Hordes Switch, Time for Skorne

This is going to be a quick post tonight as I am about to start assembling my Titan Gladiator, hence I want to spend as much hobby time as I can working on the angry elephant. It looks like he's going to take a lot of pins and greenstuff so I'm eager to get to it. As I look at the generous pile of pieces that await me, I have a feeling this guy would really benefit from being rereleased as a plastic model. Hopefully PP has that in the works for their future Hordes plans.

Earlier today I repaired that Cyclops Savage who was damaged in the move without too much trouble. This means that once the Gladiator is built I will have my first 15 points of Skorne ready for painting. I still don't know if I'll go with the standard paint scheme or an alternative selection of colors. I like the basic red-flavored Skorne enough that I'm happy to use it as my default paint scheme should I not think of anything else with more appeal. Since the current Gladiator will likely take me a while to build, I'm sure I have plenty more time to consider my options.

As for the change of pace, I decided that I was ready to switch from working on Circle Orboros and start in on my next faction. Eventually I'd like to be able to run intro games in the Asheville area as it seems there is not yet much of a following here for either Warmachine or Hordes. Unfortumately I do not believe there are any Press Gangers within several hours drive of me so no help there. No worries though, I don't think it should be too hard to teach the game to someone else should I get the chance.

In order for me to do that, however, I need to paint some more monsters. Therefore it's time I return to the knives, glue, greenstuff and pins. Goodnight!

POWER!!! etc.

It's been dark and stormy times on my little island these past four days. We lost power on Sunday and only had it fully restored earlier this afternoon. Fortunately I did have the opportunity to check out the initial wave of pictures from Games Day mere hours before the lights went out as the alternative would have been too cruel. Wow, those are some cool models. I don't know exactly what I'll do but I definitely want to mash up a Raider or two for some terrain. Making a Sarlaac pit seems like it would be fun. Once I have time I'm eager to catch up on whatever else has come to light about the upcoming product release.

To celebrate the power coming back on I took the above photograph of my Circle Orboros guys. Since referring to them in my last post I realized that I had not ever taken a group shot of the happy bunch and decided I would set them up once I could charge my camera's battery. How's that for a dorky celebration? Also I looked into how many points they comprise, the total of which turns out to be 21. When I am again motivated to work on this stuff I believe I will next paint a unit of Wolves of Orboros or Tharn Bloodtrackers to add some cheap numbers to the army. I don't anticipate that being any time soon, though.

Prior to the power outage my wife's parents were visiting and stayed with us for several days. I've therefore done very little painting over the last week but I should now be able to get back to it so long as the electricity doesn't go out again. (Fingers crossed as the storms have hardly lessened.) With the hobby time that I was able to scrounge up I assembled the first of my Skorne models, a unit of Praetorian Swordsmen and the warlock from the Skorne starter box. It may not be much but I'm thankful that I accomplished anything considering recent circumstances.

Okay, that's it for the update. Time to paint.

Breaking Fealty

I haven't mentioned Warhammer Fantasy since 8th edition was released when I decided to start a new Bretonnian army. I've been quiet about this undertaking since then because I have not made any progress that seemed positive or worth discussing. The past couple of months have seen me become increasingly frustrated with my choice of army as I've struggled with list after list to make an army that lives up to my early enthusiasm for the chivalrous blue bloods and their filth-encrusted peasantry. I simply cannot find a force hiding in the Bretonnian army book that I like.

When I chose to go with the Bretonnians I was somewhat aware of the challenges this would bring, though not entirely so. It would seem my "careful" consideration was not as carefully considered as I had thought. I was not foolish enough, however, to believe I would be able to come up with a super-tough list capable of competing against strong opponents. All I really wanted was an army to use in some fun games against friends, thus allowing me to return Warhammer Fantasy to my gaming rotation after my interest in it had waned over the lifespan of the previous edition. Yet even with these modest goals in mind I have not been able to put anything together that excites me enough to begin investing the time and money needed for a new army.

So what's a fella to do? For now at least I'm stepping back from my pledge of loyalty to Bretonnia and the Lady of the Lake. While it may cause my Dwarf army to label me as an oath-breaker and refuse to ever fight for me again, I think this is my best option. I don't want to fall into the trap of forcing myself to work on an army I'm not excited about as there are numerous other projects I'm eager to tackle. As a finicky and easily distracted hobbyist, I finally learned that it's almost impossible for me to get very far with an army when I'm less than fully enthused about it. Despite the frustrations necessary to bring me to this point, I am at least grateful to have recognized my issues with the army before putting forth any significant effort.

Eventually I'd like to get back to these Bretonnians though I have no idea when that will be. It feels to me as if the army currently lacks in variety, a problem which is exacerbated by the fact that several characterful units I'd like to include are not well represented in the range of Bretonnian miniatures. For example, weren't there at some point more than five Questing Knight sculptures? Two rank-and-file variants just seems to me woefully inadequate for a unit that should have lots of individual personality. In this particular case I could set about trying to convert or kit-bash some models of my own but that sounds like a lot more than I'm willing to do at this point. Therefore, confronted with an army book that doesn't particularly captivate me and a range of miniatures that leaves me wanting, I think it would be best to set aside the spurs and lance until Bretonnia receives its update for the new edition.

While I'm content to hold off on the Bretonnians, there's still the fantasy itch that needs to be scratched. I started to look again at what other armies I might want to collect but so far nothing has jumped out at me. I thought it would be fun to work on a new army to coincide with the latest edition of the game but it's certainly not necessary. I still have a couple of functional armies which I can use in friendly games of Warhammer, but they've become sort of stale feeling to me over the years. Nonetheless I would like to work on something of a more fantastical sort so as to satisfy that part of my gamer soul not currently fulfilled by chainswords and plasma guns. Hmm, what to do?

Oh yeah, there was that other game that had captivated my attention last winter... Hordes. Or more properly, HORDES!!!! (PP's penchant for capitalization still cracks me up.) The game offers lots of cool monsters, crazy warlocks and spells, and some really bizarre factions to choose from, all of which sounds to me like a winning combination. Plus every model I worked on before was a blast to paint and I doubt I could ever tire of painting monsters. The more I think about, the more convinced I am that this is where I need to look to get my fix of fantasy gaming.

In fact the last miniature I painted before my unanticipated five month break from the brushes was a Lord of the Feast for my Circle Orboros gang. I already have 20ish points of Circle Orboros painted and another 15 points or so worth in boxes, as well as 35 to 40 points worth of Skorne models waiting around in their original packaging. Therefore my plan going forward is to cease worrying about doing something new for Warhammer Fantasy and will instead turn to Hordes for my swords-and-sorcery gaming enjoyment.

Best of all, this is the perfect time for me to return to Hordes as the faction of my dreams is just now being rolled out, the Blindwater Congregation:

Crazy voodoo alligators... I think I may have just fallen in love.

Birthday Skorned

I mentioned about a week ago that my family gave me some pretty cool gifts for my birthday, including a variety of gaming items and miniatures. I wrote last week about how touched I was by the Daughters of the Flamer box and the warlock blister from my wife and on behalf of my own little girl, but that wasn't all by far! Pictured above is a complete 35 point Skorne army for Hordes given to me by my wife, with only a minimum of selection input from me. There's even an extra warlock in the form of Archdomina Makeda to give this force additional flexibility! She started off by giving me the Warpack for Valentine's Day, then got the rest for me over the following few weeks. To round out the army, my wife included a pair of Minions blisters, the Totem Hunter and a Swamp Gobber Fob Bellows crew. I'm particularly pleased with the faction-themed items as she tracked all of them down herself and I'm a sucker for these types of things. I forgot to include the Skorne paint kit and a blister of Praetorians, but everything else made it into the photo.

The rest of my family also got in on the Hordes-action and decided to add Trollbloods to my collection. In total I was given a Trollbloods Warpack, a Pyre Troll, a Fell Caller solo, a full unit of Pyg Bushwackers, and an Alten Ashley model. This means I've now got more than 25 points worth of yet another faction! They also gave me the Trollbloods paint kit and a set of Trollbloods tokens so I should be all ready to go with them.

I am very grateful that my family would go out of their way to get me such cool birthday presents. Even though I did help out by providing some ideas, I really had no idea that I would be receiving this many awesome new toys. I am still quite shocked by it all! I anticipate being very busy this year painting them. Also it is fortunate that my birthday didn't come a month earlier or else I might have ended up with a lot of Games Workshop stuff right before becoming interested in the Privateer Press games. Good timing, indeed! As it stands now, however, I benefited greatly and now have a huge jump on my Hordes collection. It was an awesome birthday and I had lots of fun with everyone, so again, thank you!