Today's Update: The Sguig-a-thon Nears its End

Well, actually I'm a little over half way through the squig herd. The squigs above have been matte varnished, and I've also added gloss varnish to the tongues, gums, and any other "slimy" parts. There will be a Squig Hopper mixed in as part of the herd, but since there's a goblin riding it, and I'm presently painting the goblins, that mini will not be shown until I've finished the herd and I show it off entirely.

There has been another development. My GW order arrived the other day, and so I've divided the Mangler Squig mini (they can sort of bee seen in the top left corner) and placed it on two bases. After doing that I added some extra mayhem in the form on additional Squig Hoppers to the minis.

I also have put together the movement trays for my regiments.

Everything, Night Goblins, Mangler Squigs, Trolls, and movement trays have been sanded and most of that stuff has been primed. I drybrushed the sides of the movement trays, but they're kind of boring, so you'll only see them in action with my regiments on them.

Now I just need to resist the temptation to paint the Manglers or the two Trolls instead of putting a dent in the Night Goblin horde. It's a lot of minis to paint, so I'm going to break the regiment up into batches so that I don't go mad painting them and abandon the army altogether again.

For now, however, it's time to get prepped for work.

Hopefully I'll have the army ready to be displayed before I get married in October. Here's hoping, eh?

School Daze- Tiny Warhammer Fantasy Games

So I've been on a bit of a Warhammer Fantasy kick recently. Demitra has been, admittedly unintentionally, stoking the heck out of that fire. Then I saw this. The battle report got me thinking, "I like smallish battles, I wonder if the old GW school league rules are out there. Turns out they are, and they've been updated for this year. This filled me with glee! Small point games, quick and easy to play, and perfect for a quick dip into the WHFB universe. Also not too hard for those new to the game to grasp. There are limitations on lists that (should) help to keep games from becoming (too) unbalanced. At only 800 points you have 200 points for a Lord or a Hero (one of the two- no more, no less), 200+ points of Core, 200-400 points of Special choices, and 200 points of Rare. These smaller point totals keep crazy stuff like Steam Tanks, Hell Pit Abominations, Giants, and other insane gribblies out of the picture. Unfortunately, due to a massive undercosting it does not exclude Hydras. That's the only real oversight in the system I've seen though.

 

So, why am I so avidly singing the praises of these tiny little games? That answer has a couple of layers.

 

These games are accessible. I'm trying to get a couple of people into the game, one of whom has almost never played a tabletop game in their life. Both of which have never played WHFB, only heard me sing the game's praises. At this point level it's easier to digest what's going on on the board. The games can be played on a 4'x4' area, making it so that there isn't as much room to have to take in. You have fewer units, which means less special rules to clog up the game. You don't have the crazy big stuff (high end wizards, rampaging monsters) to contend with, just (for the vast majority) pretty basic stuff. Less to have to try to remember just plain lowers the frustration level.

 

These games are fast. For an experienced player these games shouldn't take more than an hour, for a newbie it'll take at most two hours (assuming no total brain lockup level of analysis paralysis). This allows for plenty of time to check rules, explain to each other, and resolve combat at a slower pace.

 

You have to pick and choose what you'll take. Why did I emphasize this? Because even for an experienced player, having these handcuffs on makes list building challenging. I tooled around with an 800 point theoretical Empire army list for over an hour in Army Builder trying to get things just so. It was even tougher with my Night Goblins.

Finally, and most importantly, it's rewarding. As you paint your stuff you can throw it straight onto the board. It's just frustrating chipping away at painting an army only to realize that you have tens (if not hundreds) of minis still yet to be painted (or even purchased)! You can keep costs (comparatively) under control. It's still expensive, but in smaller doses.

 

I've built a few sample army lists I'd like to try out someday, but until then it's just fun to tool around slapping together different armies and mentally deciding what you would do with them.

 

...For me any way.

Squiggy Squig-Squig

Yep, I'm working on my Squig Herd. I had to tweak a couple of minis (the goblins on rocks) because they were getting in each other's way.

A little re-priming and voila! Minis ready to paint.

The squigs on the right have their skin finished, and the ones on the left do not. The difference is subtle, but it's there, trust me.

On the modeling front I've finished the Night Goblin horde unit. I'm now waiting on the shipment I ordered from GW (Mangler Squig, troll, movement trays, and sand). Normally I would balk at $8+ for a tub of sand, but the initial minis have the same stuff on them, and I don't want the current ones to look different. It's the same reason I'm using GW primer rather than my usual Rust-Oleum primer.

I'm moving forward, but I'd be lying if I said the upcoming gigantic regiment of gobbos wasn't intimidating. Regardless, I'm bracing myself for the upcoming "goblin-a-geddon".

The End is Nigh-Er

Another step closer to finishing my Night Goblin army, as Demitra provided me my Orcs & Goblins book as well as two boxes of Night Goblins. Soon (like tonight) I'll have a horde of little evil creatures bent on trying to achieve something on the field of battle. All I need now are the Mangler Squigs and one more troll. Demitra is going to (in theory) hook me up with a Stone Troll, and then I'll be ready.

Muahahaha!

Mas Goblins

Another picture post today, This one is of the two Night Goblin archer units I finished today.

To be honest, the front unit was almost painted and just needed two archers as well as the stars painted onto their clothes. After that a layer of Dullcote. The rear unit only had their bows done. They were a bit of a trial to finish, but now it's "treat time". I'll be painting up my squig herd next.

Back to the grind.

More Gobliney Goodness

This one isn't a rant about army composition and tactics. This one is an actual showcase of painted miniatures.

As I said in my last post, I've been painting up Night Goblins. Some were already painted and required just the odd touch-up here and there:

 While others had languished in a partially painted limbo inside my gaming closet:

 It seemed a shame to let Skarsnik just sit there unused, unloved, and unpainted, so he was a top priority.

 

Blogger does weird stuff from time to time, and today it decided to mess around with my pictures. Any way, the above Night Goblins are my next planned target.

Not a lot of text today, I prefer to let the pictures speak for themselves.

...And it's time to head off to work

A Break From Mystery: Night Goblins

Skarsnik & Gobbla

Yep, that's right. In addition to my Skaven I'm now putting together a Night Goblin army. I love hordes of inept little villains, and I'm a sucker for punishment when it comes to painting a billion and a half little dudes.

Dudes that all look the same.

Luckily my army list has quite a few characters in it, as well as a good number of Squigs. This helps to break up the monotony a bit, and with an army that relies on Horde formations in order to function, this is a great big deal. I thought that all Clanrats looked the same. No. All Night Goblins are the same dude over and over. I don't care if they have slight variations in pose, or the boss on their shield varies a bit between minis, I have 120 miniatures from the old "Battle for Skull Pass" box set, and the spearmen are all the same. The archers are all the same. They're all essentially the same goblin wearing the same black robe with the same armament from gobbo to gobbo.

But that's okay. I love the fluff behind the Night Goblins. I love the way they play on the table. You can be so insidious and constantly mess with your opponent. The army is pretty inept, to the point where if you can't cripple your opponent on the way in and then hammer him with all your best stuff once he make it to you, you have lost the game. There's no heroic last stand with this army. There's no valiant warrior cutting swathes of enemies down with every strike.

Another inept green evildoer.

Mostly there's lots of screaming.

...And dying...

...And let's not forget the running away.

When things go right however, and they tend to have to go more or less flawlessly, there's joyous cackling. And I mean a lot. This is an expert's army. Not only does it tend to get unruly, but you have a limited pallet of troops to draw from. If they're not ill tempered little green dudes in black robes or giant man-eating (and goblins too if they're not careful) fungoid monstrosities (and in my case dimwitted trollish pets) they're out. I probably wouldn't include the Trolls if not for one coming in the Battle for Skull Pass box, but if Games Workshop says they're fluffy for a Night Goblin army, who am I to argue? Plus the minis are really cool.

The limitations on the army make it function in a very specific manner. Stand your ground (usually), release the Fanatics, and then rush the now softened enemy with the big stuff.There are variations on this, and my army uses a particular one that has... Questionable morals at best (I'm not cheating, but the way I employ my regiments is at times perhaps a bit gamey). But hey, I'm playing goblins, and there are always plenty more where they came from, right?

The origin.

I'm not going to post my army roster here (for a change) as it is both a little in flux as well as (for now) a closely guarded secret. Gobbos are known for their tricks and traps, and they abound in this list. Tipping my hand would ruin the surprise as well as the fun.

I'm hoping I'll be able to get a game or so in before my free time goes from dwindling to non-existent (the wedding planning is a complete time vampire).

Demitra gave some rumblings about his Empire army, but it would require a large investment of time, effort, and money on his part, and he basically said for me not to hold my breath, so I'm not going to. It would be nice to have another sparring partner as my usual WHFB partner had another kid recently (ish) so he's kind of out of the picture for a bit.

Oh, by the way, the mystery project has been completed, and I have begun a rundown of it, but this was more pressing today, so it has been pushed back.