Farewell Mk1 (almost)

Ooh my aching skull!

It didn't really hit me. I thought I still had some time to get some of the Legends or even Superiority minis thrown together. I looked forward to building Fenris or Beast-09 (although with less glee after my disasters with Drago). I wanted to play with some Kazany or Iron Fang Uhulans before the demise of my tiny-text cards. (Where was that rule for the Greatbears again? flip-flip-flip)

But with the early release of the cards and rules via the intrawubz, my time has gone the way of the flying toaster screen saver. Some of the most expensive I don't yet own, much less have assembled. Ooh, methinks I'll have a busy and CA glue covered fall!

A Pair of Jacks (Part One)

Before the last league season started, Red was kind enough to photo some of the painting I had already accomplished. After all the ranting and raving and drooling, and passage of time and all that, I realized that I hadn't posted all of them yet. Tragedy! So, here we are.
Behold the Ber-zer-ker! This was the first of the two I had planned, and oddly the second one assembled. A word about assembly, the Berzerker stinks! Only half of one foot is one the base tab, and the other foot is held on only by a toe. Honest! Worse, the foot ends at the ankle, so there is always a struggle to mode the poor beastie upright. As I worried about how to assemble the figure, I wanted to find a way to pin it so that the weight of the mini more fully rested on the base, so that is why you will see the center pin on these two minis, and why the red one is modeled so far forward.
The plans for the colors were intentional and based on my fascination of locomotives. I mentioned it here. The original mid-1800's locomotives were as much works of art as working machines. I have a few examples from the Internet here, here, here, and here. Brass, and steel, ornate iron work; those were the influences of this model. I worked with a much lighter red pallet, knowing that I was going to lay on a heavy oil/smoke layer. On my other 'jacks, I liked how the GW Dwarf Bronze looked next to the GW Boltgun, so I copied that here, but went much lighter highlighting the bronze with P3 Rhullic Gold.

Again, the balance pin. This model is way front heavy. I considered ripping it apart and trying again, but 1) I figured the model wanted to be that way, and 2) It is in a classic head-butt pose, leading with its noggin. It has held together, so why destroy finished work?

It was about this time, I knew that I don't have the patience or skill to freehand some details, in this case numbers. So I hit up the local train store and found that Woodland Scenics has a line of dry-transfer decals. They have both numbers and letters as well as the occasional widget like all that data you see on the side of the average rolling stock car. I added the numbers to this model after the pics were taken sadly, but I now refer to this as "Old No. 27."

A return to center...

...or how I learned to stop blowing up. (Don't you believe it dear reader!)

Okay! I look back and realize much of my posts of late have been overly whiny and hateful. Well, it is MY blog after all. But I promise to be a little more...umm, well, hateful and whiny. No! Less, less, honest! :D

The local press gangers and competitive community are gearing up for a fall of hackity slashity fun. I gotta admit, my league showings have been horizon broadening, and fun. (I don't mind a drubbing so much when I learn from it too!) In the end, not counting the league participation pin, I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't have better spent my time painting and assembling. (shrug)

I want to play with nice-nice miniatures. I see good things coming from WM, if the Retribution book is any example. I know there will be a big uptick as Mk.2 comes out, followed by the emasculation...err Field Test of Hoards. So maybe this Fall and Winter I paint and assemble like the wind to have a sizable force of painty-ness to draw upon? Maybe so.

A Shipload of Fail

For those who know us, Red and I are friends. You can read his post of my latest abuse-fest here.


For those of you still reading, you can get a little background, here.

Thanks for those of you still reading. What more can I say? I decided to take a pretty standard list. Without eSorcha I didn't take Winter Guard. I wanted to try practicing using the Great Bears use of free LOS and pass through as a double whammy on a charge. I took a jack, and a Ternion and Alten for some beasty shooting.

Tragedy! As always, in an effort to bring the conflict up quick and clean, non-league scenarios are grievously tilted against Khador (and Trollbloods too, so I have heard.) Everything is "grab this section, grab that section, be the first to get here or there." Hey, beevis! Khador isn't getting ANYWHERE first. To do so would require a specialty army and things to be built just for speed, and that limits my choices. I don't believe in anything that Forces you to choose specific units. I guess maybe in the competitive circles also means I don't believe in winning. S'Okay.

I'd rather paint and play what I want, when I want. I'm not the type to build an anti-anything list. Its too hard to do for Hordes anyway. Maybe that means until Hordes and Warmachine stand as equals, I'm done playing against them. Enough frustration and freakish absurdity in my normal life, much less adding to it.

Ooh, bitter! My poor sportsman trophy is in the bag! Yowza!

Teh Warm-machine Uptick...

...or "All standing in line for 45 minutes gets you is sore feet."

Sooooo, Gen Con 2K9. I went. I made sure I was there for the 'big announcement." Everyone knew it was going to be something about the video game. What else could it have been? Mark 2 is in final revision, the Retribution source book was released at the Con, No Quarter isn't due until next month....

I do appreciate the meeting to lay the rumors to rest and to let the populace that the game is definitely going forward. Aside from that, a little more content would have been nice. A huffing Juggernaut while awesome, seemed a little underwhelming for the wait. Maybe Juggy should have taken a punch at something, or Sorcha swung her maul...

Gratuitous Gloating: All the samples were Khador! Yeah! In yo' face other factions! Ironclad? Nope. Bonejacks? Nope. Menothy-thing? Nope. The Motherland was representing!

(ahem) Yes, the graphics were cool. Yes the textures were cool. Yes, the idea is cool. Will I buy it? If I don't have to switch computer systems to do it, yes I will. Will I play it? Oooh...see, there's the real question.

I'm sure the manufacturer doesn't care. I don't play a lot of games right now, aside from free stuff on Face Book, and a few notable sims. FPS doesn't interest me in PC format, and I don't own any of the newest game consoles to consider it. If the newest titles of my favorite franchise, Metal Gear havent' prompted me to pick up a PS3, I don't think this will either.

I guess if it doesn't require costly and time consuming upgrades to my machine, and isn't a real budget-buster, I will probably pick it up, if for no other reason than to support the line.

Of course I am saying the same thing about Mark 2, but for different reasons.

Ye new banner

So, I get bored easily and want to spice things up. Sue me...in fact, let me refund the money you paid to get in....

I chose the German Konigstiger for a reason. In many ways it say a lot about Khador. Heavy armor, impressive weaponry, generally a bigger and badder version of the last armored nightmare you faced.

The New Khardic Empire also echoes the aggressive expansion of the German Reich. The enormous cost and production problems of the Tiger 2 can also be seen in the lack of 'innovation' if you will, in the Kadoran war jack arsenal, a "too little, too late" scenario.

Plus it makes a dang spiffy banner!

Liberation League Week 4: Win by grievous injuries

I wonder if it is a theorem that "to win by scenario, it to lose if the scenario were removed?" This league season, it sure has happened that way to be. Also, the converse has been true. The scario games I have lost, my army has been mostly undamaged and could have cleaned up in a few rounds.

Red and I played the "On the Move scenario," and I won, but only by sacrificing all but 2 of a unit of 10 Winter Guard, and most of a unit of Iron Fang Pikemen. Most of my war jacks, (I had 3) were ineffective, as they were continually thrown about by Thunderbolt rounds, and the only thing that kept my poor Kodiak together was the Global effect that let him ignore systems being knocked out.

I have some fluff planned for later.