Lord Ordinator

Just a quick post today. I finished up my Lord Ordinator. He’ll be leading my Grand Alliance Order forces for many battles to come.  I’m not sure if I’ll add anymore Stormcast to my collection. In fact I’m not sure which direction I want to go with in 2nd Edition.

I’m torn between the following armies:

Adding to my Skaven.

Staring a Free Peoples Army.

Starting a Dark Aelves Army.

Adding to my Duardin.


None of these armies have a battletome yet so I’m not in a big hurry to start up one of these forces. I am excited to see that the Beasts of Chaos Battletome will be launching soon! It gives me hope that some of the older Order armies from fantasy will get a reboot!

Until next time,

-Ben.

Skaven Army Progression

I finally got around to painting this week. I have been working a lot of overtime recently so I haven't had much hobby time. However I ended up having today off! So the wife and I sat down after kids  went down for a nap and started painting. I finished my poisoned wind mortar team and my wife finished her Swifthawk Agents' chariot.

Aforementioned Mortar Team..

Once I post a full showcase of my painted collection; you'll see my Skaven don't have a unifying color scheme. That's mainly due to experimenting with different painting techniques. On some of my clan rats I used a wash only method. On some others I experiment with Games Workshop's Death Guard Green spray can; which I highly recommend by the way.

What I used to tie the army together was the bases. I wanted my Skaven  to look like they were walking through a toxic, ghoulish, nasty sewer. I think they turned out well. I just might do a how-to tutorial, let me know in the comments if you'd like to know how to do your bases this way!

I am really enjoying blogging. It's been enjoyable to just jot down my ideas and share them with the world. I'd have to say what I've enjoyed most about blogging has been the photography. I found this app in the app store called Fotor. It's super easy to use and it really makes your miniature photos stand out in my opinion. Taking photos has almost become a hobby of it's own. Photography has really motivated me to paint my miniatures. I can't wait to finish painting so I can take hundreds of photos of my finished work. Obviously I won't post all of my pictures, but it takes lots of photos to get a good one. Once I find a photo I like, that's when the fun begins for me with the photo editing.







I am so close to finishing my half of the Spire of Dawn Box. I only have 11 minis left to paint. 10 Clan Rats and 1 Skaven Warlord is all that stands between me and blog post showcasing my Skaven collection!
















Until next time,
-Ben

Age of Sigmar: Skirmish Review

In today’s post I’ll be covering Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Skirmish. I’ll be going over what it is, what it’s not, and whether it’s still viable in 2nd Edition. I’ll also be going over a few narrative ideas to help flush out this great little book.

What this book isn’t:

This game is not the fantasy version of 40K’s Kill Team or Shadow War. It does not have complex narrative or character development. This game does have a campaign system in it, but it’s not a narrative campaign. So if you’re looking for that kind of game; you’ll be disappointed.



What this book is:

This is a $10 book that gives you a brief synopsis of the mortal realms. Then it gives you some lore about the city of Shadespire, located in the Realm of Death. Which is the setting for the campaign contained in the book. There’s a section that has some modified rules for battle shock and summonable units. Then the campaign rules, battle plans, etc. The last few pages are points values for most of the models released at the time it was printed. That about sums it up. After all, it’s only a $10 book that came out during first edition. However, I think it’s a great place to get started in the hobby.

Is it still viable now that second edition is out?

Yes, Skirmish uses the core rules for Age of Sigmar, which you can still download for free on Games Workshop.

Why would I start with skirmish instead of buying the starter box?

It depends on the amount of disposable income you have available to you. The current starter box is $160. Granted it’s a great buy, but it might be too steep of a price for someone just starting off in the hobby. You might also like the aesthetic of an army that doesn’t come in the starter box; but are intimidated by the daughting task of buying, assembling, priming, and painting an army’s worth of miniatures. All for a game you may end up not wanting to play anyway.

Skirmish allows you to buy a box of models for an army you actually want to collect, and do battle. So for me, that’s a win if you’re on a tight budget like I am. It also helps if you can't decide on an army out right. This way you can start collecting something, without commiting too much cash to it.

What if I’m torn between two factions I want to collect?

Well the good news there is that you can build your warband from ANY faction. As long as they are from the same Grand Alliance. Meaning you can build a really unique warband. Which is honestly my favorite part.

What if a model I have is not in the book?

Gamesworkshop solved this problem already. Take that unit's point cost, and divide it by five for heros.

That means I can bring my Excelsior Warpriest!!

Is the campaign fun?

The campaign is a blast! I really enjoy building my warband through out the course of it. Think of it more as an escalation campaign, with the clashing of swords drawing more followers in after every battle.

You said you had narrative play ideas?

I do, there’s a blurb for each battle plan that tells a brief story, kind of, through out the campaign.
It also gives you reasons why warbands venture there in the lore. Artifacts, treasures, etc. So, if you’re looking to add more of a back story for your warband. There’s really nothing stopping you, other than your imagination.

One idea I had was about a band of Scourge Privateers being ship wrecked along the coast near Shadspire. Shadespire is quasi-close to a sea on the map of the Realm of Death so it works. They decide to travel to Shadespire out of necessity. After all, they’re ship wrecked in the Realm of Death, and stand a strong chance of dying if they don’t find shelter. Once there they discover some Shadeglass. Which basically captures your soul when you die. So that you don’t end up in Nagash’s army. Their reason for taking the Shadeglass is two fold.

1: So they won’t have to spend eternity in Nagah’s legions.
2: To escape Slanesh should they die outside the realm of death.

They, however, must face a necromancer and his band of skeletons. The Necromancer believes he is tasked with ensuring that no mortal leaves Shadespire with any Shadeglass, or alive for that matter.

Your narrative doesn’t have to be complex. Which is nice. Especially if you and a buddy want to get a good story in on a Saturday afternoon.

All in all, I believe skirmish is worth the $10 price tag. It’s a staple of games played at my house and with friends looking to get into Age of Sigmar.

Until next time,
-Ben

Wanderers: tactics, lore, and more!

In this post I’ll be covering the Wanderers. I’ll be going over some over the lore, tactics, and why I started collecting this faction. I’ll start with the lore.

To be honest, this faction didn’t have much in the way of lore when I first got into Age of Sigmar. They had maybe a paragraph in the Grand Alliance: Order Warscroll Book. Thankfully since the launch of 2nd Edition; they have seen some flushing out.

In the core book we get a more detailed version of why they left the realm of life. The Nurgle invasion was nigh unstoppable. Nurgle crushes the combined resistance of the Sylvaneth, Free Peoples, and Wanderers on countless fronts. Throughout the conquest of Ghyran, the Wanderers discuss abandoning the realm to it’s fate unbeknownst to the Sylvaneth and Free Peoples.

The Wanderers eventually leave the Ghyran after several lost battles through the realm gate the Twining Portal and head for Azyr. Which doesn’t make the Sylvaneth very happy. Basically they hate the Wanderers for ditching them at their darkest hour.

After the Stormcast Eternals arrive in Ghyran and turn the tide; the free cities are forged, and the Wanderers return. Well mainly to the Free Cities located there. The most interesting one to me that they return to is Greywater Fastness.

Greywater Fastness is a massive city of industry, gun powder, cannons, etc. Basically the Free People    who live here upset Alarielle with their pollution and cutting down of trees. So she retaliates and sends a bunch of Sylvaneth to besiege the city. Killing anyone who ventures into the polluted forest.
Eventually there’s a truce made and the city is allowed to continue on. However if people venture too far in the forest the Sylvaneth still kill them.

I find this to be an awesome setting for narrative  play. Since the Wanderers inhabit the polluted forest   around the city; as well as the Sylvaneth. Two forces of nature fighting in the chronic wastes of industry. One trying to redeem itself for its betrayal. The other wanting to stomp them out for their betrayal.

I started collecting this faction mainly because they were the faction I would have played in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Being from Montana, I love the idea of an army living in the woods. Striking from trees only to vanish without a trace.

Tactics:

I don’t have every unit in this faction’s range, but I’ll cover what I do have.

Nomad Prince: (Pictured above.)

This guy is a mix of support character and beat stick. His command ability allows all Wanderers units within 8” of him to reroll hit rolls of 1.

He has a nasty spear that hits on a 3+ ,wounds on a 3+, rend-1 dealing out two damage. Did I mention he has 4 attacks? His command ability also affects him which is handy if you whiff your hit rolls.

His shield allows him to reroll all failed saves.

His hunting hawk is nice against Monsters. Basically if your target fails his save he is at minus one to hit. And with that affirmationed spear, you’ll take your opponent’s monster down a peg or two.

Spellweaver:

Spellweaver 

All in all a great support character/wizard.

You bring her in A Wanderers army for 2 reasons. Ancient Blessings and Blessing of life.

Ancient Blessings: Basically you get to automatically unbind one spell per game. Powerful!

Blessing of life allows you to heal D3 slain models back to a unit. Perfect for hard to budge Eternal Guard, or for Keeping your Glade Guard unit above 20+.

She can also cast the generic spells, but why bother?

Eternal Guard:

These guys become a battleline unit if you have the Wanderers alligance. They’re kinda Meh at first glance with 1 attack with a 4+ to hit, 4+ to wound, and a 5+ save. However when you look closer you see why this unit shines.

This unit’s unique ability is called fortress of boughs. Which means they can’t move until the next hero phase. However they get+1 to hit, wound, and save. 

Their shields allow them to reroll ones. If they’re in cover they reroll ones and twos. If they used fortress of boughs. Good luck killing them. If you do lose some models. Just use blessing of life from your spellweaver to get those hard to kill models back!

This is a great defensive unit for holding your back line objectives. Especially with a spellweaver supporting them.

Last but not least, my favorite unit in the Wanderers army. Glade Guard.

This unit is a strong shooting unit in groups of 20-30. If you have 20+ dudes your hitting on 3s instead of 4s. You’ll always wound on 4s doing 1 damage unless you use their special arrows called Arcane Bodkins. Which do -3 rend one per game. In tandem with the nomand Prince giving you reroll hit rolls of 1. You’ll trash whatever unit you’re shooting at.

That’s all I have for now on this faction,

Until next time.

-Ben

Hallowed Knights

I finally got around to painting the 5 man unit of Liberators that have been sitting in my Grand Alliance Order Box for a while now. I decided to paint them as The Hallowed Knights ↙️

When I was searching google images for inspiration on how to paint my Liberators; I stumbled upon the color scheme of the Hallowed Knights. I think it’s the best color scheme for Stormcast Eternals honestly. I really enjoyed painting these models. It’s nice not having to paint any skin! I used the lead belcher spray, blue wash, and the necron compound dry paint for the armour highlight. So once that was done, it was just a matter of blocking in the other colors.

Once I found the color scheme, I did some research on their lore. I found that they were sent to the realm of Ghyran to help repel the Chaos Invasion by Nurgle and Skaven. This was a cool little find since my table is themed off the realm of life. I also happen to have a Skaven Army. Another bonus for me was that I happen to have a Wanderers army. Which are also found in the realm of life..

So narratively, 3 of my armies mesh together! I’m pretty happy about that! It feels appropriate to have a small band of Hallowed Knights to come to the aid of my Wanderers. Who are being drowned in a vermintide of Rat-Men.

I’d like to add more models to this army, but I have hobby A.D.D. My wheel spins every five minutes on what model I want to buy next. I do have a Lord Ordinator partially painted up in this color scheme. All I’d need to do is by a box of 10 Liberators. Then I’d have three 5 man battleline units for a 2,000 point list..

We shall see what life brings..Happy war gaming!

Until next time,

-Ben

Clan Moulder yes-yes!

So here is a small sampling of my first Age of Sigmar army. Skaven!

Why did I choose Skaven?

I remember being 10 years old looking for a book to read during our library class in school. I found this book called The Dark Portal by Robin Jarvis. I could not put it down! I was hooked. The antagonist was truly evil. The Rat God’s goal was to unleash the Black Death upon the world once more. Then conquer it when all mankind had died. I thought the setting of an entire evil empire lurking in our sewers to be a truly fascinating setting. I want to pick up a copy of it and read it again.

With the above paragraph in mind; I was totally sold on the Spire of Dawn starter box when my wife and I got into Age of Sigmar.  Rats trying to conquer the realms? Against a few Aelves? What a great antagonist to go up against. They’re ugly, horrifying, and evil. You want to quick-quick, kill-kill them!

As much as I love Skaven. I have hobby A.D.D. I literally want every army represented in my collection.  So I have kind of neglected them. However I do plan on painting up the remaining 12 Skaven from the Spire of Dawn box. Once I finish them, I’ll do a post of the whole army. Until then here’s my painted Clan Moulder collection.

Kill-kill, yes-yes!

As for what I’ll add next...

Hard to say. Torn between Clam Eshin and Clan Moulder. All the clans are super interesting to me.

Until next time,

Ben

40K Battle Reports Incoming!

What!? I thought this was an Age of Sigmar blog? Well so far yes, but I have other interests as well.

So the idea for battle reports was  my friend Benjamin’s idea. Basically he wanted to log our adventures on the table top so we could relive them. Which is a fantastic idea!

We are in the process of filming battle reports currently. Three of us are filming battle reports so far; my buddies Benjamin, Satch, and my good self. My brother in law Josh will be doing the hard work of editing the footage.

Once we get in a groove as how we want them shot, we’ll be putting up a YouTube channel. We will see where it goes from there!

Benjamin mailing off the footage to Josh⬆️

         


Until next time,

Ben

Excelsior Warpriest

Here is the Excelsior Warpriest I mentioned in my previous article. ⬆️
I have used him in two games so far. He has yet to have any prayer answered by Sigmar. He has also failed to slay anything in combat. However, his gryph-hound was able to kill my wife’s Swifthawk Agents chariot in close combat. Therefore he has been named SWIFTBEAK! The Warpriest needs to actually accomplish something before he’s named.

Tactics:

The Excelsior Warpriest is not very good in close combat. Granted he gets four attacks with his hammer; he hits on 4+ and wounds on 4+.

His abilities: Light of Sigmar is a prayer that goes off on a 3+. If successful can heal D3 wounds on an order unit within 10” of him. Conversely, you can select an enemy unit within 10” of him and inflict a wound. You can do D3 wounds if it’s a Chaos unit.

Thoughts on Light of Sigmar:

I thought the healing aspect was pretty cool. It’s nice on multi-wound models in your collection. I usually keep him close to my Ironweld Arsenal cannon to heal it’s wounds. However, my wife is smart and picks off the crew with her Swifthawk Reavers.

As far as using it to deal mortal wounds. I think it’s worth it depending on the situation. Like a Behemoth with one wound left, and you’d rather your Glade Guard shot at another scary unit!
Definitely worth it using against Chaos armies as you do D3 mortal wounds.

His other Ability: Devine Power. Can attempt to unblind one spell.

Lastly: Loyal Companion. Allows a gryph-hound to be placed within 3” of him. The gryph-hound gets to make 4 attacks instead of 2 if bad dudes are 3” away from the Warpriest.

Thoughts on Loyal Companion:

I love this from a narrative perspective. A man and his dog kicking butt in the mortal realms.  Basically you get 8 attacks coming from two models. They’re not great attacks by any means. However you should inflict a couple wounds on whatever you’re facing.

Overall he’s not the best Hero for an Order Army. I mainly use him for fluffy reasons. But that’s one of the reasons I like Age of Sigmar. Collect whatever you want and do battle!

Till next time!

Ben