Death - the final frontier. (Age of Sigmar)

Death. The final frontier. These are the voyages of GeekPhotoGuy… and I forget the rest.

Anyway, Welcome back! We are today looking at the Death faction for AoS. As you may be aware, I’ve recently had my Spider force back, I’ve started a Stormcast force, acquired a Slyvaneth force and now I’m thinking about starting a death faction.
The Death Alliance book is one of the thinner books out of the 4 main tomes which sees a smaller selection of models but not necessarily to its detriment. I was shocked they stopped making the Tomb King forces because I really liked some of the models and units but under the new fluff, I understand why but it was great to see they have some excellent centrepiece models as a replacement.

Nagash is undoubtedly a superb model and I have loved the stories of him since childhood but he currently doesn’t fit my bill.

Instead I’ve got two options for the way I want to play: Nighthaunt or Deathlords. I know what you’re going to say: Nagash is in the Deathlords’ section of the book and yes, you are right but for the purposes of this army, I’m going to be ignoring his existence.
I’m going to look at the two factions in brief detail and a possible combination of models which I could take in a force of 2000 points. I’m not going to make a final decision now, after all, I have until I’ve finished painting my Stormcast before I start a new force (and maybe after finishing off the Slyvaneth) but I just want to start the ball rolling.

Nighthaunt
One of the ‘Start Collecting’ boxes available from GW, except for it’s not called Nighthaunt as it features the Mortis Engine/Coven Throne which is not in the faction section of the book.

Instead we have the following models:
*Banshee
*Cairn Wraith
*The Black Coach
*Spirit Hosts
*Hexwraiths
*Mourngul (Forgeworld)
This faction within the book are basically the spirits of the dead who are ready to haunt the mortal worlds through terror and anguish to wreak their revenge.
The thought of a ton of ghosts charging forward is a spooky prospect! They have a very unique ability to ignore rend on weapons and due to the size of their force, they can pump out a ton of attacks.
A sample army could look like:
Tomb Banshee
Tomb Banshee
Tomb Banshee

Spirit Host (3)
Spirit Host (3)
Spirit Host (3)
Spirit Host (3)

Hexwraiths (10)
Hexwraiths (10)
Hexwraiths (10)
Hexwraiths (10)

Now, somewhere in there we will have a Mourngul at the expense of a unit or two but that would be the jist of it.

Deathlords
Just like the Nighthaunt, the Deathlords have a limited scope of models. They have:
*Nagash
*Arkhan the Black
*Mannfred, Mortarch of Night
*Neferata, Mortarch of Blood
*Morghast Harbingers
*Morghast Archai
These basically are Nagash’s cronies. They want to bring death to the worlds. Told you it would be a simple run down!

I said earlier that I liked some of the models of the Tomb Kings and there are 3 units out of these which fit the bill. I’ve had a go at writing a short list with them in:

Neferata with Supernatural Horror and Cursed Book (Trait and Artefact)
Morghast Archai (4) (Scythes)
Morghast Archai (4) (Scythes)
Morghast Harbinger (4) (Swords)

An elite force, granted but one which packs a punch. This force does come at just over 100 points under the 2000 point limit. There is a degree of versatility when constructing this list and poses a significant threat. What it is massively missing is bodies! It may be that a whole body of skeleton warriors form the front line of this and then the Archais and Harbingers are used for the heavy duty stuff from behind!

Some things to think about. I really like the aesthetic aspect of the Deathlords but I do worry about the volume of bodies in the list! Like I said, I’ve got a bit of time so some progress may be made the in the development of the Death faction between now and then!

Thanks for reading.
I’ll see you soon.

@geekphotoguy

Spider's Gonna Get Ya! (Age of Sigmar)

And welcome back!

We are on it like Sonic now! 3 blog posts – 3 different games systems.

Today, Age of Sigmar.

I know this has divided a lot of opinion between people but at the FLGS and local games club (WS10 Gaming) they have embraced it and run with it. It has paid dividends because, actually, it is a good game but I think what people cannot move away from is that it came from Warhammer 8^th Edition. I’d prefer to see it as a separate game and start again. Consquently, I started with a new army. I originally played Chaos using a gun-line of Jezzails, Warp Lightning Cannons and Hellcannons (with the occasional 9 Dragon Ogres thrown in) but my dream for years has been to have a Spider/Savage Orc army. Well, the Spider part could become a reality now!

You may or may not know that I am absolute crap at painting. Subsequently, if I paint anything it normally becomes a drybrush effort which looks great from far away, behind a wall, out of the shop but not good otherwise! So, just like every major company in the UK – I outsourced! Steve (@furryjamhats) took on the task of painting: 1 Boss on Giant Spider, 3 Arachnaroks with Shamans and 77 Spider Riders. I mean, when you put it like that, it doesn’t seem a lot but when you see it all laid out – it’s a big deal. My Spiders were gone for a while in order to have them painted to a decent standard which made me fall into the arms of another game system because I couldn’t play any AoS during that time.

Now they’re back, I’ve managed to have my first game of AoS against Keith and his Khorne Bloodbound army. We decided to use the General’s Handbook to pick a 2000 point force.

My force consisted of:

*1 Boss on Giant Spider

*2 Araknaroks

*70 Spider Riders (in squads of 20, 20, 10, 10, 10).

Keith had (don’t quote me on ALL the details):

*Khorne Lord with the dog

*Bloodstoker

*Blood Secrator

*Demon Prince of Khorne

*40 Blood Warriors (You know the ones I mean – the ones who look like Cultists of Khorne – yeah, those ones)

*2 x 10 Blood Reavers

*3 Juggernaut Riders (with the juggernauts as well)

*30 Chaos Warriors with the Mark of Khorne

We were playing the Take and Hold scenario. For this, I didn’t take any photos so I apologise in advance!

It needed to be a clear strategy that if a spider unit went across to Keith’s objective and got within 6”, he doesn’t score. Likewise, a unit of 20 spiders can be used as a buffer to stop him slinging his huge unit of 40 Blood thingys forward and getting within 6” of my objective. This meant that the front of my ‘holding’ unit deployed right in front of the objective and the front ‘rank’ got out of 6”, while the back rank (of 8/9 models) were within the 6” to claim the objective while holding off the red tide!

I set another unit of 20 spiders on my right flank with the idea of ploughing forward into his juggernauts and demon prince while the left flank with 2 units of 10 spiders and an Araknarok were left to deal with the 40 ‘cultists’ coming forward. I made sure that every unit started within 8” of the boss to benefit from the Warlord trait.

The first turn we incredibly well, so well that things died… hard! After a round of shooting taking out one juggernaut, it was the turn of the spiders (with the warlord’s command ability and the Araknarok Shaman’s spell up). 28 mortal wounds later… The demon prince and juggernauts were no more… sorry Keith.

Highlights:

*29 wounds to the 40 Blood Cultists unit which forced battleshock to not be about rolling dice but taking models off the board!

*Taking both the demon prince and juggernauts off the board in the first turn.

*Spider riders get within 6” of the enemy objective in the final turn to deny 1 VP and eke out a 1-9 victory.

I managed to pop down to Nick’s (@slaaneshfiend) house of gaming (his shed) the Friday before and watch two games of AoS being played. Remembering how much I enjoyed it made me want to play more. Now that my Spider army is done, I’m moving on to my next project – Stormcast Eternals.

I’ve got hold of a few models so far and I’m looking to expand. I’ve written a list which I want to try out at 2000 points which I’ll blog about later when I have all of the models. I’m getting close to it now to be fair but I’m still a few away. Apparently though, it’s all about the dragons!

As much as a hobby butterfly as I am, the ghosts from the Death book do take my fancy too – the Spirit Hosts, Hexwraiths and Banshees screaming up the board would make for interesting play but that is something further down the line and needs a bit more careful planning and thought!

Due to the enforced ‘Christmas Hobby Break’ I won’t manage to play any games between now and the New Year but hopefully in January I can start cranking it up a bit and start playing some more games of AoS and who knows, I might even get to run a tournament ;)! Stay tuned!

Well, that’s it from me for today.

Thanks for reading.

I’ll see you soon!

@geekphotoguy

Attack of the Wulfen (40k)

And we are back!

Hello, hello!

Blog post 2, it must be Christmas.

Last time I talked about Guild Ball and my games which I have been pushing models round the table for. This one looks at the recent 40k campaign which I have been involved in down at my FLGS. Specifically a kill-team campaign.

For those of you who don’t know, Kill Team takes the game of 40k and minimises it to 200 points with a few restrictions – (if I miss any out, don’t shoot me!)

*No 2+ armour save.

*Vehicles armour cannot exceed 33 all round.

*Only Elites, Fast Attack or Troops to be used.

*Minimum of 4 models.

*Pick 3 models to be ‘Specialists’ – like melee, combat, etc.

The Kill-Team game, before being re-released by GW had been in the more than capable hands of the community who evolved the game excellently and I think GW used some of their ideas to form the new box. It is a great game which can be played within 30 minutes and really, you can take what you like if you’re just pushing models round the table at home.

So, my Kill Team included:

-          5 Wulfen

-          Pair of Frost Claws

-          Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield

-          Grenade Launcher (the shoulder slung one)

-          2 Frost Axes

Dead on 200 pts.

Then I gave my specialists:

*Move Through Cover

*Additional Attack

*Something not really of note because I can't remember it!

The campaign was to get into the Genestealer hive and based on the faction you played, it impacted on how the mission went. Using the scenarios on the book, it worked really well. Although there were only a few of us who played, it was great fun.

I came up against: Orks, Chaos and Genestealers.

Unlike my awful form at using Guild Ball models, this is a whole different kettle of fish! I came out of this with a 100% record for the Imperium! Go me! Here are some pictures of the games:

Highlights:
*Mob of 10 Ork Boyz surround one Wulfen, can’t hit him in combat and promptly takes them apart!

*Storm Shield Wulfen under 6 bolter fire for 3 turns, gets into combat and lights up the thunder hammer.

*Wulfen sprinting forward into Genestealer fire to take apart a flank at a time.

All in all, a very enjoyable campaign and it briefly rekindled my interest for 40k. I have no problem playing 40k at that level – small games with very manageable rules. My problem at the moment comes with 40k that I am far too overwhelmed with the amount of books, dataslates, rules and releases that go on in order for it to be a viable game for me to play constantly. Additionally, none else plays down the store really on a regular level. Having said that, I did manage to get a 1850 point game vs. Keith this week as he used his 30k Thousand Sons Traitor Legions against my Sisters/Ultramarine list.

Against the people down the store, they are always going to be enjoyable games because of the atmosphere of it and the nature of the player. I’m not sure Keith would agree after playing that list so I might need to find a different list for future engagements.

Well, I’ve spoilt you with two blog posts! My next post will be looking at my re-found love of AoS!

Thanks for reading.

I’ll see you soon.

@geekphotoguy