Friday 13 January 2017

The Great Build part 4 - TO DONE! Blood Bowl Orks and Humans

As you can see I've gone a little further than just base the human team, I've started to do the grey base coat for the quartered red and white of my original Middenheim Marauders colour scheme. But yeah, bases are done.


Additionally, I 'd seen someone else do some head swaps on Facebook and I was immediately reminded I;d planned to do the same. With a fair few Space Wolf heads knocking around that PeteB had given me I finally found a use for them. I was particularly tickled in making one of my Throwers 'visually impaired', you know me I'am ll about the diversity.


I also managed to get a pretty cool lineman and Thrower head swap. There's only the three changes I made as some of the other heads were a little too 'mangy dog' looking but I thought these worked really well and will break up the uniformity of the team just a little bit.


I also had a spare Stormcast Eternal head but it didn't quite fit. I've quartered four players so far and picked out the big shoulder pad on the remaining. Four seems to be the maximum I cand do in a sitting so I'll just try that and chip away at an arm or a leg here and there so I can finish them up quicker.


The Orks got based too, I'm less interested in these because although I was going to go with a black colour scheme it's still percolating in my head how to do it.


I probably could have done some head swaps on these too, with my Assault on Black Reach boyz but it feels like a lot of faffing at this poing


Anyways I get to award myself a couple of Big* Purple and White Stamps of Approval for their completion.


* Big, but shown little ;)

Wednesday 11 January 2017

Kill Team Battle Report - Dark Angels v Necrons v Ravenguard

PeteB, Ben and myself were lookign to have a boardgame night butBen suggested a trip to Wargames, have a Kill Team battle and check out what's in store and how the Birthday Bash tickets were doing [8 confirmed so far!]. We set up the three way Kill Team on this urban motorway overpass table that Martin subsequently used in his first battle report.

Ben had a mix of Flayed Ones, Necron Immortals and Scarabs
PeteB went with the Ravenguard formation that comes with the Kill Team box [they were unpainted and unfinished but to hand so he'd picked them for convenience]
For simplicity I just proxied my Ravenwing bikes as Black Knights, five of them, done!

Ben managed to Infiltrate his Flayed Ones so that he was deployed in both corners to my right, while PeteB was deployed in front of me on the left.


My inital Scout move put me inside my 'biker club house' a place where all my kills would subsequently congregate.


Ben got off to a good start, killing one of Pete's Marines, which is more than can be said for the Ravenguard, whose shooting included five 1's, one after another! I did point out Pete had brought figures with no arms so it was 'cinematic and fluffy' at least.


I split my Knights in two groups, two went for the middle and the other three headed for the Ravenguard. i did kill something first turn, but I can't remember what it was.


Ranguard continued to hold the high ground on the overpass.


This gave them a perfect vantage point on the Knights [or at least someone got a good shot] and I foolishly decided not to Jink and lost one of the bikes [I think it was also the one that ignores cover on shooting]!


The second bike was overrun by Flayed Ones and Scarabs, suddenly I was down 40% of my Kill Team.


My remaining bikes whittled down the Marine numbers in the corner.


With the last Ravenguard ending up locked in Assault with my Black Knight.


The unengaged bikes headed for the on-ramp, turbo boosting to the top.


The Assault ended with the last of my bikers gaining the ramp, I think he also shot the Scarabs to pieces. He'd later jump off that wrecked section to the left [much like in Tron Legacy] and head to the objective in the crater.


Meanwhile the other Knights managed to shoot and assault almost all the opposition on top of the overpass, with just a Scarab and Marine left, which were overcome. The


The only objective left was the one enarest my biker club house and a furiously ineffective round of shooting meant that the last Ravenguard missed again on a 1 and the Immortal failed to wound or was saved. 


End result was me holding two objectives and a full house of dead 'party goers' in my bike club house with Pete and Ben contesting the last objective. I'd heard Ravenwing Knights were effective but their twin-linked Plasma Talons, BS2 overwatch, skilled rider and Jink re-roll is a great combination. If I hadn't been stupid with my first saving throw it would have been an even more one-sided affair. That said the Flayed Ones were pretty brutal too and as usual the extra shots from 6s on the Tesla are even more telling in a Kill Team situation. As for Pete's dice, they were appalling and probably should be consigned to the bin! We had a laugh though.

I'd like to swap in a Land Speeder into this force, five Knights seem a little OP but I think the Land Speeder will make play different and more of a gamble. However, I wouldn't be able to take a Typhoon without failing to meet the 4 non vehicle model KT requirement as I'd have to drop two Knights. Unfortunately the other option is replace the Ravenwing Command Squad for standard bikes which are cheaper, but then that takes up my Fast Attack slot. Maybe the guys will let me try 3 Knights and the Land Speeder anyways...

Monday 9 January 2017

Dark Angels - Drop Pod[s]

As the motivation begins to kick back in I decided to crack on with the drop pods. I'd tried the Green Glaze on one of the fins to compare it with my Vallejo Angel Green, the fact was there was very little difference. It went on OK but the Angel Green was blending the Caliban and Waaargh Flesh a little better, it is a pant afterall and not a glaze.


So I upped and decided to go Angel Green all over and it was much better than the first application. So now I need to do some edge highlights and then it'll be [a whole lot of] detail work and any battle damage I decide to do.


Meanwhile Pod 2 is ready for it's Waaargh Flesh highlights, even if I do like it pretty much as is :( Still, trust in the plan.


Once pod 1 has been highlighted I'll spend my efforts bringing this pod up-to-date so they can progress together again.


I think I'm back on track again with these, I just have to ensure I don't flit to something else so that the 'fires of motivation' don't go out or 'strike while the iron is hot'. But I'm getting there and it is progress so that's a win.

Friday 6 January 2017

The Great Build part 3 - TO DONE! Blood Bowl Orks and Humans

With my Christmas copy of Blood Bowl I thought I'd crack on and base the Humans and Orks. Now this is definitely a distraction task, not a diversionary task. You see a diversionary task is still something that gets you were you want to be, it may be round the houses but you end up in the right place and things that are not priority but on my To Do List are diversionary. Of course the Blood Bowl guys never even figured so it's just a distraction from those tasks that are on it. That said it's building mojo so can't be all bad.


The Orks too got a sand bath and all the bases got done, It was quite a session to do all 24 bases in one night over the festive period.


But they're all pretty cool and getting them done is another achievement in the Great Build at the very least. I'll get them primed and based asap just so I don't feel compelled as much to do any more [though I probably will!]. 


So here's my Big Purple Great Build Stamp of Approval for the Human Team...

and another one for the Orks.


Thursday 5 January 2017

Google+ commenting


In a recent discussion with my mate Ben about the blog he reminded me of the importance of responding to comments. I'd always prided myself in how I endeavoured to respond to anyone who took the time and effort to comment on the blog, I may not have always managed it but the intent was there. However, once again thanks to IT policy it's become difficult to comment as I can no longer access the front end of my blog. In the dashboard I can see when comments have been made but responding requires me to use alternative devices.

But there is a solution, Google+ commenting. I've used it before and wasn't overly keen. I was getting a lot of notifications on my phone which was distracting, but now I probably check independently anyway so I'm distracting myself regardless. I also didn't like how it automatically converted the introduction into a comment, it just seemed unnecessary. I know some of the other bloggers use G+ commenting, maybe they can speak up for it's benefits, but what I really wanted was peoples thoughts on my switiching.

I can stick to responding as an when I can using the current system or switch to G+ [still as and when I can but with added notification of a response], let me know your thoughts.

Wednesday 4 January 2017

Hobby Spends 2016

In a bid to prove to my better half I don't spend quite as much on the hobby as she thinks I do I decided to keep a track of my spending in 2016. I actually only started taking note around March but most of my purchases up until then had been online so it was easy to get those records retrospectively. When I see the final figure of £610 that seems like a lot but the £190 that came in to mitigate that makes me feel a whole lot better. I would not have bought those things without the income. So £418 over 12 months isn't as bad and even better when you consider the £130 for Throne of Skulls. Of course that's money still spent on the hobby, you can't discount it completely but that does make my £34 a month habit actually £24 a month with an expensive weekend away.



Overall I'm comfortable with balance, it's cheaper than when I was doing kendo. I'll continue to be frugal, I had no plan of going to Warhammer World this year but Ben is pushing for a return and I may cave in. There'll also be a new edition of 40k but I won't want a big book, just the box game with mini rule book [still burnt from my 6th edition Limited hardback] and if the rumours are true out of the Warhammer World open day there's Adeptus Titanicus due at the end of the year.

Anyway, I had a good year, bring on 2017.

Monday 2 January 2017

Terrain is everything - Hail the Omnissiah new FREE Print & Play building template



I know Christmas and New Year has been and gone but there are still presents to be had and the 40kaddict thinks you've all been very good this year so please accept this gift as 2016 begins...

This design is over 3 years old now but it is an absolute nightmare to edit as Ilustrator crashes all the time due to memory issues. To be fair it's really my machine's fault and the fact it was hobbled by our IT policy before we even started with it. When I began designing Print & Play terrain I developed all four texture maps one after another, basically just jamming with the layout and seeing what ways I could make it different. The inspiration falls squarely on this old 1st Edition Epic Space Marine building, I think it's the Generatorium but there's so little info from these days [although I do have the rulebook at home somewhere, wait... yep just found a .pdf on my hard disc and it is indeed a Generatorium, which as we all know is:
A city or industrial complex requires vast quantities of energy, and power supplies are a favourite target for attacking forces. The nature of a generator will vary from world to world. Fertile planets often use organic or fossil fuels, while fusion grids and plasma reactors are common on industrialised worlds. Solar generators and geothermal energy are also used where local conditions permit. These power sources, and the secrets of their operation, are jealously guarded by the Adeptus Mechanicus.


Of course my misremembered stab at it no way matches the majesty of the original but the concrete texture came out really well. Now you can obviously just print these out, stick them to foamboard [printing on sticky labels will further facilitate this] and build but I would heartily recommend an alternative. Should you have access to the printer and materials then print one set onto clear acetate and then print another set onto paper/labels. Now you may have to print another set and apply to the foamboard as well. Then cut the windows out on the foamboard, apply the acetate sheet for transparent windows. Then apply the label set to some cereal box or mounting card, cut out the windows again and glue over the top for a composite detailed building.


Now that may be a little more effort than Print & Play but it's next level detail and only a little effort for a lot more gain. Over the next few days I may consider putting this one together myself as it looks like I'll need some city blocks for a new interesting hobby adventure, more to follow.

To access the full STC please point your Cogitators here, be fair warned it is 4MB in size and may not quite fit on A4 paper depending on how big your printer margins are.. [I make no apologies for this, I could probably render it as a .jpg or spend hours trying to reduce the file size, I tweaked it a little bit and got it down so hopefully it's less of an issue now.]:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B97Rk-BalgZbLU4tZzFSYW9ORGc

Meanwhile all the other Print & Play and standard terrain templates are available here:
http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/terrain-is-everything-hail-omnissiah.html    

P.S. let me know if there are any problems with the download, it's a bit difficult for me to check