Procrastination by Numbers

[roland murat]

I used a terminator arm for a powerfist (it was a lightning claw with the blades chopped off). Although a bit to big I have given the sarge a bare held that has a metal plate so it make it look like he has been re-built after extensive injuries. He still hasn't got a helmet so clearly hasn't learnt his lesson.

[cunningmatt]

Nope.

Boooooo!

He still hasn't got a helmet so clearly hasn't learnt his lesson.

What a pillock?! Hehehe. Once I get my mits on some multi-part kits I will be able to judge for myself, how to do these things and what I get.

[The Trampoline]

You can pick one up from ebay for about £2-£3 inc. postage, you could probably find someone selling both a lascannon and a power fist together.

[cunningmatt]

So I haven't written this week's blog yet - lazy, I know! But as I'm going to be talking about how my Warriors Army has changed in response to the new book, here's a little game to play.

I costed up my Warriors of Chaos army in the 7th Edition, giving a mixture of Heroes and Lords and a healthy dose of magic items and banners. It's not legal (percentage wise), but comes to 5,399 points. How much do you reckon the same army will be worth under 8th edition? Good game? I think so!

[TkaiC]

2,400pts exactly, and fits with most comps.  Warriors are broken.

My actual guess is...4,986.

[roland murat]

5,512

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Update 97 – The Worrier of Chaos Monday 11th February 2013



Coming up on this week's Procrastination by Numbers:

• 97.1 – Meet the Team
• 97.2 – Tale of Gamers: Ultramarines – Month 3, Day 11
• 97.3 – New Warriors of Chaos Army Book
• 97.4 – Get In Touch

97.1 – Meet the Team

Matty has devoted his life to the great god Tzeentch. In return the Changer of Ways has gifted him some followers to help him write the blog. Let's see what they've been up to this week:

Matty the Painter



Matty the Painter is the main writer on Procrastination by Numbers, and his brain represents the place where the other writers live. He is a prolific Shakeaway drinker, and he can be followed on Twitter at @ProByNumbers – go on he might follow you back.

This week Matty's performance at the Super Bowl would have been the highlight of the event, had it not occurred at the same time as the power failure.

The Resident Six-Year Old Artist



For all those things that can't be photographed, the resident six-year old artist has joined (read "been imprisoned by") the team. Bribed with Smarties and the promise of seeing daylight again, she draws all the pictures this blog needs. Her recent work includes the iOS6 maps.

This week the resident six-year old artist is trying to work out what all the fuss was about seeing Jimmy Saville on the Tweenies. She still got to practice her ABCs!

Mr Shakey Shakey



Mr Shakey Shakey is Matty the Painter's Wood Elf painting friend. He's been painting a Wood Elf army for about 24 years now. His name is nothing to do with the popular milkshake, but instead refers to his inability to hold a paintbrush steadily in his hands.

He's back, he's really, really back. I've got my friend again. Still not returning my calls, but his phone probably fell out of his shaking hands.

Sandra the Tactical Pot Plant



Sandra the Tactical Pot Plant is a brand new member of the Procrastination by Numbers team, not only is she's the independent adjudicator for all Procrastination by Numbers competitions. But she is a Warhammer tactical genius and can often be found revising the rules and coming up with the filthiest armies known to man.

Sandra the Tactical Pot Plant has been treating herself at the salon, having her roots done!

97.2 – Tale of Gamers: Ultramarines – Month 3, Day 11

Last week saw me complete Month 2, yes it seems unlikely, but that's what having no social life does for you. Here's where I got up to in my cold, cold, lonely bedroom:



Which convert to this:

Space Marine Captain 100 points
100 points

Tactical Squad 90 points
+ 5 Additional Space Marines (80 points – 5x 16 points)
+ Flamer (free)
+ Missile Launcher (free)
+ Chainsword (free)
170 points

Terminator Squad 200 points
200 points

TOTAL:  470 points

Which means I have a rollover 30 points to spend this month, meaning I need 280 points worth of blue-clad goodness to paint up this month. The only model I currently have to paint up is the Dreadnought, which is 115 points.

Currently I've started slapping on the blue, and am approximately "this" far ahead with his walki-ness, as the Dreadnought prefers to be addressed. I'm talking rubbish again aren't I, shut up Matty, shut up you fool!



The remaining 165 points will be worked out exactly soon enough, but the good news is I will be picking up a selection of Space Marine based goodies from the excellent Mr Ol, he of OG Games fame. In fact so popular is his retail emporium that it's rumoured that the sequel to ITV's "Mr Selfridge" will be "Mr Ol".

97.3  – New Warriors of Chaos Amry Book

Unless you are David Blunkett you can't possibly have failed to have spotted that the brand new Warriors of Chaos book has hit the shelves recently:



There's deep excitement in the Procrastination by Numbers bunker at the rise of the Warriors. It's well known that I've been obsessed with the god Tzeentch for a while, but the other members of the team are getting excited too. The resident six-year old artist has been drawing some quite disturbing imagery in her worship of the god Khorne:



Mr Shakey Shakey having returned from his honeymoon has started worshipping the god of Nurgle. Well he's dropped a pile of medication, which sort of counts:



And Sandra the Tactical Plant Pot, has converted to Slaanesh, luring Lego man to her embrace of death with her new flowers:



Despite having returned to Warhammer in 2006 when The Battle of Skull Pass was released, this is the first time in all these years that I've had a painted army I already own gain a new army book. Obviously Dwarfs are about as likely to get a new army book as the Squats are to get a new Codex, and my High Elves, Beastmen and Warriors armies I all started as their 7th edition books came out.

It's with both excitement and trepidation that I approach converting my army to a new book. Will my freshly painted models still be useable, will that massive unit of Spearmen I painted still be a viable choice? It's all made me rather nervous, in fact you could say I've become a Worrier of Chaos – see what I've done there! Perhaps you're laughing, clearly not at that joke, but at my worrying. But let's be honest over the years, the armies of Chaos have had more line-up changes than the Sugababes. Back in 5th Edition the dysfunctional family of Chaos had an almighty bust-up splitting up into separate armies, but sharing joint custody of the monstrous creatures like Dragon Ogres, Chaos Trolls and Harpies. Then in 6th edition after much counselling Daemons and Warriors made peace and got back together, whilst the Beastmen left the country absconding with all the monsters. But then in 7th things the relationship soured as the Daemons jumped ship and the Warriors nicked half the monsters back off the Beastmen leaving them to invent their own ridiculous pig-based Lion King half-bred creatures to fill the gaps. And if that wasn't bad enough you should see the Daemonic Command Groups, they been back and forth to the job centre more often than a HMV store manager.

It's been a little while since my Warriors of Chaos appeared on the hallowed pages of this blog, so for newer readers (I'm reasonably confident I'd driven away the older ones by now), I should give you a little recap. My Warriors army is a Tzeentch based army, in that all the models that can have the Mark of Tzeentch do, there's a few non-aligned monsters and the like, but barring that it's Tzeentch all the way! Here, to please Dave as he's a big army shot fan, is the army arrayed in all its glory:













Not a bad selection of Warriors if I do say so myself.

Army list wise, here's how that worked out in 7th edition, with an exciting little key for you!



LORDS

A - Chaos Lord with Mark of Tzeentch, Great Weapon, Shield, riding Disc of Tzeentch – 412 points
B - Sorcerer Lord (Level 4) with Mark of Tzeentch – 440 points
C - Daemon Prince (Level 4) with Mark of Tzeentch – 575 points

HEROES

D - Chaos Sorcerer (Level 2) with Mark of Tzeentch – 215 points
E - Chaos Sorcerer (Level 2) with Mark of Tzeentch – 215 points
F - Exalted Hero with Mark of Tzeentch and Great Weapon – 203 points
G - Exalted Hero with Mark of Tzeentch, additional hand weapon and shield – 204 points
H - Exalted Hero Battle Standard Bearer with Mark of Tzeentch, Great Weapon and Magic Weapon – 278 points

CORE

I - 15 Chaos Warriors with Mark of Tzeentch, hand weapons, shields, full command and Magic Banner – 340 points
J - 20 Marauders with Mark of Tzeentch, flails, light armour and full command – 160 points
K - 40 Marauders with Mark of Tzeentch, hand weapons, shields and full command – 280 points
L - 5 Chaos Hounds with poisoned attacks and scaly skin (6+) – 50 points
M - 5 Chaos Hounds with poisoned attacks and scaly skin (6+) – 50 points
N - 5 Marauder Horsemen with Mark of Tzeentch, light armour, spears, throwing axes and full command – 140 points
O - 5 Marauder Horsemen with Mark of Tzeentch, light armour, flails and full command – 135 points

SPECIAL

P - 10 Chosen with Mark of Tzeentch, great weapons, full command and Magic Banner – 345 points
Q - 3 Dragon Ogres with great weapons and Champion – 251 points
R - 3 Dragon Ogres with great weapons – 231 points
S - 4 Chaos Trolls – 180 points
T - 5 Chaos Knights with Mark of Tzeentch, full command and Magic Banner – 320 points

RARE

U - Chaos Spawn with Mark of Tzeentch – 55 points
V - Chaos Spawn with Mark of Tzeentch – 55 points
W - Chaos Giant with Mark of Tzeentch – 245 points

TOTAL: 5,399 points

Which breaks down as:
Lords: 1,427 points (26.43%)
Heroes: 1,115 points (20.65%)
Core: 1,055 points (19.54%) + 100 points for Warhounds, don't count as core (1.85%)
Special: 1,327 points (24.58%)
Rare: 375 points (6.95%)

Ok so it's no exactly legal, but under 7th edition it is at least an army. Would the new 8th edition book still allow the Mark of Tzeentch, would I have to repaint my entire army or scoop it into the bin? Would Daemons be back and Chaos Trolls out? Would Marauders with shields be illegal despite me painting 40 of the little poos?

The good news is, no. Everything I currently own still exists in the new book! Wooohoo! Happiness personified!

I also set a little competition on the blog for people to guess how much my army would be worth. I was inundated with answers, in much the same way I shall be inundated with Valentine's cards on Thursday. Fortunately there were two answers which allows for a modicum of competition. Would Tom's guess of 4,986 be closest or would Mike's guess of 5,512 win.

So here's the same army recalculated under the new points values, with some note about the changes as we see who has won!

LORDS

A - Chaos Lord with Mark of Tzeentch, Great Weapon, Shield, riding Disc of Tzeentch – 413 points +1 point, as the reduction in the cost of his basic weaponry is almost equalled out by the 10 point rise in the cost of a Disc. The Disc does now gain +1 S, + 1 T and +2 A for that, making it a bit less poo in combat.
B - Sorcerer Lord (Level 4) with Mark of Tzeentch – 435 points -5 points, reduction in the cost of the Mark of Tzeentch for Sorcerers. Rules wise he can now use the Lore of Metal, and rather than +1 to cast from Mark of Tzeentch he can reroll channelling results of 1
C - Daemon Prince (Level 4) with Mark of Tzeentch – 575 points +/-0 point, despite the apparent no change in cost, there's a lot of changes the Daemon Prince dropped 65 points in value, though fly is now a separate bonus at 40 points, the wizard levels have dropped 5 points each, though he can now take Chaos Armour and magic items which equal out the cost. His rules change to with Magical Attacks, goes from Stubborn to Unbreakable, his Mark is improved as above, his stats are bumped up too with +1 WS, + 5 BS (it was 0), +1S, +1 I and +1 Ld

HEROES

D - Chaos Sorcerer (Level 2) with Mark of Tzeentch – 235 points +20 points, the basic cost of the Sorcerer goes up 25 points though the Mark of Tzeentch drops 5 points. Rules changes as above.
E - Chaos Sorcerer (Level 2) with Mark of Tzeentch – 235 points +20 points, the basic cost of the Sorcerer goes up 25 points though the Mark of Tzeentch drops 5 points. Rules changes as above.
F - Exalted Hero with Mark of Tzeentch and Great Weapon – 201 points -2 points, reduction in the cost of his basic weaponry.
G - Exalted Hero with Mark of Tzeentch, additional hand weapon and shield – 201 points -3 points, reduction in the cost of his basic weaponry.
H - Exalted Hero Battle Standard Bearer with Mark of Tzeentch, Great Weapon and Magic Weapon – 276 points -2 points, reduction in the cost of his basic weaponry.

CORE

I - 15 Chaos Warriors with Mark of Tzeentch, hand weapons, shields, full command and Magic Banner – 310 points -30 points, each basic Warrior has dropped in cost from 15 to 14 points. Mark of Tzeentch goes from 20 points per unit, to 2 points per model (increasing the cost by 10 points), the maximum cost of magic banner drops from 50 to 25 points.
J - 20 Marauders with Mark of Tzeentch, flails, light armour and full command – 250 points +90 points, each basic Marauder has increased from 4 to 6 points. Mark of Tzeentch goes from 20 points per unit, to 2 points per model (increasing the cost by 20 points), Flails go up by a point, and command models are standardised to 10 points an upgrade adding another 10 points to the unit cost.
K - 40 Marauders with Mark of Tzeentch, hand weapons, shields and full command – 280 points +150 points, each basic Marauder has increased from 4 to 6 points. Mark of Tzeentch goes from 20 points per unit, to 2 points per model (increasing the cost by 60 points), and command models are standardised to 10 points an upgrade adding another 10 points to the unit cost.
L - 5 Chaos Hounds with poisoned attacks and scaly skin (6+) – 50 points +/- 0 points, -2 points to the cost of Scaly Skin, but Chaos Hounds can now buy the Vanguard rule for +2 points.
M - 5 Chaos Hounds with poisoned attacks and scaly skin (6+) – 50 points +/- 0 points, -2 points to the cost of Scaly Skin, but Chaos Hounds can now buy the Vanguard rule for +2 points.
N - 5 Marauder Horsemen with Mark of Tzeentch, spears, throwing axes and full command – 125 points -15 points, each basic Marauder Horseman has increased from 13 to 14 points. Mark of Tzeentch goes from 20 points per unit, to 2 points per model (decreasing the cost by 10 points), Horseman now can't take Light Armour without losing their Fast Cavalry rule – dropping this saves 10 points.
O - 5 Marauder Horsemen with Mark of Tzeentch, flails and full command – 120 points -15 points, each basic Marauder Horseman has increased from 13 to 14 points. Mark of Tzeentch goes from 20 points per unit, to 2 points per model (decreasing the cost by 10 points), Horseman now can't take Light Armour without losing their Fast Cavalry rule – dropping this saves 10 points.

SPECIAL

P - 10 Chosen with Mark of Tzeentch, great weapons, full command and Magic Banner – 310 points -35 points, the change to the Mark of Tzeentch makes no change to the cost, but the cost of Great Weapons goes up 1 point, the command models drop 20 points and the Champion loses his magic item.
Q - 3 Dragon Ogres with great weapons and Champion – 214 points -37 points, each basic Dragon Ogre has decreased 5 points, and the Great Weapons have decreased 4 points each. The Champion upgrade falls by 10 points.
R - 3 Dragon Ogres with great weapons – 204 points -27 points, each basic Dragon Ogre has decreased 5 points, and the Great Weapons have decreased 4 points each.
S - 4 Chaos Trolls – 140 points -40 points, each Troll has fallen by 10 points in value, though there Mutant Regeneration has been replaced by standard Regeneration, so they don't roll on the Eye of the Gods table any more.
T - 5 Chaos Knights with Mark of Tzeentch, full command and Magic Banner – 305 points -15 points, change to the Mark of Tzeentch drops 10 points for the unit, command models drop 20 points in total, however Ensorcelled Weapons are no longer standard and cost 3 points a model.

RARE

U - Chaos Spawn with Mark of Tzeentch – 70 points +15 points, basic Chaos Spawn drops 5 points, but the Mark of Tzeentch goes up 10 replacing the 6+ Ward with a breath weapon.
V - Chaos Spawn with Mark of Tzeentch – 70 points +15 points, basic Chaos Spawn drops 5 points, but the Mark of Tzeentch goes up 10 replacing the 6+ Ward with a breath weapon.
W - Chaos Giant with Mark of Tzeentch – 215 points -25 points, the Giant falls 20 points in value and the Mark of Tzeentch drops another 5 points.

TOTAL: 5,434 points +35 points.

Which breaks down as:

Lords: 1,427 points (26.19%) -4 points (-0.24%)
Heroes: 1,148 points (21.13%) +33 points (+0.48%)
Core: 1,335 points (24.57%) +280 points (+5.03%) – note Warhounds now count as Core
Special: 1,173 points (21.59%) -154 points (-2.99%)
Rare: 335 points (6.53%) -20 points (-0.42%)

So the army climbs by only a few points, with increases in the Marauders balanced by falls elsewhere. Pleasingly the army creeps towards being legal as the Core section rockets from the Marauders and the fact the Chaos Warhounds now count as core.

So congratulations to Mike who had the closest guess, you win all the love in my heart – which has both a real and cash value of nothing. Sorry!

The next question is of course, what do I add to my Warriors army next?

Characters

There's a handful of juicy new character models, I'm not totally sure on the new plastic Chaos Lord on foot, and to be honest I have a lot of Chaos Hero on foot models already painted up. However Vilitch looks perfect my Tzeentch army, and a lovely model to boot. Throgg can also climb onboard, I have Chaos Trolls and non-marked people who can't have a mark are welcome! Would be fun to add some special characters. Other than that I already own a Chaos Lord on Manticore that I must finally assemble and paint, and recently have picked up the amazing Chaos Lord on Daemonic Steed model. It's brilliant and I can't believe it's taken me so long to get.

Core

With the Foresaken and Chaos Chariot models both gaining brand new models and jumping from Special allowance to the Core there's lots of choices here. I have to say I like both of these models – for me the Foresaken look great, not too cartoony, and with the mutations looking like they've burst out of the Chaos Armour. My favourite model in the set though is the new Chaos Chariot which I absolutely love.

All that said my first stop will be another unit of Chaos Warriors, for me a Warriors army has to have Warriors in and it would be nice to have an alternative to my Warriors with hand weapons and shields. The questions is what shall I arm them with, of course they will have the Mark of Tzeentch, but is it extra hand weapons, halberds or great weapons? The main advantage is that extra hand weapons come on the sprue, the other options have to be bought separately as Finecast. Also how big should the unit be, a hoard seems too many? I already have one box of 12, should I add another 12 or 24? Thoughts please on what weapons and unit size to go for please?!!

Special

The Special section gets a handful of new bits and pieces here, the Gorebeast Chariot – which uses that wonderful Chariot kit again, and leaves you two spare horses in case you happen to need filling for a Findus Beef Lasagne. The Chimera kit, from Storm of Magic, which I'm not a huge fan of now joins the fray. Of course there's the new Dragon Ogres, which are amazing, but I already have six of the old ones – who do look a little pathetic now. Sad face. Getting the new models is probably not a priority. Oh and by the way I'm not rebasing my existing Dragon Ogres to the new size, tough, don't care, don't like it don't play me! There said it – can't be bothered.

Other options for my Special choices are the Hellstriders – really Slaanesh, I don't think so. More Chaos Knights tempt me, lances are a lot cheaper now so maybe an alternate unit option? Chaos Ogres – yeah seen the models, probably a no... maybe I could convert some nice ones from an Ogre kit? I have a Chaos Warshrine awaiting construction so think that will be up next.

Rare

Quite a few options for the Rare section. Had already been tempted by the Hellcannon now it's Finecast and easier to construct. Never seem to see a Shaggoth on the table, but I do quite like the model and having looked in the White Dwarf he doesn't seem out of place with the new or old Dragon Ogres. The Slaughterbrute and Mutalith Vortex Beast, not totally sure about, the model is growing on me though. Think the Slaughterbrute is my favourite – main problem is how do you get the big models to the club?! Lastly there's the Skullcrushers of Khorne – I love these models, love them. But they are not Tzeentch. Booo. And before you start, no I am not one of those people who is going to paint them as if they had a Mark of Tzeentch. Skullcrushers much like my jokes really should be Khorney. Get it? Get it? And if that joke doesn't get at least 50 replies telling me how clever I am, I'm stopping writing the blog. This is a peak – appreciate it people.

Many choices, hopefully you'll be seeing some of them on the blog very soon!

97.4  – Get In Touch

You know the drill, here's some stuff you can comment on if you want.

• Current Warriors of Chaos army shot thoughts
• What should I be adding to my Warriors army?
• What should I be arming my new Chaos Warrior unit with? And how big should it be?

As always I am on Twitter @ProByNumbers so please find me and love me!

[roland murat]

I thin k the warriors should have halberds, even if you cant give them the angry banner anymore. Im thinking of using 2 such units (Khorne though) I with movement banner and one with flaming.

As I'm all about the heavy infantry being what warriors is all about I'd go for 15-20 in each block.

With regard to what to add I suppose it comes down to how you want the army to play - chariots look likley to be pretty good and I'll be giveing a (proxy) gorebeast chariot or 2 a run out tonight against G. Actually it will be 2 normal chariots and 2 gorebeats ones.

I will probably stick an overview of the battle on my own blog, 'The Art of Rolling 1's', so you can see how they do.

I should possible also issue a statement of regret for the cheeky plug. So...I regret any inconvenience it may have caused.

[cunningmatt]

I thin k the warriors should have halberds, even if you cant give them the angry banner anymore. Im thinking of using 2 such units (Khorne though) I with movement banner and one with flaming.

As I'm all about the heavy infantry being what warriors is all about I'd go for 15-20 in each block.

Halberds really? I was hoping you were going to say extra hand weapons - they come on the sprue! No purchasing of extra bits, no converting. It's so simple! No? Agree on size think I'll go for 24 - two sets of 12. Going to order the nice Tzeentch banner bits for them though!

With regard to what to add I suppose it comes down to how you want the army to play - chariots look likley to be pretty good and I'll be giveing a (proxy) gorebeast chariot or 2 a run out tonight against G. Actually it will be 2 normal chariots and 2 gorebeats ones.

I will probably stick an overview of the battle on my own blog, 'The Art of Rolling 1's', so you can see how they do.

I should possible also issue a statement of regret for the cheeky plug. So...I regret any inconvenience it may have caused.

Cheeky plugs are allowed, given how much plugging I do it would be remiss of me to say no! What did you think of the chariots, really want to add a normal horsey one and probably more!

Any other thoughts peeps?

[Dave]

If you've got a few of the knight sprues the lances on those models work well as halberds on the warriors saving on any additional purchases being required.