Standing on the shoulders of Giants

So, one of the things I enjoyed most about last Fridays game, was the fact that I got to use a unit of Giants! As a former WHFB player I haven't seen units of Giants since 3rd edition, as since then they have been classed a lone monster. This got me thinking that it would be nice one day to get all my giants on the battlefield, either in a Giant Kings army or as part of a "big game". To whet my appetite, I dug out some of my giants for a photo shoot.

Old Marauder giant - one of my favorite figures of all time, re-based for AoA.

Giant of Albion converted into an Ogre Kingdom Slave Giant

Another Marauder giant - this time pretty extensively converted.

GW giant, last metal giant before they went to plastic kits I believe.

Fe fi fo fum ask not whence the thunder comes! Group shot.

And finally the big daddy, affectionately known as Andre to his friends! A forgeworld piece that they sadly don't make anymore.

I know that I  have one of the new style plastic giants painted somewhere, but I cant find him at the moment. I'm also confident that somewhere in my hobby room I have both of the Giants of Albion that need to be assembled  and painted. Hopefully some time soon I can get all these gentlemen completed and based for something special - maybe if all the guys get their giants together as well it would be truly spectacular!

StokeRogue

To battle! (Friday 21/2/14)

Fridays game at the club saw my Orcs take on Ade's Chaos for the second time. Dave and Jason also came along, although they were happy to watch and pick up the rules. 3500 points was the agreed total and for only the second time we decided it was O.K. to use wizards (we left them out of the first few games to concentrate on the basic rules).

This game was no tactical master class by any means, pretty much just a straight up slug-fest until 1 side broke. In the end the Orcs lost by failing their army morale roll, although the Chaos army was only just above the threshold for testing themselves.

This was a very interesting game for a number of reasons. Firstly, Ade had really beefed up the Chaos warriors since our first game, Long weapons and 2 skill 3 attacks each made them extremely efficient in combat and they totally took my Orc units apart. Secondly, I included a unit of 2 Giants in my list. This was the first time we had used Sweep attacks and we surprised at how effective they were, especially against the lower skilled/equipped marauder units that they fought against. Finally, on a bit of a whim, I fired my own longbow Orcs into a melee between my "Runt Wagons" and some Chaos Marauders. After most of my shots missed the chaos troops I rolled to hit my own wagons and ended up destroying 2 out of the 3 in the unit, much to the amusement of everybody witnessing! Clearly I need to think a bit longer before doing that again.

When I got home I reviewed the pictures I had taken, and sadly for some reason a lot of them had not come out very well. Anyway, here is a selection of the few that did come out to give you an idea of the game. 

Ade's Chaos army before the battle. He had a mix of very expensive Chaos Warriors and Knights, with lots of cheap Marauder units!

 My 2 big Orc blocks charge the Chaos Warriors with pole arms.

A brutal combat later and 1 unit is destroyed, whilst the other legs it!

Early positions!

Some Giants about to introduce us all to "SWEEP ATTACK!"

The perfect result of any wargame - happy gamers!

Also going on at the club that night was an interesting looking Wild West game. Don't know much about the rules but the terrain was stunning.

That's all folks.

StokeRogue

Three wheels on my (pump)wagon!

Another update for my AoA Orcs. Way back when, before it became a dark grim place, the Warhammer world used to produce some nice humorous pieces like these glorious little gems - The Snotling Pumpwagon! Once again these guys were painted by Martyn (although it’s possible one might of come from a bring-and-buy - I tend to forget) and again I have given them a quick coat army painter and a rebase onto 50mm bases.

I give you "the Runt Wagons"!

I intend to use these little guys this Friday when I play Ade with his Chaos stuff. They will use the following profile.

VP: 45

Move: 12"

Wounds: 4

Armour: 2 Fixed Missile +2 Slow

Magic: 1

Morale: 9 Fearless

Melee: 8/1 Week

Missile: -

Special: Ram 4/3 Str(2)

StokeRogue

The horde assembles!

The first completed units for my AoA Orcs, 2 units of 10 Orc bowmen. These guys were again painted by my good friend Martyn Smith many years ago, but sadly they have seen little to no table-top action since the 3rd and 4th editions of Warhammer. Once again I decided they would benefit from a quick coat of Army Painter Dark Tone, and a rebase in my standard style.

Whilst I was doing these guys, I couldn't resist giving an old Gorfang Rotgut model the Dark Tone/rebase treatment. I've always loved this model and I want him to represent a major hero in my AoA list.

Finally, I bought these bad boys quite a few years ago when I had the urge to collect all of GW's lovely Dogs of War range. Can't ever recalling using them in a Warhammer game, but they at long last get the chance to shine as Greater Orc Crossbowmen! 

Apologies for the unfinished movement tray.

StokeRogue

So you can teach an old troll new tricks!

Ok, so here are some shots of some old Warhammer Trolls that have received a bit of a work-up and re-basing for AoA. These guys were originally painted by Martyn many moons ago, and were done in his characteristic bright colour schemes that were popular at the time. Although I loved this look at the time, I now tend to favour a darker look. A quick wallop with some Army Painter dark tone produced some brilliant results.

I applied a coat of matt varnish all over the Stone Trolls, but left the River Trolls bodies with the glossy finish as I thought it made them look nice and slimey!

The Trolls were based on GW standard 40mm bases, but AoA requires 50mm bases for models of this size. Rather than take them off I simply glued the whole 40mm base straight onto a 2mm thick 50mm mdf base from Warbases. A bit of polyfiller round the edges and a coat of sand completely covered the 40mm base. After that a coat of dark brown paint, a drybrush with Colour Party Paints - Stone and some static grass finished them off nicely.

These guys are going to provide the "heavy hitters" for my AoA Orc army. I have decided that Orcs will be the first of my Warhammer armies to get the full AoA treatment for 2 reasons. Firstly, I rarely used the Orcs in Warhammer because they had so many frustrating special rules that they became a real pain to play. Secondly, most of the figures are already on the correct sized bases which should speed up the job no end. With that in mind, expect  the next few update to mainly include some finished Orc units.

StokeRogue

Warhammer? We don't need no stinking Warhammer!

Hello all!

In an attempt to keep my enthusiasm high, I will post up a running account of my adventures in the world of Arcana! (With the possibility of some other wargaming bits thrown in along the way). Until recently I have always been a massive Warhammer player, I started collecting and gaming with 3rd edition back in the late 80's when I was 12 and have never stopped until about 12 months ago. As such I have amassed what I believe to be a fairly extensive collection over the years.

Essentially, without trying to turn this into a whine-fest, I fell out of love with warhammer due to 3 main reasons. Firstly, the cost was becoming increasingly outlandish. Secondly, I was fed up of older figures becoming totally useless with each new army book/edition. And finally I just felt that the game was becoming so dominated by stupid rules/units/monsters/characters/magic (delete as appropriate) that it just wasn't fun to play anymore.

That said, the 1 aspect of warhammer that I did still love was "THE SPECTACLE"! I admit it, the sight of 2 loving crafted armies battling over beautiful terrain really stirs my geek’s heart.

So, what I needed was a new game that allowed me to use my vast back catalogue of figures and pit them against each other in glorious (and ideally fast, uncomplicated) battle. Step up Armies of Arcana!

Together with my long time gaming buddy Ade, another ex-warhammerite, we took the decision to drop Warhammer from our gaming itinerary and instead throw our collective might (and believe me, collectively we are mighty indeed!) into AoA. What follows will be our journey into this new and slightly scary dimension.

StokeRogue