As I looked out of the window this morning and saw a layer of freshly-fallen snow on the ground, I couldn't help but think it was a good omen for my Fenrisian warriors as they prepared to fight their first ever battle.
The last four weeks has seen me spending hour upon hour painting the basecoats on my army - at the moment a humble 1500-odd points' worth - and I thankfully managed to finish them a day before battle.
They weren't pretty, they weren't finished, but they were ready to fight.
In the end, my opponent and I agreed on a 1200 point battle which meant that I had to take a fairly bare-bones force in order to boost the number of models on the field - one special weapon and one heavy weapon in total, the rest mainly boltguns.
I did however manage to field a Wolf Guard pack with Jump Packs and twin Wolf Claws which weighed in at a massive 350-odd points for the five models.
We played a fairly basic scenario with five objectives to capture. No bells and whistles for our first battle, just a straight fight with a clear mission.
And my enemy? None other than our fellow battle brothers, the Blood Angels!
My Wolf Guard squad worked against me numbers-wise as my twenty-nine models were faced with around forty Space Marines across the board. Given that I had a combat-geared army, the sheer number of bolters bearing down upon me was a great concern!
To cut a long blog short, we lost in then end - 3 victory points to 2. It was a close call, but the weight of numbers and some shocking tactical decisions on my part led to something of a massacre.
My enemy fielded a small unit of just four Death Company, and they were complete monsters in combat! Things started well for me when I charged my Wolf Guard into combat with one of his Assault squads and completely massacred them in one round! I was quite impressed, but he answered by cutting through a nine-man pack of Blood Claws like they weren't even there!
I wasted one of my Assault Cannon-armed Terminators by putting him with a pack of Grey Hunters and spending the entire game guarding one of the objectives - the only thing that came into range of my one heavy weapon was an empty Rhino - which of course he destroyed. Still, this warrior had no real effect on the game whatsoever.
Njal performed well, but I managed to lose the game with him in the last turn by forgetting to use the Chain Lightning result on the Lord Of Tempests table on the one Assault Marine that was holding one of the objectives. If I had managed to kill him with it, the game would have been a draw!!
Still, it was a fantastic game which flowed really well considering neither of us have played 40K in ten years (and therefore never with these rules), and I can't wait for my next battle.
Now to finish those paint jobs...
Saturday 27 November 2010
Sunday 7 November 2010
Not Quite Dead...
Just a quick update for today.
Having spent the last thirty-six hours in bed suffering from lots of shivering, vomiting (and various other inconveniences) - not to mention a severe case of Too Much Information - I have now lost two nights of painting.
Still, no need to panic yet. I'm back on my feet - almost fighting fit - and ready for a nice relaxing afternoon of catching up.
It's not the end of the world, as hopefully my years as an amateur film producer will give me the ability to shift around a few things on the schedule and get right back on track. Note the word 'hopefully' there...
Sorry there's nothing more exciting to report at the moment, but I really have to get back to the brushes!
Hopefully I'll be back soon with a more promising update.
Having spent the last thirty-six hours in bed suffering from lots of shivering, vomiting (and various other inconveniences) - not to mention a severe case of Too Much Information - I have now lost two nights of painting.
Still, no need to panic yet. I'm back on my feet - almost fighting fit - and ready for a nice relaxing afternoon of catching up.
It's not the end of the world, as hopefully my years as an amateur film producer will give me the ability to shift around a few things on the schedule and get right back on track. Note the word 'hopefully' there...
Sorry there's nothing more exciting to report at the moment, but I really have to get back to the brushes!
Hopefully I'll be back soon with a more promising update.
Wednesday 3 November 2010
The Glory So Far...
For the last few days, I've been throwing myself into basecoating my Space Wolves army in preparation for their (and my) first battle on the 27th November.
And what better place to cut their teeth than Warhammer World, in the heart of Games Workshop's HQ?
We really are looking forward to our first battle, despite the main fight being with the rulebook! It's been over ten years since either me or my opponent have played 40K, so obviously we've never played with this current rule set. I think I might have to bookmark the important sections of the rulebook, like how to use a Range Ruler* and what the difference is between a chainsword and a lascannon...
*(As a complete aside, a friend of mine recently mentioned that the Games Workshop Range Rulers are not the most accurate measuring devices sometimes. He took two of them and placed them next to each other, and by the time he got from the base to the tip, there was about half an inch difference between the measurements on them!!)
In all seriousness though, I don't think it'll take us long to pick it up again, especially as our armies don't have much in the way of complicated weaponry or rules. We'll probably only have one tank on the battlefield - and that's a Rhino, if you want to call it a tank...!
But before that, I have quite a tight painting schedule to stick to. So far, I've painted the black areas and most of the metallics...
And what better place to cut their teeth than Warhammer World, in the heart of Games Workshop's HQ?
We really are looking forward to our first battle, despite the main fight being with the rulebook! It's been over ten years since either me or my opponent have played 40K, so obviously we've never played with this current rule set. I think I might have to bookmark the important sections of the rulebook, like how to use a Range Ruler* and what the difference is between a chainsword and a lascannon...
*(As a complete aside, a friend of mine recently mentioned that the Games Workshop Range Rulers are not the most accurate measuring devices sometimes. He took two of them and placed them next to each other, and by the time he got from the base to the tip, there was about half an inch difference between the measurements on them!!)
In all seriousness though, I don't think it'll take us long to pick it up again, especially as our armies don't have much in the way of complicated weaponry or rules. We'll probably only have one tank on the battlefield - and that's a Rhino, if you want to call it a tank...!
But before that, I have quite a tight painting schedule to stick to. So far, I've painted the black areas and most of the metallics...
Alright, they don't look like much at the moment (if you read my previous posts, I'm sure you can see the problems I had with the spray gun - meaning hand-painting most of the armour is now on the cards), but I'm pretty confident they'll look good when they're done.
As I said, I have a fairly tight schedule, and here it is...
(DRUM ROLL...)
Wednesday 3rd: Finish metallics
Thursday 4th: Fur, gun straps
Friday 5th: Animal skins & tongues
Saturday 6th-Monday 8th: Bone, stone and parchment
Tuesday 9th: Hair and faces
Thursday 11th: Plasma & power weapons.
Friday 12th-Monday 15th: Reds (AWAY)
Tuesday 16th: Yellows and Purity Seals
Wednesday 17th: Crux Terminatus, Scout trousers, gravel bases
Thursday 18th: Paint bases
Friday 19th-Thursday 25th: Power armour and any extra bits.
I'm pretty sure this list covers most of what I need to do, but there will inevitably be the odd bits and pieces that I haven't accounted for.
The only unknown element is how long the armour will take to paint. I've given myself just short of a week, but on thirty-four models, that's still nearly six a night, so I might get a bit pressed towards the end. The best thing I can try and do is to claw back some time on the smaller, easier bits and then maybe I can get a day or two extra.
Of course, that's not even taking into consideration the Drop Pod...
Friday 29 October 2010
Citadel Spray Gun: FAIL.
Hmmm, I'm rather disappointed at the moment with the performance of my spray gun. I attempted this morning to blast my entire Space Wolves army with their Power Armour basecoat, and the results are patchy (quite literally) to say the least.
Now, I know of a lot of people who have had issues with the spray gun, but having used it a few times myself, I always thought that it was okay - you just needed a bit of jiggery-pokery with some of the bits, but then it'd work fine.
So, naturally, when I absolutely needed it to work, it didn't.
The paint flow was very haphazard, sometimes really thick, sometimes like water and sometimes just air. I was using Games Workshop's own propellant (trying two separate cans) and varying the 'paint thickness' nozzle position, but couldn't get a consistant result, even after changing the paint thickness both ways.
Unfortunately, this has left me with a part-basecoated army (luckily more done than not...), and I must now paint in the rest of the armour by hand as I don't want to use up the last of my colour mix on something that may well not work.
Still, it's not the end of the world as what I did manage to do has saved me a good many days of painting by hand - it just means that the process hasn't saved as much time as it could have done.
Also, in the gun's favour, it was extremely cold and windy outside, and I imagine the low temperature would have had a massive effect on the propellant flow - after all, the can will begin to freeze on the outside in balmy summer weather!
I will still attempt to use the gun when I come to paint my Drop Pod, but I must now put that to the very bottom of my list, lest I should run out of paint for the main force!!
For now, I'm going to put the Power Armour on the back-burner, as I will inevitably need to touch it up after I finish the rest of the basecoat. I'll paint in everything else and then sort the armour last - it just means that until the very final brush stroke, these Wolves are going to look a MESS!
Anyway, if anyone has any tips on using the gun, or could recomend a similar tool, please let me know!
Now, I know of a lot of people who have had issues with the spray gun, but having used it a few times myself, I always thought that it was okay - you just needed a bit of jiggery-pokery with some of the bits, but then it'd work fine.
So, naturally, when I absolutely needed it to work, it didn't.
The paint flow was very haphazard, sometimes really thick, sometimes like water and sometimes just air. I was using Games Workshop's own propellant (trying two separate cans) and varying the 'paint thickness' nozzle position, but couldn't get a consistant result, even after changing the paint thickness both ways.
Unfortunately, this has left me with a part-basecoated army (luckily more done than not...), and I must now paint in the rest of the armour by hand as I don't want to use up the last of my colour mix on something that may well not work.
Still, it's not the end of the world as what I did manage to do has saved me a good many days of painting by hand - it just means that the process hasn't saved as much time as it could have done.
Also, in the gun's favour, it was extremely cold and windy outside, and I imagine the low temperature would have had a massive effect on the propellant flow - after all, the can will begin to freeze on the outside in balmy summer weather!
I will still attempt to use the gun when I come to paint my Drop Pod, but I must now put that to the very bottom of my list, lest I should run out of paint for the main force!!
For now, I'm going to put the Power Armour on the back-burner, as I will inevitably need to touch it up after I finish the rest of the basecoat. I'll paint in everything else and then sort the armour last - it just means that until the very final brush stroke, these Wolves are going to look a MESS!
Anyway, if anyone has any tips on using the gun, or could recomend a similar tool, please let me know!
Thursday 28 October 2010
The Wolves At The Door...
I write this with the heady smell of polystyrene cement still lingering in the air, mixed with the accrid tinge of Chaos Black spray. Safe to say, my head hurts!
It has been well worth it though, as the last couple of days of hard work, cutting and filing, gluing and spraying, means that I now have about 1500pts of Space Wolves ready to be painted - not forgetting the 350pts already under my belt.
All that remains before the fine brushwork can begin is a liberal blast from the Citadel Spray Gun - which in the space of five minutes should finish eighty percent of the basecoats! Hurrah!
Mind you, it's after that that the hard work will begin. I only have a few weeks to get these lupine maniacs up to scratch - well, to gaming standard - so I'll be burning the brush at both ends come the weekend...
But anyway, I'm going to remain optimistic - because the goal is easily achievable, with a bit of discipline, that is!
Anyway, here are some pictures of The Great Howling before the Chaos Black spray went on:
It has been well worth it though, as the last couple of days of hard work, cutting and filing, gluing and spraying, means that I now have about 1500pts of Space Wolves ready to be painted - not forgetting the 350pts already under my belt.
All that remains before the fine brushwork can begin is a liberal blast from the Citadel Spray Gun - which in the space of five minutes should finish eighty percent of the basecoats! Hurrah!
Mind you, it's after that that the hard work will begin. I only have a few weeks to get these lupine maniacs up to scratch - well, to gaming standard - so I'll be burning the brush at both ends come the weekend...
But anyway, I'm going to remain optimistic - because the goal is easily achievable, with a bit of discipline, that is!
Anyway, here are some pictures of The Great Howling before the Chaos Black spray went on:
As you can see, I'm going to complete the spray coats on the Drop Pod before removing it from the sprue - and then I'm going to paint it is stages as I assemble it. This may take a little longer than is available, so I'm going to leave this one until last. It's a big model that only makes up 35pts of my army, so fun though it may be, I can certainly do without it...
Here are my Wolf Guard Terminators! (Thanks again for these, WiredWrong). You'll notice a couple of hastily-bashed Combi-Flamers in the pack. I did want to make all of the Storm Bolters into Combi's (Sven Bloodhowl's Great Company love their flame weapons, apparently), but there is a distinct lack of flame weapons in the Space Wolves boxes. I managed to cobble together two Combi-Flamers by hacking up the Heavy Flamer that comes with the Terminators.
The best thing about this unit is that you can split it up and have each of them accompany one of your other Wolf Packs (except for Scouts), so each of my five-man packs of Blood Claws and Grey Hunters will have a tooled-up Terminator leading them. Because or the army's lack of heavy weapons at the moment, those four Chainfists (2D6+Strength Armour Penetration) will really help to open up any tanks I come across. Hopefully. As with the Combi-weapons, two of the Chainfists have been converted using spare Chainswords.
These guys are the hardest-hitting pack in my army. Wolf Guard with twin Wolf Claws and Jump Packs. They are a staggering 70-odd points per model, so hopefully they'll live up to the cost. Their Wolf Claws, skills and Attacks mean that they should get four Attacks in the first round of combat, being able to re-roll either their To Hit or To Wound rolls. Oh, and they're Rending weapons as well.
The main bulk of the Howling is made of three five-man Grey Hunters packs and two five-man Blood Claws packs. The Grey Hunters should have all had a Plasma Gun, Wolf Standard and one member armed with a Plasma Pistol and Power Weapon / Power Fist...
...Like the chaps above.
However, as in the example above, I somehow got carried away gluing on Boltguns and completely forgot the Plasma for one of my packs. Still, I'll probably be grateful for that when the other two Plasma Guns get hot and melt their carriers! The only thing I'm not overly happy about is that the three Wolf Standards for the Grey Hunters are identical. It would have been nice to have them all different, but time just doesn't allow it. I may be tempted to chop a couple of them off after November and convert new ones for them...
And finally, the Wolf Scouts. I decided to go for a Heavy Bolter and Bolt Guns, again because the army lacks a great deal of punch with regards to firepower. I was tempted to add lots of icons and pelts and other wolf-y stuff to them, but in the end decided that they're meant to be a stealth unit and nothing gives you away quicker than the approaching sound of your wolf-tooth necklace rattling away...
And that's it, apart from the Blood Claws, which I've already shown, Njal and Lukas the Trickster (who may or may not be painted for this challenge... we'll see what time we get...).
If you're wondering where they are at the moment, they're frantically ringing round to see how many six-seater minicabs they'll need to get everyone back to the Fang. Njal says they're having trouble finding ones that'll accomodate their mead, spiced meats and severed Ork heads...
Monday 25 October 2010
We're Still Here...
A friend of mine recently asked (rather sarcastically) whether or not I thought that, as my blog was called 'The Great Howling', I ought to mention my Space Wolves once in a while.
My initial response to him isn't really suitable for print, but it did make me wonder whether I shouldn't be focusing a bit more time on what is supposed to be my primary army project.
It's not that nothing's been happening with them, it's just that as they were always an 'ongoing concern', it has been very easy to push them aside in favour of working on something with a more immediate reward (for example, Blood Bowl teams, etc.).
However, since this year's Bunker Bowl tournament is now done and dusted and the new league doesn't start until next year (just you wait for my newly converted Wood Elf team!!!), I've decided that although I'm still going to be getting in regular games of everybody's favourite miniature-based sport, my painting time is going to be completely devoted to my neglected Space Wolves.
And it's because of this that I've accepted a challenge from my rather sarcastic friend - to get at least 1000pts of Space Wolves basecoated by the time I go and visit him in Nottingham so that we can play 40k against each other for the first time in over ten years.
Now, flying in the face of my 'finished-or-bust' philosophy, I must stress that I'm going to basecoat them. Let's be realistic - I'll never get them completely finished in time!
However, it does then leave it to me to work as hard and fast as I can to do more than their basecoats before November for the sake of my own pride.
So what does this entail, I hear you ask?
Well, so far, completed, I have:
My initial response to him isn't really suitable for print, but it did make me wonder whether I shouldn't be focusing a bit more time on what is supposed to be my primary army project.
It's not that nothing's been happening with them, it's just that as they were always an 'ongoing concern', it has been very easy to push them aside in favour of working on something with a more immediate reward (for example, Blood Bowl teams, etc.).
However, since this year's Bunker Bowl tournament is now done and dusted and the new league doesn't start until next year (just you wait for my newly converted Wood Elf team!!!), I've decided that although I'm still going to be getting in regular games of everybody's favourite miniature-based sport, my painting time is going to be completely devoted to my neglected Space Wolves.
And it's because of this that I've accepted a challenge from my rather sarcastic friend - to get at least 1000pts of Space Wolves basecoated by the time I go and visit him in Nottingham so that we can play 40k against each other for the first time in over ten years.
Now, flying in the face of my 'finished-or-bust' philosophy, I must stress that I'm going to basecoat them. Let's be realistic - I'll never get them completely finished in time!
However, it does then leave it to me to work as hard and fast as I can to do more than their basecoats before November for the sake of my own pride.
So what does this entail, I hear you ask?
Well, so far, completed, I have:
Njal Stormcaller...
Six Blood Claws...
Um...
Ummmm....
Well, okay, that's it - but Njal is over a quarter of the points of the whole army, so that's something!!
And the rest, well:
Another four Blood Claws...
Lukas the Trickster...
Ten Grey Hunters...
Five Grey Hunters or Blood Claws...
Five Wolf Guard with jump packs and Wolf Claws...
A Drop Pod...
Five Wolf Scouts...
Five Wolf Guard Terminators (in the post)...
I reckon that should easily break the 1000pt mark. Saying that, I may not include Lukas as I want to do a top-notch paint job on him, so I may either see what time I get after the main army is painted to a gaming standard, or simply wait until after the November game.
Whichever I decide, no doubt the next few days will be spent feverishly gluing fiddly plastic bits together before I blast them with my spray gun.
The challenge begins... NOW!!!
Oh, and as for the Wolf Guard Terminators that are in the post - I have to thank my sarcastic friend for those.
Cheers mate.
Friday 22 October 2010
Picking the Bones
Well, I have to say that the Bunker Bowl tournament last weekend was absolutely fantastic. The Chelmsford Bunker really pulled out all the stops to make it a fun, friendly and exciting two days of Blood Bowl action.
As you will no doubt be aware if you read the last two posts, I had some fantastic games, albeit with some unfortunate results!
The thing is, that's what you can expect from Blood Bowl - nothing will ever go quite the way it's meant to. And that's what makes it one of the most entertaining games to play.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part in the tournament, especially the opponents I faced - but more so, I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who gave their time to plan and run the event. Awesome stuff!
Finally, although we may not have won many games, the Hackers and me did come away with the trophy for 'Best Painted Team', which for me (as an aspiring miniature painter) means far more than the coveted Bunker Bowl trophy itself.
But enough of Blood Bowl for a little while... My next post will bring news of an exciting new challenge:
As you will no doubt be aware if you read the last two posts, I had some fantastic games, albeit with some unfortunate results!
The thing is, that's what you can expect from Blood Bowl - nothing will ever go quite the way it's meant to. And that's what makes it one of the most entertaining games to play.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part in the tournament, especially the opponents I faced - but more so, I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who gave their time to plan and run the event. Awesome stuff!
Finally, although we may not have won many games, the Hackers and me did come away with the trophy for 'Best Painted Team', which for me (as an aspiring miniature painter) means far more than the coveted Bunker Bowl trophy itself.
But enough of Blood Bowl for a little while... My next post will bring news of an exciting new challenge:
The Space Wolves are mobilizing.
Reinforcements have arrived.
The Great Howling has begun...
Bunker Bowl 2010 - SPECIAL REPORT! (Part 2)
After a distinctly average performance yesterday, the Hackers hoped to pull out all the stops on the final day of the tournament. After two defeats already, the coveted Bunker Bowl trophy was almost certainly out of reach, but three wins today would doubtless place them in the upper half of the table. This would mean the Hackers’ best tournament ranking since the team was formed.
Only three obstacles stood in their way – the first of which were the Redback Shitbeaks.
Skaven. Let’s face it, who really enjoys playing against the Skaven? They’re sneaky, they’re fast, they smell and the play dirty.
In fact, they play so dirty that almost immediately after kick-off, poor Athelan the Wild was being carried off the pitch!
After that, the first half was a galling and dreadful run of Skaven touchdowns, thanks to their fiendishly annoying Gutter Runners. Try as we might, we simply couldn’t stop them scoring (or get them off the pitch!!).
As consolation, we managed to scrape back two touchdowns in the second half, thanks to Stark-Elm the Reckless, but not before losing our catcher, Twister Pine-Cone to yet more nefarious Skaven antics.
This game was a real crowd-pleaser, especially for the Hackers fans!
We knew from the start that this was going to be a dirty game, even as we heard the Goblin team’s chainsaw spluttering to life.
The danger was short-lived though as Stormwind, The Golden Tornado brilliantly assessed the impending gore-fest and cut it short by swiftly dispatching the chainsaw-wielding greenskin.
The Moons were left reeling by this and ‘Zipper’ Hare-Foot took full advantage by scoring his first touchdown of the tournament during their disarray.
That is not to say our casualty toll wasn’t tremendously high though, losing ‘Bloody Luckless’ Luthien, Athelan the Wild, ‘Thoroughly Dubious’ Duran and (most embarrassingly) Stark-Elm the Reckless to Goblin assaults.
In total, we only managed to inflict three casualties in return, but then we weren’t fielding the ‘special equipment’ that the cheating Goblins had managed to sneak onto the pitch.
In the end, they managed two touchdowns thanks to a couple of their players being launched down the pitch, but they couldn’t match our tally.
The final game of this tournament was somewhat marred by disaster, almost from the start. Perhaps we were misled by our underestimation of the Human team. After all, they were relatively tough, but not as quick or agile as us. They certainly weren’t as hardy as a Norse team and our Treeman was more than a match for their Ogre. However, our Elvish arrogance proved to be our undoing.
The match started off well enough when Twister Pine-Cone danced through the Mustang line to score an effortless touchdown, but that’s where our good fortune ended.
In a cruel twist of fate, Stark-Elm the Reckless suffered a game-ending injury when he tripped and fell while breaking away from one of the Mustangs.
‘Zipper’ Hare-Foot followed him off the pitch soon after, smashed down by the sheer force of a vicious tackle.
Suffering a two-player deficit, we conceded a touchdown just before half-time, forced by the sheer strength, and the relentlessness of, the Mustangs’ pressing attack.
The second half brought more misery after Twister Pine-Cone was launched mercilessly off the pitch into the arms of the Mustangs’ fans. His game was immediately over, and it is at this moment uncertain whether he will be able to play Blood Bowl again. Or walk, for that matter.
Treeman, ‘The Outrageous’ Girth, missed most of the half after an extremely large rock was launched at kick-off – hitting him across the head and knocking him senseless.
Without his protection, most of the Hackers were knocked face-down into the dirt as the Mustangs simply walked down the length of the pitch to score their winning touchdown right on the full-time whistle.
Only three obstacles stood in their way – the first of which were the Redback Shitbeaks.
GAME FOUR
Green Glade Hackers Vs. The Redback Shitbeaks
Skaven. Let’s face it, who really enjoys playing against the Skaven? They’re sneaky, they’re fast, they smell and the play dirty.
In fact, they play so dirty that almost immediately after kick-off, poor Athelan the Wild was being carried off the pitch!
After that, the first half was a galling and dreadful run of Skaven touchdowns, thanks to their fiendishly annoying Gutter Runners. Try as we might, we simply couldn’t stop them scoring (or get them off the pitch!!).
As consolation, we managed to scrape back two touchdowns in the second half, thanks to Stark-Elm the Reckless, but not before losing our catcher, Twister Pine-Cone to yet more nefarious Skaven antics.
FINAL SCORE
Green Glade Hackers 4-2 The Redback Shitbeaks
GAME FIVE
Green Glade Hackers Vs. The Grinning Moons
This game was a real crowd-pleaser, especially for the Hackers fans!
We knew from the start that this was going to be a dirty game, even as we heard the Goblin team’s chainsaw spluttering to life.
The danger was short-lived though as Stormwind, The Golden Tornado brilliantly assessed the impending gore-fest and cut it short by swiftly dispatching the chainsaw-wielding greenskin.
The Moons were left reeling by this and ‘Zipper’ Hare-Foot took full advantage by scoring his first touchdown of the tournament during their disarray.
That is not to say our casualty toll wasn’t tremendously high though, losing ‘Bloody Luckless’ Luthien, Athelan the Wild, ‘Thoroughly Dubious’ Duran and (most embarrassingly) Stark-Elm the Reckless to Goblin assaults.
In total, we only managed to inflict three casualties in return, but then we weren’t fielding the ‘special equipment’ that the cheating Goblins had managed to sneak onto the pitch.
In the end, they managed two touchdowns thanks to a couple of their players being launched down the pitch, but they couldn’t match our tally.
FINAL SCORE
Green Glade Hackers 4-2 The Grinning Moons
GAME SIX
Green Glade Hackers Vs. Middenheim Mustangs
The final game of this tournament was somewhat marred by disaster, almost from the start. Perhaps we were misled by our underestimation of the Human team. After all, they were relatively tough, but not as quick or agile as us. They certainly weren’t as hardy as a Norse team and our Treeman was more than a match for their Ogre. However, our Elvish arrogance proved to be our undoing.
The match started off well enough when Twister Pine-Cone danced through the Mustang line to score an effortless touchdown, but that’s where our good fortune ended.
In a cruel twist of fate, Stark-Elm the Reckless suffered a game-ending injury when he tripped and fell while breaking away from one of the Mustangs.
‘Zipper’ Hare-Foot followed him off the pitch soon after, smashed down by the sheer force of a vicious tackle.
Suffering a two-player deficit, we conceded a touchdown just before half-time, forced by the sheer strength, and the relentlessness of, the Mustangs’ pressing attack.
The second half brought more misery after Twister Pine-Cone was launched mercilessly off the pitch into the arms of the Mustangs’ fans. His game was immediately over, and it is at this moment uncertain whether he will be able to play Blood Bowl again. Or walk, for that matter.
Treeman, ‘The Outrageous’ Girth, missed most of the half after an extremely large rock was launched at kick-off – hitting him across the head and knocking him senseless.
Without his protection, most of the Hackers were knocked face-down into the dirt as the Mustangs simply walked down the length of the pitch to score their winning touchdown right on the full-time whistle.
FINAL SCORE
Green Glade Hackers 1-2 Middenheim Mustangs
Monday 18 October 2010
Bunker Bowl 2010 - SPECIAL REPORT! (Part 1)
The day has finally arrived as Blood Bowl fans from across the Old World gather for the excitement and brutality of this year's Bunker Bowl tournament.
Twenty-four teams. Six games. Two days. One prize:
The Bunker Bowl trophy.
But is this glittering prize within the reach of the embattled Green Glade Hackers? Their recent slew of mixed (but mainly poor) results has certainly not filled their fans with confidence.
Surely their hearts sank when their first match was drawn against one of the most notorious Lizardman teams in the tournament.
Head Coach ‘Unlucky’ Lysenko reports in his own words:
The Hackers always knew this would be a difficult match, and in a way, we were glad to have gotten it over with first thing.
Panic and triumph intertwined early on in the game when we lost ‘Thoroughly Dubious’ Duran to a violent Saurus tackle – but then scored our first touchdown of the tournament almost immediately afterwards.
Our hearts sank when we lost ‘Bloody Luckless’ Luthien almost immediately after the subsequent kick-off.
Two players down and only a quarter of the way through the game.
It was a nervy remainder to the half, but we managed to hold off the lizards until just before half-time when they unfortunately scored.
Our hopes rose once more when we scored half-way through the second half – only to once more have our hopes dashed, this time by the serious injury on The Auburn Assassin – a blatant act of vengeance which came immediately after our touchdown.
Sadly, just when a draw was in sight, we lost the game when our Treeman, ‘The Outrageous’ Girth, managed to fall over his own roots as he tried to take down a Saurus. This left a gaping hole in the middle of our line for one of their Skinks to run through, grab the ball from beneath our noses, and score.
If the first game was about being out-played, then this was definitely going to be about being out-crunched.
These Norse had a fearsome reputation for violence, even amongst some of the more hardened Blood Bowl coaches.
We knew that there was going to be a high casualty tally, but although four Serious Injuries was bad, it was nowhere near what we were expecting.
We were hammered hard in the first half, losing two players – Thrower ‘Go Long’ Glorfindel and fan-favourite, Clooney the Bear – one almost at the outset and the other towards the middle of the half. This blow was softened by the Norse losing one of their two werewolves, when one of our line-elves (who will naturally remain nameless) stuck out a foot and tripped the creature as he tried to dodge away from him.
Needless to say our fans were cheered up no end by this.
Unfortunately, as with the last game, we let through a touchdown in the dying seconds of the first half and went through to the second half needing to catch up.
Once more, touchdowns and injuries came hand-in-hand as ‘Bloody Luckless’ Luthien scored early in the half only seconds before ‘Thoroughly Dubious’ Duran took yet another injury.
The fans had to wait until the last minutes of the game to see Stormwind, the Golden Tornado – one of our fine Wardancers – score the winner, but in a fit of bitterness, the Norse fouled The Auburn Assassin out of the game, only for their player to be sent off for it.
I don’t mind admitting that we were completely out-elf’d by this Pro Elf team.
A blow-by-blow account of this game would be almost impossible as the two teams danced skilfully across the pitch amassing numerous touchdowns and collecting many, many injuries for their trouble.
No matter how cunningly we passed and dodged though, for every touchdown we scored, the Falcons notched up almost two, though we came off a lot better on casualties.
Our star scorer of the match, with his hat-trick of touchdowns (which were our only touchdowns in the end) was Stark-Elm the Reckless, who had been rather quiet so far in the tournament but now seemed to have warmed up to the event.
‘Bloody Luckless’ Luthien, living up to his name, fell over his own laces and had to be stretchered off, while the Falcons’ Thrower managed the same feat later in the game.
Rather uncharacteristically violently, the Hackers managed to injure four of the enemy players, thanks to frustrated blocks by Stormwind, Girth, Twister Pine-Cone and Clooney the Bear.
The numbers advantage gained from these injuries could not however rescue the game.
FINAL SCORE:
Green Glade Hackers 3-5 Far Sea Falcons
So, the first day under our belts and a very mixed bag, really. We expected defeat at the hands of Bloxy Music, were surprised to beat the Jagermonsters, but then really should have managed to defeat the Far Sea Falcons. After seeing the injury tally we inflicted on them at the end of the game, perhaps we should have tried hitting them sooner. Still, tomorrow is another day...
Coming Next:
The second instalment of our exciting and EXCLUSIVE Bunker Bowl 2010 report!!!
Twenty-four teams. Six games. Two days. One prize:
The Bunker Bowl trophy.
But is this glittering prize within the reach of the embattled Green Glade Hackers? Their recent slew of mixed (but mainly poor) results has certainly not filled their fans with confidence.
Surely their hearts sank when their first match was drawn against one of the most notorious Lizardman teams in the tournament.
Head Coach ‘Unlucky’ Lysenko reports in his own words:
GAME ONE:
Green Glade Hackers Vs. Bloxy Music
The Hackers always knew this would be a difficult match, and in a way, we were glad to have gotten it over with first thing.
Panic and triumph intertwined early on in the game when we lost ‘Thoroughly Dubious’ Duran to a violent Saurus tackle – but then scored our first touchdown of the tournament almost immediately afterwards.
Our hearts sank when we lost ‘Bloody Luckless’ Luthien almost immediately after the subsequent kick-off.
Two players down and only a quarter of the way through the game.
It was a nervy remainder to the half, but we managed to hold off the lizards until just before half-time when they unfortunately scored.
Our hopes rose once more when we scored half-way through the second half – only to once more have our hopes dashed, this time by the serious injury on The Auburn Assassin – a blatant act of vengeance which came immediately after our touchdown.
Sadly, just when a draw was in sight, we lost the game when our Treeman, ‘The Outrageous’ Girth, managed to fall over his own roots as he tried to take down a Saurus. This left a gaping hole in the middle of our line for one of their Skinks to run through, grab the ball from beneath our noses, and score.
FINAL SCORE:
Green Glade Hackers 2 – 3 Bloxy Music
GAME 2:
Green Glade Hackers Vs. Jagermonsters
If the first game was about being out-played, then this was definitely going to be about being out-crunched.
These Norse had a fearsome reputation for violence, even amongst some of the more hardened Blood Bowl coaches.
We knew that there was going to be a high casualty tally, but although four Serious Injuries was bad, it was nowhere near what we were expecting.
We were hammered hard in the first half, losing two players – Thrower ‘Go Long’ Glorfindel and fan-favourite, Clooney the Bear – one almost at the outset and the other towards the middle of the half. This blow was softened by the Norse losing one of their two werewolves, when one of our line-elves (who will naturally remain nameless) stuck out a foot and tripped the creature as he tried to dodge away from him.
Needless to say our fans were cheered up no end by this.
Unfortunately, as with the last game, we let through a touchdown in the dying seconds of the first half and went through to the second half needing to catch up.
Once more, touchdowns and injuries came hand-in-hand as ‘Bloody Luckless’ Luthien scored early in the half only seconds before ‘Thoroughly Dubious’ Duran took yet another injury.
The fans had to wait until the last minutes of the game to see Stormwind, the Golden Tornado – one of our fine Wardancers – score the winner, but in a fit of bitterness, the Norse fouled The Auburn Assassin out of the game, only for their player to be sent off for it.
FINAL SCORE:
Green Glade Hackers 2 – 1 Jagermonsters
GAME THREE:
Green Glade Hackers Vs. Far Sea Falcons
I don’t mind admitting that we were completely out-elf’d by this Pro Elf team.
A blow-by-blow account of this game would be almost impossible as the two teams danced skilfully across the pitch amassing numerous touchdowns and collecting many, many injuries for their trouble.
No matter how cunningly we passed and dodged though, for every touchdown we scored, the Falcons notched up almost two, though we came off a lot better on casualties.
Our star scorer of the match, with his hat-trick of touchdowns (which were our only touchdowns in the end) was Stark-Elm the Reckless, who had been rather quiet so far in the tournament but now seemed to have warmed up to the event.
‘Bloody Luckless’ Luthien, living up to his name, fell over his own laces and had to be stretchered off, while the Falcons’ Thrower managed the same feat later in the game.
Rather uncharacteristically violently, the Hackers managed to injure four of the enemy players, thanks to frustrated blocks by Stormwind, Girth, Twister Pine-Cone and Clooney the Bear.
The numbers advantage gained from these injuries could not however rescue the game.
FINAL SCORE:
Green Glade Hackers 3-5 Far Sea Falcons
So, the first day under our belts and a very mixed bag, really. We expected defeat at the hands of Bloxy Music, were surprised to beat the Jagermonsters, but then really should have managed to defeat the Far Sea Falcons. After seeing the injury tally we inflicted on them at the end of the game, perhaps we should have tried hitting them sooner. Still, tomorrow is another day...
Coming Next:
The second instalment of our exciting and EXCLUSIVE Bunker Bowl 2010 report!!!
Thursday 14 October 2010
'We're Ready,' Vows Lysenko After 3-2 Victory.
Green Glade Hackers coach, 'Unlucky' Lysenko stood defiant this evening, vowing to cast away his unfortunate monicker when his team take to the field this weekend for the 2010 Bunker Bowl tournament.
His confidence was no doubt boosted by tonight's comfortable 3-2 win against the Lizardman team, Sobek's Raiders.
Treeman, 'the Outrageous' Girth, seems to have stoked fire in the bellies of these once-gentle Elves as they proved themselves the more violent of the two teams. In fact, rather miraculously, the team ended the first half with all eleven players on the pitch!
'Thoroughly Dubious' Duran was their only casualty, his game ended by the armoured fist of one of the Raiders' Saurus players.
Evening the score, and more besides, the Elves and Girth managed to kill a Saurus and Skink - not to mention rendering a slew of players unconscious.
'It's very easy,' Lysenko warns, 'to pin all of our recent improvement upon the arrival of 'the Outrageous' Girth. But the truth is, magnificent figurehead though he may make, it's the fact that the team has now gelled into a coherent and formidable group of players that makes them Old World-beaters.'
But fans now know that the time for talk is over.
Only Saturday and Sunday will tell whether the Green Glade Hackers are good enough to add silverware to their (rather empty) wooden cabinet.
Buy our weekend supplement for our special two-part report.
The Daily Wood: Your OFFICIAL Bunker Bowl paper*.
*The Daily Wood is in no way affiliated with or linked to Bloodweiser, the Bunker Bowl Conglomerate or any of her sister companies. All Bunker Bowl images are copyright 2010 Bloodweiser / B-Bowl-C. Bunker Bowl is sponsored by Pip-Seed - The Taste Of The Yew Generation (TM).
His confidence was no doubt boosted by tonight's comfortable 3-2 win against the Lizardman team, Sobek's Raiders.
Treeman, 'the Outrageous' Girth, seems to have stoked fire in the bellies of these once-gentle Elves as they proved themselves the more violent of the two teams. In fact, rather miraculously, the team ended the first half with all eleven players on the pitch!
'Thoroughly Dubious' Duran was their only casualty, his game ended by the armoured fist of one of the Raiders' Saurus players.
Evening the score, and more besides, the Elves and Girth managed to kill a Saurus and Skink - not to mention rendering a slew of players unconscious.
'It's very easy,' Lysenko warns, 'to pin all of our recent improvement upon the arrival of 'the Outrageous' Girth. But the truth is, magnificent figurehead though he may make, it's the fact that the team has now gelled into a coherent and formidable group of players that makes them Old World-beaters.'
But fans now know that the time for talk is over.
Only Saturday and Sunday will tell whether the Green Glade Hackers are good enough to add silverware to their (rather empty) wooden cabinet.
Buy our weekend supplement for our special two-part report.
The Daily Wood: Your OFFICIAL Bunker Bowl paper*.
*The Daily Wood is in no way affiliated with or linked to Bloodweiser, the Bunker Bowl Conglomerate or any of her sister companies. All Bunker Bowl images are copyright 2010 Bloodweiser / B-Bowl-C. Bunker Bowl is sponsored by Pip-Seed - The Taste Of The Yew Generation (TM).
Wednesday 6 October 2010
Losing Streak Broken, Thrones Curse Remains.
Green Glade Hackers fans were elated tonight after their team's dire losing streak was broken by a 2-1 victory - relieving the growing pressure on head coach 'Unlucky' Lysenko.
Nerves were jangling as the Khorne-worshipping Norse team they were facing stomped, jeering, onto the pitch.
The hush of the Wood Elf fans predicted that their team weren't going to get out of this one unscathed.
And scathed they certainly were, to the tally of four Elves sacrificed to the glory of the Blood God during the course of the game.
Still, in an uncharacteristic feat of bravery and resolve, the Hackers managed to lead for much of the game, thankfully holding off a last-minute equaliser from their opponents, sealing a victory that managed to silence even the blood-thirsty calls of the Norse fans.
Despite this elation, a re-re-match against their old enemies, the Zharr-Naggrund Thrones ended in a 2-1 defeat, despite the Hackers taking an early lead.
Once more, coach Lysenko put the Chaos Dwarf victory down to a string of dirty fouls from the Thrones, leading to no less than two of their players being sent off.
'Wait until Bunker Bowl,' seethed Lysenko. 'I hope we draw those stunty, beardy thugs so that we can have our revenge! We're just warming up! With a nice mug of cocoa.'
Fans will not have to wait long to see if they will face the Thrones again as Bunker Bowl kicks off in less than a fortnight...
Nerves were jangling as the Khorne-worshipping Norse team they were facing stomped, jeering, onto the pitch.
The hush of the Wood Elf fans predicted that their team weren't going to get out of this one unscathed.
And scathed they certainly were, to the tally of four Elves sacrificed to the glory of the Blood God during the course of the game.
Still, in an uncharacteristic feat of bravery and resolve, the Hackers managed to lead for much of the game, thankfully holding off a last-minute equaliser from their opponents, sealing a victory that managed to silence even the blood-thirsty calls of the Norse fans.
Despite this elation, a re-re-match against their old enemies, the Zharr-Naggrund Thrones ended in a 2-1 defeat, despite the Hackers taking an early lead.
Once more, coach Lysenko put the Chaos Dwarf victory down to a string of dirty fouls from the Thrones, leading to no less than two of their players being sent off.
'Wait until Bunker Bowl,' seethed Lysenko. 'I hope we draw those stunty, beardy thugs so that we can have our revenge! We're just warming up! With a nice mug of cocoa.'
Fans will not have to wait long to see if they will face the Thrones again as Bunker Bowl kicks off in less than a fortnight...
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Girth! Girth! Girth!
Well, three days for one miniature, that has to be a record for me! I wish I could paint my Space Wolves as fast!!
'The Outrageous' Girth is finished and I have to say, I'm very pleased with the result:
It’s amazing how all of the little mistakes made during modelling – due to a distinct lack of experience with Green Stuff – are readily masked by a fair paint job.
Of course, as I said before, ‘Eavy Metal it ain’t – but then it does the job.
And besides, even with a liberal coat of varnish, as a Blood Bowl miniature, it’s going to get chipped to buggery during play, so Golden Demon was definitely not what I was aiming for with him.
Here’s how he came together:
• Undercoated with Chaos Black spray and then spray-gunned with a basecoat of Charadon Granite.
• Drybrushed with Khemri Brown, then Dheneb Stone.
• A very light drybrush of Gretchen Green was added.
• The whole miniature was then washed with Devlan Mud.
• After the wash was dry, I re-drybrushed the Dheneb Stone extremely lightly before wet-painting on the same colour as an edge highlight. This was done rather haphazardly in order to keep the treeman looking like a thing of nature.
• Then, the moss and fungus was basecoated Knarloc Green and then drybrushed Gretchen Green and then Dheneb Stone.
• Finally, the exposed trunks were painted Calthan Brown, then Iyanden Darksun before a liberal Leviathan Purple wash was added.
• Then the trunks were worked back up from Iyanden Darksun to pure Bleached Bone.
• Finally, the shoulder pad was painted Space Wolves Grey, washed twice with Ogryn Flesh, painted back up with a 2:1 mix of Ogryn Flesh and Space Wolves Grey and then highlighted with this mix plus a little Skull White. Pure Skull White was then used as an extreme highlight. Then, two washes of Gryphonne Sepia were applied before the edges were re-highlighted with Skull White. The grain effect was given simply by running extremely thin lines of Skull White down the pad.
• The nails were done with Boltgun Metal, two Badab Black washes, a Devlan Mud wash, a Chainmail highlight, two more Devlan Mud washes, and finally an extreme highlight of Chainmail.
• The dirtied-rust effect was just Ogryn Flesh with increasing amounts of Blazing Orange added before being dirtied back down with Devlan Mud.
• The base was painted Bestial Brown and drybrushed Bleached Bone before modelling flock was added.
• The edge of the base was, of course, Goblin Green.
Job done!
In other news, I just wanted to share my excitement at spending half of the UK Games Day this year hovering around the ‘Eavy Metal department and soaking up as many tips as I could.
I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Kornel Kozak (who won the Bronze Statue in the Open Competition with his beautiful yet stunningly simple Island of Blood Clanrat) and one of my all-time favourite painters, Anja Wettergren.
Hopefully some of their collective genius have rubbed off on me, but we’ll find out at next year’s Golden Demon, which I’m determined to enter – FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! More on that in the coming weeks, I hope...
Until then, one final bit of excitement:
'The Outrageous' Girth is finished and I have to say, I'm very pleased with the result:
It’s amazing how all of the little mistakes made during modelling – due to a distinct lack of experience with Green Stuff – are readily masked by a fair paint job.
Of course, as I said before, ‘Eavy Metal it ain’t – but then it does the job.
And besides, even with a liberal coat of varnish, as a Blood Bowl miniature, it’s going to get chipped to buggery during play, so Golden Demon was definitely not what I was aiming for with him.
Here’s how he came together:
• Undercoated with Chaos Black spray and then spray-gunned with a basecoat of Charadon Granite.
• Drybrushed with Khemri Brown, then Dheneb Stone.
• A very light drybrush of Gretchen Green was added.
• The whole miniature was then washed with Devlan Mud.
• After the wash was dry, I re-drybrushed the Dheneb Stone extremely lightly before wet-painting on the same colour as an edge highlight. This was done rather haphazardly in order to keep the treeman looking like a thing of nature.
• Then, the moss and fungus was basecoated Knarloc Green and then drybrushed Gretchen Green and then Dheneb Stone.
• Finally, the exposed trunks were painted Calthan Brown, then Iyanden Darksun before a liberal Leviathan Purple wash was added.
• Then the trunks were worked back up from Iyanden Darksun to pure Bleached Bone.
• Finally, the shoulder pad was painted Space Wolves Grey, washed twice with Ogryn Flesh, painted back up with a 2:1 mix of Ogryn Flesh and Space Wolves Grey and then highlighted with this mix plus a little Skull White. Pure Skull White was then used as an extreme highlight. Then, two washes of Gryphonne Sepia were applied before the edges were re-highlighted with Skull White. The grain effect was given simply by running extremely thin lines of Skull White down the pad.
• The nails were done with Boltgun Metal, two Badab Black washes, a Devlan Mud wash, a Chainmail highlight, two more Devlan Mud washes, and finally an extreme highlight of Chainmail.
• The dirtied-rust effect was just Ogryn Flesh with increasing amounts of Blazing Orange added before being dirtied back down with Devlan Mud.
• The base was painted Bestial Brown and drybrushed Bleached Bone before modelling flock was added.
• The edge of the base was, of course, Goblin Green.
Job done!
In other news, I just wanted to share my excitement at spending half of the UK Games Day this year hovering around the ‘Eavy Metal department and soaking up as many tips as I could.
I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Kornel Kozak (who won the Bronze Statue in the Open Competition with his beautiful yet stunningly simple Island of Blood Clanrat) and one of my all-time favourite painters, Anja Wettergren.
Hopefully some of their collective genius have rubbed off on me, but we’ll find out at next year’s Golden Demon, which I’m determined to enter – FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! More on that in the coming weeks, I hope...
Until then, one final bit of excitement:
I now own a copy of Island of Blood! I can’t wait to get my Skaven army started. Even now, I can hear grumbles of discontent coming from the direction of the Fang. But my Space Wolves need not panic. They are still my absolute priority.
For now.
Monday 4 October 2010
That's Ent-ertainment!
Well, there's a nice surprise, and no mistake!
I was a bit worried that two weeks wouldn't be enough time to get my Treeman painted before the Bunker Bowl tournament, and, after only two nights' painting, he's almost done!
Don't get me wrong, he wouldn't stand up to 'Eavy Metal scrutiny by any means, but for a very basic paint job with lots of drybrushing, he's not too shabby.
Without further delay, let me introduce you to the Green Glade Hackers' latest addition...
I was a bit worried that two weeks wouldn't be enough time to get my Treeman painted before the Bunker Bowl tournament, and, after only two nights' painting, he's almost done!
Don't get me wrong, he wouldn't stand up to 'Eavy Metal scrutiny by any means, but for a very basic paint job with lots of drybrushing, he's not too shabby.
Without further delay, let me introduce you to the Green Glade Hackers' latest addition...
'The Outrageous' Girth!
All that's left for me to do is to finish the base and paint his white shoulder pad, which should be done fairly quickly tomorrow... Ready for my next practice game on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, as I'm once more in danger of writing far too late into the night, I'm going to discuss the actual paints used (hopefully) tomorrow...
Until then, may your bark never rot!
Sunday 3 October 2010
What I Did On My Holidays...
Well, it feels like forever ago since I last updated this blog, and given my usual blogging enthusiasm, two weeks almost is.
Still, I'm finally back from my adventures in Wales and I have a freshly-modelled Treeman to show for it:
The clock is now ticking rather quickly now as there are less than two weeks until the Bunker Bowl tournament, so the paint job on this one might be a little bit rougher than I'd like.
So far, I've managed to work it up with a series of drybrush stages and hopefully there'll be some more pictures up tomorrow that'll give a better impression of what the finished player will look like...
Until then I'm waiting for the first of what will probably be many washes to dry...
The wash? Devlan Mud, obviously.
Still, I'm finally back from my adventures in Wales and I have a freshly-modelled Treeman to show for it:
The clock is now ticking rather quickly now as there are less than two weeks until the Bunker Bowl tournament, so the paint job on this one might be a little bit rougher than I'd like.
So far, I've managed to work it up with a series of drybrush stages and hopefully there'll be some more pictures up tomorrow that'll give a better impression of what the finished player will look like...
Until then I'm waiting for the first of what will probably be many washes to dry...
The wash? Devlan Mud, obviously.
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Coach Upbeat As Losing Streak Continues.
Green Glade Hackers Head Coach 'Unlucky' Lysenko has today defended yet another poor showing from the Wood Elf team.
Despite heavy spending on new players, namely treeman 'The Outrageous' Girth, the Hackers still failed to secure a win against Orc team The World Eaters, who beat them 1-0.
'All I can ask is that the fans give it time,' he begged at the post-match press conference. 'As a team, the balance felt right. I can understand fans' frustration at the loss, but it was a narrow loss and the best we've played for a long while.'
He went on to blame this latest defeat on a lot of bad luck and one, he admits, poor coaching decision at the kick-off.
'We were too close when the Orcs received the ball, right from the get-go. They made a Quick Snap and were right on top of us, ready to pound, before we even knew what had (quite literally) hit us.'
Fans agree, especially after watching three Line-Elves get killed in the first moments of the match, two from the very first Blocks.
Coach Lysenko however praised Girth for his outstanding work on the scrimmage line, keeping many of the Orcs and indeed the team's Ogre bogged down for the majority of the first half.
As if to cement the Head Coach's unfortunate-yet-apt nickname, an equalizer and winning touchdown were snatched away by a poor attempt to catch the ball and an unlucky trip at the end of the first and second halves, respectively.
When asked if he still believed that the Green Glade Hackers could win the upcoming Bunker Bowl tournament, Coach Lysenko was adamant:
'No. But we won't come last either.'
Despite heavy spending on new players, namely treeman 'The Outrageous' Girth, the Hackers still failed to secure a win against Orc team The World Eaters, who beat them 1-0.
'All I can ask is that the fans give it time,' he begged at the post-match press conference. 'As a team, the balance felt right. I can understand fans' frustration at the loss, but it was a narrow loss and the best we've played for a long while.'
He went on to blame this latest defeat on a lot of bad luck and one, he admits, poor coaching decision at the kick-off.
'We were too close when the Orcs received the ball, right from the get-go. They made a Quick Snap and were right on top of us, ready to pound, before we even knew what had (quite literally) hit us.'
Fans agree, especially after watching three Line-Elves get killed in the first moments of the match, two from the very first Blocks.
Coach Lysenko however praised Girth for his outstanding work on the scrimmage line, keeping many of the Orcs and indeed the team's Ogre bogged down for the majority of the first half.
As if to cement the Head Coach's unfortunate-yet-apt nickname, an equalizer and winning touchdown were snatched away by a poor attempt to catch the ball and an unlucky trip at the end of the first and second halves, respectively.
When asked if he still believed that the Green Glade Hackers could win the upcoming Bunker Bowl tournament, Coach Lysenko was adamant:
'No. But we won't come last either.'
Sunday 12 September 2010
Look, Power Armour is 80% of the Model!!
Alright, alright, it's still really slow going! But I only have one more extreme highlight to add to the armour of my Blood Claws before I can start on the details.
So, although it's taken me almost a week - but please believe me, I've missed a lot of days due to DIY-ing - I should get the rest of the miniatures polished off in short-order.
In fact, I'm determined to get them done before I go to Games Day, after which I'll be on holiday for a week. It'll be great, but I'll really miss the painting. I may try and sneak my paints into the car...
I've hit a brick wall with my Treeman as I've run out of Green Stuff and my local Games Workshop is closed for the next THREE DAYS!! Madness, I know, but hopefully Mail-Order will get my large bases and Green Stuff to me by Tuesday so that I can at least base him before his first try-out Blood Bowl match on Wednesday evening.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it all seems to be taking forever at the moment, but it'll be worth it in the end.
It better be worth it in the end...
So, although it's taken me almost a week - but please believe me, I've missed a lot of days due to DIY-ing - I should get the rest of the miniatures polished off in short-order.
In fact, I'm determined to get them done before I go to Games Day, after which I'll be on holiday for a week. It'll be great, but I'll really miss the painting. I may try and sneak my paints into the car...
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it all seems to be taking forever at the moment, but it'll be worth it in the end.
It better be worth it in the end...
Friday 10 September 2010
Slow And Steady May Win The Race...
...But it certainly never got a 3,000 point army painted!
I feel like I've been very slack with the blog just lately. Much as it may bore and annoy you all, I do quite like making at least one entry a day - but recently I've been busy with other things.
Still, I feel like I'm picking up some small head of steam with my Great Howling, although I did spend the whole night painting the mid-tone onto the armour of THREE Blood Claws. Hopefully once this stage is complete though, it'll all get much quicker.
As ever, my methods of painting are evolving, and now, when it comes to painting my as-yet-not-owned Battle Forces, I have decided that instead of spraying the basecoat, shading down and then re-applying the base, I'm going to have a go at spraying the shading layer on and then painting upwards from there.
There is of course the danger that the mid-tone will become too dull and muddy, leaving me to apply two or three coats of the Shadow Grey / Space Wolves Grey mix, so I'll definitely try it on just one miniature first...
In other news...
My Blood Bowl Treeman is coming on - well, I won't say 'a treat', more like 'adequately'. It's always so difficult (to me, at least) to tell how things are looking with Green Stuff until the miniature is actually painted.
I had originally thought that sculpting tree bits would be relatively simple, but I find that my (very inexperienced) sculpting skills lack quite a lot when it comes to giving hard, defined edges. At the moment, I'm putting on the putty, leaving it to set for an hour or so, then sculpting. After that, I leave it for twenty-four hours before using a sharp modelling blade carve away any unwanted smoothness:
Above you can see where I've added some extra branches to give the impression of hair and below is a side-on picture showing the work so far on the 'elbow' of the extra branch that will curl around his side.
Underneath you can see quite a nice view of how the branch will be growing out of the Treeman's back...
As you can see from the larger branch, I'm having to build the sculpt up in several sections, so the model will take quite a few days to finish. I'm not sure this is the normal method of creating something this large, but I am finding it much easier to complete in stages.
Hopefully I'll be adding some more tomorrow, but I'm almost out of Green Stuff and aren't sure when I'll next be able to get into town to replenish my stock. When I do, I also need to grab a large round base (Blood Bowl uses round instead of square bases) to 'root' him to before I can begin to paint...
In the mean time, if anyone knows of any good articles on sculpting Green Stuff, a link would be very much appreciated!
I feel like I've been very slack with the blog just lately. Much as it may bore and annoy you all, I do quite like making at least one entry a day - but recently I've been busy with other things.
Still, I feel like I'm picking up some small head of steam with my Great Howling, although I did spend the whole night painting the mid-tone onto the armour of THREE Blood Claws. Hopefully once this stage is complete though, it'll all get much quicker.
As ever, my methods of painting are evolving, and now, when it comes to painting my as-yet-not-owned Battle Forces, I have decided that instead of spraying the basecoat, shading down and then re-applying the base, I'm going to have a go at spraying the shading layer on and then painting upwards from there.
There is of course the danger that the mid-tone will become too dull and muddy, leaving me to apply two or three coats of the Shadow Grey / Space Wolves Grey mix, so I'll definitely try it on just one miniature first...
In other news...
My Blood Bowl Treeman is coming on - well, I won't say 'a treat', more like 'adequately'. It's always so difficult (to me, at least) to tell how things are looking with Green Stuff until the miniature is actually painted.
I had originally thought that sculpting tree bits would be relatively simple, but I find that my (very inexperienced) sculpting skills lack quite a lot when it comes to giving hard, defined edges. At the moment, I'm putting on the putty, leaving it to set for an hour or so, then sculpting. After that, I leave it for twenty-four hours before using a sharp modelling blade carve away any unwanted smoothness:
Above you can see where I've added some extra branches to give the impression of hair and below is a side-on picture showing the work so far on the 'elbow' of the extra branch that will curl around his side.
Underneath you can see quite a nice view of how the branch will be growing out of the Treeman's back...
As you can see from the larger branch, I'm having to build the sculpt up in several sections, so the model will take quite a few days to finish. I'm not sure this is the normal method of creating something this large, but I am finding it much easier to complete in stages.
Hopefully I'll be adding some more tomorrow, but I'm almost out of Green Stuff and aren't sure when I'll next be able to get into town to replenish my stock. When I do, I also need to grab a large round base (Blood Bowl uses round instead of square bases) to 'root' him to before I can begin to paint...
In the mean time, if anyone knows of any good articles on sculpting Green Stuff, a link would be very much appreciated!
Monday 6 September 2010
Back in the Game.
Well, after spending a week away from the painting table, up to my neck in pipes, valves, washers, plaster and flooring, I have to say that I've missed it mightily!
I now have running water in my house, which is lovely, but I can't wait to slip back into the habit of painting every day.
Not that I actually did any painting today though...
I had intended to put the basecoat onto some of my Blood Claws (I'm going to paint the squad in two smaller packs of five Wolves instead of attempting all ten in one go), but the weather was thoroughly against me. It was in fact pouring down and by all accounts will be for the next few days. So, I put away my GW spray gun and decided to hand-paint the basecoat. In all honesty, this probably won't lengthen the painting process much as it cuts out the tidying-up phase of painting all of the non-armour back to black again.
Before I could put paint to Power Armour though, I needed to gravel the bases. It may seem a bit backwards, but I now tend to model and paint the tops of the bases first because (I may have mentioned this before) I can't help rushing them when they're the last thing to do on the piece. Unfortunately, although there are a great many beautifully-based miniatures out there, for a lot of people the base tends to be an afterthought. I like to get them done now while the excitement for the project is uber-fresh - and it also means that there is no danger of me making any slips and splashing paint all over the miniature's feet (we've all done it a million times!). The best of it is that because I'm going to 'snow' the bases at the end, any slips the other way, from miniature to base, can be easily covered.
As a small asside, in preparation for the upcoming Bunker Bowl Blood Bowl tournament, I also started converting my new Treeman miniature. Well, I say 'new', but I actually mean 'bought part-painted-yet-cheap on eBay'.
The tricky thing was, I wanted to make him a bit more exciting with a few more branches sticking out for 'hair' and another larger branch to make his body more tree-like and less humanoid - but when it comes to Blood Bowl, large creatures are an absolute pain in the backside because they occupy one square in game terms, yet take up about four physically. This can make it difficult to get other players into his Tackle Zones (although who'd be stupid enough to stand next to an angry Treeman, I don't know!) so I don't want to increase the actual silhouette size of him.
The three strands of 'hair' certainly won't, but the extra brach might yet - although the twists and bends aren't in their final postion yet - I'll shape it more once the glue has dried...
Wherever the final position of the branch rests though, this will definitely be the most tricky Green Stuff sculpting I've yet attempted.
Wish me luck!!!
Friday 27 August 2010
Codex Painting: Space Wolves.
Being a reference guide to the stages of painting, and the colourations thereof, of
Sven Bloodhowl's Great Howling.
STAGE I - PREPARATION:
i. Undercoat with Chaos Black Spray.
ii. Spray with 1:1 mix of Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey.
iii. Black out non-Power Armour areas using Chaos Black.
iii. Black out non-Power Armour areas using Chaos Black.
STAGE II - BASING:
i. Glue gravel to base using PVA.
ii. Paint gravel with Regal Blue.
iii. Drybrush with Ice Blue.
iv. Drybrush with Skull White.
STAGE IV - POWER ARMOUR:
i. Shade recesses with 1:1 mix of Scorched Brown and Fenris Grey.
ii. (optional) Tidy edges with mix from stage (I[i]).
iii. Highlight edges with pure Space Wolves Grey.
iv. Apply an extreme highlight with a 1:1 mix of Space Wolves Grey and Skull White.
STAGE V - BLACK AREAS:
i. (optional) Tidy black areas with Chaos Black.
ii. Highlight with Regal Blue.
iii. Extreme highlight with Codex Grey.
iv. Wash areas with Badab Black.
OR
'EAVY METAL METHOD:
i. (optional) Tidy black areas with Chaos Black.
ii. Highlight with Codex Grey.
iii. Highlight with Fortress Grey.
OR
'EAVY METAL METHOD:
i. (optional) Tidy black areas with Chaos Black.
ii. Highlight with Codex Grey.
iii. Highlight with Fortress Grey.
STAGE VI - GOLD / METALLICS:
i. Apply a 1:1 mix of Scorched Brown and Shining Gold.
ii. Wash with a 1:1 mix of Scorched Brown and Badab Black.
iii. Highlight with Shining Gold.
iv. Highlight with Burnished Gold.
v. Extreme highlight of Mithril Silver.
vi. Wash areas with Leviathan Purple.
STAGE VII - FUR (Method [i]):
i. Basecoat with Bestial Brown.
ii. Build up highlights by gradually adding Bleached Bone.
iii. Extreme highlight of Bleached Bone.
iv. Apply an Ogryn Flesh wash.
v. Apply Skull White as an extreme highlight.
vi. Wash with Gryphonne Sepia.
STAGE VII - FUR (Method [ii]):
i. Basecoat with Scorched Brown over several thin layers.
ii. Highlight with Bestial Brown, more heavily towards edges.
iii. Apply Vomit Brown, drybrushed towards the centre, but painted at the edges.
iv. Highlight with Bleached Bone, using the same method as above.
v. Apply an extreme highlight of Skull White.
vi. Wash with Gryphonne Sepia.
vii. Wash with Ogryn Flesh.
STAGE VIII - ANIMAL SKINS / TONGUES:
i. Basecoat with Scab Red.
ii. Gradually build up highlights using Bleached Bone.
iii. Extreme highlight of Bleached Bone.
iv. Wash with Leviathan Purple.
STAGE IX - BONE / STONE / PARCHMENT:
i. Basecoat with Bestial Brown.
ii. Highlight with Snakebite Leather.
iii. Highlight further with a 1:1 mix of Snakebite Leather and Bleached Bone.
iv. Add another highlight, this time of Bleached Bone.
v. Extreme highlight with Skull White.
STAGE X - HAIR:
i. Basecoat Bestial Brown.
ii. Layer with Blazing Orange.
iii. Wash with Ogryn Flesh.
iv. Apply a second Ogryn Flesh wash.
v. Highlight with Dwarf Flesh.
vi. Add a final highlight of Bleached Bone.
vii. Glaze with Baal Red.
STAGE XI - FACE:
i. Basecoat with a 1:1 mix of Vermin Brown and Scorched Brown.
ii. Layer with a 2:1:1 mix of Dwarf Flesh, Vermin Brown, and Scorched Brown.
iii. Layer with pure Dwarf Flesh.
iv. Highlight with a 1:1 mix of Dwarf Flesh and Skull White.
v. Highlight further with a 3:1 mix of Skull White and Bleached Bone.
vi. Wash with a 1:1 mix of Gryphonne Sepia and Ogryn Flesh.
vii. Wash Regal Blue into the recesses.
viii. Paint the whites of the eyes with Tausept Ochre.
ix. Highlight the whites of the eyes with a 1:1 mix of Golden Yellow and Skull White.
x. Paint the teeth with Bleached Bone, and highlight with Skull White.
STAGE XII (OPTIONAL) - TATTOOS:
i. Paint area Dark Angels Green.
ii. Build up the colour with a 3:1 mix of Hawk Turquoise and Dark Angels Green.
iii. Highlight with Hawk Turquoise.
iv. Extreme highlight using a 1:1 mix of Hawk Turquoise and Skull White.
STAGE XIII (OPTIONAL) - PLASMA / POWER WEAPONS:
i. Paint the area Dark Angels Green.
ii. Highlight with Snot Green.
iii. Highlight with Scorpion Green.
iv. Extreme highlight using a 3:1 mix of Skull White and Scorpion Green.
v. Final highlight of Skull White.
STAGE XIV(i) - SHOULDER PADS [RED]:
i. Basecoat with a 2:1 mix of Blood Red and Dark Flesh.
ii. Shade with a 1:1 mix of Dark Flesh and Chaos Black.
iii. Highlight with Blood Red.
iv. Highlight with Blazing Orange.
v. Extreme highlight of Vomit Brown.
STAGE XIV(ii) - SHOULDER PADS [YELLOW]:
i. Basecoat Tausept Ochre.
ii. Layer with a 1:1 mix of Tausept Ochre and Golden Yellow.
iii. Finally highlight with a 1:1:1 mix of the above, plus Skull White.
STAGE XV - PURITY SEALS:
i. Basecoat Red Gore.
ii. Add a 3:1 mix of Red Gore and Fortress Grey.
iii. Highlight with a 1:1 mix of Red Gore and Fortress Grey.
iv. Highlight with a 1:3 mix of Red Gore and Fortress Grey.
v. Wash with Leviathon Purple.
vi. Highlight with Fortress Grey.
STAGE XVI - RED STRAPPING / GEMS:
i. Basecoat with Mechrite Red.
ii. Layer with Blood Red.
iii. Highlight with Blazing Orange.
iv. Extreme highlight of Vomit Brown.
v. Wash with Baal Red.
vi. (optional) Extreme highlight of Skull White for gems.
STAGE XVII - FINISHING:
i. Paint edge of base Calthan Brown.
ii. Use Skull White to apply snow to top of base.
iii. Apply any final touch-ups and fixes.
iv. Apply Great Company transfer to appropriate shoulder pad.
v. Varnish with Purity Seal spray.
vi. Paint around edges of transfers where necessary.
GLORY BE TO THE ALLFATHER!
My Work Here Is Done...
Finished 'Test' Space Wolf: PASS.
Ease / Speed Of Painting Full Army: EPIC FAIL!
I absolutely love the look of the initial Space Wolf Blood Claw that I've painted, and think that when I eventually finish my Space Wolves army, it is going to look stunning on the battlefield. However, I dread to think how long they're going to take.
After trying to strike a balance between quality and speed, I think that quality won.
But you never know, once I get into the swing of it, and get in some production-line painting, I may be able to get through a squad every couple of weeks. If not, the next Codex may be out before a single shot is fired!
Rather depressingly, now I should be on a roll with my painting, I have to stop for about a week because I'm fitting a new bathroom. No idea what I'm doing. Never done it before. Might take a little while.
Still, I've got plenty of Green Stuff, so if I get bored I could always convert the bath into a Land Raider.
Not sure how my wife would feel about that...
Anyway, if I do get a chance to blog at all, I may be able to publish a Colour Codex for my army, detailing (as much for my benefit as anyone else's) every colour mix and technique for the various parts of my army.
As well as that, I thought I may do a couple of one-off articles focussing on individuals from my currently-ill-fated Blood Bowl team...
As long as I don't flood the house, of course.
Thursday 26 August 2010
New Blood Needed After 2-0 Defeat, Coach Urges.
Embattled Green Glade Hackers Coach, 'Unlucky' Darren Lysenko has urged the team's financiers that money needs to be spent if the team are to be in with a chance of performing at the upcoming Bunker Bowl Tournament.
The Hackers suffered yet another embarrassing defeat last night, to the jeers of both home and rival fans. One Wardancer - Stormwind the Golden Tornado - was even booed by raucous Hackers fans as he was carried almost-lifeless from the pitch.
The Zharr-Naggrund Thrones - the Chaos Dwarf team which heralded the beginning of the Hackers' current run of bad luck - pummelled the Wood Elf team into a 2-0 deafeat, re-igniting calls for the sacking of the team's Head Coach.
'Unlucky' Lysenko urged calm, and called for reflection upon the team's recent defeats.
'We're getting crushed from the outset. The minute the ball first hits grass, half our line are out of action. We need something that can bolster our scrimmage line. We need a Treeman!'
These calls have been welcomed by most fans, although some assistant coaching staff have expressed concerns about where the gold for such a high-profile purchase may come from.
'The thing is, tee-hee,' giggled Page-Tree stunna Wynona Cherry-Blossom, Hackers cheerleader. 'It's fine to talk about what we could do with all of these extra boys running around, but boys cost money, don't they? What about m - ? I mean, what about the rest of the coaching staff? Are we going to lose ours jobs over this?'
Only one person can answer that question - and that person is the one voted most likely by fans to be out on their ear before the start of next season.
The Hackers suffered yet another embarrassing defeat last night, to the jeers of both home and rival fans. One Wardancer - Stormwind the Golden Tornado - was even booed by raucous Hackers fans as he was carried almost-lifeless from the pitch.
The Zharr-Naggrund Thrones - the Chaos Dwarf team which heralded the beginning of the Hackers' current run of bad luck - pummelled the Wood Elf team into a 2-0 deafeat, re-igniting calls for the sacking of the team's Head Coach.
'Unlucky' Lysenko urged calm, and called for reflection upon the team's recent defeats.
'We're getting crushed from the outset. The minute the ball first hits grass, half our line are out of action. We need something that can bolster our scrimmage line. We need a Treeman!'
These calls have been welcomed by most fans, although some assistant coaching staff have expressed concerns about where the gold for such a high-profile purchase may come from.
'The thing is, tee-hee,' giggled Page-Tree stunna Wynona Cherry-Blossom, Hackers cheerleader. 'It's fine to talk about what we could do with all of these extra boys running around, but boys cost money, don't they? What about m - ? I mean, what about the rest of the coaching staff? Are we going to lose ours jobs over this?'
Only one person can answer that question - and that person is the one voted most likely by fans to be out on their ear before the start of next season.
Wednesday 25 August 2010
I'll Get Quicker. I Hope.
It's been fairly slow progress on my test-Wolf tonight.
Rather naively, I had hoped to finish him. Ha! No such luck!
The problem I had tonight was getting the shoulder pads right.
Now don't get me wrong, it's not going to take a whole night to paint each Marine's shoulder markings, it's just that tonight I had to paint each one about three times before I got the colour right.
I've finally managed to sort out the colour scheme - I just hope that my painting will get both faster and neater by the time I've finished the army.
If you're interested, the reds were painted with a 2:1 mix of Blood Red and Dark Flesh, followed by a shade of 1:1 Dark Flesh and Chaos Black. They were then line-highlighted with Blood Red, Blazing Orange and finally, Vomit Brown.
The yellows were given a basecoat of Tausept Ochre and then a 1:1 Tausept Ochre and Golden Yellow mix, finally highlighted with a 1:1:1 mix of the previous layer, plus Skull White...
As they don't look hideous, I've decided that they'll do.
Hopefully, he'll only take a couple more days to finish as I have a week or so (more like three) of DIY which starts on Saturday - so I'll be spending my time replacing the bathroom instead of painting.
Rubbish!
Never mind, hopefully I'll have earned plenty of hobby time by the time it's done...
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