Procrastination by Numbers

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Update 87 – The Next Generation  Monday 22nd October 2012



Coming up on this week's Procrastination by Numbers:

• 87.1 – Brand New Look
• 87.2 – Meet the Team
• 87.3 – Tale of Gamers: Ultramarines – Month 1, Day 1
• 87.4 – The Further Adventures of Rashnrak the Beastlord: Part 4
• 87.5 – Cygor Painting Guide
• 87.6 – Competition Update
• 87.7 – Get In Touch

87.1 – Brand New Look

Hello and welcome to this the first update of the brand new Procrastination by Numbers, yes look we've had a snazzy looking revamp – I hope you like. We've even got a brand new logo, which as you can see features a mixture of gaming bits and pieces along with a whole host of random non-gaming things. Which I think you'll find accurately represents the proportions of nonsense featured in this blog, and in my mind at the time of writing.

If you are wondering why we've got this brand new look? Well having a revamp worked quite well for the White Dwarf – which is now excellent. Plus with a brand new Tale of Gamers kicking off, I suspect a number of people are jumping on the gaming band wagon in order to propel themselves to blogging super stardom. So this revamp is just to make sure old Procrastination by Numbers doesn't lose its edge. And of course with myself taking part in the tale and last week's completion of the High Elves now seems like as good time as any for a new(ish) look.

Of course you can expect all the usual level of nonsense, procrastination, poor spelling and the odd bit of painting, plus some of our old favourite updates will be making an appearance. So without further ado, let's get on with it.

87.2 – Meet the Team

Now it's not just me who puts together this blog, oh no, many of multiple personalities are deployed in the creation of this blog. So it's time to meet them and see what they've been up to this week.

Matty the Painter



Matty the Painter is the main writer on Procrastination by Numbers, and his brain represents the place where the other writers live. He is a prolific Shakeaway drinker, and he can be followed on Twitter at @ProByNumbers – go on he might follow you back.

This week Matty has been mainly deciding whether Teal or Lime Green would make the best colour scheme for the new blog. Currently he's thinking Teal, he also been putting off spending his time doing anything worthwhile.

The Resident Six-Year Old Artist



For all those things that can't be photographed, the resident six-year old artist has joined (read "imprisoned by") the team. Bribed with Smarties and the promise of seeing daylight again, she draws all the pictures this blog needs. Her recent work includes the iOS6 maps.

This week the resident six-year old artist has mainly been hoping that whoever wins the High Elf army competition doesn't want a Lord of the Rings army drawn, as she's too young to have seen the films.

Mr Shakey Shakey



Mr Shakey Shakey is Matty the Painter's Wood Elf painting friend. He's been painting a Wood Elf army for about 24 years now. His name is nothing to do with the popular milkshake, but instead refers to his inability to hold a paintbrush steadily in his hands.

This week Mr Shakey Shakey has been celebrating coming 51st in this series of The Great British Bake-Off.

Sandra the Tactical Plant



Sandra the Plant is a brand new member of the Procrastination by Numbers team, not only is she's the independent adjudicator for all Procrastination by Numbers competitions. But she is a Warhammer tactical genius and can often be found revising the rules and coming up with the filthiest armies known to man.

This week in addition to getting thrown out of first class compartment on a train for travelling on a standard class ticket, Sandra has been finalising the plans for her Ogre army consisting of Ogre Bull Deathstar and four Ironblaster cannons. Filthy Sandra.

87.3 – Tale of Gamers: Ultramarines – Month 1, Day 1

Unless you've been living under a rock, or a fold in Ann Widdicombe's flab, you can't failed to have noticed the start of a brand new Tale of Gamers thread. If you are currently pealing yourself out of the sweaty overhanging flesh of a former Conservative MP and Strictly Come Dancing contestant you'll need to check out here...:

http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3241.0

...and here:

http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3253.0

...for more details. Obviously I'm not going to comment on how hurtful it is to be relegated to "Matt C", whist another lesser Matt has been given the name "Matt" in the signup thread. No obviously I shan't comment about all the amazing work I do for this forum and how much, like Kylie, Madonna or Sting, that I should be known simply by my first name.

As the undisputed champion of the last Tale of OG Gamers, I thank you, it would be remiss of me not to get involved. The astute amongst you will note that I haven't yet got involved. Simply this is because technically today is Day 1, everyone else has been cheating and getting in early!!! Secondly I'm not posting in the designated Mission Debrief section of the forum, I'm in fact posting in the General Fantasy Chat part of the forum. When this isn't even Fantasy stuff it's 40K – well I'm just that kind of a rebel aren't I?!

Previously on this very blog I've revealed my interest in starting an Ultramarines army, as I've always had a soft spot for the blue-clad marines. And so I'd already bought myself The Assault on Black Reach box set.



The main problem is I have no idea what I am doing with Warhammer 40,000, I barely understand the background and don't have a clue with the rules. Anyone who has seen me play Warhammer will probably think that's an advantage, but it means I may need to bombard you with questions. So feel free to get involved and help a poor old lost High Elf painter like myself.

First up is what to select for my first 275 points - 275 points! There's points inflation for you, back in my day you only needed 200 points a month. Having not read the rule book (plus only having the last edition rulebook) and only flicked through the Space Marine Codex (still awkward with that word), I believe I need to select at least one HQ choice (a character?) and two Troop choices (core – essentially). Looking through my goodies I've got a Space Marine Captain – who I will save for later, no point trying out a new paint scheme on a character. There's also a Dreadnought and a Terminator Squad, both of which are Elites and a Tactical Squad which is a Troop choice. So looks like the Tactical Squad is my first option which works out as:

Tactical Squad 90 points
+ 5 Additional Space Marines (80 points – 5x 16 points)
+ Flamer (free)
+ Missile Launcher (free)
+ Chainsword (free)
170 points

Looking at the models I seem to have a flamer, missile launcher and the Sergeant already has a Chainsword (does this sound right people? Help?!). All of these seem to be free upgrades, so I need to find another 100(ish) points. With only The Assault on Black Reach models available and me not wanting to try out my new scheme on the Captain, and for similar reasons the Dreadnought I'm left with the Terminator Squad. At 200 points for the unit, I can only afford half of them so 2.5 Terminators it is (which may get rounded up or down)!

According to the rules I need to take a before photo. Ok fair enough...



And by the 26th of November I will need to have finished these models to keep up with Month 1. So I best get snipping those sprues and gluing.

I'd be interested in hearing people's thoughts on how I should go about basing my Ultramarines army. I am tempted to add some detailing to every model's base. I am also tempted not to do this!!!

My main thought is I want to avoid using a more Earth-based base (if you'll forgive the pun), as I have enough Warhammer grass based armies. Consider maybe desert or ice world, as the colours would complement the blue army, or perhaps a Martian world to give it a nice alien feel. Thoughts please? Has anyone used the new Citadel Texture Paints, are they any good?

Maybe I'll have got further by next week both in thoughts and construction!

87.4 – The Further Adventures of Rashnrak the Beastlord: Part 4

I'm sure you're just itching to know what was happening with Rashnrak the Beastlord and his herd's exploits stomping across the Badlands. I am choosing to ignore those of you saying no. You can see the previous exploits in Updates 79, 80 and 84.

Rashnrak's army was basking in the summer sunshine, as the warm rays basked down on the Badlands. They may have not destroyed the mythic city themselves but the forces of evil had won the day and Rashnrak's empire continued to grow.

Much to Rashnrak's dismay Malagor continued to have dealings with the treacherous Skaven vermin, who had revealed to him a hidden set of tunnels and worded him of a new mystic monument discovered to the south – the Ogham Stones. Weary of fighting the Dwarfs himself, Rashnrak deployed Delithor to deal with the threat. Meanwhile Rashnrak continued to expand his territory as Malagor's army constructed a second mine discovering a hidden Relic – finally the Beastmen had discovered one, that was the whole point of trekking to the wretched Badlands in the first place.

Delithor's army began the long march through the tunnels, Delithor was an expert Bray Shaman able to contort the Winds of Magic to his every whim. The power of Chaos was certainly strong with him, and he was regularly seen communing with the Chaos Gods, and had been tutoring a number of the lesser Bray Shamans in the herd. The Ungor of the herd also flocked to Delithor, the mighty Bray-Shaman offered them a modicum of protection that the other Beastmen leaders did not. They were still an underclass, but Delithor knew they had a valuable role on the battlefield and was less willing to allow their lives to be wasted in pointless tribal bullying. Not that he wasn't happy to let them die in droves on the battlefield if it became necessary.

The Beastmen army continued their march through the tunnels, the Razorgor were getting restless spending so long away from the forests, and the Ungor's hooves were clogged with mud. Boredom had been staved off when a few Squigs turned up but the herd was getting restless, infighting was going to begin. Then they saw a light, Delithor felt the power coursing through his veins, the Ogham Stones were ahead, and the smell of Dwarfs was in the air...

For this battle all I knew was that I would be contesting the magically charged Ogham Stones versus a Dwarf army. So I had no idea what the scenario would be during my army selection. Given my general tactical ineptitude, this probably wouldn't be a problem! For my army I had 2,000 points of Beastmen plus a Bonus of 100 points from my mine in Turn 3 and a free magic item worth up to 50 points from my mine in Turn 4. You'll note for my army selection for some reason I madly picked a Dispel Scroll despite facing Dwarfs!!!:

Great Bray-Shaman, Delithor (Lore of Beasts, Level 4) – armed with the Brass Cleaver (+1 Attack for each enemy in base-to-base contact taken as free magic item), the Talisman of Preservation (4+ Ward Save), Hagtree Fetish (nominate one enemy unit within 24" each magic phase, all failed rolls to wound may be rerolled in that phase), Crown of Command (stubborn), Chaos gift Gnarled Hide (5+ Armour Save). 350 points

Wargor Battle Standard Bearer – armed with Great Weapon, Heavy Armour and The War Banner (+1 Combat Resolution). 153 points

Bray Shaman, (Lore of Shadows, Level 2) – armed with extra hand weapon, Dispel Scroll, Other Trickster's Shard (all models in base-to-base reroll successful ward saves). 152 points

20 Ungor with spears, shields and full command. 135 points

16 Ungor with shields and full command. 95 points

10 Ungor Raiders with short bows, musician and Halfhorn. 69 points

10 Ungor Raiders with short bows, musician and Halfhorn. 69 points

3 Tuskgor Chariots, Gor armed with Spear, Bestigor armed with Great Weapon. 240 points

17 Bestigors armed with Great Weapons and Heavy Armour with full command and the Banner of Outrage (unit always passes it's Primal Fury tests). 254 points

20 Bestigors armed with Great Weapons and Heavy Armour with full. 270 points

3 Razorgors. 165 points

6 Harpies, with scouting ability. 84 points

Chaos Spawn. 55 points

TOTAL: 2,100 points

It was only after the army selection had taken place, and I arrived at the club that I discovered what the mission was to be. The Beastmen were to fight the Dwarfs for the possession of the Ogham Stones (where do they come up with the names for these things?!) In the centre of the table there was a large circle of standing stones, from the end of Turn 4 onwards if either player ended up with no models within the circle they would lose. Otherwise at the end of Turn 6 the player with the most number of "wounds" within the circle would be the winner. Any spellcaster within the Ogham Stones can roll four dice to channel. If a miscast occurs within the Ogham Stones then in addition to the normal effects, a random character within the circle becomes the target from a randomly generated spell from one of the random eight lores.

With the mission revealed I felt reasonably confident, my large number of units gave me a massive numbers advantage over the Dwarfs, meaning I had a good chance of simply having more stuff left by Turn 6. Upon seeing the Dwarf army – a large block of Rangers, 2 blocks of Miners and 2 blocks of Quarrellers, my plan became simply to pick off individual units of the Dwarf army, and redirect others away from the stones using my flack. Would it work, who knows? Well I do I've already played the game, but hey-ho!

Deployment

The Beastmen army deployed widely with the majority of the infantry in the centre as close as possible to the Ogham stones, and their faster units on the wide flank – and two units of Ungor hiding in ambush. With two units of Dwarf Miners left to arrive, the Dwarfs were relatively thin on the ground, the two units of Quarrellers positioned with the largest field of fire possible and the Longbeard Rangers deployed on the outskirts of the stone circle.

Turn 1

The Dwarfs won the roll for their first turn, and with the Miners unable to arrive until Turn 2, there was little to do. The Rangers used their move, to enter the Ogham Stones, whilst the Quarrellers let rip felling 4 Bestigor and taking 2 Wounds off a Tuskgor Chariot.



The Beastmen responded by advancing the bulk of their army into the stones. Both the ambushing units appeared on the table with the Ungor Raiders appearing on the extreme left flank by the Temple of the Skulls away from the Dwarf line. The Ungor Herd simply appeared at the rear of the Beastmen army.



The Harpies flew into the woods to threaten the flank of the Dwarf Quarrellers, one of their number crashing into a tree.

In the magic phase despite channelling a load of dice the Dwarf Runesmith's use of a Rune of Spellbreaking stopped the Beastmen casting any spells.

Turn 2

One unit of Dwarf Miners arrives at the rear of the Beastmen army threatening the only recently arrived ambushing Ungor.



Meanwhile the Dwarf Rangers charge into the Ungor with spears.



The first unit of Quarrellers opens fire on the already wounded Tuskgor Chariot, but in a poor shooting attempt they fail to do any wounds. The second unit consider responding to the Harpy threat on their flank, but instead attempt to destroy the same chariot, again another poor roll only causes two wounds. One wound is saved leaving the Tuskgor Chariot still alive on its final wound!

In combat the block of Ungor Spears manages to wound 4 Dwarf Rangers, though one blow is saved by the Dwarfen armour. However 9 Ungor are slain and they promptly flee. The Rangers attempt to restrain to avoid overrunning and exposing their flanks. However the Dwarfs fail their leadership check and to add insult to injury fail to catch the Ungor.

The Beastmen seize the initiative, sending the Bestigor and the Razorgor into the flank of the Rangers. The Spawn also ambles in as well.



The Harpies charge the Quarrellers, electing to charge on foot to avoid any danger from the forest.



The rest of the Beastmen head directly into the Ogham Stones, whilst the fleeing Ungor rally and with their comrades position themselves to divert the newly arrived Miners away from the centre of the battlefield.



Again despite the power of the Ogham Stones another Rune of Spellbreaking effectively shuts down the magic phase. The Ungor Raiders remain too far away to shoot so we proceed straight to the combat phase.

The Harpies manage to fell a single Dwarf Quarreller, the Quarrellers manage to score a single wound in return, but the Harpies win the combat by two for their flank charge and the Dwarfs fail their break test. The Harpies elect to pursue by flight, losing another of their number to a dangerous terrain test, but it's worth it as they catch and rip apart the crossbow armed Dwarfs.

The main combat starts in the centre of the battlefield, with most of the combatants armed with Great Weapons the Spawn and Razorgor hit first – well they would except the Spawn only rolls a 1 for its random attacks, and both the monstrous creatures fail to score a single hit!! Delithor, the Great Bray Shaman fares little better causing a single wound which is saved. The unit champions kill each other in a challenge, and the Bestigor kill 5 Rangers for 3 loses themselves. However the Dwarf Thane makes way through his unit to inflict three wounds on Delithor, sadly his Talisman of Preservation deserts him as he fails to roll a single 4+ and is slain. Critically this brings the Bestigor unit down below ten models so they no longer disrupt the Dwarf's rank bonus. Despite two successful stomps from the monsters, the Beastmen lose the combat by two, and though the Bestigor hold, the Razorgor flees from the fight.



Turn 3

The Dwarf Miners charge into the Ungor unit armed with hand weapons and shields. Meanwhile the second unit of Miners arrive at the rear of the battlefield to reinforce the remaining unit of Quarrellers who reform into ranks should the Harpies or one of the Razorgor charge them.

With no shooting it's straight onto the combat phase. The Ungors manage to kill 2 Miners, but unsurprisingly lose 4 of their number and flee. The Miners pursue but fail to catch the Ungor or reach their spear armed counterparts.



In the main combat the Spawn again rolls a 1 for its attacks and again fails to hit the Dwarfs. The Bestigor do three wounds in return for a similar number of casualties and with the death of the Spawn it's just too much for them, as they flee escaping the pursuing Rangers.



In a hopeful bid to thin down the Rangers' numbers all three Tuskgor Chariots crash into the Ranger unit.

The remaining Bray Shaman is vexed by the Runesmith who pulls out a third Rune of Spellbreaking to stop Withering being cast on the Rangers. The Shaman then responds by casting Penumbral Pendulum with Irresistible Force down the flank of the Quarrellers taking out 4 Dwarfs and the Runesmith who'd frustrated him so much!



The miscast wounds the Shaman and kills a couple of Bestigor. And due to the power of the Ogham spells the random spell Caress of Linph is randomly cast on one of the Dwarf Thanes killing him.

In shooting the Ungor Raiders are finally in range of the Quarrellers but are unable to wound them.

In the combat phase the three chariots roll 12 impact hits, but then when rolling to wound score enough 2s to convincing win a game of Yahtzee, meaning only 3 wounds are done on the Dwarfs. The crew add another 4 wounds to the tally but the Rangers make short work of all three chariots. The Ungor Raiders who've recently made it into range are panicked by this and flee!

Turn 4

Turn 4 begins with a raft of Dwarf charges, the first unit of Dwarf Miners that has arrived charged the remaining Ungor with spears. The second unit of Miners charge the Harpies who had positioned themselves to draw the Miners away from the Ogham Stones. The Quarrellers charge the Razorgor threatening them. However the Rangers are unable to reach the Bestigor denying them an important flank charge.

The Miners make mincemeat of the Ungor Spearmen killing all bar the champion, who flees panicking the other unit of nearby Ungor.



The second unit of Miners killed the remaining Harpies for no loss. And the Razorgor kills 3 Quarrellers in return for 2 wounds. Despite the combat resolution from the ranks, the Razorgor holds.

The Bestigor charge the Quarrellers unit to help out the Razorgor. Despite having 6 fleeing units, only the few remaining Ungor with hand weapons rally!



Despite the loss of their Runesmith, the Beastmen are unable to get any spells off. In the combat phase the Quarrellers fail to cause a single wound and break under the onslaught of the Bestigor and Razorgor. The Razorgor pursues running them down, whilst the Bestigor successfully restrain and reform to face the Rangers.

Turn 5

The Miners charge the Razorgor who just ran down the Quarrellers, despite the potential risk of a rear charge on the Bestigor, the Razorgor flees in the hope to leave the Miners stranded away from the Ogham Stones. The gamble pays off as the Miners fail their redirected charge on the Bestigor. The Rangers however successfully charge the front of the Bestigor.



The Bestigor inflict four wounds including one on the Dwarf General. In return the Dwarfs kill both the Wargor Battle Standard Bearer and the Bray Shaman, but they lose the combat by 1. Rolling a 12 for their break test the Rangers flee and are rundown by the jubilant Bestigor.

The Beastmen's fifth turn is dominated by movement as all units that aren't fleeing enter the Ogham Stones in the hope of outnumbering the surviving Dwarfs. The only other action is the Ungor Raiders finally do something, shooting a single Miner.

Turn 6

One of the Miners unit charges the Bestigor, whilst the other one enters the Ogham Stones



With no shooting, it was straight to the combat phase where the Bestigor and Miners drew the combat.

The Beastmen turn sees the Ungor Raiders and normal unit hit the rear and flank of the engaged Miners. Again the fleeing Beastmen units are reluctant to return all continuing to flee the battle with the Razorgor leaving the Ogham Stones.



In the final combat the Ungors roll poorly and only inflict a single wound, the Bestigor manage to cut down four Miners as well. But the Dwarfs resolutely bring down seven beasts in return. However it's not enough as the Miners break and are rundown by the Beastmen.

With both sides having units in the Ogham Stones at the end of the final turn, it comes down to remaining wounds. The Dwarfs have their only remaining unit of Miners – relatively untouched, whilst the Beastmen have a number of straggling Bestigor and Ungor units. But totally up the remaining wounds that are not fleeing within the stones. It comes to 24 remaining wounds to the Dwarfs, and 23 remaining Beastmen!! Viciously close.

The battlefield was quiet finally, there were many dead Dwarfs lying across the battlefield, comparatively the Beastmen's casualties were lighter – most of them had fled the battlefield. But in the centre of the Ogham Stones lay the shattered dead body of Delithor the Great Bray-Shaman.

But at the stroke of midnight as Morrslieb was fullest in the night sky, power flowed through the Ogham Stones. And then a bright energetic burst surged into Delithor's body. With a mighty roar the Shaman's life blood returned. His wounds reknit themselves and he strode to his hooves again, more powerful than ever before. The Gods of Chaos still had use for Delithor...

Sandra's Tactical Advice

Musings on the outcome of the battle from our resident tactical genius.



This battle showed interesting tactical choices with less than optimum forces – the Dwarfs had gone without their much needed war machines, and Matt had chosen Beastmen. The idiot. Both sides showed a surprising amount of poor fortune, with the Beastmen virtually unable to hit, especially when it came to their monsters who don't benefit from primal fury rerolls.  Whilst the Beastmen had a favourable tactic of using small units to try and divert and tie up the relatively small number of Dwarf units, they then suffered as they simply couldn't rally the large number of fleeing troops. On the other hand the Dwarfs simply couldn't pass any break tests, a surprisingly large number of high rolls let their units be rundown by the Beastmen.

Had I taken control I would have used the Beastmen's fast skirmishing units to hold up the Miners better and stop them entering the Ogham Stones. Or failing that I'd have used my trusty Ogres and smashed the opposition with Mournfang Cavalry and Ironblasters.

87.5 – Cygor Painting Guide

Those of you following the Tales of Rashnrak will remember that the bad-tempered Beastlord took a Cygor into battle in Month 3, see Update 84. Now I'm not one for the scandalous behaviour of taking non-painted models onto the table top, but I have to confess I didn't quite get this one finished. Pleasingly I've sorted out those details now, so here's a quick guide for you painting guide fans.

I would like to say I do think the Cygor/Ghorgon kit is amazing, it completely dwarfs the Giant kit

Cygor Painting Guide – Stage 1



Base: Steel Legion Drab
Hooves and Horns: Steel Legion Drab
Skeletons and Bones: Steel Legion Drab
Flesh: 1:1 Scab Red/Dark Flesh
Fur: Drybrush Chardonite Granite, then Adeptus Battlegrey, then Codex Grey, then Fortress Grey
Red Fabric: Layer 1:1 Mechrite Red/Blood Red
Cream Fabric: Steel Legion Drab
Rocks: Chardonite Granite
Straps: Scorched Brown
Wood: Drybrush Codex Grey, then Fortress Grey
Skaven Bell: Dwarf Bronze
Masonry: Codex Grey
Silver Metal: Boltgun Metal
Tin Metal: Tin Bitz
Mouth: Liche Purple

Cygor Painting Guide – Stage 2



Base: Layer Baneblade Brown
Hooves and Horns: Wash Nuln Oil
Skeletons and Bones: Wash Nuln Oil
Flesh:  Layer 1:1 (1:1 Scab Red/Dark Flesh)/Vermin Brown, then layer Vermin Brown
Fur: Wash Nuln Oil
Red Fabric: Wash Devlan Mud
Cream Fabric: Layer Baneblade Brown
Rocks: Drybrush Adeptus Battlegrey
Straps: Wash Nuln Oil
Wood: NONE
Skaven Bell: Wash Devlan Mud
Masonry: Wash Nuln Oil
Silver Metal: Wash Devlan Mud
Tin Metal: NONE
Mouth: Layer 1:1 Liche Purple/Tentacle Pink, then layer 3:1 Liche Purple/Tentacle Pink

Cygor Painting Guide – Stage 3



Base: NONE
Hooves and Horns: Feather Baneblade Brown, then feather Dheneb Stone
Skeletons and Bones: Layer Baneblade Brown, then layer Dheneb Stone
Flesh:  Wash Gryphonne Sepia
Fur: NONE
Red Fabric: Layer 1:1(1:1 Blood Red/Mechrite Red)/Blood Red, then layer Blood Red
Cream Fabric: Layer 1:1 Baneblade Brown/Kommando Khaki, then layer Kommando Khaki
Rocks: Drybrush Codex Grey
Straps: Highlight Scorched Brown
Wood: NONE
Skaven Bell: Drybrush Dwarf Bronze, then drybrush 1:1 Dwarf Bronze/Chainmail
Masonry: Drybrush Codex Grey
Silver Metal: Highlight 1:1 Chainmail/Boltgun Metal
Tin Metal: Highlight 5:1 Tin Bitz/Mithril Silver
Mouth: Layer Tentacle Pink, then 3:1 Tentacle Pink/Skull White

Cygor Painting Guide – Stage 4











Base: Drybrush Bleached Bone, then flock Scorched Grass, then cover in Snow
Hooves and Horns: Feather Bleached Bone, then highlight larger areas 1:1 Bleached Bone/Skull White
Skeletons and Bones: Layer Bleached Bone, then highlight larger areas 1:1 Bleached Bone/Skull White
Flesh:  Highlight 3:1 Vermin Brown/Elf Flesh, then highlight 1:1 Vermin Brown/Elf Flesh
Fur: NONE
Red Fabric: Highlight 3:1 Blood Red/Vomit Brown, then highlight 1:1 Blood Red/Vomit Brown
Cream Fabric: Highlight 1:1 Kommando Khaki/Bleached Bone, then Highlight Bleached Bone
Rocks: Drybrush Fortress Grey, then wash Nuln Oil, then selectively drybrush Camo Green
Straps: Highlight Beastial Brown
Wood: NONE
Skaven Bell: Wash 1:1 Dark Angels Green/Hawk Turquoise, then wash 1:1:1 Dark Angels Green/Hawk Turquoise/Rotting Flesh
Masonry: Drybrush Fortress Grey, then drybrush 1:1 Fortress Grey/Skull White, then selectively drybrush Camo Green
Silver Metal: Highlight Chainmail
Tin Metal: Highlight 3:1 Tin Bitz/Mithril Silver
Mouth: Highlight Skull White, then wash 1:1:1 Devlan Mud/Leviathan Purple/Thraka Green
Vines: Paint Catachan Green, then layer Dark Angels Green, then drybrush Camo Green

87.6 – Competition Update

Just a quick reminder of last week's competition, where you need to guess the point's value of fully painted High Elf army. I'm thinking of catchily calling it "Guess the Weight of the High Elf Army"? Hmmm....



If you guess the closest points value you win your very own Games Workshop army, as drawn by the resident six-year old artist.

Full terms and conditions (which probably won't stand up to full legal scrutiny), can be found in Update 86. But remember it's going to be totalled up as an army as modelled, with too few core to be legal – I'm not painting any more Spearmen ok!

Once you have you decided upon your answer simply post it on the forum, closing date will be announced in due course. In the event of a tie the two competitors will be forced to have a dance-off and Len Goodman will decide upon the winner. But don't let that put you off, get answering.

87.7 – Get In Touch

This may seem like a random section at the end of the blog, however I realise that sometimes I ramble for so long you may have forgotten some of the earlier questions I've posed during the hours of writing. So this new section is just a little summary of things I'm confused by, ideas I've had and where feedback is needed. This week, here's what I'd like your thoughts upon:

• Your Guess the weight of the High Elf Army entries
• Help with my Ultramarine army selection
• Suggestions for Ultramarine basing

Well I hope you've enjoyed the new look Procrastination by Numbers, I'm off for a lie down. See you next week!

[Steve H]

I said on twitter that I hated this... That was only to look cool in public and I actually enjoyed it... A bit!

Hmmm - I really like Ultramarines with snow bases... I like the contrast. I'm going to go for 7845 points for the high elf contest - although I fear I'm a little under!

Keep up the good work!

[roland murat]

Ok lets go with 8,000 point bang on (how unlikely is that?)

As for tips with the marines it depends very much how you want to use them. The marines are a jack of all trades, master of none. They can be aggressive using lots of bikes and deep striking termies or can form a gunline - not unlike my double vindi crutch which has a tendancy to snap if any weight is applied.

[Dave]

For your 270pts I'd have gone tacticals plus captain, but 2.5 termies is equally valid.

Basing is an interesting one, I somewhat cheated with my marines, if you look at their bases it's made to look a bit icy but achieved through multiple layers of drybrushing on the existing surface of the base.  If I could be bothered I should really go back and cover the whole lot with a layer of water effect or the likes but with 100+ models I can't really be bothered.

For my Eldar my decision was made by what I'd purchased, a heap of the second hand models I'd got had a really course sand/gravel finish on it so rocky rubble became the obvious choice.

Overall what you want to have in a marine army is:
captain & command squad x 3
Chaplain, librarian, tech marine x 2 inc thunderfire cannon
6 tactical squads, 2 dev squads, 2 assault squads, 8 rhinos
100 scouts (10 squads), or you could mount some of these on bikes if you wanted for maybe a 60/40 split, landspeeder storms for all the unmounted squads
60 terminators (30 shooty, 30 assault), 20 Stormguard, 20 Vanguard, 6 x land raiders for the termies (2 of each type), 4 x razorbacks for the stormguard)
Mounted company of marines, maybe 100 bikes is overkill so possibly replace a couple of the squads with 3 x land speeders.
Support vehicles 6 dreadnaughts, 3 predators, 3 vindicators.
2-3 aeroplane thingies.

Overall I think that's about 4 companies worth of space marines.  If you want to be really fluffy then there is a lot of guidance as to what the actual composition of the various ultramarine companies should be which you could follow if you really wanted to be a completist but somehow I doubt you want to paint 1000 space marines.

There you go I think that covers every entry in the space marine codex with more than you could ever hope to use! So a suitable equivalent for your high elf army.

p.s. that was tongue in cheek, please don't buy all that!

[cunningmatt]

p.s. that was tongue in cheek, please don't buy all that!

S**t I've alreadt placed the order! 

p.s. that was tongue in cheek, please don't buy all that!

Yeah mainly avoided the captain, just to give me the chance to get the hang of a painting scheme before I get jiggy with a character.

As for tips with the marines it depends very much how you want to use them. The marines are a jack of all trades, master of none. They can be aggressive using lots of bikes and deep striking termies or can form a gunline - not unlike my double vindi crutch which has a tendancy to snap if any weight is applied.

I'm definitely trying to avoid my High Elf/Beastmen approach and buying one of everything. Fun once, but not again (for a while). I'm sure I'll discuss this more as we progress but think I'm going to be choosing my army mainly based around the models I like - In with the Whirlwind and Razorback out with the Land Raider and Drop Pod (not that those models are wrong per se, just my preferences!).

I said on twitter that I hated this... That was only to look cool in public and I actually enjoyed it... A bit!

Hmmm - I really like Ultramarines with snow bases... I like the contrast.

I totally understand the constant pressure to look cool, it's hard work.

Yeah tempted by snow - they wouldn't mind an army that doesn't require flocking - and did a sort of meltsnow/permafrost on the Beastmen and Warriors though.

Today I'm leaning towards Martian terrain, though that does prevent the use of the Basing Paints - which may or may not be any good?

[DarkStalker]

Ok lets go with 8,000 point bang on (how unlikely is that?)

Well better get my entry in...  I'll take 8990

[Blotthrower]

I'll weigh in with a conservative guess of 6994pts

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Update 88 – October Blues  Monday 29th October 2012



Coming up on this week's Procrastination by Numbers:

• 88.1 – Meet the Team
• 88.2 – Tale of Gamers: Ultramarines – Month 1, Day 8
• 88.3 – Warriors of Chaos Releases
• 88.4 – Rant of the Week
• 88.5 – Dreadfleet – Swordfish Painting Guide
• 88.6 – Dreadfleet – Curse of Zandri Painting Guide
• 88.7 – Competition Update
• 88.8 – Get In Touch

88.1 – Meet the Team

There's a whole array of people who make up this illustrious guide to the gaming world revered by no one. So let's meet them and see what they're up to this week!

Matty the Painter



Matty the Painter is the main writer on Procrastination by Numbers, and his brain represents the place where the other writers live. He is a prolific Shakeaway drinker, and he can be followed on Twitter at @ProByNumbers – go on he might follow you back.

This week Matty has sent his face trick or treating, winning himself approximately 200lbs of chocolate and giving several elderly neighbours a heart attack. Annoyingly he also starts a new job so will have no time to paint any more!

The Resident Six-Year Old Artist



For all those things that can't be photographed, the resident six-year old artist has joined (read "imprisoned by") the team. Bribed with Smarties and the promise of seeing daylight again, she draws all the pictures this blog needs. Her recent work includes the iOS6 maps.

This week the resident six-year old artist has been crying as she's lost her orange felt tip pen and can't draw any Halloween pumpkins. On the plus side she's got through to the interview stage of the Newsnight editor job.

Mr Shakey Shakey



Mr Shakey Shakey is Matty the Painter's Wood Elf painting friend. He's been painting a Wood Elf army for about 24 years now. His name is nothing to do with the popular milkshake, but instead refers to his inability to hold a paintbrush steadily in his hands.

This week Mr Shakey Shakey hasn't finished painting any Wood Elves. What a surprise?

Sandra the Tactical Pot Plant



Sandra the Tactical Pot Plant is a brand new member of the Procrastination by Numbers team, not only is she's the independent adjudicator for all Procrastination by Numbers competitions. But she is a Warhammer tactical genius and can often be found revising the rules and coming up with the filthiest armies known to man.

This week it's been impossible to get Sandra the Tactical Pot Plant's nose out of the new Warriors of Chaos supplement. Battlefields around the greenhouse have been trembling at the thought of her Skullcrusher Cavalry.

88.2 – Tale of Gamers: Ultramarines – Month 1, Day 8

So for those of you who missed last week, I'm partaking in the Tale of Gamers: Ultramarines whereby I paint up an Ultramarine army month by month until I've painted an entire Chapter and spent a billion pounds – no naughty, that must not happen!! Last week I told you what I'd decided to paint for my first month, and already we've reached the first error as I thought I had to paint 275 points a month, but actually I only need to paint 250 points a month. This administrative error technically means I can claim to have painted 10% of my army already. No? Well it was a worth a try.

Anyway that adjustment means that this month's painting tasks can be summarised as (dropping that annoying half a Terminator):

Tactical Squad 90 points
+ 5 Additional Space Marines (80 points – 5x 16 points)
+ Flamer (free)
+ Missile Launcher (free)
+ Chainsword (free)
170 points

Terminator Squad (2 of 5) 80 points (of 200 points – full squad)
80 points

TOTAL: 250 points

So that's one full squad of Tactical Marines and a start at the Terminator Squad (I believe the kit from Assault on Black Reach have no special weapons?!?!?), which I'll then finish in Month 2.

With that sorted it was time to get all my clippers and glue together and get assembling.



Given that I needed to assemble 12 of the 17 models in the Assault on Black Reach kit I decided I may as well build and clean up the parts for all of them together. Sadly it was at this point I discovered there were great evils in this world that I needed my Ultramarines to protect me from:




Quickly moving on... soon all the parts of the Ultramarines were cleaned up (sadly some of the Assault on Black Reach sprues have quite chunky mould lines. The kits are all snap-fit anyway so I was able to do a test run without any glue.



So here's the Tactical Sqaud:



And my Terminators, who seem to have quite a lot of space on their bases – is that normal? I'm guessing the bits of decoration I found on their sprues are for the holes?!



I made a decision (I know!) on basing and decided to not go for the frozen landscape, as being my only Warhammer 40,000 army I wanted to take the opportunity to go for an alien landscape. A bit of Googling turned up some pictures of the surface of Mars which fitted the bill nicely:



This looked like a good non-Earth landscape, but what I like about the Martian surface is it still looks natural even though not Earth like. I think it's the use of natural colours in greater quantity rather than saying using lime green or sky blue with pink spots. Plus I also liked the idea of my Space Marines fighting over a barren wasteland. Any Star Trek fans may remember the brilliant Deep Space Nine episode "The Siege of ARR-558", where Sisko and co are locked in a bloody ground combat battle with the Dominion for this worthless barren rock that isn't even worth a proper name. There was something quite grim and pointless about that, and I felt that background suited the dark reality of the 41st Millennium.

To achieve this effect I super glued some bits of slate in a scattered pattern to each base to represent the larger stones (for my Warhammer basing I'm more likely to do clusters of stones), then used PVA to glue sand to the rest of the base.



Once this had dried I washed the sand with a mix of water and PVA to seal it, I added a small amount of Fairy liquid to this mix to break the surface tension of the water so it runs more easily through the sand. And leaves your Space Marines smelling lemony-flesh. They then got put in the airing cupboard (known as the Cupboard of Doom due to the large quantities of c**p in it) to dry.



This will need several hours to dry thoroughly, but here's some I made earlier (sorry gone all Blue Peter – actually I just waited a few hours):





The Terminators had extra bits of terrain to go into the spare foot hole on the base, and I added a piece or resin decoration from the Warhammer 40,000 Basing Kit to each of the Squad leaders' bases.

With assembly done it was time for spraying! Logic dictates it would be easier to paint the Ultramarines without their bolt guns in place, so I separated them from the Marines. I then used White-Tac (the pure and noble version of the foul-mouthed blue adhesive putty) to cover the holes and the tabs on the bolt gun. These simple push-assembly models fit quite snuggly so an extra layer of paint can give you trouble reassembling.



At this point I should say whilst White-Tac isn't very expensive this putty will be sacrificed during spraying, so bare that in mind if it is the pack the wife uses to hold up all the Christmas cards or if to get the White-Tac in the first place all the children's posters are now in a heap on the floor. Unless of course said posters are Justin Beiber, in which case you should probably burn the posters and the White-Tac and to be safe probably the children.

With that done it's time to head to an outside area for spraying, undercoating is relatively weather tolerant provided it's dry and there's no real extremes of conditions you'll probably be alright. Varnishing on the other hand requires it to be dry, not too gusty, not too sunny, not too cold and preferably with the planets in alignment. Generally this only leaves two days in the year that the British climate accommodates varnishing.

To protect your spraying area, use a cardboard box and plenty of newspaper to cover the surface.



I attached each model to a thin strip of cardboard (cut down cereal box) with White-Tac, allowing me to freely rotate the models in the spray getting the best possible coverage.



I would at this point recommend using a plastic glove, or even a plastic bag to protect the hand holding the card.



With all that advice all the models were swiftly undercoated.



Now I don't know about you, but when starting a new army like this I always like to have a basic guide to work from. Often I don't end up sticking to it, changing some colours or adding refinements in as I go, but it is helpful to have a starting point. So I "borrowed" my flatmates iPad and downloaded the Ultramarines painting guide from the Book Store:



I have to say I was pretty impressed with the guide. There's a load of different bits and details covered, crossing the whole range from your basic Tactical Squad, to embellishments for more elite troops, characters, Scouts, armour for tanks and Dreadnoughts and a guide to the Stormtalon Gunship. You get loads of photos of each stage, and the simple key using the brushes and basic steps from the How to Paint Citadel Miniatures book makes it really easy to follow.

Initially I had considered using the Citadel Spray Gun to undercoat my marines blue, a quick opinion check on Twitter told me that the Spray Gun was about as useful as using cauliflower cheese as a contraceptive. So I panicked at the potential options, and just decided to undercoat using a brush.

Given we've got a brand new (well new in April paint range), I made the perhaps foolish decision to switch over for this new army. Yes I've got most of the old range, but I'm starting to run out some of the colours plus I'd rather start a fresh project with a consistent colour scheme than having to switch part way through. The old colours would still be put to good work finishing and expanding my existing armies (Beastmen, High Elves, Warriors), and would work for smaller one off projects (Dreadfleet, terrain etc.). With that in mind I made a list of the colours I needed, now I was going to put the whole order in with Ol. But I was worried that if I didn't get some paints in straight away I was going to fall behind whilst I waited for my delivery. So I made a little trip to an Italian sounding place on Oxford Street:



Which contains one of my favourite childhood sights:



And I picked up the basic blue paints to get me started.



Sorry Ol, please don't hit me, I know it was a bitter rival. I am a bad person for doing this, it was just this once. Don't hit me, don't hit me, not my beautiful face. It will never happen again. I promise to be loyal!

With me able to make some progress with the blue paints, I purchased the rest of the colours I would need from my preferred supplier:







Those paints will be with me this week. But in the meantime I started with the blue and painted a test model up to spec:



I'll talk more about the paints and techniques used this week. Personally I'm not quite sure I'm happy with it. Not sure if I feel the blue should be brighter or not? May do some more tests this week. I will keep you informed. But any thoughts would be welcome. Just in my end Ultramarines are a brighter, more vibrant, but not lighter shade of blue.

88.3 – Warriors of Chaos Releases

The brand new White Dwarf – November 2012 (395) was poked through my letterbox this weekend – rude!



And with a plethora of new Warriors releases for a veteran Warriors of Chaos player like myself, let's see what we've got. Obviously I would go through the ins and outs of the new units but Sandra the Tactical Pot Plant got her branches on the guide and wouldn't let go – especially as it was in handy pot plant sized form.



The Warshrine of Chaos looks great – nothing like what I suspected, but then even in the designer's notes in Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos pretty much says the designer doesn't know what it looks like. Think I'll be adding one of these to my army soon, they look fun to paint.



I love the new Skullcrushers of Khorne, they are everything that a Warriors of Chaos army should be: Armour-clad Unsubtleness.



The Hellstriders of Slaanesh are alright, but I've always been less of a fan of the Marauder element. They're good models don't get me wrong, but not my favourite of the Warriors range.



The special characters are great, big fan of Valkia and Festus. Not sure Scyla needed a new model personally, but in fairness I like the way it looks more like it's erupting out of its own skin. If that makes sense?!





The only problem with all this, from my point of view, is that my Warriors of Chaos army is a Tzeentch only army! The only army I've ever given a proper theme to. So pretty much all I can add is the Warshrine. I think it might get dangerous if I open up the gates to the other gods!! Insert sad face. But I suppose I can now add a Finecast Galrauch...



...maybe!!

No Matty, don't get distracted by another army box set just before Christmas!!



Of course there are some non-Warriors releases, yet more colours of paints – how many shades of pink do we need! And a mega, mega, mega paint set.



I have to say I really like the box all the paints live in, in the mega set, not enough to shell out £280. But I do like it!

Something that definitely is tempting me is the new basing kits; the current ones are great so personally I'm all up for more resin pieces. Think I may start with the Northern Wastes kit, and may finish with all 4!! Naughty!



To be honest given how bad a Warriors of Chaos month should be for my wallet, a Warshrine and a handful of Basing Kits is probably surprising good. Can't quite work out whether Tzeentch is rewarding me or not?!!

88.4 – Rant of the Week

It's been a while since I've had a good rant. Some people think I've mellowed, they are wrong...

There's a menace to society, its activities hidden in plain sight, for some reason it remains utterly unchallenged despite its dark consequences. You may not think you've been a victim, yet you almost certainly have, unaware that it has struck you.

Picture the scene; you are confidently striding down the road, something you do every day, happy that you are in a safe environment. You cross the street looking both ways, the traffic has stopped and you make it across the road without any problems. You then go to enter a building something you do every day, it's a double door and you push the door on the left, only to go slamming into the door, because someone has decided to only open the door on the right.



How the hell is this ridiculous blight on modern society allowed? I mean why is not illegal to randomly leave one door of a set of two locked without any warning? You put down a sign warning of a wet floor, for health & safety reasons, but it's perfectly alright to send people crashing into essentially booby trapped doors for no reason at all. There's no sign indicating that randomly this door is locked but the identical one next to it isn't. There's no convention on which of the two doors "traditionally" should be left open, so you always know to default to the one on the right. No there's just you being felt to look like a right pillock in public for no discernible reason at all. You look like the idiot, the clutz, the douche, yet it isn't your fault – how the hell are you supposed to know?

Why does this happen anyway? How f**king long does it to take to unlock the second door that means that you don't have time to do it anyway? What kind of security system do you have in place that makes opening the second door so bloody time consuming given you've already gone to the effort of the first? How can your time be so precious that you don't have time for the second door? What else are you busy doing? Taking the batteries out of half the smoke detectors? Removing 50% of the manhole covers in the street outside? If you really want to have a section of wall that is partly see-through but doesn't actually open try fitting a sodding window!

Who hasn't got the time or inclination to open both doors? You don't go to eat an egg but only have time to eat the yolk. You don't go to put a DVD on but only have time to turn on the DVD player but not the telly. You don't let your girlfriend just fondle one of your testicles. But instead because you're too busy/lazy to open the other door, a series of poor unsuspecting individuals are forced to walk head long into a door that looks like it's open when it's not because they took the wrong guess in a 50:50 gamble. Why not toss a coin and punch people in the face if tails comes up?

And if you're the kind of unscrupulous individual who deliberately leaves one door locked in the hope that you can send into your security camera footage to You've Been Framed just so you can pocket £750, then why don't you go the full hog, erect a brick wall behind the open door, electrocute the door handle and drop a 1 tonne anvil on my head as I walk through the door. No of course you're not going to do that, because that would be stupid... so next time open both of the bloody doors.

I'm done. Rant over. As you were people.

88.5 – Dreadfleet – Swordfish Painting Guide

Whilst I've been putting off procrastinating about how to paint my Ultramarines I've made some effort to get some other painting done, finishing off some more of the Dreadfleet ships that I promised myself I'd paint before the end of the year. I only have two months to paint the rest of the set. Gulp!!

Anyway here is the guide to painting the Swordfish, a pirate ship captained by a Mermaid. The theme of the ship is sea monsters and I've painted the masts etc., as if they were the bones of giant sea creatures.

Swordfish Painting Guide – Stage 1



Sea: Regal Blue
Deck: Drybrush 1:1 Codex Grey/Chaos Black, then Drybrush Codex Grey
Bone: Dheneb Stone
Gold: 1:1 Shining Gold/Scorched Brown
Silver: Boltgun Metal
Hull: Highlight 1:1 Codex Grey/Chaos Black
Sails: Layer 1:1 Codex Grey/Chaos Black
Sail (Bone): Astronomacian Grey
Sail (Green): 1:1 Dark Angels Green/Enchanted Blue
Sea Creatures: Adeptus Battlegrey

Swordfish Painting Guide – Stage 2



Sea: Heavily Drybrush Enchanted Blue
Deck: DONE
Bone: Wash Devlan Mud
Gold: Shining Gold
Silver: Wash Nuln Oil
Hull: Edge highlight Adeptus Battlegrey
Sails: Edge highlight Codex Grey
Sail (Bone): Wash watered down Shadow Grey
Sail (Green): Wash Nuln Oil
Sea Creatures: Layer Codex Grey

Swordfish Painting Guide – Stage 3



Sea: Drybrush Ice Blue
Deck: DONE
Bone: Highlighted Bleached Bone
Gold: Wash Devlan Mud
Silver: Highlight Chainmail
Hull: Edge Codex Grey
Sails: NONE
Sail (Bone): Highlight Astronomacian Grey
Sail (Green): Highlight 1:1 Dark Angels Green/Enchanted Blue
Sea Creatures: Wash Nuln Oil

Swordfish Painting Guide – Stage 4









Sea: Wash 1:1 Thraka Green/Nuln Oil, then paint crests watered down Skull White
Deck: DONE
Bone: Highlight Skull White
Gold: Highlight Mithril Silver
Silver: DONE
Hull: DONE
Sails: Wash Nuln Oil
Sail (Bone): Highlight Bleached Bone
Sail (Green): Highlight 1:1:1 Enchanted Blue/Dark Angels Green/Skull White
Sea Creatures: Highlight Fortress Grey
Sail Rings: Highlight Chainmail

88.6 – Dreadfleet – Curse of Zandri Painting Guide

And the second ship I've painted is the Curse of Zandri, a Tomb Kings warship built to retrieve some stolen artefacts.

The Curse of Zandri Painting Guide – Stage 1



Sea: Regal Blue
Deck and Oars: Steel Legion Drab
Wicker: Steel Legion Drab
Bones (and Deck based Weapons): Dheneb Stone
Marble Ushabti: Highlight Dark Angels Green
Gold: 1:1 Shining Gold/Scorched Brown
Black Hull: Highlight 1:1 Codex Grey/Chaos Black
Red Detail: Mechrite Red
Blue Detail: Regal Blue
Gem: Dark Angels Green

The Curse of Zandri Painting Guide – Stage 2



Sea: Heavily Drybrush Enchanted Blue
Deck and Oars: Drybrush Baneblade Brown
Wicker: Wash Devlan Mud
Bones (and Deck based Weapons): Wash Devlan Mud
Marble Ushabti: Highlight Hawk Turquoise
Gold: Shining Gold
Black Hull: Edge highlight Adeptus Battlegrey
Red Detail: Layer 1:1 Mechrite Red/Blood Red
Blue Detail: Layer Enchanted Blue
Gem: Highlight Snot Green

The Curse of Zandri Painting Guide – Stage 3



Sea: Drybrush wave crests Ice Blue
Deck and Oars: Wash Devlan Mud
Wicker: Drybrush Desert Yellow
Bones (and Deck based Weapons): Highlight Bleached Bone
Marble Ushabti: Edge highlight Ice Blue
Gold: Wash Devlan Mud
Black Hull: Edge Highlight Codex Grey
Red Detail: Highlight Blood Red
Blue Detail: Highlight 1:1 Enchanted Blue/Space Wolves Grey
Gem: Highlight Scorpion Green

The Curse of Zandri Painting Guide – Stage 4









Sea: Wash 1:1 Thraka Green/Nuln Oil, then paint crests watered down Skull White
Deck and Oars: Drybrush Graveyard Earth
Wicker: Drybrush Bleached Bone
Bones (and Deck based Weapons): Highlight Skull White
Marble Ushabti: DONE
Gold: Highlight Mithril Silver
Black Hull: DONE
Red Detail: Fine highlight Vomit Brown
Blue Detail: Fine highlight Space Wolves Grey
Gem: Highlight Golden Yellow

88.7 – Competition Update

We've had loads of entries for the "Guess the Weight of the High Elf Army".



If you haven't yet had a guess at the points value of the above High Elf army, then this is the last week to have a guess. Entries closes on Friday 2nd of November, so get posting. Results will be announced in Update 89.

Full details can be found in Update 86.

88.8 – Get In Touch

As always here's a summary of the week's key talking points. So please get your thinking caps on:

• Your Guess the weight of the High Elf Army entries
• Thoughts on Ultramarine colour scheme
• Terminator base size – is it really that big?!

Remember you can follow me on Twitter @ProByNumbers where you can see such exciting things as me getting told off by the Deputy Editor of the White Dwarf.



Oops naughty Matty!

[Dave]

awesome, I'd not noticed that it was WD staff that were telling you off, you warhammer celebrity you...

Great work on keeping on going with dreadfleet, mine continues to sit unloved in it's box.

[cunningmatt]

awesome, I'd not noticed that it was WD staff that were telling you off, you warhammer celebrity you...

Great work on keeping on going with dreadfleet, mine continues to sit unloved in it's box.

Clearly it takes very little to become a Warhammer celebrity. Maybe I could go on I'm a Warhammer Celebrity Get Me Out of Here... where presumably I'd be forced to lie in a pit of Nurglings and eat Ogre testicles?

Cheers, actually I always put off painting Dreadfleet thinking I should be doing something more useful, but once I get going really enjoy it. The best way to do something you've been putting off is to take only that round to a friends/parents/etc and your paints - have to paint it then. Or make polite conversation, but that will never happen! Will I finish it before 2013 though as promised?