Victory Over Reduced Hobby Time

Well, as you can see I've been busy since my last post. Five more Incubi, another Harmonculus, and my second squad of warriors are all fully painted. Now they're just waiting for an end to the overly humid conditions here in Virginia to get a layer of Dullcote on in order to prevent their paint from rubbing off during play.

I just won my third Haemonculus off of eBay for $6.50, and since G.W. no longer produces the miniature that's quite a relief. the new Haemonculus runs $18.50, and I'm sorry but that's quite a bit of money for a hunk of resin, beautiful though the sculpt may be.

All my army really needs now is three Venoms, two Raiders, and three Ravagers. Once I have these models I'll be up to 1,750 points, and once the Wrack miniatures come out I'll grab two boxes of them and a couple more Venoms to bring the army to a full 2,000 points.


...Now to get those Wyches painted. I'm just not looking forward to painting them for some reason, but with nothing else to paint for a while I'll just have to suck it up and get cracking.

Not Dead, Just Busy

Well, I've gone back to school after an 11-year absence, and I can't believe how one little class has cut into my modeling time. Since my last post, all I've been able to do is pick up the last of my plastic squads (before the next G.W. price hike), texture the bases of two squads, and prime those same two squads.

Now, seeing as G.W. has just announced the increase of the prices in their range again, this is where the old me would enter into a rant about how they're abusing their fan base, how they're pricing me out of the game, and throw my support solidly behind another game.

Not so much this time.

Around here, if I wanted to play another game, the regular groups meet on Tuesday evenings (MalifauX), and Saturday (Warmachine / Hordes). Those are times when I work, so unless I want to quit my job and find another willing to accommodate my schedule (unlikely) all I can do is sigh and just grab what I need before they increase the prices. Thus the two Wych squads in the picture I bought despite not needing them for a few months.

In other words, I've quit quitting Games Workshop. Not out of choice, but because if I want to get a regular game in, it has to be G.W.

In the end, the comparatively heavy workload of a six-week class will limit my painting time, which will in turn limit my posting, so let me apologize for that. I will continue painting and posting, it just may be more sporadic than before.

Pimp My Incubi

Well, as you can see from the picture, as of June 4th my Incubi units will be getting a new ride. The Venom is just a sweet craft, sporting two Splinter Cannons for a withering total of 12 Poisoned 4+ shots per turn. Mine will also each carry 4 Incubi and a Haemonculus, allowing the Incubi to  come rushing onto and across the board already equipped with a Pain Token, giving them a 3+ armor save AND Feel no Pain. The Haemonculi, of course, will remain on-board their craft firing their Liquifier Guns and lending moral support (A.K.A. staying the hell out of close combat). I figure three of these will lend sufficient crowd-control as well as anti-elite capability.

My army list won't change too much, as all that is lost are some Haywire Grenades on the Wyches and the (marginally useless) Wych Weapon toting models.

I need to finalize my army list, but once I do I'll be sure to post it!

Final, Final Army List

I want to be this guy

Well, the Skaven Warlord in me is finally pleased with the finalized army list for tomorrow. I've put an awful lot of work into a tournament the odds say I won't get to play in, but it beats painting more Incubi.

I did have to quickly assemble and paint a new warlord, but hey, I needed to finish him any way.

I'm not going to post my army list here yet, as there are people in the tournament on Dakka Dakka who might see it (See? Skaven paranoia! I'm the perfect warlord!). I'll be sure to post it soon, along with a tournament wrap-up, provided I get in. Either way you'll get a picture of the army and what's in it in the list in the next few days.

Now to try and remember to pick up some matt varnish / Dullcote tomorrow...

1,000 Point Skaven Revision

Well, after much pondering, I have come up with a much more solid 1,000 point Skaven army. The Interwebs seem to agree, so I'll take it for what it's worth. The final army is as follows:

Lords
Warlord with Great Weapon, Dragonhelm, Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon (156)

Heroes
Chieftain BSB with Charmed Shield, Talisman of Endurance (105)
Warlock Engineer Lvl. 2 Wizard (100)
Warlock Engineer with Doomrocket (45)

Core
38x Clanrats with full command (191)
40x Skavenslaves (80)
40x Skavenslaves (80)

Rare
Doomwheel (150)
Warp-Lightning Cannon (90)

We'll see what the army does Friday, if anything at all.

My First Tiptoe Into Tournaments?

Well, a tournament was posted on Facebook for 1,000 points at the second closest G.W. to me, so I've decided to give the ol' competitive scene another whirl. I'm the third alternate, which means I probably won't be able to play any way, but hey, worth a shot, right? The army I'm thinking of bringing is:

Lords
Warlord with shield, Ogre Blade, Foul Pendant (163 points)

Heroes
Chieftain, Battle Standard Bearer, shield, Talisman of Endurance (102 points)
Warlock Engineer, Level 1 Wizard, Dispel Scroll (90 points)
Warlock Engineer, Doom Rocket (45 points)

Core
40x Clanrats, full command, shields (200 points)
40x Skavenslaves (80 points)
40x Skavenslaves (80 points)

Rare
Doomwheel (150 points)
Warp-Lightning Cannon (90 points)

The army is a bit top-heavy, but I don't want to drop the Doom Rocket Warlock Engineer, and I can't afford to drop any other models. Maybe I should drop the Warlord's Ogre Blade and replace it with a halberd, but that will mean painting up a new warlord miniature. Another way to get some more points for more toys would be to drop the two Clanrats whose spaces are being taken up by the Warlord and Battle Standard. Every point counts at this level, and making that Warlock a level 2 mage, or adding a weapon team to the Clanrats could be a game changer.

Any way, more pondering will undoubtedly occur.

Wargaming Fail

Well, it was a Friday of frustrating losses. My best efforts to defeat the Winterguard Deathstar failed. I'll leave the nitty-gritty of it for those of you who care to Khadoran Machine Never Breaks, but suffice it to say I was outplayed at every turn.

The Orc & Goblin showdown didn't go much better. We bashed the tar out of each other, but as I feared the Grey Seer charging headlong into combat atop his bell turned out... poorly. He was easily massacred by his goblin foes, but at least I was able to take out the opposing Night Goblin Great Shaman immediately after. My Hell Pit Abomination was again easily pasted by Black Orcs. My Doomwheel did little to nothing against the trolls it was sent against (constant "Misfires" from its Warp Lightning projectors). All in all, I was utterly dominated the whole game.

This brings up one of my thoughts from the game; how good is the Hell Pit Abomination, really? Now I understand they're a force that multiplies on itself (two A-Boms are vastly better than one), but my single Abomination has yet to achieve anything other than crushing Skinks and winning a slug-out against the notoriously underpowered Giant. Maybe I should drop him.

Now, conventional "Internet Wisdom" is to go grab another model and double up the pain, but the problem with the model is it rolling 1s for it's random action. This action is useless (in my opinion). The only redeeming quality is its multiple damage ability, which in an era of gigantic blocks of single-wound infantry is a pretty useless ability. Honestly, I'm thinking I might want to remove the model and replace it with more Rat Ogres. Why Rat Ogres? Sheer damage output. My usual regiment of six Rat Ogres and four Packmasters seems ideal. Twenty-one attacks is simply an avalanche of pain, and they have far more wounds than an Abomination. Now, of course the unit costs more points, but not terribly many. I should be able to get the points by dropping the Warp-Lightning Cannon (another internet no-no).

What about the Screaming Bell? well, the Grey Seer is now going to simply bunker-up in one of the Clanrat units and hide at the back of the formation. The combat leader will now be a Warlord carrying an Ogre Blade. High Strength attacks, and a fair few of them seem to be my forte', so lets see if a Clanrat block with some teeth can turn things around. I'll need to get my hands on some Rat Ogres to pull this off, so until then the HPA will have to stay.

Hmmm... What if I simply drop the Abomination and use its points to buy a Warlord?

Off to write up some army lists!