Endika Flesh Tearer - Better Pictures

Just some better pictures of Endika as promised.

The Glorious Banner Exchange

I would like to start a banner exchange to help increase traffic to my blog whilst sharing these viewers with other like minded individuals. If you'd like to join the banner exchange the please email me at ElazarTheGlorified@sky.com with the subject line The Glorious Banner Exchange. Or click the email link in the sidebar of this blog.

An example of my banner:


This sits nicely in the sidebar on most blogs and isn't in any way imposing. Please email me if you're interested I'd like to have a selection of these in the bar instead of just my one!

What's Next?

I've decided to join the Tale of Fantasy Painters on Warseer for this year. I have more than 2000 points to get painted up for the Devotees yet and having spectated a lot of the Tale this year (I wasn't brave enough this time last year to consider 200pts of painting a month doable, this time round I either am or have lost that last bit of sense from before!) I like the format and the group effort to it all as well. So with Endika done the next task is to start planning my August submission for the Tale. The joy of WoC is pretty much everything I could paint is a month's worth of painting due to the high points costs. Here's a list of what I have to pick from.

2 x Hellcannon
Warshrine
4 x Sorcerer
2 x Exalted Hero on foot
Exalted Hero on Daemonic Steed
Chaos Lord on Daemonic Steed
Chaos Giant
Warriors with Additional Hand Weapons
Warriors with Halberds
Marauders
Marauder Horsemen
Chaos Knights
Warhounds

There's also the Chariot but I've put that on the back burner as I've had a couple of other ideas for better designs for the chariot and I might just salvage the bits from the current one to improve other forthcoming projects.
Most likely I'm going to start with a Hellcannon, I had wanted to get the two painted in time for the Fantasy Tournament at my gaming club but that's this Sunday and there isn't a hope of that now!
There's also Be'Lakor but he's going to remain a side project and I won't use him for the tale. Not unless I end stuck very far behind and need to catch up a lot of points!

In the mean time, I really need to finish the Fortified Manor House scenery set for my gaming club! I've been working on it here and there for a bit now but need to get it done so I can focus all of my attentions on the Tale.

Endika Fleshtearer

Andreas sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him. It was all open plains; grass the colour of scorched earth poking through thick snow but the land was flat. No hills, no trees, no cover. He knew he could only keep this pace for a little while and the wide openness of this place would make it all in vain. As if to emphasise that thought he heard a whooping cry from his pursuer who seemed to be enjoying the hunt. Andreas had been duped by the Norse traders; they’d reneged on their agreement and had taken him hostage. He’d known the perils of trading with the Norscans but they’d been true to their word in the past so their behaviour had come as a surprise. It soon became clear they planned on trading him as a slave. After being kept tied to a stake on a length of rope with four other for what must have been at least free days they were finally freed by a group of Norscans who marched them away from the village. With each passing step the landscape had grown more featureless and eventually their party had stopped when a large group of riders came into sight. Andreas had been terrified as the riders approached. One of the Norscans had identified the horsemen’s chieftain as Endika Fleshtearer and had seemed noticeably unsettled himself; another had mentioned a cannibal king. As they’d drawn near, Andreas had seen the body parts hanging on chains from the horses’ bridles and saddles like grisly trophies. Then he’d seen the Kurgan chieftain Endika. He was no more imposing than any other of his stock; his hair was fashioned into a mohawk the rest of his head shaved except for a ponytail tied at the back. He wore armour of gold and bone, his legs bare and noticeably mutated. In his right hand he carried a cruel looking flail. It had been the creature he rode that had unnerved Andreas the most though. It was long and bipedal, covered in purple scales. But, it was the mouths. The creature had too many mouths to be anything of this world and it had moved in graceful bounds towards the group of slaves. The leader of the Norscans had reluctantly gone forward to greet the chieftain and terror had sparked Andreas to life. He’d bolted, hearing angry shouts from the Norscans in his wake which were quickly drowned out by the whooping cry that had followed him since. Andreas cast a glance over his shoulder as he felt his energy dwindling. Endika was there, his daemonic mount bounding along matching Andreas’ pace. As if sensing that its quarry was tiring the beast sped up and Andreas turned to meet it. Its speed was unearthly, it was clear he’d been being toyed with this whole time. Endika leant out low from his mount and swung his flail into Andrea’s kneecaps as he hurtled past him. The blow shatter them and Andreas collapsed in a screaming heap, the pain unlike anything the merchant had ever known. He heard the beast return and the sound of Endika dropping down onto the snow covered ground. He circled round Andreas casting his flail aside and pulled a cruel curved knife from his belt as he loped closer to him. The Daemonic steed gave off a warble of delight as it anticipated what would come next, the sound like that of some giant bird but twisted and wrong sounding to the ears. Endika smiled at Andreas, his teeth were sharpened and blood-stained, his eyes alive with cruel intent. The he descended on his with the knife.

Endika Fleshtearer - The Cannibal King











The pictures aren't very good and sadly a lot of the colour detail has been drained by the camera but I promise I'll try and take some better pictures tomorrow if I get time to give you a better idea of him.
I'm mostly happy with him. I'm very pleased with the steed. I've not quite painted Endika himself as well as I'd have liked but it's the best I can do for now. Might come back and try and fix a bit with him especially if anyone can suggest some useful improvements.
Comments welcome and greatly appreciated as ever! :)

Update 23rd July 2009

I'd all but finished the steed rider and decided to varnish him as the paint kept chipping away on the elbow and knuckles where he was resting on the table. Sadly, there was a varnish disaster and I've been knocked back a few steps. The varnish (which is a satin finish) went very milky and very glossy and covered up most of the shading. I've managed to fix the glossyness and to get some of the depth back to the mini but it needs at least another highlight on all of the colours again now. All the advice is to test the varnish on a painted piece of sprue but you always think you're beyond such advice and that's when it happens!



Also, thought I'd tack this onto the post quickly. This is the haul I've managed from all of the money I got for birthday a fortnight back. Still waiting on 1 more box of troops. Not going to tell you what they are other than they're non-chaos but full of conversion possibilites. Should keep me busy for the rest of the year!



I have a quick run down of my current list I'm trying out for my gaming club's tournament. It's a bit different. I tried it against High Elves on Sunday and had mixed results. We had two games, the first went very badly for me. I was a little too cautious and made it too easy for the Elves. The second game we never got to finish but would have been a lot more interesting as at the end of turn 3 it was hanging in the balance.

Elazar The Glorified
Daemon Prince
Level 4 Wizard
Mark of Slaanesh
Fury of the Blood God
Diabolic Splendour

Gaizka The Warped
Sorcerer
Level 2 Wizard
Mark of Slaanesh
Infernal Puppet
Talisman of Protection
Conjoined Homonculus

Endika (That gives away the WIP Exalted's name)
Exalted Hero
Mark of Slaanesh
Steed of Slaanesh
Flail
Bronze Armour of Zhrakk
Collar of Khorne
Bloodcurdling Roar

10 Chaos Warriors
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Shields
Additional Hand Weapons
Rapturous Standard

10 Chaso Warriors
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Shields
Halberds

5 Marauder Horsemen
Mark of Slaanesh
Musician
Flails
Throwing Axes

5 Warhounds

5 Warhounds

6 Chaos Knights
Mark of Slaanesh
Musician and Standard Bearer
Blasted Standard

Hellcannon

Hellcannon

Warhammer Fantasy Campaign Fluff

I think I'm slightly behind in the Campaign at my gaming club with real life throwing up it's own concerns but I'm hoping to get caught up a bit today if I'm not already. Anyway, I've written a bit of fluff in advance of the first movement phase of Turn 2 of the campaign. I'll have to add the events of this first movement phase once I've actually taken my turn but I've been impatient to write a little more!

Amador stepped over the almost lifeless husks of two of his slaves. They were exhausted from the debauchery he’d demanded of them. Now that he had used them up he walked away from his throne and beckoned over a third slave to help him don his armour once more. The slave summoned another to help her whilst Amador shrugged of the wolf hide cloak that had shrouded his naked form. He wore only his skull helm; in fact he was never parted from it. The summoned slave was another female and she couldn’t suppress a cold shudder as she took in the scene of the throne room. The shallow, intermittent breathing of the male and female slaves unconscious on the floor held her attention, as she didn’t dare bring herself to look on her captor’s form. She had glimpsed the pattern of scars across his frame, most of them self inflicted.
Amador moved as necessary but otherwise paid the busy slaves no heed. Upon assuming control of Gaizka’s armies he’d returned to the citadel to demand the necessary tribute from the tribes. He had received an army of slaves as gifts, along with a menagerie of captured monstrosities and finely crafted weapons and jewels. He’d also had to best four tribe chieftains in combat to prove his succession. There was no peace amongst the tribes of the Diatchi, although, there was recognition that whoever occupied the Citadel was the dominant force and had the blessing of Elazar. The Citadel’s resident was a man whom the tribes would pay tribute but this was no guarantee of an alliance and certainly not of submission. When a particularly gifted warrior took the Citadel he might manage to cow the other tribes into submission and then they would go to war, a tide of tribesmen and warriors intent on violence, enslavement and worse. The Warriors and Knights always occupied the Citadel, lending their might to whichever warrior held favour. Clearly this was at the behest of the daemonic patron as no other had asked it of them. Once in a while one from amongst their number would hold further ambition, much as Amador had done and he would force the chieftains into submission. Such was the strength, will and ruthlessness of these individuals that they would unit the tribes in purpose one way or another and make war upon the weaklings to the south. The violent ambition of the Diatchi, though, saw to it that nobody grew stagnant in their place, not in the shifting violence that passed as a political structure.
Amador had grown tired of all the revelries and tributes. Battle was the thirst he needed sated now. His time here had allowed him to learn who amongst his followers had been touched by Elazar with a hint of destiny. He’d learnt that Isidro Devante was utterly insane, performing as many disturbing experiments on his slaves as he did inflict foul acts and torture upon them. But, the sorcerer was blindly obedient to what he saw as the will of Elazar and Amador knew that as long a he had a steady stream of slaves to abuse that Isidro would be loyal. He had entrusted the sorcerer with a portion of his armies and sent him on his way to bring his dominion over the lands surrounding the Citadel. Amador too knew his task. He wrapped a gauntleted hand around his sword hilt as the slaves scurried away, their work complete. He would return to the despoiled temple and show his patron that he was better suited to lead than Gaizka had been.

Update 17th July 2009

Lots of little updates today I guess. Firstly, there's the layout change for the blog and in particular the new header that my brother put together for me. Gives things a more professional air I think!



On with the army updates.

I've modified the tassets, tapering them off a little and shortening them to try and improve the flow of the model towards the legs.



I just need to finish tidying him up now and doing the last little bits then I can think about painting him. I still haven't got a clear image in my mind of how I'd like to paint the steed. If anybody has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. The obvious choice would be purple but so far the purple in my army has been restricted to shield designs and small robes etc. Not sure if it'd be too great a contrast with the rest of the army. Hard to see another option though without having to add more colours to the army pallette.


I've also got pics of the Hellcannon production line as I'm starting to put them together.



These are awesome minis but the amount of problems I've had with them has made them exceptionally hard work. On top of missing one wheel entirely I've found that I only have half of one of the smaller wheels, clearly a moulding error there. One of the Hellcannons is going to have homemade wheels to replace the larger wheels that I'm missing. Went to Hobbycraft to get some supplies and stumbled upon these in the jewellery section.



Shall be sculpting onto these to make the wheels. Only cost £1.24 but will save a lot of aggro trying to get the initial shape right. Going to build up a large rim with green stuff and leave the middle recessed and maybe put a chaos star in the middle or some such.

Steed of Slaanesh

Right, I've started working on the Steed of Slaanesh's rider. He's very very early on in his WIP life!





I decided from the off that with the sheer awesome 'fast cavalry-ness' (a technical term) of the Steed I'd have to have the character as a particularly blessed horse-tribe chieftain so I went along that theme with the background fluff for the character (which I'm still working on but will go up with the character when he's done) and tried to make the mini fit that bill too. I decided that since the only legs I had that would fit were the Daemonette legs that to save some time I should maybe just use those. They look a little odd but I'm trying to build the armour up to make them seem part of the same mini and that he just has mutated legs... As you do!
Got lots of work to do on him though. Want to add some more detail to certain parts with green stuff as well.
Any comments and critique would be gladly received!

Steed of Slaanesh

Been waiting to get one of these into the army. But it does pose a few problems. Firstly. I have to convert a rider. Which isn't the easiest thing to do due to the size of the Steed, it's too thin bodied for a lot of the standard mounted legs and the legs get in the way of the smaller ones (such as Dark Elf Knight legs). So that'll be a challenge. The next problem after that will be the colour scheme of the army and fitting a steed of slaanesh into it. I want to put this into my army for the upcoming fantasy tournament at my gaming club so need to work fairly quickly as it's early August and I have quite a bit to finish in time for it!

Fortified Manor House

Done a little bit more on this scenery piece. I've done the stonework on the tower and have started base coating the plaster. Thought I'd post a progress picture for you to see.





Going to get this to the same sort of stage as the main 'house' part of the building then start on the details on both. After that it's the walls of the grounds and gates to be done but hopefully they won't take too long. I want to get on with Be'Lakor and the Hellcannons etc now! My gaming club has a tournament at the beginning of August so I'm putting together an army list for that so anything that goes into that will take priority to be painted if it isn't already but I'm expecting the list to include Be'Lakor so it's ok to get him finished at least! Beyond that though I'm not sure!

5000pts vs. Vampire Counts

Or, The July 5th Massacre

So, I had my large battle against Frankie's Vampire Counts. To say it was a disaster for me doesn't come close to describing it. In a comment on a previous post Noeste said the following "Although, my experience says that using an incoherently painted army, usually makes the Gods of Dice and Tabletop Gaming, turn their evil gaze upon you... And with borrowed minis aswell.." Turns out Noeste is a prophet! I have never rolled the dice as bad as I did yesterday. I know that sounds like an excuse, it isn't. I didn't play particularly well either and Frankie knew exactly what he wanted to do and did it. It was however a fun game and the way I was rolling double 5s and 6s for all my break tests became just made it funnier. My list was a hodge-podge of things I had and things I was able to borrow. If I'd have had 5000pts to make up from my own troops my army composition probably would have been very different. So will have to demand a rematch then!

I deployed first and my army was deployed with an infantry centre made up with a unit of chosen, a unit of warriors, and two 15 man units of marauders. Behind these were 2 warshrines and the Hellcannon. There was also a unit of Marauder Horsemen ready to overtake the infantry and screen them. On one flank there was a unit of marauder horsemen, a unit of knights with the warbanner and two units of warhounds. On the other flank I had a unit of knights with the banner of rage, another unit of marauder horsemen, a unit of warhounds and a Slaaneshi Giant. My Chaos Lord and Isidro Devante set up in the unit of Chosen. Gaizka and Neron in with the Warriors. Inigo in with the Banner of Rage carrying Knights and the 3 Slaaneshi Sorcerers deployed on their own in cover as I'd managed to roll Ecstatic Seizures on all 3 of them I wanted to keep them out of the way so they'd survive to use their spells and their dispel scrolls!
Frankie had 3 corpse carts one towards each flank and one in the centre. There were 3 units of Black Knights set out the same. Towards the centre he had a large unit of Blood Knights. 9 Blood Knights (including Kastellan), a Wight King BSB and a Vampire Lord. Then there was 5 large blocks of Skeletons across the width of the table. A large unit of Ghouls on my left, a Varghulf with them. 3 units of Dire Wolves, again one on each flank and one through the middle. A Coprse Cart in the centre and a Vampire Lord on what was a Dark Pegasus model but I'm assuming was a Winged Nightmare (this was Frankie's General and I never managed to get him into combat to find out much about him beyond his Necromantic magic).
Just a quick note. The table was set up with a river running through the middle and towards my table edge with a bridge across it in the centre of the table. There was a hill on my right flank, a forest towards the centre next to the curve of the river and a watchtower out on my left flank. Frankie's edge had a hill straight across from my watchtower and a forest across from my hill roughly.

Frankie got the first turn and basically marched his whole army forwards, using the mobility of his Vampire Lord on winged mount to help get his army moving as fast as possible. The Varghulf shot down my left flank towards the watch tower, supported by a unit of dire wolves and a unit of ghouls. A unit of Black Knights were further along the centre and moved right up to the river as did the other two units of the same across the board. The Blood Knights did the same, heading towards my Dragon Ogres and the Banner of Rage carrying Chaos Knights. The Skeletons marched forwards but were left behind by the fast moving elements of the Vampire Counts army. This was one thing that struck me about Frankie's Vampire Counts, how manouverable they are in comparison to Chaos. Especially with Dire Wolf fast cavalry, Ethereal movement, and Vanhel's Danse Macabre!
In the magic phase he started by casting Invocation of Nehek on one dice with his general and failed the casting so I played the Black Tongue which Isidro Devante forcing a miscast. With the aid of the Infernal Puppet I made him take a wound and lose that spell which was an ok result but not as devastating as I would have hoped for his forced miscast to be. The rest of his spells were dispelled by my wizards including his other Vampire Lord with the Lore of Metal trying to melt my Chaos Knights with their own armour! There was no shooting and no close combat so we moved to my first turn.

With the river making each of Frankie's units just out of my charge range I had to manouvre my army so that the combats would be of my choosing as there was no avoiding the charges that would follow next turn. One unit of Warhounds on the left flank surged forwards towards the Varghulf whilst the unit of Marauder Horsemen went around the watchtower to the beast's rear and readied their throwing axes. The other unit of Warhounds and the unit of Knights on this flank moved forwards to support them but were in no real position to do anything productive this turn. My infantry advanced slightly just to give the sorcerer's in the units better line of sight for their spells. In particular the unit of Chaos Warriors with Neron and Gaizka, they wheeled around slightly so that Gaizka and the unit standard bearer would have LOS on the advancing Blood Knights. The unit of Marauder Horsemen in the centre repositioned themselves so that they'd block the Blood Knights so they couldn't charge into the Dragon Ogres who'd repositioned to get a counter charge should the Marauder Horsemen defy the odds and survive the onslaught of the Blood Knights. The Chaos Knights wheeled around ready to take the flank of the Blood Knights and the unit of Warhounds on my right flank moved to protect the flank of my Chaos Knights now that it was exposed. The Giant headed towards the river and the flank of Frankie's army ready to cause some problems.
The magic phase started with Sunduru on the left of the army casting Ecstatic Seizures on a unit of Black Knights there. She miscast but I got a result of 12 so cast the spell with irresistable force but then forgot how to cast it again. This killed 4 of the 10 Black Knights. Vela tried to cast Ecstatic Seizures as well but failed. The Banner of Wrath from the unit of Warriors managed to kill one of the Blood Knights (who I had now learnt had the regen. banner) then Xante killed another when he managed to get off Ecstatic Seizures. Inigo tried failed to cast any of his Lore of Fire spells on the Blood Knights sadly. Gaizka did however manage to cast Pit of Shade on them but only 1 failed the initiative test! Isidro Devante recovered the wound he'd taken using the Black Tongue with Steal Soul on one of the Black Knights and then killed another with Dark Hand of Death. That was the end of the magic phase and it hadn't gone too bad.
In the shooting phase my Hellcannon went for the Black Coach, I guessed the range almost spot on but the shot scattered 8" away into open ground. One Warshrine rolled +1 Armour for my chosen (who'd gotten +1 attack on their pre-game roll) and the other rolled +1 Leadership for the Marauder Horsemen who were about to be charged by the Blood Knights. The Marauder Horsemen threw their axes at the Blood Knights and the Varghulf managing to cause a wound on the Varghulf but no damage to the Blood Knights.

Frankie's second turn started with a lot of declared charges. His Varghulf went after my Warhounds who failed their psychology test with a roll of double 5 and ran away off the table. The Dire Wolves charged my other unit of Warhounds and the Black Knights my unit of Marauder Horsemen who were hassling the Varghulf. The Blood Knights charged into the Marauder Horsemen and the Black Knights into the unit of Warhounds protecting my Chaos Knights. In the centre the Black Coach charged Neron's Warriors and just managed to make the distance and the other unit of Black Knights charged into Amador's chosen.
Frankie's infantry carried on advancing having now reached the river and showing a nice exposed flank of skeletons for my Giant to trample on when he got the chance. The Vampire Lord continued to float about the battlefield aiding the movement of his troops but avoiding the battle that had now been joined.
Frankie's magic phase was effective if unspectacular. He managed to recover the majority of the damage I'd caused with my magic and this would be a theme for the game. I had a much greater amount of power dice but with the one dice spell spamming of the Vampires I couldn't cause more damage than he could recover. He did also raise a unit of 5 zombies infront of the chaos giant.
In close combat the Black Knights destroyed the Marauder Horsemen and managed to overrrun into my chaos Knights before the Dire Wolves did the same, destroying the Warhounds and overrunning into my Chaos Knights. The Black Knights that had reached the Chosen proved to be absolutely devastating. Reducing the unit down to just Amador, Isidro Devante and the Chosen command group. I needed insane courage but with the Rapturous Standard I hoped they'd be ok. I rolled a 5 and a 6 and they fled, somehow evading the pursuing Black Knights. I completely forgot the BSB re-roll. A really stupid oversight on my part and one that I would go on to repeat again throughout the first few turns before I lost the BSB. The pursuing Black Knights managed to make contact with one of the Marauder regiments though. The Black Coach caused a couple of casualties on the charge against the Chaos Warriors but hadn't accounted for Neron's flail which pummelled it into dust. The Blood Knights did as was expected and made mincemeat of the Marauder Horsemen and managed to overrun into one of the units of Marauders next to Neron's Warriors who were now free to make a counter charge into the Blood Knights flank in my turn. The Black Knights made quick work of the Warhounds who'd blocked them from the flank of the Chaos Knights and got the overrun into the desired victims. It wasn't the best turn of close combat for me!

I started my turn by charging Neron's warriors into the Blood Knights. The Chaos Knights were blocking the Dragon Ogre's path to the Blood Knights so they were stranded. The Giant charged into the zombie's that blocked his path. Amador rallied and turned on the spot. The only survivng unit of Marauder Horsemen crossed the river and ran towards the flank of a unit of skeletons.
My magic phase proved to be inconsequential this turn. I managed to do very little of any worth and I certainly don't remember what my sorcerer's actually achieved this turn. The shooting phase saw the Hellcannon miss it's target (this time a Corpse cart with a block of skeleton's either side of it) thanks to a large scatter distance over the back of the approaching horde. The Warshrines gifted the unit of Marauders in combat with the Blood Knights +1 strength and the other got a result of 'The Eye is Closed'.
In close combat things went terribly. Neron's warriors struck first against the Blood Knights causing 1 casualty between them and the Exalted Hero leading them. The Blood Knights then threw their attacks into the Marauders (they counted as charging them from the overrun) and tore down 10 of them thanks in part to their horses. I lost the combat. I lost the combat by 4. The Marauders rolled double 6 and the Warriors rolled double 5 (again I stupidly forgot the BSB re-roll!!). The Blood Knights pursued the Warriors catching them, Neron and Gaizka. The Marauders managed to flee off the table. The Dire Wolves and Black Knights that had overran into the Chaos Knights on my left flank caused won the combat, causing a few casualties but with greater numbers they were always going to win. The Chaos Knights then rolled another 10 for their break test and fled but were cut down by the pursuing troops. The other unit of Chaos Knights ventured no better. The Black Knights killed the Knight on my flank stopping me from attacking back. I was outnumbered and flanked to boot so lost the combat by 3 I then proceeded to roll an 11 on my break test (can you see a theme emerging!). The Knights evaded their puruers by leaving the table. The Giant with his attacks and combat res. combined managed to kill 4 of the 5 zombies leaving him stuck in the combat and he had suffered a wound to the scrabbling hands of the undead. The Marauders and the Black Knights combat proved to be very one sided and the Black Knights broke the marauders (after I rolled a 9 when they needed 4 or less) and pursued into the Warshrine after cutting down the fleeing tribesmen.

Frankie's turn 3 saw the Black Knights (the ones who'd run down the Chaos Knights after charging the flank) charge into my Dragon Ogres. A unit of Skeletons turned to face the Marauder Horsemen (who'd killed a few with their throwing axes last turn, forgot that bit). Not a great deal else happened besides some repositioning of units, particularly now that my left flank had completely collapsed and only the giant remained on the right flank so Frankie was having to bring troops back from the flanks towards the centre of my deployment zone where my surviving troops were. The Blood Knights had their flank exposed to my Hellcannon and my unengaged Warhshrine so they turned about ready to receive the imminent charge.
Frankie's magic phase was starting to get more successful for him as I'd already lost 2 of my Wizard Lords now so was short of their support dispelling his spells. However, his magic was still failing to cause any damage to my army but was doing a stellar job of recovering all of his losses.
In close combat the Giant managed to finish the last zombie off, freeing himself up for a charge in the next turn. The Dragon Ogre champion bellowed a roar of challenge and the Wight King accompanying the Black Knights accepted. The Wight King managed to cause a wound on the Dragon Ogre champion. The beast attacked back hitting with all 4 of his attacks, wounding with 3 and then Frankie made 3 6+ saves! Unbelieveable! The Black Knights cut down one of the Dragon Ogres and the remaining Dragon Ogre only managed to fell a single Knight. The Dragon Ogres fled the combat with yet another roll of a 10 by me but evaded capture. The Warshrine managed to fight the Black Knights to a draw but lost by 1 thanks to their musician but managed to hold in combat. My first passed break test of the day!

I started turn 3 already very clear in the knowledge that I had lost the battle and it would be unlikely that I'd lose by anything other than a massacre now as well. So, caution was thrown to the wind. The Hellcannon and the Warshrine both charged into the Blood Knights and my Giant stormed across and charged into a unit of Skeletons. The Dragon Ogres rallied and turned to face their pursuers. Amador and Isidro Devante left the now depleted unit of chosen and moved over towards the enemy troops approaching from the left flank. Amador moved ahead of Isidro Devante so that any charges would have to come at him but left Isidro line of sight so that he could cause some damage with his spells. The chosen moved up to block the way from the Warshrine that was in combat with the Black Knights so that they couldn't overrun into Isidro.
In the magic phase I managed to cause some more damage with my spells. In particular, Isidro Devante cut down 8 of the Black Knights that would be able to charge Amador the next turn. This left a Wight King and a unit champion. I caused some more damage here and there but nothing on quite the same scale.
In close combat, the Warshrine lost to the Black Knights and was caught by the Black Knights as they hit the remaining few chosen. The Giant rolled swing with club and took out 6 skeletons winning the combat and crumbling a few more. The Skeletons had spears so caused a wound to the giant again. The Hellcannon and Warshrine didn't do a great deal to the Blood Knights, their armour and regen save making them night invincible. In return the Blood Knights did very little either and I lost the combat by a few but passed my 2nd break test for the Warshrine, the Hellcannon being unbreakable.

Turn 4 saw Frankie charge the Wight King and unit champion into Amador and the unit of Black Knights back into the Dragon Ogres. He also charged a unit of skeletons into the flank of the giant making it a potentially interesting combat.

Don't remember much of the magic phase this turn, it was much of the same if I remember. Frankie bringing back Skeletons and Knights mostly. Not getting any of the more damaging spells off.

In combat the Hellcannon and Warshrine managed to keep the relative stalemate with the Blood Knights going. The Chosen were cut down as expected but the Black Knights didn't have sufficient movement to reach anything of mine with their overrun. Amador issued a challenge which the Wight King accepted and as he had charged the Wight King went first. He failed to cause a wound on the Chaos Lord and was dispatched duly with all of his wounds and the full overkill bonus being taken destroying the unit champion with the sizeable combat resolution. The Giant decided to yell and ball winning the combat by 2 and taking 2 skeletons off of each unit with the combat resolution. The Dragon Ogres lost the combat again and this time were caught when they fled but they'd kep Frankie busier than most of my other units had managed!

For my Turn 4 I moved Amador around the rear of the Dire Wolves and the Varghulf that were heading towards the centre of my deployment zone moving from the left flank. Isidro Devante moved with him to support him with magic.

The magic phase was again much of the same. However, Isidro Devante took out one of the units of Dire Wolves leaving 1 unit and the Varghulf.

In close combat. The Warshrine finally got destroyed by the Blood Knights and then the Hellcannon suffered the same fate leaving the Chaos Dwarves to be run down once they fled from the combat. The Blood Knights pursued off of the table which I figured would be quite handy and keeping them out of my hair whilst I mopped up the small units that I could to try and get a few VP for myself! The Giant jumped up and down destroying a rank of skeletons and winning the combat again but not by enough to destroy both units he was up against.

Frankie didn't have a great deal he could do this turn but one of his units of Black Knights managed to charge Xante the Sorcerer and the other managed to get a charge on Sunduru. The Dire Wolves and the Varghulf turned on the spot to face towards Amador and the ghouls and one of the corpse carts crossed the river towards the Chaos Lord as well. He was going to be making his last stand very soon it would seem.

In the magic phase Frankie managed to get Curse of Years (I think that's the right one. Have to roll the dice on a 6 first time lose a wound, then a five next round etc) to go off on Vela. Frankie then proceeded to roll a 6 taking a wound from the sorcerer.

In combat the two units of Black Knights killed the sorcerer's they were up against and overran into positions where they'd play no further part in the game. The Giant won his combat again but again couldn't quite get enough combat res to finish things off so was bogged down for yet another round.

My turn 5 Amador charged into the unit of Dire Wolves, choosing to take them on instead of the Varghulf. Isidro Devante moved through the woods to move clear of his Lord and the mass of troops that were descending on him.

Isidro proved to be quite useful in what would prove to be his last magic phase. He managed to cast Drain Life causing a few wounds across the massed units and got off both magic missiles causing a few wounds on the Black Knights units that were nearby but not near enough to worry him. Vela was then killed by curse of years when Frankie rolled a 5.

In close combat Amador had to challenge the Doom Wolf and quickly dispatched the beast causing enough wounds to crumble the rest of the unit. He then overran clear of the Varghulf and the approaching horde and back towards Isidro Devante's position. The Giant finally defeated the Skeletons and looked around for his next target.

Frankie started turn 6 by moving his Blood Knights in a wheel so they had line of sight on Amador. Clearly he was hoping to get Vanhels Danse Macabre off to get them into combat with him. A few other things moved but it was an irrelevance in the end.

Frankie's magic phase proved to be devastating this turn. I was down to few dispel dice and no dispel scrolls left so what I'd managed to keep in check up until then suddenly broke the dam. Amador was torn apart by Spirit of the Forge cast with Irresistable Force and Isidro Devante lost a wound to another spell but not sure which one. This left Isidro very alone and very vulnerable Curse of Years was cast on the Giant but luckily Frankie failed to roll a 6 this time. Vanhels Danse Macabre went off and the Blood Knights charged into Isidro Devante looking forward to the easy kill.

In the combat phase as expected Isidro Devante was torn to pieces on the lance of the Blood Knight Kastellan.

My turn 6 was always going to be an irrelevance but the Giant managed to charge into a Corpse Cart. In combat with the Corpse cart he rolled Thump with Club and managed to kill the Necromancer and wound the corpse cart. Then the game ended.

It was an incredibly tough game for me. As I've said dice rolling went against me quite a lot but I was soundly beaten before the dice started letting me down. My army was penned into my deployment zone by the speed with which the 'lumbering' dead managed to descend on key points of my battle formation and the ethereal nature of the Black Knights in particular allowed them to get very close before I could do much about it. All of my attempts to try and stem the tide and filter units off to where I wanted them backfired on me as well and the number of times units got to pursue or overrun into another one of my units was frightening. More frightening was my stupidity in forgetting about Neron's Battle Standard! Might not have made a huge difference but could have seen the Warriors and the Marauders holding in their combat in particular and occupying the Blood Knights for a bit long allowing my Hellcannon and Warshrines to do something more productive other than holding them up for a turn or two! I was quite disappointed with my magic for the most part as well. Considering I went quite so magic heavy I would have hoped for it to make a bit more of a difference but sadly the strength of the vampire's magic cancelled my efforts out. Frankie won by 3981 VP I think it was. A clear cut massacre!

All in all though it was great fun playing a battle on this scale. Was great to see quite so many minis on the table going to war. My only regret in regards to that is that only a 1/4 of the minis on the table were actually mine!

My army list:

Amador

Chaos Lord

Mark of Slaanesh

Deamonic Mount

Shield

Rending Sword

Crimson Armour of Dargan

Collar of Khorne

Isidro Devante

Sorcerer Lord

Level 4 Wizard

Black Tongue

Spell Familiar

Bronze Armour

Power Stone

Conjoined Homonculus

Gaizka The Warped

Sorcer Lord

Level 4 Wizard

Power Familiar

Book of Secrets

Inigo The Majestic

Sorcerer Lord

Level 4 Wizard

Rod of Torment

Infernal Puppet

Power Stone

Chaos Steed

Vela

Sorcerer

Level 2 Wizard

Mark of Slaanesh

2 x Dispel Scrolls

Xante

Sorcerer

Level 2 Wizard

Mark of Slaanesh

2 x Dispel Scrolls

Sunduru

Sorcerer

Level 2 Wizard

Mark of Slaanesh

2 x Dispel Scrolls

Neron

Exalted Hero

Mark of Slaanesh

Battle Standard Bearer

Flail

Shield

Fury of the Blood God

10 Warriors

Mark of Slaanesh

Full Command

Banner of Wrath

Great Weapons

Shields

15 Marauders

Mark of Slaanesh

Full Command

Great Weapons

Light Armour

Shields

15 Marauders

Mark of Slaanesh

Full Command

Light Armour

Shields

5 Marauder Horsemen

Mark of Slaanesh

Musician

Flails

Throwing Axes

Light Armur

5 Marauder Horsemen

Mark of Slaanesh

Musician

Flails

Throwing Axes

Light Armour

5 Marauder Horsemen

Mark of Slaanesh

Musician

Flails

Throwing Axes

Light Armour

5 Warhounds

5 Warhounds

5 Warhounds

6 Chaos Knights

Mark of Slaanesh

Full Command

Warbanner

6 Chaos Knights

Mark of Slaanesh

Full Command

Banner of Rage

3 Dragon Ogres

Champion

Great Weapons

10 Chosen

Mark of Slaanesh

Full Command

Rapturous Standard

Favour of the Gods

Additional Hand Weapons

Shields

Dunixi
Giant

Mark of Slaanesh

Hellcannon

Warshrine

Mark of Slaanesh

Warshrine

Mark of Slaanesh

The Hellcannon... continued....

Postman has just been and I got this...



So I now have two Hellcannons for the price of one. Can't complain about GW's customer service. As ever they're exceedingly helpful!

Campaign Army Lists

I have written army lists for both of my banners for the second turn of the Warhammer Campaign. This has seen me spend campaign points on replenishing my numbers after casualties and also the points to raise a second banner under Isidro Devante. Also campaign points were spent on expanding the fortified village I captured to a fortified town and also building a fortified village around the Wizard's tower that I found.
Anyway, on to the lists.

The Glorious Host
Amador
Exalted Hero
Mark of Slaanesh
Shield
Chaos Steed
The Helm of Elazar
Amador wears the Helm of Elazar. The fabled skull helm is said to have belonged to Elazar himself when he was still a mortal follower of the Gods. The helm certainly carries an air of fate about it. Barely a stroke of Amador's sword goes to waste, he has survived when others would have perished and his meteoric rise in status has strengthened his legend with his followers. The Helm of Elazar counts as: Rending Sword; Talisman of Protection; Favour of the Gods.

Vela
Chaos Sorcerer
Level 2 Wizard
Mark of Slaanesh
Infernal Puppet

10 Chaos Warriors
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Rapturous Standard
Shields
Additional Hand Weapon

15 Marauders
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Shields
Light Armour
Great Weapons

5 Marauder Horsemen
Mark of Slaanesh
Musician
Light Armour
Flails
Throwing Axes

5 Warhounds

5 Warhounds

5 Chaos Knights
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command

Hellcannon

Amador and Vela are both free characters so this first banner is considerably larger than the second as a result. I couldn't help myself but put the Hellcannon in there as well...
Currently the Warriors Hate Giants, the Marauders are at +1 toughness, the Marauder Horsemen are at +1 strength, the Knights are at +1 strength and so are their steeds and I think that's all the unit upgrades so far but I'll have to double check that one. As for Vela, you'll learn more on him soon!

Devante's Thralls
Isidro Devante
Chaos Sorcerer
Level 2 Wizard
Rod of Torment
Chaos Runesword

5 Marauder Horsemen
Mark of Slaanesh
Musician
Light Armour
Flails
Throwing Axes

15 Marauders
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Light Armour
Shields
Great Weapons

10 Chaos Warriors
Mark of Slaanesh
Full Command
Blasted Standard
Shields
Great Weapons

5 Warhounds

5 Warhounds

Dunixi
Chaos Giant
Mark of Slaanesh

Now this list is something of an odd one. Just to clarify during the end of turn 1 my army managed to forge a new magic item that I could give to any of my characters (and which could take them over their allowance) so I decided to give Isidro Devante the Chaos Runesword so that he'd be able to handle himself in combat as with the small size of the list that will almost certainly happen! Also, the image I have of Devante is that he's a slaver, capable of breaking a man in so many ways, his sorcery being just one of them. Dunixi is the Chaos Giant that my army fought back at the beginning of the campaign and was captured by then leader Gaizka the Warped. I've decided that it would be fluffy for the slaver Isidro Devante to have been 'gifted' the giant by Amador as Isidro would be best suited to breaking the beast.

As for the next turn in the campaign. It's my intention to send Amador back to the shrine that eluded his former master and Isidro Devante will help to secure the rest of the island I have found myself on in the campaign before my armies head over to the mainland and the promise of the glory of war.

I know I promised a picture update but I'm afraid this isn't going to be it. I've not managed to get anything done I'm afraid. I have my 5000pt battle against Vampire Counts tomorrow so my next post will be the battle report for that. Hopefully I'll get some more painting/modelling done in the next couple of days to update on that!

What's Next? - Sneak Peek

It's my birthday next Friday so there will be a sudden hobby overload to coincide with that. I know one thing that I'm definitely getting as it arrived in the post.



Sadly though, there were two pieces missing (I insisted it be checked before being put away as I've heard on the forums of a few other people with missing pieces from their Hellcannons) I'm missing one of the large wheels and the chaos star that goes on that wheel. I've emailed Games Workshop, their customer service is usually great, so I hope to hear back on this soon and get the parts I need sent to me!

Anyway, stay tuned. I should have some more pics of the buildings and possibly even a slight update on Amador and Be'Lakor, will be tomorrow evening at the latest.