Homestretch for Wild West Exodus

Well one of the two kickstarters that I have backed and been following very closely ends in one week. Wild West Exodus is coming down the homestretch and will close on St Patricks day. One of the game creators was recently on a podcast and had some really cool information:

http://gamerslounge.coda.net/2013/03/08 ... st-exodus/

I have to say the story spoiler about Lincoln I thought was really cool and has me more excited to make an army list featuring Lincoln and Pinkerton. I also thought that the background info on the Warrior Nation was really cool but also made me realize there are really no "good guy" faction in this game. and that everyone has their fair share of "evil"

I also have done a little more work on my enlightened grunt. I highlighted up his pants and washed the leather straps holding the exoskeleton in place. I have to say this mini has been really fun to work on and I am excited to paint more minis for WWX. The finish touches will include popping a few highlights on the metal sections and a could small splotches of blood.

Lastly Outlaw did two more previews yesterday showing of the wave 2 hired hands for the enlightened and the "terrain" piece civilians of the west.

I really like these new hired hands. Curse you Outlaw can you make one of the factions a "dud" so I don't want to buy all of them? They are also talking about retooling the wave 1 grunts a little. I hope they don't change them up too much as I have been really happy with the test one they sent me.

Here are the civilians. I say they are "terrain" because they are not going to game direct game play rules per say but they can be used as meat shield by your characters and you can have them take a bullet for you. The discussion on the kickstarter says you can even use actions to drag them around with you so you can have them soak up that first wound whenever it is needed. I think this a really cool concept. I don't plan on adding them to my pledge at this time but I like the concept a lot.

Undead Everywhere....

So seems like I have been over run with the undead. The undead are hitting me from two different game systems. The first is from Wild West Exodus the sci-fi western kickstarter I have been going on an on about recently. The second is zombicide which also has a KS running. I have been playing a bunch of single games of zombicide recently and also got a game in the other night with two buddies. OK on to some painting.

As you may recall the good people at Outlaw sent me an enlightened grunt so I have been banging away on him. My hopes is to finish him to day as I have a Warmahordes tourney tomorrow which will take up the entire day. Here are a few shots of the poor little guy....

While the photos aren't great I am happy with how he is coming together. Prior to receiving this mini I was really not that interested in the enlightened but I like them more and more as this guy progresses.....curse you outlaw do I really need all four factions! At this time I am calling the skin and shirt done. The metal is nearly there just need to hit a few highlights to call them finished, the pants will require a couple highlights as well. I think I am going to change the suspenders and straps to P3 rucksack tan but not 100% on that yet. What do you think?

A few more random photos from WWX before I switch over to my next undead item. These two photos appeared on the WWX kickstarter page and facebook today. The first is for the yet unlocked Wyatt Earp boss of the lawmen faction:

The second photo is of the warrior nations heavy support option the Great Elk. I have been leaning toward the warrior nation since the beginning of the kickstarter as my primary faction and this guy does not disappoint.

Ok that is it for WWX at this time. If you like what you see head over the kickstarter page and take a look at some other sexy minis. The KS has 9 days left.

Some WiPs

I didn't get to paint too much last week due to work but got a little time this week to work on a few mini. I didn't really focus on one faction (or game in fact) but bounced a round between a few.

The first mini to show is my enlightened grunt from Wild West Exodus. Once again you can check out the kickstarter here if you are interested. After putting this guy together the other night I primed him with grey Vallejo Surface primer via the airbrush (hindsight being 20:20 I wish I went with black).

My initial inclination was to paint the paints in a denim scheme but I was unsure of the correct timeline for the creation of denim so I elected to go with a grey cloth. On a whim (and after talking with a buddy) I decided I liked the idea of a red shirt so went with it. Here he is with most of the base coating done and the pants and metals washed with GW Badab Black.

The next minis are the sluggers for my unloved challenge army. While I am still not 100% sold these guys are going to be in a ton of the lists I run with the Family Reunion they will be in one of the first few just cause they look good and I want to try them out. I am also holding out hope that there will be a UA in Gargantuans that will make up for some of their issues. I think it is a possibility that the UA is in the book as both Legion and Circle have received UAs for medium based units that are on the newer side of releases.

Here is where they currently stand. I washed the skin and metal sections while the boys were at school today. I typically let this wash sit for a while before going back to the mini but when I get back to it highlighting the skin will be the first order of business.

The last mini I have been working on is the High Reclaimer for my FADD Menoth army. Here is the work I have been doing on the HR:

The model had already been primed and the white metal section laid down months ago. Over the last two days I did some of the yellow metal sections with VMC bronze and the cloth section. I then washed all the metals with my standard armor wash and when that dried I washed the yellow metal sections with GW Sepia wash (whatever the new one is called) While the majority of my PoM to date has had grey cloaks I was in the mood to paint some more red (not sure why as I usually hate red). I started by laying down a few thin layers of VMA fire red. I still need to do a few more layers to get the coverage perfect but I think I like the feel of the red and bronze. I am not sure I love this red and may go back to may more standard red build. I am considering using the airbrush to paint the weapon blades and add some effects but we will see.

I know this came out of left field a little as I have shelved the PoM for a while. The reasons I picked the PoM back are two fold. The first reason is I have just been seeing them on the shelf and been in the mood to paint them a little but the second reason, and most compelling, was Privateer Press previewing this guy:

I love the look of this guy (I also love the regular bastions) and the description is really intriguing to me. It sounds as if this guy is a jack marshal which has some cool potential....I think. It will all depend on his rules but i am thinking of marshaling a sanctifier with him could be pretty sweet and could be a part of an HR army. I would be looking at something along these lines:

The High Reclaimer (*6pts)
* Reckoner (8pts)
* Vanquisher (8pts)
* Hierophant (2pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Exemplar Cinerators (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Exemplar Bastion Seneschal (?)
* Sanctifier (9pts)
The Wrack (3 wracks) (1pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

Since I don't know the points for the senny I left a little wiggle room in there for maybe Rhoven or the book or who knows what.

OK that is that for now. Hope to have more updates in the next few days and should have a wrap up of leg one of the Thruway Cup early next week......Let's go Team Spite!!!

Kickstarter Knock if Off!!!!

As you may have been aware I have been in lover with Wild West Exodus and have been following that Kickstarter very closely. At the current time they have a nice chunk of changed pledged and this may only go up as we near the end of the KS. I have started basecoating the enlightened grunt

Yesterday I get an email alerting me to a new kickstarter I "may be interested in" This email was from Cool Mini or Not since I pledge both Relic Knights and Rivet Wars by them. The email was to alter me to the release of Toxic Mall and Season Two of Zombicide. Those of you that check in on the regular know I fell in love with this game after my demo at Templecon and in playing it after I returned. Well looks like I will be pledging another game....thank God the wife doesn't read my blog! Curse you Kickstarter you won this one.....take my money.

Toxic mall is an expansion to the original game 

Prison outbreak is a new stand alone game

Think the bog says it all

OK back tot he Warmahordes front. Les, AKA Oxyguy, has been working with some guys from Buffalo and Rochester to try and set up a cup series consisting of three tournaments with each meta hosting one of the events. They are calling it the "Thruway Cup". Those of you not too familiar with Central/Upstate New York the thruway (I90) run pretty much directly through the state in a straight line from Buffalo in the west to Albany in the east before heading south toward the city.

I don't know all the ins and outs of the "series" but the first event will be a week from today out in Rochester. This is going to be a SR2013, divide and conquer, 42min death clock, specialists, and  a limited selection of scenarios in play. I have been playing with lists back and forth for the last few days. While I really prefer to play trolls at 50pt I think I have some solid lists ready to roll. I will hold off posting them for the time being as I hope to get a little play testing in during the week before we hit the road for Rochester.

Where Does the Time Go?

Well February is over and that happened in the blink of an eye. I really haven't been able to get too much work in on my sluggers but they are pretty much done being basecoated. Here you can see them in their current state:

I painted the paints P3 rucksack tan, boot and gloves P3 bootstrap leather, the guns were painted with a 1:2 mix of VMA black:VMA steel, the other white metal sections were painted VMA steel, the yellow metal sections were painted with VMC bronze, and the tartan was painted with VMC Russian green. I washed the paints with GW sepia wash but will most likely have to do it again later on.

Next up with be to wash the skin and metal with my armor wash and wash the bootstrap sections with my dark leather wash. At the current time the female slugger will be the leader as my box had two leader minis but I have received a second female mini from PP and once she is assembled and painted she will fall in as the forth grunt and one of the leader minis will take a seat on the bench.

The next thing I want to cover in this post is my newest obsession....Wild West Exodus. As you have seen from my last few posts I am pretty fired up about this kickstarter and the minis they have been showing. Once again here is a link to the project WWX. They added two new pledge levels today for those looking to focus on a single faction. Those of you that follow along know I have serious FADD so I will be getting all four factions (hopefully five if the lawmen unlock).

The other day I sent Outlaw minis an email discussing the project and asked if they happened to have any of the test minis available still. I have seen a few of these on other more prominent blogs and on the KS itself. I figured I didn't have a snowballs chance in hell but figured it didn't hurt to ask. Well Outlaw got back to me and said they only had a few left but would mail me one......WOW! I have to say as impressed as I have been with the art and 3D renders they have been showing I have been even more impressed with how Outlaw Miniatures have been listening to the community and how they genuinely appear to care what the community wants (ie the new levels today). When I went to get he mail today this was in the mail box:

 

 Front and back of the sprue

 Assembled leg sections and torso

  Only issue for me

So the mini was really easy to work with. As much as I love Privateer Press working with their plastic models makes me insane. This plastic was like the old GW minis I used to assemble and WAY easier to work with than PPs. The mold line were pretty minimal and cleaned very easily with a hobby knife. I missed a few in my haste to assemble and prime this bad boy but if it took my time there would have been no problem. The only place I had an issue was with the small spine section seen in the 4th picture above. It was a very small piece and my sausage fingers had a hard time manipulating the piece and getting it just right. The final molds my end up having a different break down as currently it feels like there are more pieces than needed but I have to say after getting my hands on this test mini I am only more excited to get the final minis in my hands. Look for painted pics by the end of next week. OK of to work have a good weekend y'all.

Can't Get Enough

OK so as I have mentioned I jumped on another kickstarter at the beginning of the month. Well I am totally hooked on the concept and previews they have been putting out. Today they had four updates with the final one being this guy:

This is a sidekick for currently locked Lawmen faction. This faction is going to have Wyatt Earp as a boss model and Doc Holliday as an underboss.....how freakin sweet is that? The also showed the two different bags that Battle foam is going to be producing for the game. They are doing a full size bag which is similar to my Hordes bag so I am not too interested but they are also doing a small skirmish size bag which I find really interesting. The kickstarter is about to unlock four exclusive women of the wild west which will be free for all backs so that will be cool. If you are interested or want to see more of the project swing by: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wildwestexodus/wild-west-exodus-sci-fi-western-miniatures-game

Well enough of my current crush and back to an old love. I will be heading out to Buffalo with a bunch of the guys for a 25pt random paired team tourney. While I am not usually a fan of these gimmicky type event I am looking forward to heading out and just having a good time and not being too serious. Since I am going to try and be let serious I decided to leave the trolls at home and go with my OG faction Khador. Here is the list I came up with for now:

The Butcher of Khardov (*6pts)
* Berserker (6pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Koldun Lord (2pts)
Rorsh & Brine (9pts)
Saxon Orrik (2pts)
I may drop the Kayazy as they are a pain to play against and swap in the winter guard rifle corp with Kovnik Joe. While the rifle corp can be nasty on the Butcher's feat turn they are not as hated as the Kayazy. I have some crazy shenanigans I want to try and pull of with this list...one of them being the get my berserker to blow up in their ranks and kill a bunch of stuff....channeling my z1g1 there :) OK it is 3am and I really need to grab a little more sleep before we hit the road for B'lo in the am.

Stalled Cave/Speeding Kickstarter

I got a decent start on the sluggers at the beginning of last week but as the work week dragged on I accomplished nothing more. I was thoroughly exhausted by the time Thursday rolled around and I still had three more nights to work. I will be visiting my folks for a couple days this week so more work on the sluggers looks doubtful for a little while.

Oxyguy (Les) asked me about a tourney in Buffalo this Saturday so I may be hitting that with them. The event is a random paired team event where each player brings 25pts and plays from there. All in all the event doesn't fully sound like my cup of tea but could be a good time. I am throwing around some list ideas in my head and considering bringing either Khador or Menoth. If I go Khador it will most likely be pButcher and if I go Menoth I am pretty sure it will be Reznik. I haven't ruled out trolls though and I am looking at either Calandra, eMadrak, Borka or maybe Jarl....who knows. I will post some more thoughts on this when lists start to form in my head.

My main past time over the last few days has been following the Wild West Exodus kickstater. I have to say I am really fired up about this project and have already started working on paint schemes in my head. I read the charlie (pre-beta) rules and they seem fun and should only get better once they are tightened up in beta and then the final draft. Over the weekend the kickstated picked up some steam and added on ~10-15K which was good to see and makes me optimistic it will reach some of the really nice stretch goals.

I didn't think that the Warrior Nation would be the faction that really grabbed me....well I was wrong this faction has me pretty much all in. Here are a selection of some of the range currently available and part of my pledge level.

This is the "starter box". As you can see the boss sitting bull is pretty badass looking. I already have a really good idea on how I am going to paint the hired hands "grunts" and working on ideas for sitting bull. I am not 100% on the sky spirit guy but that's OK. 

 

Here is the unlocked wave two of heavy weapons. The WN guy with the Gatling gun is awesome looking and even better than the wave one heavy weapon. I have to say since he is in the picture I also love the outlaw with the .50 cal rifle.

 

Boss number two for the WN. I thought it couldn't get much better than Sitting Bull as a boss....well I was wrong. Here is the concept art for Geronimo and boom they out did Sitting Bull. I can't wait to see the 3D sculpt on this monster.

 

Here is the merc crew. As you can tell this is obviously a shout out to the amazing series Firefly. So far we only have four member of the crew but rumor is at the 200K lvl the remaining five crew members will be unlocked....(fingers crossed it is added into my level for free).

So there you have it the Warrior Nation for Wild West Exodus. I am really excited about this project and have some friends looking at it too so maybe this will be a really sweet side game for WM/H. I am trying my hardest to not get to deep into this as I have the tendency to go all in and actually end up getting too much.

I hope to sneak some hobby time later in the week so hopefully more updates on the sluggers then.