If you’ve been a regular subscriber to this blog, you’ve probably seen the on-again, off-again Hyperian Wars sort-of-campaign featuring Warchief Ghazhrag The Bloody’s attempts to acquire all manner of mysteriously sacred stones, and I’m sure the question that’s been uppermost in everyone’s minds is “just what does he want them for?”
I mean, it’s not like there’s anything else to be worrying about right now, is there?
Well, the time has come to reveal the terrifying truth… the Orca have summoned their War God! And here he is!
Yep, that’s the Hulk. Actually, I’ve kind of got Midwinter Minis to thank for this idea – Guy’s repurposing of his Hulk model made me realise that big, green and ANGRY = Orc/ Ork/ Orca, and so I acquired a Hulk of my own off eBay, a little converting (helmet, club), primed and based and here we are!
Greenstuff wrapped around a cocktail stick with granny grating spikes, old paint pot cut open and dotted with PVA blobs to be rivets as the helmet – base covered with Garage Floor Dust (TM) before priming!Paint scheme was the same as the rest of the horde, so no need to go into that again here.
For the second part of the project, I took inspiration from an ooooooooooooold White Dwarf WHFB report which featured an Orc Shaman on a War Wyvern… so I started with a T-Rex toy I picked up for a quid from a local charity shop.
Next, wings – these were cocktail sticks snapped in two and the joints sealed with superglue, and then I cut some wings out of paper and superglued them in place. Then, to make them more organic looking, I rolled a cylinder of greenstuff and smeared/ applied it to the structure.
Next up, priming – grey, dusted with white, and a thinned wash of Vallejo Smokey Ink, before painting. I started with a yellow base and then gradually layered up green with Army Painter Goblin Green and Green Tone ink washes. The cream parts were a craft bone washed with Vallejo flesh wash and then more bone stippled and drybrushed over the top, and I used the bone to pick out the teeth and claws before doing the eyes in red. Then out to the shed for basing and varnish, and that’s that done!
So, pics of Whaaagh-Ghazhrag in full:
Pretty impressive horde, eh? Those Skyborne won’t know what hit them! Stay tuned for our upcoming HW mega smackdown, and stay thrifty out there!
Yes, I’m still avoiding the Marines… but bear with me, I’m almost at the finish line with this project – and when the end is in sight, it seems perverse to switch focus to something else.
So having finished up the “Orcs Of Colour”, that left me with just a single regiment of 30 Orca Warriors left to do.. then there are the shamans, of course, plus I reckon I could probably knock together a couple of stone throwers.. and I have an idea for a “superheavy”…
Anyway, point is, I can see an end to this project, so I took a deep breath and dove straight into the final regiment. Based on 20mm squares of wine box cardboard, white primer, prewash with thinned down black ink – it’s a poor man’s zenithal primer, plus it helps my Mr Magoo eyes pick out what detail is what.. in addition to covering up any gaps that might otherwise be left a glaring white.
Other than that it’s the usual scheme – Army Painter Goblin Green skin washed with Army Painter Green Tone, red bits are Vallejo Hot Orange washed with Red Ink with a unifying drybrush of yellow… The metallics are Vallejo Mithril Silver washed with Smokey Ink for a rusty effect as Orcs of any universe are not known for their weapons maintenance.
So, pics:
As you can see, I gave them a flag – Google Image search for “Orc & Goblin Banners”, printed it out and painted it up… Damn sight easier than trying to do freehand and this may yet be the way forward with the Blood AngelsThese pics don’t seem to have come out too well.. guess my phone is unused to the amount of sunlight we’ve been having..Flags & banners make a huge difference to the spectacle – of course, now I have to go back and give the other regiments a flag each..The ladz on paradeWarchief Ghazrag The Bloody leads his mighty horde
Regular readers will have noticed the progress of Warchief Ghazrag The Bloody across the world of Hyperia in pursuit of capturing some holy stones…
(had to do it)
So far they’ve battered both Ratticus McStilton III’s Virum Nascii and the Sky Marines of the Grand Alliance, so next up will be a face off against the Ancien Regime now the gaming shed is back in business… Can we make it three in a row? Let’s see!
It’s the summertime and the weather is fine, and I’ve been out in the garden knocking back wine…
Time to step away from the Blood Angels for a bit – I’ve lost confidence in my eye for detail (nothing to do with ay criticism, by the way – all the comments I’ve had have been positive, in fact far more positive than I deserve), and I think I need to do a fair bit of freehand practice to get my skills up to snuff before having another go at my command figures. So it makes sense to go to a smaller scale, right?
Well… yeah, actually. See, the issue I had with the BAs was with the smooth surfaces and details like the campaign badges and banners (which also highlighted the downsides to painting with housepaints rather than model paints in some instances… X-D) . The details that are picked out for you on the sculpts – pipes, aquilas etc – I wasn’t too bad with. And with my Orcs, there’s plenty of those. This lets washes and drybrushing take care of the heavy lifting – plus any mistakes you can hide within a regiment of 30, right?
So here we are – a regiment of 30 Black Orcs (Orcs of Colour?):
These lads are the heavy hitters, the elite of the orc infantry, and 30 of them is a big solid linebreaker whether you’re playing Warhammer Fantasy, Kings Of War or Hyperian WarsPaint scheme was basically the same as the other ladz, but a black wash dulled down the skin tones.I gave myself a hand by priming these white and then prewashing with thinned Smokey Ink to get to the parts other painting layers can’t reach….Warchief Gazhrag The Bloody leads his armyA mighty horde!Fancy seeing this lot coming at you?
So that’s Gazh the Warchief, a regiment of 16 Archers, 2 regiments of 30 Orcs each, a regiment of 25 Savage Orcs and now the Black Orcs – one more regiment to go and then we’re on to the Shamans, and I’ve got a few ideas for support units…
Lt. Carruthers’ Sky Marine platoon deploys to the left, with support from an Artificial, Gazhrag’s boyz to the right. The objective is the sacred stones in the middle of the ruined temple… wonder what the Orc Warlord might be wanting with all these stones? Sky Marines deploy forward with command section and mortar anchored on the low hill in the centreAnd there’s the OPFOR…The ladz barrel forwardNo. 3 Squad takes casualties from surprisingly effective Orc archeryNos. 1 & 2 squads hold the hill overlooking the temple, but it looks like they’re getting company soonBlack Orcs crash into the Sky Marines on the hill Sky Marines retreat in good order despite taking savage losses, but the Orc regiment following the Black Orcs catch them in the openSky Marines fight bravely, but 30 Orcs are 30 OrcsCommand section let fly with rifles and mortar, Jim running down all his Command Points to hammer these ladz before they massacre his troops up close and personal. The “1” you can see is the regiment failing it’s morale check – being within 12cm of unsuppressed enemy troops they are captured (or cut down by quickfire .303 rounds and bayonets)Next turn Jim won the initiative and turned the attention of the command section onto the Black Orcs – concentrated casualties in the regiment’s rear quickly caused them to become suppressed and surrender too!However, the command section can’t face two ways at once and the second prong of the Orc attack strikesTwo survivors are all that’s left of No. 3 squad!Surviving Sky Marines consolidate on the low hill for a last stand
But to no avail, as the Orcs crash into them from both sides!
“Those creatures are tremendous in stature!”“Wait until you see the reds of their eyes, lads”
And so Gazhrag The Bloody scored another victory, albeit having lost half his archers, his elite Black Orcs and a regiment of regular Orcs in the process… and we ironed out a few more kinks in the Hyperian Wars ruleset, hopefully bringing the publication date to three days before the heat death of the universe.
Stay thrifty out there – Jim’s got something he’s really excited to tell you all about… 😉
And what better way to celebrate our new found glorious, double-jabbed-plus-two-weeks liberty than by reinstating our Grand Summer Megagame…
Now, admittedly, the last time we did this we managed to precipitate the Great Plague Of 2020, so it’s entirely possible that in a couple of months we’ll be staring at a blank screen lamenting the collapse of humanity to an alien invasion… but we’re willing to take that risk. Let’s break out the toy soldiers!
As before, the mantra was WE BRING EVERONE.
So that’s all the factions we’d built in 20mm for Apocalypse: Earth, Hyperian Wars and Future Force Warrior – seeing as these three games are all built around the same basic principles, they’ve proved to be pretty compatible. And as before, we divided them into two rough factions, “goodies” and “baddies”. Orders of battle below:
Last time out the baddies had been significantly outnumbered and outgunned, but we’d finished adding some special weapons to the Virum Nascii, not to mention about 100 fantasy Orcs, the PFH rebels with their cabal of powerful psychics and a cloud of armed civilians… should be a close run thing!
We also faced a problem this time – having EVERYONE on the table was just not going to work – there just wasn’t room- so we came up with a different scenario to the basic “Kill ‘Em All” approach of last time. This time we placed an objective – in this instance a downed spaceship (3D printer Dan’s son had lovingly assembled and then sat on) – dead centre. The aim would be to pick up the spaceship and move it off your table – the unit carrying the spaceship would only be able to move at half speed and the objective would only be able to captured from Turn 2 onwards.
For deployment, all forces would be available but each unit would have to pass a reaction roll to appear.. each subsequent turn that roll would get a +1 bonus, then an extra +1 the turn after that and so on.
We diced for table edge – the Baddies winning and choosing the ruined city, leaving the Goodies with the beach landing – and then we began to deploy units alternately as per the Apocalypse Earth rulebook, rolling for availability as we went…
Goodies hit the beach – although NONE of ze Churmans or the PSLA 1977th made their rolls, we got the Fists, most of the Atlantic Alliance and the Sky Marines
The Baddies rolled with most of the Holy Soviet Army (Stompy Uncle Joe and the Rampager having failed their reaction rolls), Da Skooderia, the People’s Front Of Hazzard 237th – the Orcs failed their rolls and mysteriously there was no sign of the Virum Nascii….
Birds’ eye view..
And thus the stage was set for quite the showdown – stay tuned for the next episode!
How do – and while my compatriot mires himself in paperwork organising something Very Big Indeed, allow me to plug the gap by showing you a little more progress with another project of mine… because it wouldn’t do just to focus on the Blood Angels tribute act, now would it? Even though we’re somehow already in August and I’ve probably missed the boat to take them to Warhammer World for a 30th birthday bash…. oh well.
This lot are part of my “other” lockdown project – I was fancying a fantasy horde army, went looking for Undead 1/72 figures and instead came across a job lot of Caesarfantasy Orcs going cheap because they’d lost their boxes. We’re already familiar with the Caesar Ratmen, having painted somethinglike fourbillion backin The World That Was before the pandemic struck, and at something like £25 for about 140 figures or so, I really couldn’t say no.
So here we are, another block of 30 greenskins and home made movement tray, giving me a second regiment of Orc Warriors – these will get used for Kings Of War (will be fun trying that in a different scale), OPR’s Age Of Fantasy, Warhammer Fantasy, quite possibly Age Of Sigmar (especially now that 3rd edition rules are out and available to download, and of course our own Hyperian Wars ruleset (essentially Apocalypse: Earth reskinned and reorientated for fantasy).
These lads are all based on 20mm by 20mm square bases cut from wine box cardboard – judge all you like, it’s ecologically friendly and economical – glued on using tacky PVA glue, and then primed white. White? Yep – apart from being how I primed the Blood Angels and therefore all I had in the shed, I find this suits my “go bright and wash down” style of painting and help me get around the obstacles of teeny tiny miniatures and increasingly wonky close in vision.
The paint scheme is also similar to the Blood Angels – Army Painter Goblin Green washed with Green Tone ink, Vallejo Hot Orange washed with Red Ink, Vallejo Filthy Brown (and a few brown craft paints) washed with Brown Ink for the browns, Mithril Silver washed with thinned Smoky Ink for the metallics giving a worn, battered effect. I’ve stuck with the “3 colours and metal” approach for the entire army, but as with the Ratmen, I’ve tried to make no two Orcs look exactly alike. They’re Orcs, after all – uniformityjust wouldn’t look right.
The bases are painted craft chocolate brown, then painted with PVA and dunked first in sand, then powdery earth from the veggie patch in the garden and then flock added in patches.
The moveent tray is done the same way as the bases – I figured I’d rank the Orcs up in 5 of ranks of 6, so that’s a frontage of 100mm x 120mm. Add 5mm each side for breathing space and that adds up to 110mm x 130mm. I cut this out of the winebox card, added a lip of hot glue round the edges to keep everyone more or less in formation, painted it brown, slapped some PVA on and drizzled with flock, sand and earth. Then, because of course it warped like an absolute bugger, I painted the back with PVA, left it upsode down for 24 hours and hey presto, nice and flat. No messin’.
And with that, pics! Here are the lads all ranked up:
And here is the army so far, 101 figures by my count – 16 archers, 25 Savage Orcs, and two regiments of 30 Orc Warriors apiece:
Why are they on the beach? Well, after the last year, everyone deserves a holiday…..
And for those interested, here are the profiles we’ve given them:
Orc Warrior:
Speed
Shooting Skill
CCR
Initiative
Armour
Hit Point
Morale
Notes
12
6
4
2
9
2
Regular
Default: Advance (Assault)
Orc Archer
Speed
Shooting Skill
CCR
Initiative
Armour
Hit Point
Morale
Notes
12
5
3
2
9
2
Regular
Default: Advance (Assault)
Savage Orc
Speed
Shooting Skill
CCR
Initiative
Armour
Hit Point
Morale
Notes
12
6
4
2
9
2
Elite
Default: Advance (Assault)
So as you can see – ‘ard, but pretty thick, and not great at shooting stuff. The Savage Orcs rate elite morale as they’re, well, Savage – if you knock off a couple of those lads, the rest are less likely to cut and run than yell WAAAAAARGH (unless GW has trademarked THAT too) and come pelting at you to beat you to a pulp.
They’ll be getting their tabletop cherries popped pretty soon, but I’m also intrigued to see how they fare against the slippery Ratmen – fast, lethal but with fragile morale against the brick wall of green…
Stay safe and thrifty out there, we’ll see you soon!
Terrain? Flexible battlemat built and with the old standby of books placed underneath to create valleys and hills, so yeah, check.
And thus – TO BATTLE!
I gave the youngling the choice and he picked Orcs, I think more influenced by colour choice than anything else… well, I hope so at least, he has a slightly unnerving predilection for the “Baddies” in most films. We’d had a couple of practice games so the basics of the rules were relatively familiar – plus he had his mum on his side as the power behind the throne!
Initial set up dispositions – Orcs at the bottom (south) end of the table, Dwarves at the top (north)
We shook hands and rolled for fits turn – which the Orcs won.
The Orcs charge headlong across the table, mum in an advisory role pointing out areas cover and suggesting firing the Skulk archer detachment at the Dwarven cannon, rattling the crew enough to prevent them from firing this turn.
Dwarves hold fast and return fire, the Ironwatch crossbow regiment routing the Skulk archers
Turn 2 and the Orc charge hits the Dwarven lines! Trolls demolish the cannon and the Orc cavalry pulls a deft flanking manoeuvre that annihilates their Dwarven counterparts… that Orc “advisor” has some explaining to do.. 😉
Ferocious in the defence, the Dwarves castle up on the hill and defend with everything they’ve got! Throwing mastiffs and crossbows damage the trolls and force the Orc Gore Rider cavalry to waver, while a regiment of Ironclad infantry catch an Orc Ax infantry regiment in the rear and wipe them out! However, in an EPIC clash in the centre of the lines, the Dwarf Lord falls to the Orc Krudger!
Victorious in his duel, the Orc Krudger gathers his remaining forces to hunt down and destroy the surviving Dwarves
The Krudger and the Ax regiment smash into the surviving Dwarf regiment
As darkness falls on the battlefield, the remaining Dwarf regiment is forced to waver, before being routed and destroyed in the final turn!
The dice were against me, that’s all I’m saying! In all fairness, although I did roll abysmally, I also made stupid mistakes and completely underestimated my enemy commander (and his “advisor”) – leaving units open to flanking manoeuvres, not concentrating forces properly and while I wasn’t able to capitalise on my enemy’s mistakes, they sure went to town on mine!
Overall verdict on KoW as a system though? Fun! I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the lack of casualty removal in this system, but by Turn 2 I was used to it. It really does suit 6mm scale as well. Easily learned, and although there are a couple of rules that were less than clear in the rulebook, it’s largely very intuitive and I do like how much it rewards tactical positioning, flanking and so forth. Charging your opponent’s rear, for example gives you DOUBLE the normal attacks.. all of a sudden, mobility is worth something serious on the battlefield!
I know you’re all hungering for something non-granny grating related, but it was fun bringing this project to a conclusion (if any wargaming project can ever be said to be truly done) -and as the COVID Restrictions start to lift in dear old Blighty we’ve got something BIG planed once again, so stay tuned as we get everything prepared to Throw Down In Style!
Stay safe and sane out there… we’re nearly there folks!
In which Lukes’ APS gives me an astonishingly cool idea…
Yes, I definitely have a problem. So currently I have the retro Blood Angels on the go as well as the 1/72 Orc horde that I’ve been working on, and a DIY Epic Imperial Guard army that I have big plans for… so it makes sense that having finished a regiment of Orcs, I should then go and start on something completely different and unrelated, doesn’t it?
And yet and yet and yet. I happened upon this video from Luke’s APS, one of our favourite YouTubers (How do, O Squire Of The North) in which he shows how to do the popular Kings Of War system in smaller scale on the kitchen table.
Now, Jim has had custody of our 6×4 in his converted garage – the lucky bastard – ever since we built it back in 2017, largely because I have nowhere in the house I could put it. However, despite the tyranny of wife and small child, I do still have relatively free access to the kitchen table. And although gaming nights are restricted to remote games for at least the next couple of months, said wife and small child might make for entertaining opponents.
And given the way the boy’s mind seems to work, I fully expect him to pull off a Cannae style double envelopment, perfectly co-ordinated and then celebrate his victory by stripping naked, eating the dice and farting out all 6’s, but we’ll see.
Now, in the video Mr. Fellowes 3D prints his 10mm figures and then bases them as regiments – this is a hallmark of Kings Of War, as regiments are based all together, 20 figures (for example) in a regiment glued to a single base as casualty removal doesn’t happen in this system. I do not possess a 3D printer and am unlikely to do so any time soon, but what I do have is…
Granny grating.
Yep, we’re back there again. I must admit to being really pleased with my DIY Imperial Guard army built with this stuff (and I know Jim’s got something similar in the works) and I figured that this could be the way to go to build armies for Kings Of War – happily, Mantic make the basic rulebook available for free on their website and this contains two army lists, one Orc and one Dwarf, so I figured I’d start there.
I reduced the footprint of each regiment or troop by half, cut the bases out of wine box corrugated cardboard, painted the bottom with PVA to counteract any warping and then cut out the infantry shapes from the granny grating and hot glued them to the bases. These got primed grey and then painted up using a similar scheme to my 20mm Orcs – Army Painter Goblin green washed with Green Tone for the skin, Vallejo Hot Orange washed with Red Ink for the red, Filthy Brown washed with thinned Smokey Ink for the browns. I used Mithril Silver for the metallics and washed them with Smokey Ink to create a worn down, beaten look.
I painted the base dark chocolate with craft paint and then painted over that with PVA, dunked the baes in sand.. and when that was dry I selectively added PVA and then flock on those patches.
In Kings Of War, measurements are taken from a central point on the base, and I decided to mark that point with a standard – this would also help unit identification, (as well as looking cool.) The pole was just another piece of granny grating, cut to fit and hot glued in, and the standard was simply a bit of scrap paper (an envelope, if memory serves) painted Hot Orange, washed with Red Ink and then painted with appropriate logos (eg Axe for the infantry, clubs for the Trolls).
With all this done, I took them out to the shed for varnish…
And belatedly realised I’d picked up the wrong can and sprayed primer instead.
Sigh.
Happily, the repaint was pretty simple – no need to worry about paint layers obscuring fine detail, as there was no detail. So here we are – pics!
Orc commander – he got mounted on a washer, with a small piece of gravel to illustrate his truly heroic nature.
Troll regiment
Orc “Ax” infantry regiment
Orc archer support troop
Orc “Morax” elite heavy infantry troop
Cavalry regiment
Ready to conquer the kitchen table
So there we have a 750 point battle ready warband for Kings of War on a budget of £0! Next up are the Dwarves (as I’m FINISHING this project before starting anything else…) and then terrain – we’re going to need somewhere to fight over and some properly scaled terrain features, and I’ve got a good few ideas for that, so stay tuned.
Full disclosure – I learned everything I needed to make this army from the Battlecraft YouTube Channel, so all the techniques you need, go there and check him out. Credit where it’s due.
Wherever you are, stay safe and stay thrifty.. and if you happen to be part of the astonishing vaccine rollout program, then thank you from the bottom of our hearts, you are literally saving the world. The Emperor protect you!
After taking what seemed like a decade to finish the last Devastator squad for my retro Blood Angels project, I fancied a quick fix – get a project done, get the dopamine high and then move on to the next. So, the obvious thing was a big block of 30 Orcs (Caesar Miniatures 1/72 Fantasy Orcs), right?
Well, yeah. I mean I bought these things on a whim, for a steal, and almost forgotten about them over the last couple of months. But now – well, my fellow Brits, we have something to look forward to.. freedom by June 21st! Assuming COVID cooperates… That said, my other half is NHS and I can definitely say that her morale has been improving greatly over the past couple of weeks, which I’m taking as a good sign. I think it’s safe to say that one way or another we’ll be getting some games in come the summer.
So with that in mind, let’s get these greenskins together!
Here are the meat and potatoes of the army, a big block of 30 Orcs arranged 6×5 on 20mm cardboard bases, with their own movement tray. Primed white, Goblin Green for the skin washed with Army Painter Green Tone. Reds were Vallejo Hot Orange washed with red ink, and then the whole lot got a yellow drybrush. The browns were craft bone and Vallejo Filthy Brown and Vallejo Mithril Silver for the metallics which then all got a wash with Vallejo Smokey Ink.
I painted the bases dark chocolate brown, then gave them a coat of PVA and dunked them in sand, an extra coat and then flock (Jarvis medium green) and repainted the edges with chocolate again.
So that was the how, these are the results:
And here is the army so far, all lined up and ready to conquer the kitchen table…And one movement tray – wine box cardboard (judge me at your leisure) – 20mm bases 6×5 makes for 100mm x 120mm, add in a lip 5mm around making for 110mm x 130mm footprint, edged with hot glue for a border. Painted PVA on the underside before doing anything and this seems to have counteracted any warping. Then it was two coats of chocolate craft paint, bit of PVA, drizzle on sand and flock, and done!
So there we go, that’s 71 figures for my Orc army so far, a fair bit done! I’ll head back to the 90’s Blood Angels next, I think, got a hankering to build some vehicles….. Lots of cardboard hanging around the house going “Build with me”… so let’s see what happens next.
Meanwhile, stay safe, stay sane, stay thrifty, 114 to go til freedom!
Anyway, I’ve finished another regiment – want to see?
Presenting… Da Red Shoo Ladz
This is a regiment of 25 Feral Orcs (for Age Of Fantasy Regiments) armed with axes – we’ll figure something out for Warhammer Fantasy and Hyperian Wars. I won’t belabour the painting process seeing as I’ve already described it here, basically it’s a crib from old 90s White Dwarfs – all bright primary colours and of course, Goblin Green!
The command figure has red boots, so hence- Da Red Shoo Ladz.
There are only two poses but with a bit of careful angling on the base (20mm squares of single corrugated card) you can make them look like a properly rowdy, Orky mob.
I also made them a movement tray:
A 110 x 110mm square of corrugated plastic card – enough to allow 5 x 5 20mm bases and allow space for a ridge of hot glue around the edges. Then texture paste, spray black, drybrush up with earth tones and add flock and sand to taste.
And here they are with the previous unit – now named Da Red Arrers (sorry, couldn’t help it) in support:
So that’s 41 down, 130 to go! Just hope we can get a decent game in with them in the near future as the second wave gains pace…
Ok, well, the plan was to blog each game as it’s own individual battle report but the real world has rendered that idea a fantasy… Although I managed it for the first game (Battle Brothers vs Rebel Guerillas), we’ve had another four games and it’ taxing my memory to even remember the results! So I’m going to give a very rough synopsis along with a few pics to get us all caught up. (If you want to see more details, follow us on Twitter as we quite often “live blog” the games as we go).
So, straight in – Game 2 – Rebel Guerillas vs Human Defence Force
Could the Hazzard 1977th PDF succeed where the mighty Battle Brothers had failed? In a word – yes. Although it was a damn close run thing in the end, featuring a duel between the HDF and rebel psychics, the demolition of the Rebel Assault Vehicle and some crack supporting fire from the Heavy Weapon Teams swung the game to a solid victory for the HDF.
Gun battle between rebel infantry and HDF conscriptsVicious melee between rebel and HDF commanders – as is only right and proper, the HDF cut down his opponent!Up close and personal amongst the ruined buildingsThe General proved to be invaluable, destroying the Rebel Assault Vehicle and laying waste to infantry
Game 3 – Human Defence Force vs Orc Marauders
Running with the principle of “winner stays on”, the HDF next took on the fearsome Orc Marauders of Da Skooderia! ou may remember these two clashing in earlier battles, but the guiding principle is always the same for the HDF – STAY BACK! You do NOT want to wond up in close combat with Orcs, particularly the super hard Power Armoured variety that made up the command echelon.
Orcs deploy as far forward as possible to get proppa stuck in as quick as possibleHDF deploy centred on the General’s awesome firepower, with heavy weapons teams anchoring the left flank to dominate the battlefield. Good start for the HDF as the laser cannon team destroy the Orc transport and with the help of the Drill Sergeant focusing their fire, the massed assault rifles of the Conscript squad manage to bring down a Power Armoured Orc!Conscripts fall back ahead of the advancing WarbossPower Armoured Orcs getting worryingly close to the Heavy Weapons teams..The General rumbles forward, spraying flamethrower, Nova Cannon and heavy machinegun fire into the Boyz Mob, wiping out half of them and pinning the survivorsOrc Commandos assault the General in close combat, inflicting a wound on the mighty vehicle before..The HDF Psychic casts Furious Blaze from his hiding place in the temple, wiping out the elite Orc assault troops!Power Armour Orcs crash into the Heavy Weapons teams, massacring the heavy machinegun and missile launcher teams in melee!Warboss gets in on the act, tearing the laser cannon team limb from limb… moments before a shot from the General’s Nova Cannon atomised him!After the HDF Psychic manages to again cast Furious Blaze, wiping out the rest of the Boyz, the Orcs start turn 4 with precisely two models left – HDF surviors fan out to capture two objectives to the Orcs’ one.. HDF victory!
Game 4 – Human Defence Force vs Ratmen Clans
Conscripts deploy centrally in cover, with Drill Sergeant and Psychic in supportRatmen gather in the woods behind the ruined settlement Led by their Drill Sergeant, the HDF conscripts advance into the ruined church.. to be promptly ambushed by Ratmen saboteurs!HDF Psychic summons Furious Blaze, immolating the second Saboteur teamThe General unloads into a team of Ratmen in the farmhouse objective, killing 2Ratmen saboteurs swarm the General, causing a wound and pinning it!HDF machinegun team down a ratswarm, but can only watch in horror as the Ratmen swarm all over A squad and the Captain!Ratmen psychic casts Lightning on the General, causing three more wounds on the mighty tank!With excellent rifle discipline under the Drill Sergeant’s watchful eye, the conscripts redeploy to gun down the Ratmen at point blank rangeThe Captain reactivates A squad, pulling back and killing the Rat PiperThe General pours more fire into the saboteur team in the farmhouse, killing two more and pinning the survivor Rat Swarm musters on the objective to deny it to the HDF – though they take casualties from the heavy machinegun team opposite, they hold firm..In a desperate attempt to cripple the General, the surviving Saboteur attacks the General in close quarters.. Shrugging off the Saboteur’s attack, the General is hit by Ratmen psychic’s Lightning and barrels into the farmhouse, killing the surviving saboteur and wounding the Clan Mother!Last minute assault by the HDF A squad is driven off, meaning that’s a draw!
Game 5 Human Defence Force vs Battle Brothers
Battle Brothers ‘ support squad deploy overlooking the battlefieldHDF infantry deploy into the woodsBattle Brothers’ charge forward, exiting their APC before it’s destroyed by Furious Blaze from the HDF psychicThe General gets into action, spraying the Brothers in the church with machinegun, flamer and Nova Cannon, killing two
Brothers’ commander engages the HDF Psychic in melee.. incredibly, the firs round is a draw!The Commander finally batters the psychic and claims an objective… but elsewhere three Brothers fall to laser cannon fire and one to massed Conscript assault rifles!The last Battle Brother in the farmhouse….With the last Brother falling to a missile launcher shot, HDF infantry pours forward to occupy the objective! 2 objectives to 1, that’s another HDF victory!
Whew. So, thanks for sticking with us, that’s us all caught up! If you’re keeping score, that’s 3 wins and a draw for the HDF, a win for the 237th, a draw for the Ratmen and zero for everyone else:
Skinflint Games 