ones) mounted on Giant Cave Squigs to join up with units of Squig Hoppers. This will grant the whole unit the ability to re-roll any 3D6 for their movement, which is an excellent boost. If you to intend for your Squig Hoppers to be more of a fighting mob rather than just an army utility, this can be a great option. The Boss (with a mundane spear) and his Pet will strike as hard as 3 Squig Hoppers (plus the Stomp!) yet only take up the space of two, while ensuring that you'll make those important random movements when they count. It also increases your chances of rolling the fabled triple 6, causing each squig to inflict an impact hit on the charge. Initially I said that rule would never, ever come into effect, yet just the other day my Hoppers proved me wrong. Sadly, it was while hopping into Chaos Warhounds, whom I would have beaten anyway, but it forced me to eat my words in any case and watch how my Hoppers destroyed a unit before combat ever truly began.

Unit size: If you're looking for an excellent utility unit capable of protecting war machines or bouncing down the odd fleeing enemy, a minimum sized mob of 5 Squig Hoppers is a cheap investment that will rarely feel like a point sink and might quite often spark a key to victory. If, on the other hand, you want to make sure your Squig Hoppers will be able to fight something in almost any matchup, mobs of 7-10 Squig Hoppers led by a Big Boss on Giant Cave Squig will chew holes through the enemy flank units, and still won't cost you overmuch at all. In fact, if brought along at smaller point scales, such a unit will definitely prove valuable and a struggle for the enemy to take out. Just keep in mind that the Great Cave Squig will never get a Lookout Sir! amongst the smaller Squig Hoppers. Bringing more than 10 Squig Hoppers just isn't very cost effective. Since you rarely will be able to squeeze in more than 7-10 in combat against most enemies, you're really just buying extra hoppers for additional wounds whose main attacks can't be used for support attacks. If you really want more Squig Hoppers than 10, it's better to just bring two units of them instead.

Treekin Finecast Models

2011-07-22T23:24:00.000+02:00

I've been meaning to paint the last of my Greenskins, but I couldn't help myself from at least assembling my Wood Elf Host as I received the shipment. Here are my finecast models of Treekin. Now, I've heard plenty of opinions on whether the new resin models are for the better or worse, and as these were my first ones, I can only say that personally I'm a big fan of the finecast. The Treekins were a joy to assemble (and I've heard the metal horror stories); the models were light yet sturdy and could easily be shaped to fit on the scenic bases.

My only disappointment was the fact that one of the boxes contained an extra pair of legs and a torso but were missing two arms - obviously there must have been a sprue mix up during packaging. Rather than returning them and waiting weeks for a new set, I decided to go at it with a hobby knife, and so I cut up the legs and fastened the thighs as arms on one of the Treekins. It took only a couple of minutes and you can barely tell the difference, especially not after some greenstuff. They're bloody trees, with some of their arms already looking a bit out of proportion. Obviously, being able to cut through and easily adjust the resin models is a massive improvement from the metal ones and I, personally, am only happy for this change.

Orc Battle Standard Bearer WIP

2011-07-19T23:44:00.000+02:00

Here is a WIP picture from my next character in line for some paint: an Orc Battle Standard Bearer. This model is, I think, a limited edition release for the 6th edition army book, although I could be wrong in this. I just think he looks cool, you can sense the similarities to the Orc Shaman I painted many months ago.

Combined with the general cheapness of regular Orc characters in the new army book, I just felt I had to have one for the times where I don't feel like kitting out a Black Orc.

For anyone wondering, the slate on the base is from GaleForce9. The sand is, uh, from the sandbox outside.

Savage Orc Boar Boyz painted

2011-07-18T23:47:00.014+02:00

I finally found the time to pick up the paintbrush this past week, and ended up painting these Savage Orc Boar Boyz. Good sculpts, much like their infantry brethren, but I can't help but feel that it's a shame they only have so many different ways to assemble the bodies with the arms. Converting them into different positions are much more difficult now, so I didn't bother.

The boyz are equipped with shields and spears, and have brought their standard and a musician banging the drum. A small, hard-hitting flanking force for slightly over 100 points. You can check out more photos that show off their warpaint by visiting my Flickr album.

Forest Resin Bases

2011-07-17T23:31:00.002+02:00

As I begun working on modelling my future Wood Elf army, I decided I wanted something more extravagant for my bases. For the Greenskins, dirt was fine with just sand and flock, with the occasional stone here and there, but for the Wood Elves I wanted my bases to look like a forest. Now, there's plenty of resin base manufactorers out there, and I finally came across the Australian company Back 2 Base-IX, who set me up with these resin bases that you can see in the picture above. It wasn't that expensive: my entire army cost me around 50€ total.

I haven't worked with resin bases in the past, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. With any luck, they'll blend in nicely with my forest spirits as I start to model them.

New army project: Wood Elves

2011-07-15T23:42:00.006+02:00

I mentioned sometime ago that I've been planning a few new armies, as I'm finally approaching the final remaining models of my Orcs & Goblins. I had planned to do Dwarfs next, as I have an army box lying around, but I'm not really feeling the inspiration at this time. Instead, I'll be working on my Wood Elves next, where I'm intent on proving the nay-sayers wrong and succeed with a modified MSU-army instead of the dual Treekin/Mass Glade Guard armies that you usually see in 8th edition. The theme will be The Summer of the Wild Hunt, with an army centered around a large-ish unit of Wild Riders, flanked by other mounted, swift moving troops. I'm looking to set up angles where I'm able to combo charge from several directions at once, rather than fighting "fairly" like my Orcs tend to do.

I'm really looking forward to start assembling and playtesting the army, as it will provide a welcome break from the horde of green I've been painting ever since I started in this hobby. The army that I'll be building features closer to 2800 points rather than 2500, which leaves me with the option to swap out a unit for another depending on what I feel is the most effective. Read the army list I have in mind directly after the jump.

Spellweaver, level 4, Lore of Life
Rhymer's Harp, Dispel Scroll
With such a fragile (yet mobile) army I believe the Lore of Life is the better choice for me. Flesh to Stone is an excellent augment to ensure my Wild Riders survive the retaliation of enemies, and Regrowth is of course excellent at all times.My Spellweaver will join up with the Glade Guards in the back, and provide the unit with a 5+ ward save to ensure they last longer.

Spellsinger on Elven Steed, level 2, Lore of Athel Loren
Glamorweave Kindred, Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, Scroll of Shielding
For the times when I want an even more sneaky, ambushing army, my Spellsinger will ride alongside the Treekin or the Wild Riders and meet up in a forest, afterwards they'll both appear in an empty forest in the rear of the enemy army. It's situational for certain, but a fun tactic to employ at times.

Noble, Battle Standard Bearer
Razor Standard, A Respendence of Luminescents, An Annoyance of Netlings
My BSB will also go with the Glade Guards in the back, and will make sure their arrows are Armor Piercing as well as Magical for added shooting benefits. If something nasty charges in (which I hope they won't) I can challenge with the Netlings and survive for a while.

Noble on Elven Steed
Wildrider Kindred, Dragonhelm, Hail of Doom Arrow
A Noble leading the Wild Riders will make for an even more hard-hitting unit for those devastating flank charges. The Hail of Doom Arrow is of course an excellent weapon that you almost have to include in your army for that key shooting phase, and the Dragonhelm will allow my Noble to charge into battle with a unit where I know there are flaming attacks present, hopefully tieing them up while my flammable units battle the rest of the enemy army.

20 Glade Guards
Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame
I feel a unit of 20 makes for a good bunker for my Spellweaver and BSB, anchoring the line in the very back of the battlefield, while firing Flaming arrows to take out Hydras, Abominations and Trolls, along with the added benefits of the BSB in the unit.

x2 5 Glade Riders
Standard Bearer, Musician
This is perhaps the most unorthodox unit choice of them all. Lots of people curse at Glade Riders for being overpriced and not as useful as they once were, but I'm still convinced that they can play a vital role in my army, since I'm sticking with a slightly MSU approach with plenty of shooting and mobility. You need two units though, rather than one, making it easier to bait and flee from an enemy that tries to redirect into a fresh enemy when the first of the Glade Riders elect to flee. With their excellent leadership, they should be able to rally without problems. Also, to give me more Banners for vitality scenarios, I'm giving them both a banner to ride around with, since they shouldn't be losing it at any rate.

12 Dryads
The first of my Forest Spirits, Dryads is a no-brainer choice for the Wood Elves I feel. In particular in combation with the Life spells, Dryads in a forest can be a pain to defeat. I think 8 are too few for what I want them to do, while 12 is a good number.

9 Wild Riders of Kurnous
Standard Bearer, Musician
Quite a few people don't like Wild Riders any longer, prefering instead another unit of Treekins, but as I'm fielding a very mobile army I'd like to give them a shot. Joined by a Noble, they can tear up a unit when charging them in the flank while my Forest Spirits are fighting them to the front. I'm a bit torn on whether to bring a Warbanner, or perhaps a Banner of Swiftness to make them march 20" as fast cavalry. That's almost like flying!

6 Wardancers
The suicide sniper unit, or flankers if the opportunity presents itself. At initiative 6 and all their crazy dances, this tiny unit can charge into infantry units where Wizards are hiding and take them out with a killing blow.

6 Treekin
Hands down the most effective unit in the Wood Elf army. Imbued with Life spells, these trees will fight the enemy to the front while my Wild Riders go around the side. As an added bonus, their finecast models look really nice and will be a joy to paint, I'm sure.

Treeman
No Treekins without a Treeman as their sidekick. He will do much the same job as the Treekins, but with higher toughness and S6 Thunderstomps he's able to take on different enemies (while also having to stay away from some where the Treekins will gladly go in).

x2 Great Eagles
Another no-brainer choice, for a unit as mobile and fragile as mine, Eagles are vital in redirecting and hunting war machines.

Storm of Magic, O&G vs Ogres, 3000 pts

2011-07-13T23:55:00.001+02:00

I fought my first battle in the Storm of Magic expansion yesterday, going up against Benjamin's Ogres. He had a Slaughtermaster and a Tyrant leading his force, with another Butcher and a Bruiser with the Tenderizer. His characters were equipped to be monster hunters, even the Slaughtermaster had Killing Blow to ward off any attempts on his life. His forces consisted of a huge Bull unit of 11, two Irongut units of 7, some Gnoblars and a Giant and a Carnosaur as his Monsters. As I mentioned earlier I hadn't read through the rulebook at all, so I figured I'd just bring my Arachnarok Spider and the Giant for my monster and magic allowance, to see how they'd do.

The Slaughtermaster started out by miscasting on the Big Maw spell, as Gut Magic became the focus that round, meaning he got through the Ogre's own Purple Sun. Sadly it didn't reach all the way to my line and the resulting miscast turned all Wizards into frogs, with each one having to roll a 4+ in order to turn back to normal. That effectively meant we barely had any spells for half of the game, and the Slaughtermaster wasn't turned back until round five. It also meant my Wolf Rider Boss could risk a charge against the Butcher (now as a frog with statline of 1's) and squash him despite the 3+ ward save.

So this meant I had a majority of the Sanctums early and Benjamin would have to push me off them in order to get even a draw here, since you measure the winner and loser by how many Sanctums you're holding on to in the end. Having a majority of them also meant I had access to all the Cataclysm spells, so I summoned an Idol of Gork that allowed all my units within 12" to re-roll failed charges and failed to hit rolls for as long as it was present. Yes, it's effectively a permanent Waaagh spell, as if the old one wasn't overpowered enough. I was also able to get through the Cataclystic Goblin spell that meant all enemies within 24" were automatically hit for that round of combat. This was the same time as my Savage Orcs and Orc Big 'Uns had charged the Ogre Bull Horde to the front and the rear, so around 50 attacks that I only had to roll to wound for. Not much remained of those Bulls after that round. At least you have to roll to hit for the Mindrazor, eh.

Finally the Slaughtermaster came out of his froglike state and countered my shannigans by pulling out a one use bound item that would turn a forest into some overpowered guardians (basically statlines of 10) while killing anything already involved in close combat. He used a Power Scroll to get that one through (took about 2 hours for my gaming group to discover that combo). Naturally, that meant my Savage Orcs, BSB and his Tyrant were done. After that the Guardians, who are basically treated as within a building that can move around, and allows them to charge in 360 degrees, killed off 25 Big 'Uns in one round of combat.


The Black Orc Warboss go up against the Slaughtermaster

It wasn't enough though, as the Squig Herd chewed through one Irongut unit while the Wolf Chariots and the Giant took care of the other. The Carnosaur died to a Rock Lobber. There was a lot of switching places for the Wizards around the Sanctums I found, as just about every miscast involved wizards replacing one another. This effectively meant that it was next to impossible to hunt down a particular wizard with your Monsters, we both found, as once you had lined up for the charge you were all of a sudden starting at your own wizard instead by the next round. Finally though I did manage to charge my Warboss into the Slaughtermaster and kill him off over a couple of rounds, effectively ending the game and giving the Greenskins the victory.

All in all, this game was just crazy and over the top, but sadly not in a good way. Turning everyone into frogs for a majority of the rounds won't happen every game I'm sure, but is it just me or is that a poor design choice for an expansion that is supposed to be "all about magic and monster"; to include ways that you can effectively shut down the magic phase for all players involved? I don't know, but what I do know is that you probably will get more out of this expansion if you play at higher point levels than the 3000 points that we were running. Perhaps a team battle at 6000 points can make for a fun and cataclystic game where people aren't so concerned about Victory Points and crazy magical effects occur constantly. I don't know, but this first outing in Storm of Magic sadly did not blow me away.

1st try at Storm of Magic

2011-07-10T23:49:00.000+02:00

I shall be trying out my first Storm of Magic game this afternoon, by going up against my buddy Benjamin's Ogre Kingdom at 3000 points. Bear in mind, I haven't read through the new rulebook yet nor am I familiar with all the new magic items. I have, however, read a few battle reports in White Dwarf so I'll basically just be bringing a Giant and an Arachnarok Spider with Slinger for those 25% additional points.

The list I'm bringing looks more or less like this one back here, although I've replaced my Black Orcs with the Trolls and a Mangler Squig with a third Shaman, seeing as how that new magic phase seems to be quite important to compete in.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Review: Squig Herd

2011-07-09T23:54:00.001+02:00

Squigs are interesting creatures and a sometimes undervalued unit in the Orcs & Goblins army. A Squig Herd mob will hit as hard as a charging Black Orc (using two handweapons) but will survive attacks back just about as good as a Night Goblin with a shortbow. They are glass cannons in the true spirit of the word, which is why a green General will need to think carefully on what their Squigs should go up against in order for them to do well.

One essential part of this is making sure that the Squigs will strike ahead of, or at least at the same time as, the enemy. Anything with an orclike initiative of 2 will make for decent targets for your Squigs, as will units that are sporting great weapons, which are all too popular these days. In fact, some of the most cost effective and feared units in Warhammer as of this writing: Chaos Marauders of Khorne and Dwarf Warriors, equipped with Great Weapons, will both lose to a Squig Herd if the model count is about the same, and the Squig Herd will actually cost you less to field. Squigs can even do a fine job against Grave Guards of all types.

On a similar note, enemies like Witch Elves, Swordmasters or Black Guards will make a mess of your Squigs, as might other, less Elite units that will strike ahead of you. If you do find yourself going up against such foes, a spell such as Itching can really save your day. For Squigs, striking ahead of your opponent is key to victory.

Sadly, Squigs tend to get shot up a lot and will not be able to handle artillery fire like Orc units will. True, they are immune to psychology, but a couple of stone thrower shots will lessen your effectiveness greatly, or even worse kill off your Herders and make your Squigs run wild amongst your own troops.

However, as a Greenskin commander you will have to get used to your troops having weaknesses, and Squig Herds (contrary to Orcs or Trolls) will survive spells a lot better. A Purple Sun or a Pit of Shades won't hurt as much, and Squigs make for terrible targets for a Dwellers Below spell. Also, since you won't be able to field characters in your Squig mob, it will rarely be a game breaking loss if you do happen to lose your Squigs. In most cases, the Squigs will get their points back even if it does kill them in the process.

Unit size: There are a few ways that you can field a Squig Herd in hopes of getting something useful out of them. In a horde army with plenty of anvil mobs for your enemies to get stuck in against, smaller units of Squig Herds can turn a battle in your favour by hitting the flanks of your enemy. For this role, I suggest running units of 14-21 Squigs with 7 Herders, deployed 7 wide. 21 S5 attacks for somewhere between 120-150 points is a bargain no matter which way you look at it. Smaller units will also make for less tempting targets for enemy artillery and spells, which is one way of keeping them safe yet effective.

If you're feeling a bit more bold however, Squig Herds are great in Horde formations. 30 Squigs with 10 Herders deployed 10 wide will come in at less points than 8 Trolls or 21 Black Orcs (the special choices they will likely be competing against for the army spot) and will tear through enemy units that you might otherwise have trouble against. The afore mentioned Horde Marauders or Dwarf Warriors will not be able to stand up against your Squigs, and only very artillery heavy armies will be able to take out the Squigs before your army reaches theirs.

In previous editions of the army book, Squig Herd were also quite popular as "Squig Bombs" that only wanted to march up close to the enemy and Go Wild, inflicting D6 S5 hits on units in the near vicinity, but with the 10+ model requirement of the new army book this is isn't longer a good option in my opinion. If you're looking for Squig Bombs, take a Mangler Squig instead, and leave the Squig Herd for eating faces in combat.

O&G vs Skaven, 2500 pts

2011-07-06T23:50:00.003+02:00

The second game of the weekend turned out to be against Skaven. My opponent wanted to try out his army for an upcoming tournament down south, so I had to cut my list down to 2250 points. I dropped my Rock Lobber, Mangler Squig and second Night Goblin shaman to make out the points.

The Skaven army was led by a Grey Seer on foot, a Chieftain with the Battle Standard, three engineerers and a Plague Priest on a Plague Furnace pulled by Plague Monks. There were two crowds of 30 Clanrats, two lines of 30 Slaves, a Hellpit Abominiation, a Doomwheel, a Warplightning Canon and two Weapon Teams: Ratling Gun and Warpfire Thrower. Deploying as scouts were a unit of Gutter Runners with poisoned slings.

For a second straight game the terrain had a building in the middle, so we'd have to split up our forces, with forests and hills on the outskirts. I put the Orc Big 'Uns behind the building, so that I could march to either side of it depending on my opponent, who stacked the western side heavily. I matched that with my Squig Herd, the Savage Orcs and finally my Black Orcs, prompting the Skaven to put the Abominiation on the eastern flank in fear of potential flaming great weapons. They were joined by the Plague Furnace, meaning my Warboss and the Big 'Uns were going up more or less alone against the two most hard-hitting units of the Skaven. Would they be up to the task?

Things of note:

Hellpit Abomination - The Skaven stole the initiative and the Abominiation lumbered forward towards the Big 'Uns. Since the Black Orcs were two rounds away from it, I had no choice but to charge in with my Wolf Chariots in hopes of softening the monster up. The impact hits and spear thrusts inflicted 4 wounds on the beasty, who failed to kill all of the gobbos in return but was Stubborn for its break test. Next round, surprisingly, the Gobbos again failed to die against the attacks of the monster, who suffered another stab wound in its many bellies. By the third round of combat the Gobbos died, and by then my Big 'Uns had charged in to begin fighting the Plague Monks with their Furnace, giving up a tasty flank charge to the Abominiation. So it charged in in earnest, only to realize I had marched my Night Gobbos up so that once it reached combat, it was met by 3 Fanatics that killed it. Only a Rat Swarm emerged from the carcass.

Big 'Uns - The death of the Beasty meant the Big 'Uns were on their own against the Plague Furnace, and the Priest challenged my Warboss to a fight. The Boss unveiled his Great Weapon but suffered two wounds from the Priest's flail that my ward save failed to catch, but luckily the Rat Ogres could not hit him at WS7. In return, the Warboss took off 3 wounds from the Furnace while the Boyz took out plenty of Monks. The next turn I was praying to not only survive the Plague Priests attack, but to kill off the Furnace before the Wrecking Attack turned me into a bloody mess. A Gift of the Spider God from the Night Gobbo Shaman increased my odds, and the Priest failed to wound me, as did his crew. The Warboss raised his poisoned great weapon for the strike, but failed to take out the final wound of the Furnace! Down came the Wrecking Ball... one hit! No wound! Gork was with me, and the following round the Warboss tore down that cursed machine and the Big 'Uns chased down the Plague Monks. That was apparently the first time the unit had been killed off, which was a fine honor for the boyz in green!

Savage Orcs - Things did not look as bright on the heavy western flank, as the Grey Seer had decided on turning the Savage Orcs into rats. For the first four rounds, my opponent threw all his dice, warpstones and all, at the Curse of the Horned Rat, even bringing a Power Scroll into play to make the magic phase such a joy to face. By Gork how happy am I that we usually run restrictions on the magic phase. By the fourth round, my Great Shaman managed to take him out with a well-placed 'Eadbutt straight to the nose, ending that annoyance. As he glanced around though, only the command group of my original unit of 28 were left standing, so the Great Shaman joined up with the Black Orcs instead as the Savages turned around and marched back whence they came from. That prompted one of the Slave units to try their luck and they succesfully nailed a long 15" charge to hit the rear of the Savages. But as it would turn out, three Savage Orcs are still capable of wonders, first warding off both of the wounds the Slaves inflicted, then killed off 8 of the little rats to win combat, and the Slaves broke and ran away!

Black Orcs - With the Great Shaman joining him, the Black Orcs now became an even greater target and suffered a hit from the Warplightning Cannon, which needed to roll a 2 followed by 10 to hit them right on point with the blast. Guess what it did? Exactly. 12 Black Orcs died from the S10 blast right ontop of them. They were then charged by the Doomwheel in the later stages, who hoped to run down the remaining 8 Orcs. Sadly for the Skaven, a single impact hits meant the Black Orcs were steadfast and held on, and in my own turn the Great Shaman implored Gork to grant him his very own Fists to ward off this strange wheel! How about 7 S9 attacks, would that do the trick? Why, yes it would! And down went the wheel.

Squig Herd - Continuing on the theme of nasty units being blown to bits, the Squig Herd suffered a direct hit from a Doomrocket early on and lost half of its number. Desperately the Herders tried to bring the Squigs into combat against the Clanrats waiting on the other side, but in the way stood several brave Engineerers willing to die for the greater cause, continuously redirecting the Squigs away from their prime targets. To the hells with it, I said, and turned my back on a forest where some Slaves were camping on the other side, and instead looked to help out the Black Orcs in case the Doomwheel wouldn't die. A rear charge that could potentially kill off the remaining Herders in the back and make the Herd go wild was too tempting a target for the Slaves, who too went in for the second rear charge of the battle. Two herders died from stab wounds, but step up did the Squigs from the front who killed off 9 Slaves in return. My opponent probably did not consider that, nor that units cannot be steadfast in a forest, resulting in that the second unit of Slaves broke and ran off as well.

So as the dust cleared and the Generals took a headcount, the Skaven had lost their Abominiation, Plague Furnace and Plague Monks from the eastern side, and two units of Slaves from the west. The Wolf Riders had also chased down both of the Weapon Teams and the Warplightning Cannon, and the Great Shaman had killed off the Grey Seer general.

The Greenskins on the other hand had lost the Wolf Chariots to yet another suicide mission, and a Doom Diver to some Gutter Runners. Although 3 Savage Orcs and 5 Black Orcs were left standing, my Warboss had taken two nasty wounds and only two Herders were left and forced to deal with 17 Squigs, my complete losses had been minimal, resulting in a resounding victory for the Greenskins, my second of the day!

O&G vs Tomb Kings, 2500 pts

2011-07-04T23:49:00.005+02:00

The first match on Saturday was against Tomb Kings, whom I'd yet to face since their new army book and was really looking forward to experience. My opponent had brought a fairly combat-heavy army, with 30 Tomb Guards with Handweapons and Shields anchoring the center of their line, joined by a Tomb King and his Herald with the Battle Standard. Two blocks of 40 Skeleton Warriors (also with handweapons and shields) protected each flank, one of them joined by a Liche Priest with their ancient lore, while 30 Skeleton Archers joined by the Hierophant went in the back. On one flank he put his Screaming Skull Catapult and his Casket of Souls, and two units of three Carrions were flying around in the back. A Warsphinx with fiery breath went close to the Tomb Guards, as did a unit of 4 Skeleton Chariots, while three Stalkers had burrowed beneath the sand.

A surprising amount of models, I felt, but nothing extremely scarey. I weighed my eastern flank quite heavily to match up with my opponent, with the Squig Herd, Wolf Chariots, Black Orcs and Orc Big 'Uns (joined by the Warboss) going up against the Tomb Guard, the Chariots, The Sphinx and the Skeleton Warriors. Meanwhile my Savage Orcs, joined by their Shaman were up against a second unit of Skeleton Warriors, whom they should smash quite easily before sweeping up the soft flank of the Archers and Casket of Souls.

Things of note:

Wolf Riders - My opponent commited one mistake during his deployment by stacking his western flank so heavily, leaving his Catapult and Casket unprotected save from some Skeleton Warriors. This allowed my Wolf Riders, joined by the Big Boss, to vanguard forward, avoid one shot from the Catapult (who had to fire at them to hopefully send them packing, which protected my more important units in the meantime) before charging in on my first turn. The Tomb Kings tried to fly some Carrions forward to block the way, but as they can't march I focused my dispels on the movement spell and saw my Wolf Riders make it in. They destroyed the Catapult on the charge, then overran into the Carrions and killed them as well (which was a bit more surprising) before finally ending up in battle with the Casket. The Guards proved a bit too 'ard for my Gobbos though, but I kept them locked in combat for two rounds before they died, which was more than enough in my opinion, as the Big Boss did shine in all the engagements. That meant I only had to suffer one round of spells from the Casket, which still managed to kill off my Mangler Squig.
Black Orcs - The problem for the Skeleton Chariots was that they were matched up against my Wolf ones, and mine were swifter than they were. So they had to hurry into combat and ended up charging the Black Orcs. I went with shields and handweapon to prevent them from killing off too many, which turned out to be a mistake after the Hierophant imbued the Chariots with killing blow. Far too many Black Orcs still died for my liking, and I got stuck into combat against the Chariots for two rounds, not being able to kill their Standard Bearer off. That allowed the second unit of Carrions to charge in after that, and although I chopped a few down, I wasn't able to get free for another two rounds. If only I had picked my Great Weapons, or even additional handweapon. By round four, the Stalkers had entered my backlines and charged in as well, and that proved too much for even the Black Orcs, who were killed off to a man, but not before taking both the Carrions and the Chariots with them. Somehow fittingly, the Wolf Chariots then finally charged the Stalkers and destroyed them with their impact hits alone.
Big 'Uns - My Orcs and the Warboss got combo-charged by the Tomb Guards and the Warsphinx, after the Monster made a long 16" charge. I had positioned my Warboss on one corner of his unit, so that the Sphinx could only attack him with his regular attacks. I kept my boyz imbued with a Gift of the Spider God, while the Tomb Guards were granted an additional attack by the Hierophant. The Boyz took out the Herald and the Tomb Guard Champion early on, and the Warboss needed two rounds to roll enough 6's to take out Warsphinx, who although he did stomp out quite a few boyz, wasn't able to wound my Warboss with his attacks. At the end, the Big 'Uns were wiped out but the Warboss stood his ground against the Tomb King and around 20 Tomb Guards. By then, the Squig Herd had finished off the Skeleton Warriors on the eastern flank and could hit the flank of the Tomb Guards. My Warboss challenged the Tomb King to a duel and cut off his head, while surviving the magical feedback, and my Horde o' Teef turned the rest of the unit to dust in one go.
Savage Orcs - On the western side, the Savages Orcs went into battle with the second unit of Skeleton Warriors and took them out over three rounds, without suffering many casualties in return. Sensing doom incoming, the Hierophant left his Archers to their fate as the Orcs charged in, but my Great Shaman sniped out the High Priest with a 'Eadbutt spell while my Doom Diver took out the Liche Priest walking around on his own. This allowed my Night Gobbo Archers to march across the field and charge what remained of the Casket and defeat it on static combat resolution to watch it crumble as the battle came to an end.

This game was pretty straightforward, with the Tomb Kings being wiped out in round 5. Although I lost my Black Orcs and my Wolf Riders, as well as the Big 'Uns, the victory was still pretty convincing. Personally, I think the Warsphinx could have done a lot better by helping out either of the Skeleton units, rather than the Tomb Guards. Although its Heroic Killing Blow is scary in theory, I wasn't that concerned for my Warboss' safety and he was quite capable of taking it out with his attacks being poisoned. Rather than those Stalkers, I think a fighty Tomb King army need more Monsters to Thunderstomp their enemies, while the Legions of the Dead provide the numbers to break them. Although the Orcs didn't really feel threatened in this battle, I do think that Tomb Kings can make for an impressive enemy once people start to figure out how to use each unit type in collaboration with others.

2500 pts O&G from this weekend

2011-07-03T23:53:00.000+02:00

I was down at the gaming club this weekend and managed to get in two good games. I've moved away from using the Wyvern now, having had my fill of Thunderstomps for the time being, which has freed up some points and strategies for other mobs of units. Here is the list I brought to the battles. Reports will follow later.

Black Orc Warboss
Charmed Shield, Talisman of Preservation, Trickster's Helm
Instead of a Wyvern Warboss, I'd like to give a footslogging Warboss a spin. Armed to da Teef means he'll either dish out 4 S8 attacks or 5 S6 attacks, so I didn't feel a need to give him a magic weapon. Instead, I've made sure he is as well protected as he possibly can, with a 4+ ward save and forcing all attacks that wound him to be re-rolled.

Savage Orc Great Shaman
Level 4, Shrunken Heads, Potion of Speed
The usual arcane item to help out his Savage Orc mob, along with a Potion of Speed for the times where I might have to go up against monsters and need to kill it before they do me.

Night Goblin Big Boss
Battle Standard Bearer, Shield, Light Armor
A cheap, unprotected BSB to afford the rest of my army. He will stay in the back, behind my lines and shouldn't see combat while still allowing me to re-roll my leadership tests.

Night Goblin Shaman
Level 2, Dispel Scroll

Night Goblin Shaman
Level 2, Channeling Staff
Plenty of magic in this army, with two Night Gobbos backing up the Great Shaman. With their magic mushrooms, I shouldn't have to spend more than 1-2 dice from my power pool for each spell, still leaving plenty of dice for my Orc spells.

Goblin Big Boss
Giant Wolf, Potion of Foolhardiness, Dragonbane Amulet
Early on, the Boss will provide some added leadership to my vanguarding Wolf Riders. After that, he will ride out on his own to hunt soft enemies or redirect nasty ones.

28 Savage Orc Boyz
Additional Handweapons, Full Command
No Big 'Un upgrade for these, although I know this would make them extremely 'ard. I still think they can be tough enough in battle, with their 5+ ward save and 3 S4 attacks from each orc.

24 Orc Big 'Uns
Spears, Full Command, Banner of Discipline
Instead, I'd like to give the Big 'Un upgrade to these fellows, my regular Orc mob equipped with spears. Most likely the place where my Warboss will go, these will anchor the line defensively, not really doing as much charging as their more Savage cousins. Their magic banner will boost my Inspiring Presence to leadership 10.

20 Night Goblins
Shortbows, Full Command, 3 Fanatics
My Night Gobbos deathstar! No, seriously, these will go in the back and be joined by all my Night Gobbo characters. The BSB tucked away safely in the back, both my Gobbo Shamans there to cast some cantrips to help out the big boyz. If something nasty would come close to them, I have plenty of fanatics to keep them at bay.

5 Goblin Wolf Riders
Shortbows, Musician
Always bring at least one unit of Fast Cavalry. They do wonders, always!

3 Goblin Wolf Chariots
Combined with the Mangler Squig, the most destructive force in my army on the charge. If something nasty comes within reasonable charge range (18" or so) these guys go in.

21 Black Orcs
Standard Bearer, Musician, Banner of Eternal Flame
My third Orc unit to maximize the effectiveness of the Big Waaagh! spells, flanking the Savages and the Big 'Uns, the Black Orcs will hunt monsters with regeneration and other high toughness units.

40 Squig Herd
30 Squigs, 10 Herders
A Horde unit of mushrooms with big pointy teeth, what else could you ask for? Dishing out 40 S5 attacks (without great weapons) if maximized against a foe, yet coming in at under 300 points, I'd pit these guys up against just about anything. Will probably go slightly on a flank, since I'd like all my Orc units in one place, but should still find something squishy to chew up and spit out.

Goblin Rock Lobber

Goblin Doom Diver
Two war machines to soften up nasty things before I beat them up in combat. Always good against flying monsters and other scary stuff.

Mangler Squig
And if the artillery won't shoot it down, just send a Mangler Squig into it! One is golden, two of them is overkill.

Savage Orc Big Boss painted

2011-07-02T23:55:00.000+02:00

Seeing as how we're in the midst of a Savage theme, I decided to touch up on my Savage Orc Big Boss. Since he's no longer allowed to ride in Boar Chariots (my favourite combo in 7th edition) I thought it best to put him on a regular base instead. Also, since he won't be carrying his Pigstikka spear around any longer, I gave him a second handweapon from the plastic Savage Orc sprue.

The model is from Avatars of War, with the head from the old metal Savage Orc Boar Boy Champion. I thought it looked good, especially as the AoW head stands out a bit more from the rest of the army.

As always, check out my Flickr account for more angles and pictures.

Monthly Highlights, June 2011

2011-06-30T23:25:00.000+02:00

Here are the highlights from this past month. As always, thanks for reading Troll Tales. Next month will feature my new armies, so stay tuned!

Painting:

Battle Reports:

Army lists:

Army list musings, Fanatic 2500 pts #3

Tactics:

Army book review:

Review:Arachnarok Spider

News:

Early thoughts on the Storm of Magic

Early thoughts on the Storm of Magic

2011-06-28T23:43:00.000+02:00

The Warhammer world has been buzzing with words on the Storm of Magic expansion, and most of it has been quite negative from what I've heard. Yes, there are some seemingly extreme and ridicolous spells out there, that can bring back units from the dead or switch places with half of the terrain board, making the expansion quite unlikely to be accepted for competitive tournament Warhammer. That said, I am far from a tournament player exclusively. Sure, I'll build competitive armies and I'll theoryhammer with the best of you, but I'm also someone who reads through the lore section of the army books, subscribe to Black Library novels and just enjoy the Warhammer universe in general. I would love if the local games made use of the special terrain features more (some of us do, sometimes), I'd also welcome more special characters in the games we play (that doesn't mean I'd love to face Teclis on a weekly basis). I guess that's part of the reason why I'm closing in on 6000 points of Greenskin, rather than 2500 points on the number.

For me, Storm of Magic is a chance to have fun with the game I love to play. It's a good opportunity to immerse myself in the world of Warhammer. The added 25% ontop of your normal army will be cool to play with, and I've already set my sights on some of the monsters destined to join my Greenskins in battle. However, I just hope that the abuse factor won't play too big a part. You know, that some monsters will just be too good for their prices while others won't ever see the field. Even reading through the White Dwarf magazine, I'm torn on the subject. While I love the idea of River Trolls joining up with a Wood Elf army to protect Athel Loren, or even Great Eagles allying with a Ranger-heavy Dwarf force (imagine how useful those will be in the game), or Giants helping out a Mercenary Empire army, I'm less excited about the prospect of dual Hydras joining up with a Skaven army already fielding Abominiations, or something similarly abusive that will just turn the game into a power creep. Unit choices made simply because some monsters are much better than others, turning them into no-brainers. In fact, if the only thing Storm of Magic does for our local gaming community is to ensure that everyone gets their own Abomination to play with, I'd consider it a big failure. Reading through the White Dwarf articles, I'm already sensing an early pattern: anyone else noticed that 4/5 armies included a Chimera? Perhaps it's merely another promotion trick, but it's unnerving me slightly...

What are you expectations for Storm of Magic? Are you looking forward to it for the gaming possibilities or merely for the shiney new models?

An idea for a Savage Orc Warboss

2011-06-27T01:24:00.004+02:00

The new magic items of the Orcs and Goblins army intrigue me; somehow I've convinced myself that they're not absolutely overpriced and terrible, and I'm set to prove it. In particular, I've been thinking about the Armor of Gork. For all points available to a Lord, it gives your Warboss D6 Impact Hits (including the choppa bonus) and +D3 Toughness. How would I use it? Well, here's my idea:

Savage Orc Warboss
Warboar, Spear, Shield
Armor of Gork

Leading a unit of 5 Savage Orc Boar Boyz carrying spears and the Banner of Eternal Flame, to give the Warboss a Look Out Sir! roll against templates and flaming attacks on his weapon.

The Warboss alone, on the charge, will dish out D6 S6 impact hits, followed by 5 S7 attacks at initiative 4, all of them flaming attacks, before the Boar Boyz get to strike with their 15 S5 attacks. The Warboss alone should be enough to take out a Hellpit Abomination or a Hydra, and together all of them will be enough to help break just about anything if they hit the flank while the enemy is fighting an infantry mob to the front.

For protection, the Warboss is sitting at a 2+ armor save, 6+ ward save and the potential for Toughness 8, should be more than enough to survive most enemies for a turn. That's about as tough as you can get your Savage Orc to be, for less than 300 points, while the Boar Boyz come in at slightly over a 100 points.

If you find yourself fielding a Warboss for his leadership without him actually doing much aside from keeping an eye on things, why not kit him up to a powerhouse of destruction? The Armor of Gork is one way of doing it.

Review: Arachnarok Spider

2011-06-25T02:39:00.000+02:00

The Enormous Spider God was an early rumour that got a lot of people excited about the new army book. Once it arrived, most of us loved the look of the model, but once we actually got the Arachnarok Spider on to the battlefield, quite a few were disappointed with the results. Although it's got 8 wounds at toughness 6, it only has a medium armor save, no regeneration, with such a large base that allows even Hordes to fit a majority of their models in against it. Compared to the likes of the Hydra and the Hellpit Abomination, the Arachnarok has trouble matching up but will still cost you more points to field.

What's important to bear in mind when discussing these things is that the Arachnarok seems to be representing a "new era" of Warhammer Monsters that will provide key abilities and support your troops in battle against enemies, rather than take aim for the nastiest enemy unit and destroy it, like the Abomination will do to you. In fact, if you're looking for pure combat mayhem from your Monster, you're better off bringing a Giant to the battlefield.

Let us instead look at what the Arachnarok Spider will do for you, and how you can make the most out of its unique abilities. First of all, the Spider is a Goblin unit rather than an Orc one, and naturally will help the gobbos out more than it will the Orcs (in the same way that Trolls are usually more effective when inspired by a strong Orc Warboss). The most obvious use for the Spider is therefore to act as a support charger next to your big infantry blocks. Have the Gobbos, or whatever you're fielding, charge into the front of the enemy and maximize your models against one another, while the Spider hits the flank. Or, even better, charge the front alongside the infantry and clip the enemy corner to corner (since you still have to maximize and bring all your gobbos into the fight). Either way, you're minimising the amount of attacks swinging at your monster while still getting the full the combat abilities of the Spider. If your Gobbos are carrying nets, even better, as by lowering the strength of your opponents you're helping the monster out as well. With its movement of 7 and Swiftstriding ability, the Spider is actually the fastest and most mobile monster in Warhammer outside of the ones sporting wings.

The combo charge should make it possible for even weedy goblins to take out Elite troops with Great Weapons, even armored foes which they will usually struggle against. But if they're not Elites, the Spider is quite capable of taking them down on its own. In fact, the Spider should easily be able to deal with foes that Goblins prefer not to, which are large units of core troops that are better at them at fighting. Elven Spearmen, Saurus Warriors, Empire Halberdiers, are usually more scary to Gobbos than what Chaos Warriors are, since even though they will kill less Gobbos each turn, they're usually a lot more numerous meaning they remove the Goblins' ability to be steadfast a lot quicker. Such units at S4 at the most make for excellent targets for the Arachnarok, since it's got a decent weapon skill and solid toughness, should fend off most of their attacks. Even if one round of combat goes poorly, the Spider is still Stubborn meaning with good leadership nearby it should remain in combat. Inflicting 5-10 casualties each round, there is a good chance your enemy infantry will run out of models way before the Spider runs out of its eight wounds. Also, since large infantry units usually make for good bunkers for enemy mages, you might end up with juicy targets for your Venom Surge to inflict its D6 wounds with.

The Venom Surge is also why the Arachnarok will do well against enemy monsters. It will eat both Stegadons and Hydras without much trouble, especially if the Venom Surge attack wounds, and have good initiative and toughness enough to do a decent job against the Abomination (although you'll need to kill it in about two rounds - if not then it will probably have your head). The Poisoned Attacks of the Spider are also excellent ways of getting through the toughness 8 of the Tomb King Sphinxes, as long as you're careful of the Heroic Killing Blow.

The Arachnarok will benefit nothing from the Orc spells of the Big Waaagh! but will make good use of several of the Goblin ones. Chief amongst them is without a doubt Gork will fix it, forcing enemies to re-roll 6's when they try to hit or wound him, which keeps the Spider safe from Skinks when moving into battle, and will nullify some of the effectivness of Witch Elves going up against it. For the afore mentioned S3 or S4 infantries, the spell is devastating. Also good is the fittingly named Gift of the Spider God, since it makes already poisoned attacks auto-wound on 5+ instead of 6. It increases the chance of your Venom Surge hitting home when it needs to, which is always good when up against enemies where the Spider's strength of 5 feels a bit weak.

It must be mentioned, however, that some artillery will have a field day shooting at the Spider, who without any regeneration will struggle to avoid the blows. Take heart in the fact that it does take at least two cannon balls to kill it, and three on average, so with its good movement you can still be able to reach combat before they take you down. There's always that risk when fielding monsters though, but most of the times the added benefits are worth it.

Flinger: At first glance this seems like a weird upgrade, but it is one definitely worth getting. For about the same price as a fanatic, you're able to fire spiderweb at an enemy unit that make them Strike Last in combat until the start of your next turn. A cheap upgrade that you can definitely afford, and it adds an additional tactical advantage to your side. Goblin units, in particular Squigs, Trolls and to some extent Orc unit as well gain tremendously by striking ahead of the enemy - Squigs in particular. True, it is not as simple as charging in and helping your troops out in the following phases, since the Flinger can't be fired into combat, but it can give you tactical control of the battlefield. For example, by putting a sacrifical unit such as Wolf Riders between your Squig Herd and a nasty enemy, to redirect it, then fire the Flinger at the enemy, you can control the inevitable combat coming up. If it hits, you'll elect to flee with the Wolf Riders if the enemy charges, and tempt the enemy to redirect into the Squigs, fighting that combat on the turn when the enemy strikes last, or force them to stay out of combat by not redirecting and suffer another round of shooting from your artillery. If the Flinger misses, you can simply sacrifice your Wolf Riders to redirect the charge and still fire at them for another round, or charge them in your turn, if that's what you want.

Furthermore, the Flinger makes your Monster compete in all rounds of the game, much like the Treeman, which is quite rare. Although you're not buying an Arachnarok Spider to fire the Flinger alone, the more rounds and phases that your army can compete well in, the better off you'll be. This is the same reason why Magic lores such as Lore of Shadow usually needs a second lore in the army to do really well, since most of the Shadow spells get truly useful in rounds 3-6 when the armies are close together, and a lot less useful in the early rounds.

Catchweb Spidershrine: There is a huge in risk in placing your weedy goblin Great Shaman on top of your beefy monster, but the rewards are incredible, as it gives all your wizards +2 to their channeling attempts and the Loremaster ability to your Goblin. This is of course perfect for an army with some of the cheapest and, thanks to the Magic Mushroom ability, most effective wizards in the game - the Night Goblin Shamen - and if you're fielding a Spidershrine you should definitely bring plenty of them. Keeping in mind both of these abilities, it's far more effective to bring two level 1's rather than one level 2, as it gives you an additional channel and arcane item, and they should still be able to cast their low level spell with a single power dice and a mushroom. Give them a cheap arcane item each (Dispel Scroll and Channeling Staff are two of my favourites) and watch those extra channel dices add up. Keep in mind that the same channeling bonus apply for your dispel phases in the enemy turn, to the Spidershrine also helps with your magic defense. Also remember that a Loremaster ability mean you'll get a duplicate spell for each of your additional goblin levels, and there is no limit on how many of your shamans that can pick the signature spell as their own.

That being said, keeping your Shaman on top of the Arachnarok means that the Spider won't be doing as much fighting. It can still support your infantry for sure, and fight off S3 infantry without the Shaman at great risk, but stronger foes and monsters will all just kill of your main wizard and live with dying to the spider. Obviously, if you go up against cannons or stone throwers, this makes your Spider even more of a target. There are ways to combat this, naturally, and a Talisman of Preservation for that 4+ ward save is a good start. Also, a timely Potion of Toughness can be worth getting for your Shaman for that important round where you just have to charge the Spider into something nasty and pray that you'll kill it before your Shaman dies. To keep costs down (and this will be a very expensive unit for certain) it's probably worth skipping out on the level 4 upgrade for the Great Shaman, since you'll have all the spells anyway and solid enough dispel phase as it is.