An essay on slapchop

With that highbrow title, let me lay out the subject. I tried slapchop and I like it for what it is, but I am also acutely aware of its deficiencies. In short:

Pros: 

• quick 
• reasonably good looking (with practice)

Cons:

• looks bad for warm colors
• looks bad for skintones
• if you want to paint some details white... prepare for a hundred layers on black

With these in mind, I applied slapchop where feasible, but painted the skin by hand, avoided very warm colors, and painted the eventual ice bases by hand white. See my Free Folk Raiders.

This was satisfactory for a while, but I do need some experimenting in my hobby from time to time. So I decided to tackle the cons of slapchop with a warm undercoat... see several experiments. Conclusion: slightly better for warm colors, worse for cold colors, and still too rough for skintones. Not worth the effort. Slapchop remained firmly the domain of rank-and-file troops, with the above caveats.

The ideas took some time to marinate, but after a long while, I was ready to experiment again with... slapchop 2.0? Warm chop? White drybrush on colored undercoats? I'm still working on the name. But here's where I got.

Romanian Nationals 2026: A Song Of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game tournament, 11-12.07.2026

It's that time of the year again! We were actually fewer than last time with many pulling out due to summer holidays; however we also had new cast members, and at least as much fun!

With everybody complaining about "the Season of Giants", people felt compelled to tailor against me. Big sad. The Thorn Watch sure taught me a lesson. I should play against Baratheon more, to get a feel for their style.

Game 1: Free Folk vs Baratheon

Game 2: Free Folk vs Stark

Game 3: Free Folk vs Baratheon

After a well deserved night's sleep, we resumed our tournament the next morning refreshed and reenergized.

Game 4: Free Folk vs Lannisters

Game 5: Free Folk vs Martell

I kind of bounced back after the first day's beating, and actually managed to climb to third place. That's my bronze trophy in the picture - same as last year!

Congrats to the new national champion! We'll try to dethrone you as well, next year.

Game 5: Free Folk vs Martell

For the final scenario of the tournament, I came up against Martells in Here We Stand. Not ideal for the light desert troopers, but what can you do. I had no idea regarding the finer points of the army, so I set up on the line and decided to ball.

Game 4: Free Folk vs Lannisters

Finally, an army I actually know: the Lannisters. Also a funky game mode: A Dance with Dragons. With the pairings prepared the evening before, I spent some time agonizing over lists. I deduced that the Lannisters wouldn't take their double Turncoat no mobility infantry list into this already reduced movement scenario, so I brought forth the double Spear Thrower Giant list. I was right, with two cavalry units on the other side of the field.

Game 3: Free Folk vs Baratheon

 Game 3, A Clash of Kings, against double Thorn Watch Baratheons. Yay.

Game 2: Free Folk vs Stark

Against the Starks, I played Honed and Ready. Again like last time, but against a different player. Unlike the Baratheons, this list wasn't tailored against Giants.

Game 1: Free Folk vs Baratheon

Game 1 against the Baratheons: Fire and Blood. Ironically same as last time, although against a different player. Just one unit of Thorn Watch, which I did not mark because I have heard of them.