Warhammer fantasy musings plus random WIP updates

Warhammer Fantasy - Playing the Rulebook Missions

Another great game played today got us thinking about armies, list building and the rulebook missions. We've all been there when our carefully tweaked lists come up against one and other only to roll watchtower or battle for the pass. A dwarf player rubs his stunty little hands with glee at the thought of battle for the pass while the brutal chaos player laughs maniacally at watchtower for example so many people say "shall we just play battle line?". Battle line is good but it doesn't expose inherent flaws like the other missions. Today we played Blood and Glory. My WoC army is getting pretty nasty. At 3000pts i bring a nurgle demon prince, tzeentch bsb on demonic mount, festus, big unit of warriors, chariots, skull crushers, a hell cannon and some chaff. Killy and survivable - always a good combo! That said, i lost yet handed out a near crushing beating..... strange.

I have a bsb, one banner (in the warriors) and the demon prince so a fortitude of 4 and a break point of 3..... versus the dark elf fortitude of 6. I loose anything - bsb, general, warriors i loose. All goes well, second turn i get 4 charges, all successful. I kill his caribdus(?), fluff all but one attack from a demon prince (bad as i hit on a 2+) but worst of all, i roll terribly and Olly rolls like a legend and my warriors fail hard. They hold but get beaten in the 3rd turn counter charge. We carry on just for laughs. Now at this point, most of the laughs were for me. By the end of my turn 4 he has six witch elves and his altar (minus hag) in combat with my bsb, his warlock bunker and wizard in combat with my demon prince, a fleeing hydra with two skullcrushers chasing him an inch away and five dark riders chilling next to my hell cannon. All this and i still lost! So yeah, we can build brutal lists, tune them down to the most efficient use of points possible but there are always holes - gunlines hate watch tower, large slow moving armies hate battle for the pass and warriors of chaos hate blood and glory. Build a big Throgg list with the huge horde of trolls and monsters and you can loose automatically in Blood and Glory. Break point of 2 or 3 and an army fortitude of 2 or 3. Powerful list but looses 1 out of 6 games without worry. This game will be up on Olly's Youtube page: Any Given Sunday Wargaming

WIP John "Digger" bust

I've been working on the bust for a few weeks now. Work has been tiring so i only get an hour or so in every so often but it coming on nicely. The shading and highlights are down. I need more passes and some glazes to blend the transitions a little smoother, paint the eyes and get the hair painted and his face is done.

 
I can then concentrate on the clothing articles, which will be painted in shades of blue. Light blue for the bandana and a darker shade for the shirt. Not sure whether i'll go NMM or TMM for the belt buckle and earings though.

A Quick Shot of One of my Other Interests

I've always harbored an interest for swords and knives. I have a few nice ones but I have fancied making them for a long time. We had a small propane forge at my school that my old CDT teacher used to let me use. I made a few hand tools, nothing major. Well, fast forward nearly 20 years and i have built a small forge and made some stuff.

I made a small furnace rake, repaired my drifting tool i made years ago after breaking the tip on some concrete and made a pair of blacksmith tongs. They aren't pretty but they work. Once i get a proper anvil i'll make some decent tongs and a few hardy tools when i have the setup correct. I also need a mark 2 version of the forge to stop it setting fire to itself when i run it too hot so i need to learn to weld, Good fun though and it satisfies some primal urge inside me to pound hot metal.