Tale of OG Gamers - High Elves

[Veldemere]

Happy birthday, I have been 29 for some time now and am starting to get used to it, although it still hurts.

I am so happy that I won the what's in the box, I will take any victory at the moment, for some reason hollow ones seem to feel even more fitting.

[StarDragonFTW]

Happy birthday Matt.

Only recently found this plog.

Great painting on the High Elves, cant wait to see your Lord in the coming monthes.

[cunningmatt]

Happy birthday and welcome to 29. As a spritely 31 year old I can say it's made feck all difference to me, over the last few years, except for the gradual creep of my weight that you've begun to experience.

Cheers mate, though I've got enough problems with my own weight without yours creeping all over me!

Happy birthday, I have been 29 for some time now and am starting to get used to it, although it still hurts.

I am so happy that I won the what's in the box, I will take any victory at the moment, for some reason hollow ones seem to feel even more fitting.

Cheers Ritchie, congratulations hope you were pleased with your box choice.

Happy birthday Matt.

Only recently found this plog.

Cheers mate, please turn to page 5 to download the form to claim back the time wasted reading the forum.

[Dave]

Cheers mate, though I've got enough problems with my own weight without yours creeping all over me!

Cheers Ritchie, congratulations hope you were pleased with your box choice.

I was sure I'd also put in a box, but oh well I'm happy with the option that came up so i won't demand a redraw.  I ended up cutting the end off all the gobbo spears after impaling my feet on more than one occassion.  I'm guessing you played on your bedroom floor, thus the feet injuries, obviously other richer people could afford a table on which to game thus putting the injuries at hand level only.

And my wonderful way with the english language lead to your conclusion about my weight creeping on you.  Safe to say I don't intend on giving any of it to you against your wishes, I'm a caring sharing guy but only for those that want it!

[fatolaf]

I was sure I had picked a box number as well, but a bit of match fixing never hurt anyone now did it...

(these media types all sticking together, I tell you)

So Happy belated Bday buddy, And I will give your HE a game next time, maybe using my TK if the black box comes next week...

[cunningmatt]

I was sure I'd also put in a box, but oh well I'm happy with the option that came up so i won't demand a redraw.

I was sure I had picked a box number as well, but a bit of match fixing never hurt anyone now did it...
(these media types all sticking together, I tell you)

The advantage of this all being posted on a blog is I can go back and check if you did, and you didn't!!  Cheryl maybe dead but she is still fair.

I'm guessing you played on your bedroom floor.

Snap! Both in terms of agreement and the noise of Goblin spears snapping off in your feet.

And my wonderful way with the english language lead to your conclusion about my weight creeping on you.  Safe to say I don't intend on giving any of it to you against your wishes, I'm a caring sharing guy but only for those that want it!

It's very kind of you to offer, but too much birthday cake has already crippled my waistline!

So Happy belated Bday buddy, And I will give your HE a game next time, maybe using my TK if the black box comes next week...

Cheers mate. Battle sounds like a plan, sadly work has stolen both Monday and Thursday this week - boo, but next week you're on.

[cunningmatt]

Thursday 14th April - WEEK 15

So the birthday cake has finally been consumed, I say finally, I may have shoved it in my gob faster than Katie Price at a Celebrity Blow Job Convention. I should at this point, point out that I don't if such conventions actually exist (though I suspect they might), and if they did I don't know if Ms Price would attend such event (though I suspect she might), but on the plus side she won't complain about this joke as I haven't mocked her disabled son. All of that irrelevance has done nothing except lower the tone to an acceptable starting place as we consider what's gone on in the last seven days of hobby.

Tomb Kings

Yep the Tomb Kings are next on the Games Workshop release schedule and the models are available to pre-order on this very site. Ok, so technically this happened eight days ago, but it was too late to make last week's print. Even if this is a blog which can be updated 24-7 rather than a magazine or newsletter.

The Tomb Kings, much like the Ogre Kingdoms, occupy an odd position in my internal opinion of the Warhammer World, you see both were created during my "dark" period, not the point where I decided to black up so I'd look cool with dreadlocks, but the point where I disappeared from the Warhammer "scene" (for want of a less wanky statement) before rejoining many years later. Incidentally I am considering coming out of my second "dark" period as regards LEGO – still love it, but I don't need to collect any more, or do I? Though the LEGO Farm would go well with the Police Helicopter I got for my birthday last week:



I wonder if I could use this as an alternative Dwarf Gyrocopter model? Hmmm.

Anyway the point was, I used to like Warhammer back in 4th/5th edition, and then there were no Ogre Kingdoms or Tomb Kings (though there were Chaos Dwarfs) and now when I like it again back in 7th/8th they've suddenly appeared. Which means they don't have that nostalgic place in my heart that many of the other races do. Although unlike Ogre Kingdoms, I do remember their Undead predecessors (and the launch of the Vampire Counts), so they aren't completely new. It's not a bad thing necessarily, but it's odd not having any nostalgia for an army, and at the same time not having the potential excitement of seeing them launch and be excited for a new army.

So these new releases and army book for the 8th edition, give me a chance to embrace these skeletal warriors anew, well embrace as much as is possible without being consider a necrophiliac – though given my success rate in the dating stakes, I could spend a whole life time in a graveyard and not come home with anyone to introduce to my parents. Sorry I'm digressing. Again.

Well there's the new army book and magic cards, still enjoying the new hardback army books, but I said most of that back when the Orcs & Goblins came out. The Magic Cards are intriguing, still not quite sure why they need to be limited edition? Other than the fact that Games Workshop still have piles of Beastmen Magic Cards they can't shift – but maybe that's their fault for making the Lore of the Wild about as useful as a Burka in France? I personally find it quite useful to get all these decks, just so I can have my opponent's spells to hand as I can never remember what they do, and tend to bore other players to death by constantly asking them.

That just leaves the models, and my first comment is there's not that many of them, don't get me wrong the kits look amazing and do make multiple models, but if you'd been waiting for the whole of the 7th edition and longer with not a single Tomb Kings model then three kits seems a little lousy. Particularly when you consider the number of Tomb Kings metal models that could do with replacement with simpler to build plastic sets. I've never tried to construct these models myself, but apparently the current Bone Giant, Tomb Scorpions and Carrion models are only marginally more simple to assemble than the cooling system at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. Perhaps, as on many recent occasions, a second wave is planned – in which case I may retract these comments, we shall see.

Anyway enough negativity, let's look at the models the Tomb Guard do look ace, particularly their shields. And fit nicely into what makes the Tomb Kings appealing for me, that is the rank upon rank of Skeletons and other bone clad constructions. I know some people find the prices for the new 10 model sets expensive, but have you compared the latest sprues with the newer sets? There's loads more parts and a lot more detail than on the older plastic sprues. After comparing my High Elf Archer sprues, one of the first multi-part plastic sets with the new Phoenix Guard, I have to conclude the Phoenix Guard probably represent better value, when you consider the final model you're getting.

Then we have the Necropolis Knights / Sepulchral Stalkers, I have no idea what these models really represent, and I doubt anyone who hasn't seen the rules really does. But they do look good; of all the various bone animals available to the Tomb Kings it does seem odd that the cobra hasn't been available before. Given the importance of snakes in Egyptian mythology and the desert theme, I think they are a welcome addition to the theme. Though I may disagree when they're ripping apart my Gor units on the battlefield.

Finally we have probably the most talked about of the new models, the Khemrian Warsphinx and Necrosphinx kit. Again the Sphinx is an obvious theme missing from the existing Tomb Kings army, so this fills the role nicely and provides that "wow" model. The models do look amazing, and good value that you can get either one with spare parts for £31 (less with Ol!), and potentially a spare Tomb King if you build the Necrosphinx. I don't know much about them on the tabletop, bar a few snippets I've heard which make them sound incredibly deadly, gulp! Hopefully there's a so far undiscovered weakness I can exploit, failing that I'll have to resort to nudging the table at just the right point causing such models to plunge onto the floor.

All in all a good set of models, which hopefully will be joined by some friends so Tomb Kings fans don't have to wait the best part of another decade for some fresh meat (which is a rather ironic phrase for the Tomb Kings!).

Talking of the Necrosphinx / Khemrian Warsphinx, big beasties seem to be the flavour of the latest edition of Warhammer. Although it's not just the Orcs & Goblins and the Tomb Kings, benefiting from these, I suppose you could argue the current wave all started with the Hellpit Abomination for the Skaven. Which until the new model came out I was convinced was some kind of actual pit (as it only seemed to be referred to as Hellpit), which I imagined behaved similarly bizarre fashion as the other stationary models like the Anvil of Doom and Cauldron of Blood, thusly I was a little bit disappointed when it turned out to be just a big monster!! Then of course there's the Beastmen, with their host of new beasties, none of which actually have models (apart from the Giant – which despite it's name is now dwarfed by many of the newer kits), that combined with the rareness of Beastmen on the tabletop means you probably have never faced one yourself.

But are we happy with these new superduper monsters making an appearance in seemingly every Warhammer army? In a word, yes. The imagery of Warhammer has always suggested that such large monsters and creatures have inhabited the world, and now the advent of the plastic kits have meant that Warhammer has finally caught up with it's futuristic cousin in the inclusion of large tabletop dominating models. Ok, so they existed to some extent before, but let's be honest everyone was afraid to touch the table as large metal dragons and the like were invariably as stable as Judy Finnigan's hands after a buy one get four free offer at Threshers. God forbid the model fell over, it would probably crumble to dust, these new plastic models practically bounce – even if you need a removal lorry to get them to your game given the size of some of them. So I don't have a problem with these large scale beasties, though let's make sure they don't overdominate the game. The odd super monster now and again will be fun, entire armies Necrosphinxes with only the minimum number of Skeletons required to full the Core section will be about as tiresome as So You Think You Can Dance, but without the fun of Cat Deely. I should point if you do field Cat Deely in your army against me, I will be deeply impressed.

High Elves

Talking of monsters, those of you paying attention will of course remember that last week I started painting up my High Elf Lord on Griffon, well I have a bit of a naughty confession to make, a naughty confession that I don't think anyone who has taken part in The Tale of OG Gamers has ever been in danger of incurring – and before you ask it doesn't involve Catholic priests and family size tubs of Nutella.

You see Paragraph 4, Subsection 13, Amendment g) of the Tale of OG Gamers rules (the rule under the one about not doing naughty things with the toilet brush in the Spread Eagle loos) states:

If you are painting a character/monster that is more than 200 points then this can be submitted part painted to cover the appropriate level over more than one month.

This weekend it was hot and sunny, and I was at my parents' house in the garden and may have accidentally painted the entire of my Lord on Griffon (this month and next month's entry). Ooops! Still I think I'm the first person to actually be ahead on their painting schedule (and I noticed after consulting the rules to find this quote that my army was supposed to be legal and battle-tested at 1,200 points not 1,400 points as I quoted last week- double oops!). Sorry about that naughtiness, I promise to flagellate myself appropriately - but not with the Spread Eagle toilet brush, I've read the rules.

Sadly at present I can't show you any pictures of said model (which if I do say so myself is looking, mightily impressive), because I didn't bring my camera home and so had to use my sister's camera and am waiting for her to e-mail me the snaps. Hopefully the anticipation will give you something to get moist over during the coming week. What?!?! I meant drool, clearly – dirty boys.

Beastmen

The good news about accidentally painting up April and May's High Elves means I have a bit of time to concentrate on my old friends the Beastmen, and looking at my army I have to say the rare section of looking rather sparse. Currently all I have is a Giant and two Chaos Spawn, which don't really fit the theme as they are heavily Tzeentchifed (probably not a word) spawn shared with my Warriors army, and bright pink and blue don't really fit the Beastmen palette (I really must get myself some more beastly Chaos Spawn painted up).

So time to add to my army with another big beastie, as we're in a big monster theme this week. I really quite fancied a Jabberslythe to add to my force, something that could fly and get into combat quickly (even though being Beastmen and controlled by myself it will almost certainly die instantly). However with no Jabberslythe model and not even a picture in Warhammer Armies: Beastmen I was going to have to do some conversion work, and with no reference, was going to have use the description from the Beastman Beastry (for no other army is the word Beastry so apt).

According to Warhammer Armies: Beastmen "Jabberslythes are amongst the most ancient and foul of all the creatures of the deep forest. They are truly repugnant to look upon, having such grotesque and twisted features that even the clearest pools of water will not offer up their reflection... ...the Jabberslythe encompasses all that is unwholesome and vile about nature and magnifies it a hundredfold... ...the most horrendous of all the Jabberslythe's weapons is its vile appearance. There is something so unearthly and unsettling about these beasts that even to set eyes upon one is to go immediately and permanently insane."

Hmmm... what springs to mind when I read that bit of inspirational text?



AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! I think sometimes you can take the background to these models too far. Suffice us to say this is a family game and I won't be making anything that looks like that. Instead I spied a model on Forgeworld that I thought would make an interesting and unique* conversion.

Unique if you didn't happen to read the "What's New Today" blog on Games Workshop around March last year. It was a long time to go therefore I can claim it as my own!

After raiding Fort Knox to pay for the Chaos Spawn model it arrived, and here's what it should look like.



I don't want my Jabberslythe to be on all fours, so I needed to raise the upper part of the body. Fortunately the Chaos Spawn comes in two parts, so it was a simple (possibly not the right word) job of gluing the parts at angle!! To do this I inserted seven pins into the belly join, all at angle and cut to an appropriate length to hold the upper part of the body. Scary as this seems on an expensive model, I reasoned unless I did something monumentally stupid, like actually drilling through its leg – the worst that could happen is the pinning went wrong and I'd just forget about and glue the model together as normal.



As a responsible adult I should point out that resin dust is potentially toxic so you should wear a face mask whilst drilling or cutting the stuff, I found this out on the Forgeworld packaging – not that it mentions this on the Warhammer Basing Kit packaging that contains resin bits, so if you've used it, you could die.

Also it's quite difficult lining up seven pins so you might need a bit of bending skills on the paperclips and a lot of patience!

Gluing these parts together gives you a Jabberslythe body with a big whole in the middle:





I filled the hole with green stuff, a surprisingly large amount given how usually you only need the tiniest bit. Initially I placed a large block in to fill the whole, that was slightly recessed from the model and then once that had set, I sculpted on an extra layer which was matched as best as possible to the flesh of the existing model:





Sadly I didn't take very many decent picture of this stage, particularly when finished, but you can see the formation of a belly button in the top part finished picture I'm very excited about this feature. More excited than about the filing of mould lines I had to do on this model, particularly as a mould line ran right through the model's crotch – no one should ever have to file down a Jabberslythe's nether regions, particularly not in the guise of a hobby. All I can say is it seems to be a lady Jabberslythe.

Once this was done I had to make a few other changes, critically a Jabberslythe can fly and so needs wings. These came courtesy of the Winged Nightmare Wings, which you can order from the Bitz section of the Games Workshop website, and were pinned into the sockets where the talons go – they fitted in quite well with only a small amount of green stuff to smooth out the join.



With the body now raised the front legs couldn't be glued in, as the front feet have a part moulded base on – not shown on the instructions, and so I didn't want my front arms to have completely flat palms. Also the background mentions giant claws for ripping apart prey. So instead I cut the forearms above the claw and cut the talons part way along pinning the two together:





With that done I pinned the Jabberslythe to a Monster Base. I should point out flat, smooth pieces of resin don't seem to glue well to plastic bases (I found this out on the Warhammer Basing Kit too), so I'd recommend attacking the smooth resin surface with a file to rough it up a bit (obviously with a face mask on) – these then seem to glue much more sturdily together. For those of you with a curious mind, you're actually increasing the surface area thus increasing the friction between the two objects and the surface over which the superglue can act, and they say my Double A* at GSCE Science was wasted.

On the base I added some rocks and moulded a small pool, I intended to finish with Water Effects (god help me), to represent the swampy ground that Jabberslythes live in:



So with all 13, yes thirteen, pins in place the model was finally assembled:





Certainly my most ambitious, and potentially-expensive-if-went-wrong conversion ever, and I'm reasonably impressed. It certainly seems to catch the mood of the creature, look suitably foreboding and has some half decent green stuffing on. I'll be sure to update you on the progress as it is painted.

Storm of Magic

Finally this week on the monster theme, which I think you should be impressed that I've managed to keep up all through this post, we have the upcoming release of Storm of Magic announced this week. Yes for people like me still struggling with the basic Warhammer rules, this supplement to the game packed for new rules will be a confusing addition about as welcome as being kicked in between the legs by a goat.

Apparently it features big spells, just the ticket for those beautifully painted hoard units you spent months painting, everyone just loves removing them in one fell swoop! And of course new monsters, apparently "With the new Expansion allowing you to use so many different creatures there are a whole host of new monstrous plastic kits on their way." - I mean imagine how annoyed you'd be if you bought a really expensive Forgeworld model and metal wings, spent hours cutting up and converting it, moulding green stuff on etc., only for a brand new much cheaper, much easier to build and much better looking model to come out a few months later. You'd be really bloody livid wouldn't you... I ruddy well imagine.

Still not only will there be the new supplementary rules pack, more scenery (probably should paint some existing scenery at some point) and new monsters, but there's a whole range of collectable themed items to go with it. With Warhammer you had the Empire Engineering Kit and Skull Dice and Storm of Magic is no different, in fact I have got a secret exclusive sneak peak of one of these items - Storm of Magic in a Teacup:



And for those of you wondering if I constructed this entire blog around this one lame ending joke? I did. Enjoy!

[maelzch]

The jabber-spawn looks suitably Lovecraftian, which is to say good!

[Dave]

Safe to say you can consider me impressed.  When I first saw the model you bought I thought "that'll look gash". Then the conversion pics proved me wrong.  The one thing I'd say is the hacky claw arms look a little bit skinnier than the normal arms I'd put a bit more greenstuff on the transition between the two.

Also intrigued to see this wonderful griffon.

[StarDragonFTW]

Great big beastie Matt, looking forward to seeing your high elf lord as well.