PICS: Stone Keeper

Circle Orboros Stone Keeper, Shifting Stones Unit Attachment.

This guy took a while until I finally deemed him "fully complete" the other night, adding the final touch with his glowing eyes.  I'm extremely pleased with how his base turned out, since I wanted to reference his "Stone Hammer" AOE ability. It took some doing and several attempts, but I think it really shows him off wonderfully.  That, and the gem in the center of his chest worked out great, by following the studio photographs.

PICS: Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Prince of Umbrey

Finished photos of Vlad.  He's one of Julia's warcasters, since she really likes the pairing of Vlad and Sorscha in the lore.  That, and she really likes Vlad's abilities in-game... Blood of Kings, anyone?

Khador Red Recipe

Paint Scheme: KHADOR RED
I think I've finally settled on what will be my "official" set of red colors for Julia's Khador forces. While the one detailed in her FoW: Khador book is nice, I think it's a little too bright (and very time consuming). Color scheme is as follows:

1) Base coat of GW Foundation: Mechrite Red.
2) Lighten with GW Red Gore + Mixing Medium.
3) Lighten further with PP Khador Red Base + Mixing Medium.
4) Highlight with PP Khador Red Base + Khador Red Highlight + Mixing Medium.
5) Extreme highlights should be done with Khador Red Highlight. Glaze with Red Ink if necessary.

An additional step using GW Blood Red + Mixing Medium can be used between steps 2 & 3, but likely isn't needed.

Multiple thin coats will be necessary with each step to blend properly. For deep shading, PP Sanguine Red should do nicely, possibly with a slight touch of PP Exile Blue or Umbral Umber, depending on look.

2/26/11 Work

Worked on the following last night:

• Wolf Lord Morraig
• Touched up cape, washed fur trim.
• Behemoth
• Upper chassis & head. Red all painted, some bronze base coat on smokestacks.
• Cygnar Wreck Marker (Behemoth's custom base)
• Blue & bronze base coats.
• Laris
• First of grey washes (Cryx Bane Highlight) used for fur shading.

2/23/11 Work

Tonight's work:

Kayazy Assassins
Kayazy Underboss
- Touched up faces, flesh. 
- Painted tunics
- Base coated cloak & pants on one grunt

Wolf Lord Morraig (mounted and dismounted versions)
- Finished hair
- Base coated armor

Battle Reports: eKaya vs. eMorghoul / pKrueger vs. Gorten

Battle Report 1: Kaya the Moonhunter vs. Lord Assassin Morghoul - 15 pts.

Morghoul hissed in fury as he swiped Mercy at the Argus, forcing the two-headed canine to abandon its twin bites to his leg and torso. He ignored his bleeding wounds and danced back from the quivering, eviscerated corpse of the Feral Warpwolf he had slain only moments earlier, then turned at the sound of a raw howl in time to see massive white wolf lope towards him, coming in low. A split-second later the wolf's howl was answered by a massive roar as the Bronzeback Titan charged forward with the mass of a steam-powered train to intercept the wolf in a bone-shattered blow that threw the beast to the ground, its howl turning to a high yelp of agony as bones broke under the impact. Morghoul flicked back Mercy in anticipation of delivering the finishing stroke when a female voice broke from behind him.
"NO ONE harms my companion!" The skorne assassin's head twisted in surprise - the young human female had not been there moments before, she had simply materialized. Caught off-guard, Morghoul attempted to parry, but the young woman's spear flashed quicker than expected to stab deep into his gut...

The Lists:

Kaya the Moonhunter Laris Feral Warpwolf Argus Tharn Bloodtrackers

Lord Assassin Morghoul Bronzeback Titan Cyclops Savage Cataphract Arcuarii

Initial Thoughts:
First time playing against Skorne. I had anticipated a much tougher victory, but some good tactics, backed up by some lucky rolls, swung things in my favor to give me the victory.  I also think my opponent was a tad overconfident (this same player was originally to be part of our current D&D group, but he was dropped partially on account of all the other players got sick and tired of him espousing all the other awesome things he had done in previous games...). He was playing with one of the heaviest non-character warbeasts in the game, and one hell of a nasty combat-caster, and he was counting on both to win him the game.  I had heard of how nasty Morghoul could be, but I had yet to experience it for myself - until he charged my undamaged Feral and proceeded to turn it into little bloody ribbons.  I also had some serious doubts about the Bloodtrackers' ability to deal with the Arcuarii, but they did surprisingly well. That said, my victory almost didn't make it, as the Bronzeback that almost ended my chances before I got there - countercharge placed Laris at exactly 1 remaining life box... but that was just enough to let me get Kaya into place.

Breakdown:
Kaya - Did decently well. Arced Muzzle through Laris to prevent the Bronzeback from moving up to engage my forces or use countercharge initially against the Feral. At game's end she used Laris' animus to teleport into flanking position behind Morghoul for the winning assassination run.

Laris - Mostly used as a "Bark node." Nearly died when setting up the assassination run due to being countercharged by the Bronzeback down to 1 hit point.

Feral Warpwolf - Ripped the Cyclops Savage to smithereens. Died to Morghoul.

Argus - Used the Doppler bark to paralyze several Arcuarii, but that didn't do much. However, scored a boosted Combo Bite on Morghoul just before Kaya went after him and finished him off.

Tharn Bloodtrackers - Tied up the Arcuarii. I didn't expect them to do well when he surprised me by running his Arcuarii up to engage them before I could use my javelins, since their clawed bucklers aren't too impressive. Instead, some really good rolls saw them take down the heavy infantry and suffer only modest losses in return.

Conclusion:
I definitely did not expect Morghoul to be THAT effective in combat. I now wonder if perhaps I should run Kaya a little more aggressively - having her and Laris flank a target should likely see that target destroyed. I think my opponent had a good idea to run very aggressively - I certainly didn't expect him to be engaging my troops that quickly, and I definitely did not expect to see his warlock charge (and kill!) my heavy. However, I had the right idea of how to initially deal with his Bronzeback... by NOT engaging something that big directly. Muzzle meant that for all its scary presence it couldn't do anything, which led him having to bringing Morghoul up to the front ranks and into range of my other beasts. So... maybe some more aggression from me, and maybe a little less from my opponent. ;)

Battle Report 2: Krueger the Stormwrath vs. Gorten Grundback

Krueger settled to the earth at the edge of the forest as he released the wind's hold keeping him aloft.  To the west, the Wolf Lord and his mount were busy finishing up the noisy gun 'jack while to the east the gorax fell upon the dwarven shield wall in a savage fury, tearing it to pieces and hurtling startled dwarves about in its mindless wrath. At his mental command, the feral warpwolf loped forward from the remains of the other 'jack, now a collection of scrap metal. Krueger scanned the area, looking for the enemy caster. Just as his eyes alighted on the dwarf, the ground suddenly gave a mighty heave, pitching and swelling as boulders and other rocks rolled and jumped along, carrying Krueger into the open. As he climbed back to his feet in surprise, he felt the fire of the first slug rip through his armor and into his side. Before he could transfer the injury, two more gunshots rang out, and Krueger slumped to the ground...

The Lists:

Krueger the Stormwrath Feral Warpwolf Gorax Druids of Orboros Druid Overseer Wolf Lord Morraig

Gorten Grundback Ghordson Basher Grundback Gunner Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corp Hammerfall High Shield Officer & Standard Bearer Thor Steinhammer

Initial Thoughts:
Quick friendly game with Tim, with both of us testing out lists for the Highlander Tournament on Mar. 5th. Mostly a test-bed to see if either of our ideas had any merit. While I did surprisingly well with my list, I ultimately lost due entirely to carelessness on my part. However, after gauging his performance, Tim has decided not to run this list at the tournament.

Breakdown:

Krueger - Did what he does best... fries infantry. His feat took out a fair number of High Shields. Between him, the Druids, and the Gorax, the dwarves' resolve broke and then went running. Krueger's Wind Wall helped shield my models, some. Died to a combination of Gorten's feat (which pulled him into the open) and gunfire (more on that below).

Feral Warpwolf - Took out the Ghordson Basher.

Gorax - Acted as fury battery and a dwarf-muncher. Used his Primal animus to make certain he broke through the High Shields' high armor and sent them running. Poised to go after Gorten next.

Druids of Orboros / Druid Overseer- First screened the advance with their vortexes, then used force bolts to pull the High Shields formation apart and twice drop the Devouring on them.

Wolf Lord Morraig - Came in on the flank at top speed. Killed Thor (who was 'jack marshaling the Gunner) and damaged the Grundback Gunner. Would likely have taken the 'jack out if Krueger hadn't died.

Conclusion:
While I'm impressed with how the list did, and even moreso that I seem to have finally found some reliable ways of peeling apart dwarven formations, I lost due to one careless mistake... I didn't pay attention to my stats. Specifically, I had initially left a point of Fury on Krueger for transfers, then realized my beasts were at full Fury so I wouldn't be able to transfer, anyways. So I ditched the fury.
...Only, I forgot the gorax can hold up to 4 Fury, and he was only at 3. So had I kept the Fury, I could've easily transferred the damage from Gorten's first shot to the gorax and survived the second, then wiped out his caster next turn.
Overall, though, I think the list is strong enough to work for the tournament, so it should be fun.

PICS: Kaya the Moonhunter

Circle Orboros Epic Warlock, Kaya the Moonhunter.

Still need to paint her wolf companion, Laris.
Kaya is probably my most favorite character in all of Hordes, thus far. The symbols on her base represent her front-arc - they're based off the artwork for the Circle Orboros arcane runes.

Julia's Khador - Ice Front Arc

Finally was able to get the front arcs on Julia's Khador models painted as I had initially envisioned.

Paint "recipe": 4 parts (Skull) White + 1 part Arcane Blue.  Add some water.

1. Take the watered down mixture as above, feather from the top of the base to the bottom to create the "icicles."
2. Take Skull White, water down. Feather from top to halfway down, blending as you go.
3. Continue step from above - till the top is white.

I'll have to post a picture of Vlad soon, as an example.
EDIT:  Vlad can be found here.

Painting Circle Runes/Glow

So here's a new trick I just figured out while currently working on my new Woldwatcher - how to get nearly perfect Circle Orboros runes.

1) Make the color to be used for the glow fairly watery.
2) With a "sharp" brush, dip the tip into some water, then use the water to "trace" the etched rune.  Make certain the water doesn't spill too much over the rune.
3) Load the watery paint onto the sharp brush - do not overload. Carefully touch the tip to the water in the rune - it will draw the paint into the rune and fill it. Touch where needed to draw the paint out and fill the rune.

Viola, a perfectly filled Circle rune. If the paint happens to spill out somewhat while drying, it turns out that it just helps to enhance the "glow" of the rune!

Greetings, Hail, & Well Met

So it turns out that just under a year ago (February 22, in fact) was the very first time I threw down my Circle Orboros army and played my first full game of Hordes.

Up until then, while I had been interested in the various tabletop miniatures games (specifically, the GW 40K and Fantasy ones), had read the rulebooks, bought a codex, etc., I had never actually purchased any forces. Too expensive, too many figures, too little time.

Thanks to the Brothers Mead, that changed when I was first introduced to what is my faction of choice: Circle Orboros.  It's got druids, it's got wolves - what's not to like???  I believe they're probably the most gorgeous faction in the entire setting of the Iron Kingdoms, and it doesn't hurt that their playstyle suits me.

Since starting off with the standard battlebox of Kaya the Wildborne, 2 Argus and a Feral Warpwolf, the army has grown considerably... but to my chagrin, I realize that I still have models unpainted and not fully assembled from a year ago *avoids looking at the two argus.*


Still, I have managed to complete a fair amount of figures for both myself and my fiancee's Khador army, and I'm amazed at the changes and improvements to my painting techniques. There's still a lot more improvement to go, so I'll be using this blog as a place to post about what I'm working on, post pictures, and write up various battle reports about Warmachine/Hordes. And hopefully keep myself from burning out. I may add some of my other hobbies to this blog in the future, but we'll see.


So that's it, welcome to the blog.  A few quick things about what I'm looking to improve as time goes on:
1) OSL Lighting. I really want to learn how to do this properly, especially after seeing some of the stunning work over on the Privateer Press forums.
2) Non-metal Metallics. Long-time goal of mine. Haven't made much progress on it.
3) Conversions. Need to get my hands on a jeweler's saw, some assorted drill bits of various sizes, some assorted brass rods of various sizes, plasticard, and some sculpting tools. 


I won't even glance in the direction of making my own terrain... yet.


Enjoy!