Malifaux: Getting Started

Malifaux has been gaining popularity all around the world at a pretty impressive pace over the last couple of years along with various other 'new' wargames like Warmachine, Hordes, Infinity and so on.

Some people go to play them having been put off by Games Workshops prices, some are bored of everyone seemingly playing Marines, some simply think these games look cool and fancy adding a little variety to their gaming circle.

I fall into the latter of those categories. Three other guys from my gaming circle have been mentioning it for a while now, with another couple showing some slightly more vague interest, so it was that we took the plunge together.

Here's how we went on and what I found as the pros and cons of starting a whole new system.

Time Flies and Nothing Gets Done!

Almost a whole month since my last post?! WHOOPS!

Here's what I've done in the hobby this last month:

• Started to play Malifaux, I'm three games in and slowly grasping the learning curve despite having inadvertently picked a 'tough' beginner crew - Colette Du Bois and her showgirls. 
• Started building Malifaux models. Nothing mega news-wise there, apart from that the gangs legs are about 2-3mm wide and need pinning to their floorboard bases, it's been a bugger.
• Played a couple of games of 40k with the Angels Sanguine. Two small games (1,000 points) against my friends Chaosy Space Wolves, won one lost one, a good way to play for a change (list building is a pain though).
• Finally started to paint the rest of the GK's to catch up with the Vindicare from last month (see post below this). 30+ silver coated models need all their weapons and armour joints painting black for starters, and their bases given a coat of brown. This has been a) slow progress and b) BORING. Hence no updates.

So there you have it. I've also been majorly skint (out of money for you international readers) so not even any exciting purchases!

I'm playing a 10k-12k Apoc game on Sunday so will report back on that and then do something more substantial on the Malifaux thing. The Grey Knights will start to trickle through once the paint layers make enough of a difference to show them.

So there you go, I am still alive but it's been a slow month on the updates, will hopefully manage two or three before Christmas though if I can get enthusiastic about base coat painting! 

Vindicare Assassin: Painted

I've been posting on this blog for about two years now. Some posts have been good, some have rambled along and failed to make much of a useful point (see last post!).

One thing there has never been in all this time is a 100% painted model. So here it is - an actual finished model - the Vindicare Assassin.

How Best To Make A Grey Knight Grey (well, silver)

After rabbiting on a little while ago about my fledgling Grey Knight army I've finally sat down to paint it. I have 30+ marines undercoated black and have been dreading that first layer of paint.

Here's a run down over the three methods I've used this week to get them to the 'finally base coated' stage.

Eldar Rumours = Excited!

This week across (I imagine) a few places on the magic internet which we all know and love there have been rumours, gossip, chit-chat.

Craftworld Eldar my friends. Not Space Marines, not Orks being chopped up and glued back together just super nice, super cool doom-ridden Craftworlders!

Click on for a break down of some words, a couple of pictures and a smattering of fond memories of my previous Eldar back in 2nd Edition.

Dreadfleet Preview Video

Picture from Games Workshop

For those of you with your head in the proverbial sand over the last month or so you'll have missed the building hype and leaks over the new Games Workshop limited release (as Space Hulk was a couple of years ago) of Dreadfleet. A whittled down Man'O'War type affair of naval combat. Anyway, the GW YouTube video is here - it's worth checking out, it's unlisted though so I can't embed it here as far as my limited blogger knowledge goes. Here's a few of the ships in a (now out of date) leak video though incase you aren't in the mood for clicking links:

It's looking nice, plus Space Hulk is actually a game my girlfriend is willing to play as it's a board game and not a wargame. Hmmm...to buy or not to buy....

From The Chopping Board - Cheap Ork Shoota Boyz!

They're cheap 6 point models, you probably want about 90 of them. You go to the shop. Can I have 90 Ork boys please? Sure, that's £162 please.

Suddenly not so cheap.

Black Reach provides Slugga Boys for us all but what about the Shoota Boys? They need love too!

Here's how you can cheaply, easily and effectively do Ork boys with Shootas for half that price.

1,750 Tournament Report Part 2

On to the last two games of the tournament I played last week.

Game three against Tyranids (a force I've never faced before) and game four vs Ultramarines with more plasma than you can shake a stick at!

Click the link for some short battle reports.

1,750 Tournament Report

It's been all quiet on the blog front for two or three weeks due to two things really - a) holiday: I got out of London for a week and enjoyed a decent break from work and city life and b) tournament prep: figuring out a 1,750 point army, getting things painted etc. Here's a summary of the latter...

From The Chopping Board - Grey Knight Brotherhood Champion Conversion

In an attempt to get some direction back into my 'hobby time' here's the first of my catch up articles - A converted model for the Grey Knight Brotherhood Champion.

Read on dear visitor, read on...

Grey Knights On The Cheap - Parts Two and Three

Posts on this blog are living up to the old anecdote of bus timing - not one comes for ages then two arrive together. Typical.

Well, I got the ball rolling on my minimal investment Grey Knight army here yersterday with the bits box search.

Today we'll look at stages two and three.

Click yonder link to read more...

Grey Knights On The Cheap

With seemingly the whole internet complaining about GW's price increases last month it's the most expensive that it's ever been to start a new army.

Yet, if you are watching the pennies, there are other ways to buy a horde of our favourite plastic addiction without having to starve or miss paying the rent.

I just spent about £35 and have a brand new Grey Knight army. Not bad huh? More on this 'after the jump'!

This Week At The Grotto In Pictures

Hi there one and all!

It dawned on me this week that I'd slightly neglected my (almost) weekly post over the last couple of weeks Si I thought I'd have a catch up with what I've been up to. Namely some more Stormraven work and some shopping (for 40k/model related gubbinz).

Stormraven: Matching The Official To The Scratchbuild

Through last winter I built my own version of the Stormraven to use with my Angels Sanguine army. Having had some good successes with it I decided to double my fleet with the now available official model, but how to make them look at least like they're meant to be the same machine...

Angels Sanguine Battle Report (Using Vassal)

I've wondered about doing a battle report series of posts since starting this blog but never known what to do for images. Also making notes is a pain but at least that's easily solvable.

Here's a report using the Vassal engine for internet games of 40k. I got (stole) the idea from Buffo in the BoLS forum doing a series of reports on his Dark Eldar. They were pretty useful and interesting so lets see how I can do...

Angelic Storm Shield - A Quick Tutorial

A quick and easy tutorial on creating simple yet good looking storm shields for a Blood Angel or Dark Angel (or anything wing related) army.

From The Chopping Board - Grey Knight to Honour Guard Kitbash

As promised last week a picture heavy guide to kitbashing an Honour Guard from the new power armoured Grey Knight box.

The Difference a Good Camera Makes

I promised an update last week on some new WiP I've been busy with but decided to wait for my replacement camera to arrive. Here's a quick rundown on the difference between a cheap camera and a half-decent one to show why it'll be worth the wait!

From The Chopping Board - Librarian Kit Bash

With the release of the new Grey Knight plastic models, and more importantly the psychic hooded bodies and Nemsis Force Staff (Warding staff...what ever) parts it was time to see what I could make from that and a couple of other boxes. Namely my first ever Space Marine Librarian and Honour Guard. This post will focus on the former, sometime this week I'll post about the latter.

Stormraven Part 4: Built (An Overdue Update)

As everyone who knows 40k will already be aware the 'proper' Stormraven model came out last month and made me realise I'd failed to update the progress of my own scratch buit 'Raven I started last year. Well the build's finished and it's pretty much painted, here's the last build update.

Speedy Catch Up!

It's been  right old jumble this week. Here's a quick catch up...

From The Chopping Board - Furioso Old To New

I've owned the original metal Furioso dreadnought since my second edition 40k days. It's served well, even in it's recent role as a stand in Death Company version.

With the new model released at the start of this month I had a 'real' DC dreadnought, so I decided to load up th metal furioso with all the spare new toys from the box...

Angels Sanguine - Recent Battles And A Little Paint

 A bit of a general catch up today including how I've gone on playing a few games and the start of covering my Bolter and Chainsword painting pledge.

Dark Eldar Killteam

Just after Christmas I had a bad case of "New Shiny Syndrome". The Dark Eldar had just come out a few weeks previously. I wanted them. All of them.

Buying a whole new army was not an option though as I only had a £20 gift voucher. What to do?

At the time my local GW was running a 200 point Killteam campaign so I decided to treat myself to 'just' 200 points worth of these evil little elves!

General Catch Up: 2011 So Far

Ah, dear reader, how I've missed you!

It' been a lazy two months (!) since my last post, meaning I've missed my target of a minimum of a post per fortnight by more than a little bit! Please accept my most humble apologies and read on to start a recap of what's gone on in the Grotto since December.