Dreadwood | Twisted Brothers

Following their initial meeting, Myrddin advised Lord Constantine and the rest of  The Order to seek refuge with the Forest Spirits. Hoping to learn more of The Fulcrum from their masters, deducting that these beings may know something of The Fulcrum due to being able to communicate with them whilst on it!

Eager to learn more of these creatures, Myrddin invited the leader of the group aboard The Fulcrum.

"Tell me more of your people," Myrddin began.

"We are much changed since the return of Chaos, many of my brothers are broken, something has snapped in them. They are spiteful, likely to attack their allies as much as their enemies if it means the protection of our race."

"Hopefully they see the importance of this Fulcrum to our plans, otherwise we may be leading your people into great danger."

The Order | Free Peoples Army

Been a while since posting, but here's my complete (for now) Free Peoples army, The Order!


Marshal Agravain

A veteran of Constantine's house, Marshal Agravain has served the Freeguild since before Constantine was born. Noone dare ask how one of such age keeps has hair from turning grey.

The Amber-Gilded Zweihanders

The Zweihanders are Constantine's very best troops, surviving many ordeals in the service of the Freeguild. 

They have half jokingly had the first part of their title added by the rest of the guild in reference to the state of their well-worn weaponry.

Knights of the Round

These three have loyally served Lord Constantine's family for as long as anyone could remember.

The peasantry of the Freeguild spoke of "Golem" in hushed whispers, however the truth may be far more disturbing...

Their livery and armament hints at their true nature for those who delve deep into mythical writings...

What is Karlfranz? The maker of the weapon? A bound spell?

Blub's Men

Blub was even more tired than usual. His regiment had been on the move for as long as he could remember. Even through absolute fatigue however, he knew each and every man would follow the Order to Aqshy and back to achieve their goal, even though it seemed unfathomable to these common men.With their lives on their backs, Blub's men were scouts of the assembled Freeguilds of Azyrheim, part of which had been attached to The Order long ago. Moving through the Realm of Beasts at the forefront of The Orders forces, they were tasked with tracking any signs of Chaos they could find, with particular importance given to that of the servants of the pus god Nurgle...

Lord Constantine

Lord Constantine was inducted into the Order after being gifted with armour plate and parchment from the Holy Stormcast after serving them in Azyrheim in his early years. Constantine brought his Freeguild detachment with him on his Pilgrimage with The Order. Only he of all the Freeguild is fully briefed in The Order's purpose.

Constantine rides his griffon Dimfeather into battle, raised by Constantine himself from an egg gifted to him by the griffon handlers of Azyrheim.

In smaller skirmishes, Constantine rides to war on an atrophied pegasus, found after a clash with the Beasts of the Forest.

Drafted Freeguild

Many Freeguild Guard followed Constantine and The Order out of Azyrheim, none understood the hardship they would face out in the Realms. Constant travel, war and fatigue soon took it's toll, only the hardiest of men still survive.

The Priest

Many priests of The Order give up their names and titles upon entry. They each adopt hoods to cover their eyes, needing only the light of Sigmar to guide them...

The Iron Fulcrum

Discovering this long-lost device amongst the ruins of a lost civilization, the wizard Myrddin sensed it's arcane power and took it for his own. In battle, Myrddin channels his power through the Fulcrum, augmented by it's natural meteorological energies.

Fast & Furious AoS One Dayer, Leeds

Attended my first AoS tournament last weekend, Fast and Furious in Leeds. It was a one dayer, but having 5 games of 1000pts rather than the standard 3 of 2000! I took my newly finished Freeguild list.

Order

LEADERS

Freeguild General (100)

- General

- Artefact : Relic Blade

- Command Trait : Reckless

Celestial Hurricanum With Celestial Battlemage (320)

Witch Hunter (60)

UNITS

Freeguild Guard x 10 (80)

Freeguild Guard x 10 (80)

Demigryph Knights x 3 (200)

Freeguild Greatswords x 10 (160)

TOTAL POINTS: 1000

My first game was vs. Ed Bennett's Stormcast. One of the more worrying lists I'd seen prior to the event, with 4 Fulminators!

Ed Bennett

Order

LEADERS

1x Lord-Cellestant on Dracoth 200

- General

- Trait:
- Artefact: 

UNITS

5x Judicators 160

5x Judicators 160

2x Fulminators 240

2x Fulminators 240

Total: 1000

Thankfully (or maybe not) Ed had to swap out 2 Fulminators to fit into 1000pts, replacing them with a Lord Relictor and Lord Castellant with Gryph Hound. This came in handy for Ed as the battleplan we played ended up being Three Places of Power!

He got first turn and rushed his heroes onto the 3 objectives where they all stayed for most of the game, he got a major win. I was too cautious in the first turn I think, should have ran up and tried to get the heroes off the objective ASAP. I did manage to kill his Lord Celestant with my hurricanum, Castellant with my Demigryphs, and one unit of Judicators, and actually nearly tabled him by the end! But I got no points for the Objectives.

Second game was against Matt Hinton with Bonesplitterz

Matt Hinton

Destruction

LEADERS

Wardokk (80)

- arcane treasure: Mystic Waaagh! Paint

- extra spell: Roll each game!

- Big Spirit Stikk

- extra spell: Roll each game!

- extra spell: Roll each game!

- extra spell: Roll each game!

UNITS

Wardokk (80)
Wardokk (80)
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
- Trait: Waaagh Monger
- Artefact: Big Wurrgog Mask
Savage Orruk Morboys x 10 (120)
Savage Orruk Morboys x 10 (120)
Savage Orruks x 10 (100)
Savage Boarboyz x 5 (120)

BATTALIONS
Kop Rukk (100)
Drakkfoot Warclan (60)
Total: 1000 points

The battleplan this time was escalation. I managed to get the first turn and ran  units (sword and board guard and the greatswords) onto 2 of the objectives. The demis managed to briefly get on the 3rd objective before being smashed/blasted off by Matt's Orcs and powerful magic phase. I kept two units on objectives throughout the game for a major win! My hurricanum was the unit of the match here, with it's Storm of Shemtek damaging his boarboyz early on as well as other bits. 

I think Matt spent alot of points on wizards that didn't manage to do much in the game + two battalions that reduced the numbers in the army. Having said that there was still a whole load of orcs on the board! ice one to Matt for taking no shooting in a Bonesplitterz army too! Very characterful.

Next up on table 6 (!) was Jon Green Order alliance army. Another army that I looked at before the event and was very scared of... I just knew somehow I'd end up facing it!

Jon Green

Order

LEADERS

Auric Runesmiter (100)

- General

- Trait: Tenacious

- Artefact: Talisman of Blinding Light

Kraggi (20)

UNITS

Kurnoth Hunters x 3 (180)

- Scythes

Kurnoth Hunters x 3 (180)

- Scythes

Kurnoth Hunters x 3 (180)

- Greatbows

Kurnoth Hunters x 3 (180)

- Greatbows

Skinks x 10 (80)

Skinks x 10 (80)

Total: 1000

Kurnoth Hunters and Skinks running down to take my objective.

The battleplan for this one was Take and Hold. I tried to run my faster units down the flank to get him off his objectives, but didn't get past the Kurnoth Hunters! He ran one unit of Kurnoths down to my objective to kick off the defending Freeguild Guard, and ran a unit of Skinks down to claim it. I managed to kill the skinks with my other Guard unit, and thought I'd managed to get a draw (or at least on to kill points). 

My attempt at taking Jon's objective!

Last turn of the game Jon ran down his second Skink unit trying to get onto my objective. I charged in my Witch Hunter hoping to hold them up, but due to the Skinks run from combat ability, they managed to get onto my objective to get a major win for Jon! 

My last game was against Nigel Chorlton, probably the number one army I wished not to face! Ha.

Nigel Chorlton

Death

LEADERS

Vampire Lord (140)

- General

- command trait: Ruler of the Night

- Artefact: Ring of Immortality

UNITS

20 x Skeleton Warriors (160)

10 x Zombies (60)

2 x Morghast Archai (240)

BEHEMOTHS

Mourngul (400)Total: 1000 points

Oh Dear

The mission was Gift from the Heavens. Nigel had me go first, I put Mystic Shield on the Hurricanum for my turn. In hindsight I probably should have at least started to move up the board! But I was hoping to weaken either the Morghasts or Mourngul with the Hurricanum first. His turn he ran everything forwards apart from a unit of Zombies to hold his objective when it came down. Not sure who got the double turn but my objective came down on my right near my Demis, who ran onto it, his came down on his right next to his zombies. Unfortunately for me his Mourngul was very close to my objective at this point! It took a couple of turns but it eventually killed my Demis to claim my objective. 

More Oh Dear!

I pushed what I could up the left flank, Greatswords, General and Witch Hunter. The greatswords came up against his Vampire Lord, who quickly killed them all! My Witch Hunter shot his pistol at the Vamp Lord, doing 3 damage! Then I chardged in the Witch Hunter and my General. The Vamp killed the Witch Hunter to avoid his extra damage to wizards attack, then my general eventually managed to kill the Vampire Lord! The Vamp had the Ring of Immortality so came back with d3 wounds, and promptly charged back in to try finish off my General. In the moment of the tournament for me, my general fluffed all of his Damage 3 attacks, but his horse finished off the Vampire Lord! Major win to Nigel!

Cheers to all my opponents, had a great day and managed to get my first tournament win! Sorry to the guy I was meant to have in the last round, hope you didn't get too badly trounced by the ringer!

The Order - New Army Thoughts!

I've wanted to start a new army for a while, having done most of the things I wanted to do with the Nurgle army (although there is of course always more to do!). I decided to begin a Devoted of Sigmar army, as I liked the idea of Flagellants being buffed by a load of Warrior Priests! In typical fashion, I have so far painted exactly one Devoted model, my Excelsior Warpriest. I've instead focused on AoS-ing some spare Bretonnians. I felt these would fit the aesthetic of the Devoted more than the traditional Empire equivalents. I also had a spare Island of Blood elf on griffon I was dying to convert into a Freeguild Lord on Griffon, as well as needing to fill out the army until more Devoted of Sigmar stuff is released for AoS.

I'm beginning to stockpile stuff for the Devoted lot, but for now am building up my Path to Glory warband for Hobbyhammer's Realm Hoppers event. On the workbench currently are 3 Demigryphs and 10 Greatswords, which will act as the hard units for the force (if I ever get a game in!).

As I said before, up next on the blog should be a unit of Demigryph Knights, which I've come up with a pretty interesting backstory for!

Interspersed with the photos below are pieces of fluff written for the Realm Hoppers campaign for each unit.

Blub was even more tired than usual. His regiment had been on the move for as long as he could remember. Even through absolute fatigue however, he knew each and every man would follow the Order to Aqshy and back to achieve their goal, even though it seemed unfathomable to these common men.With their lives on their backs, Blub's men were scouts of the assembled Freeguilds of Azyrheim, part of which had been attached to The Order long ago. Moving through the Realm of Beasts at the forefront of The Orders forces, they were tasked with tracking any signs of Chaos they could find, with particular importance given to that of the servants of the pus god Nurgle...

The first unit I did for the army, old metal Bret Squires (hence the varnish)

Lord Constantine was inducted into the Order after being gifted with armour plate and parchment from the Holy Stormcast after serving them in Azyrheim in his early years. Constantine brought his Freeguild detachment with him on his Pilgrimage with The Order. Only he of all the Freeguild is fully briefed in The Order's purpose.

Constantine rides his griffon Dimfeather into battle, raised by Constantine himself from an egg gifted to him by the griffon handlers of Azyrheim.

This is the dude I converted from the Island of Blood griffon. I heavily underestimated the green stuff work needed after chopping off the elf rider! Doesn't look too bad from a safe distance though. I'm really happy with the rider however. I wanted to convey a more priestly look to the model, rather than the standard guy charging with lance and shield with a helmet on. I feel I achieved this with the less aggressive left hand and lowered lance, plus the bare face, which incidentally covers the eyes, something which I intend to do with all the priest type characters in the force as a narrative element.

Many priests of The Order give up their names and titles upon entry. They each adopt hoods to cover their eyes, needing only the light of Sigmar to guide them...

The hooded head came about as I wanted to really differentiate between this model and the stock Warpriest from the Silver Tower set. I also changed his weapon into something other than a hammer, to link him to the units in the army.

Many Freeguild Guard followed Constantine and The Order out of Azyrheim, none understood the hardship they would face out in the Realms. Constant travel, war and fatigue soon took it's toll, only the hardiest of men still survive.

These guys are standard Bret Peasants, now used as freeguild guard. Tried to do something different with their shields, as I felt such a large surface area of the model deserved something other than blank colour.

The colour scheme for the army is;

Reds: Mephiston Red, Agrax Earthshade, Wazdakka Red

Greys: Eshin Grey, Skavenblight Dinge, Adminstratum Grey

Bones: Bleached Bone, Agrax Earthshade, Bleached Bone + Skull White

Skin: Kislev Flesh, Agrax Earthshade, Kislev Flesh + Skull White

Metals: Leadbelcher, Agrax Earthshade, Mithril Silver 

Rust: Typhus Corrosion, REyza Rust, Mithril Silver

Weathering/Bases: Doombull Brown, Light brown (can't remember which!), Typhus Corrosion, Doombull Brown, Light Brown.