8.27.2009

New Warband: Dwarf Slayers

New Warbands are always difficult. What to choose and when chosen a subject what will be the contents of the warband. I started playing a night goblin warband in Mordheim and I almost finished the last models for this warband. With these done I have a big set of gobbo's to create a warband and change a warband with. Final items are some bases for now.
So a new warband since we all had ideas of starting a new warband. First up for me were the dwarfs. Cool sturdy warband and something completely different then the unpredictive gobbo's. Exploring the possibilities of the dwarfs I found that the warband could contain a slayer. In a far away past I played a trollslayer in Warhammer Quest. So the slayer theme was born. Doing some investigation further I came across some sites of players that already made some experimental rules for a slayer warband. Eventueally the following rules for Slayers in Mordheim seem to fit the best.
So how will the slayer warband look like:

Giant Slayer with 2 dwarf axes
Troll Slayer 1 with 2 dwarf axes
Troll slayer 2 with a 2-handed Gromril axe
Troll slayer 3 with 1 dwarf axe
Clansman 1 with mace and shield
Clansman 2 with 2 pistols

I'm still figuring out how to equip the clansmen for this warband. I've been looking at adding only some slayers to this warband but for the story of the warband it seems better to have some followers in the form of some clansmen. In the future slayers can be added and maybe also a rememberer. Or maybe equipe the clansmen with some armour is also a nice option. Still not sure there. The SLayers also should have some tattoos and/or scars of course. With this list of dwarfs there is little gold left for that. Maybe down-equiping them and adding the tattoos might prove interesting slayers. Even thought of "scrificing" a Troll slayer for more tattoos/equipment.

The miniatures have been bought for this band: Garagrim Ironfist will be the Giant Slayer for the band and I bought the set of boxed troll slayers. Some longbeards will be the clansman and maybe a special character like the Dwarf Master Engineer with Brace of Pistols might be a nice clansman.

The bases for the dwarfs is a bit of dillema. For the gobbo's I followed the "rubble" base technique found on the web. I can't find the link again but it basically is putting some glue on the base, put stuff on it that you have lying around on your modelling area (cut of bits, sticks, etc.) put them in. Then I put them in some very fine sand and let them dry. A quick lick of black paint and highlight with graveyard earth and bleached bone for the good Mordheim city rouble street look and you're done.

For a painting schem I'm also still deliberating. We did some brainstorming on the color of the beards and crests of the slayers. I am doubting between black or the original orange. Maybe the orange will prevail and I have to come up with some cool scheme for the trousers. Still to get a more Mordheimy look and feel the dwarfs will get some more pouches and stuff (dead rats and frogs) and the odd eye patch. Some green stuff challanges there but good fun to create.

8.21.2009

Building projects in Mordheim

Inspired by the nice series of battle we played, I've started to (re)construct the Mordheim buildings I collected over the years. The first action was to give each of them a base. Hopefully this will mean they will become a little sturdier.



The results up till now can be found here. Next step will be to paint the bases and enhance them a little with details like gravestones & such ;-)
And last but not least: Find a suitable method to store and transport them...

8.03.2009

Paint Session Goblins (3)

It has been a while since the first stage of gobbo painting (Night gobbo painting that is). Of course I have been doing some painting in the mean time (I'm not that slow) but not always them gobbo's. The dwarf treasure hunter Morheim gang is taking shape and I found some gnoblar trappers that will do nice as cool base-additions to the existing gobbo's. Bases are still a poblem for me. I can't get the hang of finding a good theme and stick with it for the entire gang.

Anyway how are the gobbo's doing I posted earlier? My way of painting consists of doing one color at the time and if possible working it out entirely. Starting with the large surfices I work m way to the details. The large surfaces are also ideal for highlighting easy and these are the first things I did. With these night gobbo's I started with the green skin of the gobbo's and finishing it with severel highlights.
Next stage are the black clothing the night gobbo's hae. I reworked all black surfaces in a clean way. That means that I paint all items black with clean lines bordering other (future) color areas. In this way I don't have to keep reworking parts because other areas are "tainted" with the wrong color. I like clean lines here where possible. So black areas were done and I highlighted them towards a light bleue. First stage is a heavy regal blue highlight to give the night goblins the look of wearing midnight blue robes. Because wear and tear they are highlighted towards light blue and even light grey is used here.

Next up are the silver areas I started with boltgun metal painting the iron/silver parts. The iron parts will be worked upon with a black ink probably, leaving it a dark metally surface (like the pot of the night goblin shaman). The silver parts ( I like my night goblins to have lots of silvery jewelry) will be highlighted with chainmail metal (earrings, bracelets, etc.).
After this it is basically time for detailing the gobbo's This means picking out the bad moon symbols, mushrooms they are carrying, weapons, etc. I use bright colors for small items so they stand out. Also some skulls have to be done and they will be "bony" in look and feel. Starting with black dark browns, I then usually highlight them to bleached bone (in rare occasions even a final white highlight).

7.21.2009

Multiplayer Mordheim scenario's

Incredibly but true, up till now the 'members of somegamers' show up almost all of the time when a battle is planned :-)

This resulted in lovely, bloody, multiplayer Mordheim battles. Since the orginal book does not contain that much multi (more than 2) player scenario's, we normally used the ones provided in later white dwarfs. Since my collection of Town Cryers is MIA, that source of multiplayer and other scenario's was not available.

Fortunately, all Town Cryers have been made available here! Last time we used the Gauntlet scenario found in TC 21. Good fun, deadly for my warband though.... (Thanx to Eric Johnson for writing that :-)

So, what are the candidates for the next session? Here's a list with multiplayer scenario's found in TC's:
13: the sword of the herald (requires referee)
21: the gauntlet (requires Heroquest tiles)
22: assault on the rock (SoS)
23: the bodyguards
25: blood hunt (dramatis personae), the item lost (dramatis personae)
Personally I hope we'll choose the 'body for our next battle...

7.08.2009

Paint Session Goblins (2)

A new paint session for the gobbo's just finished. In the previous post you could see the first stage of getting the green color on the skin of the gobbo's. Now the goblins get their layers of highlights after the goblin green and green ink. A new highlight of goblin green is applied after which a transition to rotting flesh green is applied. It is finished off with a some layers towards bleached bone. This is the status right now.

Mordheim: The Gauntlet

Last sunday, the weather was hot and the game was ablazin'. What a way to start a post on the latest Mordheim game. The four of us were tricked into The Gaunlet scenario by Arjan. It looked fun up front with all the tiles in the table and the fact that we were running through corridors. Especially my gobbo's were thrilled at first to enter the maze (the squigs were almost not to be held). How did it all go then. The following is a summary of our game.
It started out all difficult with the goblin bos being a sneaky git. He could move D3 gang members on the board before anyone started. The boss himself went first on his giant squig...triggerd the first trap...gore and dead bodies dropped from the ceiling...and...the gobbo got so scared that turned on the spot and bolted back towards the entrance. He fleed directly of the board (which is quite smart considering the fact he jumped 11 inch on the board!). The orcs from Hans were lucky enough to really start the game. His orcs entered the battlefield with a lot of rummaging and directly tripped 4 traps! Bolts were flying, gore dropped from the ceiling, snares sprung nets but still they survived. A good start to explore the first inches of the dungeon.

The Nurgles are next up to enter the dungeon. The nurgles slithered on the board and ... triggered a trap (of course) ... and one of the chaos worshippers opened a pit ... dragging a total of 5 gang members into the hole! Let's see if they get out in the next turns.

The gobbo's turn where all gobbo's may enter the dungeon. They squabeled a bit on the board and because of some animosity among them Daft Wullie went into a frenzie and attacked one of his mates: Wee Bobby. In his run into Wee Bobby, he skewered him directly out of action. Also the gobbo's triggered a new terror trap but this time held their nerves.

Now it's the halflings turn. Ludo decided to leave the biggest part of his gang home. They were probably too scared to even come in the vicinity of the dungeon. Only the sergeant and a couple of halflings entered the dungeon. They are best in being stealthy enough in the dungeon and not triggering the traps! Still the halflings ran onto the field and triggered 2 traps.

2nd round started with the orcs and the nurglings triggering very little traps. The Nurgles had to climb out of the pit of course. The gobbo's sent a squig towards the halflings, but (as in other games also encountered) the halfling proved very sturdy and even though the halfling was netted by a previous trap it won the combat! One of the other gobbo's made a run for the treasure put triggered a terror trap and ran directly back again. The gobbo's were not lucky and didn't held their nerves against all this gore dropping from the ceiling.
With a relative easy round we enter the 3rd round. The Orcs were ready to move and they all did. By some miracle only one triggered a trap and ended up in a cage, which he smashed directly.
The Nurgles were recovering from the big pit and on their way towards the centre of the dungeon triggered some more traps. One of the Nurgles got caught up in a snare and another one didn't make it out of the pit yet. The plague bearer triggered a terror trap but since he was more terrifying himself there was no real issue there. A Nurgle gang member got into a fight with one of the savage orcs and exchanged some blows.
The gobbo's are up again for some action. Their leader gone meant that the other bosses were eager to show their leadership skills. They urged all gobbo's on towards the centre of the dungeon. The fanatics were in range of the enemy and were released into the ante chamber. One of the fanatics triggered a trap that sent a ball flying towards him, but since he himself is an expert in swinging a metal ball he dodged it easily. The running gobbo's triggered all traps that sent 3 cages flying down trapping 3 goblins.
The halfings turn is a bit silent. One of the pitted halfings failed to get out of the pit and the netted halfling cannot be bitten through by the squig.
We come to turn 4 where 8 savage orcs start moving and they do this so carefully (ORCS?) that no traps are triggered. The orcs are now in the treasure chamber as well and see the squigs running around. They start slinging rocks at them but 4 slingers mis all the squigs and bounce of them. In some hand to hand combat a Nurgling gets squashed.
The Nurgles are go! One gang member gets out of a pit and one still remains in his pit (he must be practicing his biceps?). The Nurgles are also in the treasure room and face green lines left and right (the savage orcs to the right and the night goblins to the left). The plague bearer gets sent towards the treasure and an abys opens that he narrowly escapes.
Within the gobbo's it is mostly cages that are battled against. They can't get out of them by the way. The 2 fanatics don't inflict wounds on the nurgle leader but also survive getting clobbered themselves. The plague bearer is still alive and even manages to kill a squig. The squigs get a hard beating this battle.
The halflings again start to shoot like madmen but the quig they target survives.

Turn 5 starts and the orcs poke each other to charge a squig. One of them can't bear the shame and heads for it and indeed kills the last squig. All gangs circle each other now in the central room and no one goes for the treasure. A lot of hand to hand combat starts among the orcs nurgles and goblins. The halflings keep their distance to survive the fray. The gobbo's get decimated and the nurgle boss gives his enemies a good pounding. One of the savage orcs is brave enough to pick up the treasure and even manages to hold on for 2 turns. The halflings only briefly sneak a peak in the treasure room and the game ends.

The orcs found some gold coins and a suite of light armour after all this carnage. What a scenario, what damage. One pro is that surviving a trap gives experience. That can end up quite good if you survive.

7.05.2009

It's 30 degrees (outside) so let's have a battle

In about an hour we'll (hopefully) see battle again (no worries, just on the table top). Recently I found a hidden treasure on the web: A collection of scanned Town Cryers: here (A big THANX to Svenn!).

I vaguely remembered there was a scenario in the old days that made use of Heroquest tiles. Since I bought a second hand set of Heroquest (more or less complete), I am thinking/planning on combining Heroquest with Mordheim. So today, being the host of our game, I'll 'force' my companions in playing the 'Gauntlet' scenario. Hope they still like me afterwards... and hopefully they will hate my warband even more ;-)