Lizardmen Retirement Party – March 20, 2013.

Used without permission.

The time has come… After many long, long years of the Lizardmen strapping on their gold plated armor and brandishing their primitive, stone-made weapons, they are finally heading towards the lighter side of life, and have submitted their paperwork for retirement. That’s right, the army that I’ve played with since I first began playing this game over 13 years ago is finally getting a long awaited retirement party: The Display Case. Before I go any further, I want to give many thanks to Oldblood Qett’l-Korn, who has single-handedly piked the heads of Chaos Lords, Dark Elf Masters, Orc Warbosses, and many, many others. And Bro’qin Bot’l, the ancient Scar-Veteran who has – time and time again – carried the sacred Battle Standard to the fields of war, all while never letting it touch the ground…  And also Ho’qus Po’qus, who has been carried to battle on his Ancient Stegadon for several years and delivered divine Heavens magic upon many of the Lizardmen’s foes… To each of these revered Lizardmen leaders, as well as a slew of the rest of the Lizardmen army, I give thanks…

The Lizardmen’s new retirement home…

I have well over 6,500 points of PAINTED Lizardmen, and, after many years of playing with these guys – all the way back from 5th edition – I think the time has come to officially retire them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to pack them up and play some games with them, but for now, they are being put on display in the glass case. They will never be truly retired, but now I’m going to focus on some of the other armies I have on the waiting list, namely my Daemons of Chaos, Beastmen, and Deathwing. I’ve devoted a lot of time and energy to this army and it’s truly my pride and joy… but now it’s time to change the scenery a bit and go for something completely different. (Not rolling 3 dice for Leadership tests is going to be a huge change!!!) I’ve enjoyed playing Lizardmen and they will always hold a special place in my heart… Although I’ve never kept true track of overall win/loss record… I’d like to think that I’m somewhere around the .500 mark with them. I’ve suffered massive slaughters with them, and have also dished them out. I’ve truly had some very memorable games with this army and I’m actually looking forward to the break and getting to know another army inside and out. So the West Coast GT was the Lizardmen’s last trip to a GT (at least for a while) and a new army will rise in their place.

Time to say goodbye… and start something new. Be on the lookout for my Daemons of Chaos and Beastmen armies… both coming soon! (I started gluing them together and making movement trays, simultaneously!)

West Coast GT 2013 Report Out! To the Victor goes the spoils!

Made it back to the Pacific Northwest yesterday afternoon after a long weekend of Fantasy Gaming in the West Coast GT. It was my first time out there, and I have a lot to report on. Here’s the breakdown:

To start things off, I want to start by thanking the guys from West Coast Hammertime that helped to make the West Coast GT one of the more memorable GT’s I’ve ever been apart of (Bill and Fred are a few of the names I remember). The venue was nice and could’ve held about 3-4 more tables if needed. It was the Elks Lodge, and they even had a bar on-site with the concession stand in the same room as the tournaments… so getting a quick snack was very easy to do. In all, there were 44 participants, which is the second largest GT I’ve ever attended, and I don’t have one bad thing to say about anybody that was there. I met up with zebrazach and a couple other guys and pretty much hung with them the entire weekend. The camaraderie that was there, as well as the hospitality shown by these guys as well as others (Stephen Johnstone, Lenny Ortega, Zack Lopez, Leif Davidsen and Ryan Frayer, just to name a few) was outstanding and I never once felt out of place. The weather was amazing, and there was food places as well as a grocery store in the same parking lot. All in all, very nice location and well run tournament. I’ll take the next few paragraphs to break down the pro’s and con’s of the tournament:

Here’s my Lizards!

Pro’s:

Venue: Big enough, plenty of space. And a bar right where we needed it. We were able to leave our things there overnight, which is a huge advantage because I hate packing my stuff up once it’s out, only to have to do the same thing again the next day. As stated earlier, walking distance to lots of food joints and a grocery store. The bar portion was right next to us and they had a waitress that was on top of things throughout the entire weekend, always checking to see if you needed anything else. The tables were well spaced, each had 2 chairs, and they were clearly marked.

Booze!: That’s right! The West Coast GT’ers had a keg on tap that was free for anybody that wanted it as long as the keg was still flowing! I think it lasted about a game and a half…

The Staff: These guys (it’s worth mentioning once again, West Coast Hammertime – they have podcasts as well) were on top of everything and made sure to constantly walk around and check in on everybody’s game in case of any rules questions or anything of the sort. They also stuck very closely to the schedule which is awesome… a dragging tournament is never fun. Also, upon signing up, they hand you a file folder with 6 printouts of your army list in Army Builder as well as all you’ll need for the weekend for getting through the scenarios. At the start of each game, if there was something that was specific to the scenario, they already had it there by the time we set up. There was very little downtime throughout because these guys were running like an efficient, well-oiled machine.

The Prize Support: Here’s a pic of the prize support. In the end, they had a raffle for a lot of random stuff (that I happened to win!) even before they got to the awards. Any time I pay upwards of $70 for a tournament, it’s always nice to see the TOs giving a lot of it back. I was very pleased with the prize support. I also found out in the end that the guys from Cardboard Arcade (Lenny Ortega, Leif Davidsen) donated some of the prize support, which goes to show even more how well those guys work with each other in SoCal.

All the prize support.

Scenarios: Even though I’m not a huge fan of switching up the scenarios I really liked the ones these guys came up with because they stuck to the SoCal theme with them. There was one that used Mad Mickey from Disneyland and then another where you’re trying to make it to the main stage in order to “make it” in Hollywood. They were pretty fair for both sides and didn’t make a huge difference either way. I liked the changed of pace and scenery for the altered scenarios so these get my vote.

Cons:

Table height: This one is more personal preference than anything, but I think my Agents of C.O.M.I.C.S. days spoiled me because of the 4 foot high tables. Makes it much easier on the knees and lower back, but even then, I understand this is hard to accommodate. So this is more of a personal gripe than anything.

That’s about it for pro’s and con’s. I think the tournament was well-ran, stayed on time, and the prize support was pretty amazing. A very friendly staff as well as friendly gamers made it a very enjoyable experience.

Tournament Performance:

As for how I fared in the tournament… Well, I ended up going 1-2-2 and placed 16th out of 44 players. My total points were 133.5 and got the prize for 2nd place Best Sportsman. I got 3 out of 5 votes for “Most Favorite Opponent”, which was good enough to take 2nd place. For my efforts, I got the Empire Reinforcement Battalion! (I got the Warhounds in the raffle!)

I played Stephen Johnstone (very cool guy) in Round 1 against his Tomb Kings and it ended up a draw. In the last turn, he was able to kill off my General, and that proved to be the deciding factor in making it a draw as opposed to a win for me. Very fun game. Round 2 I played Jeff Seuss’s High Elves and got yet another draw. I believe in Turn 3 we started taking shots of Patron Tequila… made for a very enjoyable game. He got my vote for Most Favorite Opponent and was part of the Leadership 2 group. The third game of the first day was against Wade Durant and his Dark Elves and they handed me my first loss of the tournament. So at the end of Day 1 I was 0-1-2. The next day I started off with Brian Karol’s Skaven and got a pretty decisive victory. He was a new gamer and was still learning the ways of how you play a Skaven army. Finally, my last game was against Justin Rusk who played Wood Elves. This game went pretty poorly for me (and awesome for him!) as he charged my Carnosaur – and broke it in combat – and then I failed to rally the next turn. Obviously, he ran him off and then widdled down my Saurus unit with a Treeman and Dryads. He was a good general and could really tell that he knew how to play his army. So, overall, 1-2-2 with a 16th place finish. Sorry for the lack of great detail in these but I really could do entire posts on each of the games – and I just might. But the intent of this post is to give thoughts on the West Coast GT and how I did, so short and sweet is what I’m shooting for.

Extracurricular Activities:

On Saturday night, a handful of us stuck around and got some food nearby and then decided to do a mega battle. The idea was to set up each of our armies and then we had to play with somebody else’s army. We had 3 vs. 3 and I ended up using Ryan Frayer’s Wood Elves. As is customary with mega battles, we never finished and got to Round 2 before we decided drinking was the better idea. We had a blast, though and it really kinda tied the whole tournament together with the camaraderie that these guys showed one another. There was laughs, cries, more laughs, and even some shots thrown in there somewhere. It was an awesome night… although the time change didn’t help much the next morning!

Look at all the beer cups on the table…

Overall, I was very pleased with the West Coast GT and, depending on where I’m at around this time next year, I will definitely make it back. The guys that ran the tournament did a hell of a job and the venue they chose was top notch. All of the players were very cool and I seen some of the best painted armies I’ve ever seen at this tournament. Those guys from SoCal really know how to put on a tournament and show off their armies. I’d recommend this tournament to anybody on the west coast or anybody that’s willing to do a little bit of travel, just like I did. Thanks again to everybody that was there and the TO’s, it was one hell of a party! Enjoy the pics! Also, my apologies to the painters of each of these armies, my camera work does the detail in which these armies are painted no justice!

Mike Scaletti’s WoC. He won Best Painted.

From the Mad Mickey Scenario.

Zebrazach’s Chaos Dwarfs.

Tony Pacheco’s VCs, from Leadership 2.

West Coast Fantasy GT Readiness: Final WHFB Army List, v8.0.

Used without permission.

It’s been awhile, and I’ll admit I’ve been slacking… but on February 25th our army lists for The West Coast GT are due, and I think I’ve gotten mine figured out. This list has been my bread and butter for a while now, and I seem to do pretty well with it. Although now, the only problem is that I’m debating about whether I should swap out the Terradons for another unit of Skink Skirmishers and bulk out the Saurus unit or just keep the Terradons in… Help me out with that!!! In addition to tweaking my list, I’ve also updated my display board (post coming soon) to better group my army and show a constant theme throughout. One other requirement for the West Coast GT is that we need to have a model to represent the “Housewife of the OC” in the second scenario. So I have something in mind for that so stay tuned for an update about that paint job coming soon. The hotel is booked… the flight is booked… now I just need to hone my army skills and I plan on hitting up the local GW Battle Bunker over the next few weekends to get back in the swing of things. I’ll take all the practice I can get between now and then. This West Coast GT looks like a ton of fun, and the scenarios are awesome (as well as pretty funny) so I’m hoping they really pull through and deliver a high quality Grand Tournament. It’d be a nice breath of fresh air… So, here’s to hoping! And without further ado, here’s my GT army list:

Lord:

Oldblood Qett’l-Korn with the Armour of Destiny, Carnosaur Pendant, and Halberd. Mounted on the Carnosaur Chim-i’ Chan’qa.

Swapped out the Dawnstone that I originally had on him in order to give it to the Skink Priest (mentioned later). So, he’s still packin’ 6 Strength 6 attacks and the Carnosaur is bringin’ 5 Strength 7 of his own. The Frenzy is always kinda scary… kinda like a double-edged sword but I’m usually always willing to take a chance, which is why I stick to it. The Thunderstomp is always a bonus, and is one of the main reasons I keep going back to the Carnosaur. His survivability tends to fluctuate depending on the opponent (Stone throwers… gulp!) but I usually fair pretty well. Plus, this model is the one I consider the “centerpiece” to my army, as it’s my best converted and painted model (in my opinion).

OB Qett’l-Korn, atop his loyal Carnosaur Chim-I’ Chan’qa…

Heroes:

Scar-Veteran Bro’qin Bot’l as the BSB. Has a shield, Armour of Fortune, and Sword of Striking.

Bro’qin Bot’l serves as the BSB for the army and has a 2+ AS and a 5+ WS thanks to the Armour of Fortune. I decided to go with the Sword of Striking in order to give him the +1 to hit. So he has 4 Strength 5 Attacks… and if I’m able to get into combat against normal troops I’ll usually be needing 2′s to hit, which is never a bad thing. Keeping him alive has always been a struggle for me, so I’m hoping the low AS and the good WS is enough to see me through. He will go in the unit of 29 Saurus Warriors.

Bro’qin Bot’l, gripping the Standard tight!

Skink Witch Doctor Ho’qus Po’qus upgraded to Level 2 and Dawnstone and Dispel Scroll. Mounted on an Engine of the Gods.

The Engine of the Gods is an awesome model… one of my favorite of all time to be exact. With the Skink Doctor Ho’qus Po’qus mounted up top, he can do The Burning Alignment spell, and is even carrying a Dispel Scroll and Dawnstone. I love the Stegadon model too much to not include him in my army. Being able to get a couple of Heavens spells will help me out in the CC phase. I went with the Dawnstone because, being a Skink, the priest will surely get targeted in hand to hand combat, so re-rolls on failed AS’s (of 2+ thanks to the howdah!) was the way to go for me.

Core:

29 Saurus Warriors with Hand Weapon & Shield and Full Command.

Main unit. HW/Shield combos. This is where the Bro’qin Bot’l (BSB) will go.

Saurus Warriors complete with unit filler.

28 Saurus Warriors with Spears & Shield and Full Command.

Supporting unit. I’ve had good luck with the Spears and I like the way I painted the unit.

10 Skink Skirmishers w/javelins.

Helping to round out the core units, this unit has been upgraded to have javelins to give them the Always Stand & Shoot ability.

Special:

5 Chameleon Skinks.

Too valuable not to have. Bookend threats (see below) that will help me to take out the stuff behind enemy lines. Double tapping gives me 10 shots that will need 6′s at worst, which is what I’m looking for anyways (poison FTW!).

1 Unit of Chameleons.

5 Chameleon Skinks.

The 2nd unit of Chameleons.

4 Terradons.

Another behind-enemy-lines unit. I swapped these guys out (and the 10 Skink Skirmishers) for the Skrox unit. The Vanguard rule comes in handy at the beginning of the game. The Drop Rocks special rule is good for taking out the small units also. (This is the unit I’m having trouble with… I am aware of these guys use(s)… but I can’t help but go back and forth with just taking another unit of 10 Skink Skirmishers and using the remaining points to bulk out the Saurus Warriors (I can get 4 more added to the unit)). What do you guys think? Terradons? Or more Skinks and Saurus?

Rare:

Used without permission.

Ancient Stegadon.

Bigger, better, meaner version of the regular Stegadon. Strength 6, Giant Blowpipes that do 2D6 shots with poison and the Thunderstomp. Having the extra Thunderstomp in HtH helps out a lot. Just need to get him into CC.

Salamander.

Salamander.

Salamanders have grown to be a must have for me. Especially considering the new rules for flames in this edition. It’s just not a good idea to not include these guys. They can deal out a ton of damage and, because they’re skirmishers, they can march and still spout flames.

That comes to 2,496 points. If I decide to swap out the Terradons then that frees up 40 points, which totals 44 in all. That is enough for 4 more Saurus Warriors to spread out to either unit. The Terradons do their job well, but they are also pretty easily killed. Somebody help me make a decision! I’ve always enjoyed the “Big Dinosaur” list and have always opted to not play the Slann. I usually pull in somewhere around the middle of the pack with this list and have even won a tournament with it, and got 2nd in another. Once I make the decision on the Terradons then I’ll go forward and send it to the TO’s at the West Coast GT. My plan is to give updates throughout the weekend of the tournament and hopefully give “game-by-game” updates. I’ll have my laptop with me so all I need to do is get an internet connection and I’ll be able to show everybody the progress of the tourney. Please let me know your thoughts and I’ll be posting my display board soon! As always, thanks for reading!

The Grand Host of Revered Slann-Mage Priest Xalana’qay – (re)Finished!

Used without permission.

You ever have the urge to get up in the middle of the night about 3:45 AM and decide to start working on your unfinished army…? Well that’s exactly what happened to me this morning. After not feeling so well the last few days as well as re-adjusting to West Coast time, my body just wasn’t feeling it… but this morning, I woke up in the wee hours of the night wide awake, and since I decided there was no way I was gonna fall back asleep, off to work I headed. If you read my last post about the TSHFT Open being cancelled, then you remember me saying I was going to have to re-assemble my army in a day or two in order to play in the tournament this weekend. Well it turns out it was cancelled, but I still had plans to work on my Lizardmen anyways… If you recall, my army got simply trashed on the move back from Maryland over the summer… I hadn’t actually taken it out to assess the damage because 1.) I really haven’t had the proper time and, 2.) I was scared to see what kind of condition it was going to be in. The moving company simply obliterated it… Things were bent, some were broken, and some things trashed entirely… Below is just a sampling of what I pulled out when I finally opened the case (notice the Terradons in complete pieces…)

So, I upgraded the carrying case this morning and got everything it’s own cutout in 2 separate Army Transports… So now all 5,000ish points of Lizardmen fits nicely into 2 carrying cases. I set about gluing, cutting, re-cutting, gluing some more, and throwing some things away… It took a few hours but I’m happy to report that the entire army has been fixed and is now ready to go, at least for the most part. What some of these pictures don’t show is how beat up some of the details are on some of the models. Some have big chips that I need to go back over but will set to doing that shortly. Today’s goal was to just get it all put back together. Here’s a couple more pics:

I found that I need to finish up one last movement tray (you’ll notice it on the Temple Guard) and I have an unopened Scar-Veteran model that needs to be painted as well. So I’m about 98% complete with this army, minus the touch-ups. Here’s the last of the finished army:

After getting everything back in order I started working on my Beastmen and took stock of what kind of condition it’s in as well. There appears to be about 2,200 points of models available and nothing yet painted. So, with this in mind,  this army will be next to paint once I finish up the other 2% of my Lizardmen. There is one other thing I’d like to do, though, specifically for the West Coast Hammertime GT, and that’s re-do my display board to have some real water effects. This will be the first thing and likely take place this weekend so check back for that. It’ll be my first time trying out water effects but I’m confident I can pull it off. Stay tuned, check back, and as always, thanks for reading.

Weekend update: TSHFT Open Warhammer Fantasy Battle cancelled here in Seattle…

Used without permission.

Well it appears that the Warhammer Fantasy portion of The TSHFT Open, which was scheduled to take place this upcoming weekend, January 19th and 20th, here in Seattle, WA has been cancelled on account of not enough interest. Pretty disappointing for me because it was supposed to be my first time back in action in about a year or so. I was ready to re-field the grand host of the Lizardmen and hopefully walk away with a win or two and some great war stories that can be told time and time again… But alas, it was not to be. Apparently the Fantasy portion of Warhammer is not that huge here in the Pacific Northwest… Of course it falls 2nd place to Warhammer 40k, which seems to be the norm nationwide… Their 40k portion of the event is still a go and they’re expected to have a pretty big turnout… They offered the few that signed up for WFB to upgrade to the 40k tournament but since my army is not yet ready I opted for the refund. I’m hoping somebody here in the Seattle area shows some interest and gets Warhammer Fantasy going around here… I know there’s lots of players here, just none that are that big into the tournament scene. Any viewers of my blog from here in Seattle? Let’s work together and try to get it up and going here in the Pacific Northwest!

So now I can focus my efforts solely on The West Coast GT, which will be held March 9-10 in Santa Ana, CA. I already have tickets for the flight, hotel, and tournament booked so that’s one I’m really looking forward to. I’m trying to get my bro HornedRatRob to join me there for that one so we can have more than one representative from the B.A.W.G.S. gaming group there, but he’s on the fence. So head on over to his blog and let him know that he needs to suck it up and just make the flight out there. There’s currently 33 players signed up for the West Coast GT so it should be an excellent turnout and I’m sure some great battles will be fought.

One of the good things (for me) about the TSHFT Open being cancelled this upcoming weekend is that it now gives me a chance to really get my army back together, fix the display board, and finish up the loose ends that I have with painting a model here and there. It also allows me to get a few games under my belt so I can get a refresher on how to actually play the game. By the time the GT gets here, I should be primed and ready to go. I’m hoping to get everything in work when I’m off tomorrow so there will be some progress pics of where I’m at on everything so you can see where I’m at. It might even turn out to be a weekend to get back into the local GW store and squeeze in a game, or, at the very least, pick up the new codex for the Dark Angels…

Anyways, just wanted to let everybody know what’s going on. Be looking for another post tomorrow about the status of the (broken and in-pieces) Lizardmen and follow their return to glory (or at least their return to being 100% put together). Thanks for reading, as always.

40k Chronicles: Salamanders Devastator Squad.

Used without permission.

It’s been almost 2 weeks since my last post and a lot has been going on that’s prevented me from getting to work on some painting. I’m currently a part of 2 campaigns… one for Warhammer 40k and another for WarmaHordes. Actually playing in those campaigns takes up a good amount of my time and then there’s also the NFL playoffs and another venture that I just began: Star Wars: The Old Republic. Man… it’s an awesome game and I’ve put some of my time into that as well. So now I’m having to find a balance between several things that I enjoy doing…

So yesterday morning I decided that I’m going to begin working on my Salamanders. I’ve been looking at some articles online about Salamanders and it’s always been an army that has intrigued me. I like the color scheme and their fluff. So after perusing some other sites and borrowing a few ideas on how to paint these guys I set to work on my first unit for them: A Devastator Squad. If you’re like me, I don’t really think about how well the unit will perform during the course of a game… rather, I really like the models and that’s how I go about creating my army. So the plan right now is to create about 1,500 points worth of Salamanders, using what I already have.

I’ll post the list at another time but from what I can tell it’s not going to be very competitive, which is ok with me. I am really looking forward to just having a painted Salamanders army. Seriously, it’s been about 5 years that I’ve said I’m going to paint a Salamanders army so now that I’m actually doing it is a relief! So without getting into too much detail I have 3 Tac Squads, 1 unit of Assault Termies, A land speeder Typhoon, a Rhino, and a Dreadnought… and I think an Assault Squad. So the Dev squad was the first to be painted.

Like I said, I don’t really care about how it’ll do on the field, I really just enjoy the models and for whatever reason, I’ve always been drawn to the Devastators. I think it has something to do with the huge guns they carry and the way they look on the battlefield. Also, the stories indicate that a SM Brother that carries a Devastator weapon into battle is highly regarded as a seasoned veteran to his battle brothers. The sound of that makes it very cool. So anyways, I decided to go with 2 Lascannons, a Missile Launcher, and a Plasma Cannon. The Sergeant (not pictured… he’s next…) will have a Storm Bolter and a Power Fist.

I went with flames on the left shoulder pads of the SMs. I tried to paint the Salamander Icon on there at first but I decided that doing that for the entire army would be tough for me as I’m not a very skilled painter in that regard. A lot of the Salamanders fluff has to do with their home planet and it tells of how there’s volcanoes and hot magma and all that good stuff. So I have some ideas in mind of some conversions that I plan on doing (having plenty of LM bits might come in handy here!) I went with the standard “triangle” marking for the Dev squad on the right shoulder pad.

Here’s some pics and I’ll apologize in advance for some of the blurriness and lack of lighting… I took these last night when the sun had already gone down so they’re not the best quality. As I said earlier, the sergeant is coming up next and I’ll hopefully be able to knock him out tonight. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think!

NOVA GT Readiness: Final WHFB Army List, v7.5.

Used without permission.

Welp… it’s aboout that time. Assuming we make it through Hurricane Irene and are able to weather the torrential downpour, high winds, and whatever else comes along with the storm I’m going to be heading to D.C. tonight to participate in the NOVA GT. I’ve gotten email follow up from the TO’s and by all accounts the tournament is still on. That said, my army is complete and ready to go. I finished off the last 2 Chameleon Skinks last night and applied static grass and did minor touch ups throughout my army in order to be fully 100% good to go when I take off this afternoon.There is still one problem though, I’m waiting on my Display board to arrive… My bro sent it out last week on Wednesday and it still hasn’t showed up yet. So I’m thinking I’m going to have to run to Lowe’s and make a purchase in order to make one on the fly. I absolutely need one if I’m going to compete for Best Appearance. So, I’m thinking that’s the plan as soon as I take off from work (Wait… I’m supposed to be working???) Anyways, here’s my list that I’m taking with me to the GT tomorrow and Sunday. I’m hoping it works out. I decided to take out the Skrox unit since my playtesting didn’t work very favorably for me. Also, as Khorne53 suggested, the unit size is just too small to do what I need it to do. And I don’t have the time to paint up more models to fill them out. So I did some swapping at the last minute, here’s what I got:

Lord:

Oldblood Qett’l-Korn with the Armour of Destiny, Carnosaur Pendant,  and Halberd. Mounted on a Carnosaur.

Had to get rid of the Dawnstone that I originally had on him in order to give it to the Skink Priest. So, he’s still packin’ 6 Strength 6 attacks and the Carnosaur is bring 5 Strength 7 of his own. The Frenzy could come back to haunt me if I play an opponent that knows how to work it against me. The Thunderstomp is always a bonus, and is one of the main reason I keep going back to the Carnosaur. Plus, I just don’t like running the Slann, I’m a more in-your-face HtH kinda guy. So, fittingly, this guy leads the Lizardmen army.

OB Qett'l-Korn, fresh from killing a Chaos Lord in the last battle...

Heroes:

Scar-Veteran Bro’qin Bot’l as the BSB. Has a shield, Armour of Fortune, and Sword of Striking.

The BSB for the army that has a 2+ AS and a 5+ WS thanks to the AoF. I decided to go with the Sword of Striking in order to give him the +1 to hit. If I’m able to get into combat against normal troops I’ll usually be needing 2′s to hit, which is never a bad thing. Keeping him alive has always been a struggle for me, so I’m hoping the low AS and the good WS is enough to see me through. He will go in the unit of 29 Saurus Warriors.

Bro'qin Bot'l, girpping the Standard tight!

Skink Witch Doctor Ho’qus Po’qus upgraded to Level 2 and Dawnstone and Dispel Scroll. Mounted on an Engine of the Gods.

Counts as a Level 3 because of the EOTG, can do The Burning Alignment spell, and is even carrying a Scroll and Dawnstone. I love the Stegadon model too much to not include him in my army. Being able to get a couple of got Heavens spells will help me out in the CC phase. I went with the Dawnstone because, being a Skink, the priest will surely get targeted in hand to hand combat, so re-rolls on failed AS’s was the way to go for me.

Core:

29 Saurus Warriors with Hand Weapon & Shield and Full Command.

Main unit. HW/Shield combos. This is where the BSB will go.

Saurus Warriors complete with unit filler.

28 Saurus Warriors with Spears & Shield and Full Command.

Supporting unit. I’ve had good luck with the Spears and I like the way I painted the unit. (Really the only reason I’m including spears in my army… I know, I know… the 6+ parry save is better…)

10 Skink Skirmishers w/javelins.

Helping to round out the core units, this unit has been upgraded to have javelins to give them the Always Stand & Shoot ability.

Special:

5 Chameleon Skinks.

Too valuable not to have. Bookend threats (see below) that will help me to take out the stuff behind enemy lines. Double tapping gives me 10 shots that will need 6′s at worst, which is what I’m looking for anyways.

1 Unit of Chameleons.

5 Chameleon Skinks.

New addition. Same use as above.

The 2nd unit of Chameleons.

4 Terradons.

Another behind-enemy-lines unit. I swapped these guys out (and the 10 Skink Skirmishers) for the Skrox unit. The Vanguard rule comes in handy at the beginning of the game. The Drop Rocks special rule is good for taking out the small units also.

Rare:

Used without permission.

Ancient Stegadon.

Bigger, better, meaner version of the regular Stegadon. Strength 6, Giant Blowpipes that do 2D6 shots with poison and the Thunderstomp. Having the extra Thunderstomp in HtH helps out a lot. Just need to get him into CC.

Salamander.

Salamander.

Salamanders have grown to be a must have for me. Especially considering the new rules for flames in this edition. It’s just not a good idea to not include these guys. They can deal out a ton of damage and, because they’re skirmishers, they can march and still spout flames.

That comes to 2,496 points. A small, well balanced army, I think. I also believe I can be competitive with it. I’ll be giving updates throughout the weekend on the progress of the tournament. I’ll also be snapping lots of photos throughout so make sure to check back. Wish me luck! Here we go!

The Road to Games Day 2011: Saurus Spear Unit Filler Complete!

Used without permission.

So it took some doing but I finally got around to finishing off my Unit Filler for my Saurus Warriors with spears. I know I’ve been saying for a while that I plan on having it done earlier and all that good stuff but I have had a lot of things (literally) pop up in front of me that took precedence. Anyways, I was determined to get this thing done prior to leaving for Games Day 2011 (which will be in approximately 5 hours from the typing of this…) I must say that although I like the way that it turned out I’m not too impressed with how the painting came out on it. I mean, it looks good (IMO) but it feels rushed. I guess it’s my fault for constantly procrastinating and then trying to finish it up at the last minute… At any rate, I finished it off yesterday and glued all the pieces on and now it serves as the Unit Filler for my Saurus Warriors.

I was a little concerned with people not knowing what’s going on when you look at it so I decided to give it the “wife test”. I showed my wife and didn’t let her say anything… and then I told her, “Ok… take a look at this piece, just think to yourself, take a few minutes, let it marinate in your head… and then tell me what you believe is going on in this diorama…” After a few moments (which seemed like an eternity) of moving it around and getting different views of the models on the base she sits up and says, “It looks like they found some eggs and they are going to pick them up.” Score! I was relieved that she said that. So it proves (to me, at least) that even somebody who knows nothing about the hobby can get what I was going for in this piece. So, I think I did my job well on this one.

So the plan is to pack this unit up and take it with me to enter into the Golden Demon competition. Again, I KNOW it’s not painted well enough to compete with the type of painters that will surely be there but it helps me to know that I put my mind to something, completed it, and put it into the painting competition. If I can get a few guys to say “Wow, cool conversion!” or something along those lines then that’s a win in my book. I’ll have an update and plenty of pics from this weekend on Monday.

Let me know your thoughts and tell me if you can see additions or deletions… or anything that seems out of place. I’m open to the criticism and will gladly make changes if they help to better the model. Thanks for looking and I’ll be back on Monday with an update from Games Day 2011!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

NOVA GT Prep: Current Army List, v7.0.

Used without permission.

So… I’ve been working on another Unit Filler for my army over the last few weeks… and I’ve had some stuff pop up here and there so I haven’t been able to work on it like I’ve wanted to. In any case, I’ll still have it finished by Games Day 2011 but it won’t be exactly where I want it to be (in terms of painting quality). Nonetheless, I am trudging forward and find myself working on several projects at once… I am finishing up a Skink Priest, started on my Deathwing army, and finishing the Unit Filler at the same time. Somewhere in there I figured I’d better start working on my army list that I plan to use for the upcoming NOVA GT that is taking place at the end of August (look to the right side of this page to get more info on that…) So I’ve taken a different approach to this list… and have gotten rid of one of my big dino’s (which I love so much in my army lists) and have opted for more characters to fill out the list, thus making less (bigger) targets for my opponent and giving my HtH Saurus units a much needed “Oomph!” when it comes to close combat. So, without further ado, I give you my preliminary (pending any input from you guys) NOVA GT Army List, v7.0.

Lord:

Oldblood Qett’l-Korn with the Armour of Destiny, Carnosaur Pendant, Halberd, and Dawnstone. Mounted on a Carnosaur.

I have used this build a time or two before and have had good results. So I think I’d like to stick to it during this tournament and see how he does. He’s one of only 2 big targets due to the Carnosaur but if you know me you know I don’t like running the Slann, so this guy has to come in to play… and he has to be mounted on a Carnosaur. The AoD is pretty much the basic setup for a lord level character, and being mounted gives him a total AS of 1+ with a 4+ Ward. Because his Scaly Skin save is a 4+ I don’t need the shield so I go for the Halberd, giving the +1 Strength for a total of Strength 6. Ouch! The Carnosaur Pendant is there for the extra attack, bringing the total to 6 and the Dawnstone gives me re-rolls to failed AS’s… an item that tends to keep him around for a while. All said and done, 6 Strength 6 attacks, 1+ AS, 4+ Wd Save… and that’s just the OB. The Carnosaur is there for some damage output as well, 4 Strength 7 attacks and throw in an extra attack for good measure once he inflicts a wound and then the ever-so-dreaded Thunderstomp. Makes for a good lord combo and I’m hoping for good results!

Heroes:

Scar-Veteran Bro’qin Bot’l as the BSB. Has a shield, Armour of Fortune, and Luckstone.

My BSB that will go in one of the Saurus Warrior Units. He has the Armour of Fortune, which with the shield gives him a total AS of 2+ and a 5+ Wd Save. I have had my BSB die too quickly in the past because of a lack of armour and ward save so I’m hoping this build keeps him around. I decided to overlook the offensive output and focus more on the defensive point of view for him, hoping that he stays around and gives me that extra re-roll to Ld tests throughout the entire game. The Luckstone gives me one re-roll on the first failed AS, hopefully that’s all I’ll need. He’s still packing 4 Strength 5 Attacks, which is not too shabby.

Scar-Veteran Naz-Daq with an extra hand weapon, Light Armour, and the Talisman of Endurance. Mounted on a Cold One.

Being mounted on a Cold One gives the unit the ability to Cause Fear so that’s a definite bonus. I went with the extra hand weapon for the extra attack, especially since he doesn’t need a shield, being mounted still giving him a 1+ AS. The Talisman of Endurance gives him the 5+ Wd Save so it’ll give him some staying power. Sure, he only gets “Look Out Sir!” on a roll of 4+ for being mounted, but the tradeoff is enough to make me chance it. This guy will give some offense to the unit opposite the Saurus with Bro’qin Bot’l.

Skink Witch Doctor Ho’qus Po’qus upgraded to Level 2 and the Blood Statuette of Spite.

This was one of the bigger changes I made in this new list… not having my Skink Witch Doctor mounted on the EOTG. He’s upgraded to a Level 2 so he’ll still be able to have some magic output. And I plan on placing him in the unit of Skrox so he can’t get picked out. I chose to go with the Blood Statuette of Spite for that one time that it goes off. It’s ability allows me to pick out a single character and they then take a Toughness test. If failed, they take a wound with no saves allowed. We continue to do that until he either passes or dies. Only 25 points and the time that it does go off it’ll be well worth it.

Skink Witch Doctor Kitch me’ F’yu-Kan upgraded to Level 2 with a Dispel Scroll.

Same as above except he gives me some anti-magic ability. One use only but it comes in handy. Again, will be loaded into the Skrox unit until they get to combat.

Core:

29 Saurus Warriors with Hand Weapon & Shield and Full Command.

One portion of the “meat” of my army. Both of the units are identical so there will be a Scar Vet in each of them, giving that much needed offensive output that I’ve talked about already. I lowered the amount to 29 from 30 for 2 reasons… 1) to save points on something else and, 2) to allow the space for the Scar-Vet. This unit will be flanked by the other unit of 29 Saurus Warriors.

29 Saurus Warriors with Hand Weapon & Shield and Full Command.

Same as above.

16 Skinks w/javelins and shields, 2 Kroxigors, Standard Bearer and a Musician.

This is the real change to my army. I haven’t been a big fan of Skrox units but I’ve come to see their many uses in the game. They can move 12″ and can be a pest of a flanking unit since they Kroxigors are Strength 6 and can’t be hit. Sure, the Skinks go down quickly but they will serve as flankers in my army, not there to take on all comers. Also, per the new FAQ, this unit can’t be Thunderstomped, which is helpful against monsters.

Special:

8 Chameleon Skinks.

Too valuable not to have. In this list, I’ve decided to add another unit (although slightly smaller due to points limitations) to be equally as pesky. Perfect for penetrating behind enemy lines and taking out warmachines, lone characters, and even charging Giants! The plan is to get these guys on either side of my opponents battle line, depending on where the preferable targets are for them.

6 Chameleon Skinks.

New addition. Same use as above.

Rare:

Used without permission.

Ancient Stegadon.

Bigger, better, meaner version of the regular Stegadon. Strength 6, Giant Blowpipes that do 2D6 shots with poison and the Thunderstomp. Kinda concerned about this being 1 of 2 big targets but I’m hoping the high Toughness will see me though. Having the extra Thunderstomp in HtH helps out a lot. Just need to get him into CC.

Salamander.

Salamander.

Salamanders have grown to be a must have for me. Especially considering the new rules for flames in this edition. It’s just not a good idea to not include these guys. They can deal out a ton of damage and, because they’re skirmishers, they can march and still spout flames.

Well there you have it. 2,500 points of Lizardmen. All I have to do to finish this army out is touch up some guys and create 6 new Chameleons. Plenty of time to get that done too. I’ll have a completed army picture on here with detailed pics of each unit. Lookin’ forward to getting in some good games over the weekend of the tournament and, who knows? I may even bring home some hardware. Thanks for looking!

The Road to Games Day 2011: Work-in-progress Spear Saurus Unit Filler (Update #2)…

Used without permission.

I finally got around to doing some work on this Saurus Spear Unit Filler today… I was gone last weekend visiting the fam and was still recovering this entire week at work because of all the the fun we had when we were together. So this morning I woke up and was determined to get some more progress done on this unit. If you’ll recall, I plan on putting this unit into the Golden Demon painting competition at this year’s Games Day (See previous post about me getting my ticket in the mail, woot!) Well I was able to get some work done on it and time got the best of me as we had to make a mandatory trip to the pool then are going out with some friends tonight. So, I will hopefully finish it up tomorrow morning when I wake up and then go back through the entire unit and make the finishing touches to it all.

So anyways, I went back and sculpted some vines to literally wrap all around the pillars and even the dead log that lies to the right of the piece. I put some small leaves coming out of each of the vines to give it a better appearance and, even though vines are simple to do, I was pleased with the way it looks. The pics that I have now are the vines unpainted, so I’ll get those done tomorrow. I went with an old, weathered look on the pillars to give an appearance as though they have been around since the beginning of time, when the Old Ones willed the Saurus to build them at their feet. I think the overgrowth of vines shows that they’ve been around for several milennia as well.

The Saurus that you see in the picture is going to be the only soldier on the “diorama”. Since last working on this I’ve come up with a few other ideas on how to finish this. What I think I’m going to show is the Saurus Warrior on the steps, in defense position and a nest of Cold One eggs where the old log is… I would like to have a few Skinks shown carrying off one of the eggs, taking it back to their temples to raise it from birth to be the cold blooded killing machines that they are in battle. I have a few skinks laying around and I thought it’d be a good idea, showing the Saurus prodding the skinks to take the egg away as he looks around to ensure that the mother of the Cold One eggs is nowhere near… It may be hard to envision but I’ll have more tomorrow so you’ll be able to see what I’m talking about. Anyways, here’s what’s done so far… try to imagine it if you can… thanks and make sure to check back tomorrow, I’m determined to finish it up.