Procrastination by Numbers

[cunningmatt]

Monday 12th December 2011 – Procrastination by Numbers Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar



And the winner of The X Factor 2011 is....

[spoiler]
Monday 12th: Nurglitch

Name: Nurglitch, Arch Plague Lord of Clan Pestilens



Original Points Cost: 575 points, including magic items the Blade of Nurglitch and the Bubonic Sceptre.



Background: Nurglitch was the first Plague Lord of Clan Pestilens and began the war against the Lizardmen inflicting plague after plague on them and riding out the tropical heat of Lustria. He was attended by Bilios and rides a giant mutant rat called Pox (at least it's not a Hell Pit Abomination!). Nurglitch's work against the Lizardmen was so impressive, that he gained a Brownie Badge for Plague infliction and got Clan Pestilens a seat on the Skaven High Council.

Original Appearance: Lustria (the supplement, not the place)



Last Appearance: Lustria, though mentioned in the background of Warhammer Armies: Skaven – 7th Edition.





Special Rules:  Nurglitch may only be used in the Lustria supplement's Bubonic Court list. Nurglitch, Bilios and Pox have a combined profile and unit strength of 3. He is a level 3 wizard knowing the spells Plague, Death Frenzy and Pestilent Breath and has three Warpstone tokens. He causes Terror, suffers from Frenzy and Hatred (additionally no units in Nurglitch's army lose their Frenzy so long as Nurglitch lives). Nurglitch has a 5+ ward save, can never suffer wounds from any Skaven or Nurgle spells (except Warp Lightning) and is immune to the effect of Plague Censer Bearers. Any non-Clan Pestilens or non-Bubonic Court unit or model within 6" of Nurglitch is at -1 WS, and any such model in base contact with Nurglitch takes a Strength 4 hit with no armour saves at the end of any turn (Red Crested Skinks – Lustria supplement, are not affected by this rule). Nurglitch has the following magic items: Blade of Nurglitch any model suffering an unsaved wound from this weapon loses 1 Toughness (down to a minimum of Toughness 1), Bubonic Sceptre – bound spell level 5, choose an enemy unit within 18" and roll a D6 for every model in the unit, every 6 results in a wound with no armour saves.

My Memories of the Character: None Lustria is a mystery to me, found the book cheap on eBay!

Person most Reminds Me Of: Someone who crossed the ocean to inflict terrible plague and contagion on the new world – Piers Morgan surely?!

Inclusion in 8th Edition: The model is still available on the Games Workshop website. None of his rules seem awful and in desperate need of change to make him fit 8th edition, the Blade of Nurglitch still even exists. Though you would need to change the rule "Nurglitch may only be used in the Lustria supplement's Bubonic Court list." Else he would be no use at all.

[/spoiler]

There's another special character over on The Xtra Factor on ITV2 also known as OG Games 2011 Advent Calendar. Click here now: http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2697.msg37668;topicseen#msg37668

[cunningmatt]

Update 25 – Monday 12th December 2011: The Ladybird Book of Adrenaline

First up here's a special treat for those of you following the Advent Calendars:

[spoiler]



[/spoiler]

As I suspected, no one is reading, and no one will notice this rudeness!!!

Anyway moving on to this week's topic, the other weekend I had my first ever taste of Extreme Sports, I say "extreme" sports, "extreme" is of course a relative term. Those of you veteran blog readers will remember way back in August, when I talked about the London rioters and my predisposition to worrying – check out Update 2.

Yes. When worrying is a full on hobby for you, crossing the road without using a designated pedestrian crossing can give you the kind of terrifying thrill, that a normal person can only find by going parachute jumping without a parachute. So given my deep nervous disposition you'll understand when I say that my Sunday spent Go Karting, to me, was a foray deep into the world of Extreme Sports. In fact not knowing how to drive and never even having had a single driving lesson, all meant that this would be my first time in charge of a motor vehicle with any speed above that of kiddy dodgems, which generally are so slow that even the most lacklustre of snails have time to throw themselves to safety should they see one approaching.

Usually pathetic people, such as myself, would only ever dream of doing something so adventurous if we were forced to by circumstance – such as a stag weekend, or other such hideous social activity where people do things they don't want to please someone they sort of like. As a general rule I try and avoid new experiences in case they're aren't enjoyable, why do something that could turn out to be unpleasant when you can do something you always do, that you know you'll enjoy? Never have I once been horrified by sitting on my own sofa, except for the time my flatmate had Coach Trip on.

Anyway for reasons too tedious to explain, the other Sunday I found myself at a Go Karting track near Tower Bridge with a group of work colleagues/friends - they might be reading so I don't want to sound too fond of them. Now you'd think trying out a new activity in amongst a group of friends, would be the perfect way to test out new experiences – as they'll be there to support you every step of the way, even if you don't enjoy the experience or aren't any good. How wrong you are. Friends I've found can often be as much support as Gordon Ramsay in a beginner's cookery lesson. Unlike friends even the most obnoxious of strangers tend not to pour scorn over you whenever you make a mistake or find yourself out of your depth, whereas friends (certainly these ones – in case they are reading!) have an entirely different dog-eat-dog agenda where all that counts is finding new material with which to mock you. A hobby which they already excel at. Still part of me had high hopes, maybe I'd be naturally good at Go Karting, maybe despite all on-paper predictions, I'd be a brilliant Go Karter zooming around the track, weaving in out of the opposition and running loops round my friends. As I claimed victory after victory, and got to stand on the podium spraying champagne around with comic disregard for where it was landing. It would be like the movies where the nerdy kid is really good at American Football and has a result wins a place in the cool kids and a hot girl to be at his side. Maybe, just maybe, I held onto that dream as I entered the building.

If you're are feeling a bit nervous prior to your first race you'd be hoping that walking into the Go Karting centre is going to reassure you of some of your fears - it's not. As to greet you at the door is a sign saying that "Go Karting is a potentially dangerous sport, you are here at your own risk.", after reading that you are presented with a waiver to sign, accepting you may die, and asked to give details of your next of kin. All of which is about as comforting as receiving a large package at your house hand delivered by the Taliban. You're then presented with a one-size does not fit all Crystal Maze-esque jump suit (Richard O'Brien era of course, with different coloured shoulder pads for no real discernable reason) to put on in the changing room where you also find a locker for all your worldly goods and a pad and pen for recording your last will and testament.

Afterwards it's time to head to the briefing room to be given a tutorial on how the karts work, and all the important safety information. My general reading of the room is the more manly a person you are, the more likely you are to scoff at and ignore the safety instructions. I took detailed notes. The controls seemed simple enough, a steering wheel – which was pretty self-explanatory and two pedals, the accelerator and the brake (this is broadly speaking how normal cars work – or so I've been told). And the basic rules were no bumping, no hitting the sides (who aims to hit the side anyway?), no running down the marshals, no spitting and no wearing poppies on your shirts. There's also a complicated system of flags and lights dotted around the track, green lights mean go (with me so far?), flashing yellow lights mean proceed at walking pace (and try not to hit the marshal who is on the track pushing someone off the wall), red means stop and black means you've been disqualified. How anyone is supposed to see a black light though?

With all that information appropriately stored, I nervously headed trackside, a place where it's impossible not to hum Fleetwood Mac's Formula 1 theme tune in your head, no matter how inappropriate to your driving skill it may feel. Here I was given a helmet, which due to my hideously deformed oversized head had to be one of the super-freak sized helmets on the top shelf designed to fit Andrew Marr's ears. I followed the important advice to leave the visor open a crack so as not to steam it up. Given my nervous heavy breathing there was every chance my helmet would turn into a Finnish sauna at any minute, and driving round with a completely obscured visor might not be the safest driving experience. Still I held onto my dream, maybe I would claim victory?

Approximately ten seconds after leaving the starting grid it became exceptionally apparent that I would not be fulfilling my dreams today. Whilst everyone else roared off (well didn't really roar, they were electric not petrol go karts), I stuttered along the track like a crippled milk float. Unaccustomed to being in charge of a motor vehicle at any speed, the 30mph these karts could easily achieve left me a stressed, terrified, wreck at the wheel. Which didn't improve as I headed into the first hairpin bend and simply ploughed straight into a wall of tyres, only to have to be pulled out by a marshal, a feat which much to the marshal's disapproval, I repeated on the next four laps. The lights changed from green to flashing yellow so often due to my incompetence you could be forgiven for thinking it was an indoor disco. After the marshal gave me a little pep talk on how using the steering wheel would help get around the corner (I knew that, I'm just not very good!), I started to worry that I'd be taken off for poor driving – crashing into the walls, after all, is disallowed. Bad as it would be to come last, I'd never survive the post race ribbing I'd get from my friends if I was disqualified for been as inept as Maureen from the old BBC show Driving School. Hence the next few laps were spent carefully steering around the course, allowing people to overtake me, simply concentrating on getting around the track rather than worrying at all about position.

After a few laps like this, I made a fatal mistake. I became confident. Heading into a rather tight corner, I decided speed was of the essence, the brakes weren't required, simply confident steering. A few seconds later a sharp skid caused me plough side first into the tyre wall at what I considered to be a horrific velocity, I was flung into the side of my seat which dug right into my ribs. The combined force of the impact and the surprise, as unlike most of my other crashes I hadn't seen it coming, successfully took the metaphorical wind out of my sails. Not to mention leaving with a really sore set of bruises all over the side of my body which are currently the colour of the Ribena berries. The force of the impact had been so great that my visor sprung off it's mountings on my helmet, and I headed straight to the pits to have it repaired, much to the mocking of fellow racers who considered my foolish worry for protecting my eyesight to be ridiculously unnecessary.

The rest of the first race I completed terrified of repeating my crash I headed around at the pace of an average student tidying their bedroom, stopping at each corner before looking both ways and completing the turn in a safe and serene fashion. I got lapped so often, that the race organisers thought the lap board must have been malfunctioning. Eventually the chequered flag was waved, and we all had to head in the pits next time we'd passed them, but where were the pits? In all the "excitement" I'd forgotten where the entrance was. I couldn't afford to just miss it, and go around again, that would surely get me thrown off the track as it would like I was taking the piss. Plus the other drivers would have to wait seven hours for me to complete one more circuit of the average twenty-eight second course. The track ahead was clear, so I took my eyes of the road and darted around looking for the pits, ahhh there they were just round the next corner. My eyes darted back to the road, to find that I simply veered off at a right angle and was rapidly approaching a tyre wall. I hit the brakes and came to a rest about 10 centimetres in front of the wall, I'd not crashed, I'd effectively parked. However without a reverse gear there was no way I could get out of this position without crashing. Worse I'd crashed/parked on a completely straight bit of the track, there were no marshals around to help as no one had ever crashed here before in the history of the course. Instead I was forced to call one over with a camp wave and a shout of "Ahoy there!". I finally made it back to the pits and gracefully navigated the tight entrance to stop a foot behind the car ahead of me, in what I thought was quite a controlled manoeuvre. Unfortunately the marshal wanted me to close the small gap between the cars to half a foot, as expected I was unable to perform such a subtle navigational change and simply ploughed into the back of the car ahead shunting everyone ahead along like a racing themed Newton's Cradle.

The remaining two races were much the same, with me trailing at the back of the leaderboard, simply pleased to have stayed on the track as everyone else merrily overtook me. In fact the only people I ever overtook were stationary cars that had crashed, I never once overtook anyone at speed. Finally we got trackside again, and were presented with our result's sheets, at this point no one else knew how awfully I'd done the leaderboard only listed kart numbers not names. Sadly this ignorance was shattered when the marshal handing out my sheet called my number in a very loud and unsubtle way – that man should not be allowed to break bad news in a hospital.

So there we go, my first taste of Extreme Sports, did I enjoy it? My ribcage would certainly say no, I'd go as far as to say it was "alright". The fun aspect was largely balanced out by the stress I found during the whole experience as I constantly gripped the steering wheel so hard it was probably bent out of shape. I did get better in fairness, by race three I came last by a considerable margin rather an astronomical one. Would I do it again? Maybe, with a roll bar, padded seating, wrapped entirely in bubble wrap and with someone else to do the driving. Oh and to the bright spark who after the race suggested paint-balling next time... no thank you, I'd rather eat my own scrotum! Leave me to my own Extreme Sport of walking past a broken glass bottle worrying that if I feel over I could cut my neck open. It could happen.

Oh and if you're wondering about:

50 Spearmen in 50 Days – Day 34
Yeah, errr... yeah.

[cunningmatt]

Tuesday 13th December 2011 – Procrastination by Numbers Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar



We've passed the halfway point people, not long to go now...

[spoiler]
Tuesday 13th: Itzi-Bitzi

Name: Itzi-Bitzi

Original Points Cost: 105 points, including the magic item The Piranha Blade.

Background: Itzi-Bitzi was the cleverest Skink commander and a regular on Eggheads he has been responsible for the doom of many foreign expeditions into Lizardmen territory – as expected he was an avid reader of The Daily Mail. Itzi-Bitzi was at the side of the Mage Lord Zletp of Tlaxtlan when he thought his last thought, The Incantation of Xetlipocutzl – a great ritual that spells doom for all enemies, much like Cliff Richard's Saviour's Day. He keeps the prophecy a secret until this day, though he accidentally blubbed into his best mate after a bit of a drink.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen – 5th Edition.



Last Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen – 5th Edition.



Special Rules: Itzi-Bitzi is Cold Blooded, with a 4+ armour save (never modified to worse than 6+). Itzi-Bitzi can cross water features without penalty. Once per battle (at any time in the Lizardmen turn) Itzi-Bitzi may recite The Incantation of Xetlipocutzl, all enemy units within 8" take a panic test on 3D6 discarding the lowest result. The Piranha Blade – Each wound is multiplied to D3 wounds.

My Memories of the Character: Primarily finding him in the Lizardmen book last year when looking for characters for the 2010 Advent Calendar. I don't believe there's been a model for him, a quick search in Google images just brought up a baby shoe company!

Person most Reminds Me Of: Timmy Mallet, if you don't know why, you are lucky – don't whatever you do put Timmy Mallet and Itzi-Bitzi in YouTube. Seriously don't.

Inclusion in 8th Edition: No distinguishing characteristics for this model, other than a razor tipped saw, so you could use this Skink hero model:



No earth-shattering rules here, so I think they'd all translate across – discuss... in the privacy of your own home. I'm not that fussed!

[/spoiler]

There's yet another special character on the OG Games 2011 Advent Calendar? Click here now: http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2697.msg37705;topicseen#msg37705

[cunningmatt]

Wednesday 14th December 2011 – Procrastination by Numbers Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar



Still painting Spearmen here!

[spoiler]
Wednesday 14th: Amon 'Chakai



Name: Amon 'Chakai

Original Points Cost: 855 points (including Daemonic Rewards The Hand of Destiny, Master of Sorcery and All Seeing Eye)

Background: Amon 'Chakai, which is Japanese for Forgotten Special Character, is the oldest and wisest of the Lords of Change seeing the threads of destiny so clearly he can weave a lovely cross stitch with them on his Singer sewing machine. For a thousand years he has sat immovable on his throne on the Impossible Fortress, presumably watching the full uncut edition of The Lord of the Rings box set. He has now been roused and has a really painful numb bum, so painful his anger can only be sated by attacking the mortal world.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Realm of Chaos – Champions of Chaos - 5th Edition, no model released.



Last Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Realm of Chaos – Champions of Chaos - 5th Edition

Special Rules: Amon 'Chakai can fly, causes terror, has a 1+ Daemonic Saving throw, and hates all Nurgle Daemons and any creature or unit with a Mark of Nurgle. He has the following Daemonic Rewards. The Hand of Destiny one enemy selected by the Daemon player is doomed to die, all shooting and hand-to-hand attacks against this model automatically hit, even if Amon 'Chakai has died. Master of Sorcery Amon' Chakai is a Level 5 Wizard and may draw from the Tzeentch, Dark or Battle Magic decks (wasn't Battle Magic rubbish?). All Seeing Eye may select any enemy character at the beginning of the battle, they must reveal all equipment, magic items, special abilities and spells, if the model is a wizard the Daemon player may select one spell to be discarded.



My Memories of the Character: Remember seeing this in the Champions of Chaos book and thinking, they'll never release a second Lord of Tzeentch model. Now looking at Karios Fateweaver, maybe they would have! Other than that 855 points is a lot, combined with the fact he must be accompanied by 855 points of Tzeentch Deamons as his retinue means a lot of Pink Horrors!

Person most Reminds Me Of: E.T. – look at the hand in the artwork from the book and tell me you don't agree. Though his name is a little bit like Eamonn Holmes – discuss?

Inclusion in 8th Edition: With no real discerning physical features Amon 'Chakai could easily be represented by the current Lord of Change model:



Amon 'Chakai does feel a bit like a watered down Karios Fateweaver in both rules and background. I mean only 5 spells, who'd want that when you can have 14?! The Master of Sorcery everyone's favourite Daemonic Reward still exists so could be used, the Hand of Destiny seems harsh, though toned to be re-roll failed hits (maybe even just from Amon?) makes it comparable to similar skills. All Seeing Eye doesn't seem too awful, except perhaps against Level 1 Wizards. Though we might to change the 1+ Daemonic Saving Throw, a 1+ Ward Save would not be fun.

[/spoiler]

There's a mince pie and a glass of sherry awaiting at the OG Games 2011 Advent Calendar – ok technically it's only another special character! Click here now: http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2697.msg37756;topicseen#msg37756

[fatolaf]

As I suspected, no one is reading, and no one will notice this rudeness!!!

Cheeky, plenty of people reading buddy, check your hits....

[Steve H]

I was reading, until you started being so rude :(

[cunningmatt]

Cheeky, plenty of people reading buddy, check your hits....

He he I know, I just need an excuse to be mischevious 

[cunningmatt]

Update 26 – Wednesday 14th December 2011: Mistletoe, Spears and Wine

It's that time again, I'm off on another ramble about my painting exploits.

Apologies for my hidden picture of a poo earlier in the week, just a little self-deprecating humour based on my inability to accept that anyone would want to actually read the rubbish that I churn out!! Apparently people do!!! Shocking I know. Anyway if you were disgusted, I don't want to do a Clarkson, so here's something to make up for up it.

But maybe you don't trust me enough to open it?

[spoiler]



No it's not a poo, it's a cute little kitty. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[/spoiler]

If you didn't read my earlier blog the last couple of paragraphs will make no sense and you will think I am mad. Oh well.

Those of you keeping with the plot of this behemoth blogging session, may have been wondering what happened to Santa and his Elves in the OG Campaign, well here is their final update:

Santa and his Elves

Battle 4 – versus Lee's Warriors of Chaos

Santa and his Elves were hoping for better luck after last time's crushing defeat against the Orc & Goblin hordes, but a large group of Khornate Warriors stood in the way (along with a couple of Disc riding Sorcerers). For once in the game the Elves decided not to rush forward preferring to bide their time and try and whittle down the Warriors with shooting and magic, sadly it was not to be as the Elves' archery and sorcery proved unable to penetrate the strong Chaos Armour. Though the Repeater Bolt Thrower got a few sneaky flank shots off cutting down many of the Chaos Knights.

The Tzeentch sorcerers however ran rings around the Elves, getting behind their lines and Gatewaying off the Dragon Princes, and handfuls of Swordmasters of Hoeth. By the time the Warriors hit the High Elf lines there numbers hadn't been sufficiently thinned. The Lothern Sea Guard bravely held up a unit of Warriors allowing the Phoenix Guard to crash into the rear. But the sheer number of attacks the Warriors threw out saw Elves die in droves. The Eagle bravely held up one unit of Warriors to bide the other Elves time.

Unfortunately the Swordmasters got outmanoeuvred by the Chaos Hounds who drew them out of position before they were cut down by magic and finally slain though they did butcher the Chaos Knights. Eventually even the Phoenix Guard's ward save wasn't enough to save them against the Warriors of Chaos, particularly after a second unit hit them in the flank. However Folraith's Robe on Santa meant the Warriors of Chaos couldn't harm him, and he locked the two units in combat repeatedly casting Courage of Anaerion on himself in order to make him stubborn and lock both units in play. The crowd of onlookers repeatedly called for Santa to throw all his dice at the spell in the hope he'd miscast and take scores of Chaos Warriors down with him. Eventually however, even the Courage of Anaerion deserted Santa and he fled only to be cutdown. The Elves were destroyed, the only minor consolation was the loss was 19-1 rather than 20-0.

Big thanks to the massive crowd support I had in that game, surprisingly a lot of it came from Team Evil! Which made the whole thing very enjoyable, if mad.

Battle 5 – versus Bart's Orcs & Goblins

The prediction had already been that I would lose this match, thanks for your support Lee (ok you're on Team Evil, but everyone else from Team Evil seemed to be on my side).

Initially luck appeared to be with me, as the High Elf Archers accompanied by my Fire Mage took control of a large tower. And an impressive volley of arrow fire and a barrage of magic from the Fire Mage killed half of one of the massive units of Savage Orcs. Even the miscast of the Fire Mage only resulted in one Archer dying, after the Mage himself amazingly escaped a wound.

Things continued well as the same unit of Savage Orcs attempted to charge the Archers in the tower, but failed to reach their target allowing more arrow fire to whittle down their numbers. However the Doom Divers again proved my undoing obliterating the Dragon Princes (at least this time it took two direct hits!). The Wolf Riders engaged the Bolt Thrower crew, a battle that would last almost the entire game as the Goblins continued to fail their fear test whilst the crew failed to breach the Wolf Rider's armour. Eventually the Bolt Thrower would be destroyed.

Luck however swung back my way as the Phoenix Guard charged a Wolf Chariot which fled, and although it destroyed itself in dangerous terrain it left the Phoenix Guard's flank exposed to the Trolls (a downside I hadn't spotted). The Swordmasters declined to charge the depleted Savage Orcs, spotting the trap as a large number of units and chariots gathered behind them ready to pounce. The magic and shooting phase continued apace this time the Trolls received a pounding with the help of Curse of Arrow Attraction.

The Trolls charged forward towards the Phoenix Guard who were forced to flee to save getting Trolls in the flank. The Savage Orcs and Night Goblins fought each other after failing their animosity test holding up the rest of the Orc advance. The Swordmasters saw their chance, the fleeing Phoenix Guard had left the Trolls out of position and their flank exposed, however they were unable to reach their quarry. This bad fortune was compounded as a series of miscasts which eventually killed the Fire Mage. The Orcs retaliated advancing around the Swordmasters with a massive unit of Savage Orcs and several supporting chariots. The damaged Savage Orcs used a movement spell to get them close to the tower ready to storm out the Archers. And then the Savage Orc Shaman summoned Gork's foot which repeatedly came down crushing 75% of the Lothern Sea Guard and the Lion Chariot. Meanwhile the second unit of Wolf Riders attacked the Eagle who fled to safety landing close to the Orc war machines.

Trapped between a rock and a hard place the Swordmasters charged into the large unit of Savage Orcs (containing the Orc General), knowing they would take a huge pounding when the Orcs struck back they feared the worse. The Phoenix Guard attempted to join them, but the massive charge meant they couldn't reach. The Eagle rallied ready to threaten the Goblin Doomdivers. The Phoenix Guard benefited from a glittering Shield of Saphery, and though they lost a large number of Swordmasters the Battle Standard Bearer's Battle Banner kept them in the combat.

The wounded Savage Orcs charged the tower but were repelled by the Archers who refused to flee. The heavily depleted Lothern Sea Guard fled the Trolls, so the Orc Shaman magically repositioned the Trolls to threaten the tower in the subsequent turn. While Orc archery pretty much wiped out the rest of the fleeing Sea Guard making it unlikely they'd return. The Swordmasters again weathered another round of combat, despite a Snotling Pump Wagon rear charging them (only rolling 2 for impact hits, which the Shield of Saphery stopped!) fortunately the Battle Standard Bearer was locked in a challenge with the Orc Shaman and though neither side could claim the upperhand, it stopped the Bearer from being cut down by the rest of the Orcs and again the Battle Banner saved the Swordmasters from defeat.

All was looking bad for the High Elves with the Dragon Princes, Lion Chariot, Bolt Thrower & Fire Mage dead, the Lothern Sea Guard almost off the table unlikely to rally and the Swordmasters dropping fast. The Orcs had only lost a handful of chariots so far. The Phoenix Guard made a mighty charge to hit the flank of the Savage Orcs locked in combat with the Swordmasters, while the Great Eagle ploughed into one of the Doomdivers. The Savage Orc shaman made sure to stop Shield of Saphery being recast, which allowed the Orcs to butcher the remaining Swordmasters. The Shaman then inflicted the final wound on the Battle Standard Bearer, but fortunately he made his 6+ armour save (just!). With the Battle Banner still in play and the Savage Orcs disrupted by the Phoenix Guard in the flank, they broke and though the Phoenix Guard couldn't catch them the Battle Standard Bearer did single handedly wiping out a load of Savage Orcs, the General and the Orc Shaman and causing the Night Goblins to flee in the resulting panic.

The Trolls without the benefit of the general's instructions starting wandering round aimlessly at the base of the tower, the Night Goblins rallied, and the few Savage Orcs left in the earlier unit attempted to brave storming the tower knowing they'd be shot to pieces by the Archers next turn if they failed. However the Archers cut them all down before they could fight.

The tide had turned for the Elves and they were back in it, with the second Doom Diver dead from the rampaging Great Eagle (on a single wound), the Elves went for broke in the last turn knowing it was close. The Phoenix Guard and the Battle Standard charged the Night Goblins, however the Phoenix Guard failed to make it leaving the lone Battle Standard in combat on his last wound looking vulnerable. Whilst the Great Eagle ploughed into the Rock Lobba. The Archers were unable to fell the remaining Trolls still drooling outside the tower. The Battle Standard Bearer survived the combat and nearly broke the Night Goblins, but their own Battle Standard Bearer held on. However the Great Eagle was finally killed.

With the Trolls failing their stupidity test, the last remaining action of the greenskins was to finally bring down the pesky Battle Standard Bearer, who cost them so dear.

As the dust settled the points were added up and I'd just managed to snatch a 10-10 draw from the jaws of defeat. Thanks to Bart for a good game in which luck certainly swung from player to player.

That is the end of the journey for Santa, apparently he's busy this time of year!! Over the course of the campaign he got a win, 2 draws and 2 loses – which given the low expectations people (including myself) had of me is pretty good I think. Especially as the draws were against opponents who on paper were expected to cream me (don't be rude!). Thanks once again to Ol for overseeing and running the tournament as always much appreciated. At the time of writing the result hasn't been decided, but bar miracle, or fatal bus crash Team Evil are going to destroy Team Good. Curse them!!!

Over to better news, I've made progress with the Spearmen, just in time to!

50 Spearmen in 50 Days – Day 37
Yeah with 13 days to go I've finished Stage 2 and started Stage 3 of 4 (oh dear). Here's what the Spearmen look like!

Stage 2 – High Elf Spearmen









Base: *NO CHANGE*
Boots: Wash Badab Black
White Cloth: Layer 2:1 Skull White : Astronomacian Grey
Armour Trim and Plume: Layer Ice Blue
Silver Metal: Wash Badab Black
Gold Metal: Shining Gold
Wood: Layer watered down Graveyard Earth
Flesh: Layer Elf Flesh

If you're a doing a massive unit like this, there are 50 of them after all! I can recommend another top tip:


Matty's Top Tip – Number 3Stagger the stages of large units


What I did, to stop myself going mad undercoating 50 sets of shoes, then 50 tunic etc. which would have driven me up the wall, was to instead stagger the unit and vary the colour after each rank.

So I broke the 50 Spearmen down into 10 ranks of 5 (labelled rank A to E). Starting with rank E (so as to save the more dynamically positioned front row A as a treat - woo go me!) was paint them in a series of passes.

In Pass 1, I painted the skin of Rank E. In Pass 2, I painted the tunics of Rank E and the skin of Rank D. In Pass 3, I painted the armour of rank E, the tunics of Rank D and the flesh of Rank C. And so forth meaning, I was only ever painting the same colour for ten models before swapping to something else.

You might just be able to see that in this photo here:



From left to right, are one model from each of Ranks E to A with one more stage of colour added than its predecessor.

E has had its spear layered (a really subtle change), D has had the blue trim highlighted, C has had the gold painted and B has had the armour and shoes washed.

This might sound like a convoluted way of doing things, but with the highlighting of all those armour scales approaching in Stage 3 I didn't fancy the thought of 50 sets of scale armour to be highlighted in one go. Right I best get back to the painting.

On the plus side, I have very nearly finished all my High Elves:



Oh... maybe not! How did that happen?

Thanks for reading and make sure you keep up with the Advent Calendar, hopefully they'll be more Elves to show you next week!!

[maelzch]

The suspense! Will you manage the 50 elf challenge?

Also, to be fair, during our game I don't know if the crowd were directly cheering for you or just simply against me! That's what I get for being evil!

[cunningmatt]

Thursday 15th December 2011 – Procrastination by Numbers Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar

The suspense! Will you manage the 50 elf challenge?

Bless you for caring (or at least pretending to!), I'm genuinely not sure if I will do it or not. It'll be close but what with it being Christmas they're might not be time. Obviously to celebrate painting 50 Spearmen I've done the wise thing of getting a box set with another 32 in!

Also, to be fair, during our game I don't know if the crowd were directly cheering for you or just simply against me! That's what I get for being evil!

Look, I was just trying to take the positive spin and pretend I was liked. Don't ruin it for me!

[spoiler]
Thursday 15th: Taurox

Name: Taurox, the Brass Bull



Before the e-mails come in, yes Taurox is from the current Beastmen book, but in order to include a wide range of the armies I've had to include some characters who are forgotten because they have no model, even though they have rules!

Original (current) Points Cost: 335 points, including the magic item Rune Tortured Axes.

Background: Taurox, the Brass Bull wasn't always brass, he came to fame as chief of his tribe enforced by killing and eating anyone who met his gaze – which made it difficult to ask other Minotaurs to see if he had a stray eye lash trapped in his eye. One day he killed a nasty little Daemon who turned him into unstoppable raging beast, he killed his tribe, and everyone he met for a year and a day (we've all had bad days Christmas shopping). Eventually he destroyed an entire village, and bathed in a river of the inhabitants' blood utterly exhausted. He was then reborn in Brass form. Now he rages on his killing spree, unable to stop or to board an aircraft without setting off a metal detector.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Beastmen – 7th Edition



Last Appearance: N/A



Special Rules:  Taurox causes Fear, and is subject to the Frenzy, Bloodgreed and Slaughterer's Call special rules. Taurox has a 1+ Armour Save, but any attack that rolls a '6' to hit and a '6' to wound will kill him outright if he fails his save. Taurox causes D3+1 impact hits on the charge. The Rune Tortured Axes give him Flaming Attacks that ignore all armour saves.

My Memories of the Character: Cool concept, and nice character. Am personally just waiting for a model before he gets added to my Beastmen army.

Person most Reminds Me Of: Myleene Klass (because she rhymes with Brass).

Inclusion in 8th Edition: Rules clearly aren't a problem, model's a little more tricky. You could either purchase the Doombull kit, now available in funky Finecast!



Or if you're a stickler for the two hand weapons (for the Rune Tortured Axes) then use the old Minotaur Doombull model – someone's go to buy it!



Then I'd suggest getting a hold of a tub of the old Citadel Colour Brazen Brass. Simples!

[/spoiler]

Look, look! Over on OG Games 2011 Advent Calendar there's another Special Character. It's here: http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2697.msg37829;topicseen#msg37829