Did I Mention I'm Building An Ogre Army? Well, I Am.

As I closed the browser on my last entry, I noticed a little folder sitting on my desktop. I hate little folders on my desktop. They make it look all cluttered. Thusly I must share with you the progress of my Warhammer Ogre Kingdoms army. It all started with a dream. That dream was to spend only $200 on a full Warhammer army. That dream was realized:

Two Ogre Battalions and some "green stuff" later, voila! a full Ogre Kingdoms army. Complete with Tyrant...

 ...Slaughtermaster...

...and Battle Standard Bearer.

Of course, not content with a paltry 2,000 point army, I had to grab some more Ironguts to bring the army up to a tournament standard 2,250 points. Now the army is mostly painted, and waiting on me to go buy a nice cheap brush so it can get dipped.

I'll be sure to post the final results, as well as how they perform on the tabletop as soon as I'm done with them and my newly re-acquired Skaven.

Marine Chapters I've Dreamed

Over the last fer weeks I've been considering starting another loyalist marine army. Salamanders ora successor to be exact. What's stuck in my craw right now is which paint scheme to use.

Option one is, of course, good ol' Salamanders. Kind of boring, but I've painted them before. I may go closer to Goblin Green rather than Snot Green.

Option two is the Coyote Warriors chapter, I made an army of these guys a while ago, and the turquoise offset with the deep red is pretty striking. These guys would probably be a Space Wolves style army, though...

This is (at present) a no-name chapter. I like how the green and purple go together.

I'm thinking something along the line of "Desert Tigers" for this paint scheme. The yellow would be Vallejo Dark Yellow, and the trim is German Grey. Same colors as a German tiger tank.

Finally, and so far in the lead, are the Soul Wardens. This is the space marine chapter I invented years ago, and they've got a special place in my heart. My only concern is that at first they were a Blood Angels successor chapter, and now they'd be based on the Salamanders rules. They'd still have an "in your face" style of combat, just not the berserk, zealous close combat style. I like the Grim Reaper look with the black armor and white helmet.

If I do start this army, it'll be a while yet (once my tax refund arrives). Until then, I'll keep pondering paint schemes and perhaps add to my Deathwing (they could really use some Ravenwing support).

A Really Quick Hitter

I'm at work reading the Warmachine Battle College and it is re-kindling my love for the game. Of course, this means more games with my armies against Demitra's Winter Guard Death Star of Dhoom. Also, with the silly models coming out for Wrath, I'm a little on the fence about the game. That Khadoran battle-wagon thingy just looks (in my opinion) kind of dumb.

Also, Quar are even more cool now. If you're not in the know, they're a line of miniatures produced by Zombiesmith. They've got two games to go with the miniature line, and I plan to get the ruleset from Ganesha Games as I have several of their products already. Also, their games are designed to be played in 15mm, which makes the game much more affordable than, say, Games Workshop or even Privateer Press.

Finally, I was going through my boxes of stuff today, and found some of my infantry bases for Alien Squad Leader (no link this time). That game is pretty cool, also in 15mm, and , of course, nobody plays it. I need to stop collecting miniatures for games nobody plays (or wants to play). I'd have so much more money if I never bought into Alien Squad Leader, Song of Blades and Heroes, Hordes of the Things, MalifauX, Warmaster, shoot- even the Lord of the Rings game (which I freakin' love).

...And here I am wanting some Quar. I guess I'll never learn.

Progress For The Under-Empire

A few days ago I dropped the Skaven I got back into Simple Green to strip the paint. They stayed outside until the weather turned, and for the last two nights they've been sitting in the closet. Let me tell you- a closet with a bucket of Simple Green in it gets STINKY.

The ingredients for this entry- Skaven, Simple Green, a bucket and my netbook.

Last night I checked on the minis, and they were squishy enough to be stripped. I pulled out my toothbrush and got to work. Now I'm the proud owner of a set of like-new first sculpt minis!

Unfortunately, one of my Gutter Runners snapped at the ankles, leaving me with seven. The Doomwheel is still soaking, as I seem to have used some kind of super-primer on it. I 'll give it another couple of days to sit before calling it quits.

Today it's off to grab some green and bone colored primer in order to get these minis under way (as soon as their new bases arrive, that is)..

Plague Marines VS Blood Angels- The Rematch

I'm about a week or so late posting this battle report. Sorry...

This would be the second meeting of my Plague Marines and Demitra's Blood Angels- the first meeting can be found here.

I decided to go with a more "powerful" build for my Plague Marines after getting my Deathwing butchered at the hands of Demitra's jump pack / missile launcher army. I cut down on the size of my Plague Marine squads and dropped the Vindicators in favor of three squads of two Obliterators each. The final build looked like this:

2 Daemon Princes with wings, the mark of Nurgle, and Warptime
2 squads of 6 Plague Marines with 2 Meltaguns, a Personal Icon, and a Plague Champion with a Power Fist mounted in a Rhino
6 Plague Marines with 2 Flamers, a Personal Icon, and a Plague Champion with a Power Fist mounted in a Rhino
6  Plague Marines with 2 Plasma Guns and a Personal Icon mounted in a Rhino
3 squads of 2 Obliterators

Demitra took the following:

Librarian with Jump Pack, Blood Lance, and Shield of Sanguinius
5 Sanguinary Guard with 2 Power Fists, Infernus Pistol, Plasma Pistol, and Chapter Banner
3 Sanguinary Priests, 2 with Jump Pack and Power Weapon
3 squads of 10 Assault Marines with 2 Melta Guns and a Power Fist
2 squads of 10 Devastators w/ 4 Missile Launchers

This build has four of the toughest squads in the game ready to bunker up inside their APCs and grab objectives, plus the Obliterators firepower combined with the Daemon Princes' assault punch are capable of thinning out just about any squad and breaking up hand-to-hand combats.

Note the handy-dandy cookie sheet for easy transport!

We rolled up "Capture and Control" for our mission, and Spearhead for our setup The board looked like this:

Look! I even marked off deployment zones!

Demitra won the roll off to be the first player, and decided to take the top-right corner of the map. This left me with the fairly open bottom-left corner. I set up my objective marker in the swamp, and Demitra dropped his in the ruined building. We then commenced setup. Demitra piled all of his Assault Marines into the gap between the forest and the swamp in his quarter, and then dumped every last Devastator Squad into the house.

My deployment saw me hiding most of my Rhinos behind the large hill accompanied by the Daemon Princes, and my last Rhino (the one with the Plasma Guns) was set up in the swamp over the objective. My Obliterators were placed in a position between my Plasma Gun squad and the Assault Marines. I was hoping to at least thin out and pin down the squads long enough to allow my other squads to take the objective away from the Devastators, and hopefully long enough to give my Plasma Gun squads a chance in hand-to-hand, thus contesting one objective and claiming the other. Realistically I thought I was looking at a draw.

Setup

I managed to seize the initiative and set about sending my Rhinos in a sweep around the forest. One was left exposed and it popped its Smoke Launchers. The shooting saw all six Obliterators firing Plasma Cannons into the bunched up Assault Marines, killing ten of them- five each from two squads.

The top of turn one.

The Blood Angels surprised me by going after the Rhinos instead of rushing my objective. This would buy me some time, so I was just fine with that. Shooting went pretty much as I expected it to, with amassed Missile Launcher fire taking out the Flamer squad's Rhino, but luckily leaving a wreck for the other vehicles to hide behind.

Why is this sideways? The mysteries of Blogspot are many.

During my second turn I continued to push forward with my Rhino convoy as my Flamer Marines pushed forward into the forest. The Daemon Princes high-tailed it behind the Rhinos, terrified of the eight Missile Launchers. With a bit more distance between me and the Assault Marines, the Obliterators began to advance so as to keep their Plasma Cannons in range. Firing into the amassed Blood Angels slew a few more, but with their cover saves I didn't take out nearly as many as I'd have liked to.

As my next photo is of the bottom of turn two, I'll describe that here as well. The Blood Angels continued to run around the back of the board, and a small squad (three) of Assault Marines broke off to come after the Flamer squad in the woods. The Missile Launchers began to pound on my Obliterators, but after some abysmal rolling on Demitra's part, and not a single failed armor save on mine, the squads remained unfazed.

Two turns in one!

Now was the time to strike. After the brown one took a wound from Perils of the Warp, in a rather risky move, I hurled my Daemon Princes at the full ten-man squad of Assault Marines. The Rhinos hung back in cover waiting to see what would happen in close combat, and my Flamer squad pushed through the woods. My shooting phase consisted of my Obliterators returning fire at the Devastators with one overheating and wounding itself, and I managed to thin them out a bit. Hand-to-hand combat saw the Assault squad reduced to only the sergeant (he passed all of his No Retreat wound saves).

Go Princes, go!

In Demitra's turn he launched his assault. The Sanguinary Guard rushed my Daemon Princes, and his remaining Assault Squad went after the lead Rhino. Another salvo of missiles saw off the wounded Obliterator. The Assault Squads Meltaguns caused a Rhino to explode, taking a Plague Marine with it. The remaining Plague Marines hid from any forthcoming assault. In melee the Sanguinary Guard inflicted a wound on my green Daemon Prince, and two on my brown one. The four remaining Sanguinary guard then evaporated under the attention of the green Daemon Prince, and the Power Fist armed sergeant was torn apart by the brown one.

That brown Daemon Prince ain't lookin' so hot...

As the Flamer Marines continued on their way after finishing the Assault squad the previous assault phase, the now Rhino-less Plague Marines began to advance on the Assault squad responsible for them now having to finish their trek on foot.  The Obliterators continued to push toward the Devastator Squads. Shooting saw the end of a couple Assault Marines and a few more Devastators. In hand-to-hand combat the Daemon Princes finished the Librarian and Sanguinary Priest. In a slugfest the Plague Marines and Assault Marines mangled each other, but the Plague Marines came out ahead.

Only one scoring Blood Angel left...

In the bottom of turn four the Blood Angels turned their attention toward the closing Daemon Princes. The brown one took a salvo of missiles and succumbed to his wounds. Other missiles took out several of the Flamer Marines. In the following hand-to-hand combat the sergeant of the last remaining Assault Squad fell to the combined efforts of the Plague Marines, and the game was called.

The end of the game.

I won this game, but to a certain degree I have to thank Demitra's dice. Those Devastators missed far more times than they should have.

That's the end of my first complete battle report. Hope you enjoyed it.

NO-WAY Open

Well, I was going to try to go to the NOVA Open this year, but between the $35 fee to get in the door, and the $65 fee to play in the Warhammer Fantasy tournament, I really don't think I'll be attending this year.
Or ever.
$100 to play a couple of tabletop games? No thank you. Look, I know we as wargamers have to expect a certain expense when it comes to the activity, but $100? This is double what I was expecting to pay, and $35 more than I am willing to pay. $65 to play in the tournament is excessive, but $35 just to walk in the door?

Say what you will about this being the biggest / best / most elite tournament in Virginia, but to me they're just getting $100 from those who've bought into hype. I don't want to hear about how it's also a painting contest, or how much swag is being handed out. $100 is WAY too much.

I may seem a bit bitter in this post, and to a degree I am- I was getting together some miniatures to play in this event. I was looking forward to getting back into the tournament scene. I'm just glad I checked how much a ticket was before I dropped another however many dollars into my army.

Guess my Skaven will stay at the "friendly" level instead of stepping up to the "competitive" bracket for now. Until then, I'll be on the lookout for any sensibly priced tournaments.

Sorry for the negative post, but this just has me irked.

The Return of Some Classics

Yesterday, Demitra returned the Skaven miniatures I had given him many moons ago. In the box I found my original Warhammer general, who now enjoys a place of honor in my display cabinet. Also inside were 8 Gutter Runners, 3 Warpfire Throwers, 5 Jezzails (including a champion!), a Doomwheel, and my Screaming Bell. All these models are first sculpts, which while it makes them smaller than the current models, will give a real "retro" feel to my Skaven.

Treasure!

Of course, they'll need a bath in Simple Green and some rebasing and repainting in order to get them to match the current color scheme for the army, but having these little blighters back just kinda warms my heart.

Oh, while I'm on a retro kick, for those of you who remember the old Damsel model, here she is:

I actually spent a bit of time painting her. Of course, like all models I really like, she's purple. The red hair served to contrast the purple nicely, and her white gloves and belt were used as an alternative to the usual jade green I use. I think she turned out well above my average ability (see my Deathwing).

I intend to place a photo counterpart to Demitra's video (yes, video!) battle report soon. Right now however I'm just throwing up some quick updates before I go to work. I just don't have time to re-size the photos for posting right now...

Secret Project Unveiled

For the last couple of weeks I've been putting together my girlfriend's birthday present. She's a big fan of dragons, so a week or so before her birthday we went onto the Reaper Miniatures website and picked out which one she liked best. The Dragon of Fire won out, so I placed an order with The War Store and waited. Unfortunately the mini arrived a few days late, so I went about cleaning and prepping the model as quickly as possible.The model is fairly large, and comes in only five pieces, so it wasn't too hard cleaning the mold release off with a bit of dish washing soap and some hot water.

Next came the dry-fitting. I'm glad I did this instead of assuming the model would go together smoothly, as the socket for the right wing was warped. Only just a bit, but enough that the socket and the tab both required a bit of filing and clipping in order to get them to agree.

First things first, I glued the pieces together. My preferred superglue is Gorilla Glue brand, and I then Zip Kicker the piece into place. I don't treat the entire join with Zip Kicker, just enough for the parts to stay together without assistance. It was at this point I noticed it- something I should have seen in the dry fitting- there was a gigantic gap in the dragon's neck!

No problem. Off to the freezer to pull out my (last!) roll of Kneadatite Putty. More commonly known to modelers as "green stuff", it comes as a half blue, half yellow epoxy ribbon. When mixed together the putty becomes green and sticky. This mixture was then used to fill the gaps in the model- in particular the neck and the bases of both wings.

...And now the gaps are almost invisible!

I basically had to rebuild the base of this wing.

Having completed the assembly phase of the project, it was on to priming. Now, I usually prime everything black, but in this case I opted for gray as it's a neutral color that would neither darken nor lighten the colors I was working with.

Next it was the easy bit- basecoating the beast. I applied G.W. Dark Angel Green to the majority of the model using the biggest brush I had at my disposal, The toughest part of this, believe it or not, is making sure you don't miss a spot as the brush will often skip over areas of detail. Finding these little blips of carelessness annoys me to no end, as it's usually only once you're in the middle of painting another color that you find you have to backtrack and touch up a color you should already have been done with.

Dark Angel Green in place.

Next to pick out the scales. This was, let me tell you, a nightmare. I decided to go over the entire model (several times) with the side of a brush loaded with the tiniest bit of G.W. Snot Green in order to build up highlights on the scales gradually. The alternative was painting every scale one at a time, and I'd sooner die than trudge through that madness.

Next came the other bits. My girlfriend had decided on a green and yellow color scheme, which normally would drive me mad, but luckily I have a secret weapon. Vallejo Model Color #70978; Dark Yellow! It's a wonderfully natural looking yellow that covers most anything in one pass. The wing membranes, the sail along the back, the frills on either side of the head, and the scales down the stomach all got a coat of this.

The yellow then received a wash of G.W.'s Gryphonne Sepia, followed by light drybrushings of Dark Yellow, followed by Dark Yellow mixed with Vallejo's Bonewhite on the highest parts of the wings.

Next it was time for details. as you can see in the above picture, I picked out the bones in the wings with the same Dark Angel Green / Snot Green blend as the rest of the body. All the horns, claws, and teeth got a transition from Vallejo Earth to Khaki, and finally to Bonewhite. The mouth was painted Vallejo Bloody Red, and the tongue was painted G.W. Liche Purple.

Finally the stones were painted G.W. Shadow Grey followed by a brushing of Valleju Stonewall Grey, and lastly Vallejo Ghost Grey. The eyes were painted Bloody Red with a yellow (exactly which one escapes me) iris, and finally a vertical cat-like pupil,

Almost done...

 I took a break to clean of my pallet after... let's say a year. A bit of paint had built up.

It was about cleanin' time!

Finally, i trekked over to Michael's Arts & Crafts to decide on a base. This was taken home, cleaned up a bit, and painted black. The dragon was then mounted on top, and the project was finished.

...At least until we get a day here where it's not too humid to clear coat him.

I'm rather pleased with the final outcome of the mini, and judging by the "so cool" responses I got from her, my girlfriend approves as well.

Coming Events

I know I've been silent for awhile but, you see, I've been working on a secret project. A pretty big one that has taken up all of my painting time recently.
...And modeling time.
...And gap-filling time.

In other words, a bit of a special project if you will. I will have a full step-by-step breakdown of how I completed this project as soon as it is well and truly finished. One last trip to Michael's Arts & Crafts...



I did get a game of Descent: Journeys in the Dark in (well, technically Descent: Road to Legend), but I don't think that really fully qualifies as a wargame, thus no pictures. Maybe I'll throw in a "Dungeon Report" in at some time in the future, but for now, nada.