Unleashing the Ito: Part 5

A good evenings painting last night saw the remaining 4 members of the Ito starter set completed! I had a new camera from my fiance for my birthday that i am still getting used to so the photos dont do the models justice yet:

Itsunagi Ito

 

Sakura

 



Chiyo

 



 

 

Akimoto

 

Starter Set

 







Unleashing the Ito: Part 4

Work continues on theses guys, i havent got masses done over the last few days with my fiance organising a surprise party for me on my birthday and a committee meeting for the Bunker last night. Im still on course for finishing at the end of the week tho so its all good.

 

 

 

They are coming along nicely and are still a pleasure to paint, being challengingly detailed but that detail isnt hard to pick out as the sculpts are so good. I have the remaining four ito models on order so a far amount of march will be spent doing them!

 

 

Bushido looks to be taking off at the club, with several of my mates starting to choose factions ready for some games.... the small size of the ranges and the game size is very appealing.



Unleashing the Ito: Part 3

Back from a great weekend away in Brighton with my fiance, she went to sleep early so i got a chance for some more painting on the remaining Ito models:

The main clothing areas are about 75% done and the bases have been basecoated so im happy with the progress ive made. I was origially going to work on these one at a time but since im using the same colours and its only 4 models i reneged on the vow, and i should have them done early in the week.

I went back and redid the face and some of the skin areas of the first Temple Bushi i completed, and i'll show him updated when the rest of these are completed.

In other news, Battleboards UK have begun work on my new custom board, a 4x4 masterpiece with an intergrated hill and lake feature, perfect for warmachine and other smaller skirmish games such as Bushido that i play. The board isn't just for my own entertainment, i'll be using it for location set photographs of completed commissions and for game development should i find the time to progress my ideas.

More to follow soon!



Unleashing the Ito: Part 2

I had a decent run of time to paint this evening and i managed to complete the first model in the starter set, the Temple bushi:

 

 

 

 

 

Im not entirely happy with the face and will probably go back and do it again but i wanted to get this model done before the weekend as im busy for the whole period. Im pleased with how he turned out and it bodes well for the rest of the force.



Unleashing the Ito: Part 1

Ive built, undercoated and washed the 5 models from the Ito starter set:

 

 

These were some of the easiest models to put together i have ever encountered, no warping or miscasts, and only a tiny bit of green stuff to strengthen the joints. I used army painter spray but in very small, quick bursts so as not to obscure any detail, and then washed the whole models in gw nuln oil when it was dry.

I find that the inital wash helps define and pick out detail on models, and creates some instant shading that can be worked around, and its massively helped improve my painting over the last year.

I will be painting these models one at a time to give my best work to each one, Bushido is a skirmish game where every model is a unique character at the moment so it seemed only right. There are 4 other Ito models outside the starter set so its not going to be a massive undertaking to get them all painted!

More to follow soon...



Relics Reinforcements.... final countdown!

No not a classic hit from Europe but the last few hours are upon us, £200 till we get our Ruina!!!!!


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/torgaming/relics-reinforcements

Dreadball: Orx Team (Obliterator Orx)

Job done on my orx team, they are ready for some action on the pitch soon!

 

Orc Guards

 

 

Goblin Jacks

 

 

 

Complete Team

 

 

 

 

 

Now these are down i have reached beyond the halfway point of my painting vow so i can start on my Bushido toys yeah boi :-D



Godslayer Battle Report: Banebrood vs Mortans!

Apologies for the lack of photos, i got in so late from work that i didnt have time to find my camara. It was a shame as we both used fully painted forces and had a nice table lay out. I used the models that you have seen painted on the blog and my friend Darren used his mortan starter set with a scorpio ballista added to it for a 200pt game.

Turn 1
Brood win initative and the mongrels surge up the table, ducking and weaving as they go. The scorpio takes aim at the leader but misses, and the Mortan legions advance in testudo formation.

The Pesty advances and infects the mongrels, and the ursapine also advances. The mortan charcaters shuffle about a bit but dont do much, then finally the Gorelord adavnces behind the mongrels.


Turn 2
Mortans win Int, and the scorpio skewers the ursapine sending it back but not down. the mongrels and gorelord advance but remain out of enemy charge range. The legion suprissingly fall back as does the centurion, but not very far. The pesty and princeptor both advance. The ursapine deathrolls into the centurion but doesnt damage him (i wanted to try it out!)


Turn 3

Brood win Int, the gorelord nails his wychwood potion and charges 14inches into the scorpio, killing a crew then slay moves into the legion and kills two more of them. the legion advance into combat with him but 6 of them do 1pt of damage! The princeptor puts up parry and then runs into combat with the gorelord. The mongrels charge the legion and kill 3 more of them hehe. The centurion buffs himself and finishes off the ursapine with one hit!


Turn 4

The Mortans win Int and the scorpio shoots the pesty but fails to kill him. The gorelord one shots the princeptor and the pesty charges and finishes off the scorpio crewman. The last remaining legionnare fails to hit a mongrel and is killed, leaving only the centurion on the field and we call it there.


Victory to the Banebrood!!!!!




Thoughts
I'd like to say it was stellar generalship that won out but we both had good and bad dice... he didnt fail one plague resistance and i managed to get a lot of hits in even against def15 testudos haha

The ursapine died without achieving anything so i'll be looking for him to do more next game, and my mate was disappointed in his scorpio... both suffered from new model syndrome!

We are looking forward to playing bigger games, 300pts+ when we get some reinforcements as we can both see how our tactical ploys will evolve with more options on the table and are ready for the challenge :-D

Visitations from the Plaguefather

The last few days my family and i have been struck down with norovirus... imagine the fun of dealing with leaky babies and 7yr old whilst leaking yourself! not good times!

 



Dreadball: Humans (Neutrino Allstars)

I have just over two weeks till my birthday when i get my Ito set for Bushido, and i can not start on them until im half way through the unpainted pile! i decided the quickest way to achieve that was to get my three dreadball teams finished.

I started on the human team yesterday and completed it this evening. The plan was for a green/metal colour scheme that was quick to do and looked good when they were put together, and i think they have turned out not too bad:

 

Strikers

 



 

Guards

 

 

 

Jacks

 

 

 

 

Completed Team - Neutrino Allstars

 

 

 

 

Im not sure whether it will be Orx or Veermyn next, i'll decide and crack on in the morning!

 

Relics Reinforements Update

More goodies have been added to the shopping lists.... custom damage markers and some kick ass tshirts!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/torgaming/relics-reinforcements


Tor have also announced that they are holding an expo at tabletop nation on may 11th with a tournament, demos of relics and the new massed battle system called relics war, and worthy painting will be on site giving tutorials too! Tickets are £10 to play in the tourney, or free for a general perusal hehe.

http://www.torgaming.co.uk/rd/expo/


Im gonna need another 100pts of Nuem for this, if my kickstarter toys are here its covered, otherwise its 2 more dedicatus and 2 more sagittarius hahaha

Cavalry... just with more bite!

A painting update!!!!!!!!!

These guys have been on the table for over a week, i really struggled to complete them as i wasnt inspired to paint them. They arent the best models, similar to gw's Blood Knights but at >1/3rd the price! They were a unit my Kings of War Undead were missing so the needs must...

 

 

 

Now they are done its on to my dreadball teams yeah boi!

Godslayer Rules Review Part 2

Thanks for reading part 1, sorry it ended so abruptly but one of my babies fell over and smacked her head on the kitchen floor!

Part 2 will cover tactics, army creation, direct damage and other effects. Im going to hold my hand up about not going too deep into magic or shooting tho; Currently none spellcasters have been released, the first roune of them is out at the end of the month and ive not had a chance to proxy any so far! Magic works by using AP on a declared spell, seeing if its in ranged, a LEAD test to castand then resolve effects... some spells canbeupgraded to more powerful versions,and some can be sustained to remainin play. A banebrood example is the bulging biceps mutationthat increases the POW of your units.

Shooting has a stat for tests, and all weapons have a short and long range. This s then affected by cover and model height which is noted on the cards... sorry i play a horde of beastmen, we dont have bows!

Direct damage is a way past armour values, meaning that weak attacks can still harm the big guys. The most common source of this is plagues for banebrood, the bubonic plague that your grubby little mongrels can carry causes d3 direct damage which is handy facing ARM 8/9 mortans i'll tell you.

Tactics are what define godslayer as a thinkers game, spending your AP madly running about the board will get you killed, you need to support your models with the special abilities they can have such as howling mad to cause fear and testudo to armour up. Your warlord can pass an AP to a friendly unit within LEAD range during its activation. This enables even the toughest murder machine boss to support its troops effectively. All tactics require a lead test to be effective, and that characteristic is the only one that can be premeasured in the game.

Army creation, the fun part! Every starter box has been designed to make a 160pt force, they come in around 135-140 and you spend the rest upgrading items to your characters. Honestly this is the best place to start for a few games to get the hang of it. The next sensible choice is adding the newly released big guy or warmachine, so for me that was the ursapine, a great big bear/porcupine monster who can sonic spin about the board haha and he takes me to 200pts where i game at now. There are only a few stipulations when creating a list: 1 warlord per 500pts, adhere to the deployment limits (No more than 3 ursapines!), items are unique so no 2 gorelords with bleeder blades... and make sure to give your boss an axe, he cant fight without one!



I hope you have enjoyed this overview and review of Godslayer by Megalith Games, it is a great system and is well supported with an active forum. Andre and David the creators are always online and take an active roll in forum discussions which is very helpful! More examples of painted godslayer minis can be seen on the forum and also on my painting studio site (www.fanplasticlittlemen.blogspot.co.uk), full picture battle reports to follow soon. So until next time, thanks again!

Richard Bowker

Fanplasticlittlemen

Godslayer Rules Review Part 1

Ive been asked by the guys at Miniature Addicts Anonymous, a facebook group for serious plastic crack junkies, to do a rules review of the game Godslayer. As you may have seen on the blog, i have championed this system since i first heard of it back in July, and have promoted it for Megalith Games across various forums and at club events.

How best to describe it and whats it like? I often get asked this as the skirmish market is quite full, so games need to have a hook to get your cash these days... Conan meets warmachine, thats how i sum it up! The setting is a high fantasy age filled with Greeks, Romans, Celts... Trolls, Beastmen and Dwarves! All the races have interesting twists that make them stand out from the norm, and the background is massive, a whole separate book. You can tell this game was a while in the making given the rich and expansive history portrayed not just in there but in the fluff sections of the unit entries.

Anyone who has played warmachine or hordes will be familiar with the basic mechanics of the game, 2D6+sat vs stat to cause an effect. This is partially why it has found a place in my collection because it was instantly playable, this system works as you dont need to be looking up endless charts to see what you have done or what you need to hit etc. This is used to compare MEL vs DEF (A Gorelord has a MEL 8 so to hit a DEF14 model he'll need 6+ on 2d6) to hit and the POW of weapons vs ARM (A Gorelords axes have a POW5 so vs ARM 9 they would need 5+ to do damage). The models themselves have no strength stat, its all based on their weapon loadout, which is usually between 2 and 7, daggers to huge axes!

Most models have 6-12 wounds so a good hit is needed to kill in one hit, and the mighty Balescorch Cyclops has 33 wounds... he aint dying quick hehe. The cards have damage tracks where you can mark off who has taken hits etc. Heroes and some monsters have 2 colours of tracks, the second one is seriously wounded and they suffer stat or action point reductions.

Action points are what models use to do things, most have 5 which can be can be used for moving, tactics and fighting. Movement is based of the MOV stat, which is usually 3 or 4, then they can spend a number of action points on movement depending on if they are light, normal or heavy infantry (5/4/3AP max). My maldire mongrels are light infantry so can spend all 5AP on moving upto 15inches.

Charging is free and you move 2xMOV + 2 inches, this must be the first movement you do in an activation. Light infanry can charge 3xMOV + 2, and other bonuses can be applied... Mongrels get an additional +2 as its a faction ability. Charging adds +1 Mel and +1 pow, and in additional turns you chose to add one of either when you attack.

Most weapons cost 2AP to swing, if you have 2 hand weapons like the mongrels do then you can use 3 AP to generate 2 attacks.



This concludes part 1 of the review, more to follow shortly!

Convergence of Cyriss

Spoiled today at Templecon was news of a new faction for warmachine, the Convergence of Cyriss... followers of the Goddess of Gears! Holy crap, waramchine does necrons crossed with therians from AT-43 and makes them badass!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na_ehW6hm5A


Casters that give their MAT and RAT to the Vectors (Jacks) and also a battlegroup special rule like arc node or shield guard, focus hoping so it becomes very efficient to run large battle groups with some supporting infantry, it all looks win to me guys, and the army will hopefully be release over the summer so there is plenty of time to save up for it :-D


I much prefer the Hordes fury mechanic but these chaps are really appealing, and all that metal will be a nice change to paint up so i can see an army of these guys as my big project for the year.