EXTREMOTH!!

Not much from the painting desk this week. However, I have got whelps and Kriels moments from finishing and waiting for a set of lighting conditions that will do them justice...

plus!

EXTREMOTH!!


To be painted by Loz, cos I don't have the time :)

Next...Fennblades and the mighty, mighty Mittens! And of course, Armasheddon II hits this weekend- joy!

Peace out!

~P~

Hmm....you're an ANGRY elf!

So, I hav elected to do the Retribution of Scyrah as my secondary force. I chose them because when I fist saw them I hated them, and I want to provie to myself that I can model and paint the les than fantastic into something cool!

Plus, mittens for kittens are ace :)

So, I've done Rahn...doesn't look so good in these pics but is fantastic in the flesh- I'm really pleased with him. I also have Eiryss, the mittens and a chimera light jack ready to paint.

Pretty sweet! The trolls continue with Kriels nearly done and caber throwers too- plus I got the Fennblades at last!

However, I can see the troll end in sight...I've got runebearers with Janissa and Sluggers at the top of my list, plus a pyre and a slag troll. Nice but not desperate, Calandra, burrowers and maybe long riders...but then that'll do until I get to make my extreme Mulg in the summer next year. So it'll be done for trolls (these units give me tourny options) and onto majorly pissed of elves.

Plus- watch this space for EXTREMOTH!!!!

Out.

Tournament results in, plus P3 FTW!!

Pictures Huzzah!!

Drew and I went to QFD, a tournament in Kidderminster, as our first toe-dip into the murky waters of competitive gaming. And...

it's ace!

Here is why:

- You get to meet loads of new players. This is a good thing. They will spank you repeatedly with their armies and you emerge a better player as a result. I've picked over my lists and tactics and have found countless ways I could've been so much better with exactly the same models, but in better configuration.

- You really, REALLY learn the game. See above.

- You may (as we did) find players local to you to expand your group with.

- You may (as we did) get invited to closed events due to being nice to everyone :)

- You may (as I did) win best army and get a free £10 to spend at a store- which means you may also find a new store to visit as well!

Finally, if you;re lucky like me, the posting of your image collecting your prize may mean some guys who you knew 10 years ago in Plymouth may get in touch and rekindle their friendship, which is of course ace!

The tournament was really fun despite only winning one game. Drew pulled 2 wins and a draw, and was joint first for most sporting player. We both have plans for next time.

In other news, I got my hands on formula P3 paints at last and took the plunge with some series 7 brushes and P3 sable brushes. Goodbye forever, GW- I no longer buy your figs thanks to Mantic, play your games thanks to Privateer and now I don't even need your glue, paint or brushes. Once I get my battleboard in January, we shall sadly part ways for the foreseeable future. It's been a journey but I shall always remember you!

P3 paints are quite simply amazing. Silky smooth, excellent coverage and so easy to blend that the results are flawless even when mixed with other paint. When I am exclusively P3, watch out world!

Any way, here are some pics of the tourny and some really shitty shots of my force:

The tournament in full swing. Man in woolly hat is Jon Webb, podcast
maker for Boosted Damage, excellent painter and all-round
dude of coolness and all things nice. 

More tourny action- Drew and I proved farily photo-proof!. The
bearded guy in the back is Alun, troll player and really nice guy.

A shot of my forces in action against Neal "Pink Menoth"'s Pink
Menites! These were painted for the Breast cancer Brawl, which I plan
to do next year. My trolls will NOT be pink though. 

Me winning best army. I got disqualified for having one unpainted
model, but agitation from Drew and Jon Webb got me
re-instated. Jon then lost to my army. He was robbed!

Borka, in his Pimp jacket.

Madrak and his boys. 

The big guys. Not as effective as I'd hoped but I have
 learned much and have plans...

Troll with big rock. I love the Krielstone- it's so cool!
Loz and I jog past one of these every day. Strangely, we've
never been tempted to try and lift it. 

Solos and attachments. The much-maligned Skinner.
I still love him, even if nobody else will. 

sick sick sick

I am sick, in the medical sense right now. I'm also getting pretty sick of painting trolls sadly, due to hammering at them to be ready for the tournament. I shall be taking a goodly break once the weekend is through and return refreshed and renewed in a week or so.

Tourny photos to come though!

Russ

Tournament time!

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks...

painted a Bomber, a fell caller, a Stone Scribe, a Runebearer and am digging into painting a krielstone, some converted champions and the mighty Borka Kegslayer. (pics to come)

The Arma-Shed-Don event happened! 8 games of WM/H over two days and a fun time was had by all. Sadly, my trolls didn't win ANYTHING all weekend no matter who fielded them, but it was still aces!

Ben's Legion were in full swing and he went away determined to add to his forces (he had been assembling a new Carnivean as I write). Plus, Simon and Michael both now intend to collect- Skorne and Cryx will be coming to a battlefield near us soon! I'm fairly certain Drew got some pcs of this so I'll grab them ASAP.

And...we're going to our first tournament this weekend! One week today is a tounry in Kidderminster. Sufficiently close to make it worth us attending, this should be loads of fun. As I have discovered, I don't really have the troop picks for a decent tourny force, so I'm just going for a lugh and expect to get creamed in all my games. Oh well!

Maybe I can pick up a painted army award...

Should be fun- lots of pics and stuff to come, plus I'll FINALLY pin Drew down to some battle reports!

Peace out

Russ

For the Motherland!

Drew came round and we found ourselves with unexpected playing time available on Sunday in between lawn mowing and door painting. So, aside from an interruption to chop up a dozen pigeons for the freezer (no, really) battle was joined!

We played the scenario wherein three control points award victory tokens, 7 being needed to win. Drew took a jack-heavy eSorscha list. I took all the models I have :)

TBH Looking back I knew I fluffed this early on, going in with no real plan as such. Drew then proceeded to spank me for my lack of foresight. In a nutshell, 2 turns of maneuvering were followed by an explosion of violence in the board centre. The Dire Troll Mauler fell without swinging a punch, crushed by the shitload of death that Beast 09 carries in each sweaty fist. The trolls had seized one flank marker a turn earlier than the Khadorians had, making it impossible for Drew to just camp for victory and let the middle marker be a contested zone. So, due to poor positioning, I found the Axer and Hero engaged by a Kodiak whilst the Mauler died.

A few poor dice didn't help, but the real culprit as Drew who was perfectly gentlemanly, but totally punishing in his exploitation of my crappy layout. After an Impaler died I was left with an over-extended Madrak being borne down on by A Kodiak and the Beast, whilst a badly wounded Axer duelled Sorscha and another Kodiak in the middle.

I had one end-game plan (well, two variations on the plan). First, if the Impaler could slam the Beast even 1", Madrak could pop Crusher and storm the rear of a Mechanik line- overtake would easily carry him around into Sorscha's rear and filleting would ensue. This failed to happen on a boosted roll. Arse.

No matter, as the variant plan had Madrak charge away from the Beast, risking the free strike but with the Scroll of Endurance to soak the attack. Then he could engage Sorscha at the front for a less guaranteed, but still very likely caster kill. All that had to happen was that Drew didn't roll a double in the 3-6 range for the crit freeze from Beast 09. Easy.

Double 3. Double arse.

I conceded at this point, as this left Madrak stationary next to Beast 09 hitting  automatically and with only a Axer with 4 damage points left in control range.

TBH I was happy with losing- it was a good game and I didn't deserve to win. Drew played a solid and well-planned list while I ambled across the board with no real intent. I only really felt the final caster kill plan was anything decent, and the dice gods felt I did not deserve victory for this alone!

Anyway, that's the game. Pics below, and I will push Drew for some writeups of his won to post soon so the game breakdowns are not always so "troll-centric"!

Hoping my stuff comes soon,

Russ

Khadorian Deployment

Trolls wander over to see what's up

Second Turn- the jockeying for position
is well under way.

What the trolls saw- not a pretty sight!

The Mauler breaks cover and heads for the
icon- this will be its doom.

Ouch! Scratch one Mauler, and it ain't so hot for
the other trolls either!

I was wrong- things COULD get worse...
time for last-ditch assassination run on Sorscha

THAT went as well as could be expected!

More pictures

Here are some more pics from the game, plus a bad photo of my painted Mauler and Skinner. On order- the unit and solos I need to take my force to a solid 35 points. Plus stat cards for the whole faction- joy!

Mauler and Skinner- terrible photo, awesome models!

Mardrak watches from a "sensible" distance as
his beasts advance...

The Impalers try their hand at the Widowmaker-
whoops!

Irusk exhorts his troops to greater things.

Mardrak- he da TROLL!

Battle is joined- big time. It gets bad for the
Axer at this point...

The Khadorian trap is sprung- it looks
bleak for the boys in blue right now...

...or perhaps not. Go Crusher feat and Carnage!
My troll loves tinned food!

Battle is Joined!

The Man-Cave has had a proper "christening" now, with both painting and gaming in it!

Drew and I moved the minis cabinet into there (thanks Drew) and then set ourselves up for a game of Warmachine/Hordes using the fresh new troll figs that had literally just dropped through the letterbox (or at least, been left by the door).

What followed was two games of furious and bloody fun, punctuated by flicking through rule books and getting things wrong! The trolls claimed 2 victories, through a combination of brutality, lucky dice and noticing what the scenario win conditions actually were. However, Khador gave as good as they got and Drew proved a canny foe.

Both games featured the same forces: pMardrak, 2 Impalers, an Axer, a Dire Mauler and a Skinner facing eIrusk with 5 Man O' Wars, a Kodiak, A Drakhun, a Widowmaker Markswoman and a Manhunter.

I was pretty concerned with the number of models my trolls faced. However, trolls are nothing if not tough and the first game saw no troll fall, save the skinner who was carved into little blue chunks by a grinning female Manhunter in short order.

The second game, Drew had learned to respect how warbeast spiral damage rules keep them functioning much longer than 'Jacks might, and concentrated fire at the first chance he had. A mistake on measuring saw both Axers exposed which meant I had to push my force into no-man's land in the open much sooner than planned. Drew exploited this with punishing speed and the Impalers died in fairly short order (their ability to slam Man O' Wars out of shield formation proved too good to let them live).

Some very swift and clever combos of magic and abilities saw the rest of Drew's force sweep through the forest into no- man's land with amazing speed and surround the Axer, Mauler and little skinner who was holding the woods with Sure Foot running on him. Mardrak lurked a little behind them, much as Irusk was doing with his Khador line.

A devastating Drakhun charge battered the Axer but regeneration aided him greatly. Then, the Kodiak tore the Axer to pieces even with one remaining arm.However, it looked bleak...Until...Mardrak advanced, cast carnage and popped his feat. Inspired by Overtake and free attacks, the Skinner charged the Drakhun on a suicide run and amazingly survived due to his high DEF.Then the Mauler awoke. Fury, Carnage and Crusher feat meant all Drew could do was watch in disbeleif as the Mauler advanced along the front of the shield all popping the heads of Man O' Wars and stuffing them into its maw. A moment after being surrounded, the Mauler was left facing one Man O' War, and with full health due to snacking. Even with the Widowmaker dropping the Skinnero (a sweet single shot to the head- full health to no health in one hit),  it was just a formality for Mardrak and the Mauler to slay the final Man O' War and slam the Kodiak out of no man's land to force a scenario condition win.

A second victory to the trolls, but now that Mardrak's buffs and combos have been revealed in their glory, the next time I seek a victory  it will be even harder. An awesome two games that leaves me desperately waiting for the next one. See the photos below for a taste of the game...

NB Drew has nicer piccies as his Dell Sprint has a decent camera. Also, the Mauler and Skinner are now painted and will appear up very soon...

Cheers!

PS Bring on the Everblight! Sept 25th is coming...

The Khador line prepares for war...

The Impaler sees the foe and plans to attack the Manhunter- MISTAKE!!

The trolls move to support the over-extended Impalers

Irusk prepares the magic- the Khador line pretty
much ignores that wood!

Painted stuff- FTW!!

Here are some painted models I've got done- again, not the best picture quality but I hope to get a better camera very soon via school :)

Basic Dwarf Warriors- Mantic Games

Dwarf Rangers- Mantic with GW bits

Unit filler- Drunk Dwarfs!

Dwarfs love using elven helmets as tankards!

Troll Warband- with converted Impaler (other Impaler not done)

Khador War dog- for Drew's force

The shields on all of the dwarf models, plus the banner design, are all designed in Photoshop using various freely available runic fonts and celtic decoration symbols. These are then printed onto laser jet waterslide transfer paper which I got from http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk

I used the laserjet version because we have a laserjet at school and the ink is instantly waterproof and ready to use, whereas inkjet transfer paper requires a fairly arduous prep involving varnishes before it can be used. It's really cheap, about £1.50 a sheet, and one sheet will do a whole army no problem!

I'm working on another Impaler for the warband right now, plus 2 Kodiak warjacks for Drew's force. To build now the shed is done- the remaining dwarf warrios and unit fillers, plus the missile troops and the crews for the cannons. This is backseat to the trolls through, as the majority of the dwarf stuff won't be available until the end of Sept. 

On order- Hordes primal Mk II, a Dire Troll Marauder and a Trollkin Skinner. Later this month I hope to add a unit of Trollblood Champions and some other bits! End of September sees a Hordes/Warmachine hoe-down in the shed :) Meanwhile, on a Monday night the dwafs will be playing Warhammer skirmish until I have enough to play a full game.

Thass all folks!

Russ

PS check out the many great podcasts linked across, and also Mantic and Privateer Press 

Battle College offers a good guide to all Warmachine and Hordes units and there is a List Maker (NOT "Army Builder") at Forward Kommander 

The War Room- and Big Blue Meanies!

Dwarfs are coming along nicely, and there will be piccies very shortly of my first 2 complete units of warriors. The Mantic stuff rules!

However, I have been distracted- by Trollbloods! The Hordes stuff from Privateer press is lovely and the game is awesome to play, so I've spent this week modelling and painting a starter set. This is okay, as my dwarfs will not be with me until the end of September. I'll do my trolls in the gap...

In other news, I've got my "man cave" built- the gaming shed has landed :)

Here are some piccies, of the converted and built trolls and the shed (sorry about crappy quality)

Painted images this weekend, when the light is good enough for my crappy phone camera.

The War-Shed, or Man-Cave

The Painting Area

Out-of-Focus gaming area

Trollboods- with a converted Impaler so there's no repetition!

Next stop, getting some painted done- that and adding a power supply to my new gaming Mecca!

Cheers!

D&D plus WFB

Well, it's been a while but I've decided to resurrect this blog thing. My main reason for this is to record the process of putting my new Warhammer hobby activity into action.

D&D is still happening; had a game 2 weeks ago with another in 2 weeks' time, but with Masterplan handling the heavy lifting on the game, and my decision to move away from miniatures-heavy gaming to more roleplay and abstractions, there's not a lot to say about this for now..

So, I plan to catalogue the Warhammer stuff as it happens. Mainly to motivate me to get it all done!

Here's the deal- 8th edition came out just as I was contemplating returning to mini gaming rather than zombifying myself on the computer every night. So, I got the rules and I LOVE them. It's an awesome edition of the game!

I've checked out the podcasts (see the links) and built a new table. I'm taking delivery of a large workshop shed which will house my games.


But the focus of this blog will be the development of my army. Dwarfs, my beloved hairy buggers!

Army list is picked to 3000 points, and I'll put it up shortly. The big news right now is, I'm getting the first miniatures for the army this week. My plan is to show the army as it develops and catalogue the modelling and painting process so I have a record of this, even if nobody else wants to look. My starting point shall be infantry, where I'll play with paint schemes.

Oh, and the minis are not GW but Mantic Games.

Watch this space for photos of the first bunch later this week!

Russ

MasterPlan!

I'm loving master plan right now, it's awesome for DMs as it lets you build dynamically presented campaigns with everyone interlinked,from encounters to maps to handouts to monster stats. It'll even track the combats for you in realtime at the table. It#s probably the single best DM tool I've seen!

find it at

http://www.habitualindolence.net/masterplan/

And you'll want some Dungeon Tiles for it too- see my links sidebar for a direct link to a compilation I've made :)

D&D Downloads

off to the sidebar there, down at the bottom, you'll find links to the stuff I commonly use in my D&D game. This is all the stuff I made for my own game so it may or may not fit yours!

D&D Kits and Bits

I'll be trying to post stuff up here for D&D, so that it's easily found. However, I AM easily distracted :)