Warhammer The Old World - battle report

Well, kinda... 🙄

After 3-years long break from Warhammer (and before that there was like 10-15 years gap...) I finally got opportunity to take Chaos warriors army for a walk through Empire's north lands. To my surprise instead of hordes of defenceless peasants I found angry mob of Undivided Chaos warriors - also looking for easy prey...

All in all both lords decided to discuss differences between gods of Chaos and their views on the manking. Strength of arguments was supported by enchanted blades, charging cavalry and and savage beasts fighting alongside Chaos warriors. Result of the debate was almost perfect draw: 940 : 900 for the guests, which is pretty amazing since I haven't read rules 😊

I was hoping to make nice battle report but the flying reporter managed to paint only single war-picture while circling the battlefield on wyvern's back (above) so having only limited resources the report isn't something as epic as Slaanesh would appreciate.

The game was 2000 points battle, no magic items used. The reason for this was it was my very first Warhammer The Old World game, so it was just casual game with some beers around instead of regular match or some sort of powergaming bullcrap.

So here're some piccies:

First epic clash of claws and paws: Chaos poochers vs Chaos poochers:

During the game I recalled why I quit Warhammer ages ago. The rules changed (surely for better) but whole logistics and army transporting is still just pain in the ass - especially if compared to Bolt Action. Game is definitely more balanced then editions I played before but again - it's not much compared to BA. Apparently skirmish games work better for me... 🤔 

Apart from that bitching is was nice to see models on battlefield instead of just in display case (staring on my back while I work). Watching these toys fighting in the name of Dark Gods reminded me what got me into wargaming ages ago. Despite all flaws the game has and Games Workshop's attitude, Warhammer Fantasy world is just cool. 

And the game was opportunity to meet old buddy who is actually regular Warhammer battle player, master of rules and armybooks and it was his idea to confront army of Slaanesh against horde of Undivided Chaos. Thank you for the meering, Dr Satan - hope for re-match anytime soon.... 😈

Slaanesh Chaos army - finished 🤘🏻

It is done!

The army is painted so it is time to sum up the Chaos army project. It took longer then I expected (no surprise with avarege painting ratio ~4 models per month...) but Slaanesh has finally brought his army to the Empire of men. It was nice to dig out and made use of some oldies from the very bottom of the Bucket of Shame.  

Surely I don't have enought models for another force like that but while looking for proper Warriors models I found some oldies from WH 40.000 range, so I actually might try to assemble some oldschool styled combat patrol. That is as long as it's not purple... 🤢

I've always loved that themed army pics from old White Dwarf zines and army books: wide pictures with painted background etc. It's impossible to take such pic on painting desk that's why especially for this project I brought the toys to gaming bunker and prepared more-less natural backdrop for army-size photos. As for the very first time - turned out pretty fine. 

So here they are - already raging through the Empire:

And some close ups with links for detailed pictures: Daemon Prince, Dragon Ogres and trecheous Ogre mercenaries (those back-stabbing bastards were serving Undead Lord during Oldhammer 2022 campaign):

And here - warhounds, exalted champion on Slaanesh steed and some Chaos warriors: 

Below - some more Chaos warriors and Chaos knights:

Pair of Chaos spawns / fiends of Slaanesh and the chariots (one of the led by sorcerer):

Heavy hitters once again:

More Chaos infantry:

And the backdrop - apparently there was perfect weather in Empire for the raid... 😈

Warriors of Slaanesh 03

Looks like Slaanesh just got all his toys together and he's ready to play some wargames in the Olde Worlde! Finishing these guys was a huge relief. I really like Middlehammer era aesthetics plus most of these sculpts are just friggin' cool, but I'm afraid my eyes got allergic to violet color. Cannot wait to paint some boring olive green Bolt Action stuff for a change! 🤪

As for the Warriors, as mentioned earlier, these were painted so I could form nice block of 20 Chaos Warriors and to clear content of one of Jars of Shame. It's oldschool style army, so last models added were:

- mid 80's chaos warrior,

- Heroquest chaos warrior,

- 90's marauder (I was already out of original Chaos Warriors sculpts),  

- Necron Warrior (yup! that's the one promo model added to WD back days).

At first I wasn't sure about adding evil robot to the unit, but all in all I realised it fits just so fine: insane, half-living, robotic being which emerged from Chaos Gate in the far north, is just perfect candidate for Slaanesh champion! Chaos Gods aren't picky after all...

While working on these guys I had some time-travelling (again... 🙄):

I remember when I was in high school and new line of Chaos models was released. I was totally blown away by new models but back days the were totally out of my reach. First - local hobby store just poor (but that's nothing strange since there wasn't many players around), and second - the budget. I remember to field marauder unit I had minis for the first rank (single blister + command group), while back ranks were made of monopose Bretonnia bowmen. Oh yeah, these were grim times of crappy battlefiels (streams made of toilet paper...), unpainted models, proxies but most important: tons of time to waste with friends.

Total opposition to what's going on now: people have nice armies, some even dedicated gaming rooms but who gives a fu#k if you cannot meet once a month to have a beer and roll some dice? 😖

Oh well, here're the recent candies. Hope to take some army shots shortly:

And the family alltogether:

Warriors of Slaanesh 02

Another month and another group of pervies joined Chaos Warriors unit!

Just like before I tried to use the same color combo so they all look coherent standing together on the battlefield. Four guys got as bright pink colors as possible (uuugh... 🤢) and to my surprise - these also look just fine standing among their vivid brothers in arms. Slaanesh ain't picky. With these minis crossed off the list the Chaos army got all models required to field 2000 points worth force, but I'm waiting with the final group pictures until I get done the very last 4 Chaos warriors models in my possession. 

That is: convert the one missing and then painting the remaing four... 

Really cannot wait to see what 6th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle has to offer 😁

And here unbreakable Warriors of Chaos are facing terrifying Dasyatis clone:

🤘🏻🦀🤘🏻

Warriors of Slaanesh 01

To my big (huge actually...) surprise Chaos Army project is getting close to the end! 😳

After dragon ogres unit left the painting station I was thinking about taking a break from painting purple and pink for a while. The only unit left to be painted for 2000 points army was 14-men strong block of Chaos warriors. I dragged them out from the very bottom of the bucket of shame, undercoated some of them and just couldn't resist slapping some paint on these oldies. Must say those oldschool sculpts are just friggin' cool!

Painting these guys wasn't hard actually: my guess is ~85% of each sculpt is the armour, so you can get it done pretty fast using airbrush, drybrush or something similar. The unit dedicated for the current army project is 14-warrior strong, so looks like I am now over half done, but while searching for models I found 19 models which could fit the unit. That includes oldie Marauder models, some models from mid 90's (I guess), Heroquest piece and even that free metal Necron warrior which was once bonus for White Dwarf! I can imagine it's been sucked into Maelstrom, spat through the Chaos Gate in the far north and now it's still executing orders of it's evil lords - just under banner of Slaanesh... 👾

Looking at these guys I think I'll do my best either to find or convert 20th model so there's nice and solid block of Chaos warriors in the end. I still have spare mutilated daemonette rider left after Lobster Duke conversion - maybe my wizards can make her walking. 

And really cannot wait to paint something not purple...

And here're all warriors I've managed to find. Just need one more...

And below you can see Slaanesh warriors about to turn unit of mighty mummies into pile of bandages:

See ya o/

Dragon ogres

One more wicked spark of pure Chaos emerged though Gate in the far north. 

This time it's one of my dream-units: dragon ogres. Must say I've fell in love in these monstrocities the day I got copy of Chaos Warriors rulebook bazillion years ago - sadly, 'till now I never got opportunity to assemble and paint them. Better late then never I guess 🙄

Painting process didn't take as much as I was afraid initially, but getting my ass to start doing the job took ages. I was shit scared of painting those damn scales, painting lizard and human body on the same model etc but all in all wasn't THAT bad when I started.

Initial thought was to paint them with very strong, vivid colors, like in Chaos armybook for Warhammer Fantasy 4th edition, but all in all I went for more natural tones. Such flesh fits Slaanesh force I've been working on, but at the same time the unit looks still pretty universal - if I ever get an idea to place them under command of different Chaos God...

So here they are - taking a walk in Empire's outskirts:

And here dragon ogre champion is about to send Heinrich Kemmler, the Lichemaster straight back to Nagash! Looking at this clash of steel and bones I now know what's the reason of fielding wraith champion in Undead army 👻

Cheers!

Slaanesh Warriors army project (update)

Since the previous summary Slaanesh got some new toys, so before whole project is finished I decided to post one more recap. Hope this will provide any motivation for painting fantasy stuff, because painting last 2 chariots took me much too long. I think the main reason is the fact I don't play Warhammer Fantasy Battle anymore, so there's not much preassure to paint - contrary to Bolt Action stuff. 

As you can see below there're only 2 units left to paint: dragon ogres and chaos warriors. While I don't mind painting dragon ogres, I suppose I might get bored in the middle of painting the warriors, so painting army gets prolonged - it's 14-men strong horde after all...

Luckly I've managed to collect different sculpts of infantry, so whole unit should look pretty fine after done and placed on the battlefield.

So here they are:

*Heroes:

- Exalted Daemon [365pts, 4 Casting Dice, 3 Dispel Dice]: General, Level 2

. Hero of Slaanesh: Master of Mortals, Sporofic Musk

- Exalted Champion of Chaos [212pts]: Gaze of the Gods, Hero of Slaanesh, Shield, Steed of Slaanesh, Sword of Might

- Sorcerer of Chaos [310pts, 3 Casting Dice, 2 Dispel Dice]: Chaos Chariot, Hero of Slaanesh, Level 2, Power Familiar

*Core units:

- Knights of Chaos [318pts]: Champion, 6x Knights of Chaos, Musician, Regiment of Slaanesh

. Standard Bearer: Rapturous Standard

- Warriors of Chaos [260pts]: Champion, Musician, Regiment of Slaanesh, Shield, Standard Bearer, 14x Warriors of Chaos

- Chariot of Chaos [130pts]: Chariot of Slaanesh

*Special units:

- Warhounds of Chaos [36pts]: 6x Warhound

*Rare units:

- Dragon Ogres [219pts]: 3x Dragon Ogre, Light Armour

- Spawn of Chaos [75pts]: Fiend of Slaanesh

- Spawn of Chaos [75pts]: Fiend of Slaanesh

Total: 2,000pts, 7 Casting Dice, 5 Dispel Dice

And some aerial shots from enemy spy-wyvern:

I really need to get better light for such group shots. Not mentioning bigger backdrop 🙄