Gnome Wars at NJcon: Lunkhead's Brewery....

To All,

The Stout Smurf went to NJcon and put on two games of every body's other favorite GW, Gnome Wars.The first game of the day was Gnome Wars: The Brawl for Lunkhead’s Brewery.

The set up/description for the game was as follows: Upset over the rising cost of beer Swiss, Irish, and Scottish gnomes attack Lon the Lunkhead’s brewery to secure their stash for the winter. Can Lon hold out, or will he have to make a run for it?

Here is the initial set-up for the scenario: The brewery is inside the castle walls and the defenders are trying to 1) Survive until sunset, 2) Protect Lon the Lunkhead, the master brewer, and 3) keep possession of the "Cursed Gnome" statue. (don't piss on it or you will be sorry!)

The Germans and Orangemen are holding the right corner and the gate. They are supported by two tanks and the Orangeman's wooden A7V. The German players decide to put their cavalry in reserve. (I thought it was a mistake to do so)

Attacking were three units of Scottish Highlanders, King Stanton's Irish, two units of Irish Cavalry supported by a walker, a tank (machine guns only), and the balloon (heavy machine gun).

The Pirates, let by Captain Alvarado (single toughest figure in Gnome Wars), plus Lon's Lunkheads attempt to hold the left. 

The Germans did have the Vampire leading the "Army of the Damned," which consisted of 60 zombies, 30 skeleton warriors, and 20 angry gingerbread men. They started outside the walls on the left flank.

The Left was being attacked by two units of British Marines, three units of Swiss, a band of Gnomosapiens with three Dinosaurs, the Wizard (four wolves and two bears) and two units of Union Cavalry. (This is why putting the German Cavalry into reserve was a mistake - the attackers didn't have to worry about the Germans cavalry and could place their cavalry anywhere on the board - more on that tomorrow)

The Swiss get ready to tunnel...

The battle was on! More to come....

28mm Skeletons: Part 2 Second Batch....

To All,

Here is the rest of the the Basic Skeletons tutorial. (Sorry it took so long but I have had a crazy month.)  The Skeletons, as always, are from Emperor's Choice: Emperor's Choice Basic Skeletons.

After priming and hitting the figures with Skull White, The Scorched Brown for the leather, Bittersweet Chocolate for the wood. These colors are painted on.

Then a drybrush of Bestial Brown for the leather, Dark Chocolate for the wood.

Drybrush of Milk Chocolate for the wood...

...and Snakebite Leather for the leather.

Light drybrush of Honey Brown for the wood.

All metal is painted with Boltgun Metal.

Dwarf Bronze to highlight the weapons and the buckels.

I painted the bases black and then washed the bones and metal with a diluted Delvin Mud - 50:50 ratio of Delvin Mud and water.

I flocked the bases with my "grass" mixture...

 ...and these guys were ready for the tabletop!

Here they are as part of the Undead Army during one of my games at NJcon.

The Stout Smurf's Ultramarines vs. Jawaballs' Blood Angels Drop Pod List....

To All,

On Saturday night I went over to Jawaballs' basement to play a little 40K. When got there I found myself walking into Jawa and Fritz (of Fritz 40K) live-broadcasting a couple of games they were playing during the day on USTREAM. I brought my Ultramarines 2000-point Thunderfire Cannon list to play but when I got there found out Jawa was practicing his 1850 Blood Angels Drop Pod list for a tournament the following day. Luckily I had my computer in the car with Army Builder on and was able to adjust my list very quickly. We played a Kill Point mission and with a little help from Fritz, and some early Drop Pod mishaps, I was able to grab a surprise victory.

In a nutshell here is the set-up:

Jawa won to go first but deferred to me. Knowing he has 9 drop pods coming in I decide to put everything on the board and spread out in deployment. A naked 5 man tactical squad, "V," in a razorback with TL Lascannon on the left flank and the tactical squad Lambda, Meltagun and Multi-melta, in a rhino on the right flank. In the middle are the Terminators, Chaplain, and Librarian buttoned up in the LR Crusader with the last tactical squad, "Two" with Lascannon and flamer, following behind. The Techmarines bolstered the ruins on my side of the board and deployed the thunderfires in the ruins. I left the Ironclad to support one of the Thunderfires, infiltrated the scouts in a ruin on Jawa's side of the board, popped smoke, and waited for the drop pods to start falling (which they did).

On the first turn one of Jawa's pods mishaped and was destroyed, thus elimiating one of his Dreads and giving me 2 kill-points. The rest of the game he couldn't make up the two points.

If you want to see our game you can check it out here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22712611

That link starts after I have deployed - If you want to see the set-up click on this link and go to the 1:38:00 point and start watching there: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22709813

This is the link to the Jawaballs channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jawaballs-live

Here is the list I played:

The Stout Smurf's Ultramarines vs. Jawaballs’ Blood Angels Drop Pod List

To All,

On Saturday night I went over to Jawaballs' basement to play a little 40K. When got there I found myself walking into Jawa and Fritz (of Fritz 40K) live-broadcasting a couple of games they were playing during the day on USTREAM.  I brought my Ultramarines 2000-point Thunderfire Cannon list to play but when I got there found out Jawa was practicing his 1850 Blood Angels Drop Pod list for a tournament the following day. Luckily I had my computer in the car with Army Builder on and was able to adjust my list very quickly. We played a Kill Point mission and with a little help from Fritz, and some early Drop Pod misshaps, I was able to grab a surprise victory.  

If you want to see our game you can check it out here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22712611 

That link starts after I have deployed - If you want to see the set-up click on this link and go to the 1:38:00 point and start watching there: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22709813

Here is the link to the Jawaballs channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jawaballs-live

Here is the list I played:

28mm Basic Skeleton: 2nd batch.....

To All,

I have one more batch of basic skeletons to paint up. I'm going a little more "step-by-step" this time around.
The figures have been flashed, filed, primed black, and then hit with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. You can see those steps in a previous post.

As you can see, Spraying the Skeleton Bone from above hits the bone and yet leaves the black in the recesses. For this batch I did not have to touch up the Skeleton Bone at all.

The next step was to highlight with Skull White. On the skull and torso I just brushed straight down. Below the pelvis I went side-to-side. Here is the result.

Here is where I will pick up tonight.....

....more to come!

28mm skeleton: Painting part 2....

To All,

So this is where I left off....

I highlighted the edges of the weapons, shields, and quivers with Mithril Silver....

...the raised details of on the shields and the buckles on the belts were painted with Dwarf Bronze....

The flights, already base-coated with Mechrite Red were highlighted with Blood Red....

 ....and then Blazing Orange.

 Then the entire figure was washed with a 3:1 water to Badab Black wash. Although they are not dry, this is the finished result. I'll post a dry picture tomorrow.

28mm Skeleton: Painting part 1....

To All,

Painting the 28mm skeleton.

I primed the Skeletons with Krylon black primer.I used Krylon here instead of Army Painter black because all the primer on the miniature will be covered by another color or wash.

I stood the miniatures up and sprayed them with Army Painter Skeleton Bone.

The key to this step is a roughly 50-60 degree angle when spraying:

I did the one figure above as an example. When I did the unit they were lined up so I could spray the fronts and backs cleanly:

This is the result. As you can see the recesses still have the black in them.

I dry-brushed with Bleached Bone.This was just a quick stroke straight down on each side of the figure just to make sure all raised bone has color on it.

Quick dry-brush with Skull White. Just straight down on the head and torso, side to side on the legs. This will be your highlight.

I base-coat all the wood with DecoArt Americana Bittersweet Chocolate. Each pose has different "wooden" parts. The shafts of the spears, the inside of the shields, the bow and quiver on the archer.

Dry-brush with Dark Chocolate

Dry-brush highlight of Milk Chocolate on the wood.

Final highlight with Honey Brown.

I hit the weapons and outside of the shields with Boltgun Metal. I highlighted with Chainmail. Here is where I will pick up tomorrow night.