I played a warmup game with Wyn today - the Errand vs. a Dwarven horde list with Balin (no axe), a Dwarf Captain with shield, and 46 other dwarves, including a few Iron Guard and a scattering of Khazad Guard. The scenario was Contest of Champions, Gandalf vs. Balin. The board was the old pre-molded Fellowship of the Ring demo board that GW gave to stores carrying the very first game - no cover, but a few rocky patches.
Things started rough - I killed two dwarves with archery, but Wyn in turn gunned down Ecthelion on TURN 1!!! Remember, always put heroes a couple ranks back, always put heroes a couple ranks back... I caught up quickly once Gandalf was within Blast range, racking up two kills with the wizard in short order. As the lines closed, I also managed to kill a couple more dwarves with archery, picking on the D6 archers. I found the numbers starting to equal out, and more of my troops were in the fight than his due to spear support. The turn the lines hit, I decided to use Gandalf to Immobilize Balin - I threw 1 die and got lucky with a 6! Wyn chose not to resist it and Balin took a little break.
The game fell into the lines crashing into each other, with both sides suffering occasional casualties, but nothing amazing. Balin shook off the Immobilize and won a Heroic Fight to kill off one of my Rangers and Gandalf with lots of support was shoved back by a shielding dwarf. We were running out of time, so we decided to just skip everyone else and fight out the champions' combats. Wyn played for the win, with Balin calling a heroic combat with his last point of might against two spear supported rangers and Gandalf blowing his last point of might to bump the die roll of a Blast up to a wound, thus scoring his third kill. Alas, Balin had an attack of the rubber axe syndrome, getting defeated by the rangers, and Galdalf failed to slice up his opponent, so the game ended 3-1 in Gandalf's favor.
Main lesson here: Never, EVER put your hero in the front rank of an advance! Being able to be picked out by bowfire SUCKS. Also: Gandalf is the bomb. Boom.
Showing posts with label Ecthelion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ecthelion. Show all posts
Monday, July 20, 2009
Highlights on Ecthelion
I finished highlighting Ecthelion, taking a different tack from what I'd done with the Warriors. With the Warriors, I had done some pretty subtle stuff, then washed them, and found that I couldn't actually see the results as much different from a single basecoat and a wash. Too much work for not enough return.
So here was Ecthelion before the new work. I had done a similar technique to the Warriors with the cloak, but you can see the rushed single highlight on the black tabard. This picture was taken using my daylight bulbs.
The first thing I did was go over the top of the cloak's ridges with a straight Blood Red. The cloak was built up from several layers of thinned down Scab Red and Red Gore, then I washed it with a light black wash. The Blood Red highlight really popped out the cloak. The pictures below, taken with my halogen lights, don't show this really well - it has kind of pixelized the paint job.
Next I laid two stark highlights onto the tabard. The first highlight I think was Adeptus Battlegrey, so the second and third highlights were Codex Grey and Fortress Grey respectively. You can see this results in a very stark highlight, almost making the black look striped.
While this did make the model pop, it was TOO over the top to fit in with the rest of my force. So I decided to give the black a heavy wash of Badab Black. When I first put it on, I didn't really see any difference. But when I came back and looked at it this morning, it had dried and smoothed out the stark highlight very nicely. So I think I'm going to stick with this method for the Guards of the Fountain Court's cloaks as well.
The main thing that this experience is showing me is how much I already miss my daylight bulbs. I need to figure out some way to jury rig my lights for the dining room table area I have to use now.
So here was Ecthelion before the new work. I had done a similar technique to the Warriors with the cloak, but you can see the rushed single highlight on the black tabard. This picture was taken using my daylight bulbs.
The first thing I did was go over the top of the cloak's ridges with a straight Blood Red. The cloak was built up from several layers of thinned down Scab Red and Red Gore, then I washed it with a light black wash. The Blood Red highlight really popped out the cloak. The pictures below, taken with my halogen lights, don't show this really well - it has kind of pixelized the paint job.
Next I laid two stark highlights onto the tabard. The first highlight I think was Adeptus Battlegrey, so the second and third highlights were Codex Grey and Fortress Grey respectively. You can see this results in a very stark highlight, almost making the black look striped.
While this did make the model pop, it was TOO over the top to fit in with the rest of my force. So I decided to give the black a heavy wash of Badab Black. When I first put it on, I didn't really see any difference. But when I came back and looked at it this morning, it had dried and smoothed out the stark highlight very nicely. So I think I'm going to stick with this method for the Guards of the Fountain Court's cloaks as well.
The main thing that this experience is showing me is how much I already miss my daylight bulbs. I need to figure out some way to jury rig my lights for the dining room table area I have to use now.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Let's get cracking - Update paint plan
Time is started to get tight, and I need to get my plan on paper if I'm ever going to get this done. Ur, well, on screen, blog, disk, whatever. I need to write it down.
The two weakest areas are highlighting and details. The basics on all of the models are strong, but that isn't going to get me into the top 5 painters. The weakest models are the rangers, and the slight mix of the two styles isn't helping anything. So here is my general plan:
Rangers:
- Shadow and black line models
- Add two layers of highlights, ending with a 50/50 mix of Snot Green/Dark Angel Green in the green areas, still need to figure out colors in the browns
- Highlight skin, including fingers
Warriors:
- Black line details
- Highlight details (belts, hair, etc)
- Add top cloth highlight in Shadow Grey - if not light enough, add another in 50/50 Shadow/Space Wolf Grey
- Try to highlight obvious parts of face (chin, cheeks)
Guards of the Fountain Court
- Add two levels of highlight to cloth, ending in Fortress Grey, then wash with black
- Highlight details
- Add designs to tabard
- Add trim and design to cloak
- Add gold trim to helmet
Ecthelion:
- Add two levels of highlight to cloak, ending in Blood Red
- Add two levels of highlight to cloth, ending in Fortress Grey, then wash with black
- Highlight face
- Paint then highlight details like scabbard, belt, horn, helmet
If I get this stuff done before the event, I'll paint up five new plastic rangers to replace the metal ones with the slightly different painting style. I'll see how far I get on the warriors tomorrow - I'd like to have all of this done by next Wednesday.
The two weakest areas are highlighting and details. The basics on all of the models are strong, but that isn't going to get me into the top 5 painters. The weakest models are the rangers, and the slight mix of the two styles isn't helping anything. So here is my general plan:
Rangers:
- Shadow and black line models
- Add two layers of highlights, ending with a 50/50 mix of Snot Green/Dark Angel Green in the green areas, still need to figure out colors in the browns
- Highlight skin, including fingers
Warriors:
- Black line details
- Highlight details (belts, hair, etc)
- Add top cloth highlight in Shadow Grey - if not light enough, add another in 50/50 Shadow/Space Wolf Grey
- Try to highlight obvious parts of face (chin, cheeks)
Guards of the Fountain Court
- Add two levels of highlight to cloth, ending in Fortress Grey, then wash with black
- Highlight details
- Add designs to tabard
- Add trim and design to cloak
- Add gold trim to helmet
Ecthelion:
- Add two levels of highlight to cloak, ending in Blood Red
- Add two levels of highlight to cloth, ending in Fortress Grey, then wash with black
- Highlight face
- Paint then highlight details like scabbard, belt, horn, helmet
If I get this stuff done before the event, I'll paint up five new plastic rangers to replace the metal ones with the slightly different painting style. I'll see how far I get on the warriors tomorrow - I'd like to have all of this done by next Wednesday.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Updating the Errand
I recently got a new digital camera (primarily to take pictures of the baby with!), but I decided to see how it works for photographing minis. Not bad, but I do kind of miss the manual settings I could use on my old one. Of course, I don't miss the old camera's far left hand tripod hole (ALWAYS drooping on the tripod!), and I really like the macro settings on the new one - The pics of Gandalf and Ecthelion were taken from a couple inches away, something I couldn't do with the old camera.
Without the manual shutter settings, it does mean it's harder to make out contrasts and the like. However, I am also noticing that the pics look more like the models do in real life and on the table, where my earlier pics were so bright and clear that they sometimes looked better painted than they really were. So for my purposes today, the new camera works better. Also remember that each picture can be clicked on for a larger view.
So this is the overall army. My general painting style tends to be subtle, and on the whole I think this looks pretty good on the table. The earthier tones holds it all together, and there is a lot of black and brown. The individual groups definitely tie together - green for the rangers, a blue/grey for the warriors, white for the Guards, and red for Ecthelion.
Where this starts to fall apart is in the details. OK, that and I didn't put enough time into painting last time. I'm afraid I'm going to need to step the highlighting up - believe it or not that is three layers and a wash on the cloth, but the low steps in color make it all wash together, resulting in a less highlighted effect. I also need to highlight the details like the belts, hair, and possibly even the armor and hair. Some blacklining of details wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
Back shot of the warriors - the cloth is a little clearer, but you can see the unhighlighted belts and hair.
Here are the rangers. There's a little inconsistency here - I painted the metal rangers on the left some four years ago while working for GW. I don't remember the exact colors, and the foundations weren't available yet. But you can see there is better highlighting, the skin is better, and there is a broader range of colors within the palette. The browns all wash together on the newer models instead of having a more noticable line. I was really, really rushed on these guys.
It's a little more obvious how rushed I was on the back. The old models have nice highlighting on the cloaks, while the new ones were just block painted and washed. I also didn't use any highlights on the quivers.
These guys look pretty sharp from the front. That white was a pain, but the blacklining works nicely. I think I'm going to use a Micron pen to add a design on the tabard edge, and possibly put a decorative yellow and black edge on the cloak as well. Some gold details on the helmets might also work nicely.
The cloaks are another story. Single grey highlights that look slapped on. I'm not sure if I should go down from these highlights, adding a midpoint between them and the shadows, or go even higher.
Without question, Gandalf is the best model in the army. I put a lot of time and care into painting him, particularly his hands and folds of the robe. I even highlighted the belt and swordblade.
I do have a little chip on the end of the hat, but I'm a bit afraid of fixing it and causing more damage by not getting the same effect as before.
In contrast to Gandalf, Ecthelion screams "rush job". While I put some time into the cloak, it still comes off too subtle and dark. The rest of him is single, sloppy highlights, drybrushing, unpainted details, and general blah. I've got a lot of work to do here.
So I'm mostly wondering how much I should play up the highlights - I've always gone more subtle with my LOTR models, but I am starting to think I need to really spice it up with brighter highlights. Any thoughts? Tim K, I'd particularly appreciate your insights on this, since you scored this army at the Gathering.
Thanks a ton to everyone who has bothered to read this!
Without the manual shutter settings, it does mean it's harder to make out contrasts and the like. However, I am also noticing that the pics look more like the models do in real life and on the table, where my earlier pics were so bright and clear that they sometimes looked better painted than they really were. So for my purposes today, the new camera works better. Also remember that each picture can be clicked on for a larger view.
So this is the overall army. My general painting style tends to be subtle, and on the whole I think this looks pretty good on the table. The earthier tones holds it all together, and there is a lot of black and brown. The individual groups definitely tie together - green for the rangers, a blue/grey for the warriors, white for the Guards, and red for Ecthelion.
Where this starts to fall apart is in the details. OK, that and I didn't put enough time into painting last time. I'm afraid I'm going to need to step the highlighting up - believe it or not that is three layers and a wash on the cloth, but the low steps in color make it all wash together, resulting in a less highlighted effect. I also need to highlight the details like the belts, hair, and possibly even the armor and hair. Some blacklining of details wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
Back shot of the warriors - the cloth is a little clearer, but you can see the unhighlighted belts and hair.
Here are the rangers. There's a little inconsistency here - I painted the metal rangers on the left some four years ago while working for GW. I don't remember the exact colors, and the foundations weren't available yet. But you can see there is better highlighting, the skin is better, and there is a broader range of colors within the palette. The browns all wash together on the newer models instead of having a more noticable line. I was really, really rushed on these guys.
It's a little more obvious how rushed I was on the back. The old models have nice highlighting on the cloaks, while the new ones were just block painted and washed. I also didn't use any highlights on the quivers.
These guys look pretty sharp from the front. That white was a pain, but the blacklining works nicely. I think I'm going to use a Micron pen to add a design on the tabard edge, and possibly put a decorative yellow and black edge on the cloak as well. Some gold details on the helmets might also work nicely.
The cloaks are another story. Single grey highlights that look slapped on. I'm not sure if I should go down from these highlights, adding a midpoint between them and the shadows, or go even higher.
Without question, Gandalf is the best model in the army. I put a lot of time and care into painting him, particularly his hands and folds of the robe. I even highlighted the belt and swordblade.
I do have a little chip on the end of the hat, but I'm a bit afraid of fixing it and causing more damage by not getting the same effect as before.In contrast to Gandalf, Ecthelion screams "rush job". While I put some time into the cloak, it still comes off too subtle and dark. The rest of him is single, sloppy highlights, drybrushing, unpainted details, and general blah. I've got a lot of work to do here.
So I'm mostly wondering how much I should play up the highlights - I've always gone more subtle with my LOTR models, but I am starting to think I need to really spice it up with brighter highlights. Any thoughts? Tim K, I'd particularly appreciate your insights on this, since you scored this army at the Gathering.
Thanks a ton to everyone who has bothered to read this!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
AAR of Gathering in the Desert 2009
The blood has cooled, the paints are put away, and the results are posted - it's time to reflect on the Gathering that is past. Well, my part in it, anyway.
First off, I can definitely call the tournament a success. Having gotten 4th Overall and 2nd General were both achievements I can be proud of in that field. I understand how the army works pretty well and it showed in my battles. I had a great time playing and did my best to make sure my opponent had a good time as well. I did pretty well in Sportsmanship - if Brent gave me #1 on his opponent ranking (which I think he did) then I earned the equivalent of one #2 and three #3 rankings. My downfall (if you can call it that) was my rushed painting. I only had a higher score than 4 other players, and was well behind 2nd and 3rd Overall. If I got the score I'd earned in Vegas I'd have gotten 3rd Overall and nearly taken Best Overall (since #1 didn't paint his own army).
I had about as good an army design as you can get with a big burly character in the lead. I was light on numbers but still had the survivability to avoid being laid to waste. The Guards of the Fountain Court, as suggested by Brent (I think), were a fantastic addition to the list. Ecthelion, using the King of Men stat line, was a great combat hero, overtaking most opposition with his F5 and two attacks plus spear support. The rangers also earned their place, softening up the opposition before rushing into help out via trapping and spear support. Gandalf definitely made the list what it was, though - all the tricksy stuff I could pull with him was awesome. I really enjoy playing with magical powers, partly because so few people actually have encountered them it leaves a significant imprint on them. I'm not sure how the army would have performed on objective holding missions or mobility missions (like Reconnoiter), but the missions given suited the army well, except for those darn Uruks.
Sportsmanship scores are always something of a quandary for me - I can't deny that I play to win and that I understand the rules very well and will let my opponent know when they are doing something wrong. However, I try to be nice about it and will readily point out when they could do something advantageous or bad to me as a result of a rule they don't understand. The biggest problems come when I encounter someone who thinks they know the rules but really don't, or someone who conveniently forgets rules when it doesn't suit them.
One brief point of conflict in my last game that troubled me was when I trapped a Morgul Stalker between the edge of the long hill we were on and a combat. It was on the Angmar table, and the hill had started against the edge of the table (it was flat along one side, clearly designed to sit along the edge). However, when this combat happened it had gotten bumped, so there was about a 1/2-3/4 inch gap between the actual table edge and the edge of the hill. My opponent brought up that he could retreat down the hill, and I pointed out that it had started against the table. He had been leaning over this hill to move his models in the center, and I'm thinking that was when it got bumped. He gave me this snort, and when I asked if it was a problem, he replied, "Oh, no, it's just one model", with a subtext (to my mind) of "You're an ass for pushing this point, but I'm going to let you have it to keep my sportsmanship score up". He wasn't obnoxious or anything, but I'm pretty sure that because I didn't back down there I got a lower ranking on the final sportsmanship sort. I'm just not sure how to deal with this, as I don't want to be walked all over, but I also don't want to lose a potential advantage that the rules say I have.
Ah, my painting. I knew it wasn't up to snuff, but the full impact of the rating did make me sad. I completely deserved it, though. I was painting on the plane, had minimal highlights on most of my models, and used a lot of quick and dirty methods. I need to significantly step up the detail painting and do another layer or two of highlights all over the models. That could earn me 6 more points on painting without a huge expenditure of effort, and possibly even 8 if I really impress the judges. 6 would have put me less than a point behind Brent and Best Overall, 8 would have given me the tournament. I can see adding some detailing to the cloaks and trim of the Fountain Court, plus maybe some battle damage on the warriors shields to get that Hand Painted Details level.
So I'll definitely put some more time into painting. I'm going to have to skip Adepticon - some day I will definitely have to go there, though. However, I can see doing the Necronomicon and GT Vegas, and might even be able to squeeze in a Games Day or something. Of course, I'm going to have to be very, VERY nice to my wife, and hope our child doesn't decide to be born while I'm playing with toy soldiers...
First off, I can definitely call the tournament a success. Having gotten 4th Overall and 2nd General were both achievements I can be proud of in that field. I understand how the army works pretty well and it showed in my battles. I had a great time playing and did my best to make sure my opponent had a good time as well. I did pretty well in Sportsmanship - if Brent gave me #1 on his opponent ranking (which I think he did) then I earned the equivalent of one #2 and three #3 rankings. My downfall (if you can call it that) was my rushed painting. I only had a higher score than 4 other players, and was well behind 2nd and 3rd Overall. If I got the score I'd earned in Vegas I'd have gotten 3rd Overall and nearly taken Best Overall (since #1 didn't paint his own army).
I had about as good an army design as you can get with a big burly character in the lead. I was light on numbers but still had the survivability to avoid being laid to waste. The Guards of the Fountain Court, as suggested by Brent (I think), were a fantastic addition to the list. Ecthelion, using the King of Men stat line, was a great combat hero, overtaking most opposition with his F5 and two attacks plus spear support. The rangers also earned their place, softening up the opposition before rushing into help out via trapping and spear support. Gandalf definitely made the list what it was, though - all the tricksy stuff I could pull with him was awesome. I really enjoy playing with magical powers, partly because so few people actually have encountered them it leaves a significant imprint on them. I'm not sure how the army would have performed on objective holding missions or mobility missions (like Reconnoiter), but the missions given suited the army well, except for those darn Uruks.
Sportsmanship scores are always something of a quandary for me - I can't deny that I play to win and that I understand the rules very well and will let my opponent know when they are doing something wrong. However, I try to be nice about it and will readily point out when they could do something advantageous or bad to me as a result of a rule they don't understand. The biggest problems come when I encounter someone who thinks they know the rules but really don't, or someone who conveniently forgets rules when it doesn't suit them.
One brief point of conflict in my last game that troubled me was when I trapped a Morgul Stalker between the edge of the long hill we were on and a combat. It was on the Angmar table, and the hill had started against the edge of the table (it was flat along one side, clearly designed to sit along the edge). However, when this combat happened it had gotten bumped, so there was about a 1/2-3/4 inch gap between the actual table edge and the edge of the hill. My opponent brought up that he could retreat down the hill, and I pointed out that it had started against the table. He had been leaning over this hill to move his models in the center, and I'm thinking that was when it got bumped. He gave me this snort, and when I asked if it was a problem, he replied, "Oh, no, it's just one model", with a subtext (to my mind) of "You're an ass for pushing this point, but I'm going to let you have it to keep my sportsmanship score up". He wasn't obnoxious or anything, but I'm pretty sure that because I didn't back down there I got a lower ranking on the final sportsmanship sort. I'm just not sure how to deal with this, as I don't want to be walked all over, but I also don't want to lose a potential advantage that the rules say I have.
Ah, my painting. I knew it wasn't up to snuff, but the full impact of the rating did make me sad. I completely deserved it, though. I was painting on the plane, had minimal highlights on most of my models, and used a lot of quick and dirty methods. I need to significantly step up the detail painting and do another layer or two of highlights all over the models. That could earn me 6 more points on painting without a huge expenditure of effort, and possibly even 8 if I really impress the judges. 6 would have put me less than a point behind Brent and Best Overall, 8 would have given me the tournament. I can see adding some detailing to the cloaks and trim of the Fountain Court, plus maybe some battle damage on the warriors shields to get that Hand Painted Details level.
So I'll definitely put some more time into painting. I'm going to have to skip Adepticon - some day I will definitely have to go there, though. However, I can see doing the Necronomicon and GT Vegas, and might even be able to squeeze in a Games Day or something. Of course, I'm going to have to be very, VERY nice to my wife, and hope our child doesn't decide to be born while I'm playing with toy soldiers...
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Main parts of Fountain Court done
I wasn't able to get pics taken yet, but I've gotten all of the basecoating done for the Guards, and now just need to get detail and highlights. They're looking pretty sharp, though I probably could have done a better job with more time. I'll get Ecthelion and a couple of Dunedain with spears primed this morning to see if I can get them knocked out tonight.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Ecthelion Conversion Done
OK, Ecthelion is done apart from the shield, which I'll put on later. OK, minor conversion, but most LOTR conversions are simple anyway.
I green stuffed the gap in the neck and created longer hair to cover the shelf in the back of the model. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
"Bro, that ain't cool."
Heh heh heh... Well, now it's time to sand that guy's base and maybe get a little more painting done on the Fountain Court guards.
I green stuffed the gap in the neck and created longer hair to cover the shelf in the back of the model. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
"Bro, that ain't cool."
Heh heh heh... Well, now it's time to sand that guy's base and maybe get a little more painting done on the Fountain Court guards.
Bro, I'm gonna rip your head off
OK, it's time to do Ecthelion. I've decided to use the following models of the brothers Boromir and Faramir. This is particularly appropriate since Ecthelion is their grandfather.
I really like the Boromir model, but between not having a shield and the misaligned mold it just didn't justify building. On the other hand, I HATE the Faramir model, since it is about as non-dynamic as it gets. He does have a nice helmet on, though. So I decided to chop off their heads and put Faramir's helmet onto Boromir's body. Here is the implement of decapitation!
Boromir was pretty straight forward, particularly since the model doesn't have much of a neck. I just chopped across the top of the shoulders. With Faramir I went in a V to preserve something of the neck, then wiggled the head loose.
Next I checked the fit of the two pieces and filed them down to they fit, and just glued them together. I did have to trim the hair a little bit to make it look somewhat natural, though I'll still need to use Green Stuff to make it look better.
I'll be readying a Minas Tirith shield that I'll probably slap on after I've painted the model. Well, I'm going to let the glue set and get some dinner.
I really like the Boromir model, but between not having a shield and the misaligned mold it just didn't justify building. On the other hand, I HATE the Faramir model, since it is about as non-dynamic as it gets. He does have a nice helmet on, though. So I decided to chop off their heads and put Faramir's helmet onto Boromir's body. Here is the implement of decapitation!
Boromir was pretty straight forward, particularly since the model doesn't have much of a neck. I just chopped across the top of the shoulders. With Faramir I went in a V to preserve something of the neck, then wiggled the head loose.
Next I checked the fit of the two pieces and filed them down to they fit, and just glued them together. I did have to trim the hair a little bit to make it look somewhat natural, though I'll still need to use Green Stuff to make it look better.
I'll be readying a Minas Tirith shield that I'll probably slap on after I've painted the model. Well, I'm going to let the glue set and get some dinner.
I'm way behind...
Well, the great push I planned over the weekend ended up being a flop. I did get the following done:
So I've got all of my basic troops done to a minimal level and my Fountain Court are getting started, but I still need to convert Ecthelion, and I'd really like to get three more rangers converted with spears. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm contemplating calling in sick Friday... OK, I almost certainly won't do that, but I can see forgoing my sacred sleep to get some more done.
So I've got all of my basic troops done to a minimal level and my Fountain Court are getting started, but I still need to convert Ecthelion, and I'd really like to get three more rangers converted with spears. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm contemplating calling in sick Friday... OK, I almost certainly won't do that, but I can see forgoing my sacred sleep to get some more done.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Status report on the Errand
OK, so it's time for me to evaluate where I am compared to where I need to be. The Gathering is now less than four weeks away, and I still have work to do. Not surprising. If anything, it's surprising just how far I've actually gotten towards my goal. So here it is:
MUST DO
This level includes construction, basing, and painting through at least three levels of color on the models (shade, mid, highlight).
Gandalf
6 Rangers
8 Rangers with Spears
6 Citadel Guard (2 bare, all need highlighting)
2 Warriors with shield and spear
22 Warriors with shield (incl captain) (4 bare, half need highlighting)
LIKE TO DO
This level includes conversions and construction, basing, and painting with at least four levels of color, preferably five.
Ecthelion conversion
5 Guards of the Fountain Court with shields
2 Rangers with spears
6 plastic Rangers
2 plastic Rangers with spears conversion
1 Warrior with shield (probably just include him in earlier batch)
Touch up models to a higher standard of highlighting and shading
MIGHT DO
This level includes construction and painting to at least three levels of color, with the character models painted to display quality (entries into Red Dragon).
Mounted Ecthelion conversion
Rivendell Gandalf
Warriors with spear converted to using swords
6 Knights of Minas Tirith
New display board
As things stand, I can definitely see getting through the plastic rangers, with touch-ups being done as much as possible. I may jump the conversion of the mounted Ecthelion forward in order to get something interesting into the painting competition, but no further than ahead of improving highlighting on the entire army.
However, I do have other things going on in my life which could distract me, particularly grading papers, which I am woefully behind on. On the other hand, I've played through Mass Effect twice, so that doesn't have the time-sapping draw it once had. We'll see how things go next week.
MUST DO
This level includes construction, basing, and painting through at least three levels of color on the models (shade, mid, highlight).
8 Rangers with Spears
6 Citadel Guard (2 bare, all need highlighting)
22 Warriors with shield (incl captain) (4 bare, half need highlighting)
LIKE TO DO
This level includes conversions and construction, basing, and painting with at least four levels of color, preferably five.
Ecthelion conversion
5 Guards of the Fountain Court with shields
2 Rangers with spears
6 plastic Rangers
2 plastic Rangers with spears conversion
1 Warrior with shield (probably just include him in earlier batch)
Touch up models to a higher standard of highlighting and shading
MIGHT DO
This level includes construction and painting to at least three levels of color, with the character models painted to display quality (entries into Red Dragon).
Mounted Ecthelion conversion
Rivendell Gandalf
Warriors with spear converted to using swords
6 Knights of Minas Tirith
New display board
As things stand, I can definitely see getting through the plastic rangers, with touch-ups being done as much as possible. I may jump the conversion of the mounted Ecthelion forward in order to get something interesting into the painting competition, but no further than ahead of improving highlighting on the entire army.
However, I do have other things going on in my life which could distract me, particularly grading papers, which I am woefully behind on. On the other hand, I've played through Mass Effect twice, so that doesn't have the time-sapping draw it once had. We'll see how things go next week.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Let's call it a draw
The Errand had another battle against the mighty forces of the Goblins of Wyn. This time we decided to try out one of the other scenarios, specifically Storm the Camp. I’ve developed some prototype rules for breaking ties to avoid the inevitable unhappiness with the victory point system. In this case, the tie breaker was if the game ended without a camp being captured then whoever had more models in the other’s camp won a minor victory.
Wyn’s force was exactly the same as last time, which was not a fun prospect – where I had the advantage in Contest of Champions, Wyn had a major advantage in Storm the Camp with 14 models on me, including a flyer. The table was also really full, as shown in the below picture. This reduced the effectiveness of my archery. I had swapped out one of my warriors with shield and spear for another Citadel Guard with spear.
I set up first, planning on using Ecthelion and a small contingent to block my right flank while sending Gandalf up to break through with my main contingent on the left. I knew I had to act quickly before I was overwhelmed. Wyn then set his force up with the drum in the middle, a shaman on each flank, with Durburz on my left and his captain on my right.
Rather than engaging in the typical archery duel, we both ended up rushing at each other. I think he realized that he needed his archers up front more than he needed to volley fire at me. We ended up funneling around the hill in the center – I delayed with Ecthelion’s force while rushing forward with Gandalf as planned. I didn’t want a gaping hole in my lines, so I tried to get a few guys up on the hill, but proceeded to roll 1s for almost all of them. Typically, Gandalf got Blinding Light and Terrifying Aura going, and Wyn started up Fury, though one of his shamans blew all of his Will to do it. As the forces closed, I threw a perfectly lined up Sorcerous Blast into a goblin warrior – with a good roll he would have slammed into Durburz, a shaman, and three other goblins! I rolled a 1 for distance. Sigh.
I smashed into Wyn’s right flank very early, turn four I think. Gandalf blasted a goblin into six other goblins, then jumped onto a lone goblin with a warrior. I then tied up the rest of his flank and started sending people around to try to turn it. I launched a Heroic Combat to get Gandalf past most of the goblins. Durburz and a bunch of Wyn’s goblins also came barreling into my line, but I managed to pile a Citadel Guard in with the Warrior on the Goblin King and supported them both with spears. The fight happened, we tied with 6s, and I won the roll off for tied Fight values (good thing I got in the Citadel Guard!). I then piled three wounds onto Durburz, which he saved on with Fury, but then rolled snake eyes for his Fate! All of his Might went into keeping the bugger alive. In the mean time, I was rolling 6s like a madman and the F2 goblins were getting the worst of it. I was also winning all of the priority rolls, and Wyn couldn’t compete with Durburz having blown all of his Might to survive.
On the other side of the table, things weren’t developing quickly. Wyn took cover behind some ruins and threw a couple of arrows my way to little effect. He then threw his captain and some troops into my line, but they just bounced off.
I then threw Gandalf into another Heroic Combat to get him and another warrior behind the goblin lines, and with priority I isolated Durburz and tied up Wyn’s goblins. Durburz fell to the spears of the Citadel Guard, and I blasted a gaping hole in the goblin lines with another insane round of 6s. Things were looking a little grim for Wyn.
He did manage to tie up my troops on the hill and send some goblins off on a dash for freedom.
Time was running out, and I won priority yet again. I bottled up the goblin breakout and sent a contingent running for their camp with Gandalf in the lead. Wyn started pulling troops back in an attempt to make it to the camp in the same turn as mine. Ecthelion and his troops held firm against the goblins pushing against their line as the rangers supporting them fell back to secure the camp and the Citadel Guard stepped forward in support. Another bloody round of combat found the Errand down four models to Wyn’s sixteen.
We checked the time and found we had only a couple of minutes left, not nearly enough for the two turns we’d need to finish the game properly. We both felt that I was on my way to a victory, but according to the agreed upon tiebreaker, we had a tie, since neither of us was in the other’s camp. This is one problem in that a well-constructed force can play for a draw simply through delay if they were so inclined, but I guess that’s a problem you’ll face with almost any scenario.
Again, I’m not sure what I could or should have done differently, but we both agreed that Wyn shouldn’t have thrown as much force against Gandalf’s contingent as he did. Rather than trying to kill them, he should have used shields to stop my movement while he rushed through the light defense in the center or spread my right flank so thin I couldn’t stop something from oozing through. By allowing such a large chunk of his force to be bottled up between the hill and the forest, he surrendered his numeric advantage, which left my superior Fight and Defense dictating the battle. Of course, I did roll like a madman for tons of fights, and winning Priority the last four turns made Wyn’s job nearly impossible. All in all, a very fun game which made us both think hard, and it wasn’t a blowout by any stretch of the imagination.
One kind of funny thing – while I know many people wouldn’t play with unpainted models, I’m more interested in getting some games in than having a fully painted army. But with that, I was working on the force during the game! I’d been working on shadowing the warriors’ cloth before the game. Once my first warrior died, I started shadowing, swapping out the painted warrior for one I still needed to do. I went through my entire force this way, so now all I need to do for the warriors is shade their cloth and detail them.
Wyn’s force was exactly the same as last time, which was not a fun prospect – where I had the advantage in Contest of Champions, Wyn had a major advantage in Storm the Camp with 14 models on me, including a flyer. The table was also really full, as shown in the below picture. This reduced the effectiveness of my archery. I had swapped out one of my warriors with shield and spear for another Citadel Guard with spear.
I set up first, planning on using Ecthelion and a small contingent to block my right flank while sending Gandalf up to break through with my main contingent on the left. I knew I had to act quickly before I was overwhelmed. Wyn then set his force up with the drum in the middle, a shaman on each flank, with Durburz on my left and his captain on my right.
Rather than engaging in the typical archery duel, we both ended up rushing at each other. I think he realized that he needed his archers up front more than he needed to volley fire at me. We ended up funneling around the hill in the center – I delayed with Ecthelion’s force while rushing forward with Gandalf as planned. I didn’t want a gaping hole in my lines, so I tried to get a few guys up on the hill, but proceeded to roll 1s for almost all of them. Typically, Gandalf got Blinding Light and Terrifying Aura going, and Wyn started up Fury, though one of his shamans blew all of his Will to do it. As the forces closed, I threw a perfectly lined up Sorcerous Blast into a goblin warrior – with a good roll he would have slammed into Durburz, a shaman, and three other goblins! I rolled a 1 for distance. Sigh.
I smashed into Wyn’s right flank very early, turn four I think. Gandalf blasted a goblin into six other goblins, then jumped onto a lone goblin with a warrior. I then tied up the rest of his flank and started sending people around to try to turn it. I launched a Heroic Combat to get Gandalf past most of the goblins. Durburz and a bunch of Wyn’s goblins also came barreling into my line, but I managed to pile a Citadel Guard in with the Warrior on the Goblin King and supported them both with spears. The fight happened, we tied with 6s, and I won the roll off for tied Fight values (good thing I got in the Citadel Guard!). I then piled three wounds onto Durburz, which he saved on with Fury, but then rolled snake eyes for his Fate! All of his Might went into keeping the bugger alive. In the mean time, I was rolling 6s like a madman and the F2 goblins were getting the worst of it. I was also winning all of the priority rolls, and Wyn couldn’t compete with Durburz having blown all of his Might to survive.
On the other side of the table, things weren’t developing quickly. Wyn took cover behind some ruins and threw a couple of arrows my way to little effect. He then threw his captain and some troops into my line, but they just bounced off.
I then threw Gandalf into another Heroic Combat to get him and another warrior behind the goblin lines, and with priority I isolated Durburz and tied up Wyn’s goblins. Durburz fell to the spears of the Citadel Guard, and I blasted a gaping hole in the goblin lines with another insane round of 6s. Things were looking a little grim for Wyn.
He did manage to tie up my troops on the hill and send some goblins off on a dash for freedom.
Time was running out, and I won priority yet again. I bottled up the goblin breakout and sent a contingent running for their camp with Gandalf in the lead. Wyn started pulling troops back in an attempt to make it to the camp in the same turn as mine. Ecthelion and his troops held firm against the goblins pushing against their line as the rangers supporting them fell back to secure the camp and the Citadel Guard stepped forward in support. Another bloody round of combat found the Errand down four models to Wyn’s sixteen.
We checked the time and found we had only a couple of minutes left, not nearly enough for the two turns we’d need to finish the game properly. We both felt that I was on my way to a victory, but according to the agreed upon tiebreaker, we had a tie, since neither of us was in the other’s camp. This is one problem in that a well-constructed force can play for a draw simply through delay if they were so inclined, but I guess that’s a problem you’ll face with almost any scenario.Again, I’m not sure what I could or should have done differently, but we both agreed that Wyn shouldn’t have thrown as much force against Gandalf’s contingent as he did. Rather than trying to kill them, he should have used shields to stop my movement while he rushed through the light defense in the center or spread my right flank so thin I couldn’t stop something from oozing through. By allowing such a large chunk of his force to be bottled up between the hill and the forest, he surrendered his numeric advantage, which left my superior Fight and Defense dictating the battle. Of course, I did roll like a madman for tons of fights, and winning Priority the last four turns made Wyn’s job nearly impossible. All in all, a very fun game which made us both think hard, and it wasn’t a blowout by any stretch of the imagination.
One kind of funny thing – while I know many people wouldn’t play with unpainted models, I’m more interested in getting some games in than having a fully painted army. But with that, I was working on the force during the game! I’d been working on shadowing the warriors’ cloth before the game. Once my first warrior died, I started shadowing, swapping out the painted warrior for one I still needed to do. I went through my entire force this way, so now all I need to do for the warriors is shade their cloth and detail them.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Pics of what I've got so far
I had a hard time sleeping last night, so one of the things I decided to do was organize my paint station and get my models ready. After cleaning it up and tracking down the various paint pots I had lying around the house, here it is, ready to go.
It was not NEARLY this clean last night. It had probably eight different half started projects on and around it, such as the Assault on Black Reach terminators and dreadnought, a Nazgul on Fellbeast, some stuff for a 40K army my wife started years ago, Lumpin Croops Fighting Cocks for Fantasy, Numenoreans, Dwarves for LOTR, and stuff for my Mordheim warband. That's just what I remember. Well, I cleared all of that off, put them into boxes, and stored them away so I can focus solely on this project. Here are the minis I'm starting with.
An observant reader (not that I think I actually have any) will note that I've got 6 Citadel Guards, an extra spearman, two Dunedain with spears, extra heroes, and not enough warriors with shields - only 14 warriors with shields, in fact. Well, first on the warriors. I'm making a couple of transactions via Bartertown in order to get more warriors with shields. I'm getting a bunch of other minis, too - it's a nice way to dispose of excess models that I've got hanging around for models that I don't have. Having worked for Games Workshop (I managed one of their hobby centers for about two years), I have a heap of unneeded plastic and pewter.
Anyway, I'll be using the extra spearman as my painting dummy to see how the paint scheme plays out. The extra Citadel Guard will be easy - painting 6 models takes almost the same amount of time as 5 models, and I may replace a regular spear warrior with a Guard. The Dunedain I might use as Rangers of Gondor with spears - I'll need to see how that works out. I'll put them in the "like to do" priority list. I'll also put additional plastic Rangers (beyond the eight spear carriers) into the "like to do" category, since I already have fully painted metal Rangers of Gondor.
As for the extra Gandalf, I'm not sure if I want to use the old Fellowship/Old Friends Meet Again Gandalf, or the Rivendell/Scale Creep Gandalf. I'll definitely put the Rivendell Gandalf in the lowest priority "might do" slot. As you can see, the old Gandalf is nearly completed - just flesh left to do, and maybe some touching up of the details.
Ecthelion is another issue. I really want to use a converted model to represent the King of Men stat line, but I also know that as soon as I am back to teaching I'll be very short on time. So I'll paint up the Captain of Minas Tirith to the same basic standard as the rest of the warriors. If I manage to finish up everything on my "must do" list, then converting and painting Ecthelion will be my next priority. I'm also contemplating what kind of head to use - I ordered some cool replacement heads from Ebob Miniatures that I may want to use on him after filing down the swan head. Another option would be carving up a Numenorean for the head swap - I think it would look kind of chintzy to just slap a shield on Boromir and call it a conversion.
So my next order of business is assembling the models I currently have that I need. So I'll get the Rangers opened and assembled and the sword carrying warriors assembled. Next I'll base the models, and after that I'll test paint the extra spearman and prime the unpainted models black. I'll then assess how the paint scheme works and change anything I need. Next would be the same process for the rangers. By that point I should have received all of my remaining models and I'll paint the main body of troops. Following that, I finish Gandalf and start the Citadel Guard. Once they are done, I can start on my "like to do" priorities, such as converting Ecthelion and more sword armed warriors from spearmen and giving some rangers spears. Once I've wrapped up that painting, it will be on to more fanciful stuff that I'm unlikely to use, like Knights of Minas Tirith, mounted Ecthelion, and Scale Creep Gandalf.
It was not NEARLY this clean last night. It had probably eight different half started projects on and around it, such as the Assault on Black Reach terminators and dreadnought, a Nazgul on Fellbeast, some stuff for a 40K army my wife started years ago, Lumpin Croops Fighting Cocks for Fantasy, Numenoreans, Dwarves for LOTR, and stuff for my Mordheim warband. That's just what I remember. Well, I cleared all of that off, put them into boxes, and stored them away so I can focus solely on this project. Here are the minis I'm starting with.
An observant reader (not that I think I actually have any) will note that I've got 6 Citadel Guards, an extra spearman, two Dunedain with spears, extra heroes, and not enough warriors with shields - only 14 warriors with shields, in fact. Well, first on the warriors. I'm making a couple of transactions via Bartertown in order to get more warriors with shields. I'm getting a bunch of other minis, too - it's a nice way to dispose of excess models that I've got hanging around for models that I don't have. Having worked for Games Workshop (I managed one of their hobby centers for about two years), I have a heap of unneeded plastic and pewter.
Anyway, I'll be using the extra spearman as my painting dummy to see how the paint scheme plays out. The extra Citadel Guard will be easy - painting 6 models takes almost the same amount of time as 5 models, and I may replace a regular spear warrior with a Guard. The Dunedain I might use as Rangers of Gondor with spears - I'll need to see how that works out. I'll put them in the "like to do" priority list. I'll also put additional plastic Rangers (beyond the eight spear carriers) into the "like to do" category, since I already have fully painted metal Rangers of Gondor.
As for the extra Gandalf, I'm not sure if I want to use the old Fellowship/Old Friends Meet Again Gandalf, or the Rivendell/Scale Creep Gandalf. I'll definitely put the Rivendell Gandalf in the lowest priority "might do" slot. As you can see, the old Gandalf is nearly completed - just flesh left to do, and maybe some touching up of the details.
Ecthelion is another issue. I really want to use a converted model to represent the King of Men stat line, but I also know that as soon as I am back to teaching I'll be very short on time. So I'll paint up the Captain of Minas Tirith to the same basic standard as the rest of the warriors. If I manage to finish up everything on my "must do" list, then converting and painting Ecthelion will be my next priority. I'm also contemplating what kind of head to use - I ordered some cool replacement heads from Ebob Miniatures that I may want to use on him after filing down the swan head. Another option would be carving up a Numenorean for the head swap - I think it would look kind of chintzy to just slap a shield on Boromir and call it a conversion.
So my next order of business is assembling the models I currently have that I need. So I'll get the Rangers opened and assembled and the sword carrying warriors assembled. Next I'll base the models, and after that I'll test paint the extra spearman and prime the unpainted models black. I'll then assess how the paint scheme works and change anything I need. Next would be the same process for the rangers. By that point I should have received all of my remaining models and I'll paint the main body of troops. Following that, I finish Gandalf and start the Citadel Guard. Once they are done, I can start on my "like to do" priorities, such as converting Ecthelion and more sword armed warriors from spearmen and giving some rangers spears. Once I've wrapped up that painting, it will be on to more fanciful stuff that I'm unlikely to use, like Knights of Minas Tirith, mounted Ecthelion, and Scale Creep Gandalf.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Paint plan - first stage
Well, I'll be budgeting my time in a while, after I've taken a full accounting of my models and what I want to do with them. I'll have "must do" priorities, "like to do" priorities, and "might do" priorities. I'll start off with my basic painting ideas. I want my main palette to resemble the movie and book, but one somewhat sad aspect of the books is that the given palette is pretty much black and white and grey. Bleh. Well, I think I'll play with it a little bit with the grey, using a foundation paint with tinges of blue in it, which I have already used for Gandalf's hat. So here is my basic plan:
Warriors
Armor and blades
Base - Boltgun metal overbrush
Shade - Black wash
Mid - Boltgun metal drybrush
Highlight - Mithril Silver light drybrush
Shield emblem
Base - Deneb Stone
Highlight - Bleached Bone
Cloth
Base - Fenris Grey
Mid Shade - Black/Shadow Grey mix
Low Shade - Black wash
Flesh
I need to make up my mind on going with a simple base, wash, and highlight or a layered highlight. The facial areas inside of those helmets are tight.
Citadel Guard
I need to reread the books, but these guys are all in black IIRC. I'm thinking I'll take a little creative license and do the cloaks black but their tunics bone, kind of like the painted Guards of the Fountain Court. I think I'll give them a yellow trim if I do that, otherwise a dark red trim. I'll need to play around with them a bit.
Rangers
Cloth and wood
Base - Black
Mid tone - Scorched Brown overbrush
Highlight - Bestial Brown drybrush
Tabard and cloaks
Base - Catachan Green
Mid - Catachan Green/Dark Angel Green
Highlight - DA Green
Echthelion
I want to use this guy as part of my Numenorean army as well, but that is going to have a similar paint scheme, with heroes being dark red. However, I might stick with the same basic color palette of blue/grey and bone.
I'll have to see how my test models turn out before I commit to the specialty models. My priorities are now:
1) Gather all of the models and pieces needed in one place
2) Finish main (pre conversion) assembly
3) Paint test pieces
4) Reassess paint scheme
5) Do required conversions
6) Set paint schedule
I'll get the first two done tomorrow, and I'll try to paint my test pieces by New Years. Hopefully I'll have all of these steps completed by January 5th so I can get my time spaced out well instead of being cramped.
Warriors
Armor and blades
Base - Boltgun metal overbrush
Shade - Black wash
Mid - Boltgun metal drybrush
Highlight - Mithril Silver light drybrush
Shield emblem
Base - Deneb Stone
Highlight - Bleached Bone
Cloth
Base - Fenris Grey
Mid Shade - Black/Shadow Grey mix
Low Shade - Black wash
Flesh
I need to make up my mind on going with a simple base, wash, and highlight or a layered highlight. The facial areas inside of those helmets are tight.
Citadel Guard
I need to reread the books, but these guys are all in black IIRC. I'm thinking I'll take a little creative license and do the cloaks black but their tunics bone, kind of like the painted Guards of the Fountain Court. I think I'll give them a yellow trim if I do that, otherwise a dark red trim. I'll need to play around with them a bit.
Rangers
Cloth and wood
Base - Black
Mid tone - Scorched Brown overbrush
Highlight - Bestial Brown drybrush
Tabard and cloaks
Base - Catachan Green
Mid - Catachan Green/Dark Angel Green
Highlight - DA Green
Echthelion
I want to use this guy as part of my Numenorean army as well, but that is going to have a similar paint scheme, with heroes being dark red. However, I might stick with the same basic color palette of blue/grey and bone.
I'll have to see how my test models turn out before I commit to the specialty models. My priorities are now:
1) Gather all of the models and pieces needed in one place
2) Finish main (pre conversion) assembly
3) Paint test pieces
4) Reassess paint scheme
5) Do required conversions
6) Set paint schedule
I'll get the first two done tomorrow, and I'll try to paint my test pieces by New Years. Hopefully I'll have all of these steps completed by January 5th so I can get my time spaced out well instead of being cramped.
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