Not a Battle Report - Middle Earth Battle Companies

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity - I've been playing #MESBG [Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game] at Otty's again. Oh man it's becoming such a tragedy that I don't have the time to complete these battle reports so soon after the event so I have some semblance of what went on. I was playing Liam's elves in this game and once again pivotal dice rolls made the game. I'm not sure I'll be annotating the battle as it happened but just an overall commentary throughout. This was the first time Liam had faced me with the two Cave Trolls, he didn't even know I'd added a second to my warband.

He was not a happy bunny! I think he had 5 or 6 re-rolls because of the lower value of his warband compared to mine.

However, I was very much dreading that I would squander my points advantage and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for most of the game.

It was an accurate portent though as ultimately I did lose. That was in part because I was broken and then most of my army fled the field. 

This gave me a new insight to one of the weaknesses of Moria Goblins that I hadn't really experienced up to this point - their shocking Courage value.

It was also interesting to face Liam's Elves because I was not only reminded once again of how tough some of them are, but how accurate they were with their bows. Their arrows weren't worth anything, but they could hit me all day long.

Eventually some arrows did stick though, hence why I was broken.

But Liam's dice were utterly cursed and this roll elicited a laugh/cry from my throat that I don't think has ever passed my lips before in my entire life.

What didn't help was that some of my dice were absolutely on point. 

And these three 6s did not go down well with whatever squashing, rending or throwing my Goblins and Trolls were attempting at the time.

But ultimately I think his Elves, which had taken up defence in the ruined farmhouse, proved much higher quality than my goblins and the rout followed swiftly.

It was a little frustrating to yet again fail to deliver on both the two Cave Trolls and the significant advantage in points. Liam also gained 5 or 6 bonus Influence points for the win and although I think one of his models died outright he was easily replaced with plenty of Influence left over after maxing out his warband. I foolishly pointed out the Seeing Stone item he could purchase that allows him to roll a D6 every turn and on a 6 he chooses who has priority. An awesome item which reminds me that was the mission - there were scattered relics across the board but I don't think you got anything at the end if you held them. However, it did seem appropriate that he would then have a Seeing Stone in his inventory after such an event. I expect this advice to come back to haunt me at a later date!

#DreadTober Death Guard Foetid Bloat Drone - TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's the second of DreadTober and I've been painting my Bloat Drone. I know this doesn't look too great that less than two weeks in I've completed my pledge but I'm pressured with so few days left until Armies on Parade. It'll be 8 days left today and I'll probably have one evening gaming so only 7 more days to do my Ravenwing Attack Bikes and tweak the Munitorum Containers.

The Containers could be considered part of the pledge alongside the attack bikes but still so much to do. Back to the Bloat Drone and it naturally progressed really quickly. I had a choice to make with the fly icon on the front - rust or Blessed Verdigris and I think I made the right choice with the verdigris.

I really think the turquoise works in this instance. I'd originally wanted to keep that just for my Dark Angels but in the end it adds a little more history and variety to the colour palette. It also helped with fly icon on the gun barrels too.

If I had more Bloat Drones I would consider a paler bladder/body material similar to the Poxwalkers. Although the angry red flesh is what I intended it doesn't feel it has enough depth or variety. I'd have liked a little more underpainting so we would get the illusion of what's going on under the skin. The red is just a little too opaque overall.

But really pleased with the results overall.

Although the eye lens might have been better in orange, the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 red is obviously used on the flesh immediately below. 

I think it adds a layer of confusion about what material the lens actually is. It's a minor annoyance as I really like the lens, it's just confusing to me.

And as revealed in the previous post I also finished these old skool Space Crusade Chaos Space Marines.

Although not 'dread' sized I just needed some more bodies for my Parade and these marines have been sat unpainted for 30+ years.

There's a surprising amount of red in there, almost Khornate on the middle one but I wanted all that panel detail to look like raw exposed flesh, like an open sore.

I;ve also been playing around with my camera apps as I took TO DONE! pics of my Poxwalkers and Camera360 made them so stylised they're almost unrecognisable from the actual models. I'll probably take the pics again.

But Camera360's Velvia filter really gets the high contrast saturated look of my red shots. I've found another app called Ektacam that will also replicate the Fuji Velvia filmstock, but it doesn't smooth out the detail as Camera360 does. Unfortunately it's an old app, not built for the current Android OS and has some incompatibility issues. Any time I try and change the camera ratio it stretches or squishes the image into the new dimensions rather than crops it. It's an annoyance but the results are more consistent for these shots.

So, two more GREAT Big RUSTY Stamp of Approval for the 2022/23 Hobby Season.

#DreadTober Death Guard Foetid Bloat Drone

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's the first of DreadTober and I've been painting my Bloat Drone. With so few days left until Armies on Parade, naturally I took a few evenings off which feels like such a mistake. But, I took my son back to university and when I did get chance to paint again I made significant progress as you can see.

I'd actually painted the Vallejo Game Effect Dry Rust prior to the session in particular but then it was Colvin & Co Burnt Umber Artists' Acrylic for all the panels and Army Painter Red and Purple Tone washes over the top and all the fleshy bits.

It's added so much to it and although I would like some other tones, particularly on the paler areas I love the mottled effect so far and I'm happy to leave it mostly as it is. It's come together almost instantly, but I think it's deceptive as there is still a lot to do, it's just nothing will be quite as transformative.

OK, while I was at it I had these 3 old skool Space Crusade Chaos Space Marines that I had started with my other Death Guard but did not expect to finish them.

But I need something to do while I'm waiting for the Bloat Drone to dry. The sensible thing would be Munitorum Containers or Attack Bikes, but carrying on with more Death Guard means I'm using the same paints. They'll still be useful in my AoP display and it's very efficient to do it this way, so I'm not doing anything silly by throwing paint on them.

Scale-wise they're a little stunty, but I would suggest that's because the current Death Guard have been upscaled. They're still as tall thanks to their horned helmets but realistically they're just a bit shorter. They'll make some nice background fillers any way.

So, I'm getting it done, very quickly considering DreadTober is supposed to be the whole month but I've other schedules to meet so I can't complain if I deliver early.

Terrain is everything - Munitorum containers - BIG BUILD TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer and I know it's #DreadTober but I have a backlog of content and although not a Dread and not the 'dread' I've pledged it is sort of dread sized. Anyway, I hope to get an additional 2 Munitorum Containers finished for #ArmiesOnParade and this is the 4th one I got from the Imperium partworks sale, that also got me the additional Death Guard 

It had been sat unbuilt for quite a while because I wanted to make the doors hinged so they could open and close.

It's a little fiddly but actually very simple. I used fine brass pins in the doors themselves and drilled into the door frame.

I drilled through the bottom of the door and had to try and patch it up with some sprue shaving, superglue and bicarb of soda. Fingers crossed it's strong enough.

Basecoats, this appears much bluer than in real life. It is Hydra Turquoise I think so has a little more green in the colour.

These containers can be incredibly frustrating as to get to this stage is relatively quick and easy. Then I get stuck with how next to proceed.

I;d originally planned a white stripe down the centre but somehow thought the red looked cool so that arrested any momentum as I had to ponder that change in plan.

It would still need washes though, to try and bed that Turquoise into the red oxide undercoat.

My sepia wash once again doing it's damnedest to leave deposits in the recesses. Not a problem with loads more washes and rust effects to add but this is much more representative of the actual colour.

I'll be trying to keep the red stripe darker than I usually go. It won't get to Vermillion, I have a Mephiston Red that I'll be sticking to.

After I do some more highlights and weathering the next issue is big numbers, how and where do I put the big number?

However,  I do get a Great Big Big Build RUSTY Stamp of Approval for the build.

#DreadTober Death Guard Foetid Bloat Drone

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's the first of #DreadTober and I've been #PaintingWarhammer

OK, so the Foetid Bloat Drone is my primary pledge, it's almost Dread sized but more importantly I need it done for Parade Day on 22nd October. I've started with the watered down Vallejo Game Extra Opaque Heavy Red.

It should in fact only take my a week to 10 days to do but I've some other items I can pledge to finish at the same time. It's a little unfortunate these events have coincided at the same time. I had planned to finish off my Reaver and Warhound Titans as part of my pledge after this, but I may have other things to do.

Once I've completed this I will focus on my Ravenwing and the 10 bikes may just be too much to do after the Bloat Drone uses up maybe a third of my remaining hobby time. So, I will prioritise the Assault bikes. They're pretty big, and there's 3 of them. Perhaps see them through to completion.

Then I have my 2 Munitorum Containers which might be handy to push forward, time permitting.

If that's get done then I've the remaining Ravenwing I can try to get done. Sadly my Gellerpox Infected, which would have been perfect for AoP won't be done in time. As much as I'd love them to be, and my Death Guard army is much quicker to paint than my other armies, there just isn't the time. I wouldn't want to compromise them, or anything else already on my painting table to meet some arbitrary goal.

Anyway, Dry Rust on the Bloat Drone next and some basecoats.