On the Bench: Eldar Dire Avenger

Worked on this model over the last few days. Very surprised how quickly I got him finished.

Episode 30 - 40K 7th Edition

Episode 30 - 40K 7th Edition
Sponsored by Heroes Haven Comics and Games & A Gathering of Might

Welcome to the latest episode of the show. In this episode, John G. & John O. talk begin with a quick discussion about the show and where it is headed in the future. Afterwards, this episode's MoH is about the new ork models, John's eldar project, and a review of the James Wappel's Painting Pyramid DVD. Following MoH, the main topic of the show is about 40k 7th edition. The guys share their first impressions of the new rules and where they think the game is headed. 
 
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Episode Timeline
00:00:17 Sponsors (Heroes Haven Comics & Games)
00:01:30 
00:05:00 MoH (Gorkanaut, John's Eldar, and James Wappel's DVDs)
00:43:18 40K 7th Edition First Impressions

Emails
The Show Email - equinox@unstabledice.com

Show Links

Over Da Top Gaming (Chuck's Blog) 
A Gathering of Might XII

Sponsors

Heroes Haven Comics & Games: Website | Facebook
A Gathering of Might: Website | Facebook
Wargamma: Website | Facebook

Episode 29 - Filthy Before Adepticon

Episode 29 - Filthy Before Adepticon
Sponsored by Heroes Haven Comics and Games & A Gathering of Might

Episode 29 is now available.  Join the crew as they discuss filthy lists, Adepticon prep, and John's AGoM XII battle report. 
 
Download: Direct Download | iTunes | RSS



Episode Timeline
00:00:17 Sponsors (Heroes Haven Comics & Games)
00:01:00 White Dwarf Weekly 
00:19:48 AGoM Battle Report (MoH Part 1) 
01:27:25 Super Fan Ross 
01:37:15 Void Shield Generator Model Discussion 
01:43:30 Adepticon Preparations (MoH Part 2)

Emails
Army Lists, Feedback, Topic Ideas - Andrew@unstabledice.com
Upcoming Tournaments - Chuck@unstabledice.com
John - equinox@unstabledice.com

Show Links

Sponsor the Show
Over Da Top Gaming (Chuck's Blog) 
A Gathering of Might XII

Sponsors

Heroes Haven Comics & Games: Website | Facebook
A Gathering of Might: Website | Facebook

Waste Wars XI - Part One

Recently I participated in the latest Waste Wars tournament hosted by the Waaaghcast.  Joe and company usually run 3 or 4 tournaments a year down in Bloomington, Illinois (~100 miles south of Chicago).  This one was a 1000 point primer for the Adepticon version of the tournament being held in early April.  This was also my first outing using my Ogre Kingdoms army.

As much as I want to pretend to be interested in competitive play, the reality is that I always build my armies based around what I am interested in painting.  Sometimes this results in me building an army the swings to one extreme or the other when it comes to playability and tabletop efficiency.  When it came to my ogre kingdom army, I was focused on bringing stuff that I liked and playing with models that I have been interested in for a long time.

Firebelly: Gold Sigil Sword; Talisman of Endurance; Ironcurse Icon; Level 2 Wizard. 205
7 Ironguts: Gutlord; Bellower; standard bearer; Look-out Gnoblar; Dragonhide Banner. 386
4 Ogres: Bellower; ironfists. 138
3 Maneaters: standard bearer; 3× additional hand weapon; heavy armour; Immune to Psychology; Scouts. 178
Gorger 90

997 points

For the first round of the tournament, I was paired up against Ryan G and his lizardmen army.  Lizardmen list have always been a bane of mine as skinks with poison tend to ruin elite armies if not dealt with quickly.  The scenario for this game involved rolling off for each unit, including characters, to determine if they started in reserve or on the table.  The scenario also involved capturing an objective in the middle of the board that basically would freeze a unit in place if they touched it. 

When it came to deployment, I ended up not getting to place my firebelly because of the special rule.  I also had to start the gorger in reserve because its ambusher rule.  This meant that I only had two units place during standard deployment.  The ogres were put directly across from Ryan’s saurus block, while the ironguts were positioned to come in from the right side of my deployment zone.  Ryan focused his salamanders and chameleon skinks deployment on the ironguts while I placed my scouting maneaters to flank the saurus block.

Early Turns

The early part of the game was focused on trying to get the ironguts towards the saurus warriors while getting away from the skinks and salamanders.  At the same time, I jockeyed for position with the maneaters and bulls in an effort to get a double charge off with them.  Ryan pushed his block forward to close in on the objective while his skinks proceeded to kill a couple of ironguts.

The second turn saw my firebelly arrive on the table and wipe out one unit of skinks with magic and the other with its flaming breath.  The gorger on the other hand remained off the board due to a roll of a 2.  The skinks had done what they needed to and had delayed the ironguts long enough to allow the salamanders a chance to get into range with their shooting attacks.

Middle Turns

The middle of the game became focused on close combat as the bulls and maneaters charged the block of saurus.  The maneaters were effective at dropping basic saurus warriors, but Ryan’s characters were equally effective at dropping the bulls at the front of the regiment.  Across the table, the firebelly bought the ironguts time by becoming the focus of the salamanders’ shooting.

Late Turns

The late turns saw the remaining ironguts hit the saurus warrior block and pound on them, only to be grinded away as the special rules for the objective ensured that the saurus warriors would not break from combat.  At the same time, the salamanders and firebelly continued to exchange flaming attacks until the firebelly was dropped.  The game ended with the gorger making it into close combat and killing the saurus BSB with a lucky killing blow.

Overall

Overall, the game was really fun.  Ryan is a great opponent and knows how to play his army very well.  I made a number of mistakes looking back on the game and really wish the gorger would have come on sooner.

 

Next Week – Part 2

On the Bench: Ironguts Unit Filler

One of the interesting things about the Midwest WFB scene is our dedication to painting and fielding amazing armies.  At any given tournament, you can expect to see work that would rival the stuff that appears in White Dwarf (R.I.P.) or on the GW website.  While having such a rich environment when it comes to painted armies, it also means that the standards can be pretty high when it comes to paint judging.  To this end, it has become almost mandatory that an army has some level of freehand if it wants to earn maximum points at the majority of tournaments.

Typically when someone is doing freehand, it is done on a standard as they are a great way to add a little uniqueness to a regiment.  Since another element of many local tournaments is to award points for a scratch built model, I decided to combine the requirement with free-hand details to create a custom gong for my ironguts. 

When it came to picking the actual image, I debated for a period whether or not to do some kind of dragon.  It seemed like the obvious choice and easily tied into the Asian inspired theme of the army.  In the end, I felt it was too obvious and decided to explore other Japanese images that might work.  I considered Kirin and phoenix pictures, but again they felt too obvious.  As I was looking at various pictures, I started to notice that koi were a common theme among many of them.  After a bit more searching on the topic, I decided to use one as the basis for the free-hand on the gong.

Using a picture I found on the website Quiet Forest, I drew a similar image on the gong I had created using plastic rods, wire and a wooden 40mm base.  One the image was drawn, I traced over it using a fine detail brush and Vallejo Charred Brown.  Next, I used Reaper Golden triad, Vallejo Brown ink and GW Sepia wash to color the fish.  Once the fish was colored, I reapplied the Charred Brown to better bring out the details.

To complete the background of the gong, I first used a pencil and another 40mm base to trace a semi-circle.  Next, I colored in the first part of the circle using a combination of Vallejo Hexed Purple, Vallejo Purple Blue, and Vallejo Dead White.  As for the blue sections of the model, I used Vallejo Imperial Blue, Vallejo Dark Blue, and Vallejo White to shade and highlight the area around the koi.

To complete the model, I painted the outside ring on the gong using Vallejo London Grey, Vallejo Black Grey, and Vallejo Light Grey.  The wood holding the gong was painted using a combination of Vallejo Charred Brown and Vallejo Vermin Brown.  The base was painted using the same scheme as the army and flocked with a combination of Army Painter and GF9 products.