Long Time No Write

The last time I posted, I was still living in San Antonio. Later that week she was offered the job she'd been going for in Beaverton, Oregon. So here I am, 10 months later, living in a suburb of Portland. I managed to get some painting done, at first, but when I finally found a job, it ate my life for the first several months. Add to that the general lack of Kings of War or anything Mantic in the state of Oregon, and I really had no reason to paint. Our role-playing group was gone, I had no one to play KoW or Deadzone with, and there was little reason for me to paint, as I had no purpose for painted minis.

A series of events unfolded recently to rekindle my interest in minis. I then found the PNW KoW Facebook group, found out about Clash of Storms outside of Seattle in August. Then, to my surprise, I found out about Cascade Clash here in Portland next month. So I'm signed up. I'll be bringing the Orcs out again, and I hope to have the Elves re-based and ready for Clash of Storms in August. As of now, I need to paint up my second War Drum and finish he base for my second orcling regiment. I Might need to make a display board as well, as I don't know if my current army will fit on the old one.

A Much Better Experience

I went into Lone Wolf with trepidation. I had an abysmal experience last time I went, intent upon never returning. I now have further evidence that much of my bad experience was my fault (not all of it, but more than enough to matter).

Day One started off with a very fun game against a Forces of Nature army designed to limit others ability to do damage and heal what little damage there was. It worked well. By the time I figured it out, my army was too badly out of position and damage to do anything about it.
It was a 20-0 victory for the Forces of Nature.

The second round came against the Empire of Dust. This one hurt, not because of losing 13-7, but because I STILL regret selling my tomb kings. It was a close, fun game, but I ended up losing it in the end. Too many of my high priced units died and not enough of is died.

Game three was against the Ratkin. the final score was 17-3 rats, and it wasn't even really that close. Once again I allowed my units to be singled out and killed one by one.  I held my objective, but that was about it. he got all the other points.

In the last game of day one I played the prettiest army I saw across the table all weekend. It was a gorilla themed Herd list. My opponent won 12-8, for my closest game so far. Again, I allowed my units to be killed off piecemeal, but part of that was confusing Stampede hordes for the humans that were actually on the bases. Thinking they were cheap human regiments, I let them get into position to charge my toughest units, where they slaughtered whatever they hit. Fun yet confusing game.

Day two worked out better, starting with a 20-0 win over an Ogre force that looked to be brutal, but was unable to survive counter-charges. In the middle of my turn at the bottom of turn four, my opponent yielded, giving me a 20-0 win. We could have played it out, but I was down a troll horde and a cavalry regiment. He had a warlock and standard bearer left. The warlock had been charged by the other cavalry unit, though we had not resolved that charge yet. I held all three objectives and had all of the bonus points available.

Game six was against another Empire of Dust army, for the only repeat army race for the tournament. Bad deployment cost me dearly in the first few turns, aided by some on fire artillery on my opponent's part. I managed to pull out a 10-10 draw anyway, and I am convinced my chances to win would have been good if we'd gone to turn seven,

I need to plan my army better, for sure, and play more as well.

As to the soft scores, I got the flat rate of 64 sportsmanship, which means I had no positive or negative feedback in regard to sportsmanship. Paint is what surprised me, I scored 59 out of 80, which is by far the best score I've ever gotten. I blame the rubric the TO created to let us point out to him where we had done blending, modeling, and converting.

All in all, it was a good day.

What to Do...

Lone Wolf GT is four days away, and I have no models to paint. All I'm doing is repairing models that came off of their multi-base and throwing together a display board. I'm at a loss. I'll post a photo or two once I've got the display board together, but the army is as follows:

Krudger on a Winged Slasher
Flagger w/ Diadem of Dragon-kind
2 Godspeakers
2 Morax Regiments
Greatax Horde w/ Brew of Haste
2 Troll Hordes
War Drum

Not a very complicated list. The idea is to go forward and smash.

Bayou Battles reflection

So Bayou Battle XIII has come and gone. Despite being the army I've played the longest, my orcs were finally done Thursday night. Below is what the creaming horde looked like.

What you see above is:

a Krudger on a winged slasher

a Flaggit with the Diadem of Dragonkind

two Godspeakers

two Gore Rider regiments

two hords of Trolls

two Morax regiments

a Greatax horde with the Brew of Haste

and a Wardrum

Results varied. 

In game one I came up against shooty ogres. This was the only game all weekend where I didn't feel I even had a chance. He shot up the units with longer range than his and charged the ones that didn't once they got in range. With no shooting to speak of, I couldn't do much. Big win for him.

In game two I came up against an ogre list designed to make me come across the board at me. Terrain and disrupted charges let me soak up a couple of charges I othewise wouldn't have and I was able to cave in both flanks. Medium sized win for me.

Game three was against a really great guy with his Empire of Dust. His shooting dice hated him. He missed with 16 of 17 shots with his three catapults, and the one he hit he retracted because he realized afterward that he was shooting at an individual and should have been minus one. It was a great game, but timely break test rolls on his part changed it from a very close game that I was probably losing to a blowout for him in turn six. This was probably my favorite game of the weekend and got my my second best game vote.

After game three I was done and ready for dinner. I forgot there was four games on day one. So when pairings were posted I was not really into the game or ready to play. I drew an Orc list that was pretty but had some questionable choices that should have been easy for me to exploit. I was able to lose the game pretty much on deployment. I deployed like I was facing a shooting army, not a face bashing one and paid for it. Big loss on my part.

After day one, I was about as down on the game as I ever was on WFB. I had 26 battle points in four games. My last game should have been fun, but I just wasn't into it. Food helped, and Sunday would be a better day. 

Then there was the Giant Bash. It was a rather toned down affair as far as Giant Bashes go, as we had a couple of younger players with us. I managed to be the last giant standing with a total of 1 wound left at the end and won a Darklands Scecchus, Servile Fiend of Dis, made by Mierce Miniatures. I suspect I know where that bit of prize support came from, and if you're reading this and responsible, thanks. 

On day two, I was determined to have a better time, win, lose or draw. For game five, a scenario that involved only taking loot and getting off the board with it or holding on to it until the end of the game, I made another deployment error and let my opponents Salamanders grab three of the five objectives in turn one. I grabbed the other two on my half of the turn and then he dumped his tokens back and let a skink (or KoW equivalent) unit grab them up and head for the board edge. It very nearly worked, but on turn five I was able to make a rear charge with the Krudger and grab the tokes back. So that one went from a close loss to a complete win in the space of one turn. If I'd failed to rout the skinks, they run off the table edge on turn six. This one got my best game vote, which was a tough choice. I ended up giving this one the nod because it really game down to a single charge. I rout them, I win. I don't, and he wins.

Game six was my first game against an Undead army. I expected this one to go badly for me, but the units on my flanks out-punched the units on his flanks and my big horde in the middle out-punched his. He failed three consecutive rolls for Bane-Chant to attack one of my units with one of his. I got so disgusted that I used one of my re-rolls to make him re-roll one of his dice on the third one, which he passed, letting him wipe out that unit. (Maybe too much altruism, but If he fails that again, the game gets even uglier and more lopsided than it ended up being in the end. As it was he had only his general and the scenario dragon left at the end of turn six, and I lost a unit of Gore Riders. No one got any bonus points.

So I got 26 battle points in four games on day one and 36 in two games on day two, for a total of 56. I'm pretty happy. I finished in 21st of 48 player, for the best big tournament finish yet.  I'm not sure, but I think this may be the first GT I've finished in the top half.  The big takeaway, now that I think about it, is that in six games, there was not a single unpainted model on the table. First time ever for a ft for me.

Now my big worry is getting more practice painting so I'll feel worthy of painting a beautiful model like Scecchus.

One Down...

Orc Boar Boyz Gore Riders

So my first multi-based unit for KoW is mostly done. I've got a couple more to go for Bayou Battles. I may, at some point, add shields to the ones who don't already have them. I may not. The guy with the shield in the center was intended to be a Krudger mounted on a winged slasher, but the spear didn't work with the mount, so he became part of a gore rider unit.

Krudger on a Winged Slasher

Still needs some work, but here he is, my Krudger on a Winged Slasher. He just looks like a Warboss on a red dragon.

Can't Leave Well Enough Alone.

I have the models to make a completely painted army for Bayou Battles without painting a single model. I really do. However that's not the army I want to play. I still want it to be orcs, with troll and savage/morax regiments as the bulk, but I want some cavalry, and not goblin cavalry, which means painting. And I really like how the krudger on the winged slasher played, so I need to paint that. And I need to finish up the war drum, because its pretty awesome too.

At least I can get into some looking multi-basing with the gore riders since the models I have don't rank up well at all.And you know, I've got enough savages to completely redo those units as well...

Wolf Riders

Here are the guys I started before our trip to Uganda. I'm running them as two squads of six with the intent of being chaff. After Bayou Battles, I'll likely add command to flesh them out at fifteen total.

 

Today's background noise started with the 1974 Three Musketeers, followed by The Quiet Man,  and finished with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've seen all three enough that I don't need to see the screen, except when the good parts come up, like the epic fifteen minute brawl at the end of The Quiet Man. Tonight's painting beverage was pink gin & tonics. I never cared for neither gin nor tonic, but while in Africa I learned that combining them with a little lime and aromatic biters makes a tasty beverage.

Mangler Squigs

Here we have the first mangler I made after a bit of priming. I didn't like how the feet came out, so i broke them off at the arches and redid them with greenstuff. I added what I intended to be gore dripping from its mouth with greenstuff as well.

This was the second one, Like the first, the main body is sculpey with the eyes and front parts of the feet are green stuff. Rather than having Empire milita soldier bits hanging from its mouth, I used skaven bits to have one trying to escape.

Here we have the beasties with some paint on them. 

I gave up on the its of gore dripping from their mouths. They looked more like tumors hanging off the lips than gore. Maybe if the squigs weren't red it would have looked better. The process was fun, but my sculpting skills need work. 

Goodbye old friends

I traded my tomb kings, over 3000 points painted, for a crap ton of orcs and goblins. Most are unpainted, some base coated, some finished, and one or two looking really nice. All those will go into the Simple Green. The only one that won't is the Arachnarok that I haven't gotten  yet. The original owner is having it painted. I can't bring myself to strip it if he's actually paid someone to paint it. If I take one to tournaments, I'll just use the one I have.

So now all I need for my Bayou Battles army is a second mangler squig. The first one is molded, baked, and has bits of greenstuff curing on him. I need more sculpey to make another. Making the mangler squig has me looking at how I can sculpt things for other models as well. For example, I used a scrap of the sculpey from making the MS to make a rock for a savage shaman to perch on because the model won't rank up otherwise.

I also learned something yesterday. When the carport is to full of cars, and other stuff, and you want to base coat models, DO NOT take them out into the alley and put the tray on the recycling bin. The wind will kick up and blow the tray and wet models into the dirt. So yeah, the goblin wolf riders went into the Simple Green.

I may have enough black orcs now to run the Black Orc Bock list at Alamo this year. I thought I had enough mounted units to do a cavalry based army, but I don't have enough spider or wolf riders to make the minimum core.

Getting Squiggy With It!

With the TKs on the way out the door, I'm taking a look at the Orcs and Gobbos. One model that's been missing from my waugh has been the mangler squig. The problem has always been the cost, not the points, the dollars. The models way to expensive for what it is. So what does a cheapskate do? HE makes his own.

A trip to the hobby store and we are on our way!

I started with a small block of Sculpey III. I went with white. No reason. I ripped off half of the block to form the body.

The body takes initial shape. This part was going EASY! I am the master!

The face begins to take shape. It turns out that teeth are hard to sculpt, so maybe I'm not quite the master.

Another 1/4 of the block plus a little and the legs begin to take shape. While legs are easier than teeth, neither are easy. 

90 minutes in the oven at 230 degrees (F) plus letting it cool overnight. Turns out the sculpey only truly hardens all the way after it's cooled. I added some bits for silliness and now he's ready for green stuff. to fill in some gaps and smooth out some bits. 60mm bases are on the way as well. Things are looking squiggy.

It is quite an honor, but...

Last weekend my Orc army took the prize for "Best Army" at a local WFB tournament. I appreciate the honor, the prize support, and the people who appreciate the seemingly endless hours I put into painting, basing, modeling, and converting.

The downer is that in my opinion, it was only the fourth best army there that day. Of the three armies I rate as better than mine, one won overall, so can't win best army, and the other two were either bought fully painted or painted via commission.

So the prize support went to a new army I'm working on, and while I understand fully that my paint needs work, I appreciate the reward for showing up fully painted, painting every last model myself, and not simply being satisfied with "tabletop standard." The satisfaction of looking at my army and knowing it's my own work is awesome. A little appreciation for it helps too.

Back from the Bayou

So my return to the Houston gaming scene was not a rousing victory, but I had a great time. The hotel was pricy, but more than welcoming to the group.

I ended up 63rd out of 78 or so, which was worse than I hoped but about what I expected.

Game 1 - Jeff G.'s Daemons of Chaos
Skulltaker on a Juggernaught
Herald of Nurgle on a Palanquin
39 Pink Horrors
48 Plaguebearers
Herald of Tzeench
5 Flamers
5 Furies (x3)
5 Blood crushers.

Not a good day to be an orc.

I deployed poorly, my doom diva blew itself up on the first shot, and Jeff outplayed me. It's been over a week, so I don't remember how, but between Skultaker and the blood crushers, I didn't hae much to stand up to them. He methodically killed my units by defeating them in HTH, making them run, and running them down.

Game 2 - Chuck W.'s Warriors of Chaos

Chaos Lord on a Juggernaught
Exalted Hero on a chaos steed
Sorcerer on a Palanquin
36 Chaos Marauders
21 Chaos Warrios
16 Chaos Knights
Warshrine (X2)

This game looked to be going well, but I foolishly took the bait when one of his units ran around behind me and turned to face it rather than charging the unit fighting my trolls. That cost me the game. His knights, combined with the hero and CL decimated the trolls while the marauders and the Savages face off for a long time. He killed almost everything, leaving the general and the giant. I killed the warriors and that's about it. Up until turn four, it was looking good for me, but I lost two combats, rolled bad, and the chain reactions started. (I think Chuck wins no matter if I make those rolls, but it might have been closer.)

Game 3 - Devin van Damme's Dwarves
Dwarf Lord
Runesmith
Thane
30 Dwarf Warriors
12 Thunderers (x2)
28 Hammerers
20 Slayers
Flame Cannon
Grudge thrower
Organ Gun
Gyro Copter

Trade out the slayers for another cannon and this is very much like the list I learned to play against. It wasn't a fun day for the dwarves.  Like me, Devin is newish to fantasy and mare tactical mistakes.  I got turn one and move my trolls directly at the slayers lined up across them and killed a few thunderers with  the doom diva.

Devin forgot to shoot the flaming cannon at the trolls until the end of shooting, leaving them lots of regen before that point. He killed a troll and a orc boy in his shooting phase.

I got the trolls into the slayers in turn two, in turn three they killed the last slayer and overran into some thunderers, and then into the organ gun in the next combat. Then, wonder of wonders, they made back to back leadership tests to not overrun and get back into the main fight.

On the other side, my black orc stood up face to face with his hammerers and the unit champ survived along with my general and BSB. What killed the hammerers was getting the block of boys, the trolls and the savages, who'd just killed the warriors.

We called the game after turn four, because we agreed I would never catch his gyrocopter or the 8 remaining thunderers who'd hightailed it for my side, and I had several units positioned to charge his remaining artillery with two full turns to do it.

I lost a few trolls, a most of my black orcs, my giant, and my nightgoblin shaman who'd miscast and sucked himself into the warp.

I finished day one 1-2.


Game 4 was against Ryan G's Imperial
Archlector on a war alter
Lvl 4 battle wizard - light
Lvl 1 battle wizard -light (x2)
CaptainBSB
Master Engineer (x2)
50 Halbereers FC
5 Detachemt FC (x2)
30 Crossbowmen
5 Detachemt FC (x2)
Great Cannon (x2)
Hell Blaster (x2)
8 Reiksguard knights

Points didn't count for this one, only saving the three women at the centerline of the board. I foolishly chose to ignore one and go for two. I kept the one on the left side, didn't challenge for the one on the rights, and the main battle was fought for the one in the center. My plan was sound until I finally lost a combat after sizing her. I needed a 10 or less on leadership, and rolled an 11, then 12 on the reroll. We called the game then, because he was going to to take her out of my range on his turn and the remaining turn wouldn't be enough for me to get her back since my closest units were either facing the wrong way or failing stupidity checks.

Straight up fight? I think I could take this one, but I failed every single leadership test for the last two full turns.

I did make the Reiksguard Knights a non-factor by keeping my trolls between them and the fight.


Game 5 Mike S.'s Skaven
Can't say what he had in his army since he didn't give me a copy of his list, but it involved a pile of plaguemonks, several slave hordes, a couple of warrior hordes, and an elite horde of some kind, plus big cannon thing, a big horror looking thing, and a doom wheel.

My giant tripped stepping over a wall and got mashed by the doom wheel, which in turn got run off my the savages. The trolls and the other units mauled all of his units except the plague monks, a warrior unit, and the horror thing. Hs characters were in the units not mauled, except his general which was with the elite unit running away. We had to stop at turn four because of time. I'd killed the doomwheel, the cannon, the rats, all of the slaves, and a warrior unit. He killed the black orks, the giant, my doom diva, and my BSB. He won, 1000 to 600. Seems I killed all the cheap shit. The units running, all within five inches of the table edges were worth another 500 points and change. Had we played out the game (or even another turn), I win. Had I known the relative value of skaven units, I win. Oops. Chalk it up to experience.

I did respectable in all categories except battle points. I managed 42 (out of 100 possible) battle points,  16 for painting, 12 for comp, 53 for sportsmanship, and the 10 on time points.

I did win a box of ghouls in the raffle, though. Defintily planning on going to more GTs, especially Alamo, since it's local, and BB13 next year.

Bayou Battles - Houston

So this is my Orc army for the Bayou Battles Indy GT in Houston. Blocks of savage orcs, black orcs, orcs, trolls, a giant and a doom diva catapult.