Blood Bowl by the Numbers

This post covers my guidelines for jersey numbers that I use with my Blood Bowl teams. Since Blood Bowl is loosely based on American Football, I was inspired by the NFL's numbering system. However, I took some liberties, and my system is not as strict.

Image taken from interwebs without permission.

Unlike the NFL, each Blood Bowl team is comprised of a different selection of positions. So I couldn't implement a static universal system. Instead, I came up with guidelines that could be applied to any team. Following is a general breakdown of the system I use to number players.

Position	Number Ranges
Linemen	01-12
Catchers/Runners	12-15
Throwers	14-17
Secret Weapons	16-19
Blitzers	18-21
Blockers	20-23
Big Guys	22-25
Star Players	26+

The above example is just a guideline. In practice, there would never be an overlap of numbers between positions. In fact, there are only 4 rules I follow.

1. Linemen are numbered starting from 1
2. After Linemen, the positions are sorted in order by cost/toughness
3. Big Guys are always numbered backwards from 25
4. Star Players are numbered sequentially starting from 26

Some teams will have gaps in the numbering, and other teams will use the majority of numbers, depending on how many positions and total number of possible players. The less common positions not listed above are sorted according to the rules above. Here is an example of how I number an Orc team.

Position	Number Ranges
Lineorcs	01-10
Goblins	11-14
Throwers	15-16
Blitzers	17-20
Blockers	21-24
Big Guys	25
Star Players	26+

Numbering your teams in this fashion will not only add to the sports ambiance, using this system groups each position into a block of numbers that helps with identifying players.

What is on the Bottom of Your Base?

I am an old skool gamer. As such, a large portion of my figure collection is made of metal. Over the years, I have added more and more plastic models, but I found that I really disliked the feel of moving the lighter pieces around the table. 

If you have ever played chess, it is the same notion--Heavy/weighted chess pieces are more enjoyable to use during a game: they are less likely to move/topple over if the table is bumped; and a heavier chess piece feels like a higher quality piece.

So I weight all of my plastic/resin figures. (even tanks!)

Example of different ways to add weight to a figures.

Description of the examples above, From right to left:

1. Aeptus-B uses small bits of lead (like fishing line weights), fills the remaining space with putty, glues on a piece of paper, then paints it.
2. For 40mm bases I will clip everything off the underside of the base and glue a thick metal washer
3. For 25mm bases, I also clip off the underside of the base, but glue a penny to the bottom. I dimly used to use small washers, but they were costing me more than one cent!! Duh!
4. This base isn't weighted, but I had glued a piece of plasticard to the bottom as it seems to sit better on our heavily textured Necromunda terrain.
5. This is a large flying base weighted by 4 pennies. it is magnetized for a Tau Devilfish. This both add weight and lowers the center of gravity.

A penny might not seem like much weight, but it is really hard to tell the difference between a typical human sized metal figure and a weighted plastic figure.

Do you weight your bases? If so, do you use a different process?

Terrain Showcase

I wanted to maximize my terrain, both in versatility and storage. After some brain storming and sketches, I came up with the following.

A grouping of area terrain bases plus a few individual
dead tree terrain pieces. Rocky terrain in the background,
Swampland in the foreground.
(click on image to enlarge)

I started by making 4 large oblong shapes slightly larger than a group of CDs out of 1/8" MDF. Next I rounded all the outside edges along the smooth side. Then I glued small strips of balsa wood around a tracing of a CD to create a small CD sized divot. Next I used wall spackle to fill in all the areas between thee balsa wood and the edge of the MDF. Finally, I added a few pebbles, some sand, painted and flocked them.

Multiple dead tree terrain bases. In the foreground, an area
terrain base with the terrain pieces removed.
(click on image to enlarge)

For the next stage, I based specific terrain types on old CD's. For example, dead trees, swamp, rocky outcroppings, jungle trees, etc. I made 5-7 CD of each terrain type. The CD sized terrain is easier to store, plus they can be used individually or inserted into one of the large MDF terrain bases to represent area terrain. 

To add more versatility, I also made one "dangerous" version for each terrain type. This allows me to signify mundane area terrain as having an additional effect either before the game, or randomly during the game. Here is a list of the "dangerous" terrain:

Dead Trees - A Haunted tree (seen in the second pic above)
Rocky Outcroppings - An abandoned sacrificial well
Swamp - A lurking submerged monster
Jungle Trees - A large Venus Human Trap plant

New Paint Bottles

Looking in the bag of now empty bottles.
(click on image to enlarge)

Over the last month I have been slowly converting my paint from pots/flip-tops to dropper bottles. About a year ago, I bought 30 empty Vallejo bottles. They cost me about 80¢ each, and at the time I decided that it was cost prohibitive to swap all my paints. Fast forward to about a month ago... I found these on eBay. I bought enough (including the 30 Vallejo bottles I already had) to switch from pots to droppers.

From L to R: eBay bottle and Vallejo bottle.
(click on image to enlarge)

I am organizing my colors into groups of four. This gives me the option to paint a dark or a light triad (depending on weather I choose the 3 darkest colors or the 3 lightest colors of a group, or to use all four colors for a more detailed model. In some cases, I already had all four colors to make a group. In other cases, I either mixed a color to bridge a large shade gap between 2 colors, or I simply added white to make a new light color.

There were no issues pouring paints directly out of the pot and into the dropper bottle. However, the inks and washes were very problematic. It was so difficult not to get more on the table than in the bottle, I attached a small bit of tubing to the end of a large syringe. It worked perfectly with all of the inks, but was a total mess with the more viscous paints.

Using a syringe and small bit of tube made filling the bottles
with ink very easy.

I'm almost done-- I still have about 20+ bottles to finish. I took some "in progress" pics, and will show those as well as a "completed" pic in a later post.

Admittedly, this was a very tedious task to complete. Another factor is cost-- I spent about $45 on empty bottles. However, I think it was worth it.

Walls & Barricades Complete

I actually finished this project about a week and a half ago, but took some pictures I didn't really like. The delay in re-shooting and posting was brought on by my vast health improvements and taking on a number of home renovations projects.

This was a really fun project and I look forward to using them in a game. Adeptus-B will probably find a use for them in our Dark Heresy campaign too!!

I made six 6" sections in total, with two "heavily" damaged. Originally the two damaged sections were going to be gates, but I later decided against that.

 I also added the static grass to the electric posts...

My next project will be to add to Adeptus-B's Space Port project.

You can find out how I built the cyclone fences in the first part of this article over at Walls & Barricades.

Walls & Barricades

I Just (nearly) completed the above electric fence terminals. They are pretty simple... only need to add some flock to finish. All I did was take the models off the sprue and glue them to a 40mm base, added some rocks and basing sand, then painted them. I worked on these while I was finishing up a cyclone fence project I started a few years ago...

Items Needed (for each section of fence):

• 2x Large Craft Sticks (tongue depressor size)
• 3x Small Cylindrical Beads (approx 1/4" dia.)
• 2x Wooden Skewers
• 1x Barricade from the Battlefield Accessories Set
• 1x Section of Household Screen
• 4x Penny Sized Washers (or pennies)

Because craft sticks warp easily (heck, some of 'em come warped), I always sandwich 2 together with the grains/warp running opposite. I do this with all my wall barricades (as appropriate) as the craft sticks are 6" long and make a nice uniform base. When doing a bunch of them at the same time, I'll stack them all up and use 3 "C" clamps to hold them together while they dry.

After they have dried, I take them apart and clean the edges - sometimes glue will run out the sides. Then I glue the washers (2 between each post) on to give the final piece a nice weight, and keep the center of balance low.

Next, take the Barricade from the Battlefield Accessories Set and strip the 4 main prongs from the model. This will be used as the posts for the fence. I use hot glue to attach them to the craft stick base. Then I used some pre-mix spackle (any basing putty will do) to hide the washers and glob of hot glue. After drying, I glued on some mixed basing sand.

At this stage, I cut the skewers to length, cut the beads in half (down the length of the cylinder), and cut a rectangular shape out of the screen.  I eyeballed all the dimensions for each fence section. NOTE: Make sure the section of screen is cut at 45° so they create a cyclone fence diamond pattern -- not squares!

Lay the model on its side. Position the screen on the flat side of the posts. Then place one crossbar (skewer) in position and glue. I used super glue for the quick set time. Repeat for the second crossbar. Lastly, take the "C" shaped half beads and place them over the crossbar at each post... so it looks like a bracket holding the crossbar to the post. I have already primed them black, so its paint and flock left to finish.

I will probably add some bullet holes before I paint them. You also might be able to make out that two of the fence sections include some damaged (like someone has cut there way through). I'm not sure I like how they turned out (hence no pics) and I'm waiting to see them completed.

It's good to start getting some stuff off the project shelf again. I hope to keep it up!

PREVIEW: I started this project a few years ago too -- this is the stage I left them at. These pieces are "Dragon's Teeth" or anti-tank fortifications. I have 6 in total and will make a how to post about them when they are finished.

Static Grass

I tried to use static grass years ago, using a bottle of Woodland Scenics' Wild Honey Static Grass Flock. I didn't like the results at all and shelved the material and idea for years. What I later figured out was I should have mixed different colors together to create a blend. About 2 years ago, I picked up some of Games Workshop's Glade Grass Static Grass. I tried it and didn't like that result either - the color was way to bright for my taste. Then I decided to try to mix my own blend.


The Glade Grass, is not just a mix of greens - there is also rust, orange, and tan among others. Since it was already a rich blend of colors, I started with Glade Grass as my base, and added Woodland Scenics' Burnt Grass and Wild Honey.

I ended up with a muted palette, but it still had depth. The ratio is approximately 50% Wild Honey, 25% Burnt Grass, and 25% Glade Grass. The result is what I now use on my Tau bases.

Ion Cannon Mod

Here is a simple conversion I did to a Tau Ion Cannon. I never liked the "stubby" look of the out of the box version so here is my attempt at fixing it.

First I took a 1/4" tube and a 1/4" I-Beam from my bitz box and cut them to the desired length of the extension. Then I trimmed off 2 of the "legs" of the I-Beam, turning it into a channel, or U-Beam. Even though there was an additional step, I chose an I-Beam over a U-Beam because the I-Beam "legs" are tapered and fit flush with the tube when placed.



I then glued the tube into the channel, sanded the seam flush, and added little bit of putty. I flush mounted the extension to both the base and end of the barrel. I decided pinning was not necessary if I used CA+ thick gel glue.

TOEMP Challenge #7 - First Look

TOEMP CHALLENGE #7 - ENDS 11/06/09

• Option 1: Unit of Fast Attack/Special (60 pts)
• Option 2: An HQ/Lord (60 pts)
• Option 3: Unit of Elites/Special (55 pts)
• Bonus Challenge 1: Objective markers
• Bonus Challenge 2: Command Vehicle
• Bonus Challenge 3: Special Character w/ optional custom spec/datasheet
• Bonus Challenge 4: Scenery

I chose Challenge Option 3 - A unit of Elites. At this stage of the competition, with only 2 days left, the only Bonus Challenge I would even consider is a small piece of scenery.

Today, I got the unit for my first TOEMP Challenge cleaned, assembled and magnetized. I will primer these before I crash, so they will be ready to base coat and highlight tomorrow. Then I will add details and finish the base the day after that.

The wargear and weapons make this is a 196 point unit... It will be a fireknife unit (missle pods, plasma rifles, and multi trackers) with a shas'vre team leader.

I've gone pretty gung-ho on my Tau with magnetizing all the battlesuits and tanks. Each Crisis battlesuit get 4x 1/8" dia. x 1/16" thick, Grade N42, Nickel Plated magnets, and all wargear and weapons get the same. But if they are too small, I use a 1/16" dia. x 1/32" thick, Grade N50, Nickel Plated magnet instead.

Back to Bases pt 3

The fourth installment to my themed base project is called City Streets. I will definitely use this style of base on my Adeptus Arbites.

This is a very simple and quick conversion.

I covered one-third to two-thirds of the base with a piece of 1/16" plasticard. Then I glued 150 grit sandpaper to the plasticard and 100 grit sandpaper to the other part of the base. I used a small piece of standard window screen to make the storm drain.

I painted the asphalt Chaos Black and drybrushed Shadow Gray. The sidewalk is based with Ash Gray (Reaper Pro Paints) and drybrushed with Fortress Gray. The storm drain is Tin Bitz with a little bit of Dwarf Bronze. Finally I painted the grooves in the sidewalk with Armor Gray (Reaper Pro Paints) and Fortress Gray.

See the first two installments:
<Back to Bases pt 1> and <Back to Bases pt 2>

My Son's Second Army pt 2

I have had most of the figures accumulated for my son's second army for quite awhile now... an Ork Horde. Recently, I scored the bitz for 3 runtherders off eBay. Much like my son's first army there are some guidelines I am sticking to:

• All plastic
• Extensive use of "uni-body" models (especially ones already in my bitz box!!)
• Conversions are limited to arm swaps and backpacks
• All conversions need to be pinned
• Some eBay purchases are OK (unneccessary for the first army)

Essentially its gotta be kid friendly, durrable, cheap, and quick. You can see some samples of what I did with his first army <here>. I dont have as many orks in my bitz box as I did space marines... plus my goal is to create an army of equal points value (1500), so I have had to turn to some interesting places to fill out this army. My first endeavor was using all of my (and some of Laertes') old Blood Bowl orcs with a choppa and slugga arm added (<sample>), which I scored 30 pair for about $8 on eBay.

The second task was filling out the ranks of existing ork and gretchin models from the 2nd edition box set. I now have enough gretchins (and runtherders), but I am still about 10-12 orks short for the second unit of boyz. The army is currently two-thirds the points of where it should be:

• Warboss (black reach)
• 30 Boyz (blood bowl conversions) and Nob (black reach)
• 30 Boyz (2nd edition box set) and Nob (black reach)
• 30 Gretchins (2nd edition box set) and 3 Runtherds (eBay)
• 12 Stormboyz (multi-part boyz bitz) and Nob (black reach)

To fill out the rest of the army I will probably use my black reach deffkoptas and some looted rhinos. I could do a unit of bikes, but I was saving those for my ork army!! Some custum killer kans would be fun, but may be too delicate for the 6 year old abuse they will have to endure.

I did a quick test the other day for a new (to me) painting technique for this army. In hind sight, I wish I had chosen a different chapter for my son's marines. Both armies being predominently green is a bit of a problem. So I decided to try base coating the orks in their armor color. I bought a can of Krylon® Fusion for Plastics® Satin Boot Brown paint (thanks to Laertes for doing the leg work on research).


After the "primer" dried, I applied a layer of Devlan Mud. After that dried, I drybushed a layer of Boltgun metal and then just a little bit of chainmail. I like how it turned out... and its fast!! At this stage, I only have a base color for all the non-metal parts. I will probably apply a wash and 1 layer of hilight.

On a side note, this color is also perfect for my tau... I probably wont use it on the troops as the it coats a little thick, but I will definately use it on my new objective markers, and maybe a tank or two.

Scratch-built Space Marine Jump Packs

This jump pack conversion is based on the original Space Marine metal jump packs circa the early 90's (not the current plastic version).

I started off by snipping the nozzles off of a std plastic back pack (also from the same era). I then took two black 1/2 sphere beads and attached to both ends of a small yellow cylindrical bead (of the same diameter) to make the main jet. Then I sliced two 1/32" thick doughnuts off a 1/8" plastic tube to make the trim on the main jet.

The jetse were attached to the left and right sides of the backpack where the nozzles were cut off. They were positioned at an angle similar to the original. The whole thing was topped off by two little red "cherry" beads on the back!

The backpack is a little smaller, but overall I think it has the same look on the battlefield. Here is an entire unit of assault marines.

Terrain: Hills

I have a few central hill pieces that I use. They are a combination of modified store bought and scratch built pieces. I think this is a good approach, especially when starting a terrain collection.

These first 2 pieces are a set of store bought injection molded foam rock outcroppings. There was originally very little "ground", and what there was, ended abruptly in a step. I personally prefer a gradual slope to get a more realistic look.

This image illustrates the parts that I added. I used 1" pink foam board and hot glued it to the hill. Then painted and flocked to match my boards. A top heavy mini will have an issue balancing on the slope so there is a trade off for the aesthetic.

All I did to this injected molded foam piece was to shave the hill level. Using a serrated knife (a Ginsu actually), I created two flat areas at 1" and 2" high. It originally was sloped all the way with no flat surfaces.

I have illustrated here where I leveled the hill. The left area is 1" and the right is 2" tall.

This piece was scratch built out of pink foam board. I thought I used 1" foam, but to my surprise (after the piece was completed), I discovered I used 3/4" foam instead. Actually, I didn't even realize I had 2 types of foam board!! I was not satisfied with leafing the hill "short", so I cut 2 pieces of cardboard and glued it to the bottom increasing the height to 1", blending in the details then repainting and flocking to get the final results (below).


Here is a top view of two of the hills stacked. As you can see I sculpted the lower hill piece to match up with the rocky portion of one of the


I used a combination of a hot blade and a heat gun to work in the rough rock detail. I have this really cool butane multi-tool that has different replaceable tips (soldering iron, heat gun, hot knife, and blow torch) The next step, I smeared spackle around with my finger and finally coated all the rock surfaces with watered down white glue mix.

The ground was coated with a sand mixture that I glued on. After drying overnight, I painted it brown and then dry brushed tan. I dabbled a little bit of sand and some larger granules around the rock surfaces. The rocks were painted black, dry brushed with a cool-gray, and then washed with a greenish-brown mixture.

I use inexpensive craft paints for my terrain. But I did buy a large bottle of scenic paint that I use as a wash to "dirty" things up.