Sanguinius: The Blood Angel

 

I’ve been slow to update recently, with several long-term projects being worked on.

Sanguinius, Primarch of the Blood Angels Legion of the Space Marines is the latest Primarch I’ve finished. The Primarchs of the Horus Heresy era are all big, complicated models, covered in detail. Sanguinius here is no exception.

He has a full set of bright gold power armor, offset by his big white angel’s wings. The pteruges (the leather strips flying off his shoulders and from his belt) follow the rule of complements, being purple to the ‘yellow’ of the armor. The only real other color to the armor are spots of bright red, including the legion symbols on his shoulder pads. The armor is covered in the winged blood drop symbol and little ruby blood drops, extending to his weapons.

The wings got a wash of blue over the light grey, followed by highlights of pure white. I wanted his wings to be angelic, but also a little otherwordly.

He wears the hide of a clouded leopard, wrapped around his armor. I picked the dull warm grey of the clouded leopard hide so it would stand out from the bright gold armor. I included a detail pic to show off the spotting.

The model comes with two weapn options- The Blade Encarmine and the Spear of Telesto. The hands are magnetized to allow them to switch as the client desires. Technically he should only wear the Moonsilver Blade when paired with the Spear, but I included it because it looked better in the scabbard.

There’s still some more Primarchs in store. Coming soon.

 

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Saga: Age of Magic

With the new Age of Magic supplement for Saga, the historical skirmish game gets some new armies on the table. I’ve planned out expanding several existing armies to play as various factions.

First up are my Orcs and Goblins, as fittingly, The Horde.

The Horde is the easiest port of the Greenskin way of life to Saga. Previously I had reskinned the Vikings battle board from regular Saga for the Orcs. Lots of brutal combat, surprising speed and toughness, with some nice bonuses for the Bosses leading the way. ‘Ere we go ‘ere we go ‘ere we go!

The Orcs as Horde are already all painted and ready to play. My other armies will require some additions before they are playable. The current 8 point roster is:

Warlord (the Black Orc Boss), 3 points of Warriors (the Boyz), 1 point of bow Levy (Goblins), 1 War Chariot, 1 point of bipedal Creatures (the Brutes; the third is from cashing in 4 Warriors), Sorcerer (Shaman), and Titan Monster (the Mega-Boss). The Boyz get fielded in 2 units of 10, while the Goblins stay as 12. 7 Saga dice to start with ought to give them plenty to use.

 

I haven’t had a chance to get the army on the table yet, but hopefully by next week the Stomrbringaz will get to stompin’. I quite happy that my Orcs will finally get back on the table. Age of Sigmar has demoted my poor Greenskins to the rubbish bin. The Black Orcs art least got to be Ironjawz, and the Goblins get to be the Gloomspite, but the regular Orcs are so lackluster and unfun to play. At least they get to be used here. This is a common comment I’ve heard about Age of Magic for Saga- folks are dusting old armies or even starting new ones all over the place.

How well with the Horde do in game? We shall see. Their battle board has promise of some huge dice pools, and magic will bring a lot of possibilities on top of that.

The last pic is a size comparison between the Mega-Boss and a weedy little Grot. I love the size difference between a Monster and a Levy.

My other factional armies:

The Moonclan Goblins will be the Masters of the Underearth. Like the Orcs, this army is playable right out the door. Massed infantry with all sorts of sneaky tricks, alchemical attacks, and ranged firepower, Squig Rider Hearthguard and Trolls. I might add some crossbows and a giant beast to be an appropriate Monster.

My Poles will be used as the Great Kingdoms. Lots of Knight cavalry and spearmen, alongside bow and crossbow units. They will need a little work, with the addition of a Wizard, a Paladin on small dragon (flying mount) and a big dragon for a Scourge. I’d like to build proper Creatures for them; either bear cavalry or even Werebears. Very Polish, yes? They’ll also get a Dwarf mercenary cannon for some extra firepower.

With a deep dive into my collection, House Nasier from Wrath of Kings will be used as the Otherworld. Their efreeti masks and infernal power seemed right for the demonic faction. A more elite force, since they lack Levy. The Ashmen serve as the basic Warriors, the Pelagarth are Hearthguard, and the various bigger guys will be creatures and monsters. They’ll need a lot of work to be playable though so they’re in the distance.

Last up are the Tomb Kings, obviously marching forth as the Undead. The standard Undead rules will serve ranks of Skeletons, Ushabti as my Creatures, and a giant Tomb Sphinx as a Behemoth. If I want to try out the Eqyptian-esque subfaction, I could field a unit of Chariots. Aside from the Tomb Sphinx, the army is playable now. Going off the fluff of the Tomb Kings, I could easily field them as the Great Kingdoms instead. This is a definite advantage of the Age of Magic ‘build as you want’ approach to armies.

More to come!

Blood Bowl: ‘Ooligans!

 

The Jokerz Blood Bowl Goblins team I painted a while ago gets some special talent from Forgeworld. The Killer Kontraptions bring some highly illegal but suitably wild secret weapons to the pitch. Expect shenanigans.

First up is the Pogoer, riding a dubious pogo stick. In keeping with the Joker/Batman theme, he is dressed as the Riddler. His distinctive green armor with its question marks makes him stand out on the table nicely. Appropriately, his team number is ‘?’.

Next is the Doom Diver, here dressed as Man Bat. The brown wings are distinctive on the table, since his other colors are the Jokerz’ purple/yellow/black color scheme. His team name is ‘M’ which also resembles an upside-down Batman symbol.

 

Next is the ‘Ooligan, carrying a huge loudspeaker to broadcast his (electric?)  rattle and mic. I painted him to match the basic line Goblins, though his lack of helmet meant everyone could see his Joker green mohawk. The loudspeaker also matches the Joker’s mouth motif found throughout the team.

Last but not least is the Joker himself. This is the Black Goblin figure, but here he is the Dark Prince of Crime on the Gridiron. His flowing hood and tatered cape make for a fine profile, hiding plenty of illegal weapons. He has a nicely expressive grinning face.

Age of Squigmar: Stab ‘Em Lads!

 

I’ve finished the full unit of Boingrot Bounders for my Gloomspite Moonclan army for Age Of Sigmar. I love these little goobers. They offer so many options for riders and squigs. I only had a few repeats of faces on the squigs and riders.

Edit: Just tossing in that there were very few conversions or modifications to the kit building the mob. There’s enough variety that I didn’t find it that very necessary. I moved some mushrooms around the bases, added the odd extra back-up weapon, and one squig got a morning star to replace his missing tail (sculpted to look like a battle wound). A couple duplicate lances got cut down or reshaped so they would look unique.

The full unit really gives you a sense of the madness of the unit in full swing. Imagine that mob coming right at you…

The first individual pic is the Boss, wearing his giant pointed hat. His mount wears a wicked spiky face guard, befitting the toughest fighter in the unit (well tough for a Goblin).

 

I have the rest of the unit from several angles to show off the details. I kept the colors simple, blending them in with the army. I added the stripes to the lances to break up the dark riders’ color scheme, especially compared to the bright red of the squigs. I featured the first 3 members in a previous post.

Now on to the Sneaky Snufflers…

Rome and Beyond

 

I’m currently working on a part of a Roman army for an Ancients skirmish game currently under playtest. The Romans are from Agema’s Republican Roman Legionaries box. It contains the full range of the Legions, with Velites, Hastates, Princeps, and Triarii. I’ve done a 15mm version of this army for another client. Take a look for details.

These first 6 are Velites, the light skirmish troops that screened ahead of the Hastates and Princeps. Since Republic-era Romans bought their own gear, the Velites, being poor or too young to cover costs, wear no armor other than helmets, and carry only javelins and a gladius. They were not built to fight anything if they could avoid it. The sculpts are pretty nice, following true 25mm scale.

The last pic is a test paint for a Spartan force I’m considering, for use with the skirmish game and potentially for the game Mortal Gods. He is from the Victrix Athenian Hoplite plastic set; however he’s generic enough that I’m using him as a Spartan. It’s fun returning to Classical Greeks. I haven’t painted a Greek Hoplite since my 15mm Spartan and Tegean force for Field of Glory/DBM.

More of both armies soon.

Saga: Ambush!

More Saga games this week… Here are some pics of a clash between my Britons versus a friend’s Romans in the Ambush scenario. In this scenario, both forces are trying to stop 3 baggage counters as they cross the mid-line of the table. The VP’s come from Survival points, with bonuses from capturing the baggage. Aside from fighting the other army, the baggage counters are pretty tough, so going after them is a daunting prospect.

This time I’m putting up pics only; the maps are a hassle to put together…

 

 

Map for the scenario, with a Roman road down the middle, intersected by an older dirt path. The fencing was ornamental. Woods on either side, with a tilled field north and swampy ground to the south.

Baggage counters. Sheep and a priestly procession.

Shephard and his flock. Old man had a mean stick.

The Romans had a mounted Warlord, 8 mounted Heathguard, 24 Warriors, and 12 spear Levy. The Britons had a Warlord with 2 Companions, 6 mounted Heathguard, 24 Warriors, and 12 bow Levy. The Warlord and Hearthguard are my Romano-British models, which lets me play them as either. The Warriors were from my Welsh army; since they wear the same clothes and bare the same sorts of shields as the British, they stand in well. For the scenario, both armies had to move on to the table in their first turn. You roll a D6 for each baggage, so they could stay put, move, and/or move and remove fatigues every player turn. Thus you have to plan to intercept them while the enemy close in.

 

 

Britons move on to the table.

Warriors and Warlord (and his Companions)

More British Warriors.

Roman Warriors arrive in good order.

Roman equites Hearthguard race in, with the spear Levy just visible.

Closeup of a Roman unit.

The British went first, pouring onto the table. I favored the west side, since I figured the baggage would move into me at some point. The Romans did more of less the same, mirroring the British deployment. The baggage moved down the road, with the center counter (led by the priest) in the lead. While the Britons advanced piecemeal, the Romans used their Impetus to mass activate for a solid wall of movement. The Romans started hostilities, their Levy charging the center baggage counter. The priest beat them handily, killing 3 and repelling them. The Levy tried again, losing another 2 men. My own men thought better of dealing with this priest, letting him pass for now. The random movement/fatigue removal meant our plans were always disrupted.

 

 

Hearthguard ready for the Roman charge.

The angry priest stares down both armies.

British Hearthguard charge across the road.

British Warriors charged but also fail to bring the priest down, but they exhaust him, giving the Romans the opportunity to kill him.

Britons take the objective from the Romans.

Briton cavalry run a rearguard action to hold up the Romans.

In order to weaken my side, the Roman equites charged the mounted British Hearthguard. In a flurry of battleboard abilities on both sides and some great rolling on my part, the Romans had to retreat, losing 4, the Brits losing 2.

After the priest advanced further down the road, my own Warriors had a go, but were also repelled by the priest. This did tire him out though, so the Romans pounced, throwing a flurry of plumbata to bring him down. They then ran up to grab the objective counter and retreated right out from under my army’s noses. My Hearthguard launched a charge across the road to try to cut off the Roman retreat. They handily beat one unit of Warriors for no losses.

My Warlord moved through the gap in my line, trying to Galvinize as many units as possible. A fresh British Warrior unit charged the retreating Romans, beating them enough to steal the objective back, then retreated back down the country road. On the other end of the Briton line, a couple activations of the bow Levy finished off the surviving Roman Hearthguard.

I knew the Warriors were vulnerable, so my Hearthguard moved to block the road. Their gambit was to hold up the other Roman units from chasing my retreating Warriors. They weathered a counter charge and plumbata, losing a member but doing well.

The Roman Warlord tried a series of attacks on one of the other counters, but each time the Old Man chased him off waving his stick most belligerently. We both found the baggage counters a seriously tough target (Armor 5/6, Resilience (1), roll 3 dice in combat, can’t use your battleboard abilities in melee against them). With the last failed charge of the Roman Warlord, the game ended at Turn 5.

In the end, the Britons came out on top. Most of the army was untouched, and they held one of the baggage counters. I payed them very defensively, and after seeing how tough the baggage was, I let the Romans tire themselves out fighting them.

 

 

 

Saga: Battles

I’ve been playing a lot of Saga lately. I’ve been running demos and multi-player games at my FLGS. These pics are from a bunch of recent games. Along with them are some basic battle reports.

The Crossing

Clash of Kings

Desecration

 

Battle: The Crossing- Vikings vs. Anglo-Danes (6 pts)

Terrain- tilled field in upper left, river and road in the center axes, forest in lower left, and cottage in lower right.

Terrain setup, with a single bridge across the river. Vikings to the north, Anglo-Danes to the south.

Viking Warlord, Hearthguard, and Warriors on the left flank.

Viking Warriors and bow Levy on the right flank.

Anglo-Danish Warlord, with his Huscarls and bow Levy on right flank.

Anglo-Danes Warriors on the left flank.

The Crossing scenario involves trying to fight your way in to the opponent’s table half, with VP’s for kills and bonuses for units with your Warlord on the other side of the river. Were the English valiantly holding off yet another Viking raid, or was this just another territorial dispute in the Danelaw? It seems we were also sort of re-fighting the Battle of Stamford Bridge. The deployment rules divide the armies into 2 equal groups pushed to the corners of their sides, which is why we both started with a big gap in our lines.

My Vikings, upon finding out the river was far too rapid to safely cross, instead all rushed for the bridge. The Anglo-Danes were slower, advancing a few units, but opted to loose arrows to no effect (the Vikings on the bridge made good use of the stone cover).

 

Vikings roar across the bridge right into the Danish shield wall.

The first Viking on the bridge, survivor of spear and arrows.

The bridge is swept clean of fighters with charges and countercharges.

Viking Hearthguard press forward behind the surviving Warriors.

The bridge saw charges and counter-charges, with the Vikings pushing into the Danish Warriors. Thrall bows shaved down the larger units of Danes before the screaming Vikings slammed into them. The Viking in orange from the pic saw three separate fights, surviving repeated arrow fire, before the Dane Hearthguard cut him down at cost to themselves. More arrow fire from both sides started to whittle men down. The Danish Warlord was forced to step up to hold back the tide, but was dragged down by the Viking Hearthguard.  Neither side managed to get across the bridge, but the Anglo-Danes were broken past the ability to resist. Win for the Vikings.

 

Battle: Clash of Warlords- Anglo-Danes vs. Vikings (4 pts)

Terrain- Small woods in upper left, ruin in upper right, tilled field in lower left, and rough rocky ground in lower right.

Anglo-Danes hold the line.

Vikings throng surges forward.

Vikings to the north, Anglo-Danes to the south.

This was a basic fight, the typical ‘meet and greet’ as I call them. This was one of the demo games, with a new player leading the Vikings against my Anglos. The scenario was a simple setup with massacre VP’s. We got to break in a friend’s new mat, which looked amazing with terrain and miniatures on it.

The Vikings surged forward, while the Danes hung back. Danish archery bounced off Viking shields as they slammed into my Danish line, invoking the Call of Ragnarok. With all his charges free and every model’s armor at -1 it was going to be messy. The Viking Warlord slaughtered a unit of Danish Warriors and the Huscarls, while his Warriors did some shoving with my own for some damage to both sides.

Danish huscarls accompany their Warlord.

Here they come!

A proper clash of Warlords.

The smoke clears, with the Viking Warlord triumphant.

My Anglo-Dane Warlord had to take the fight to the invaders or they would overwhelm them. He charged the Viking leader, but in a flurry of axe and sword, the Vikingr emerged out of the melee, hurt but alive. His nearby Berserkers gladly intervened to protect him, absorbing 4 wounds. My Warlord was no so lucky, dying in the fight.

After that, my meager forces tried to bring down the isolated Viking leader, but he overcame all my attempts. After that the surviving Danes changed tactics, picking off his men with arrow fire (stripping him of Saga dice) and slowing the Warlord with remnants of units. Eventually bow fire finally brought him down, leaving very little on either side. Win for the Anglo-Danes, but at massive cost.

 

Battle: Desecration- Normans vs. Carolingians (6 pts)

Terrain- swamp in upper left, temple on hill in upper right, cemetery in lower left, and forest in lower right

This was a first for both of us. I haven’t played the Normans in 2nd edition before. I used my Polish/Crusader army as Normans (close enough right?), while my opponent tried the Carolingians, also for the first time. He subbed in his Anglo-Danes as Franks. I fielded a mounted Warlord, 8 mounted Hearthguard, 8 mounted Warriors, 8 spear Warriors, 8 Crossbow Warriors, and 12 bow Levy, while the Franks were Warlord, 8 Hearthguard, 24 spear Warriors, and 8 bow Warriors. He opted to go all foot for this battle.

Norman Warrior cavalry on the far right flank.

Norman Levy archers in the center.

Norman knights, with the Warlord behind them.

Norman Crossbows on left flank.

In the Desecration scenario, both players place 3 objectives. These objectives can be targeted by the enemy to destroy them. While the game uses massacre VP’s, the upper limit is based on how many enemy objectives are left on the table. Thus, you might go for kills, but you have to also go for the objectives to win. The table was a sort of temple complex, so we figured we were each going for tombs of the other faction’s ancestors or assorted monuments.

 

Frankish bow Levy and Warriors hang out in the swamp.

Warriors guard an objective.

Frankish Hearthguard stand before their Warlord.

Warriors occupy a small shrine, which proved useful against the Norman cavalry.

The game began with the Normans rushing forward- the Crossbow and spearmen  moved slowly over the walls of a cemetery, taking cover behind the tombs, while the mounted Warriors rushed along the far right flank toward an objective. The Carolingians advanced slowly out of a swamp, banking Saga dice for later. A volley of arrows brought down a few Crossbowmen, despite the cover of the cemetery.

In the second turn, it turned violent. With all 8 Saga dice to use, the Normans brought the fight to the Franks. Crossbows and archers brought down some Frankish Hearthguard, adding Fatigue. The Norman knights then slammed into the Hearthguard, wiping them out. They then charged again, this time at the Carolingian Warlord; a couple abilities adding both Attack and Defense dice, resulting in a single Norman casualty while they trampled the Frankish leader.

The Franks line was crippled. Fatigue and casualties started stacking up, keeping the enemy bowmen from firing on the surviving Norman knights. The Norman mounted Warriors destroyed one enemy objective and threatened another. The Norman Warlord then rode forth, crushing the Frankish bow. Archery from the Norman lines cut down more of the Frankish Warriors, spelling the end of the game. The Franks gave in, conceding the win for the Normans.

 

Norman foot scramble through the cemetery.

Hearthguard versus Hearthguard fight on the horizon…

Before

After

More battle reports in the future.