Icicles

I had a nice comment about icicles on the base of one of Man-o-War Demo Corps while attending Blood and Steel.
I’ve been avoiding adding anymore as they are very labour intensive but I have encouraged to look into doing more by the nice man who spotted them.
My old method involved cutting clear Perspex into Icicle shards which took ages and they always looked a bit think. I have read of a technique using a hot glue gun instead so decided to give this a bash.
Step one is to draw out some lines of the glue on a suitable surface.

Next step is to cut the glue into suitable shaped using a scalpel. Then simply glue into place with a spot of superglue.

Add a few more Icicles to taste. To give a little extra strength I then went over the icicles and the area around the point of attachment with some Vallejho water effect.

And here is a picture of the completed miniature complete with the icicles.

Blood and Steel – 50pt Hardcore Tournament

This Saturday I took part in a 50pt Hardcore tournament organised by Battlecult. With the experience of my single Hardcore practice game behind me I decided to leave Trolls at home and take Karchev Tier 4. I needed to get two models painted up to get my 35pt list upto 50pts so made the time to finish off an Extreme Destroyer and a Devastator. This is a list I am familiar with and is much trimmer than the Trolls.
I had a good tournament winning 3 of 5 games. All 3 games I won were close and boiled down to me being very aggressive. I learnt the importance of getting models into the scoring zones in the latter stages of the game to pick up control points and win the tiebreak in the event of dice down.
In the two games I lost, Karchev was pushed away from his jacks. The first was against Gorten who used his feat to pull him out of his ‘jack bunker; the second was against Bethayne who used Gallows to do the same. Gallows should be easy to counter in future by using Sidearms and marching forward more slowly. I’m not sure what could done against Gorten. Possibly using terrain as a road block but that is very situational. It’s a tricky one that needs careful thought.
I enjoyed the Hardcore and with a smaller list focused on the battle group it was possible to play efficiently and with a doable plan.
Well done to Battlecult on a successful first event!

Harkevich is on the way

I have been drawn to Harkevich as he works well with ‘jacks but unlike Karchev he supports ‘jacks of the ranged type. I am putting together a 35 tier list in the same way that I did for Karchev.
On the table today are an Extreme Destroyer, a converted Extreme Black Ivan and a couple of Winter Guard mortar teams.
Black Ivan will be interesting to paint as he obviously needs to be black rather than the eggshell and red scheme I have using so far. The standard scheme requires a Hull Red base coat to allow the desired effects, but I’m trying a Chrome base coat with Black Ivan to allow the chips and scratched to be more visible.

Legion, bloody Legion!

After the Trolls getting beaten to a pulp in Hardcore I took on Legion at 35pts Steamroller. I always have problems against Cryx and even worse ones against Legion. I took my favourite Karchev tier 4 list and faced Saeryn across the table.
The game started fine with Karchev merrily towing his ‘jacks across the board. The slippery Legion were careful to avoid a confrontation in the centre of the board and Karchev was forced into slinging the ‘jacks into the right flank a little earlier than I would have liked. This resulted in no Unearthly rage and little chance of knocking the Legion beasts for six.
When the Legion retaliated Karchev was hosed down by Typhoon and a combined attack of Saeryn’s magic with disengaging Raek and Angelius was enough to take the big guy down.
It was something of a shock when the Raek and Angelius sneaked away and in hindsight a lock power attack might have allowed me to keep the in place. Worth remembering for the future.
So, not a good Sunday nights gaming, although there were important lessons to learn.

Hardcore Practice

I was issued with an unexpected pass to attend Blood and Steel a 50pt Hardcore tournament organised by Battlecult. I have not played any genuine Hardcore so decided a practice game was in order.
I decided to dig out my old Troll list and take Calandra as she is possibly the nastiest Warlock the Trolls have. I also popped in a Bouncer as I know Hardcore is all about assassination runs, and despite being a tricksy Warlock Calandra is on the squishy side. My opponent took a Morty Cryx list, heavy on ‘jacks and with Deathjack leading the mayhem. I was expecting a tough game!
The game didn’t go well for the Trolls. I had taken far too many models and failed to use most of the army each turn. 7 minute turns at 50 pts is a big shock! Eventually a Seether snuck through my ranks and got the assassination run on Calandra. I had cast bump on the Bouncer rather than Calandra and the ‘jack side stepped around him and finished her off easily.
This was an important learning experience! I’m not sure my Trolls are the right way to go for Hardcore. Too much infantry, too much shooting and too many area of affects to resolve. Also although I can see a use for the Bouncer it will be important to get the bump animus on the right model in future. Hmmmm…… food for thought!