Hordes Back on the Painting Bench

Over the last month ive been trying to consolidate my hobby some what.  This has entailed going through many, many boxes and deciding if i was going to keep models and play a certain game or get rid of them to generate some cash for other things.

I was doing well getting rid of a lot of models when i came across my Trollblood's in a figure case. One look and i knew i couldn't sell them so i decided i had to finish them. Here's what ive managed to get done so far:

More to come soon.

New 35pt Troll List

Tomorrow me and the lads will be playing Warmachine/Hordes all day long.  This time ive decided that im going to stick to one list for a few weeks in a rob and see if i can make it work.

Here's the list i will be using:

Epic Madrak
Swamp Troll
2x Impalers
Fellcaller Hero
6 Pyg bushwackers
10 Pyg Burrowers
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Trollkin Champion Her0
6 Trollkin Fenblades with Officer and Drummer Attachment.

So there ya go, 35pts of troll goodness.  Let me know what you think. Ill post some pics and combat results tomorrow night.

New Android Phone Gaming APPS

Although not officially out in the NZ market the HTC DESIRE HD is available from several parallel importers for not too much more that you will pay for a Samsung Galaxy S (next closest phone in NZ to the Desire HD).  I had been agonizing for weeks over which new smart phone to get as my 1st gen IPhone was starting to show its age and i have to say that paying the extra and getting the HTC desire HD was the right choice (at least for me).   I'm using it on the New Zealand Vodafone network and I'm having no problems at all.  My only complaint would be about the battery life but i haven't had it long enough to test it fully I'm guessing it will be comparable to my first gen IPhone (needing a charge every 2nd day on moderate use and once a day on heavy use).

Id be keen to hear if any other bloggers out there have got this phone and what they think about it.  Any tips on getting the most out of it would be most useful.

AWESOME GAMING APPS FOR WARMACHINE AND HORDES

The real point of this post is the two great gaming Apps from the Android Market place for fans of Warmachine and Hordes.

The first I'm sure many gamers with iPhones will have heard of IBODGER. 

iBodger is a free application for creating army lists for Warmachine and Hordes, two fantastic tabletop games of miniatures combat from Privateer Press. iBodger supports all factions, special forces, and rules up to and including MkII Trollbloods. It also includes links to Battle College and many of Chris Walton's sketches.
iBodger includes full support for both MkI and MkII rules (including all Theme Forces), along with the option to convert armies between the rule sets. It also lets you keep track of your collection of models.

The second App is BATTLE TIMER

A free turn timer/counter specifically for Warmachine and Hordes players.
Keep track of turn length and count game time with this handy timer.

This is very useful if you play Hard-core tournaments or just like to keep your games short so you can get in more gaming in a day.

So there ya go two great apps that are free to download and use go and give them a try and let me know what you think

War Pig

 

I've started work on my Farrow force. As soon as i learnt that the Farrow were being expanded by a Warcaster and a couple of warbeasts i knew i had to collect an army of these piggies!

I’ve decided that every model will have a sculpted base – it seams to be a common theme on the forums and i figured what the hell ill give it a go to. :)

Here’s where I'm at so far:

   

Here’s a couple of close ups of the green stuff work on the base:

Next to come will be a modified Lord Carver.

Kromac the ravenous.

 

Today i decided to start work on something other than my beloved troll bloods.  Chris had ordered Kromac intending to use him as his warlock for his circle army but had changed his mind after he had ordered him. I decided that although I'm unlikely to do a circle army any time soon i would really like to have a go at painting him (at least his human form).

I’ve started work on the base. As I was doing this more as a display piece than a gaming piece i put some thought and effort into the base.  Kromac’s pose lends itself very well to standing atop something staring into the distance.  I played around with several ideas. A fallen standing stone or a cliff face were two options i seriously considered. In the end i went with the idea of Kromac standing on the stump of a long ago fallen tree near the edge of a marsh. I started sculpting the base. At first i went for quite a high base which would have had Kromac well above most other figures but after looking at how this looked i decided a much lower tree stump was more practical option. (As knowing me i will one day undoubtedly start a circle force.)

this is where I'm at so far:

Not the best photos but I'm sure you can see what I'm aiming for. A small amount of water will sit between the rock and the stump and will pass under two of the tree roots.

Hopefully ill have this all painted up before the end of the day.

Update: Saturday 28th August:

Managed to get the base finished and put the starting work onto Kromac’s skin and clothing.

Still a long way to go but i like how the base has turned out.

Change is in the Air!!

Well ive been pretty quiet over the last week and this is mainly due to a massive work load brought about by taking on too many contracts at once - silly me, (you think after all these years id learn!)

Anyways ive also just got a new job - Yay :)  After working in sales and customer service for Battlefront Miniatures for the last 6 odd years i finally have managed to get myself a job as part of the studio team and will be taking on the Hobby Support Manager role.  This basically means ill be making all the scenery that will be used in photo shoots for books and web material - exciting stuff, i finally get to be creative.

I have a pile of Warmachine and Hordes Projects on the go at the moment as well - hopefully this weekend i will get a chance to take a few photos.

WIP TROLLKIN LONG RIDERS

 

Yesterday in the mail i received my Trollkin Long Riders. I’ve been waiting for these for a while and was slightly disappointed that of the 5 i received 4 were the same miniature.  Not a huge issue though as i like to convert and sculpt so this was a great opportunity to get in some more practice.  So far I've managed to modify two of these big bad boyz.

 

The first one seen in the picture about i decided to reposition the head so it was looking more up and to do this i needed to pin the head into position and then re-sculpt the whole neck. Quite easy and took maybe 20 minutes if that.

 

 

 

For the second bison i decided to pose him more like he was just butting something with its head. To do this i had to hack the leg off and pin it in a new position and then re-sculpt some of the muscle shape and hair.  I also bent the position of the rear legs slightly and had to tidy up a few areas which had been damaged during this process. (the material the Privateer Press casts there miniatures out of is pretty tough and large models like these are difficult to bend without applying a lot of force!!).  For this model i also decided that i wanted the head of the rider to be different so out came my trusty clippers again and i clipped off the head and replaced it with an armoured Kreil head that i had spare from my Kreil warriors box. A little bit of putty to rebuild the neck and it was done.

Overall I'm happy with how these have turned out. I will probably modify one more of the long riders so that all 5 miniatures are different. (after all I'm unlikely to ever do up a second unit so i might as well make them look as good as i can.)

- after noticing how bad the pictures turned out here are a couple of quick close ups.

Keen to know what you guys think.

Header/banner third and final attempt

mmm after having another think about effects the banner needs ive decided that the trolls skin needs to be lightened up somewhat. I was a little worried about trying this but its actually alot like painting layers onto a miniature.  I also decided that the troll needed a bit of color for his eye and needed to have some rocky lumps added to his arm.

Im happy with the Banner now and will leave it like this.  Now to think about how to do the blog background!

Header/banner Second attempt

After going out for a couple of hours i thought about changes i should make to my banner.  The first thing that needed to be changed was the colour of the troll. He had to be Blue!
After that i looked at some of the smaller details and made lots of little adjustments here and there – way too many for me to remember or list. 

So here is the banner take 2. Let me know which one you prefer?

A new Trollblood blog

Hey everyone

Ive been mucking around with Photoshop trying to learn how to make a Banner/Header for a blog. I figured the best way to learn is have something to push you to learn so i decided to start up a Fan Blog for Hordes and in Particular Trollbloods.  

Here's what ive come up with for the Header/banner for the blog:

Its pretty rough, but this morning i had no idea how to make a header/banner at all so im rather happy with it for the moment.  Ill come up with more ideas im sure but for now i like how it looks.  The idea for the name is inspired from a sig on the PP forums created i believe by PG_Warsmith. (im im wrong please correct me so i can credit the right person.) Its excellent and very fitting and has become a bit of a funny dig/joke amongst our hordes gaming group as i have been making an ridiculous amount of tough rolls! 

Love to know what you guys think? - go easy (remember its my first attempt!)

Trollbloods Work in Progress

 

Just a quick post as its rather late – here’s a work in progress shot of the Kreilstone Bearer and some stone scribes.  Not too much left to do on them a bit of work on belts and the weapons and some work on the Tartan of the scribes.  After that its just the eyes and a few washes to blend the skin together a little better.  I’m pretty happy with how they are turning out.

What do you guys think?

Thoughts after first few games.

 

Well today i managed to get in three games of Hordes in a Row. It was great because out of the 4 of us playing we have each decided on a different faction – so i have Trollbloods, Rob is running the Legion, Dan is going Skorne and Chris has taken Circle so we have a good mix.

As we are all just starting out we played basic assassination games at 15pts.

I ran a really simple force 

Madrak, a Mauler, Kreilstone bearer and 3 stone scribes,  6 Pyb Burrowers and 6 Kreil warriors with a caber thrower.

I managed to pull out a win against all three of the guys – the game against Robs Legion was the closest and i think it was luck more than skill that won me the game.  The guys were taking pictures for their blogs so i didn’t bother this time round. All in all great fun and i look forward to next weekends games. Currently only Rob and me have the correct miniatures but the other guys will have their starter forces soon enough. 

MAULER Skin Mk 2

Another night of painting and I've taken the Mauler skin up another 4 stages – i got carried away and forgot to take some in-between shots so these pictures only show the last two stages.  I'm pretty happy with the overall colour – its a little bright in the shots but in natural light it looks a lot better.

I think once all the extra details are done the colours should even out a bit and it wont look quite so cartoony – time will tell.

Troll Skin Test

I've spent the evening trying to work out a bluish troll skin that isn't too bright or too dull. I think I've come up with something that should look good against the brown/tartan clothing and steel armour and leather items that the trolls wear.

 

The first picture shows off the lighter inner skin colour that will be on the inside of the arms and the chest and belly of the trolls and the second picture shows the skin colour of the back.

Let me know what you think as i can really use some feedback on this.

Work on the Troll Horde begins!

I’ve put the Mauler together and puttied in all the gaps in the model. This miniature required quite a few pins in the body sections and arms to hold it together as it’s a rather heavy piece of lead.  Overall not the nicest multipart model I've ever assembled but well worth the effort because once it’s built it’s a fantastic miniature. I'm not sure I've ever seen another miniature which conveys such raw aggression – I'm looking extremely forward to painting him up.
here’s where I'm at so far:


Now to spray him black and start the painting process…

Warmachine/hordes goodness!

I was going to start this post of by posting pictures of all the new plastic starter boxes Privateer press just announced by i see that the Lost Hemisphere already has them posted so go check out the site.
Also announced today was the Trollbloods faction book – YAY. this is great news as it means it wont be long till it’s out.  The cover is awesome and i can only imagine what the contents will be like!
Here’s a picture of the cover:

For Kith and Kriel
Caught amid the destructive wars of man, the many tribes of the trollkin have united to save their kind and drive out those who despoil their lands. Led by mighty warlocks who can summon ferocious full-blood trolls to their side and backed by hearty trollkin warriors, pygmy sharpshooters, and powerful champions who have banded together to forge their own legends, the trollkin are prepared to stand their ground against any army that dares threaten them.

Unite the kriels under your banner with Forces of HORDES: Trollbloods, featuring:

• Complete faction rules and profiles for using all current Trollblood models in HORDES Mk II.
• New troops to bring to the fight, plus the all-new warlock Captain Gunnbjorn.
• An in-depth look at the history and structure of the trollkin kriels.
• A painting and modeling guide to help ready your forces for battle.
• Trollblood Theme Force lists and rules, which allow you to create armies based on specialized forces from the Trollbloods.

Sate the Hunger of Trolls upon the Carnage of War!

- I don't know about all of you but I'm a happy monkey!!

Trollbloods!

With Hordes Mk2 just around the corner I've been thinking a lot about what army i want to do.
Ever since i saw the Dire Troll Mauler miniature I've been hooked on the idea of doing a Trollblood force just so i can have one of these bad boys on the table. I've tried a couple of times to get started but something always crops up – car needs fixing, new washing machine ect.. Finally after finishing up a painting contract for a mate I've had enough spare cash to order an army.  Thanks to the current strength of the Kiwi dollar (or perhaps a better way of putting it is the weakness of overseas currencies) means buying war gaming products has never been so good.  I have ordered my troll bits form a couple of sources. The first is Maelstrom Games the second is Wayland Games both of these online retailers offer free shipping on most if not all of their items so i highly recommend you check them out and get yourself a great deal whilst the going is good!
After much deliberation and reading the stats again and again i decided to build a force mainly built up of units of smaller infantry who’s skills should compliment each other and most importantly keep my war caster alive!
This is what I've decided on for my 35pt force:
Madrak Ironhide (epic) +5 points
Dire Troll Mauler                                                9 points.
6 Kreil warriors                                                 4 points.
1 Kreil Caber Thrower                                      1 point.
1 Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone scribes          3 points.
6 Pyg Burrowers                                              4 points.
6 Pyg Bushwhackers                                        5 points.
3 Trollkin Champions                                        6 points.
10 Trollkin Fenblades                                       8 points.

Total:  40 points
It should be an interesting army to play with only one war beast and a small horde of warriors.
All my miniatures have shipped so now all i need to do is wait for them to turn up. Hopefully i will have the whole army in my hands by this time next week.
Anyone out there reading this who plays Trollbloods I'd be keen to know what you think of the list I’ve designed – feel free to point out any possible flaws.  (Personally I'm not convinced about the Kreil Warriors but i really like the miniatures so I'm prepared to give them a go.)