On Painting Scores in Miniature Gaming Tournaments, Part I

Well, not that kind of tournament painting

Over the past few days, I've been attempting to gather my thoughts on painting scores in miniature game tournaments, specifically Warhammer, into a cohesive mass.  Soft scores in general, and painting scores in particular, are some of the most contentious parts of the Warhammer tournament scene, so I believe that they deserve a good bit of thought.  I'd love to hear your opinions and thoughts as well.  I'd also like someone to actually show  up to a tournament painted as in the picture above.

Part One - The Advantages and Disadvantages of Painting Scores in Warhammer Tournaments

Painting scores in tournaments offer both positives and negatives to players and tournament organizers, and those factors have to be recognized in order to determine if an event should or shouldn't use painting scores. 

The main argument that I often hear for including painting scores in tournaments is that war gaming is a hobby, which consists both of playing miniatures and painting and modeling those miniatures.  Certainly, the miniature companies push this idea of a "complete hobby", as they produce paints, brushes, and modeling tools along with their models.  Games Workshop in particular seems to emphasize this model, using heavy painting scores in their own Throne of Blood tournaments and providing a magazine that heavily features well painted models and tutorials on painting.

While I personally fall into the "complete hobby" category, and really enjoy painting, there are many people who have an equally valid hobby of playing war games, and either having no interest in the painting side of things or seeing painting as a less enjoyable and important side effect of the hobby.  From their perspective, playing Warhammer is similar to playing other games.  A couple hours of playing Portal 2 on the XBox doesn't require one to slap a coat of paint on the console, so why should playing a miniature game?

A second, less used but in my opinion more interesting argument for the inclusion of painting scores is the idea of immersion.  I once had a tournament organizer argue to me that he had players coming in from around the country and from other countries to play in his tournament, and his responsibility to those players was to provide the very best experience possible for them to participate in.  This included visually appealing games, both from himself as a TO in term of terrain, and from other players in terms of painted armies.  Many players enjoy games on an aesthetic or, for lack of a better term, "fluffy" level, and nothing jars those sensibilities harder than gray or primed plastic, metal and resin across the table.

 This picture, for example, wouldn't be as neat without any color.

There are also several valid arguments for passing on painting scores in your tournament.  Painting is an arduous and disaster filled learning experience for newer players, and there are already many factors such as cost and assembly that make war gaming (and especially the bigger games like Warhammer) intimidating to new players enjoying the hobby.  The idea that players need to buy and assemble two hundred or more models before playing is scary, but then add the idea in that they'll need to spend several months painting before being allowed to show up and play on a Saturday tournament, and you'll turn off many new and aspiring players.  The counter to this argument is that in requiring or heavily rewarding painting at tournaments, new players will be drawn in by the good looking armies on the table, and will want to join in on the fun of the complete hobby. 

Painting scores may also eliminate or discourage highly skilled players who aren't as skilled at painting or who paint differently from your painting score system from attending your tournament.  Often, the argument is that the winner of of a tournament should be the player who performed the best by winning the most games in the tournament.  This, in my opinion, can be resolved by offering a "Best Overall" prize which includes your soft scores and a "Best General" prize which does not.

 Sometimes, you just want to smash your opponents.

So, in preparing a tournament, I believe that one should look at all of these arguments, and then determine the best way forward in order to both promote your beliefs and ideas as a TO and to reach out and provide the best possible experience for your target tournament audience.  Are you personally promoting the "complete hobby" or just the game?  Are you aiming to provide a great looking experience or provide a more 'Ard Boyz style experience?  Are you aiming to include many newer players, such as in a smaller "newbie" tournament?  Who are you targeting as your potential player base for the tournament?

I hope you've enjoyed these initial thoughts, which lay the foundation for further parts of this argument on Monday and Tuesday of next week.  On Monday, I'm going to look at different kinds of tournaments and my personal opinions on when painting scores are appropriate as well as why I believe that is true, as well as weighting painting in relation to battle scores and other soft scores.  On Tuesday, I'll look into paint judging, different ways of scoring painting, and opinions on how to approach actual implementation of paint scoring in tournaments.

Helldiver Painted!

I don't know how this week turned into some kind of Cryx painting week, but I seem to have been painting away at the little undead buggers, despite not having played a game in a few weeks.  The Helldiver, while not the most impressive 'Jack in the Cryx armory, almost won me a Warmachine league by being burrowing his merry way onto an objective and staying put throughout an eight player game of King of the Hill.  I tried to give him the look of popping out of the ground in his pose and basing.  He's not a great 'Jack, but he's not a bad pickup some days for three points.

Painted Brute Thrall

A unit of Mechanithralls without a Brute Thrall is like a group of flying monkeys without a witch.  There's nothing like having a cheap unit of Mechs, and then have it contain up to three (that's right, three!!!) cheap monsters that can absolutely wreck face.  He's a great model too, and was a lot of fun to paint up. 

My only concern is that I don't want to have three of the same exact model, and I don't think he'd be an easy one to modify and change the pose on.  Does anyone have ideas for good models to exchange him with (bearing in mind that he's about twice the height of a normal zombie/mechanithrall model)?

Mechanithralls Painted

I haven't had a chance to play much Warmachine lately, but I've been painting away at my Cryx.  They're a creepy bunch, especially the Mechanithralls.  Painting these was fun, as they have a lot of character and are pretty simple.  They're a great unit to take in game as well, with a high level of survivability (with a Necrosurgeon), and the ability to hit pretty hard when they manage to hit.   They're cheap, too! 

I've been working on Cryx lately, but should get back to Beastmen, although a unit of Satyxis is very tempting!

Random Cryx Notes

I answered an email the other day about my thoughts on Cryx, and more or less ended up with a ramble of thoughts on some of the Cryx models I've played....strapped for time to create Blog Content, I pass this dump of information over to my loyal readers.

Goreshade - This is the guy I got yelled at by the TO about when I went to a Greenmachine Mangled Metal Tournament.  I honestly had no idea he was so nasty, but the big thing is the ability to summon Bane Thralls and then activate them.  So you move Goreshade up, summon the Thralls, and then charge with them.  It's a nasty hail of Weapon Master troops if you get a lane to a juicy target. 

Mortenebra -  Mortenebra is a tricky model to put together, but shouldn't be a problem for you since you've been hobbying for a while.  She's 17 fiddly pieces on a medium base.  She runs Warjacks well, and has been fun.

Skarre - Skarre has been my favorite Warcaster so far.  She's fast, can have up to 12 fury with a Skarlock and her spells, and can hit like a truck.  Plus, she's a pirate.  I highly suggest picking her up for a lot of fun.

Terminus - This is my second favorite Warcaster thus far in the game.  You'll need a ton of infantry to run him, though, as his army is pretty much a delivery system to get him into base contact with the enemy. 

I've tried most of the light Warjacks except for the Nightwretch.  I really like the Defilers to take down Heavies, and the Defiler for its spray. 

Out of the Heavies, I like a few. The Deathjack is pricey in both senses of the word, but he has the potential to kill like nothing else. The Deathjack model is also amazing.  The Seether is great for a few of our Warcasters, especially those who have to conserve their focus more.  The Seether is the only Jack I've actually picked up two of as well, since you can create one with the Withershadow Combine.  I've had limited experience with the Crabjacks.  I suggest getting some Plastic Heavies as well, and then magnetizing.  Slayers are cheap, and the Reaper is my favorite Jack so far, since the ability to drag models around the table has been my favorite part of the game so far.

I highly suggest a unit of Bane Thralls and the Unit Attachment, as they are then tough and will kill whatever they hit.  I've picked up Black Ogrun for the aforementioned love of dragging enemy models around.  Mechanithralls are a great cheap horde unit, and can do some damage on low defense models.  I would highly suggest a Necrosurgeon and Stich Thralls to go with the Mechanithralls (and Skarre for sacrificing). 

A Skarlock is a must for almost all of our Warcasters.  The ability to get one of your spells for free each turn is invaluable.  Warwitch Sirens are also great for utility sprays and giving our Jacks more focus.  Finallly, Bane Lord Tartarus helps make more Banes, which is fantastic for a tough unit of Bane Thralls.

Master Necrotech Mortenebra

My favorite Cryx 'Caster so far has to be Master Necrotech Mortenebra and her Skarlock, Deryliss.  She can really power her 'Jacks, and combined with a Leviathan puts out a surprise amount of Cryxian pain!

Mortenebra is seventeen pieces of metal by herself, and can be a pain to assemble.  I took a deep breath, took my time, and green stuffed liberally.  She cam out sturdy, and I hope she survives a long time, and misses out on any model droppage that tends to happen with my big thumbs!

Skarlock!

The Skarlock seems like something you should have for every Cryx caster.   While it's a cinch to take it on the field, you'll want to be extra careful when assembling it, as it has some parts that need to go together smoothly.  I assembled mine in more of a prone position, so that he'd look like a puppet with a Warcaster pulling his strings.  Painting the green involved three to four layers of different greens with washes in between, to give him that just yanked your soul out feel!

Warmachine "Greenmachine" Tournament Reports

After my first tournament this past Saturday, Warmachine remains a very interesting game to me.  On the one hand, I enjoy the game mechanically and from an intellectual standpoint.  On the other hand, however, there is a bit of a "nasty surprise" aspect to the game, and I'm not sure the local scene is quite for me.  I'll try and illustrate using the tournament. 

My list for the tournament was (25 Points Mangled Metal):

Goreshade the Bastard
Helldiver
Deathjack
Reaper
Seether

Goreshade's feat creates a six strong unit of Bane Thralls as well.  The idea of the list was to use the Bane Thralls as assassins against enemy casters by throwing them forward on the feat turn, and to use the Reaper to drag enemy Beasts/Jacks away from their owners and then murder them with the Deathjack and Seethers.

My first game was against pThagrosh, with a Carnivean, Angelius, Shredder, and Seraph.  My opponent had obviously had a similar thought to me in list creation, in that Thagrosh can reincarnate a Beast as his feat, effectively giving him a bigger list.

He ran his army up the first turn, and left his Carnivean forward.  I used the Reaper on my turn to drag the Carnivean in, and then killed it with Deathjack.  I then feated with Goreshade, leaving the Banes in the backfield, and used Goreshades teleport to move the Reaper and Deathjack back into my backfield and out of range of his army.   He moved his army around the next turn and returned the Carnivean to life in his backfield.  I ran up the next turn, and then he killed my Banes with shooting and charges in his turn.  Unfortunately, his Angelius frenzied, and so was unavailable to him, and his Beasts were now in the charge range of all my Jacks.  I killed the Carnivean and Seraph in my turn, and my opponent conceded. 

I went into round two having a good time.  My opponent was a good friend of mine, and was a brand new player as well.  He brought Karchev, two Kodiaks, a Destroyer, and a Berserker.  With a huge charge range, I was a bit nervous, but it was a short game.  My opponent came forward, casting Tow to move all his Jacks.  After the first turn, I was able to use Mage Blight to shut down any chance of Karchev's feat or spells.  My opponent then upkept Tow and moved his Jacks, but left Karchev up in front of his Jacks.  I then moved Goreshade up, feated, and used the Bane Thralls to kill Karchev. 

My opponent was a bit upset after the game, because he thought my list was nasty, and decided to take a walk.  I can completely understand his frustration.  What was really awful was the T.O. then coming over to me in order to tell me how much of a "douchebag list" I had, and how she wished she had a "douchebag stamp" to stamp all over lists like mine. 

Let me put in my side here.  The first game of this tournament was my fifth total game overall.  While I can appreciate that the Goreshade list is hard, I thought I had come up with a clever list for a tournament, not something that required a T.O. to tell me about what a horrible person I was.  I suppose I was suckered in by a lack of experience with the game, and the idea that Page 5 had some small meaning. 

In the third game, I played another friend with his Circle.  My heart wasn't really in it, and he assassinated Goreshade using eKaya's feat and a Ghostly Warpwolf. 

Somehow I won first place in the tournament, and with zero product prize support (despite an entry fee) ended up with a Steamroller Coin.  My friends with Circle and Khador ended up with second and third, respectively. 

So, Warmachine.  I really enjoyed my first game.  I can understand my opponent being upset and surprised in the second round from the Bane Thralls, and wish that I had thought to explain that the Thralls could activate after being summoned.  I knew that my opponent had studied my caster prior to the tournament, and honestly thought he knew they did so.  However, I hated that the T.O. come stuff her face in a few minutes later and publicly berate me.  If my list was too hard, it sure as heck wasn't from my masterful understanding of the game and evil genius, and it sure could have been handled either before or after the tournament in a tactful manner. 

My only other experience with the local crowd, a couple weeks earlier, involved my opponent being friendly when he thought he was getting an easy league win out of a new player, and then turning surly and rude when I unexpectedly won.  I have had good game experiences with people that I've known from Fantasy and 40K previously. 

I want to like this game.  I like the miniatures and painting potential, the base rule system, and the Privateer Press customer service philosophy.  While I would in now way push the idea that Privateer Press players are anything but top notch, I fear that the local crowd may put me off the game. 

First Warmachine Tournament

I'm headed to my first Warmachine tournament tomorrow, a twenty-five point Greenmachine Mangled Metal / Tooth and Claw tournament over at All Fun and Games in Apex.  To translate, Greenmachine means that only newer players can play, or at least players who have never placed in a previous tournament.  Mangled Metal / Tooth and Claw means that only Warcasters/Locks and Jacks/Beasts can be taken, so units and solos are out. 

I wasn't sure what I would take at first, as there are so many good builds with Cryx.  I won't, if you don't mind, post my list until Monday, as I want it to be a bit of a surprise.  I hope to have battle reports as well.

Enjoy your weekends!

Painted War Witch Siren and the Alternate Model Conundrum

A problem that we get into with a lot of Privateer Press (and some GW) models is variability.  Sometimes you want to run multiples of models, but because they are metal (or plastic that really has to be put together in one way), you'll get multiples of the exact same pose.  For instance, the War Witch Siren.  I love the model.  It's got a sense of action.  But I also want to run two sometimes, because of the rules.   My solution in her case was to make my second Siren hold her sword out in front of her.  In other cases, like the Pistol Wraith or Manhunter, there are alternate models readily available.

Sometimes we can proxy in alternative models, like a Reaper model, but in other cases it's not allowed.  For example, the local 40K tournaments here allow any sort of proxying, to the point where it gets ridiculous.  I'm honestly waiting for someone just to start digging trash out of a trash can and declaring each piece of trash a different model.  On the other hand, Warmachine/Hordes tournaments here in the past have not allowed any proxying at all, to the point of not allowing pButcher to represent eButcher, for instance.  So if you do have a cool Reaper model to represent your Siren, you're out of luck. 

As to the Siren, I have enjoyed using her very much in games.  She is really the utility model of the army, and I've done a bit of everything from helping out Helljacks to spraying away hard to reach models to Shadow Binding enemy Warbeasts to keep them from moving.  Heck, I wish I could have three...if I could come up with a third variant on the model!

The Leviathan (Helljack, Not Hive Fleet)

Crab Jacks for Cryx pack a heck of a points cost!  While they're both scary machines, I'm liking the Leviathan a bit more than the Harrower right now, if only because my main opponent has been packing a lot of beasts and not a lot of infantry.  Up to three high power shots every turn with bonuses against large targets can really make a nasty difference in a game. 

My Leviathan is also practicing a magical feat of physics currently, as he is perched with just a tiny bit of green stuff on his tiny back legs.  He's a heavy metal model to do that , so I keep waiting for him to be dropped / a child to pick him up and break him / a stiff breeze to break the green stuff connection.  Until then, he's gonna rock out on two legs. 

What up, Slayer?

One of the first models that I wanted to paint (and had an opportunity to paint) was the Slayer.  The poster 'Jack for Cryx, the Slayer is a melee beat machine, although in typical Cryx fashion he's fairly fragile for a Helljack. 

So far, I've had four games of Warmachine, of which the Slayer has only gotten to participate in one.  I've run Deneghra with him, and Venethrax, Mortenebra, and Goreshade without him.  Hopefully, I'll be using him more, as he is one intimidating fella. 

Committing to Cryx

The latter half of 2010 had me trying out a great many new board games, all of which were a lot of fun.  At the end of the day, however, war games are my absolute favorite.  I think it's really the variable play that these types of games offer, along with a chance to paint and model.  While I remain first and foremost a Warhammer Fantasy fanatic, I have had the chance recently to play some good 40K games, as well as try out Mark II Warmachine. 

Mark II seems to have greatly improved over Mark I, in that the overwhelming abilities of feats and other abilities to completely dictate (and end) the game in one shot have been tuned down.  The game does seem more chess-like, instead of cheese-like, and has a nice decision tree flavor to it, in that resources are carefully allocated / used early in order to fuel a series of actions that can have different outcomes, and planning for those outcomes in order to arrive at the best conclusion in the key to the game. 

For my birthday, I picked up a good chunk of Cryx, and have been painting and playing away.  It's been good so far, and pictures should be forthcoming.  I like the speedy, debuffing play style of the faction, and have never minded fragile, hard hitting armies previously.  I have my first 35 point game tonight, against Circle, so we'll see how it goes!

New Years Resolutions

I've been thinking about wargaming resolutions, and have been considering what I'd like to accomplish in 2011, based on 2010. 

In 2010, I:

*  Ran the Grail Quest WFB tournament, which attracted over thirty participants.

*  Finished painting my Dark Elf, Imperial Fist, Trollblood, and Khador armies.

*  Assembled my Beastmen army.

*  Sold my Khador over Ebay.

*  Participated in Brawler Bash, my first WFB GT.

*  Won tournaments in WFB and placed in the top three in 40k Tournaments. 


Looking over those doings, in 2011 I'd like to:

*  Run Grail Quest successfully again this year.  I'm a bit more nervous about the local WFB scene, but am hoping for a great turnout. 

*  Finish painting my Beastmen and begin work on assembling and painting a new WFB army.

*  Continue painting my Blood Angels for 40K.

*  Learn to play Warmachine, and work up a good Cryx army.  Warmachine and Hordes seem to be all the rage around here, so with the tide I go. 

* Participate in Brawler Bash again, as it was a great time last year. 

*  Take part in a gaming related event once per month.

Those seem like decent resolutions, and I think they're manageable.  Wish me luck!

Khador Ships Off!

An Australian gentlemen won my Khador army off Ebay.  As it's my first army that I've ever sold off, I was a little sad packing Vlad and friends up (tightly, in lots of bubble wrap) and boxing them off for a tip across the world.  That being said, it's kind of cool that they're going to be traveling so far.  I hope they get some great use down there. 

Man-O-War

These three models kicked everything off on my Khador craze this month, and led to me painting another Jack, some Mercs, a Kholdun Lord, the Winterguard, and my Warcasters.  It wasn't just that they were fun to paint, but they represented something iconic to the Khador style for me, which then pushed me to finish up everything else.  That, and putting those three models on my shelf started to push my Khador army into other areas of shelving....which means I have to make room somewhere.  

Completely Painted Khador Army

I have no idea why the picture keeps coming up sideways on this blog, but I can't seem to change it.  Regardless, I have finished painting my Khador army....woo!  Consisting of five Warcasters and over 100 points, it's been a fun and mammoth project.  I'll have pictures of the individual models up later this week, and here's a shot of the Butcher and War Dog, to start.

The army is now up on Ebay, at:  http://cgi.ebay.com/Great-102-Point-Warmachine-Khador-Army-Warcasters-/180545176954?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Light Box Photography

I've mostly finished building a Light Box for photographing my miniatures, based on the two posts I found here and here.  I've finished with my box, but need to get some filter paper to help with defusing the light, and some nice background fabric to provide a softer backdrop.  Here's my test miniature though, a Khador Butcher model I've owned for some time but just got around to finishing up.  So the Butcher's picture is taken in the light box, as compared to this Devastator picture which was taken earlier, pre-box.

It makes a world of difference already.  I'm looking forward to the next steps!

Painting while Travelling?

The last few weeks, I have been out of town constantly, either due to a family vacation or work trips.  While it's nice to travel, I'm not getting any painting or gaming done (and getting blog content up while you're in a town without modern amenities for three days is pretty impossible as well).  I'm considering taking paints and models down next week when I travel down, to get some things done.  I'm so close to finishing my Khador that I can taste it, but those last few models are going very, very slowly.

Have any of you ever done something like this?  How'd it go, and do you have any advice?

Magnetizing the Khador Warjack (The Easy Version)

I got the Khador plastic Warjack kit knowing that I would magnetize it for all four 'Jacks. How could you not? The question became how to do it. Searching online, I found techniques that were very professional, but involved a lot of drilling with increasingly larger drill bits. I didn't want to do that, for no better reason than laziness.

Instead, I used my clippers to slice the arms flat at the joints. I measured first, and only made cuts in the area that is covered by the shoulder socket, and will therefore make the magnet never visible. I then put the magnets on. The results have been awesome, and I'm looking forward to doing some painting on my four new Warjacks.  Here is a closeup of where and how to cut each arm (and then attach the magnet), and pictures of the four 'Jacks.