Monday, September 28, 2015

Magnetized weapon arms, plus green stuff (part 1)

Magnetized Plague Marines

Inspired by my previous successful venture, I decided to finish magnetizing my Plague Marines. I actually drilled the holes in some time ago, before my magnets even arrived. Time to finish the job.
Since these guys are made of metal, I decided to go for 3mm magnets in the body and 2mm in the arm. Here's what I got to:



And then the magnets in place:
After all this was done, I realized that, due to a combination of magnet placing and arm shape, one of these guys will be holding his bolter towards the ground. The issues that compound to this problem are: arm weight; and that the magnet in the body sticks out a bit, so that the shoulder pad doesn't get caught on the upper lip of the shoulder. Compare the champion and  the guy on the left:


Green stuffing some holes


I don't know what I was thinking back when I drilled the holes. You see, a Plague Marine squad can have 2 special weapons and then a ranged and/or melee weapon on the champion. So I only put in the above magnets. However, I drilled an awful lot of holes:

So, I need to fill in those holes - time to get out the green stuff.
Note. If the below pictures seem rushed, that's because they are. I tried to get everything in place before the green stuff solidified.

This is my green stuffing workbench. I use a broken ceramic tile (though any flat surface would do) to knead the stuff. I sprinkled it with water so that the green stuff wouldn't stick to it.
I learned from last time that you shouldn't mix up a large quantity, as it just dries out before you can put it to use. So I just cut off small pieces with my hobby knife (make sure to dip the blade into water before) and kneaded them together as needed. With a cup of water nearby, I can make sure that my fingers are always wet and won't stick.

Use a large enough piece to fill in the holes both in the body and the arm.

Push the arm in place and carry on. As long you don't move it, it will solidify like that.
I realized that this batch of green stuff takes more time to solidify due to the bigger amount of yellow part. I relaxed and no longer rushed the process. Here I'm sticking on both arms at once.
Here's the whole squad, green stuff-ed and magnetized.

A close-up. I think the putty won't be at all visible after painting.
One arm magnetized, one green stuff-ed.
Magnetized Plague Marines.


I'll do a full article just on the Plague Marines later on - for now, let's get on to more magnetizing!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Magnetized weapon arms (improved)

My first attempt at magnetizing weapon arms was this. It looked good on paper, but field testing showed that the magnets don't hold as well as I thought they would. The reason is that magnets hold best when touching surface-to-surface. The Soul Grinder does not suffer from this, as it uses 5mm magnets, and they are strong enough to keep the hand in place. The magnetized Chaos Marine, however, did not hold well. Shake or move the miniature (which tends to happen frequently on the table), and both hands easily fall off. That's not to say 1mm magnets aren't strong; however, they are weaker (as you would expect) and they aren't touching - I drilled the holes too deep, and pushed them in as far as they would go.



So today's magnetizing began with reworking the Chaos Marine. I used my hobby knife to dig out the 1mm magnets from the arms:

I expected more trouble here. However, the plastic was pretty easy to dig into, and the magnets came out with a minimal amount of glue attached. They are perfectly fit for reuse!
Then I drilled in 2mm holes, and glued 2mm magnets in place.
I wanted to leave them sticking out a bit for maximum holding power. I managed on the right arm, but I pushed in too deep on the other one. So I filed down a bit of the hand to make sure the magnet stays on the surface of the fist.

I couldn't replace the magnets in the weapons, as the weapons are too thin; however, I think I don't need to. I subjected the model to rigorous testing (that is, I shook it vigorously with both the sword and bolter attached), and the weapons didn't fall off - they didn't even move. Further field testing will show whether this is truly enough. In any case, I decided to further improve the miniature by providing another weapon arm. I used an arm option from the Chaos Spawn kit.
I started by brutally hacking off the shoulder joint:

Then I smoothed it out using the hobby knife, drilled a hole and glued in a magnet. Simple as that!

Here's the new and improved Chaos Marine, with his available loadouts:




Everything went better than expected!

Sunday, September 20, 2015

M.A.G.U.S. kalandok - hogyan jutottunk 2. szintre

Why is this post not in English?

Legalább 2 éve annak, hogy megismerkedtünk leendő kalandmesterünkkel az akkor még Kolozsváron is működő Red Goblin keretében. (Ugyanitt ismerkedtem meg a Warhammerrel és a DnD-vel is.) Különös örömünkre szolgált, hogy anyanyelvünkön játszhatunk szerepjátékot - bár időnként önkéntelenül is keveredik angol szó a beszélgetésbe, mivel minden eddigi tapasztalatunk (legyen az számítógépes vagy társas szerepjáték) ezen a nyelven szólt. Kalandjaink meglehetősen hányattatott körülmények között folytatódtak, gyakran hosszú kihagyásokkal. Most azonban sikerült újra felvenni a fonalat! Lássuk hát, hogyan is jutottunk el idáig.

 

Első kaland - a rablótanya 

 

Eredetileg mindössze két játékossal és a kalandmesterrel indult az út. Az időmegtakarítás érdekében előre gyártott karakterekből választottunk, tapasztalt játekosokként egy harcost és egy varázslót.
Barnalófia (az erigowi Krad lovagrend tagja) es Kálmán (a hergoli villámmester) egy kis faluba érve tudomást szerzett egy, a környéken tevékenykedő rablóbandáról. Természetesen felvállalták a banda kiírtását, és azonnal el is indultak feltételezett rejtekhelyük felé. A rablók egy elhagyatott udvarházban tanyáztak, az erdő közepén. Néhány ott tébláboló fickót gyorsan elintéztünk. Az egyikből még azt is sikerült kiszedni, hogy valami proféta szektájának a tagjai. Azonban egy rejtett szobából mérgezett nyilakkal lőttek ránk. Visszavonultunk, majd elbarrikádoztuk magunkat egy hálóban, hogy kiheverjük sebeinket.
Rövid pihenés és falatozás után folytattuk az udvarház felderítését. Természetesen minden jel arra mutatott, hogy a rablóbanda főnöke a pincében tanyászik. Az alagsorban szerencsésen megúsztunk egy csapdát - nem első alkalom, hogy a páncélom megmentett -, majd behatoltunk a pincébe. El kellett intéznünk egy különösen jól képzett és felszerelt rablót. Eléggé megviselt a dolog; olyannyira, hogy a végére védekező harcmodorban hátráltam, várva, hogy Kálmán mérgei hassanak.
Rövid pihenő után úgy döntöttünk, hogy nem hagyhatjuk ennyiben a dolgot, és behatoltunk a rablók belső szentélyébe. Itt találtunk rá a "profétájukra", aki, mint később kiderült, egy kóbor boszorkánymester volt. Különböző látványos trükkökkel meggyőzte a rablókat, hogy elfogadják, sőt, vallásos tisztelettel övezzék, es hordják neki a kincseket. Helyzete védelmének érdekében mindent bevetett: villámokat szórt ránk, és még két előhalottat is felébresztett. Míg Kálmán a zombikkal foglalkozott, Barnalófia megrohamozta a boszorkánymestert.
A csata végül elég kevésen múlt. Utolsó lehetőségként a boszorkánymester villámkalitkába zárta a lovagot. Félelmet nem ismerve, Barnalófia kirontott a mágikus falak közül. Bár a testén áthaladó villám miatt eszméletét vesztette, az utolsó dolog, amit látott, a boszorkánymester repülő feje volt. Éljen a hosszú nyelű alabárd! Eközben Kálmán szintén villámokkal próbálkozott, de a zombikkal kevesebb sikere volt. Végső elkeseredéssel szétrobbantotta a zombikat, de a repeszként szálló csontdarabok okozta fájdalom túl soknak bizonyult - ő is elájult.
Hőseink jóval később ébredtek meg. Mint kiderült, az mentette meg őket, hogy utoljára sikerült hagyni a "prófétát". Ha még élt volna rabló a tanyán, minden bizonnyal könnyű prédának találta volna a két eszméletlen alakot. Indulás előtt még körbejárták az alagsort. A talált kincsek és boszorkánymesteri kísérletek által göngyölítették fel a szálakat, és állt össze számukra a történet.
Végül visszamentek a faluba, átvették jól megérdemelt jutalmukat, és nagy mulatságot rendeztek a helyi kocsmában.

Második kaland - a goblin egyesület

 

Mint írtam, az első kaland "csak úgy jött" - nem ismertük a szabályokat, nem mi alkottuk a karaktereket. Azonban nagyszerűen szórakoztunk, és úgy döntöttünk, hogy folytatjuk a kalandozást. Ezúttal azonban átolvastuk a szabálykönyvet, és volt beleszólásunk a dologba. Én a lovagomat nagyon szórakoztatónak és sokoldalúnak találtam, úgyhogy mindössze nevet változtattam rajta. A másik játékos azonban nem volt elégedett a villámmester korlátaival, úgyhogy kasztot váltott.
Eképpen szállt ismét nyeregbe Wilborin, a lovag, és Aegon, az asziszi vérkelyhes boszorkánymester.
Csatlakozott hozzánk egy tűzvarázsló és egy erigowi számszeríjász.
Kalandunk ezúttal kevésbé volt harcias. Egy régi ismerősünknél, a Pajkos Póni kocsmárosánál találkoztunk. Vicces körülmények között fedeztük fel, hogy a kocsmára rontás került. Az étel és ital ugyanis megromlott - még az is, amit megettünk. Reggel tehát gyorsaságpróba döntötte el, hogy ki jut el közülünk az illemhelyre!
Ezek után gyorsan kiköltöztünk, majd a kocsmáros kedvéért nekiláttunk feltérképezni a helyzetet. A rontást egy, a szegénynegyedben lakott, immáron halott goblin sámán mondta ki nagyon régen - és most jött el az ideje. Össze-vissza üldöztük a cselekmény szálait a városban, miközben a kocsma helyzete egyre romlott. Végül találtunk egy goblint, aki fel tudta volna oldani az átkot, ám szolgálatának ára nevetségesen nagy volt. Ő ugyanis tagja volt egy egyesületnek - a Véres Győzelemnek -, amely céljaként tűzte ki egy goblin negyed kiharcolását a városban. Ez természetesen nevetséges, és nem is tudtunk volna segíteni neki. Ám ő úgy gondolta, hogy a helytartónak okozott kellemetlenségekkel reklámot tudnánk csinálni az ügyének. Természetesen nem  akartunk bevállalni semmiféle terrorista cselekvést, ám úgy tűnt, nincs választási lehetőségunk. Megígértük a goblinnak, hogy elrontjuk másnap a helytartó fiának nagykorusítási szertartását.
Lovagi neveltetésem szigorúan tiltotta volna az ifjú bármilyen testi sértését. Mindamellett már mindannyiunkat erősen bosszantott az egész, úgyhogy azt találtuk ki, hogy az ünnepi színpadot csúfítjuk el. Az éjnek leple alatt, álruhában, úgy tettünk, mintha dolgoznánk az ácsmunkán. Valójában elmés megoldást dolgoztunk ki arra, hogy bármikor megbolygathassuk a kötélrendszert, és lerántsuk a színpad hátsó falát borító vásznat. A falra pedig felírtuk a goblin mozgalom kezdőbetűit - VGy. Persze különleges módszerrel, de erről többet lennebb.
Másnap javában folyt az ünnepség, amikor a tömegbe elkeveredett tűzvarázsló begyújtotta a kanócot, amely majd az egész kötélrendszer főbb csomóit elégeti. A biztonság kedvéért egy közeli ház padlásáról a számszeríjász figyelte az eseményt, készen arra, hogy ellője a csomókat, ha a tüzet valaki észrevenné és kioltaná. Szerencsére minden a terv szerint ment, és a ceremónia csúcspontján a vászonborítás - felaggatott zászlókkal és díszekkel - a földre zuhant. A falon pedig ott állt, goblin ürülékkel "felfestve", a 3 betű: VGv. (Merthogy nem láttunk nagyon jól a sötétben, és kissé félresikerült az írás.)
Ezek után jobbnak láttuk visszavonulni. A goblin állt a szavának, és feloldotta az átkot. Ezután kiélhettük rajta a felgyűlt frusztrációt, és egyszerre égett el, rázta meg villám, szúrta szíven egy nyíl, és vált el a feje a testétől az alabárdom nyomán.
...
A kaland után búcsút vettünk a számszeríjásztól - a játékos egy átutazó haverunk volt, aki nem tudta folytatni velünk a kalandozást. Ám a csapat új állandó taggal, a Phempheusz nevű tűzvarázslóval gazdagodott.

M.A.G.U.S. - an RPG not in English

I tried my best to look up whether this game exists in English, but I couldn't find any resources in any  language other than Hungarian. I am thus assuming that this game is not of interest to any other readers. I'll start writing my posts related to this game in Hungarian - if anyone would like to read about random adventures in this game world, let me know in the comments and I'll come up with a translated version of the article.
I guess if you're interested, you can try reading the wiki page: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.A.G.U.S. using Google Translate.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Painting Worgen, part 1: experimenting with animal fur

I decided to paint up a Worgen model for a shape-shifting druid. Then, I decided to paint the whole group (8 models), experimenting with different colors of fur.

 

Step 1. Primer

As always, I started up with my trusty white primer.

Step 2. Basecoat

Then, I painted them up in different basecoats. I tried to go for traditional werewolf-y colors:

1 brown, 2 white, 2 light grey, 2 black (1 not shown), 1 dark grey

Step 3. Drybrushing to achieve the "fur effect"

I have previously done fur by painting it in grey, then applying a heavy black wash. This time, I went the other way around: grab your drybrush and go over the whole model. Some color combos look better than other, as below.

Lesson 1. Very high contrast does not work well

 black on white
black on light grey

They kind of look burnt; the color scheme is not natural. I later applied a black wash on the white model to try to fix it; it got better, but I'm still not truly happy with how they look.

Lesson 2. Very low contrast does not work either

dark brown on light brown
The picture does not show what I mean - the flash increases contrast to unnatural levels. At a distance, by natural light, the drybrushing is barely visible.

Lesson 3. Don't overdo crazy combos

dark brown on black
It's barely visible and doesn't look natural.

Lesson 4. Somewhere in the middle...

 black on dark grey
 dark grey on light grey
 light grey on white ("White Fang" effect)
light grey on black (the best one, I think)

I'm happy with how these 4 look, although the best one is - ironically - the one I painted up first: light grey drybrushed on black. This looks pretty natural, but also gives a sinister vibe to how the model looks. I can easily imagine this scheme on Daemon Princes and Bloodthirsters, the black fur contrasting nicely with red skin.

Slacking, DnD and painting WoW miniatures

I've been pretty much a slacker lately, as far as blog posts go. After solving some real life issues, I got back into DnD (I just forgot to take pictures), so I didn't even have any Warhammer batreps to post. However, my adventurers have gone further than any other group, so we'll soon have enough material for a group presentation. I've also got back into another RPG (which I'll talk about later). This is especially important since I participate as a player, not the DM! Lastly, I did some miniature painting, but didn't finish anything. I have a group of Chaos Marines halfway painted in a Word Bearers color scheme; I also partially painted up some miniatures from World of Warcraft: the Board Game to use in our DnD sessions. This last weekend was somewhat quieter now, and I had a chance to spend more time painting. I still have some finishing touches to do (the difficulties of working on multiple projects in parallel!), but this is what I'll post about in the coming days.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Warhammer 40k Campaign, Chaos Daemons vs Skitarii, 08.09.2015

We had a rather special event yesterday. The Imperium has been doing rather awful in the campaign, with only a couple of squares held on the planetary maps. To counter this, for the 4 matches held yesterday, it had been declared that losing games will not make them lose squares on the map. Let's see how that turned out...

Extra rules:


- Subzero temperature: fails Dangerous Terrain tests on 1 or 2, Gets Hot! loses its effect
- +10% points and +1 to beginning of the game rolls for Chaos

Mission: Tactical Escalation

Lists:

Chaos Daemons: Combined Arms Detachment (550 points)

  • 10-man Pink Horrors (Summoning)
  • 3-base Nurglings 
  • Herald of Tzeentch, lvl 2 Psyker (Posession, Dark Flame)
  • Daemon Prince of Nurgle, wings, armor, Greater Etherblade, Portalglyph, Psyker level 3 (Life Leech, Warp Speed, Plague Wind, Stream of Corruption), Warlord (Lord of Unreality)

Skitarii: Skitarii Maniple (500 points)

  • 5-man Ranger squad, 2 Plasma Calivers, Warlord (Emotionless Clarity)
  • 5-man Vanguard squad, 2 Plasma Calivers
  • 5-man Infiltrators, Flechette Blasters, Taser Goads, Phase Taser on the Alpha
 So I came up with a 1-man Flying Circus with summoning backup, while my opponent prepares to abuse the planet's special rules and spams Assault 3 plasma rifles. Hilarity ensues!

Deployment: Vanguard Strike

I won the roll-off thanks to planetary bonuses.


I put my troops in a large ruin, not knowing what shooting to expect. (The Chaos Marine proxies the Herald, I forgot my model at home). I was disappointed here, and soon had to move the Horrors out.
The Nurglings infiltrated holding an objective.
The Infiltrators then infiltrated in the upper left corner, then everything Scout moved towards me.

Chaos Daemons, turn 1.

I'm used to fighting shooty armies, so I was giddy that this time, the enemy was coming close.
I placed the Portalglyph, then I moved in the Daemon Prince.


The Psychic phase was rather ineffective. I managed to inflict 3 wounds with Psychic shooting from the Prince and the Horrors. The Infiltrators passed their 6++ saves like crazy.


But then it was time for close combat! I managed to kill of most the troop, but forgot to challenge, so the Alpha still got to strike. I got 3 wounds, and failed 3 3+ armor saves (why not, right?). At least I didn't fail my Initiative tests to be removed from play. I then proceeded to overrun the Alpha and win combat.

Skitarii, turn 1.


With their elite choice (and 1/3 of the army) gone, the Skitarii advanced and started shooting. Thanks to 2+ cover saves (Jink for the Prince, Go to Ground for the Nurglings), only 1 wound was inflicted on the Nurglings.
The template marks the Portalglyph.

Chaos Daemons, turn 2.


I advanced the Prince, but didn't risk the 10-inch charge. The Rangers overwatch on 4+ thanks to the Warlord trait! At least I got 3 Bloodletters out of the Portalglyph, which advanced towards the Rangers.
I shot Flickering Fire, killing 2 Rangers (1 with the power, 1 with Warpflame. I forgot about Soul Blaze).
I then tried Summoning on 8 charges. Didn't make it.

Skitarii, turn 2.

 
More shooting from the Skitarii! The Prince Jinked everything, but I Nurgling got insta-killed by a Plasma Caliver.

Chaos Daemons, turn 3.

This time, I got off a Summoning (see the Bloodletters on the right). The Prince and the other Bloodletters advanced on the Rangers.


 The Bloodletters ate the Overwatch as per standard procedure, but 1 reached combat (and rolled snake eyes for his attacks). The Prince then charged in, and whiffed horribly, killing only 2 Rangers. At least I remembered to challenge the Alpha, getting Warlord kill. The remaining one Ranger then made his morale save (a hero!), saving my Daemon Prince from getting shot.

Skitarii, turn 3.

One last round of shooting from the safety of cover to thin the Bloodletters before the onslaught.
The remaining Ranger died in the combat phase.

At this point, I was leading in points 3 - 2 ! That includes First Blood and Slay the Warlord, making for some truly terrible objective pulling for me this game.

Chaos Daemons, turn 4.


Everything mass charged, absolutely murdering the Vanguard. The heavy lifting was done by the Bloodletters, with the Daemon Prince unable to pile in after killing a model with his Hammer of Wrath.

Go Chaos! (Incidentally, we won the at least 2 other games too.)

Afterthought

  • I have clearly underestimated the Skitarii. Well, the Rangers and Vanguard managed as I thought they would, maybe a bit worse. But the Infiltrators are absolute murderers! After the game, we realized that, striving to apply all the special rules, we forgot a basic one: the Daemon Prince charged through terrain, but didn't strike at I1. With all the crazy rolls that went down, it's anyone's guess how that would have turned out. (Although to be honest, I could have sacrificed my Herald to become a Bloodthirster. Only common sense and sportsmanship stopped me on that one.)
  • The Skitarii player learned to apply fewer upgrades and more troops on his army in low-point games. Those Plasma Calivers costed a lot, but didn't do much.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Khorne Daemonkin vs Iron Hands, 01.09.2015

I've missed out on Warhammer in the past few weeks, so I was more than eager to jump back into the campaign. However, the Chaos side has been doing well - too well, in fact, and my Space Marine opponent objected to the lack of balance. So, here goes a regular game!

Mission: Tactical Escalation

Map: Hammer and Anvil

Lists: 1000 points

Khorne Daemonkin: Blood Host Detachment

  1. Slaughtercult 
    • Chaos Lord with Kor'lath, Axe of Ruin (Warlord trait: Destined for Glory)
    • 8 Bloodletters with Bloodreaper
    • 9 Bloodletters with Bloodreaper
    • 5 Possessed
    • 2x Chaos Spawn
  2. Auxiliary: Warmachine
    • Soul Grinder with Phlegm Bombardment
  3. Command
    • Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster
This is my old list, the one I tried out against the Tyranids.

Space Marines (Iron Hands): Combined Arms Detachment

  • Lvl 2 Librarian, divination
  • 5-man Devastator squad, 4 lascannons
  • 2x 10-man Tactical Squad, plasma gun, plasma cannon, dedicated Rhino
  • Thunderfire cannon
  • 3x Land Speeder squadron, heavy bolter + Typhoon missile launcher

Deployment



I deployed first and took first turn. Here you have my two Spawn in cover, along with the Bloodthirster and the Soul Grinder, deployed as far as possible. The Bloodletters form konga lines to objectives. The Possessed are hiding with the Lord out of line of sight.

Devastators in the tower and half a Tactical squad in the ruins.

Khorne Daemonkin, turn 1.


In true Daemonkin fashion, everything (except the Possessed) surged forward, seeking close combat. The Bloodthirster swooped onto the ruined tower.

Iron Hands, turn 1.

 Rhinos zipping forward, taking objectives.

The Thunderfire cannon decimated one squad of Bloodletters. The lascannons hurt the Soul Grinder. Besides 2 HP, it also got immobilized - this was a huge blow. One Spawn was killed, granting First Blood.

Turn 2.

The Bloodthirster went into gliding mode, everything else moved forward. I got off a charge with the other Spawn, leaving a Rhino at 1 HP.

The Space Marines immediately went into action, disembarking and shooting everything in range.




The Bloodthirster survived at 1 wound, the Soul Grinder at 1 HP. The Spawn died.

Khorne Daemonkin, turn 3.

...and this is where my scheme failed. At this point, I wanted to have 7 Blood Tithe points to turn my Lord into a Daemon Prince and a Bloodthirster, and turn the game around. I only had 6.

I assaulted the Marines with the Bloodletters, but whiffed the attack rolls horribly. I also charged the Bloodthirster in the Tactical Squad in the ruin. He attacked last due to terrain, and died to a krak grenade before doing anything.

Iron Hands, turn 3.

 This combat went on for a turn.
 The Marines were almost untouched.
The Grinder finally died to lascannon fire.

Khorne Daemonkin, turn 4.

 Better late than never, I turned my Lord into a Daemon Prince. The Bloodthirster given by the Axe of Ruins naturally teleported onto the church, rolled a 1 on the mishap table and promptly died. It would have been too little, too late, anyway.


I was still in the lead with 2 victory points, but there were still a lot of objectives to be pulled, and I had no more units to capture with.

Iron Hands, turn 4.

In a risky maneuver, the Land Speeders moved forwards to capture objective 1.

Meanwhile, the cannon eliminated the Bloodletters who finally beat the Marines in close combat.

Turn 5.

At this point, I was lagging behind with not much to pull me ahead. I just wanted to see how the Possessed handle themselves in combat.


Well, until now, I thought they were a huge penalty. But there you go, 3 Possessed killed 3 Land Speeders! Rage plus the third result on their table gave 5 attacks/model, at S6 due to Furious Charge.

My opponent played his turn, then I surrendered. I actually asked him whether he thought I could do anything else better; he suggested to just bring the Lord forwards and let him die ASAP. Food for thought...