On the Painting Desk 167

After spending most of last week painting up the printed movement trays, this week saw my limited time focussed on working on the other print project: the dungeon tiles.

But that isn`t all I've been working on, the river should be finished soonish as well.

So yes, most of the painting works for this week has been scenery, as I have been watching the baby mostly in "paint room Beta" aka the living room, which is suitable for doing the rough paintworks like drybrushing on those big pieces.

On the "main desk"not that much has happened actually this week, rounding out the Wargs that could be seen earlier this week, and some odds and ends that will be painted hopefully over the course of the next week... 

See you all back next week!

What I painted in ORKTOBER 2020

Well, as the name the post suggests, I went onto the Orktober bandwagon this month and been boosting various evil armies in the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game.

Mordor Orcs, Moria Goblins (who, in the books are also called orcs), Uruk-hai... the ranks have grown.

But first things first, a model that is not an orc.  This Moria Dragon was painted up for the Lady Khaine challenge on Instagram.

Talking Moria, 12 goblins where finished as well this month. 

Next up, the Uruk-hai of Isengard received some decent reinforcements.

A few Morannon Orcs have also been painted up this month

 

The next entry is a character for this month, as Shaggrath joins the ranks fo Mordor.

 

The gorgeous classic metal Warg Riders also have been added to the tally this month.

Rounding out all the orciness, 12 more infantry movement trays have been done.

So that bolsters the various factions with 52 models in total, not bad at all!

Rounding out Orktober: Movement trays

So I failed to complete (okay, even start) the large batch of Mordor Orcs, so this is my final entry for this years Orktober.

While not Orcs at all, they are needed for the collection to line them up nicely in the cabinet.

As such, 12 movement trays where printed over the past month, and last weekend I sat down and painted them up, then doing the flock job to get them all finished for the army.

Not the most exciting of entries I admit, but they are handy and make all the forces look better displayed, so good enough for me...

Rampage

Subtitled "Big meets Bigger", this 2018 action movie stars The Rock against a bunch of mutated animals.

And when it was on national television a few weeks ago, me and Noshi sat down for a saturday evening of sheer mindless entertainment...

The movie starts with a space station being under attack by some strange lifeform, but one astronaut escapes with a top secret research project... until her escape pod explodes and the experiment falls to earth.

Here it crashes in a few places, unleashing a gas that mutates a few animals to strange new lifeforms.  One of those is George, an Albino gorilla and friend of Davis Okeye (the Rock), an animal handler that raised the big ape from it's infancy.

The animals are lured to Chicago by the developpers of the gas, and here they go on a rampage as the military can't contain them, and Okeye and his team need to stop the big beasts of totally destroying the city. A counter-serum is stolen from the laboratory, and George is the first one to get it and return to his more normal personality, helping Okeye to contain the other beasts.

Okay, so this definitly isn't Oscar material, but it is what it is, pure monster focussed entertainment that don't require hard brainworking.  Something we can definitly enjoy these days after a marathon of chasing a crawling around Baby Thorin x-D

And it is nothing more than that, good, mindless action stuff for a lazy evening, and nothing is wrong with that IMHO...

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Orktober: Warg Riders

I said it at the beginning, Lord of the Rings models where definitly going to be part of my challenge again this year, but the paint schedule and the arrival of baby Thorin threw everything on a heap.

As such, a lot of the planned Lord of the Rings entries shifted to later times to get round to, and these for one are part of that.

 

It's a unit of Warg Riders, scouts for the army of Mordor and Isengard.

 

The older metal models by Games Workshop, the unit comes with a variety of weapons to scour the battlefield and harass the flanks of enemy formations, their main purpose being to either surround enemy characters or to take out any spearmen support.

 

And the wargs themselves are nothing to tamper with, as good as an orc in a fight, they make for really fearsome opponents.

Patser

Know those two belgian directors that worked on Bad Boys 3?  Well, this is the movie that landed them that job.

Patser is a flemish movie going about a problem here in Flanders, and more specifically in Antwerp, namely the so-called "Patser", a youngling showing off all his wealth obtained through non-legal ways, often drug trafficing.

The movie follows Adama, a bloke of mixed moroccan and italian heritage, who together with his friends wants to get up the petty crime ladder.  He deals a bit of hasj on the side, a business obtained by his uncle Farid and his late father.  But when a large drugbaron from Holland, Orlando Marie, looks towards the port of Antwerp to import his coke instead of through Rotterdam, Adamo convinces his uncle to go into business with him.

Their first heist from the dockyards immediately goes wrong, and brings them already in trouble.  But they make the mistake of selling a bit of coke that had fallen off side.

     vb n  hb b bbbq2h   vf                                                                              z v                                                                         o7f d  5  6                              

Okay, that might read weird, but baby Thorin decided to contribute to the review as well.

So, what as I was saying, this result of course in the money coming in, but also attracting the attention of the higher ups, so they decide to go on holidays to Morocco.  Here they cross a dutch kingpin, Hassan Kamikaze, and this will come back to haunt them as the Colombian cartel finds out they stole their cocaine... and it is a nice twist it actually has two endings: a very happy one... and one where it doesn`t fan out that well in the end.

It was a good movie, with nice action and some typical Antwerp references.  What made it special for me, is that I know a lot of the places featured in the film realy well.  Like where a dutch druglord is executed by dutch police impersonating assassins, this wasn`t actually in Holland but right behind my old bedroom in the parental house.

The movie did cause a lot of controversy here though, as it glorifies in a way the gains of a patser, while if you are careful you might not get to much trouble... though the second part might not be that true, as the city has been ravaged the past months by shootings and grenade attacks of rivalling drugfamilies...

The Haul Report 252

Another week gone by, and some more models arrived this week for the collection.

Nothing to huge or fancy this time round though... except THIS

My giveaway arrived, a professionally painted Dark Angel lieutenant.  Such awesome work by Apollocolors on Instagram!

My regular go to eBay guy resulted in this week auctions for some Dunlending and Ruffian reinforcements.

The printer churned out the last of the movement trays and dungeon tiles for the month, together with some more octagonal bases to rebase my models for MechaTop with.

Not a shabby week.

On the Painting Desk 166

Orktober goes into it's final week, and I`m trying hard to get a batch still finished.

With the Warg Riders nearly done, there are still a lot of Mordor Orcs to be completed though.

Now, the benefit of them is that it's batch painting.  The downside however is that in the mornings I only have about half an hour, which is my weekly paint time, so it might be they will spill over into november instead, this week will tell.

On the same account, I`m doing my hardest to also get a stack of movement trays done over the weekend.  I do have a day off on both monday and wednesday still though, so those should be finished by the end of the week.

Now to slowly start putting models for november on the desk again as well, for a month of "squirelling" before the AHPC preparations hopefully start...

Rebasing for MechaTop

So I started rebasing my 1/400 scale gasaphon for the MechaTop game, as the game is played on octagonals.

For size, I chose to go with 50mm diameter (the rules speak of 150mm, but that is immense for the little models of course) as that feels "right", but also fits the 4 by 2 rectangles they are currently based on.

The easiness of a 3D printer of course helps finding a good size, run a test print and then adjust if needed.

I also decided to paint both the front arcs and the aft arc as well, handier at times with the orientation of certain models.  Blue for the line of sight arcs, the red back arc for the heavy damage that can come in.

In the end, a quick and easy job, and some needed preparation to get the game going soonish!

Fall of the Necromancer

Long before the movies or the MESBG version of The Hobbit, Games Workshop already had released this supplement.

Detailing the expulsion of Sauron from Dol Guldur by The White Council, there are no Forge World Mirkwood Elves or Thranduil, but the old edition ones released as part of the Middle-earth line up to then.

The book starts with some background, of how "the Necromancer" came to Dol Guldur to rise in power.  The scenarios start at this point, and it is noteworthy that it aren't orcs or the dungeonkeeper that guard Gandalf that are the enemy, but it is all about spiders and bats at this point as the elves of Mirkwood set out to investigate.

Slowly and steadily as you progress through the campaign, more and more named Nazgul and stronger denizens of Mordor are opposing you, until you face the Necromancer himself... and The Spider Queen.

Next up there is the painting guide, also including illumini like Cirdan and Glorfindel as these play a role in the story as it was in the books as well.  Building guides for trees, the Lair of the Spider Queen and the Tower of Dol Guldur are also presented.

The final section contains all the profiles for the new heroes, or the heroes "as they where" back then,  nicely rouding out this 48 page supplement.

The book gives some great scenarios to play the "book" version of the event, compared to the "movies" version that is in the current ruleset, so it's definitly worth picking up if you pass by it.

Shagrat, Captain of Cirith Ungol

After painting up a heap of rank and file so far for Orktober, it's time to add a character model to the finished heap today.

And that is none other then Shagrat, the Mordor Uruk-hai and a powerful warrior in the game.

Though I must say, it's the version with shield you see popping up in games, and I went for the classic metal one instead, who carries Frodo's discarded Mithril Coat.

 

The model is a great leader for a warband in a Mordor force, with some solid stats and a nice set of special rules, making him worth every point.  And being an uruk-hai, they are de facto nothing to be scoffed at on the tabletop, as the elite of the elite in orcdom in the game.

Next up, time for some cavalry!

Pitch Perfect 3

Love is... watching movies the GF wants to see on the couch.

And a few weeks ago, that was the case with Pitch Perfect 3.

Now, this isn`t my field of intrest at all, because I can neither sing nor dance, and my taste in music is often, to put it mildly, considered strange amongst my collegues.  I don`t know anything about modern day music, and the only song of 2020 that stuck with me is the one that was on number 1 in the Belgian charts when baby Thorin was born.

And so we have for example the fact in this movie that it goes about being in the pre-show program of a bloke called DJ Khaled, and I have no frakkin' clue who that might be...

So it comes to pass that apparently a lot has happened between this and the previous movie, with the girls all enrolled in real life now.  However, they decide to gather up in a contest for the US Army to be able to sing together one last time.

 

This also results in one of them reconnecting with her long lost dad, who used to be a career criminal, and as it turns out still is.  He kidnaps the girls for ransom after they break through on the contest, and it comes to the remaining girls to save them...

So yeah, that's another movie seen this year, but in all honesty, while it was okay for me personally to "gaze" at and it was some nice comfy time with Noshi, I`m not sold on the series I guess.

SBG issue 9 - Summer 2019

The most recent issue released so far from the awesome fanzine, this issue takes us to the forest of Mirkwood for some daring adventures.

A great and slick looking issue once more, let's have a look at what we can actually find inside the 48 page magazine.

It starts of with the regular trinity of features, namely the editorial, SBG Towers and Hobby Blog columns to show us what goes on at the production team.

 

Now, making use of an awesomely made Mirkwood board, this issue features no less then 2 battle reports, and the first, Attack on Rhosgobel, puts Radagast under attack from Mirkwood Spiders.

A new series also starts this issue, namely My Favorite Character, in which every issue someone will look at their star from the franchise, so not only based on in-game performances.

But the next article does that though, as they take a look at which characters from The Hobbit trilogy brings the most to the table for their points... had the movies been one big game of MESBG.

In this issues Tactica, it is only fitting that a look is taken at the Halls of Thranduil army.

 

The second battle report of the issue, Mirkwood Ambush, sees the elves of Mirkwood being ambushed by Bolg and his forces while escorting Thorin and his company through the forest.

Rick's River takes a look at how the beautiful enchanted river seen throughout this issue has been created, giving pointers to those that want to make their own waterways.

In Converting Mirkwood, there isn't only a Mirkwood showcase, but also a guide on how to convert Bolg in order to have him wield a bow.  Talking Bolg, he is also the centerpoint of the final article, a painting guide for the spawn of Azog.

And there we have it, another great issue of SBG with a lovely theme centered around an awesome gametable.  I have no idea when issue 10 will appear, Covid and all having some serious influence on the schedule of up and about everyone in the world, but rest assured I look forward to it!

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2.11.0.0

Frostgrave (1st) Solo Battle Report: Alchemical Monstrosity

What is so fitting for the 4000th!!!!! post on this little corner of the internet, then the core business so to say of my blog, and why I started it back in 2012: a battle report of the wargames I play! 

So the second edition of Frostgrave has hit the shelves, meaning I will FINALLY start playing this gane of duelling wizards... with first edition.

Covid being the main reason I kept of buying many new rules, as the clublife is down, so when osprey offered the set back in april for free, I downloaded it and today I finally get round to give it a go.

I opted to start out with the Dark Alchemy solo campaign for this, and will field my own printed warband of heroes for this dash to freedom.  Taking place in a more thawned out area of Fellstad (you know, scenery, basing, etc), I imagine the heroes aren`t trying to get outside a big laboratory, but instead running to the safety of some safer areas as the monster persues them.  To that end, instead of doors I`ve placed braziers on the table instead to indicate "the way".

Taking into account the wizard and his band are as fresh into the city as it could be, I am going to opt for the running game indeed instead of trying to actually slay the big beast...

The monstrosity is a DnD fiend print, as are the rats that might appear during the game.

The band to take on the beast are my wizard, Lashat tell'Aranas, a member of the Illusionist school of magic, and joined by three members of his newly found warband: an Archer, an Infantryman and a Thug.

The table was set up, the objectives placed, and the beast lurked in the shadows to hunt the adventurers...

The first turn wasn'th that exciting, as the party split up to try out both braziers and see which one let to freedom.  The beast started hunting the henchmen on the left flank though...

In the second turn, Giant Rats appeared as the monstrosity charged the Thug, and swiftly dispatches him.  

In the meantime, my Illusionist picked up some dragon eggs, while the Archer grabbed a small treasure chest.  The rats in the meantime scurried towards the Infantryman.

More rats appear at the beginning of the third turn, as the monstrosity pounces on the Archer.  Unable to wound him, the archer looses a panicked shot that flies high over, before legging it from the monster.  The Infantryman gets charged by the Giant Rats, but dispatches of them with his double handed hammer.

In the meantime, the Illusionist reaches the brazier, and prepares to check it out next turn...

It proves to be the wrong one though, so the warband has to move all the way to the other side now to make good on their escape.  The Archer almost reaches it, with the big beast hot on his heels.  In the meantime, the Infantryman is charged by the other rats... and taken out by the vicious critters!

 In order to get some protection from the approaching rats, the Illusionist casts Monstrous Form.  This will prove handy because when the rats later on in the turn charge him, they fail their courage and scuttle away again.  The archer let loose another awefully wide shot at the beast before legging it off the board and to safety.

In the sixth turn, the Illusionist teleports himself right next to the exit, if he can snatch Initiative in the next turn, he is home safe!

But alas, Frostgrave does not grant success that easily, as the dice comes up as a 1, allowing the beast to charge the spellcaster.  But in a feat of desperation, the Illusionist actually manages to push the beast back and legs it off to safety!

In the post game sequence, the Illusionist, having obtained 155 XP in this scenario, gains a level and improves the casting value of his Teleport spell.

Both his fallen henchmen, rolling 10 and 12 respectively, make a good recovery as well, so no losses in the battle!

The treasure tokens yielded 10 GC and a Scroll of Combat Awareness, while a Grimoire of Blinding Light was found for the Illusionist to learn after the next game.

Finally, the band having now arrived in the city of Frostgrave, decided to settle down in an old Library as Base Camp, and start their explorations from there on!

And so the plunge into Frostgrave has been taken, and it is a fun game.  Like Rangers, it lends itself to good narrative gaming, something impotant for me these days as that ups the joy of solo gaming!

Now to prepare the models for the second scenario of Dark Alchemy!