I'm a WIZARD mind you! 400 point Song of Blades Skirmish.

This past Sunday we had a game day.  Six of us showed up, which is pretty much our whole club at this point.  Two of our members were hot into a game of Galleys and Galleons, so the remaining 4 of us played a 4 way, hold the center scenario.  30 points of death reigned on an enemy was worth a victory point, as well as holding the central crates uncontested at the end of a turn gained you a victory point.  The sides were Orcs vs Halflings vs Elves vs Undead.

This also marked the first appearance of my Goblin Shaman to support the Orcs.  He was a low combat, high quality, Magic using, leader.  This report mostly focusses on my end of the table which involved the Orcs and Undead.

Goblin Shaman and Orc Butcher, A Savage Orc with Q4+ and C6.

So it Begins





The first few turns involve the Undead and Orcs simply free moving forward towards the center.  The Elves and Halflings took their chances a few times making quality checks.  In the end the Undead and Orcs got to a choke point which forces them to stop using free-moves.

The Orcs and Undead approach each other cautiously, while off in the distance the Halfing Giant begins to flank my Orcs.  The Orc Archer contingent is almost dispatched to deal with him and split the Orc party up when the Elven Hero unleashes a storm of arrows killing the leader, a wizard, of the Halfling band causing them to rethink their role in this battle.  The Giant flanking the orcs decides this battle is not for him and flees from the table leaving the Orc Archers to stay with the original warband.

From the ranks of the Undead a Banshee slips forward and howls at the Orc Butchers in an attempt to strike terror and death into them.  Unimpressed the two Orc Butchers rush forward confident their Cave Troll will follow up to support them.  In their blind fury the banshee stands no chance and is struck down in a feat of Orcish violence.  Unfortunately the Troll refuses to move and stands it’s ground, leaving the Butchers alone against the Undead.  The Goblin Shaman, sensing favorable winds of magic, begins his chant and is able to transfix one of the ghouls which is then cut down by the arrow from an Orcish bow.

With the two Orc Butchers left to fend for themselves things turn ugly quickly. The Undead Horde sweep against them killing one while the other barely manages to hold his ground before the Troll finally comes into the fray.  The Shaman’s chant is again heard, and the last ghoul freezes transfixed long enough to earn it’s death.  Unfortunately the Orc Butcher and Troll are unable to take advantage of this to move against the fearsome Vampire.

Meanwhile…….The Elves continue to move up to try and take the objectives while their Giant Tree fights valiantly to kill the Giant Slayers from the Halflings.

Sensing his moment the Vampire moves to slay the Goblin Shaman causing so much havoc among his warriors.  Unfortunately in his haste he fumbles and is unable to move up and so choses to move back away from the onslaught.  Sensing the tide of battle shifting the Orcs press forward killing the winged horror in the line of Undead.  Through a bloody battle the Orcs finally bring down the creature, but their advance leaves their shaman horribly exposed……

 As it was feared the two undead wolves, sensing blood, captapult around the orcs and fall on the hapless Shaman.  Powerful in magic, weak in combat he falls quickly under their slavering jaws and is torn apart.

First overcome with disbelief that their Shaman could die, the Orcs fall back slightly before their confusion turns back to howls of RAGE and they fall on the two Wolves, killing one and leave the other one to be locked in combat as the Troll relentlessly approaches him under a volley of Elven archer fire.

As the Troll comes face to face with the Undead Wolf, the Elven arrows aimed for him strike home against the Undead killing it.  With it’s death, a shudder is felt through the Undead horde as they begin to crumble to dust, the entire host vanishes as if it had been a nightmare…..

Seeing their chance to crush the stinking Elves, the remaining Orc Butcher, utters a mighty war cry and charges the Elves.  Initially things go well as the Orc’s brute strength cause the Elves to falter…

But the Butcher can not finish the job quickly enough and with their Shaman gone the raiding party is unable to react as a cohesive force to support him. The Dryads sweep in to surround him falling on him and tearing him to pieces.

Only three remain from the might raiding party, unable to stand due to their massive losses the Orcish Horde falls back and regroups…

But even as they flee an Elven arrow strikes home killing another of the Orcs.  In the final moments of the battle the Troll sensing blood as an Elf came forward abandoned his idea to flea the field and rushed head long to his death.  The final Orc Archer thought better and left to fight another day.

Overall this was a very enjoyable game.  The addition of the Shaman was instrumental to having success against the Undead.  In the end I killed a lot of Undead, The Elves killed a lot of Halflings and Orcs and controlled the centre for the longest and so not that surprisingly, had the most victory points.

Orcs.

Over the past week I have made a effort to finish off my Orc warband.  I had enough models to build a workable SoBH warband, but I wanted more options as well, and I had a few more models to paint.


I had 3 guys left, and they had been sitting on my bench for a long while.  Late last week I started painting two of the Orcs so I would have them to play on Saturday.  Saturday morning, I abandoned the twin painting and finished one guy.  This week I finished the second and last night I painted up my Goblin shaman.

The next project is a VSF flavored warband for In Her Majesties Name.

Working on the last two Orcs, most base coating is down.

Orc completed for games on Saturday.  Shield Orc was put off.

 

Finished shield man.  He has a lot of red staining all over him: armor, shield, sword, face.  I have dumbed him "The Butcher"

 

Goblin Shaman in progress.  Mostly completed.

  

Goblin Shaman and The Butcher.  I added black to finish of the shaman's base as well.



Song of Blades and Heros.

The store is planning on having some painting days in January and February and then our actual first games after that.  Several people were more gung-ho and met a few times to play a few games.  This is the second meeting and the first one I could make it to.  We had 5 people show up in the end and so played a 4-way with our fifth member acting as a ref as he had already played one of the games.

As we are still new, not everyone had figures or had painted figures, but we had enough to go around.  The following photos are from my perspective as the Orcs.  On my right was a group of elves and on my left a group of rat men.  Kitty corner from me was a band of goblins lead by two minotaurs.  The game's goal was to get into the tower, get a crate and exit the board.  

Our initial layout moving into the game.  Orcs are set and read to do some killing.

The Orcs and Elves advance but a failed quality roll leaves my troll behind.

Elves move up to the tower building as my Orcs attempt to re-form their unit.  The rats move up against the low wall.

The first elves enter the building and set up a firing position so that the remaining elves can get the treasure.

Orcs move into the doorway as the first minotaur comes around the corner to harass the remaining elves that have no climbed into the building.

The elves continue to move up and into the tower.  The rats use this opportunity to come scurrying out of the ruined building and attack the Orcs.  In a bloody battle several rats are killed including a rank and file swordsorc getting lucky and killing their rat ogre.  One of the minotaurs enters the ground floor of the building.

The elves continue to climb up and grab the treasure mostly un harassed while the Orcs and rats fight a bloody battle outside the building.

Finally after an intense battle the Orcs cause the rats to flee in panic, but it is all too late as the elves make it out of the building with the treasure and can not be stopped before reaching the table edge.

More Bones.

I am primarily into Science Fiction but do stray towards Fantasy a little now and again. 

Recently the big local games store started a "Skirmish Gaming Club" that planned on initially using A Song of Blades and Heroes as it's initial rule set.  I like a lot about the rules and this seemed like a great way to get in some games without needed many figures.

For my first warband I chose orcs.  I have almost always played humans in wargames, so I thought I would try something a little different for me.  I also didn't want boring green orcs......

I picked up a bunch of Reaper Bones models.  I haven't painted bones before and in fact I haven't painted anything above 15mm since I was maybe 20.

I got the first 3 rank and file orcs painted up on the weekend and thought I would share the initial paint jobs, even though the bases still need finishing.

I have a few more of this size to do with bows and then 3 larger hero orcs plus a troll and a goblin.  Should be a fun band once they are finished.

To be continued.......

The Growing Storm

I didn't get a lot of painting done this weekend, but I did get my Orc Chieftan painted up.

Still using Reaper bones models.  The following is my process.

1) Glue model to base.  In this case I am using slightly larger than 1" fender washers.  These add weight to the light models and can be secured for travel using a magnetic sheet.

2) Add 2 part putty to even out base.

3) Wash figure and give it a quick scrub with soap and toothbrush.

4) Hot glue base to a craft paint bottle, giving me something to hold.

5) Prime figure using air brush

6) Now on to painting.  I am using a #2 brush.


7) Base colors

8) Localized washes.  Skin tones, black lines, browns.

9) Highlights on skin.

10) Army painter soft tone across model.

11) Final highlights and dry brushing

12) Eyes.

MORE NOT SCIFI! MORE NOT 15MM! Orcs again!

We are Orcs.  Do not judge our motivations.  Perhaps you are the evil ones?

Got some more models painted up....  Three basic archers to go with the three basic swordsorcs.

Also thought I would share the current iteration of my Song of Blades and Heros unit cards.  One of my standard Orc warriors.  Stats are just fillers.  Points cost in the upper left, Combat of 3 and a Quality of 4+.  I can never remember what occurs on the even/odd rolls so I included a quick reference on the bottom to remind me.

 This card is a 3x5" word document.  But I will normally print them out to a .PDF and then print them on a multiple pages on a sheet and then print on card stock.