Sunday 10 November 2013

Oldhammer at Blog-Con: Photo Report

Yesterday, at the time of writing anyway, a large number of Oldhammer bloggers met up at the Foundry for a Warhammer Fantasy Battle Third Edition scenario. As you will now, I brought my Khorne army out for its first taste of the battlefield. I am sad to say that the Blood God will be most displeased at their performance. They were routed by the fell hordes of undeath, led by the Lichemaster himself, no doubt in return for some favour from Mum-Ho-Thep!

The battle was huge! If we had bothered to count up the points values, I reckon it would have been into the tens of thousands. There were hundreds of models, nearly exclusively old school, from ghosts to goblins, skeletons to minotaurs, scorpions to undead dragons! Quite how Warlord Paul managed to keep track of the game was anyone's guess, but he did and did sterling work as GM for the game. I spent most of the day locked in combat with Nik's undead, which had Steve Casey drooling over its hordes of quite rare, and shockingly expensive, Citadel classics from the Lichemaster scenario. As I said, I was utterly routed by the undead horde but I learnt a great deal about WFB3 that I didn't previously know, like the impact of chariots, long distance missile fire and the importance of rank bonuses. I also had quite a few thoughts about balancing forces for scenarios to ensure meaty, cinematic battles but that is a topic for discussion in another post.

It was fantastic to (finally) have a chat with Tony Yates, and see Warlord Paul, Golgfag, Harry, Norse, Robotforaday, Thantsants and meet Nik for the first time. Big thanks need to go to the Ansell family, as always, especially Diane who brought along the bar once again. Peroni and old school Citadel models is a lovely mix. 

Only one question remains! When can we do it again? I had to cut my trip short in the end and head home, but this proved that I am able to get to the Foundry and back for a game in a day, even from Essex. So if anyone is interested in another WFB game at the Wargames Foundry in the not to distant future, just drop me an email or message on Facebook. 

Onwards then to the photographs. I won't make any attempt to explain what went on on other parts of the battlefield, others with far more knowledge will do that shortly, but I shall share my snaps of the event with you here.

We used the large table as before with the RoC games, only this time we pretty much filled it! When has the floating Ziggarut and Harry's Khemi style scenery. 
My Khorne army with undead allies. They look splendid don't they? Sadly, it was not to last.
The Host of Ulthur Deathfist. A year's work really.
What Ulthur faced, the never ever ending forces of undeath. 
Ulthur's allies. Rank upon rank of Khorne and chaos forces. 

What faced Ulthur and his allies. The army of Mum-Ho-Thep. Plenty of old school miniatures here. What can you spot?
A close up of the ziggarut model. A great piece of kit but there just wasn't the space to do anything with it!
Harry begins the tape measure holding competition with a lovely finger splay. 
Robotforaday opts for a four inch Argentine Tango. Can you spot his fimir?
Thantsants smashes the competition with a remarkable parallel tape measure and finger pinch pose. A sure winner!
Norse negates the need for a tape measure and watches the endless horde of enemy models that surge towards him. 
The battle lines begin to meet as artillery and missile fire causes deaths aplenty. Chariots charge towards Golgfag's elves.
We even had units of Slaan on the table. Nice tape measure grab there from Norse, I believe!
All kinds of nasty monsters clash with Norse's Chaos Warriors. Robotforaday's Fimir advance towards the beleaguered beastmen. 
My Khorne army advances under heavy magic and artillery attack.
My Khorne army runs away under heavy magic and artillery attack. Not to mention rank bonuses.!

15 comments:

  1. wonderful pictures and yes good to talk at last, some amazing miniatures, more yes please just a great day out

    Tony

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now that is how you do an old school warhammer battle! All forces involved look splendid. I remember playing these sorts of grand melee type battles as a kid. Thousands of points of minis with the battle sometimes taking an entire weekend to play. Inspiring stuff :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, Mr Orlygg, thats is a crying shame your army debut was less than spectacular. Of course, with Ranlac, Micael, Krell and Heinrich all opposing you (and looking stylish whilst doing so...), I just can't quite take your side here!

    Still, one day, you and I will meet on the field, where no doubt I'll boost your morale no end :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great photos Orlygg! Thanks very much for leading the forces of Chaos. :)

    I mentioned to Mr Ansell about getting August booked up by the way, we can follow that up whenever you like.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very nice, the photos capture much of the epic character of the conflict! Sorry you had to rush home, hope all is ok. You missed a good (much smaller scale) battle on the Sunday as well. With two battle reports to write up from the two days worth of action, I'll be hard at work for a while...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks like a great event, sorry I couldn't make this one!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Excellent photographs of a fun looking time and some great looking miniatures.
    Shame I could not make it :(

    ReplyDelete
  8. What what, wait a minute... there were units of Slaan on the table? I didn't even notice this, so vast was the array.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They were brightly coloured Dark Elf Cold One riders, bright enough to fool the eye into thinking they were Slann anyway. Orlygg was obviously too busy counting the enemy Undead at the other end of the table to notice Golgfag's troops properly!

      Delete
  9. Looks great. I would have enjoyed having the opportunity to have my Orcs flee off the table. I saw Fran and Ray in the background of picture 5 as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those rogues were there alright, they are huge in real life! How they both fit into a Ford KA I will never know!

      Delete
  10. This is just the kind of inspiration I need to paint my Slann. Well done to all who partook. Looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looks like a very fun and visceral battle !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello there. A great looking battle.

    One question, is the orangey giant in photos 11-12 with it's right arm raised the same as that as on pages 18-19 of the 3rd ed rulebook? Or is it a homage to it, perhaps?

    Thanks for sharing this - it looks like a great battle. How long did it take, can I ask?

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete