Jan 2020 was pretty busy for me; I started a new job and revamped two rooms in in my house (including my office/ hobby space). With all the disruption going on it was easy to let the blogging slip (I've started about 5 posts and got approximately no-where with any of them!!), but now that the dust has settled I'm raring to go.
Month 1 of our Tale of FIVE Warlords is now over, and work Gorkamorka's Chosen have progressed well. You may remember from my Intro Post that I was struggling with exactly what army to play. 2019 was a good year for Destruction with all three factions (Ogor Mawtribes, Gloomspite Gitz and Orruk Warclans) receiving new books and a splattering of new rules.
The question before me was a difficult one; which faction should I play?!
In 2019 I picked up both the Ogor and Grot halves of Feast of Bones and Looncurse, respectively. With a sizable force of Orruks already, and an ongoing commitment to #BashtheBacklog (watch this space for 2020...) I knew my decision would be one of these two armies.
Naturally this meant I had to paint a Warband from both sides and see which was best!
Gloomspite Gitz
Having been gifted the Rockgut Troggoths and Dankhold Troggoth for Christmas and with Looncurse sat on the I had a few options available for a Gloomspite army. In the end the sillyness appeal of Squigs was too much to resist, and I opted to paint the Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig from Looncurse as my Warband Champion
The Loonboss starts with 4 Glory points, and so I decided to round out the warband with 5 Boingrott Bounders (1 glory), a Squig Herd (1 glory) and the Rockgut Troggoths (2 glory). This left me with both the Dankhold Troggoth and 5 more Boingrott Bounders in the backlog for later, and a decent starting warband of fast (if somewhat random!) cavalry, objective holders and some heavy hitters.
The Squigs were great to paint, and pretty easy! I used this warband for my first taste of Contrast Paints and I was not disappointed. The Squig bodies were done with "One Thick Coat", as it were! So were the Grot cloaks, and I had great fun testing the different colour combinations! I was particularly taken with the coloured metallics you can achieve using contrast over Leadbelcher - an effect you can see on the Loonboss and Boingrott Bounder Boss's helmets.
The Ogor Mawtribes
The Beastclaw Raiders were my first destruction force, and part of why I fell in love with the Grand Alliance. The new book, reuniting the Ogor Kingdoms of old, was a tantalizing prospect for me; a way to revisit my first dedications to Gorkamorka!
This was, of course, helped by a new and beautiful Tyrant model!
Armed with a new paint brush and Ogor half of Feast of Bones I set to work on my second Warband of the month.
An Ogor Tyrant Champion provides 3 Glory, which mean dropping something from the original "starter" force you get in Feast of Bones.
I hastily assembled everything and, after some deliberation, decided to focus my attention on the Infantry. The Ogor Gluttons can be purchased as either 3 man (1 Gory) or 6 man (2 Glory) options, and so I decided to go for the big 6-Ogor mob, with 2 Leadbelchers (1 glory) rounding out the Warband.
Again I opted to experiment with Contrast for these guys, and I was a little underwhelmed. I'll be honest - I'm a little in love with Talassar blue! The colour it gives over both Grey Seer (as can be seen on the Leadbelcher's 'assistant' Gnoblar) and over leadbelcher (see the belly plates) is phenomenal. But the flesh tones leave something to be desired - at least to start. I have a feeling I'm applying it too liberally... and it's pooling where it shouldn't, leading to to slightly dodgy effect. I'm going to try it again, but we'll see what the end game looks like!
Long term followers of my painting will also recognise the yellow banner/ spot colour as the same one that crops up in my Beastclaw Army (example below)
(somewhat older photos from days gone by... more Ogors of this ilk coming soon!!)
The final decision! Who is Gorkamorkas Chosen?!
With both Warbands complete it was time to decide which one I'd take forward. And the only true way to know was to take to the field of battle!
Fortunately, fellow Warlord James was never one to say NO to a game, and the combined forces of Destruction dueled with the Ossiarch Bonereapers! A fitting first outing of 2020, especially since James was who I split Feast of Bones with!
The game saw James (just) emerge victorious, but ultimately I wasn't paying for a win - just to feel out the two armies.
The Boingrot were hilarious to play - random and bouncy, and hitting surprisingly hard on the charge! The Troggoths were great - durable, and deadly! But the Squigs (despite their hilarious "I explode when I run" rules) just didn't really do anything for me.
The Ogors, by comparison, were meat walls of death. The Tyrant exploded whatever he touched, and the Gluttons did bonkers damage for a unit with no rend!
Ultimately both factions had elements I'd enjoy, but when the dust settled the Ogors (my first love) came out on top!
Moving forward into the Tale I'll be continuing to build up my Ogor Force - possibly with a side of Trogs!!
I'm looking forward to taking my Tyrant and his band of brigands out for a smashing time in this months game! Stay tuned for what comes in month 2!
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