Ogres coming soon!

I'm really looking forward to September! New Ogre Kingdoms stuff!! Woo hoo! It's like a late birthday present for me. Been working hard on the next issue of the Bellower which I hope will be released next week - just waiting on a few last minute contributions to come together.

Not much going on in the modeling front although I did just get a bunch of Ramshackle minis in the mail this week - going to be using them as a Chaos Dwarf Blood Bowl team with the possibility of being a Goblin team as well. Hard to explain without pictures... so I will get some up soon! 

In the meantime... Ogres!!! What are you hoping to see out of the new book?

New Vampire Counts models and rules incoming - Updated with more pics!

Came across this news today while reading Mr Saturday's Mumblings - new Vampire Counts models and rules to be released soon!

A new Vampire Lord plastic kit that can be made into a Zombie Dragon or something called a "Terrorgheist". Also to be released are new plastic wraiths as well.

Also new rules in the August WD which change things up a bit for VC.

And this info was posted on Warseer by ihavetoomuchminis:

all these new rules are meant to be official rules.


The Ghoul king mount thing. It's worth some more points than a Varghulf. It can be included as a mount for a ghoul king (wich is any vampire lord with the ghoulkin vampiric power) or as a RARE UNIT.


It flies, causes terror, is large target, undead. I think it is WS3 or 5, not sure on that. S5, T6, W6, I3, A4, L??.


It has a shooting attack similar to the banshee. Roll 2d6 + number of wounds remaining of the monster - Leadership of the target unit = No armour saves allowed wounds. Not sure on the range. I think it was 18". Probably less.


Can be upgraded with poisoned attacks and/or a special rule that inflicts 3d6 S2 hits on any BtB unit when it dies.


The wraiths become a hero choice, and it seems they can join units. They are the same stats as in the VC book, and can make an special attack, replacing its normal attacks. This special attack auto-wounds and doesn't allow armour saves. The model is plastic and has 3 different heads. It's like levitating, with a cloak and a scythe.

The banshees become a hero choice (not sure if they can join units). Not new rules. The model is great. Also levitating.

It isn't specified if the wraiths rare unit of the VC book is still usable.

What i like: all, but the fact that they are giving us even less reasons to take anything but ghouls as basic units.

This stuff is getting me interested in my VC army again!! How about you?

UPDATE: Just came across a few more pictures on Warseer. Cool!

Ogre Kingdoms - New rumors abound!

New Ogre rumors are coming in fast and from what I have seen in the past I think this current round hold water. Time will tell...

From Zephyr on the Ogre Stronghold:

Phil Kelly is author.


Plastic kits:

• Rhinox Riders (on regular Rhinoxen) (box of 3)
• Scraplauncher/Skewer-slinger (Similar to Warp-cannon/plague-claw in design)
• Great Mammox with three ogre crew and plastic tyrant option (Same base as Arachnarock. Imagine a cross between a musk ox and a Mammoth)
• Yhetees (More gorilla-like, and and no more 80's hairstyle manes. Really dynamic for a plastic kit)

Finecast:

• Jahred The Red on Rhinox
• Golgfag Maneater
• Redone Goldtooth, Skrag, maneaters (box of 3, female, ninja and pirate discontinued), Tyrant/bruiser, gorger.

Rules:

• Bull Charge will work always, even though you're less than 3 ogres and charge less than 6".
• All ogres except butchers gain a basic 6+ save from their gut plates.
• Ogre Clubs negates parry save, and is a general rule for all weapons like Choppas in OnG.
• All army restrictions gone, but gnoblars do not count towards minimum core.
• Gnoblars T2, but Sharp stuff is March and Fire, Range 10".
• Weapon options for units cheaper, and minor point reductions across the board. Bulls will stay same base cost.
• Magic will be standardized. Most spells will stay similar (augments) but with greater range, and can be buffed to affect more units. May also be cast on Yhetees and Gorgers.
• Rhinox Riders are super-hard. They get regular stomp and D3+1 Bull Charge, and also has Devastating Charge. (Special Choice)
• Scraplauncher, same but moves to Rare.
• Rhinox and Mammox are mount options for Tyrant and Hunter.
• Mammox can thunderstomp everything, like the SoM Bonegrinder Giant. Insane stats, but expensive (like 290 points base.). Crew can have leadbelcher swivel guns.
• Hunter greatly improved. Move and fire with harpoon and monster-killing special rules.
• Yhetees as in SoM, but with options for 2HW or GW, and musician now. No standard-bearer.
• Leadbelchers auto-hit, and can fire every turn, but only S4, no AP. Don't come with Light Armour.

Magic Items:

• Big Names Gone.
• Half of items are Magic Weapons.
• Tenderizer and Siegebreaker will stay.
• Halfling Cookbook grants Loremaster.
• There's a banner granting the same frenzy Minotaurs have.

Plastics will be out in October. Finecast in November.

Things I like in this list of rumors (to be taken with plenty of salt):

• New plastic kits for a Rhinox, Mammox, Scraplauncher, and Yhetees.
  
• New models for Golgfag Maneater and Jhared the Red.
  
• New rules for the Ogre Club sound interesting and are quite fluffy I think.
  
• Gnoblars max caps are gone but they do not count towards Core requirements.
  
• Minor point reduction across the board with weapon options being cheaper.
  
• Hunter gets better with move and fire and monster killing abilities (heroic killing blow?).
  
• New special characters.

Things I don't like in this list of rumors (I really hope these aren't true):

• No point reduction for Bulls? That would make them the worst monstrous infantry unit in the game!
  
• Yhetees are not really improved. Same as in SoM but with different attacks.
  
• Scraplauncher moving to a Rare choice seems excessive. Must be a lot of whiners out there with big block armies.
  
• Taking away Big Names is like Dwarfs losing runes or Bretonnians losing virtues!
  
• Making Gut Magic more "standard" doesn't really appeal to me. Simplifying it does but I hope they don't ruin the flavor (pun intended).

So there you have it... my thoughts on these rumors. I'm sure you were dying to know what I thought!!

In the end I won't complain too much if the new book is of the same quality and caliber of the last two (O&G and Tomb Kings). I suspect the release of this new book will give me a reason to bust out the big boys on the table again... it's been almost a year since I played a game of WHFB!!

Progress Report 7/8/11 - Dodging my way back to you blog.

Life!!! It keeps happening without me!! I am slowly pulling myself up and out of Real Life(TM) and back into a world of tiny men (and women, and monsters, and... you get the idea) - I hope to have more meaningful content here soon. In the meantime...

Behold my Vampire Blood Bowl team! I will be playing them tomorrow (and Sunday) at the 7th annual Zlurpee Bowl! Since regular BB tournaments just aren't hard enough for me I have decided to play one of the teams listed in the rules pack - FTLOTG (For The Love Of The Game) Vampiire. That's right... two Vampires and ten Thralls will go head to head with all comers in a blood filled (probably the Thrall's) weekend of BB matches. We'll see how much love I have for the game after this one is over...

I assembled and painted this team in just under 5 days. I started with a unit of 10 Vampire Counts Ghouls I had sitting around collecting dust and thought... could I make a Vampire team out of these guys? After looking at the GW Vampire models and coming back across the Strigoi models it all came together. Beastial vampire blood sucking dudes with smaller crazy blood crazy dudes all on the pitch to drink a bowl full of bloody balls!

I only needed two vampires for this team so that's all I managed to get done! The look suitably feral and gruesome I think. The skin came out exactly like I wanted so I am pretty happy with that. 

Next up was the Ghoul crew playing the part of Thralls. Low armor average BB players with a penchant for violence... sounds about right. 

I have their bases painted with the skill I have given them for my tournament roster. I discovered later that I would probably have changed a few skills but I didn't have time to go back and paint the bases and skill text again before leaving for the event. Oh well! 

So that's it! Now I am off to Indiana with some Blood Bowl cohorts for a weekend of boardgames, beer, and blood (on the pitch only please). Here's hoping I come back with some good tales and ideas for the next time around.

Progress Report 6/11/11 - I'm still alive!!

I'm still alive! Honest!! We finished the building, move, and set up of our new co-operative grocery store and opened the doors on May 31st. The past two weeks have been just as crazy as I had to figure out the logistics of how our new store operates and ensure we had plenty of product for our new customers to buy. All that is going well so I hope to get back to some hobby related items soon. 

Quick re-cap of what happened last month:

• Beat my first round playoff opponents in KUBBL IV with the Hooded Menace only to lose badly in my second game against an undefeated Dwarf team. Some horrible dice rolls combined with my team being heavily outmatched going in kept the Undead dudes down on the pitch for most of the game. Finished the season with a record of 6 wins, 3 ties, and 4 losses. Not as good as I had hoped but a nice comeback after some tough mid-season games that left my team rocked.
  


• Attended the first Kalamazoo Blood Bowl tournament the Special K Cup. Took the Nurgle team under the name "Nurgtritional Facts" with the player names all being gross nurgle themed cereal additives. No body seemed to notice or care about that. Tournament had a ton of Elf teams due to the special rules for the event. Managed something like 1 win, 1 tie, and 2 losses. Played all of the top ranking teams with the exception of the winner. All in all it was a pretty fun day out and I did manage to walk away with the "Cereal Killer" award for most casualties (16 by the end of 4 games).
  


• Started painting my Lizardmen Blood Bowl team and got most of the painting done on my Ogre cheerleader model for a painting competition at the Ogre Stronghold but didn't manage to finish it in time. This was due to the crazy work schedule and the burst of 100 degree weather we had earlier this week when I tried to get it done before the deadline. Here's two quick shots of where she's at right now:

 

I like the way she's turning out. Not bad for a model that was missing an arm when I got it!

We're in the middle of a bit of a KUBBL downtime for the summer, or possibly due to lack of interest, but I have to get a team together for ZlurpeeBowl next month and that may involve some additional painting. Or maybe I will just take my Ogres and lose all weekend.. who knows?!

Progress Report 5/8/11 - Getting ready for Special K.

Only 24 days until I open a new store... the co-operative grocery where I work is expanding to a larger building. It's all very crazy, and busy, which is still keeping me away from my painting and modeling time. I have managed to get a few tabletop games of Blood Bowl in for KUBBL. Our 4th season is wrapping up and the playoffs start next week. The Hooded Menace is going in as a #3 seed. My season overall has been a lot of ups and downs. We'll see how I can deal with the heavy hitters of the playoffs...

This weekend's small bit of hobby time was devoted to two things related to our first league run Blood Bowl tournament - the Special K Cup. That meant I needed to make up a roster, and also find time to finish off the trophies for first and last place - a nice shiny bowl for first, and a wooden bowl for last.

I painted the wooden bowl in a more shoddy manner as to reflect it's nature as the last place award. The first place award was all done freehand but the paint I am using is really ghastly. I did an "okay" job. It looks nice from a distance of up to 2-3 feet but up close you can see it's a bit rough around the edges. I may still add a thin layer of varnish to seal it and smooth out some of the rough bits. 

For the tournament I am bringing my Nurgle back out. The rules allow for so much roster I was able to fit in a start player on top of my full complement of Warriors, Beast, and Pestigors. Thus, a hastily built Max Spleenripper was born!

 

He's supposed to be a Chaos Warrior with a chainsaw. I wanted him to look a bit dessicated and crazy to fit right into my Nurgle team. There will be plenty of gore on the chainsaw, along with the sliced off human head laying at his feet. I skipped the "pointy hat" and gave him a crazy beard instead. I'm pretty happy with the results as I slapped this together with some bits and a little greenstuff (mostly on the chainsaw) in just under 15 minutes. I also built some turn/reroll markers for the Nurgle folks.

And that's it for now! Look for some painted pics later this week. Be sure and call your mum today!!

The Bellower - Issue #5 out now!

Hey! This is done...

You can download it or view it by visiting the Stronghold here. This issue was quite an ordeal to make but somehow we got it done. Not feeling 100% about the content but overall I think it is pretty solid. The Feeding Grounds article is probably the most interesting thing...

What do you think?