Sunday 7 August 2016

Using the Interwebs for Hobby Purposes - Video Battle Reports

Hi All,

Welcome to the second post in the irregular series that is "Using the Interwebs".  The first post in this series can be found here.  This post will concentrate on video battle reports.  As no doubt most of you reading this will know, there is a mass of video battle reports out there.  In fact you could replace TV completely with video bat reps should you wish too!

Having tried to put together a video battle report recently I have clearly realised the decent ones have good equipment, delivery, beautifully painted armies and scenery..... in short they are a challenge to get right.

Video battle reports can be used for multiple reasons.  So what can we gleen from video battle reports?  First off, along with podcasts (a future using the interwebs article) it is often something I put on when I am painting but that's not all.  They can be used to; learn the rules, pick up painting inspiration, consideration of tactics for your army and often understanding armies you don't collect.

Many of the volume video battle reporters are sponsored and run a "freeview" and "pay for" channel. Personally I don't pay for any channels as I don't have the time to watch that volume of battle reports. The other thing to note many of these channels offer a free trial if you find a series of videos which particularly interests you.

So the first channel to mention is Miniwargaming.  They have multiple series, rooms and systems. They produce reports for multiple systmes including warhammer 8th edition before the change to AOS.  Some good reports are:

Warhammer 8th featuring Dwarfs and Tomb Kings (my two armies!)



Warhammer 30K - Horus Heresy - This is a different kind of game using Zone Mortalis.




Last battle report to share from miniwargaming is to share the start of one of their narrative campaigns.  They go into a lot of detail to deliver a narrative but unfortunately put some of the reports in their subscription service the "Vault".



The next channel to mention is Table Top Tactics from Lawrence, Beard and the rest.  I like this channel for understanding competitive 40k and list building.  Well as I would like to "be somebody" here is some links:

First up a competitive practice report vs ACEFACE.  In fact that is another good thing about this channel is the link up reports with other youtube battle report channels



Another report this time in collaboration with SN battle reports and also to mention I love the atmospherics at the beginning of the videos.



On to another of the real big boys of battle reports is Striking Scorpion 82.  This channel in my opinion has the best scenery and some stunning painted models.  Perhaps the main criticism is it sticks too much to the same types of games and missions.  Having said that this first video is Apocalypse battle report different to the normal 1850 reports this channel sticks to in the main:



Another slightly different and narrative game involving Steel Legion and Orks (clearly I am drawn to these types of games!).  This is an attack vs defence game.



Ok, I could put links in forever as I like so many video battle report channels but instead, to keep the post to a readable amount here is a list with clickable links of other notable video battle report channels:

Winters SEO - 40K / 30K channel, mentioned in first Using the Interwebs post.
The Legion Wargamming - 40k
The Long War - 40K, Competitive gaming
Aceface - 40K (as featured in report above), Competitive gaming
Geeks 40K Channel - 40K
Bell of Lost Souls - Pretty much all systems, can be very inconsistent in quality
Once Bitten 360 - Fantastic Warhammer 8th Reports, now moved onto the 9th age (not for me) but the channel has a large library.

I could keep going with links but I will stop there at some of the major channels I watch.  I am sure this list is not exhaustive and would ask for you guys to share the links of your favourite  channels below in the comments.

Enjoy the watching

Cheers

DOC out.........


Thursday 4 August 2016

Deimos Pattern Vindicator with Laser Destroyer - The build

Evening All,

Quick post this evening to show my latest build project a laser destroyer vindicator. A few issues with the build not least the sides which slot together differently to standard rhino kits so watch out for that.  I currently have a plan to go into a build phase for my death guard before a tank batch paint to ensure I get a consistent finish.

Also just to note the next post in the series using the inter webs will hit this weekend and will be all about video battle reports.

Ok quick pick of the completed build:



Cheers

Doc out

Sunday 31 July 2016

MkV Mortis Pattern Dreadnought; Thunderbolts Space Marines

Hi All

Bluddtoof here with a little update on my most recent work; a re-arming of a very old dreadnought. I think this was in fact the 2nd dreadnought I originally painted for my marines something in excess of 10 years ago!
Up until a last year he was a venerable dreadnought armed with an assault cannon and a massive hammer clenched in his power fist, this counted as a power fist and was from way back when I started this army and Marine forces could take traits, I can't remember which edition but the marine codex has changed somewhat! Anyway I used to field a great many thunder hammers, the fluff being that the thunder hammer was a symbol of office for most characters (I'd even converted my old termy Librarian to have a force hammer), I liked hammers I think!
Early in 2015 I decided to update my collection of dreads to have a broader range of weapons, at the time I had 4 venerables with assault cannons. the upshot of all this was a range of dreads (9 at the time) with lots of variety. The big hammer moved onto an Ironclad as a seismic hammer and I was left with this original metal venerable dreadnought with no arms. I figured 9 dreads was sufficient even for the most dread obsessed player! Incorrect! I can NEVER have sufficient dreadnoughts!
So a few months ago I decided to get number 10 armed and active; I'd been long considering a Mortis Contemptor but had just never got round to it, so having recently purchased the Imp Armour book War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes (new version) and already having a quad autocannon mortis mkv I decided to upscale to quad lascannons for that extra punch.
My bits boxes provided me with lots of spare lascannons from many kits, predators, razorbacks, dreadnoughts, flyers and landraiders. The only twin linked ones were from the predator kit but didn't really suit as they are just barrels sticking out from a curved mounting suitable for a turret, not really an arm.
I finally chose to use the landraider lascannons as they had complete power lines and generally looked the best. Admittedly they are pretty huge but I kind of like that, he looks like he means business. It was a simple task to file down the side panels of the lascannons so they would butt up together nicely to form a twin linked pair. The original hole for mounting to a side sponson served well, with a little enlargement, for mounting the pair onto the original shoulder pin, and hey presto...... twin linked lascannons at zero cost! Win!

Pics...






The painting involved a little touching up of the original model where the knife had slipped during the conversion process and some adjustment of original colours (10 to 15 years old!) to match closer to the new paints. I also added a smoke launcher, spotlight and a gothic looking gubbins to represent the helical targeting array.
Overall well pleased for a cut and shut job.
Welcome to the Thunderbolts forge, revered ancient!
That's 10 ready to roll, and number 11 on the way! More on him in the very near future...

C and C welcome as ever....

Bluddtoof

Thursday 28 July 2016

Using the Interwebs for Hobby Purposes - Mechanicum


 

Hi All,

Doc here with the start of a semi regular series called 'using the interwebs'.  Whats that all about I hope you ask?  Well like most hobby modelers I use the internet to pick up tips, see great paint jobs, understand battle tactics, watch video bat reps and video tutorials.  In honesty just about anything. Over the years of doing this I have bookmarked, followed  and linked to a number of quality sites which I go back to time and time again.

This series aim is to create a mini resource for a theme of my choosing providing you guys the reader with a ton of links which will be helpful to the chosen topic area.  I hope by doing this I can direct people to some of the internet's hidden gems.

For the first theme I have deliberately chosen something I have no personal involvement in but have just watched from afar the Mechanicum.

Saturday 23 July 2016

Mechanicum - Thanatar Siege Automata Showcase

Mechanicum - Thanatar Siege Automata

After building the first of my Mechanicum force I thought it was about time I worked out a paint scheme. The Thanatar Siege Automata is an absolutely cracking miniature to paint. I really enjoyed this guy, especially some of the techniques. I'd not painted yellow armour before so I quite fancied giving it a go to see how difficult it was. To be honest its not the easiest and isn't very forgiving if you make any slips but it does let you get some great contrast of colours.
Thanatar Siege Automata



I've kept the colours really simple to try and give it a specific style. I airbrushed a Vallejo Black primer to start and then working up in gradual light coats from Charred Brown to Heavy Brown and finally with Golden Yellow. The Black Primer results in a muted flat yellow which is what I was after. Shading was done with Charred Brown airbrushed from underneath and I Pin washed all the cracks with Sepia Wash. I added some weathering/chipping to the armour which I was pleased with, it seems to show up nicely on yellow armour. I added the edge highlights with Lemon yellow. The only thing I'm a tad disappointed with was the metal parts which I found difficult to bring out more, other than drybrushing various steel/silver shades and washing with Nuln Oil, there wasn't much more I could think to do. I didn't want a heavily weathered metal look so kind of kept it simple. Having done Blue OSL before I fancied a change and thought the purple/pink plasma would compliment the yellow fairly well. I'm reasonably pleased with the outcome. All I need to do now is decide on a house for my mechanicum and get some transfers which I think would finish it off properly.
Anyway, hope you like, Any questions or C&C always welcome 

Luko Dakka