Fleeting Thoughts

 

A little hobby post this time, having actually painted a fair bit this year so far. This is a complete Empire of Dust fleet for Mantic's Kings of War Armada.

They're basically a tomb king fleet, with a nice Egyptian feel to them, and having played a few games (and having the base set in my pile of shame) I thought it was a good opportunity to get a fleet all painted up this year.

There's a decent selection of ships included - from a big Monolith, to little expendable slave ships - and even a couple of fliers although I don't have that rule book yet to include them.

They were pretty fun to paint in fairness. All the ships are resin and are pretty nicely detailed for the most part. There are a couple of bits that are very, very thin and you have to be careful when clipping them. Fortunately, I only had one mast break in the assembly process and I was able to pin it to repair.

I used a Vallejo wood set I have for the decks and some Army Painter colours for the details including pink fire catapults.

The bases were something I found on YouTube - a really cool and simple idea I copied using tissue paper and filler to make the base, and then painting them up. I think it looks pretty cool on the tabletop and was pleased with how it turned out.

The fleet itself plays quite an interesting game, as they don't have that many close in guns that cause all the damage, but they do have access to quite a lot of fire which is pretty strong in Armada. They also have 'terror ships' that are pretty good at boarding stuff and causing damage.

So far I've not used the big ship yet, seems I would need quite a big points game to likely field that, but interested to see what it does. I also have an orc and Bastilean (human) fleet from the original boxed set to build for some alternative fleets to try out.

Armada is a good game - well worth a look at the rules, which are based on Black Seas rules from Warlord Games. The rules-set is for the most part fairly easy to grasp, but they complexity is in the battles on the table top.

Some of the scenarios are really fun too, so you don't just have to have a straight off battle. There's a kraken to chase down, and floating hulks to explore, plus rules for scenery, wizards and fliers which I've yet to properly explore. Plus the fleets are pretty good value for money as a couple of boxes will get you all you need for a reasonable sized game. Check it out here and thanks for reading!

Farming Momentum

 

I got to a tournament. No really I did! Here's a little write up of the Frontiers Cup '24 - a 24-player Guild Ball event up at Black Dragon Miniatures in Hinckley.

First off, a lovely event in a really nice, spacious gaming store which has roomy tables, lots of stock to browse around and all the eateries/lunch options you could hope for, and a coffee machine! Very much recommended as a tournament destination.

I was back on the Guild Ball, and decided it was definitely time for me to run something different on the tabletop after using Masons a lot over the years. I fancied giving the Farmers a run out, I enjoy their puzzle and although they do have a few bad matchups I find them fun to play so long as you remember to score goals!

My 10 for the event were:

Captains: Festival, Grange
Mascot: Peck
Squaddies: Amber, Bushel, Jackstraw, Millstone, Ploughman, Tater, Windle, Lamb, Shearer

These are my favourite captains and although Thresher is also very good, I've been sticking to these two for a while now. Farmers squaddies are a good puzzle, as with the planter/reaper mechanic it's often tricky to pick the reapers (who tend to do the work) who will actually score you VPs in a game, especially in some matchups. But that's another blog post - on to the action!

Round 1 vs Robbie Crickley (Cooks)

First up was Robbie and his murderous chefs. I find Cooks a tricky matchup at the best of times, and had hoped my Farmers might avoid them. Farmers have all the health - being hearty folk and all that - but that doesn't last long with all the damage Cooks deal out.

I lost the roll off and Robbie chose to kick - solid option. The teams:

Farmers: Grange, Peck, Amber, Lamb, Shearer, Tater
Cooks: Wellington, Pepper, Cinnamon, Roast, Spice, Sugar

Box six is always a solid option for Cooks and I had to be careful not to get sucked into the blender (see what I did there) and try and fashion a goal or two to put me ahead.

The game started well enough with me recovering the ball, knocking it down the line and Shearer scoring a goal to put me 4-0 up. So far, so good.

Turn 2 started with Spice taking out Grange who had been damaged a fair bit, but I'd positioned Amber so that I benefited from her One of Our Own trait causing her to have a meagre TAC9 on her activation. She deleted Spice in return fairly quickly, but the Cooks hit back again removing Shearer near their goal.

With the Cooks having the ball I had to back off a little, but they could move it around to get Wellington into Lamb and he didn't last long against the captain. 6-6 at this stage.

I managed to isolate Roast though and Amber could take him out after he was surrounded and unable to Big Belly his way clear. Robbie spotted a chance to potentially take out Tater and try and get a snap shot winner with Sugar, but thanks to a gameplan card I had healed Tater back to full and he survived. Sugar did score, but Robbie had clocked out and I was starting to generate VPs on clock.

We called it here as Wellington was now in danger of being removed by Amber and I'd get the remaining clock point to win at that stage.

Result: a squeaky 12-10 win

Round 2 vs Bragoon (Engineers)

Another lovely opponent, who was running solo captain with Ballista. I was hoping to win the kick off, but lost the roll again, although this time I would be kicking which I didn't mind. The teams:

Farmers: Festival, Peck, Amber, Ploughman, Tater, Windle
Engineers: Ballista, Mother, Colossus, Locus, Salvo, Velocity

Amber kicked off fairly wide, forcing the engineers to use Mother to pick up the ball, but crucially not generating them any momentum.

Festival popped her legendary early, and the entire team moved towards the Engineers suddenly putting both Windle, and Amber, in threat range with influence on them. Bragoon was able to knock down Farmers players using Ballista's deadbolt, and knocked down the hated chicken with Salvo, as well as putting up a minefield.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to fashion a goal run and Windle rumbled in and damaged Salvo a little, whilst Amber annoyed Velocity. I had the momentum to go first, however, and Windle removed Salvo fairly quickly as well as causing some damage to Locus. Festival could use her dodge to threaten Velocity, getting the ball off her and passing to Amber.

Amber was able to eat a harvest marker for Left Boot, which allowed me to cause some damage to Mother and score. The Farmers were up 6-0 at this stage, and although the Engineers were able to knock people down with ranged plays and cause damage with minefield, Festival's Harvest Supper and a chunk of momentum meant the game ran away from Ballista and Tater could take out a returning Salvo and score the winning goal to end it.

Result: 12-0

Round 3 vs Josh Niemczyk (Fishermen)

He's not grumpy, he's just thinking at this stage! I forgot to take a pic at the start, and this was a pretty close game despite the scoreline, with this image taken at a fairly critical moment.

Fish is pretty rough for Farmers, and I lost the kick off roll again and was made to receive. Keeping the ball safe is an issue for my team, and Fish are pretty adept at getting it so this was going to be tricky. The teams:

Farmers: Festival, Peck, Bushel, Lamb, Tater, Windle
Fishermen: Yukai, Tentacles, Fathom, Knuckles, V Sakana, V Siren

Turn 1 hinged on a key moment for the Farmers as I passed the ball down the line and set up for a Cabbage Punt goal from Bushel. Of course Yukai can make one of her team fly and I knew Knuckles, who loves nothing more than beating up people with the ball, would be in my face.

I took Bushel knowing this would likely happen, but knowing with the above ability she can be passed to safety. However, having made the initial pass to set it up and dragging Knuckles away, I missed the 2 dice pass back that would have likely got me an opening goal. I could run Bushel away instead, but it felt a big moment in a tough matchup.

Josh wasted no time in scoring with Vet Siren, and it wasn't long before Yukai had put the Fish 8-0 up. Tater took some solace in taking out Vet Siren, and I protected the ball as best I could, hoping that even if Yukai came in again, I could knock them down and the ball would scatter where only I could get it.

Unfortunately, the 1 in 6 scatter was into my own goal post, and Yukai promptly Swirling Waters themself, picked it back up, and scored the winner. Bums.

Result: 2 - 12

Round 4 vs Henry Kay (Engineers)

Final round, and into Engineers again although different captains. This time, I did win the roll off, and chose to kick hoping to try and get to three wins. Wasn't going to be easy though! The teams:

Farmers: Festival, Peck, Amber, Lamb, Tater, Windle
Engineers: Pin Vice, Mainspring, Harriet, Locus, Ratchet, Spade

A lot of goal threat, and with Well Oiled Machine pinning down the Engineers was going to be difficult.

I got a reasonable kick off, which left Spade having to recover the ball and without as many knock downs to face I felt being aggressive was the way to go. It paid off early as Henry opted to hold the ball rather than go for the turn 1 goal (was tricky in fairness) and Amber removed Pin Vice early in turn 2 to give me the 2-0 lead.

However, Harriet quickly responded with a goal, and after an ok-ish kick out, I made a mistake and instead of picking it up with Lamb and protecting it as I worked on more take outs, Henry played nicely to work the ball to Harriet for a snapshot to put him 8-2 up.

That's pretty tricky for Farmers to recover from, and to be fair my dice didn't really want to know as Windle fluffed attacks to remove Locus and potentially allow me to get into Spade before she could get clear. The Miners' crossover using Well Oiled Machine was able to score the third goal, and that was that!

Result: 2-12

2/2 with Farmers I think is ok given the matchups - and certainly the game against the Fishermen hinged on a couple of key moments which didn't go my way. The final game I think I deserved to lose after the Lamb error, and the dice just compounded that mistake. Live and learn.

I enjoyed taking the Farmers, I was trying for goals in all my games even if they didn't pay off and I think that makes the team more of a competitive option than their Longshanks stats might suggest. Do wonder if Grange was a better option into the Fish for an easier Cabbage Punt option and a goal at that stage changed the whole match with the kick out a bit dicey for Knuckles (on rough ground) to recover. Not to be!

Great to be back playing a tabletop tournament again after a fair while away. Already looking up when I might get to the next one - need people to host more! 

Thanks for reading!

Lahmizzash rides on...

Hello, and welcome to another battle report from my Tomb King adventures in Bretonnia. This time, we were up against those pesky wood elves again, but in fairness I had invaded their territory...

We rolled up Battle for the Pass in this one, which made things interesting. I had decided to drop my tomb guard as they seemed pretty strong when fielded, and finally took the plunge with one of the big monsters - a necrosphinx!

Here's the lists:

Wood Elves

TA - Treeman Ancient, Lvl 4, Lore of Life, Strangleroot
S - Spellweaver, Lvl 2, Lore of Beasts, Elven Steed
GC - Glade Captain, BSB

GG - 14 Glade Guard, standard, musician, hagbane tips
EG - 19 Eternal Guard, full command, shields
D - 15 Dryads

TK - 8 Treekin
SotT - 5 Sisters of the Thorn, FC
W - 5 Wardancers
WR - 5 Wardancers, FC, shields
DS1 - 6 Deepwood Scouts
DS2 - 6 Deepwood Scouts

GE - Great Eagle
T - Treeman

Spells:     Dwellers below, Flesh to Stone, Regrowth, Throne of Vines
                Wyssan's Wildform, Curse of Anraheir

Tomb Kings

TK - Tomb King, Shield, Sword of Bloodshed
TH - Tomb Herald, BSB
LHP - Liche High Priest, Level 4, Nehekhara, Hierophant
LP1 - Liche Priest, Level 2, Nehekhara
LP2 - Liche Priest, Level 2, Lore of Undeath
N1 - Necrotect

SA - 21 Skeleton Archers, FC
SW1 - 40 Skeleton Warriors, FC, shields, spears
SW2  - 20 Skeleton Warriors, FC, shields
SH1 - 5 Skeleton Horsemen, musician
SH2 - 5 Skeleton Horsemen, musician
SC - 4 Skeleton Chariots, FC, Banner of Eternal Flame

C1 - 3 Carrion
C2 - 3 Carrion
U - 4 Ushabti, great bows

CoS - Casket of Souls
SSC - Screaming Skull Catapult, Skulls of the Foe
N2 - Necrosphinx

Spells: Desert Wind, Smiting, Desiccation, Protection
            Cursed blades, Vengeance
            Breath of Darkness, Abyssal Swarm

Wood Elf Turn 1

So running the long table edges made this an interesting deployment - giving us a more narrow frontage to get to grips with each other.

The wood elves won the roll off, and decided to go first. Everything barring the glade guard advanced forward, with the treeman ancient and eternal guard moving into the venom thicket in the centre.

Magic saw Throne of Vines cast by the ancient, but nothing else get through the magical prowess of the liche high priest.

In the shooting phase, three skeleton horsemen on the top of the battlefield were shot down, and the scouts combined to unluckily put two wounds on the screaming skull catapult. First blood (bone?) to the elves!

Tomb King Turn 1

No charges from the Khemri forces, but most things advanced to try and get to grips with the fae elves.

Magic was strong for the tomb kings though, and I was able to regrow the lost horsemen and heal up the catapult. I also cast smiting on the archers, who trained their bows on the dryad unit.

Shooting saw my ushabti kill 2 scouts, who panicked and fled the field. Result! The archers only killed a single dryad, despite firing twice. But the catapult made up for it, scoring a direct hit on the eternal guard, but only killing four. They held firm.

Wood Elves Turn 2

This time the Asrai declared three charges, only to see all three fall short. The dryads had a long way to go, so perhaps not to surprising, but certainly the eagle should have made it in. The treekin also shambled forwards towards my carrion.

Magic saw flesh to stone go off on the treekin, but Dwellers was dispelled.

The glade guard peppered my skeleton horsemen with arrows, wiping out the unit. The remaining scout unit also managed to put 2 wounds through on the casket, just failing to wipe it out. Finally the glade captain and sorceress killed 2 skeleton warriors in my large block.

Tomb Kings Turn 2

Lots of charges this time for my forces, but crucially for me they made it home. My upper carrion unit charged into the eternal guard, mostly to free space for the chariots and necrosphinx, who crashed home into the treekin. Finally my other carrion unit charged the flank of the eagle.

Magic was again strong for me, as my casket killed two scouts in the north unit, who also panicked and fled the board. Phew! I put a ward save on the chariots, and then was fortunate enough to get off a boosted desiccation on the treekin, dropping their strength and toughness by 3...

Shooting was again decent - two dryads died to the archers and the catapult scattered a small way, but still hit the treeman ancient. I managed to wound and he failed his save, but I could only cause 2 wounds. Finally the ushabti knocked a wound off the treeman on the hill at the bottom.

Combat, my carrion fighting the eagle caused one wound each, and the eagle held.

The crucial combat came with the treekin, and hampered by the khemri magic they lost 6 treekin, causing only one wound in reply. They managed to outrun the ramaging necrosphinx chasing them though.

Wood Elf Turn 3

Only one charge, with treeman slamming into the remaining skeleton horsemen unit.

The wild riders moved to threaten the centre with cover from the hill, and the dryads marched up to threaten my archer unit.

I dispelled regrowth, but flesh to stone was cast on the glade guard.

Shooting saw the poor necrosphinx poisoned to death by the glade guard and sisters of the thorn. He crashed to the earth, the magical animation controlling his movements lost.

In combat, the treeman destroyed the skeleton horsemen, but somehow I got a wound through as well! The treeman chose to overrun.

My carrion managed to finish off the eagle, and reformed to face the rear of the treeman.

Tomb King Turn 3

I couldn't get the chariots into the treekin because of the building in the centre, and conscious of those glade guard and their poisoned arrows, chose to retreat. The archers swift reformed at the top, with the liche high priest walking out of the unit.

Finally the ushabti and carrion charged into the treeman hoping to finish him off.

A movement spell was cast to heal up wounds on the chariots and move the heirophant into the big skeleton block. Casket went off but all 3 leadership tests were passed.

Shooting saw 2 more dryads die and another direct hit from the catapult on the eternal guard. This time 8 of the elves were slain.

Combat and the ushabti and carrion whiffed badly against the treeman, failing to cause a single wound. He killed the carrion in reply, but thanks to presence of BSB the ushabti clung on.

Wood Elf Turn 4

Finally the dryads charged into the archers who had been plinking them off slowly as the battle wore on. The glade guard moved up to keep shooting the chariots and the sisters of the thorn repositioned.

The treeman ancient regrew some eternal guard and healed himself. Nothing else got through.

Shooting saw a couple of wounds to the chariots.

In combat, the ushabti couldn't wound the treeman again, and lost two more wounds, but were still just about on the battlefield.

Tomb King Turn 4

No charges, and deciding the valour was overrated, the tomb king forces retreated from the threat of the wild riders, treeman ancient and remaining eternal guard.

Magic saw the archers and ushabti regrown a little, along with the chariots. I also got a second boosted desiccation off on the treeman...

Shooting this time was a damp squib, no eternal guard falling to the chariot bows. The catapult scattered on to the sisters of the thorn, but rolled a double 1 to wound the two elf maidens!

Combat saw the ushabti fortunately get three wounds through the treeman save, killing him. At the top, the skeleton archer ranks began to tell and the dryads broke and were cut down as they fled.

Wood Elf Turn 5

It was difficult for the wood elf forces as they were too far away for the most part to reach the tomb kings. However the wild riders did make a long charge into my small warrior block.

In magic, the wood elves wisely put flesh to stone on the wild riders, but dwellers was dispelled again.

Shooting didn't do much, a wound or two on the skeleton chariots.

In combat, the wild riders killed 10 with a display of savagery, and I did no wounds in reply. Thanks to the BSB, the unit was still there though...

Tomb King Turn 5

Not much for my forces to do either, and with time running out we called the game. The big block of warriors charged into the flank of the wild riders and we didn't bother to work out the result.

It finished with the Wood Elves scoring 519 points, and the Tomb Kings 792. Pretty close game, decided by a couple of bits of fortune largely for the tomb kings, but also the battle for the pass didn't really help the Asrai get to grips with units they could kill.

Special mention to the catapult, which never missed in the four turns it fired, including 2 direct hits. I was pretty lucky not to lose the catapult to the scouts, and potentially the casket of souls. Magic was a bit up and down for both of us, but crucially I got two boosted desiccations off on the treekin and the treeman. That was a pretty big shift as it broke the treekin and saw the treeman die.

Enjoyed trying the necrosphinx, and actually got more out of my chariots which was nice. My favourite units were the two carrion though, really versatile and quite handy at redirecting and picking off chaff. They will feature more often I think!

Thanks for reading.

Betrayal in Bretonnia - start of Turn 4

 

The dark elves had left the shores of Bretonnia, sensing easier prey and forsaking the mythical fortress and all its wonders. But that still left 7 other races vying to get inside the castle, with plenty of land to plunder and spoils to be had.

We've now moved into the summer season, which means people don't risk losing their armies with a defeat and might see some more aggressive moves on the battlefield.

This time Fozzrik's Flying Fortress is hovering over hex L1.

Lots of battles this turn, here is who is fighting who:

High Elves vs Empire
Wood Elves vs Vampire Counts
Wood Elves vs Orcs & Goblins
Orcs & Goblins vs Tomb Kings
Orcs & Goblins vs Vampire Counts
Tomb Kings vs Wood Elves

Stay tuned!

Betrayal in Bretonnia - end of spring season mega-battle

The fortress had begun to slowly descend for several days, pulsing with eerie green light as it neared the ground. It had become clear where it was heading on the third day, as it began to revolve above the abandoned mausoleum.

The campaign had been hard-fought, territory fought over, won, lost and regained again. Much blood had been spilled, but none of the eight races vying to gain access to the fabled tower had established a significant breakthrough. Yet.

As the fortress came to a halt, looming like a malignant shadow over the land around the mausoleum, five of those races came to try and force their way inside. 

Surrounding the castle, was a vast wrought-iron fence, draped in skulls, fetishes and cobwebs. The fence had one single, enormous gate. And it was locked.

However, pinned to that gate was a bronze plaque – containing the following words:

Whomsoever finds the bronze key, shall unlock the first of the fortress' mysteries three

Welcome all - here is an abridged write-up of the end of the first season in our campaign. High elves, wood elves, tomb kings, vampire counts and orcs&goblins descended on the mausoleum, in search of a bronze key to unlock the gate.

We played across a 8x4 table with a little border to focus the armies in the middle. The goal was to get one of your named characters within 6" of a fulcrum in the centre of battlefield. You could then attempt to perform a ritual to teleport that character to an ancient graveyard, to search for the key.

The tomb kings were not allowed to do this, largely because their general (me) knew where the key was. But I could spoil the others fun!

One side of the board were the orcs&goblins (left flank), high elves (centre) and tomb kings (right). They were faced by the wood elves (left) and vampire counts (right).

It was a pretty crazy battle, as the outcome on the field didn't matter, all that was important was getting your character to that graveyard. Somewhere among the crypts/graves was the key.

The orcs & goblins were given the run around by the wood elves, as the giant tried to come to blows with a treeman ancient. However, the goblin shaman was the first to successfully perform the ritual and reach the graveyard, as the little critter rummaged through the effects of the dead.

On the right, the vampire counts were given short shrift by their tomb king nemesis, as Lahmizzash I enacted revenge for deeds performed centuries earlier. However, that sneaky vampire lord also managed to perform a successful ritual and escape to the graveyard.

The high elves - surrounded by orcs and tomb kings - were beleaguered and despite their best efforts, the high mage was forced to flee after failing to perform a ritual (sorry Andy!). The wood elves were also thwarted and couldn't summon the power to teleport to the graveyard, and the scramble for the key went down to the goblin and the vampire.

It was the undead who prevailed, finding the bronze key at the bottom of an unassuming box after much searching.

That key allows the vampire counts a great deal of information as they search for a way into Fozzrik's Flying Fortress, but it has not locked the door just yet.

It also catapults the VC into the lead in the campaign, despite their lack of territory.

As we move into turn 4 and the summer season, here is the leaderboard as it stands (dark elves have sailed back to Naggaroth sadly):

Vampire Counts - 19 relics

Orcs & Goblins - 14 relics

Tomb Kings - 13 relics

Wood Elves - 10 relics

High Elves - 8 relics

Empire - 6 relics

Dwarves - 5 relics

All to play for!