Back at the painting table

Painting and American Football, an excellent combo.

Currently I mostly the painting aspects of the hobby as it goes well together with American Football on Sunday nights. Now that the season is over I may return to listening to podcasts again or Horus Heresy books on Audible.
Lately I have been listening to Dan Abnett's Legion where he is doing a great job at providing insight into the character of the Alpha Legion without revealing too much of the mystery that shrouds them.

On my painting table I finally took the dive and started to paint up Brother Tolmeron that my sister-in-law gave me fro Christmas:

First coat of Mephiston Red.

First wash with Dark Shade.

All base colors.

Base colors and a few details.

More details. Also quite happy with layering the red armor on this model.

Then a rather special moment for me obviously was the release of the Blood of Baal expansion and the new Mephiston model:

One of the most difficult infantry models I had to put together.

I took Mephiston as an occasion to try the new contrast paints as well and I am pleased with the results.

Last but not least I decided to add a capable Primaris retinue to my new Primaris HQ choices:

Hellblasters - the first time I primed miniatures in... beige?

I also got this bad boy.

I particularly liked on this one how the first black coat turned out to be really thin and smooth.

New Primaris Chaplain with base colors done.

This chaplain wanted a new home, too, and I were not a Blood Angels player if I said "No" to a new chaplain.

Brilliant moves until they are not so brilliant

The league's best painted minis in action. ;-)

"Good evening sports fans, this is Jim Johnson..."
"...and Bob Bifford saying hello for this evening's between the Lar Guardians and Bob's Greenskinz Boyz."
"The Lar Guardians are still decimated tonight as they still have to stomach the absence of Ulminiel, their star receiver, but also Kalidoniel, who played really well recently."
"That's right, Jim, so the big question is tonight if the Guardians' second rank is adequate enough to replace them in tonight's game."
"Well, Bob, so far in this season Bob's Greenskinz only achieved a tie, so this is not an impossible game for the Guardians."
"That's right, Jim, if the Guardians can keep deaths in their ranks minimal, this surely could be something."

"And there we have the kick-off and Garfindel with the reception!"
"Garfindel probably is going to be the pillar of stability tonight with his accurate passes."

"Sertaniel thanks him with the catch and already storms upfield! The Orks didn't see this coming, Bob!"

"But the Orks don't accept No! for an answer and strip Sertaniel off the ball!"

"That's right Bob, but what's this? Garfindel with the Blitz!"

"Wow, Jim, nobody shouldn't ever say again this guy is for throwing passes only!"

"The Orks push Garfindel out of bounds, Sertaniel gets the ball, just to see the ball stripped from him by the Orks again!"

"More Wood Elves moving up from the 50 yard line, Spumantiel with the Blitz, and Sertaniel at the ball again!"
"Sertaniel breaks free and scores! Touchdown!"

"And this is the end of the first half. Wow, Bob, that was a wild back and forth."
"Indeed, Jim, so this promises an interesting second half with both teams pretty much tied."
"Well, Bob, speaking for Bob's Greenskinz I need to point out the casualties already piling up in the Guardians' dugout while the Boyz suffered none so far."

"Still we have the kick-off for the second half and - oh man! - the Orks managed to kick the ball accurately to the 50 yard line!"
"Impressive indeed, Bob, impressive indeed."

"But will they be able to score?"
"Sertaniel! It's Sertaniel! The Orks fail to pick up the ball, but Sertaniel is faster!"

"But this time the Orks paid attention, Jim, and they knock him from here to kingdom come."

"Tarod Foretake with the pass to Ronatgul the Troll - brilliant catch!"
"Ronatgul is loose! He storms to the Guardians' end zone! He storms to the Guardians' end zone! He storms to the Guardians' end... and stumbles over his feet..."

"Seeing the opportunity, Zafiriel breaks free and moves way downfield for the pass."
"Garfindel noticed, leaps forward, but Shum Dragonfury holds him back in the last instant!"
"Oh my god, Bob, I am gonna have a heart attack. The ball is still loose in the Guardians backfield when this should have been a touchdown for them!"
"Ronatgul decides to take the matter - errr, the ball into his own hands again."

"Thaal Dreamrunner moving up to assist, Ronatgul with the handover, Dreamrunner runs and scores!"

"Oh my god, the stadium just explodes, Jim!"
"Indeed it is, Bob. We are moving up into the bottom of the second half and if the Orks continue at this pace, a second touchdown is in range!"
"Back for the kick-off. The Guardians find it increasingly hard to put layers onto the field."

"But what's that? Sertaniel receives the kick, bypasses Garfindel, and throws deep to Zafiriel!"
"Elegant catch by Zafiriel, Jim. Moving up to the end zone."

"But once again the Ork Zug rushes in. Zafiriel down - and this time it really hurt!"
"Indeed, Jim. Zafiriel unconscious and bleeding heavily from his head."

"Zafiriel reels back onto his feet, but there's no one to assist him."
"That's right Jim, Dreamrunner again in the possession of the ball."

"In the meantime, the Guardians' line of scrimmage all but gone!"

"Dreamrunner moving the ball up the field again. The referee checks his watch..."

"...but Spumantiel breaks free again! Spumantiel with the Blitz! Spumantiel dives for the ball...

"...and trips over his feet."
"The referee blows the whistle! It's a tie!"

"Well, Bob, what a ride."
"A ride it was indeed, Jim."
"It is evident how the Guardians lack stamina, but they can play brilliant moves even if they are completely down."
"True that, Jim, but they really need to find a way to solve this issue. Their brilliance gives them a decent conversion rate, but with more stamina they could be exceptional."
"Well, with that in mind we say good night for tonight. This is Bob Bifford..."
"...and Jim Johnson signing off for tonight. I hope you are with us again this Tuesday in the Plane of Plagues for a rotten good time at the Potzers. Good night!"

Sunday recap

Altdorf

"Good evening sports fans, this is Jim Johnson..."
"...and Bob Bifford saying hello for this Sunday evening's recap."
"I am not lying if I say the Lar Guardians played two respectable games to day, am I?"
"Indeed, Jim, the Lar Guardins won their 2nd and 3rd game this season back to back."
"Well, Bob, first it was the Lar Guardians up against the Barak Varr Black Dragons where they had to restore their reputation after the catastrophic pre-seasoner."
"That's right Jim and Ulminiel immediately went for the touchdown in his opening drive."

"But that's not enough, Bob: after Ulminiel's initial touchdown the Lar Guardians twice kicked the ball, took it back from the offense, and scored touchdown 2 and 3 instead."

"The 3rd touchdown seemed to have brought the Dwarfs back to their senses and they started doing what they do best - moving the ball in a blob to the enemy end zone for their first touchdown in this game."

"After that a thunderstorm turned this game completely insane: the defending Garfindel with the successful Blitz..."

"...failed to pick up the ball twice - which is close to impossible for a Wood Elf player. People are wondering if his chamomile tea got spiked during half time."

"But that's not enough, Bob, after that Thunderhorse picked up the ball and stumbled on his way into the end zone!"

"Luckily for him no Elf was standing anywhere close and he could score after he got up again."

"With 2-3 still in the lead, the Lar Guardians seemed to benefit from an unlucky Dragons' kick until the bad weather made Zafiriel's pass to Ulminiel fail."

"That's right, Jim, but Ulminiel proved why he deserved that MVP trophy by still picking up the ball and make it to the end zone for the 2-4 final result."
"That's not all that counts, Bob, the Wood Elves were also cheering the fact that they lost 'only' one player in this game - some unnamed Journeyman who was quickly replaced by a second just as anonymous face."

"Now for the second game against the Gribbly Dribblerz, what's new there, Jim?"
"Well, Bob, the story is quickly told: Ulminiel scored the only two touchdowns in this game."

"After that, he had to leave the game due to a serious leg injury. It looks like he won't be as light-footed anymore, Bob."
"Well, Jim, on the topic of injuries we have to note that the Goblins left quite a mark on the Wood Elves, although not score wise."
"That's right, Bob, you are speaking of Zaeqrex Grapplebuttons and his chainsaw 'Alice' who was responsible for six injured Wood Elves at half time alone."

"We will continue to see the Lar Guardians play with Journeymen in the foreseeable future just to be able to fill their roster. However, Bob, this strategy seems to pay off as after this game day, the Guardians were able to contract two journeymen as regular players. Number 7 Kerbalan and number 11 Novaniel will drive the ball forward for the Guardians in the future."
"So on this note Jim and I sign off and wish a nice rest of the evening. We hope you stay with us for the Altdorf Connection - you won't believe how quickly gold can change hands when no one's watching!"

Treeman added to the team

Latest addition to the team: a Treeman. Hummm.

As one can see in the two games previously covered, Wood Elves teams tend to get beaten up quite heavily. The way to do something about that is to either add Wardancers or a Treeman. The Treeman is really slow, but where you put him there he will remain - and any unlucky opposing model entangled with him. Reason enough to paint one up.

In 1997 I used the Warhammer Fantasy Durthu model for my Blood Bowl games as well. However, I was never really happy with it because Durthu Looks like he is about to smash something and while that may happen in Blood Bowl as well, he looks more like he is smashing a war machine or a barricade.

What I used to run in Blood Bowl in 1997 as well. (belloflostsoulds.net)

Either way, in 2008 I purchased a couple more treemen and as I was thinking this week about adding a treeman to my Blood Bowl team again, I remembered to have one in the basement that could fit the bill. This treeman was sold to me on ebay as a GW model, although I had never seen him in any GW catalog before and it seems like I am not the only one left with no clue as where he's from.

White primer. (yes, I prefer white over black)

First layer of fur brown. White obviously shining through.

First wash with Reikland Fleshshade.

One more layer of Fur Brown and Reikland Fleshshade. From this point I really got into a painting drive...

...and kept moving forward by adding the dark green first, then add the lighter greens that would turn eventually into white until I was done. Mushrooms got some Skeleton Bone to stand out further.

When I started to paint this treeman, I realized that I need to invert the way one normally paints a mini with the darker colors in the recesses and the brighter colors on top. In a tree, the young wood is at the inside whereas the old wood, which eventually forms the bark, is on the outside. Hence the lighter Fur Brown colors the deeper layers of wood whereas the outside got an initial layer of dark Oak Brown that I mixed Angel Green into in a second step. That way I got a live dark green bark that still looked "woody" and not like a meadow. From there I just added lighter greens for highlights until I eventually ended up doing the parasites by adding pure white into the current green mix.