The ambusher ambushed
Vyzorak had been right. A massive Gutlord was bullying over the gnoblars. Even worse, whatever they had pilfered from the Gilded Manor was nowhere to be seen. Now, the only course of action left was to force an entrance into the Manor. But to do that, they had to get rid of the Gutlord. They were approaching with the cover of darkness, preparing to spring an attack from multiple directions. And then, the damn gnoblars spotted the forward members of the Coven. As their screeches filled the night, the Thaumaturge felt an ominous stirring in the strands of fate...
The members of the Coven froze around the orrery marking the centre of the square leading to the Gilded Manor. In the pitch darkness of night, they could not see the gnoblars, but they could hear them approaching from both ahead and behind them.
Zyrtx quickly dispatched the first gnoblar that launched itself at the Arcanites, but as his fellow Acolytes were unable to target the approaching enemy with their arcane bolts, they drew back toward the street where reinforcement would come from. Behind the screaming gnoblars, they could hear the deep rumble of the Gutlord's voice taunting them.
Vyzorak and his party came up the road, the screaming more than the half-glimpsed figures telling them where to head.
Pinned against a wall by three gnoblars, Zyrtx flailed wildly with his blades, until the Gutlord stepped forward and lopped off the Tzaangor's head.
Enraged by the loss of one of his followers, Vyzorak lowered his head and charged forward, pushing gnoblars aside and slamming into the Gutlord.
Behind him, the rest of the Coven pressed forwards, but the sheer number of gnoblars prevented them from reaching the Gutlord.
Another party of gnoblars emerged from the darkness behind the Coven. Whispering its true name, Vyzorak ordered his bound Blue Horror to move and slow them down.
Inklineilis' party arrived on the scene, emerging on the square just behind the Gutlord.
The ogor hacked and slashed with his massive weapon, concentrating all of his blows on Vyzorak. The Ogroid fell and only R'tecfar's sudden rampage saved him, the Tzaangor's greatblade tracing deep burrows onto the ogor's armour and flesh.
Although still bogged down by the gnoblars, the rest of the Coven pressed forward, managing to land a couple more blows on the Gutlord.
In the press of bodies, Kleok and Zirithinion were hacked down before they could strike again.
But then, squawking words of arcane power, R'tecfar lunged forward, the incantation landing strength and precision to his greatblade.
As the Gutlord crashed to the ground, the remaining Acolytes raged pitilessly on him, sending the gnoblars in a horrified rout.
Vyzorak woke up inside the Gilded Manor. He could tell by Inklineilis' furrowed brow, as the Adept studied the tiny inscriptions covering every inch of the walls. A sudden fit of pain reminded the Thaumaturge of how they got there. He looked around, and saw Zirithinion breathing painfully, his chest wrapped in bandages. The rest of the Coven nursed only marginally lighter wounds. Entering the Manor had been a costly endeavour. He prayed to Tzeentch for it to be worthy as he approached Inklineilis and started to study the inscriptions.
***
This was another solo game, but rather than generating a battleplan as normal and using the rules for Adversaries from the Tome of Champion 2020 to control the gnoblars and ogor, I've decided to play The Northern Sewer Entrance battleplan from The Rat Hunters solo campaign from the Tome of Champions 2021. I simply swapped the Skaven for a faction better fitting the Animosity VII narrative.
I have to say, it was a really challenging and rewarding game. So I'll continue to use that campaign, as long as I can make the battleplans fit with the Animosity paths.
Underguts Gnoblars
Vyzorak listened carefully to his spy's report. The Acolyte had located an entrance to the Gilded Manor, but it was crawling with gnoblars piling all sorts of stones, scrolls, coins and other trinkets outside the building, next to a Boltbreaker Union's propaganda sign. The Ogroid pondered. Whatever they were collecting, it was better in his hands, so that any knowledge it may be gleaned from it could serve in the destruction of Eklysium. But if gnoblars were there, surely some ogors were overseeing them. It would have been better to attack in force...
As I collected bits for my Underguts, I also got half a box of gnoblars. They would have been more than enough for a Warcry roster, but since a whole unit of 20 would have made my Underguts a valid Age of Sigmar army, I looked for more.
Between those from the Gluttons, Leadbelchers and Ironguts sprues and those from the Ironblaster/Scraplauncha, I already had enough, but then I stumbled onto an old metal Gnoblar Trapper disguised as a dog. I just couldn't let it go!
Painting them in the same colours as the ogors was more than enough to show their allegiance, but since I had two pistols from the Long Drong Slayers metal set, I selected two gnoblars with open hands and checked if they looked right on them.
They did, so besides the paint scheme, I have another little nod to their belonging to an Underguts Warglutt.
They, and their masters, will soon see action in Eklysium as opponents of my Tzeentchian coven.
Stay tuned!
Underguts Warglutt
The Underguts are pale-fleshed bogeymen that blast their way up from the deep earth to raid and feast upon surface-dwellers. They are obsessed with firepower and explosives, and they love to explode their prey into chunks of cooked meat with an overwhelming bombardment from their heavy cannons.
Over the last winter and spring I've painted this bunch of ogors I had since I split up the content of the Feast of Bones box with David, all the way back in 2019. When it was released, as AoS had no requirements on unit sizes, the box contained 8 ogor Gluttons and one sprue of Leadbelcher add-ons, with the suggestion to assemble them as 6 Gluttons and 2 Leadblechers. To make them playable in later editions, I had collected various ogor and Empire/Freeguild bits to assemble 4 Ironguts and 4 Leadbelchers and do some conversions on both units.
Since I had used the body of the Ironblaster gunner and a few bits to convert Tulok Marrowbreath, an Undergut Butcher residing in the Lux Umbra of the Prime Dominion, this new batch of fat boys had to go with him in being Underguts, which obviously guided the choice of conversions and paintwork.
I gave the Thunderfist, the champion of the Leadbelchers, a right arm from the Mournfang Riders kit and used an Empire Great Cannon together with a Glutton left arm to represent him as holding the gun down while ordering his unit. Finally, I gave him the bag with cannonballs and the unhelmeted head from the Ironblaster Gunner.
The other converted Leadbelcher used another Empire Great Cannon, a carved out beartrap-holding hand from the Gluttons and regular Glutton arms to represent an ogor reloading his cannon with a ball-and-chain, coming from the Leadbelchers belt decorations. The other belt decoration, the powder horn was used as intended.
I had decided to use the Powder Gnoblars for the Tyrant (more in a moment) and in a unit of Gnoblars I'll paint very shortly. Because of that, I needed alternative tokens for the Powder Gnoblars ability. Luckily, I had some barrells, cannonballs and another powder horn, so I simply arranged them on 25mm bases and I was done.
The remaining two Leadbelchers were assembled right off the box with no conversions.
The Gutlord was made using the fully enclosed helmet from the Ironblaster Gunner, a Gargant Hacker from the Mournfang Cavalry and Gluttons arms. All I had to do was cutting the weapon pole between the hands so that I could rotate everything in the right position.
Another Irongut was converted in the same way. The icon bearer and musician were built off the box, except like the converted models, they got pistols from the Empire Pistolieers hanging from their belts. They're Underguts after all, and they love their gunpowder weapons!
The Tyrant is a really cool model and it already sported a rather big gun, so I decided not to convert him. However, in a nod to the 2nd and 3rd edition rules, when Underguts characters received a Gnoblar Blast Keg as an upgrade, I put the Powder Gnoblar carrying the barrel on its base.
Like Tulok Marrowbreath, they've been painted using Contrast paints over a 3-stage zenithal undercoat, followed by higlights mostly done with Dry paints. The metal areas are instead pianted in Leadbelcher, followed by washes of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade and an Ironbreaker highlight.
As they are, they make for a really characterful and flexible Warcry roster. But I still have the Ironblaster left and a bunch of Gnoblars I've collected from various sources. Once done, they'll bring my Underguts to a playable 1000 points AoS army.
Wheels within wheels...
To the ogors next to him, Vyzorak Lorehoarder appeared just like a young and unexperienced Glutton. More than once, the burly leader of the search party sent in by Wolfram Industries had slapped him behind the ears as the Thaumaturge lagged back to study the inscriptions on the weapons lining the walls of the Archive of Swords.
Vyzorak played along, growling in begrudging recognition of his place in the team hierachy, as it was expected. It was just a matter of time, and he would have returned the slaps ninefold. He only had to wait until he or any other member of the Coven of the Purple Flame spotted a worthy prize. Acolytes and Tzaangors had infiltrate most of the Wolfram Industries search parties. Their mission was simple: wait until the mercenaries had located exactly what they were looking for and snatch it from them.
Suddenly, warning cries went up from another wing of the Archive. Vyzorak clearly distinguished the insane babbling of the lesser daemons controlled by Thalamyr. With a whispered incantanion, he erased himself and the cries from the mind of the ogors and slipped away, rushing to join his followers.
"We're taking those" said Zirithinion pointing at the pile of finely chiselled daggers as his features morphed into his real self. The Freeguilders stared in shock for just a couple of seconds, then called out for their comrades. All the while, Thalamyr summoned forth a Blue Horror and another even lesser daemon and had it call for the rest of the Purple Flames.
Soon enough, both Freeguilders and Arcanites appeared at the back of the parties facing each other over the daggers.
Vyzorak barged forth, putting himself between the Freeguilders and the daggers and ordering Kleok to grab them. The Tzaangor loped forward and back, securing the weapons.
The Blue Horror lashed maliciously at the pikemen that had appeared behind the Coven, leaving Zirithinion and Thalamyr free to pour their sorcerous bolts onto the one that was about to strike at Vyzorak. Then Zyrtx leapt up the walkway and sank his beak into the man's back, finishing him.
From the corners of the vast chamber came more fighters, called in by the commotion. As the Freeguidlers advanced, they spotted a heavy leather-bound tome.
Ignoring the quarrels and blades piercing his skin, Vyzorak stepped to seize the book, his eyes gleaming with greed.
In a wet rip, the Blue Horror collapsed under the strikes of a pikeman, only for a pair of Brimstone Horrors to burst forth and impale themselves on the weapon of the other.
Already shocked by the daemonic onslaught, the pikemen were then engulfed in sorcerous fires unleashed by Inklineilis and Iridios.
With a bellow of bestial fury, Vyzorak charged back in, joining Zyrtx in the fight around the walkway.
Kleok squawked in triumph as he withdrew, the daggers held firmly in his grasp.
Even more fighters poured into the room, just as a pikeman recovered a gleaming jewel.
Quarrels flew towards Inklineilis and Iridios, which replied in kind with their incantations, killing the crossbowman and slowing down the fencers charging at them.
Thalamyr and Zirithinion sank their cursed blades deeply into the flesh of the last pikeman threathening the Coven's rear.
Ocladius and R'tecfar rushed to encircle the pikeman that had secured the jewel, but the man braced himself and didn't give ground.
The fencers closed on Iridios and Inklineilis, bogging them down in a vicious sword fight.
The last standing crossbowman fired steadily onto the Arcanites slaughtering his comrades, but it was now too late. They fell and with them Wolfram's hopes of securing that chamber.
The Coven of the Purple Flame gathered amidst the Freeguilders corpses. From other chambers they could hear the fighting still going on. But for now, they had achieved their goal. They had secured plenty of arcane lore and weapons. Whether or not these were actually the objects Wolfram Industries wanted for their coffers mattered little to Vyzorak. What mattered most was that Grakko wanted them destroyed. It would only take a small lie for Vyzorak to add them to his personal collection. Surely, he felt, he had pleased the Great Schemer that day.
***
This was a solo game and I have to admit that the behaviour table for adversaries (from the 2020 Tome of Champions) don't work very well with treasure token victory conditions. I think I'll have to mod them a bit, or at least use them with other types of victory conditions.
