Monday, February 26, 2018
Storm King's part 2 - Trolls and magic doors
Accompanied by the dead baroness' guards, we head to the caverns.
Translation: For 40k years our ancestors have lived in caves, look at the kind of strong homes we have left behind!
Thursday, February 22, 2018
M.A.G.U.S. - Politics in Daerim - Season 3 intro
Refresher
We finished season 2 of our adventures by escaping from the unknown wizard's island sanctuary. We had a ship and a crew, we were reasonably wealthy (for level 3 adventurers), and we had laid our hands on powerful artefacts. Of course, there was a catch: to unlock the power of the artefacts, we had to give up XP. In fact, we would already be level 4 if we hadn't unlocked the first level of each...
Prelude
Valeria had left the crew to attend her business in Daerim, while Athosian, Biznard and Shamil did minor tasks for their organization around the city. After all, a ship makes transportation easy, and their bosses did not refuse the opportunity. While in a neighboring village, they did receive a letter from the sorceress, asking for their immediate help in the city.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Storm King's part 1 - Arrival in Nightstone
Prelude
As the Adventurers and the LEGEND* “Solid” where occupied with problems in Beverna, other GREATER things happened as planned.
In a presumably secret room, Random and Nixi** are waiting for something or someone, Random playing skillfully with his knives while Nixi was reading from a human skin book but keeping an eye out (the magical one) pointed at Random. Both are trying to look calm but the tension in the room was there nevertheless.
Finally Pazuzu*** arrives. It seems that even if Pazuzu failed in his previous attempt to get rid of the Adventurers he was brought back to the plane of the living by their MASTER (the name of the MASTER remains a mistery for now).
Clearly Nixi is the brain of this party as she puts a map on the table and start sharing the plan with the others. It seems that the orc invaders were expected to fail, but they were necessary to keep the humans, elves and dwarfs distracted while BIGGER (even GIGANTIC) plans are already in place.
Pazuzu was left to gather brute force for the upcoming events. Random was sent to pick up his assassinations list from the usual contact, while Nixi will start training the NEW FRIEND for the SURPRISE she has prepared.
Storm King's Thunder
After a couple of my players tested their skill in DMing, the responsibility of propelling the story forward got back to me. Would I have the time to construct an adventure from nothing? Fortunately, we did not have to find out, as one particularly enthused player bought an off-the-shelf adventure: Storm King's Thunder. Now all I had to do was stitch together all our previous adventures...
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Review: Mantic plastic models
With the weather turning cold, I couldn't spray prime any more models, so I turned to assembling instead.
The first batch was a heap of undead from Mantic. I don't remember when and where did I get them, but most likely for DnD. Too bad that the party is already level 6... but that never stopped a cool model to be used :D
Assembly: 9/10. Most pieces are easy to cut off the sprue, except the legs that have bases attached. I had to break out a heavy-duty cutter as the snippers did not fit between the base and sprue. Mold lines were easy to get rid of, and most of them were aligned to breaks in the armor anyway.
Poseability: 7/10. I don't know if that's how they come out of the box, but I got 10 ghouls and 10 zombies, each as a set of duplicated sprues of 2 models each. This would normally mean a very limited set of poses. However, the legs and torsos are separate pieces, and can be easily rotated for some sick contorsions. The ghouls have an interesting way of assembly, with the arms having grasping hands, but additional hand options available. I chopped off a few hands and glued on other weapon options, which was easy to do.
The zombies have a cool thing in that, if you assemble the models with regular legs and torsos, you get 10 models. However, there are additional pieces where a torso would burst out of the ground, and torso replacements that are just a piece of spinal chord jutting out. By using all of them, I got some additional models.
The skeletons are also very fun to assemble. Again, legs and torsos are separate pieces, although the legs are copy-pasted, with only a couple of variants on the 10-man sprue. Some torsos are set, with arms and head already in place, but others are missing right arms or heads. I, of course, took the chance to put on the most characterful heads - a raven picking at leftovers, an axe embedded in the skull.
Miscellaneous: 10/10. We have a solid amount of bits left. The ghouls have a lot of weapon options, both right- and left-handed, including this fantasy power glove thingy. There are also some pockets filled with body parts that I couldn't fit anywhere on the models, but I already have an idea for them.
The skeletons leave lots of leftover swords and spears. As I mounted the most chipped swords and broken spears on the models, I can use the remainder for any fantasy miniatures. Also there's this sick skeletal rat, for which, again, I already have an idea in mind.
Overall: another solid 5/7.
The first batch was a heap of undead from Mantic. I don't remember when and where did I get them, but most likely for DnD. Too bad that the party is already level 6... but that never stopped a cool model to be used :D
Assembly: 9/10. Most pieces are easy to cut off the sprue, except the legs that have bases attached. I had to break out a heavy-duty cutter as the snippers did not fit between the base and sprue. Mold lines were easy to get rid of, and most of them were aligned to breaks in the armor anyway.
Poseability: 7/10. I don't know if that's how they come out of the box, but I got 10 ghouls and 10 zombies, each as a set of duplicated sprues of 2 models each. This would normally mean a very limited set of poses. However, the legs and torsos are separate pieces, and can be easily rotated for some sick contorsions. The ghouls have an interesting way of assembly, with the arms having grasping hands, but additional hand options available. I chopped off a few hands and glued on other weapon options, which was easy to do.
The zombies have a cool thing in that, if you assemble the models with regular legs and torsos, you get 10 models. However, there are additional pieces where a torso would burst out of the ground, and torso replacements that are just a piece of spinal chord jutting out. By using all of them, I got some additional models.
The skeletons are also very fun to assemble. Again, legs and torsos are separate pieces, although the legs are copy-pasted, with only a couple of variants on the 10-man sprue. Some torsos are set, with arms and head already in place, but others are missing right arms or heads. I, of course, took the chance to put on the most characterful heads - a raven picking at leftovers, an axe embedded in the skull.
Miscellaneous: 10/10. We have a solid amount of bits left. The ghouls have a lot of weapon options, both right- and left-handed, including this fantasy power glove thingy. There are also some pockets filled with body parts that I couldn't fit anywhere on the models, but I already have an idea for them.
The skeletons leave lots of leftover swords and spears. As I mounted the most chipped swords and broken spears on the models, I can use the remainder for any fantasy miniatures. Also there's this sick skeletal rat, for which, again, I already have an idea in mind.
Overall: another solid 5/7.
Monday, February 12, 2018
Blue Horrors finished - review time!
Finally, the two entire boxes of Blue & Brimstone Horrors are finished. I haven't done large squads end-to-end in some time, and this was an excellent reminder of the ups and downs of assembly line painting. Doing this saves a lot of paint (especially when painting smaller details such as dagger blades), but boy is it a chore to do Glorious Gold on 20 Blue Horrors.
Anyway, working with these kits inspired a little rant. Here's my rating.
Miniature size: 10/10. I don't apreciate GW's miniature scale creeping ever upwards. Knight Titans are fine, but Greater Daemons don't need to be that size. (Especially if their stats are nowhere near. Want huge daemons? Make them worth it. Make them Lord of Wars. Something.) Primaris Marines are fine on 32mm bases, but why on earth would regular marines and lesser daemons need larger bases?! And why, oh why, do regular Plague Marines, who are still 1 wound models, need to be twice the size of the old kits? Given the above, I was very pleasantly surprized that Blue Horror miniatures, and especially Brimstones, are exactly that - miniatures. They're teeny-tiny daemons. Awesome. Love it.
Pink Horror and Malignant Plaguecaster for scale:
Poses & poseability: 4/10. Brimstones aren't even multipart. The two little guys on a base are a single piece of plastic. I at least expected Blue Horrors to feel like the Pink Horror kit, with interchangeable heads and arms with extra options. But no. Now, they do have a lot more dynamic poses, so I see how that requires a trade-off. And we already get 20 miniatures in a box, so there might not be room for extra parts. Still, it was very strange to cut the pieces off the sprues, then trying to randomly fit them together, only to fail and resort to the actual assembly guide, to discover that several models are effectively mono-pose. I tried to diverge from the assembly guide wherever possible, resulting in several weird poses. Oh well.
Mono-pose blue horrors:
Painting: 8/10. Brimstones were very fun to paint. They are effectively a single surface, with just some eyes and teeth for details, leaving plenty of room for gradients. Blue Horrors are more traditional, in that they have more details other than skin. In fact, they have way too many details cramped unto those tiny models, sometimes resulting in missteps and corrections.
With the saltiness of the assembly and golden jewels rapidly fading, I can honestly say that I liked this kit and give it a solid 5/7.
Anyway, working with these kits inspired a little rant. Here's my rating.
Miniature size: 10/10. I don't apreciate GW's miniature scale creeping ever upwards. Knight Titans are fine, but Greater Daemons don't need to be that size. (Especially if their stats are nowhere near. Want huge daemons? Make them worth it. Make them Lord of Wars. Something.) Primaris Marines are fine on 32mm bases, but why on earth would regular marines and lesser daemons need larger bases?! And why, oh why, do regular Plague Marines, who are still 1 wound models, need to be twice the size of the old kits? Given the above, I was very pleasantly surprized that Blue Horror miniatures, and especially Brimstones, are exactly that - miniatures. They're teeny-tiny daemons. Awesome. Love it.
Pink Horror and Malignant Plaguecaster for scale:
Poses & poseability: 4/10. Brimstones aren't even multipart. The two little guys on a base are a single piece of plastic. I at least expected Blue Horrors to feel like the Pink Horror kit, with interchangeable heads and arms with extra options. But no. Now, they do have a lot more dynamic poses, so I see how that requires a trade-off. And we already get 20 miniatures in a box, so there might not be room for extra parts. Still, it was very strange to cut the pieces off the sprues, then trying to randomly fit them together, only to fail and resort to the actual assembly guide, to discover that several models are effectively mono-pose. I tried to diverge from the assembly guide wherever possible, resulting in several weird poses. Oh well.
Mono-pose blue horrors:
Painting: 8/10. Brimstones were very fun to paint. They are effectively a single surface, with just some eyes and teeth for details, leaving plenty of room for gradients. Blue Horrors are more traditional, in that they have more details other than skin. In fact, they have way too many details cramped unto those tiny models, sometimes resulting in missteps and corrections.
With the saltiness of the assembly and golden jewels rapidly fading, I can honestly say that I liked this kit and give it a solid 5/7.
Painting Blue Horrors (blue)
Introduction
After the unexpectedly dark squad of Horrors, I went for something... just blue.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Painting Blue Horrors (dark)
Introduction
The first two squads came out pretty light, even with all the Druchii Violet applied on the second group. I went for something darker, for more contrast.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Chaos Daemons vs T'au, 30.01.2018
Mission: Cloak and Shadows
Lists: 2000 points
Chaos Daemons (11 CP)
- Battalion Detachment: Tzeentch
- 2x Changecaster
- 4x Horrors, 5 Brimstones, 5 Blues each
- Battalion Detachment
- Poxbringer
- Herald of Slaanesh
- 20-man Bloodletters, icon, instrument
- 20-man Daemonettes, icon, instrument
- 3-man Nurglings
- 5-man Seekers
- Soulgrinder, Nurgle
- Outrider Detachment: Tzeentch
- Daemon Prince, wings, dual Malefic Talons
- 2x 5-man Furies
- 3-man Screamers
- Outrider Detachment: Khorne
- Daemon Prince, wings, relic: Skullreaver, warlord: Oblivious to Pain
- Bloodmaster
- 3x 5-man Flesh Hounds
T'au: Battalion Detachment (6 CP)
- 3-man XV88 Broadside Battlesuits: 2x Smart missile system, Early warning override, Heavy rail rifle plus 2x MV4 Shield Drone
- 3x 10-man Strike Team, Pulse rifles
- 10-man Pathfinder Team MV31 Pulse Accelerator Drone, MV4 Shield Drone
- 7-man MV1 Gun Drones
- Aun'Va+2x Ethereal Guard
- Cadre Fireblade: Markerlight, 2x MV4 Shield Drone
- Commander: Exemplar of the Mont'ka, 4x Fusion blaster, 2x MV4 Shield Drone, Puretide Engram Neurochip, Warlord
- 6-man XV25 Stealth Battlesuits: Homing beacon, Advanced targeting system, Burst cannon, Markerlight, Target lock
- 3-man XV8 Crisis Bodyguards: one with Drone controller, 2x Flamer, two with 3x Flamer, plus 6x MV1 Gun Drone
- XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit: 2x Fusion blaster, Counterfire defence system, Fusion collider, 2x MV5 Stealth Drone, Target lock
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