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.

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.

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.

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.

What's in the Box Part (I forget)/State of the Cave

Yesterday after I dropped the boys of at nursery school I headed down to the post office as I had an email/tracking number informing me I could expect a package from New Jersey and Mr Hawkins. I was unlucky as I was not able to grab it before it was put on the truck for delivery. I had some other business to take care of at the post office as I have decided to commission someone to paint my Super Dungeon Explore core set and Dragon Clutch booster. This was a little odd for me as I have painted every mini in my collection but I really wanted them to look right and knew I wasn't going to be able to work on them anytime soon.

There were two items in the box from Rob. One of which is going to remain a surprise for a little while. I will be taking WiP photos while I work on it so I will do a step by step post but for now it will remain hush hush. I have already spent somewhere between one and two hours working on this project. This has been a combination of airbrush and standard painting so far. I have a bunch more to do but I want to get this project done ASAP so all other projects are sliding down the ladder.

The second item is an IKRPG mini which is a near duplicate of one he did for PP and No Quarter magazine. This gentleman here is going to be a gifted, gunmage, rifleman (or maybe scout). If you have the NQ you can see that the only difference is the addition of a Hammerfall highshield backpack.

I am relatively close to attaching the bison and war wagon to the 120mm base. I will wait to do this until Friday as I received a second email on Monday saying I can expect a package on Friday from Battlefoam with some half trays of various sizes (I think 5 in total). I want to have the wagon tray in hand before I glue mini to base so that I can be sure it will fit well in the Battlefoam.

I know I haven't been overly active painting of late but the last day and a half and the new mystery project have me pretty fired up again so hopefully there will be a rush of posts over the next two weeks. I haven't played a game in nearly 2 months and I am dying to get out and play. The hope is Friday but we will see what happens.

One Year Old! Random WiPs

I cannot believe it has been a year since I started this blog. It has been a good gaming year despite never getting to play as much as I would like. Some of the highlights of the year include going to my first Templecon and getting to meet and BS with Gdaybloke for the first time, road tripping to Canada with Zack and Scudo to meet "Northblade" Bell and Boots and bring some Spite to Conquest Toronto, and the obvious sitting around after a game night eating pizza and arguing with each other over the topic of the night. The lowlights of the year would have to be loosing two more of my gaming buddies (Zack and Mr Cash) to out of state jobs after we lost two the previous year.

The goal of this blog was to keep me painting and while I have had my lulls I do feel it is helping me get minis finished. In the year I have painted and babbled about many things. The blog has over 13K views so I would like to say a heart felt thanks to all of you that check in regularly and to those of you that follow the blog. I'd like to give a couple shout out in honor of hitting the one year mark. The first shout out is to Nuclear who was the first person to officially follow the blog so thanks.....if you still check in that is ;-) Next up I'd like to give Oxyguy for leaving the most comments. Thanks to Oxyguy, DieselDM, PG_Eviscerae, PG_Z1G1, and Scudo for joining in on the blog and taking part in the Cave Challenge. Lastly shout out to Russia for being the country that checks in with the Cave more than any other (narrowly beating out the UK and Canada).

So I haven't made too much progress on anything lately but I do have some WiPs to show so that this isn't back to back blog entries with just words. Here are the projects I plan to focus on in the near future and hope to have finished before the end of the year.

Current status of the War Wagon 

Current picture of Horthol. He is close to getting his shade wash then it will be a matter of highlighting and all that jazz. Once he is finished I will want to get his long rider brethren finished as well. 

Second unit of Runeshapers. I will get the third unit assembled at some point and then buy a forth as pDoomies tier will get played at some point. 

I have a Jarl list in my head I am really looking forward to getting on the table and Nyss hunters are a very big party of it. I have had the Nyss for sometime now but decided it was time to get some paint on these bad boys. I broke out the airbrush and basecoated the main body sections with RMS muted purple triad (I forget the actual name of the color). I intend to put two additional layers of RMS purples prior to washing the cloth with GW liche purple.

While I haven't seen the official statline I hear Rask has been spoiled and is pretty darn sexy. Looks like I will be working on some gators at the end of the year/early next year. Here are a few of the gators I have in partially painted states and will be trying to finish up.

I also have some other projects I am going to start in the near future but will keep those quite until they are finished up. Thanks again for a great year and following along on my journey.

The Road to Hell....and All That

Well as they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions so it looks like I am on that path. In my lasts few posts I was making really nice progress on my war wagon but said I would be away for a week. The week I was away was spent in Disney World with the wife, kids, in-laws, and stepson's girlfriend and kid. The week in Disney was a blast and I got my four year old son a bunch of new rides for the first time (finally tall enough) and luckily he loved them all. We flew back into NY the night Sandy was hitting the east coast but luckily we were one of the few NY airports still taking flight and had no issues with coming home (in-laws were not so lucky). My intention was to take this week to work on the wagon and get it finished up and table ready but I was so beat from all the fun that have done nothing other than hang around with the family and recover from the trip. After a glorious 21 days off I head back to work tomorrow night so not sure when I will be logging in significant painting time but I really would like to get the wagon finished in no more than two weeks. Hope to have updates for you in the not to distant future with the my plan being to finish the main wagon painting in my next session or two.