Back to basing!

If there is one aspect of the hobby I shamefully avoid it is basing. I can't really figure out why as it is not overly complicated when you don't go for intricate scenery.

I always found excuse not to own what I need to really try something. The truth of it is that I could not be further away from truth. Basing seems a very organic process (at least to me). I have bits accumulated from various armies and ranges, I have few tree splinters and sands and pebble on the top of the mud I have few element of fake vegetation acquired in a aquarium store.  I have everything I need.

When I overcame my fear to assemble the Chimaera from Banelegion. I stopped for a minute and felt bad to even consider mounting it on a sanded base. It felt really wrong to spend so much time, money and energy in that marvelous model and not really giving a try to be the best model I have ever done so far.

I spent about an hour (really not that much when you think of it) and came up with this:

I want my base to tell a simple story. I plan on using this chimaera in games and the only use with army i played is during Storm of Magic game when using a Truthsayer. This caster has automatic access to Transformation of Kadon, and here come my Mountain Chimaera.

Essentially I was looking for a small area near a ruined temple. I included the two bump on teh ground to fit the wings of the landing beast (i think it is badass)

Other than that The model itself was reasonably painless to assemble (especially given the sheer size of it) and when I think of it it hurts all the most that this amazing company bankrupted last month. I don't own much of Forge world piece but let me tell you that Banelegion models are the best I ever toyed with. They are complex at the look but very very well thought to be assembled with little gaps to fill and packaged very well.

Now that I am pumped with this first attempt I will do similar thing with the tentacle-croco beast, prime both in white and start to document the shit out of mother Nature big badass predator and paint these fantastic model and trying hard to pay them the respect they deserve.

Final shot of the Chimaera as it is at the moment:

Gimme SoM more!

What's up fellow nerd!?

Getting ready for the next Jakson's nerdgasm? I know I am. 

I havn't had the time to play much lately, something about real life taking over hobby time.

I played 1 more game of SoM though. I did not try the warpfire dragon lvl 1 though as I mentioned in a previous post but I used a Truth Sayer that I proxied with the Alkemy Khaliman Republic: Iëcha Bint Sorhna, Keeper o/t Snow from Kraken ed. ( see here). I think it fits well and it is the only way for me to have access to Transformation of Kadon and to turn into a Mountain Chimera and use the awesome model of Banelegion.

I am preparing a post on the progress of this model.

But without further ado here is what I painted recently besides my progress on my TK army.

1. Fen Beast for SoM

2. Morghul for the beastmen range that I plan on using as a Dark Emissary. I think it suits the model too.

I got a bunk of aquarium leaves, let me know if it works or not.

Cheers

Sorry for the belated posting

It is has been a long while Friends.

I got married in the meanwhile and ... well  i got lazy a bit!

I have painted a little bit in the process and I will update the blog to catch up with the progress.

But for today I 'd like to talk about Storm of magic and Monstruous Arcanum. I just dead love it. I have heard all the points about being less strategic and bigger swings between turn and so on... But I love putting models on the table I don't get to use in standard 8th ed., and 8th is already way more flexible than 6th and 7th. Along the year I enjoy the Hobby I acquired a wide collection: part of it is "organized" and can fit in one or two armies, but part of it is random well that is model I wanted to paint badly. Additionally I Love teh plastic towers GW make and they do awesome fulcra....

A friend of mine and I were thinking about ways to include more monsters in 8th without going for teh scroll of bindings a snot all monster has to be accessible to all army. WFB is a game of monster and Giants for him, while it was more Dragons for me. So we build up a comp/campaign around that concept to make big beasty more survivable. From then on I was wondering what was the best Dragon so to speak, given certain context: standard game, SoM and scenario.




I compiled Monstruous Arcanum with SoM Book in the file I sent you. And few interesting observation came along. I initially started with a huge crush on the Shard Dragon, I think it ability to generate 4D6 +D3 attack on a charge (and potentially 5D6 if you wait the first wound to use the BW in combat) is gnarly. Plus it is teh only Dragon that can have access to a 5+ WS and 3+ WS against most magic spell.... and with the back ground it fits my Dwarf army and Hell I need an insantive to field them nowadays. Uber castled play style don't give for much funny game. He has the highest As with the Carmine Dragons but he has a funny trick if he passes a save. HE is one of teh toughtest of teh standar category, best protection and higher toughness. The down side is that he has only 6 Wds, so pretty much cannon ballable (5% chance on teh first turn per canon to be clear, well 4.8%)and he is not a Flyer!


Going through the file I quickly realized it is not that one sided and other Dragons can be useful. Here are few key observations:


1. Warpfire Dragons are the only one that have access to magic below Emperor lvl. So in Som context a Young Lvl 1 Warpfire Dragon is ace to hold fulcrum for slightly over 300 pts, plus the reptile is basically a small stone thrower. Bargain!


2. The generic Dragon are somewhat a let down. They are cheaper but the most interesting based on their BW are over classed by more specialized dragons. Carmine over rule Black, Magama Overrule Fire. That being said teh Forest is a of slight interest if you field WE and fight brets, that may be the only Emperor I would consider for fun in that context. The Strom Dragons are a joke, and a bad one. they have no Strentgh on their BW but do not deny AS. Ice Dragon are trickier and I feel their may use for them but I cannot yet figure out what. Over all I feel that teh specialized Dragon are worth more even if you pay extra.


3. Magma Dragon are absolute beast and truth be said it may the only Emperor Dragon I would consider in a game. Their extra T combined to the aura of Fire and teh fact it is largest monster (2D6 thunder stomp) makes me dreamy! and BW str10, well it just speaks for itself. When they say that a Dragon is an army onto himself: they talk about him.


4. Carmine are the swiftest and best basic protection (with the Shard D) at the expense of -1 WS/S and is very afordable. His BW is great but clearly not thought through for combat and that is my general problem with Monst. Arcan.; teh designer did not think much of BW use in combat.


5. Magic i not that useful for dragon besides the warpfire dragon lvl 1 in SoM. Otherwise Life is good for its attribute and a dwellers below is good agaonst the biggest threat of the canon. The ice dragon with Light can be funny but you need more than one lvl to get the ASF or I boost. To be fiar I dont know Dark Magic much. But overall I am not impressed by this option, for 20 pts mmmh maybe. I was also wondering: does being speel caster make then characters, hence challengeable? I know it does not for pink horrors.


6.The Toad Dragon is also a nice choice. I classified it as Standard size Dragon for comparison sakes. It comes on highest coast , but it is Collosal so it thinder stomp everything! High T and W 10. BW good.


7. I can see secnario of an emperor dragon vs. a small army! 700 pts each side or so!


In ccl: I would consider fielding the Shard Dragon in most games, The std Warpfire lvl 1 in storm of magic and the emperor magma in the biggest game. I can see use for the Carmine as well. And if you think about it you can see that they are teh toughest to kill or the chepest for what they give.


Thinking point investment, my top for each category are teh follow:


Young (~300 pts): well warfire lvl1
Standard (300-400): Shard no brainer
Great Dragon (~400): Magma (least interesting category to me! I'd prefer a tolled up Shard to be fair as it is much more survivable)
Emperor Dragon (~700): MAGMAAAAA!


Ok here are just fruits for thoughts. Let me know what s your side of the story.

Incoming Goodness

 Not that long ago I turned 31. I am lucky enough that my better half and my loving mama are not yet fully closed to the idea to feed my addiction at this occasion. And i got spoiled.

That was part of the reason I was reluctant to share that as I feel a bit bad about it. I know the price of these things and I could not afford them for a long while either. But I am playing/painting for 15 years and it is good for once not to have to hunt the unbeatable deal on eBay to get my polyvinyl fix.

Well part of the reason I could not hunt that on the net is also that maelstrom BaneBeasts and Warhammer Forge book are not mainstream either. And being so I had hard to find review on it. I overcome the shyness of the little spoiled bastard that I am and try to turn it into something useful: a review

I forgot to mentioned a McVey Studio Mini: Kifaro. To me, rhino inspires me raw primal power and their very little descent fantasy rhino themed model out there. I jumped on it, teh paint job of Mc EVy Studio is very inspiring and I will definitely consider to try revers shading (lighter inside and darker outside, see link above)

As for the book, well just amazing and it deserves a full review on its own. But as a first opinion, totally worth its money. Same vein that Tamurkhan. Illustration are seamless and very much inspiring for painting. The basilisk is just so fantastic with this yellow turquoise. I was considering getting the model instead of the Conjunct XIII from BaneBeast, but... I saw the Shard Dragon illustration and read its rules. suffice to say down the line I will get one. Can be in a year or two. No rush there.  I really love the emphasis on the dragon race. WFB is a world of giants and dragons but we see none because of the possibility to kill them at once. Now this book offer you to add extra 25% point, so you can multiply targets... well yo can also agree with your oponent that any monster can take top D3 per wound in order to want top play them more and that s free! But let s face it the more monster on the table the merrier.

Finally I am the proud owner of two BaneBeasts: the Conjunct XIII and the Mountain Chimera (what!? oh yeah the Terror of Fortriu). And i could see myself becoming the father of more. 

First the negative, Maelstrom is not GW or PP. They cast at slower pace. For the customer it means waiting 4-8 weeks to get your order. On the top of it the staff is nothing but perfectionist on the cast, which extend further the delay. But they get you way way more than you bargain for, so here come teh overwhelmly positive. I have never seen such crappy shipping box, packed with so much love inside: the models are very very well packed and protected. Their models are absolutely, positively, surprisingly much better and bigger than the picture let you think. Ok I know you have the measures on the website, but no measure can represent the bulk of a body or how a figurine fill the space on the base. 

Their model are on the pricy side but the quality of the resin is beyond my expectation and frankly flawless. no bubble or miscast or flashes. The pieces clip perfectly and the choice to create the parts are done that if you really want not to green stuff the joint, it wont be obvious, The connection is most often in the recesses of a skin fold.

Here is the Conjunct XIII out of the box. I got scared when looking at the number of tentacles. 

I decided to pin everything and not to glue any part that may interfere with the painting: and it comes like  that...

 

You can have an idea about what it will look like when you slide all the pins in position.

Next step I went for white primer and this where i am at as today and now it is time for to pack my stuff to get married in Europe. 

I won't post for a while but I ll spam you again when I am back. Cheers

Kemmler & Co.

Follow up on my project "Blanchitude"

I picked the VC book on my shelve and I tried to recreate Kemmler as per the illustration. And the result is that:

So far it is a duet but I am planning on expending the idea to the Carstein lineage and ... what... who the said the recent sequel of Krell which is just awesome!

I realize now that final touch I have done on Melkhior do not stand out on the picture (push the red shades with purple and a bit more gore). 

Here some other angle for Kemmler. Essentially the approach is the same: inks and very diluted paint on light color drybrushed model. there is a bit more variation in Kemmler and I think it is a pity. Despites the illustration I shall have kept a narrower palette. I really wanted to introduce greenish and black shades; but it is a fail. That being said teh model overall come nice so all in all I am happy.

I know it keeps me away from my TK, but that so refreshing!

Little close on the base, I wanted something simple that recall teh simple tones and is fairly simple. Well I am not sure I can go any simpler since I just literally painted the GW base. How I am kidding! I am lazy like, end of the story!

 I would really like to hear some suggestion and advice what to do next and how to tie them all up. Display board? how said build a VC army? I am tempted.... but I cant see an efficient way to run that over an entire army....

Cheers

Miss my better half, so I paint!

So here is a quick update on my TK

Screaming Skull Catapult #1

So I try this bad boy with his unpainted twin today and I haave to say I am not convince. You have to build a very defensive list to make it fit in the army. It does not really fit my play style (like I have one... ha!).

Next come the casket of soul and I feel my paint job is an insult to this model and concept. I don't really knwo why I rushed to finish this model. It shall be an awesome center piece, but I have to say that TK player are spoiled we have a load of possible centerpieces... I will have to make it up with awesome Shpynxes.

Anyway Here you go

And to finish today I will show you the first batch of my skeletons. I went for lazy approach and mix of spear and hand weapon shield. I usually field them by 50 or 60 if they see the battlefield and the first rank indicate their current equipment for the battle. That may be shady, but s far no complain.

Cheers,

Da rooster

Blanchitude!

So Like most of us I got fairly exposed to John Blanche paintings. I am not a real fan boy even though I really appreciate the simple palette that is so characteristic to his influence on Warhammer Fantasy Battle imagery.

I have seen with more or less success over the internet hobbyist like I am trying to translate that into model painting. I thought it was a good way to close my WE to try it for myself

So here we go and as always please let me know what you think:

So it is not a finished job. I think I am gonna push a bit the gore color and deepen (if it i a word) the red tone using brown purple shade. But overall it came out alright.

It is out of the theme of my TK so it is refreshing. I have an entire batch of old and new VC character which I think will follow the same treatment. I am thinking of Kemmler especially maybe with more bluish and greenish tone.

Next post will be an update on my TK (SSC and CoS, which I am not proud of but hehe... it is done and it is in 95% of my list)

Cheers,

Da Rooster

What's up gang!

mmmh.. maybe I spent too much time painting listening to the Pointhammered Handsome boyz... but really is there such a thing as too much time spending listening to their sweet honey voices.

Well bottom line I painted a lot lately. One the project I have been working on is a Light Liche Wizard. I usually field one a support wizard (lvl 2) or even more recently as a lvl 3 or 4 also as a support but of Arkhan the black (so no Nehekara caster). I loved teh idea of Mark the Beastman from Bad Dice. I think his list is too optimize for teh game I play, but I liked that aspect of no Nehekara and Heavy Construct. Basically I tweaked his idea to make it my own version of it.

Anyway,The TK range is really good arccording to me so far you stay away from their casters. It took me a little while but I came up with the idea to use a 40K model from the Tau range. With very minor tweak (such as filling his frontal vagina with green stuff) and it was very suitable. I also like the idea of my casters controlling the sand element, so with some bits I kit-bashed a hand lifting him from the ground to stand out of the unit. Easy trick and nice effect. I find hard with all the scheme of my army to have my caracther really showing off. A pedestal of a sort is always a nice twist.

So here is the bad boy

I tried some wet layering... alright for a first trial but a lot of practice ahead if I want it to significantly differ from standard layering.

 You can see the face is a bit "chalky"; I used an old GW white can to prime it and it came a bit sandy/chalky... but not so bad that I would have to scrap it.

And of course cause I am an uber nerd, i need to scene my new toy.

So here is Tommy (I named him after Tommy Lee Jones, cause they have the same smile) in his summer house.

 and here is Tommy dancing for the solstice....

Ok so that was my first Finecast full experience. I assembled some other before but they all broke... This one redeem a bit the material to my eyes.

As usual, please let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Da Rooster

Necroknight un jour, Necroknight Toujours

Hi Everybody,

I haven't posted for a while. I moved to Baltimore, MD.

But the past few evening I finally tackle the task to finish up my first Necroknight unit of 4... why 4, well why not!

Here they are!

Here is a close upon the champion.

The left flanker, clearly indicated he will not surrender... anyway they can't flee those b***

I am working on a second unit.. because they rule on the battlefield. But my first unit being fairly GW-fan-boy-I-want-the-same-than-in-the-book, I wanted a different feel to them. On the other hand I am lazy...

Moreover I did not want to completely close the door to the Stalkers. So I literally built Knight out of the kit and no snake surfers II ( the return of the strike back). Here you go, let me know what you think.

As you can see I magnetize them (wait to see my sphinxes... oh well that one came out wrong... i meant my necrosphinxes/warsphinxes). This way I can still field Stalkers for EBTS build. Just cut one protuberant spine bit of the spine of the stalkers to sit the knight comfortably.

Ok guys now your turn, please some feedback, good/bad I take everything . 

When Media rock my Hobby!

Hi everybody (yes all 5 of you that are following this blog :P),

It has been a while I did not massacre English language to share with my enthusiasm about WFB hobby!

My apology, as often during these these gaps, real non-virtual (understand: dull) life problem took over any spare (understand Hobby) time.

I managed to advance on my TK painting and I will post some picts very soon; but todays topic is media and the unending source of info about the hobby you can find.

Most of us are fairly aware of blogging (that what's you are reading now) an podcasting; the new revelation to me was YouTube.

YouTube host an insane amount of battle report, book review and painting tips.

For battle report i tend to favor slide show with a narrator over actual video running, but it is really personal choices

I found this resource crazy useful. I am lucky enough to won a smartphone with a descent network connection so I can stream all the time (bus, waiting room, airport, lunch break, hwta I do instead of working, restroom...yes ... what... no judging).

So here is a short list of my favorite You Tube uploader:

OnceBitten360: very solid Beastmen and Brets player, competitive but not douchey, much like what you face at Legions that is nice player which intend to enjoy and make you enjoy your game. Most definitively my favorite!

Awesome Paintjob: very good for painting advises and review of paint, brushes and airbrushes!

VidHammer Fantasy: Their TK playes is an insult to our kind, but I love these guys even though it is a video and no slideshow. their stream is very organized but a bit too fast to scroll according to me.

BluePainting Tabled: Canadia Empire finest. Nice dudes but soetimes they are a bit too eager to review and forgot to actually read the rules :)

Painting Tabled: Love those guys. Painting, modeling and games. You have teh all deal with a very laid-back atmosphere that makes me sad not to know them in real life cause they look like great hobbyist to hang out with.

The Smacdeezy: very competitive, mainly (insanely beautiful) daemon. Like to watch because he has an objective analysis of his games and he is very honest when he plays to wreck his opponent hobby. I'd love to play him in a tournament.

OgreWargaming: Competitive as well, I watch it to know how to play against the mean fatties that too often stomped my delicate TK.

MObius Primal: just his enthusiastic is contagious. Good moves also!

So that s all for today, Netx time siome picts and my take on podcasts.

Please share with us if you know more good source of info on YouTube or else!

Your humble (what French don't do humility) servant.

Tibo

Past Event

Hi the past fantasy tourny was won with a tie - Taking first was - Lewis with his Lizardmen and Nick with Vampire Counts - coming in 3rd was Hank.

I believe the next tourny will be in April and is 2500pts. ( updates to come ) I'll try and remember my camera this time!

All hail the Horned Rat, who heralds the tide of inevitable doom.

So winter has finally bared its teeth, and what better time to sit inside and work on your army all day?
With my Beastmen in a surprisingly advanced stage of completeness, I've decided to switch gears a bit and bring my chittering Skaven horde out for blood and conquest. I've only played the army twice and both times with only a tentative grasp on the rules. Now that I have a good number of games under my belt I'm looking forward to giving them another try.
This is a picture of what I'm working with (or without, respectively.)



I'm planting my stake firmly at the 2,000 point level. Any more than that and the sheer weight of unpainted rat-shaped plastic threatens to crush my soul into jelly. The core section of my Beastmen army took years to paint, I'd like these guys to get fancied up much quicker.

My list is Ektrik/Skryre themed. I can't resist all of that slipshod, volatile, arcane machinery that melts friend and foe alike. I want something dramatically different from my Beasts; Lots of shooting/ranged attacks, an army that lends itself to playing a bit more defensively, with a hearty smattering of variety within the ranks. I'm looking forward to seeing whether this fits the bill. Some of these units aren't the most optimal, at least if you put any stock in widespread internet opinion, which I don't. Fun is the whole of the law. I play Beastmen, what do I care about effectiveness? :D

My self-imposed standards for this army are pretty simple:
- No slave spam. While I know that even smaller clans would undoubtedly have thousands of thralls hanging around I just can't do it. They are awesome, I understand this, but I don't want to buy them, paint them, or be disowned by my friends.
- Lots of weapon teams
- Only rely on small support units of rival Clan origin (ie Rat Ogres, Plague dooders, etc.)
- Three dedicated Warlock Engineers...eventually. I'd love to take Ikit Claw as a stand-in for a generic greater engineer but my group (including myself) generally frowns upon any special character inclusion.

Here's my rough rough draft list:

Skizzurk Beardburner, Warlord
- Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command, Dragonhelm, Shield and Halberd.
Admittedly a bit on the boring side...but he's got the survivability and the supportyness* I'll need.
Skizzurk's Swarmkin, 24 Stormvermin
- Full Command, Grand Banner of Clan Superiority
- Ratling Gun
Smaller than I'd like, but with the Crown and the banner they should fare pretty well. Hopefully the gun will whittle away at the opposition a bit, too.
Grutscuttle the Pious, Warlock Engineer
- Level 2 Wizard
- Foul Pendant
- Warp-Energy Condenser
- Warplock Pistol
Fries anything that moves, hopefully. Should probably have a Dispel Scroll, but I'm 100% smitten with this build.
30 Clanrats
- FC, Shields
- Warpfire Thrower
Euronymouse, Chieftain
- BSB, Charmed Shield, Dragonbane Gem.
Just need those rerolls.
29 Clanrats
- FC, Shields
- Warpfire Thrower
Standard fare. They're a bit small on their own, but I figure I can combine them for a more serious tarpit if need be. The Warpfire Throwers are both fluffy and necessary to keep me on somewhat even footing.
The Target Practice, 41 Slaves
- Musician, Shields
Outfitting my cannon fodder with shields may be a bad idea, but A) they need to hang around as long as possible and B) the models are obviously equipped with them already.
2 Rat Ogres, 1 Packmaster
- Master-bred Rat Ogre
Little flanking unit to give a pack of Clanrats/Slaves more oomph.
Thrizzik Splatt, Warlock Engineer
- Level 1 Wizard
- Warlock Optics
- Warpmusket
- Doomrocket
Hangs out with the skirmishers and blasts away.
9 Poisoned Wind Globadiers
- Bombardier w/ Death Globe
- Poisoned Wind Mortar
4 Warplock Jezzails
- Sharpshooter
Warp Lightning Cannon
Doomwheel

Right now I'm painting a few pieces of the army at a time to a basic level. The weather hasn't been primer-friendly (yesterday being the exception! Curse you daytime work shift...) of late so my infantry has to wait. My Doomwheel, Rat Ogres, and Warp Lightning Cannon are all in various stages of paintedness, and I'm pretty happy with the results thus far. I'm experimenting a bit more with wet blending, though I don't think these pictures are particularly representative of that process.


Not the most exciting picture, but such a cool model. I was a total, utter moron for not painting it BEFORE I assembled it, though. Ugh. Those interior bits are going to be brutal.


It looks a bit clumsy but having the dual-purpose magnetization will be great in the long run.


Bad picture of the army sigil and banner.

With Da Roosta painting up all of that awesome terrain at light speed and Joe's new Vampire Counts (Holy poops those Vargheists look amazing ranked up!) I've got a lot of inspiration to keep plugging away at this. Hopefully I can keep up!

I'll post up the finished character models and some riveting WIP pics in a day or two.

* definitely a real word.

Campaign- Start of round 2

The staff of our local wargaming store decided to initiate a 8th ed campaing 4 weeks ago. Each round takes 3 weeks. I think the campaign will last 6 rounds.



Each round starts with Epic games (team-up bigga points game) and the following two weeks we can move on a map that look like Albion (or is it?). The goal is to catch the a storm (isn't it like pissing against the wind.... well a very bad idea all in all). I ll post the fluff of my army later.

I will give more details in the future but for today here are some picts of teh Big game that kicked in the second round. The price for the winning side was allowance to use the dark emissary for any game, mild advantage for small game but interesting for bigger points game... give access to shadow to my Tomb Kings (TK) ... who said skeleton S10???

We lined up High elf, Lezards and TK vs. Skaven, Orcs and Warriors of Chaos












Again thx to Duncan teh campaign organizer!