New army build for 2010 and 8th edition WHFB.

A new rulebook (WHFB 8th Edition), a new gaming league starting and a new army.
I've been thinking of starting this army since getting back into 40K when 5th edition
was released and I built a new Ork army. It just seemed a natural progression.
Unfortunately, I had just built my High Elves, so a new WHFB army didn't motivate me enough.

Now that a new version of WHFB is out (and thanks GW for sticking a spear through the gut
of yet ANOTHER one of my armies - High Elves and their cheap core choices) I'm going to give
GW a chance to bone me over at a later date (when 9th edition comes out) and build Orcs & Goblins.

This will be part of an 'Escalation League' at The Gamer's Realm. I'm starting on July 15th,
and the league starts with 1000 points on August 15th...so I have a month to paint that much.
Then it adds 500 points every two weeks until we get to 3,000 points and play a tourney.

As usual, I'm going to try to buy my figures from the shop where I play (The Gamer's Realm).
But there'll be a couple of things different. First, I won't buy EVERYTHING they have (almost did)
because I just can't afford it this time. So I'll have to buy stuff gradually, which should still
be fun and I'll probably end up buying it all anyway because they don't seem to order new stock
very often. Which is too bad. But, they have quite a bit that I can use, so that's good.

I want my army to be mostly Orcs and less Goblins. I'd go with No Goblins, but you pretty much
have to take some or there wouldn't be much in the army. But they will be limited. The plan was
to start with the Battalion boxed set....but the store doesn't have that and since time is an
issue I'll have to get it somewhere else. That's okay though, becauses I put down a pretty good
purchase to start with.

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Here is what I bought...

Two boxes of Black Orcs

Orc boss box

Night Goblin Fanatics

Rock Lobber

Goblin Shamans

Black Orc boss

Spear Chukka

There's no core troops! That's okay, because the Battalion box that I will pick up soon
will cover that. It has three core choices in it.

I need the boss box to lead the army - as Orcs, they will have an Orc general at all times
(no stinkin' Grot in charge!) I know I'll have the Black Orcs at one point, and the boss,
so that was an easy purchase. The Spear Chukka is 35 points and should fit nicely.
And since the Battalion box has Night Goblins, I'll need the Fanatics. The Rock Lobber
seems to be out of production now, so I grabbed it while I could.

Now to make an army list so I can focus on just what I need for 1000 points....

After playing around with what I had (and the battalion box I'll need to get), I was able to
come up with a pretty solid start. The Black Orcs and the Rock Lobba are out, but everything
else is in...include a cool old metal Giant that I have had for YEARS!

The army will be led by an Orc Big Boss on foot, with a magic weapon and some armor.
The other character will be a simple level 1 Goblin Shaman. The Core choices are a unit
of 20 Orcs with spears and shields, 20 Night Goblins with spears and 2 Fanatics, and a
unit of 10 Spider Riders with bows. For Specials, I'll use the Orc Boar chariot and the
Spear Chukka. And finally I'll add my Giant. That puts me right at 999 points with
60 models to paint.

Friday, July 16th, 2010

I went to a local game store at lunch (Lone Star Comics) and while they didn't have the
Battalion box, they had something BETTER....BRIGADE BOX! Oh yeah! So I bought it.

Time to start building....

UPDATE

The brigade box is missing the Goblin bases, but a call to GW customer service (Swann)
has them on the way. In the meantime, I have assembled some Orcs and the chariot.

The chariot model is..a 'challenge'....I might not build another!

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

These figures are very easy to assemble. In just a few short sessions while watching TV
I got 1000 points ready. I had wanted to swap the Spider Riders out for Wolf Riders, but
There appears to be an issue with the type of Goblin rider sprues in the box, so I'll call
GW Customer Service on Monday to work it out. In the meantime I went back to the Spiders
which should be just fine either way.

The Night Goblins got sneaky and stole some 20mm bases from my High Elves, so they got
assembled as well. The Orks seem a bit top-heavy, even with the wider base, so I glued
a nickel to the base of each one. This will keep them from falling all over each other.

And here's 1000 points (I forgot to add the Fanatics to the photo)

Now I will magnetize and prime them, then they should be ready to paint!

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

This is what I painted on Monday and Tuesday. The Goblins are so easy to paint it's silly.
I tried a white prime on an orc boy with a wash, but it looked like crap so I primed them
black and will paint them like the GW figures. The spiders are coming along with a Vallejo
red ink and GW red wash. The goblins are finished - just need sand on the bases. They'll
look less dark when they are based. The Orc shields are primed white and will be painted
separately.

GW is sending me a new box of Wolf Riders to fix the issue with them. I'll have some extra
bits, but won't be able to make more than ten Wolf riders with what I'll have.

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Weekend Update....got a lot done...the Orc boyz are about half-finished. I'm not 100% happy about
the all-black outfits on them, but looks decent enough on GW's figures so I'll try it on mine.
The Spider Riders are coming along - I like the red and black spiders. All of the figures in
the first 1000 points have at LEAST three colors on them already.

GW sent me 50 new 20mm bases and an ENTIRE BOX of Wolf riders! Yes, their prices might be high
but the customer service is worth it.

Maybe I'm lazy, but I ordered movement trays from Litko instead of making my own. They are much
cheaper than Gale Force Nine and also have adhesive metal inserts. By the time I bought my own
materials it isn't costing a whole lot more and the quality should be worth it.

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

A week later, I've made some progress, not as much as I hoped (I would like to be finished),
but I was working on a gaming convention so that's a good excuse! Skirmish 2010

I spent a lot of time on the giant, who has a lot of fiddly doo-dads, and the chariot.
It's all coming together nicely. Soon I need to plan and build another 500 points.

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Bad news. The game store is CLOSING the day before the league was supposed to start! Holy crap.
Oh well, I've been in the hobby a long time - stores come and go, that's the way it is.

They might have a 1000 point per player game on the last day (August 14th). So I will continue to work
on these guys, not only to get them off of my painting table, but to use them in that game.

The army is very close - everything on the right of the crack in the table is completely painted and just
needs basing. The stuff on the left is very close...really only the Spider Riders have much left.
They have a lot of detail for such a small figure! I might be taking a break to see if another league
starts up somewhere. It sucks, but that's life. I've wanted an Orcs & Goblins army for years so at least
this got me off my butt to finally commit to one. Now to crank these out.....

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

Last day for the store and they had a multiplayer game, 1000 points per player. I got them ready!

Orc Boar Chariot and Spear Chukka

Orcs with Spears, Black Orc Bigboss and Goblin Shaman

Spider Riders

Curly the Giant

Night Goblins with Fanatics

My part of the battlefield, facing some elite High Elves

Orc boyz getting crushed by the White Lions

Curly goes to bat against the Phoenix Guard, but gets killed

The remains of my army closes in on the Phoenix Guard

Chariot losing the fight

Night Goblins getting destroyed by the White Lions.