Privateer Press Forums Secret Santa

I wrapped up my models for the Secret Santa on the PP forums tonight.

I'm actually quite proud of winter Sevvy. Lots of cool blends and stuff going on there and I feel like the limited palette was a cool touch. Nemo was a bit of a speed paint, but still looks decent. I'm especially happy with the blue armor and might be changing the way I paint cygnar when I return to working on my Swans. 

RPGS and Me

Welcome to D9 minis 5 year anniversary post #2!

RPGs have always been my main focus of nerding. I was first introduced to Dungeons and Dragons in the first edition of Ad&D but really started playing when second edition came out. I can still picture the full color art in the players and DMs books from 2nd edition as well as the dividers in my two monstrous compendium binders. I played 2nd ed through college and then, after a few years off, made the leap to 3rd. Several campaigns in 3rd edition led to my first golden period of RPG gaming in 3.5. My group, which included some of my oldest friends and my wife, tackled Paizo's "Age of Worms." While we didn't finish the whole path, the two odd years we spent working through the majority of the modules were some of the most enjoyable times I've ever spent gaming. From there we went on an Eberon kick (still my favorite TSR/ WoTC published setting) right up until 4e hit.

I knew 4th edition was going to be different, but we tried it anyway. After many sessions that just felt lackluster to me, our group slowly slipped apart. You know how it goes. One week you can't get everyone and then a few more weeks go by, and then you toy with starting new characters, and before you know it everyone just stays home and plays WoW.

I switched over to Pathfinder and got the group together after a year or so hiatus and launched several games. The Pathfinder system was what I wanted from my RPG, especially at the sweet 3rd to 10th level range, so it became my system of choice and continues so to this day.

For the last two years, I have been DMing a group through the depths of Rapun Athuk, published by the sadistic bastards at Necromancer Games. We made some interesting tweaks to make sure the party didn't wipe every single session, and unleashed pure munchkin power gaming so that they had a shot at survival, and now after many, many hours, the group has hit level 14 and is pushing into some of the lower levels of the Dungeon of Graves. It is our goal to see the final battle with Orcus sometime this summer.

Once Rapun Athuk is done with the PCs, we plan to move on to the Skull and Shackles adventure path. It's time for some l-ARRRRR-ceny on the Inner Sea!

Outside of Pathfinder, I'm looking forward to some other RPG work in 2015. I really would like to give Star Wars: Edge of the Empire a try, as well as Numenera and The Iron Kingdoms RPG. All of them have a cool mechanic and incredible settings. So many games so little time.

One thing is for sure. If I had to drop all of my nerdy pursuits except for one, RPGs would be what makes the cut.

5 Year Anniversary and a New Start

Five years ago I started this blog as a place to show off my painting projects. At the time, our group was playing Warhammer 40k every few weekends and were on a hiatus from RPGS, CCGS, etc. My wife and I were playing lots of WoW and board games were still on the edge of our gaming consciousness.

Wow how times have changed.

As this blog enters its fifth year of existence, I want to make it a priority again. Not just as a showcase of painting, but a look at all the nerding my group of friends and I do. So what is the state of nerding in D-9 ville?

Warmachine/ Hordes is the minis game of choice. I have four factions in rotation on the game table and on the painting table. If I had to choose, Circle is my main faction these days with Cryx a close second. Cygnar lurks in the army bag, always a temptation to break out, then I remember I like winning. As much as I enjoy the models, the Cygnar play style just doesn't fit for me. I recently acquired a trollbloods army and plan on getting them painted up and fielded this year.

Outside of Warmahordes, I'm enjoying X-Wing and D&D Attack wing. I just wish we got more time to play. I have sold all of my 40k stuff except for my World Eaters and my Dark Angels. They lurk on the shelf, looking forward to some day when we might return to the grim-dark, but that day won't be any day soon.

The last few months have also seen me dusting off my Warhammer Fantasy models and making a few purchases on ebay to seal the armies I already owned. I have 4000 points of Wood Elves and Beastmen and my wife is still holding onto about 4000 points of Tomb Kings. I kickstarted the Kings of War second edition with the hopes that the rules might be more interesting than the current Warhammer Fantasy ruleset.

Last year I also invested in a Rohan army for LoTR and a smattering of Uruk Hai. This was more as an investment since the models are getting a bit hard to find, and as a Tolkien fan and a wargammer I felt that I would kick myself if I didn't own some of the GW forces.

My painting projects in the upcoming year will focus on my Trolls, my friend's Merc Pirates, some Warhammer Fantasy stuff and probably my Cygnar.

NEXT TIME: RPGS!

Some 50 Point Circle Lists

Here are some of my 50 point Circle Armies currently in rotation

Back to Cygnar: Stryker 3 and His Incredible Thunder Ponies!

So, my 6 lists for Cryx and Circle are 100% done. Joey Baltimore's first 50 point list is good, Hanan's first 50 point list is done and famous for its rapidity, and while I've got more work to do for them, I've got some time. I've decided to return to Cygnar with my painting.

My goal for Cygnar is to play Tier 4 Theme Forces. eStryker, eNemo, 3Nemo, 3Stryker, and eHaley. My first project is for the latest Stryker incarnation. 

This model is a giant PITA. It's on the smaller side of scale, and laden with detail. On top of that, the angles are crazy making it tough to get to everything. Here's what I have done:

The Finished Legion

I just saw that I never posted the finished Legion army on my blog. For those who didn't see it on the P.P. boards...

50 points in approx. 14-17 hours. Not too shabby. 

Benchwarmers: Lists I'm Not Playing

For a variety of reasons, these three lists have been sitting the bench since I returned to Circle this year. Mainly, eMorvahna is just THAT GOOD that these two lists have been sat aside for the time being. Both are beast heavy and built to trash heavies and colossals. I could see them sliding into my second list spot if I knew the meta was going to be stacked with heavy armor, or if our team needs an army crack list.

-Kromac
   -Ghettorix
   -2x Warpwolf Stalkers
   -Wold Watcher

-Min Bloodtrackers + Nuala
-Min. Tharn Wolf Riders
-Tharn Ravager Whitemane
-Shifting Stones

-eKaya
 -Stalker
 -Feral
 -Pureblood
 -Gorax
 -Wilder
-Full Skinwalkers+ Alpha
-Full Druids +UA
-Stones


My poor Grayle list isn't even pictured. I tried really hard to make Grayle work, and he is fun to play. But it seems like he just falls apart in almost any top tier match up.

Next up on the painting table: Joey Baltimore's Exemplar Errants

Circle Orboros 50 Point Lists

These are my current "In Play" Circle lists.

-eMorvahna
   -Wold Wrath
   -Gorax
-Full Skinwalkers + UA
-Full Reeves
-2x Gallows Grove
-3x War Wolves
-1 x Reeve Hunter
-1 x Tharn Ravager Whitemane

-pKrueger
   -Megalith
   -Wold Warden
   -Gorax
   -Feral Warpwolf
-Druids + UA
-Shifting Stones +UA
-Shifting Stones
-Tharn Bloodweavers
-Blackclad Wayfarer
-Feralgiest

-eBaldur
   -Megalith
   -Wold Warden
   -3xWold Watchers
-Celestial Fulcrum
-Druids +UA
-Stones +UA
-Stones

All three present very different games. Kreuger and Morvahna are my go to pairing right now as they seem to compliment each other. Both are attrition style lists, but Krueger tends to do better against swarm infantry, while Morvahna presents a much more balanced face against other foes.

The Baldur list is an armor skew that an opponent can either handle easily or just flat out loses to. The amount of arm 21+ in this army can be scary, especially when it is healing every turn.

Tomorrow, I'll post a few of my lesser played Circle lists and discuss why they fell out of favor.

Day 5: Small Base Stuff!

Everything is coming along nicely. With a little luck, everything will be ready to go by Saturday's tourney.

Day 4! Proteus and a Succubus!

This truly is a speed paint. I'm using washes and inks to get these models done as fast as possible. 

-Prime White
-Skin is washed with Citadel Technical Oxide paint. It is the perfect consistency to get the blue I want. 
-P3 Magenta watered down to a glaze and then wet applied to the base coat around folds of skin and anywhere that needs to look funky
-Reaper Ghost White watered down and then glazed over the other two colors
-Final hit of ghost white over anything that looks suspect. 
-Chitin and bone is covered in brown ink 
-second coat of brown ink applied to the shadowed areas. 
-Reaper aged bone added to claws and bone spurs/ used to highlight the ink (WAIT FOR THE INK TO DRY) 
-Reaper polished bone for final highlights
-P3 Meridius Blue for the "circles" at the beasts' jaws. Highlighted with mixed blue and ghost white quick hit of leviathan purple citadel wash around the edges for shadow.
-liberal application of citadel Blood technical paint. 

Typhon took about four hours from start to finish, Proteus and the Ravagore were about 2.5 each. The naga and the succubus were about 45 mins a piece. Lylyth is a totally different paint job, done on a black spray coat, and took about 2 hours. Not bad for only working after my wife and daughter go to bed! 

Tomorrow is the Blackfrost Shard!

Day 3: Ravagore and Naga

So this evening saw the completion of the ravagore and the naga. I'm working quickly so things aren't perfect and neat, but I feel like it is working on these models. The bloody maws and claws are fun to pull off!

Tomorrow is Proteus!

Day 2: 50 Points in 7 Days

Must sleep. Look at pictures:

50 points of Legion in 7 Days.

Hey blogosphere. It has been a while. I have lots of new models to show you, if I ever get up enough energy to photograph everything. Today's return to blogging is to chronicle a little project I have going on this week.

At last week's Warmahordes night, the Carney Gaming Division of Nerd so Hard University delegation to the Titan Games team tournament was eagerly practicing so we could not lose. Following our games and several drinks, my esteemed team mate told us that he was bringing an unpainted army to the tournament.

This could not stand.

Challenge accepted.

So I have seven days to paint his 50 point Legion army.

(Why do I talk when I drink?)

So, night one is down. I spent a long time working on a scheme. eLylyth is painted and Typhon is half done. Pics for the big T below.

I spray things...

Tomorrow night is all about finishing off Typhon and getting a ravagore done as well.

Menoth!

Joey bs Menoth

Not Quite a Year Later...

That's right fools... D-9 is back on the internets. You know you've missed my particular brand of pithy hobby commentary... or at least some of my service-ably painted models. 

Well the good news is, I've missed blogging, so it's time to try to make the old valiant effort to post once again. So... what news from the Mark?

I'm a DAD: that's where the last 350 or so odd days have gone. My hobbying hasn't totally disappeared, but the time to write about it certainly did. My daughter is 15 months old next week and she is hands down the coolest thing in the world. 

WARMAHORDES IS STILL KING: Since last we spoke, I've played a lot of Warmachine. I rode the Cryx wave last year, taking Skarre and Denny to several tournaments. Some you win, some you lose, and sometimes you bring Venethrax as your second caster and wonder just how much you had to drink the night before when you made THAT piece of brilliant decision making. This year, I'm switching back to Circle for the foreseeable future. eBaldur and the Goat are my two lists of choice. So far, so good. 5-0 on the year. 

I'M STILL PAINTING: I painted 101 models last year. Lots of cryx stuff. Some random Cygnar and some Menoth for Joey Baltimore. This year, I'm starting off with more Circle while still churching out Joey Bs new army for him. Pictures shall come soon. 

PATHFINDER CONSISTENCY FINALLY ACHIEVED! Our Pathfinder group has been playing roughly every two weeks since May. I've had a ton of fun getting back into a consistent RPG campaign. We are running a modded Rappun Athuk from Necromancer Games and loving every terribly over the top minute of it. 

GUILD WARS 2: WoW is dead and gone. My wife and I are enjoying a very casual relationship with Guild Wars 2. We play, a lot, but don't take it super seriously. 

So that's that. Lots of other interesting little things in the last year, but they'll come out in the wash. In the meantime, I'm going to rev up the camera and take some pictures to share what I've been working on.