Back from Bayou Battles 2012

Bayou Battles is over. This was the first time that I was able to attend this Texas based tournament, and I must say I had a blast. I saw some usual faces that attend the the fantasy GT circuit as well as a host of new people, and armies I hadn't seen before. The way they scored their tournament was Overall, Comp, Sports, and Army. It's been a while since I've been to a tournament that put that much focus on sports and comp. It was a welcome change. Their inclusion of comp didn't seem to stop the over all winner as he had a large number of battle points and didn't do so well in the comp department with an ogre kingdoms army.

The results are up here.


The venue was at a large hotel with an open floor plan situated right off the interstate. They had a bar in the hotel, but it was very expensive. I payed 7 dollars for a Micalob Ultra; you can buy a six pack for the same price. Luckily my roommate and I thought ahead and bought a case of beer each for the weekend. The room was accommodating and had enough tables and space between them for everyone.

The tournament was ran smoothly without any hick ups, and they were good about starting games on time. They held a raffle in which 30 people probably walked away with product on top of the 15 or so awards they did at the end of the tournament. I prefer events that pay out mildly to a greater number of people than ones that pay out a lot to a select few. This keeps the competitiveness of the event down as people aren't gunning for a boat load of new product. Saturday night there was also a 'beer and pretzel' event called the Giant Bash. I didn't participate as I had forgotten completely to pack my giant, but I did watch a bit of it and it looked like tons of fun. Next year if I'm able to attend Bayou Battles the giant will definitely be on my things to pack list.

Now to complain! :p I'm not completely happy with my paint score. Now I know that T.O.s only have a minute or so to walk past and judge the army. I also understand that art is subjective, and that everyone will view the same piece of art work differently. My dark elves are chalked full of conversions, both kit bashed and green stuffed. Every banner has a free hand design on it as well as my movement trays, and every shield has individual freehand runes. The layering and highlighting is smooth and I had a display board that matched the basing of my army. There was an army there with no free hand that was dipped that got a better score than me. I guess you win some and lose some. As an artist I prefer realism and I try to work that into my models. When I set out to paint an army I imagine the fantasy army as a real entity and pick my color pallet from there. I guess my affinity to realism has made a lot of my armies rather drab. I did notice that the armies that did better in the paint department were full of bright colors. If I go back to BB I'll have to keep that in mind.

Overall I had a great time and got to meet some new people and see some new armies. If I have the time free in the future this is an event I'd go back to.

Off to Bayou Battles 2012

I just put the finishing touches on my new display board for my Dark Elves. I've been to a couple of fantasy GT's now, but this will be my first ever Texas GT, and my first time attending Bayou Battles. I didn't have a whole lot of time to paint any new units up or anything so My list is very much the same incarnation I've taken for the past year or so.

Dark Elves
2,499

Dreadlord: Pegasus, Pendant of Kahlith, Crown of Command, Dragonhelm, Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, Great Weapon, 288

Supreme Sorceress: Level 4, Sacrificial Dagger, Iron Curse Icon, Talisman of Preservation, Lore of Metal, 335

Death Hag: Cauldron of Blood, Battle Standard Bearer, 225

20x Repeater Crossbowmen: Shields, Musician, Standard, 235
20x Repeater Crossbowmen: Shields, Musician, Standard, 235
38x Spearmen: Shields, Full Command, 281
5x Harpies: 55
5x Harpies: 55
20x Black Guard: Full Command, Whip of Agony, Banner of Eternal Flame, 330
5x Shades: Additional Hand Weapons, 85
2x Bolt Throwers: 200
Hydra: 175

I plan on abstaining from sobriety the whole weekend so wish me luck.

Gondorian Keep WIP 1

So I've decided to make a Lotr gaming table. I also want the table to double as a generic fantasy town for skirmish battles or possibly even RPG's. The table is going to be a 4' by 4' section of flat grass and dirt terrain. I plan on building a keep with a throne room and various rooms and things inside. Outside of the keep there will be a some stables for keeping horses and other animals. After the keep I'd like to get 6 or 7 medieval homes and maybe a blacksmiths shop. I don't have a lot of time to spare on this project so it probably will take a while to completion. Below is the rough draft of the floor plan. Not everything is glued down yet.

Faramir and Gondor WIP

I've completed Faramir in full armor foot and mounted. I like the overall look of him and think He'll look great on the table top. I don't think hes representative of my best work though. His eyes are a little wonky and some of the highlighting isn't smooth enough for my taste. He'll pass do though and be a welcome addition to my Gondor army.



I've started painting all of the infantry for my Gondorian army as well. So far I've started 12 bowmen, 6 spearmen, and 6 sword and board guys. They're about 60% done so far. The next thing I'll end up painting is my 12 veterans and my 12 citadel guard.



Enjoy

Cave Troll 2

I just finished a second cave troll for my Moria army I'm slowly working on.

Men of Gondor

I've finished some of my Gondor models. The pictures aren't the best but you get the idea. I hope to paint up some more random looking models. It can be tiring painting armies sometimes, so it's nice to break up the monotony with a couple of random sculpts.

Gondorian Army WIP

I haven't completed anything new in a while, but I have been working on my Gondor force. I converted 12 Osgilioth Veterans out of normal Minas Tirith troops. I green stuffed various cloacks and bed rolls and packs. I also had some extra Death Corps of Krieg laying around so I used their back packs to further distinguish my vets from my normal rank and files. The armored Faramir didn't have a shield so I switched his arm with an arm from a sword and board guy and pinned them.











I'm working on 5 character models that can be used with any Gondor force. I have 10 different poses of Aragorn. Instead of Painting them all the same, (brown and green) I decided I could make other characters out of them. So from left to right we have: The night watcher, a grey haired older gentleman with a torch to keep the city safe at night. The noblemen, Just a high ranking Gondorian citizen. Damrod, Denethor, and Faramir.

Tomb Kings Characters Finished

I haven't had a chance to do much to my Tomb Kings lately. I managed to squeak just enough time into finish the characters I had started. So here is my Tomb King, BSB, Mounted BSB, Litch Priest, and Casket of Souls.

Zombies, Skeletons, and Zombies OH NO!!!

I got a rather large commission last month. It was 88 zombies, 108 skeletons, and around 14 unit fillers. A friend of mine was building a Vampire Counts army and needed them by the Bugeater GT. So another local army painter and I split up the army. I took all the mass infantry and he took all the large models and characters. I decided that I would dip the army. The army was massive and didn't have to be the highest quility but he wanted them looking pretty good. I ended up purchasing Army Painters dip and using it on the entire horde. The turned out great and he was pleased with them. I could go another year or two without seeing a VC model though.











This was my favorite part about the commission. It's a dire wolf stealing the army off of a zombie and the zombie trying to chase him down to get his army back! :)

Game of Thrones Themed 40k Army

I got a commission from a friend in the northwest part of the state for some free hand work on his rhinos. He was painting up a 40k Space Wolves army after the Winterfells from Game of Thrones. He had already painted the infantry and the vehicles he just wanted some free hand work on the tops to further drive the theme home. I was happy to oblige as I'm a pretty big fan of the shoe as well.











I really enjoyed working on these. I wouldn't mind getting to do more.

Bugeater GT 2012

Everyone just got back from the Bugeater GT 2012. What a blast! Friday night all of the north west AR guys and the central AR guys went out to down town Omaha for a night out. I pretty well only remember 3 pitchers and 4 das boots but know much more was consumed.

 

I ended up winning two paint awards for their 'Golden Gobo' and a best of all in the 40k section. I also one sweepstakes runner up for warhammer fantasy. Which was basically their version of 2nd over all.

The Bugeater GT was a fun event and super well ran. Their parring system was very weird. They paired you up with win loss and didn't take battle points into consideration which day two put people with the same win loss record buy off by 20 battle points playing each other. The terrain seemed a little sparse as well. Those are my only two criticisms though. I would easily recommend anyone go to it as it was a great event overall.

I may have time to do some quick battle reports later in the week.

Alatar the Blue

I used the old version of the Sharkey model. That's the fallen version of Saruman at the scourging of the shire. This guy was fun to paint up and as far as rules go I guess I'd just use him as a another wizard and maybe just swap out one spell for a "blue" spell what ever that may be.





This does leave me with a predicament though. I only have 1 of the 5 wizards left. Palando the Blue. I can't think of any other models for him... Is there an alternate version of one of the wizards I can use? Is there an alternate company with similar sculpts? I guess I'll have to figure something out.

Saruman the White

Just got done with Saruman the White a couple of days ago and time to show off the work. He wasn't super fun to paint but he was relatively easy. All his clothes where the same color and his beard was close to the robes color. I'll have to get this guy on his horse and paint him up I'll also be on the look out for some of the older sculpts so I may be able to get my hands on a more interesting version of Saruman.

Gandalf the Grey

I've painted up my childhood favorite character. I first remember Gandalf the Grey when I first read the Hobbit in 6th grade. I'm immersed into Tolkien enough now that I have many favorite characters from the series, however that first love for Gandalf and his odd way of getting things going in the right direction will always remain. A gray cloak, silver scarf, a blue hat and tall black boots. I had already painted up the plastic version but I wanted the metal version. I was at Adepticon and my friend found two copies of Gandalf on horse and on foot. I just wanted one on foot. I didn't expect to get a hold of the the rare OOP model of him on his non-Shadowfax mount. I really enjoyed painting him up and I even tried some new basing techniques from 'Army Painter'. They have these super cool flowers that can be pinched off and glued right on the base. I think they really add a lot to the basing of the miniature.

Anywho Mr. Gandalf the Grey.

Farimirs' Defenders of Osgiliath

I've almost completed my Easterling army barring one or two of the new finecast heros that I'll plan to get. For my second army I decided I wanted to go good. Farimir has always been one of my favorite Gondor characters so I wanted to do an army based around him but before the LotR books so I could more customize his force. I have three goals for the army. The first is to have a cool looking force that would be true to the lore. The second is to have a variety of models because after painting an all easterling army you get tired of gold and red. Lastly I want it to be somewhat competitive. Nothing GT winning, but just not terrible either.

 

Farimir, Bow, (Leader) He may be better in heavy armor but I like this model better.
5 Osgiliath Veterans, Sw/Sh
6 Osgiliath Veterans, Sp/Sh

Damrod
4 Rangers of Gondor
5 Rangers of Gondor w Sp

Madril
1 Minis Tirith Solider w Banner
4 Minis Tirith Solider w Sw/Sh
4 Minis Tirith Solider w Sp/Sh
2 Knights of Minis Tirith w Sh

 Beregond
6 Citadel Guard w Longbows
6 Citadel Guard w Sp

 599pts
8 Might, 19 Bows, 47 Models, Breaking Point 23

 The basic idea is that almost all of my troops will be F4 except for Madril's warband but he'll have the banner and a couple of knights to help out. Every group will also have spear support and will be able to function as a combat block. I personally love Madrils 'master of ambush' rule. If everyone starts in reserves I can roll his warband first every time because as soon as he hits the board his rule is in and will help the rest of my force on. Also if he is the only one stuck in reserve it will help hurry him on and his knights can get to the fighting quickly as the rest of the warband walks up to reinforce where needed. The Longbows from Beregond and his Citadel Guard can be plucking away at D3 or D5 targets to make the most of their long bows while the rangers shoot at everything else. I really look forward to painting and modeling up this force. I'll probably just green stuff some stuff on the Osgiliath Vets and make my own so I don't have a bunch of guys with the same pose over and over.

The Fellowship round 2

This is more of a repost so I won't waste lots of words on it. I got better pics and have since painted their eyes.

Army of the Dead

I got these guys about a year ago. They were the easiest army I've ever painted for any system. Black primer, white primer dust effect from a northern angle, gryphon sepia wash. That was all I did. The Leader of the dead models was a marsh specter dead numenorean I just painted a white tree on his chest to make him stand out as a leader model. Now that the new warband rules have come out though I will need to buy another leader or two and maybe some more troops for some different weapon options. All in all quick and easy.

Mines of Moria; Cave Troll

This guy was one of the more fun Lord of the Rings models I've had the privilege of painting. I used the directions right off the GW website and it turned out great. Now this is the one from the beginning plastic Mines of Moria set but I look forward to getting 1 or 2 more metal ones and painting up to match this guy.

The Nazgul

I've painted up the 5 Nazgul that come with the Weathertop kit. Still haven't gotten around to the Hobbits or Strider yet. These were easy to paint and I knocked them out in a couple of hours. I'm looking for four more in alternate poses so I can have 9 that are all different.