Getting back into things.

So, having gotten everything back to normal, I'm starting to get back into things. I have brought out my paints again, getting hyped for the Paradiso book and finally figured out a colour scheme for my Shasvastii! And I might also have motivated a few members in my group to take part in the Relic Knights kickstarter...

So, first things first. Let's begin with me showing you my own, reposed and converted Dragao, Acontecimento Dragoon!



Oh yeah, I know. He's big, he's imposing and he's coming for you!
So, the story about this one. I, as many others, consider the Dragao to look absolutely ridiculous the way Corvus Belli made him. Shoulder-mounting a Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon while wielding a puny flamethrower and having a ammo feed that insists on defying gravity... No, just no.
So I decided to try and fix it. I'm only decent with greenstuff, can't sculpt anything, is a little impatient but able to pin decently. I knew it was a risk. But I started cutting him apart.
I think it took me three days to get him right, and even then his left arm is slightly misshapen, but it was worth it.

Then, a little preview of what my Shasvastii will turn out like:


Naturally, the models in the picture aren't finished it's all base colours there, and a little highlighting. Gotta highlight/shade all the model, and paint the unpainted areas. Then I might add some OSL and blending... Might. We'll see what I'll do, as I'm still not completely sure myself. Seriously considering changing the way I highlighted him.


And now, let's talk a little about Relic Knights.

So, if you watched the video before reading this, you might just have got a pretty good idea of what it's about. If not, let me tell you.
Relic Knights is a miniature wargame based on over-the-top manga. Yes, you heard me. Over the top manga.

So let's break this down. I'm gonna talk about aesthetics and about gameplay.

Regarding aesthetics, well... You can see it yourself. There's mechas, there's half-naked chicks, there's demons and awesome weapons. Soda Pop miniatures did not go easy on the manga inspiration. And to be truthful, I enjoy it. It's a nice, refreshing breath of air in all the seriousness of most other wargames. I actually look forward to painting these, as you can go pretty much as crazy as you want because frankly, if you're playing Relic Knights as a serious game then you might just be doing it a little bit wrong. Plus, manga chicks is always a bonus.

And now for the crunch. Note that I have not read the rulebook, only looked at the video put out explaining gameplay mechanics, so I might have gotten something wrong. I have to say though, Soda Pop Miniatures seems to have captured the feeling of manga and anime battles quite well. But basics first!
The thing that pops out to you is that the game does not use dice, it uses cards. Every player has an Esper deck. Esper is basically mana. At the beginning of the game and at the end of each turn, each player draws/discards so that his/her hand contains five cards. The most common cards have one big coloured symbol and one small coloured symbol. You get to play (read: Discard) any card in exchange for either two esper of the big symbol or one of the small. These are then used in order to activate the specialy powers of units, such as Pounce (and attack) or Shield Wall (a defense).
The game also features alternating activations, and a card for each of their units. Basically, both players have an "Idle pool", a ready pool and an active pool. The active pool is where you place the card of the active unit. In the ready pool lies two cards of the upcoming activations (so you have to plan some steps in advance!), and as soon as the card in line becomes active, you have to fill the empty ready slot with one card from your idle pool, which is where all the other cards lie.
When you activate a card, you get to move it and (if you've got the esper) to use an ability. For example, Agha (demon-wolves) may attack with their pounce or render a ready opponent idle using their howl. Knights may attack or use their shield-wall for defense. Aghas have no defense however, so they're... defenseless! Another example given was a knight piloting a giant mecha who had the power to teleport six inches and the blow away every unit close to him (read: jump into the middle of the action and land with a deafening sound causing a shockwave that sends every foe flying).

That pretty much sums up the rules.. At least as we know them for now!
Until next time!
Oh, and don't forget to comment!

Collected thoughts from the CF.

Hello everyone!
Sorry for not updating in such a long time, I just haven't been in the mood. But for this post, I'll discuss a but of everything I've been doing and thinking about since last time!
These will be, in order:

-What has happened with my Vampire Counts since last, as well as some talk about alternative miniatures.
-Beastmen. You will see.
-Infinity, both Nomads and... Shasvastii?

So, that's my Vampire Count. Sir Novkaer I've named him, basically an arrogant ex-bretonnian (now Vampire) roaming the lands.
The conversion in itself is rather simple. The Horse is the Gamezone Mournful Knight Hero, the body is Reaper's Judas Bloodspire, and the sword is the sword from GWs Zombie Dragon / Terrorgheist kit. It turned out pretty if I may say so myself! My usage of Greenstuff is subtle enough, but I need to put a little more work into his face someday -cough cough-.
I also have 5 more Mournful Knights ready to be painted... Just not in the mood.
Oh, and a word of advice for anyone thinking of buying the Mournful Knights - Be careful, they're tricky. And wide. Ranking them up is very difficult, believe me.

And I've gotten my hand on the best bat swarms around! They're 15mm, but as they're small animals, that doesn't matter. And everybat is the same, but at that size that's not a problem. I bought three small plastic bags of them, which totalled 72 (!) individual bats... Sad thing is I can't remember the manufacturer! It wasn't a big company. In fact, it might not even be a company at all (that's the feel I got). If you search around the web, I'm sure you'll find them.
The main problem is that I have yet to figure out a good way to place them on a base...

Now, what's this? Could it be... Yes, it can very much be!
As of late, our dear Erik, The Tomb King started up his second fantasy army - Empire, and this got me thinking: "ME WANTS MOAR PLASTIC CRACK TOO RAWRGH!"
So I looked around a little, and something crossed my eyes that I missed before it was the Gors.
There is something special about the Gors. Something very... primal, raw and manly. I find that very attractive and a bit beautiful in a very, very bestial way.
Then I looked up beastmen tactics. They're Leadership-dependant, something that would be a nice change from the Undead. They tend to use many diverters and chaff units, which I love. They've also got ace models (Go check the Beastlord model. Do it now. It's probably one of GWs best, despite age!), and they have some sweet monster stuff (and who doesn't love that?). The last icing upon the icing on the cake was that Lore of Beasts is a viably, well-used lore withing Beastmen. And I love the Lore of Beasts.

But I'm not just gonna jump in and start a Beastmen army. No, this will be slow. I've got my Fantasy army that I can play with, so I might as well take time to do this. A lot of time. I want to make a themed army.
Now, Beastmen are the Children of Chaos. Mutation and whatnot all day erry'day. But yet... They all seem very goat-y. Meh.
So, what animals do I like?
...
Insects.
Yeah, really. I love insects. And there came my idea. Gors will have legs of spiders. Centigors will be spiders or centipedes. Minotaurs can be truly gigantic Stag Beetles! The Ghorgon will be kitbashed with the Arachnarok and harpies will be flies! I can really see the awesome yet creepy army before me... But it will take a lot of time, and a lot of money.
But soon enough, I will surely get around to do it.

So, for those of you who doesn't know, that's the symbol of the Combined army in Infinity. But I will get to that later.
First up, I want to tell you that I've finally tempted an opponent in the FLGS into playing Infinity. And now that I've planted the seed of corruption, soon shall the whole shop fall AND ALL WILL PLAY INFINITY FOREVER!!!
However, so far I've only gotten one game with him. We can call him Mr. W. And the game was pretty much introductory to us both, because even though I know the rules well, you can't know them well enough until you've played with them.
It was my Nomads against his Haqqislam. Basically, we both spend our first turn moving towards each other. I drop one of his guys with my Grenade Launcher, and he then drops two of my guys... And that's a lot when you're only running 7 guys.
Then in comes my airborne doctor, promptly kills one of my guys (stupid doctor failing his checks) and starts to advance towards the enemy. I set up an defensive perimeter around a very critical door opening. I get some good shit going, and start to wrestle myself back into the game.
The rest of the game is spend by Mr. W. spending half of his orders to penetrate my defensive perimeter and the mine my Zero placed to well. The other half of his orders is spend on his doctor to climb up a wall where an injured Sniper lies bleeding. The doctor fell down every time, and when my well-armed Lieutenant reach the frontline, it's game over. She guns Mr. Ws Lieutenant down, and I chase him off the board.
Overall a good game. Got a better grip of the game, and learned the importance of tactics in this game. Defensive positions might not give a bonus when it comes to stats, but the tactical advantage is huge.

But that's not all. I wanted to start a second Infinity-army too. And Shasvastii was my choice. I just love Camouflaged and Hidden Deployment. And the Noctifier Missile Launcher... Oh god how I love it, it's beyond words. The mini is as ace as the ace of spades, and a TO Missile Launcher... It's like it's christmas!
So, I bought the Shasvastii starter and three more Shasvastii dudes just now, as well as some reinforcements for my Bakunin. Also waiting for both the rulebooks in the mail!

*phew* Wow, that was a lot more than I thought it would be! Perhaps I shouldn't procrastinate as much, haha!
That said, here's hoping that I get this blog rolling again!
Alea iacta est!

The Cornerfag