Here be Dragons!

[fatolaf]

no problem with TLOS with that birdy....Amazing

[noahtonkin]

here's the heresy dragon, in all it's unobtainable goodness!

[cunningmatt]

An award winning model, nearly as prestigious as The Procrastination by Numbers Awards!

[noahtonkin]

Update 4!


Good evening ladies and gentleman!

So after my 'prolific' start to the world of blogging, as suggested things have somewhat slowed down.
However there are some important updates to fill you all in on.

1.
List.
After much (or maybe very little) persuasion I have decided to go for the slightly insane 7th-8th conversion list.

For those who can't be arsed to look back and find the list (And the fact I've toyed with it a little bit) it looks something along the lines of...

Prince, 553 pts. Moon Dragon. Dragon Armour, Shield, Lance, Helm of Fortune (6+ save and reroll armour saves), Talisman of Preservation, Amulet of Light.

Dragon Mage of Caledor, 430 pts. Sun Dragon, Silver Wand, Guardian Phoenix, Gem of Courage.
Lore of Fire.

Noble (Battle Standard Bearer), 164 pts Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour Dragonscale Shield, Sacred Incense

27 Lothern Sea Guard, 381 pts Musician, Standard Bearer,
Shields. Standard of Discipline

10 Archers, 125 pts. Musician, Light Armour
10 Archers, 125 pts. Musician, Light Armour


5 Dragon Princes of Caledor, 160 pts Musician.
5 Dragon Princes of Caledor, 160 pts Musician.

5 Silver Helms, 123 pts Musician, Shields
5 Silver Helms, 123 pts Musician, Shields


Great Eagle, 50 pts

Total 2394


2.
Models.
So from the above I need 2 types of cav. Some seaguard, some archers, an eagle and of course 2 dragons.

From that, I have 2 dragons! (although as you may have seen there is some discussion regarding alternate dragon models going on at present...)
I also have the archers and 1 type of cav.
So what more do I need I don't hear you not ask...I think....maybe...although I maybe not not hearing you silently...

Anyway. I need (for those still interested)

Some seaguard.
Another type of Cav
An eagle.

Cav, cav and more cav!
On Monday I trekked along to the club and kindly handed over a small fortune to Mr Ol (I think he's beginning to like me doing High Elf armies, they involve me spending lots of money!)
So winging their way to me via the mysteries of the postal service are 10 Plastic Dragon Princes!

This will be my second cav type.

So all I'm left with are Seaguard and eagle.

Seaguard I'm likely to use, well, Seaguard!
Have seen plenty of places on the net selling bits from the IoB set, so there's lots of seaguard knocking about.

It would have been nice if the shields weren't suck on, but you can't always get what you want (but, I suppose, if I try sometimes I might find, I get what I need)

This leaves Eagles.

Or more precicely Eagle as I only need 1.

Now I have an eagle model, that's actually quite nice and isn't too horribly painted either.
However to fit fluff it would be nice to get a little dragon model.

So where am I at now?

Well, I need to wait until the 30th of jan before I can send more money through paypal (doh!) once I can do this I shall get me some bases and movement trays. Also get some cork for the bases so I can start trying the old lava bases!

I'll also pick up some Seaguard and get to undercoating, asecoating and making them all look pretty!

[Undead Dan]

There's a few small dragon models on GW's website that make perfect "Drakes". Just search Dragon on GW's site.

[noahtonkin]

Update 5!
(I wonder if I should start titling them? Yes Matt, you are my idol and I am trying pathetically to imitate you!)


Dear loyal listeners to my incoherent ramblings (well, I guess not that loyal as I've only just started this blog)

I have some saddening news.

I am moving house at present.
This means lots of things.
Firstly that all painting and paint related activities have ceased as my various incarnations of brushes and paint pots are in different parts of London at present.
Secondly I am moving in with my uncle, who doesn't own a computer, let alone access to the internet.
This is going to mean updates in the future may prove difficult.
But fear not, I have a cunning plan more cunning that a stoat who's had his head cut off.
I shall still be painting (slowly slowly, but it's happening really!) and I shall write my blog entries in a word file, then, by the mysteries of modern technology transfer them on to the internet through witchcraft and wizardry! Otherwise known as memory stick and work internet.

So for today's ramblings I shall recount to you all my latest outing with the fabulous High Elf army you have all been so desperate for me to play with.

My 1st game with double dragon insanity was due to be against an army I knew well. JD's wood elves. Why do I know them so well you may ask. Well, because up until recently they were my wood elves!After my recent foray into the realms of rage quit I flogged off a ton of the old crap I had lying around the hose.
My metal high elf swordmasters, phoenix guard and white lions went on ebay (oh the folly!)
A ton of the rather randomly started but never even base coated lizardmen I had went that way too.
And my wood elf army ended up becoming JD's new project of potential awesomeness (especially wit some of the war dancer comp I've seen banded about).
So for a brief time I was considering how fun it might be to rush a bunch of t3 elves against horrible s4 wood elf shooting. But in the end it didn't happen. After a rescheduling I ended up against Gile's O&G.
Now, normally this would be a match up I wouldn't particularly fancy, big blocks is not something a small cav army likes to play against. But it got worse, as Giles began to unpack war machine after war machine... 9 later (2 stone throwers, 2 doom divers and 5 bolt throwers) I felt like I'd brought a knife to a rather long skewer looking thing fight.
Hey ho, this army was never designed to win anything anyway!

So. Setup.

Giles plonked all his artillery around the hill in the middle of his deployment zone. Big block of black orcs on one side, big block of boys on the other. Squig hopper hoard next to the boys on the far side. 2 massive blocks of goblins either side of the black orcs and a ton of chariots liberally sprinkling about the place.

As for me, mr fighty dragon went on the left lining up against the boys and squigs With a unit of dragon princes and a unit of silver helms in support.

On the far right went the dragon mage, and the other unit of dragon princes. The sea guard went in the middle supported b a unit of archers either side and the silver helms on the side of them.
I completely forgot I had an eagle in the list but we'll get to that later.


Turn 1

The infantry stayed seated, ready to enjoy a fantastic view of the carnage about to unfold.
The left flank went rushing forward as did the right. The silver helms in the middle went right into the middle in an effort to divert some of the units (they are after all a throw aya unit of 120ish points)

Magic phase my wizard having rolled fireball, flame cage and burning head threw a bunch of dice (plus my free dice of course) at a burning head, clipping the black orcs and goblins- I had of course forgotten that black orcs are immune to psych but the intention was to try and get the gobbos to run anyway.
It went off but Giles threw all his dice to stop it, and stopped it he did. However it left him with no dice.

Next I went for a cheeky 2d6 fireball on the black orcs, which I got off but only killed 1 I think. However, this then gave me an extra d3, on top of my extra d6 to cast flame cage on them.
I didn't need these extra dice however, as I rolled a double 6.
Black orcs flame caged up I could be happy they weren't sifting for a turn at least, but what of the miscast. Well, a s10 template later ment the mage was on 1 wound and the dragon had taken one too.

Then Giles had his turn.
Movement was nothing fun, except the squigs lining up rater nicely for me to charge them with DP and SHs.

Black orcs wimped out of taking a s4 hit on every model and chose to sit tight, the gobbos went running forward and threw some fanatics at my innocent looking silver helms, They preceded over the course of the game to wipe out the silver helms, seemingly having magnets to the shiny armour of the knights. The other unit turned to face the dragon.
Magic was fairly inconsequential.
Then came the shooting phase.
Giles' millions of bolt throwers all seemed to be laser guided, hitting units of knights in flanks despite them hiding behind trees. He also took the mage off the dragon who failed his ld test and preceded to go Grrrr! For the rest of the game, standing there like a lemon to be shot at.

After the dust settled both my DPs were down to 3 and my silver helms on the left had but 2 left.
Still, I had a plan. Not a very good plan mind, but some vague collection of sensory perceptions formulated into some vague notion of an idea that might one day form.

Turn 2.
Charges.
The dragon princes and 2 silver helms on the left charged the unit of squig hoppers through a wood, leading to 1 silver helm stuck making daisy chains in the forest. The dragon charged the boys.
The rest of my army mooched about, doing nothing really of any use.
Magic was non-existent now, and shooting was laughable at best.
Combat, this was where it all rested.
I had 3 dragon princes and a single silver helm, hopefully the silver helm would die and I could overrun into the boys.
In total I did 8 wounds for the loss of the silver helm, however with charge and rear this still left Giles on a double 1. Plan coming together, Hannibal would be pleased... Then giles rolls his break test. Double 1. Bugger.
Still, not all so bad.

My dragon got challenged out by the unit champion.
Schnick went the lord on top with his ASF rerolls, s6 for the lance and that's 1 very dead orc.
However giles' static res of 3 ranks banner meant that I still lost the combat, but testing on a 9 was fine (for once in my life)

Giles turn 2and he turned 1 of his chariots to mafe mr dragon, gobbos threw some fanatics at the dragon princes on the right, killing 2. Everything else went running for the soft squidgy centre of my army.

Magic was nothing to write home about, except a chariot getting flung towards my blocks at the back.
Shooting this time wasn't so bad. Partly becase so much was either already dead or in combat.

Combat...
No challenge this time and the dragon would get to play.
The attacks form the dragon and rider did a fairly reasonable amount of damage to the orcs, however the measly S3 breath weapon failed in its entirety.
This time I won the combat, but Giles being stubborn on lots held. ( I should point out at this point that the orcs did keep on failing their fear test so I was hopeful of another bad dice roll.)
The dragon princes wiped out the rest of the squigs leaving them free to bundle in on the orcs next turn.


Turn 3

Dragon princes charged into the orcs.
Other dragon princes tried their luck and charged the gobbos, but 1 then died to the stand and shoot, making breaking him impossible.
Other than that business as usual with the dragon waiting to be killed and the infantry standing at the back like a bunch of girls.

As previously mentioned magic and shooting were a rather symbolic affair.

Combat. The heart of competitive warhammer... er maybe not.
The orc shaman now decided to challenge out the dragon. Much to my annoyance the rider on top killed him outright for 2 wounds, would rather have fluffed and let the dragon wail on him as well.
He dragon princes caused 2 more wounds but took 1 casualty. This time gile's static res of 4+1 was matched by my 4 casualties and a charge, both had musos so everyone stood around admiring the scenery.
The single dragon princes suicidal charge into the gobbos was inevitably a stupid idea and he died eventually to a lot of goblin attacks.

Giles then charged a chariot into the side of the dragon. Moved the rest forward and lined up his killer charges on my infantry.

Shooting took the sun dragon to a hideously low number of wounds but not much else and magic was once again a bit of a no show.

Combat then, and no one else to challenge me out!

The chariot did some impact hits, doing a wound to both rider and mount. The high elf on top hit the orcs again, the dragon hit the chariot for 3 wounds (not quite enough to kill it) and then thunder stomped for a bunch more.
This time I overcame the static res and won the combat by quite a few. However giles was still steadfast, so the orcs didn't move. The chariot did however decide that a roaring dragon was a nasty prospect and prompty ran away.


Turn 4.
And so we enter the twilight of the game.
I had nothing really left to do in any phase except combat.
Again the dragon and dragon princes did a ton of wounds, giles was still stubborn however.

Giles turn 4 and the end was in sight.
A chariot charged the seaguard, gobbos charged the archers. His warboss on chariot charged my dragon.
Shooting saw the end of the sundragon.
Combat. The dragon and DPs did enough to leave no more rank bonuses. However with that stupid rule of the 1st rank being a rank, and 2 of my dragon princes having died to a lucky bolt thrower this meant giles was still stubborn. He did however do a ton of wounds to the dragon, but it was still alive.
The chariot smacked the seaguard around so much they failed their ld9 reroll break test and promptly ran away.


Turn 5.
They think it's all over...
It is now.
The warboss killed the dragon. Not able to do enough wounds back I failed and ran with the DPs, but got away, only for them to be shot this tun by giles's horribly accurate artillery.
Gile's chariot came back on the field

Turn 6,
With all but 4 archers form the ramining unit left there wasn't much I could do,
However I take a moral victory in that despite being able to kill everything else 4 archers did survive the game!

So there you have it.
A trouncing to a hoard of war machines(hmm, that sounds like a good idea for a miniature game...oh no wait...)

So what did I learn?

Nothing?

Well, maybe.

I need to rethink what the dragon rider has. Gave him a lance so he could use a shield for a 2+ rerollable save, but is it that good?

And bsb. No use really. Maybe I should switch him for a second mage.

Other than that I didn';t miss the eagle. So with the points to spare I'm going to put chamions in the DP units. 1 thing I need to be able to do is stop people repeatedly challenging out the dragon.
St turn is fine, as vs a champion I should kill him for 1-2 wounds, this plus a charge puts me at 3. So should only loose by 1 and a ld9 break test hopefully is ok.
If I can then spend turn after turn hitting the unit it doesn't take long before there's not enough left/opponent eventually failed a break even on stubborn, lord knowns I do it enough.

So next exciting update shall contain some list refinements... see you all soon!

[noahtonkin]

So with a bit of fiddling I've come up with this as a list...

Prince on Moon Dragon, dragon armour, shield, word of strife (+2attacks) temakador's gauntlets (+1 AS, 5+ward vs S4 or greater) luckstone (for a single reroll) and potion of foolhardiness (devastating charge, giving me  attacks on 1 charge!) 542 pts.

Dragon Mage of Caledor, 425 pts. Sun Dragon, Silver Wand, Guardian Phoenix, Lore of Fire.

BSB. Radient gem of hoeth (lvl 1 wizard) taking High magic. Dragon armour, extra HW. 165 pts

27 Lothern Sea Guard, 386 pts full command,
Shields. Flaming banner

Or, drop the champion form the sea guard and take a lvl 2 mage with a dispel scroll 2+ ward vs flaming and amulet of light to make the seaguard's attacks magical. As for lore, am thinking maybe light, to stop those pesky war machines, or maybe metal as it has a lot of buffs in it that may be useful...
10 Archers, 125 pts. Musician, Light Armour
10 Archers, 125 pts. Musician, Light Armour


5 Dragon Princes of Caledor, 205 pts Musician, champion, skeinsliver (+1 to go 1st, probably quite key to this list...)
5 Dragon Princes of Caledor, 180 pts Musician, champion

5 Silver Helms, 123 pts Musician, Shields
5 Silver Helms, 123 pts Musician, Shields

Which comes to a nice round 2399.

[maelzch]

What about trying to get in a hero on eagle to take challenges, allowing the dragon to go mental?

[Meals]

Don't think its remotely possible to fit an Eagle hero in there, Lee... I'd say the DP champs have to handle that one.
You really need more Eagle chaff though. Unfortunately, you get hit by the stupid 3 flying unit cap in OG comp but you need something to deal with Warmachines, and to get in the way to give the Dragons enough time to eat units. Guess that's for the Helms?

I'd drop the Seaguard to Spearmen. Seaguard are just stuck in the middle, you want to leave them back to shoot, but you need the ranks in combat to break Steadfast. Means they just don't really achieve anything at all... and you pay more for the privilege. I just don't get that unit... (in general, not just specifically in your army)

Oh also, are you actually wasting points for light Armour on the archers? or do they come with that standard?

[noahtonkin]

Yeah, I am stupid enough to put light armour on my archers.
Have justhad a look at changing the seaguard to archers. Would mean I get 39 spearmen with musician and standard and the Ld banner.
Great for increased number of bodies, but high elf spears get to fight in 4 ranks anyway so hoard just makes it easier to kill more of them.
1 option would be 2 units of 20.
the other might be to drop the light armour on the archers and make them 12 strong, then get a unit of 32 spears, full command and +1ld banner. Can then do something stupid like giving the other unit of DPs the terrifying mask of Eee! for 3 terror causers...

You're right about not being able to fit the eagle rider in.

As for an eagle, If i drop the items from the DPs could get an eagle, bt to be honest what I saw was that I can get alot of my army in combat turn 2 if i go 1st, meaning that they're safe from shooting. The DPs and SHs are there to go war machine hunting if they're not needed to take out champions.