The Marshalling of Uzkulak

Done some more work on the ogres, giving them weapons and jewellery and started work on the armour for some.

Done some more work on the ogres, giving them weapons and jewellery and started work on the armour for some.

Only a little bit of work done today; gave the standard bearers standards, added a hand and drum skin to the drummer, drilled out the horn blower’s horn, did a hand swap on one of the rank and file, added a plume to one helmet and altered a couple of faces.

My plan with this project currently is to use the minis to play Irregular Wars’ Fantastic Battles.  For those not in the know, Fantastic Battles is a new mass combat game which is scale agnostic, so can be used with any size miniatures.  What matters for the purposes of the rules is the size of the bases you use, with all measurements being determined by the width of a base.  And so long as all players use the same size bases, they can even use whatever size base they wish.

Currently my plan is to go with the recommended 40x40mm for 15mm miniatures.

While the rulebook does contain a selection of army lists, it also includes rules for creating your own, and the book even encourages players to do so so that they can come up with an army list that fits their own personal vision for what their army should be.

When creating rules for a company, you start by selecting one of a number of base profiles, then add up to three traits from a list of traits.  You can also add a fourth trait to be a racial trait, but if you do so, at least 50% of your companies in your army list must be of this race.

As the ‘Ziggurat Dwarf’ list contained in the book which serves as an equivalent to Chaos Dwarfs doesn’t fit my vision of Chaos Dwarfs, I’ve set about coming up with one that does and already have a first draft, which I present below.

*Lammasu – 106

Fantastic Beast

• Character (wizard)
• Flying
• Monstrous
• Proud

*Immortals – 51

Elite company

• Doughty
• Heavy melee weapons
• Proud

*Flame Bearers – 48

Formed Company

• Doughty
• Heavy melee weapons
• Poison
• Proud

*Chaos Dwarf Warriors – 45/50

Formed Company

• Doughty
• Heavy melee weapons/Shieldwall
• Proud

*Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses – 45

Formed Company

• Barrage
• Doughty
• Proud

*Bull Centaurs – 59

Elite Company

• Berserk
• Mounted
• Doughty
• Proud

Hobgoblins – 20/22

Irregular company

• Long spears/shooting (mixed)
• Unreliable

Sneaky Gits – 23

Irregular company

• Skirmishers
• Thrown weapons
• Unreliable

Orc Slaves – 24

Irregular company

• Expendable
• Furious charge
• Unreliable

Goblin Slaves – 16

Irregular company

• Expendable
• Rabble
• Unreliable

Black Orcs – 44

Formed Company

• Furious charge
• Proud
• Reliable

Hobgoblin Wolfriders – 33/35

Irregular company

• Fast
• Long spears/shooting (mixed)
• Mounted

Ogre Bulls – 42

Formed company

• Monstrous

Ogre Ironguts – 45

Formed Company

• Monstrous
• Heavy weapons

Ogre Leadbelchers  – 48

Formed company

• Monstrous
• Heavy missile weapons
• Shooting

*Death Rockets – 54

Ordnance battery

• Artillery (indirect)
• Doughty
• Heavy missile weapons
• Proud

*Dreadquake Mortar – 58

Ordnance battery

• Artillery (indirect)
• Doughty
• Powerful missile weapons
• Proud

Hobgoblin bolt thrower – 32

Ordnance battery

• Artillery
• Unreliable

*Whirlwind/Tenderiser – 53

Vehicle

• Berserk
• Furious charge
• Heavy melee weapons
• Proud

*War Wagon – 52

Vehicle

• Barrage
• Doughty
• Proud
• Heavy missile weapons

Kollosus – 54

Fantastic beast

• Giant
• Heavy melee weapons
• Proud

Slave Giant – 49

Fantastic beast

• Giant
• Heavy melee weapons
• Thrown weapons

For the Racial Trait I opted to go for Proud, which helps counteract the negative effects of friendly units being destroyed/fleeing, as I think it aptly fits the contempt Chaos Dwarfs have for weakness in general and the ‘lesser races’ in particular.  Entries prefixed with an asterisk are Chaos Dwarf units for the purposes of the racial trait; this includes mutations such as the Lammasu and Bull Centaurs and things crewed by Chaos Dwarfs such as the warmachines.

Note that not all choices with Proud count as Chaos Dwarfs, eg Black Orcs, and as such don’t count towards the 50% required Chaos Dwarf companies when building an army.

Haven’t gotten much work done since my last update.  I ordered an old plastic orc Bloodbowl team to expand the slave ogres.  As you can see from the second pic above, they’re a close match for the old Goffs so will mix well as a unit.

The Black Orcs from the team will serve as the unit champions and have been given some ogre weapons.

The blockers from the team will become the standard bearers.

For the musicians I’ll be using two of the Goffs.

I plan on using the Throwers from the team as warmachine crew.  Pictured above with the Admiralty Ministures rocket.  The ball the thrower holds looks close to the rocket so my plan is to alter them to look like the ogres are holding extra rockets.

Been trying to make the faces of these guys less orcy by giving them noses.  I’ve also tried to add variety by altering the expressions on some and changing the horns/spike on the helmets.