Blowing off the Dust

Well I know it has been a long time ... I Got my Round Four entry in for Iron Painter, but unfortunately It proved not to be enough to go through.... After that I suffered from a bit of Burnout... I dont care what people say that is one tough competition.... But now for the future.... :)

It is an exciting time to be gaming at the moment 6th Ed 40k has just come out and while I dont see it fixing a lot of the issues I have with the game it could still be fun to play in a controlled environment. Tor Gaming are very soon going to start sending out the Indigogo stuff soon so I might finally be able to give Relics a good look over. Its nearly Gencon in the States so Wyrd is ramping up for their big release. Finally started work on my next ancients army and the english civil war scots are progressing nicely ...... finally :)

So hopefully I will now be updating more often to try keep my thoughts in order over what I have to do ....

More Iron Painter....

Its been a while I know but have recently put in my entry for round 3 of Iron painter....

It is something I have always wanted to do.... an undead scene in black and white, I did however have to add red because the theme was only three colours :)

Unfortunately I have been drawn against the better half in this round .... so it would seem that only one of us is going to be advancing.....

Of Painting and Paints

Well my entry is in for Iron painter....

Full gallery can be found here check it out as there are again some fantastic entries and more should turn up in the next twenty four hours!

Painting this piece has reminded me the enjoyment I get from painting, I am not just a gamer I am a painter too, the full hobby deserves my attention and for too long have I just been grinding out armies to get them on the table.

This leads us to the subject I will ramble about today .... paint....

For years I have used citadel colour, it suited my painting style and was a range I knew well, but all good things must come to an end..... with the new rebranding of the entire paint range I am forced to learn new colours and to tell you the truth if I am forced to learn an entire paint range I may as well learn one with a lower price point and a range that is not likely to drop some of my favourite colours every five years or so ....

So what options do I have ....

Vallejo.... A lot of people I know rave about this, in the day the better half and I bought two cases of the stuff one model colour and one game colour, personally I did not like the stuff. Dropper bottles annoy me, I found them chalky and twice when I went to wash over my paint job the paint slid off.... they are out

Reaper Master Series.... These are the paints of choice of the better half, the idea that you buy them in triads so you get the base colour, highlight and shade is a very good idea, however they do have the dropper bottles and I did find them a little watery.... might put them in the maybe worth another try pile

P3.... Never actually tried the P3 paint heard good things about them though .... put them in the investigate further pile

Rackham.... I have the full range of Rackham paint, found it a little thick but not bad .... unfortunately it has gone the way of the dodo and chances of me getting anymore are pretty much nil... they are out

Coat d Arms.... This is the front runner for my new range of paint, the makers of the old GW paint they have a lot of the colours GW have now discontinued, they also have ranges dedicated to World War Two and other historical, giving you a good choice of colours. In little round pots they are in I quite like too .... these will be in the buy more to try pile ....

If anybody has any more ideas I am happy to hear them, till then happy painting...

The Iron Painter Round 2

So by the skin of my teeth I managed to squeek through round one of Iron Painter and have entered round  2 ..... hence the lack of updates ..... but stay tuned....

I know, I know....

It has been a while .....

Good news is I got my entry for the Iron Painter in on time, now waiting for the results to come through...... but you can check out mine and the rest of the entries here
Iron Painter Round One
There are some seriously fantastic entries....

Anyway back to the Tamurkhan campaign .....

The rules for this are pretty basic, get a group of players and divide into two teams, one playing the forces of chaos the other playing the enemies they encounter along the way.
The campaign is then split into six parts to correspond with each of the chapters in the book.Each part has a special scenario and a list of recommended enemies,
Over a set period of time the group decides on as many games as possible are played but the special scenario must be played at least once, victory points are accumulated along the way and the side with the most points at the end of each chapter win an advantage in the final chapters round of games.

The way the campaign is set up means it is pretty easy to account for guys who cant turn up for a gaming session or two, and leaves lots of room to do a storm of chaos game or a multiplayer game along the way depending on your groups tastes. The system even has rules for mixing together different forces of chaos under one warlord for bigger battle goodness.

Be warned however, this campaign is not for a new group of players, the constant changing of the recommended enemies and some of the special scenarios ( one needs five giants!) means you really need a well established group with a good pool of models to even attempt this.

So really in summary Tamurkhan is a fantastically presented book with some fun options,but the groups that will get the most out of it are well established ones with a good pool of choices ..... Is it a good choice for you , I don't know only you know how you want to play :)

Forging ahead....

Let me start by apologizing, I have currently signed up to Wyrd Miniatures Iron Painter competition, this grueling event puts painters head to head with two weeks to paint to a given theme, the winner advances to the next round and the cycle starts again. his may take up a bit of my free time so I may not be able to post as much as I would like.

For this post I would like to look at a book I picked up for myself a a christmas present.Warhammer Forge's Tamurkhan-Throne of Chaos.
This is one sexy book, beautifully presented and full colour. It starts with the full story behind the book to be honest I have not got around to reading through it all yet, but it has very pretty pictures.

Next comes some new troop types for the Chaos and Empire armies, these have some fun looking options especially the chaos stuff which focuses on my favourite of all the chaos gods Papa Nurgle.

Chaos Dwarfs finally see some love with their own list. With the crazy machines of destruction they definitely add something a little different in terms of armies, having a look at the Abyssal Dwarfs from Mantic there are definite ways to do this army on the cheap. 

But I am sure you can find enough reviews ranting on about these things and how they work in game, the bit that I am most excited about however is the campaign section. I will discuss this in more depth in my next post.....

Everything you have been told is a lie....

Let me start by saying that the last year of gaming for me has been a bad one, not in the terms of playing games, but in the terms of the associated rubbish that I have had to contend with.
Within the local gaming scene I have witnessed two coups taking over things in my wargaming scene, I have copped abuse for being a thieving apathetic meglomanic, I have been abused because of where I happen to live.I have seen price rises, trade embargoes and censorship on forums when people ask questions.
Finally I have seen the hobby I love become a soulless abomination, every tournament a carbon copy of the last and the same optimized armies getting dredged out over and over again in the hope of advancing ones position in the supposed wargaming elite.

I am old and I am tired now, I have been an active member of this hobby for a long time, but it is time to take a serious look at it. Most of the things I have witnessed over the last year can be put down to one thing...... organized wargaming.

It seems to me we now have some form of Wargaming Illuminati a small group of people telling us how to enjoy our hobby, if you are not playing the set points limit with the set restrictions then you are playing wrong.I have decided I will no longer conform, I will not continue in the hopeless pursuit of the insignificant offerings to keep people in line. I am taking my gaming back to where it started in a garage with some mates..... I have freed my mind.

This blog will therefore not debate the optimal units from a given army, nor how to defeat x or y soulless list from the internet, but will instead focus on playing games differently, changing up the points you play and running campaigns. I will even be looking at a lot of other games that are not part of the offerings from the larger companies.

So you have the choice join me and take the Red Pill or take The Blue Pill and return to your everyday life.