Quick, Dirty, and Tabletop Worthy!!

Breaks Over!  Back to work!

Yeah, that time has come again for me to start posting on a regular basis not like I haven’t been but I did take an extra week off for the holidays.  It was a nice break.  Nothing crazy happened except Christmas! And a Dremel 4000 with loads of attachments!  That is right!  I be cutting MDF Board with a small hand held power tool and 3500 RPM!!!! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Ph33r m3!!!!

So in case you are wondering, no I haven’t exactly been idle over the Christmas Season.  I painted up a Dwarf Lord from the Warhammer Fantasy line for a D&D Game I am in.  I also cut out a few templates (with the circular cutting attachment for my Dremel 4000!) which I will be turning into swamp templates for my Blindwater Congregation army, and I started painting up my Covenant of Antarctica Fleet after Joel and I had a friendly game of Dystopian Wars.  As you can see lots of little things. 

Joel and I have agreed to have our Starter Fleets plus Aircraft Carriers painted up NorCon.  Honestly it shouldn’t take a terribly long time to paint them up.  First off the scale is 1/1200 so they are super tiny and while they are packed full of detail I have absolutely NO intention of painting each individual rivet, wooden board, and window on those models.  Base coat, wash, drybrush, maybe some highlights, pick out a few metallic details, done!  In the course of one evening of painting I got all of the woodwork done on my Battleship, Fleet Carrier, and three Cruisers.  I am going to test out the hull paint scheme on one of the nine Frigates I have and if I like it…apply it to the rest of the fleet. 

Don’t get me wrong; I applaud those painters that take the time and effort to make their Dystopian War models look gorgeous, but that isn’t what I am going for this time around.  I want a painted fleet on the table.

Quick, Dirty, and Tabletop Worthy is my goal!! 

Joel and I have also both agreed to purchase a second Starter Box of a different nation and a Fleet Carrier (not sure on the Aircraft Carrier but I am presuming we will since both of us did that last time, and I know Jon did as well) once our first set is all painted up.  I’ll be getting the Britannia Starter while Joel is going to get the Empire of the Blazing Sun Starter. 

At any rate while on break I cannot be accused of having idle hands.  I’ll be posting pics of my progress on my fleet next week.  The gators will just have to be patient a little while longer.  I am sure they understand. 

P.S. oh yeah I also got Elder Scrolls: Skyrim so that has been chewing up a good chunk of my free time as well.  

A Family Photo Op...and the Rise of Gammera!!!

All I needed was a small chunk of time to finish up Brun Cragback and I got that on Sunday.  Admittedly I didn’t get as much time as I would have liked to paint but I did finish up the figure.  So that is what I did.  I sat down for two and a half hours and picked out the details of the skin, eyes (good god I hate painting eyes…cause I suck at painting eyes), the beard, and the weapons.  Overall Brun fits with Lug rather well, I tossed in a little touch of green to the figure to tie him into the theme of the army. 

I do however need to take a break from the Searforge Commission for a bit, need to switch it up.  I was listening to an episode of 40k Radio because a friend of mine was a guest host on it and one of the hosts talked about doing little chunks of lots of different painting projects.  It makes sense; it keeps the hobby fresh and helps to stave off the boredom that can sometimes slow the painting process down a lot.  While it does tend to extend out painting projects at least you are always working towards something bigger and as long as you are painting and improving your skills who cares how long it takes. 

Speaking of switching up painting projects, I am now going to finish a half-finished model from my Blindwater Congregation and then move on to painting up a Gatorman Posse.  Kind of excited actually, I am going to be painting up Gammera!!!!  Also known as the Ironback Spitter…and to make it worse, I am using the color scheme from a pokemon.  Yeah, I went there.  It all started as a subtle little joke that Duane said the first time I played my Blindwater Congregation against him and I brought out my Ironback Spitter.  He chuckled, made some off-hand comment about painting up my then unprimered Ironback Spitter to look like Blastoise and I ran with it.  I probably shouldn’t have, but I did and I have a half-painted Ironback Spitter that is in desperate need of being painted up.  So that is my next project and hear is the teaser picture. 

 

Pretty risqué huh?  

Basher to the face! SURPRISE!!

I know that I was remiss my duties last week and did not make a post on the blog.  I was just busy.  Plain and simple.  This week, I figured I would get a jump on the post and get it posted today instead of Monday.  I have been painting.  I painted up a Driller for the Armory …I painted it pink!  Oh yeah, that bad dog is pink as pink can get!  I have already taken it down to the Armory and set it up in the display case.  I suppose I should have gotten pictures of it first but I wasn’t thinking.  So while I wasn’t exactly painting up a model for my Searforge lists, I was at least painting up a Searforge model.

I have started in on the Basher, I know I said I would be working on a Ghordson Blaster, but who can resist a 10-ton-wrecking-ball-of-destruction-with-legs!  Seriously!  Who?! Certainly not I!  Oh no!

Per my usual I have started with the metal parts first since it involves the messiest step, the drybrushing.  I have also selected the Basher’s base and drilled the pre-requisite holes to mount it.  Actually I used the last of my last P3 Primer on the base.  I have one of the 50mm bases left from Dragonforge and it is being used for Brun Cragback and Lug, both of which should be coming in soon.  Chris and I did a trade and he is ordering them in for me.  Sweet Jeebus!  A Dwarf and his Dancing Bear of Death are a comin’ to my lists! 

I am still unsure on how I am going to paint some sort of nose-art on the Basher though.  I am debating painting teeth around the bulbous part of the model where all the studs are.  Kind of like a lamprey’s mouth, just a circle of teeth.  Speaking of nose-art, I did finish up the Avalancher, I added the highlights to the gold and the bolts but I didn’t put anything on the shield.  Seeing as how I haven’t killed anything with the cannon yet, I feel that it would be inviting the Dice God’s Divine Wrath and the Avalancher wouldn’t get a chance to blow anything up.  Once I start getting kills with the Avalancher I will paint on the kill marks and then take a picture or two to post.

  

One a different note, it looks like James and Games is no more and Matrix Games has been born from the ashes of a poorly run business with a less than savory owner.  Allen, the owner of Matrix Games is very nice and amazingly enough has run a business before.  I had a chance to go in and talk with him the other day and was immediately impressed by his plans for Matrix Games.  Our dialogue was open and honest, we briefly touched on what happened over a year ago, and he told me, ‘New store, new start.’  Allen came across as very laid back and very nice.  His lady, who was behind the counter when I came in, was also very polite, though I do not remember her name.  I know shame on me. 

 

Allen told me that he is going to do a Hordes: Domination Release event…so since my Gators didn’t sell on Bartertown or down at the Armory, I am going to take that as a sign from the Dice Gods that I am meant to learn and play the Gators (Thrid times the charm right?).  So I bought the new Warlock for the Blindwater Congregation for the Domination Release event and I hope to play him during the event and wreck face with him.  If I can get the time off of course. 

Speaking of the new hotness…GW sure does know how to make me want to play 40k again.  The new Necron models look absolutely amazing!  Wow, just wow!  They look cool.  And being the fluff whore that I am, I am going to pick up the new Codex.  From what I saw in the White Dwarf, GW finally fleshed out the Necron’s, every pun intended, backstory.  There is one model that I am buying and painting up just because of how awesome he looks.  Imotek the Stormlord or something like that.  Anyway off to paint a bit and then off to fix a friend's computer.

A Tale of Two Tiers

So in a remarkable fit of self-restraint, I have chosen NOT to purchase a Khador Army for a Tale of Two Tiers. What I have chosen instead is to work with the models I currently possess and work on painting them up instead.

Don’t get me wrong, I will have to purchase a few models here and there but currently I pretty much own at least 90% of the models for both Armies.

But Grant, you are all saying, WHAT is ‘A Tale of Two Tiers?’

Pretty simple actually…I am going to work on painting up two 50pt Tier 4 Lists.

I have always liked the fluff that Privateer Press puts out. It is one of the main reasons why I love the game…it isn’t a static story line that gets ret-conned every time a new edition/codex comes out to make it all fit together. Privateer makes all their stories flow fairly well and the continuity between books is amazing. The figures are generally pretty damn beautiful (there are some I look at and wonder), plus I like the rules-set much better than Warhammer 40k.

Being the Fluff Whore that I am, I have been itching to put together a Tier List and I have really been itching to play a ‘Knight’ Theme list with Cygnar. With the release of Wrath and Constance Blaize, I can play that fluffy Knight themed army with her Tier List. Admittedly, her Tier List is okay and like most tier lists you lose out on a TON of options and/or versatility for your Army (Pssst…when I play her in a High Bourne Covenant List, she will have a few Nomads to work with), but you do however get a pretty sweet Theme to work with. So here are the two lists I will be working on.

Tier List One: Army of Light
Battlegroup:
Constance Blaize, Knight of the Prophet
- Gallant
- Centurion

Units:
Precursor Knights x10
- Precursor Knight Officer & Standard
Precursor Knights x10
- Precursor Knight Officer & Standard
Sword Knights x10
- Sword Knight Officer & Standard
Field Mechanics x4
Field Mechanics x4

Solos:
Journeyman Warcaster (Alt Sculpt)
Archduke Alain Runewood
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One

Thoughts on the Army of Light:
I own all of the figures except for those figures that have not yet been released and one unit of Field Mechanics. I am not entirely sold on including two units of Mechanics and I can go one of two ways with them. I can either field a full unit of 6 Mechanics (with 1 point left over) or I ditch both units and include a minimum unit of Sword Knights. Any way you look at it, I will have to buy one more unit to make the 50pts

Tier List Two: Apex Predators
Battlegroup:
Bloody Barnabas
- Blackhide Wrastler
- Blackhide Wrastler
- Ironback Spitter

Units:
Bog Trog Ambushters x10
Gatorman Posse x5
Gatorman Posse x5

Solos:
Croak Hunter
Croak Hunter
Croak Hunter

Thoughts on Apex Predators:
I will have to purchase a full unit of Gatorman for this list…and seriously who doesn’t love some Gatorman!? The Ironback Spitter is optional and can be swapped out for some Bull Snappers; still kind of one the fence out this one thou.

Now, not to contradict myself here, so I am going to just toss this one out there:

I do remember saying that I didn’t like Hordes or the Fury mechanic very much (I am still not a big fan of it), but after seeing my Gators on the field the other day when I let a friend borrow them so we could play a small 15pt Mangled Metal/Tooth & Claw game, it made me really want to finish painting up the Minion figures I have. I currently own Bloody Barnabas, Calaban the Gravewalker, 1 Gatorman Posse, a Full Unit of Bog Trogs, 3 Croak Hunters, the Feral Geist, 2 Blackhide Wrastlers, 2 Ironback Spitters, 2 Bull Snappers, the Swamp Gobbers, Alten Ashley, Victor Pendrake, Wrongeye & Snapjaw, and a Thrullg. Might as well get them all painted…eventually! Hey I am only human and therefore fallible. Plus I may have mentioned it once or twice, before I have Faction ADD pretty bad.

That being said…this project is by no means going to be a quick project. I am not the fastest painter in the world and some of the units are going to take a bit longer than the others. Most of the Gator figs are screaming to be drybrushed and honestly they look pretty good on the table. The majority of the ‘Knights’ are done with Metallics and so should also progress along at a fairly decent pace. Other figs are going to need a bit more love and attention to work with, yes I am looking at you Croak Hunters.

So there you have it. Two 50pt lists to be painted one figure/unit at a time till they are all done. Looks like I need to order those bases from Dragonforge.com after all for the Army of Light, you know, since my Gators all have spiffy bases…I hate to see one Army get jealous of the other.

Painting ADD

As per my usual, it has been a little while since I have posted anything to the plog. The nice thing is…is that I am still painting. I have decided to put my Blindwater Congregation Army on hold. I know, I know…I said that I was going to continue to work on painting up my Blindwater Congregation Army while I was working on the Lamenters. I stopped for a few reasons:

1) The local meta has chilled to Warmachine/Hordes pretty considerably in the past few months. Occasionally there is a game but honestly, I got tired of waiting four hours for someone to show up that might have a Warmachine/Hordes army to play…hence why I picked up some 40k figs again. Most folks are playing 40k and as a Wargamer, I want to be able to play games myself.

2) I just don’t like the Fury Mechanics of Hordes. This is the 2nd Army I have bought for Hordes and there is something about the Fury Mechanic that I just don’t like. The models are beautiful, don’t get me wrong. Early game, Hordes is over-powered.; the ability to purchase a ton of extra attacks, or boost the attack/damage roll, or even the ability to shuffle the damage off to a Warbeast. It is all a part of the Fury Mechanic. Come late game however the Warlock loses a ton of hitting power due to the attrition game. My tactic against a hordes list is to drop the most powerful Warbeast first. This usually means the opposing player loses out on their high-fury Warbeast and there is an immediate draw down in power for the warlock. Rinse, Recycle, Repeat, and possibly by the second or third turn, the Warlock is down to a couple of fury a turn and is hampered by their lack of heavy hitters. Now the Warcaster starts to shine…getting focus every turn regardless of Warjacks on the board equals a Warcaster that has a constant utility and survivability through every turn of the game. Yes, losing a Warjack hurts but it doesn’t directly affected the Warcaster. However, losing a Warbeast directly affects the Warlock effectiveness by loss of fury generation and loss of a spell.



So I am willingly calling myself a liar. Sorry folks, hate to disappoint, but on the upside, I have been painting, in my typical, slow as a snail, painting method.



I finished my Death Company Dreadnaught and I am fairly pleased with the results. However, my freehand skills are well, sucky to say the least. I decided to do the Lamenter’s Space Marine Chapter because of the challenge it presented to my painting skills: Free-Hand, Yellow, Layering & Blending. So far I am up to the Free-hand part and it is pretty “bleh” to me. I know the saying that we are our own worst critic and oh yeah…I am mortified by my free-hand. It will get better as time progresses but I see this model and want to claw out my eyeballs with a rusty spoon and smash my face into a brick wall and then go run and hide in shame from my lack of free-hand skills. (sigh) BUT…I won’t and I am going to leave it as is and eventually go back and touch up after I have gotten a few more free-hand checks and hearts.



I have also put down quite a few layers on to Malakim Phoros, the Lamenter’s Chapter Master. I am to the point now where I am going to be doing up some of the small detail work and starting the cloak. I hope to have him finished by week’s end.



So until next time!

Completion Issues and Space Marines

Have you ever had an issue finishing a model?

Especially when it is a model you are just not too keen on painting? I am sure most of us have…and the model I am finishing up isn’t an exception to this little issue. First off let me preface this little statement by saying, I absolutely love Kara Sloan. I love her fluff, I love her spell list, I love her feat, and I love the assassinations I have pulled off with her…that being said, I really hate painting her model! The model is just boring to paint and she has been half painted for months. I figured I could take a little break from my Blindwater Army and finally finish painting up one of my three favorite Warcasters for Cygnar (the other two being Siege and Caine). I mean half painted and killing fools seems like an injustice to the model

All I am going to say is wow; I can’t wait till she is finished. Maybe it is her pose (not keen on the whole gun in the air pose) or that I have waited for so long, but I am finding that I am just trying to get her done as fast as possible. Really, this just means she will be table top quality, which is kind of a shame. I like having my ‘character models’ look better than the rank and file troops; as it should be, but I want her done and off my painting desk as soon as possible. Tonight, seems about right.

I must confess to a few things though.

A: I am going to be trading off/selling off about 2/3rds my Cygnar army in anticipation of the new Warcaster, Constance Blaize – Knight of the Prophet. I am going to get rid of the stuff I just don’t use. Cygnar to me equals Arcane Tempest Gun Mages and Knights (Sword & Precursor). The lighting theme is pretty sweet and I like the idea of Lightning Theme but I have never played that theme and I don’t plan on starting now. Give me guns, guns, a few more guns, with a side of guns, topped with a bit of guns. I have always liked the idea of the Precursor Knights and the Sword Knights. In the ‘Wrath’ expansion, both units are getting some lovin’! So stuff has to go to make room for the swelling ranks of Knights and Gun Mages

B: I am working on a Warhammer 40k Army for a local Campaign, the Badab Wars.I have recently purchased a Box of Death Company, a Storm Raven, a Blood Angels Dreadnaught, and Lamartes. They will be getting converted and painted up in the livery of the Lamenters Successor Chapter. I have to have the models painted and ready to go by the end of July. Even me, the world’s slowest painter, can do this.

So far I have converted Malakim Phoros, Chapter Master of the Lamenters (from Imperial Armor 9), using parts from the Death Company sprues, the Sanguinary Guard spures, and the Space Marine Commander spures. I also have the Storm Raven in three pieces as I am painting it from the inside out.

Now that having been said let me say this. I will still be working on my Blindwater Congregation Army. I have one of my Ironback Spitters primered up and ready to go and I am also going to be getting my Gatorman Posse ready for priming as well.

Now for a special treat!

I am proud to present you all with the first image of Malakim Phoros, Master of the Lamenters, Lord of Ruin, Watcher of the Deeps

One Blackhide Wrastler to go please. Thx!

Well it has been about a month since my last update. I got my glasses in…finally, which is sweet. I got pretty damned sick of not being able to see as I am sure you can imagine. That also meant that I no longer had any excuses to not paint.

That being said, I finished up my Blackhide Wrastler for my Blindwater Congregation list. I went with the studio theme of green. I don’t know why, but I like how the greens all work together. I am debating on doing up my next Blackhide Wrastler in the brown scheme like I put on Bloody Barnabas. I like the idea of separating the duplicate beasts by using browns instead of greens. Brown and green work rather well together as a theme so I have no doubt that if I do decided to switch it up the models will work well together, aesthetically speaking of course.



I did finally get in a game with the Gators and let me tell you that I pissed off the Dice Gods something fierce. Lacking dice, I grabbed the dice I use for my Cygnar lists. Nice opaque grey. They work well with my Cygnar which are painted up in the Fort Falk alternate scheme. Well…I should have known better, and yes you can say “I told you so!” Dear lord did those dice hate being used for the Blindwater Congregation.

I don’t even think I can claim average rolls that night. Needless to say when I needed them to roll well they didn’t. It was fairly typical for my dice to roll just under what was needed to hit a model and then if I did actually hit to roll a pip or two above minimum damage. And as if that wasn’t bad enough when I had to roll a Frenzy check, they box car’d…TWICE!!! Twice, with different warbeasts. Well one roll was an 11 and the other roll was a 12. And THEN to just add lemon juice to the wound, the dice rolled max damage to eat a Gatorman.

(hangs head in shame)

I can just imagine the conversation between the Gatorman and the Blackhide Wrastler right before the most horrible accident in Blindwater Congregation history took place.

Blackhide Wrastler: Hey Tom, how’s the clutch doing? I hear your lady pushed out twelve of those babies in short order.
Gatorman Tom: Oh yeah, man was she pissed. I was blamed for everything. Armageddon, Ragnarok, The Rapture, the kitchen sink being dirty! I seriously thought she was going to bite my arm off.
Blackhide Wrastler: Wow…sounds rough. Hey hold on, Bloody B wants me to go chew apart that Everblight chap over there.
Gatorman Tom: No worries, B can be a total ballbreaker I understand, do what you have to do bud.

(Scene deleted due to too much intense violence)

Gatorman Tom: Damn Bud, you tore that mofo a few new ones...Hey, wait a second, why do you have that look in your eyes? Calm down, just calm down!! NO NOT MY LEG!!! Aaaaarrrrgggh I only have one arm left!!!! Oh god, ma’face!
Bloackhide Wrastler: [frenzy attack: auto boosted for MAX DAMAGE, CARNAGE, AND DESTRUCTION!!!] NOM NOM NOM!!!! (burp) Tom? (looks around) Tom?! Hey Tom, where did you go. Meh, oh well. Seemed like a pretty nice fella.



Oh yeah, my Blackhide Wrastler did more damage than any other model in the game. Of course, he did that to one of my gatorman and pretty much ate the gatorman as a light snack...although I am fairly certain the Blindwater Congregation follows a gator-eats-gator kind of philosophy.

So while I was down at DunDraCon 35, I made sure to pick up some new dice to only be used for my Blindwater Congregation forces. Green Speckled and everything; I hope my choice appeases the dice gods.

Do you hear that Dice Gods! No more using the wrong dice! Now bless my damned rolls and let me rip the faces off of my opponents and win the rest of my games!!

Amen

The Mad Bull Snapper that snaps at midnight!

Finished up my first light warbeast for my Blindwater Congregation army. Technically it is the second one I painted up. The first Bull Snapper met a grizzly fate in vat of Castrol Super Clean engine degreaser as I stripped all the paint off of it because I totally screwed it up. It was a pretty sweet paint job and I figured I would just do this one more thing and it would be totally awesome looking...

Well 'one more thing' turned into like three more things and the sweet looking albino bull snapper turned into poo. So I stripped it and started over in the more 'traditional' scheme.







The only thing I hate about taking photos of my minis is that when you use the macro function on a camera...you see EVERYTHING. When I hold the mini it looks pretty clean and then you take a picture and it looks like a ton of extra stuff got added to it. Oh well.

The Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Himself, Calaban the Grave Walker

Just finished up my Calaban and I am pretty pleased with the results. I know I could probably do tons better on him if I was more than just a part-time painter, but on the table top he looks pretty sexy. I liked the idea of painting up the two Warlocks for the Blindwater Congregation radically different.



I know you are supposed to have a prevailing theme through your army’s paint scheme but can’t them all being reptiles count? Well most of them at any rate, the Swamp Gobbers and Bog Trogs not withstanding…or the feralgeist or the Totem Hunter or Prof. Victor Pendrake but the rest of them are all reptiles.



Anywho I like how he turned out. I am especially proud of the glowing ‘crystal’ skull and the Voodoo Mask. The stupid thing is I got the colors for the mask from the Sen’jin Fetish vanity pet from World of Warcraft. I should hang my head in shame but they just worked so well together and I didn’t really care for the studio mask look. At least I am done playing WoW, nuff said on that one.



I finally put the front arc markers on my feralgeist. So figured I’d snap a few shots at the same time. He was all about getting drybrushed which is a fairly common idea with this faction so far. All of the shading and highlighting is done via drybrushing and washing. It makes for some pretty quick paint jobs. I finished up the feralgeist in about two hours if you count assembly, flocking, primer dry time, and then actually painting.

Now I have to decide what to paint up next. I have three Croak Hunters that arrived on Christmas Eve or I can work on getting the Warbeasts painted and finish out the battlegroup for my two warlocks or I can paint up the Gatorman Posse (which will be super easy…more drybrushing) or start in on Wrongeye and Snapjaw…so many choices and I am a super slow painter.

It amazes me how people will crank out six to eight hours of painting a night. I admire their dedication. I get in about an hour and a half, maybe two before:

A) My back starts giving me hell
B) I get bored and must do something else
C) I go play video games and kill stuff in a genocidal rage

Any amount of painting makes me a better painter and in the long run that is all that matters!

Peace out and see you on the flip side. I am off to go pimp slap the atmosphere

(In reality, I am off to bed. Night!)

Merry Croc-Mas!!!

Merry Croc-Mas! (Just for you Mr. H, because I know you loved Happy Croctober)

Figured I would do a special edition update to my plog/blog. Christmas has been a blast. My entire family is in town. So my mom’s house is packed with my brother and his wife and their three kids; my sister and her husband and her two kids…then you add in me and my wife and our two kids and you can imagine the chaos that is ensuing at my mother’s house. All my nieces and nephews are great and it is always amazing to see Christmas through their eyes. This year my daughter got into the whole presents thing and enjoyed tearing all of the wrapping paper off the gifts, she also enjoyed the gifts as well but let’s be honest, the boxes are still the best presents. My son got a Nintendo DSi XL which I am already regretting buying him but one step at a time and my wife (who is an exercise fanatic) got one of those crazy heart-monitor-gps-tracking-make-you-a-cup-of-coffee-I-can-do-everything watches. I scored an IPod Touch (go go Ibodger) and of course the requisite Christmas cash, which as you can guess is a tie in to the title of this little post!

MORE CROCS!!! OH YEAH! So I now have a Blindwater Congregation list…which I have yet to play but that is but a small minor detail. I have no idea how it is going to work but I have a month and a half to prepare my list for the Tourney that is happening in February down at the Armory.

Warlocks:
Blood Barnabas
Calaban the Gravewalker

Heavy Warbeast:
Blackhide Wraster (x2)

Light Warbeast:
Bull Snapper (x2)

Units:
Gatorman Posse, (unit of 5)
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

Solos:
Croak Hunters (x3), finally got the little bastards after six weeks of trying to find them
Professor Victor Pendrake
Wrongeye and Snapjaw
Feralgeist

So…again I ask, how does it work?

And again I will answer: I have no clue…but that is half the fun. I fully intended to lose a lot of games with this army while I learn the ins and outs of the lists; which synergies work best with which caster and how many of each warbeast to take. The nice thing about this particular faction in Hordes is that there are not a whole lot of models I can pull from, I suppose it could be a curse as well but hopefully Privateer continues to develop all of their factions (which they show every intention of doing). So my choice of models is limited and thus the main difference comes from the Warlocks and the flavor they bring to the lists. One of the things I like about Warmachine & Hordes is that even with the same list, each list will play differently due to the Warlock or Warcaster taken to head up the army.

With my Cygnar Army, I have sooo many choices…too many to be honest and in reality, I play a gun line. All guns all the time…this means that I can get typecast against some ‘casters in a bad way. Asphyxias or whatever his name is for Cryx who is the very much anti-range or now Bloody Barnabas. I have a bunch of models that will probably not see play anytime soon since I don’t care for how they work. Not that I am against the lightning theme that is Cygnar, I just like their Arcane Tempest Gun Mage theme more. Hence Allister Caine and Kara Sloan being my favorite casters (Fluff wise) and Major Marcus “Siege” Brisbane (cause he is just a bad-ass)

Now for Hordes I am playing an anti-ranged-all-melee Faction, at least for the moment, I am sure they will get a ranged unit or two later on. So my play style has to adapt and change to maximize how the Blindwater Congregation faction works.

I have enough models now to start playing and learning. As I get a bit more free money, I’ll slowly fill out my options and integrate the new units into my lists. I am missing a unit of Bog Trog Ambushers, a Totem Hunter, and a Thrullg. I am also missing the Ironback Spitter but seeing as how the model hasn’t been released yet I don’t know what it does (all things point towards a ranged heavy warbeast).

In the meantime, I am painting up (slowly of course) the models I do have and getting ready to trash other lists and subsequently get trashed by other players in preparation for February. I am even making swamp templates to represent the 3” swamps I get for playing the Blindwater Congregation and the 5” swamp from the “’Swamp Pit’ spell that Bloody Barnabas has. Yup…getting all fancy now with the new faction and getting in more practice with “Real Water” by Woodland Scenic. Until next time!

Before


After


Oh yeah and on a side note. Tron: legacy is well worth seeing in the movie theaters and the Soundtrack is absolutely amazing and I can’t stop listening to it.

Bloody Barnabas the Crocadile

Well it has been over a month since I last posted an update or blog of some sort (Yeah, yeah, Scott, I hear your grumbling). Not that I have been idle with my time; it is more along the lines that I have had so many other things that I have been doing. Between starting up the creative prep work for the TIAT Productions LARP down at DunDraCon, playing Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, painting up Bloody Barnabas and Calaban the Gravewalker, stupid extended hours at work and planning world domination…my poor plog has been sorely neglected.

First off I suppose, is that I have indeed finished Bloody Barnabas. I even have him glued to his very scenic swamp-like base. I am pretty happy with how he turned out. I went with a ‘crocodile’ scheme vs. the green-gator studio theme and I even posted some pictures over on the Privateer Press Forums and got some pretty good reviews.





Calaban on the other hand is all about the green! Though I think I am going to stay with a darker palate throughout my Blindwater Congregation army. I do like the idea of using the colors found in nature but I can also see how the realistic alligator colors could lend itself to not translating very well into miniature painting. Calaban is green but he is not that vibrant green of the studio scheme.

Eventually I will work my way into the Blackhide Wrastlers! I think I will probably do one up as a crocodile and then one up as an alligator. I am not certain what I will do for the Bull Snappers (which I get two of on the 22nd of December) and of course the Ironback Spitters (a.k.a. gamorah or however it is spelled). I suppose I will just have to tackle that bridge when I get there.

Now the Croak Hunters are going to be a labor of love. I can tell it already. The model looks like a giant Poisonous Tree Frog that is standing on its back legs and has spears and turtleshell armor…AWESOME! These guys I want to paint up like their real life counter parts. I have three on order again… (just about every website/store I go to is out of stock on the damn things! Curse you Privateer!! Make more of them just for me!), now if they actually show up I want to paint up each one like a different tree frog. Of course I actually have to get the damned things first but eventually I will be able to put paint on the little bastards. I found this picture of a super rare tree frog and it gave me inspiration, now to translate that inspiration into my mediocre painting skills will be another matter entirely but I am up for the challenge.

Real Water, Swamps, and HAPPY CROCTOBER!!!!

Well I have decided to branch out from the safe boundaries of my typical bases and I am trying something different.

Water on the Bases!!

DUNT DUNT DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHH!!!



After three 50mm bases and six 40mm bases I finally figured out how to make a convincing looking swamp-like base.

Take One: My first attempt saw me hacking out the center portions of the bases and then gluing some plasticard (Sheet styrene) into the bases. Followed by a health smattering of green stuff and Zap-a-gap to seal any cracks and holes and then using Woodland Scenics Real Water. The immediate effect was great looking. There was depth to the water and the bases looked sweet as all get out. So I waited 24 hours for the Real Water to dry...

That was when I noticed the problem. In the center of each 'swampy' area there was a divot. This nice area where there was only the thinnest layer of Real Water. I was expecting some sort of shrinkage as the Real Water dried but I was not expecting for all intents and purposes...a hole in the middle of my swamp.

Take Two: I get out another 50mm base and two more 40mm bases. Having read the instructions this time, I can only guess that I had exceeded the 1/8 inch depth on my first test run. This time around I didn't hack into the bases but everything else was painted. When I put down flock, I use white glue, then dip said base into the flocking material, let dry, and then add a watered down mix of glue and water to make sure it sticks. This usually means that I have to let the base dry for a few hours. Impatiently I waited until I got the brilliant idea to place all three bases under one of my painting lamp that puts out a lot of heat (or entropy as my college Biology Professor always called it). Forget about said bases while playing Fable III...remember about bases while talking with Scott...and discover melted bases a few moments later.

Son of a b!&#@$@#%^&!!! Mother F(#$@#*$&! G#@$(@#$ A@#$@#$

ARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!



Take Three: I got this! Redo all processes from Take TWo except this time let the glue/water mixture air dry and then apply Real Water

EUREKA!!!!! SUCCESS!!!!!

I am pretty happy with the results as you can see from the two pictures. I haven't finished up the swamp bases completely as I am still working on the models that go on them: Blood Barnabas, the Blackhide Wrastler and Wrongeye for my new Blindwater Congregation Army for Hordes. I might go look for some other swampy-things to put on the base the closer I get to finishing the models.