Tag Archives: Warhammer

Daughters of Khaine Vanguard Battles

The hobby room continues its long, arduous completion process. My desk is ready and fit for work; now, I am just putting items away.

In the meantime, I entered into a Vanguard League. My FLGS saw how many people wanted to try Age of Sigmar, so they created a league. The gist is that everyone purchases a Vanguard box. You get bi-weekly pairings and progress through the various missions. In total, there are eight participants. I have fought two battles thus far.

Final Thoughts on Vanguard

For the battle reports see below. The quick summary is I think Vanguard games are just a little small. They work great as an introduction to the game and really allow new players to use and practice the new abilities, but balance wise they just aren’t quite there. I routinely have command points I can’t use and the many obectives and battle tactics are not achieveable. Unit balance is also off. Some large units while points wise are not out of line, when faced with other options, they are just inferior in every way.

I picked the Daughters of Khaine. I was the last to pick, and I wanted a faction no one else was really talking about. The Vanguard list is below.

1 Mulusai Ironscale with Arcane Tome and Master of Poisons
5 Blood Stalkers or Blood Sisters
10 Witch Alves or Sisters of Slaughter
5 Doomfire Warlocks

My first battle I faced Kolten and his Seraphon. His list is below;

1 Sarus Oldblood on Carnosaur
3 Kroxigor
10 Sarus Warriors

We played the first battleplan, Frontal Assault. I have a decent amount of AOS expierence. My opponent had zero. The game started very slow. Getting the opponent used to Grand Strategy’s and Battle Tactics took a significant amount of time. Once those were arranged I won the roll and elected to go 2nd. I felt like a round 2 double turn on the small table could be decisive.

Kolten advanced up the board, but was unable to get a charge in based on my deployment. My round I used my warlocks and archer to eliminate his entire unit of warriors. I then positioned myself to have the witch aelves charge the oldblood my next turn. I wanted to avoid the Kroxigors at all costs until we met on my terms.
Turn 2 the battle went to shit for me. I did win the double turn, and I threw everything I had at the Oldblood. I should have killed it twice according to mathhammer. Timely rolls, timely saves, I reduced him to exactly one wound with all my units execept the Blood Stalkers engaged with it. His turn he was able to withdraw then charge again, plus got a charge in with his Kroxigors, plus healed the maximum with his heroic ability. My Witch Aelves and Warlocks were elminated. I was able to kill his Oldblood leaving only the Kroxigor, but my Blood Sisters were cornered. At this point he managed to get both of his Battle Tactics and Grand Strategy so I was going to have a tough time coming back on points.
Turn 3 I tried to force my way out. But his unwounded Kroxigors took out my Ironscale. I was left with 3 Blood Stalkers against his 3 Kroxigors.

By turn 5 I had whittled down 1 Kroxigor but he still had two left and I was behind by 4 points. Had I gone second I would have tried to charge my unit into his, but because of the turn structure I would have been tabled going first. I think with shooting and charging I could have gotten him down to 1 Kroxigor, but if I missed I would have been completely tabled.

My second game I went against Eric, he and I have played several times in the past, I never faced his Lumineth.

Same list for me. While his list was:

1 Scinari Cathaller
5 Bladelords
10 Wardens
10 Sentienls

The amount of magic he could must scared me, but I also knew how squishy his army was. We played Burn and Pillage. He placed almost all of his units in a single corner of the field. His archers were kind of out in the middle rather than behind his lines which suprised me.

I was able to take the first turn, and put everything I had into the blade lords. I felt like this was the most dangerous unit on the field to me. They were killed on the With Aelves charge.

I only lost one elf for one of his command abilities and I took out two Wardens as well. In the bottom end of the first he wiped out my aelves using his phalanx and killed a single Warlock. I was able to shoot with my Warlocks and do a couple damage to his Wardens.

I picked off a few of his wardens and took three objectives to his zero. I also completed one battle tactic and elimnated his grand strategy so I felt good about where I was.
Turn three I finished off all but one warden and he eliminated my warlocks. I also killed 2 more sentinels.
Turn four I finished off his commander and wardens and put him down to 5 sentinels. He killed my Ironscale and 2 blood stalkers. To be able to kill my blood stalkers he had to move his sentinels forward, a big moment and what I thought was a mistake. I was also 1 VP behind and handnt completed my grand strategy.
Turn 5, I couldn’t get him off the objective by just shooting, my grand strategy was every unit fights and my stalkers hadn’t. I needed my +1 buff and a roll of 8 to get the charge off. Missed my first roll and used my only command point to try again, got an 8. He killed one of my stalkers on overwatch, but after my round of shooting I had him down to 4 models. The sisters did glorious, he was down to one, I had my two snakes left. They struck, he saved one and missed one tabeling his army and earning me the victory.

Horus Heresy Lists and Progress

As the house remodel saga continues. Hobby progress has stalled because my Hobby Room is in the remodel area. I have the entrance sealed off with plastic so as little concrete dust as possible can enter. I am much larger than dust particles.

We are getting new fancy floors in our basement. Unfortunately, our house is 120 years old, and the basement is not level. There is a lot of grinding, jackhammering, and laying new concrete to get the new flooring. Lots of dust. Progress is slow. Maybe by the end of the week, I might have access again.

To expedite hobby progress, and because I wanted to. I did purchase a new airbrush for my workplace. It is a budget airbrush but should work nicely for priming and zenithal highlighting. I may even try it on the 3d printed soviet trucks.

I should be on track for the 2nd week of February to complete the full 3000 pt Word Bearers Army. My Ravenguard has been arriving; pictures will be taken later this week.

Here are the Army Lists for the Two Starter Forces

Word Bearers3000RavenGuard3000
Praetor/W Command Squad235Centurion Master of Signals95
Contemptor Dreadnought Talon w/Drop Pod325Praetor Cataphractii W Command240
Destroyer Assault Squad2052 Contemptor Dreadnought390
Veteran Squad w/Rhino150Mor Deythan Squad150
Veteran Squad 1 Missile Launcher135Mor Deythan SquadW Storm Eagle360
Despoiler Squad100Terminator Cataphratii Squad325
Recon Squad w/Storm Eagle344Assault Squad145
Tactical SquadW/ Rhino145Tactical Squad100
Tactical Squad/W Rhino145Tactical Squad W Rhino135
Outrider Squadron91Tactical Squad W Rhino135
Proteus Land Speeders2102x Land Raider Carriers505
Sky Hunter Squadron105Basilisk Squadron200
Land Raider Squadron250Sicaran Squadron220
Basilisk Squadron200
Predator Squadron360

There is very little method to my madness for these lists. I think I have enough transport capacity for the Ravenguard for every unit to be mechanized. I hope the fast attacks on the word bearers can work as screens to prevent the Ravenguard from crossing over the bridge. Some hard-hitting tanks, some dreadnoughts. Coming from someone who has never played, this seems like a fun list to play.

The Raven Guard will be 100% complete once they arrive. I have started priming the Word Bearers Tactical Squad in a silver primer and painting the main areas in Flesh Tearers Red. I didn’t like the look on my one test model. One thing I am trying to push myself with is brighter colors. Way too many of my models are muted color-wise, and I would rather they pop on the table. I am going to try a 100% airbrushed marine with a gradient to see how it looks. Then pick out a few silver details. I am not sold yet.

My 100% airbrushed marine makes me much happier. Base/primer coat of Vallejo German brown. Followed with Vallejo Game Air Blood Red and finished with Safety Orange from Army Painter Airbrush paint series. Used Grim Black from speed paints on the blacks. Silver from Vallejo game air on the silvers, and some Army Painter Red Tone for a little more detail. I underpainted it with a shot of Vallejo Royal Purple.

You can see the side-by-side comparison; the gradient model came out much bolder. I will base both models on the next just to see how they look complete. I literally have 250 Horus Heresy Marines lying around. If one or two become sacrifices, I will live.

It is very interesting to me how a base can absolutely change a model. Some dry brushing is a must on the one on the left, a little bit of silver on the blacks with some yellow on the armor. Also, skip the silver toes and maybe go with something else. Silver markings on the pauldron, maybe.

I used the same colors on the marines as I did on the vehicles. I followed this guy’s YouTube guide on how to paint the vehicles. For my first couple of attempts, I am decently pleased. The next step is adding some transfers and a little weathering.

Time Grows Closer

I have a few things left to finalize the opening battle of the Stalingrad campaign.

Paint German Halftracks, Flamethrower Team, Medic, Spotter
Paint Soviet Bannerman, 5 Trucks, BA 20 Armoured Car, Dog Mines Team

Base all of the above-painted models.

For the Word Bearers

Almost everything needs to be painted. I have most of the models primed which would be good enough to start the campaign I think. Although I have some time Saturday and might be able to bust out quite a few models.

I need to acquire or kitbash 10 Man Despoiler Squad, and 10 Man Destroyer Assault Squad, Legion Chosen models.

I have ordered Destroyer Squads from GW but they have 0 Destroyer Assault Squads. I will add a few jump packs and call it good. For the Despoilers, a box of MKIV marines and the despoiler upgrade should work fine.

Legion Chosen are a little more challenging. I have acquired a couple of Legion Chosen single models, including a bannerman. I still need Legion Chosen marines, so I might just paint regular marines with gold trim instead of silver.

One big thing lacking is the river. I am anxious about painting the river and then filling the pieces with epoxy. It was a very expensive model.

Finally, as far as the future of the campaign. While it is necessary to plan ahead. I also think it would be interesting to look behind. Units can grow. I want to name especially stubborn or heroic units, and maybe, at times, it would be worth losing and withdrawing than going all out and losing your valuable upgraded units. I’ll work on it.

Horus and Stalingrad

During my one-week vacation, to watch my beloved Wyoming Cowboys take on the Toledo Rockets in the Arizona Bowl. I was able to accomplish quite a bit and I am excited to introduce the next campaign I will be running.

Now this campaign is going to take a ton of work to accomplish. Hopefully, there will be 44 or 45 battles over the next two years, with 6 different armies and tables upon tables of terrain and 3d prints.

I am going to fight the Bolt Action Stalingrad Scenarios. All 22 using the RAW. By the same token. I will run a campaign using Horus Heresy, the same 22 scenarios following Horus Heresey Rules. With two new painted armies I will get to show off in addition to painting needed units.

The first scenario should be fought the first of February. We are going to have our basement floors redone, meaning my gaming room will be out of commission until then. That gives me one month to prepare about 40 Soveit and 60 German Models. As well as paint a Horus Heresey Word Bearers Army.

Expect to see many pictures as well as pictures of the terrain and the tables.

I am very interested in running the same scenarios with two different game systems, and I am curious how a historical scenario will play with a rules-heavy Horus Heresy. This is my first time playing Horus Heresy, and I know there will be some bumps on the road. It will also be interesting to see how different systems fit on the table together.

One really interesting component will be the same scenario on the exact same table. I am going to alternate playing Bolt Action first and Horus Heresy first so one system doesn’t get the advantage of seeing the table 2nd every time.

For factions, the Soviets and the RavenGuard will be the same, while the Germans and the Word Bearers will be the same. I absolutely detest the army-building system for Horus Heresy that are available. So I am going to create my own on excel using drop down lists. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it will be superior to what is on the internet today. I will build the bolt action lists using the warlord’s system.

Hopefully, I can do a few model reviews, some painting tutorials, and some scenery building. But for now, you all know what is coming over the next year.

It’s Been More Than A Minute

Wow, every time I considered posting, I just, for whatever reason, found something better to do. I have no excuse other than my own fear and laziness.

So, 10 months. I painted full Star Wars legion forces for CIS and GAR 1200 pts each. 3d printed a ton of geonosian terrain. Painted 30 or so Marvel crisis protocol models. Painted 50 odd figures for DND including terrain. Purchased a couple new airbrushes. Played in multiple leagues once as Genestealers and once as Ad Mech. Fully painting both those armies.

The biggest item is reorganizing my models. I have literally an army for every faction in 40k, Age of Sigmar, The Old World/9th Age, Star Wars Legion, 10,000 15mm napoleonics, 40 odd DBMM Armies, 4 Pike and Shotte Armies, Germans, Brits, Italians, Soviets, USA, Japan in Bolt Action, Germans, Brits, Italians, Soviets, USA in Flames of War, 50+ ships in French, British, Spain and 30+ ships for USA and Russia in Black Seas, and 20 odd pirate galley and such. 6 or 7 lord of the rings armies. All Harry Potter Miniature Adventure Game Models, all Marvel Crisis Protocol Models, 1000’s of DND figures, 3 -4 units of every army in A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures Game, ummm, most Necromunda factions, most blood bowl teams, most kill teams, most warcry bands. Every Star Wars X-Wing Ship and Armada ship (multiple copies). A couple victory at sea fleets. A Large collection of American Civil War Models, several battlefleet gothic fleets. Some Blood Red Skies, and Aeronautics Imperalis. Recently bought all Star Wars Shatterpoint Models. Also bought all Battletech models. I also have limited numbers of Malifauxe, Carnivale, Conquest, Oathmark, Dead Mans Hand. Whew. Also horus heresey forces. And billion suns 4 fleets.

So that has been happening for two months. We switch from large plastic under the bed style storage bins. To several (10) sheet pan racks 20 sheets high. It has been a chore.

Aiden has been building models after his 2 month break. He has maybe 3 months left of models to catch up on. White Metal Games has finished Orruks, 5 blood bowl teams, Iron Hands, Gargants, and is beginning work on Death Korps. Eric has started on my forge world collection of resin models. The lumineth realm lords are currently 40% complete. Kevin is painting my black seas collection. I have declared war on my mountains of shame and the progress is showing.

I officiated the High School 4A Boys Championship for Wyoming as the Center Referee as well as numerous regional finals. I also centered the Region IX Womens championship match in the college season and did a handful of D1 and D2 playoff matches. Businesses are going well. Upcoming plan on seeing a ton more posts. I have a really interesting idea involving the battle of stalingrad, bolt action and horus heresey.

Hobby Streak 11/10/22

Dwarf warriors completed. I finished painting a unit of 10 dwarven warriors, nothing truly spectacular as they are just grunts infantry. Here is the list I intend to use for the battle when the army is done. (aka this gives me approximately 30 fully painted models)

Unit Name# of ModelsPointsOther
King1325
Engineer1235
Dragon Seeker1355
Clan Warriors20305Champ, Musc, Standard, Great Weapons
Clan Warriors30425Cham, Musc, Standard, Shield
Clan Warriors25390Champ, Musc, Standard, Shield and Spear
Greybeards20370Champ, Musc, Standard
Clan Marskmen15310Handgun
Rangers8182Champ, Musc, Crossbow
Kings Guard20505Champ, Musc, Standard,
Grudge Buster1305Airship
Steam Copters1215Sharpnel Bombs
Field Artillery1255Run Crafter Dwarf Cannon
Field Artillery1325Flaming Shot, Rune Crafted Organ Gun
20% complete1454502