Weeked: Warmachine Tourney, Deathwatch WIP

I "accomplished" a lot this weekend, I more or less finished my deathwatch sergeant, and participated in a Warmachine/Hordes tournament for charity.

After finishing the highlighting on the armor, I painted all of the purity seals and the strap on his gun. The base was deffinately lacking something so I got some advice from a few friends and decided on some rust effects for this particular base. I have to say that it was a great idea, and just adding a little splash of color makes the black model stand out because the base isn't all gray anymore. I plan to do caution stripes and sewer water on some of the other bases but the pipe and its connections really screamed rusty to me.

My photgraphy skills aren't the greatest, as I really lack consistency on picture tone. This one is very yellow, and a little blown out despite my best efforts monkeying with my camera settings.


As for the tournament, it really showed to me how much more I have to learn about Warmachine and Hordes, and even what more I have to learn about my own army. I had been planning on expanding to a second force, but I think I may have to put that on pause until I can really say I have mastered my original faction. The turns were timed, which was something very foreign to me. With only have 10 minutes to perform every action for your entire army I found myself mid turn on more than one occasion. As someone who really likes to think and plan ahead of time, which is especially important in a game like Warmahordes where order of unit activation can be crucially important, that turn stopping buzzer snuck up on me.

Speed, I think, will come in time as I learn to better assess the tabletop/battle situation, which will hopefully happen when I have an intrinsic knowledge of my units. While I don't have to look on my cards to know the stats of my models anymore, I can't quite play with my gut instinct like I can in 40k. In two games the dread of the timer caused critical errors, fortunately my warlock allowed me to "come from behind" as he has on so many occasions.

Killing Kromac's friends makes him angry...you won't like him when he's angry.

I was fortunate enough to be the lucky winner of a raffle for the rulebook to Dystopian Wars, a steam-punk naval game that has been getting rave reviews. Perhaps we will see some boats approaching on the horizon? While my tournament score wasn't the greatest, I won the award for biggest charitable donation, which meant I received a copy of the Hordes rulebook signed by Matt Wilson and other creators of the game! All in all a great weekend.

Deathwatch Sergeant WIP

I did a bit of highlight last night and this morning. I am targeting just one model so far, just so I can get an idea of the brightness of a finished model so I can tweak it on the first one before I get halfway done with all of them. He isn't done yet, but I am starting to get an idea of where it is going. The splashes of color on black are nice, but the bases definitely need something to make the dark model stand out more. Maybe make it brighter/browner/golder? I will try some finagling and see what happens.

It is sure a change from this yesterday:
The highlighting makes a huge difference.

Is this zone killy enough for ya?

Well, I have been pretty void of gaming, and of 40k in particular, for quite some time. I have played a few games of Warmachine/Hordes over the winter, but all in all things have been pretty silent one the wargaming front...until now.

You see, I was without a mission, but I have now fully succumb to a new cause: Killzone. This game is definitely more my style, with only a handful of miniatures on the table I can take as little or as long as I want on painting and converting. The game is perfect for someone like myself who loves to paint, but can't seem to stick to a project for any length of time. It also really captures my imagination with the look and visceral style of a terrain filled board. One of my favorite elements of 40k is having models run around on a board littered with terrain. For me nothing really can compare to the image of a city that has become a wazone.

I was inspired by a particular gentleman who's enthusiasm for the game has spilled off on to me, though he just doesn't know it yet. With my love of all things inquisitorial, this seemed like a perfect opportunity for me to create a Deathwatch Kill team. In my excitement I thought it would be appropriate to show a few pictures of my progress. I created a few custom bases for my team, which totaled up to more time basing than I have ever spent before. I am not sure if the bases are quite bright enough to make the black armor really pop. All that is really completed are the bases a few shoulder pads, and I hope that once the black armor is highlighted the detail will appear like magic.




My team is composed of 7 members, all which use the Sternguard Veteran rules as a base.
Sergeant - Ultramarine
Medic - Blood Angel
Heavy Bolter - Space Wolf
Combi-Flamer - Salamander
Combi-Melta - Imperial Fist
Combi-Plasma - Dark Angel
Regular Veteran - Blood Raven

The chapter of the last marine was difficult to pick, Raven Guard would have been a black shoulder pad on black armor, and White Scars is so blah.