Tales from the touchline - The Road to Exebowl



Tomorrow I'll be entering my Necromantic Team, the Al 'A' Merry-Kan Death Stars into Exebowl, Exeter's first NAF approved Blood Bowl tournament.

I was a bit of a late entry into the tournament having only signed up to it on Monday morning (and taking the last slot) so I had  a bit of a panic that evening to get my team together and do some last minute paint jobs on the miniatures to make sure that they were correctly numbered and their skills were displayed.

This is the first Blood Bowl tournament I have entered so I am slightly nervous but also excited.  Luckily it's being held  at my local gaming club, so I don't have too far to go, and I'll know some people there. 

Some of my team.



I have to admit I have no battle plan for the tournament.  I'm just going to play each game as a bit of fun and see what happens, which is pretty much my philosophy for all the games I play,  but you never know I could end up getting the Spoon!

I'm not sure if there will be any other necromantic teams.  I know there are no "Stunties" entered and there will at least be some Elves to face (I hate Elves!).

Anyway I'll let you know how the tournament went, and how I end up.

What's on my painting table - Orks Nob and Death Guard Champion

I've managed to get another few miniatures finished over the weekend (as well as start on a few new projects).  first up is this slightly converted Ork Nob with Waaagh Banner.  I've been needing a miniature to represent a Nob with Waaagh Banner for a while now so finally got round to converting myself one using the plastic Ork Nobz set and some items from my bits box.  Here's the end result.

The banner is made from several back poles as well as a bit of spru.  I had to pin the banner pole to make it stay together and to give it some added strength. 

I decided to go for a simple paint job on this miniature.  His war gear is also deliberately very limited

Next up is this Chaos Space Marine Chosen miniature from the Dark Vengeance boxset.  I'm going to hopefully be using him as a Champion for my yet to be assembled Death Guard squad (Which will be replacing one of my Red Corsair squads in my Chaos Space Marine force).

Although not a Plague Marine this Death Guard Champion has been mutated heavily by the warp. 

I used the Nurgles Rot technical paint in between the ribs on the armour. 

I also rusted up the backpack.

Future projects

Now that these two miniatures are finished I've started painting my new Striking Scorpions squad that will be part of my new Eldar Kill Team.  I've also been working on two Grot Assistants that are part of the Mek Gun kit.  I've even started painting my Stormtallon MK2 flyer. 

Sneak peek of my Striking Scorpions squad.

What's on my Painting Table - Typhus

I've been working on expanding my Chaos Space Marine force and so recently decided to get the Typhus miniature as a second HQ choice.  My end game is to have half my force as Death Guard and the other half as Red Corsairs (With a unit of Thousand Sons thrown in).

Eventually my Chaos Cultists will be replaced with Plague Zombies and one of my two Space Marine Squads will be Death Guard.  I decided to do this because I really like the Death Guard paint scheme and have already started to paint some of my new Chaos units in that scheme.  I also got into the history of the Death Guard through reading the Horus Heresy novels so really wanted to start playing them. 

Anyway here's the finished Typhus model. Enjoy :)

Typhus at the mid way point

The finished result



Stay on Target - Z95's

I've recently purchased two Z95 Headhunters to use in my games of X-Wing (The main reason being that they looked cool).  However I have found that using them can be a bit of challenge. 

So far I've played three games with them and have started to learn what their strengths and weaknesses are.  Certainly one of the big benefits of the Z95 is their cheap cost.   However their stats (2's across the board) don't make them that amazing and many players see them as a poor mans X-Wing.

What I did learn from using them for the first time is that you need to equip them with missiles! This give you way more combat options and makes them a formidable attack fighter that you could pair them up with two Y-Wings (with Ion cannons) and you've got a good little squadron.  Certainly Ion Missiles and Cluster Missiles work a treat and giving your Z95s the munitions failsafe upgrade gives you a better chance them causing some damage. 

One thing I've yet to try it to pair them with my two A-Wings.  I'm not sure how successful that combination would be but I may give it a go.

My two new Z95's

The Z95's tend to be a good hanger on as well.  Despite only having 2 shields and 2 hull points they do tend to stick around for a bit and can really annoy your opponent.  It's a shame though that they can't have an R2 unit in them, as having an option to repair shields or damage could give them even more last-ability. 

Anyway that's my first thoughts of the good old Z95.  What do you think of them?  do you have any tactics that work for you?  Let me know in the comments below. 

What's on my Painting Table Revisited - Death Guard Plague Marines

Continuing my theme of revisiting and re-photographing some of my previously painted miniatures her are some new photos of my squad of Death Guard Plague Marines. Enjoy :)

Death Guard with flamer. 

Champion armed with Plasma Pistol and Powerfist.  He is a conversion from the Standard Bearer miniature.

Two "old skool" 2nd edition plastic Plague Marine!

I have some more Death Guard that I'll be painting up soon to, which include Typhus (So I'll need to be converting myself a unit of Plague Zombies in the near future!).   My plan is to use them as part of my 2,000 or 2,500 point Chaos Space Marine force.  Here's a sneak peek!