Battle Report - Ents Vs Bolg and Wargs

Afternoon #WarhammerCommunity I was playing MESBG a while ago. We had a run of playing Star Wars Legion, I mean I've rolled some dice and had a lot of fun but it's mostly everyone else who're playing for real. So it was suggested we nip back to Middle Earth. After a lot of debate about who was playing whom Ben and Otty set up using their warbands for their next Warhammer World tournament and I faced Liam in what may well have been our last game in Shed 1.0. Both his armies, I managed to grab his Ents for simplicity - just 3 of them with Pippin and Merry and he went with Bolg, a lot of Warg riders with Morgul arrows, which apparently Liam claimed were the perfect 'Ent killers'. The mission was to have more models than your opponent in each table quarter - scoring points for each you controlled. I was already stuffed on this one. Maelstrom deployment meant on a low dice roll your opponent chose which board edge you came in on so Liam put two of my Ents on the left hand side so I put Treebeard with Quickbeam and Beechbone. I won priority with Quickbeam making full use of his 8" move to the other Ent's 6". No chance of a first turn charge but I was in the right direction. I was also very lucky as all the Morgul Arrows fell short, failing to wound any of my trees.

A good thing about MESBG is anything under half your model's height is not even difficult terrain. So, those cliff edges were just a step down for my Ents and Quickbeam was able to reach Bolg, who's minions surrounded the treeman. He was trapped, so this was likely to end poorly. Except Liam asked Scott to roll his dice for the duel and couldn't beat my score on around 10 dice! So Quickbeam picked Bolg off his Warg and preceded to use him as a cudgel to bludgeon his mount, and the remaining Orcs and their Wargs. Each kill allowing me to attack again and causing Bolg to suffer another strength 8 wound. As the dust settled everyone was smooshed with Bolg left prone on his final wound - brutal.

I'll be honest now, this game was from 12th September. I started writing the battle report shortly after, hence the detail above but did not finish. So now I'm not sure what happened in the subsequent pictures. I think Liam positioned the Wargs to make it difficult for the the Ents on the hill to join up with Quickbeam. Two Warg riders kept out of charge range and failed to damage with their Morgul arrows/

The Ents continued to club anything they could lay their branches on with Liam's advance force almost decimated.

Meanwhile there was a lot of discussion in the other game as Otty and Ben got to grips with their warbands. 

It would transpire that Otty would go on to win the MESBG tournament at Warhammer World and they came 1st and 2nd in the painting competition. 

As amazing news as that was within a week or so of winning the new MESBG rules would reveal that most of this army would in fact be moving to Legends!

Although this looks like Moria Goblins, they were in fact Khand.

So some of the models will still be valid, as Moria Goblins, but the Great Beast and chariots will saadly have no place in tournament play. And lets not forget that Warg Marauders are also Legends and Otty has 9 of them, including their dismounted figures too! 😩 

This may well have been our last game with Scott. I seem to recall he rolled shockingly bad that night and we had plenty of banter and laughs for just how bad it was.

The Ents moved to get to grips with the remaining Wargs, I think the Hobbits managed to wing one of the riders. Needing successive 5s and 6's their little stones managed to take one out and the Warg ran away.

Which left Liam to scatter his forces out of reach.

With time running out Liam managed to get his Wargs into multiple quarters.

I'm not sure if he snatched the win or we called it a draw. With plenty of time I could have tried to corner the Wargs but with not enough Ents to dominate the quarters it would be far too easy for Liam to outmanoeuvre my slow-moving trees and remain with more in each quarter than I could possibly commit. 

It was a lot of fun and even if I didn't technically win there was a huge sense of satisfaction from clubbing so many Orcs and their Wargs with their leader!

'nids part 371 - #DreadTober Norn Emissary toxic/plasma glow

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammerit's with #DreadTober2024 behind us #Nidvember passing without hardly a blog post I thought I'd just give an update on my 'pledge'. Actually it's almost done!

All the green glow effects for bio-plasma and toxic bits have been finished.

I've cleaned up its tentacles and you can also see the Norn Assimilator claws have been painted too. The Assimilator head is also done but I'm only sharing the claws because they had the green bits on too. 

You might be able to make out the subtle shading on the underside of the arms and in some of the shaded areas. This adds a little bit more volume that my usual OTT highlights strips out. 

There are just tweaks to the base and I can start the varnishing, if I can bring myself to complete these last few tasks. I've also progressed the GSC Sentinels and a couple of other things which I'll hopefully get round to sharing when I have the time.

Scott Forrest, 1974-2024

Afternoon, this is a post I hoped not to have to write. It's been 12 years since I reconnected with my gaming crew - a fierce band of friends who had such a profound impact on just 2 years of my life between 16 and 18. Then, when I went to uni we lost touch and it would take a further 15 years to cross paths again. Regular gaming sessions ensured a handful of us continued to see each other and even during the pandemic we had the occasional role-playing session online. 

For some of us it was easy as we live close by, for others who still gamed it was more of a challenge. Every now and again we'd arrange a weekend session or go away to Warhammer World but the real reason we did all this was just an opportunity to hang out with your mates.

One of those friends Scott, lived a little bit further away. So until Otty built shed 1.0 I didn't see Scott as often, but he and Liam lived close by and met up regularly. These guys have been friends throughout all these years and Ben and Scott had known each other since primary school! They'd done everything from medieval and civil war reenactments, holidays and family meals. They were as close any friends could be.

Unfortunately, Scott discovered he'd got cancer a few year's back. He's had operations and radiotherapy and it seemed like he'd beaten it. We celebrated his 50th birthday earlier this year, surrounded by friends, copious amounts of pizza and Dev Patel's Monkey Man! Sadly he was then told he had 6-12 months. He continued to fight, with rounds of chemo and when he could he'd pop to the shed to roll some dice with us.

When shed 2.0 came on the cards we all tried to get it done so we'd have a new space to play and share with Scott. A few weeks back it was clear time was short, he'd got married to his partner Liz but still wanted to see his mates so we rocked up at his house again for pizzas, Deadpool and Wolverine and Space Marine 2 on his X-box. He wanted to go to the shed and fishing one last time, but each attempt proved too much for him. By the following Saturday he was admitted to a local hospice and we arranged constant visits among his many, many friends, which helped him so much in those last few days. Sadly, he passed away on Friday 1st November.

In truth, out of all of my friends Scott was probably the one I'd had least connection with in those glorious years between '91 and '93. But that meant nothing to a person so blessed with friendliness that any time we met up he'd want a hug from me and we'd spend our time together laughing and chuckling. It's small proof of this when he won Throne of Skulls at Warhammer World, in part because of those 'favourite game' votes that are so hard to get, while simultaneously beating the person you're gaming with. It's a measure of the man that he charmed everyone, made them feel comfortable and made them laugh. 

Today we will lay our brother to rest. It will be sad and heartbreaking, but also filled with memories that will hopefully bring smiles and even laughter where a Scott sized hole now resides in our lives. He was a champion of friendship and positivity and we will forever play on with you in our thoughts.

'nids part 370 - #DreadTober Norn Emissary talons, claws and brain glow

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer it's the end #DreadTober2024 and it's bittersweet as I didn't quite meet my pledge. But, last year I started early and was working for almost 2 months to get everything done [in time]. This time I started early [as usual] but didn't work continuously through September. So maybe this is all just delayed [gratification].

As you can see I've added in the orange glow to all the brain bits, the fleshy tendrils and all the black highlights on the talons, claws and hooves.

Unlike the orange brain Zoanthrope I put the highlights in the brain creases rather than on top of the folds. Slightly harder to do perhaps but perhaps the better solution.

The back piece is a little less successful, because it's just harder to get to. Hopefully because it's also harder to actually see it doesn't really matter.

The tentacles have come out OK, messy but not wholly unpleasant. I still think there are some more highlights to do that will help. And also the nodules at the end - the plan is they will be green like the vent glows but I have seen some amazing orange ones and I'm just taking time to make the right decision. Again, I don't want to rush this. Also a close up of one of the talons.

This isn't all I've done, I've painted the tentacles on the Neurotyrant and Neurolids, just didn't get them to a point where I could do their brain glows at the same time. I've also done some highlights on the GSC sentinels but haven't taken pictures. What do I have left to do? 

• Fix tentacles
• Green glows
• Some minor claws on the tentacles need highlights
• Some tonal shading on the bone
• Bone chips on base
• Metallics on base
• Fleshy bits on base
• Odds and sods I can't think of
• Matt varnish
• Gloss varnish
• Blood FX

14 year blogiversary

Morning #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been blogging for 14 years now!

That's right, 14 years! I've said many times over that I do the blog purely as a record of what I've achieved. The fact it's proven valuable and entertaining to other hobbyists is an absolute bonus. I said 12 months ago that I don't do it for numbers but had to acknowledge 3,000,000 page views in August. Now look at it 3,600,000, over half a million in 3 months! It won't be long before it's 4 million - it's just silly and given 739,000+ have come from China I'm thinking that's a lot of bots. So, I acknowledge, but I don't celebrate. Although, if it turns out I have a massive Chinese following then please do reach out 😁

That said I have been less active on the blog recently. I just haven't had the motivation to do the hobby let alone blog about it. Add in that much of my hobby work can be hard to capture as WiPs I'm even less inclined. 2024 is likely to be my least published year. And that's OK. The last thing I'm going to do is beat myself up about it. I don't need another reason to feel reluctant to put the effort in. It can be hard to find time when you're being pulled in so many directions. I really wish I had more time and effort to put into the blog but I'm still here!

And a number I can definitely trust is that 14 - 14 years of blogging. There are still a few of us around with that sort of longevity, I think if you committed this long it's hard to kick the habit. I've even seen a few people joining the platform. It's nice to see people on Threads and Facebook sharing their blogger links, ahead of Instagram or YouTube channels. I may not be as active in the space as I used to be, both publishing and reading, but I still think it's the best place to share your own hobby efforts. If you also have a blog and have been blogging for a week, a year or even 10 or more then this celebration is for you too! And, if you want 739,000 Chinese bots to see your blog then don't forget to share a link in the comments if you too are keeping the hobby blogging dream alive!

'nids part 369 - #DreadTober Norn Emissary Tourquoise highlight & fleshy bits

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer it's #DreadTober2024 and it's  turquoise highlights. Overall I am much happier with my results than I was in previous posts.

I still feel I'm not at the standard I wish I was but the results look pretty good and I think it's finally coming together for me. I also added in the pink brain tentacles, I didn't want to go red on these and actually have so far painted the Neurotyrant and Neurolids the same.

Close up of my paint strokes. I am going to add some minor third stage highlights in places. Although I'm happier I am less confident I will get it done in time. It just goes to show how important those head starts have been. I wasn't kidding, I know my pace. In some respects I'm surprised I got this far, even though it's much smaller than last year's pledge.

We'll just have to see how I get along.

I added the final set of highlights to the turquoise and started on the red fleshy bits.

This has had 4 sets of highlights! I know, ridiculous. But I looked back on my Screamer Killers and I did a Heavy Red base, shade, Heavy Red highlight, Mephiston Red, Bloody Red and Bloody Red/White highlights. So I had to repeat.

The base in particular is starting to come alive with this.

The face too is more expressive, although the brain matter has been left red as it will all be glowy. I'm thinking orange and yellow like my last Zoanthrope update. There is going to be green glow on the vents and some of the toxic areas so the psychic ability needs to be something else and I'd rather not confuse with the blue 'plasma' from the Screamer Killers.

Hard talon black highlights next and then the glow.

I just think I'm running out of time. I think I have a couple of weeks effort left and the Sentinels haven't been touched since my last update. I'm not going to rush it though and be disappointed with the finished result. I'll do my best.