Two new additions to the Empire and a quick report from the boarderlands

Hi there all,

So my paint brush has been a little busy these last couple of days. One of the things I am very conscious about it making sure the "hobby" part of Warhammer is not lost in all the tournament playing etc. So as part of this, I try to make sure my armies also have "fun" options that I might not necessarily take to an event, but are competitive (and fluffy) enough to keep me interested. Along the way, I occasionally discover some gems (who would have thought wardancers were still useful in 8th?)

Anywho, first up my latest Witch Hunter:

So looking pretty cool in his trench coat. I wanted this guy to be rather mute in his colours as I imagine him to only ever come out of the shadows at night, and in the rain. The purple feather (and left leg) are there for some interest/army tie in colours, but on the whole his focus is killing evil doers.

Next up, my Hurricanum:

Alrighty. So I've been putting off painting this one up. For starters I wanted to really evaluate the pros and cons of the Hurricanum vs the Luminark, and secondly I had no appetite for painting all the damn planets! So as you can see I woosed out on doing all the planets fancy colours and stuff and instead did them all up as balls of energy. Also note 2 broke off before I even got a chance to paint them, so they are super fragile!
I thought it a little weird switching the pop colour to blue, but I think it's justified because it is supposed to be a weather magical device thing (and blue is more weathery than purple), and the focus of the blue is on a completely different part of the model to the usual purple spot colour, so it "works".


So, when would I use these bad boyz? Conveniently I've put together a sweet list that no Vampire player will ever want to face:

DENY THE WITCH!

Art Collector: Ha, GW, 4++, Dragonhelm, Crown of Command 199 (and a very heavy head)
lvl4: light, scroll 225
BSB: Full Plate, enchanted shield, Sword of might, opal amulet 131
lvl1: light 65
Warrior Priest: Barded Steed, HA, Charmed Shield 88
Witch Hunter: Brace of Pistols, Potion of Foolishness 60
Witch Hunter: Brace of Pistols, Potion of Speed 60

10 Archers 70 (mage bunker option 1)
10 Archers 70 (mage bunker option 2)
5 Knights: Musician 120
48 Halberds: Full Command 318
5 Archer detach 35 (Witch hunter posse #1)
5 Archer detach 35 (Witch hunter posse #2)

Cannon 120
Cannon 120
5 Demigriffs: Musician 300

Stank 250
Hurricanum 130
2396

yup, that's 4 characters under 90 points each-almost goblin levels of cheap! No surprises how the list works. I COULD fit the war alter in if I wanted to, but not sure if it is really needed, and it would mean having to paint it up. I still got a bit of work (getting the 48 halberd bases up to new standards...sigh), but I should hopefully get an army pic, and a battle report with it after Skitterleap.

Though as it stands, the boarderlands where my forces of Sigmar defend are suffering a wee bit of in-fighting. Scouts have reported 2  local rival Vampires, Count Ryan and Count Glen, have finally engaged in hostilities towards each other. Luckily my scouts managed to get some crude sketches of the battle.

It appears Count Ryan has been trying unorthadox tactics

 And they both have been unleashing the worst monsters they can against each other

In the scene above it was reported that the zombie unit drunk the well all battle, continously throwing up until they were nothing but skeletons.

The battle quickly reached a critical moment:

The scouts noticed a surge of magical energy as Count Ryan's general called upon the forces of hell to do something scary (probably raise more zombies because 100 in a unit clearly isnt enough). Count Glen's Ghoul King general (staying at a distance) muttered something ghoulish under his breath, my scouts called on the power of Sigmar ("use the earthing rod to re-roll that 10 on the IF table, this early in the game it's not worth losing wizard levels"...). and Count Ryan's General disappeared in an explosion.

Resulting in a Victory for Count Glen's screaming forces. Both sides were severly damaged in the skirmish, meaning my province is safe from incursion for the next wee while. Taking advantage of the relevative peace, the Art Collector has been kitting up his horse and preparing an expoditionary forces to the Land of Dunn for next weekend before the grand meeting of armies at "Skitterleap".