Gone to the dogs

This book is suprisingly good! I have spent far too much time over the weekend reading rather than painting! The army guilt has set in. I find that having the army out on display makes me feel like I have to paint it. It lurks in the corner of my mind saying "You must paint me, put the book down". I did make some good progress however! I had seven Chaos Hounds painted from before. As I want a regiment of twelve now I have to add five in. I don't quite know why twelve would be good... If every regiment is getting larger though why not these guys too? Anyway its actually pretty tough to match the colours between the two sets. I did it okay and I will have pictures up later in the week. The details still need to be done. These shouldn't take too long to do. After that I am not sure. I might do some Chaos Knights. I think I will replace on of the regiments of Warriors with a Knight Regiment. Its a lot easier to paint for one thing! Five large cavalry models versus twenty foot models. The points are roughly the same too. It would free up a few points for Marks of Chaos. I rally want to get the Mark of Tzeentch onto my Warriors along with the Blasted Standard. That makes them really durable as I am assuming they will be target number one in competitive games.

Back to the book, I have just picked up a few of the Dresden Files books. Stormfront is the only one I have read so far. Its pretty good. Nothing to really challenge as an enduring classic but very entertaining. The author is clear and descriptive. He doesn't spend too long drawing out every detail but still gets the atmosphere across. The book is about a gumshoe detective wizard in modern Chicago. I can imagine the series is a little like a Monster of the Week. The titles of the later books indicate Werewolves, Ghosts and Faeries in that order. Hopefully it isn't that much of a formula. I read the first book in a evening, something I normally reserve for really exciting books. So to keep it somewhat short, check it out Stormfront is good!

Back to the fur

Hmmm one thing I both like and hate about eight edition is the apparent need for more infantry models. Looking at my marauders I remember how long it took to actually sculpt the cloaks. Thats not going to be fun but it has to be done. At least the amry will look all the cooler for it. I thought I would put up a little guide here so that you can see how I do the cloaks. Its rather simple but takes time. It also takes some practise so be warned if you try to copy these techniques. It won't work the first time.

First I create a flat piece of green stuff to make a base for the back of the cloak. It saves a lot of greenstuff this way but it can be a little unforgiving. Basically you need to form a square piece that fits on the back of the model and should be about the desired size you want. It is what you will eventually build the detail unto. I apply this across the shoulders of the models and make sure that it is securely fitted thereA little bit of greenstuff should go over the shoulder but not too much, thats important!

I didn't get great pitures of this stage, sorry! However here is the stage I reinforce the connection of the greenstuff to the body. Once the above is dry usually after 24hrs I take a small amount of greenstuff and form a circle that fits easily over the models head. This goes around the shoulders and to the front. It should not be too thick especially at the front but around the back it doesn't matter too much. I smooth this into the rought shape I want and then sculpt in the fur. The problem being that you definitely don't want this to be too thick at the front so you have to sculpt it now. If it is too thick there then it ruins the detail of the model as the cloak looks out of place. It also saves some time on stage three. As you can see here I have carried the sculpting all around the fresh green stuff. It is important to vary the depth of the sculpting at the back as this helps to later blend in the rest of the cloak.

The final stage is easy enough but it takes the most time. As I sculpted these two guys cloaks I realised I was really out of practise as they didn't have a nice clean effect that I have been previously able to achieve. I think I will have to get back into the swing of the sculpting slowly. So for this stage you need a lot of green stuff. The more the merrier! This is because it is easier to create a nice effect by using a lot more green stuff. I apply it evenly over the surface already established. Try not to have it overhang as this causes problems later. Once it is on the surface just creat two or three deep furrows and then begin to sculpt. The furrows help create depth and the illusion of movement. I didn't really do it on these guys as I wasn't concentrating but once I was finished I thought of it. I generally work from the top down. I haven't tried it the other way I probably should. It seems more logical to start at the top. Anyway I just creat the worm shapes that you see on the pictures. It is good to alter the line and weave of them from time to time and to create some higher and deeper patches. Once you get to the end of the cloak it becomes tough as you will get a lot of overhang (hence why you try to avoid it at the start). In some instances it is easily dealt with by sculpting the fur and then lifting it back out from under the cloak. It tends to fold in under the surface you created.

Some other tips would be to use your thumb nail as a support for the original surface if it moves too much for you while sculpting. Just stick it in behind the cloak and sculpt away. Another thing to watch out for is the edge of the cloak. You need to keep that neat and tidy as it can easily ruin the illusion! You need to keep it moving downwards consitently and any major overlaps can be tidied up by having the fur look like it is wrapping around.

Eight Edition

So eight edition is here, finally. I have to admit I was sick of Warhammer. It had gotten to a point where it not only bored me but it annoyed me too. The game wasn't fun, I really couldn't find a way to make it fun. I blame it a lot on the fact that I was playing too many tournaments and so were my opponents. At a certain point that leaks into the supposedly 'fun' games. Eventually you are facing a tournament list across the table when you are just trying to play for fun. It seemed that the game really had become a no holes bared competition. That and the fact that my painting time was suffering basically means I haven't played in at least six months. I have been painting however though this has been for a 40k Ork army. I have always wanted one and I finally picked one up before my move. However listening to the ever increasing number of podcasts that are available now got me interested in pulling out the chaos and painting again.

So today I cleared the Orks from the painting desk and pulled out the Chaos Troops. I got online and ordered some new stuff for the army too. I also finally ordered the rulebook as I was a little hesitant about getting it. As this edition has changed a lot there are many things I don't think I will be using much in this edition. My Chaos Knights have essentially been relegated to a nice to have regiment rather than a must have. I will of course still use them as cavalry are good but as I need some numbers I think leaving out the cvalry is best.

I ordered some Ogres. Monsterous Infantry seem to be excellent now and I have indulged. While I would really prefer to have some Trolls the models are pretty poor and I would prefer to wait for potential plastics! The Ogres models are ones I am very familar with as I have a Nurgle themed Ogre army already. The models are easily converted and I relish the chance to make some armoured Ogres. I am hoping it is easy to do but we shall see. I will be making them look like a cross between my marauders and warriors! Anyway thats for the future. I need to get the core troops out first.

Looking at the numbers I will have just over one hundred models in my army. Its actually a lot smaller than I would like but at least it is a reasonable target. Looking at what I painted before I really haven't much progress made in the army. I now only have a spawn finished and some marauders. I don't intend using the warriors I painted now as I can't get the pieces I need to finish the regiment off. The Slaanesh helmets are impossible to get now and I was lucky to have the twelve I used already. So for now I have in mind two regiments of twenty warriors and that means I need to paint them from scratch. I will keep the same paint scheme as it is nice in my opinion and easily enough done. With the Marauders I have twelve with great weapons done and I have eighteen with hand weapons and shields base coated. So I have a beginning at least!

Anyway I will try to keep this blog up now and chronicle the armies progress. It will probably be slow enough to start but hopefully I can get enough momentum to carry me through to the next tournament season!

I made a list finally last night and I hope it is somewhat competitive. Here it is:
Chaos List:
30 Marauders: Full command, shields
24 Marauders: Full command, great weapons
12 Chaos Warhounds
12 Marauder Horsemen: Full command, light armour, throwing axes
20 Chaos Warriors: Full command, shields
20 Chaos Warriors: Full command, halberds
6 Ogres: Full Command, chaos armour, great weapons
Warshrine
Hell Cannon
Spawn
Exalted Hero: battle standard bearer, shield (12 points of items)
Sorcerer: Level Two (fifty points of items)
Sorcerer: Level Two (fifty points of items)
Lord: armour of damnation, berserker sword
Total Cost: 2500

Percentages:
Core: 1288 51.52%
Special: 350 14%
Rare: 390 15.6%
Hero: 510 20.4%
Lord: 300 12%

Getting back on track

After the horrible results of washing this spawn I was prepared to dump him entirely. Instead I struggled on and experimented a little, especially with the horns. He came out okay in the end except for the strange white residu in the cracks. I have also now found a nice enough way to paint horns at least large ones. I have my painting desk finally together and with the daylight bulbs it is finally possible to paint in the evenings after work. To celebrate I took out my marauders on foot and got them almost base coated. They are pretty boring to do and probably not the best choice to keep me enthusiastic but a good start was made at least. With all the rumours of eight edition around it would seem that infantry are being given a boost. At least this way I am tempted to construct another warrior regiment and a chosen regiment. I should concentrate on painting what I have built already though...

I am off back to Ireland next weekend for the Battlecry tournament. I am looking forward to it but I don't think I will manage to succesfully defend my title. I won the tournament the last time it was held with a fairly nasty zombie heavy list. Wwhile my memory can't recall all the details it was a tough day of gaming. Hopefully this is going to be good. As I still have not managed to paint this chaos warrior army I will be borrowing one, hopefully Beastmen. I will at least get to try out the new book and have some fun. I am assuming the only way to go is with a lot of Chariots. The composition restrictions are pretty tough so the armies should be nice and somewhat fluffy. It will be a good introduction to the new lists (Skaven and Beasts) out since I last played on the scene.

I picked up AT-43 during the week due to its popularity in work. A few people there have played a little. The factions look interesting too. The Red Blok have taken my fancy, there is something about Russian style factions that I like. Any way I have only played the introductionary scenario and it wasn't anything special. It would seem that the system plays much like any other sci-fi system out there except with a funky activation order. I will play a few more of the scenarios before I invest. The army box does seem cheap however at €60 for a fully painted 2000pt force, which I assume is the standard game size. It also comes fully painted, to a poor standard, meaning it can just be left in work and played at lunchtimes there... The benefits of working for a games company I suppose.

Getting back on track

I picked up this miniature during the week while browsing a local games store. I wanted to get something to paint that wasn't going to invlove too much work and concentration. The house move didn't quite go to plan due to the weather here. That means we are pretty much without any furniture and as such I don't really have space to paint at the moment. The apartment is just filled with boxes. The Kobold King is a Reaper model, I am assuming generally used for roleplay. The details are fine but it differs from GW and Privateer Press models quite a lot. The sophistication of the textures is pretty simple which actually makes the painting more difficult. For just under two hours work he came out quite well. I am actually tempted to get a few more Kobolds and making a regiment of them. As to what I would use it for I have no idea but maybe it would be good for a scenario or something.

I do seem to have found a decent roleplaying group finally. At the moment we are doing a few one off games testing different systems. I hope that after a while we will be able to get into a campaign. The last system we tried was Red Line, a Mad Max setting using DnD 3rd edition. It was good and hopefully next weekend we can finish off the scenario we have started. I have been reading a lot since I can't paint much at the moment. I have picked up quite a few of the latest Dungeons and Dragons books. Some of them have proven pretty good but I think the generic setting hampers them from giving good details. The Underdark is a really iconic setting but in the attempt to make the game more fun they neglect what makes it so good. Essentially the game is presented in this setting as the same as others with a few flavour changes. A bit of a pity I think.

I am still continuing with the Chaos army though progress has been slow. The next tournament coming up is at the beginning of March. Sadly I won't have the army done to my satisfaction. I mihgt then take my Dwarves along instead and it also provides with a decent army to bring back to Germany. I am hoping that with the coming of the newest edition Dwarves may somehow get a boost. They are one of my favorite armies of all time but they are a little boring to play over an extended period. I am generally able to play a tournament with them but afterward I get bored. It would be nice to have a second army here though.