Back in Mordheim territory!

The Orcs are finally in action, scrapping in the streets for gold and Wyrdstone!

Finally! After months of not getting around to it, our warbands were up on the table, facing off! It was my first ever game of Mordheim, and I am thrilled with the result. I actually lost the game, with some heavy consequences, but learnt a lot in the meantime. And above all, everyone involved had a great time and is super keen to play again.

Up until now painting had been my focus. The 40K games I had played, particularly those at GW stores, had really put me off playing. The rules were too extensive for me to follow on a first play through, and when we asked GW staff for assistance, they really took over the game and raced ahead without sharing what was actually happening. It was a long and stressful experience, in which I felt I had no agency, and the labyrinthine rules and large dice rolls detracted from the action of the game. 

However, Mordheim was a totally different experience. The rules are freely available, and simple enough that in just one play through, we had a pretty good grasp of them and could use them to make the game really interesting: climbing terrain, rolling route tests, hitting figures who were stunned or knocked down to take them out of action, etc. The action of the game proceeded at an engaging pace, and individual stories were easy to follow and invest in thanks to the uniqueness of the figures: even my humble Orc Boyz had stories of their own, rather than just being fodder in a unit.

Best of all, it brought my warband to life, so to speak. Up until now they had just been figurines that I had painstakingly panted. Now they have names and stories.

As I mentioned, I lost horribly. I realised fairly early that my warband was low in numbers. This is partially because I had tried to include figures that were true to their stats, ie the Orc Boyz had come with light armour and shields, so I gave them light armour and shields on the roster. I can see now that this isn't really such a big deal. The Lizardmen in this game were in fact Ultramarine figurines! As a result of their low numbers I tried to keep them together, otherwise they risked being overwhelmed by superior numbers of Skaven or Beastmen. This still didn't save them. Early on I was charged by some Beastmen, who succeeded in tying up my Shaman, although not outright killing them. I tried to direct my Troll into the fray, as the most powerful weapon I had, but it was just too damn stupid. It didn't take long for a fear-causing Beastman to terrify my Orc Boyz and even my Warboss into paralysis, and before long, I had lost one Orc Boy and my Shaman before doing any real damage. Of course, this meant 25% of my warband was lost... and so, I summarily failed the route test, and the remaining Orcs fled the city. Once the Beastmen had emerged from the city I had to bargain with them for the return of my Shaman, while my Orc Boy died of his wounds. Not having a Goblin around to throw to the Troll, I had to sacrifice another 15 gold to keep him around, in the hopes that he can do some more damage next time. I was left with just enough gold, after a search of the city and the sale of some Wyrdstone, to add a puny Goblin with a shortbow to my crew. I secretly have high hopes for the little guy.

Lessons I learnt:

- Numbers count! I need to beef up my numbers so that I can lose more before I have to take a route test. Luckily, Goblins and Squigs are cheap and are 'Not Orcs', so only count as half in determining the size of the warband.

- Ranged attacks help! This is why I decided to equip my new Goblin with a shortbow. The Skaven and the Lizardmen managed to do some real damage with their ranged attacks.

- Don't forget to roll for Animosity! I think I forgot to roll for Animosity on any of my turns.

All in all, a great time, and I can't wait to play again. I'm down for now, but even more determined to grow my warband as I can. This Friday I am picking up a pack of Goblins and some material to make some terrain, so next game will be even better.

Razorback WIP 2

All this blue... can you tell I paint Ultramarines...?

Well, today was the day. The day when I cracked open my spray gun and made a red-hot go of it. Primarily, it was three things: Educational, messy, and disappointing.
Firstly, this is how the exterior of my Razorback started:

Basic black undercoat with masking tape over the hole to protect the finished interior. I decided, according to the How to Paint Citadel Miniatures book, to give it an undercoat of Macragge Blue, followed by a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade, followed by Altdorf Guard Blue and Calgar Blue. I would then assess my drybrushing and glazing options. I began by getting a feel for the spray gun. It was a cheapie, at $32 with a slightly adjustable nozzle. It made undercoating a breeze. I followed this with washing the recesses... I wanted to get a really definite shadow, maybe venture a little into an exaggerated, comic-book type colour style to accentuate the chunky nature of the tank. The downside to this was that the wash pooled according to gravity and also took forever to dry, so I had to keep turning the tank to get the wash to distribute evenly. Perhaps next time I will just have to be patient and apply it in layers, or let go of the deep shadow recess idea, or achieve it using darker undercoats instead.

Razorback after base coat and wash.

Here's where it all went pear-shaped. I intended to apply the next layer with a brush, because my cheap spray gun didn't have a fine enough setting to get the accuracy I wanted. The brush I used, another cheap purchase from the same hobby store, was very streaky, even after I attempted various ratios of water to paint on my mixing palette. So I decided to use the spray gun after all. Unfortunately, applying the next layer of paint using the spray gun basically obliterated any detail I had tried to achieve with the wash. Furthermore, the spray gun refused to co-operate, dispensing varying amounts of paint, even after I had re-stocked the bottle to make sure that there was enough paint in it. It is here that I saw the value in Garfy's technique, which I've linked to in the previous post: in order for the shading to blend in, you have to spray a fine mist of the same colour over the model. As I was using a wash and not a more solid paint, this was not an option for me (as far as I am aware). I am left with a model with too much paint on it to start again, but with a very nice interior... I will probably just keep it amongst my other bits and bobs on the chance that I need it or feel like trying to rescue it one day.

I ended up throwing out the spray gun, because it wasn't of great quality, the air canister seemed particularly unsafe (constantly leaking air and accumulating frost on the exterior), and I didn't want to have to clean it, I'll admit. The lessons I've learnt can be summed up this: 

1. Spray guns are great for base coats. 

2. Next time, stick with brushes for the rest. Brushes are fine, and afford a better level of control for me.

3. Buy quality equipment (sigh). This is a lesson I've relearnt several times.

Razorback WIP 1

Well, after months of hiatus, I finally got the thirst for another paint job, and the Razorback's number came up. It wasn't my first choice, I was going for something with a bit more firepower, say, a Predator, but it just so happened that GW was closed on the day I paid it a visit, and the Razorback was the only tank that the adjacent Good Game had in store. Itching for a project, I decided to go for it.

In preparation, I paid a visit to Tale of Painters, and found this painting tutorial for Ultramarine Vehicles. I also lined up my How to Paint Citadel Miniatures book, and dug around in my paint box to see what I had on hand. Oh, and I bought a basic spray gun! I don't have a couple hundred dollars to sink on a fancy air compressor and variable spray gun, so I don't think I'll be risking some of the more technical touches that Garfy (Tale of Painters) employed, but I did get some great techniques for painting the vehicle interior, which I've completed today.

(That's Denzel Washington you can see in the background, from the movie Inside Man.)

It's a first try, but I'm happy with it. The key was dry brushing. The whole interior basically, bar the screens, was dry brushed. I loved the electric glow of Garfy's tank interior, like it was lit from dim electric lights and screens, with the light bouncing off Ultramarine armour. You can imagine them rattling around in there in their power armour while the tank roles its way to the battlefield. To get that glow I made sure to finish with Temple Guard Blue, and underneath that, a layer of Calgar blue on a base of Macragge Blue. The steel, following Garfy's guide, is Leadbelcher followed by a highlight of Runefang Steel. On his, he seems to have concentrated the Runefang Steel in the centre, just as I did with the blue on the walls, and next time I'll try to achieve that look with the floor. The screens are also to his directions, albeit using the colours I had, which were a base of Warboss Green, followed by Skarsnik Green mixed with White Scar on the bottom right, and Abaddon Black with a spot of White Scar on the top left. My brush hand was a little shaky, but still fine. And I covered it with 'Ardcoat to try and get that shiny screen look.

So far, so good, IMHO. Next comes the tank exterior, with the accompanying spray gun, about which I am equal parts excited and intimidated!

Ultramarine Renaissance

My small Ultramarine army, after a decade of preparation, up on the table at last! Since giving up on the Wood Elves sometime around year 7, my 40k army has waxed and waned with both my interest and my financial position. But with all the hype around the release of the 7th Ed. Rulebook, as well as the coinciding interest of my classmate in resurrecting his Blood Angels army, I finally got my precious army up on the table. As a painter first and a player a distant second, I was just excited to see what I'd spent so many hours on (even though the quality greatly varies with the age of the models) on a proper table. I quickly snapped these pics, mostly for my own gratification.

Unfortunately now that I'm back at uni my financial position has once again waned, and I'll have to take it slowly, but I did treat myself to the Space Marine Codex and some paints. Right now I have a Captain left over to try out some new techniques on, and I'm interested in getting the heraldry right for the army (shoulder pad iconography etc.). But once I get some tips from friends about how the game works and invest in a rulebook, I might be ready to really fill out the army and finally bring it to real completion, game-wise (but also paint some sweet-looking, battle-damaged, chunky ceramite clad units)!

As I envisaged in creating this blog, I'll try to do step-by-step coverage of this mini-project when I get some time to do it. And then there's that Mordheim scenery... one day...

Return of the Ultramarines...?

As luck would have it, although uni has taken up whatever time I previously had for the hobby, one of my friends in my German class has a dormant Blood Angels army which he's keen to get back into action. I have some points to catch up on, and both of us have 6th ed. Rulebooks, so after a bit of preparation we should be ready for the tabletop. Most excitingly, however, I'm looking at getting my hands on a few more big pieces for the army, including another Rhino and a Predator... is it time to invest in a spray gun?! In a minor note, I've also recently been gifted with a desktop magnifying glass, so this next painting session is gearing up to be something special...

In the meantime, check this out...

For my own part, I've had to put the hobby on hold, now that uni is taking up most of my time, but check out ThirdEyeNuke studio, created by lead artist Christopher Poole (also one of the Tale of Painters contributors). In particular, check out the Tau. I love this style, very dynamic, there's much more freedom in terms of less confined colour blocks, and the consistent fading in and out of colours, as well as the splattering, looks great. Not only does it give the models a gritty realism, but it makes them look less stationery, creating a blur of colour that almost gives the illusion of action. Very cool. Hopefully given the time and money I can get onto some scenery for my own games soon! I can imagine using this style as an inspiration for some great looking Mordheim scenery pieces.

Orc Warband - Retrospective

Now that my warband is complete and ready to play, I thought it would be a good idea to look back and make a summary of the process so far, from forming the warband to painting it, and especially to make notes on what I'd like to improve next time.

Why Mordheim? Why Orcs?

Because Mordheim requires fewer models, first of all it's cheaper, and secondly it's much faster to get onto the playing table. Plus you get to play campaigns that tie each battle into a larger story. At least, these were the reasons why a few friends and I chose Mordheim. Next came selecting the right warband... I wanted to stay away from humans, as painting them doesn't much excite me, and I like the flavour of the more fantastical races. I chose the Orcs because I liked the colour schemes and the shapes used in the models... it's to Games Workshop's credit, and their designers in particular, that each race clearly has a distinctive look that makes each one different to paint.

As for the make-up of the warband itself, it was partially dictated by which models I would like to paint... as part of the appeal of Mordheim for me was getting to paint a small number of unique models, I naturally chose expensive individuals i.e Troll and Shaman over models that would require batch painting i.e. Goblins. After choosing the Troll, Orc Boss and Shaman, I wasn't left with many gc, and I stretched it enough to include two Orc Boyz and 15gc to feed the Troll. Perhaps I could have included more Orc Boyz, or even some Orc Big 'Uns, but because I wasn't ready to attempt conversions, I also had to include the cost of the shields, weapons etc. that came with the models I was using! It's not like I feel like I've compromised on playability by doing it this way, but time will tell once we start campaigning.

Painting:

I used the painting guides on the Games Workshop website to find paints for the Orc skin and the Troll. For the Troll I used the Lizardmen colour scheme, as the blue matched the vibrancy of the Orc skin, and the scales on the Stone Troll have the potential for a reptilian look, like the Carnosaur/Troglodon which had just been released.

On all the models, for the stone bits I used a bass layer of Dawnstone, stippled or drybrushed with Administratum Grey and then Praxeti White. This was on recommendation from Games Workshop staff, and in future I'd start with a darker base colour. Also by recommendation I painted the leather bits with a base of Rhinox Hide, then layers of Mournfang Brown and XV-88 (also both actually bases). I ran into a problem here when there was so much leather on the Orc Boyz, that to avoid it all looking the same I forewent the layering and just painted different base colours on different areas, which of course doesn't look as great.
I had a problem with the drybrushing. I think I was just loading up too much paint onto my brush... in order to achieve the blending that I wanted on the Troll stomach and Shaman skulls, I ended up watering down Praxeti White and applying it in thin layers. This actually turned out surprisingly well I think, especially on the Shaman, where I layered the white over a grey base:

I wanted to try out the new Technical Paints, so I used Ryza Rust in conjunction with Typhus Corrosion, Leadbelcher and Runefang Steel for the metal bits on the Orc Boyz. I also tried using Nihilakh Oxide for a cool effect on the Shaman's staff, but it didn't work out quite as I had hoped. You can still see it in the recesses though (above).

For the bases, I used Stirland Mud, and again on recommendation, used the Technical paint 'Ardcoat in places to try and give the impression of boggy ground. Then I stuck some Mordheim Turf bits on. In future, I should layer and drybrush the bases as well, and perhaps would use PVA glue instead of 'Ardcoat.

Overall, I like the main colour scheme. The green, blue, and touches of red all have a similar vibrancy that ties the army in well together. In future I would like to layer not just the main sections of the models, but also details like teeth, nails and eyes, and plan for all the extras like shields. In the meantime, we'll soon see how my Orcs (plus Troll) fare in Mordheim!