Age of ............. wait where are the points

The Age of Sigmar is here, the rules have been slashed to four pages doesn't worry me at all, a reset of the lore not a problem, no reactive gameplay I can live with that, no structure; well thats a problem.

I understand that Games Workshop is going a long way to produce games designed for playing socially rather than competitively but I would like some structure to build my force around, even when I drop around to a mates place for a game and a couple of drinks on a Friday night.

I have witnessed a lot of discussion over the last day or so in regards to this and I've seen a number of good ideas and I'm going to present my ideas on a basic structure here in preparation for the Tricksters Blade tournament I run each year. I want to move forward with Age of Sigmar rather than sticking with 8th Edition Fantasy, mainly because I see this year being the final Tricksters Blade if we stick with 8th rather than finding a way to adapt.

Potential Tricksters Blade Framework;

• Limit of 100 wounds
• Models that don't have a wounds characteristic listed count as 10 wounds
• No unit can have more than 30 wounds total. i.e. 10 Chaos Knights @ 3 wounds ea, or 30 Night Goblins @ 1 wound ea.
• No more than one of any named character. i.e. Karl Franz.
• The following Keywords showing up no more than 8 times and no single one of the following keywords appearing more than 4 times in a single list; Hero,Wizard, Priest, Monster, War Machine. So Negash would take up 4 being a Hero, Wizard, Priest, & a Monster, and you could not have more than 3 more of each of those keywords in your army.
• All models in the same unit must be on the same sized and shaped base.
• Measurements are to be made from the edge of the models base, if measuring between models use the nearest edge to nearest edge.
• No Sudden Death
• Kairos and the Screaming Bell can not be selected in the same list

I know that what I have presented here will not keep everyone happy, and I don't think any system ever will. The Tricksters Blade Tournament will be held in October this year and I intend to put out a Players Pack in early August, so your opinions and ideas on the subject of adding some structure to AoS and making Tricksters an awesome weekend will be appreciated.

Until next time ...........

may it not be so long

Mark

Travis: A Reason not to Live in Middle Earth

Middle Earth is a scary place to live, the free people are fighting against all sorts of ancient evils; and if not for Elves and epic Heroes the Good Guys wouldn't stand a chance. This is very apparent in the minis, as my armies grow my good guys gets more horses and guys running around trying to hit things with a sword. My evil forces have recently acquired some large beasties. I'm working on a Mumak, ordered a Watcher and present to you what is described as Cirith Ungol's most Ancient Evil.

Give me a Hug!

Who Would Win?  The Hobbits apparently...

The model is of course Shelob, i found the model fairly difficult to build, but once completed and painted i would have to say she is my favorite GW Spider. In the game she doesn't really accomplish much. Just pounces around tormenting troops. A Solid hero should see her scuttling off the board.

I also managed to finish the Walking version of Suladan, so when his horse is inevitably shot out from under him i have model to use.

Like i said earlier I'm working on a Mumak, I'll try to finish it this week but it is a big model.

Some call me.... Travis

Hi i am a friend of Mark -The Project Circle Blogger. After much discussion we decided to collaborate our efforts into a single blog, as to save space on the Interwebz...

From the message above you can see im a caring guy, i have 1 friend and don't like to waste digital space :)

But to be honest we're here to blog about gaming and modelling, things which i love and have been involved in for more than a decade.

As you might have noticed in Marks posts he has been occupied getting beat-up by a friend in various games. That would be me. I play Mordhiem, Blood Bowl, LotR and Warhammer as well as a few different little games here and there.

Okay with introductions over i move onto my recent modelling and painting.

Here is a model that needs no introduction (if you don't know what it is maybe you shouldn't be here)

You Shall Not Pass!

On to other things here are some snapshots of Mark and i playing Warhammer. Lizards vs Wood Elfs

The Reason Lizards win games

Stegadon mounts the Temple chasing some Dryads

 Okay so that will do for my first post, i plan to post each Wednesday with updates on gaming endeavors. 

I should have some Mordheim lizards to show next week.

Until then remember - Always accept the rolls of the dice as the Will of the Gods (unless you have a Team Re-roll)

Travis

Off the Bench

I haven't had a great deal of time to spend at the paint table this week and the heat of a Queensland summer (still 30ºC at 10pm on a couple nights) has really sapped my enthusiasm in those times I had the chance. Even with the inconvenience of the heat I have managed to get a solid start on the Ogre and chariot body for my Ironblaster.

I have managed a little extra gaming this week as well, catching up with a friend who works shocking hours and is unable to join us at the local club. I managed to get the Ogres out for their first run at Blood Bowl since I've had them painted, and promptly lost. It seems that Ogres have some ball handling issues and I didn't see the worth of Snotlings until  it was too late, I think a rematch is in order here.

I also had my first real game of Lord of the Rings through the week and found it to be a much better game than I anticipated, with heroic actions, banner placement and the order fights are chosen being a far more tactical fair than I thought they would be. While I lost this game too (I'm seeing a trend here) I did learn a lot, and to be fair my opponent did have Legolas, Haldir and more than half his elves had bows. The fact that I deployed my Uruk-hi with Crossbows where they had no one to shoot at, and walked straight down the throat of elven shooting had nothing to do with it at all. The fact that I managed to roll snake eyes four times in a series of five fights in a single turn may have contributed to this as well.

Now I'm off to spend some money on yet another miniature game.

And just to help my ego a bit I managed to get a game of 40k against my long tome rival Trev from Triple Helix last weekend, and shock horror I managed a win in this one. And I don't care what he says, lining up my transports as a shield between his heavy weapons and the only scoring unit left on the table is a completely viable tactic. Especially when they're sitting on an objective.

Until next time .......

Mark

2012 Totals

Miniatures Purchased: 20

Miniatures Gift/Trade: 198

Miniatures Painted: 41

Wood Elf Points: 420

Dark Angels Points: 1245

Circle Points:18

Wood Elf Wardancers #2

I have managed to finish another 5 wardancers for my wood elf army, I have also managed to put paint on enough space marines and vehicles for the first 1000pts of my Dark Angles army, due in no small part to the fact that the compressor for my airbrush arrived this morning. I have laid down the highlight a little bright compared to the ones I painted by hand but this is nothing that a wash of Badab Black can't fix, I hope.

The two on the left are there for color comparison

I am hoping to get them finished by next weekend where I am using them as the bye buster for a local 40k tournament that I'm running.

Miniatures Painted: 5
Miniatures Purchased: 20 (Empire Militia for Mordheim)

Until next time

Mark

Prancing Dancing Elves

I thought that I would keep in the Christmas spirit with these Wood Elf Wardancers that I have recently finished, there are two more batches to come after this to give me a full unit of 15.

Merry Christmas everyone and a safe and prosperous new year.

Until next time

Mark

I Think I May Have ..........

I think I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew, since starting this blog four months ago I have painted more miniatures than I had in the previous four years. I have resurrected a lot of old projects and started a couple of new ones, and have found myself in a bit of a jam as I become a little overloaded coming into the holiday season. I have been working on my Circle of Oboros which was the whole reason I started this blog, working on a couple of Warhammer Fantasy and 40K army's, working on miniatures for Role Playing, looking at rules for a couple of new games, running a local wargameing club, laying the ground work for 3 tournaments and a Warmachine/Hordes campaign, participating in a campaign run by Trev from Triple Helix and starting a new job ........ deep breath ........ I have just started working on Skorne for Hordes and teaching some newer players the game of warmachine at the other local gameing club.

Warmachine / Hordes
The game has not grabbed me in the way I thought it would, don't get me wrong it's tactical, challenging, balanced and fun, but for me fun really needs to come before the rest. I will be honest I much prefer running tournaments than playing in them (I would say that I'm insane, but my shrink said I'm not) so I'm not really in the target audience but that has never stopped me in the past, I am going to keep painting and playing it just won't be at the top of the list. I'm also going to put the Skorne back on the shelf I don't have th inclination or the time to work on them along with my other projects.

Warhammer Fantasy
My game of choice at the moment, despite the problems inherent in 8th edition the fact that fun rather than competitive play is at the forefront of the current rules wins it my vote. The only problem I have is settling on an army, of late I have been spinning my wheels while working on my Ogres, Wood Elves, Skaven, VC and WOC all at the same time. I really need to settle on just one project and see it through to the end in order to get some traction and start finishing some miniatures. The Ogres have the whole new and shiny thing going for them at the moment but that is starting to wear off so I will probably start looking at one of my old faithfuls. I have a dwarf army sitting in bits at the moment as well but have so far resisted the urge to start on them as well.

Warhammer 40,000
40k hasn't received much love from me over the last couple of years, but I can't deny that I still love the miniatures. I have shown the results of my work with the guard in a previous post but I have been working steadily on my Dark Angles as well touching up some old work and starting on some additions as well. The other projects I have worked on recently include CSM Word Bearers, CSM World Eaters, CSM The Reborn (pg21 CSM) , Dark Eldar, Craftworld Eldar Blood Angles and Space Wolves. This is another case where I am going to have to sort out my priorities and find a single project to work on, at the moment I am leaning towards the Dark Angles but I have a soft spot for the guard as well.

Role Play
I have a lot of fun GMing a Pathfinder RPG campaign, at least I did while I could find a large enough group of players. With the release of the Beginner Box that may be changing There has been a lot of interest generated by the simplified rules. It also means less miniatures to build and paint due to the reduced beastery, with the added benefit of the cardboard pawns that come in the box that cover all of the monsters in the book. This will free up a bit of time to spend on other projects, as much as I would prefer the miniatures.

The Clubs
Other than the time spent at the venue the clubs don't take up a whole lot of time, things can get a little stressful dealing with the various issues you get between people that deal with each other on a regular basis. This wouldn't be much of an issue in a larger club but we quite often only get 4 or 5 people at a meet which means everyone is in close proximity and dealing with everyone else in the room. To date we have been able to sort things out relatively quickly between ourselves. Unfortunately rumors have been surfacing that there is a bit of a feud between the two clubs in the area, Kingaroy Wargamers which I have a hand in running and the other club that can't seem to settle on a name. Now that I am working in Kingaroy on Fridays I have started droping in having a chat and helping out a couple of guy's that have recently started playing Warmachine and Hordes. Unfortunately know one I have spoken to knows what this feud is about, I am sure it is simply a misunderstanding and could be sorted out quickly if I could find someone that knows what the issue is.

Tournaments and Campaigns
Each year I organize a Warhammer Fantasy tournament called Tricksters Blade and this year will be no different, I am also running a 40k tournament in mid January in order to catch the locals who are off at University and Boarding School during the year. I am planing a Warmachine/Hordes tournament for late next year that might go by the title Movember Melee if I can pull everything together. And I'm putting a Warmachine/Hordes campaign together as well, this won't start until our current Warhammer Fantasy campaign comes to an end sometime next year. The Claw and Iron campaign pack is available on scribd for anyone who wants a look.

Well I think I have rambled on for long enough now and I am impresed if you have made it all the way to the end. I am hoping this will be able to help me get my head together and sort out which projects I want to work on which should in turn increase both turnout and quality of my painting. Here's to future succeses.

Until next time

Mark

WIP Chaos Sorcerer

I started this guy a number of years ago with grand plans in mind, but lost momentum with the army and he was left sitting on the shelf gathering dust. After watching Tim's video tutorial on sculpting Barbaric Fur I felt inspired and picked up the sorcerer and sculpted a shag pile rug on his back. This is the first time I have done anything with green stuff other than filling gaps, and I don't think he has turned out too bad.

Purple Hippie Druids

I have finally decided on a colour scheme for my Druids, and it can be summed up in one word PURPLE. Now that I have this sorted I should see some progress on the rest of the army.

I have also been able to get some work done on my Ogres. I'm using this guy as a BSB at the moment, he will become my Irongut or Maneater standard bearer when I get inspired enough to build something a little more character worthy.

Until next time

Mark

A Little Distraction

I have become a little distracted of late when it comes to the hobby especially with the thought of needing to move for work. I really haven't wanted to start anything new but it doesn't look like that is going to happen so back to it.

I have been working solidly on some campaign markers for Trev's Norsca in Flames Campaign. While I only really needed to get a marker done for myself some of our club members are not known for their dedication to the hobby, so I did some for them and then some extras just in case. Here are the first nine, there are a few more still on my painting bench that I need to finish.

The Ogre Cave is the marker for my own capital and the others are fore whomever needs them. Sadly six of the seven players partaking in the campaign have ended up using one these markers.

I have also managed to get a start on my Ironblaster for the Ogres here is a WIP pic of the Rhinox, I'm quite happy with the way it is looking at the moment.

Until Next Time

Mark

So much time so little hobby

As the title suggests I have not done a lot with regards to the man dollies over the last few weeks. I blame my rediscovery of the X-Box the horrible little time waster that it is. (I think I've spent more time on it than I did when I was flood bound in January)

I did manage a game of Warhammer Fantasy against Nathan Goodchild to help him prep for the upcoming Australian Warhammer Masters. The resault was unfortunately a foregone conclusion before we even deployed, he was trying out a list using my Dwarves which left me with my Wood Elves, which just can't stand up to massed flaming/magical artillery.

I have managed to get some conversion and painting done as well, I have an Ogre Butcher of Death converted and mostly painted, ready to be unleashed when my copy of the army book finally turns up (ebay from the states I just couldn't justify AU$69 for the book).

Butcher of Death

Coming up in the next couple of weeks I have a 5000pt multiplayer game of fantasy at our next club meet that I need to get some Dwarves done for. There are a few RP conventions coming to Brisbane in October (AUScon II and Paizo con) that I am going to try and get to so I need to get a couple of character miniatures painted for them. It will be a nice change from DMing, it's been a few years since I have been able to just sit back play and just enjoy myself at the table (not that I don't enjoy DMing, it just takes a lot of work and is a very different experience).