Universal Battle game.

This weekend I also played a big 3k game on Universal Battle with Grant Fetter. It was another Screw City practice game, as I try to get as many games in as possible with the Bell before lists are due (and make lots of little changes here and there to test things). Grant's list was a very cool, non traditional Ogre list with 2 Giants and 2 big gribblies with a Thundertusk and a Hunter riding a Stonehorn. Also lots and lots of Ogres.

After a first turn of solid shooting and magic, Grant could see how things were going and need to get stuck in fast. He charged into my Hellpit and I did 12 or so wounds in return to crush the Ogres on the left but they held Steadfast. In the middle my magic and shooting chopped down the Ironguts to a non-threat fast, but they still marched forward. A Skitterleaping brass orb scatted back and only killed 1 Mournfang, but also killed the lobbing Warlock.

The Beast Butcher got away and never did get finished, as Grant used his Thundertusk with great success to give my HPA always strikes last and charged it with a Giant, who killed the HPA. In the end though the Doomwheel was able to steal some points and kill the Giant in return with lightning bolts. In the middle the Ironguts waffled a bit before getting into the bell, but eventually stuck in. The Mournfang started charging all of my outlying units and wiping them all off the board.

In the end the Bell still stood and I finished off the BSB, General, and Gut Star with the Bell unit. They have been performing so well, but I still have not played them against a serious artillery threat which will spell the end of their great run, I expect. The game ended with me only winning by 160 or so points, which will probably be a draw depending on the Screw City GT rules, but Alex has been known to only require a win by 100 points.

Buckeye Battles Game 3

The final game of day 1 and the strict Buckeye Battles banding system had me faced off against another Ogre player, this time from New York. Tim brought an interesting list that seemed to have many of the standard Ogre toys, but also had some Gnoblars, a Scraplauncher, and was using Heavens. He also took advantage of the comp rules and put Magic Resistance on his Slaughtermaster, so I knew I wouldn't be trying to Crack's Call that unit too much. Lets look at the list:

Buckeye Battles Game 2

After the draw vs the Dark Elves, I was matched up against Sean and his solid Ogre list. The list I am running has me pretty confident against Ogres and much less afraid against the Ironblasters than I would be if I was running a Bell and/or Furnace. The ability to take out chaff and put lots of wounds on Ogres and Chariots with Gutter Runners is a big advantage. Lets look at what he had:

Playing Online Warhammer

Not Warhammer Online, but Online Warhammer. Universal Battles is a website with build in models, dice rollers, chat system, and everything you need to play an actual game of Warhammer over the computer other than the rules and army list in front of you. I set up to play a small 500 point game with Ogres vs Lizardmen to show Matt (@Mansell84) how to use the site and get used to play Warhammer with the computer.

1 / 365 !

Here we go, the kick off game of the 365. I decided to start at my local regular tournament, which is held at the Gamers Sanctuary in Flint, MI. The format is 2500 with no comp, so basically anything goes. I've been successful at this event with all kinds of different lists, and today since Andrea was playing her new High Elves I decided to really filth it up with a special character heavy Daemon list. I'm not going to lie and say this is anything other than 'Ard Boyz -ish in quality, but I plan on helping Andrea learn Kairos and also seeing him at the Screw City GT coming up in September.

Here is the list. Be careful, as you may need a shower afterwards:

Last minute preparation for Adepticon

We all know the drill. Touching up models, adding static grass, maybe making you last minute display board. I didn't think I had much to do but it turns out I needed quite a few touch ups before I hit Adepticon.I spent the last few nights preparing my Skaven while @Luckysixes finished up her Daemons (that I would also be using in the Team Tournament) for her first Adepticon. She will be playing in the It's How You Use It second tournament, and I will be playing the Skaven in the Big Brawl, Chamionships, and Team Tournament (as Daemons with Dark Elves).

Here is some of what I've been working on, along with a shot of how far the Daemons have come.

I actually had about 80 models that needed static grass, ugh! My Big Brawl list is up to 280 models this year.

The Daemons looked great at the GLWL.

I've also been working on Man-Eaters for the Ogres! I really, really like these models with the pistols. The pistols are all from the many Mournfang kits I have.

Ogres in their first Tournament

I hit up Gamers Sanctuary in Flint, MI yesterday to take the Ogres for their first spin on the tournament tabletop. I pushed around a few lists in my head, but with so little experience with the Maw worshipers I decided to just go for the throat and help my chances. Just FYI the tournament scoring was very different that some events. A 20-0 win required you to beat your opponent by over 2400+ points! My list looked like this:

Slaughtermaster, L4 Maw, Fencer's Blades, Glittering Scales, Dispel Scroll, Dragonbane Gem, Rock Eye
Bruiser, BSB, ironfist, heavy armor, Rune Maw
Firebelly, L2 Fire, Hellheart
15 Ironguts, champion, standard, musician, look out gnoblar, Standard of Discipline
4 Mournfang, heavy armor, ironfists, standard, musician, Dragonhide Banner
4 Mournfang, heavy armor, ironfists, musician
1 Sabertusk
1 Sabertusk
Ironblaster
Ironblaster

Very simple, yet powerful list meant to do one thing, just hammer the enemy lines.

Game 1 vs Nik's Dark Elves

Shadow L4 with the dagger, double hydra, spearmen bunker, corsairs, etc. Fairly standard DE tournament list. The scenario was Dawn Attack and luckily I was directly across the table from the bunker with my Gut-star and got the first turn.

Turn 1 I was able to snipe 1 Hydra and get off regen to protect my advance across the table. I charged forward and crushed the Corsairs, but the escaped with their flee movement. The Dark Elf spearmen bunker charged into my flank but the Hellheart hit both wizards on the DE side, exploding within their unit and killing 20 or more Spearmen in their own magic phase while draining the pool of their entire magic resources.

Charges on my next turn popped the Blackguard, and the spearmen panicked and were run down. The army falling apart around them, the Ogres cruised to a solid victory.

Game 2 vs Neil's Dark Elves

Dark Elves again, with more shadow magic but the Cauldron with only 1 Hydra in the list. The Dark Elves deployed mostly in the opposite corner and forced me to chase after them this game, which was a good tactic against the Gut-star. Early in turn 2 I was surprised when I charged into the Executioners whose Hag BSB gave them always strike first. They ate through my Dragonhide banner Ogres before they even had a chance to blink.

Early on I was already on the back foot as I had to bull rush the Gut-star forward and try to regain points. I picked off the hydra and magic'd the far left Spearmen off the board, while charging everything in range of the Guts. By the end of the game units were just fleeing from the giant unit but I would get lucky every time and catch them. Late in the game a Pit of Shades got off vs the Gutstar, but I then revealed the Rune Maw and avoided disaster handily. The last turn I charged the Cauldron and finished it in a challenge (for a bonus battle point) to sneak by Neil with an 11-9 game.

Game 3 vs Al's Warriors of Chaos

A quick and messy game vs the Warriors. As you would expect we were in combat early and often. My turn 1 the Ironblasters sniped the Hellcannon right away as the Ogres maneuvered forward. Al charged the Marauder horde into my left most Mournfang after I failed to charge the round previously, and they crushed them! I was surprised the Marauders did so much damage, leaving me with a fleeing Mournfang but escaping being wiped out.

On the opposite flank the Chaos Knights charge my other mournfang in front, while the fast Marauder Horsemen charged from the rear. To me, the second charge was the fatal mistake that lost him the game. I passed an amazing amount of saves with the Mournfang armor and the bubbled 4+ regen my Slaughtermaster got off previosuly before losing 3 magic levels due to the infernal puppet and Pandemonium. I derected ALL of my attacks to the rear unit and totally wiped out the Marauders, giving me enough combat resolution to defeat and then run down the Knights into prim position to flank the Chaos Warriors on my turn.

I then charged into the Warriors with the Fangs, and also the Gutstar, while both Ironblasters charged the Marauder horde. The Marauders actually lost, and then failed their steadfast test and got run down by the remaining Ironblaster! The Mournfang and Gutstar crushed the Warriors and ended the game quickly, on the top of turn 3 and score a 20-0 win with bonus battle points adding to that total, and giving me the overall win.

The tournament was over and the Ogres walked away with their first tournament win in their first appearance. I was still disappointed because I made A LOT of mistakes during my games. Constantly forgetting my Rock Eye, constantly forgetting my Maw attribute and getting the +1 to the next spells I cast, and even forgetting to charge with the Mournfang against the Warriors (which didn't really sway the game's outcome). I played sloppy at time but it didn't hurt me, luckily.

Next weekend I will be defending my GLWL Tournament Championship with the Skaven!

More Ogre conversions

I had 4 more Ogre bodies left from my Battalion box and don't plan on using Leadbelchers any time soon. So what is a good Ogre Tyrant to do? Make more Ironguts! I decided I wanted to have some variety in my Irongut horde, so I used as many of the Mournfang greatweapon and armor bits as I could. I even grabbed a head from the Ironblaster crew.

I like the marching Ironguts as the rear ranks of the horde. The third rank would be more likely marching with their great weapons at their side than swinging away like the front two ranks. I used leftover banner poles from the regular Ogres and the great weapon tops. The left Ogre uses the last Mournfang arms I had left in the dynamic pose of swinging from the side, rather than over head. I really wish I had one or two more sets of arms in the same pose.

These guys will be part of my Gutstar list for this weekend's GS tournament.

Slaughtermaster, L4 Maw, Fencer's Blades, Glittering Scales, Dispel Scroll, Rock Eye
Firebelly, L2, Hellheart (or Greedy Fist)
Bruiser, BSB, Runemaw

15 Ironguts, musician, standard, look out gnoblar, Standard of Discipline

4 Mournfang, heavy armor, ironfists, standard, musician, Dragonhide Banner
4 Mournfang, heavy armor, ironfists, musician
1 Sabertusk
1 Sabertusk

Ironblaster
Ironblaster

Weekend Warhammer

Andrea and I had a good weekend of Warhammer. Saturday we hit up Pandemonium for a few games of Warhammer to give her a better idea of how much goes in in larger games compared to small, 750 point skirmishers. Sunday we hit up GW really quick and picked up a box of Bloodcrushers for her Daemon army. They really are fantastic kits.

First game was an Adepticon Team Tournament practice game for my partner Nik and I. I have decided to try and bring Ogres along with his Dark Elves, so we had a practice vs more Ogres and Daemons. Things did not go so well for our team as Nik's Spearmen block and Sorcerer got Dweller'd off the board, my Ogres got eaten up by Bloodletters, and my Mournfang were seemingly ineffective. I still want to give the composition a chance, but worst case scenario I can switch back to Skaven for the Team Tournament.

Then we practiced a straight up 2500 point game with possible tournament lists for next month. The Daemons switched up to use Shadow magic for the second game, and I brought my triple Mournfang list.

I wanted to keep all three Mournfang within the range of at least the General, BSB, or hopefully both. My Ironblaster was on the far right flank hoping to get a shot on the Bloodthirster first turn, but the Daemons rolled to go first and Billy (the Bloodthirster) was able to take cover behind the building. The Shadow magic hurt early as critical debuffs on my Mournfang made me gun shy and less eager to move forward.

From here the Daemons ate me pretty easily. Daemonettes moved to the side of my line and smashed into a Mournfang block, boosted up by ASF from the Herald, and a nifty spell called Mindrazor. The chewed through the entire units 12 wounds and 2+ armor save like they were nothing and wiped the first unit of MF on the second turn.

I was able to get off 2 long 10" charges on the Bloodletter horde the next turn and just about wipe them out in a single round. Mournfang and Ogre units together will  do that. But as I finished them off, Fiends and Daemonettes were killing off my General's unit elsewhere, and Billy was circling around, catching cannon balls, and setting himself up to finish off stragglers... which he did.

In the end I was tabled. I think I killed off the Bloodletters, Daemonettes, and some chaff... but didn't touch the expensive support units of Fiends and Flamers, or the Tz Herald on a disc or Bloodthirster. Big win for Daemons as the Ogres go down in flames.

Also in an update, we finished up all 5 Fiends in the unit. I posted them to my Twitter feed this weekend, but here they are for the blog.

Ogre basecoat

I started basing and priming Ogres last night to try and get my army painted before a couple tournaments next month. They are small events just before Adepticon, but I still would like to get a 3 color minimum on my whole army before attending so I can bring the Ogres! My only setback yesterday was one of the batches of 5 getting fuzzed with primer. It almost ruined my night.... sigh. 23 days to paint. Ready. Set. GO.

Here is the general look of the Ogres. I plan on doing washes and highlights in the future, but right now the goal is to get them on the table asap.

What do you think of the color choice?

The base will be light grey with light highlights, and snow flock. The Daemons and Ogres will be based the same with a goal in mind of playing together at Adepticon 2013's team tournament.

Fiend #2 and the GLWL

I finished work on Fiend number 2 for the Daemon army last night. I like the look of it much better. We're hoping to play our first big game this Thursday at 2000points. Look for pictures and updates on Twitter. We're sort of cheating by skipping ahead and playing bigger games. I guess it's not a true Tale of Two Gamers, but we don't care. We want to get as much practice in actually playing as possible.


Preliminary results are in for the Wayne division of the 2012 GLWL. Mike and I both went 5-0 after not playing each other this year within the division. He scored more victory points than I did overall (with the help of a couple scenario bonuses) so he will be representing the Wayne division in the league championship bracket. This means I will get a shot at defending my tournament championship from last year, and I will be bringing the Ogres! He deserves it after I nicked a win from him in the Gamers Sanctuary Adepticon Primer (last weekend) on table 1 round 3 for the tournament overall win.... my hot dice stole the game for sure.

This also means I have 2500 points of Ogres to paint in a month! Three color standard is a minimum to score some painting points, but I am hoping to also at least get them washed and based. Furious basing and priming begins today at 3:00pm!!!

Tale of Two Gamers

I have a new student of the game! My Wife, who is also a video gamer, roleplaying gamer, and now wargame enthusiast, is interested in learning Warhammer. She has already started the beginnings of her own Daemons of Chaos army. And as we are both starting up new projects (I am a little ahead of her, already having my 2500 points of new Ogres), I'll try to post up our progress as we build our completed new armies.

We are getting ready to start off with some learning games at 500 points each. Here is how we are looking to start. Notice the single Sabertusk in my list. I'm sure it will get eaten almost immediately, but I had to meet the 3 unit minimum!

Rhellion's 500 point Ogre list:

Firebelly, L1 Fire
5 Ogres, bellower, ironfists
4 Ironguts, bellower
1 Sabertusk


Mrs Rhellion's 500 point Daemon list:

 Herald of Khorne, armor of khorne
10 Bloodletters, full command
10 Bloodletters
3 Flamers

There will be no timeline on this project, as we are slowly building as we paint some of this. Though I will probably be taking unpainted Ogres to some local small events.

Shot of the Ogres to be completed... battle report and info on the Daemons coming soon:

GLWL game 3

My third game of this year's Great Lakes Warhammer League was against the powerful Ogre Kingdoms, and I was not entirely sure what to expect. Because of the league comp I know that I would be facing a maximum of 1 Ironblaster but could possibly be facing 3 units of Mournfang, so I made my list accordingly.

Grey Seer, earthing rod, foul pendant
Plague Priest, furnace, dispel scroll
Chieftain, bsb
Warlock, doomrocket
Warlock, brass orb
30 Storm Vermin
30 Clan Rats
30 Clan Rats
40 Slaves
40 Slaves
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
35 Plague Monks
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon
Hell Pit Abomination
Doomwheel

and my opponent's Ogre list


Tyrant, 4+ ward armor, asf sword
Butcher, L2 Maw, hellheart
Butcher, L2 Death, dispel scroll
5 Ogres, ahw
6 Ogres, ironfists
9 Ironguts, dragonhide banner
20 Gnoblars
4 Leadbelchers
3 Mournfang Cav
3 Mournfang Cav
Gorger
Stonehorn

Things got off to a poor start for the Skaven, who rolled the first turn. I was able to get a Skitterleap off and get my Brass Orb Warlock right behind the Stoenhorn, and position him so that he would hit the Stonehorn and 3 Ironguts if I hit, and the Stoenhorn even if I missfired. I rolled a hit! The Stonehorn then passed his Initiative test, though I did pick off 3 Ironguts. My cannons were quiet the first turn, missing their marks. After the Stoenhorn disappointment, I was sure luck was against me as the Hell Pit and Doomwheel were both charged on the first Ogre turn by long rolls from the Mournfang on the left and and Stonehorn on the right.

In the magic phase, I was able to hold off the Death snipes vs my Plague Furnace, which would be key to me winning the game. The Leadbelchers lined up the rain down on my Storm Vermin, and rolled 4 1's for their shots! In combat, my Doomwheel was defeated but my opponent chose not to chase me because of my 3d6 move, and because he didn't want to leave his flank open. My HPA took some serious damage after also only rolling 1 S6 hit that had its wounds dealth halved.

On the next turn, the game shifted dramatically. My Plague Monk horde slammed into one of the smaller Ogre units, and my cannons started lighting it up. It also helped that my Doomwheel rallied and turned to face the Mournfang now in their flank. I was able to shoot and take out 2 Mounrfang on the left, and another from the right unit. Magic was less effective as my Crack's Call is dispeled on double 6's, but the Plague Monks break and run down the Ogres and the Hell Pit's avalanch of flesh kill off the Stonehorn.

In the next turns I am able to flank charge the remaining left Mournfang unit with the Doomwheel and blast it off the table while the right unit is sniped by Warp Lightning. The Plague Monks slowly grind away on Gnoblars and the Ogres who flanked them the next turn, using Gnoblars as combat resolution needed to defeat and break the Ogres, running them down. The remaining Ironguts charge into my Clan Rats as I have set up a log jam for them and they sit there happy with their steadfast rolls.

I was able to hold this for another turn as my Grey Seer shot Crack's Call into the Ironguts and narrowly miss the Tyrant. They ground down Clan Rats and Slaves and I decide to bring in the Hell Pit to try and finish them off, which is risky. The HPA's impact hits kills the Irongut, but then the Tyrant finished his remaining wounds off. He then gets back up with 6 wounds on the last turn! This saves me his points lost, but does not give me the Tyrant as he is now the only Ogre model remaining on the table... with me only having lost a single Warp Lightning Cannon to a misfire.

Lots of key leadership tests and rallying, and taking out the Mournfang were the key to me winning this game. Every unit that broke on my side did not get caught, and eventually rallied. Every unit that broke for the Ogres was run down. My cannons were hot, and if they had not been having Mournfang in my flanks would have been a nightmare. I take away the big 2389 vs 265 win and advance to 3-0 in the 2012 GLWL.

Next up, Empire and then Dark Elves to finish up the league.

Hobby update

If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll know I have been busy with the hobby, and not with my Skaven. Well I still have another 40 Skavenslaves to paint for Adepticon, but I have been spending a lot of time putting my new Ogre army together! Here is the basic list I have together that I played my first game with this weekend.

Slaughtermaster
Firebelly
Bruiser BSB
8 Ironguts
6 Ogres
1 Sabertusk
1 Sabertusk
1 Sabertusk
4 Mournfang Cavalry
4 Mournfang Cavalry
4 Mournfang Cavalry
Ironblaster

It's the list that has been floating around the internet, but I love the idea of mass Mournfang Cavalry... and not so much the idea of the monsters. I also love the idea of a LOW model count army.

I have everything assembled, and I am looking forward to getting to work on it very soon, as soon as those pesky Slaves are painted! Maybe I will even have them done in time for Blood in the Sun!

Speaking of Ogre Kingdoms, my next GLWL is against the Ogres this Thursday. Until then, take a look at my converted Slaughtermaster. He is supposed to be wearing Glittering Scales and has the Fencer's Blades, so I wanted him modeled appropriately.