Rollo's Ravenous Regiment

Hello!  I've been lurking on here for a few weeks and after reading some Battle Reports and Gnoblogs (Particularly Randroid's) I've decided to start my own.  Over the next couple of weeks I hope to add a few posts on:
The Director: Gerade
The Leading Rolls: My Characters
The Supporting Cast: My full army list
The Stage: My gaming table (I'm rather proud of it, even if it is modest)
Tech: My painting progress and scenery acquistion

This looks like a great and supportive community.  I'm looking forward to sharing my adventures in WHFB!

The Director:
Hello! I, Gerade, am a relative newcomer to WHFB, having bought my first Ogre miniatures back in mid-May.  I played a bit of Mordheim and Necromunda many years ago, but wasn't too serious about it.  I did build up a Necromunda Gang (Delaque) and do some painting.  Besides that I have no experience with GW games and would consider myself fairly weak on the art side.

I decided to play WHFB mainly to stay connected with some old friends who I don't see often enough - not really expecting to get hooked by it.  Having bought a battalion box I was bitten by the painting bug Hard.  A knee injury had me laid up, preventing  my hobbies of biking and climbing - meaning all that time and energy was funneled into painting.  In two months, I've painted a battalion box, 1.9 Mournfangs (almost done. . .), two SabreTusks, a Tyrant, a BSB, and a Slaughtermaster.  I'll be sharing those results as time goes on.  Thankfully, my knees are recovering and I'm picking up those old hobbies again - having gained another!  Of course, my painting rate has slowed down extremely.

So far I've only played two matches one Triumph and Treachery game and one 1250 point match.  The T&T match was played as Empire and was great fun.  I didn't win, but I felt like I held my own and was pleased by the results.  The second game was the first time I fielded Rollo's Regiment (then unnamed) and was a loss to the empire.  I'm not too surprised by the result and definitely learned lessons (get those bellies into combat FAST!). 

Aside: If you haven't noticed, I'm using the form of Theater to structure this Gnoblog.  It seems like the most appropriate framing device for my relatively fluffy gaming group.  I may have two battle reports depending on how things go, an "act" and a more technical one.  This might be a tad over ambitious.  I know I'll have some fluffy Battle Reports for the games I win, as those are a bit of a requirement in my group.

Looking forward to it.  However don't delay on posting those pics. 

Looking forward to seeing your progress, may Rollo's regiment seize many victories

~ConOgre

Love theatre, love Ogres hell even love the 1.9 mournfang painted bit!  Let it continue! Send pics asap!

Kind regards Zolas.

Have to reiterate what everyone else has said; this sounds like the start of an interesting army...now lets see them pics!

G_H

Cool, it's inspiring seeing how creative and ambitious many Ogre players are! Keep going!

The Stage:
As a lilly-livered apartment dweller I don't have the room to store power tools or the space in which to use them.  So, I had to figure out how to assemble a ~6'x~4'  table on which to enact our battles (Read: Ogre Triumphs!).  Another requirement, besides no major construction, was it has to be easily storable.  Here is the solution I hit upon

2 Collapsable tables (80$ with shipping): I got them off of Amazon as that was cheaper and quicker than ordering and picking up from Lowes or Home Depot.  They ended up being slightly large, 6'x2.5', for 6'x5' between the two.

1 thin piece of plastic (4$): I wasn't happy with how the joint between the tables felt.  I was able to find some very thin plastic that mitigated the divot in the middle of the table.  I trimmed it down into two ~8" strips that span the length of the table. 

1 Vinyl sheet, 8'x4.5' (24$):  I was planning on getting normal cloth and covering the whole table.  However when I saw this green vinyl I knew it was perfect - Nice dark green with some yellow highlights and it also helped to hide the divot.  I wasn't sure about the fact it didn't cover the width of table, however after setting it up I realized it was a feature not a bug.  It will be nice not to set your models teetering on the edge of the table, not to mention it has a place to put pencils, dice, rulers, et c. 

4 pieces of velcro tape(5$): After I placed the vinyl on the table I pictured the whole thing slipping off the table, taking everything with it.  I had some of this velcro tape gathering dust and it seems to be a perfect fit.

Pros: Collapsible, portable, light and no construction required.
Cons: Expensive, irregularly sized play space and not completely smooth. 

I'll be using this set up for the first time next week.  If I notice anything interesting, I'll post it.

Also Coming next week: The Leading Ogres!

Looking good buddy!  Stage up!  Let the first act begin!

Kind regards Zolas.

That looks like a great table...but now I feel really guilty because I have been meaning to post up a "how to build a super easy, light modular game board" tutorial for ages and haven't done it. 

yours is better though...if that helps.

G_H

The Leads:

Rollo, The Tyrant
Maugar the Disjointed, The Slaughter Master
Raugar, The Butcher
Toki the Unexpectedly Bland, The Firebelly
Odo, the Battle Standard Bearer

My WHFB group emphasizes the fluff of our world rather strongly, so I've put a bit of thought into whom I am assembling.  I've been listening to a podcast on Norman History (http://normancenturies.com/, check it out!) and decided to take a bit of inspiration from there.  Rollo was the first Norman to be granted lands and titles by the Franks and started the line that included William the Conqueror.  I took his name for my Leader (Tyrant or Bruiser depending on the points).  The other names are from his line except for Raugar, which is a play on Maugar and seems appropriate for a butcher/slaughermaster pair and Toki.  I stumbled upon Toki while poking around on wikipedia but I have completely lost what the historical connection was.  It was actually kind of hard to find appropriately ogreish names for these characters as the Normans pretty quickly took French names (Guillame did not make the cut).

Running with the Norman theme, I'm imagining Rollo's Regiment as a ragtag (cliche alert!) bunch of Ogres raiding Imperial land (I'll be playing an Empire Army regularly) both for gain and maybe a bit of land to keep if they are successful/obnoxious/lethal enough.  I'm hoping to get a Border Wars campaign going soon, which fits the theme.  I'll hopefully write this up either as a slapstick comedy (if I lose) or something more inspiring.  Time will tell . . .

As requested, some initial pictures are attached.  I'll update them with painted models as they are completed.  I'll also add some macro shots when I get my phone lens. 

Next week: A Battle Report and Regimental photos (hopefully. . .)

Rollo and his regiment will be making their debut this Thursday!  I've made up an 1800 point army list for the occasion. 

This list is based on what I have painted and isn't meant to be combat optimized.  I'd have preferred to have an IronBlaster on the list, but I haven't been diligent enough with my painting.  I'm glad that I've got enough core to last me to 2500 points, which means I can focus on characters and Ironblasters for the last 700 odd points. 

I'd appreciate any comments on magic item choices and additions that could round out this list to 2000 and 2500.

Without further ado, I present . . . ROLLO'S RAVENOUS REGIMENT (v1.1) 

Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  672 points
8 Ogres w/ FC and IF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 points
7 Ironguts w/ FC and the Razor Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 points

Lords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 points
The Slaughter Master, level 4, w/ Dispel Scroll and fencer's blades. 345   points

Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 points
The Bruiser w/ AHW, HA, CoC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 points
Brusier w/ BS, Warbanner, IF and HA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 points

Special Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 points
5 Leadbelchers w/ musician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 points
2 Mournfangs w/ Standard, Crusher, HA, Stan. of Disc. and IF  . . . 185
2 Sabretusks   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 points

The Ironguts will get the Bruiser and the BSB.  Bruiser is included for fluff reason.  You can't have the regiment without Rollo!
The Ogres will get the Slaughter Master.
Both of these units will be arrayed in a 3x3 block.  Does this make sense?  Would be 4x2 be more reasonable?

So are you in fact adding magic items to take this list to 2000 points?  It's going to be illegal regardless with your Lord choices is all I'm thinking?

Whoops, should have double checked my spreadsheet before posting.  I see I'm over quite a bit on lords.  Will adjust appropriately.  Thanks Jimmy!

I'm figuring I can get to 2000 with some Mournfang, and a butcher or a firebelly.  2500 will involve a 1 or 2 Ironblasters for the bulk of it and then some more core, sabretusks, maybe an additional hero, etc.  My local gaming group rates having painted miniatures highly, so I'm pushing to get up to points quickly and then fleshing out my list to make it fluffier and friendlier.  Maneaters and monsters will come onto this list once I have a solid core of 2500 points to field. 

Does this at all sound reasonable?