Golden Hat XVIII announced

Following in the wake of the Artisan`s Contest, Chaos Dwarfs Online in-house painting competitions next Golden Hat has been announced.

The theme for this edition is `Hobgoblins on foot`, so this is going to be the ideal point for me to start work on the planned 20-man strong archer unit, and perhaps even get the whole unit done in time for the Duo Tournament in november.

Full rules for this edition can be found here on the Homepage of CDO.

Heroes for Hire

Well, following the Goddamn Andy post about how he quit miniature gaming, and as such resulted in the total collapse of any chance of playing Superhero games over at the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, I`m going to liquidate my collection of repainted Heroclix models.

Here are the models I got standing in my cabinets, and are looking for adopitve parents, if you see anything you like, just drop me a line or post a reply and we can work something out.

Mind you though, belgian shipping rates aren`t cheap as you can see here and as the painted models need tobe packed in a box, your starting rather expesive.  Fortunatly, heroclix weigh not much, so fifty would be about as expensive as a single one...

Anyways, here are all the models looking for a new home:

The Year Everything Changed

Well, it's not often I use my blog for serious talkings about myself, as I prefer the closed book approach about real life, but for once I guess I can make an exception.  

My life took a change for the better in 2012, azs my 'lightswitch' relation has gone steady now and we're celebrating 6 months yesterday.  Which is for me a longrun performance already as I tend to loose myself to fanatically in my hobbies.  Yes Rejects-posse, it's the same one I talked about on Salute past year.

But as the Spider-man saying goes (or better, kind off heheh), With Real Life comes Real Responsibilities.

And the one small downside is that a relationship cuts seriously in your hobbies freetime.  Even though it isn't an actual downside, as I can perfectly live with that.

The biggest victim is turning out to be my wargaming part of the hobby, as paint time is reduced to the evenings she has the late shift, and I go to my place then since I have to get up early each day for work myself and she can sleep in late that way.  These days, we live 'semi together', generally meaning I'm 3/4ths of the time at her place and ther is really no room to move the whole man-cave over, that and a curious 7 year old doens't help either ;-)

But a second PS3 system and Vita do help though surviving and not having withdrawal symptoms hehehehe...

But one thing that does mean, is that I have to focus even more on the hobby side of wargaming, and I had some serious talks with my personal advisors on this, being my girlfriend obviously, and my mother.  Yes, I talk hobby things with my mom, she knows nothing about the whole thing and doesn't get the craze it can generate, making her the perfect advisor for an outsiders view in.

And I asked and received my decommission at work, meaning my employment will end around May 2013 and I will be going into a new venture, including actually going back to school in a way as well.   From expedition and administration to IT, it's a big change, but by then I'll be 35 and if I don't do it now, I won't be able to do it anytime anymore I fear.

The conclusion is that I'm going to focus more and more on the Chaos Dwarf things only, as I want to use my limited paint time now to finish and keep working on the 30000+ points of Dawi Zharr I possess.  I'm going to finish the Journeyman League (at least on a paint level, more of that a bit later) but once that is done I'm not going to get sidetracked again in other projects and the likes.  I, and this sounds odd to those that know me, can't spare the extra time anymore.

These are all still on my to paint list

On the other hand, I WILL be playing a lot more of Magic the Gathering.  And yes, this is also on fridays; but bear with me here in the reasoning.  My gaming club, Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, is located on the very outskirts of Antwerp and there is no public transportation to basically the very other side of the city after 23hrs.  The Outpost, where the FNMs are held (Friday Night Magic) is drop dead in the centre.

Now, the other half likes taking a dance and drink with her girls.  I HATE this personally (not that she does that, but my partying days are long behind me, ever since my leg accident I can't keep standing longtime, and I don't drink anymore since they took my galblatter out), making me very boring going out companionship.

So we readched a compromise; like every relation is build on taking and giving, and now she goes out to dance and I go out to play Magic, to take a cab together afterwards from the city centre to our place.  Still needs some finetuning in certain parts, but the first test went relatively well ;-)

And I'll be attending the Magic GT London next year; because it's the weekend before Valentine, and little minion is with his dad that week.  We'll be making it a four day trip, three for the sightseeing and stuff, one for this geezer to go cardchucking.

Practical Consequences

* The final phase of my cleanout will now include everything bar my Chaos Dwarfs and anime Gashapons.  Meaning most of my gaming in 2013 will de dictated by this book as the core of the hobby:

* I won't be going often to TSA, and most likely to play Warhammer / Blood Bowl / Mordheim when low-time pressure leagues are run for those systems

* I WILL be playing any WFB tournaments though at TSA and related clubs

* I will be upkeeping this blog, just expect to see more of the 'silly hats' then other things.   I'm also going to try and run in both the Brush Slave League and the Lead Painter's League with models tied to them.  Even if that means missing some bonus points left or right...

* I won't be attending Salute 2013.  Nothing to do with the whole chitchat above though; but because just two days prior I'm having this tattooed on my upper arm:

Ciao ciao and till the next post!

Artisan`s Contest XIII

Okay, as expected I ended shared 5th on 6 entries, with 1 vote (thanks to the anonymous voter!)

My personal vote went to this entry, which ended third:

I wasn`t to happy with my own entry, as the roll used as a pillar would have been painted black marble with green lines, but time restraints had me going for grey and it basically wans`t what I liked to turn out.  On the other hand, I was happy with how the asterix lass turned out, and the `smoke melt effect` of the lava imbued items.

In the end, the model is going to serve as the stronghold for my 15mm force once completed, so the 15mm Godzilla included by Khurasan should be in scale more or less hehehe

Anyways, here some more WiP pictures:

The 400th

It doesn`t always have to be some big war machine or special character that `clicks` the mileage of painting row, as the 400th model painted this year is a lowly rank and file Sneaky Git, one of the unit of 30 I`m currently building.

This also means I`m only nearly halfway my goal of paint more then buy, but I can sleep well at night knowing that no-one in my local gaming group even comes near that number of painted models...

Now, back to some in between cards brushworks...

Deathroller 2000 entry: Hashut's Chariot

So, the guys over at Merry Mayhem News blog are holding a scratchbuild a Deathroller contest.  Deathroller is a game spin-off from Blood Bowl, in which Dwarven Deathrollers and similar devices try to complete either 2 laps around the pitch OR be the last roller errmm... rolling.

So I decided to enter, and build one of the rollers for my Chaos Dwarfs, aptly named `Hashut's Chariot'.

The model is compromised of the following parts:

* The plastic core of a silk tape roll, it helps if your so unhandy your cutting your fingers often
* 2 dial bases of Heroclix models
* 2 metal old style fighter bases of Agents of Gaming Babylon 5 Fleet Action
* a balsa stick of a Magnum ice cream
* the top of an electric cable protective shell
* Exhaust of a Battleship Yamato (the scifi japanese anime) model kit
* a missile pod from a 1/144 Gundam HeavyArms Custom model kit
* the head of an old Chaos Steed
* small piece of jewelry chain
* a converted and resculpted plastic Chaos Dwarf warrior
* one of the females of the Dark Eldar slave barge
* a `roadkill` rabbit

Undercoating the model makes it look a hotch potch better and more unified

For the paintjob I went with the colour scheme of my army and Blood Bowl team, and I am now considering three uses for the model:

1. if Deathroller 2000 gets played at TSA, obviously this will be my `car`
2. with some house rules as a Chaos Dwarf secret weapon in Blood Bowl
3. as my Demon Engine in games of Mordheim, as the Iron Demon from Forge World is to big a model to move in most streets and between buildings.

Now only let`s see what the other entries will be comprimised off, and may the best roller win!


For those wanting to enter the contest, there is still time until the 21st of october, details can be found here

And to now more about Deathroller Race 2000, follow this link.

Saint Seiya Myth Cloth: Ikki of Phoenix v1

A cosmo full of rage, and drawing his strength from hatred.  Seiya might be the star of the show, I might brable about Hyoga all I want, but when you ask anyone of my generation that used to watch the series in their childhood days which `chevalier` was the one with the biggest impact, you`d be getting Ikki as an answer 9 out of 10 times.

He is the original villain of the series, when he crashed the party at the galactic tournament to steal the gold armour.  Commanding his black saints of Death Queen Island, it takes all 4 other bronze protagonists to combine their cosmo`s to defeat him... and still he survives due to his one particular skill.

Like his guardian constellation, the Phoenix is semi-immortal.  He can die of old age, but in all other ways just like the bird of legend, he and his cloth regenerate out of death, every time comming back stronger then before.

He is also the most ruthless of the bronze saints, as he doesn`t flick his wrist to kill his opponents, often even in the sadistic style of his Genma Kenn, an attack that makes his opponents see the truth and then succumbing to total nervous breakdown.

The one issue I had with the version one cloth in the anime is why the hell did they choose pink for his colour compared to orange of the original cross in the manga.  Best I can think of is to show his link to his younger brother, gentle Shun of Andromeda.

He often comes to the aid of Shun when his brother is in dire need, and while Seiya, Shiryu and Hyoga have their master`s Gold cloths to help them, Shun can count on the aid of a personal guardian angel... comming straight from hell!

The model itself is of a great sculpt, like the other v1s and the v3s, and much better then the v2 cloths BanDai produced.

The purple is spot on with the anime colour, as is the face of Ikki, often an issue with Myth Cloths.  Easy to assemble and looking stylish, it comes also with a variety of faces, so you can even make him with the visor closed option as how he appeared at the beginning.

Get this guy, he is worth the not to expensive prices he goes around for on the market, and who doesn`t love a saint that slowly walks towards his victim engulfed in a flaming cosmo...

God damn Andy!

It`s been a year since Creepy Corridor Andy launched the idea to start playing superhero gaming over at the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp.

It`s been 11 months now since he stopped attending the club and now is busy selling of his wargaming material as he has ventured into new hobbies, like becomming a trainer in his sports of Krav Maga, and playing PS3 more then painting.

It`s been months since I painted another superhero heroclix as there is no `field` anymore to paint... so I`m going to start looking for adoptive parents for my repainted Heroclix models (except the Excalibur and allies team and Alpha Flight, they will keep adorning my cabinets).

So starting soonish, I`m going to put down a list and pictures of all the painted heroes I did over the course of the past year, and just drop me a line if you`d want to adopt some of them for basically the shipping costs.

The Guild Orzhov versus The Circle Orboros

I went to the play the Return to Ravnica yesterday, and even though I have been whacked around little a baby in his maxicosy buggy in a destruction derby for muscle cars, I must admit this new set is a HEAP of fun.  

The synergy between the colours in this set is superb, and it has some cool mechanics... and decisions.  You have to choose which way you want to swing your deck, focussing on one 'guild' (a guild basically being the co,bination between two colours) gives you a nice card go together feel with a huge combo ability, or going more traditional with some more colours but not being able to or harder to play the ubercombo a guild deck can allow you.

This set is all about tactics, though as with any Magic game, especcially with drafts and sealeds, it also depends on the chance factor.

On the other hand there is the Hordes game, and I must say I love painting Orboros warbeasts, but... I feel the game lacks in some parts, most especcially for me: tactics

Charge first = win

Most of the time at least, the rest of your game basically comes from what I've seen so far and read on fora to either do some minor damage on something big before your charge, or back an inch or so off to be sure you get that charge.

This isn't tactics for to be honest, tactics are having blocks sweep around flanks, boxing in regiments and make sure the line can be held at all cost but preferably with lesser casualties then the opponent suffers.

Blood Bowl has a far more tactical appeal in my opinion for a skirmish ga,me then WarmaHordes...

Notwithstanding, I'm going through with the whole League; but I doubt I'll be playing every week, probably just one week out of each game month; spending more time with FNM during this set, it is, well, as I started with saying a great and fun set, and the current wizards support with additional Guild Achievements makes it all that bit fluffier.







Oh, and Magic just falls better to sell to the love then a ton of toy soldiers; but don't let me hear you tell anyone that's a reason ;-)