Matt & Chris - Menoth v Cryx

So, Wednesday night rolls around and we migrate back to Reaper. Matt and I faced off -- My Cryx against his Menoth (and his Shrinky-Dink tokens). Many thanks to everyone there for answering our many questions.

With Menoth peanut gallery (and photos) this time! - MR



Turn 1 - Simple movement, our models get to stretch their legs, but no-one quite gets in range.

Turn 2 - I get some of my models into combat range and do superficial damage to his Crusader. I aim one of my bane thralls at a rack near his Repenter, but don't quite get there. I also fail to engage the Repenter. My bonejacks take a couple of shots, but don't accomplish much. Menoth proceeds to show me what happens when you don't engage a model with a spray, and crisps most of my half-unit of bane thralls. The Crusader rips an arm off my Slayer, and the Revenger thumps my Nightwretch, leaving him without a cannon.

Turn 3 - The Defiler sprays sludge all over the Revenger (minor damage), pKreoss (moderate damage), and one of the Choir (there went the top tenor). pKreoss responds by knocking over everyone in range (the only exception was my Necrotech), and backing off out of range.The Crusader turned my poor Slayer into a wreckage marker and finishes off my bane thralls, and moved into range to threaten pDeneghra. The Revenger finished off the Nightwretch.

The damage on pKreoss would come into play later! - MR



Turn 4 - pDeneghra Withers everyone in range. I Ghost Walk my Defiler into Sludge Cannon range of pKreoss, and miss him. Everyone else (that's left) spends the turn standing up. Because of the Withering (-2 to everything is SUCH a pain!), Menoth has a harder time hitting, but manages to munch my Defiler down to just movement points.

Yeah... Withering SUCKED. Well timed sir, well timed. - MR

Turn 5 - My scrap thrall gives the Repenter a BIG HUG, and then blows up. The resulting blast does minor damage to the Repenter, but kills off the Vassal who's been hiding behind him all this time. My Necrotech engages the Repenter and accomplishes absolutely nothing -- beyond engaging him. The Repenter kills off the Necrotech.

Turn 6 - Desperation time. pDeneghra is my only functional unit (yes the Defiler can still head butt, let's be realistic here). I Ghost Walk pDeneghra into range of pKreoss. This puts her 3/4 inch away from the Crusader. If this doesn't work, he'll pound her into the ground on his turn. She sprays Venom on pKreoss, and kills him off.

Indeed! This is why we play dice games, you rolled extremely well and was able to pull off an improbable win. I think you needed like 8s and 9s on 2 dice. It was awesome, very cool! - MR

Lots of fun for all

Iron Kingdoms Alphabet

I found these while surfing the web. Mad props to whoever put these graphics together and did the original research! If you're the one that did it, lemme know and I'll add the credits accordingly.

Most everybody...


...and Ios


TrueType Font download link: Click Here

Now I should be able to have some fun with "graffiti" on Terrain and slogans on the Warjacks!

Dipped Vassal of Menoth

Finally found a Vassal (they've been sold out everywhere!!!) and got it painted and dipped. Used the Army Painter Quickshade Soft Tone again. Except this time over a very light, very fast chestnut ink on the hair and skin. I also sprayed all my figs down with Dullcote finally.

Shrinky Dink Tokens

So, this is not necessarily for the "frugal minded" if you're only making these for a single army or just for yourself. However, if you want over a hundred customized tokens for roughly the same price as a single set of tokens from a commercial source... this is for you.

The secret? Inkjet Shrinky Dinks.



What you see is my "test batch" of customized Menoth Tokens. I used Inkscape (open source vector graphic software) to create a sheet of tokens. In the software they were 1.5 inch squares. Shrinky Dink name brand sheets shrink 66%. So they are now roughly 15mm square by 2mm thick.

All I had to do was apply a layer over my artwork that was pure white, set to 50% transparent. Then print using the printer's "print on transparency" setting. Cut them out with scissors. Bake on a cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes in a 300 degree oven. Spray with Dullcote. Done.

Here, I was experimenting some more. Slightly larger "Upkeep Spell" tokens.

Terrain: Pringles Can Water Tower

Lots of folks have made terrain from Pringles chip cans. All I did was take pictures along the way. I was trying to come up with terrain ideas for "Steampunk" and ... well ... can't have steam without water. Tough to have water without a way to store it. Apparently I wasn't the only one that thought this way, I found somebody else that had the same idea.

Thus was born this piece of terrain. Props to Gareson at Blitzbattles for giving me the lion's share of the ideas for how to get this done. I skipped a few steps - speed was my focus.

Materials
~ Pringles Can
~ Hot Glue Gun
~ Wooden sticks (coffee stir sticks works great)
~ Paint
~ Sepia tone "ink" (I used Daler Rowney Acrylic Artist's Ink, but any sepia tone ink should work fine. In a pinch, heavily watered down brown paint will do just fine.)
~ Thick paper or cardstock
~ Heavy Duty Scissors
~ Sprue Snips (or cutters you're willing to use on the wooden sticks)
~ Base material (foamcore and flock)
~ Elmer's Glue (PVA glue)
~ 1 bendy straw
~ black thread

Here I cut the can into two parts. The length is equal to half the length of my wooden sticks.


Primer black because otherwise you'll see bits and pieces of the Pringles can though your woodwork.


Hot glue the sticks on, snip them off once in place. Continue all the way around.


I didn't do this perfectly straight so my last stick, I had to cut into a wedge shape to make it fit.


Trace a circle bigger than the diameter of your water tower on to cardstock. I used a plastic drinking cup.


Cut it out, slice a line towards the center. Glue it in on itself to make a flat "cone" and then trace the seam with hot glue. This will look like a "weld" when you're done.


Make the support in a manner that seems right to you. I made it tall enough that I'd be able to put a heavy warjack under it and still feel like it would believably be putting water into the 'jack's steam system. When you're done, cut off the bendy part of the straw to act as your water directing pipe.


I then mixed my sepia ink with water (50/50) and stained all the wood.


Then I painted the roof and the bendy straw. I did this by first painting it all black. Then slopping on some silver tone paint. Then I stippled rust colored paint in various places to show rust/weathering.


Add a base, and detailing. On the side of the bendy straw, I added a pull chain made from black thread. There's also a tiny piece of cardstock cut into an L that is used to represent the cutoff valve. At the end of the thread I put a glob of hot glue painted silver to represent the pull chain weight.

The base is bevelled foamcore, liberally slathered with Elmer's White Glue (PVA glue) and then dunked in a box of flock. Then I shook off the excess.


TOTAL TIME: 2 HOURS

I'll probably touch up the flock and add a few extra bits and pieces like bushes and whatnot, but for the most part... it's done.

Base Marking Tool

So I worked up a little tool in Inkscape to help me mark my bases. Probably way too precise for most folks, but I can't help it... I have a little OCD sometimes.

Basically, paint a line on your base. Line up your base with the graphic, and it'll help you paint your other lines. Easy.

Link to Google Doc: Download File Here

ps - When you print it be sure to set your PDF software to Page Scaling: None

Mad Pat and Matt's Learners Duel

Wednesday several of us on this blog went up to the Reaper Game Store for their weekly Warmachine night. I figured I'd post my thoughts, impressions, and some pictures.

**And now peanut gallery comments from Mad Pat!!!

Chris, LofArabia, Me, and Mad Pat all showed up. NickTompkins9 was also there, teaching us the rules and providing tips and pointers.

First, about the location:

REVIEW: Reaper Game Store
http://www.reapergamestore.com/

For those that don't know, Reaper Miniatures is headquartered out of North Texas (speficially Denton). They are makers of the Dark Heaven line of D&D compatible miniatures and monsters, and possibly one of the top 5 US-based miniatures companies ... and depending on your points of view about what constitutes a miniature, most likely one of the top 2 or flat out top dog US maker in terms of product breadth and scope.

Attached to their million dollar manufacturing facility is a Game Store that sells their product, Magic the Gathering, Pathfinder, board games, Warmachine, dice, or just about anything else you might need to enjoy your hobby (and what they don't have in stock, they can order). Magic is played there at the store pretty much every night. Pathfinder organized play events are also featured.

Well, on Wednesday night, the Warmachine guys invade.

The downstairs is the store and manufacturing facility, but there is a "second floor" area (complete with restrooms) just over the lunch/break room and game store. And this folks, is what the generous folks at Reaper give over entirely to Warmachine on Wednesday Nights. ... seriously how many other manufacturers do YOU know that would let their customers come to their home shop/R&D facility and play a competitor's game system?

THREE eight foot tables (with shelving underneath the tables for your stuff) and dozens and dozens of pieces of fully painted terrain of many kinds are made available to those who come to play. Tokens/markers, pens, tape measures, paint, brushes, primer, and a place to paint/prime (if needed) are all available; you just have to ask.



In the unlikely event we run out of space, there's also several tables downstairs in the shop and lunchroom. Table space is NOT an issue.

(OH! And if you come up on Saturdays, one of Reaper's staff artists is also there for the "paint club" and will be happy to teach you tips and tricks to improve your painting or even just provide a place for you to go and paint your stuff alongside other gamers. How cool is that!?)

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BatRep: Game 1

This game went quick. Mad Pat and I set up (his Cygnar vs my Menoth). We're still building our armies so it was just a 15 point Duel.



Turn one was basically walking around, not much happened. Turn two we learned a lot about the rules as it involved some of our first and actual "Combat" - there were spells cast, and my Repenter set stuff on fire (I'm Menoth after all) ... Nick helped us through that. By turn 3 it was pretty much all over except for the screaming. Mad Pat made a tactical error exposing his Warcaster to a direct charge from my Revenger. It didn't end well for Cygnar... game over in Turn 3.

** I have to add that Nick was really patient with both of us and did his best to give us tips and tricks.  Even though he did profess his love for the might of Cygnar, he tried to help Matt out along the way. -MP

From my side:


From Mad Pat's side

** Ya this was my first lesson in Protect the caster.  Often when I play games protecting the leader model isn't as big a deal.  Even if the mission requires killing off the leader its not the end of the game in most cases...this was a whole other matter. -MP

... obviously Mad Pat hasn't had a chance to paint his guys yet. That'll be soon I'm sure since we all know that painted models fight better.

** I'd like to point out there is at least a base coat on 50% of my models!! One of them even has a second color.  That's not bad for me this time of year on top of Moving My House! -MP

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BatRep: Game 2

Mad Pat and I just reset and played again. We're mainly learning rules after all. This game went a lot longer as both of us protected our Warcasters. Turn 1 was just walking around. This photo is from Turn 2 after Cygnar's move. As you can see, my Crusader is turned around. We did this to represent Knockdown (bloody knockdown effects!!!) ... Menoth is about to reply...



Menoth replied with pKreoss knocking everybody down and then my Choir enhanced 'jacks beating the snot out of his 'jacks...



My Crusader is here obliterating a medium Cygnar jack in a single turn... I don't remember what it was. All I remember was the "gush" sound made by the steam and parts flying everywhere as it went from "undamaged" to "wreck" so very suddenly.

** It was my poor Charger a LIGHT jack, but I do have to say it was pretty impressive watching your HEAVY rip both arms off before crushing the rest of it to finish it off.  Both of us kinda stepped back and admired the shear amount of damage inflicted in one combat action. -MP

We didn't take any more photos and honestly forgot how many more turns it lasted. It was a warjack slugfest the whole time. However, when we called it "done" due to time... objective neutral observers awarded the win to Menoth (most of Cygnar's jacks were no longer functional, and Stryker had taken a lot of damage. All three of Menoth's Jacks still were able to fight (beaten up badly but still fighting). The Choir was still basically intact lending their buffs, and my warcaster (pKreoss) only had taken 1/3 of his health as damage.

 ** There was some brief discussion of sure possibly maybe I could pull out a miracle, but it wasn't going to happen.  I did take glee in the fact that there at the end as Matt set my Caster and one of my Light jacks on fire he also set his Crusader on fire, which was just fun!- MP

Overall... it was hella fun.

It was a blast, and ohh there will be a rematch soon!!! - MP

Scratch Built Wracks

So... I'm cheap. I'll pay the money for something I feel is worth the cash, but the Privateer Press Wracks are a bit pricy for a glorified stick. So, I raided my old Reaper figs, busted out my pinning set, nippers, files, and went to town.



The figs used are (from left to right):

65002 (or 2749) Jade, Dancing Girl by Werner Klocke

2760 Jalinrix, Female Devil (as bits, this is 2760A) by Tim Kaufman

2741 Nymph (as bits, this is 2741A) by Werner Klocke

I just bent the arms/feet/legs into the position I needed with my fingers (gently). Jalinrix is the easiest to work with (if you don't care if they all look the same, this is the best one to use).

The wracks are just spare bits and pieces of sprue, pinned with brass rod and glued with superglue. The "rope" is just common everyday black thread (black so that you get free "shading" in the recesses).

The bases are Litko Aerosystems 40mm wooden rounds. Then I added a washer and a small nut (the washer and nut provide weight and counterbalance the tall structure). Into the nut, I shoved the bottom of the Wrack post. Then I put on Liquitex Ceramic Stucco (GREAT STUFF FOR BASES I LOVE IT) and smoothed it with my finger.

The rest is paint. The "wood grain" is done with a darker shade of paint (I believe I used the Reaper MSP bone triad - Aged Bone and Bone Shadow). The Hair is Reaper HD Yellow. The Skin is Rosy Flesh Highlight. The Violet Red and Gold is the same as I have been using for Menoth. Then I dipped them in Army Painter Quickshade Soft Tone.

I'm going to add Dullcote and some flags or banners next dangling from the crossbar.

Total cost... zero (well, all this stuff was lying around already not being used so I don't count the price).

Dipped Menoth Choir

So, I took the weekend to be self-indulgent and get some painting done. I bought two blisters of Choir at Area-51 on my way home on Friday and decided to use them as guinea pigs for dipping.

The painting itself was mostly the same as my first test model. The difference is that, Mad Pat observed that the Violet Red was kinda patchy on my light warjacks. So I used Reaper HD series Entrail Pink as a basecoat. Then I put the Violet Red over that. Worked great. I love the HD series for these speedpaint jobs. The skin is Reaper Master Series Rosy Flesh Highlight.

The first one was done with Army Painter Quick Shade Soft Tone, the middle was Strong Tone (same company), and the last one was done with MinWax Polyshades Walnut (Antique Walnut Satin IIRC)*.



* I should note that the MinWax was rubbed down with a Q-Tip to remove the excess dip while it was still wet from the "Skirt" of the mini. Otherwise it would look almost brown instead of how it looks now.

I liked the Army Painter Strong Tone so much, I did the "officer" with it.



Takeaway:

Army Painter Quickshade Soft Tone - For Menoth I think I like this for everything except the skin and the gold. So I think if I stick with Army Painter Soft Shade I'll just quickly hit the skin and gold with Chestnut Wash before the dip.

Army Painter Quickshade Strong Tone - Overall... AWESOME! It just makes the Menoth "white" clothing a bit too dark. A quick drybrush after the dip would probably fix this right up, right before the Dullcote.

MinWax Polyshades Antique Walnut - This was really, really dark. Takes longer to dry than Army Painter but it worked fine. There's more "pigment" in MinWax than Army Painter Quickshade. What I mean by this is that Army Painter Quickshade "lightens" and becomes more transparent as it dries. The MinWax really doesn't do this. If it looks too dark wet, it's too dark. HOWEVER - If you use Army Painter Quickshade Dark Tone, I think the MinWax is probably a cheaper option for you.

Overall: I think Army Painter Strong Shade is actually worth the money... hard as it is to admit.

Menoth Battlegroup Quickpainted

EDIT: I added higher rez crops of my pics.

Well, I've finished with my first ever purchase of Warmachine. Last night I just sat down with a good movie in the background and pushed on through.

These were all painted with "dipping" in mind. The goal was a VERY quick and repeatable paint scheme. The dip was Army Painter Soft Shade.



I'm happy with them. They're painted and fully functional for play.

Paints used: Same as my "Menoth Test 01" except I eliminated several steps: Primer white, paint broad areas (skip the "black work" prior to painting the metallics), then slather on the "dip" with an old crummy brush. Flocked with just basic flock over white "Elmer's" glue.

Takeaway: Army Painter "Soft" is too soft, my Choir will be used as guinea pigs for "Strong" dip and just plain MinMax (I didn't use MinWax on these because I wanted to try the very very light shade, if I'm going with darker dips I start getting back into classic MinWax colors).

The Army Painter - Cygnar

The Army Painter (famous for their line of "dips" and spray primers) did an example trooper of the Cygnar army.

http://www.thearmypainter.com/gallery_presentation.php?GalleryId=3&Gallery=Warmachine%20Sword%20Knight

The money shot is reposted here (all three dips are shown = soft, strong, and dark shade):


Pretty cool for a fast army paint job!

Starting up... again...

So many years ago a small group of us got together to play this cool new skirmish game called... Warmachine... neat steampunk miniatures game. Loved it... had a blast, life happens and fell out of playing it.

Fast forward about 8 years.

With the recent grumblings and catch 22s with GW I decided to get back into Warmachine. Loved playing it all those years ago so why not. Mk 2 is out and there seems to be interest almost everywhere you look. I go digging out my menoth army and my Rhulic Mercenaries.

I sit there and think "I wonder which of these are still valid."

My surprise that they all are. They still look the same as well. Sure the cards are different and the rules are different, but 90% of my "startup" expense is no longer an issue. How cool is that?

So now I have Gorten and his 'Jacks sitting on my Painting table getting redone. I'll post up some pics as I go along to share in my misery/joy. I'm glad Privateer Press is still doing good by it's customers. So much so that I have directed friends towards Warmachine and Hordes over GWs mainstay systems.

I'm also tempted to really look at FoW again... but shhh, don't tell Gorten ;)

Ancient History

Many Many moons ago, when the game was first starting I bought a metal Khador starter set and some Man-O-War shocktroopers.   I got a total of one shocktrooper painted up, and one jack partially painted.  Most everything was sold off long ago, and this poor lone trooper was lost to the winds during some job changes.  He still looks dam cool, and is painted in Reaper Pro Paint : Troll Olive which is perfect for that old Soviet green color.

It begins

Well its offically started.  The first coat of paint has gone down on a warjack.  I started the charger tonight, part of the Cygnar battle box.  The reinforcements arrived in the mail today as well.  On the table is

o Warcaster Commander Coleman Stryker
o Ironclad Heavy Warjack
o Lancer Light Warjack
o Charger Light Warjack
o Hunter Light Warjack
o Sentinel Light Warjack

I've got a Journeyman warcaster on back order at the moment.

I found out something amusing today while painting the charger.  I went to all the trouble of trying zenithal highlighting, which is worthless when you use the fantastic new base coats of the Reaper Master Paint HD line.  The coverage is so fantastic you can't really see the difference where the primers change.  I've chosen the HD Dragon Blue as my base blue, with the P3 Brass Balls as the golden color.  I'll be hitting the blue with a GW blue wash as a final step.