Like a Boy Scout...

..you should always be prepared. Very early Saturday morning I got a call from my mother that she was sick and needed me to take her to the ER. Well, after spending the weekend at the hospital we at least have a diagnosis.
"How is this wargaming related Matt?" I hear you ask. Simple. Friday after work I stopped at my FLGS Top Deck Games to pick up the Cryx Forces book. Yeah, I managed to read the whole thing while waiting with her. Any other time and I would have found 5 billion other things to do besides read all the fluff. I have most of the other books and just about all I have read is the rules parts.

So also, as a side note - I probably will not have much time to update over the next week or so as I need to take care of my family over the next few days. But if all goes well, I should get some painting in as they are forecasting over 14" of snow on top of ice coming in tonight so I doubt I will be at work for the next few. So I will have lots to show when I get back I hope as painting is my relaxer.

22!? Point Grissel vs. Siege learning match

Well, what felt like the blind leading the dumb, deaf, and blind turned into a pretty fun little match. It all started when a friend of mine called me up wanting to learn how to play Hordes. Well, how could I, John Q. Gamer, deny someone the joys of war gaming?

Anywho, I wanted him to get the gist of what Trollboods were about - to me anyways, and tried to get it at 20.
His list:

• Grissel Bloodsong +5
• Dire Troll Mauler 9
• Troll Impaler 5
• Minimum Champions 6
• Full Krielstone Bearer 4
• Janissa Stonetide 3

My list was trying out my newly painted Siege.

• Marcus "Siege" Brisbane +5
• Hammersmith 8
• Charger 4
• Full Sword Knights 6
• Min. Long Gunner Infantry 6
• Lung Gunner UA 2

I didn't take pics and the first turn took over and hour alone. But after explaining all the rules he picked it up rather quickly and after that it went rather smoothly. I was the one to make the big mistake. I ran Siege up to get as much as I could in my control area as those ARM 20 Champs were chomping on my Sword Knights really badly and I needed to try and take them out. Yeah, that went badly, wiffing on nearly everything put into them. But I did manage to kill the Mauler, nearly kill the Impaler and take out 3 Scribes to reduce his AOE of the stone. Only thing was I didn't realize his Impaler was withing 5" of a clear firing lane to Siege. So he walked up, boost attacked and boost damaged - leaving me with 2 health. So I enter full panic mode at this point and try to pull some sword knights back and block his firing lines loosing all but 2 to free strikes. He then Feats giving his Impaler 2" more movement and sneaks around to get a firing lane. And that spelled the end for Siege. It was a fun game - but now I know how a press ganger must feel. I was a bit stressed out about getting something wrong, but going through the books again today and everything  seemed to check out. Funny thing is I had to actually ask him to leave as he was pa-rousing the Circle section of the main rule book for well over 45 minutes after the game... Might have another player here.

My Fiona

 Here she is. I did a lot less washing and more drybrushing on it. Hence the lighter tones. It looks alright - but I am not to tremendously pleased with her. But with the amount of time I spent on her (about 20min total) I can not complain.

Finished Kell Bailoch

Well, one of my first departures from the "factory" paint scheme. But as soon as I saw this mini I couldn't help but think of Clint Eastwood. "You feelin lucky Punk?!!?". Guy just oozed attitude with that nasty scar so I had to make sure it turned out super prominent. I tried to keep some dark blacks with him but a more earth-tone western feel seemed more appropriate. And worn. I tried to give everything a very worn used look.

Wasn't hard, didn't take long, but was a lot of fun.

Finished Forge Guard test model

Here he is. 3'4" of Weapon master goodness. After painting him and washing it there was next to no visible detail. As much as I dislike drybrushing I hit it with a smidge of drybrushing to bring out the detail. Boy I am glad I did.

Finished Ogrun Bokur

Here you go. I want three simple things from my Rhulic forces.

1. Dirty - check
2. 3 color - check
3. Quick to paint - check

They have been nothing to write home about but I just want them to be painted to a decent standard. Clean lines, 3 or 4 different colors and a good thick wash.

So without further ado:

Tomorrow, I bring you my Forge Guard test fig.

Finished Grissel Bloodsong

Here she is minus the basing material. I think I need to get a tripod so I can move the camera a bit further away from the mini's. I have been noticing the tiniest of flaws when the camera is this close in with Macro on. Rather annoying flaws...

Anyways, here she is:

Also, I think I am going to start splitting my posts up by model. So when I go on painting marathons like I have the past few days I don't have a single post with 3 kerbillion pics with all sorts of different stuff on it. Each post will pertain to one model from now on. Also, I plan to go through all my posts and make sure the tags are current so things can be sorted by faction.

Arcantrik Force Generator - Holy moley!

I have been watching all the posts about the new war machines on Privateer Press' website. Each one looks cool and all, but the only ACTUAL model we have seen was the Gun Carriage and I was not blown away. Now this thing just looks cool. And I don't even play Retribution.....yet.

Oh you foul temptress....

Very WIP Grissel Bloodsong

Man, did I have fun today. The boy and I did some sledding, made a snowman, and I shared with him his first cup of Chi tea on a cold day. Better than Hot Chocolate. Now, I am freezing cold and can't get warm to save my life. But, I did manage to get a little bit of painting in. I am toning down the washes on the Trolls (if you have not noticed) as they are more "natural" and wouldn't be as dirty - atleast in my mind. Traditional Trollblood skin is really hard to get to look right. And I am not liking the look so far. Any recommendations?

Anyways, hers the status pic. All first layers are down except the browns for the boots, hammer, and the brass for the vambraces.

Kriel Stone pt.2 and the another shot of Siege

 Well, I don't know if its the temperature or what, but my green stuff I put on the Kriel stone last night still is not dry. But I made sure and got the gaps nice and filled.

Also, as requested here is a back shot of Siege. Thanks for the comments on the bold paint. I used to paint space marines like that and it has kinda stuck since then. Well, at least where clothing is concerned. If you like his tabards, check out the trenchers - they are a few posts back.

Well, they are forecasting 4-6" of snow tonight/tomorrow. If that happens no school - and I have to take care of my son. So its a crap shoot if he lets me paint. I am thinking of trying to get him to learn Warmahordes. Hes 12 - he should be able to handle it.

Troll KSB - or Kreil Stone Bull$%@*

Ok, so I got in my Warstore order last night and included in my Hordes rulebook, Trollbloods faction book, and MKII cards was my Kreil Stone Bearer pack's (I ordered a full unit). While what I read about this unit I really liked and all the pictures I have seen they look very Scottish but I did not expect such trouble assembling them.

Anyone else have a massive gap running down the seam of the stone? Anyone else get in the two handed axe pieces that were bent AND twisted? I mean between the two packs, maybe 3 guys went together flawlessly. I will post a pic of the stone before I begin to trim and sand off the excess green stuff.

On a side note it looks like I will soon be the proud owner of a VERY large Cryx army. I am a regular on Bartertown (well silent, just looking person usually anyways) and I have a very large, rather old 40K Tyranid army I do not use or play with. Well, since he was looking for a tyranid army we got to negotiationg and worked out a deal. So much for my painted to unpainted ratio......

I will be receiving:

Casters:
-Deneghra
-eDeneghra
-Skarre
-eSkarre
-Terminus
-Asphyxious
-Venethrax
-Witch Coven

Jacks:
-Seether
-3 Slayers (I checked, and there are three of these. One is painted badly.)
-Reaper
-Leviathan
-Nightmare
-Stalker
-2 Helldivers
-Cankerworm
-2 Nightwretches
-2 Defilers
-2 Deathrippers (checked on these as well)

Units:
-2 units of 6 Bane Thralls (no back banners)
-Withershadow Combine
-Full Satyxis with Sea Witch
-Full Mechanithralls with one Brute Thrall
-Full Bile Thralls
-Cephalyx Overlords (additional limbs on back unassembled, but complete & will be included)

Solos:
-2 Necrotechs & 9 Scrap Thralls (it is 9 after all)
-Satyxis Raider Captain
-Bloat Thrall
-2 Pistol Wraiths
-Skarlock

Other:
-Cryx MK2 Deck
(My army as shown in my original trade post, plus...)

Cygnar:
-Kara Sloan
-2 Hunters
-Stormclad
-Charger
-10 Trencher Commandos
-Trencher Commando WA
-Herne & Jonne (no card)

Quite a nice haul (he's getting 5000+ points of nids) and we are both happy with the trade. I get a whole Cryx army, stuff I could really use (see hunters) for my Cygnar army, and the last piece I need for my Rhulic Army. Needless to say I am excited.

The problem I have been running into is I can't find a box. Almost all of the stuff I am offering is in Sabol foam trays and EVERY box I have brought home from work is either WAY to big, or so small I can't even fold over the cardboard tabs without leaving a huge gaps. Any suggestions would be awesome.

'Till later guys.

Finished Siege

Hell, here he is. Spent a bit more time on him than the other Cygnar I have - as they have been about quantity over quality. Now, don't get me wrong, I still want them to look nice but my #1 goal for them has been just a fully painted army. The fact that I like how they are turning out is just a plus - a major one. I put a few layers of blue on him and four different whites. I wanted him to look like he just came from a battle, yet is at least presentable. What do you think?

Good things come to those who wait...

.. or so they say. Sorry for the delay I even had more cool pictures I made playing with Photoshop. But, alas it was not to be. I got a call Thursday that there was an accident and my son was being taken to the hospital by my wife from school. It turns out there was a fight on the play ground and some little "darling" child was caught on video repeatedly stomping on my sons arm until he broke it.So, a few trips to the hospital, a heated discussion with the principal, and 1 day glow green cast later and my son is home. I stayed with him Friday and Patrick is such a trooper that while he lay in bed and I sat along side he wanted to watch me paint. What a trooper. So here are my efforts plus the "clear" shots of my teaser photo's.

I actually got him on the custom base but I had to strip him and redo it as the paint was quite a bit messy. I however can not take any credit what so ever for the base. But it was too cool to NOT salvage and use.

Next, we have Bruce Banner. And seriously, how could you NOT paint this guy green? I got two in the trade I did for these guys so I will do one in the traditional Blue - but as soon as I saw the model I couldn't help but think of the Hulk.

Now for the new stuff. Since most of the games I play are still at and about the 15pt range I thought I should paint up the battlebox (warpack for Hordes). First up the Warlock.

I was experimenting with the metalics - as I usually do not paint with them, but I LOVE the darker bronze color I picked up (still no black wash - sold out) so expect to see it more often.

Between the chickens at the belt and the pygmy in the satchel I love the Troll attitude. Silly but lethal looking.

Tried to do a mirror image of each other. on the skin tones. And just a few other differences in armor and metal colors.

Next we have the Axer.

Also, I worked a bit on some Cygnar/merc stuff I got in trade. I nearly finished Reinholdt.

And I started on a new Warcaster I got- Siege. He still needs quite a bit of work, and again - the base came this way I just stripped the paint off and am redoing it. He is coming along rather well I think.

As always, comments criticisms are always welcome - and encouraged.

Clue # 2 - My name is Bruce.

I am sure you all know what they are...but you will have to wait until Friday to see the un-altered versions.

Whats coming you ask?

Yeah, I finally got Photoshop to work. I will have another clue tomorrow. ::cough:: plus time to paint more of them... ::cough::

Weekend Update Without Dennis Leary!

 Well, have the camera back, but my lightbox is setup in the garage - and its snowing out and cold. So I just put some white card stock I have down and took some pics that way.

First up we have a group shot.

The Journeyman Warcaster, and the Firefly I think I have shown before so I did not take any close ups. I did take a clear shot of the defender.

One Defender. As you might be able to tell I still have not gotten any Black Wash to finish the last two 'jacks - and I even went by the FLGS to get some but they were closed for the weather.

Finally we have some closeups of Thor and Gorten. When I painted the test models I liked the black wash on them, but they did not feel dirty just shaded. So I washed a couple Gunners and viola - used and abused 'jacks. I wanted to play a few games and paint the battle damage as I go - to kind of tell a story.
 
Also, I was quite disappointed with the depth of detail on both Thor and Gorten. Both nice models, but the modeler didn't make much of an effort to recess the finer detail and I feel that quite a bit is lost.

As usual, let me know what you guys think!

Also, after I play with photoshop a bit I want to do a sneak-peak of one of my newest aquasitions. I get them in and had to start painting this guy.

Big thanks

Hey, just want to give a big thank you to all the great responses to my Battle Report. Still new to the game and all the tips and answers were wonderful. Thank you! Also, back to the painting subject I have all of the cygnar 'jacks block painted - just I ran out of wash. So I need to run to the store tomorrow. And as I type this I thought I would start on Thor Steinhammer. Since I did keep my promise to myself and paint as much as possible on the remaining cygnar models I own. Oh, and no pic's this weekend - the old lady has the camera. But I will still try to keep everyone updated on the painting this weekend.

35pt. pSorsha VS. pStryker

Well my bother finally showed up and we managed to get a battle in. WHat was supposed to be a 35pt Khador vs a 36pt Cygnar battle turned into a 35 vs 40 pt battle. How you say? When I was setting everything out and making sure everything was ready I had set out all 10 of my trenchers - they were SUPPOSED to be a minimum unit. So even with a 5 point swing I still managed to loose. Completely ignoring the back of the Hammersmiths card until he had three boxes left and the end of my turn I am sure helped. Never rolling for more than 4 points of damage even with sometimes boosted damage rolls against his heavies and the bane of my existence - Thor. Worse that Armor 20...Worse than P&S 19 Ice Axe.... my bothers uncanny ability to turn after turn succeed in a repair check AND consistently repair 5-6 damage. Kid was on fire with the rolls.

So, on with the lists and the pics. I made sure and took pics turn by turn after each of our activations. We had to call it with no definitive winner, but with two heavies still in play and a mechanic that could just repair the damage I conceded the win. Plus I figured out my mistake 1/2 way through the game and felt like a heel.

Forces of Khador:

• Kommander Soarcha +5
• Juggernaut 7
• Destroyer 9
• Iron Fang Pikemen (min) 5
• Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (Min) 5 x2 = 10
• Thor Steinhammer 2
• Wodowmakers 4
• Orgun Bokur 3

 35pts.

Forces of Cygnar:

• Commander Coleman Stryker +6
• Hammersmith 8
• Defender 9
• Sword Knights (full) 6
• Trencher Infantry (supposed to min was max) 10
• Long Gunner Infantry (min) 6
• Journeyman Warcaster 3
• Charger 4

Khador won to go first.

Deployment

Khador 1

As you can see we are both running heavy at the bottom of the screen. With so many troops the dwarves not blocking his LOS really paid off.

Cygnar 1

Khador 2

Cygnar 2

Khador 3

Cygnar 3

Khador 4

Cygnar 4

Khador 5

Cygnar 5

End of Game

Well, it was a fun match. Couple things learned and a few questions raised.

Things learned:

1. Khador Armor is nearly impossible to penetrate. I am buying Hunters for my Cygnar ASAP.
2. Iron Fang's with Shield Wall order - see point #1.
3. Mechanics are awesome. Thor was an after thought trying to find him enough points for a proper match. He easily made his points back.
4. Sword Knights - good tarpit unit. No good trying to kill Tron Fangs. Needing a 9 on 2d6 to do 1 point of damage is HARD to get.
5. Read your cards. I completely forgot to read the back of the Hammersmith and didn't get any Follow Up, Beat Back, or Chain Attack lovin.
6. Charger w/ Journeyman - Good combo. 2 range 12 shots both boosted to hit and to damage. My single Charger killed all but one Widowmaker and 3 Iron Fang Pikemen. 8 point combo took out most of 9 points. Good trade.

Questions raised. If any of you more experienced folks can help please do!

1. Can units charge without a charge order? The way we have been playing is that this is a NO as I can not find the specifics in the book. We just had to move into melee and swing away unboosted.
2.  When firing into Melee do you roll to see if you hit all the models withing helee range of the target model Friend or Foe? I.E. there were two Iron Fang Pike Men in base to base hitting my Sword Knight. Did it have a chance to hit his other guy as well as mine if I missed the initial target? 

Still no game...

Well, my brother was supposed to come over to the house yesterday and play a game of Warmachine with me but he was a no show. So he called late and said he would be over tonight. Again a no show. So, instead I decided to lay out my warmachine on the table and take some pics of the ol' game room. You will also see what I got for christmas - almost 50points worth of Rhulic Mercs!!! All are assembled finally, and all but the ones I put together tonight are primed.


So enough yacking and on with the pics. So what could it possibly be why my little bro would not want to hang out in my man cave?

It has a 6'x4' modular Realm of Battle board, atleast 4' of space on each side for plenty of room. Lots of chairs, and plenty of cool refreshments on tap.

Finally, I went ahead and took a group shot of the whole dwarven force plus some decent shots of my two test 'jacks. I promised myself I would not finish them nor paint anymore until I finish my Cygnar stuff I already had.

And if any of you readers are anywhere near Tulsa, OK and fancy a game while passing through (or if you live near here) let me know. Door is almost always open.