2012: Year of Changey Changes

Wow, 2012 was really something, wasn't it? So much happened this year. The biggest changey change was obviously splitting this blog off into its own page. Smartest thing I ever did. Both pages are stronger for it and it allows me to better focus on developing the content. Win win.

Now it's party times!

Since the split, I broadened the base of topics I cover. I'm much happier writing a little about a lot of things than a lot about a few things. There's only so many posts you can make about Dwarfs. There will (probably) be less of those in the coming year. I'm also amazed and excited to have hit 50 followers. You're all awesome! Thanks for reading my ramblings.

I have endless amounts of miniatures laying around and keep getting caught up in trying new games. I blame Hubs partially, since he keeps picking up new game systems. But eventually it ends up that things don't get done very often. To keep things rolling, I thought I should make a list, both for reference and to help keep me honest about what I have going on.

General 2013 Goals:

• Finish converting my Space Wolves!
• Paint at least 50 models unrelated to my Space Wolf army
• Keep posting consistently. I have plenty of things to write about, but I'm not always on point about getting it out there.
• Attend more events than 2012 (I think I can do better than 2)
• Finish gathering the pirate Dwarfs for my WHF army (looking at you, Avatars of War)

Hell Dorado: I Don't Play Enough Games, Apparently

Hanukkah has come and gone, and in its wake I find myself with many new and delightful hobby goodies. Casey has fallen out of love with large scale gaming lately, so he's been picking up lots of smaller skirmish games to try. Hell Dorado was a natural choice since it has small model count.

 
 I got a Westerners starter pack as part of my Hanukkah loot. I got an old school box, it's all in French. Casey scored it on Ebay along with another starter set for a really good price. I wasn't sure which faction I wanted to play. The Demons didn't appeal to me athesthetically and Casey already called dibs on playing Saracens.Westerners seemed like a good choice.

Since I have so many projects going on right now, I haven't yet done anything more than open the box to check them out. But it turns out that Richard has decided to set a date to gather some folks and play some games. So in January I'll give it a shot. I won't have enough time to paint them, but I can certainly get them based and primed to play.

Have you played Hell Dorado? What are your thoughts about it?

2012 Daemonette Project

She's finally finished! I managed to sneak some hobby time in last night after a pretty busy weekend and got her based. I touched up her hair a bit to give it more contrast and cleaned up a few points where I'd been a little sloppy. 

The only major change I did was to her claw. I changed it to orange based on a Twitter suggestion. I really wasn't thrilled with the yellow.  The orange definitely does that something that the yellow didn't.

I probably spent more time on her than I did on an entire squad of ten of them originally. Soon I might be able to paint a whole squad up to this standard, but it takes me too long still. Painting slowly seems to be my curse.

The base came from the Stonehaven Miniatures kickstarter. The Dwarfs in that set came with some resin bases, but I didn't intend to base the Dwarfs with them. This was the perfect chance to use one. Unlike the GW slotted bases, the slot in this one doesn't go all the way through, so she didn't quite fit. I used my handy-dandy Dremel tool to drill the rest of it out.

Here's a comparison shot between 2012 and 2011:

Looking at them side to side really surprises me. I'm excited to do this again next year.

Hammer in the New Year Planning and Missions

So far, planning for running my tournament has been quite a learning experience. People came out of the woodwork to sign up, so I had to go back to my FLGS and see if I could scare up more table space. Fortunately, I was able to do so and now there are 20 spots instead of the original 12.

   
These new spots filled up almost immediately. Many came off the wait list, and a few others jumped in after. While I am surprised by the large response, I am very please to see so many people coming out to play 40k. Our store gets a bit of a bad rap for having only Fantasy players, but clearly that's not the case.

I worked out the missions and rules and posted them last night in the sign up forum:

Games will be won by scoring Game Points. Game Points can be earned in the following manner:

Scoring a Kill Point: 1 point each
Capturing a Quarter Objective: 2 points each
Capturing the Center Objective: 3 points
First Blood: 1 point
Slay the Warlord: 1 point
Linebreaker: 1 point

Game Points are used to determine your Battle Points.
If you have...
...half as many Game Points as opponent or less: 0 Battle Points
...3 fewer points than opponent: 2 points
...1 or 2 fewer points than opponent: 3 points
...tied opponent in points: 5 points
...1 or 2 more points than opponent: 7 points
...3 or more points than opponent: 8 points
...double or more points than opponent: 10 points

The person with the most Battle Points wins the game. Game Points will be used for tie-breaking purposes.

The Center Objective will be a Mysterious Objective, all the others will be normal. The Night Fighting special rule will be in effect for all rounds.

Deployment will vary for each round:
Round 1: Dawn of War
Round 2: Hammer & Anvil, Fast Attack can claim objectives
Round 3: Vanguard Strike, Heavy Support can claim objectives

Each game, you’ll rate the sportsmanship of your opponent on a scale of 1-5 and their army appearance on a scale of 1-10.

Awards:
Best Overall goes to the player with the most total points (Battle Points, Sportsmanship, and Painting).
Best General goes to the player with the most Battle Points (second highest if highest also wins Best Overall).
Best Painted goes to the player with the highest painting score. Each player will receive a paint score between 0-40. This score is calculated by adding up the points from each opponent, plus the score from the organizer (me). 

A couple of questions came up that I hadn't thought of ahead of time, but it's nice of everyone to keep me on my toes. The tournament is less than a month away now and I'm getting really excited for it to finally be here. Scores sheets have been made up and I think I'm really, truly finished tinkering with them.

Good luck to all that have signed up!

WIP Wednesday: Daemonette Project 2012

I've just about finished with the 2012 Daemonette. There's a little work I still want to do to her, and I still have to base her before she's complete. I've realized I'm rubbish about basing models, especially single figures like this one. I never seem to get around to it.

 
Aside from not being based, I'm not sure how I feel about the claw and her hair needs a little more work. I'm not totally satisfied yet, but I think she's coming along nicely.

I feel really good about how her skin came out. I've never done as smooth a job on skin as I have here. Unfortunately it happened sort of by accident and I don't know how well I'll be able to replicate it on other models in other colors.

Overall, though, unless I do something disastrous to her, I think she's the best thing I've painted to date. When 2012 is finished, I'll do a side by side shot of her with 2011. Just looking at them together makes me feel really good about how far my skills have progressed. It's nice to see concrete evidence of me getting better at painting.

I'll try to have her done in time to show off on Miniature Monday.

You can see the 2011 Daemonettte and read about the Daemonette project in the original post.

Stonehaven Kickstarter Minis Have Arrived

I was out of town this weekend, but when we arrived home last night, there was a package waiting for me- my first Kickstarter had arrived! I wasn't expecting them for about another week, but I am so happy they're here. The Kickstarter was done by Stonehaven Miniatures and it was a set of Dwarven Adventurers.

So many goodies!

I bought the whole set, which includes 20 figures, accessory bits, character cards, resin bases, and a nice die with their logo on it. I also threw in for the shirt they offered. It was only $10 and has a fabulous print of the art for the Fallen King on it. The package shipped just on time, so I am very pleased with this Kickstarter.

The miniatures are just fantastic. The have great detail and lots of personality. They also have several that you don't see too often- like a Necromancer, a Monk, and a Brewmaster. A full third of the characters are also female, which is nice to see. My favorite might be the Highwayman, the pose is really dynamic, or the Druid with her familiar. Both are really fabulous.

Unfortunately, they sent me two of the Rogue and no Blacksmith. But I contacted them about the mix up, they responded very promptly and a Blacksmith is now on her way to me. It was a very pleasant customer service experience. I can completely understand how that might happen when they're trying to fill over 1400 Kickstarter orders on time.

I'm not wild about the bases they came with, but I didn't intend on using them anyway. I'm going to select one of the models (not sure which one yet) for an upcoming RPG character, so I'll probably base them all a little more special than I would for Warhammer.

Stonehaven Miniatures is doing another Kickstarter soon, for Gnomes and Halflings. I probably won't jump in on that one because I have too many other hobby projects on the table right now. But I'm sure they will be just as awesome as these. My only regret with this one is that I didn't order the Troll that was optional. I wish I had, it's really cool.

WIP Wednesday: Grey Hunters, Now With Heads

Finally, I've finished scraping up the Grey Hunters. They are ready to have their conversion work done- the part I am most excited/worried about. I'm really looking forward to doing it but also pretty nervous about how they'll turn out.

I thought it would be best to have their legs, torsos, and heads together to do the greenstuff work. I'll probably do the legs on all of them first, let them cure, and then do the torsos. Hopefully that way I will ruin less of what I've already done as I go along.

The MKV guys are still laying down on the job, though.

Thankfully, there's very little work I need to do to their heads. It hadn't occurred to me before starting this project, but Space Wolves are some bullheaded dudes who don't often wear their helmets. That means 90% of the heads in their kits are bare! I only have a very small number of helmets I need to convert to the Heresy style.

They still don't have arms, but they can certainly make up for that by biting their enemies to death in the meantime. Arms will go on after the body conversions and after I figure out how to rework the weapons into the MKIV and MKV styles. One hurdle at a time.

And now for kicks, a shot of what I have built so far in the army:

Not a huge force, but nothing to shake a stick at either. I've reached the point in the army where I really need to start painting them before I build anything else, but thankfully half the army is comprised of wolves who look just the same now as they did 10,000 years ago.

I'm somewhat surprised by the number of extra bits I have left over after putting these together. The number of heads alone is shocking. I also ended up with quite a few extra torsos. If I'm creative, I could probably get another ten or so marines out of what I have laying around.

I've gotten started on a few of the conversions, but they've got a ways to go still. I'm hoping to have them completed by the new year, but we'll see. I don't honestly know how much time each marine will take and I've got a lot on my plate between now and then.

Hammer in the New Year Tournament

Good news, everyone!

I'm running a 40k tournament to ring in 2013 called "Hammer in the New Year". This will be my first time putting on a tournament and I'm very excited to do it. When I floated the idea, I wasn't sure if there would be a big enough response, but my club quickly proved me wrong.

Forgive my atrocious drawing skills.

It'll be 1750 points on January 12th, 2013 at Game Parlor in Chantilly, VA. If you're interested in playing, please sign up on this forum post, which includes all the pertinent info. Spots are already filling up, which I am very pleased to see.

And, if you have any advice for a tournament newbie, I'd be happy to have it!

WIP Wednesday: Scraping all the Space Wolves

I thought I'd have another Space Wolf update a little sooner, but I vastly over estimated my ability to scrape the Grey Hunter bits into a proper shape for Heresy armor conversions. Conversely, I underestimated how many times I would nearly cut a fingertip off (and subsequently had to take a few short breaks). This has been my most lengthy (and dangerous) hobby project to date.

MKIV on the right, MKV on the left.

But! Progress is being made. I split the pile of Wolves into two camps- one for MKIV armor conversions and one for MKV. I decided that since the Space Wolves were sent to deal with Magnus just before the Heresy warfare really broke out, they'd have been able to get their hands on some of that shiny new MKV armor. It will also make for a more visually interesting army.

The legs of all 50 Grey Hunters and 6 Thunderwolf riders are scraped and shaped appropriately for green stuffing. About half of the MKIV armor torsos are scraped up and ready, too. I had to put the torsos together before trying to scrape the mold lines and reshaping them for my plans. The chest pieces were too small to scrape on their own without nicking myself with the hobby knife.

I'm setting aside the MKV guys for a bit to concentrate on the MKIV. It's helping to make the conversion task feel a little more manageable. I think part of why I haven't been feeling too much in the hobby groove lately is because of the sheer size of this project. It's daunting. Although, to be honest, the large part of why I haven't been working on them is that I've been cheating on Warhammer with quilting.

Alas, I've had to give up my sewing machine for two weeks to have it serviced, so that may have helped push me back into the Warhammering mood. Hopefully torsos will be finished by the end of the week. Then I can start working on the green stuff parts to make them look like they should. If I'm really quick, I can get to scraping the MKV ones before my sewing machine comes home.

Warhamm-iversary

Today is my wedding anniversary, and when my husband and I exchanged gifts, it turned out we both got each other Warhammer gifts. Not sure what that says about us, really.

I was super spoiled with this lovely Vindicator to add to my Space Wolf army, since they are severely lacking in the vehicular department thus far. I gave Casey a copy of the shiny new Chaos Space Marines codex and a set of their physic cards.

Just for kicks, here's a list Casey and I came up with for the "Traditional" Warhammer wedding anniversary gifts. Paper is for chumps. Toy soldiers are for winners.

1st- Grot
2nd- Scout squad
3rd- Tech marine
4th- Apothecary
5th- Librarian
6th- Tactical squad
7th- Chaplain
8th- Sternguard squad
9th- Captain
10th- Rhino
15th- Razorback
20th- Stormtalon
25th- Vindicator
30th- Predator
35th- Landraider
40th- Stormraven
45th- Thunderhawk
50th- Titan

If you're ever in a bind about what gift to get that power wargaming couple in your life, hopefully this guide will see you through.

WIP Wednesday: Fenrisian Wolves

The storm has come and gone from Chickhammer Manor, and thankfully we didn't take any damage. However, with two days off from work and only a short power outage, I was able to dedicate my "stay indoors" time to getting some painting done.

So I started working on the fur of my Fenrisian wolves. I wanted a variety to their coloration, so I did several different shades. Some are old paint colors, some are new. I honestly couldn't tell you which is which now.

Overall, though, I am not very happy with how their fur has turned out. They just look... blah. I thought painting their fur would go similarly to how I painted the beards on my Dwarfs, but they didn't end up looking as good. I'm not sure what to do about it. I even briefly considered stripping them and starting over.

How have you gone about painting fur? Any tips would be appreciated.

Halloween Steampunk Witch

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. Unfortunately, I live in the path of this Frankenstorm, so this year's celebrations will be rather muted. However, due to the storm, not much has been going on except hanging out inside and staying dry. That has given me plenty of time to work on a few painting projects.

  First up on the painting block is a fabulous Reaper model I picked up a couple weeks ago- a Steampunk Witch. I started her a little while back, but got distracted by Space Wolves before I finished her.

 I still have to base her. If the power holds out (not looking terribly likely, though) I'll do the basing soon. I have an especially fun skeleton base I got from the NOVA swag bag that I might try out for her. It'll also give me a chance to try out some of the water effects things I've been meaning to get around to.

Coming up next I have my 2012 Daemonette for my Daemonette Project and a pile of Fenrisian Wolves. If you're in the path of this storm, stay dry, stay safe, and good luck.

The Daemonette Project 2011

When I auctioned off my Chaos Daemon army last month, I did not include the twenty 3rd edition metal Daemonettes I used in the army. I am rather fond of these sculpts, and they aren't easy to come by, so I was loathe to sell them off.

I also wasn't terribly excited about them sitting around collecting dust either. But, I think I found a good way to use them without needing an entire army. They were among the first models I painted when I got started in the hobby, and on inspecting them, I realized how much my skills have improved since I painted them.

I decided it would be an interesting little project to paint one up every year, to see how my painting skills have changed. I went through my set, and picked out the one I thought was the best. The rest, I removed from their bases and dropped into a tub of Power Dissolver to strip the paint off.

Without further adieu, I present Daemonette 2011:

 

Once the remaining 19 are cleaned off, I'll prime one of them and paint her up as Daemonette 2012. I can't decide whether or not to paint the next one in a similar color scheme or a different one. There are some pros and cons for both. Cons certainly include not having half the paints I used in the original one, because of the GW paint switch up. Which method do you think would be best for this project?

*Update* 2012 Daemonette is finished!

Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnought

I took a little time off hobbying last week since my in-laws were visiting, but now I'm back at the table. I last left off with scraping the Grey Hunters into submission for some Heresy style conversions. They were getting tedious.

Then, I got a little careless with the hobby knife, and probably would have had to take a day or two off anyway, because I sliced my thumb up pretty badly. Watch out for those sharp knives, everybody.

Anywho, I decided to start back up with one my favorite goodies from my Space Wolf haul- the Forgeworld Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnought. This model is absolutely splendid. It also does me the lovely favor of already being in the Heresy style, so I didn't need to mess with it at all. I just clipped off the flash, scraped up the lines, and put this beauty together.

It's delightfully Wolfy- I particularly fancy his pelt belt. He's equipped with twin linked auto cannons. I was going to magnetize them in case I wanted to change them up later, but the magnets I had on hand were a bit too small to hold the arms well. I don't foresee wanting to change his weapons so it's not the end of the world.

This weekend I'll be getting a lot of wolfy work done. I hope to have all the Fenrisian Wolves, Thunderwolf Cavalry, and my Grey Hunters all finished up and at least partially converted.

Warhammer Pumpkin Carving Patterns!

I love some Halloween. I love it so much that I decided to spend some time making a few pumpkin carving patterns dedicated to my favorite hobby- Warhammer! They're nothing super fancy (my graphic design skills are severely lacking) but they're printable!

I'm sure you're shocked that I chose to carve a Space Wolf one. Some of the patterns are nicer than others, but my design skills are homegrown.

Space Wolves! Aroo!

Tyranids

Orks

Eye of Horus

Ultramarines

Chaos Star

Blood Angels

Here are the links to the PDF downloads for each one:

Space Wolf
Ork
Tyranid
Eye of Horus
Ultramarines
Chaos Star
Blood Angels

If I have time, I will also be doing some more later. If you have any requests, let me know and I'll see what I can do about making one.

Hordes Two-Player Battle Box Set

Over the weekend, Casey and I bought the new Hordes starter set. We have a few friends who are interested in getting into wargaming, and we thought Hordes might be a good way to ease them into the hobby. It's low model count, relatively inexpensive to start, and something we can start quickly.

However, I've never played Hordes before and Casey hasn't played in so long that he no longer has any of the models. So, the logical place for us to begin was to buy their new starter set. The set itself truly is a great way to start playing the game with someone. It costs $100, which is pretty reasonable if you're splitting the cost between you and a friend.

It includes two factions, Circle Orboros, which are mostly werewolves (woohoo!), and Legion of Everblight, which has beasts that look sort of like a cross between a Tyranid and a rhinoceros. There are 20 models total, 9 for Orboros and 11 for Everblight. It comes with a mini rulebook (along similar lines to the GW ones), an introduction pamphlet (a sort of Start Here guide), the game cards for each model, dice, and something they've called a "ruler" but is less helpful for measuring than a wet noodle.

My mighty faction!

Casey and I were able to build our respective factions in an afternoon. He said Everblight went together with no problems whatsoever. I didn't have as easy of a time with the Orboros ones. The pieces that did fit, fit together beautifully. But the pieces that didn't weren't even close. I had to do quite a bit of work to get the models to go together with minimal gaps. Even after all that, I'm still going to spend some time with the liquid green stuff to get them looking seamless.

My halberds and Casey's spears were all bent in funky ways so we had to heat up some water to reposition them. Not a big deal, though, because the models still went together quickly, and they didn't have much in the way of flash. Mold lines also cleaned up quickly. As I said, we built them in an afternoon. We had planned to play a game, but we got distracted by dinner and video games.

I really love this Warpwolf.

I'm looking forward to trying out the game. The Orboros models are gorgeously detailed and I'm looking forward to painting them. All in all, this is really great starter set for a good price. It actually includes everything you need to start playing (unlike certain starter sets we know) and you can go from buying the box to playing the game in a single day.

Piper and the Yellow Dog Project

I'm not going to cross post often between my blogs, but this is one of those rare times. This is not at all Warhammer related either, and I promise this won't be a regular thing. But, to be honest, Chickhammer has a much wider reach than my other blog and this is important to me.

Piper with her new yellow ribbon.

I came across something called the Yellow Dog Project, which is aimed at helping people know when it is not ok to approach another dog with your own dog, by tying a yellow ribbon to their leash. I have a wonderful beagle named Piper who is one of these dogs. She was attacked by a dog shortly after my husband and I adopted her, and it has changed her for life. She's terrified of other dogs now- and acts out on this fear by being aggressive toward other dogs.

I wrote out Piper's whole story and more about the Yellow Dog Project in a post on my other blog, Little Thunder Lizard. Please check it out and find out more on their website. This project is being spread throughout the world- so please, pass it on.

I'll be back with a regular Warhammer update in the next few days, with progress on my Heresy Space Wolves.

White Dwarf Revamped

The newly redesigned White Dwarf is out and I just finished reading it. I tweeted about it while I was going through, but it quickly became apparent that what I want to say about it greatly exceeds 140 characters.

My instant reactions were "Awesome, it comes with another poster for us to hang in the War Room" and "Sheesh, we paid $10 for a 150 page advertisement?"

I'd seen the leaked photos of the Chaos models earlier in the week, but it wasn't until I had the magazine in my hand that I realized they red lit the models. What the bloody hell were they thinking? First of all, they look flat out terrible in that red light and they're too dark. Second, why did you bother to paint them if you were just going to ruin any chance for us to admire the paint job? Please don't ever do this again.

Pages 6-47 were straight ads for the new Chaos models, but also included Forgeworld stuff which I heartily appreciate. I like the little blurbs about each model, but they really told us nothing about the kit itself, other than mentioning over and over again the models are in Finecast. Some more details about what you'll actually get would be apprecaited.

The price list page also bothered me. It's as though they can't decide if they're making a magazine or a catalog. Either list the prices next to the model, or don't waste my time. Speaking of prices, $50 for the codex? Yikes! We're prone to complaining about prices but come on, GW. It's a book. I haven't paid that much for a some dead trees glued together since my college days.

At some point, the prices for the very basic game necessities (like, you know, the rules) are going to start discouraging people from entering the hobby. Hell, ten years ago I was discouraged from starting by the ten years ago prices. And I honestly have zero plans to buy this new book because of it, even though I very much like CSMs.

Heresy Space Wolves- The Start

Last post, I asked if I should start on my Heresy Wolves now, or if I should wait and see what Forgeworld comes out with in the coming months. The overwhelming consensus was that I should kick my lazy butt into gear and do it myself- for a menagerie of very good reasons. Thank you all for your input.

And so, it has begun.

I decided to start with the easiest models- the Fenrisian wolves. I heard fur was easy to sculpt, plus I have experience with the similarly designed Chaos Warhounds, so I knew I was going to have to fill in the gaps along where the two body halves meet. I didn't really know what to do about it when I assembled the Warhounds, and I ended up going back a year later (after they were painted) to fill in the gaps and then repaint the parts I touched up. Not a good plan.

Get Started or Wait? My Space Wolves Dilemma

With the exciting news of a new video for the Forgeworld Horus Hersey Book 1 today, I've really come to a head with getting started on my upcoming Space Wolf army.

I've been talking about the Big Plans I have for them for a few months now, and it's probably time I came clean about what those plans exactly are. Even before the rumors started circulating about Forgeworld's Heresy plans, I had decided I wanted to do my Space Wolves up in in the Heresy style.

At the time, I was reading Collected Visions and the style and fluff just sucked me in. I was completely committed to doing up all the conversions myself, and I'd scoured the internet for tips and suggestions from people who have already done similar work themselves. But with the announcement that Forgeworld is going to produce more Heresy models, I'm left in a tough spot.

I can either a) go forward with my plans and do a ton of work to convert them up myself or b) I can wait and see what they release. They have quite a few Heresy style things in production already (like the incredible Space Wolf dreadnought I already bought). They look great (I had planned on buying some to mix in with my conversions) so I expect these to be along similar lines.

The problem is, we know what the legions covered in this book are, and Space Wolves aren't among them. I expected this to be the case, from what the rumors had been saying. So the next book might be out around February/March and there's no guarantee Space Wolves will be covered in it. It could be a year, or more, before they get around to them, and then a little more before the models are all in production.

I was hoping to whip 1500 points up for Mechanicon at the end of October, but now I'm not so sure I want to start them. I don't have a 40k army right now, though, so it's an odd place to be in. If I'm going to put them together, I need to start doing them now in order to have them ready in time.

Decisions, decisions.

First Army Nostalgia

I talked about it for a while, and it took a bit, but I finally sold my Daemon army. I packed it up last night and shipped it off this morning. They're going all the way to a chap in South Africa. As excited that I am to see them put to good use (as I've been ignoring it for most of a year), I'm also a little sad about it.

These Daemons were my first army, the first models I painted, and the first things I tried to convert (tried being the key word). Working on them sucked me into the hobby for life. And I just sold them off so I could buy another army. It's comforting that they cannot feel betrayed by this. Nostalgia tugged at my heartstrings the whole time I packed them up.

First squad I ever painted.

That being said, I'm not heartbroken. They were sold for a good cause (Space Wolves count as a good cause in my book) and I wasn't playing them. I haven't played them enthusiastically in over a year. Despite the new models and the rumors of a new Daemon book soon, it just wasn't doing it for me.

I've moved on and I'm glad they've moved on, too. Goodbye, Daemons and goodluck! May we meet again several armies in the future!

What was your first army and where are they now? Feel bad about it? Feel free to share your guilt.

Get Thee To Ikea, and Soon

Casey's birthday is on Monday, and I wanted to get him something hobby-related. We've been talking about getting some sort of display case for our (his) miniatures and I actually found one. A pretty great one. The best part? It cost less than $100.

Those really nice and fancy glass display cases cost a ton of money, and they're mostly geared toward retailers. Ikea, though, has a pretty nice one called Detolf. It comes in black or beige and it's on clearance for $65. I spent another $30 on one of their light sets to illuminate each shelf, Dioder (white, not the multi-colored). I included the links, but don't buy it online and ship it to yourself- shipping was $125. Yes, $125 for shipping. I drove an hour to get it in person.

It weighs 90lbs (seriously) so bring a friend (I actually brought Casey to help me pick up his own gift, poor guy) to assist you. It definitely needs two people to put it together, too. But, the way the shelves are attached makes it ridiculously easy to put in the lights and tuck their wires out of the way. My trusty staple gun secured them to the top piece and together along the back.

 The lights are very bright LEDs and illuminate the minis better than I thought they would. It's not quite as bright as one of those expensive retail ones, but it really does a nice job. For the price, you can't beat it. In fact, I like it so much that if I had another $100 laying around, I'd go buy another set. They'd look really snazzy as a set on either side of our TV.

NOVA Open 2012 Battle Report

This was my first time playing Fantasy at a tournament. There were about 30 players, with room for up to 40. The Fantasy room was a whole different animal from the 40k side. If I could sum it up in a word, Fantasy was cozy and 40k was cavernous.

There was something like 38 people originally scheduled to participate but a bunch dropped out or didn't show at the last minute. That meant that to have 1 undefeated player at the end, we only needed to go 5 games instead of 6. This ended up being great, because it gave me more time to see things and talk with people before the award ceremony on Sunday.

Overall, I went 2-3 and I achieved my goal of winning at least two games. Everyone I played against was great and I even managed to find a little time between games to socialize with people I didn't get paired to play with.

I took this list:

The Hungry Horde!

Lords:
Slaughtermaster- Level 4 with Lore of the Great Maw, dispel scroll, Crown of Command and extra hand weapon.

Heros:
Bruiser- BSB with Rune Maw and Ironfist, Heavy Armour, and Lookout Gnoblar.
Firebelly- Great Weapon, Hellheart, and Lore of Fire

Core:
16 Ogres- full command and Ironfist.
10 Gnoblar Trappers
10 Gnoblar Trappers

Special:
6 Mournfang Cavalry- full command,  Dragonhide banner, Ironfist, and Heavy Armour.
6 Leadbelchers- Bellower.
1 Sabretusk

Rares:
2 Ironblasters

Game 1: Cale, Ogres (loss)

 
     There were a lot of Ogre players, and I had visions of repeating my experience at Blob's Park where I played the same army all day long. Somewhat remarkably, this ended up being my only game against Ogres.
     We had a great game and he beat me pretty handedly. We had some issues with our Ironblasters, in that we kept misfiring. I don't think either of ours did any damage to anyone the whole game. But I really do love them (and they were clutch later on in the event).
     The only real difference between our armies was I had regular Ogres and he had Ironguts. Those guys hurt with the S6 attacks. It took them a little while, but they chewed through my Mournfangs, despite their 2+ save.
     I ended up with 5 points and he had 17.

NOVA Open 2012 Aftermath

After much anticipation and flip flopping between which army I'd play, NOVA Open happened this past weeekend. In fact, I just got home about an hour ago. But, I had a pretty great time so I decided to sit down and talk a bit about it while it was still fresh in my mind (plus it's raining and I don't want to unpack the car in the rain).

Despite my previous reservations, I took Casey's Ogre army and had a great time playing with them. I really like their play style as compared to the Dwarfs. I also appreciate an army with a small model count when I have to schlep them around between games.

This was my first time attending the Open. There were several seminars I wanted to take, but unfortunately most of them overlapped with my games. There were a few offered on Friday, and I had no games, so I signed up for two of them. The first one was very early in the morning, so I took the Metro, which was vastly better than spending two hours driving through traffic.

The seminars were run by Justin of Secret Weapon Miniatures. I took the early seminar on airbrushing and the evening seminar on basing.I've been hemming and hawing about whether or not I should pick up an airbrush because I have no experience with one. In the seminar, I got a great primer on how they work and what they can do. I ultimately came to the conclusion that yes, I probably want an airbush (if for no other reason than I am an unbearably slow painter). I also got some excellent tips on where to get started.

There ended up just being two of us in the basing seminar (it was during one of the 40k games, so lots of people were busy) but it ended up being twice as awesome because we got to spend the entire time asking every single basing questions we could think of. I started off with snow basing, for Space Wolf-related reasons. But I also learned how to use some materials I didn't know how to work with.

So, I'm Selling Some Things

I am going to do a little shameless plug here because I am unloading a few things on eBay right now, and you might be interested in them or know someone who might be.

The most exciting is my entire Chaos Daemon army. If you're interested in more photos of the army, you can check them out in their post. I haven't played them regularly in over a year. They were my first army and I've loved them, but they're just not fun for me to play with anymore.

It's quite a lot of daemons, I have the whole thing listed out on the Chaos Daemon army auction. 

I'm also auctioning off the Pleasuredaemon I painted up a couple months ago. Without a Daemon army, it'll be a little silly to have this excellent Daemon Prince alternative laying around. I did a post about her back in May.

Lastly, I am throwing up an assortment of Dwarfs. I got a lot of Dwarfs last year and there were quite a few duplicates and many, many of the plastic Warriors that I am not using. I decided it was probably time to send them off to someone who will get some use out of them.

My entire list of auctions (all three of them, haha) is here. Hopefully they will fetch a good price and I can use that money to finance the rest of my Space Wolf army.