Battle report: Sylvaneth vs. Cities of Sigmar (1000 pts)

Last week, I played my first game of AoS after a long pause (I became a dad recently), against my friend Vuk. We both had new battletomes for our armies, so we were really excited to try our new stuff. Both armies went a bit over 1000 points and we decided to use one of the Meeting Engagement scenarios and ME rules for deployment and terrain/objective placement, since we played on a smaller board (in all other aspects, it was a standard game). I was playing Gnarlroot list. My main plan was to try to use support spells (like Regrowth and Verdurous Harmony) to keep my main hitting units (Kurnoth Hunters) or my Treelord Acient alive and win by attrition. Summoning Dryads and then returning models to the summoned unit with Verdurous Harmony is also one neat thing that you can do - so they an tie up important units or contest objectives.  Here are the lists:

SYLVANETH - Gnarlroot glade

Branchwych (Deepwod lore: Regrowth)
Branchwraith - general (Deepwood lore: Verdurous Harmony)
Treelord Ancient (Deepwood lore: Regrowth)
2 x Tree-Revenants
Kurnoth Hunters (bows)
Kurnoth Hunters (scythes)

Endless spells: 
Gladewyrm
Spiteswarm Hive

CITIES OF SIGMAR - HALLOWHEART

Battlemage x 3 (Whitefire Retinue battalion)
Freeguild General on Griffon
Demigryph knights
Freeguild guard
Freeguild Handgunners

I deployed Hunters with bows and Branchwych on left flank, one unit of Tree-Revenants on the right flank and everything else in the middle.

Hallowheart army goes first: wizards put up some defensive spells on General and then both he and Demigryph knights run forward, while the rest of the army cautiously advances. I use Treelord Ancient to place another Wyldwood on the table and then summon 10 Dryads and Spiteswarm hive. My army moves forward just a bit, trying to stay mostly outside of enemy charge ranges. Kurnoth Hunters with bows shoot at the General and put 6 wounds on him.

Hallowheart wins the priority for the second turn. General is healed for 3hp, then Wizards place spell that gives enemy units -1 to attack rolls against that unit (Pha's protection). Demigryph knights fail their charge on Dryads, but the General rolls 12 for charge distance and after charging and piling in, he is able to engage my Branchwraith (ouch!). However, this also brings him in combat with my Kurnoth Hunters with scythes and one unit of Tree-Revenants. General on Griffon divides his attacks between the Branchwraith and Kurnoth Hunters: he kills the Branchwraith, but scores only one wound on Hunters. In return, Kurnoth hunters and Tree-Revenants manage to put just enough wounds on General to kill him, despite having -1 to hit.  In my turn, I heal Kurnoth Hunters and fail to summon Gladewyrm. Treelord Ancient shoots at the Demygryph Knights, but fails to wound. Hunters with bows also shoot at Demigryph knights and score just a single wound. Dryds run forward and Hunters with scythes charge at the Demigryph Knights (with a huge boost from the Hive). I roll poorly and manage to kill only a single knight and put two wounds on another. However, I start leading in victory points.

Hallowheart wins the priority for the third time. Wizards fumble some spells, but they heal the Demigryph Knights and take out one of the Hunters with scythes. Handgunners shoot at Dryads and manage to kill two. Knights attack, kill the second Hunter and leave the last one with only one wound. In return, that Hunter kills one of the Knights. In my turn, I shoot with Treelord Ancient at the Demigryph knights and kill the last remaining Knight, and Hunters with bows start thinning out ranks of Handgunners.

I win the priority roll for the last turn (yay, double turn!). Gladewyrm is finally summoned and it heals the last surviving Hunter with scythe. Hunters with bows kill some more Handgunners. Both units of Tree-Revenants "jump" on the other side of the board, but despite their ability to reroll dice, I fail all their charges. Dryads charge Handgunners and wipe them out, while the Hunter with scythe charges one of the Battlemages and kills him. I control my opponent's objective as well at this point. During his turn, my opponent does not manage to clear the Dryads with his Battlemages and Freeguild guard manages to score a single wound on a lonely Hunter with scythe. In return, the Hunter wipes out half of the unit. 

SYLVANETH VICTORY!

Some observations from this game:

• Branchwraith as Gnarlroot general is a very powerful combination. Nurtured by Magic ability works great with Regrowth spell and Chalice of Nectar artifact will help you greatly with summoning Dryads and casting Verdurous Harmony. However, my Branchwraith was the first casualty of the game, so I was not able to test this theory :D
• Kurnoth Hunters with scythes were probably my best unit. They had a key role in taking out General on a Griffon, they killed two of the Demigyph Knights, one Battlemage and half unit of Freeguild guard. Regrowth or any healing ability helps a lot, because it keeps them on the table much longer. 
• Hunters with bows were also very good - they were basically artillery, always dealing some damage from far away. 
• Hallowheart can be very powerful, especially if they have access to lots of Endless spells. However, my opponent could do some things very differently and he made several bad choices during the game. For example, he could put much more defensive spells or buffs on his General, making him very hard to deal with.
• Battalions should be used carefully in 1000 point games or smaller - they eat a huge chunk of available points and may not be worth the price.

Painting Sylvaneth Endless Spells - Gladewyrm

Yeasterday, I have finished painting Gladewyrm, so now all of the Sylvaneth Endless spells are done. I'm one model away from having all my Sylvaneth models painted - there's one Awakened Wyldwood that I'll probably finish by the end of the month. After that, I can focus on painting my Khorne stuff.

Below is the quick tutorial on how the Gladewyrm was painted, so you can use it if you like the colour scheme:

• The model was primed using Vallejo white primer
• The base was fully painted with GW Contrast Gore-Grunta Fur
• Light dryrush of Vallejo Khaki was applied to the base
• Light wash of GW Agrax Earthshade was applied to the base
• Skulls were painted with Vallejo Elffic Flesh, then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade
• Vines and leaves were painted with GW Moot Green, washed with GW Biel-Tan Green and then highlighted with Vallejo Livery Green
• The worm's chitionous plates were painted with Vallejo Hexen Lichen
• The "belly" and the head of the worm were painted with Vallejo Squid Pink
• The worm was then washed with GW Carroburg Crimson
• Chitionous plates were dlightly drybrushed with Vallejo Squid Pink, then edge highlights in the same colour were applied
• A layer of Vallejo Squd Pink was applied to belly and the face of the worm (leaving darker shade in the recesses)
• Belly and the face were highlighted with Vallejo Off White
• Eyes were painted with Vallejo Livery Green
• Glowing runes were painted with Vallejo Livery Green
• Gale Force 9 static grass and some tufts were added to the base

Painting Sylvaneth Endless Spells - Vengeful Skullroot

I am slowly getting my Sylvaneth Endless Spells done - last week I finished Vengeful Skullroot. As I have mentioned earlier, there's something strange with this model - it looks a bit too happy :D Jokes aside, I have the impression that, for some reason, this tree ended up being unintentionally funny. I expected it to have "creepy tree" kind of look, but instead it's a strange floating tree with skeletons dangling from it (the slight "curve" of the trunk and short branches are only contributing tho that look). However, I like the rules and how the painted model looks on the table. Below you can find a quick guide on techniques and paints used, in case that you want a similar colour scheme.  

Painting process:

• The model was primed with GW Zandri Dust
• Bark was washed Vallejo Brown Ink
• Bark was drybrushed with Vallejo Khaki
• Very light wash of Vallejo Sepia Ink was applied to the roots
• The soulpod (?) inside the tree trunk was painted with Vallejo Livery Green and then washed with GW Hexwraith Flame
• Leaves were painted with GW Moot Green, washed with GW Biel-Tan Green then highlighted with Vallejo Livery Green 
• Skeletons were painted with Vallejo Khaki and washed with Agrax Earthshade
• The base wash done using Gale Force 9 basing kit (Summer)

Painting Sylvaneth Endless Spells - Spiteswarm Hive

Today I've finished painting The Spiteswarm Hive endless spell. It's a small model, that can be painted quickly and still look very good on the table (which is great if you're short on time). In case that you like this colour scheme, you can check out the guide below. Of course, the colour scheme is consistent with the rest of my army.
 
Painting process:

• The model was primed using Vallejo white primer
• Stone was painted with Vallejo Blue Gey Pale
• Roots were painted with Vallejo Khaki
• Both the stone and the roots were washed with GW Agrax Earthshade
• Roots were highlighted with Vallejo Kkaki (mostly edge highlights)
• Stone was drybrushed with Vallejo Off White
• Hive was washed with few coats of GW Cassandora Yellow (over the white base)
• Leaves and vines were painted with GW Moot Green, washed with GW Biel-Tan Green then highlighted with Vallejo Livery Green 
• Very light wash of GW Hexwraith Flame was applied to insects/spites, and then they were lightly drybrushed with Vallejo Livery Green
• The base wash finished using static grass and Gale Force 9 basing kit (Summer)

New army - Beasts of Chaos!

Ever since I first learned about Warhammer back in the 90s, Chaos was my favourite army (followed by Wood Elves). I really liked diversity of Chaos armies, but Beastmen were probably the most interesting. However, for some reason I never started collecting Beastmen and my two primary Age of Sigmar armies are Sylvaneth and Khorne. But recently I have finally decided to collect a small Beastmen army. In one of the buy/sell Facebook groups I follow, there was a deal that was too good to miss. So, few weeks ago, the mailman delivered all of the things on the picture below:

Besides Start Collecting set for Bests of Chaos and the latest Battletome, the deal included army dice, Morghur and Khazrak One-Eye! Since Warhammer Legends are a thing now, I will be able to play Morghur and Khazrak using AoS rules with friends who also have old(er) models.

Besides this, I have also ordered Beastmen Endless Spells and Herdstone. My plan for the Beastmen army is to keep it relatively small - I would probaby add one more Start Collecting set in the future and that's it (so I can effectively play 750 to 1000 point games). However, keeping things on a small scale would help me focus on converting and painting. Actually, one of the things that inspired me to finally start collecting Bestmen was J-P Miniatures page on Facebook: this guy has some fantastic Beastmen conversions and be sure to check his work! His Bestigors are great and I'll try to do something similar with my models. Also, since I love mixed Chaos warbands, I am planning to include some Chaos Marauder horsemen as allies. I know some may not agree, but I love the idea of corrupted humans working together with bestial mutants from the woods. 

New Sylvaneth models

Recently new Sylvaneth Battletome was published, along with new Wyldwood model and Sylvaneth Endless spells, so I got both of these last week.

Good thing about the Wyldwood is that you can still use the old model - this was covered by errata/designers commentery. I am very happy with the new battletome, because it gives a lot of options for the Sylvaneth army and you can easily find somethig interesting to play. Not only that, it also opens up some really cool painting and modelling possibilities (especially if you decide to paint your army using one of the Glades as the central theme).

Of course, one of the main things that interested me in the new book were the new Endless spells. I like the rules for all of them (and they are also very thematic) and I will be playing them on a regular basis in my Sylvaneth lists. However, when it comes to how the models look, I think that Vengeful Skullroot could be much better. The model just looks... funny? At least that's the vibe that I'm getting. This model is a great fit for Outcast/Dreadwood theme, but I would like this tree to look much more menacing. Luckily, that is something that can be easily fixed with some green stuff and a few parts from Citadel Wood kit.

Here's how the assembled models look like:

Mordheim warband update #1: The Minotaur

Recently I decided to start collecting Beastmen for Age of Sigmar. This is something that I have considered for some time, but now I finally decided to do it. I am aimig for a smaller army (between 500 and 1000 points), because I don't have plans for expanding it as much as my Sylvaneth and Khorne armies.

However, this was also a perfect opportunity to create Beastmen warband for Mordheim. We were discussing that it would be cool to finally get some Mordheim games and I knew right from the start that I would play Beastmen. I already had some spare models lying around (Beastlord, Shaman, some Gors and Warhounds) but what I was lacking was - a Minotaur. I wanted a nice centerpiece model for my warband, but GW Minotaurs were simply... ugly. No really, they look funny and their poses are not so great. I did not like the old Mordheim Minotaur model as well, so I started looking for suitable replacement.

I found the perfect model at Zealot Miniatures - this company has a nice range of fantastic minotaur models. I ordered the one called "Berserk Minotaur" an it has arrived today:

The miniature is made from resin and is of very high quality. It was also very easy to assemble. The pose is great and the model is big - almost as high as the Kurnoth Hunter, but bulkier. Here you can see how this big bad guy looks like - I don't think I need to mention that painting this miniature is going to be so much fun!

Ylthari's Guardians

Today I have finished painting the last miniature from the Ylthari's Guardians warband. Now the warband is complete and I'm looking forward to my first WHU game (but I'll have to wait for it for some time, since my son was just born few days ago :) ).

I really like the look of Ylthari's Guardians - actually, they and Farstriders were the reason why I started looking at Shadespire/Nightvault sets. However, what I'm planing to do in the future is use these guys much more in our skirmish games, because they really have a lot of character (and if you add them a single Kurnoth Hunter, you get a sweet 250 point skirmish warband).

Here's how my Ylthari's Guardians look like:

Arch-Revenant

Recently I got the Sylvaneth half of the Looncurse box, and the first mini I have painted was the Arch-Revenant. I really like the look of the miniature (actually, I wanted a Revenant hero) and the rules are also great. I used Arch-Revenant in few recent games and her ability to make Kurnoth Hunters more precise, together with the command ability allowed me to really increase the damage output of the Kurnoth hunters. In my last game against Flesh-Eater Courts, 3 Kurnoth Hunters with schytes managed to almost completely destroy a unit of 6 Crypt Flayers (they killed 5 out of 6) - rerolling 1s and having an extra attack is pretty huge!

So, here's how the finished model looks like:

New models and Nightvault

Last weekend I got some new miniatures.  I finally got my second Slaughterpriest and I also got Karanak (a few players from our local store split one "Realm of Chaos" set and nobody wanted Karanak, so I took it). This probably means that at some point in the future I will have to buy Flesh Hounds as well, but that can wait. I also got Nightvault and I am really looking forward to playing that game - I was looking for somerthing small and quick that I can play in the following months.

I will be getting some more stuff in the following weeks (new Sylvaneth endless spells and Awakened Wyldwood) and then I'm going to stop buying new models for a while and focus on painting stuff that I already have. Right now, almost all of my Sylvaneth models are fully painted (there's one more unit of Spite-Revenants and Sorceress from the Ylthari's Guardians warband), so in the next months I will probably focus on painting either my Stormcast Eternals or my Adeptus Custodes. If I can, I'll squeeze in painting some Bloodletters, too.

Old GW brochures and a bit of history

Recently, I found some old GW brochures from the 90s - they were placed in one of the binders together with some of my old illustrations. I was happy to find out that they were still in decent condition, because these brochures introduced me to the Warhammer and miniature games in general. At that time (second half of 90s) it was very hard to find GW stuff in Serbia (Yugoslavia back then). The country was recovering from war (conflict in Bosnia has just ended), economic sanctions and catastrophic inflation. There was only a handful of people who knew anything about Warhammer. I stumbled upon some of them by pure chance - they were also attending classes in the comic book workshop in Belgrade. However, it was not until I got these brochures that I realized how huge Warhammer hobby can really be. 

The first one I got from a friend that visited his relatives in Norway, the second one from a friend who spent summer with his relatives in Canada. I have no idea how I got the third one, so it's probably going to remain a mystery. It's also badly damaged - it misses the first page.

I spent countless hours just looking at these brochures. Unfortunately,  that was all I could do, because in post-crisis economy, miniatures were  considered a luxury. My parents gave me a bit of money to buy a handful  of minis - it wasn't enough for starting an army and each mini was from  a different faction, but it was enough to start a new hobby (and spark my love for Warhammer and Warhammer 40K lore in general). One thing I clearly remember regarding these brochures is  that I especially liked the picture where two guys were playing a game  on a gaming table - because I imagined doing the same with my friends. Eventually, I was able to do the same - just many years later, after I finished the college and found the job that allowed me to build my miniatures collection.

Below you can see some photos of these brochures:

 

 

 

 

New blog is up!

After some time, I have decided to set up the blog again and try upload content on a more regular basis.