Side Pile: Dwarf Characters

Like many miniatures enthusiasts, I have a small pile of miniatures “off to the side” of my main projects. These miniatures collect paint slowly, usually because I have dispensed or mixed too much of a color for my current project and don’t want to waste paint. Pour out a little too much of a color for your current project? Find an unpainted miniature or miniatures off to the side and apply the leftovers. Beats wasting paint, right?

Unfortunately, after a while, the “off to the side” pile of halfway or even two-thirds completed miniatures gets to be huge and takes up more space on the painting table than my current projects. Then, it’s time to roll up the sleeves and finish off the pile. I have done this recently. Thus, I bring you some figures of my favorite fantasy race: Dwarfs!

Up first, some Dwarf Lords from Scibor Monstrous Miniatures. I love these sculpts, and it was one of my first times painting on resin. None of these miniatures above required assembly beyond glueing them to their bases. Because they’re resin I would hesitate to game with them, but they’re perfectly awesome as RPG characters or for the miniatures collector. I’m not a fan of the “dwarf slayer” concept; I always found it stupid. But I must say the guy on the left is pretty cool holding a severed ogre head. The middle dwarf is one of my favorites from the line. I like huge, blocky hammers.

The dwarf on the left is another favorite. Since I just said I love big, blocky hammers, this should come as no surprise. I also like the overflowing mug of the dwarf in the middle, and the pipe on the one farthest right. Both the left and middle dwarfs required assembly of their weapon heads, but the resin is easy to work with and glues quickly.

This is a view of all 6 Scibor dwarfs from the back. I’m happy with the results.

Next are two unique miniatures. On the left is a Dwarf wizard, from the Wizards of the Coast Magic: The Gathering miniatures line. He’s holding what I assume to be a magic rod of some kind. He’s a two-piece sculpt that joins at the waist. This particular miniature has been in my side pile for about 7 years. I finally got around to painting him, and I think he turned out ok, although I thought he might look better with some kind of pattern on his robes. The dwarf piper is from Bob Olley’s Dwarf World line. Being a dwarf and a bagpiper makes him pretty much the coolest two things a miniature can be in my book.

These last miniatures came to me in a trade about a year ago. This is Reaper’s Dwarven Brewmeister (Reaper 02559), also sculpted by Bob Olley. I’m a big fan of miniatures that tell a story (as opposed to “guy holding weapon” miniatures), and I love these guys. I’m happy with the way they came out. I think I will use them as part of my Dwarf army as decorative pieces behind the artillery lines, making sure all the cannon crews stay hydrated.

More “side pile” miniatures soon!

The Blighted Watchtower: A Battlesystem AAR Part 2

The two parties eye each other warily across the clearing, both groups knowing the other’s intentions are the same: to plunder the watchtower and secure whatever riches may lie within.

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But as each group rushes to be the first to the tower, they are besieged by more monsters! Harpies descend upon the adventurers, shrieking madly!

(I modified the harpies somewhat. In Battlesystem Skirmish, harpies have 7 hits each! Since each party was facing five harpies, I thought that was too many hits to have to deal with based on the characters’ Attack Dice. I reduced the harpies’ hits to 3 each. Turns out I probably shouldn’t have, but live and learn.)

The gnomes gain initiative for the round, and waste no time in attacking. Durwald shoots a harpy with his Crossbow of Accuracy for 1 hit, while Graflin strategically casts Gust of Wind, grounding the harpies and making them more vulnerable!

The harpies attack next, and all attempt to Charm their opponents with their seductive song. Among the dwarfs, Boris, Reglan and Grimnar fail their saving throw and are Charmed! Poth and Siegfried resist the magical song. The gnomes don’t fare much better, as Stengil, Durwald and Ashlock all fall victim to the song, while Graflin and Cavram, the human, both save and resist it.

Finally the dwarfs get to attack, but since three of them are charmed, it falls to Siegfried and Poth to defend their friends. Poth throws an axe at a circling harpy, inflicting 1 hit. Siegfried takes the opportunity to cast Dispel Magic and free his friends from the magical charm!

The harpies gain initiative next round, and tear into the gnomes! Their filthy claws rake Stengil for 2 hits, and both Ashlock and Cavram take another hit each. Meanwhile, the other group of harpies attack the dwarfs, wounding both Reglan and Siegfried for 1 hit each. The dwarfs respond. Both Siegfried and Poth manage to wound their opponents, but not enough to kill any.

The gnomes fight last in the round, but good things come to those who wait. Cavram slaughters a harpy out of hand, while Graflin casts Fear on the group. 2 of the harpies immediately rout, breaking the charm! At the end of the round the harpies check morale again, and fail spectacularly with a natural 20! The group of harpies is so panicked they are paralyzed for 2 rounds!!

The harpies win initiative for the next round, but only the group fighting the dwarfs is in any shape for combat. Both Poth and Siegfried take a wound each. The gnomes attack the vulnerable harpies on their side of the clearing, with predictable results: Cavram kills another harpy, while Ashlock wounds another. Graflin steps back and casts Melf’s Acid Arrow, killing yet another harpy.

Finally, the dwarfs fight back. Both Grimnar and Siegfried kill their opponents, Boris manages to wound one of the harpies facing him. The harpies check morale and roll a 1!!! These harpies, unlike the ones fighting the gnomes, now have a permanent +2 to morale for the rest of the battle. They’re not going anywhere!

Unfortunately for the harpies, the dwarfs gain initiative next round and waste no time maintaining their offense. They kill 2 more, leaving a lone harpy facing 5 angry, wounded dwarfs!

Meanwhile, the gnomes finish off the harpies facing them. Cavram kills one on the charge while the remaining gnomes clean up the rest. The lone harpy facing the dwarfs attacks Siegfried in a frenzy, wounding him for 2 hits!!! Siegfried sways on his feet, down to 2 hits from his original 6. Ouch! Being vastly outnumbered and facing certain death, the harpy checks morale and fails. She is shaken!

The dwarfs act first next round, and Grimnar wastes no time taking the remaining harpy’s head off her shoulders. Siegfried takes the opportunity to cast Cure Light Wounds on himself, healing one hit. On the other side of the battlefield, Graflin prepares himself for further combat (possibly with the dwarfs???) by casting Shield on himself, increasing his armor!

The two parties square off across the clearing. Each takes the opportunity to consolidate their grouping. Siegfried also casts his remaining Cure Light Wounds on himself, restoring him to 4 hits.

But wait! Suddenly a malevolent presence is felt. At the watchtower’s door, a spectral form takes shape! Could this be the source of evil that has blighted the watchtower these many years??? Will the warbands join forces to defeat it?

Maybe someday we’ll find out, but not today. That’s as far as I got before my bedtime.

The Blighted Watchtower: A Battlesystem AAR: Part 1

I’ve been going through miniatures gaming withdrawal lately, so I threw down some scenery and played a game all by my lonesome. I chose Battlesystem Skirmishes as my ruleset du jour. Even though I played this one solo, I managed to have a good time.

The Scenario

Amid ruins in an ancient forest stands an ancient watchtower, long rumored to be haunted. Anyone who has ventured there has never returned, but that has only fed the rumors of treasure and glory just waiting to be had by those daring enough to brave the danger. Two parties of stalwart adventurers set off towards the watchtower with equal intent: to make their fortunes, destroying anything that would stand in their way.

First up: a group of dwarves: (L-R) Poth, Siegfried, Grimnar, Boris, and Reglan. All are warriors with the exception of Siegfried, who is a cleric. Grimnar is the leader, an 8th level fighter. Boris and Siegfried are both 6th level, while Poth and Reglan are 5th.

Next up: a group of gnomes and their human mercenary hireling: (L-R) Stengil, Graflin, Cavram, Durwald, and Ashlock. All are warriors with the exception of Graflin, who is the leader and an 8th level wizard. He is supported by his brother gnomes; Stengil, Ashlock and Durwald, all 6th level fighters, and Cavram, an 8th level human fighter.

The dwarves approach the watchtower from the south, while the gnomes make their own stealthy approach from the west. Soon, they are not alone!

On the crest of a nearby hill, a manticore appears, bellowing a challenge! The gnomes prepare for combat!

Meanwhile, to the south, the dwarves steel themselves as some zombies come lurching out of the woods!

The battle is joined! No sooner do the gnomes move than the manticore lashes out with its tail spikes. It fires a volley at Cavram as the human moves towards the hill, inflicting 1 wound. Meanwhile, the zombies charge into the dwarves. Grimnar wades into the fray, easily destroying one zombie. Boris manages to wound a zombie, but takes a wound himself. Siegfried steps forward and calls upon his deity, turning 6 of them immediately. They flee from the cleric’s true faith, but not for long…

Meanwhile, Graflin, the gnome mage, casts Reduce upon the manticore! The beast fails its save and is reduced by one size level, losing one attack die and incurring a penalty on further attacks! Durwald shoots the manticore with his Crossbow of Accuracy, hitting easily and inflicting 1 wound!

At the end of the turn, a mysterious evil force rallies 3 of the fleeing zombies. They turn and shamble back towards the dwarves…

The next round, the manticore gets initiative. He wastes no time in firing his tail spikes, this time at Graflin! Even with the reduced Attack Dice, Graflin takes 2 wounds as the spikes rip through him! Cavram charges up the hill at the manticore, hitting it for 3 wounds! Graflin casts Magic Missile, inflicting another wound on the beast, while Durwald shoots it again for yet another wound! The manticore, down to 1 wound, checks morale, and rolls a 1!! The enraged beast will stay and fight to the death! (Manticores are dumb.)

Meanwhile, to the south, the dwarves square off against the zombies. Boris, Grimnar and Siegfried all put a zombie down, while Reglan wounds one. The zombies fail to wound any of the dwarves, since most of the dwarves killed them before they could fight. Since they’re undead and not being turned, zombies don’t have to check morale. They fight on.

The manticore manages to wound Cavram once before the human runs it through, putting it down once and for all. The gnomes reconvene at the top of the hill, where they get their first look at the rival warband to the south, still fighting off the zombies. They set off quickly, hoping to reach the watchtower before the dwarves!

Meanwhile, the dwarves destroy the remaining zombies with relative ease.

The dwarves regroup and move north, intent on plunder. They round a grove of trees only to spy the gnomes moving towards the tower! Will it be a race, or will the two parties fall upon each other??

Part 2 up soon!

Armies of Yesteryear: 40K Mordian Iron Guard

Once again, a look back on my old armies. This time it’s my favorite old Imperial Guard faction: the Mordian Iron Guard.

What really drew me to the Imperial Guard is not really all that unusual: I wanted to field tanks and blow shit up. I chose the Mordian Iron Guard because they were the chapter that appealed to me most, despite them not having any special characters in the Codex. (Actually, that appealed to me as well, as by the time I started playing Guard, special characters had fallen out of favor.) I never liked the Catachans, found the Rough Riders silly, didn’t really dig the Tallarns or the Cadians. And while I liked the Valhallans, I didn’t want to deal with snowy bases. (An old acquiaintance had a killer Valhallan Ice Warrior army complete with custom sentinels that was really cool, however.)

This army was my main Warhammer 40K army for most of the late 90’s -2003 or so. In choosing my army I decided that I would not field any Abhuman troops like Ratlings and Ogryns. I would use lots of base troops and have as many Commissars as possible to keep order and hopefully lend a little strength to squads in melee. I’d augment the core troops with fire-support and stormtrooper squads, and tanks tanks tanks!

And that’s what I did.

Starting off in the front is a squad of pre-Kasarkin stormtroopers. These guys came 6 to a box and were all plastic. You had to buy your special weapons and command separately. Behind them is a standard Infantry squad of Mordians led by both a Sergeant and a Lieutenant. Behind them is an anti-tank battery of 3 Lascannon teams. Way in the back is a Basilisk Heavy Support Tank. Over on the right is a Chimera, deploying an Armored Fist Infantry Squad.

Continuing, my Sentinel squad is in the forefront of this picture. (My sentinels never did anything but get shot and blow up, usually by Turn 2. But they look so cool.) Behind them is another Infantry Squad. Farther back from left to right is a Leman Russ Battle Tank, the Command Squad (more on that later), and a Mortar Battery led by another Commissar. On the right is a Chimera with a Forgeworld twin-linked heavy bolter turret. Better than a multilaser any day of the week, and it looks better too.

Rounding out the force are the rest: in front, another squad of Stormtroopers. I used to love to Deep Strike with these guys and tie up some enemy units long enough to rain death from above with my artillery. Behind them is a fire-support battery (2 heavy bolters and an autocannon), crewed by Stormtroopers. Behind them is yet another Infantry squad. To the right are three more tanks: a Leman Russ Demolisher, a Hellhound, and in the back, an old Griffon Heavy Mortar. Last but not least a final Infantry squad is on the far right, led by another Commissar.

I would often deploy an Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priest and some servitors between my tanks, especially those I usually kept stationary, like the Basilisk, Griffon and Demolisher. Sometimes they could save or fix something, and sometimes they couldn’t.

Close-up of the pre-Kasarkin Stormtroopers armed with Hellguns.

A Commissar leads an Infantry squad on the flank.

Close-up of the anti-tank Lascannon battery.

You can never have too many indirect fire weapons. I love mortars. Nothing better than dropping a couple of templates on some Orks, Gaunts, or Eldar.

My command squad. The Commander is a converted miniature from the defunct and short-lived game Cell. (Don’t tell GW he’s not “official”.) He towers over everyone else in the army and is almost the size of an Ogryn. (“Methinks I detect the influence of the Warp….”)

This is my Army Standard. I converted a Brin Milo miniature so that he wasn’t playing the Tanith pipes anymore. Then I used some 3/64mm brass rod to make the pipes. I used Squadron model putty (!) to sculpt the ferrules and the pipe sash and to beef up the bag (this was before I discovered Green Stuff). He was one of my first conversions ever and I still love him.

Sentinels look bad-ass. Too bad they suck. You may also notice that none of the armor in this army has the slightest bit of mud or dust on it. That’s because it’s Mordian armor, dammit!

Leman Russ Demolisher. Boom.

Leman Russ Battle Tank. I always went for the heavy bolters in the sponsons, as my strategy was shoot as many times as you can as opposed to courting disaster with plasma guns.

My Basilisk. I think maybe I moved it during a game, once. Most of the time it sat there and angered my opponent. I used a radio from a 1/48th German radio set to represent improved comms.

Lastly, my Griffon. I loved this tank, and of course, when I finally got this painted, GW came out with a new codex that didn’t include it. Like I said, I love mortars, so I have nothing but good things to say about it. I thought the Griffon tank crew that came with it didn’t look like they would pass Mordian muster, so I used some extra Mordian Lascannon crew members instead.

The problem with playing Imperial Guard, at least at that time, was cost. (Somehow I doubt that’s changed.) Most of these tanks were purchased secondhand. When it came to Infantry, Mordians, like every other chapter, were available in a 10 man squad for $30. The problem was each 10-man squad came with a grenade launcher and a Lascannon. If you wanted to change that, then you needed to buy heavy weapon teams and special weapon troops separately. That got pretty pricey, and left you with extra grenade launchers and Lascannon teams.

I’m still in the market for some plain-old Mordian Infantry with lasguns. I don’t need any heavy weapons or any special weapons, but I sure would like to get more regular joes.

More Armies of Yesteryear soon.

Armies of Yesteryear: Warhammer 40K Tyranids

Like many folks, my first Warhammer 40K army was Space Marines. Since almost everyone at my friendly local game store was playing marines, it became somewhat boring. Sure, there was one Ork player and an Eldar player, but they weren’t always around. So I bit the bullet and bought some Tyranids off a kid who was getting out of the hobby. Some of the paint jobs on the plastics are a little rough, but that’s because I was painting over his initial paint job, which was done with craft paints and was impossible to strip first. (Melonberry Genestealers anyone?)

Most of these miniatures are from the golden age of Tyranids, 2nd edition 40K. Old school players may remember these original paint schemes from the codex. Present-day Tyranids have changed a lot since then. I actually really like the present models but I’m obviously not buying new ones to replace what I already have. Aside from the cost, that’s just silly.

From l-r: An old Lictor model, some (very) old-school Zooanthropes, a Biovore and a brood of metal Gargoyles. In front is a brood of Genestealers.

In front are some metal Hormagaunts. These guys were always tipping over-a real pain in the ass during deployment and movement. Of course, they either got shot up or made it into hand-to-hand, so they didn’t stick around long once the game got underway. Behind them is a brood of Termagants, mostly the old plastic ones but some metal ones too. I still have about 12 of these that need to be painted. I always wanted to add more Termagants to the army. Way in the back in the center is my Hive Tyrant, the old school model with a Venom Cannon, Lash Whip and Bonesword. He’s flanked by two broods of original Tyranid Warriors (although the brood on the right has a newer Warrior with a Barbed Strangler),and you can barely make out a second Biovore behind the Hive Tyrant. I still love the look of these old models. Back then, they based all large size models on 40mm square monster bases.

Last but not least, more Genestealers, more Gargoyles, another Lictor, one last Biovore, and the old metal Carnifex! The Carnifex is one of my favorite all-time GW models. It’s definitely got some heft to it!

Oddly enough, you can see the Biovore better than the Carnifex in this picture. Blame the photographer.

Tyranid Warriors with boneswords. I built the other brood with Deathspitters. As I recall, Deathspitters suck, and Tyranids shouldn’t waste time shooting when they can get up close and personal.

Remember these old-school Zooanthropes? This is before they became floating heads.

The Tyranid Lictor. Like the carnifex, one of my favorite metal models. But damn was it fiddly to put together!

I actually played a quick game of 40K with these Tyranids with a friend last year. He used my Ultramarines. As I recall, he won, but we both had about 2 miniatures left on the board at the end of the game. As it should be!

I still have a few more Armies of Yesteryear to post, so check back soon!

Painting Imperial Assault

I took a break from my Insanity Pile to start a new project: Fantasy Flight Games’s Imperial Assault. I knew once I bought this game that I would paint the miniatures, unlike the Space Hulk game I bought 3 years ago (I hate Blood Angels, and if I ever paint another Genestealer in my life, it will be too soon.)

Imperial Assault comes with 33 miniatures, plus a bonus pack of Luke and Darth Vader for a total of 35 plastic 28mm Star Wars figures. The sculpts are pretty high quality, although there is no variation. For example, the 9 Stormtroopers that come in the box are all in the same pose. I haven’t played the game yet, but I’m told it’s a lot like Descent, only with Star Wars characters.

I’m not thrilled about that, to be honest. While both games have great-looking miniatures, I have played Descent a few times and haven’t exactly had fun. Usually my fellow dungeoneers and I would make it just far enough into the dungeon to feel like we were accomplishing something before the “overlord” would unleash a threat hand so ridiculous it would wipe us all out in one turn. Cheap deaths? Yes. Fun? No. Guess we’ll see how similar Imperial Assault is when we give it a whirl. But that won’t be until after I’m done painting the figures.

Cue the Imperial March! I decided to start with the Emperor’s Royal Guard. Not really much to say about the paint scheme as they’re overwhelmingly red. After I sprayed them with matte sealant, I decide to use a gloss varnish on the helmets to make them stand out a bit.

I did the same with these Imperial officers’ boots. The officers were more fun to paint.

I think I’ll do the Stormtroopers next in one big lot, although I’m not looking forward to painting that much white.

Armies of Yesteryear: Warhammer Orcs and Goblins

I just got a brand new mat from Cigar Box Battle Mats, and I love it. To celebrate, I thought I’d photograph my old Warhammer Fantasy Orcs and Goblins on it. I haven’t played a game of Warhammer Fantasy since about 2003, so it’s been a while since these miniatures have seen battle. I’ve been using a few here and there for RPGs and skirmishes, but that’s about it.

The WAAAAAAGH is too big for me to photograph all at once, so I just took pictures of the individual units. This was my main WFB army from 1995 or so until about 2003. Previously I played Undead, but when GW split them into two different army books I never really went back. I was on a pretty limited gaming budget back then and couldn’t afford it.

Most of these miniatures were picked up in trades on Bartertown or in the boxed sets. The paint jobs aren’t terrible, but neither are they as good as they would be if I was painting them today. I tried to do a decent job as fast as possible so I could field them quickly. (I didn’t play with unpainted miniatures then, and I still don’t now.)

First up, two units of archers. Night Goblins on the left, Orcs on the right. The Goblins came from the 4th edition boxed set. My friend bought the set for $60 bucks. It included Goblins and High Elves. He took the Elves and the rules sold me the goblins for $20. A good deal then and would still be now. The Orcs were old style Arrer Boyz, mostly plastic but a couple of metal ones too. This was the era when core troops were pretty much all the same sculpt with no variation. The armies today look better, but say what you will about the old style: at least they ranked up with no problems. Out in front are three Night Goblin Fanatics, as well as the old version of Skarsnik and Gobbla. In the back is the old Orc Rock Lobba.

Moving onwards, here’s a unit of Goblin Wolf Riders and my main unit of Goblin spearmen (also from the 4th edition boxed set). Way in the back you can see an old-school Doom Diver Catapult.

Next we come to my main core units of Boyz. On the left is a big brick of Orc Boyz from the 5th Edition boxed set. I forget who sold me these, but it was someone who was only interested in playing Empire. In the middle is my elite unit of Black Orcs (the old-school sculpts). This unit is one of the only ones I paid full retail for. On the right is another unit of Orc Boyz. These are mostly old Heroscape Orcs I picked up in trades. Once I had an opponent in a local tournament object to me using them, because, technically, they weren’t “purely GW miniatures”. I took the unit out of my army and still trounced him. Then I told him to fuck off. Also in the picture is one of my Orc Bolt Throwers (which are now apparently crewed by Goblins in the newest version of the rules). More on the characters in front later.

A better shot of the 5th Edition Boyz. In front are three Goblin Squig Hoppers. I loved the absolute randomness and fun of playing goblins. The Fanatics, the Doom Divers and the Squig Hoppers…none of them ever worked how you wanted them to, but they were just too fun not to include in the army. I don’t think any of the Hoppers ever killed anything. They always got shot before they could even make contact with an enemy.

These guys won many a battle for me. Back in 4th-5th Edition, Savage Orc Boar Boyz were insane unit killers. I had 12 armed with spears and could usually break any unit on the charge (except for Dwarf Ironbreakers…Ooooo, how I hated them). Next to them is another Bolt Thrower, another unit of Orc Arrer Boyz (also from the 5th Edition boxed set) and another Doom Diver Catapult.

Lastly, here’s another shot of the Orc Arrer Boyz. To the right is another Night Goblin archer unit (from the 4th edition Boxed set), a Night Goblin shaman, and a few more Fanatics.

My Night Goblin archers couldn’t hit the ground if they aimed at it, but that’s not why I played two units of them. I did it for the Fanatics. I would always equip one of them with a Madcap Mushroom. That would be the guy riding the 8 Ball.

A close up of one of the Doom Diver Catapults. The new model is pretty cool, but it’s also three times as big. I like the old one better.

The old-school Rock Lobber. I was supposed to have two of these, but I got burned in a trade on Bartertown. I will always remember the name and email address of the asshole who screwed me. He lives in Healdsburg, California. So, Ben, if you’re reading this, go fuck yourself.

A couple of character models. On the left was my Warboss. He was an exclusive Games Day miniature that my friend picked up for me. On the right is Nazgob, the Orc Shaman. He was a new miniature when I bought him. GW still makes him today. He was originally wearing bright blue, but I recently repainted him and he looks much better.

Skarsnik and Gobbla, a very fun (but not very effective) Night Goblin team. I don’t think I ever won any battles with Skarsnik as my general;, but it was always fun to see which of my own troops Gobbla would eat. On the right is my old Warboss before I got the Games Day miniature.

Last but not least, Gorfang Rotgut. I added some bitz from the zombie boxed set and added a shield to his shield. It was one of my first conversions. I once played a campaign against my friend using Gorfang as my army commander. My friend played Dwarfs. I got crushed. No sour grapes here, I still had a blast. But I realized that Gorfang was one of the most overpriced (points-wise) and ineffective special characters in the game.I chose him because he had a hatred of Dwarfs (believe me the Dwarfs felt the same way), but that didn’t help. In the end, my Orcs got curb-stomped by the Dwarfs. I think I won one out of eight battles.

I picked up a Battle for Skull Pass boxed set about two years ago, mainly for the Dwarfs. (I’ve always loved Dwarfs, and my friend kicking my ass with them did nothing to diminish that.) I considered painting up the Spider Riders and adding them to the WAAAAGH, but decided against it. I also thought about buying the Arachnarok Spider, but again, decided not to, even though it’s a really cool model. After all, I never play Warhammer anymore. I’d like to, but I’m not about to try to keep current with whatever version of WFB GW is hawking, or whatever new units they come up with to replace units they arbitrarily deem obsolete.

Grom the Paunch didn’t make it to the table here because his chariot broke and is awaiting repair. Not that it matters. I never won a game with Grom as my general (Goblin generals suck), and, come to think of it, I never won a game with anyone in a chariot as my general. Chariots are huge targets for war machine and missile fire, and whenever I fielded Grom he got shot to death by turn 3, or his wolves got shot and effectively stranded him wherever they died.

More Armies of Yesteryear to come!

Alpha Flight

Don’t ask me why I did this. For those who don’t know, Alpha Flight is the first all-Canadian superhero team, created by John Byrne (a Canadian) in 1979. Byrne is legendary for his artwork on X-Men and Superman, among too many other credits to name.

Alpha Flight made their debut in X-Men #120, and soon had their own book. The thing is, Alpha Flight kinda sucks. I mean, to call them second-raters is an understatement. To call them third-stringers is still a kindness.

Still, I thought I’d have some fun and repaint and rebase some Heroclix for Supersystem. So here they are.

Starting in the back, R-L: Snowbird, Guardian, Aurora, Northstar. Front row, L-R: Marinna, Sasquatch, Puck and Shaman.

Despite being a really lame team (and that’s being kind), most of the Clix sculpts are pretty good. To me, Shaman, Snowbird and Puck really stand out. Shaman required the least in the way of repainting; he actually had a pretty good paint job right out of the box. The others, however, required a bit more effort to make them look good.

Now I have to find something for them to fight.

(WEN-DI-GO!!!!!!)

Expect a new SS3 After Action Report featuring Alpha Flight soon!!!

First Battlesystem Skirmish

It’s weird how I’ve been into miniatures and roleplaying since fifth grade, but I never actually played a miniatures game until I was in college. Then, like many others I got roped into Warhammer and 40K. I completely missed out on Battlesystem. Wizards of the Coast just released a new free ruleset compatible with 5th Ed. AD&D, but I have no interest in using the new version of AD&D. The old rules are found easily enough on eBay, and they’re based on 2nd Edition AD&D (the version I played all through high school and college) so I picked up a copy.

We got more snow over the weekend (because we really needed more of it), and I had just finished my highlander warband, so I figured why not try the skirmish rules out? So here’s my first Battlesystem Skirmishes After Action Report!

I chose Highlanders vs. Orcs as the forces. The highlanders were made up of two clans: The Mac Layrs (Green/Blue) and the Rennies (Red/Blue). I split them into separate units based on clan. Bran Mac Layr was the commander (a level 6 hero), and he was supported by Rory Mac Layr, (a level 3 cleric). The remaining 2 Mac Layrs were generic level 1 human fighters. The Rennies were all level 1 human fighters.

The orcs were led by Varg (Level 2 orc leader). Varg commanded 4 Level 1 orcs. Also on the orcs side was Gogzarak, an ogre (Level 4 monster). As a monster, he can move and act independently. I used the generic stats provided in the Battlesystem rulebook for all the miniatures.

The orcs and the ogre are attacking the highlander settlement in the hopes of grabbing some sheep. The highlanders are trying to stop them. (Insert your own highlander/sheep joke here.) I deployed the Rennies in the pasture and the Mac Layrs in front of the houses. The orcs were deployed in the woods, and Gogzarak was deployed on his own, across from the Mac Layrs.

That’s Bran Mac Layr with the claymore, near the well. Rory Mac Layr (the cleric) is all the way on the right.

The Rennies are among the sheep.

Varg is leading his orcs out of the woods.

Gogzarak the ogre is on his own, taunting the Mac Layrs.

ROUND 1:

The monsters win initiative, which means the highlanders move first. Using this cool bendy-ruler, I measured out their full move (12″). No way are the Mac Layrs letting some scummy ogre get anywhere near their houses! Unfortunately, this puts them well within the ogre’s charge range.

Gogzarak charges Bran Mac Layr, bellowing as ogres do. He smacks Bran for 1 hit. Bran responds, but rolls a 1. He misses, and initiative immediately switches to the highlanders (weird rule).

In the pasture, the Rennies move to intercept the orcs as the come out of the woods. Neither side can reach melee this round.

ROUND 2

The Rennies charge into combat. Two of them concentrate on Varg, the leader, while the other closes with an orc. The strategy pays off as both Rennies score hits and Varg dies. In response, one of the orcs kills one of the Rennies.

Meanwhile, Rory Mac Layr moves to the hilltop to better support both units. He casts Bless on the Rennies, giving them +1 to THAC0 and +1 to Morale. But it’s the orcs that have to check morale this round since their leader was killed. They pass and stay to fight.

The other Mac Layrs all attack Gogzarak, and he attacks back, but no one hits anybody.

ROUND 3

Bran Mac Layr circles Gogzarak to get the +2 THAC0 bonus a rear attack gives. The other Mac Layrs flank the ogre. Bran hits Gogzarak for 2 hits! The other Mac Layrs miss. So does Gogzarak. Hoping to further support the Rennies, Rory Mac Layr casts Hold Person, rooting two orcs to the spot.

However, despite his support, the two unhindered orcs still manage to cut down the Rennies like cornstalks.

ROUND 4

The two orcs who are still able to move break off and move towards the cleric on the hill. The Mac Layrs and Gogzarak fight another ineffective round of combat with no casualites. Seeing two orcs approaching his position with ill intent, Rory casts his final spell: Cause Light Wounds. One of the orcs drops dead halfway up the hill. The remaining orc checks morale as he had to form a new unit as a result of combat (the other orcs couldn’t move with him because they were held). He fails and is shaken.

ROUND 5

Bran kills Gogzarak. The orc rallies. (Sorry, no picture.)

ROUND 6

The lone orc charges the cleric while the Mac Layrs circle the hill. Even though the cleric has +1 THAC0 due to being on a higher elevation, he misses. The orc wounds the cleric for 1 hit.

ROUND 7

Rounding the hill, the Mac Layrs spy the held orcs and charge. Showing no mercy, they put the filthy greenskins to the sword!

Bran charges the orc from behind, but misses. So does the orc and so does the cleric.

ROUND 8

Bran Mac Layr kills the last remaining orc, cleaving him in twain from behind. Victory to the highlanders! Alas, the proud Rennie clan has fallen. Cue the bagpipes!

ANALYSIS:

Battlesystem Skirmishes is pretty easy to learn, especially if you have ever played 2nd Edition AD&D. This whole game took about 25 minutes to play, including the time I took looking up rules and taking pictures. It seems the forces were unbalanced in favor of the highlanders, despite the monsters having more points on their side. I purposely didn’t use missile weapons, which may have altered the battle for both sides.

The cleric seemed to make the most difference in this game. Although his Bless spell didn’t do much, his other two spells really made a difference in how the game played out. If I played this skirmish again I would bulk up the monsters a bit by giving them missile weapons or maybe a shaman of their own.

Scots Wha Ha’e!

I painted up some Reaper Highlanders for use as a warband in Battlesystem. I’ve had most of these miniatures for a while now, but I didn’t like the way they were painted, so I stripped them and repainted them. I’m happy with the results.

These guys are some of Reaper’s earliest releases. I don’t think they’re part of their current line, but you can still get them on the website. This is my first real effort at painting tartans. While there are many different tutorials online, I used Trojan Art Painting’s method. I used a blue/green tartan for these guys above.

I did a small conversion on the Highlander on the left above, adding arrows to his shield. The arrows are brass rod with fletching made from green stuff. I went with a red/blue tartan on these three.

The last two models are a piper and a druid. I made another slight modification to the piper by removing his fourth drone pipe. I like the look of the 3-drone highland bagpipe better. His tartan is gray/black with red and yellow accents. I painted the druid in white robes to make him stand out more. Weird how he’s clutching wheat instead of mistletoe. Trying to make it look like mistletoe would just look like green wheat, so I didn’t try.

I played my first ever game of Battlesystem with these guys over the weekend. Batrep in the next post!

Dead Dick's Tavern and Temporary Lodging

The Angry Piper's miniatures and gaming blog.