Ulthuan Rallies for War

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TyrrenAzureblade
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#151 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

After more than 10 years of these models either sitting in storage, or finally being painted up during Quarantine, or having to be picked up from some over priced eBay auction, I have a FULL Island of Blood set painted up, and ready for battle. This is the box that got me excited about Warhammer way back when it premiered. It feels real good to have two small armies that I can pit against each other on the tabletop. Going to teach a friend how to play tomorrow with these very models, and I couldn't be more excited. I've also got more models that I've committed to the Old World Discord Great Waaaaagh! challenge, so my Skaven army will grow quite a bit with 10 more Stormvermin, 20 Plague Monks, a Plague Priest, a Hellpit Abomination, Warplightning Cannon, and Grey Seer on Screaming Bell.

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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#152 Post by SpellArcher »

What a result, an excellent ensemble.

:)

How did the play go?
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#153 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

SpellArcher wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 6:31 pm What a result, an excellent ensemble.

:)

How did the play go?
Thank you! It went great. With such a small points limit (850), we managed to play two fairly quick games. The first one went in favor of the High Elves, without a BSB, and not enough numbers to consistently maintain max rank bonuses a few unlucky rolls saw the Skaven army fall apart. For the second game, I allowed my much less experienced opponent a Grey seer instead of a Warlock Engineer. He then proceeded to completely dismantle my army with incredible magic phases. Scorch and Warp Lightning are a hell of a spell combination against small units of T3 elves. It was incredibly fun and looking forward to ramping up the points limits for a larger battle.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#154 Post by SpellArcher »

TyrrenAzureblade wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:19 pm The first one went in favor of the High Elves, without a BSB, and not enough numbers to consistently maintain max rank bonuses a few unlucky rolls saw the Skaven army fall apart.
That makes sense.
TyrrenAzureblade wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:19 pm He then proceeded to completely dismantle my army with incredible magic phases.
Ouch!
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#155 Post by Prince of Spires »

These small games can be quick and loads of fun. They're a great way to get into the game. They just need to be taken not very seriously. As you noticed, they can be very unbalanced. Some things become a lot more powerful, while others lose their power. Skaven rank bonus is a good example of how it's hard to make it work at smaller games. The HE Loremaster is another. A mage with all signature spells is devastating at this level.

The game always feels like it was designed with 2000-3000 points in mind. Smaller, and the balance is off, larger and the whole thing becomes slow and unwieldy and a slog.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#156 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Hail friends. With the winter lull right around the corner, I'm looking to get back into some High Elf painting. I've got a battle standard bearer, a mage on foot, a lion chariot, 8 silverhelms, and 16 spearmen. Not sure where to start, but looking forward to starting!

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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#157 Post by SpellArcher »

TyrrenAzureblade wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:00 am Hail friends.
Well met.

:)
TyrrenAzureblade wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:00 am I've got a battle standard bearer, a mage on foot, a lion chariot, 8 silverhelms, and 16 spearmen.
Nice!
TyrrenAzureblade wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:00 am Not sure where to start, but looking forward to starting!
Your charioteers appear keen for a lick of paint.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#158 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

SpellArcher wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:04 am Your charioteers appear keen for a lick of paint.
Yeah, I've decided this chariot crew is going first. I'm in the process of cleaning it up and regluing a few parts with some plastic cement to make sure they're absolutely solid! Looking forward to also putting this into a list in the near future!
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#159 Post by SpellArcher »

TyrrenAzureblade wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 2:22 am Looking forward to also putting this into a list in the near future!
This I would like to see.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#160 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Small update. Really wish I could have gone back in time and made myself clean up this chariot a lot better before assembling it. Either way, I've got 500 points of 8th Edition High Elves brewing for a painting competition on the Old World Discord. It includes a Battle Standard Bearer, 5 Ellyrian Reavers, 5 Silver Helms with shields, 10 Spearmen, and this Lion Chariot of Chrace. I have until the end of February, so I need to kick it up a notch.

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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#161 Post by Prince of Spires »

The chariot still looks pretty great. Yes, a lion drawn chariot might be silly, but it's also epic! :) Nice 500pts force. It's coming along nicely.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#162 Post by SpellArcher »

Prince of Spires wrote: Thu Feb 02, 2023 3:25 pm The chariot still looks pretty great. Yes, a lion drawn chariot might be silly, but it's also epic!
I agree, any roughness isn't coming through in this pic.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#163 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Finally got 2000 points of 7th/8th Edition Skaven. Added 20 Plague Monks, 10 more Stormvermin, a Hellpit Abomination, a Warp Lightning Cannon, and a Grey Seer on a Screaming Bell. I still have my High Elves in the queue, but I need four more Ellyrian Reavers and they stalled me out. The damn details on those bastards...

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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#164 Post by SpellArcher »

That's a splendid looking army.

=D>
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#165 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Holy hell, a very generous co-worker, and fellow wargamer, has sold me TWO Lothern Skycutters that he had gathering dust in his garage. Apparently he traded Warmachine models for these back when he was working at Privateer Press. He basically wanted the crew for a Bloodbowl High Elf team. Lucky for me, the group fell apart, and years later he realized he had these sitting around and that I was collecting 8th edition plastics. They're both squeezed into a single box, but everything is new on sprue. I'm so excited to build these out, and magnetize the rocs so I can have more properly scaled Great Eagles. Also just realized the accidental shameless self promotion in the photo. Check out our miniatures for your other tabletop needs!

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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#166 Post by Prince of Spires »

Wow! That's one generous co-worker. Those are hard to come by, especially new on the sprue. Keep us updated on your progress with them. I still have a bunch of left over bits from mine that I one day want to turn into something interesting (I've got ideas for a RBT using the boltthrower you can stick on it...).

As for the Skaven, they look amazing. I love the quirky-ness skaven can bring. They have just so much character. And the Screaming Bell is such a lovely model. It's one of those I'd buy just to build it (if I didn't have too many models to build that is...). And you've definitely done them justice. They're great. Are you planning any battles with them?

Also, don't worry about the shameless self-promotion. I don't think anyone would have noticed if you hadn't said anything. Being nosy, I had a quick look. You've got some amazing miniatures. You're Orcs are stunning. And there are some lovely other models in there. If I ever start playing Morheim more I'll drop by for some models :) I think they'd fit amazingly in that setting.
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#167 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Thanks guys! Mostly I'm really glad to have finished pretty much all the Skaven I have. I played a battle with my buddy who also has a Skaven army of his own, but he took mine out for a test run so he wouldn't have to transport his. We cheated a little and let him have two Hell Pit Abominations and a Doomwheel (I think we were over the Rare points allotment) instead of the cannon since it wasn't done, and some adjustments to the units. It was a minor victory for the Elves as there were a lot of precious Elvish casualties.

I also recently played a 1500 point battle versus The Empire which was a lot of fun, and super close. The final combat was between the remnants of a horde of Greatswords with their BSB, and the remnants of my Spearmen, an MSU 9-man block of Swordmasters, and my brave archers that took an overrun charge in the Empire's turn. My army scored another minor victory there as most of our armies were decimated, and he still had some archers and his wizard general on the board.

I'm excited about the Skycutters, mostly to have the rocs magnetized. To date I haven't run a single chariot yet, although I do want to take that White Lion chariot for a spin soon. I also realized that since my coworker acquired them for a Blood Bowl team, he declined the flight stems and bases, so now I'm on the hunt for them.

Also, kinda disappointed to hear that GW is officially making all 20mm based models take a 25mm for The Old World. What's everyone thinking on that matter? I think I'm going to keep building on 20mm and just getting properly sized movement trays with 20mm slots so I can play old editions and TOW.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#168 Post by Ramesesis »

I will use movement trays. This is how people deal with it playing Oathmark and using old models.
Oathmark have 25mm for infantry, 50×25mm for cavalry, 50mm for stuff like ogres and 100×50 for the really big stuff. It makes everything so much easier. And if you have smaller bases you make movement trays.

And ranking up your guys is so much smoother in Oathmark thanks to this
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#169 Post by Prince of Spires »

I had missed that little bit of new about TOW. My general react to it is "Meh". For casual games with friends it will mean pretty much nothing. There's a lot more finnagling going around than just 5mm on a base which means worrying about 25mm (which is the extra width you'd get in a 5-wide rank of 25mm vs 20mm) is a non-issue for me. Even with my old movement trays you'd cover half that width already. For when it really matters, movement trays all the way. For any larger game movement trays are pretty much a must anyway. You don't want to move a 20 model unit a model at a time. Just adding the extra few mm is an easy enough fix.

It's nice to see GW taking TOW serious enough. While I'm still wait and see, with all the time they're using to work up to it, it feels like they want to do it right. And not just put out a quick, one-off game as a cash-grab. It does make me wonder if Age of Sigmar isn't delivering what they hoped it would. I haven't really doven into GW numbers since The End Times, so I have no idea. It might be interesting to look into it at some point.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#170 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Finished up some cavalry and some additional spearmen for my slowly growing army. The grey is almost entirely slain for my High Elves. As much as I love my army, I do hope that the old High Elf core plastic kits get some love in The Old World. I'd love to see the spearmen look as good as the Island of Blood Lothern Sea Guard and for the Silver Helms to get some more dynamic and updated sculpts. In the meantime, I'm going to keep painting and playing 8th. I hope we see TOW before the year is through. I'm eager to get the rules, and figure out what rank requirements are, and cavalry base sizes so I can get some mdf movement trays made.

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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#171 Post by Seredain »

A beautiful looking army Tyrren. You should be proud!

You're right we all pray for new helms and spears. Still, those gleaming white shields look magnificent once the ranks are formed up.

Best wishes,

S
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http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=33584
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#172 Post by SpellArcher »

TyrrenAzureblade wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 11:25 pm Finished up some cavalry and some additional spearmen for my slowly growing army.
I especially like the standard (metal tops often get lost and this one doesn't) and the Reavers (colours are lovely).
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#173 Post by Prince of Spires »

TyrrenAzureblade wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 11:25 pm Finished up some cavalry and some additional spearmen for my slowly growing army. The grey is almost entirely slain for my High Elves. As much as I love my army, I do hope that the old High Elf core plastic kits get some love in The Old World. I'd love to see the spearmen look as good as the Island of Blood Lothern Sea Guard and for the Silver Helms to get some more dynamic and updated sculpts. In the meantime, I'm going to keep painting and playing 8th. I hope we see TOW before the year is through. I'm eager to get the rules, and figure out what rank requirements are, and cavalry base sizes so I can get some mdf movement trays made.
It is a very beautiful army. It really fits with the High Elf image of noble, disciplined fighters.

I'm not sure TOW will get here this year. But even if it does, most indications point to other races being first. Which means we'd have to wait a bit longer for new models. Still, our core is decent, compared to some...

I am curious what they'll come up with rules wise. We'll definitely see the return of ranked armies. But I wonder if we'll be seeing huge spearman blocks. One of the issues with warhammer was that you needed to assemble and paint 20-50 "boring" spearmen and archer models to be able to play the game. Reduce that, and you make the game more beginner friendly. I think it's what they attempted with AOS. Let people get to your cool models as quickly as possible. It makes sense both for the player and the company. Most people would rather paint a dragon than 200 skaven slaves. And it's easier to sell 1 $60 dragon than 3 $20 boxes of core models. We'll see what they've come up with soon enough I guess.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#174 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Prince of Spires wrote: Tue May 09, 2023 9:03 am I am curious what they'll come up with rules wise. We'll definitely see the return of ranked armies. But I wonder if we'll be seeing huge spearman blocks. One of the issues with warhammer was that you needed to assemble and paint 20-50 "boring" spearmen and archer models to be able to play the game. Reduce that, and you make the game more beginner friendly. I think it's what they attempted with AOS. Let people get to your cool models as quickly as possible. It makes sense both for the player and the company. Most people would rather paint a dragon than 200 skaven slaves. And it's easier to sell 1 $60 dragon than 3 $20 boxes of core models. We'll see what they've come up with soon enough I guess.
I also can't wait to see what the rules end up being. I think they've gone on record as saying they're not simplifying anything, that the rules are going to be as crunchy as ever. I think they really want to make a game that's appealing to fans of all the other editions, and fans of Total War: Warhammer, which is itself a very crunchy and complex game system. I really do hope the rules work well at smaller points limits, because as you've said, a smaller barrier to entry is going to be important to bring in new players. I think 6th/7th and 8th work well at 1000 points for quick games. I have had fun playing 850 point battles with just the contents of the Island of Blood set, especially for teaching a couple of friends that are complete beginners. I personally prefer 2500-3000+ because I spent all this time painting up a lot of models and enjoy the complexity of larger games. Whatever the launch box ends up being, I hope it's two armies at around the same points limit that IoB was so I can have four armies that can get to it out of the box.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#175 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Now that The Old World is here and I've been playing some games, I've gotten back to work on my army. I finally finished my Sisters of Avelorn since they seem to be better overall than fielding Bolt Throwers. And I'm continuing to clear my backlog, I also finished the last of my Spearmen, leaving me at a total of 48. And mostly finished a mage. The Spearmen and the Mage are part of a painting competition on the WHFB Discord, and they'll hopefully be fielded along with 5 Dragon Princes, and 15 Lothern Sea Guard.

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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#176 Post by Prince of Spires »

They look great! I love how the mage really pops.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#177 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Prince of Spires wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2024 9:50 am They look great! I love how the mage really pops.
Thank you sir, I'm almost completely done with my High Elves models. It's been a hell of a journey. I've got about 30 Lothern Sea Guard to finish, 15 which I hope to finish this month, and then I've got a unit of 10 Swordmasters with full command, a Prince on Griffon, and a dragon that I need to magnetize so I can run a mage or prince on it.

The overly ambitious part of me wants to take these last few remaining models and base them for TOW, and just start a TOW exclusive High Elf army. But I think I found the perfect base adapters on an Etsy shop that are removeable and slightly flexible so I don't have to commit to a project like that. If they work out like I'm hoping they do, I'll post them here along with pictures of the results.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#178 Post by Prince of Spires »

Which base adapters did you find? I for sure don't want to rebase all my elf models (there's well over 200 of the buggers), so movement trays that do the job for me are more than welcome.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#179 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Here ya go. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1642058520 ... ch_click=1

The preview video in the gallery is what sold me on these.

Edit: Got a message from the shop today, they've got a huge demand for these, and my order has been delayed by some unknown amount of time. Apparently the seller has said they're expanding the operation and looking for a new space, and a slew of faulty printers. So if you do order from them, expect a huge delay.
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Re: Ulthuan Rallies for War

#180 Post by TyrrenAzureblade »

Five more Dragon Princes to add to the host.

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