I've decided it's time to resurrect this blog and start keeping track of the things I'm doing. Mostly because I've resurrected my desire to paint. The lack of updates have not been without good reason. A week after my last post, when I finished my Bronzeback, I got dumped by the girl I was seeing at the time. The amount of time I had been devoting to painting may have played a roll in that, but that's besides the point. A week after that, my cousin was killed in a car accident. I am extremely close with all of my cousins, and he was like a little brother to me, so I was incredibly distraught. Since that day in June, I hadn't put brush to paint, or paint to model. I just didn't have the desire.
But, finally, that flame has reawoken. And boy howdy, reawoken with a fervor I don't know if I've ever truly had before. You might ask why. Well, I'll tell you why.
Menoth.
That's right, I'm finally painting all of my Menoth stuff. And I've set a (probably unrealistic) goal of fielding a fully painted force for Templecon, a little less than 6 weeks away. And not just one fully painted list. Four fully painted lists.
How in the hell am I going to accomplish this?
Well, I have a few factors working on my side. For one thing, I'm not starting from scratch. Yes, I've never finished any of my Menoth models before starting this undertaking, but I have painted them. That means I have a lot of models that are basecoated already. A quick wash and some highlighting, along with basing the model, and they're good to go. I've already done this with three of my Knights Exemplar, and they went from "meh" to "stunning" in about 30 minutes of painting.
Another thing working in my favor is army overlap. I've got a lot of models that will be in all four of my lists, or at least three of them, and thus they are all getting preferential treatment to make sure they're ready for play. Already some of those models have been finished. I'll post some pics in subsequent posts.
And lastly, I paint pretty fast. Not lightning fast or anything, but I can generally finish a small based model in an hour, a medium based model in two hours, and a large based model in three. That's from primed to sealed. I'm not trying to win any Golden Daemon painting competitions, but I think from my previous posts it's easy to see that my tabletop quality is pretty good.
I'm going to need a lot of encouragement in this process, though. So, I'm hoping for a lot of feedback to keep me motivated! I'll start posting my army lists in the next couple of posts as well, which should help me prioritize my painting a little more.
Templecon or bust, baby.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
The Shattered Kriel vs The Sapphire Guard: 35pt battle
Battle Report #4: The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh (me, StarmanTTLB) vs The Sapphire Guard (GeminiX6)
I managed to get in a 35pt game against GeminiX6's pMakeda-led Skorne on Monday. See his posts for his exact army list. We used the league units for practice:
Round 1, Turn 1 (Pic): Trolls charge headlong at the Skorne. Champions & Fell Caller on one flank, Fennblades & Chronicler on the other, and Grim, battlegroup, and Krielstone in the center.
Round 1, Turn 2 (Pic): Skorne move, sending their Titans at the Champion flank and Praetorians at the Fennblade flank. Makeda pops her feat fearing for her Praetorians' lives, and Defender's Wards them as well.
Round 2, Turn 1 (Pic): Fennblades charge the Cyclops by the Praetorians, doing respectable damage, and run in to engage as many Praetorians as possible, deciding not to make a single attack roll against them for fear of the feat. Chronicler tells the Hero's Tragedy tale on them for next turn. Champions try to destroy the Bronzeback, but even with Grim Baiting the Line, two of the three Champs fall just short (we're talking millimeters here!). The successful Champ barely damages the Bronzeback.
Round 2, Turn 2 (Pic): Praetorians, Beast Slavers, and Cyclops almost wipe out the Fennblades, but are knocked down all over as a result. Bronzeback rocks the Champions unit but thanks to a couple of rolls totalling 2, only takes out two of the three. The Gladiator fails his charge due to the placement of a single Praetorian, stopping him a few inches out from the Pyre Troll.
Round 3, Turn 1 (Pic): The Pyre kills the two Praetorians engaging itself, the Impaler, and Grim. Grim moves up, feats, Mark for Death's the Praetorians, and Snare Gun's the Bronzeback. The Mauler tramples through the now DEF10/KD'd unit (he can see the Standard Bearer in the back thanks to Marked for Death), and slaughters a mess of 'em. The Krielstone sprays to take out a few more, and a Beast Slaver. The Fennblade forgets to make his Vengeance attack, but kills the KD'd Cyclops on his regular attack. The Impaler fails his Crit Smite attempt on the Gladiator but still does a couple of damage points. The last Champion does an impressively TINY amount of damage to the KD'd Bronzeback in front of him (P+S11 Weaponmasters still want to charge against ARM19+ models, it seems).
Round 3, Turn 2 (Pic): The Bronzeback frenzies and inflicts 7 of 8 damage on the last Champion, failing to kill it. The Beast Slavers and remaining Praetorians surround the Mauler and plink him, adding 4 Fury to put him at his max of 5 and doing some minimal damage - and spawning a Whelp next to him. The rest of the army pulls back to try and weather the coming storm - the Trolls still had to break through three beasts and a few infantry to get to Makeda.
Round 4, Turn 1 (Pic): The Mauler eats his Whelp to remove all 5 Fury. The Krielstone moves up, sprays, and kills some mooks, also putting healthy damage on Makeda (boosting sprays FTW!). Grim and the Impaler sling some damage her way, using the rest of her transfers. The Mauler risks one free strike (which misses thanks to a second Whelp's Annoyance rule), and then kills Makeda on his first (successful) attack.
This was my first win in four games with Grim, so I'm psyched. Gemini and I agree that he had some poor placement for the Beast Slavers, basically keeping them too far from the Titan pack which really needed their help. The Fennblades did their job of messing with the enemy's offensive. The Champions did surprisingly little damage, but that's due mainly to me being unable to estimate charge distances well.
I feel that I managed to use Grim properly this time, slinging around Marked for Death and Snare Gun shots like whoa to basically get my army where it needed to be, and to hit what they needed to hit.
The MVP of the game is definitely Noral Stonemapper & Scribes. Turn 1 he leeched 5 Fury from a riled Mauler, and then basically moved up and Aura'd for a couple of turns. Once combat was joined, I started using his POW12 Crit KD spray to wonderful effect. Having a boostable spray attack combined with a Fury management unit is absolutely priceless. That ability to leech Fury mid-turn, though, I'd gladly give up the spray to make that leeching a permanent Krielstone ability.
I managed to get in a 35pt game against GeminiX6's pMakeda-led Skorne on Monday. See his posts for his exact army list. We used the league units for practice:
Round 1, Turn 1 (Pic): Trolls charge headlong at the Skorne. Champions & Fell Caller on one flank, Fennblades & Chronicler on the other, and Grim, battlegroup, and Krielstone in the center.
Round 1, Turn 2 (Pic): Skorne move, sending their Titans at the Champion flank and Praetorians at the Fennblade flank. Makeda pops her feat fearing for her Praetorians' lives, and Defender's Wards them as well.
Round 2, Turn 1 (Pic): Fennblades charge the Cyclops by the Praetorians, doing respectable damage, and run in to engage as many Praetorians as possible, deciding not to make a single attack roll against them for fear of the feat. Chronicler tells the Hero's Tragedy tale on them for next turn. Champions try to destroy the Bronzeback, but even with Grim Baiting the Line, two of the three Champs fall just short (we're talking millimeters here!). The successful Champ barely damages the Bronzeback.
Round 2, Turn 2 (Pic): Praetorians, Beast Slavers, and Cyclops almost wipe out the Fennblades, but are knocked down all over as a result. Bronzeback rocks the Champions unit but thanks to a couple of rolls totalling 2, only takes out two of the three. The Gladiator fails his charge due to the placement of a single Praetorian, stopping him a few inches out from the Pyre Troll.
Round 3, Turn 1 (Pic): The Pyre kills the two Praetorians engaging itself, the Impaler, and Grim. Grim moves up, feats, Mark for Death's the Praetorians, and Snare Gun's the Bronzeback. The Mauler tramples through the now DEF10/KD'd unit (he can see the Standard Bearer in the back thanks to Marked for Death), and slaughters a mess of 'em. The Krielstone sprays to take out a few more, and a Beast Slaver. The Fennblade forgets to make his Vengeance attack, but kills the KD'd Cyclops on his regular attack. The Impaler fails his Crit Smite attempt on the Gladiator but still does a couple of damage points. The last Champion does an impressively TINY amount of damage to the KD'd Bronzeback in front of him (P+S11 Weaponmasters still want to charge against ARM19+ models, it seems).
Round 3, Turn 2 (Pic): The Bronzeback frenzies and inflicts 7 of 8 damage on the last Champion, failing to kill it. The Beast Slavers and remaining Praetorians surround the Mauler and plink him, adding 4 Fury to put him at his max of 5 and doing some minimal damage - and spawning a Whelp next to him. The rest of the army pulls back to try and weather the coming storm - the Trolls still had to break through three beasts and a few infantry to get to Makeda.
Round 4, Turn 1 (Pic): The Mauler eats his Whelp to remove all 5 Fury. The Krielstone moves up, sprays, and kills some mooks, also putting healthy damage on Makeda (boosting sprays FTW!). Grim and the Impaler sling some damage her way, using the rest of her transfers. The Mauler risks one free strike (which misses thanks to a second Whelp's Annoyance rule), and then kills Makeda on his first (successful) attack.
This was my first win in four games with Grim, so I'm psyched. Gemini and I agree that he had some poor placement for the Beast Slavers, basically keeping them too far from the Titan pack which really needed their help. The Fennblades did their job of messing with the enemy's offensive. The Champions did surprisingly little damage, but that's due mainly to me being unable to estimate charge distances well.
I feel that I managed to use Grim properly this time, slinging around Marked for Death and Snare Gun shots like whoa to basically get my army where it needed to be, and to hit what they needed to hit.
The MVP of the game is definitely Noral Stonemapper & Scribes. Turn 1 he leeched 5 Fury from a riled Mauler, and then basically moved up and Aura'd for a couple of turns. Once combat was joined, I started using his POW12 Crit KD spray to wonderful effect. Having a boostable spray attack combined with a Fury management unit is absolutely priceless. That ability to leech Fury mid-turn, though, I'd gladly give up the spray to make that leeching a permanent Krielstone ability.
The Sapphire Guard - Week Five a.k.a. OH MY GOD I'M DONE!
Judgement Day, Armaggedon, Ragnarok... whatever you want to call it, it has come! Finally done with the Gamer's Journal and I am proud to report that I successfully painted up my full 35 point list. The finished product is as follows:
The Sapphire Guard [1][2][3][4]
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Cyclopse Savage (5pts)
* Cyclopse Shaman (5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts) [1][2][3][4]
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)
The newest addition to the squad is the Bronzeback, who I am affectionately calling King Kamehameha.
I'm extremely proud of him. He was assembled, based, primed, and painted over the course of two days. He's definitely the most extensive model and base I've ever constructed, and I love everything about him. The paint job, the base, the pose, absolutely everything!
Battle Rep:
I found myself across the table from Starman's Trollblood army for the first time since our 15pt lists (we were painting so much we had no time to play during the weeks leading up!) and suffice to say I lost. I won't go into it, but I was testing out the Paingiver Beast Slavers (Blasted Heath special unit) and I didn't deploy them well, plus I moved some models poorly after getting in sidesteps with them, and King K rolled for crap on his first couple of attacks (always happens right after you paint a model, y'know?). The list still played relatively well, but it's trickier without Condition for certain. I may switch it up during the league and drop the Savage from the list just because I don't feel like I have the fury to run him with all of this stuff.
Growth:
More than just this list, I'm looking at growing this army. Things I own that will be getting painted soon to allow some options:
* Xerxis
* Basilisk Krea
* Ancestral Guardian
* 2 more Paingivers (for max unit)
* Min Ferox unit
* Min Venators unit
* 1 (possibly 2) Gladiators
* up to 4 Savages (this depends on what I can salvage from the pile I got)
Stuff I don't own, but plan to:
* 2 Razorworms
* Zaal
* Hexeris
* 2nd Paingiver unit
* 2 Ancestral Guardians (to max the FA)
That's at least what I want right now, Menoth only knows what else I'll get.
Thoughts on The Gamer's Journal:
Holy balls this has been fantastic motivation! I don't even have to paint right now, and yet when I came home it was my first instinct and I really wanted to go down and get some models primed and ready to go. I didn't end up doing that, but it was definitely on my mind. I love that this has gotten me a beautiful force to play with, along with the urge to paint! Hopefully I can keep this going and get my Protectorate stuff finished up, finally!
Much thanks to Starman for keeping me motivated, the other Gamer's Journal players for doing the same and providing me with a lot of great feedback, and Naahz for coming up with this idea in the first place! Good luck to everyone else in the future!
The Sapphire Guard [1][2][3][4]
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Cyclopse Savage (5pts)
* Cyclopse Shaman (5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts) [1][2][3][4]
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)
The newest addition to the squad is the Bronzeback, who I am affectionately calling King Kamehameha.
I'm extremely proud of him. He was assembled, based, primed, and painted over the course of two days. He's definitely the most extensive model and base I've ever constructed, and I love everything about him. The paint job, the base, the pose, absolutely everything!
Battle Rep:
I found myself across the table from Starman's Trollblood army for the first time since our 15pt lists (we were painting so much we had no time to play during the weeks leading up!) and suffice to say I lost. I won't go into it, but I was testing out the Paingiver Beast Slavers (Blasted Heath special unit) and I didn't deploy them well, plus I moved some models poorly after getting in sidesteps with them, and King K rolled for crap on his first couple of attacks (always happens right after you paint a model, y'know?). The list still played relatively well, but it's trickier without Condition for certain. I may switch it up during the league and drop the Savage from the list just because I don't feel like I have the fury to run him with all of this stuff.
Growth:
More than just this list, I'm looking at growing this army. Things I own that will be getting painted soon to allow some options:
* Xerxis
* Basilisk Krea
* Ancestral Guardian
* 2 more Paingivers (for max unit)
* Min Ferox unit
* Min Venators unit
* 1 (possibly 2) Gladiators
* up to 4 Savages (this depends on what I can salvage from the pile I got)
Stuff I don't own, but plan to:
* 2 Razorworms
* Zaal
* Hexeris
* 2nd Paingiver unit
* 2 Ancestral Guardians (to max the FA)
That's at least what I want right now, Menoth only knows what else I'll get.
Thoughts on The Gamer's Journal:
Holy balls this has been fantastic motivation! I don't even have to paint right now, and yet when I came home it was my first instinct and I really wanted to go down and get some models primed and ready to go. I didn't end up doing that, but it was definitely on my mind. I love that this has gotten me a beautiful force to play with, along with the urge to paint! Hopefully I can keep this going and get my Protectorate stuff finished up, finally!
Much thanks to Starman for keeping me motivated, the other Gamer's Journal players for doing the same and providing me with a lot of great feedback, and Naahz for coming up with this idea in the first place! Good luck to everyone else in the future!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh - Week 5 Final Report
Here we are at the end of Gamer’s Journal #1, and I’m happy to report that I met the final deadline: My 35pt Grim Angus-led Trollblood force is 100% painted and ready to go!
Without further ado, meet the Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh:
(click for larger)
More group shots: group 2, zoom 1, zoom 2, zoom 3.
The final 35pt list is as follows (entries in green are new additions for this week):
Grim Angus
* Irontooth (Dire Troll Mauler)
* Jurt (Troll Impaler)
* Swampfire (Pyre Troll)
(6) Trollkin Fennblades
(3) Trollkin Champions [pic 1 | pic 2 ]
Krielstone Bearer & (3) Scribes & Elder Stone Scribe [ pic 1 | pic 2 ]
Fell Caller [ pic 1 | pic 2 ]
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Troll Whelps
Modeling & Painting:
Whew, glad this thing is over! I’m not a fast painter by nature, so I was dealing with tight deadlines for all five weeks of this Journal. I managed to meet every deadline along the way, but it definitely ate up all of my free time!
I challenged myself with some minor greenstuff detailing and fairly epic (for me) bases on this army, and intend to stick to this theme as I expand this force out into the wilderness of 50pts and beyond. For anyone looking at this final update, I used this tutorial from the Terrainthralls and Envirotex Lite to make the swamp bases for my army.
I still love the color scheme after painting it for five weeks without pause. The yellows aren’t quite as eye-catching as I’d hoped for, probably due to the way I’ve been “rusting” my silvers into a shiny brown. Regardless, the army looks great on the tabletop. This is the brightest army I’ve done so far, so it’s (to me) surprisingly eye-catching from across the store.
Close-ups on the new additions for this week. First, the Fell Caller:
(3) Champions:
Elder Stone Scribe (Krielstone unit UA):
Play, List-Building, and Growth Beyond 35pts:
I didn’t have a chance to play this past week, so I can’t report on how the 35pt list works. It was solid up through 25pts, however, and I only added pure awesome (whee Champs!) in this update, so I don’t expect any unpleasant surprises when I hit the table with these guys.
My next step(s) with the Shattered Kriel will be to paint up (4) Fennblades, (2) Champions, and (2) Stone Scribes. This will max out the existing units I’ve got, definitely an important step. I have a few models to choose for where to expand after that, although I expect Alten Ashley, the Champion Hero, and a Troll Axer will be the top of that list. I also have a pile of warlocks to choose from, and no real idea where to begin. Grissel and pMadrak will likely come first as they both work well enough with the list I’ve got together now.
Overall Thoughts/Gamer’s Journal Summary:
I’m very pleased with my participation in Gamer’s Journal #1. I’ve owned my Trollbloods since the Hordes release, but never played more than 3-4 games with them in that time. This challenge provided me with the motivation to paint up some of that bare metal and to get in actual gameplay experience with them. I had intended to sell/trade off much of my excess Trollbloods after the challenge (using the Journal to build a working list and discarding the rest), but now my interest in the blueskins (greyskins?) has been rekindled. I was looking at my unpainted stuff this morning, and couldn’t firmly decide what, if anything, I wanted to sell off! I mean, Water Buffaloes, right? :D
I think the GJ was a great motivator for many of us, and having so many other great folks modeling and painting alongside me is definitely what forced me to stick to my brush. I'd definitely commit to such a challenge again, although not for a little while yet ^^
Thanks to all of my fellow participants, Naahz for organizing the event, and the forumgoers who stopped by to give us praise and critiques!
Now, what should I do with all of my free time now that the GJ is done?!
Without further ado, meet the Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh:
(click for larger)More group shots: group 2, zoom 1, zoom 2, zoom 3.
The final 35pt list is as follows (entries in green are new additions for this week):
Grim Angus
* Irontooth (Dire Troll Mauler)
* Jurt (Troll Impaler)
* Swampfire (Pyre Troll)
(6) Trollkin Fennblades
(3) Trollkin Champions [pic 1 | pic 2 ]
Krielstone Bearer & (3) Scribes & Elder Stone Scribe [ pic 1 | pic 2 ]
Fell Caller [ pic 1 | pic 2 ]
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Troll Whelps
Modeling & Painting:
Whew, glad this thing is over! I’m not a fast painter by nature, so I was dealing with tight deadlines for all five weeks of this Journal. I managed to meet every deadline along the way, but it definitely ate up all of my free time!
I challenged myself with some minor greenstuff detailing and fairly epic (for me) bases on this army, and intend to stick to this theme as I expand this force out into the wilderness of 50pts and beyond. For anyone looking at this final update, I used this tutorial from the Terrainthralls and Envirotex Lite to make the swamp bases for my army.
I still love the color scheme after painting it for five weeks without pause. The yellows aren’t quite as eye-catching as I’d hoped for, probably due to the way I’ve been “rusting” my silvers into a shiny brown. Regardless, the army looks great on the tabletop. This is the brightest army I’ve done so far, so it’s (to me) surprisingly eye-catching from across the store.
Close-ups on the new additions for this week. First, the Fell Caller:
(3) Champions:
Elder Stone Scribe (Krielstone unit UA):
Play, List-Building, and Growth Beyond 35pts:
I didn’t have a chance to play this past week, so I can’t report on how the 35pt list works. It was solid up through 25pts, however, and I only added pure awesome (whee Champs!) in this update, so I don’t expect any unpleasant surprises when I hit the table with these guys.
My next step(s) with the Shattered Kriel will be to paint up (4) Fennblades, (2) Champions, and (2) Stone Scribes. This will max out the existing units I’ve got, definitely an important step. I have a few models to choose for where to expand after that, although I expect Alten Ashley, the Champion Hero, and a Troll Axer will be the top of that list. I also have a pile of warlocks to choose from, and no real idea where to begin. Grissel and pMadrak will likely come first as they both work well enough with the list I’ve got together now.
Overall Thoughts/Gamer’s Journal Summary:
I’m very pleased with my participation in Gamer’s Journal #1. I’ve owned my Trollbloods since the Hordes release, but never played more than 3-4 games with them in that time. This challenge provided me with the motivation to paint up some of that bare metal and to get in actual gameplay experience with them. I had intended to sell/trade off much of my excess Trollbloods after the challenge (using the Journal to build a working list and discarding the rest), but now my interest in the blueskins (greyskins?) has been rekindled. I was looking at my unpainted stuff this morning, and couldn’t firmly decide what, if anything, I wanted to sell off! I mean, Water Buffaloes, right? :D
I think the GJ was a great motivator for many of us, and having so many other great folks modeling and painting alongside me is definitely what forced me to stick to my brush. I'd definitely commit to such a challenge again, although not for a little while yet ^^
Thanks to all of my fellow participants, Naahz for organizing the event, and the forumgoers who stopped by to give us praise and critiques!
Now, what should I do with all of my free time now that the GJ is done?!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
To Battle!
Here's a blurry shot of what I've got done. Only 2 models left! One of them is in pieces in the background there. The other is the UA leader.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Shattered Kriel - Week 5 Snapshot
Been chipping away at the Week 5 additions, but the going has been slower than I want. I blame getting a bit burned out with painting, but I'm in this one for the long haul!
I'm adding minimum Champions, the Krielstone UA, and a Fell Caller for my 35pt jump. This adds in 8 weaponmaster attacks, a spray, and two utility models, which will hopefully fix the problem I've noticed with the 25pt list, in that it can't put out melee damage like I want it to. I'm probably spoiled by Khador (for'ex, played a game this weekend with a charging Behemoth under pButcher's feat, so yea).
Everything is still in the process of being basecoated right now
I'm adding minimum Champions, the Krielstone UA, and a Fell Caller for my 35pt jump. This adds in 8 weaponmaster attacks, a spray, and two utility models, which will hopefully fix the problem I've noticed with the 25pt list, in that it can't put out melee damage like I want it to. I'm probably spoiled by Khador (for'ex, played a game this weekend with a charging Behemoth under pButcher's feat, so yea).
Everything is still in the process of being basecoated right now
Monday, May 31, 2010
The Sapphire Guard - Week Four
Another week has come and gone, and I wasn't able to finish all of the models I had hoped to finish. I had a busy week with friends visiting and some other craziness, but everything's fine now and I'm totally happy with the 8 models I was able to finish! Here's a shot of the models. I spruced up the picture as best I could to make up for not painting a few.
Here's the list, once again, of what I am up to at 25 pts:
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Cyclops Savage (5pts)
* CyclopseShaman (5pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts) [1][2]
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)
Since I'm particularly proud of the shot, here's my Extoller:
List and Painting:
This list only got one game in this week, but it played very well for me. Painting was annoying because, as I stated frequently to Starman during the course of painting, I -hate- painting units. The repetition just drives me insane. I can't paint them all at once, I prefer to paint a few models at a time. Three is actually the optimal number for me, though I did do four at once one night. (That night was brutal, btw.)
Battle Report vs. Cryx:
I didn't take any pictures of the battle, but it was pretty straightforward. The Cryx player brought Epic Asphyxious (hate!), Deathjack, full unit of bane knights, Bane Lord Tartarus, a pistol wraith, and a skarlock. He won the roll and decided to deploy first, spreading his units out across his deployment zone with the bane knights and Tartersauce to the far right, Gaspy in the middle, and the skarlock and pistol wraith to the left. I countered by deploying my entire army in a block all the way to the far right (his left), putting them across from pretty much just his warcaster, skarlock, and pistol wraith. He kinda freaked out and placed the AD'd Deathjack to interpose that, as I assumed he would, but it put the bane knights -way- out of position.
On his first turn, he ran his knights and Tartarus to try to close the distance, threw Hellbound on Gaspy (hate!) and moved everything up. I cast Defender's Ward on the Praetorians, Savagery on the Paingivers, and ran my whole army to the right to put even more distance between me and the BK's.
His second turn the BK's ran again, about half of them getting in melee with my Praetorians, and Deathjack moved up and killed 3 swordsmen. Gaspy threw a bunch of caustic clouds down in my ranks, forcing me to think hard on my next activation.
Makeda went first, cast Carnage for +2 to all melee attacks, and then tried to hide behind a wall since I had a pretty good idea what was coming next turn. She also feated. My Praetorians, now able to come back from the dead if they were killed this turn, began side-stepping through the BK's and took about 2/3's of them out, with pretty solid rolls. They also plinked up Deathjack pretty good. My Gladiator got enraged by the Paingivers, cast Rush on himself, and attempted to slam the Deathjack. He only needed to roll a 5 because of Carnage and missed! I bought a few attacks and smashed about half the health off of Deathjack. The Shaman activated next, casting Future Sight on himself and trying to shoot Deathjack in the face. He needed an 8, rolled a 5 on two dice, so I boosted after the fact and rolled a 2 for a grand total of 7. Next up, the Savage activated and charged the Deathjack, taking a freestrike from one of the remaining BK's and suffering a pretty solid hit. No spirals were taken out, however, so he was able to scrap Deathjack handily. And, lastly, my Extoller moved up and shot a BK in the face.
Cryx player's turn, he tried to kill as many of the Praetorians as he could, but he only got 5 of them. The Savage went down to a few wicked shots from Tartersauce, and the Gladiator was on the receiving end of Parasite and some BK shots, but he barely took any damage. Gaspy had managed to throw his weapon out to collect souls, though, and was going to have a solid focus pile next turn. All of the Praetorian's came back on my turn, and I managed to chain them into some good spots for attacks.
I activated, had the Gladiator charge Tartarus and kill him, slaughtered all but one remaining BK, picked off his pistol wraith, and despite my best attempts only did 1 damage to his skarlock, but managed to surround it with Praetorians via sidesteps. Makeda hid behind a wall to try to avoid the ridiculous feat about to come on the next turn.
Cryx player activated, moved Asphyxious as far as he could to one side to try to get around the wall, then feated. He was able to place Tartarus and 3 bane knights far enough to the side in order to have LOS to Makeda and charge her. She transferred one attack, then had to take the rest, but the last BK whiffed his attack leaving her with 2 health! The others took out 4 Praetorians, and then he was done, but Gaspy was sitting on 5 focus still from all those souls on the previous turn.
I activated, dropped my upkeeps, casting Carnage and Savagery on the Gladiator. The Shaman cast Rush on him, and he walked 11 inches over to Gaspy through his Hellbound spell for some face beatings. Unfortunately, with all of the focus on him, I was only about to do about half of his life's worth of damage. The last BK finally died, as did the skarlock, leaving Gaspy as the only Cryx model on the table.
Cryx activated, Asphyxious moved around the wall, and with his full focus beat the last 2 health off of Makeda.
Thoughts:
I did pretty well in the fight, and eAsphyxious' feat is just nasty, seriously. I rolled poorly on some attacks that should have done way more damage, and I -really- hate Hellbound.
Moving up to 35pts:
I'm only adding one model for 35pts, but it's a doozy! I'll be throwing a Bronzeback into my list! Very excited, since I love the Fury 5, his animus, Grab n' Smash, and the fact that I can still run all these beasts because my Gladiator won't frenzy with the Bronzeback nearby! Can't wait to get him assembled and painted up!
Here's the list, once again, of what I am up to at 25 pts:
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Cyclops Savage (5pts)
* CyclopseShaman (5pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts) [1][2]
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)
Since I'm particularly proud of the shot, here's my Extoller:
List and Painting:
This list only got one game in this week, but it played very well for me. Painting was annoying because, as I stated frequently to Starman during the course of painting, I -hate- painting units. The repetition just drives me insane. I can't paint them all at once, I prefer to paint a few models at a time. Three is actually the optimal number for me, though I did do four at once one night. (That night was brutal, btw.)
Battle Report vs. Cryx:
I didn't take any pictures of the battle, but it was pretty straightforward. The Cryx player brought Epic Asphyxious (hate!), Deathjack, full unit of bane knights, Bane Lord Tartarus, a pistol wraith, and a skarlock. He won the roll and decided to deploy first, spreading his units out across his deployment zone with the bane knights and Tartersauce to the far right, Gaspy in the middle, and the skarlock and pistol wraith to the left. I countered by deploying my entire army in a block all the way to the far right (his left), putting them across from pretty much just his warcaster, skarlock, and pistol wraith. He kinda freaked out and placed the AD'd Deathjack to interpose that, as I assumed he would, but it put the bane knights -way- out of position.
On his first turn, he ran his knights and Tartarus to try to close the distance, threw Hellbound on Gaspy (hate!) and moved everything up. I cast Defender's Ward on the Praetorians, Savagery on the Paingivers, and ran my whole army to the right to put even more distance between me and the BK's.
His second turn the BK's ran again, about half of them getting in melee with my Praetorians, and Deathjack moved up and killed 3 swordsmen. Gaspy threw a bunch of caustic clouds down in my ranks, forcing me to think hard on my next activation.
Makeda went first, cast Carnage for +2 to all melee attacks, and then tried to hide behind a wall since I had a pretty good idea what was coming next turn. She also feated. My Praetorians, now able to come back from the dead if they were killed this turn, began side-stepping through the BK's and took about 2/3's of them out, with pretty solid rolls. They also plinked up Deathjack pretty good. My Gladiator got enraged by the Paingivers, cast Rush on himself, and attempted to slam the Deathjack. He only needed to roll a 5 because of Carnage and missed! I bought a few attacks and smashed about half the health off of Deathjack. The Shaman activated next, casting Future Sight on himself and trying to shoot Deathjack in the face. He needed an 8, rolled a 5 on two dice, so I boosted after the fact and rolled a 2 for a grand total of 7. Next up, the Savage activated and charged the Deathjack, taking a freestrike from one of the remaining BK's and suffering a pretty solid hit. No spirals were taken out, however, so he was able to scrap Deathjack handily. And, lastly, my Extoller moved up and shot a BK in the face.
Cryx player's turn, he tried to kill as many of the Praetorians as he could, but he only got 5 of them. The Savage went down to a few wicked shots from Tartersauce, and the Gladiator was on the receiving end of Parasite and some BK shots, but he barely took any damage. Gaspy had managed to throw his weapon out to collect souls, though, and was going to have a solid focus pile next turn. All of the Praetorian's came back on my turn, and I managed to chain them into some good spots for attacks.
I activated, had the Gladiator charge Tartarus and kill him, slaughtered all but one remaining BK, picked off his pistol wraith, and despite my best attempts only did 1 damage to his skarlock, but managed to surround it with Praetorians via sidesteps. Makeda hid behind a wall to try to avoid the ridiculous feat about to come on the next turn.
Cryx player activated, moved Asphyxious as far as he could to one side to try to get around the wall, then feated. He was able to place Tartarus and 3 bane knights far enough to the side in order to have LOS to Makeda and charge her. She transferred one attack, then had to take the rest, but the last BK whiffed his attack leaving her with 2 health! The others took out 4 Praetorians, and then he was done, but Gaspy was sitting on 5 focus still from all those souls on the previous turn.
I activated, dropped my upkeeps, casting Carnage and Savagery on the Gladiator. The Shaman cast Rush on him, and he walked 11 inches over to Gaspy through his Hellbound spell for some face beatings. Unfortunately, with all of the focus on him, I was only about to do about half of his life's worth of damage. The last BK finally died, as did the skarlock, leaving Gaspy as the only Cryx model on the table.
Cryx activated, Asphyxious moved around the wall, and with his full focus beat the last 2 health off of Makeda.
Thoughts:
I did pretty well in the fight, and eAsphyxious' feat is just nasty, seriously. I rolled poorly on some attacks that should have done way more damage, and I -really- hate Hellbound.
Moving up to 35pts:
I'm only adding one model for 35pts, but it's a doozy! I'll be throwing a Bronzeback into my list! Very excited, since I love the Fury 5, his animus, Grab n' Smash, and the fact that I can still run all these beasts because my Gladiator won't frenzy with the Bronzeback nearby! Can't wait to get him assembled and painted up!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh - Week 4 Report
Week 4 (of 5) comes to a close and I'm right on track! My kriel is fully painted up to 25pts, and I'm fairly set on what models are being added for the 35pt jump. Without further ado, I present to you the Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh, 25pts:
(click for larger)
The current army list is as follows. Models added when moving from 15 to 25 points are highlighted in green:
Grim Angus
* Irontooth the Dire Troll Mauler
* Jurt the Troll Impaler
* Swampfire the Pyre Troll
* (6) Madrot Irregulars (Trollkin Fennblades) [ pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3 ]
* (4) Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes [ pic 1 | pic 2 ]
* Stone Scribe Chronicler [ pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3 | close-up on scroll ]
* Whelps
Painting & Modeling:
Madrot Marsh Irregulars (Trollkin Fennblades):
Stone Scribe Chronicler:
I knew that this week's would be the hardest to meet due to so many models (11 medium based infantry), but I really kept my nose to the grindstone. I had friends coming into town for Fri, Sat, and Sun of this week, and we wanted to play some WM/H with them, so I knew that I had to finish the painting and pour the water bases so they had time to set. I *just* made it, finishing up at 1am Friday morning (whee going to work on no sleep!).
The water bases, while awesome, were probably not a wise decision to add to a timed challenge, as that 24hr cure time really makes that deadline come quick! It's worth it for the look, however, and I'm going to continue that theme throughout my Trollbloods.
I did some minimal greenstuff work on this round, adding vines to the krielstone like with my Mauler, if only to make that model a bit more interesting. Once this challenge is done, I have a few really cool conversion ideas for the Bomber and Earthborne, and without a deadline I'm hoping to practice my conversion skills enough to do those great models justice!
I now realize just how much the quatari "plaid" pattern really adds depth to Trollblood models. They all look mediocre to me until I draw on the green lines and add some static grass :D That and other detail work came out nice and added some life to my guys. My Chronicler in particular came out nicely, with some freehand runes drawn on his scrolls.
List-Building & Observations:
I only managed one game this week (see the batrep in the next section), but it confirmed what I'd already predicted about this list.
* Grim is fun, but Mauler-aside I can't deliver much melee hurt with this list. Solution: Add a minimum unit of Champions, and either a Fell Caller or Champion Hero for melee output and assassination. I'm still deciding if the FC or Hero will be a better addition - MAT8 Reach Weaponmaster Thresher, or two Weaponmaster attacks, a spray, and the Fell Calls utility.
* The Fennblade/Stone Scribe Chronicler tarpit did exactly what I'd intended it to do, slow down the enemy's offensive and let me pick off the models I wanted dead. However, I'd like a slightly larger unit for a bigger buff area. Solution: Add a Stone Scribe Elder - I'd rather only have one more Scribe and the Stone Warp abilities than two more Scribes alone.
Battle Report #3, 25pts versus Terminus-led Cryx:
The above list, versus a list of Terminus, 10 Bane Knights, Tartarus, Deathjack, and a Bloat Thrall.
Trollblood Deployment:
Cryx Deployment
The Battle is Met!
The Fennblades charge up and tie down the Banes. Thanks to Terminus' ability, they're all Tough and also have Vengeance. It took about three turns for that middle area to actually clear out, resulting in no living Fennblades and only a couple of living Banes. Success!
The Tarpit Clears Out (After 3 turns of beating each other!)
If you'll notice the DJ's position in the above and below pictures. He was hit with Lock the Target, then Crit Smite'd from a Rage'd Impaler for the full distance, causing him to clip the Bloat Thrall, giving it an astounding amount of damage and causing THAT to blow up, taking the Deathjack to three hits remaining. Great damage rolls all around!
The Deathjack is Far Away
The Endgame
Right at the end, Terminos feated and ripped my army apart thanks to Rampager. Those tokens are his Souls! My Mauler Trampled over thanks to Marked for Death, and with Grim having Rage'd him, brought Terminous to 7 hits left. Then on the next turn, Terminus flew to Grim and with something like 15 Focus, well, yea. Good game, though!
MVP was definitely the Pyre Troll, which managed to set every model in the enemy's army on fire! Tartarus, Deathjack, and Terminus all rolled out their fire and then were relit by that great model!
I look forward to putting together my full 35pts this week and will be taking them to war at The Temple in Providence, RI, and possibly elsewhere if Gemini and I end up making some of the trips we've been invited on!
(click for larger)The current army list is as follows. Models added when moving from 15 to 25 points are highlighted in green:
Grim Angus
* Irontooth the Dire Troll Mauler
* Jurt the Troll Impaler
* Swampfire the Pyre Troll
* (6) Madrot Irregulars (Trollkin Fennblades) [ pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3 ]
* (4) Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes [ pic 1 | pic 2 ]
* Stone Scribe Chronicler [ pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3 | close-up on scroll ]
* Whelps
Painting & Modeling:
Madrot Marsh Irregulars (Trollkin Fennblades):
Stone Scribe Chronicler:
The water bases, while awesome, were probably not a wise decision to add to a timed challenge, as that 24hr cure time really makes that deadline come quick! It's worth it for the look, however, and I'm going to continue that theme throughout my Trollbloods.
I did some minimal greenstuff work on this round, adding vines to the krielstone like with my Mauler, if only to make that model a bit more interesting. Once this challenge is done, I have a few really cool conversion ideas for the Bomber and Earthborne, and without a deadline I'm hoping to practice my conversion skills enough to do those great models justice!
I now realize just how much the quatari "plaid" pattern really adds depth to Trollblood models. They all look mediocre to me until I draw on the green lines and add some static grass :D That and other detail work came out nice and added some life to my guys. My Chronicler in particular came out nicely, with some freehand runes drawn on his scrolls.
List-Building & Observations:
I only managed one game this week (see the batrep in the next section), but it confirmed what I'd already predicted about this list.
* Grim is fun, but Mauler-aside I can't deliver much melee hurt with this list. Solution: Add a minimum unit of Champions, and either a Fell Caller or Champion Hero for melee output and assassination. I'm still deciding if the FC or Hero will be a better addition - MAT8 Reach Weaponmaster Thresher, or two Weaponmaster attacks, a spray, and the Fell Calls utility.
* The Fennblade/Stone Scribe Chronicler tarpit did exactly what I'd intended it to do, slow down the enemy's offensive and let me pick off the models I wanted dead. However, I'd like a slightly larger unit for a bigger buff area. Solution: Add a Stone Scribe Elder - I'd rather only have one more Scribe and the Stone Warp abilities than two more Scribes alone.
Battle Report #3, 25pts versus Terminus-led Cryx:
The above list, versus a list of Terminus, 10 Bane Knights, Tartarus, Deathjack, and a Bloat Thrall.
Trollblood Deployment:
Cryx Deployment
The Battle is Met!
The Fennblades charge up and tie down the Banes. Thanks to Terminus' ability, they're all Tough and also have Vengeance. It took about three turns for that middle area to actually clear out, resulting in no living Fennblades and only a couple of living Banes. Success!
The Tarpit Clears Out (After 3 turns of beating each other!)
If you'll notice the DJ's position in the above and below pictures. He was hit with Lock the Target, then Crit Smite'd from a Rage'd Impaler for the full distance, causing him to clip the Bloat Thrall, giving it an astounding amount of damage and causing THAT to blow up, taking the Deathjack to three hits remaining. Great damage rolls all around!
The Deathjack is Far Away
The Endgame
Right at the end, Terminos feated and ripped my army apart thanks to Rampager. Those tokens are his Souls! My Mauler Trampled over thanks to Marked for Death, and with Grim having Rage'd him, brought Terminous to 7 hits left. Then on the next turn, Terminus flew to Grim and with something like 15 Focus, well, yea. Good game, though!
MVP was definitely the Pyre Troll, which managed to set every model in the enemy's army on fire! Tartarus, Deathjack, and Terminus all rolled out their fire and then were relit by that great model!
==============================================
I look forward to putting together my full 35pts this week and will be taking them to war at The Temple in Providence, RI, and possibly elsewhere if Gemini and I end up making some of the trips we've been invited on!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I -hate- painting units...
Super minor update: Got 3 of the Swordsmen done. Took 3 hours start to finish, so about an hour per guy, which is about what it was taking me to do the Paingivers and Makeda, so sounds about right! 10 more models to go for this segment of the challenge.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
The Sapphire Guard - Week Three
Dust wafted amongst her small band as Makeda strode east across the marches, back into Skorne territory. It had been a productive few weeks of travelling, and the skirmishes had easily been grand enough to please the ancestors. Her Gladiator let out a mournful wail behind her, still licking his wounds from the thrashing he had received at the hands of the beast man Kromac, but the Archdomina reached out and soothed his pain enough to cease his whimpers. Normally she would not be so kind, but the titan had proven his worth in that fight, and she had allowed the paingivers to administer extra healing salve. They would replenish their stores soon enough.
Mulling over the strategic retreat she had needed to enact when confronted with the worshipers of the Wurm, she continued to come to the same conclusion. She needed men. Strong men who would fight to the death for her, and charge into battle at nothing more than a nod. Luckily, her reputation was growing, and she had already sent word ahead with one of the paingivers to the many Skorne villages on the outer edges of the marches. Here, on the fringe of their territory, were people of the warrior caste that fought daily to maintain the gloriously growing empire of the Godless. They would serve her well.
Each village was quick to provide their best swordsmen for her cause, men honored to fight by her side. One village even had a young extoler who was willing to guide the souls of the men who were certain to fall in glorious combat sooner or later. Soon she would surrounded by a small army, eager to do her bidding. The young matron of House Balaash could not help but smile.
There would be much blood spilled in the coming days, of that there was no lack of certainty.
-----------------------------------------
Week 3 has come and gone, and not too much got accomplished. I'm okay with that, though, as I had a lot of important things this week to occupy my time! A wedding and a lot of quality time with my lady, things which are definitely paramount to painting miniatures. Nonetheless, I was able to assemble and prime all 13 models that I will be adding to my army in order to grow to a 25 pt list. New models are in italics.
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Cyclops Savage (5pts)
* Cyclops Shaman (5pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)
These models are going to add a few vital things to my army composition:
Bodies: First and foremost, these guys are going to be blocking charge lanes and generally getting all-up-in someone's grill and/or business. They will be the front line of my army, hopefully eating up charges and also dishing out some of their own, particularly with the ability to sidestep (yay ridiculous UA!)
Souls: I guess this kind of ties into bodies, but my new Extoler Soulward will be hot on the heels of these guys, gathering souls, spitting out crazy boosted ghost-sight shots, and giving out magic attacks when needed to key units.
Feat Fodder: Makeda's feat will make these guys virtually indestructible for a round (especially if I throw Defender's Ward on them) and will pose a serious issue. Considering both games that I've played with this army has ended on the 3rd turn, that's 1/3 of the game that they are going to be a serious nuisance to my opponent.
Modeling And Painting
Almost nothing got done with these guys, which is upsetting, but they'll be getting the full treatment this week. I should be able to bust out 3-4 models per night, so I don't foresee any issues with getting them done in time for the end of Week 4.
The Shattered Kriel - Week 3 Report
Over his lifetime of conflict Grim Angus had seen many friends fall because they rushed forward with more enthusiasm than skill. Knowing that such a defeat would crush the already-dwindling morale of the surviving trollkin of Madrot Marsh, he chose to lead from the front alongside his warbeasts to minimize casualties to the amateur trollkin fighters. Coordinating rifle, sorcery, and beast, Grim fought the resistance force’s first battles before the kriel’s warriors had even reached the battlefield.
However, Grim’s troll companions were unfamiliar with the boggy terrain of Madrot, and were proving to be less effective than their long-standing teamwork normally allowed. The time to call upon the shattered kriel’s resources had come.
Grim strode into the small ring of solid ground that had once been the center of the kriel at dawn, flanked by his troll companions. He was immediately irritated at the lack of a watch - the kriel’s trollkin were largely still asleep after a celebration for the previous day’s “victory”, a caravan raid fought entirely by the warlock and his beasts. Grim reached out mentally to Irontooth, his Mauler, and prodded the beast into unleashing a titanic bellow. The trollkin were surprised into action, leaping up and grabbing their weapons to face whatever threat had approached.
Shaking his head, Grim reprimanded the kriel’s survivors for their lax behavior. “We do not have the luxury of rest! The humans have taken from you one thing only and you cannot idle until you take it back: your pride as a trollkin! Take up your weapons and what remains of your krielstone, and come with me. You won’t be returning to these ruins of your former lives ever again!”
Without waiting to see the trollkins’ response, Grim spun and marched out of the clearing. Of course, this didn’t stop him from peeking through Jurt’s eyes to see the trollkin survivors hastily breaking camp to follow, determination plain on their faces. In the next fight, Grim would test the resolve of Madrot Marsh.
After the couple of games I played with the 15pt list during Week 2, I had three glaring problems I wanted to fix:
1) Not enough attacks. With four models (not counting the noncombatant Whelps), I wasn't able to generate enough attacks to handle any enemy that brought infantry at that point-size. Solution: Bring infantry to spread the love around.
2) Not enough bodies. Again, with the selection of models there, only three things could help shield Grim from line of sight. Even with fairly careful placement of models, the enemy ended up getting into melee with my ranged attackers before I wanted that to happen. Solution: Bring a "tarpit" or defensive option to screen Grim from the enemy.
3) Not enough armor! Grim has a wonderful DEF of 16 (coming from Butcher-driven Khador, that spoils me!). He's only ARM 15 however, so once he started getting hit my beasts were collapsing under the transfer damage. Solution: Krielstone!
Without further ado, my 25pt list (this week's additions are in green):
Grim Angus
*Irontooth the Dire Troll Mauler
*Jurt the Troll Impaler
*Swampfire the Pyre Troll
(6) Fennblades
(4) Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes
(5) Whelps
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Modeling & Painting:
I knew from the beginning that Weeks 3 & 4 would, together, be my toughest stretch of the Journal. There's a lot of infantry to be added this time, which is always what bogs me down. I'm not a very fast painter as I have a tendency to go back over and over for touch-ups and detail work.
That said, as Week 2 comes to a close I'm basically right at my painting goal. I have my min unit of 6 Fennblades ready to be inked and based after some breakneck (for me) painting this afternoon. The rest of my 25pt list additions are primed, but nothing more yet. I knew that this past week would be a busy one for me, so I don't feel behind on my goals or anything. Likewise, this coming week looks to be a fairly peaceful one, so with some luck I'll be done with these guys before the weekend rolls around.
Close-up on the unit of 6 Fennblades, still in progress:
This coming weekend a few friends are coming down to visit, and I expect to get quite a few games in. I'll take pics and post batreps with the Week 4 report.
However, Grim’s troll companions were unfamiliar with the boggy terrain of Madrot, and were proving to be less effective than their long-standing teamwork normally allowed. The time to call upon the shattered kriel’s resources had come.
Grim strode into the small ring of solid ground that had once been the center of the kriel at dawn, flanked by his troll companions. He was immediately irritated at the lack of a watch - the kriel’s trollkin were largely still asleep after a celebration for the previous day’s “victory”, a caravan raid fought entirely by the warlock and his beasts. Grim reached out mentally to Irontooth, his Mauler, and prodded the beast into unleashing a titanic bellow. The trollkin were surprised into action, leaping up and grabbing their weapons to face whatever threat had approached.
Shaking his head, Grim reprimanded the kriel’s survivors for their lax behavior. “We do not have the luxury of rest! The humans have taken from you one thing only and you cannot idle until you take it back: your pride as a trollkin! Take up your weapons and what remains of your krielstone, and come with me. You won’t be returning to these ruins of your former lives ever again!”
Without waiting to see the trollkins’ response, Grim spun and marched out of the clearing. Of course, this didn’t stop him from peeking through Jurt’s eyes to see the trollkin survivors hastily breaking camp to follow, determination plain on their faces. In the next fight, Grim would test the resolve of Madrot Marsh.
=====================================
After the couple of games I played with the 15pt list during Week 2, I had three glaring problems I wanted to fix:
1) Not enough attacks. With four models (not counting the noncombatant Whelps), I wasn't able to generate enough attacks to handle any enemy that brought infantry at that point-size. Solution: Bring infantry to spread the love around.
2) Not enough bodies. Again, with the selection of models there, only three things could help shield Grim from line of sight. Even with fairly careful placement of models, the enemy ended up getting into melee with my ranged attackers before I wanted that to happen. Solution: Bring a "tarpit" or defensive option to screen Grim from the enemy.
3) Not enough armor! Grim has a wonderful DEF of 16 (coming from Butcher-driven Khador, that spoils me!). He's only ARM 15 however, so once he started getting hit my beasts were collapsing under the transfer damage. Solution: Krielstone!
Without further ado, my 25pt list (this week's additions are in green):
Grim Angus
*Irontooth the Dire Troll Mauler
*Jurt the Troll Impaler
*Swampfire the Pyre Troll
(6) Fennblades
(4) Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes
(5) Whelps
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Modeling & Painting:
I knew from the beginning that Weeks 3 & 4 would, together, be my toughest stretch of the Journal. There's a lot of infantry to be added this time, which is always what bogs me down. I'm not a very fast painter as I have a tendency to go back over and over for touch-ups and detail work.
That said, as Week 2 comes to a close I'm basically right at my painting goal. I have my min unit of 6 Fennblades ready to be inked and based after some breakneck (for me) painting this afternoon. The rest of my 25pt list additions are primed, but nothing more yet. I knew that this past week would be a busy one for me, so I don't feel behind on my goals or anything. Likewise, this coming week looks to be a fairly peaceful one, so with some luck I'll be done with these guys before the weekend rolls around.
Close-up on the unit of 6 Fennblades, still in progress:
This coming weekend a few friends are coming down to visit, and I expect to get quite a few games in. I'll take pics and post batreps with the Week 4 report.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Mmmm
Time for some Snacking!
Sorry, inspiration struck while prepping 9lbs of pork ribs for smoking tomorrow, all while thinking about my army. Had to grab Irontooth the Mauler for a quick photo op!
Sorry, inspiration struck while prepping 9lbs of pork ribs for smoking tomorrow, all while thinking about my army. Had to grab Irontooth the Mauler for a quick photo op!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The Shattered Kriel - Week 3 Begins!
For Week 3 of the Gamer's Journal, I'm adding:
Fennblades (6)
Krielstone Bearer & Scribes (4)
Stone Scribe Chronicler
I've assembled, based, and primed my 10pt requirement for this week, and the minimum unit of Fennblades is front and center on my table getting their colors started:
I did some minor conversion work with my Krielstone Bearer. I'd toyed with replacing the stone entirely with a big rotten tree trunk, stump still attached, but threw the idea out thanks to a two week deadline! Seriously, I need to learn to reign in my crazy ideas when it comes to gaming... Anyway, I went with some greenstuff vines wrapped around the 'stone, like I did with my Mauler from last week:
The Fennblades are coming along nicely, but my Thurs evening is lost to attending an awards dinner for a friend. Hopefully I'll be able to use my Fri evening and Sun afternoons for painting. If I can get the Fennblades and SSC done by Sunday night, I'll consider myself in a good position for the week!
Fennblades (6)
Krielstone Bearer & Scribes (4)
Stone Scribe Chronicler
I've assembled, based, and primed my 10pt requirement for this week, and the minimum unit of Fennblades is front and center on my table getting their colors started:
I did some minor conversion work with my Krielstone Bearer. I'd toyed with replacing the stone entirely with a big rotten tree trunk, stump still attached, but threw the idea out thanks to a two week deadline! Seriously, I need to learn to reign in my crazy ideas when it comes to gaming... Anyway, I went with some greenstuff vines wrapped around the 'stone, like I did with my Mauler from last week:
The Fennblades are coming along nicely, but my Thurs evening is lost to attending an awards dinner for a friend. Hopefully I'll be able to use my Fri evening and Sun afternoons for painting. If I can get the Fennblades and SSC done by Sunday night, I'll consider myself in a good position for the week!
2 Gamers, Almost 1 Table
Gemini and I worked on the table more yesterday and today, cutting & attaching inner supports and the legs.
We'd intended to use 2x2" legs, cedar if I remember right, about 36" long. 36" may seem kinda long, but when we were at the hardware store, the pre-lathed 27" legs were so incredibly short we couldn't imagine using them for the table. Well, turns out that 36" is roughly a foot longer than you want! The table at 34" was waaay too high for proper play, and the way we'd mounted the legs lent itself to a surprising amount of wobble. This is the table with tall, wobbly legs:
So today, Gemini hit the hardware store again and picked up those pre-lathed 27" legs and standard table-leg-mounting hardware, and it gave us a perfectly placed table, basically a couple of inches higher than your standard kitchen table. Here is the table frame with new legs:
To describe what you see above a little better: The double supports on either end are going to be where the edges of the 4x4' area and the edges of the two long ledges abut. So the table will be 4'x5'4", with the extra 1' on the long side being split into two 8" ledges. These are basically to hold cards and such, so the 4x4 area is purely for models.
Upon adding the legs, we took our plywood and attached it to the table. This is exactly the 4x4 gaming area:
We cut the ledges and nailed them in. The pic below shows two boards stuck in the gap between the ledges and the table proper - THESE WON'T STAY THERE! We placed them there for the picture so that you can see kinda the effect we're going for. Instead, a thinner board will go in there, between 1-2". This will go on the non-ledge sides too, basically boxing in the 4x4 area. This will let us have a sunken gaming area in the middle into which we can place our foam table pieces. The ledges won't be lipped like the 4x4 area, but a table skirt of 8" wood will go around the whole thing to hide the underside and make it look less "puny".
The last picture has the 4x4 foam laid out on the table, showing you the size and placement of the ledges:
Remaining steps:
* Cut and attach "lip" around all sides of the 4x4 area.
* Cut and attach "skirt" around entire table outer edge.
* Stain and varnish the whole damn thing.
* Texture and seal the foam.
We'd intended to use 2x2" legs, cedar if I remember right, about 36" long. 36" may seem kinda long, but when we were at the hardware store, the pre-lathed 27" legs were so incredibly short we couldn't imagine using them for the table. Well, turns out that 36" is roughly a foot longer than you want! The table at 34" was waaay too high for proper play, and the way we'd mounted the legs lent itself to a surprising amount of wobble. This is the table with tall, wobbly legs:
So today, Gemini hit the hardware store again and picked up those pre-lathed 27" legs and standard table-leg-mounting hardware, and it gave us a perfectly placed table, basically a couple of inches higher than your standard kitchen table. Here is the table frame with new legs:
To describe what you see above a little better: The double supports on either end are going to be where the edges of the 4x4' area and the edges of the two long ledges abut. So the table will be 4'x5'4", with the extra 1' on the long side being split into two 8" ledges. These are basically to hold cards and such, so the 4x4 area is purely for models.
Upon adding the legs, we took our plywood and attached it to the table. This is exactly the 4x4 gaming area:
We cut the ledges and nailed them in. The pic below shows two boards stuck in the gap between the ledges and the table proper - THESE WON'T STAY THERE! We placed them there for the picture so that you can see kinda the effect we're going for. Instead, a thinner board will go in there, between 1-2". This will go on the non-ledge sides too, basically boxing in the 4x4 area. This will let us have a sunken gaming area in the middle into which we can place our foam table pieces. The ledges won't be lipped like the 4x4 area, but a table skirt of 8" wood will go around the whole thing to hide the underside and make it look less "puny".
The last picture has the 4x4 foam laid out on the table, showing you the size and placement of the ledges:
Remaining steps:
* Cut and attach "lip" around all sides of the 4x4 area.
* Cut and attach "skirt" around entire table outer edge.
* Stain and varnish the whole damn thing.
* Texture and seal the foam.
Monday, May 17, 2010
The Sapphire Guard - Week Two
The List: (numbers link to close-up pictures of the model)
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts) [1][2]
* Cyclopse Savage (5pts) [1][2][3]
* Cyclopse Shaman (5pts) [1][2]
* Titan Gladiator (8pts) [1][2][3][4]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts) [1]
Preparation/Painting/End Product:
Wow! Just, seriously... wow! I am blown away by the fact that I painted these guys. I -love- the color scheme, they pop on the table and really look amazing. They're by far the best models I've ever done, and considering I'm painting them as fast as I can, I'm very happy with them. Due to a lot of different factors, I wasn't able to finish them up in the two week time period, but I'm only going to overshoot it by a day, and I'm happy with that. The next models are much smaller and should go much faster. As an example, all four of the Paingivers took me only two days. Makeda was about an hour. The Savage and the Gladiator took the most time, with the Gladiator taking a whopping 2 days of solid painting to finish. But, in total, he was still probably only 4-5 hours worth of work.
Battle Reports:
Battle 1 - Sapphire Guard vs. Shattered Kriel (Trollbloods of StarmanTTLB)
The pictures are a little hard to see, but we played this game on a board that had shallow rivers running through it, which we counted as rough terrain. Perfect for the swamp trolls, obviously. Deployment was fairly basic, across from each other, each of us deploying near the bridge that spanned a large pond. Starman went first, moving his Impaler up by the end of the bridge, the Mauler moving up in front of Grim, and the Pyre running off to one side to start a flanking maneuver on my army with the assistance of Cross Country.
I cast Rush on my Gladiator and Savage, running them both out in front of the army, the Savage to one side of the bridge, the Gladiator in front of the main force. Makeda put Defender's Ward on herself, Savagery on the Paingivers, and then moved up behind the Titan. Rest of the army moved up. [end of turn 1]
Turn two began with the Impaler throwing a spear at the Savage and boosting the attack roll, looking for the crit slam. Roll was super low and the spear wiffed. Next up, Grim moved up and attacked the Gladiator, hoping to get the extra 3" of charge range that his gun gives when it hits a target. Amazingly, he missed that shot as well, even though the Gladiator had only DEF 12. The Mauler moved across in front of Grim and off to one side, ready to intercept the Gladiator on the next turn. And the Pyre Troll lobbed his fire shot at the Gladiator, hitting and lighting him on fire, but doing no damage. The Gladiator would fail to remove this fire over the course of the game, but never took damage from it.
I began my activation by upkeeping my spells. The Shaman moved up and cast Rush on the Savage and shot the Impaler for a little damage, then the Paingivers moved up and one of them Enraged the Gladiator. Next, Makeda moved up and cast Carnage, making sure that every troll except the Pyre was in her control area. The Gladiator then activated, used his Rush animus on himself, and with the extra distance and pathfinder was able to slam the Mauler. Rolled a 3 for distance, and because of the Gladiator's bonuses was able to slam the Mauler 5" back, clipping Grim on the way and landing the Mauler about 2" behind Grim. The Gladiator used his follow up, but stopped once he was b2b with Grim, leaving the Mauler out of reach. Bought 2 auto-hitting attacks against the knocked down warlock and forced him to transfer the damage rolls to his Mauler and Pyre troll. The Savage ran around the end of the bridge and engaged the Impaler. [end of turn 2]
Turn 3 began with Starman attempting to shake knockdown on his warlock and Mauler. Grim stood up, but the Mauler was unable to because it's Spirit was out and couldn't be forced. All of the beasts that had taken damage ate whelps to get health back, and the Mauler moved up, forfeiting his attack. The Pyre charged the Gladiator in the back, hitting, but not doing much in the way of damage. The Impaler moved around and also attacked the Gladiator, taking out his Mind spiral, but not damaging him enough to kill. Grim couldn't walk away for fear of taking a freestrike that, even if transferred, could have possibly killed any of his beasts.
I activated, casting Carnage with Makeda again and camping the rest of my fury, then moving my paingivers up and getting one close enough to the Gladiator to cast Medicate. Gladiator healed his Mind spiral, then activated. I attacked Grim with a Headbutt and boosted the attack roll, succeeding and knocking him down. After buying two more attacks, Grim was out of fury to transfer with, and had lost about 2/3's of his health. The Savage activated, moved up to Grim, and killed him with his first attack. [end of game]
Thoughts: This list is fast! As a Menoth player, I'm not used to being able to get speed like this, and from what I've read this is a new experience for Skorne players as well! Definitely enjoyed the synergy of the models and felt I played extremely well.
Battle 2 - Sapphire Guard vs. Circle (played by PPS_Mod:Garvin!)
Grant was kind enough to oblige me with a game against his Circle, and it was a fantastic game. I won't give the play by play, as I did above, but the end of the game was truly epic. Grant brought Kromac, a Pureblood, a Gorax, and a min unit of Wolfriders. We also played on a board that included a bridge in the middle. By the end of turn 2, the Wolfriders had swept around the bridge to engage my Savage, and the Pureblood charged straight across the bridge to finish it off. My paingivers stripped the fury off of the Pureblood before it ate a charge from my Gladiator that killed it fairly quickly, leaving the Gladiator at the mouth of the bridge. (This is important)[pic from right about this point]
Kromac beasted out and charged the Gladiator with 4 fury, tearing into him and buying attacks, then feated, getting 7 more fury, and continuing. after all of this, the Gladiator still had 8 health! The wolfriders tried to move into a position to finish off the Titan, but my paingivers were blocking that with their reach weapons. Two of the wolfriders managed to do 7pts of damage to the Gladiator, and one ate a freestrike from a paingiver that did just enough damage to box it instantly (go whip dudes!) The Gorax couldn't move up far enough to attack the Titan, so he was sitting at the end of the bridge with 1hp and engaging Kromac, who only had 1 fury to transfer with!
I activated, attempted to Medicate the Titan, and rolled a 1! I could only heal one spiral, so I healed his Spirit, and the last remaining health had been in his Body, so he was currently rolling 1 die for attacks. Knowing I couldn't hit Kromac reliably, I attempted to two-handed throw the wolfrider next to me point-blank into Kromac's face! Boosted the attack roll and failed! The Titan bought an attack at that point and boosted, killing the wolfrider.
I now had only the Shaman and Makeda left to go, but the Gladiator was blocking the way! So, what would I do? Thinking like a Menoth player: attack my own guy! I declared that the Shaman was going to shoot the Gladiator in the back, I hit, and on rolling damage I rolled a 20! I only did 1pt of damage, which -didn't- kill the Gladiator because of the 1pt I had healed on him!
So, now it was Makeda's turn. She charged the Gladiator in the back, killing him easily, then attempted to use her sidestep to get to Kromac, but couldn't make it! So, I instead side-stepped her to a Paingiver, killed him, and side-stepped from there to Kromac! Bought extra attacks and... took Kromac to 2 health. Grant activated and killed Makeda. [end game]
Thoughts: Well, if I had rolled anything other than a 1-2 on my die roll for Medicate, I would have won. If I had charged my Gladiator with the Shaman instead of making a ranged attack, I probably would have killed it and Makeda would have had a direct charge path to Kromac, and I would have won. If Makeda had upkept Defender's Ward and cast Carnage before charging the Gladiator (I would have reaved 4 fury off of him when he died, putting me back to full fury) I would have been a +2 DEF, +2 ARM, and +2 on my attack rolls, and probably would have either killed Kromac, or survived the next turn and killed him on that turn. So, I had a few planning errors and some bad luck on dice rolls, but again the army played very well. Circle is superfast and I wasn't ready to have his stuff attacking me that fast, which was an error on my part.
Expanding To 25 Pts:
I've already ordered the models to do so, and my 25pt list will add the following:
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)
The full Swordsmen unit plus the UA is just insane. 11 models with 2 attacks that can auto-plink beasts/jacks, a mini-feat that gives them Anatomical Precision for a turn, granted side-step, and tactics ranked attacks. All for 8pts. Phenomenal. The Soulward will follow behind that unit, collecting souls and spitting them back out with boosted ghost shots and the ability to grant a model Eyeless Sight and Magical Weapon for a turn. The Swordsmen will also be great with Makeda's feat, which is currently fairly useless for the 15pt list, only keeping the Paingivers alive for a turn.
Very excited to continue this!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh - Week 2 Report
15 point list:
Grim Angus [pic 1 / pic 2 / pic 3]
* Irontooth the Dire Troll Mauler [pic 1 / pic 2]
* Jurt the Impaler [pic 1 / pic 2]
* Swampfire Troll (aka Pyre) [pic 1 / pic 2]
* Comfort Food (aka Whelps) [pic 1]
Painting & Modeling:
Wow these guys turned out great (compared to my usual standard)! I love the bases, a lot easier to do than I would have expected although still very time consuming.
Battle Report #1: 15pt vs Skorne (run by fellow Gamer’s Journaler GeminiX6)
[pic 1 / pic 2 / pic 3]
Skorne player brought Makeda, a Gladiator, Savage, Shaman, and Paingivers.
The long and the short of it was that Grim failed to hit a DEF12 Gladiator with a boosted Headhunter shot, which meant that my Rage’d Mauler couldn’t make the charge distance for the intended alpha strike. I tried to reposition the army to deal with the incoming Skorne charge, but the Gladiator had juuust enough of an angle to slam the Mauler across Grim’s base. This knocked out the Mauler’s spirit, so I couldn’t force him to shake off, so he was basically unable to help on the next turn, during which Grim had to try and deal with the Titan himself. Unwilling to risk a free strike to walk Grim out of melee, I tried dealing with the Gladiator with a Rage’d Pyre and a Rage’d Impaler, but had no luck. The Gladiator almost destroyed the entire army through transfers, then finally got Grim for the win.
Battle Report #2: 15pt vs Protectorate of Menoth
[pic 1 / pic 2 / pic 3]
PoM player had eFeora, Vanquisher, Redeemer, 2 Vassals, min Choir, and Wracks.
This game was frighteningly like the first. Grim failed to hit DEF10 Vanquisher out front (yes, he rolled two 1’s), so the Mauler was unable to hit it first. Pyre was the MVP, landing an AOE smack over the support pieces and killing two Vassals and a Choir boy. Vanquisher ended up in melee with Grim, Grim walked out (and transferred a terrifyingly strong free strike away) and KD’d him with the snare gun, and then I unleashed a Rage’d Mauler on it, wrecking the jack without even maxing out the Mauler’s Fury. Of course, moments later eFeora charged Grim and removed all but one Fury through transfers, and left 2 health on Grim. I didn’t realize that I couldn’t transfer Continuous Fire damage, hence holding the one last Fury, and then since Cont. Fire can’t expire in eFeora’s area, he had to basically roll a 5+ on the fire damage roll to kill Grim. Failed Tough, and that was game.
Moving from 15 to 25pts:
I’ve learned from these games that I have absolutely no idea how to play Grim! I’m going to try and hedge up some weaknesses in my 25pt list. I’m considering the following choices:
* Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (4): On turn one, I don’t have anything to do with Grim’s Fury other than Cross Country, so I can fill it up then. The ARM buff would have done wonders with my list, especially with all of the damage transfers I had to make. If I have the points, the Elder UA would go in, but I probably won’t max the unit out at 25pts.
* Fennblades (6): Reach tarpit unit, hard to kill, and can spread out to protect Grim from getting tied up.
* Champions (3): Bait the Line can get them charging 10” and Grim has lots of DEF debuffs to help their freight train attacks hit.
* Stone Scribe Chronicler: To buff either unit I end up taking.
* Swamp Gobbers: Thematic, and they can plop a big cloud down in front of Grim for LOS blocking. Since Grim can see through it too, there won’t be a lot of concern on my part for the order of operations with these guys.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Shattered Kriel - 95% done on the first list
Title says it all. I have the following left to do:
* Ink & drybrush the Pyre
* Drybrush the Whelps
* BASES! I have the water effect on-hand, but wasn't able to get to that today. I'll be drybrushing and water-effecting Fri or Sat, and then foliage-ing (See? I invented a word!) Sat or Sun for the completion.
* I'm going to mark front arcs, probably by painting the rear arc dirt colored to match the bases.
That said, pics speak louder (and attract more clicks) than words! [click pics for larger ones]
* Ink & drybrush the Pyre
* Drybrush the Whelps
* BASES! I have the water effect on-hand, but wasn't able to get to that today. I'll be drybrushing and water-effecting Fri or Sat, and then foliage-ing (See? I invented a word!) Sat or Sun for the completion.
* I'm going to mark front arcs, probably by painting the rear arc dirt colored to match the bases.
That said, pics speak louder (and attract more clicks) than words! [click pics for larger ones]
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Sapphire Guard - Paingivers
The Paingivers are done! Here's a pretty good idea of the color scheme and what I'm going for, hope you all like it! Tomorrow the Savage is going to get done. I've realized that whether I paint fast or slow, I still end up with a similar end product, and it's definitely good enough from a table distance, so I've come to terms with that and I'm happy with my skills. Feedback is welcome, and click the pictures for bigger versions!
The Shattered Kriel - Update
Quick update: Jurt the Impaler is done except for his base, and Grim requires just a couple of touch-ups plus the base. The Mauler is about half done - I'm prepping him for the ink wash that will cover the entire model top to bottom. Pyre and Whelps are still gray right now, but I'm not worried.
The Envirotex for the water bases arrived today (I can tell I'm spoiled by Amazon Prime - I was annoyed at a whole week wait!), so once I get the rest of these guys painted up I'll slap some swamp water down and should be good to go!
I'm looking at my 25pt list, and am on the fence about one unit: the Krielstone Bearer. Back in MkI, I know that Grim didn't get along with these guys because the 'stone couldn't keep up with Grim's army, but I also know that the 'stone can move 10" and still pulse these days. Think its worthwhile?
For the next 10, if I don't take the 'stone, it'll be:
* Fennblades (6)
* Fell Caller
* Either Alten Ashley for anti-beast (nice with only the one heavy) or the SSC (for making the Fenns better, but with a 'caller they don't necessarily need it).
If the 'stone comes, it'll start as a min unit and replace the Fell Caller for the time being.
The Envirotex for the water bases arrived today (I can tell I'm spoiled by Amazon Prime - I was annoyed at a whole week wait!), so once I get the rest of these guys painted up I'll slap some swamp water down and should be good to go!
I'm looking at my 25pt list, and am on the fence about one unit: the Krielstone Bearer. Back in MkI, I know that Grim didn't get along with these guys because the 'stone couldn't keep up with Grim's army, but I also know that the 'stone can move 10" and still pulse these days. Think its worthwhile?
For the next 10, if I don't take the 'stone, it'll be:
* Fennblades (6)
* Fell Caller
* Either Alten Ashley for anti-beast (nice with only the one heavy) or the SSC (for making the Fenns better, but with a 'caller they don't necessarily need it).
If the 'stone comes, it'll start as a min unit and replace the Fell Caller for the time being.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Shattered Kriel - Jurt the Impaler
Just a few shots of Jurt, Grim's trusty Impaler. I color corrected these, so the yellows and browns are close to spot-on. Jurt's base isn't done either - just base colors slapped down, and no water effects yet (which will go over the green areas) or plant life. There's also a sneak peak of Grim in the background there, he's coming together nicely.
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Sapphire Guard - Week One
Sadly, I don't have much new to report. I -did- finish the first paingiver completely today, but I didn't have a chance to take a picture, and I'm way too tired right now to do that. What I will do, though, is get a good picture on Wednesday, when I hope to finish up two more of them. With Mother's Day this past weekend and a number of other things, painting was just not the top priority.
I'm excited about the list, though. I hope to get it all done by Friday, and I think I can if I really focus each night on painting as much as I can. Now that I've dusted off my painting cobwebs, and now that I've got my color scheme down pretty good, I think I'll be able to fly through these models a little faster. And I'll definitely need to, since I'm going to be adding a whopping 13 models to the next tier of the list! If I can get into the "two models per night" mode I'll be totally fine, but I'll have to keep that up while also going to a bachelor party and a wedding in there somewhere. Fingers crossed!
I'm excited about the list, though. I hope to get it all done by Friday, and I think I can if I really focus each night on painting as much as I can. Now that I've dusted off my painting cobwebs, and now that I've got my color scheme down pretty good, I think I'll be able to fly through these models a little faster. And I'll definitely need to, since I'm going to be adding a whopping 13 models to the next tier of the list! If I can get into the "two models per night" mode I'll be totally fine, but I'll have to keep that up while also going to a bachelor party and a wedding in there somewhere. Fingers crossed!
The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh - Week One Status
With a resounding crack of a gunshot, the last human of the supply convoy fell to the ground, dead. Grim Angus scoured the roadway ahead through Headhunter’s scope for any movement, and then raised his rifle, satisfied. Out of the swampy terrain on either side of the roadway ran a handful of trollkin clad in brown and yellow, awkwardly carrying their poorly cared-for weaponry. The charging trollkin soldiers came up sharply when they saw that the battle was over before it had even begun, and began rifling through the wreckage of the human caravan. Grim stopped himself from reprimanding the untrained trollkin for their behavior, painfully aware that they were all freshly drafted into the fight.
Two weeks earlier Grim had made a stopover at Madrot Marsh, a fairly peaceful and insular kriel in the western Thornwood region not far from Grim’s home of Wythmoor. When he arrived he found that the entire kriel had been razed to the ground – they had had the poor fortune of being directly in the path of two warring human armies, and as the village center itself was some of the only solid terrain in the marsh, it had become the center of the fight.
Grim and his longtime companion, the Impaler Jurt, immediately began searching for survivors. Over the next few days they had located the remnants of the kriel, living as nomads throughout the marsh to avoid the forces still warring in the area. Offended by both the treatment from the humans and the Madrot Marsh kriel’s despondency, Grim took charge of the trollkin and began organizing them into a resistance force, a weapon with which to inflict some damage to the outsiders.
Taking the most skilled of the surviving trollkin, primarily hunters and trackers, Grim began leading lightning raids against the interlopers, striking equally against all outsiders, human or otherwise. Inadequately supplied and poorly trained, the warriors of the shattered kriel of Madrot Marsh have began to fight back, determined to exact some small amount of retribution for the callous atrocity that had been committed.
For the Gamer's Journal, I decided to take my completely unpainted and unplayed Trollbloods, whittle down the huge pile of lead into a viable army list, and paint them entirely. Taking models I like the look of the most, here's my 15pt list:
Grim Angus
* Dire Troll Mauler (aka Irontooth)
* Troll Impaler (aka Jurt)
* Pyre Troll (aka Swampfire)
Troll Whelps
At the end of Week One, I'm farther behind that I'd like. All the models are assembled, but they aren't even all primed (stupid greenstuffed Mauler!). I have one model, the Impaler known as Jurt (honored with a name only because in the few games I've every had with Trollbloods, he has a 100% Critical Smite success rate), almost done - he's at the inking/highlighting phase. Once he's done and my scheme is locked in, the others will go a lot faster I know (plus Grim is the only other model with clothing and equipment to slow me down).
Luckily, the previous week was so unproductive because it was my hectic week. This coming week, Tues through Fri, I have literally nothing going on after work, so I'm hoping for 4-6 good painting hours each night (By comparison, I've had maybe 6 hours to assemble, base, prime, and paint so far, resulting in one nearly-there Impaler!).
I hope to be able to take the Madrot Marsh boys out for a spin at the end of the week, probably against Gemini, painting schedule-allowing.
Final thoughts: I'm confident that I'll reach the "15pts painted" deadline of this weekend, but may need to revise my 25/35pt lists to lower the model counts and go heavier on beasts.
Two weeks earlier Grim had made a stopover at Madrot Marsh, a fairly peaceful and insular kriel in the western Thornwood region not far from Grim’s home of Wythmoor. When he arrived he found that the entire kriel had been razed to the ground – they had had the poor fortune of being directly in the path of two warring human armies, and as the village center itself was some of the only solid terrain in the marsh, it had become the center of the fight.
Grim and his longtime companion, the Impaler Jurt, immediately began searching for survivors. Over the next few days they had located the remnants of the kriel, living as nomads throughout the marsh to avoid the forces still warring in the area. Offended by both the treatment from the humans and the Madrot Marsh kriel’s despondency, Grim took charge of the trollkin and began organizing them into a resistance force, a weapon with which to inflict some damage to the outsiders.
Taking the most skilled of the surviving trollkin, primarily hunters and trackers, Grim began leading lightning raids against the interlopers, striking equally against all outsiders, human or otherwise. Inadequately supplied and poorly trained, the warriors of the shattered kriel of Madrot Marsh have began to fight back, determined to exact some small amount of retribution for the callous atrocity that had been committed.
==========================================
For the Gamer's Journal, I decided to take my completely unpainted and unplayed Trollbloods, whittle down the huge pile of lead into a viable army list, and paint them entirely. Taking models I like the look of the most, here's my 15pt list:
Grim Angus
* Dire Troll Mauler (aka Irontooth)
* Troll Impaler (aka Jurt)
* Pyre Troll (aka Swampfire)
Troll Whelps
Models at the start of the Gamer's Journal:
Models at the end of Week One of the Gamer's Journal:
At the end of Week One, I'm farther behind that I'd like. All the models are assembled, but they aren't even all primed (stupid greenstuffed Mauler!). I have one model, the Impaler known as Jurt (honored with a name only because in the few games I've every had with Trollbloods, he has a 100% Critical Smite success rate), almost done - he's at the inking/highlighting phase. Once he's done and my scheme is locked in, the others will go a lot faster I know (plus Grim is the only other model with clothing and equipment to slow me down).
Speaking of the Mauler and his greenstuffing:
Luckily, the previous week was so unproductive because it was my hectic week. This coming week, Tues through Fri, I have literally nothing going on after work, so I'm hoping for 4-6 good painting hours each night (By comparison, I've had maybe 6 hours to assemble, base, prime, and paint so far, resulting in one nearly-there Impaler!).
I hope to be able to take the Madrot Marsh boys out for a spin at the end of the week, probably against Gemini, painting schedule-allowing.
Final thoughts: I'm confident that I'll reach the "15pts painted" deadline of this weekend, but may need to revise my 25/35pt lists to lower the model counts and go heavier on beasts.
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