Byron's Pirate Eldar - mulligan post (zero points)

 Ooof. After four complete OWACs I must take my first mulligan without a single complete model to show for it. 

I'll share the progress I made up until we had to start packing and moving to another house around mid-month. You can't do everything.

First is my cargo drone. This is a heavily converted wraithlord. The thighs and upper arms have been swapped to make him shorter and with a longer reach. His left hand has been replaced with a stand from an eldar weapon platform; I thought it looked more mechanical and clamp/forklift adjacent than the hand. His torso is backwards and leaned forward with a plastic spoon glued on as a sort of dump truck/ bed to store things as he moves about. To make the spoon look more eldar I added some jetbike and weapon platform bits to it. The final touches were green stuff tubes between the joints - this works both as an eldar motif (they have these tubes on their guns) but also as a structural stupport. Basically, it's a long external pin to add to the internal pinning between the joints. 

I followed the color scheme for the rest of the army, except I added a lot of scuffing. This was achieved with a sponging of dark brown and then a stippling of bright silver. It's my first attempt at a battered look and I think it looks pretty good. Maybe I over did it a little. 

Importantly, for the mulligan, his basing is not complete. 

I have yet to use it in a game with my kids. But I am thinking I would start with Wraithlord stats and then downgrade them and remove the swords and guns to reflect his more menial status. 

Next, pics of my stevedores. This pic captures the vibe of most of them, but it was taken before I packed them away for the move. I was able to finish the eldar cargo doodads on their bases too, but just didn't finish the bases. The stevedores are all blood bowl elves. I put doodads in the hands of the catchers/receivers to make it look like they were moving cargo around. 

One of the bloodbowl minis has a whip. This was taken from a 3rd ed Dark Eldar Syberite. I am using him as an Exodite beastmaster - that way I can use my wood elf beasts in Fantasy and 40k. 

Progress on the hover truck has been slow. 

I will aim to finish all of these minis and then some for the next month. 

I am thinking another trash-made tank, a jeb bike gang, or some close combat guys with dual pistols. 

On a less dour note, I attended an Oldhammer convention in Portland in early May and got to use my Pirates in some games.

Sam's All Star Blood Bowl League - The Final Whistle

So its that’s time of year again where we put a wrap on the challenge. This year was really formative for me as a painter. Painting the classic vibrant BB teams really helped me understand how I want my models to look and where I want to be as a painter. I was always a little afraid of going all in on a vibrant 90s style paintjob and went 80% in or the like. Well, this year I threw caution to the wind and made everything eye wateringly vibrant from top to bottom. I also tried my hand at free handing all the numbers on every team, which was a lot of fun. And from my own perspective they’re some of the best paintjobs I’ve ever done, so really very happy with how things turned out.

And that’s about all I’ve got to say, so on to the pictures:

Don't mind Dave he's passed out on the couch again

My fav team, love how they turned out

Second fav, dwarfs are such fun to paint

The team I had the most trouble with, but beautiful sculpts

Least fav but still real happy with how they turned out

Finally for next year, I’m eyeing up either taking a break or getting some paint on the massive WHF pile of shame I seemed to have accumulated out of nowhere… I mean it’s not like I’ve been buying more miniatures or anything, I would surely never do that!... would I?

Peace out

Sam

AdamH’s OWAC VI July wrap up post

Another year, another OWAC under the belt!

For a few reasons this year was a tough one for me, mostly travel and restricted time related but also motivation and indecision as well. However overall I am happy with what I got completed, there were a few things I would probably change if I painted a couple of the teams again but I think I will leave them as they are for now in the interest of working on something new.

I also started working on a 3D printed pitch, which I was hoping would be my wildcard month entry but I never found the time to do more than the test section. However, I have brought it out now for the final pictures of each team! I also finished the bases of each team which I think sets them all off nicely.

First up are my favourite team, no prizes for guessing that it is Skaven!

Since posting these guys last month I have gone back and painted some more yellow on them in the form of everyone now has a yellow left shoulder pad, and the Skaven emblem on their chests are also now yellow. I think it helps break up the brown and makes the team look a little more unified:

My next favourite team is the Chaos team, I also went back and touched up a couple of mistakes on these guys but nothing significant:

Next up is another Chaos team, of the stunty variety:

More shrimps and one big leafy boi, I think this is the team that I enjoyed painting the most, and one that I think turned out well however I don’t really like the models:

Finally elves, this is a team that exists and now I own. I guess they are OK:

I am still working on my pitch so hopefully that should be finished in a month or so but after that I will be taking a break from Bloodbowl for a while and thinking ahead to next years challenge. I am very tempted to finish my Skaven army with a third entry, but I have a few other contenders that might sneak in at the last minute.

Anyway I hope everyone enjoyed the challenge this year, there were some wonderful armies and it was great seeing the specialist games making an appearance, I vote for this to make a come back in a future challenge please oh great overlord!

This is AdamH signing off for this year!

Sam' All Star Blood Bowl League - Reikland Reavers/Marauders

This month I had the most brutal schedule I’ve had in some time with work, so it really was a struggle bus of epic proportions. Fortunately though, this is my favourite team and I adore the sculpts.

This metal team is one of a couple of exclusives to the re-release of 3^rd Ed. BloodBowl in 97/98. Also on the rarer side due to the game being packaged with a plastic human team and humans being on the average side in power lvl. So I was pretty chuffed to get a complete set for a reasonable price last year.

Lore-wise I’ve always preferred the Marauders to the Reikland Reavers. However, I’ve never liked the earlier version colours scheme of red and white, and being a man who likes to paint his miniatures to the “sunglasses advised” level of vibrancy the later Marauders scheme of dark navy and yellow is a bit too drab for my tastes as things were starting to edge towards the grimdark at GW. So to that end I decided to blur the lines and make a scheme that is a halfway house between the two. That way I can call them either one from one day to the next, perhaps an away kit of sorts for either.

Overall, I’m very happy with how they came out. And looking forwards to squeezing in a few games with them, hopefully in the near future.

So that’s it for another year. Time to get them all out for a spicy pose and wrap it all up.

Peace out

Samuel

Sam's All Star Blood Bowl League - Champions of Death

This month is the first one where I had a bit of a procrastinate due to the models. Basically the original scheme for the Champions of Death just wasn’t to my liking. the colours are okay, but there just isnt enough of them and the parts feel forced. So I really felt it just doesn’t fit the models quite right, it’s a little bit too one dimensional. So that delayed me a bit and required a bit of trial and error before I was happy. In the end it was just a matter of adding another spot colour and accentuating certain features that were overlooked in the originals paintjob in favour of simplicity.

Anyhow, in the end I think they turned out pretty bangin’ so I’m happy with them.

I saved my fave team for last as a final stretch motivational booster. So on to the humans (yes I’m a basic bitch). The promised land is in sight! Let’s do this!

Peace out

Samuel

Sam's All Star BloodBowl League - The Star Players

The last few months have been pretty hectic with work but I was determined to stay in the challenge and finish my BB quest. Last month saw me have to throw down the mulligan and this month was a down to the wire kind of situation. So, with the limited time I had I though that the Star Player month would be the best way to go. Low model count and each one being individual so better to paint one by one in a start to finish approach for some definitive progress each time.

Star Players really were the lynchpin of the characterful atmosphere of 3^rd Ed. BB and they really gave each team a centerpiece model to work around from an aesthetic perspective. All of them have such amazing sculpts and associated artwork. And as I’m aiming to have a complete set of everything for my All-Star League, they really are the center of the concept.

During this challenge I will be painting Chaos, Dwarf, Human and Undead teams so the Star Players I focused on were those that fit those teams. The only missing one that I’m still hoping to find (for a reasonable price) is the Death Roller.

Enter the Players:

First up the infamous Lord Borak the Despoiler

 

Next up the unstoppable Grim Ironjaw

 

The undeniable Count Luthor von Drakenborg

The unparalleled Griff Oberwald

The Might Zug

And finally, no All-Star BB league would be complete without the iconic Morg ’n’ Thorg

Peace Out

Sam