For today’s installment of MMG I have a few things for you. Firstly, for those who haven’t seen it, I have a pic of the new Mangler Squig, set to be released next month. There are also models for the missing Beastmen Rares. I’m sure most of you will have seen them already, but in case you haven’t (Shalen, I’m looking at you!), here they are:
Now that’s out of the way and we have all decided what we think of the new Jabberslythe (I love it), here’s what else I have for you today: firstly, a Post Tournament look at my OK army and the changes I have made to it so far. Next, a notice of another double tournament coming up in January and finally a short talk about my Dogs of War army!
On with the show!
Post Tournament OK Army Review:
As I mentioned in my report here I didn’t do too well in the last tournament. Usually I’m man enough to admit my poor showing at tournaments is mostly my fault, but this time it really was mostly due to bad luck. Really! Still, after some time to think about it there are a few changes I want to make to my army. Here’s a quick reminder of the list I took:
Slaughtermaster, level 4 (Maw lore), Ironfist, Hellheart, Ironcurse Icon
BSB, Banner of Eternal Flame, heavy armour, ironfistButcher, level 2 (Heavens), ironfist, dispel scroll
9 Ogres, ironfist, musician, standard bearer
9 Ironguts, musician, standard bearer, Banner of Discipline2* 1 Sabretusk
8 Leadbelchers, musician6 Maneaters, Brace of Pistols, heavy armour, full command, Gleaming Pennant (Poisoned Attacks & Scout)
Ironblaster
So let’s take a look at what worked and what didn’t.
Slaughtermaster: Hellheart worked a treat. I managed to get enemy wizards in its radius each game, waiting until there was at least one wizard within 10” before using it. Like I said before, this item is Gold. If used properly at the very least you will severely disrupt your opponent’s magic phase. Even if nothing else happens, your opponent will lose power dice from each miscast result, which most often will mean you have as many dispel dice as your opponent has power dice. And that’s if nothing else happens! Just make sure you have 1, preferably 2 wizards within 10 inch before using Hellheart. I mean, you should always count on rolling a 2+, right? ;)
I wasn’t very impressed with the Lore of the Great Maw though. I found one of the biggest weaknesses of my army was that I couldn’t do enough damage to different units and the Maw lore wasn’t really something that I needed. Oddly enough I wasn’t ever in a situation that I was able to get any of the augment Maw spells off when I needed them. Lots of time I didn’t need them and when I did they were dispelled fairly easily. Sure, most of that was due to me rolling low for power dice and then for the casting roll, but still, I feel I need spells that are more useful more often. So, next game I will give my Slaughtermaster Lore of Heavens and my Butcher Lore of the Great Maw. I know not many people think Heavens isn´t a great lore, but I like the utility it offers and with a Level 4 wizard I’m pretty much guaranteed to get the spells I need.
BSB: Performed fine. Won’t change a thing
Butcher: In a similar vein to my Slaughtermaster I felt my Butcher never had the proper spells. So, another reason to switch the lores around. If I make my level 4 take Heavens, he’ll probably have the spells he needs, while my level 2 can take Lore of the Great Maw and still get spells that are useful enough. Equipment wise, all my characters were fine.
Ogres: 9 was enough and I never needed a champion. Unit will stay unchanged
Ironguts: This unit I wasn’t that happy about. I felt that having 9 was a number that really wasn’t adequate. They died fairly easy to missile fire and the like, and even in combat they weren’t the beater unit I hoped they’d be. So I either need to take more and make them more impressive in combat or I need to take less and just use them as a bunker for my characters. Good way to find some points if I need other stuff as well. Banner of Discipline stays no matter what.
Sabretusks: Good units, will keep them if I can.
Maneaters: Performed excellent every single game. Giving them Poison instead of Stubborn proved a good move. These guys were beasts in every single game, killing lots and lots. With Scouts I was giving my opponent something to worry about from the very start and bought the rest of my army time to cross the table. Unit stays the same.
Leadbelchers: I am of two minds here. I love my unit of 8 leadbelchers, since whatever they fire on will not like it. On the other hand, having only one unit hampers my ability when faced with an army that has a lot of different units. It’s easy to get overkill on smaller units. So here’s another unit that can either be toned down if I need points, or could possibly be split into two to allow me to target more units. Also, don’t need a musician.
Ironblaster: Great. Wish I could take two at tournaments. Stays.
So, overall, most of my army performed well. I just felt I need a unit that my opponents will fear. I lacked a unit, besides my maneaters, that would make my opponents worry about getting into charge range of. I need something bigger and hittier (that’s a word, right?) than normal Ogres. In short, I need a Stonehorn!
Of course, Mournfangs could fill this roll too, but for now I think I’ll give a Stonehorn a try and see how the army performs then. Of course, that means slicing in my other units to get the 250 pts, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it. And it’s an experiment anyway.
So, after some fiddling with the points, here’s the new list, remarkably similar to the first:
Slaughtermaster, level 4 (Heavens lore), Ironfist, Hellheart, Ironcurse Icon
BSB, Banner of Eternal Flame, heavy armour, ironfistButcher, level 2 (Maw), ironfist, dispel scroll
9 Ogres, ironfist, musician, standard bearer
6 Ironguts, musician, standard bearer, Banner of DisciplineTwo fewer Ironguts, two fewer Leadbelchers (which may or may not be split into two units of three), one less musician and one less Sabretusk, combined with the 4 points I had left over leaves me with exactly enough points for a Stonehorn! Serendipity? Now all I have to do is order the model!
Saints Tournaments presents: Hordes and Allies!
Just a short mention here. Saint’s Tournaments, the guys who have brought us the Dutch Grand Tournaments and the famed Battle of the Clubs for a long while now, have announced that they are holding a doubles tournament in January. It’s on the 28th, for both Warhammer Fantasy and 40k and promises to be a well-run and fun event (because all their events are). The venue is great and I can recommend going to anyone, even if you don’t usually go to tournaments. It’s fun. Even if you’re not Dutch, have a look at the rules on their site. It’s all in English and I might do a review of their rules next week. Check it out here!
House Horendal Assembles!
One of the armies I’m painting for the Tale of the Painters over on Warseer is an Empire army. Of course, I don’t really like Empire as a regular army, so I’ve decided to do something I have long since planned on doing: I’m going to do a Dogs of War army! That’s right, an army completely composed of mercenaries and cutthroats, fighting not for ideals or honour, but for cold hard cash!
And this is a golden opportunity to make up some of my own Regiments of Renown and write the fluff for the army myself. So I’ll make up my own units, using the rules of Empire units to represent them. As I showed here, last month I painted an Ogre Leadbelcher for my DoW army. I’ll use him as an Empire Cannon.
Here is the fluff:
This is one of the two Mercenary Leadbelcher brothers, travelling together throughout the Old World looking for employment. Assisted by their Gnoblar assistants who do all the menial tasks like lugging around the ammo and the black powder, the two Ogres focus on what they enjoy the most: pointing their weapons towards the enemy, lighting the fuse, and yelling " Bang!" at the top of their voice when their guns fire.
There is some animosity between the brothers as to which one of them is Big Bang and who is Lil' Bang. Both are convinced they are Big Bang, while the other sibling is Lil’ Bang and any who mistakes one for the other will soon regret his mistake. Many an overly inquisitive soldier has been eaten for addressing either of the brothers as Lil' Bang. If it's just one of them there, it's best to just call him Big Bang to be safe. If both are there, just call them Bang Bang, or " Oi, you!”
Recently the brothers have been employed by House Horendal as part of the Horendal Artic Expedition, led by Lady Clarissa Horendal. They are there to provide the rest of the army with covering fire on the field of battle and Lady Clarissa has taken them on to act as her personal bodyguards while in camp, making sure they receive whatever food and drink they want as payment. The only food she had of yet refused the brothers are Lumpin Croop and his Fighting Cocks, and she has warned them both there will be serious repercussions should any of the Halflings be found eaten while the campaign lasts.
So far, I have the following units planned for the army:
The Bang Bang Brothers
Lumpin Croop’s Fighting Cocks
The Raven King’s Legion
Aalderik’s Green Hunters aka The Green Bandits
Kira Sill’s Soul Seekers
Lady Clarissa Horendal
Morgan, the Blade of Horendal
The Mayor
Zharruf’s Black HeartsThis is one of the two Mercenary Leadbelcher brothers, travelling together throughout the Old World looking for employment. Assisted by their Gnoblar assistants who do all the menial tasks like lugging around the ammo and the black powder, the two Ogres focus on what they enjoy the most: pointing their weapons towards the enemy, lighting the fuse, and yelling " Bang!" at the top of their voice when their guns fire.
There is some animosity between the brothers as to which one of them is Big Bang and who is Lil' Bang. Both are convinced they are Big Bang, while the other sibling is Lil’ Bang and any who mistakes one for the other will soon regret his mistake. Many an overly inquisitive soldier has been eaten for addressing either of the brothers as Lil' Bang. If it's just one of them there, it's best to just call him Big Bang to be safe. If both are there, just call them Bang Bang, or " Oi, you!”
Recently the brothers have been employed by House Horendal as part of the Horendal Artic Expedition, led by Lady Clarissa Horendal. They are there to provide the rest of the army with covering fire on the field of battle and Lady Clarissa has taken them on to act as her personal bodyguards while in camp, making sure they receive whatever food and drink they want as payment. The only food she had of yet refused the brothers are Lumpin Croop and his Fighting Cocks, and she has warned them both there will be serious repercussions should any of the Halflings be found eaten while the campaign lasts.
So far, I have the following units planned for the army:
The Bang Bang Brothers
Lumpin Croop’s Fighting Cocks
The Raven King’s Legion
Aalderik’s Green Hunters aka The Green Bandits
Kira Sill’s Soul Seekers
Lady Clarissa Horendal
Morgan, the Blade of Horendal
The Mayor
The Horendal Houseguard, Cursed
For this month I’m working on the other Bang Bang Brother as well as Lady Horendal herself. I’ll write more fluff about the army as a whole with the next entry. I’m looking to do about one unit per month and see how many points that will net me.
That’s it for this week’s installment of Monday Morning Gamer!
What can you expect from Thunderstomp! for the rest of the week? Well for Wednesday I have another episode of Midweek Modeling planned. The end of the month is fast approaching so I need to get myself into gear to get everything painted on time. I’ll show you pics Wednesday. For Game Night! I’ll have a battle report for the final battle of our campaign planned. I should play this battle Friday evening or Saturday at the latest, so expect that post Saturday evening! I’m not exactly sure how close it is, but the outcome of that final battle will determine the overall winner of the campaign! Can the High Elves pull off any last minute heroics and defeat 3500 pts of Skaven with 3000 pts of their own? Surely the Skaven will defend their objective to the last rat and trample as many Elves as they can? Heroics will surely undoubtedly ensue!
