Tyranid Spore Mines

With the recent release of the new Tyranid codex, I've lately started working on getting more of my Tyranid army painted. Since I haven't painted any Tyranids in a long time, I figured I should start small and work up to the bigger things after I'd gotten my color scheme and technique down. I also didn't want to assemble or paint anything that had a lot of options before the codex came out, since I wasn't sure what options I'd want to have until I got a chance to read the codex.

So with that in mind, I started out with some simple Spore Mines. I had some metal Spore Mines from some old Biovores, plus some plastic ones that came with the Battle for Macragge boxed set for 4th edition Warhammer 40k. So while I was waiting for the book to come out to decide what else I would paint and what it would be armed with, I painted up the Spore Mines.

Part of my concept for the color scheme of my Tyranid splinter fleet is that as the creatures age, they get darker in color. The basic color scheme is red skin with black armor plates and talons. Older creatures, such as monstrous creatures which would take longer to grow, would be a much darker red color than basic gaunts. Some, like Old One Eye, that look like they've been around a long time, would be purple. The Genestealers I've painted are purple, since they lie dormant on worlds for a long time preceding a Tyranid invasion, I imagined they would have been alive for a long time compared with the creatures spawned for the invasion.

So with that in mind, I needed to paint the Spore Mines a very light color. I assume that Spore Mines have been recently birthed and wouldn't survive to grow very old, so they should be much lighter in color than anything else in my armor. Almost albino, even. At first I tried making they a very light orange, as I had painted some Fleshborers on my Termagants a light orange color which looked pretty good. But I didn't like how that turned out. So I decided to go with a very light pink, with almost white tentacles with just a hint of pink.

I also wanted the tops of the Spore Mines to look somewhat transparent, almost like jelly fish. This turned out to be difficult to achieve, but I think some of them look a bit like you can see things under the surface. To get that effect, I painted on some blobs in Warlock Purple to represent organs or whatever inside the Spoor Mines. I then drybrushed Skull White over the pods and coated it with some gloss varnish. I then did another layer of Skull White drybrush coated with gloss varnish. It works better on some than on others, but I'm not sure there's really any good way to get the look I was after.

Here are some pictures of the results.


By the way, I would recommend against trying to paint anything using Games Workshop's Tentacle Pink paint. My jar of Tentacle Pink is some of the worst paint I've ever used. It's really lumpy and chalky, and it is almost impossible to apply without leaving chunks, and when you do, it takes many coats to cover anything. It's just horrible to work with. Then I discovered that if you mix quite a bit of Skull White with a little bit of Warlock Purple, you get a color very similar to Tentacle Pink, but that works 100 times better. I'm not sure why Games Workshop didn't just do that and bottle it as Tentacle Pink instead of the stuff they released. I just checked the Games Workshop website, and it doesn't look like they even sell Tentacle Pink anymore, so hopefully nobody else will have this problem.

Grismeire Valley Campaign Turn 1 - Vampire Counts vs High Elves Challenge Game

For our Warhammer Fantasy campaign, we decided that if two opposing players weren't fighting any battles specifically as part of the campaign that turn, they could fight a "challenge game". These games would have no impact on the outcome of the campaign, but would be used to add to the story. During the first turn, while the Bretonnian player battled the Beastman player, the Vampire Counts and High Elves players fought a challenge game.

As their main forces advanced through the Grismeire valley, the scouting parties of the Vampire Counts and High Elf forces came into contact near a long abandoned farmhouse in the countryside. Both forces were small, but as it was their first contact with the enemy, both sides were eager to fight, and battle was joined.

The Vampire Counts scouting party was accompanied by Byron Manfred's former master in the Amethyst order, now an insubstantial Wraith. The Wraith and his retinue hovered around the abandoned farmhouse, which seemed to hold a strange attraction for them. The shimmering magical weapons of a unit of Swordmasters banished all of the spectres, but the rest of the Vampire Counts force completely outmaneuvered and utterly crushed the High Elves. It was a massacre, and none of the High Elf scouts would be returning to report on their enemy's movements.

Avatars of War Lord of Chaos review

My post about using Wargames Factory plastic Viking miniatures in Warhammer Fantasy proved to be very popular, so I've decided to do more articles about using alternative miniatures in games of Warhammer. This time I'll be reviewing the Avatars of War Lord of Chaos figure.

Avatars of War makes a bunch of models that seem designed to be used as characters in games of Warhammer Fantasy. So, not surprisingly, they scale and style of them match up really well with the existing Warhammer range, and the Lord of Chaos comes with the appropriate 25mm square base. When ordering, you have some options when it comes to how you want the model armed. The right hand can have either a sword or a hammer, and the left hand either an axe or a shield. I thought the sword and the shield both looked pretty awful, so I went with the hammer and axe. All varieties come with two head options, so you can pick one and have a spare to use for something else.

The model in general is pretty cool looking, and it is similar enough in style to the Games Workshop Warriors of Chaos range to fit in really well, but different enough to be unique and interesting. It's a decent option if you don't really like the existing Games Workshop Chaos Lord options, or you want something that will stand out from other Chaos Characters you already have.

There are some downsides, however. First of all, it doesn't seem like it saves you any money over buying the Games Workshop models. Usually one of the benefits to finding alternative models for Warhammer is that they are less expensive, but not in this case. So it's only worth it if you actually like the miniature much more than the available Games Workshop ones, or really want something different.

The model itself doesn't fit together particularly well. The surfaces that need to be glued together aren't flat and don't sit flush together, so it is difficult to assemble the model. I had to pin the right hand to get it to stay on, and I will probably regret not pinning the head on. Also, some of the details on the model, in particular the chain mail parts, are shallow and not well defined. Aside from that the sculpting is pretty good, except that the entire back of the model (which you can see in the pictures below) is really boring. The front looks cool, but the back is completely covered with a huge cape that has the same texture all over.

Speaking of which, that cape sticks out pretty far to the side, which will make it difficult to rank this figure up in a unit. This might not have been so bad if I had put this guy on a Games Workshop base with the slot running horizontally, instead of the base Avatars of War supplied for the figure, which had a diagonal slot. The Avatars of War website seems to show them ignoring the slot, clipping off the tab below the model's feet, and gluing the feet directly to the base. This might prove difficult, however, as the feet don't seem to lay completely flat on the same plane as each other.

Anyway, you can see for yourselves. Here are some pictures of the Avatars of War Lord of Chaos between two Games Workshop Chaos character models I already owned.


You may be asking yourself: if I already had at least two Chaos Lords with two hand weapons, why did I feel the need to buy yet another one armed the same way? That I shall leave as an exercise for the reader.

Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report: The Battle of Zagstruk's Head - Part 2

This is Part 2 of a Warhammer 40,000 battle report between Orks and Chaos Space Marines. You can read Part 1 of the battle report here. After the first two turns, the Orks had solid control of the Chaos objective with their unit of Mega-Armored Nobz. The Chaos Marines had suffered a lot of casualties, and now they could only hope to capture the Ork objective and pull out a draw. So all of their remaining forces were surging towards the Ork held graveyard to capture the Head of Zagstruk.

Chaos Marine Turn 3
The Khorne Berzerker unit on the far left flank of the Chaos Marine army was down to one remaining member. And he was mad. After the rest of his unit had been burned to death by the Burna Boyz, he decided it was time for revenge. He charged the five Burna Boyz, screaming in rage, and instantly cut down half of them. The rest of the terrified Orks fled in panic and were shot in the back as they ran. Nearby, the unit of Boyz fighting the remaining Obliterator did a single wound, and the Obliterator killed a couple of them in return.


Back in the middle of the battlefield, the Chaos Marines got more reinforcements. Another unit unit of Obliterators, this one three strong, teleported down right next to the graveyard. They were exactly on target thanks to the nearby Icon of Khorne. With the Obliterators to deal with the Orks in the graveyard, the unit of Crusaders marines and the last remaining unit of Berzerkers were free to come to the aid of their commander, who was surrounded by over 20 Ork Boyz.


The Obliterators opened up on the Boyz in the graveyard with twin-linked flamers, killing every single one and adding many new charred bodies to the carnage.


The Crusaders and the Berzerkers assaulted the unit of Boyz, slaughtering almost all of them as they fought their way in toward their beleaguered Chaos Lord. It was not enough, however. A single remaining Nob with a power claw managed to sneak up on the Lord and bash him apart with a single blow. But with most of his unit gone and now surrounded himself, the Nob tried to flee and was cut down in the sweeping advance.


Orks Turn 3
Seeing an inviting target, the Ork Battlewagan floored it and rammed the nearest Rhino in the side at full speed, but did no damage. The Tankbustas were one again ineffective. The Orks also got some reinforcements, as three DeffKoptas came on from the Ork left, but coming from so far away their weapons were not yet in range.


The Looted vehicle once again managed to miss with its Battle Cannon. The Warboss with his bodyguard advanced on the Crusaders and opened fire. With some uncanny shooting, they managed to gun down both of the Flamer-armed marines before they ever had a chance to fire their brutal weapons. The Stormboyz charged the full unit of eight Khorne Berzerkers, who were just hitting their stride and easily slaughtered all the charging Stormboyz before they could even attack. The Warboss's unit charged the Crusaders, but only a few were able to reach them, so there were few casualties and both sides piled in. The combat with the Obliterator continued, as the Orks couldn't manage to finish him off, and he killed another couple of them.


Chaos Marine Turn 4
The still unscathed unit of Khorne Berzerkers moved up to come to the aid of the three remaining marines of the Crusaders chapter, who were outnumbered in combat more than 5 to 1 and facing the Ork Warboss. The full unit of three Obliterators moved around the cemetery wall to get clear shots at the largely ineffective looted tank. Their well-aimed Multi-Melta blasts caused the vehicle to explode in spectacular fashion, ending the looming threat of the battle cannon.


The Berzerkers charged into the combat with the Warboss and his retinue, killing most of the Orks. Between the remaining Orks and the Warboss, they only managed to kill a single Crusader. The furious charge of the Berzerkers must have had them thinking more about escaping than attacking. They knew they couldn't win this fight and tried to escape, but were cut down in the sweeping advance. Elsewhere, the last remaining, and largely intact, unit of Ork Boyz finally finished off the Obliterator they had been fighting. (We kept track of the total number of attacks it took these Orks to take out the two Obliterators. I don't remember the exact figure, but I think it was somewhere around 200. They took out the first one with their first 71 attacks, so it took around another 125 attacks to finish that second Obliterator) After the combats, the Ork Boyz and the Chaos Marines all consolidated toward the cemetery that lay between them.


Orks Turn 4
The Ork army didn't have many units left, but they did have a completely intact Battlewagon. The large unit of Boyz that had just finished off the Obliterator moved forward, and the Battlewagon drove over towards them ready to pick them up next turn if they wanted a ride. The determined Tankbustas advanced towards the two Chaos Rhinos, but before they could do anything the Mega-Armored Nobz fired their rockets at the immobilized Rhino. Firing at a big, stationary target, they easily hit some vital locations and destroyed the vehicle. The Tankbustas opened fire on the remaining Rhino, but couldn't manage to hit it.


The Tankbustas then continued forward to assault the remaining Rhino. Barely reaching the vehicle as it tried to evade them, a lucky grenade detonation penetrated the ammunition storage and caused the tank to explode, killing all of the Tankbustas. But at least they died doing what they loved. Elsewhere, the DeffKoptas fired their rockets at the three remaining Crusaders, but only one was killed as the other shots exploded against the nearby brick wall.


Chaos Marines Turn 5
Things were moving at a furious pace now. The two remaining Crusaders and the full unit of eight Berzerkers ran at full speed through the graveyard. Struggling over mounds of charred and dismembered bodies, the still managed to reach and surround the crypt containing Zagstruk's head. Or so they assumed, as with all the body parts strewn about, it would be hard to locate Zagstruk's head, assuming they could even discern it from the head of any other Ork. But no matter. The lone remaining Khorne Berzerker from the other squad, still in a rage, charged at the large unit of nearby Boyz, but they proved too numerous for him and he only manged to kill one or two before they dragged him down.


The three Obliterators advanced towards the annoying DeffKoptas and exploded all three of them with well-aimed shots of lethal radiation from the Multi-Meltas.


Orks Turn 5
Seeing that their force had been almost completely annihilated, the Ork Boyz sensed that time was running short and opted for a desperate maneuver to try to save Zagstruk's head from being captured. The mounted up in the Battlewagon and yelled for the driver to plow full-speed through the brick wall and into the cemetery to stop directly over Zagstruk's grave. The Chaos Marines were forced to back off in the face of the insane maneuver and could now not reach Zagstruk's head, so the desperate move had paid off.


(At the end of Turn 5, we rolled for random game length. Had the battle ended then, it would have been an Ork victory, since with the Battlewagon blocking the Ork objective, none of the Chaos Marines were within three inches of it. We rolled, and the result was another turn, giving the Chaos Marines another chance to pull out a draw.)

Chaos Marines Turn 6
Things were getting desperate now, and all could sense that time was running short. The three Obliterators managed to make their way to the edge of the graveyard to get clear shots at the Battlewagon, and fired again with their trusty Multi-Meltas. The Battlewagon exploded violently, killing a few of the Boyz inside. The Crusaders and Berzerkers fired their Bolt Pistols at the remaining Boyz, killing several more. The few that remained weren't going to stick around to be assaulted, and scrambled out of the wreckage to flee away from the battlefield. The Crusaders and Berzerkers had recaptured the objective, though Zagstruk's head was now covered by even more Ork bodies, as well as the flaming wreckage of the Battlewagon.


Orks Turn 6
The only remaining Orks on the battlefield, the Mega-Armored Nobz, called their Truck over to shield them from fire as they collected their spoils. The battle came to an end, with both sides having captured their opponent's objective, resulting in a draw.


This turned out to be an incredibly fun battle, with an extreme amount of carnage on both sides. Out of the two 2000 point armies, all that remained at the end were 4 Mega-Armored Ork Boyz with their truck, 7 Khorne Berzerkers, 2 regular Chaos Space Marines, and 3 Obliterators. The shredded bodies of 16 Chaos Marines are strewn about the Chaos Icon next to the Book of Sorcery, and there are somewhere around 120 bloody or burned corpses in or around the cemetery. The battle also went right down to the wire, and ended in a draw. You can't ask for a better result than that. And considering that it ended in a draw, and that the Chaos Marines need to get their book back, and the Orks (for whatever reason) don't want them to have Zagstruk's head, I hope sometime to do a sequel to this battle.

Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report: The Battle of Zagstruk's Head - Part 1

Story
All across the planet, battle raged between the invading Ork horde, and the defense forces of the renegade Imperial world, supported by Chaos Space Marines from various chapters. In one small area of one of these battles, an ambitious Aspiring Sorceror of the Thousand Sons legion prepared for an arcane ritual he hoped would summon dark forces from the warp to eliminate the Ork threat. In the midst of battle he set up an area to perform the ritual that included a willing virgin to sacrifice to the Chaos gods, a massive icon of chaos on which to sacrifice her, and most importantly the ancient tome that contained the neccessary incantation. As he was finishing his preparations, some of his human followers were in a nearby cemetary unearthing the final necessary component for the dark ritual: the head of an Ork warboss. And not just any Ork Warboss, but Warboss Zagstruk in particular. Why the spell required the head of a specific Ork is something of a mystery. Sorcery is funny like that.

Just as the workers unearthed the severed head of Zagstruck, the nearby battle spilled over into the cemetary. Some Orks saw the humans stealing the head of an Ork, and decided they wanted it back. They slaugthered the human workers and returned the head of Zagstruck to its sarcaphogus. Seeing the trouple, the Aspring Sorceror called in reinforcements, led by a bloodthirsty Champion of Khorne riding a Juggernaught. By the cemetary, a Warboss and Weirdboy showed up to take charge of the gathering swarm of Orks. The Weirdboy saw the arcane rigual being prepared across the battlefield, and wanted the book of sorcery being used. The Warboss really wanted the girl, or the book, or whatever it was the Chaos Marines were trying to defend, since he assumed it must be valuable. Come to think of it, since Orks aren't able to read, or reproduce sexually, he probably just wanted that fancy chair. There is some precedent for that, as can be seen here. Perhaps that same Warboss was back for another try. In addition, the Orks wanted to protect the head of Zagstruk from being defiled by the Chaos worshipers. The Chaos Marines needed to retrieve the Head of Zagstruk to complete the ritual, while defending the book from falling into enemy hands. And thus a battle that could decide the fate of the world began.

Setup
Here is a view of the entire battlefield, from the Ork side. Near the center of the Ork side of the battlefield is the graveyard containing the Head of Zagstruk. One the opposite side of the battlefield to the left of the picture is the area being set up for the arcane ritual to be performed, including the ancient book of sorcery.


The arcane ritual was being set up on the Chaos right flank. Defending the area was a squad of 5 Havoks with one missile launcher, one lascannon, one heavy bolter, and one plasma cannon, along with a squad of 11 plain Chaos Marines led by an Aspiring Champion with a power fist. To their left can be seen a squad of eight Khorne Berzerkers joined by the Khorne Chaos Lord riding his Juggernaught. To their left is another squad of eight Khorne Berzerkers behind some primitive ruins.


On the far Chaos left, another squad of eight Khorne Berzerkers lurk amongst some trees. To their right is a Rhino containing a squad of Thousand Sons marines, led by the Aspiring Sorceror who was to perform the ritual. To their right is another Rhino, this one containing a squad of renegade marines of the Crusaders chapter, with two flamers, an icon of Khorne, and an Aspiring Champion with a combi-flamer.


Facing them across the battlefield on the Ork right was a Battlewagon containing Burna Boyz and a unit of Tankbustas with a couple of quig bombs hiding behind a hill. Closer to the center of the Ork army there was a large unit of Ork boyz guarding the Weirdboy behind the cemetary, another large unit of boyz in the cemetary, and another large unit of boyz to the left of the cemetary. This army had a lot of Orks.


To the far Ork left was a unit of Stormboyz, a unit of mega-armored Nobz in a truck, and another large unit of Orks (maybe Nobz?) with the Warboss. They also had a looted tank for some serious marine killing firepower. It looked like, as usual, the Chaos Marines were severely outnumbered, and would have their work cut out for them.


Below is a shot of the entire battlefield just before the beginning of the battle, showing the deployment of both armies.


Chaos Marine Turn 1
The Chaos Marines made the first move. The Khorne Berzerkers at their far left ran forward at full speed out of the forest. The two Rhinos also moved forward at full speed and fired their smoke launchers to give them some cover. The unit of Khorne Berzerkers led by the Khorne Lord also ran forward quickly, but the remaning unit of Berzerkers got bunched up trying to all rush through the old ruined building at the same time, and didn't manage to advance very far. The two units defending the objective held their ground, and the Havoks fired on the quad of Nobz containing the Warboss, only killing a few of them with their long-ranged shots. (Had I known that there were mega-armored nobz in the Ork Truck, I probably would have fired at that, but I forgot to ask what was in the Truck and so didn't realize it was such a big threat.)


Ork Turn 1
The Orks responded swiftly. The Truck on their far left zoomed forward 18" at full speed, and the Storm Boyz nearly kept up with them with their supercharged rocket packs. The Warboss and his retinue of Nobz also moved forward to get some shots on the closest Berzerkers.


The three huge units of Ork Boyz in the middle all moved forward a little and took what shots they could. I think it was some lucky Rockit Launcer shots that shook and immobilized the Rhino with the unit of Crusader marines in it. The wind must have blown their smoke away pretty quickly, because it didn't seem to help at all.


The Battlewagon moved forward at cruising speed, and all of the Burna Boyz inside opened up with their flamers at the nearby unit of Khorne Berzerkers. (In retrospect, I believe this is illegal, since I don't think you are allowed to fire from a vehicle if it moves more than 6") Amazingly, all of them manage to fire their flame throwers out the exact same opening in the front without burning each other at all. (To be honest, I've always thought the rules about shooting from a vehicle were pretty stupid) The massive gout of overlapping flames torched 4 of the Berzerkers.


The Tankbustas fired, as they are copelled, at the closest vehicle, but failed to harm it. They then unleashed their quig bombs, which caused no actual damage, but managed to shake the crews of both the nearby Rhino, and their own Battlewagon.


Fire from several Ork units, including the Nobz with the Warboss, managed to take out four of the eight Khorne Berzerkers accompanying the Khorne Lord. The looted vehicle didn't manage to hit anything with it's battle cannon, but overall it was a pretty effective turn of Ork shooting.


Chaos Marine Turn 2
Stunned by the stiff resistence from the suddenly appearing Orks, the Chaos Marines didn't have much of a response. The Khorne Lord and the four remaining Berzerkers with him moved up behind a rock wall and took a few pistol shots at the Boyz in front of them, killing a couple. The other unit of Berzerkers moved up behind them. The unit of Crusaders disembarked from their immobilized Rhino and advanced, getting off a few shots at the same unit of Orks with little effect, since they were still too far away to make use of their flamers. Dramatically, the other Rhino drove right up to the cemetary walls, and the unit of Thousand Sons disembarked, some leaping directly from the top of the Rhino to the top of the wall, ready to pour fire into the Orks there. Unfortunately, they must have been surprised by the sheer number of Orks hiding out in the cemebary, because between the Aspiring Sorceror's Wind of Chaos attack, and all the bolter shots, they managed to kill hardly any of them.


The Chaos Marine squad near the book of sorcery moved up to get some shots at the swiftly approaching Stormboyz. The Havoks also fired at the Stormboyz, and between the two units they killed about half of them, but they didn't break. (Again, had I known the truck was full of mega-armored Nobz, I would have been firing at it instead. This was a mistake I would soon pay dearly for.)


One thing did go their way, as two Obliterators (in this case, the falled Techmarines of the Crusaders chapter) showed up, teleporting right behind the Ork army, close enough to open up with twin-linked flamers on the unit of Boyz with the Weirdboy. They killed around 10 or 12 of them, but there were still enough left in the unit to make them unbreakable. The Chaos Marines hadn't caused much damage, and they were about to face a brutal counter-attack.


Ork Turn 2
On the Ork left, the Stormboyz flew far enough to get get behind the unit of Havoks. The Truck drove right up to the hill and the previously unseen Nobz in Mega-armor disembarked onto the hill directly in front of the other Chaos Marine squad. Suddenly surrounded, the marines stoically steel themselves for the coming onslaught. At least, the few of them who aren't having sudden doubts about their path in life.


In the Ork center, some reinforcements arrived in the form of another large unit of Boyz, who immidately fired at and then assaulted the two Obliterators. The Ork unit with the Weirdboy, possibly disturbed by the smell of their still smoldering comrades, fell back behind the cemetary to reassess the situation. The other two Ork units in the center moved forward to engage the many enemies advancing quickly in front of them.


The battle cannon on the looted vehicle managed to hit something this turn, but only killed two Thousand Sons. Last turn it had missed completely. Meanwhile, the Weirdboy concentrated so hard trying to unleash the psychic power he wanted that the psychic energy he summoned began overloading the nearby Orks, causing five of their heads to explode in a spectacular light show of green energy. The rest of the Boyz decided they rather not suffer the same fate, and fled the battlefield dragging the out-of-control Weirdboy with them to safety.


The remaining Thousand Sons marines were forced to endure an incredible hail of fire from the unit of Orks Boyz in the cemetary. The concentrated fire took out three of them, including the Aspiring champion, all of them falling from the wall to be impaled on the Rhino's spiky decorations. Nearby, the Burna Boyz had disembarked from the Battlewagon to roast another three of the Khorne Berzerkers with their burnas. The Tankbustas failed to harm the Rhino right in front of them.


The already depleted unit of Khorne Berzerkers led by the Lord took fire from the Ork unit directly in front of them, and the Warboss's retinue. Another two were gunned down, and the Lord wounded. The Orks in the cemetary charged the five remaining Thousand Sons, and the other unit of Boyz nearby scrambled over the stone wall to assault the Lord and the two remaning Khorne Berzerkers with him, though many of them were too far away to take part in the fighting.


Back by the book of sorcery, several of the Mega-armored Nobz opened up with their burnas, amazingly killing about half of the Chaos Marine unit. The Stormboyz fired at the Havoks, but it had no effect. The Nobz then assaulted the five remaning Chaos Marines, including the Aspiring Champion, and the Stormboyz assaulted the Havoks.


The Chaos Marine Aspiring Champion managed to kill one of the mega-armored Nobz before he and his unit were easily wiped out by an abundance of Power Klaw attacks. The Havoks should have been able to easily fight off the seven or so remaining Stormboyz, but perhaps the sounds of the other Chaos Marines being ripped apart behind them unnerved them a bit. They only managed to kill two of the Stormboyz, and lost three of their own due to some spectacular failures in their armor. (I believe I failed three out of five armor saves, due entirely to me having to roll them all individually because they all had different weapons.) To top it off, the surviving two Havoks attempted to flee and were cut down, trapped between the Nobz and Stormboyz. The Stormboyz and Nobz then followed up to consolidate their position near the objective. And because the Orks were led by a Warboss, the Nobz were taken as a Troops choice and could therefore hold objectives. So the Chaos Marine objective, the book of sorcery, was now solidly in the hands of the Orks. And 16 torn apart Chaos Space Marine bodies were strewn over the massive Chaos Icon where the arcane ritual was to take place.


Elsewhere, the Thousand Sons marines were easily wiped out by the Ork Boyz assaulting them, who then consolidated back into the cover of the cemetary. Not shown, but in the other combat the two Khorne Berzerkers with the Lord were killed, but the Lord did several wounds and won the combat. The Orks, however, were still numerous enough to be fearless.


The final remaining combat was the newly arrived unit of Boyz assaulting the two Obliterators. They would have a total of 71 attacks. I think that may be the most attacks I've ever seen for a single assault. One of the Ork players decided he would roll all 71 attacks at once, and I took some pictures to document the event. Here is a picture of his hands holding all 71 dice for his Boyz's attacks.


And here is the to-hit roll. I'm not sure if all 71 dice made it into the picture. They were pretty spread out. But there is the biggest single roll I've ever seen made.


And the results from those 71 attaks: 2 wounds. One of the Obliterators is slain, and the other one kills a single Ork and continues to fight on.


At the end of Turn 2, things were looking bad for the Chaos Marines. The Book of Sorcery was solidly in the hands of the mega-armored Ork Nobz, and the Chaos Marine force didn't anything left that could stand up to that unit to take it back. Not to mention that even if they had the book, the Aspiring Sorceror was probably dead, or at least badly wounded and lying impaled on a Rhino. The Thousand Sons, the Havoks, one squad of Chaos Marines, and one squad of Berzerkers had been wiped out, with a second squad of Berzerkers down to one remaining. Things weren't looking good.

The battered remnants of the Chaos army had only one hope now, which was to capture the Head of Zagstruk from the Orks, and force a draw. But the Khorne Lord leading them was out for blood and not about to give up. Check back for Part 2 of the battle report to find out of the Chaos Marines managed to pull out a draw, of if Ork forces could hold on to their advantage to be victorious.

10mm Civil War Casualty Bases In Action

I took some pictures of my recently finished 10mm American Civil War Casualty bases next to some of my existing Infantry units. I've already made other posts where you can see close-up pictures of the Union Casualty Bases and the Confederate Casualty Bases. Here I wanted to show what they look like when in action and being used for their intended purpose.

First, here are some of the Confederate casualty bases photographed next to one of my Confederate Infantry units.


Here are some of my original Union casualty bases pictured next to one of my existing Union Infantry regiments.


I originally only used three total figures per base when I did the Union casualty bases, but I liked how the four figure bases looked when I tried it out on the Confederate casualty bases. I had a few extra painted Union figures left over, so I modified a few of those original casualty bases to add an extra figure. So, for comparison, here are a few four-figure Union casualty bases next to an Infantry regiment.


I think the four figure casualty bases do look a bit better, especially next to my densely packed regiments, but even they look a little sparsely populated. My regular Infantry unit bases have eight figures each, but I suppose the casualty bases are supposed to look a little more ragged than the regular bases. I also don't know if it looks better enough to be worth the effort of re-basing those three figure Union casualty bases I've already made. So, let me know what you think. Do you like the three figure bases or four figure bases better? Or do you think I need even more figures on these bases for them to fit in with my Infantry regiments? And is it worth rebasing the ones I've already finished?

10mm Confederate Infantry Casualty Bases

I have no finished some Confederate Infantry casualty bases to use with my 10mm American Civil War armies. I've already posted pictures of my Union casualty bases here. I used GHQ N-Scale miniatures. I made these casualty bases from a combination of the "Skirmishers in Action Poses (CSA)" pack, and the "Casualties & Tabletop Markers" pack, plus some extra figures I had left over from other things, mostly the "Standing Firing in Shell Jacket & Slouch Hat (CSA)" pack.

Again, I used the same 3/4" by 3/4" thin steel bases for these as I use for my Infantry units. This time, I decided to go with a total of four figures per base, instead of the three I used for the Union casualty bases. I do think they look a lot better with four figures. Each figure either wounded/dead or fleeing will count as one casualty or disruption point or whatever the rules I'm playing at the time happen to use. So with the ones I've made, a single base can be one, two, or three casualties, and I could easily make some to bases that represent four. For the time being I will be using them to play Warlord Games rules, Black Powder. You can read my review of these rules here. So I will really only need up to three casualties on a unit at a time.

Here are some pictures of the single casualty bases.


The bases representing two casualties.


And the bases representing three casualties.