More Red Blok Thoughts

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I keep forgetting rules that my units have.  Must, must keep that from happening.

  • Tymofieva’s Interference rule (when she activates, I pick a card in my opponent’s sequence and put it somewhere else).  It’s not amazing or anything, but when I’m paying for it, I should use it.
  • Vrachov’s Grenade Pistol.  He doesn’t have an Assault Rifle like the other Krasnye he rolls with; he’s got a mini-grenade launcher.
  • Odin O-1 & Manon O-2’s Mechanic ability.  They get to repair two boxes per activation.
  • Assault Rifles are 1/1.  Not 1/0.  That’s kind of freaking important.

I also can’t shake the feeling that we’re not doing cover right.  It seems like I should be basking in the warm glow of cover saves a lot more often than I actually am; last night we used Frostbite maps, and it wasn’t really happening.  I think it’s probably because we’re not correctly establishing the Zone of Fire.

Type 3 Infantry is very hard to take down.  I was unprepared for this.  Chris’ Cog Type 3’s were functionally invincible, and my Dragomirov Kolossi were awfully resilient until Bane Goliath’s opened up on them.

I’ve been unimpressed with my Dragonov Kommandos.  Sniper doesn’t work on heroes, apparently?  Electronic Warfare is useful, but no so much that I’m not sure I can’t get more mileage out of some other unit in that slot.

Still, I’ve hardly played any actual games.  More play will tell me more.

The (Bubonic) Court Is in Session

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Only got one game in with the Bubonic Court last night, but it was a pretty good one.
We ended up bumping things up to 2250 because of my concerns that, after dropping 575 for Nurglitch, there wouldn’t be enough left over to make a viable army; I think I was probably right.
What I ran:
An Itching, Burning Sensation
Bubonic Court of Nurglitch – 2,250 points
Lords & Heroes
  • Plague Lord Nurglitch
  • Plague Priest – BSB, Storm Banner
  • Festering Chantor – Lvl 2 Upgrade, Plague Censer, Dispell Scroll x2
Core
  • Plague Monks x24 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapon, War Banner
  • Plague Monks x24 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapon
  • Pusbags x20 – Musician
  • Pusbags x20 – Musician
Special
  • Frothing Giant Rats x25
  • Frothing Giant Rats x25
  • Plague Censer Bearers x10
  • Plague Censer Bearers x10
Rare
  • Rat Spawn
  • Rat Spawn
What Mike ran:
Khainite – First Cut
Dark Elves – 2,250 points
Lords & Heroes
  • Death Hag – General, Cauldron of Blood
  • Master – BSB, Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, Dark Steed, Ring of Hotek, Crimson Death
  • Dark Elf Assassin – Extra Hand Weapon, Manbane, Rune of Khaine
  • Dark Elf Sorceress – Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Darkstar Cloak, Dark Steed
  • Dark Elf Sorceress – Level 2, Dispel Scroll x 2
Core
  • Crossbowmen x10 – Shields
  • Dark Riders x5 – Musician, Repeater Crossbows
  • Dark Riders x5 – Musician, Repeater Crossbows
  • Harpies x5
  • Harpies x5
Special
  • Cold One Chariot
  • Har Ganeth Executioners x16 – Standard, Musician
  • Witch Elves of Khaine x20 – Standard, Musician
Rare
  • Repeater Bolt Thrower
  • Repeater Bolt Thrower
  • War Hydra
I truly did start the game expecting to be wiped off the table in half an hour… in the end, though, the game had a lot of back-and-forth and was pretty close. We had to call the game at the end of the fifth turn due to the store closing, but I think I had a pretty good shot of winning had the game gone on to the sixth turn.
That said, there were three things that made the game as close as it was:
  1. Mike’s list. The list he ran was different from his usual list; including units he’d never really run before and leaving out units he’s come to rely on. He wasn’t running a deliberately bad list, but it was something new and not particularly optimized.
  2. The winds of magic hating him. Eternally hating him. His casters miscast every. single. time.
  3. His assassin was unable to drop Nurglitch. Eight hits became two wounds, neither of which were able to penetrate Nurglitch’s foul misasma of funk.
That’s not to say I played a perfect game. Far from it. I dropped the ball in a number of places.
  • I did an execrable job screening my Frenzied units (nearly all of them) with my non-Frenzied units (Pusbags). I didn’t. Instead, I deployed them the way I normally deploy my Skavenslaves: in a fat block waiting to either catch an enemy unit in the flank or flee from a charge, setting up a flank charge for another unit. What I should have done is stretched them out in two ranks of 10 Pusbags each and screened my Plague Monks from charging off.
  • Casting wasn’t great. Although I didn’t roll a bunch of 1’s, Nurglitch lost Plague to an excellent casting roll turned into a miscast by the Ring of Hotek. From that point on, I didn’t have much ability to get off Pestilent Breath due to range and dispell dice and I never really wanted to cast Death Frenzy. In an army that will never lose Frenzy, it looks very useful but it’s absolutely a death sentence.
  • This also means that Warpstone Tokens weren’t particularly useful, and it also means the Level 2 Upgrade for the Festering Chantor was a complete waste.
  • I consistently forgot that Giant Rats are M 6 and not M 5. At 12″ charge distance is very different from a 10″ charge distance. I don’t know if that would have helped (I’m sure I would have caught Mike’s Dark Riders with them) or hurt (I’m not sure that having them tied up in combat and not soaking up Bolt Thrower fire would have been a good thing), but it’s a fundamentally dumb thing to forget.
  • I also consistently forgot that I had the War Banner. +1 CR matters, damnit!
The army was well outside of my comfort zone, and played very, very differently than what I’m used to. That’s fun. It didn’t hurt that there were a number of things worked pretty well for me, either.
  • Fewer units meant that each real block of rank & file had at least one character in it. One unit of Plague Monks had, for its fronk rank, Nurglitch, a Plague Deacon, a standard bearer, and a Festering Chantor. The other had a Plague Priest and a Plague Deacon up front. That added both a leadership boost that Skaven really love to have and a great deal extra punch, which the Plague Monks really need.
  • Nurglitch is a big, tough, bastard. I don’t know that he’s worth nearly 600 points, but he threw out a number of attacks that I’m simply not used to, had an extremely high toughness and a ton of wounds. Statistically, he should be able to survive the Assassin he saw last night (but just barely): the Assassin threw out 8 attacks with Manbane (4 base attacks, extra hand weapon, bonus from the Cauldron of Blood, and 2 attacks from Rune of Khaine), 7 of which should hit, 4.6 of which should wound, only three of which should get through Nurglitch’s 5+ Ward Save.
  • Having some hard-hitting characters in the units, plus Frenzy never going away, plus the regular Skaven static combat resolution helped a lot.
  • The Rat Things did quite well. Stubborn 10 is another thing I’m not used to. Their strength could be higher, I feel, but they seemed to do quite well tying up units.
All in all, it was a fun game that was full of back-and-forth, something I’ve found lacking in WHFB. I’m going to fiddle with my list (and paint up Nurglitch) and try to fit in another game or two with the Court.

Pustulent Rat Spawn

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In preparation for next week, I had to dig around to find the Nurglitch I’d assembled and gap filled about a year ago. I also searched, in vain, for the Lord Skrolk miniature I know I own (but can’t seem to find).
Anyway, here’s Nurglitch, Arch Plague Lord of Clan Pestilens in all of his pustulent glory.

I also assembled a Rat Spawn. I’d orginally intended to use the Chaos Spawn model as a base and throw in some Rat Ogre bits… but that really never really came together. I have to say; I appear to have unreasonable expectation for the Chaos Spawn kit; it seems particularly unable to produce what I’d like it to produce. (See also: The World’s Crappiest Daemon Prince.)
Instead, it ended up being a Rat Ogre with a couple of Chaos Spawn bits and a hunk of green stuff. It’s not as impressive as I’d hoped, but it’s sufficient. Better than the Daemon Prince, that’s for sure.



Those snakey things in the background are D&D Minis I’d considered sawing into bits and using as a lower torso… but I ended up deciding against doing that. It’d be weird to have a snake-like lower body… and a tail.

Hell Dorado Licensed

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It’s great news to finally have some resolution on the state of the game. When we get a release date for the English-language book, I’ll finish painting my Démons.

Making Sausage

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Mostly just thinking out loud here:

With the Bubonic Court and, according to rumors, the new Skaven book, I can take Plague Monks as Core. It’s probably ill-advised, but what the heck:
Plague Monkapalooza
Bubonic Court of Nurglitch – 2,000 points
Lords & Heroes
Plague Lord Nurglitch
Plague Priest – BSB, Storm Banner
Festering Chantor – Plague Censer, Dispell Scroll x2
Core
  • Plague Monks x25 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapon, War Banner
  • Plague Monks x25 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapon
  • Plague Monks x25 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapon
Special
  • Plague Censer Bearers x10
  • Plague Censer Bearers x10
Rare
  • Rat Spawn
AT-43 is also on the top of my mind, since I’ll be playing it in a few hours. Mind you, I’m sure none of these are good and, if they are, they’ve probably been done to death at this point. This is mostly mental sausage-making as I try to process the game. Expect more!
One list I’ll be able to easily run when my final orders come in is:
Red Block – Supra
  • Dragonov Kommandos x9 – Sergeant, Sniper Gun x3, Electronic Warfare x2
  • Dragonov Groupa S
  • Krasnye Soldati x15 – Vrachov, Rocket Launcher x3, Medic x2
  • Dragomirov Kolossi – Dragomira
  • Sierp x3
Or maybe even drop the Krasnye Soldati and replace them with even more Dragonov Kommandos.
The list I plan to run this evening (at first, at least) is:
Red Block
  • Krasnye Soldati x14 – Vrachov, Rocket Launcher x3, Medic x2
  • Krasnye Soldati x12 – Tymofieva, Grenade Launcher x3, Mechanic x2
  • Dragonov Kommandos x9 – Sergeant, Sniper Gun x3, Electronic Warfare x2
  • Sierp x2 – Sergeant
  • Urod
I’d like to work up a list that lets me load up on Kolossi… but it just ain’t happening at 2,000 points. The list that gives me the most options there is Frontline and, with that, I need to ensure that I have enough AFVs to stick around… and it’s tough to find points for both those and TacArms with only 2,000 points to spend.

The Stinking Things

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I’ve been very excited since we got official confirmation of the upcoming new Skaven armybook. The loathsome ratmen are what got me into the hobby (16?) years ago and, even though I’ve ultimately found frustration with Warhammer, I still love the Skaven more than anything else Games Workshop’s produced.
I can’t quite manage enthusiasm to play them again, right now, before the new book’s come out. Every time I grind out a list, it looks remarkably like the lists I’d played with before taking a break from the game… lists that I know will take forever to play and won’t be particularly successful. I’d like to push my ratmen around… but I want something different.
Enter: The Bubonic Court of Nurglitch. I’ve got Nurglitch. I’ve got 25+ Plague Censer Bearers and over 100 Plague Monks. I can do this. I certainly thought about it when I really set into playing WHFB, so why not?
I’ll be fighting my WHFB arch-nemesis, Mike, and his Dark Elves on the fields of Killpeopleburg next week. The list I’m planning to bring is really only half-considered, but could be fun.
Stinkclaw
Bubonic Court of Nurglitch – 2,000 Points

Lords & Heroes
  • Plague Lord Nurglitch
  • Plague Priest – BSB, Stormbanner
  • Festering Chantor – Plague Censer, Dispell Scroll x2
Core
  • Plague Monks x24 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapons, War Banner
  • Plague Monks x10 – Full Command, Extra Hand Weapons
  • Rotten Rodents x25 – Full Command
  • Pusbags x20
  • Pusbags x20
Special
  • Plague Censer Bearers x10
  • Plague Censer Bearers x10
Rare
  • Rat Spawn
  • Rat Spawn
The Censer Bearers are in larger units than they need to be, but why not? Plus, I’d like to stick Nurglitch in one of them, so bigger means more survivable means better.
Two Rat Spawns should be fun: I’ve got bits for a Chaos Spawn and I don’t know how many Rat Ogres floating around, so I should be able to construct one without any trouble (and will likely have a good time doing it) and will use a Carnifex conversion I got in a bulk trade a couple of years back for the other.
The Plague Priest will go in with the Rotten Rodents; the Stormbanner will buy me at least one turn to close on the enemy; if it persists, I lose nothing, however, since I don’t have a single bit of shooting. The Festering Chantor will go in with the large Plague Monk unit.
We’ll have to see if a block of Plague Monks can survive. Normally, they can’t: T 4 is nice, but it can’t make up for the total lack of armor save, and they’re simply not good enough at killing to offset how easily they die. Since Rotten Rodents, the Clanrat replacement, are pretty much in the same predicament (they’re fundamentally Plague Monks who’ve traded Frenzy for Light Armor), I figure I might as well give it a shot. Might be worth it to try juicing up their damage output by replacing War Banner with Banner of Burning Hatred.
Ultimately, it’s sure to play very, very differently than what I’m used to.

Progress – 20090901

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I don’t think I should call these posts “Painting Progress” anymore… I feel like I haven’t actually painted in too long.
I did have a little free time over the weekend and was unable to motivate myself to do anything with my Daemons. I really need to knuckle down and come up with a paint scheme for them: I’m sure that, once I do, I’ll have the army done in just a few months.
In the hopes of getting something done, I did some puttering with my Dark Angels.
I put some more effort into finishing off my Sternguard Veterans (they’re just waiting on some studded pauldrons that should arrive any day now).

I also assembled two heavy bolter brothers and another devastator sergeant (I’ve had two assembled for quite some time) for a new Devastator squad. I started painting them last night.
I also fixed this poor assault marine: he’d been a bit too enthusiastic with his chainsword, holding it up higher than the trays I store my marines in were ready to allow. So, he got a new arm.
In other news, I’m officially cut off from buying more AT-43 stuff. I’ve got two Sierps, two Dragonov Kommandos boxes and two Dragonov Kommando Attachment boxes on order. That’s more than I should have bought, but it’s too late, now. (They’re hard to find, which is my excuse.)

Red Block List – First Cut

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Got the big shipment of Red Blok stuff in the mail yesterday. I was suprised by the quality of the army box; you could bludgeon someone unconscious with the box alone. It’ll also be nice to have a spare Odin & Manon to experiment touching up.

Also, I had a total brainfart and, in thinking I was ordering three Dragomirov Kolossi, I ended up ordering three boxes of Dragomirov Kolossi. It was a stupid mistake, and I’m really not sure how I made it: I was probably focusing on Lt. Dragomira O-3, who’s pretty much the same thing and comes one figure to the box. Given how much it would cost to return the extra two to the War Store… I’d only end up saving about $10 anyway. So, I’ll keep them (unless anyone local wants some, in which case let me know!).
I’ve started playing around with lists for the game. For fun, I made one that uses all of the Dragomirov Kolossi. It’s probably a wildly bad list… but what the heck?
Red Blok – Frontline
  • Kozni
  • Hetman
  • Dragomirov Kolossi x3 – Lt. Dragomira
  • Dragomirov Kolossi x3 – Sergeant
  • Dragomirov Kolossi x3 – Sergeant
I could just use the list from the Army Box… but I’m leery of putting the Dotch Yaga into a 2,000 point game, for the same I reason I don’t like running Land Raiders: too many points!

Instead, the list I plan on running initially will be a mite heavy on infantry and a bit light on striders… but I think it’ll be alright.

Red Blok
  • Urod
  • Kraznye Soldati x12 – Captain Vrachov, Medic x2, Grenade Launcher x3
  • RPG Soldati x12 – Sergeant, Medic x2, MGauss x1
  • Dragonov Kommandos x9 – Sergeant, Electronic Warfare x2, Sniper x3
  • Dragomirov Kolossus x4 – Lt. Dragomira

I could take three MGauss weapons in the RPG Soldati… but I don’t have the models and I’m unlikely to buy another two attachment boxes simply for the the MGauss bearers. Without much headache, I could replace the four Dragomirovs with three Strielitz and use the left over points to turn the MGauss into three rocket launchers, which I do have the models for. This is a start, though.

Painting Progress – 20090826

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Last week, I finished assembling and basing four Juggernauts. I still need to convert (for the icon bearer and musician) and mount the Bloodletters on them, but it’s enough that I think I can start playing the revised list I’ve worked up that contains Bloodcrushers.
Then, this weekend, I painted terrain.
For starters, I painted four of the five Blastscape pieces. Only four of them, because I’m having trouble figuring out exactly how to paint the lava. It’s not something I’ve ever really done before. I’ll come back to it at some point.
The Blastscape pieces really were disappointments. Reports of them being pretty shoddy were true; the plastic really is paper thin in a few spots, and the detail isn’t as good as it is on other terrain pieces, like the crashed Aquila.
But… that’s okay. The detail is certainly good enough, and it’s unrealistic to expect vac-formed stuff to have as fine detail as the molded plastic terrain. I think it looks pretty good for what it is. The extremely thin points, where the peaks are easily crushed suck, but aren’t nearly as noticable when the whole thing’s been painted and been drybrushed.



I really like the way that gem came out; I’ve never tried painting one before, and I think it looks good.
I also painted the Aegis Defense Line walls that came with the Strongpoint I got… a month or so back. I haven’t painted the guns or mounts yet, but the walls, like the bastions, painted up very quickly.

As with the bastions, I primed them dark grey, airbrushed Charadon Granite over the whole thing, then dry brushed it with khaki. For the Aquilae, I basecoated them Scorched Brown, then did a heavy drybrush of P3 Menoth White Base and a light drybrush of white. Very, very easy.
While I’m thinking about it: I don’t know that I’ve posted finished pictures of the Bastions. (Of course, it’s hard to take decent pictures of things that are quite so large, but something’s better than nothing.)



Finally, because I didn’t feel like starting up on the Bloodcrushers’ Bloodletters or fiddling around with a paint scheme for all of them (my brain really needed to be offline), I puttered around with building those Dark Angel Sternguard. Nowhere near done, but progress. I think I’ll have to buy another Space Marine Commander: when bitz-ordering a dang Combimelta costs $9, I might as well the extra $4 for the full kit and use the extra bitz elsewhere.