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.

Sisters Pictures, and a hint of things to come

Ask and you will receive.

Here are some pictures of a few things in my SoB army. I'll try and get a group pictures together later.


In the mean time I started working on a 40k skirmish game like Warbands for Warhammer Fantasy. The rules are in their second wave, and Beta testing has just started (I already found things I need to tweak). This will probably be an ongoing work in progress. More testing will go on tomorrow, so I'll let you guys know how it goes. If I am happy enough with it I'll post it up here.

Rhino

A bit of work on the rhino. Got the armor to a passable level. I am going to work on the skin and wings before I go any further with the armor. I want to look at the piece as a whole and make decisions about how the whole thing meshes together. I already know I want to go back and fix the linen on those cherubs.

Blarg! First post, I guess I will try one of these blog things.

This place will be my sounding board for tactics and painting for all sorts of wargames. I am not sure exactly what direction this will take.

If you know of any games that I might like, let me know and I will check them out!


So down to business for the first post. There is a small 1000 point 40k tournament coming up at the end of April, and I need to get ready. My Eldar will not be going, because of the low point setting. Also, I think we will be playing on small 4x4 tables rather than the normal 6x4, so I think the speed advantage of my Eldar would be lessened. Leaving my Jetbikes at home might dissapoint some people, but I will be taking my Sisters of Battle instead. Truth be told, it will be a breath of fresh air to go back to them.

I have done pretty well with my Inquisition list in the past placing 2nd, 1st, and 1st in the last 3 local tournaments (I have yet to play in a GT as I don't have the money to burn on a hotel and 100ish dollar entrance fee). I am probably a bit rusty, though, and this time around I will be in a new shop.

Over the next few weeks I will be testing and tweaking my old list to get it prepared. My only real descision I need to make is the choice between an evicerator for my Seraphim Superior and 5 faith points, or having an extra Retributor (for a total of 7) and 6 faith. I think that in only 1000 points 5 faith should be fine, as I normally have some left over. Having one less Ret worries me in the new edition, as does not having enough anti-tank when they are so much tougher. I normally just ignore most vehicles, as making them shaken is enough for me, but with a completely new crowd who knows what kind of playstyle they have developed.

No matter what I am going to take advantage of something that has for long been out of my reach. Painting score. Yes, for too long has my army been "mostly finished." Sure it looks fine. All my sisters are painted, and my tanks have the prerequisite 3 colors, but they are only halfway done. So I start on the first of my 3 vehicles, rhino #1.
Yep, I plan to have a bunch of freehanding. More to come