Talk Fantasy Football Legacy Team 2016 - Khemri Skeleton

I haven't painted any Blood Bowl models for an age - largely symptomatic to the winding down of my local Blood Bowl league, with several folks moving away, and others of us becoming more interested in Inquisimunda. Over the last couple of years, I ran the Talk Fantasy Football forums annual Legacy Team - each contributor makes and submits a model, there's a draw, and the winner gets the team. This year, I decided not to make it 4 years in a row, and let Rory (aka Frogboy) take the reins. He's done a grand job marshalling the contributors and cajoling people into completing their models before the 1st of September deadline.

This year the theme was a Khemri team, with a strip in turquoise and gold. I signed up to make a Skeleton, and this was the result:

 

A Mixed Bag - Small, Dangerous and Italian!

Over the course of the weekend I spent some time queuing up and basecoating figures which needed to be finished to meet some deadlines. My wife went out last night, so I had a free evening to get some of them finished.

First up is Sneek - a new ratling-type abhuman for my Ordo Malleus Inquisitor band.

Gaming Community Projects / Blood Bowl Slann

Gaming Community Projects
2014 is coming to a close and there's a raft of activity around some of the community projects I'm involved with.

Top of the billing is Project Alchemy, due to end this coming Sunday (9 November). This charity fundraiser in aid of UNICEF has currently raised £1,740, just shy of the £2,000 target, with all donors being entered into a draw to win some amazing wargaming memorabilia. A massive 'thank you' to everyone who has put their hands into their pockets so far! And if you haven't, what are you waiting for! Here's a teaser of what you could win:

Details on how to donate at www.project-alchemy.weebly.com

The Oldhammer Legacy Warband is looking very fine, with 13 models completed and numerous others currently WIP and due for completion before Christmas.

Orctober Fest: Sporting Snots!

Erny's Place launched the second year of 'Orctober Fest' at the start of the month - a month-long celebration of all things orcish (or orkish). As Orctober is drawing the a close, I thought I'd share my own greenskin output; 12 of Kev Adams' finest Blood Bowl Snotlings:

Grrrrr!

 

Frog Sporting Action (Blood Bowl Slann)

It's high time I devoted some column inches to Blood Bowl (still my favourite GW game). I play Blood Bowl more frequently that any other game, and started in a new season with the Nottingham Blood Bowl League a week or two back.

I'm using the Slann team for the first time since a couple of very frustrating games back in 2011 when I built the team. Following last Wednesday evening's game I was able to buy myself a new player for the squad with my winnings; I settled on a third Catcher.

When I originally built the team, I picked up a selection of 11 old WHFB Slann and did a few weapon snips and minor modifications. The Catchers were a bit more dynamic, with leaping and jumping poses as befits their in-game rules. In anticipation of needing a new player, I had acquired some additional Slann just for this very purpose. The new Catcher was donated to the cause by Asslessman over at Leadplague (thanks JB - hope you don't mind the heretical use I've put him to!).

Here's the resulting figure:

 

NBBL - a Blood Bowl League Report

Back at the end of May I did something radical – I joined a Blood Bowl league! Having participated in the NAF Blood Bowl tournament in early May, I was full of enthusiasm for gaming, and sought out the Nottingham Blood Bowl League (NBBL) via the wonder of Facebook, playing at Bugman’s Bar at GW HQ.

Although the league was already several weeks in, I was allowed to join as a late starter, bringing my Dark Elf team, The Malice Troupers. The league proved to be a particularly bruising encounter for my Dark Elves; joining in part-way meant that my opponents were using more developed teams (although having cash to compensate and buy in Star Players is always nice).

 

The Malice Troupers ready for the season!

My Top 10 Minis Of All Time

Last week over at the Oldhammer Facebook group, Juck Vaughan posed this very succinct question:

"What are your top ten pieces of all time?"

The question generated quite a bit of interest, with plenty of suggestions. I myself waded in with a list of 10 miniatures of my personal favourites. Think about the implications of the question though - is it really possible to select just 10 figures? Imagine that you are being forced by your wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, partner or significant other to sell your entire collection of figures. You have been granted a small concession and can keep, trade or buy just 10 figures which are representative of your time in the hobby.

Snap! I've Got A Pair!

You might think that the right number for a group of miniatures is a squad of 5. Or perhaps it's a regiment of 30. You're wrong of course, I've recently had the realisation that the correct number is 2. This realisation only came to me through two sub-consciously created events:

Event #1
I purchased this Citadel Pilot from the classic 40k Adventurers range:

"So what's my point?", you might ask. It's a perfectly good purchase of a lovely, classic Citadel figure. No different from buying the Space Eunuch or Worldburner.

Nearly Midsummer: A Mid-Way Hobby Pledge Review

OK, it's a couple of days premature...but never mind!

Back in the dying days of 2013, I took a look at my hobby achievements for the year. Given that summer solstice or midsummer is nearly upon us, I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect on my ambitions for 2014, and my progress towards them.

Dark Elves at the NAF Championship 2014

The weekend just gone (17/18 May) was a beautifully sunny one. Perfect for picnics, days out and paddling pools. That's what my wife did with our kids anyway. I spent the weekend indoors rolling dice and pushing little men around a green board! That's right - actual real life gaming - a whole weekend of it!

Last year I started building a Dark Elf Blood Bowl team with the intention of going to the NAF Championship 2014; pretty much the largest Blood Bowl tournament in the world. In January I managed to persuade my mate Dan to come along with a team, so we duly bought tickets and then I broke the news to my wife.

Come the day of the weekend of the tournament, I had put the finishing touches to my team and the display base, and was ready to go. Here's what my finished team looked like:

Blood Bowl and the Art of Graphology

If you've read some of my previous blog posts, you will know that I have a bit of a soft spot for signed GW memorabilia. Not the everyday commonplace rulebooks or latest codex that got signed 5 minutes ago, but the old stuff (when everything was better*).

*Disclaimer: it may not have been better, I just remember it as being so.

What follows is one of life's little lessons - make sure you inspect the merchandise. The object in question is a classic 1986 boxed set of GW's game of fantasy football; Blood Bowl. This one in fact:

A classic cover for a classic game

I very much like Blood Bowl, although in reality, I've only ever played one game of 1st edition. And what would make me buy a second, slightly more battered copy of a game I already own?

This:

That's right, signed by the Blood Bowl creator himself, Jervis Johnson

 

Tutorial - Simple Display Bases

It's a known truth in the hierarchy of miniatures that a painted miniature trumps an unpainted one. A nicely based miniature is better than a painted green slottabase. And miniatures ALWAYS look better in decent scenery or a diorama*
*true fact

Don't believe me? Check out Eldar v Squats from p180 of the Rogue Trader rulebook.

Blood Bowl Dark Elves - Finished

When I say finished, what I mean is that I have 11 players completed and can now actually play a game with this team! In reality, there are still a couple of cheerleaders and coaches, as well as the display board to do. But that's just nit-picking!



Witch Elf #2 in classic 'fend' pose.

Last night I finished painting up this lovely lady; the second Witch Elf for the team. She's gone from being a last minute change from the original Witch Elf #2, to being my favourite model in the team. Funny how things work out! 

More Dark Elves on the Pitch

Over the last week I've been putting some more painting time into my Dark Elf Blood Bowl team as I've got just 8 weeks to go until I actually need to use them! Happily, I'm nearing completion, as last night I based up these 4 fine fellows:

Lineman - Blitzer - Lineman - Blitzer

 

Oldhammer Legacy Warband - WIP Elf

A few posts ago I showed you a conversion I've made for the Talk Fantasy Football forums 'Legacy Team' project. I also mentioned that we're starting a 'Legacy Warband' project over at the Oldhammer forums based on the same concept (interested people paint and contribute a model, a lucky winner scoops the entire warband).

By popular vote, it was decided that the theme of the Legacy Warband was a multi-race 'good' warband; think Realm of Chaos warband, but with law-abiding, tree-hugging jolly good chaps instead!

 

They Really Are Cute and Furry

In exactly two months time I will be eating lunch, having (hopefully) won my first game of Blood Bowl at the NAF Championship.

Of course, this will only be possible if I actually finished my Dark Elf team. Over the weekend I found myself with a couple of half hours to try and make some progress. As I wasn't getting an uninterupted stretch, I decided to paint up a couple of the re-rolls I'd made for the team a few months ago.

My re-rolls are represented by some baby manticores, made from Heresy Miniatures demon cat familiars with a few added bits.

Two team mascots with a star Dark Elf Blitzer

Talk Fantasy Football Legacy Team - Nurgle Pestigor

If you are interested in Blood Bowl, you may well be aware of the Talk Fantasy Football forums. You may also be aware of the annual group 'Legacy Team' project; volunteers commit to paint and donate a model for a pre-agreed team; each contributor is entered into a draw and the winner takes the team. This year, contributors voted to do a Nurgle team in a strip of hot pink and black.

I wanted to use one of my Beast Face Miniatures beastmen to make a Pestigor (a diseased beastman of Nurgle). The original model is below; sculpted by John Pickford, the beastman has mutated to have 3 arms, and is one of my favourites from the range.

Beastman from Beast Face Miniatures

While John's original sculpt is fantastic, its clearly not Nurgley enough. I wanted to capture some of the key Nurgle features; obesity, humour and disease.

When Trolls Meet Elves Part 3: Painting

Hopefully you'll have seen my earlier posts on my Blood Bowl mini-diorama I'm entering at the NAF Championships in Nottingham in May. If not, you can catch up on the earlier posts:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: The Build

Colour selection
Over the course of the last week I've been painting the model. I started off thinking about colour schemes. I wanted the elf to match my elf team, as I'm fond of the bright turquoise and white strip with the red. I used the online colour wheel tool I've used previously to establish a nice looking colour scheme; with the turquoise strip on the elf, I could go for a sort of mustardy-brown colour on the troll's skin and a purple strip.

http://colorschemedesigner.com/

On with the painting
With the colour scheme decided, it was onto the painting. I painted up the troll first using Vallejo heavy goldbrown for the base coat on the skin. The skin was washed with Citadel brown ink and Asurmen blue wash, before being higlighted. The highlights were simply adding white to the heavy goldbrown. The pustules were then given a wash of Citadel Baal red and a dot of pale yellow in the centre.

When Trolls Meet Elves Part 2: The Build

Back in December, I showed off the WIP conversion of my Blood Bowl mini-diorama I'll be entering into a 'Duel' modelling competition at the NAF Championship in Nottingham in May.

The project started off purely on the premise that I happened to have lots of spare Elf catchers kicking around, as well as a lonely Troll. These two chaps in fact:

Blood Bowl 2nd edition Troll (Michael Perry) and Elf Catcher (Jes Goodwin), from 1988

Mean streak! Blood Bowl Dark Elves Progress

I finally got round to painting up my first figure of 2014. Not only that, but I base-coated a second model at the same time - I know, that's pretty radical isn't it?!

Here's my latest work:

Dark Elf Runner