They think it's over... it is now!

Gamesday was fun. Hard work and a long day but lots of fun. The "Happy Hour" table wasn't the prettiest of the five games in the Warhammer Historical section but I think it was the game enjoyed by more youngsters than the others. I caught Paul Sawyer (Warlord Games) looking over at our table - he was running an ECW game using his company's lovely plastics. We had twice the number of people playing our little game. I was impressed with the Warmaster Waterloo game put on by the 1st Company Veterans - they've done a great job adapting the rules to fit the Napoleonic era. I think there's a chance they might be getting their rules published by Warhammer Historical so good luck to them with that. You can have a look at their table here: http://www.1stcompanyveterans.net/events/gamesday09.php

Our section was right next to the "Grabbitt and Scarper" sale area where GW were flogging off old stock cheap. They had a stack of the 2008 Gamesday model (the Space Marine Captain with a thunder hammer) for just £1 each - so I bought five of them for conversion purposes. The best deal I saw was when they'd accidentally put a Planetstrike Saim Hain Eldar Wind Rider box on there. It was a splash release but the models were still current. My mate Phil bought it for £25 instead of £75! Bargain... I managed to hold myself back for a change as the Gamesday models were my only purchase of the day - I had bought some Forge World items last Gamesday and have yet to take them out of the plastic wrapping, let along use them, so my justification for buying more was unwarranted. I had a hankering for some shoulder pads and Rhino doors for my Crimson Fists but sense prevailed.

Anyway - here's some pics from the day. I'll be focussing on getting more Crimson Fists painted now as I've promised Phil a 3000 point 40K game with them as some point in December! Here's me, Brad, Phil and Mike, all looking rather pleased with ourselves (apart from Phil who rarely smiles in photos!)

Gamesday approaches...

Over the last few months, the guys at my club have been busy preparing their tables for UK Gamesday which takes place this coming Sunday. We're putting on two games this year - a 40K game based on some Dark Angels scouts defending against an invasion of plague zombies and a Legends of the High Seas game based on the Tavern Brawl scenario. I've helped playtest and build both games so here's a few pics to show you how they're looking. I'll post up more pics after I get back on Sunday.

Crimson Fist Terminators

I've finished the Terminators from the Black Reach set. The only thing I did with them was give one a spare heavy flamer. The models are pretty good despite being basic "clip together" starter set minis - they're totally compatible with the standard Terminator box sets although they're a little less dynamic.

I spray varnished these models to get rid of the shine on the decal and instead got a light white dusting all over them when the varnish dried. I'm damn annoyed about it but there's not a huge amount I can do about it apart from buy some new varnish - it's a little old and I think it's been sitting around too long. Even though I gave it a good shaking, I suspect the matt medium has separated from the carrier liquid.

Sons of Dorn - Crimson Fists Space Marines

I have a lot of half started/half completed armies. I get interested in a new project before finishing my current project much like a lot of wargamers. With this new army, I'm trying to use up a lot of the space marine models that I've constructed for other armies that never got finished. If I have to buy some new stuff to compliment the old models, well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :)

The first painted unit are the Tactical Squad from the Black Reach box set. The only conversion I've done is to give the sergeant a power weapon instead of his chainsword.

The Mighty Zug

I've been slack in painting recently as I bought the new Blood Bowl PC game. I managed to get in on the beta test earlier this year which was great even though it was only restricted to humans and orcs. I had baulked at paying £40 for the download version though and had intended to wait until September for when the retail version comes out in the UK. Too many of my gaming buddies have bought it though and I felt I was missing out so I caved in and paid the cash for the download. The game only has eight teams available (humans, orcs, dwarfs, wood elves, goblins, chaos, lizardmen and skaven) but it is outrageously good. Hence the lack of painting...

Over the last couple of days though, I've managed to prise myself away from the computer and started daubing some of the star player models I have got ready for the Middenheimer team. First up is an old model that has just recently been replaced with a new design - The Mighty Zug. I've still got Griff, Zara and Morg plus a coach to paint for the team.

Mr. Zero

One of the guys in my gaming club pointed out that my Middenheimer Blood Bowl team needed a big guy model for when the team gets enough winnings to be able to purchase an ogre. As it happened, I've been getting one ready and I finished him tonight...

This is one of the old 2nd. edition ogre models that I've had hanging around for ages. He's small enough to fit onto a 25mm base really but I put him on a 40mm base to match all the other big guy models I have in my collection. I'm sure I'll regret that whenever I use him against an ogre team!

Middenheim Blood Bowl team

I dug out this old project when a load of the guys from my gaming club went to the Blood Bowl GT. I was kinda peeved that I couldn't go and wasn't in the mood to paint the things I should be painting. I rediscovered the models while I was looking for something else to paint and decided to get them done once and for all.

The models themselves are from the 3rd. edition Blood Bowl set except I removed all their heads and replaced them with heads from the Empire Knight and Milita box sets. All fairly easy stuff but I knew I wanted them to be in a blue and white quartered scheme - mainly as the 2nd. edition rulebook had showed the Middenheim Marauders to be in a red and white quartered scheme and that just seemed wrong for Middenheimers! Painting so much white was a bit daunting and I think that's what had made me put the team in the "to paint" box all those years ago. They took me three weeks to finish but I'm really happy with the way they came out.