Tale of OG Gamers - High Elves

[Angelus Mortifer]

I've obviously had a rough week - tired and drained for various reasons... so I couldn't help laughing when I looked at both our avatars and then imagined a hard-a-nails Blood Angel Marine... with a Heavy Bolter... and Red Thirst... as well as being sequestered to the Ordo Xenos... giving your lego guy an amiable pat on the back as he commented positively on the dude's painting skills 

...I need a holiday 

[cunningmatt]

Haha, we clearly have avatars from different circles! This is actually me in LEGO that an artist friend of mine drew. The t-shirt refers to a children's programme I used to work on - one day when I completely run out of things to prattle on about, and this just becomes my memoirs I'll tell you all about it!

Incidentally I need a holiday too, this morning in my half asleep state I accidentally grabbed the bubble bath rather than the shower gel getting washed this morning. I only realisied when I starting foaming up, my body looked like the mouth of rabid dog. Glad I've put that image of my naked body in your head.

PS You do need a holiday, I've just seen how much you've written on your blog tonight - it's making my posts look brief!!!

[Angelus Mortifer]

[Shower Image] . . . . . . . 

As for the blog stuff, it was thankfully pre-written just before I came back to Blighty - no way I could have done all that tonight in my current state

[cunningmatt]

[Shower Image] . . . . . . . 

Sorry!

[cunningmatt]

Wednesday 1st June - WEEK 22

So people here we are in the final month of the Tale of OG Gamers, yep 9 months down 1 to go. In precisely 30 days myself, and all the other Tale entrants, will have finished their 2,000 point armies... or perhaps not.

Astute followers (i.e. not those who ask me when I'm going to blog about such and such, only for me to tell them that I did, last week – I know who you are, you need to read carefully I will be asking questions later!) will remember that last week saw a flurry of hobby activity so you're probably thinking that this week will just be me talking rubbish about a load of unrelated stuff to distract from my lack of painting. But no, oh ye of little faith, for I've another fun packed painting update stuffed fuller than a FIFA official's pocket.

First up with the recent rest bite I've had from painting High Elves I squeezed out a couple more Beastmen and got 3 Razorgors done to add to the army. I actually only spent a day and a half painting these, less time than it took to assemble them!!! I'd like to say I'm getting faster, but I think the primary cause of this, is the fact that bar drybrushing the fur, it's primarily all flesh coloured.

Here they are, my main intention had been to make sure they don't, on first inspection at least, look like three clones – as they're all the same original model:





In case you're interested here's what I did to each individual to make them different:

Here's the basic model, as shown on the box:





For those bothered the flesh is Tallaran Flesh, successively layered with 1:1 Tallaran Flesh : Dwarf Flesh, then Dwarf Flesh, then 1:1 Dwarf Flesh : Elf Flesh and finally pure Elf Flesh. It was then aggressively washed with Ogryn Flesh and a final highlight of Elf Flesh was then used.

Here's the first variant:





The changes I made were:
•   Making some extra fur for the head with green stuff.
•   Gluing the tusks in the mouth in a different orientation.
•   The original tail was cut off and replaced with a tail from the Chaos Spawn set.
•   Sets of smaller horns, again from the Chaos Spawn, were glued on the back rather than the tall horns.
•   The back right leg was reshaped.
•   The left shoulder set of spikes were replaced with a large horn from the Chaos Spawn set and some judicious use of Green Stuff.

And the second variant:





The changes made were:
•   Gluing the tusks in the mouth in a different orientation.
•   The back right leg was reshaped.
•   The original tail was cut off and replaced with a tail from the Chaos Spawn set.
•   Rather than horns on the back in the fur, I modelled extra fur with Green Stuff.
•   A tongue (tentacle from the Chaos Spawn set) was added in the mouth replacing the modelled tongue.
•   The right shoulder set of spikes were replaced with spikes from the Chaos Spawn set and some judicious Green Stuff.
•   The left eye was replaced with a beady Chaos Spawn eye with some Green Stuff.

And in case you're interested I painted the eyes slightly differently across the unit for more character, some had the following style:



Here the eye is painted Scab Red, then layered with ovals of Red Gore, Blood Red, Blazing Orange, Golden Yellow and finally a slit of Chaos Black.



And I decided to do one with the infamous bug eye from the 'Eavy Metal paint job (sorry a bit of a lousy photo), I painted the eye Rotting Flesh, with a central area of Skull White, I then washed it Baal Red before adding the red veins and eyeball in Blood Red with a Chaos Black spot in the centre.



As they come on 50mm x 50mm bases (yes, not 40mm x 40mm they're that big), I used some twigs and rocks for decoration. Now because I stole my log painting scheme from an old White Dwarf and I'm sick of going under the bed for it I'm going to write it here so I can always access it:

The log was painted Chardonite Granite, then drybrushed 1:1 Codex Grey : Graveyard Earth, with selective drybrushing of Camo Green to represent moss.

That may not interest you, but it saves me heading under the bed – and being someone anal enough to keep their White Dwarfs in number order, it's particularly annoying as it's one from the bottom of the pile!

Adding these new Razorgor to my existing Beastmen army takes it to a whopping 5,551 points!!! And if you're wondering what that looks like altogether, wonder no more:





Just in case your eyesight is failing you, here's a little key (you may wish to click on this photo to make it larger!):



A – 5 Chaos Warhounds
B – 5 Chaos Warhounds
C – Giant
D – Tuskgor Chariot
E – Tuskgor Chariot
F – Tuskgor Chariot
G – Tuskgor Chariot
H – Chaos Spawn
I – 6 Minotaurs
J – Bray-Shaman
K – Beastlord
L – Malagor, the Dark Omen
M – 20 Gors
N – 3 Razorgors
O – 40 Gors
P – Wargor
Q – Great Bray-Shaman
R – Wargor with Battle Standard
S – Wargor
T – 20 Bestigor
U – Chaos Spawn
V – Jabberslythe
W – 10 Ungor Raiders
X – 10 Centigor
Y – Ghorros Warhoof
Z – 6 Harpies
AA (yes I ran out of letters!) – 10 Ungor Raiders
AB – 20 Ungors
AC – 20 Gors
AD – 20 Bestigors
AE – 16 Ungors

Somewhat worringly, bar the Giant and Chaos Hounds, I have painted this all in the 15 months since the 7th edition Beastmen book came out (and I've painted the best part of 2,000 points of High Elves for this blog in that time)!!! How did I find the time? Why haven't I got anything better to do?

And here's some other shots I took, no your eyes don't deceive you it's a bit later in the day and they're deployed differently!





This one I particularly like as it looks like a massive endless hoard advancing out of the gloom, an effect I achieved simply by photographing it using the ambient lighting at the OG Games club!:



Yes if you're wondering where the dodgy carpet and uniform chairs and tables have come from, no I've not photographed it at 1980s wedding reception but at the club. And I'm sure you're now asking, why oh why, have I assembled such a mob of Beastmen? Well this Monday was a Bank Holiday all day event at the club and a couple of us decided to have a mega battle, sadly this went about as well as a Liberal Democrat popularity contest and so it just ended up being myself and Steven - aka shadownova24  (what happened to the previous 23 shadownovas is anyone's guess?) with my 5,200 points of Beastmen and his 2,500 points of Skaven we had to come up with a slightly different scenario.

Since the arrival of the small Warhammer rulebook in the Island of Blood set my hardback 521 page rulebook has been has underused as Cheryl Cole's visa (I mean seriously over eight years who thought the only person who'd survive all the changes to the presenters and judges of X Factor would be Lois Walsh?!!!).



Anyway towards the back of the Argos catalogue of Warhammer there's a section called Warhammer Battles which has a selection of different scenarios you can try out. We chose a variant of the "Heroic Last Stand" battle from page 394.



Here's the rules (plus our changes):

•   The "Heroic Underdog" army chooses an army of only 33% of the value of the "Overwhelming Attacking" army, but with no restrictions. Given what we'd bought as lists, Steven had just under half of my army but with normal restrictions.
•   The "Heroic Underdog" deploys in a defensible 18" square in the centre of the battlefield – terrain is selected to be defensive, but no buildings in the area can be garrisoned and a maximum of three sides can be fully enclosed by walls. The "Overwhelming Attackers" deploys his units at least 8" from the "Heroic Underdog's models. This was unchanged for our battle.
•   The "Heroic Underdog" starts with the first turn and must survive as long as possible, the game ends when the "Heroic Underdog" has no non-fleeing units in his deployment zone. If this happens in Turns 1-4 the "Overwhelming Attacker" wins, 5-6 a draw, and 7+ the "Heroic Underdog" wins. We played until all Defenders were destroyed or fleeing regardless of position – mainly due to misreading the rules!
•   The "Heroic Underdog" can place a marker in his deployment zone as a rally point, all units within 6" are unbreakable, but if the "Overwhelming Attacker" moves onto this, the rally point is destroyed. This was unchanged for our battle.
•   Any "Heroic Underdog" unit more than 12" from the deployment zone must pass a leadership test at a -2 modifier at the start of the turn, otherwise they're removed from the game (taking the opportunity to flee the attackers). This was unchanged for our battle.
•   The "Overwhelming Attacker" can recycle any core unit that is destroyed or flees off the battlefield, it can enter in the remaining moves phase of the next turn. We didn't use this rule.

I didn't do a full battle report of the game, primarily for my own sanity, but here's some photos of key moments:



Deployment – and it doesn't look too good for the Skaven, surely even I can win this game?!



The Plague Furnace, Plague Monks, and some dice standing in for models!





The Stormvermin, led by Ikit Claw, get hit by 40 Gors to the front and 20 Ungors (who rolled frenzy for their Primal Fury result) to the flank. Meanwhile, in a crazed burst of speed the Doomwheel shot out of the Skaven deployment zone crashing into and destroying a Tuskgor Chariot. However charged in the flank it's unable to hold up to the Giant, whose constant rolls of "Chomp" mean it eats the Doomwheel regaining the wounds it's devastating weaponry inflicted.





Meanwhile the Plague Furnace and Monks, get the brunt of the Skaven attack with 6 Minotaurs, a Beastlord, Battle Standard and 40 Bestigor charging them – with Malagor lingering close by to help those all important Primal Fury rolls.



The Plague Furnace is eventually toppled, after 23 Plague Monks die in the first round of combat!! In the background Ikit's unit suffers so many casualties that it's back ranks are no longer within 6" of the rally point so it flees.



The Giant runs down the Doomwheel, and the Gors, chasing Ikit, plough into a unit of Clanrats.



The Razorgors and a Tuskgor chariot (with slightly drunk driver - slight casualty of transportation) plough into the Skaven Slaves, the resulting combat lasts for 6 combat phases!



The Gutter Runners turn up, in a very unskaven fashion they decide to help the last stand, however a lucky round of shooting from the Ungor Raiders sends them fleeing off the board.



The Jabberslythe survives a lucky shot from the Warp Lightning Cannon, and then goes onto to destroy it and the critical rally point it's defending.



Ikit Claw Skitterleaps out of the unit to threaten Malagor but his Warpfire Thrower wildly overshoots taking three Centigors out who were miles from the front line and his Storm Daemon is dispelled. He later gets a unit of Minotaurs in the face!



A Spawn and Tuskgor Chariot wade into the other unit of Skaven Slaves but can't whittle them down, an impressive set of armour save rolls prevent the Chariot from succumbing to the Slaves, much to the annoyance of the waiting Giant who's desperate to smash something!



By Turn 2 the Beastmen had nearly overrun the village, but there were still some large units of Skaven holding out.



The Razorgor finally break through the Slaves, however they join the massive pile up of Beastmen unit all facing each other after pursuing through the Skaven.



A series of spells and a rampaging Chaos Spawn break the remaining Skaven units leaving the Ungor locked in combat with the last Skaven unit of Giant Rats.



The Giant Rats are finally broken by the Ungor at the end of Turn 4 giving a win to the Beastmen.

Yes, I won with the Beastmen – thanks to all those who acted with ridiculous levels of surprise and mocking on the day! And yes I only needed double the points to win! In fairness the Skaven put up a good fight, it took 3 turns to clear out the village (which would have won me the original scenario) but then all my units were facing the wrong way to attack the remaining stragglers. Had Steven known the scenario we'd be facing in advance and choose a more defensive army he could have maybe held onto his rally point with a really large unbreakable unit, and I think he could have held for the draw.

Generally it is considered rude to mock people you actually know in print, but I have to say the funniest line of the whole battle – Steven asked me how I based my models, and when I said snow, he said "What real snow?" – yeah mate I glued on real snow, and since have kept my models in the freezer to stop it melting! Sorry for putting that in print, but I just couldn't resist (and I'm quite mean really!). He he!

What's In the Box? – The Results

Time for What's In The Box? the results, will Ol or Lee who have entered every month since this competition started actually get their box picked this month? (I promise it's a genuine draw!). With the death of Cheryl still weighing heavily on our hearts this month's random draw will be constructed by our guest independent adjudicator Barry the Lindt Bunny.



And the good news is, after 9 months... Ol's choice finally got picked!!!



Let's hope after all that, it's a good box!!



It's a classic Empire box, from my abortive Empire army:



I've got 12 old metal Handgunners:



12 Halberdiers:



A random command group, probably good for Swordsmen:



A second command group for the Halberdiers:



And one for the Handgunners:



And one wing from Deathclaw (Karl Franz's Griffon):



I think I got most of this stuff in a bundle of Empire bits (all in an old style GW Mail Order Box) from and independent retailer on the Isle of Wight when I was on holiday there at the age of 15. I was usually given a holiday spending money allowance by my parents, which I tried to avoid spending on actual souvenirs so I cold spend it on Warhammer (what a horrid kid I was!). I seem to remember on leaving the store with my Empire box set (and a rare expansion to the old Heroquest game) I overheard a regular customer saying to the owner how he thought "He'd never shift that lot, and what an idiot I was for buying them!" – slightly rude (though I think the same things were said when people realised I bought three Razorgors off Ol). Well who's had the last laugh, they've got so much use from me that I've put them in a box never painted or played with them... oh, ok they win. But I did also pick up as part of the set an Empire War Wagon – which is still in the box unassembled under the bed somewhere – that could buy me a house if I ever put it on eBay!

High Elves – yes there are some!

And in case you are wondering I have started this month's painting, but sadly I haven't got the Dragon Princes completely basecoated yet – give us a break it's only the 1st of June! Oh you don't believe me – rude! Here's some proof:



See! And if I wasn't writing this blog they'd probably be finished by now! Hopefully they'll be basecoated for next week.

Oh and I had someone comment that they thought last week I was missing a rant – you'll give me a reputation as a grump you know! Anyway as I feel bad for moaning about Games Workshop recently, because I actually quite like the new Citadel Finecast range, so to redress the balance here's two non Games Workshop mini rants I launched at my friends on Facebook recently...

Firstly, I can't believe they've dropped Galaxy Truffles from Celebrations, they were the best!! Why have they gone and not Bounty or Snickers which no one likes? I guarantee all that will be left in the box at the end of the evening will be Snickers, Bounty and the odd Milky Way people have mistaken for a Bounty.

Secondly, I have been wishing my hairdresser had a mute button, I am neither interested in sharing the tedious details of my life nor in hearing the equally tedious details of yours (admittedly I'm sharing the tedious details of my life with you right now, but that's just tough)! Just be quiet and cut my hair. - Does thinking this make me a grumpy old man? Probably. What really gets to me are the pointless topics he talks about, it's like holding a conversation with a copy of Heat Magazine, I don't have an opinion on the fact that the lead singer of the Killers has gone solo, and as for The Only Way is Essex do I really look like the kind of person who watches ITV2? Then he asked me "If I was going on holiday?", I lied and said I had none planned simply to shut that line of questioning down, but then he asked 'If you were going to go on holiday, where would you go?' Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! At least I didn't get irritating hyena girl, who laughs at every statement I say, regardless of whether it's funny or not. I swear I could say to her "I've got a deeply infectious tropical disease that's going to kill every person on this planet starting with you" and she'd simply laugh like a demented banshee before asking me to tilt my head to one side.

There, I feel better now.

[fatolaf]

I win again! 

People might think there is some match fixing going on here....

[Dave]

First off I'd best recognise the hobby effort, those beasts are awesome, fantastic horde of figs.

Now the important stuff.

Wednesday 1st June - WEEK 22


Firstly, I can't believe they've dropped Galaxy Truffles from Celebrations, they were the best!! Why have they gone and not Bounty or Snickers which no one likes?

It would seem I'm a statistical outlier (once again to be honest) I quite like the snickers one.  The best thing in the celebration box is the maltesery thing.

Secondly, I have been wishing my hairdresser had a mute button,

Try going to a barber rather than a hairdresser.  I have sat in stoic silence for years and been roundly ignored in return, it's awesome.

[cunningmatt]

I win again! 

People might think there is some match fixing going on here....

Just the luck of the draw! Barry the Bunny would never allow such cheating.

First off I'd best recognise the hobby effort, those beasts are awesome, fantastic horde of figs.

Now the important stuff.

It would seem I'm a statistical outlier (once again to be honest) I quite like the snickers one.  The best thing in the celebration box is the maltesery thing.

Try going to a barber rather than a hairdresser.  I have sat in stoic silence for years and been roundly ignored in return, it's awesome.

Cheers for the compliment! As for the Snickers, that does make you odd! Malteasers are good, and as are Twix which are back - but Galaxy Truffle are the best! Bring them back!!!!! As for haircuts, firstly have you not seen my hair it's styled to within an inch of it's life no bog standard barber can do that!  Secondly I've found barbers in London tend to to employ lots of people who don't speak English (I have no problem with this per se) but after the experience in which I said I was growing my hair long at the back at the non-English speaking barber went yes and then preceeded to shave it all off at the back I've found it easier to brave "small talk".

[Meals]

I've thought about the whole hairdresser thing and I think it depends on the person in question. If its a cute chick cutting my hair, I'm happy to talk about whatever she wants, especially when it gets me her number  .  I'm also always happy to discuss sport with the barber, but I can't say I've ever been asked about The Only Way is Essex. I'm not sure I even vaguely know what thats about....

Oh, and your army looks ace when its all lined up!

[fatolaf]

but I can't say I've ever been asked about The Only Way is Essex. I'm not sure I even vaguely know what thats about....

Bunch of Chav wannabees playing up the camera in a reality / documentary / soap opera that has now been surpassed in sheer  by the made in chelsea sequel that is full of spoiled brats living it up whilst the rest of the country lives through a recession. God awful show, Everyone involved should be gunned down....