Ben’s Chaos Gnomes - Month 3

 When the ground began to thaw, Kazar ordered his axes to clear a field’s worth of timber, and that a mine be sunk in its place. The wood and the ore would help to resupply his troops, and rekindle the war engine.x However, there are some who have little appreciation for mining and forestry, and thus the industrial effort attracted the ire of an ancient elemental.

Before too much harm could come to the work, a pair of gnomish lords on great beasts appeared and in short order, they turned the elemental into kindling. Kazar met with them, and learned that they too had come for the pass, but had expected it cleared by now so that they might wage their wars on the other side of the mountains. After a long haggle, both lords had pledged their strength in the taking of the pass, but the terms of the agreement were not shared among the occupants of the tower. Whispers began about what consequences the parley would have, since the only gnome you can trust less than a stranger, is a stranger that shares your allegiance. Whatever was to come, it would have plenty of hammers and axes pledged to it.

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Instead of making a new army this month as I had in January and February, I decided instead to bolster the combined force with some heavy hitters. First was a battery of four bolt throwers, manned by scale appropriate hobgrobles. I did not enjoy painting these as much as I’d hoped to, but a thing I’m learning this year is that you can paint toys like toys and not get in trouble. As long as I’m not unhappy with how they turned out, their paint job is alright by me.

This Sorcerer on Lamassu however was a hoot to do. I got to replace a lion’s face with a Muppet head, which is an automatic win in my book, and then I got to blend the rider to its steed, which was a second win if ever I had one. It occurs to me that this might be the army’s centerpiece model, with it being the most costly hero character my force can field, and that epiphany is fine by me. I’m proud of the conversion and the paintwork on this one, and so I’ll happily find room on my roster for the chonker 

Lastly, we have the Hero on Cockatrice, who is the king of “guys who barely fill out their bases.” To me, this epitomizes the army, where we try to manage the precarious balance of serious threat and little dog energy. In theory, the Chaos Dwarf list is very versatile, but to my understanding, the way I have built my roster is very goofy. My goal hadn’t been to build a “come and get me” brick, but when building with minis I’d gotten thanks to the rule of cool, that’s exactly what I did. Anyhow, I also like this hero and how top heavy he is; that poor Cockatrice is really putting in the work keeping its ride’s bulk from gracing the ground.

This Month’s Additions

Sorceror Lord on Lamassu - 528

Hero on Cockatrice - 254

Hobgoblin Bolt Thrower x4 - 168

Total: 950

With those additions, we now wield the current war host:

Chaos Gnome General - 165pts

10 Chaos Gnomes with Blunderbusses - 140pts

20 Chaos Gnome Warriors with full command - 348pts

5 Chaos Gnome Bull Centaurs with full command - 357pts

Chaos Gnome Sorcerer - 59pts

Chaos Gnome Hero - 104

Chaos Gnome Sorcerer Lord on Lamassu - 528

Chaos Gnome Hero on Cockatrice - 254

4 Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers - 168

Total: 2123pts

It’s likely not a legal list, but that is a huge chunk of dudes right there, with room to adjust for a 2k point game. Wild to think that three months into a six month challenge, I could be completely finished with this force (I’m not, but the end feels awful close.) I had a plan at the beginning of the challenge, and for the most part I stuck to it (despite my best efforts,) but now I’m faced with the fact that I only have 30 some-odd models to go until that’s a wrap.

That said, I did manage to pull out another 20 man unit of warriors from my bits bin, so hopefully I’ll be occupied until the end. My to do pile is now two more units of warriors, and maybe a unit of hobgoblin archers, so I can promise at least that much more to come. Who knows? I’ve still got to sort out the baggage train, so there’s still some opportunity for things to go off the rails :)

Anyhow, thanks for another lovely month! Keep up the good work, and see you in the next one!