Monthly Update: Feb 2010 Painting Points

While the points earned for February are pretty low, I made alot of progress on my first LR-P, so hopefully next month's points will balance things out.



Points Earned in Feb 2010: 3 Points
Total Points in 2010: 9 Points

If you would like to see the original post about Painting Points, check out the following link.

Special Thanks to Lone Pilgrim for introducing such a fun idea to the 40K blogsphere.

The Wednesday Peek

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On the Bench: Amethyst Veil Black Knight

The immediate challenge with painting the rider is going to be how to hold the model while painting it. I could have eliminated the problem by premounting the rider on his stead and painting both at once. I never do things the easy way.

Once primed, I stick the model to a pin that has been mounted in a cork. The trick to getting the model to stick to the pin is a small drop of superglue. Once the glue has dried, I paint on a coat of desert brown (4:1, paint:thinner).



Once the desert brown has dried, I apply a coat of wash (brown ink:black ink: thinner, 6:1:7). I go a little heavier on the wash then I did with the stead. I especially apply a heavy coat to the crevices within the armor as I want to prevent any white from bleeding out later.

Next Time: How to Make a Black Knight Turn White

On the Bench: W.I.P. Leman Russ Punisher

Recap of colors used so far on the tank.
Prime White
Dark Blue (4:1)
Wash Asurman Blue
Dark Blue (4:1)
Dark Blue/Skull White (8:1)
Dark Blue Glaze (1:4:2)
Dark Blue/Skull White (6:2:2)
Dark Blue/Skull White (3:1:1)

Drew the woman with a pencil, followed by tracing over the lines with Vallejo Black. The skin was Elf Fleshtone followed by a 50/50 Elf Fleshtone/Skull White. I used a size 0/10 liner brush.

I think I will take break tonight and not do any painting. Feel a little burnt out on the tank, maybe because of the way I am approaching it. Will pick it back up tomorrow.

Fantasy Thursdays: N.I.M.G.C. Vanguard Scoring System

N.I.M.G.C. Vanguard Scoring System

The N.I.M.G.C. respects all aspects of the hobby therefore the tournament will consist of three prizes based on three scoring categories (Battle Points, Sportsmanship,and Appearance)

Overall Champion - The player with the highest over all score of all categories
Best Appearance - Highest painting score (tie to player with highest sports score)
Best Sportsman - Highest Sportsmanship score (tie to player with highest Battle pts)

Battle Points (50pts) 50% of Overall - Battle points will be awarded for a win, a draw and a loss. (15 - Victory, 10 - Draw, 5 - Loss) Three different scenarios will be played. The scenarios win conditions are not necessarily based on Victory Points so completing the scenario objectives are important. In addition bonus battle points will be awarded in certain scenarios for completing secondary objectives.

Appearance (30pts) 30% of Overall- Appearance scores will be judged between rounds 1 and 2 during the longer break. This will be judged by two N.I.M.G.C. TO's.

Sportsmanship (20pts) 20% of Overall - At the beginning of the event each player will be given a sportsmanship score card to fill out after each round of the tournament. this will then be turned in at the end of the tournament.

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I cannot restate how excited I am to see the N.I.M.G.C. running a fantasy tournament. I plan on bringing a vampire count list to the tournament and will post the details of that list at a later date.

When it comes to the rules for this tournament, I like how they have broken up the value of each aspect of the hobby. Battle points being worth 50% makes sense and prevents someone from winning overall without actually having a winning record. I also like that Appearance is worth a sizable amount, meaning that someone fielding an army that is not painted can also not win the game. The 20% for sportsmanship will depend on the details of how scoring works. It is enough to swing a person up or down a notch, but not enough that a well painted and played army shouldn't still contend.

The Wednesday Peek

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On the Bench: W.I.P. Leman Russ Punisher

I made the decision to paint the LR-P in sections. Work on one side until it is finished, then the other side. After both sides are complete, I will do the middle and finish with the turret.

I only had a hour to burn this evening, so I painted another layer of Vallejo Dark Blue (4:1). I believe next time I will paint a layer of Vallejo Dark Blue/Vallejo Skull White (8:1) over about 80% of the section.

Placed a painted guardsmen on top to compare the blue on him with the blue on the tank. While I am using the same scheme I use on my guardsmen, I realize that I need a few more layers than what I would use on a smaller model. I may apply a glaze of dark blue after the layer mentioned above and than follow up with another layer of dark blue/skull white.

On the Bench: W.I.P Leman Russ Punisher

So far I have spend about 4 hours assembling, priming and painting my first Leman Russ Punisher.

I have applied two coats of Dark Blue (4:1 paint/thinner), allowing each coat to dry before applying the next. Once the second coat dried, I applied a heavy wash of Asurmen Blue.

For the "metallic" areas, I have applied two coats of Vallejo Black Grey (4:1 paint/thinner). This was followed by a wash of Badab Black and a second wash of Badab black that has been thinned.

Once everything was dry, I used Imperial Blue (4:1 paint/thinner) and touched up any area that were leaking white or had been scratched while applying the basecoat. This was followed by another wash of thinned Badab Black.

N.I.M.G.C. Vanguard Tournament

The Northern Illinois Miniature Gaming Club is hosting a Warhammer Fantasy Tournament on July 10th, 2010 in DeKalb, IL. The N.I.M.G.C. hosts some of the best tournaments in northern Illinois. I personally love the atmosphere of their events and really look forward to participanting in this tournament as I know it will be a fun time.

If interested in learning more, check out the tournament's website at http://nimgcvanguard.blogspot.com/.

The Mean & Green vs Fur and Grease

I have been meaning to post this battle report for sometime and I have finally gotten a chance to write a brief recap. The game was a team battle, with Ernie's orks and my daemons against Ernie's friend John who was fielding necrons and space wolves.

Since it has been so long since we played this game, I am just going to highlight a couple of key things that I remember.
1. Bloodletters with Herald have a deep strike mishap and end up in the corner with nothing to do all game.
2. Alot of green blood was spilt.
3. Space wolves overrun the grot cannons, killing all of those innocent green midgets.
4. A lot of fun and good laughs were had by everyone.

Fantasy Thursdays: Beastmen Review (Slugtongue)

One of the things that I have enjoyed about the recent wave of armybooks is all of the various unique characters that have been included in each book. This review is focused on one of the most interesting, and potentially powerful, unique characters that has been included in the new Beastmen book; Slugtongue.

One of the first things that I really like about the character is the fluff surrounding it. The character is the living incarnation of famine, similar to the horseman of the same name. Anything in the presence of Slugtongue quickly withers away and perishes. What they have done with this character is to write it such that one could create a “Nurgle” themed army based around it or simply use the character as a dark aspect of nature. The same could be said about Taurox, Ghorros, and Malagor. It’s a nice way of separating the beastmen from the ‘true’ chaos armies while still giving players some fluff that can be used as the basis for a chaos god themed army.

When it comes to the rules for the character, the first thing that stands out is the ability called “Curse of the Famine-Fiend.” It is an interesting rule that reflects the fluff of the character by potentially causing wounds to enemy units that are within range of its effect at the start of the game. While I think the ability has a lot of potential, being aware of the model while deploying, plus the need to place the model at the forefront of the army to maximize the potential damage it can cause, means that it can be avoided or very vulnerable once the game begins.



In the diagram above, I show what the area of effect would be if Slugtongue was deployed 12” forward and in the center of the board. As the diagram shows, units directly across from it will be affected by the ability, but those on either end will not. That is where this ability becomes interesting, as I propose that its real use is not at killing enemy units, but forcing your opponent to breakup his forces in an attempt to limit the potential impact of Slugtongue. Using the speed of a beastmen army with the ambush rules means a player could overwhelm one “side” of an opponent’s army if they focus their deployment on avoiding Slugtongue.

In addition to “Curse of the Famine-Fiend”, Slugtongue has poison, primal fury and regeneration. Again, this fits well into the fluff of the character, but does not make the character groundbreaking or something that everyone “must” field. Slugtongue is also a level 2 wizard that can use the Lore of the Wild or the Lore of Death.

When it comes to which lore to select for it, I am thinking that Slugtongue should take the Lore of the Wild. Bestial Surge and Viletide are the preferred spells for him from a fluff standpoint, but I could see benefit in casting Devolve if the plan is to keep Slugtongue moving towards the enemy. The other spells are simply too high of a casting cost for them to be of much use by a level two caster.

Finally, going back to the fluff for the character and how it translates on the battlefield, I am thinking that Slugtongue would do best if placed within a unit of bestigors. While beastmen units can no longer get any marks, fielding Slugtongue with a unit of the old Nurgle bestigor models seems to be an effective combo and would have a certain visual appeal.

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Tournament Tuesdays: Overhauling the Combat Patrol Rules

Back in 2007, I ran a successful Combat Patrol campaign for GW Red Top. I would have continued to run more CP campaigns, but changes in my personal life made me take a much needed break from the hobby. Since that time, the core rules have changed and the CP system hasn’t really been updated officially. There have been some folks that have attempted it, but I have not seen anyone attempt a major overhaul of the CP rules.

The reason the CP rules need a major overhaul is that the dynamic of the game has changed and the old rules just don’t seem to cut it anymore. The original intention of the CP rules was to provide a gaming format that allowed for short games using much smaller forces. Using that as my foundation, I am proposing the following new version of the rule set.

Equinox’s 2010 Combat Patrol Composition Rules
+ Each army is composed of no more than 500 points
+ Each army is required to have a minimum of one troop choice.
+ Each army may have a maximum of one elite and one fast attack choice.
+ No patrol may contain HQ or heavy support choices.
+ No patrol may contain any monstrous creatures.
+ No single choice may cost 200+ points.

At its core, the system is about starting with one troop choice and building outward. Since the game is growing in terms of point costs, the CP ceiling should be raised to 500 points to account for this growth. The next major change is to disallow the use of either HQ or heavy support choices, as most of the hang-ups with the old system can be traced back to them. I am aware that this doesn’t solve all the possible hang-ups, but I do feel it makes the system simpler by just not allowing them. I think the same can also be said by limiting the number of elite and fast attack choices.

When it comes to models with 3+ wounds, I feel that an easier solution would be to not allow any models with the monstrous creature rules. By using this approach, tyranid armies now have real options when it comes to building lists for combat patrol. It also means that units like ogryns and such can be used. The balance to allowing such models is to limit the maximum point cost for a single “unit”. If someone wants to field a unit of ogryns, the most that they are fielding is 4 of them. The 200 point limit also means that terminators are not really an option for a combat patrol, thus eliminating the 2+ rule.

While I am eager to read feedback and thoughts on my proposed system, I figure I will discuss a couple trouble units that instantly come to mind. I could see someone fielding bloodcrushers in a decent size unit and being very difficult to deal with in this format. I could also see a single Vendetta/Valkyrie being a problem. I am sure there are others, but I have yet to think of one that is an automatic game winning choice.

On the Bench: Imperial Guard Models

This weekend has been spent assembling and cleaning various models for my Imperial Guard army.

One the Bench: Leman Russ Punisher

Sometimes one must sacrifice effectiveness in the name of theme, and that is what I am doing with my first tank squadron. The LR Punisher is the kind of tank that is very fluffy (meow…) and one I can see being used for riot control. While on bed rest, I read the various discussions on how it is the worse choice among the LR options and maybe the whole IG codex. While I cannot argue the mathhammer, I do admit a certain joy in the idea of rolling 20+ dice a turn for each tank. If I combine a squadron of three with Mr. Creed, I will get to roll 69 dice on the turn they arrive, which just makes me giggle. Again, I understand that the LR-P is not a good choice from a gaming perspective, but the fun and rarity of someone actually fielding one makes me want to use them even more.

Fantasy Thursdays: Sneaky GW (NAWT Round 1)

It seems that GW decided to make a change to the rules for the North American Warhammer Tournament. I agree with the change in spirit, but wish they would have made a more public announcement about it instead of just slipping it in. Below is the announcement as it now appears on the GW site. Compare it to the original announcement that was made by GW in late November (link).

The big change is that fully painted armies are now required. Again, I agree with the change, but wish they would have made the change more public. Along the same lines, I have been to a few of the GW stores listed for the event, and so far, each store manager has no clue about this event. This does not bode well for the event in my opinion and makes me want to consider whether or not I want to attend it.

All North American Hobby Centers
February 27th or 28th
Warhammer - 2,500 points

Starting in February, we will be running a
Warhammer Tournament in all of our North American Hobby Centers over three
months. You will be required to play one game a month on a particular weekend to
take part. Check back for the date of Round 2.
Armies must be chosen from
one of the current printed Warhammer Army Books only and from the main army list
entry. Your army must have at least 4 Core Troop choices, and you may only have
1 Dispel Scroll in your list. All models must be fully painted and based.

Bring in the 2,500 points of your favorite Warhammer Army and play a
single game of Warhammer against an opponent of your choice. The game must be
played in a GW Hobby Center at any time on either the 27th or 28th of February.
Fill out a score sheet and hand it to the staff.

These score sheets will
be sent to our HQ to be verified and tracked. The highest scoring individual in
each GW Hobby Center after all three rounds have been completed will receive an
award. The three highest scoring individuals across the whole of North America
after all three rounds have been completed will receive an amazing prize, which
will be announced at a later date.

The Wednesday Peek

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(Note: This peek originally appeared in October, but since I never revealed the answer, I am giving it another chance.)