The week that was ...

You stay classy, The Internet!

12-18^th October 2012

You all know what happens to “regularly scheduled” blog posts in these parts. Typically they start with good intentions but fall quickly by the wayside as real life and other inconveniences get in the way. So it is with much trepidation that I offer to you a new, regularly scheduled series of posts on the week that was the week before ... if you get me. This entirely (un)original concept is brought to you by me and hopefully will gather contributions from others in the “staff” if it gains any momentum.

With that said, here we go!

Open War 18.

Last Friday I was feverishly throwing Army Painter Medium Shade over poorly painted Tyranid models in a desperate attempt to finish my army for Open War 18. As you can read here my efforts on the painting front were successful enough for me to be able to attend the tournament, sadly however, my gaming skills were not up to the task and I finished a somewhat disappointing 14^th out of 18 competitors. Still, lessons were learned and I’ll be back for Blog Wars 4 with renewed fervour!

Club Night.

Thursday night is our regular club night at Warhammer World in Nottingham. Up to now I’ve been neck deep in the Perpetual Blood Bowl league, amassing four extremely middle-of-the-road teams in just over a year. For the latest team intake, however, I have decided to take a break and recharge my scrimmaging batteries. The previous week saw me, instead, throwing some 40K-related shapes in an Open War practice game against the midget-loving Grazer (who owes us a Battle Report, gloriously detailing how I won on a technicality).

This week heralded the very welcome return of Gav (our very own Mr Claws and Fists) to the gaming table who ably demonstrated his rustiness by loosing consecutive games of Space Hulk to me. Beating Gav at anything is a rare enough occurrence that I have to twist the knife at every opportunity but both games were pretty close, with the kind of great action and tension that makes Space Hulk as memorable as it always has been.

Looking forward.

I spent a couple of hours last night mulling over Daemons/Chaos Marines lists that Gav and I could take to Battle Brothers in January and I came to the conclusion that squeezing allies into 1500 points is at best difficult and at worst detrimental to the list no matter how powerful screamers and Flamers are ;) Bring on 1500pts of Tyranids I say!

And Finally.

I was listening to the latest episode of World's End Radio this week and they did a short segment on playing under pressure which I felt fit in rather nicely with my recent dusting off of Space Hulk. Being a little out of practice I’d forgotten how little time that egg timer gives you as the Marine player. You are forced to think fast and you get a real sense of pressure in a game where the odds are somewhat stacked against you anyway! I love the mechanic here though, because it really adds atmosphere to the game, drawing you into the situation. If you’re in a bit of a jam, the time you spend thinking yourself out of it often leaves you with a frantic rush to get everything done as the last few grains of sand spill out of the timer. Inaction is the quickest killer in Space Hulk.

Please check back next week for more of the same (hopefully!)

The NAF Championship - Blood Bowl Tournament Report

This weekend I and four other guys from the club (including our very own “thebaron”) headed over to Warhammer World to take part in the annual NAF Blood Bowl Championship. This was my first Blood Bowl tournament and I wasn't really sure what to expect. Given my experiences playing in our club league over the last year I was well aware that I am far from a good Blood Bowl player but I was hoping the what I learned would allow me to at least hold my own!

I took a Norse team by the name of “It's Grim up Norse”,

2 Ulfwerners, 2 Runners, 1 Berserker, 6 Linemen, 4 RR

Game 1: vs Lizardmen | Loss 1-3 | Casualties 1-2

Crox, 6 Saurus, 4 Skinks, 3 RR

I took Block on an Ulfwerner.

Pretty rough opener but at least it didn't give me any false hope early in the day! The Lizards had me out muscled and put quite a few of my players in the dug out early doors. He also protected his Skinks well, so there were no easy ways to even up the numbers and reduce his ball-handling ability. Rather than my usual cage I tried a sweep behind a screen which got me my first TD of the day. Sadly I was already 2 down after a pretty bad first half and it didn't take him too long to put in a third to finish off the game.

Game 2: vs Goblins | Draw 1-1 | Casualties 6-4

Pogo, Chainsaw, Fungus the Loon, 2 Trolls, 9 Goblins, 3 RR, 2 Bribes

I took Tackle on the Beserker

The sneaky Goblins put up a tough fight but fortunately their secret weapons were not particularly deadly unfortunately the Trolls didn't fail either of the regen rolls I made them take. I conceded a TD in the first half when I over-committed and the pogoer raced out of range for an easy score. I managed to hold firm under pressure from the bribed in secret weapons and once they were gone the casualties started to pile up for me and I pulled a score back to salvage a draw.

Game 3: vs Chaos | Win 2-0 | Casualties 2-3

Some horribly broken roster involving lots of horrible gribblies

I took Dodge on a Runner

Who should I find sitting across the table from me at the end of day one but non-other than our very own commissioner Scott, I knew this was going to be a tough one. Clearly Nuffle had other ideas as he decided to bless my dice with the sort of rolls usually reserved for Scott when he's throwing long bombs with his Khemri! We'll not dwell on the specifics but suffice to say while my dice were hot Scott's were ice cold. TO be continued in RRI4

Game 4: vs Wood Elves | Loss 1-2 | Casualties 2-0

Treeman, 2 Wardancers, 2 Catchers, Thrower, 5 Linemen, 1 RR

I took Sure Hands on a Thrower

One of the members of the stag-do present at the tournament who had come all the way from from Madrid and were dressed as a Norse team on Day 1 (the stag was dressed as the Yhettee!). He made me kick to him in the first half and I thought 2-1 grind to myself, sadly I had it the wrong way round. In a very un-Elfy move he ground out almost the entire first half finally scoring on his turn 8. Unhelpfully I could not roll anything higher than a 7 so he was under no pressure at the start of the second half. I managed to progress steadily down the field and scored in turn 4 leaving him way too much time to score the winner. My best “prevent defense” was found wanting as he managed to execute a short pass on his turn 8 to give me no chance of tying the match.

Game 5 vs Wood Elves | Win 2-0 | Casualties 4-1

2 Wardancers, 3 Catchers, Thrower, 5 Linemen, 2 RR

I took Tackle on a Lineman

I played probably my best game of Blood Bowl ever here and my opponent's dice were terrible just to really rub salt into the wound. I kicked to him in the first half and got a blitz which allowed me to run under the kick and catch it with protection. After a couple of turns of back-and-forth action I had a solid cage formed and I patiently made my way down the field scoring on turn 8. The second half saw me gather in a short kick and again patiently make my way down the field. Taking my opportunities to make blocks where I could but not over-committing. The Wardancers had clearly angered Nuffle earlier in the tournament as he did not make a single successful leap all game.

Game 6 vs Orcs | Tie 1-1 | Casualties 1-2

4 Black Orcs, 4 Blitzers, 2 Linemen, Thrower, 3 RR

I took Block on an Ulfwerner

My opponent elected to kick to me and chuckled “2-1 grind”, he had not reckoned with his Thrower's recently greased palms. I rode my luck with some pretty fortunate 1 dice blocks and scored without much trouble in turn 4. On the return kick off I managed to get in behind his lines quickly, which left me a little exposed but fortunately for me his thrower failed on two separate attempts to pick up the ball. I took a risk and tied up the rest of his team sending my Thrower to pick up the ball and leaving him 1-1 with the Orc Thrower. Sadly my opponent's 1 dice blocks were as good as mine and I could not take advantage of the ball in hand. However I had managed to put the tying TD out of his range. So the second half kicked off and it became clear that he had no intention of going for a win. He pushed the ball quickly to my goal line and sat there surrounded by Black Orcs and Blitzers until turn 8 when he went in for the tie.

A pretty disappointing way to end the tournament, particularly as neither of us had anything to play for, none-the-less finishing with a 2/2/2 record was a pretty good showing for me and more than I had expected going into the Tournament. The NAF championship gets a big thumbs up from me, it was run pretty smoothly and the only gripes I had did not really affect my enjoyment of the two days so I'm not going to bother bringing them up here. If you enjoy your Blood Bowl, I suggest you sign up to the NAF and give it a go.

Victory for the Ellyrion Raiders

So as I posted On Tuesday I was playing my first game that evening, unfortunately because we are two fairly new players we had to spend a lot of time going back to the rule book so we completed the game over two evenings.

The game ended up in victory for me with a 3-0 win. My catchers ran in all three goals so I got a skill on one of them which was Dodge. I should have really had a fourth but failed my rolls twice to do it. I also managed to get a casualty.

One disappointment was a niggling injury to one player and another missing tomorrow nights game.

Looking forward to it. Definitely easier to score with the Elves which was the real problem I was having with the Orks. My catchers I have discovered are useless at catching, I had double 1's with them on three occasions.

So on to tomorrow, not sure of my opponent yet but looking forward to it

First outing for the Ellyrion Raiders

Tonight sees the first outing for my inaugural Blood Bowl team the Ellyrion Raiders. Last season I took over the Caretaker role of Andy's Orks. I had my last game on Thursday again not winning but scoring and getting 3 casualties which took my Casualty count up to 10 for 6 games which is more than anyone else who has played a similar number to me.

This season I'm taking control of a high elf team so a different proposition altogether. I've painted my first model but I'm not wholly happy with the colour scheme of Red and Silver so a little research perhaps into American football team colours is needed.

The problem I had with the Orks certainly came down to scoring. When ever I got into the position to score I didn't have the legs to take me over the line.

I'm starting off with all the models from the box so I have
1 Thrower
2 Blitzers
2 Catchers and 7 Linemen.

This leaves me with only 2 rerolls which is a scary concept because when I was playing with Orks I often had 4 and always three.

Look out tomorrow for a game report after I have faced my first opponent (the only person playing with less experience than me)

Da Bolts - A Blood Bowl Update

Well, it's been a while since my last post and even longer since I last posted about my Blood Bowl season. A lot's happened, my Orc team, Da Orkanapolis Bolts have completed the 12 games of the pre-season tournament and are now in the perpetual league proper. Their final record stood at 4 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws anchoring me firmly to the middle of the table. Not great but it's not all about the winning, it's also about staying alive and developing your players!

I have two Blitzers with 5 skills between them, one's a pure hitter, the other is a safety, another is on the path of the bash with mighty blow and the fourth is going to be a support player with guard as his first skill. The Black Orcs have not been as quick to skill up with one with block and another with jump up (I couldn't waste the double), unfortunately the third has done enough to puck up guard but has been move broken twice and I can't justify keeping him around at movement 2!

I also suffered an agi bust on my thrower who has skilled up with block so I had to let him go, hopefully it won't take too long to get the new guy up to speed because they make pretty good ball carriers. Of the two linemen in the team I rolled doubles for the only skill between them and chose diving tackle because nothing beats me faster then those damn nimble elves!

Later on in the pre-season I gathered enough gold to hire a Troll and a Goblin, the Troll is one casualty away from his first skill which is nice and the Gobo has yet to step off the bench! The combo is really only there for the potential of a one-turn TD but the big fellah is nice when facing other big guys, particularly Minotaurs who really put the hurt on the Bolts early on in the season.

But Blood Bowl is about even more than just winning and book-keeping, you usually get some good stories, the main one for the Bolts in the pre-season has been the emergence of their star Blitzer, Slash Spleenspilla who came in as a replacement for a “fired” move busted blitzer on game 4 and set the score-board alight. Da Bolts had been having major problems just picking up the ball in the early part of the pre-season even with their normally sure-handed thrower, but whenever the ball bounced Slash's way it just seemed to stick to him and turn into a score! He ended the season with 8TDs and 31 star-player points over just 8 games.

I've been painting the guys over the course of the season so here's how the finished team look:

Blitzers

Black Orcs

Linemen, Goblin & Thrower

Troll with Re-Rolls & Turn Counter

Now what's better than one Blood Bowl team?

Two of course! We're well into the second intake of teams going through another pre-season round robin tournament. I'm doing a Norse team called the Asguard Thunderers in this one, we're four games in so it's a bit early to tell but I'm at 2 wins and 2 losses and so-far I've only suffered a move bust on a lineman but I've managed to roll a strength boost on another! Combined with the two strength 4 Ulfwerners (Norse Werewolves) it makes a bashier team that much more bashier (?)! One thing I am struggling with though is scoring. I was expecting them to be significantly faster than the Orcs, and while they have shown promise with a couple of quick flank-run TDs, getting the ball back is proving to be something of a struggle at the mo. I'll have to keep working on it if I'm going to realise my goal of having a truly explosive offence!

As with the Orcs I'll be painting these guys as I go and four games in the initial roster is painted, but I've still got a couple of skill players to do who I'll pick up later in the season, and, of course, the counters:

Runner, Thrower, Beserker & S4 Lineman

Linement & Ulfwerners

Linemen

Turn Counter, Re-Rolls & Score Tracker

Have a slice of Terry's Pain-Cake

Well it’s been 3 weeks with no match reports so here’s a quick catch-up.

First up was a visit from the Calverton Condors, a classic match-up Greenskins vs Oomies. The game was dominated by the performance of Bolts rookie sensation Slash Spleenspilla who turned in another match-winning two touchdown performance. He also made a touchdown saving solo tackle on a Condors Blitzer who had dared to sprint unprotected into the Orc backfield. In contrast the Condors could not catch a single break and the final score did not fairly reflect their efforts on the day. Some time even Nuffle smiles on the dirty Greenskins; 2-0 and the first win of the season!

The next week saw Da Bolts travelling to the Merciless Marauders, after their spanking in game one against Warp Down the Orcs were not particularly looking forward facing off against another Chaos team. It all started reasonably well though, Da Bolts kicked to the Marauders and were able to keep them pinned back in their own territory for the duration of the whole first half. Meanwhile however the Marauders’ Minotaur was doing a number on the Black Orcs resulting in two injuries, one of them permanently hobbling the already lame Toofless. Going into the second half three players down was not where Da Bolts wanted to be, clearly rattled Flash Git made another of his trademark ball handling errors allowing the Marauders to seize the loose ball and score an easy touchdown. Later on in the half Da Bolts could easily have been two touchdowns down but fortunately the Beastman ball-carrier in question tripped over a particularly sturdy daisy on the goal-line and spilled the ball. Final score 0-1, all in all it could have been worse but not for Toofless who was down to MA2!

This week Da Bolts came up against those pansy elves again but this time with added emo. That’s right it was the Dark Elves very own Star Killers, a team with a reputation which lives up to their name, was Slash intimidated … apparently not! The super-star Blitzer put in another two touchdown performance leading Da Bolts to a 2-0 victory. Da Bolts started the game with the ball in hand and formed a cage around their unusually sure-handed Thrower, Flash Git. The Star Killers, keen to inflict physical pain equal to their emotional disquiet, leapt at the Orc juggernaut but were unable to slow the rolling cage. Eventually the Orcs crossed the line for their first touchdown with only two turns left on the clock. The Star Kilers had a half chance to score with the two remaining turns but the throw was fumbled so Da Bolts went into the second half 1-0 up.

The second half started with Da Bolts kicking off to the Star Killers and they immediately applied pressure to the daffodil-wielding pointy-eared pansies’ backfield. After a significant amount of posturing and slapping with no real outcome a particularly eloquent Orc managed to talk the ball-carrier into a fit of depression so acute that he dropped the ball. This left Slash to jump on the lose ball and take it in for his second score of the game. With time running down on the clock the Star Killers tried to inflict some damage on Da Bolts but, as was typical of the game up to this point, blocks degenerated quickly into slap fights and no real harm was done on either side.

Clearly Nuffle was smiling on Da Bolts again today as they came away with a win and no major injuries for a change, however they didn’t cause any which always leave a slightly unsatisfactory taste in the mouth. Still, more emo-elves next week and hope springs eternal … also rumours of transfers from Dungeon Bowl’s Cavechester United are gathering even more momentum as the management team of up-and-coming Troll blocker, Dung, has started to look for lodgings for him in Orkanapolis. Coming soon to a swamp near you? We’ll have to wait and see!

Da Bolts - 11 down, 1 or 2 to go!

I've reached a stage with my Orc Blood Bowl Team where I htink I can put them to one side and say "they're finished", pics below all constructive criticism greatfully accepted!







Now on to the Turn, score and re-roll counters ... and possibly another Lineman and Thrower :)

Da Bolts - Quick update

Well, last night saw the first win of the season for Da Bolts 2-0 against the Calverton Condors (Humans). Here's a very quick update and news-flash.

Played: 6
W/L/D: 1/4/1
TDs (for/against): 6/11
Casualties (for/against): 9/6

Recent Results:
2-2 vs Athel Loren Athletics (match report)
2-0 vs Calverton Condors

Team News:
No fluke as Slash runs rampant over Condors
- Rookie Bolts Blitzer, Slash Spleenspilla, put in another all-star performance this week leading Da Bolts to victory with a match-winning two Touchdown performance against the Calverton Condors. His apparent natural affinity for both the physical and more refined side of the game has got even the more blood thirsty Orc fans talking about the finer points of the game. After the match a fan said "Yer, I liked dat bit where he smashed dat smug oomie's face into da pitch an picked up da brown fing. I fink 'e ran about wiv it a bit after dat which was a bit borin but da oomies didn't seem to like it so it must 'av been good right?". Clearly a tidal shift in the way Orcs understand the game of Blood Bowl.

Full Match report to follow, in the meantime see here for the report from the last match.

Da Bolts Game 5

vs. Athel Loren Athletics

A beautiful day for Blood Bowl saw the Elves of the Athel Loren Athletics face off against Da Bolts, hungry to turn around their fortunes this season, and if that was not going to be possible then BBQ Wood Elf would fill the gap nicely.

A kick deep into Da Bolts half was gathered up by Thrower, Flash Git, who moved into a loose cage and began to advance the ball. Before he could get across the half-way line disaster loomed in the form of a particularly bouncy Wardancer who deftly lept into the cage and planted a particularly firm haircut into Flash's tenders. Needless to say the balls came loose and Flash would never be the same again (-1 AG despite re-constructive surgery from Da Bolts Apothecary). Given their track-record on ball-handling this looked bad for Da Boltz but it seemed that the newly acquired Blitzer Slash Spleenspilla hadn't read the playbook and he deftly scooped up the ball. Buoyed by this unexpected display of skill Da Bolts reformed the cage around Slash and saw him into the endzone after only four turns.

The prancing Wood Elves are notorious for quick scores so Da Boltz lined up expecting the worst but it seemed that Nuffle was still smiling on them because the kick landed only a couple of yards away from the centre-line. A couple of solid Blocks later and the Athletics' ball-carrier was within range of a blitz and the ball was knocked loose. Not content with his first display of skill Slash jumped on the ball and, with a blast of inspirational language so colourful that his team-mates could only feel proud to be on the same side as him, he was shepherded into the endzone for his second score with only two turns left on the clock.

It was then that the Elves decided to show just how good they were at scoring and crafted a magnificent two turn touchdown with a combination of hand-offs, leaps and dodes through tackle zones, rounded off with a pass and catch which made Da Bolts attempts at ball handling look pedestrian in comparison. At the end of the first half it was 2-1 to Da Boltz but they would be kicking off in the second!

And so it was that with the ball in hand from the start of the second half that the Athletics proceeded to set up to enact a replay of the end of the first and two turns later it was 2-2. Those War Dancers really are a handful and Da Bolts thought it was time to take the wind out of their sails... easier said than done!

6 turns left in the game and a win was on the cards for Da Bolts. Hak Bonechewa picked up the ball and a familiar cage formed around him. This time Slash was leading from the front putting the hurt on those pansy, yet slippery, elves. He capped off an exceptional rookie game with a particularly brutal hit on an elf Lineman, knocking him off his feet and, in fact, into several pieces, kill number 1 to the Orcs! Meanwhile the cage was advancing slowly up the field burning time off the clock but the elves were not done yet and those damn War Dancers were proving highly effective at targeting the ball carrier even in his cage.

The pressure eventually yielded a loose ball and while the elves could not capitalise on it, the damage was done to the Orc drive as they did not have enough time left to score. So the game ended 2-2, a step in the right direction for Da Bolts and a result they hope to build on in their next game. But the real story of the game for them was the emergence of Rookie Blitzer Slash Spleenspilla, the fans hope to see more of this great young prospect in the future.

Blood Bowl, it's a game of two halves.

I'm four games into the round robin stage of our club's bloodbowl league. The paint job on the team is coming along nicely but the performance on the pitch leaves a lot to be desired! So far I'm without a win in 4 games, however, two of my losses have been close and my team is progressing nicely with four players having gained a skill all ready! I think I'm knocking on the door of my fisrst win but I have to face an Elf team next week and I fear speed based teams above all else!

Anyway, I thought I'd recap on my season so far by giving you so0me highlits and a match report from my most recent game against a Skaven team, The Green Peak Packers:

Starting line-up - 4 Blitzers, 4 Black Orks, 1 Throwers, 2 Linemen, 3 Rerolls and 1 Fan Factor
Update: Game 4 - Fired 1 Blitzer (-1MA). Bought 1x Blitzer and 1x Lineman

Played: 4
W/L/D: 0/4/0
TDs (for/against): 2/9
Casualties (for/against): 5/5

Recent Results:
1-4 vs Quexecotl Slithrers
1-2 vs Green Peak Packers

Team News:
"Lame" Bolts Blitzer sent to the glue factory.
- Injured Bolts Blitzer, Gag Throttlesnot, did not appear for training this week. When asked for comment Head Coach, Marv Teefsnatcher said "We definitely didn't kill 'im."
Bolts Break Bank, Buying Blitzer and Balast.
- Despite their recent run of poor form on the pitch, Da Bolts have been receiving significant financial dontations from members of the players' and coaching staff's families. These donations have allowed the purchase of a new Blitzer, to replace the mysteriously absent Gag Throttlesnot, and an extra Lineman to add depth to their roster. When questioned about gambling irregularities, Bog, mother of Da Bolts star Blocker "Mung", was quoted as saying "I always bet against them, they're a load of rubbish."

Match Report: Game 4 vs The Green Peak Packers.

Game two of a Thursday afternoon double-header, and game 4 of the RRT, was against the Green Peak Packers. Even more speed than the Slitherers but much less bash, surely Da Bolts would be able to come away from this one with at least a bonus point.

Sadly Flash Git did not seem to want anything to do with the ball for the second game running and two handling errors early on gave away two soft scores in the first half. On a more positive note a serious injury had befallen one of the line-rats and he would be at -1MA from now on thanks to a rather unpleasant block from Burk, the Black Orcs really have been living up to their reputation and putting in the hard work on the line. So that really was the story of the first half, two more fumbles by Da Bolts thrower and Burk laying the smack down. Surely Da Boltz were due for a change in fortunes in the second half but kicking the ball away would put them in a tough situation from the get-go.

The second half started with a deep kick straight into the paws of a waiting Gutter Runner on the Packers' backfield. Not a great start but this was to be a half full of bad behaviour from the mean greenies. The Packers decided to try and move the ball down the right side of the field behind the blocking of their Rat Ogre. As usual the Black Orcs owned the line of scrimmage and crucially the Orcs out wide on the far side of the field were able to cut off the option of a reverse … or at least make it look less attractive!

A couple of big blocks made the difference here, firstly a mob of Boyz made a bee line for the Rat Ogre and put him down, to be honest the big fellah had been a bit distracted all half so he was at least no less use on the floor than he had been on his feet up to this point. Then a big blitz from TD hero of the last game – Rip Edsplitta, who put a mighty blow on another Rat consigning him to the Injury bin and needing the swift attention of the team apothecary to stave off long term ill effects! All this action put the ball carrier in a cage with a decidedly green tinge to it and with his escape route to the far side of the field cut off by some more angry looking Orks he decided to consolidate as far away as possible from the nearest Orks and hope the cavalry didn't spend too long nursing their wounds on the floor.

It wasn't long before the inevitable happened though and the Orks saw to it that the was ball returned to their blood-stained mitts and number 8 Gaz Bonethrasha ran it in for a consolation score. That little event had taken up most of the second half, so a win was off the cards but two turns to try and salvage a bonus point on casualties didn't seem out of the realms of possibility. Sadly however those damn rats proved to be more resilient than they looked and the Orcs were forced to leave the field with nothing to show for their efforts.

A 4th loss in a row and some serious soul searching is needed by the team and coaching staff to try and stop the rot. Drastic measures were taken in the firing of injured Blitzer, Gag Throttlesnot, who had been nursing an injury since game 1 and the surprisingly rich Bolts were able to buy a direct replacement and a new Lineman to bulk out the roster. Somehow, best known only to the Associated Press who voted for the award, Boltz thrower, Flash Git won the MVP and earned a skill up, taking Block – at least he can do something even if he can't pick the ball up! Also gaining a skill was Gaz Bonethrasher who took Guard.

It's been a tough first 4 games but the fans are behind them and if that's not sufficient motivation to turn the corner then perhaps actually letting the fans get hold of a few of them will be!

Da Boltz Progress Update

I got a little time this evening to kick off painting my Orc Blood Bowl team. The Black Orcs have been undercoated black as they are heavily armoured and I want their skin tone to be significantly darker than the rest of the team to really differentiate them. I dry-brushed the armour areas with Boltgun Metal and then block out the skin areas with Orchide Shade.



The Blitzers, Linemen and Thrower are undercoated white and then washed with Badab Black followed by two washes of Thrakka Green. This is the standard way I paint my ork flesh and I really like how it turns out.






Stay tuned for more!

... and now for something completely different!

I may have mentioned that I'm starting up a Blood Bowl team to take part in the club's League. I've really got the bug and after taking a bit of a stuffing in my first game I was hooked. The dice looked more favourably on me in game 2 with a narrow loss against our very own Baron's Dwarves, but my Orcs put in a much more bashy performance consigning 3 of the little stunties to the seriously injured bin. Hopefully I'll be getting more games in over the next few weeks and in order to ensure that I look my best I've converted up some players (one notable exception, see if you can spot him!):


Black Orcs


Blitzers


Linemen and Thrower


Re-Rolls and Score Counter

BotCh Day 1

... I'd rather not talk about it.

Let's just say I went 1-3 and am sitting on 30 pts out of a possible 100. What particularly bugs me is that for game 3, despite losing my first 2 games, I was up against a top level tournament player playing leafblower guard (6 Hydras and 2 Vendettas). Huh? My one win of the day came in game 4 and from the bottom table. I'm not hopeful for day 2!

On the up-side I had a great game of Blood Bowl against TheBaron as part of our club's perpetual league. More of this in the future as I'm getting more than a little cheesed off with my complete ineptitude at 40k. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind loosing it's just that when I don't at least offer some resistance to my opponent It is a little embarassing!

Shopping Trip

I had an hour to kill last night before going to the cinema so I popped into Warhammer World to pick up the Imperial Guard codex and have a beer. I wanted the IG codex to do some reading up on them before Open War in October (and also before this 750 competion that the club is having in September) It's pretty obvious that you can put together a pretty nasty list at 750 points even with the restrictions on vehicles (I'm thinking a Hydra, a Medusa and a Vendetta as base)

Anyway, I've got no real intention fo starting an IG list. However, they did have something in the store that did interest me. I've talked briefly about considering taking up Warhammer. Now, they have on display a figure form the new Island of Blood box set, namely the High Elf Griffon and it looked amazing. If the price point is reasonable and I can convince Andy to take it up I might have to get it when it comes out, especially since it contains what arre meant to be two of the better races in 8th Edition - High Elves and Skaven. It will be nice to try something else other than just 40K based games. Although, having said that I'm still waiting for Andy to teach me Blood Bowl...