The Farsetter Holds - Game 4, Finale

(Game 3 here) 
 
We had the final 4th game of our campaign, and it was very epic. Brace for it, because this is a long report and story.

 The Farsetter Holds - Chapter 4

The cold weather snowfall had hit hard and sudden. Although the clan was thankful it wasn't a hard blizzard. They had been preparing about a month, all the while the greenskins inside the hold didn't show any signs. But on this day Dunhill was going give them something to take notice. They emptied the fort of everyone fit for fighting. This was the entire throng, all of them. Lined up at the base of the mountain, in neat disciplined lines, waiting.

Towering over the throng in the middle was the Klad Barag, driven by Drake and a team of his best cogsmiths. Today was to be its first official battle, a magnificent tribute to Grungni. Also of the new engineerings in the throng was their last organ gun, the Beardforce, (a team of 6 in hovering gyropacks with brimstone guns and bombs), and one of Dunhill's earlier steamsuit prototypes, much larger and bulkier than his current model. It is being driven by his veteran longbeard, Behrun Farsetter.

The throng began to stomp in unison, chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!". Small rocks were rolling down the mountain face. The Klad Barage let out a massive horn blow, ear shattering and deep, the forest behind swayed as flocks of birds left the canopy. Rolling rocks became tumbling boulders as the mountain let loose more from the reverberations. It would be impossible for the greenskins to ignore such a display and call. Fighting was what they lived for.

***

Dust and some debris were falling from the high ceilings, every greenskin had paused what they were doing and looked up as they heard the distant call to war. The Profut was beginning to stand taller, as if the building waaagh energy was giving him youth. Grox was feeling it too. Then Da Big'un started laughing, big bellowing guffaws. A group of scouts returned shouting about a big battle about to happen, whispers of a waaagh echoed throughout the horde. Da Big'un began stomping in tune with the duardin outside.

Given time they all marched to the exit lead by the scouts. Not a single orruk was going to miss out on this.

***

Dunhill saw the greenskin horde pour out of the entrance, marching down the hill, chanting 'WAH WAH WAH' to match the rhythm of the duardin throng. They had taken the lure, not that they would object to it if they knew it was one. Dunhill signaled the Klad Barag and it let out 3 short horn blasts to alert the throng that the fight had come. The other veterans were calling to their units and forming tighter lines and locking shields. The organ gun was priming the barrels. The familiar hiss of fuel were filling the reserves in the drakeguns. Thunderer handguns were clicking and locking. A subtle thrum emanated from Bree and the other Runelords as she concentrated on the rune power adoring her battle dress.

The greenskins had formed up and marched forward. Da Big'un let out a massive WAAAGH! and as the horde responded, he bounded down the mountainside atop his magmadroth, and landed with a crash behind the cheering horde.

This was the final stand, Dunhill thought. This would be the end of it. The last chance to take back the Farsetter ancestral holds.

***

Each player brought 3000 points, abandoning most matched play restrictions to bring whatever we wanted. The goal was objective based, and the twist was enhanced magic (because of da WAAAGH POWA!), but double 1's or 6's dealt mortal wounds to the casters.

Jarom brought Da Big'un, a butcher, da Profut, and Grox, and a newcomer Warboss on Wyvern. Also his usual host of orruk and fat'uns, and a couple fat'uns carrying really huge guns (Ironblasters).

As in the story above, I had lots of Ironweld Arsenal and units of Dispossessed. The Klad Barag of course was the centerpiece of the army, and the most exciting part, I thought. I also had 3 Runelords to spread the runepower.

It was a really massive pitched battle with lots of back and forth, and by the end, most of our forces were nearly completely obliterated. The forest and rocky areas had been riggeded with firebombs and phosphorous explosives. Causing a lot of blindness with the greenskins in the forests (brought on by the Mystical terrain rule), and inhibiting movement around the fires in the rocky areas (brought on by the Lethal Inferno ruse card from the Open War cards). These worked to help against the greenskin hordes by splitting them up or delaying some of them.

On the right flank, the Beardforce (gyrocpters) were menacing the orruks and the longbeards, ironbreakers, hammerers, and thunderers held out strong against the spear boys, 'ardboys, and ironguts. Hammer Co. was a very early casualty from the brutally efficient Warboss on Wyvern though. The Warboss survived all the conflict and quickly made his way to the right flank to take on the objective that would have clinched the win for Destruction, but fell under irondrake firepower.

Meanwhile on the right, the huge mass of warriors (40 total) slowly marched up, shields locked and protective runes glowing, to meet the orruk mob at the edges of the forests. They had gained ground on it due to the phosphourous bombs there. Thunderers, irondrakes, and the organ gun shot at who they could. The Klad Barag advanced forward and met on some fat'un (ogors) and leadbelchers, and took them out completely in a brutal melee using its massive stomps and giant rune hammer. It got a chance to shoot its cannon and missile barrage, and its freshly carved antimagic runes helped some with the nearby castings of the Butcher and Shaman. Also Bree and the other Runelords were hard at work trying to keep magic at bay, and enhancing everyone's weapons and armor.

Da Big'un was caught off guard by the phosphorous traps as well, and turned out to be especially susceptible to them, losing a couple precious turns. Then destruction finally caught up with the Klad Barag and a few ironguts. They dealt mortal blows to the Klad Barag, and Drake knew it was going down. So in a final act before the boilers finally gave out, he lunged the massive machine forward to grappled Da Big'un and his mount, so when the machine shut down, at least there would be a crushing weight over top the menacing orruk monster.

During this, Grox was advancing with the warriors. One of Dunhill's much earlier prototypes they recovered from the hold (Warden King on Throne of Power), rushed forward to meet with Grox. Even the mighty fat orruk with many names was dealt much damage and nearly got knocked out completely, but even in such a debilitating state, the orruk was able to take out the contraption. Grox was barely holding on, and knew he needed to get to help Da Big'un with the giant duardin machine. However on his way he was mobbed by the winning unit of warriors and taken out.

Dunhill, furious at seeing his eldest taken down with the Klad Barag, approached the pinned struggling Big'un. With a sheer hatred that spanned his entire ancestry, he overexerted his armor's boiler, and pummeled Da Big'un as his suit shut down. Movement from Da Big'un ceased.

Profut had seen seen the battle turn, and knew when it was wise to run away as the remaining warriors charged after him, calling a retreat back into the hold.

This was all that was left at the end of turn 5. This is how you can tell the intensity of a game, by what's left on both sides.

The Farsetter Holds - Epilogue

It had been a day of recovery from the battle. Dunhill was anxious to uproot his entire expedition and fort into the hold, he didn't want to give the remaining greenskins any chance to regroup and recuperate. As they regained and recovered some of their ancient homes, they also lit the halls again.

After a few weeks, life was returning to the holds. The proper life. But the clan was significantly reduced in number, and it would be entire generations before it would return to the glory since the Age of Myth. One thing for sure, they did not have near enough to populate all the halls, many remain in darkness, and occupied by other undesirables.

Dunhill stopped sending exploratory teams deeper in search of resources and riches when they stopped returning. It still bothered him that after the dust of the battle cleared, they couldn't recover the bodies of Da Big'un or his generals. The so-called Profut was still at large, that grudge not yet struck out.

The clan decided to keep relatively close together as they resettled the holds, and all were working in full force to repair and retrofit what they occupied. New legends and genealogy records were being scrawled into the walls and pillars of their great journey.

King Dunhill sometimes felt content as they were once again living in their rightful ancestral home, but had to remind himself the threat was far from removed. The greenskins and probably more were deeper in the mountain, and they couldn't dream of eradicating it yet. He knew the time was precious for the recuperation of his house, but all the time spent on that, the orruks had the same. This was not the end of the war, but this would be a new chapter for the Forthammer Clan Throng.

***

And there you have it. That is the end of the entire campaign. What a rush! Even though Jarom won with the most renown points, there was still a lot of back and forth in the games, and they were all very epic and exciting. I seriously recommend playing a campaign like this to anyone. These are where the best stories out of Warhammer come from.

As for the campaign rules, we both felt it was an excellent way of handling the whole thing. We looked over the rules packet I made, and came to a couple planned changes from our experience. One in particular was Renown rewards. No longer will it be random with die rolls, because each time I had the opportunity to roll for Renown, I could never roll above a 1, and Jarom was getting high numbers. So we are opting for static numbers based on the wins and types of wins/losses. I will make a post with the updated campaign rules for that at a later date.

The Farsetter Holds - Game 3

(Game 2 here)

The third out of our four game campaign took place and it was a close battle, really close.

 

The Farsetter Holds - Chapter 3

   Dunhill remembered this door, he remembered it well. In his youth and younger days he spent much of his time behind those doors. For it housed the Engineer's Guild hall. The door is decorated to reflect that, with its many intricate artistic gears carved into it. A loud clanging noise breaks him from his trance. Ancient mechanical work turns behind the walls and door slowly swings open. Drake stepped away from the lock mechanism that started the process.

   It smelled old, but fortunately not chaos tainted like some of the other parts of their ancestral halls. This remained untouched. Clansmen, who remember working here, lit the place up with the hum of electric bulbs lining the walls. With each bulb sparking to life the old projects became clearer. Various inventions lay still, some integrated into the walls, some on carts.

   Dunhill smiled as he remembered this place alive with the sound of forges and whirring engines. His smile shortly turned into a frown when he remembered why they had come here. These battles with the greenskins were not going well. They should have had the entire hold by now, but are driven out at every turn. They needed some help. They needed some weapons.

   Drake was busy inspecting everything, barking orders to the rest of the engineers and cogsmiths. He approached his father who was pulling down a dust covered tarp from something of impressive size.

***

   The greenskins had found a feasting room. Luckily there were many kegs to bust open and drink of the contents. Stunties made good grog, and this stuff was old, making it all the more potent. The fat'uns and other orruk were sharing in merriment, along with Da Big'un. It was a massive orruk, at least twice the height of an ogor. Enough to put any proud Ironjaw to shame. Accompanying it was its Magmadroth. These beastly creatures normally were companions only to the fierce Fyreslayers, but any orruk with the toughness to withstand the beasts heat and temperament could tame one as an animal companion.

   The ale was a pleasant distraction, but a distraction. Grox knew he needed to find a fight for Da Big'un, or else it would turn on the rest of the horde. And it needed to happen soon. Luckily the scouts were returning. They arrived in the feasting hall, and whatever they were going to report, immediately went to the back of their thoughts as they delighted in the sight of their brethren consuming stolen grog.

   Grox stormed up to one and smacked the stein from his hands. He briefly frowned at the sight of the foamy liquid spilling over the floor, but Grox' large fist yanked at his leather straps, snapping him from his stupor. "REPORT, GROT!"

   "Uh- We found dem, boss! Da stunties was getting into a big room. One wif all dem mek-works or sumting."

   This concerned Grox. He had encountered mek-works before. The orruk weren't too savvy on mechanical contraptions, mostly being the specialty of the grots. The sky-stunties were also known for it. Whatever form, they were very destructive and usually meant lots of dead boys. The scout reported him the location. He knew of it during their exploration. They can easily get maneuver and surround it.

   Profut Big'un was nearby listening to the report. "Powerful Grox, if I may, da boys is still drinking, and Da Big'un might not want to go anywhere roight now."

   "All roight. My boys fight better when their bellies are full anyway. Full of grog. But as soon as those kegs are empty, we march." The scout had already grabbed another full stein and brought it up to his lips when Grox snatched it from his hands. "Get yer own!"

***

   Dunhill was overseeing the largest of the carts being slowly pulled across the walkway which left the old Engineer's Guild hall. These old machines would do nicely. They had sorted out the creations that were working well enough and those which needed too much to be usable in the near future. This big one had barely made the cut. All of the usable ones were loaded on carts and pulled by pony and clansmen. They just had to get them outside to the fort that the rest of the clans and throng were stationed at the foot of the mountain. Luckily during their explorations, they had found a shortcut outside, another large entrance. This was closer to their location.

   A watcher called out a warning of approaching greenskins. Immediately Dunhill called to his own to form up and get ready to defend the walkway. They had retrieved more drakeguns in the room, so clansmen were donning the irondrake armor. Bree was at Dunhill's side as the rest of the throng took up defensive positions on and around the walkway. They just needed to defend and buy enough time for the caravan to get out of the holds.

   Dunhill did see the hordes approaching from one side of the walkway, and before he could order all to that side, a warning cried out and the other side had about an equal amount of them. They were surrounded.

   Drake called to his father as a crew of sub-engineers wheeled out of the room two gun emplacements. "My lord, these are the last of them, but I have a feeling we will need them now." The crews were already expertly setting the organ gun and cannon up and loading them.

    By now the greenskins on both sides had gotten closer. The gun crews were doing final adjustments and barking orders when an ear piercing roar reverberated through the halls, which gave pause to everyone.

   Before anyone could react, they discovered it came from a massive orruk in heavy armor, wielding a club that rivaled its own size. It sat astride a magmadroth. The rider and mount came bounding across the hall, and leapt up onto the walkway. It's speed was equally as impressive as its size. Without a chance to react, the magmadroth crashed into the organ gun crew and sent them flying, and the big greenskin brought its club down on the gun itself. The forge runes glowed and sparked briefly under the incredible strain of impact before finally giving and shattering into pieces. The imposing brute let out a powerful WAAAGH! and the rest of the greenskins charged forward, eager to get to the fight.

***

The objective card for this game was Kingslayer (kill-points mission, enemy General worth double), and the deployment had me in the center 24" zone, with Jarom having 12" on either side of the table. I was surrounded. For the Twist this game it was Double or Nothing, meaning on a 4+ the game had 2 more Twists applied to the battle. As per my rules, we each picked one of the other Twist cards on the campaign tree, ones that were not connected and had not used yet. Jarom picked Eager for the Fight (granting everyone +2" movement and +1" to run and charge rolls always), and I picked Set Piece Battle. Despite being surrounded, that last twist helped out in this as I got to wait for Jarom to completely finish deploying, then I got to counter-deploy. This helped me by making sure all my big guns were lined up to the big targets, like Da Big'un (counts-as Megaboss on Maw-krusha). Unfortunately Jarom got first turn, and most of his stuff was able to charge in immediately, including Da Big'un leaping up onto the walkway and taking out my organ gun and crew in one combat.

However when it was my turn, all the guns on the walkway immediately turned on to Da Big'un and took it out in one shooting phase, but that meant all the guns didn't fire on the masses of greenskins below during that precious first turn. Eventually as the turns ground on, the hordes fought their way through the ground troops and flooded the main walkway. Grox went down under gunfire after he took out one of the irondrake squads in a single combat round. But the battle was losing despite the heavy losses on both sized. Eventually all I had left was Drake, Dunhill, Bree, and a few thunderers, and Jarom had a unit of Ogors, some Ardboys, a unit of Ironguts, and his Profut Big'un.

The game ended with a Major Victory for Destruction, and a Major Loss for Dispossessed. Killing Grox and Da Big'un was just not enough in the face of all the casualties I suffered. I got my 1 renown for the loss, and Jarom rolled 3 for his win. Right now in the campaign I am sitting at 3 renown, and Jarom at 7. The next and last game will be worth double renown, so If I can take the win in it, I would need to at least roll 2 renown to tie with Jarom, or 3 renown to win the campaign.

***

   Profut Big'un stepped up to the hole where he last saw Da Big'un. It was picking itself up from the fall, the magmadroth as well was shaking its head as it regained consciousness. The blasting of cannon fire, drakeguns, and thunderer rifles must have destabilized the ground, and with Da Big'uns weight, it fell through. It appears to be more halls and caves below. The Profut cursed the duardin guns and their maze-like halls. It was too far below to try pulling Da Big'un out. They would have to search around until they could meet up with it again.

   The Profut's 'Ardboys were helping Grox up as he too regained his bearings after being shot off the walkway ledge. As he realized what had happened, he bullied one of the 'Ardboys, both to vent frustration and save face among the remaining boys. The Profut sneered as he thought of the several times he could have easily dispatched Grox at any point, taking the horde to himself, but he still knew he needed him, for now. While Da Big'un was a massive inspiration to the Waaagh!, it was no leader. It barely spoke outside of grunts and yells. The Profut wanted to teach it some things so it could become an orruk general, and his need for Grox would pass.

***

   Dunhill still didn't like the raw light of Hysh illuminating the sky. He preferred the comfort of the dimly lit halls. Their hike out of the hold had been thankfully uneventful, outside of a few broken wheels on the carts pulling the engineerings.

   The Forthammer Clan Throng fort had grown significantly since the last Dunhill saw of it. They left a contingent of duardin to remain behind to guard over the families and supplies. They had been working nonstop, with the women of the throng being most of the work force. A note of pride for duardin are the stout hardworking nature of their women. It had been constructed primarily of wood from the nearby forests. Dunhill noted the signs of battle that were among the clear-cut trees. He imagined they had a story or few to tell of their own.

   The gates swung open with duardin efficiency and what remained of the throng marched in. Families were reunited, and widows stood sternly. Careful to keep their pain inside, as this was not the time for mourning. The entire expedition was nearly a failure, and Dunhill knew he would need to consult the rest of the elder council tonight about it. They had come to take the holds, but instead are going to need to prepare for a final battle, outside at the base of their birthright.

   "By Grungni's beard, the greenskins will pay." Dunhill recognized the voice, and embraced Grundi. The runelord was old, older even than Dunhill's father. He was among the oldest in the clan, and Bree's tutor and master runelord.

   "They will." declared Dunhill. "There is much to be done. If one thing about this whole endeavor has reaffirmed me with greenskins, they will seek out the biggest fights," he gestured to Drake organizing the engineering carts within the fort walls, "So we will give them one."

   Grundi grimaced at the largest cart. It carried a bipedal machine with an imposing duardin presence. When standing it would reach 2 maybe 3 stories tall. He never trusted the newfangled contraptions that Dunhill and his son had an affinity for. "Will it work?"

   "A large enough foe is too much for any orruk to refuse a fight. With this we can lure all the cursed grob-kin out of our holds, and crush them. I could never get the damned thing to work in my youth, but if anyone can get the Klad Barag up and running, it's my son."

(Game 4 here)

2017 Year in Review

This was another good hobby-filled year. So here is a summary of 2016 for me.

T'au Empire (Warhammer 40,000)
I took my T'au to the Harvester this year. While my Index army didn't have too much success, it was fun. Let's hope they get a good codex in 2018. At least I have some newly painted battlesuits.

James' Necrons (Warhammer 40,000)
I guess you could call this a commission. Something I did for my brother so he could attend the Harvester of Souls with us. We will see what kind of codex will come out for it in 2018.

Censers & Tocsins (Nurgle Mortals - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar)
This is an army I have been trying to keep up on with painting. Compared to last year's summary, I only had some built, and none painted. My goal with this army is if I build something for it, I paint it, before building the next thing. There will definitely be more to come for this AoS force.

Forthammer Clan Throng (Dispossessed - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar)
I have had a ton of fun with this army. I took them to the Las Vegas Open, added some cool conversions, and am running them in a campaign, which is still ongoing. I have more on the painting table for these guys, so I am not done with them yet.

The Klad Barag (Dispossessed - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar)
This deserves its own entry here because I consider it quite the achievement. Still not 100% sure what I will use him as, but he will be a proxy for any big dude I want to run in friendly games. Perhaps not tournament legal due to being a proxy and all. I do plan on taking some better photos of this guy and sending them to White Dwarf. Let's hope something comes from that.

Forgesworn Eternals (Stormcast Eternals - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar)
I haven't really added anything to this army, just got completely caught up on painting. Lately nothing has really stood out for the line to get me to want to add here. At least with being completely painted, if I do add anything, I will be inclined to immediately paint it. Like my plans for my Nurgle dudes.

Tempest's Eye Rangers (Grand Alliance: Order - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar)
I only have a couple things here for the army, for now. They are only really ever intended to be for some Grand Alliance army, rather than a start of Freeguild. I would like to paint them this coming year.

Song of Blades and Heroes Stuff
For my favorite non-Warhammer fantasy skirmish game, I have added a lot of Reaper BONES minis to it here and there. And I made some nifty ruins for it as well. But most of all I am still slowly working on the Song of the Deep Empire campaign supplement for it. More on that in the coming year.

And that sums up the year. Lot's of fun projects, and of course, lot's of plans for 2018. Stay tuned.

Forthammer Clan Throng - Runelords

The Runelord is a great hero warscroll. It's cheap and has reliable useful buffing power. So far the only one I have is Bree, so I decided to add a few more. These are from Reaper BONES (this and this). They are also meant to be part of my Song of Blades and Heroes collection.

The one of the left has had nothing done to it outside of the painting. But the one on the right has had a couple bits replacements. The tongs holding the burning rune is from the original runelord kit (that sprue has a lot of good spare bits), and the hammer is a metal bit from an old GW dwarf engineer blister.

The Klad Barag - Painted!

 It's finally completed, the Klad Barag! A daunting task and one of the models I have spent the most time painting to date. It's an imposing model and makes a great centerpiece for my Dispossessed.

Amidst a Dispossessed battle line.

Liberator for scale.

One thing that is making this wieldy is how I looked into magnetizing it. There are six 1/4" rare earth magnets in 3 points on the model for easy disassemble and transport (which I am on the lookout for a good modular pistol case nearby).

For the longest time I have been intending to use him as a counts-as Drakesworn Templar, because it's a really big Order model with a lot of firepower and powerful melee that can ally with my dispossessed. But I have found another warscroll which could serve as its rules. A Spirit of Durthu. It may be weird because that is a Sylvaneth warscroll, but every rule fits this guy. Slow move, poweful but short ranged attack, absolutely brutal melee, no fly... this warscroll is speaking its language.

Regardless of what I use it for, the important thing is it will provide that big centerpiece the Dispossessed desperately need, for now. Until GW wises up and makes something similar.

Forthammer Clan Throng - Ironbreakers

Just a little painting update. I had these guys made a while ago. I wanted to stretch the Ironbreakers kit out after making it into a unit of Irondrakes. The kit comes with enough parts to make the Ironbreakers as well, but lacking the torsos/legs. So I cannibalized some old Warriors I had built up by shaving off the heads and beards to get the torsos I needed.

The Farsetter Holds - Game 2

(Game 1 here)

The second game happened and it was brutal. This time we debuted my dwarf hold terrain with some really positive results.

The Farsetter Holds - Chapter 2

   The abandoned holds just were not the same. In their days of being occupied by the clans and houses of the once proud duardin, they would be well lit and alive with the noise of chatter, massive pyres, and sometimes music. Now they were dark, abandoned, and silent. Eerily silent. The only light here is from the torches of the expedition and the only noise is from the footsteps of the throng.

   Dunhill's steamsuit was in working order and marching its mechanical gait with the rest of the throng. They had followed the greenskin horde into this great hall, which was easy to get into due to its wrecked front gate. Dunhill didn't recognize this one. With the runes adorning it, he also knew it wasn't his own families. This belonged to a neighboring clan, the Deephelm family. Architecture was similar of course. All proper duardin knew good mountain hold architecture, therefore, apart from some embellishments, they were all very similar.

   Bree was walking right beside Dunhill, her father. Where Drake inherited his father's engineering prowess, Bree inherited his stubbornness. This daughter was so defiant in refusing her father's wishes to stay out of battle, that she pursued the art of runecrafting and apprenticing under their old runelord. Something that she has shown quite a knack for. "He stinks." She commented.

  She was referring to the dirty naked blonde haired duardin manically jogging back and forth in front of them, like a hound searching desperately for a scent trail. This unfortunate individual was unforged. A term used to refer to one who's mind was broken. In searching this hold, they had managed to find one lone survivor. He had forgotten his own name, but it can be assumed he is the last known survivor of the Deephelm clan. He had managed to survive in complete isolation for this long, since the exodus, on whatever mushrooms he could find. It made him crazier than an outhouse skaven, but he is useful here. They can really only get him to talk in incoherent ramblings, but he recognized the Forthammer clan ancestral emblem, and seems to be leading them to a pathway there. The unforged had on a loincloth, which was the best they could get him to wear. His whole body is scarred in runes. Perhaps living among civilized duardin, good ales, and proper meals could bring him back to sanity, but most likely he will suicide himself in battle, like the ancient slayers of legend. The unforged suddenly stopped and held perfectly still.

   Dunhill signaled the rest to hold. It takes a minute for the whole expedition to halt as well. As soon as it does though, the silence of the hold is broken with distant footsteps. Ones that began to rapidly multiply. Darkness in the distance, but the sound of a horde coming through.

   The unforged stared off into the darkness ahead "Great green?!"

***

   "Da Big'un is close, I can feels it." hissed Profut Big'un.

   Grox had just about enough of the Profut's ramblings. "SHUT YER GOB! Das enough of da big'un."

   The Profut cackled. He knew Grox was growing impatient, they had been wandering in this maze under the mountain for days, but they were going to be rewarded. "All we need is a foight. A foight to wake da big'un from his slumber. And I see a foight comin' now." He pointed his oversized staff down the hallway, toward the torches in the distance.

   Grox sniffed the air, and sense the familiar stench of stunties. These were probably the same ones they encountered outside of the mountain. "Now dats more loik it!"

   The Profut delighted as well. The sound and magic of a battle would be what's needed to get da big'un riled up. "Wait, Grox da fateseeker, in dis battle, you must send in da fat'uns first. Those boyz get da waaagh going real good. Da big'un will loik it."

   Grox didn't mind the caveat to this coming battle, he was just glad to have one. "KLEEVAHS!" he called to his elite squad of fat'uns. They were renown for fighting brutally with their oversized cleavers, hence the name. "Get da rest of da fat'uns to da front. Dis be our WAAAAGH!"

***

   The disciplined duardin were forming their lines, ready to receive the greenskin charge. Bardin Thunderborne had taken his squad of thunderers up to one of the higher paths, and Drake had take the Irondrakes up to the opposite path. The unforged continued to ramble about the 'great green'. Bree approached him, and pointed to the barely discernible greenskins that were becoming visible down the hall. "Is that the great green?"

   The unforged manically shook his head, then a sudden series of stomping sounds echoed throughout the halls, stomps so powerful that some of the ceiling tiles in this ancient unkempt hall began to fall to the floor below. They were as long slow clashes, completely different than the rapid footsteps of the now closer greenskins. This was something else. The clashing sound range again, this time the ground shuddered beneath the sure-footed duardin. The unforged turned to Bree, eyes wide open "Great green!"

***

We had another great fight, but this time of 1,500 points. The objective was a single marker in the middle of the board that a unit could pick up and carry, and whoever held it at the end of the battle got a major victory. But the twist was a chance for ceiling tiles in the hold to drop on units and cause mortal wounds. These ceiling tiles are broken free from the stomping of Da Big'un as it gets roused from its slumber with the battle and WAAAGH! energy. Deployment was a standard Hammer and Anvil type. We arranged my new terrain to be a grand hallway running along the length of the board.

Jarom's destruction force was primarily Ogor units, meant to represent only the big ones going into this fight. But he also had profut big'un, his weirdnob shaman, a unit of 'ardboys, and a big unit of greenskin boys. It was of course lead by his Ogor Tyrant, Grox. My Dispossessed force had minimum squads of ironbreakers, irondrakes, hammerers, warriors, thunderers, and longbeards, plus a new Unforged. Along with the usual assortment of heroes: Cogsmith, Runelord, and Warden King, Dunhill, leading the army.

It was a fun game, but was nearly over by the end of turn 3. Ogor units are very powerful and tough, and combined with a few bad charges not getting enough duardin into melee range, very few were surviving the combats near the end. My irondrakes and thunderers didn't get much done because they had to move around and got charged fairly early. Grox was extremely deadly and plowed through just about every unit he charged. Jarom found he could keep Grox on higher ledges, and reach the duardin with his 3" reach gutgouger, while duardin weapons only had a reach of 1", meaning the only ones that could touch him were the ones up on the ledge with him, which was very few.

The big unit of orruk boys didn't reach my main battle line until turn 3, but Grox had also arrived and quickly overwhelmed them. By then destruction had a firm grasp on the objective and there were very few duardin left on the table. Calling for a tactical retreat.

Jarom got the major victory for holding the objective, and rolled 3 renown. I had to take the 1 renown for the loss. On the rewards tables Jarom decided to give Grox another big name on his warscroll, and rolled 'the Fateseeker', granting him a 3+ armor save. Grox is turning out to be quite the power house. Then he rolled Smashing and Bashing for a unit of Ironguts, which he called Da Kleevahs. And Vendetta on a unit of Ardboys, he calls Da Chargahs. For my one renown I rolled Iron Discipline on my newly painted unit of Hammerers. They are Hammer Co.

***

   Another tile smashed down right next to Dunhill. He was quickly getting surrounded by filthy savage orruk. There was no stopping them this time. The throng was getting beaten by the numbers, and sheer brute strength of the bigger greenskins. Dunhill called for the retreat, and the rest of the throng tried picking up any wounded they could carry. The ceiling was falling at a much faster rate, until eventually entire chunks of wall and pillar were crashing down. Almost as if something was trying to smash through. Something big.

   As the remaining duardin were making their way back, under the cover of falling debris, Bree called out "FATHER! I feel the runes! This way!" She ushered in who she could into one of the doorways leading under the main paths above. They had lost their unforged guide to the magic using orruk, but not before he helped take out a few of the bigger ones. A fitting end for such a tortured soul. May Grungni welcome him at his table.

   The falling rock was getting more violent, hastening their retreat. Just as Dunhill entered the doorway, he caught a glimpse at one of the great walls, a shape forming behind the billowing dust. Two large figures were emerging. Bigger than any orruk.

***

   Profut Big'un was maniacally laughing, even as orruk was getting smashed and demoralized by the sight. Grox was beginning to make out the shape. He stood in awe. He resolved that moment to never doubt the prophesies and ramblings of the Profut again.

   Da Big'un had finally arrived.

The campaign tree after 2 games. The cards are protected in card sleeves and stuck to the poster board with sticky tack. My current renown is 2, represented by runestones. Jarom's is 4, represented by orruk teef.

A sample record sheet filled out after 2 games. 2 renown means a total of 2 rewards listed. This is all part of the campaign system I made. After this game I will edit the document and create a version 2.0 with some errata we figured out through playtesting.

 (Game 3 here)

Forthammer Clan Throng - Hammer Co. - Painted

These guys have managed to fit well into the rest of the Throng. They have a lot more of the blue cloth part than the rest of my models. I enjoyed painting them. Looking forward to seeing them on the table with our next campaign game coming up.

The Farsetter Holds - Terrain Interlude

Game 2 is happening this weekend, but before that I got some special terrain made for it. Jarom and I decided that the next game should take place within one of the great holds of the mountain range. So I went out with the goal of making enough terrain to fill a 6'x4' table and simulate one of the great halls or interior of a grand dwarven hold. If you remember the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings, and Orzammar from Dragon Age: Origins, you get the idea.

One caveat to this, is I had to make it as cheap as possible, and as fast as possible. So I am not making any sort of award winning terrain here. The main build source material here is the really cheap dollar store foamcore. I have already given my review of sorts on dollar store foamcore, but it works here because this terrain really isn't meant to last very long.

I didn't chronicle the exact process and steps I went into for building this, but it really starts with something like this sketch I made in Publisher, then with some simple maths, and ideas sketched and penciled down on it. It becomes a work in progress as you make the terrain pieces.

Going for the build it fast theme, everything is pretty much held together with hot glue. This all took me a couple days to build. The blue stairs are made of course with 1/4" extruded foam board. What took a couple more days was the painting.

All the white foam in the foamcore had to be painted over with a thick layer of cheap black craft paint. Then I spray painted with my trusty Rustoleum grey primer, but in a splotchy pattern, I wanted to create some texture. After that I sprayed with a texture paint, which didn't really do much, honestly. This was a test to see if texture paint could work for terrain, and it really only adds a touch texture, not much of a visual one. I could have gone without it completely. Finally I did edge highlighting with a light gray cheap craft paint. That really brought it all together and proudly showed the details. Another note is I drybrushed a bronze craft paint within the doorways to help them stand out slightly.

The nice thing about these pieces is how modular they can be to represent different layouts with the holds. This is an alternate layout, still for the 4'x6' table.

We look forward to Game 2 this weekend, so stay tuned for that.

Forthammer Clan Throng - Hammer Co. (Hammerers)

Nobody smashes your foe like Hammer Co.

Catchy mottos aside, this is my newest addition to my Forthammer Clan Throng. Ever since seeing the new blood bowl dwarf team, I wanted to use them in my army somehow. A conversion to fit them in. I love their dynamic action poses, so instead of using them for a defense line unit (like longbeards, warriors, or ironbreakers), I should go more for the damage dealing assault type troop. This really only left Hammerers, and I took the challenge. And these guys did prove to be a challenge.

The most difficult part was getting them to hold hammers 2 handed. All the models are posed with a really wide open stance, meaning I was going to have to do a lot of cutting and reposing to get their arms close enough for holding the hammers. Of course the easy route would have been to let them just hold the hammer in one hand, leaving the other open, but after doing 5 of them like that, I realized I wanted the remaining 5 to properly hold their hammers. I figured the best way to show the effort put into these guys is to show them side-by-side with the original models, using pictures from the Warhammer Community site.

This is the tanker of the unit. A lot of my duardin units have some sort of tanker. There is a keg on his back, and I tried converting the dwarf football into a smaller backup keg. It works quite well. As you can see, the heads tops were lopped off and I stuck on Hammerer helmets, which were lopped off their original pieces as well. Most of the model have at least had this done.

Some of these bloodbowl figures had alternate heads/beards. I want to make sure each and every figure in this unit is unique in a way, so having that helped on some. Again, replacing the helmet top with the Hammerer one helps convince the look that these guys are Hammerers.

This is the Standard Bearer. The original banner is too big and unwieldy to be used by a dwarf in such a pose, so I opted just for the topper. It conveys what he is well enough. The football in the original model is attached to his arm, so I had to carefully shave it off and have him hold his hammer higher up on the haft to create a better balance.

The Keeper of the Gate, or unit champion. I wanted him to stand out from the difference of the pose. I shaved off the slayer mohawk to give him a bald head (what is it with me and bald heads?), and it took quite a lot of effort to get his arms to hold the very ornate hammer above his head like that. One thing I challenge myself to do is never let a mono-pose model prevent me from reposing it.

I would have to say this is the most difficult one of the batch to do. Rather than having another dwarf held up in a leaping pose with his beard, I wanted to convey the sense of 'smash' with these guys by actually having a hammer smash down into the ground, feet raised in the air. I cut this guy to pieces, swapped parts with spares, greenstuffed a lot of weird space, it was quite extensive and I was really doubting it would work the whole time I was doing it. I am really proud however of how he finally turned out! Because of the nature of the pose, there is a single pin running throughout the entire model, from the hammer head all the way into his beard and torso. So really his arms are not holding the hammer in place, but his beard. Very dwarfy. The base is also weighted, it had to be.

One of the more simple conversions. Just replaced the helmet top and used one of the open hands to hold the hammer.

Another easy one. But this time he his holding the hammer low on the shaft so it looks like this one has just taken a really long wide swing.

The Throng Musician, using the original Hammerers horn. With this model I took advantage of its head posed more to the side so it would be easier to position the horn in front of it. This model did not have an alternate head, and since I needed the right arm free to hold something, I went ahead and just used the original hammerer head. A few of them are using that. Again I tried not to use the same heads twice if I could avoid it.

This guy took a lot more posing effort because it's not easy to hold the hammer like that, especially since the original Hammerer kit doesn't have the hands that far apart. Most of this model's arms and hammer parts are pinned together because the glue joints would be too fragile otherwise. Again I didn't want a repeat of beards, I used a hammerer beard/head, and the next model used the original model's beard.

To get this one to do a 2-handed hold, I had to cut into his beard so the shaft looked like it fit more closer to him, otherwise he would have held it out too far. Sometimes those beards really get in the way.