Slann Mage-Priest Painting Part VI

I did more work on this guy too. Made quite a bit of progress actually. I picked all the various little critters crawling around on it, finished up the tiny leaves, and highlighted the scrawling branches with Vermin Brown. I then started working on the little skink dude. I wanted to emulate the way they had done him in the book. The sort of albino/bluish color but I apparently fail at working with whites and getting colors to blend that smoothly. I'm not very happy with him and he'll probably go through several more iterations before I'm done.

From Slann Mage-Priest I

From Slann Mage-Priest I

From Slann Mage-Priest I

From Slann Mage-Priest I

Really all that's left to do is get the horns to look the way I want them, figure out how I want to do the pieces that currently the dwarf bronze color, and finish off the little skink guy. Then I'll have my first completed model!

Cold One Cavalry Painting Part I

Rather than continue showing off models I'm not happy with, I thought I'd take a moment to share some of the models I've been working on that I am proud with. These guys need washes and highlighting still but here is the basic approach I'm going to be using for my Cold Ones.

From Cold One Cavalry

From Cold One Cavalry

From Cold One Cavalry

From Cold One Cavalry

From Cold One Cavalry

Skin was done in Gretchin Green and the scales were done in Orkhide Shade. I'm planning to highlight the scales with Hawk Turquoise.

Saurus Warrior Workshop

Here's where I'm at with my Saurus Warrior test model currently. Basecoated with Mechrite Red then did the skin in Blood Red and the scales in Scab Red. I'm going to experiment with some washes today and see how things turn out with that.

From Saurus Warriors

I think this gets me the contrast I need but I won't know how it will look until I experiment a little with some washes. I'm also wondering if Red Gore or Mechrite Red for the scales would have been a better as Scab Red is almost purpleish in color.

Temple Guard Workshop

Here are the samples I've been painting up to test some ideas for the temple guard.

This first one is basecoated Leviathan Purple and the scales were coated with Liche Purple.

From Drop Box

This one used Mechrite Red with the scales in Liche Purple. Experimenting a little with the idea from my previous post. I'm not sure I like it.

From Drop Box

On the other side of the previous model, I tried scales in Leviathan Purple (shoulder) as well as scales in Warlock Purple (leg).

From Drop Box

On this model I tried basecoating with Warlock Purple and scales in Liche Purple on the shoulder. On the leg I basecoated with Leviathan Purple and did the scales with Warlock Purple.

From Drop Box

What do people think of the different color schemes? Right now I'm thinking I'll scrap the red/purple combination I was thinking of and go with either the Leviathan Purple/Liche Purple combination of Leviathan Purple/Warlock Purple combination.

Saurus Painting Workshop

I've spent a good chunk of the day playing around with my Lizardmen some more and trying to figure out how to move forward with painting some of them. Mostly I've been basecoating several cold one cavalry and finetuning some minor details on my slann's palanquin.

The big things I've been playing around with though are these guys. My saurus warriors and my temple guard. Here is a sample of the work I had done on them previously that I'm not very happy with.

From Impact Hits

From Impact Hits

I actually really like the temple guard model but am disappointed with the way the skin/scales turned out. I want my temple guard to be purple in color to represent their elite almost royal role in Lizardmen society. To that end, I had painted them Liche Purple, washed them with Purple Ink, and then drybrushed them with Liche Purple again. The issue I have is there isn't enough of a difference between the skin and the scales for me to be happy. I want the scales to be the deep, vibrant purple with a lighter, similar shade for the skin. Trying to figure this out is where I'm failing though.

A test model I've been working with (unfortunately no picture due to dead camera) used Leviathan Purple as the basecoat. I then started picking out the scales in the Liche Purple. I'm not sure this is going to get me to the final effect that I want though. The Leviathan Purple contrasts with the Liche Purple extremely well but it's unfortunately a dull purple and not really what I'm looking for.

I've considered using the Warlock Purple instead of Leviathan Purple but I'm thinking I would rather have that as the drybrush highlight on the Liche Purple scales. I'm also thinking that would take it too far away from the royalty type colors I was hoping to achieve.

I am having the same problem with the normal Saurus warrior models. I wanted them to be red based (all of my Lizardmen species are a different color) and so my initial try (the ones seen above) were all basecoated in Scab Red and then washed with Badab Black. I love the way the scales looked afterwards but I'm not happy with the way the skin looks once again. I want a brighter red for the base of the lizardmen with the scales the darker color.

To this end I decided to start one of them from scratch and basecoated it with Mechrite Red. It's a very nice color but unfortunately is not bright enough to achieve what I wanted for the skin. I attempted to paint a basecoat of Blood Red onto the skin but began experiencing extreme difficulties getting an even coat on that looked uniform. It would appear that red is a very difficult color to work with. Would anyone have any ideas on a good way for me to get a basecoat of Blood Red on them or am I just going to have to layer it several times to get what I want? One solution I was thinking of was to just heavy drybrush the whole model with Blood Red and then darken up the scales from there to create the contrast. Any suggestions on what might work would be much appreciated.

One last thought that just occurred to me. To create a more uniform army look, maybe I could paint the temple guard with dark red skin and the purple scales and the saurus with bright red skin and the dark red scales. Show a transition of saurus to temple guard over time as the elder saurus warriors became more elite and their skin/scales darkened over time.

I will hopefully get an opportunity to take some pictures in the morning. When I get the chance, I'll toss up the pictures for everyone to see what I've been working with. If I can, I'll try to paint up a few rough test examples of what I'm thinking for everyone to take a look at and offer suggestions.

Weekend Painting Progress

I've been making a lot of painting progress this weekend. Unfortunately, my cell phone that I use for taking my pictures has died and since I'm not at home, I don't have a good way to charge it. I'll be posting pictures later this week of everything I've been doing but I thought I'd give an update.

The main thing I spent some time on was my Salamanders which I am pretty happy with. They're mostly finished, I just need to complete their eyes and then I might try to find a way to make their back fin and other "webbing" type parts stand out a little more. I'm unsure what I want to do with that so they will probably be stuck in limbo for a while until I decide.

I also decided to take another shot at my Saurus Warriors and Temple Guard since I decided I wasn't very happy with the way their scales were turning out. I didn't feel like the scales were standing out enough from the base color of their bodies so I took one of the saurus and started a new test model base coated with Mechrite Red and I took one of the Temple Guard and base coated it with Leviathan Purple. I'm going to try to build up from there and see if I can get a result I'm happier with.

I spent some time on my slann picking out the last of the leaves on the palanquin. Now I need to go back and highlight/wash them before I pick out the rest of the little critters riding around on it.

The thing I'm most happy about though are my Cold One Cavalry. I was inspired by one of the color schemes in the Lizardmen book and basecoated the entire cold one with Gretchin Green, did the scales in Orkhide Shade, and then drybrushed the scales with some Hawk Turquoise. It really looks fantastic. I'm going to need to experiment with washes some still to get the right shading I want but I am really excited about the way those test models are starting to come together.

The Bellower #3 Review

The Ogre Stronghold recently released the latest issue of their webzine "The Bellower". You can check it out here. My Ogres are in a holding pattern for now while I wait for the new book rumored to be out some time next year. I don't have much interest in relearning Ogres for 8th edition when it will all be for naught soon enough and my play time is as limited as it has been recently but I still enjoy reading about them and day dreaming of a future in which I lead my hungry Ogre horde to dominion over the lesser races of the world.

This issue is chock full of awesome stuff. I wasn't a huge fan of the first two issues but this one really got me excited.

As far as Ogres go, they have a really nice guide to all of the magic items. They break them down in much the same way I've been doing for Lizardmen and a lot of the advice they give is very useful. They even have their own ratings system to let you know how good each item is.

My favorite part though has got to be the Blood Bowl section. One of their authors converted a Goblin team out of Gnoblars and offers lots of tactical advice on how to win with them. I don't play much Blood Bowl and know very little about tactics but I sure love the idea of a bunch of Gnoblar running around the field!

Some of the sections are a little too fluffy for my taste (like Ask Aunty Doreen) but its worth skipping those pages for the meatier articles. If you've never checked out the Bellower before, now's a good time to take a look.

Krielstone Bearers Assembly

I haven't completely assembled these because it occurred to me that attaching the stone to the Krielstone Bearer would make it difficult to paint the stone. I am considering trying to do glowing glyphs for the stone and if I'm going to do that, I'll need to paint the stone before attachment. So for now, I'm going to have to field the unit not completed.

From Krielstone Bearers

From Krielstone Bearers

From Krielstone Bearers

I ran into some minor difficulties shortly after these pictures were taken. I tried to use my clippers to tweak the models so they would fit the slots in their bases more firmly. Unfortunately, the bearer himself has a very weak joint connection in his left foot and I snapped it off at the ankle trying to twist the slotting piece. I had to file it back down and re-glue it. Unfortunately its such a small joint that there isn't much surface area for holding it together and there isn't enough space to try to pin it. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep the model from falling apart in the future.

Pyg Burrowers Assembly

These guys didn't require much assembly. All but the leader were one piece models. I attached the arm to the leader and then twisted their slots slightly so that they'd stick in the bases without glue. I'm not sure how I'm going to base everything in the long run so I don't want to glue them in permanently.

From Pyg Burrowers

From Pyg Burrowers

From Pyg Burrowers

I absolutely love the character of these models and from what I've read online, they can also be quite devastating on the battlefield when comboed properly. Very eager to take them for a test run.

Borka Kegslayer Assembly

Got my second warlock assembled! I'm looking forward to trying him out and seeing how he does. I've been really excited about this guy and can't wait to see him in action.

From Borka Kegslayer

I ended up pinning his hands on because it wasn't the strongest connection. The rest of the model fit together really well and I was quite impressed. After this picture was taken I used some green stuff to fill in the base and stick the peg on his left foot through it. It should hopefully create a much sturdier grip.

Stone Scribe Chronicler Assembly

During my first day of recovery, I've been slowly but surely assembling my recent Trollbloods order. Progress has been slow due to my regular need for breaks to rinse etc. but I have been making progress. Thus far I have most of the new models in various states of assembly. I've washed all the pieces and trimmed off excess mold lines. I even busted out some green stuff to fill in some gaps which you'll see when those pieces are completed.

For now, here's the finished Stone Scribe Chronicler.

From Stone Scribe Chronicler 1

I was actually really disappointed when I realized this wasn't the model I thought it was. I had meant to order myself a Stone Scribe Elder and ordered this guy instead. Whoops. I guess I know what's going in my next order!

August Competition Results

We have the results from our August Competition!

I managed to win painting and come close/compete in all of the other categories.

Asmo beat me out in blogging (just barely). He had some really good articles this past month. If you're interested in Hordes, I highly recommend checking out his Skorne articles. He also finished a really nice series of articles about Dark Elves in 8th edition.

Rob managed to take the construction point. He put together a ton of new Khador stuff and really earned this one. I'd love to see some pictures of it all. How about a blog update Rob?

Frans won playing again with a whopping 10 8th edition games at varying point levels. If only he would write up some battle reports we could all read about them!

This brings the current totals to:
Minute (2)
Asmo (2)
Frans (2)
BK (1)
Rob (1)
Nathan (0)

You can see a summary of what everyone did here.

This was the first month that we had with some real competition. Several of the categories were close and it brought out what is in my mind a slight problem with the scoring system. The goal of the competition is to encourage people to devote time to all aspects of the hobby. However, by only giving points to the winner, we have created a situation in which it is far better to specialize each month than it is to devote equal time to all aspects.

I'm hoping to start a new competition for the 2011 year when this competition is up and I'm proposing the following changes to the scoring system. Every category you don't participate in is -1 points. For every category you win, you get 3 points. For every category you contest the first place winner in, you get 1 point. What do the other competitors think of this new scoring system for future competitions?

Blog Shout Out

I wanted to take some time to draw your attention to some of the blogs I've been enjoying recently.

Trollblood Scrumm:
This is a really fantastic site for everything Trollbloods. Great tactical advice etc. It's given me a lot of ideas and gotten me really excited to expand my collection.

Dei Greci:
Wow. This guy custom builds everything and it is all amazing. I wish I had half the talent he does.

Kevin's Miniatures and Hobby Table:
Kevin has painted a lot of Lizardmen lately and I've been tracking his progress and collecting ideas for my own work. I really like how some of his stuff has turned out. Particularly the stegadon and his kroxigors.

Manic Workbench:
This guy has been moulding his own custom lost temple bases and they look fantastic. I'm starting to think I may need to give moulding my own stuff a shot some day.

One Inch Warriors:
Great lizardmen paint jobs here. I love seeing how people paint their lizardmen and its been a source of inspiration and even some small amounts of jealousy!

N810's Lizardmen Blog:
More cool lizardmen minis.

Son of Slann
I'm also a fan of the Lizardmen stuff here. Really inspiring.

Drinkin' and Modelin':
This is where I go to satisfy my Ogre Kingdoms fetish.

I'd also like to give one final shout out to The Trading Post. It's a very nice site that compiles information from the various Warhammer Fantasy blogs/communities together for easy discovery. I support any efforts to build a better community and appreciate someone taking the time to do this work.

Lizardmen in 8th Edition: Lore of Beasts

Right about now I will either be in or just getting out of my wisdom teeth surgery I am unfortunately having to undergo. However, I prepared a handful of posts ahead of time to keep you, my loyal readers, entertained. After today though I'll be taking some time to relax, recover, and work on some minis so there may not be any updates for a while depending on how I'm feeling.

Wildheart (Lore Attribute):
Pretty cool attribute that makes the spells easier to cast against everything that isn't Infantry.

Wyssan's Wildform (Signature Spell):
Pretty cool spell. I wish you could 12" AOE it like the other augment spells in this line. As it is, it's the most universally useful spell in this list. It'll work well with all of your units. It will even make rank and file skinks into something to be feared. I like the idea of pairing this with Cold One Cavalry myself to give them some extra punch and defense. T5 with a 2+ armor save is nothing to sneeze at. They'll even be S6 on the charge. Toss a scar veteran or oldblood in with the unit and cast Savage Beast for even more ridiculous devastation.

The Flock of Doom (1):
I think this is a terrible spell. 2D6 Strength 2 hits means you're getting on average less than 2 wounds per roll of the spell against a lot of units. It's dirt cheap though and slann can get a free power dice per attempt so if you've got a spare die, there's really no reason not to cast it.

Pann's Impenetrable Pelt (2):
Cool spell that will help keep your characters alive. I'm not sure how often you'll cast it though but I could see it being partnered with other spells in this lore to send a nasty character to take on a monster by himself.

The Amber Spear (3):
I actually like this. It gives you a great tool against monstrous creatures. Nice range and the upgraded version is fantastic if you can hit a unit of monstrous infantry on a flank. Unfortunately a slann in a temple guard bunker is not too likely to get such a flank shot.

The Curse of Anraheir (4):
Fun spell especially if you end up with lots of terrain on the board. Noone is going to want to enter any terrain with this on them (hills too!) and if they are already in terrain, they certainly won't be moving them that turn. It's also a nice penalty to shooting and combat units.

The Savage Beast of Horros (5):
I think this is a fantastic spell. It makes any character instantly awesome at combat including even the lowly skink chief. The boosted version of this spell to make all nearby characters fantastic is also great. There's no need to make your characters killy if you can just rely on this spell to do it for you. I also love the idea of a skink chief with stegadon warspear that has this spell. 6 Strength 9 attacks (10 if you synergize with Wildform) and 2D6+2 strength 6 impact hits? Yes please. The downside is you

Transformation of Kadon (6):
Very cool spell. Slann can't use it (see the Lizardmen FAQ) so it doesn't really matter how good it is.

Other Lizardmen Thoughts:
I don't really like it for Lizardmen. I think it'd be fun to make a list built around it with a mobile slann and a bunch of cheap scar veterans or even skink chiefs to do some serious damage. I think it'd be a fun list to break out every once in a while for a fun game but I don't see it as being overly competitive. The real problem I have with this lore is that it is great for enabling your characters to take on things they can't beat normally but you have to commit your characters in the movement phase and then have no guarantee you get the specific spells you need off. If Pann's Impenetrable Pelt and The Savage Beast of Horros could effect the entire unit, I'd be all over this lore.

Trollbloods vs. Cygnar 8/28/10

I also had a chance to play my first game against a Warmachine faction this last Saturday. I took my Trollbloods warpack against Nathan's Cygnar battle group.

This was a pretty straightforward game with unfortunately few pictures. The map we set on had a river with a bridge for crossing. I used my axer's animus on the impalers to send them through the river to either side of the bridge and moved the axer across the bridge with Madrak behind. Unfortunately, Nathan had some really good dice going for him and in two rounds of shooting, he managed to knock out one of my flanking Impalers before he could really do anything and charge the other impaler with his heavy jack.

On my turn, my last Impaler did manage to put a severe beating on the heavy jack and cripple his Quake Hammer (I think that's what it was called). And my axer charged a wall that his shooting jack was behind but promptly whiffed on his attack rolls.

In his next two turns, Nathan finished off the impaler and moved his heavy jack into combat with Madrak. He also managed put a severe beating on the axer. I made one last valiant effort to get Madrak into combat with Nathan's caster but whiffed all of my attacks and then conceded the game. Nathan was well on his way to slaughtering me to a man.

Trollbloods vs. Legion 8/28/10

I played my first game against Rob and his Legion warpack. He took the warpack and I took a modified list consisting of pMadrak, 3 Trollkin Champions, and two Impalers.

We set up the board.

From Hordes 2010-08-28

And then deployed.

From Hordes 2010-08-28

I had the first turn and had no choice but to advance.

From Hordes 2010-08-28

Rob moved his stuff up and into the forest. I quickly realized that Eyeless Sight and that forest in his deployment zone were going to be major pains. On my turn I rearranged my guys and advanced a little more. One of my Impalers critical smited one of his many Shredders knocking it back out of the forest by 5 inches.

On his second turn, Rob began his assault shooting with both Lylyth and the Carnivean to kill one of my Champions. Then it was my turn to try and get even.

From Hordes 2010-08-28

I moved my Impalers to the flanks and took shots at another Shredder and the Carnivean. I managed to critical smite the Carnivean and knocked him down. On his turn, Rob sent one of the Shredders in to tie up two of my Champions and used Lylyth's shooting to knock out another Champion.

From Hordes 2010-08-28

He then had his Carnivean charge one of my impalers where it promptly demolished it.

From Hordes 2010-08-28

On my turn I had Madrak take potshots at the Carnivean, the two champions kill the Shredder, and the remaining Impaler advance and also take a shot at the Carnivean. I missed with the Impaler and hit with Madrak but didn't do a whole lot of damage. I had my last Trollkin Champion charge the Carnivean and do quite a bit of damage to him but it was unfortunately not enough to have any lasting impact.

On his turn, Rob had Lylyth shoot at and kill the champion in combat with the Carnivean and then moved the Carnivean into combat with Madrak. At this point it was all over.

From Hordes 2010-08-28

It's a real shame the Trollbloods Warpack and the Legion Warpack are so different points-wise as I would have really liked to have been able to take my axer against Rob but the points just didn't work with the models I have.

Lizardmen in 8th Edition: Magic Weapons

Taking a quick break from the magic lores to spice things up a little bit.

Blade of Realities:
This is a fun item with all sorts of uses. Put it on an oldblood and watch your opponent sweat. It is actually less good in 8th edition now that a BSB can let you reroll all failed leadership tests.

Blade of Revered Tzunki:
You can only give this to an Oldblood for 6 strength but for 5 points less you can give him the Giant Blade that has the same end result.

Giant Blade:
This is probably a little over kill on a guy who is already strength 5. Strength 8 is nice if you know you're going to be facing monsters. I'm not sure you need that much strength in general though.

Sword of Bloodshed:
Excellent weapon. Scimitar of the Sun Resplendent was a 7th edition favorite of mine and for just 10 more points you can give your Oldblood an extra attack. Pair this with maiming shield and enjoy a whopping 9 attacks. Add the Potion of Foolhardiness and enjoy a breathtaking 10 S6 attacks on the charge.

Obsidian Blade:
Not really worth it. I'm not a fan of negating armour saves unless it comes from strength.

Scimitar of the Sun Resplendent:
A 7th edition staple made obsolete by the Sword of Strife.

Stegadon War-spear:
Fun item. I don't know that it's good but you can guarantee that stegadon is going to mess up whatever it charges.

Ogre Blade:
You probably don't need much more strength than this so I recommend it over the Giant Blade. It is too pricey for skink chief or scar veteran and there are better options for an oldblood.

Sword Of Strife:
Scimitar of the Sun Resplendent but cheaper. Nice item when you want to get some defense on your oldblood or want a killy scar veteran.

Fencer's Blades:
This is more of a defensive item than an offensive item and there are better defensive items out there. I don't really like it much. Though I do find the idea of pairing this up with Glittering Scales and Aura of Quetzl to make a virtually unhittable character very humorous.

Staff of the Lost Sun:
I could see it being useful on a Skink Chief in a unit of Terradon riders but it would make the unit a little too expensive for how fragile it is. Very situational and opponent dependent. Putting him in a unit of skirmishers would be throwing him away.

Piranha Blade:
It has some uses but I personally wouldn't take it. There are more versatile options out there and you have better ways of dealing with nasty monsters.

Sword of Anti-Heroes:
I don't really see a situation where this buys you much. At best you're going to get +1 strength, +1 attack out of it but only when fighting characters. It gets you nothing against monsters or elite units.

Spellthieving Sword:
I would never take it. If you're hitting a spellcaster, you're probably killing him. There are of course exceptions worth considering (daemons, warriors, vampire counts, etc.).

Sword of Swift Slaying:
If you want to attack first, take the Lore of Light on a slann. It'll go much further. There are much better items.

Dagger of Sotek:
I don't see many reasons to take a Skink Chief let alone equip him with this.

Sword of the Hornet:
Exact same as the Sword of Swift Slaying above.

Sword of Battle:
Very basic. Good for a cheap magic weapon.

Berserker Sword:
Makes a unit immune to psychology. You're lizardmen so you aren't really worried about psychology though.

Sword of Might:
Very basic. Good for a cheap magic weapon.

Burning Blade of Chotec:
I like this. Gives a cheap hero a way to deal with regen and armour. Toss on something like a cheap scar veteran and stick him in an infantry unit. Gives bonuses for assaulting buildings and dealing with cavalry/war beasts for an extra perk.

Gold Sigil Sword:
Much like the Sword of Swift Slaying, there are better ways to strike first if you want to.

Sword of Striking:
Let's you hit on 2s instead of 3s. Nothing really special though synergy with lore of light for I10 and ASF is fun to think about.

Biting Blade:
Ewwww.

Relic Sword:
You're already doing this unless you're beating on a steam tank or you're a skink chief. Not much point.

Shrieking Blade:
Fear isn't that fantastic any more and there are other ways to get it. Take a real weapon.

Tormentor Sword:
If you're beating on a guy, he's already in combat and this isn't going to do much unless he kills you.

Warrior Bane:
What I said for Tormentor Sword.

There's a lot of cool items to pick from and I'd love to try some of them out. You can make some truly terrifying Oldbloods with these. Unfortunately, I love my slann and rarely get to try some of the awesome weapons as a result. My biggest Fantasy regret might be not getting a chance to try out Blade of Realities under 7th edition! Though I can't wait to field a Sword of Bloodshed Oldblood some time.

August Competition Progress

Update for the month of August. I've taken part in all major categories this month but there's only a few that I think I have a shot at. For details on the competition, see here.

Blogging:
I did a lot of blogging this month. It was easily my biggest month. I increased traffic by over 1,500% and hit a new high of 149 visits.

Modeling:
I assembled my first order of Trollbloods. This included the Trollbloods Warpack, a Trollkin Champions unit, and a Dire Troll Bomber. I also tackled pinning for the first time.

Painting:
Slann Mage-Priest
http://impact-hits.blogspot.com/2010/08/slann-mage-priest-painting-part-iv.html
http://impact-hits.blogspot.com/2010/08/slann-mage-priest-painting-part-v.html

Salamanders
http://impact-hits.blogspot.com/2010/08/salamander-painting-part-i.html

Engine of the Gods
http://impact-hits.blogspot.com/2010/08/return-of-stegadon.html

Playing:
I played a 10 point game of Hordes and three 15 point games during my lunch breaks against Asmo. I played a 2500 point game of Warhammer Fantasy (Lizardmen vs. Skaven) with The Vermin Lord. I also played two additional games of Hordes against Rob and Nathan.

Salamander Painting Part I

I spent some time painting my salamanders and watching Bones on Netflix Instant Queue yesterday. Fantastic show.

Anyways, I made quite a bit of progress. I coated the models with Macharius Solar Orange then washed them over with Baal Red. I then picked out all of the scales with Chaos Black and rewashed the scales with Baal Red.

From Salamanders

From Salamanders

I'm planning to go through and highlight the scales with some sort of grey. I haven't decided what kind yet but I'll probably do some experimentation. I'm also planning to highlight the skin with Blazing Orange and possibly some form of yellow.

Hordes Battle Report 8/26/10

Asmo and I played our third game of Hordes during lunch and I finally beat him. Pretty soundly too I might add. Suck it Asmo! =P

He'll probably slaughter me several times this week to make up for that last comment.

He's been writing a series of articles analyzing the troops he's been taking from the perspective of a long time Warmachine player. It's good stuff, I highly recommend checking it out. You can also check out his version of our game on 8/24/10.

So anyways, we played 15 points again. He took the same list as last time but swapped Morghoul out for Makeda. So he ended up with 2 Cyclops Savages, a Titan Gladiator, Makeda, and 4 Paingivers. I took pMadrak, 5 Trollkin Champions, an axer, and an impaler.

I've started to get a hang of how to play pMadrak a little more. We tossed down random stuff on the table again and after my previous games, I've realized that I need to wait for him to come to me. There's no real need for me to rush him. So I turtled up behind an impassable obstruction. I sent an impaler around the far side to take shots at the approaching Skorne foe. I stuck my Champions on the other side with the axer nearby for support and I hid pMadrak in between it all.

In the middle of the Skorne approach path was some rough terrain. Asmo sent each cyclops around a different side of it and Makeda and the Titan straight through. He tried to approach slowly to draw me out but I refused to bite. My impaler started taking potshots at one of his cyclops' and he finally caved and launched his attack. His titan charged into my champions and easily killed one but then got bogged down by the sheer amount of defensive power. His cyclops charged the impaler but failed to kill it.

On my turn, my champions and axer did some major damage to his titan. Those guys are nasty! and Madrak and the impaler took out the cyclops. He sent in his other cyclops to back up the titan but it was too late. Madrak and the impaler started taking shots at Makeda who tried to help the dying cyclops in combat. With most of his beasts dead, I moved in for the kill and finished him off.

I'm really eager to get my Krielstone Bearers assembled and try them out with Madrak. Even more defensive power will make his turtle shell even more difficult to break through.

More Minis

I have wisdom teeth surgery coming up next weekend so I placed another order for stuff to work on building over the weekend. I'm going to be on painkillers so I decided that spending my time painting was not going to be the best decision I could make.

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

From Trollblood Orders 2

I hope to have them all assembled and ready to join my games within a week!

Hordes Battle Report 8/24/10

So, real life has been hitting me hard this week and my blogging has lagged behind. Been extremely busy at work and home and also had to deal with a cold that took me out of commission several nights this week.

I'm feeling better now and have a lot of exciting hobby stuff coming up. I'll be getting a game of 8th edition in against The Vermin Lord this weekend as well as some games of WarmaHordes with Rob and Nathan and BK. I also should get some time to do some painting.

Anyways, Asmo and I have continued to play games of Hordes during our lunch breaks. I've been running with pMadrak and my warpack as the base and Morghoul's warpack as his. For our second game, we decided to up the points a little and I dropped an Impaler in favor of my Dire Troll Bomber. This brought me up to 15 points. Asmo added a unit of Paingivers to his warpack to bring it up to 14 points.

I played terribly. I had a shooting list with a caster not really designed for it against his close combat list. On my first turn, I moved my guys up to take shots but my impaler was short and I forgot to fire twice with my bomber. Instead of using cover to force him to come to me and take a beating from my guys, I left all of my guys exposed and watched as his Titan slammed my bomber, followed up, and killed him in a single round.

Luckily, he moved his cyclops and his titan out of Morghoul's control area which bought me a turn. He also forgot to pop his feat when he needed to. I did end up in combat with Morghoul but his high defense and my poor rolling resulted in very little damage taken. I conceded after it became clear that his titan was going to charge in and demolish madrak on the next turn.

You can check out Asmo's take on our previous game here.

New Poll

I tossed up a new poll on the right. This is your opportunity to let me know what type of content you're most interested in. If you get the chance, please cast your vote. It should be noted that you can vote for multiple items.

New Skaven Models Announced

Games Workshop has just put up some new Skaven models for advanced order. They will be released on September 18th.

They have announced a Skavenslaves Sling Upgrade Pack.

As well as a re-release of classic rat ogre models.

Maulerblades, Ironclaws, and Stitch Spikegouger.

I usually don't like the look of a lot of Games Workshop's classic models but I'm sort of digging the new rat ogres. It's a shame they aren't part of a plastic kit and I already have more rat ogres than I will ever need, especially after I purchase Island of Blood.

This post is a bit of an experiment. Are people interested in seeing more breaking news on here? Or should I stick to theoryhammer, modeling, painting, and battle report posts?

Lizardmen in 8th Edition: Lore of Death

This is another lore that seems to be receiving a lot of Internet praise. Unfortunately, it is not so great with Lizardmen.

Life Leeching (Lore Attribute):
Extra power dice is always fantastic. Your slann should already be generating an extra dice per spell so with this attribute and some judicious spellcasting, you should be able to have an amazing magic phase.

Spirit Leech (Signature Spell):
Assassination spells. Your slann's leadership actually makes this a decent choice. The extra range option on the spell also makes it quite functional.

Aspect of the Dreadknight (1):
Very nice spell to pair with Doom and Darkness. Use the assassination spells in this list to kill the enemy BSB, give your big saurus blocks fear or terror, then reduce your enemies leadership. Very nice combination that will really cause some damage if you can get it all off.

The Caress of Laniph (2):
Great character killing spell. The range severely limits its usability when taking an immobile slann unless you're willing to up the casting value for extra inches.

Soulblight (3):
This is a very nice spell. The ability to hit all enemy models with it is fantastic. Increases the survivability and killiness of your troops in close combat.

Doom and Darkness (4):
This might be the best spell in this lore. With the FAQ changes to Steadfast, this can be used to defeat Stubborn. Steadfast isn't so great when your leadership is only 5. Use this to break that critical unit in close combat or make sure that panic test fails. Also nice to pair this with Fear and Terror.

The Fate of Bjuna (5):
Another great spell with a fantastic chance to kill whatever you target. However, the short range severely limits its use. Your slann is going to be easy for your opponent to avoid. It's great if your opponent charges something big and nasty into your temple guard as you will get several turns to try this spell out. It's bad if you get tied up with cheap troops while the nasties destroy your flanks.

The Purple Sun of Xereus (6):
Fantastic spell. Not so great for Lizardmen. Your saurus are going to be obliterated by this spell and the only thing that can get it is a slann. If he's in a temple guard block and you misfire with this bad boy, you just lost the game. If he's by himself, he doesn't have the mobility to get to the enemy line and unleash this on them and is worth far too many points to risk on a suicide run.

Lizardmen Thoughts:
I covered a lot of these inline today. The major issue here is that slann's don't have the mobility that would be really nice with this spell. However, putting them in a temple guard unit means you don't necessarily need the mobility if you can get yourself into position. The other major downside is that the really nasty spell in this list has too much potential to destroy yourself. You'll probably never want to cast Purple Sun unless all else seems lost.

In the early turns of the game, I'd cast boosted Spirit Leech and Caress of Laniph in an attempt to wipe out the BSB and then the general (in that order). Once that's handled you can direct your focus towards nasty monsters. With the BSB and general gone, start getting fear/terror on your critical units and Doom and Darkness and Soulblight on your opponent's critical units. At this point, you get to watch his line start to crumble.

This isn't a terrible lore for Lizardmen and it isn't a fantastic lore either. I think there's a lot of potential here for some interesting list builds (particularly ones that go fear/terror heavy) but I'm not convinced a savvy opponent wouldn't be able to counter and limit your plans. Either way, I certainly think its a fun sounding list and will probably run it at some point to see how it plays out.

Dire Troll Bomber Assembly

This model is really really cool. It might be my favorite model in the entire Trollbloods line. Giant nasty troll running around with explosive powderkegs? Yes please. I don't know how effective he'll be in game but I absolutely had to pick one up. The detail on this model, like the other Trollbloods I have put together is absolutely topnotch. To top it off, it is the most easily assembled metal model of its size I have ever put together. The edges are clearly defined and all of the pieces just fit without any extra filing and work. It was a little more difficult to pin than the other models due to the way the joints go together and I was only able to pin the head, and all of the arm pieces together. However, I think pinning on this model may have been overkill because of the way everything fits together so nicely. On a model this big, I would have thought it a necessity and I really don't think it is.

Here's the finished work. I might green stuff a little bit later but I'm not actually sure it's even needed.

From Dire Troll Bomber 1

Lizardmen in 8th Edition: Lore of Light

I like this lore a lot.

Exorcism (Lore Attribute):
Great if your enemy is undead or daemonic, not so fantastic otherwise.

Shem's Burning Gaze (Signature Spell):
Great range and it gives you flaming attacks. It can be increased to S6 for taking out nasty monsters too. Nice little magic missile and a great tool for an army with very little long ranged threats.

Pha's Protection (1):
Fantastic gunline protection. Combine this with Iceshard Blizzard and you can really hose an enemy shooting unit. Can be aed to protect all of your valuable units.

The Speed of Light (2):
Gives you high initiative to make sure you strike first and high weapon skill to make sure you hit. It also makes it harder for your opponent to hit you. Can be aed and given to all of your units. Great synergy with both Iceshard Blizzard and Pha's Protection to virtually guarantee your opponent can't hit you.

Light of Battle (3):
Great for low leadership armies. Not so great for others.

Net of Amyntok (4):
This is a cool little utility spell. Gives you a chance to hold a unit in place and do some damage while you're at it. Use this to prevent that critical charge or make your opponent think twice about committing his other resources to battle.

Banishment (5):
Great damage spell against things with ward saves. This makes it the best spell in the game for busting through magic resistance. It's not very high strength though which is unfortunate.

Birona's Timewarp (6):
This is a really great spell. Terrific synergy with the rest of the lore and turns your guys into close combat beasts. More attacks, more movement, and always strikes first? Fantastic. Pair this with Speed of Light to give your guys hatred. Even better, it can also be cast in an area effect.

Lizardmen Thoughts:
This is the creme de la creme of Lizardmen lores in my book. It counters all of their weaknesses and really makes it hard for an opponent to beat them. Net of Amyntok gives you extra utility to prevent your saurus from being outmaneuvered. Shem's Burning Gaze and Banishment provide you with very nice ranged threats to assist your Lore of Heavens ranged threats. Worried about Purple Sun and initiative tests? Cast Speed of Light and worry no more!

The real nice thing here though are the ways the augments synergize. Take a ranked up unit of saurus with spears and cast Pha's Protection, Speed of Light, and Birona's Timewarp on them. You now have 25 S4 WS10 attacks that can reroll to hit and will always go first. Not to mention, anything wanting to attack back is going to need 6s just to hit you. Combine that with Curse of the Midnight Wind from Lore of Heavens and they have to reroll their successful to hit rolls too!

On a unit of temple guard, you're looking at 20 S5 WS10 attacks. That's going to dish out some serious damage and really put a hurting on your opponent. This combination even makes your saurus cavalry suddenly awesome!

The only spell that isn't fantastic for Lizardmen is Light of Battle but only because their leadership is already godly.

I REALLY like this lore for the slann. It helps you from turn 1 all the way through to the end of the game. Start off with magic missiles, Net of Amyntok, and Pha's Protection to keep your guy's safe and transition to the augments as your combat units collide.

One thing of note. You have no miscast protection so you'll either need to run your slann solo or take Cupped Hands of the Old ones. Soul of Stone is also worth considering.

1st Foray Into Hordes Mk II

I played my first game of Hordes during my lunch break on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun but its definitely clear I need to secure a better understanding of the rules. Unfortunately no pictures as it slows things down too much and my lunch break has a time limit.

I took my Trollbloods warpack against Steve's Skorne warpack. It was a pretty close game but Steve's familiarity with Warmachine and what is in my opinion, a better set of models for pitting against another warpack, Steve managed to win.

We set up some terrain (carrots from my lunch as a forest, salt & pepper shakers, etc.) and started our first game. He advanced his Titan and Morghoul through the carrot forest and sent his two cyclops guys around. On my turn I moved my impalers up into range with their animus and shot both of them at the titan doing quite a bit of damage. I had the axer move to intercept the two cyclops. Madrak cast Stranglehold on the Titan as well to hold him in place on the next turn.

On the second turn, one cyclops charged madrak, the other charged the axer. The axer took quite a bit of damage (after Madrak transfered the damage he took) and had his body crippled. On my turn, Madrak and the axer managed to kill off one of the cyclops. My rolls were terrible though and he should have died much sooner. I did force my axer to regenerate and heal his body so it was no longer crippled.

On the third turn, the Titan slammed one of my impalers and knocked him really far back. He then spent fury on additional attacks into Madrak. Morghoul popped his feat to keep me from forcing my warbeasts and transferring damage. On my turn Madrak leached all of the fury he could and almost finished off the titan (4 health left, damn my rolling sucks). The axer couldn't be forced so he only managed a little damage against the other cyclops.

On Skorne fourth turn, Morghoul charged Madrak and using his fury on additional attacks knocked him down to about 3 health left. The cyclops went next doing just enough damage to Madrak to finish him off and I failed my Tough roll. End of the game.

Things I learned:
My turns were too long. I need to go into these games having a much better grasp of what I can do.
I need to remember that Madrak also has a ranged weapon. It's really good and I had completely forgotten about it.
I hadn't realized that Madrak had a really fantastic upkeep spell and I should have cast it on the first turn.
Madrak's feat is not very good for facing other warpack armies. It relies on being able to kill guys in one attack and keep moving through them to mow down large groups. That doesn't work really well against only warbeasts.
Definitely a fun game. I'm looking forward to playing more.

Lizardmen in 8th Edition: Lore of Life

By request, here are my thoughts on Lore of Life.

Lifebloom (Lore Attribute):
This is a pretty cool attribute. Free healing is very nice and you can use this to keep a choppy saurus character or a stegadon going long after it should have succumbed. Very nice.

Earth Blood (Signature Spell):
Nice spell. Regeneration is always nice and with Throne of Vines it's working half the time. This is somewhat negated by the sheer amount of flaming attacks available to most armies now but it's still pretty good to have. You're going to want to use this in conjunction with Throne of Vines and the other spells in this lore to create a really nasty anvil unit your opponent will never get through.

Awakening of the Wood (1):
Decent spell for its cost. Unfortunately, I don't really foresee many people getting any use out of this. With the random terrain generation chart, I at least don't foresee myself putting anything in a Mysterious Forest that has such a potential to start munching on my guys. Luckily its a good spell even when not in the woods.

Flesh to Stone (2):
+2 Toughness is fantastic. +4 Toughness is even more fantastic. This will make your opponent need 5s to wound you at best, 6s to wound you with Throne of Vines. This is a must have spell for this lore.

Throne of Vines (3):
This is the spell that makes this lore. It allows you to throw tons of dice at each spell with no fear of miscast and makes all of your spell but Dwellers Below even more fantastic. You will start every magic phase with casting this spell if you don't already have it up.

Shield of Thorns (4):
Great spell for your impossible to kill anvil unit. Get this up and it forces your opponent to seriously think about whether they'd rather dispel Throne of Vines or this in their turn. Every turn they don't dispel this (if cast with Throne of Vines), they'll have to take 4D6 S4 hits. That is just awesome.

Regrowth (5):
Bring your units back to life? Very cool. D3+1 is so-so for the point cost but D6+1 with Throne of Vines is truly very nice.

The Dwellers Below (6):
A fantastic spell against some armies. The last spell you will cast against others. Strength test or die is very nice against things like elves but against things likely to pass their tests, you are probably better off keeping all of your buffs going.

Overall Lizardmen Thoughts:
This seems to be the lore that everyone on the internet absolutely loves for their slann. It's easy to see why. Take a big old unit of temple guard, stick your slann in it, march it up the field, and give it 4+ regen, +4 toughness, bring back D6+1 casualties, and give it an extra 4D6 S4 hits in close combat every turn? That's just AWESOME!

I haven't tried it myself but when I really think about it, I don't see it as actually being that great on the table. If your opponent brings a badly unbalanced list, sure, you're going to dominate the magic phase and their is nothing he can do about it. But what it really comes down to is Throne of Vines. This is the spell your opponent has to stop. Without this, your battle plan falls apart.

You have two choices every magic phase, cast this spell with a lot of dice to keep it from being dispelled or go for the minimum. If you go for the minimum, your opponent can throw all of his dice at it because this is what he needs to stop. All of your other spells lose a lot of their effectiveness without it and will expire by the next turn anyways so you'll just have to recast them all over again and who knows how good your next magic phase will be.

What if you throw enough dice at it to make it difficult to dispel? Well, if you irresistable force it, that's fantastic and you get it. If you don't, this is where he whips out his dispel scroll or feedback scroll and we get to watch your slann implode. What if you do get it off and he knows he can't stop it with his dice? Well, then all he has to do is stop your follow up spells. If you've thrown a ton of dice at this spell, you're not going to have much left for your other spells. And he can just dispel throne of vines in his magic phase. On average, it only takes 2 dice on a level 1 wizard to dispel it. 2 dice on a level 4 wizard is virtually a guarantee.

I think a savvy opponent that brings any decent amount of dispel is going to tear apart a Lore of Life list. Sure, if your opponent isn't so savvy or just plain has shitty lucky, you're going to tear him apart with this list, but with magic so random in this edition, I think this list relies too heavily on being able to be consistent in your magic phase.

There are of course some ways to mitigate this and try to make sure you have enough dice to do what you need to do. My personal recommendations are to always take The Focused Rumination on your slann and seriously consider taking the Forbidden Rod on a skink priest and a Power Stone on the slann himself. These will help you generate your necessary power dice on a bad winds of magic roll and enable you to recover and get things back on track. A Power Scroll to irresistible force Throne of Vines or another spell on command is also useful and should be considered.

As far as partnering this with Lore of Heavens on your skinks, look for synergy with Iceshard Blizzard to help get your anvil unit into combat and Curse of the Midnight Wind to make it even harder to kill them.

Trollkin Champions Assembly

I managed to get my Trollkin Champions assembled as well. These guys were a lot faster since they didn't require pinning but I am stumped about one thing. The models come with these 5 little barrel pieces and I cannot for the life of me figure out where they are supposed to attach to the models. If anyone knows, please fill me in as I have been unable to find any pictures online that show the location.

Here are the barrels I'm talking about:

From Trollkin Champions 1

Now for the models themselves, these guys are really cool looking. Lots of detail. So far I've been EXTREMELY impressed with the quality and level of detail on Privateer Press models. The only thing I'd ask for is a little more variety would be nice. There seems to be only two grunt bodies and one leader body and it would be nice if there was a way to make all five guys in the unit look unique.

Leader:

From Trollkin Champions 1

Grunt 1:

From Trollkin Champions 1

Grunt 2:

From Trollkin Champions 1

Grunt 3:

From Trollkin Champions 1

Grunt 4:

From Trollkin Champions 1