An unholly alliance

In the beginning was the word. And the word was 'unholly alliance' (well, strictly speaking that's two words, but so it was - "Orcs and... Elves" aggggghhhhhh) and the word spread like ink on a blotter, like molten gold in a mould, from Dwarven Hold to Dwarven Hold. A new evil had arisen, and warriors from Dwarven strongholds from across the land came together to see the end of this new horror.

Elven spearmen advanced with their evil warrior King behind.

T'were even elvish dragons to the fore

And seeming silken elven chariots .. hiding their evil bile behind such sweet facades

But staunch Dwarven warriors stood ready to resist this new horror

Warriors and Dwarven machines advanced in the face of this new evil

While fearsome and evil orcs advanced in their hideous hordes

Dwarven riders launched themselves into the flank of the orc horde

While a wondrous Dwarf machine hit elven abominations in support of glorious dwarf Shieldbreakers

The centre was contested

On the flank hideous orcs brushed off Dwarf cavalry and hit the Dwarf Ironwatch, while the dragon smashed itself into the Dwarf cavalry

The Ironwatch fought valiantly but were beaten and dragged down by such monstrosities

Glorious Shieldbreakers threw themselves the seemingly unstoppable elven cavalry. They must be stopped

Still the tussle proceeded in the centre

And still the cavalry hurled themselves again and again against the hideous flying dragon

Alas the Shieldbreakers fled

But the wondrous Dwarven machine sought its revenge

In the centre the Dwarf warriors gained the ascendancy

And the dwarf organ gun artillery finally smashed the orc horde

Even as the Dwarf King went toe to toe with the Elven Mistress the centre cleared and the hosts of Dwarf warriors stepped out across the piles of dismembered elven bodies.

The field was clear, the 'unholly alliance' had been stopped, but at what cost. Many were the funeral songs that would echo through the Dwarven Holds for months to come, and many would be the grudges recorded in the Great Book of Grudges, awaiting revenge.

The game was fought using the Kings of War rules. Adrian wanted to give his ancient (literally, the figures are starting to suffer metal rot) elves, but didn't have enough figures to run a 1500 point army, and so he made up numbers using his orcs. I used my Dwarf army.

This year's painting challenge

Back in 2013 Adrian, Andy and I undertook a 40K Combat patrol 400 point painting challenge. You can see the results here.

The net result was the completion of my L&tD mutants, Adrian's Necrons, and Andy's Guard (well he didn't quite make 400 points. We didn't really want to start new armies, but the painting challenge certainly progresses projects, so this year it's a 40K vehicle challenge.

I've chosen a Defiler to give the L&tD a little more Chaos firepower, although frankly I a much more interested in the enjoyment of painting a very cool model.

Andy is tackling a Dreadnought, and I haven't heard from Adrian yet.. I suspect something Dark Eldar'ish.

Hopefully we'll keep the blog updated with photos of our progress.