Dread Elf: Lords and Heroes

This will be the final post in a little while related to 9th Age considering the Journeyman League is coming up very soon (this Saturday kicks it off)! So I will condense all the information about my characters right here instead of covering each one individually in their own post, so I apologize for the lengthy text.  So let's get started!

Dread Prince/Captain

Pretty sweet art depiction....

 

I have one on a Raptor and another on foot.  Stat-wise they are excellent compared to base Legionnaires with the difference between the two being an extra point in WS/BS/W/I/A/LD for the Prince over the captain.  Looking over the options there are some definite choices to be made for this Lord/Hero.  For one, both can take a variety of mounts with the common trend that the Lord can take more options than the Hero.  Secondly they both can be given cult membership or Nabh or Yema.  They also can be upgraded to be either Fleet/Beast masters (for your Corsair/Beast themed lists).  Finally they both can take magic items up to 100/50 pts respectively, and the Prince can be upgraded to be the BSB.

Hoo boy, where to start? 

Well there are just so many options you can take with these that to list them all would be another post or two on this blog.  I'm already a bit wordy anyways so really it will boil down to this: what do you want them to do?  Naturally they are going to be nasty fighters in melee without the staying power due to the Elf toughness of 3, but true to Dread Elf style you would probably want them to be the ones striking hard first and killing whatever you can before taking hits back.

What I actually have

With so many options available in making your own Prince/Captain, I am not even sure if I will go over every option there is.  What I will do is toss out my initial build and see where it goes.  So for my Lord choice Dread Prince this is what we will be taking: Armor of Fortune, Sword of Haste, Shield, Raptor, and Obsidian Rock.   This will give me a decent armor save, ward save, resistance to magic, allow me to accompany my Dread Knights, and handle myself in a challenge.  Being able to wound a +4 always is never a bad thing, though it doesn't directly affect armor saves aside from my base strength.  This is a generic build but one of many and hopefully it will show the potential this character option has in your army.

 

 

Exalted Oracle/Oracle 

My ladies of Magic

 

My wizards of the army, the casting ladies of doom!  Stat-wise they are pretty much similar except for an extra point in W/LD for the Exalted Oracle.  Similar to other wizards the Lord version starts off as a 3 whilst the Hero is a 1 for wizard levels, both can be upgraded.  These ladies can choose spells from any of the 'standard' battle lore spells or go for the Dread Elf Black Magic lore.  If I choose to upgrade either of them with the Cult of Yema rule then I have the option of having the Path of Lust, but I HAVE to choose either Lust or Black Magic.  It's a bit of a trade-off all things considering but it limits options in favor for some special rules.  I can give the ladies a mount, but the Lord version has access to some of the more esoteric/awesome mounts whereas the Hero version can ride horse-equivalents.  Also both versions can take some magic items up to 100/50 points respectively.  Finally they each have Master of the Black Arts helping me channel power dice by adding 1 to the roll.

 

So how would I use these ladies?  Well that's probably another article since magic plays an important role as it has in the past with WHFB.  Knowing my play style I would have to tinker around with some of the lores on the field before settling in on a preference.  Each lore has some nasty potential but they do it in different ways, meaning that to just say "lulfirelul" is not really effective.  I would look to either debuffing the enemy or buffing my own troops as a preference over just flat-out blasting power.  The Dread Elves have some great strengths but equally strong weakness as well, so anything to help expose/mitigate is good in my book.
 

The Assassins

Cold-hearted killers

Assassins are back and in some ways they are just as nasty of a surprise if you plan them correctly.  Stat wise these killers are pretty much superior in combat to most of the army.  Their WS/BS are sitting at 7's, their I is a 9, 3 attacks naturally, and they come with the standard Dread Elf rules.  They also have Scout, Armor Piercing (1) in addition to S4, Hidden, Poisoned Attacks, and Not a Leader.  So you can't use them as a leader, which makes sense since they are freakin' assassins!  Option wise they can bring magical items up to 50pts, become a cultist of Nabh, have a 4+ ward save, an additional hand weapon, and take any number of points.  A note about poisons though is that you can only use 1 each combat round, so you can't combine unfortunately.

 

So how to best use these killers will all determine on how you outfit them and for what purpose.  The poison selection allows you to get a bit creative with your targets, and if you know what you are facing ahead of time you can make some preparations (as any assassin would do).  Nightshade lets you hurt models with a higher toughness and get a nice strength bonus, up to S6, which also stacks with Armor Piercing for a nice -4 to armor saves.  Wolfsbane grants you Lethal Strike and you get to re-roll failed to wound rolls.  Bloodroot gives you an additional +1 to the wound rolls, and Multiple Wounds 2 on most targets.

 

Ultimately it will come down to what you need the assassin to kill which will determine how to outfit them.  It's almost a given that you will be a cultist of Nabh (gaining Hatred in return) and get a +4 ward save, so the option you choose for magic items/poisons will be up to you.  If you need to murder high toughness/armor models then go with Nightshade.  If you need to clear out multiple wounds then go with Bloodroot.  If you need to take out a character then I would go with Wolfsbane.  Of course this might change as time goes on but these are my initial reactions with the assassins.

 

Conclusion

 

So that wraps up the series for my 9th Age army...for now at least...if I do manage to get some games in I will of course post it up.  Since we are starting the local Journeyman League my focus will be on that coverage/ramblings for now.  Still if you have any suggestions for tactica/discussions please leave a comment below, until then happy gaming!

Dread Elves: Dread Reaper!

Welcome back ladies and gentleman to another update to the Dread Elf army!  Today we are going to discuss the only true artillery piece available to us, the Dread Reaper (e.g. Reaper Bolt Thrower). 

Stat-wise the artillery piece has T7 and 2 wounds with 2 crew members that have standard Dread Elf stat-lines comparable with the Legionnaires.  The reaper itself fires as a Bolt Thrower with S6, Multiple Wounds (d3), and has armor piercing (6).  The crew have standard Dread Elf special rules.  The artillery piece can also be upgraded with Repeating Shot, an ability that was auto-included in other games, that grants it an alternative firing option.  It can instead of the normal bolt, fire 6 S4 Armor Piercing (1) shots up to 48".  Ouch.

What a mess?  Nah not really

Defensively the artillery piece suffers the same issues as any other artillery piece so if you are familiar with those weaknesses this won't be news.  If not then you have to watch out for fast moving side line units that are meant to kill the crew.  The crew cannot stand up in a fight (barring some amaaazing die rolls) and so light cavalry/flyers are the big threats to watch out for.  Another downside is that if you are not in a good spot then you might limit your efficacy by not being able to fire, so deployment is key!

Staring to make sense...

Offensively what is there to really say other than the obvious?  The two firing modes offer flexible options for targets and so you have to decide each turn which is the main threat that needs to be dealt with and apply the correct firing solution.  Heavy armor? Bolt.  Light infantry block? Repeating shot.  High tough-ness multi-wound? Bolt.  Angry granny? Repeating shot.  This goes on and on but you get the idea.

Boom, got it.

There really isn't a lot to talk about how to use this unit either since it is pretty self-explanatory.  Depending on the terrain set-up I would be interested in getting them placed on a hill if possible to help mitigate line of sight issues.  Failing that then it would default to finding a good spot to snipe early game some threats or use them as a flank deterrent.  It's not attractive to have your unit of heavy cavalry staring down 2 Reapers with that level of firepower.

All in all a pretty solid but standard artillery piece, but then again it's not like we get a choice in the matter.  Tune in next episode where we start to go into the character options for what I have.  Until then happy gaming!

Dread Elves: Raven Cloaks!

Continuing with our series on the Dread Elf army I have been working on, today we are going to go over the Raven Cloaks (e.g. Shades).  This is probably the smallest unit I have in my current force, with the exception of some artillery pieces and characters, and it is also the last true unit I've left to assemble.  Let's take a look at their stats and options!

Stat-wise there aren't many things that stand out compared with our 'baseline' Legionnaires.  The WS and BS are both sitting at 5 putting them as being accurate elves even with some penalties to their ranged to hit rolls.  They come with standard Dread Elf rules as well as having Scout and Skirmisher.  They are armed with repeater crossbows as standard but have several options available to them that can alter their role.  I personally plan to use them as a skirmishing ranged unit that peppers units to smaller ones.  If that is not what you want to use them for you can give them: light armor, great weapons, an additional hand weapon, and poisoned attacks all for 1 pt/rule/model.  Instead of a full command you can upgrade 1 model to a Champion.

Near solid pieces are the best

Alternatively I could use them to scoot around the back lines and mess with artillery units, or counter certain threats.  The downside to this unit is their lack of staying power.  Certainly having the skirmisher rule will help against ranged shots, but any decent charge is going to ruin their day.  Light armor doesn't help much unless the hits I am taking are at S3, and even then you need 6's to pass your save.  In the end I think it's just better to mitigate getting hit in the first place and keep the unit at an arm's length.  Not only that but I will more than likely upgrade them with Poisoned Attacks, because e






Except for this part

Offensive-wise this unit isn't a heavy hitter like the Dread Knights or the Executioners, but that isn't to say that they cannot sting.  As the former are sword thrusts into the hearts of the enemy, the Raven Cloaks are like snakebites.  Hit them in the right spot and it will deadly effective.  Sadly the repeater crossbows are naturally S3 but have Armor Piercing (1) and Multiple Shots.  This makes them near perfect if you've got some lightly-armored units to take out, and even better if they are in small numbers to begin with!








I don't think it will fit easily

So high-toughness/multi-wound units are probably not what I would want to put in my sights.  Low-armored/average toughness single wound units are more the style.  Of course I can try my luck if I give them Poisoned attacks as well, but I'd have to hope for some 6's which is never a reliable thing.


Compared with 8th ed. WHFB version (from what I know) I'd say the Raven Cloaks have been nerfed, but not in a omgnevertakethisunitplskthx sort of way.  It looks more like they are back into their prior role of being a side line unit that helps the rest of the army by whittling down units into more manageable threats.  Like a glass cannon support unit.  Since I'm taking 10 maybe that will help keep my opponents from targeting them since they are "just 10 guys" and hopefully not attract too much fire.  Their point costs also support the idea of what role they should play as well.


Here they are, sort of sketchy placement though

That's all for today, tune in next time in our Dread Elf series as I go over my only piece of artillery!  Good luck and happy gaming!

p.s.  With the upcoming JL I've been putting more focus on those sort of posts but I wanted to finish up my Dread Elf series since I've almost assembled the entire force.  Over the next couple of days I will be putting the last bit (for now!) up and then moving on to my Cryxian thoughts!

Dread Elves: Executioners

A few posts ago I talked about this unit being the primary reason I got into the Dark Elves back in 7th/8th edition WHFB and they still to this day are great models.  Something about the clean, sharp armor combined with the 2-H swords they wield just resonated with me.  The updated sculpt from GW isn't bad but what throws me off are the skull helmets, they just seem a bit...goofy.


Ehhhhhhh.....

So now that I am working on these guys let's look over the stats/options and see what we can hypothesize (theorize? One of the two, right?).  Let's get started!

Stat wise the Executioners sit with most of the 'DE basics' except WS and S are up by 1, meaning they will usually hit more often and hit harder.  They are equipped with Executioner's Blades which are great weapons with Lethal Strike and Multiple Wounds (2. Infantry, Monstrous Beasts, Cavalry).  They have Heavy Armor.  Special rules-wise they have Hatred (from being Cult of Nabh) as well as standard Dread Elf special rules.  They have access to a Full Command and a magic banner up to 50 pts.

The bodies of the old models, mostly 1 piece!

So where does that leave our lovely Executioners at?  Well for one they are not meant for being on the defensive that's for sure.  Toughness 3 and only a +5 for armor with no other defensive options leaves them with not a lot of staying power.  They make up for it on the offensive however.  Despite hitting last they hit hard with an effective S6, WS 5, +1 to attack rolls, re-roll to-hit on the 1st round of combat, causing multiple wounds/hit, AND re-roll 1's to wound.  Once these guys go swinging there might not be much left!

When you buy 2 command groups for 1 unit...:-\

So the best way to use these guys is to not take the charge but to give it!  I'd say they are the kind of unit that needs to go in after the 'anvil' has taken the charge and is holding the enemy down, ready for the taking!  With the ability to inflict multiple wounds on Infantry, Monstrous Beasts, and Cavalry I'd also wager that they would be a decent unit to taking down those types of units.  Once again I'd caution being charged and in a true Dread elf fashion I'd keep an eye out for opportunities to pounce on weak flanks/units.

Completed unit, ranked up amazingly easy!

As for Magic Banners well the options are going to be in line with my previous article, the Dread Knights.  Without repeating myself here I will go with my top 3 banner choices that I would consider taking for the Executioners:

1. Bloody Banner of Nabh: With the chances of getting Lethal Strike on the attack roll I would be very interested in making sure I could re-roll my 1's and my 2's.  Granted if I am already rolling 2's from my WS and Lightning Reflexes then it becomes a bit moot, but if I have to roll 3+'s then this banner shines.
2. Rending Banner: Get an additional -1 to your armor save when I wound you?  Why sure! It's already at -3 naturally from the high strength, lethal strike makes it a potentially nasty -9, so making it a reliable -4 will make it a good counter to highly armor targets.
3. Stalker's Standard: Re-roll charge moves? Yes pls.

Quite a lovely conversion and paint job! not mine though :(

Overall it's an aggressive unit with models that I love so I am quite excited to put this unit on the field and see what they end up doing.  The way they ranked up while assembling has also been a huge plus to me.  Model-wise the only iffy part is that the swords had to be glued separately and the contact point is a tiny peg...here's hoping the green stuff/glue combo holds up!

Well that's all for today's ramblings, tune in next time for whatever comes up in my brain.  Until then happy gaming and good luck!

Dread Elves: Dread Knights

Today I am taking a look at my unit of Dread Knights (e.g. Cold Ones) heavy cavalry for the Dread Elves.  As far as cavalry options go the Dread Knights are the heaviest unit that can be taken by the Dread Elves and what a unit they are!  Not only are the models still a solid option (presuming we are going with GW's) but they are not a bad choice to be taken on to the field.  So with that in mind let's take a look at what they have!

First the stats.  The Dread Knights clock in at 26 pts/model with some great basic stats.  Weapon Skill, Strength, and Initiative are a point higher than "standard" elves so they will likely be striking first.  The raptors bring Mount's Protection +5 with Heavy Armor + Shield, meaning your average save is sitting at a +2 starting.  Raptors are not that fast compared with most mounts and so only have a M of 7.  They share Dread Elves rules of +1 to hit in melee and re-roll 1's to wound, but sadly have Stupidity.  Leadership of 9 is pretty good to prevent most hurr durr durr's however.  The Knights come with Lances, Full Command options, and can take a magical standard up to 50pts. 

Each raptor came in 4 pieces...

...each rider came in 7-8 pieces

So where to begin the dissection?  This is definitely an elite unit that fits snugly in the Special choices.  As most cavalry options I envision I would probably run this unit with 10 models, 5 wide 2 ranks deep.  Should I take some casualties from ranged/magic I will (hopefully) not lose their effectiveness early on.  I wouldn't take this unit to deal with war machine crews but would look to flank some tasty unit that needed to be hit hard and fast.  With the changes to spears I would try to avoid charging directly into the front as the Lethal Strike to cavalry rules can make a hopeful charge into a sad day.

On the charge the riders will get a +2 to their strength making the Dread Knights a potential counter to some high-toughness/save units.  The raptors can bring up to 2 attacks into combat but their initiative is a 2, so most units will strike before that.  This can be problematic depending on what you charge against but it is still a good thing to have.  The raptors strike at WS3, S4 so it's not a bad trade-off considering most non-monster mount attacks.

Rawwwwr!

 

Now let's talk about what the unit can bring for the standards.  I won't go over over every single choice as that would take awhile so instead I will refer back to my previous post when I went over my Legionnaires right here.  Since the Dread Knights can take a standard up to 50 points it opens up some options.  I will talk about my preferred choices (not necessarily in order):

1. Stalker's Standard: I would take this one more for the Swiftstride than the Strider rule.  Being able to the re-roll charge dice is mucho useful indeed.
2. Rending Banner: Having Armor Piercing (1) is useful, on the charge it'll change the -3 to the armor save from strength to -4, and normal H2H attacks to a nice -2.
3. Bloody Banner of Nabh (Dread Elf book): Being able to re-roll 1's AND 2's on the To-Wound roll is a nice addition.  I would probably use this banner for this unit if I were not taking it for another one already.
4. From the Legionnaire list I would use Banner of Leadership (to avoid stupidity even more) or Banner of Speed (to counter the lower than average raptor Move).

The unit fully assembled, from behind!

 All things considered I not only like the models (using GW's Cold One Knights) but I also like their combat capabilities.  With a solid charge their murdery-killy opportunities greatly shine, but as with any combination there are some strong counters to keep in mind.  That's it for today, I hope you all have a great one and happy gaming!

Dread Elves 2.b: The mighty Corsairs!

Ah the Corsairs are a neat unit in the Dread Elves army.  Aside from having a pretty good looking model (those sea drake cloaks are well done Gee Dubs) they are a nice unit to have overall.  In my particular case I will be usually bringing 30 of them in a 6x5 formation to help maximize the number of troops I can bring in combat while still maintaining a small footprint.  With my 50 model block of Legionnaires I need to be careful with my footprints to avoid running over my own forces.

Model-wise these guys were pretty easy to assemble.  The only complaint I was able to have is that in some cases with the weapon arms the swords/punch-daggers/hooks would cause them not to rank up as easily as some of the other choices.  I took the lazy way out and just clipped them off until they fit.  Might not look as awesome with a smaller sword but if it means the difference between being able to rank up or not then...well...snip snip.

Ranked up so far so good

In this rendition of the Dread Elves the Corsairs had a slight tweaking that changed the way I wanted to originally use them.  At first I was going to go with the hand repeater crossbows but in this edition I think I might forego that for an additional hand weapon.  Mostly because they lost the shorter ranged crossbows and are given thrown weapons instead.  It's not a bad option to take with Multiple Shots (2) and Quick to Fire, but they lose out on the Armor Piercing (1) that repeater crossbows get.  In a smaller unit I could see myself taking this option as a flank harasser with ranged but that's not how I will primarily use them,

Corsairs share the same stat-line as the Legionnaires so there aren't any surprises there.  Standard upgrades for the command group.  If you have a Prince or Captain with the Fleet Commander upgrade then you can upgrade the Corsairs to get the Vangaurd special rule (a 12" inch move before the game starts after all deployment is made).  I rather like the idea of having a unit being able to move that far before the game starts, only downside is that you cannot charge if you also go first in the turn.  With some careful planning, and if you go second, you can charge right on in a unit that is easily affected by multiple attacks.  Anything with hardcore armor or multiple wounds might not be a good idea however.

30 Corsairs all ranked up just fine

One thing that Corsairs do have is a solid +4 armor save.  Their cloaks no longer give them a bonus to just ranged attacks but now to ALL attacks.  A +5 Innate Defense combined with Light Armor gives a nice solid armor save for most light attacks.  This makes them a little more survivable than Legionnaires (w/o Heavy Armor) with the option of more attacks.

I like these cloaks, very well done.

Unless given the BSB Corsairs do not have an option to take a special banner.  Bummer.  Still I think this is a great flanking unit that fills up a core choice.  I would consider taking them as a Horde unit of 50 as they cost about the same as Legionnaires (I think 1 more pt/model) and fill a similar role.  I think they could take a normal hit and still be effective at throwing out a lot of attack die.

That about sums up my tactical thoughts on the Corsairs, tune in next time for more tactica and unit discussion!  Good luck!

Dread Elves part 2.a: Dread Legionnaires!

With my unit of Reaper Auxiliaries assembled I can turn my attention to the next unit: the Corsairs.  If you're familiar with the Dark Elves you are probably familiar with this unit as well.  First I wanted to go over the Dread Legionnaires for a bit.

Since I've had them assembled I wanted to go over the unit as a whole and briefly touch on what I would use them for and why I kitted them out the way I did.  In 9th Age I have the option of either keeping the sword and board (hand weapon + shields) or trade in the hand weapon for spears.  Naturally I chose spears (which cost me 0 extra points!).

The thing about spears in 9th Age is that they came with some extra perks compared with hand weapons.  Now don't get me wrong the sword and board option isn't bad.  With it your opponent cannot get more than a +4 to hit if they are striking from the front.  With spears you get Armor Piercing (1), Fight in Extra Ranks, and Lethal Blows against Cavalry, Monstrous Cavalry, and Chariots.  Granted that is only to models in the front but if I angle myself correctly I might have an advantage.

Not mine but I love the paint job

So with my horde of 50 Dread Legionnaires, presuming no casualties, against a unit to the front I will be rolling about 41 attacks with Armor Piercing (1).  I think that's better than the sword and board option for sure I believe.

Stat-wise the Legionnaires are solid core infantry.  Speed and Initiative of 5, WS and BS of 4, average S and T, and a Leadership of 8.  A bit faster in movement and combat than your average Joe but that's a typical Elf statline.  They get to re-roll natural '1's to-wound in close combat and  +1 to hit in close combat.  So against a non-sword and board unit with a WS of 3 I should be hitting on +2 and re-rolling 1's to wound, which is more likely before average units.  Ouch.

So these are my go to "block" unit in most lists I've written.  In 9th Age I have the option of giving them Heavy Armor, but for 2 pts/model.  The cost of that for my whole unit would jump it up by an extra 100 pts.  Ouch.  The unit is already 430 pts for 50 models base, adding an extra 100 points for a +1 to their save is pretty rough.  I can see the use in larger games where I have an extra 100 points but at the 2000-2500 level I have to take a pass.

What a horde looks like, courtesy of Brother-Maynard @ Deviantart

I have the option of taking a Veteran Standard bearer in the unit, making it One of a Kind but I can take a banner up to 25 points.  That only leaves the Core rulebook options:

1. Banner of Leadership: +1 to the unit's leadership raises from 8 to 9.  Not too bad but could be mitigated by the presence of the general.
2. Banner of Speed: +1 to movement.  Also not too bad, could be really useful for keeping up with faster units.
3. Flaming Standard: Gives the unit flaming attacks.  Too niche to be taken often, great versus Undead Dynasties and Sylvan Elves I'd say.
4. War Standard: +1 to combat resolution score.  I could see this being a good option if I had a character attached that could help add the wounds on to the total score.  
5. Icon of the Relentless Company: Triple march movement once per game.  So a 15" move could be useful if I did something wrong or they got caught and stuck in a bad position and needed to get somewhere quick mid-late game.
6. Standard of Alternate Realities: Weapons with the Magical Attack rule in the unit lose the rule and vice versa.  Also a niche pick, great against Ethereal units but otherwise useless.
7. Gleaming Icon: Once per game you can re-roll a failed Leadership test.  This could be useful since it doesn't specify which Leadership test you can re-roll, just any of them.  
8. Banner of Courage: Auto pass Terror test and immune to fear.  Also not a bad choice being immune to some aspects of psychology.  I wouldn't want my core block running away from a dragon because my dice rolling sucked.

So  I would more than likely take 1, 4, 7, or 8 if I had to pick options.  The others are too niche to plan for but if I had the foreknowledge of my opponent I might consider the others.  My friend Sam is looking into Undead Dynasties and the Flaming Standard would be a great pick but if I didn't know who I was up against I would plan for the the "safe" picks.

Overall I think it's a solid choice for a core unit clocking in at 8/pts per model (10 with heavy armor), it makes for a good solid unit of 10x5.  Next up I will go over my Corsairs (they took more time to assemble than I thought).  Until then happy gaming!

Dread Elves part 1

I must confess that I'm not starting this Dread Elf journey completely fresh.  That block of 50 Legionnaires I mentioned in the previous post, well they are already assembled.  I haven't put the magnets on just yet but I'm planning on it!  So mostly fresh.

Instead I will be working on my Reaper Auxiliaries which will provide me a nice bit of ranged firepower to help whittle down some troops whilst the rest of my forces move up.  I think a unit of 20 would be sufficient since in 9th Age you can fire in 2 ranks of 10 wide.  Not only that but these are repeater crossbows so presuming I am able to I could potentially get 40 shots out of these evil elves.  Granted I'd be taking a -1 to hit from the multiple shots, but the more the merrier!


My men ready to be assembled in piles

Eventually I think this unit, combined with the 2 Reaper throwers, will be the primary firebase for the Dread Elves.  Until I play some games I can't really foresee myself needing any more units but if I do then assembling 20 of these guys really isn't a problem.

While I was clipping away at the sprues I found that there are these crossbows with 2 arms already attached as one piece.  Score!  That means less parts for me to worry about mold lines and easier assembly.  So with all the parts ready I was prepared to start gluing.

Convenient arms ftw!

So far so good

Well everything was going as normal until...well...every Fantasy veteran will probably know where I went wrong but I found out that the models did not line up as easily as I thought they would.  Ugggggh now I'm in a weird bind as I need to find some way of ranking these guys up.



Convenient arms betrayed me! Nooooo

My face at such betrayal!

To fix this I just did the lazy way out, turned them around and voila!  No more ranking issues ha ha!  Now I have a 20 man unit ready to roll, granted some of them are not paying attention to the correct direction (to ummm watch their backs...yeah...), but I think in a small unit like this it isn't too big of a deal and seems to work out.  If there are any confusions about unit facing then I can just refer to the command group.


Eh, it works.

Next unit I have planned are my 30 man strong Corsairs, we'll see how they turn out.  So until then take care everyone and happy gaming!

My Dread Elf journey

All righty it's that time again folks, today's topic will be where I am with my Dread Elves.  As I mentioned before it's not my penultimate favorite 9th Age army but it's what I own and it's good enough for me.

I figure it would be a helluva lot easier to just roll up my sleeves and get to assembling the models than to try and tell half-opened boxes on eBay and buy a whole new army.  Besides the way I see it, if I get these guys done and work on the Vampire Covenant that's 2 different armies I can toy around with.  Not a bad deal if you ask me. 

So where am I with my Dread Elves?  Well I did a quick calculation of what I currently have bare bones (i.e. no magic items/banners/serious upgrades) and found out that I've got about 2.5k worth of points in Dread Elves.  Nice.

Currently my collection is composed of thus:

• Dread Prince, Exalted Oracle, Captain, Oracle, and 2 Assassins for my Lords/Heroes
• 50 Dread Legionnaires w/ Spears
• 20 Reaper Auxiliaries
• 30 Corsairs
• 30 Executioners
• 10 Raven Cloaks
• 10 Dread Knights
• 2 Dread Reapers

I think for the most part I've got the bulk of my infantry down and any future purchases will have to be made in the special and rare categories.  In 9th Age the Dread Reapers (e.g. Reaper Bolt Throwers) moved from rare to special so now I am completely lacking rare choices.  I've been eyeing up the Hydra from Reaper miniatures but I'm not sure about scale of the model itself.  Since I can take medusas as a skirmishing unit I've been considering getting some of the Avatars of War Naga's to use, though I'm not sure about the base size (will they fit on a 40mmx40mm?).  Finally I might break down and get GW's Cauldron of Blood, not only is it a good model to have in my force but it's a good looking model despite the cost.  I think I can snag one off eBay for cheaper though.

So I am taking the journey into making all 150+ Dread Elves come to life, and then...then...try to paint all of that.  Oh God what I am getting myself into?

Actually I am a bit excited about the prospect, I've wanted a large scale army project lately and I think I just may have come across what I've been looking for.  It will take awhile but that will be ok.

Until then gamers have a good one and good gaming!