Midweek Modelling - 30/11

It's update time!

I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that I have been painting and I am pretty happy with the results so far.

The bad news is that I'm probably about 75-80% finished, and today is the last day of the month. That means I'll either paint like mad tonight (probably not) or finish what I can tonight and do the rest tomorrow (more likely).
Also, I might have slightly deviated from the stuff I had originally planned to paint for this month. Still, I'm having fun painting and that is what this little exercise is mainly about, right?

On with the pics!

Monday Morning Gamer - 28/11

Hello and good morning! What a week it´s been. First the weather was too crappy for me to take pics for Midweek Modeling and then my Campaign Battle got pushed back till Sunday, leaving me little time to write up the battle review for Game Night! All of which combines to me not having any content to post for most of last week. I shall endeavor to do better this week! (I like ‘endeavor’, such a nice word. People don’t use it enough.)

So, with that out of the way: Welcome to another edition of Monday Morning Gamer! I have actually had quite a fun week, gaming wise. I received a text that set off all sorts of ideas forming in my mind, I found something really awesome visiting my parents this weekend and I played the final battle in our 6 month Fantasy Campaign, which was a really cool battle!

For this week’s episode of MMG I have for you the following: A review of my absolute favourite unit in the Ogres Kingdoms book, a look at a spin off game by one of my favourite miniature companies ever, a very early look at a Dark Eldar only Escalation Campaign, and, finally, a look ahead!

Plenty of stuff, so let’s get to it!

Monday Morning Gamer - 21/11

Hello and welcome to Monday Morning Gamer! Ok, technically it’s not morning for me anymore, but it’s still, barely, Monday morning somewhere in the world. So I’ll just pretend that’s good enough.

For today’s installment of MMG I have a few things for you. Firstly, for those who haven’t seen it, I have a pic of the new Mangler Squig, set to be released next month. There are also models for the missing Beastmen Rares. I’m sure most of you will have seen them already, but in case you haven’t (Shalen, I’m looking at you!), here they are:

Now that’s out of the way and we have all decided what we think of the new Jabberslythe (I love it), here’s what else I have for you today: firstly, a Post Tournament look at my OK army and the changes I have made to it so far. Next, a notice of another double tournament coming up in January and finally a short talk about my Dogs of War army!

On with the show!

Game Night! - Invasion Narrative Campaign

Adapted from this

Welcome to Game Night!

I like campaigns. I think linking battles and connecting a story to those battles is a very rewarding way of playing Warhammer. While I enjoy playing one-off battles as much as the next guy, and those are usually the kind of games I play, there is just nothing that beats playing in a narrative campaign and seeing my Order of the Moon Chaos Warriors, led by the great Master Borazel, trying to kick my mate's Dwarfs out of their Hold in the northern mountains. Or something to that effect. If Balephon is reading this, I'm sure he remembers mighty Master Borazel!

As I was flicking through the big rulebook looking for the rules for the Battle Royale, I noticed all these other scenarios I never play. Two weekends ago I had a chance to sit down and read through them, and I was inspired to link a few scenarios up and make a narrative campaign. At first I thought about making it specific for two armies to use. Maybe my Skaven would attempt to attack a High Elf colony in the east, or my Ogres would come across a band of Chaos Warriors as they both sought access to an ancient ruin. But then, as is most often the case, I couldn't decide which armies would be the best to include. All of them are cool! So I decided to just make a more abstract storyline and allow anyone to use whichever armies they want. Aren't I nice?

Midweek Modelling - 16/11

Hello and welcome to this week's edition of Midweek Modelling. After spending all of last week trying to get my Ogres ready for the tournament, this week I finally get to spend some time on different stuff. It's going to be mostly Work in Progress pictures here this week. Basically have spent my time so far assembling and undercoating all the stuff I plan to have finished for this month's Tale of the Painter. I have the following planned:


Skaven - 51 Slaves and 3 Warlock Engineers
Empire - A Mortar and a converted Sorceress
Warriors of Chaos - 5 Warriors
Imperial Guard - Leman Russ Executioner

Comment updated

Quick maintanence post. I´ve addded a new way of commenting for this blog since I got a few complaints on how difficult it was to comment on here.

Anyway, this should be easier, so there´s nothing stopping anyone from commenting, should they want to ;)

Monday Morning Gamer - 14/11

Look, I made a crappy Paint picture!

Good day to all, and welcome to the renamed Monday post on my blog. My usual sequence of weekly posts would mean today I would be talking about gaming background stuff, theory and overarching things like campaigns, but since I just came back from a tournament this Saturday, I thought I'd switch today's post with Friday's Game Night! post, and give you my tournament recap now. And not just because I think I'll have forgotten some stuff by then I might still remember now either. Honest.

As I explained here, I went to a tournament this saturday. This post will be all about how it went, what I saw and what I should do differently next time, if anything.

Off we go!

Game Night! 11-11-11

*let me preface this by saying I'll be uploading this from my phone, with no chance to fix the layout until sunday or monday. So if blogger app eats my  layout again, don't say I didn't warn you!*

Welcome to today's episode of Game Night! I'm all about tomorrow's tournament this week so everything that comes up in this post will be on that as well.
I'll start things of with a preview of the tournament, looking at the different scenarios we'll be playing, including how I think my army will do, and how victory will be determined. Next I have a battle review of my Ogres vs my mate Balephon's Tomb Kings, both of us using our tourney armies. Finally, a quick word on my painting and how I think I'll paint score-wise.

Off we go!

The Tournament and the Way to Victory

This is a pretty bog standard, Dutch, one day Fantasy tournament. Three battles, a different scenario for each battle, and enough Soft Score points to compensate for average play.
There's 100 points to earn overall. 25 max for each of the three battles, plus 20 for painting, and 5 for handing in your army list 2 weeks prior. Which I did.
Now, before we continue, a little info on me as a torunament player. I go to quite a few tournaments, but I'm not particularly good at them. You see, for whatever reason I can never bring myself to going all-out competitive (nothing wrong with that, btw) and almost always end up somewhere in the middle of the pack. Or sometimes lower. And I'm absolutely cool with that. So, over the years this has let me to develop the following target to aim for in tournaments: if I can score, on average, slightly above a draw for each of my battles, I'll be a happy camper.
Obviously I've put that little caveat in to make sure expectations won't be too high from my audience :p
Now, let's take a look at the missions.
As mentioned, there's three. One is a standard Battleline, two are tournament specific.
We start off with one called "Intercept the Messengers". Each side will have three single infantry models to use a Messengers. For every Messenger you can get off the opposite table edge, you earn points. The more to the centre of the board the messenger goes off, the more points you get. So the aim is to get the messengers off in the middle 24" of the opponent's board edge and get maximum points.
I think this is actually a fun mission, different enough to make it interesting. Since normal victory points will probably play a bigger role in final victory, the Messengers are a nice addition, but not absolutely essential. Of course, to score max points for this mission you'll need max victory points and all your messengers off the table. So, note to self: if all else fails, kill opposing messengers and I'll earn some Battle Points even if I do get wiped. Not that I expect that to happen, obviously, but just saying...
The other scenario is more or less an adaption of a 40k scenario, and I don't mean that in a good way.
For this scenario, three objectives are placed, parallel to the long table edge, in the middle of the table, with 18" between each, and between the outer two and the short board edge. Might sound complicated, but it's not really.
Winner is determined by victory points, with the distribution of objectives determining final score. Only Core units eligible to count for the minimum 25% can claim an objective. No enemies can be within range of an objective (6"), or noone will earn the bonus.
So this scenario will probably be about who can plonk the biggest unit on top of an objective, and stay there. I see Undead doing well in this scenario, with summoning back models and such. I will not do as well, since I only have two Core units, and things will really have to go my way for one of them to claim two objectives an the other the final one. Luckily, most of the victory is still determined by straight up VP, so I'll just gor for that and worry about how many objectives I can claim later.

Overall, I think the tournament is well thought out. While it imposes quite a few limits (no special characters, max on duplicate choices, etc), I do not see how these limits will favour one army over another too badly. So kudoes there. We'll see what I think tomorrow :p

On to the Battle Review!

I'll keep this short and sweet because a) it's late and b) I don't have Balephon's list here, so can't go into precise details here.
Suffice to say we played the Messengers scenario, and I won.
Here's what I learned from the battle:
> I do not have enough units to devote to messenger-chasing. It my Sabretusks don't kill them, and my maneaters don't shoot them, they will most likely survive. Oh well. I'll have to focus on killing the enemy instead. As a last resort I can use my Messengers to shoot my opponent's, but only if all else failed.
> I switchex my Maneaters' Stobborn rule for Poisoned Attacks, and boy, did that pay off. Both a Necrosphinx and a unit of six sepulchral knights died by my Maneaters' hand. Good stuuf.
> I wonder hoe many people will complain about Hellheart. As far as I can see there is only one other OK player, so not too many people will face a Hellheart. Should be fun if people aren't used to facing it :p
> Pay attention while deploying! Important!
> Btw, I predict rolling a 1 for Hellheart at least once.

Painting - What's the Score

For this tournament players can earn 'soft' points for painting. 25 points can be accrued, with a max of 20 of those counting towards your final score. The criteria of when you get how many points is clearly outlined in the Rulespack. The way I see it, my army should receive 12 points for painting. And just so we're clear. My army only has the most basic of base colours, and, to be honest, it looks abysmal :p So it'll be fun to see if I've managed to 'cheat the system' and will be awarded 12 out of 20 points for basically 2 half days of painting.
I can be evil like that :p

Alright, that's it. I'm off to bed! Good luck to me, Balephon, and Shalen tomorrow. I'll try and post some updates during the day! Wish us luck!

Midweek Modelling - 9 Nov 11

My finished Leadbelcher

Heyho, time for an update!

This week my modelling and painting has been focussed on one thing and one thing only:

My Ogres!

This saturday I wil participate in a tournament and I need the army ready (not finished, mind) to play. The army I'll be using will be familiar to those couple of people who stop by here regularly. Check here for a reminder.

I have given up trying to paint each and every Ogre to the standard I would like, see picture. That would take too much time and, as you might know, I have been busy painting loads of other stuff. So, I have decided, true to form, to just paint basecoats on all the models in the army and finish them at a later time. Sure, I'll get less points for painting, but I go there to have fun and play new people, not to win best painted.

Anyway, the past few days have mostly been about assembling and getting all the models ready. Since doing basecoats isn't such a timeconsuming process, or so I always think, I have left it quite late. As the army stands now I have assembled and greenstuffed everything, and it's waiting to get undercoated tomorrow.

Ironblaster, Guts, Bulls, Maneaters

Here's a pic of most of the army as it stands now (I know, fuzzy pic).

None of these models have the proper paintjob so I'll have to redo the ones that have paint on them. As my might be able to make out, all the models have obscured faces. This has to do with the background of my army, which really is a way of my not having to use the ugly ogre faces and instead using something I can actually Greenstuff myself. Look at the leadbelchers at the top to see how they'll look once done more or less properly.

I've tried to convert all the characters I'll be using myself. Here's them now:

BSB, Slaughtermaster, Butcher

Again, don't mind the paint, or the obvious greenstuff, things will get better later, promise ;)

Finally, as a bonus of sorts, my Butcher using Heavens from a different angle. Since I liked the idea of different cults of butchers for different lores of magic (Firebelly for Fire), I decided this wizard was more into lightning and such and had his body modified (by rattish engineers, no doubt) accordingly!

Rights, that's it for now. I have to get back to painting! I'll keep you updated!

Game Night!

*EDIT - and once again the blogger app ate my lay-out. Fixed now, with apologies*

Hello and welcome to the first ever edition of Game Night! where I'll talk about any specific gameplay bits  that I have participated in over the week. I'm still getting to grips with the new blog format but these post should be arriving more regarly :p

For this week's installment, I have three different items for you. First up will be a Thunderstomp Battle Review of a multiplayer battle we did in the final turn of our Fantasy Campaign, using the scenario from the rulebook. So for everyone who's wondered if that's a fun and fair way to do a three-player battle, this one will be for you!

Second, for a little dose of 40k, I'll do my initial thoughts on the new Necron Codex. I've been pouring over my copy since Thursday (I do enjoy usually being able getting my hands on a new book a couple of days before the official release!) and I have a few ideas to share with you. Nothing too serious, go to 3++ for that!

Finally, I have three army ideas to discuss with you, all possibilities for me to use for my half of a Fantasy doubles tournament in December. So, let's get to it!

Thalenchar's Recap - Halloween edition

The very first! Like I mentioned here, this post will be about games stuff I have found online or just have been thinking about myself, as well as some news and other bits and bobs. Also, some American Football!

Let's get that out of the way first. This has been a very good weekend, Football wise. Almost perfect, I'd say. The Eagles won (more on that later), Dallas lost, as did Washington, and the Giants nearly lost to the winless Dolphins! Had the Giants lost, this would have been a perfect weekend for Eagles fans. Now it's just a really, really good weekend. And after losing four of the past five, it was just what the doctor ordered.

Almost-Reallife Blood Bowl Thoughts:
> Now that was just a spanking the Eagles gave to the Cowboys. 34-7 and it wasn't even that close. Wow. When everything clicks for the Eagles they are scary good. Kudoes all round. Everyone played great. It was another great game by runningback Lesean McCoy, and the O-Line is finally clicking. Great job by defensive coordinator Juan Castillo too.
> I don't like the Cowboys, but I have to mention Demarcus Ware. Four sacks of the elusive Michael Vick is really good. Well done. But I hope you have four less in the rematch.
> Wow, did Baltimore cut that close or what? Winning on a last second field goal after being 18 pts behind to Arizona, winners of 1 game this season, at the half? Weren't the Ravens supposed to be better?
> One week after putting up as many points as have ever been scored in the NFL since the merger 40 odd years ago (62 pts vs Colts last week), the New Orleans Saints lose to the St. Louis Rams, winners of zero games so far. Well, one game now. What's up with that?
> Boy, I hope tebowing doesn't become the next big thing... That would be just silly. Leave the man be, already.


As some of you know, I am Dutch. And it is in that capacity, that of a Dutch Wargamer, that I bring you the following info. A new webstore has opened up today. Check it out on Wargaming.nl . Not only does it offer a nice discount on retail prices, but it also serves as a meeting point for people looking to play a game of warhammer. So if you live in or near Almere and are looking for other players, make sure to check it out!   



Finally, some other news: I'll be participating in a Warhammer doubles tournament in December. Doubles tournaments are great fun, but the one thing I always struggle with is deciding which army to take. Add to that that this Tournament is just 1200 pts per team (i.e. 600 per player) and I'm having a real challenge figuring out what to bring. Thankfully my partner already knows he'll bring Empire, so that at least helps a little bit. All I need to do now is make a 600 pts army that complements one of the best all-round armies in the game! So far I have narrowed it down to 3 possible options. I'll talk you through them Friday. Who know's, I might have even made up my mind by then! Yeah, right... 

And that's it for today! See ya! Oh yes, and I hope everyone had a happy halloween!

Thunderstomp - Phase 2

I started this blog 2 months ago, more or less on a whim. I thought it would be fun and provide me with an outlet for all my Warhammer-related thoughts and ideas. Originally I planned on writing stuff whenever the mood struck me (which was at least every other day) about whatever I thought was fun to discuss. Basically trusting in my gamer's enthusiasm to see me through!

Recently though I felt I needed a bit more structure in my Blog to keep it from going stale. I've been posting mostly about painting (because that's what I've been doing) but I want this blog to be about more than just that. I don't know about you, but I can only look at so many pictured of WiP miniature soldiers :p
So, after a think I have decided to divvy up my posting according to a more or less set schedule! This way you guys will know a bit about what you can expect and it will help me think of stuff to write. Good all round, I'd say!

Anyway, here's what I have in mind:

<I'm changing these to cooler names as I come up with them, btw>