Trevy's Painting Table

Hey everyone.

For those who watch my YouTube channel, I realize that I don't really post my WIP stuff there, so the only way to see stuff that I'm working on is here, with just some pictures, so I wanted a way to allow me to describe works in progress in depth.  You know, with my voice, and not this silly keyboard.  Do you know how hard it is to get emotions across with these stupid letters?

...

Huh.

Anyway, I've decided to start doing this segment called 'On the Painting Table' that I'll release whenever something exciting happens over here.  So here's the first one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPhaQ9uBWzE

Sorry I have to give you a link and not a video, but my video abilities are malfunctioning again today.

So yeah, I'm back.

Now, let there be rejoicing in the streets and celebration in every home!

Commission work will resume as normal (hopefully the delay doesn't make you all too angry at me), and I'll answer e-mails regularly.  Thanks.

Another service I've decided to add to my already quite large repetoire is a sampler of unit levels.  I've gotten several requests recently for a sample of the painting levels that I offer, so I've decided to make that a little easier and more official.

So now the policy is that for $25 US, you get 5 infantry models (of your choosing, from any army), each painted in a separate level, from 1 to 5.  The cost includes all costs, including the price of the models and shipping for them, so fear not!

Well, I'd better get back to work now.  Hopefully I'll have something else pretty for you to loo at soon enough.

Sorry guys, but sometimes the undeniable call of life, the universe and, well, everything is just too strong to ignore.  As such, I won't be home over the weekend, so my replies to e-mails may be sporadic, if at all, and commissions might be a whole three days behind schedule.  Try not to start riots or incite anarchy in my absence, because that, while touching, doesn't look good on the ole' resume.

Hey everyone.  I realize that there are quite a few new models in the battle report that I posted, but I haven't shown these new toys to you yet.  Heresy, I know.

So, without further ado, here are some of the new Beastmen models that I have recently finished:

First up is the new Minotaurs.  I've heard a lot of talk about how hideous these models are, and, while I think that they are not the most beautiful of sculpts that GW has ever released, they are certainly by no means the worst and in are not bad models.  I'm sure I'll go into greater detail later on about exactly why I think this, but right now I'm just going to show you the models that I've completed.

I finished two units of Minotaurs, one with two hand weapons and the other with great weapons because there seems to be a little contention over which weapons are the best.  Well, they're both really cool looking so I included both in the units.

Next, in sharp contrast to these monstrous, bull-like creatures are the goatesque (get it, it's a play on words, goatesque sounds like grotesque...:D) Ungors, the nerdy Beastmen teenagers that were spited by the loves of their lives because of their flabby muscles, pot bellies and lack of attractive, Gor-like horns.

Will, if these little buggers are analogous to nerdy teenagers, the next guy is the equivalent of a biker dude or high-school jock.  He's got all of the designer skulls, the most expensive axes and the fashionable armor, and he's ready to rock anyone who says otherwise.  He's the Beastlord in charge of this whole army, and he looks every bit like one.  The model originally had an additional hand weapon, but I swapped it for Archaon's shield (with that cool skull attached) because it looked so freaking badass!  In order to enhance his badassery even further this guy is also standing atop the severed heads of a dozen enemies of wind and varied races, ready to add all who stand before him to that macabre pile.

So there you have it folks, yet more Beastmen ready to pillage and despoil all that man holds dear.  At this point this army is a little over half-way completed, so hopefully it will be up for sale within the next couple of weeks or so.

So I'm back from my friendly local game store with two hard-fought games of Warhammer Fantasy under my belt and two wins (one minor and one major).  I have to say that the first impressions of this new list that I have are pretty positive.  I sort of ran it as one of those point-and-shoot lists, where you simply place your big, scary, killy units across from his meek ones and let them loose, but the number of skirmishers and small, fast units available to it make it a very tactically exciting force.  I suppose that if I had actually used my skirmishers more effectively, I would have done quite a bit better.

Anyway, my first game was against a friend of mine who runs a Warriors of Chaos army.  We played at 1,000 points (because that's all the models either of us had), and on his behest we played twenty points down (so it was really a 980 point game).  I guess he had estimated the number of models he would need to bring and got it wrong.  Oh well, I pulled some upgrades from my list to get there, so it looked something like this:

Wargor w/Enchanted Shield and Heavy Armor

Gorebull w/ Sword of Might, Heavy Armor, Gnarled Hide and Shield

19 Gors w/ Full Command

5 Ungor Raiders

5 Ungor Raiders

5 Ungor Raiders

5 Ungor Raiders

3 Minotaurs w/ Great Weapons

3 Minotaurs w/ Great Weapons

My opponent ran an army that centered around a big group of Chaos Knights and looked something like this (I don't have this all totally correct, so bear with me):

Exhalted Hero w/ Sword of Might and Enchanted Shield

10 Chaos Warriors w/ Full Command

10 Chaos Warriors w/ Full Command

5 Chaos Warhounds

5 Chaos Warhounds

6 Chaos Knights w/ Full Command and the Banner of Wrath

Sorry about the crappy picture quality, but my camera was acting up on me all day.

So, in deployment I put down two Ungor Raider herds on each side of the board, hoping that they could divert some of his scarier units, march block and just be a general pain in the behind.  The Gor herd with the Wargor in it took up the center, flanked by the Minotaur herds.  The Minotaur herd on the left has the Gorebull in it (that's what that hideous, unpainted metal thing is), and has a unit of Ungor Raiders screening it so that it doesn't charge some Warhounds out of frenzy.

My opponent put his big unit of Knights down in the middle of his deployment zone with a unit of Warhounds directly in front of it.  My opponent's plan was to get my frenzied units to charge at the Warhounds so that he'd get a counter-charge with his Knights.  His two Chaos Warrior units went on either side of the knights and another unit of warhounds got put down on the right.

My opponent took first turn, and really didn't do much other than reposition his units a little for a better attack.  His Warhounds on the left ran around behind his forces to go harass the Ungor Raiders and his Banner of Wrath shot a Magic Missile at my troops, but was successfully dispelled.

In My first turn was equally as exciting, with most of my army moving up just a couple of inches to stay out of charge range of the majority of his troops.  My Ungor Raiders took pot-shots at a couple of things, but to no avail.

In the beginning of turn two, my opponent gleefully declared a charge from the Warhounds on to the Gor herd as his other units moved up to flanking positions.  He was hoping for a chance that I would fail my restraint roll and run right onto the awaiting magic weapons of his knights.  He then fried a Minotaur from the Gorebull's unit with a successful attack from the Banner of Wrath (which paid for the item and then some!).  In the combat phase, his plan to draw out my Gor Herd backfired massively.  After killing two Gors and receiving three wounds in return, his doggies, unsurprisingly, fled.  My unit passed its restraint test, but his knights were not so lucky.  They failed their panic test for being fled through by the Warhounds and ran like chickens!

The Ungor Raiders having moved out from a screeing position of my Gorebull and his unit, the Minotaurs there auto-charged his Chaos Warriors across from them as the rest of my army moved threateningly up a couple more inches.  Shooting from the Ungors killed a single Warhound, but that was all.  In combat, the Aspiring Champion of the Chaos Warriors challenged my gorebull and was subsequently killed three times over.  The rest of the Minotaurs in the unit killed another eight models to leave just one left, who subsequently ran until he left the board.  My Minotaurs, after consuming the corpses of the slain, decided to overrun a couple of inches.

In turn 3, the Chaos Knights rallied and turned to face their attackers while the rest of his army moved into position to attack my now-exposed Minotaur unit.  In order to do so, however, one of his Warrior regiments exposed a nice, juicy flank to the other Minotaurs.  His Warhounds off on my right charged at one of my Raider units, killed one and broke the unit, who successfully got out of the way just an inch ahead of the ravenous dogs.

In my turn, I declared a charge with the Minotaurs on his exposed Warrior unit, getting it easily.  The Ungor Raiders also rallied, ready to take the charge of the Warhounds while the rest of my Raiders tried in vain to put a couple wounds on the units threatening my Minotaurs.

In the Combat Phase my Minotaurs killed all but three of the Chaos Warriors that they were attacking, breaking the unit and actually running it down, despite their ravening hunger for corpses.

In the fourth turn, all hell broke loose for the Gorebull and his Minotaur buddies as they were charged by the Exalted Hero, the remaining Hellhounds and the recovered Chaos Knights.  The Warhounds on the right also continued to chase their prey, charging the hapless Ungor Raiders.  With no other phases to speak of, combat ensued.  The Ungor Raiders actually killed two of their canine attackers, suffering no casualties, breaking and running down the Warhounds!  In the giant melee in the middle, the Exalted Hero was forced to challenge and was accepted by the Gorebull, who did a wound, taking none in return.  The Knights killed one of the Minotaurs, who broke and were subsequently overrun by them.

My turn four was pretty non-existent, with my Minotaurs turning to face the enemies that had just recently destroyed the other Minotaur unit and my Gors turning to make sure that none of the enemy units could attack them.  At this point, the game was starting to wind down and I began to move my Ungor Raiders to start claiming table quarters.

The beginning of turn 5 was heralded by the charge of the Chaos Knights at one of my Raider units, who fled, rolled a 3 on their flee distance and were run down by the Chaos riders anyway.  The Warhounds in the back and the Exalted hero turned to face the Minotaurs but moved out of charge range and line of sight.

My turn was equally as unexciting, actually it was even less exciting, with the Minotaurs sitting there stupidly and twiddling their thumbs and the Gors chasing uselessly after the Chaos Knights.

Turn 6 was a pretty boring turn, to be honest.  Deciding the discretion was the better part of valor, my opponent moved his units behind my Minotaurs so that I couldn't charge, turned his Chaos Knights around and unleashed his Banner of Wrath again, which was dispelled.

With no movement that I could make, I decided to call the game there, because there was nothing more I could do to effect the outcome.

And speaking of the outcome, the game was pretty close.  All in all we had eliminated around an equal number of each other's forces, a little over 400 points.  I had, however, several bonuses for capturing several of my opponent's banners and a table quarter, so the victory went to me.

Thoughts?  Well, Minotaurs are awesome.  If you get the charge on almost anything it will die.  The problem is that they are very much a sort of glass cannon, and you need to kill what you are fighting before it can hit you back, because Light Armor is not going to protect them, especially against Strength 4 attacks.  As I found later on, Shields are almost always a must on these guys, if not for combat simply for the +1 Armor Save against shooting attacks.  I think I would have done a lot better in this game if I hadn't unscreened the Gorebull's unit that early, or perhaps had charged both Minotaur units at the same time (which I could have done, but waited).  Another thing I realized is that the Sword of Might is completely wasted on the Gorebull.  I should have given the Sword to the Wargor, who actually needs the extra Strength and stayed with a normal Great Weapon for the bull.  As it was, the Gorebull was actually the weakest model in his unit, which didn't work so well against Warrior of Chaos' high armor saves.

All in all, it was a good game and a good learning experience.

I'm heading down to the local game store today for some hardcore miniature action with a couple friends, hoping to also play some people I don't know, but worst comes to worst I'll settle for the friends.  With me I'm taking both these Beastmen thayt I'm working on (who are coming along very nicely, by the way, I just have some Gors, Ungors and all the Chariots to go) and my beloved Tyranids.  I think with the Beastmen I'll run  what is noew widely accepted to be pretty standard list (I'm probably gonna be playing 1-1,500 points because I don't have any more assembled) with lots of Minotaurs and Ungors:

-Wargor - not sure on the items for this guy, really, as there doesn't seem many really good choices.  I'm thinking I'll settle for a Sword of Battle and Enchanted Shield to keep him alive, but I don't reall expect to get him into combat much.

-Gorebull w/ Sword of Might, Gnarled Hide, Heavy Armor, Shield and Battle Standard - while a point sink, I've heard that, when so upgraded, these cows are freaking awesome!

-4x5 Ungor Raiders - because they're annoying

-20 Gors w/ 2xHand Weapons and command - this is my static CR block that'll try to either take charges or add that little bit of extra OOMPH! to a charge

-2x3 Minotaurs w/ Great Weapons and Bloodkine - With M6, these guys will probably be giving a charge, and with 13 S7 attacks (16, if they have the Gorebull in them) in addition to their Impact Hits, they'll probably utterly annihilate any enemy that they come across, which in turn gives them more attacks!

Now, for my Tyranids, I've been trying a more unorthodox list.  With the advent of the new book, it seems like Termagaunts are the prime choice for a Tyranid Troops choice.  Unfortunately, though, they seem rather under-par to me.  They're slow, short ranged in the Shooting phase and horrible in the Assault phase, but what else can you take?

Enter the Hormagaunt!

For eight points (two less than last edition's incarnation), you'll get a Hormagaunt that hits most things on fours, wound everything on fours and even re-rolls To Wound rolls againt T3 enemies!  I own 92 of these little buggers, and they never really saw the table in last edition (besides the Apocalypse games where they would fill in my compulsory broods for an Endless Swarm), but now I include them in every game, and I'm writing most of my lists around massive swarms of these little insects:

-Hive Tyrant w/ 2x TL Devourers, Armored Shell and Regeneration - this big guy is in here to be a nigh-unstoppable ranged killing machine.  With the ability to easily waste most enemy squad with one round of shooting and multiple methods of healing himself, hopefully he'll soak up heavy weapons fire, diverting it away from my other, more important Synapse units.

-2x Zoanthropes - because they kill stuff

-Venomthrope - I call this guy the 'gungan bubble shield' of the Tyranid army, making it harder for the enemy to pick off my Hormagaunt broods who are the mobile cover saves for the rest of the army.

-5x Warriors w/ Rending Claws, Barbed Strangler, Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs - a pretty standard assault Warrior unit, these guys are there to provide more synapse coverage for the little 'uns, as well as obliterate anything that they can't in Close Combat

-5x Warriors w/ Deathspitters, Barbed Strangler, Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs - a more well-rounded warrior brood, these guys can provide some much-needed suppressive fire to an assaulty army, as well as bust tanks and elite infantry that the Hormies will have a hard time with

-4x20 Hormagaunts with Toxin Sacs - The cream of the crop, these guys and wipe an entrenched enemy off an objective, swarm a hapless group of assaulters or simply gum up the enemies works, distracting the enemy and covering my more important units.

So, there it is!  I suppose I'll get back about how I actually did, maybe even with a battle report!  Heresy!

That's right!  The time is finally upon me to come out of the shady hole I've been living in beneath that very comfortable rock and embrace new technology at its greatest.  Just because Games-Workshop refuses to do so, doesn't mean that I won't.

So, without further ado - become a fan of Trevy's Painting Table on Facebook to get all sorts of fun information that I will post there as soon as I realize the point, and follow Trevy's Painting Table on Twitter in order to keep updated with all sorts of fun news and goods that I will post there.

Now, there's no guarantee that I will post with anything remotely resembling regularity on either of these websites, but you should really follow them anyway to keep in touch.  Who knows, maybe I'll actually keep them in reasonably good upkeep.  We all have the right to dream, right?

If you've been poking around lately, you may have noticed some differences in the website.  I have been working on it lately to stream the process of purchasing commissions and making the site itself easier to navigate.

There has also been several changes in prices and unit sizes for commissions.

In order to make painting prices and unit sizes more realistic, there has been a minor hike on prices for Infantry and Large models/cavalry.  I have also introduced a new size category for models that includes very large vehicles and monsters, akin to some of the new kits that Games Workshop is now producing, such as the Trygon.  This new category covers any models around the size of a Trygon or Land Raider model.

Now, after reading that title, you've probably got all hyped up about how awesome I am that I built my own version of the Daemonic and truly massive An'ggrath the Unbound without bowing to the tyranny of Forge World or the powers-that-be.  Well, sorry to disappoint you, but this isn't as cool as all that.  It's a simply Level 1 Daemon made out of a Mega-Blox Dragon.  Despite its past life, though, these children's toys are ace, because with a little Green Stuff, some bitz and a decent helping of time and patience, you can make them into almost anything and feel good about it.  Which is what I did, and I have to say, it doesn't look bad, even though it can't stand up on its own two feet.

So I finished my first unit of Beastmen Gors today after working on it for two days.  I'm trying to get a box a day done, and so far I'm doing pretty well.

With these models I'm trying to get a really grimy, dirty sort of look with these models, and it comes out rather well, in my opinion.  These are painted to a Level 3 standard, and that'll be the standard level for the army.

So stay tuned for more on the Beasts of Chaos!