Gone Fishin'

I'll be out of town and away from the internet until next Thursday.  I'll see all of you after the New Year!

Grail Quest IV: Lethal Flagon

Grail Quest 4:  Lethal Flagon is coming to Sci Fi Genre in Durham on February 18^th, 2012.   Don’t miss out on North Carolina’s best (and only) Lethal Weapon themed Warhammer Fantasy Tournament.

Date: February 18th, 2012

Time: GQ will begin at 10:00 a.m.

Rounds will be 2.5 hours, with a one hour break after the first round for lunch.

Location: Sci Fi Genre

3215 Old Chapel Hill Road

Durham, NC 27707

(919) 490-7900

store@scifigenre.com

General Information

Grail Quest IV will take place on February 18th, 2012 at Sci Fi Genre in Durham, NC. Start time for Round 1 will be 10 a.m. The address is 3215 Old Chapel Hill Rd. Durham, NC 27707, and the store phone number is (919) 490-7900. This will be a 2,500 point tournament. There will be three rounds, each lasting 2.5 hours, with a 1 hour break for shenanigans and/or food after the second round. Round scenarios will be themed to the tournament, but not extremely unusual. Entry fee is ten dollars.

After last year’s successful Highlander themed tournament, we’ve upped the ante and are diving into a Lethal Weapon theme this year.  That’s right, you’ll not only be facing your opponents, but will be challenged in scenarios featuring the Triad, South African gangsters, and of course, Gary Busey (all in a fun and balanced way).

Special Scoring System

Fighting battles isn’t always about preserving your troops carefully, sometimes it’s just about the sheer amount of damage you can cause even if you do get beat down in the process.  Therefore, at the end of each game, each player will report the amount of victory points he or she scored, regardless of win, loss, or draw.  Scenarios will give each player a chance at additional VP’s as well.  For the best overall prize, sportsmanship and painting scores will be added in, and will be combined worth around 25% of the overall score.

Fabulous Prizes!

Prizes will be awarded for Best Overall, 2nd, and 3rd Place, Best Generel, Best Painted Army, and Best Sportsman. I am beginning by contributing fifty dollars to the prize pool, and then adding in the entry fees.

So if you think you’re getting too old for this stuff, man up like Murtaw and get here for Grail Quest IV:  Lethal Flagon!

Registration

It is not necessary to preregister for Grail Quest, however, space is sometimes limited. If you would like to reserve a spot for the tournament, please email us at grailquestregister@gmail.com, or reply to this thread on the Sci Fi Genre forums.  http://z6.invisionfree.com/Scifi_Genre_Forums/index.php?showtopic=7162&st=0&#last
 

F.A.Q.

Q: Do my models have to be painted to play in the tournament?

A: No. Painting and Sportsmanship scores will contribute to your overall score and ranking, however.

Q: Will there be a composition score this year?

A: No. Note, however, that the Power Scroll is not allowed in lists at Grail Quest.

Q: Can you use proxies?

A: Yes, within reason. As a general rule, as long as you make it very clear to each opponent what represents what, and the model choices are not misleading (such as having the same type of model represent two different types of models) we are generally okay with proxies. The size of the model's base must be the same as the original model (since otherwise, it could change things like maneuverability and number of models in combat) but otherwise, feel free to use proxies as needed.

Q: What about conversions and/or non-GW miniatures?

A: Same rule as proxies; same base size, and make it clear what it is. Feel free to use Reaper miniatures or whatever else you find. We actually encourage this, since it fuels creativity and gives people something really neat to look at. As long as they don't give any sort of in-game advantage, conversions are definitely fine.

Q: Do you have to submit your list to the organizer at a point in time prior to the start of the tournament?

A: No. Please bring a list for inspection before the tournament. If you ever feel the need to check your opponent's list for any reason, do not hesistate to request it, and call over the TO if it would make you feel more comfortable. Any illegal list will be disqualified.

Q: What materials are you required to bring?

A: Your army book, your army list, your army (of course), dice, templates, and a measuring tape. Pens are readily available at the store and not required.

Q: Are there any list restrictions?

A: There are no special characters allowed.

Jabbersclythe Model Review

My lovely wife got me the Jabbersclythe for Christmas, and I couldn't wait to put it together over the weekend.  This is my first large finecast model, and it had its ups and downs.

Overall, the Jabbersclythe didn't really have big finecast problems as much as it had some bad model problems.  Parts of it really didn't fit together well at all, which is something I've had happen on quite a few metal models from GW and Privateer Press.  There was a nice theory that the arms should attach well to the hands and tree trunk and ground piece, but in practice, that was where I had to do a majority of the greenstuffing.

In terms of miscasts, I did have to fix a small piece of one of the Jabbersclythe's horns, and fix one of his wing bones back together.  This was a total of about five minutes of work.  There were gaps between joints, as in any model, that were easily filled with liquid green stuff. 

The model itself is gorgeous and nicely detailed, and I'm excited to paint it.  I'm also glad to have the wings be a light material that went on easily, as I've had nightmares with metal wings in the past.  So while the Jabbersclythe did have some structural faults, it's still a decent model overall, although perhaps a bit much for a beginner or someone uncomfortable with green stuff.

Weekend Update: December 12th, 2011

I feel like Weekend Update should just be renamed as "Nope, the Dryads aren't done."   I was supposed to have a long weekend, and instead went to work some more.  Such are the trials of being an adult, I suppose. 

There were some high points.

Games Day in High Point went off well, from what I hear.

My wife and I celebrated our Christmas early (we travel on the holiday, so we give each other gifts earlier) and she got me a Jabbersclythe!  More on the Jabber later this week, but it sure was a nice gift!  I even assembled it this weekend.

The Brawler Bash WFB GT has been announced for April 21st and 22nd in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Save the date!

Branchwraith Painted

This is my Branchwraith for this month's Tale of Painters on Warseer, and is an addition to the Army of Avelorn.  She's converted from the Dryad kit, as I'm not really sold on any of the Branchwraith (or Drycha) models I've come across.  I'm running her as a Level One with a Cluster of Radiants (extra dispel die) for 140 points.   To keep her thematically consistent with the rest of the army, I've empahsized her leaves and used blues for her eyes, the owl's eyes, and on the stone behind her. 

This brings my total painted army so far up to 752, so not bad progress.  I would like to get the full contingent of Dryads done by the new year if possible and not derailed by lack of time and Skyrim. 

Weekend Update: December 5th, 2011

So it wasn't a bad weekend, hobby-wise.  On Friday, I played a game of Fantasy with Erik, of Brohammer and Brawler Bash fame, and faced the wrath of his Orcs and Goblins.  Let's just say that while my Beastmen are some fierce fighters, they can't survive the wrath of one good round of Foot of Gork.  Good Lord!

I also finished my Branchwraith, which should be up on the site this week for your viewing.  I've ordered a Jabbersclythe, as well as a copy of Blood in the Badlands, and will be picking up the Ghorgon and Cygor kits from the local store this week. 

So yeah, not bad at all!

Teaching Games

Lately, we've had an influx of new players into our Warhammer Fantasy group.  That's a great thing to have happen.  However, I've been trying to figure out how to best go about teaching new players about the game.

Does one go with a "burned hand teaches best" method of gaming, and just play normally in teaching games, rolling over the new opponent?  Or should I mollycoddle new players with easy play until they find their footing?

I'm inclined towards the latter, but in my last teaching game, Warhammer decided to remind me that it was indeed Warhammer.  My dice went red hot, and his went ice cold.  It didn't matter that I was fighting Saurus with Gor, for the Gor rolled like lords of war and smashed everything up in front of them.  I need to get rolling like that in some tournaments!

Anyway, I've got more teaching games coming up in the future, and was curious as to others' thoughts on the best methods to use.

Weekend Update: Thanksgiving 2011

Well, another weekend gone, and some more hobby done.  Not as much as I'd like, but at least there was some.

As I guessed, Skyrim is destroying a lot of my hobby time.  I kept up the work on the twenty-four dryads, getting them basecoated and drybrushed.  I think they'll have to go on the bases before the basing goes down, as I don't think I can pin them with their tiny, bent legs. 

This Tuesday we have more Dreadfleet, and plots and plans are being laid for two tournaments that are coming up this Spring.

Thoughts on Dreadfleet, Halfway In

My gaming group is roughly halfway through Dreadfleet.  It's a great game, and a ton of fun for a few people (or more) on a Tuesday night.  Here's some things to know about it if you're looking to pick it up around the holidays:

*  It's pretty random at times.  You can lose a ship or lose the game on what is often a single card draw.  For instance, the other night we had a ship take two damage cards...and they were a hull card followed by a double hull card.  That ship was crucial and ended up costing us the mission. On the other hand, we've had ships limping along with 20+ damage cards that just wouldn't sink.

*  You can't take it seriously.  This is a great naval combat game, but not a serious naval combat game, and the randomness is the reason. 

* It's a ton of fun.  Once you realize that there's a ton of chance involved, it's a really good time to play. The mechanics are tight, and it's easy to introduce new players.  In each game we've played, we've had people just walk up and watch, and we'll offer to let them captain one of the ships.

*  It's a lot of fun with a lot of players.  It's a great game for a big group, as everyone can take a ship or two and (try to) work together.  Setting up two teams and an overall "admiral" for each side seems to work well.

*  Beware the Skabrous!  Seriously, that thing can move quickly, handles extremely well, and its shots ignore armor saves!  It's been the bane of the Grand Alliance for a couple scenarios now.

Pictures of GW's New Beastmen Monster Models - Ghorgon, Cygor and the Jabbersclythe!

Whoa!  I told you there'd be posts this week!

From @Channel_4_News on Twitter, here are pictures of the new Ghorgon, Cygor, and Jabbersclythe models.  The Ghorgon and Cygor are apparently one plastic kit, and the Jabbersclythe is Finecast.   I actually run these things pretty regularly (I call them my 275 point handicaps) and am pretty psyched to add the big monsters to my Beasts!

Weekend Update: November 21st, 2011

Okay, so I took a week off there for the first time in, well, forever.  I worked ridiculous hours for a couple weeks, and was basically coming home to sleep.  Anyway, with the holidays coming up things are slowing down a bit, allowing me to get back on the horse.  I did get some hobby done over the weekends:

*  Dryads are now all assembled and primed.  I'm torn between attaching them to the base now and trying to pin them.  I think they'd look better pinned, but they have very thin, bent legs which will be difficult to put pins in. 

*  I played in a Fantasy Tournament last weekend, and got my very first last place finish.  My Beastmen couldn't work through several goblin hordes in Round One, and then missed a Vampire General and BSB by inches when it was critical in Round Two.  I actually had the last place bye for round three.

*  We continue to get in some Dreadfleet on alternate Tuesday nights around here, and it's a ton of fun.  The trick is to have a few people and give them each a ship, and to remember that the game is pretty random. 

*  In non-hobby news, I've played a bit of Skyrim, and am loving it.  To me, it corrects the problems with Oblivion and makes a truly great one.  The story is engaging, the graphics and play upgraded, and the world immersing.  I also got back out a couple times this weekend to the Frisbee Golf course, an old passion of mine.

So there should be some posts this week.  See you then! 

Upcoming Distractions

I've got four more dryads to put together.

I have to keep telling myself that, because all I'll really want to do this weekend is play some Skyrim.  It comes out Friday, and I've been a fan of the Elder Scrolls series since I played Arena when I was twelve.  I've never actually finished any of the Elder Scrolls games, but I sure have put in the hours getting distracted and running around in the big sandbox.

I'm also going to get to borrow Batman:  Arkham City, which is an unexpected pleasure, and UNC Chapel Hill College Basketball is coming up soon, which is another great interest.  And there's a Warhammer Fantasy Tournament this Saturday, as well as the twenty hours of overtime at work I'll put in by Friday this week.

Those poor four dryads are up against a lot of competition.

Weekend Update: November 8th, 2011

An emergency project at work kept me glued pretty much to my seat all weekend and yesterday (and most of today), but I did assemble twenty Dryads (and acquire twelve more via trade).  I have four more to assemble when I get a spare minute. Spare minutes are in short supply, however, as you can see by my Monday post coming in on a Tuesday.

Also, I got the Space Marine bug for the first time in a while, and decided that if I'm going to work on Blood Angels any longer, they'll need an upgrade.  I have two squads finished, one of the Death Company and one Assault Squad, both with Rhinos.  They're on plain sand bases, and I'm going to move those over to new bases with black sand, grass, stone, and barbed wire.  The new models I'm assembling need more conversions in general.  I put together a test model, using Bretonnian bits as well as the Tactical and Assault Squad kits, and have assembled a new base as well.   Hopefully, I'll get to paint him up soon, and it will propel me back into painting up some 40K.

Get Some Trays and Bases from Shogun Miniatures!

It's always fun with Glade Guard to be able to pick them up, metal character included, and wave them around upside down.  Honestly, it's the kind of security you want from your models, that they'll stay on their trays and not fall over and break/get scratched up.

I recently bought sheet metal trays from Shogun Miniatures, and highly suggest their products.  They have flanged trays and flat trays at great prices, and I ended up ordering quite a few of the flanged ones for Avelorn army.   The trays are extremely well made and are comparatively cheap, and arrived at my home only three days after I placed my order.  Also included in my box, free of charge, were some of Shogun's magnetic bases, which were also very nice. 

I plan on spraying my trays dark brown and green and then giving them some matte varnish to hold off scratching from the magnets.  

So for nice, neat looking trays at a great price, check out Shogun Miniatures.   The trays are great and I've had a positive experience. 

Painted Dreadfleet: Skabarus

I painted Skabarus, the Skaven undead fish hulk monter, this past weekend once I finished my Glade Guard.  He's a nasty looking guy, that's for sure. 

In game, we ignored Skabarus at first, but it has two major advantages.  First, the Warpfire cannons that ignore ship armor allow it to take on tough ships and do major damage.  Second, it's very maneuverable, and can dance around ships like the Heldenhammer.  These two attributes combined make for a ship easily able to dance around larger, bulkier ships while pouring out significant damage.  

Painted Dreadfleet: The Sea Drake

Dale painted up The Sea Drake.  He asked to do so after finishing The Curse of Zandri, and I was happy to have him do so. 

At first, I was a little wary of having other people paint some of the ships in my copy of Dreadfleet.  I enjoy painting very much as my relaxing hobby, and wasn't sure how I felt about having people paint what I should be painting.  However, I've really come to enjoy and value the experience from Dreadfleet, as each of the pieces now has a connection with various people around the game group, and benefits from their different styles and techniques.  It's a cool thing, a club in miniature, and I like it a lot. 

Army of Avelorn - Painted Glade Guard

I'm working on my Tale of Painters Avelorn Army on Warseer, and today is the day to report my monthly contribution. 

UNIT: Nineteen Glade Guard

HIGHS: I think my overall painting has improved from my last army, and continues to do so.  The basing looks great.  Every model has eyes.  I also wanted a banner that was easy recognizable as my flaming banner, so I bordered it with red and yellow, drew the elven rune for fire (thanks Google!) on it and put some jets of flame around the rune. 

LOWS: I'm not sold on the brown wash over green, and may have to go back and fix it.  The Glade Guard models also suffer from the same molding era as a lot of the Beastmen models, in that they have quite a few vague, half-formed details on the models that I find to be a pain. 

POINTS: Nineteen Glade Guard + Full Command and Flaming Banner = 262 Points.  Overall points are 262 + 350 for the Spellweaver for 612 points. 

NEXT MONTH: Dryads, which are surprisingly fun to put together.

Weekend Update, Spooky Halloween Edition 2011

I was sick all weekend, which is so much fun.  On the upside, between not being able to go anywhere and not being able to do anything that involved any real activity, I got a lot of hobby done. 

*  I finished painting nineteen Glade Guard and fixing them on their bases. 
*  I painted the Skabarus, the Skaven ship from Dreadfleet.
*  I painted another Dreadfleet island. 

Apparently, I should be sick more often, at least in terms of hobby stuff.  On the other hand, I have to head to work now still feeling like crud, so I don't think on a whole it was worth it. 

Initial Wood Elf List for Tale of Painters

I've been putting together my list for Tale of Painters on Warseer for my Wood Elves, and come up with the following:

Level 4 Spellweaver with Lore of Life, Talisman of Protection, Dispel Scroll

Highborn with Great Eagle, Armor of Silvered Steel,  Stone of the Crystal Mere, Potion of Strength, Great Weapon

BSB with Armor of Destiny, Shield

Twenty Glade Guard with Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame

Ten Glade Guard with Standard

Ten Glade Guard with Standard

Ten Glade Guard with Standard

Four Treekin

Treeman

Treeman

Great Eagle

All for 2500 points.

I know the Highborn is a bit much, but I have the fancy CoolMiniorNot model and really want to paint it up for early use.  Thoughts?

Painted Dreadfleet: The Flaming Scimitar

Our local player Bart painted up The Flying Scimitar, and through a great paint job I've come to really enjoy the ship.  The elementals were very well done, and add real character to the piece.  This is also the first ship where you can see the etched sails painted, and how they really look like freehand work and make the sails look fantastic.

In game, The Flying Scimitar has been my favorite ship to play as so far.  It's fast and pretty maneuverable, although it doesn't pack a ton of guns.  The Djinns allow you to move faster or shoot an extra flaming gun, so you can choose how to upgrade your ship each turn to best improve your game.

Weekend Update: October 24th, 2011

There's not too much to report this Monday, but not for lack of trying.  Have you ever had it happen that you work a lot on a project, for what seems like little result?  That's what happened to me this weekend with the Glade Guard.  On Friday, I painted for a many hours, and I swear at the end of the day didn't have much to show for it.  On Saturday morning, I put in some more time painting, and have three finished, and sixteen more just needing some clean-up and basing.  So I'll continue to work on them this week, and hopefully finish up by the weekend. 

I suppose I had forgotten what painting entire units is like, and the work that goes into doing so.  Each step takes much longer when it comes to twenty+ models instead of one.  Plus, I missed one model early on, and now have one that is just primed while the others are close to being finished!  Oh well, at least it keeps me busy!

Dreadfleet Painted Ships: The Curse of Zandri

Our local terrain painter and all around 40K Guru, Dale, picked up the Curse of Zandri to paint.  I like how he added a lot of contrasting colors to the model in order to really make the different parts stand out from one another. 

In game, we don't have a lot of experience with The Curse yet.  It featured in Scenario Two, but was rammed to death by the Swordfish immediately.  Whoops! 

Dreadfleet Painted Ships: Grimnir's Thunder

Our gaming group has gone to work at painting up Dreadfleet, and the results are pretty cool.  We divided up some ships, and I started with Grimnir's Thunder, the Dwarf Ironclad.  I started with this one because I thought it was probably the easiest to paint out of all the ships and would be a good warm up, as it doesn't have a lot of the etched drawings or sail painting that many of the other ships have. 

In game, Grimnir's Thunder is what you'd expect a Dwarf ship to be:  tough and slow.  It did do some real damage to it's opponent in the third scenario, which we played on Tuesday, as it managed to put a few good broadsides and boarding actions into The Black Kraken.

I tried to add as much color as I could to the detail of the ship, using emeralds, bronzes, and greens, in order to make it a bit less dull than it could have been.  An ironclad doesn't lend itself to a colorful nature, but I think in in the end it turned out pretty well, and strikes a contrast to the other ships on the table. 

Blog Suggestion: Casualties of a Paintbrush

Here's a chance to check out and subscribe to a great blog while it's still new.  Casualties of a Paintbrush is a great new project from one of our pool of great local hobbyists and players.  You can see the evidence of great painting above, and Whatadive's constantly cycling projects are always a treat to see painted.  He's also a great player, and multiple tournament winner, so his insights and advice into the game will be fun to read.  So check out Casualties of a Paintbrush, I tell ya!

Weekend Update: October 17th, 2011

Not a bad weekend for the hobby this time!  On Saturday, I played in a Warhammer 40K Doubles Tournament with Bart.  We both took Space Marines, and ended up coming in second out of eight teams, after playing against a Tyranids/Deathwing army, a Sisters of Battle / Grey Knights army, and a Tyranids/Necrons army.  A great tournament all around. 

I also painted up one of the ships and three islands from Dreadfleet, which was great.  The ships are so incredibly detailed!  The only thing I seem to be stalled on is painting up my Wood Elf Glade Guard, but I'm hopeful that I'll get something done this week. 

Initial Dreadfleet Thoughts

Yaarrrrggh!  I finally got a chance to play the first two scenarios of Dreadfleet the other night.  Here's my initial thoughts:

*  It's random!  This probably isn't a game to really bring the big competition guns to, as it often involves rolling a small number of dice and looking for high numbers of each die.  There's a good amount of tactics in maneuvering, but once those dice roll there's a lot of chance involved.  As long as you're aware of that, and in the game for a good time and not to omgstompface, you'll enjoy the game!

*  It's a lot of fun!  We had one of our group read out the scenario fluff in his best pirate voice, and there was a lot of joking around and general silliness during the game.  The rules are easily picked up by wargamers and won't be too much trickier for non-wargamers, and let you get down to sailing, shooting, and looting quickly and efficiently.

Short Dreadfleet Unboxing Video

I received an iPad as a gift, and have been wanting to test out the video function.  I'm liking the ease of use, and hope to make some good Video Battle Reports and Game Reports for the blog.  My first video is a short overview and "unboxing" of Dreadfleet.  The contents of the box are incredibly high quality, and a real joy!  Please excuse the poor sound quality, as it's my first time making a video on the iPad. 

Weekend Update: October 10th, 2011

Avast, and all that!

I was out of town most of this past weekend, and only got back in yesterday...but we still had some hobbying going on!  Before I let, Dreadfleet came in, and unpacking the box was a real treat.  Yesterday, when I returned home, I wanted to get right to the ships, but finished putting together and pinning my Glade Guard instead.  I want to make sure I'm focusing on them and making constant progress so I don't get stuck doing nothing on the army.

Anyway, I read the Dreadfleet rules, and will be hastily assembling the game tonight, as tomorrow night is Dreadfleet's first run with the Fancy Lads. 

Southern Assault Tournament Report: Games 4 and 5

Game Four vs. Daemons

After the obligatory four hours of sleep, I crawled out of bed on Sunday morning for day two of the GT.  I was feeling a bit rough, but luckily I drew Joel, who is one of my favorite opponents and an all around good guy, for the Fourth Round.  He had an entirely Nurgle Daemon army, led by a Great Unclean One.  Joel has a fantastic looking army, and ended up winning Best Painted for the tournament.

The game started off well for me, as I got off two Pit of Shades and decimated two out of his three Plaguebearer units.  I then decided to mix it up in close combat, and that didn't go as well.  Luckily for me, his Great Unclean One sucked itself into the warp on a miscast, and that allowed me to mop up the rest of his army.  I ended up with a 20-4 massacre.

The Fancy Lads continued to weather the storm, and were now 11-9 on the day.

Southern Assault Tournament Report: Rounds 1-3

Saturday started at 5:30 a.m. and getting up to travel down to Charlotte, NC.  The Fancy Lads were represented by myself (Beastmen), Tom (Ogres), Lance (Dwarfs), Collins (High Elves), and Ian (Vampire Counts).

My army, in short:

Doombull with 1+ armor save giving more attacks
Level 4 Shadow General
BSB
Level 1 Beasts
44 Gor
10 Gor
10 Ungor
10 Ungor
5 Ungor Raiders
5 Ungor Raiders
5 Minotaurs
24 Bestigors
Razorgor
Ghorgon

Games One vs. Tomb Kings

This was my first game versus the new Tomb Kings.  Matt was my opponent.  He had a 1,300+ point unit with his King, Hierophant, Tomb Guard, and some other characters.  My opening game went well, and I destroyed his Catapult and Snake Riders with ease, and set up for a combo charge on his main unit from the front and flanks.  Unfortunately, Matt had the mask that causes Terror, and I had terrible leadership roles, so he made my Gors and Bestigors flee in his turn. 

Sometimes, this is how the Beastman game goes.

With my army now grossly out of position and trying to rally, he cleaned things up fairly easily.  I failed SIX more terror tests over the course of the game, constantly fleeing (but getting all the bad leadership rolls out of the way for the tournament).  I did manage to save my General and Bestigors through constant running away, and salvaged a major loss instead of a massacre.  I lost 14-6.

The Fancy Lads finished 0-5 in the first round...not too great and our worst start since, well, ever.

Weekend Update: October 3rd, 2011

Whew!  So the Southern Assault Warhammer Fantasy Tournament is in the bag.  It was a ton of fun and very well organized, and I look forward to doing it again next year.  The winners: 

Best Overall: Eoin Whealen
Best General: Bobby Ash (2nd to existing winner Eoin W.)
Best Tactician: Travis Hill (2nd to existing winner Eoin W.)
Best Hobbyist: Todd Klimpel (2nd to existing winner Bobby Ash)

Best Sports: Tom Geater (2nd to existing winner Travis Hill)
Best Painted: Joel Busta (2nd to existing winner Bobby Ash)
Players Choice Paint: Robert Brandon
Top Team: Kobra Kai

I came in 5th overall, and had a 3-1-1 record.  I should have a full tournament report for my games up this week.   Thanks to Dan and Jerry, who organized the event, for a wonderful weekend. 

Army of Avelorn: Painted Spellweaver

This will be my first entry for Warseer's Fantasy Tale of Painters, since the one model weighs in at around 300 points all by herself (the minimum monthly entry for ToP is 200 points).  I needed time to assemble some of the other models, like Glade Guard, so painting a single model seemed a great way to both get that time and to continue to work on the paint scheme. 

I'm pleased with the eyes, basing, greens, blue, and the wood.  I would have liked the Spites on the base to come out a little brighter, and I think the gold works well in some places, but lacks a bit of definition on her back.  Overall, I'm highly pleased with the results, and feel that this scheme will make a gorgeous High Elf / Wood Elf army...in a year or so. 

Comments and criticisms are always welcome. 

Follow us on Twitter for #SouthernAssault Warhammer Fantasy GT

The Fancy Lads and I will be tweeting all weekend from the Southern Assault GT in Charlotte, North Carolina, so you can follow us at @quietlimit to answer questions such as:

Who will win?
Where is the nearest pub?
Will the T.O.'s engage in fisticuffs over the quiz portion of the tournament?
How sweaty is it?

This is hard-hitting news, and you won't want to miss out!

Weekend Update: September 26th, 2011

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending an invitational 40K tournament at All Fun in Games in Apex, North Carolina.  Since I hadn't played 40K in a while, and it was a 2,000 point tournament, I dusted off the most fun things I have in my army.  I only brought the units that I have painted, rather than bring an unpainted army, as I was going just to have fun and not to worry about competition. 

I ran Shrike and Lysander supported by Lightning Claw Terminators and some medium firepower.  I love running Shrike and Lysander so that I can make Lystander fleet, and not only were they a lot of fun to play, but they ended up winning me the tournament!  Of course, this means I get to run the tournament next year, but I think I'll enjoy that as well, and since I've been running other tournaments off and on for three or four years now, the idea isn't a stress.

Other than that, I did some more work on my Spellweaver, and hope to have her ready as my first Tale of Painters entry for next month.  I'm leaving for the Southern Assault GT this coming weekend, so I need to get any painting I'm going to do out of the way before going. 

Painted Chaos in the Old World: The Horned Rat

Just when I had Chaos in the Old World figured out, along came The Horned Rat expansion and threw everyone for a loop.  Not only did it change the basics for the four Chaos Gods, but it introduced a fifth god as well. 

The Horned Rat pieces were fun to paint, although there are (shock!) a whole lot of them.  I decided to go with an "albino" Vermin Lord and gray and brown Rat Ogres and Clanrats.  To make them stand out as Skaven, I used a green metallic color for the base trim, so that they would have a "warpstone" feel and also so they would pop on the table. 

In game, the Horned Rat can easily swarm the table via upgrades or play very deviously by playing one more card per territory than is usually allowed.  A good Horned Rat player can piggyback on Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Slaneesh in gaining partial credit for their corrupted territories, although Clanrats are a particularly tasty target for Khorne.

Life Sized Fantasy Club Banner

Since our local Warhammer Fantasy group recently changed its name to The Fancy Lads, we had discussed having T-Shirts for our trip down to Charlotte for the upcoming Southern Assault Fantasy Grand Tournament.  Unfortunately, I didn't think we had time to get all the money together, get everything designed, and get the shirts printed.  I did have a three day weekend however, and decided that we needed something to take down to the GT, and to take to tournaments in general.  So I built and painted a life sized banner for us to take.  The banner sits in a small cinder block foundation, and stands just under six feet tall and four feet wide.  The stand itself is made from pvc pipe, and breaks down for easy storage. 

The first thing I purchased for the banner was gray cloth, which I cut down so that it was the right shape.  It's pretty thick, so that the paint wouldn't run through.  I then took some masking tape and blocked off where I wanted the borders to go.  The borders are dark blue for Duke University, dark red for N.C. State University, and light blue for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  I thought this would be fitting since Durham sits squarely in the middle of these three Universities.  One thing I will probably adjust in the future if I make another banner is using thicker tape, since even at very close range the spray paints left fine clouds of color over parts of the middle of this banner.  I think it worked out due to the "orciness" of this banner, but I might want it cleaner in the future. 

After I did the borders, I built stencils for the Orc symbol, top hat, and letters.

You can see the drawing of the pipe I considered using, but ultimately nixed due to space concerns.  I went with the orc symbol because it's an iconic Warhammer symbol, was easy to draw (freehand is not a talent of mine), and because an orc in a top hat with a monocle makes me laugh.  Everything was stenciled in except the cord attached to the orc's monocle. 

The stand was the next part.  I started with a small but heavy small concrete base with a pvc socket glued onto it.  You can screw things down into the socket, so I added the appropriate size screw head to a five foot pvc pipe. 

This fits right into the base, and can be attached and removed as necessary.  On the top of the pole, the horizontal pole that holds the actual banner is made of a a "T" connector and two two-foot pipes on either side.  This piece also detaches from the vertical pole, so that the banner itself can be removed as necessary and rolled up for transport.  The banner itself is held onto the pole by five small shower rings. 

I hope to hang this banner wherever our club attends tournaments.  It's not ungainly or excessively large, and should fit nicely in places like behind the TO's table.  It was a lot of fun, and I hope it will be a lot of fun to use as well.