Hidden Treasure

My head has been in a bit of a Carnevale space for the past couple of weeks which has meant I've been feeling a bit frustrated at not having more to paint for the game whilst I've also lacked motivation for other projects.

Therefore I set about digging through my backlog to see if there was any hidden gems that would help me scratch an itch.

In short, there was.

The longer answer was that I remembered that I still had a pile of treasure chests from a Mantic Terrain Crate lying around and once that was done I set about kitbashing a model to join one of my Carnevale forces to stand next to it as on their own, the chests would make for a rubbish blog post.

The model I used as the base of my kitbash is a soft plastic D&D miniature from Wizkids. I've had my eye on using it for some time as it stands roughly the right height and is armed reasonably appropriately.

The major issue was it had a pretty featureless face, and so the first order of business was a head swap (I think was from a viking sprue). On top of this I gave him a new sword and quiver from some Frostgrave sprues as the sculpted ones were rubbish, and procured a cloak from some Fireforge cavalry.

The result? He'll do.

Not an amazing outcome, the base miniature really has limitations, but I am pleased that I do have something that is useable and will look okay at table level, especially as he'll be joining my Vatican force, which is almost all proxy miniatures of varying standards.

In game I'll be using him as a Templar Marshall as there are only two options for characters in the Vatican using a (regular sized) crossbow, and the beard and bald headake him not look massively like a Squire.

The chests are the final unpainted piece I had left of the Treasury Terrain Crate from Mantic.

Although a bit fantastical, they won't look too out of place on the quaysides of Venice, waiting to be loaded onto a passing privateer vessel.

As such, I took the time to make the open scrolls look like maps to more hidden treasure, or perhaps to where this pile of loot will be hidden.

All in all, I'm pleased to have got these models painted, even if neither are my best work, as I've been able to use up some miniatures that were being overlooked and allowed me to scratch my itch at the same time.

On top of this, I've also managed to sell another Blood Bowl team (this time the plastic Elves from Dungeon Bowl), and so the week ends positively in terms of progress after my purchases.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 44

Lead Mountain: 540

Plus Ca Change

I've tried to use my Tzeentch Daemons in several iterations of Warhammer 40k, to varying degrees of success.

In 9th and 10th editions, they were terrible, and were repeatedly dismantled by Pete's Space Wolves and outmatched in pretty much every department.

However, in Horus Heresy, the tables were turned and the Ruinstorm Deamons opened a six-pack of whupass on the Alpha Legion. Whilst in 2nd edition they turned out to be too much for Matt's Squats to handle.

Let's try 5th edition...

I think I mentioned before Christmas that our group has settled on 5th edition as our default setting as it fits our slightly older collections and doesn't have too much complexity to make people who don't play every week have to check the rules every 5 minutes.

For a bit of a change from the Blood Angels, I arranged a 1500 point game with Pete against his homebrew Marines, the Emperor's Mailed Fists, which he's had for as long as I've known him, but I've never played against.

Emperor's Mailed Fists

• HQ - Terminator Captain (Thunder Hammer)
• HQ - Terminator Epistolary Librarian (Force Axe)
• Elite - 10 Assault Terminators (5 Thunder Hammers & 5 Lightning Claws)
• Troop - Tactical Squad (Plasma Cannon & Plasma Gun)
• Troop - Tactical Squad (Heavy Bolter & Melta Gun)
• Troop - Tactical Squad (Heavy Bolter & Flamer) with Rhino
• Fast Attack - Land Speeder (Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter)
• Heavy Support - Predator (Autocannon & Heavy Bolters)

Tzeentch Daemons

• HQ - Lord of Change
• HQ - Herald on Disc (We Are Legion, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Chaos Icon)
• Elite - 6 Flamers (Bolt of Tzeentch)
• Troops - 10 Pink Horrors (Bolt of Tzeentch, Chaos Icon, Instrument of Chaos)
• Troops - 10 Pink Horrors (Bolt of Tzeentch, Chaos Icon, Instrument of Chaos)
• Troops - 10 Pink Horrors
• Fast Attack - 6 Screamers
• Fast Attack - 6 Screamers
• Heavy Support - Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (Soul Devourer, Bolt of Tzeentch)

For those who have seen my army previously, it should be noted that due to model sizes being a bit different in 5th edition, I used my Daemon Prince as a Lord of Change, and my Changeling as a Daemon Prince. I also totally forgot to deploy one of my units of Horrors, because I'm an idiot.

Mission & Deployment

We rolled up the Annihilation mission (which just meant killing each other's units, and Spearhead deployment, which meant opposite table quarters.

I got the first turn, but as the Daemons all arrive via deep strike in 5th edition, only Pete set anything up. Given that he didn't know where I'd be arriving, he castles up around a ruin, with his Terminators in the middle and his vehicles ready to push out round the table.

Turn One

As was totally predictable, when rolling to see which units were in my first wave, I rolled up the wrong half of my force. 

I also forgot that I didn't have to arrive in my deployment zone, however this turned out to be a beneficial error as deep strike usually leaves units vulnerable and the building in the middle of the table offered me protection.

With no targets to fire at, most of the Marines pushed forwards, unsure which way round the building the Daemons would come.

Daemons 0 - Marines 0

Turn Two

The Horrors and Flamers pushed around my left flank, whilst the Lord of Change and Screamers headed right. My aim was to use my greater mobility to split the Marines forces.

When the second wave arrived, I added the Herald and more Horrors to the attack on the left, and the combined firepower left several Tactical Marines dead and the Land Speeder unable to shoot.

The return fire was desultory (thanks in part to Daemon saves) and only saw a few Horrors killed. The star of the show was the Marine with the Plasma Cannon in the building who, during the course of the game managed to fire five times, rolling 'gets hot' three times, scattering away from the target once and failing to wound the only time he hit.

Meanwhile, the larger unit of Screamers dropped I'm behind the Imperial lines, aiming to both draw fire away from the main assault, and try to get the drop on a vehicle or two.

They did take fire, but only two of them fell, meaning they were ready to strike in the following turn.

The Deamon Prince came in alone and unleashed a Bolt of Tzeentch which destroyed the Rhino. The squad inside disembarked and unleashed a hail of fire which reduced him to half wounds.

Without someone to charge, the Terminators began to trek to where the Lord of Change was lurking, seeming to take my bait to pull them out of position.

However, the Librarian headed back towards the main line to lend his psychic might to weakening the saving throws of the Daemons.

Daemons 1 - Marines 0

Turn Three

The Daemons advanced, and having pulled the Terminators out of position, the Lord of Change switch back to the other flank. 

In retrospect, this was a mistake as the Terminators weren't that far away from the rest and the Lord of Change could have kept his distance and potentially tied them up for the rest of the game.

As it was, he'd got too close to the Librarian, who charged into combat determined to bring his Force Axe to bear.

Meanwhile, the Daemon horde unleashed Warpfire into the Tactical Marines on the crates, ultimately wiping them out.

Although the Landspeeder avoided destruction, it did have it's Assault Cannon destroyed rendering it less of a threat.

When the Marine did get to return fire, the Herald and one of the units of Horrors were obliterated, due in large part to the disruption the Librarian was causing with Daemonic saves.

Having avoided damage from Daemonic shooting, the Predator was set upon by the pack Screamers charging into its rear.

In 5th edition the only thing Screamers are good at is killing vehicles, so they made short work of it and the consolidated towards the Librarian.

This was another mistake as it allowed the Terminators to charge them and get back into the fight.

The Terminator Captain broke off to chase down the Daemon Prince, who was busy hacking his way through a Tactical Squad.

Daemons 3 - Marines 3

Turn Four

With the Terminators ready to run amok, the Daemons set about targeting weakened units and trying to limit the impact of the Imperial veterans.

The Flamers brought down the Land Speeder whilst the remaining unit of Screamers tried to prevent the Terminators getting to the Lord of Change.

Again, I wasn't thinking straight as all this did was given them an easy victory point.

In the main event, the Lord of Change and Librarian traded blows. The Librarian was struck and passed a leadership test to avoid having its soul devoured.

In return, the Force Axe struck and it's eldritch energy blasted the greater Daemon back into the warp.

Meanwhile, the Terminator Captain finally caught up with the Daemon Prince and destroyed it, but not before it finished off the Tactical Marines.

Daemons 5 - Marines 6

Turn Five

With the momentum very much in the Marines favour, the remaining Daemons began to back off, trying to avoid the rampaging Terminators.

Out of spite, the Pink Horrors unleashed a gout of Warpfire which consumed the heroic Librarian, but left them dangerously close to the Terminators, who caught the Daemons and obliterated them.

With a single Flamer left on the table, clearly intent on hiding, we decided to not bother with another turn and call the game there.

Daemons 6 - Marines 7

That was much closer than I expected, but I think the terrain really helped as when we did get close, I found the Daemons largely outgunned and outfought.

However, it was in movement that I lost this game, as I allowed the slower moving Terminators to catch my units, when I didn't have to.

Had I realised how much of a threat the Librarian was, I would have targeted him sooner, but really I presented the Terminators with two lots of Screamers which won Pete the game.

I think using Daemons in 5th edition will be a challenge, certainly more than in Horus Heresy, but it's not to lost cause that 10th edition is.

In other news I've been buying bits and pieces on eBay, which I'll talk about in another post.

Acquired: -61

Painted: 42

Lead Mountain: 554

Over-Troubled Waters

One of the areas of Carnevale I haven't really gone into yet is the wackier and more monstrous sculpts. As such, when giving instructions for potential Christmas presents, I asked for some 'big-gribblies' from the Rashaar faction.

Mrs Cheaphammer is not afraid of wandering into my FLGS asking questions for which she has no context and so I received a pair of Lesser Ugdru as part of my gift.

Admittedly, Lesser Ugdru are not the biggest of gribblies available to the Rashaar, but they are definitely gribbly. 

Also, I may already have two from the starter set, but they are the sort of thing that it feels right to have multiples of, and they are different sculpts too.

I was delighted with this gift.

When I came to painting them I wanted to ensure they matched the two I already owned. Fortunately, I'd meticulously listed the paints I'd used on them when I posted almost three years ago.

As I still had all the necessary paints, it was an easy recipe to follow.

The only bit of awkwardness came from one of the bases, as I needed to reclaim one of the 40mm resin bases from another miniature, and as such there were chewed up bits that needed masking.

The leaping Lesser Ugdru's foot (his ankle REALLY worries me) sorted one of the ugly areas whilst a small pile of gubbins from various sprues and bits boxes did for the other.

All in all, I'm pleased with these two, but I do still want some bigger gribblies.

Finally, I've got around to painting the third of the pack of MDF bridges I bought for the game when I first got into it.

Again, I've tried to match styles I used three years ago, and I think I've been successful.

In other news, I've managed to sell a chunk of old metal Blood Bowl miniatures, and so the Lead Mountain has taken a bit of a hit. I'm really hoping to make inroads into it this year.

Acquired: -71
Painted: 42
Lead Mountain: 544

Ambassador, you're spoiling us!

As anybody with any class knows, any Ambassador's reception worth the name requires several key ingredients:

• An eclectic array of well-travelled guests,
• Ostentatious outfits,
• Foil-wrapped hazelnut chocolates,
• Well-trained and discreet staff,
• After-party bloodletting in the streets.

The Foreign Delegates bring all of them and more to Patricians faction of Carnevale...well, apart from the chocolates.

After reacquainting myself with the more vibrant palette I use for Carnevale on some Reaper Bones miniatures last week, I settled down to paint the Foreign Delegates set I received as a Christmas present.

As with the last set of Patricians I painted, I was a little intimidated by the miniatures until I actually started painting. The finery and detail on the miniatures works really well with the contrast paints, washes and dry brushing I rely on.

Obviously, given the name of the set, there are two Foreign Dignitaries included in the box.

I'm assuming that this one is meant to be from the British landed gentry as he appears to be dressed for the hunt. Given what takes place at Patrician masqueratas, he's probably dressed totally appropriately.

Tally ho!

The other Foreign Dignitary is much more ornate and foppish. He's probably French.

This is the model I was most intimidated by, due to all the details, but I'm learning that with models this detailed I should let the miniature do the work for me. 

In game, whilst they are effective fighters, the Foreign Dignitaries also support their Venetian Noble hosts by helping them to replenish both Will and Command points.

Also included in the set are two Merchants who bring a little bit of short-ranged firepower and are able to use their gold to motivate other henchmen.

This portly fellow marks my first use of the Leviadon Blue contrast paint on his coat. I was pleased I got a chance to test it out as I'm intending to paint some Space Hulk Genestealers in the classic blue and purple scheme and Talassar Blue is too bright.

Speaking of Talassar Blue, that's the colour I used on this more piratical Merchant's coat. This chap is clearly more active in his acquisition of trade goods than his compatriot.

If you are looking at this miniature and thinking that his ankle joint looks fragile, you'd be right. I managed to snap it during clean up. However, resin miniatures fix really easily and I've probably ended up making his leg more secure.

The final model in the Foreign Delegates set is this Venetian Spy, although Sniper would be nearer the mark as she brings some much needed range to what is currently a close combat oriented force. The long rifle allows her to cover almost the whole board if she can find an appropriate firing position.

I really like painting the models in this game in the long flowing dresses. I've never known this about myself and I should perhaps steer future purchases for all sorts of games in this direction.

Oh, I broke her foot off too.

The final miniature in this little group is the last of the Reaper Bones miniatures I picked up on Amazon. 

I'll be using her as a Servant, and she fits in really well with the official miniature in this role. As such I made an effort to get her in the same colours to present her clothing as a uniform.

Technically she's part of a village mob, but I can imagine the staff that accompany the partygoers out into the streets being given responsibility for lighting the way (and being the most obvious targets).

With my Patricians force doubled in size I should look at playing a game with them, as they still haven't seen action. I have some time this week, so maybe.

Acquired: -26

Painted: 39

Lead Mountain: 592

Saints & Sinners

I've been struggling a little with motivation to paint more Chaos Marauders, and so I've decided to take a little bit of a sojourn back through the streets of Venice and use Carnevale as a palette cleanser.

Before getting stuck in to some of the resin TTCombat miniatures, I opted to break myself in with a couple of miniatures I'd picked up with an Amazon voucher I received for completing a survey for the government.

It turns out it's quite hard to spend only £10 on Amazon as a wargamer.

Fortunately, Reaper Bones came to my rescue with a set of three townsfolk who wouldn't look totally out of place in a game of Carnevale.

The Monk would obviously join the forces of the Vatican as a Priest. The Courtesan could have joined the Guild or Patricians, but I've chosen to put her with my ad hoc Strigoi as a Vampire Noble (demoting the current incumbent to Common Vampire).

The third miniature is a member of the Village Mob, and as she's wearing an apron and wielding a rolling pin, I've chosen for her to join the Patricians as a Servant.

Of the three, the Monk is the one I was least sure would fit with the aesthetic of Carnevale, as he's a bit cartoony. I wasn't too worried as my Vatican forces have recently veered quite sharply away from being official.

However, the fact that he's a bit rotund does mean that the pudgy face and fingers are less problematic, and his well fed frame and the golden bracelets do point to the corruption present in the Vatican forces in the Carnevale setting.

In terms of painting, I went with a travelling friar look (using some colour inspiration from the costumes in The Name of the Rose. Contrast paints, washes and dry brushing did the work; nothing clever.

I changed the sleeves to a light colour to give a bit more definition and prevent him being too much of a shapeless lump.

I really like the Courtesan model (apart from he fingers that just meld into her shoulder) and she does scale well with the Carnevale range. The only reason she didn't remain a Courtesan with the Patricians was that I have already drafted my Reaper Cinderella into that role.

Therefore she will be my new Vampire Noble as she is somewhat taller and more commanding than the Doctor Who miniature that I had been using for the purpose.

In terms of painting, again I've mainly used contrast paints, but I put more time into highlighting the folds in the dress and the skin.

I'm really pleased with the hair, although this might make her a little too similar to the Madame if the House of Virtue if I ever pick up that set.

The bit I'm least keen on is the eyes, which are a bit big and staring. However, by adding shade around her eyes she now looks like she's stepped out of a Tim Burton animation, which seems appropriate for the Strigoi.

All in all I'm pleased with these two and the third model is coming along nicely with the Patricians I'm painting. They are a reminder that whilst the Reaper Bones line has its limitations, the sculpts are very good and I should pay more attention to them when looking for cheaper alternatives.

Acquired: -26

Painted: 33

Lead Mountain: 598

Badaboom!

And so I took myself back down to Warhammer World for a second day of playing Combat Patrol as part of the Badab War narrative event run by Arbitor Ian's YouTube channel.

The war was heating up and things were about to explode...well the game sizes and turn lengths were, at any rate.

The second day saw me being involved in two four player games, essentially using the doubles format, with scenarios reflecting specific actions in the Badab War.

Despite liking the game so far, I'm not sure how well Combat Patrol doubles up in this way as we came across a few rules interactions which became a bit too powerful when applied to two armies at the same time.

However, fun was had nonetheless.

Game 4 - The Vyaniah Raids

The secessionist world of Vyaniah was a hub of shipping for the war efford, defended by the Astral Claws, and as such became the target of  raids by the loyalist forces. But the Astral Claws were not the only defenders, and the raids were hampered by the emergence of a new threat - the Tyrant’s Legion!

This game saw my Astral Claws defending the Vyaniah orbital defence batteries against a raiding force of my old nemeses the Minotaurs and the Howling Griffons.

To bolster the lines I was joined by the somewhat numerous Tyrant's Legion who had the benefit of a scenario rule that allowed their destroyed units come back on from reserve.

Therefore the defending forces under the command of myself and Clarkie were:

Astral Claws

Corpsetaker Apothecary and 2 Servitors
10 Tactical Marines
5 Devastator Marines
Dreadnought

Tyrant's Legion

Command Squad

10 Shock Troops

10 Shock Troops 

Field Ordnance Battery

Armoured Sentinel

However, intent on overrunning our positions were the somewhat familiar forces controlled by Andrew and Will, who I had played yesterday.

Minotaurs

Captain in Gravis Armour 

3 Bladeguard Veterans 

5 Helblasters

10 Intercessors

Howling Griffons

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

The Loyalists had the first turn and advanced upon our lines and the Minotaurs' Helblasters somewhat predictably started to bully my Devastators as they had yesterday.

Return fire on our following turn did reduce their effectiveness, but I remain somewhat traumatised that across two games Andrew didn't fail a single hazardous check for his plasma guns.

On our right my Dreadnought and melee troops advanced towards a rematch with the Minotaurs' Bladeguard.

The second turn saw Clarkie use a strategem which slowed the enemy advanced and stopped them charging. This is the one that felt a bit too powerful in a larger game as it affected both enemy forces and benefitted me significantly in a way no other strategem could.

However, Will brought his Terminators in anyway, but these were in the mid-table area as we had used our numerical advantage to screen out our deployment zone.

Withe the enemy unable to charge, the Astral Claws took full advantage and the Dreadnought ploughed into a squad of Intercessors, obliterating them, whilst the Corpsetaker and his compatriots brought down the Minotaurs' Captain and braced for the counter charge from the Bladeguard.

However, when it came, the Dreadnought was able to use a heroic intervention to get into combat, but could not stop the Corpsetaker from being killed.

Meanwhile, on the other flank, a thin silver line of Tactical Marines took heavy casualties from the Infernus Marines, but served to hold up the advance towards our deployment zone.

Eventually, the Terminators were able to charge and drive back the Shock Troops, but could not capture the objective due to clever use of a flag.

Ultimately, the Loyalists couldn't close the gap that had been caused by the Tyrant's Legion (Astra Militarum) secondary objective which allowed us to score points for keeping the enemy out of our deployment zone.

Again, this felt a bit much as usually they would be holding the line with squishy humans rather than power armoured Space Marines, and so it felt like Will and Andrew had walked into a perfect storm.

Secessionists 51 - Loyalists 35

Game 5 - The Fall of Surngraad

The Raptors’ taking of the fortress of Surngraad was a stroke of tactical genius. Raptors forces were landed hundreds of km away from the 

fortress, and marchd through frozen blizzards to take the defenders unawares. The Astral Claws garrison was misdirected and confused, and 

once the Raptors took the citadel, their allies in the Salamanders could teleport heavy assault elements in to finish the job.

Once again on the defensive, I was joined by some Astral Claws veterans (in every sense of the word, there were some extremely old models in play) commanded by Nathan.

The scenario saw Ben's Raptors trying to capture an objective to allow Simon's Salamanders to teleport in and catch in a vice.

The Secessionist forces defending the citadel, and spread out as much as possible to prevent shenanigans, were as follows:

Astral Claws Garrison

Corpsetaker Apothecary and 2 Servitors
10 Tactical Marines
5 Devastator Marines
Dreadnought

Astral Claws Veterans

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

Meanwhile the infiltrating enemy force that began the game consisted of:

Raptors Infiltrators

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

However, the attack got of to a somewhat limp start as after lighting up the Dreadnought and dropping it to just two wounds, both the Terminators (with the Librarian) and the Terminator Captain failed to charge into contact, despite both units being able to reroll. The Terminators rolled snakeyes twice!

Needless to say l, this reprieve for the Dreadnought was about to be exploited as it and the Veteran Terminators charged the Raptors elites and cut them down to a man.

Meanwhile, the Corpsetaker's unit cane under metaphorical and literal fire as the Infernus Marines bathed them in flames causing significant casualties.

In return, half of the Raptors unit was cut down in close combat.

On the second turn, success on a different table saw reinforcements dropping in all over the board:

Salamanders

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

Whilst the Terminator squad arrived on one flank, looking to avenge the Raptors, the Salamanders Captain sought out his opposite number in a duel that would ultimately see the Astral Claws commander come out on top.

The Infernus Market nes demonstrated the Salamanders' vaunted skill with flame when they beat the Devastators to the punch and used overwatch to kill half the unit.

Unfortunately, the return fire inflicted similar damage in them.

The second Terminator on Terminator clash was initiated and getting the charge was proven once again to be crucial as the Salamanders had the better of the exchange.

That was until the Dreadnought piled in, killing almost the entire squad across two rounds of combat and although the reverted hero ultimately succumbed, when the dust settled, only the two Librariand were left standing.

Targetted fire brought down the last of the Loyalist Infernus Marines, leaving just the Raptors Captain and the Salamanders Librarian in play.

Whilst battered, the remaining Astral Claws were more than enough to prevent the enemy from catching two of the three objectives, meaning that victory was assured and rendered the secondary objectives both sides had scored somewhat meaningless.

This game was defined by Ben's hideously bad luck with his charge rolls on his first turn, causing the Loyalists to lose a third of their forces without reply. Ben and Simon fought well to keep the game in doubt despite that.

Secessionists 58 - Loyalists 19

With a second victory complete, my tally for the event was 3 wins, 1 draw and a loss. I definitely feel the beneficiary of circumstances that were nothing to do with me for two of those results, but it's still a better ratio than I've had in most versions of 40k that I've played.

As my results were part of a larger campaign, I'm not going to reveal the overall result of the weekend. You'll need to watch Arbitor Ian's next Tale of Four Badab Gamers video to find out the fate of the sector.

As for me, well I set a resolution to get out more this year and this weekend proved why. I met some really nice people and played some really fun games. The next Badab War event will be sometime in the spring, so I'm going to see if I can make it.

Is Combat Patrol an enjoyable format? Yes, very much so. Does it work as a doubles game? I'm not sure, both games overran significantly. Am I now hooked on 40k 10th edition? The jury's out as I probably have to play a couple of larger games before I can commit to an answer.

Nevertheless, I've had a cracking good time, and that's what matters.