The Battle of Dreadstone Blight

Or rather the Grinding Slog of Dreadstone Blight.......

3000 points of Night Goblins and Ogrish Allies vs Men of Good (Barons)

I'm not going to go into the intricacies of the battle report because it occured 5 months ago and the battle revolved around the Blight in the centre of the table, which got infested by my Gnoblar skirmishers early on in the battle and managed to hold off the Barons heavy foot with sticks, stones, broken bottles and anything else they could get their little mitts on till nearly the end of the battle...........

Which took 7 hours..........

Meanwhile off camera, just as the Men of Good seized the Blight, their left wing including the General and his Knights were minced by Goblin Berserkers and Hobgoblins.

At the end of the Battle the Men of Good had possession of the Blight, but were surrounded by the Goblins and were technically due an army Break Test.

So we called it a draw............still level pegging...........

Next battle: Host of the Barrow Mounds vs TBA

Next Battle - 30th October - ish

Next battle on approx 30th Oct which also coincides with Fiasco in Leeds where my opponent just happens to live will be the Goblin Horde (the above shot of a Minion from Overlord 2 sums up Goblins for me) against the Barons of Lyonesse..........points value has been tentatively agreed on at 3200 though it usually ends up more.

Which gives me an excuse to field some Ogre allies! B-)

If anybody has any ideas on how to dispose of tinned meat....erm.....the flower of chivalry suggestions always welcome.

At the risk of becoming predictable I'm going with the two shaman strategy again but trying Fire and Metal

I'd best be getting on with painting some hitty/crushy/tinopener things then

Just when I thought I was through with GW.....

They go and bring these out............

Da Boyz Done Good!

Da boyz shattered the stunty shortbeards and routed them! B-)........(3200 points game Night Goblins vs Dwarves)

Despite my best intentions to snap pics of the battle my phone flatlined minutes before so no pictures of the clash.

Suffice to say my archers with the aid of their shamaness rained fiery death on one flank of the dwarves and burnt their siege engine and turned "many dwarf" into a bonfire. Loki was most definitely with them B-)

You could smell the beards burning!

In the centre the Giant shattered the largest dwarf unit - who needed an 11 to make their morale check due to having their King with them - and got a 12 - and ran - pursued by the giant and his pet warg - who ate them some more. (One victory objective achieved)
This was also a one of those fickle moments where the Gods of the D6 intervened and was THE turning point in the game - they were never going to come back with the giant overruning them and causing maximum wounds to the unit

The Hobgoblins moved into the second objective and proceeded to have a party rolling columns round and took no further part in the action apart from cheering da boyz, sitting having a party and mocking the stunties from the safety of the Ancient Ruins (2 objectives acheived)

And da boyz on the Goblin right souped up with Stone Armour formed column and ably assisted by the Wolf Riders took care of things. Earth Magic is cool!

In all two from two objectives for minimal losses - according to the AoA book a victory of the best sort - I love it when a plan comes together.

Back to level pegging at two victories apiece.

Next battle 9th July

At last some AoA action apart from buying stuff on Ebay and painting.

3000 points Night Goblins (me) vs. 3000 Dwarves (my mate)

We dont get to game very often because we live at opposite ends of the country.

Maelstrom have let me down big time by hanging onto my order for Greatax Orcs (to use as Hobgoblins) which has left me with a not very "hitty" army.

The only thing I could come up with was to have TWO shamans/wizards to boost my otherwise puny but numerous combat units, more archers than strictly necessary and a trio of Trolls.

I've not finalised my list yet but any suggestions for killing heavily armoured dwarves off with good magic saves welcomed............

Otherwise I'll have to stick to the Goblin Horde pouring magically enhanced arrows like in 300...

Citadel Finecast - Product Review

I was determined to be unimpressed..........

Having listened to the fanboy ravings of the guys in blue polo shirts I thought "meh"

I missed the "big launch" so wandered into my local GW just around the corner from the office the other lunchtime on the offchance they might have obtained the odd tub of Dheneb Stone or Calthan Brown paint...........no such luck its coming by camel caravan from China where its manufactured apparently.

So there they were the new resin Torquemada Coteaz (this probably wont mean much if you play AoA and the new Dark Elf Assassin ..........which will..........B-)

I'm going to have to eat my words - they're amazing - the Assassin is ONE piece of resin cast on a sprue.

Inquisitor Lord Coteaz is in three parts.

Despite the price hike and the furore about miscastings I couldnt see a single blemish on my models.

Score: 9/10 - not convinced by the price rise for a cheaper material, made up by the casting quality is much crisper and the tiny details stand out even to my old four eyes.........

Product Review: The Army Painter Primer

Available now in stacks of colours...........

I've not really been one for bulk priming - until the Night Goblins happened. Having costed the price of a couple of hundred models worth of dheneb stone - which I use as primer and basecoat not to mention sloshing it on - I'd nearly lost the will to do them.

Then whilst browsing Ebay I happened across the Army Painter stuff............

I'm pleased to say it does exactly what it says on the tin............68 minis spray primed so far from one tin

48 Night Goblins and 10 Wolf riders - and theres more left.

If you havnt got it I'd advise it - it gives a finer coverage and gives you loads more time for the "real business" of painting minis


Score: 9.5/10 - only because its more than GW - but in stacks more colours B-)

More Night Goblins

Only another 40 odd to go then I can treat myself to painting some characters and/or Wolf Riders............

This week has actually seen me stop buying minis off Ebay because I cant think of anything else at the moment - however traditionally this doesnt last long B-)

Latest Army - Night Goblins

I've just spent two weeks batch painting c100 Battle for Skull Pass Night Goblins - I didnt realise I'd acquired so many off Ebay.

These little guys are going to form the core of my new Night Goblin army.

33 Archers and Noble and command
40 Speargobbos and Noble and command
Goblin King on Wolf (an ancient GW Hobgoblin)
1 Hobgoblin Hero on Boar (I couldnt resist the fearsome looking GW Boss and Standard Bearer CMPPK (Cool multi part plastic kit)
1 or 2 Shamans
Wolf Riders - from a bargain box I got on Ebay - 5 assembled so far with Night Goblin heads

The problem is they arent very "hitty" apart from the heroes.

I dont know whether the idea is massed arrow swarms like the Persians in 300 and hope enough hit

I've got enough Spider Riders assembled and spray coated as per Zinkalas stats on the forum - but now they just dont "fit"

Challenges

Sunday must be my day for having thoughts occur to me........

If characters in AoA are supposed to go round battling each other by preference why not have challenges - where no one else can take part in the "show"

Its occured in the games I've played while the two champions are slugging it out the models to either side in base contact are getting a lick in as well.

Not too sure where this would come in the flow of things - my inclination is round about declaring charges (and challenges!)

If the hero is bought with a unit and they lose then the unit they're attached to would have to take a break test............

Thoughts anyone?

Command Groups

One thing thats always baffled me about AoA is the absence of rules for Command Groups - also referred to Champion Standard Bearer and Musician.

To my mind and hopefully most other people these make the "character" of the unit from an aesthetic view if nothing else.

Granted Champions you can buy for a VP cost when putting your army together.
Which leaves 2/3 of the minis in your little set useless apart from looking pretty and therefore a disincentive to paint etc when you could just knock out another couple of grunts.
And lets face it they always come in threes - unless its GW of course where you get those three and a couple of unit duplicates.........

I might trial the following - havnt calculated VP costs or anything...........

Standard Bearer - Standard adds +1 to the base morale of the unit - the last but one figure to be killed in combat ............that honour goes to the Champion of course!

Musician: Adds an optional +1 to the base movement - might come in useful on those charges that fall short - as above but buys the farm before the Standard Bearer

Themed Armies

Now, one of the great things I like about AoA is you can use any models you like unrestricted by manufacturers canon, rules on army composition of Army Books....

I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this one.........

Personally I collect the following.

Orcs and Goblins


Dark Elves


Undead


and I forgot Skaven when Yuber asked me in an earlier post.

Referring back a moment - collecting and painting is all well and good in itself again this is a personal thing and I have no idea on other gamers preferences........so I'll bore you to tears with some examples........

Skaven - or Ratmen - when I got the first batch of these I decided I didnt like the slightly grotty grimy GW versions. My Skaven/Ratmen are of White Rat descent


Dark Elves - To begin with I went with them as people think of them - dark clad hedonists with weird lizard things and repeater crossbows...........until I read the GW Sundering novels.
It has to be said here I could see Malekiths point of view throughout - for those that read/have read them.


Back to the main point.........there is.........



1) No mention of Cold One/Raptor knights

2) Repeater bows are only just making an appearance.


Taking into account the above I went for a Dark Elf Army at about the time the big falling out happened.

A combination of Noble Cavalry (Dragon Princes) and the old style metal Cold One Knights - on plastic barded horses.

Also Elves are Elves and I can use whatever the hell models I like so have started blending in some other what people would think of High Elves with the Dark Elves on the premise they would be similarly armed and armoured and have similar equipment...........as I was discussing with my mate the other week - quite a lot of its in the paint job.


In other words I see the different types of Elves at least as for as High and Dark go as being a mindset rather than a fashion statement !


Orcs and Goblins - this is a project thats quite new - but I know where I want to go with iit.....


Night Goblins with all sorts of creepy crawly allies like bat swarms and spiders......oh and some Savage Orc barbarian ally types - easily duped by the Night Goblin shamans.


Undead - here AoA saved my life because I got a load of Undead and then decided I didnt like the GW Vampire Counts too much - apart from some of the models as usual............
So I've built my Undead round a Wight King with skeleton knights, archers, spearmen and so forth

Miniature Review - Gamezone Female Dark Rider Musician

This is on my my painting table at the moment, having resisted the urge for a couple of months I finally took the plunge.

Things I recommend/like...Beautifully detailed sculpt - slightly smaller than GW Dark Riders which she'll be in a unit with.Probably one of the most aesthetically pleasing minis to look at I've stuck together in recent weeks

To beware of: It may not fit together prefectly when assembled - green stuff required

Thumbs down:No base supplied - whats that about?
The horses tail was puny so I replaced it with a GW one after some fairly serious filing

Cost £7.25 + free UK P&P from Maelstrom Games

Overall: 4/5

Familiars

I was casting my eye around my painting table the other day and saw three models that come as familiars with some of the GW figures....

Bastet - Neferatas Cat
Morgiana le Fays Toad
and the cute Deamonette from the familiars pack.

Quite a lot of wizards in traditional fantasy have familiars and I'm thinking about sending it up to the forum for playtesting.

I also want an excuse to use my minis in a battle naturally.........

Having thought about it they would have at the most 1/2 attack, add one magic point perhaps every other turn to the "owning" wizard (Not too sure about that one)
The owning wizard would benefit from for want of a better term the "look out Sir" rule where one lost wound would be taken by the familiar - owning players choice.

Comments ideas welcomed............

Welcome

Welcome - to the three of you.

I've heard of Yuber and Sukhe Bator on the AoA forums.

Armies of Arcana - What is it?

Hi - this is my first post on a new blog devoted to my efforts at painting and modelling my Armies of Arcana (AoA) armies

What is Armies of Arcana?

Armies of Arcana is turn based, tabletop wargame, originally designed by Thane Morgan, set in the fantasty world of Arcana. In Armies of Arcana, 2 (or more) players will take the role of generals, commanding an army of their choosing to defeat their enemies with sword, bow or magic.

What do I need to play?

Armies of Arcana can be played using figures from any manufacturer, and can be used across a variety of scales, although 15mm and 25/28mm are most common.