…as a new year beckons…so does a army

Well, with xmas over I ventured into my local gamesworkshop to purchase my £50 quota of lizardmen only to stubble across the store copy of the new Empire book. Well as you can imagine I got totally hooked on the new models and units so much so that I ended walking away with a unit of plastic empire knights and a wizard blister in preparation for there release in Jan…not the intended lizardman choice. So it looks like the lizardmen are on hold. On the plus side however, I have a selection of empire models (obviously none of it painted besides a steam tank, which is now a sugar coated chariot at toughness 6 in the new rules and thus useless at 300 points blah blah blah) and I know one or two people wanting to get rid of some. With this is mind I’m thinking of going for a well-rounded army with a smattering of infantry (the new swordsmen in particular) supported by cavalry and artillery. Tall orders then as those who know me are aware of my usual distaste for painting rank and file.

Know what they say about Dwarfs with Big Hats?

Right, like everyone else I have £50 to spend for the first two months… I reckon I will go with two units of troops. I doubt I will reach 500 points so I have decided to leave out a character, and as I hope to play some games of skirmish one is not necessary at this stage…

First things first; a unit of Chaos Dwarf Axemen as a) I like the models and b) I have them to hand! These will form the core of my army, to preserve WYSIWYG I will give them double handed weapons. Looking at the list, I elect to take 12 of them with full command, which I reckon would cost me £25 (9 Warriors for £18 and Command for £7).

With £25 left to spend I reckon a bit of variety wouldn’t go amiss… Time for some Hobgoblins! As I’ve already got the Chaos Dwarfs ready for close combat, I’ve decided on some Hobgoblin Archers for highly effective *ahem* missile support… I take 10 without command for the grand total of £20.50 (9 Hogoblins at £18, one spare at £2.50).

So for this period my grand army loose from Zharr Naggrund stands at:

12 Chaos Dwarf Axemen with full command:	162pts	£25.00
10 Hobgoblin Archers:	50pts	£20.50
Total:	212pts	£45.50

Leaving an additional £4.50 towards next month… Or so I thought until a quick flutter on Ebay got me a Bull Centaur for £3.96… Bringing me up to £49.46, leaving me with erm, 54p towards next month…

Penny sweets it is then…

Now, as those who are familar with the rules are aware, I don’t get to use him until I’ve reached 1000 points… Ah well, I’ll put him to one side for a rainy day…

Now, onto the painting!

Undeath continued

ohh yes, i forgot about the price thing, I bought the figures a while ago, so i’ll paint according to the current outragously priced price list.

The necromancer - £4

The Blood Dragon - (£10 for 2 figures)                                      (£14 running total)

8 Black knights from the converted Empire Knights – £18    (£32 running total)

10 Dire Wolves – £30, however 10 goblin wolf riders are £18 get rid of the useless greenskins, and you have 10 little Wolves for nearly half the price.          (£50 running total)

Although I have an extra little Blood Dragon Running around, I’m sure he’ll come in usefull later on in the Campaign.. maybe in the front rank of a unit of Grave Guard

ohh yes, the extra points which I previously mentioned, will be going to a few extra Black Knights..

Now all I have to wait for is the arrival of my boxes. And of course to get my 360 head off, and my painting head on.

A new beginning, undeath

As my rulebook is in limbo in a storage box en route to me along with most of my figure.. so i’ll just make this bit up with a bit of help from Army builder, mainly to stop Kahuna’s bitching.( i just suggested that he gets off his ass and put the chainsaw down, tho to be fair stu was one of the first to get his profile on the site – ed)

I have to have a stupid necromancer  (73pts), so i’ll be painting one of those little leaches.

I’ll also be Painting up a Blood Dragon (98pts), the True General of my forces (even if the rulebook says otherwise).

The oxygen thief of a necromancer will take some much needed points, so the rest of the force will be made with a core of 5 Dire wolves x 2  (120pts), and 5x Black Knights (157pts).

Thats makes 444pts or round about there, i’ll throw in a steed or two for the “generals”,  and make up the points with something else.

HAPPY NOW?!?!

A gathering of scales…

January-February 2007

Trauq-Gar has begun mustering his forces in order to enlighten all those who would desecrate his jungle home…

So having chosen a skink-based theme for my force what will my initial £50 be spent on? After a quick thumb of the rulebook the choice was rather self-explanatory. 1 box of skinks (£18) makes me 24 of these amphibious creatures; more than enough for 2 units. A unit of even stealthier chameleon skinks (£14) and finally a blister of skink heroes (£7) should do the trick. Giving me a highly maneuverable shooting force led by a skink champion…“catch me if you can.” This will give me £11 to bank for next month. After all I’ve got 32 models to be painting. Hmmm now where’s my paintbrush…

So here’s a sampler army list for things to come…

10 skink skirmishers (70pts)
10 skink skirmisher (70pts)
6 chameleon skinks (90pts)
Skink Priest (65), level 2 (35), cloak of feathers (30), scout (10)
Skink Chief (55), blowpipe (8), light armour and shield (4), scout (10), Sacred Stegadon Helm (40), biting blade (10).

Total – 497

First strike from the Wood Elves

January-February 2007

From previous false starts with a Wood Elf army I found a number of classic archers (20-30), Wardancers (34!), and a few character figures.  Despite loving the older figures, the new ones are too good to resist as well, so new purchases would be a necessity.  A box of Glade Guard and Dryads were a no-brainer, a trip to the local GW store and Ebay got the pair for £30.50.  Allowing myself another £19.50 to complete my starting £50 I purchased a new Wardancer Command £7.  Pausing to take stock I couldn’t turn down an ebay bargain of 3 Warhawk Riders and a Noble for £10.50.  So total expenditure sits at £48.

With two months to paint before the first games start, some idea of what I need is required.  The warhawks are not really essential figures but were too good a deal to miss.  I will leave them until last.  A quick check of the army book came up with the following:

1 Noble, longbow, great weapon, light armour, Doom Arrow                                                                  111pts

12 Glade Guard, full command, Banner of Spring Tide                                                                     199pts

8 Dryads                                                              96pts

5 Wardancers                                                   90pts

Total – 496pts

Whilst this doesn’t include the Warhawks, I will add them as soon I expand the force.  I have grabbed a few Wardancers from my bits box as well to balance out the force.  This starting 500 pts army can now be the basis for a larger force.

Here are pictures of the army, please click on the links (they will open in a new window): the army arrayed for battle, dryads