Everything is packed! One more day left. I will be glad to leave the Wasps behind at least. The little feckers seem to think my room is paradise as every five minutes one flies in. At least Buddha will be happy as I have not resorted to flattening them yet!
I noticed that a new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is coming out. Looking through the initial description I am not too excited. It seems to have gone the same route as Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. It might seem strange that I actually like the new 4th edition but not the new Fantasy Roleplay. The problem I have with what I see of Fantasy Roleplay is that they have abandoned what made their game unique. The atmosphere and horror of the Old World would not be as good as it is if you are actually playing a capable hero rather than the useless beggar.
I wasn't able to pick up all that I wanted from the local GW. So at the moment I have no spawn and no Deamonettes. I will have to huntdown the GW in Hamburg. I haven't even been able to find the address yet. Strangely White Dwarf has the addresses of all its shops in Europe except for Germany. I would havethough that they have a lot of shops there, Maybe not? I am looking forward to getting this army started. I have had it lying around for quite a while but have not been able to do anything with it at all. Hopefully the impetus lasts longer than the normal new army fever.
I am going to be attending the ranking tournaments in Ireland for the ETC. I don't know if I really want to compete at that level of Warhammer but at least if I do well in the qualifiers then I have the option. Its great, finally the Warhammer scene gets going in Ireland and I am leaving eh? Ah well it seems to be fairly active in Germany to. I am going to need a better carrying case to bring the armies around to all these upcoming tournaments. I have looked at what Battlefoam are offering but I am still unsure if it is good quality for the price. The custom cut foam seems interesting but I honestly dont think it is that useful. I see it being useful for Warmachine and Hordes where the beasts are heavy and have small connection points between the components. For the plastic GW modles like the new dragon I don't see it being as useful. As I won't have many models that need to be protected like this (it would have been handy for my Ogres though) I think I will just get the standard Warriors of Chaos trays.
August 25, 2009
August 20, 2009
Stripping
I have seen a few people talking about using different solvents to remove paint from plastic miniatures online. I was curious as to how this would work so I decided to try it out for myself. I bought a few Chaos Warriors when they first came out. I painted various schemes as testers for a full army. Now that I intend to actually collect the army I felt these would serve as a good test model for the stripping. I used Nail Polish Remover as it was the easiest to find. €2 in Boots Chemists for 150ml seemed a fine deal.
The Stripper:
The Victim:
The Chaos Warrior took the plunge for only a minute and a half before I removed it. I didn't want to risk leaving him in too long in case he turned into a puddle! He came out and the paint was already bulged and cracked ready to be removed from the surface.
Just out:
Removing the paint:
The paint came off the smooth areas very easily. However on the more heavily textured surfaces it was a little more resistant. A toothbrush quickly took care of that. I was worried that the surface might soften and be damaged if I scrubbed too hard. That wasn't a problem at all and within a few seconds the model was clean and ready to be repainted.
The result:
One problem I did have was with the container I used to hold the Nail Polish Remover! Five minutes after I used it and just as I was about to pop another model in the bottom of it dissolved spreading a fine puddle of sweet smelling liquid everywhere. Luckily I had moved it from my painting desk to a safer area and there was no problem except the smell. I advise using a glass container!
So now I have a regiment of Chaos Warriors ready for the new incarnation of my Chaos. Well I suppose that they are the only incarnation of Chaos as the first one didn't get very far! As they are glued together already there won't be much to do with them in terms of conversions. They will probably just end up as standard Hand Weapon and Shield Warriors. I can once again practise the colurs schemes too but I have a fairly good idea of what I am going for.
The Stripper:
The Victim:
The Chaos Warrior took the plunge for only a minute and a half before I removed it. I didn't want to risk leaving him in too long in case he turned into a puddle! He came out and the paint was already bulged and cracked ready to be removed from the surface.
Just out:
Removing the paint:
The paint came off the smooth areas very easily. However on the more heavily textured surfaces it was a little more resistant. A toothbrush quickly took care of that. I was worried that the surface might soften and be damaged if I scrubbed too hard. That wasn't a problem at all and within a few seconds the model was clean and ready to be repainted.
The result:
One problem I did have was with the container I used to hold the Nail Polish Remover! Five minutes after I used it and just as I was about to pop another model in the bottom of it dissolved spreading a fine puddle of sweet smelling liquid everywhere. Luckily I had moved it from my painting desk to a safer area and there was no problem except the smell. I advise using a glass container!
So now I have a regiment of Chaos Warriors ready for the new incarnation of my Chaos. Well I suppose that they are the only incarnation of Chaos as the first one didn't get very far! As they are glued together already there won't be much to do with them in terms of conversions. They will probably just end up as standard Hand Weapon and Shield Warriors. I can once again practise the colurs schemes too but I have a fairly good idea of what I am going for.
August 13, 2009
Trying to finish some projects...
Warhammer 40k has returned to my gaming life with the newest edition of the game and I have decided that I needed to have some decent terrain to play on. As I will be gone in less than two weeks now I have to get some of these projects completed. Thankfully my Lizardmen terrain has been completed and sent off to gather dust in someone elses collection. Hopefully I will get a few games in on this piece after spending so long getting it ready! Gaming time here is getting short now!
As 40k demands a really good set of terrain it was a good excuse to get some Cities of Death. I bought the Sanctum Imperialis set as I wasn't sure what the quality was going to be like. I was also worried about storage. I have barely enough space for terrain as it is. I could probably provide enough for a good tournament from my 'games' room alone. I have a terrible habit of creating specific terrain for each system I collect. I should probably just play 40k with a feralor feudal setting as I could get away with my fantasy terrain then.
The quality of the set is great. The plastic is really thick and well detailed. It is a little repetitive but you can live with that. I suppose you could just turn the tile around and use the interior as the exterior for a more industrial feel. The big problem was the quantity. The building is simply a facade. Great for a Western movie set but terrible for a game. I like the visual aspect of the games and the terrain is a huge part of this. Thankfully a friend bought the full boxed set of ruins and I snapped up the two sets of Sanctum Imperialis that comes with this. In return I had to paint them. Three sets of the building/ruins should be able to build a large structure especially as I didn't want the building to be too tall.
Anyway I made an elaborate design which when it came down to putting it together just were not practical. They would have been completely impractical to play on as moving miniatures around the interior would have been too hard. I decided against that design and went with a more practical playing piece. I still made a few mistakes
but it came out well I believe.
Sanctum Imperialis:
From the pictures I hope you can see that I made one side of the building more ruined than the other. The ruined side is great as it is easy to move miniatures around the interior of the ground floor. On the other side I made a solid wall and roof above which makes it tough to get your hand in to move things around. While it might look good its poor design on my part. It will be something to remember for the future. For a gaming piece it has to be practical as well as looking well. Thereis no point in having a piece on the table that you can't use!
On the Warhammer Forum I noticed a nice diorama of some Tyranids and Space Marines. The maker had included shatter glass in the windows.I assume he used plastic from the blister packs. I did the same! I did notice that the plastic from Privateer Press was better than the GW one for this purpose. It is much thicker and slightly frosted which means it is easier to cut and more noticable on the model. From a realistic point of view it is probably very inaccurate to have glass surviving in its frame when the roof is completely destroyed! I suppose in the future I can return to the model and add a roof. It would have to be removable but would look fantastic.
Glass:
Finally my friend made a passing comment that now that we have some good buildings we can play Necromunda again. That was a fantastic game! To be able to play it to its full potential you need to be able to move around high in the buildings. That calls for some walkways. Using some spare pieces of floor tiles from the set addedto Peco railway bridge sidings I had a instant walkway. I deliberatley left one area on the Sanctum free from debris and wall so that I could fit a walkway onto it. So hopefully I can get some games of Necromunda going soon!
So the Sanctum has served as a good training piece to see how the Cities of Death ruins work. In the future (possibly far far future) I intend picking up two sets of the ruins and building a good set of terrain from them including lights! It seems easy enough to get LEDs into the buildings so Iwill try that. I guess it depends a lot on the space I have to store things in my new apartment. At least Iwill be able to leave the massive collection of terrain I have behind and start again.
August 11, 2009
A new character
I have taken up an online DnD game recently to at least get the experience of being a player rather than always Games Master. So far there haven't been many sessions but as we are doing them on a weekly basis we should get a good few sessions under our belt during the coming few months. Iam really excited about it as so far its been great. The mix of players is stark with three english players, an american and a czech. It does bring an interesting mix to the table (screen?) and having two girls in the group changes the dynamic from what I am used to.
So far the technical difficulties have ranged from lost mics, inability to connect to each other to the fantastic incident of the missing keys! One of the players, Jory from the states, began the first session missing the y, h, and g keys of his keyboard due to a spilled drink. This left his character with a wonderful french accent during the game. Hopefully he can keep it up once we reach as far as voice chat for the game! Anyway here is my character roughly fleshed out with some extra historical background. I should probably have elaborated more on the character than the History!
Lysimakos:
"I am Lysimakos, great warrior and member of the Golden Band. A group of sacred warriors devoted to Kord.I have come to the guild as the proud tradition of my family dictates. My vows to the Golden Band also dictate that I must travel the world before I can inherit my titles."
Lysimakos was born on his families estates in near the town of Spolep in the kingdom of Phocis. His father holds the hereditary title of "Defender of the Temple". It was granted to the family by the Basilius in recognition of great bravery in the war against the Liminates over two hundred years before. The temple in question is the Great Hold of Kord, a massive structure, built high in the Suruat mountains. Lysimakos stands to inherit this title but to do so he must fulfill the vows of the Golden Band and become an inducted member. Only then can he assume the title. To this end he journeys the lands to the north hoping to earn great reknown that will entitle him to a place amongst the Band.
He was a quick study at the guild and earned the favour of Master Adoy another native of Phocis. He studied the traditional forms of warfare of the south that favour the hoplon shield and a bearded axe. He is brave though not foolhardy and likes to think tactically about his situation. He is proud of his heritage and carries himself with a noble bearing. He has little time for the peasants and views them as a general nuisance.
The Golden Band:
The Golden Band are a fellowship of warriors founded two hundred years ago in the kingdom of Phocis. After the great war against the eastern armies of the Liminates the surviving heroes formed the Golden Band. Their goals were to plague the realm of the Liminates and as such they broke themselves down into small groups of about thirty warriors. Each group had their own ship and they raided the coasts of the kingdom constantly. A number of the groups combined and managed to sack the Liminatian town of Eryt. The only people spared in the sack were the priests of Kord that inhabited the temple within the town. The warriors were fearful of incurring the wrath of the God, especially as they spent so much time at sea. The priests were still taken hostage and one was given to each of the groups that had taken part in the attack. This quickly gave rise to the tradition of each of the groups being accompanied by a priest of Kord and the band adopted the lightning bolt as their symbol.
After the slow decline of the Liminates due to their loss in the war with Phocis and her allies, the Band was left without a true purpose. Within fifty years of their founding most of the original members were dead. The replacements had begun to take contracts as mercenaries in the east for their prowess and bravery were renowned. The size of the divisions was increased from the original thirty to one hundred and the traditional lochaber axe was replaced with a spear. Military drill and close rank fighting became the standard training regime replacing the emphasis on personal ability and style. Within another fifty years the Band had reached their peak. Division sizes had been increased to five hundred men. The wealth the organisation possessed enabled each of the divisions to be armoured in bronze ensorcelled scale mail. They were engaged across all the lands that knew war in this time and they soon adopted the motto: Quae caret ora cruore nostro? What shore knows not our blood.
The need to replace casualties in such large and busy divisions caused problems for the people of Phocis. Most of their young men were forced away to war for years on end with many not returning at all. Eventually hiring was conducted outside of the Kingdom. Recruits were taken at first only from neighbouring states of Atraps and Sebeht. Soon however hiring was undertaken all across the southern states. This caused much resentment throughout the forces as tribesmen of the sands and other such wildmen were mingled amongst the more superior feeling civilised states. After a serious of disasterous wars internal squabbling broke out when the Master of the Blade, leader of the Golden Band died suddenly. No clear successor could be elected from the council and instead alliances were formed promoting different leaders. Soon the divisions were mustered and internal squabbling turned to bloodshed.
One hundred and twenty years after their founding the Golden Band were almost destroyed. The great divisions had slaughtered each other and then broken up into roving bands of mercenaries and marauders. The noble aspirations and worship of Kord forgotten by all but a few. Of these few Agathon of Nomarcal gathered his loyal followers and returned to his native Kingdom of Phocis. Here under the stewardship of the Basilius and High Priest of Kord the order was rekindled. One hundred and twenty nobles of the country were awarded with membership of the Band. These were divided as tradition dictated into groups of thirty and charged with the defence of the land.
So far the technical difficulties have ranged from lost mics, inability to connect to each other to the fantastic incident of the missing keys! One of the players, Jory from the states, began the first session missing the y, h, and g keys of his keyboard due to a spilled drink. This left his character with a wonderful french accent during the game. Hopefully he can keep it up once we reach as far as voice chat for the game! Anyway here is my character roughly fleshed out with some extra historical background. I should probably have elaborated more on the character than the History!
Lysimakos:
"I am Lysimakos, great warrior and member of the Golden Band. A group of sacred warriors devoted to Kord.I have come to the guild as the proud tradition of my family dictates. My vows to the Golden Band also dictate that I must travel the world before I can inherit my titles."
Lysimakos was born on his families estates in near the town of Spolep in the kingdom of Phocis. His father holds the hereditary title of "Defender of the Temple". It was granted to the family by the Basilius in recognition of great bravery in the war against the Liminates over two hundred years before. The temple in question is the Great Hold of Kord, a massive structure, built high in the Suruat mountains. Lysimakos stands to inherit this title but to do so he must fulfill the vows of the Golden Band and become an inducted member. Only then can he assume the title. To this end he journeys the lands to the north hoping to earn great reknown that will entitle him to a place amongst the Band.
He was a quick study at the guild and earned the favour of Master Adoy another native of Phocis. He studied the traditional forms of warfare of the south that favour the hoplon shield and a bearded axe. He is brave though not foolhardy and likes to think tactically about his situation. He is proud of his heritage and carries himself with a noble bearing. He has little time for the peasants and views them as a general nuisance.
The Golden Band:
The Golden Band are a fellowship of warriors founded two hundred years ago in the kingdom of Phocis. After the great war against the eastern armies of the Liminates the surviving heroes formed the Golden Band. Their goals were to plague the realm of the Liminates and as such they broke themselves down into small groups of about thirty warriors. Each group had their own ship and they raided the coasts of the kingdom constantly. A number of the groups combined and managed to sack the Liminatian town of Eryt. The only people spared in the sack were the priests of Kord that inhabited the temple within the town. The warriors were fearful of incurring the wrath of the God, especially as they spent so much time at sea. The priests were still taken hostage and one was given to each of the groups that had taken part in the attack. This quickly gave rise to the tradition of each of the groups being accompanied by a priest of Kord and the band adopted the lightning bolt as their symbol.
After the slow decline of the Liminates due to their loss in the war with Phocis and her allies, the Band was left without a true purpose. Within fifty years of their founding most of the original members were dead. The replacements had begun to take contracts as mercenaries in the east for their prowess and bravery were renowned. The size of the divisions was increased from the original thirty to one hundred and the traditional lochaber axe was replaced with a spear. Military drill and close rank fighting became the standard training regime replacing the emphasis on personal ability and style. Within another fifty years the Band had reached their peak. Division sizes had been increased to five hundred men. The wealth the organisation possessed enabled each of the divisions to be armoured in bronze ensorcelled scale mail. They were engaged across all the lands that knew war in this time and they soon adopted the motto: Quae caret ora cruore nostro? What shore knows not our blood.
The need to replace casualties in such large and busy divisions caused problems for the people of Phocis. Most of their young men were forced away to war for years on end with many not returning at all. Eventually hiring was conducted outside of the Kingdom. Recruits were taken at first only from neighbouring states of Atraps and Sebeht. Soon however hiring was undertaken all across the southern states. This caused much resentment throughout the forces as tribesmen of the sands and other such wildmen were mingled amongst the more superior feeling civilised states. After a serious of disasterous wars internal squabbling broke out when the Master of the Blade, leader of the Golden Band died suddenly. No clear successor could be elected from the council and instead alliances were formed promoting different leaders. Soon the divisions were mustered and internal squabbling turned to bloodshed.
One hundred and twenty years after their founding the Golden Band were almost destroyed. The great divisions had slaughtered each other and then broken up into roving bands of mercenaries and marauders. The noble aspirations and worship of Kord forgotten by all but a few. Of these few Agathon of Nomarcal gathered his loyal followers and returned to his native Kingdom of Phocis. Here under the stewardship of the Basilius and High Priest of Kord the order was rekindled. One hundred and twenty nobles of the country were awarded with membership of the Band. These were divided as tradition dictated into groups of thirty and charged with the defence of the land.
August 10, 2009
Bye bye my marauders
So the first shipment of miniatures have departed. I have sent my marauders to Germany! I am slowly moving my Warriors of Chaos over in my luggage when I fly. I am worried about how I will fit the army box into the bag. I suppose I will have to open it and split it up a little. The new style and shape of box seem to be huge in comparison to the older Games Workshop ones. I still have about eight boxes to manage along with paints and modelling supplies. Who needs clothes?
I am hoping to have what I need for a two thousand points plus army there when I arrive so that I don't have to worry about getting anything further for a while. I have a massive number of unopened boxes won at various tournaments so I will be trading these in to pick up the final pieces I need such as some Daemonettes and Spawn. The Daemonettes I intend to use for simple conversions such as head swaps for the champions. I will probably use their bodies as the basis for Chosen or Forsaken. It's annoying that Daemons can't be used in the lists anymore, even in a lesser form like the 40k codex. To cut them so completely seems a little dramatic especially as with their inclusion in the book they might sell more?
I am going to theme the army towards Slaanesh just because I want something a little different. I tend to go for Nurgle as my favourite power. I have found that Nurgle can be forgiving when it comes to green stuff skills. I don't think that Slaanesh will be quite so easy to convert. Rather than spending a lot of time applying green stuff mutations, like I did with my Nurgle Ogre army, I will be relying more on painting to show the allegiance of this force. A simple palette of colours with the inclusion on purple here and there should be enough.
I have managed to find a Hamburg Warhammer Club at least so gaming won't be a problem. Once I get a small force together, which should be easy with Chaos, I will get a few games in. I suppose getting something assembled to use would be best. So I probably have an army of little grey men and dogs for a while! I hope they don't mind. I just need to find a DnD club next!
I am hoping to have what I need for a two thousand points plus army there when I arrive so that I don't have to worry about getting anything further for a while. I have a massive number of unopened boxes won at various tournaments so I will be trading these in to pick up the final pieces I need such as some Daemonettes and Spawn. The Daemonettes I intend to use for simple conversions such as head swaps for the champions. I will probably use their bodies as the basis for Chosen or Forsaken. It's annoying that Daemons can't be used in the lists anymore, even in a lesser form like the 40k codex. To cut them so completely seems a little dramatic especially as with their inclusion in the book they might sell more?
I am going to theme the army towards Slaanesh just because I want something a little different. I tend to go for Nurgle as my favourite power. I have found that Nurgle can be forgiving when it comes to green stuff skills. I don't think that Slaanesh will be quite so easy to convert. Rather than spending a lot of time applying green stuff mutations, like I did with my Nurgle Ogre army, I will be relying more on painting to show the allegiance of this force. A simple palette of colours with the inclusion on purple here and there should be enough.
I have managed to find a Hamburg Warhammer Club at least so gaming won't be a problem. Once I get a small force together, which should be easy with Chaos, I will get a few games in. I suppose getting something assembled to use would be best. So I probably have an army of little grey men and dogs for a while! I hope they don't mind. I just need to find a DnD club next!
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