Not to forget the Circle

I painted these a couple of months ago, but this is the first time I've had a chance to post pictures.  We've got some new additions including the Bloodtrackers + Nuala and Gallows Grove.  I've yet to put either on the table but hopefully this weekend it will happen.

Bloodtrackers

Nuala

Gallows Grove

Bombshell Bombardier, Druid Gone Wilder - What's in the Box?

I saw someone asking about the contents of the two Gencon 2012 beer models from Privateer Press.  Mine arrived Thursday, and I took some pictures.

The Bombshell has quite a few parts.  Despite that, assembly seems pretty straightforward.

Bombardier Bombshell

 The Wilder just has a couple of pieces to assemble to the main body.

Druid Gone Wilder

These models are fantastic.  I can't wait to get them assembled and painted.

Gencon 2012 - Privateer Press Models

 Just got back from Gencon 2012!  I wanted to make a quick post about some of the new models I saw there.  The photos I've seen to date weren't that great, so I'm posting these from the Privateer Press booth for folks to admire.

Druid Gone Wilder and Bombardier Bombshell are Gencon exclusives.  They were sold out by the time I got to the booth, but they were available in the PP store during the con.  I ended up ordering both.  Gorgeous models.  

Click the images for slightly larger photos.

Druid Gone Wilder

Bombardier Bombshell

Updated!  You can see the contents of the blisters here 

General Ossrum

Ashlynn D'Elyse resculpt

Ashlynn was actually an entry into the painting competition, but I'm afraid I don't know who painted it.  If you happen to know, please leave a note in the comments.

April Circle

I'm a bit late putting these up, but April was a slow painting month.  I'm making up for it in May.  I'm steadily painting models for a Baldur theme list.  To date, I only had two Circle casters painted and table-ready - Kaya and Grayle.  This month I added eKaya and Baldur.  I'm getting a lot of practice painting sticks and stones, which are commonly used in Circle to break them bones. 

Megalith

Otherwise known as  "Kaya the Moonblood" due to her red pants.  Thank my wife for that one.

Kaya, the Moonhunter

I really like painting solos.  Baldur's model is clean and well-defined.  That's something that makes painting easier for me.  I don't enjoy painting models when I can't tell what a thing is.  Is that part of the coat, or is it his undershirt?  Is that surface pants or boot?  I struggle.  Perhaps I should not worry about it and just do what looks sweet.  On second thought, I'm too OCD to go that route.

Baldur, the Stonecleaver

Spoiler:  In May I finish the rest of Baldur's theme force.

Big month of Circle Painting

As mentioned previously, I wanted to field a T4 eKaya list for the March Madness event.  Ultimately, I needed 35 pts painted plus the caster - in one month.  I came close, but ultimately just fell short.  eKaya and Laris didn't get painted in time, so I fell back on a Grayle list that used all but two of the models.  Here's what made it off the table in March.

Shifting Stones

Warpborn Skinwalkers

Pureblood Warpwolf

Gnarlhorn Satyr

Druid Wilder

Druids of Orboros Overseer

Druids of Orboros

Pyre Troll

March Madness!

I went to my first organized event this past weekend at Borderlands in Greenville, SC.  I spent most of March building a list and panting a 50 pt army for it, only to not use that list in the end.  It was great fun and I have nothing but good things to say about the locale, the event, and the players. 

The Locale

A few words about Borderlands.  This is one of the best stores for tabletop games and comics that I've been to.  Half of their retail space was devoted to miniature games, the other half was comics.  They had more Warmachine/Hordes stock than I've seen in one place.  I'm really jealous of the guys that can call this their FLGS.  The Warmachine community seems very active in the area.

The Event

The event was a four-round escalation.  We played games at 15, 25, 35, and 50 points.  The first two were caster kill (second was Kill Box, specifically).  The third was a modified Close Quarters, and the last was Overrun.  The scoring confused me, but more on that later.

From March Madness!

Epic Kaya's - 15, 25, 35, 50 pt escalation theme list

I'm planning to attend my first organized tournament at the end of this month and it's an escalation format. Four rounds, the first two are 15 and 25 points, caster kill objective. The last two rounds are steamroller scenarios at 35 and 50 pts. Each larger list has to include all of the models in the previous list.  A theme list already has some constraints on it and adding the additional escalation parameters really adds another dimension to the list building.  I'm surely not up to the challenge, but I thought I'd write it up anyway.

I'm not taking this too seriously, and have low expectations considering my experience, but at the same time, I want to do my best.  I'm pretty new to the game and I'm still building out my Circle army. eKaya's theme force, compared to other casters, lets me get away with painting the fewest models, and given my time constraint (3 weeks) that's going to be important. I'm pretty much settled on the final 50 pt list, but I may still tweak the progression from 15 to 50 pts.  I want my army to be playable at all point levels, since every match matters in the standings. To start, here's my final list:

50 Pts (Tier 4):

• {00} Kaya the Moonhunter (0 / 3 WB)
  
  • {00} Laris (Companion)
  • {02} Druid Wilder
  • {07} Gnarlhorn Satyr
  • {08} Feral Warpwolf
  • {08} Pureblood Warpwolf
  • {09} Warpwolf Stalker
• {07} Druids of Orboros
  
  • {02} Druid of Orboros Overseer
• {02} Shifting Stones
  
  • {01} Stone Keeper
• {02} Shifting Stones
• {05} Warpborn Skinwalkers (2 grunts)

Learning the Ropes

The Woldwarden is the first construct warbeast for a Baldur themed army I'm building.  I don't know what that list is going to consist of yet, but I know it will have a Woldwarden!  This gnarly guy was a breeze to paint.  I started with a black basecoat and added progressively lighter shades of grey starting with thornwood green and ending with trollblood highlight.  As I'm learning the ropes, I'm following PP's painting guides where-ever I can.  I figure that emulation is the first step of learning to do something new.  Once I've built the skills, then I can afford to branch out and start experimenting.  Until then, I'm sticking with the copy-cat method.

Woldwarden

Domination Event

This past weekend was the first time we played Warmachine/Hordes in a public forum.  We traveled to our NLGS (not-so-local-gaming-store) about 50 minutes away to play in a Domination Release event.  I had a great time and got to play with some new people with different styles of play that I hadn't experienced yet.  I also faced some new factions that I'd never seen before.  Up until now, I'd played my Circle and Cygnar with Protectorate, Cryx, Legion, and Trollbloods.  I went into it expecting that we were playing for points and needed a 35pt army, according to modified Domination event rules.  However, due to turnout and people's army composition, the event was changed to a 15pt tournament.  This had some impact that I'll get into below.  Overall, it was a blast and I'm planning to go back in two weeks for some more casual games.

Event Prep:

Here's a picture of the additional guys I painted for the event.  The plan was to add another 20 pts to the 15pt army I already had.  Most of the painting took place the week between Christmas and New Year's.  I had the whole week off and painted for a good three days of that.  It was a luxury that I won't have again in the for-seeable future and I really enjoyed it.

It turned out that we only played 15 point games.  Of the guys above, I did get to use the Gobbers and Shifting Stone UA.  Also, I won't have to stress about getting to 35 pts again... in this faction.  

The event also called for some bring-your-own terrain in the form of boulders.  The ones below were made from 3 pieces of 1/2" insulation sandwiched together with construction adhesive.  I covered them with spackle, then epoxied them to the 50mm bases.  A little dry-brushing after that and they were done.  Total time, about an hour.

 

The Army:

I ended up bringing mostly the Circle starter warpack with a few exceptions. 

[00] Kaya the Wildborne (0 / 6 WB)
[09]  >> Feral Warpwolf
[04]  >> Argus
[04]  >> Gorax
[02] Shifting Stones
[01]  >> Stone Keeper
[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

I replaced an Argus with a Gorax for the empty hands and added the stones and UA, and the gobbers.  The stones and gobbers worked out well, but I didn't get much more utility out of Gorax.  I never used his animus and there was nothing to throw with his hands.  I should have brought the other argus for his paralyze spray. 

The Games:

We played three 15pt games using the Domination event scenario.  Instead of using the deeds to score points, we played a standard tournament. I played Cryx the first game, Legion the second, and Skorne for the last game.  I won out against Cryx by scenario points but lost to Legion and Skorne from caster assassinations.  Legion, running non-epic Thagrosh, pelted me with ranged attacks from his winged beast.  Skorn, running the new Domination caster, ran into melee with Kaya and spent 7 attacks killing her. 

 

Learnings:

These games were really good experience.  Many mistakes were made, but they were valuable lessons.  I will remember to use Spirit Door to slingshot my vulnerable heavy beasts (I'm looking at you, Feral Warpwolf) back with Spirit Door.  I'll remember not to fill up a warbeast with fury if I hope to transfer damage to it.  I will remember that stealthed models do not block LOS and that Shifting Stones, while immovable, can still be trampled over. I will remember that when faced with heavies, that I should focus enough firepower on them to kill them if I can't disable them another way.  Don't send a light against a heavy and expect to kill it.

Lord of the Feast

What a great sculpt.  I love this guy.  The antlered helm, the raven perched on his arm, the severed hand hanging from this bag.... what??  Yeah, he's that kind of guy.

His assembly really challenged me.  At first I didn't bother to pin anything.  However, his sword arm broke off while painting him so I added the pin there.  It was a pretty easy pin job.  The horns, however, took me about 20 minutes to attach.  It felt like longer.  I couldn't figure out how they were intended to line up.  Eventually, after some filing, I found a position that seemed to work well and it glued surprisingly easily.

As usual, I tried to follow the studio painting scheme.  The part where I winged it was the antlers.  I'm not too happy with them, but overall I think he turned out okay for a tabletop standard.  I'm in the midst of trying to crank out 35pts for an event in two weeks, so I don't have much time to spare for the details.

Lord of the Feast

35 pt. Domination List

There's an upcoming Domination event at my LGS and I'm trying to get together a 35 pt army to field.  I already had a Circle battlebox ready, but that means I still need another 20+ points.  I decided to build and paint up the following to supplement the battle box:

Grayle
Wolves of Orboros (6 man)
Wolves UA
Woldwarden
Lord of the Feast
Morraig

I should mention that I have three weeks to get them done.  Wish me luck.

Circle of Orboros warpack

I finished up the Circle of Orboros starter warpack this week. They turned out ok. I'm still not ready to paint eyes on the humans so they just get some shading in their sockets. I picked up some GW flock and used it for the grass. I'm really happy about the way it turned out. The flock has 3-4 different colors in it and they really complement the colors in the Circle figures.

I should probably go back and add some highlights to the gold armor since I've just added a matte varnish (Dullcote).  But, I wanted to get them table-ready for this weekend.

The warpack

Kaya

Kaya

Kaya

Feral Warpwolf

Feral Warpwolf

Feral Warpwolf

Argus (stalking)

Argus (leaping)

Argus (leaping)

Standing Stones

I started painting the standing stones this week.  These fantastic models were my reference.  I thought these hunks of stone would be rather easy, but it hasn't gone that way so far. 

I started by priming black (gesso, actually) and that worked out great.  Then I applied a base coat of Bastion Grey to the whole thing.  That looked too dark and lackluster, but I proceeded ahead.  Next I made a wash of Bastion Grey and Thamar Black in an attempt to add contrast to all the neat cracks and nooks in the model.  I made the wash too thin and it just made the crevices look muddy.  In attempt to "repair" the damage, I made a much stronger wash of plain Thamar Black and applied it explicitly to the recessed details.  This did make for an improvement in contrast, but now the stones are way too dark.  I tried dry-brushing with Bastion Grey but by now it's too late.  I decided that I'd start over with a fresh coat of Bastion Gray but after that, all of the crisp details from the engraving are being lost due to build-up of paint in the corners.

I'm about to strip the models and start over.  The up-side is that I learned a lot from the experience.

*Update-10/11/11*
The stripping went pretty well.  I used Simple Green in a 3-soak process.  I soaked for 2 hours then scrubbed them with a toothbrush in the sink.  This got 90% of the paint and primer off without seeming to affect the green-stuff and glue I used to adhere them to the bases.  Not satisfied with the remaining 20%, I left them for another couple of hours and repeated the scrubbing process.  This removed a little more paint, but I still wasn't happy with the results.  Finally, I decided to leave them soaking overnight.  The next day I poure them out and went to it one last time with the brush.  A few little spots of primer were left in the crevices, but I called it good enough.  Next I'll re-prime and start over.

While I waited on this to happen, I started on an Argus from the Circle of Orboros warpack.  I may start a separate thread for that guy.

*Update - 11/10/11*
Here are some pictures of the completed models.  I'm really pleased with how the grass turned out on the bases.

Standing Stones

Standing Stones