Imperial Progress VI

My slow progress on my Empire army continues. Well, I guess the fact that the progress is continuing is the important thing, even if the speed is slightly depressing.

As predicted, I managed to complete the Halberdiers I was painting whilst still on holiday. That was about the sum total of my achievement, but it's still progress. The unit is very nearly ready to be used, however I am slightly undecided about command models. I got a command group along with these guys from EBay, however the standard bearer and champion are old Reiksguard infantry, and none of them really match my Halberdiers in all their Attack of the Clones glory. I am considering converting some random models heavily and making a command group that matches these guys instead.

Poll: Battle Reports

OK, as I alluded to at the bottom of my previous post, I have added a poll on the top right of the page, asking people what sort of battle reports they want to read. This has come about because I figure there is not much point putting together an elaborate report when readers would really prefer it was approached in a different way.

I understand that the same style will not suit everyone, but if there is a clear majority then this will make it easier for me to give you what you want.

If you have any particular suggestions or feedback, you can always just respond to this post with comments. For instance, if your vote is dependent upon particular conditions (such as you only want a players' perspective report when the players are worth listening to), you can let me know here.

The poll closes in a week, by which time we should already have played another report game - so I will be able to get on with delivering it in a way that people want to see it...

From the vault: Contest or Context

Here we have another article I have dredged up from the dark ages of 2006 - the days before iPhones ruled the world and Hellpit Abominations were just part of some games designer's bad dream (if only they had stayed that way)...

Martin de Carcasonne, knight of Bretonnia, raised his grime-splattered visor and surveyed the carnage before him. The field was littered with dead and dying, both Bretonnians and foul Orcs, their bodies strewn up and down both sides of valley in which they were fighting. The valorous deeds of his unit had gradually taken their toll - he was the sole survivor. The brave knights who had taken the field with him had fallen one by one; dragged from their saddles by the savage green beasts they were fighting, their noble steeds beaten and chopped down with crude clubs and axes. Three had fallen at the hand of one particularly large brute, wielding a massive axe nearly twice its own height. Martin himself had eventually delivered the killing blow to the fiend, driving his blade through its warty throat.
 
And now the battle was nearing a critical juncture. Few warriors remained alive from either side; the casualties had been horrific. Even now the shambling remnant of a mob of greenskins was heading his way. Martin could see his lord's tattered and mud-smeared standard in the vile clutches of one of the brutes. Tears filled his eyes at the thought of returning home without Lord Louis; of recounting to the fair Lady Genevieve the tale of her husband's fall. 
 
The thought of doing so without being able to at least lay his lord's banner at her feet did not bear consideration. Looking at the score or so Orcs guarding the precious banner, Martin offered a brief prayer to the Lady. Lowering his visor once more and drawing his sword, he prepared to charge - and then whimpered in dismay as he was shuffled sideways, out of the charge arc of the Orcs, and safe from having his valuable Victory Points plundered in the last turn of the game...

Taking a break

So, where have I disappeared to? No posts for a week? As disgraceful as it all sounds, I've taken a week off work to spend a week away with my family. This dreadful lack of commitment has extended to my blog, as you've probably noticed.

I have not been completely idle, however. I did bring a number of models away with me, with the intention of being good and making further progress on my Empire army for Book of Grudges. In the grand tradition of such things however, I have found my efforts fail to live up to my ambitions. I brought away 14 Halberdiers and 30 Greatswords with me. We came down Saturday afternoon, it is now Wednesday evening (we head home on Friday), and this is the progress I have made thus far...

White, purple and armour are done. Flesh, boots and halberd poles remain.

Obviously I have been doing other things with my time down here, but I doubt anyone would be overly dazzled by my progress. I am hoping I will still get the Halberdiers done and at least undercoat the Greatswords, but I could probably have done better.

I'll throw up another post soon, but I thought I would take this time to remind all those other slow painters out there: you are not alone.

Going soft

As I stated in my previous post (Go Hard or Go Home), over the last 10 years or so I have been engaged in a constant struggle to reconcile my desires to use competitive and “soft” armies. This began with me being firmly in the camp of the ultra-competitive crowd, using hard-as-legal lists in an attempt to take out the tournament. However, over time my lists and I have mellowed and I have started to explore less powerful armies.

I have reached the point now where I don’t really want to field a list that opponents will see as really tough. I derive no real satisfaction from fielding an army that is harder than my opponent’s, and stomping them into the turf as a result. Unless I am going for a particular theme or performing some sort of grand experiment, I am most likely to aim for a comp score in the softer half of the field. I realise this sort of approach can affect my results, but by and large I don’t really care.

Deliberately selecting an army that is under-strength may be a foreign concept to some players. Why would you choose a weak army when you had better options available? Well, here are a few reasons why someone might choose to “go soft”…

From the vault: Go Hard or Go Home

Several years ago I wrote a number of articles on the club website, much of it not dissimilar to the sort of thing I have been writing on this blog. I may dig some of this stuff up over the next couple of weeks, provided that its content has not dated so badly that it no longer makes sense. First up though, I have an article that I wrote back in early 2007, but never got around to posting (the reason is lost in the mists of time).


And yeah, I seemed to use a lot of footnotes back in those days. I think writers in White Dwarf were doing it too, so maybe I was influenced by them...


The Elf and the Daemon

Donald hears the voices too...

Whenever I sit down to make a Warhammer army, I find myself in two minds about how I want to approach it. The little invisible High Elf on my right shoulder tells me that I should make a nice, balanced army. After all, Warhammer is a game, and I play it to have fun. My competitor is probably doing the same, so I should make sure I don’t pick an army that leads to an unbalanced (and potentially less than fun) game. But then from over my left shoulder comes the (rather sinister and intimidating) voice of the invisible Bloodthirster, telling me that you play games to compete. Warhammer is a contest between two generals, and it is the responsibility of each player to field a competitive force and try to out-play his opponent. He also howls for blood and threatens me with his big axe, but that is neither here nor there.

Imperial Progress V

Sooo, just in case you thought I never really paint anything (I know it feels that way to me sometimes), here is what I have been up to most recently.

First up we have the Helstorm Rocket Battery, which I painted last night. I admit that I really can't be bothered putting too much effort into painting my war machines. I have gone for a very basic approach of drybrushing the whole thing Boltgun Metal, then painting the wood Scorched Brown highlighted with Bestial Brown. The whole thing then gets a coat of Devlan Mud. Obviously there was slightly more to be done on the Helstorm given its fancy rockets and stuff, but the general principle of "get it done" still applied.

The brazier stumped me a little. I painted the joins between the rocks white so that when I went back over them with red, they would stand out like a glow. Then I painted the rocks black, but it hadn't really worked. I threw a yellow wash over the lot and it seems to have improved things. Good enough, anyway.