While I still haven’t put together a 500 point list yet, I wanted to try out the paint scheme I thought of for these nasty little bastards. I already know I will be fielding a lot of Night Goblins in the list so it’s safe for me to move forward. I didn’t want to just black, or dark grey. I was thinking of either midnight blue, or a dark turquoise. I settled on the latter, and got to work. Continue reading
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Terror Of the Lichemaster.
This is the first of what I hope will be an ongoing (albeit occasional) series exploring some classic (and in my opinion) under appreciated vintage fantasy artwork. The stuff that sunk its filthy claws into the meat of our imaginations and dragged us from the brightly lit path of adolescence and into the murky depths of the hobby. I’m certain the other members of the crew are going to chime in with their favorites so you can expect a myriad selection of different tastes, interpretations and ideas.
Try and cast your mind back to your earliest memories of all this Warhammer shit. I’ll wager that one of the first things you can recall was a particular piece of artwork, maybe a book cover, a poster or a gamebox package drawing that captured your attention. Some image that still lingers in your thoughts.. that fascinated, inspired or terrified you. Certainly for me, back then the artwork was the gateway. It was the forbidden door left slightly ajar, the seductive whisper that beckoned you come a little closer, slyly dared you to take a look inside…..
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Immortal clearly giving very few fucks.
So Part 2 of my gamer’s tale finds us picking up where we left off with an exploration of the massive pile of Druchii I got off Owain a couple of weekends back. It should be noted at this point that the handover took place at a busy hardcore show in Leeds that Owain’s bands were playing. It was a good gig, the vibe was right, all the bands were great and there were a lot of good friends hanging around. Too bad I was not interested in any of that at all, I just wanted to get home and play with my new toys pew pew!
After having a good rummage through the stack of boxes and consulting a few old DE pictorial guides to identify some of the models, my haul breaks down like this:
Fantasy players will know the importance of magnetising your trays, but this guide is for the uninitiated. So sorry to any experienced players, this may be teaching you to suck eggs. 40k or players of other game systems may be familiar with magnetising arms on a dreadnaught or a turret on a tank, but this is a little bit different (and in some ways simpler).
Your first question might be “why even do this?” Well, unlike most games, Fantasy obviously has regiments, all ranked up on their movement trays, that’s fine on a flat table. But when you introduce some hills or other scenery to your board the trays move on top of, you can bet your arse that standard bearer will fall over, taking a rank or two with him.
Well it seems that most of the guys are coming to the Tale of Gamers with little to no Fantasy experience, it’s all good, you have to start somewhere with what I believe to be the most rewarding and tactical of GW’s games. I however have been playing the game for around 18 months after coming back to the hobby and deciding that Space Marines didn’t cut it for me (although I’ve dabbled in the newer edition and it aligns more to the fine memories I hold onto of 2nd edition, so in the future I’d like to give it a proper chance).
Currently I run a 2400 point Ogre Kingdoms army which I love to play, generally running them with a mix of filth and fluff (last few games I’ve had 6 Yettis, just because!) So coming from an army that has a relatively high power level (or some would argue had, due to the balancing GW seem to be doing with all of the 8th books) I’ve wanted to use an army that would improve my tactical play as well as bing easy to paint to a decent standard. Loving an underdog, I thought I would go for the widely considered bottom rung army, The Tomb Kings.
Beneath the Sands
Terrain, unlike hardcore bands, only has to look the part, it does not matter that when you look at it in great detail it’s clearly plasticine hollow. However, like all of the bands you covet you want them to retain some integrity and a not fall apart after a few outings.
With the the general theme of this blog being the music we love and my particular interest in terrain (or as I like to see it, world building), I thought My first piece should be a review a new and indeed very metal looking (although it’s clearly plastic) addition to my collection, the Games Workshop Arcane Ruins.
War. War never changes.
Or at least that’s what Ron Perlman’s told me on multiple occasions. Whether it’s a long time ago in a galaxy far away or the Grim Darkness of the far future it’s not a pretty thing. It’s not subtle, unforgiving and damn straight it’s messy as hell.
For my money there’s only one Fantasy race that so completely encapsulates the chaotic, wanton destruction and essence of battle to warrant pouring hours of my meagre existence into painting up a block of troops. We don’t need technology, fancy weapons or showy magic spells (yes I’m looking at you Teclis). An innate will to ruin everyone’s day; a solid wall of Primal Fury and Chaos tainted nature rampaging in it’s bestial form. It’s time to shirk the life of man, release the Beast within, muster the Bray Herd and return humanity to it’s rightful place as food. Continue reading
Initially I wasn’t going to get involved with A Tale Of Gamers, I’m a procrastinator, I have too many Grey Knights to paint as it is and I hate having unpainted models lying around, it just deflates my interest and I’ll never get anything finished. But then one evening at the end of April I decided to have a look on the GW website to see how the armies I used to see and read about in White Dwarf during the early/mid 90’s have evolved and if I were to field 500 points, what would I choose purely for aesthetic reasons?
While I appreciate that none of us have much time for post-Out Come The Wolves Rancid, the fact is that the first three records are nigh-on untouchable. And besides, everyone else was naming their Tale Of Gamers articles after bands, I didn’t want to be left out.
Here is a fun fact for you. As of about 6 years ago, Tim Armstrong had been sober for years. A band who had done some touring with them in the past told me and my bandmates that a few hours before they started, he would start acting drunk to ‘get in to character’. I guess thats what happens when you’re a millionaire dressed as a punk. Anyway… Continue reading
Whilst ruminating in my private reflection chamber/loft, upon which race I was going to throw my lot in with for this project, it was clear to me from the start that I was playing purely for fluff. I’ve no tactical agenda dictating my allegiances, I’m just not that type of guy. My decisions were based upon which army appealed to me most aesthetically and reflected my personal tastes in terms of character and motivation. Initially I was drawn to Wood Elves. I’ve always appreciated the reverence for nature and ecological themes that define the Asrai and form the foundations for their fluff. The obvious influences of celtic paganism, horned gods etc along with fond memories of owning the Scarlocs Wood Elves Regiment of Renown as a youngster made for an obvious choice so I purchased the Wood Elves batallion box, popped on some Fauna and set about getting busy.