In the Hall of the Mountain King - Tournament Recap

Over the weekend I attended my first ever Warmachine tournament at a local game store called Imaginary Wars. I had a bit of apprehension going into the event just based on what I had heard from other people about how cut throat Warmachine tournaments can be and how if your list doesn't match up well with your opponent then it's basically an "Auto Lose". I decided to go into this event with a different mindset then I normally do. I had spent the months leading up to this practicing a whole bunch of super competitive lists, trying to minimize my weaknesses then at the last second I just said "fuck it" and submitted a list of something I just really wanted to play and see on the field knowing I would be lucky to win even just half my games. This is the list I used:

Protectorate Wracks Done

Only took a couple of days to do these guys.  The Protectorate Wracks.  Along with the Vassal, these guys really add to the "your faction is kinda evil" feeling, even if some of these guys are "volunteers".

Anyway I took the opportunity to try out painting rust.  Which happily isn't as hard as I thought, and looks half decent.  I also did 3 layers for the flesh and pants of each guy as a direct contrast to the shabby look of the wracks themselves.  2 layers of ink (Ogryn Flesh and Delvin Mud which apparently doesn't exist anymore. grrr) over a base of silver, and with all the edges spatter drybrushed with terracotta seemed to do the trick.  Still trying to master the "water streak lines of rust", but hopefully I'll have that down when I start painting the Mariner.  Far too much effort on them, since the 3 of them cost 1 point total, but they came out well enough.

As for not doing the bases yet, yeah I know.  I'm going to wait until all of my guys are done, and then I'll base them all in one go, and then dull coat everybody.  The bases intimidate me because I've never used static grass before and I really want to try it, but just have to work up the courage to do a test base, possibly with one of the jack wreck markers before moving on to all the other bases.

Retribution of Scyrah - Test Model

This is my second, super small Warmachine army, the Retribution of Scyrah. Basically I wanted something as different as humanly possible as my Trolls to play on Warmachine. I figured since my Trolls were all about close combat and buffing I would choose a faction that is all about ranged board control and movement shinanigans (ie moving the enemy around). So I settled on an army that is being led by Artificer Rahn who is basically a Warmachine Jedi using force punches, telekinesis as well as a magic buffing feat to crush his enemies.

The inspiration for the painting of this army is based on the Blood Elf aesthetic from World of Warcraft. So I am painting this faction with a primary colour of Red with dark brown and black leather. As with every army I painted I wanted to try out a new technique so I decided I would do a lot with Object Source Lighting (OSL from this point on) to show the magic power emanating from these guys. After finishing this model I am quite happy with it although I see a bunch of places that I can improve. The first is bumping up the high lighting on the Red specifically. I really want it to "pop", same with the blue. As for the OSL on this model this is actually my first try at it so overall I think it worked out well. I still have a bunch of work to get it down. The nice thing about this army is that in total its something like 17 models, so it shouldnt be too bad to finish. Anyways, here are the pics

Trollbloods - Battle Moses Complete!

Sadly, this models name isn't actually Battle Moses, its the Runebearer. Still, regardless of his name I will always call him Battle Moses. I think my favorite thing about him is his extreme look of contempt. It's like he is watching his fellow trolls in battle saying "Come the fuck on guys...geeze". He was a super fast fig to paint as he doesn't have the typical level of total nonsense detail that most Privateer Press stuff has, which was nice.

Trollbloods - Fell Caller Hero Complete!

So my promise on millions of solos begins! First up is one of the better Troll solos, the mighty Fell Caller Hero. Despite being mighty in game he kind of looks like a toad and his swords look down right stupid, like he is charging into battle with "Nerf" weapons. One thing you will notice is I started dividing my trolls bases in half. This is solely for game purposes as everything in Warmachine has a front facing (supposed to be a line that goes between the shoulders). While you dont HAVE to have something that is a hard marker for this it really helps if you do.

Next Up: Warmachine...probably followed by more Warmachine. Will be this way till January then BAM! Tyranids son!!!!

Protectorate Deliverers Done

These guys didn't take nearly as long as the Exemplar Errants.  They came out very nicely, and I even ordered another 2 blisters of them from http://www.thewarstore.com/ just so I could have a unit of 10 of them if I wanted eventually.  PrivateerPress seems to have gotten into the habit of removing blisters of 2 figures in favor of just giving you a boxed set with the maximum unit size.  I agree with this, but it means that I would be stuck with a min unit AND a max unit if I wanted a larger one (as happened with the Errants).  Anyway we're set to go.  Next up will be the Wracks, and possibly the Reckoner. Also have to start eventually on magnetizing the plastic Crusader box..   

In a moment of weakness I bought the Protectorate Colossus, The Judicator.  Awesome figure but it'll take quite a while to work up the courage to paint them. 

Trollbloods - Madrak Complete!

I finally finished my second caster, the mighty Madrak. Madrak is easily one of, if not my, favorite caster for the Trolls. Really like the model, love his rules too. I am kind of bummed that the pics didnt turn out as well as I hoped they would but I guess I can't expect too much since I was using my cellphone lol. Ah well, one of these days I will find my camera.

Next Up: Trollblood Solos! Like fucking MILLIONS of them!!

Trollbloods - Fennblades Complete!

This unit took the longest out of anything I have painted for this army. Almost killed me lol. I dont know why but it got to the point where every time I sat down to work on them I looked for something else to do (like play through the Last of Us...twice! lol). Eventually though I hunkered down and just got it done. Now that it is finally finished though I am super happy with how it turned out. It also feels good to see my Trolls starting to look like a real army, not just a whole slew of beasts with an old troll wizard leading them lol.

Next Up: Another Caster! Also, working hard over the next few weeks to get my army ready for a tournament near the end of October so it will mostly be solos and maybe another beast, good times!

Trollbloods - Dire Troll Bomber Complete!

I know what you are wondering when looking at this model "Is that guy armed with giant powder kegs of explosives that he throws at his enemies?!?!". The answer is yes, and that is why he is awesome lol. I am finding the more of these larger Warbeasts I am doing the better and faster I am getting which is really nice. This guy actually didnt take that long (2-3 hours) and I am really happy how he turned out.

Trollbloods - Krielstone Unit Complete!

Despite the lack of posting since I finished my Mountain King I have actually been really busy painting getting a lot finished. With the new baby coming at the end of next month we have been really busy getting the house organized for her arrival. Despite that I have still been averaging about 4-6 hours a week painting which is really nice. Now, onto the Krielstone!

This unit was deceptively time consuming to paint. Even though it was only 4 guys they had lots of cloth wraps and overlapping brown cloth so there was a lot of work in regards to nailing down the colour scheme I wanted to use. One thing I decided on for this army since it will be so infantry centric is to help differentiate between support units and assault units. So all my support units will have brown sashes/kilts (so Krielstone Bearers, Battle Moses, Doomshaper, etc.) while the assault units will have red sashes (Fennblades, Fell Caller Hero, Madrak, etc.). Right now its working out really well both from a looks standpoint and from a game standpoint.

Up Next: MORE TROLLS! lol, shocking I know. Seriously though I have tonnes of stuff painted for this army as I just crossed the 30 model threshold and coming up on 80pts fully painted.

Protectorate Errants Finally Done

I have finally finished my Protectorate Exemplar Errants...
These were perhaps my least favorite group of figures to assemble and paint.  Assembly was a pain in the butt, it was unclear the poses that would be good, I had to shave off parts of their armor to fit properly, and there is just SO MUCH baroque rubbish detail on them that painting was a chore.

I'm glad they do well in the Warmachine game, because I don't want to paint them again.  Unfortunately I may have to, as I have some plastic ones (that don't match sizewise) to make the unit up to its max of 10.

Looking forward to painting my Flameguard and Deliverer units for the very reason that I couldn't stand these guys.  In retrospect, they were OK.  The capes were cool, and some of the armor was nice, but good God so many little bits of junk on them..

Mountain King...Complete!

So, enough of this dicking around with WIP pics! Time to post some final shots of this monster.

In addition to completing this guy I also managed to get a game in with him against my friend Scott. I personally played it very poorly, making mistakes left right and center, especially with positioning and planning for the next turn. It was a miracle that I won the game (no seriously, the dice gods intervened...watching Scott roll snakes eyes 3 times and then 3 x 1's for a boosted attack in the last two turns when trying to make assassination attempts was painful). That being said the MK was AWESOME lol. He managed to kill 3 or 4 beasts and came one hit box away from killing his caster with his deadly roar, good times! Going to have to do a small re-shuffle to the list to make it more my play style, otherwise it was great!

Mountain King WIP...Head and Base

Just a quick update here with a WIP pic of his head and a shot of him fully assembled standing on his base (with his Axer friend photobombing him for good measure). I took more care with the head then the rest of the fig because the face is always a major focal point on any model. I followed the same steps as I normally do, just was a bit tighter on the high-lighting and shading. Also I decided to paint his eyes a glowing yellow instead of doing the standard white with a pupil.

He is finally really taking shape as the only things left to complete are painting his base and painting the 20 or so chains and 5 whelps that go on his body. Can't WAIT to get him finished so I can start using him in game lol!

Next Up: The finished Mountain King! MUHAHAHA!

Mountain King WIP...Torso Pt 2

Just a quick update. The stone work is pretty much done. I mostly dry brushed the darkest brown colours, then went back over with some dark brown wash into the recesses and then did up all the edge high lighting. I also did the initial work on the rusted metal for the chains and his collar.

I completed the upper body and attached it to the legs. Now just the head, building the base and then painting all the small details like the chains and extra whelps. Sadly due to how shitty Privateer Press' instructions are I think the hardest part is just going to figuring out where everything goes lol. Here are some super blurry pics of the model put together.

Next Up: More work on the Mountain King. He WILL be completed by the end of this weekend, even if it kills me.

Mountain King WIP...Torso Pt 1

So, now that the legs are finished its time to start on the majority of this model, and that is his upper body. There are 4 major pieces that are put together to make his upper body and that is the torso, his arms and the giant rock formation on his back. All 3 pieces (arms, rocks) took a significant amount of work to get into place including filing down joints and a huge amount of green stuff.

So, naturally a piece this large has to be broken down into a bunch of stages for painting. The primary stage is his skin as it will be about 5-6 levels of high lighting plus another level of shading. The first two layers were done by doing a heavy dry brush over a dark blue with the largest brush I had. Then after that I went through and did a bunch of purple washing in the recesses to add some depth and shading (pics below).

After this stage I started building up layers by painting on all the details by hand eventually adding Elf Flesh to get a warmer look to the final level of high lighting.

Next Up: The second half of the upper body of this guy. Then the head and base. After that its just details (little whelps and chains) then finished! Cant Wait!

Wraithknight WIP...

So, I actually started working on this guy before I started the Mountain King, but naturally got derailed with the big tubby bastard. I am going to bounce between the two though as I really like both kits.

The big focus on the Wraithknight is to update my Eldar's paint scheme to something that matches where I am today as I started this army around 10-12 years ago. All the paints I used to paint the army no longer exist and the original style of the army is 100% outdated. So the first main change is almost no more inks. My original scheme I inked everything with the old GW inks mixing them with future floor wax which was a way to knock the grey down to make it look more black and do ultra dark shading on the white. With the Wraithknight I am just going to start everything at a darker colour then highlight my way up then do a bit of "clean up" shading here and there to get the clean lines and proper contrast.

I have only been working on the left leg just to nail down the new painting style before I move onto the rest of the model. So far I am really happy with the results and I think it will look really good once it's clean up and finished. The white is working way better then I was inking it even though its not finished as it needs the last layer of pure white.  One thing you will notice is that there is no definition on "gems" on the feet. The reason for that is I am just speeding up that part of the painting process as I am just going to paint them black anyways so there is no point shading them. Another thing you will notice is that there is a slight departure from how I was doing the Wraithlord in regards to all the gems, i.e. I painted ALL of them lol. The reason for that is I have seen pics of completed Wraithknights where the painter in question has actually painted all possible gems on this model red and the overall effect is that he looks like he has chicken pox or something. So, with that in mind I am going to be way more selective on how I paint mine as I want them to give some visual interest being some of the only things that arent black or white.

Mountain King WIP #1

Well, you have probably all read how Calgary (where I live) had a massive flood last month which actually resulted in me being off work for 11 days. So, in that time I was able to get a bunch of work done on some different projects.

Naturally after picking up the Mountain King there is no way I was NOT going to work on him so everything else got pushed to the side. After spending roughly 5-6 hours building the chap it was time to start painting. I decided to keep him separated into pieces because he was just WAY too big to paint up in one shot without an Air Brush. So, I sectioned him off into his Legs, Torso (with arms), his head and then all the extra chains and whelps hanging off him that didnt need to be green stuffed into place.

I decided I was going to paint this guy from the ground up so I started on his legs. Like the other beasts with this army I started with a heavy dry brush of 50/50 mix of mid blue with dark blue and then did a dry brush of straight mid blue just to get the primary colour base. After that I did a shading pass adding in purple ink in all the recesses, especially around all the rock formations and in and around the joints. Once that was complete I started painting the high lights on working my way up with lighter layers ending with a 50/50 mix my lightest blue and elf flesh. Here is what his legs looked like after I finished all the blue.

After I completed the blue I painted everything that wasn't blue, black, just to really separate things and clean it up. After that its just a matter of hammering out the small details and bam! done!

Next Up: The MKs upper body!

Something Gargantuan Comes This Way...

After drooling over the Mountain King since his release I FINALLY managed to pick this guy up. This model is the #1 thing that got me into Warmachine. I have always loved his form, size, pretty much everything about him. It's also very interesting after picking up the Wraithknight to get a kit that is pretty much the same size and scale, but from another company and being able to see the contrast between the two models and the two companies different approaches the used to create their massive minis.

Janissa Stonetide...Complete!

Around the same time as I finished the Earthborn Dire Troll I also completed my first "solo" for my Trollbloods Army and that's Janissa Stonetide. I did some slightly different stuff with her. I decided to try shading her using complimentary colours (ie the opposite colour). So, for the Red Cape I used green to shade it. It feels a lot more vibrant this way then just using  black which is what I would normally do.

Next Up: A couple of big projects including an Eldar update!

Earthborn Dire Troll...Complete!

I have been painting up a storm the last week and have now finally managed to get to my computer to update some pics. The first thing I finished was the last beast for my Trollblood force, my Earthborn Dire Troll. This model weighs a metric tonne lol.

Next Up: More Trollblood updates as well as some updates on the Wraithknight progress.