Battle Report - Middle Earth Moria Vs the Mighty Ents #MESBG

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing MESBG again. I'll admit I wasn't 100% looking forward to this. Partly because of the last game, partly because we've played some other games inbetween and also, because we're going to a MESBG tournament at Warhammer World - this is competitive now. There's a responsibility to get it right, know the rules, use your Might and special rules at the right time. Normally I don't care and I've someone else to do the heavy lifting on tactics but now it matters. Which has removed the fun aspect somewhat. Anyway, here's my warband 

• Durbûrz
• 2 Goblin Captains
• 4 Goblin Prowlers
• 17 Goblins [of various loadouts]
• 3 Cave Trolls [2 with hammers, 1 with spear]

We were playing the Relic mission - 6 objectives, when in base contact you search it, roll D6, on a 6 it's the Relic. Anything else it's discarded and the others are checked until it's found or the last one is definitely the Relic. Liam had chosen Ents, instead of one of his Orc warbands, so another Fearless army where I couldn't see the potential of my Cave Trolls.

Maelstrom deployment, Liam put his 4 Ents in the top right. Durbûrz refused to turn up. The second warband came on bottom left, 

in the marsh. 

The last warband - Liam got to choose where it came on - top right the other side of the trees. A fair bit happened between now and the next pic. I won priority and went for this objective. It was not the Relic. I then started to move these Goblins back toward my table half, were some more objectives could searched and to join up with the rest of my Army. Durbûrz came on, again I think Liam chose and he put them on the left side, not far from the Warband already there, who'd moved up the board.

Liam had then moved one of his ents to the objective in the middle, it was not the Relic. I checked a couple more and eventually we were left with the drum middle right and a Daemon's head top left. I was debating what to do. If I let Liam search and fail I could secure the drum. Or I could search the drum and fail his lone ent would be out of position of hs other 3, with no support and the bulk of my army closing in. I went for the latter. I managed to snag all three Ents, including Quickbeam, did not find the Relic [meaning it was the Daemon's head] and Heroic marched Durbûrz and his gang to intercept the lone ent, who would come into posession of the Relic. Liam failed priority on a 1, I got the 5. Then he had to roll to see if he was transfixed by the dark powers of the Relic, this is his 1 to be transfixed!

With the ent rooted I sent Durbûrz forward. Quickbeam had managed to smash one of my tolls apart. I just had one remaining troll versus 3 ents who were bigger, stronger and higher fight. My only advantage was my ability to trap him with cheap Goblin bodies.

Bodies that I was positioning as a road block between his force and the Relic. Oh and my dice were running hot. Liam had not won a priority so far

And when it came to Duel rolls this was just after I said I "hadn't seen a 6 all night"! Invariably I was needing 6's to win the duels and he just kept rolling 1,2,3

Then my Troll managed to get 2 wounds on Quickbeam

And eventually I think it was just too much and he was felled.

But two healthy Ents were still in play. I was really lucky with Terror rolls and managed to keep snagging them. At this point I'd made a great play in surrounding the Relic ent with multiple units - he'd been transfixed for a second turn. I then trapped the ent in the middle with the troll and the other ent was trapped by one goblin in combat and 2 just out. I then screwed up. Otty went for a brew and I foolishly said we should play the least important battle - latter one. Liam rolled his duel dice and I realised my mistake. If he won the duel he could barge the goblins out of the way, join the fight on the middle ent, peel the troll out of it and I know longer had the trapped advantage. I screwed up, but Liam rolled a 5 and if I got a 6 I'd win the duel stopping the Ent barging - clearly I didn't which is why it's in base contact with the troll.

And it did not end well for it.

The Relic ent woke from it's stupor to barge everyone away 

But he did not do enough damage and despite having the higher fight he ended up trapped again in another duel where I needed 6 to win

The troll various Goblins and Prowlers got in there, by this time it had just 1 wound remaining.

With so many dice in play, even the Goblins could take that last wound on 6 and a 4.

The Relic was dropped and I picked it up, sending the rest of my force to intercept the last two ents. The Relic now asserted it's dark powers on my Goblins, with them being transfixed the following turn.

Liam/Otty managed to win a couple of priorities but I kept throwing cannon fodder at the ents, stopping them making any progress toward the Relic. Eventually my Goblin Captain managed to get a couple of wounds on an ent. He got a natural 6, then 3, which I mighted to a 4 and then I mighted a 5 to a 6, and got the wound on the follow up dice. 

I think the troll came in and after the brief reversal in priorities I was on fire again and the Relic was hoofing it across the board. At this stage Liam was fighting a lost cause and we called it a night. I made plenty of mistakes but I was helped immensely by the dice and how unlucky Liam was with both priority and becoming transfixed. I still have a lot to learn though.

Lastly, this is Otty's shed 2.0 that he's building - it's going to be a monster!

NOT a Battle Report - Middle Earth Moria Vs Rohirrim #MESBG

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing MESBG again. This isn't really a battle report as I only have a couple of in game pics and it was a month or so ago, so I've no real recollection of what happened. But the bottom line is we're going to a one day MESBG tournament at Warhammer World and I needed some practice. I wanted to take my Moria Goblins, so we set about making a Warband that looks something like this:

• Durbûrz
• 2 Goblin Captains
• 4 Goblin Prowlers
• 17 Goblins [of various loadouts]
• 3 Cave Trolls [2 with hammers, 1 with spear]

So everything is my own, except for a couple of the Trolls, which I'm borrowing off Liam. I'm hoping that despite the lack of mobility and a banner that I've just got stuff I can have fun with. The Trolls are a bit 'power gamey' but it was just the easiest way to make up points and limit my unit choices so I have less to worry about.

Anyway, the first game we played was against Otty's Rohirrim, I think it's Theoden or Theodred, but whoever gives his army Fearless, while he's alive. This nullified my fear causing Trolls unfortunately. Something happened turn 1 which was pivotal. I think I'd been really lucky and managed to put some wounds on 'Theo' but Otty and Liam were able to squirm their way out of it thanks to some special rule. But whatever it was the fact Theo survived meant the rest of the game I got absolutely stuffed.

I'm not entirely sure if I also stuffed up the mission rules as well, or if I'm confusing that with a subsequent game of of 40k. However, it's a learning session, the event is the 10th July, so I have to get 'match fit'. Learn my rules and understand how to play my Goblins and how the missions work. 

I already felt a certain competitiveness with this. Losing badly was not fun, which ordinarily I have no issue with. I desperately hope this doesn't make me lose my enjoyment for MESBG. We'll just have to see...

Warhammer Underworlds - Ironsoul's Condemnors pt.2 TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer I know it's only four figures but I'm really chuffed with these. The thing is that despite not technically being on my TO DO LIST they actually represent 'decide on how I will paint my Primaris...'

This has been an internal debate I've been having with myself for years now and this has helped make the decision. I'll come back to that in a bit, but for now I just want to talk photography again.

Rather than power up the old phone and go Ektacam these are a mix of my phone's native app

 and Camera360 with the Velvia filter. You should be able to see the difference. Velvia is bringing its rich saturated reds, but the filter is making some of the detail smooshed up all painterly like.

All the remaining pics are Camera360, and you can really see the loss of detail in places, which annoys me no end.

It's so hard to get the colours I want with the detail.

Very frustrating and it dissuades me from wanting to do my TO DONE pics, which is actually one of the best bits of the hobby.

 Especially when you're addicted to the dopamine of getting things done.

But just to mention I think I got that red spot one, not too much on the highlights and the gold adds a nice touch in places.

I kept the highlights on the black simple too - for speed.

Another Bloody Great Big Bloody Stamp of Bloody Approval!

Here we get them on the white background and you should be able to pick out the freehand crossed swords chapter symbol of the Guardians of the Covenant. I'm so happy to finally settle on this.

I genuinely enjoyed painting these, which I can't honestly say is the case with my greenwing. To be able to keep my first born separate [as I always wanted] and find a connected colour scheme that is quick and pleasurable to paint is a G.O.D.send.

There'll be more touches I can add to the marines in the end. I will have some blessed verdigris 🗽 in places and the chapter are renowned for litany scripts written/inscribed on their armour.

It should help to tie them in with existing army but still differentiate them enough.

I am looking at some 3D printed chapter symbols though, or even decals. I mean the freehand isn't bad and even OK freehand looks awesome but part of me wants to streamline things further.

That said adding decals can be a fussy process, to get them right, so we'll have to see. It's worth pointing out how little difference there is between these two, despite the difference in approaches.

And also to point out the subtle use of weathering powders on the Red Planet BASE!🔴 model. It's something I always wanted to do, but currently it's really only on my Ravenwing and vehicles. 

I just think it adds a touch of realism and helps break up the main colour a bit. It should help more on figures that don't have a lot of fabric, so are mainly silver rather than this silver/red split. That's it for now, I've some battle reports to try and write up, weeks down the line so I won't remember what happened.

Warhammer Underworlds - Ironsoul's Condemnors pt.1 BIG BUILD BASE TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer Underworlds Ironsoul's Condemnors... Yes, I know it seems leftfield and completely off-list but I assure you it's not. I've had two [or three] sets of these from one of the AoS Hachette partworks for a good while.

And I decided to try and paint them in the same colours as the Dark Angel's successor chapter - the Guardians of the Covenenat, But before we get to them these are the bases and I started to play around with a blue base, shaded with purple wash - for something a little more fantastical.

Various highlights on the paving stones. At this point I'd really like to record the recipe for how I got here - it's the purpose of the blog afterall. But of course I painted these weeks and weeks ago and only just got round to blogging about it so naturally I've forgotten!

And when the finished article looks like this, it would have been really handy to know how I got here! I really love the scheme but I did realise that whatever test model I put on them it won't be representative of what I hope for my Primaris, as they will be on Red Planet BASE! 🔴

So I prepared another base, but in my traditional Vermilion to Pumpkin orange.

And that's them TO DONE. Really pleased with both and arguably the blue ones came out much better. However, that's on a sculpted base. Putting them on PVA/sand/gravel may not look quite as striking as these plastic ones are in blue.

Bloody Great Big Bloody BASE Stamp of Bloody Approval 

Test models look even better on the blue! 😑 As they're test the three on the left were all primed red oxide and had the silver painted on. Whereas the one on the red base is primed with Army Painter gunmetal spray and had the cloth painted red.

Silver and red was washed with a black wash. Valejo Game Extra Opaque Heavy Red, followed by Mephiston Red on the fabric.

Look closely to see if you can spot the difference between prime red, paint silver on the left and prime silver, paint red on the right. I think with this much fabric priming red might be the easier option. The Primaris marines will be more silver so I will probably prime with that. Interestingly the Gunmetal primer does dry with a gloss finish...

I think I was using purple washes here for a little more richness in the shadows. I was going to have to be careful as I want this a darker red than I usually go. Any further highlights will be limited, which will also help speed up the painting process - which is one of the primary reasons for adopting a successor chapter rather than go greenwing.

More shading to do on the one primed silver. I have the other two from this trio knocking around which I might try some testing on. I want to prime them silver and then use Contrast Basilicanum Grey, rather than black wash, followed by a silver drybrush. Cut down on some of the steps to speed things up. 

When I actually get the grey I'll prime the other two miniatures and then I'll be able to compare them to the different approaches I've made here.