I know I've said it before, but this time my inherent cheapness might carry me through. No more armies for the foreseeable future. I started playing the bigger events with Bayou Battles 2012 with my Orcs and Goblins, and in the following two years, I brought entirely new armies to BB2013 and 14, being Tomb Kings and High Elves respectively.
The thing is, I've never gotten good at playing an army before picking up a new one. Right when I started having a littlle success with the OG list, I started playing TKs, which though they can apparently be played effectively, apparently not by me. HEs are already my most effective army in that I had my best finish ever at a GT, which while not all that great, was an improvement.
In addition, the last minute flurry of painting before BB this year saw my paint score drop, which I expected because I did a sloppy job and the army looks unfinished. So I've got my work cut out for me before Alamo to make the needed improvements.
So rather than put the Elves aside when I get them looking better, my goal is to go back to either of the other armies an make them look better, find out how to play them better, and improve my skills as a painter and player.
Besides, I've got enough unpainted models of all three armies to just about make another army of each of them. Let's not even go into my old Black templar army that I stripped the paint off of to start over or the Necrons that I still have about 1000 points of that are unpainted, not that I even play 40K any more.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
A little bit of progress and experimentation
I'm out of the Valejo black I used to get the blackened look on the White Lions armor. So while I wait for a chance to go pick up more, I worked on a few more things.
The Archmage still needs a little work, but the fun experiment was the headpiece, vambraces and pauldrons. I used Valejo Light Turquoise, with a touch of the metal medium, a touch of black, then a touch of white. I then gave it a light wash of Nuln Oil and a light drybrush of Valejo Silver.
This one was the big failure of the evening. I Started his armor with Ironbreaker, then a Nuln Oil wash, then a light highlight of Runefang Steel. I was trying to get the look of red metal so I used a Bloodletter Glaze. I'm not sure it can be saved. He may have to go into the Simple Green.
I tried to paint up the loremaster the to go with the swordmasters, so I went with the Gehenna's Gold, followed by a Seraphim Sepia wash, then a light drybrushing of Auric Armor Gold. For the sword, I used the Valejo Black with a touch of Metal Medium. This is the same batch used on the WL test. Shortly aft this I ran out of the Valejo Black.
The Archmage still needs a little work, but the fun experiment was the headpiece, vambraces and pauldrons. I used Valejo Light Turquoise, with a touch of the metal medium, a touch of black, then a touch of white. I then gave it a light wash of Nuln Oil and a light drybrush of Valejo Silver. This one was the big failure of the evening. I Started his armor with Ironbreaker, then a Nuln Oil wash, then a light highlight of Runefang Steel. I was trying to get the look of red metal so I used a Bloodletter Glaze. I'm not sure it can be saved. He may have to go into the Simple Green.
Friday, August 22, 2014
BB Elf List
Here's the test model for the new unit. I have some of the old metal White Lions, and some of the new plastic ones. I thought I'd use an old one for the test model. I was tired of painting gold armor, and was trying to get a blackened steel look. I didn't get what I was after, but I still like the effect.
The back. I still need to whiten up the cloak a bit.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Bayou Battle...Not as Bad as Last Year
First, Bayou Battles in Houston has been fantastic each of the three times I have been. When I say it was not as bad as last year, I refer to my performance. I think my paint score will be worse than last year, because I was in a rush and a little sloppy. Tomb Kings are far more forgiving of quick painting than High Elves. However, I achieved a grand total of 31battle points in five battles last year, which came from four losses and a draw.
The Dragon Army (with no actual dragons and dragon models representing things that are not dragons) won two and lost three and, adding in bonus points, the total for battle points cam out to 57 this year. The best I have ever done in BP before at a two day tournament was 42 at the 2012 Bayou Battles.
The Dragon Army:
Prince: armor of destiny, Sword of Might
LVL 4 Archmage with high magic, dispel scroll talisman of preservation
Noble: BSB, Shield of Merwyrm, Crown of Command
LVL 2 Mage with light, channeling staff
Noble: reaver bow, potion of strength
28 Spearmen, full command, Banner of Eternal Flame
22 Archers, standard bearer and musician
5 Reavers
23 Swordmasters of Hoeth, full command, Banner of Swiftness
4 Repeating Bolt Throwers
Great Eagle
Great Eagle
Frostheart Phoenix
Game 1: Erin's Dwarfs
Erin's army was nicely painted and unique in that many of her models, one unit and two of the three characters were female minis. She brought a block of 29 hammerers, 28 Longbeards and 20 quarrellers, two gyrocopters, 1 each of cannon, grudgethrower, and organ gun, a BSB, a runesmith and a thane.
She forted up around her artillery, I forted up around mine and we both tried to flank with out flyers and fast cav (well, my fast cav and our flyers).
She focused most of her shooting on my phoenix and archers. I focused mine on her war machines and then quarrelers. Between the bolt throwers and reaver bow, I killed the by turn two. Then I killed the organ gun with more bolt throwers in turn three. Also in turn three, I started moving across the board, finished off the quarrelers with mass shooting, and dropped fiery convocation on the longbeards, killing about a third of them. On turn four I charged the longbeards with the swordmasters from the front, an eagle in the rear and the phoenix in the flank.
On five, she counter charged the phoenix with her hammerers, giving it a couple of wounds. I then counter-charged the hammerers with my spearmen and charged the thrower with the other eagle. On turn six, the pile of nasty finished off the longbeards and the eagle finished off the thrower. However the pile of nasty could not get the BSB or Runesmith, and the hammerers finished off the phoenix. That's how it ended. She had her hammerers and characters. I lost the reavers and the phoenix. I'd gotten 1500 and change and she got 335.
I realize that walking across the board was unneeded as the shooting exchange had left me up 600+ to 95. All of her shooting was gone by the end of turn three except the thrower, so the likelihood of me killing it with shooting in the next round or so was pretty high. She'd also misfired it on turn three, so it was taking turn four off., giving me a free round of shooting at it.
However, there were still three turns and over an hour left, so I went ahead and committed to combat because it seemed like more fun. Thinking back now, I could have expended better effort for the final VP, but I just now thought of that three days later. I was pretty sure I'd come out on top in combat, and win anyway, but perfectly willing to accept defeat if I'd gotten smacked for it. It turned out to be a good thing, because Erin kept telling me all day and the next about how much fun she'd had and what a great game it had been. I missed out on one the bonus point, so it ended up 19-5.
Game two: Alan's Wood Elves
This was another pretty army, in fairly standard WE color scheme just very nicely executed.
He brought:
Lvl 4 Spellweaver w/ Metal, and the Sceptre os Stability
Lvl 2 spellsinger w/ Heavens on an elven steed, with a dispel scroll
Glade Captain BSB with the dragonhelm, and the Hail of Doom Arrow on an elven steed
10 glade guard
6 glade riders
6 glade riders
6 glade riders
6 glade riders
10 deepwood scouts
10 deepwood scouts
10 wardancers
8 Sisters of the thorn
5 wild riders
5 wild riders
6 waywatchers
6 waywatchers
He killed two bolt-throwers on turn one before I had even gone, I killed a number of small units, but he killed more of mine and stayed away from my big units. Because there was so much more movement in this game, I do not remember it as well as the first, other than he used his movement and shooting to pick me apart, killing all the bolt-throwers, the phoenix, and archers. He got most of the scenario objectives and I got none. Final score was 5-17.
Despite the fairly solid beating I took, this was a great game. Like Erin in the previous game, I had a great time losing.
Game three: Brian's Warriors of Chaos
This was a nasty list run by a good player who placed in the top three in both the 2013 and 2014 Bayou Battles for Best General. In addition, it was an awfully nice looking army with some very intricately kit-bashed models, specifically the daemon, which he said was made of bits from (I think) 12 different models. I recognized the head and arms of a Minotaur lord.
I don't know the WoC book well enough to know all that he brought, other than a block of 24 or so warriors with a caster in it, two chariots, a daemon prince, a nasty mounted character, three small units of hounds, a hell cannon-thing, and five of the big cavalry dudes. I managed to kill a chariot and some hounds with bolt-throwers in turn one and then they quit hitting. For the rest of the game, all bolt-thrower shots missed. I did manage to kill the chariots, the hounds, and two of the big cav dudes.
He had me tabled by turn four, except for the phoenix, which was fighting the cannon. both were down to a couple of wounds when the DP and cav hero showed up and finished off the phoenix in turn five.
I do not think the game turned on my bad shooting, but it did not help. I think he would have won anyway, I just may have had some models left by the end of the game if I could have weakened/killed some of his nasty units. I did get one objective by using more of the bonus scrolls than my opponent. Final score, 6-19
I finished day one with 30 points, one point shy of my 2013 total and 12 short of my 2012 total.
Game 4: Ryan's Dark Elves.
This was the only unpainted army I faced all weekend, but I could see where he was going with it, and I hope to see it when he's done. It should look really nice.
He brought a block of witches and the cauldron, a block of executioners, some cold one riders, two scout units, three fast cav units, and a general on a flying thing.
VPs didn't matter, only capturing the objectives.
Pit of Shades. That sums up the game. All of my tough units got pitted twice, and I managed to avoid his witches for most of the game. He used his fast cav and scouts to take out my war machine. I used fiery convocation to kill his executioners who were holding an objective. I lost my objective rying to make a last turn stab at getting his, which worked, but left me barely in the charge arc of the witches. At that point I conceded the game. He wanted to play it out, but I pointed out that he already held two of the three objectives, I had nothing left to take the objectives he held already, and my six swordmasters wouldn't hold out to the two cav units and flying general that were about to charge it.
I might have actually managed a bad game vote from him because he seemed pissy the entire game, and despite winning, argued the stupidity of the HE rulebook when he did not like how some magic items stacked.
I managed two objective points for holding my primary objective for at some point, so the final tally was 20-7. The funny bit, and part of why I cannot really complain is that of our three arguments during the game, two were based on each of us trying to give the other some kind of benefit.
Game 5: Chad's Brettonians
This was not the prettiest Brettonian army I've seen, but it was at least above average for the armies I saw at BB. He had two knight buses, one with a character, a lord on a hippogriff, three pegasus knights, two trebuchets, two units of peasant fast cavalry, a block of fifty spears, 25 halberdeers and a big block of archers with a naked level 4 heavens caster, and a grail knight with ten extra peasants.
My first two shots with the bolt throwers hit a knight bus, but failed to wound on a 2+ roll. my third missed, so I changed targets and used the repeating shots on a peasant cav unit, killing them. That panicked the peg knight, who ran off the board the next turn after failing two Ld9 tests.
Over the course of the game, he kept hitting my spearmen with the comet spell, I plinked at his cav and knights. He killed on BT with his trebs and took a wound off another. He got a two man cav charge against one of the BTs, but there were only two peasant riders left, and the crew killed them before they could attack. That left the archers and that BT facing down the remaining 6 knights and the lord on the hippogriff.
Between those two units, the lord and the hipp, died and the archers reformed narrow to receive the charge from the knights. The archers lost the first round of combat, but were stubborn due to ranks and held, won the next round. The knights fled, and the archers caught them.
On the other end of the board, the swordmasters charged and killed the grailknights over two rounds of combat. Comets killed a BT and half the spearmen. The remaining spearmen failed to charge the halberd, but the phoenix made the charge. The halbers failr the terror test and got run down by the pheonix, leaving him one inch in front of the archer block, who were in the back corner. They shot the phoenix the next round, failing to wound due to ward saves and few hits. His big block of spearmen got dropped to 20 from 50 by fiery convocation while my spearmen failed to charge them. The sword-masters turned to receive the knight charge coming, and went narrow.
His archers failed their terror check against the phoenix, who chased them off the board. He got back just in time to join in on the finally successful charge against the peasant spearmen, who ran after losing combat and were run down.
As that went on, the seven man knight bus, hit the swordmasters, and lost three riders right off the bat and killing two sword masters in return. They ran from combat, but out-paced the swordmasters by an inch. On the ensuing charge, they died to a man, leaving only the character, who had a wound remaining.
A huge difference in the game was my MVP, his artillery die. Between two trebuchets, in six turns, he rolled six misfires, losing a turn on two of them and had one blow itself up on turn five. So out of eleven tries in shooting, over half were misfires and he lost two shots. Of the three shots that went off normally, he killed a BT and took a wound off another. He had a character with a wound left, and a trebuchet with two. Due to the scenario rules, I got half points for each of those. He killed the reavers and two and a half BTs, and half the spearmen and both eagles. My lvl 2 caster also lost a wound due to a miscast, so he got half for that. VPs ended at about 2250 to about 650
The final tally ended up 20-5 as I got all the bonus points. This was my most lopsided win, but that wasn't what made it my favorite game. Chad's attitude was infectious, and we had a great time agonizing over or celebrating every misfire, miscast, missed shot, crazy save, improbable hit, or crazy dice roll that screwed one of us and helped the other. It was also the only game that by the end of turn four I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Had one of his comets blown up at a better time and weakened my spearmen even more, or had his halberds, pegasus knights, and archers not failed leadership checks and been run down/off the board, had he not misfired 6 times and blown up one of his own artillery pieces, or had I not rolled so well when shooting at his general, this game would have taken a very different turn.
Things to work on:
1) Paying better attention to how I lose. I seem to be good about knowing how I won, but not how I lost.
2) I need to add some more HTH punch to the list.
3) I need a plan for when shooting fails.
4) I need to start painting earlier.
5) I need to upgrade my painting skills.
The Dragon Army (with no actual dragons and dragon models representing things that are not dragons) won two and lost three and, adding in bonus points, the total for battle points cam out to 57 this year. The best I have ever done in BP before at a two day tournament was 42 at the 2012 Bayou Battles.
The Dragon Army:
Prince: armor of destiny, Sword of Might
LVL 4 Archmage with high magic, dispel scroll talisman of preservation
Noble: BSB, Shield of Merwyrm, Crown of Command
LVL 2 Mage with light, channeling staff
Noble: reaver bow, potion of strength
28 Spearmen, full command, Banner of Eternal Flame
22 Archers, standard bearer and musician
5 Reavers
23 Swordmasters of Hoeth, full command, Banner of Swiftness
4 Repeating Bolt Throwers
Great Eagle
Great Eagle
Frostheart Phoenix
Game 1: Erin's Dwarfs
Erin's army was nicely painted and unique in that many of her models, one unit and two of the three characters were female minis. She brought a block of 29 hammerers, 28 Longbeards and 20 quarrellers, two gyrocopters, 1 each of cannon, grudgethrower, and organ gun, a BSB, a runesmith and a thane.
She forted up around her artillery, I forted up around mine and we both tried to flank with out flyers and fast cav (well, my fast cav and our flyers).
She focused most of her shooting on my phoenix and archers. I focused mine on her war machines and then quarrelers. Between the bolt throwers and reaver bow, I killed the by turn two. Then I killed the organ gun with more bolt throwers in turn three. Also in turn three, I started moving across the board, finished off the quarrelers with mass shooting, and dropped fiery convocation on the longbeards, killing about a third of them. On turn four I charged the longbeards with the swordmasters from the front, an eagle in the rear and the phoenix in the flank.
On five, she counter charged the phoenix with her hammerers, giving it a couple of wounds. I then counter-charged the hammerers with my spearmen and charged the thrower with the other eagle. On turn six, the pile of nasty finished off the longbeards and the eagle finished off the thrower. However the pile of nasty could not get the BSB or Runesmith, and the hammerers finished off the phoenix. That's how it ended. She had her hammerers and characters. I lost the reavers and the phoenix. I'd gotten 1500 and change and she got 335.
I realize that walking across the board was unneeded as the shooting exchange had left me up 600+ to 95. All of her shooting was gone by the end of turn three except the thrower, so the likelihood of me killing it with shooting in the next round or so was pretty high. She'd also misfired it on turn three, so it was taking turn four off., giving me a free round of shooting at it.
However, there were still three turns and over an hour left, so I went ahead and committed to combat because it seemed like more fun. Thinking back now, I could have expended better effort for the final VP, but I just now thought of that three days later. I was pretty sure I'd come out on top in combat, and win anyway, but perfectly willing to accept defeat if I'd gotten smacked for it. It turned out to be a good thing, because Erin kept telling me all day and the next about how much fun she'd had and what a great game it had been. I missed out on one the bonus point, so it ended up 19-5.
Game two: Alan's Wood Elves
This was another pretty army, in fairly standard WE color scheme just very nicely executed.
He brought:
Lvl 4 Spellweaver w/ Metal, and the Sceptre os Stability
Lvl 2 spellsinger w/ Heavens on an elven steed, with a dispel scroll
Glade Captain BSB with the dragonhelm, and the Hail of Doom Arrow on an elven steed
10 glade guard
6 glade riders
6 glade riders
6 glade riders
6 glade riders
10 deepwood scouts
10 deepwood scouts
10 wardancers
8 Sisters of the thorn
5 wild riders
5 wild riders
6 waywatchers
6 waywatchers
He killed two bolt-throwers on turn one before I had even gone, I killed a number of small units, but he killed more of mine and stayed away from my big units. Because there was so much more movement in this game, I do not remember it as well as the first, other than he used his movement and shooting to pick me apart, killing all the bolt-throwers, the phoenix, and archers. He got most of the scenario objectives and I got none. Final score was 5-17.
Despite the fairly solid beating I took, this was a great game. Like Erin in the previous game, I had a great time losing.
Game three: Brian's Warriors of Chaos
This was a nasty list run by a good player who placed in the top three in both the 2013 and 2014 Bayou Battles for Best General. In addition, it was an awfully nice looking army with some very intricately kit-bashed models, specifically the daemon, which he said was made of bits from (I think) 12 different models. I recognized the head and arms of a Minotaur lord.
I don't know the WoC book well enough to know all that he brought, other than a block of 24 or so warriors with a caster in it, two chariots, a daemon prince, a nasty mounted character, three small units of hounds, a hell cannon-thing, and five of the big cavalry dudes. I managed to kill a chariot and some hounds with bolt-throwers in turn one and then they quit hitting. For the rest of the game, all bolt-thrower shots missed. I did manage to kill the chariots, the hounds, and two of the big cav dudes.
He had me tabled by turn four, except for the phoenix, which was fighting the cannon. both were down to a couple of wounds when the DP and cav hero showed up and finished off the phoenix in turn five.
I do not think the game turned on my bad shooting, but it did not help. I think he would have won anyway, I just may have had some models left by the end of the game if I could have weakened/killed some of his nasty units. I did get one objective by using more of the bonus scrolls than my opponent. Final score, 6-19
I finished day one with 30 points, one point shy of my 2013 total and 12 short of my 2012 total.
Game 4: Ryan's Dark Elves.
This was the only unpainted army I faced all weekend, but I could see where he was going with it, and I hope to see it when he's done. It should look really nice.
He brought a block of witches and the cauldron, a block of executioners, some cold one riders, two scout units, three fast cav units, and a general on a flying thing.
VPs didn't matter, only capturing the objectives.
Pit of Shades. That sums up the game. All of my tough units got pitted twice, and I managed to avoid his witches for most of the game. He used his fast cav and scouts to take out my war machine. I used fiery convocation to kill his executioners who were holding an objective. I lost my objective rying to make a last turn stab at getting his, which worked, but left me barely in the charge arc of the witches. At that point I conceded the game. He wanted to play it out, but I pointed out that he already held two of the three objectives, I had nothing left to take the objectives he held already, and my six swordmasters wouldn't hold out to the two cav units and flying general that were about to charge it.
I might have actually managed a bad game vote from him because he seemed pissy the entire game, and despite winning, argued the stupidity of the HE rulebook when he did not like how some magic items stacked.
I managed two objective points for holding my primary objective for at some point, so the final tally was 20-7. The funny bit, and part of why I cannot really complain is that of our three arguments during the game, two were based on each of us trying to give the other some kind of benefit.
Game 5: Chad's Brettonians
This was not the prettiest Brettonian army I've seen, but it was at least above average for the armies I saw at BB. He had two knight buses, one with a character, a lord on a hippogriff, three pegasus knights, two trebuchets, two units of peasant fast cavalry, a block of fifty spears, 25 halberdeers and a big block of archers with a naked level 4 heavens caster, and a grail knight with ten extra peasants.
My first two shots with the bolt throwers hit a knight bus, but failed to wound on a 2+ roll. my third missed, so I changed targets and used the repeating shots on a peasant cav unit, killing them. That panicked the peg knight, who ran off the board the next turn after failing two Ld9 tests.
Over the course of the game, he kept hitting my spearmen with the comet spell, I plinked at his cav and knights. He killed on BT with his trebs and took a wound off another. He got a two man cav charge against one of the BTs, but there were only two peasant riders left, and the crew killed them before they could attack. That left the archers and that BT facing down the remaining 6 knights and the lord on the hippogriff.
Between those two units, the lord and the hipp, died and the archers reformed narrow to receive the charge from the knights. The archers lost the first round of combat, but were stubborn due to ranks and held, won the next round. The knights fled, and the archers caught them.
On the other end of the board, the swordmasters charged and killed the grailknights over two rounds of combat. Comets killed a BT and half the spearmen. The remaining spearmen failed to charge the halberd, but the phoenix made the charge. The halbers failr the terror test and got run down by the pheonix, leaving him one inch in front of the archer block, who were in the back corner. They shot the phoenix the next round, failing to wound due to ward saves and few hits. His big block of spearmen got dropped to 20 from 50 by fiery convocation while my spearmen failed to charge them. The sword-masters turned to receive the knight charge coming, and went narrow.
His archers failed their terror check against the phoenix, who chased them off the board. He got back just in time to join in on the finally successful charge against the peasant spearmen, who ran after losing combat and were run down.
As that went on, the seven man knight bus, hit the swordmasters, and lost three riders right off the bat and killing two sword masters in return. They ran from combat, but out-paced the swordmasters by an inch. On the ensuing charge, they died to a man, leaving only the character, who had a wound remaining.
A huge difference in the game was my MVP, his artillery die. Between two trebuchets, in six turns, he rolled six misfires, losing a turn on two of them and had one blow itself up on turn five. So out of eleven tries in shooting, over half were misfires and he lost two shots. Of the three shots that went off normally, he killed a BT and took a wound off another. He had a character with a wound left, and a trebuchet with two. Due to the scenario rules, I got half points for each of those. He killed the reavers and two and a half BTs, and half the spearmen and both eagles. My lvl 2 caster also lost a wound due to a miscast, so he got half for that. VPs ended at about 2250 to about 650
The final tally ended up 20-5 as I got all the bonus points. This was my most lopsided win, but that wasn't what made it my favorite game. Chad's attitude was infectious, and we had a great time agonizing over or celebrating every misfire, miscast, missed shot, crazy save, improbable hit, or crazy dice roll that screwed one of us and helped the other. It was also the only game that by the end of turn four I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Had one of his comets blown up at a better time and weakened my spearmen even more, or had his halberds, pegasus knights, and archers not failed leadership checks and been run down/off the board, had he not misfired 6 times and blown up one of his own artillery pieces, or had I not rolled so well when shooting at his general, this game would have taken a very different turn.
Things to work on:
1) Paying better attention to how I lose. I seem to be good about knowing how I won, but not how I lost.
2) I need to add some more HTH punch to the list.
3) I need a plan for when shooting fails.
4) I need to start painting earlier.
5) I need to upgrade my painting skills.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
So the Deed is Done...Mostly
I'm not going to say my high elf army is finished, however it is as done as it will be for Bayou Battles. The last two units need a little touching up, the banners need their final images, and the movement trays are only base-coated.
What matters is that I won't be going to BB with unpainted models. I'll post a photo tomorrow.
What matters is that I won't be going to BB with unpainted models. I'll post a photo tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Swordmasters, all but basing...
Now just some spearmen, a few readers, a bolt thrower, a dragon and characters to go.
Monday, July 28, 2014
WIP Swordmasters
Working on my Swordmasters for Bayou Battles. Tonight's brew of choice is a cider I made using organic apple juice and Windsor Ale yeast.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Now it all makes sense...
Played a 1500 point game with a player who normally trashes me yesterday. Rather than make a separate list, I just used units from the list I'm making for Bayou Battles.
So I dropped the prince, the mage, the noble with the reaver bow, the spearmen, an eagle and the phoenix. I kept the lvl 4 wizard, the bsb, the archers, sword masters, the reavers and the artillery (all four repeating bolt throwers).
For the first (and possibly last) time ever, he didn't bring any artillery. His quarrelers tore up my archers, since the sword masters weren't in range, and the iron drakes wiped out the reavers, and wasted the eagle.
The bolt throwers dropped the gyrocopter and then chewed up iron drakes. His axe and shield dwarves charged the sword masters, who'd been whittled down a bit by the drakes over a couple of turns, and it didn't go well for the dwarves, especially with the drakes failing the supporting charge.
In the end, I lost the 5 reavers, and the eagle 1/3 of the sword masters and 2/3 of the archers. He had the 10 quarrelers left at the end and 3-4 iron drakes.
Considering our games usually involve me trying to get models across the table and into combat as quick as I can and him shooting them apart on the way across, the reversal of roles was fun.
We played another game at 2500 points, and the table looked even at first glance when we had to call time, but the combats were mostly not going my way, and if we'd have continued, I'd have lost pretty handily.
Lessons of the day: 1) Repeating bolt throwers are nasty, especially in small games. 2) Don't clump them together if the other guy has anything flying.
So I dropped the prince, the mage, the noble with the reaver bow, the spearmen, an eagle and the phoenix. I kept the lvl 4 wizard, the bsb, the archers, sword masters, the reavers and the artillery (all four repeating bolt throwers).
For the first (and possibly last) time ever, he didn't bring any artillery. His quarrelers tore up my archers, since the sword masters weren't in range, and the iron drakes wiped out the reavers, and wasted the eagle.
The bolt throwers dropped the gyrocopter and then chewed up iron drakes. His axe and shield dwarves charged the sword masters, who'd been whittled down a bit by the drakes over a couple of turns, and it didn't go well for the dwarves, especially with the drakes failing the supporting charge.
In the end, I lost the 5 reavers, and the eagle 1/3 of the sword masters and 2/3 of the archers. He had the 10 quarrelers left at the end and 3-4 iron drakes.
Considering our games usually involve me trying to get models across the table and into combat as quick as I can and him shooting them apart on the way across, the reversal of roles was fun.
We played another game at 2500 points, and the table looked even at first glance when we had to call time, but the combats were mostly not going my way, and if we'd have continued, I'd have lost pretty handily.
Lessons of the day: 1) Repeating bolt throwers are nasty, especially in small games. 2) Don't clump them together if the other guy has anything flying.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
You'd think I'd learn...
For the third year in a row, I find myself madly painting in preparation for Bayou Battles. Last year at this time, though, I had more models to go than are in my entire army this year. That sounds like good news, but High Elves are much more complicated for me to paint than Tomb Kings. There is far less use for the airbrush with them as well.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Two down...
Except for basing, the two smaller dragons are done. Since the larger of the three will be representing a frostheart phoenix, I am planning on going with a color scheme that looks like a cold based critter. I thought it best that even though none of the dragon models in the army will actually represent dragons, they should at least look related.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
WIP
Those aren't dragons. That's a frostheart phoenix and a couple of great eagles. Just a base coat with the airbrush.
Monday, June 30, 2014
The Deed is Done
My list for Bayou Battles is submitted. Swedish comp 1.13 says it's a pretty rough list. I don't know. I think I may be calling it suspect because it's my list and I have a pretty poor track record at GTs. I am betting I'll be getting fed to the lions in round one. I hope to beat last year's performance, at least, which shouldn't be too tough since I don't remember winning a game last year. (Just checked. I didn't.)
As it is, I'm really looking forward to the event. I'm just way behind on painting for a number of reasons. I'm committed to this army, but I am not sure I'll get it done on time.
As it is, I'm really looking forward to the event. I'm just way behind on painting for a number of reasons. I'm committed to this army, but I am not sure I'll get it done on time.
Small Victories
While it isn't so much a painting victory, last weekend I figured out that between the roll of galvanized flashing I found when we moved into the house, a metal shear, and an anvil made from a chunk of railroad rail, I could make my own movement trays. 
I need a little practice to clean up the edges, but they'll do.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Back at the paint table...for now
I got back to the paint table last weekend finally. Progress on the elves is slow. I did manage to magnetize about half of the bases and found more of the metal White Lions on Ebay. Today's painting background noise was The Shadow Riders, with Tom Selleck and Sam Shepherd among others. This was followed by the Spurs violating the Trailblazers. The beverage of choice was Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. I used to think that the idea of mixing lemonade and beer would be nasty. Oh how wrong I was!
Monday, March 17, 2014
End of Vacation...
Vacation has ended, and there are far fewer elves painted than I'd hoped. I think I've settled on a paint scheme, the archers have been blocked in, and the dragons, except the big one, have been base coated.
I was hoping to at least have the archers done, but honey-do projects consumed much of my time. So little painting was done, but my lovely and patient wife is happier about the state of our house, and that's always good.
Finally, I came to some conclusion. The first is that I need to paint more regularly to build skill with a brush rather than in flurries and mad rushes. The second is that this is not the army for me to learn to paint non-metallic metals. In fact, an army is not the thing at all for me to work on learning that skill at all. once I finish this army, I'll consider learning that skill on either a smaller unit or single models.
I was hoping to at least have the archers done, but honey-do projects consumed much of my time. So little painting was done, but my lovely and patient wife is happier about the state of our house, and that's always good.
Finally, I came to some conclusion. The first is that I need to paint more regularly to build skill with a brush rather than in flurries and mad rushes. The second is that this is not the army for me to learn to paint non-metallic metals. In fact, an army is not the thing at all for me to work on learning that skill at all. once I finish this army, I'll consider learning that skill on either a smaller unit or single models.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
When Geekdomes Collide
One of my other hobbies, which consumed much of my life for the last 20+ years has been historic fencing. Through that organization, I also got to continue my interest in archery that began in college and was furthered for a number of years instructing archery in day-camps during the summer.
I FINALLY got to start applying paint to my elves this afternoon. I started with the archers and, to my amusement, I found myself wanting to correct their form and advise them that wearing shirts with big sleeves would risk interfering with their bow strings. Then, of course, I found myself thinking, "But they've been doing this hundreds of years, so maybe they know something about form I don't..."
I FINALLY got to start applying paint to my elves this afternoon. I started with the archers and, to my amusement, I found myself wanting to correct their form and advise them that wearing shirts with big sleeves would risk interfering with their bow strings. Then, of course, I found myself thinking, "But they've been doing this hundreds of years, so maybe they know something about form I don't..."
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Progress with Kit-Bashing
My skills in molding and customizing models are not even what I'd call developing. I did a little minor kit bashing for my elves, though.
On the right is an elf spearman. On the left is a spearman I made using the body and legs from some old dark elves I had left over from an attempt at a DE warband for Mordheim. Some extra spearman bits and some trimming of the shoulder armor, and he looks the part.
The kneeling legs, bow, and right arm are extras from the HE archers box. The head is an extra from the spearmen set, and the body is another DE torso.
This guy was originally intended for a D&D campaign, but I was able to add a HE banner and put a sword hilt on the scabbard to make up for the one that went with the hand that was holding it to make room for the banner. Hopefully I'll have a fairly unique BSB.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Getting closer...
Two of the three small dragons and the general are now paint free. I debated using the smaller dragons to instead pull the chariot instead of lions, but the I remembered why I have to keep the lions on the chariot. The right hand lion, the one that is pawing at something, must be painted orange to commemorate Scratchy, my wife's late orang cat she got in grad school.
So the only minis still incomplete are the conversions on the bsb and final assembly of the chariot.
So the only minis still incomplete are the conversions on the bsb and final assembly of the chariot.
Slow beginnings
So the unpacking and gluing has begun. I've got the army about 60% assembled, the smaller dragons and the general are soaking in simple green. (Old minis used for D&D over the years.) The current question is the appropriate role for the two bigger dragons. Do I use the one with the 11"-12" wingspan for the general's ride and the 7"-8" wingspan for the phoenix or the other way around? Either will require some green stuff to make a saddle and all.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Here there be dragons?
So in building my HE list, I was looking at getting a few great eagles and a phoenix. However, while the models are cool, I'm cheap. I also already have a large reaper dragon, a medium-plus reaper dragon, and three small reaper dragons. I guess I'm seeing the beginnings of a theme. I'm debating putting a prince on a dragon as well. but can't decide to put him on the really big one or the mid-sized one and use the other in place of the Phoenix. Using either as a mount will require some green stuff for a saddle, at least. I'll also need to strip and repaint the large and three smalls, but I was planning on doing that anyway.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
New Army False Start
With having to cancel out of LWGT and giving up on 40K for the time, there is no reason to delay starting the new fantasy army. Was going to start assembling my high elves today, but all of my glue has dried up. Then suddenly I had things I had to do and never got out for more glue.
For the time being I'm up in the air about a paint scheme. I like the blue and white, but I see so much of it. I was considering red until I saw a really nice red one, and now I don't want to do red. Not feeling it with yellow, orange, green, or purple. Now I'm considering doing a B&W/greyscale army with the only color being in the heraldry. I'm a long way from paint at this point, so it's entirely likely that I'll change my mind a few times.
Either way, this will be the first army I've built using non-GW models, even though it won't be many.
For the time being I'm up in the air about a paint scheme. I like the blue and white, but I see so much of it. I was considering red until I saw a really nice red one, and now I don't want to do red. Not feeling it with yellow, orange, green, or purple. Now I'm considering doing a B&W/greyscale army with the only color being in the heraldry. I'm a long way from paint at this point, so it's entirely likely that I'll change my mind a few times.
Either way, this will be the first army I've built using non-GW models, even though it won't be many.
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