Mean Green Mini Stripping Machine

Once again Blogger rotates my photo.

Not too much to report today, other than that I've finally gotten around to stripping the paint from my old, old Skaven. As you can see there is a collection of Plague Monks, Globadiers, Stormvermin, even an original Warlock Engineer in there. I still don't have the varnish to take the shine off the minis I dipped, so no army photo/list yet. Not that it matters, as the weather on NoVA os about to go from bad to Very Bad, making it so that I have exactly a 0% chance of varnishing today any way. Curse the snow! Give me summer any day.

I've also been slacking on the painting front. I have Super Dungeon Explore minis to paint, as well as Mice & Mystics, even my Grey Aliens, not to mention the fact that I'm way behind on my podcasts, but I'm just having a hard time picking up a brush lately. Maybe something will get me into gear here, as I really hope it will, but maybe I just need to pick up a dang brush, open some paint, and go to town. Watching TV is getting really boring and all that's on is depressing stuff.

That's it! I'm going to start back up on my Greys, snide comments about my color scheme be damned. I bought them to enjoy the hobby aspect of these games, so I'm going to enjoy it weather certain people want me to or not. Besides, I've gotten more compliments than criticisms on my army, and I like the color scheme.

Time to grab my brush and go to town. Now, if you'll excuse me...

Doom, Doom, Doomwheel

Since my army list now calls for two of these suckers (rather than a pair of Abominations) as well as two Warp Lightning Cannons (suck on that multi-wound models) I had to run out and get a "modern" Doomwheel to run alongside my "classic" one. Since no two Skaven war machines should look exactly alike, this works just fine for me. Off to the right is my newest addition to my Skaven horde. Thinking I had a practice game coming up at my FNSLGS Wednesday I frantically assembled it at work, fully aware that once again, much to my chagrin, I may have to field an unpainted miniature. Turns out, that due to circumstances beyond my scheduled opponent's control, the game would be cancelled. This sparked two things in me- annoyance at the situation, and a burning desire not to run an unpainted mini in WHFB. Thusly I sat down at my painting table with purpose- invigorated by my fury at having to miss one of the very few warm-ups I would be afforded by the time crunch.

I primed. I basecoated with a purpose. I even made a new batch of "not quite the same color as Army Painter but still pretty good looking" Finish Floor Wax dip. To the left is the final product.

You may note that off to the right of the freshly assembled Doomwheel and behind the painted but unbased one there are Giant Rats. For those of you long-term GW fans out there you may even note a pair of Necromundan Giant Rats. I have been desperate to fill in my "rat dart" units, and much to my relief between the ones included in the Doomwheel kit and the ancient metal treasures returned to me by Demitra I have enough minis (even a few extras) to finish out the units. I'm on a mission here. I am going to finish painting the Skaven army, as I had a few lingering minis that had not yet been completed. I'll need to get some Army Painter Camo Green to prime the stragglers, as well as some Simple Green, a new toothbrush, and finances permitting a box of the new plastic Stormvermin (and/or a Plague Furnace should the Great Horned One smile upon me) to bulk out my remaing rat collection holes. I should likely add some Night Runners and maybe a Plagueclaw Catapult to the roster, but let's be honest- compared to the other entries in the army book those options are sub-par. Then there's Poisoned Wind Globadiers and Plague Censer Bearers of which I have a few. Maybe I should fill out those units. I mean, they're already started...

To the point- I'm almost done painting what rats I already own, and I'm nearly ready for the tourney, so all it will take to complete my army now is a can of Dullcote and the $15 entry fee to play. I'll post the army soon, as soon as I can snap a picture of it fully assembled and painted. The army list will be in the same post, as the tournament is an open list format so I don't really care who sees it ahead of time. Expect some exciting things for the rats in the very near future!

Tournament Time Again!

After a long hiatus, it is time to pull out my beloved Skaven again. My Friendly Not-So Local Game Store is having a Warhammer Fantasy tournament coming up on February 22nd. I had to juggle my work schedule around a little bit, but I managed to switch shifts with a co-worker in order to attend.

To that end I have been looking for input as to my army composition, and I have been getting... A very mixed response. On Dakka Dakka I was getting several different responses from a fair few different army lists thrown my way. Some swear I should take a massive block of Stormvermin, others claim that my Grey Seer is going to miscast and blow himself to tiny bits. Since he's not going to be dropped under any circumstances (the Dreaded Thirteenth is just too useful against enemies like Chaos Warriors that my shooting and other spells won't be able to crack), I had to sift through the feedback in order to find a suitable kit loadout. The real debate was over the the Arcane Item he would be carrying. I settled on a kit that allowed him to cast The Curse of the Horned Rat more easily.

Since this is an open-list event, I have decided to forego subtlety and simply go for the throat. The usual shenanigans- a Grey Seer, a "suicide" Warlock Engineer, a super tanked-up battle standard bearer. You know the drill. I did however tweak things a touch this time. First of all, this game is going to be smaller than I'm used to- 2,000 points. That means I had to take a scalpel to my army and remove a few things. Less Gutter Runners, no double Hell Pit Abomination (in fact none at all), and less in the way of Clanrats. I'll be running my old nemesis, the Doomwheel again. Two of them. Lots of "rat darts"- nine strong Giant Rat packs that are there to take up unit drops, redirect the enemy, and generally make a nuisance of themselves will be present as well.

I dropped ten Clanrats, demoted my Warpfire Thrower to a second Poisoned Wind Mortar- the reasoning behind this is simple- it is a more stable weapon, it can move and fire, and it doesn't need to see its target. It also ignores armor. I will be throwing away my flaming attacks, but that just means I'll have to blow those regenerating targets I face up with my various forms of Warp Lightning. Dragon Ogres will be incredibly dangerous, as I'll pretty much auto-frenzy them with all the electricty I churn out, but hopefully the fact that I have thirteen drops (fitting, no?) will allow me to see where my enemies deploy and react by plunking my Doomwheels down on the opposite end of the board. A couple of rat darts will have to soak up the lightning bolts (or Skavenslaves as each unit consists of 40) to keep the Doomwheels from nuking one another. I have a limited amount of time to experiment with these concepts- I haven't even purchased my second Doomwheel yet!

Suffice it to say, I have some work in front of me. The journey begins with a game against the Lizardmen Wednesday afternoon. It terminates with three games in a few weeks. May the Horned Rat smile upon me and my troops.