Currently on the painting table

On the painting table: Batman Miniature Game!

Monday, December 31, 2012

Boson or Bosun....I don't know

Well in my last post I started working on Grogspar for my my annual Templecon mini. I wrote his name as Boson Grogspar since that is how it is written on PP's webpage but when I was looking at my merc book it is written as Bosun so I have no idea which is correct. One way of the other I got some more work done on Mr Grogspar today and figured I do one last post before the end of the year.

The first thing I did was wash the pants with GW sepia wash. I didn't take a picture of this step as it was done quickly while I was moving clothes to the dryer. I then laid down the basecoat of bootstrap leather on the quiver on his back and strap on the harpoon gun. The next step is where I headed out into uncharted water for me......


Here you can see Grogspar with stripes added to his shirt. I decided to jump right in and see if we could pull this off. The first thing I did was highlighted most of the shirt with P3 Trollblood highlight. I then took some VMA black and roughed in the black stripes. I think they came out pretty well and am pleased with the shirt at this time. I normally wouldn't do detail work such as this early on in painting a mini but figured I needed to try it now so if I had to redo it I wasn't messing up a nearly completed mini. As you can see here his skin is still slick from the gloss varnish as it has not received it's shading wash yet.


The last thing I did was start to put down some of the metal base color. I got interrupted so I didn't get to the metal sticking out of the bag on his back.

I am pleased with Grogspar's progression up to this point. I need to highlight the white on the shirt and was the metals and skins. After that it will be highlighting and detail work. OK that is all for now. Have a safe new year's eve all and see you in 2013.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirates Life for Me!

Well any of you that have been on Pirates of the Caribbean should have that son stuck in your head now :) So the cave finally came back to life this am. I was in the basement doing some laundry getting ready to head to my folks and got a start on my annual Templecon mini. this year I am painting up Boson Grogspar for a buddy of mine.


I primed him with Vallejo Surface primer: grey primer via the airbrush

 
After giving the primer a few minutes to dry I thinned up some P3 rucksack tan and basecoated the paints via the airbrush. I then Primed the skin with my premixed trollblood skin tone. This was also applied via the airbrush as a low psi so I could avoid too much overspray onto the paints.



I then took out some black paint and a standard brush and blacked out the boots, belt, hat and all section I intend to paint metallic. I also painted the shirt P3 bastion grey. I am debating if I am going to leave the shirt as a grey color or if I am going to attempt to do a stripped shirt in either black/white or black/grey.

It is not pictured but I then slapped a layer of gloss varnish on the currently painted sections to protect them and to provide a slick surface of my washes which will (most likely) be the next steps. All in all pretty good start for ~45-60min total work.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas/ Cave Status Update

Hello all and Merry Christmas. I hope those that celebrate the holiday are having a wonderful day and y'all that don't I hope are having a wonderful day too just without the gifts :) Well I have been doing the present thing with my 3 and 4 year old this morning and watching them have a fun with that. My 4 year old tried to get up at 3:30 while "Santa" was finishing set up so I had to occupy him and keep him in his room while things got buttoned up.

I was hoping to have finished shots of the mountain king for y'all by now but I have been unable to finish him. as you may have noticed I had my wip mountain king posts every two days then nothing.... Well I have been under the weather for the past two weeks. I had a strain of flu my vaccination apparently didn't fully cover, then my 3 year old brought home pink eye, and I seem to have picked up a pretty nasty chest cold as I have been hacking my brains out for the last two weeks. I seem to be on the mend and hope to get back to the cave in the near future.

The plans for the next month are as follows:
  1. Finish the MK: Have to glue the chains on, wash the chains, final highlight the whelps, and clean up the base.
  2. Paint my annual mini for a friend. The last two years I have painted a mini for a buddy in the month of January to be given to them for Templecon. Last year I did Carver for Oxyguy and the year before Rienholdt for hammy44. This year will be Bosun Grogspar for Mr Northblade.
  3. Pick the list I plan to play for hardcore and finish the minis to meet hardcore requirements
  4. Pick the lists I'f like to try and play for the Bloodm Sweat, and Tiers tourney and finish the minis to meet basic painting requirements.
The last bullet point may be pretty hefty depending on the list I decide to play. A few of the list will require me to finish/start at least one 10 man unit. OK back to playing games with the boys. I hope y'all are having a great day and hopefully I will have a finsihed mountain king for you soon.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

In the Hall of the Mountain King Part 4

At this point the king has had the bulk of his painting done and it is down to the nitty gritty work of details. While detail work can be tedious and frustrating it is really what bring the final mini to life making it a necessary evil.


The first sections to receive detail work would be the metal sections and his loincloths. Once these sections are completed I can proceed to final assembly. I started to paint the seams on the loincloth. These were picked out with P3 rucksack tan.


I really liked how smoothly the airbrush put down the basecoat of bootstrap leather on the loincloth sections so I masked off the skin with some painters tape and blutac and base coated the belt the same way. I was able to avoid any overspray issues.



I know some people paint their metallic right over the base color but I have always found the results to look better when painted over black. This often require and extra step for me as I have to back over all of the metal section black prior to hitting them with their metallic base color.







I mentioned in the previous post I wasn't 100% happy with my first attempt at the oil wash technique. I decided to try it again but with a little bit more concentrated wash. I did this on the loincloth and belt section with van dyke brown and the skin with a mix of cobalt blue hue, van dyke brown, and ivory black. I was happier this go around but still have room to improve this technique. As you can see here I also did the metal section using VMA steel on my white metals and VMC brass on yellow metals. The loops on the belt were picked out with P3 rucksack tan prior to being washed. I also took the time to paint the smaller rock outcropping which were too small to drybrush with the rest as it could have messed up the skin around them.




It was at this time I started toying with ideas for the mountain king's base. One of my initial concepts was to use a heavy Cygnar wreck marker with a whelps standing on top as a little jab to my Cygnar playing buddies (you know who you are) but didn't really love the idea. I was also having a hard time fining a great spot of it. This lead me my second idea and the one I went with. I took half of a krielstone and removed the hand sections. I then pinned a pyre whelps on top. This is going to go in the back left section of the base. I am also going add an EBDT whelp near the front of the base like he is running along next to the king. you can see the EBDT whelp on the cork. The other whelps pictured are the ones that need to go on the king himself.

OK this post is long enough. Next time more details and some assembly work.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

In the Hall of the Mountain King Part 3

In my last post I mentioned I was about to enter new territory for my painting. Up to this point everything I have done was familiar to me. This isn't 100% true as I never did highlights with the airbrush but I am comfortable using the brush so it wasn't that big of a leap.

The first new technique I was going to try out was the use of dry pigments to shade and add variety to the skintones. I have seen this done by Schnauzerface and Les from www.awesomepaintjob.com and liked the results. A few days ago I posted some photos of some new supplies I received in the main and the pastels were for this process.


I took a few purples, blues, and red from the box and scrapped off a fine powder with my hobby knife. Here are the four I tried out. I found while applying it I preferred the color at 6 o'clock and used the colors at 3 and 9 for variety and didn't bother with 12 o'clock much at all.



I am not sure how well it came out in the photos but I was thrilled with how it added nice subtle and smooth shading. I was a little apprehensive at first but once I got it down a little I loved it and can see myself doing it more in the future. I did end up with some dry powder on my rock sections but this cleaned up really easily with a clean damp brush. At this point I gloss varnished the entire mini in preparation for my next new adventure in painting.

I have seen many tutorial on the oil wash technique and was really interested in giving it a go. I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a few supplies to try it out. I figured I would try it on the loincloth sections first so that if I messed it up it wouldn't be too hard to redo.


The oil wash didn't turn out as well as the use of dry pigment. I think this was due to my apprehension in using the product and I think my wash was actually too dilute with not enough oil paint. I wouldn't say it came out poorly just not spectacularly. I also played with some oil wash shading on some of the cracks in the kings skin (forhead, nuckles, back).

At this time I hit the model with a coat of matte varnish....ut oh. The matte varnish came out a little "fuzzy" and really muted the nice shading done of the skin. I actually think the matte made the stones sections look better but I was worried about the skin. I painted a little gloss varnish over a small section of skin and it seems to "revitalize" the previous work so I am not too concerned as I will hit the skin with a gloss layer again to bring the skin back to life. I have bought a new bottle of matte in hopes of avoiding this issue when I do the final layer of varnish on the king.




Well the major components of the mountain king are essentially done. It is not time to do the time consuming and tedious task of detail work.....and as they say the devil is in the details.

Friday, December 14, 2012

In the Hall of the Mountain King Part 2

The previous wip post was getting kind of long so I decided to break up the wip photos. When I last posted the mountain king had his blue basecoat and the stones on his arms/hands/chin finished. Lets get back to the action shall we.


The next thing I did chronologically was basecoat the loincloth sections with P3 bootstrap leather via the airbrush. This was really fast and put down a really nice and smooth layer of brown to work off of. My initial plan was to do some different colors on the different section but in the interest of time I think I am going to leave it all one color....plus I like the leather sections this color.



 
The next step was to do my four stage drybrush on the remaining rock sections (back and shins). After this was done I put a layer of gloss varnish on the loincloth and rock sections. I glossed the loincloth in preparation for an oil wash and the rock sections for protection prior to being masked off so I could do more airbrush work on the skin.
 


Here is the big guy all masked up and ready to receive some more airbrush love.




I did a few highlights with the airbrush using my premixed trollblood skintone and slowly adding in P3 troolblood highlight to the mixture. Final highlights were done using straight P3 trollblood highlight sparingly. Here he is after the airbrush work.

OK this is a good spot to stop. The next post will bring me into uncharted territory and attempting new techniques on a very pricey model....We will see how it goes.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

In the Hall of the Mountain King Part 1

So the other project I spoke of in my What's in the Box (part?) post was a mountain king. I tried to get one of these guys from Lock n Load when DieselDM got me the Sons of Bragg but was unsuccessful. I lost interest in the mountain king once his stats were made public on various forums so I didn't ask any of the guys to ninja one at Gencon. I have been increasingly interested in the big guy over the past few months and finally pulled the trigger about a month ago ordering one from www.discountgamesinc.com. One of the final pushes that got me pick up the mountain king was a painting youtube video by Schnauzerface. You can find his youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/SchnauzerFaceMinis.

Here is a picture of the big guy right out of the box from Rob. As you can see a majority of the chains and whelps have been left off. I asked him to do this to make it easier for me to paint (at least I think it will be easier this way). I also had him leave the the loincloth sections off. Even though the head is attached he it is not glued on and can be removed whenever I need.


The big guy received his primer coat via the airbrush with Vallejo Surface Primer black. You can see the separate loincloth sections here being guarded by the IKRPG gunmage.




The next step was putting down a layer of blue on the skin sections. This is my trollblood blue skin mixture once again applied via the airbrush. Here you can see the detached head as mentioned above.





In this phase I started drybrushing the stones with my stone mixture (which isn't "mine" it from an article in NQ br Ron Kruzie). This process is P3 thronwood green, bastion grey, trollblood highlight, and then a very light drybrush with Menoth white highlight. I still needed to do the rocks on his back at this point but that will have to wait until the next post as this has gotten a little long.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Templecon: Blood, Sweat, and Tiers. 2nd Thoughts

I finally got to one of our FLGS yesterday and played my first game in ~2 months. I was hoping to get two games in but alas I was only able to grab one before having to hit the road. I brought the T3 Calandra list I spoke of in my previous BS&T posts. If you don't remember the list or don't care to bounce between posts here is a reminder:

Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (9pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (9pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Kriel Warriors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* 3 Kriel Warrior Caber Thrower (3pts)
* Kriel Warrior Standard Bearer & Piper (2pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
I played against Tim who was playing his legion and pVayl. Here is his list (I think I have it right):

Vayl, Disciple of Everblight (*6pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
* Seraph (8pts)
* Typhon (12pts)
Blackfrost Shard (5pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
We were playing a SR mission but I don't remember which one. The mission was never really going to come into play as it was forcing center engagement. The game was back and forth but felt to be in favor much of the game as he was able to rampager one of my EBDTs almost every turn and essentially take him out of play. The game was a little sloppy on both our parts mostly mine as I am really rusty but those are the breaks I suppose. I ended up losing after I thought I had an assassination fail, at the crucial time, leaving Calandra out in the breeze with no fury and for those that don't know that is no bueno sir. In all fairness the assassination was requiring slightly higher than average dice (it was her feat turn though) but the game was slipping away and I had to try.

I don't know I was a little underwhelmed with the list. I just don't love kriel warriors. I know there are people in the troll community that swear by them but they always seem to leave me a little flat. I also had a problem with them getting in the way of my dygs 'cause the full warrior load out has such a big footprint. Once again this may be to my inexperience with the unit but just not sure they are for me. I may tinker with the list some and slide back to just T3 but based on my initial test run this theme may  be hitting the shelf.

The more and more I think about the tourney they more and more I feel I am going to have to go pDoomie T4 as one of the two lists. I have been war rooming a few lists and at 35pt it seems a little cramped as I am having a hard time fitting everything in there (Mulg, EBDT, axer, and enough shapers). I have to grab the 4th unit of runeshapers and start playing with it.

I have also reexamined the eMadrak theme. I immediately dismissed it after the two units of fennblades but I am thinking about just playing it at T1. There are plenty of goodies at the T1 level and I have all the minis. I am thinking maybe something along these lines.

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender (*5pts)
* Slag Troll (6pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Long Riders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Horthol, Long Rider Hero (5pts)
The list has two damage buffs between the slag animus and Madrak's blood fury. The reach on the fenns can take advantage of his feat nicely and on paper the tuffalos with eMadrak look like they can be very scary. Well lots more to play with and digest but after one game I am starting to shift my thoughts.

I am starting my work week early this week so I am not sure how much action the cave will see over the next few days. The bright side of that is I get next weekend off so I expect to be playing in a 35pt tourney at one of our FLGS. I am looking forward to this and should have some photos and coverage next weekend. Have a great weekend folks.

Monday, November 26, 2012

PP Holiday Bundels Up

I am usually not all that impressed with the holiday bundles PP puts together but I have to say this years it looks like "DC" and Mr Martin put together a pretty nice Grim Angus list.




You have a solid 'lock, a set of three solid warbeast which will see plenty of mileage in faction, a solid unit, and a strong buffing solo with solid melee potential. This list can scale up to 35pt pretty nicely without having to drop anything just by adding as such

Grim Angus (*6pts)
* Pyre Troll (5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)
New models
 I know you can get a better deal if you go through someone like www.discountgamesinc.com but they would have to have everything in stock and you still don't get the mini rule book or ornament. All in all I'd say PP did a solid job on the troll deal. What do people think about the bundle for their main factions?

Templecon: Blood, Sweat, Tiers 1st Thoughts (part 2)

Picking up where we left off let’s get back into some more theme force fun. Today I will be looking at Borka's family reunion, the Madraks, Calandra, Jarl, and eBloodsong,

·         Borka, Family Reunion:

o   Requirements to achieve T4:

§  Two or more champion heroes

§  Stone scribe chronicler

§  Three or more champion and/or slugger units

Army list:

Borka Kegslayer (*5pts)
* Pyre Troll (5pts)
* Swamp Troll (4pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6pts)
* Skaldi Bonehammer (3pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)
Trollkin Champion Hero (3pts)
Trollkin Champion Hero (3pts)

I love the family reunion and feel it has addressed an issue bugging me for some time. Why the hell is Boomhowler not faction when taken with trolls? I mean those dirty elves get retribution partisan on all of their mercs why not of Kith and Kriel or something along those lines for Boomie and his boys? OK I am off the soap box now. I love this theme force and I find myself using it nearly every time I choose to take Borka to my FLGS. I typically leave the champs at home when I play it however since I have never really had much luck with them. I don't play them that often, to be honest, but when I do they rarely get their points back and seem to be taken out of play far too easily. Even after complaining about the champions I decided to try them out again. I am a little worried about playing this with no heavies. We will see this list may need some serious tweaking but I like the title of the post says....first thoughts :)

·         pMadrak, War Party:

o   Requirements to achieve T4:

§  Two or more units of kriel warriors

§  Two units of bushwhackers

§  At least one axer and one impaler

This is not the way I like to play pMadrak. I have mentioned it here before, and my local meta knows, I love playing the beast brick with pMadrak. Moving on this is not the lock for me.

·         Madrak, End Times:

o   Requirements to achieve T4:

§  Two units of fennblades

§  Horthol

§  Two or more heavy warbeasts

Two units of fennblades? Cleaning the mold line off my first box set almost made me rage quit the game. “These aren’t the droids we’re looking for. You can go about your business. Move along, move along”

·         Calandra, Children of Dhunia:

o   Requirements to achieve T4:

§  Two or more trollkin solos

§  One or more scout or pyg units

§  Two or more earthborn dire trolls

Army list:

Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (9pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (9pts)
Kriel Warriors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* 3 Kriel Warrior Caber Thrower (3pts)
* Kriel Warrior Standard Bearer & Piper (2pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)

Hmm. I used to play Calandra a fair amount when I first started playing WM/H and I always loved her. Calandra got put on the shelf cause people get frustrated playing against starcrossed, her feat, and dygs. I typically take a bomber/impaler with her but seeing as the list doesn't allow for bombers the EBDT is a really good heavy beast option and since the bomber is gone no need for the impaler. One of the nice things about the theme force is that it still allows me to take almost the entire dygmy support staff with the only omission being the champ hero for the CMD 10. This list is my heavy hitter with multiple options for cracking high armor. You may be asking where is the dmg buff? I look at the caber thrower as a dmg buff for the EBDT. by running a caber next to a target then charging the EBDT so that the caber is in his melee range puts the EBDT at P+S 19 with 7 attacks...not a lot is going to stand up to that. If you take into account Cally's feat.....bad news bears for the target. I am playing around with some other builds
so this option is still very fluid.


·         Jarl Skuld, Highwayman:

o   Requirements to achieve T4:

§  Two units of scattergunners

§  Three or more units (kriel warriors, scattergunners, bushwhackers, SoB)

§  Three or more light warbeasts

I don't really care for Jarl's themes. I really like taking minions and mercs with him. I love the gatorman posse and Nyss hunters. If I am going to go with a faction unit I like fennblades. Since none of these units are an option in his theme force Jarl is out.

·         eBloodsong: Blockade Runners:
o   Requirements to achieve T4:
§  Horthol
§  Sons of Bragg
§  Three or more warbeasts

Grissel Bloodsong, Marshal of the Kriels (*6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
Kriel Warriors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* 2 Kriel Warrior Caber Thrower (2pts)
* Kriel Warrior Standard Bearer & Piper (2pts)
Trollkin Long Riders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Horthol, Long Rider Hero (4pts)
Troll Whelps (2pts)

I have not fielded Mrs. Bloodsong in a single game yet but I really like her sculpt and have wanted to play her. The theme force allows you to have cavalry models at -1 pts. That is Horthol for 4pts, full long riders for 10pts, and the war wagon for 8pts…..what’s not to love there. The issue I am having is squeezing in all I want that the 35pt level. I would love to have a wagon and the SoBs (I love these guys now) but I couldn’t seem to make it happen. I also wish she had access to the KSB but no dice. I am considering swapping the two beasts to an axer and a mauler but, on paper, I think I prefer the ranged element the bomber adds and the ability to far strike Grissel.

So there we have it two posts looking at the theme forces available to me for Templecon and a few preliminary lists. I like a few of them on paper more than I thought I would initially. Seeing as one of the lists needs to be T4 I am starting to think I may have to get that last unit of runeshapers and do the Runes of War theme as one of the two. What do y’all think? Any of these lists ones you would not want to see across the table? Any of the lists you would like to see on the painting table and finished? Well work week is almost over so back to actually getting paint to models this week. Hopefully some finished minis to post soon.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Templecon: Blood, Sweat, Tiers 1st Thoughts (part 1)

Even though I am on the waiting listed for Blood, Sweat, Tiers at Templecon I have started to look at list options. Since this tourney has basic painting requirements I am trying to decide on two lists early enough so I can focus on painting anything that need to be painted so that both list are eligible. I never anticipate winning any tourney I enter at Templecon so to maximize the chances of winning something I am going to try and have one list be T4 so I am eligible for the drawings.

The first thing I need to do is look over the theme force available for selection and which of those I have a shot at reaching T4. I don't intend to make any purchases to accomplish either of these goals so barring an extenuating circumstances what I currently own are the only options. OK lets crack open the trollblood faction book and see what we have:

·         Grim Angus, Headhunters:
o   Requirements to achieve T4:
§  Dannon Blythe & Bull
§  Two or more units (D&B, scouts, and pygs are only choices)
§  Three or more warbeast (only beast w/ ranged weapons allowed)

Army list:

Grim Angus (*6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
Dannon Blythe & Bull (4pts)
Trollkin Scouts (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Trollkin Scouts (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Alten Ashley, Monster Hunter (2pts)
OK so the first Warlock I make a list for I break a rule I set forth in my opening statement. If I were to play this list I would have to buy a second bomber. This doesn't really bother me as I have been planning on this purchase for some time now and, to be honest, I not sure why I haven't already bought. Purchasing the second unit of scouts on the other hand....I don't know. I do kinda like this list for some reason. I know D&B aren't the best by any stretch but I like the ranged feel of the list and I like that all three units get AD.

Here is an alt list which would require no additional purchases:

Grim Angus (*6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Blitzer (9pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
Dannon Blythe & Bull (4pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Trollkin Scouts (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Alten Ashley, Monster Hunter (2pts)
The guys in my meta will tell you I love me some Dygs (they have been on the shelf a while cause other people hate 'em) but I am a little worried about fielding them in an army where the fell caller is unavailable. The only time they are going to be able to hit reliably is on the feat turn or if Grim snare guns a target. This list is all assembled and all minis are painted or in a partially painted state (meeting basic painting requirements) with the bomber, blitzer and scouts needing completion. Maybe a test game or two is in order I suppose I could proxy the other list as well.

*pBloodsong, Blood of Bragg: Don't own her. Let's move on shall we.

·         pDoomshaper, Runes of War:
o   Requirements to achieve T4
§  Janissa
§  Two or more units of runeshapers
§  Two or more dire trolls

Army list:

Hoarluk Doomshaper (*7pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
OK I have put together three lists and two of them break the no purchase rule. I would need to pick up one more units of runeshapers to make this happen. I know I can play it with the three units I already own but the list really seems like four is the way to go. Like the bomber the runeshapers have been on the "to buy list” just hasn't happened yet. This is (based on general consensus) the theme force to use and its stock only went up after Flanzer won masters win at Lock and Load. I have want to field this army for a long time but have been resistant. My resistance went up after it became the hotness after LnL. I'd have to paint the four units of runeshapers which will be a massive pain but maybe this is the time to get this puppy in play.....

·         eDoomshaper, Unbridled Fury:
o   Requirements to achieve T4
   §  Two or more units (scouts and champions only)
§  Ten or more whelps
§  Mulg!

I had a hard time with this list and couldn't come up with something I really liked. eDoomshaper is usually fun to play but I feel a little naked not having the axer in there for his rush goodness. There is no way I would buy a second unit of champs at this time. We know the new shield unit of champs is around the corner (next book) and I am sure we will see regular champs going plastic with new sculpts soon after (think bastions/cinerators). I suppose I could always go two min units of champs as I did pick up a second leader via PP parts order years ago but meh. eDoomshaper is one that if he gets the nod will not be going T4. IT looks doubtful for eDoomie.

·         Captain Gunnbjorn, Big Bang:
o   Requirements to achieveT4
§  Two or more units (units with ranged weapons only)
§  Two thumper crews
§  Three or more heavy warbeasts

I have wanted to play Gunnbjorn for some time now but he has never seen play. I think his theme is fun and quirky but I would have to buy some thumper crews. While I am OK with picking up a bomber, unit of runeshapers, or maybe even a second unit of scouts I am not in the market for thumpers at this time. The theme is really close to the Gunny list I want to play but I feel the lack of a few components (krielstone bearer and Rok) hurt me too much. The good Captain will have to sit this one out.

·         Borka, Drunk and Disorderly:
o   Requirements to achieve T4
§  One or more units of scouts
§  Skaldi Bonehammer
§  Two or more winter trolls

I feel the Family reunion theme, from NQ, is superior so if Borka is going to play in blood, sweat, and tiers it will not be this theme.

This has gotten a little long so I am going to cut it short after six theme forces. Next up I will go over the last six and maybe even some of the Blindwater themes.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Templecon: First Steps

A Few months back I got a text message from Oxyguy that he reserved two room for Templecon and I was in for one of them. At that time I put in for my time off from work so I have had all that taken care of for some time. It was time to register for the con and to get signed up for some of the events. Last year I bought my tag the night before the conventions started from a guy in the lobby who had a spare from a buddy who couldn't make the trip. I also had to wait in line to play in any event hoping for drops. While I had a blast last year I want to square away more of the details this year so after getting home from work yesterday morning I got on the computer and pre-registered. The website is infuriatingly slow but after ~45min I finally had my registration taken care of and it was time to look at events.

I took a break from trying to register due to the sheer frustration of con registration. It took almost another 2 hours but by the time I closed my eyes for my nap I was registered for two events and wait listed on two more.

At the current time I am paying in:
*Warcaster's Dilemma 11pm-7am Friday night
*Hardcore 10am-7pm Saturday

Wait listed for:
*Time Crisis Friday afternoon
*Blood, Sweat, Tiers Sunday afternoon

I think I am going to skip the team event this year as I reluctantly played in it last year and it was REALLY long. I have already started playing with list ideas for some of the tourneys. In the coming weeks I will set up some checklist and to do list as I would like to make an attempt to play fully painted in every event. At the very least I would like to try and play basic painting requirement. I know she is on the squishy side but I think I want to get Calandra back on the table more in the coming months and try and play atleast one list with her at Templecon. The other 'locks I have on the "looking to play" list are Borka, Jarl, Grim, Gunny (maybe just iron area), and eBloodsong. I played a crap ton of pMaddy at Templcon last year and even though I had pretty good success with him I think he might be on light duty for this years convention. Well time for bed.....much more Templecon talk in the next few months.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Supplies/Old Dog New Tricks

I have been watching a bunch of video tutorials of late and have been inspired to try out some new techniques the first technique is the oil wash. This seem to be a pretty effective technique and also pretty straight forward. I headed out to the nearest art supply store to pick up some supplies in the anticipation of trying it out soon.



As you can see here I picked up three tubes of W&N oil colors. I picked up Vandyke Brown and Ivory Black, which I have seen used in a few videos, and I tried out a blue seeing as I plan to use this shading method on my trolls. I will most likely make some mix of the three to try and match my ink wash used on my trolls.

The other item I wanted to pick up was some artist pastels which I saw used for shading in a video or two. I was unable to find what I was looking for that he store I visited so I hit www.dickblick.com to order them.  These arrived on my doorstep about 30min ago.



Here are the pastels I picked up. While I was shopping I figured might as well grab a few more brushes. My go to brush has been the W&N 7 series for some tome now but Ghoul on www.handcannononline.com did a review of sable brush and sang the praises of the Raphael 8404 so I decided to give then a try as well. I hope to try out these new methods over the weekend. I hope to have some positive results to show you soon.