My Salute 2015

I'll start by saying what a fantastic day!

The last couple of years have been a bit hit and miss for me so, whilst terribly excited as it's my only geeky event of the year, I wasn't expecting much. The layout seemed much more spacious that previous years and there seemed to be more people there.

There was a lot to see and, whilst there were repeat displays from previous years, there was a lot of new and exciting stuff to see. New companies popping up all over the place, which I think is thanks to Kickstarter and the like – it's giving lots of people the chance to give their game a shot.

There were two winners for me this year – one, a Kickstarter due to launch next month and the other a Kickstarter from last year.

The first of the two is a game called Infernal by a fledgling company Wartorn Games. I know one of the guys from Wartorn who was demoing the game and it was great to catch up and hear all about it.

Infernal is a skirmish game pitting special forces types against hell spawn. Not my kind of thing normally, but they've come up with some great (yet simple) rules and the models are excellent. It helped that they had a cracking gaming board as well as a stand showing off some of the upcoming models. Keep an eye on this when it hits Kickstarter at the end of May – it could get pretty big.

The other game of interest was Guildball. We're into our Blood Bowl as you may know, so when I saw this game on Kickstarter I had a good look. For some reason it didn't pull me in, but seeing it on display at Salute was a different matter.

I'll be honest, I've no idea how it plays, but the models… oh my word. I have to say, not since early Malifaux have I had my head turned by such a range of models. They're all fantastic, across all the teams… sorry, Guilds!

Bull was like a man possessed at the stand – it really grabbed his imagination – so we took up one of their starter offers. Bull went for the masons, memories of the Victorias in Malifaux being resurrected. I went for the dark, grumpy team (hmmm) – the Morticians.

As you can see from the image above, you get 3 models in a starter set, which means I may actually get them painted. However, I have my eye keenly on Ghast – the big fella in the mask with a nasty serrated blade. No idea how good he is but he looks awesome.

From what I'm reading, Bull's Masons are all about a balanced game with decent defence. Mine on the other hand are about manipulation and trickery.

I'll get a photo of my loot for later in the week and discuss that, but exciting times for the hobby ahead!

Salute 2015 Incoming…

Yes folks, it's that time of year again. Salute 2015 is almost upon us – less than a week to go!

This is the time of year that I get excited about my one big geek day out, about how I'm going to get back into Warmachine/Hordes again because I love the game so much, and rhyme off a shopping list of models that will be purchased then sit in a box or cupboard for the foreseeable future.

So what's on this year's agenda for me?

Not much to be honest. A few months ago I wasn't even sure I would be going to Salute this year, but the load has lightened enough for me to partake in my annual pilgrimage to the exhibition industry's capital and mingle once more with the great unwashed.

Hobby time has been non-existent for months and only now am I grabbing an hour here and there to keep things bubbling along. The game of choice at the moment is Batman, so you would expect some related purchases. After our opening game of BMG I'm definitely in need of some back up – I have had some reinforcements arrive this week so we will see if anything else ends up in the shopping bag!

The one thing that could appear in the car going home is more Sarissa Precision mdf terrain to game on. After being an mdf sceptic for so long I have now become something of a convert after my recent SP experiences, so will be on the look out to add to the collection.

I still have one eye on Bolt Action. I'm loving the idea of having some WW2 stuff in my collection and this would probably be my preferred route. I have the rulebook already so the next step would be to pick up one of the starter sets. I doubt it will happen due to limited spends this year, but you never know.

After my discussions with Mike Thorp about his Twilight rulebook late last year, I did promise I would swing by and say hello. It will be good to have another look at this game up close, although purchases are unlikely.

Blood Bowl is still on my radar and I would be quite keen on a game or two. We have struggled to match the sheer excitement and drama caused by last year's mini starter league. No new purchases likely for this unless I see a stunning set of dice I don't own.

X-Wing is a game that I have invested heavily in and not played much. There is an outside chance of a purchase here if I can find some B-Wings but aside from that I'm happy with what I've got.

The release of Armada and Imperial Assault have been very testing but I've managed to abstain. There is the vague possibility of a purchase here but I think common sense may prevail.

Zombicide is another game I have invested heavily in and not played nearly enough. I has a sic amount of stuff arrive a couple of weeks ago from their last Kickstarter so new purchases not likely… ever!

I think there could be some money spent when it comes to paints/brushes/accessories. I'm slowly swapping out my GW paints for Vallejo and Army Painter, plus adding some of their textures, etc. to improve the painting experience and results. I also want to find some brushes that I'm happy with. The ones I've got at the moment are ok, but I would dearly love some top drawer brushes to paint with. The likely outcome here is a spray can and a handful of bottles though.

Then finally we come to full circle to Privateer Press. I hadn't looked at a WMH model since we moved house nearly a year ago, but when I do or see photos on old blog posts I do think I need to get stuck in again. I love that game.

I happened to use my WMH case to take my Batman gear to Bull's the other week and it got me fired up a bit seeing my models again. Could this be the year I paint something new?

I have several models unpainted (or still in blisters) for both Cryx and Everblight. I also have an unpainted Khador starter set which will need to go on ebay, but there is still the chance of a random model or book purchase. This is my gaming achilles heel when it comes to spending money, so don't be surprised if something sneaks home with me from Salute.

Hope to see some of you and have a catch up!

Creating Batman Objective Markers

So after Wednesday's post about painting the Dynamic Duo, today I have a quickie post about the Objective markers I used in our recent Batman tutorial game.

In the game you get to choose 3 out of 4 types of Objectives to deploy in the game – Joker gets an additional Laughing Gas Canister option. I chose Ammo Crate, Titan Dose and Riddles.

For all the bases I used the same toppers I'm using for all my Batman miniatures, and weighted the bases as per my earlier tutorial.

The ammo crate was something I found in my collection of unused bitz. I think it came from Ainsty many moons ago. Very non-descript and the best thing I could find at short notice (I created all these markers the night before our game).

To paint it I used Vallejo Burnt Umber and Army Painter Matt Black as a basecoat for the wood. I then added lines of increasingly lighter paint, adding more Burnt Umber, Ochre and/or White to the mix. Once complete I finished with GW washes of Brown and Sepia. The metal was done the same as Robin's armour.

The Titan containers came from a GW Blood Angel Baal Predator weapon sprue – they're the promethium canisters for the Heavy Flamer side sponsons. I clipped them both out and stuck them back to back before gluing them to their base. I chose a base topper that had a wall on it so that the canisters were protected a little from breaking off.

The painting here was Vallejo Basalt Grey with increasingly White highlights. I added Vallejo Oily Steel for damage and Vallejo Deep Green and Green Fluo for the 'leaks'.

My Riddles were something of a last minute panic. I wasn't sure how I was going to do these and was running out of time. They turned out to be remarkably easy.

I worked out the rough sizes I needed the Question Marks to be and printed a sheet of them at the right scale using Helvetica Bold as the font. I then roughly cut out one and taped it to a piece of 3mm plasticard.

Using my scalpel I stabbed dots through the paper template and into the plastic, following the outline of my printed Helvetica question marks. I then binned my paper template and used clippers to trim as closely as I could to my outline of stabbed marks. Using my scalpel and files I tidied up the shape until I was happy. I hasten to add that the dot at the base of the '?' was included as part of the main bit – it's all one piece.

I pinned the plastic to my base using the same method as my miniatures, then waited for everything to dry.

After a black spray undercoat I basecoated in Matt Black and Vallejo Deep Green. I added multiple highlight layers using the Deep Green then started to add White. Final pure white highlights at key points along the edges finished things off.

I gave the impression of the dot at the bottom of the ? by painting in a horizontal highlight at the right height, with shadow above it.


I still have a loot Objective to build at some point in the future, though not sure where to begin with that one.