Friday Showcase - Longbeards

I am not sure if I have previewed my Longbeards here before? I know I showed them as WIP while preparing for Gorey last year but I don't think I have them here copleted before. Anyway here they are finally done. As you can see I used standard dwarven warriors with great weapons. The only thing I did to differentiate them was to paint the beards white... they are veterans after all. These were done in a rush as usual but I think they came out fine. The dark red and the gold ties them into the rest of the army. The banner ties in well with the army Standard Bearer too. Te grudge pony is a nice little unit filler that takes up eight spaces. That really helps to get regiments up to the current trend of thirty to forty models! It also splits in half so that means I can easily deal with casualties. I have used it in about three regiments so far and it saves me a lot of money!

I have tried and tried to get some of the old metal models on ebay but to no avail. They sell for incredibly good prices, usually twenty go for about €60 - €70. Thats a little above my budget. I keep my eyes peeled though because they are awesome models and I would dearly love to get a regiment of them together. It would complete my classic dwarf collection. So if any of you readers have any spare please let me know. I would gladly take them off your hands!

The Guardian is done

Hello summer!If predictions prove correct then this may be my last post for three months... Seemingly the weather is set to split the rocks here in northern Germany. I have been informed I will be spending my time outside enjoying the heat, the park and various summer related activities. I won't be in my man cave hiding from that baleful eye that only wants to burn my skin! I really wonder sometimes what makes people crazy about the sun and the summer. I remember a lot of great summers in my childhood speant inside with a games board and two armies spread out before me. Now isn't that far better than lying on a beach or sitting in a park?

I finally managed to get the Guardian done. I love the way I manage to buy things in bulk and then have them sit on my painting desk for an absolute age before I do anything with them. I might add that I have already placed two further orders before I managed to get this model more than constructed. It seems my lead pile is determined to grow. The Guardian is a really different 'jack to paint. He is more ornate than any I have done before and is in keeping with some of the menites later character 'jacks rather than their original warjacks. I decided to keep the red to a minimum on this model to attempt to distinguish him as something different, maybe better? I wantd him to look less like a Line of Battle 'jack. I kept the rust and chips to a minimum too. This was more due to the fact that the hairspray method didn't really work here. Maybe I didn't cover him enough? I was afraid to fill the details if I sprayed him with a lot of hairspray. It isn't very controllable from its original container at least.

I also kept the banners white but I built their shades up using graveyard earth. It doesn't really make that much of a difference from the bleached bone shade I usually use but at least I know I made an effort to make them look different. I wasn't bothered to put menofixes on the banners as I really don't see myself using this 'jack much. I don't want to put a lot of effort into a model that will most likely reside at the back of my cabinet. The Guardian is nine points. Thats a lot especially considering what else is available for cheaper. I have a second Guardian and I would like to use a pair of them sometime however that really will be just for fun!

Warmachine Treffen

Last week I was luckily informed that there was an informal gathering of Warmachine players in my local store. I hastily packed an army and travelled down, easger to see what this 'Warmachine Treffen' was all about. I hadn't met many of the Hamburg players still so it is always good to get a few contacts. Some of my club mates were heading along too so it wouldn't be too awkward if I had a complete failure with my German! My local store is Atlantis Games. The shop is fairly standard in size but it is very well packed with stock meaning that gaming is relegated to one of the corners.

However soon enough after I got there four full sized tables were brought out and packed with decent terrain. I was pretty suprised they managed to fit but they did so easily. My memories of the shop from before when there were some games there was that the corner got cramped really quickly. My first game was against Blasi, the local press ganger. He was using Circle on a table packed with forests. My menites clumped together in the centre and marched forward. I was shocked at how good the druids are in this edition of Hordes. Being immune to all effects meant most of my army couldn't hurt them and the rest could only hurt them if I didn't crit! Anyway he thought me a lesson in how to play. I didn't stand a chance as one Satyr slammed another right through my army, followed him up into base contact with Feora and then smashed her too.

My second game was against Lars, a clubmate from Miniwar Hamburg. He was using his tournament Cryx list and I once again got thought a lesson. Deneghra managed to knock down the screen I had in front of Severius and two pistol wraiths finished the old man off. I thought I was doing well when I managed to take out most of the Bane Thralls and Bile Thralls. It wasn't to be however. There was a third game offered but I didn't have time as I had to go to a friends birthday party. It would have been nice to get to know another opponent before the tournament this weekend.

The biggest lesson I got from the meet up was that I am really off my game. I got easily destroyed in ways I didn't see coming. If I am to become competitive in anyway I need to really focus and start learning some of the tricks that are being used now.

Artillery is good, right?

I painted my second sunburst finally. I picked this up cheap in my local shops clearout and it has been sitting for three months assembled and awaiting paint. I wasn't particularly motivated to paint this weekend but once I got started on this I couldn't stop. I haven't got enough propellant to continue my work on the Dreadstone Blight so this gave me an enexpected break. I need to seal the pigments in place before I can do anymore work on that piece. I painted the Sunburst differently from the one I did years ago. I have a vague memory of there being a lot more gold involved in the painting. Sadly I don't have them side by side to show a comparison shot. It would have been handy for me to at least attempt to get the paint schemes to be similar. Once I get back to Ireland I will be able to bring it back.

I haven't used one of these since MKI and the one I do own is in Ireland. In MKI it was useless. I used it in almost every game after I bought the Sunburst. It never hit anything but 'jacks and the scatters never really killed anyone. I persisted however... Anyway in MKII I have had some initial success. I can tell that the artillery is better simply due to the fact that it gets targetted very quickly by my oppontents. I have a tournament this weekend which I am looking forward to. I may use the Sunburst, I haven't really considered a list yet but I guess I will use the High Reclaimer...

Friday Showcase - Stone Thrower

I am slowly running out of Dwarves to showcase here. I guess soon I will have to moe onto my Orks. Anyway here is my Stone Thrower. This is a pretty old model now but I love it. It is far superior to the current model. I had this in my collection for a long long time half painted. Thankfully the Gorey tournament last year gave me the impetus to actually get this model finished. The wood was the most annoying part but probably the most effective. The model doesn't have very sharp wood rain so painting it on was pretty much done free hand with a few lines for guidance.

The crew are really nice, I am not 100% sure if these are the actual crew members. Well I guess the guy carrying the stone is at least! However as I only have about six crew members painted from nearly ten machines I hae to do some substitutions! Sadly you can't get this model anymore. It is a true Dwarf classic!