Hobbywobbles #001

In an attempt to motivate myself to get more hobby work done, I've decided to start tracking my hobby progress on an ongoing basis. I'm thinking at this point I might start with monthly updates since there isn't going to be much painting going on in the short term (too much to build) but I intend to make it weekly updates and to include pictures of whatever work I've managed to get done. I might try to do something similar for the gaming side once I start finding some more regular opponents.

Week Ending 6 October 2013:

18 Warriors of Chaos - built bar the ease of painting bits
Warriors of Chaos BSB - built bar the ease of painting bits
3 Necroserpents
5 Fell Bats (Mantic Gargoyles)
Tomb King Chariots - no steeds or king in there yet, just the actual custom chariot at this stage.

Taking Stock...

I have been having a lot of trouble trying to fit my models into storage of late, so I thought I would take an inventory and categorise things based on how much work is still needed on them.

Having now done so and seen the unmistakable weight toward the less completed end of things... I'm thinking perhaps I need to cut back on my constant purchases, particularly from Kickstarter. That being said there's apparently Reaper Bones Kickstarter #2 upcomming, and Raging Heroes are supposedly doing a Dark Elf kickstarter at the end of this year, so i'll probably throw this revelation out the window when those launch...

Yet to arrive/On order
1 Fractured Dimensions Tzeentch Daemon
1 Fractured Dimensions Slaanesh Daemon
2 TA War Mammoths
1 TA Rhino-Giant
17 ArenaRex Gladiators
1 Tablescapes 6x4 gaming board
10 Darkmyre traps
1 WarGods Hephaestus
1 WarGods Hades
1 Happy Seppuku scenic base stamp
50 Mantic Empire State Troops (Halberds/Shields/Swords)
35 Mantic Empire Knights
9 Mantic 'Hero' models
5 Mantic Elf Cavalry
5 Mantic Dark Elf Knights

On the backburner
100-150 assorted Reaper Bones miniatures
20 Mantic Ghouls
30 Mantic Zombies
40 Mantic Skeletons
20 Mantic Grave Guard
1 Mantic Mounted White King BSB
5 Mantic Celestian Mounted Knights
3 Mantic Abyssal Golems
5 Mantic Celestian Human Paladins
3 Mantic Celestian Angels
5 Mantic Celestian Battle Sisters
5 Mantic Celestian Men-at-Arms
5 Mantic Immortal Guard
5 Mantic Goblin Fleabag Riders
5 Mantic Dwarf Brock Riders
3 Mantic Trolls
5 Mantic Palace Guard
5 Mantic Mummies
5 Mantic Panther Lancers
3 Mantic Ogres
1 Mantic Ogre Hero
1 Mantic Goblin Mincer
15 Mantic Gargoyles
3 Hammerheads
1 Skyray
2 Devilfish
2 Broadsides
16 Crisis Suits
1 Rock Lobba
1 Doom Diver
1 Corpse Cart
2 Necromancers
5 RBG wraiths
1 RBG vampire
12 Chaos Warriors
1/2 a Reaper 'Vampire' box
5 Marauder Horsemen
40 Marauders
19 Chaos Hounds
2 Warhammer Online Warbosses
1 Mounted Warboss
1 Orc BSB
3 Necropolis Knights

1 Hive Tyrant

12 Termagants

3 Tyranid Warriors

1 Venomthrope

1 Carnifex

6 Skullcrushers
2 40k starter sets
1/2 Reaper vampire box
10 Tomb Guard

Being built/repaired
40 Mantic Skeletons
12 Chaos Warriors
1 Tomb Prince
60 Fire Warriors
40 Kroot
10 Chaos Knights
5 Marauder Horsemen
10 Mantic Gargoyles
1 Reaper Demon Prince
1 Reaper Khorne Demon Prince
1 Reaper Bone Giant
1 Reaper Kaladrax
1 Reaper Nethyrmaul
Bunch of ancient Marines that need a lot of TLC
1 Nurgle Sorceror (wfb)
1 Nurgle Exalted Champ
1 Exalted Champ
1 Chaos Lord

Playable but more work required
1 Crisis Commander
9 Mantic Werewolves (My Crypt Horrors)
1 Reaper Bone Giant
1 Reaper Kaladrax
1 Reaper Nethyrmaul
1 Mantic Vampire
2 Heresy Tomb Scorpions
4 Ushabti
9 TK Chariots
1 Orc Chariot
3 Necropolis Knights
5 Tactical Terminators
1 Tactical Terminator Sergeant
1 Power Sword Captain
1 MM/PF Dread
1 HB/Asscan Speeder
1 Techmarine
4 Missile Launcher Marines
2 Flamer Marines
1 Plasma Cannon Marine
1 Chain Sword Sergeant
8 Bolter Marines
1 Heavy Bolter Marine
2 Plasma Pistol Marines
1 Chainsword Marine
2 Bike Marines

Ready for undercoating
1 Warsphinx
3 Necropolis Knights
1 Skull Catapult
1 Casket of Souls
~50 Skeleton Warriors (TK)
~60 Skeleton Archers

Undercoated
3 Tomb Princes
1 Necrolith Colossus
1 Skull Catapult
1 Necrosphinx
1 Chaos Sorceror
20 HW&S Orc Boys
20 AHW Orc Boys
20 Spear Orc Boys
20 Goblin Spider Riders
60 Night Goblin Spearmen
40 Night Goblin Archers
2 Night Goblin Big Boss'
2 Night Goblin Shamans
10 Tomb Guard
1 Liche Priest
1 Mounted Liche Priest
1 Tomb Herald

Partially painted
10 Tomb Guard
1 Tomb Prince
1 Necrolith Colossus
1 Liche Priest

Just needs to be based
-

Actually finished
 -

Arena Rex: Match 001

So, myself and my partner split a Ludus Ultimus kickstarter pledge (Kickstarter Link) between us and got to have our first game over the weekend just passed. The game was a rather disorganized affair, with what we passed off as an arena actually being a piece of area terrain for wargaming. The 'arena' was roughly a rectangle 25x20" with a large circular pit dominating the centre and four pillars. All of the action took place between what are the top two pillars in this picture.

The makeshift arena

We went for a small match since we just wanted to get a practice match in to familiarize ourself with the basics.

The match was my opponents Hermes & Infelix Vs. my Septimus & Noxius.

I won't go into great detail since it was a fairly quick and brutal match with not much in the way of highlights. Short turn by turn breakdown:

1) my opponent ran Infelix forward but didn't get into range.
2) I attacked with Noxius failing to do any damage due to counterattack.
3) Infelix did a bit of damage to Noxius and fatigued him by knocking him into a pillar (that reposition is great!).
4) Septimus managed to get two push results which landed Infelix in our oversized pit. At this point I wasn't sure if my opponent was supposed to gain favour for the lost points of the vitality track or if she missed out due to no actual damage being done. We decided that the favour should be generated, which in turn meant I generated the same amount due to Septimus' ability.
5) Hermes pushed Septimus into the pit to join Infelix.
6) Noxius lived up to his reputation by sneaking up behind Hermes and shoving him into the pit as well, leaving him the last man standing.

So basically, the massive pit claimed the lives of three of our four gladiators. Power attacks using 2x favour for each ensured that my push attempts both resulted in kills, while my opponent used 2x favour to finish Septimus who was teetering on the edge of the pit already.

I think for our next test game we'll use an arena with a less pronounced pit and a bit more open space as the massive pit was never more than a few inches away from the gladiators.

I'm sure we made some mistakes, and didn't use the clear turn abilities (though I won the match and was the only one who took a clear turn, so it probably would not have mattered) and didn't use ludus-specific tactics either. Next time around we'll use 3-4 gladiators each and the rest of the rules, so hopefully it will be a little bit bloodier and play out less like a warner brothers cartoon.

All things considered, it was an enjoyable game and i'm looking forward to the next!

Oops!

Been a bit difficult to post of late. Shortly after my last post I moved house and haven't got the internet hooked up at the new place yet... More to come when I get my s**t together.

Introduction

"Loki's Brood"

Hi.
For some reason you've visited this new wargaming blog with an amateur layout, hardly any posts or contributors and written by some guy that you've likely never heard of. Why should you stay? Tough question. If I ever figure out the answer, I'll come back and edit this post to pretend I had some idea of what I was doing from the start. Edit buttons are good for stuff like that.

So more importantly, if you choose to stick around - what can you expect to see on this blog?

• Rumours - I'll repost rumours as they come to light and add my thoughts. I don't have a source and won't be taking credit for anything, merely spreading the love and adding my spin on things.
• Book listings - I'm a big fan of the black library stuff and will be putting together comprehensive lists of major events, locations & characters featured in the various books as I go finish them. I won't be doing reviews in the true sense but will post a brief summary of my thoughts.
• Fluff - I'm going to be putting together fairly detailed fluff for each of my armies.
• Compulsive Collecting - I have Space Marines, Tau, Dark Eldar, Tyranids, Tomb Kings, Warriors of Chaos, Ogre Kingdoms & Orcs and Goblins... Yet I don't really paint or play, really. I just buy and hoard. Oh, and there's Flames of War on the way, too.
• Progress of a gamer - I've decided that I'm finally going to start making use of the thousands of dollars of plasticrack that fills my study and start actually getting stuff painted and playing some regular games, as well as entering tournaments when able. I've played sporadically (that's being generous) for... 10 years?
• Math Hammer - I spend more time considering combinations and statistics than I do playing, painting & modelling combined. From time to time I'll be putting up some random math hammering thoughts to support whatever random idea i'm trying to justify to myself.
• Tactics/Army lists - Since I spend so much time considering options and planning future purchases, I'll be posting plenty of army lists and tactics.
• Battle Reports - I'll be trying to track my progress (hoping for some improvement as I go...) so I'll be putting together battle reports as often as I'm able to do so.

So there you have it, folks. All this and more for the low, low price of... Well, free actually. Quite the bargain.