A shot in the dark

Grim Angus, who shall lead the Ta-Ta Kriel in the Breast Cancer Brawl come October. Side and Rear views available at Paint Pink.

It was interesting coming up with the assortment of browns on his coat, pouches, gloves, boots, backpack, et al.

More interesting was trying to represent him as an albino (as all Trollkin sorcerers are), considering I’m already using a fairly pale skin tone for my Trolls. In the end I brought the skin colour up a little lighter than usual, and gave him pink chin growths rather than the usual purplish red.

Saturday Morning Information Overload

It’s all too much! I really don’t know how much more of this I can handle! All week long the Retribution model previews have been flowing like some sort of molten, pointy-eared candy, and the official Grind page went up today!

(*deep cleansing breath to avoid hyperventilating*)

Okay…. one thing at a time… first up, let’s look at the non-Retribution preview…

…I’m sorry, but… DAMN!!! The entire unit looks freakin’ awesome, and those paintjobs are out of this word. It’s a wonder the Tharn Ravagers ever leave their tents – as far as psychotic, murdering, cannibalistic, feral savages go, these ladies are hawt.

Bringing the Bright White

Allow me to start by stating the bloody obvious: I’m not a Brush Thrall.

I’ve never wet-blended, I can’t paint eyelashes, and Lord knows I can’t convert worth squat… but I’ve got a moderately steady hand, and I’ve used a heck of a lot of Chestnut Ink in my day. I’m happy with the results I get, and apparently there’s a number of folks out there curious as to how I paint the whites on my warjacks.

Thus, this write-up.

I start the painting process with a white undercoat. Why white? Frankly, because I find it easier to see the detail than if I were to use a black undercoat. Yes, this does mean that I have to put a black coat down under anywhere that’s going to be a metal finish, but there you have it. I find it easier to put a layer of black over a white undercoat, than to put a layer of white over a black undercoat for sections where I want bright results.

I’m going to doing a full step by step write-up when on the next light warjack, so we’ll hold off on those details for now and concentrate on the the whites for now.

To that end, I present today’s victim, a Revenger. I’ve gone ahead finished most of the model, with the exception of the main carapace plate. You’ll note I was a little messy with some of the earlier paints; I guess we have to cover it up!

Regrets On A Girl That Floats…Part 1

I have completed my third tournament.  It was a great format.  We broke out that oldie but goldie, the escalation tournament.  For those of you who are not familiar with the format, I recommend you check out the blog of my buddy Dallas at Trollblood Scrum!!!  He has the full rules posted over there, but quickly…

Round 1: 350 Mangled Metal / Tooth and Claw

Round 2: 500 where what you ran in Round 1 has to be in the list.

Round 3: 750 where what you ran in Round 2 has to be in the list…and if you caster has an epic form..you MUST run it.

There were some time constraints and such, but that was details.  The hardest thing about this format is the first round.  Many casters who rock the house at 750 can struggle hard at MM.  I AGONIZED over this decision.  I consulted with everyone I know and I drove poor Gdaybloke nuts with my constant emails.

Sweet Sassy Molassey! Double the fun!

I had booked the day off work today so that I could be on Dad Duty while Gdayshiela worked a wedding… and I ended up spending most of the day keeping a very sick Gdaygirl company in the hospital until she could be discharged, while Gdaysheila tried to get some rest after being with Gdaygirl throughout the night.

All in all a pretty sucky leadup to Canada Day.

Leave it to Privateer Press to counterbalance the stress and worry of the last 48 hours with a double dose of sheer awesomeness!

Let’s start with the lesser of the two… Mittens!

For a while now I’ve been waiting to see who the mysterious gauntleted dude from the cover of the Retribution book was; turns out he’s a House Shyeel Magister.

What the smeg’s that, I hear you say?

“Battle mage magisters manipulate invisible energies to tear an enemy limb from limb or to haul weighty machinery around like pieces on a game board. The massive arcanika gauntlets they wear not only serve as conduits for their powers, but can deliver tremendous crushing blows and send opponents flying.”

So… we have a mage with all sorts of telekinetic functionality, channelled through oversized fists. Wheee! Of course, now we know why the Retribution Myrmidons have such small hands – House Shyeel’s bogarting all the large ones!

I can totally picture the kids of House Shyeel growing up…

Kid, after opening Elfmas gift: “Hulk Hands? Again???”

How will this telekinesis be represented in game? Ability to Push opposing models? To move friendlies up to X inches? From the description, I could even see these guys having telekinetic Reach…

And now, on to the main event…

Choose your weapon

It’s common knowledge that many people do not enjoy playing against Legion. The nickname Legion of Evercheat refers to the consistent way the Legion ignores half the tenets of the game, and the inability to counter Eyeless Sight and Flight really does generate a lot of seething animosity for Thagrosh’s posse.

Me, I don’t mind. I’ve had just as many wins as I’ve had losses against the Legion, so it’s just another game to me, albeit one with half of the models on the field ignoring half the rules.

So when TheUltimate (Paul) asked for a tabletop tussle for CTA, I had no objections…
… but I did have some serious pondering to do to decide just what to field.

I’ve been trying to get a feel for Reznik lately, but to face off against Paul I knew I’d need to figure out a way around the high DEF values, Legion being glass cannons and all that jazz.

Three possible solutions came to mind: AoE the snot out of ‘em, Set ‘em all on fire, or to sling Ashes to Ashes repeatedly.

There’s a new dude in town

With the Mage Hunter Strike Force reminding me strongly of Cygnar’s Gun Mages, what with their special ammunition being utilised for a variety of effects that screw over warcasters and warjacks, is it any wonder that the Mage Hunter Commander (above) makes me think of the Gun Mage Captain Adept?

“Slipping past the outer defenses of an enemy base, they fire bolts through intervening walls to kill without a trace.”

Huh. So, here’s the question: How long will the Dude remain the Dude, when ole’ Patchy here is all dynamically posed and fulfilling a similar role for the Retribution?

For the record, I really like this model… I can totally see him whipping around for a shot, sword held out for balance.

Breast Cancer Brawl – The TTFG?

This blog has detailed the work that Gdaybloke has been doing on Kriel Ta-Ta in preparation for Breast Cancer Brawl.  To my knowledge, my FLGS is not doing any events in conjunction with this effort, but I am planning on heading up to Boise, ID to participate in BobaFerrit’s event.  To that end, I need me some pink minis!

I am not near the prolific painter that Gday is, but I am going to do one unit in Breast Cancer pink…and I have chosen the TFG…or as they will be known…the TTFG…The Ta Ta Flame Guard.

I will be doing the paint scheme in whites and shades of pink with some ribbons added for good measure.

I am proud to have the Protectorate of Menoth well represented in this great event.  More to come with time.

Can I axe you a question?

Neil the Axer joins the Ta-Ta Kriel, showcased (including alternate views) at Project: Paint Pink

Saturday Morning Bait & Switch

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with gaming, and is pretty much just a rant on my part. 

I consider myself to be reasonably well educated, and while I may not be the most loquacious of individuals, I consider that I’ve got a decent vocabulary. Maybe it’s just that I was brought up in a different country, where naturally the ‘norm’ differs from North America, but still…
… random profanity really bugs me.

I’m not much for obscenties one way or another. I’ve uttered them from time to time, but they’re not part of my standard speech, so every time I hear someone randomly inserting f-bombs and the like into their sentences I’m reminded of a scene from a movie or tv show (don’t remember which one) wherein a girl swears in front of her father, and he drags her into her room, slams the door shut, sits down and explains to her that the only people who use profanities are people too stupid or too uneducated to know alternatives.

Now that’s a blanket statement that can have any number of holes poked in it – s’why blanket statements aren’t a bright idea, kids – but I can’t say I disagree with some of the thinking behind it.