Tom has two youngsters keen on painting their Warhammer figures, and he will be doing his army as well. So I thought I would give him some insights on how to paint, and then some strong suggestions on using the simplest techniques in order to get the most figures done with the least time.
I came loaded with brushes and figures, as Tom advised me that he had paint. I brought my fave colour, Rackham Bone, and tom had a little mix of GW Foundation Blue & Grey, Scortched Brown, Regal Blue, and Ice Blue.
The first lesson were the very basics. Keep the paint on the bottom third of the brush. Keep your paints water thinned. Have a rubbish transfer and mix brush to your pallet. Have a tissue box/ Kitchen paper roll around for cleaning and wiping. Clean water, mix water and bin in easy reach. Clean your brushes well between each colour change. No warm water as it melts the wax in the ferrule. Shape your tip. Have an upside down brush in your wash water to 'rub' your bristles clean.
Then we got into the painting. How to load a colour and use one or two brush loads of water to thin it. How to mix a darker colour and then work towards lightness for highlighting.
I showed Tom how to drybrush, and how opacity affects highlighting.
The Regal blue did not want to apply nicely, so after a correction I showed Tom how to turn it into a wash.
At the end of the two hour session, Tom had the basics down pat, and using only the colours he had I showed him how to make and effective batch process to paint the Lizardmen and the Skinks.
Once he has these done, we will get him going on his Skaven, and then once the skills have developed, it might be time to get the High Elves painted.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The Skaven emerge
Tom has decided on his army, and has gone for the rat men, the Skaven. One battalion box, and a heap of gear grabbed from the gamers friends, WargamerAu & ebay.
For the game Tom had 1500 points, Jez had 750 Orcs, and I had 750 points of Empire.
It was a good romp, close most of the way, with the "Unlikely Alliance" putting down the ratties. Dropping a Rat horde was difficult, as those stubborn rolls meant that it took the humans some serious chopping, but I had three tight frontage units facing his horde sized effort. Jez's Black Orcs had a hard job, dislodging a horde by itself. It was saved by a traffic jam preventing flanking attacks over the time that it took to kill the ratties.
Funny stuff:
- the slave rat explosion was one of the most effective tactics of the day - Tom is priming his brush for slave painting a plenty.
- Animosity - The goblins were NOT interested in attending the battle. When the Black Orc's went screaming off with a Warggghh roll, both gobbos stayed stock still. And the next turn. The centre unit woke up once it was slammed into by the slave rats on their turn three, but the other one had FOUR rolls of one in a row - staying dead still on the starting line.
For the game Tom had 1500 points, Jez had 750 Orcs, and I had 750 points of Empire.
It was a good romp, close most of the way, with the "Unlikely Alliance" putting down the ratties. Dropping a Rat horde was difficult, as those stubborn rolls meant that it took the humans some serious chopping, but I had three tight frontage units facing his horde sized effort. Jez's Black Orcs had a hard job, dislodging a horde by itself. It was saved by a traffic jam preventing flanking attacks over the time that it took to kill the ratties.
Funny stuff:
- the slave rat explosion was one of the most effective tactics of the day - Tom is priming his brush for slave painting a plenty.
- Animosity - The goblins were NOT interested in attending the battle. When the Black Orc's went screaming off with a Warggghh roll, both gobbos stayed stock still. And the next turn. The centre unit woke up once it was slammed into by the slave rats on their turn three, but the other one had FOUR rolls of one in a row - staying dead still on the starting line.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Painting progress
Friday night fight was skipped this week as A. & I were seeing "Deep Blue Orchestra".
I have not been slack, far from it - I have had the painting urge strike. 30 Gretchin, 8 Orks and 16 Sarus Lizardmen have gone from plastic to waiting for basing. I was doing a couple of hours at the end of the night, perched in my usual spot behind the Teev while the others watch their programs, L. watching ABC3 until 8.30, and then more adult stuff once L. was in bed.
I was amused by the timing of the BOLS article on Army Painter quickshade, as I was prepping my Saurus for just that treatment when I read the article. If you like painting armies fast, it's a great article. My only alteration to that article - I always paint the dip on - less mess, less wastage.
I have not been slack, far from it - I have had the painting urge strike. 30 Gretchin, 8 Orks and 16 Sarus Lizardmen have gone from plastic to waiting for basing. I was doing a couple of hours at the end of the night, perched in my usual spot behind the Teev while the others watch their programs, L. watching ABC3 until 8.30, and then more adult stuff once L. was in bed.
I was amused by the timing of the BOLS article on Army Painter quickshade, as I was prepping my Saurus for just that treatment when I read the article. If you like painting armies fast, it's a great article. My only alteration to that article - I always paint the dip on - less mess, less wastage.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Friday night fight delayed due to culture
A friend is down from QLD and playing in "Deep Blue Orchestra".
Gaming can wait a week for Wah Wah Jen Jen.
Gaming can wait a week for Wah Wah Jen Jen.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
And the wizard stayed in the pub!
Friday saw Adelle feeling more like playing hostess to Carina, so the teams were Lachies' Lizard and my Empire V Tom's Chaos & Nathan's Night Goblins, each army at 750 points.
We played "Early Morning Battle" #2, with deployment being randomised by zone: left flank, centre or right flank. The naughtiness alliance won the choice, and wisely stayed away from the buildings, and got a reasonably well spaced deployment. The lizards went first and took the centre, while the Empire filled in the holes, and seemed to be obsessed with the pub located on the left flank!
One the battle got rolling, their were a few feints and fiddles, with a detachement of swordsmen playing the feint game to fail charge some warhouds, but the traffic jam it casued was at the expense of less cannon shots. Hard to say if the trade was worth it.
The Saurus got stuck into the goblins, slightly worn down by missile fire, and got them running away. The humans stayed in the pub, waiting for the Chaos Warriors to arrive. On the left, a thin frontage Saurus broke some Marauders.
In the magic and shooting, a shaman ripped apart a Scar veteran hero, and kept away some charging. After Turn two the skink priest had taken out the Wizard of Tzeench by 'wind bumping' him into nearby units, and zapping him with burning head, and the shaman's were turned around and destroyed by mortar fire.
However, around turn three, the Trolls came to play, and the Warriors started getting their charges. The trolls were machines, smashing Saurus units and taking back the accumulated banners. By the end, all the gobbos had run and the trolls were sitting around wrapped in FIVE banners. Easily a man of the match performance.
Out on the empire left flank, the Warriors hit the pub. 8th Ed has some 'ten on ten' rules for building combat, and the Warriors ripped apart the first ten halberdiers without a return blow being thrown. Luckily the 25 halberdiers outnumbered the 10 Warriors even after the carnage, and made their steadfast leadership roll. We claimed that they were to drunk to know what was going on, and were piling out the windows and off the roof, and the door was too jammed with corpses for the Warriors to get in!
A fifteen Skink javelins units did good work, taking out Hounds, peppering some Warriors, and keeping the Priest alive.
After the game I looked at my army and found I had made a tactical error - I had a second wizard, who I forgot to roll for, and forgot to field. We decided that he must have enjoyed the pub too much, and passed out under a table and enjoyed a good nap.
The traffic jam was declared a good tactic, as there were about 250 points more "Good guys" left at the end. However, the trolls recoving all the gobbo banners, and holding two Sarus Banners, and the Warriors holding the pub Halberdiers banners seem to give the balance. We calculated at the old rule of 100 points per banner. This is a handy win of 50 points to the naughtiness alliance.
The next day, Tom was reading the rules, and banners are only worth 25 points, which turned it back to 175 point victory to the good guys.
We all had a great time, and want to do it again.
Practicalities seem to mean that we are going to split into two types of games - "Adult" night, where we play larger games at our place and go later, and "Kids" nights at Toms where we start earlier and play smaller points, with a roughly fortnightly rotations.
We played "Early Morning Battle" #2, with deployment being randomised by zone: left flank, centre or right flank. The naughtiness alliance won the choice, and wisely stayed away from the buildings, and got a reasonably well spaced deployment. The lizards went first and took the centre, while the Empire filled in the holes, and seemed to be obsessed with the pub located on the left flank!
One the battle got rolling, their were a few feints and fiddles, with a detachement of swordsmen playing the feint game to fail charge some warhouds, but the traffic jam it casued was at the expense of less cannon shots. Hard to say if the trade was worth it.
The Saurus got stuck into the goblins, slightly worn down by missile fire, and got them running away. The humans stayed in the pub, waiting for the Chaos Warriors to arrive. On the left, a thin frontage Saurus broke some Marauders.
In the magic and shooting, a shaman ripped apart a Scar veteran hero, and kept away some charging. After Turn two the skink priest had taken out the Wizard of Tzeench by 'wind bumping' him into nearby units, and zapping him with burning head, and the shaman's were turned around and destroyed by mortar fire.
However, around turn three, the Trolls came to play, and the Warriors started getting their charges. The trolls were machines, smashing Saurus units and taking back the accumulated banners. By the end, all the gobbos had run and the trolls were sitting around wrapped in FIVE banners. Easily a man of the match performance.
Out on the empire left flank, the Warriors hit the pub. 8th Ed has some 'ten on ten' rules for building combat, and the Warriors ripped apart the first ten halberdiers without a return blow being thrown. Luckily the 25 halberdiers outnumbered the 10 Warriors even after the carnage, and made their steadfast leadership roll. We claimed that they were to drunk to know what was going on, and were piling out the windows and off the roof, and the door was too jammed with corpses for the Warriors to get in!
A fifteen Skink javelins units did good work, taking out Hounds, peppering some Warriors, and keeping the Priest alive.
After the game I looked at my army and found I had made a tactical error - I had a second wizard, who I forgot to roll for, and forgot to field. We decided that he must have enjoyed the pub too much, and passed out under a table and enjoyed a good nap.
The traffic jam was declared a good tactic, as there were about 250 points more "Good guys" left at the end. However, the trolls recoving all the gobbo banners, and holding two Sarus Banners, and the Warriors holding the pub Halberdiers banners seem to give the balance. We calculated at the old rule of 100 points per banner. This is a handy win of 50 points to the naughtiness alliance.
The next day, Tom was reading the rules, and banners are only worth 25 points, which turned it back to 175 point victory to the good guys.
We all had a great time, and want to do it again.
Practicalities seem to mean that we are going to split into two types of games - "Adult" night, where we play larger games at our place and go later, and "Kids" nights at Toms where we start earlier and play smaller points, with a roughly fortnightly rotations.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Lizards constructed - now 750 Friday night fight
The Lizardmen are all constructed, and I started weaponing up the old bowman skinks. 15 of the little tackers have now been converted and may even get a jersey on Friday.
Friday night fight - The magic number is 750points, and the guest is Angus. His army was not revealed, and there will be some combination of the usual suspects, Adelle Empire, Lachie Lizards, and Jez's Orcs.
Last week no-one had a good answer to the Black Orcs, so this week we will roll out the artillery! Adelle will have two cannon and a mortar, two racks of ten handgunners, a mage and the change in full command halberdiers.
Lachies Lizards are going lean and hitty. Saurus hero and full command leading 15 Saurus, a ten block with champ, a block of 15 skink warriors, and a lvl 1 priest.
Bring the biff!
Friday night fight - The magic number is 750points, and the guest is Angus. His army was not revealed, and there will be some combination of the usual suspects, Adelle Empire, Lachie Lizards, and Jez's Orcs.
Last week no-one had a good answer to the Black Orcs, so this week we will roll out the artillery! Adelle will have two cannon and a mortar, two racks of ten handgunners, a mage and the change in full command halberdiers.
Lachies Lizards are going lean and hitty. Saurus hero and full command leading 15 Saurus, a ten block with champ, a block of 15 skink warriors, and a lvl 1 priest.
Bring the biff!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
My current project: Mixed Editions Lizardmen
In many GW army releases, their is the popular army, and the unpopular army. If you feel like collecting the unpopular army, you can get 'half sets' or 'double half sets' at a steep discount.
Warhammer a few editions ago released Brettonians and Lizardmen as the base armies. Well, knights in shining armour are popular, lizards less so. The pull of Liazrdmen is usually thos who love dinosaurs - there were no dinosaurs in the basic box. What were they thinking?
The net result was that people would buy the (then) $100 starter box, and would look for someone to grab the unwanted Lizards, usually for around $20. This neatly suited my "No more than $1 per model" philosophy, scoring 40 figures for that $20. I did this twice, and later supplemented this with an ebay '100 skinks for $20'
bid, and a 10 Lizards for $5.
I later supplemented this with helping Agro win a Cancon bid buy chipping in for some fantasy components, scoring a much later edition Warhammer core troops box of Lizardmen for about $20.
Net result: 70 Sauraus Warriors and 120 skinks for $65
What has that got to do with Today? Well with the recent Warhammer Fantasy push that has happened recently, L want to play Lizardmen, so I am neatening up and completing all the old projects related to that army. The core box is being completed, with four full commands. Also many of the skinks (which in the old edition were all archers) are being converted into javileneers with shield, using paperclip javelins.
I have also made a few green stuff 'jungle swarms' and I many attempt to sculpt a few more of those before the green stuff I acquired recently ages poorly.
Net result - The basics of a Lizardmen army, $65 and some quite enjoyable hobby fidddle time.
The other cost: Carting it around a dozen sharehouses :)
Warhammer a few editions ago released Brettonians and Lizardmen as the base armies. Well, knights in shining armour are popular, lizards less so. The pull of Liazrdmen is usually thos who love dinosaurs - there were no dinosaurs in the basic box. What were they thinking?
The net result was that people would buy the (then) $100 starter box, and would look for someone to grab the unwanted Lizards, usually for around $20. This neatly suited my "No more than $1 per model" philosophy, scoring 40 figures for that $20. I did this twice, and later supplemented this with an ebay '100 skinks for $20'
bid, and a 10 Lizards for $5.
I later supplemented this with helping Agro win a Cancon bid buy chipping in for some fantasy components, scoring a much later edition Warhammer core troops box of Lizardmen for about $20.
Net result: 70 Sauraus Warriors and 120 skinks for $65
What has that got to do with Today? Well with the recent Warhammer Fantasy push that has happened recently, L want to play Lizardmen, so I am neatening up and completing all the old projects related to that army. The core box is being completed, with four full commands. Also many of the skinks (which in the old edition were all archers) are being converted into javileneers with shield, using paperclip javelins.
I have also made a few green stuff 'jungle swarms' and I many attempt to sculpt a few more of those before the green stuff I acquired recently ages poorly.
Net result - The basics of a Lizardmen army, $65 and some quite enjoyable hobby fidddle time.
The other cost: Carting it around a dozen sharehouses :)
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