BOYL 2017 - A Tale of Two Gamers!

The first game I played at BOYL this year (other than the excellent Jetbike race on the Helsreach table) was the culmination of the Tale of Four Gamers: Nerves of Lead painting challenge myself and three other friends embarked on soon after last year's BOYL.

For various reasons two of our compadres had to drop out so that left me and Ashley to duke it out on the table top. To spice things up a bit we decided to introduce a simple scenario with a limited number of turns rather than just a line 'em up and knock 'em down style battle.

To this effect Ashley's Liche had taken possession of a cache of magical spices...

Shady Characters

Thought I'd make a change this month and get my quota for the Tale of Four Gamers challenge out of the way early - I only just got last month's entry posted on Facebook for adjudication at what must have been close to two minutes to midnight on the 28th Feb!

This month I've gone for a unit of 10 Shadows - Dark Elf scouts equipped with shields, hand weapons and repeating crossbows, weighing in at 180 points.

Saddle Saurian

Almost missed the deadline for this month's Tale of Four Gamers - a few too many Dwarves and Dr Who minis methinks! This month I tackled the remaining members of the Doomdrake unit

Cracking a Cold One

Or at least I will now these Cold One Riders are done!

Getting the General idea...

Hey I think I'm getting better at this Tale of Four Gamers lark - got my entry ready to share with the world and there's still over a week of December left!

Either that or I've set my sights low in terms of model count...

Yep it's the latter as this month I've decided to tackle my army general to give me a breather on the painting front what with the coming festivities and all.

Femme Fatales!

Hmmm, this is getting a bit of a habit - posting up pics of my latest addition to the Tale of Four Gamers challenge on the last day of the month. This won't be an option next month as there's little chance of me being sober enough to hold a camera straight let alone a paint brush! A little more organisation is called for methinks...

Anyhow, here's November's offering - a L5 Dark Elf Sorceress mounted on a Cold One (100 points) and six Witch Elves with light armour, additional hand weapons and poisoned attacks (84 points). That along with the unit of 11 warriors led by a L5 hero (with light armour, shields, hand weapons and  standard) and the Jaded Sisters (2 L5 heroines with light armour, double handed weapons and poisoned attacks) gives me a total of 480 points - 30 points ahead of the game!

Tale of Four Gamers: Nerves of Lead - The Jaded Sisters

Well that was a busy October in (non hobby terms) and a sprint finish in the last week (in hobby terms). My entry for the Tale of Four Gamers this month only just squeezed in thanks to a last minute post on Facebook at 23.59am of the last night of October! 

This tardiness was mainly due to being distracted by preparations for this year's Night of the Living Lead which I attended last weekend - more of which in another post - and being distracted by shiny new models at the Foundry - namely the titular (in more ways than one) sisters who will be joining my Dark Elf army as L5 Heroines equipped with heavy armour, double handed weapons and poisoned attacks. They weigh in at 112 points which along with the 34 points overspend from last month means that I'm only 4 points shy of the 150 points target. I guess I'll be finishing the unit of Crossbows I had been working on another time!

Anyway, enough of the boring points stuff - on with the juicy background!

Twin sisters born in to the Nephrite clan, Calemirnith and Calemirthel were inseparable despite the stark differences in their characters. Blessed with a cold beauty, Calemirthel soon became renowned as quite the prize amongst the nobility of Ghaba Ghanaf. Of course anyone foolish enough to consider her a trophy for the taking would soon be disabused of the notion.

Calemirthel - Seductress of Har Ganeth

What Calemirnith lacked in the terms of her sister's beauty, she more than made up for with her savagery and appetite for depravity. Her reputation went before her and all quailed at the prospect of becoming the object of her callous desires.

Calemirnith - Mistress of Har Ganeth

In fact the sisters made it their personal goal to sample all the sensory pleasures that cold Ghaba Ghanaf had to offer. No act was too base and no whim too perverse. And yet it was not enough. With much of the nobility, eligible or otherwise, dead or crippled and the city's slave population decimated thanks to the sister's tender mercies, the Elders of Ghaba Ghanaf certainly breathed a sigh of relief when they halted their reign of lubricious terror, jaded and weary of such things.

However accusations of heresy were soon levelled at the sisters and they were tried and found guilty of worshipping Slaanesh. In penance Calemirthel and Calemirnith were locked into suits of jade armour and forced to pledge their allegiance to Khaine. They were inducted into the fanatical sect of the Brides of Khaine and are now closely observed by their fellow Witch Elves for any further sign of heresy.

I'm currently painting up the small unit of Witch Elves for this month so they can keep an eye on the sisters although I'll need to throw something else in to the mix to make up the points for the 150 points target...

The Beautiful Game...

... if you like a bit of depraved violence and complete anarchy!

Yes Sports Fans, welcome to the latest team, fresh in from the Darklands to start a new season - the Wasteland Wanderers!

You said it Bob! Well lets get right down to business. This bloodthirsty bunch are headed up by Star Linesman, Tuern Redvenom renowned for his low down dirty tricks and pathological hatred of pretty much all other living beings!

Yes Sirree Jim, that's one Elf with a whole lot of attitude! His team mates aren't much better. You don't want the ball if known assassin and ref-killer, Horkon Heartripper is on your tail...

You got that right Bob, he's a cold blooded killer alright, and the fans love him! Lets see about the rest of the team...

So I got my Dark Elf team finished and I'm quite happy with how they turned out - dark and evil with a splash of colour.

You may notice that I've recruited the old 1st ed(?) Dark Elf mini to be a Star Player and assassin from 3rd/4th ed. Tuern Redvenom may well become the star player, Hubris Rakarth, or at least use his stats. That's because these chaps will be facing off against the Golden Boars at the end of the month and we will be using the later rules set to play.

This means I'll be using these Catchers and Throwers as linemen -

... along wth these guys.

The kicker on the end will become a Runner - supported here by three Blitzers

Not forgetting the lovely ladies of the Wanderers own Cheerleading Troupe - the Wastrelles.

Also on the cards will be a Witch Elf or two, possibly an actual Assassin (Marauder minis) and a wizard - shown here in an earlier WIP photo.

Oh and I'd best paint up the old Astrogranite pitch too!

Depraved Violence!

Am I talking about the disgusting antics regularly seen on and off the pitch in Premiership Football games? 

Nope - I'm talking Blood Bowl! 

Don't worry - I haven't forgotten about Mayhem - next few turns coming up soon once I've sorted the pics out.

In fact having moaned a bit about the lack of gaming last year, things are definitely looking up this year. Mayhem is keeping me busy at the mo (albeit solo gaming) and the Oldhammer Day at Foundry will be two days of gaming heaven. 

Added to this an old pal of mine has started a new blog, The Second Founding, and challenged me to a game of Blood Bowl at the end of March. We've enjoyed a few games of 40K (I forget which edition - 5th?) using his Dark Templars and Imperial Guard - unlucky last time mate! You've got to love the effect massed Lascannons have on a line of Space Marines forced into an advance over open ground towards a central objective!

He's posted up pics of his rather nice looking Human team, the Golden Boars, and rumour has it that Griff Oberwald and the Mighty Zug have been signed up as star players.

Anyway you may remember these chaps I painted up ages ago for the Lead Painters League - my pub team, The Slann in Spacers

Obviously short of a few team members! 

However, I thought it'd be a bit dull having Humans V. Humans - with a few friends along to help out. So I decided to take the plunge and paint up one of the other teams languishing in the paint queue. But who to choose - Dark Elves or Orcs? 

Well obviously I chose the Dark Elves, mainly because that's the team I've used the most on Blood Bowl Legendary Edition and also because I haven't really painted any Dark Elves before.

Here they are with their base coats on

and the first wave of highlights/washes

I'm hoping the armour will turn out like jade and the dark blue will probably get a bit lighter yet. I've also tried to go for a really pale and unhealthy - subterranean in fact! - skin tone. Not sure whether its gone a little too pasty and grey? 

As you can see the team is really set up for Second Edition Blood Bowl with all the Catchers, Throwers and Kicker. We will be playing the latest version of course so that means I'll have to recruit some Witch Elves and Assassins and "demote" my catchers to Linemen and promote Kickers/Throwers to Runners. 

Here's a few possibilities for the Witch Elves and Assassin (never understood why any self respecting assassin would go around in that hood and cloak that just screams out "I'm up to no good - probably a thief or assassin or some such ne'er-do-well!"), along with a Wizard for some sideline fun!

I should get this lot finished for the end of March, along with painting up the 2nd ed. Astrogranite pitch they're stod on. I'll be sure to take some pics and attempt some kind of post-match report here once we've played.

Baron Kraust's Band of Lost Souls

Well I seem to be turning procrastination into a higher art form! Here's hnother army list instead of some painted minis. This one, however, has had a bit of fleshing out and a back story thought out for it - I'll be lavishing the same treatment on my Orc and Elf armies when I get round to it.

The Baron's army came about as a result of the smattering of chaos minis I had bought on a whim and the remnants of the old Skeleton army box set that were still knocking around in my collection. The Chaos warrior in bone armour (seen posing on the ridge in the pic to the left!) inspired me to join the two forces together - and hopefully save me a bit of money by getting 2 armies for the price of one!

If you missed the Baron first time round here's a little reminder -http://teasgettingcold.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/disdain-sanity-and-scholarship-loftiest.html

So on with the list - this time I have gone to town a bit with the magic items as it seems to fit in more with the character of the army.

Major Characters and Rank and File

Baron Kraust
Level 25 Necromancer
2 handed weapon (Parasitic blade) and chaos armour
400 points





Undead

3 units of 10 Death Riders
Each unit includes a Level 15 Skeleton hero and standard bearer
Shields, lances and hand weapons
Total points - 328

Undead Chariot with wheel scythes
Crew have handweapons, shields and include a level 10 skeleton hero
167 points

20 Skeleton Warriors
Handweapons and shields
Level Hero and standard bearer
278 points



10 Grim Reapers
Scythes
 Level 10 champion
120 points

12 Skeleton WarriorsHand weapons and shields
Level 10 hero and standard
187 points







16 Skeleton Archers
Bows and light armour
224 points

20 Zombies (1 bought so far!)
Level 10 Undead hero
Handweapons
138 points

Undead Giant
Haven't seen any 3rs ed. stats or points value for this so have used regular Giant's stats.
250 points

2 Screaming Skull Catapults
170 points





Ethereal Host

3 Wraiths
450 points

Spectre
200 points




Chaos Allies

Chaos Knight Contingent Leader
Chaos steed, barding
Heavy armour, shield, hand weapon and lance
289 points

4 Mounted Chaos Warriors (2 to source)
Warhorses, barding
Heavy armour, shields, lances and hand weapons
Magic Standard
657 points

Level 10 Chaos Sorcerer
85 points

5 Chaos Centaurs
Double handed weapons and light armour
Level 10 Champion
324 points

10 Beastmen
Hand weapons, shields and standard
Level 10 Beastman champion
Heavy armour and two handed weapon
242 points

2 Minotaurs
Hand weapons

80 points

11 Thug Archers

Light armour, bows, hand weapons

Musician and standard

Marauder Champion - light armour, pistol and two handed weapon

171 points

 

 

10 Thugs

Light armour, shields and hand weapons

Chaos Warrior champion - heavy armour, shield and hand weapon

176

13 Monks of the Red Redemption

Hand weapons and shields

Champion, Standard bearer and musician

170 points

14 Chaos Dwarfs

Heavy armour, shields and hand weapons

Level 10 hero, standard and musician

409 points

Beastmaster and 3 Chaos Hounds

86 points

Chaotic Host -

Jabberwock

200 points

Manticore

 200 points

Hippogriff

200 points 

Basilisk - I have the mini but can't find any mention of it in the 3rd ed. bestiary or Army book. May be being a bit blind so if anyone knows any stats for this beastie let me know - otherwise I'll just make my own up.

2 mutant Ogres
Hand weapons/flail
84 points




Dark Elf Allies

Dark Elf Sorceror
Level 10 - Contingent commander
118 points

5 Dark Elf Doomdrakes (2 to source)
Light armour, shields, hand weapons, lances and repeating crossbows
Level 10 champion and standard bearer
347 points





The Dark Elves may turn into their own little skirmishing force - been quite tempted by the marauder Dark and Witch Elves for a while now...


Total Points value -  (quite fittingly almost!) 6600 points