Army Showcase - Ophidians

Time for another army showcase.

Since people said nice things about my Ophidians last week, I thought I'd give them a photo-session and a post of their own. And here they are.

The Ophidians are a 15mm army made up from the snakeman figures produced by Thane's Games. There's little in the way of conversions on them; the figures are pretty much as they came out of the packet.

The structure of the army was an experiment. I wanted to see how a 24AP force would work with three Magicians. I already had an Elven army with two Magicians, and that worked quite well, so I structured the Ophidians in a similar way - the Magicians would be supported by Warband and Shooters. At the time I was building the army we were in the process of switching the move rates of those two troop types, so it was also an exercise in seeing how they worked under the new system.

I used the army at the 2004 Berkeley competition, where I thought that the three Magicians would be a nasty surprise. In fact two other players were using armies with three Magicians, and I played them both. There's something impressive about a game with six Magicians in play, although the defender does tend to stick close to their stronghold for the additional magical protection it offers.

Here's the whole army:

The army is:

1 x Magician General
2 x Magicians
4 x Warband
2 x Shooters

Here's the general - an albino Ophidian. This element has pretty much all of the conversions in the army. The general himself is a basic figure, but the drummer and the standard bearer were converted from conventional warriors with their weapons hacked about or off. The drum is a bead from the local craft-shop.

The rocks the general is on are flat pieces of stone from the garden, except the top piece, which is the general figure's own base, extended with a little green-stuff.

The banner and shield patterns were easier to paint than they look. They are a series of solid black circles painted onto a white background. The centre of each circle was dotted in white, and then lines drawn in white to create the over/under effect.

Here's the general in close-up.

Here are the other two Magicians in the army. Each is accompanied by a warrior, for no other reason than I had the figures spare, and they help fill up the base.

The rank and file are Warband. Their shields are the reverse of those on the Magician bases.

There were a mix of figures available, so I went for all of them. Given the range of exotic weaponry I thought that Warband was a good choice.

Given the rather African vibe given off by the shields and many of the weapons I have no idea why I went for Celtic patterns on the shields. But they worked.

The Magicians have their own colour scheme based on shades of grey (although not fifty). The rest of the warriors have one of six colour schemes. Their bodies are one of three shades of blue, whilst their underbellies are either pale grey or golden-brown. Randomised that gives six possibilities. I was pleased with how the colour scheme creates an irregular look to the army, whilst still having a consistent look.

Finally, here are the archers.

This is quite a fun army to play, although the Magicians are best used sparingly; you rarely have the PIPs to just blaze away with them. Often I just send them into close combat; this is an army with a short battle-line (especially if you double-rank the Warband), so it needs every element it can get against an enemy that attacks on a wide front. Obviously a good tactic for the Ophidians is to carefully close down the battlefield; their main troops can operate in bad going, but the Magicians need to steer clear. Enemies with Behemoths, Heroes and Fliers have to be cautious around the Ophidians; the Magicians can really upset their plans.

Finally, once again - VOTE FOR ME. I'm first on the list (Alan), so it's easy. Thanks to everyone who has voted so far. And spread the word, please. After all, I'm probably the only wargamer taking part :)