Saturday, February 28, 2009

Mordor Orcs

I’ve gotten excited about the idea of putting together some Lord of th Rings armies for Hordes of the Things lately. This started because I got a few Games Workshop LOTR figures in a trade (Thanks Bob!) and I've been thinking about reading the Lord of the Rings to my son. The figures are really, really nice. Too bad they’re so absurdly expensive! On the plus side I think interest in GW’s game is waning and there are some deals to be found on ebay.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are some Orcs of some sort I got in trade. They’re not the “Fighting Uruk-hai”… I think they’re “Mordor Orcs”. I’ll probably use most interchangeably… until I decide I need to fight Isengard against Mordor… Anyway, they looked more like a warband to me so I have based them as such (according to my own silly basing scheme…).

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Dwarfy Highlanders… maybe some more Orc warbands,.. then Normans and undead (and maybe some Riders of Rohan as they arrive!)

Stay on target…. STAY ON TARGET!!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Fifth Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash

This evening was the Fifth Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash – for the last five years I have had an evening of wargaming on my birthday. Last year I extended the festivities into an entire Wargaming Weekend! The Previous Year I ran a Savage Worlds Pulp Adventure Game: The Mask of Amenakken IV. The year before that was a Flames of War game set in France 1941, and the year before that was The Raid on Bruneval (also using Flames of War – before we even HAD the FoW books – we played based on the QR sheets and army lists downloaded off their website!).

This year we played Hordes of the Things. I didn’t take a lot of notes as I was mostly having fun and also playing referee for a four player game with three guys who had never played before!

First off, we had cake:

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Yeah, well… I’m no professional cake decorator or anything.... can you tell I'm a bit of a BIKE GEEK too...!?

Then we wandered down to the War Room for some


FORCES

Elves
1x Blade General
2x Blade
2x Knights
2x Riders
3x Shooters
1x magician

Dwarves
1x Hero General
1x Artillery
7x Blade
1x light Infantry

Orcs
1x Rider General
3x Beasts
2x Behemoths
1x Warband
6x Hordes

Vikings
1x Blade General
8x Blade
1x Warband
1x Magician

THE GAME

We had Orcs and Vikings against Dwarves and Elves. Christian took the Elves, Tim Miller took the Orcs, Gary took the Vikings, and Darrin took the Dwarves (until he had to leave, then Amanda took over).

As I said I didn’t take many notes or pictures and having stayed up way too late the night before and way too late tonight… I don’t remember much other than good times were had!!


Orcies and Vikings across the table from the Dwarves. Tried out a Hero General for the first time. Didn’t really DO much…


There was a whole little side battle going on across the river – two forces tried to out flank each other hoping they could cross over behind the enemies lines and harass their rear areas. Alas neither side even had enough PIPs to really do much and they spent most of the game eyeing each other up…


The Battle lines approach.


Big Giant about to eat some Shooters. Then the “big bang thing” scared him off for a while.


Some parts of the line approached each other a bit more slowly…


Dwarves thrash some Hordes of Goblins.


The Elves and the Vikings had a bit of shoving back and forth. Gary knocked out a stand on the flank and turned to flank more. It looked like he’d roll up the line for a bit but then Christian came back – and it went back and forth.


The Dwarves got lucky and got on the Orc Generals flank. For a turn he held them off (a tie) but on his own following bound the Dwarves finished him off. Would the Orc command panic and run on their next bound!?


A six on the PIP die saw Christian finally making some moves on the other side of the river. Unfortunately the elf archers got ate in the woods.


What a mess.


Back in!


On Tim’s next bound he rolled a one – the formation panicked and broke and he didn’t even have enough PIPs to keep a single stand on! That was pretty much it for the game.


Close up of the Elves and Vikings..

It was good fun! I hadn’t seen Gary or Christian for a few months and though I’ve had a few painting nights with Mr. Miller he haven’t thrown any dice in anger for some time.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and thought the game was quite fun – hopefully it will be easier to get them out to play again sometime!

I think the vikings only lost two stands (both blades)... Now that I think about it the losses on the Elves flank were actually Dwarves that happen to end up there and I think they only lost one stand of shooters. I know the Dwarves lost a stand of two of Blades, the Halfling Light Infantry, and their shooters. Before the General was lost the Orcs had lost a handful of hordes - a few of which had returned to the battle... maybe a beast...? Hmmmmm...

Last Minute Additions

This evening was my Fifth Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash (report on that shortly) over the last two days I sayed up waaaaaaay too late painting like a mad bastard to try and finish up a few last stands – I would of liked to finish just one more… but alas, it was not to be. Still, nineteen figures in two evenings ain’t half bad…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


First I finished up the last two stands of my Dwarven Shield “Maidens”. Even Amanda had so say “daaaaaaaaamn… they’re UGLY!! I don’t want any more in my army” (She has it in her head I’m going to build her an all HOTT chick army… of course I kind of planted that idea there… so…). These are Ghost Miniatures from Old Glory (which I ordered from warweb.com).


Dwarven Higlanders – the first of six stands worth of these bastards I have…. I’ve been avoiding them. Sure they LOOK cool when they’re done, but they’re a bit of a pain in the ass to paint. Not so bad a some though _ I think I’ll try and finish off another two stands of these this week. They are also Ghost Minis.


Not related to My game night (or even HOTT for that matter) but it’s a cool figure that came in the mail the other day and I happened to paint it up. This is a Games Workshop Imperial Guard Catachan Jungle Fighter for Warhammer 40K.

I’ve been eyeing up (and picking up) some Sci-fi stuff lately. I’d like to do some Savage Worlds skirmishing with it. If I ever had enough I might be able to be talked into actually using it for some one off games of 40K with Mr. Miller. Also been thinking about Future War Commander a bit. Not so much to actually bust out the toys and start painting them again. But I definitely will after the fantasy projects are done in June.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Fantasy Generals

As promised I have finished up a stand of Orc Wolf Riders. If fielded they would probably be the forces General (having the big banner and all). I’m not sure how to classify them though… Riders seems a bit weak… Knights steems a bit… well… like they should have a bit more armour…? Palidans… we just won’t go there. I guess they could be classed as Heroes (or Anti-heros depending on your perspective…).

The other stand is the Dwarf Hero General.

Here they are:

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


This is a bit of a mixed bag – the bear rider is from Reaper Miniatures, the Horn blower is an old Citadel/Games Workshop figure, and the standard bearer is a slightly modified (he was originally holding a hlberd) Ghost Miniature from Old Glory (which I ordered from warweb.com - not only because they were on sale – but mostly because Old Glory only ships to Canada via UPS and that’s just bad news!!).


The flag I hand painted on paper. I have the worst time coming up with good ideas for flags… ah well at least it’s better then the orc one…


Yet another view…


These are almost all Ghost Miniatures from Old Glory (also ordered from warweb.com), except for the wolf the general is on. It’s from West Wind Productions. As noted in a previous post all the Ghost minis wolves heads are turned to the same side and would look silly all together… If I were starting all over I’d probably go with the Rafm Orc Wolf Riders - the orcs aren’t nearly so HUGE compared to the wolves (these ghost minis look like they’d crush their mounts) and the wolves are in varied poses…

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Battle of Bodge Hill

I thought I’d try out my house rules for Savage Worlds Characters in mass battles using Hordes of the Things (Hordes of the SAVAGE things).

SITUATION

A large war party of Orcs from Garrlac has skirted the fortress of Harra-Dûr by marching through the swamps of Gorrl. They have been raiding the eastern areas of Dwarvia and Nordland until a force of Norvsk and Dwarves could be raised to chase them down and brought them to battle at Bodge Hill.

SCENARIO

The Orc war party had been brought to battle at Bodge Hill, North East of Sykl. The Orcs are the attackers, the “Good Guys” are the defenders, and otherwise it’s just a standard HOTT game… (with the addition of some Savage Worlds characters accompanying some of the stands).

FORCES

Orcs

1x Warband General (Orcs under War Chief Urgur-blargg)
2x Behemoth (one Giant, one batch of Trolls)
1x Artillery (Orc catapult)
3x Beasts (Wolves)
5x Hordes (Goblins)

Good Guys

1x Blade General (Dwarves under General Hardeg Grimbeard)
3x Blade (Dwarf Warriors)
1x Shooters (Dwarf Handgunners)
1x Artillery (Dwarf Cannons)
2x Blade (Norvsk Warriors)
1x Light Infantry* (Local Halfling Militia)
1x Magician (Randalf the White)
1x Lurkers (Norvsk Skirmishers laying in ambush)

*the Light Infantry are a house rule suggested by David Kuijt on the Fanaticus Forum (HERE). They’re similar to Warband, but not as impetuous and seemed like a better match for Halfling militis, so I thought I’d give them a try. Here’s how they work:

LIGHT INFANTRY
Based like Wb
Moves 300p (like Wb)
No BGo effect (like Wb)
+3 vs. all (like Wb)
QK by Kn in the open (like Wb)
NOT QK by Behemoth (unlike Wb)
Doesn't QK anything (unlike Wb)
NOT impetuous (unlike Wb)
No rear support (unlike Wb)

The Savage Worlds Characters

Brijit Dannerwood – Halfling Theif (Amanda’s Character)
Ag d10, Sm d6, Sp d6, St d8, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 9, Toughness 4 (5)
Skills: Fighting d10, Shooting d10, Notice d10, Stealth d12, Streetwise d12, Boating d4, Knowledge: Plants d4, Persuasion d4, healing d4, Climbing d6, Lockpicking d8
Edges: Luck, Connections, Quick, Theif, Dodge, Block, Acrobat
Hindrances: Minor Pacifist, Small, Doommonger
Gear: Clothes, Lock Picks, 2x dagger (Str+d4), back pack, spare clothes, bedroll, Short Sword (Str+d6+2, +2 Fighting), Bow (Rng 12/24/48, ROF 1, Dmg 2d6)

Elessar Luinwe – Elf Mage (Darrin’s Character)
Ag d6, Sm d12, Sp d6, St d4, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 5
Skills: Spellcasting d10, Fighting d8, Notice d8, Stealth d6, boating d6, Knowledge Arcana d4, Survival d4, healing d4
Edges: Arcane Background: Magic, Agile, Low Light vision, More Power Points
Hindrances: All Thumbs, Loyal, Ugly
Powers: bolt, detect/Conceal Arcana, Light
Gear: Staff, dagger

THE GAME

Darrin decided the terrain I had set out before he arrived was acceptable, I picked a favoured side (closest to me!) and got it. Darrin set up, then I did and by that time Amanda had joined us.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The baddies lined up over the hill. From left to right; two Horde, Behemoth (trolls), Warband General, Behemoth (Giant), Artillery, Three Hordes, Three Beasts.


The goodies make their stand near a border fortress. From left to right: Halfling Light infantry (accompanied by Brijit Dannerwood), Two Dwarf Blade, Dwarf Blade General, behind the General is Randalf the White (accompanied by Elessar Luinwe)


GRRARRRRrrrrr…! Off they went. The first two turns the Allied Goodies rolled one PIP, which got them off to a slow start. They did want to go forward a bit because the Dwarf blade at the right of their line were in woods and didn’t want to get caught there when the wolves came a-hunting.


The orc and goblin hordes crest the hill in the middle of the battlefield as the wolves descend on the allied right flank.


Brijit and the Halfling militia, still waitng at the edge of the woods found themselves being attacked on two sides by packs of vicious wolves. For a moment it seemed they were in dire straights. Amanda rolled Brijit’s Battle Skill (shooting – d10) and got two raises – her heroism inspired the rest of the local halfling militia and gave them a +1 tactical factor…


…which was just enough to double the wolves roll and destroy them! The dwarf unit also repelled the wolf packs that fell on them…


The next turn the wolves fell on the line again as the orc hordes approached. I was clever and worked out the Beast versus Light Infantry first and forced them to recoil – this put them in the path of where the Dwarf blade unit I was also attacking would recoil to if I beat them…


…it paid off because I did force those dwarves back and they broke and scattered in confusion as they fell back from the onslaught of the wolves! GRRAAAAARRRrrrrr!!


Darrin and Amanda plot their strategy to annihilate the orcy menace with only two PIPs…


On their next turn the allies deployed their ambushing Lurkers!


…and wiped out the wolves…


As the line of orcsie-gobbliny hordes were about to fall on them, the allied commanders discovered that loud noises from their cannons scare off behemoths!! GAH!!! Lesson learned on BOTH sides…!?


Also having to leave artillery behind kind of breaks up your line…


The battleline on both sides got a bit broken up as different units got pushed back.


The Norvsk Blades quickly returned to the fight and slayed the trolls and scattered a horde of goblins.


Meanwhile on the other end of the line the remaining pack of wolves were surrounded and wiped out.


Just as the remaining Behemoth got back in range another volley from the dwarf artillery scared him nearly right off the table!?


Goblin horedes fell on the right of the allied line just to keep them busy while War Chief Urgur-blargg tried to reform the line and bring more reinforcements forward.


The hordes were quicly swept away and the allied line surged forward. The remaining horde and the Orc Warband of the War Chief rallied to the artillery in an attempt to keep it from being overrun.


It was of little use. The personal guards of General Hardeg Grimbeard stormed up the hill and overran the orc artillery and that was the end of the battle…


Darrin, happy his character survived.


A jubilant Amanda.


Just couldn’t get those hordes back in line in time to help out.

Conclusions

Losses

Dwarves and allies
1x Dwarf Blade

Orcy-nasties
3x Beasts
1x Behemoth
1x Artillery
(Three hordes were lost in the course of the game but all had returned to the table before the end of the game).

I think I might lose the Orc artillery. It didn’t prove to be all that useful and just took up space in the line, leaving a gap when the foot all closed to fight. I think I’d rather have another regular fighting stand plus a horde. Also I’m not sure two behemoths is really all that great – another two wrabnds might work out better – giving me a slight numerical advantage over most armies – which is where the hordes might come in handy – flanking!!

As for the House Rules for Savage worlds Characters being involved in the battle. I was worried they might really unbalence things, but as it was both only affected the outcome once in the entire battle – adding a single +1 tactial factor.

In Amanda’s case it cause the death of a stand of beasts. Darrin’s elf didn’t really help RAndalf the White very much at all…

If they had been “in command” of the units they were accompanying they might have helped out a bit more. Since both their “Battle Skills” were quite good (d10 and d12) they quite often got one raise on their rolls, which, if they were commanding, would have resulted in a +1 tactical factor bonus – and once during the game they would have each added +2… not sure that would have made a HUGE difference. But enough that they could have felt they made SOME contribution to the outcome of the battle.

I think the rules work fine and I’ll probably include some more battles in their campaign.

Oh and I like the Light Infantry!

More Orcsy-Goblinses...

Well I have been painting like a mad bastard, staying up way past my bedtime and such, to try and get an orcy-gobliny army ready. I’m just about there! I have one more stand to finish up until I can say “okay, that’s if for now…” Here’s what I’ve got:

1x Warband General (Orc Nasties)
2x Behemoth (one Troll, one Giant)
3x Beasts (Wolves)
6x Hordes (Goblinses)
1x Artillery (Orc Catapult)

by tomorrow I’ll have finished a stand of Wolf riders which I am tempted to call “Riders” just to differentiate them from the beasts. If fielded they will probably be the General as they’re made up a command team (big bad guy, musician and standard bearer). I have loads more orcs (for warbands), wolf riders and even a few more stands worth of horde I could paint up, but that will have to wait until I get the bare minimum needed for the other armies I need for June. I might also like to add a magician stand at some point (I’m kind of leaning towards a Human or Drak Elf sorcerer rather than an orc shaman… but I do HAVE a shamen figure somewhere I could paint and use) and maybe some swarms of bats (flyers).

Here’s the guys I’ve just finished up:

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are Games Workshop night Goblins. The three hordes in front are the new ones – pictured with the previous three I did – just so you’d know I did actually paint three new ones this week. That, and they also look more ominous together as one big HORDE!!!


The two stands of wolfy beasts on the left are the new ones. In both cases the two flanking wolves are new ones – ghost minis from Old Glory - the ones in the centre are older West Wind Productions figures that I rebased with them, just to add some variety. If the Ghost mini wolves had all been looking to their front, I might not have felt the urge to do this, but as they are ALL looking off to the same side, I thought that might look a little silly all on a base together…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll have finished off the Orc Wolf-Riders, then I think I’m going to crank out as many dwarves as I can before Wednesday (Tim’s Fifth Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash) – maybe even try to finish off the Dwarf Army by the end of the week (month…). That would leave March and April to finish off Normans and Undead, and May to make some more terrain and strongholds and maybe a few more optional stands here and there…

I am on track!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Preachers, Wizards, and Norman Knights

A few more things rolling off the workbench. I’ve spent a lot of hobbytime organizing and prepping new figures that have come in this last week. Here’s a few things I finished up over the last couple days:

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Two identical stands of “Clerics” for Hordes of the Things (one for me, one for Mr. Chris…). I think they are from Old Glory.


Another “Magician” stand for some future Lord of the Rings HOTT armies. NO this isn’t the single Gandalf figure I painted last week and have suddenly re-based (I’ve been known to do such ludicrous things, but not this time!) I simply got two in a trade- thanks, Bob! – one I’ll use for skirmishing, the other for HOTT! Gandalf and Pippin in the background are both Games Workshop LOTR figures.


I also got a spare Pippin in Gondor Livery figure in the trade…


More Old Glory Norman Knights (and more of them dying…!) – a front shot so you can see the fellow with the Danish axe in his belly!! OUCH!!


…a side shot so you can see the pretty shields…


…and from behind so you can seen the Saxon (or Viking...) responsible for said axe skewered on the end of the poor knights lance.


Some GW Dwarf Thunderers. Only one of them is a new paint, the other five have simply been re-based with him to make a stand of “Shooters” for HOTT.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

On my workbench (I should say the front edge of my workbench… as it is a big and rather crowded space) are some more “Beasts” (Wolves), some Gobliny hordes, Halfling spearmen, Normans, dwarves, and a couple of plastic Descent minis… which shall I do next…?