Hordes: Minions February 2018 Prerelease (ninja)

This past weekend was the 2018 Las Vegas Open and this year my son and I had decided we were not going to attend due to the fact there were no Guild Ball events on the schedule.  We both attended the previous 2 years and last year that is where we both got interested in Guild Ball.  We could have attended for the Warmachine/Hordes events, but we thought money would be better spent on AdeptiCon in 2 months.

This year’s LVO though would have been a great shopping year for me with all the new Hordes Minions models that are coming out in February.  Luckily I knew a fellow gamer not too far from me who was attending this year and I texted my order to him.  Well last night I met with him to pick up all my goodies.  Yes, I could have waited for my store in South Bend to receive the products, but it would nbot be guaranteed that they would get them in.  I drove down there last weekend for a Gatoman Soul Slave and they never got them.  Seeing how many of these models I want to get done for AdeptiCon, I thought the earlier I can get them, the better.  My painting queue for the first quarter now really got stacked up.  Looks like a lot of assembling will be taking place during the Super Bowl on Sunday.

I had my friend grab me the following models:

Gatorman Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron x1

Longchops x1

Void Leech x1

Gatorman Husk x3

Bone Shrine x1

The only prerelease I elected to pass on for now is the Croak Trappers, those I can wait on till my LGS gets them in stock.

Painting Points: January 2018

Well we come to end of the first Month of 2018 and it was a really good month for me and Painting Points.  I use these points just as a personal tracker for myself and to push myself to get models completed.  Then at the end of the year I can compare with years past.

Years ago I used to do these monthly recaps and then all of sudden stopped, this year I started doing my Weekly Chronicles of my models completed and games completed, but I thought I would also bring back my monthly Painting Points recap also.

January started off great with me completing my Hordes Minions Dracodile Gargantuan which netted me 25 Points to start the month off with, then I was able to work my way through my queue for another 26 Points.  All of my models have been individual based models (no rank and file) so those take me just a little bit longer to complete and do not net me as many points as completing a Unit.  I have a feeling for 2018, Units will be a stretch for me as currently I do not have any Bolt Action models in my queue and not many Units I need for my Minions army.  Though later this Summer/Fall if I get any games of Bolt Action in with my son, that may change the queue a little bit.

So for the first month of 2018.

Total Painting Points for the month: 51

Total Painting Points for the year: 51

Hordes: Minions Bog Trog Trawler (Solo)

Back to painting my Hordes Minions for a few days.  I have a lot I want to get done for the AdeptiCon Team Tournament in March since I am undecided between playing ‘Maelok’ or ‘Barnabas 2’.  Plus the last couple of weeks and the mmonth of February, Privateer Press is releasing a lot of new Minion models (that I happen to get a Ninja to pick some up for me at the Las Vegas Open last weekend).  Back to the Bog Trog Trawler, this was a model sitting on my shelf from my AdeptiCon 2017 shopping spree (only 1 left on the shelf, the Sacral Vault) so I am just aboout caught up from last years purchases.

Bog Trog Trawler

Bog Trog Trawler

Painting Points: 2

Weekly Chronicle 2018 #4

We already completed 4 weeks of 2018 and things having been moving quite nicely on getting models completed for the year.  I seem to always go full blast at the beginning of the year, then slow down through the Summer and pick right back up in the Fall, this year may be the same also with some travels planned for June.  Hopefully it wont last more than the month of June and can pick back up in July.

Anyways, back to Week #4... I was able to get the remaining models/model completed for my Guild Ball Brewer’s Guild and Alchemist’s Guilds, and another model for my Hordes Minions.  I spent most of yesterday getting models prepped for this week.  Regarding games played, I have stuck to my ‘play every other week’ and got in 2 more games, 1 for Guild Ball and 1 for Hordes (both losses).

Week #4

Models Completed: 4

Minions: Croak Hunter

Brewer’s Guild: Pint Pot

Brewer’s Guild: Stoker

Alchemist’s Guild: Smoke

Games Played: 2

Guild Ball: Alchemist’s Guild ‘Smoke’

Just like yesterday when I finished ‘Stoker’ for the Brewer’s Guild, ‘Smoke’ is the last model I needed completed for the Alchemist’s Guild.  After I completed most of my Alchemist’s last year, my son down in Arizona took a liking to them and had me give them to him when I was down there at the end of May.  At that time he had purchased ‘Smoke’ and I thought he would be painting her up himself.  Well when my son came up for SteamCon USA in December, he brought with him ‘Smoke’ still new in package.  So it feels good to get another Guild completely finished.

Here we have ‘Smoke’ a 2nd Captain for the Alchemist’s Guild.

Smoke

Smoke

Painting Points: 1

Guild Ball: Brewer’s Guild ‘Stoker’

I know come to the final model for my Brewer’s Guild with ‘Stoker’, a Defensive Midfielder for the Guild.  It feels good to complete an entire Guild.  Not that I have even tried to play with the Brewer’s yet, I just like all the models that Steamforged is putting out for Guild Ball and want my entire collection to be painted.  Eventually when games are esier to get in (when my son moves up) I am sure I will be trying the Brewer’s out.

Stoker

Stoker

Painting Points: 1

Battle Report: Hordes 1/25/2018 Minions vs Trollbloods (75 Points)

For now most of my Warmachine/Hordes gaming is against my friend who only plays Trollbloods, so most of my reports will either be my Minions or Khador vs his Trollbloods (until I can get to some events and play other opponents).

Last night I decided to try a new caster for my Minions and used ‘Maelok’, and as always when trying something new I am very unfamiliar on how he actually works.  I knew how to play a lot of his spells, but also missed out on a lot things (mainly gathering souls) which hurt me down the road with Fury.  The Trollbloods player usually plays a high count infantry list with 2 Units of Champions and I knew it was going to be pretty tough.  Mortality was a nice spell from Maelok and I was able to get it off twice which really helped a lot.  In the end, again it was the clock that lost the game for me.  I clocked out at the bottom of Turn 3, with myself being up 1-0 in the Scenario.

Scenario: Outlast

Guild Ball: Brewer’s Guild ‘Pint Pot’

Back to completing some Guild Ball models for a few days and wrapping up my Brewer’s Guild.  I was down to just 2 models left to complete and then I swayed towards my Minions for a little bit.  Well it is time to finish them up.  

A Central Midfielder for the Brewer’s, we have ‘Pint Pot’.

Pint Pot

Pint Pot

Painting Points: 2

Battle Report: Guild Ball 1/23/2018 Butcher’s vs Hunter’s

Last night was a rematch againt my friend, my Buther’s vs his Hunter’s Guild and the outcome was now the opposite.

We both ended up playing the exact same lists as two weeks ago and I am starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with the Butcher’s.  I still forgot a few things with them but not as many as before, and I am still making a lot of rookie mistakes in the game itself.  The one part of the game that I really do not enjoy is the counter-attack.  I really hate going in for an attack and then my activation ends becasue my opponent was able to Dodge out of melee range, not too thrilled with that one and it happened a couple of times last night mainly with Fillet.

Just like two weeks ago, my friend and I both clocked out during the game, this time with me clocking out first.  I had a decent lead 9-4 (thanks to a Brisket Goal) when I clocked out, but it was not enough, my friend still had 7 minutes on his clock and Theron pounded on Fillet a couple of times.  It came down to the wire and my Butcher’s ended up losing 11-12.

Hordes: Minions Croak Hunter (Solo)

We are heading into Week #4 of 2018 and my last model of the three I purchased the previous weekend at Fantasy Games down in South Bend is now completed for my Hordes Minions..’Croak Hunter’.  I have a game lined up for this Thursday night and will be trying ‘Maelok’ for the first time along with this ‘Croak Hunter’.  I am really curious and looking forward to giving ‘Maelok’ a try (though I’ll still probably lose).

 Croak Hunter

Croak Hunter

Painting Points: 1

Weekly Chronicle 2018 #3

The momentum train is still rolling for Week #3.  Week #2 was mainly completing some Guild Ball models and Week #3 I concentrated again on some of my Hordes Minion models.  I even was able to complete 2 models that I had much further down the line in my queue.

I spent all of Saturday out with the family visiting downtown Chicago so not much was completed or prepped over the weekend, but I do have some more model that will be ready this coming week.

I also was able to start using The Hobby Holder yesterday and I am quite happy with how it works.

Barnabas 2 a new Warlock for Minions was also released this past Friday.  My original plan was to go down to South Bend and pick him up on Satirday, but with family plans instead, I was able to purchase him this weekend.  There are a few other Minion models coming out this coming weekend and I may just wait to purchase them all together.

Week #3

Models Completed: 4

Minions: Gatorman Witch Doctor

Minions: Blindwater Brew Witch Doctor

Minions: Feralgeist

Minions: Boneswarm

Games Played: 0

Kickstarter: The Hobby Holder

2017 was the first time I purchased anything through Kickstarter.  The first two were just card games and then in October I came across The Hobby Holder, a miniature painting holder and cup.  An acquaintance I know back in Arizona (Gorilla with a Brush) uses something similiar, and when I came across this Kickstarter for a very decent price, I thought I would give it try.  The Hobby Holder was funded in November and very quickly he went into production and kept us notified on all the updates.

Early this week my item arrived and I am going to give it a try later in the week.  It only came with a small amount of blue tac so I will probably have to get some more or use double sided stick tape.

Hordes: Minions Boneswarm (Warbeast)

This is the 2nd of 3 models that I purchased last weekend at my LGS in South Bend and I knew he would be a quick one to paint up.  I enjoy painting bones as it it usually just a drybrush.  I have had plenty of practice from back in the day painting Tomb Kings and Vamoire Counts for Warhammer Fantasy.  With the release of Barnabas 2 today, I have been seeing a lot of lists on the Facebook Groups that are running the Boneswarm with him.  So while I was there I decided to pick him up and get him painted.  I also noticed most of those lists are running two Boneswarm’s but I have not quite realized why.  Maybe next time I am down in South Bend I’ll see if they have another one to get.

Boneswarm

Boneswarm

Painting Points: 2

Hordes: Minions Feralgeist (Solo)

While in South Bend this past weekend catching a movie (the only place that was playing my ‘sing-a-along’ version), I had to hit up the gaming store on the way home and pick up a few models and some paint.  Might as well have some more reasoning to a 80 mile round trip drive.  While there I saw that they had a ‘Feralgeist’ and I knew I did not have one yet in my collection.

I was originally worried on how he may turn out like with the Necrotic Green color, but with the Army Painter Green Tone wash, I think he definitely looks good for the table top.

Feralgeist

Feralgeist

Painting Points: 1