Napoleon dwarf from scibor miniatures

This is my dwarf napoleon from scibor miniatures.

Since I have sold my squats this dude will be the little known heir of napoleon who led a force of French soldiers during the early days of World War One.

Historical accuracy aside I am looking forward to getting him into the mud of blood of Flanders and push back the Hun menace.

New dwarf BSB and Helga

This is my latest dwarf BSB.

He is a slight conversion from the so called fine cast dwarf who kept breaking his right hand fingers.  Thanks to our old friend Dremel the hand was removed and replaced with a dwarf hammer hand.

I usually equip him with the master rune of valaya to keep the magic protection up for my dwarf bros.

Next up is a slight repaint on an old Helga mini I picked up from one of my bros. It's a classic mini and well worth hunting down.

She has had her clothes slightly repainted to match the blue of my other bros and a shield from some of the other black tree design dwarfs.

New dwarf lord and shield bearers

Here is my new dwarf lord on keg with drunks aka on shield with bearers.

The lord is the Bugman mini from his bar at warhammer world one of my bros bought me back from his visit there.

The drunks are from the best dwarf range that still comes in metal, black tree design: http://eoeorbisuk.com/collections/fantasy/products/fa0917-drunken-dwarves-3?variant=4539064323

 it's not a crime to stomp elves whist drunk

Hurray for Bugman's 6X

For all of those gen x's that remember when dwarfs were short, stout, hairy and drunk, black tree keep the dream alive compared to GW's rather lacklustre non plastic range.  Although I am a fan of the new GW plastic hammerers, nothing beats an army that not only hits like a tonne of bricks but also weighs a tonne of bricks.

Therefore my dwarf army is made up of mainly black tree dwarfs who fit in nicely with most dwarfs from 4th to 7th edition before GW sent them to be "man-scaped" - seriously when did slayers drop the barrel chests and beer bellies for abs to grate cheese on!

Check out the rest of the black tree range of dwarfs here: http://eoeorbisuk.com/collections/fantasy/range_dwarves?sort_by=price-descending

Is this the most aggressive dwarf list you have ever seen?

My enjoyment of 8th edition has not been dulled by the attack that has been the Age of Sigmar and after re-reading the dwarf army book I was inspired to make a new list based on the fluff and new rules from this short lived army book.

Unlike most editions of the dwarf army books, the 8th edition seemed to emphasise that after many years of being on the back foot as one of the dying elder races, the dwarfs were reemerging to take back what was theirs.

The resolute (+1 strength on the charge) and shield wall (+1 to parry saves) rules and to a lesser extent ancestral grudge, plus the fluff pointing to the dwarfs taking the fight to their various assailants plus the new Strollaz rune (unit gains vanguard) meant I could put together a dwarf list that would overcome their short but stout legs.  No longer would I have to be 24 inches away at the start of the game and rely on war machines to whittle the enemy down in preparation for their inevitable charge on me.

As you can see from the below list, every unit that can take the Strollaz rune takes it whilst the miners invest in a steam drill to help with those important ambush rolls.  The only war machine is the gyrocopter that is upgraded to have the vanguard rule too.

Although I do not expect to get off the first charges, I do expect most of the units to survive a charge and then drive the enemy back ready for counter charges by me with the strength bonuses.  

The characters all have their roll to play.  The lord is with the longbeards and is tooled to survive most attacks with the bsb also there for magic defence alongside Bugman and his trusty booze to help out and regain wounds.

The rune smith is with the hammerers to protect flanks and/ or charge as their staying power is legendary.

The dragon slayer is with the slayers whose plan is to target and bait the big nasties to die in the most glorious manner possible.

The gyro is used to surge forward and where possible cause grief and whew possible disrupt enemy lines, steam burn war machine crews etc.  Expectations are always low but they are useful for drawing out fanatics which I will talk about in my summary of the first game with this list.

The miners will disrupt the enemy from the sides or rear whilst the glorious dwarfs surge forward.  What could go wrong?

The list thanks to battle scribes: http://www.battlescribe.net

Lord (263pts) [Shield (3pts), Shieldbearers (40pts)]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Relentless, Resolute, Shieldbearers, Shieldwall

Ancestral Heirlooms and Runes (75pts) [Rune of Cleaving (1st rune) (10pts), Rune of Cleaving (2nd rune) (25pts), Rune of the Furnace (5pts), Rune of Warding (1st rune) (15pts), Rune of Warding (2nd rune) (20pts)]

Rules: Rune of Cleaving, Rune of the Furnace, Rune of Warding

Dragon Slayer (140pts)

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Deathblow, Dragon Slayer, Relentless, Resolute, Slayer, Slayer Axes, Slayer Cult, Unbreakable

Runes (70pts) [Rune of Fire (1st rune) (10pts), Rune of Might (1st rune) (25pts), Rune of Might (2nd rune) (35pts)]

Rules: Rune of Fire, Rune of Might

Josef Bugman (165pts) [AB - Bugman's Tankard, AB - Ol' Trustworthy]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Bugman's Rangers, Liquid Fortification, Relentless, Resolute, Scouts, Stout Courage

Runesmith (103pts) [Shield (3pts)]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Armour Piercing, Forgefire, Magic Resistance (*), Relentless, Resolute, Rune Lore, Shieldwall

Ancestral Heirlooms and Runes (40pts) [Rune of Spellbreaking (1st rune) (25pts), Rune of Warding (1st rune) (15pts)]

Rules: Rune of Spellbreaking, Rune of Warding

Thane (158pts) [Ancestral Heirlooms and Runes, Shield (3pts)]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Relentless, Resolute, Shieldwall

Battle Standard Bearer (90pts) [Master Rune of Valaya (65pts)]

Rules: Master Rune of Valaya

+ Core (620pts) +

Longbeards (620pts) [Champion (10pts), Musician (10pts)]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Immune to Psychology, Old Grumblers, Relentless, Resolute, Shieldwall

37x Longbeard (555pts) [37x Great Weapons (74pts), 37x Shields (37pts)]

Standard Bearer (45pts) [Strollaz' Rune (35pts)]

Rules: Strollaz' Rune

+ Special (949pts) +

Gyrocopter (100pts) [Steam Gun, Vanguard (20pts)]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Armoured Copter, Dive Bomb, Fly, Relentless, Vanguard (FAQ'ed)

Hammerers (385pts) [Champion (10pts), Musician (10pts)]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Kingsguard, Relentless, Resolute, Shieldwall, Stubborn

19x Hammerer (285pts) [19x Shields (19pts)]

Standard Bearer (80pts) [Rune of Battle (1st rune) (35pts), Strollaz' Rune (35pts)]

Rules: Rune of Battle, Strollaz' Rune

Miners (205pts) [15x Miner (150pts), Musician (10pts), Standard Bearer (10pts)]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Relentless, Resolute, Underground Advance

Champion (35pts) [Steam Drill (25pts)]

Rules: Steam Drill

Slayers (259pts) [Musician (10pts), 17x Slayer (204pts)]

Rules: Ancestral Grudge, Deathblow, Relentless, Resolute, Slayer, Slayer Axes, Slayer Cult, Unbreakable

Standard Bearer (45pts) [Strollaz' Rune (35pts)]

Rules: Strollaz' Rune

Created with BattleScribe (http://www.battlescribe.net)

Photos from recent WFB game

A few weeks ago me and a couple of bros had a team game.  2000 points each.

I took the mighty chaos dwarfs:

Sorcerer-Prophet (420pts)  Armour of Bazherak the Cruel, Blood of Hashut , BRB - Talisman of Preservation, Level 4 Wizard, Lore of Hashut, Pistol

Hobgoblin Khan (80pts) Potion of Toughness, Giant Wolf , Light Armour , Shield , Spear 

Hobgoblin Khan (64pts)  Potion of Strength, Light Armour , Shield  

Infernal Castellan (207pts) The Mask of the Furnace, Battle Standard Bearer , BRB - Ironcurse Icon, Great weapon, Shield

40 Hobgoblin Cutthroats (232pts) [Musician, Standard Bearer, Bow, Shields

22 Infernal Guard (331pts) Deathmask, Musician, Standard Bearer War Banner 

Iron Deamon War Engine (340pts) [Hellbound, Skullcracker] 

Hellcannon (210pts) 

7 Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders (116pts) Musician , Standard Bearer, Wolf Boss] Spears 

My bro Simon was rocking a fully mobile beastmen army:

2 x Minotaur lords.   One on magic carpet and one with 1+ rerollable armour save who gains an extra attack for each successful save.

8 x chariots, 1 with BSB

2 units of 2 razorgor

2 units of scouting harpies. 

Lvl 2 wizard on foot. (Dispel scroll)

Our armies were kind of opposite but we up against a mobile empire and ogres with a couple of stone horns, mournfang and a couple of ogre blocks.

The chaos dwarfs and a couple of chariots ready to roll - well the chariots and the iron daemon anyway.

Hobgoblins get some brown pants when they see the size of he inner circle knights in front of them.

The beast chariots start their engines in the target rich environment of mournfang, demigriffs and bulls.

Hobgoblin wolf raiders prepare to control the extreme right flank.

And promptly fail their animosity test and flee of the board- at least they look good

The hobgoblins go long range on the stone horn who is already wounded thanks to the hell cannon needing 6s to wound.

The stone horn dies to the hobgoblin horde bow fire

The iron daemon smashes into the empire bowmen leaving a bloody mess




Later on the iron daemon crashes into the knight bus who held but the next turn saw the hobgoblins rear charge the knigts who flee from the combat.

Overall we had a blast with the slow moving chaos dwarfs letting the beatmen chariots charge and soften up the empire and ogre.

True to the dawi zharr way the beasts were slaughtered before we moved in for the kill. 

A fantastic game with a great bunch of bros.

Selling space dwarf squat and imperial guard rogue trader collection

Pics and list is available here: http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showt ... ?tid=15879

Please pm me if you are interested either here or on CDO.

I want the whole lot gone so all reasonable offers considered.

Thanks

First flames of war game

With GW declaring war on its most loyal WFB fans I have started looking at other games to spend my hobby times and dollars.

Next up is flames of war. Thanks to dystopian wars painting little dudes no longer puts me off as much as it did in the past.

My first game was a blast with me using Germans with my buddy lethal lee using Italians against those dirty filthy colonial Australians of Troy's with the gavinator bringing the British light brigade in the form of light to medium tanks.

Although I had no idea of the rules I ended up kind of getting the hang of them whilst having a blast by the time we finished/ declared victory.

The good news is the bad guys (lee and I) blasted the good guys away and even held the post game determined strategic village in the centre of the board.  

Excellent game and cash willing I plan on getting some of the little dudes myself. I will start a New Zealand force as any game that has a Maori specific Haka rule is alright by me.

The Germans on the right with the left flank protected by the massed medium tanks of the Italians.

The British infantry hiding behind their tanks but leave their artillery exposed on their extreme left flank

The German tanks and artillery wipe out the British tanks with some smoking help from the Italians determined to slow what remained of the British tanks

The German infantry surge towards the village after dismounting from their trucks

The British unleash aerial bombardment on the panzers that leaves one of the nazis finest tanks in ruins

The Aussies react to the Germans taking the village and surge forward in search of fascist scum and maybe some cartons of piss (translation: boxes of beer)

Combat as the Aussies punish the German infantry for forgetting beer.  The punishment was brutal and the Germans fell back in the hope the Italians would not switch sides.

 Italian support eventually drives the Aussies back - the bad guys consolidate in the village

Although they thought they were safe, combined allied fire takes out the Germans inside and out (this may have been the only time our opponents agreed on a plan to halt our advance). The Italians meanwhile are safe and enjoy a coffee and some pizza while watching the carnage

On the last turn, a double headed aerial bombardment fails to inflict enough damage to save the allied force from a punishing defeat.

First dystopian wars miniature finished

My plan for 2015 was, along with hunting down every big hat era chaos dwarf (task completed) and hobgoblin (current obsession), to paint my Russian coalition fleet for dystopian wars.

This project has commenced with the completion of the below cruiser.  Painting white has always been a challenge but I think I have found the right mix of white and rust I was looking for with these dudes.

I have only had one game and after 20 odd years of yougoigo games workshop gaming I am having to learn a different kind of rules.  I really enjoyed my first game with the Russian coalition fleet of short range weapons with super thick armour plating making their way across the waves like a hulking elephant.  This game is going to get really addictive with a price range that demonstrates how out of touch GW is with its pricing.

Anyway I thoroughly recommend this game for something different.

Everybody loves a Squat article from the lead pile blog

Don't believe Jervis Johnson's lies that the squats were eaten by a tyrannies.  From: http://theleadpile.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/everybody-loves-squat.html#more

Everybody loves a Squat

None of the plethora of races that populate the 40K universe say 'Rogue Trader' more emphatically than the good old hairy Squat. No other race says over priced ebay hype louder than the squat as well but we can talk about that another day. Right now I simply want to revel in the glory that is the most sensible race in the universe (and ignore Jervis' throw away comment about them being eaten by nids).

Let's face it, we all know that the joy of Rogue Trader is that it's just Warhammer fanstasy in space and part of the hook dragged us all joyously into the (randomly numbered) far future was that we recognised all the races from our existing armies but they looked so much cooler with guns! And come on, doesn't a dwarf look far cooler chomping on a cigar and bracing himself against the recoil of an oversized bolter than stoically hefting a hammer?



So why are they contenders for the ultimate Rogue Trader race? Well first of all they were there from the start.

Front and centre! Mr first and only Space Dwarf, for a mere 60p (what can you get for 60p nowadays?) along with all his other first release mates. Even the dark elf guy had to wait till the next edition for friends but not Mr. Space Dwarf. No sooner could you say 'Cool! A Dwarf with a gun!' before he had a whole gaggle of diminutive mates to back him up in any intergalactic bar brawl.

In October 87 RT03 (yes, that's right number 3 behind marines and orks!) these 20 little hard-asses were unleashed. Followed shortly (ahem) by some command models (There are at least one more variant of each of these models).

                                                                         
Heavy weapon dudes             

                                     
A thudd gun

A mole mortar!

And dwarfs on bikes!!

All of these gorgeous stunties were lovingly crafted by the Perry twins and it is to my eternal shame that I own so few of them.
But just cos they had the basic army figures isn't enough for them to secure their place as Rogue Trader paragons.
Two squats appeared in the infamous Adventurers range (I've got both of these!)

And another couple were released as part of the small 'Medics range'

Not content with this level of astro-dwarfiness, Citadel had a whole other range of Squats sculpted by the Bob Olley for his Iron Claw imprint. (to be honest before putting this article together I didn't know about this ad or the squats in it, some of which I think are awesome little adventurer/character models, I knew of Bob's uniformed squats but these guys have really captured my attention). 

In fact I'm not even sure how many Squats Bob did while he was working for GW (quick check - according to the Olley's Armies page it's 60! plus the hover car!)

So we have loads of gnarly little badasses ready to shoot any greenskins or pointy-eared fairies, all this with only an army list in The book of the astronomican.

We have a very well represented race, plenty of models, support weapons, unique tactics and style. What's not to like? 

Secondly, more than any of the other races that were ported over to the 40th millennium, Squats just scream Rogue Trader. It's probably down to the fact that they never lasted very long beyond that edition (there was the ability to play them in 2nd). The imagery in the rulebook actually made them look like the hard fighting take-no-shit cool guys that everybody wanted to play, even more than the humans. Who better to take on the rowdy space drunks, the Orks. Squats looked like they could go toe-to-toe with the green skins and enjoy in a very grumpy kind of way. They wore a kind of uniform but only in a 'I'll wear it my way!' style that allowed a whole load of individualism. The squats lived in massive underground 'Strongholds' and they lent their fighting troops out as mercenaries to other 'Strongholds' or even other leagues. All mercenaries are cool!

Thirdly - Squats were pretty much just Rogue Trader. Although you could play them in 2nd edition there were no new models. All the squat models were released during the life time of Rogue Trader. All of the above ranges were around the first 12 months or so of RT's existance. Then in February 89, White Dwarf 111 published a fully detailed background article for the squats along with a full army list.

And along with it came a box set of plastic figures, something the pointy eared its didn't get for ages! Along with a big influx of new metal figures, Engineers, Warlord, Hearthguard, Ancestors, Exo armour, Ad-mech, new bikers, Heavy weapon trikes, eco-trikes and Chaos Squats! (although they were cursed by Citadels obsession with giving all their new models plastic arms!)

Plus adventurers and Pirates!

And by 1990 that's your lot. There were no new models for 2nd Edition (although squat models still kept appearing for Epic till 94) so the army you were playing with was an RT army. By 3rd edition squats had disappeared. So nothing says Rogue Trader more than Squats. It's just the way it is!

Obviously now we have to touch on the controversy of what actually happened to the squats. Fluff wise the standard response is that they were eaten by Tyranids. I always believed this was a grumpy response from Jervis Johnson to a question in a seminar. It's funny. But it also one of the main fault lines between Rogue Trader and it's decedents. It illustrates that the RT universe and what came after aren't really connected, they are alternate realities in which to game. If modern 40K existed in a universe where Tyrannids had wiped out several thousand homeworlds of a human (descended) race destroying millions of lives, wiping out one of the Empires most important allies, cutting off one of the key suppliers of technological know how and lost STC  as well as access to unique food growing technologies, you'd think someone would have mentioned it. You'd think someone would mourning their loss. You'd think someone would be sneaking back to the homeworlds to see if anything was left. In the 40K reality of today, squats never existed. There were no homeworlds. There were no heroic stunty allies. RT universe does not equal 40k 8th edition universe. They are two different realities. And that's the way I like it.

(Thanks to Orclord whose fantastic website Stuff of legends is where most of the images appear)

In reality (our reality) Squats died out cos nobody had any ideas. They could come up with mega-sized land train epic scale machines for them but just kept falling back on tired Dwarves-with-guns tropes as can be seen from the Unreleased figures that were designed as an attempt to revive them.

The near official response (again form Jervis on a now defunct forum) was that 

• The designers felt that they "had failed to do the Dwarf 'archetype' justice in its 40K incarnation", and that the Squats were more of a joke race.
• There existed a design disparity with the Warhammer 40,000 and the Epic-scale renditions of the race, which prevented there being a cohesive vision of the race.
• Despite the efforts of the design team, they were unable to think up ways to revitalize the concept

Shrug. 

Nobody wanted the job. So they were just ignored and died of abject neglect. Written out of history while other abhumans (ratlings, ogryns) shambled on into the future. Ho hum.

Nevermind, we still love 'em.