Procrastination by Numbers

[DarkStalker]

+1 on the impressive basing.

One thing I am curious about, where do you get your small rocks from that these guys invariably end up perching on? did you get one of the basing kits full of bags of small stones or do you just pick them up whilst you're out an about?

[cunningmatt]

+1 on the impressive basing.

One thing I am curious about, where do you get your small rocks from that these guys invariably end up perching on? did you get one of the basing kits full of bags of small stones or do you just pick them up whilst you're out an about?

Many thanks glad you like. I am pretty pleased with the basing myself. Supposed to look Martian-esque and seems to have come out well. The stones are from the basing kits, I'm pretty sure it's the Warhammer 40,000 one that I get those size rocks from (Warhammer basing kit had smaller more angular pieces). There seem to be different grades in each kit, but I can't say whether that is intentional or just what they have in Games Workshop's garden at the time, I know my latest pot of GW sand is a lot fine than my previous batch. That's probably no help at all!

[DarkStalker]

Cheers matt, I'd noticed 'rocks' appearing on a few of your models and only just found out a couple of weeks back you get things like that in a special basing kit (I dunno, I'd always assumed you had a well stocked mini quarry/gravel area in your back garden or something ;p)

They do look quite snazzy so I might have to invest in some now.

[cunningmatt]

Cheers matt, I'd noticed 'rocks' appearing on a few of your models and only just found out a couple of weeks back you get things like that in a special basing kit (I dunno, I'd always assumed you had a well stocked mini quarry/gravel area in your back garden or something ;p)

They do look quite snazzy so I might have to invest in some now.

The resin pieces are what make them worth it, in my opinion, there's a good set in each of the Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 Basing Kits. And themed ones in SOME (but not all) of the limited edition ones still on the GW website. If you don't want the resin bits, you're probably better off cost wise rummaging in the garden!

[DarkStalker]

Yeah the resin stuff I probably wouldn't be using so I might go explore a little further in my usual basing supplies areas:

-> I find model railway scenery stuff usually sells grass in packs much larger and cheaper than the GW stuff £1-£2 for a big bag...  I'll bet either they or eBay also do big cheap bags of stones, snow, random rocky debris etc etc to build my basing efforts up a little

That and I probably need to eBay one of these £8 'huge pile of scrap unsorted GW plastic bits' for some random basing debris too...

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Update 109 – Ménage à Teclis Tuesday 8th October 2013



109.1 Wandsworth WAAAGH!!!

Apologies for the shouty subheading, hope you weren't defended. But this week I will mainly be talking about my recent battlefield successes and failures (not necessarily distributed in a 50:50 manner), at a recent mini Wandsworth WAAAGH! Or wandsworth waaagh if you prefer. Get it?! Don't know why I bother.

I decided to take my trusty High Elves, which due to extreme lethargy on my part have only had one previous outing under their new book. The only restriction under the 'comp' was no duplicates of units, and given I had never taken him before, despite painting. I felt this would be the perfect chance to give Teclis a whirl. Who, I am reliably informed, isn't quite as filthy as he used to be. Building an army around him, with the main consideration being I didn't want to take any fragile models resulted in the following army list:

Teclis (450 points)
450 points

Noble (70 points)
+ Battle Standard Bearer (25 points)
+ Dragon Armour (10 points)
+ Great Weapon (4 points)
+ Longbow (5 points)
+ Banner of the World Dragon (50 points)
164 points

Mage (85 points)
+ Level 2 Upgrade (25 points)
+ Khanie's Ring of Fury (25 points)
+ Opal Amulet (15 points)
150 points

30 Lothern Sea Guard (330 points)
+ Standard Bearer (10 points)
+ Musician (10 points)
+ Sea Master (10 points)
360 points

22 Archers (220 points)
+ Standard Bearer (10 points)
+ Musician (10 points)
+ Hawk Eye (10 points)
200 points

5 Dragon Princes of Caledor (145 points)
+ Standard Bearer (10 points)
+ Musician (10 points)
+ Drakemaster (10 points)
175 points

15 Swordmasters of Hoeth (195 points)
+ Standard Bearer (10 points)
+ Musician (10 points)
+ Bladelord (10 points)
225 points

10 Sisters of Avelorn (140 points)
+ High Sister (10 points)
150 points

Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower (70 points)
70 points

TOTAL:  1,994 points

A top tip here when using new models/books is to always read the rules properly. I read Teclis as being able to choose High Magic or any of the eight main lores and know all the spells. Whereas in fact he can either take all of the High Magic deck or choose one spell from each of the eight lores. Tasty. I took High Magic, but bear in mind I do generate a tasty stackable ward save, which came in use as you shall now see.

109.2 Battle 1: Gareth's Daemons of Chaos

Turns out Nurgle is the new black as far as Daemons are concerned, as Gareth's list proved. His army was led by a Daemon Prince of Nurgle, accompanied by a block of Beasts of Nurgle and a large unit of Plaguebearers led by a Herald of Nurgle. There were some Furies too, a contingent of Tzeentch in the shape of some Horrors and the Blue Scribes of Tzeentch. And in a completely fluffy move Khorne had sent along a Skull Cannon. Slaanesh meanwhile could go and get f**ed.

This was my first time facing the new Daemons of Chaos army book and as such I carefully considered a battle plan, before plonking my High Elves on the table and hoping for the best.

Turn 1

Turn 1 pretty much consisted of the Daemons advancing on the High Elf battle lines. The Elves at long range were able to strike down a few Plaguebearers.


It's not the photo, you need your eyes tested.

The main moment of note was that the Skull Cannon destroyed the Repeater Bolt Thrower causing Teclis and the large block of Lothern Sea Guard to panic (despite leadership 10). They rolled sufficient to flee the board, but Gareth generously said I could position them just short of the board edge to keep the game vaguely enjoyable!


The Sea Guard cling on to the table edge for dear life.

Turn 2

The Dragon Princes took the bait of Gareth's Blue Scribes and charged them wiping them out, but positioning them away from the main battle.


The Dragon Princes trundle off for a picnic on the board edge.

The Sisters of Avelorn and Archers poured arrow fire into the Beasts doing a handful of wounds. Hoping to move the Swordmasters out of position, Gareth made an uncharacteristic mistake positioning the Furies so the Swordmasters would charge them next turn and exposing their flank to the Plaguebearers but forgetting the Swordmasters might have an opportunity to reform.


The Mage points at the next target for the Swordmasters with his impressive pointy stick.

Turn 3

As expected the Swordmasters butchered the Furies before they could respond. While the rain of arrows continued on the Beasts.


They're coming, keep firing!

In response Gareth declared a number of charges, the Daemon Prince charged the Dragon Princes to find out who was the better Prince under the D-section of the alphabet. The Beasts charge Teclis and the Sea Guard, whilst the Plaguebearers charge the Swordmasters.


F**K they're here!

The Dragon Princes lose the combat but don't break. Teclis and the Sea Guard dish out a surprising number of wounds to the Beasts and remain in combat. The Banner of the World Dragon saves all the Swordmasters as they start hacking at the Plaguebearers.


Of course we haven't got The Banner of the World Dragon. Oh ok we do! Hahahaha.

Turn 4

With most Daemon units locked in combat the Archers and Sisters of Avelorn attempt to shoot the Skull Cannon but cannot penetrate it's armoured exterior. The Celestial Mage casts Comet of Cassandora at the rear of the Plaguebearer unit, confident the Banner of the World Dragon will save the Swordmasters. Teclis casts a number of essentially pointless High Magic spells to give the Sea Guard a 4+ Ward Save, however it is not enough to save him as the Beasts kill him in combat. Though the Sea Guard hold.


Those Sea Guard aren't dead honest, they're just going on holiday.

Meanwhile the Dragon Princes are wiped out by the Daemon Prince.


Dragons are better than Daemons. No Daemons are better than Dragons. Ok you win.

Turn 5

After much combat the Swordmasters finally hack down the last of the Plaguebearers and their Herald. Only for the Comet to come down and engulf their unit, however the Banner of the World Dragon allows them to emerge unscathed.


Plague? What Plague? We've got Tamiflu.

Again the High Elf shooting fails to wound the Skull Cannon, which guns down half the Sisters of Avelorn with grapeshot. The Beasts of Nurgle finally break the Lothern Sea Guard who flee the board.

Turn 6

Again the might of High Elf archery can't scratch the Skull Cannon. In return it charges the Sisters of Avelorn. The Beasts and Daemon Prince flank charge the Archers who flee to avoid giving up points. The chargers redirect to join the Skull Cannon and crush the remaining Sisters of Avelorn.


Charge!


Flee!

Result

The final score was a 13-7 loss for the High Elves. And yes I did feel dirty for having used the Banner of the World Dragon in such a way. But hey it was Daemons!

109.3 Battle 2: Pete's Skaven

As is the case with school life losers often congregate. And so I was pitted against fellow first round loser Pete and his Skaven army, which broadly consisted of the following, I may have lost track there's a lot of Skaven in an army. A Grey Seer and Warlock Engineer leading a block of Clanrats, a large block of Plague Monks, a large block of Slaves, and a Hell Pit Abomination - predictable! Throt who lead a block of Rat Ogres (I'd been warned how filthy Rat Ogres with regeneration are by Pete's previous opponent, so predictably watched as Pete rolled regeneration for their ability this game). The army was rounded of by Skweel leading a large Giant Rat Pack.

My vague semblance of a plan was to put my large infantry units around a forest in my deployment zone, and thus face the Skaven where they would no longer be steadfast. Genius. If I could pull it off.


Come fight us in this forest, you know you want to.

Turn 1

As predicted Turn 1 saw the chittering Skaven horde advance upon the High Elf battle line.


No not that forest, the other one!!

The only real attack was from Vermintide, but Pete failed to roll the range required to reach any of the Elves. In response the Archers and Sea Guard shot six Plague Monks and the Sisters of Avelorn put their flaming arrows to good use killing off a Rat Ogre.

Turn 2

The Skaven suddenly remember they packed a Storm Banner and deploy it blocking out the Sun* with raging storm clouds (*sadly the celestial body not the newspaper). The Rat Ogres charge the Sisters of Avelorn who flee and escape. The Plague Monks charge the Swordmasters who, as part of the engage the Skaven in the forest plan, fall back through the forest.


We're not running, it is strategic.


We are running, S**T they are great big filthy Rat Ogres. RUN!!

Though the Swordmasters are hit by a Doom Rocket killing six of their number. In their turn the Sisters fail to rally, but stay on the board.


Keep running! They're still filthy!

Annoyed Teclis casts Fiery Convocation on the Plague Monks wiping out 17 of their number. The Moonstaff of Lieath draining away the dangerous miscast. With the Storm Banner in play the High Elf archery fails to do anything of note.


Rentokill have been called. Bye bye Plague Monks.

Turn 3

The Skaven turn is largely ineffective as the Rat Pack fails to charge the Dragon Princes and Teclis ensures that Plague is dispelled. Fearing Teclis recasting Fiery Convocation, the Grey Seer passes the opportunity to dispel it, figuring the Plague Monks strength has been so badly reduced that they won't be much use, as he hopes Teclis will keep the spell going but will struggle to burn every last rat.

In return Teclis miscasts Soul Quench on the Hell Pit Abomination doing 5 wounds, as it's regenerative powers briefly dessert it. Teclis and the Celestial Mage both emerge unscathed from the resultant Strength 6 hit. The Sisters of Avelorn rally at the back of the edge of the board. And despite the Storm Banner the Archers manage to kill a Rat Ogre bearing down on them.


Any chance this storm could end soon please, we haven't bought umbrellas?

Turn 4

The Skaven respond aggressively as the Rat Ogres charge the Archers, who must stay and fight rather than flee the board. The Grey Seer dabbles with too much power miscasting Plague which wipes out 9 Lothern Sea Guard and wounds Teclis. However the Grey Seer survives the effects.


Nearly in the forest, just a little bit further.
In an impressive display of martial prowess the Archers kill Throt and 2 Rat Ogres in hand to hand. However it's not enough to stop the rest of the Rat Ogres wiping the Archers out to a man. The Rat Ogres then overrun into the Sisters of Avelorn.


I knew we should have run further.

The High Elves retake the initiative with the Swordmasters and Lothern Sea Guard charging the Slaves.


Oh it's near enough the forest! CHARGE!!.

The Dragon Princes lower the lances and plough into the Giant Rats.


We were promised first charge, that's the only reason we turned up.

The Celestial Mage weakens the Slaves with Curse of the Midnight Wind in an effort to reduce Elven casualties. The Warlock Engineer, who abandoned his Clan Rats to get a better shot, is gunned down at virtually point blank range by the Repeater Bolt Thrower.

Skweel refuses a challenge by the Dragon Prince champion in the hope of waiting until they've used their lances. The Elven knights kill six rats for no loss, despite being steadfast on leadership 10, Skweel's nerve breaks and the Giant Rats flee flee and are rundown by the victorious Dragon Princes. Despite horrendous losses the Slaves refuse to turn tail and carry on fighting.

Turn 5


Let's eat more Elves! It's only a Bolt Thrower. Sod it, we need a good tooth pick.

The Rat Ogres charge the Bolt Thrower in the flank, threatening to overrun into the Swordmasters' flank. The Grey Seer casts Bless with Filth on the Rat Ogres, unable to control the power a massive explosion engulfs the tightly packed Skaven ranks. The Grey Seer emerges unscathed, but nine Clan Rats and eight Slaves are less fortunate.

The Bolt Thrower crew valiantly attempt to defend the machine inflicting the maximum two wounds on the Rat Ogres they can do. However it's no use as the Rat Ogres butcher them and plough into the Swordmasters' flank. But limited frontage, curtails the Rat Ogres to causing only four wounds on the Swordmasters. In return the Elves kill 14 Slaves. The Slaves scatter in all directions and the Rat Ogres run only to be chased down by Teclis and the Lothern Sea Guard.

Turn 6

With very few Skaven left it becomes a mopping up job for the Elves. Soul Quench firstly from Teclis and then from the Celestial Mage's Ring of Fury reduce the Clanrats and Grey Seer to a pile of smouldering fur. The final act of the game was for the one remaining Plague Monk to be consumed by Fiery Convocation.

Result

Despite the Skaven wiping out all my missile troops, it was still a 20-0 defeat. In fairness I was as surprised as anyone and demanded a recount myself, but it was still 20-0!

109.4 Battle 3: Ed's High Elves

It was civil war for the final game as High Elf fought High Elf in a battle to win the Daz Doorstep Challenge and lay claim to the whitest of the white cloth. Ed's army was built around a horde of White Lions armed with the Banner of the World Dragon and accompanied by Teclis. I mean who would be that filthy? Yeah ok fair point I deserved it. They were accompanied by a Battle Standard Bearer and a Mage. In other unit news, there was a small unit of Silver Helms, a Frostheart Phoenix (I still consider that new-fangled!), a block of Archers and some Reavers.

So I didn't really know what to do at all in terms of plan here. The White Lions were clearly going to Muller Light anything in my army. Based on the sort of success, of my battle plan against the Skaven, I decided my cunning plan would be to engage the White Lions in the forest where they would lose their steadfast and I'd stand a chance of breaking them. This would be a good plan bar two minor details I later remembered: White Lions have the Woodstrider rule so are unaffected by the forest. And White Lions are stubborn anyway so it wouldn't matter anyway. Other than those small problems, it's a fool proof plan.

For the purposes of making this report easier I will refer to Ed's army as the "evil" army, and mine as the "good" one. Just random words I've chosen, no meaning or bitterness should be inferred.

Turn 1

The game begins with Evil Teclis failingmto cast Dwellers Bellow on the Lothern Sea Guard unit. The evil Archers launch a volley of arrows at the good Sisters of Avelorn killing seven of them. The remainder flee for safety, but rally in their own turn.

Good Teclis is unable to get any spells past Bad Teclis as the two vie for magical superiority. Despite the evil Frost Phoenix gaining a 4+ Ward Save from the Winds of Magic, the good Archers manage to shoot three wounds off the icy beast.


See that pile of blue feathers over there? Shoot it.

Turn 2

The Elven standoff continues. Again evil Teclis fails to roll the casting value for Dwellers Bellow. However his assistant mage does manage to cast Flaming Sword on the evil Archers. With their increased power the evil Archers are able to shoot the crew of the good Bolt Thrower dead.

Good Teclis responds by killing two evil Silver Helms with the ever handy Soul Quench. The good Archers and Sisters of Avelorn are unable to repeat their success last turn as they fail to penetrate the tough ice encrusted hide of the evil Phoenix.

Turn 3

Annoyed by the pattering of arrows against its frozen hide the evil Frostheart Phoenix charges the good Archers. They take five wounds though do manage to get a single wound against the frosty beast.


Hang on a minute, how can he be beating us? He only has one wing!

Evil Teclis finally manages to cast Dwellers Below, only for Good Teclis to destroy the spell.

In response the good Dragon Princes charge the evil Silver Helms, but in a perfect television commercial for the Elven Chainmail Association not a single wound could penetrate either side's armour. Meanwhile the good Celestial Mage summoned a Comet above the ranks of the evil Archers.

Turn 4

The evil White Lions charge into good Teclis and the Lothern Sea Guard. While the evil Reavers charged the remaining good Sisters of Avelorn.


It's battle of the periphery units, kind of like Xtra Factor to the X Factor of the White Lions.

The good Swordmasters come under fire from the evil Archers and despite trying to slice the arrows out of the sky with their swords, four of their number fall. In combat the evil Ellyrian Reavers and the good Sisters of Avelorn each kill two a piece just leaving the unit champions locked in combat. The evil Frostheart Phoenix stomps over the remaining good Archers. The good Dragon Princes and the evil Silver Helms kill one of their rivals each.


They're Elves too, why are we fighting them? Ssshhh you are ruining it for everyone.

In the main combat the good Lothern Sea Guard strike first taking down the evil Mage and eight of the evil White Lions, however the White Lions strike back killing good Teclis, the Battle Standard Bearer and eight of the Lothern Sea Guard. The Lothern Sea Guard remain one model short of being steadfast, and break, only to be rundown by the victorious evil White Lions.


Hang on if this is Teclis, who's that?!.

Turn 5

The good Swordmasters attempt to get revenge and strip the last two wounds from the evil Phoenix, but they fail to reach the beast. The Comet of Cassadora comes down killing eleven evil Archers and causing them to panic and flee, but they rally before reaching the table edge. The remaining good Mage casts Iceshard Blizzard on the sole Reaver hoping to tip the tables in combat for the Sisters of Averlon champion. He also casts the Comet of Cassandora again on the evil Archers, but he miscasts and he loses all spells. The good Dragon Princes and the evil Silver Helms fail to wound each other again, but the Dragon Princes break Silver Helms due to their standard, despite a reroll for the presence of the Battle Standard Bearer. The Dragon Princes run down the Silver Helms. The Reaver manages to kill the final good Sister of Avelorn.

Turn 6

The Comet of Cassandora to come down killing eight evil Archers, however they hold their nerve and don't flee.

With the good Dragon Princes out of the reach of the evil High Elf army, all that remains is for the rest of the evil army to charge in and butcher the good Swordmasters.


So we'll call it a draw, what do you reckon?

Results

Despite my hopes that maybe mathematics would have changed and I might still be triumphant, adding up the victory points resulted in a 20-0 loss for my High Elves. Which to be fair was entirely deserved due to my inability to come up with even the vaguest semblance of a battle plan, and the appalling jokes I subject my competitors too. Apologies.

109.5 – Final Results

Overall I finished 4th or 5th (can't quite remember), a very impressive tournament placing I'll think you'll agree. I won't mention the fact there were only six competitors, no one need know that. Thanks as always to all my competitors for putting up with me taking notes and photos, but mostly for putting up with me, and for being good sports. And to Ol for all his excellent organising skills, much appreciated.

109.6 – Get In Touch

As always you can get in touch and tell me what a useless tactical moron I am (like a Tactical Marine but with less snazzy shoulder pads),  or if you're more pleasant you can follow me on Twitter @ProbyNumbers. Welcome to all my new followers over the last couple of weeks. There is no escape.

[Dave]

Umm only thing I spotted that wasn't tactical morondom but possibly a rules error was the skaven doomrocket killing 6 of your swordmasters.  If memory serves from game 1 they had the banner of the world dragon, and the doom rocket is a magic item, therefore makes magical attacks, so you'd have had a 2+ ward against them.  But if the BotWD was on the BSB and not in the unit then ignore me.

Great reports, really enjoyed reading them and nice looking armies on show. 

On the daemons report you mentioned that slannesh can go f*** itself, more than likely that was why they never turned up for the fight.

[underscore]

Good point. I'm sure there must be some way out of counting them as magical though. I mean, we're Skaven, we always have a get out!

I'm still bitter that the last Plague Monk couldn't man up for one last round though - he had one job to do and burning to death alone in a dank, dark tower was not it!

[cunningmatt]

Umm only thing I spotted that wasn't tactical morondom but possibly a rules error was the skaven doomrocket killing 6 of your swordmasters.  If memory serves from game 1 they had the banner of the world dragon, and the doom rocket is a magic item, therefore makes magical attacks, so you'd have had a 2+ ward against them.

Typical fecking Skaven filth! 

Great reports, really enjoyed reading them and nice looking armies on show. 

On the daemons report you mentioned that slannesh can go f*** itself, more than likely that was why they never turned up for the fight.

Many thanks. In fairness if I had the dexterity to f*** myself, I probably wouldn't have turned up until at least Game 2

I'm still bitter that the last Plague Monk couldn't man up for one last round though - he had one job to do and burning to death alone in a dank, dark tower was not it!

Yes turns out rats burn nicely! Mooo hahahahahahahaha!

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Update 110 – Clearing out the Hobby Shed Monday 11th November 2013



110.1 Hobby Avoidance

We've all got things we've put of doing for months, clearing out the shed, descaling the kettle, going to the sexual health clinic, writing this blog. The list is virtually endless. And of course the avoided chores don't just dominate real life, they dominate hobby life too. Who hasn't put off finishing painting some important model, because they've been distracted by doing another far more fun model? I know I certainly have. I have a whole shelf littered with part built and part assembled models, all bought with the best intentions that they will get painted up straight away.



As you can see the shelf also includes various casualties of battle that I haven't got round to fixing, pretty much always including White Lions!

There are a number of reasons why models get moved onto the damned realm of the "I'll get back to this at some point" shelf. Perhaps army fatigue, this often happened with Beastmen, after playing a particularly depressing game in which my entire army was removed from the table after only inflicting one wound in return (usually on my own army after taking a particularly inappropriate magic item). The resulting post mortem sadness would relegate any part painted Beasty models up to the shelf only to return to the normal painting zone when sufficient time had passed since the Beastmen had last been trounced.

Failing the periodic oscillations in enthusiasm for my various armies, the main thing that puts me off finishing off a key model is if there's some kind of tricky construction task. Something I've maybe never faced before, requires me to buy a new hobby supply, or simply seems fiddly and off putting. In my mind the required technical skill and effort increases in direct proportion to the amount time I've spent avoiding the task, until in my mind it's become so complicated that even Gordon Burns, host of The Krypton Factor would struggle to be able to achieve it.

Typical things that can be put off forever include:

• Painting a new texture or material I'm unsure about. Flames, magic clouds, various types of animal flesh, seaweed are just a few of the things I've put off for at least several months, before finally mastering.
• Multi-part Assembly models. Anything I have to build, then paint, then build again puts me off, because it's always such a bloody faff. Calvary I'm ok with, as are banner bearers where you save the banner until you've painted a nice design on it before gluing. Otherwise forget it. Monster and war machines with wings and reigns and harnesses always upset me, no matter how well everything dry fits together before painting. It always requires a large amount of swearing, bending and hitting with a hammer to get the model assembled after painting. During which time all your beautifully painted details are lost under thirty-five layers of superglue. Then you realise you need a huge blob of green stuff to close the gap between the now ill-fitting parts meaning you have to repaint a huge section, and then the whole model falls apart. Chariots have their own particular place in hell, under this section, they simply never go together properly once painted, the base ends up warped, the mounts end up at odd angles and the final model looks like it's a chariot in the midst of failing five simultaneous dangerous terrain tests. God knows if I will ever finish my Lothern Skycutters.
• New construction techniques. Anything requiring me to try something new to build it gets put off almost indefinitely. The first model I had to pin, included at least six months of hoping it would go away before I finally tackled it. My first Finecast model was avoided for about 12 years. And anything requiring even the slightest level of conversion is got out, extensively looked at, before being put away again and never touched. The main thing in common with all these avoided models, is that they were really simple to do in the end when I finally got around to it. Yet I never learn the lesson.

I'm sure there's more reasons and things you end up putting off, why not let me know? I can think of a thousand reasons not to bother, but why not waste your life and tell me?

110.2 Magnetising

Following the theme of new construction techniques I've been putting off. I have for several years now been putting off the concept of magnetising models.

Back in Update 3, yes Update number three – a hundred thousand years ago. I bought the, then, new Chaos Lord on Manticore kit convinced I would build and assemble it within a few weeks of purchase. So far so good.



Warhammer aficionados, by which I mean geeks, will remember that the Chaos Lord on Manticore kit came out at the same time as the Storm of Magic expansion. And that additionally the Manticore can be built with or without rider for use in said games. This is achieved through two heads being supplied, one with chair and one without. Examining the model during the construction process, I realised it would be rather simple, in theory, to magnetise the two heads and make them interchangeable.
However the thought of dealing with this filled me with dread. It was like I had inhaled from a party balloon filled with doom instead of helium, and instead of voice going high and squeaky it had instead become full of dark foreboding undertones. I don't know why, there's no logic. But I didn't know what kit to buy, how to start, what to do. I was convinced it was all going to go wrong. It was all a disaster in the making. I may be exaggerating here. This combined with the fact that my attempts to construct the Chaos Lord had resulted in him not being able to sit properly upset me so greatly that Manticore and rider were both banished to the never to be finished shelf to gather dust.



Now over two years later, I've decided enough is enough the Manticore must be dusted and built. And so I've had a go at the magnetising.

Two points to note, normally I do produce excellent (well they are, don't deny it) guides to my techniques. However this time I ashamed to say I have failed you. Too much of this project involved shoddy gouging and hacking and far too few technical achievements. The shame.

Secondly I essentially copied the guide supplied by Dave here:
http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3512.0

See the 6th reply on this link, which is both excellent and better than anything I could write.

First up I purchased a new hobby drill, in this case the Army Painter one, and also a bag of magnets.



I'm not a big Games Workshop basher (or "Games Workshop badger" as autocorrect prefers), but I have to admit the Army Painter Hobby Drill is much better than the Citadel one. It just is. Sturdier, bigger range of drill bits, better.

Measuring up all the bits and pieces I hit my first snag. The Hobby Drill didn't have a drill bit big enough to drill a hole for the magnets. Boo. So a quick trip to the DIY store saw me get a 4mm drill bit. However sadly they didn't have a hand drill, and I really didn't have the testosterone to attack my models with an electric drill.



So annoyed at the potential of having to delay the Manticore again. I'm ashamed to say that after drilling a pilot hole with a smaller drill bit, I then gouged out an appropriate size hole with the drill bit. Shameful I know. Anyway it did the trick. And despite having to green stuff a few holes back together after drilling right through the inner plastic, oops, my holes were drilled.

So after years of being on the side-lines my Manticore is magnetised.





And whilst all the glue was drying I went about disassembling and rebuilding the Chaos Lord so now he can actually sit on the Manticore! The riders are a pretty snug fit on the chair, meaning they almost certainly won't fit it on it after a couple of layers of paint!! But also meaning I didn't feel a need to magnetise them to the chair. I can simply swap between Lord and Sorcerer as I see fit.





In Dave's original notes he commented how you must make sure you get the polarity of the magnets correct. My initial thoughts were "Who could possibly be that stupid?". Turns out the answer to that question was me. As my next magnetising job was on my Phoenix, so that he could either be used with or without rider. Sadly I got the polarity of magnets the wrong way round meaning rather than being magnetised onto his mount my Anointed of Asuryan is repelled off the Phoenix like he's activated an ejector seat! Fortunately a bit of gouging and digging meant I could retrieve the well glued magnet and reverse its polarity. Hence a happy Phoenix and rider.



Whilst on the Phoenix topic I should point out that I had a cunning plan for my making my model as multipurpose as possible. I covered the small amount of flames around the Anointed of Asuryan's chair with green stuff and tried to make them an extension of the throne.



The plan being that when I get round to adding a Frostheart Phoenix to my army I could use this Anointed of Asuryan on either Phoenix. Allowing me to build Caradryan and the Anointed of Asuryan on foot with the second kit. This would give me all the options from just two kits. I say 'just' two. You know what I mean!! I thought it was reasonably cunning.





Fingers crossed I will get the Phoenix finished soon, so you can see it in all its glory.

110.3 Warhammer Bake Off

On a completely unrelated note those of you poor souls who follow me on Twitter: @ProbyNumbers, will know that I have decided to bake my next Warhammer army. Well if Annie can make her army out of farmyard animals it seems only fair!

First up was this Spirit Host made out of meringue:



Then for some scenery to accompany it I made this Garden of Morr:



And finally I made an attempt an Arachnarok Spider. Though my webbing icing went a bit runny, still meets three colour minimum required for tournaments though:



I'd like to say that you'll be seeing these models on the table top soon...but sadly I ate about 600 points worth of models over the weekend. Oh well, extra flab for the winter I guess.

Until next time friends, or more likely enemies...