Finally, some games!!!

Alright, so finally I get to play HORDES!! Ted came down from Abington with his Trollblood Boxed Set and Totem Hunter. Our first game was Madrak, 2 Impalers, & 1 Axer vs Kaya, 2 Argus, and 1 Warpwolf. The table was set up with a large hill on my left with 2 standing stones and a woods. There were 2 buildings near the trolls deployment zone on my right and some woods on my side. The first battle started badly in Turn 2 with both Impalers and Madrak hitting my Warpwolf and 1 Argus with ranged attacks. My Warpwolf got stuck in but was overmatched and taken out, leaving me with a weakened Argus, a 2nd Argus, and Kaya. Neither argus was able to do enough damage to finish off the trolls decisively and in a battle of attrition the trolls are likely to win. As the first argus went down Kaya was soon assaulted and surrounded. Alais, 1 loss already. The Trolls are pretty touch (more armor than my woodland beasts) and their ranged attacks got me flustered early on.

For the 2nd battle we switched table sides and added our respective Totem Hunters to the armies. This battle didn't really go much better. One of my Argus got critical slammed by a thrown spear early on and was severely injured. My Totem hunter and 2nd argus made a long journey around the central hill and woods to try to flank the Trolls but both Madrak and the Troll's totem hunter got the drop on the 2nd argus as he emerged from the woods and was chopped down. My Warpwolf got an early attack and charge in on the Axer as he moved ahead of the solid Troll line of Impalers and Madrak but sadly I was unable to finish him. My totem hunter then moved in behind the Axer and still couldn't finish the job! The troll Totem Hunter then got my totem hunter in the back and finished him off. Kaya teleported in to kill the Axer but at this point I'd lost both Argus and only killed the Axer! After the Warpwolf died I was again surrounded. 0 for 2.. ick..

So, just to prove the Trollbloods could die, we switched it up and I took 322 pts of Khador Iron Fury against the Trolls. The butcher, a Juggernaut, a Destroyer, and a Manhunter vs trolls and their totem hunter. Things started very well with my Destroyer actually landing a bombard on the Impaler on my right flank. But, the next turn the Destroyer was slammed back by a spear and fell of the edge of the hill (luckily too low to do more damage with the Khador armor). My Manhunter then got a great charge in against the other Impaler and needing only 7's to hit rolled 6's and a 2nd set of 6's to miss completely. The troll totem hunter then vaulted into combat with the Manhunter and killed him but I had cast retaliaton with The Butcher the turn before and my retaliatory attack killed the Totem Hunter. Fair trade. Would have been better if I'd at least wounded the Impaler!! So, now my Juggernaut gets speared a few times and loses his left arm - but he does get into combat with the Axer and through the next 3 turns manages to carve up the Axer while keeping his Axe Arm working. The Axer actually frenzies at one point but he is frozen by my Ice Axe for 2 turns in a row and never gets to use the frenzy. In the mean time the Butcher shows what he is made of and calls his feat, charges the 2 Impalers as the near the edge of the hill, and carves one up completely and almost finishes the 2nd one by himself! Of course, now he is without focus and is countercharged by Madrak!!! Fortunately for Khador, the Butcher survivies and even the injured Impaler's attacks go wide. The butcher then uses 5 of his focus and his axe Lola to carve Madrak.. even with Madrak's scroll to ignore one hit completely (he chooses a 33 point whopper of a hit) I kill Madrak.. but wait, he's tough.. and rolls a 6!! I have 1 last focus and am able to hit a downed model for free and this time he roll's a 2 for tough and is elimanted. Phew.... I'd forgotten about his scroll and almost didn't leave myself enough focus for the tough ability!!!

Now back to my Circle - 425 pts - Circle including Kaya, Warpwolf, 2 Argus, and a Totem Hunter with the addition of a WoldWarden vs a Cryx nightmare force - 6 Bane Thralls, 3 bonejacks, a Slayer helljack, a Necrotech, a Scrapthrall, a Pistol Wraith, and Skarre the Pirate Queen!!! A mixed start for Kaya - she pushes her force forward with her, the Warpwolf, and an argus in the woods on my right and the woldwarden and 2nd argus going up the middle and the totem hunter way out on the flank. I moved Kaya too far to her right and actually got outside the 12" control range after I'd activated the Warden, put up his animus, and moved the argus up next to him. So, cryx launched their attack with a bonejack way out front shooting at the Argus and then channelling spells from Skarre to wound both models. On my turn I couldn't leech focus from the woldwarden and he kept 2 on him. I did move Kaya closer to him and forced him to charge in after the Argus on the 1st Bonejack and combined they obliterated the critter but now were in range of most of the cryx return fire. On my right, I tried to Doppler Bark with my argus in the other flanking bonejack but missed. My Warpwolf pulled back through the woods to guard Kaya. In the following turn the Argus near the Wold Warden was killed by the Bane Thralls and the bonejack opposite my other argus was damaged severely and lost his spirit attribute. I moved the Warpwolf up to finish that lone bonejack and managed to miss completley with every attack, leaving myself out in the open and awaiting punishment. On the back of the table I had run away from the Pistol Wraith and actually mounted an attack on Skarre from her own table edge. I did wound her but of course her retaliation the next turn killed the hunter. Getting back to Kaya I decided to risk her getting into combat for a potential show stopper. I charged up and attack the Bane Thralls - with all my fury I was able to kill 3, and knock down the 4th - I then called my feat and replenished my 6 fury, used 1 to kill the knocked down thrall, and then teleported the Wold Warden into melee with the Helljack that was breathing down my neck (and set to charge me or the Warpwolf next turn). This would have been an amazing move in if the Wold Warden had then hit with his first two fist attack and done a Elemental Wrath attack to slam the Helljack away... instead, I missed one attack and had to settle for damaging the slayer and tying it up in combat. In the following turns my woldwarden was finally dispatched and my last argus was too. The warpwolf was hurting and Kaya was all alone facing a pistol wraith, skarre, scrapthrall, necrotech, helljack, and 3rd untouched bonejack! She Spirit Doored behind the Warpwolf and tried to regroup as the warpwolf finally killed the bonejack he's been fighting for 3 turns! So, now it was the remaining cryx closing in on an emaciated warpwolf and wounded Kaya. Trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat I charged the Pistol Wraith and killed it then cast Rager on the Warpwolf. He moved up into melee with both the bonejack and the helljack on the egde of the hill an inch from Kaya. He tried to use Rager to two-handed throw the bonejack because he could draw line of sight to Skarre and was going to drop the 'jack on her head! But, of course, he missed. So, with his remaining attacks he hit the helljack twice and then did a throat-ripper attack and tore off both arms and took out it's hull, wrecking the big boy. But, this was to be it as Skarre then pulled her feat, gave everbody +5 armor, and did a sacrificial strike with the scrap thrall doing a strength 17 hit to Kaya that when boosted killed her outright. With no fury on her and with only a few hits left on the warpwolf there was nothing she could do.

So, 0 for 3 with the circle... hmm... all 3 were good games and to be honest I made plenty of mistakes. I left guys exposed while casting Cloak of Mists on others. I left guys in range to be speared. I really got very few combo charges off and ended up using Spirit Gate to get myself out of trouble instead of using it to move more models into combat (except with the Wold Warden... that was a great move that would have paid off if I'd not misjudged the 12" control range on turn 1 and couldn't leech fury off him in turn 2!)... Anyway... the circle is very different than my Khador force and I am not used to having speed - I often times gave the Warpwolf +2 move to make sure he got into combat when I had plenty of room to spare and could have used the + armor or +2 strength to better effect. So, I think if I can get a few combos down, do more supporting of my own troops and then use my spirit door to push the tide of battle in my favor instead of using it to escape to lick my wounds, I'll have a better shot.

Alright, till next battles...
jahatch28
may 30th, 2006

New Additions

So, still no games played...
I went to Game Haven in Dartmouth for their Hordes Demo after working on and off to finish the 2nd Argus and Totem Hunter and adding more detail to the already finished models' bases.

Here's the 2nd argus:













And the Totem Hunter:
















And although there was nobody else looking for a Hordes Demo, the store had fully painted Skorne and Everblight boxed sets. I really liked the grey/blue color scheme for the Everblight and am tempted to paint up some Skorne or Everblight of my own.

Anyway, they had the newest release, the WoldWarden, for the Circle and I snatched it up and starting assembling right away. A week later, and here he is:

Wold Warden:

















So, now I just have to finish Baldur (almost done) and I'll be awaiting the Wolves of Orboros which should be out this coming week...
Sweet...

Jahatch28
5/28/06

Painted Circle

Here are the painted models - gaming quality for sure, not going to win any awards though - but that's fine - I'm very happy to have gotten them painted so quickly (for me anyway!)

The Warpwolf

And here is my Warlock Kaya the Wildborne

And finally, the Argus (1 of 2) - the 2nd argus isn't quite finished

Next up I'll finish the 2nd Argus, finish up Baldur the Stonecleaver, and get to work on the Minion Totem Hunter!

jahatch28, May 13, 06

Assembly and Beyond

Now after choosing the druids and their warbeasts, it was time to get to work. First off I found that Baldur came with Kaya's magic card instead of his own!!! Not the worst thing, since all his rules were published in No Quarter Magazine but a minor inconvenience that an email to Privateer Press will take care of (they are great about their products!).

Sitting down to assemble the models I found that the boxed set went together very easily. Only the Warpwolf could have used some pinning but by going slowly and letting the small amount of putty that I used near the feet to help adhere to the base and by the tail to help hide that joint, the models were great. I used a tiny amount of putty down the backs of the argus and to hide the tail joint again too. Kaya and Baldur were easy to assemble although I don't know why all the privateer models insist on having such a large tab at the bottom of the figures that it taller than the base slot so it always needs to be filled or cut out completely so the models doesn't rock when standing glued to it's base or else look like they are hoving 1 mm above their base.

Anyway - purchased May 2nd, I really didn't get to start painting till that weekend. I primed in black and then had to decide on color schemes for my models. I like the green and gold metalics of the Privateer line, but couldn't just copy their scheme for everything. Plus, painting a lot of fur would end up making every model a brown blob on the table.

For the Warpwolf I went with a grey skin tone a bit darker than the one on the back of the Hordes Primal book. For the mane and hair however, I choose a dark red scheme. This would pair nicely with Kaya's hair and accent points and I would be sure to include a little red in every model in my army if possible.

The argus I decided to use 2 different brown colors for their basecoats and to let one have grey fur/mane to link him/her to the warpwolf while the other would be more traditional. I will have red cloth on both dogs as their harness parts and will continue the gold/green armor.

I was able to spend about 8 hours on and off on Saturday working on the models and was able to get a few hours in on Sunday towards finishing the Warpwolf.

Finally on Tuesday evening, a full week after getting the models, the Warpwolf was finished!

As of Thursday night, one argus is 90% done, one is 50% done, and both Kaya and Baldur are basecoated.

No games played yet - everyone else is working on getting their figures up and running too.
But soon... soon we'll get some games going and test out these massive metal models!

Hopefully tonight I will finish an argus or two and maybe even Kaya (unlikely) and get some games in Saturday...

JAH, May 12th, 2006

Mission Statement or Something

So, with this, I intend to chronicle my miniature wargaming with my Hordes faction - the Circle of Orboros. For those of you who aren't familiar, visit www.privateerpress.com for more info.

For those of you who are in the know - this will be my battle diary and painting/modeling chronicles.

Hordes was released on April 22nd, 2006 as "the feral cousin to Warmachine"... it took me till May 2nd before I got out to my favorite games and hobby store (www.battlegroundgames.com) in Abington Mass to pick up the Circle of Orboros boxed set and Baldur blister.

Why Circle of Orboros you may ask?

Well, I play Khador in WM and one bonus of the druids is their completely different playing style (if you ignore the big, heavy WoldWardens as a comparison to Khador's jacks). The trolls I think would be a great force to play, but I will leave them to others for now and I don't know if I have the patience to paint tartans. Everblight would likely be fun but the Nyss models, although excellent, do not spark my interest as much as the warbeasts. The beasts of Everyblight look great, but I don't think an all warbeast force would be the most balanced for me to try. And the Skorne both have too much overlap with Khador as far as model types and color schemes and that made me not choose them. So, by default and also by looking for a challenge, Circle it is. (I also play Wolfen in Confrontation and really like the giant werewolf aspect!).

Next on to assembling, painting, and gaming!

- jahatch28
May 11th, 2006