Ghouls - lots of them

Its been a busy few weeks so I've neglected my blog a little.  Time to catch up with a bumper post.

Diary notes:

• A few weeks ago I introduced a number of my friends to Malifaux, the session went quite well with everyone at the least interested in the way the game played (which in contrast to Song of Blades and Heroes is saying something!).
• I've joined a Warhammer fantasy battle campaign with 7 other players.  Its a larger size (2500 points) than I have been used to so its kicked off lots of mini projects.

Right on to the main post then.  When 8th edition of Warhammer was released it led to a lot of experimenting with what worked on my existing forces.  A clear winner in my Vampire counts army was ghouls, at the time they were the same price as skeletons and far, far superior undead the new core rule set (hello poison and supporting attacks).

My 6th edition skirmishing(!) ghouls

I already had around 28 ghouls, of which only 8 or so were painted.  In previous editions ghouls worked differently every time an army book was released and were never especially effective so I hadn't been too keen on them.




In the 7th edition book at least they were a ranked unit and with the right choices, a vampire could increase the unit size so I had started to build up a good sized unit.  I wasn't a fan of the GW plastic ghouls (more on these shortly) so I looked around and got some of Mantic ghouls (see my previous post on these here including some painting ideas).  I also needed a Ghast to lead the unit so I found this huge beasty from Reaper to lead them.

Don't mess with the big guy

With my gaming group we started a 500 point 'tale of gamers' type series of games to allow people to start new armies and try out Warhammer.  500 points isn't an especially balanced size game, but it was small and fast.  I decided to build an all ghoul army as an add on to my standard force (especially as experiments with skeletons resulted in consistent losses!).

My brother had some very old metal ghouls lying around he wasn't too fond of - I think these are 4th edition as there were earlier incarnations of ghouls (the "night horror" range included at least 2 ghouls) which saw use in 3rd edition and earlier.  I do like to have as many generations of figures as I can in a unit, but these chaps are tiny and pricey on ebay so I'll relax my rule.  After some brush restorer dipping, these were returned to battle ready status in the now trademark purple skin tone.

Comical, but at least they rank up

Finally there's the GW ghouls.  I had bought 20 but only built 10 at this point.  These little @#%$ are not my favourite figures.  They don't rank up and generally look silly with the crazy over the top piercings and trophies.  They do however fill up my ranks and add some variety to the unit so needs must...

Not actually genestealers, honest.

This mob is lead by the Ghoul King from the top of the Terrorgeist.  It seems unlikely to me I'll mount the big bat beastie if I take it, instead using it as a rare choice.  This sorted my second Ghast model out for me.  The real question is, if I do take a Ghoul King on foot, do I use the Reaper giant or the leaping GW model?

So having completed 54 ghouls, including movement trays my ghouls were finished and all good for battle.  I had plans as we expanded beyond 500 points to increase the size of the units so bought some of the really excellent Heresy ghouls to add to the mix.  Then, the new Vampire Count army book arrived.

Great.  Ghouls now cost 2 points more each and can't be raised beyond their starting numbers.  They also cost twice as much as a skeleton.  So for a long time, the Ghouls sat shiny and ready for battle without leaving the shelf.

Now with this big campaign I'm playing in I am considering them seriously again.  If I take a large unit (40+) they may well work for me - an experiment with 30 didn't go too well in my first game, but their size wasn't the only factor in the problems they faced so I am willing to give them a few more tries.  They are also all painted so I want to use them!

I've also finished some more undead themed scenery.  I picked up some gravestones from Mantic (actually produced by Renedra who I think mold Mantic's plastics) and added them to the small pile of bits I had from GW skeleton and zombie sprues.  I still have more left over which I may make more scenery with, but I am also trying out some regimental basing (inspired by my brother and Rob Hawkins).

My unit of skeletons (about to be raised)

Spinning many plates

I find it very difficult to know when to stop when it comes to deciding which hobbies to try and keep going.  Part of the joy of most table top games if that once you have the board game, a pile of cards or an army you can, if you wish, keep on playing over and again with the same collection, often in new or at least varied ways.  Of course many of these games are produced by companies that are keen to keep you buying new things...

Anyway as a result of expanding my circle of wargaming friends and also revisiting some old interests I'm currently wrestling with a lot of different bits and bobs.  I do seem to keep coming back to GW's Warhammer Fantasy and more recently 40k too - so you'll see lots of posts about those on this blog and this post wont dwell on those any further today.

So what are the other things distracting me?

Well a good friend of mine is a keen fan of Warhammer Ancients - and I mean really ancient here, around 600 BC at the most recent!  I've dabbled with the game in the past owning a modest Macedonian army (a bit modern at 330BC) and I'm in the process of dusting down the pikes for some more games to see if I can actually work out how to win.  Coincidently one of the local model shops phoned me this week to say that a nice new box of Warlord Phalangites was waiting for me (I forgot I even asked!) - its been a long time since I've been able to buy models for 50p each brand new!

Recently my brother encouraged me to try out a format of Magic the Gathering I might find interesting.  Its called Commander (also known as Elder Dragon Highlander - there can only be one!).  I've not been collecting magic for a few years but have a pretty huge back catalogue of questionable value in the face of today's impressive cards, however a 100 card deck with no duplicates actually rewards diversity and depth of your collection.  Suffice to say I had a lot of fun but can't say my first attempts at decks worked very well in a fairly powerful environment I encountered in the Midlands.  I also tried this with a mate more locally and found that its definitely a way to look at those cards stacked in a corner anew and have some fun along the way.

My commander, from my treemen and ferret deck (yes ferrets)

Lastly (for now) the local club has got me interesting in playing Malifaux.  One of the blogs I follow got me interested in this some time ago (thanks Jody) and my brother also painted up a Rasputina crew (I can't find any pics of his to share sorry) so I was sort of aware of the game.  I've seen several demo games and played my first encounter now (thanks Brian) and I have to say I am enjoying it, playing with a standard(ish) deck of cards rather than dice is a really interesting mechanic.  I will no doubt be posting more on this topic in future.

I don't even collect this faction (yet?) but how cool are giant fishmen?