The Workbench

Somewhat self-indulgent, I know. However if you are like me you're curious to what kind of home setups other hobbyist have. I've seen plenty of other people share theirs so I guess it's my turn . I am pretty fortunate that I have most of my basement to my own devices so one corner is devoted to my work area. I basically have two stations the first photo is the main one-where I work on figures and do the detail painting, while the bottom photo shows my other workbench that I use when airbrushing or just for working on larger models or terrain orwhen I need more space. I found that wooden paint rack on the far right by a dumpster near my office and snagged it quick. ( alot cheaper and time consuming then the C&C paint rack right below it. LOL!) After a quick clean up, and reorganization the space was looking pretty tidy so I snapped a few pictures. Trust me, it NEVER looks this clean..I am sure it will be a disaster by next weekend.

The main bench-


the whole area..

Anyways, Thanks for looking!

Starting Hirst Arts

Most of you who read this are already familiar with Hirst Arts. If you are not- they sell molds for plaster-casting construction sets of buildings and terrain for use with miniature gaming.
I've been eye-balling this stuff a good long while not wanting to take the plunge until I felt I had some serious modeling experience under my belt. I put this simple Ruin together with the blocks I got (and cast myself)at the Hirst Art's Seminar I participated in at Adepticon this year. I like the final results as the stuff paints up quite well. It's finally time to pick up some molds so I'm going to borrow a few to get some ideas on what direction of a project I want to build, With long holiday weekend coming up, I should be able to get a few days in to mess around. (I should mention the statue and the tree stumps in the rear are Armorcast products) In an effort to make the blog more informative- once I decide what to build, I will try to document the procedure for a future article.

Mordor!

Yes, I have succumbed to temptation. Despite really, really not needing to pick up another game system- I cannot deny my fondness or affection for Lord of the Rings. All those new Mordor models where calling out to me from the pages of White Dwarf and even thou I resisted the urge when the very cool Corsairs of Umbar where released a few months ago, I could not resist the Dark Lord!. I recently picked up a box of Mordor Orcs, the new plastic Troll kit and the new Mordor book last Saturday. Seriously- its more so the fact that most of GWOP ( Games Workshop, Oak Park) campaign gang also plays LotR, I am already familiar and really like the combat system via Legend of the High Seas. While I know a few guys prepping for some LotHS games, odds are I won't get to play it all that often while LotR I can always squeak in a quick game on our off weeks over at GWOP club night. Whiles the models are night and day in detail and quality from the recent Warhammer Fantasy stuff, they are very easy to assemble and paint. The biggest obstacle being scraping the flash. I actually assembled and primed 24 orcs and the troll. In addition I sprayed all the bases and even managed to paint a couple orcs to a pretty decent standard. All that in 2- four hour sittings, on Saturday and Sunday with an extra hour or so Monday night. In comparison it took me a solid 8+ hours -just to build my first box of 10 of the new VC, Skeleton Warriors. Anyway its a low model count game that plays pretty fast...I'll planning on a Cirith Ungol/ Minas Morgul force probably around 750 points max...we will see how it goes





12:30 am- so I played my first two games tonight, game one was 300 points I ran Gorbag the Orc Captain, -w/ 23 orcs,- 7 w/Sword & Shield, 8 w/ Spears, 4 w/ Bow/, 4 w/ two handed weapons, plus the Troll. I played against Moria Goblins, with a War Drum and a Goblin King. Close game, the goblin king took down my troll, While Gorbag killed off the war drummers.
In the end he failed his courage and fled before I did.
The second match was 400 points, I ran the same army plus a second (borrowed) Troll against Boromir, Arwen, Gondorian Soldiers and Elven Archers. Ouch..much different game, Boromir is a monster. The game came down to Gorbag, who somehow made all his courage checks, until he stood alone against Boromir and 5 other guys...game over.

What I learned- Orc troops can't hang against Gondor's foot soldiers, I need 6's to wound...two handed weapons on Orc's kind of suck because of the -1 to your fight (even thou the +1 to wound is great) and you roll alot more tie's than you think. Orc's with Swords & Shields or Spears are great, the 18" Bows are useless. I would much rather have 4 more guys with shields -Trolls are totally punishing, only going down to lucky captains or characters.... Time to beef up my orcs with some Mordor Uruk-hai.. I bought a blister. Anyway I am liking this game, fast, easy, fun-

Updated- 6/29

The Mordor gang is coming together pretty quick...here's the troll and Uruk-hai
I converted all my Uruk's with misc VC bits left from my first box, the parts are the perfect size. below is the group so far, there are another 4 guys on the bench drying

Mighty Empires III- Round 7

6/17 @ Games Workshop, Oak Park


Current Scores

Josh- Chaos Undivided- 14
Jeff- Chaos Undivided 13- Capital
Anthony- Orcs and Goblins 13- Capital
Andre-Dwarfs 11- Capital
John- Empire 9- Captial
Bill- Vampire Counts 9- Capital
Billy- High Elves 6
Kenny- Ogres 6
Erik- Dogs of War 6
Joe- Lizardmen 4


John- Scouts
Erik- Building Boom
Anthony- War Tax
Jeff- All or Nothing
Kenny- Land Grab (via Praise)
Joe- Land grab
Andre- Diplomacy@ Joe
Billy- No Guts, No Glory
Josh- Survey the Battlefield
Bill- Praise be to the Oracle

CAMPAIGN EVENTS

John- Harvest Moon +250 gp
Erik- Harvest Moon +250 gp
Anthony- Corruption -100
Jeff- All is Well
Kenny- Famine, loses castle and city
Joe-Corruption -100
Andre- Rebellion (not income)
Billy- Corruption -100
Josh- All is well
Bill- All is well

Empire Points carried over

John 1
Josh 1
Erik 1


Items awarded via events tables
(this can be used at no cost to the player but do count against character
item limits)

Andre: Rune of Battle, Master Rune of Challenge (and
Bill: Drakenhoff Banner, Dispel scroll x2
Josh: 2 Dispel Scrolls
Joe: 2 Dispel Scrolls


REVENUE

John- 300 + 250
Erik- 300 + 250 (buys EP-250)= 300
Anthony- 350 (war tax+100/ corruption -100)
Jeff- 450
Kenny- 150
Joe- 100
Andre- 0- rebellion (no beer)
Billy- 250 - 100 corruption= 150
Josh- 525 (buys EP- 250) 275 toward reinforcements
Bill- 325


ALLIANCES-

Vampire Counts- Chaos Undivided (jeff)
High Elves- Empire- Dwarfs
Dogs of War- Ogres-
Chaos Undivided (Josh)- Orcs




CHALLENGES
All Players are default 2000 points before reinforcement purchases
Empire, Dwarfs, Orcs and Both Chaos factions are default 3000 points


INVASIONS

EMPIRE VS CHAOS (Josh) I2-I3
High Elves vs Orcs (allies)

MASSACRE CHAOS/ORCS!!! 5EP

CHAOS (Josh) VS LIZARDMEN H6-I7

MASSACRE CHAOS / Orc allies 5EP!!!


DOGS OF WAR VS CHAOS (Jeff) F7-E7

MASSACRE CHAOS 5 EP!!!!

OGRES VS LIZARDMEN G8-H8


OPEN CHALLENGES

VAMPIRE COUNTS VS DWARFS
DRAW- 2EP each




Special Characters
(each army has a access to a special character who is revealed over the course of the campaign, those in bold have joined their Empires)

Dogs of War- Lorenzo Lupo
Dwarfs- Thorgrim Grudgebearer
Ogres- Skrag the Slaughterer
Chaos Undivided (josh)- Galrauch
Lizardmen (joe)- Lord Kroak
Empire- Karl Franz
Vampire Counts- Mannfred Von Carstein
High Elves- Teclis
Chaos Undivided (jeff)- Archeaon
Orcs- Grimgor Ironhide

only 2 rounds to go!!!

The All Nighter

June 21st -Games Workshop, Oak Park 12:00 am

In celebration of the 1 year anniversary of the shop my local GW has a 45 hour event going starting at midnight Friday and running until 9pm Sunday night, the shop is open is the entire running events round the clock. With all the great prizes and swag you expect at an event like this.

Things started off with a 3K WFB tourney which I of course was a part of. There where 8 players, the armies were- Empire, Vampire Counts, Wood Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardman, Chaos Demons, and two Dwarf players. Standard RTT tourney rules with scenarios.

Being it 3K, I ran the emperor himself,- Karl Franz fresh off the painting table with his custom sculpted cape which I did some of my best freehand yet on. The cape is pretty flimsy so right I its only blue tac'd on as I don't know how well its going to hold. I put Karl on a warhorse and ran my other Lord on a Pegasus. Karl in a Block of swordsmen with a Warrior Priest and the Imperial Banner was nigh unstopped, he shrugged off about 20 wounds in my first game against Wood Elves., The unit did eventually break and was cut down however it was super close, point wise it was a Draw until we added in the bonus points for the scenario giving the Wood Elves the win.



The Emperor Karl Franz w/ Ghal Maraz

Second match was against some Dark Elves another super close game, this one was draw with only 120 point difference in my favor after scenario points where figured in. Both games I faced Elven lords on Dragons and held my own, at 3000 points the Empire is incredibly durable. I do wish we were at 2000 points however as these bigger games took time and as the sun was up well before the end of our second game. I knew I had to drop as I had to be home by 9am so my wife could go to work...so no third game for me...bummer BUT the good news was I was totally surprised to win the first raffle of the night!, I won the 25th anniversary Wood Elf box!, which while I don't play WE it retails at $190, what a prize! and may it just come in handy...the box contains, the awesome Wood Elf Noble on the great stag, 10 Wild Riders with full command, 5 Treekin and a Great Eagle.



My Raffle Prize

Bill-and his Vampire Counts round 1, VS Dark Elves
(Bill was the favorite to win after two rounds he was the only 2-0 player)
There were alot of draws happening this evening.




The Undead polish off some Cold One Knights, round 1


Dark Elf Knights on Cold Ones..I played these guys in round 2, the Hellblaster Volleygun took care of most of them.



The late night crowd hanging about

This at about 2:30 am or so, why people were hanging about hobbying this late when they where not in the tourney, is beyond me but more power to you...I was surprised with amount of people out this late. I figured it would just be the eight of us crazy enough to stay up all night ( and boy am I paying for it today) The 40K tourney is going on right now, but I am off to bed!!.

( Campaign guys, sorry the log isn't up yet, I forgot my camera Tuesday, so only got a picture of the map last night, I will get the log posted ASAP.)

Plastic Legions hits 10K!

So I broke past the 10,000 hit mark for this blog yesterday , not bad since I only put the counter on in mid January this year. My unique visitors have dropped to around 65 or so day from a high of around 85, but that's not surprising as my content output has been a little soft of late. I've got some bigger updates in the works, as you know its just a time thing but I am going to push for bigger and better content this summer, lots of pictures, battle reports on some other games like 40K and Legends of the High Seas, chronicling the evolution of my Celt barbarian Ancients army and my VC army for WFB. I doubt I will make it to Games Day Chicago this summer due to the arrival of my new daughter but I will definitely get back to some event coverage this fall with the Chicago GT. Anyway the point of this post is to say thanks to all of you who read my blog and the compliments and kind emails I have received about it. So THANK YOU and best of luck in your own endeavors.

Mighty Empires III- Round 6

6/3 @ Games Workshop, Oak Park


Jeff- Chaos Undivided 13- Capital
Anthony- Orcs and Goblins 13- Capital
Josh- Chaos Undivided 11
Andre-Dwarfs 11- Capital
John- Empire 7- Captial
Bill- Vampire Counts 7
Billy- High Elves 6
Kenny- Ogres 6
Erik- Dogs of War 6
Joe- Lizardmen 3



The Fog of War revealed- only 15 hexes remain unoccupied and 7 of them are in easy reach of the Dwarfs!!. * stars* are current Capitals


STRATEGIC EVENTS

John- Diplomacy@ Billy
Erik- Building Boom
Anthony- All or Nothing!!!
Jeff- War Tax (praise last week)
Kenny- Praise be to the Oracle
Joe- Land Grab
Andre- War Tax
Billy- Scouts
Josh- Fortune Favors the Bold
Bill- No Guts, No Glory

CAMPAIGN EVENTS

John- Fame
Erik- All is well
Anthony- Corruption -100
Jeff- Famine (loses 350 gold)
Kenny- Thy Lord Returns (no effect)
Joe-Disaster (passes)
Andre- All is well
Billy- Disaster (loses castle)
Josh- All is well
Bill- Infamy

Empire Points carried over

John 1
Erik 1
Josh 1
Andre 1
Anthony

Items awarded via events tables
(this can be used at no cost to the player but do count against character
item limits)

Andre: Rune of Battle, Master Rune of Challenge (and
Bill: Drakenhoff Banner, Dispel scroll x2
Josh: 2 Dispel Scrolls
Joe: 2 Dispel Scrolls


REVENUE

John- 300 +50 native populace= 350
Erik- 300 (buys EP-250)= 50
Anthony- 350
Jeff- 450 + 100 war tax- 300 for famine= 250
Kenny- 150
Joe- 75
Andre- 475 (buys EP-250) =225
Billy- 225
Josh- 500 (buys EP- 250) 250 toward reinforcements
Bill- 250


ALLIANCES-

Vampire Counts- Chaos Undivided (jeff)
High Elves- Lizardmen (Joe)
Dogs of War- Ogres
Empire- Dwarfs
Chaos Undivided (Josh)- Orcs
High Elves- Dwarfs
Chaos (Josh)- Empire


CHALLENGES
All Players are default 2000 points before reinforcement purchases
Empire, Dwarfs, Orcs and Both Chaos factions are default 3000 points


INVASIONS

VAMPIRE COUNTS VS ORCS (D3-E4)
DRAW- VC 2 EP!!!-

DOGS OF WAR VS HIGH ELVES (I6-J6)

CHAOS (JOSH) VS DOGS OF WAR (H5-H6)
CHAOS -MASSACRE 5 EP!!!!

CHAOS (JEFF) VS ORCS (E7-E6)

LIZARDMEN VS DWARFS (J8-J7)


OPEN CHALLENGES

EMPIRE VS OGRES
EMPIRE- MINOR VICTORY 3EP

LIZARDMEN VS OGRES


Special Characters
(each army has a access to a special character who is revealed over the course of the campaign, those in bold have joined their Empires)

Dogs of War- Lorenzo Lupo
Dwarfs- Thorgrim Grudgebearer
Ogres- Skrag the Slaughterer
Chaos Undivided (josh)- Galrauch
Lizardmen (joe)- Lord Kroak
Empire- Karl Franz
Vampire Counts- Mannfred Von Carstein
High Elves- Teclis
Chaos Undivided (jeff)- Archeaon
Orcs- Grimgor Ironhide



Notes: excitement on the map really took off this week with most of the map taken things are getting tense, I believe 3 games are going to be 3000 point allied matches using allies (guys I need confirmation of the 3K games with allies if you are playing in one) with 4 rounds of scoring still to go we wont have a problem seeing Empire sizes of 18 or more. several players score shot up dramatically with both chaos players uncovering Utopia hexs during turn 5's build and conquest phase, Jeff has already got his capital built....the Storm of Chaos never seems to end!!

Kenny and I had total slug fest today, I barely edged out a minor victory by 60 points or so...super close game and props to Ken as..dem Ogres is tuff!