July 31, 2010

Tides of War 2010: Desert Assault Shirt Design

Folks Tides of War: Desert Assault 2010 is just over a month away on September 11th & 12th in Mesa, Arizona

Desert Assault is a 2 Day, 5 Game Independent Tournament with 5 custom scenarios that are based around Primary/Secondary and Tertiary objectives.

We just got back the t-shirt design for this years Tides of War: Desert Assault

I'd like to thank Chris Miller (designer of the Storm Warden's project logo) for designing the graphic for Desert Assault.


Remember, REGISTRATION is open for Desert Assault.

Please visit http://www.tidesofwaraz.com/ for more information and registration.

Dean

July 25, 2010

LoTR: Morannon Orcs & Sauron

[caption id="attachment_407" align="alignleft" width="50" caption="Mordor"][/caption]

Well yesterday I was able to complete the remaining 6 Morannon Orcs with HW/Shield.  Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of them, I played a game of LotR last night and had to use these Orcs in my list.  I still have 12 more Morannon Orcs with Spear/Shield to complete and these will be done.

I also was able to quickly paint up Sauron.  I wanted to actually try him out for awhile......  he was well worth it......  (Battle Report to come later).

[caption id="attachment_410" align="aligncenter" width="229" caption="Sauron"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_411" align="aligncenter" width="223" caption="Sauron"][/caption]

Painting Points: 8

July 21, 2010

LoTR: Morannon Orcs

[caption id="attachment_407" align="alignleft" width="50" caption="Mordor"][/caption]

As mentioned earlier today in my "Daily Chronicle" I decided to break out some of my Lord of the Rings models and start painting these.  For some reason this past week I had the urge to re-open my War of the Ring rulebook.  I only played 1 or 2 demo games early on, but I think I may give it another shot for some fun/friendly games.

When War of the Ring first came out last year I purchased a box of Morannon Orcs, got them assembled and played the 'Quick Start Rules' for WotR with them.  Since then they have been sitting in the box.  Well the other day I broke the box open and got the models primed.  There are 24 models in the box (LotR is still the best value of all the Games Workshop games) and I decided to start on 6 of them to get a feel for the color scheme.  These guys were painted really really fast.  They are Orcs and I wanted to keep them looking dirty.

Here are the first 6 Morannon Orcs:

[caption id="attachment_404" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Morannon Orcs"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_405" align="aligncenter" width="285" caption="Morannon Orcs"][/caption]

Our vacation starts this weekend, so I'm not sure how many more will be done beforehand.  I'm hoping to get at least another 6 painted before we leave.  Then when we get back, we'll play-test WotR again.

Painting Points: 6

Daily Chronicle: 7/21/2010: Time To Catch Up

Wow, 2 weeks since my last post.  Sorry for the delay in between posts.  2 weeks ago I stated July will be a slow month for painting, and sure enough it is.

I haven't been doing nothing the last 2 weeks, just a few different items.

First, my family and I started playing some more board games on the week nights.  We picked up a few new games for us, 'Smart Ass', 'Sequence' and 'Family Business' and we have been having a blast playing those.  I also finally cracked the seal on Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition Risk and my son and I played a game of that.  After playing LotR Risk, I had to go out and buy the new version of Risk (with the objectives) and we played a game of that.

Secondly, I have also played a few games of W40K during this span also.  A few league games and a few friendly games.

Finally, I have broken out some more of my LotR models.  My son has been begging to get more games of LotR in (honestly I have not played LotR in a very long time).  I probably have more unfinished models for LotR than I do for any other game system, so it is probably time that we get some of those finished up.

On that note, I also cracked open the rulebook for War of the Ring (WotR) this past week.  I played one or two games when the book first came out, but never really played anything seriously.  I heard stories on all the forums about all the broken combination's that can be done and this distracted me from the game.  Now with the release of the new version of Warhammer Fantasy, the 'fantasy' in me is starting to stir.  I really do love the 'world' of 'Lord of the Rings' so I think I am going to give WotR a chance for friendly games with my son.  The games between the two of us will not have all the broken combination's, so I think it can be a fun game.  While I'm painting my models to expand my WotR armies this will also expand my armies for LotR SBG.

So the other day I broke out some Morannon Orcs and threw them on the painting table.  I have 24 Orcs to paint for now and I decided to start with 6 to see if I like the paint scheme.  A separate post later today will show the Orcs.

It looks like the itch for LotR/WotR is slowly coming back.

July 7, 2010

W40K: Salamanders Razorback 3

[caption id="attachment_317" align="alignleft" width="64" caption="Salamanders"][/caption]

In saving some money and holding off on the Blood Angels some more, this past Monday I decided to expand my son's Salamander's army.  His 3rd Tactical Squad was still missing a transport, so I decided to pull down a Razorback from the closest shelf.  Started on the Razorback Monday morning and finished it on Tuesday.  This morning I applied the matte spray.  All three of his Razorbacks also have the options to become Rhino's if need be.

Top shelf is starting to get a bit thin now.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to do some more work on the Blood Angels.  Once we get back from vacation at the end of the month, I should be able to continue the Blood Angels and once they are completed I'll be concentrating on expanding the Imperial Guard and my son's Salamanders.

[caption id="attachment_396" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Salamanders Razorback 3"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_397" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Salamanders Razorback 3 (Rhino variant)"][/caption]

Painting Points: 10

July 5, 2010

Daily Chronicle: 7/5/2010: Weekend Gaming

This 4th of July weekend I was not able to paint/model as much as I had wanted too, but I was able to get three games in with my son.  We were able to play one game Friday night and yesterday we played one game in the morning and one in the late evening.  Since I purchased some boards for a home table, the late night gaming is made easier.

Friday night we played a standard mission from the rulebook.  We rolled 'Seize Ground' with 4 objectives and 'Pitched Battle' deployment.  My son played his 1500 point Mechanized Eldar army, and I took the 1500 point Blood Angels for a test drive.  I have half the models for the Blood Angels, so for the other half I used a mix of Black Templars and Dark Angels to fill in the void.

This was a tight tight game.  The Blood Angels managed to hold the Win 1-0.  The Sanguinary Guard were ripped to pieces by Asurmen, but Dante was able to pick apart the Dire Avengers and pull them off the objective at the bottom of Turn 7.  One lone Blood Angel Assault Squad man was able to hold one of the objectives for the Win.  In my list I am running 2 Baal Predators with Flamestorm Cannons, one of them did not do much and was destroyed, the other Baal was able to wreck some havoc on some Guardians.  In Turn 6 I decided to make a mad dash with the last Baal Predator to try and contest the objective that the Dire Avengers were holding just in case Dante could not pull them off.  That did not work and the Predator was destroyed.

Being the first game I ever played with these Blood Angels, I am still undecided on how I like the playstyle.  Having the first turn stolen from me also did not help.  I also feel that Dante needs to be a S6 Power Weapon.  The S4 does not cut it for such a high priced character.

On Sunday like I said we played two games.  Both games we rolled a random mission from the new 'Battle Missions' book.  Sunday morning we rolled 'Feigned Retreat' from the Dark Eldar section of the book.  My son played 1500 points of Salamanders, and I decided to pull out the Black Templars.  It has been awhile since I played them.  I made a slight change to my normal list and exchanged my Marshall for a Chaplain with Jump Pack.  'Feigned Retreat' is a Kill Points style of game with a different type of deployment.  My son rolled off and got to play 'good' (Dark Eldar) and I was the 'enemy'.  The table is divided into thirds and the 'good' side had to deploy 2 units in the central area (Dedicated Transports count as 1 and Heavy Support are not allowed).  Then the 'enemy' deploys anywhere in their third of the table and finally the 'good' deploys the rest of their army in their third of the table.  Reserves are per normal rules if you decide to use them.

This was a very fun game and the best of the three we played this weekend.  One thing I love about playing with my Black Templars is that they are a balanced army for me.  No tricks or ponies.  I have squads that can assault, squads that can shoot, and vehicles that ca do some damage.  The Black Templars got to the early lead, but by the time the game had ended, the Salamanders came back and pulled a Draw 6-6.   Very Fun Game.

Once the fireworks were over with last night, we threw down for one more game.  Again we rolled random from 'Battle Missions' and rolled 'Mobile Defence' with four objectives on the table.  My son played the same Salamander list he played earlier in the day, and I decided to break out my very first Warhammer 40K army, the Dark Angels.  Once again we rolled for 'good' an 'evil', and I was 'evil' again for this mission.  The table is split into halves, and the 'good' must split half their army and deploy their force.  The other half of the army comes from 'reserves', but with the ability t come in on Turn 1.  Infantry, Walkers and Monstrous Creatures must go in the first half of the army unless there is a Dedicated Transport.  That meant my son's Land Raider Crusader (Heavy Support)  that he uses for Vulkan and the Terminators will be coming in from 'reserves' and Vulkan will be out on the table to begin.

All I can say is that my dice were not with me in this game.  With all my Lascannon shots and Plasma Cannons it was an uphill battle for me.  In the end the game was close with objectives, but the Salamanders did much more damage than the Dark Angels could muster.  The Salamanders Won the game 1-0, but all I had left were 2 5-man Combat Squads that were far from any objective.  The Salamanders controlled one objective and they were contesting the other three.  I managed to kill Vulkan and Company, a 2 Rhino's and a Tactical Squad.  Like I said above, I did not have much left.  Lascannon's were hitting and penetrating, I just could not roll high on the AP chart.  I really with the Lascannon's were AP1.

So not much paining this weekend, very little modeling, but had fun playing three games.

July 1, 2010

Painting Points: June 2010

I did not realize it was already July 1st until I made the post about the Biel Tan Guardian and saw the date on the post.  4th of July weekend here is the USA is just around the corner.

Another triple digit month of Painting Points for me in June.  Just barely, I squeaked in right at 100 Painting Points for the month.

Recap for the month of June:

At the end of May I had decided to start a 1500 point Imperial Fists army.  Well that army was completed in June.

My Ultramarines army was also completed to 1500 points.  Wow, two armies completed in one month.

I added a Leman Russ Battle Tank to my Imperial Guard army.  I am having fun adding to this army.  Once the Blood Angels are completed, look for more vehicles being added to the Imperial Guard.

Was able to finally start on my Blood Angels army, and I painted up the 3 Sanguinary Priests that I will be running.

Last but not least, Vulkan He'stan was completed for my son's Salamanders army (he was thrilled).

With all the above painting being done, I still manage to go out and game once or twice a week.

I honestly do not see  myself having another triple digit month for July.  We are going away the last week of the month for a 'stay-cation' so most of my funds for new models are being saved for that.  I am hoping to possibly hit 50 points for July.  Time to dig out some more vehicles!

Total Painting Points for the month: 100
Total Painting Points for the year: 572

Thanks to Lone Pilgrim and Equinox for the idea of Painting Points.

W40K: Eldar Biel Tan Guardian Sample

[caption id="attachment_380" align="alignleft" width="64" caption="Biel Tan"][/caption]

My oldest son will be painting his first full army (we hope) and he choose to do the Eldar Biel Tan.  For his 8th Grade graduation party I purchased him a 1500 point army and he also added a few units himself.

We decided to try and pick a simple color scheme for him since this is really his first time that he will be painting detail.  I have had him do base coats for me before, but nothing like this.

With the Biel Tan we'll start with Games Workshop White Primer for our base coats, and for the Vehicles I decided to purchase The Army Painters Green.  The plan, keep it simple.  I'm sure I'll be helping him as needed.

This morning I decided to paint up one of his Guardian men as a sample for him to follow, plus I was curious how the Vallejo Pale Wash was going to look like, I've never used Vallejo Washes before.  Honestly I thought the wash would have been just a bit darker, but it will be alright for him.

Here is the sample Guardian (minus the matte spray), hopefully he'll be able to duplicate them.

[caption id="attachment_381" align="aligncenter" width="272" caption="Biel Tan Guardian (sample)"][/caption]

Painting Points: 1