Yearly Archives: 2009

Painting Progress – 20091116

As it turns out, painting the Hellpit Abomination isn’t quite as much fun as assembling it has been. I don’t think I’ve ever painted anything this big that’s fleshy and not tank-y.

I did knock out one (just one) of the new clanrats, mostly to see how it’d paint up. Quite easily, as it turns out. Easier than the old ones, for sure.

Hot potatoes!

Something I’ve been looking forward to doing for a while is lining up a bunch of clanrats next to each other. From left to right:

A Stormvermin I painted in the early ’90’s (’93? ’94?). I just thought Skaven looked awesome.
A clanrat I painted in college (’97-’98). Never got up to enough models to play WHFB, but I tried.
A clanrat I painted when I realized I was arguably a grown up and I could afford to play mini games (late ’05).
A clanrat I painted over the weekend. :) (See above.)

I’ve also converted up two Plague Mortar Teams. I’ve painted one (clearly).

I’ve also started converting up a Warp Grinder. Not sure that I’m going to use one any time soon, but why the heck not?

vs. Wood Elves

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Had an awesome game against Sean on Saturday. He’d just recently lost one of his final challenges on the Challenge Pyramid, so he was happy to take a list that was full of stuff he’d never take in a Pyramid game.

I used the list I mentioned here (the sane list, not the Pestilens or Moulder one).

He took something like:

Highborn – Dragon, Stone of Crystal Mere
Branchwraith – Lvl 1
Spellsinger – Lvl 1, Unicorn

Glade Guard ~x12
Glade Guard ~x12
Dryads ~x12

Tree Kin x3
Wardancers ~x12
Wild Riders ~x12

Treeman

I did very well. In fact, I think I had an extremely solid chance of winning the game. One roll decided it, though: his dragon-borne Highborn smacked into my block of Clanrats including the Warlord on Rat Ogre. The Warlord was able to pop the elf-thing, but nothing in the unit was able to injure the Dragon; the Dragon rolled on Monstrous Reaction: Unbreakable! It had to fail a Ld test and then pull off the 1/3 chance of rolling Unbreakable. So, despite having a full block of clanrats with a Warlord on Rat Ogre with Weeping Blade and three Rat Ogres in the flank… that dragon went nowhere for five rounds of combat. Easily long enough for him to get the remnants of his Wild Riders and his block of Dryads all up in the backside of my ‘rats.

It was a great, close game.

Some observations:

– The Hellpit Abomination was nasty. I don’t think taking two of them would have done much more for me, but one was definitely something he had to deal with. He munched his way through the Tree Kin and, in pursuing, flew across the table. I wish I’d bought Warpstone Spikes, however; he’d have been 3-4 times deadlier.

– Rat Ogres didn’t have the chance to do much except catch the Dragon in the flank, throw a lot of high-strength attacks at it, and fail to wound it. I need to give them some more table time. Sean suggested going for the Master Moulder, especially with the Rat Ogres. 2 is too small, 4 is too large, and 3 just doesn’t have enough Packmasters; Buying the Master Moulder and his extra wound will offset that a bit.

– Bonebreaker Rat Ogre: I’m officially terrified of being picked out of the unit. It wasn’t quite as bad against Sean as it could be against other, Bolt Thrower-including armies. So, I’m going to try the War Litter; need to wait on the bits, but I’m definitely stealing the crap out of Rhellion’s War-Litter (though I’ll likely not use Queek).

– Re-jiggering equipment. Replacing the Warpforged Blade on the Assassin with the Weeping Blade, giving him an Enchanted Shield (because, why not?). That means the Warlord needs to change weapons: probably to the Blade of Corruption. I’m going to try giving the Engineer just one scroll, which will free up points for Warp Energy Condenser. On the advice of others, I’m giving everyone who has points left for it (the BSB and the Engineer, because he doesn’t have to pay for it from his Magic Items points) Pistols.

– That the Plague Mortar is move and fire is ridiculous. That the Plague Mortar is move and fire while other Weapons Teams are not is even more ridiculous. Three is far too many; I’m dropping two of them back down to Ratling Guns. Curious to see how they perform: they got 3″ of range, but 50% of their shots will miss. More significantly, the Misfire table’s changed: now any double causes the same roll on the misfire. Rolling a 6 is no more dangerous than rolling 1. I expect that will mean I’ll probably always roll 3 dice.

– Jezzails losing Skirmish huuuuurts.

New Skaven Lists

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Going to be getting in a couple of games tomorrow; my first with the new rats. Lists of numbers and powers tends to make my eyes roll back in my head, so I’m going to start off with a list that looks a lot like the list I ran with the old book, save for a few, small changes.

Ratputin Revised
Skaven – 2,250 points

Lords & Heroes
Warlord – General, Bonebreaker Rat Ogre, Shield of Distraction, Weeping Blade
Chieftain – BSB, Shield, Shroud of Dripping Death
Assassin – Warpforged Blade
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 2, Dispel Scroll x2

Core
Clanrats x24 – Full Command, Shields, Poisoned Wind Mortar
Clanrats x24 – Full Command, Shields, Poisoned Wind Mortar
Giant Rats x21 – Packmasters x4
Giant Rats x21 – Packmasters x4
Skavenslaves x20 – Musician, Shields
Skavenslaves x20 – Musician, Shields

Special
Gutter Runners x6 – Slings
Jezzails x9
Poisoned Wind Globadiers x9 – Champion, Poisoned Wind Mortar
Rat Ogres x3 – Champion, Packmaster

Rare
Doomwheel
Hellpit Abomination

This is my usual list, but with the Specials and Rares shaken up. I’m not convinced that the Warp-Lightning Cannon is going to be all that amazing, now, and the Doomwheel and Abomination look like too much fun. Gutter Runners are still there, as are the Jezzails (who I expect to be terrible, now). Globadiers and Ogres are in there more to be tried out than anything else.

I’ve also just fiddled with some clan-specific lists. I have no doubt that these are pretty horrible lists, but it’s fun to just think about them. The Moulder list especially; I’d have to base a few more rats to pull it off (since it involves 111!) and probably have to track down a few more packmasters (I need 22!).

Clan Pestilens

Lords & Heroes
Lord Skrolk
Plague Priest – Lvl 2, Plague Furnace, Flail, Shadow Magnet Trinket
Plague Priest – Lvl 2, Great Pox Rat, Poisoned Attacks, Extra Hand Weapon, Dispel Scroll x2

Core
Plague Monks x35 – Full Command, Storm Banner
Plague Monks x30 – Full Command
Skavenslaves x20 – Musician, Shields
Skavenslaves x20 – Musician, Shields

Special
Plague Censer Bearers x6
Plague Censer Bearers x6
Plague Censer Bearers x6
Plague Censer Bearers x6

Rare
Plagueclaw Catapult
Plagueclaw Catapult

I expect this is a terrible list. Only two blocks of real troops? And they’re Plague Monks? Hopefully, the Shadow Magnet Trinket and Storm Banner help keep everyone alive long enough to start stabbing and biting.

Also, Skrolk is ridiculously costed. Way, way, way too expensive.

Clan Moulder

Lords & Heroes
Throt the Unclean
Chieftain – BSB, Shield, Shroud of Dripping Death
Warlock Engineer – Lvl 1, Dispel Scroll x2

Core
Giant Rats x25 – Skweel Gnawtooth, Packmasters x4
Giant Rats x22 – Master Moulder, Packmasters x3
Giant Rats x22 – Master Moulder, Packmasters x3
Giant Rats x22 – Master Moulder, Packmasters x3
Giant Rats x5 – Packmaster
Giant Rats x5 – Packmaster
Giant Rats x5 – Packmaster
Giant Rats x5 – Packmaster

Special
Rat Ogres x4 – Champion, Master Moulder, Packmaster
Rat Ogres x4 – Champion, Master Moulder, Packmaster

Rare
Hellpit Abomination
Hellpit Abomination

This really could be a lot of fun. A huge horde army: four blocks of 25+ models and four blocks of tiny, fast, maneuverable 6 models. In the old book, I tried tiny blocks of giant rats to use as redirectors: they were fantastic at it, but I eventually went to large blocks of them because of restrictions from the Mainstay rule. Now that that’s gone, I’m definitely going to load up on tiny little trash drops that cost 23 point a pop and can march block and charge redirect.

Rat Ogres, I’m not sure about. I don’t know if blocks of two or three or four or what are the way to go. I feel like two might be to small, four is too big, and three too light on Packmasters. We’ll have to see.

Dragon Wars

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Dragon Wars was last Saturday; I had a good time and three good games.

It was also my last go-round with the old Skaven book. From now on, I’ll be playing with the new armybook.

The list I ultimately ran:

Dragon Wars

2,000 Points – Skaven

Lords & Heroes

Warlord – General, Dragon, Heavy Armor, Cautious Shield, Ring of Darkness, Skavenbrew

Warlock Engineer – Accumulator, Condenser, Warp-Blades, Dispel Scroll, Storm Daemon

Warlock Engineer – Accumulator, Condenser, Warp-Blades, Dispel Scroll

Core

Clanrats x24 – Full Command, Ratling Gun

Clanrats x24 – Full Command, Ratling Gun

Slaves x20 – Musician

Slaves x20 – Musician

Night Runners x5 – Slings

Night Runners x5 – Slings

Giant Rats x24 – Packmasters x4

Giant Rats x24 – Packmasters x4

Poisoned Wind Globadiers x2

Poisoned Wind Globadiers x2

Special

Gutter Runners x5 – Slings

Jezzails x9

Rare

Warp-Lightning Cannon

I dropped The Gouger when I remembered that, per tournament rules, Dragons ignore magic weapons. I replaced it with Skavenbrew, which I unfortunately forgot to use in 2/3rds of my games. I really, really hate when I do that.

Game 1

First game was against Ben “Jammin'” Jones’ Vampire Counts. He ran something like:

Vampire with Ghoulkin on Zombie Dragon
Vampire on Hellsteed
Necromancer
Ghouls x~20
Ghouls x~20
Ghouls x~20
Ghouls x~20
Corpse Cart
Varghulf
Black Coach

The scenario involved woods catching fire, spreading that fire to nearby units, and blowing dragons away from them.

Events of notes include when the Vargulf charged my Giant Rats (or did I charge it?): when I realized it only had 5 attacks (only!), I knew it wasn’t going to beat the Rats. After three rounds of combat, it crumbled to wounds the Giant Rats were never able to inflict. Similarly, the Black Coach slammed into block of Clanrats, it didn’t last very long either: disintegrating to static CR alone.

I lost this one, to scenario. I managed to tag Ben’s dragon twice via shooting and Warp Lightning, which was good for two points (one point each). He was able to get a charge in on my dragon and, over two rounds, was able to put two wounds on it; each of which were worth four points each.

Game 2

This game was against the nephew of one of the guys who plays at GPC regularly, Cameron, who was running High Elves. He ran something like:

Prince on a Moon Dragon
Mage
Spearmen x30
Archers x15
Dragon Princes x6
White Lions x20
Swordmasters x20
Repeater Bolt Thrower

The scenario involved placing a large blast template beneath the path of a dragon’s flight, scattering it, and then scattering any units touched by the template. It never came up.

This game was over as soon as it began. I went first, did my usual thing. He smacked his Dragon Princes into a block of Giant Rats that should have fled but, because they were so badass in the previous game, decided to stick around. It’s even entirely possible that they’d have fled through the Warlord who was perilously close to them. Point is: the Dragon Princes wrecked the rats, who fled, kicking off a test in the Ld 7 Warlord who, as close as he was to the edge of the table, didn’t need 3d6 to be off the table.

At that point, we put aside the Dragon Wars special rules and continued with the game because our game had lasted 30 minutes and we didn’t have anything better to do. Despite losing it nearly as soon as I’d started it, it was still a good game.

Game 3

Was on the bottom table, against Bill Donovan, who was running the ringer army. I think he was running two dragons to deliberately give up twice as many dragon points as everyone else. It’s not an accident that Jay‘s second game was on the bottom table and that his third was on the first table.

At this point, I’ve forgotten most of what he ran. He had two casters (a hero and a lord) on dragons (sun and moon), spearmen and a chariot… but past that, I can’t remember.

The scenario involved rolling a d3 on the top of each player’s turn. If the roll corresponded to the relative facing between the two dragons on the table (facing, not facing, one facing and the other not), then an effect would happen (dragons would shoot a breath weapon out of their backside, dragons would immediately charge each other and dragons would charge the nearest unit, respectively).

Through the game I did pretty well, plinking away at his weaker Sun Dragon with shooting and Warp-Lightning, eventually dropping it.

Then, I rolled the effect that forced our two dragons to charge each other. At this point, I’d wounded his Lord and had an uninjured Warlord atop my dragon. More significantly, where we met was perfectly positioned to have a full unit of Clanrats charge his dragon in the flank, getting in on the action. Combat was pretty brutal; my Skaven did quite well against the dragon, killing it in two turns.

At the end of the game (which happened immediately after my killing his Lord’s dragon), I’d killed or run everything he had off the table, save for 4-5 archers.

Hell Pit Abomination, Part 3

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I’m done! Sculpting, at least.

The fur looks a little monolithic, but I think it’ll be sufficiently broken up and interesting once painted: there are a lot of boils and horns and such in there.

There are a couple of spots (specifically beneath the middle arms on each side) where things are going to look a little… odd… but they’re only visible from underneath and hey, it’s a mutant, right?

Not much to say past that; I’m priming it (and a clanrat) tonight. Hope to have it painted by the weekend.

Also, because Bill Donovan’s an unimaginative, kilt-wearing bastich who accused it of looking like a chia pet on account of the overabundance of green:

It should look something more like this in a week or so.

Other posts for this project:

Hell Pit Abomination, Part 2

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I’ve made a point of making progress on the Hellpit Abomination every day, since I know it’s going to take forever.

It is, indeed, taking forever. I’ve got to work in relatively small patches (roughly 1″x1″) for fear of smooshing what I’d just sculpted. My hope is to have it done in time for the new armybook. At the very least, it’ll be done before I actually get to play with the new armybook.

Items of note: I added two scrabbly, tiny little arms up front. I think they add a lot: it balances the model better, I think, and makes me think of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I’ve added some buboes, of course, and sculpted the ears. I’m not sure how I feel about the ears: individually, I think they both work well, but I’m not sure I feel that they go together. It’s complicated by the head being turned: I have room to put one ear back, but the other has to be folded, a bit, against the shoulder.

Other Posts for this project:

Hell Pit Abomination, Part 1

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Finally got the head for my Hellpit Abomination last night: I had to trade an armored dragon’s head for an unarmored one.

That accomplished, I quickly prepped and glued it last night. This afternoon, I glued it onto the body.

The head is from the Hight Elf Dragon kit; the tongue is a spike from the Chaos Spawn kit. The body belongs to a Stegadon and the arms are, quite clearly, from Rat Ogres. The tail is a tentacle from the Lifeleech Otyugh I’d originally planned on using as my Abomination.

As you can tell, I’m going to need a great deal of greenstuff to make this work: to fill gaps and add hair. I’ll also have to do a bit of sculpting: I’ll need to extend the rings of the tail up onto the model a bit, lengthen the claws to be wicked and ratty and sculpt some ears.

Other Posts for this project:

Painting Progress – 20091027

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I feel like I should call this post “Painting Progress, At Last!” as with the exception of the Warlock Engineer, I really haven’t done much painting in the past while. I attribute the bulk of the blame for that to an unforgiving month at work.

I finally varnished the 12 Gutter Runners I started at the top of the month. I suspect there’s a detail or two on there that could have seen more attention, but at this point, I’m glad to be done with them.

I also spent the weekend powering through some Skyre troops: repainting two Ratling Guns to match the color scheme I’m using for Skyre rats now (dark red and grey for clothes and a stronger iron and brass scheme for machines) as well as painting up another two Jezzails (which puts me at twelve total, for two groups of six, with ten of the current model).

I’ve also gotten started on my Hellpit Abomination. Since Abomination conversions are kind of a big deal right now, I’m going to give mine its own post.

Kroot Hounds

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I’m trading off some stuff to help Chris build some neat Kroot Hounds and Fenrisian Wolves. Talking about it made me think about my Kroot Hound conversions that I’ve started but never quite finished… and definitely never posted to this blog (since I did them probably over a year and a half ago). So, here they are!

The bodies are skinks with their heads sawn off. Kroot heads. Dinky skink hands have been replaced with huge and menacing genestealer claws. The end result are kooky and ferocious looking pygmy kroot. Rar!