Back from 'Ard Boys

I had a blast this last weekend. Friday night I played a game of 40k, and a game of Lord of the Rings. Saturday I participated in the 'Ardboyz qualifier at Imperial Outpost and then got in another game of LotR.

The tournament was exhausting. But I had 3 really great games. In the end I took 5th place and so will not be going on to the semi-finals . First place had 48 battle points, 2nd had 47, 3rd had 46, 4th had 45, and I had 44. So needless to say it was really close. Jon Jensen, who won was 1-1-1, and those of us who finished 2nd-5th were all 1-0-2!

Here is my list:

Characters
Wood Elf High Born
Great Stag, Magic Spear w/ Killing Blow, Oaken Armor (Regenerates)
Treeman Ancient
+1 Dispel Dice
Spellsinger (Lvl 2)
Unicorn, 2x Dispel Scrolls
Spellsinger (Lvl 2)
Elven Steed, 2x Dispel Scrolls
Branchwraith (Lvl 1)
Annoyance of Netlings (6+ to hit in challenge)
Wood Elf Noble
Battle Standard Bearer
3+ Ward Save (when it fails its gone)
Sword of Might

Core
Dryads (8)
Branch Nymph
Dryads (8)
Branch Nymph
Dryads (8)
Branch Nymph
Dryads (8)
Branch Nymph
Dryads (8)
Branch Nymph
Dryads (8)
Branch Nymph
Dryads (8)
Branch Nymph

Special
Wild Riders (5)
Full Command, War Banner
Wild Riders (5)
Full Command
Wild Riders (5)
Full Command
Treekin (3)

Rare
Treeman
Treeman

Game 1 - Jon Daly's Tomb Kings
My 3 treemen, were very scared of his Screaming Skull Catapults, since they get no saves from them, and they take double wounds because they are flammable. The rest of my army was afraid of the Casket of Souls up on the hill. With that constant threat, I was unable to stop much of his magic, allowing him to get off the charges he needed, and to take ranging shots with his catapults.

I played conservatively with my treemen, and tried to surf them forward a bit with my plethora of Treesinging spells, but I got shut down. Finally when one of his catapult destroyed itself, I brought them out, but it was too late for them to do much. Meanwhile, one of his princes on chariot, in squad of chariots with a banner for +1 to hit in the first round of combat was running through units of my list. Fortunately I got them below half, and wiped out a big block of skellies, which brought the game to a draw.

Game 2 - Jon Jensen's Empire
3 units of core knights, 3 units of Inner Circle Knight, Kurt Helborg, Volkmar on War Altar, Leopold and 2 steam tanks!!! In this scenario, table quarters were worth 750 VP's instead of the normal 100. That's great for me, because if there's one thing my skirmshing, highly mobile army can do, its claim table quarters.

First turn he shoots his mortar at a treeman. It scatters right on top of my BSB who was hiding behind a forest, out of everyone's LOS. Dead. Then he shoots a cannon at my other treeman. Treeman takes no wounds, but the spellsinger behind him takes a shot to the face. Dead.

So at first I was a little behind in the magic department. But I managed to assassinate his remaining mages, who were in units of knights. He wiped out a couple of units of wild riders and some dryads as we fought over an area of ruins. In the exchange, I also killed some swordsmen, the stupid mortar and the stupid cannon.

I also led Volkmar around by the nose. He is frenzied and so hbas to charge if he's within range. I led him with a unit of dryads for most of the game. The last two turns, I led him through a shallow river, which caused wounds to the chariot.

We also so combat between the 2 steam tanks and my 2 treeman that survived. I eventually killed one of the steam tanks and got the other below half. I avoided Kurt Helborg like the plague all game, and he and his knights just chased a unit of 100 point dryads around.

In the end, I had 2 table quarters, and I got a solid victory.

Game 3 - Daniel Poppe's Orcs and Goblins
So much magic! He had two level 4 Orc Shamans on Boar chariots, and two level 2 Gobbo Shamans on Wolf chariots. This scenario called for placing two loot counters. Controlling each was worth 1500 VP's. One was in my deployment zone, one was in his. He set up his artillery pieces in the center of the board on a hill. I pretty much ignored the center and set up heavy on both flanks. He did the same, except for 2 units of savage boys.

In the early parts of the game, I tree sung the forests to protect the flanks and to isolate his units. I also drew out the fanatics early from his two night gobbo units, hoping they would hit forests or his own units. I took very little damage from them.

On the right flank I charged a unit of night goblins with a unit of dryads, hoping to cause enough wounds to overcome their static combat resolution of 5. Unfortunately he had nets, which make me strike at -1 strength. I lost and was run down. This put him right on top of the counter in my deployment zone. Also on that flank, his general charged out of a unit to hit some dryads. They held the first turn, doing no damage. Next turn, the general failed to cause any wounds, lost combat by 1 and ran away. Unfortunately I didn't chase him down. He wouldn't have any more part in the game, but the points would have been nice. There was also a fight between his giant and my treeman. They both held for a couple of turns. Some dryads charged in later and finished off the giant.

On the left flank, my terror-causing treemen ran off a couple of units and then charged into some big block of orcs. Here is where by BSB paid off. I was quickly whittling down these units, but still lost to static combat resolution. I failed my break tests a couple of times, but thanks to my BSB, I was able to re-roll and held on. In the final turn I lost a treeman, but he was unable to move back onto the counter. I popped down a unit of dryads on it. In that turn he hit them with a couple of spells I couldn't stop, and reduced them to one dryad left in the unit. He then tried to shoot it with his artillery pieces and some bows. But they all missed. And because of how the scenario was worded, I still held the counter and that one dryad gave me 1500 VP's (canceling out his 1500 VP's). In the end it was a draw.

3 great games. I was exhausted driving home, and all day Sunday I was still recovering. I had planned to take a lot of pictures, and I even brought my camera. The games were so intense, I forgot the whole time. I didn't even have much time in between games.

Next up... Easterlings for The Lord of the Rings.


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Friday's Project: Dryads

That's it. The "Extra Wood Elves for 'Ardboyz" project is complete! I was originally going to do a white color scheme on this unit, but wanted to do something a little quicker.

Now, I'm off to get in a game of Lord of the Rings, and then some sleep... maybe. Tomorrow: 'Ardboyz!
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Thursday's Project: Battle Standard Bearer

The last of the characters is now done. I cheated, and didn't do the back of his banner. I guess I just have to make sure he doesn't flee, so my opponent won't see his back. Tomorrow, I head for Phoenix. I plan to work on the Dryads in the afternoon and try to get some 40K games in to practice at 1500 points for an upcoming tournament. Almost there, then on to the Easterlings!
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Wednesday's Project: Lord on Great Stag

Brand new lord for my wood elves is done. I really enjoyed painting the stag, but not the lord himself. He reminded me too much of painting wild riders, and I've done enough of that.


Programming Note: I will not be painting the Noble on Horse tomorrow. Instead I will be painting the Noble Battle Standard Bearer from the Wood Elf Army Box I got, when the army first came out. He's very excited to finally get painted after all this time. That's it for today. I feel like I'm just cruisin' along!
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Tuesday's Project: Treeman

So first off, I just found out today that I made the Law Journal at my school. I was preparing myself mentally not to make it, because apparently I psyched myself out. Boy was I surprised when I found out. Okay, on to the painitng...

Truth be told, this guy was really easy. I planned to work on him tonight specifically because I knew I had a lot of reading to do for Wednesday. Basically he's painted with Dark Flesh, Vermin Brown, Vomit Brown, 1:1 Vomit:Kommando Khaki.

Here's all three of my treemen:

Left: The one I did tonight.
Middle: My first treeman. He is a stock Citadel Treeman. I used a circular saw attachment for a dremel to chop all of his legs and torso in the middle. I then extended them all with wire hanger (No more wire hangers!), and filled the extensions in with green stuff.
Right: My first scratchbuilt treeman I did a month or so ago when I first taught myself the method from the GW US Online article.
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Monday's Project: Spell Singer on Horse

If you read Wood Elves - 'Ardboyz Additions Built, you'd know that I have 5 projects to work on this week for the 'Ardboyz tournament this Saturday. So, if you do the math correctly, it works out to one project per day (good work, Rain Man). I finished today's project, a Spell Singer on horse. Nothing too fancy here. The paint job is adequate, nothing phenomenal. But it is good tabl top quality and should mesh well with the rest of my force. I did do some extensive green stuff conversion to make this Glade Rider into a scroll caddy. Here's how:

I took a Glade Riderset of legs and torso, and put them together on a flying stand. I so this so I can paint my horses and riders separately. Notice on the legs there are three distinct layers of cloth. Since this was a mage, I wanted him to be wearing robes instead of the Wood Elf Peter Pan leotard.

I began by extending the cloth that was underneath the other two layers.

I then proceeded to lengthen the middle layer.

Next I lengthened the outermost layer. I also began constructing the torso portion of the robe. Basically, one layer just folds over the other.

I thought the robes were a little short, so I went back and further extended all three levels of cloth.

Next, I added the head and the cape. I also used some green stuff to extend the joint oh his right arm. With the extra thickness of the cloth on the legs, the arm needed to be out a little farther from the body.

Next, I started working on the mage's staff. I used the Glade Rider banner pole. I whittled down the top end to a point, so that it would act as the armature for the jewel I would be putting on top. I decided to use brown stuff instead of green stuff, as it is a little more durable. I just created the rough shape of a mounting, and a rough shape of a jewel.

Once the brown stuff had fully cured, I used an x-acto blade to form the facets of the jewel. It was the first time I had tried this and didn't come out quite how I expected it to. It works, overall, I guess.

I then put on the right arm and used brown stuff again to form the right sleeve of the robe. I tried to make it look as if it were naturally hanging down from the army.


I made another sleeve for the left arm. I also sculpted on a crown. Overall it was a lot of work to do for a simple Level 2 scroll caddy. In fact this is the second mounted mage, I've had to convert because Games Workshop has made a mounted mage model for the Wood Elves. Oh well, I don't think I'll need anymore...

Tomorrow, my third treeman!
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Wood Elves - 'Ardboyz Additions Built

Well, I spent most of today building the remaining figures I need to get my Wood Elves up to 3500 points, for the Qualifiers this Saturday. Now, since there is no painting requirement or score, I'm technically done... I wish. As any of my friends at Imperial Outpost can tell you, a tournament is not a tournament, unless I'm up until 4am finishing my army.

Starting in the back and working from left to right:

• My second scratchbuilt treeman (the other one is already painted). I used a technique found here on the US GW website.
• Spellsinger on horse (converted from a Glade Rider - steps of the conversion will be posted tomorrow.
• Noble on horse (took me forever to pin him, plus I lost one of his horns, and I carved a new one out of sprue, then lost that. I carved another one, and watched it like a hawk).
• Lord on Great Stag.
• 12x Drayds

Since there are five units I have to paint, and there are five days until the tournament, I need to complete one unit per day. To keep myself motivated, I will pledge to post the finished product of each unit here on that day (or the wee hours of the following morning).

• Monday: Spellsinger
  
• Tuesday: Treeman
  
• Wednesday: Lord on Great Stag
  
• Thursday: Noble on Horse
  
• Friday: Dryads

Off to bed, I have to a couple hours early tomorrow, because I got none of my readings done for class.
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Adding to my Wood Elves for 'Ardboyz

On Saturday, April 19th, Imperial Outpost Games will be hosting an 'Ardboyz qualifier. I have about 2250 of Wood Elves painted. So here's what I need to work on before then:

• 2x Treemen (one is painted, one needs to finish being modeled)
• 12x Dryads
• 1x Lord on Horse
  
• 1x Lord on Stag
• 1x Spell Singer on Horse (needs to be converted from a Glade Rider)

Now, I know that painting is not a requirement for 'Ardboyz, but I have a disease, which prevents me from playing with unpainted models in a tournament. Plus painted models perform better than unpainted models. Lots to do.

Also, here's some old pics of the initial 2000 point army after I finished it.

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