Riff_Raff_Rascal

@Moogypies that gargant on stonehorn is rediculous. I love it. But you did it, hit just about every faction. I’m envious of the death players Especially because they could 3D print the most epic skeleton giant

So I’m committing to these big fellas for a new army and want this to be flavorful and thematic. I realized that for three years since starting this hobby, I’ve never had a cohesive paint scheme and much less a theme/narrative driven set of models. Any wisdom out there from experience when you went for a scheme? Perhaps you started one way and ended in another? Maybe you started too early and the rules just didnt quite match what you were going for? Not saying the rules were “bad”, but how did you adapt to completing the list/army? at the end of the day, I really want to go for an elemental driven giant army. Perhaps green giants for a sylvaneth look or lightning Thunderscorn appeal

So has anyone tried a rat-ssassion verminous list? Before they got rid of the SOJ, it was fun to surprise big beefy heroes but there’s Still so much fun to be had. I’m still a huge fan of the cube of mists artifact to keep my opponent honest about busting through soft hordes of rats. Also the Eshin battalion, while the ability is so situational, each unit has utility and gives us a much needed command point. Whatchya think?

Because Teclis just says no to our magic, they have to also have to shut down command abilities as a thing. Go figure.

Does anyone have good links for painting flesh on large models? I’m realizing my techniques might have to change on such huge tracks of land. That and tattoo freehand are gonna be a must to give some nice color breaks. I just don’t have much experience with either.

We do have some fun potential for that. If you happen to be playing multiplayer I always recommend Cunning as a Masterclan command trait for the potential to steal command points. There's certainly other armies that generate command points better than us, so it can be used for those types of games. Not reliable, but fun. For shenanigans, Thanquol and Boneripper is required. His command ability allows for up to 3 generic command abilities to be used for the price of 1 command point and 3 other Masterclan heroes. Going with so much masterclan inevitably means it'll be a magic heavy list. I'd recommend a Screaming bell and 2 grey seers. Have your screaming bell be the general so you can give it the Supreme Manipulator command trait. Skavens allegience ability for master clan allows for a rebate for command points on a +5 roll. In effect, you have the potential for spending a single command point to gain 4 whole command points back! Pretty neat. Its a taxing strategy for your list building with all the expensive heroes but you can still have fun with the magic. Also its too good to pass up a block of Skryre acolytes paired with Thanquol as you can use the Inspiring Presence, At-the-Double and Volley Fire command abilities nearly every turn on them. I should note of course +5 is not a likely roll to make but hey its somethin'.

I’m back folks! After a long hiatus of being lost in the gnawhole I was digging I will be providing more warp stone induced wisdom in the coming weeks! im happy to announce that I’ve done the impossible and painted everything. All skaven are based and ready for battle. Just have to figure out the gaming part. When the great horned one blessed us with a plague during the year of the rat, I didn’t consider how little gaming would result. Shame. Anywho expect some sweet picks of the army in the coming week. Good to see you all.

@JackStreicher Just wait for part 2. I'll be tackling that next

I don’t understand the perceived limitations on narrative play with forced command traits. A sub faction is supposed to be flavored in one particular way according to the designers taste. Mechanically, the argument that choice is lost, were you can’t have access to all command traits, is a red herring. There is very much a choice albeit a different kind, one involving the sacrifice in one aspect of the army for power elsewhere. I say it absolutely promotes diversity in list building.

@Cosmicsheep Engineering indeed. Its the only way I've used my degree thus far. The base was an experiment of sorts. The flames were made using Apoxie Sculpt and painstakingly rolling up little cones. The material is much harder than green stuff but doesn't take a whole lot of force to break small diameter bits off. In hindsight, the difference between looking like tendrils and flames comes down to alternating the length of the cones AND having multiple rows flush against each other. It was more work and I was too excited to finish the base. The rock he's standing on was my first use of cork in my hobby career. I cut a wine cork in two and shaved down the round sides until they could meet together to form a "pride rock" of sorts. The lava was a bit trickier. I hadn't used crackle paint at this point. I was going for a Terminator entrance effect which I thought looked like molten glass that cracks as soon as weight is put on it. Of course molten glass glows but isn't a solid yet and cooled glass cracks but doesn't glow. So I said ****** it, its fantasy, who cares. I placed down triangles of clam shell plastic from my recycling bin directly onto the base leaving little trenches. Once I finished sculpting the flames, primed it, then set to work on wet blending the glow effect. At the time I didn't have any yellow paint and I was impatient so I meticulously mixed paints and it was my first ever attempt at wet blending. At first I thought to paint the base and then put plastic over it to see through but grimy hands and the epoxy prevented that from provideing my "glass" effect. Instead I tried my hand at a clear resin pour, just a thin layer over the whole lava, and boom, reflective surface. @gronnelg That's the beauty of the clasps is that there's a magnet already built into it. Often you only need to clip off the loops on the outside that connects to other jewelry. I often leave them on because it grabs the green stuff/apoxy better when you let it harden. heres one, that's got the cylinder look to it. This one is for heavy duty stuff cause it also mechanically locks when you rotate it slightly. I will note that most jewelry clasps don't have male and female parts to connect and still rely on the magnets to do all the work. You definitely want ones with cylinders.

@Cosmicsheep I absolutely love your magnetizing job on that verminlord. I was a mad lad and I absolutely had to have all the options. With a combination of magnets and pinning parts I was able to do the impossible. No extra bits required. I wanted to show all of you folks two ambitious tools at your disposal for projects like this: magnet jewelry clasps and Blue Stuff putty. So you can see in the arm socket a cylinder which is the female part of one of the clasps. In the center is a magnet. The beauty of these clasps is two-fold: 1) unlike most magnet to magnet connections, torque at the joint due to weight of an arm or a weapon is opposed by the physical contact of the male and female cylinders that make up the clasp instead of the magnet. Magnets, you might notice, don't hold as well when an appendage of your model wants to "swing" downwards due to gravity. The magnets then take care of only the axial forces at the joint, in effect, make the magnetized part "snug" against the body. 2) It is so much easier to modify multiple parts that you wish to attach when the same male or female part can be attached to each one. You know it'll already fit into the corresponding part on the body. So a lot of you may wonder how on earth I changed the pose of the glaive on this guy. The answer is abusing green stuff and blue stuff from the same company (I think). Many of you familiar with the kit, know that doing multiple heads with the verminlord requires multiple of one "lynch-pin" piece that the kit only provides one of (because thats how GW rolls). Enter blue stuff. By heating it up, this thermoplastic material creates a mold around a part in seconds and I copied it a few more times using green stuff. In a similar fashion, I copied one end of the glaive (the full blade) and stuck the partial blade on the other end (the one halfway in the rock that I cut off) into the mold, right before I "stamped" a green stuff replica onto it. I did the very same thing with the hand that held the glaive up near the top and then stuck the middle portion of the weapon in the blue stuff right before I stamped a copy of the hand around it. Again this is all crazy nonsense and took an arch-warlocks penchant for experimentation to make happen but I was happy with the result. I will be adding something like this to my hobby blog soon if any of you are interested further. Also I can't stress enough how much easier it is to magnetize larger models with jewelry clasps. Most of you love strong as hell magnets to compensate, but check out the jewelry section of your local arts and crafts stores next time.

Hey folks, I really liked the spooky tree concept for a themed army and thought I should branch out for my second army. I've always been intrigued by the lore of most armies, especially those that find their way under water, like surprisingly the beastmen/fishmen and even death. And so, I've come up with the idea of a great deal of kit-bashing ideas and custom schemes for a coral reef themed Sylvaneth army. I'll be going for lots of sea-weed, bright pinks and yellows contrasting with the darker ocean floor color palette. The obvious road leads to looking at Idoneth kits for help, first and foremost an Alerielle riding a sea turtle. I turn to all of you fine folks for help with the mechanical side of things. I've been inspired by many mentions of ambush lists among your group and would best mesh with my theme. I could use some tips and tricks for the list below. Its accidental that its very similar to ones mentioned above but I'm most excited for what you think I should have as far as allies. I think if any Sylvaneth army has any fish allies, it would be this one. I love the shark models from idoneth and they finally dropped in points to where I'm a buyer, so that's my proposal. Allegiance: Sylvaneth - Glade: Dreadwood LEADERS Drycha Hamadreth (320) - Deepwood Spell : Treesong - Companions : Swarm of Squirmlings Arch-Revenant (100) - General - Command Trait : Paragon of Terror - Artefact : Jewel of Withering Branchwych (80) - Artefact : Acorn of the Ages - Deepwood Spell : Verdurous Harmony Branchwych (80) - Deepwood Spell : Regrowth UNITS 5 x Spite-Revenants (60) 5 x Spite-Revenants (60) 20 x Spite-Revenants (200) 20 x Spite-Revenants (200) 6 x Kurnoth Hunters (400) - Scythes 3 x Akhelian Allopexes (300) - Razorshell Harpoon - Allies BATTALIONS Outcasts (100) ENDLESS SPELLS / TERRAIN / COMMAND POINTS Extra Command Point (50) Spiteswarm Hive (50)

@Twh30I had a few ideas for you but once again @Skreech Verminking has stole my thunder with equally fun lists. Well played. However, they failed to mention you can run FOUR doomwheels in a list. That is optimum fun right there.

Grinderfist overcharge: take D3 immediately as they rush the drilling but instead of 9'' away, 2D6''. Boom. Done and Fun.

@Icefighter You've come to the right spot. Easy and fun is 4 blocks of clanrats and 2 clawlords. Its easiest to collect from ebay on the cheap(ish) but maybe a bit monotonous to paint. Then you can spice it up with weapon teams or a wizard by swapping out one unit. At a 1000 points clanrats really shine because of the disproportionate amount of models you can afford compared to your opponent. Whatever you come up with, it would be wise to practice using and abusing clanrats anyways in preparation for larger games to come. They will win you the game more often than not because of their objective grabbing potential. Otherwise the Skaven half of the Carrion Empire box is a great start. There's nothing more satisfying than shooting a laser cannon in such a small game.

Katakros, because he has the power of friendship. Did you not see how many peeps are in his entourage? Archaon has what, a three headed demon monstrosity?

You ran the whole unit roster. Very nice. I wasn't expecting a change to clanrats but certainly a welcome one. The battalions change is a must across the board. I can't remember the last time I had more than 1 artifact or beat an opponent in drops. I could see Fleshmeld Menagerie remaining higher because unlike the other's, its the most flexible list building potential. There's some taxes and a worthless ability but it gives you everything to start a Moulder army and could be a 1 drop if you wanted. I think its the 2nd best "designed" battalion we have after Congregation. I wasn't expecting a drop to the clawlord or deathmaster but I've come around to it. Its all upside down. The claword has a command ability buff that doesn't (effectivley) but their stock warscroll can do some work. The assassin doesn't buff anything and doesn't assassinate anything (with a SOJ artifact maybe, but then again we don't have spare artifacts do we). Drop them points. Also Plague Censor Bearers? Forgot those existed. I approve. My personal contribution is rolling back some increases we've had that were unnecessary. Roll points back by 20 for the Hellpit and Deceiver please and thank you. The two center-piece models for the lowliest clans don't need such hate. The remaining thoughts concern changes that could be made on the pitched profiles page in general: Make clanrats count as clan keyworded (i suppose thats warscroll territory but whatever, if fact, give stormvermin this too!) Change Doomflayers to units of 3 for min size for the same cost Doomwheels should not count as behemoth in skryre. I want to field more gosh darn it. If we drop the clawlord, might as well put Skritch's Swarm at 100. Go get em'. Lord Skreech, drop 'em to 280. He does a whole lot, a whole lot of nothing. Lord of skaven my butt. Everything else you said was pure liquid gold. Its so tempting to start talking about rules changes to justify points adjustments but that's not what the threads about. And lets be real, based on how long it took the plague monks scroll to change, might as well wait for another book.

Spread the word, or disease. Dealers choice.

In my multi-part series I would like to explore the myriad of ways we store miniatures. As a great many of you grow your collections and/or become more ambitious playing larger games, it is always wise to think ahead on how your gonna transport all your precious plastic. I would like to focus on the 1000 ft view of storing mini's to begin with, starting with the basics and the age old dilemma of magnetizing vs foam storage. Later I'll explore more advanced or practical storage with respect to how we play miniature games. In every case, I want to provide the best blueprint for all of you fine folks to make the best decision for yourselves. I certainly have my preferences but my focus will be providing the best pros and cons of every idea I present. In addition, I'll do my best to provide direct links to hobby supplies and pretty pictures to see what all of this fuss is about. Lets get started. Foam Storage Most people entering the hobby will likely be first exposed to using foam for their miniatures. The reasons for this is two-fold: 1) Hobby stores and gaming companies already have a strong commercial presence for foam and could be seen as the industry standard on how to store their other products and 2) players can be intimidated by the thought of spending anymore time or effort on modifying the miniatures themselves to store them, i.e. magnetizing them, and thus, a community of newer players might find this as a way to avoid another layer of "hobbying". More gaming, less fiddling with paint and plastic I say. Since this is the case, I thought this would be a good place as any to start. Lets take a look at whats out there. Miniatures Storage This is a good breakdown of all of the companies out there and what they provide. They go through their own pros and cons of each product. A lot of them include cases that match the foam Pretty straight forward. There's a great many product out there from all sorts of companies. Here's a few retail options out there to get you started. Battle Foam Miniature Market SpikeyBits Storage Hacks These folks are a great resource on their own but they break down some great tips for foam storage here. There are plenty of ways to use foam but often it is determined by the size of the models, how heavy they are, what orientation you want to store them and most importantly, the dimensions of your container. The beautiful thing about foam is that's its easy to handle, shape and can be used for all sorts of things around the house. I wanted to open with the commercial side of things above so that we can move onto the more exciting topic: finding foam in the unlikeliest places. If you're like me, I spent all my budget on plastic and don't need gold trim foam. For that reason , here's a few suggestions for finding alternative foam and how to manipulate it. "So anyway I started blasting" Gun cases are a surprisingly decent source for what is known as "pluck" foam. This type is a pre-cut array of rectangular rods that are all attached lightly to each other so that you can "pluck" parts out of the whole. You can then form pockets of space that conform to the shape and size anything you want to protect. If there is a hunting and fishing supply store or, for us Americans, a gun store just down the block, you're likely to find a kit that has some. This can also be sold by its lonesome at a great many online stores. I will note, gun cases themselves can be the opposite of cheap and the foam as well due to the added production costs but with some searching you might find folks with extra or some cheap equivalents from online stores. As an added bonus, you might end up with a weatherproof gun case to protect your expensive toys. The miniatures, I mean. Guns sold separately (or is it?) "The princess and the plastic" Foam bedding, or high-density foam, is another wonderful product that a great many large retail stores carry. Generally buying one mat of it will keep you fully supplied for a while. The sheer volume for their price point is often a miracle unto itself. I like this option for those who are more hobby oriented because you can replicate the look of gaming foam that game store carry with some careful manipulation. To keep it real simple you can create simple blocks of foam to separate miniatures or line your containers. Thick enough blocks can serve as supports in your containers so that you can place horizontal shelves of foam on top for doubling your storage. It is often made of a coarser material and can be a bit harder to manipulate because of this. Often its used in upholstery and can stand-up to you sitting-down on it. Here's a few tools tips for handling: 1) Hot wire cutter: More often used with styrofoam, its still possible to slowly cut foam of this grade. I do recommend to take your time using this tool to manipulate your block of foam. Just consider how soft or porous the foam you are cutting so that you don't worry about snapping the wire. Word of caution: you do want to be in a well ventilated area as the plastic nature of different foams reacts to the hot wire. Best case scenario it smells bad. 2) Electric Turkey carver: I was not expecting how common this is in my hobby research but it is a very popular tool in the upholstery business. Do use caution when holding the foam as its shape is distorted while holding it, I don't want anyone to hurt their hands. Frankly this remains the most efficient option especially for tougher foam. It provides clean cuts for making smaller blocks for you to use. 3) Kitchen knives: Don't. Just don't. I won't confirm or deny there's a story there but I'll just say I didn't have an electric turkey carver. If you end up cutting up pieces and what to assemble them, just using some simple hot glue will do the trick. "Just peachy" Peach boxes. If its ever stone fruit season, head to your local grocer. Most stone fruit such as apricots, peaches, plums and nectarines are shipped and stored in flat boxes when coming from distributors. At the bottom of the box is a thin layer of tough foam that's just thin enough to easily manipulate with a pair of scissors. This option is so ridiculous I love it. This is a personal favorite of mine since I discovered it in my time working produce for two years and haven't looked back. Here's what some boxes your local grocer might receive that likely has some foam about 1/2 inch thick to use for lining your containers. Beneath the crinkly plastic that holds the fruit is where the foam is. If you already work in produce, you're my hero. You know what I'm talkin' about. Just ask someone working produce at your local store during stone fruit season if they have any saved in the back. Some stores will re-utilize this foam for display purposes on the retail floor and might be willing to give you some. Its worth a shot. Here's an example of what I've used it for for my own purposes, using it to line my hardware case to store my magnetized parts. Bonus tip: DON'T use styrofoam. Static is your enemy and you'll never get little bits of the stuff off of your miniatures. Sigmar save you if you have already done this. So why use foam to store stuff? Instead of listing all of the reasons, i'll approach this as when to use it as opposed to why. Lets say you've got a lot of vertical models, lets say banner-men, cavalry and lots of 'em. If you found a way to stack them vertically they are actually going to use up more space because each layer in your bag or container has to be as high as the tallest model. When laid flat, you can take advantage of the relatively 2D shape of the model and so each layer can be relatively small. Easy enough. Even for large models like Imperial knights, if you've magnetized the model to be deconstructed, you might find that each piece can have the same height in one dimension. You can make efficient use of vertical space this way. Another time to use it is if you've got chunky boys. Models made of pewter or ones with square base models are prime candidates. Often these models will more naturally fit in the rectangular cut spaces of most pre-cut storage foam. These same models are also able to sustain more aggressive handling, shoving them into foam pockets and the like. This is handy for most casual gamers who are lucky to have a faction or themed collection that have minimal spikey bits (sorry chaos players). When NOT to use foam is a matter of opinion and this can be a contentious topic. I would argue that if you have the after mentioned spikey/spindly model range, you'll find yourself constantly watching your models snag on the foam if you haven't compensated with some wiggle room. In this case, you could consider just an open layer of padding on the bottom of your container but the matter of entangled miniatures becomes a problem. My biggest criticism of foam storage, particularly with newer GW models, is that with better looking models comes more spindly bits, and more spindly bits invites wear and tear. If you are the fortunate gamer to have many game nights whether it be DnD, Warhammer, X-Wing and the like, you have to consider how many times you have to pull them out of the foam and risk them snagging. In addition, foam may be soft but it can also be abrasive. If anyone uses the alternative foams I mentioned above, this will be particularly true. Without proper seals on your miniatures, you may find wear and tear much sooner than later. Other recommendations would be to weigh the practicality of taking out hordes of miniatures for your game. You should consider the type of game you'll be playing most with a set of miniatures and at what scale. If you need to deploy 200 plus models every game (which is certainly my case), you may find yourself spreading out your layers upon layers of foam sheets across a table at a hobby store taking up space as you 1 by 1 handle each model onto the table. All the while making sure you don't snag them on foam. Yikes. On the flipside, if you play a game such as Warcry or X-wing with an incredibly low model count, not only is that not a problem, but you can easily organize your miniatures by game at your home. All you have to do is grab the one layer of foam with all the miniatures you need. This particular topic is precious to me because I feel self-conscience about deployment phases of most games where I bring so many models. Conclusion A great many experienced hobbyists will have found their own use of storage foam in their gaming career and perhaps the concerns of cost or utility of this storage method is negated by players' textbook care of their miniatures. This is true. But alas, I hope this entry serves as a modest but helpful bit of guidance. Most of you have already found storage solutions but I want any players out there feeling overwhelmed with their collection to feel at ease. Next on the docket I'll be tackling magnetizing the bases of miniatures, the what, the how and when to use this technique. As I end each segment for this series I shall leave you with the storage equivalent of a potato. Enjoy. Sorry Trev, I had to.

Can confirm, super fun. I'll whip out my double Whylrblade Threshnik enginecoven for 4 doomwheels! As for Leeroy strategies in general, this one always puts a smile on my opponents face instead of a a feels bad.

Rethinking the project. Currently thinking I need a giant skull. Maybe even a real rodent skull (my friend would appreciate). The scene should be in the chaos realm. they don't need buildings. but still lots of skulls.

@Dead Scribe If you mean the house rule is both players have different rules, then yes, house rules would be bad. My argument was that we are supposed to have the same rules and its the interpretation of those rules that are way off.

After many hours of setting up games, handling so many models and conducting deployment shenanigans I have finally cracked the code on doing these things the easy way. We have a "Tape measure companies hate him, find out why" situation here. The solution: 9'' chopsticks bought in bulk. As many of you have discovered GW has settled on rules' that generally rely on distances/ranges that have some multiple of 9, mostly concerning the core book, realm and scenario rules. I wish to show how and why chopsticks can be a reliable and effective gaming tool at multiple stages of your AOS game. The first thing a game needs is a scenario and a corresponding deployment area for each player. Some people line up dice along the boundaries, others stretch their tape measure across the table as the boundary line but chopsticsks can serve as a flexible tool to draw out those jagged deployment zones. In the following example, we are playing the "Relocation Orb" scenario and only had to measure one distance on a board edge to quickly determine where I could deploy. In this example, deployment area and player territory are one in the same. You'll also notice, that my opponent now doesn't have his measuring tape available to check threat ranges of my units or his own. A small inconvenience but sometimes annoying if say, I forget my measuring tape as well and we have to share. Also my opponents territory boundary is very precariously placed; it stresses me out. I'll survive. Personally I like to place my armies in the center of the board before we start where we can't deploy anyways. Knowing the deployment boundary ahead of time makes this possible. Maybe I'm showing off cool models or just being practical, I'll never know. Below is being fully deployed using our territory lines. But what if territories divide the table exactly 50-50? As an added bonus, these chopsticks can be used to setup your units more than 9'' away from enemy territory with a few exceptions on that distance of course. My favorite example is this tool's effectiveness for the "Knife to the Heart" scenario. Not only is it in a zig-zag pattern for player territory but also demands a 9'' distance from the center line. Effectively, you end up with corners AND a curved corner to deploy around sketched out below. Instead of making small adjustments with measuring in multiple directions, or even making a second deployment line altogether, I just put multiple sticks down to my model. I tried to crudely sketch those above in Player A's territory as an example. Moving to the gameplay itself, the most immediate use of chopsticks comes from special deployments mid-game or movement shenanigans in general. Units pop up in weird places, often stretched out a bit to maximize charge potential if you get that sweet sweet 9 on dice. Often, you find yourself between multiple enemy models and having to constantly adjust every single one of yours so they are outside of 9''. Or worse you realize too late that not all of them can be set up. Sad. Never fear! For the chopsticks are here! In the above example, my stormfiends are pulling a sneaky one on the unsuspecting bestigor by tunneling up to protect my gun-line. I was backed up against a corner but it worked out in the end. Before placing a single model down or even committing to a particular area to deploy, the sticks hit the table to "sketch" where and how I could deploy. Before looking at this area of the table, I even put a few sticks down elsewhere to see if I could be more aggressive. With having so many of this tool, I could just leave it all over the table, and use all of that saved time measuring to instead think tactically and make the best move for myself. More time rolling dice, less measuring I say! The fun part using this sketching tool, is that you can use it proactively to protect yourself from your opponents shenanigans as well. Just leave a bunch these on your backline to be very transparent with opponents about what they could realistically deploy behind you. The final note about bringing this tool: sharing is caring; let your opponent use them too! Everything I described above can benefit your opponent's ease of play. If both of your are saving time and headache with fancy maneuvers there's more time having fun. I should say that for all of you experienced players, perhaps you are already a pro at all of these parts of the games and don't need to be adding more to your gaming tool kit. But I offer up all of these pointers as an option to have in your back pocket. Perhaps you don't have an army or allegiance rules that demand so many measurements but like I said before, your opponent might. Everything comes down to finding 9'' chopsticks or their equivalent just to be clear. Please measure them first silly. Bonus tip: Chopsticks serve as a great utensil I hear, especially for those mid-game snacks Yummy.