Friday 30 October 2015

Dwarf Steel Behemoth for Kings of War


When I first started converting my old Warhammer army over to Kings of War I saw the listing for the Steel Behemoth and thought it sounded cool. I looked around and saw many different ways to create one, from using the old Empire Steam Tank (with a new driver) right through to scratch building one. Though an option I always preferred was the steam tank range from Ironclad Miniatures.

Then I read the rules and realised that with such a speed of just 3 inches it would take ages to get into contact with the enemy and then with a Melee of 6+ it would be lucky to do any damage. I stopped even considering having one.

That was 1st Edition though and in 2nd Edition the Steel behemoth has been seriously overhauled. The Speed has been increased to 4 inches so that it can keep up with the rest of the army and it's melee has improved to 5+. Time to think again...


I've been working on every army but the dwarves recently, but when visiting Fiasco last weekend I stopped at the Ironclad stall and had chance to properly consider my options. In the end I plumped for Steam14. It fits perfectly on the required 100mm x 50mm base.

When it came around to building and painting it I realised I needed to make it look more dwarvish and less Victorian. With that in mind it was an easy choice to stick an old 80s citadel dwarf as a commander. Though cutting a 20+ year-old miniature in half did seem brutal, I consoled myself with the fact that it was a duplicate in my collection. I added the rim of a large eyelet to act as his cupola.



Then it was on to painting. I wanted to go with a more medieval scheme so painted blue and red as with some of my other dwarf units. I soon realised that there were just too many plain flat areas on the model and that some sort of decoration was required. I googled for "dwarf banners" and soon had a few designs to copy. Little did I know I'd end up covering almost the whole model with intricate brushwork.


This is by far the most decorated model I've ever painted and I'm really pleased how it's come out.

It'll be being used on the big Kings of War game at the Hereward Wargames Show in Peterborough this weekend. Why not come and say hello. 


Sunday 18 October 2015

Kings of War Big Game Sanctuary 18th October 2015

What a Day!,,,, 24,400 points of models; 18 foot long table; 8 players!

We played with 6 armies a side. On the Good side we had: Elves, Dwarves (2 armies) and Kings of Men (3 armies). On the Evil side: Orcs, Twilight Kin, Undead, Ogres and Nature (2 armies).

There were 6 objectives on the board to go for.













The battle ebbed and flowed with one side gaining the advantage and then the other. We agreed to play to 7 turns and at the end it was a draw. Each side held two objectives, one objective was contested and the remaining objective had no units near it. Another turn could have given Good a victory.






On November 1st we'll be at Hereward Wargames Show in Peterborough for a refight... Come and say hello, or if you want to help out then contact me in advance!






Friday 16 October 2015

Getting Ready for the big KoW game at Sanctuary.

We'll be playing a big game of Kings of War at Sanctuary this coming Sunday and I've been getting things ready.

All the army lists (so far) are printed... putting us at over 10,000 points (so far)... so far because there's some more to come...


... mine and Brendan's minis are packed and ready to go...



... and I've been working out terrain board layouts for two ...



... and three of the Sanctuary 12ft x 4ft tables.



 I'm hoping we can wrangle 3 of them...





Thursday 15 October 2015

Ogre Army Grows

What started out as a small force to go with Kings of Men is slowly becoming a new army for Kings of War. 

I just finished off a horde of Ogre Boomers and Grokagamok...

Next for these will be a Horde of Shooters and the Army Standard Bearer that is hovering in the rear of this photo.

Sunday 11 October 2015

Brendan's Undead Army. Ready for the Big game next weekend.


We've just finished working on two more units for my son Brendan's Undead army for Kings of War. Another 30 zombies to make the old 1st edition horde up to a 2nd edition legion, and a regiment of revenants.

This will all be ready for the big game we have planned for next weekend at Sanctuary and also the one after on 1st November at the Hereward show in Peterborough.



The Beholder was one of Brendan's birthday presents. I painted up for him with more than my usual care as I knew how much it meant to him. He came up with some rules that we have refined and will be using at the two big games. We wanted something that kept the feel of the original D&D creature. A powerful spell caster, casting multiple spells. Brendan insisted that it should be very hard to kill.



Beholder [1]                                                                       Monster
Unit Size       Sp          Me     Ra     De         At          Ne           Pts
        1             10          4+        -       5+         10         17/21      400

Special
Lightning Bolt (12), Fireball (20), Bane-chant (3), Wind Blast (10), Surge(10), Heal (5),  Multi Spell, Fly, Ensnare, Lifeleech (5), Regeneration (5+), Stealthy, Very Inspiring.                                                                            
Multi spell
The Beholder can cast up to 3 spells in a single turn. Each spell must be different.





Necromunda.. ground level...

On Monday at COGS we had another game of Necromunda. Having seen a few of the terrain setups on the Necromunda Worldwide Facebook group I thought that with my completely flat ground level I was missing out on a trick.

Then I remembered this boards I'd made many, many years ago for the Bridge over Khazad Dum scenario for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.


After a quick search I found the boards in a loft. Being primarily made of expanded polystyrene insulation sheets I needed to touch up the paintwork a bit. They could be placed over either side of base boards for the standard grey Necromunda colour or the sea of used for my naval battles. In the end we plumed for the watery look:










We played "The Raid" Scenario, unfortunately Steve managed to bring some of his guys in on my flank and the ensuing fight put paid to any chance of me succeeding at the mission.

Clash of Kings 2015 - Best Army

Clash of Kings is the annual official Mantic tournament in the UK for Kings of War.

This year was the second time I attended and again it took place at the Sanctuary Gaming Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield. The event is a two-day-long epic with 2500 point armies facing off over all 6 of the Kings of War scenarios. This was the first official tournament to use 2nd edition.

I took my Mantic Elf army as I've been doing fairly well with it recently and being almost totally Mantic models was legal for the Best Army prize.


The Army List was:
  • Therennian Sea Guard Horde + Chant of Hate (305pts)
  • Therennian Sea Guard Horde (280pts)
  • Therennian Sea Guard Regiment (170pts)
  • Therennian Sea Guard Regiment (170pts)
  • Therennian Sea Guard Regiment (170pts)
  • Forest Shamblers Horde (190pts)
  • Forest Shamblers Horde (190pts)
  • Drakon Riders Horde + Brew of Courage (295pts)
  • Elven Mage + Bane Chant (2) & Inspiring Talisman (110pts)
  • Elven Mage + Bane Chant (2) (90pts)
  • Drakon Rider Lord + Ensorcelled Armour (195pts)
  • Tree Herder + Medallion of Life (295pts)
There's a lot of very high point units there and that seems to be the general way armies are constructed in 2nd edition. No more swarms of little units. 

I was going to list my opponents and results, but I appear to have lost my results sheet in all the excitement. However suffice to say I got 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses, leaving me firmly in the middle ground in 19th place.

However my chances of getting one of the lovely Golden Blaine statues were not all lost. I still had my chance at Best Army. Unfortunately after the first game of the weekend, a defeat against the chap who would go on to take 3rd place, I managed to knock my Tree Herder onto the hard stone floor of the church, with predictable results. Most of the branches on his back were knocked clean off and the stone he was carrying came unglued.

I did have a spare Tree Herder, but unfortunately that was at home and there was no time to go and get it. I'd have to re-glue the one I'd brought. The problem is the only glue available was Super Glue and with my allergy to it's fumes I couldn't really use that. So I asked Rich, the owner of Sanctuary, for help. He glued the branches back on whilst I stood far away trying to avoid the fumes.

With it done he handed it back to me to paint. Then I realised another problem. I'd not brought my modelling glasses with me. Without them I would have to repaint it at arms length and then only barely able to see what I was doing! So I set to it and did as good job as I could, though the branches fell off again. I didn't fancy hassling Rich again so stuck some toilet paper up my nostrils and tried gluing again. I managed to get it all together for the next couple of games.

After the 3rd game, and the last that day, I found my army had been one of the four that had been selected for the voting for Best Army. Every player got to vote, which is I think the fairest way for these competitions to be judged. Unfortunately in the last game one of the branches had fallen off again and with no time left for repairs I had to put the fallen branch on the base, hoping people would understand.

I couldn't bring myself to re-build the Tree Herder that night and instead brought the spare one on the Sunday.

When it came to the prize giving at the end of the day I sat with not a little trepidation. I'd been in this position before with Lord of the Rings tournaments but never won. However this time loads of people had kept on saying they had voted for me. I'd seen the competition and it was going to be a close run thing as all 4 of the armies were equally excellent. So when my name was announced as winner of Best Army I was completely overwhelmed, speechless...

Thanks to all those who voted for me. There was only one point in it and I had voted for the army that came second!