Warmaster: Dark Elf Witch Elves

I just realised that I'd not posted this one!

With this final Dark Elves unit, I can say that I have a finished ~2000 point Dark Elf army!

These are Witch Elves, a fragile "glass cannon" unit which will probably break themselves in combat but take at least one enemy unit out with them in a frenzy!

I should probably put all the Dark Elves out on my desk and take a photo to prove I've done it.

---

I've had a fallow month where I've not done much of anything wargame related but I got some energy back and have been preparing a Warmaster Empire army to paint, next.

First thing I've had a crack at is a strip of Empire Knights.

The entire Empire range is incredibly detailed - really wonderful models.  I wanted to avoid simply painting it all in gun metal so I've gone for a lot of detailed paint and alternating colours.  My general desire for the Empire force is that it will represent many orders or different regiments so will not be tied by a simple colour scheme like my previous forces.

Warmaster: Dark Elf Command

  Finally complete!  Warmaster Dark Elf Command!

  The original GW Dark Elf Warmaster Command blister is a slightly sorry affair compared with some of the others.  It contains a single sorceress figure with guards, a mounted hero with flag bearer and a little Cold One chariot.

  I disliked the chariot; too big for a hero, too small for a General stand, I felt.  My spare one is going to a friend in the gaming club who has had trouble sourcing Dark Elf figures.

  I scrabbled a spare sorceress and guards so that I could max out my command for 2000 points - 2 heroes and 2 magic users.  Even though Dark Elves are an "elite" army with a smaller number of more expensive units compared with some other armies, they suffer from a fatal flaw.  Namely, that if you roll a "blunder" on your command rolls (two sixes on 2D6), the hero responsible is either executed immediately or the General suffers a permanent penalty for the rest of the game!  The Dark Elves are ruthlessly inefficient, it seems.

  I am extremely proud of of these little figures. The cauldrons of blood that I put on the stands are in fact plastic Warhammer 40k scale Blood Angel Sanguinary Guard grails.  One from the plastic character clampack, the other from the generic upgrade sprue.  I chopped the hand out of the plastic and glued the top to the bottom.

  If you Google Image search "warmaster cauldron of blood" you will see top of the list, a couple of excellent fan models.  This one inspired me to use the first version of the Avatar of Khaine from Space Marine / Epic. And this one made me want to put the cauldron on top of a pile of bones - a piece from the Tomb Kings command blister. 

  I attempted something a bit different with the statue, attempting to paint it like black marble.  The results weren't spectacular, but I needed to differentiate it from the other models, so that people wouldn't assume it was an animate or giant character and not a statue.

Warmaster: Dark Elf General on Manticore

  I've had this one lurking in the wings for a while now!  Wasn't sure what colours to use, especially on the wings.  Bought a Vallejo "Hexed Lichen" paint as a dark purple basecoat to mix with black - then the GW paint "Genestealer Purple" to water down and layer on as a glaze on the "veins".  This didn't work quite as well as I hoped but the final result is good enough for tabletop, I feel.

   The Lion body I ended up using Vallejo Khaki on as a base.  Then I mixed in Vallejo Dark Sand to brighten it - again layering it on quite dilute to control it so that I kept the recesses dark where I had used an Agrax Earthshade wash.

  Very close to finishing the entire Dark Elf army now!  Only things left are a Witch Elves unit and four stands of command figures.  Very satisfying progress this year.

Warmaster: Dark Riders

Forgot to upload these!

With these three Dark Rider units complete I have almost finished my entire Dark Elf army for Warmaster.  All that remains are command stands and a unit of Witch Elves to get to 2000 points.

I need to get a proper neutral background for taking photos as my Dad advised.  Even adjusting values here in GIMP makes things seem washed out or very grey.

Warmaster: Dark Elf Cavalry

I have something to show off, hurrah!

I'm up to 9 painted units so far this year, now!  All three of my Cold One Cavalry units and the first Dark Rider unit for my Dark Elves!

I have a new camera that I am getting used to - the colours seem a bit washed out.  I tried fixing it in GIMP but I might need to play with the settings next time around.

 Next up I have my remaining three Dark Rider units which I am batch painting after I think the test unit went so well.

Warmaster: Dark Elf Crossbowmen

Some more Dark Elves!

https://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1540288.jpg

^ I tried to base my Dark Elves on something a bit different - super pale, unearthly skin - like vampires, and weird gold.  For the armour I used the new Retributor Gold from GW, washed it with the new Coelia Greenshade - then highlighted with Chainmail.  For the flesh it's Rakarth Flesh then after the wash Vallejo Heavy Warmgrey.

I wanted them to look - Lovecraftian, nasty, like they marched out of the sea to attack their warmer cousins.

Anyhow - polished off these two crossbowmen units.  I have some Corsair models that I might paint up in future to proxy crossbows but right now I'm just trying to scrape 2000 points and say that I've finished another army.

Warmaster: Dark Elf Spearmen Brigade

Not one, not two, but three Dark Elf Spearmen units!

It can be disheartening attempting a "block painting" of several units at once, but the pay off is worth it!

 My mobile phone camera didn't want to co operate today so the photos aren't of a great quality, but these aren't high detail units so that's not a big problem.

These fellows are painted the same way as my first unit, using a lot of the new GW colours that didn't have analogues before.  Snow is some Woodland Scenics a friend from the game forums kindly sent me.

These fellows are painted the same way as my first unit, using a lot of the new GW colours that didn't have analogues before.  Freehand symbols were found by simply using internet image search to find "Dark Elf Banners".  A while ago, GW released a couple of "uniforms and heraldry" books for Empire, High Elves and Skaven.  The High Elf one had 3 pages filled with nothing but runes to use.  Dark Elves apparently never had anything like that so most of their jagged symbols seem to be improvised rather than "canon".

Warmaster Game Day: Dark Elves vs. High Elves

  On Sunday 8th January, 2017, our local gaming club ran a little "Games Day" for Warmaster!

  The plan this year is to have about half a dozen such days - where we can run the games which interest us and we feel others might be willing to have a go at with a loaner army even if they don't have the models / rules themselves.

  My fellow club-member Denis wrote up the first match of the day from his perspective as I taught the rules to his son using a spare army I had brought along.

  Denis took some photos of the 2nd game of the day for us; his Dark Elves vs my High Elves.

  Denis's army is a work in progress as the models for DE are hard to get hold of, nowadays.  As a result, he plumped out his list with magic items, which don't normally give a very good return on investment in Warmaster.  Operative word there being "normally".  With a bit of luck and cunning they can be a decisive factor if you get the right unit in the right place!  The downside of this for Denis is that his break point is lower, meaning it should be easier to destroy enough units to defeat him...

Dark Elf Army, 1500 points
----------------------------------------------------------------
 230 -  3 Spearmen
     -  1 Battle Banner (50)
 125 -  1 Crossbowmen
     -  1 Banner of Shielding (50)
 345 -  3 Dark Riders
     -  1 Banner of Fortitude (50)
     -  1 Sword of Cleaving (10)
 290 -  2 Cold One Knights
     -  1 Banner of Steadfastness (30)
  55 -  1 Bolt Thrower
 255 -  1 General
     -  1 Crown of Command (100)
  90 -  1 Hero
     -  1 Sword of Destruction (10)
 110 -  1 Sorceress
     -  1 Ring of Magic (30)
----------------------------------------------------------------
1500 - 10/5

Denis deployed in the corner, concentrating his forces and forcing me to come to him.

High Elf Army, 1500 points
----------------------------------------------------------------
 180 -  3 Spearmen
 225 -  3 Archers
 220 -  2 Silver Helms
 200 -  2 Reavers
 190 -  2 Chariots
  70 -  1 Giant Eagles
  65 -  1 Elven Bolt Thrower
 180 -  1 General
  80 -  1 Hero
  90 -  1 Wizard
----------------------------------------------------------------
1500 - 14/7

For myself, I deployed in a typical pattern - all infantry in the centre with cavalry on each far flank.

---


High Elf Turn 1

My first game against Denis's turn was characterised by my battle line barely even moving.  However, I was off to a strong enough start I thought, here.  The main block of infantry stubbornly refused to move, however, and more importantly, my elite Silver Helms cavalry dug their heels in too.


Dark Elf Turn 1

Denis's Dark Elves steered out to meet me.  I felt that I had a chance to bring things to a speedy conclusion...


High Elf Turn 2

Best laid plans of mice and uh... elves!  My chariot line shuffled forward into charging range... Then failed their command, even with the General's beedy eye on them!  All infantry failed to move and my elites shuffled forward towards enemy crossbows and spears but no furth.


Dark Elf Turn 2

Denis wasted no time in mashing his elite Cold One cavalry into my Chariots and Reavers, breaking the back of one of my flanks.  Shooting and magic confused some of my Silver Helms, putting paid to my hopes of a decisive blow with them.  Bolt Throwers wheeled closer to my infantry...


High Elf Turn 3

An attempt to claw back some kills ended very badly for my surviving cavalry on the left flank.  The Silver Helms that were still in order finally were unleashed, smashing into the DE infantry - as I planted my Giant Eagles behind as a threat to support them.  My infantry shuffled forward but there were no great marches, there.


Dark Elf Turn 3

The Dark Elves mopped up the last of the light cavalry - and made an attempt to rout the Giant Eagles and Silver Helms threatening them. 


High Elf Turn 4

Another appalling round of non-commands, nothing moving except on initiative as the Giant Eagles sacrifice themselves to shield the Silver Helms from an imminent hail of crossbow bolts.


Dark Elf Turn 4

Dark Elves reposition to mop up the Great Eagles but fail to maneouvre to crush the surviving cavalry...


High Elf Turn 5

 Finally!  Some forced marches seem to be happening!  Reserves of the previously confused/lazy Silver Helms move in for the kill and the infantry surge forward and spread out, splitting off to tidy up the loose ends of some surviving Cold Ones.  At this point, though it had been getting close - the successful commands pretty much guaranteed that the low Dark Elf breakpoint was going to be reached so we called it at that.

Something I thought was going to be a relatively easy, quick game with the High Elves having the advantage of numbers became something much more interesting - and a lesson for me on the strengths of the Cold Ones and of magic items...

Warmaster: High Elves Spearmen

At last!

As the year ends - I snuck in some extra painting time and finally polished off these fellows who I have been ignoring for 3 years or so.

The command stands for some Warmaster units are so filled with detail that they can be very intimidating.

 I think I did a very good job with these chaps on horseback.  There's a lot of trim and barding which prompted me to break in a Series 7 Winsor and Newton brush because my knackered old GW brushes simply weren't cutting the mustard!

Most importantly, with these chaps, is the fact that I now have a legal High Elf army that can go to 2000 points - FULLY PAINTED!  No more bare lead or base coated models for this army at least.

Now to move on to the half dozen or so other armies who are still bare metal or black undercoated!

Warmaster: Dark Elf Spearmen

  Took awhile but I finally polished off the first rank and file Dark Elf unit!

These are resin models, very brittle and likely to break.  I am not putting as much detail into them as the High Elf models so only a rune on the banner, not on every shield!

My fancy has been taken by Blood Bowl, lately, so I'm probably going to be taking a break from Warmaster for a little bit.

Warmaster: Final High Elf Reavers

After a small delay, I have finished the final (for now) unit of High Elf Reaver cavalry for Warmaster.

I'm quite proud of these.  You can see my painting evolve somewhat through the High Elf units.  They don't quite have the consistency of the Chaos army because they are trickier to paint.  I picked a weird colour scheme which relies on two washes, and I changed a couple of colours through necessity from one unit to the next.

The flesh, blond hair and wood all use brown or red-flesh washes, whereas the majority of the model takes the new, dark blue Drakenhof Nightshade wash from GW.  Earlier units used Asurmen Blue, an earlier wash that is no longer produced.

3D Print Test: Mayan Pyramid

I was visiting a friend the other day who has a small 3D printer.

Anyone who knows me will know that I spend an inordinate amount of time looking through forums and websites always looking for "bits" or terrain odds and ends that could be useful for something now or in 10 years in the future "when I get around to it".

One of the things I've been thinking about is jungle / Lustrian style terrain for Warmaster, that I could probably also use for Epic in future.  That means Mayan or Aztec style pyramids or ruins.  It's not a popular setting for wargaming so not many people make them, and when they do, they're for Pulp adventure settings in the 15mm to 28mm scales.

The thing is, with a 3D printer, you can /tell/ it what scale to print in.

We went on "Thingiverse", which is a website where people share their basic 3D print files, and looked for pyramids. 

This fellow was a 6cm temple that took about a 80 minutes to print.  I knew it would be too small but I wanted to see how it would turn out.  It is 6cm along it's sides. A 10cmx10cm base one would have have taken 4 hours or so but of course would be proportionally much bigger.

It has me thinking - that I should get into Google Sketchup, and see if I can make something more fitting to the cartoonier 10mm scale of Warmaster and make a base that I could print different sizes from.

 

Warmaster Battle Report: Chaos vs. Orcs

  I was invited to my friend Mark's house for a rematch of Warmaster!

We both decided to go for a 2000 point - a - side game, with Mark taking his customary Orc & Goblin list and Chaos for myself.

My army list was:

Chaos Army, 2000 points
Warmaster Armies
----------------------------------------------------------------
 300 -  2 Chaos Warriors
 180 -  3 Chaos Marauders
 270 -  3 Marauder Horsemen
 205 -  1 Chaos Knights
     -  1 Sword of Fate (5)
 120 -  4 Chaos Hounds
 285 -  3 Chaos Chariots
  65 -  1 Harpies
 110 -  1 Chaos Spawn
 125 -  1 General
 160 -  2 Hero
 180 -  2 Sorcerer
----------------------------------------------------------------
2000 - 18/9

EDIT: Mark has corrected me with the correct list:

Orc Army, 2000 points
Warmaster Armies
----------------------------------------------------------------
360 - 6 Orc Warriors
110 - 1 Black Orcs
150 - 5 Goblins
110 - 1 Trolls
330 - 3 Boar Riders
180 - 3 Wolf Riders
150 - 1 Giant
150 - 2 Rock Lobber
195 - 1 Orc General
- 1 Crown of Command (100)
160 - 2 Orc Hero
45 - 1 Orc Shaman
60 - 2 Goblin Shaman
----------------------------------------------------------------
2000 - 22/11 

I finally have not just a fully painted Chaos army, but enough units painted that I have different options to try out in my list.  For this one I went for almost the maximum light cavalry that I could have for the points, as Chaos command is expensive, with a minimum unit cost which is likewise a bit pricey.

I went for a terrain dense board as usual, I hadn't brought out my cliff / pass terrain for a while so I thought I'd put it down as a dominant feature in the centre.

My favourite way of setting up, as suggested in the rulebook, is to write down roughly where your brigades are on a piece of paper as your opponent does the same.  The scale of Warmaster means that even at 2000 points on a 6` by 4` table you can keep your forces entirely on one side of the table.  Rather than doing the "I place one unit, you place one" which usually ends up with everyone trying to counteract one another and spreading out in a thin line - this way usually ends up with more interesting games where opponents double guess one another then have to compensate for miscalculations.

Deployment

This is the initial setup, Mark's Orcs all cosied up on one side, cavalry on the flanks, artillery in the middle.  As for myself, I am pretty evenly spread out in infantry and cavalry brigades.

Orcs Turn 1

 Mark won initiative but didn't have much luck with his command rolls.  He made a bit of an error in putting his elite Black Orcs unit directly behind his Giant.  When a Giant fails an order you have to roll on the "Oh No, What's He Doing, Now?" chart.  In this case, he ran backwards, engaged the Black Orcs and crippled them!

He plugged some gaps  in the terrain with his cavalry but most everything else wasn't too interested in moving.  Orcs managed a nasty "Gerroff!" spell (the bane of my life) which broke my main cavalry formation and sent a Marauder Cavalry unit off the table.

Chaos Turn 1

 I had a lot of movement in my turn, all infantry marching forward to the hills, all cavalry moving up, as my Marauder Cavalry remained stubbornly off table.

Orcs Turn 2

  A much more aggressive turn, with a wall of goblin Wolf Riders crashing into my chariots, and a Giant clashing with my Chaos Warriors on the hill.  However, the Wolf Riders only managed a few wounds before withdrawing, allowing me to sweep in and destroy them all!  The Giant didn't do so well against me, and brimming with over-confidence, I attempted to pursue him and was taught a lesson in how tough monstrous creatures can be! I limped off with just one stand remaining, but the Giant was severely wounded and reduced to half strength.

Chaos Turn 2

 Harpies managed to get the drop at the rear of Mark's army, moving behind the remaining Black Orcs and Rock Lobber units near the centre.

My Chaos Chariots charge a brigade of Orc Boyz who had been following up the Wolf Riders and destroy them!

A foolhardy infantry group of mine attempt to charge some Boar Boyz, doing some damage but end up being crippled.

My Chaos Marauder Cavalry finally come back on the table and sweep to the left, hoping to maybe flank the Giant or move to threaten the artillery in the centre.

The elite cavalry including some Chaos Knights pushes forward from one piece of cover to another in order to challenge the Boar Boyz.

Orc Turn 3

The Giant attempts another movement, but can't get into combat, instead hurling a stone at a remaining Chaos Warrior stand which is driven back!

The enraged Boar Boyz crush the last of the Chaos infantry at the loss of one of its own units.

The artillery finally had some targets to shoot alongside goblins hiding in the treeline but failed to take out the remnants of the Chaos Chariot units on the left flank.

Chaos Turn 3

My cavalry move forward, destroying a surviving Boar Boyz unit and not doing a very good job of attacking a reserve brigade of Orc Boyz.

Everything else refused to move, but on initiative my Harpies rear charged the Black Orcs defending the artillery section and destroyed them, but did not do so decisively enough to have the momentum to move into the Rock Lobbers and destroy them as well.

Conclusion:

At this point in the game, I had lost a lot of stands, but Mark had lost more individual units.  He had lost:

3 Orc Boyz units
3 Wolf Rider units
2 Boar Boy units
1 Black Orc unit

But I had only lost:

1 Chaos Warrior unit
1 Chaos Marauder Infantry unit

At this point, he conceded.  I was definitely close to losing several units, but only needed to destroy a couple more of his to earn a victory.

I consistently complain about Orcs having cheap spellcasters in their games, but having a General who only has a command of 8 can be a pretty big impediment as I saw.  Mark attempts to counter act this by using the Crown of Command magic item.  It's powerful, to be sure, but it's 100 points, a big investment for any army.

Overall a good game which could have gone either way!

Warmaster: More High Elf Reavers

Reaver unit two out of three finished!

I've had a couple of questions about the banners my cavalry units have.  They are actually plastic 28mm Warhammer High Elf and Wood Elf plastic pieces.  They are the ribbons from White Lion axes and the flag ends from banners of the Wood Elf infantry.

I filed them down and superglued them as best I could to the banner poles which are bare in the case of High Elf cavalry in the original metal.

Unit number three is on my workbench...

Warmaster: High Elf Reavers

  I once again thought that I could set up a "factory line" to paint 3 units of these at the same time, and once again got sick of seeing them.

   I don't know how people do that; line up dozens of stands or models, no matter the scale, and work on them in batches.  I just feel like I'm not achieving anything.  I need the "hit" of seeing some finished that I can show off or I lose all interest.

   So I have finished my first batch of High Elf Reaver cavalry and I am pretty proud of them.  Ideally I want to get the other two finished sharpish and then move onto Spearmen so I have a legal 2000 point army.

 

Warmaster Battle Report: High Elves vs. Chaos

  I have, off and on, taken photos of many club nights or games that I have played.

They are rarely good, and by the time I remember to do them I realise that I have a very incomplete reference of a battle, usually half a turn in or at the very end when things are half tidied away!

This past Friday, however, I made the effort of taking them after each player's part of a turn, to give a clearer sense of movement and casualties.

It's hardly a 90s White Dwarf feature but I scribbled on the photos with Paint Tool Sai and I think it's pretty readable, with some narration...

Deployment

This was a game put on at the last minute using all my own terrain and models, painted, for the first time ever!  We had to settle at ~1300 points, a bit unusual but that's what I had to hand.  I believe the lists were:

High Elf Army, 1315 points
----------------------------------------------------------------

120 -  2 Spearmen

150 -  2 Archers

440 -  4 Silver Helms

190 -  2 Chariots

65 -  1 Elven Bolt Thrower

180 -  1 General

80 -  1 Hero

90 -  1 Wizard
----------------------------------------------------------------
1315 - 11/6

Vs.

Chaos Army, 1300 points
----------------------------------------------------------------

300 -  2 Chaos Warriors

120 -  2 Chaos Marauders

180 -  2 Marauder Horsemen

120 -  4 Chaos Hounds

285 -  3 Chaos Chariots

125 -  1 General

80 -  1 Hero

90 -  1 Sorcerer
----------------------------------------------------------------
1300 - 13/7

I was playing High Elves and my friend Mark was playing Chaos.  I went over the points limit slightly for High Elves, but Chaos were allowed 4 chaos hound units to compensate; something normally only allowed at the 2000 points level.

We both had a solid brigade of core infantry, but we knew that it would be the cavalry that would win or lose the battle, as is often the case in Warmaster.

Chaos Turn 1

  Mark's Chaos Horde (mostly) advanced with confidence, creating a battle line that looked quite solid from my side.  Only a couple of chaos hounds units on a flank failed to heed the call of Tzeentch.  Lacking in missile weaponry, he waited to see my opening moves.

High Elf Turn 1

 I decided to take a risk with my High Elves and split them, even as my infantry core failed to advance into position!  I put my Eagles right beside the Chaos chariots threatening to the right, in the hopes of forcing them to pull back or expose a flank to my own chariots.  Chaos Hounds threatened from the rear but I felt the Eagles worth sacrificing in order to sieze this side of the board.

My Silver Helm cavalry on the left split into two units of two, one blocking the way of the Chaos Marauder Cavalry, the other awaiting to see how Mark's core battle line would move.

My Bolt Thrower artillery crept forward just enough to get an enemy chariot unit in sight and, to my amazement, all 6 shots hit, and all 6 armour saves were failed, crippling the unit and pushing it back in a state of confusion, losing 2 out of its 3 stands!

Chaos Turn 2

  Enraged by my nasty elven habit of shooting poxy arrows from afar, Mark charged his Marauder cavalry through the wooded area on the left to meet my silver helms head on.  A tough struggle ensued, but Chaos fell back and were destroyed, allowing my Silver Helms to push forward in a combat reform and threaten his rear.

Mark moved his reserve Chariot unit to threaten my own reserve Silver Helms in the centre.

On the right hand side the Chaos Hounds were whipped into advancing but slavered and dug their heels before they could strike my Eagles.

High Elf Turn 2

 

  Fresh from defeating the Chaos Marauder Cavalry on the left flank, the remains of my Silver Helms crashed into two units of Chaos Hounds in the flank and rear, ensuring their doom.

A series of successful commands saw the remaining Silver Helms bypassing the intercepting Chaos Chariot unit and crashing into the brigade of Chaos infantry.

Meanwhile, my infantry were roused from their lethargy and pushed forward along with the bolt throwers, meaning that they could shoot at the lone Chaos Chariot unit, damaging it and putting it into confusion.

On the right hand side, my chariots crashed into Mark's Chaos forces, supported by the Eagles, destroying not just the two Chaos Chariots that had been worrying me, but also a Chaos Hound unit.

At this point, Mark had reached his breakpoint of seven units lost, so we called the match there before doing the Silver Helms on Chaos infantry combats.

RESULT:

Chaos: 7 units lost (Approx. 490 points)
High Elves: 0 units lost (Approx. 145 points)

Conclusion:

This was, I believe, the fastest game of Warmaster that I have ever played.  I also believe it is one of the very, very few times that I have won.  We played on a simple battlefield and our armies were just big enough to allow a range of units to use.  Mark's luck deserted him for a couple of crucial command and combat dice rolls, which paved the way for me to push him towards his breakpoint, by destroying his "glass cannon" units of light cavalry.