Wednesday 16 December 2020

Chess Book - IT'S A MOTHER£U<&iN6 CHESS BOOK MOFOS!!!

 I don't know if John Blanche ever had this problem. Oldhammeridiots chasing him around Facebook commenting:

"HEY - BLANCHE....THAT LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE A PICTURE BY THE FAMOUS BRITISH ARTIST LEONARDO DA VINCI! IT LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE MOANING LISA!"

Or:

"BLANCHE...OI...YOU BLANCMANGE!...THAT LOOKS LIKE A PAINTING BY THE FAMOUS BRITISH ARTIST GARY THEODORE OF A BRITISH HUSSAR!"


As a kid I had quite a few artists I took inspiration from, mainly from comics and illustrators. Way before I even found toy soldiers - I was reading on a monthly basis, the old British mini comic STARBLAZER and being amazed by the ridiculous art of Argentinian genius Enrique Alcatena.

Thursday night was my favourite night of the week as a kid. Without jumping through my ages too much - in the UK Wednesday afternoon (for some reason) shops closed at lunchtime. On a Thursday shops closed at 8pm. My dad would come home from his job at the airport, he'd pick up my mum, brother and myself and we'd do our weekly food shop at Budgens or Sainsburys in Uxbridge. My brother and I would fight over who would get to launch ourselves standing on the back of the shopping trolley like Ben Hur before we got excited about what came next. The Library.

After we'd chosen our books with the best art we'd pick up jar sweets from the sweet shop and a takeaway of either fish and chips or fried chicken and chips.

I used to borrow all kind of comics and art books and all in good time the Fighting Fantasy books which were some of the most popular books in our three local libraries.

One Thursday I found two Chess books. Both books had really awesome artwork. One in an "Asterix the Gaul" kid of way and the other in beautiful fantasy art. The former is lost to me in the mists of time, the latter was published in 1980 by Octopus Publishing in the UK, it was Called LET'S PLAY CHESS written by Anthony Hansford and illustrated by another genius. 

John Bolton.



So when I started writing a blog which I update almost, nearly and sometimes twice a year. I used John's artwork to base my art and design on.

You don't need to tell me,

John Blanche had seen the Mona Lisa before he painted that banner.

Just like I'd seen the artwork of one of the UK's most famous illustrators and comic book artists before I based my background and header on it.

The inside cover had a great battlescene in it. My oldhammer version is the wallpaper on this blog and can be found in the Gallery.



Go and check out Bolton's work, and Alcatena's while you're at it. 

You'll thank me for it.

It's a better use of your time that grassing me up to the Zuck because you're a pussy who collapsed into sorrow because I painted a Chaos banner with a bad-haired politician's profile on it and your sycophantic hardon softened.

Some more great John Bolton Art from the Chess Book!





NOTE: The real John Bolton has no connection to any "perfect phone calls" to Ukraine nor does he claim to have an understanding of Latin nor bad hair. Any similarities to persons alive or dead are bigly coincidental. Lots of people are saying it. By a lot.

 

OLD WORLD ARMY CHALLENGE INTRO POST

Grumble, grumble, grumble...low 2020 production despite plenty of free-time. Still two units of Gaul noble cavalry to complete the Warmaster Ancients army. Sunburn playtesting and gang painting plus scenery to do. Chaos, Dwarf and Greenskin Warmaster armies to complete. Confederate and Union divisions to complete in 6mm to add to my brigade level Fire and Fury armies before the U.S. embarks on Civil War 2.0. Don't take on anything else you idiot. You have 3 Oldhammer comic pages to run through photoshop for goodness sake...finish what you have Goddam it.

Well  it's been a while since I posted on the OWAC and many, many hours over the first right to publish have passed. So just in case that introduction post never gets published here it is.

I spent many a long second deliberating over whether I would accept a tentative (probably slightly worried) invite to compete this year.

NEWS FROM HELL BEFORE BREAKFAST: Warmaster Interlude - Taking on the Old World Army Challenge

 "Street will upset someone...Street will combine short vowels and harsh consonants into swear-words which aren't suitable for Oldhammer under-fourteens and make them cry...Street will paint a banner of a politician with bad hair in keeping with Oldhammer's tradition of political satire that will be reported by grown-up babies as hate-speech when he forgets to snowflake pixelate it..."

But hey, no-one can argue that any of that stuff won't be fun.


"Snowflakes Saar....Faarsands ov 'em..."


So what to do? When absolutely everything you have is Dwarfs apart from a small human militia contingent, there's not a whole load of scope. I'm guessing that I'll be doing some Dwarfs.

I'm a bit hamstrung by the fact that I thought it would be sensible to move over Christmas. While that may sound like something that only a total £u(&ing idiot would do (guilty as charged) - since in the UK I will either be working or stockpiling weapons to protect my Brexit apocalypse food reserve and freezer come January the 1st I figured this was a good time to do it. Plus my new place looks slightly easier to defend with easier access to the upstairs gun safe and an easily booby-trapped outside toilet.

However I took some advance photos at the end of November of what I intend to embark on. Apart from filling in a few holes - er....like painting all of my 2nd edition Bugman's Rangers apart from 3 of the heroes and the beer cart. I have a bunch of stuff I need to get done.

I have Jorri and maybe 20 Rangers to complete, I'm posting this photo so you know what is already done so I don't try to sneakily include them in my totals.

So I have no %^£$&&*ing idea how many points my units are. The great thing is about dwarfs is that if you're a few points short each month you just say "actually these are Hammerers and they're worth 50 points each mofo..."

But here goes with a preview. Apologies with the bad, kitchen countertop pics but I was packing these away for the move.


THE BLACK BAND


This is a 20 strong unit of Hammerers or simple Dwarf warriors with 2-handed weapons (depending on how many points I need to faff in a week). These will be my "Black Band"/"Black Guard" of Zweihanders or "DoppelSoldiers". These consist of a mix of Citadel, Marauder, Runecast and White Knight models (now available through The Assault Group).


FANTASY TRIBES REGIMENT


I picked up these lovely pre-slottas about 3 years ago in a collection. I stripped about 35 years worth of enamel and car primer off them and was delighted to find them in good, shiny nick underneath. I have 25 of these and am looking forward to painting them. Not sure whether I will give them a uniform colour scheme or whether I will give them a variety of Saxon/Norman shields. The previous owner had already removed a weapon and drilled out a fist for a brass rod so I will be doing a spectacular tomato paste banner for the unit.

MORE PRESLOTTAS




So I have a unit which I call "The Doughty Dozen". A unit of 12 pre-slotta Dwarfs which I have loved since I saw them painted up in the old "Heroes for Wargames" book in the '80s. I want to make them up to a unit of 40 but for the OWAC I will be doing a 30-strong unit from the models in the bottom two pictures which I'll add to the Doughty Dozen for the full unit of 40.

The middle photo mainly consists of broken and damaged minis which I'll add to the bottom (largely intact) 20 models. Six of these are not technically "pre-slottas" but in my own head the models with cast-on shields are from a similar era and often scale better than they do with the placcy shield models. YMMV.

MARAUDER HAMMERERS


Marauder Hammerers. What it says on the tin. x20.

PUFF AND SLASH CROSSBOWS



x10 "Puff and Slash" crossbows. I already a unit of ten of "Sven Surebolt's Flash Harrys" painted up. These will be painted up using the same crimson and cream colour scheme but will have their own Marauder champion so that I can use them as both a separate unit or combine them for a larger unit of 20. Two models are Marauder, the rest are White Knight/TAG.


WAYNE ENGLAND TRIBUTE UNIT


Every Dwarf army has to have a Wayne England tribute right? I'm not really one for having the whole army in the same livery. In fact I'm trying not to have more than one unit in the same colours.

When it comes to Wayne England's Dwarf army (the models that launched a thousand obsessions) - most people initially think of the blue and white halved uniforms of his Longbeards. I know I have a unit of "Thorgrimm Rockschafft and his Big Swingers painted thus:


Despite the fact that we automatically think of this as Wayne's "signature" Dwarf colours, he only ever painted one unit in blue and white. His Clansmen were black and white with blue belts and braces, his pikemen were green and yellow.

I'm not sure quite how I'll treat this tribute unit yet. I think maybe the often overlooked black and white would be fitting. Like Wane I'll be using some classic ME33 LOTR Dwarfs in there. And also a big massive tomato paste banner obviously.


THE OFFERING TO THE DARK GODS

When I was about seventeen my parents' house was burgled for about the fifteenth time. In this particular theft I had three 2nd edition Blood Bowl teams stolen. A human team, a Skaven team and my Stuntinutty Bengals Dwarf team. I have since recreated these stolen teams using the new GW models and some third party metals - but scalecreep has meant that these days a 2nd or 3rd edition BB Ogre is the same size a new GW human.

As such, what says Oldhammer to the Oldhammer Gods more that an Ogre who has had his legs sawn in half by Street and had half an inch of pinned and badly sculpted legs inserted  in to make him taller?

Nothing. That's what.

And thus, number thirteen "Jonah Jonah" has been replaced with number sixteen "Igor Biscan". Otherwise known as "Max Fleischgewehr". Jonah Jonah will now live in the Land of Chill or "The New World in which all Warhammer scenarios were set before thirty years of GW fluff u-turns."



Stonewall Street is a failed Rock Star; failed professional footballer; failed professional cricketer; failed comicbook artist; failed artist; failed poet; failed author; below average miniature painter; failed actress; reasonably decent management accountant and all-round Facebook agitator. He lives in the shadow of Heathrow's north runway in a slum that real estate agents describe as "vibrant". His main ambition in life is to survive into month 3. Enjoy the ride.

Sunday 13 December 2020

Warmaster Interlude - Taking on the Old World Army Challenge





So the phone rings and it's God.

"Do you fancy taking on the Old World Army Challenge? Starts January. Just paint a million points a month and after six months you'll have 1,500 points or something."

It had been a while since I'd spoken to God. I have the same "I talk to God but the sky is empty" relationship with him that Sylvia Plath did. 

But at the same time I recognised that my production output this year hasn't been great. Not with miniatures, comic art, other art nor Blogs. Sure I've got stuff done, but not to the extent I should have done with so much time on my hands.


Sergeant Borri McKokkinner and the Longpoles (Top) and Thorgrimm Rockschafft and the Big Swingers Bottom) - both - sort of - completed during lockdown.

Blog-wise I was determined not to post again until my Warmaster batrep was fully written up. Truth be told I got fed up with making changes to my battlemap turn by turn. I'll finish it I promise. But here I am deliberating over something else.

It was clear when I had to build a six or seven hundred miniature Celtic army for a Warmaster Ancients tournament in January at the Bad Moon Cafe (whoah...remember being in a games café with actual humans, ale and pizza?) that I worked pretty quickly under pressure and when I had an actual non-negotiable deadline to work towards.

So I reverse the charges and call God back. "Sure I'll do it, what's that? You want me to paint a prize too? OK...I'll do that, just make something good happen...hello? Hello? Just make something good happen...hello?...."...*click*

There was no real need to do an Oldhammer stock-take. I've just got dwarfs. So I can paint dwarfs in 28mm or 10mm, and God says 10mm don't count. So I've dug through the tubs and pulled out a few units.

I've got a few units I need to finish off, namely a Bugmans unit that I've only done three of the heroes and the cart for, plus a unit of crossbows that need ten additional chaps. I guess to a small extent that's cheating. But then - after 2020 - I'm not sure God is one to talk about cheating the human race. Pull your finger out in 2021 magical sky daddy.


Four Bugman's Rangers and the beer cart completed. Jorri and another 20 or so Rangers to complete (Top); to bring them up to twenty crossbows I have another ten "puff and slash" crossbows to add to Sven Surebolt's Flash Harrys. 


So let's get to it.



Saturday 23 May 2020

Teeny Tiny Lockdown Oldhammer Part 3 - The Early Exchanges


And so to the action. Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.

The Orc army having won the scouting got to deploy most of their army after seeing the dwarf dispositions. To rub it in further the Orcs win the roll for first turn and elect to take the first turn.

(oops, noticed I hadn’t included the Rock Loba in the deployment map on the last blog – I’ve added it below).



Orc Turn 1

So early in the battle, no troops are within initiative range and so we move on to the command phase.

Out on the left flank Boriz Da Yooslezz lived up to his name failing his command roll for the Orc Boyz and his turn was over.

Grom Da Fatbastard also failed to order up the ogres, however out on the right Graterak succeeded on her command rolls and the Boar Riders and the Wolfboyz moved forward.

Gratnakkers successfully moved up the majority of the centre, but due to the stupidity of the trolls failed to move them and they remained anchored to the table edge, gazing at mushrooms and local fauna.

The characters then moved into the positions shown (no I’m not doing arrers for the characters!)

There was no shooting nor combat to be resolved.

The Orc Centre Advances


Dwarf Turn 1

Frode Aleswiller successfully moved up his brigade into the farm to anchor the dwarf right.

Ozrim the Runesmith ordered forward the gyrocopters to force Graterak back to the Boar Rider unit. In Warmaster if your character is “overrun” by a non-character unit it must retreat to join a friendly unit within 20cm (10cm in this game) or your character is eliminated. This prevents players from having their characters running freely around the battlefield detached an unsafe distance from their forces.

Ozrim failed a second order for the gyros and the squadron was left with its proverbials in the wind in front of the orc cavalry.

King Gorin ordered up the centre including a double order for the cannon battery. Orders for the Hammerers fails and the command phase ends.

The gyro squadron however is now in range and blasts the Boar Riders and Graterak with their steam cannons driving them back out of initiative range. A roll that probably saves the squadron!

The Gyrocopter Squadron drives the Boar Riders with their steam cannons! 

Orc Turn 2

The Orc turn 2 was fairly disastrous from a command and control point of view. After measuring in the initiative phase the Boars confirmed they were just of out initiative charge range and couldn’t attack the gyrocopter squadron. From atop her Wyvern Brastrap, Graterak tried to order the Boarboyz into combat with the Gyros in the command phase but failed meaning the cavalry on the Orc right ground to a halt presumably while the tribes argued amongst themselves.

Grom managed to order up the ogres down through the village but both Boriz and Gratnakkers failed their orders and the Orc army otherwise ground to a disorganised halt.

During the shooting phase Graterak tries to cast “Foot of Gork” on the Gyros and fails!

The Gruntaz find themselves just out of initiative distance before failing their command roll



Dwarf turn 2

Ozrim orders the gyrocopter squadron into a position to attack the Wolfboyz. The tactics being that with their lower saving throw the Wolfboyz are more likely to suffer casualties at their hands.

Ozrim’s next order roll fails and the Rangers and supporting Warriors fail to move up.

On the right Frode’s division occupies the farm.

Gorin moves the dwarf centre up onto “Big Round Top” establishing the dwarf centre. The elite Hammerers are still misunderstanding their orders and have not moved into position.

In the shooting phase the Gyrocopter squadron kills one stand of the Wolfboyz and drives them back.

Having moved into position on the ridge the cannon battery engages in counter battery fire with the Rock Lobba. And the Orc artillery is destroyed!


Frode's Handgunners and Warriors occupy the farm
The dwarfs occupy "Big Round Top"


Three unsaved wounds and the Wolfboyz lose a stand of casualties!


More soon!




Friday 22 May 2020

Lockdown Teeny Tiny Oldhammer - Before the Battle


I thought maybe in order to avoid confusion in what is happening in this battle report, I thought it might be helpful to as succinctly as possible outline how the rule mechanics differ from other rulesets you may be used to.

As Mr Priestley wrote while introducing the game back in March 2000:

“Warmaster is a game about the ability of the general to lead, rather than the warriors’ ability to fight.

Right from the start I set out to create a game about huge armies fighting over vast landscapes; a game in which snaking columns of warriors might march along dusty roads towards a vista of farms, villages and towns. Where flanking forces can gallop out of their general’s sight and reappear (perhaps) at the enemy’s back. And where artillery pieces must be laboriously dragged to within range of their targets.

Big tabletop landscapes: roaring rivers rather than piddly little streams, fortified towns rather than pokey houses, and enclosed valleys and rolling hills rather than the usual flattish field punctuated by a lonely tree.”

For my ACW battles I’d been using the Fire and Fury ruleset from about 1991 or 1992, basically (ahem) before I was even born. So the concept of my army not doing exactly what I wanted (point and click as I call it) was not alien to me. I’d even tried to adapt Fire and Fury to play fantasy games with my 6mm Irregular miniatures armies. In Warmaster a stand represents 200 to 250 man-sized troops. So a unit represents maybe 750 warriors.

A reminder of the table

My Battle report map!


The Mechanics

Like many modern rulesets Warmaster is divided into 3 main phases. Rick would usually describe these simply as “move, shoot, fight”.

An overview of the phases can be summarised thus:

Movement

Initiative moves – troops within 20cm of an enemy may either evade (move directly away from) or charge their nearest enemy

Command phase – The general, heroes and wizards can order any troops that did not move by initiative within a certain range up to a maximum of 3 times by rolling under their command rating on 2D6. The order range of the general is the battlefield, heroes 60cm and wizards 20cm. Distance and other factors cause penalties and ordering a unit 3 times in a phase is difficult and rare and not often risked. Like Blood Bowl there is jeopardy to failure. Any commander failing to issue an order is spent for the phase and a failure by the general causes the command phase to end.

Character movement – characters move, join units etc. Flying units up to 100cm. All other characters 60cm.

Shooting

Missile troops, artillery and magic. Missile troops must fire at their closest enemy. Armies usually have access to only four spells. Magic users are not death stars in this game but available spells do give each army a bit of fluff. Missile fire is underpowered in Warmaster, primarily being used to drive back and disrupt the enemy and strategically control areas of the battlefield rather than being particularly effective at destroying enemy units.

Combat

Melee – Up to two rounds of combat can be fought in the combat round depending on melee results. The winner of a combat is based on wounds inflicted and supporting troops (the equivalent of a rank bonus) and the winner can choose whether to pursue, stand or fall back.



The Role of Characters

Although very important to the game, characters are not able to fight on their own and take on whole units, even if mounted on a dragon or similar. But by joining a unit a character can add attacks and/or terror to a unit it fights with. Very useful if you are prepared to take the risk, as a unit that is destroyed in combat takes its character with it!

Most players base their characters on round bases in order to make them visually differential from standard troops on their 20mm x 40mm stands.



House Rules

As I pointed out in my last post. My table is significantly smaller than the 6ft x 4ft recommended size. As such I have made some adjustments to movement, command and shooting distances. Halving movement and command distances and cutting shooting distance by a third. To summarise:

Initiative distance is 10cm

Artillery in regular formation moves 5cm per order

Infantry in regular order moves 10cm per order

Cavalry in regular order moves 15cm per order

Wizards maximum order distance is 10cm

Heroes and Runesmith order distance is 30cm

Order distance penalty is -1 per 10cm.

Artillery range is 40cm

Missile troops and flame cannon range is 20cm

Goblin infantry and Wolfboyz range is 10cm.



In addition I am using the “slow” rule from Warmaster Ancients. Any troops with a 4+ save has a -1 penalty to any subsequent order after the first per command phase.



Deployment

There was a point where I was determined to make this a scenario based game. I even got out some wagons to make it a version of Spring Hill from the Franklin/Nashville campaign. But something (cider) made me forget, and this turned into what Andy Atom Taylor would call: “A focking nahstee tare-oop”.

So It’s just get all the toys on the table and kick off right? Wrong.

So we have something awesome called the “Scouting phase”. A one off event at the start of the game which decides on deployment and first turn etc.

Normally this would involve secretly writing down units which you were prepared to deploy in your scouting force. Units such as flying units, light cavalry and rangers being worth more and other troops being worth less on a sliding scale. When revealed the scouting value is added to a dice roll (usually 2D6) and the highest score “outscouts” the enemy.

The winner of the scouting phase chooses the table edge to deploy on and then must deploy their scouting force (usually 20cm from the table edge but in this case 10cm). The loser of the scouting phase must then deploy their entire army for the opposition to survey, before deploying the remainder of their force.

Brilliant isn’t it?



In this case, I couldn’t keep the scouting secret from myself. There was the option of committing the orc scouts and then drinking a bottle of brandy. Then committing the dwarf scouts the next day with my memory wiped. But I decided to randomising the scouting force with some Excel (RAND) trickery and a D6 number of scouting units.

The results of this were that the orcs and gobbos committed 5 units and the dwarfs 4.

The Orc vanguard consisted of: Goblin Infantry (0.5); Black Orcs (0); Boar Riders (1); Wulfboyz (2); Shamanka on Wyvern (3) = 6.5 + dice roll of 7 = 13.5

The Dwarf vanguard consisted of: Dwarf Warriors (0); Rangers (2); Cannon (0); Gyrocopter Squadron (3) = 5 + dice roll of 8 = 13.

The orcs win the scouting.

I now try to put myself in the head of the orc general. I don’t want the dwarfs to have the northern table edge. I don’t want the dwarf commander to gain the hills for his artillery with his left shielded by the river and forest, nor to be able to anchor his right flank on the village. So the orcs select this table edge.

So the orcs set up their vanguard units.

Apologies if the maps are hard to read. If you click on the maps you should be able to zoom in and read the troop descriptions!

"W" is Graterak on her Wyvern!
Having won the scouting the Orc Vanguard deploys first.


Gorin's dwarfs now need to deploy their entire army. I deploy the artillery in the centre hoping to move it onto the ridge to dominate the battlefield. Frode is tasked with advancing into the farm and using it as an anchor for the dwarf right flank.

Although it should be totally obvious what all dwarf units are, please note that "X" is the gyrocopter squadron, "G" is the general King Gorin, "R" is the Runesmith Ozrim and "H" is the hero Frode.
The Dwarfs Deploy


And now once they can observe the dwarf deployment the Orcs deploy the rest of their army. A unit of orcs and the Giant "Wee Jock Poo-Plop McPlopp" deploy on the flank on the East side of the river.

The labels on the characters are "GH" Goblin hero (Grom the fatbastard); "GS" Goblin Shaman (Skidmarkz); "Gen" (General - Gratnakers) and "OH" (Orc Hero - Boriz)

The rest of the Orc and Goblin army deploys


LET BATTLE COMMENCE!

Here. Shortly.

See you soon.



Wednesday 20 May 2020

Lockdown Teeny Tiny Oldhammer - Introduction


Big apologies to both of my readers for again being quiet for a while. A fair amount of time has been spent on trying to get Mrs Street repatriated which has been a pain in the proverbial.


While finishing off a couple of Warmaster units I thought it might be fun have a little solo game. My table at home is not particularly large, being only 4 feet by about 30 inches. It’s just not big enough to be wheeling Warhammer units around, but a small game of Oldhammer Warmaster is more than possible. I know what you’re thinking; Warmaster is surely “Middlehammer”. But that is forgetting the first rule of Oldhammer. That is that anything Street touches is Oldhammer by default. Yesterday I drank a pint of Old Rosie. By association it automatically became “Oldhammer Rosie”. It’s like the Midas touch but without having any actual practical use.


In addition, the command and control mechanic of Warmaster means that it lends itself to solo play a little better than point and click fantasy rulesets. So I set up the table to get a game going.






I feel that here I must insert a Newoldhammer™ caveat. When I first started doing the odd blog I expected that it would only ever be read by fat blokes in their forties and fifties.


Now I’m inclusive as the next man (unless that man is Priti Patel); anyone is welcome here – but under 14s please note. Although every care has been taken in this text to remove traces of offensive combinations of short vowels and harsh consonants, some may still be found in older posts. Also beware that traces of less offensive things than words, such as war, violence, rape, mutation, blood, gore and slaughter may also be found.


Stay Alert – Control Words – Save Yourself



Back to the fun.


I chose a rather classic dwarf versus orc and goblin clash for the battle. I had just finished off a cavalry brigade for the orc and gobbo force containing a unit each of Boarboyz, Wolfboyz and Gobbo Chariots and I wanted to use these. In true Oldhammer style I had no interest in making the game balanced, and just threw out everything I had onto the table and made some house rules to distances and other things which I will detail later (probably in another post).

In true White Dwarf Style I will first introduce the armies to you.



Da Orcs and Gobbos



Da Commanderz


Gratnakkers – General: Command (8); Attack Bonus (+2) = 95 points

Boriz Da Yooslezz – Black Orc Hero: Command (8); Attack Bonus (+1) = 80 points

Graterak on War Wyvern “Brastrap” – Orc Shamanka: Command (7); Attack Bonus (+2) = 125 points (includes attack bonus and points of Wyvern)*

Grom Da Fatbastard – Goblin Hero – Command (7); Attack Bonus (+1) = 45 points

Skidmarkz – Goblin Shaman – Command (6); Attack Bonus (0) = 30 points



*Wyverns add a +2 attacks to a unit they have joined. A unit joined by a Wyvern causes terror. Wyverns can fly.



Total command structure = 375 points

Left to Right: Skidmarkz; Grom Da Fatbastard; Gratnakkers and retinue; Boriz Da Yooslezz

Graterak mounted on Brastrapp






Da Infantry Boyz


Note that for most units in Warmaster stats apply per stand and most units have three stands. All troops in the infantry section have a troop type of “infantry” except for the giant whose troop type is “monster”.



x3 Orc Warriors: Attacks (4); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (3); Save (6+) = 180 points


x1 Black Orcs: Attacks (4); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (4); Save (5+) = 110 points


x2 Goblins: Attacks (2); Ranged (1); Wounds (3); Save (0)* = 60 points


x1 Trolls: Attacks (5); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (3); Save (5+)** = 110 points


x1 Ogres: Attacks (4); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (4); Save (5+) = 105 points


x1 Giant: Attacks (8); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (8); Save (5+) = 150 points


*Goblins are assumed to be a rag-tag mix of combat infantry and shortbows and javelins. They have missile attacks but at half normal missile range to reflect this.


**Trolls are stupid and suffer a -1 command penalty when ordered. Trolls regenerate one wound in combat after full casualty stands have been removed.



Total Infantry = 715 points

x3 Units of Orc Warriors and x1 Unit of Black Orcs. The Black Orcs are front right with the read weapons.

Ogres, Trolls and x2 Units of Gobbo Infantry

"Wee Angry Jock Poo-Plopp McPlopp" the giant




Da Cavalry Boyz



All units are troop type “cavalry” except the Gobbo chariots which are troop type “chariots”. Er….Der.



X1 Boar Riders: Attacks (4); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (3); Save (5+) = 110 points

X1 Wolfboyz: Attacks (2); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (3); Save (6+) = 60 points

X1 Gobbo Chariots: Attacks (3); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (3); Save (6) = 80 points



Total Cavalry = 250 points

Left to Right: Gobbo Chariots; Wolfboyz; Boar Riderz

Gobbo Chariots




Da Artilllery



X1 Rock Lobba: Attacks (1); Ranged (3); Wounds (3); Save (0) = 75 points*



*A Rock Lobba consists of a single stand. A Rock Lobba can shoot at target that it cannot see on a -2 to hit penalty.


Total Artillery = 75 points

Da Rock Lobba




TOTAL ARMY VALUE = 1,415 POINTS







King Gorin Tallhelm the Grudgebearer’s Dwarf Expeditionary Force



Dwarf General and Commanders


King Gorin Tallhelm the Grudgebearer - General: Command (10); Attack Bonus (+2) = 155 points

Frode Gundersen the Aleswiller – Dwarf Hero: Command (8); Attack Bonus (+1) = 80 points

Ozrim Trommgibalchuf – Dwarf Runesmith/Wizard: Command (8); Attack Bonus (+1) = 90 points*



*Due to the times in which Warmaster was written (i.e. post 3rd edition) GW revisionism had stripped magic from the dwarfs. I have written some spells to “Oldhammer up” my Warmaster dwarfs but as one of those is “Summon Earth Elemental” and I definitely haven’t made one yet, I decided to use Ozrim as a Runesmith for this battle simply so that I could play the game a day earlier. A Runesmith is simply a hero that can dispel any magic spells within 50cm on a roll of 4+.

Total Command Structure = 325 points

Runesmith Ozrim Trommgibalchuf; King Gorin with his Grudgebook and Retinue; Frode Aleswiller



Dwarf Infantry


x3 Dwarf Warriors: Attacks (3); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (4); Save (4+) = 330 points

x1 Dwarf Hammerers: Attacks (3); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (4); Save (3+) = 110 + 50 points*

x1 Dwarf Rangers: Attacks (3); Ranged (1); Wounds (4); Save (5+) = 110 points

x1 Dwarf Thunderers: Attacks (3); Ranged (1); Wounds (4); Save (6+) = 90 points**

x1 Slayers: Attacks (5); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (4); Save (0) =  80 points***

x1 Gorin’s Longbeard Huscarls: Attacks (4); Ranged (N/A); Wounds (4); Save (4+) = ???****



*In order to reflect the Elite status of the Hammerers they have been given a magical standard. The “Banner of Shielding” costs 50 points and gives the unit a 3+ save until the unit suffers the loss of a stand. After which the banner ceases to work and the unit refers to its usual dwarf warrior save of 4+

**Thunderers use of the arquebus means that enemy shot by the unit suffer a -1 save modifier.

***Slayers must use initiative to charge if possible. Slayers may not use initiative to evade. Only one Slayer unit can be included in a brigade. Slayers are never driven back by missile fire. Slayers are immune to terror. In addition to these rules, Slayer units’ entire purpose is to lose their lives in glorious combat. If any stands of slayer units survive a battle then their opponent receives victory points for them. If the slayers are wiped out the opponent scores no points for them.

****The Huscarls represent Gorin’s personal bodyguard made up from members of his extended family and his oldest and most loyal warriors. This unit is made up of just one stand and they always remain within 15cm of Gorin. They only accept orders from Gorin and cannot be ordered by other Dwarf commanders. While the Huscarls remain on the table they are the only unit Gorin can join.



Total Infantry = 770 points

Warriors and Hammerers. The Hammerers are Bottom Right
Slayers and Thunderers screened by Rangers
Gorin's Personal Bodyguard




Dwarf Artillery and Machines


The Gyrocopter squadron has a troop type of “Machine” while the other units obviously have a troop type of “Artillery”.


x1 Cannon Battery: Attacks (1); Ranged (2+bounce); Wounds (2); Save (6+) = 90 points*

x1 Flame Cannon: Attacks (1); Ranged (2D6); Wounds (2); Save (6+) = 50 points**

x1 Gyrocopter squadron: Attacks (1); Ranged (3); Wounds (3); Save (5+) = 75 points***



*Cannon battery consists of 2 stands. No armour can save against a cannon. The shot can potentially pass through a target unit and hit a unit behind the target.

**Flame cannons have a reduced range to normal artillery and have a random number of attacks. Rolling a double means you must roll on the “something has gone wrong” table.

***Gyrocopter squadrons can fly. Consists of a single stand and cannot be brigaded with other units or joined by a hero.

Dwarf Cannon Battery
Flame Cannon
Artillery Brigade
Gyrocopters




Total Machines and Artillery = 215 points


TOTAL ARMY VALUE = 1310 POINTS



So armies assembled I’ll see you soon for the scrap.