Age of Sigmar Painting Update - March and April

Another busy couple of months, not managed to post many of my painted miniatures but I have been painting steadily and managing to game more, pretty much getting in an Age of Sigmar game every week now which is really good for me.

On the painting front it's a mixed bag, some additions to existing armies and April was paint an army in a month challenge for me as I really wanted to get them on the battlefield quickly.

We'll start with some additions to my existing forces, first up a converted branchwraith, made from a plastic Dryad and given dreadlocks. Simple paintjob and much browner than the rest of my sylvaneth.

On to my Bloodbound, took me a while to get him at a good price but I managed to pick up Skarr Bloodwrath off ebay for under a tenner. Painted to match the rest of my bloodbound, though there is a little more pink in his skin to help him stand out. 

I found that my 10 Bloodwarriors were not really cutting it on the table so I had little choice but to add another 10, these are all from the starter box and painted to match the rest of them. Again ebay purchases saved be a good 1/3 off the retail box.

Next up a couple of christmas presents I've finally gotten around to painting, firstly a chimera from my Brother, this was painted in a bit of a hurry and I may go back to add some markings but I wanted him for my Nurgle force I took to Warhammer world a month or so ago. I've tried to pick out the colours of all the chaos gods a little on this one so it can sit in any chaos force. 

On the battlefield he's a bit of a mixed bag, his breath attack is awesome and hurts quickly, he has a lot of great attacks with high damage and rend but they often miss, I've seen him demolish units and then totally fluff his attacks for a couple of rounds. Still it's good fun and scares your opponent on the first round or two.

My second Christmas present was a daemon prince from my missus, since I already had one painted up for my Khorne force I opted for a Nurgle one this time. With a couple of additions from a spare Plaguedrone and quite a bit of greenstuff this "beauty" was born.  

Another Nurgle hero I really fancies was Epidemius, a bloated Plaguebearer on planaquinn. Unfortunately I don't like the resin model and I'm not overly fond of resin for gaming miniatures. So I set about building my own, a spare Nurgle banner, saddle from my Stonehorn, a Plaguebearer, bits of Blightking and a lot of Nurglings. 

Finally one of my most critical units on the battlefield it seems, these guys can soak damage, strike back with some decent attacks and most critically are relatively quick for Nurgle units. They've done sterling work over the last few games and are pretty much a permanent feature in my force. Here are my first 3 Plaguedrones. 

Not onto the new stuff. One of the great things about AoS is you don't need a massive force like you did in WHFB, a small force of 30-80 models is more than enough. I've always been a greenskin fan and the Moonclan Grots seemed like a lot of fun for a sub faction with plenty of options, I've also seen a couple of battle reports where mangler squigs just tore their enemy apart. So all I could do is add some to my new force. 

I purchased one but when putting it together felt that I'd be likely to break them when they are stacked on top of another sooner or later. So I based them up separately so got 2 manglers for the price of one kit. 

Wanting to get the force on the table quickly I converted up a warboss and a couple of shamen out of the plastic nightgoblin kit. Nothing fancy, I just based them up on larger bases to mark them out. 

No goblin (Grot) force is complete without a lot of troops, so my core unit of 30 Moonclan Grots is up next, armed with spears and shields they should benefit from the bravery bonus and survive long enough to make it to the enemy. 

To support the main infantry unit is a block of 20 Moonclan Grots with bows, whilst not the greatest marksmen in the world this shooting could help sway the battle a little and will be a thorn in my opponents side.

Moonclan grots like the WHFB counterpart live deep underground, and deep underground you need some brave grots to drive out any Squigs. I've a small unit of Squig Hearders and 15 squigs to start with, all picked up on ebay and unfortunately in metal, thus the shiny gloss varnish on the Squigs. 

Finally what goblin force is complete without some Fanatics, I've half a dozen of them for the moment, probably want to double this at some point to ensure they survive a round of two as they can be pretty devastating. 

I've plenty still to paint, a couple more heroes for various forces, some Fyreslayers, a bunch more Nurgle Daemons. As it was recently my birthday I also have Archaon and a unit of Varanguard to paint along with some Stormvermin for my new Skaven force. Unfortunately for my wallet GW have just released some fantastic new Orruk miniatures so I may get a little distracted by them at some point.  

Anyhow until next time. 

Age of Sigmar Battle Report - The Watchtower - Nurgle Rotbringers vs Seraphon and Sylvaneth Alliance

With Charlie brancing out from his Sylvaneth force and adding a chunk of Seraphon from the newly released getting started box this was going to be a very different game.

Background

Once again we return to the realm of life, to an ancient watchtower, now all but ruined which has been taken over by the Daemonic allies of the Plague Lord Febris the Vile ahead of his main force.

A small force of Sylvaneth have gathered to evict the plague daemons from this ancient tower, however with a larger force approaching the stars did not bode well for the woodland spirits, from high in Azyr came thought, an ancient memory of a proud warrior and his fierce mount, yes, that will do, as the mind of the Slaan Starmaster stretched back deep into his memories a great roar echoed through the forest and the Starmasters thoughts coalesced into physical form, time was of the essence the tower must be retaken before Lord Febris's hoard returns in full force.

The Game
We had a couple of options for games and we decided on playing the Watchtower, we also decided to use some time of war rules, adapting the Brimstone Peninsular rules for the realm of life.

Around the tower are six areas of spontaneous growth and horrific corruption, these can explode outwards in a tangled mess of roots and bile as the war of life if fought by the very land itself. Over the terrain hangs a heavy cloud of fog limiting sight over the terrain.

Victory conditions were simple, the player with the most models in the tower when the game ends wins, from the end of the 3rd turn a dice is rolled each battleround and the game ends on a D6 roll of a 4+.

As usual we used Clash comp, this time with a 12.5 pool cap (largely defined by how much stuff Charlie had with him)

The Forces

Seraphon and Sylvaneth
Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaur
12 Saurus Warriors
8 Saurus Knights
Treelord Ancient
16 Dryads
Branchwraith


Nurgle Rotbringers
Lord of Plagues
Chaos Sorcerer Lord with mark of Nurgle
Epidemius
5 Chaos Knights with mark of Nurgle
10 Chaos Warriors with mark of Nurgle
5 Putrid Blightkings
10 Plaguebearers
3 Biletrolls


Initial Setup

With just 12" between the Attackers force and the watch tower this was going to get messy real quick.

Battleround 1
Nurgle take the initiative

Nurgle Turn 1

The Nurgle Sorcerer draws together the power of chaos and summons unit of Nurglings providing a screen to prevent the Saurus Warriors and knights getting to the tower without a fight.

An area of corruption explodes showering the Treelord and the Plaguebearers in the tower and both took mortal wounds.

The Nurgle reinforcements arrive and start to take up positions to aid in the defence of the tower.

There's an awful lot of battlefield to cover, perhaps Febris should have brought along more knights and left the lumbering Blightkings at work elsewhere.


Seraphon Alliance Turn 1

Another blast from an infected area, this time throwing stricken roots against the Chaos Sorcerer.

The Branchwraith sang a song of war to rouse the tree spirits to action, the wind whistled through the trews but nobody answered the call.

The Treelord Ancient traced arcane symbols in the air and a Mystic Shield enveloped the Saurus Warriors.

The Seraphon Oldblood attempted to call the Plaguebearers out from the Watchtower into the open field, however the daemons stood firm.

The Oldblood on Carnosaur maneuvered around the Watchtower and the rest of the force moved up as quickly as they could.

The Oldblood on Carnosaur lets out a roar and charges the watchtower and the great beast proceeds to munch on the Plaguebearers.... all of them!

With the Carnosaur now blooded it becomes an even more dangerous beast, capable of rampaging across most of the board. 

Elsewhere both the Saurus Warriors and the Saurus Knights failed their charges.

Battleround 2
Nurgle win initiative

Nurgle Turn 2
The area of corruption near the Treelord exploded covering both the ancient creature and and Oldblood on Carnosaur with filth and corrosion, both took mortal wounds, the Treelord is beginning to suffer here.

The Chaos Sorcerer summons forth more daemons from the abyss, 10 Plaguebearers appear to bolster the left flank against the Saurus.

Across the board the Chaos Knights let out their sickly warcries and barrel into the side of the Carnosaur, hoping their momentum and surprise attack will weaken it before it can strike back. 

Unfortunately it really didn't go well, the Knights literally bounced off the Carnosaur inflicting a grand total of 1 wound. The Carnosaur promptly ate two of the Knights, shaken but still hopeful the Knights shrug off their bravery test.

Sylvaneth turn 2

Yet another corrupted area explodes again near the Treelord, he escapes with only minor damage but the Dryads nearby lose a couple of their number.

In return the branchwraith once again tried to call forth the spirit of the woods for aid in the battle, this time the woods answer and 11 Dryads appear in the nearby forest.

The Carnosaur turns on the last Chaos Knight and unsurprisingly devours him.

Meanwhile on the other flank the Saurus Cavalry crash into the recently summoned Plaguebearers, though the Plaguebearers took the initiative they were ineffective against the charging Seraphon who's star lances cut through half the unit with ease. 

The Saurus warriors became bogged down with the Nurglings, never quite managing to finish enough off to free them up.


Battle round 3
Seraphon alliance wins initiative

Seraphon Turn 3

Mystical sheilds were summoned around a unit of Dryads and the Saurus Warriors.

One of the Dryad units takes up position within the Watchtower, claiming this important strategic objective whilst the other unit of Dryads and the Oldblood on Carnosaur sweep round the Watchtower to get to the Nurgle forces behind.

The Carnosaur charges the Lord of Plagues and taking the initiative quickly devours him to ensure his plague ridden axe wouldn't come to bear on the wounded Carnosaur.

In return the Plaguebearers took the opportunity to strike at the Saurus Cavalry who had become bogged down in combat following their charge, the pox-ridden daemons managed to drag several of the Saurus down.

The recently summoned dryads charge Epidemus, but only cause light wounds, his rancid flesh sloughing away to protect him.

In return he strikes back at the unit slaying several of them as the Blightkings pile in to support and hack through the Dryads leaving only a single dryad alive who layer fled from the battle shock.


Nurgle Turn 3

The Nurgle Sorcerer attempts to call upon demonic reinforcements but the Treelord gestures and the mystical energy dissapates. It was at that point the nearest area of corruption belched, covering the Sorcerer with acidic filth and he dies a horrible death. Grandfather Nurgle clearly was unimpressed with his performance on this day.

The rest of the chaos force moved around to try and gain the most advantageous position for what was to be the penultimate round of combat.

Free from the combat with the Dryads the Blightkings turned and charged into the Carnosaur.

Jumping to attack quickly before the mighty beast could recover, they hammered it hard, just striking enough damage to kill the beast outright.

Meanwhile the Biletrolls vomitted over the Dryads and followed the sickly missiles with a full on charge. unfortunately their performance left much to be desired and they failed to shift enough of the Dryads from the objective.

On the left flank the Chaos Warriors of Nurgle finally made it into the fight and charged the already diminished Saurus Cavalry and proceeded to butcher most of the unit.

The game looked to be hanging in the balance, as it stood the Seraphon/Sylvaneth Alliance held the objective but with the Carnosaur dead, the Blightkings and a fresh unit Chaos Warriors rampaging around it could easily swing the other way.

The die was cast to see if we would continue.... and as it settled on the table it was clear, the forces or Order were victorious.

Postmatch

Wow, an excellent game, I really, really underestimated that Carnosaur and overestimated the abilities of the Plaguebearers to withstand it's damage output.

The less said about the Chaos Knights the better, their performance was abysmal, I honestly expected them to put a massive dint in the offensive abilities of the Carnosaur, with 15 Attacks plus a further 10 from their steeds to result in a single wound was pitiful.

Overall the scenario worked really well, it felt like a pretty fair game and had it run for another round it still could have swing either way. The adapted time of war rules worked well and were oh so annoying, the Seraphon really took the brunt of the damage from them but taking the sorcerer out in the last turn could really have scuppered the Nurgle game should we have hit turn 4.

My major mistake was using the Plaguebearers as the initial force. I should really have dropped 10 blightkings there, with a sorcerer to drop mystic shield and oracular visions on them, I'd have had 2+ saves, rerolling 1s and even with the carnosaurs rend the unit should have brushed off the initial attack holding up the big guys until the rest of the force arrived.

I also really suffer from not having much shooting, it's the main issue with pretty much the entire chaos faction, you're essentially missing out a phase every round which could really have been used to weaken some of the monsters or to hunt out the branchwraith hiding at the back.

Charlie and I will be back for more soon I hope, we're just arranging dates and we did discuss a longer session so we could run a couple of games back to back mini-campaign style.

Age of Sigmar Painting Update

Just a quick post to cover some of my painting, this is a little old but I've not gotten around to popping it on my Blog yet.

First up some Sylvaneth Dryads, a really quick paintjob that took a couple of nights.

Next a group of converted Chaos Trolls, or Bile Trolls, made from some river trolls with a fair bit of greenstuff and a few spare parts.

A quick Brayshaman to add to my Beastmen force or as a sorcererous addition to my Khorne when I need some magical assistance. 

A converted Nurgle Sorcerer, made from spare parts from a Bloodstoker and a Maggoth Lord body. 

10 Plagueberarers for my main Nurgle force. 

I've another 6 warscrolls of stuff finished but I need to get around to photographing them, I'm not using a new collapseable photobooth which really does help take better pictures, not so keen on the big folds in the background so I need to sort that out at some point. 

Age of Sigmar Battlereport - Sylvaneth and Stormcast vs Khorne Bloodbound

Once again myself and Charlie managed to sneak a game in during the week. The venue for this small clash is GW leeds which appears now to have no other AoS gamers. A pity.

Background
Deep in the woods of Ghyran the Lord Celestant and his Sylvaneth allies have stumbled across a blasted glade. A powerful icon of chaos spreads death and destruction before it and as it's worshippers gather strange discordant blasts roll across the glade felling yet more trees.

Although short on numbers the Lord Celestant is guaranteed further reinforcements by the Ancient Treelord so they prepare to clear this area of the invaders.

On seeing the approaching foe the Mighty Khorne Lord gathers his motley forces together around the artifact.  They know they must crush these attackers and prevent them from destroying the icon.

The Game
After our last game we opted for a simpler scenario this time to allow us to get well into the game in the time we had.

The scenario was Spllbreakers from the Quest for Ghal Maraz book, as I'd been the attacker in all 3 in our previous games I chose to be defender for this one forcing those treeman to leave the safety of their wildwoods and come to me.

The Victory conditions were simple, the Sylvaneth/Stormcsst force had to destroy the icon before I managed to take out 75% of his force (23 models)

We used clash comp to balance the forces going for a 12 point cap for our starting force but using no other comp rules other than base to base measurement.

The Forces

Sylvaneth and Stormcast

Branchwraith

Treelord Ancient

Lord Celestant on Dracoth

20 Dryads

5 Retributors

5 Judicators

Khorne Bloodbound

Mighty Lord of Khorne

Bloodsecrator

Brayshaman

10 Bloodwarriors

15 Bloodreavers

10 Corrupted Duerdin Irondrakes

Stonehorn

As the sylvaneth could essentially replace casualties each turn I also kept a summoning sideboard of 10 bloodletters and 5 Furies in case I took a real mullering.

Battle round 1

I won the roll for first turn and opted to go second hoping to get a double turn and break the back of the attack.

Sylvaneth Turn 1

The Lord Celestant held his hammer high and issued commands to his host not to flee the field. The treelord summoned a mighty magical shield to protect the Dryads.

So with that the Stormcast and Sylvaneth made a steady advance across the board.

The Judicators loosed arrows towards the Bloodreavers but only managed to slay 2.

Khorne Turn 1

With a mighty roar the Bloodsecrator planted the Portal of Skulls and the Khorne warband surged forwards taking the attack to their foe.

The Corrupted Duerdin fired a volley at the Lord Celestant at the head of the enemy army and wounded him. Then with a stamping of feet the hoard surged again, and stumbled. The Stonehorn and Bloodwarriors failed to judge the distance to their foes and didn't make their charge. The Bloodreavers however did make it to the Lord Celestant and battle was met.

The fury of the Bloodreavers driven by the Portal of Skulls seemed to almost overwhelm the Lord Celestant driving him back, his Sigmarite armour only just saving him from certain death.

In response he swung his mighty hammer and in one blow slew six of these unarmoured barbarians, his dracoth tearing apart two more. He was a mights foe indeed.

Battle round 2
Khorne wins initiative and takes the first turn.

Khorne turn 2

With the portal of Skulls plant firmly in the ground the mighty lord of Khorne urges his warriors forward determined to close the distance to meet their foe with steel.

The Brayshaman realising his magic was compromised by the banner swiftly moved away.

With roll of gunfire the Corrupted Irondrakes fire upon the Lord Celestant again further wounding him.

The Stonehorn bellows and charges forward into the Dryads followed swiftly by the Bloodwarriors.

The Bloodreavers tore at the Lord Celestant dragging him from his mount and beating him to the ground.

Back with the Stonehorn it crushes the unit of Dryads almost single-handedly with the Bloodwarriors finishing off the final ones.

Sylvaneth Turn 2

Calling out to the spirits the Branchwraith summons forth ten more Dryads.

Shots from the Judicators streak into the Stonehorn scorching it's skin but with little real effect.

The Dryads advance towards the icon of chaos avoiding the Mighty Lord of Khorne.

Stepping into the forest the Treelord ancient becomes one with the forest and reappears near the Bloodsecrator.

The Retributors charge into combat their hammers crackling with lightning. Striking the Stonehorn hard they begin to chip away at it.

Exhausted by his journey through the Sylvaneth paths the Treelord fails to charge into the Bloodsecrator.

At this point I had killed 23 models and the game was officially mine, but with 20 mins to go before we had to pack up we played on to see where the game took us.

Battle round 3
Sylvaneth win initiative

Sylvaneth Turn 1
Once again the Branchwraith calls to the spirits of the forest and summons a further 5 Dryads.

With more shots from the Judicators finding their mark on the Stonehorn it was really beginning to feel the damage.

Ten Dryads manage to make it to the Icon and begin tearing at it.

The Treelord thunders across to the Bloodsecrator, but he holds his balance and deftly avoids much of the incoming damage striking back and wounding it.

The Stonehorn and Bloodwarriors trade blows with the Retributors and wipe out the unit with only minimal losses.

The Khorne Lord was charged by the smaller unit of Dryads but managed to get his strikes in first and wiped them out.

With only a single wound caused on the Icon and Chaos to fight next the Khorne victory was assured so we ended the game to give us a little time to check out some options for model purchases.


Post match
Finally Charlie and I managed to play a game to conclusion, we've been scuppered by late starts due to traffic, power cuts and all sorts.

It was a good game, we didn't bother using the terrain or time of war rules other than the Wildwoods this time to allow us to focus on learning our stats. This kept the game time to a minimum as we do only have abut an hour and a half before the store starts to close up. We may have to investigate other venues for gaming if we want to play for longer but the Leeds store is fairly convenient. It's a pity the staff don't really support the game as well as they could especially since its supposed to be the thing that helps turn around GWs fortunes.

My tactic of targeting his 1 wound models first really gained me the game. Charles game was solid and I suspect the next battle round would have swung it his way especially if his Treelord had finished off my Bloodsecrator in my half of battle round 3 as he would have been free to charge the icon as well.

My major tactical error was placing my Brayshaman so close to the Bloodsecrator, he failed to get a single spell off all game and so was a wasted selection really.

I'm still not impressed with the Bloodreavers even boosted with the totem the lack of rend means they suffer when up against a well armoured foe (both the Lord Celestant and the Dryads had 3+ saves so I cost to tie the Lord Celestant up for a couple of turns). As I hated painting them I really doubt I'll go for the double handed option so will likely drop then for more elite troops.

Age of Sigmar does seem to suit lower model count more elite armies so I picked up some Skullreapers while I was in store to add to my force.

The Duerdin didn't do fantastically but I do appreciate having some firepower in the force. It would have helped if I had been able to keep them stood still for a turn but I had to get then out of the wood to stop them taking mortal wounds.

The Stonehorn was the undisputed champion here. Very tough and he really does hit hard. Supported by the Bloodwarriors and close to the tower ment that Charlie couldn't lap around to gain the numerical advantage so limited the number of incoming attacks quite substantially. I suspect that had the Retributors been able to get their full number into combat they'd have done a solid job of taking him down.

I'm tempted by a Slaughterpriest as well, I've previously dismissed him but one of his abilities allows you to drag an enemy unit forward making charging into combat much more likely with the added benefit of disrupting battle lines as well.

Chatting to Charlie post game he's quite taken by the Seraphon and was looking at the nee getting started box and a Slaan to get him off the ground, it'll be an interesting change to the line up and could give me trouble as the Slaan are fairly powerful, I'm only blessed by Charles slow painting speed and starting model count which means that I won't be swarmed with summoned units for some time yet.

I've another post to make later on with some newly painted units for my Nurgle forces.