'Eadcracka Da Big Bad Savage Orc Boss

I had a brief look at the ETC lists a few weeks back and paid special attention to some Orc & Gobbo lists. Keeping in mind that armies are only 2400 pts, I noticed that a few of the lists had a Savage Orc Big Boss with BSB.

This intrigued me a bit as I always had a different philosophy when it came to the BSB. Keep him cheap and keep him away from the fighting lines - hence I had a Goblin Big Boss waving the BSB and packed a great weapon. That was it.

So I thought about the pros and cons of having a Savage Orc BSB

PROS
- as long as he's with the Great Shaman and the Shrunken Head, he has a 5+ ward save. No need to spend extra points on a ward.
- he can pack a punch in combat.
- adds the vital +1 for having a BSB for combat resolution.
- Nice model.

CONS
- points wise in-game, pricey - compared to the Gobbo BSB. Less points to spend elsewhere.
- GW has no Savage Orc BSB model. So will have to convert one, meaning $$$.

In the end, I convinced myself that he was worth having a go, spend a few bucks on converting one up and trying in a few games.

The Savage Orc Big Boss plastic kit was obviously a great place to start. I just needed to scrounge around my bits box to see what I could find to use as my new BSB.

As you can see from the pics above, I cut off the massive stone axe and replaced it with the banner that came from the Doomwheel. In case you were wondering, I had a Doomwheel converted up to have Snotlings all over it and would be used as a Pump Wagon. However, the model didn't survive when I accidentally dropped my laptop on top of it.

Rummaging around the bits box even more, I scored myself an Orc totem from the Boar Boyz box set. After playing around with some other parts and changing angles, I decided it would be best if I kept the banner relatively simple.

Realising that the pole simply wouldn't stick to the shaft of the axe with glue alone, I drilled a small hole onto both ends and would pin the two together. Once it was dry, I used some grey stuff to cover up the pin and played around with the putty to make it look like wood.

I stuck with the same method of painting Orc & Gobbo skin - base with Orkhide Shade, highlight with Snot Green, highlight with a mix of Snot Green and Bleached Bone.

The interesting part was getting to the banner itself. Because I had the Orc totem at the top of the banner, I felt I didn't need to paint up an Orc glyph on the banner itself. Instead, I thought I would do my best to tie in the black and white checkered theme.

.

Finally, I painted up the tattoos using Macharius Solar orange - then DONE!

The Mortis Engine Project

One of my club mates asked me if I was keen on painting up his Mortis Engine a couple of weeks ago. Problem was, he had already fully assembled the darn thing, making it hard to reach certain parts of the model. I asked him what kind of colour scheme he was after, but he wasn't too picky.

So here I was, looking at this beautiful model, with the freedom to paint it whichever way I liked.

Challenge accepted.

I had a few images swirling in my head about how I wanted to paint the Ethereal parts. Owning my own Vampire Counts army, I've always envisioned a ghostly theme, but unfortunately, none of them are painted. Could this be what motivates me to finally put some paint on the hordes of undead? Maybe...

I remember going through one copy of White Dwarf when the VC book just came out and really liked the painting scheme the Mortis Engine got.

I started off with the lower Ethereal parts of the model.

I gave it a layer of watered down Astronomican Grey. I didn't bother adding several thin layers to most of the area, just the parts which was showing too much of the black basecoat.

The next part, I decided to paint up the metal parts of the skeleton riders' armour and the bone areas of the skeletons themselves.

Next, I got some Ice Blue and watered the hell out of it. Adding a bit of the blue wash (can't remember the name of it) added a bit more colour and diluted the ice blue a lot better than pure water. I applied it to the entire area, making sure to cover every part evenly, otherwise some parts would be darker or lighter than others.

It took awhile to dry, but when it was, I drybrushed over the area with some Fortress Grey.

I also decided to paint the flying Wraiths after I had painted the Engine itself.

I went over it with Bleached Bone then gave it a liberal wash of Devlan Mud (may Devlan Mud R.I.P.)

This was followed by another layer of Bleached Bone thinned with water, followed by a drybrush with Skull White.

To make the flames stand out a little, I decided to paint them green. Based it off with Dark Angels green, then added Snot Green and more Scorpion with each progressive layer.

Once I was happy with the Engine parts, it was time to paint the Wraiths.

As for the Necromancer, I painted his cloak with a basecoat of  Scorched Brown, then went over it with Devlan Mud. I followed it up with another layer of Scorched Brown. On the lower parts of the Necromancers cloak, I drybrushed a bit of Dark Angels Green to add the look of mould and grime.

And finally, the finished product. All in all, I was very happy with my first attempt at something not Orcs & Goblins or Empire.

More Savage Orcs and painting projects...

We have a monthly Club Challenge that we run at the club and part of the challenge is that we 'pledge' a certain project to complete.

My pledge for the month of March was an ambitious one - paint 30 Savage Orcs, Grimgor Ironhide and my converted Goblin BSB.

Here are some pics of my pledge project -

Up next is Grimgor Ironhide. I decided to go with a different shade of green for the Black Orc menace. I opted with Knarloc Green and worked my way up to lighter highlights instead of the usual Orkhide Shade, Snot Green method.

Up next is my converted Goblin BSB. I used a whole bunch of spare bits to kit bash the little fella together.

Emperors Legion 2012 - Game 5 VS Lizardmen

My last battle of Emperors Legion took me up against Australia's ETC Captain, Sam. Off memory, this is what he had in his list:

Slaan Mage Priest - Level 4, Becalming Cogitation (or whatever it's called), Cupped Hands, Ethereal, Lore of Light.
Scar Vet - Flaming Attacks
Scar Vet

34x Saurus Warriors
34x Saurus Warriors
10x Skink Skirmishers
10x Skink Skirmishers
5x Skink Skirmishers Scouts
5x Skink Skirmishers Scouts

Ancient Stegadon
Stegadon
1x Salamander Pack
1x Salamander Pack

3x Terradon Riders
3x Terradon Riders
 
I managed to get first turn after he set up his Skirmishers as Scouts.

This is how my Turn 1 looked.

Pretty much just moved everything up. Targeted his Ancient Steg with the Rock Lobba, but it scattered hitting a couple of Saurus Warriors and the Steg itself, but failing to wound anything. My Savage Orc Great Shaman felt the Becalming Cogitation of his Slaan, so I didn't want to cast anything with him. I targeted the Ancient Stegadon again with a bigger version of Vindictive Glare (3D6 Str 3 hits), managing to kill off one Skink.

Lizardmen Turn 1

The Lizardmen worked the flanks and dispatched my Wolf Riders with ease. His big blocks of Saurus and Stegadons moved back, distancing themselves from the Savage Orc Big Un unit. The Terradon Riders triggered the Fanatics too early for my liking, forcing me to go through my own Wolf Riders, killing them outright. I forced a panic check on the Terradons, but they passed it with ease.

The 5 scouting Skinks poisoned the Doom Diver on the first turn, which spelt trouble as I needed it to take out as many of his chaff units as possible. One of the Mangler Squigs was taken down with magic and the Salamanders on the left flank took out a fair chunk of Squigs. The Lizardmen clearly had the upper hand at this point.

Orcs and Goblins Turn 2

So with most of my redirecting units gone, I had to push the big blocks forward. The Savage Orc Big Uns squabbled, but Gorgrunt Ironhorn quickly put them back in their place by smacking some heads around. Fortunately, there were no casualties. One of the Fanatics killed itself by ramming into the woods, while another planted itself right in front of the Squig Herd, halting its advance.

Magic phase was uneventful again as the Savage Orc Great Shaman felt becalmed from the Slaan. I tried casting Hand of Gork on the Big Uns horde, but rolling a 6 meant it wastmcct=/b/post-preview; PREF=ID=0promptly dispelled by the Lizardmen.

Another shot by the Rock Lobba on the Ancient Stegadon scattered wildly, this time off the table.

Lizardmen Turn 2

The Skinks went about their business working the flanks and picking off models here and there. The Terradon Riders on the left flank dropped some rocks on the Rock Lobba but failed to wound it. The Terradons on the right flank also dropped some rocks on the Mangler Squig, but left it with 1 wound left. He moved one of the Saurus Warriors unit up and made them brace for an oncoming charge. He moved his Ancient Stegadon to face these same Warriors in the event that they would hold, a flank charge could be made against the Big Uns.

The magic phase saw a big roll on his part. He was able to cast Birona's Timewarp on the Saurus Warriors. He also managed to take off the last wound on the remaining Mangler Squig.

Orcs and Goblins Turn 3

With charges in sight, I went ahead and declared the Savage Orcs charge the Saurus Warriors. One of the Trolls had a flank charge on the same Warriors, so in he went as well. The Night Goblins along with the BSB and 2 Night Goblin Shamans charged the Salamander Pack, which declared a Flee!. After passing a leadership test, they redirected their charge on the flank of the Ancient Stegadon. The Black Orcs stood their ground, hoping to attract more shooting attention from the poisonous javelins. I parked the second troll in front of the Slaan's unit, re-directing the unit in case the Big Uns weren't able to break the charged Saurus Warriors' unit.

The magic phase did a little better than last time. I tried to cast 'Ere We Go (re-rolls to hit in combat for Orc units within 2D6" of the Shaman) on the Savage Orc Big Uns, but was dispelled. However, I was able to get Sneaky Stabbin' off on the Night Goblin unit, which is Armour Piercing, but because I was fighting in the flank, it gave the unit re-rolls to hit and to wound.

With shooting, I shot the fleeing Salamander with the Rock Lobba and killed it outright.

In combat, the Saurus Warriors buffed with Timewarp managed to take down a few Savage Orcs, but the Big Uns, along with the Warboss did their business and slew more in return. Needing snake eyes to hold, they failed the first and second break test and were hacked down by the frenzied Savage Orcs.

The Night Goblins managed to poke the Ancient Stegadon a few times, thanks to Sneaky Stabbin', but the it saved all of the wounds. I directed some attacks on the crew as well, managed 4 wounds. The Skinks failed all their armour saves, wiping out all the crew, but the Stegadon passed its Monster Reaction test. In return, the Skinks and Stegadon killed a couple of Night Goblins and killed the level one Night Goblin Shaman outright. I still managed to win the combat, but the Stegadon failed its break test. Being more than 12" away from the BSB, the Stegadon ran and the Night Goblins ran it down.

Lizardmen Turn 3

Looking to avoid the Savage Orc Big Uns, the Saurus Warriors charged the lone Troll standing in front of them. The Skinks on the left flank marched towards the Rock Lobba and wiped it out in the shooting phase from its poisonous javelins.

During the magic phase, the Slaan buffed its Saurus bunker with Timewarp. With that lone Troll as good as gone, I let him have it, but was able to shut down everything else.

With the Skinks on the right flank advancing towards the Black Orcs, they decided to pump more javelins into them, while destroying the Wolf Chariot as well. The Salamander on the right misfired and ate all of its handlers. It failed its Monster reaction test and decided to stay on the spot to defend the freshly spewed out bones of its handlers.

The Scar Vet with flaming attacks easily slayed the lone Troll, but overran a paltry 2 inches.

Orcs and Goblins Turn 4

My turn 4 involved a number of reforms to face the Saurus Warriors and very little of everything else. My magic phase consisted of very few power dice and with the artillery gone, it proceeded to be a very quick turn.

Lizardmen Turn 4

With no charges on the Lizardmen's part, it proceeded to be another quick turn.

The Slaan buffed his unit with Timewarp again, while I stopped any magic missiles that he threw towards the Black Orcs.

The Skinks maneuvered to pepper the Black Orcs more with their javelins, while the Terradons flew and parked in front of the Savage Orc Big Uns to prevent them from charging the rear of the Saurus Warriors.

Orcs and Goblins Turn 5

Sensing the Lizardmen were after my Black Orcs, I had to find a way to divert the Saurus unit. I didn't charge the Terradons as I was afraid that an overrun would take my General too far away from the Night Goblins. I did move the Night Goblins up to get my Shaman within 24 inches of the Skinks. At the top of the board, I moved the lone Troll closer towards the Saurus Warriors unit. The Squig Herd at the left flank, simply wheeled and moved up towards the centre of the battlefield.

The magic phase provided me with 8 power dice after being able to channel one dice. I cast a buffed version of Vindictive Glare on the unit of 5 Skinks, casting on 12 (including the Magic Mushroom dice). The Lizardmen didn't attempt to dispel. I managed to kill all 5 and cause a Panic test, however, both units of Skinks passed their leadership test. The more vital spell was Hand of Gork (move a unit 3D6" - buffed version moves 5D6"), which was cast on the lone Troll. I managed to roll high, but had to discard a 6 from the roll due to feeling "becalmed". It was still a high roll regardless and the Lizardmen were looking for high rolls themselves, but failed to dispel. I rolled 11 inches for the Trolls move and planted it in front of the Saurus unit.

Lizardmen Turn 5

No charges were declared this round as the Lizardmen probably thought they could finish off the Black Orcs with a combination of shooting and magic. The Stegadon moved up a bit to ensure a last turn charge on the Black Orcs.

They did manage to knock off a few Black Orcs with shooting, even if I did save a couple with their heavy armour. Magic phase was uneventful, dispelling Banishment whilst other spells failed to cast.

Orcs and Goblins Turn 6

Being my last turn, I charged the Big Un horde into the Terradons, whilst moving the Night Goblins closer for, hopefully, one last blast of magic.

Winds of magic provided very little power dice, Hand of Gork being the only spell I tried to cast. I tried to cast it on the Black Orcs, to move them behind the Skinks and out of sight from the Stegadon, but it was promptly dispelled.

I didn't bother shooting the Night Goblin archers as I knew I wouldn't kill enough Saurus Warriors to incur a Panic test.

The combat phase was pretty quick as my opponent simply removed the Terradons from the table, allowing the Savage Orcs to run 8 inches.

Lizardmen Turn 6

The Saurus finally declared a charge on the Troll, while the Stegadon smashed into the Black Orcs.

The Scar Vet with flaming attacks once again dispatched the Troll with ease.

So it all came down to the Stegadon and the Black Orcs. If the Black Orcs were to break, the game would have gone to the Lizardmen. After all the hacking, there were still 6 Black Orcs left, then it came to the Thunderstomp. He rolled a 2. Rolled twice and got a 5 and a 1. So the Black Orcs were still Steadfast. I rolled a 7 and the heavily armoured Black Orcs managed to stick around and won me the game.

The final score of the game was 11-9. Narrow win, but I'll take it, considering I did play the Australian ETC Captain.

Emperors Legion 2012

Another year and another Emperors Legion tournament. I think I fluked most of last year by getting some favorable match-ups on my way to 3rd place. But this year was going to be different. Having looked around on the first day of the tournament, I could see a lot of very good and competitive players turning up. I knew I had my work cut out for me just to make the top 10.

Game 1 - Dwarfs. Meeting Engagement. My opponent had only the one combat unit, while the rest were the Anvil, various war machines and a unit of Ambushing Miners. The plan was to distract his shooting with the Squig Herd, Mangler Squigs and pretty much everything else to leave the Savage Orc Big Un horde. He was failing to kill my Trolls, even with Flaming Bolt Thrower shots, which gave me a crucial turn to divert him while I positioned more units around. He didn't charge the Troll, but eventually killed it, allowing me to charge on my Turn. Soon as those Savage Orc Big Uns got into combat against those Warriors, they rightly turned them into minced Stunties. I knew the game was well and truly in my favour when one of my Mangler Squigs caused 17 hits with 3D6 (rolled a 6,6,5) on the Anvil and killing it outright. 19-1 win.

Game 2 - Empire. Battle Line. Came up against the player who has smashing everyone with his Ogres in big time tournaments. This guy is currently ranked 2nd in Australia and could easily make the New Zealand ETC team and Masters. He played very defensively, which is what you're supposed to do with Empire, and his list suited it. I deployed my Doom Diver out of place, easily taken off by the cannon on his first turn. The combat got very violent at the centre of the battlefield, but my Warboss was often whiffing his attacks, while the Savage Orc Big Uns couldn't get through the armour of the Knights. It was easily going to be a 0-20 loss until I needed snake eyes for the Big Uns. First roll was 10. Next roll - SNAKE EYES! That changed the game big time. The Black Orcs charged the flank of his Swordsmen and things went up from there. While I still lost 9-11, due to him JUST managing to pass his Break Test for his Knights on the last turn, I was very happy with that result.

Game 3 - Dark Elves. Came up against another player who consistently makes the Top 10 of tournaments here in Australia - this was going to be a good learning experience. He was playing aggressively to start off with, especially with his Shades, but quickly dispatched them with an accurate hit with a Doom Diver and hitting them with a Mangler Squig. I had a chance to kill the Hydra in the early stages, but the damn thing kept regenerating its wound. In combat, he was getting Okkam's Mindrazor off at the right times - he did it once on the Corsairs as soon as they slammed into the Black Orcs and another on the Witch Elves which broke the Savage Orc Big Un horde on the very last turn of the game. I ended up losing this game 16-4.

I will reserve the last 2 games for another entry, as I want to test out Battle Chronicler with those games.

Clash of The Titans 2012

It’s been awhile since I’ve last updated, but we’re in the middle of tournament season here in Sydney – that means more games, more painting and little time to blog. 

The most recent tournament that I attended was Clash of the Titans, which was in mid-February and as usual, I took the Orcs and Goblins. I took a different list since it was only 2400 points. I kept the nucleus of the army – which were 34 Orc Big Uns, 30 Savage Orcs, 21 Black Orcs and 40 Squig Herd. I did play around with a couple of the characters, opting with a level 3 Orc Great Shaman over the Savage Orc Great Shaman.

Game 1 vs Dwarfs (Grudge match). Dawn Attack. Things were going well and looked like it was going to be a big win. That was until the last turn. Flank charged a Dwarf unit with Great Weapons with the Orc Big Uns, along with the Warboss and BSB and a single Troll. Broke the unit, ran it down with the Troll. However, needed to overrun 5 inches with the Big Uns to get out of front arc of a Dwarf horde with his Lord and avoid a rear charge. Rolled a 4. Lost the unit when it ran off the table. Ended up being 14-6.

Game 2 vs Dark Elves. Battle for the Pass scenario with objectives. Terrain was no good for me as it was buildings everywhere. Found it hard to manoeuvre my big blocks. Should’ve played it more cautiously, but I tried to conserve as much points as possible. Lost the Savage Orcs to Mind Razored Corsairs and a Hydra. Lost the Big Uns on the last turned, but the BSB and Warboss lived. Ended up losing 14.75-5.25.

Game 3 vs new VC. Blood and Glory. Perfect scenario for me as my opponent had very little fortitude. I had a look at his list and noticed his Lord on flying steed didn’t have a ward save. Targeted it with the Doom Diver and killed him on Turn 2. The Black Orcs held up his Mortis Engine and a Skellie block with a Vampire character long enough for my Big Uns to take out his Ghoul horde. Lost the Black Orcs in the latter stages of the game, but the 1000 point bonus for breaking his army made up for it and then some. Won 20-0.

Game 4 vs new VC. Watchtower. Was expecting a much harder game than the previous one as this particular opponent had more experience. He also had his Vampire Lord on flying steed, but this time with a 4+ ward save. Threw everything at him, but just couldn’t kill him. Did 3 wounds on one turn, but he had a Vampiric Power that gave him an extra wound. Then he healed himself whenever he could. He played the Hexwraiths wrong, moving and causing damage whenever he would move over a unit. However, you can only do the Strength 5 hits on a unit when you move over them in the Remaining Moves phase, not on every move. I did manage to capture the Watchtower in the end. Won 10.25-9.75.

Game 5 vs Dwarfs. Battleline. Played on the same table as Game 4, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Buildings were in the way again, forcing me to split up my units. I did some uncharacteristic moves which may have cost me some points. Rolled poorly for winds of magic most of the game and against Dwarfs, it usually means that you will actually have less power dice over the dispel. Unlike the first game against dwarfs, all his war machines were clicking and hitting whatever he targeted. Close game throughout. He threatened to score a big win when he targeted my last remaining Savage Orc waving the standard with his cannon. He hit. He wounded. But the Savage Orc passed his 6+ ward save. Saved myself 330 points, including the banner. Lost 11-9.

In the end, I placed 9^th out of 35 participants. Was pretty happy with that result as I accomplished both my objectives coming in – make the top 10 and win more games than lose.