An idea for Braugh's Army

Hi all!

Exam season is progessing nicely, which means that I have many teabreaks in which to fantasise about my future armies. Here's my latest idea...

How about trying to represent Braugh Slavelord and his army by a VC force?

Braugh himself would have stats well-described by a Strigoi count with the Massive Monstrosity (+1 wound) bloodline power. He'd even be able to take the Invocation to represent the freshly dead rising to serve him. Of course, he's not actually dead, but that's a minor detail. His trials would give a good reason for him to be unbreakable, it's only really crumbling that's a problem. Another slight issue is base size, but a friendly opponent wouldn't really mind.

Some members of his tribe could be taken as DoW Bulls or Ironguts, that's pretty easy.

A spirit host would be a must, possibly as an entourage for Braugh himself. It would be a mightily expensive unit, though. The spirits themselves could be anything from human slaves to shades of ogres. A banshee and wraiths could be easily justified in a similar way.

Finally, the core choices would be made up by skeletons and zombies, which could take the form of any slaves you want. Gnoblar, human, elf, orc..... even take dead ogres and count them as 4 models!

I'm not saying this would be a powerful army (undead with 1 Level 1 magic user... hmm..), but it would be very characterful and probably quite fun to play. I may well make it as an adjunct to my standard Ogre army, although I'll certainly be converting my own Braugh!

Ghorr

You could make a little more competitive by giving braugh some kind of kill and raise ability like he is shown to have in the book. Maybe something like whenever he kills a model on a 4+ a skeleton is created, or a zombie or something, that forms in with his unit.

One question: How do you mount an ogre on 20mm base?

I think the idea of fielding Braugh as a VC army is inspired. The base size is a bit of an issue, however. For most friendly games, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem (as your opponents are hardly going to dispute giving him the restricted LoS arc), but for any kind of competitive play it will be a no-go.

I've never actually played against VCs, or read their army book. Is there some kind of mount that sits on a 40mm base that he could 'ride' (as in, he is modelled normally, but 'counts as' riding a monster)?

Not for Strigoi, as they can't ride mounts. Perhaps the Winged Nightmare?
In any case, I'd rather see special rules for Braugh, and possibly for his tribe.
For now I'm content with the simple house rule of treating him as being armed with a Tomb Blade.

Wow! Thanks for the positive comments!

I like the idea of the 'kill and raise' - it could even be made consistent with the rules by giving him a Tomb Blade. It only works if Braugh's in a unit of skeletons or zombies IIRC, and he can't take magic weapons if he's a  Strigoi. I'll give it some thought.

As for the base size, I knew it would be a bit of a problem, but I'm not really a tournament kind of guy, so I'm sure people would be happy to let me lose a 360 degree LoS for a bigger base! Taking a winged nightmare (again non-Strigoi) would be an option. I could just choose not to fly, but I would probably pay a lot of points for little return!

Of course, the ideal thing would be to make up (or track down) special rules for Braugh, my point is that this would be a way to make him a legal character in everything but base size.

Any more ideas?

Ghorr

Uh. I tested, how an ogre would fit on 20mm base, and it did! Normal bull, of course, anything bigger would be a problem.

Try it yourself.

Well you could use the cursed company led by Von Richter DOW rules.

He raises new skeletons with each kill.

Fit an ogre on a 20mm base and you are in business

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about those rules - thanks for reminding me, skline!

There's still a question over just how 'official' he'd be when playing in places where such things matter (GW stores, for example). If I ever get around to making Braugh I guess I can give both a try!

Ghorr

Those rules are pretty rubbish.