Age of Sigmar #10 - More Wishlists!

I overheard an interesting conversation between a few hobbyists earlier this week in my local GW. If you had unlimited funds what would you buy from new armies to completing a collection so long as you would actually see use? Naturally as I so often do I began to wishlist for several armies that I know I can't have right now but would be able to buy because of the criteria of the question. I have stuck to 1000 point armies once again as that is my favourite size of game for Age of Sigmar.

Eldritch Council

This list is pure frustration that Age of Sigmar still does not have a new Aelven faction to play, hopefully 2017 will be the year that GW updates the smaller factions or the races they have yet to feature. I always liked the aesthetic of the Swordmasters even though the rest of the old High Elf range drove me nuts! There is something quite appealing about heavily armoured Aelves swinging around a Great Sword that looks to be the same size as the user.

Archmage on Dragon

Loremaster

10 Swordmasters

10 Swordmasters

10 Swordmasters

Swordmasters, taken from the Swordmasters warscroll

Clans Eshin

Recently I saw a battle report on Warhammer TV where a Verminlord Deceiver teleported across the board and began to rip apart a squad of something that I cannot recall... or the Verminlord itself was ripped apart, I can't remember. Either way the idea of ninja Skaven skulking through the mortal realms behind the lines of Sigmar's forces striking where needed to remove whats needed seems like a really cool theme for an army to me.

Verminlord Deceiver

Skaven Assassin

20 Night Runners

20 Night Runners

15 Gutter Runners

Skaven Assassin, taken from the Skaven Assassin warscroll

Soulblight

This is a list I have wanted to try for quite a while now, I know how great horde armies do in 1000 point games but as of now I have yet to experience playing with a very small but elite list. At only 11 models this would be quite a fun project for a week off work.

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon

5 Blood Knights

5 Blood Knights

Blood Knights, taken from the Blood Knights warscroll

Gutbusters

This list is inspired by an army I played in 2016's Season of War, it was the only army my Nighthaunt host had a problem with killing. I don't know if it was bad luck on the day or if Ogors are really as tough as they look but its definitely something I would like to try very soon. Once again being a rather low model count I can foresee this being a fun force to put together over a week of rest.

Butcher

6 Ogors

3 Leadbelchers

6 Ironguts

Ironguts, taken from the Ironguts warscroll

Well that's another 4 armies that I could see myself collecting for Age of Sigmar, very soon I'll have a list for every possible faction most likely.

January 2017 Hobby Round-up or: How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating and Love the Brush

Anybody that knows me knows that painting aspect of wargaming is probably the part of the hobby I enjoy the least. To work towards completing my 2017 hobby resolutions I have just had to push myself to paint and to my own surprise (and my friends), I have really enjoyed it. The feeling of accomplishment due to finishing a unit of models is something I've not felt in such a long time that it has become almost addictive. Let's hope I keep it up!

This month I made a start on 1000 points of Deathrattle for Age of Sigmar, Completing 42 out of 77 models for the army and beating my goal of a model a day in January of 31. The first photo below is of my converted Wight King with Infernal Standard. He was made using the previously available Wight King from Forge World, I really like the original model but I feel the banner he originally was holding did not fit the theme of my skeletal legion. 

The next photo shows my converted Necrotect, I really like this unit supporting my Deathrattle army as its in-game abilities are really useful though I was stuck thematically as the official model before the range was removed by GW was a mummy. 5 short minutes later I had this thematically fitting conversion that I'm really happy with (and will probably make a second of).

 

Below are two blocks of 20 Skeleton Warriors armed with Swords and Shield. You will notice that they are a mix of the Vampire Counts Skeleton Warriors box and the old Tomb Kings Skeleton Warriors box. Before it went out of production I bought up as many of these boxes and other local hobbyists spare shields as I could, I much prefer the legionary look of these shields and icons in comparison to the rag-tag look of the VC shields and torn standards.

 

Plans for February

With February being a relatively short month in comparison to others my goal is 28 models. Going ahead I have 35 more models to add to the Deathrattle I painted this month to complete the army so I feel this is a workable goal. Alternatively I did get quite the haul of LotR SBG minis for Christmas 2016 and would like to start to make a dent to the crate of mini's I have in the backlog for LotR.

LotR SBG backlog crate

Age of Sigmar #8 - How to play Deathmages? / Deathwalker? / Beasts of the Grave?

The common keywords for these units are: DEATH

These three factions, Deathmages, Deathwalker and Beasts of the Grave are very weird in regards to most other factions in Age of Sigmar, they all aren't able to legally or even effectively play as a faction on its own unlike most all other factions in the game. Grand Alliance Death obviously has a ton of holes that need filling and hopefully, we will get a new or second re-written faction to rectify this. I play this three factions as one army as each faction either by design or most likely pure chance fill the role of Leaders, Troops or Monsters.

Heroes (Deathmages)

I have not included the Mortis Engine as a part of this overview as I feel thematically it belongs in a Nighthaunt / Malignants army and so sticks out from the rest of these units.

Necromancer: Necromancers are the standard Wizard available to Death, their unique magic spell, Vanhel's Danse Macabre, on the other hand, is incredibly useful not only in supporting ZOMBIE armies but also SKELETON and MORDANT allowing the target unit to pile in and fight twice in the combat phase. Necromancers also have a rule very similar to the Warhammer 40,000 look out sir which allows you to allocate wounds they suffer to ZOMBIE units in close proximity.

Necromancer, taken from Necromancer warscroll

Troops (Deathwalker)

Zombies: Zombies work, but only in large numbers. Zombies have no armour save and awful melee stats until you begin to horde them, for each group of 10 Zombies in the unit they gain 1+ to their Hit and Wound rolls to a maximum of 3+ which if you get this bonus means you have a unit of at least 30 zombies and no matter what army you are facing, 30 Zombies is a hard unit to remove. That 3+ to Hit rolls can be boosted to 4+ to Hit rolls if within close proximity of a Corpse Cart. Although they have no save they have two ways to bolster their ranks during the game, firstly if they include a banner D6 Zombies return to the unit each Hero Phase and secondly every time the Zombies kill a model, roll a dice and on a 6 the slain model becomes a Zombie!

Corpse Cart: The Corpse Cart is the unit that allows your Zombies and Dire Wolves to get those much-needed re-rolls. If left on its own it is completely useless as it is not great in a fight and its abilities are then wasted. Each Corpse Cart has the choice of a Balefire Brazier which forces enemy Wizards to subtract 1 from their casting roll. Alternatively, it can have an Unholy Lodestone which boosts casting rolls of Death Wizards by 1. With the large number of Zombies, you should be taking and their need to be within 9" of one of these carts I would almost always take 2 of these each with one of the different options.

Corpse Cart, taken from Corpse Cart warscroll

Dire Wolves: Dire Wolves are the fast addition to this army, compared to the Zombies this unit if what you will use to zip across the battlefield to control and contest objectives or pick off vulnerable backline units. They are quite survivable with two wounds each and much like the Zombies get better if they are close to a Corpse Cart, in this case, it allows them to add one to save roll essentially making it a 4+.

Monsters (Beasts of the Grave)

Terrorgheist: The Terrogheist is in no way a bad unit but it is much better in other factions when it is acting as a mount for a hero. It does have a great shooting attack that wounds against the targets Bravery stat so against cowardly armies this unit gives this army a much needed powerful ranged attack to put pressure on the enemy while your Zombies make their way across the battlefield.

Zombie Dragon: As with the Terrorgheist the versions of the Zombie Dragon as a mount for a hero are much better than the Zombie Dragon on its own. Much like the Terrorgheist the Zombie Dragon has a powerful ranged attack that I would happily use instead of Arcane Bolt on my Necromancers to allow them to cast their unique spell.

Age of Sigmar #5 - Slaves of Shyish

The first ever army I collected when getting into the hobby over a decade ago was Bretonnia for Warhammer Fantasy. Growing up playing mainly Age of Empires the Knights of the Realm were the obvious choice for a young inspired newbie.

With the destruction of the world that was my beloved Bretonnia no longer exists and this leaves me with a pile of models that I have no use for. My friend rob has been pushing me into using them for Age of Sigmar so he can paint them for me but I had until this evening been hesitant as I didn't feel like they fit into the Age of Sigmar world.

I finally came up with a theme that I feel fits the fluff of AoS. The Lords, Damsels and Paladins are vampires leading a coven of humans who wish to become Vampires. The Knights are these humans wishing to become Vampires and so fight for the Coven Lord to prove their worth and right to ascension. The Peasants are organised into Herds of humans kept alive only for their blood when needed these herds are organised to fight using Longbows and Polearms. The Battle Pilgrims are now Vampires that have fallen out of favour with their lord and are forced to battle with awful weaponry hopefully trying to regain the favour of their lord. Finally, the Green Knight is now The Undying, First Vampire of Shyish an immortal warrior that is now a part of Shyish itself coming forth to destroy the foes of the Realm of Death.

Warscrolls

All of the Warscrolls are heavily influenced by the legacy Bretonnian scrolls. Let me know if you think anything is way too overpowered or if you have any cool ideas to add to the themes of these units or new units,

The Warscrolls were created using this Custom Warscroll Designer.

EDIT: POINTS VALUES

Age of Sigmar #4 - The Fell Souls of Stygzz

Well, this has been a long time coming. This is the first time in my 10+ years in the hobby that I have completed an army... You can call bullshit but if you knew me you would know how awful I am at staying on a project.

My finished army "The Fell Souls of Stygzz" are in no way Golden Demon or even Bronze Demon if such award were to exist but this really is a milestone for my hobby. Painting this army has gained Death 6 points in my store, with gaming giving me a few more too having not lost a game with them at 1000 points.

The whole army ready to battle!

Now these are done I have two more AoS projects to finish. I'm painting a Stormcast Lord-Celestant as a Celestial Vindicators for a painting competition in my local GW. I have never entered anything into a painting competition before because I know I'm not good enough to even place but I have 20 days to practice and improve my skills to hopefully stand out from the crowd of other entries.

The other project I'm undertaking with my girlfriend is a 1000 point Sylvaneth army with tonnes of the cool new models included. More to come on this project in a different post.

Age of Sigmar #3 - How to play Nighthaunt?

The common keywords for these units are: DEATH, NIGHTHAUNT and MALIGNANT

Most units in the Nighthaunt have both the Fly and Ethereal rules. Fly allows them to ignore scenery when moving and also pass over enemy units. Ethereal ignores all attacking weapons rends.

With the Season of War in full swing I'm ready to play my first games towards the global campaign.

Heroes

Cairn Wraith: I usually take about 3 Cairn Wraiths and run them into large horde units. Their Reaped Like Corn ability allows them to re-roll hits when the target has 5 or more models. The problem with Nighthaunt Heroes is that they don't have any abilities that buff other Nighthaunt units around them. 

Tomb Banshee: The Tomb Banshee is a must take against a low bravery army, essentially a little weaker than the Cairn Wraith in melee its scream has good potential to cause tonnes of mortal wounds on small low bravery units.

Black Coach: I find it very hard to find a place for the Black Coach in a pure Nighthaunt army. It relies on being close to Death Wizards in order to gain power which is something the Nighthaunt do not have. With the new leader upgrades in the Generals Handbook allowing your general to become a Death Wizard, this can be rectified but it still requires you to roll a 6 each turn to get the upgrade. Not that any of the upgrades really appear to be that useful.

Black Coach, taken from Black Coach warscroll

Units

Spirit Hosts: I like Spirit Hosts, in large numbers this unit can be devastating. It has the standard Fly and Ethereal as most Nighthaunt do but with 3 wounds each, it can be quite hard to get rid of a base of them. They have the ability to cause mortal wounds on a hit roll of 6 and when each base has 6 attacks each more often than not you do most of your damage from these wounds alone. I usually run them in groups of 6 for a potential 36 to hit dice.

Hexwraiths: Hexwraiths are best suited as fast flanking harassment units if they fly over an enemy unit in the movement phase they each have the chance to hit them with their scythes causing mortal wounds. I usually run these around avoiding combat flying over units till my spirit hosts get into combat, after one final flyover charging into the rear of units or going to pick off unsupported heroes.

Hexwraiths, taken from Hexwraiths warscroll

Monsters

Mourngul: Only earlier today did it hit me that the Forge World Mourngul looks like a giant spirit so after a quick check of its warscroll I know I have found what the next addition to my Nighthaunt host will be! Rules wise without using it in the game it seems very strong. It keeps the standard fly and ignore rend that most of the Nighthaunt have with a 3+ save, a second 4+ save against mortal wounds and then the ability to regain D3 wounds every turn it kills something. The Mourngul only has one melee attack option but at full wounds, it has the potential to throw out 16 damage at -2 rend not accounting for the extra attacks it gets if it rolls a 6 to hit. It has a nice bravery damage effect that could work well with the Banshee scream. I can't wait to get a hold of this model to just start causing some chaos on the table.

Age of Sigmar #2 - Nighthaunt Update

I hate to admit it, but I have painted more mini's this past week then I have in the past year or so. During university I really fell out with the hobby side, I just did not find painting the mini's fun. Coming out of that mindset has been very hard but the feeling of accomplishment in the hobby is something I have not felt till this past week, and I like it.

I will be the first to admit, I am not a good painter but I intend to improve from this point onwards. I managed to get to a quality I'm happy with 6 Spirit Hosts, 1 Tomb Banshee, 2 Cairn Wraiths and 10 Hexwraith Horses. I still have the Hexwraiths themselves to paint as well as 6 more Spirit Hosts but unfortunately, I'm currently out of white spray so I will need to go out and purchase some soon.

Tomb Banshee and Cairn Wraiths

 It's posted all over the Internet but in case you have not seen how to paint Spirit Hosts, its a wash of Nihilakh Oxide over a white primer then wash the recesses with the Waywatcher Green glaze. Simple.

First 6 Spirit Hosts

Age of Sigmar #1 - The Season Of War

Starting in a week or so is Games Workshops Season of War and with it 3 so called new ways to play Age of Sigmar. Now I don't have my General Handbook yet but via the multitudes of leaks I have been able to calculate a 1000 point Nighthaunt army to take part in my local GW's summer campaign.

Upon registering for the campaign you are given a small card to track your progress be it through gaming or hobby tasks. You also get a cool little badge to show which Grand Alliance you are a part of so naturally I took the Nagash badge. My girlfriend also registered and chose who I assume is an Alarielle badge.

Deciding to stay within the Nighthaunt allegiance I can make a legal army of just ghosts, which I'm quite excited for. Because of staying within the Nighthaunt allegiance Spirit Hosts become Battleline units. My 1000 points list is as follows.

1 Tomb Banshee

2 Cairn Wraiths

12 Spirit Hosts (2 groups of 6)

10 Hexwraiths

My Sigmar army since starting it in January has been neglected, I have barely painted any of it which works in my favour for gaining points in the campaign. I currently only have my Tomb Banshee and 3 Spirit Hosts close to being finished so it's going to be quite the push to finish these models at the rate I paint. Wish me luck!

This is the army as it sits today, it's not even fully built. My aim is to get it painted and based by the 7th of August for a 1000 point tournament at an LGS.