Sincynar has become Sincyneth as the Waywatcher Lord has become a Waywatcher Lady. Looking at the Avatars of War guys some of you have obtained, I was quite taken by the Wood Elf hero they have. On the whole, she fits in better with the army.
So I'll be grabbing her as my next purchase.
The first three units are, incidentally, assembled. Although I have to grumble at the tiny tiny bases that the Glade Guard have. Ridiculously tiny. I swear bases never used to be so small!
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Ready, Set, CONVERT!
I've been getting increasingly bored of painting my rank & file troops so i decided to use my last unassembled squad of 6 bulls as maneaters. I'm gonna raid my own bits box for any extra gubbinz that will make each of the 6 look completely unique from one another. I've already got a few ideas, some more convert-y than others but theres still a few spaces in the squad for new stuff so to that end, if anyone has any odd bits kicking around that they think would look cool on an ogre and they wouldnt miss (or would swap for an assortment of bits from ogre sprues) then shout up! I just ebayed a few bags of pistols to kit the entire squad out with ogre pistols and i have something pretty special in mind for the musician (albeit completely stolen from an ogre forum i frequent, as will many of these maneater ideas...) Aside from that im open to ideas and charity ;)
In other news i've narrowed down the choices for names for my Slaughtermaster to the following: Painsley Harriot or Fester Doomenthall. Cast your votes below!
Monday, 30 January 2012
The Orcs are coming...
With the Goblins preparing to march on the lands of the Old World in full force, their actions and successes catch the eye of other greenskins determined to join the Waaagh! in the hope of a good scrap. However there are others who would snatch glory from Skarnak and turn his clan to their own ambitions. Soon enough Warboss Gorgrul and his 'Eadrippas will challenge Skarnak for ultimate control of the Waaagh!
This arrived at my desk this morning, and he looks absolutely brutal! I've always wanted to add some Savage Orcs to my army and this guy looks the part as their Warboss. Very much looking forward to getting started on them once the Goblins are finished, which will happen once I finally get these Ogres finished...
It never ends!
This arrived at my desk this morning, and he looks absolutely brutal! I've always wanted to add some Savage Orcs to my army and this guy looks the part as their Warboss. Very much looking forward to getting started on them once the Goblins are finished, which will happen once I finally get these Ogres finished...
It never ends!
Saturday, 28 January 2012
The Forest Never Sleeps
So the first lot of my elves have arrived. Excellent. Time to go to work. I probably won't be going into too much stuff on the painting side of things - there is likely to be plenty of it on the blog anyway. And besides, while the painting is an integral part of the whole experience, it has never been a focus for me, it comes a distant third behind the playing and the collecting. Still, it's good to actually have things painted up, hence this little Tale.
I will concentrate more, perhaps, on the fiction side of things, and this is an appropriate point to make some introductions.
Orion is dead. Winter is come. He will not be reborn until spring. Winter is here, and winter is long in Athel Loren. It is said that when the Lord of the Wood goes to his final hunt, he speaks to one of his followers and presents him with a white cloak. No words are said, but the noble in question is tasked to protect the borders of Athel Loren while Orion lies dead.
So it was that Sincyneth, a noble of the Waywatcher kindred was presented the white cloak and as a the host of Orion rode to the last hunt, so Sincyneth took on the name of White Huntress and went to gather her own host. First, Lady Sincyneth rode to the Crag Halls of Findol where the old, yet fair Ionthondess (called also the Old Pine) served in the Glade Guard. Sincyneth told her of the task and she deemed it more fit to serve in battle that winter, than to guard the drinking halls of lords. Together they travelled to the Halls of Equos where Blaegril, the Fierce Wind was Horsemistress of the Glade Riders and needed little to convince her to join the Winter Hunt.
Blaegril then told Sincyneth of her sister, Uirdiril, who with a company of the Eternal Guard held Watch at the ruins of Castle Fulk nearby. There they arrived and came to Uirdiril, Eternal Watcher, and saw that she had stood watch over the unquiet dead of a long-lost battle. Together they ventured deep into the ruins and put the dead to rest and departed with Uirdiril and her company.
Next Sincyneth came to the Oak of Ages, where he was admitted to the Court of Ariel and pleaded with her that she allow a Spellweaver to go with him. She would not do so, for the man who served as Guardian of the forest in Orion's stead - for he had now died in the Last Hunt. As Sincyneth departed, downcast, he was followed on the hidden paths by a maiden - though only a Spellsinger, she entreated Sincyneth to let her join, for she cared not for the Court of Ariel. So the Winter Hunt welcomed Ruscgwend Snow-Fox, who knew many of Athel Loren's secrets.
Ruscgwend guided Sincyneth to the Deep Forests of Durthu and there she called to the spirits of the forest. But one answered her call, who was Brackgann the Grey Maiden and her kin. They came and pledged service to the Winter Hunt, to guard all the forests and the spirits within.
Thus the host was complete and Sincyneth gathered all around him and they were prepared to answer the enemies of Athel Loren. Yet as they were ready to depart, so came to them Daughawn, resplendent all in green garb and calling for the Lord of the Winter Hunt. Sincyneth came to answer him and Daughawn called himself the Evergreen and demanded admittance to the Winter Hunt, for he was of noble birth and would serve the Asrai. Sincyneth questioned him at length, and the two fought - Daughawn was arrogant and brash, but with the burning desire of service like the hottest rays of the sun that touched the forest canopy. Sincyneth relented and let him join in service.
And that's a rough outline of my main units and their leaders.
I will concentrate more, perhaps, on the fiction side of things, and this is an appropriate point to make some introductions.
Orion is dead. Winter is come. He will not be reborn until spring. Winter is here, and winter is long in Athel Loren. It is said that when the Lord of the Wood goes to his final hunt, he speaks to one of his followers and presents him with a white cloak. No words are said, but the noble in question is tasked to protect the borders of Athel Loren while Orion lies dead.
So it was that Sincyneth, a noble of the Waywatcher kindred was presented the white cloak and as a the host of Orion rode to the last hunt, so Sincyneth took on the name of White Huntress and went to gather her own host. First, Lady Sincyneth rode to the Crag Halls of Findol where the old, yet fair Ionthondess (called also the Old Pine) served in the Glade Guard. Sincyneth told her of the task and she deemed it more fit to serve in battle that winter, than to guard the drinking halls of lords. Together they travelled to the Halls of Equos where Blaegril, the Fierce Wind was Horsemistress of the Glade Riders and needed little to convince her to join the Winter Hunt.
Blaegril then told Sincyneth of her sister, Uirdiril, who with a company of the Eternal Guard held Watch at the ruins of Castle Fulk nearby. There they arrived and came to Uirdiril, Eternal Watcher, and saw that she had stood watch over the unquiet dead of a long-lost battle. Together they ventured deep into the ruins and put the dead to rest and departed with Uirdiril and her company.
Next Sincyneth came to the Oak of Ages, where he was admitted to the Court of Ariel and pleaded with her that she allow a Spellweaver to go with him. She would not do so, for the man who served as Guardian of the forest in Orion's stead - for he had now died in the Last Hunt. As Sincyneth departed, downcast, he was followed on the hidden paths by a maiden - though only a Spellsinger, she entreated Sincyneth to let her join, for she cared not for the Court of Ariel. So the Winter Hunt welcomed Ruscgwend Snow-Fox, who knew many of Athel Loren's secrets.
Ruscgwend guided Sincyneth to the Deep Forests of Durthu and there she called to the spirits of the forest. But one answered her call, who was Brackgann the Grey Maiden and her kin. They came and pledged service to the Winter Hunt, to guard all the forests and the spirits within.
Thus the host was complete and Sincyneth gathered all around him and they were prepared to answer the enemies of Athel Loren. Yet as they were ready to depart, so came to them Daughawn, resplendent all in green garb and calling for the Lord of the Winter Hunt. Sincyneth came to answer him and Daughawn called himself the Evergreen and demanded admittance to the Winter Hunt, for he was of noble birth and would serve the Asrai. Sincyneth questioned him at length, and the two fought - Daughawn was arrogant and brash, but with the burning desire of service like the hottest rays of the sun that touched the forest canopy. Sincyneth relented and let him join in service.
And that's a rough outline of my main units and their leaders.
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Incoming Goblin Heroes alert
Yes! Thank you Mr postman for these! Also, thank you to trolltrader from ebay for the quick turn-around on these. They look ace, especially the shaman (yes, that plastic ghost-thing is some awesome cosmic power!)
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| He's on a shield! A SHIELD! |
Avatar of War have some good stuff, that's pretty much compatible with GW's range. So stoked with these dudes. I can feel the power of the WAAAGH! Be afraid!
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
So what's the opposite of a zerg army?
Ok, this has turned out to be quite difficult primarily due to the fact that big + fat = expensive. Additionally i've never played WHF so in many cases i've been unsure of whether various bits and bobs are worth spending points on. As a result some of my gear for the heros will be largely down to experimentation. (I've left them off this preliminary list for that exact reason)
My force will be something similar to this:
Bruiser 105 Points,
+ Heavy Armour 4 Pts.
- - - > 109 Points
3 Ogres 90 Pts., Handweapon & Ironfist 6 Pts.
- - - > 96 Points
3 Ogres 90 Pts., Handweapon & Ironfist 6 Pts.
- - - > 96 Points
3 Ironguts 129 Pts.
20 Gnoblars 50 Pts.
Total Points Ogre Kingdoms : 480
I don't want to post any pics of the Ogres unnecessarily thus diddling myself out of claiming them in later painting challenges ;) I hope you can take my Mordheim warlock Raimondo and his trusty bog eyed monkey pet (read: Warhound) as compensation.
500 points..... I'm doing it wrong
So my original plan was that as I have a cheiftan and 30 clanrats painted (albeit shoddily), I could do another unit of Clanrats (x30) and some other fun stuff to bring myself up to 500 points. So hang on lets calculate as we go:
Cheiftain w/Great Weapon (49 pts) = 49 points
30 Clanrats w/ Spears, Shield and full command and Warpfire (240 pts) = 289 points
30 Clanrats w/ Shields full command and ratling gun (210 pts) = 499 points
Rat Ogres and...... wait what's the points limit?
So I have spent the last week working on a unit that I will not be in the first army list (unless I want a ridiculously boring and unwieldy wall of Clanrats). Fantastic.
(facepalm)
So I think it's time for a reshuffle....
-Rion
Cheiftain w/Great Weapon (49 pts) = 49 points
30 Clanrats w/ Spears, Shield and full command and Warpfire (240 pts) = 289 points
30 Clanrats w/ Shields full command and ratling gun (210 pts) = 499 points
Rat Ogres and...... wait what's the points limit?
So I have spent the last week working on a unit that I will not be in the first army list (unless I want a ridiculously boring and unwieldy wall of Clanrats). Fantastic.
(facepalm)
So I think it's time for a reshuffle....
-Rion
Monday, 23 January 2012
DA ROOOOOOLZ
OK so it's time to get some structure to this madness. Here I shall attempt to lay out some of the rules to our hobby challenge. Please feel free to suggest any changes/additions/removals in the comments sections.
1. The ultimate aim of this project is to build and paint a Warhammer Fantasy Battle army which you can both be proud of and play with.
2. To give a sense of purpose to the army collecting/painting we will set target points limits every quarter. Currently this shall be:
15th April (3 months) - Everyone AT LEAST 500 points - painted
15th July (6 months) - Everyone AT LEAST 1000 points - painted
14th Oct (9 months) - Everyone AT LEAST 2000 points - painted
18th Jan (1 Year) - Everyone that is still around aiming for 3000 points :P
3. To help hit each of those targets an army list should probably be posted everytime the points target is changed, to give a guideline of what you should be building/painting and something to work towards.
4. Each month each participants will SET THEIR OWN TARGETS based on what they think they can do in the coming month. Minimum targets should ten to be at least a minimum one unit or large monster a month, but more or less can be set depending on how time-rich you are during the month.
Right that should be about it. Have I forgotten anything?
I shall start compiling the plan post for the first 3 months this evening, based on what people have posted so far.
-Rion
1. The ultimate aim of this project is to build and paint a Warhammer Fantasy Battle army which you can both be proud of and play with.
2. To give a sense of purpose to the army collecting/painting we will set target points limits every quarter. Currently this shall be:
15th April (3 months) - Everyone AT LEAST 500 points - painted
15th July (6 months) - Everyone AT LEAST 1000 points - painted
14th Oct (9 months) - Everyone AT LEAST 2000 points - painted
18th Jan (1 Year) - Everyone that is still around aiming for 3000 points :P
3. To help hit each of those targets an army list should probably be posted everytime the points target is changed, to give a guideline of what you should be building/painting and something to work towards.
4. Each month each participants will SET THEIR OWN TARGETS based on what they think they can do in the coming month. Minimum targets should ten to be at least a minimum one unit or large monster a month, but more or less can be set depending on how time-rich you are during the month.
Right that should be about it. Have I forgotten anything?
I shall start compiling the plan post for the first 3 months this evening, based on what people have posted so far.
-Rion
And I've not even hunted the stag yet...
I've not actually got any elves yet. My old Wood Elves I waved goodbye to some years ago and am currently sitting on 0 (zero) WHFB miniatures. Boo.
And I don't get paid until Wednesday. Booooo.
Still, I am ordering the Wood Elf Batallion to get me started for a few months, and appropriating one of Deke's orphaned Wood Elf heroes. That should almost take me to my intended first 500pts:
Unit of 18 Glade Guard
Unit of 8 Glade Riders
Unit of 12 Dryads
1 Hero
1 Lord
I am yet to count the points exactly (when I can sit down with the army book), but that will roughly be my first big chunk. I will probably start with the Glade Guard and then alternate unit/character.
Further expansion of the army will include waywatchers (and the General of my army is going to be one), wardancers, a spellsinger and conceivably tree-kin. I am not all that keen on monstrous infantry, I must confess, so things like the tree-kin might not really make it into the army. We'll see.
And I don't get paid until Wednesday. Booooo.
Still, I am ordering the Wood Elf Batallion to get me started for a few months, and appropriating one of Deke's orphaned Wood Elf heroes. That should almost take me to my intended first 500pts:
Unit of 18 Glade Guard
Unit of 8 Glade Riders
Unit of 12 Dryads
1 Hero
1 Lord
I am yet to count the points exactly (when I can sit down with the army book), but that will roughly be my first big chunk. I will probably start with the Glade Guard and then alternate unit/character.
Further expansion of the army will include waywatchers (and the General of my army is going to be one), wardancers, a spellsinger and conceivably tree-kin. I am not all that keen on monstrous infantry, I must confess, so things like the tree-kin might not really make it into the army. We'll see.
29 to go...
Painted up a quick tester model for my Goblins, and this is the result!
Could probably do some neater highlights but to be honest, I'm planning on having a unit of 100 of these guys at some point. If I can get them all done as quick as this one, I might not go insane!
Got another couple of photos to show some of my earlier Orcs and the basing scheme I'm going for. I'm a sucker for snow bases and wanted to get a really thick snow layered over some rocks and stuff so experimented on these guys. These were also the first Orcs I finished painting so I will probably find some time to smooth out the flesh on the boars and do some other touch up work.
Could probably do some neater highlights but to be honest, I'm planning on having a unit of 100 of these guys at some point. If I can get them all done as quick as this one, I might not go insane!
Got another couple of photos to show some of my earlier Orcs and the basing scheme I'm going for. I'm a sucker for snow bases and wanted to get a really thick snow layered over some rocks and stuff so experimented on these guys. These were also the first Orcs I finished painting so I will probably find some time to smooth out the flesh on the boars and do some other touch up work.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
The number one way to render a dining table out of use for an entire weekend...
Update from Ross and myself. Lots of painting going on round here this weekend. I've pretty much finished my first unit of Bulls while Ross has made a start on a cockatrice and adding more dudes to his Savage Orcs unit. Marc initially started off painting more of his Beastmen but got easily distracted by Minecraft, noob.
Lots of love the green horde & the fatties.
Progress...
Just a quick update on the project so far. The Goblins have now all been made and sprayed, ready for painting.
The movement tray has been resized for this unit (and thankfully I have plenty more made for when it inevitably grows in size) and every thing else is good to go. Started batch painting the first 5 Night Goblins just to get the technique and stages in place before I can blitz the rest. Shouldn't take too long to get the entire unit finished, then it's on the Squig Hoppers!
The movement tray has been resized for this unit (and thankfully I have plenty more made for when it inevitably grows in size) and every thing else is good to go. Started batch painting the first 5 Night Goblins just to get the technique and stages in place before I can blitz the rest. Shouldn't take too long to get the entire unit finished, then it's on the Squig Hoppers!
Friday, 20 January 2012
And now little green....WAAAGH!!!
I have always wanted to do a "tale of 4 (apparently 8!) gamers" thing after seeing the very first one in White Dwarf about a billion years ago. Think Paul 'Fat Bloke' Sawyer had a chaos army? Could be wrong though.
I still cannot pinpoint years and years ago why I decided to collect orcs and goblins. I was never really a fan of 40K orks, so the decision to play as the greenskins in the Fantasy realm alludes me. However, I cannot imagine not playing as them now. Part of me thinks it's down to setting eyes on the old plastic night goblin box set and deciding "they look awesome" but it was perhaps down to peer pressure from some old wargaming buddies who said "you'll like playing as orcs and goblins it will be great fun!" Only to find out the majority of your troops have a WS of 2 and are prone to infighting.
Anyway, having dug out my orc and goblins from the realms of time (i.e. the cupboard in my room) I managed to find quite a force. Half-unpainted (the orcs) - half broken (the wolf riders - all those damn tails snapped off and the doom diver which needs BIG repair work) and a load of "holy moly I was that bad at painting???" (see some of the night goblins). It's a possibility I've got quite a force waiting in the wings in various stages of repair/painted/not painted.
Here's a picture of a unit filler I made over Christmas. Unfortunately, the base is too big to rank up with the night goblins, so it will probably just be a centre piece or something:
I apologise for the rather scrappy painting on the orcs - it seems the camera brings out the worst areas and overlooks the best ones.
I still cannot pinpoint years and years ago why I decided to collect orcs and goblins. I was never really a fan of 40K orks, so the decision to play as the greenskins in the Fantasy realm alludes me. However, I cannot imagine not playing as them now. Part of me thinks it's down to setting eyes on the old plastic night goblin box set and deciding "they look awesome" but it was perhaps down to peer pressure from some old wargaming buddies who said "you'll like playing as orcs and goblins it will be great fun!" Only to find out the majority of your troops have a WS of 2 and are prone to infighting.
Anyway, having dug out my orc and goblins from the realms of time (i.e. the cupboard in my room) I managed to find quite a force. Half-unpainted (the orcs) - half broken (the wolf riders - all those damn tails snapped off and the doom diver which needs BIG repair work) and a load of "holy moly I was that bad at painting???" (see some of the night goblins). It's a possibility I've got quite a force waiting in the wings in various stages of repair/painted/not painted.
Here's a picture of a unit filler I made over Christmas. Unfortunately, the base is too big to rank up with the night goblins, so it will probably just be a centre piece or something:
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| sitting around all day |
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| Yes, the theme is mushrooms |
I apologise for the rather scrappy painting on the orcs - it seems the camera brings out the worst areas and overlooks the best ones.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
The thunderous stampede of the Great Maw approaches
So yeah, Ogres. While i feel Deke has well and truly put my Ogre Skillz to shame i should probably stand up for myself like any proper Tyrant would.
I only got back into GW stuff earlier this year when Ross and I we reminiscing about the good old days when we played Mordheim instead of doing our IT coursework and we figured it would be cool to get back into again. After a few Mordheim sessions i stupidly decided I'd like to paint a huge monster instead of my pitiful Dwarf Treasure Hunters and i plonked down the dosh for a Thundertusk/Stonehorn kit. This was only a few weeks after the new Ogre army book hit so i had plenty of new minis to tempt me back to large scale WH battles.
I must admit though, that i never played WHFB as a kid and so a lot of the rules are completely alien to me. Im mostly cobbling together an army list from what looks cool and the odd bit I've read online (there's a dedicated ogre players forum The Ogre Stronghold - Index) I'll probably need a fair bit of shepparding in the early games we play but I know the basics from 40k/Mordheim and I'm sure after a few loses ill get the jist of it.
I've already got a sizable force but its only really odds and sods (probably enough for the early 500points list though) so i still need one or two purchases to get up to the large scale battles which are the most fun.
Ogre Stuff i've got currently:
Slaughtermaster/Butcher
Bruiser BSB
2 Sabretusks
2 Mournfang Cav
Stonehorn
12 Ironguts
6 Bulls
20 Gnobblars
4 Leadbelchers
Ironblaster
Stuff on my 'to buy' list:
Firebelly
Another box of bulls to convert into maneaters
2 more Mournfang
Giant (for teh lolz)
Being as Ross recently acquired the Storm of Magic rulebook im VERY tempted to get a forgeworld Great Taurus to use as a summonable monster (ill convert the rider to be an Ogre)
As i've hinted, my painting can be pretty sloppy in places but truth be told i dont think i've got the patience for 6+ layers of skin tones and 10 different highlights on weapons :D A few sneak peeks can be seen below with a few extras underneath. A lot of stuff is still in bits and on sprues. I'll work out my 500 points over the next week.
I only got back into GW stuff earlier this year when Ross and I we reminiscing about the good old days when we played Mordheim instead of doing our IT coursework and we figured it would be cool to get back into again. After a few Mordheim sessions i stupidly decided I'd like to paint a huge monster instead of my pitiful Dwarf Treasure Hunters and i plonked down the dosh for a Thundertusk/Stonehorn kit. This was only a few weeks after the new Ogre army book hit so i had plenty of new minis to tempt me back to large scale WH battles.
I must admit though, that i never played WHFB as a kid and so a lot of the rules are completely alien to me. Im mostly cobbling together an army list from what looks cool and the odd bit I've read online (there's a dedicated ogre players forum The Ogre Stronghold - Index) I'll probably need a fair bit of shepparding in the early games we play but I know the basics from 40k/Mordheim and I'm sure after a few loses ill get the jist of it.
I've already got a sizable force but its only really odds and sods (probably enough for the early 500points list though) so i still need one or two purchases to get up to the large scale battles which are the most fun.
Ogre Stuff i've got currently:
Slaughtermaster/Butcher
Bruiser BSB
2 Sabretusks
2 Mournfang Cav
Stonehorn
12 Ironguts
6 Bulls
20 Gnobblars
4 Leadbelchers
Ironblaster
Stuff on my 'to buy' list:
Firebelly
Another box of bulls to convert into maneaters
2 more Mournfang
Giant (for teh lolz)
Being as Ross recently acquired the Storm of Magic rulebook im VERY tempted to get a forgeworld Great Taurus to use as a summonable monster (ill convert the rider to be an Ogre)
As i've hinted, my painting can be pretty sloppy in places but truth be told i dont think i've got the patience for 6+ layers of skin tones and 10 different highlights on weapons :D A few sneak peeks can be seen below with a few extras underneath. A lot of stuff is still in bits and on sprues. I'll work out my 500 points over the next week.
Come 'ere you little wretches!
After skulking away in their caves planning many a nefarious plot, the forces (and I use that term lightly) of Skarnak Spleenstabba amass! Not much to look at currently but soon they should look a whole lot shinier!
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| The Warboss had better fix up his Cave Squig sharpish... |
Does a snowflake make a sound if only Dryads hear it fall?
Hello all! I am Kenti an Elfoholic. Well, that's not actually true, I really don't like the way that elves are treated or handled in... oh... 70% of circumstances? Basically, you get really bland elves with pointy ears, aloof manner and... possibly some tree-loving. That's boring, elves can be exciting, if you just give them the chance.
Games Workshop haven't done too badly with the Warhammer Elves. Granted, you have them in a sort of classical division of Dark, High and Wood, but there's a bit of character to them and the Wood elves aren't particularly nice. Sure, they're on the side of the good guys, but... they're not really about Order like the Empire or High Elves or Brettonia. Frankly, their demeanour is a bit haphazard, a bit chaotic, a bit... 'natural'. In the tooth and claw sense of nature, not the fluffy unicorn one.
So the Wood Elves are pretty okay. They've got their nature forest thing going on, but it's a darker, edgier version, and frankly they're not altogether very nice people. The Brettonians are on the whole a bit scared of them and rightly so. Anyway, I am going with the Wood Elves rather than my main alternative because of all this*.
But I'm not going to play them too straight. Well, I am in that it's going to be a shooty army. A very shooty army. But I like solid, interesting, exciting backgrounds, so I am going with the Winter Hunt (actual name TBC). The forest is sleeping, the elves are in quiet repose, but someone's got to do the nasty job of defending Athel Loren during the dark winter months. So, a Waywatcher Noble is appointed to sit about in the snow and watch for invaders of the forest while everyone else sits in nice warm groves and feasts all winter. Because, frankly, they all think the Waywatchers are smelly losers.
The army will have a lot of emphasis on ranged engagement and skirmishing to emphasise their first-contact nature and visually I'll be taking cue from winter colours, going for the icy blues and frozen browns (similar to what the Wood Elf Army Book has in the variant colour schemes). Dryads will be topped with snowballs and the Wardancers will be feeling very silly for having gone out in practically no clothes.
I will be drawing on the themes of the winter forest in putting together the army and so going for anything that will help me bring that out. Appropriate magic items, conversions, painting and so on. I will also probably be writing a lot about the background of my army and possibly a few bits of fiction to help set the mood and flesh out some of the characters who will be in it.
Cheers,
Kenti
*My alternative was the Empire. But, as the Empire are largely boring in their standard permutations, I was going for something in the vein of a rag-tag band of misfits. An army that had been cobbled together and held by string and one man's ambition. The problem is that the concept, though interesting to me, wouldn't have given me too much of a chance to make everyone uniform (that going against the concept) and at the end of the day the Empire is still a touch bland. Not the Empire's fault, the real nitty-gritty appeal hides in its dark corners explored by Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play, and that is where I shall continue to enjoy it. Just not on the green felt thanks.
Games Workshop haven't done too badly with the Warhammer Elves. Granted, you have them in a sort of classical division of Dark, High and Wood, but there's a bit of character to them and the Wood elves aren't particularly nice. Sure, they're on the side of the good guys, but... they're not really about Order like the Empire or High Elves or Brettonia. Frankly, their demeanour is a bit haphazard, a bit chaotic, a bit... 'natural'. In the tooth and claw sense of nature, not the fluffy unicorn one.
So the Wood Elves are pretty okay. They've got their nature forest thing going on, but it's a darker, edgier version, and frankly they're not altogether very nice people. The Brettonians are on the whole a bit scared of them and rightly so. Anyway, I am going with the Wood Elves rather than my main alternative because of all this*.
But I'm not going to play them too straight. Well, I am in that it's going to be a shooty army. A very shooty army. But I like solid, interesting, exciting backgrounds, so I am going with the Winter Hunt (actual name TBC). The forest is sleeping, the elves are in quiet repose, but someone's got to do the nasty job of defending Athel Loren during the dark winter months. So, a Waywatcher Noble is appointed to sit about in the snow and watch for invaders of the forest while everyone else sits in nice warm groves and feasts all winter. Because, frankly, they all think the Waywatchers are smelly losers.
The army will have a lot of emphasis on ranged engagement and skirmishing to emphasise their first-contact nature and visually I'll be taking cue from winter colours, going for the icy blues and frozen browns (similar to what the Wood Elf Army Book has in the variant colour schemes). Dryads will be topped with snowballs and the Wardancers will be feeling very silly for having gone out in practically no clothes.
I will be drawing on the themes of the winter forest in putting together the army and so going for anything that will help me bring that out. Appropriate magic items, conversions, painting and so on. I will also probably be writing a lot about the background of my army and possibly a few bits of fiction to help set the mood and flesh out some of the characters who will be in it.
Cheers,
Kenti
*My alternative was the Empire. But, as the Empire are largely boring in their standard permutations, I was going for something in the vein of a rag-tag band of misfits. An army that had been cobbled together and held by string and one man's ambition. The problem is that the concept, though interesting to me, wouldn't have given me too much of a chance to make everyone uniform (that going against the concept) and at the end of the day the Empire is still a touch bland. Not the Empire's fault, the real nitty-gritty appeal hides in its dark corners explored by Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play, and that is where I shall continue to enjoy it. Just not on the green felt thanks.
Where'd those sneaky gits go...
Painting an army is one of the biggest challenges for me. I am what some might describe as a 'hobby butterfly', fluttering between different projects and never really "finishing" anything, if an army can ever be finished in any case. I think a more appropriate term would be hobby schizophrenic, as most of the models I have are sitting in places I can't remember, with half-finished paint jobs and colour schemes I can't recall ever painting.
So for this blog/adventure/exercise in pain and failure, I have decided to finally give my Orcs & Goblins some love. Being full of character, background and awesome models, not to mention their ridiculous rules ("Sure guys, spend half the battle punching each other in the face. I didn't want to win anyway!") makes them an exciting project. The biggest hurdle will be bringing myself to actually paint a horde army like this (So much green!). So without further ado, here is the first 500 points I will working towards:
Night Goblin Warboss on Great Cave Squig (is there any other way to use a Warboss? I think not!)
Night Goblin Big Boss with a huge banner of "Oh Mork please don't run away you cowards".
Night Goblin Shaman stocked with the finest Magic Mushrooms. He'll probably miscast in turn one, every time.
30 Night Goblins with full command group to aid in the whole "don't run away thing".
3 Fanatics that will inevitably crash into my own unit.
8 Night Goblin Squig Hoppers, because what's better than angry red stomachs with legs?
The eagle eyed amongst you may notice that this army is pretty low on Orcs for an Orc & Goblin army. Well the idea behind my choices are designed to reflect the unfortunate and inevitable course that a Waaagh! will take. Goblins are pretty much the lowest of the low in Orc society and so their rule of a tribe is usually short-lived as they get taken over by larger tribes, usually full of Orcs, so my later army lists will represent this.
Now as the subject of this post suggests, some of my Goblins have decided to pull a disappearing act, with the Warboss, Big Boss and Shaman all off plotting in secret somewhere. I'll hopefully track them down in time to put them to work!
No pictures of the project yet, but instead you can enjoy/mock this photo of an Ogre I painted for another project:
So for this blog/adventure/exercise in pain and failure, I have decided to finally give my Orcs & Goblins some love. Being full of character, background and awesome models, not to mention their ridiculous rules ("Sure guys, spend half the battle punching each other in the face. I didn't want to win anyway!") makes them an exciting project. The biggest hurdle will be bringing myself to actually paint a horde army like this (So much green!). So without further ado, here is the first 500 points I will working towards:
Night Goblin Warboss on Great Cave Squig (is there any other way to use a Warboss? I think not!)
Night Goblin Big Boss with a huge banner of "Oh Mork please don't run away you cowards".
Night Goblin Shaman stocked with the finest Magic Mushrooms. He'll probably miscast in turn one, every time.
30 Night Goblins with full command group to aid in the whole "don't run away thing".
3 Fanatics that will inevitably crash into my own unit.
8 Night Goblin Squig Hoppers, because what's better than angry red stomachs with legs?
The eagle eyed amongst you may notice that this army is pretty low on Orcs for an Orc & Goblin army. Well the idea behind my choices are designed to reflect the unfortunate and inevitable course that a Waaagh! will take. Goblins are pretty much the lowest of the low in Orc society and so their rule of a tribe is usually short-lived as they get taken over by larger tribes, usually full of Orcs, so my later army lists will represent this.
Now as the subject of this post suggests, some of my Goblins have decided to pull a disappearing act, with the Warboss, Big Boss and Shaman all off plotting in secret somewhere. I'll hopefully track them down in time to put them to work!
No pictures of the project yet, but instead you can enjoy/mock this photo of an Ogre I painted for another project:
Cheers!
- Deke
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Hello, My name is Rion and I like rats with massive fists....
Howdy,
Rion here, just going to explain what I aim to do and hope to achieve with this bizarre and disturbing union. After sitting in the cold, dark limbo of storage, I am dusting off my old (incredibly old) models and intending to finish what I started many moons ago - A full Skaven army.
Currently I have a lot of Skaven lying in various states of neglect including:
Chieftan
Grey Seer (Painted)
30x Clanrats (Painted)
30x Clanrats with Spears (Painted)
20x Plague Monks (Still Boxed)
2x Rat Ogres (inc Packmaster)
6x Giant Rats (inc Packmaster)
Warpfire Thrower
2x Rat Swarm Bases
10-20x Slaves
So as you can see the 'force' is more of a ragtag collection of bits at the moment, but I hope to change this over the course of the next few months, and hopefully get some decent games out of them.
As for theme, I think I will go for one befitting the style of it's collection. It will follow the escapades of Vektal - leader of a small Warlord Clan, who stumbles across a small fortune in gold in a forgotten tomb. He then proceeds to attempt to buy his way into power, hiring the services and products of many of the larger clans bit by bit, until he has the power to rise out of the under empire and prove his worth as a warrior chieftain. Proved by forcing countless minions to die for him, while he lurks safely at the back...
My main objective for painting this month will be painting up the second big units of Clanrats, so I forsee many weeks of batch painting -_- Way I see it if I start at the back row, by the time I get to the front, my brush accuracy will be spot on :P
Here you can see the mid stages of my first batch. Still need to do the finishing highlights and details, especially on the brass plates and weapons, but overall I am liking the Brass/Blue contrast with the brown fur. Please feel free to leave any feedback or advice.
I will also be putting together my first stab at a 500 point army list based on what I have painted at the moment, which will probably be Clanrat, Clanrats and moar Clanrats....We'll see.
-Rion
Rion here, just going to explain what I aim to do and hope to achieve with this bizarre and disturbing union. After sitting in the cold, dark limbo of storage, I am dusting off my old (incredibly old) models and intending to finish what I started many moons ago - A full Skaven army.
Currently I have a lot of Skaven lying in various states of neglect including:
Chieftan
Grey Seer (Painted)
30x Clanrats (Painted)
30x Clanrats with Spears (Painted)
20x Plague Monks (Still Boxed)
2x Rat Ogres (inc Packmaster)
6x Giant Rats (inc Packmaster)
Warpfire Thrower
2x Rat Swarm Bases
10-20x Slaves
So as you can see the 'force' is more of a ragtag collection of bits at the moment, but I hope to change this over the course of the next few months, and hopefully get some decent games out of them.
As for theme, I think I will go for one befitting the style of it's collection. It will follow the escapades of Vektal - leader of a small Warlord Clan, who stumbles across a small fortune in gold in a forgotten tomb. He then proceeds to attempt to buy his way into power, hiring the services and products of many of the larger clans bit by bit, until he has the power to rise out of the under empire and prove his worth as a warrior chieftain. Proved by forcing countless minions to die for him, while he lurks safely at the back...
My main objective for painting this month will be painting up the second big units of Clanrats, so I forsee many weeks of batch painting -_- Way I see it if I start at the back row, by the time I get to the front, my brush accuracy will be spot on :P
Here you can see the mid stages of my first batch. Still need to do the finishing highlights and details, especially on the brass plates and weapons, but overall I am liking the Brass/Blue contrast with the brown fur. Please feel free to leave any feedback or advice.
I will also be putting together my first stab at a 500 point army list based on what I have painted at the moment, which will probably be Clanrat, Clanrats and moar Clanrats....We'll see.
-Rion
This is a test post Dawg
This is a test post. Look how sloppy my Paint work is!
Stay tuned for the next post.
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