I'm not dead

So contrary to the indications from the complete lack of life here on the blog, I have not died. Life continues here, with our existence largely being defined with us popping in and out of lockdown, and going for extended periods without being able to meet up with anyone or play games. It's not really great for my motivation. 

Further to that, just as I felt like I was building some real momentum in my painting by working through all those militia, I went and made a mistake by trying to tackle painting a blood bowl team for a friend. I was not enjoying painting the models, but tried to force my way through anyway, and ended up with a complete lack of desire to pick up a paintbrush. It was silly. It happened ages ago now, and I really haven't done anything worth mentioning since then. It's a bit of a cautionary tale. I have had some success in the past with grinding through something I didn't want to paint and feeling the relief of coming out the other side, but realistically this time I didn't get close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe I overestimated how much momentum I really had.

Whilst I sat in the hobby doldrums and licked my wounds, I have managed to make some progress in adding to my painting backlog - that's right, I am making the problem worse and actually going backwards. The 3D printer continues to churn away in bursts of productivity, trying in vain to keep up with all the fancy stuff people keep producing on Patreon and Kickstarter. It doesn't help that I end up wasting a bit of time and energy trying to ensure that what I'm printing will end up in a scale that's compatible with my existing models. It's a bit of a challenge when the files are coming from dozen or more different designers, and sometimes aren't even internally consistent...

That middle shelf is full of models printed from different manufacturers, sometimes at different scales, lined up with randomly selected Warhammer models. Sometimes scale is surprisingly difficult to work out.

A Tale of Two Taverns: The Other Part 1

Of course, there's two sides to this story. On the one hand you have that festering turd of an establishment called the Brass Farthing, but on the other you have the Fleecy Half Pint. In Averland it is, but not far from the border with Mootland. It's a fine place, although the roof is a little low on account of the customers bein' a bit short. But that just makes it all the more cosy, and the company is cheerful as you could hope for. And the ale... The ale is to die for. Though nobody ever finds the bodies...

We've been a little slow getting organised with the photos, but Noakes also completed his painting target for the month. Here we have the crowd from the Fleecy Half Pint, along with what personal details I was able to glean from Noakes' fevered ramblings...

20 painted halflings, all of them from the Warlords of Erehwon range. 

A Tale of Two Taverns: Part 1 Done

Now there's this tavern down in Stirland, called the Brass Farthing. Pretty dodgy place, it is. Not like our fine establishment here... Anyway, the place ain't much to look at, although they say the owner, some Dwarf fella, has more money than Sigmar... But yeah, the place ain't flash, but they say the ale they serve there is somethin' else. It's so good, it's almost unnatural!

A month has passed since my initial post in the series, and I'm pleased to report that I managed to paint everything I was originally hoping to. This is a novel feeling - it's been a long time since I really felt like I managed to paint anything to much of a schedule.

Anyway, behold the patrons of the Brass Farthing, one of the most questionable taverns in Stirland...

40 of the most questionable soldiers you're ever likely to meet in the field. The first time I've really painted any Free Company, and I'm kind of sick of them. Too many colour decisions.

Hobby Update

We're well into the month of April, and I'm happy to say that my effort for the Tale of Two Taverns is well under way. I made a lot more progress over Easter than I expected, and I honestly feel like I can take it a bit easy for the rest of the month. This isn't my proper post for the challenge - this is just a bit of a general hobby update. Just in case you thought I had forgotten about you.

This is Grubbi Geldsson, the owner of the Brass Farthing. He's not very nice, but he dresses very nicely. You can sort of see some of his patrons behind him. See, I'm making good progress!

A Tale of Two Taverns

It all started over a pint. Well, it was an argument over a pint. Actually, there were two pints, and they were arguing with each other. Yeah, that's it... Barkeep! Another!

It has been a long time since I committed to any form of hobby challenge. It's time to change that. My friend Noakes and I have decided to embark on a sort of hobby duel regarding two rival taverns. Probably the taverns are from different towns. But let's not bother with the details for now. The point is, right now we are planning to spend the month of April each painting up a regiment based upon the patronage of a particular pub. As of a day or two ago, none of the models had anything more than an undercoat on them. Here are some starting photos...

The patrons of the Fleecy Half Pint, which is Noakes' tavern. Apparently they are led by the baron, who is the guy in the middle with the eyepatch, and who is not in fact a baron at all, but a little guy with a fancy house and an ego. You may in fact observe that they are all quite short. Also, the banner pole really needs to be straightened...

The Cleansing of the Rear Passage (Part 2)

This is the second part of the battle report Cleansing of the Rear Passage. You can find the first part here.

Orc and Goblin Turn 3

The Orc advance continues, except over on the far left where the arguments are just getting worse...

The Cleansing of the Rear Passage (Part 1)

A Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition battle report with Tim Stewart

*****

"My queen, we are still having issues with the Rear Passage."

Queen Bellicosa stomped to a halt in front of the Ironbreaker as he gave his report. She was already clad in her ancestral armour. He favourite axe was slung casually over one shoulder. Behind her marched dozens of her best warriors.

"I know," she said matter-of-factly. "That is why I am here."

From around the far corner, a chorus of hooting and huffing announced the hurried arrival of a band of Slayers. At their head was a particularly muscular individual with a huge green crest of hair and an obvious lack of wits. Seeing the assembled Dwarfs in front of hum, he skidded abruptly to a halt, causing those behind him to collide in an undignified mess. Muffled curses and threats could be heard from the lower levels of the pile of orange hair, muscle and weapons. Their leader seemed not to hear or care.

"You're not going without us are you?" he demanded of the Queen. At least, that was what she thought he said. It was a little hard to understand him, given he had no teeth. Legend had it that he had crushed all the teeth from his head eating rocks on a dare.

Bellicosa simply shook her head. She had little time for Barri Stonechewer and his band of suicidal fools, but they might prove useful if they encountered something nasty during their expedition. The hold could not afford for this mission to go ill. Although the hold of Karak Nong's main gate emerged in the mountain passes high overhead, most traffic heading to the other nearby holds passed underground. 

With the rear passage blocked, life would soon become uncomfortable.

She hefted her axe and turned toward the gate. "The passage must be cleansed. Open the back door."

*****

Right, so it was my first time back at the games club in an entire year, thanks to a combination of COVID19 restrictions and common sense. Tim and I decided to play a game of Warhammer, and then I took enough photos that I figured I might as well turn it into a battle report.

Dork's Uninvited Green Guests (Tim)

• DW Dork Wildthrasher
  Black Orc Warboss with Battleaxe of the Last Waaagh, Heavy Armour, Shield
  263 points
• BSB Ruglub the Collector
  Black Orc Big Boss with Battle Standard, Heavy Armour, Dragonhelm, Ironcurse Icon, Talisman of Protection, Shield
  145 points
• W Wuzzup
  Orc Shaman (Level 2)
  100 points
• OBU 25 Orc Big'Uns
  Shields, Light Armour, Full Command
  260 points
• SO1 20 Savage Orcs
  Additional Hand Weapons, Full Command
  215 points
• SO2 20 Savage Orcs
  Additional Hand Weapons, Full Command
  215 points
• BO 20 Black Orcs
  Heavy Armour, Lots o Weapons, Full Command
  275 points
• T 5 Trolls
  175 points
• SH1 8 Squig Hoppers
  96 points
• SH2 8 Squig Hoppers
  96 points
• RT 8 River Trolls
  360 points
• MT Massive Troll
  Giant
  200 points
• Total: 2400 points

Knowing that we were going to be playing in the caves, Tim avoided fielding any artillery, chariots or cavalry. He also ended up not getting any  mangler squigs because he wanted to field lots of trolls. Especially once he saw that I had nearly finished a really big one that he could use as a giant. He also elected to generally avoid goblins, given the Gob-Off is yet to be resolved and that uses enough goblins for everyone...

His list is intentionally not too carefully tuned - we had agreed not to field anything like souped-up unkillable characters. The magic items were an afterthought, which means it's quite impressive that he managed to stuff a 100 point magic weapon on his mostly naked general...

Bellicosa's Dwarf Doormen (Me)

• QB Queen Bellicosa
  Dwarf Lord with Gromril Armour, 2 Runes of Fortitude, Rune of Stone, Great Weapon
  206 points
• SS Snuggi Softensson
  Dwarf Thane with Battle Standard, Gromril Armour, 2 Runes of Iron, Rune of Stone, Great Weapon
  146 points
• BS Barri Stonechewer
  Dragon Slayer
  70 points
• LB 20 Longbeards
  Heavy Armour, Shields, Great Weapons, Full Command
  330 points
• Q 16 Quarrellers
  Heavy Armour, Shields, Great Weapons, Dwarf Crossbows, Full Command
  270 points
• T 16 Thunderers
  Heavy Armour, Shields, Dwarf Handguns, Full Command
  238 points
• IB 20 Ironbreakers
  Gromril Armour, Shields, Full Command
  310 points
• ID 16 Irondrakes
  Forge-proven Gromril Armour, Drakguns, Full Command
  270 points
• S1 10 Slayers
  Array of Axes, 1 Giant Slayer
  132 points
• S2 10 Slayers
  Array of Axes, 1 Giant Slayer
  132 points
• M 12 Miners
  Heavy Armour, Great Weapons, Standard, Prospector
  140 points
• OG Organ Gun
  Rune of Forging, Rune of Burning
  150 points
• Total: 2394 points

For my part, I had decided to field a lord on foot (which you wouldn't normally do because shieldbreakers are a no-brainer). I went with blocks of 20 warriors and decent-sized units of missile troops, given they can fight in combat too. I did take a single war machine, but didn't make it too fancy with an engineer or anything. Just keeping it simple. I really need to paint up some more miners. I feel like an underground game should really have lots of them. Oh well, job for later.

Deployment

You'll have to forgive the map. I made it using an ancient Java applet that Pete managed to revive for planning cave maps. It does the job, I think... Hey, at least you got a map. You're spoilt, really.