Procrastination by Numbers

[cunningmatt]

Great work Matt -gave me a good reason for a chuckle (other than looking like some kind of loon)

Glad you liked it and hope you weren't judged a loon by those surrounding you! Hehe

If you are wondering what the bleeped work in the entry for Daemon Prince Scherzinger, it was the P-word for cat, as in the former pop band The "P-word for cat" Cat Dolls!!

[underscore]

Just for the record: Lord Ti'Kal has always thought the Lord of Cowell to be a talentless hack. If he's forced to sit in front of the Box of Change for a warp-evening then he's much happier with the Lord Hollywood and Dutchess Berry.

[cunningmatt]

Just for the record: Lord Ti'Kal has always thought the Lord of Cowell to be a talentless hack. If he's forced to sit in front of the Box of Change for a warp-evening then he's much happier with the Lord Hollywood and Dutchess Berry.

Lord Hollywood and Dutchess Berry, her of the soggy bottom, are another bitter rival of the Lord of Cowell. He may send the Blue Scribes of Ant and Dec to deal with them once they have finished their current southern campaign.

[Pip]

Loving it 

Naturally Lord Xlapec will be auditioning.

[cunningmatt]

Loving it 

Naturally Lord Xlapec will be auditioning.

It's a "yes" from Louis the Sorcerous Imp. Though I am not sure he is the best arbiter of quality!

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Update 112 – Warriors of Construction Monday 25th November 2013



112.1 Ogfort Battle 1

So way back in Update 111, last week, I introduced you to Sorcerer Lord Barlow and his army of Tzeentchian warriors as they attempted to stomp all the way across Ogfort in a bid to do the Lord of Cowell's bidding, siding with Ogfried's forces. If that doesn't make sense you may need to catch up before reading further ahead.

Well back on Monday was my first battle as I faced off against Edd's Empire forces. The battle we ended up playing was entitled Stop the Scouts, and I was given the following fluff by Pip:

Hoping to steal a march on her half-brother's defenders, Oggalyn the Dread crosses the World's Edge Mountains through the perilous route of Death Pass. Not expecting to meet Oggalyn's forces already so close to their homeland, Ogfried's sentries have become encircled by her vanguard while they were sleeping. They must break out to bring word to the defenders before Oggalyn can attack!

For this battle both myself and Edd would each get to take 1,000 points. The only victory condition was that I had to get 333 points of my army in Edd's deployment zone by the end of Turn 6 in order to breakthrough his defences.

Army selection wise, even someone of my limited tactical intellect concluded it was probably best to have a fast moving cavalry based army, rather than loads of slow marching infantry. Thank god I hadn't picked Dwarfs as my army! When I selected my initial 3,600 point master list (see Update 111), I figured I'd been very clever by selecting a range of point sizes of units in order to build any-sized army that I would be presented with. I was however wrong, as I found out when trying to select an appropriate-sized army. Firstly having made some heavily kitted out lords, and devoting one of my two heroes to being a Battle Standard Bearer, I had only one choice to be my general. And that was Louis the Sorcerous Imp, things were looking bad.

I opted to take as many fast moving mounted troops as possible, taking both John and Edward's Marauder Horseman and the Dogs of Tulisa to fill up my Core requirement. Next up I took The Knights of One Direction figuring their Blasted Standard would protect them from the worst of the Empire's artillery I was sure to be facing. I rounded my army out with the Audience Trolls, thinking I needed somewhere for Louis to be concealed, and they hopefully would be resilient to shooting attacks. I'd hoped to have enough points for some monsters, but sadly I couldn't make the numbers work. I couldn't even squeeze in both Chaos Spawn, due to me taking the expensive Mark of Tzeentch upgrade so I settled for Spawn Cardle (for the simple reason he was closer to the front of the display cabinet than Spawn Brokstein). With my whole army clocking in at 952 points, I was simply unable to use the other 48 points.

As my ramblings are quite difficult to follow here's a pictorial version of said army list which I am sure is significantly easier to follow:

Louis the Sorcerous Imp



Chaos Sorcerer (Lore of Metal) Level 2 Magic, with Mark of Tzeentch. He has a Dispel Scroll and wears Chaos Armour. (185 points)

The Dogs of Tulisa



5 Chaos Warhounds. (30 points)

John's Marauder Horsemen



5 Marauder Horsemen with Mark of Tzeentch and full command. They are armed with spears and ride warhorses. (115 points)

Edward's Marauder Horsemen



5 Marauder Horsemen with Mark of Tzeentch and full command. They are armed with flails and ride warhorses. (120 points)

The Knights of One Direction



5 Chaos Knights with Mark of Tzeentch and full command. They are armed with Ensorcelled Weapons, wear Chaos Armour and ride barded Chaos Steeds. They bear the Blasted Standard. (280 points)

Audience Trolls



4 Chaos Trolls with extra hand weapons. (152 points)

Spawn Cardle



Chaos Spawn with Mark of Tzeentch. (70 points)

Louis the Sorcerous Imp cursed his luck, somehow he'd become separated from Sorcerer Lord Barlow. Some had suggested that this was a deliberate ploy from the Sorcerer Lord, but that couldn't be right? Could it? He dismissed that thought from his mind, he had more important things to think about. Tzeentchian Giant Wagner had to perform at the camp show later, and Louis still hadn't worked out the staging. Not that it mattered, Wagner would probably eat the stage whatever it was.

Louis led the small collection of troops he'd been stranded with through the rough terrain. Their route was known as Sudden Death Pass for the way that boulders could easily come crashing down on you without even an audience vote or a boulder-off between you and a rival traveller. These were troubling times indeed. Mind you the Audience Trolls seemed happy enough, they were just busy rambling about how amazing Barlow was. John and Edward's Marauder Horsemen forged a path ahead examining rocks like they'd never seen them before in their lives. In fact were it not for the noise of The Knights of One Direction's fans screaming their heads off, the advance could almost be described as ordered.

Louis called camp, The Dogs of Tulisa were getting horny and humping anything that moved, before getting John & Edward's Marauder Horseman to draw pictures of it and place them on Ye Olde Tube. The army set up for a night's rest, Louis was confident that they would re-join the main force tomorrow, and was so used to waiting for the next day for the results that it had become habit.

As the crisp morning air whipped across Louis's face he came to, his night time dream of being treated with some respect by anyone cruelly cut short. Instantly his attention was drawn to John and Edward the Marauder Champions. They were bouncing up and down pointing at the valley ahead. He followed their gaze to see an army from the human realm of The Empire ahead, flying the unmistakable flag of the forces of Oggalyn Daley. Louis needed to raise the alarm, they'd been outmanoeuvred and he needed to inform Sorcerer Lord Barlow. Yes Louis would need to break free from the Empire's trap, "break free" Louis thought. What an excellent name for a song that his minstrels that live to the west could sing. He pondered on the lyrics as the battle lines were joined.

Deployment

The Chaos army split into two flanks, with John's Marauder Horsemen, The Knights of One Direction and Spawn Cardle taking up the left flank around the Temple of Skulls facing off against a large unit of Knights with Warrior Priest and Hero accompanying.



On the right hand flank Louis the Sorcerous Imp joined the Audience Trolls, accompanied by The Dogs of Tulisa and Edward's Marauder Horsemen. They were facing a Luminark of Hysh, two units of 10 Handgunners and a Hellblaster Volley Gun. Louis rolled for his spells from the Lore of Metal gaining Searing Doom and Glittering Robe.



The Warriors of Chaos won the roll to see who went first, but not before both units of Marauder Horsemen used their vanguard move to get closer to the destination of the Empire deployment zone.

Turn 1

Louis led his army towards the Empire deployment zone, with Spawn Cardle ambling 7" towards the Hellblaster Volley Gun, even the Audience Trolls passed their stupidity test. Louis was mainly thwarted by the Light Wizard, as Searing Doom was dispelled though he did manage to cast Glittering Robe on The Dogs of Tulisa who looked particularly vulnerable to the ranks of Empire artillery.



The Empire respond with the Knights reforming to face The Knights of One Direction, while the Luminark of Hysh repositions to the hill to get a better shot. The Warrior Priest buffs the Knights giving them a 5+ Ward Save. Louis the Sorcerous Imp is unable to stop the Luminark firing down the flank of Edward's Marauder Horsemen. However Tzeentch is clearly smiling on the battlefield as the first Horseman makes his 6+ Ward Save protecting the unit from any damage at all. In the shooting phase both units of Handgunners open fire on Spawn Cardle and The Dogs of Tulisa, but cannot score a hit between them.

Turn 2

The Chaos second turn is dominated by the Audience Trolls failing their stupidity test, meaning the Trolls stumbled forward 3" and Louis the Sorcerous Imp was unable to even try and use his magic. Spawn Cardle makes up for it by rampaging forward a full 11" towards the Hellblaster Volley Gun. John and Edward's Marauder Horsemen head straight into the Empire deployment zone surrounding the Handgunners.



Battle is joined when the Empire Knights thunderously charge into The Knights of One Direction.



The Luminark of Hysh again targets the flank of Edward's Marauder Horseman, but they are clearly blessed by Tzeentch as yet again the first model hit makes his 6+ Ward Save stopping the beam from doing any damage.

The Empire shooting phase is more destructive with three Dogs of Tulisa being shot dead by the Handgunners, though they pass their panic test. The second unit is less impressive scoring two hits on Spawn Cardle, none of which wound the rampaging beast.



The Engineer and Handgunners turn their attention on Edward's Marauder Horsemen, hoping to do what the Luminark could not. They open fire with 14 shots and doing 7 wounds, Tzeentch manages to block two of them with the ward save, but it isn't enough as the unit is wiped out to a man.

In combat Harry Styles, the Champion of The Knights of One Direction, challenges the Empire Hero, who instantly steals his strength with Van Horstmann's Speculum, resulting in Harry being struck down. The rest of the Chaos Knights kill two Empire Knights but also suffer two wounds themselves. The Knights of One Direction, discover a new direction, as they break and flee only to be run down by the valiant Empire Knights.



Turn 3

Angered by their brother's demise, or perhaps confused, John's Marauder Horsemen charge the flank of the Empire Handgunners who chose to flee rather than face the wild blond hair. However their flight panics the Engineer who flees the table and the Hellblaster Volley Gun crew who hide beneath their machine unable to shoot.

The excitement of these events clearly distracted Louis the Sorcerous Imp, as he miscast Searing Doom on the Luminark of Hysh. Whilst the Arcane device took two wounds, a massive explosion engulfed Louis and he is cast into the realm of Chaos. The Audience Trolls stared vacantly at the explosion, one lost an arm, but it grew back almost immediately.



The Luminark of Hysh charges the remaining Dogs of Tulisa who decide discretion is the better part of valour. But Tulisa is too busy explaining to Dappy the Warhound what discretion means and they only flee 3" being crushed by the mighty Luminark.

The Audience Trolls manage to dispel the effects of the Luminark's weaponry. While the fleeing Handgunners fail to rally and the second unit are unable to wound the tough bodies of the Audience Trolls.

Turn 4

In a shocking display the Audience Trolls pass their stupidity test on their own leadership of 4, and declare a charge on the Luminark. However they fail to make the charge distance and head forward 3", much like as if they'd failed their stupidity test! In hindsight I should have just marched the Trolls straight at the deployment zone – I lost sight of the battle objective, though in fairness the distance really wasn't that far!

John's Marauder Horsemen charge the Hellblaster Volley Gun and butcher the crew avenging their fallen brothers, while Spawn Cardle closes in on the Empire Deployment zone.

The Empire try their best to respond but the reformed Knights are too far away to get back into the action, and the Handgunners fall to rally yet again. Another poor missile attack sees the Audience Trolls emerge unscathed despite being hit by both the Luminark's weapon and the remaining Handgunners.

Turn 5

The Trolls return to form stumbling forward stupidly, but they are now tantalising close to the Empire deployment zone. Spawn Cardle ploughs into the flank of the remaining Handgunner unit, and after blasting them with his flame weapon a single Handgunner flees the carnage escaping the pursuing Spawn.



The original fleeing unit of Handgunners finally rally just on the edge of the board (just next to the dead pile of Hellblaster Volley Gun).



The Luminark of Hysh's weapon finally does some damage inflicting two wounds on the Audience Trolls, which they are unable to regenerate as it burns their skin.

Turn 6

The Audience Trolls fail their stupidity test but manage to stumble forward 6", putting them smack bang in the Empire deployment zone. The only other action of the Chaos forces is to move Spawn Cardle and John's Marauder Horsemen back fractionally to put the newly reformed Handgunner unit at long range. Be impressed as I demonstrate some tactical acumen!

At the end of my final turn I somehow managed to get 337 points of my army in the deployment zone, and needing 333 points to win, I was staring at victory. But Edd still had one more turn to go.



The Luminark of Hysh charges the rear of the Audience Trolls inflicted 4 wounds from impact hits, though the Trolls regenerate 2 of these. The crew add a further wound but that is also regenerated. The Trolls however can only manage one wound in return, charged in the rear they lose the combat badly, break and are rundown.

Conclusion

Victory nabbed away at the last moment, curses! In fairness I was very lucky to survive the Empire's shooting, the Luminark of Hysh presumably being a dud. Thankfully Tzeentch was smiling today and saved me a lot of potential damage. The Knights of One Direction did pretty poorly, which was really my fault for letting them get charged, though in fairness it did put the large unit of Empire Knights out the way for the rest of the game which was perhaps worth the sacrifice. In hindsight I shouldn't have risked the miscast with Louis, but I was desperate to do some damage to the Luminark. As it was I was lucky the Audience Trolls made it as far as they did! Oh well I guess victory was too much to hope for. Onto Round 2!

Louis the Sorcerous Imp starred in amazement, his disembodied spirit drifting through the unbelievable sight of the Realm of Chaos. Everywhere he looked were swirling multi-coloured clouds of magical forces, unimaginable vast constructs of materials beyond the comprehension of mortal man, and billboards advertising the amazing festive treats at the John Lewis emporium in Nuln. Suddenly he felt a mighty presence The Lord of Cowell was present. "You have failed me" he boomed. In an impish voice Louis replied "Yes but I have come up with some lyrics for a new song". The Lord of Cowell lashed out with his avian claw, slapping the Sorcerer around the face.

Sorcerer Lord Barlow continued the forced march through Sudden Death Valley, it had taken many hard days of relentless movement, but they'd finally lost Louis the Sorcerous Imp and his idiotic Marauder Horseman. He was just about to breathe a sigh of relief and let Robbie rest, when a bright a blast of light erupted across the sky ahead. The unmistakeable flash of a portal to the Realm of Chaos. Just as Barlow took in what was going on, the scrawny body of Louis the Sorcerous Imp was hurled out of the portal by a feathered claw. Louis thudded into the ground a few feet away from the Sorcerer, his body a mangled heap. Looking up the impish form gasped "I am alive, but the enemy are here". Sorcerer Lord Barlow looked on in despair, unsure which piece of news disgusted him the most.

112.2 Assembling the Warriors of Chaos

Driven by the excitement of the above campaign, and the fact that I'm in a real Warriors of Chaos mood – my High Elves turn to be left getting dusty. I've assembled a whole batch of Warriors of Chaos as reinforcements for my army. Which with a miracle I might actually paint! Exciting.

Chaos Lord on Manticore

Back in Update 110, I magnetised my Manticore kit (after two years of ignoring it), now in a shocking display of enthusiasm I've finished its assembly and modelled a scenic base.



I've tried to model a small stream, which my Manticore will be bouncing through. And hopefully with my semi-snow bases will really capture the feel of the frozen tundra. I roughly marked out the path of the stream with rocks, with a few gaps where just sand is showing through. I then added a thin layer of green stuff to the base of the stream, which I roughed up, to make the uneven bed of the stream. The idea being once it is finished I can build up a trickling stream with water effects. An idea I will almost certainly regret the minute I open up the water effects tub.



Vilitch, the Curseling

I love painting a special character model, whenever I am painting normal characters I am trying to paint a generic hero who could represent any champion or wizard in whatever army list or scenario I put together. So when I get the opportunity to paint a special character, it's great to be able to paint the specific detail and description listed in the background. Unfortunately, unlike my Beastmen and High Elf armies, my all-Tzeentch army has been rather bereft of special characters. Well there's not been too much to choose for a long time, what with Galrauch being a kind of meh model, and such an expensive character that he'd probably never get used anyway. Up until now all I've managed to paint up was the old model for Aekold Helbrass, which I haven't used anywhere near enough.

So for me I got quite excited when earlier this year, the Vilitch the Curseling model came out. And while it's hardly new now, by my time scale of painting it is new. So I'm excited to be painting him. I'm not a hundred percent sure he's sculpt is benefited that much by Finecast, but at least his staff won't fall off as it were if it were metallic.



I haven't really done anything to this model, there's so much going on with it already what with Vilitch whispering in his brother's ear. However to add a bit more story to him, I've mounted him on a resin base from the Warhammer Basing Kit, which features a Chaos shield. I'm going to paint it up as Khorne shield, representing some other Chaos Lord he's betrayed in his plotting. Inspired by the story of Archaon in the current Warriors of Chaos army book.



Chaos Warriors

Obviously if I'm building the ultimate build Warriors of Chaos army I shouldn't be including Chaos Warriors. But I hate that logic, Chaos Warriors are what make Warriors of Chaos. And for me that's what appealed to me about the Chaos army back in fourth edition when I succumbed to collecting a massive Chaos army. It wasn't the Beastmen or the Daemons that sold me to Chaos, it was the Chaos Warriors and the Chaos Knights that I loved.

And despite painting billions of Beastmen in recent years, I've only painted up one paltry unit of 15 Chaos Warriors with hand weapons and shields. I feel it's time to change that, so I've built this new unit of 24 Chaos Warriors, with halberds. I really like the current Chaos Warrior kit, I know it's quite a basic kit (and I don't like the fact most of the weapon options are sold separately) but they look like the implacable marching ironclad Warriors I always imagined!

Anyway enough waffle, here's the unit:



The unit is equipped with the resin Halberd upgrade kit, which was a little expensive, but to be honest whilst I don't mind converting characters and monsters the idea of making up 24 halberds seemed too frustrating to contemplate. I did consider using the Chaos Knight lances but to be honest they were so hard to find on eBay, it worked out cheaper to buy the Halberds. And due to mix up with my original order, which Games Workshop quickly fixed, I got my third pack free anyway.



Whilst I wasn't prepared to convert each of the individual Warriors, I did make an effort to make the command group stand out. The Standard Bearer has a Chaos Knight spare head, as they're a bit fancier. Plus one of the resin Tzeentch banners, I think distinctive banners are so important as they stand out so much when the unit's on the table, that they are worth the pennies. I had to do a little bit of splicing to put the halberd in the left hand as well!



Rather than have the musician unarmed, with horn in one hand and shield in the other, I did some converting. Armed with horn doesn't look scary, so I cut the hand of the horn, and using a green stuff 'strap' strapped it onto the Warrior. The shield and head are both from the Chaos Knight kit.



The Champion, again, had a Chaos Knight head and shield, and I combined the original Champion's arm with one of the halberd arms to give him the dynamic pose. I also had to green stuff a bit of extra fur around his neck, as the Chaos Warriors were second hand and I had previously cut another head of the model which I couldn't quite snip off.



Chaos Lord on Daemonic Steed

If this wasn't enough I finally got around to putting together one of my all-time favourite Warriors of Chaos models, the Chaos Lord on Daemonic Steed. I don't care if I never use this model on the battlefield, it's absolutely brilliant.



I didn't want to do anything to this model to take away from it, as I think it's so amazing. Though I did add a little Chaos Icon buried in the mud to the base, from the Warhammer Basing kit, which you can see in this lovely arse-cam shot of the Daemonic Steed:



Warshrine of Chaos

Ok finally, the most important Warriors model that I need to get painted is the Warshrine of Chaos. Primarily as it features in my army list for the above campaign. The Warshrine is an imposing model but I wanted to make a few tweaks to it. First up this is of course a Tzeentch army so the Warshrine is no different, so I added the Tzeentch symbol supplied to the top of the main statue:



Unfortunately the kit contains the heathen symbols of the other three lesser Chaos gods on the flaming lanterns on the rear:



In a foolhardy manoeuvre I covered them up with green stuff:



And then glued on the metal Tzeentch symbols I picked up ages ago, given the extra weight I pinned the lanterns onto the back of the Warshrine. I don't think it looks too bad (in this dodgy photo) and hopefully once painted will look even less like a conversion. Fingers crossed.



And carried away with magnets as I am, I even mounted a magnet in the Slaughtermaster's foot, so I could potentially swap him for a character if the mood takes me. I haven't got a character in mind but it's forward planning in case.



Rather than gouging out the deck of the Warshrine I've simply glued a magnet under the base of the platform, concealed by the sides to mount the Slaughtermaster on.

I've got a few more ideas to Tzeentch-up the Warshrine which I will show you as it nears completion. Currently it's a number of subassemblies which I've sprayed black. Fingers crossed I'll have a bit more to show you soon.

Others

Ok, I lied when I said finally earlier. Technically these aren't Warriors, but as I was having a building session a few other models jumped in.



To prove I haven't completely forgotten about the Ultramarines, there's a sixth Terminator to add to my unit. I think this must have been a White Dwarf freebie from when Assault on Black Reach was released. I found out in a bits box under the bed while looking for something else. Plus even if I'm not in a High Elf mood there's no way I couldn't build the gorgeous Loremaster of Hoeth. I may even one day paint it.

112.3 Get in Touch

Well done for getting through that long old journey. Hope you like the building work I've been doing, do shout with any thoughts/comments/suggestions. And as always you can follow me on Twitter @ProbyNumbers where this week I've mainly been saying random rubbish.

Oh and before I go, can I give a quick shout out for this amazing Lord of Change conversion I found on the flickr window on the Games Workshop website, which I think is absolutely amazing even in my dodgy iPhone snap of the screen.



Fingers crossed Update 113 follows speedily!

[roland murat]

What did the tactical plant pot makeof your game Matt?

[cunningmatt]

What did the tactical plant pot makeof your game Matt?

Sandra's main comment was "Where are the Skullcrushers you fool?", followed by "water please"

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Special Announcement Friday 29th November 2013



Launches on Sunday...

On Sunday the Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Character Advent Calendar will be returning with 24 new forgotten characters never before featured in the calendar. The length and breadth of the Warhammer world will be covered and you're sure to get a nostalgic glow.

So make sure you return to the Procrastination by Numbers thread every day from the 1st to the 24th of December. To whet your appetite and get you practised in opening those Advent Calendar spoiler buttons. Here's a classic character that we featured in 2012's calendar.

Remember to join us on Sunday!

[spoiler]
Special Preview: Dieter Helsnicht



Name: Dieter Helsnicht, Doom Lord of Middenheim

Original Points Cost: 725 points – 4th Edition, 690 points – 5th Edition

Background: Dieter Helsnicht was a much fear wizard, eventually forced to flee the City of Middenheim when it was found out he was a member of UKIP, and was also Necromancer. He plotted his revenge in the Forest of Shadows – the notoriously bad sunbathing spot, before descending on the city. He was eventually defeated at the Battle of Beeckerhoven though his body was never discovered DUR DUR DURRRRHHHH!!!

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Undead – 4th Edition, model released White Dwarf 172 (April 1994)





Last Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts – 5th Edition



Special Rules: In 4th Edition Dieter didn't have any special rules, just the magic items The Chaos Runesword +1 Weapon Skill, Strength and Attacks and The Staff of Flaming Death casts a spell 24" striking first target in path inflicting D3 S4 hits, any unit wounded must take a panic test.



In 5th Edition Dieter gained the rule that he could choose freely between Necromantic and Dark magic spells, and his Manticore didn't have to take an enraged test. He also gained a Power Scroll casts a spell at no power cost once per game.



My Memories of the Character: Dieter Helsnicht was going to lead the vast Undead army I was planning on buying when I was at secondary schools spending double French dreaming of Warhammer. As opposed to now when I spend days at work dreaming of Warhammer.

Person most Reminds me of: Thrown out of the home city for abhorrent acts – any of the cast of The Only Way Is Essex – TOWIE for the cool kids.

Inclusion in 8th Edition: The main problem with copying over Dieter is the fact that technically Vampire Counts characters aren't allowed to ride Manticores. However if you overlook this then the rest is simple obviously he show now pick spells from Lore of Death or Lore of Vampires, his Manticore rule copies across and the Staff of Flaming Death has clearly been shortened as the Rod of Flaming Death is now available in Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts – 8th Edition. As for The Chaos Runesword he shouldn't even have it, it's got Chaos in the name! Give it back Dieter. I reckon a cool and relatively simple model could be made using the plastic Chaos Lord on Manticore kit with rider of your choice. Initially I thought the one on the Zombie Dragon, but he may a bit too Blood Knighty for Deiter. As long as you paint the Manticore in more necrotic tones you should do fine!



[/spoiler]

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar Sunday 1st December 2013



Yes fans be excited, because today sees the arrival of the 4th official OG Games Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar. Just as in previous years we celebrate those Special Characters that the Warhammer world has never shone love on. And this year I have 24 brand new Forgotten characters.

For those of new to this tradition, every day for the next 24 I'll upload a post to this thread containing a Spoiler which when opened reveals a new Forgotten Warhammer Special Character. To count the model must have, had at some point, its own special rules (not just a named character) and currently be missing either a model, current army book entry or both. So expect a range of really old characters, current characters without model and odder ones from the depths of the White Dwarf and beyond.

As a new feature this year, I'm going to give a little clue before the spoiler, see if you can guess the occupant of Door Number 1 correctly. Today's classic character hasn't seen the light of day since the 4th Edition of Warhammer, but they might be due a re-release soon if it is written in the runes. Any thoughts?

[spoiler]
1st December: Rune Lord Kragg the Grim



Name: Rune Lord Kragg the Grim

Original Points Cost: 669 points – 4th Edition

Background: Rune Lord Kragg the Grim, is the rune lord of Karaz-a-Karak. He is the oldest and wisest Dwarf Runesmith. And unlike in the real world, Dwarfs actually listen to their old people. He and he alone know the Master Rune of Kragg the Grim, which stops him tripping over his massive beard. Maybe he'll get round to telling someone someday, maybe Games Workshop will get round to writing a new Dwarf book someday.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs – 4th Edition, model released White Dwarf 166 (October 1993)





Last Appearance: White Dwarf 315 (March 2006)



Special Rules: Back in the 4th edition Kragg the Grim was armed with a veritable bucket load of runic magic items that did the following: Kragg's Hammer (Strength 10, Multiple Wounds (D6), +1 Attack); Kragg's Armour (+2 Armour Save, any spell targeted at bearer is automatically dispelled – exhausted on a D6 roll of 1, re-roll failed Armour Save on 4+); Runestaff (immune to fire, one use only dispel any spell, move through difficult terrain).



My Memories of the Character: I was a massive 4th Edition Dwarf character and this model stands out for being the only character of the era I didn't purchase. Which makes me very sad. I think my 11 year old mind couldn't understand why you would want a Runesmith without an Anvil of Doom to blast people with lightning bolts. It makes no sense!

Inclusion in 8th Edition: The update in White Dwarf 315 gave you a way of recreating Kragg from the current runes, at slightly more modest 290 points. Given how old the current Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs book is, these are still valid.



Sadly the model was discontinued this year, as Games Workshop as dropped a number of the old classic hero models from their websites. Though any current edition Runesmith would fill the role.



[/spoiler]

Hope you enjoyed today's special character, there's another 23 to come! Please feel free to tweet about us on Twitter (you will get extra love if you do). And I'd love to hear your comments and memories about each character, so please do reply to this post and share with the group!

P.S. I'll be in a different time zone from tomorrow so apologies if posting times are erratic, we will do our very best!!