Finished with the bases

 

Three coats of paint on the bases.

Dark Brown layer - The Army Painter Warpaints Oak Brown

Light Brown - The Army Painter Warpaints Monster Brown

Dry Brush - Master Series Paint Bones Desert Sand 09432

Now I get to change my progress bars to 40%!!

Finished base coat

Base coated with Valejo Black then a "zenith" of Game Air White and a couple of drops of the same black.  41 miniatures now need a little color!  (And I get to move their progress bars to 30%!)
 

Base Coats for Trenchers

Set up an overspray box for the airbrush.  It really needs some air flow but its big enough I can make it work.  

And the obligatory cleaning of the air brush.  More to come.

Assembly and Basing of Trenchers

 Messy desk picture!  I assembled all of the Trencher theme force box and a few others that will follow the same color scheme.  Tomorrow, I will be base coating these guys.  Pictured - 

Trencher Infantry x10

Trencher Infantry Grenadiers x3

Trencher Officer and Sniper x2

Trencher Commandos x10

Trencher Commandos Scatter Guns x3

Rangers x6

Cannon Crew x4

Trencher Master Gunner x1

Patrol Dog x1

Commander Anson Hitch x1

Trencher Theme Force

Dang end of year sales!!  I couldn't help myself.  The tiny soldiers needed a good home and they were 50% off.  No matter that I already have a full squad of Trencher Infantry.  No mater that I have been playing Trollbloods online.  At least it made me get out my mini's and start working on them again.

Inside the box and added to my collection:

10x Trencher Infantry

2x Officer and Sniper

3x Grenadier UAs

1x Trencher Master Gunner solo

1x Patrol Dog solo

1x Commander Anson Hitch solo

1x Trencher Cannon Unit (1 large and 2 small bases)

I also updated my sidebars with my progress and I hope to airbrush base coats this weekend.

Base, Prime, and Airbrush Ol' Rowdy

2 Days to go until I want to have Ol' Rowdy painted and ready for the tabletop.  I have this evening, tomorrow evening, and a couple of hours on Saturday.

Ol' Rowdy ready for priming.  I normally stick the mini on the base but I wanted a handle for airbrushing.  Then the handle needed extra support to stand up...

Here is the arm on a separate cork.

For the base, I did two pieces of cork, layered, then white glue along the edges and dipped in sand.

This is the primer I used.  It does a good job of a fine mist and the paint really sticks to it.  On a metal mini, it works great. I am not so sure about it on plastic minis as I had a horrible batch of Bones miniatures a while back and I don't remember which primer I used on them.

Base primed 

Both pieces primed 

Airbrushed P3 Thamar Black thinned with a 50/50 mix of distilled water and blue glass cleaner (Windex)

"Blue Tac" which in this case is white, used as a masking agent

I pushed the tac into the crevices  

Airbrush P3 cygnar blue base thinned with the 50/50 mix of water/glass cleaner

This is the cygnar blue highlight thinned and airbrushed on 

And without the tac 

Base blue and highlight blue airbrushed on.  I like the top of the oversized shoulder pad.  I need to look more into where to place the highlight on things like the forearm brace.

And without the tac

Currently = 45%

After Dry Brush, I will call it 50%

Crossroads of Courage League

Privateer Press Crossroads

My local game store is running Crossroads of Courage, the year long Warmachine/Hordes league that will guide the choices of a young man.  It begins Sept.1 and each week, players get to answer survey questions that will shape what he becomes in the future.  The model will be launched next year based on the outcome of the survey and the league play.

The main page is here.
The core rules are here.
The rules for Season 1 (September) are here.
The fiction for Season 1 is here.

I have chosen to play the side of the Reapers as opposed to the Sowers.  This seems a little against my personality.  However, in Season 1, you can either paint casters or 'jacks each week for points and I can't afford 4 new 'jacks.

Each can be achieved once each week - original here

I am excited about painting.  Even if it is just one extra point a week, it gives me some motivation.  So here is the plan:

• Week 0 - Week before league starts, I can assemble and paint Ol' Rowdy.  I already own him, but he is bare metal bits in a box.  However, if I can get him assembled, Stryker2 will be that much better.

• Week 1 - Paint and Play Stryker2.  I already own the model, he is put together, based, and primed, though I will have to reattach an arm.

• Week 1 - Order Nemo2 for $17.

• Week 2 - Paint and Play Haley2.  Again, I already own the model.  She is put together, based, and primed.

• Week 2 - Order Brisbane1 for $15.

• Week 3 - Paint and Play Nemo2.

• Week 4 - Paint and Play Brisbane1.

In preparation, I am starting to paint at least 15 minutes every weekday.  I want to build Ol' Rowdy this week and try to get him painted by Sept 3.  That will be pushing it for me on a warjack but we will see.

I want to focus on my queue on the right, starting with the ones closest to complete.  I think Eiryss has been in the queue for several years.  Well, she is getting painted this week!!

I was going to focus on my queue but that changed when I started trying to build lists for the various weeks.  I moved Stryker2 to Week 1 and Haley2 to Week 2.  I would love to get Thorn for Haley but that is an extra $30 and an extra 'jack to paint.  Probably won't/shouldn't happen.

Ladies Tournament

I got to play Warmachine this weekend.  My local game store hosted a Ladies Only Tournament.  I told the guys they could play if they wanted dress in drag but no one took me up on it!  We had 4 participate with one more lady ready if another person showed but she didn't want to force a bye.  We played round robin and this is how it turned out.

This was my 25 point Cygnar Darius list I used all day.  Darius like to run 'jacks and punch people in the face.  Left to right you see Ironclad, Ironclad, Hammersmith, Darius, Centurion.  There are 3 half jacks hiding behind the main line.

My first opponent played Hordes Circle.  Her warlock was Kromac, Champion of the Wurm seen here in the center with the green tokens.

We played primarily on my right hand side of the board and we drew the Throw Down scenario.  There was an identical control zone to my left not pictured.  I set up my Ironclad with Fortify, giving it an extra +2 ARM but also granting immunity to Knockdowns for any model base to base with it.  On the Hammer Smith, second from the left, I cast Refuge so that once it hit someone, it could make a full advance at the end of its activation.  I kept both of those on upkeep for the whole game.

Eventually, she ran her Knarlhorn Satyr, pictured in the upper left, over to the other control zone and gained a control point.  on my next turn a ran a half jack over to contest the zone and it was the only point scored for the game.  I couldn't get my big 'jacks to her quick enough to put the hurt on the warlock and she won by one control point.  Defeat by Scenario!

In my second game, I played against 'Gators with the Annihilation Scenario. I was able to use my Refuge spell to charge a solo, then full advance after the attack, straight into her warlock, Bloody Barnabas.  That gave my normal Speed 4 Hammersmith, Speed 11 (normal 4, + charge 3, + refuge full advance 4).  By the end of the run, Bloody Barnabas had 4 health left but I won based on points I had killed.  Win by Scenario!

This is a side shot of my final battle with Legion.  My Cygnar started from the left.  The large green circle in the center is the 12" control zone for the Mosh Pit Scenario.  If one person gets to 3 control points, they win, or win by assassination.  Her caster is Saeryn, Omen of Everblight, seen on the far right of the picture.  She was able to take out my Hammersmith before Darius could save him with his feat.  Assassination happened when the Ironclad at the bottom left of the screen was able to get around her (I think) Strider Deathstalker.  Win by Assassination!

My last opponent and I both finished 2-1 for a tie in the tournament but because I defeated her, they called it a win for me.  Woohoo!!!  Fun times and I felt like I ran my guys pretty well.  I also felt like my math was pretty good, figuring out to hit numbers relatively fast.

I was also able to pick up the Triumphant pieces for my heavy 'jack and the boardgames 7 Wonders Dual.

My First Tournament

I got to play at a realize tournament of Warmachine MKIII on July 3rd.  The people at West Texas Cards and Games were great and their new Press Ganger was there to help out with rule questions.  There were 8 players so no one had to sit out a round.  50 point lists with 1 hour games, 4 games total.  There were coins for Best Player, Best Painted, and Best Sport.

The list I took:

• Sloan - Shooty Warcaster
• Hunter - Advanced deployment assassin Light Warjack
• Hunter
• Defender - Long distance, heavy hitting Heavy Warjack
• Charger - Two shots per round, Light Warjack
• Charger
• Thunderhead - Electricity shooting, troop killing, melee Heavy Warjack

Every 'jack has a ranged attack and Sloan's once a game feat allows every 'jack in her battlegroup to make an additional ranged attack at +2 to hit.  I didn't know Sloan is a really popular choice right now for this reason.  I just felt like it would work.

My first game was against Circle (sorry, no pic). My opponent took:

• Wormwood, an ancient tree that teleports around the battle field
• Feral Warpwolf
• Pureblood Warpwolf
• Sentry Stone & Mannikins
• Shifting Stones
• Tharn Wolf Riders
• a minion unit of Croak Raiders (read fire tossing frogs).  

We were playing Moshpit (I'm pretty sure) and I didn't understand how the control points worked.  I thought they were tallied at the end of each round.  Instead, they are tallied at the end of each turn.  My opponent had first turn, I had a turn, then he took his second turn and they started counting control points.  Because my list was shooty, I had held back and was not in the 10" circle in the middle.  That was the only point scored in the game.  I killed 29 points of his army and was halfway through killing his Warlock.  I had lost a 9 point light jack when the hour was up and my Warcaster was untouched.  He won by scenario by the one point.  My opponent actually felt bad about winning as I had done more damage!


When writing this, I went back and checked the rules.  The rules actually say, "Starting on the second player's second turn, a player scores 1 control point if he controls the zone at the end of his turn."  So, we should not have started counting points until the end of my second turn.  Then again, I am not sure I would have moved into it and I am not going to hold it against a great tournament.

0/1

Second game, I played against Legion.  At first I thought they were Skorne but they were just painted red, instead of the traditional blue/cool tones.  I am pretty sure the Dragon Father would not approve!  His list included:

• Saeryn
• Neraph
• Ravagor
• Scythean
• Blighted Ogrun Warspears
• Shredders x2
• Beast Misstress (I think)

The scenario was Incoming.  Each round, artillery is randomly lobbed into the battle.  While it was fun to roll for, it had zero impact on the game.  

Unfortunately, my opponent held back a little too much and never really closed with my army.  Eventually, I was able to get a clear line of sight to his Warlock, chilling behind the Ravagor on the left flank and pick her off with my hunters.

1/2

Death to the Skorne!

 Round 3 was Cygnar vs. Khador, the classic matchup!  His army included:

• Supreme Kommandant Irusk
• Spriggan
• Behemoth
• Full line of Iron Fang Pikeman plus officer and standard bearer
• Iron Fang Kovnik
• Field Gun Crew

It was his first time running Khador and he took a little too long getting across the battlefield.  His war caster was behind a nearly impenetrable line of Iron Fang Pikeman with shield wall up and they were marching across the field on an assassination scenario.  Somehow, my 'jacks were able to shoot a hole through the pikeman line, just enough to be able to shoot Irusk from the front and with a Hunter from the side.

In the picture the below, Irusk is behind the wall, as we discussed where he could have been to stop the assassination.

2/3

Assassination of Khador

Round 4 was against a great opponent running Pigs, a minion army (again, no pic).  He told me several times that he had a Sloan Shooty list that he almost brought and I was pretty sure he knew how to get past my list.  His was a melee heavy list and really the only one to close with me all day.  I am not sure what was in his army as it was the first time playing against them and I didn't get a pic.  He was smart, ran straight at me, and took down my Thunderhead in one turn with a single pig.  Somehow, I was able to flank him and get an assassination with the Hunters.

3/4

So at my first tournament, I had a blast and I came in tied for second place out of 8 players.  The players were super nice about making sure I got the math right for hit and damage rolls.  Overall, I definitely have to do this again!

Video of Pinning a Warjack

With a tournament the next day, I decided to work on pinning my Cygnar Heavy 'Jack.  It is a plastic miniature but the glue didn't hold up to moving across state.  I also wanted to try making a video of the process.  Hope you enjoy it!

New minis and new paint

I broke down and bought new minis today. The first is the Cygnar Character Heavy 'jack Ol'Rowdy. He fills in several of Stryker's theme lists and is pretty cool all on his own. He can charge without paying focus and he can counter charge if someone gets too close. He is a all metal 'jack and I foresee pinning in my future. 

 

The next mini I got was the Trollbloods plastic kit that can build a Blitzer, Bomber, or Mauler. Or,with good magnets the Blitzer and Bomber! I already have one of the old metal Maulers and I thought the painting would suffer if I tried to magnetize the back piece. 

I also purchased 2starter kits of the P3 paints. Until now, I have mostly been using craft paints. They had lots of pigment and didn't cost an arm and a leg for an ounce. I also have used old citadel paint and was not a big fan. The only ones I really like we're the old citadel washes. Now... I may never paint with anything else! I know I am late to the party but these flow off the brush, cover well and naturally shade into the other colors. I'm a happy girl!

Painting Again

Finally painting again. I have had 3 casters sitting around base coated forever. Now they are starting to shape up. Left to right is eCaine, pHaley, and Kara Sloan. A new game store opened near my house and it seems like a nice place. 10 min drive as opposed to a 45 min drive is nice too!

Happyness

It makes us happy...

A Beautiful eHaley

I just wanted to created a link over to Hamster Cage Studio.  This is his work and I think it is gorgeous! I will be refrencing his paint job when I get around to painting my own Haley.  Click here for lots more angles.

Unwrapping the Cygnar Heavy 'Jack

I am a little behind the times but my budget just allowed me to get the Cygnar Heavy 'Jack.  I like the options of the different arms.  I have several Ironclads but I like the option of an extra Defender, along with the nifty new Cyclone.  Tilaurin on Lost Hemisphere gives a great how to and I will be referencing that post as I get this guy together!

Painting Notes for Cygnar Trenchers

These are the paints I used in painting my Cygnar Trencher unit.  I will eventually be painting a commando unit and I will want a similar effect.  Feel free to read along.  FA stands for Folk Art paints.

• Base coat black
• Overbrush base with FA Burnt Umber
• Drybrush model with FA Burnt Umber.  Avoid the chain mail and the gun barrel as possible
• Drybrush base and model with FA Honeycomb
• Drybrush base with FA Teddy Bear as needed.
• Block in the gun barrel and chain mail (and grenades if present) with black
• Drybrush the gun barrel with a 2:1 mix of FA Metallic Gunmetal Grey and FA Metallic Sequin Black
• Use the same mix of FA Metallic Gunmetal Grey and FA Metallic Sequin Black to paint the bracers, gun stock band, and details.
• Drybrush the chain mail with FA Metallic Gunmetal Grey
• Paint the shovel and the smoke grenades with FA Medium gray.  I am not entirely happy with this step, so feel free to find another level of shading on them.
• Block in the blue areas with FA Prussian Blue
• Dampen the shoulder pad with a wet brush, then highlight and blend with a mix of FA Cobalt Blue and FA Extender.
• Rank insignias were touched with a mix of FA Metallic Antique Gold and FA Metallic Sequin Black.
• Grenades were touched with FA Black Cherry, then tipped with FA Napthol Crimson
• Studs were tipped with FA Metallic Silver Sterling.
• The base was cleaned up with black around the ring.

I hate painting faces but I found a great tutorial for it.  Privateer Press' Escalation book uses the old MKI rules but the face painting tutorial makes it worth picking up.  Check out pages 120-121 whenever the need arises.  I also found that most Trenchers have no faces!  Woot!!!  They are covered up by a piece of cloth.  I only had to paint to faces of two officers and the Escalation guide was great.  It called for several basic colors like flesh, brown, and brown ink.  I used Delta Ceramcoat Dresden Flesh, FA Real Brown, and GW Citadel Brown Ink respectively.  When it called for red and brown mixed, I just used FA Black Cherry.

Spouses and Warmachine

I finally got my wife to play Warmachine with me... and she won!

Caine, taking it laying down!

The lay of the land.

Her group was based on the battle box and consisted of:

• Stryker
• Rienholdt
• Ironclad
• Charger
• Lancer
• 3 Stormsmith Storm Callers

Mine was 15 points of:

• pCaine
• Defender
• Charger
• 6 Long Gunners
• Gun Mage Cpt. Adept

I made the mistake of trying Caine's feat run while Stryker's +5 armor feat was in effect.  Note to self: when Stryker pops his feat, hunker down, get in position, and camp focus.  Stryker was able to break free from melee, throw Earthquake, and then shoot Caine while his face was in the dirt.  She needed 10 dmg for the kill and she got 11.

Next time we play, I will take out the storm callers.  She did not like how squishy they were and I killed them after they started disrupting my jacks.  I will probably give her a basic melee unit, like sword knights, next time.  Or I may just give her the Long Gunners, so we can continue to build on the current knowledge base.  Anyway, I had a blast and with the ice cream Sunday for incentive, she didn't mind kicking my ass.  Till next time =)

Spouses and Warmachine

I finally got my wife to play Warmachine with me... and she won!

Caine, taking it laying down!

The lay of the land.

Her group was based on the battle box and consisted of:

• Stryker
• Rienholdt
• Ironclad
• Charger
• Lancer
• 3 Stormsmith Storm Callers

Mine was 15 points of:

• pCaine
• Defender
• Charger
• 6 Long Gunners
• Gun Mage Cpt. Adept

I made the mistake of trying Caine's feat run while Stryker's +5 armor feat was in effect.  Note to self: when Stryker pops his feat, hunker down, get in position, and camp focus.  Stryker was able to break free from melee, throw Earthquake, and then shoot Caine while his face was in the dirt.  She needed 10 dmg for the kill and she got 11.

Next time we play, I will take out the storm callers.  She did not like how squishy they were and I killed them after they started disrupting my jacks.  I will probably give her a basic melee unit, like sword knights, next time.  Or I may just give her the Long Gunners, so we can continue to build on the current knowledge base.  Anyway, I had a blast and with the ice cream Sunday for incentive, she didn't mind kicking my ass.  Till next time =)

Sick Time = Painting Time

I stayed home from work today with a head cold.  I have been able to paint some and this is what I got done.  These three bodgers will round out my Field Mechaniks unit.  I love these little models.  They are some of my favorites in the Cygnar line.  The only complaint is that there are only two poses. Oh well.

The Cygnar Army as it Stands

The blue stuff is done. The grey stuff is assembled and primed. The clear stuff has a long way to go.  For those new to WarmaHordes, US is the unit strength or the number of minis in a unit.  FA is the number of those units you can have on the field.  US 6-10, FA 2 would mean you could have a maximum of 20 of those models on the field in a single warcaster army.