#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town Goblins - angry red

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town Goblins. There feels like so much to do at this stage. Not so much the sheer numbers of models. In fact the many goblins feel quite manageable. 

What is slightly overwhelming is the character models, like the King, the Scribe and Grinnah. Not to mention the King's throne and some pieces of Goblin Town terrain I also need to do. Because they're different it feels like a challenge to throw them in amongst what are a pretty uniform bunch of models.

Although, there is some variety with some weapons being bone, some stone axes and all the models that have angry mutated growths. There were quite a few times I had to subdivide the groups to make them easier to manage and not miss painting elements on all the figures.

I also went back in with the Heavy Red to make their growths more red and angry. 

It's a different vibe now. I may have lost that pasty albino look but I have recaptured my typical over-saturated mass off colour. They may be a more Warhammer style of painting than Middle Earth but I do like where they're going.

Once again I considered movement trays in an attempt to speed up my gaming but Otty isn't sure. At least that means I don't have to repaint them or buy new ones.

So, quick poll: I had intended the eyes to be black, with a gloss finish. But I can't decide if glossy red dot eyes work better. What do you think?

Meanwhile, Otty and I got all spruced up for his wife's birthday. He wanted us to look like we play toy soldiers in our Sunday best 😂

#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town Goblins - Basecoats and moar Big Build and Base TO DONE!

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town Goblins. There's now 50 of these, from the most basic gobbo to the King himself. You may recall there were 35 and goblins in a box of 36, well Otty found another 10 or 12 knocking around throw in the heroes and it is a lot to batch paint.

This is something of a test model. I took it a bit further on my attempt to recreate my Poxwalkers, although it wasn't quite the same. For some reason my new bottle of Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Red dilutes to a a terracotta colour, rather than the maroon I've come to expect from years of making angry red skin. But the purple has made it a little less noticeable. 

The King too has become a bit orangey in the process. Going to have to go some way to make the rest of the goblins match what I had in mind.

These 10 are the new ones Otty found, plus a captain and a few other pieces.

They were already primed, but I based them and added the red wash from an older bottle of Heavy Red that had enough to get the angry red I was after.

Another Great Big Wooden 'BIG BUILD' Stamp of Approval and a Great Big Wooden 'BIG BUILD BASE' Stamp of Approval.

Not a battle report - Star Wars Legion Empire Vs Mandalorians

Afternoon, at this rate I may have to look at a new URL and whole new rebrand! I can't appeal to the Warhammer Community on this one, it's Star Wars Legion! This is not the first game we've played, but it appears to be the first one I've shared.  That surprises me as I'm sure I have loads of pictures... of games I will definitely have no recollection of either!

As I don't remember what happened let us instead enjoy the pictures and muse somewhat on the game. Legion is like 40k, but based on Star Wars. There's another game - Star Wars Shatterpoint that seems like a skirmish game and seems to have a bit more support but Legion is on its 2nd edition [the new rules are free to download]. We're coming to terms with the new rules, I'd estimate we played 1st edition maybe about 6 times.

Overall, I think we like it. It's not as fun, or as simple as MESBG but it is much more engaging than 40k, despite occasionally being more complex! That's right. When I claim 40k is too complex how does a more complex game feel more entertaining? I'm still trying to conclusively answer that but I have various thoughts.

First up, every unit comes with a datacard, with all it's specific rules. You can then add upgrades, more cards, and that helps build your army. Together with an overly convoluted and impenetrable mission/deployment/objective setting stage at the beginning of the game just getting to turn one is a chore in itself.

Honestly, I think the next game we played it took over an hour in pre-game 'book-keeping'. It was ludicrous, but did add some of the high points of humour for the evening. When the game actually starts you have a set of order cards that give you some buffs but have a specific value 1-4. This is how many of your units you can give orders to and whoever 'bids' the lowest gets to activate their unit/units first. So if you choose a 2 unit order and your friend chose 3 you get to give orders to 2 units and activate them. Your friend gets to give orders to 3 units and can activate them after, or it alternates, I forget which. Like I say it's complicated and I seem only able to understand the rules when I'm actually in the shed.

There are various movement tools that feel really precise given they have hinges in, and you position them on the base and then move the leader model from one end to the other. The the rest of the squad just moves anywhere within a certain distance. Kind of undermining the precision effort but I think there is a net speed benefit in the end. Each unit gets to do 2 'actions' which could be move twice, move once and attack once [you can only make one form of attacking action unless special rules say otherwise], aim and shoot, dodge and move or even rally.

Some of these actions give benefits in the shooting phase or when you are shot at. Any time you are shot at your model gets a 'suppression' counter, like Bolt Action pinned marker, and that can prevent you from doing more than one action. To counter this you have to do a leadership roll and all of these rolls are on special 6 or 8 sided dice. 6 sided are for 'defence' - for rallies and saving throws [in white and red -  red is best]. These have shields and 'surges'. Some units convert surges to shields, increasing their defence. 8 sided dice for 'attacks' [in white, black and red - red is best]. These have hits, critical hits and surges. Again, some units convert surges to a hit, or even convert a surge to a crit! It's a neat way of managing a units capability but it does mean every time you fire or make a save you have to consult their datacard to see if a surge counts for anything else.

So yes, confusion is very much part of the game and can slow down progress. If we get through 2 to 3 turns in one evening that's a result!

Many units are single wound models, but some heroes and tough units like Wookies are multiple wound models. 

Therefore wound counters come as standard, alongside the suppression and many, many other markers. Now you know I'm a fan of markers, but even I get overwhelmed by just how many are used in this game.

Cover allows you an additional saving throw [on white dice]. Roll a dice for every hit [crits ignore cover]. Soft cover allows a shield [and surge if you convert] to negate 1 hit. Hard cover can negate 2. You also get 'cover' saves for dodging and if you already have a suppression counter. Simple and complex, it's quite a feat.

Alternating play really helps feel like you're not a spectator as your army is deleted a unit at a time. Although, the potential to remove a unit in one turn in Legion is highly unlikely. Which is one of its appeals. Even with 'tanks' like the AT-ST against an infantry unit - it just doesn't have enough guns to wipe a unit in 1 turn. It may kill 1, 2 or 3 in a squad but most of them have enough figures to weather firepower of that magnitude.

And even that will only put one suppression token on the squad so they'll still be usable if they haven't been activated. They may have one less action, if they fail their rally, but you don't feel like you're constantly losing options. I think that is one of its biggest successes - the durability of units. Unlike the films, Stormtroopers hit quite a lot, but their blasters aren't that fatal. Even Rebel t-shirts can be effective armour!

So, we're somehow loving this complex, long winded game in a way that the similarly afflicted 40k doesn't seem to deliver. It's frustrating and sad that we've all invested in a game that no one is motivated to play. I love the figures, the settings and the armies I've spent time and effort painting. We just can't bring ourselves to put them on the table

That said, I won't be investing in a Star Wars army just yet. Suggestions for factions keep being made to me and I would dearly love a Jawa army. The 3D sculpts are stunning and funny too.

However, this is is not even a legitimate faction. There are no rules for them aside from an upgrade card for one model. And without official figures even, there are no official cards, which are key to playing the game.

We discussed using Ewok rules, but the Ewoks are utterly murderous and we have an Ewok army already painted up. So there's no incentive for me to buy into another system. Nor add in a load of new figures to paint, which is actually a relief.

#MESBG Middle Earth 3 Hunters and Fellowship - TO DONE!

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Strategy Battle Games 3 Hunters and Fellowship and I am super stoked having finished these. In particular I had no intention of attempting eyes on these. I just thought it was a complete lost cause. But I donned my magnifying glasses and did them all [except Gandalf, his brim cast too much shadow already].

I made the decision to add some flock to the 3 Hunters, alongside some of my tufts I found.

I think it adds so much, I'm really glad I did it. Overall they're still quite dark. I'm not sure why but I think I associate a lot more green with their colour scheme. But I kept referring to pictures and and dark greys, black and brown were much more common than green.

The cloaks are probably a bit too dark for their Elven cloaks but it makes them consistent with the hobbits too.

Legolas's orange fletching on the arrows might be controversial but Google it and I assure you they have something of an amber hue. It has a nice little link up with Gimli's beard too 😉

Such a great pose. I'm not sure about his eyes and teeth, but the stubble worked pretty well for an accident. It would have been nice to have him coming off a small mound of slate for height though.

Gimli too could have looked more impressive raised up a bit. His eyes are possibly the best executed though, even if it does look like he's got eyeliner. Meanwhile Legolas has some strange mark on his cheek I've failed to clean up. But I'm chuffed with putting the effort in to string his bow, even if it was ridiculously fiddly.

Gollum pretty much painted himself, but the hobbits were reasonably straight forward too.

They're backpacks were the only things I felt needed more effort.

I'd done them black but a bit of brown helped lift them off the already dark grey cloaks. The welts on Gollum's back came out really well too.

Some additional little tufts just added some extra 'bling' to the base.

I did Gollum's eyes blue and added some gloss varnish so they look glistening. Super happy with how he came out.

Frodo has the least successful eyes. But, potentially the smallest, so swings and roundabouts. I'm not totally convinced by 'Sting's' glow effect but I'm glad the browns are all distinct enough.

I think Sam might be the best executed, when it comes to still looking like Sean Astin. Close up the eyes work and it looks like the actor. Amazing considering just who rough the paintwork looks under a magnifying glass. And yet, it does look like him to me so I am super proud of this little guy.

Gandalf looks great, but I grudgingly acknowledged the guys calling him 'Gandalf the Black'. Yes his robes are very dark.

But at least that makes a nice contrast to his Gandalf the White version

And another bunch of Great Big Wooden Stamps of Approval.

And here they are with the Army of the Dead on one of Otty's boards.

I love these guys.

And the ghosts aren't half bad either.

And their new home in his display shelves, ready for when we might bring them forth to honour their oath.