A Painting Riddle

So, I've been busy getting stuff ready for Bring Out Your Lead '14 and as part of that I committed to bringing a bunch of models to the siege of Avalone game. With that in mind, here's a question for you!

Question:
What has 12 mouths, 24 ribcages and 72 limbs?

The Clash at the Crags - Part Two

The Armies

The forces of Khorne (commanded by myself)

• Dorrin Blissbane - Dwarf 10 Hero with Chaos Weapon 'Lustdrinker'
• Melondil Nightnoon - Dark Elf 5 Hero 
• Marta Hartmann - Human 10 Hero
• Hermann Foerster - Beastman Champion
• 7 Beastmen - Light armour and shields
• 7 Skaven - Light armour, shields and spears
• 8 Humans - Bows and light armour
• 8 Levy Humans - Spears
• 6 Giant Wolves

Dorrin with retinue and Marta leading the village militia

The retinue of Fergus (commanded by Fimm)

• Fergus - Fimir 5 Hero with Chaos Weapon
• 5 Fianna Fimm - Light armour
• 6 Shearl
• 10 Humans - Shields
• 5 Witch Elves - Additional hand weapons and poison

Fergus & Co.

The Clash at the Crags - Part One

Well, Fimm and I didn't manage to continue our campaign at the Expo as expected so instead the much-delayed next chapter was played out this week.

Prologue

Slowly the village folk unbarred their doors and started emerging from their homes and hovels, their sense of curiosity outweighing their fear now that the fighting appeared to be over. The Beastmen had started dragging the dead Fimm to the centre of the village and began to create a pyre whilst the Skaven busied themselves tending the wounded.

Proof that my photography skill needs work.

The Long Road to Avalone

Every now and then I have a wave of realisation, one I'm sure many gamers are familiar with, that I actually have a lot of little toy soldiers to paint. The fact that Bring Out Your Lead 2014 is fast approaching - August 8th to 10th - has caused one of these realisations and this has forced me to confront my growing pile of unpainted lead.

A part of the 'pile' - I don't have a problem, honest!

Useful Wargaming Resources

No update last week as I've just come back from a (much needed) holiday in Berlin. You've got to say one thing for the Germans, they've got memorials down a tee. Learning about so much WWII and Cold War history was certainly an eye opening experience and certainly one that I'd recommend, especially if you are interested in wargaming that period of history.

This weekend I'm off to an Infinity tournament in Exeter, so there has not been much time for painting lately either, but lots of frantic gluing instead. So this is just going to be a quick post inspired by some of the most helpful things I've found recently whilst wargaming. Hopefully you'll find them useful too!

Fairy Power Spray

All hail our saviour of models!

Do you have paint on your models? Do you wish that paint wasn't on your models? Fairy Power Spray is the answer you've been looking for. It's becoming harder to find now, but larger Sainsbury's in the UK still have it and I recommend stocking up just in case it gets discontinued. I know that since I've been introduced to the Oldhammer movement I've been buying up miniatures that have arrived in a rather rough state and it has been invaluable.

Infinity Starter Packs - PanO & Nomads

Update: This post has now been bought into line with the 3rd edition of Infinity.

So, you've had a demo game, seen the pretty models and want to get playing, but which starter pack should you buy? My aim is to rate each of the currently available starter packs on a scale of 1 to 5 based on the following criteria and provide some sample army lists to get you going.

• Immediate Usability: How well can you use the starter box to build a 120 and 150 point list for the first two rounds of an Escalation League. Top marks are for being able to use all six figures effectively and being able to play the first two rounds with minimal extra purchases.

• Long Term Value: Are the models that come in the Starter Pack going to be useful in the long run, will you end up using them all consistently as your army grows and are they likely to replaced by newer sculpts in the foreseeable future.
     Two ratings are given, the first when playing the 'vanilla' army with no limitations, and the second when playing the Sectorial that the box specifically belongs to (if available).

• Model Quality: Are the models good quality, recent sculpts. Some starter packs show more age than others or have outdated models in them.

I'm making the assumption that it is the player's intention to play the 'vanilla' faction, which means that they are interested in the full range of models for that faction. If a player is interested in just a particular Sectorial (a sub-section of a faction) then they should always just get the relevant starter box for that Sectorial as it invariably provides the best value.

All images in this article are the property of Corvus Belli.

It's a liebe-fest

Phreedh has kindly nominated me for a Liebster (darling? beloved?) award. I'm embarrassed to say that this was now over two (three? four? five?) weeks ago and that I've taken my sweet time writing it up. My excuse is that I have had too many games to play and models to paint. Also, writing is hard.

So after doing a little research it turns out that the format is 11 truths, 11 answers and then 11 questions for 11 other bloggers. That's a lot to get through so I won't prattle any more and will just dive straight in instead.

That's a lie actually - just a little prattle. You may have noticed that I've finally worked out how to add a follower button to my blog. If you find anything I write interesting, please click it and let me know. It should be about here. →

Thank you for this prestigious award.