Blog Wars Appears on the Horizon...

Ken and I shall be attending Blog Wars in a few short weeks, and he came down to visit for a couple of days for some practice games. We figured we'd get used to our armies and the missions and such.

Well.

I played one mission with my Blog Wars list. It was such a MASSIVELY crushing defeat that I thought it best to break out the guard so that Ken had something to actually TEST his army against, rather than just club baby seals. It's not that ken has done a power list - it's effective, don't get me wrong, but there's nothing hideous about it. It's just that my army... well... kinda sucks. Ken tried to polish a turd by saying Tau were a bad matchup for it, but I think I will really struggle in the upcoming tournament. Mission 3 I think just REALLY is not going to suit my army at all unless my opponent does something drastically stupid, and on the other two missions I am VERY reliant on going first to close the distance so that only half my units die before reaching combat, instead of all of them.

The problem? I can't change my list. I haven't designed this list with Blog Wars in mind, nor any tournament. Hell I barely put any thought into playing games with this army. I have designed it purely to theme... and it does as well as you might expect given that is the case. Now my Star Wars Guard army was also to theme, though 14 years of Guard experience carried me on that one to a mediocre record of wins/losses. Playing an army I played for the first time yesterday... I doubt this will end well.

On the bright side, there is a £5 gift voucher for coming last, and a certificate nd a spoon. So I may not leave the venue empty handed after all...

 

So, onto the list. Obviously I'm not particularly after advice or feedback here, I haven't the time or the models to change anything even if I was inclined to. I'm just putting it all out there. I'll start with the list from the codex, so you can all see what I have. I'll include details where necessary to clarify. Then I'll follow it up with the background info on the army, so that the eclectic collection of units may start to make a little more sense...

The List

HQ - Warlord. Special Character. Duke Sliscus - 150

T - 20 Kabalite Warriors, inc Sybarite and 2 Splinter Cannons - 210

T - 10 Wyches inc Hekatrix w Agoniser, and 2 wyches with Shardnets and Impalers. Squad Haywire Grenades. - 170
ded tran Raider, enhanced aethersails, grisly trophies, flickerfields - 80

T - 10 Wyches inc Hekatrix w Agoniser, and 2 wyches with Shardnets and Impalers. Squad Haywire Grenades. - 170
ded tran Raider, enhanced aethersails, grisly trophies, flickerfields, torment grenade launchers - 85

FA - Beastmaster w power weapon, 2 flocks razorwings - 52

HS - Ravager, enhanced aethersails, grisly trophies, flickerfields - 125

F - Aegis Line with Quad Gun - 100

HS - Cronos Parasite Engine, spirit vortex - 100

HQ - Kharadruakh - 140

E - 10 Mandrakes inc Nightfiend - 160

E - 10 Mandrakes inc Nightfiend - 160

FA - 5 Scourges inc Solarite and 2 heat lances - 144

Total - 1846

For clarification;

Agoniser - Power Weapon that always wounds on a 4+
Shardnet and Impaler - reduces attacks of any enemy in base contact
Enhanced Aethersails - Vehcile can move an additional 2D6" but no shooting or disembarking allowed
Grisly Trophies - A friendly unit within 6" of the vehicle can reroll LD tests
Flickerfields - 5+ inv save
Torment Grenade Launcher - Any enemy unit within 6" is at -1 morale. They must also pass an LD test to assault the vehicle.

Dark Eldar units have Power through Pain - each time they kill a unit they gain a pain token, giving them increasing bonuses (Feel No Pain, then Furious Charge, then Fearless)

So, on to the reasoning behind all this...

Several years ago, Ken and I regularly attended a doubles combat patrol tournament. We did some cool theme armies (such as xbox inspired Halo Marines) and we struck on the bright idea of doing Pirates vs Ninjas. Well I set to it with wild abandon, only for them to change the campaign pack from the previous year... my army was not legal. So we took something else, but I always had it sat on my shelf looking at me. Eventually I expanded the two combat patrol forces into the Pirates working with Ninjas list that I shall be taking to Blog Wars.

Funnily enough, these aren't really accurate Pirates... they are somewhat inspired by popular culture of Pirates/Ninjas, and therefore are rather heavily influenced by Pirates of a Caribbean nature it has to be said...

So, to flesh out the bare bones of the above list...

HQ - Warlord. Special Character. Duke Barbosa - 150
He may have taken the Kings shilling for now, but he has his own designs. He is an expert in poisons and knows how to get to the edge of the world... and back...

T - 20 Men of the Crown, including Staff Sergeant and 2 Weapon specialists - 210
 Provided to Barbosa for his quest

T - 10 Scurvy Dogs mad enough to sail into the abyss! - 170
ded tran The Pearl, full sail and full rum stores! For now... Keep a weather eye out for Elizabeth - 80
The fastest ship around, with a crew half mad according to Mr Cottons Parrot...

T - 10 Souls doomed to stalk the seas in service to Davy Jones - 170
ded tran The Dutchman, full sail, plenty of rum, and a terrifying sight to behold! - 85
Striking fear into seamen everywhere, the Dutchman will ask a question... do you fear death?

FA - Cap'n Jack. Riding a couple of roped sea turtles and surrounded by a whole menagerie of creatures. - 52
With human hair, I might add... from his back...

HS - The Dauntless - 125
Its said she's the power in these waters...

F - The old Sea Wall and Harpoon - 100
I doubt we shall see the likes of the White Whale again, but we may be able to nap something...

HS - The Grox and Maiden - 100
If this place scares you, then NEVER go to Singapore...

HQ - Ronin - 140
He lacks a master, and stalks the shadows in pursuit of his own ends...

E - The League of Shadows - 160
They seek justice... in the most violent way...

E - The Division of Darkness - 160
In much the same business as The League of Shadows and the Conference of Shady Places...

FA - BATMAN. And some friends. - 144
Don't worry, he's given them something better than hockey pads...

Total - 1846

For clarification;

Agoniser - It looks like a big whip!
Shardnet and Impaler - It's a net, looks very nautical
Full sails - They're sails, I HAD to include the upgrade...
Rum supplies - The sight of spare rum will keep the spirits of any pirate up...
Flickerfields - 5+ inv save
Torment Grenade Launcher - The Dutchman is terrifying to behold, therefore... Any enemy unit within 6" is at -1 morale. They must also pass an LD test to assault the vehicle.

Pirates(and begrudgingly Ninjas) have Power through Rum - each time they kill a unit they have a drink, making them increasingly inebriated (Deadened Pain Senses, Increased Aggression, Invincibility... hell, we've all been there)

 The Cronos/Grox and Maiden will be able to hand out Pain/Rum tokens to units if it kills anything with it's "spirit" weapons...

The Cronos/Grox is the biggest issue in the army. It is the centrepiece, and is FAR larger than a Cronos should be, in order to make it look as I wanted it to look. To represent the template weapon I have an ogre firebelly, who has clearly had too many flaming Sambucas. To represent the Spirit Vortex, we have a bartender who can choose to start lobbing Molotov Cocktails if he feels like it. The Firebelly is stood on a table, that is th size of the base the Cronos should be on. I will measure any of my weapons/area of effect powers from THAT table, so as to gain no advantage from my modelling. I will allow my enemies to target any part of the model if they wish, so as to give no possible disadvantage to them. if they wish to play to how the model "should" be, then the firebelly on the table should be a fairly accurate height/size to represent the Cronos.

The ninja contingent was the toughest part of this task. I decided early on the Mandrakes were a good choice, but how to paint something that was half skin so that it looked mostly black was a real tricky proposition for me. And if I did do them in mostly black, would I give them different bases to the Pirates? Would I then make a display board with different areas for my forces to sit on? In the end, with time running out, I won't be doing a display board, so will assume the ninjas have broken from the shadows and are running across the sand with the pirates. Besides, the contrast between the bright base and the dark model looks good...

Anyway, with only 40 infantry an aegis and a Grox and Maiden to paint in the next three and a bit weeks, I'm not sure how many posts I'll have time for between now and Blog Wars... I shall endeavour to keep you all updated, but if I have time to post I should probably be painting!