We Got Mail WeGot Mail...YAY!

My work week has finally come to and an end and by this point of the day I should be sound asleep and dreaming of nothing but boxcars and passed tough rolls, however, my dumbass scheduled a follow up sleep study tonight at 9:45pm so I am stumbling around like (more of) an idiot. The good part of this is that I was up when the mail guy came and delivered a package from good ole Mr Larsen from chain attack land (discountgamesinc.com). Let us look together shall we:

 The lot all as one

 

 Holy pieces parts Batman! I count 22 for three guys

 

The man, the myth, the legend. Did you hear I have mortality? 

 

" I make this bowler look good! and what do you mean I am the expendable pyg?"

 

 

 Grim1 "Sick hat bro I want one" Grim2 "trade you for those working goggles mine are broken"

I intended to paint up both Grims at the same time but I may have to wait and get Grim2's head as a bit once available. This could look too good to pass up.

 

Last but not least a lil ole base to make sure I got free shipping. This is most likely going to be used for my PoM as an alt 'jack base but I may base the fat man of Skorne on it....we will see.

 

 

So there you have it my little package of joy from Idaho. In my current state of exhaustion there is a high probability of me either gluing my fingers together or cutting myself but I think I am off to start cleaning/ assembling the Hunters Grim. I need to have these bad boys ready for the maiden voyage and it looks like Friday may be the day! Happy hunting all.

Spending Spree/All About the Airbrush

After the disappointment of not being able to get Grim2 the other day I hit up my favorite online retailer discountgamesinc.com and made a purchase. I ordered Grim2 and a second Grim1 to paint at the same time. I picked up a second Grim1 because my Grim1 was one of the first minis in trollbloods I painted and I was curious to see the difference. I also picked up a pot of P3 paint, 2 brushes (needed synthetic brushes for oil washes and for Vallejo Liquid Gold paint), and one resin base. You may be saying not much of a spree there Nog....I will get to the rest of it in a second.

I finally got back down to the cave and splashed a little paint around. I still have little interest in traditional brush painting (not sure why) but I have been really into the airbrush. I have been watching a bunch of painting videos on the topic and just want to work with the airbrush. The first piece I have here is an old metal feral warpwolf. I know a lot of people are saying this mini is "dead" with the riphorn coming out but seeing as I have it I said might as well paint it up.  

 

At this point he is nearly all airbrushed. I did the skin with the airbrush using three colors. I basecoated with VMA sandy brown, then shaded with VMA burnt umber, and highlighted with VMA skintone. I was happy with the results for the most part but I did have some mess up. I had some airflow control issues had had some messy spray sections. One of them is on the right biceps but luckily this one is hard to see. The other is on the left triceps but not as bad as the right biceps. I then basecoated the fur with the airbrush using P3 battlefield brown. I then had to break out the real brushes and I drybrushed the fur sections using P3 bootstrap leather, beast hide, jack bone, and a little Menoth white base. I blacked out the armor plates in preperation for the metal basecoats but I stopped there. I also started basecoating a couple other minis with a two tone basecoat via the airbrush but those with wait until I get a little further along.

This love of the airbrush leads to my second and larger purchase of my spending spree. I have been looking into a second airbrush for a few months now and I finally decided to pull the trigger and buy one. I picked a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution Silverline 2 in 1. I have read good things about this brush and after talking with someone via emails my mind was set. I was considering the Badger Krome but elected to go with the H&B Evo. I also picked up a few other supplies while I was shopping online so that is that.

I am really looking forward to getting my new toys next week and hopefully my new trolls will get me back into the full swing of painting. I plan to play some games next week (most likely Friday) and I plan to test out Grim2 for the first time. I have yet again come up with another list one that I can play without having to finish ant assembly, other than Grim and the boys, prior to game day:

Grim2 (-4pts)

*Mountain King (20pts) 

*Rok (11pts)

*Runebearer (2pts)

Fennblades: full (8pts)

*UA (2pts)

Pyg Burrowers: full (6pts)

Fell Caller (3pts)

SSC (2pts)

I kinda miss not having the bone grinders in there but I really like the damage potential on nearly all the models in the list. I think mortality can go a long way to helping the mountain king reach his potential but that will remain to be seen. I am fairly comfortable in the statement that the dygs will be a terror with the potential to benefit from mortality, a fell call, and charge of the trolls. If you pull off the perfect storm these little buggers can get to mat 10, P+S 12, and P+S 18....not to shabby :)

OK thats is that for now. Have a great weekend all and hopefully next week will see a flurry of activity in the cave and a bunch of updates.

Buzz Kill

After dropping the boys off at pre-school this am I headed down to the FLGS to get my Hunters Grim....didn't have it :( While I was waiting for the guy at the store to see if they even got one I called the other FLGS and they didn't have one in either...uuugggghhhh! So frustrating. I even skipped going to bed so I could get my new hotness. Well I guess that is just how things have been going lately for me. I have been in a kinda funk lately and this isn't helping. I did get a couple minis assembled and primed the other day but more on them at a later time.

I was starting to put my unit of scattergunners together the other day and was reminded how much I hate assembly so I decided to alter my Grim2 list for the time being to minis I have and can get table ready soon. Here is what I am looking at now:

Hunters Grim (*4pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Blitzer (9pts)
* Rok (11pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Sons of Bragg (6pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Scattergunners (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Trollkin Scattergunner Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Alten Ashley, Monster Hunter (2pts)

The fenns took the place of the warders seeing as I have no idea when we will see them (could be a long time), I dropped the scattergunners to a min unit (should still have plenty of infantry clearing), and added on of my all time favorite minion solos Mr. Ashley (far strike target on feat turn so can still shoot crazy far). Well quick post but I haven't posted in a bit (part of the funk) and I wanted to vent a little. Hopefully y'all were able to get the new shinnies you wanted.

Quiet Cave

So things have been very quiet on the hobby front as of late. I started working on Rasheth at the beginning of the month and haven't gotten anything else done on him. I have been picking up extra hours at my part time job and here at my main job and that has just been sapping my energy. When I get home I just want to veg out on the couch, play with the boys, swatch some baseball, or just sleep. The good news is that the extra hours equal extra hobby money. I know I will be picking up the Hunter's Grim in a week and a half. I am also eyeing a second airbrush. I am looking at picking up a Badger Krome to go along with the Iwata brush I am currently using.

Despite not actively doing anything hobby related I have had my mind on it a fair amount. I picked up a second Skorne 'lock the other day and have some big plans for him. I want to try out a few new things that if I can pull them off should look really sweet but also have a high chance of being destined for the stripping solution. I will go on this more once I start attempting it. I have also been really working on list building ideas for when I get to try out the Hunters Grim. The more I play with the list the more I realize you really can put anything in faction with him and see positive effects. I think I have settled on my first list and it is as follows:

Gunters Grim (-4pts)
*Rok (11pts)
*Blitzer (9pts)
*Impaler (5pts)
*Runebearer (2pts)
Trollkin Warders: full (8pts)
*Sorcerer (1pt)
Scattergunners: full (8pts)
*UA (2pts)
Sons of Bragg (6pts)
Bone Grinders: min (2pts)

I don't typically proxy minis but I will obviously have to when I play this list as we have no idea when the warders or sorcerer will be coming out (fingers crossed Gencon the latest). When looking at beasts I went with Rok for a melee beatstick that has a dmg buff built in if needed and late game closing potential, the blitzer for the volume of attacks and his animus, and the impaler for non-feat turn snipe on Grim (I hear range 17 boostable guns at mat 8+ are pretty good). When I was picking troops I had a hard time and was going back and forth on a bunch of units but settle on the three you see. I really think the warders are going to be awesome on the table and weapon master attacks against mortality targets is really nice, the scattergunners are there to spray units into the ground, and I love the SoB normally but getting to attack a mortality target with fervor up sounds like a good time to me. The last two minis were filling points but also had a purpose. The grinders give me 2" extra on mortality and the sorcerer can try and keep those pesky upkeeps off the warders. I have also been working on some Skorne ideas but those will wait for a later date.

I am picking up an extra 20 hours of work next week but I still hope to get some painting done so hopefully some wip/finished minis in the next few days.

The Force Can Have a Strong Influence on the Weak Minded

Well said Obi-Wan well said. I am one of those weak minded souls Mr Kenobi spoke of in this quote from A New Hope. I have loved Star War from the time I as little. I had piles of the old action figures as a kid and can vividly remember one day my Grandmother came to visit and got of the bus with an AT-AT for me.

As many of you know Fantasy Flight Games has created an x-wing miniature game. I bought all the wave one minis when they were released but only played one or two games since. Wave two was recently released and while it consisted of two of my all time favorite ships in the Star Wars universe I was able to refrain from picking them up. I was playing Zombicide with my buddy Greg about two weeks ago when he uttered this phrase "we need to play some more x-wing soon".....well I think you are all smart enough to know what happened next:

Yup I picked up the wave two minis. Not pictured are the TIE interceptor and the A-wing which were also part of wave two. I then set up a 100pt Rebel force to play against Greg but unfortunately we haven't had the opportunity to play yet. I knew that Battlefoam makes trays for the game and check out this custom tray I saw on their Facebook page:

 

How awesome it that? I had that old Millennium Falcon figure case which they are using. Well like I Ben Kenobi said all those years ago "The force can have a strong influence on the weak minded"

The Fat Man Begins

I haven't been able to get too much painting done over the last week and a half due to illness, work, and just being flat out exhausted. I was able to get Rasheth out of his Purple Power bath, cleaned, reassembled, primed, and started. Here are a couple shots of the big man as he currently sits:

 

 

I haven't put too much time into him at this point but he is rolling along nicely. The reds were done via the airbrush but just a few sections of shading added in with a brush. Some of the shading and highlighting is a little washed out in these photos but I am pretty happy with him. I need to do a few of the detail pieces on his dais then he will be ready to be glued back onto it. I need to finish the golds on the big guy himself but due to alcohol based nature of the Vallejo liquid gold line my palette dried out before I could finish and I got pulled away before I could get more out. The agonizers still have some mold lines I need to clean off before they are ready for paint. I think I am going to try the skin recipe PP printed for the mammoth in Gargantuans on the poor little guys. Like I said really early shots of the Rasheth but I am pleased. What do y'all think? 

And Then There Was One

Those of you that know me in real life or follow along with my ramblings have learned that I have a terrible case of Faction Attention Deficit Disorder and some impulse control issues (see my latest issues with kickstarter). I had a small flair up of my FADD recently.

I have had a hard time not picking up Skorne for the longest time. My first pull to the faction was way back in '08 when I saw Ron Kruzie's 300 Skorne in NQ 17-20 in the staff challenge series. These four issues of NQ have had a big impact on me over the years and the staff challenge from those issues may be my favorite series ever in NQ. I was once again hit with the Skorne bug when I learned to play the game a little after MkII). I picked up the Skorne forces book when it was released but was able to hold off from buy a any minis. I have always been partial to Mordikar, Rasheth, and Zaal. I really like the idea of theme forces for Skorne for some reason. I love the feel for the Zaal force too bad immortals are kinda meh in game terms, Mordikar's theme had some elements I liked but some I didn't, and I really like the big mans theme. I was hit with the bug mildly when Domination released and once again with the release of Gargantuans. Since I have always had an attraction to Mordikar his character beast Despoiler was very exciting to me. I was also excited by Makeda3 as she looks like a blast to play and minis look really nice imo.

One of our local Skorne plays (5th street) has played Mordikar a fair amount so I texted him about Despoiler and just BS'd via text for a while. I mentioned PP keeps trying to get me into Skorne at which time 5th responded "let me know if you get into Skorne I have some stuff I may want to get rid of"...ut oh danger danger:

Nog: "Oh really? Like what?"
5th: "Rasheth, a taskmaster, bog trogs (min), nihlators (full) and maybe an agonizer or two"
Nog: "Really? Why?"
5th: "don't plan on playing him much. I didn't like him"

I have been watching a lot of youtube painting videos lately and have come across a red and gold I have really want to try out. The red is via the airbrush using VMA paints and the golds using the Vallejo liquid metal range. We already established that Rasheth is one of the 'locks I really liked and the pieces fit really well to start the theme.

Ok so I have a paint scheme I want to try and models being offered up at a discount. Any guess what happened next? Well if you guessed I bought some of them you would be the big winner....give yourself a pat on the back. I ended up picking up Rasheth, the taskmaster, and the trogs (to go with my Blindwater). The big man is currently bathing in Purple Power being stripped.

Now that I have picked up a couple Skorne minis there is only one faction left that I do not own a model for.....Retribution. And then there was only one.