Dwarves v. Chaos v. Chaos

Last night I managed to get a game in against 2 other guys from Hell's Crucible. We only had 3 people though so we decided to fight a three way battle. I'm still trying to get the basics down and advance my skills a bit so this was a stretch for me but it was lots of fun. I had a 4' by 2' rectangle on an 8' board edge and the other two were in the corners opposite me. I tried to spread out the warmachines and quarrelers evenly so that I could slow down both sides and then move my infantry blocks to help out whichever side was going to get hit first. I didn't make notes of their lists or even what specifically happened each turn so I'll just give some of the highlights and then some reflection on what I could have done better. The army to my left ran some Chosen Knights and Warriors with a big block of Marauders. He used Valkia with the Warriors. On his far corner was the Troll King with 6 troll friends but they ignored me for the duration of the game. On my other side were 2 huge blocks of Marauders, a small unit each of Marauder horsemen and Knights and then a unit of Chaos Chosen. His lord was a Daemon Prince that was pretty nasty up until about turn 3.

My early turn shooting didn't do much, I think I took a wound off of the troll king with my bolt thrower and that's about it. By the end of turn 1 I had a DP throwing some nasty spells (his treason of tzeentch got max power and hits both times it was cast) and by the end of about turn 2 my unit of Hammerers was down to 2 plus the Lord on his shieldbearers. After bringing that unit down a good bit the DP killed my bolt thrower crew and then tried to kill the organ gun crew but left one man standing. That same turn my Ironbreakers got flank charged by Chosen Knights and then by Valkia in the front. 5 IBs dead and nobody dead back and I was running for the hills, their short little legs failed them and they were run down by the Knights. Well there went the left flank. He would have overrun into the Organ Gun but he wanted me to gun down the DP, so I obliged the next turn and managed to hit and wound with all 10 shots, of which he only saved 3. Demon prince splatter mark. Next few turns weren't too exciting. In turn 5 my longbeards and thane got a flank charge in on the chaos knights from my right-hand opponent. I did one wound and the knights broke from combat. He rolled a 3 for his flee and I was actually able to run them down! Go longbeards! That turn my lord and his 2 hammerers left charged the chaos chosen from the right-hand opponent and locked them into combat for the remainder of the game. In my final turn I got them below half-strength so at least they took some VP for me. In turn 6 I also managed to line up an organ gun shot between two units right at Valkia. She got the same treatment as the Demon Prince. Both lords fell to the might of the organ gun, I can't get enough of this thing. I also managed to burn down a handful of marauders with the gyrocopter and take them below half strength.

My turn 6 exploits managed to put me into 2nd in VPs for the battle, it's not a win but I'm still quite happy with it. For next time I really need to re-do the runes on the lord's weapon as he really lacks any killing power as I have him set up right now. Organ gun and gyro were wonderful, again. I'm not sure about the cannon and the Bolt Thrower. They both caused some wounds but nothing tremendous, then again it is probably user error here so they will stay in the list. I want to keep the list the same as far as models go right now and just modify who has which runes (though the lord is really the only one who needs it) and maybe give the longbeards great weapons instead of HW and Shield.

Some progress

Just finished up 5 Ironbreakers. This includes the entire command for the unit. I'm really happy with how quickly they came together. One day of painting chainmail all over and then another for all the other colors and details. Badab Black wash is fast becoming one of my favorite painting tools. Ever. I really love the sculpts for the IBs, so old school but still awesome, they hold their age much better than some of the other old sculpts. They were a lot of fun to paint and I just can't get over how cool they look. I don't think my wallet or my fiancee would appreciate doing an Undrin Ankor force? Ahwell.

Also started thinking about doing a Wood Elves army today. I know, elves! The idea of a force themed around a forest at the height of fall is so cool though. Lots of brown but with subtle reds, oranges and just a hint of yellows throughout. I don't know much about the elves so I will read up on them but my next purchase might just have to be a WE codex and battalion.

The joys of rank and file

Got 5 Longbeards about 90% finished today. I don't have my washes with me so when I get them I'll be able to finish out the 5. That brings the unit up to 15 painted out of 25. This will be the first unit in the army that's fully painted, and shamefully, my first fully painted unit since I started playing. Gaming next weekend at Hell's Crucible if I don't have to work. I have a core army list that I am trying to get the right balance as far as runes go so I will keep tweaking that. I'm still learning the tactics and some of the trickier rules but I feel that every game I play I learn more and more and have more success the next time I play.

Saw some more Space Wolf rumors yesterday, as much as I am trying to avoid them I couldn't resist. I want to have a "pure" experience with them when I first get my hands on the codex so I'm trying not to spoil that by reading rumors.

I have 1 squad of "veteran" grey hunters (Sternguard models wolfed up) and a rune priest painted in the scheme I will be using for my whole army. I also have about 2 full squads of Grey Hunters painted in an old, terrible color scheme that I am trying to decide if I should strip the paint and salvage them or just wait until the new models come out and have a complete force of the new ones. Maybe a mix of the two? We shall see.

Will try to get some photos of the longbeards in all their glory once I can put some washes on the 10 in the unit that do not have them.