A cast of 1000s

OK, more like a cast of (a) dozens. But I finished my Talisman characters!

Sage, Knight and Monk in foreground.

Talisman

 Amongst many other great things I received this year for Christmas, Talisman was one of the more geeky things I received. My good friend Morgan got this for me, and I remember this being a classic fantasy-themed game.

Lebkuchen Manor

OK, so not a lot on the hobby front lately,but this is kind of hobby stuff. Well, a lot of the skills are transferable, so I can make that claim.

What happened to me?

In this poor excuse for a blog entry, I'll just be letting you know that I'm still alive, but just haven't really don't anything worth blogging of late.
I'd like to say that this is because of the Christmas season and that I've been very busy, but that's not strictly true. In fast, this has been one of the most laid back End-Of-Year periods I've ever experienced, due to a certain Industrial Action.

No, I think the only reason for my lack of hobby activity and the associated lack of blogging activity is Skyrim. That is all.

I'm on holidays now, so hopefully I can get my paint on a bit more in the near future. In the meantime, Merry Christmas!

Greebo Sylvanians

I got home from work last night to find a package in the mailbox. I've been waiting since July, but they're finally here: The Greebo Sylvanian Blood Bowl Wood Elf Team!

Tournament Invite: DuelCon

 As a result of completing the Duelling Paintbrush Challenge, painting a Fantasy force (rather than the plethora of other games also entered into the competition), I have received my first ever invite-only entry into a tournament!

Windows 8: Initial Experience

So in the aftermath of last week's issues, I have come away with a new graphics card and a new OS: Windows 8.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 29: Painted.

It's done! Painting is complete! 

1000 points. Fear it!

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 27

Wow, it's been quite some time since my last progress report. That's mostly because I do it with the desktop that developed a drinking problem. That's why I'm using Blogger for Android and that's why this update has no pretty pictures.

The PC has been repaired, but it was my wife's Birthday yesterday so I didn't prioritize blogging. PC (and Skyrim) downtime has allowed me to make progress though.

Trolls are nearly done, and BSB is dribbling into completion. Just basing and a few decos and complete. Woo!

Photos soon, I promise, and Saturday I'll go out in the sun and get some well lit ones.

My PC!

So there was a vase near my PC. It got windy, and now water lives in there.
I'm hoping it'll dry out and work, but I'm not optimistic. Next hope is insurance!

Apologies if this stops me getting regular photos up.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 19

Day 19, almost 2/3 of the way through the pledge and I have completed my infantry (as always, sans bases).

(No) Zombie Love

Almost a month ago I wrote that I was taking part in IRL Presents: Patient 0. Those of you paying attention and keeping track of my dates (which wouldn't be creepy at all, unless you're my wife) would be aware that my allotted time has come and gone. "But Drew, will you not review your experience?" I hear you say. Sadly, this will not be the case. You'll (and more importantly, I'll) have to wait another month or two before that can happen.

Elven War Sheep Warhammer!

Sheep-O-War

I like to poke around in the Stats page offered by Blogspot, just to see if anyone is reading my blog. Whilst I'm interested that people in the US, Russia and Sweden read my blog, I was a little confused when I read some of the search terms that resulted in people reading my blog. Namely, the above-mentioned Elven War Sheep Warhammer.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 14: FANATICS!

Apologies for the colon cancer*, but I felt like putting more description in the title. The fanatics are done, but will surely need a bit of a touch up once they're based:

 

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 11

A quick update:
I've completed the next batch of arrer boys. This brings me to 22 in total

Are you a Wargamer?

Of course, I said "you" refering to "me". Greg posted this up on Hoodling's Hole yesterday, and it looked like a bit of fun. Let's see how much of a wargamer I am.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 6

I have completed my first unit: the Night Goblins.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 5

Oh, I'm much happier with my progress now. Progress has been made on the first 10 arrer boys and 10 goblins.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 3

It's ready to go. Starting Photo!

OK, photo was taken on Day 2, but posted on 3.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 1

Ok, so not a great start. I got home this afternoon to find that I'd missed a green-stuff strap on my giant, so more of that to be done. I still need to undercoat everything, then I'll get going... So not so much in with a bang but more a fizzle. I'll get some primer going tomorrow after work then we'll be off.

Nearly at Launch

Duelling Paintbrushes kicks off on Thursday, and I'm nearly ready to go. The BSB, shaman and fanatics are done. The arrer boys and goblins are done (although I still need to make a musician for the arrers). All that remain are the trolls and giant.

The trolls look much like the old ones. I'll not post new photos of them. The treeman is coming up a treat. He's looking exactly as I wanted him too; you get a decent pose out of the box. His armour came out nicely, and the overhangs distinguish him from the trolls a bit. I sculpted everything on cylinders separately to achieve that. It means the backs aren't textured, but they're not as heavily textured in real life anyway. If it looks really lacking I'll paint some grain on.
Right now, there are no straps. I hope there are by Thursday!

2nd Wave of trolls- had to start from 'unpainted'

Giant stuffed with Al foil. Foil is cheaper than green stuff...

Greenstuff layer, ready to stick magnets into.

Giant nearly done; just needs straps.

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game

I first played Battlestar Galactica nearly four years ago. I've only played it a handful of times since, but each time it grows on me. The game roughly follows the plot of the first two seasons of the show, with players controlling one of 10 available characters. They cooperatively use their time to fend of crises: attacks from Cylon forces, encountering new worlds and dealing with dwindling resources (population, fuel, morale and food). The game is pretty brutal, but players can often overcome the crises. Added difficulty, and the game's best mechanic, comes in the form of a hidden Cylon agent amongst the players. This agent can disrupt efforts in The Galactica and accelerate the players' demise.

IRL Shooter Presents: Patient 0

This year, a group of gaming enthusiasts/ film makers had the bright idea of making a real life shooter, and where better to start than with zombies? Thus, IRL Shooter was conceived and their first (presumably of many) project is Patient 0.

Axemaster Report

Bright, but not the scary...

Axemaster is done for another year. I ran the event last year, so it was nice to play this time. Axemaster is the longest continuously running event in Melbourne, and it usually plays in a very simple style. Very few bells and whistles.
After enjoying their performance at the World Series, I asked Greg if I could borrow his Wood Elves. There's something about how squishy they look; they just don't look threatening!

Put together, they didn't come across as intimidating. It could have been Greg's lurid paint job, but I suspect it was simply the thin line of unarmoured elves that made up my army.

Dystopian Wars Terrain

 About a year ago, I started to play Dystopian Wars. I really liked the look of the ships and the steam punk world, so wanted to give it a decent go. I haven't played in about six months, but with a house move and interest in other games waxing and waning (Warhammer, Bloodbowl, board games, etc...) I haven't had much of a chance to play for a while.

I did make some terrain for the system back then, so I thought I'd showcase some of it on here. This is partly so I can have a post about a game system that isn't Warhammer on my blog; it's a little overrepresented thus far!

Getting Things Ready for The Duel!

I've gotten home from work this week and getting stuff done for the upcoming Duel.
So far, I have started work on the Fanatics, BSB and Great Shaman.

BSB on Boar

Side View

Dueling Paintbrushes

Last year, Owen and Greg took part in a painting challenge called Dueling Paintbrushes (new rules). Essentially it was a pledge to get stuff painted in a fixed time. It is on again this year, so I'm down to get 1000 points of Orcs painted in the month of November. So are a dozen or so people from Hampton, across various systems, painting equivalent forces.

Seeing How it's Done

With all this preparation for my Orcs and Goblin (Wood-Elf Themed) army, I thought I'd take some time to see how the professionals do it. After enjoying my game with the at the Warhammer World Series,  I've decided to take Wood Elves to Axemaster. Greg has kindly agreed to lend me his army for next weekend, so I got to writing a list last week. I've suffered extensively at the hands of the Wood Elves (primarily in 6th ed, but I still suffered), so I was keen to try a few tricks in the list.





Lords
Spellweaver (310 pts)
   1 Spellweaver, 250 pts = (base cost 215 + Level 4 Upgrade 35)
      1 Divination Orb, 25 pts If more than 3 dice are used to cast a spell, this gives me an extra dispel dice
      1 Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, 35 pts If I end my remaining moves in a forest, the bearer and unit can teleport to another forest

Spellweaver (305 pts)
   1 Spellweaver, 250 pts = (base cost 215 + Level 4 Upgrade 35)
      1 Wand of Wych Elm, 55 pts Re-Roll Dispell attempts

Heroes
Noble (132 pts)
   1 Wood Elf Noble (Battle Standard Bearer), 92 pts = (base cost 75 + Light Armour 2 + Battle Standard Bearer 15)
      1 Asyendi's Bane, 10 pts Re-Roll missed hits, if that fails then the shot hits the bearer
      1 Hail of Doom Arrow, 30 pts One use only. Fires 3D6 S4 shots

Core
Dryads (108 pts)
   9 Dryads

Dryads (108 pts)
   9 Dryads









Glade Guard (196 pts)
   14 Glade Guard,  Musician Mus 6 + Standard Bearer Std 12
      1 Banner of Eternal Flame, 10 pts Unit has flaming attacks

Glade Guard (138 pts)
   10 Glade Guard, Musician Mus 6 + Standard Bearer Std 12

Glade Guard (138 pts)
   10 Glade Guard, Musician Mus 6 + Standard Bearer Std 12

Special
Tree Kin (390 pts)
   6 Tree Kin

Rare
Treeman (285 pts)
  

Treeman (285 pts)
  

Great Eagle (50 pts)

Yes, the list has 8 levels of magic. No, I don't think that is particularly efficient, considering I can't generate extra casting dice (other than chanelling). It should be some fun to play, but perhaps not optimal. I played a game yesterday against a Dark Elf army. It featured a lord on a Dragon with a 1+ save and reverse ward. I don't know why they allowed such a combination.
It ended up a 13/7 loss, which I wasn't so upset about. However, I was cheating (at always) by using more rare than I was allowed. Army Builder didn't pick that up for some reason, but I've rectified it now with the TO and I'm just going to play with 50 pts down.

See you at Axemaster!

Wet Palettes

I've been reading more and more about wet palettes lately, bit very little from people I know, so I thought I'd share what I'd learned.
Firstly, what's it for? This took a lot of digging, which I considered odd; if anyone was going to all this effort there should be a goal or reward. The purpose of the wet palette is simply keeping paints moist. This in itself took me way too long to adapt; I have been painting undiluted for ages. I think a few attempts ended in overdilution early on, which put me off it for ages. Somehow I eventually got it right, and I realise how necessary it is!

First Completed Samples

I'm such a new blogger; three posts in two days! I've finally completed some models, to give you an idea what the Wood Elf-Orcs will look like completed. The bases are my own painted resin and something new for me. I picked up a pack of reed-like stuff from a train shop. It's a bit of a pain to use, but I like the results so I'll stick at it. Not sure if I shoudl add some snow- I'm going for a spring theme and a little snow could be last of the winter. Tell me what you think.

First fourteen arrer boys

List Building and Theming

Last weekend saw Mark's idea of a Warhammer World Series realised. I had a blast, which you can already read about. It did, however, highlight a potential aspect of my game that I've never had any proof of before. Playing five games with armies that I didn't design seemed to do wonders for my game. I finished 5th out of 22 players, when my usual goal at tournaments is to simply break even on battle points (ie, score draws on average).

Warhammer World Series Report

I just finished playing at the first ever Warhammer World Series. Devised by Mark Skilton, the concept departs from the normal tournament format of of bringing an army and playing several games with it. Instead, you play five games with someone else's army (usually Greg Johnson's, AKA Hoodling), a new one each round.

... Magnets, how do they work?

OK, in all honesty I have a pretty good idea how magnets work.This is more about my hobbying obsession with them! Speak to anyone at the Hampton Games Club about my armies and magnets will probably be mentioned. Obviously, I go with the simple, in that I use them to keep my troops on their movement trays. That's not new.

KR Multicase Purchase

I have long been an admirer of KR Multicases. The concept of a modular storage system has been interesting to me since I heard about it. The potential to replace a whole pile of aluminium cases with a pile of cardboard ones appealed to me. Just take the case I need and put it into a shell and I'm sorted.

Scattered Progress

As it is the school holidays, progress is pleasingly rapid!

I've managed to get paint onto a few more miniatures, start base production and I've made a decent bit of progress on the trolls. The trolls' bases are in progress, using cannibalised parts from the smaller bases. I spent quite a bit of time sculpting trees, so I didn't want it all to go to waste. I'll sculpt new vines for the 40mm bases.

Wood Elf Orcs

Welcome to BIDD! I'm completely new to blogging, but I have for some time now been a bloggee. I suspect it will take a bit of time for me to really work out what I'm going to write about here, so I thought I would start off with an existing project.