This Past Weekend December 25, 2012

This past weekend (my first! 4-day weekend), was all about painting and Christmas parties, and food, and fun. But really all about painting. I was able to spend almost 2 solid days painting away at my army (Sunday and most of Monday) and made decent progress on all of my projects.

Project #1: Glade Riders

The first project I worked on was finishing up some final highlighting on one of my units of Glade Riders. I am not the best painter, so I never get the master-class paint points (or awards), but I do notice certain techniques or painting choices can gain me an extra point or two at each tournament. For this unit I went back and slightly edge highlighted the quivers on the models' backs, repainted the gems on the models' spears, 'ardcoated both areas to give the model a little more sheen, and painted one of the arrow fletchings a different color so that the archer knows which way to nock the arrow before he fires. I am hoping these little additional details really push the army's paint score up a few more points.

Project #2: Dryads

As I stated in my last post, my current army design for WaaghPaca! - now only three weeks away - was to paint 4 units of 8 dryads, 32 in all. Well, after two furious days of painting I managed to completely finish two more Dryads, including bases, bringing my grand total of finished Dryads to 3 out of 32. But I also managed to put some paint on at least ten more Dryad models so I have several more that should be easily finished this coming weekend as well. Here are the two newest Dryads added to my collection:

Dryad #2

Dryad #3

Project #3: Xmas Model Exchange

This year I am participating in a Christmas model exchange through Asrai.org, the Wood Elves website and forum. As part of the exchange you are given a person to paint a model for and when you are finished you send it to that person. At the same time another person is painting a model for you. Its a neat way to paint something you wouldn't normally paint while getting a model in return. For my project, I chose a Pegasus Knight as I thought it would be a fun model to paint for someone wanting to start a Brettonian army.

The first thing I worked on, and finished, was the base. As I am really into fall colors right now I went with a fall theme for the base, but because Brettonia has many mountainous areas, I gave it a more sparse feel than with the Wood Elves.

Next, I started putting base colors on the Pegasus. As I haven't quite decided on the look that I want it to have yet, I just base coated the horse flesh Dryad Bark and gave it a quick wash.

I need to go through some pictures this weekend to figure out how I want the wings to look, but for the flesh I think I am just going to highlight it slightly and keep it as a darker brown flesh tone.  

Finally, I got started on the rider portion of the model.

I first started with a brass color on the under-armor portion of the model which I will be highlighting up a little bit more.

Next was to base paint the larger areas of the model. I painted all the outer armor plates Boltgun Metal and all the fabric Scab Red. I then used Desert Yellow on the belt.

After the model was base painted, I washed the entire model in Devlin Mud wash to give it a dirty, but not greasy feeling. I prefer Devlin Mud over a black wash specifically for this reason.

Next up was layering the model. I repainted portions of the armor Boltgun Metal leaving the crevasses the washed out color. I then used Mithril Silver as a layer highlight on top of that to give the armor some more depth. I still need an edge highlight on the armor but that can wait.

I also started working on the fabric following the same process that I have been using for my Elves; Scab Red followed by Blood Red followed by a red-orange mix. 

This is what the fabric looks like when it is all done.

After that all dried, I went to work on the leather areas of the model trying to breathe a little bit more color into the model and I base coated the shields a dark blue that will be worked up to a light blue to contrast with the red fabric.

I have a lot more work to do on the model, but I have until the end of February to have it shipped out, so I know that I will be able to finish it in time and have it look great. I hope the person I am sending it to likes it.

As I have a lot more painting to do this weekend, I will just close this post with a picture of my Christmas present from my roommate. It looks like I have a lot more painting to do. And some rules to read!

Point Hammered Episode 74

Point Hammered Episode 74 "50 Shades of Gay" is now available. Listen as Johnny and Rodge talk about their games at a recent tournament and gain insight into the upcoming WaaghPaca! tournament.

Skull Bros Awesome! Episode 9

Skull Bros Awesome! Episode 9 "Bro Ho Ho!" is now available to listen to here. This is a great episode to listen to if you want to find wierd ways to play Beastmen (including running double Ghorgons!).

Eternal Guard Musings

o as we get closer to the end of 2012, or the end of the World depending on your point of view, I haven't been doing much hobbying. In fact, I don't think that I have even touched one of my models to either paint or play in over two weeks. Life has gotten in the way as I am sure it has for many of you as the holidays are upon us. Luckily for me, work has decided I get two four-day weekends in a row so I expect to accomplish much hobbying over the next few weekends as I have lots of things that must be finished before WaaghPaca! including:

1. Submit a 2000 pt army list for WaaghPaca! by December 31, 2012.
2. Paint 31 more Dryads (the list I am tinkering with has four units of 8 right now and only 1 is painted)
3. Put together and paint movement trays for the Dryad units.
4. Put together and paint movement trays for archer units (depending on how many I have).
5. Paint one character (either my mage, bsb, noble, or eagle noble).

When it comes to submitting a 2000 pt list I was originally at a loss. The fast cavalry list I have been playing with and tinkering with for the last year doesn't really work at 2000 pts as it loses some of its best units (including the Altered Highborn). So I went back to the drawing board and came across a MSU archer/dryad heavy list. But, the more I played with it, the more I realized that a turn of bad shooting allowed a close combat unit to get into combat on turns 5 or 6 and cost me a lot of points at the end of the game. As I began to figure a way around this problem, I had an interesting thought! Thus, the topic for today's post, Eternal Guard musings.

Right now, I am thinking of taking a small unit (no more than 20 models, but more likely 15 or 16) of Eternal Guard to WaaghPaca! this January. The reasoning, its a stubborn unit (which will be on leadership 10 with a re-roll - hopeful!) that can hold up a combat block for two or three rounds of combat.

My plan is simple, I will take a small unit (so that it is not the most expensive unit) and add my Highborn into the unit. He will most likely have annoyance of nettlings (still playing with points and items) to accept challenges and will shoot at units as they get close to my lines. Then, before my opponent's units get into combat, I reform the unit to be two (yes, two) wide leaving only the musician and unit standard in the front. This reduces my frontage to 20mm units to only 4 models (thus reducing models attacking to at most 12) and to 25 mm units to only 3 models (thus reducing models attacking to at most 9). I may even drop to a single file depending on how many Eternal Guard are left at that point.

This will give me a stubborn unit that is (with the high weapon skill) likely to only lose 4-5 models a combat round. Thus, I expect to be able to stay in the combat for a least a full turn, maybe more, and prevent the combat unit from taking out my other units, while keeping this units points intact.

I need to play with this more to figure out the best number of models, and proper use (and to see if it is even worth giving up another unit of archers), but I see this as an easy way to tie up a secondary combat block that wasn't getting shot and to provide an anvil unit that can hold for a turn and allow my dryads to counter-charge.

Any thoughts?

West Coast Hammertime Episode #10

West Coast Hammertime Episode 10 is now up and available for all to listen to. This episode includes an overview of the plans for the upcoming West Coast GT the second weekend of March in Mission Viejo, CA. Give it a listen here.

Also, if you haven't already signed up for the West Coast GT, but are interested in playing in it, you better hurry and sign up. Last I checked there were 18 players registered and paid. This will be a tournament to definitely not miss if you can travel to California.

All of the tournament information is available here.

Alamo GT 2012 - Armies, Models, and Tournament Scores

Well, as is no surprise after reading my battle reports, I pulled a middling place in the 2012 Alamo GT. My overall score was 189 points out of a maximum 270 points. The highest overall total this year was 227 points and the lowest was 125 points. Thus, my performance pretty much right in the middle of the pack when the points spread is taken into account. A full list of results is available here. As no one actually got all 270 points I don't feel as ashamed in my performance, but this was not one of the better tournaments for me. Let's take a look at my overall performance and breakdown.

In total I got 189 points. 47 of those points were Battle Points from my game. This is easily the area where I could have, and should have picked up some more points. Even picking up 12 more points from winning two of the other games (assuming I only won by 100+ and not 500+) would have moved me into top 25 territory (a place I am much happier with). But alas, it was not to be this tournament.

I picked up 65 points for sportsmanship. The maximum was 80 points and everyone started with 64 points which means that I managed to get a best opponent vote from one of my opponents and did not get any bad game votes during the entire tournament. I am always pleased to be some one's best game of the tournament and getting at least 1 vote makes me feel good about my game interactions. Now I can work on getting 2 best opponent votes next year!

I managed to walk away with 66 points for army appearance. This was awesome! I am not a great painter and I know that I won't be getting any additional appearance votes so I was stoked to get this score. Especially as the painting score maxed at 72 and the remaining 8 points are gained from fluffy bunny votes. I got 1 fluffy bunny votes (for bringing a spear to a tank fight) from my opponents. I won't be getting much higher score than this in tournaments to come so I can't make up points here in the future.

Finally, I got all 10 of my Alamo points for providing my army list on time and playing all games in a timely fashion. I don't think anyone lost these points this year.

So all in all, an okay showing. But the easiest place to make up points would be to win more games and get the bonus objectives. If I can accomplish that, I can see a much better placing next year. Bring it on 2013 Alamo GT, I will be ready!!!

And without further ado, to finish out my 2012 Alamo GT wrap-up. Let's take a look at some of the amazing armies and models I was able to catch pictures of throughout the tournament.

My Wood Elf army for the Alamo GT 2012.

Some of Ed Phillips', from Leadership 2, amazing Skaven models.

Plague Furnace!

Lots and lots of conversions throughout the army.

Leadership 2's Jeff Seuss' Dragon Princes unit converted as White Lion Princes of Chrace.

And his Griffon riding lord!!!

Leadership 2's Michael Scaletti's all converted (and heavily greenstuffed) Chaos Trolls.

So creepy looking. I would not want to come across this unit in an alleyway at night.

Can someone say 16" Hell Cannon, because that it what this giant, acid-spitting, worm-like hellbeast operates as in Mike Scaletti's army. This conversion is real masterpiece.

The army BSB!!! The freehand on the banner is absolutely amazing and I am afraid that my poor camera work just does not show of its majesty in enough detail.

Front view.

A nice looking empire unit that was entered in the best painted unit category. I like how there were several different unit fillers of different sizes and model count.

Leadership 2's Tony Pacheco's Vampire Lord entered into the best painted single miniature category. His whole army was contrasted in the purple and cream with silver armor and was quite a sight to behold.

Tony's Terrorgheist in the same army colors.

And his unit of Crypt Ghouls entered into the best painted unit category. I like his large unit fillers in the back which gives the entire unit more depth as it makes the back of the unit look like it is coming up over the top of the front rank.

A lone dwarf entered into the best single miniature category. The non-metallic metal work on this model was phenomenal.

A brightly, and nicely painted slann that showcases good use of yellow highlighting.

A fantastic Aracnarok Spider. This thing is just absolutely beautiful. The eyes are glazed over and make it look like there is really a creature there staring at you.

Finally, I found this great painted Ogre army that I just had to take pictures of and show off. The Ogre's hides showcase a real talent for layering and good color composition.

 

Well there you have it. The 2012 Alamo GT all finally wrapped up. Now I can't wait to start working on army projects for next year and have a better showing. And next year it won't take a month and a half to get everything up and posted.

Upcoming Warhammer Fantasy Tournaments 2013 Season

Alright all you Warhammer players. Sign-ups are now available for three excellent Warhammer tournaments. All three tournaments take place in California in the Spring. I will be attending all three. I hope to see you there.

The BAO 2013 (Bay Area Open)
Held at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds in Antioch, CA (east bay), the BAO will be held on March 1-3, 2013. They are running a special team event on Friday, March 1, 2013, as well as a standard 2-day GT on March 2-3, 2013. Sign-ups are now available, along with rules packets and information, here. This is that the big start of the 2013 tournament season, as WaaghPaca! always likes to think of itself as the last tournament of the year rather than the first, so come check out every ones 2013 armies.

The Inaugural West Coast GT
This tournament is put on by the awesome guys responsible for West Coast Hammertime, one of my absolute favorite podcasts. The tournament will be March 9-10, 2013 in Mission Viejo, CA. Check out all the tournament information as well as sign up information here. But be quick about it as they posted the tournament sign-ups yesterday and already have 8 participants including myself; Club Capri's Quentin Bohn, Jim Adams, and Zack Lopez, as well as Leadership 2's Michael Hengl (check out my Round 4 Alamo battle report), Jeff Seuss (2 time winner of the Quake City Rumble) and Dave Inman. This tournament will fill up!!!

I have also heard that this tournament will be filled with crazy shenanigans, great prizes, and booze so don't miss out.

Broadside Bash 2013
This year the Broadside Bash will be joined with Kingdom and will be held in beautiful San Diego, CA on April 5-7, 2013. All the rules, as well as sign-ups, are available here. This is another don't miss tournament in Southern California.

Alamo GT 2012 - Round 5: Lizardmen

For Round 5, my final game at the Alamo GT 2012, I played Mathew Swinney and his solid Lizardmen army. This was a fierce and tactical game where I played as best I could, minimized my mistakes, capitalized on my opponent's mistakes, and was eventually destroyed by one turn of unlucky dice rolling. Seriously! I went from a draw to over a 500+ loss in a single turn from one magic phase. Read on to see how.

Reader Question #1

I'm rather excited. I got my very first reader question yesterday! The reader asked:

"What is one of the biggest errors you see players make repeatedly?"

The answer is simple: resolving all of the parts of a single charge before declaring the next charge.

I see this error at every tournament I go to, even if it is not in my own games. What happens is that a player will declare a charge, get a reaction, and then immediately roll dice to see if the unit makes contact. Then, the player will declare his next charge and so on. This is a holdover from 7th edition and I don't think a lot of players have read the movement section of the basic Rulebook enough to understand how charging works in this edition.

In the example above, once the player has rolled his dice to determine if the unit makes contact, he is done declaring charges. Now, I expect that there are few of us that would actually enforce such a rule in a friendly game or even at a tournament, but I think this rule should be pointed out as soon as it is noticed so that the offending player can learn from his/her mistakes for the next turn.

To help clarify the situation, I have outlined the steps declaring a charge should take. In 8th edition, charging works as follows:

1. Pick a unit and declare a charge with that unit against an enemy unit. (p. 16)
2. The enemy unit then immediately declares its Charge Reaction which can only be Hold, Stand and Shoot, or Flee! (p. 16-17)
3. If the enemy stands and shoots, immediately make all necessary shooting attacks as per the normal shooting rules and restrictions. (p. 17)
4. If the enemy unit flees, the charging unit then may make a leadership test to redirect the charge at a different enemy unit moving back to step 1. (p. 18)
5. Once the enemy unit has completed its charge reaction, the player whose turn it is then may pick another unit to declare a charge and follow the steps outlined until that player no longer has any units that he wishes to declare a charge with left.
6. After the player whose turn it is has declared all  the charges he desires, that player then picks a charge and rolls charge range to see if the unit is successful. (p. 18) If the unit is successful, the player then immediately moves the charging unit into base contact following the normal rules for making contact (p. 20) If the unit is unsuccessful, the player immediately moves that unit a number of inches toward the enemy unit equal to the highest dice rolled on the charge roll. (p. 19) The player does not have to roll for charges in the same order in which he declared his charges. (p. 18) Instead, that player may roll his charge distance in any order he desires.
7. After all charge rolls have been made and each unit has either made contact successfully or failed the charge, the Declare Charges sub-phase is over. No further charges can be made and no further charge rolls are made.

I hope this helps clarify the charging sub-phase for everyone. Until next time, have a great weekend, and remember if you have any questions, don't hesitate to write-in: westcoastwarhammerblog[at]gmail[dot]com