Worbench Update, Weekend Haul, Becoming a Youtuber

So I took this video (five times, actually…I think this is the best one) last night in an attempt to start being more active on youtube.  I watch so many videos on a daily basis, and I subscribe to so many channels (mostly for hobbying/gaming) that I felt it was time I started participating more in the youtube gamer community.

So in the video I go over a few of the things I’ve been working on lately and some things I got over the weekend.

Here it is…

Hopefully there will be many more videos up in the near future.

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Ogres vs Lizardmen (2500pts) – Turn 3 – 6/10/13

Nearly three weeks later Andrew and I decided to play Turn 3 of this game over Hangout.  We’ve gotten together to game a few times since we started, but we played card and board games instead, which is fine.  It seems as if our interest in WHFB is on a decline, due to a mix of no other opponents (everyone else we used to play with is either too busy or has moved) and less-than-fun games for Andrew lately (see previous Ogres vs Andrew batreps).  It is likely that after this game is finished we will be taking a slight hiatus from WHFB and focus on trying some other games, either new ones or ones that we already own and need to get back on the table.  I’ll speak more to that when we make some decisions.

Anyway, you may remember that Turns 1 & 2 went well for the Ogres, and the Lizards seemed to be back on their heals early on.  Let’s see how Turn 3 went…

Turn 3 – Lizardmen

The Saurus Warriors, led by the Oldblood, Charge into the Ogre unit.  The Cold Ones, of course, Charge into the Leabelchers to finish them off.  The Skink Skirmishes Rally and stay put, knowing the Leadbelcher Charge is coming, while the Skink unit shuffles up.

The Magic phase is ultimately shut down, with Flesh to Stone easily dispelled and Dwellers luckily cancelled on a Irresistable Dispel.

For the fifth turn in a row the middle crater pops out a lava cake, but it just, just fails to hit the Thundertusk.  It takes just a few javelin shots to kill off the Sabretusk near the Skinks.

The Cold Ones easily dispatch the Leadbelchers who do not manage to do any wounds in return.  The cavalry reforms to face the middle of the table.  The Saurus Warriors crash into the Ogres, and despite taking 6 wounds and only dealing 6 back, manage to run them off the board, both units rolling a 6 for their Flee and Pursue rolls.  I had completely forgotten that the Thundertusk was close enough to cause the Lizards to strike last, which quite possibly could have meant one more dead Lizard, and thus my roll of 6 on the Break Test would have been successful.  Alas, I never seem to remember rules like this when it counts, so *splort* there goes the unit.  The Saurus Warriors’ pursuit takes them right beside the Ironguts, likely mocking the Ogres in their slithery excuse of a language.  Anyway, in the other combat my initial success with the Mournfang and Ogres came to a (non-)crashing halt when they hit the Temple Guard and completely failed to repeat their awesome prowess.  Instead, through Impact Hits, attacks and Stomps both units only managed a grim 4 dead TG.  In return, somehow, the Lizards managed 4 wounds between the two Ogre units, and even with a Flank Charge the Lizards’ ranks and BSB meant that I was rolling a Break Test at -1.  Two friggin’ fighty, stompy, usually-awesome units epically failed to do their job…or pass their Break Tests…or survive the Flee!  The Temple Guard rolled an 11, which neither of my units could beat.  And in one fell swoop, one harshly failed combat, my best unit and a friend went up in a puff of smoke.  Just like that.  Yikes.

I lost 4 units that turn.  5, actually, including the Sabretusk.  Wow.  We were both expecting things to go a lot differently.  I think Andrew was ready to give when the Mournfang and the Ogres got into the Temple Guard.  But with only a singe Mournfang in the fray…meh…whatevs.

Turn 3 – Ogres

Completely awestruck from the turn of events, I had to keep going.  Ogres don’t give up!

The Ironguts Charged into the Skink unit, just fitting in the gap between the Saurus Warriors and the Thundertusk.  The Leadbelchers and the Sabretusk both Charged the Skink Skirmishers, pushing them right into the crater, although I’m just realising I made an error there.  Oh well!  The Thundertusk and the still-useless Ironblaster move around.  I forgot to Charge the other Sabretusk into the back of the Cold Ones in an attempt to kill off one or two (likely one or zero, of course), so I just moved him up.

I managed to get Regeneration on the Ironguts, but the +1 Strength was dispelled handily.

The Thundertusk’s stone thrower got a direct hit on the Saurus Warriors, killing 4.  Finally a different crater shot lava balls, this time the top right one, but it scattered off harmlessly.

The Skinks managed to drop an Irongut on the way into combat, but failed to do anything in combat before the Ogres squashed the entire unit outright.  They reformed right around.

Turn 4 Coming Soon

Hopefully we can get this game finished soon.  Not because I’m still disappointed in the horror that was the Lizardmen’s Turn 3, but because I want to play some other games and see if we can make Andrew happy with minis gaming again.

My Turn 3 was pretty lacklustre compared to Andrew’s, but thankfully the Saurus Warriors are blocking a Charge lane for the Cold Ones.  This gives me a turn to consolidate a bit before battle ensues.

Thanks for reading.

Long-Time Painter, First-Time Flocker

So here are my first ever models that I’ve based using grass! Every other model I have fully completed have had resin bases or simple groundwork without grass.  So this is a pretty cool (albeit super basic) milestone for me.

Anyway, here they are, the first 10 Screaming Eagles:

They are completely finished, from top to bottom.  This includes the hilts of their combat knives that I somehow forgot to paint initially, as well as their base edging, which I did in P3 Traitor Green, as I think that best resembles olive drab.

I am not entirely impressed with the groundwork underneath, though, as I glued the sand directly over the Desert Tan-primed putty.  I needed the putty to level off the difference between the bases and that annoying bit of oval base that’s at the bottom of a lot of metal minis, especially older ones, I find.  I prefer the long thin slotta tab instead, although I much prefer plastic minis anyway that don’t have anything below the feet at all!

Okay, rant over.  So I plum forgot to add a darker paint over the tan on the first model that I added sand to, and made the (somewhat wrong) decisions to both not scrape off the sand and do it again, and to do the same thing to the rest of the models.

So instead I just added sand over the tan basecoat and then added some Devlan Mud wash hoping to make it all darken and unify.  It did the latter a bit, and the former just a touch.  It’s not what I was intending originally, but I guess it doesn’t look horrible.  Just not as good as it should.  Since this is only one squad of (potentially) many, I will likely add something like Beast Hide to the rest of the bases before sanding, just so the colour underneath doesn’t stand out so much.

And now, on to the flocking.  I chose the lighter Glade Grass from Citadel, and I think that turned out alright.  I was originally going to go with Scorched Grass, as I was afraid the brighter one would be too tacky.  But I sprinkled one on to a Screaming Eagle, then the other, and I quite like how the bright green pops.  So I went with it.  I believe I’ll have enough in the little pot for the rest of the BA models that I will eventually pick up, although I can’t be too sure.  Actually, I’m not sure how many models I will eventually pick up, as I haven’t even played a single game yet!

Hopefully Andrew and I can rectify that soon and get some proxies down on the table for a game.  I put together some 500 point lists that don’t use vehicles so we can figure the rules out.  I’m also hitting up my graphic designer buddy Les (who’s written about Lord of the Rings over at Tales of Gamers) to work on some chit-pull, action and pin markers so that I don’t have to buy the dice (even though I love how they look and work, I need to save that money for models).

Speaking of more models, I will likely go and pick up either a 1000pt starter box for one of the armies (likely Germany), or I’ll start buying the units/sets piecemeal.  I won’t get the Hetzer tank hunter that you practically get free in the starter box, but I am hoping to avoid vehicles in this game anyway.  Which is why I possibly might pick up the Flames of War Open Fire! starter that I said I wasn’t going to get.

…I’m weak.

Decisions, decisions.  And while I decided, I can get back to my next hobbying project.  The list continues to grow, so next post I’ll throw up a Workbench Update so we can see what I’m up to.

Thanks for reading.

Ogres vs Lizardmen (2500pts) – Turns 1 & 2 – 5/22/13

So Andrew and I managed to throw down in another WHFB match (well, the first 1/3rd of one) the other night.  A 2500pt game with my Ogres, but tired of seeing his Daemons fall to my big-bellies, and hot on the heals of a decisive victory against Ray’s Vampire Counts with his lizards, Andrew brought out the Lizardmen.  I haven’t seen them across the table from me in a while, so it was nice facing my Skaven’s old nemeses again.  Let’s see how the Ogres can fare against this scaly foe…

Ogres

• Slaughtermaster General, Level 4 Maw (Bonecrusher, Trollguts, Bullgorger, Braingobbler)
• Bruiser BSB
• 8 Ironguts
• 6 Ogres
• 6 Ogres
• 4 Leadbelchers
• 4 Leadbelchers
• 4 Mournfang Cavalry
• Sabretusk
• Sabretusk
• Sabretusk
• Thundertusk
• Ironblaster

A last-minute points level change brought my 2400pt list up to 2490 with the addition of another Mournfang and Bellowers for the Ogre units.  I didn’t question the fact that it’s 10 points shy of 2500 at the time, but I’ll ask Andrew.  Maybe it was supposed to be 2500 and I didn’t add 10 more, or it’s just some weird number game he’s playing here.  Anyway, my ‘test’ for this game are the Sabretusks.  This is my first time using them, but sadly I had to use proxies as my counts-as-Sabretusks Fenrisian Wolves are built, but currently baseless.  I’m actually using Andrew’s Seekers of Slaanesh, as they were at hand!  Weird.  Lastly, knowing I was going to face a Slann, I probably shouldn’t have spent so many points on a Lv 4 Slaughtermaster, knowing the Magic Phase was likely to be Lizardly-dominated.  Maybe next time…if there will be a next time, depending on the outcome of this game!

Lizardmen

• Slann Mage-Priest General & BSB, Lv 4 Life (Awakening of the Wood, Flesh to Stone, Throne of Vines, The Dwellers Below)
• Oldblood
• Scar-Vet
• Skink Priest, Lv 1 Heavens (Iceshard Blizzard)
• Skink Priest, Lv 1 Heavens (Iceshard Blizzard)
• 23 Saurus Warriors
• 23 Saurus Warriors
• 19 Temple Guard
• 6 Chameleon Skinks
• 6 Chameleon Skinks
• 8 Cold One Cavalry

I can forgive Andrew giving his Slann the awesome upgrades and the Lore of Life, after all he’s been through against the Ogres.  This list is pretty different from what I’ve faced in the past, as instead of Salamander support he’s beefed up his Saurus units with a fighty Lord and Hero, one in each unit.  And I’m glad he’s using the cavalry, as I’m a strong believer in mounted units.  Although facing them is never fun.

Setup & Deployment

So the scenario we are using is based on one I found recently while rummaging through my collection of White Dward magazines from a couple of years ago.  I’ll find the exact issue and offer more details next batrep entry, but I removed the objective and just kept the lava-filled craters.  So now we’re fighting the First Battle of the Volatile Wastes, where each Shooting Phase one (or up to 3) of the lava geysers will fire off a large template, deviating with the Scatter and Artillery dice, that deals a Strength d3+2 wounding hit on anyone touched.  The crater terrain pieces are Deadly Terrain, meaning you can’t move over it, or else you die.  Pre-emptively, I think I’d prefer being able to move over it, but the models would suffer a S5 hit, and maybe another at the end of the turn if they are stuck on it.  And maybe auto-removed if they Flee onto it.  But that can be decided after the game if we like/don’t mind these terrain features.  Oh, and otherwise, it’s just a straight up Battleline scenario.

Turn 1 – Lizardmen

The entire Lizardmen battleline moved up, just about 4″ or so, being cautious.  The Chameleons got right up to the crater’s edge, and aimed their blowpipes at the Ironblaster.

The Winds of Magic roll was pretty low, although I did get a Channel.  I don’t recall what else was attempted, but I did use my Scroll to Dispel Dwellers Below that was cast on my Ironguts.

The middle crater shot a lavaball that landed without incident.  Hey…why are those Skinks shown individually again…weird.  Anyway, both Skink units shot their 24 dice at the Ironblaster, but after only 3 or 4 hits I saved all but 1 and took a wound.

Turn 1 – Ogres

The Ogres moved up, but I later thought I was too cautious.  I shouldn’t worry about getting the Charge, as even though my Ogres are extra-dangerous when Charging, they’re not brittle otherwise like chariots.   Next time.  That first Chameleon are totally blocking my Mournfang, which is annoying.  Maybe I shouldn’t have gone 4 wide?

The Magic Phase was a dud, other than knocking a single Skink off the board with Bonecrusher.

The lavaball once again came from the centre crater, and was once again harmless.  Speaking of harmless, all my shooting managed was a dead Chameleon and a dead Cold One.  That’s after 17 shots from each Leadbelcher unit, the stone thrower and harpoon shots from the Thundertusk, and the useless Ironblaster that Misfired and spun around.  At least it didn’t blow up, I guess.  I believe the Thundertusk’s stone thrower shot was also a Misfire, but thankfully that just results in ‘nothing happens.’

Turn 2 – Lizardmen

The Cold Ones Charged into the Leadbelcher unit.  Most everyone else just moved up, with the Chameleons congo-lining between the Mournfang and the crater and the Saurus Warriors failing a Charge on the Mournfang.  They had spears, though, so they don’t mind accepting the Charge.  Andrew had to make a decision about the Chameleons, to either keep them blocking the Mournfang or trying to get them into my back lines.  He decided on the latter, but a failed “Enemy Sighted!” March test meant he didn’t get too far back there.  At least they could all still shoot at the Ironblaster.

Here comes one of those annoying Magic Phases!  He rolled an 11 for Winds of Magic, so things were definitely going to get ugly for me.  He put up Throne of Vines, which I let through.  He put Flesh to Stone on the Cold Ones (along with Iceshard Blizzard on the Leadbelchers from one of the Skink Priests), and then I failed to dispel Dwellers, and they swallowed 3 Ironguts!  Come on!  I hope I can make him pay for that (and all the other Dwellers he’s going to hit me with during the next 4 turns!).

After having to reroll the dice a few times, the centre crater (again!) falls harmlessly (again!).  I manage to save all of the Chameleons’ shots on the Ironblaster again.

In Close Combat the Cold Ones managed a total of 8 wounds on my Leadbelchers, just failing to drop a third body.  The Leadbelchers do manage to kill 1 Cold One (after -1 to hit AND facing Toughness 8 and a 3+ armour save), but end up Fleeing and thankfully don’t get caught.

Turn 2 – Ogres

I Charge the Sabretusk into the Chameleons, which ranks them up, still in congo line format, but at least giving the Mournfang room to get behind them and into the Saurus Warriors, which they do.  Thankfully the Sabretusk was within Movement distance of the Chameleons, or else he’d likely be shot dead on the way in.  For Lizardmen players’ sake, I hope they make blowpipes Quick to Fire in their next book.  The first Ogre unit also Charges into the Saurus Warriors, getting a flank Charge.  I should have sent the Leadbelchers into the other Chameleon unit, but I didn’t think about it until the Shooting Phase.  The other Leadbelchers rally, and the rest of the army shuffles up or around.  Oh, the Ironblaster did manage to line up a sweet-arse shot at the Cold Ones, right across the flank.  Ooooh!

I’m pretty sure nothing happened this Magic Phase.  Yup, he dispelled everything easily.  Actually, he dispelled Trollguts on the second Ogre unit with an exact match of my roll.  Annoying!

So, once again the centre crater fires off its lavaball, but of course it lands right on my Thundertusk, and deals it a wound.  Oh don’t worry, there will be more pain this phase…and it won’t be for the Lizards!  So the Leadbelchers managed a measily 1 wound on the Chameleons, again.  I forgot (even though it happened just a turn ago) that shooting at Chameleons are extra hard, which is why I should have just Charged into them.  The Thundertusk takes aim and once again Misfires.  The Ironblaster also takes aim with that sweet shot of his and…Misfires.  That’s right, Misfires.  Again.  Now I’m 0 for 4 on the Artillery die this game! Wow!  This time the Ironblaster gets clogged up and it’ll be 2 turns until he can fire again.  Bull!

But I will have my revenge in the Close Combat Phase.  So after Impact Hits are resolved, there are 7 dead Saurus Warriors.  The Scar-Vet attacks, and fails to do anything.  Then all my guys attack.  That ends up being 30 Strength 4 Attacks and 16 Strength 5 attacks, looking for 4s to hit and 4s or 3s to wound.  These peel off a measily 10 more, I believe (or maybe more died here and less died from Impact Hits, I don’t recall exactly, but the outcome is the same).  The surviving 6 Warriors attack, deal a piddily 2 wounds to my Mournfang, and then lose 2 more to Stomps.  Unfortunately for the Saurus Warriors and their Scar-Vet leader, they cannot roll double-1s with Cold Blooded and the reroll and Flee.  Not only do they get caught (netting a 300 or so point loss), but both the Mournfang and the Ogres crash into the flank of the Temple Guard.  There is relief in that only one Mournfang manages to hit the unit, although I’m not sure if I did that right.  Maybe as they were destined to hit the Temple Guard, I could have maneuvred the units so that more Mournfang would hit them.  I should check it out.  Although Andrew is hating on the monstrous cavalry enough as it is, so maybe I shouldn’t push it.  I can’t afford to lose Andrew as a gaming buddy!  Elsewhere, the unengaged Chameleons watch their friends get slaughtered and Flee, ending up right in front of the Leadbelchers.  The other Chameleons lose 2 to the Sabretusk, don’t wound back, Break, Flee and get rundown.

Intermission

So, in the end not a good beginning for the Lizards.  The early going was just fine, with Turns 1 1/2 going well for them.  Up to those two combats, I had lost 3 Ironguts, 2 Leadbelchers and took a few other wounds, and all he had lost were 2 Chameleons, 2 Cold Ones and a Skink.  But as is the norm these days, the game tends to swing widely from one direction to the next.  This is something that Andrew is not happy with.  We’ve had many long chats about this, including one at the end of the turn and before he left.  While we did not play the earlier editions of the game, it seems as if drastic swings like this are somehow built into the game.  He definitely hates my Mournfang, probably tied as Most Hated Enemy with the Vampires’ Blood Knights, which seemed to do as much damage to his lines as the Mournfang.  Poor guy.  Although I don’t feel bad, because with a snap of his Slann’s froggy fingers he can drop 3 of my Ironguts (129 points!).  I guess my way is more satisfying, because I get to roll a shat-tonne of dice.

Anyway, he’s not completely demoralised yet, although I have a feeling that I’ll be fielding the Skaven in our next WHFB game and saving the Ogres for other opponents.  He doesn’t want me to, but like I said, I can’t afford to lose him as a gaming buddy (no, it wouldn’t come to that, but I do want him to have fun).  But between our recent WHFB, Warmachine and Star Wars LCG games…I’m surprised he even talks to me!

Hopefully we’ll get the rest of this game played soon.  I’ll continue the batrep as soon as that happens.

Thanks for reading.

Reinforcements, Dropping In

Yeah, yeah, whatever.  It’s my blog and I can use bad puns if I want to, thank you very much.

Anyway, here are a whopping 6 more Screaming Eagles to finish off the first squad.

I actually finished them I think last Thursday, but I was away all weekend do didn’t get a chance to post this until now.

They’re clearly painted up the same way as the first 4 guys.

But working on these models I really felt the paintbrush hurtin’.  I need to get some new brushes, pronto.

I also really need to stop stalling and get back to painting Ogres.  I’m just a handful of models (albeit some big ones) away from having a fully painted army.  That’s nothing to sneeze at, for me!  So I better get to it.

And I really should take better shots, too.

Thanks for reading.

More Screaming Eagles and Choosing Basing Style

A few more Screaming Eagles painted up, waiting for basing.

I worked on these three at the same time over the course of a few nights, finishing up half a week ago  (as usual, this post is being posted a few days after it was first written).  Making it difficult was the fact that I need new brushes, again.  Because I keep picking up brushes that are less than ideal for this kind of painting, I tend to go through them too fast.

Anyway, it looked as though the cruddy brushes were going to cause the paintjobs to be cruddy themselves.  Before I got the washes down I was a little nervous, as I could see a number of areas that just didn’t look good, but I wasn’t able to go back and fix them.

But once again the magic of GW washes saved the day.  They might be of slightly less quality than my test model, but when they’re based and on the battlefield I’m pretty sure no one is going to see the minor imperfections.

The paints used are exactly the same as the test model.  I liked the way he came out so much that I’m going to contiue on with those colours.  I just remembered, though, that I do need to add black or dark brown to the soles of the boots.

And speaking of basing, I think I’ve committed to using GW bases.  My options were these, Warlord’s flatter discs (or metal washer alternatives) or the round-lipped style.  My original intention was to go with the latter, as I do love the way 28mm models look on those bases.  But I think that maybe those are better suited to games with fewer models on the board as they look more like showpiece models, in my opinion.  In a game where I am likely to lose guys pretty frequently (man, what a grim outlook, eh?), looks shouldn’t be so important…they’re not going to stay on the board long enough to enjoy!

I decided against the flat disc style that Warlord uses as I do not really like that look.  Too flat for me.  Although when based properly they might blend in with their table better.  I dunno, it’s just not for me.

So I went with the slotta-style.  I know there are a variety of sizes so that I can base individuals, teams and even small artillery pieces on this style of basing.  I just need to collect some more.  Thankfully they’re cheap.  And thankfully Andrew has a handful of extras from his Daemon army (since they come with both square and round bases in the kits).

And that’s all for today.  I really should get back to painting Ogres so I can get the army done.  I’m so close!

Thanks for reading.

Ogres vs Daemons (2000pts) – Turns 5-6, 24/4/13

So today we get to find out how this epic battle ended.  The day after we played Turns 2-4 Andrew and I finished playing the game online using Hangout.  I angled the webcam towards the table, he made the decisions and rolls for his side, and it played out well.  I think we will try and play more games like this, if nothing else at least ones we can either set up beforehand or just finish online like this.  It works for pre-measured games, for sure, not so well with others.

Anyway, let’s get on with it…

As all we had left were a handful of units betwwen both sides, the game went quite quickly.  And since there was little movement in the end, I’m only using one last image to represent the last two turns.  You’ll see why.

Turn 5

I sent the Thundertusk into the side of the Daemon Prince, looking for extra combat res.  Originally I was going to head into the Nurglings to try and minimize who could get in on that combat, but Andrew convinced me otherwise.  Thankfully I listened, as we would see later.

I once again put Regeneration and +1 Toughness on my Ogres, but pretty much just putting it on my Slaughtermaster as he was the only one in combat.

I’m not sure what happened in the challenge.  We may have missed each other and/or saved all wounds at this point.

On the Daemons’ turn the Nurglings and Beast of Nurgle flank-charged the Thundertusk.  Not as good an idea as my charge.

The Prince put Blades (super Poison) on the Beast.

The challenge I believe went nowhere one more time.  I can’t see any wounds on my Slaughtermaster in the pictures.  I believe the Slaughtermaster managed a wound on the Prince, although again, I can’t be sure.  The Nurglings just got super-crushed by the Thundertusk and crew, giving me some good combat res.  So in the end, I believe the combat went my way.  One way or another, the Beast of Nurgle disappeared (if not earlier in the fight, then definitely due to Daemonic Instability).  The Daemon Prince ended up with 2 more wounds on him, now at 3 and almost there!

One way or another, this was the last turn.  It came down to our Generals.  Whoever lost his General first was going to lose.  It was quite tense.

One more time I gave myself both buffs to try and keep my Slaughtermaster alive.  In the challenge he ends up taking a wound and it’s multiplied a few times I think.  He may have been sitting on one wound.  He did manage to wound the Daemon Prince for 1 more, however, so I think it came down to 1 wound to end the game.

The Plaguebearers charged into the Thundertusk, got Blades on them, but we skipped to the challenge.  It was do or die.  Because of the Numbing Chill from the Thundertusk the Slaughtermaster was once again going first.  He swung, and a single wound managed to get through the Daemon Prince’s Armour AND Regen save.

Game over.  Ogre victory.

WOW, what a game.

I know Andrew did not like it.  Even before the final blow was struck he was not happy with the huge back and forth swings and huge unit losses that I sustained.  I don’t mind so much, but I have to say losing my BSB and his unit before they got to do anything, and the Mournfang so easily to slow Daemons.

But in the end, one more crazy game of Fantasy.  Turns out it was my 41st game, which is pretty cool.  I hope to play 41 more in the near future 🙂

Hopefully Andrew wasn’t too discouraged by another Ogre win (that honestly shouldn’t have happened) and we can play again soon.  I’ve already got the idea for our next battle, after reading some old White Dwarf magazines and finally picking up some crater terrain pieces.

Otherwise, I should have more to post in the coming days with more new purchases and maybe even a Workbench Update.

Thanks for reading.