Alabaster Automata

 

  I've finally gotten the entire 2-player starter kit painted and it is time to paint more models and play larger games.  Because my wife likes to play the Void side, I focus on getting those painted first for her.  And the Void models, like all of the Relic Knights line that I've dealt with so far, area beautiful!  This model is of a female, getting choked by some magical chain-collar that's attached to a huge, broken sword that she's wind-surfing on.  Like, whoa!

  Admittedly, I couldn't tell what the heck was going on with this model.  The resin used to cast these definitely holds detail, but there's no artwork or even painted examples to really clarify how she's supposed to look.  So I slapped on the appropriate contrast paints where I though they should go and worked from there.  The card art helped but 'discovery' was certainly more necessary.  

  After figuring some things out, I worked on the flesh.  She had surprisingly less flesh than some of the other models in the starter forces, and that was surprise considering how much fun the geometry can be to paint and highlight (if you know what I mean).  Alabaster has an exposed rear-end, so that was something, but I'm focused on the front and top ('zenithal' concept).  

  It became very necessary, after an embarassing number of repaints for the flesh, to paint up all the leather and body-armour that she wears.  Again, the model's details are crisp, but there's so much layered leather and techy-plates that it was hard to find all the detail.  And it's all black.  I hate painting black so much.  Highlighting black can make a person go crazy and now I was having to do an embarassing amount of repaint and touch-up on both the flesh and the body armour.  After some frustration, I finally relented and abandoned those.  

  Then came the opposite experience- the purple cloth wrapped around her!  A second layer of contrast paint, then a very fast layer and highlight saw that flowing accessory done in record time and perfectly framing all the non-metal stuff.  I went from frustrated to happy in seconds.

  I absolutely adore painting non-metal metallics as it uses my old pencil-art skills from ages long gone.  I'm not great at it but I did learn from the best (RIP Wappels!) and really enjoy using my paintbrush like a pencil to 'draw' highlights and shadows.  Alabaster's chains were the first to get the quick version and then the flat of the huge blade received more attention to get that NMM silver- wash zenithal primed parts with Nuln Oil, then wash with watered-down Night Blue, glaze with Turquiose, follow-up by watering down a light gray (bluish tone if you have) to build up, and create crisp reflections and shapes with white.  It's no Giraldez, but it's good enough relative to the enjoyment.  My goodness do I enjoy non-metals sometimes!

  By now, I'm happy enough with the results, so I put the pink glow on the blade and gloves, painted the hair with Basic Skin Tone and White mix to get that platinum-blonde colour, and based her up.  She's done!  These models are so much fun to paint and trying out these new techniques makes this game rather neat.  Now back to painting!

A funny story about a dwarf

   "It was a long time ago.  My companions and I started a series of quests for some wizard named the Mentor and some of the weirdest stuff happened.  For a company used to escorting caravans and guarding lords, those dungeon-crawls were kinda crap!  But we certainly have some stories to tell.  

  Like, early on, we were tasked with hunting down this Gargoyle- massive, stone-tough, and surrounded by all the monsters you would find in a dungeon!  I, of course, kicked every door down and charged whatever looked like it needed my blade.  The elf followed and kept getting injured- elves aren't very tough, ya know?  But he did some things with that magic he uses.  Speaking of magic- the wizard snuck around more than a thief!  Every room- he comes in later and just sorts himself into a corner and watches as we do all the fighting, and then just wanders away.  He had some good magic, but he was all about hiding in the shadows.  

  But the dwarf- well, they have short legs so you shouldn't expect much.  He lagged behind the rest of the group all the time.  In fact, I'm confident he even wandered off down different hallways because he didn't know where were!  By the time we got to the final room, with a fireplace, the Gargoyle, and a bunch of other baddies, the dwarf was all the way around the other side!  As we fought- the elf died and then I died!  The dwarf yelled through the wall after us as he heard the commotion and then the wizard used that magic and made the dwarf walk right through that wall!  With a bellowing roar, he charged into the Gargoyle's back and finished him off easily.  Like, one-shot easily.  That dwarf hadn't fought but once through the whole quest and then he gets to show up and win the battle?

  Our arguments later really came from who the MVP was.  Obviously, everyone wanted to pick the dwarf because he landed the killing blow.  But I think that sneaky little wizard, with his 'pass through walls' thing, was the real winner.  It didn't matter, the elf died too and that makes it all okay.  Then there was a wagon getting crashed on the way home, but that's a different story.  Ah, the stories!  Now let me tell you about rescuing Sir Ragnar..."

The ladies fighting for the galaxy!

  The whole family is together recently and we had to take the chance to throw down on some games.  My wife and daughter pulled out the Relic Knights box and I was summoned to do the "Intro stuff".  I was reminded of how easy this game is to learn...  Of course, they played Radiant vs. Void and it led to a couple of unique happenings that make for great story-telling- the whole point of all games!

  One of the best concepts of the game is the complete lack of deployment zones are specific terrain setup.  The players take turns to place their objective markers anywhere on the table more than 9" away from other objectives, then take turns deploying their units ANYWHERE ON THE TABLE more than 9" away from enemy units and enemy objectives.  This means players are not limited to 'symmetry' or some arbitrary required setup when making a themed, organic battlefield.  The unlimited deployment means that players are in the action almost immediately- no clunky rounds of just moving around and 'positioning' like other wargames.  My wife and daughter set up a nice, woodland table that wouldn't be out-of-place for a LotR SBG game...

  As the game ramped up, we saw Cupid compelling the Sundown Enforcers backwards after getting peppered with sheets of firepower, and Mikel chasing Mr. Milky into the trees for far too long- the Cyphers were definitely a focus!

  But the story of Tahariel and Bang Bang seems to be fated to remaining the same- Ms. Kaylee slowed Mikel's obsessive advance and eventually charged to finish the weakened cleric.  The Sundown Enforcers, long frustrated with Cupid's shenanigans, opened fire on Tahariel from across the battlefield and added to Bang Bang's deadeye shots, giving Kaylee her chance to sneak up on an unsuspecting target and use her claws.  Tahariel screamed in agony and fled the area, defeated this time...  

  It was a great game and both of the ladies playing had an absolute blast!  It was also great to see a complete 'noob' be able to pick up the rules and game-flow so easily, meaning that this should be a very easy game to teach.  This game just used the models from the 2-player starter set and the games are even more fun at the 'full-size'- that's more units to field!  I'm working on those right now.  Be sure to check out the set and more here.  

Happy Gaming!

Da Boyz iz comin'!

   If  you haven't paid attention lately- 40k is coming out with a new edition in only a few weeks.  The starter box will have Blood Angels (the old and new again poster-boyz!) and Orks and be themed around the continuing third war for Armageddon.  I don't want a new edition.  But I do want more boyz and my addiction to toy soldiers far outweighs my budgetary discipline.  

  My son demanded that we play a game finally (life has been 'fun' for both of us recently!) and I had to ask which foe he'd like to vanquish.  Dem greenskins wuz his target, so I had to do some digging to pull those old things out.  I have SO MUCH and still have WAY MORE to build and paint, but now I worry about the new edition and all those models becoming replaced anyway, so this game needed to happen just to give my collection their 'last run'.  My son, being the great defender of the war-planet, decided to bring his Black Templars led by Grimaldus himself, so this last run was going to be a massacre for the xenos.  Or so I thought...

  We deployed our forces and I saw my tough, unarmoured mob lined up across from his tough, heavily-armoured mob.  We rolled off for the first turn and the Emprah's angels won, so they got to jump forward and advanced with everything, their righteous zeal pushing them to cleanse the unclean.  The Templars shot with a couple of weapons but caused no significant damage, and then stood to wait for the oncoming charge.  Their chainsswords revved with murdurous intent and their voxes spread prayers of hatred and litanies of faith to the Emprah.  The only choice for the Orks was to match that energy and charge.

  The wall of greenskins surged forward and their mobs were quickly joined by a ramshackle but speedy Battlewagon sneaking from the flank and blocking off the Templars' dreadnought with its massive size and blocking line-of-sight.  With that, the cheers erupted and the choppas swung and the Orks gleefully leapt into the Black Templar lines.  When the smoke finally cleared, more than half the marines were destroyed and the Orks had lost only a few of their number.  Now it was an unarmoured horde versus a couple of armoured defenders.  

  We finished the next turn, just rolling dice to see if anything neat would happen, and it didn't.  The Orks massacred the Black Templars.  In game terms, the Orks almost 'tabled' their opponent in two turns.  In narrative terms- the greenskins have long taken over Armageddon, scrapping and looting any abandoned Imperial site that they could find.  The Templars were dispatched to reclaim a particular area (now a junkyard and less a defensible site) and they ran into overly eager inhabitants.  Zeal does not replace Intel...

  The problem in this battle (besides a lack of dense terrain- we wanted to fight, not dodge!) is that the Templars went first and ran up too quickly, allowing the Orks first turn to take advantage of the 'Waaagh' rule and get stuck-in very quickly.  This gave Orks first strike and the sheer weight of numbers quickly overwhelmed even power armour.  But it was fun and we got to see the greenskins do what greenskins do.  

  Needless to say, I can't wait for the new edition.  I want more boyz!  They're coming, and soon.  

As always, Happy Gaming!