Motivational Monday: Female Armour

Today we get our motivation from the Sisters of Battle, enjoy!

For more Motivational Monday goodness check out Ottawa Gamer's Motivational Mondays !

Remember, if you have made or found a cool gaming motivational poster, send it to jackal@lglogan.com and I will add it to one of the next Motivational Mondays!

-Meatball 

Project Update: Penitent Engines

I put the finishing touches on these bad boys last night while listening to the latest Minions of the Monster Master Podcast. The Penitent Engines are a pretty cool model and I like the fact that both drivers look different. They are pretty detailed and I got a chance to paint some fire again which will come in hand as I continue to paint my Protectorate of Menoth for Warmachine.

For this model I went with a black undercoat followed by dry-brush of boltgun metal followed by highlight with mithril silver. All of the metal was then washed with badab black to give it that used oily feel. The rest of the colors are bleached bone, mechanite red, skull white and red gore all washed with devlan mud.

The second model was paint with a black base coat with tin bitz dry-brush followed by mithril silver dry brush for some aging. I then used the same colors as the first model on the driver and banners followed by a thorough application of devlan mud wash.

These models were a blast to paint due to all the detail available on the model. With their completion I now have only my Exorcist left to paint before my Sister's of Battle are fully painted. I may pick up a few more models (Most likely a 2nd Exorcist) but I am inclined to wait until they get a new codex before buying anything else.

Well I am off to write another article as well as start painting some other minis. As always, thank you for checking out my blog and please feel free to leave me a comment.

- Meatball

Motivational Monday: Chaos

Today we turn to Chaos for our inspiration,

For more Motivational Monday goodness check out Ottawa Gamer's Motivational Mondays !

Remember, if you have made or found a cool gaming motivational poster, send it to jackal@lglogan.com and I will add it to one of the next Motivational Mondays!

-Meatball

DEEPSTRIKE Radio Flood Appeal

I just saw this tonight over at Dave Taylor Miniatures and felt it was worth mentioning. DEEPSTRIKE Radio is doing a charity drive to help the victims  of the 2011 Queensland Floods. I have posted the banner to show my support and I am hoping others may do the same.

They are looking for support in the form of donations of money or Space Marine box sets. These sets will be used to build a Space Marine army that will be auctioned off on ebay with proceeds being donated to the Queensland Flood Appeal

Please read the post at Dave Taylor Miniatures and at DEEPSTRIKE Radio for more information!

- Meatball

Trying a New Game: Malifaux

After watching the guys at my FLGS play a few games, I decided that I am going to give Wyrd Miniatures' Malifaux a try as a new game. The miniature range is very unique and I am intrigued by the use of a deck of cards as opposed to dice rolls. The game was relatively cheap for me to get into as the box set pictured above was given to me by a friend who wants me to play the game. Even if I had to buy it this set retails for $35 so by far one of the cheapest starter sets I have seen. Even better is Wyrd  Miniatures is going to be releasing the rules as a free PDF download, so I don't need to rush out and buy a rulebook until I know if I like the game. You don't even need to buy the Malifaux cards as you can use any regular deck of cards, but I already know I want the Malifaux cards because I thought the artwork on them was very cool.

Another reason I am excited is because I am going to use these models to tryout some new painting techniques I have wanted to try. I went with the Arcanists faction and chose Ramos and the Miners and Steelfitters Union as the starter box set. Ramos seems to use allot of metal automatons so I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to try my hand at Non-Metallic Metals (NMM). Also as you can see in the image to the right Ramos has a magical fireball in his hand so I felt this would be the perfect mini to practice Object Source Lighting (OSL) on. So I will be showing off my attempts at both NMM and OSL in future posts to the blog.

As far as Malifaux goes, I would love to hear from anyone who has played the game, I am looking for honest opinions to help me decide if this game is worth investing a little more money in. I have already picked up a Steampunk Arachnid Swarm blister to add to my group as 3 individual Steampunk Arachnids and am willing to buy more i this is a quality game, other wise these are just going to be some cool minis that I use to practice painting techniques on.

As always, thank you for stopping by the blog and please feel free to leave me a comment or two about Malifaux.

- Meatball

Motivational Monday: Net Lists

Today I present to you my first original Motivational Monday poster. I hope you enjoy it!

 

For more Motivational Monday goodness check out Ottawa Gamer's Motivational Mondays !

Remember, if you have made or found a cool gaming motivational poster, send it to jackal@lglogan.com and I will add it to one of the next Motivational Mondays!

-Meatball

Mik's Minis: Go Check it out!

When I first started my blog, Mik's Minis was one of the first blogs I added to my blog roll. Mik (aka Gyro) always has interesting posts and I thoroughly enjoy reading his blog.

Today Mik reached 750 posts on his blog and he added a nice little post about it. Through his post Mik mentioned the only way things could be better would be if he hit the 200 followers mark, well as of this post he sits at 197, just 3 shy of this goal.

So basically I am asking you all to go check out his blog and if you are not a follower please become one. Lets see if we can get Mik his last 3 followers.

Congratulations on 750 posts Mik and lets hope we can get you to 200 followers.

- Meatball

First Painted Mini of 2011: Cygnar Thunder Head

Well here it is, my first completed model of 2011 and it is not even mine LOL. This is a Cygnar Thunderhead Warjack from my buddy Mike's Cygnar commission work. This was easily the coolest Cygnar warjack I have painted yet. It was very detailed and had a pretty cool dynamic pose that reminded me of the Heisman trophy pose.

Wellnow that he is finished I am moving on to some of my own stuff, two Penitent Engines for my Sisters of Battle. After that I will most likely be updating the paint jobs on my Orcs & Goblins as well as Space Wolves. I still have a few more Cygnar models to get to but they are a little further down in the painting queue .

Well as always, thank you for stopping by my blog and please feel free to leave a comment.

- Meatball

First Purchase of 2011

 

Here it is my first hobby purchase of 2011. I got the Space Wolf  Pack mainly because I needed to build some Wolf Guard, but also because I wanted to add some of the bits from the sprues to various other models among my Space Wolf army.

I used the heads and knives to upgrade some scout models I had to Space Wolf Scouts. I added a few of the banners and icons to differentiate between some of my packs and finally I built up 12 Wolf Guard with varying weapon options.

Overall I completely love this kit and it was a great first purchase for the year. As always, thanks for reading the blog and please feel free to leave a comment.

- Meatball

Paint Job Update: Space Wolves

A few months back I got a surprise from my good friend Brandon, he gave me his Space Wolf army that I painted for him. I was excited to have Space Wolves again as they were my very first 40K army. I had sold mine years ago and then Brandon asked me to paint his. I was more than happy to do so and he played them many times in 4th Edition, but really didn't like them in 5th even with their new codex, so when he asked if I wanted a free Space Wolf army that I had painted I jumped at the opportunity!

Then as I read the new codex I realized the paint scheme I had no longer matched the codex. I know to some this would be no big deal but I like to make my armies match the codex colors. The one thing I don't like though is Space Wolf Grey so I will be keeping the Darker codex grey look and just updating the shoulder pad colors as well as some areas that just don;t look quite right to me. The models to the left are going to be my test models. They are two different Grey Hunters that I will be updating.

 

Above and below you can see my completed updates. The first thing I did was color over their right shoulder pad using Mechrite red with a black pack marking. I then touched up some of the codex gray that was not looking too good. The next step was adding some battle damage to the armour; I tried not to go over board with it but I think I could have done a little more. Lastly I went over some of the model with Badab Black, Devlan Mud and Gryphonne Sepia just to tone down some of the brighter colors of the model. Lastly I noticed that the varnish I used before was more of a matte and had kind of a shine to it. This time I used my flat spray varnish and I was much happier with the outcome.

Well that is how I plan on updating the rest of the Space Wolves. I apologize for the picture quality I am still learning how to use my new light box so I hope to keep improving with each new picture I take. Right now I think my biggest problem is I need one more light to come in from above, so I will have to pick one up.

As always thank you for checking out my blog and please feel free to leave a comment.

-Meatball

Tavern Talk - New Years Resolutions

Kuffy, over at the Trading Post has posted a new Tavern Talk topic for the new year. See his own words below!  

The new year is here, time for all those promises you make to the 'hobby gods', friends and family about your hobby.  It is time to admit them to the blogosphere, to share with us all the resolutions you have made for Fantasy in the new year.  What are your plans for the up coming year?  What goals do you hope to achieve for 2011?  

Well for Fantasy battle this year I really only have two plans that I hope to be able to keep up with.

First and foremost I need to update the paint job on my Orcs and Goblins. They were the first army I ever owned and then I traded them off for my first 40K army (Space Wolves). We long story short I managed to get my Orcs and Goblins back 10 years later, but now the age on their paint job is showing so I really want to get them up to stuff before the fall so i can take them to the Alamo GT.


So to get started with that I have stripped down Grimgor and his unit of black orcs. They are now primed and ready to be painted as my first step into updating this army. I don't plan on stripping all the models, as many of them can be fixed with with some simple washes and new flock on their bases. Either way I do have allot of work ahead of me, but stay tuned as I will be documenting it all on my blog starting with the new paint job and Grimgor and his Ladz.

My second big project for the year is to finish collecting the models I want for my Vampire counts and then start putting some pain on the minis. I have most of what I want I am just looking at adding more zombies, because you can never have too many zombies. In addition to the zombies I want to add a unit of Black Knights and some Spirit Hosts and finally a unit of Cairn Wraiths with a Tomb Banshee.

I have been busy making custom bases for minis and I am really happy with how they are turning out. So once I collect the rest of the minis I will finish my customizations and then hopefully get some paint on the models.


Those are two pretty big projects and if somehow I manage to get them both accomplished then I have my Beastmen as a third and final project for the year, but I know the chances of that are slim to none.


Well there you have it those are my plans for Fantasy Battles for 2011. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment or two, and be sure to check out the Trading Post, your hub for Fantasy Battles blogs!

-Meatball

Crusade of Alamodia IV: The Last Stand

This is a battle report from the recent Campaign my friend Jason and I played, for more details you can view the following posts right here on My Dice Hate Me!

Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: An Introduction
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 1 thru 3
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 4 thru 6






Battle Briefing:

This battle represents the final major battle in the conflict. This winner of this battle will secure the planet for themselves.

Playing the Battle:

- Mission Type: Annihilation
- Deployment: Victor of Battle 4 may choose
- 2500 pts per side, Spearhead FOC
- SpearHead formations are available

Special Rules:

The Victor will be the attacker in the battle 6.

The Victor may add 50 points to his army list for every VP above the loser for Battle 6

The final battle for Alamodia IV is here. Both armies are committing everything they have to decide the fate of the planet. Only one side can arise victorious!

Since I won the last battle I got to choose the deployment, so I went with the Pitched Battle.
Jason got first turn which I immediately stole the initiative from him and moved all of my forces as far forward as I could, Annihilation is an orky type of mission if you ask me and my boyz were ready to get into combat.

TUrn one was mostly uneventful until The Templars blew up my prized veteran Looted Vehicle, but that was ok with 2500 points to spend Grubak made sure to bring a second one to the battle!

Turn two saw a good round of shooting for Waaagh! Skulzbasha, The Tank Busta fired 5 rockets into the Predator on the west flank managing to stun it. Then the lucky shot of the game happened as my only Killa Khan with a rokkit launcha managed to glace the Land Raider Crusader immobilizing it, this set up a charge on the Land Raider by both the Deff Dread and Khans, in which I destroyed the Crusader and managed to kill one of the Assault Terminators cargo during the explosion.

The Templars had their revenge by Stunning one of my Trukks and immobilizing my Battlewagon; apparently Grubak was going to have to walk his way into combat! The rest of the turn was pretty uneventful.

 Turn 3 Started with Gruback bellowing a WAAAGH! ensuring as many of his Boyz as possible made it into combat. On the west flank the two Turkk mobs charged charged the Emperor's Champion and his Crusade Squad. In the Center of the field the Deff  Dread managed to kill a Terminator before being taken out by the units Thunder Hammers. The killa Khans also managed to take our one of the armoured behemoths, before one of their own fell as well. On the right flank a mob of boyz took a crusade squad down to two Templars, while another Crusade squad managed to kill off most of my Storm boyz who then failed their leadership test and were the slaughtered in a sweeping advance. Several of my Tank Hunters fell to the Crusade squad with the Plasma Cannon and gun

The Carnage continued in the 4th round as the Emperor's Champion and his squad were cutting down the two units of boyz, that charged them last turn. I charged in the Large unit of Shoota Boyz to back them up. In the center of the field a unit of boys attacked the dreadnought and the Nob managed to immobilize the ancient machine, but not before 3 of his boys were crushed to a pulpy green and red mess. Gruback and his ladz charged the Crusader unit that a group of boyz was struggling to eliminate. Over all at this point the battle seemed pretty even with both of us just on the brink of losing battle points in critical areas of the field. One great moment for the Orks came when the 2nd looted vehicle managed a direct hit on the Templar Squad with the Plasma and managed to wipe them out.

We knew round 5 was going to be the decisive round, the question was who was it going to be decisive for? Well the dice gods decided to smile on Waaagh! Skulzbasha from the get go. It started with my Grot Oil Rigger repairing the immobilized Battlewagon. Then another direct hit from the boomgun managed to stun the Predator thus eliminating it again from doing any damage this turn. Then my 3 units of boyz managed to wipeout the Emperors champion and his unit.. In the center of the field Gruback and his nobz charged the other predator and turned it into a wreck, then consolidated towards the Dreadnought that the unit of boyz and their nob were struggling with. The Battle wagon tank shocked a lone crusade unit who then failed their morale test and ran.

The Dice gods decided that there would be a turn 6 and I have to commend Jason as I looked over the battle field and saw the last remnants of his beleaguered army. But in true Templar fashion they fought on like the Champions of the Emperor that they are.

The battle wagon moved up to the Crusade squad it had tank shocked forcing it to run off the battlefield. The Chaplain in Terminator armor managed to finish off the Khans, but not before losing the rest of his unit. The boomgun fired at the one of the last Crusade squads, and even though the shot scattered it still hit the unit and caused some casualties trigger their righteous fury and forcing them to charge Grubak and his nobz. The battle was short lived for the Templars and the Ork warboass and his retinue chopped them to pieces. The 3 units of boyz who had previously killed the Emperor's champion charged the remain dilapidated crusade squads, one unit of Templars managed to make a unit of boyz flee but failed to catch them in a sweeping advance. The other squad was wiped out to a man by the other two units of boyz. The dice prevented a game 7 which probably would have led to me tabling Jason so I was grateful that the bloodbath came to an end with the Orrks of Waaagh! Skulzbasha claiming victory over Alamodia IV!

Like I said this battle was a complete blood bath which I learned several things from.

1. 2500 points take way too long to play, we never made it to 6th Battle of the campaign because this battle took most of a day!
2. Campaigns are a blast and really sparked my waning interest in 40K, I just need to find more people interested in playing for the story instead of practicing with their next tournament list.
3. My Warboss and his Nobz will never, ever leave home without a pain boy.
4. I don't care what the net pundits say, I love the Looted wagon and will field two whenever possible!

Jason and I had a blast running through this campaign and are already talking about having another the next time we can get together, maybe this time adding in a kill team mission and a game of Battle Fleet Gothic. Overall this campaign is the most fun I have had since 5th edition came out and I hope to continue playing this type of game at my local FLGS.

As always thanks for stopping by the blog and please feel free to leave a comment. I am including a slideshow of all the pic below I hope you enjoy it.

- Meatball

Motivational Monday: Dreadnoughts

Today we get inspiration from the mighty Dreadnought!

For more Motivational Monday goodness check out Ottawa Gamer's Motivational Mondays !

Remember, if you have made or found a cool gaming motivational poster, send it to jackal@lglogan.com and I will add it to one of the next Motivational Mondays!

-Meatball

Female Imperial Guard Conversion Kits

I saw this on The Beasts of War website. These are female conversion bits for Sci-fi miniatures. They are from a company called Laughing Monk Miniatures.

I may just have to reconsider doing guard again. I think they look pretty good and should do well to enhance the look of an Imperial Guard army.

Anyway, check them out and let me know what you think!

- Meatball

Crusade of Alamodia IV: Siege of Saint Antonius

This is a battle report from the recent Campaign my friend Jason and I played, for more details you can view the following posts right here on My Dice Hate Me!

Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: An Introduction
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 1 thru 3
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 4 thru 6

Battle Briefing:

This battle represents an all out city fight for control of Saint Antonius, the victor here will have a major advantage going into the final battles.

Playing the Battle:

- Mission Type: Firesweep (Cities of Death)
- Deployment: As per scenario
- 1750 pts per side, Standard FOC
- OMEGA size battlefield

Special Rules:

The Victor of this battle has gained a major strategic advantage and may choose  the deployment for Battle 5 


With the Hill Country secured, fighting has now moved into the city of Saint Antonius. Marshal Haas' victory was short lived as Waaagh! Skulzbasha quickly re-organized, the launched an attack on the city, where both sides now must fight for control of the city and its star-port.

Once the board was set up we both picked our Stratagems. Jason took Tank Traps, Combat Engineers and a Wrecker for his Dreadnought. I chose the sufficiently Orky stratagems of Sewer Rats, Booby Traps and Demolition which I placed on the Administratum building with round 3 as its target round to blow!

Marshal Haas deployed his forces in the northeast corner near a chemical factory, many of them taking cover in the canal system. Grubak Skulzbasha deployed his mounted forces  along with a few foot sloggers in the southwest  corner where he was immediately able to claim two buildings.  The rest of the army was going to be moving through the city's sewer system.


The Templars moved first sending crusade squads toward several buildings, but only claiming one. They also took a few potshots at my vehicles but caused no problems. Then my turn came and I realized that Jason had done an excellent job of blocking my vehicles into my deployment zone by creative placement of his Tank Traps! This did not deter Grubak as he just ordered the trukks to drive through the ruined buildings. 

The Templars then decided to make the push. While his smaller squads were running to claim buildings, his sent his heavy hitters straight through the center of the board at my line. This meant I was now staring down a unit of Assault Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields as well as a Dreadnought and the Emperor's Champion with a large Crusade squad.


The Templars then opened up their shooting and managed to wreck Gruback's trukk. 

The Orks turn started off really well as all of my reserves decided to find their way through the sewers on the first attempt. One unit of Boyz came up deep in the Templars deployment zone right near the chemical factory. The other came up on the North side of the board just outside the only building the Templars currently had claimed. THe final unit of Boyz came up in the Northwest corner to claim  and defend a building that a Templar Crusade squad was heading towards. The Boys in the other trukk who had claimed the Administratum Knew they didn't want to be in that building next turn so they charged the Sword Brethren squad just outside where they were efficiently butchered. The Sword Brethren squad then consolidated into the doomed building, not knowing the fate that lay ahead :)

My plan with the Sewers did exactly as I hoped it would, Jason immediately began pulling back his Crusade Squads to deal with my new Units. I truly believe this is where the game turned too the Orks favor. The Templars moved into assault range but were not able to destroy either mob of Boyz, which is exactly what I needed to happen.


The momentum continued for the Ork as Turn 3 started with explosive charges bringing the Administratum down on top of the Sword Brethren killing all but 3 of the veterans. Further shootinf from a large unit of Shoota boyz put their numbers down to 2. The good luck with shooting continued as my Tank Bustas launched 5 rockets into the Dreadnought turning the ancient warrior of the Emperor into nothing more than a crater in the road. This left the Terminators very alone in the middle of the battlefield, but that didn't last long as Grubak (this time donning Mega Armour) and his Nobz (with a painboy) assaulted the Terminators, along with the Deff Dread who just couldn't help himself.

The Templars were able to finish off the Orks near the Chemical Factory as well as the other Boyz in their deployment zone but not without sustaining some heavy casualties in the process and pulling The emperor's Champion and his unit from the center where the fighting was. The remaining Sword Brethren crawled through the rubble of the now ruined Administratum. Then Jason's dice began to abandon him at the worst time. 


In the battle with Grubak and the Dread, he starting failing 2+ armour saves. This only got worse as he then failed to cause any wounds with the remaining Thunder Hammers. His one saving grace was that his Chaplain was able to off two nobz with his attacks. The Templars could feel the tide of the battle shifting out of their favor but remained true to the Emporer and fought on, attempting to gain victory from and inevitable defeat!

On my turn Gruback was able to finish off the Terminators and their Chaplain. Now free to look for more carnage, The warboss moved towards the Emperor's Champion. For the first time in the game my Boom gun had line of sight and was able to launch a direct hit on the large Crusade squad led by the Emperor's champion, inflicting almost 50% casualties to one of only two complete squads left for the Templars.


The other was about to fall to the oldest trick in the book against a Templar Player. The was a full crusade squad that had been methodically moving from building to building along the northern edge of the board. It had finally come to the last building which I occupied with a mob of Boyz. I had managed to also get my Kans to slip away from the main battle heading on a cross street to intercept the squad. In my shooting pahse I blasted away with my bi shoots and rocket. I only killed one Templar but that is all it took to trigger their Righteous Zeal, forcing them to charge into the Killa Khans, a unit the had no hope of defeating.

The game was winding down now. My Kans finished off the crusade Squad. Furthing shooting from my Shoota Boyz and the Boom Gun reduced the Emperor's squad even further and forced them to charge Gruback, his Nobz and the Dread. By the end of the round the rest of the squad was dead including the Emperor's champion. The Orks were able to claim one of the Templars buildings and as if the Dice Gods felt pity for the Templars the game ended with a merciful roll of 2 and the end of the 5th round. Final Tally Orks = 6 buildings, Templars  = 1. 


Jason and I both had a blast during this City fight. He realized that my use of the sewers really threw off his plan, as he took units that were committed to other duties, back to deal with the new arrivals. Then the bad dice rolls for the Terminators didn't help and then my boom gun put the final nail in the coffin.


This was easily the most fun battle we have had thus far in the campaign. I contained moments of comedy, moments of drama, some spine tingling action and epic battles. This will be in my memory as one of my all time favorite games of 40K for years to come.


As always, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment and I will be posting a slide show below of all the pics from this Cities of Death game.

- Meatball

Meatball's 2011 To Do List!

I have seen a few of these popping up around the blogosphere and so I thought I would post my own for what I plan on doing hobby wise over the next year. I didn't come close to my goals for last year, so I am hoping to maybe set more realistic expectations this year. These are in no particular order, other than how they developed in my head.

1. Finish painting my Sisters of Battle ( Only got 3 models to paint)
2. Finish collecting Drop Pods and updating paint job for the Space Wolves
3. Finish painting my buddy Mike's Cygnar army
4. Update paint job on my Orc and Goblin army
5. Begin painting my 40K Orks
6. Begin painting my Imperial Fists
7. Re-surface my gaming table
8. Continue to build and collect more terrain (Fantasy and 40K)
9. Finish painting my Protectorate of Menoth
10. Get into a new P-n-P RPG, most likely one of the 40K ones

I am only making one hobby related New Years Resolution: I will not buy any new armies this year. I will focus my spending on models for armies I already own or Terrain.


Well that is it. Let me know what you think.

 - Meatall

Motivational Monday: Gelatinous Cube

Today for motivation we go to one of my favorite D&D monsters!

For more Motivational Monday goodness check out Ottawa Gamer's Motivational Mondays !

Remember, if you have made or found a cool gaming motivational poster, send it to jackal@lglogan.com and I will add it to one of the next Motivational Mondays!

-Meatball