The Undead Might of El Duque Azul

Since I've been challenged on the Fantasy Pyramid (finally!), and since we've been fiddling with this army composition scoring system ( http://atlantis.sverok.net/WPS/RT_WPS_Comp.pdf ) to gauge how "hard" our armies are, I've spent the whole evening blowing off the battle report I promised Arlin I'd do, instead trying to come up with a Vampire Counts army that scores half-way decent with the scoring system I found, that I can field, and that I would enjoy. Like most VC army lists, it's dependent on magic. I also enjoy a lot of speed, including some flying. It's got a lot of big beefy infantry units, including a wight king BSB-led Grave Guard unit (with spears...I wanted to do Great Weapons but ran out of points!). A unit of Wight King led Black Knights to sneak thru the trees and terrorize flanks, some Cairn Wraiths with a Banshee to pick on, well, anything. And a Black Coach, because it's just too cool. This is 2500 points, and scores 2178 in that comp system. I'm quite pleased with it...let me know what you think! Vampire Lord (1#, 440 Pts) 1 Vampire Lord @ 440 Pts General; Vampire; Level 3 Upgrade; Hand Weapon; Undead 1 Sword of Might @ [x] Pts (+1S) 1 Walach's Bloody Hauberk @ [x] Pts (4+as, 5++) 1 Wristbands of Black Gold @ [x] Pts (3++ vs. all ranged) 1 Dark Acolyte @ [x] Pts (+1 magic level, making him lvl 4) 1 Flying Horror @ [x] Pts (Fly) 1 Forbidden Lore @ [x] Pts (Can pick Vamp or any BRB Lore, knows all spells of that lore in addition to Invocation) Lord of the Barrows (1#, 135 Pts) 1 Wight King (Battle Standard Bearer) @ 135 Pts Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Battle Standard Bearer; Undead 1 Royal Standard of Strigos @ [x] Pts (Bearer and unit has Hatred) Lord of the Barrows (1#, 140 Pts) 1 Wight King @ 140 Pts Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Undead 1 Skeletal Steed @ [0] Pts 1 Sword of Kings @ [x] Pts (Killing blow on 5+) 1 The Gem of Blood @ [x] Pts (1st w taken rebounds) Vampire (1#, 195 Pts) 1 Vampire @ 195 Pts Vampire; Hand Weapon; Undead 1 The Flayed Hauberk @ [x] Pts (2+ AS) 1 Black Periapt @ [x] Pts (Saves a magic/dispel die) 1 Talisman of the Lycni @ [x] Pts (M9) 1 Avatar of Death (Great Weapon) @ [x] Pts (hvy arm & gw) 1 Infinite Hatred @ [x] Pts (rerolls all to-hits) Squad (1#, 100 Pts) 1 Corpse Cart @ 100 Pts Balefire (-1 to enemy cast roll within 24") Dire Wolves (5#, 40 Pts) 5 Dire Wolves @ 40 Pts Fast Cavalry; Undead Dire Wolves (5#, 40 Pts) 5 Dire Wolves @ 40 Pts Fast Cavalry; Undead Crypt Ghouls (10#, 88 Pts) 9 Crypt Ghouls @ 88 Pts Causes Fear; Poisoned Attacks; Undead 1 Crypt Ghast @ [16] Pts Crypt Ghouls (20#, 160 Pts) 20 Crypt Ghouls @ 160 Pts Causes Fear; Poisoned Attacks; Undead Crypt Ghouls (20#, 160 Pts) 20 Crypt Ghouls @ 160 Pts Causes Fear; Poisoned Attacks; Undead Black Knights (5#, 169 Pts) 5 Black Knights @ 169 Pts Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Lance; Heavy Armour; Shield; Undead 1 Standard of Hellish Vigour @ [x] Pts (can march without vamp) 5 Skeletal Steed @ [0] Pts Grave Guard (19#, 258 Pts) 18 Grave Guard @ 258 Pts Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Undead 1 Seneschal @ [x] Pts Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield Fell Bats (5#, 100 Pts) 5 Fell Bats @ 100 Pts Flyer; Undead Cairn Wraith (5#, 275 Pts) 4 Cairn Wraiths @ 275 Pts Great Weapon; Causes Terror; Ethereal; Skirmishers; Undead 1 Tomb Banshee @ [x] Pts Causes Terror; Ethereal; Undead Black Coach (1#, 200 Pts) 1 Black Coach @ 200 Pts Causes Terror; Chariot; Large Target 1 Cairn Wraith @ [0] Pts Great Weapon 2 Nightmare @ [0] Pts Total Roster Cost: 2500

Minos and Giants and Spawn...Oh My!

Trying a little makeshift photography...thanks to the wife for her help!

Here's a shot of a dragon I'd done right after the GW Washes came out. He was primed white, and everything except the teeth/claws was done with washing. It's certainly not a great work of art, but he was done in just 2 hours and looks pretty handsome. The saddle is a work in progress...I'm not much of a greenstuff guy, yet!

Here's a spawn. The intent was to make him look like raw muscle, tendon, bone, and talon. The multiple eyes just kind of happened as I picked fun pieces off the spawn sprue...Khorne likes his minions to maintain situational awareness, of course!

Here's a few shots of Fred the Giant. Not sure how he got the name Fred, but I'd intended to tattoo it on his belly, but want to finish up some other things and practice my free-hand on a less sizable canvas!

And last for tonight, here's a sample Minotaur, with the addition of a chaos-y tail. All the minos will have the same coloration: the pale human-tone skin, with the red fur.

I'm not sure on how I'm going to do the basing...I think a simple and fast grass will be the best (cows should live in a pasture, after all)...the green should contrast nicely with the reds on the minos!

Another month, another post.. DE and Minotaur updates!

Well, the Dark Eldar have had some limited success playing on Vassal. I've made some ebay purchases (two used raiders and three NIB ravagers, some more warriors) and have I think all the pieces to put together the army. I haven't really assembled anything or even worked on a color scheme: they're on-hold until Moloch's Stampede is done. I've had a few games using the Minotaurs now, and have had mixed success. Most of the failures have been due to a few specific problems: I keep getting killed with challenges (My heroes charge in along with a mino herd, have to accept challenges, and the mino herds stand there and watch...the heroes aren't killy enough to blast through many things, so are killed while the herd loses their only chance to strike first with their great weapons); and I'm unable to pull off the front/flank combo charges I need to ensure a win. So I've done two things with the list: I've reduced the number of characters, and increased the number of minotaurs! The Khornegors are gone. I love the models and was looking foward to painting them, but they're slow, didn't add anything to the army, were too easily baited, and don't really fit the theme. The BSB is gone. Without the Khornegor unit, he didn't really have a home and seemed more a liability than anything. The Doombull gets The Slaughterer's Blade. Hopefully this will help him survive, but I haven't tested yet. If it doesn't work out I'll go back to regular great weapon and buy more hounds...can't go wrong with more hounds! This is where my list is now: Doombull (1#, 269 Pts) 1 ~[(^One or more selected options present a potential usage conflict]×~[(#]Doombull of Khorne @ 269 Pts General; Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Causes Fear; Frenzy 1 Slaughterer's Blade @ [40] Pts Wargor (1#, 105 Pts) 1 ~[(^One or more selected options present a potential usage conflict]×~[(#]Wargor of Khorne @ 105 Pts Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Frenzy Beast Herd (10#, 60 Pts) 5 Gors @ 60 Pts Musician Mus; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon 5 Ungor @ [20] Pts Spear Beast Herd (10#, 60 Pts) 5 Gors @ 60 Pts Musician Mus; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon 5 Ungor @ [20] Pts Spear Chaos Hounds (5#, 30 Pts) 5 Warhounds @ 30 Pts Chaos Hounds (5#, 30 Pts) 5 Warhounds @ 30 Pts Chaos Hounds (5#, 30 Pts) 5 Warhounds @ 30 Pts Chaos Hounds (5#, 30 Pts) 5 Warhounds @ 30 Pts Minotaurs (3#, 183 Pts) 3 Minotaurs of Khorne @ 183 Pts Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Frenzy Minotaurs (3#, 183 Pts) 3 Minotaurs of Khorne @ 183 Pts Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Frenzy Minotaurs (3#, 183 Pts) 3 Minotaurs of Khorne @ 183 Pts Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Frenzy Minotaurs (3#, 183 Pts) 3 Minotaurs of Khorne @ 183 Pts Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Frenzy Minotaurs (3#, 183 Pts) 3 Minotaurs of Khorne @ 183 Pts Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Frenzy Minotaurs (3#, 183 Pts) 3 Minotaurs of Khorne @ 183 Pts Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Frenzy Minotaurs (3#, 183 Pts) 3 Minotaurs of Khorne @ 183 Pts Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Frenzy Chaos Spawn (1#, 75 Pts) 1 Bloodbeast of Khorne @ 75 Pts Causes Fear; Unbreakable Chaos Spawn (1#, 75 Pts) 1 Bloodbeast of Khorne @ 75 Pts Causes Fear; Unbreakable Chaos Giant (1#, 205 Pts) 1 Chaos Giant @ 205 Pts Causes Terror; Large Target; Stubborn Total Roster Cost: 2250 My attempts at taking pictures of my guys have not been successful. My wife and I are working on some ideas to help, hopefully more mino photos soon!