The Battle of Page 11 (Sort of)

Another one of my favourite photos in the 3rd Edition rulebook is the top one on page 11.   I just want to walk into that room and hang out.  "Hey Rick, hey Bry, fancy a game?"  Instead,  Prof. Elf came over and we went to Northern Bretonnia.

It seems that after the massacre of the "Elven Elites Protect Their General", the remaining 3rd edition Elves were screaming for vengence!  An Elven Jihad was declared.  No one would be spared!!  A great Elven array is mustered, and then marched off in the direction of the Chaos Wastes.  Unfortunately, Bretonnia is between Loren and the Chaos Wastes. 

The lookouts on the southern turret were the first to see the Elven army forming in the field across from them. 

They immediately reported this to the Knights of Keep.   Within moments, all of the Knights were in a complete panic.  Grail Knights were seen discarding their armour and donning women's clothing.   Many were trampled in the mad rush to escape.  Soon there wasn't a Knight left in the castle, or even the whole town.  It was up to the People of Bretonnia to set things right.  Again.

Fortunately, a large Dwarf population also lived in the town.  And they were not about to let any pouncy Elves ruin their day.

Unfortunately, the Elves did.

A fantastic and fun game.  It was nice to be playing with the Prof. again.  And I thank him for indulging me in this game instead of continuing on to the next match of our long-delayed Empire/Lizard series. 

Elves!

Rogue Trading It To A Galaxy Far, Far Away

The Gang were enjoying their walk when Zan suddenly stopped and said, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

The Zalderaan Chapter of the Galactic Ne'er Do Wells!   Our heros fire.  And they all miss!   Luckily Zen is able to force-blast one of the bad guys.

"I know you!" says Zan to Zeedo.

Zen Za Zobi the Zedi!

But then Zan is down!!!  (I couldn't believe how badly the Gang performed in the first couple of turns.  Afterall, they were all Major Heroes.)

Zeia and the Zookie manage to drag Zan to a medical droid.  (On a 6 he would regain a wound and be back up.  He didn't roll a 6.)

And then Zuke is taken down in hand-to-hand combat with Zammerhead!!  Earlier in the game he suffered two wounds from Zoba Zett's rocket.

But things begin to turn thanks mostly to the incredible Zen Za Zobi.

The last two Ne'er Do Wells hightail it.

Don't worry, our heros will be okay.

Orion is Watching

Just came back from a week in the bush.  Couldn't stop thinking of Wood Elves.  I wanna game a 6th Edition Wood Elf force against 3rd Edition Giants.  

Orion is watching.

Part II of "Elven Elites Protect Their General"

Thuril Elf Stone was well known for his restraint (and penetrating stare).

He let the Chaos forces get closer.  And closer.  He could feel the nervous tension of his troops nearing the breaking point.  Finally, in his most beautiful singsong voice, he whispered, "Now!"   At once two of the Shapershifters burst forward from the Jes Kinband.  One changed into a bear.  The other a wolf.  (There was a third one, but for some reason he preferred to stay in the ranks of his kinband.)   The bear charged the Chaos dwarf bazuka which immediately fired.

But the shot went wild and ended up landing on, and taking out the Chaos Wizard, Hess Poison Breath.  (There was no, "Look Out, Sir!", for poor Hess - the Chaos Thug unit behind him were too busy laughing.)

Elsewhere, arrows flew and Wardancers charged.  Thuril cast the Change Allegiance spell on Garthor, the level 10 Dragon Ogre hero.   But Garthor was happy being part of the close-knit Chaos gang, and shrugged off the spell and proceeded to tear apart some Wardancers.  The Centaurs too were finding out that 3rd edition Wardancers, although they look so pretty, are nothing to worry about. 

On the other side of the battlefield, Chaos Dwarf beserkers led the charge into Skarloc's famous unit.  Several of the corrupted dwarves fell to arrows, but none fell to the Elven swords.  Especially Skarloc's!  They began to push the Elves back.  The Chaos Warriors and the Minotaurs also easily pushed back the Marauder Archers.  The only success for the Elves was the Jes Kinband against the Thug unit.  Soon the Bear also joined that combat after dispatching the Chaos Dwarf Bazuka crew. 

Here we see Kaer, the level 10 hero who was hanging with the Elven Elites, running before the dreaded second hack. 

The Marauder Elves break and do not even get to experience the second free hack - the first does them all in.

The Minotuars charge into Thuril.  Thuril had cast Hammerhand on himself and bests one of the brutes.

The battle nearing the endgame.

The Chaos Dwarves finally break Skarloc's crew.  At this point I thought it would be fun to change the Chaos Dwarf' unit's attribute into Long Legs.   Afterall, these kind of instant Chaos mutuations happen all the time, don't they?   Skarloc's last words were, "I can't believe this is happening!"

In the end, a clear win for Chaos.  

(Someone muttered, "Elven Elites...paf!")

Elven Elites Protect Their General Part 1

Here goes the first installment of an irregular series of battles inspired by the many great photos in Warhammer Fantasy Battles 3rd edition.  I thought I start with the picture that sums up Warhammer 3 for me - "Elven Elites Protect Their General" (Page 138) (Also pages 8-9 and 16-17).   I have spent way too many hours staring at and dreaming over this scene.  Why have the Elves allowed the forces of Chaos so close to them?  What is going to happen next?  Ahh, I've always wanted to fight this battle.  So here we go...

The Set-up

I had to make a few substitutions.   Instead of the cool Chaotic host on pages 8-9, I gave the Chaos force a Dragon Ogre and a unit of Centaurs. 

The plastic Elf archers I replaced with Marauder metal ones.  I like my metal.

Anyway, to be continued...

Trigger Happy

Nobody seems able to game these days.  And I'm jonesing.  Pulled out some Squats with the thought of playing some solo Rogue Trader, but solo just didn't cut it tonight.  Instead, started thinking about Grenadier's fantastic Future Warriors line.  They were contemporary with the tail-end of Rogue Trader and the beginning of 2nd Edition 40K.    Here are some that I painted about eleven years ago, when all the rage was near-future urban skirmish games. 

And one of my all time favourite miniatures...

These guys have seen a lot of action over the years.  I hope they will see some more soon.

Continuing on his way to Bretonnia...

Continuing on his way to Bretonnia, The Wizard What's-His-Name befriends an ex-paladin by the name of Bernard D'Bernard.  Bernard D'Bernard tells how he left the Grail Knights of Bretonnia in a fit of disgust and disillusionment.  "I will never ride a horse again!", he says. 

As the two friends stop by a stream to refresh themselves, A BUNCH OF SAVAGE ORCS RUN OUT OF THE WOODS!

The Orc Chieftain (a level 15 hero) charges Bernard.

But Bernard strikes first and hard.  (He is a level 25 character with an enchanted sword which gives him an extra attack.) Despite this, it still takes him two rounds of combat to finish off the Orc Chief.

Upset at the loss of their leader, the rest of the Savage Orcs finally work themselves up into a frenzy and charge Bernard.  I forgot how frustrating frenzy can be in 3rd.   But it is nice when it works.

Meanwhile, What's-His-Name tosses off a few fireballs and tries to hide from the two Orc archers who keep hitting him.

Bernard charges the remaining Boyz.

The two new friends continue down the road...