A tale of 4 gamers

At the moment I'm finishing my models for my "Tale of 4 Gamers" mission. Me and three others ('duh) of my gaming club picked up the gauntlet. Basicly what it means is that the four of us want to start a new army and this is a good way to keep motivated.

As you can see on the picture on the left there are three players who will start a new army that is just released. Two guys are going to start a Dark Eldar cult and one will have a run with the Grey Knights which leaves me starting a new army with the oldest codex and models...



For those of you that have never heard of "A tale of 4 gamers" before I shall explain the concept a bit. It basicly boils down to this; you paint a certain amount of models per month, play at least one battle per month and can score extra points for added objectives. A great way to build up an army and keep motivated along the way.

We have agreed to a monthly paint score of either 10 infantry models or 3 40mm or small flyer bases, or 1 vehicle. We should also play a battle and we can score extra points for the win and a battle report. Then there are points to be scored for objective markers (max 5) and fluff. (1 page).

You might think that the number of models is quite low but for four adults all with a job and family I can asure you that it can be hard to meet this deadline every month.

Then let's have a look at the competitors:
-Let's start by saying that I'm the absolute NOOB here. (Orks)

-Mr.M (Grey Knights)is a long(long long) time player of 40k and warhammer fantasy. It's always good to have him around when your playing a game because this guy is a walking rulebook and knows the stats by head.

-Mr. R (Dark Eldar) is a fanatic gamer and just recently opened up his Games Workshop Store as a shopmanager. I think he has started every army but I can think of very few that he has finished.This should be a good way to keep him going.

-And last but not least there's Mr. B (Dark Eldar) who has also been in this hobby for many years and has already collected no less then 3 Golden Deamon trophies. He is looking to add 1 more to his prize cabinet and the Dark Eldar have some stunning models that might give him the edge.

Our first deadline is the 31st of May so by then I'll post again to show you what we all did in our first month.(that is if I get their permission to post it)

Seb

'Ard Boy Paint Concept

Click to enlarge

 I've had an extremely bussy week so I didn't get round to do much painting. I did however manage to get some warpaint on my 'Ard Boy. (that sounds odd and a bit dirty...)
So anyway, you might have seen my earlier post on the 'Ard Boy conversions but if you have not you can have a look here. I want the "Ard Boyz to look "proppa 'Ard" so I stuck some extra armour plates on him and gave him an old german WW2 helmet of which I have plenty so I can do about 20 Boyz like this. I didn't do much else to him because in the codex it says an 'Ard Boy is like a normal Ork Boy only with a lot of extra armour plates which confer a 6+ armour save to a 4+.

So on with the painting. If you haven't seen any of my other Orks you should just trawl my blog for a bit and you'll find some. I like the "Bad Moons"so my paint scheme is based on that clan. I use sunburst yellow and a lot of rust for the general look of my army so the 'Ard Boys fit within this scheme perfectly.

Unfortunately my camera doesn't seem to pick up the different shades of skintone but I use Gretchin green as a basecolor and after a wash with devlan mud I work that up with bleached bone/gretchin green and a faint highlight with rotten flesh to top things off.

I Didn't go all out on the clothing, Just a simple highlight and a wash. On models that will have to stand out in an army I would put more effort in but as it stand I have about 100 infantry Orks left to do and this one already took a couple of hours. To speed things up when I start batch painting these I did cut some corners but I still think it looks nice enough. Like with all my bases these guys will also stand on a pile of rubble and rust. Making these bases alone costs me a lot of time and making a unit of 10 will cost an extra hour or so.

I can't wait to see 20-some of these guys running across the battlefield..

Seb

'Ard Boy test model

No Ork Army is complete without an 'Ard Boy regiment so I saved up some bitz from my 7 boxes of Boyz and put together a test model. An 'Ard Boy is a normal Ork Boy but then with added armour plates that confer a 4+ armour save. I took an old german WW2 scale model helmet and cut the head so it would fit and then glued a spike from the Chaos warriors sprue on top of it. I Also added some plastic card armour plates to the shoulders and leg. 

I like the way it looks now and I think it will stand out from the normal Ork Boyz as I'm hardly giving them any armour anyway. I do plan on added a front armour chast plate on other 'Ard Boyz but this model already has one anyway.

I'm currently putting about a 100 infantry models together for the new army so I can't wait for them all to be ready and undercoated so I can concentrate on painting them all up.

ps. yeah, I still have to remove a lot of moldlines on this model...grrr. I'm having moldline nightmares...



Seb

Kill Team , 1st games with Orks

Yesterday I had my first game playing with Orks. We played a couple of Kill team games at my local gaming club. I think Kill Team is a good way to get started with a new army. You can take 200 points of miniatures, they don't act as units but as individual characters. If your Kill Team falls below 50% of it's starting figures (not points) you have to take a leadership test. If failed you lose the game. very easy, quick and fun to play.

Game 1: Orks vs Orks (200 points)

My first game was against a fellow Ork player who actually played Ork Kill team a good couple of times before and was still undefeated at our club. A tough nut so to speak.

His list was;

-5 biker boyz 

-10 slugga boyz with big shoota and a nob

My list was:

-5 Nobz with various layout like Powerklaw,big choppa, kombi scorcha and 2 vannila nobz all 'Eavy armour

-10 gretchin plus runtherd with grabba stick.

Deployment

He won the roll off and got to go first and he deployed his forces in the north east table quarter. his bikes split up ready to roll in. 8 of his boyz on the right and 2 (1 big shoota) on the left.

I deployed all my gretchin on the right of my table quarter hoping to get them in good (4+) cover and 2 nobz on the left.I put the one with the powerklaw on the left to deal with the bikers.my big choppa and kombi scorcha on the right to take out some boyz.

Round 1

In his first turn he moved up his boyz and bikes to line them up propperly and he took some shots at me. Because I was spread out and in good cover and he rolled terrible on his 'to hit' rolls I only lost 1 Nob.
In my turn I just moved all my gretchin in cover and a little closer and my nobz out front.My shooting didn't go too bad and my gretchin took out 2 boyz.

Round 2 & 3

I'm not completely sure how turn two went but I remember him shooting at my gretchin on the righthand side and killing 1 gretchin and on the left he shot at one of my two nobz and wounded 1. After that I returned fire with my gretchin and moved all my nobz to charging distance. The kombi scorcha killed 3 boyz, my gretchin 1 boy and on the charge i killed his Nob and a bikerboy.
In turn 3 he passed his first leadership test so the game went on. he killed 1 nob on the left and the two nobz on the right. on the left I killed one more Bike but lost the last Nob.

Round 4

This round he had to pass his leadership test again because his total surviving figures had dropped below 50% and this time he didn't make it handing me the victory and with that my first win the very first time playing Orks.

Post game thoughts

My opponent had been a bit overconvident with his shooting. He knew I had never played my orks before so I think he thought it was going to be a roll up. afterwards he admitted that he should have drove his bikes around denying me my very valuable 4+ cover save on all those gretchin.

My gretchin were a vital part of my strategy, they are cheap but high in number so because I kept them alive for so long I never had to take a leadership test. I focussed on his boyz first and because they were in the open and within shooting range I windeled them down quite easily.

My oppponent also lost two bikes because he charged my nobz with them and that didn't pay off at all and got them killed. My Nobz had 'Eavy armour wich was also vital in keeping them alive.

Game 2: Orks vs Space Wolves (200 points)

After my first game I played another guy from my gaming club on the same table with the same lay-out. He just started space wolves and this was his list:

1  HQ choice (I can't remember which) +powerweapon

10 Wolf guard with 1 plasmagun and 1 flamer 

I played the same list as the first game:

-5 Nobz with various layout like Powerklaw,big choppa, kombi scorcha and 2 vannila nobz all 'Eavy armour

-10 gretchin plus runtherd with grabba stick.

Again I lost the roll off to go first so he set up in the same table quarter as my first opponent. He put all his troops in a bunker and I deployed my forces the same way I did before.if it works once...... (it's no garantee it will work again...)

Round 1

This game was a little different because my opponent didn''t move but just started basting away from his bunkered possition. I tried my best moving from cover to cover to close the gap but I still lost a a nob.

The cowardly Space wolves hiding in their bunker.Their weapons have far superior range over the orks weapons so no need to move...

Round 2

My plan was to run with everything trying to close the gap and get withing range or charging distance. He took the bait and focussed on my large mob of Gretchin in the north whilst my 3 nobz in the south closed in. I did lose a lot of gretchin to a flamer and shooting and also 1 Nob and a Runtherd. I then returned fire with my remaining Gretchin and manage to kill 1 wolf guard.

Round 3

In the third round at became clear that I wasn't going to win this game. Although my Gretchin stood their ground and actually managed to keep the flamer wolf guard in CC. unfortunately my oppponent switched his fire to my Nobz sneaking up to the building and he manages to kill two.

In my turn the remaining nob strikes back. It's kombi scorcha again turns some opponents into piles of ash and together with the gretchins grotblaster I finally manage to shoot 5 wolf guard from the top of the bunker.

Round 4 & Post game thoughts

In his turn 4 absolutely nothing happened, he tried shooting but nothing happened and when it was my turn I had to test for my leadership first because I fell below half strenght and I failed and so lost the game.

Clearly the table was in his advantage, he hardly moved all game and just took pot shots at my troops windling them down before they could get to them. I wonder what would have happened if I just kept out of range for the first couple of turns but my intention was to learn about the Orks. I must say that the Gretchin were again doing a great job. But I think my nobz only made 1 cover save all game and I lost them pretty quickly before they could do anything.

Game 3: Orks vs Space Wolves (200 points)

The Space wolves player wanted to have another go because he wants to get to know his army a bit better too and so we set up the table a bit differently and put the bunker in the middele so he couldn't take it first turn. I didn't take any pictures but believe me when I say that this game was the total opposite of the first game. I had him moving towards cover but managed to catch him in CC and tabled him by turn 3. The picture here on the side was the last wolf guard in CC with thee Nobz and a Runtherd. just seconds before it went down.

So in the end not a bad score winning 2 out of 3 games when I play with Orks for the very first time. I learned a few things and it was fun to play a short mission like this.

Boss Scrapsmacka can be pleased, all the enemies have been defeated... and If I would have lost I would have won anyway like a true Ork...

Weez keepin da scrap boss!

Seb

The Stylists Style List

Well, it had to happen eventually... I was nominated for a "Stylish Blogger award" yesterday by a Smurf! I must be one of the very last people to get nominated because I have seen my blog list get flooded with people winning these awards or get nominated or whatever... I don't really know where this came from but I like the idea of people listing a few of their favourite blogs for others to explore. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and go along for the ride.

Have a look at my list of blogs and you might find some true gems.

So now I'm nominated and what do I need to do....?

-- Thank and link back to the person giving you the award

-- Share seven things about yourself

-- Select 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award

-- Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award

ok, that's clear then. Thank you smurf! I like reading your blog and like it even better now.

Now for the second task I must tell you all a bit about myself so here goes:

1 -My very first encounter with tabletop miniatures was as a 13 year old kid playing Hero Quest. I loved that game so much that I recently was as happy as can be when I found the game in mint condition at a flee market with all the expansion sets for only 10 euros...I even wrote a good article about the game and background as an Old stuff day project.

2 - I started this hobby about three years ago when my dad in law bought me a small model tank to build. I still do not know why he did but I appreciated it and painted it up. I enjoyed it and it brought back memories from being a kid and building model planes. I then stumbled on the table top wargaming hobby by accident when I was looking for weathering tutorials.I was sold by the models straight away.

3 - My first ever games workshop product I bought was a box of 4 Ork Boyz. They sell them cheap so it was a perfect product for me to try it out. I still have them somewhere but they have the most terrible paint job. You gotta start somewhere.

4 -I started this Blog at work over the last Xmas holidays. I had been lurking for some time and had nothing better to do then make my own Blog. You can see that the very first post I did was on 30-12-2010.

5 -Further note on that first ever post on my blog. It is still my best visited page and I even get a lot of daily hits on it from people looking how to paint battle damage.

6 -No one in my local gaming club knows I have a blog.... It's not that it's a secret but I want to build up some decent content first.

7 -I recently set up a "Tale of four Gamers" at my local gaming club and one of the other contestants has no less then three golden demon trophies...

And then finally the true treasure of this topic....My Style award nominees.

First off let me say that I try to read all updates on the blogs that are in my blogroll on the right hand side of my blog. There are some truly amazing blogs out there like N++ tradecraft, From the Warp, Porky's expanse, A gentlemen's ones, Santa cruz Warhammer, Dave Taylor miniaturs, miniature wargame conversions & The hogs of war.................... But they all have been nominated for this "award"at least once already. (you should still check them out if you have been living under a rock and do not know them already.)So I want to highlight some lesser known blogs that I really enjoy reading. Each has their own unique style and amazing content that is worth reading. So in no particular order of any kind here goes:

- Studio McVey  This is the Blog for Studio McVey - Mike and Ali McVey. They'll be using this blog to give updates about their miniature ranges, and show what they have been up to in the painting and sculpting studio. An obvious choice for this list but I thought I should put this in anyway.

- Recalcitrant Daze This man has plastic card and he isn't afraid to use it. he's actually very good in converting vehicles and casting resin. I love the Gun turrets he recently did and his overall conversion work is simply amazing. 

- Mart's Warhammer 40K Blog A blog with stunning models. I stumbled on his blog when I was searching for some Ork stuff. His Orks are really nicely painted and a true inspiration. His Orks are currently up for sale so check it out and strike a deal.

- Imperius Dominatus A bit of a mixed bag but a mixed bag of hobby goodness for sure. Tactics ,battle reports and other hobby related articles all worth wile to read.

- Constantly Risking Obscurity another fun mix of content that I look forward to reading as soon as one of his latest articles pops up at the top of my Blogroll.

- Fester's 40K Blog I really like this blog, fester likes to think outside the box and his Killa Kans for one are a good example of that.

- The Brush Brothers These brothers are amazing painters. Their blog is currently the place to be for grey Knight lovers but their blog contains a lot more then just that. They always have the best looking miniatures on show.

- Volomir's Blog This painter pumps out one batch of outstanding miniatures after another. he is currently working on a Krieg Force but you should go check out all his masterpieces.

- Dark Future Gaming A Community of painters, converters and players from the 41st Millennium. A little less known then other collective communities but certainly worth keeping an eye on. The versatility in subjects is great and they always bring something to the table I seem to like a lot.

- Tentakel Games A Swedish painter I believe with a strange love for tentacles but his style and quality keeps me coming back to his blog over and over. 

- Digital Waaagh THE blog for the greenskin lovers amongst us. crazy and good content.

- In Chigh's little world This is a very nice blog, a lot of Flames of War stuff but this painter manages to paint an incredible amaount of detail on those 15mm mini's. Check out the detail and each base is a small diorama on it's own. For now only 15 followers but this blog deserves a good couple more.

I read a lot of Blogs and the ones I keep checking for new content are all on the right hand side of this post. I made a selection of blogs that deserve some more attention and followers.

Seb 

The landing on Fedrid IV

I have showed off most of my space marine units except for the marine tactical units themselfs. Therefor I dove in the imperial archives to see if any where even available. This (unnuamed) works largely in secrecy so not many pictures were available.

But there were some pictures made by a  reconnaissance drome at the landing on Fedrid IV.
The forest worlds in the Fedrid system hold the dubious distinction of having a huge population of large predators, making the beasts of that world particularly fierce and perpetually hungry.

Yes! I voted, did you?

Entry by Major Tom

The Grey Knight painting competition at "The Brush Brothers" is coming to an end and all the final entries are up for voting. There are some really amazing entries and I had a hard time picking my favourite. I don't want to influence anyone so have a look for yourself and vote!

Link to the competition HERE.

Note: no, I did not enter the competition.....




Seb

April Round-Up

It's the third of May today and I'm finally finding my way back to this blog. I have almost been going mad under the sheer ton of work I had to do the last 2 weeks. Therefor I have had little time to touch any brushes of found the time or inspiration to update this blog.

You could say I took a two weeks vacation but now I'm back. I still have some work to do but that should not be as time consuming as it was before.

So what have I been doing over the past 2 weeks that is slightly hobby related?? well, as I said before I'm setting up a "Tale of four gamers"that should run for a year. I'm starting a new army or should I say WAAAGH! so this is a great opportunity for me to see this through and keep my motivation up. I was just going to start painting whatever took my fancy and so slowly build up the numbers but now I've had to rethink that strategy because I have to play Battles with my Orks every two months.This means I have to have some sort of bigger plan and strategy behind my purchases. I have to make sure my small army list (starts with 200 kill points) expands so that my list will be both legal and usefull when I slowly get to an army of Apocalyptic scale....

I will tell you more about the rules and my 3 "opponents" in a later post. I am really excited about this project and the guys I'm running it with all have their own speciality in the hobby.(as a teaser I will give you one word...ehmm.. no two words "Golden Deamon")

Over easter Maelstrom ran a special promotional offer which I abused greatly. I ordered a ton of Orks so I'm excited to see them arive. I had to make sure I have a steady supply of plastics to convert into greenskins. I can't risk running out of models half way through my "Tale" and then have to rely on companies and the mailman to see if I can reach my monthly targets. It's been fun thinking about my new army because I have to plan short and long term.

Mayday Mayday !!!

On the Blog side of April it was really dissapointing. My job had me working a lot or going to bed early so the last two weeks I managed to post 1 single article just to make sure you knew I wasn't dead.Still I managed to get some decent figures considering I only posted the first half of the month. I still had 30 visitors a day on average even though nothing new was posted. Also I managed to get 60 followers which was my monthly goal.

So what's up in May? I will post more frequently and get back on track. a post every 3 days should be possible. I'm also going to show off more Fantasy figures on the ""Fantasy Friday" and I am working on a couple of tutorials which I think are great and very helpful. So let's see if I can get 70 followers by the end of this month..

Seb