Searching for ... inspiration?

I was all inspired the other night to get some focus back on my Space Wolves after a <whatever you call a conversation via Twitter... a twittle? Twaddle?> with Jeff Kent of Kiwihammer fame.

The diversity in wargamers and building armies is interesting. Jeff - at least to me - brings quite a metagame/tournament focussed approach to list building. An example of this is making all his weapons magnetised so that he can swap loadouts (where I would commit to a build I like and then maybe build a new figure later if I wanted to try something new). I, on the other hand, believe I have a more backgroundy/fluffy-esque approach to my Space Wolves... an army of individual heroes, which got me into the Space Wolves back in v2 in the first place. Not that this is not a competitive approach, it's just not as engineered as some of the net list builds you might see (as I think I am a competitive player... just not willing to always make the leap to the meta).

I do enjoy having debates or discussions about these things as it's good to challenge thinking and also consider different configurations.

So trying to come up with a list has been a bit of a struggle for me. I like to have a good view in my minds eye about what I want my squads to look like before I commit to it, So I have been feverishly surfing the net, trying to look at combos and formations and so forth trying to find a combination that I can relate to. But with no luck.

Until today when I had a bit of a revelation. What I really need to do is focus on the models I want to build and paint. And then once I have done all those, build a list from that. For example, if I want to have a Wolf Lord:

• with Terminator armour, then I'll use the Companies of the Great Wolf supplement and give him Morkai's Claws and Fellclaw's Teeth
• with a Thunderwolf mount then I'll build him with a Storm Shield and maybe give him the option to magnetise the weapon so he can have a thunder hammer or krakenbone sword
• on foot I'll build him to have... goodness I don't know yet :)

So here's a Lone Wolf I built the other night after my discussion with Jeff.

Now I am trying to figure out what to build next!

In other news, I have 18+ Adepta Sororitas Dominions staring at me from the bottom drawer at my painting desk. I think, rather than get dismayed by bringing them out a squad at a time and batch painting them I'll try painting one at a time and see how that goes.

In other other news, I've been all interested in the rage/quitfest/love/hate with the new Age of Sigmar release. I can totally get the emotional loss of WHFB 8th ed. - it was the only edition of WHFB that I really really got into, and I am looking at my reasonably substantial Lizardmen... sorry.. Seraphon army and wondering if they will ever get another go.

But I am also excited about some of the positive views - John Tailby over at Fields of Blood postulated that it was similar to the change from 2nd Ed to 3rd Ed 40k, and I tend to agree in general. One of the advantages for me is that I will take my son down to the local GW and we can both have an introductory game and who knows - he may really get into it.

In even more other other news, I had a game of Blood Bowl a couple of Fridays ago - my first since ValleyCon 2009(!! WTF??!?!!?) - against my old nemesis Warrick Craill and his Orcs. I had an Ogre, 4 Blitzers, 2 Throwers, 3 Linemen, and a Catcher. Warrick had a Troll, 4 Black Orcs, 4 Blitzers, and 2 Throwers.

I have been playing Blood Bowl since 3rd Ed was released back in 1994 (and against Warrick since then too) and have had three separate human teams (my favourite) during this time.

Jeez I love Blood Bowl. Such a neat game. In the end I pushed out to a 3-1 win but it was so tense. Great game for a few beers.

And then I rolled a ‘6’

Wargaming is a game of random odds, combined with strategies and tactics and matchups designed to remove (or maximise/minimise) those random odds.

Luck (or as some cads people like to call it, ‘statistics’) is often cited (or blamed) as one of the key contributors to the outcome of a game. There is even a word to describe the application of statistics - Mathhammer. This is a noun and a verb, and there are even apps that can help you mathhammer your own... luck... out there.

  

I know that I have been a believer in swings of ‘luck’ influencing some games. While there is always an element of this to be had, bad luck is usually more because ‘I threw this unit into a combat needing three 6’s from 6 dice to win, and it didn't work, man that was bad luck and that cost me the game’ – as opposed to it being a dodgy risk via a pretty crappy statistical chance that didn't pay off costing you the game.

OR you could read something like this for a bit more analysis. I'm sure there's plenty more articles out there too.

         

Once of the key things that I loved about my Space Wolves was that I truly believed that they would pull off the impossible odds. Hero-style. It was one of the rewarding things about using them (and what all good sagas are made of). For example, at the NZ Nationals one year Wolf Lord Haakon Ironwolf made 14 4++ saves in a row (vs lascannons and plasma guns), and went on to help win the game against a force of Dark Angels (ironically, he failed two 3+ armour saves vs a bolt pistol and a CCW and was left on 1 wound). Statistically that's pretty unlikely... and some would say very lucky :). I'd say it was pretty normal (for him) <ha ha>.

So I think it is important, in the flush of the post-game excitement, to try and review what happened on the table with some measure of dispassion. The eternal struggle is to focus on actual statistics, but not at the detriment of the dynamic of the game. This helps you improve your matchups and tactics to bring them to fruition.

The danger, as in any hobby, is to focus purely on one aspect to the exclusion of all (or most) of the others.Practice your rock/paper/scissors matchups. Practice your mathhammer in your head (it will help you play better).

But play the game for the multi-faceted (and very social) hobby that it is. And make sure you and your opponent have fun.

2015... the year of the...?

With all the massive changes in armies and rules editions (both 40k and WHFB... End Times anyone?), the profusion of codexes and dataslates and therefore new weekly army combinations, the amount of exciting stuff coming out of Black Library, and amazing individual hobby blogs all over the place, it’s just overflowing my brain with inspiration and I find it difficult occasionally to say whoa, and take a step back.

 

Suffice to say I have plenty on my plate to take up all my available time and then some, but there are a few specific-ish things I want to achieve this year (and will look to keep a running total somewhere on the blog).

 

Terrain:

• Paint my 40k Sector Imperialis board - I’ll be looking to de-base and touch up/detail my existing GW Cityfight terrain to fit with this
• Build enough based terrain from my old ruins (from the 3^rdEd box) to cover a second table, plus I have a Firestorm Redoubt, an Imperial Defence Emplacement, a couple of Shrines of the Aquila, a couple of Bastions, and a Fortress of Redemption plus other leftover bits (e.g. ruined landspeeder... I think I still have one) to cover another table or two.
• Look at rebuilding and possibly painting (sacrilege!) my Necromunda card terrain with additional detail added from the Sector Imperialis kits

 

This would give me enough to do three – four... probably more... complete 40k tables of varying density.

 

Tournaments

I aim to umpire at least one 40k tournament hopefully in the middle of this year, time and support willing. I am just waiting to hear back regarding hall availability so will update this when I can confirm a date.

 

If there are any one-day tournaments in Wellington this year I will look to be one of the first to register. I believe, at least for my demographic, that one-dayers are the way of the immediate future. The prime benefit is (for me) that it’s a much easier commitment to make particularly if you have a partner/children/other activities i.e. sports.

 

Hobby painting schedule

This is my rough painting plan ...err...  guideline for 2015 to help me keep on track. Let’s check it at the end of December to see how accurate I was and how that pans out once Life^TM has had a look and applied its own edits i.e. “How about some Fantasy stuff then eh??”

 

Suffice to say that the statement ‘Try not to get too distracted by new releases’ shall apply over the whole year...

 

January:

• Paint 10+ models from Painting Case
• Paint 2x Realm of Battle boards
• Paint replacement Grey Knight Terminator arms (so I can field a WYSIWYG unit)

 

February:

• Terrain month – paint complete Sector Imperialis board
• Paint 4+ models from Painting Case
• Paint Grey Knight Terminator Librarian (old metal model, not nice new plastic ones)
• Participate in NZTC

 

March:

• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Paint 1x Astra Militarum tank
• Assemble rest of existing Grey Hunter pack

 

April:

• Terrain month – paint enough terrain to cover a 6’x4’ board
• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Test model for Deathwatch
• Assemble 3x Adepta Sororita Immolators

 

May:

• Run tournament?
• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Assemble Grey Hunter pack

 

June:

• Run tournament?
• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Assemble Wolf Scouts with Sniper Rifles

 

July:

• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Paint 2+ Adepta Sororita Immolators

 

August:

• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Call to Arms?
• Build Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf (at the very least the Thunderwolf)

 

September:

• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Paint 2x Astra Militarum tanks

 

October:

• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Build Wolf Guard terminators

 

November:

• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Paint 1x Astra Militarum tank

 

December:

• Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
• Take a break!

 

So all going to plan I will have painted 70+ models plus a few tanks, started assembling my Space Wolves, and built more terrain.

 

Skills I want to gain/areas I want to improve

I’d like to focus on my painting speed this year – I’m no Dave Taylor and can’t pump a GD army out in a week, and I can take too long to paint so I want to find ways of cutting corners without sacrificing my quality (to put that in perspective, let’s face this too – I'm no Golden Daemon winner either... but I do have standards).

 

I absolutely love using washes and glazes and drybrushing to get good depth and detail, so want to continue using them as a basis for getting stuff done to a level I am happy with.

 

I want to (learn to) use my airbrush more. I intend to try zenithal painting on my Space Wolves and the Deathwatch, so we’ll see how that pans out.

 

I’ll aim to do more weathering, starting with terrain because that’s a bit more forgiving.

 

What I think is on the horizon

Finally, this is a view from my crystal ball in what’s coming for the hobby.

 

I’d quite comfortably say that GW is aiming to destroy the (primarily 40k) tournament scene.

 

Now let me clarify that this is not in a negative way as in 'stop tournaments from happening because we are a company that is about the models and we don't want people to unforge the narrative', but I see that it’s more an attempt to destroy the meta-effect and those armies that dominated tournaments for large stretches pre-6^th/7^th – these days with the weekly release schedule and other army publications happening at pace it’s just too hard, even with help of the internets – to keep up with what is new this week and how that impacts every other convoluted combination that has come prior. Maybe I’ll go over this more in another post (or in a discussion below).

 

What I think that it will do is push (and focus) people back to collecting the armies and models they actually like or identify with, and hopefully this will mean they’ll be learning to play them and the missions better, rather than feeling a bit forced into collecting the latest uber-army of doom in order to feel competitive.

 

It also may bring more pressure from players on tournament organisers to provide generic restrictions (or none at all... maybe not so much), but I think it will also create more regional tournament ‘flavours’ particularly in large demographics like the USA.

 

It is certainly interesting times.

Christmas is coming...

... and some hobby time beckons. On top of quality family time of course!

Someone has too much money

Terrain-wise I have a Sector Imperialis board that needs painting... although I watched the 20 minute GW YouTube tutorial on painting it and thought 'OMG WTF LOL OMG SRSLY?...'... Inspiring and terrifying all at once. 

I also have two extra Realm of Battle boards that need to be painted up to match my others. I have visions of setting up a huge 14'x4' (or some combination of 8x RoB and 6x 40k boards) for a large game... can't wait.

I have some leftover Imperial Sector ruins to build (I'm a bit light on taller than one story at the moment...) plus wreckage etc. I definitely need to get some more terrain. No excuses (apart from financial ones)

I need to buy some mdf to chop up for building bases as well.

Model-wise I have a couple of metal Grey Knight Terminators that need bringing up to speed with some replacement arms (now that Justicars can't have psycannons, boo).

I have a small pile of Inquisition warband models sitting in Simple Green ready for the ultrasonic cleaner to do its thing. I did manage also to pick up some Last Chancers and other older metals (thanks Carson!) so I'm looking to get a few painted if not at least prepped and undercoated. Here's hoping that an update to the Inquisition Codex will allow henchmen to be armed with normal lasguns... rather than just hotshot ones. I mean, who would ever buy them?

I need to think about my NZTC list - specifically whether I take a magic or cavalry lizard list. Last year I took cavalry, but had Tetto'eko to comet people to bits. This year there's no special characters so maybe I'll have to default back to a Slann in order to get some serious magic. Or just toughen up... Time to find out what everyone else in the team is taking!

I'm going away for a couple of weeks to Christchurch visiting family (and house swapping) so am hoping to catch up with some olde wargaming comrades and fit in a visit to Comics Compulsion. Assuming we have room I'm hoping to also take my Lizardmen Temple Guard with me. They haven't seen any paint since last time I ... took them to Chch.

All in all I am looking forward to the break.

The SFL vs the World

Righto, here’s my report on my 5 games against very nice people.

Game 1 – vs Ryan Stuart (Daemons)
Ryan had (1000pts as per scenario):
Herald of Tzeentch, L2
25 Daemonettes of Slannesh
10 Pink Horrors
4 Beasts of Nurgle
Skullcannon

Ryan has played 40k and is making his way into the twisting turning alleys of the Olde World.

As per the scenario rules he asked me to deploy my entire army first (which would also give me first turn).

As you can see Ryan set up on quite a refused flank. Turn 1 I moved the Carnosaur and CoC forward to tempt the Beasts into a charge. It didn’t work, and in his turn the dreaded Skullcannon fired...

Turn 2 for me the Carnosaur and CoC combi-charged the Beasts, wiping them out and overrunning. The Carnosaur made it to the Skullcannon, while the CoC got forward enough to charge the Pink Horrors.

The other thing that was happening was the Skink Skirmish unit march blocking and ultimately drawing the Daemonette unit into the marsh where they suffered Dangerous Terrain tests. And then I spent the rest of the game whittling them down through weight of javelin and Beam of Chotec shots until they were all gone.

Thoughts: 
In this game everything the Bastiladon did went right. I should have taken this as an omen as the rest of the tournament because he did pretty much nothing else really in comparison! It’s reasonably good for 150pts...although it really needs Impact Hits GW! Pleeeeeease. I’ll buy a second one if you do!

20-0 to me

Game 2 vs Ben Crum (Vampire Counts)
Ben had:
L4 Necromancer, 4++
L2 Necromancer, Book of Arkhan
L1 Blender Vampire (Death), Sword of Might
20 Crypt Ghouls
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves
20 Zombies
Spirit Host
Spirit Host
Terrorgheist

We deployed alternatively which allowed me as the attacker to go first. I deployed a two pronged advance with the intention that something would make its way off.

This game started well (or so I thought). Ben vanguarded his Dire Wolves out, so in my Turn 1 the Carnosaur charged, connected, wiped them out, and overran into the Terrorgheist.

Ben’s Turn 1 – Terrorgheist screams in combat, Scar Vet is dead, Carnosaur has 2 wounds left (and is now Stupid), can’t do anything back, my Turn 2 he does nothing (again) and then Ben’s Turn 2 is mercifully put out of his misery.

Where for art thou, carnosaur?

The Terrorgheist then flapped off and killed (over several turns):
BSB
Saurus Cav
1x Skrox unit (the remains of)

Vampire and Ghouls never even needed to get into combat.

Yikes.

At the end of the game I had some of a Skrox unit left (the ones that finally beat the Spirit Host with CR).

... After this photo was taken, obviously.

Thoughts:
With the benefit of hindsight I should have just smashed up one flank with everything, I wanted to force Ben to choose where the Terrorgheist went which I still think was a good idea (maybe it wasn’t) but it certainly didn’t quite execute.

2-18 to Ben

Game 3 – vs Robert Higgins (Warriors of Chaos)
Robert had:
Chaos Lord, MoN, Flail, Scaled Skin, Flaming Breath, Ironcurse Icon, Daemonic Mount
Chaos Sorceror, MoN, DS, Luckstone, Warrior Bane, Enchanted Shield, Potion of Foolhardiness, Daemonic Mount
14 Marauder Horse, MoN, Flails, LA, Shield
5 Chaos Warhounds
6 Chaos Knights, MoN, Wailing Banner

I was reasonably confident that I could deal with this army, as long as I charged... So I did against the Nurgle Knights with the Carnosaur and the CoR and just bounced. Damn -1 to hit! Luckily the Scar-Vet on the Carnosaur held but he couldn’t do anything. At all.

When the Carnosaur did eventually hit and wound the Nurgle Lord (just the once) it only did 1 wound. Eventually the Scar-Vet and the Carnosaur both died a death. And surely deserved to.

Funniest moment of the game:
The Marauder Cav bus charged a Skrox unit in Dangerous Terrain, won the combat, failed to run the Skrox down, lost a crapload of models to the terrain, failed their subsequent Ld test, and then ran off the board in the next turn. LOLs all round.

At the end of the game I controlled the two objectives that allowed me bonuses for future games. Robert controlled the Cursed Watchtower (which had penalties for the next game) and 300VP.

1-19 to Robert

Thoughts:
Stupid carnosaur

Game 4 – Peter Williamson (Tomb Kings)
Peter had:
Liche High Priest, Ruby Ring
3 Chariots
3 Chariots
17 Skellie Bows
10 Skellie Bows
Tomb Scorpion
Tomb Scorpion
3 Carrion
Necrosphinx

I had forgotten that Necrosphinxes fly. So I was initially cautious with my movement as I was petrified of that damn Necrosphinx flying in and Heroic KB’ing my Carnosaur or BSB. As it turns out he did that to the BSB

... but that allowed my Carnosaur to pull off an audacious long charge into the unit of 17 Skellie Bows, wiping them out in one glorious charge, which led to...

Funniest moment of the game:
Liche Priest IF’s Usekhp’s Incantation of Desiccation which reduced the Scar-Vet and Carnosaur’s toughness by 3pts to T2... just as they had received a charge from three chariots. This had a predictable result in the ensuing combat. The resulting Miscast though sent the Priest down a hole and allowed me to salvage a draw (at the end of the game I had the Bastiladon and the Skrox unit showing, he had a Tomb Scorpion...) from all the subsequent crumbling.

10-10 draw (I was 35VP ahead so I take it as a win! <cough>)

Thoughts:
I should have been braver and risked the T1 charge with the Carnosaur into a unit of Chariots, it was only 18”... yeah right!

Game 5 – vs Ian Dixon (Bretonnians)
I’d like to start with an apology to Ian as, with my fuddled mind after 4 games in a row, I completely forgot to take any photos of our game...

It was also just wrong that the two good guy armies were facing off against each other too.

Ian had:
Paladin, Virtue of Confidence, Lance of Artois
Paladin, BSB, Armour of Agilulf, Shrieking Blade, Potion of Foolhardiness
6 Knights Errant, Errantry Banner
5 KotR, Banner of Chalons
5 KotR, Banner of Swiftness
15 Peasant Bowmen, Braziers
15 Peasant Bowmen, Braziers
6 Mounted Yeomen, Shields
3 Pegasus Knights

In this game I used my bonus 100pt unit picked up in an earlier game, so got 7 Chameleon Skinks.

Ian’s army prayed, so I went first and forced the Yeomen to flee with the Chameleon shooting, and also sent forward the CoC and the Carnosaur to encourage the Knights Errant to charge.

This worked, and resultant carnage ensued where eventually the CoC got flank charged by the KotR with the General in it - they survived and reformed, blocking the Carnosaur from getting in amongst it (there was no other way...). The Peg Knights charged and eventually made a unit of Skrox flee after a couple of turns but wore the Carnosaur the turn after that.

2x Kroxigor made short work (eventually) of the BSB in about Turn 5.

20-0 to me

Overall results can be found here http://www.thefieldsofblood.com/2014/11/vermintide-results_17.html

I was pretty stoked to come away with Best Presented, that centrepiece model with the added distraction of the Bastiladon really paid off I think. Thanks everyone for your votes!

A big thank you to Neil for running it and the Wellington Warlords for hosting. Love these one day events!

And I am also happy my only failed prediction was 1st place. How could you do this to me Peter?? At least 2nd and 3rd were 1st and 2nd. And well done to Hugh for getting those 14 Bloodletters near a podium. That won’t happen again any time soon!

Next time? Less Carnosaur. And more Saurus Cav. And more Terradons. And play better.

Raaargheady to go

Army book and stuff? Check.
Soft list with insufficient models? Check.

Finished carnosaur? Check! Another thing down, woo hoo!

Vermintide this weekend!!

The reason I have been a bit quiet is that (apart from family 'stuff') the one-day WHFB tournament Vermintide is on this coming weekend. It's 1200pts, and 5 games on 5' x 4' tables with some unique and different scenarios. And I have been feverishly painting my Carnosaur. Normally I would have taken more of everything else, but I thought that it would be a good idea to use the tournament as a deadline to get this rather large model painted.

 

This is the soft and fluffy list I am taking:

 

Scar-Vet (General) – Light Armour, Charmed Shield, Tormentor Sword, Talisman of Protection, Carnosaur w/Loping Stride

Scar-Vet (BSB) – Light Armour, Shield, GW, Standard of Discipline, Cold One

Skink Cohort – 11 Skinks, 1 Kroxigor, Standard, Muso

Skink Cohort – 10 Skinks, 1 Kroxigor, Standard, Muso

Skink Skirmishers – Javelin& Shield

Cold One Riders – 6 COR, Spears, FC

Bastiladon – Solar Engine

 

A pretty mobile list apart from the Bastiladon, which I thought would be good to take for some* magical offence - some Terradons would have been nice but you can't have everything**

 

*Pretty much nothing

**... if you take a Carnosaur

Here are some WIPs - should be done no problems finishing for Saturday. Carnosaur just needs static grass, magnetic sheet, and a varnish. Scar Vet might get finished tonight!

RAAAAAAARRRRGGH!! <Boom> Ouch a cannonball!

My wife preferred the Old Blood while I preferred Kroq-Gar... so I mixed it up. Call me crazy!

Now onto the tournament - Games 1 and 2 are one of these unique scenarios - it pits the Defender with 1200pts against the Attacker with 1000pts. You play each role over the two games (against different opponents).

 

Deployment is per Battleline, with the defender choosing table sides. The attacker can then choose for the defender to deploy their forces first and give up first turn, or deploy alternatively and go first.

 

The attacker gets victory points for exiting units from the far table edge in the enemy’s deployment zone. The attacker receives double the original cost of the unit in victory points providing that it is still over half-strength, and the original unit cost if it is half-strength or below. Victory points are not awarded for any units using the special deployment rules (i.e. Vanguard, Ambush, Scout), or who have the Fly special rule.

 

To exit, the unit must make a normal move (not a march move – except relentless dwarfs) off the table. Alternatively it may pursue an enemy unit or overrun off the table. Once a unit has exited by way of a normal move it may not return. For a unit that exits by way of pursuit or overrun the player must declare their intent to return or not as it exits. A unit that returns does not count for bonus victory points unless it exits again.|

 

The first round draw has been completed. I am up against 1000pts of Daemons wielded by Ryan Stuart. His list is:

 

Herald of Tzeentch (General) – L2 Wizard

Daemonettes of Slaanesh – 25 Daemonettes, Musician, Standard, Standard of Swiftness

Pink Horrors of Tzeentch – 10 Horrors

Beasts of Nurgle – 4 Beasts

Skullcannon of Khorne (whatever happened to BLOODLETTERS OF KHORNE???? Oh that's right... Hugh Dixon is taking what seems to be the local supply...all 14 of them)

 

So it’s going to be a challenge – Ryan also has a lot of mobility with those Daemonettes and the Beasts and the everpresent threat of that ‘orrible Skillcannon.

 

Trust me to get one of the three lists with cannons first up... but I am sure it will be a fun game! 

Overall across the lists there are 2x Skullcannons (over two lists), 2x Warp Lightning cannons (in the same list!), 4x Reaper Bolt throwers (over two lists).

There's also 1 Terrorgheist, 1 Necrosphinx, 1 teeny weeny harmless Carnosaur (mine), a veritable redirect*** of eagles (in one list), some Mournfang, some Skullcrushers, an excessive**** of Wild Riders (in one list), a couple of L4's....and lots of this and that. They all look a lot scarier than my list.

*** That's what they are called in the Helf army...

**** That's what they are called in the Welf army...

Armies break down to:

37% forces of Chaos (WoC or DoC)

14% forces of the Undead (von Carstein and Tomb Kings)

21% PEG (one of each flavour)

7% Mercenaries (OK)

7% Humans (Bretonnians)

7% nasty nasty Ratties with their broken army book

7% Order of Light, fluff, and fairness (Lizards) 

So not a lot of good guys. The Bretonnians and I will fight the good fight though!

I am picking Peter Williamson to win, not because he's the TO's son (although... nah. Surely not) but because he a very good player and there's enough annoying stuff in his list like the veritable rain of arrows  :). Then it's a fight for second between Ryan Lister and his list of arrowed doom (oh and the Wild Riders) and Alan Hughes' rat swarm (and two WLC's...).

Right, I'm off to finish my Scar Vet!

Where can I fit a carnosaur in a Lizardmen list?

Sorry about the lack of activity over the last two weeks - real life intruded with a family member passing away.

So, obviously, there has been a lack of painting. So this post will be (hopefully) a discussion point where my spawn-kin, lizard buddies, or just generally those with more experience than me at The Warhammers of Fantasy can provide some insight.

Rather than take the potentially humourous and slightly painful path that the title of this post might imply or suggest, I am asking this question because I have, in the list schedule thing of stuff to paint, one of the new Carnosaur models. It's a nice model, and I would like to use it. And not just at the next 4000pt tournament.

My problem is that at what points value is it a good choice. Maybe not even a good choice, but a viable option?

The best list I can come up with (caveat: quickly and without much thought or analysis) at 2000pts is:

Lords

Old Blood on Carnosaur (why an Old Blood? Well, the extra wound, better magic allowance, WS, and AS is tempting at first pass...)

- Halberd, Light armour, Charmed Shield, Talisman of Protection, Other Trickster's Shard

- Loping Stride (carnosaur)

So I could save 60pts if I dropped to a Scar Vet, but I'd need to drop the Other Trickster's Shard too.

Heroes

Tetto'eko (I don't like using special characters as a general rule, but...  but... there goes my argument)

Skink Priest - Dispel Scroll, Heavens

Scar Vet - BSB, Cold One, GW, Armour of Destiny (really wanted the Standard of Discipline here, but with no other Scar Vet heroes to take a challenge in the face once the champion has gone...)

Core

12 Skink Cohort, 1 Krox, Standard, Muso

12 Skink Cohort, 1 Krox, Standard, Muso

12 Skink Cohort, Muso

10 Skirmishers, Javelin and Shield

10 Skirmishers, Javelin and Shield

10 Skirmishers, Javelin and Shield

Special

3 Terradons, Fireleech Bolas

5 Chameleon Skinks

5 Chameleon Skinks

6 Cold One Riders, Full Command, Spears

Rare

1 Salamander

1998pts

My thoughts, such as they may be, are:

Tetto, from experience, provides some mean magic offence. 

The scroll caddy... err.. second Priest provides another round of Iceshard Blizzard. This is important since my combat offence is woefully below average.

I really enjoyed using the Cold One cav at the NZTC earlier this year, I'd like to keep using them as an alternative to having to paint my Temple Guard sooner rather than later. I think also they are a bit more flexible (movement etc.)

I miss the second unit of Terradons

How would you feel about facing this list? Terrified? Amused? Suggest that I stop this nonsense and go back to fitting a Slann in?

My visit to GWHQ Nottingham

After years and years of reading White Dwarf, reading tournament reports, looking at painting websites, talking to friends who had been.... I had entertained thoughts about going to GWHQ in Nottingham, but that has always been a bit of a pipe dream. 

However, in June I went to England (for the first time ever) on family business, and took the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Nottingham.

After previous email communications with Nick Bayton at Warhammer World about which weekday was best to visit (answer - Wednesday, where they are open until 10pm...) I arrived in Nottingham from Sheppey about lunchtime.

Once I had checked into the B&B I pretty much jogged the 10 minutes to GW. Once I got there and made my way past the ground level, that had....

Rhino out front

Hello Mr Space Marine!

Lurtz

The World Eaters storming the breach - Istvaan IV

... and made my way upstairs to Level 2. This is where the shop, the hall, and Bugmans Bar are.

One of the cool things they had at the landing was a display of a "history of Citadel miniatures", including all the Mike McVey dioramas that were displayed in White Dwarf. Pretty cool. So cool I failed to take many if any photos... idiot.

After oogling these for a while, I pushed through the double door to the hall, and (manfully) uttered the same single word Jeff Kent did when he saw the latest Dark Elf army book...

"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG"

View of hall from shop towards Bugmans

View of hall from Bugmans

Bugmans

So, roughly, there are 80 tables all set to go, plus several Apocalypse sized tables and special ones like the Zone Mortalis table and the LotR Goblintown (both of which I watched GW Design Studio employees playing Kill Team on).

Here's a selection of tables (which you could just turn up and play on if they weren't booked by other players). Note that you can play on any table as they all have terrain, and drink pints while you are at it. Sounds terrible? It is.... not.

After the overwhelming awesomeness that was the hall, I popped upstairs to have a look at the Hall of Miniatures. Here's a selection of shots of the cabinets. Apologies for the quality, the lighting is designed for looking at the minis with your eyes, not for taking photos.

I took a photo of pretty much every cabinet, and there were at least 27, plus some other ones in the middle of the room with GW employee models and the big Space Wolf vs Tyranid diorama. Absolutely amazing stuff.

This is the visit that resparked my desire to get back into the hobby to which I am very grateful. 

To all those who are thinking of going, DO IT. To those who are visiting the UK, make sure a day at Warhammer World is in your itinerary.

And all I can say to those that live locally and have conversations that start:
"Hey, you want to go down to GW tonight for a pint, meal, and a couple of games?"
....

You lucky lucky bastard!