Painted Malagor, the Dark Omen

At first, I didn't really like painting the Malagor model.  The sheer amount of bling on this guy is ridiculous, and he took about three times the amount of time just to base coat as a regular model does.  Even when I finished with the base coat, I wasn't thrilled, because he has a lot of purple cloth going on in the middle.  After washing and highlighting, I decided to add the green stitching to the cloth, and I think it broke up the colors and made the model look a lot better.  .

Gamewise, the Malagor model will generally take the role of my second caster, since I use my Skeletor model as a Level 4 Great Bray Shaman.  For instance, last night I played against Bart's Daemons of Chaos, and used the Malagor model as my Level 2 Lore of Beasts Shaman.  He's a nicer model than the regular Bray Shamans, and stands out a bit. 

Painted Ghorros Warhoof

Ghorros almost makes me wish I owned a lot more Centigor.  If I did, I would love to field the core Centigor army with him running the show.  If nothing else, I think it would be a lot of fun. 

I'm really pleased with my painting on Ghorros.  In these last three models I've done for the Beastmen, I've tried to really emphasize giving multiple levels of highlighting and shading to each color on the model.  I even don't hate the horse part of the model, which I generally always have in the past.  Horses were probably the most frustrating and tricky part of painting Bretonnians, and that hasn't really changed. 

Anyway, comments are welcome as always.

Weekend Update: August 29th, 2011

Well, all the Beastmen models are now painted, which only took me around nineteen months of total painting.  That's roughly eight or so Lords/Heroes, one hundred Gor, ~sixty Ungor, seven chariots, ~sixty Bestigor, five Minotaurs, two Razorgors, ten Centigors, a Giant, and a Herdstone.  The last three out of the shoot were Gorros, Malagor, and my BSB, and they all came out looking a lot better than the first Beastman models I painted, which I suppose is the point of painting. 

So where does that leave me?  The next army is on the docket, and will be making an appearance soon.  I'm also going to crank out a few movement trays and the Beastman display board over the next few days so I can get them nicely tucked away.  I'll still be playing Beasts for a good while, as I'm not going to attach the new army to its bases until the bases are painted, in theory anyway.

The Death of Restrictions

One of the best things that is coming from the new army books that GW is designing is the removal of the old, arbitrary restrictions that haunt a lot of seventh and especially sixth edition army books.  I know Ogre players everywhere are glad that the 1+ requirement for Tyrants is going to disappear, not to mention the great "you can't have a Scrap Launcher without Gnoblars, and can't have Gnoblars without Bulls" restrictions.  I mean, it's not like it's rocket science, but there isn't really a good reason for these restrictions. 

I've been reading the Wood Elf book lately, and I can't wait to see all of the restrictions in there go the way of the Dodo.  Everything in the current book seems to be contingent on something else.  For instance, a character can join the Wild Rider Kindred, but then must ride a horse or stag (okay), but cannot have any additional weapons or armor (wait, what?), unless given a magical spear (wtf) or magical light armor.  You know people would be spamming those all powerful Wild Rider characters unless we hold them back, right?  Too powerful for regular items!

Anyway, I think it's a great design trend for Fantasy, and I hope it continues. 

And Wood Elves will have Stag Knights in their new book.  You heard it here firstish.  They're in the fluff, they're Wild Huntish, and GW loves them some monstrous cavalry lately.

Painted Chaos in the Old World - Nurgle

In Chaos in the Old World, players play in order depending on which god they represent:  Khorne, followed by Nurgle, Tzeentch, Slaneesh, and the Horned Rat.  I figured I could post their respective models up in the same order. 

Nurgle models were probably some of the most fun to paint, as they look great and characterful with only a base coat, highlight, and wash.   In game, Nurgle wins by focusing on corrupting the populous regions of Kislev, The Empire, Bretonnia, and Estalia.  He has cheap troops that can flood the board, but has to watch out in order to prevent Khorne from slaughtering all the little Nurgling folk and winning the game in that way. 

Our Chaos in the Old World ended last night, and I took second while Bart took first.  The game was, just as the league was, tight down to the last game and was a lot of fun, although I'm looking forward to some Warhammer and some cooperative gaming for a while after the "screw your neighbor" stylings of CitOW. 

Painted Centigor

There's nothing more satisfying than knowing that a unit of models that has almost never actually hit the table for you, and probably won't hit the table anytime soon, has one of the better paint jobs in the army.  I like the Centigor concept, actually love the models (which some people seem to really hate), and think the Drunken rules are pretty hilarious.  But Sweet Raptor Jesus, these are a terrible unit in Warhammer.  Moderate toughness, pretty poor armor, and low initiative?  Check, check, and check!  Close to thirty points a model?  Oh yeah! 

I realize that there are some people that make these guys work in a decent fashion...but they're just not for me...and I've been running a Giant in my army recently.

But hey, with this new paintjob, maybe I'll give them another shot at the big time.   

Weekend Update: August 22, 2011

This past weekend, I painted the dozen Ungor I had left, as well as my last Beastman Chariot.  This means that I have Malagor, Gorros, and a BSB left to paint on my Beastmen, and the finish line is in sight. 

Finding those Ungor last month was a pain.  I had painted the Ungor that I had almost a year ago, and then just randomly found a dozen more while reorganizing my office.  There's not a lot of joy in painting even more Ungor, but I used the character models as a motivator, as I'm excited to get to them.

I'll need to do a few things to finish off the army once all the models are painted.  I'm short a few extra movement trays for things like Warhounds and the like, and I plan on making a nice display board for the army as well.   I'm not allowed to touch any new army stuff until that's done...of course, I'm the one who set that rule, but hey, you've got to stick to something.

Congratulations to Team USA at the European Team Championship.  The teams came in sixth overall in Fantasy and third overall in 40K, which is a pretty good showing.  The constant Twitter updates from Rankings HQ and Heelanhammer, among others, were particularly fun.

Painted Chaos in the Old World - Khorne

Last week, I was working on my SUPER AWESOME MYSTERY PROJECT (tm), which turned out to be painting up all the models from the board game Chaos in the Old World.  At the local store, we've been playing in a CitOW league as of late, and I thought it would be nice to have the figures nicely painted up for our games.  The figures are (very roughly) around 10mm in scale, and were done mostly with my detail brushes.  The entire project of five "armies" took about a week, and consisted of around sixty tiny models. 

For those who haven't played CitOW, the game (and Horned Rat expansion) is played by three to five players, although I suggest at least four, with each player representing Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, Slaneesh, and the Horned Rat, respectively.  The game board is a map of Warhammer's Old World, and each god uses different strategies to kill its enemies, corrupt the citizenry, and dominate various regions such as The Empire, Bretonnia, and Tilea, as well as to stymie the efforts of opposing gods. 

Above, you can see my painted Khorne.  In terms of winning himself, Khorne has the most straightforward game play, needing to kill the other players' figures to really advance in the game.  A savvy Khorne player is necessary, however, as his role is key to slowing down Slaneesh early in the game and in slowing down Nurgle in the long term, as both can overwhelm the game if their figures are not killed in key locations. 

Anyway, I'll be posting up these five tiny new groups over the next week or so, and I hope you enjoy them!

A Basing Question

Dear Internet Reader Type Folks:

I'm finishing up my Beastmen, and when I start my new army, I'd like to add more substantial basing.  Normally, I glue the model to the base, and then paint and base from there.  I'm thinking about basing separately and painting the model and the base before attaching the two to one another.  My concern is that the model will not be as firmly attached to the base, and that it will fall off and break more easily.  How does one base first and then attach the model to the base firmly?  Any help on the subject would be much appreciated.

Percival the Painted Beastman Giant

Percival was a very lonely giant, etc. etc., blah, blah, blah.  I'm not very good at writing background (or at reading other people's army fluff), so I just won't. 

Percival began life as a giant kit.  He got his greenstuff fur and pants, and lived life briefly as a Cygor in 7th edition.  In 8th, I wanted him to be a giant, and be more beasty, so I found a metal Gorilla and gave its head to Percy.   I also greenstuffed vines around him and a gem in the center of the vines, in order to demonstrate his "just summoned by a bray shaman" nature.

All in all, he's been a ferocious, fierce, and funky Giant.  He's eaten a hero or two, and smashed a Slaughtermaster and Hell Pit Abomination on the way. 

Weekend Update: August 15th, 2011

At some point, I hope to have a weekend when I'm not a) out of town or b) at work.  It would make for an easier hobby life, and maybe an easier life in general.  I even have a theory that this coming weekend, there shouldn't be anything extraordinary required of me.  Nonetheless, some things did get done this past weekend.

Percy the Beastman Giant is now finished in all his roaring glory.   I also worked, in that hour or so between getting home from work and sleeping, on a SUPER ULTRA MYSTERY PROJECT (TM), which will go up on Wednesday here on the site.  I'm now looking forward to the next Sci Fi Genre Warhammer Fantasy Tournament on September 10th, which seems like a great opportunity to see the new Ogre Kingdoms book in action, and of course the Southern Assault GT in October. 

Also, have you guys seen this?

Honestly, that's not only an impressiv Ogre model, but one of GW's best character models, in my opinion.

Oooooogre Rumors!

Having a good friend who plays Ogres, I was very excited to see a summary rumor list over at Drinkin' and Modelin' for the new book.  The book sounds exciting, and also like it's built to help Ogres deal with armies with a higher model count; i.e., other armies.  I'm excited and can't wait to see Ogres come back from the long time they've spent as the special cousin to all the other Warhammer armies. 

I love the inside front cover artwork on the last few books, like the one above.  The Tomb King in the last army book was awesome as well.  Whoever is making those pictures, keep it up!

Weekend Update: August 8th, 2011

I went out to the beach this weekend for long walks, tall drinks, and all that jazz, but got in a little bit of building and painting while back at home.  I finished up the movement trays for the ten Centigor that I painted....and am very disturbed after googling images of Centaur for the post.  I also got some serious work done last night on the Beastman Giant I am working on, but need some green foundation paint to go any farther. 

While I was traveling, I stopped by Rules of Engagement Games in Havelock, NC, which was interesting.  The first three things that you see when you enter the store are three signs.  The first states that you can't carry firearms into the store.  The second says they can search any bag you have at any time.  The third says that if you sell or trade anything on the premises, you have to give the store a ten percent fee.  The first thing you smell when you walk in is a building that has mold and rot like nowhere else I have ever been. 

They had the benefit, however, of having some older stock like the old metal dragons and the like.  I found a Plague Lord Nurglitch model at a steal, and that was nice.  It also served the purpose of reminding me that we have several really nice places to play here in RTP. 

I haven't been able to locate a copy of White Dwarf 379.  All the stores I've checked are sold out.  I'd like to get a look at the amended VC rules, Power Scroll change, and even the first half of the Sisters of Battle Codex.  It turns out that when GW actually puts a ton of useful stuff in their magazine, it sells really well.  Who would've thunk it?

Beastmen Roundup - What I have Left

Having finished up the Minotaurs and Centigors over the past few weeks, I find myself in the homestretch for the Beastmen.  The other day, I sat down and made a list of everything I have left to do.  I have to figure out what to work on next, and only have a few candidates left:

1 Giant
13 Ungor
Malagor
Converted Beastman BSB
Gorros

A Display Board

Movement Trays for a second group of fifty Gor, the Ungor, Ungor Raiders, and Warhounds. 

I hope to finish up in the next month or two, if I'm lucky...just have to get through the home stretch!

Painted Minotaurs!

So my painting, in general, has been taking slightly longer, because I'm a) winding down the Beastmen and b) have had a slight uptick in painting quality, which is in turn leading to me taking more time per model as I internalize new techniques.  I have been working recently on Minotaur and Centigor, and am pleased with the results.

In the Minotaurs, I'm particularly pleased with the skin, metals, hair, and with the basing.  They're well shaded, and the metals have a decently rusted look.  I should have done a bit more work with the purples, especially on the banner.  One thing that I want to work on overall with my next armies is more dynamic basing...but it's tough with the current Beastmen as they're assembled and glued to their bases, as well as the fact that I already have a ton of models done with just the yellow grass / green grass / sand basing.

Anyway...thoughts?

Weekend Update: August 1st, 2011

Okay, so last week was a bit killer.  I slept, ate, and worked.  Sorry about the lack of updates, but that's life sometimes, I suppose.

I did work on painting some Centigor this weekend, and have begun to try and figure out my list for the Southern Assault Grand Tournament in October.  I get just a bit nervous with a comp system that pretty much will take you out of the tournament if your list is judged "hard" with no opportunity for revision.  I like comp and don't dislike the system, but it does make me nervous since people have vastly different ideas of what that means.

I've got to get my hands on the new White Dwarf for all it's great content this month.  Man, I never thought I'd say that!  I want to have a look at the new changes to VC, the Power Scroll nerf, and the Sisters of Battle stuff.  

I also put some more stuff on Ebay, including current Cygnar and Scyrah rulebooks for Warmachine Mark II, and most of the Mark I books for both Warmachine and Hordes (up for 99 cents).  Here's a link to that:

http://shop.ebay.com/btuite1/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25

I'm going to try and actually have some pictures and such up this week, so that this doesn't turn into a stinky non-content having blog!