Masters of Mayhem...

There ended up being a little arms race in getting these two armies ready - I had overlooked the fact that I had 3 units of Human Lancers for the Good Guys and that the second unit of Elf spearmen that I was going to paint up needed stripping. This meant that having added a unit of Troll Slayers and adding in the cost of the third unit of Lancers (which also meant I could upgrade one unit up to an elite for having three or more of one troop type in the army!) that the Bad Guys were looking a little outnumbered. 

Normally I wouldn't be too bothered but as this was a first play through and I wanted to try out as many combinations of troop types out as I could I decided to level the playing field by adding two packs of Hounds to the baddies - should be a good counter to the enemy cavalry looking at their stats and the Pack Hunter ability - more of which later.

So as promised - the Bad Guys!

Evil General
Cavalry with heavy armour, shield and lance
Leadership D8
M - D8
CQ - D8
Terror
Cost 23 crowns

2 Packs of Chaos Hounds
M - D8
CQ D12
Pack Hunters

2 units of Skeleton Horsemen
Cavalry with lance, heavy armour and shields
M - D8
CQ - D20
Fear
Cost 13 crowns each + 2 crowns for standard



2 units of Skeleton Archers
Infantry with longbows
M - D6
CQ - D20
Fear
Cost 15 crowns each

2 Units of Half Orcs
Infantry with swords and shields
M - D6
CQ - D12
Cost - 5 crowns each + 2 crowns for standard + 6 crowns for Hero


2 units of Trolls
Behemoth
M - D6
CQ - D12
Fear and Beat Back (Free)
Cost 10 crowns each



Giant
M D8
CQ D10
Damage
Impact
Terror
Cost 35 crowns

Total - 178 Crowns

 Next up - the table layout, deployment and the scenario...

Small Bones and a Whole Bag of News...

Right, finally got round to photographing the Warmaster skeleton archers and horsemen I'd finished up earlier this week.

 Its been a long and busy term and my eyes seem to become defective in the evenings - assuming a  lead-like weight and tendency to shut involuntarily. Sleep I think its called and damned inconvenient!

Any how, here's the start of the Baron Kraust's grand Undead horde in 10mm.

Archers - as the Warmaster Undead units are based on the new (well to me at least!) and annoyingly Egyptian in style Tomb Kings armies, a few of these skeletons sport slightly more exotic head gear than your average re-animated Old Worlder might. Muted colours hopefully don't make them stand out too much and I'm happy to live the results than try any conversions at this scale!

The level of detail always amazes me for such small minis, although the arrows look more like bolt thrower ammunition!

Must admit that I found basing a bit fiddly - any old Warmaster hands with any labour saving tips out there would be much appreciated.

They scale up rather well with the Copplestone 10mm fantasy range - here you can see them lined up with the Half Orcs I painted up for the last Lead Painters League over on the LAF.

I really like the Undead cavalry models - again loads of nice detail and they look generic enough to look like ex-Old Worlders.

 I went for a brighter scheme with the red cloaks than I might have for 28mm minis, which seemed to work quite nicely. A few touches of verdigris on their bronze helmets and armour gives a little contrast.

Again they scale up nicely with the Copplestone 10mm - this time with the Horse Tribe cavalry.

Hey, wait a minute - those are no Uruks! 

I am hoping to eventually use the Horse Tribe chaps as some kind of Norse cavalry - perhaps a Mercenary border force? The stat line for the Marauder Horse from the Chaos army list looks like it would fit quite nicely.

I'm looking forward to a week off for Half term next week with the kids (Mrs T has gone back to Uni so I have been entrusted with their general care and maintenance!). Hopefully, in between day trips with them and the dogs, and some more dungeoneering in Hero Quest land, I'll get some more painting time in.

Lots of interesting things coming up while I eagerly await the bits and pieces I need to finish off my Slann Cold One Riders.

I've been asked to paint a few lovely old minis for Thebinman over on the LAF as part of his fantastic Mordheim project - more of which later...

I've nearly finished prepping the Fighting Fantasy Orc that Phreedh kindly sent after our Giant race. I just need to sort out a new weapon for him and luckily I think 90's GW scale creep and stupidly over sized weapons might well help me out here!

Also Brent from Bombshell Games has been back in touch with news of a new system for a fantasy skirmish game and a mass battle game for 10-15mm minis he's working on. If its as fun as Havoc was then I'm in for a treat as I'll be having a go at some more playtesting - so keep your eyes peeled for some more battle reports in the coming months. I'd like to finally get round to playing his OP4S rules too so I may well be dusting off some of my epic Space Marine stuff too.

Finally, more gaming news - the honourable gents, Dreamfish and Gaj have been hard at work putting together another game of 3rd ed to be played via the magic of the internetz! The other two games they have run,  Its Fun to Slay at the Wyemm Seeyay and The Shadow of Koles Lorr,  were very successful and the reports make great reading.  Bridge over the River Chai promises also to be a thoroughly entertaining game and what's more I get to play the baddies! Good luck to my opponent Airbornegrove26!  

A Miniature world in Miniature...

Just received a very nice parcel today from fellow Old Hammerite, Skarsnik and Old Lead, of Opponent Finder and Citadel Giant fame. Bumped into him over on the LAF flogging a few bits and pieces and was most interested in the Warmaster stuff he had going. One very good deal later (thanks again mate!) and I was the proud owner of this little lot - apart from the rule book which I acquired a while back and has made interesting bedtime reading for the past week or two.