BMG Update – Are you Ready to Rumble???

With our second BMG League continuing apace, I decided it was prime time to organise and host a Batman Tournament at the end of June.  With just over a month until the big day, getting everything organised ahead of time would be paramount to its success.  Without wanting to throw myself in the deep end right off the bat (heh! punny...), I decided that this event was going to be a one-day affair with three games being run before crowning a winner.  To be fair, I was quite inspired by another gaming groups tournament format and used it as a framework for mine (which is code for ‘I loved what I saw so I changed some details and stole the rest for my own event.  Speaking of which, the Player’s Pack for my event can be found here).  Looking over their own players pack, it’s pretty clear that the crew over at LvL Up in Bournemouth have got some stellar ideas and if I had the opportunity I’d take in one of their events in a heartbeat.  Check them out if you get the chance; our hobby is strongest when we’re all looking out for one another after all.

Gotham City Streets Mk II – Weathering

While the construction of my latest Gotham table continued, I decided to try my hand at implementing two more elements to the table – 

• Stamped concrete pavement
• Weathered Concrete

After all the work that was put into the constructionprocess and the painting, it seemed like a bit of a cop-out if I didn't try and make this table as cool as it could possibly be.  Besides, I felt that the concrete was too light in colour and could benefit from a bit of weathering.  Armed with my trusty felt-tip pen and numerous small containers of powdered artist’s chalk, it was time to dive in. 

WoC Update - Let your freak flag fly (WiP)

After choosing Nurgle as my glorious patron for the upcoming tournament, I sat down and decided to at least finish painting the Standard Bearer for my warriors unit.  After sitting in my army case for several years now, I felt I could at least make an effort to get them painted.  With the musician already done and the Champion well on the way to completion, getting a fully painted command group seemed like a reasonable goal to have.  Besides, they would look totally awesome once they were completed.

WoC Update - Ridden Hard and put away wet

So it turns out that the Centaur idea I was toying around with the other week has taken on a life of it's own, resulting in a pair of the humanoid-quadrupeds being assembled.  Hopefully this will add to the fluff surrounding the unit, acting as scouts and messengers for the huntsmen, whilst also working to flush out the bigger critters so that Bessie can do his thing.  In gameplay terms, these models will act as mini-fillers, taking the place of two individual warriors each.  The creation of a viable (some might say breeding) pair of mini-fillers will mirror the effect I've attempted to produce in my other units of chaos warriors.  Of all my conversion projects, this one has to be the most complicated that I've ever attempted.  The real skill of course, is making it look good...

WoC Update - Touched (inappropriately) by Nurgle

With the imminent demise of 8th Edition (and the Old World, but we don't like to talk about that one...), my local gaming group has decided to hold a Farewell Tournament for 8th Edition in May.  As soon as I heard about the tourney I had two choices - take a fully painted Tzeentch list or try out an army list that is totally different and would have absolutely no chance I getting painted in time.  Guess which route I took?  As a result, I've taken the opportunity to put some paint on my Nurgle units to see if I can't make at least some progress on what has turned out to be a stalled army project.

WoC Update: Painting the Everchosen

As part of the frenzied hobby activity that was my tournament prep fortnight, I decided I was going to at least get my general painted and ready to go.  Considering my General was going to be Mr Badass himself, the Everchosen of Chaos, I was going to have my work cut out for me from the get-go.

WoC Update - Panic Level Over 9000!!!!!

When you're just over a week from a Tournament and you still haven't finished painting... hell, when you haven't even finished ASSEMBLING your army, you know things aren't going to plan.  To be fair, I've been operating in a heightened state of hobby awareness for about a fortnight now, ever since a mate so kindly reminded me that Trickster's Blade was going to kick off in three weeks (players pack can be downloaded here).  Ever the hobby optimist, my reaction I feel was pretty fitting for the time:

WoC Update - Tricksters Blade Results

Last Sunday (29th September) saw Mark from Project Circle don his Tournament Organisers cap to host the Tricksters Blade - our annual Warhammer Fantasy Tournament.  This year's event was made even more exciting for me due to the fact that many of the players who had registered for the tournament were travelling significant distances from areas outside the South Burnett which in turn would bring not only different play-styles to the table, but would introduce a swathe of new armies for me to ogle over and possibly provide ideas that I could steal for my own Chaos Army.  The day's timetable consisted of 3 three rounds using the following scenarios - Watchtower Pass (a combination of Watchtower and Battle for the Pass), Blood and Glory and finally Pitched Battle.  By the end of the third game, the results looked like this:

Overall, I can honestly say that I played three fun games with three really great opponents.  While things never really went according to plan, I felt as though the day was still well spent.  Thanks must go to Jonathan Seth, Aaron Holland and Andrew Frost for bring great opponents and embracing my loud and boisterous nature in the spirit it was intended.  Without you guys, I would never have won Best Sportsman.  Aaron deserves a specific mention for his fantastically-painted Dark Elf army that not only looked amazing but was as hard as nails.  After playing against his army, I'm even more determined to get my Warriors painted in time for a rematch.

I definitely feel this guy's pain...

Big props to Damian Paygill from the Darling Downs Gamers Club for carrying the day.  When the Zombie Apocalypse does come, I have no doubt your new blade will serve you well.  With the tournament done and dusted, I'm now free to diversify my painting focus, returning once more to my beloved Salamanders in an attempt to get them set for 6th Edition.  That said, I'm determined to ensure that progress is still being made on my Warriors army as well, so expect to see updates for both armies being posted in the near future.

Catch you all later

Trev

WoC Update - Parade of the Dead

In addition to assembling copious amounts of models, I've also started painting my unit of Nurgle Warriors armed with Halberds (in pleasant, fluff-friendly batches of 3).  As I've mentioned in previous articles, I wanted to alter the standard paint scheme for these guys to reflect their 'Nurglesque' culture.

While I've always liked the idea of Nurgle, I've never been much of a fan of GW's 'wet and bloated' look.

This is not the Zombie you're looking for....

Instead, I decided I wanted to go for a 'dry and dissecated' look instead; allowing me to use the same style of miniature for my warriors without the need to drastically alter them any more than I already had.

He's no good for eatin' I mean look at him, he aint nothin but
skin and gristle....

Using the painting guide for the Mortis Engine provided in White Dwarf 385 (January 2012), I used the recipe for the banshee skins as a basis for my own colour scheme.  I say basis for the scheme because the colour mixes provided in the Painting Workshop resulted in a base-colour that is vastly darker and much pinker than shown in the pictures.  Regardless, I persevered with my newly created colour and have produced a skin-tone that possesses a suitable 'dried-up-corpse' hue.  The only issue is that any mistakes that occur while painting the areas around the skin forces me to repaint the entire section.  A little time-consuming to be sure, but the end result is more than worth it in my opinion.

The bronze is painted using my standard process, but with extra layers of blue and green washes are applied to give it a more grimy look.  I did consider going for the verdigris look, but decided against it due to the time requirement and unwillingness to sacrifice models for purposes of experimentation.  As it is, I'm happy with the results I have obtained and will continue using the process in the future.  Their weapons have been kept relatively clean as I felt that despite their lack of care they give their armour, their weapons are a key part of their identity and as such are diligently maintained.

With 2 warriors fully completed so far and a third one well on the way, I'll be changing things up a little by moving to one of the mini unit-fillers as a little reward.  With these two done, my progress stats look like this:

Miniatures Purchased: 8

Miniatures Painted: 38

Points of Painted Warriors: 272pts

Catch you later

Trev

WoC Update - Hellcannons and Heroes

It seems that so much has happened over the past few weeks that a catch-up post was required to bring everyone up to speed to just how far behind I am on my army project.  While I'm not smashing out amazing armies in a week like @elfordminis over at Elfordminis the progress I'm making is noticeable and that's enough for me.  That said, I encourage you all to check out the site above and see the amazing work he's putting out.  Definitely a positive force for our global wargaming community.

So I finally caved and decided to put a Hellcannon in my list.  While I've had one in my collection ever since I can remember, I've put off assembling it due to it's size and distinct lack of assembly instructions.  A couple of weeks back, Travis from Project Circle offered to assemble it for me to which I eagerly accepted.  Travis is very talented when it comes to assembling 'difficult' miniatures so if anyone was capable of building it successfully, it was him.  As can be seen in the pictures above and below, he has done an amazing job with it. The removable crew who fit into slots cut into the Hellcannon's base is particularly inspired and just one of the many aspects of the model that I really enjoy.

The other model I finally got around to assembling was a warrior from the Banelords range going by the name of Ulric the Defiler. Like Maagaan, the previous miniature I purchased from Maelstrom Games earlier this year, this walking mountain will be leading a portion of my Chaos Army, though in this case, Ulric will be commanding my Nurgle contingent for the foreseeable future as opposed to my entire Tzeentch Army; a prospect I find most pleasing.

Finally I have been fortunate enough to win a competition run by a newly established company that goes by the name of Avalon Painting (@avalon_painting on twitter), resulting in me receiving a substantial credit towards a painting commission of my choice.  Considering the impressive nature of the mini's I've decided to continue the previously established trend (if two purchases can be considered a trend that is) and go with Ornung the Bone Orc Shaman.  The prize will allow me to have this impressive miniature painted to their 'showcase' standard, which will no doubt result in an already superb miniature becoming even more epic once the commission has been completed.  I have to be honest here and say that I'm greatly looking forward to seeing how hew comes out in the end, and will be posting an article here as soon as he makes it home to me in Australia.

Catch you all later,

Trev

WoC Update - Nurgle Warriors

As I mentioned in my previous article, I've been working on my Nurgle Warrior unit in a desperate attempt to get them ready for Trickster's Blade.  After the major green-stuff (GS) work was completed, the Bestigor arms were fitted and any major gaps were filled using more GS.

While the conversion as a whole is a little fiddly, the liberal use of GS and plastic cement ensure a solid enough join once the drying process has completed. Amusingly for me, the command section of this unit was amongst the easiest conversions in the unit, with very little GS work required.

To keep with the theme of the army, the unit is escorting a collection of prisoners which have been captured from the defending Empire forces that the army encounters. I'm not sure yet if these slaves will come from another empire province or whether I'll stick with the livery I've used in the Tzeentch unit.  Either way, they'll provide a pleasant distraction from painting the warriors as time goes on.  Another pleasant distraction will come in the form of Nayr, the Minotaur that accompanies this unit to war. Serving as a similar plot device as the Wolves in my Tzeentch units, the Beastmen models will not only reinforce the fluff around my Nurgle element, but will also act as points of interest, allowing me to make my army a little more unique.

With the construction process complete, I can move onto the painting side of things. While the majority of the painting process will be similar to my existing units, I'm intending to make some minor alterations to the scheme to give the unit a distinct 'Nurgle' feel.

Catch you all later

Trev

WoC Update - Becoming the Ass-Master

One of the most unusual things I'm required to do as part of my conversion process is sculpting Chaos Warrior ass. Let me explain - anyone who's seen my Chaos Warriors knows they are a combination of Chaos Warrior legs and Marauder Torso. The issue that arises is that the backs of the Chaos Warrior legs are covered by a cloak for the most part, ergo the need for a posterior is non-existent.

However when they are used in my army, the legs need to be modified so as to give each warrior a pelvis and hip-bones in which to articulate his heavily-armoured appendages. Attempts in the past have produced all manner of booty, some possibly even comparable to the likes of Jennifer Lopez and the Kardashians.

Since then, I've modified the process somewhat to produce a less booty-licious warrior to wreak havoc upon the denizens of the Warhammer World. This process involves trimming the area around the butt and using less green stuff (GS) to produce more of an old-man-in-trousers effect.

From there, it's a matter of 'rinse and repeat' until enough ass to build enough for a unit. As can be seen below, I've made enough to build a unit of Nurgle warriors, all armed with Bestigor Weapons, which will count as Halberds in game.

Catch you all later

Trev

WoC Update - Slaves and Sorcerers

After much deliberation about unit filler designs, I decided to continue the theme of captured Empire soldiers being marched north towards fates unknown. The result: another four slaves / captives have been built, based and undercoated in preparation for painting.

On top of that, I've managed to also assemble and undercoat the plastic sorcerer that I had on sprue.  These plastic models are a cinch to assemble and have enough detail to make painting them a very appealing prospect.

Finally, I've also been re-basing the Champion / Unit filler for my unit of Chaos Warriors armed with Hand-weapons and Shields.  Originally he was sharing a 50mm base with one of the wolves that accompany the warriors into battle.  While having him on such a large base looked great, the issues that came up relating to challenges etc prompted a change.  Now he and his wolf both have their own bases and an extra warrior has been painted to fill in the 25mm gap created as a result of the re-basing process.

Catch you all later

Trev