Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Vladimir rises...

The vampire Lord glided his hand over the beasts hide... Scales, flesh and bone exposed. The creature let out a deafening roar and spread its wings, tattered and rotting they may be. It could tell its master was pleased and his master had good reason to be pleased. The undead latests skirmishes had done well in Mantica. The Necromancers of his legions had done well and produced the highest quality zombies and Revenant, full of rabid anger and skilled battle alike.

The vampire Lord was young when he was turned, born into a Royal family and air to the throne. It was a still night at a Royal banquet in his house of grandeur. Food stacked higher then the highest mountains, drink deeper then the seas and colours brighter then the sun. Inside the smell of the feast was heavy, laughter was loud and spirits were high.

Outside the air was cold, the night was still and the sky was black. A vampire was on the hunt.. He saw the light in the castle like a beacon. He heard the roars of laughter, the smells of food and the pouring of wine. He made haste, he ran towards the castle and cut down the guards faster then knew they were dead. The door of the great hall slammed open, the great hall fell silent as they stared at the monster. Blood dripping from his mouth, his pauldrons of silver reflecting the many colours that surround him.

Then the chaos started, screams, the blood shed, the room so alive but for so different reasons. Blood poured as easily as wine, screams filled the room and the meat now ready to feast on for the vampire was for the taking. It did not last long before the room was dead, apart from one. The young prince, was not. The vampire was saving him for last, for his fate was worse then death. He had lived a life full of luxury, full of grandeur and full of entitlement. The vampire grabbed the young prince and lunged his teeth into his neck, but not to kill. The prince screamed and rolled in anger, to be left lying there in a pool of blood.

Vladimirs mind snapped out of the memory of when he turned as he sensed his Necromancer walking up the stone stairs to speak to him... He rotated on the spot and snapped at the frail man "What now?". Drakkil murmerred as if afraid of the vampire response, "Speak up or you won't speak again" shouted Vladimir.

"Our advances, they're being met with resistance"

Vladimirs eyes turned pure black, he slammed his fist into the wall shattering stone and roared. His teeth ablaze from the light of the moon, his armor shining as of angelic white. He shouted at the large undead dragon made by his Necromancers, specifically for Vladimir and known only by the beasts willingness to kill and loyalty to his master. "Go, Drak'Thul. Tell me what you see".

The beast lunged off the high tower and roared again, breaking the silent night and sending a warning to all those who hear. Vladimir turned to his Necromancer "Send reinforcements, I will not
personally be drawn out for such nonsense. Dispose of the enemies or reanimate them. Do not come back with any less then a slaughter of our enemies or you will feel my rage".

The Necromancer hurried away. The Undead amass once more and are ready for glorius battle.
Vladimir will not be stopped, full of rage and anger at the world he only sees glory in perfect bloodshed. His hunger for endless war will not be quenched until every last soul in Mantica is taken and raised under his name. Mantica will feel his rage and his name will be chanted by the souls of the living before they're cut down to be raised as his legions.

Monday, 1 February 2016

The Undead legions are amassing!

Hey all! Buckets Of Brains! is back and I've got really cool new toys to show you. I'm nearly at around 2000 points before any upgrades now and if all my units are taken at maximum size. I'll probably be getting 60 more zombies (40 zombies and 20 ghouls) as well as A horde of skeleton spears and then settle down for a bit and paint the undead masses.







First off, my Mounted vampire lord. This guy is from GW and his pretty incredible as well as being a solid staple in an Undead Armies List. His sword was bent way backwards but with some warm water he was able to be saved.






Next up my Liche King, again from the GW range. this is pretty perfect for what I imagined a Liche King to look like so I'm super happy with the model. 






Next up is my Cursed Pharoah, now with this guy I wasn't sure what I imagined. When i saw this model I just thought - Yes! This is what I want for him, adorned in armor and ready to smash through long ears or short legs.








I also managed to make up my 2 troops of Revenant Cavarly, these guys look really nice but sadly the spears are somewhat bendy, though with a little force they will bend back. The models are full of character however and the horses are great steeds.




And here it is all so far! I literally only have 10 skeleton archers left and that is it all made up! I now have..

Mounted Vampire Lord
Liche King
Necromancer
Cursed Pharoah
40 Zombies
40 Revenant Infantry
20 Skeleton Archers 
10 Soul Reaver Cavarly
10 Revenant Cavarly
6 Werewolves
2 Balefire Catapults

My next purchases will be 60 more zombies and a horde Skeleton Spear men, then I'm done for a long time and It's time to start painting my Skorne for the Welsh Nationals! I'm planning on running a KoW event Colchester, Essex UK at 4tk gaming in late April which should be really good. 

Thanks for tuning in, I'm going to try and get some 1500-2000 point battle reports in along the line.

What are you guys doing hobby wise, how's your collection going? Drop me a comment to let me know!

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Brains (Or lack of them) over Braum! Undead Armies face off against the brutal Ogre Armies.

Hey guys Buckets Of Brains! Is back baby and I'm pretty excited to throw down my first battle report for you. Now, it's only around 900 points and this is my 7th game and my friends first. None the less, it was a great game and I'm loving the game more and more, I have a solid grasp of the rules and I'm so excited to play some larger 1500-2000 point games.

My Undead Armies for this battle was :

Zombies - Horde
Revenant Infantry - Horde
Werewolves - Regiment
Soul Reaver Cavarly - Troop 
Liche King - Hero
Balefire Catapult - War Engine

Ogre Armies brang:

Ogre Warriors - Horde
Siege Breakers - Regiment
Shooters - Regiment
Warlord /w Two handed weapon instead of shield - Hero
Captian /w Heavy Crossbow  - Hero
Warlock /w Fireball - Hero

I won't go into any great detail for lists as well, this is what I have built bar 5 more Soul Reaver Cavarly 1 more Balefire Catapult, 3 more Werewolves and 10 Skeleton Archers. I simply made my list to my opponent points and tried to bring a little of everything. My good friend chose what he did as it's simply what he had painted. We played the kill scenario with minimal scenery as we're getting our head around the rules.




Here is the deployment, Martyn won the roll, chose his side and put down his horde of Warriors in the center of the table. I knew that if I funneled all my forces into the middle of the board I would simply be out muscled. I decided to throw the two hordes in the middle and the fast movers out on the flank, with the Balefire Catapult behind the hordes. The Liche King sat behind the horde of zombies and was within inspiring range of both hordes. Martyns army from left to right is - Shooters, Captian /w Heavy crossbow, Ogre Warriors, Warlock, Siege Breakers and lastly the Warlord on the right to contest the Werewolves. Mine from left to right is Soul Reaver Cavarly, Revenant Infantry, Zombies, Liche king behind, Balefire Catapult behind, Werewolves on the far right flank.




Turn 1 for the ogres saw the Warriors / Siege breakers make there way for the middle, the Warlord took an advance and pivoted, and the Shooters / Captain stood still. The warlock advanced to be within 24" for some lightning bolt goodness. The Shooters / Captain shot the Soul Reavers, doing a combined damage of only 1 wound and no wavering result was rolled. The lightning bolt managed to miss all 3 times sadly.




Undead turn 1! The werewolves on the right flank went a straight on the double and took there pivot due to being nimble right at the end in which I was hoping to clear the arc of sight of the Warlord, which i did not by a big margin! The Soul Reavers took a on the double on the left flank, meaning any further shooting would either be hindered completely or at least claim cover from the those nasty shooting units. The main bulks advanced, I left both units within 12" of the Warriors, knowing if one didn't crack it would be sad times for the Warriors. The Liche King advanced to retain his Inspiring on both units. The Balefire Catapult took a shot into those darn Shooters and missed.




























Ogre Armies Turn 2, we talked the charge out between us. The warriors had 18 attacks at melee 3+ with CS1. Meaning with a spike of good rolls the zombies could reasonably be within rout range after the combat. The Warriors did take the charge into the zombies, the Siege breakers took a move to threaten the Zombies if not routed. The Shooter and Captain stood still and looked down there barrels at my Revenant Infantry. Martyn was hoping between the fireball from the Warlock, and combined arms shooting from both the Shooters and Captain a big dent would be made into the Revenant Infantry. I think in total the unit suffered 7 wounds, but being -/20 a roll could not be made.
 




The Warlord took the charge into the Werewolves and yes Martyn is a commission painter and his stuff is of  the highest caliber, here's a great action shot of the warlord smashing into the Werewolf regiment. The combats were rolled and Martyn did 10 damage to the zombie horde, his initial roll of 11 on the nerve would of routed, the re roll from inspiring was sadly not enough and the Zombie horde were steady. The Warlord fluffed his rolls and only did 2 damage to the Werewolf unit, with them being 12/14 they were also steady.





Here is the scene at the end of Undead Armies turn 2. The Werewolves counter charged the Warlord, the Soul Reavers couldn't quite make it into contact with the flank of the Shooter regiment with one pivot. They took a 4" advanced, pivoted and advanced 4" more to have a guaranteed flank on the Shooters unless they moved. The Zombie horde counter charged the Warriors and the Revenant Infantry charged the flank. The Liche King threw a Bane Chant on the Revenant Infantry and succeeded. The Balefire shot at the shooters and again missed.  In the melees the Werewolves did 3 damage, lifeleeched 1 back and did not waver / rout the Warlord. The warrior unit were routed with both my units getting 1 wound back via lifeleech. My Revenant Infantry took a change facing, and my Zombies moved D6 back rolling a 1.





Ogre Turn 3! The Siege Breakers slammed into the Zombie Regiment, The Warlord counter Charged the Werewolves and the Warlock, Shooters and Captian all opened up into the Revenant Infantry. The Revenants being DE5, paired with Ogres RA5 meant they only took 5 more damage putting them on 11. Being -/20 they stayed, the Warlord did 3 more to my Werewolves putting them on 4 damage. Needing a 8 to waver and a 10 to rout they were steady.





Undead Turn 3, The Soul Reavers got the flank into the Shooters. The Werewolves counter charged the Warlord and the Revenant Infantry received a change facing order. In the shooting phase my Liche King cast his Surge (12) onto the Revenants which pushed them into melee and this a successful charge into the Siege Breakers. The Werewolves did 4, Lifeleeched 1 and didn't rout or waver the Warlord. The shooters were routed and with some incredible rolling the Siege Breakers were routed. I'm sure the Balefire Catapult shot something, but missed.





Ogre turn 4, this picture is a little out of Sync, as Martyn forgot to move his Captain which we did after the photo was taken. The Captain was marched out of arc of sight of both my units, the Werewolves were finished by the Warlord and he changed his facing. The Warlock threw a fireball into the Revenant Infantry, looking for a 10 to rout them within my inspiring they were steady.





Undead Armies turn 4, with a surge into the Captains flank and my Soul Reavers going into the flank of the Warlock, both heroes were routed my turn 4 and only the Warlord was left. He made a last stand into the Soul Reavers but was ultimately cut down by the pack of Vampires.

In the end it was a victory for the Undead Armies! It was a great game as all games are against Martyn. We had a good laugh and he got a grasp on the rule set right off the bat.

Thank you for turning in guys, and I hope you enjoyed it. The blog will feature a 1500 point game against Ratkin very soon so stay tuned! 




Tuesday, 26 January 2016

The Ogres are coming!

Hey guys! Buckets Of Brains! Is back and showing off some progress from Harlow Games club slow grow league. We kick off at 750 and week by week grow to 2k, with a different scenario and increasing point limit each week. I've just finished 10 of my 20 skeleton archers, only leaving me 10 Revenant Cavalry, Cursed Pharoah, Liche king and Mounted vampire lord to make!

This post will be showing my good friends Martyn Foster progress on his ogres because boy, they're beautiful. He is a commission painter and all of his stuff looks amazing so he deserves the spotlight. Lets take a look!




First off his unit of shooters, I love the OSL lighting on the models and the rust effects on the the guns, I dislike being shot by them.




Next up his wizard, this was a butcher from the WFB range but we think it's appropriate for his wizard which again, looks the balls!





Next up I mean.. just wow look at these guys. The model in front center will be Martyns Warlord model and is breathtaking in detail, and behind are his ogre warriors which are equally stunning.




Last but by no means least, siege breakers and his captian. Again these models are full of detail, stunning basing and rich tones.

That's it for this installment, but coming up soon is battle reports, lots of them! I nearly have 3k of Undead Armies made up, so it's time to start putting brush to model as well cracking out some 2k games.

Thanks for reading guys and drop me a comment on what you're currently working on!

Sunday, 24 January 2016

I got me some reinforcements!

Hey guys I hope you're all well! I'm back with some more undead ghoulies for my Undead Armies force.

Quick note, CanCon has hit us and it's over. With the recent discussion on the forums with Undead Armies and Elf Armies being under the spot light this is huge information for the rules comitte, and It's great to see big events being run for Kings of War. It's really exploding at the moment and I cannot wait to get my teeth into the tournament scene.






I got my second box of Soul Reaver Cavarly and was very eager to make them. This models are simply gorgeous, Ive made 5 with capes and 5 without for a few reasons. The main for me, is vampires are in my eyes beings of huge power. One vampire could cut down a hundred men, the idea of a "pack" or "group" of vampires hunting seems odd to me. I more like the idea of a pack of single vampires have joined together for a mass battle, so I'm hoping the non uniformity gets this across. Secondly, if I do want to run 2 troops rather then 1 regiment they will be easily distinguishable






Next up are my Balefire Catapults, I've fallen for these guys pretty hard and I plan to get a third pretty soon. These guys destroy stuff when the hit and Indirect Fire is the rule to have for war-engines. I'm a big big fan of these guys and very glad to have got them made.

That's it for this installment and thank you very much for reading. Drop me a comment on what you're working, how's it going or are you attending any events soon?

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Chelmsford Bunker Slow Grow League!

Hey guys and Buckets Of Brains! Is back with some slow grow league action from the Chelsmford Bunker. It goes over 2 months, kicks off at 750 points and finished on 1500 points, so pretty perfect to me as I'm new to the game.





So first off I got this! Some cool Undead Armies art and a sprue with 2 dwarves on, I'm sure I can make use of them in a base somewhere. I got this just for playing, so awesome!




Secondly my haul came in so I'm finally available to get cracking on finishing off my 2k list. Since ordering the list. playing more games and developing an understanding of the game I want to change it a bit, but for now I'll make it up and play it as I've paid for it. If I plan to attend any tournament I'll make the extra purchases. For now I'll make my Kings Of War ghoulish journey with my list I created from the start, I'm more excited to delve into higher points and really unpack the game then I am having a cookie cutter list that's for sure.




So game one was against Salamanders. For my first 750 Points I used a Necromancer /w War bow of Kala, a Horde of Zombies /w Fireoil, a regiment of Revenant Infantry, a troop of Revenant Cavarly, a troop of Soul Reaver Cavarly and a Balefire catapult.

My opponent had a troop of Regular guys, some spear guys and a big unit of smaller lizards (As you can tell I'm not well versed in the names of other armies yet) as well as a wizard with fireball. He won the roll and went first. He On the double! / Advanced, my turn 1 did the same. I left Soul Reavers in the range of the horde on the right, the Revenants advanced up to the left and the brick in the middle advanced staying out of charge range of it all.

My opponents turn 2 he went back with his skinks, forward with the central block and with the left block he went to move around the building. My turn 2 I noticed as the skinks went back and the central block went forward, my cavarly could charge the skinks and avoid the front arc of the central block by doing so. My Revenant Cavarlt changed facing and moved to be behind the building knowing one hit from the Balefire onto the troop on the left could waver / rout the unit and they have been baited into a situation in which it will take them a long turn to go around the building, but with a a Advance, pivot and a Surge i can get into charge with him safely.




Here is what it looked like after movement, as you can see the Soul Reavers passed the arc of the central block. After this, my balefire hit said troop on the left and wavered it. Following from this I managed to remove the left troop with Revenant Cavarly and I destroyed the skinks with my Soul Reaver Cavarly. So a win for the Undead!




Game 2 was against the Brotherhood of Men, noticing he had a literal 0 ranged units I knew one hit/two hits from my catapult would bag me a knight unit and get me the game. It was a cagey game with my double cav on the right holding his Paladin regiment from going anywhere, the building on the left was also an issue for the Brotherhood.  In retrospect, if he had deployed the paladin unit facing to the his right and done a On the Double order first turn he could of threatened my flank turn 2, which would of been the correct thing to do as me pivoting so I take a frontal charge from the knights may have exposed my flank to the peasants.

I got first turn, advanced and stayed out of threat of it all, turn 1 for the Brotherhood saw him advance with it all, and stay our of threat on the right of the double charge. My turn 2, I landed a hit on the left paladin unit doing 6 wounds but no wavering / rout result. We played the cagey game for one more turn with the Brotherhood staying out of my threats and me out of his. My turn 3 I landed a second hit into the left knight unit, dealing 5 more wounds and wavering it. The right flank remained the same. This forced my opponent into a knee jerk on the double with his peasants as one more hit from my warbow / balefire and his left unit were gone even with another poor nerve roll.




This allowed me to get a double charge, one in the flank and one in the front of the peasants. I wavered the unit, which was a real ball ache for the opponent as his knights what were wavered were now stuck behind a wavered peasant unit. I did however open up my rear to the knights on the right who were engaged in the stand off, but it was a hindered charge as he went through the terrain. He did 7 wounds and didn't rout my Revenant unit.




By doing so it allowed me a rear charge with my Soul Reavers and a Flank with the Revenant Infantry. In this turned I killed both the peasants and the Paladin unit in the above picture. The turn after he charged his knight unit into my untouched zombie horde. The turn after I then routed his last knight unit. Win for the undead!

The third game was against Dwarves but sadly I didn't grab any pictures. I managed a win so that's my three games done this point section of the journeyman and I manged all of them to be a win so I can't complain!

I really enjoyed the games, though at 750 it's not really a full on Rank 'n Flank game it was good to get some games in and reinforce my army rules and stats ect for my self. I think the lack of any ranged for my opponent for the first 2 games was a huge factor, as with so many troops / regiments one good hit with a balefire can swing it in your favour. The game against dwarves was messy and I got lucky with a big nerve roll on my horde of zombies.

I'm very glad to have the rest of my models so I can now start building it all and no longer have to proxy anything! Thank you for dropping and reading, I will have a 1500 battle report coming up soon which will feature Undead Armies v Ratkin, with no proxies. Make sure to tune in for that!

Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Braaaainsssss!!

Hello guys welcome back to Buckets Of Brains!

I've made a little more progress on my army, I managed to make a dent in my 40 zombies before heading off to my local games club tonight.



Here they are, I really like these guys. I think with the mutli-posing opportunity they're a really great kit if you're looking for zombies as well as reasonably priced. I also took a group of my collection of ghoulish goodness so far.


Here we go, I'm collecting the rest of my 2000 point list tomorrow which I cannot wait for. Once the models are up and running I'm going to get some battle reports going down for sure.

Thanks for tuning in, please drop a comment on how your army is going so far and what's your plans for it!