The Bad Moon Rises...

It's finally in hand, the Gloomspire Gitz book!  I am so far out of step with AoS it's almost like starting with a new game.

I am reading through the warscrolls and there are so many buffs, spells, interactions, etc I can't possibly understand it all.  It will take a lot of careful study.

And finally I dug out the Orcs & Goblins i have and pulled out the models that are in the tome.

So I have:

Leaders:
Fungoid Cave Shaman
Webspinner Shaman

Battleline:
50 (42) stabbas
35 shootas
20 Spider Riders (if webspinner is General)

Behemoth
2 Mangler Squigs Penguins
Arachnarock Spider w/warparty

No role
3 Loonsmasha Fanatics (5 is minimum)
1 Rockgut Troggoth (3 is minimum)

But that still comes to 2020 points! Dropping down to 40 stabbas puts me at 1920.  Room for another unit easily.

Plus of course will need a loonshrine, as it's zero points!

I think I just need to to put this stuff on the field and roll some dice, see what happens.

Battle Report: Age of Sigmar tournament

First I have to say the tournament was a bit of a letdown. There was suppose to be a big wind storm blow through Portland today but it was mostly a dud and it looks like that kept people away. Only 6 out of the 26 that signed up showed up.

We went ahead and played anyway, and it was still totally worth it.

Not to mention how happy I was with the way my army looked!

 
Game 1, mission 1 vs Chaos (mostly Nurgle)

A glotkin, plague drones, some Knights, and other misc gribblies.

The game was to hold objectives one in each deployment zone.  I ran up as Orcs are suppose to do and just got wiped out. However he couldn't get to my objective earning only a minor victory.



Game 2, mission 2 vs Death

Vampire on dragon and lots of crypt ghouls that come in on turn 1.

This was quite a bit of a different mission with earning points for objectives. having many units helped out and despite losing most of my army again I still ended up with a major victory simply by outscoring on the mission.

BTW crypt ghouls are very hard to kill.  But don't do a lot either...

Game 3, mission 6 vs Order

Lots of Elves shooting and a dragon.  So. many. bows.

Another one objective each.  I lost almost all my army with just the doom divers, grots and shaman left.  I did quite a bit more damage though this time mainly with the doom divers able to take out the general on dragon.  He made one mistake leaving his objective, and the game came down to a hawk rider vs my shaman..but he couldn't kill him giving me another major victory.

There was another destruction player, playing Ironjaws with about 15 Gore Gruntas and a Maw Crusha. It looked AWESOME on the table, for sure. But He went 1-2 to me 2-1 netting me the Destruction award.

So I learned A LOT today.

What worked:
1. Goblin netters. Holy crap these are awesome. it's amazing how much a -1 to hit really hurts. I am thinking about how to keep some near every combat, it seems to be the way to go.
2. Boys with shields (kinda).  The boys units with shields were quite a bit more survivable then the unit with 2 choppas.  They just simply get a re-roll in close combat (not shooting though, which they need) and made them fairly hard to kill. Using the Great Waggh! banner gave them the same re-roll 1's that the 2x choppa guys had so I don't see any reason to take 2x choppa guys in the future.  The -1 rend on such basic models is also pretty good.
3. Spider Riders. Still an awesome unit.  I ran them into things that they should have avoided but with Inspiring Presence and Bellowing Tyrant they are quite remarkable ..if used correctly. I was super aggressive and of course have no idea what I'm facing but careful use of these guys is well worth it. They are quite spendy at 80pts per 5 but worth it.
4. Doom Divers. Having more then one is the key, and they are basically twin-linked and when they do hit they do a lot of damage.
5. Destruction abilities.  Another holy crap moment.  Giving units a D6 move in the hero phase plus their normal movement is amazing.  Not only for longer threat range but to re-arrange everything if needed prior to moving.  I took bellowing Tyrant which gives one unit +1 to hit..and it's amazing.
6. Grots.  The massive unit of grots were just so fantastic, so many models that they take forever to chew through and with the netters they don't take anywhere near as much damage as you would think.

What didn't work:
1. boys.  SOOO fragile. And then you combine battle shock losses on top of it and once someone starts concentrating on them, the units just melt away.  They need to be immune to battleshock above 10 models. They also don't hit very hard unless they have buffs on them.
2. Big things. Orruk big things have almost no save so they don't last long.  And they are seriously expensive.


Going forward:
If I spend any effort on this army for future AoS tournaments, I will need to replace the basic boys with something better for the battleline requirements.  I think Ogres are the way to go there.  Also leadbelchers could add some better firepower. Something to consider.

Orruks going to a tournament!

The first post-general's handbook Age of Sigmar tournament is happening tomorrow at my FLGS.

Most of the last week I've spent finishing off the display board.  The snowshoe middle was done and I had to just to everything else.   It took way longer and was much more work then it should have been, mostly from dealing with the foam board warping from the PVA.

Just recycled the frame from my 40k Ork board.

I'm very much limited to the models I have. If I do expand the army I would love to add some Ogres to the list for some better punch in battleline units.

Anyway this is what I'm bringing:

Orruk Battlehost 
Destruction allegiance.

 Leader: Orruk Warboss:  Boss shield, choppa, great waagh! banner
Command trait: bellowing tyrant
Artifact: Talisman of protection

Leader: Orruk Great shaman

Battleline: 30x Orruks: Shield/choppa, Skull icon, drummer

Battleline: 30x Orruks: 2x choppa, skull icon, drummer
Battleline: 40 Grots spears/shields, gong basher, netters, bad moon icon

Behemoth: Mangler Squig

Artillery: doom diver
Artillery: doom diver

Other: Orruk chariot
Other: 20 spider riders, bows, bone drummer, icon

Sideboard:
Behemoth: Arachnarok spider
Artillery: Grot rock thrower
Others: Orruk Charriot

I don't expect to win any games, as the models are woefully under powered compared to other armies.  The whole scene is very new, especially around here. It's almost like a new game in fact..there is no meta yet.

It's also a potluck!  Tis' an amazing day. 

Showcase: Orcs and Goblins complete!

First post of the new year.  I have now finished all my Orcs and Goblin models. Took pictures, put them away and will probably forget about them.  Not sure what I'll be doing until I can buy some new stuff.

Showcase: Grimgore Ironhide

 Well here it is the first newly painted Orcs and Goblins model in the better part of 3 years.  Icy Orcs Grimgore Ironhide.   Really enjoyed painting it. Used some blue tint on the dead skin to make it look dead and lots of Blood for the Blood God. 

Working on spider riders.  Hopefully I'll be able to afford some new 40k models soon.

Age of Sigmar

So I finally played a game of AoS, my Orcs vs Gorn Lizardmen Seraphon.  It was a heck of a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it...despite obvious balance issues.

So after just one game I already have some thoughts. That's the nice thing about a simple ruleset, it does not take long to get a grasp on it.

1. The roll each turn to see who goes first can be rough, especially on turn 2.  however I think if you know that your opponent might get 2 turns in a row, you can plan for that more easily. I didn't know it, so I was super aggressive and it cost me.

2. There is no unit balance. Sure you can play with a framework, like limiting wounds per unit, duplicates, etc but it does not help because some units are simply better then others.  There are comp systems out there, I'll have to look into it..

3. Shooting into/out of combat.  There is no rule that says you can't, but we played it like it does.   I think that really helped especially since I was facing some really potent shooting.

4. A game of remembering!  So many rules in each warscroll that it takes time to remember everything you can do. 

5.  Monsters. I *love* how monsters get weaker as they take wounds. It's a great mechanic I've wanted in 40k for a long time.

6. Multiple combats.  I think this is where the game really shines.  Because you do not resolve each combat separately, but pick units to attack in turn and then resolve the results after everyone is done. This means when involved in multiple combats you can only be sure of having the advantage when it's your turn and then only in the first unit you pick.  You're opponent can pick any other unit involved in other combats, giving him the advantage in that one. It's bloody brilliant if you ask me and ads so much challenge to the game.

I don't know if or when I'll pick it up again, especially how much better the Seraphon are then my O&G, and I don't have another army to play. My cousin does, tomb kings, but that has plenty of broken stuff in it as well..

Anyway that's it for now.