First Trollbloods Painted

So Sunday I decided to sit down and start on the Trollbloods as my next painting project.  I've satiated my 40k painting for awhile, and fantasy seems to have stalled, so they seem like the best project to pick up next even though I've yet to play a game with Trollbloods and have no idea when I'll find the time.

I had done a bit of research on painting trollbloods online, and even picked up the the P3 Trollblood paint set.  Still I wasn't sure I wanted to jump straight into on of the larger beasts, so to start with I picked out a small troll whelp to test some colors.

This guys is a little smaller than a GW goblin.  I mostly wanted to experiment with the skin tones. 

Between the experimentation and the scale of the model I find he looks a little blotchy.  The main problem I had was I found the Trollblood Base color is nowhere near as blue as many of the Trollblood minis look in the books.

So with some experimentation done, and feeling like I had a pretty good grasp on how I was going to tackle the blending and color scheme I decided to start on the Troll Impaler.

So here you can see the blending of the skin tones came out much better with a little more practiced hand and certainly it helps working on a larger model.

One other thing I tried to work out was that there was a lot of leather/cloth on this model.  I wanted to not look like he was just wearing one color, which is something I feel like my orks suffer from a bit.  So I went for three different shades- a dark brown leather for the 'kilt', a more red leather for the spear holder and straps, and a lighter cloth for the arm/foot/spear wrappings.  The dark brown and the red are the only thing I'm not so sure about in that they seem still to be really close on the color wheel.  I kinda feel like they should stand out/apart more but... I'm not going back now!

This is the first time I've combined my two most common metal techniques.  Either I usually use my dirty wash (the 'Smoke' from Vallejo) or I use a normal black wash.  This time I used them both, and with a little trial and error I think the result came out pretty well.  I still used my normal Mithril Silver to highlight the armor.

Also this is the best shot to see the purple to red blending of the... uh, is that hair?  I'm not sure.  Anyway I liked this coloring that I've seen on some of the other Trolls so I decided to go with it on the Impaler rather than the darker blue PP shows.

Chickens amuse me.  Though I'm not sure if they really are chickens for scale purposes.  Really large turkeys maybe?  Anyway it is still amusing.

I decided to go with the same basing that I've used on my orks.  It is simple and efficient and I think the end result looks great.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the Troll Impaler.  There is always room for improvement but I think once I get a few more done it will be a nice looking force to put on the table.  Of course I still need to find that mythical time to get them on the table for a game.

In the meantime I just need to decide if I want to go into the larger Troll Bomber model next, or jump straight into my warcaster Gunnbjorn!

Sat 6.18 Game 3

So this is now a week old news.  I've got the pictures, but I'm sure my memory is going to be spotty at best so apologies now for any gaping holes or inaccuracies.

Andy brought a new twist on his Blood Angels.  I don't think I ever looked over his list so this is sketchy at best but it was something like this:

Death Company Tycho
Chaplain
Sang Priest
Sang Priest on bike
8 Death Company w/ assorted gear
10 Tact marines in Razorback
10 Tact marines in Razorback
7 Bikes + 1 Attack Bike
Land Raider Redeemer

I remember the mission was dawn of war, I think the game was a kill point variant maybe.  There were some other special rules I think but none really came into play that I now recall.

I deployed my 30 man squad central and spread, but enough to try to push his deployment back a bit.  He deployed two combat squad of guys with missile launchers.

My turn one and I roll on the table.  What little shooting I have is still enough to down a few marines.

Andy's turn one and he rolls on the board.  His shooting downs a few orks and a buggie explodes.

My turn 2 and there is some advancing going on and some more shooting.  I think I immoblized his razorback, and maybe stunned it also.  I think on the far left flank I was plinking at that razorback and combat squad as well.  Not a hugely impressive turn.

If you thought my turn 2 was unimpressive Andy's followed suit.  Bikes advanced, and shooting commenced.  More of my big ork mob died but they were still holding tight.

My turn 3 and some real connection at last.  My shooting put a pretty good hurt on the bikes, but I also charged him with the ard boyz and sluggas.  The net result was my actually winning combat and the last two bikes routing.  I kept the 'ard boys close enough to keep the bikes routing and tried to keep Ghaz's wagon protected from being hit with the LRR and Death Company doom.

I'm missing a picture of Andy's turn 3.  In a nut shell Tycho and friends munched on the remains of the Ard boyz after the LRR flamed a good clip of boyz.  That sums up his turn nicely.

My turn 4 and Ghaz's battlewagon makes the LRR explode.  I also shot his badly immobilized land raider to death.  Ghaz and manz engage Tycho and put a lot of hurt on, and I think I lost a Manz (I had called the waagh).  I think my sluggas also charged and killed a combat squad.

Andy's turn 4 and there isn't much doing.  He's got one Razorback that I think has no gun.  He's got a dude with a missile launcher who runs up like a crazy man trying to hit a BW in CC to no avail.  His last combat squad engages my sluggas.  They actaully kill a pretty good number, but are reduced to just one guy after i swing.   The death company squad are able to pop of the last manz with fists, but the manz go down swinging with Ghaz's encouragement to wipe out his death company squad.

At this point we call it a game.  This just ended in a big fat route.  I lost my manz, Ard boyz, and a buggie.  He had two marines and a razroback.  The deployment didn't help him as I certainly had more range threat with the lootas, and in this build I actually could choose most of my CC as well.

Still we had a good time and it was the end to a long evening of hanging out with the guys.

Sat 6.18 Game 2.5

So Dave and I lined up for another game and pulled some new cards from the mission deck.  I think this one worked out to be split forces (put 1/2 your army in one 1/6 square and 1/2 in another) and single objectives in each deployment zone and one in the center.  If I recall it was actually a killpoint game but the objectives were worth 2 kp each.

I won roll off and started with again all my sloggers on the far right quadrant.  Dave put his princes, defilers, and dread in the far left quadrant.  I put my mech in the left quadrant (you had to be 18" away), and he put the rest in the right quadrant.

My turn 1 and I advanced a bit of my slgoggers.  I swung my buggies and wagons to the right center, as there was little point to duking it out on the left hand side of the board.  My Kans do go after one defiler and it explodes.  I think my buggies stunned his Dreadnought.  I think my lootas shot at his rhinos and they wiffed + cover for not much action.

Dave's turn 1 and his winged Dp jumped behind a dread and his slogging one ran to get some cover behind a white pillar.  His defiler advanced and popped one kan.  Something also popped a missile off of a buggy.

On the right hand side one unit of noise marines hopped out advanced, and shot up my shoota boyz to bits basically.  I think thy charged them to finish them off and lost three guys for the effort.  Their rhino advanced up with them (it must have been shaken).  His other rhino navigates around to stay near his objective and his termies and oblits advance up a bit.

My turn 2 I continue to shuffle my wagons up, but also try to a bit of blocking to keep the princes off my lootas.  My kans are able to destroy the other defiler (their 3rd defiler kill in two games).  One lootas sqaud made is rhino full of noise marines explode.  The other lootas and sluggas took the noise marines down to being just the champ.  My rokkits from the sluggas squad shook his other empty rhino.

Dave's turn 2 and his greater daemon comes down.  Rather than put him in the backfield he replaces his lone champ who is unfortunately still out of assault range.  His oblits still can't get through the BWs, his termies and noise marines advance.  He also moes up a rhino to do some blocking/work closer to my objective.  His dread makes my functioning buggie explode.

In CC both princes advance on the Ard Boyz/KFF wagon and it explodes taking a few boys down with it.

My turn 3 and I'm feeling the heat.  I decide to have my KFF jump into a squad of lootas, which was actaully a bad call but oh well.  He should have jumped anywhere else.  Ghaz blasts up to assault his backfield.  I pull back my sloggers to be out of range of the GD.

I dump all my loota fire and rokkits and BS into the GD and I think I managed to knock a few wounds off of him.  My kans fire at one DP and whiff.  The Ard boyz dumped fire into one prince and I think scored one wound.  Ghaz calls the waagh to help him get into position to charge the way I want.

Ghaz charges the oblits, and the Manz charge the noise marines.  The way he has to consolidate the manz can't be hit by the oblits, not that it horribly mattered I think in the long run.  Ghaz killed two oblits and took now wounds, and the Manz killed all the noise marines and I think took one wound.

My Ard boyz choose to only assault only the winged prince.  I score another wound and lose 3 guys, 2 more to fearless saves.

Dave's turn 3 the dread turns to advance on my kans and manages to blow off a KMB.  His termies back up to get into it with Ghaz and the manz.  His GD advances on my lootas that I attached my KFF to last turn.  DOH!

His other DP charges into the Ard boyz.  The two DP kill a good clip, but I do down the winged prince before losing even more guys to fearless saves. 

His GD charges my lootas, killing several.

Ghaz kills the oblit, the Manz kill one termie and take some wounds. 

My turn 4 and I don't have lots of movement.  My sluggas prepare to engage the GD, the kans advance on the dread.  I think the lootas just held tight since they didn't have much targets and I didn't want the rhino to explode on my boyz.

In CC my Kans and his Dread traded some wiffs.  His DP finally killed off my boys.  His GD killed the last lootas but the boyz brought him down.  The termies killed of the manz and put two wounds on Ghaz, but I think there was only one termie left standing when Ghaz was done.

Dave's turn 4.  His prince moves up lashes my lootas, and creams them (they route/get run down) though they manage another wound (think he had lost one in combat earlier).  His Dread dies to the kans and my kans consolodate over a bit.  Ghaz kills the termie and moves toward the wagon.

My turn 5 my kans move and run to try to head toward the action.  Ghaz hops in the waggon and it blasts down.  I move my KFF mek in a 'sorta' block to the DP, and the boyz charge and make the rhino explode killing a few more lads.

At this point Dave is cool with calling it a game as the other games are all wrapping up.  His turn 5 and all he has left is the DP.  He could pull the boyz off the objective with lash and charge them, but they very easily could bring him down in combat.  At best it takes him two rounds of combat and I'm off the objective if the game ends at 5.

So just looking at KPs;
Dave's lost a DP, GD, Termies, Dread, Noise Marines x2, Rhinos x2, Oblits, Defilers x2 for 10 kp.
I've lost the Manz, Lootas x2, Ard boyz, shoota boyz, buggie, BW for 7.

So this game was much closer at the least but I think some early good shooting by me really helped me deal with thinning down the threats early.  If Dave had gone first and had some good shooting this game could have ended much different.

The boys all debate a bit about getting in a (real) 3rd game, and we all decide to stick it out for one more.

Up next Andy's Blood Angels!

Sat 6.18 Game 2

Game 2 and I sat down with my other pal Dave and his Slanesh themed chaos marines.

DP, MoS, Lash, Wings
DP, MoS, Lash
4 Termies, MoS, Various gear
Dreadnought, Autocannon, Missile Launcher
Noise Marines w/ Gear in Rhino
Noise Marines w/ Gear in Rhino
Defiler
Defiler
3 Oblits
Greater Daemon

This game was a version of the 'Accrue Resources' that I had played at Dundracon.  Basically there would be 5 resources and troops would 'gain' a point at the end of the opponents turn.  The new twist to this was that if the unit died those points were lost.  Also one troop could only claim one point per turn, so no '30 boyz on 3 resources' shenanigans.  OH and you couldn't be in a vehicle, I guess that makes it hard to harvest a resource!

Other than that I think the board was split corner to corner with a 24" dead man zone.  I think there might have been some special 'infantry can outflank' rule but neither of us chose to use it.

I won the roll off and chose to go first.  I put my two big troops with a big spread across my zone.  All of my mech was on the left flank and I planned on using it to go and disrupt his ability to gather resources.

That picture is actually after my movement, but you get the idea for my deployment more or less.

Dave set up his guys with Defilers blocking DP, oblits in the back, and rhinos ready to move.

So my turn one and obviously I shuffled my sloggers to sit on objectives and advanced up my mech force as well.

I was able to pop his front defiler with my kans.  I want to say my lootas also put 3 wounds on his flying prince.

He collects 0 resources.

Dave's turn 1 and he advances forward.  He jumps out some noise marins to start collecting resources.  His flying prince lashes my closest lootas and pull them out of cover.  He puts enough shots in to them to kill 4 but they make their LD check.

I collect 2 resources (one on the shootas and one on the sluggas).

My turn 2 and my wagons advance, ghaz and the manz jump out and I call the wagh.  The winged prince is shot to death.  His other rhino on the right flank is immobilized.

Ghaz fleets and charges his exposed noise marines, the rhino, and the dread.  The noise marines are wiped, the rhino explodes, and I'm left tied up with the dreadnought.

Dave collects 0 resources.

At this point Dave is cool with calling it a game.  This mission was not one that only two troops in rhinos were going to win, and definitely not against me having 50 orks in cover endlessly securing two.  I still had plenty of fire power and had taken a big chunk out of his list.  In some strange universe maybe he can kill the orks off somehow and manage a tie but that is pretty doubtful.

So since that only taken a whopping 15 minutes or so we decided to try another mission out and we ended up having a much more fun and competitive game that I'll post about tomorrow. :)

Sat 6.18 Game 1

I know there hasn't been much posting as of late.  The new baby has been keeping me busy so I haven't had much time in the evening for blogging let along playing games.

However I did make it out to Liam's on Saturday for several games.  So I'll try to get these up as quick battle reports over the next few days.

I brought my orks in the standard 1850 I've been running for months.

Ghaz
Mek w/ KFF
9 Lootas
9 Lootas
3 Manz, Kombi Scorcha, Kombi Rokkit
in a BW, Deffrolla, Armor, Big Shoota, Grot Riggers
30 Slugga Boyz, 3 Rokkits, PK/Bosspole Nob
20 Shoota Boyz, 2 Big Shootas, PK/Bosspole Nob
19 Ard Boyz, PK/Bosspole Nob
Buggie, TL Rokkits
Buggie, TL Rokkits
3 Kans w/ KMBs
BW, Deffrolla, Armor, Big Shoota

First up I got a game with Dave's Spacewolves, with basically his army I've seen before with I don't think much in the way of tweaks.

Logan
Termie Rune Priest
Termie Lonewolf, Combi Melta, Lightning Claw, 2 wolves
Termie Lonewolf, Combi Melta, Lightning Claw, 2 wolves
A ton of differently equiped wolf gaurd spread around w/ LR
7 Grey Hunters with Gear in Rhino
7 Grey Hunters with Gear in Rhino
6 Long fangs, 3 Lascanons, 2 Missiles

We decided to try the Kubla missions and rolled off and got the Rouge trader one.  Basically it is a kill point game but killing the other guys RT gives 2 kp, or getting yours off the opposite board edge is worth 2.  The guys has some really nice stats actually, but he can't use army rules or get in transports which means you are walking across the board.

Dave won roll of and set up tight in a corner, with his Wolf Gaurd all split up like he does, and the RT joined to the Long Fangs also.

I set up spreading across the table, keeping the RT with my 20 shootas figuring they will try to escort across the table.

Dave's turn one and he shuffles his rhinos and pops smoke, and his lone wolves advance up 4 or 5 inches.  His shooting immobilizes one Kan thus destroy it, immobilizes and weapon destroys one buggie, and he also pops Ghaz's BW.  I think I failed all 6 cover saves turn 1.  I deploy Ghaz as forward as I can.

My turn 1 I advance up my BW and the boys jump out so they can try to catch at least one of the lone wolves.  Ghaz then hops in their ride to hang with the KFF,  I advance with everything else.

In shooting I kill a dog out of each Lone wolf squad, and my lootas pop one rhino.  His troops fail LD and are pinned.  I run with my shootas to move up the RT to inch him toward the long table edge.

The Ard boyz charge the lone wolf and just make it.  He kills a few boyz, I kill the dog and I think the Klaw does one wound to the Lonewolf also.

Dave's turn 2.  His Rhino swings around and his LR advances.  I think my BW shrugs off serious damage and is only weapon destroyed and shaken.  I think he also immobilized my mobile buggy!

He charged his terminatros into our scrum.  I think I only managed to kill his lone wolf and he killed more boys but not many so we all hung out together.

My turn 2 and I continued to advance my shootas and sluggas up the board.  I deffrollad his Land raider but really only immobilized it.  I decided to get out only with my Manz to charge it.  I think my lootas may have killed one Missile Launcher Long fang.

My kans assaulted his last Lone wolf and killed him and consolidated forward.  My Manz assaulted the LR but basically only shook it.  My Ard boyz took more losses to the terminators but still held.

Dave's turn 3 and I'm missing a picture so probably some off memory on this turn.  I know he popped my BW and shot one Kan dead.  His rhino shuffled to 'block' assaults to his Long Fangs/priest/RT.  In combat he killed a lot more boyz, this time I fled and got away with a whole 4 dudes.

My turn 3 and I continue advancing with my swarm of boys.  The Mek leaves Ghaz to head over to the boyz and Ghaz joins up with the manz.  My lootas pop his last rhino and the guys pile behind it.  I think the other lootas killed his Long Fang Sarg.

My last Kan assaults his LR and pops it and out comes Logan and a few termies.  Ghaz and the manz assault his termies and cream them, but I get a sad consolidation away of 1 or 2".

Dave's turn 4.  He has his priest join his troops and the RT join logan. 
His Long Fangs shoot my Kan to death. 
Logan's group plasma my manz to death.  Somehow I fail my LD with an 11 and run like 8" away.  This pulls Ghaz out of assault range.

My turn 4 and I fuck this up a bit.

What I did:  Called the waagh, thinking that would make Ghaz and the other fleeing troop 'normal'.
Unfortunately looking now clearly the waagh (even Ghaz's) doesn't work on fleeing units.

What should have happen:  I should have continued running with my small squad.  Ghaz should have taken a LD test to recover.  Chances are I would have passed.  Then I would have called the Waagh.  Now he can't 'move' but he could fleet and assault.   The remaining question is did I have the distance to reach Logan.  The picture above looks like a long 12", but I measured that piece of grey terrain and it is 6.5 inches.  Still even if it was 10-12 inches I would have needed a good Slow and Purposeful roll (with 3 dice for being an IC) and that also assumes I passed that LD test.

So yes, I screwed up totally.

As it was Ghaz waaghed into Logan and killed him and took two wounds back anyway.  Dave creamed my 4 other guys that shouldn't have been in combat, but those attacks could have gone to Ghaz and I could have failed another 2+ save maybe.

Either way my shootas left the RT to fend for himself and waaghed behind the Sluggas.  The sluggas made it to combat and left I think 3 wolves left.

I think my lootas may have killed one more Long fang also.

Dave's turn 5 and I think he's out of options.  His long fangs are just able to reach out to my RT and put some wounds on him but he hangs on with one wound.  His Rune preist gets a good Living Lightening off and that ends up killing him.  Darn, only about 5 inches to he got off the board edge!

In combat Ghaz kills the last termies but takes a wound and remains tied up with the RT.  My sluggas move over toward his Priest and troops.

My turn 5.  The lootas go to town and kill the long fangs to the man.  The sluggas also charge into his troops and also manage to kill them and the priest down to the man as well.  Ghaz makes up for it by whiffing on the priest entirely and taking a wound but sticking in combat.

We roll for turn 6 but the game ends.  All he has left is the Rogue trader.

I had collected: Logan, Priest, Wolf Gaurd, Troops x 2, rhinos x 2, LR, Long Fangs for 9 kp.
Dave had killed: Battlewagons x 2, Kans, Ard boyz, Manz and the Trader for 7 kp.

Hrm I thought I had 10.  Maybe you got one KP if your guy died?  It was a little confusing as there were KP and VP.

Anyway it was a fun game.  I'm sure if Ghaz had not made combat it would have been much worse for me in the end.  I guess the question would have been would Logan and his guys dealt with all my troops better, and would Ghaz have ever made combat with him.  My last round was pretty great as well.

I like Dave's non typical space wolves and it is always a tough fight!

Next up Dave's Chaos Space Marines!

Trollbloods Assembled

Eager to dig into the loot last night I knocked out all of the basic assembly of the Trollbloods.  I have to say I was nervous to work with metal based of my past experience with GW, but these ended up going together so smoothly.

First off the fit and finish of the models came together really well.  There are no giant gaps or ill fitting pieces that I came across.  Where pieces fit together are often at skin/armor type positions so the 'crack' is easily forgivable.  Only on my Heavy beast do I have some skin/skin lines that I'll need to do some further greenstuff to smooth out a bit.

Also I was worried about the pinning.  However I think the metal is a bit softer than GW metal so the pin vice seemed to work a bit easier on these.  Also this isn't like pinning some tiny little bits together.  These are pinning big arms to big bodies usually.  There was only really one small bit I was concerned about (the 'rider' on the back of the Dire Troll Bomber) but even that came out just fine with not much effort.

It also seems like there was far less deflashing to do both on the extra bits or mold lines.  And again what was there seemed softer and easily removed so that was certainly nice.

The one thing I have noticed is it seems like the 'tabs' on the feet seem to make the model stick up a touch from the base.  So I think that is to make the model actually stand on TOP of the flock.  That combined with the rimmed base is pretty cool.  However it means until the model is flocked and glued to the base some of them sit a little awkwardly.  So for the first time ever I might drop some sand down and glue the model to the base immediately after I get these primered.  That will be interesting to see how the painting process goes.

So first of all when I sat down to look at Trollbloods I really decided I wanted to build a list around models and less around l33t units.  I may regret this later of course. 

There were a few models in the troll range I really enjoyed the look of and figured out how to squeeze two of them into the 15 point list.

First off what I think is the best looking Troll caster:

So ruleswise I get the feeling Gunnbjorn isn't the world's greatest warlock but what a fantastic mini.  He's commanding, solid looking, has rokkits strapped to his arm and has a huge gun.  What's not to love.

The model came togehter really easily and I don't even think I pinned him as the bits fit so well together.

I also think all the Heavy Dire Trolls look great, but to start with I decided to with this dude:

A dire troll chucking explosive barrels like he was Donkey Kong, and another terrific sculpt.  I did use pinning on many of these bits, and I'll still need to do a bit of greenstuff to cover a few gaps, but that should be pretty easy.  You can also see his left foot is looking funny because there is not 'tab' there and it is kind of hovering without being glued to the base/flock.  Overall though he feels solid and looks good.

Getting to 15 points I just filled in with things that I planned on using at higher point games.

Here we have added the Troll Impaler, and a minimum Pyg Bushwhachers squad.  I think this gives me a nice mix with the warlock, a heavy beast, a light beast, and a unit.

Of course I have the updated cards and the plastic covers as well.

Jumping to 25 points doesn't add a whole lot.

Basically we take the min Bushwackers and bump them to the max, add a Slag Troll (light beast), and drop in some troll whelps for 'support' for lack of a better word.

Will it work well?  I have no idea.  I don't think it is bad and most of the list is straight forward.  Getting the most out of the bushwackers is probably going to be the real trick as they seem like a fragile harrasment unit.

So I'm looking forward to playing some games at some point.  I need to do a bit of the greenstuff and decide on a primer color to get these guys on the painting table!

Trollbloods Delivered

Did I mention my new desire to play Hordes?  Things have been crazy, so I don't recall (and am currently too lazy to go back and look).

I think I mentioned I got a practice game in with a borrowed army and enjoyed it.  I've read through the rulebook.  I bought the trollblood book.  Finally after a few weeks of reading online and playing with builds, I figured I'd take the plunge and place an order.

So ya, I've got a new project on my hands.  Time to get those pinning skills up to speed!

Baby Has Arrived

Shockingly no posts these last few days as the new baby finally arrived on Thursday.

Logan Allen May, 9 Lbs, 12 Oz, 21"

That's a big boy!

I know, reading a 40k blog, you might think I picked that name after this guy.

But I did not.  I don't even like Space Wolves.

So then maybe this guy?

Well who doesn't love them some Wolverine really!  But no he's not named after him either, even though probably 99% of the population will always associate Logan with Wolverine.

Perhaps for the ultra geek they may look at this angle...

But no not at all.

The truth is it was just a name on a 'rack' of name plates at BabiesRUs and was one I liked and the wife did not disagree.  The whole name process thing is really a pain in the rear and my wife and I struggled with both kid's names.  So when you find one that one person likes and the other person is Ok with we had a winner.

Truth be told the ficticious character who I couldn't shake thinking about when I settled on Logan...

I hope that's not a bad sign!