Hobby Goal 2017 #2

Hobby Goal #1:

Complete a project currently on the painting table

GOAL COMPLETED

Yes, they still need basing but the paintjob itself is complete. Apologies for shitty camerawork. I finished these models yesterday evening and I'm away today so I was forced to use a desk lamp for lighting.

Regardless, these models have come out quite well. I've been trying to get a good “bone” effect on armour for some time, something sketchy and macabre that feels Chaos-y. These are the first models in a new incarnation of my oldest army, my beloved Traitor Guard, the Shadowen.

So, having finished one goal, time to set another.

Hobby Goal #2:

Finish my Dwarf Rangers

Another unit that has been on the painting table since before Christmas: twelve Dwarf Rangers kitbashed from a combination of Dwarf Warriors and Quarrellers. In the main I just have to do some metallics, the axe hafts and the crossbows. It'll also feel somewhat satisfying to finish a complete unit.

Dwarven Mathematics

Dwarf core infantry box sets: bloody old, stupid numbers. Sixteen Dwarfs to a box from the good old days when ranks were four wide and command groups looked all lopsided. Nowadays in our modern space year of 2016 ranks are five wide, command ranks have a random pleb on either side of them and sixteen is a funny number of Dwarfs to have.

So here is the plan. I have three boxes of Dwarfs: two boxes of Warriors and one of Thunderers/Quarrellers. That's forty-eight Dwarfs.

First off, straight out of the box are twenty Dwarf Warriors with hand weapons and shields, the mainstay of any throng, which leaves me with a dozen spare bodies plus all the weapons and command options to go with them. Then I make the sixteen missile troops as Thunderers and keep all the crossbows off to one side.

Also kept off to one side are all the cloaked bodies, four from each box. Hopefully the two torso pieces are the same in each kit (they look close enough but there might be some green stuff involved to marry the two kits together). I take the cloaked bodies, the crossbows from the Thunderers/Quarrellers box and the great weapons from the Warriors to make a dozen Rangers.

In all honesty, the Thunderers are a bit of an after thought: useful but not really a unit I'm terribly invested in. What mattered here was getting a solid block of twenty Warriors and the parts to convert my Rangers.

I really have a lot of building to do...

The Army of the Grey Mountains

Since writing yesterday's post I've been batting around ideas for my Bretonnia / Dwarf allied army: who they are, what they're doing, how they're doing it. I'm not yet ready to forge it into a complete narrative but here are a few of the ideas I think have legs (horse legs or short legs but legs whichever way)...

Castle Desfleuves

and the Warden of the Passes

Castle Desfleuves is located in the Gisoreux Gap, one of the two passes through the Grey Mountains to the Empire. Its purpose is pretty obvious: not only to protect against invading armies coming through the pass or down from the mountains but also to handle the diplomacy and trade with the Empire and the Grey Dwarfs.

In my version, Desfleuves is the seat of the Warden of the Passes, supreme military commander of all castles and holdfasts from the Pale Sisters in the north to the southern border of Montfort just south of Axe Bite Pass. Now, that territory happens to cross two duchies so there can be some nice political complications for the warden.

Solution to this would seem to me to be that the warden acts under royal warrant and that their authority supersedes the dukes of Gisoureux and Montfort. Also, they would have access to long term alliances, such as...

The Dwarfs of Karak Ziflin

Karak Ziflin, like Castle Desfleuves, is completely undefined in the canon background. All it has is a location: it sits in the mountains just north of Axe Bite Pass. Its a Grey hold which means it is rather poorer in terms of materials than the holds in the Worlds Edge Mountains and so maybe they don't have as much material to make armour and weapons and supply their armies. Thus, centuries ago they entered into an oath of mutual protection with the wardens at Castle Desfleuves.

This explains why the fast-moving, gun-hating Bretonnians are tooling around with the slow-moving, gun-loving Dwarfs. Karak Ziflin tithes troops and engineers to Desfleuves including Rangers and Gyrocopters to act as outriders. The two armies operate independently in the main but when they need help they know who to call.

There's tension in the different ways they fight. Bretonnians have this hatred of ranged warfare, “the coward's weapon that kills from afar”, but they can't debate the honour of dwarfs which is beyond reproach. Still, a little tension between allies never did a story any harm.

The Brothers Borsson

Main characters for the dwarf contingent are Aelfrid and Lief Borsson. Aelfrid is my Runesmith and Lief is my Master Engineer. They're both makers of things and I imagine, given how mobile the Bretonnians are compared to dwarfs, that the dwarfs' main job in the alliance is building and maintaining defences. I also like the idea of having family ties between the scientific and religious officers of the army, not that the two roles are opposed in dwarf society what with both engineering and runesmithing taking place in the forges.

Still, some tension between the traditionalism of the runic arts and the experimentalism of the engineering guild could make for some nice conversations.

The Family de Martrand

The Warden of the Passes is Lady Sabifa de Martrand. Sabifa is a character from my Empire army. She's Bretonnian on her father's side (her mother was Arabyan, they met during a crusade) and has been living in exile in the Empire for some years. She's a Bright Wizard, hence her exile, its not one of the disciplines that Bretonnians make common use of and might have been seen as witchcraft. However, with her father death she's acceded to the title and has some measure of royal protection.

I've already talked to my friends and they're happy for me to run her as a Damsel of the Lady using the Lore of Fire.

As to the rest of the family, my Bretonnian Lord will be Sabifa's uncle Black Hal de Martrand, so named for his killing a black dragon in single combat. He'll probably have a son or something to be the battle standard bearer.

The Rangers of Karak Ziflin

So, the basic Dwarf infantry kits have a funny number of models in them. They date back to the days of four men to a rank so you get sixteen of them to a box. So here's the plan:

I have two boxes of Warriors and one box of Thunderers. The Thunderers I will just make as Thunderers but keep the spare parts on hand. Twenty of the thirty-two warriors will be made as warriors. As for the remaining twelve I'll mix up warrior great weapons and the crossbows from the Thunderer/Quarrellers kits to make Rangers. I'll also use the cloaked bodies from the three kits (which come to an even twelve) so I can give them a unique visual character.

Graeme and his companions

I have dwarf spare parts. Lots of dwarf spare parts. I have a character known as the Friend Of Dwarves, a natural liaison between the two sides. Not only can I make a nice, characterful model for Graeme himself but maybe also use some other bits to create a whole unit of dwarf-themed Questing Knights.

Enemies Everywhere

What can we have as antagonists? Obviously there are Orcs & Goblins in the mountains; Night Goblins and Skaven under them; the ever-present threat of Chaos; Imperial deserters and Bretonnian outlaws taking refuge in the peaks; and the undead out of Mousillion. Plenty to be getting on with even before we get to the Bretonnian nobles who aren't happy about this Imperial-educated witch being handed a wardenship by the king.

Yes, things are going to go a bit Richard Sharpe, plenty of enemies on the same nominal side as our heroes.

The Colours of War

Bretonnians are as varied as they come, each knight having a different heraldry but I think I can stretch the point to having some recurring motifs. Red and black as the de Martrand family heraldry to be used on banners, on champions who will be nephews and cousins of the family, and on the shields and shirts of peasants seems like a nice time saver.

As to the dwarfs, there are some illustrations in the army book that make me like the idea of deep blues and reds unifying the army with plate armour in silver and scales armour in bronze. I tried an all-bronze colour scheme once and it looked terrible but I think mixing it up a bit will give things a lot more visual interest for me. First order of business will be to test this colour scheme out, probably on something singular. I think the Runesmith has all the requisite materials: plate and scale armour, some sleeves and a cloak, enough to test out every colour I'll be using.

Graeme, Friend of Dwarves

One of the best things about the sixth edition Bretonnia army book is the heraldry guide. Not only does it give the painter a good idea of how to vary up the limited palette of heraldic colours but the names of the knights the heraldry belongs to make great background hooks.

Amongst suck fantastic names as Piers the Intrepid, Matthias the Villainous Warden and Mogen of the Flame is Graeme, Friend of Dwarves. Now, that's just too perfect for my purposes.

In my mind, Graeme gained his name as an ambassador to the Dwarven holds in the Grey Mountains. He's long retired from that position and now he's a Questing Knight because I don't see someone named “Friend of Dwarves” armed with anything other than a great axe.

Him being on the Quest gives me an idea. Now, obviously, he needs a few old friends in the Dwarf throng and I think his oldest and best friend absolutely has to be the champion of my Slayer regiment. That way they're both on quests of honour, one hopeful and one fatalistic, nice way to contrast the characters of the two armies.

Dwarfs: Starting Small

As the Avatars of War Berkserkers are proving a little challenging to build (hard plastic is a bastard to work) I picked up something quick and simple to get this project off the ground: the Dwarf Organ Gun.

If nothing else, the models gives me a safe place (i.e. models that are going to sit at the back of my battle line far from the opponent) to practice a few things such as ruddy skin, hair colour for the beards and the metal palette that'll be getting a lot of use across the army. It also has the benefit of being a small number of models so I can dash this off quickly and move on to something else. Artillery might not be my favourite thing in the world to work on but it means getting that all important first unit done nice and quick, getting some momentum into the project at the beginning.

And it is just a nice model on top of all of that. I love all the character that has been put on the crewmen from the clipboard to the gunpowder barrel.

On the build front, this wasn't that hard. The little dragonhead things that form the firing mechanism are a little hard to fix in place but aside from that the construction is pretty straightforward. You do have to pay attention to the instructions for the crew, however, as at least one of the heads doesn't fit on at least one of the bodies. Aside from that, no issues to speak of.

a note on building Dwarf Berserkers

There is a massive flaw in the Avatars of War Dwarf Berserkers kit, which is a shame because they are wonderful minis. It isn't insurmountable but it also wasn't something I could find a solution to online so here's the solution for all to see:

On every four-figure frame there is one Dwarf you basically have to build with a great weapon, You get three sets of paired weapons to a frame and one great weapon.

The great weapon assembly is basically impossible to build. It is composed of two arms, the axe and two separate components that join to make a hand that grips the haft of the great weapon. The parts all have to line up but all the joins are flat: no guiding pins, no useful curves that fit just so, just a lot of guesswork and superglue.

So here's the solution to ration out the paired weapons. The hand that is in far too many pieces can also be made to hold a beer stein or an Orc's head and other hand has an alternative component that has the Dwarf giving someone the finger. Add in the command group components and it is possible to build this kit without using a single one of those awful great weapons.  

Dwarfs, one last time

I think I'm going to give Dwarfs one last try. See, as I've mentioned before, Dwarfs are an army I have a lot of trouble with. There is so much that I love about them: their look, their character, their background, right down to individual units like Ironbreakers and Slayers who are concepts I absolutely adore. Still, playing them has always left me a little cold and finding a way into this army that works with my own preferences has always eluded me.

The thing is, now I have Slayers (or Dwarf Berserkers, as Avatars Of War calls them) and that set me thinking, You see, the last time I tried collecting Dwarfs was before their eighth edition book came out and just because of what was available in plastic at the time I ended up with a very ranged build of army that simply wasn't me.

Close combat is my thing and batteries of cannon and handguns didn't suit me. Since then, though, Hammerers and Ironbreakers and Longbeards have come out in plastic not to mention the very good Slayer substitutes from AoW. Plus there's the plastic Gyrocopter to lend a little extra speed and manoeuvrability to the army.

Maybe, maybe, maybe I can make this work now. There's a new level of variety to the army now whilst before the limited plastic range made for a very samey experience.

So, Dwarfs, one last time. 

Mercenary Tactics #1: The Slayer's Oath

I don't want a Dwarf army. I like Dwarfs but I've tried to collect Dwarf armies before and they don't work for me. As evocative and fascinating as their background is, as much as I love their character they are just not an army that plays to my strengths. Their lack of speed means they have a defensive style of play that just doesn't suit me.

Luckily, Matt and I have been talking about mercenaries recently. More specifically, we've been talking about bringing back the old 25% allowance for allies so we can use mercs in our regular games just to shake things up a bit.

First unit on the docket...

image from the Avatars of War webstore

… Avatars of War Dwarf Berserkers or, as everyone else calls them, plastic Slayers. Painting them as not ginger does not change that. And just look at that banner: its huge, its over the top, its fantastic.

Slayers are one of my favourite Dwarf units: shamed Dwarfs sworn to die in battle but, being Dwarfs, they can't just get in the way of the enemy and die. No, a Dwarf does something he has to do it right! If they have to die in battle they'll fight to win and they will only die if the enemy can genuinely beat him. They'll go up against the biggest, the most dangerous things they can find.

They also make great mercenaries for the army I want to pair them with: my Bretonnians.

Wait, what?

Okay, to explain: back when Dogs of War were a thing Bretonnians were the only army that couldn't take them. Their honour code forbade the use of mercenaries who fought for money. Slayers don't travel fighting for money, they fight to reclaim their honour and a Bretonnian general can understand that. There is a concept of penitence amongst Bretonnians even if the rather nihilistic honour code of the Slayers might not translate all that well.

Actually, the relationship between Bretonnia and the Dwarf holds in the Grey Mountains fascinates me. Its never been addressed in official background, I don't think and I want an avenue to explore it. I've ordered a box of Berserkers and they'll be taking the field alongside my Bretonnians and Empire. Maybe there'll be more units, though I don't think it'll run to much: a couple of units, a character or two, definitely a Gyropcopter (I love the new Gyrocopter).

But yeah, now I have to work out how to paint orange hair. 

A Tale of 1 Gamer #2 (army list)

Since budgeting is a big part of this project I dashed off a quick army list in lieu of having any idea of how I actually wanted to paint these models (coming up with my own hold colour scheme is proving a little challenging). The throng, in theory, is composed thus:

Lords

Prince Dammin Asgarsson

Dwarf Lord (145) armed with hand weapon engraved with 1 Rune of Fury (25, +1 Attack) and wearing Gromril armour engraved the Master Rune of Gromril (30, 1+ armour save) and 2 Runes of Fortitude (50, +1 Toughness and 5+ Ward) save. 250 points

Heroes

Master Engineer Hodor Grimmhammer

Master Engineer (70) armed with Dwarf handgun (12) wearing Gromril armour engraved with 1 Rune of Shielding (25, Ward save against shooting attacks and magic missiles). 107 point

Core

20 Dwarf Warriors (160) armed with hand weapons and shields (15) with full command (30). 175 points

20 Dwarf Warriors (160) armed with hand weapons and shields (15) with full command (30). 175 points

20 Longbeards (240) armed with hand weapons and shields (20) with full command (30). 290 points

16 Thunderers (192) armed with Dwarf handguns with full command (30). 222 points

Special

Cannon (120). 120 points

Gyrocopter (80) with brimstone gun (free upgrade). 80 points

20 Miners (200) armed with great weapons with full command (30) and steam drill (25). 255 points

Rare

10 Iron Drakes (150) armed with Drakeguns with full command (30), Ironwarder armed with brace of drakefire pistols (free). 180 points

Organ Gun (120) engraved with 1 Rune of Forging (25, re-roll artillery dice misfires). 145 points

Total: 1999 points

That's a grand total of fourteen kits, four of which I already own. The budget allows me about two kits a month so it should all be over by Christmas, just in time for the new campaign in January.

It's a stolidly generalist sort of army so I can experiment with what works and what doesn't. I've got blocks of close combat infantry, missile troops, war machines and a Gyrocopter. The runic items are pretty much just whatever would fit in the points left over and since they only exist on paper I'll experiment with different combos in some test games. This army also continues my habit of turning every army into a horde with a massive 114 individual Dwarfs to paint.

By the time I'm finished with that I might even have finished a whole lance of Bretonnian Knights. 

Dwarf names are fun!

I doesn't feel like a proper army project until you've named a few characters, does it? Giving the characters names and backstory is one of the things that stop a game from being just a very pretty mathematical exercise.

And these are Dwarfs so I get to be really ostentatious with the naming! You can go one of two ways with these things. The first is to find two names of Celtic or Scandinavian origin and slap '”sson” or “sdottir” at the end of the the second one. The other route is to come up with some medieval title in place of a family name like Grudgebearer or Longshanks.

Thus we have my Thane Dammin Asgarsson of Karak Norn, a poor hold in the mountains by Athel Loren. He's accompanied on whatever mission I choose to send him on once I know what this campaign is about by the Master Engineer Hodor Grimmhammer and the Old Guard of his Longbeards Storr Thunderbrow.

I still haven't worked out a name for the Organ Gun. I'm trying to come up with something better than “Old Reliable” since Organ Guns aren't that old by Dwarf standards.

A Tale of 1 Gamer #1 (Army selection and first purchases)

Now that I've got the Doctor Who watch-through off the ground its time to get on with another project I've been meaning to get around to for some time: doing my own version of White Dwarf's classic Tale Of Four Gamers series.

Okay, so the quick rundown: in A Tale Of Four Gamers a quartet of GW staffers were set the task of collecting an army to a strict budget and timetable. In 2005 they were given £50 to start and £25 a month thereafter. Adjusting for inflation (and the fact I'm not actually trying to simulate a pocket money based economic model) I've decided to go with £75 for this first month and £50 thereafter, paid into the hobby budget on the first of every month.

Now, I do have a big project going on at the same time as this: my Bretonnians. I already have all the models I need for that, unless and until there's a new Army Book, so that wasn't a good candidate for this series. I'm going to be using the Brets in a campaign next year with some friends and one idea that's floating about right now is that we might have secondary factions for each player.

I was going to do Wood Elves, the natural allies of Bretonnia, and I went into the store fully expecting to walk out with some Glade Guard and Wildwood Rangers, maybe order the Glade Lord with great weapon. There is, however, a character in the Bretonnia book that's always sounded interesting.

Well, I say a “character”, he's really just a name and a picture of some heraldry: Graeme, Friend Of Dwarfs. As I say, the Wood Elves are the natural allies of Bretonnia and Dwarfs are more matey with the Empire. Linking Dwarfs and Bretonnia just offers more opportunities to do something different with my background. Right now I'm imagining that Graeme was an ambassador to one of the Dwarf holds in the Grey Mountains and he's gone a bit native: can't stand wine anymore, loves beer, a bit too friendly with the common man and far too technically minded for his fellow Bretonnians.

Thus I ended up leaving the store with a bag full of Dwarfs. So, on to this month's bit of accountancy:

Starting budget: £75

King Belegar Ironhammer (£13)

Grimm Burlockson (£13)

10 Dwarf Hammerers/Longbeards (£30)

1 Dwarf Cannon/Organ Gun (£15.50) (mail order)

Remainder: £3.50

It might not seem a lot but I did buy two characters straight off the bat since they're more expensive pound for pound. A general and a support character should be enough for a while, especially in quite an elite army. I'll build the infantry set as Longbeards just so I'm starting off with a Core choice, an old habit of mine but one I'm not disposed to break. The cannon I'm not sure what to do with except I knew I wasn't going to have a Dwarf army without at least one. Right now I'm leaning towards the Organ Gun because they look cool but I have to wait for it to arrive so I've ample time to ponder and work out what they actually do. Look, I've spent five years playing Vampire Counts, I haven't had a shooting phase in half a decade, okay

Now to build the things and work out how to paint them. They're Grey Mountain Dwarfs which apparently means they're quite poor. Lots of greens, perhaps, which would also offer a nice contrast to my Bretonnians who'll all be in rich colours like reds, blues and golds.

I'm really looking forward to this.