1,000 Point Mini GT - A Quick Report

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to play in a 1,000 point Mini GT, with five games over one day.  I got to the store just around 10 a.m., and left at about 9 p.m.  The event was a blast, with 22 participants and a ton of fun to be had!  I had five good games, which I'll run through briefly.

My list:

Lysander
10 Man Tactical Squad with Heavy Bolter, Flamer
5 Man Tactical Squad
5 Man Terminator Assault Squad (3 Lightning Claws, 2 Thunder Hammer / Storm Shields)
1 Land Raider
2 Rhinos

Game One

My first opponent of the day was Spencer, who was playing Imperial Guard.  At 1,000 points, he wasn't messing around, and was there to beat face.  He had over 100 models, including two 40+ blobs with Commissars and Stracken, two Vendettas with three TL Lascannons each, and two other Lascannons.  So there were basically two giant stubborn or fearless blobs of troops, and (with orders) eight twin linked lascannons.  Frankly, my list didn't have the punch to take care of his, and although the game took some time, it was only because it took him thirty minutes to move his troops each turn.  I lost hard, and went down to the bottom of the pack.  Spencer would go on to win the entire tournament. 

Game Two

I felt better going into my second game.  My opponent, Jon, was a great guy, and brought a Tyranid list with a Trygon Prime, and Tervigon, the Doom of Malan'tal, and a Tyrant.  He also had some Gaunts, and could make more with the Tervigon.  The mission was objective based, but I felt good with my ability to crush the big bugs and cripple his army early.  In turn two, I charged his Trygon prime with my Terminators and Lysander, thinking he'd be easy money.  Sadly, I whiffed all my attacks, and then proceeded to fail my stubborn leadership ten and run away.  Whoops!  At the same time, I put twelve or so strength eight or nine wounds into the Doom, who made 3+ saves every time.  I did eventually rally, and come back to kill off two of the four big bugs, but because of the early loss of momentum ended up crashing hard.  Jon would go on to play Spencer at the top table in the final round, and would finish fifth overall.  My 0-2 start was not looking pretty.

Game Three

I ended up playing Bart, the TO, in round three, due to another play dropping out.  He had a Seer Council Elder list with some Prisms and Fire Dragons and Jetbikes.  Luckily, my dice got hot, dropping his transports early and knocking out his big guns.  There were two objectives, and at the end of the day I held one with the other contested, and ended up with a minor victory.

Game Four

I played Sean and his Tau in Game Four.  He had a ton of Fire Warriors, five Mech Suits of various types, and a Skyray.  We deployed in opposite corners, and were playing Kill Points.  I holed up my tactical squads in my corner building, and rushed my Land Raider at him, popping smoke.  He used Markerlights from his Fire Warriors to tap my Land Raider, and then blew it up.  The Terminators got out, but since the Fire Warriors had already shot, he couldn't take advantage.  In the next turn, the Terminators and Lysander split up, and got into his army, chewing them up.  While I couldn't pursue him after close combat, he was close to the board edge, and his units just ran off.  I ended up with a massacre.

Game Five

In the final game, I faced Todd and his Tyranids.  Todd was a fun opponent, and brought a Tyrant with two Tyrant Guard, three Hive Guard with Impaler Cannons, and four units of Genestealers with Broodlords.  I was a bit worried, but Todd didn't have much to deal with my Land Raider except in close combat.  Our mission had three objectives, all near the middle of the board.  The board had a ton of impassable terrain.  I moved my army up, and claimed one objective early.  At the beginning of the game, Todd moved his Tyrant and both Guard sets back, preferring to shoot.  He did manage to immobilize the Land Raider near the middle of the board, and Lysander and the Terminators got out to kill some Genestealers in the middle.  They killed the 'stealers, but unfortunately failed a lot of 2+ saves from shooting, causing Lysander to take one wound and the Terminators to die to a man. 

I still felt good going into close combat with his Tyrant, but the Tyrant did three wounds to Lysander, which the big yellow Terminator promptly failed, dying an wimpy death.  Fortunately for me, Todd had backed up so much to avoid combat with Lysander that he couldn't make it to the objectives that my Tactical Squads held, and had to settle for trying to beat my Land Raider to death instead.  I ended up with two of the three objectives, but had less Kill Points than Todd, and took a minor win.

Overall

This was a great tournament, and a ton of fun.  I ended up 3-2, and had fun the entire time.  Kudos to Bart for putting on such an innovative, fun tournament.

Death Company Rhino

I painted this Rhino right after the first regular Blood Angels one.  I like it and all, but I get the feeling that something as scary as the Death Company should come charging out of a Land Raider, or Storm Raven...perhaps just pop out of something terrifying like a real live rhino.  A Rhino tank just seems a bit small to deliver such a mean bunch of dudes. 

Then again, I guess the A-Team van wasn't that intimidating compared to the meanness it delivered to bad guys...

I wanted the guy on top to look like he's busting out of the top hatch of the Rhino, eager to get to the enemy and hit them with some swords.  Seems like a DC kind of thing.

Blood Angels First Rhino (with a bit of Freehand)

I finished this Rhino a couple weeks back.  I want to make my Blood Angels Rhinos a bit more "arty", with more than just red paint and the Chapter symbol.  What I came up with was the half blood drop with one wing covering the top.  I've never done any larger freehand before, so it was a bit scary going over the reds that I had just been shading and highlighting.  Nevertheless, it came out pretty well.  I plan on working on another Rhino to finish the other half of the blood drop and wing. 

Space Hulk's Sergeant Lorenzo

I've started the project of painting the Terminators from the board game Space Hulk.  Eventually, I will add these models into my Blood Angels army, but have not yet determined a method by which I will make the bases detachable so that I can use them for 40K and Space Hulk. 

So far, I'm using a unique system to determine what order to paint these models in.  I have decided that whichever model performs particularly well in each game played will get painted first.  This is Sergeant Lorenzo, who in our first (recent) game of Space Hulk held off waves of bad guys with only his sword and some very lucky dice rolls.  He earned his paint.

I am particularly pleased with the face of the model, where I managed highlighting, a decent eye, and some sharp teeth.  I also remembered to drill out the gun, which I always forget, and I think the greens came out really nicely.  The red armor is a bit flatter than usual, because I forgot to highlight in my usual way before working on details, and thus had to fix it in small batches as I went. 

More Space Hulk models will be incoming, so stay tuned!

An Ode to Lysander

Okay, not that Lysander.  More like the gentleman in the yellow Terminator armor.

There we go.

I'd like to toast again the model that I consider the most fun to play with in 40K-land:  Darnath Lysander.

For background, I'm not a great 40K general.  While I always play my hardest in Fantasy, there seems to be something about 40K that inspires me to really go for cool fights and explosions.  I enjoy those cinematic moments more than anything, and I seem to believe that my models can do anything.  I have a scout sergeant who has killed Abaddon, Hive Tyrants, and the like.  I put him in those situations intentionally.   My mind just tends to gloss over all the times he's died.

Lysander does amazing, heroic things on the battlefield, and that's why I like playing him in my lists so very much.

Case in point was my second game at this previous weekend's 40K tournament.  Lysander, seven Assault Terminators, a Crusader, and a Vindicator were lined up across from a good half of a Dark Eldar army.  There were Raiders, Ravagers, Incubi, Wyches, Warriors, and Duke Sliscus.  I knew that Lysander must take on the challenge.

In I charged, and was promptly counter-charged by the Incubi and Wyches, after sustaining casualties from an unholy amount of fire.  The Terminators fell nearly to a man, leaving only one TH/SS Terminator and Lysander with two wounds, as well a the Crusader and Vindicator both immobilized.

It was time for a big Lysander-type move, so I fired the Vindicator just past his combat into Duke Sliscus and his warriors.  The blast scattered back into the combat, killing all the incubi, several wyches, and still knocking the Duke's squad around.  Lysander stayed standing, and went on to fight off every Dark Eldar on his side of the board, finally finishing off the Duke with one wound left.  He was, in short, a beast.

I should note that not only was my opponent a perfect sportsman, who did not even flinch when the blast scattered in and changed the face of the combat, but he was also a better general, edging me on objectives at the end of the day and taking a minor victory in the game.  Despite the loss, the game itself was a high point of the day for me, in that I had a good opponent, and Lysander got to do some crazy, cinematic things, which is what makes 40K great for me.

Blood Angels Death Company Painted, Part One

Painting the Death Company has been amazing.  After painting one hundred Gors, being able to really focus on detail work and high quality has been a ton of fun.  The models are incredibly detailed.  My first five DC are armed with two power fists, a power weapon, a plasma gun and two hand flamers.  Optimally equipped?  Not so much, but I wanted to use all the bits and bobs on the sprue, and I a) won't use all ten of the DC regularly and b) am not worried about WYSIWYG for things like the hand flamers. 

Also, check out the photo...as me taking pictures goes, it's not too terrible.  Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of things.

Blood Angels First Tactical Squad: Meltas

I've always been a fan of the melta gun, and nobody will tell you these days that they aren't great for 40K, what with the Mega Mech Madness (patent pending) going down on every table.  I ordered up some of the melta bits packs from ol' GW a while back, so I can promise that the Blood Angels won't lack in this department.

The temptation with an army like the Blood Angels or Space Wolves is to name every model, to give each one a saga or story.  I like that a lot.  They're a little more flavorful, at least to my mind, than my Imperial Fists (an exercise in painting yellow) and my Raven Guard (my first army...okay, I like them a lot too).  I was initially attracted to Space Marines way back when because of the idea of big giant armored guys crashing into the enemy lines, guns blazing and swords hacking, and because of variations like the Wolves and Angels I've never been tempted to leave.  Sure, some people will say that's a bad thing, but I've know what armies I liked in 40K for years and years.

New Project: Blood Angels

What do you do when you have two huge Space Marine armies, and still have models to paint and put together?  A little bit of Blood Angels and Space Wolves will hopefully be coming down pipes from me to you in the next few months, as I stick to a decidedly Marine trend while trying out some new books and paint schemes.

This is my first Blood Angel model, and a decent test subject.  You'll notice some differences from the official paint job.  I wanted to differentiate a bit.   I'm going to be painting up the Fourth Company, known as the "Knights of Baal".  I'm going to use an emerald paint on the shoulder pad to fancy things up a bit, and the knee pad will show individual "heraldry" for each marine, rather than a squad marking.

I hand painted the Company and Chapter symbols on each shoulder pad rather than using transfers, which was a new challenge for me, and I think it turned out well.  The sword blades have also been highlighted with mithril silver since I took the picture.  I look forward to cranking out some of his battle brothers!  Any suggestions for improvement or ideas on how to spice him up?

Pedro Kantor, Now in Imperial Fist Flavor

What would Imperial Fist be, if it was a flavor?  Something sour, I think, and probably smokey.

Anyway, I know that there's always going to be a great debate out there as to Space Marine special characters and whether or not you should use them in armies that are not their own Chapter.  While I love the 40K fluff, I'm perfectly willing to blur the special character line a bit.  Vulcan in the Ultramarines is a little tricky, but I figure ol' Pedro here is a Imperial Fist successor, and fits their shooty playstyle.  I'm also going to get around to painting a Telion for my Raven Guard sometime, since they are the super scout chapter and he's the super scout guy.  And Chronus...if he ever gets into my army, it's going to be as an Iron Hand.

Pedro actually marks a big day for me, however.  He's my last Imperial Fist Space Marine.  The army, which pushes around 2,500 points, is finished up, and will now sit in the cabinet between friendlies and tournaments.  Now that my Raven Guard and Imperial Fists are finished, it's time to head for Wolf and Angel country.

Imperial Fists Vindicator!

I love having a guy with a sword coming out of the top of any tank, but especially a Vindicator.  That's how I play my Space Marines anyway...sure, I've got one of the best guns in the Imperium, but I'd rather hit someone with that chain sword.  I decided to really try and weather the vehicle, adding lots of chipped paint and especially splattered mud.  I'll do the same to the Land Raider and any Rhinos that follow. 

I am excited to finally be fielding this bad boy, as big guns are pure joy.  I hopefully will get a chance to attend a 40K tournament this weekend, and if so, this will be great to use!

Oh So Yellow!

The process of painting my Imperial Fists has had its ups and downs, but nothing has been quite so arduous as the tanks.  My goal with the Fists was to have each of them look smooth.  Most yellow I see is streaky and often times the base coat shows through.  I wanted to do my yellows right, and while they're not flashy, I have had very good luck getting things nice and uniformly colored.

The tanks I'm currently working on, though, are really taking some effort.  Coat after coat is going on, and progress is being made, but getting perfect yellow on large, flat surfaces is really a trick.  Thank goodness for Foundation paints, eh? 

One of the articles I read recently on the GW website mentioned painting a White Scars Land Raider with sponges.  Does anyone have any experience with this method?  I have a Land Raider myself to do next!

Who Knew? 40K Can Be Fun!

It's been a long time since I got a game of 40K in.  I've been playing Fantasy, and a bit of Malifaux, exclusively for over a year now.  The other night, Ian and Bart and I played a goofy, fun bit of 40K, and I had a blast.  I think the difference may be in the way I approached the game. 

Back when I was playing 40K a lot, I was working to win every single game.  I wanted to smash faces and win tactically every time.  I also wanted to play my Raven Guard and Imperial Fists like they played in the fluff, as killing machines that knew no equal.  I got pretty good, and had some tournament wins, but was unhappy that I couldn't really play my marines aggressively and win.  I had to focus on long and medium range firepower in order to use them effectively, and it wasn't something I enjoyed.  I wanted to make heroic strikes at my opponent, to get in his face and smash him up for the Emperor!  Basically, I loved the SM fluff, but was playing the wrong army on the tabletop. 

Fast forward to yesterday, and I've still got the same army.  But I haven't played tournaments for a while, and I'm not worried about being competitive.  It was a great almost "beer and pretzels" feeling yesterday to play, and to just do things the way I wanted, and damn the consequences.  I used Lysander like the tank he is, punting vehicles and harlequins around, and even when I was down to one wound, I still charged an incoming group of Terminators. 

So hey, maybe there'll be a little more 40K play around here.  As long as I can keep it fun and light, I think it's a great game for me.  And soon, perhaps I'll paint up some Space Wolves and Blood Angels, and have marines that will actually fit an aggressive play style competitively.  Could be good times!

40K Army Raffle for Charity!

Via From the Warp, here is a great project to raise money for Doctors Without Borders.  Here is the link to click to donate when you're done (since FTW's wasn't quite up as of posting time this morning): http://santacruzwarhammer.blogspot.com/.  Look at the top right corner.

"The Storm Wardens are a new Space Marine chapter from the yet to be released Death Watch RPG. Together with Games Workshop, Fantasy Flight Games (Horus Heresy, Wings of War) has been developing the game which will be released this summer.

We approached the folks designing the Death Watch game while planning this project, and told them we were thinking of building a Storm Wardens army, and they loved the idea. They have been working with us in getting the look of the army just right and giving us some great unreleased fluff and imagery.

We are going to build a complete Storm Wardens Space Marine army with a decked out HQ, Marines, Veterans, Scouts, Terminators, and a bunch of vehicles, a massive army that any commander would be proud to field.

You will be able to see the army units come together and follow the army build progress through links to all the builders blogs on our "Storm Wardens" mini blog roll.

Who will be working on the army?

Dave Taylor
Thomas Wynn (Wynn Studios)
Jawaballs
Mister Justin (Secret Weapon Miniatures)
Mik (Miks Minis)
Mike & John (Santa Cruz Warhammer)
and last but not least, your's truly.

Along with the blogger build team, we are going after some related hobby retailers to give up some loot to add to the army prize. Secret Weapon Miniatures is donating all the custom bases, and Chessex has already sent us the custom dice.

What can you do?

Well, you can give us your money. You can buy tickets for the raffle drawing at the top right of this page or any of the other participating bloggers, using PayPal or a credit card. Each donated dollar becomes one ticket, the more you buy the better your chance of winning, and more money for charity.

We will randomly draw the winner in mid July.

What if I don't have any money, but I still want to help?

Dig around under the couch cushions or under the seat of your car, put on some dark sunglasses and sell pencils out of a cup on the street corner, or even sell some extra Warhammer minis on Ebay, then use that cash to buy your raffle tickets.

You can also help by linking to this project in your blog, telling your friends and other gamers, mention it at your gaming club or even posting about it in your favorite forums, this will help us get the most exposure we can, so we can raise more money for charity.

If you have a small business (or know someone who does) that might have a product to donate that would be great to add to this army, contact us about a feature during the build.

Why should I help out?

If you have ever read something on our blogs that you thought was cool, gave you a good idea, showed you how to do something better, downloaded a free drop pod template, used the Barter Bucket, or perhaps you even got something from us for free and you are feeling a bit guilty about it.... well, now is your chance to give something back, pay it forward, return a good turn.... well you know.

Oh yeah, and you could win an entire finished army, by giving $1 to a good charity.

Where does the money go?

The money will be donated to Doctors Without Borders, and actually help people. We chose Doctors without Borders because their cause is a global pursuit to help people in need, where ever help is needed most, and they have a good track record with getting the $ where it does the most good.

So there you have it. I hope you are all as exited about this as we are, its been tough keeping it a secret.

So.......who wants a new army?"

This is a great project for those who are doing it, and I hope I can help get the word out in whatever tiny way about this fantastic project.  Go buy some raffle tickets!

Mass Effect 2

We got the old Xbox fixed here at the house the other day, and while we're at it, picked up Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption.  ME 2 seems to have no respect for the fact that I have tanks to paint up, as well as a Jabbersclythe.  The game is just amazing, as was its predecessor.  So after last month with thousands of points painted, this month may be more anemic.  At least I'll have saved the galaxy as second time! 

Tale of Painters for May!

I just thought I'd share some rough shots of the models I painted for Tale of Painters this month.  I painted over 2,000 points combined.  These were the pictures that went up to make the deadline.  They're a bit rough, but good shots should come over the next few weeks of the various models!

The Camp Fire - Fluffing It

Kuffy over at The Trading Post sent out the following questions:

How important is fluff to you?  Do you base an army around the fluff and make the looks/minis suit the background you have for them or is it the other way around?  Do you use units that would never fight alongside one another fluffwise?  Do you care for the fluff or is it all about the rules for you?  Do you write fluff for your armies?

As a tournament player, this is a pretty common set of questions for me, because the fluff debate at tournaments is ever present.  So here's my take.

The importance of fluff is a personal thing, and is an important part of our hobby.  Done well, fluff can be used to bring an army to life on the table and in your mind, but "fluff abuse" is also a thing that we see around the area from time to time.  I think there are two keys to being a fun and fluffy player.  First, do what makes you happy.  Second, use some moderation and remember the other hobby aspects.  For me, fluff is a great and wonderful thing, but shouldn't dictate your fun.

Doing what makes you happy with fluff means different things to different people.  For some, playing their army as a certain faction, such as a Nurgle Daemon army or a Khainite Daemon army is the way to go, and so they limit themselves and build accordingly.  When I build an army, I love to have a theme or idea in mind, but I want to make it more big and general, because I want to use everything in the army book.  For instance, I always think of my red and bronze Dark Elves as a desert raiding force, plying the wastes to loot and pillage.  A little bit of everything shows up in the army, as each Dark Elf faction is represented and vies for glory and reward.  In this way, I enjoy my personal fluff without giving up some of the other things that I enjoy, such as collecting and painting.

My big joy is playing the game, mostly at a tournament level, and so I do notice examples of fluff gone too far.  There are two offenders that are related, and I call them the Intentional Gimp and the Hidden Cheese.  The Intentional Gimp is the player who intentionally makes his army terrible in order to make it what he or she considers "fluffy", and then complains about getting beaten by all the other armies.  While it's one thing to have a fluffy army, don't be a bad sport when you lose because you ran a Bretonnian all Peasant army.  On the other hand, the Hidden Cheese hides his cheesiness behind fluff.  When he shows up with your 25+ power dice Vampire army, he should still get a terrible composition score even if you painted your army to look like Necrarchs.  A cheesy army is a cheesy army, even if it has a great theme.

Finally, and this is my big offender, is the Fluff Nazi.  Don't be this guy.  Your opinion is your opinion, and while it's cool to share, don't condemn the guy who doesn't think the same way you do, or has other priorities with his army.  I'm going to play in a doubles tournament next month with my good buddy Lon.  We're running Beastmen and Lizardmen (or "Blizzardmen" if you will).  We both realize that it's not fluffy, but he's playing his army and I'm playing mine.  I'm okay with this combo because I'm going to the tournament to play Warhammer and to hang out with my friend, and that's my priority.  Years ago, when my brother and I started 40K, we were almost kicked out of a doubles tournament for bringing Space Marines (me) and Tau (him).  We had just started, and those were the only armies we owned, but we had to talk our way into being allowed to play.  My priority there was to go to a tournament with my brother. 

So like all things with the hobby, I guess what I'm saying is that you should be happy with what you do, and let others be happy with their hobby as well, be it in painting, modeling, fluff, or anything else.  I look forward to playing you with my Eighty plus power dice Dwarfs soon!

Slow Down and Smell the Roses!

In the past month, I've painted around 1500 points of Beastmen, an Imperial Fists Tactical Squad, Rorsch for Trollbloods, and around ten Khador models.  I've been efficient and organized, and I've enjoyed the experience.  I haven't had to sacrifice quality, because I've gotten to the point where I'm happily painting up to my optimal standard very quickly. 

And therein lies the problem.

Just as in every other aspect of the hobby, it is my belief that when everything is going incredibly smoothly with your painting, things have to change.  It's not my life goal to become some sort of sweat shop model painter, churning out good models at high speeds.  Instead, it's always been my goal to continually improve my painting.  While the work I'm doing makes me happy, I've stopped improving in the name of speed.

So here's the plan:

I'm going to finish my Beastmen, Khador, Imperial Fists, and Trollbloods for Libriarium Online's Tale of Painters.  Most of these are down to a few models, except for the Beastmen, which will involve painting a lot of Gors and some Chariots.

After that, I won't have more Privateer Press to paint.  As much as I love the models, I've come to the realization that I am not going to play Hordes or Warmachine.  I don't dislike the games, but I have limited free time, and as it stands, I like WFB a lot more than anything else.

What I will have is a) more Space Marine models than I can shake a stick at and b) a new Warhammer Fantasy army to start working on.

So I'll start painting the new Space Marines (Blood Angels?  Space Wolves?  Salamanders?) and probably what will be a joint High Elf / Wood Elf Avelorn themed army.  Instead of rushing them through, I'd like to make each of these armies an army of individual, detailed models where I push myself to paint and model my best work.

That's the plan anyway.  Here's hoping!

The Quiet Limit of the World is "The Trader of the Week" at The Trading Post!

Whooo!  For those of you who aren't familiar with "The Trading Post" http://the-tradingpost.blogspot.com/, it's a blog that serves as a great hub for other Warhammer Fantasy blogs.  This week, The Quiet Limit is featured as "The Trader of the Week"!  I've copied the interview, and hope you enjoy it!


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Again we have another Fantasy blog up for promotion.  This is good old blog, lots of content - especially about Beastmen.  Go check it out folks:

http://quietlimit.blogspot.com/

The Interview

Real name or Avatar
My real name is Ben, and I use the moniker of "Tekore" on forums.  I'm based in Durham, North Carolina, in the United States.  Other occasional contributors are Blair and Tom.

What fantasy army(ies) do you play?
I have around 8,000 points each of Bretonnians and Dark Elves, and am currently playing Beastmen in their latest incarnation.
 

Beastlordette?

What projects are you currently working on?
I run the Tale of Painters over at Librarium Online, and usually have a lot of different projects brewing at the same time.  I believe that by running multiple projects you can paint regularly without becoming bored or burning out as much. Currently, I'm painting:

* Around 5,000 points of Beastmen
* A 2,000 point Imperial Fist Space Marine army.
* 100 points of Khador for Warmachine.
* 100 points of Trollbloods for Hordes.
* Various Malifaux gangs.

I recently finished my entire Dark Elf army, and always have Bretonnians to paint if I get bored.  I'm looking to finish my Imperial Fists, Trollbloods, and Khador in the next few months, and am considering taking on a Blood Angels / Space Wolves dual army project after finishing.  For Fantasy, I'm not sure what I'll work on after Beasts, but am thinking about a joint High Elves / Wood Elves Avelorn themed army.

Barbarian hero

What is the main focus of your blog?
When I created The Quiet Limit of the World, I wanted it to show aspects of all aspects of the hobby.  I love to model and convert, to paint and bring those models to life, and to game in both casual and tournament settings.  A lot of blogs only focus on one of those things, and while they are all interesting, I like a little bit of everything.  I'm also interested in a lot of different games, so I flit around there as well.  So I suppose The Quiet Limit doesn't have a main focus, but is rather a general blog on the hobby. 

What are we to expect in the future from your blog?
I'm going to strive for continued quality and quantity.  I like to try and update every weekday morning if possible with something fresh and new.  I'd also like to get more battle reports in, as it's an area that I'm not particularly good at.  2011 also is supposedly the Flames of War year coming up at the Friendly Local Game Store, so there may be some of that coming up. 

What/who is your biggest inspiration?
In terms of painting and modeling, I've always looked up to a few gentlemen over at Librarium Online.  I draw inspiration from several of the contributors there who have beautiful models, such as Minus_t, King Ulrik Flamebeard, and Andusciassus, and also from Cyric the Mad, who ran the first Tale of Painters and taught me to actually get projects done.

 Vargulf alert!

 In terms of playing the game, I draw inspiration from the players at my local gaming club, The Team Caribbean Breeze Women's Lacrosse and Warhammer Club (it's a long story).  We've got national GT winners and brand new players, but I think the general spirit of good sporting competitiveness is the thing that keeps me wanting to play each week.  To play as hard a game as you can every time and still have a fun, laughing game is a real pleasure.

What is your number one hobby tip?
Just do it.  Trite?  Absolutely, but true nonetheless.  The only way you'll improve with painting is with practice, and the same goes for green stuff and every other aspect of making your army look good.  Don't be afraid to make mistakes.  They're fixable, and you can always strip your miniatures if you're really unhappy.  Make some time to sit down and paint most days, if only for five or ten minutes.  You'll improve as a hobbyist, and you'll have the joy of actually seeing your army progress. 

Dark Elves Army

What is your number one gaming tip?
Don't be a jerk.  We're (generally) a bunch of grown folk playing a child's game.  Don't roll over if your opponent is cheating, but other than that, relax and have a good time, reveling in the great social experience that wargaming could be.  I've gotten to travel around and play a ton of people that I never would have met otherwise due to Warhammer, and it's been a real pleasure.  Don't soil the experience by turning your hobby into an unpleasant jaunt for you and your opponent. 

What is your proudest moment in wargaming?
I have a lot of tournament wins, but the tournaments I remember the best are the ones where I've gotten the very highest sportsmanship scores and painting scores.  Those are the days that I know I'm at the top of the hobby fully.  I especially enjoy when I'm put down as someone's favorite opponent of the day at a tournament.  It's a great feeling.
 

Dark Elf Dreadlord

 

If you could have a miniature made for a character or unit that does not currently have one, which would it be?
I've always thought a Crone Hellebron model for the Dark Elves would be a cool opportunity to make a really "over the top" Witch Elf.  Mostly, though, I'm happy to convert models that don't exist.  I think getting to play around on how I wanted to make my Cygor (converted Giant), Ghorgon (converted Shaggoth) and Jabbersclythe (LotR Fel Beast) was pretty great.

What are the top three Fantasy blogs you follow?
Drinkin' and Modelin'

- Randroid paints, models and plays in Warhammer, just like me.  Plus, we have the mutual interest of beer in common, although I'm a wheat beer guy myself for the most part.

The Painting Corps

- This is my site to read for great painting and modeling ideas.  I love that they post to different sites where they find the great stuff that I aspire to one day be able to do myself.

The Trading Post, ++ From the Warp ++, and Bell of Lost Souls

- I use these sites for their generally good daily information and to sort through other blogs for things I want to read.   It's kind of like the wargaming equivalent of the morning paper!

Tale of Painters for April (Month 8)

I got a bit of work done this month for the Tale of Painters project on Librarium Online.  I managed to turn something in on all five of my armies in progress, which is always a challenge.  I submitted:

20 Corsairs with Full Command
Six Doom Reavers
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw (also used as Beastmen models)
An Imperial Fists Dreadnought.

For the next month, I'm hoping to finish:

An Imperial Fists Tactical Squad
Khador Mechanics and a Greylord Ternion for Khador.
Rorsch and Brine for Trollbloods (with Brine also being a Beastmen Razorgor)

I'm also entering a contest on Librarium Online to paint 1,000 points in 24 hours, and will do so with Beastmen next week.  So I suppose whatever I manage to finish there will be my entry.

Doom Reavers Completed!

Here's a nasty bunch of guys, all painted and ready to go.  From my very little experience in actually playing Khador, I know these can be an absolute terror on the table if used properly, but they were sure a lot of fun to paint.  The swords look darker in the picture than they actually are; I think they have a nice glow to them. 

I'll probably pick up the Greylord Unit Attachment to go with the Doom Reavers, simply because I like Greylord models and I can see how useful he could be.  I'm not sure what I'll be painting next.  I have an Imperial Fist Tactical Squad that I'd like to get finished, but I'm tempted to push hard on my Beasts in order to have a fully painted army for a tournament I'll attend on the 24th.  Temptations, temptations.