Dec 28, 2014

Small update

Just a quick update.
I finished the lone rat and I'd just like to share the result, which I'm very happy with.
For the underworld team, the goblins and troll will probably get the blue colour as their skin colour.

New shade of the pink armour

Added blue contrast colour
Finished version, except the base

Tried a new style of numbers


Dec 27, 2014

Next project


Since the Impact kickstarter has been delayed, I've started with something else and that something is my underworld/skaven team.

I gave underworld a go on Cyanide and really like the team. I guess I've got a soft spot for stunty players. I also got my hands on a 2nd ed shaven team and to that I added a 2nd ed troll and some goblins from Neomics.

One of the goblins

I was inspired by this team
Awesome team from G-Painting
but it didn't turn out as I wished. Here's some wip pictures

Whip of a linerat

Whip of the skaven players in the underworld team
I'm not happy with the pink/purple combination and I'm therefore going to skip it. Right now I'm thinking about keeping the pink armour (although changing it a bit) and going for a turquoise contrast colour as well as some white. I'm also thinking about painting the skin on the goblins and troll in turquoise (and their clothes white). (thanks for the input @howlinggriffon)

I also made a misstake in starting with all the shaven players at once. I should have done as with the 'flings. Starting with just the one player to get the colours right. I'm now going to go forward with just the one rat and find the right blends of colours, before painting the rest.

If I'm happy with the team, I might take them to some tournaments next year, but I'm not sure yet. If the Impact elves turn up soon, I might switch to that team, since I'd really like to play dark elves at a tournament sometime soon.

As it is now, I think this is my pipeline:
1. Underworld/Skaven
2. Orcs
3. Nurgle
4. Undead/Necro (repaint with 3ed miniatures)
5. Humans
6. Chaos Pact

where the elves might come in at place 1 or 2, depending on when they show up.

Who am I kidding? The list will change a couple of times during next year anyway :)

Dec 15, 2014

Generic reroll counters and turn marker

I'm lazy and I'd therefore create generic counters so I could use them with all my teams.
The problem was that I wasn't happy with them, so I set out to create new ones.

First, I had a look at the bloody sports bases from tabletop art onto which I'd just glue a die.

bloody sports bases from tabletop art

But they weren't in stock when I ordered from my gaming store and I got tired of waiting so instead I went with bloody sports ball set from tabletop art to which I added a die and a skull or two.

bloody sports ball set from tabletop art
This is what they looked like pre-painting.



And a painted set. A simple paint job, but it will do the job. I didn't want to spend to much time on the counters. I'd rather spend the time on the miniatures.


And the finished set of reroll counters.


For the turn marker, I went with two dice, a cat (a spot price from StockBowl Cup V) and a skull. The idea is to paint the dice as block dice. I'll update this blog with pictures once it's done.

Turn marker
I've now finished the turn marker. It's the one with the "block dice"

Generic markers

And this is how I transport my markers. Very practical (more skill rings to come).
Marker box

Nov 24, 2014

StockBowl Cup V

You’ll find my roster here.

Game 1 vs Chaos Dwarfs (Thursablot)

The first draw was in and I was up against chaos dwarfs. Not the greatest start to a tournament when you’re playing ’flings. On the positive side, my rival and friend brocCooLi (the other ’Fling player and the greatest rival for the Stunty Cup) was also facing chaos dwarves. 

This would be my third game against Thursablot. We’ve so far won one each, but this match up was not in my favor. 

We rolled for the ball and it turned out to be a stab-ball. I also got fame and was forced to receive the kick-off. First thing that happens is that one of my ’flings is badly hurt by a thrown rock from the chaos dwarf fans. Already down a player.

I don’t remember too much from the game but he pressured me and I was loosing players to dodges and blocks. He stole the ball and scored in his turn 8.

In the second half I can line up with 9 players (3 trees, no Puggy) and the game ends 2-0 after a perfect grind from the chaos dwarves.

TD 0-2
CAS 2-3

Game 2 vs Dwaves

After the first game I was hoping for something softer than chaos dwarves. I had a look at the match up for round 2 and felt another loss coming my way.

We once again got a stab-ball and I’m forced to receive the ball.

The kick-off result is a blitz and puts me under pressure. I screen of my ball carrier, but make the mistake of not seeing a troll slayer behind on of my trees (I thought it was a regular blocker, might be that he also had a blue skill ring). It was  hard to tell the positional apart. They all looked the same, except that the base edge was blue (troll slayers), brown (blitzers) or grey (runners) instead of black. 

Pink dwarves, where I had a bit of trouble telling the positional apart
He then blocks my tree with the slayer, needing a 4+ on the dauntless roll, which he succeeded with. He made three dauntless blocks on my trees during the game, needing 4+ for two of them and a 5+ against Deeproot. He made them all. This opens up my screen and he can get to my ball carrier.
Fortunately for me he can’t get to the ball so the half ends in a draw. He’s however lost dwarves and I’ve got a man up on him in the second half.

In the second half, I try my best to stop him from scoring, but he breaks through my defense and he’s in a semi safe position. He stops at the goal line and I surround him with ’flings. After a couple of tries I can blitz his ball carrier with Puggy and get the ball. I scramble up the field to a waiting tree who then throws the ’fling. Sadly, he scatters out of TD range by a square. He does however land. At least that is something.

The game ends in a draw, which I am very happy with.

TD 0-0
CAS 3-3

Game 3 vs Norse (Skoberget)

Not the greatest match up, but the best so far.

Once again it’s a stab ball, but this time I don’t win the fame.

I’m forced to receive the kick off and start by killing one of his linemen. Great start to the game.

I then set up a screen and try to move up the field. In my turn two, I start by blitzing with Puggy to move the screen up the field, double skull. My turn ends and I’m now under pressure from my opponent and he can blitz my ball carrier. The ball bounces around for a while before it lands in the branches of a rooted tree. The half ends in a draw.

Of the five KOs (one of them Puggy) only a side stepping ’Fling wakes up.
It’s now 10 ’Flings (incl. 3 Trees) against 8 Norse.

He moves down one of my flanks and I can pin him with my trees. After a coupler of turns, I get a blitz on his ball carrier with a ’fling. 2d up hill, but it’s a pow and a dodge pow. The ball is on the ground. My opponent then has a turnover when blocking/blitzing (double skulls) and since he doesn’t have any rerolls (I’ve got them) I can pick up the ball and run for the endzone. His players screened of by trees.


'Flings running away with the ball


I score in my turn 8 and that ends the game.

TD 1-0
CAS 5-0

Game 4 vs Underworld (Jox)

Final game of the day and I’m getting tiered. I’m up against underworld, which I’ve never played against in a tournament.

A great looking Underworld team. The game is always better with nicely painted miniatures

The game starts with me kicking off to him and he moves down one of my flanks, where I then pressure him with my trees and screen of with my ’flings.

Before my 'fling loses the ball

I get a blitz in with Puggy and pop the ball free, but he picks it up with Skitter Stab Stab after blitzing my 'fling who caught the ball and runs in for a TD in turn 6.

This leave me with two turns to score. He kicks deep and I spend one turn getting the ball to the LOS. I get two productive turns, KOing one player and CASing Skitter Stab Stab and a goblin.
I also land with my ’fling in turn 8 and he runs in for the score.

My opponent made two errors here, setting up his guys at the endzone, which meant that the landing was as easy as it could be and I didn’t even have to dodge in, thanks to a lucky scatter. (He didn’t have enough players to cover the whole line.) He also place Skitter Stab Stab within blitzing range of Puggy.

This meant that I had 8 turns to grind up the field against his 9 players (against my full team).
I got some more CAS and scored in turn 8. 

TD 2-1
CAS 5-3

Before game 5, I was leading best stunty and most CAS.

The red cape for most CAS

Game 5 vs Undead (Skuld)

I’ve played Skuld once before at Oktoberbowl and we had a good time. I was expecting no less from this game and I wasn’t disappointed.
For the first time in the tournament, I had a sleeping ball.

I kick the ball off to him and then I screen his progress, putting him under pressure, which he escapes by dodging his ball carrier away, followed by me yet again forcing him to dodge. He even had to go backwards after the picture below was taken.

Ball carrier under pressure
I was happy with my defense and if I hadn’t failed a dodge with the last ’fling, who was supposed to plug a gab in my screen (between the rooted trees), I might have been able to hold out longer. My opponent did, because of this gab, dodge his ball carrier out, pass the ball to a waiting ghoul, who the ran out of my range. He scored in turn 7, leaving me two turns to throw a ’fling, which I did in turn 8. He however scattered out of range and didn’t land.

In the second half, he kicks very deep and he gets his ghouls through my screen, dodging through two tackle zones and can steal the ball for his second score in turn 7. 
I once again try to throw a ’fling, but I yet again scatter out of range, but I improve upon my last try by landing.

My opponent didn’t fail any dodges during the game and he made at least two every turn (sometimes into tackle zones). This killed me even though I think I played some good defense in the first half and that was with two rooted trees (knocked down in turn 1, rooted in the turn they got up (turn 2 and 3)).

TD 0-2
CAS 1-2

This meant that I was no longer leading the most CAS, but brocCooLi also lost, which meant that I was still in the lead for best stunty. All I had to do was win my last game.

Game 6 vs Amazons (Bim)

I haven’t played a lot against Amazons, but they aren’t a good match up, since they do what you do, only better and with blodge and guard.

The ball doesn’t want to be caught and there’s a -1 modifier for handling the ball.
That’s great, since I’m kicking to the Amazons, but she managed to pick up the ball and moved down one of my flanks. I once again put pressure on my opponent with Deeproot (both the normal trees rooted, even with a reroll, in turn 1 and 2). The amazons can’t escape Deeproot and he blitzes the ball carrier, knocking her down and the bouncing ball lands in the hands of a ’fling (o a 5+). He then runs of as fast as he can, while I try to screen the amazons of. She manages to blitz the ball carrier in turn 7, but he’s got side step and just steps in to the end zone (I was stalling as much as I dared, forcing her to dodge and GFI to get to him. She didn’t have any retools left, so I felt kind of safe doing this, since she couldn’t blitz with a block player and I had side step).

In my turn 8 I then KO one and CAS two Amazons.

Second half and I’m feeling quite good about the situation as the ball goes to sleep on the kick-off.

I move up the field, screening my ball carrier, but mid through the half, I leave a space for a blitz (which I didn’t see. Damn Willy trees, being so large). She knocked the ball lose and I change my plan to just screen the ball off so the Amazons can’t get to it. Thanks to a couple of chain pushes the ball finally bounce out from the scrum of trees and ’flings. This was a great play from my opponent and the Amazons can then score in turn 6.

This leaves me with two turns to score. It’s no over yet.

I catch the ball on a high kick and set up for a throw, but after handing the ball off to the waiting ’fling, I decide to throw in my turn 8. I decided to do so for one reason, being that if I fail, I don’t want to leave my opponent two turns to move it the length of the field (which is possible for Amazons). 
I start regretting my decision when my opponent start basing my throwing tree, but due to a failed dodge, the Amazons just get one lady next to the tree. Peggy then pushes her away and the tree throws the ’fling in to the air. He scatters within range of the endzone. I just need to land and make a GFI.

The landing is a 6! My pulse is running high. I can win this!!

I lift my dice cup to reveal a 1. A 1!!!

(I know, I didn't lose the game on the one, but rather on my positionning during the second half)

To make things worse, the ball scatter into the crowed, who then throws it straight down the pitch. It lands in a good position for the Amazons to score in their turn 8. I hold my breath as my opponent dodges out, picks the ball up (using a reroll), hands it off in a tackle zone, dodges out again, passes and fails. The ball scatters, but it lands just next to the reciever. The game ends in a tie.

TD 1-1
CAS 3-3

I was now on 6 points after 6 games (2-2-2) and had a look at how my rival was doing. brocCooLi was winning, which meant that we were tied at 6 points.

That left it down to the first tie breaker, strength of schedule, which he won by one point. One point!
If it had gone to net TD and CAS, I would have won on a plus 3 to his plus 1.

So close!

I’ll get you next time brocCooLi!

I really enjoyed the tournament and I’m quite happy with how I faired.


Thanks to the organizers and all the players.

Nov 11, 2014

Roster for StockBowl Cup V

I thought I'd share my thoughts regarding my roster for StockBowl Cup V with you.
You'll find the rules here.

The roster is going to be quite similar to the one for Oktoberbowl last month.

First of, I decided on skill package C for a simple reason, the two double skills.
This means that I can put block on both my trees. This then leads to them (hopefully) staying upright more and costing me less rerolls when blocking.

This means that I'll have three regular skills to add as well, but let's first look at the roster.

2 Trees
10 Halflings
2 FF
1 Master Chef
Deeproot
Puggy

The Gesundbrunnen Picknick Packers


I've removed two rerolls and a 'fling for Puggy. Since Oktoberbowl was my first experience with block-trees, I didn't know that they require less rerolls. I sometimes felt that I didn't need all my rerolls, although I sometimes did. brocCooLi, another swedish coach who's been playing 'flings for a while, plays with this roster and after discussing it some, I've decided to give it a go as well.
brocCooLi also had a point when it came to mirror matches. If you're facing another 'fling coach with just Deeproot, you'll have the advatage since you'll have Puggy and vice versa. If the other coach uses say Zara, you've got an even bigger advatage in having two stars. (If the tournament uses the rule of star player canceling each other out)

So, the regular skills. At Oktoberbowl I had sure feet on a 'fling, which never worked for me, but that was just Nuffle, I guess. What did work though, was side step and in my opinion, this is the best regular skill for a 'fling. Hands down. So, it should come as no surprise that I've put side step on three 'flings.

Why is side step so good?
Well, it helps with what you're bad at, defending (and offence). You can screen much better with side step and thereby controlling your opponent (or at least trying to).

Sure feet, catch and sprint are all good for the TTM-TDn, but 'flings can do this out of the box. Keep a reroll for the landing and you can still make it.

Add Puggy to the mix, a ST3 blodger, whom I'll probably blitz a lot with.

Lets see how it goes.
Fingers crossed.
If I can does as well as Oktoberbowl, I'll be happy.

Nov 10, 2014

How I have painted my halflings

I just wanted to share my way of painting with you.
Who knows, maybe you can give me some tips on how to improve or pick up some new ideas.
This means that this post will be a bit heavy on the picture side of things.

Let's get started.

I start of by cleaning the miniature and then base it. I just use sand.
I then undercoat it in black.

After undercoating

First step, I cover hair and skin in a light brown shade.


I then mixed the brown with the flesh colour and cover the skin areas. This color will then act as the shading for the skin. At this point I also do the eyes on the miniature. (Picture taken before doing the eyes)

For the next step, I paint the skin areas again, but this time with just the skin tone, leaving the shade colour in the recesses of the skin.


At this stage, I highlight the skin, mixing white to the skin colour. I do this in two steps, adding more white to the second highlight.

Highlighted skin
Once the skin is done, I highlight the hair by adding white to the starting brown color.

Once the skin and hair is done, I repaint black on areas which shouldn't be skin coloured, like the armour. I sometimes leave a black line between areas, to enhance the effect.

Next step is the armour, which in this case is green. I start out with a dark green, which will act as the shade color.


Once this is done, I repaint the areas with a lighter green, but leave some of the darker green in the recesses.


 I then highlight the green using yellow and just a tad of white.



Front and back of the highlighted armour

The next step will be the yellow and white. I start of by painting these areas in gray. The gray will act as the shading for the white, but also help when painting the yellow on the miniature.

Preparation for white and yellow
Next up I highlight the gray, adding more and more white to the mix. I never go as far as pure white, more of a light gray. This however looks white enough to me.

Next step, mixing yellow and orange for the shading of the yellow.

The yellow is shades and the gloves are "white"
This is the once again painted in yellow, leaving the orange/yellow in the recesses. I then add white to the yellow color for the highlight.

Highlighted yellow areas
 Before going on to the next step, I tidied the black undercoat on the not yet painted areas, like the metal.

As the next step, I did the leather straps. As for the shading, I mixed brown and black (not the same brown as for the hair).


 The leather was then simply highlighted with the original brown colour.

Finished leather
 For the final steps, I first tidied the areas with black. Then I applied the dark metal colour.
Metal shade
I then highlighted the metal using a lighter colour.

Highlighted metal
At this stage I'm usually finished with the metal, but I didn't like the way it looked, so I applied a bit of black ink, to bring some contrast out (around the base of the spikes on the helmet, shoulder pad and foot).


We're almost done. Just the base left
I paint the sand brown, using the same colour as for the leather details. Then I dry brush the sand, highlighting it with a bit of white added to the brown.

Base base colour
 What's left to do I retouch the base edge in black and add a star (in this case) or a number. At this stage I'd also recommend varnishing your miniature before adding static grass to the base. I do so, completely covering the sand. Once that's dry, I sometimes lightly paint a white line across the grass to represent the lines on the football field.

The finished miniature 




Nov 2, 2014

Killing Spree 2014

Starting roster here
Starting skills: Guard mummy and Guard wight.

Game 1 vs Orcs (Table 6)
Skill Wrestle (I wanted a ball sacker)

First game of the tournament and it was a weird one. I started off by kicking and I rolled a pitch invasion on the kick off. He had +1 fame, but four of his guys went down to none of mine. The orcs first turn then started with the troll being stupid (on a one) and everything went down hill from there. I scored a touchdown and kicked off again. Pitch invasion. This time one player on each team went down, but I still managed to score in turn 8.

2-0 after the first half.

I received in the second half and scored in turn 8.

The game ended 3-0

Game 2 vs Norse (Table 1)
Skill Guard (since he didn’t have any guard, I though I could out muscle him)

We played on table 1, which was a tournament first for me.
I kicked of the game by kicking and he wanted to blitz with his mighty blow yeti in turn 1. Wild animal. In the second turn he blitzes one of my mummies. The mummy goes down, but he can’t break armour. I then surround his yeti in my turn and prepared for a foul, but the yeti was KOed from the block alone. The yeti stayed in the KO-box for the rest of the game.

I then put my opponent under pressure with all my guard and he couldn't escape.
I stole the ball and scored in turn 8.

Me in action (thanks to Kohli for the picture)

In the second half, I got a bit to cooky and stalled just in front of the endzone. I needed to dodge out with a ghol (on a 3+ with dodge) to block his path, but I failed. He could then blitz my ball carrier (with 2 GFIs) and I couldn’t retrieve the ball. This was stupid from my side. I should have scored when I had the chance, but I felt in control o the game. Mostly thanks to my three guards (he had none).

The game ended 1-0 (CAS 2-2). 

Game 3 vs Chaos Dwarfs (Table 1)
Skill Wrestle (I wanted a second ball sacker, since I was afraid that my first one would get KOed, or worse)

This was the best game of the tournament. I kicked in the first half and put him under pressure. I blitzed twice with a ball sacker (wrestle ghoul) but failed the last GFi and got a double skull on the second attempt. He then scored in turn 8. 

I received the ball (as it started raining) and moved up the field in the second half, but it wasn’t easy. I finally managed to break through and scored in my turn 8 after two GFis.

We were both happy with the draw.

Final score, 1-1.

Game 4 vs Sakven (Table 1)
Skill Block (because a mummy with block is good)

I received in the first half und moved up the field, slow and steady. I KOed two of his players on the first two blocks and things was looking up..
End of my turn 1, looking quite good
There was just a couple of rats left on the field (four or five) but I made an error. I put my ball carrier in a side cage (with guard) and my opponent dodge a gutter runner with wrestle into the cage and wrestled my ball carrier down. He couldn’t get the ball, but I then, in my turn, did a 3d block with a mummy (without block). Three both downs. Reroll, three both down. I did the block to clear a player for the blitz on the rat standing next to the ball. My opponent then dodge out with a gutter runner, picked the ball up in two tackle zones and rain, passed a long bomb to another gutter runner, that caught the ball in a tackle zone and rain. The receiver then dodge out and scored. This was the turning point of the game and I knew that it was my fault. I shouldn’t have made a side line cage.
I directly after made my second error of going for an one turn touchdown attempt. I should have just tried to kill the rats on the LOS.

He then got all of his KOs back and moved down the field, screening my players of.

I however managed to score in turn 8, making it a 2-1 game.

Game 5 vs Vampires (Table 2)
Skill Block (a blodge ball carrier)

I received the ball, and it scattered towards the LOS. I then put four tackle zones on the ball since I couldn’t really pick it up (I thought that it was better to make it hard for him to pick up, if he got through, than to have it bounce to an even worse position). Otherwise my first turn was good, KOing two thralls. My opponent then managed to pick the ball up, but I pressured him and he had to retreat in to his half. I then continued to pressure him (KOing even more thralls). I blitzed the ball carrier and the ball bounced around, landing in the arms of my guard mummy. My mummy then rumbled in to the end zone in turn 8.

A mummy touchdown
My opponent got all his KOs back and payed with a full team in the second half. He screened his ball carrier, but I managed to force him to score in his turn 6. I however didn’t manage to score, because of an error. I followed up with my mummy after a block, thereby blocking my own path forward.

The game ended in a tie, 1-1.

Game 6 vs Amazons (Table 3)
Skill Tackle

I received the ball, but managed to lose it and we had a big scrum in the middle of the pitch, where no one managed to pick the ball up. First half ended in a tie.

I then kicked and the organizers announced that we just had 30 min left to play. We stressed our turns and neither of us really though to much. I managed to KO a lot of his players, pick the ball up and moved towards his endzone. The game was however called before I could score, but that felt like the fair thing to do.

A tie, 0-0.

That meant that I ended the tournament with 2-3-1, which in hindsight isn’t that bad.

I lost to the tournament winner and tied with place two (chaos dwarves). I, myself, ended in pace four.

Here is the result after the final round.

Oct 29, 2014

Roster for Killing Spree

I'm going to the Killing Spree this weekend. It's a smaller tournament with around 15-20 coaches.

It's a resurrection tournament where you're allowed to take a TV111 team. Star players and inducements aren't allowed (except for 'flings and gobos who can take a chef and bribes). 

You also receive two skills before the tournament and then one skill before each round (after knowing your opponent). Before round 4, you can give a player a double skill. Before round 5 and 6, you may give a further skill to a player, ie a ghoul with sure hand can get block. The player with the double can't get extra skills. 

I'll probably play undead at this tournament, for two reasons. 

1. They're a good tournament team.
2. I'd like to raise my undead ranking. 

Here's the roster I'll probably bring:

2 Mummies
2 Wights
4 Ghouls
5 Zombies
3 RRs 

Since I've got 13 players, I can foul quite a bit and I'll probably line up with 11 players in the second half.

 Regarding skills, I'll probably take guard on a mummy and a whight before the tournament. For round 1, I'm thinking sure hands on a ghoul, except if I face dwarfs, norse or amazons.In that case I'd go for wrestle instead. 

Not really sure about the rest of the skills, but I'd like to have something like this. 

Mummy: Guard
Mummy: Block (Round 4)
Wight: Guard
Wight: Guard/Frenzy
Ghoul: Sure Hands and maybe Block
Ghoul: Wrestle
Ghoul: Block/Wrestle
Ghoul: maybe Block
5 Zombies 

Not sure if it's worth having ghouls without skills around. I’m also not sure about having a sure hands ghoul. Maybe it's better to just blodge or wrodge them all. What do you think?