As usually happens, I lose interest in building and painting minis, then I go to a tournament, be it six players or 60, and suddenly I'm all fired up. In the past, it's always been seeing all the fantastic, armies that other players bring. Even at the local tournaments, some beautiful armies show up and make me want to improve my own.
Last weekend there was a local tournament with only six players, and only one fully painted army. Two of the three armies I played had little to no paint at all. I even broke my own personal rule of not putting unpainted models on the table because I wanted to see how the winged slasher worked out in play.
It took me until today to realize why I suddenly felt so enthused. It was the game itself. I started seeing places I could improve my army that I already have the models for; they just need painting. I then realized I have the models for a rather large orc army, a significant elf army, and also a decent sized goblin army. They all need painting. So much painting to do.
What started as, "All I need for Bayou Battles is to finish up the dragon and the war drum, became, "Well, I could use my black orcs as a greatax regiment, but some of them have shields and some have two weapons, but I have more black orcs with two handed weapons to replace those, they just need painting." It then became, "You know, I probably have enough two-hand black orcs to just replace the unit, and then I could multi-base them and that could look really cool."
As for the tournament itself, taking third out of six was fun. I rarely finish in the top half of these things. Knowing the tiebreaker for second came down to the 210 point head to head loss in round one was nice to know. What was great was knowing how close my games all were. A 210 point loss, a 500 point win, and a game that on paper looks like it was a blowout win for me actually turned in my favor on the last throw of the dice in the bottom of turn seven where I had to roll nine or more to get the win and rolled exactly nine on the both first roll and the re-roll.
The point is not that I played well and won two of three. The point was that each game was fun and while one game turned on a single die roll, in reality, the biggest factor in each game was decisions I or my opponents made. In that final game, I don't crush his flank if he doesn't make a mistake in allowing my trolls to flank one of his units in turn two. If I don't make a similar mistake in turn five, I win the game without needing a crazy die roll at the end.
What it comes down to is that win or lose, I like this game. So far, I have felt out of my depth against certain players who are simply better at the game than me, but I haven't felt like I have won or lost a game due to special rules or one army simply being over-powered or under-powered compared to the rest of the armies.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
A mild bit of inspiration...
So there's a KOW event at a nearby shop this weekend. I have enough models to bring a fully painted Orc and Goblin army, but of course there are some models I want to play that are not painted. I'm limiting myself to only two models to get done by Saturday. Should be easy, right?
Well one of them is an orc general on a black dragon and the other is a kit-bashed war drum made from a skaven war machine of some kind.
No photos yet but I did get them based last night.
Note to those with an airbrush: when cleaning your airbrush, don't set the compressor on the bathroom counter. It will vibrate right the hell off the counter. The compressor is fine, but the moisture trap and regulator need to be replaced
Well one of them is an orc general on a black dragon and the other is a kit-bashed war drum made from a skaven war machine of some kind.
No photos yet but I did get them based last night.
Note to those with an airbrush: when cleaning your airbrush, don't set the compressor on the bathroom counter. It will vibrate right the hell off the counter. The compressor is fine, but the moisture trap and regulator need to be replaced
Sunday, November 8, 2015
R.I.P. WFB
So Warhammer Fantasy Battles is dead as far as the American tournament circuit goes. I'll miss it. I'm disappointed I never got around to painting and fielding my White Lions, Savage Orc Boar Riders, and a number of other units I was planning on painting.
Alamo GT was an excellent event. There were some new twists on some scenarios, some new faces, and some faces apparently not seen for a while. I finished fairly low on the board with a 1-3-1 record. I should have won another, but I made a bad decision in game 4, and never really had a chance in games 2 and 3, though I later found that my opponent in game 3 fudged a few rules, one of which mad a major difference in the game. I'm going to assume it was an honest mistake.
Alamo GT was an excellent event. There were some new twists on some scenarios, some new faces, and some faces apparently not seen for a while. I finished fairly low on the board with a 1-3-1 record. I should have won another, but I made a bad decision in game 4, and never really had a chance in games 2 and 3, though I later found that my opponent in game 3 fudged a few rules, one of which mad a major difference in the game. I'm going to assume it was an honest mistake.
Monday, August 24, 2015
On Kings of War
Went to the big KoW bash at Tabletop this weekend and got in a couple of games. One was at 1000 points and one was a team up with 2000 points to a side (1000 each).
1) Wow. It's an easy system to play. The rules are simple and straight forward.
2) Movement is important. With only the chargers attacking, being the one who charges is vital.
3) Flanks and rear charges are right the hell nasty. With double or triple attacks, a horde of trolls deals our 36 or 54 attacks. On Saturday, I used a rear charge from a five elf unit of cavalry to rout a horde of beast-men with a rear charge.
4) While there are special rules, there seems to be no dominant special rule that negates whole armies.
5) As usual, I need to paint more. While I can throw down about 3000 points of painted elves in WFB, I can only get about 1500 in KoW. With orcs and goblins, I've got about 3500 points painted, but only about 1000 each in KoW as they are separate armies. With the allies rule, I can use some of one in the other, but only a quarter of the total.
Oh well. Back to the table.
1) Wow. It's an easy system to play. The rules are simple and straight forward.
2) Movement is important. With only the chargers attacking, being the one who charges is vital.
3) Flanks and rear charges are right the hell nasty. With double or triple attacks, a horde of trolls deals our 36 or 54 attacks. On Saturday, I used a rear charge from a five elf unit of cavalry to rout a horde of beast-men with a rear charge.
4) While there are special rules, there seems to be no dominant special rule that negates whole armies.
5) As usual, I need to paint more. While I can throw down about 3000 points of painted elves in WFB, I can only get about 1500 in KoW. With orcs and goblins, I've got about 3500 points painted, but only about 1000 each in KoW as they are separate armies. With the allies rule, I can use some of one in the other, but only a quarter of the total.
Oh well. Back to the table.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Hard Army, Soft General
I'd hoped to beat my previous performances at BB, with a total of 3 wins in 15 games, but it was not to be.
Game one was a lopsided affair against an grey and black (some priming had been done) Dwarf army. He had three blocks of 20, a block of 40, and two gyros. His plan was to use vanguard to get across the board really quickly, but he forted up in one corner of the table. So I put my troops in he center and my war machines in the other corner and made him come to me.
Between shooting and mangler squigs, the blocks of 20 were no longer combat effective by the time they got close enough for me to charge. His block of 40 was down to about thirty, and were hard as nails, and managed to run things off from combat, but running off one of the three unit they were fighting was never enough, as they could never pursue.
Game two was against grey and black empire knights. six units of them. I simply couldn't keep up with them and was unable to stop them from going where they wanted when they wanted. He won by tying up my units in combat and taking out enough small stuff to get a win.
Game three was against a Dwarf list similar to game one, but it was cow themed and had a flying cow gyrocopter. It was awesome. I lost this game on deployment and a bad decision. I accepted a challenge from a named dwarf lord and lost my general, which made my trolls useless for three turns until they accidentally stumbled into combat. I'd also placed them to where they had to wait for space to clear to be useful. Even still this was a great game in that a few dice rolls at any point could have changed the course of the game and that my opponent was fairly determined that the game be fun for both parties.
Game four was a grey and black dark elf cavalry list and was a very movement dependent scenario. This game was going well until the final turn when part of the randomness of the scenario gave me one in the ear. We managed to finish the game because I loaned him some movement trays he had two in his entire army). VPs didn't matter, and the objectives moved. Right as I was about to grab the objectives with two units that he no longer had ways to deal with, both objectives randomly moved behind my troops so he could snatch them up with cavalry.
Game five was a beautifully painted Warriors of Chaos army that has killed me a couple of times before. The general was new, and I knew I'd need a good plan, good execution, and good dice to win. I had the first part. My one decent magic phase was turn six, when the game was essentially over. before that I got 4 or fewer dice each time. I also took a risk in double charging a unit of Skull crushers, hoping to wipe them out and blow through to the warriors. I left one with a wound and they charged me. In addition, I forgot about a flanking unit until it was too late. As it was, I lost the game on the last combat of turn six when he finally finished off my savages and the two heroes in it.
End result - 1-4 and a great time. I was (and am) annoyed that 3/5 of the armies I played were unpainted. Between the three of them, a total of one model was completed, and even it wasn't based.
I need to get better at playing, so I can play the more experienced opponents who have the painted armies.
Game one was a lopsided affair against an grey and black (some priming had been done) Dwarf army. He had three blocks of 20, a block of 40, and two gyros. His plan was to use vanguard to get across the board really quickly, but he forted up in one corner of the table. So I put my troops in he center and my war machines in the other corner and made him come to me.
Between shooting and mangler squigs, the blocks of 20 were no longer combat effective by the time they got close enough for me to charge. His block of 40 was down to about thirty, and were hard as nails, and managed to run things off from combat, but running off one of the three unit they were fighting was never enough, as they could never pursue.
Game two was against grey and black empire knights. six units of them. I simply couldn't keep up with them and was unable to stop them from going where they wanted when they wanted. He won by tying up my units in combat and taking out enough small stuff to get a win.
Game three was against a Dwarf list similar to game one, but it was cow themed and had a flying cow gyrocopter. It was awesome. I lost this game on deployment and a bad decision. I accepted a challenge from a named dwarf lord and lost my general, which made my trolls useless for three turns until they accidentally stumbled into combat. I'd also placed them to where they had to wait for space to clear to be useful. Even still this was a great game in that a few dice rolls at any point could have changed the course of the game and that my opponent was fairly determined that the game be fun for both parties.
Game four was a grey and black dark elf cavalry list and was a very movement dependent scenario. This game was going well until the final turn when part of the randomness of the scenario gave me one in the ear. We managed to finish the game because I loaned him some movement trays he had two in his entire army). VPs didn't matter, and the objectives moved. Right as I was about to grab the objectives with two units that he no longer had ways to deal with, both objectives randomly moved behind my troops so he could snatch them up with cavalry.
Game five was a beautifully painted Warriors of Chaos army that has killed me a couple of times before. The general was new, and I knew I'd need a good plan, good execution, and good dice to win. I had the first part. My one decent magic phase was turn six, when the game was essentially over. before that I got 4 or fewer dice each time. I also took a risk in double charging a unit of Skull crushers, hoping to wipe them out and blow through to the warriors. I left one with a wound and they charged me. In addition, I forgot about a flanking unit until it was too late. As it was, I lost the game on the last combat of turn six when he finally finished off my savages and the two heroes in it.
End result - 1-4 and a great time. I was (and am) annoyed that 3/5 of the armies I played were unpainted. Between the three of them, a total of one model was completed, and even it wasn't based.
I need to get better at playing, so I can play the more experienced opponents who have the painted armies.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Bayou Battles Report
Bayou Battles is in the books and once again, I took a savage beating. After a convincing win over a Dwarf army in round one, my orcs got their comeuppance again and again. Rounds two and four were against armies of small cavalry units, and I had no answer for them. Rounds three and five, I had possible answers, but bad deployment and bad decisions threw the games my opponents' way.
However, I took the opportunity to try out my recently inherited D40 and document the armies that caught my eye. Sadly, I know there are some armies I missed, like the cow/dwarf army from my game three and the ship-bound high elf army. There were also at least two beautiful tomb kings armies I missed and another wood elfe army I know of that's really nice.
If anyone recognizes an army and can put a name to it, please tell me so I can add a name. If it's yours and you don't want the photo up, let me know and I'll take it down.
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| My offering to Bayou Battles this year. |
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| Dwarfs - Andrew Heinrich |
Tom Dietzel's Orge Kingdoms Army
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| I'm not sure if he was going Dwarf or Chaos Dwarf, But I like the army. I don't know his name, but I see him at every event. |
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| Ogre Kingdoms - Jeff Franz |
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| Dwarfs - Tim Delmas |
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| Wood Elves |
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| Ogre Kingdoms - Ryan Smith Took second in Player's Choice and third in Best painted (Or maybe those were reversed.) |
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| Skaven - Jeremy Lamonte |
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| Daemons of Chaos (or Warriors maybe) - Scott Filgo |
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| Lizardmen (Yes they look like Spartans, but they're apparently lizardmen). |
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| Dwarks - Pete Reese. The blades on the gyros actually spin, and the barrels of the guns light up. |
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| Skaven |
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| Empire - Russell Helms Too second in Best Painted and third in Player's Choice. (If Ry'an's was wrong, then so is this one.) |
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| Warriors of Chaos - Chris Cole (Not his army, but he was playing it.) The was my round five loss. The game was lost on the last combat of round six. Excellent game. |
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| Ogre Kingdoms |
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| Orcs and Goblins (Apparently with some lore of undeatch) Matt Reisch |
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| Vampire Counts |
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| Dwarfs |
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| Daemons of Chaos - Jeff Swann The photo does not do the display justice, not that the photos do any of the armies justice. |
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| Warriors of Chaos |
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| Dwarfs - Julien Lesage |
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| Orcs and Goblins - Nate Culver |
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| Daemons of Chaos - Edward Oh - (Won Player's Choice and Best Painted) |
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| Daemons of Chaos - Chris Davis |
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| Dark Elves |
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| Skaven |
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| Skaven |
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| Chaos Dwarfs |
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
In the interest of tradition...
Bayou Battles is in four days, and as is tradition, I am going to be painting up to the last minute. I'd planned on having time to paint, but a last minute editing gig and a new job have vastly limited my painting time. (There was also some farting around done as well.)
So I had to prioritize. I'll save the siege crew for last, and if I don't get them done, my siege engines will be crewed by night goblins.
On the fun side, while we were in Africa earlier this summer (part of why I got less painting done than I hoped), I realized my Pentax box camera, while great for kayaking (it's waterproof), it is not ideal for what I want otherwise. My wife got a new 55-300 lens for her Nkion (D40), which left us with a 55-200 lens she would never use again. She also got AMAZING photos in Africa. Looking on Amazon, I found that a new D40X body could be had on the cheap. Long story short, what ended up happening was that she ordered herself an upgraded camera body and I inherited the D40.
While the Pentax is 10 MP and the D40 is only 6, I can already tell the difference in optics is pretty substantial.
Even if my army will not be as awesome as I want it to be, I hope to get some good photos of the armies at BB. If I do, I'll post them here.
So I had to prioritize. I'll save the siege crew for last, and if I don't get them done, my siege engines will be crewed by night goblins.
On the fun side, while we were in Africa earlier this summer (part of why I got less painting done than I hoped), I realized my Pentax box camera, while great for kayaking (it's waterproof), it is not ideal for what I want otherwise. My wife got a new 55-300 lens for her Nkion (D40), which left us with a 55-200 lens she would never use again. She also got AMAZING photos in Africa. Looking on Amazon, I found that a new D40X body could be had on the cheap. Long story short, what ended up happening was that she ordered herself an upgraded camera body and I inherited the D40.
While the Pentax is 10 MP and the D40 is only 6, I can already tell the difference in optics is pretty substantial.
Even if my army will not be as awesome as I want it to be, I hope to get some good photos of the armies at BB. If I do, I'll post them here.
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