Friday, December 31, 2010

Brad Experiments with New Media (Scibor Dwarves) and Shudders at an Abomination

I know I am late here but Happy Holidays everyone! The misses and I got away for a long weekend and I have to say I did absolutely no hobby and it was really nice. Unfortunately I have a to do list a mile long and an army to paint in less than three weeks. YIKES!

I did spend the last two days play testing my orcs and furiously puttying and priming models. Everything is now done and primed except for the chariot (I dropped my mage), pump wagons, and standards to go on the empty poles my standard bearers are carrying around. Lots to do.

I have been messing around with some new technology for 2011 and here is my first attempt at a video (technology I hope to use to create battle reports next year).



I also want to take a look at the new Hell Pitt Abomb...



For all the wonderful models in the new skaven range I have to say that I do not like this one. I got my paws on the sprues yesterday for a bit and while the detailing is nice I just think the model looks meh when put together. The doom flayer and the other new models look ace though. Something about the abomb... Yuck... Maybe that is the point but if it is I am not wowed into telling myself that I want to have one.

The MPG version up on ebay though does make me go "WOW!!!" Not sure why cuz it is also ugly as sin but I really do enjoy this resin version to the official GW one.



I hope you have a happy, safe, and warm New Years. God Bless... Real army shots and battle reports coming very soon.

All the best.

B

Thursday, December 23, 2010

More Assembled Orcs and Gobbos

Well I am back with more pictures of my orc and goblin "chaos dwarf liberation army"

I will start with the pictures of the promised 50 orc horde. The cloaked orcs are made out of two stacked small 6 sided dice that come standard in GW games. You could say I have a LOT of them. Still do...




As you can see in the photo below, the front rank have thrown their cloaks back to expose what is underneath. I went with kilts and armoured tops without shoulder pads. Also as the orcs have scrounged their weapons most of the orcs are using knives and small swords that look like they have been made out of whatever is nearby.



From above.... (it is a unit with a HUGE footprint!) A reader has suggested that I make a more dynamic 2nd rank. I really like this idea and will be puttying up a test model to see how I can make it work.



Now I am using the old earth shaker cannon as a rock lobber. I have two. Right now they do not look very mobile. Thinking of putting the chassis on skis and having "pull chains" attached to the front. yes the painting is really average. I didn't do it and will be repainting both to match shortly. I just need to figure out what to do with them in the meantime.



My general and bsb... I mixed the general's bitz up a little but the BSB is fairly stock standard. What can I say I really liked the models. By putting a smaller head on the general I was hoping to subtilely make the model look more muscular. I think this is exactly how he turned out.




And finally my work in progress orc shaman. (read as a captured chaos dwarf sorcerer slave) He has the had and his beard and hair have been trimmed. Time for a new beard and curly hair CD style. Coming soon.



Here is a parting shot of what the orcs looked like when they started.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

First look at the Orcs and Goblins (chaos dwarf lib army)

As I explained in my last post, my orc and gobbo army is supposed to be made up of the hardened, starving, freezing survivors of a green skin revolt from their chaos dwarf slave masters. I wanted models in the army to have furs and to look thin and "ard" looking. Here is some of what I have assembled. Most of the basic grey/green stuffing is done at this point.

Here is the first unit of boyz. The orcs in the back are all heavily "rugged up" to protect them from the elements. The front rank has thrown back their furs behind their shoulders. Heavy fur has been added to an assortment of GW capes to get this to look right. (there are another 50 of these boys done BUT camera issues. Will get new ones up soon)


Now astute observers will note that the orcs are on round bases this is for easy ranking. (especially with the %^&%^ Black Orc models seen later).

I am using laser cut Gale Force Nine movement trays and they are ace. I will write a proper review of them later this week.


Here is my unit one unit of goblins. I wanted them to look mean and thin so I actually glued a goblin head to a cut down ork shoota to make the armatures for these models. I also hate the bodies these heads are supposed to sit on so I think it is a massive improvement all around. Big ups to Land Of Misfit Toys regular Drew who helped me get through this unit quick smart. Cheers matey!


Once again GF9 movement trays...


Trolls with furry bitz...




My ride is here soooo more soon.

Til then...

B

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Housekeeping...


Well school holidays (summer vacation) have begun down here southern hemisphere. That means that as a primary school teacher I am now off until the beginning of Feb. Between a few trips and a pile of odd jobs to accomplish I do hope to finish a new army for Cancon in Canberra (a little more that a month away). The player pack while still not out has been open for discussion this week and we are now getting guidelines for comp that rule my skaven (and dark elves) pretty much out of the running. BUMMER! That being said it does mean I will be forced to get another army done. (No sleep for the wicked)

For those wondering what I have been doing since Friday. The answer. Sleeping, making merry and cranking through the assembly of my Chaos Dwarf Liberation Army. That is not to say that I am building chaos dwarves. Here is some chaos dwarf fluff based on the original CD "armybook" put out ages ago:

The acquisition of slaves is extremely important, as Chaos Dwarfs are totally dependent upon captives to keep their city and industries going. Bands of Chaos Dwarfs will travel many hundreds of miles to raid Orc or Goblin strongholds in the Mountains of Mourn, and when they conquer a tribe they take as many prisoners back to their city as they can. The more captives they take the more successful the expedition is judged to have been. All wars of conquest are fought with the aim of taking slaves, as the Chaos Dwarfs are not interested in expanding their territories further. It is not uncommon for whole armies of Chaos Dwarfs to march against the Greenskin tribes, subduing one after another before returning laden with slaves. The Chaos Dwarfs will often trade slaves with the Goblin tribes to the west, choosing to use the Goblins as intermediaries rather than advance further into the Old World.

Many years ago in the history of the game, the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers tried to breed their own Orc race, a race of slaves that could work in the most hostile parts of their realm. They already had thousands of Orc and Goblin slaves, but the Chaos Dwarfs found them unruly and inefficient because they would as is their habit often fight amongst themselves. Using evil magic and careful selection, the Chaos Dwarfs created a new type of Orc: stronger than an ordinary Orc but more loyal and not given to squabbling. The experiment worked at first, but the Black Orcs were still far too independent-minded to make good slaves. They were well organized, often starting rebellions and leading the other Orcs and Goblins into armed revolt. After several near disasters, the Chaos Dwarfs decided to drive them from the city forever and many Black Orcs escaped into the Mountains of Mourn where their descendants remain to this day, while others undertook the long journey to the west and eventually reached the Old World.


My army is one of these groups of rebellious green skins who have rebelled against their slave masters. The army is based around Black Orc characters leading a group of hardened, starving, freezing ex-slaves across desolate mountain passes in search of "greener" pastures. Some of the visual cues I am using to tie in with this theme are: a bound chaos dwarf sorcerer as my shaman, looted earth shaker cannons as rock lobbers, orcs wearing tattered clothes and heavy fur cloaks to survive the elements, hobgoblin crews supervised by ork bullies, etc... You get the idea.

The army is mostly assembled and I hope to finish grey/green stuffing this afternoon. Should have good pictures starting tomorrow.

In other news:

JUDGE DREDD!



It appears as though Hollywood is going to take another crack at the Judge Dredd franchise. Many of you remember the pain the a$$ version Stallone was involved in during the 90's. "I AM THE LAW!" Don't get me wrong as a huge fan of the comics in my younger days I was rapt when it came out. I actually think they got the grit and feel of the world right but Rob Schnider was a mistake as was taking off Dredd's Helmet 5 minutes into the film. The laundry list of complaints could go on from there BUT I will move on. The Dredd reboot will star Doom and Star Trek star Karl Urban. A few pictures have started to surface from filming. I am really excited... Hopefully more to follow.

MY PREVIOUS RANTS:

One of the Warmachine playing gentlemen from Orktoberfest contacted me regarding my previous posts about perceived pants behavior by some of the elites of the game when 8th came out.

I would like to address a few of my comments in lieu of this discussion. It seems like there were a few bad apples so to speak that posted things that distorted the facts as they presented themselves during the (what looked like) the mass exodus from Warhammer to Warmachine. Many "Veteran" players plan on returning next year to fantasy events. I for one am very glad to hear this as it means that the competition in events can only improve.

It is also the case that many of these players like 8th edition as it is and only a few people wish to change the rules.

The "holding court" in the middle of the fantasy event and playing Warmachine was not planned or intended and the players asked if they could set up tables elsewhere but were told by event coordinators just to play there. They were as surprised as we were to discover that those tables were assigned to fantasy games. My one suggestion is that when dealing with people you have just met it is not always the best plan to make jokes as my opponent and I felt as though we were the butt of the joke and took it badly which was not the intent at all.

I would like to thank this individual who went to great lengths to contact me and engage in well thought out conversation to address his and my issues. Good on ya mate! :)

It is good to know that the sky is not falling as living in another state sometimes all we see of other regions is doom and gloom put forward by some unfortunates online. I still think that there is too much hate running around on Australian internet forums that is mightily embarrassing to the community on a whole and that I am sure will be a discussion for another day.

Til tomorrow...

B

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Chaos Dwarf Week... Continues...

As Mantic games has been leaking pictures and sketches of their khaos dwarves this week I thought I would work on some chaos dwarves myself... ( while I wait for the final Cancon player pack to know which army I am taking).

First of all I have my basic chaos dwarf warriors. Now a few people I have shown these to have thought they were the regular GW chaos dwarf models... They aren't. :) They are the top half of the bull centaurs and the bottom half of the old chaos dwarf plastic warriors I got in a trade (I had no trouble cutting these in half as I hate the models!). I did keep the hats for later though...

As a note. There has been some variations of Chaos Dwarves over recent years with some people making armies with masks or chaos warrior helmets. These are cool but I am a lover of the little men with big hats. Hats for me please!

Here are a few... Sorry I black primed them... Hope you can see them.




More...




Now... I have the bitz to do something like 23 or so models in this fashion. This means I have a pile of hats (from the plastic models I sawed in half) and a need for more models to fill in the rest of my army. I have truckloads of the old dwarf models ripe for conversion. Case in point, I made a few of these guys out of the old dwarf spearmen. I added an intact one so you can see what I have done. I think they are too small to do a unit of them (and I only have 10 of them) and they look literally... sad... not mean. I might have to change some eyebrows... Unit fillers anyone? (They need bulked bases and big shields I think).


I am also considering turning my unit of classic ironbreakers into Immortals... This is what they look like right now...

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Where to go from the RANT! (The Rage Subsides) (AND KHAOS DWARVES!)

A MORE REASONED THOUGHT PROCESS...


I am guessing by the sheer number of responses to my blog rant yesterday that many of you read my tirade on the state of the Fantasy on some Australian Webforums. Well… Were do we go from here. Many people have left the game for greener pastures and other game systems. Some of these people were key to writing comp systems, ranking systems, and tournaments packs for editions past. I say “Thank you” to these individuals for helping support the hobby for years. I really do hope that some of the “elite” come around and come back at some point because I want a game (I really do). Now there has been some speculation that the sky will fall without these people to support the system. Well… It will… unless we stand up to make sure that player packs get written and good tournaments get run. It is also up to us to make sure that people play at these events in a fair and fun manner so that the hobby will continue to grow and thrive. This brings me to my next point.

Events. There seems to be a growing division (by geography and by mentality) in the Australian Warhammer community on the game itself. Many (notice I do not say all) NSW and Queenslanders seem to think the rule set for 8th edition does not lend itself to proper tournament play. Victoria on the other hand seems to go the other way and have been running events where the rules have not been monkeyed with. I for one usually vote with my feet which is a shame because it means I will probably just play in Victorian events in the foreseeable future. It is a shame because it means there is a huge portion of the fantasy community that I will not meet and have a game with.

Why the hate? Why not play in these events anyway. Wellllll… As I have said before… I really like to play 8th edition fantasy. Not 7.6 or 7.9… I don’t need to go back to the golden days of having 5 pony riders break the rank bonus and steadfast of 25 of my elite dwarf hammerers. Sorry… There is a reason that I have jumped wholeheartedly from 40K to 8th edition fantasy. It is because I like 8th ed THAT much. I didn’t jump 12 months ago because IT WASN’T 8TH EDITION FANTASY. I know I am beating a dead horse here but I was around when Rogue Trader switched to 2nd ed and there were grumbles (talking 40K here) and was a full bore GT player when 2nd switched to 3rd ed and there was mass revolve and rage quitters all over the joint. 40K not only survived but it evolved and improved over time. I think that 5th ed 40K is by far the best edition the of the game that has been created. (My 2 cents) In all of that 20 plus years playing though… I have never played in a 40K event that would changed rules at all let alone ones that fundamentally changed the way the entire metagame of the system worked.

Dogcon has just put out a player pack that has been touted by many as the best thing since… blah blah.. But I think that a player pack that limits unit sizes in a game with hordes (WTF?), tells people that you need three 6’s for a irresistible force but 2 6’s for a miscast (Really?), and allows steady fast and ranks to be negated by 5 models is NOT for me. No offense to the writers of that pack. I met many of those guys earlier this year and they are great guys. That being said I am gonna call a pot a pot and I hate the pack. The problem is when the other major event that weekend decides that it might be using the same pack. Cancon runs the exact same weekend in Canberra as Dogcon (which is in Sydney). It is an 8 game tourney and is a heck of a lot of fun to go to (it has been in the past). I get one out of state tourney a year (a deal with the misses) and Cancon is it.

I am concerned not only because it might be using the Dogcon pack leaving those of us who want to vote with our feet no option other than to just not show up but also that THERE IS NO PLAYER PACK! One month out from the event and no player pack. This makes me VERY nervous. Silly hobby freaks like me need time to get their crazy projects together.

Sooooo until next time gang… I am waiting on a players pack and a comp system…

B

P.S. Mantic Games has declared this week "Khaos Dwarf Week!" Everyday they are showing more gear. Day is concept sketches... Colour me excited! I LOVE the king, the bull centaur and hob goblin art. I love that these models have honest to God big hats! If the models look like this I know what I am buying for Christmas!





More here: http://www.manticblog.com/

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

WARWHINGER RAGE!!!!


Well the introduction of 8th edition in Warhammer Fantasy Battle shaken up an otherwise generally stable community of gamers. Yes there are some major game changes (6th to 7th was more of a rules tweek than a proper edition change) that need to be considered. The hardest ones to swallow it seems are steadfast and the “Over the Top” magic system.
I am here to say that this is not your Dad’s warhammer. It is a new system with rules that interact completely differently than they did before. There are groups of very vocal gamers in other parts of Australia that have been publishing page upon page of vitriol on wargamerau.com for some time now. It started as whining. Then it turned to rage quitting and then it lead to a constant campaign to lure Warhammer players away from the scene to play warmachine. (Not everyone mind you truly fits this category and if you like warmachine God bless you that is fine with me). It has gotten to the point that people in other countries have contacted me and others I know to ask what the heck our problem is. It is an embarrassment within our hobby.
This madness has got to stop. It is pushing away new gamers and making “newcomers” to the scene (like me) want to rage quit. If you don’t want to play the game… Don’t! But leave me alone. I don’t like warmachine… sorry I just don’t like it. I want to play Warhammer.
I flew up to Orktoberfest earlier this year to play in a fantasy tourney and in the midst of the top tables a few of the (former) “Warhammer Elite” had set up a game of warmachine. Fine… They were friends with the TO. Whatever. Come game 5 though I get the draw and I am scheduled t play on that table. WTF? I walk up and politely inquire about using the table (that I have been assigned) only to get laughed at and told to find an empty table. While I should have caved someone’s skull in with my figure case at that point I did not. I played nice. I assure you next time I will not.
This just emphasises for me the arrogance of some people in the community. People think that they know better after a few games that the people that wrote the game system. I can safely say now with 6 8th ed tournies under my belt that IT WORKS THE WAY IT IS WRITTEN! Yes I have faced the endless horde. Yes I have had crazy magic work for and against me. If you play the missions as written it really does balance the game nicely.

People with huge hordes will have few banners and will loose that mission.

Hordes cannot start in buildings and they loose their ranks and other benefits when they are in a building.

That OTT magic… Well it houses large units as do war machines.

Leave 8th ed alone… Evolve or move on and most of all leave my player packs alone.

I like 8th the way it was written...

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Cauldron Assembly DONE!

So it is the last week of the school year hear in Australia so as a teacher I am fully a) exhausted and b) run off my feet busy.

That being said I have had a lot of commuter time with my trusty laptop recently. I have been toying around with the idea of writing a ruleset for pulp action, rocketeer, cica 1930's and 40's adventure tabletop game. Soooo with all of my time I am about 70% or so done. What started as a ballpart nod to GW's skirmish games (mordheim, necro... etc) has taken on legs of its own and has gone an entirely new direction. I hope to get some help from you guys (and girls) to play test this and let me know what you think...

In the meantime....

I have finished assembling the Cauldron of Blood.


Should I leave the space at the front for the Death Hag to stand or do I put in slaves pulling this?

Friday, December 3, 2010

Mantic is doing Chaos Dwarves

I am a big fan of all things chaos and all things stumpy. Always have been and I used too use chaos dwarves and nothing but chaos dwarves in Fantasy Battles. I sold my beloved CD's a few years back because I found that I just could not get anything else done because I liked the chaos dwarves so much. Fast forward a few years and just when forgeworld may or may not be kicking out a new forgeworld range... (here are the forgeworld ones...)



Anyway... Just as this is about to happen Mantic games have released pre-release pictures of a chaos dwarf conversion kit to convert their existing plastic dwarf range into chaos dwarves using metal conversion bitz packs. No idea on price yet but the plastic stuff is pretty reasonable so I expect the conversion packs won't break the bank either.


(images stolen from Beasts of War)

I really like how most of the kits make the dwarves look almost pre-hat chaos dwarves. Dark and chaos-y. Not very hashut but very chaos (especially the eye head).



I don't know if I like the dwarves. I really don't like the basic mantic dwarves but the chaos stuff really help to make the kits in my opinion. The warmachine on the other hand. Very old school looking. I love them.



I might be tempted to buy an army and dip em just to get a CD army up and coming before I can get my paws on a new forgeworld army (if they put one out). There is speculation that FW will only do war machines and special stuff BUT there is also talk that there will be proper warrior and blunderbuss crew that you will be able to buy separately. We will have to see...

Mantic is also interestingly releasing a pack of bitz to convert their elves to naughty elves... I would love to see them do something original!



In the meantime I will be keeping my eyes peeled.

TGIF!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Actual Cauldron Begins...

Weeeellll... The progress continues.

I thought the cart looked fairly bare so I have added some spear tips to jazz it up a little. I am thinking of mounting skulls on the side or rivets. I'll experiment. Anyway here are some work in progress shots including a picture from behind.




Tired of looking at the empty spot where the cauldron will live? I am... So I have green stuffed a cauldron around a styrofoam frame. I then cut a boarder around the top just below an upturned 25mm round base. Below that I used the tip of a click pen to print irregular circular patterns to break up the plain flat exterior of the pot. Then I quarter filled the pot with water effects to smooth the casting irregularities on the inside of the base. When I looked this morning it was clear now but still had the pattern of the casting circles. Grumble. I think I will stick a few skulls in the pot to mask this...




I have also been working on my corsair regiment. 16 out of 20 built and ready. I need more arms to finish the last 4 and the dark riders. I have bought two boxes of corsairs from a dude online that have all the bits but are missing their cloaks. That is fine as I need the other bitz more than anything else. Think they will be at the post office tonight. I hope so anyway.




I have been working arms and heads from the new plastic wyches into my dark riders, warriors and corsairs. If you look closely above you can see some different arms mixed in.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Cauldron Continues

I had some time last night so using the same plasticard stacking technique that I used to make the main "deck" I made two support beams to connect the axles to. I then cut up three tomb king chariots for their axles and stuck them on at measured intervals. It was then a simple matter of attaching the wheels from the chariots to their original axles.

It ended up looking like this.




From here I attached the whole structure to a chariot base and added the Vect slave girls and a few trophies and decorations. I also cut the shape of the actual cauldron out of styrofoam. I plan to cover that with green stuff tonight if I get time.