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.