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!

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!

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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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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]

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 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.

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!

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

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.

The Sapphire Guard

So, what do you think of the army name, huh? Pretty sweet, amirite? I know, I know, I'm some sort of genius, it's crazy.Anyways, let's get right to the nitty gritty. No work on the table today (yet again *sigh*) but that's not the priority. Table honestly won't take long once the cross braces are in. No, the priority is definitely my models, because I paint super slow and poorly in general. I enjoyed today's painting, though. It started out boring because I was doing my usual "paint all of one color on every model then move on" technique, and finally I said "FUCK THIS!" because I wasn't going to have anything to show you guys tonight. Before we get to color, though, let's look at the primed and based models! I base my models with regular Elmer'sglue and then dip them into some ballast, the kind of stuff that is sold at hobby stores for trainsets to simulate the gravel under and around the train tracks. Works great as sand!
And here's some of the greenstuff work I did to help hold the banners on the back of my beasts.

First, the Cyclops Savage. This was easy, just two bits of greenstuff over the top of the banner at the points where it was glued to the back of the cyclops, then I sculpted it a little bit to square it off. This will get painted metallic so it looks like it's part of his armor for holding the banner on. (Click for big and slightly easier to see.)
And here's the back of the Gladiator. This was a little harder. I drilled into the bottom of that banner and also into the hole it normally goes into, pinned it, glued it, then used greenstuff to create a similarly shaped holder as the Savage had. Unfortunately, due to the banner only touching the Gladiator at this one point, I couldn't reinforce it any more. I'll just have to be super super careful with this guy. (Again, click for big.)

And finally, colors! Here's one of my paingivers that I finally decided to start slapping the full color scheme onto. This is only the base colors, and they're not all on yet (his pants won't be staying that awful bleached bone, it was an idea I had that I immediately didn't like) and there's no shading or highlights or... well, you get the idea. It's the rough draft!
Hope everyone liked it, and I'd love to hear what you think of the colors! Until next time, same Gemini time, same Gemini channel... man that sounds way better for Batman.

Banners? BANNERS!?!

Seriously, who thought putting banners on everything in Skorne was a good idea?!? I mean, I know I could leave them off, but I don't wanna. That would just be a cop out. I attached them to my Savage and Gladiator, and greenstuffed little "holders" for them to reinforce the joins. I think they look pretty good, I'll take some pics tomorrow. I also primed everything that I didn't greenstuff today (Makeda, Shaman, Paingiver Beast Handlers) so they're ready to start painting immediately tomorrow. I'm letting the greenstuff cure for 24 hours before I prime the Gladiator and Savage. With the bit of spare time I had, I also assembled some of the pieces for my 25 point list (I'm not telling you what they arrrrrrrre!) so that I don't have to worry about that when I roll around to that time frame.

So, from the current votes, one scheme is winning by such a landslide that I'm going to call a mercy rule on this one...

MY SKORNE WILL BE PAINTED SAPPHIRE!!!

Thank you all for your input! Truthfully, that's the color scheme -I- liked the most too! So, I'll really enjoy painting these guys up now! I would have been happy with any of the other color schemes as well, but this was my first thought. I'm planning on going for a bit of a "cell shaded" look for it, i.e. not trying to create seamless blends. I think it'll look good with the intensity of the colors I'm looking to do.

No work on the table today, sadly! I got caught at work doing... dumb things. I'll just leave it at that. Hopefully there will be great strides made tomorrow! I'd like to do a post about the planning I went through and scan some of my iterations of designs (yes, I really went through iterations, this thing was going to be intense) and show you what I finally landed on. The final design is actually incredibly simple and almost anyone can do it as long as you have the desire! It can definitely be made without doing any of the angled cuts (but where's the fun in that?!?).

That's all for today, pics tomorrow of what I did today and what it eventually looks like when it's all said and done.

The Shattered Kriel is now less shattered

Just a quick update tonight: I "sculpted" the bases, if you want to call it that, with some extra putty. Basically, I made hills and valleys so that when I add water effects it will pool in certain places. Once the putty cures, I have to add sand and paint, then water effect. I prepped all the models' pinning so they slot right into their new sculpted bases. I also primed the entire 15pt list.

Started painting the Impaler, and I'm worried that the color scheme won't look as good implemented as it did in my head. I think I purchased the wrong colors of brown for the plan - I have dark red browns and light yellow browns, but no middle ground so they just look odd next to each other. I'm hoping once I add the non-brown colors they'll even out. Else, I'll be swinging by the FLGS to pick up another shade or two. That, or rethink the whole scheme...

The Shattered Kriel - Initial shots and some greenstuff work

Quick update with some better pics. First, the 15pt army plus the Fennblades that I intend to add later. My 15pt list might actually change based on my painting speed - if I get Grim, Impaler, and Mauler done fast, I'll start on the min unit of Fennblades before the Pyre & Whelps - I'd rather have the Fennblades in there at 15pts, but am worried about meeting the deadline!



Dire Troll Mauler. I added the beginnings of vines to him, with a couple of leaves to make it more obvious. This is my first time working with greenstuff, so I know they aren't perfect. When this cures, I intend to add some smaller tendrils spreading out from the main stuff. Why vines, you ask? Swampy!



EDIT: Also, my awesome girlfriend helped me by assembling the Fennblades seen here. She's resisting the hobby, but played last weekend (Trolls vs Skorne, oddly enough) and enjoyed it. Now to trick convince her to buy into the game!

The Shattered Kriel - Initial List & Group Photo

As previously posted, here is the 15pt Trollblood list I'm starting with:

Grim Angus (-6 pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9 pts)
* Troll Impaler (5 pts)
* Pyre Troll (5 pts)
Troll Whelps (2 pts)

Grim is a decent 'beast 'lock, able to handle 6 Fur (which for Trollbloods really isn't bad) and enhance his beasts is great ways. Bait the Line and his entire spell list revolve around either locking the enemy in place, or getting your army there first, so I felt that a Rage'd Mauler makes a great special delivery. The Impaler and Grim are BFFs, of course. The Pyre will double duty as either melee (with his or the Mauler's animus), or ranged (with Far Strike) as my opponent dictates. The Whelps are there to handle the amazing 11 Fury this list can generate per turn - while not foolproof, they should allow me some minimal leeway.

Here's is the group shot as they stand (or lay):

By the way, Gemini apparently has a great macro photography setup. I expect to steal his camera and lighting for future pictures.

Chipping away...

So, time to start this thing! For starters, here's the army list I've decided to go with:

Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Cyclops Savage (5pts)
* Cyclops Shaman (5pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)

The first step was to get the models together. I received all of these in a recent purchase from a friend of mine who decided he wasn't going to start playing this game after all, and -he- had gotten them from a previous person for the same reason. The first owner apparently enjoyed using an entire bottle of Zap-A-Gap per joint, however. These models were literally caked in glue! A few hours of chipping away at them with a combination of a pin vice, exacto knife, file, and eventually a straight up ice pick did the job! I had to rip the Gladiator's head off and pick out a bunch of glue before reapplying it, and did the same thing with one of Makeda's arms. I pinned a few things, and kept the banners off for now. I think I'll be attaching them with a combination of greenstuff and glue. At the top you can see the current state of Makeda and her retinue.

I'm excited about the way this list is going to play. I did a small amount of testing the other day with some of the beasts in the list and I really enjoyed the way they played. The Gladiator hits like a Mac Truck, and Rush is a fantastic animus. My Shaman is able to also cast that while sitting in the back, using his ghost shot ranged attack, increasing range of Muzzle for Makeda, and being a useful beast to transfer damage to. The Savage I have yet to use, but I think he'll work well in conjunction with the Gladiator. He's fast, also hits hard, and Rush will be a nice animus on him as well. I'm going to run him and the Gladiator up front, Makeda/Shaman/Paingivers as a nice second wave, just behind. The Paingivers will let me run my beasts a bit on the hot side, and if one beast dies they become a great harassing unit against my opponents by stripping fury off of enemy beasts to deny to their warlocks.

Overall, looking forward to more work on this later in the week! Tomorrow night I have no time to do any more on the project, so Wednesday will be the next increment and update. Remember, please vote below on the color scheme for my army! It's looking like I won't start the actual painting until Thursday now, so I may leave voting open until then.

The Table Begins To Take Shape... Literally!

This is the underside frame. And GeminiX6's feet.

Any excuse to buy a miter saw is a good excuse.

The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh

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.

=======================

Grim Angus
* Dire Troll Mauler
* Troll Impaler
* Pyre Troll
Troll Whelps

The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh consists of mostly light and fast troops, with little heavy armor and no access to gunpowder or other advanced weaponry aside from what Grim himself brought. They excel at lightning-fast guerilla actions, striking out from their ruined kriel at any outsiders that come within the marsh. So, no heavy armor (Champions, Bouncer), gunpowder (Thumper, Blitzer, Scattergunners, Pygs), or anything that would be at odds in a marsh (Long Riders, I’m looking at you!). Kriel Warriors might make more sense for a “poorly trained, poorly equipped” infantry unit, but I already own Fennblades and love the models so that’s final. Likewise with an Earthborn over the Mauler, but with Grim being able to Pathfinder the Mauler, and the fact that I already own one and no Earthborn…

I intend to expand with more Fennblades, a Krielstone unit, and probably a Pyre Troll. Flavor as needed with solos and probably a unit of Whelps when I get to three beasts. Aside from that I will see how my play experience goes.

Theme-wise, I’m going with the swamp idea I’d mentioned before (Madrot MARSH, right?). My Trollbloods will have light grey skin, and will wear a few different shades of brown for both leather and cloth. Their armor will be rusted iron (anyone have a good tutorial for that?). The quatari on the infantry will be bright yellow, with probably dark green and white plaid stripes. My beasts will have yellow eyes and “shoulder rocks” to match. I also want to model vines and such growing over the Mauler, not quite a full-on Swamp Thing but more like a harness or veins. I want to convert the Impaler too, but have no ideas yet.

Left to right: grey skin, browns for leather and cloth, quatari pattern, steel for weapons.

Ideas? Feedback?