Monday 3 April 2017

"An Updated Version Of The Classic, Iconic Chaos Warrior..."

"He can also hurl them [Chaos Axes] at cowardly foes who refuse to come close."
This 28mm scale "multi-part resin kit" of Slambo is made by “Games Workshop”, and comes supplied with a "Citadel" 40mm Round base. Originally a Warrior of Chaos Mortal miniature, dating back to "Warhammer Fantasy" Fourth Edition, this updated version of the "Exalted Hero of Chaos" comes armed "with a pair of Chaos Axes which he uses to carve apart enemies at close quarters."

I have previously seen this model painted in both red armour and more recently, green armour. But as I didn't want my 'Slave to Darkness' too closely associated with either Khorne or Nurgle, I ultimately decided to go with Slambo wearing basic plate armour, which I would subsequently 'grunge up' using "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson, Agrax Earthshade and Biel-Tan Green. As a result I undercoated the "Age Of Sigmar" figure with "Citadel" Chaos Black and then applied a coat of Ironbreaker over him. Once this had dried, I washed the mortal with Nuln Oil and applied a heavy dry-brush of more Ironbreaker over the entire figure.

With the basic layering completed, I picked out the Legendary Killer's boots and axe staves with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, his knee-guards and roundels with "Vallejo" Brass and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and finally his axe-handles and horns with "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. The Glory-seeking Axeman's chainmail was treated to a wash from an old pot of Badab Black.
The Nurglings and Lord of Plagues are swamped by Dryads and Spite Revenants
I have immediately taken advantage of finishing Slambo by fielding him in a couple of 'friendly' battles against a Sylvaneth Force, which additionally uses Stormcast Eternals and Fyreslayers as allies. These games were played using the "Hold Or Die" Battleplan as originally found inside the "Warhammer: Age Of Sigmar" hardback rule-book; a potentially one-sided scenario which reflects "the courageous stand of Jactos Goldenmane's Stormcast Eternals against Khul's Goretide."

For our first game however, we re-imagined my Host's Lord of Plagues leading a ten-strong unit of Plaguebearers, a Rotbringers Sorcerer and some Nurglings into a Sylvaneth Branchwraith's Golden Glade, and disconcertingly finding themselves surrounded by a far superior force whilst "deep in enemy territory". Fortunately, help is supposedly near at hand in the shape of some additional Nurgle units, but my invading party must first "hold out long enough for it to arrive."

Disappointingly, despite the reinforcements supposedly arriving in the Movement Phase of Nurgle's Second Turn, my starting line-up didn't actually survive the initial onslaught long enough to see them, and therefore lost the fight before Slambo, Karanak and a plethora of additional Plaguebearers, Beasts of Nurgle and Bloodletters could even be brought onto the battlefield. Such a dismal performance seemed something of a certainty straight from the scenario's start though, as my usually reliable Chaos Sorcerer, failed to cast a Balewind Vortex with the opening dice roll of the game.
A Treelord dominates the centre of the battlefield, whilst the Lord of Plagues is surrounded and killed
Eager to meet the Forest's Custodians head-on, I also found my slow-moving units getting badly peppered by arrows during the Shooting Phase and even the Cloud of Flies which made hitting my lesser daemons that extra bit harder, failed to save them when so very many missiles were turning the sky black. Admittedly my General impressively slew a handful of Spite Revenants before being brought to his knees, but my Nurglings failed to land a single blow upon a tide of Dryads despite rolling in excess of twenty Attack Dice during the conflict; their +5 to Hit and then +5 to Wound proving especially difficult to achieve.

Sadly the Chaos Gods didn't smile much upon me when we reversed roles and played "Hold Or Die" again either. Though this might have had something to do with the fact that instead of my opponent's meagre invasion force being comprised of a leader and some Battleline fodder as mine had comprised of, the Sylvaneth intruded upon one of Nurgle's swamplands with a Treelord at their helm, along with Kurnoth Hunters, ten Stormcast Eternals and even a Knight Venator, complete with celestial talon-firing star eagle!?!
Despite their great number the Plaguebearers are torn apart by the Stormcast Eternals
Needless to say, much of my entire Host's might was ineffectively dashed against the bark-covered behemoth stood in the centre of the battlefield, and if it hadn't been for a dose of Nurgle's Rot, I doubt the Treelord would've been wounded at all. It was certainly hard for my Nurglings' tiny teeth, no matter how razor sharp, to penetrate any of the wooden sinews of these Guardians of the Deepwood, even when supported by a twenty-model strong unit of Plaguebearers, and two lolloping Beasts Of Nurgle. And that of course, was before any of the Sylvaneth rescuers arrived...

Most demoralising however, was the utter impotence of my Khorne allied contingent, who were literally shot to pieces by some (massively overpowered) Kurnoth Hunters before they even reached their foe. These 'Envoys of the Evergreen' had the ability to fire their deadly greatbows even whilst their tiny Quiverlings incredibly kept Karanak and Slambo at bay with just their vicious claws, and resultantly caused my entire left flank to collapse.

Ultimately this scenario did provide me with a few enjoyable moments as my Rotbringer's Sorcerer almost single-handedly destroyed a unit of Fyreslayers by covering the orange-haired dwarves with a stream of corrupted vomit, and my Herald of Nurgle won his lengthy duel with a Branchwych. True, such victories are minor compared to the battering my Host of Nurgle took, but I'm already looking forward to my next game of "Age Of Sigmar", and the "War Of The Storm".  

36 comments:

  1. Slambo turned out very well Simon, and the plate colour scheme lends him to aiding any faction.
    Oh the joy's of fielding demons, slow moving and a target for missile fire, but when they work they can be devastating

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    1. Thanks Dave. I'm rather pleased with how Slambo has turned out I must confess. My Nurgle army is certainly slow, and tbh, wasn't very devastating when they got into close combat either!!

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    2. The luck of the dice can be fickle, found it with the slaneesh force I had in 40k

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    3. "fickle" would be understatement. It doesn't matter how many dice you throw, when you're only hitting on fives and then wounding on more fives, it is hard to make an impact ;-)

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    4. It's always difficult to get a good balance in gaming as I found with our upcoming game release. Many hours of play testing and still haven't managed to win against my wife

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    5. "AoS" is certainly unbalanced w/o points imho Dave, which is why collecting an army for it should really be about just buying/painting the models you like. that way its always fun no matter how appalling your Nurglings are - and they were truly bad. Are those rules the space gladiator ones I saw on "Kickstarter"?

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    6. yes mate being released at Salute and we have a demo table as well

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    7. Excellent. I may well try and have a game then if there's a spot when I pop over and say "hello."

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    8. if I'm not running the game at the time I'll make sure one of the guys runs you through one

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    9. Thanks Dave. I'm certainly hoping to play a few more demo games this year after lunch, as I missed out on a few last year.

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  2. What a great name for a wonderfully nostalgic looking miniature - fabulous job Simon.

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    1. Cheers Michael. One of my fave minis of the year so far.

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  3. unlucky in the games dude. I love Slambo very iconic and nice that he has recieved an updated sculpt fitting more in size wise than his previous version.

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    1. Slambo is certainly larger than his previous sculpts, Simon, and despite a poor showing on the field, is a welcome addition to my Chaos horde.

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  4. For once I'm not going to moan about yet another Chaos post. Oh no! Slambo is a great figure and I love how you've painted him. Excellent brushwork, Simon!

    For me, the highlight of this post was seeing the mighty elves not only defeat the forces of Chaos but to utterly crush them and stomp them into the ground! Hurrah for the elves! It's the only way to deal with such Chaos scum! LOL! :-)

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    1. Many thanks Bryan, much appreciated and I'm glad this is one "Games Workshop" model you've enjoyed.

      I certainly think the new "AoS" models are significantly superior statistics wise to their 'classic' counterparts, and whilst Chaos does now have Slambo, the Sylvaneth, Stormcast Eternals and Fyreslayers are all new models - I'll say no more ;-)

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  5. Slambo looks fabulous mate, great job

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  6. What a whizz of a fun game. I enjoyed this so much, but no time to enjoy it properly now - work work work. So I cheated and saved it all to a word doc and have put it all on an external hard drive so I can read it properly all at my leisure. This looks amazing. I DO so love the retro feel chaos warrior.

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    1. Thanks very much Tarot. It would be nice if "GW" did a retinue for Slambo, of similarly armoured brutes.

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  7. Slambo is now number one on your top ten Simon, and he'll take some shifting!

    Superb. Enough said.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Gosh!! High praise indeed Roger, and much appreciated. He certainly seems to have gone down rather well on the "Tabletop Minions Paint Showcase" FB Page too. Still... the year is still young(ish) ;-)

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  8. Cracking work on Slambo, Simon. Ain't no school like the old school! :)

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    1. Cheers Leon. Indeed there isn't. Slambo is a great release by "Games Workshop" imho.

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  9. I really like the finished Slambo. Steel coloured armour suits him well and makes him that much more formidable in my mind.

    Oof.... those poor green meaties. I think you need to get them a GUO added to their ranks Pronto to be able to deal Max damage back to that pesky treeman.

    Had heard tho that ranged attacks rule supreme in AoS. Does nurgle have anything it can bring to offer a ranged option?

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    1. *meanies not meaties... ugh autocorrect

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    2. Thanks Dai. Slambo certainly packs something of a punch in "AOS", and apart from my Sorcerer, is the only ranged unit I have - as he can throw his axes.

      Shooting does indeed rule supreme in "AOS" and Nurgle has very, very little. Indeed, Chaos in general lacks badly in that area. Tbh if "Games Workshop" simply disallowed units engaged in h-2-h to shoot, then I think it'd resolve a lot of the issues. But as it is, you can essentially get to attack twice if you have ranged weapons, as you can fire them and then fight h-2-h in the same turn.

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    3. I actually liked "meaties", as my Nurglings were definitely 'meatshields' in these battles.

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    4. Well, Nurglings were never more than meatshields in the early 3rd Ed WFB games I played. Cute, but.... clearly expendable for the sake of those more valuable and hard-hitting in the army.

      Hearing that ranged attacks can happen if units are stuck in h2h sounds bloody silly! Sounds like a house rule is in order?

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    5. O and Meaties is my cat's nickname. Probably why my phone thought it was appropriate to include in lieu of "meanies".

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    6. Certainly, in future I'll be using the Nurglings as just that, Dai, and as a result will probably paint up another three models to properly bulk them out.

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    7. Meaties is a great name for a cat :-)

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  10. Elves over-powered in a game by Games Workshop? Now THAT is a surprise... lol
    Nice work on Slambo, Simon. He is a rather nice update on the original figure. Shame his first outimg was against those dirty pointy-eared tree-huggers.

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    1. Thanks very much Jez. I'm hoping his prowess on the "AoS" battlefield will vastly improve once he takes to the tabletop again.

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