Magneti-Test

Check this out for some arcane Elven sorcery;





OK, I admit its not the best photo in the world but what you're seeing there is;
a) test scheme for "X gamers elves" (happy with that!)
b) An elven archer suspended upside above its spear wielding comrade through the use of magnetic tape under the base and magnetic sheeting.

Magnetic movement trays are an easy possibility!

"Hey, Lordybloke" I hear you cry, "why do you want magnetic movement trays?"
Well, I'm glad you asked me that! Its because.....errr.... actually I can't remember but it seemed like a good idea at some point so I'm going with it!

On your bike!

With only days to go until the 'Tale of as many gamers as you can wave a stick at' starts I am doing the sensible thing. That's correct painting bikes for my Marauder Chapter Marines.

Work in progress...

Here be Pirates

The start of the Tale of a 'variable number of gamers' starts imminently. So I decided to build some of my figures in preparation. Sounds like cheating by starting before August? Not really, you see most of the other chaps have figures built ready to go. So I thought it only fair that I got the glue and sharp knife out and got busy for a couple of hours.

In my Opinion Brian Nelson is a demi-god of sculpting and could do no wrong or so I thought. Below are my first ten Dark Elf Corsairs and they are finely detailed, dynamic and very sexy but they are also a bit of a butter (sounds like) to rank up! Once assembled and in an infantry block they immediately change into pick up sticks if you waft your hand anywhere near them. Not as bad as Kroot warriors I grant you but in the top five most tangly units of Warhammer.

And they're off....

As August Approaches, so does the start of the 'Tale of Some Gamers Number Unknown'

With that in mind here is the list of whats going to be done this month

Change in the rules means you can paint £25 or 200pts worth of stuff saving non used points / money for the following month.

Binx - 30 Skinks inc 2 Braves - £22.50 - £2.50 remaining

Zed - 17 Corsairs - 195pts - 5pts remaining

Cortez - 30 Slaves - 90pts - 110pts remaining

Lordybloke - 10 Archers and an Eagle - £22.75/160pts - £2.25/40pts remaining

Tomarse - Awaiting Monthly quota

And the exceptions to the rules...

Judah - 10 Greatswords and a Cannon - 230pts - 170pts available for next month.

Big Papa - Death Rocket and Tyrant - 232pts - 168pts available for next month.


Let painting commence ( but not until the 1st of August )

National Elf Service

Oh, I loves me puns!

With the start date looming and after much flicking back and forth in the High Elf Army Book accompanied with much scribbling out of points values (on excel, hmm!) I've finally got an army list I'm vaguely happy to put forth for the tale of 6, err, 7, err, some gamers!

Elembarel's Expeditionary Force

Elembarel - Lvl 2 Mage
Jewel of Dusk, Amulet of Fire - 170 pts

Wind of Menlui
10 archers - 110 pts

Wind of Senlui
10 archers - 110 pts

Thorns of Senthoi
23 spearmen, Sentinel, standard, musician - 232 pts

Riders of Charoi
5 silver helms, standard bearer - 131

Riders of Lathain
5 Ellyrian Reavers with spears replaced by bows - 95 pts

Breath of Ceyl
Repeating Bolt Thrower -100 pts

Sethai
Eagle - 50 pts

Total of 998 pts

35 points on magic items giving me 46 infantry, 10 cavalry, a war machine and an eagle to paint!

AND I'm not dipping them!

Hmmm, maybe I'll start again, just how many dragon mages can you fit in 1000pts...........

Reinforcements

With 5th Edition taking hold, Big Jon is lacking in those all important Troops choices.

So as Jon is still working out which end of the paint brush to hold the Lone Wolves pitch in to help out.

This is the 1st of the Ultramarines I'm knocking out for him, only base colours were requested and after a darker blue spray a quick wizz with a lighter blue and the details picked out he's done.

The more observant of you may notice the bobbily nature of some of the surfaces, a combination of hot weather and a new can of spray has given this a less than perfect appearance.

Its better in the 'flesh' than in the photo, with chapter markings and base left to finish off.


**After a call from Big Jon : Don't worry it looks a lot worse in the pic A LOT worse**

The Slave Pens Open

Well, My first £25 has been spent. £10.50 on the Dwarf army book, and £14.00 on a BFSP Dwarf army, both courtesy of Ebay.

Since the start of our Tale of X Gamers is imminent, here's my first draft of an army list, and my efforts so far. I may reduce the size of the units to get more variety into the army, but you get the gist.

I'm feeling a bit worried that my entire army could be purchased over two months, but, that said, my entire army will need to be extensively converted, so I guess that the budget can be spent on fancy knick-knacks for conversions, or I could just be grateful fo rthe extra time for modelling/painting.

The army list so far is:

1 Tyrant (Thane) with Gromril armour & Shield, carrying a rune axe bearing the Rune of Dominion (Master Rune of Snorri Spanglehelm) and the Rune of Torment (Rune of Cleaving) - 112 points

20 Warriors with hand weapons and shields with full command - 205 points

20 Immortals (Longbeards) with shields and great weapons with full command - 325 points

1 Death Rocket (Organ gun) - 120 points

15 Blunderbussers (Thunderers) with full command - 235 points

The units seem a bit big and pricey, but I'm kind of relying on them being able to take a head-on charge and still dish it out in combat.

Anyway, most of my models are currently without headgear, but just to prove I'm not slacking, here's my Blunderbuss Champion, and a couple of Death Rocket concepts (all in need of a little tidying up).

A Shadow in the West

I received the Dark Elf Spearhead box set on Friday morning. The book is nasty and the figures are superb. The Assassin blister was missing but I'm sure a phone call can sort that out.

Therefore here is my army list for the Tale of 6 or 7 Gamers, based on the Spearhead and the battalion due next month.

15 Warriors, Spears, Light Armour and Shield, Full Command - 120 points

10 Repeater Crossbowmen, Light Armour and Shield, Hero - 115 points

17 Corsairs, Two Hand Weapons, Light Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Full Command - 195 points

5 Cold One Knights, Hand Weapon, Lance, Heavy Armour, Full Command - 175 points

Assassin, Two Hand Weapons, Magic Item - 106 points

Sorceress, Level Two, Hand Weapon, Magic Item - 160 points

Master, Two Hand Weapons, Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Magic Item - 129 Points

Total - 1000 Points and 50 figures, 70 points of magic items

I'll work out an estimate of cost and a timetable but my intention is to try and get the big units finished before Christmas to leave me time to paint a blood bowl team for the Lone Wolves Challenge Cup starting in January.

Oh, and if you need to cool beers down quickly adding a lot of salt to water (2-3lbs) and then adding ice before putting the cans and bottles in the 'sea water' does work. Maybe I should have warned you all to rinse the top of your beer cans though ;oD Salty Beer is the Future!

Good Spawning!

With the end of the month approaching and the Tale of 6
( or was it 7 ) Gamers about to commence, it is time to lay my plans down for my Lizardmen

Month 1 August:
30 Skinks - £ 22.50 - leaves £2.50 outstanding

Month 2 September:
3 Terradons - £24.00 - leaves £3.50 outstanding

Month 3 October:
2 Salamander Teams - £24.00 - leaves £4.50 outstanding

Month 4 November:
1 Salamander Team, 1 Saurus Scar Veteran, 1 Skink Priest - £25.00 - leaves £4.50 outstanding

Month 5 December:
8 Temple Guard including command - £27.00 - leaves £2.50 outstanding

Month 6 January:
8 Temple Guard - £24.00 - leaves £3.50 outstanding

Month 7 February:
Army Complete

So if all goes to plan the 1000pts should be done by the end of January.

Let the painting begin!!

Firebase No 7 is out

Always worth a quick look.
http://warseer.com/wintermute/Firebase_Issue_Seven_FINAL%20version.pdf

The Long and Winding Woad

I've been painting Celts today.
I thought it a good idea to get a few done and dipped to make sure its going to work before I do all 30 and realise it doesn't!
With this in mind I've speedily knocked up 5 Celt warriors.
Not unhappy with the results although the dip does seem to pool more on them than it did on the blood letters, I guess its something to do with being smaller models and the detail being closer together?
Anyway nothing a quick flick with a cotton bud couldn't fix!
25 points of Celts done, those Romans are in trouble!

Isn't it Iconic

So along came 5th edition and along came wound allocation.

Not wanting to lose my Aspiring Champion and Demon summoning Personal Icon in one unlucky failed save it was time to modify my already completed Noise Marines Squads.

I therefore give you my new Personal Icon Noise Marines, one for each of my 2 squads

*edit*
Have made an icon for my in-progress possessed and have decided that the Noise Marines will be the only one to have these particular icons. Other units will have ones more in keeping with their own styles

No Jabba this isnt after your comments i made new this one at 7am this morning!

I'll take the 5th

The new 40k rule books have arrived. We flicked through the Pages, looked at all the lovely pictures and soaked up the new book smell. Binx even read the rules, which is a surprise as the 4th edition was relayed to him over a period of years.

So with 40k at the forefront of our gaming brains Wednesday would see our first two games with the 5th edition rules. Tomarse’s Daemon Hunters v Lordybloke's Orks and Zed’s Marines v Binx’s Slaaneshi Chaos marines. It was to be 1k and friendly lists to test as many rules as possible.

We all like the new wound allocation and were pretty slick with it by the third turn. It will spell the end of small tooled up squads. Well for most of us it will, for others it will take some time. Possibly years.

Cover saves haven’t changed anything considerably. Woods look like they may be the cause of some argument. True line of sight and with the attack passing through two or more elements to confer a cover save but passing over the base doesn’t. We’ll see how this goes for the moment.

Blast weapons are an area of dispute. Tomarse likes the fact ‘the template lands somewhere’, Zed dislikes the ‘everyone with a blast template has the same chance of hitting’ and doesn’t think that the BS reduction is an acceptable solution. Lordybloke likes the ‘any of the template counts as a hit’ rather than giving away a hit as ‘2mm of the target base isn’t covered and is therefore a partial’ as per the 4th edition rules.


Defender reaction is viewed as a favourable change and saved Lordybloke’s Orks from a real beating when the Grey Knights charged.

Modifying the leadership for losing close combat is a popular addition from fantasy and insane courage probably won Lordybloke his game. However it was noted that being fearless with a low armour save could be punitive if you lose the combat, especially if by a significant margin as additional saves have to be made.

Ramming and Running fall into the “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” category.

Allowing dedicated transport to be re-tasked is also popular but may be open to abuse by Chaos players. We all feel abused by the Chaos codex as it is.

Grey Knights advance to contact

Inquisitor Warband last stand

Maruaders deploy

Chaos advance

Overwatch as marines assault

Fists a plenty

Right just to show that I do actually have a painted army here's some pic's of my 1500 army, all they need is a little bit of highlights and some touching up on a few chips and they'll be ready for the new codex and will no doubt need to be changed all over again...














A close up of the command squad.

True Scale Tribulations

After my recent visit to see the gang in Bristol last week, there was some interest in my attempts at true scale marines, using plastic terminator legs. Here's my first attempt, a Scythes of the Emperor Captain. The legs are, of course, from a plastic terminator, with a bionic leg made from a necron leg. The knee is actually a plastic marine elbow.

Not overly difficult to do, just remember to make the back of the belt more chunky with green stuff.

Cheers,

Big Papa

Old Figures Never Die

I have a large collection of figures; many are un-built or only undercoated, I have amassed a huge number of Armies that I will build one day. I take it as the mark of a true enthusiast if you have more figures than you could paint in at least a ten year period of uninterrupted brush time. However, some projects have taken so long to get started that the range of figures have be superseded, in some cases more than once, and there is always the thought at the back of my mind. Should I sell them? Should I give them away? Should I bin them? The horror!

The Tale of 6 Gamers starts in a few weeks and the Dark Elf Spearhead is on its way ready for me to take part in the challenge. However I wanted to have my palette mostly fixed in my mind before the event takes place to enable me to focus on getting the figures painted, so I have found at least one use for these older and less sexy figures. Template figures!

So with that in mind, the two fellows below have come out of retirement to introduce my final Dark Elf scheme. Well until the chaps see them tomorrow and come up with a number of suggestions to improve or simplify the scheme. At least I am probably right in choosing purple.

Fisted!

You can never have too many marines in your figure cabinet. By the same rational you can never have too many marine chapters in your cabinet either. As the Space Wolves Codex is still a fair way off, I thought maybe I could fill the time with say the Crimson Fists. I knocked one off this evening whilst i had an hour to kill.


Black undercoat, 50/50 Midnight blue and Regal blue, Boltgun metal, Mecharite Red and Tallarn Flesh. A wash and a quick highlight with a lighter version of all the base colours. Done!

TSOALR

Many thanks to Steve over at Turn Signals on a Landraider for linking our Blog on his site.

We're all avid readers of the web comic and would recommend that you go and have a look for yourself!

Next time he has a guest comic strip be sure that we'll be sending in a few contenders.

You Asked for it!!!

Well, Zed did anyway!
Test White Scar "speed painted" with shadow grey wash and blacklined using tech pen.
It'll do for gaming standard i.e. from 3 foot away on a table darkened by Big Jon's shadow!









Its a lot whiter in "the flesh", honest!!










And just because I've just finished gluing them; Celts!













They're gonna get a good dipping one of these days.......

Rats are ready for dipping...............Well sort of.

Thats right I'm gonna go for the dipping route for the rats, finally got my mind set on the army and got all the models ready just need some help from you guys on the dipping front.



1. Where do I get the dip from.
2. What grade to go for.
3. Anything else you can think of.



Now for the pics of the army.










Battle standard bearer, used the old war lord model for a simple conversion.











Unit of storm vermin, with BSB.









Large unit of clan rats, warlock engineer is hiding in this unit, hiding only because they are all black at the moment. Once painted he will stick out like a sore thumb.








Large unit of slaves, nice and cheap and no one runs when they do, which in skaven armies they normally do.







One of the two fun units in the army, the bane of any armoured knights.

The ever present ratling guns, the question is are 3 dice ever enough??

Dippidy-Doo-Dah...........

Well its taken about a week from start to finish, though only about 4 hours (at least half of which is scraping mould lines!) of actual work time to finally get the Bloodletters done and break my dip....err...duck (much more tasteful phrase than I first thought of!).
I'm very pleased with the result!

Army painter products are top notch (red spray, dip, matt varnish) and highly recommended.

Right, what shall I dip next......................

Reddy for dip!

Quick update:
Basecoated and all set for a bath, the models that is, not me!












Don't worry, bases and eyes will be fixed!