Dread Pageant on Parade

    With the rapid approach of the parenthood coming at us full speed, I convinced Rachel to play some Warhammer Underworlds with me. This readers, might be the last game for awhile as we will be knee deep in diaper changes and sleepless nights! Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic. This gives me a chance to play with the Dread Pageant now that they are painted. It also increases the chance of the Myari's Purifiers being painted by Rachel, as she always comments about how nice the models look once we start playing. 

Rachel (unseen 37 week baby bump under the table)

    Rachel picked me to place the board first, I chose one with no lethal hexes because I guess I am nice. While Rachel decided on one that had 3 clumped together. At first I thought the extra lethal hexes could be joined to them, like a grand canyon you'd have to see to believe! With a quick rules read, this is not the case, all hexes need to be separate. Which is good, I think the Ylthari's Guardians are still a bit bum hurt from all the falling they did last game.

    For the roll off to see who went first, Rachel and I ties, so we rolled again with the assumption that Rachel still got the extra critical for the roll for finishing placing first. She wanted me to go first, to get me in closer for her spell attacks.

My starting objectives.

    The Dread Pageant is all about giving or receiving damage to get inspired. Once 6 wounds on all surviving fighters on the board have been placed, the member just needs to finish an activation to be inspired. My first turn would be completing the Endless Revel, then the other two objectives would fall in place as they came up. Ylthari's Guardians need to remove wounds to become inspired, something which was a bit hard for Rachel as the starting deck only had 2 healing items in it. Ylthari makes it a bit easier to inspire, critical hits on a spell attack will remove wounds (even if she has none).

Glissete, the best a man can get, charges in to miss completely at the leader.

    While I don't believe charging head long into combat will be the best strategy for this warband, it would be in my benefit to get some damage on the table, the objectives also fell in line with the tactic as well. Glissete is quite weak, only having two wounds. She is always on guard, rolls of shields are successes. On Rachel's turn, Skhathael toddles up to Glissete, but his leafy heart isn't into the swing and misses as well. Before starting the game I did read an objective called Bloodless Skirmish, scoring it on the third round if all fighters are on the table, maybe I should have picked it up if this was how the game was going to go.

Glissete and Skhathael stare off, fuming with disappointment.

    Betwix turns, I played Dark Desires on Rachel's Leader, giving her a move token. This turns out to be a silly move as Ylthari was within 3 hexes of range for her spells anyways. D'oh! No take backsies in this game, Rachel plays for keeps now. Vasillac drove his spear into Skhathael, finally blood was drawn and Slaanesh was pleased.... for the moment. Following up, that bloodshed, Ylthari casts The Reaping on Vasillac, wounding for 1 point of damage, inspiring her with a critical in the roll. Oh yes, more wounds please! Rachel power step, she used Last Guardians, placing a guard token on her leader.

If only I moved to the objective.

    Hadzu charges into the fry, shooting an arrow of desire into Skhathael with 2 support on him! BIG OL' MISS! That's it, you're off the team Hadzu! Ahnslaine shows Hadzu how it's done, wounding her for one damage. Wrapping up round 1, Slakeslash and Gallanghan moves up from the back of the board.

Slakeslash scoffs at your objectives!

    I scored Endless Revel at the end of the turn, upgrading Vasillac with Strength from Pain, adding 1 damage to his attack actions while he has a wound. Rachel played Domain Denied, scoring one glory for "denying" your enemy objectives, clearly I need to make that more of a priority next time. Going into the second round tied 1:1

Round 2

    Rachel rolls well, picking to go first because why not? Ylthari was shaking in her branch skirt, that Slaangor didn't look all too friendly. But The Reaping missed it's make this time. Slakeslash wasn't all too pleased with being missed at, charged into Ylthari and Ahnslaine, scoring a hit on Ahnslaine to for 2 damage, taking the total wounds on the board to 6! Hehehehe Slakeslash inspires, you thought he was trouble before with his 5 wounds? What about an increase to movement for the lumbering beast? I score Excess of Gluttony for being adjacent to two enemy fighters. Now I just need to keep the wounds on the board. I spend the glory on, what else? Upgrading my Leader with Swift as Desire, adding 1 movement when unwounded, but 2 when he was wounded. 

Slakeslash shows off his might to Ahnslaine.

    Poor one shot Hadzu, he wasn't long for this world, and yet, he had the most easily pronounced name. I will miss him dearly. Skhathael advanced, toppling the archer with a decisive blow. First blood goes to Rachel! To be fair, killing isn't really what the Dread Pageant wants, they prefer the drawn out suffering instead. I believe at the end of round 1 I had picked up Beautiful Deaths, a duel objective for keeping three members of the Dread Pageant alive AND killing off 3 of the opposing warband. This would net you 6 (the number of slaanesh of course) glory! With Hadzu being all but useless this match, I don't think that would happen.

At least I will leave a beautiful corpse.

    

    With Excess of Paramountcy still in hand, I ran my very swift leader ,now moving at 7 hexes, over to an enemy objective. And while I was there, I might as well strike Gallanghan in the back for more wounds! But Gallanghan was surprisingly ready for this attack! His reaction allows him to bounce back damage if he gets a critical hit on his defense. BUT Vasillac ALSO has a reaction that triggers on the damage deal step, choosing to heal or deal damage to himself. I chose to heal, as at this point, only Glissete was the only one uninspired and she already had a wound on her. With 6, maybe 7 wounds on the board now, Vasillac inspires. Gallanghan had a few upgrades on him, can't recall which, I used Sword-Shatterer on, the only member of my warband it seems, my leader. This would give me a chance to remove an upgrade from an enemy after an attack action.

Learning from my mistake of last round.

    Ahnslaine tries to finish off Glissete, but her gaurd came in handy, shrugging off the attack. She charges in to finish off the wounded Ylthari guardian. Glory was used to upgrade Slakeslash with a Sadistic Goad, which increases in damage for every wound on the enemy fighter. Probably not very helpful at this moment as most of Rachel's fighters only had one or two wounds left on them. Gallanghan strikes Glissete in the back to let her know how it feels, but she defends. With all my fighters tired or out of action, I used my final action to pick up an objective card.

Glissete takes Ahnslaine out of action.

Round 3

    My note taking gets really sloppy as we get closer to the end of the game. I just get too into the game! We were 4:2 at this point. Rachel casted Pangs of the Great Lack, Glissete would suffer 1 wound, taking her out of action for the end of round 2. We couldn't find rolls to find the difference between suffer and dealt, so Glissete didn't roll a defense dice for this damage. 4:3

Start of round 3

    Slakeslash slashes at Ylthari with his massive blade, removing her from the skirmish, freeing up the objective. Rachel played a bunch of gambits during this power step, I didn't take notes of them, I believe one made my movement a bit slower, but even with 3 move it was easy to get around. Oh I remember! She put a move token on Slakeslash, legitimately denying the objective to me. Excess of Idolency was in my hand, I just needed two objectives.

Skhathael's turn to lay the beast low.

Skhathael moves in to strike, I don't think it hit. Vasillac would move beside Slakeslash for support? Guess it didn't really matter where Vasillac was. Gallanghan was struck by the Leader, driving him back without damage. Gal retaliates, wounding him. On my last two turns, I picked up objectives hoping I might have one that was already completed. If only I was so lucky.

    The final score was 6:3 for the Dread Pageant. Rachel had Vengeful Revenants, scoring 2 points for taking 2 enemy fighters of out action and only having one out yourself, in her hand when Vasillac was on the objective. If she used her standard attack instead of the Enraged Spite, which uses more swords but less accurate she might've scored that. Another one was if we had remembered to drive back Slakeslash into a lethal hex instead of attacking Vasillac, for another point for taking him out of action. 

This was much better then our last game, it was much closer in points. With Rachel doing some post game analysis, or shoulda woulda coulda-ing, we might see more of Underworlds on the table!

Next on the Hobby Desk

    Not that it will be on the hobby desk, but the baby should be coming next week sometime! I do have some finished painting to show off, these Slaanesh models are going to be a pain to transport around when that becomes a thing again with all their whips whirling about. I have some metal Fiends on table now which are a breath of fresh air after the delicate Seeker chariot.

    
        

Jon's Birthday Festivities

    Yesterday being my birthday, Rachel treated me to all sorts of fun things! She made a breakfast of pancakes, I didn't take pictures, but she also made a delicious homemade chocolate peanut butter cake for after supper. We actually went out to Caraway Grill for a birthday supper, and despite the weekday, cold weather and pandemic, the four open tables there were full. This place is a bit of a hole in the wall, tucked away on the opposite side of the casino. Without Covid restrictions, it would have about 9 tables of 4 which would be PACKED with a 20 to 45 min wait if you wanted to dine in. If you are in Regina, it is thee place for east Indian cuisine. 

    Enough of my obsession with Caraway grill... (I believe I've had like 5 birthdays there). Back to Feb. 10th, along with the treats Rachel picked up some reinFORCEments for my Star Wars Legion. Myboth brother, Shawn, also picked up the Inferno Squad. When I was opening his gift I thought they might've both picked up the same boxes for me. Luckily that wasn't the case. 

    I still have two sets of the core Rebels to paint up, was planning to do some quick contrast paint scheme for them, but haven't figured which one to choose! I think most of the reason Rachel picked up Clan Wren is due to finishing The Mandalorian back in December. What do I paint them up as? A ragtag group of mandalorian resistance fighters all from different clans or a uniform clan? The latter is appealing for me as that's how I have painted most of my armies, but I like the idea of  7 rainbow of bounty hunters, a magnificent seven if you will.

    But the true gift was getting Rachel to play Warhammer Underworlds with me. Rachel got tried of remembering all the different seasons of Underworlds in which I used to refer to the game so she started to call it Shadowfax. I don't think any season had fax or shadow in it, but GW does have the license for Lord of the Rings so maybe next season?

Start of the game

Lots of sun glare, sorry, deceiving sun

Magore's F(r)iends close up.

Her duffus opponent trying to crouch into the picture

Whelp! Guess Rachel is going first.

    Rachel rolled 3 criticals and one "eyebrow" or support, which is the second symbol used to determine ties if both players have the same amount of criticals. Very strong opening dice roll which unfortunate for Rachel didn't carry over into the actual game...at least not at first.

    I didn't take many pictures of this game, being a very aggressive warband, the Khorne fighters were able to get into range quickly. It also didn't help that Rachel placed a lethal hex right beside one of her objectives. Zharkus or Ghartok? drew first blood, taking out Ahnslaine.... pushing her into the pit with a drawn back move.The rules, at least when I glanced over them, didn't state that if lethal hex kills would give glory. What I saw was when out of action, reward glory. If this is incorrect, I might have to apologize to Rachel for being a cheater on my birthday.  

In the 2nd round.

   

    One of the objectives in my hand from the start of the game was to defeat a leader with Riptooth, looking at the picture above, I believe Zharkus pushed Ylthari into the pit for 1 damage. Ylthari also took 1 one damage from casting a spell and getting two critical hits, this was a new rule for me, it's called a backlash. Her spell triggered her reaction, letting her heal one wound, which then inspired her. But as she tryed to climb back out of the pit, Riptooth was there to push her back in or at least that's how I saw it. How many tree people can fit in one pit?

Answer: 3

    By the end of the second round, Rachel only had one friendly Gallanghann left on the board. His Glaive made it easy for Rachel to pick off wounded Bloodreavers from afar. 

Rachel pouting, poor rolls and one fighter on the board.

Gallanghann, the last shining beacon for the Ylthari Guardians.

By turn three Rachel had only Gallanghann and a spell that targeted a friendly Gallanghann or a friendly fighter adjacent to a friendly Gallanghann. She found the wording on Healing Amphora a bit funny but it did heal the friendly Gallanghann, inspiring him. With the distance and being able to deal additional damage from her reaction on critical hits on defense dice, Rachel was taking out most of the wounded Fiends. 

Friendly Gallanghann using the very bottom of the glaive to reach over the pit.

Two crits on defense, this tree was a lot tougher to push into the pit.

By the end of round three, Gallanghann had trapped Riptooth in a corner, picked off Zharkus or Ghartok? And had landed a few hits on Magore himself. He was definitely the MVP of the match. With all said and done, the score was 5-2, Rachel had some disagreements with dice rolls.

Next on the Hobby Desk

Even though I have seen several tauntauns running about outside, I haven't been painting all that much. To some success, I have been making terrain for Rangers of Shadowdeep. Hope to post more on that once I finish off a couple pieces.

Season of the Wytch - WarCry Campaign Battle #3

     The forests of the Eightpoints are twisted and terrible things, and even you fear to tread beneath those branches. Yet there are places where nature once thrived, and the spirits of the land may persist there still. You follow the dim song of these spirits until you discover a clearing claimed by another warband. They cover the land in their filth, tormenting the weakened spirits further. Water the ground with the interlopers’ blood and you may energise your kin enough to see them aid you.

This was the first convergence for the Nature's Byrches called the Crimson Downpour. I was a bit antsy to get rolling, so we rolled off for all the normal stuff, only to half way through realize that convergence have their own terrain, and victory rules. Vanquish was the victory conditions, attackers trying to kill off all of the models in the hammer deployment. Where as, we used Assassinate, attackers trying to take out the enemy leader. Similar enough for me.

I decided to use my Slaves to Darkness warband for this game, as narratively it seemed to fit better. They won't be receiving experience at the end of the game, but Rachel's trees will be. Then when we switch, I'll get Rachel to make a Khorne themed warband for the Brass Gods? for their convergence, as they are trying to hunt down a follower of Khorne that had fled a battle. Giving me experience for that battle. Seems even enough to me. 

First turn, Rachel and I both bank our wild dice to use next turn. We rolled off to determine who would be attacker, Rachel won the roll off, picking to be the defender. I would need to force her to the edge of the board or kill her outright to win. The twist was Foreboding Location, which was fitting, all dice values were reduced by 1, making it impossible for us an ability higher then 5.

We both rolled 2 doubles and two singles for initiative, rolling off, Rachel took the first turn. Daonti takes off 4 damage from the crab arm with her long bow. Ove, the maurader beside the fence, runs through the crypt. Hoping to tie up Daonti in combat next turn. 

The board somewhere in the midst of turn one.

Halvdan Plax (Crab Arm) shows off the new damage tokens.

Scophulis (nurgly head Leader) and Lepus (downward sword) starting position

Otta was eager to get into the action, trying to take cover behind on of the crypts. Tossing a javalin at Thronrir, only about to deal 1 damage, from the reduction of the dice values from Foreboding Location. I guess Otta must have seen a ghost of his ancestor. Thronrir the Hunter didn't take his eyes off the marauder horseman, sticking the horse with an arrow, taking 4 damage off him.

Scophulis "runs" as far as he can go, for a heavily armored nurgle chaos warrior that only walks at 4 inches, he moves 8" towards the dryads. The leader on the card has two weapons instead of a shield, so it's a bit deceiving when the model can deal out 5 hits but has a toughness of 5 instead of 6 like the regular shielded Warriors.

Spyrath clashing with Scopulis, wounding him for 1 damage.

Got into the game and didn't take any pictures of turn 2, not a whole lot that happened besides the Slaves to Darkness advancing into the middle of the battlefield. Loralith walked the spirit path, tunneling underground and popped up in front of Scopulis beside Spyrath. From the previous battle, Loralith found Serpent Venom to coat her claws with, striking the leader with poisonous scrapes, leaving deep gashes in the chaos warrior's black armor. Lepus was stuck with a couple of arrows, as well as Ove who ran down the middle.

Once turn 2 was finished, turn 3 our reinforcements arrived, Rachel's on my side of the board, and mine on the opposite side. Close to her leader.

Maudelith Bloomwych and Sventa form Rachel's Dagger deployment.

Three Mauraders, Guthroth, Jorg fell hand and Styr flank the Sylvaneth from behind.

Islalith protects Daonti, blocking off Halvdan from attacking her, letting Daonti aim into unsuspecting Chaos Warriors. Thronrir the Hunter loosens two arrows into Ove, piecing the Marauder's gut, slaying the dark god worshiper. Halvdan would slay the tree revenant with an onslaught.

Otta engages Daonti (Leader), trampling her for minimal damage before fighting. Hoping to keep her in combat so she won't be able to shoot her powerful twice next round. Meanwhile, Flytt locks up Ove and Slothi (the second marauder by the fence) to prevent their Leader from taking more damage. 

Slothi's skeleton jumps out of his skin as Flyt shrieks, forcing him to become immobile, but still can attack

Scopulis is out numbered by the Spite Revanants, Dvon and Loralith, both able to chip off health from the Leader. Lepus waddles slowly up to the fight, still out of reach to help his commander out.

"Don't start the fighting without me!"

"Psych!"

Lepus climbs the fence, barely able to make it into combat with Thronrir the Hunter. Barely cutting into the bark of his arm. Doanti disenaged from Otta, seeking strength in numbers. At this point the Sylvaneth Leader envokes the Envoy of the Everqueen ability, giving all Sylvaneth within 6" +2 toughness and +2 Strength, making it much harder to damage their Leader.

You can't keep a good horseman down, Otta crashes into Daonti.

Scopulis takes out Dvon, Loralith, Spyrath (not pictured) his putrid blood pooling on the snowy wastes as he falls over the fence.

Slothi is assailed from behind by Sventa, Halvdan watching on.

In the middle of the fenced off area, there is an exchange of blood. Daonti, who disengaged from Otta and hopped over the fence, shoots at Lepus, a serated arrow punching through his bulky tower shield and into his chest dealing 7 damage to the Chaos Warrior. Enraged by his feeling death's cold hands around his throat. Lepus' rusty bastard sword cleaves off Thronrir's paldron like shoulder bark for 10 damage. Thronrir, trapped between a Chaos Warrior and a marauder (which must have went early but didn't do enough damage to be written in the notes.) unleashes his bark-knuckles on Lepus punching him twice for one damage.

Just as Scopulis manages to scale the fence, an arrow from Daonti catches the Leader in head, dropping him onto the ground.

Thronrir protects Doanti from charging marauders, he also punches a horse, which I assumed looked like this....

Halvdan Plax moves in on Daonti, but only able to inflicted 2 damage on the Leader.

Jorg and Styr slash strips of bark of Thronrir, but not enough to kill the mighty tree warrior.

After slaying Slothi, Sventa faces Guthroth between the fence.

Lepus piles into the carnage, but Thronrir still stands.

Recovered from the punch to the face, Otta's horse tries to finish off Daonti. Rachel wouldn't tell me her remaining wounds but I think it was getting pretty close to zero, but not close enough!

Victory for Rachel's Nature's Byrches!

Scopulis' corpse festered on the ground, his body food for the young spirits he had tormented. As with all nurgle's followers, death becomes life, an inescapable cycle that is law even in the Everpoint. The spirits sing in loud rejoice as they fly about the Sylvaneth liberators. Daonti smiled, knowing this would only be the beginning of her crusade to rid the Everpoint of corruption.

What a game that was! Rachel had killed my leader, and 1/3 of my warband  as well as won the match. With her 3 previous Glory Points, she had enough for a dominion, gaining her an extra 50 points to add to her warband next game. No one was slain in the aftermath step, needing a 2 on 2d6. Rachel rolled low on the Artifact table, giving her nothing, but the Serpent Venom retained it's power.

Next on the Hobby Desk!

I have another Crusade battle against Pilon to write up, as well as the backstory for the "Divine Twilight" Cawdor gangers. The Barracades are mostly done, just need to work on the objective markers to finish it all off.