Eastern Steppes Bears WIP

I've been working here and there on a new Blood Bowl Chaos Renegade team. They are reminiscent of the old 2e Chaos All-Stars. I had an All Star team back in the day, but around 4th edition a mixed race chaos team was phased out of the rules. So some of the figures from my old team got folded into new teams.

To start with, I have 6 Marauders comprised of AoS Chaos Marauders with Chaos Knight shoulder pads and various human and chaos heads.

I also have 6 Marauders with Mutations built with the basic bitz as above. The mutations are taken from a variety of sources (from L to R): Claw/Prehensile/Tail, Tentacle, Disturbing Presence, Very Long Legs, Claw, Horrible Appearance.

The remnants of the old Chaos All-Stars in their original paint. The Goblin was picked up in a trade from the Lowdown Rats, and there is an Orc coming from the Bitz'box league. The new team will be painted in a different set of colors (Dark blue, Orange, and Grey) as this current color scheme is now being used for all the evil/chaos Star Players..

The original coaching staff have stuck around as well. All that is left is to dig up a couple of Assistant Coaches and a Cheerleader.

A first draft of the team logo. This will likely change, but this is a good representation of the team's new colors.

20mm Gladiators

I had the itch to try out some gladiator combat. After some research, I acquired 2 Hour Wargames Swordplay combat system. Then instead of just throwing some models on the table and giving the game system a go, I split a box of PEG-7100 1/72 (20mm) scale Gladiators with a friend. We got the box of 30+ figures for around $10 including S&H.

I based the figures on 20mm MDF bases.

Then I grouped them into 4 teams of 7 Gladiators plus 2 leaders. Each team received a woman, a small person, and a trident or spear. I incorporated as many head and arm swaps as I could in order to create more divers poses.

The plastic was very soft and the tridents and spears were terribly squiggly.

A trident modification using florist's wire and the original trident head.

A spear modification using florist's wire and crimping the tip into a spear head.

The purple team. I painted each of the 4 teams a different color: Blue, Purple, Red, and Orange. The 2 leaders were each painted in 2 colors (Blue/Purple and Red/Orange). This allowed us to play a 4-way game and a larger 1-on-1 game.

All of the Gladiators just after getting a cote of matte spray varnish.

The two teams of gladiators finished.

Dark Heresy Servitor Weapon Upgrades

Originally, I built a missile launcher and heavy bolter for these two servitors. You can see them in this post. Since then, I removed the weapons, added a magnet in the shoulder, and made the 2 new weapons below.

These weapons are now accurate to the current loadout for my Dark Heresy campaign.

I made the Heavy Stubber from an Ork heavy weapon and a Necromunda plastic Autogun. The grenade launcher was made from 2 different weapon halves from Wargames Factory Shock Trooper kit.

Ordo Bowl '17 Season 2 Round 6 AAR

Unfortunately, due to a number of drop in the Super league, the league has ended at 6 games and the play-offs with the top 4 teams begins next week. So Deathbot's New Orclean Saints and my Paravon City Chiefs seasons have ended.

Zorcon's Spike! Tournament Practice Game
Orcs vs Dwarves

The Dwarves about to score (The ball carrier and screen are
off camera bottom left corner.

One of the Premiership coaches is going up to Canada to compete in the Spike! tournament. I would love to go to this as well, but it is not in the cards this year. The Dwarf coach was looking for a practice game, so I thought the next best thing to going to Spike! would be to play a practice game.

I used the team I painted up for Deathbot and built a 1.2 million TV team. The bonus skill have a unique point buy system based on the tier of the team.

It was pouring rain the entire game--As was orc armor! To be fair, I did cause my fair share of damage, however towards the end of the first half, there were 8 Dwarves vs 6 Orc players. But when it comes down to it, I was simply out played.

My offence couldn't get through his defense and I was unable to stop his runners. Dwarves win 2-0. We both cased 4 Casualties each.

Zorcon's Super League Friendly Game
Paravon City Chiefs vs The Dirty Rat Bastards (Skaven)

Setting up for the second half

My scheduled opponent dropped earlier in the day, so I was scheduled to play the Skaven instead. Unfortunately another player dropped later in the day, causing the commissioners to end the league early.

This would have been my opponents game 7, so we decided to make this a friendly game in order for the Skaven team not to be a game ahead of the other top 3 teams. Of note, if we had played a league game as originally planned, winning this match would have put me in 4th place. But since I won the Super league last season, I wasn't supposed to be a contender this season--Another reason to make this a friendly game.

Because this was a friendly game, we used Special Play cards. We both drew 2 cards, but only played one to little effect.

Boy, I have a weakness! MA 8+ players are my kryptonite. The rats ran around my defense and through my offence at will. To quote my opponent:

"This was a close game filled with excess Skaven bullshittery.  Handoffs in tacklezones, multiple dodges, the Skaven gutter runners did things they really shouldn't have. Unfortunately, the Skaven lineman with the magic gauntlets was unable to hypnotize any vampires, although several attempts were made."

In the end, I prevented an embarrassing loss. The Dirty Rat Bastards win 3-2. No casualties caused the entire game.

Zorcon's Premiership League Game 6
Zharr'Thrak Seahawks vs Calamitous Intent (Nurgle)

Right after a Riot during the first Kick-Off of the second half
(the ball is in the shadow in the Endzone)

Going into this game I was a more than a little concerned. Four ST4, a ST5, and 470k in inducements. But to my surprise, my opponent did not buy Morg'n'Thorg. Instead he bought 2 Pestigor Mercenaries with Block, an Igor, and a Re-Roll.

I received the Kick-Off to open the game. I spent 6 turns trying to get through the Calamitous Intent defense. On turn 7 I finally broke free, but misjudged the distance and did not push forward with 2 GFI to put me in range to score on turn 8. First half ends 0-0.

I kick deep opening the second half, and the ball bounces into the Endzone. We get a Riot on the Kick-Off table and things go horribly wrong for Nurgle--& of 11 players are stunned! Then the ball bounced one square left, still in the Endzone. Then things get worse for the rotting team. The first action taken was to go pick up the ball, which failed after a re-roll. The ball bounced off the pitch and the crown threw it to the right side of the pitch and all the way off again. The ball was thrown in again onto my side of the pitch nestled between my Minotaur and a Bull Centaur (see pic above).

Things get even worse for the Nurgle team. On my turn 1, I pick up the ball and start a slow march up field. There was a momentary reprise for Calamitous Intent after sacking the ball carrier, causing a -1AG Serious Injury. However, I recovered the ball on my next urn and dismantled my opponent over the rest of the half.

Game ends in my favor, 1-0. The startling stat is the casualties, 7-1 my favor! Of those 7, 4 were Kills! Although all 4 were Regenerated. In the aftermath, 2 Chaos Dwarves leveled--A Guard picked up Mighty Blow, and a Claw/Mighty Blow picked up Dauntless. All this goodness came at a cost. My Sure Hands/Kick suffered a -1AG. Even though I find Kick to be a must have skill, I cant keep an 80k Hobgoblin that can't pick-up or pass the ball.

Final Thoughts

Its unfortunate that the Super League ended 2 games early. Deathbot was having a blast. Next season will likely start in about 4 months. We will use that time to improve Deathbot's skill in Blood Bowl.

Ordo Bowl '17 Season 2 Round 5 AAR

Another round of Blood Bowl games in the books. This time no Friendlies were played.

Zorcon's Super League Game 5
Paravon City Chiefs vs Royal Oak Boomsticks (Orcs)

Still recovering from the beating I took last time, I brought 2 Journeymen into this game. The game was a well balanced match, and neither of us has excessively good or bad rolls. Both teams completed a pass, as well as scored in the first half.

Game ended in a 1-1 tie, both in points and casualties. Another Thrall dies--A Journeyman. Two of my Vampires leveled and I gave them Frenzy.

Deathbot's Super League Game 5
New Orcleans Saints vs Mad Dogs of Middenheim (Human)

I made an unfortunate mistake helping Deathbot set-up. When pulling the figures out of the case, I pulled out one too many Black orc Blitzers (BoBs). So Deathbot played 3/4 of the game with 4 BoBs  instead of 3.

When the mistake was discovered, the commissioner and the 2 coaches came to an agreeable decision. The extra BoB was removed from the game, a casualty cased by said BoB was undone, and the game continued with Deathbot having 1 less player on the pitch. There is no way to tell what impact that had on the game.

The game ended in a 2-2 tie and was logged as official. No casualties on either side. Deathbot continued his success steak of throwing-Goblin TDs--Infact his Goblin is his most experienced player!

Zorcon's Premiership League Game 5
Zharr'Thrak Seahawks vs Dungeon Degenerates (Chaos Renegade)

Game image not available. Example of pitch we played on.

Before the game, I dropped a whopping 260,000 TV--I fired two Hobgoblins (1 with Dodge), an Assistant Coach, and 2 Re-Rolls. The Seahawks had the highest TV of the league, 400,000+ vs most other teams. Even after dropping that much TV, I still gave up 400k to the Degenerates. The Renegade coach purchased a Re-Roll and a Halfling Master Chef.

The dice were in my favor this game. Many players were knocked down and many armor rolls were passed. After putting the Troll in the KO box for a good portion of the game and Badly Hurting the Minotaur, and the Ogre failing many Boneheads, there wasn't much the Chaos Renegade coach could do to stop me.

With Nuffle's help, I pulled out a much needed win. Final score was 2-1. Casualties were also in my favor at 4-1. The Seahawks are currently in second place in their conference, 6th overall. However I am a game ahead of much of the league.

After this game I am sitting on 200k in my treasury. I never thought I would banking so much cash, but with most of the coaches bringing new teams this season, I am fighting TV bloat like I never had before.

Final Thoughts

This season, in 7 games, "Ironfist" the Trollcrusher, a Chaos Dwarf with Claw and Mighty Blow, has out performed last season's Casualty MVP, the Minotaur Djun'Jar Jaggedhorns--4 Casualties to 1. Last season, in 10 games, Djun'Jar beat Trollcrusher 7 to 4.

One final interesting stat. To date, I have played 44 games of Blood Bowl since joining the ORDO league on Feb 9 earlier this year. That's an average of 1.7 games a week!

Khorgar Bengals WIP

Here is a Daemons of Khorne team I recently built for Blood Bowl.

These are pretty much just straight Chaos Marauders. There are a few Empire/Bretonian heads and arms added for some variety. I also double downed on additional shoulder pads.

On the daemon half of the team, we have some standard weaponless Bloodletters, 2 of which have Heralds of Khorne heads.

The big Guy in the center is a Basic Heroquest Gargoyle standing in for a Bloodthirster. The Bloodthirster has had its wings replaced with Varghiest wings.

Lastly is an initial design for the team logo.

Fantasy RPG Dungeon Dressing 2

A gallery of my Fantasy Dungeon Dressing collection.

Part 1 of this series was posted a few years ago, and can be found here. These pieces have been acquired over the years. Some are purpose bought, while others were lifted from boardgames. A few of the items date back to the mid 80's, but a large portion of them were collected on the 00's.

RPG's originally ware a game that played out exclusively in players minds. But my group is comprised of mostly wargamers, hobbyists, and creative-types. We have turned our combats into detailed 3D tactical exercises. A direct result, I have collected various pieces to help visually describe/dictate the tabletop.

Spell Effects

These represent a number of spell effects such as Mage Hand, Invisibility, Living Fireball, Turn to Stone, to name a few.

Doors

Dungeon Doors from Advanced Heroquest and Dungeon Bowl.

Columns

Resin and plastic columns. The marble was painted with a sponge stippling technique.

Traps

Various traps from Mage Knight.

Outdoor Scenery

A small collection of resin outdoor scenery.

Ash River Falcons Showcase

I painted this team specifically for the 2017 Carnage Cup. In case you missed it, I discuss the event and my achievements in this post. Unlike the last tournament I attended, this time I didn't bring a bad build.

Today, I present an in depth photo report of the completed Ash River Falcons.

The entire team incuding custom "ball".

The team logo is a parody of the Atlanta Falcons. I searched a Warhammer Old World map and found a river located in the Land of the Dead called the Ash River.

Positionals
4x Tomb Guardians: Crypt Horrors base, 1K-Sons helmets and shoulder pads, Ork heads, and Necron Praetorian Groin Guards.
2x Anointed Blitzers: Skeleton Warriors, Kroot shoulder pads, and 1K-Sons helmets.
2x Anointed Throwers: Skeleton Warriors, Kroot shoulder pads, and 1K-Sons helmets.

Linemen
10x Skeleton Linemen: Various skeleton bits, Necron Praetorian heads, and Dreamforge Stormtrooper shoulder pads.

Coaching Staff
Coach: Wight King with 1K-Sons helmet.
2x Assistant Coach:  Reaper Mummy Rising.

Other Staff
3x Cheerleaders: 3 different Reaper Bones spirits in translucent green, based on top of electronic tea lights.

The Cheerleaders with the tea lights on in the dark.

Display Case
During games the case functions as a reserves box. It folds up into a book.

Exterior of book/case.

Interior of book/case.

Cherry Pie Moonshine Mk III

CHERRY PIE MOONSHINE MK III

Ingredients:
1 gallon Cherry Cider
1/2 gallon Tart Cherry Juice
1/2 gallon Real Cherry Juice
2 cups Granulated Sugar
2 cups Light Brown Sugar
5 cups Lime Juice
1000ml (1-1/4 bottles) 190-Proof Grain Alcohol (I use Everclear)

Preparations:
Combine all ingredients (except for the alcohol) in a large stock pot and bring to a boil.

Remove the pot from heat and let cool to room temperature. Remove the cloves, then add in the alcohol.

Immediately transfer to sterile mason jars (I use 9 1-quart jars). I also put one cinnamon stick in each jar.

The concoction is ready for consumption, warm or cold! However, I served this batch cold over ice with a sprig of mint.

If you can't find Tart Cherry Juice, you can substitute Real Cherry Juice. I found all three varieties of Cherry juice/cider at Trader Joes.

I estimate the final alcohol content to be about 40 proof.

Carnage Cup 2017 Blood Bowl Tournament AAR

I spent most of last weekend at a local Blood Bowl tournament. There were 5 rounds in total, 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. The OFCC Carnage Cup is a two-day, resurrection Swiss style tournament.

Teams were built with 1.1 million gp, plus a skill pack of 6 normal skills. I chose to play Khemri, but did not have a team built, nor any appropriate miniatures.

So I chose to scratch-build/kit-bash a team. As I typically do, I started with the name. My teams are always based on, or inspired by NFL teams. This is an important first step as it defines my color pallet.

This is the entire team as brought to the Carnage Cup, including staff/markers.

• Back Row, Left: "Spirits" representing Re-Rolls in the tournament and Cheerleaders in leage play. They are all translucent green Reaper Bones figures.
• Back Row, Right: Tomb Guardians comprised of Crypt Horrors with Ork heads and 1K Sons Helmets & shoulder pads, and Necron groin guards.
• Middle Row, Center: The Coach flanked by 2 mummified Assistant Coaches--Used as Turn/Score markers in the tournament.
• Middle Row, Left and Right: 4 Skeleton Linemen comprised of various skeleton bits, Necron heads, and Dreamforge Stormtrooper shoulder pads.
• Front Row, Center: Ithica Benoin from Willy Miniature.
• Front Row, Left and Right: 2 Anointed Blitzers made from Skeleton Warriors, Kroot shoulder pads, and 1K Sons helmets.

The remaining members of the team no used in the tournament. There are 6 additional Skeleton Linemen and 2 Anointed Throwers. The Throwers are made from Skeleton Warriors, Kroot shoulder pads, 2e Blood Bowl balls, and 1K Sons helmets.

That's enough explaining, lets move on to the After Action Reports.

Game 1 vs Skaven

I really struggled handling the speed of the Skaven. They were easily able to circumvent my defense. No matter how I screened my ball carrier, there was always 1 rat that could throw a Blitz. The Skaven team did not have a Rat Ogre, but they did have a voracious Linerat with a Claw--He caused some damage.

We ran out of time to finish the game (2.5 hour time limit), but I managed to score a last minute TD seconds before the round was called.

Results: Rats win 3-2. The Skaven with the claw kept casualties even at 4-4. Of the casualties received, 2 were Tomb Guardians, plus a Lineman and a Blitzer. Fortunately, both Tomb Guardians Regenerated.

Tournament Points Earned: 0

Game 2 vs Orcs

In the first half, things were looking good. The Orc Chainsaw was not performing well and I had kept the green skins from scoring. But on turn 6, I over committed to one side setting up a play for stealing ball. Unfortunately, I unknowingly exposed the other side to a pass, hand-off, and 2 GFI TD. The remainder of the half was spent bashing as many orcs as I could.

We went into the second half up by 3 players and receiving the ball. I had to burn both my Re-Rolls on the first to turn to prevent early turn overs. Then on both turn 3 and 4, a Blitzer (with Frenzy) rolled double Push followed by a Skull (Attacker Down) leaving me in an unfavorable situation--Twice!. That cost me dearly as my Star Player ball carrier was Blitzed, Killed, Regeneration failed, and ball run in for a TD. I was dominating the second half, but those 2 bad blocks cost me the game.

Results: 0-2 Orcs. However, I cut through AV9 Orc armor like butter--final casualties were 5-2 my favor.

Tournament Points Earned: 1

Game 3 vs Chaos Dwarves

I have played this coach 3 times in league Friendly games, and lost all 3 times. However this time he was playing Chaos Dwarves--A team I am quite familiar with.

The game was the most tedious grind fest I have ever played. We both shut down each others offence to a stand still. Ithica was Blitzed and killed again (failing Regen again too) in the middle of the first half. But this time he was able to Dump Off the ball to a near by Blitzer. Even though that prevented my team from loosing the ball, I was unable to score before Halftime.

The second half went pretty much the same.

Results: Tie game all around! Score was 0-0, and Casualties were 2-2.

Tournament Points Earned: 1

Game 4 vs Halflings

Day 2 opens with The Halfling Master Chef stealing both of my Re-Rolls in both halves. I played the entire game without a single Re-Roll! So I tried to play conservatively in an attempt to mitigate any turnovers. In the end it turned out to be a sound strategy. The entire first half, I did not take any unnecessary actions.

However, in the second half, I felt a win was a nearly certain, so I focused more on hitting than scoring. I had kept track of my total casualties caused in the previous 3 games and thought that I might be near the top. On Turn 16, I went for it. I Blitzed, fouled, and threw every Block I could instead of scoring. In the end I passed every roll and was able to score the TD  anyway! At the end of the game my opponent only had 2 players on the pitch--1 Halfling, and 1 Treeman.

Results: My first tournament win! Final score was 2-0. I caused a lot of mayhem, killing 7 Halflings and a Treeman, while suffering no injuries.

Tournament Points Earned: 4

Game 5 vs Humans

[picture unavailable]

Final game of the tournament. I have faced this coach twice before. Once in a previous tournament, Goblin vs Goblin where I lost. Then a second time in league play with my Chaos Dwarves vs his Ogres where I eeked out a win.

The Human team had a Chainsaw Star Player. I tried to stay away from it and score as quickly as I could. Unfortunately I misjudged the speed of the Humans and my ball carrier got sacked by the chainsaw. Luckily, Ithica was only stunned and he was able to Dump Off the ball to a near by Blitzer. But surprisingly, after the Blitzer failed to catch the Dump Off, a Tomb Guardian caught the scattered ball. I was able to boldly march up the field for a turn 6 TD. Off went the chainsaw. The Human coach was unable to score in the remaining turns of the half.

In the second half, I kicked off having 3 more players than my opponent. The Humans keep the ball deep in the back field, hoping for an opening that never comes. I kept my opponent locked down but am unable to score again.

Results: The Falcons pull out another win at 1-0. They also kept up their killing spree and knocked off 5 Humans while only suffering 1 Casualty.

Tournament Points Earned: 4

Team Stats

Tournament roster with skill package and names for each player.

Goals For/Against: 5/5
Casualties For/Against: 24/9 (second and third place has 23 and 19)
Tournament Points: 10 (Out of a maximum 20; Winner had 17)

Final Thoughts

In addition to converting and painting up a team, I also put together a themed book/display case/carrying case. The following 2 images are the artwork I put together for the book.

This is the completed book, opened up as a display case with lights. This was placed at the side of the pitch on top of the dugout and functioned as the reserves box.

Another element I added was tea lights under the translucent figures.

So not only did I win the 'Eadsplitter Award for causing the most Casualties, but I also won the Flash Git Award (best appearance)! But I had to choose which to officially win because they only give out 1 award per person.

A unique feature of this tournament was 3 tournament specific Special Play cards. Every coach had a set and each could be played once per game.

One of the give away items was this cool poker chip with Blood Bowl themed club logo adorning it (and the Special Play cards). What is especially cool is that I designed the logo.

I had such a great time at this tournament and I look forward to next year.