Poll: Chaos Conundrum! let your voice be counted.

Chaos Cup: 2013.

One of the 'Blood Bowl Majors' Tournament Events around the world.
The only one that is held in the United States. One of two that is held in North America.
Two others in Europe, and I think a fifth is added to the four, and is in Australia?  I'm not clear on that.

Just like me I guess to have gone to a Blood Bowl Major but not the one closest to home: I went to the Dungeonbowl in Dusseldorf, Germany earlier this year (still have to get around to writing up those game reports!)  But I'm finally going to go to the US major: The Chaos Cup, in Chicago. Should be fun.

And also just like me, if I have the choice, I'm likely to want to make a new team for a tournament.

Since the Chaos Cup has a 'Chaos Theme' (stands to reason), I feel inspired to take a team with a Chaos Theme, or one that fits into the 'four chaos chosen teams' : Chaos, Nurgle, Chaos Pact, Underworld.
-- Sorry Chaos Dwarves, the organizers are not acknowledging your chaos-worthiness.

So I'm going to run a Poll, to see what all of you think for which team I should take.
Now, I am an indecisive fickle jerk, so I may take your winning choice and just ignore it... how is that for Chaos? But I'll at least give it more weight in my decision. So you're getting your money's worth.

I have a Chaos Pact team, but I'd like to take a new team.
I've built a Nurgle team, but the team construction package seems too restrictive to get a fun team I'd want to play out of Nurgle.

I was considering a 'Stunty Underworld' : Troll & 12 goblins. That's it. Theme that it is 'chaos' and fun that it counts for 'stunty cup', and the minis would be very cool: little classic 'hot stuff' type devils and a big devil!
But the team is just terrible.  It has to be the worst in Blood Bowl. Half the trolls that a goblin team has and no secret weapons? The 13 players come in at a team value of 59 out of 100. Not allowing any stars, that's just a painful-bad team to play for a whole weekend. So, despite the cool look they'd have: sadly, no.

For info sake, the construction is Team Value 100.  That's a basic starting team of 1 million gold pieces.
Then you get 150 team value to purchase skills, but you can not purchase the Leader Skill.

So I've narrowed it down to 4 choices! Some are true 'Chaos choices' for the event, others just have a visual chaos look, and I give no weight to being 'official' past the desire to indulge in the 'Chaos' of it all.

Option 1: Demons

This would be a 'demon alliance' team. Obviously very 'chaos' in appearance, but it would be a DarkElf roster team: Bloodletter Blitzers, Nurgle Linemen, Daemonette Witch Elves, Horror Runners.

The Dark Elf team is a pretty good team, but in a TV 100 environment will struggle because it has expensive players.  I'd either have 1 re-roll or even none, because I'd surely not want to eliminate one of the player types and lose out on having all 4 demons types represented.

It appeals to me because it'd be fun to convert from the plastic kits, and fun to paint.

Option 2: Nurglings

Yes, a whole team of nothing but these cute nasty little guys.  This would be an 'Ogre' team: big masses of Nurglings for Ogres and individual 'straggler' nurglings for snotlings.

The Ogre team is one of the worst teams. I'd probably just be looking to rack up casualties and fouls.

It appeals to me because the little guys are so cute ;) and I like the theme of concentration of nothing but nurglings.

Option 3: Beastmen

The Willy Beastmen. And I say Beastmen, not Chaos, since though this is a Chaos Roster, I would take NO Chaos Warriors!  Only 1 Minotaur and Beastmen. Horns & Hooves and nothing but. 

Chaos is an expensive team, and not a great one at low Team Value.  Eliminating the Warriors cuts cost so I can afford 3 Re-Rolls, though does sacrifice the strength bonus.  But it means the team is faster, has more horns-blitzing options, and it's just a fun theme. 

This appeals to me because of the characterful faces and the self-imposed handicap of no warriors. 

Option 4: Voodoo Gators

The least Chaos-appearing, but does fit into one of the '4 approved chaos teams' since it is an Underworld team. * Congrats to Neil & Bill for their spot-on guesses! And the Voodoo Magic of controlling gators and raising a giant Gator from the dead by Dark Magic seems pretty Chaotic enough.

The Underworld Team is an alliance of Skaven (larger gators) and Goblins (little gators) and a Troll (Big Dead Gator).  And they can have secret weapon stars: A Bomber, Chainsaw, and Ball & Chain (see the minis from 2 updates back) I can't squeeze them all in for a TV100 team, but I could get 2 of 3.

This appeals to me because I love painting reptiles and it's a pretty unique theme. The bases will be filled with  swampwater, so that should look pretty cool.

The Choice.

I'd like to get my pre-registration in by June 30th. And I want to play every one of these!
So help me decide please!

Select in the poll in the upper left corner of the blog and leave your comments below for which team idea you like best and why: why you'd like to play it, play against it, see it, whatever your reasons might be.

Also, my goal for the event is not to win it (not that'd I'd decline the trophy if I did) but I'm -obviously- not looking for the optimum team to crush all who come before me, but I'd like a challenging team that has a chance to not lose all my games too.

Thanks! 

"Guess the Project", Hint #2

See the last update's comments for my hints from the last guesses.
Some very close calls, but no Bulls' Eye yet.

I did manage to mislead some with all the weapons.  It isn't a fantasy skirmish warband, though someday they might be!  I do plan to make more gators someday, with more weapons, for use as a skirmish warband, but not yet. The Blood Bowl guess was correct... now lets add some minis and see where the guesses go:

Gators of various sizes and types... what could they represent?  Considering they associate with these too:

So what team is this?

(Cue Jeopardy Theme Now...) 

Time to Play "Guess the Project"!

I did this once before, where i show a picture, then more, seeing who can guess the specific project concept first. I don't know how long I'll draw this one out though- I want to reveal it pretty quickly, so I can put up a poll and get some input to aid my indecision for something in the future.. more on that later.

So here are your accelerated paced clues:

"Hey Yorrik!" says little gator "I know it was always a dream of yours to fly..."

"When biting isn't enough..."

"Watch where you're swinging those!"

Disclaimer: 

Quotes have nothing really to do with it, but since I can't explain anything yet, I had to write something!"

So, what do you think the project is? 

Tiberion: My Conversion for the Skorne Character Titan

Time to show another conversion!

For my ever-growing (and no paint progressing) Skorne Army, I couldn't resist adding the character Titan, Tiberion. Tiberion is a real brute.  A massive, stoic, stubborn Titan if ever there was one.

Armed with a massive warclub and shield this Titan is the rock armies break themselves on.

But I wanted to do the guy justice.  Something special for a Character beyond just the character head & weapon upgrade kit stuck onto a standard Sentry Titan.

So I started with the Bronzeback as a basis for the conversion.  The Bronzeback is a great deal more massive than a regular Titan, which seemed fitting for a character Titan. The problem is a Bronzeback has a hunched pose which would look odd with a shield and not impressive for the club. Also, the Bronzeback doesn't have any back armor, and being the epitome of defense, I figured Tiberion would have the Sentry style armor. So here goes:

I gave him a small rock to stand on, and angled his torso back and sculpted some tummy to cover the gap that created, giving him a more upright posture.  I used the plastic kit arms, since the Bronzeback arms didn't work well for the weapon & shield. I did however use the Bronzeback tusks, and broke one off- he is a veteran, he's going to have taken some damage in his life!  I also moved the extra helmet flaps from the side to the top-center, to make a helmet styled something more like a Samurai might have. 

For comparison, here is how Tiberion is supposed to look:

And more angles of mine:

Here you can see his custom armor to match the style of the Titan Sentry. 

Batter Up!

And a comparison shot to see how Tiberion compares to a standard Titan Sentry: 

I have to think he's more impressive with this added size.  

As normal his head and weapon would have just been stuck onto the fellow on the right. 

I know, I know... "Paint him!" you say. Someday, just not as soon as he deserves.  

Sir Cavy of Guinea

The Hound.  One of the most powerful knights of the Seven Kingdoms.
Yet, few remember that he was defeated by another, even more powerful Knight:

The Guinea Pig.

Sir Cavy of Guinea, wealthiest of the Pig Islands, lends his sword to the cause of those he deems most worthy.  Unfortunately anyone who is half worthy in the Seven Kingdoms tends to suffer from terminal idiocy and races toward death faster than he can help prevent it, so Sir Cavy waits and watches.

A friend alerted me to an Ebay auction for this set of Guinea Pig armor.
Both awesome and hilarious.

If I still had a Guinea Pig, and had recently won a sizable lottery, I'd probably buy it.

If you have a Guinea Pig, who might have an ongoing border war with the neighbor's dog, you might consider getting it yourself.  Can find the auction here. Proceeds even go to charity. Pretty Cool. 

The Rat Pack: Blood Bowl's Smoothest & Most Stylish Rats

One of the perks for going to the NATC in Las Vegas was a free team.
That's right.  A Free Team.

It's pretty nice when a tournament produces and gives a free miniature, but this one really went in big with a whole team of Skaven.  You could even add a mess of goblins, in the same style, for $20 to have the option of running them as Underworld.

In keeping with the Las Vegas theme, the team is 'The Rat Pack' with all the Skaven hitting the field in their performance tuxes.

As Joey 'The Lips' Fagan explained when asked in "The Commitments" why they had to perform in suits he said 'because my boy, you always play better when you're in your suit".

I was commissioned to paint someone's team from the event, so I still have my team left to be done.
This one was requested to be in the colors of Arizona State University, so they have Blue suits, White shirts and Red ties.

So Sharp.

Let's check out the rats!

Probably my favorite, the Blitzers, in their fedoras just look so cool. 

But everyone knows it's the Throwers that get the girls. 

Not that the Runners don't draw their share of the spotlight.

Linemen: unsung heroes in most teams, in the Rat Pack they too have star power, needing shades to protect their eyes from the flashes of fans' cameras. 

But don't mess with them, they have muscle backing them up.

The team all together,now joining the ranks in the 'Hall of Fame' page (tab at the top)

Click to enlarge.

I suppose the obvious music to accompany would be Sinatra, maybe Dean Martin, but for me, my musical taste and musical history this is what I had in my head...

Enjoy!

Four & Score & More? Coming to Grips with Obsession: Plight of a Blood Bowl Fanatic

No surprise I'm sure if you've visited this blog before: I like Blood Bowl.
Love it in fact.  May be odd since I have an aversion to real Football. But the idea of Orcs, Dwarves, Ratmen & more playing a violent sport appeals to me to no end.  And it seems that isn't just an expression.

You've probably seen the 'Hall of Fame' page on the blog (tab at the top) with all the Blood Bowl teams I've made in recent years. Most were for clients, but some are my own.

Last year I decided I wanted to have one of every team in the book, including the 3 supplemental teams.

That would mean 24 teams. (at minimum).

I don't get to play that often really- the local league never started up again last fall, and haven't heard any stirrings. So why the hell do I need 24 different teams?

I don't.

This isn't about Need.

This is about Greed. Pure unadulterated Want.

Lately, probably because I'm sinking low again, I've been planning projects.
The stereotype is a woman goes shopping for shoes; I plan new teams & armies and plot world domination.

In fact, some races I like so much I just might end up with more than one for it.
Why?  Because of theme. Throw a new theme, different company sculpt or in fact a different 'skin' over the team concept and it can feel really different!

Like my Ape team.

I play these under a Human roster, but since I'm pushing apes around the pitch it *feels* like a team of Apes and I play it that way, so it feels different than a 'human' team.

So here's my checklist for each Blood Bowl race, if I already have a painted team, if I have a team in progress, if I have the minis but haven't started, or if I just have the idea by itself.

It'll give you (and me) an idea about what you might be seeing in the near (?) future.

AMAZONS: 
(1) I have a team in progress: a couple minis painted, most primered only, of the Impact Valkyries.
This is a 'combo-team' with extra minis so I can run it as a Norse team too.
(2) I also have minis but haven't started for another amazon team. The theme is classified. Stay tuned.

CHAOS
(1) I have the beautifully sculpted new chaos team from Willy. Haven't started it. I bought extra beastmen so I can also run it as 'only hoof & horns': no chaos warriors.Because I like substandard stuff like that ;)

CHAOS DWARF
(1) My Norse Dwarf team I have plans for to give it another combo-option: 4 extra minis to run it as Chaos dwarf.
(2) I have some Rackham minis for a 'clearly evil' theme Chaos Dwarf team. Still in blisters & boxes.

DARK ELF
(1) Another purely planned team. My 'Dark Elf' team won't be elves at all. Another 'new skinned' team who's theme is classified.  Stay Tuned

DWARF
(1) My most recent team I finished for myself. The Norse Dwarf team is finished and combos as Norse and soon to be Chaos Dwarf as well.
(2) Almost forgot.. I have the Dwarf Gladiators from the Kickstarter coming too. Fun theme.

ELF
(1) One of my '2nd ed.' teams. Still in it's giant plastic blister: all 2nd ed. GW elves.

GOBLIN
(1) After the last goblin team I feel the need for my own. I have started to collect some minis for it. I was going to do a different 'skin' but changed my mind back to goblins just because goblins are so cool I must have real goblins.

HALFLING
(1) Just a plan. I want the not-yet-released Ramos 'pro-team' halflings. They just look so fun to paint!

HIGH ELF

(1) I have a team I converted from plastic GW High Elves over a year ago. I started a bit of paint, but have changed my mind, and will start over with a different paint scheme.  Really looking forward to them. 

HUMAN

(1) I have my finished Ape team. I love apes, so this will likely stay my 'human' team representative. 

(2) I won the newest GW minis team, and have an idea for a theme with them. I'll do them someday, but will I keep them or sell them?  I haven't yet decided. The Apes are so fun, not sure I will feel I must keep the actual humans.

KHEMRI

(1) Late last year I converted a team from various sources. It really 'speaks' to me. It is 'classic Ancient Egyptian Undead' so I'm looking forward to starting their paint.. someday.

LIZARDMEN

(1) One of my favorite teams I have ever painted, my 'Credence Crudwater Revilers'.  I won a Best Painted award with these and just love them. Definitely among my top 'won't sell these' teams. 

(2) I started converting a team of 'Stunty Skinks' from GW plastics, for more dynamic poses.  But I may end up adding some Saurus to them too, since I also like their Saurus.  I like lizardmen enough that yes, I do want to own 2 Lizardmen teams. 

(3) Really? Yep. I have plans for another team using lizards as a 're-skin' but they'll function fine as a Lizardmen team too, so yeah.. i'll have 3 Lizardmen teams.  Somebody help me. 

NECROMANTIC

(1)  I've made a few of these for other people, and started a team for myself. A classic monster team. 

NORSE

(1) My Norse Dwarf team is done and finished.

(2) I have the Valkyrie team in progress.

NURGLE

(1) Similar to the Khemri team, I started this about the same time. But unlike the Khemri, it isn't a classic theme- it's a different theme.  Classified... Stay tuned. 

OGRE

(1) I have some minis for an Ogre team I got a few years ago. I shared the idea with a client and will be making a team for him, with the same theme, but different miniatures (ones he selected that appeal most to him, as it should be). So that theme will be revealed in about a month. 

(2) Call me crazy. I came up with another theme idea today that I am crazy about.  Well, I'm in need of pursuing my creative impulses and desires for 'new shiny' for my own emotional health, so what the hell.

But no peaking!  Classified until further notice. Do I need two teams of such a hard to play frustrating team? Yes. 

ORC

(1) Another of my '2nd edition' teams.  My Bronze Boars are complete and I love them.  Probably my favorite 2nd edition minis. 

SKAVEN

(1) I have a big blister of more 2nd ed. rats than I need.  But I haven't started the team.  I haven't decided on the color scheme yet. I'm thinking all white rats with either blue or purple uniforms. hmm. 

(2) I found some other Ratmen minis that will go well with the Impact Ratmen I like so much.  There are a few on the Impact team that are just amazingly fun.  There are not a lot of sculpts, so I thought they'd become a 'Blood Bowl 7's' team, but with the addition of these others, they'll be a full team. 

Two Skaven teams? Yes. I love Rats, and the 2 teams will have a very different look to them. 

UNDEAD

(1) I ordered some minis for this team this week. It's one of the best teams, but it never really called to me. But then I stumbled across some minis that said 'Hey! I could be a Blood Bowl team!' and I replied back 'Holy Hell you're right!'  This is going to be fun, and a team that for the theme I will be eager to play.

yeah yeah... Classified.  Stay Tuned. 

VAMPIRE

(0) Uhh... hell. I need one for the 24, but I haven't thought of anything yet.  Guess I'll wait for inspiration to strike.

WOOD ELF

(1) The other 'best team' in Blood Bowl. I have a team that is a 'different skin' but pretty obviously 'wood elf'. They're even 2/3 finished.  Just need the time and motivation to finish them. 

CHAOS PACT

(1) Very happy and content with my 'Narnia' theme team.  Fun to play too. 

SLANN

(1) I have the happy kermit Greebo frogs finished. Love them. But I need to make some more for a full extended team. They're playable, but would be nice to have the extras. 

UNDERWORLD

(1) I have my converted from GW plastics team. I used it in a league but it's still less than half painted. 

(2) Geez.. I need a 2nd of these? When I find a good second theme I do!  I had, just sitting around, all the minis I needed except for one for a gator-themed Underworld team. Just buy 1 mini for a team?  Sold. 

So, completed compared to incomplete, I have a lot of project time ahead of me.

And this is just for *1* game I am into. 

Rotten Tomatoes: Miniatures Review of Squig-like Things

Been awhile since I reviewed some miniatures, so here we go!

Recently I stumbled across some 'not-squigs' on Ebay when I was looking for some Squigs for a project.

These were called 'Demonic Tomatoes' which is hard to resist right there.

This is a set of 7 alien beasties, much like GW squigs: same scale and size.

Priced at $25.50 with $5.50 shipping,which seemed reasonable shipping since they were coming from Russia.

Each one is unique (no duplicate sculpts).  No bases are supplied, but that isn't much of a problem for most gamers: we tend to have a lot of extra bases around.

The sculpting is good, and anatomically correct: they have both a mouth and the opposite opening... don't ask where ketchup comes from!

Casting is in resin and is smooth with only a few minor bubbles.

If you're in the market for more squigs and want variety, these should add to your collection nicely.

I found them on this Ebay store, though at the moment looks like there are none for sale there now- but there might be more in the future: http://stores.ebay.com/bdstd-miniature

Here they are:

The one in the bottom right is in 2 pieces, his mouth goes all the way around, so you can position the head in any way you like, he has 3 eyes in the front and one in the back.

another view:

Fast Frankenpig: Converting a new Road Hog

Another conversion for Hordes, but this time for the Farrow, a species of sentient bipedal Boar-men.

I do tend to favor the 'animal' races more than humans. I guess I just like animals more than people.

And how can you resist an army of pigs? It's nearly as cool as an army of Apes!

So awhile back I started collecting Farrow, because, you know, I'm addicted to minis.

The Farrow are from the 'Minions' faction for Hordes: the least expansive faction, and to make matters more difficult, it is split between two separate, non-mixable sub-factions: pigs & alligators. Alligators.. another of my favorite animals to paint, so I don't suppose I'll be able to resist them for long either.

So, there aren't many options for minis to field, so when you don't like the look of one of the only two heavy warbeasts, and you don't want to repeat a lot, you have to get creative.

So, not liking the look of the 'Road Hog' I decided I'd have to set about making my own version of this Frankenpig:  Farrow Heavy Warbeasts are made from very large boar beasts and lots of metal & steam.

This is the results of the conversion. Not a lot of the original pig.

Hello Handsome.

I wanted something that felt like Movement. This is the 'Road Hog' after all. 

The road Hog is quite fast for a heavy beast, with options to punch it into overdrive.  

He's also armed up with a flame thrower, for added ability to 'reach out and touch someone'. 

But the original mini looked very static to me:

He's just standing there, feet planted, and while he's got those bouncy spring feet, they're so small and he's so top heavy I just don't think he looks fast. 

So I opted for using a Mariner warjack as the base, because it has some more substantial looking legs that look like they have some power in them, plus it's got a nice running pose. One claw arm swinging back, the original flame thrower swinging forward in a threatening manner, and head to one side all flows for running movement.  

Nice thing about Hordes is no worry for conversion & game restrictions about which arm holds which weapon, since only warjacks can have specific arms destroyed. 

I used the big exhaust from the Road Hog, but had to sculpt a neck and razorback mane. A lot of the muscle work i sculpted doesn't show or is hard to see, but I'm glad I did the effort anyway. 

Here's more angles:

I've gone from having a warbeast selection I didn't want because I didn't like the mini to one I'm looking forward to using! 

The local game store is going to have an escalation league like last year, so I'm tempted to find the time for it, and maybe bring Pigs this time. 

Swamp Goblins: Dirtiest of Players

Here is the rest of the Swamp Goblins.

Playing in the mud helps them level the playing field against larger, tougher opponents.

A full team with about anything a goblin coach could hope for: 13 goblins including pogostikka, loony, fanatic, and bomber. Star Troll, and Star Pogo, Chainsaw, Fanatic & Bomber. Plus coach and markers
Now they just need bribes!

Close Ups- saw the trolls yesterday, now here are

The Players

The Nasty Weapons.
Truly nasty.. one of the pogos is a severed horse head.  yuck.

A various collection from half a dozen minis manufacturers to make this team.

They now join the ranks with the other completed teams in the Hall of Fame: click on the page tab at the top to see more.

I now am itching to make a goblin team for myself!

Enjoy!


CCR - Born On The Bayou Woodstock 1969

Even a Troll Needs to Armor Up: Blood Bowl Conversions

Quick update.

For a recent client's team, a goblin team with all the trimmings: a dozen goblins, 8 goblins with pogo sticks or secret weapons and 3 trolls.  -I really have to make a full optioned goblin team for myself someday too.

The Trolls were one Blood Bowl troll and two fantasy army Trolls from Gamezone.
The Gamezone Trolls needed weapon snips, and after that, they looked pretty bare compared to the Star Player Troll. So rather than leave them like that, I decided I'd give them each a helmet, shoulder pad & knee pad in the style of the Star Player Troll.  Still leaves them less decked out than their Star cousin, but that would help denote how special he is, while still giving these other two Trolls a touch of 'Blood Bowl'.

The results:

So the troll at right & left have had their helmets, shoulder pads & knee pad sculpted by me, to blend in with the style of the middle troll.

Even Trolls sometimes are smart enough to realize they're better off with some armor.
It gets rough out there on the pitch!

They're for a 'swamp goblin' themed team-hence the wet mud bases- which I'll show more of soon.