Vampires: Assembly Line in Full Swing (Part 1)

Now that the clipping and organizing is done I have moved on to assembly. I'll say this, the Vampire Count Army sure has a lot of models with oddly angled contact points of assembly. The Ghouls don't really fit together properly at the torso and the Dire Wolf sprue doesn't have all of the matching halves of heads to other halves of heads. Skeletons are another nightmare, but do they look sweet...

There is just something so undeniably cool about hordes of skeletons shambling towards their enemy.

Also on my mind... a flying ethereal black coach. More on that later. Think this...



...except more of a greenish white color all over, angled up into the air with a tree in the middle of it... eh eh?

Hobby: Scoring? Do you do it?

I'm wondering if anyone else out there takes the time to score the areas where you plan to use adhesive.

I score almost every time on any surface. I hope that the extra effort strengthen the bond between the two surfaces.

The picture above is of the base of Dire Wolf from the VC army I am working on.

Vampires: Them Bones

97 of 135ish Skeletons Assembled. The goal is to have the Skeletons based by the weekend and ready for priming by the weekend.

A few of the models were already assembled, and someone gave a shot a priming these guys already. Unfortunately the primer was very rough, and the assembly was done using blobbed on superglue. The Skeleton's are a little brittle at the joints. I suppose that fits with the fluff? I stress tested several models and they easily came apart.

Vampires: Clipped and Organized

Another post already! I've clipped all of the models, remember that pile of sprue and boxes? Gone! All of the models, save the Zombie Dragon and Black Coach are tucked away nicely and neatly in these plastic organizers.

Invaded by VAMPIRES!!!!

You might ask why there are thousands of points of unassembled Undead on my gaming table. Remember how I said I was a little bit of a "magpie" gamer...

No! They're not mine I swear. I am officially a "Hired Gun", well more of a Hired Assembler/Baser of sorts. About a month ago I discovered that a coworker of mine had a Vampire Counts army that had been sitting in a closet for ages. We started talking Warhammer 8th and he came over to watch a game.

Today he approached me and asked if I would be interested in assembling his models for a fee. He had seen the work I had done with my Empire and Bretonnian armies and confessed that he wasn't really into the whole hobby side of Warhammer, but really wanted to play the game.

Getting paid to hobby? Of course! Honestly I am humbled that he would place his army in my hands to assemble and paint.

I'll see if I can't post pics as the project moves along. He doesn't have a deadline, but I would like to get models on the table soon. Let's see how quickly I can assemble and base almost 3000 points of Vampire Counts. Once I sort through his models I'm going to post the list here.

Admittedly this will take away from my own hobbying, but extra cash equals extra models which equals extra hobbying. Right? Right?!

Don't look at me like that!

Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition: My Observations (Part 1)

Backtrack several months ago, before the announcement of 8th...

I was growing disenchanted with 7th Edition WHFB, and my friends and I had always looked at 40K from afar, but our collective disenchantment with WHFB drove us closer and closer to Orks in Space. Before I knew it I had 1500 points of Imperial Guard!

...and before my hobby spending could recover 8th Edition was announced!

My friends and I kicked of the launch of Warhammer 8th edition with a hell of a Warhammer Weekend! We had nearly twelve straight hours of gaming the first day, and another eight the second. We plodded through the rule book, trying to forget what we had just learned in 7th (being relatively new hobbyists). Between the three of us we knocked out five games using all of the randomization rules. Since then, I have personally played four more games, brining my total 8th Edition games to 6, only one of which was a 2500 point list.

How can I best sum up my 8th Edition experiences?

1. Fast - Once the new rules are learned of course
2. Wacky - Especially if Random Terrain/Random Battles are rolled for!
3. Replayability is High! - Random Terrain/Random Battles are great!
4. Plays well from 1000 to 2500 - 40K is fun at a range of points levels, so is WHFB!
5. Inspiring - The BRB is full of inspiring content from terrain to campaign ideas!
6. Full Color Rule Book - Nice touch!
7. Thoughtful Rule Writing - Arguments have been slashed by 90%!!!
8. Pre-measuring - Why hasn't this always been a part of the game?!?!
9. and most importantly Cinema!

What do I mean by Cinema?

A unit of four Dark Elf Crossbowmen found themselves lacking courage after being charged by armor clad Knights of the Empire. In flight they found themselves in front of a curious "Sinister Statue". Having somehow escaped the Knight's speedy mounts the Crossbowmen rallied.

One of the Elves caught the faintest glow out of the corner of his eye as he turned towards the statue. To the elves' horror the "Sinister Statue" stirred as white hot beams lanced out at them! D6 STR 4 hits yielded 4 wounds. The Knights in the distance saw the abrupt flash as a smell of seared flesh wafted passed them.

What a moment! All because of a simple piece of terrain! Honestly my favorite addition to 8th is the superb cinema of the game. My games have seen huge swings of momentum leading to nail biting finishes!

Our first attempt at the Watchtower Scenario saw 30 Chaos Warrior entrench themselves in the tower on turn 3. A beleaguered Empire force, weary from fighting off units of Chaos Knights and insane Marauders, found themselves dominating the field but not the objective!

If any army of the Old World can pound a garrisoned structure into submission it's the black powder armed soldiers of the Empire. The Greatcannon's crew charged powder and rammed ball as a unit of 5 Outriders closed in. The air filled with the the smell of sulfur and saltpeter. FIRE! Reload! FIRE! Reload! Turn 3, Turn 4. The hearty soldiers of the Empire were running out of time! In the Watchtower scenario the game ends on a dice roll, in short you add the turn number to a roll of a D6 beginning with turn 4. If the total is less than 10 the battle continues another turn, if the total is more the battle ends immediately!

At the end of turn 4 the die was cast, a 5! Praise Sigmar! The guns reloaded. FIRE! Chaos Warriors were blasted through the windows of the tower.

At the end of turn 5 the die was cast again, a 4! Turn 6! For Nuln! FIRE! The guns roared. Chaos Armor can hardly stop blessed cannon fire!

At the end of turn 6 the die was cast again, a 2! Turn 7! For Karl Franz! FIRE! The garrison of Chaos Warriors was dwindling! They couldn't take much more!

At the end of turn 7 the die was cast again, a 1! Turn 8! FIRE! After suffering severe casualties through a storm of cannon-fire and handgun shot the Warriors of Chaos felt their courage waining. The Warriors broke for the cover of the forest behind the tower! The nearby State troops readily claimed the Watchtower objective.

At the end of turn 8 the die was cast, a 4! The battle was over. The smoke of the Empire's guns cleared. The men of the Empire had driven back the forces of Chaos one more time.

My friends and I have talked about this battle several times like it was the hit movie of the summer! What excitement!

A hearty goodbye to "The Boar's Head Inn," welcome to Round Square!

Haven't posted in awhile, and truth be told I haven't had the desire to. My waining desire to post wasn't because of a decline in hobby. On the contrary, my hobby has developed beyond "The Boar's Head Inn", and I am happy to say I am expanding!

The honest truth is that I don't just have a Bretonnian Army, and I am little bit of a "Magpie Gamer" (credit to the guys over at the D6G for that term). I own board games, video games, and a significant amount of models for 4 different armies across two miniature gaming systems. In fact, it's all a little overwhelming sometimes and definitely less efficient than more focused hobbyists.

I've gone through my first year of miniature wargaming, and I'm looking forward to the second! Instead of my previous whimsical posting habits I thought I might get back into the habit of writing articles. Here's a laundry list of topics that have been on my mind for awhile:

1. Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition: My Observations.
2. 40k and Fantasy - Say no to shapecism!
3. The Bretonnian Army in 8th Edition WHFB.
4. Book Review: "The Saint" by Dan Abnett.
5. Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle: No I haven't played...but I might.
6. Battle Chronicler: Can I actually make a full battle report?
7. Painting Chronicles: Steam Tank.
8. Painting Chronicles: Greatswords.
9. Thank You Podcasters!
10.The Importance of the Alpha-Gamer.

Let's see how far I deviate from this list in the coming months!

New Job? Trip to Seattle? A Battle Bunker?

Those topics and more in the next post! Working 6PM to 3AM is no way to live, I think the schedule might have adverse effects on my subconscious. Maybe I won't have to deal with that soon. Here is hoping.

Maybe I'll even rejoin the gaming world... I love a good mystery.

As for Seattle, I went to a real Games Workshop Battlebunker. Where is Austin's Battlebunker? Ok sure it would/might squash the local game stores and yes that would be sad but wow did I appreciate a fresh smelling store complete with a friendly corporate smile. Oh and Holy bajeezus toledo! What terrain! Full sized 1/28th scale Helm's Deep? Awesome! Fortress of Redemption? Sweet! A 6'x4' map of Middle Earth made from the Might Empires/Planetary Empires set? Awesome! Too many tables and a pseudo-medieval decor?! Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. The rest will have to wait until tomorrow.

Photos - New Lord: Jean d'Artois!

Since I started collecting Bretonnians I've wanted my army to be led by a lord based on Joan of Arc character. GW has a model named Repanse de Lyonesse that I was looking at for awhile, but to be brutally honest I don't care for the model.

As luck would have it, last Saturday I found myself browsing through one of my local gamestore's collection of miniatures on 50% off clearance and what do I find? Lady Jehanne, a Crusader Warlord from the Reaper Minis Warlord range.

After a couple of easy conversions....

And then a little bit of paint

I have my newest lord, Jean D'Artois! I still have some freehand to do on the shield and some details to add, but I am very happy with the model, the conversions and the color scheme.

I'll be writing up a little fluff for her shortly. For now he's her wargear:

Jean d'Artois

-Grail Vow

-Gilded Cuirass (Heavy Armor, grants Regeneration)

-Lance of Artois (Killing Blow on the Charge)

-Mantle of Elena (Immune to Poison/Killing Blow)

-Virtue of Confidence (Reroll all Hits/Wounds in challenges)

-Bretonnian Warhorse

-Shield