Finished Water Garden

I finished the water garden scenery piece for my Mordheim board.  It's not an award winner but it still turned out pretty nice and I can't wait to use it this Sunday for the next match.  Here are the pics:

Scenery Works in Progress

Here are some of the projects I am working on for my Mordheim board. I'm vacationing this week and have made some great progress in getting them assembled and ready for painting. They should be ready to use by the end of next week.

A tower which will have another window or two added soon plus perhaps some stairs.

A water garden, with a big well and aqueduct ruin.  I left the corner open to put the tower there if I want to. 

Another view of the water garden.

A corner house, pretty basic but it's been sitting in my basement half done for three years and I want to finish it.

A hangman's noose which will have a body on it soon, and a cross with some severed hands and a head with bones.  Perfect extras for any Mordheim board!

Stormvermin on the Horizon

I won a couple of auctions the past few days on ebay to get my Skaven Stormvermin unit up from the rat warren.  Combining the two auctions it cost me 36.50 for 24 metal Stormvermin and a classic Queek Headtaker.  Combine that with my 8 plastic stormvermin and I have 32 strong unit, which is an ideal size for the 8th edition rules.  I'm really happy I got the metal models, as I like the new plastic ones but the armor on the OOP metals looks cooler to me, and I find it easier to paint armor on metal so that's great too.  The old Queek can serve as a Chieftan or a Stormvermin champion, so that is also a bonus.  All I really need now to really have my army where I would like it to be in order to play is a Doomwheel and perhaps a Warp Lightning Cannon.  Now time to get painting - the Jezzails are next up in line, followed by the Rat Ogres. 

Battle Report - The Treasure of Volker Von Karl

Thanksgiving weekend is always the time for Count Chetcula's turkey day Mordheim party, and this year was no exception.  I wrote up a special scenario, the Treasure of Volker Von Karl, a mulitplayer treasure hunt scenario with a few twists.  For this game we had four players:

• Count Chetcula's Clan Pestilens Warband, Brother Typhax's Outbreak
• Ben's Orc Warband, Grognash's Little Waagh
• Luke's Possesed Warband, who remain nameless
• Edwin's Marienburger Warband, Falcula's Fine Goods and Curiousities

Deployment was pretty straight forward, with each player taking a table quarter to use as their own.  The Treasure Map counters were pretty well dispersed around the board as well, with each warband having easy access to at least one, but guaranteed conflicts should they try to get another one.

For some players, this was all the joy they could look forward to.

The game started off with each warband moving into the city to find the closest map pieces to their deployment zone.  Falcula's Fine Goods and Curiosities went first, and the Marienburgers stayed in a pack for safeties sake.  Also moving in a pack were the Possessed and Orcs, while the Skaven took a risk and split into two groups in an attempt to get to two makers faster.  After finding their first markers, all the warbands continued on a mad run to the next one, save the Orcs, who left a contingent guarding a treasure marker next to an abandoned tower, and the Posessed, whose Magister decided to stay near the first marker he encountered in a ruined house near the center of the board.  With his Wings of Darkness spell, the Magister was able to fly about the board quite well in this game, and easily made it to an otherwise difficult location to reach. 

Here is how things looked after turn one, as all warbands greedily stalk Von Karl's treasure.

The vile Possessed Magister flies to an otherwise very difficult location to reach with ease.

Orc hero: "You goblins stay here and guard the map or me is gonna whup the Gork out of ya!"

After turn two the combat started fast and furious as Grongnash's Squigs hopped their way into an unfortunate group of Plague Monks, who were helplessly chittering in fear against the assault, at least until the Horned Rat smiled upon them and their dagger attacks struck true, disabling the angry fungi until the Frenzied Brother Festrix brought his plague censer to bear on the soon to be deceased squigs.  The Orcs, knowing that they is the best, also charged headlong into combat with the Possessed, with equally disastrous results, as da Boss Grognash himself was felled by the Possessed's Possessed, who used his giant claw and large slapping hand to make quick work of the Orcs, who then routed completely on their next turn.

Squigs have big teeth but are no match against a tide of vermin.

The Orcs see that they outnumber the Possessed and aim to show them who's boss.

After being taken out of action, the Orcs now know who's boss.

Meanwhile, while the Orcs and Possessed were busy leaving blood on the streets, the cautious and enterprising Marienburgers found another piece of the map, and rolled successfully to discover the location of one of Von Karls treasure hoards.  They then put the bulk of their warband toward that effort, and soon found a stash near a statue in one of the town squares.  The sneaky Clan Pestilens Skaven also took advantage of their opponents brawl to find another piece of the map, and they too successfully rolled to discover a stash of Von Karls treasure.  The race was now on for the warbands to grab the loot, fend off a maniacal ghost of Von Karl, and make it off the board with their ill gotten gains before the Possessed got to them first.

The Marienburgers made it to their treasure stash first, and unleashed Flaming Mad Von Karl, who proceeded to immediately charge the nearest model, laying waste to a poor warrior with ease, toasting him with the Fires of U'zhul and six frenzied attacks.  Meanwhile the Skaven finally managed to prod their newly acquired Rat Ogre to the treasure stash (Mutilator the Rat Ogre had previously failed four consecutive Stupidity tests), where he scraped at the ground of a gravestone and found the loot, and Crispy Dismembered Von Karl as well.  The Skaven, realizing that Mutilator was too stupid to help, left him to fend off the raging super zombies while they escaped with the loot. 

Mutilator finds the loot and unleashes Von Karl

He takes out one of them, but it isn't long before their crispy burnt limbs knock him down, but not out. 

The Marienburgers were facing serious difficulties trying to move the treasure chest off the board while enduring the withering assault of Flaming Mad Von Karl, who in addition to the warrior took out a Gibo the youngblood, Magnificent Gruntle the warlock, Lol Freshbreeze the elf ranger, Fritz the warcat, and the 3 wound hero Leonardo and his greatsword with absolute ease, only losing one wound in the process.

While all of this was going on, other combats were happening as well.  Seeing an opportunity to help and also get some easy kills, Falcula jumped into the fray with the same plague monks who had dispatched the squigs, and despite showing an obvious display of quality versus his inferior foe, was felled by a lucky dagger strike and a critical wound.  Frenzied Brother Festrix also saw the chance for glory, and madly charged the Possessed model that had wiped the floor with the Orcs.  He easily knocked him down, and was primed to take him out of action when he choked on the fumes of his own plague censer and collapsed, creating yet another near victory for the Skaven race.

Three turns of casualties to Flaming Mad Von Karl

The Skaven were just about to make it off the board with their treasure, and were chittering with glee at the thought of all the precious items in the chest when disaster struck.  Hearing the death screech of Brother Festrix from across the city, Brother Typhax panicked, and this spread to the rest of the warband with all haste.  Not even his fine Cathayan silk cloak and unholy relic could prevent his routing, and with the third failed roll of the dice the Skaven dropped their loot within 2" of victory and fled the board, leaving only the rapidly diminishing Marienburgers and the suddenly unstoppable Possessed, along with one very angry flaming ghost left to determine the final outcome.

I see dead people!  Run!  Run for your lives!

With things coming down to the wire the game was in the balance.  The Possessed were rapidly making their way to the Marienburgers and their treasure, and were within a turn of charging into combat.  Foolishly though one of the beastmen in the band positioned himself between Von Karl's ghost and the treasure, and was immediately charged and wiped out for his folly.  Unable to fight off the terror of something almost as horrible as what they worshiped in the Pit, the Possessed warband routed and fled the board, leaving the Marienburgers to leisurely cart off the treasure, and celebrate a very hard fought victory.  

So close for the Possessed, yet so far. 

In the end the Marienburgers only managed to get some gold crowns and a Tome of Magic from the treasure hoard, but it was still a nice haul for the antiques afficionados.  The aftermath of the battle was bloody and featured lots of leg and arm wounds, a pit fight (fortunately victorious for the Marienburgers and their warband leader), and enough advances to make the whole endeavor worthwhile.  The Orcs curse the day and say they will be back with more goblin fodder, the Possessed aim to add more models, and the Skaven rue their inability to grow a spine when needed.  But fun was had by all, and at least there was the buffet to comfort those who saw the dice roll the other way.

Mordheim Warband Pictures

I uploaded some pics of some of my Mordheim warbands to the photos page for those who might be interested in checking them out.

My Mordheim Board

It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but this iteration of Mordheim, City of the Damned works for me.  I do think I might have the best Buffet of the Damned though, hands down! 

Count Chetcula's Buffet of the Damned

Mordheim, City of the Damned

A good view of my bridge, the first scenery piece I ever made.

It's cheap and not too pretty, but black painted bluefoam is great for adding instant elevation.

A good view of the graveyard and one of my scratch built towers.

Mordheim Scenario - The Treasure of Volker Von Karl

For my Mordheim party this past weekend I wrote up a special multiplayer scenerio, "The Treasure of Volker Von Karl."  It played pretty well, and I am posting it fist to help the following battle report make more sense. 

The Treasure of Volker Von Karl

Volker Von Karl was a councilor and confidant of the infamous Count von Steinhardt, and if rumor is to be believed, even more corrupt and immoral then the Count himself.  Von Karl was also quite the materialist and used his position to amass numerous treasures and valuable goods.  Already a somewhat paranoid fellow before the comet laid waste to Mordheim, he became a full on madman afterwards.

Before he was chopped to pieces and burned alive at the same time by a zealous Witch Hunter warband for suspected heresies, Von Karl shouted to his captors that death could not hold him, and woe betide those who would attempt to profit from his demise.  Of course no sooner had his ashes cooled then the many treasure hunters in Mordheim set about hunting for his ill gotten gains.  Von Karls charred remains mysteriously disappeared soon after, leading many to believe that the key to his treasure lay with his blackened bones.

Terrain
The board will be set up as normal with the following exceptions.  Five numbered markers will be distributed around the board by the players in clockwise order no closer then 10" from the from the table edge and 6" from each other.  These counters represent the dismembered remains of Von Karl.

Set Up
Standard multiplayer setup applies.

Special Rules
--Before the game the players or GM will determine the location of the three treasures of Volker Von Karl and write them down on a piece of paper for all to know.  For example: "Treasure #1 is at the Cross Gravestone near the Tower with the bloody door."  (ed. note - I thought about making this secret and hidden, but figured it would become obvious soon enough where they were, and they have to be randomly rolled to be accessed anyways so camping on the spots won't do much good for the players) 

--Each Counter represents a piece of Von Karl; the torso w/ head, two arms, and and two legs. When a model comes into base contact with a counter they consult the following table.
#1) Head & Torso - a piece of map is stuffed in Von Karls mouth
#2) Arm - a piece of map is clutched in the fist
#3) Arm - a piece of map is clutched in the fist
#4) Leg - a piece of map is stuffed in the boot
#5) Leg - a piece of map is stuffed in the boot

Each time a player obtains a piece of the map, they consult the following table
1 piece of map - Treasure location discovered on a d6 roll of 6
2 pieces of map - Treasure found on a 5+
3 pieces of map - Treasure found on a 4+
4 pieces of map - Treasure found on a 3+
5 pieces of map - Map is complete, the treasure found automatically!

To determine which treasure location you need to go to, the player rolls a d6
Roll of 1-2 = Treasure location #1
Roll of 3-4 = Treasure location #2
Roll of 5-6 = Treasure location #3

When a model finally makes it to one of the treasure locations he can pick up the chest and take it off the board or leave it for others to pick up and carry.  A single model moving the chest cannot run and only moves at 1/2 of the models movement characteristic.  Two models carrying the chest cannot run but can move the full movement characteristic for the slowest model.  Models that successfully carry off the treasure can come back for more on their following turn if so desired.

Extra Special Rules
Unfortunately for the players Von Karl wasn't kidding and he really won't stay dead.  His ghosts will hound whoever takes his treasure until either he is driven off or the treasure is taken off the board edge, at which point he will disappear in a cloud of smoke screaming madly and cursing your name.  To see which horrible manifestation that the treasure finding model unleashes, roll a d6.  Each manifestation can only appear once, so reroll as needed.

1-2 - Von Karl the Creepy Councilor (Von Karl before the comet, able thief and sneaky bastard)
3-4 - Flaming Mad Von Karl (Von Karl as he was being hacked and burned, mad as hell)
5-6 - Crispy Dismembered Von Karl (What more needs to be said?)

Each Manifestation has it's own separate profile, see the addendum at the end of the article for the full profiles.  Each Von Karl will always pursue until he is defeated or the treasure he was guarding is off the board.  His turn happens immediately after the treasure finding players turn, and he is to be controlled by any other player on the board, but must charge the closest enemy model of the warband with his treasure if at all possible.

Starting the Game 
Standard multiplayer rules apply.

Ending the Game
The Game ends when all the treasure is off the board or all warbands have routed, whichever comes first. 

Experience
+1 Survives the battle
+1 Winning leader (Any warband which carries off a treasure is considered a victor)
+1 per enemy out of action
+2 for finding the treasure chest (per chest)
+2 for defeating Von Karl (per Von Karl)

The Treasure (Roll on a d6)
Automatic - 4d6 gc
Magical Artefact - 6+
Holy Tome - 5+
D3 Gems worth 10 gc each - 5+
Tome of Magic - 5+
D3 doses of Dark Venom - 4+
Mordheim Map - 4+

The Von Karls

Von Karl the Creepy Councilor
M   WS   BS   S   T   W   I   A   Ld
4      5       4     4    4    3   6   4     8

Equipment: Sword & dagger, dark venom
Skills: All speed skills
Special Rules: 5+ ward save

Flaming Mad Von Karl
M   WS   BS   S   T   W   I   A   Ld

4      3       4     4    4    2   5   3     8

Equipment: Sword and dagger
Special Rules: 5+ ward save
  --Wizard - Autocasts Fires of U'Zhul 2x per turn
  --Hot to touch: Any model in base contact is hit with a S3 flaming attack on a 4+
  --Fear
  --Frenzy

Crispy Dismembered Von Karl
M   WS   BS   S   T   W   I   A   Ld

4       4      0     4    4    5*  4  5*   8

Equipment: None
Skills: Reslient
Special Rules: 5+ ward save
 *--Hard to kill: Each wound represents a single model, a head, 2 arms, and 2 legs.  Each model attacks w/ 1 attack and has 1 wound. So the model that gets this manifestion would unleash five models at once, all of which would charge simultaneously. 
  --Fear
 

Mordheiming

This Sunday is my annual post Thanksgiving Mordheim event, and I am pretty excited.  In addition to the ridiculous buffet spread I have planned, I am hoping to use my first actual full day off of any responsibilities tomorrow to plan a righteous multiplayer scenario.  Last year I ran a prison break game where each player picked different prisoners with different abilities who had escaped from the Mordheim jail to ally with their warband, and the resulting chaos was wonderful. 

I am hoping this year to do something that is worthy of last years success, and am think of something along the lines of a treasure hunt style game where objectives need to met in order to get a clue to determine the final whereabouts of the wyrdstone stash.  Of course it will be guarded by something nice and nasty, otherwise how could it really be Mordheim?  It's looking like I will have a group of 3-6 players depending on circumstances, which is a great number for the game, and I will have to put a leaf in the table to have a suitable surface, which is awesome because I love terrain. 

Once I get the scenario written I will post the rules here, and will hopefully have some pics from the game as well to post on Monday.  Can't wait!

Finished Plague Censer Bearers

Today I finished my Plague Censer Bearers, which is pretty exciting for me as now I have another finished unit for my in-progress Skaven army, and some new hero characters for my Clan Pestilens Mordheim warband.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, I used the same color scheme as the Night Goblin Fanatics I just painted, but with diseased green censers instead of bronzed balls of death.  It's not my best paintjob, but it will be good enough to not embarrass the unit on the tabletop, and the red scheme will nicely compliment my green robed Plague Monks and allow the PCB's to stand out on their own.  Anyways, here are the pics.

Skaven Byproducts

Thanks to my recent association with the Skaven, I have come down with some heinous viral infection of the nose/throat which has kept me from doing my painting.  So as the illness winds down I'm going to try and paint some plague censer bearers in an attempt to appease Lord Nurglitch and clear this nastiness out of my system. 

I did get a pleasant surprise though from my previous post, in addition to all of the other goodies one of the models that I thought was a plain Grey Seer was actually Lord Skrolk, whose model I didn't yet have.  So total bonus there!

Hopefully I'll have some new pics up next week, the PCB's are total miniature wrecks and will take a bit of TLC to go from drab to fab. 

Best mislisting of the year!

I won a monster score on ebay last night, for an auction titled, "Warhammer Skaven Models," for $16.61.  What was included in the auction (at least to the best I can discern from the small image) is:

• the newest Thanquol and Boneripper ($25-$30 retail)
• 3 Warlords ($42)
• 1 Warlock Engineer ($12)
• 2 Grey Seers ($28)
• 6 or 7 Assassins ($50)
• 8 Night Runners ($25)

The models in question

All of these models are metal, and the shipping was only $3, so for a grand total of just under $20 I won over $150-$180 worth of models, depending on where you would purchase them.  Even if I sell less than half of them at a major undercutter price, I will easily make my money back.

Night Goblin Fanatics

I bought these in 2007 in London UK, and only just now painted them. So I am glad to get them finished and onto the tabletop.

More Skaven Reinforcements

I was quite disappointed last night when I got home from work, as I had put in a minimum bid offer for a fairly large lot of Skaven models that had been sitting empty for a week on ebay, only to get sniped at the last moment.  But much to my surprise I woke up this morning with a second chance offer for the auction, so I happily took it!   For $60, which is about as steep as I am willing to go on ebay, I won an auction containing:

• the full Skaven set from Island of Blood (40 clanrats, 2 rat ogres, packmaster, warlord, warlock engineer, poison wind mortar, and warpfire thrower)
• 1 Grey Seer in new in the blister
• 1 built Grey Seer
• 1 Deathmaster Sknitch
• 1 built and supposedly master painted Queek Headtaker (I hope it's the new model but can live with the old one)
• 1 metal Warlock Engineer new in the blister
• 10 Stormvermin w/ full command

I'm pretty happy with the contents of that for only $60, that's a pretty sizable force, the 10 stormvermin alone would run around $20-$25, and I'm going to be able to sell off some of the extras to offset this purchase and hopefully fund a Doomwheel. 

As this will give me my 2nd plastic Isle of Blood warlord I now have a figure that I can cut easily with a hobby knife to mod onto the back of one of the Rat Ogres for a Bonebreaker model.  Which is pretty cool, in my opinion, and I can't wait to get to work on that!  I'll definitely post pics of the WIP and finished models. 

I'm just about finished with my Night Goblin Fanatics and should have some pics up tomorrow.  They turned out ok, not my best, but certainly good enough to feel comfortable putting on the table.  Honestly I am just trying to finish most of my Orc and Goblin miniatures before I really jump into my Skaven so they don't sit gathering dust for a year.  With them finished I will have 8 fanatics to unleash on my enemies (or myself depending on the dice)!

PCB's - And I don't mean wack chemicals

I won another auction yesterday for 8 Plague Censer Bearers, which cost me $20 even.  I sniped the auction at the minimum bid, which is still a pretty nice deal as they retail for 2 models for $14, so I saved $36 off the retail price.  Granted they are the 6th edition models, but they still look pretty nice so that's no big deal.  I'm getting down to the rare units now in my Skaven army building, so the deals are getting harder to find.  I will have my Stormvermin though!

I'm also kicking around the idea of converting my Island of Blood Warlord to ride a warlitter.  It will take some doing, but he is already well posed for it with the way he is sculpted standing on the rock.  A few clips and he'll be ready to go.  Just need to mod the clanrats with spears to boost him up on a platform and I'll have a nice centerpiece model for my command.  I will definitely post pictures of that once it's done.  Right now though I am working on some Night Goblin Fanatics I had laying around for a few years, time to get them out of the way so I can move on to the incoming rats. 

Jezzails! Jezzails!

I won a nice auction last night for 8 Jezzail teams, some of them custom conversions, all of them only partially painted.  I'm quite excited about it as I will have them finished then in only a couple rounds of painting once they arrive in the mail.  I won the auction at $16.50, which is a huge bargain as a single Jezzail team runs about $10 a blister pack.  Once again another persons average to bad paint job is my gain!

My Skaven army is rapidly taking shape, and pretty soon I'll have a force that can be fielded at 2000 points.  My inventory update currently stands at:

• 60 Clanrats w/ 2 commands
• 26 Plague Monks w/ command (16 painted)
• 15 Giant Rats (3 painted)
• 5 Rat Ogres (1 painted)
• 4 packmasters
• 21 Night/Gutter Runners (16 painted)
• 8 Jezzails
• 1 Ratling Gun (painted)
• 1 Warpfire Thrower
• 1 Screaming Bell w/ Grey Seer
• 1 Warlord
• 1 Assassin
• 1 Warlock Engineer

This puts me at nearly 1800 points base before upgrades and magic items.  My next target is a sizable unit of Stormvermin, but they are hard to find at a reasonable price and will probably be one of the last things I end up getting, along with the Plague Censer Bearers and Poison Wind Globadiers thanks to their being only available in metal models. 

My next targets will be the Skaven half of the Island of Blood set to fill out my Clanrats, Rat Ogres, characters and weapon detachments, and then a Doom Wheel or Warp Lightning Cannon to have something to occupy the Rare slots in my army.  But it won't be long before this army is up and running!

More Rat Ogres

I'm pretty happy with the ebay auction I just scored.  I won the Rat Ogre/Giant Rats set for $7.50, and it retails for $40, over $30 off!  The auction had it listed funny, just showing the sprue in the photo, and it wasn't marketed as the rat ogre box set, but I still can't believe I got it that cheap.  Thanks esnipe!

Ratling Gun

Here is the first model from my new Skaven army that I am in the process of assembling, a Ratling Gun.  This one arrived very cheaply via ebay b/c it already had been poorly painted.  I managed to ink wash and highlight it to a reasonable standard, and I can't wait to see how it compares to one that I paint from the ground up.  Still, I am pleased, even if it is fairly monotone.

Screaming Bell on the Way!

I won an auction a few days ago for the Skaven Screaming Bell.  Not the new one that can also be a plague furnace, but the 7th edition one which looks like a modified siege tower.  I scored it for $20, which was the minimum bid.  I think the high minimum bid and bad paint job scared off some people, but seeing as it is a $35-$50 model depending on the version you get, I'm pretty pleased.  I plan on modding a base and using my Mordheim Clan Eshin Rat Ogre to push the bell tower from behind.  Should be a neat conversion when I'm finished.  I'm also really happy that it is already painted, albeit crappily, which means the basecoat layer that needs to be put on the model before the ink wash is already completed.  I'll be able to have it painted in half the time, which is quite nice considering how large the model kit is.

More Painting - Grognard the Goblin Hero

I just finished the first of four goblin heroes for my O&G horde. I have affectionately named him Grognard, just b/c it seems the name fits the model. Anyways, here he is.

FInished Forest Goblin Spider Riders

I finally finished an actual unit of troops for the first time in over three years, and I'm pretty happy with the final result.  They turned out quite well and picked up the detail pretty nicely for plastic miniatures.  Can't wait to get a game in and have them unleash some poisoned attacks and then run away like proper goblins!

Up from the Gutter

The Skaven reinforcements keep coming in, as bargains are abundant on ebay.  Making their way via post are 2 Warlock Engineers, a Warpfire thrower, some reinforcements for my plague monks, and 2 more Rat Ogres.  On the horizon are the Island of Blood warlord and possibly some more clanrats, and perhaps even a Doomwheel. I've pretty much tabled the undead at this point because they are way too expensive compared to Skaven to purchase.  Perhaps when more plastic sets get released I'll go back to them.  Right now though I am focusing on painting my remaining Orcs and Wood Elves, and then working on the Skaven as I get them.

I am just about finished painting my first 10 Forest Goblin Spider Riders.  I'm liking their look and will upload some pics probably this Friday when they are completed.  Just need to base them and make a movement tray and they are good to go.  Next up after them are some Black Orcs I have lying around. 

Spiders make me happy

I'm finally getting around to painting the Battle of Skull Pass spider riders that have been sitting in my basement for 4 years now.  I'm pretty stoked about having them ready for my next game of warhammer with my Orc and Goblin horde, I'll have more cavalry than I know what to do with, and it will all suck because of the new 8th edition rules.  But that's ok because I am desperate to try them out.  I anticipate having them finished some time next week, and as soon as I do I will get some pictures uploaded.  They are actually much easier to paint then I thought they were going to be. 

Another ebay score

Yet another non-VC purchase, but this time I won 4 sets of 20 Skaven Clanrats at $4 each with free shipping.  That's 80 clanrats for only $16, which by anybodies count is a bargain.  With my multiple Skaven Mordheim warbands I could probably put together 1000 points of Skaven at this point. So I might keep the clanrats, or turn them around in a few months when the initial Island of Blood craze is over.  Either way, nice!  I have a couple of bids in on some Rat Ogres as well, and if those go through successfully I'll be in even better shape, as they don't take too long to paint and I might be able to sell the painted models at a markup, and then use the profits to purchase the Grave Guard I have been craving.

ebay update

I won another auction last night, not for a VC model though, but instead a Wood Elf mounted Lord.  Here is the GW pic of the model, he retails for $17, I won him for $3.75, shipping included.  Hopefully I'll be able to turn him around and make a few bucks to put toward some Mantic Ghouls.  

There is a VC army auction that I am following, started off at .99 bidding for a huge lot, but the many people who don't know how to properly bid have already run it up past $70 with a day to go.  If they would have just exercised some patience one of us could have won it for around $50, which would have been a monster steal of a win.  Instead some sap is going to pay much more than he should have.  I don't want to start a rant on early bidding, but it really irritates me. 

More brains...

I just won another ebay auction, this one for a unit of 20 zombies on the sprue plus the extra bits from another set of 20 zombies.  I got it for a really great price of $8.73, with $6 shipping.  So for $15 I got 20 zombies plus enough bits to build at least another 20+ zombies, very nice!  If only the grave guard and crypt ghouls were this easy.

Two successfully raised units and 2 failed expiriments

Last nights ebay action was partially successful, but also had a few disappointments.  I won two auctions for 5 model Dire Wolf units, totalling $19.51 with free shipping.  So that's about 25-30% off retail price with tax.  A pretty decent price for that unit of models, not the best but certainly a respectable savings.

I lost out on two bids at the last minute though, one on a unit of 11 Empire Knights that had been hovering at $.99 for 6 days, and was at $5 two hours before it ended at midnight.  I went to bed confident in my esnipe bid of $17.00, but was mildly shocked to see that it went to a bidding war for $26 the next morning as it wasn't advertised as a Warhammer item on the listing.  Same story with the Empire Cannon Mortar set I was bidding on, I was the top bid at .99 for a week, and got outbid as it finally went for $9.50.  I didn't need that for my army and was only trying to get it to resell, so that's no big loss.  Same with the Empire Knights, there will be other units, hopefully ones that won't get caught in bidding wars. 

So after last nights auctions I now have an additional 10 Dire Wolves to add to my army list, but am still working on the Black Knights.  There is an auction for a box of zombies that I have hopes for tonight, but with the way it is looking it will probably go for over my max bid.

Dire Wolves & Auction Update

Just looked at the GW Dire Wolves in detail, and man are they hideous models.  I will probably buy some anyways because they are cheap and might be able to be converted into something good.  If my Black Knight plan w/ the Empire Knights falls though I might mount some zombies atop the wolves and turn those into my Black Knights instead.  Wish I had the money to buy 20 Gamezone Zombie Wolves, they are just fantastic, but a bit too steep to purchase outright.

Tonight is a big night on ebay, there are four auctions I am up for that are ending, and I hope my cap is enough to win them.  I'm sniping the bids to try and keep the prices down, and am hoping that the people who have already bid on the items haven't entered a high cap, and there are no other snipers.  The auctions are harder to find b/c the lister didn't describe them as well as he could have, so that works in my favor.  We'll see, and hopefully tomorrow I will have a good update to post. 

Rising from the grave...

It's been nearly 5 years since I have played a proper game of Warhammer, back in the days of 6th edition.  Now that 8th edition is out, and my daughter is old enough for me to start messing with the hobby again, I am jumping in fresh and building a Vampire Counts army from scratch.  I chose the VC because I really like the dead things, and their models by and large are pretty nice, and the style of play is different from the Orcs and Goblins and Wood Elf armies I already have.  I have no idea about the rules, so buying a rules book is one of the first things in the queue for me to do so I can start building a proper army list and moving on from there in terms of purchasing models.  I will be attempting to purchase all of my models at ridiculous discounts on ebay, and will chronicle my attempts successful or otherwise here on the blog.

I do have a few undead models painted and ready to go from my extensive Mordheim collection, and they include:

• 2 vampires
• 8 zombies
• 1 direwolf
• 2 necromancers
• 3 dregs (suitable as zombies)
• 3 ghouls
• 1 Cairn Wraith

Obviously this is nothing in the Warhammer scale of things, but it's a start.  Unpainted items in my possession include:

• 1 Winged Vampire Lord
• 20-30+ unpainted zombies 

I plan on using the bitz from my zombie sprues to make my zombie kits go as far as possible.  For every 20 models I want to get 40 zombies, which is easy to do when all you need is an arm sticking out of the ground.  I'll need to buy some more bases, but this shouldn't be an issue.

What I know I want for my VC army regardless of the armylist is a freaking ton of zombies and some blood knights.  I plan on having a horde of 80-100 zombies by the time it is all said and done.  They may not be at all effective, but the sheer spectacle of seeing a shambling horde of that size will please me greatly.  For the blood knights I don't like the look (or the ridiculous price tag) of the Games Workshop models, so I plan on using the Gamezone Mournful Knight models instead.  I just purchased the Mournful Knight Hero off of ebay for $12 with free shipping, which is a steal compared to the $20 minimum for a GW Blood Knight Champion.  Over the next few months I plan on buying the other 4 models to complete the set as opportunity arises.  Once I get them primed and painted I will post some pics to the blog.

I have been reading on the internet that I need lots of Ghouls and Grave Guard as well, so those are on my watch list on ebay also.  I plan on making some Black Knights by converting some Empire Knights with Grave Guard bitz to make a 10+ strong unit.  I don't like the Black Knights batwing helmets or skeletal steeds, so this conversion opportunity should be more visually acceptable and better fit the theme of my army and allow for some color beyond the usual black seen in undead hordes.

So that's where I am at as I start to raise the dead and create a proper VC army.  Stay tuned for more missives from the grave!