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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Custom Arkham Horror Scenarios

I may have posted about this before.  I can't remember.  There is a guy on BoardGameGeek.com who made a couple of custom scenarios for Arkham Horror TCG.  I printed out, cut and sleeved "The Collector", which, I think, is his first attempt.




The custom scenario consists of the Act, Agenda and Location cards.  The Encounter deck is entirely drawn from the core box.

In terms of playing the scenario, it felt a little directionless.  Also, it was way too hard.  I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'll just say that at the cost of free, you should definitely check it out.  I will say that I'm motivated to give custom scenario creation a shot and see how it works out.  I have a couple of ideas to work on.


Monday, February 27, 2017

Heralds of Ruin - Weeks 4&5

I ended up playing both weeks 4 and 5 in my Kill Teams campaign over the weekend.  I had missed week 4 due to personal issues, so we just played a catch up game and then the current week's game.

As a refresher, my list is Iron Warriors and is made up of 2x Siege Terminators (1 is the leader), an Apothecary, a Plasma Gun Dude and 4x Bolter Dudes.

For the week 4 game, my opponent (Will) was playing Astra Militarum.  He had maybe three or four 5-man squads, each with a meltagun.  He also had several heavy weapon bases with either Lascannons or Missile Launchers.  Really, I had no chance from the start.  The heavy weapon bases were deployed to lock down all of the places I could potentially move up the board.  This made it very hard for me to attack.  When I was able to move forward and shoot, I'd kill 2-3 Lasgun Guardsmen, who were basically throw away models.  The heavy weapons and meltaguns destroyed my team.  I ended up losing a single Bolter Dude permanently.  It was a rough battle.

For the week 5 game, my opponent (Max) was playing Imperial Fists Space Marines.  I can't think of a more thematic battle.  He'd sprung for a Rhino and had a Heavy Bolter Centurion to go along with (I think) 6 or so Marines.  We were playing the mission where I was defender and he was attacker.  If I made it to the end of round 5 with at least half my models remaining, I win.  If he gets me to below half strength, he wins.  If he gets me to below half strength, but I also get him below half strength, it's a draw.  In practice, that means he only had to kill four of my models, while I had to kill five of his.

Given how small the sides were, it was mostly a game of exchanging fire and two assaults.  I ended up making a series of lucky saves, while my Terminators missiles and power fists denied him armor.  I ended up winning at the end of round 5 with four of my seven models alive and seven of his nine dead.  It was a fun game and he could easily have won had I failed one more armor save.

The tables we played on were gorgeous.









Friday, February 24, 2017

The Iron Warriors Pose for a Glamour Shot

I've been making pretty decent progress on my Iron Warriors.


I ended up picking up a copy of Traitor Legions and was surprised to find that the Iron Warriors have their own 'super detachment'.  I'm actually not TOO far away from being able to field the minimum sized configuration, so I'll probably make future painting decisions based on trying to flesh out the detachment.


Thursday, February 23, 2017

CATS!

My cat is adorable and I had nothing hobby related to post today.  She does this all the time.  You can leave literally anything laying around and she'll worm her way into it.  I've found her in my hobby stuff more than once.


Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Belisarius Cawl has SO MANY PARTS!

I think I may have mentioned that my friend bought a Triumphirate of the Imperium box, but didn't want Belisarius Cawl.  I picked it up from him for 1/3 the cost of the box.

Three full sprues for one infantry character...


This guy has some seriously creeping looking legs.  There is actually a ton of sculpted detail on the bottom of the model.  I think in the past, GW would have just had a flat surface or a hollow robe.  Cawl actually has fully modeled legs and a weird power train thing on the bottom.  I wish I had taken a photo before gluing him to the base.


Here he is, fully assembled.  I've been putting models together for years and this was a pretty tricky kit.  There are so many small parts that connect in multiple places, that I'm not sure a beginner would be able to properly assemble it.


There are rons of cool bits on this model.  My favorite is this little servo skull holding up a small length of cable.  Alas, it snapped off almost immediately when I picked the model up.  Sigh.  Oh well, It's impossible to tell that something is missing.


I also like this little spider thing.  It's connected to the underside of his robe by a long cable.  Seriously, this guy would be terrifying in the real world.


Hard to tell from the image, but he also has a pretty fierce looking manipulator claw.  He's pretty solid in close combat.


Finally, to give a full idea of how large he is, here he is standing next to a couple of Skitarii Rangers.  The plan is to get him painted up sometime in the near future.  It's going to take awhile, given all the detail.


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

The Iron Warriors Get Some Heavy Hitters

Once upon a time, many moons ago, I bought some Autocannon dudes from Anvil Industries.  The guy who runs the place makes some really nice models with almost no clean up required.  If you're interested, check it out.  He sells tons of specialty weapons for Marines, as well as the Black Ops bodies...


This is what they look like straight from Anvil Industries.


I was looking for a little more of a GW aesthetic, so I replaced the helmets with some Grey Knights heads, swapped out the shoulderpads and put some regular backpacks on.  I think the effect works.  You'll notice that in the picture below, I have Chaos Marines backpacks on.  I changed my mind and went with regular loyalist backpacks.


After a little painting, they're really fitting in with the rest of the army.  I only got two of them done, but a little free time and I'll be able to crank out the rest.  I think the smaller backpacks were a good idea.



In this shot, you can see the backs of the legs.  They have cabling running up the backs of the calves.  I like the idea for the heavy weapons.  I like to think that they're extra power assist systems to handle the recoil of an Autocannon.


Monday, February 20, 2017

Star Wars X-Wing Tournament

On 2/12, I played in a Star Wars X-Wing tournament.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know.  I waited forever to post about it.  This was also the first game of X-Wing I've played in almost a year, so prepare to be underwhelmed by my performance.

I played the following list...

100 points

Pilots
------

Fenn Rau (34)
Protectorate Starfighter (28), Push the Limit (3), Concord Dawn Protector (1), Autothrusters (2)

Jakku Gunrunner (17)
Quadjumper (15), Spacetug Tractor Array (2)

Ketsu Onyo (49)
Lancer-class Pursuit Craft (38), Push the Limit (3), K4 Security Droid (3), Shadow Caster (3), Gyroscopic Targeting (2)

I really wanted to try out the Quadjumper.  I think it's a cool concept that it can fly backwards and throw small ships into asteroids and debris fields.  In practice, my concept didn't work well.  Fenn Rau dies to one solid hit.  The Quadjumper can take two hits, but moves slow enough that it's hard to get it into position.  The Lancer-class is pretty solid, but can't survive on it's own.

Even though I lost literally every game, I actually got ALL the prizes.  Everyone who played got a copy of alternate artwork Veteran Instincts and Swarm Tactics.  Then, the first player got a Ketsu Onyo alternate artwork card.  I was obviously not the first player, but the winner came over to me afterwards, told me he didn't need it and offered it in trade for a couple of upgrade cards he didn't have.  I had multiples, so that was an easy decision.  For the acrylic Tractor Beam tokens, we all rolled off.  I won that roll.  Pretty cool loot haul considering I came in dead last.


Here are a couple of glamour shots from different games.  I love these mats.  Makes the game so much nicer.






Heralds of Ruin - Week 4, Fight!

Ugh...  for a second week in a row, I wasn't able to make it.  I do have firm plans to play both Week 4 and Week 5 next Saturday.  Hopefully, nothing pops up to throw that off.

Friday, February 17, 2017

The Iron Warriors Get a Ghetto Ride

I got bored and pulled a ghetto Rhino out of my pile of misfit toys.  I think this Rhino has maybe a half dozen layers of different paint on it.  I didn't feel like stripping it, so I just primed it silver using an Army Painter spray can and went from there.  Took maybe 30 minutes total to get to this stage.  What do you think?  I think it fits well enough.  Nothing fancy, but it'll look OK on the tabletop.

I do think the treads need to be darkened, though.  I'll try that next time I sit down to paint.


Thursday, February 16, 2017

I Painted a Butt.


I don't know whether I should celebrate or cry in shame.  I painted one of the Pelegarth Bloodmasks as a test model.  I rarely paint much skin, so this was sort of a new thing.  I was surprised to find that the models are actually a lot rougher than I thought they were initially.  It was tough to get a smooth base coat in places.  All told, I think it worked out.



These are the colors I used.  I'm mainly posting this as a reference for myself, but if you want to try to replicate the effect, here you go...

The skin is a base of Ratskin Flesh, which required several watered down coats to make smooth.  It's a base, but it doesn't cover well.  I then washed with Reeikland Fleshshade.  I finished the model with a highlight of Cadian Fleshtone on all the raised areas.  I think I needed 2-3 watered down layers to get a smooth coverage.


For the base, I drybrushed Rhinox Hide, followed with Steel Legion Drab and Flayed One Flesh.  The rim is based with Steel Legion Drab.


The metal bits are just Leadbelcher washed with whatever the black wash is called...  Nuln Oil?  The red parts are Mephiston Red and Evil Sunz Scarlet.  I put a little black wash in the eye sockets to give some depth.  I did try a little Blood for the Blood God on the sword.  I'm not sold on the effect, but figured that I bought the paint...  I should use it.


It's going to take FOREVER to paint all these skin.  I don't know what I was thinking.  At least now that I have a scheme, I should be able to knock them out fairly quickly.  For the Patrol list, I only have to paint 5 more.  The Brutes are also all skin, but it's a different model, so should feel like a different painting experience.


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Siege Tyrant Showdown

Forgeworld recently previewed the official Iron Warriors Siege Tyrant models.  I kinda prefer mine, which are just plastic Cataphractii Terminators with Anvil Industries missile racks glued to the top.  I do kinda like the helmets on the official ones, but that's a pretty tiny detail.

Theirs...


Mine...


Thoughts?  I like that their should pads are a little bigger, but it's not that big of a difference.


Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Wrath of Kings - Priming Happened!


I had a tiny bit of sunlight when I got home, so I did a bit of quick priming.  I didn't bother gluing sand to the bases.  I don't think I'll need it.  Once I start painting, I think I might be able to just either use nothing (if not needed) or just use some of GW's texture paints.  I think I'll be ok with just the cork and some static grass.  The plan is to do these guys with rocky bases and grey/white static grass.  I want a cold mountain top sort of vibe.


I assume my neighbors think I'm cooking meth or something.  I mist look like a total crazy person to them.  It's just so cold out, and without the mask, my allergies EXPLODE when I'm using spray cans.  the fake fur hat probably doesn't help.


Monday, February 13, 2017

Destiny - Spirit of Rebellion Spoilers

Looks like Team Covenant spoiled a few more cards.  Sweet.  I love this game.


First up, we have a couple of spoiled characters.  It looks like Darth Vader is getting another version.  He's actually a pretty solid damage dealer.  He effectively has damage facings of 3, 3, 2 and 1.  The remaining facing is a discard, which is always useful.  At only 17 point for an elite version, there is room for another 13 point character.  Not bad.  Obi-wan looks interesting.  He's SUPER expensive, but seems like an ideal support character.  I doubt we'll ever see him used as an elite.  With two focus facings and death allowing a free card, it seems like a single die character is enough.


Rise Again seems like the blue Villain Second Chance.  Heal a unique blue character for 5 damage AND give him a free upgrade from your discard pile?  Sure.  That sounds amazing.  5 resources is a pretty high cost, but I would stick this in my Vader/eJabba deck right now.  Any deck that can generate resources will love this.


Last up is a Battlefield.  Being able to prevent a character die from rolling is useful, but not amazing.  We'll see how this one stands up to the other Battlefields in the set.

Can't wait to see more...


Heralds of Ruin - Week 4... Don't Fight?

Sigh.

So, the store that we normally play at on Saturdays hosted both Flames of War and Magic the Gathering tournaments at the same time.  Given that it seemed very likely.that we wouldn't be able to get a table, we decided to postpone for a week.  That just gives me a little more time to get some more things painted.

Again, sigh.

Friday, February 10, 2017

What next for the Iron Warriors?

I'm really up in the air on what I want to add next to my Iron Warriors list.  I have a couple of options, all of which come from Forgeworld and will be 100% resin.  Fancy, but harder to work with.  Forgeworld's quality control is a little spotty.  They have amazing customer service, but their actual product has more issues that it really should.

Here are my ideas...

First up is a basic Techmarine in Mk3 Power Armor.  This seems like a no brainer.  The Iron Warriors should have Techmarines.  I'm not sold on the head, though.  I'd probably do a little conversion work to add a snazzy helmet.


The next option is a Legion Destroyer Squad.  There's something about dual pistol wielding Marines with jet packs that makes me happy.  The weird looking weapon is a missile launcher equipped with some sort of radioactive missiles.  I need to go back and look at the rules.  The Iron Warriors are siege experts, but presumably they have squads that can get up to the battlements quick and take out opposition forces.


Last up, and most likely to be chosen is a Rapier equipped with a Quad launcher.  I think this thing basically screams Iron Warriors.  It would also be nice to paint something other than Power Armor for this army.  Seems like these can be purchased from eBay for about $30 or so.


We'll see what happens.  This would be a lot easier if GW had a US distributor for their Forgeworld line.  Ordering directly from a manufacturer in another country can be sort of a pain in the rear.