Not a battle report - MESBG Orcs Vs Orcs

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PlayingWarhammer with a game of new MESBG. I think this is Azog's Legion versus Azog's Hunters with the main difference being the hunter's ridiculous movement value of 8". Meaning Otty had a huge manoeuvrability advantage. Liam had originally looked at Bolg as the hero but saw the new rules for the Troll Brute, so we switched things up. 

As I have a huge issue with matched play games having missions with scoring points for taking a banner, when not all armies can take banners - I was adamant we take one, because we could. This caused a lot of debate how wrong we were but I think 50% of the missions score this way. Obviously we rolled a mission that didn't, but that doesn't stop us using the re-roll to duels within 3" benefit.

Liam did most of the movement, tactics and rolling in the early turns. Trying to find a way to make Otty's movement redundant. Unfortunately his dice rolling was appalling and he couldn't manage above a three. 

Eventually he handed the dice to me as I've had a run of 'getting exactly what we need recently' but hilariously I was also getting ones and twos! 😂 The Troll Brute had some fun trying to trample through the Hunters.

About halfway through the game we realised we'd not remembered to use the Banner's reroll ability afterall! To make matters even worse we discovered the Legion has a faction rule that means we get can get a Banner reroll over the entire board each turn, or a couple of other benefits instead. This represents Azog's banner orders from The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. So we'd forgotten to use them for most of the game.

The Brute managed to get into some meaty combat with Lurtz eventually. Then Otty took the decision to fire with his archers into combat at the Troll Brute rider [not actually on the model]. Both hit, but both got 'in the way', so hit Lurtz!

He had one fate point left, a 4+ save and this was Otty's role!  😂 

Oh man, it was such a funny game. Once again MESBG delivering fun outcomes that make you laugh so hard. I don't know why this plays so hard with comedy moments. There's something about the game mechanic that makes so many dice roles pivotal and yet offers 50:50 chances that come as such a surprise when it doesn't pay off.

Whatever the reason we're going to keep on playing and having fun.

#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.

#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.

#MESBG Middle Earth Army of the Dead - TO DONE!

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on Scott's Middle Earth Army of the Dead. I did not realise just how rewarding I would find this. All of the gaming crew has done something to advance Scott's armies. I wasn't really aware it was a thing, Ben had been quietly beavering away with a newfound love for Contrast paints making him both really productive and achieving amazing results. Liam had also got stuff done but they felt I should 're-base' and fix all these ghosts.

Naturally, finishing off the army for Scott was going to feel satisfying but it's compounded by me getting 50 models painted in around 10 days. Yes 10 had been almost finished by Liam when Scott was with us but they've all had attention in varying degrees put on them. Not to mention they've all been varnished.

Some even had to be finished building. But you know me the fundamental hit I'm searching for is the serotonin high of finishing a project.

And I don't think I have EVER finished so many models in one go, nor so quickly.

Even if I hadn't been doing it for Scott I'd be proud of the achievement but the fact I got to finish it for him makes it that much more special.

I queried whether the additional highlights were needed, Contrast does do such a fantastic job with these ethereal beings.

But it has indeed added to the overall look and feel of the army.

Just enough of what Scott did initially, enhanced with some glow on the ground and highlights up top.

I don't know how consistent the bases are. Whether it's obvious that some were done by Liam, who has a much finer grain of basing material.

And the newer ones don't have any grass tufts as the only tufts I can find at the moment have flowers on from my Halfling Blood Bowl Team.

I do have some brown tufts somewhere, for when I started my Turnip28 models, but for the life of me the packet has gone AWOL.

As you can see Liam and Scott had used different colours, so some dead brown tufts would have added a third dimension.

Then again, some without would equally have helped in differentiating sub-warband groups.

I was amazed how rich the turquoise shading on the lower half became from my Craft Acrylic. This is one of the ones I've used on my Tyranid striations. It never looks this vibrant, but I think it really works. 

The question we have now is that I do have a sizeable Night Haunt army that is unbuilt. I've not intention of making them now or painting them anytime soon.

But having done these so quickly do I go with this [standard] approach. It's so quick and productive, although I like the idea of rusty metallics on the weapons. Or do I do something else a little more bloody and disgusting...

And another bunch of  Great Big Wooden Stamps of Approval.