#MESBG Zit's Oxy Morons

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I recently discovered the Battle Companies Manager website. It's brilliant site developed by Pat Gaunt, that helps manage your warband for Middle Earth Battle Companies. I have to say I think it is absolutely fantastic. It requires some effort out of the gate, you need to have all your stats and create some basic profiles for unit types, weapons and various rules. But once they're created it's really easy to add new models to your warband. Here's what's currently in mine.

I'd been using paper up to this and then I was both keeping track on paper and via the site on my phone. I was amazed at how easy it was to keep track with it.

I did mess up by closing chrome and it reset my actual game progress, lucky I had that paper copy too. Since then I've locked Chrome so I can't repeat the mistake.

It is free, but supported by adverts, mainly for Element Games so it's not the end of the world. But they can be removed for as little as £1. I was so impressed with how good the tool was I did so and will probably donate again in the future.

There's clearly a lot underpinning the site , it knows when upgrades happen to add points to your warband total. It hold each wounded model back to allow you to do all the injury rolls.

If a model misses a game it covers the profile image with blood and won't allow you to use them next time round.

Models with injuries have icons on their profile to help remind you they have a limp too. The whole process is really streamlined, even with using the book for all the actual rolls on the chart.

You'd have to write this down on a sheet anyway. Having taken all these unit pics it also helps to identify who is who too.

Experience is handled in a similar fashion and it will tell you when a model is advancing and whatever new skill or stat change can be easily applied or you just add a new special rule depending on what you roll.

As mentioned when these things are added it will automatically increase their base cost.

When you add new wargear, so long as you specify how much each item costs it will also calculate the value of the warband.

And with any injuries it will subtract those from your warband value too.

And when you come to start a game and add in your opponents value it will calculate any rerolls for you or them and any extra influence points earned because of the difference. It will also allow you to keep track of those rerolls during the game.

And automatically create your Influence Point scores at the end of the game depending on the result. I am so impressed with this, I can't recommend it enough. It's so well executed, usually you find some flaw, perhaps that is grasping how to populate your profile templates beforehand [see the links below to help overcome that] and when I lost my score data. It's also much easier to do the initial data entry on a PC, than on a mobile phone. The ability to click anywhere with a mouse, type and delete with a keyboard is really straightforward. But, everything else is functional, well designed and helpful once it's in place, even on mobile phone. I'd say it's a no brainer for free, but it's actually even better paying for it as when you print your warband it doesn't have the ads in either, which is handy. And also, that ability to print, so you can have both digital and paper versions is very handy. Go check it out.

Here's an interview with the creator: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XWyARdUwv8

And a 'How to...' guide: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta2bzJWCkYs

Middle Earth Moria Goblin Drummer Boy - TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Moria Goblins for #MESBG Adding a war drum to my warband means I can choose to move and extra 3" for any model within 12" of the drummer, so long as they don't charge in that turn. As Moria Goblins only move 5" and I've had a number of games recently where fast movement has been key I thought it was an upgrade worth taking. Otty gave me a war drum and I had a goblin with raised sword and missing shield. I cut a pit of sprue and whittled a bone drumstick out of it and glued the drum to where the shield would normally go. I glued the basing sand on and primed.

This took less than 24 hours start to finish and I love it to bits. I may regret not making the drum magnetic so I can swap it from model to model. It might be better to have it on a hero, or some other more pivotal or durable model, but it looked so cool. I love how the drum came out.

The simplicity of how I do these is so appealing, I wish I could be just as quick on other armies, maybe I'll be that way with my Death Guard...

It had to be finished for a game the following night, it was worth the effort as he did get to speed them up in at least one game. However, he speeds them up regardless, so if something does need to charge that's within 12" I can't sound the drums.

The drumskin though! A blob of Burnt Umber art acrylic allowed the varied texture and opacity. Then a few stray scuffs with bonewhite and he was done.

 I get a Great Big Big Build BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval for the build.

 

And a Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Big Build Base Stamp of Approval for the basing!

And here's my Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Minor Stamp of Approval for a little project!

Dark Angels - Ravenwing Bikes, Attack Bikes & Black Knights - Blessed Verdigris

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer but ever so slowly. Adding the three additional bike to the batch certainly sapped some motivation. Add in my evening tied up watching Attack on Titan in it's entirety with my son it's quite the challenge to pop into the shed to paint.

That said I decided to do all the Blessed Verdigris, which also means picking out the feather on the Ravenwing banners and cowling. I don't do them white and they're almost this colour in that classic Ravenwing image.

As garish as that turquoise is it should tone down after a black wash. I think I made a mistake with using AP Hydra Turquoise, as I think my other Ravenwing used my lighter craft acrylics. At least it looks that way now I scrutinise my my past models. I also find the WiP pics a hassle to take with the sprue handles, so I'm even less inclined to record the progress, which doesn't help with motivation.

There's so much to do here I think I need a checklist of elements to tick off as they're done. Obviously the black highlights are the biggest things left to do and I am still trying to hold onto the idea that that's not hard. But, there's no getting around the fact there is a lot to do.

And bikes are notoriously labour intensive because you have the marine and the bike itself, and with the Attack bikes you have another marine and the sidecar! Not mention deciding how to do the cloaks on the Black Knights. So the process is not a problem it's just the scale of the task and finding time to do it that's daunting.

Frustratingly though I really want them painted. I can foresee them complete and it already fills me with a huge sense of satisfaction. I've also got Liam cracking on with his Adeptus Titanicus titans which are on my To Do List but I had no intention of tackling them anytime soon...

And this guy is only cropping up for convenience [but is more like an inconvenience].

So, we find ourselves in that situation where if it feels like a chore then it's not fun and not a hobby. And yet I desperately want to do it but can't find the time or the motivation. In which case - don't worry about it! Watch anime with your son, play Middle Earth with your mates, go to bed early if you're tired. These will get done when they get done, either this Hobby Season or the next, life's too short.

Citadel Contrast Paints

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity although technically a 'content creator' I'm not on any freebies list, so when I finally got to #PaintingWarhammer with Citadel's new Contrast paints it was at my local Warhammer Liverpool store. As that was weeks ago it's a good job I'm not being asked too! This would be quite the missed opportunity to promote the paints this far down the line. So, what did I think? Well I briefly used the previous Iyanden Yellow on my Halfling Blood Bowl team and these are much brighter with less contrast between the light and dark areas. I've seen some YouTube reviews that categorise these variances within the range, suggesting there should be clearer marking to show those that have high contrast, those that are better coverage and those that are borderline washes. I played around with the yellow, an orange, one of the browns and turquoise [I forget the names].

It's challenging, that's for sure. It makes you think differently about how you paint and how to cover up mistakes. I'd definitely be adding a lot more layers on this to fix things so it doesn't feel quite the speed improvement for me, although I'm sure with practice I'd get better. But the short term issue would be it's a step back in what I could achieve and I'm not really in a position to try that at the moment.

My issue with Contrast is it artificially creates areas of shadow, base and highlight. You have to manage how the paint dries to achieve that effect but it does it in such a way that the highlight is 'controlled poorer coverage'. When you're constantly being told you need 'two thin coats' for flat coverage it's quite the mind flip to then accept something that is deliberately less. The irony is that I don't usually subscribe to two thin coats. I'm quite happy to have poor coverage on that first coat, so that there is more texture and mix of opacities. So Contrast should be something I appreciate, but when it just gives the impression it's poor coverage it's hard not to balk at the idea.

Bottom line, for me I'm not ready to jump into the Contrast world just yet. When I come to do my Ad Mech Rangers I may well do the cloaks using my Iyanden Yellow, as I think it'll be just as good as this experiment here. I imagine if you're just starting out they might be useful but I'd be very much wanting some advice from those who know how to use them, maybe check out some YouTube videos to get my head round them. Extremely interesting, I think they have an immediate simple benefit, but then there is a much longer learning curve to master them fully, at least for me anyway.

Battle Report - Middle Earth Battle Companies - Chance Encounter

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity - I've been playing #MESBG [Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game] again at Otty's again. This was a very odd mission for Otty's Rohirrim and my Goblins. Chance Encounter's objectives is 'the leaders of both companies are looking for a quick victory, without taking too many casualties', however, the victory conditions are to reduce your opponent to 25% of it's starting models - so much for not taking too many casualties! I think this was the game where I was heavily outmatched and so had 5 re-rolls throughout, but forgot to use any of them!

Most of Otty's guys were in the top right, but there were a couple of archers in the copse on the hill top left, hence why my Wargs are heading in that direction. The rest of my force were going to use the rocky outcrop to shield themselves from any cavalry charges.

Which worked, to a degree as Otty split his force either side of the outcrop, it didn't help that he had a wandering ghost from the Army of the Dead in his ranks.

I must have used the terrain to my advantage, getting 2 Blackshields and spearman into the cavalry on the right and the rest trying to speed bump the rest of his force so my slow moving Goblins could find a way to swamp what he had. 

I must have been lucky as one of the Rohirrim has perished.

BUt the other knight takes retribution on my other Blackshield.

One of the Wargs had been killed by the archers, but the other made it to the trees and started to snap at the old guy and female before they could reload. It would ultimately take them both down.

The melee continues in the middle of the board and my Blackshield and spear support prepare to face the cavalry again.

I'm starting to lose bodies in the centre, but the Blackshield takes the second knight down too.

The army of the dead face down my Warg as it's races to turn the tide in the centre, while the last of the cavalry is out for blood on the Blackshield and he pays dearly.

The Warg falls too and I think I fall below my threshold. It was only now we remember my re-rolls so instead we agree I get to use them on the injury chart, which was a relief as without them I'd have lost quite a few Goblins. As it was we thought owned creatures died outright, rather than roll on the wound chart and so I thought I'd lost one of them. Everybody else was OK, this may even have been where my Leader's leg wound also miraculously healed. So he went from a 4" move to 5", it couldn't have been better. Then Otty does the injuries on his female ranger, she gets just a scratch to miss a game, and just as I'm suggesting that might be a good thing as it'll lower his army points to not give up the re-rolls he rolls again [you're allowed to but must abide by the second roll]...

It turns out that scratch was properly infected and she dies. I was in fits, properly creased up on the floor laughing. It was so funny!

Here's where my warband was at the end of it.

And, I'd secured enough influence points to finally bring in a Cave Troll as reinforcements.

Add in how tanky the Blackshields had been and I was starting to think my warband had much more potential than I'd initially given it thought. I was securing regions of Middle Earth which were giving me additional bonuses - +1 on the injury chart and move through woods, re-rolls and +1 to climb tests, the ability to choose to take priority once per game - all extra rules that are the reasons I'm falling out with 40k, but they've been introduced organically and one at a time. Rather than dozens of overlapping stratagems, buffs and relics that create countless options these feel measured and contained. It's added to my enjoyment rather than created an obstacle. Any I forget, hasn't changed my enjoyment, because I can win or lose without them and losing is not as soul-crushing. 

Battle Report - Middle Earth Battle Companies - Plunder the Camp

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity - I've been playing #MESBG Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game again at Otty's. Annoyingly I will not commit to doing these the day, or at least soon, after I play them. It makes it quite hard to remember what's happened. It's not like I haven't done these reports before. Then again, finding the time and whether there is any interest in these aside from my own record it can be quite hard to motivate myself to write them. 

Anyway, Scott turned up with his Khandish warband. His leader is on a chariot and he had to plunder my camp of wagons in the centre of the board. So long as he spent a turn next to a wagon he could set it alight. This was the end of the first turn and his chariot had barrelled into the camp, but had blocked himself in, spending the next turn just manoeuvring. 

He then burst through my lines, scattering my goblins here and there. While I set about his foot soldiers, with my Wargs.

but kept a couple of Goblins inside the camp so I could sneak out and charge his chariot from behind to avoid being knocked over and prevent him torching the wagons - it was a pro-gamer tactic.

As the chariot trundled by I'd sacrifice a goblin just to keep the wagons safe. I'm not sure what happened next but I think perhaps I won because Scott only has the chariot and 1 warrior left in this pic.

Anyway, a fun game and whatever the result was, and that's all that matters.