Hive Queen
Over the weekend I managed to get the Mesa Nids up to 1500 points.
See pics.
Note that these are taken under flourescent so it makes the skin look really yellow and all the colors are skewed. I also see some areas where I have to go back and touch up.
Here’s what was added:
1x Tervigon
40x Termagants (need a LOT more)
3x Zoanthropes
1x Doom of Malan’tai
And my Planetary Empires Tile.
I’m ready for my campaign game tomorrow.
On a side note, we rented a local warehouse (very small area) to make terrain in for two weeks starting tomorrow. If you need some terrain done now’s a good time.
Odiferous Bastage
The year is 1989.
I was a young man, just out of high school, I lived in the Plum Street House. It had aluminum siding, pale green on the top and white on the bottom. In the front yard were two sixty-foot Oregon pines overlooking a gravel driveway. The porch was a tremendous slab of concrete. It had three bedrooms and one bath. It was in (what I later found out to be) the equivalent of the “Medford Ghetto”. To me it seemed normal. And beautiful.
Rent was $250 split three ways with my two room-mates, Korey and Mark. My share: $83.33.
Getting home after work was a dark time, though, and I often felt a yawning chasm of coldness in my heart.
One day I opened the back door to find a dead calico cat on the back porch. In a senseless act of macabre fascination I reached down to poke the cadaver with my finger. The corpse kitty shook to life and stumbled to its feet, letting out a pitiful “Bleh!” noise.
I took the poor creature in, combed the burrs out of her fur, and nursed her back to health. She had a crooked tail (where I presume it may have been slammed in a door). She was missing claws and most of her teeth, the longest of which was a single canine that hung out over her bottom lip. Life had heaped misery on this scrawny stray, the worst of which were the mites that had eaten out her ears including her semi-circular canals. For this reason she was deaf and had not a sense of balance, often stumbling into the door frame or falling over.
She could not “meow” as other cats, but rather a long zombie-esque exclamation of “Bleh!”.
I named her O.B. “Off Balance”.
My roommate jokingly called her “Odiferous Bastage”.
It may seem that she needed me, but it was I who needed to serve her. Taking care of this forlorn animal gave me a flickering light.
One morning I awoke to hear her piteous cries just outside my window. I whipped on my bathrobe and saw through the window that two dogs had her pinned in the alleyway. I grabbed my baseball bat and flew out the screen door and leaped over the back fence. I chased after the mutts, yelling obscenities and causing at least one woman to get in her car and lock the doors. When I returned I found O.B. mashed into the rain-soaked ground, unable to even stand. I took her in and tended to her hurts.
A few days later, while we were watching a movie, I had her in my lap curled up on a towel and sleeping peacefully, gently combing out her mangy hair. Her purring was broken and gravelly. As the end credits rolled I noticed that she had stopped purring. She had passed away.
I buried her out in the back yard.
O.B. was a cat-angel who filled some divine purpose to humanize my soul. She made me softer inside.
Studio Beastmen
Well, it’s time. I think the strength of the Beastman list is not so straightforward. Crazy yahoos coming in from all directions. That’s it. So, with this list, I’ve abandoned the direct approach. Beastmen clearly aren’t a frontal assault army.
Here’s the preliminary list:
1x Khazrak One-eye (re-roll ambush)
1x Slugtongue
1x Moonclaw
40x Ungor Raiders
20x Gors
20x Gors (ambush!)
2x Tuskgor Chariots (maybe one Razorgor Chariot)
2x Jabberslythe
This army is going to be very effective, or a complete mishap. But it will definitely be fun.
Beastmen Review: initial thoughts
Games Workshop has been doing a fabulous job on army books recently. They include tons of options, multiple army builds, and a dazzling web of synergistic units, heroes and magic.
Last night, I started combing through the Beastmen book, looking for the good stuff. Firstly, the new army is a home run for modeling possibilities: Razorgors, Jabberslythes, Cygors and so forth are a modeller’s dream come true. It’s too bad that most of them are in the coveted Rare slots. It’s a toughie.
First off, you’ve got to remember that Warhammer Fantasy is the game of winning combats, not the game of “killing things”. Though the two go hand-in-hand a massive Shaggoth is still statistically unlikely to win against a mob of peasants (ie six attacks, of which two will miss, won’t win against the magic five).
Ungor Raiders
That said, remember that there are 400 points on the table from table quarters. A properly played Beastmen army won’t ever have this problem. And that’s because of another magic five; the minimum unit size of Ungor Raiders. A unit of five, at six points each, is a throwaway unit of thirty points. Oh man, it’s delicious. Better yet, they have Beastmen ambush which means for every unit on the board, a similar unit can be lurking off board and come in from the side or back.
For the studio Beastmen army I plan on running six or eight units of them. Their job? Stay alive and take table quarters. And then pitch in wherever possible. Even better they have bows. There’s a psychological effect to that. If they cause a 200+ point unit to divert for a turn, that’s well worth the cost.
It gets better. They get a musician for a modest three points. This means a better chance for rallying if they have to flee a charge. I wouldn’t waste points on a unit champ. Who cares? Just buy another raider.
Minotaurs
Will they never learn!? Units that pay a huge price for offensive power, while ignoring any sort of defense, are compromised. They look good on paper, but any opponent with half a brain cell will just take care of them in another way.
Minotaurs are Toughness 4 with light armor. Fifty-five points. Throw these losers in the garbage. Too bad, GW could have done it right this time.
Same for Chaos Spawn. They insist on putting these pathetic lumps in every book. Make them good for pity’s sake! And they’re in rare choices swimming with three really cool new entries. Forget it.
All that said, Minotaurs do get this new thing where they get Frenzy, but after they get into close combat. That’s a nice feature.
Slugtongue
Here’s a winner. A Bray Shaman L2 is 110 points. For 80 points he gets poisoned attacks, Regeneration (woot), and Curse of the Famine Fiend. This last power is what makes him a must-take in any army in my book (nevermind the cool conversion possibilities). Wounds on every enemy unit within 36″ of him at the beginning of the game. It’s a complicated chart, but let’s say there’s an outside chance he could vaporize a unit of Chaos Knights before turn 1. And the juicy possibility of hitting an exposed character. This is a good example of what to look for in a unit: sure he has a great ability, but what keeps him alive? Regeneration. And even better, the full benefit comes into play before the game even starts.
Doombulls no longer make Minotaurs Core. Sad. And there was no reason not to carry that over since Minotaurs are completely pitiful. So, congratulations “guy who made a minotaur army” you’re screwed.
On the other hand, Ghorros Warhoof makes Centigors Core. Yippeeeee! you can make an all Centigor army! Too bad Centigors blow chunks now that they are no longer fast cavalry. Additionally, the Centigor model has the left arm fused so forget about doing any conversion work. I predict you’ll see Chaos Marauder Horsemen ($4.40 each) with Bestigor ($4.10 each) bodies. Cheaper and better looking than metallics.
Tuskgor Chariots are Core. That’s pretty slick. Of course you don’t need to really worry about filling your Core choices now that you have six Ungor Raider units.
Bestigors. Awesome models. Solid, but they’re no Black Guard!
I am here making a mistake. I’m looking at each unit standing alone and not how they work together.
Maybe I was too hard on the Minotaurs. They really are killing machines, which makes the different than other ogrish models (eg Kroxigor). They have S7 with great weapons, and increasing attacks if they keep winning combats, potentially turning them into an unstoppable massacre. They just need to get in there with another unit with ranks/banner/outnumber.
OK, definitely going to at least try the Minotaurs.
Miscellaneous
I’m liking the Razorgors. They’re like the cavalry for the Beastmen. Like Toughness five.
Liking the idea of a squad of three chariots. Maybe six. Definitely got to use plastics for that because the new models are so amazing. I’d use warhounds to pull the chariot.
Magic items.
Pathetic. I thought I was reading the Ogre Kingdoms book for a second. “Hey, here’s a good thing about this magic item, but then we’ll give it a crappy drawback, but you have to pay points for it.” Blarg. Re: the banners.
But that’s OK, because maybe Beastmen aren’t supposed to have earth-shaking magic. One notable exception: Stone of Spite. This little bastard means that your opponent will have to keep two dispel dice on standby every magic phase or else you’re going to turn every Dispel Scroll into a pine-apple-sized grenade.
More to come.
Economics 101: Friedman
What is the merit of what this may says? Is it true? Do you see this in your life?
Jellyfish
My four-year-old son snuck out of the bath, grabbed a jumbo-sized hair gel and dumped the entire contents in. He then pretended to be swimming with a school of jellyfish.
And he used up all the hot water.
I love that child. He’s my delight. He’s my buddy. I understand him.
Thought for the Day
It is better to limp slowly along the right path
than walk stridently in the wrong direction.
–Marcus Aurelius
Beastmen Spreadsheet
New Beastmen spreadsheet has been uploaded and can be downloaded (by you). Are you ready to get your Beasts of Chaos army painted up!?
I have new models en route.
The Forgotten
Got some WIP pics of Josephus’s 40K campaign army.
What happens when a company of Red Scorpions is stranded on a patchwork inhabited alien planet for eighty years after the war is over? Over time they scavenge equipment, build up a fortress city called Khadesh and a thriving city packed with natives and other holdovers from mercenary actions grows up around it.
The Forgotten.
I’ve whipped Josephus soundly for not cleaning off his mould lines. It won’t happen again. But the paintwork is exquisite.