Escort the VIP - IHMN V2.0 Battle Report

 Quick battle report from our first run through of the v2 IHMN rules.  My 10 year old son loves playing this game, and he also likes making up rules so we added some additional rules to the Escort scenario.

Notes on the pictures - some of the pictures were taken before we added the fog, so the chronological order of the pics is not totally accurate.

Scenario - Escort the VIP, Fog rules, "activate the gates" special rules

A company has to get their escort from one end of the board to the other; other company gets to set up as an ambush. Also used the Fog Rules - basically while the fog is in place, roll a die to determine visibility in inches. On a double, the fog is lifted.

Background -

The Mad Scientist Dr. Horscher has lost control of one of his experimental "Stone Men", and has hired Lord Curr's company to escort the Stone Man (the VIP) back to his laboratory, The Horscher Institute.

The US Secret Service has found out about the loose experimental Rock Man, and has dispatched Special Agent Dempsey to extract the experiment and return it to the USA in the interests of "Global Security". Agent Dempsey, along with his second in command Agent Sigma, have commandeered a squadron of US Rocket Corps for the mission.

The main thoroughfare is Queen Street which leads to the Horscher Institute.  

Additional Scenario Rules - The escort company (Lord Curr) has to enable the generator to activate the gates at the end of Queen Street, to open the pathway to the Institute.  Model needs to make a successful Pluck roll while in base contact with the generator.

The foggy streets of England.

Lord Curr's company at the far end of Queen Street, with their VIP.

The experimental Stone Man

US Rocket Corps deployed on the top of factory building, waiting for their quarry to appear...

Curr's company rolled first initiative - rocketmen on the building.

The generator behind the factory.  Also needed to make a successful pluck roll to move the barrels out of the way...

Curr split 2 Incorrigibles (Fitz-Curr and purple pants) over to the generator on the first turn.

Rocketmen spotted them, and Rocket Sgt Madison sent to men over to the back of the factory - they dropped a grenade, but with the fog and height, it missed. This alerted the constable guard.

On the back over on Queen Street, one rocketman dropped down to stop the incorrigbiles from resuming escort. Sgt Madison dropped the grenade hoping to take them out as well, but he mistimed the throw - the grenade went off just as the rocketman was landing - killing his own man!

2nd rocketman dropped down to help the fight for the generator, but the Incorrigble Purple Pants knocked him out of commission.  Fitz-Curr joined in support as well.

After rolling doubles, the fog had officially lifted, giving Agent Dempsey a better view of the situation.  With three out of five Rocket Men out of action, including Sgt Madison, Agent Dempsey at this point realizes things were quickly getting out of control and that his remaining Rocket Corps were outnumbered.  He signaled Agent Sigma to begin advancing down the street - Dempsey took cover behind the building, with Sigma behind the crates.  Mohan Singh saw Dempsey and unloaded a burst of fire with his machine gun, but hit the building.  Dempsey fired back, missed while dodging the hail of bullets.

The view from The Institute down Queen Street

Curr and his Incorrigbles escorting the Stone Man

The Rocketmen back at the generator turned the tables, knocking out Fitz-Curr!

With the help of another Rocket man, they took out Purple Pants as well, preventing him from turning on the generator to open the gates. 

The big scrum has ensued now - the rocket men come down Peacock Lane to join in. Multiple rounds of hand to hand combat end in a stalemate with fumbles and amazing Pluck rolls.

With the reinforcements arriving, Dempsey is squared up one-on-one with the infamous Lord Curr, and takes him out of action!  The tables have improbably turned in favor of the US Secret Service.

But then, a series of terrible rolls result in Agent Dempsey as the last man standing, outnumbered, facing an Incorrigible and Mohan Singh.  Dempsey manages to trip Singh and take him out.

With only a single Incorrigible left, Dempsey uses his pistol to crack him on the head, knocking him out. 

He single-handedly secures the Stone Man and boards the Secret Service Ornithopter to spirit it away back to the US.  Against all odds, Mission Accomplished!

It was a really fun game.  The scenario, background narrative (mostly invented by my 10 year old son who was playing the game with me), and fog rules really helped to create a good setting for the game. It's one of the things I love the most about IHMN - every game really feels like a story.

As for Version 2.0 - I tried hard to go slow and actually read the new rules. For the most part, it's the same game with minor improvements (group fights, shooting into fights, etc., all much simpler).  Mohan Singh definitely feels like he's worth his points value now.  Looking forward to seeing how the adjustments to the Mystical Powers works out. In Version 1.0, they were definitely unbalanced. I played a number of games against The Servant's of Ra and Ahkenaton was pretty powerful. 

I'm definitely back into IHMN - I've decided to start upgrading my terrain: better pavements, better buildings, and convert my cobblestone MDF boards to insulation boards. The MDF is too heavy to carry around to conventions.  I'm also going to paint up my additional companies and NPCs so we have more choice.  Can't wait to get in some more games!

The Return to Herohammer

Note: This post was apparently sitting in "draft" state for 3 years and I totally forgot about it. I never really finished the thought but I figured I'd just post it now and get it there. 

When I dove back into Warhammer and jumped on board the #Oldhammer movement, I really loved the nostalgia, the atmosphere, and most of all, the old sculpts (don't get me wrong, the new modern sculpts are amazing technical miniatures, but I feel like there's just some character missing from them).

But the era that Oldhammer focuses on is Warhammer 3rd edition which was just before my time. I discovered The Hobby and Warhammer when WHFB 4th edition was released in all it's glory, and that's the game that I hold dear.  I will always love it but I also thought I was the only one that loved that version of the game.  It was a time of crazy magic and zany characters; the oft derided "Red Era" where it seems like 50% of every new kit was painted bright red.   When combined with 5th edition, the over-the-top nature of army lists with 50% special characters that dominated the game was dubbed Herohammer, and not in a "charming, nostalgic" way.

The advent of Facebook Groups, however, seems to have provided a place for us forgotten, shunned few that actually loved that era, with red paint and Goblin Green bases.

Anyway, that was a long intro to say that once I found the Herohammer Facebook Group, the nostalgia bug bit me hard and I'm going headfirst into a group of projects that I've always secretly wanted to do. 

Dwarf King Kazador and Cannons

 

Another quick post with recently completed Herohammer units.  Once again this is a combination of things I've been meaning to paint (King Kazador) and things that were "half painted" and never completed.  

First up, a Dwarf "Siege Gun", from Marauder.  The cannon and crew were originally painted up by a buddy back when we first started playing Warhammer 4th edition in high school (he was a fan of the "25% allies" rules, with mostly a High Elf army...any lots of allies). He eventually gifted the cannon to me because I was primarily a dwarf player.  Any it has remained half-painted like this for about 30 years.

I wanted to keep the original theme of "red and yellow" but maybe a little less "ketchup and mustard". 

So the red became muted and the yellow became gold.  

For the crew, I repainted them with mostly red, using yellow as the spot color. 

Next - King Kazador.  I remember he was the first Dwarf special character I purchased soon after getting my hands on the newly released Dwarf Army book.  I used him in a number of games and he was pretty powerful, but for some reason I never got around to painting him.  Probably because I quickly bought and painted Thorgrim on the Throne of Power as well as Ungrim Ironfist.   Anyway, Kazador is ready for battle now. 

Not my best work on the cloak, but better than unpainted metal!

Finally, another half-painted unit.  My other Dwarf Siege Gun.  I painted this cannon myself and it was "done", but I never painted the crew.  After finishing the red cannon, it was time to complete this one as well.   

I didn't take a close up shot, but the cannon barrel was my first real foray into blending (which, back in the 90s, all I had to go on was basic instructions in white dwarf painting articles that definitely left out steps). Either way, I was pretty proud of myself with the dark blue-to-light blue transition on this barrel. I even hand-painted some of the dwarf runes listed in the army book.  

I left the barrel unchanged here (because it was good enough and it's good to look back on what you've done and how much progress you've made) .  But the wheels and the gold trim were never shaded or highlighted, so I finished that up here. 

The crew were completely unpainted. I often just borrowed the fully painted crew from my organ gun.  But now the blue cannon has a proper crew.  I even figured out that the little wooden stool was for the guy to light the cannon. I never realized that until just now. 

I forgot to paint the eyes on these guys - forgive me. 

Not sure why I included two similar pictures here...

Anyway, I'm very happy to have these done. 

Fight in the Forest

 My youngest son loves playing wargames, and he loves playing Warhammer Fantasy with me. He also loves to make up rules and be creative.  So for his recent 10th birthday he wanted to play a game where he was free to make up any rules he wanted, using any figures he wanted.  And so, this past weekend we played the game. He set up the board and only wanted a giant forest, and a specific rule for the trees (I made him write it down before the game so that it was clear before we started).  Basically you were allowed to knock down trees if you charged or came in contact with them. He added some special conditions for dryads (AoS dryads, for that matter).   

He loves playing as Orcs and Goblins. He loves the wacky, zany nature of the army and he has painted a giant squighopper model from AoS as well. Since it’s his game, we just combine all the rules and figures from different versions of the game because it’s fun.

Anyway, this game was High Elves vs Goblins in the forest. It was a ton of fun. He’s really really good at guessing distances so the Rock Lobber and Doom Diver are really effective for him. 

Here's a shot of the deployment

Some elf archers setting up in front of a wood

They've found their target - Blacktooth, the feard Black Orc boss, riding his chariot.

Despite many near misses, the Doom Diver finally hit the Repeater Bolt Throwern which was causing major havoc throughout the game.  Splat!

Lots of missile fire was exchanged back and forth until the goblin line finally hit the central Elf line. This would be the critical moment of the battle. Would the High Elf spearmen units withstand the charge?  After the boars that were pulling the chariot were killed from sustained bow fire, Blacktooth also charged in.

The goblins overcame the elves by weight of numbers, breaking them and causing them to flee off the table.

 Blacktooth and his trusty companion broke the other spearmen unit and ran them down.

The Goblins were determined to wipe all the Elves out of the forest, and were successful!  There was some last minute failed animosty checks with the goblins, resulting in them charging the Giant Squighopper. That was a good laugh.

Overall, a fun battle.  I really enjoyed playing with so many trees on the table. And it's always fun to play games with your kids.  Happy Birthday buddy!

Oldhammer Dwarf Swivel Gun

 It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. I’ve been slowly plodding away at various projects that I’ve always wanted to paint. My Projects of Shame are doing pretty well, but I also wanted to paint a few things that were either half completed or on my long term list.  

First up, a Dwarf Swivel Gun team. 

 I’ve had two of these kits since way back in high school when we were playing Warhammer 4th ed.  I can’t remember where I purchased them, but the models were cool and I wanted to use them.

 Back then, they weren’t in the Dwarf Army book (these were originally a 3rd ed unit), and couldn’t find any types of rules until I flipped through my Realms of Chaos book, and they had a unit listing for Chaos Dwarfs swivel guns.  I used those rules in a game against Le Coq Fou and his orc and goblin army.   Let’s just say….they were under pointed and over powered!  Two swivel gun teams just mowed down goblin units, boar boys, and chariots.  It was ridiculous. I also think that was the last time the swivel guns saw the battle field.  

Either way- I had quickly painted both units just to get them on the table, and the paint jobs were not good.  

here’s my first repainted unit with a side by side of on of the original paint jobs saved for posterity.  

I still have to decide the paint color scheme for the second swivel gun team, but it’s great to have the first team painted and ready to take the battlefield.