Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Well the Sons of Sek got finished right under the wire. The GT was a blast and I'll have full coverage by this weekend. 

Monday, April 28, 2008

Pleasurereaper of Slaanesh - Model Showcase and Datasheet


This was my project over this last winter break. My plan was to enter this into the Adeptus Arizona Holiday Painting Competition. Long story short, I was the only one who entered in this category, and I won by default. Dean, the owner of the site, was gracious enough to still offer me the prize for "winning" (the cost of the Baneblade), but I didn't feel right accepting.

Modelling this guy was a lot of fun... except for one step. Notice how smooth it is. That's because I scraped off all of the rivets. I spent more time on this one step than on any one other step. I think it took me a total of 5-6 hours to get them all off. Next Baneblade, the rivets stay on.

The "blastmasters" are simply the lascannon turrets plus the warp amp from the chaos vehicle accessory sprue plus some guitar string.

The sonic turret is a combination of plasticard, nylon washers, screen mesh, and more guitar cables.

The pipe organs and their housing is all made of plasticard. I simply took a series of tubes (like the internet) and drilled holes down the center, and then sliced them at an angle. The housing was a little more difficult, but I'm pleased with how it came out.

Painting was also a blast. I think I actually spent less time painting this guy than I did assembling and converting. The black areas are Vallejo German Grey. There is an intial hardline of Vallejo Dark Grey, and then a final extreme hardline of Vallejo Neutral Grey.

All of the pink areas were done with a basecoat of Warlock Purple. I then used various watered down layers of Tentacle Pink, with increasing amounts of Skull White to highlight.

Metal areas were painted with a watered down boltgun. Then I applied a Chaos Black Wash. I picked out the raised areas with Boltgun and then again with Mithril.

The gold areas, were made with Shining Gold, washed with 1:1 Chestnut Ink:Water. I then reapplied Shining Gold, and finally Mithril Silver.

It's yet to see a game, which I'd like to correct soon. Below is an Apocalypse Datasheet for the Pleasurereaper. I'd love some comments on the balance of the datasheet and the pricing. I overestimated the price compared to the Plaguereaper of Nurgle and other datasheets I've seen online.

You can view the PDF below, or you can download it here.

EDIT: I increased the points from 550 to 575 (note: it's now 125 points more expensive than the Plaguereaper).
I also cleaned up some of the special rules (Sensory Overload has a range now, Warp Cacophony applies only to enemy models, both as originally intended).
Also added a special rule, so that it cannot benefit from the Flank March Strategic Asset.
EDIT2.0: Made some other changes per feedback on the net. Price increased, and Warp Cacophony reduced in range and LD modifier.


Read this doc on Scribd: Pleasure Reaper

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Selling My Dark Angels

Well, I've decided to sell my "Doublewing" Army that I could never seem to schedule for painting. Every couple of months, I would plan to work on it and then something else had to get painted. It just kept getting put further and further off.

I painted one test model, and wanted to post it here for posterity, since I will probably never see it again. I was going to paint them up as the Sons of the Covenant, a Dark Angels successor chapter. I really like the green stuff base, and will probably steal that for a future project (maybe some Haradrim warriors for LotR).

Everything else is the army is unprimed and unpainted. If you're interested the auction starts at 5:50pm Friday the 24th. You can find it on Ebay here.

EDIT: Hmm... I just realized that I forget to clean up the headlight. Oh well, not like I'm keeping him.
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Finals? Already?


Today, while in class, I realized that I have finals starting a week from this Saturday. That's right my first final is on a Saturday. I talked with some classmates and they were equally surprised that finals were next week. We all new they started May 2nd, but c'mon, it's April, and May is so far away.

Thinking I had another whole week before finals, my plan was to finish the remaining Easterling infantry I currently own (32) and then paint the cavalry and heroes after finals. I would finish building and basing 8 infantry at a time and then paint them, before moving on to the next 8. That's not going to happen now.

Thursday night (oh my God, that's tomorrow) is the last night I can do any extended hobby stuff for the next 3 1/2 weeks. I just finished putting together and basing 8 Easterlings with Sword/Shield, and I plan to get them painted tomorrow as a last hurrah. After that, I have to seriously buckle down and start preparing for exams.

I will probably try to build and base some of the models during finals when I need a break, but I don't think I can commit to any painting.

In the time leading up to and during finals I will post pictures of models and armies that I have already completed. I'm determined not to let the blog fall to the wayside during finals.
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

New Project: Lord of the Rings - Easterlings

On July 5th and 6th, Adeptus Arizona will be hosting the first ever Lord of the Rings Indy GT (click here for more info) at Imperial Outpost Games in Phoenix, AZ. I decided to do the Easterlings, as I've wanted to do them when they first came out while I was working for GW years and years ago.

So, I have my new project: Easterlings.

I need to paint the following:
  • 8 Spearmen (Done)
  • 16 Sword and Shield
  • 16 Bowmen
  • 1 Banner Bearer
  • 2 Captains on Foot
  • 1 Captain on Horse
  • 5 Kataphrakts
  • 1 Khamul the Easterling
I won't need everything for the GT, but I want to have various options painted as a develop tactics and strategies for running the Easterlings.

I forgot how quick painting Lord of the Rings models can be compared to 40k or Fantasy. I was able to paint these 8 spearmen fairly quickly.

I based them with the Fine Slate and Medium Slate from the GW's Urban basing kit, to give the impression of the Easterlings marching through the ruins of some city of Gondor. I always base my models before I prime them, so that the priming can help seal the material. I also paint the texture of the base, before I paint the model. I use watered down Codex Grey, then drybrush with Fortress Gray and finally Skull White. I use the straw from GW's Hero Basing Kit.



Painting Steps:

Base Coat
1. Painted the cloth with Scab Red (I could be messy at this step).
2. Painted armor with Shining Gold
3. Painted the square on the shield, the belt and the boots with Bestial Brown
4. Washed everything with 3:2 Flesh Wash:Water

Cloth
1. Highlight with Red Gore
2. Final highlight with Red Gore/Bleached Bone

Armor
1. Drybrush with Shining Gold
2. Drybrush with Mithril Silver
3. Square on the shield is highlighted with Bestial Brown

Black Cloth / Spear Shaft
1. Touched up with Chaos Black
2. Highlight with Vallejo German Grey
3. Highlight with Vallejo Dark Grey

Spear Tip
1. Boltgun Metal
2. Chaos Black Wash
3. Highlight with Mithril Silver
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Monday, April 21, 2008

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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Current Progress on the Sons of Sek

Current Progress on the Sons of Sek
Sept. 5th, 2008 - They were finished literally at the table before the first round began.