Flesh Tearers - Hate the Alien

 Here is the last of the Flesh Tearer infantry, the tenth member of the last tactical squad, and a member of the Deathwatch.  I painted him separately from the rest of his squad due to his black armour.

 All that is left for the 'Tearers is a couple of Stormravens which are waiting for some brass etch to arrive and then they are done.  It has been a long journey but an enjoyable one.  I'm going to miss the red and black.

It also seems that you, the readers, have also enjoyed this project.  The Flesh Tearers are some of the most viewed posts on Ricalopia, they even come up on the first page of Google image searches.  Thanks for being with me so far, I think you are going to like the 'ravens.

Until next round, be well.

Trolls - Smash!

 When I was gathering the trolls for GottaCon I realized that there were a few that didn't have their bases finished.  Once the model has all the paint on it I consider it playable, but to be finished the bases needed lichen and water effect.  And it also seems that I have been waiting until after I do this to take pictures and make blog posts.

This is my earthborn dire troll, his name is Snoop.

 I added a flowing trollhawk, I wasn't partial to his baldness, entirely made of greenstuff.  I just twisted some rolls up and bent them when they had cured a bit, then cut the bottoms flat and glued them on.  I might make thinner ones for other big trolls, but this one is good for an earthborn.

 I didn't repose the model, although I was going to at first.  It fits together really well and it isn't the usual punching pose (and he does do a lot of running).  If I get a second one I will repose that, likely mixing it with a regular dire troll kit.

Until next round, be well.

High Elves - Guardians of the Fire Bird

 The next batch of orange elves to paint up was a twenty strong unit of Phoenix Guard.  The plastic re-sculpts continue to impress with lots of detail and dramatic poses (as much as they can be while being able to rank up).  The high elf aesthetic has really refined itself over the past years.

 I was most impressed with the banner, the raised detail is really easy to work with, and it is a lot easier than doing freehand.

 There is a lot of blue on these guys, unlike much of the rest of the army, which I did due to the army composition; there are two frost phoenixes.  What took the most time was the flames on the back of the cloaks, the detail isn't raised which made things rather finicky.

Until next round, be well.

GottaCon 7

GottaCon is the biggest and most awesome gaming convention I have ever been to (and I have been to a few).  This year the venue was changed from the Pearks Arena (a large enough space that we were growing out of) to the Victoria Conference Centre.  The new digs were much more suited to having 3,000+ gamers in a frenzy of button pushing and dice rolling.  I am sure that being right downtown sure helped attendance!

 As usual, the Rabbit Hole was called upon to supply some terrain for the 40k and Malifaux side of things.  We brought enough for eleven 40k tables as well as five Malifaux tables (not pictured).

 Seeing all my terrain out at the same time always amazes me.  I didn't spend much time downstairs (40k and Fantasy were downstairs and the other wargames were upstairs) so I didn't get the chance to get much feedback, but it looked like they liked it!

 We left the mountains at home this year since they can be difficult to play on and they give one side a distinct advantage.  With some new and rebuilt terrain we were able to change things up a little.

 As they were prepping for the Friday night Apocalypse game I spotted this warhound who graciously posed for a picture before hunting down some xenos.

 At a convention like this I suffer from "ooh pretty syndrome", like when I saw this mercenary army.  The Galleon is such a cool model...

 I also found an extreme Mulg in pink!

 I found this Khadorian colour scheme really striking, so I took a couple of pics...

 After some wandering it was time for the Steamroller.  Competition was going to be fierce with 60+ players bringing their best.  I chose to bring trolls (they were getting hungry) with a Calandra/moutain king list and a mercenary heavy Jarl list.  Given my dice's track record at tournaments I wasn't too concerned with winning, but I wasn't going to make it easy.

 My first game was against Cygnar.  A jack-heavy list with that cavalry-caster guy played by Ken, a local I rarely play against.

 His Eryis, who was chased around by a warder for the last two turns.  To prove my dice-fu, I was unable to meet her defence, even with mat 7.

 Each table was outfitted with scenario templates provided by Advanced Deployment which I was eyeing enviously all day.  They were also engraved with GottaCon 2014 logos, super sweet!

 Our game was tense, with both sides gaining the upper hand and dealing casualties each turn.  At the end of a great game Calandra fell.

 My next opponent was playing my main adversary, Legion.  The trolls eyed the reindeer hungrily.  Out came the Jarl/Ironmonger list!

 Stealth, "kdjgulgfihseg!!"

 I've learned to stay together, providing a wall of trollmeat and axes, and it works fairly well.

 Jarl was eventually sniped by the ravergore's scather shot.  At least I ate a scythian as well as a reindeer!

 Wandered about for a bit again when I spotted a familiar sight; orange and white high elves!

 It was good to see the army on the battlefield, even though a couple of units were running away from the foul Nurglites.  I guess they didn't want to get dirty.

 Back to the last Saturday game, I was matched against trolls led by Madrak.  I spotted five(?) other troll armies in the steamroller, almost as many as Cygnar and Menoth.

 Madrak was escorted by a ton of infantry, two groups of warders and a max unit of fenblades.  This game was a meatgrinder.  Trolls ate trolls and Calandra's Star Crossed nearly saved me, but the fall of the mountain king made too big of a hole to make up for.  This was another really good game.

 Sunday morning, I wiped the sleep from my eyes to find two stormwalls across from me.  Waking up the stormtroll and 'king, we set about the task of trashing each other.

 It was a measure of pride to know that it took both colossals to bring down the giant troll.  Darius was back there with his repairing shenanegans, and Calandra was brought down.

 Over at the painting competition I noticed some outstanding models.  Models so good that none of my minis placed.

 Looking at some of these models was a lesson in it's own.  There are some things I would like to try for next year.

 The shelves were dominated by Privateer and Wyrd models, with a couple of Kingdom Death minis (which made me happy).  I intentionally entered non-GW models this year for two reasons; 1> I haven't painted very much of my own models that are GW this year, and 2> Malifaux, Hordes and Kingdom Death minis are nicer (in my opinion).

 I would like to see a recurring trophy at GottaCon, like the Golden Demon (Games Day) and Crystal Brush.  I feel that this would bring even more entries each year if coupled with a youngin's set of categories.

 The paint competition was hard to find, tucked into a corner where there was little traffic, which was a shame.  It wasn't even on the map, which could have helped some people find it.  I heard that many attendees didn't know there was a painting competition, which is a shame considering the quality of models on display.

 This......omg......

 Back to the Steamroller, this game's theme was fire.  I forgot to use my feat (I often do with Jarl) and ended up having a toasty bonfire on my side of the table.  I had Feora down to one wound, but it wasn't enough.

 I was taken out by a very eloquent assassination.  And somehow we were assigned table -1, I didn't think I was losing that hard??!

 Ooooh....shiney....  I noticed this Canadian Stormwall as my camera jump out of my pocket on the Iron Arena.

The last game of the Steamroller saw me matched against Convergence.  I learned that some of the servitors explode, but not enough to worry a troll.  Also, the Ironmonger cannot hurt a Prime Axiom.  I did end up winning my last game by pushing the robots out of the control zones, no assassination for me!

I ended up earning best sportsmanship, and two sets of scenario markers!  I was just thrilled to be playing games, while enjoying every wound dealt to both sides.  I was a bit confused though, as I thought there was going to be a Best in Show instead which I was gunning for.  Perhaps they combined them, or something...

I didn't get any pictures of the doubles tournament, it was too rushed and intense, needless to say our dice and inexperience failed us and we got last(ish).

There was a great response to my troll army.  Many pictures were taken, complements given, and cards handed out.  So here is an extra thank you to everyone I talked with over the weekend!

Until next round, be well.