Chris Tomlin

Event Title: BLACKOUT - Firestorm Games - 4&5th August - Pack released Event Author: Chris Tomlin Calendar: Events UK Event Date: 08/04/2018 12:00 AM to 08/05/2018 12:00 AM Good afternoon boys and girls, Please to announce that BLACKOUT will be returning this year. Once again it will be held at the wonderful Firestorm Games in Cardiff, over the weekend of 4-5th August. The pack is now available - YOU WILL NEED TO READ IT IN FULL THIS YEAR!! http://traffic.libsyn.com/theblacksun/BLACKOUT_2018.pdf Tickets are SOLD OUT - as the event is held in Firestorm you will be fed lunch both days (they have a kitchen with Chef!). Breakfast is available for additional cost direct to Firestorm (pay on the day). Payment is to be made via PayPal as friends & family to lunatic_pandora@btinternet.com Please note that the final date for refunds on tickets is 03/07/18. There is plenty of space (up to 100 tickets) and I would advise looking at accommodation ASAP if interested as Cardiff can get pricey. I look forward to seeing you all! Chris BLACKOUT - Firestorm Games - 4&5th August - Pack released

Go back one page mate and I have photos of the 4 Rock Lobbers I converted/painted . I do prefer the idea of fielding all 4 tbh, but the Fungoid is a very nice choice (especially with SCGT playing MP battleplans).

Your stuff looks really cool mate. I'm super fond of all those Dark Elf models, having painting them all in my favourite 7th/8th ed army. So this morning I am able to share my second Frostheart Phoenix with you. I guess this came together in a short amount of time, in terms of actual days, however the man hours put into this have been pretty crazy - Don't feel like I've done much else over the 4 day Bank Holiday weekend! Anyway, I have to say I am really happy with him and think he came out better than the first one. Pretty much satisfied with all aspects; the conversion, the overall paintjob including the rider and the base. Technically speaking, this is not near my best work but I would have to say this is one of the coolest looking models I've done for sure. It went a fair bit smoother than the first Phoenix, as I'd written down the stages. That said I did have a few trials and tribulations along the way; Had to brush some Biostrip onto one of the riders leg scalemail mid paint job. This is not something I'd ever advise and it's a miracle it didn't ruin everything!! I had to fit the rider to the Phoenix mid paint job due to the way the saddle would have to join (and be permanently fixed). This made everything a bit trickier and trying to greenstuff the joints were a nightmare. In the end I decided to cut out some plasticard (getting the right size was a pain) and stick these down as new "throne" sides. Conversion supremo @Rob Ellis recommended slicing off some gems from somewhere and attaching them to the saddle, which was a fantastic shout and really helped this look like part of the model. The snowflakes....oh how I hate these things and wish the model didn't have them. They are by far and a way the worst part of the first Phoenix (as due to trial and error I painted them about 3 times). Once I'd finished this model, they were still the worst bit here and didn't look quite right so I had to glaze them down and rehighlight them all individually again. Such a pain. The most depressing thing is that they are still the worst bit haha! It wasn't all doom and gloom at all though. I'd picked up some new make-up brushes ahead of this paintjob, so the drybrushing under the edge highlights is much smoother (for the most part), but it really does all come down to the patience of sitting there for hours and hours to line highlight all those feathers to really make the bird pop. That said, it is easy to purely focus on the plumage as it's the largest and most stand out area. I'm also particularly pleased with the bird's head and feet as well as the rider himself (face came out nicely I think) and also the base (managed to squeeze in a couple of icicles), though its worth noting the snow is still wet in these photos. Anyway, you don't care about all that, you just want to see the pics right? Here is a whole bunch, including a bonus 5 that didn't appear on Twitter last night. Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think! Cheers for looking, Chris

Morning all, Hope you had a good Bank Holiday weekend and got in some hobby. I pretty much spent the entire time painting a Phoenix, but did manage a few games including one with the Ironjawz vs a Stormcast Aetherstrike Force. I used the list I mentioned at the end of the above post and really enjoyed it. I'll put up a brief report either today or tomorrow. I also have another game lined up Thursday vs Brayherd. Nice to have some regular games again! Chris

Thanks man! Yeh indeed, the main challenge is to vary up the posing on the Phoenixes, which are actually pretty plain models. Will start the paint on this one tonight now the conversion is fully finished. Will have photos up this time next week! Would love to see pics of your converted models.

Morning all, Hope you had a nice weekend. Here's a quick overview of last Thursday game; Game 119 vs Tom Oughton (Stormcast Eternals) I played Tom in one of my last club games back in November and he smashed me up pretty badly with his Hammerstrike Force. Since then since he has painted up a Stardrake to add to his list, making it something roughly like this; Stardrake, Relictor, Heraldor, 2x Retributors, Prosecutors, 2x Liberators, Judicators, Palladors and the Hammerstrike Force battalion (might have missed something). Not the most competitive of lists, but I suspected would make for a nice, fairly well matched game vs my more defensive build. We rolled up Knife to the Heart, which doesn't have a good reputation in our group as being the most fun or engaging battleplan, but tbh I've still not played these GHB2017 battleplans all that much so was fine with giving it a go. Tom took the first turn and went on the offensive, I think straight away this was a good choice as it pretty much meant I was never going to be able to get a major. He Lightning Charioted the Stardrake and charge into my Brutes (a big big problem with this list is that I only have 10 Brutes and I kinda had to use them as a shield for my gunline, which I didn't like). He was also able to get both units of 5 Retributors into combat, about 7 of the models got to fight my Maw-krusha, whilst the rest were on some Gore-gruntas. The Stardrake gobbled up my Brute Boss and a Gore-choppa, which is horrible. Fortunately over the next two rounds the Celestant on top rolled 7 ones for his 8 attacks (Gets +D3 on the charge)...Tom is known for some pretty abysmal dice and actually, both our dice were awful; on two battlerounds we both rolled a 1 for priority and the reroll was won on a 2!! Skills. Anyway, the Maw-krusha took 8 wounds from the Retributors and was able to wipe out all 10 over the next couple of combat rounds. The Rock Lobbers were all camped out in Mystical terrain (literally the two bits my objective was between were Mystical), which tbh worked in my favour over the game. There were a couple of 1's rolled but the rerolls made up for this. Over the first two turns they inflicted 12 wounds on the Stardrake (including a single Rock Lobber doing 6 with an extra shot!) and the Maw-krusha was able to use its Destructive Bulk to finish off the Drake. Even with my clean up going pretty well, my Maw-krusha was still crippled (and was brought down by Judicators + Relictor MW) and my Brutes down to a single model. He'd also flooded the mid board with Liberators and the Palladors, so there was no way my Gore-gruntas would be able to sneak into the back and claim the game. As it was, we continued to fight in my side of the table and it ended up pretty close, with me edging it 1540 - 1360 in kill points. Result - Minor Win Sorry for the lack of detail there, just wanted to keep it brief and to the point. Was a really fun game actually, completely amplified by our terrible dice throughout. As predicted the two armies were nicely matched for a close game, but tbh had my Rock Lobbers not done so well, the Drake could've stuck around for another turn and really caused me some bother. I do get why people aren't big on the battleplan itself though, Tom going first and coming straight for me literally meant I would never be able to get to his objective for the minor win but also, it's still incredibly hard for him to score a major over me. As for my list, on paper I really liked it and probably considered it my favourite I'd written so far. On the table though I realised that in this kind of list, I'd actually probably be better off dropping the Brutes for Ardboys (If you lose Ironskull's Boyz you can get the 30). However, I'm not sure I want to be running a Brute free list. My next idea is as follows....and yeh, I'm considering it for SCGT haha!! Maw-krusha - Ironclad, Dabs Warchanter Warchanter Fungoid 10 Brutes 5 Brutes 5 Brutes 3 Gore-gruntas 3 Gore-gruntas Rock Lobber Rock Lobber Rock Lobber 2K dead on....and I think I really like this! Seems much more like a classic list with the 20 Brutes, with the newer twist of getting some powerful artillery in there. So yeh, I'm pretty pleased with this and will be trying it out on the 5th (playing Shadespire at club this week). I also got a lift to and from club with a new guy just getting into AoS from 40K. In a massive coincidence , proving how small the world is, he's actually been reading my posts about Ironjawz! After watching the game, he has gone ahead and purchased a whole army. I'm looking forward to having a game when it's all stuck together. Actually talking to a new player about Ironjawz was quite refreshing and help remind me why I love them after feeling a little disillusioned of late. Cheers, Chris

Morning all, So I did get to play at the club last night, which is great! Really hope I can get back into regular gaming now. I will do a bit of a report here as it was a really good game, however I'm leaving work early for a Hospital appointment today and am off on Monday (my Birthday! @Ben's as well!), so I won't get a chance to write it up until Tuesday. I did try out the list I posted on the last page with the triple Gruntas and quad Lobbers. Worked nicely and fits the style I play the Ironjawz. In order; - No, I cannot. I just have always done it and is it comes out nicely I see no reason to stop haha! - Yes. - As above, let it completely dry. - THICC ftw!! And yeh, Lahmian works a treat. Like the PVA I've never had any issues when doing it this way so see no reason for change. I have never had mine even look like it's going to flake. However I've seen plenty of over people who just thinly paint Agrellan over their bases with bits flaked off, so I don't know if my weird convoluted process actually helps? Cheers guys, have a good weekend and hope you get some gaming in. I am playing in a local Shadespire tournament tomorrow, so we'll see how Ironskull's Boyz get on there! Chris

Yeh man, defo on the same wavelength re the top paragraph for sure. I did figure some people might feel that way about the tires, but I can't say I have a problem with them at all. I don't really consider AoS as a Fantasy world in the traditional sense, but then I don't really have an interest in the fluff either and just make up my own background/concepts! But yeh, I totally get what you are saying and perhaps some WFB style war machine wheels would've been a better fit. Cheers man, I also have similar struggles with basing. I'm really keen to keep it the same across each of my Grand Alliances, but that is tricky. For example I'm strongly considering Idoneth Deepkin, but the models would likely look ridiculous based the same as my Phoenix Temple...it's a conundrum for sure. What is it about mixed basing materials you don't like?! Hoping to get a club game in tonight. Likely a rematch vs the Stormcast army that beat me in November. I will probably try the above list with some unpainted models (3 Gruntas and Ironskull's Boyz). Will let you know how it goes if I manage to attend. Chris

Hey, Well it's finally time to get around to my month three additions to this army. Seems like ages since I've done anything due to finishing month two so early because of my holiday. I'm also starting late this month as I was working on some additions for my Ironjawz over the first couple of weeks. My preference for this month would certainly be to add 20 more Phoenix Guard, mostly to break the back of the infantry as early as possible. However, I don't want to be stressing out over painting to deadlines right now, so I figured I'd just add a second Phoenix. This is by no means a quick or easy option though, especially given my desire to convert and repose. I did make a good start last night, but still plenty more work (including Greenstuffing) to do before I get to the painting. If I give myself a week for that it should be fine though. I based this model off a prebuilt Phoenix, which gave me a bit of bother throughout. Still, I got the hairdryer out for some bending which mostly worked out. Unfortunately there was a snap on the tail feathers when it came to pinning (bent it a little too much). However I'm confident I can fix this. Anyway, here are some cheeky #wipwednesday photos for you before they appear on Twitter this evening. Enjoy, Chris

Morning all, Thanks to those of you who have "liked" and/or replied to the photos. I'm pleased you guys enjoyed the pics. I had the idea a long time ago and fortunately it just came together well with the Plagueclaw/Scraplauncher arms (I've used 2 of each) fitting into the body of the 40K Mek Gun reasonably well (some plasticard work required). I was then able to de-40K them a little and add a variety of other bits. They ended up being pretty in depth conversions using a plethora of bits. The best compliments I've received have been "that they don't look like conversions" or "If GW released an Ironjawz Rock Lobber, it would look like that" etc. For me as a modeller, that's when you know you're on the right path. It's not all about making whacky unique pieces for me (though those can be super cool), I really enjoy adding units to my army that look like they belong as part of the fantastic existing range if that makes sense. That tends to be my goal with this army especially (the Krunkasaur being a clear deviation from this design brief!!). I think the paint jobs on them came together nicely as well. It had been a long time since I added to this army and I'd completely forgotten how inefficient my scheme is....2 layers of grey highlights on the black before washing it with AP Dark Tone and then chipping over it so you almost literally can't see the grey. In my head I justify it by saying it gives the models depth and tbh I don't think the black looks completely flat irl (please agree...for my sanity haha!!) I mentioned before the nightmare I had with trying to weather the machines and essentially just drybrushed over the wheels, fronts and carriage of them. This was a disaster and I had to completely repaint these parts. Set me right back. As for the Grot crew. I do really like these guys and think they add a lot of character. They are a mix of Blood Bowl Goblins and 40K Grots (and other components from my bitzbox). I perhaps should've reused some of my Spear Chukka crew but am glad I did a whole new set for these now that they are done. They are really hard to photo well and I think maybe the skin might need a little more work (or a complete overhaul...the colours used as bizarre), but I think the ruddy noses and flesh ears help add character. Cheers bro! I had originally planned a unit of 60 Grots like this for my army...I just don't think I could bring myself to it, especially as I have a bunch to paint for my 40K Orks. 10 are done really nicely (probably nicer than these), but I will streamline my process a bit so that I have a painted army for our campaign! I've probably mentioned it someone in the thread but don't expect you to go trawling back through 30 odd pages, so here we go; Sand the base, leaving spaces for where you want the cracks. Paint the sand Mournfang Brown. Wash the sand with AP Dark/Strong Tone (I've forgotten & used both of these in the army! Now I tend to just mix to cover all bases - no pun intended) OPTIONAL - Lightly drybrush the base Mournfang Brown. Paint the areas of the base where you want cracks with Rhinox Hide. Cover the Rhinox Hide areas in PVA glue and wait for it to dry. Thickly apply Agrellan Earth to these same areas. Leave good time for the cracks to show. If you are happy with how the Agrellan Earth has cracked, move onto step 9, otherwise scrape off the patches you don't like & try again until you are! Covered the dried, cracked Agrellan Earth with Lahmian Medium. Drybrush the entire base with Zamesi Desert. Drybrush the entire base with Screaming Skull. Repaint the cracks with Rhinox Hide where necessary (be careful at this stage). Apply patches of GW Grass. Paint the rim of the base with AP Matt Black. Hope that helps! I really am super fussy with the Agrellan Earth cracks, often just pulling a model out of my cabinet after months if I suddenly spot a patch I don't like. Once you've used it a bit you will start to get a feel for how thick you need to go to achieve better results etc, but it's really not an exact art. Thanks man, that's my favourite sort of compliment to receive tbh. Cheers mate, you are one of very few people who got to have a proper look at them. Real shame I didn't get to display on Sunday. Thanks Zambo! I always love to look at other peoples work (especially Ironjawz) whatever the standard. I'm sure the Maw-krusha will look awesome anyway Chris x

No set plan at all. They are great on everything. Don’t underestimate their impact on 3 Gore-gruntas. It’s a very versatile buff. Thanks man! Do you have a link to pics of yours? Would love to see them. Ok so here are some pics of my 4 Rock Lobbers. Don’t have time to post comments or thoughts today, suffice to say I’m incredibly happy with these. Hope you like them! Chris

Corrected it for me But yeh, you're right. If I took Ironjawz, it'd probably be the same kind of list. I do particularly like this variant though; Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (460) Orruk Warchanter (80) Orruk Warchanter (80) Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (120) Battleline 10 x Orruk Brutes (360) - Ironjawz Battleline 3 x Orruk Gore Gruntas (140) - Ironjawz Battleline 3 x Orruk Gore Gruntas (140) - Ironjawz Battleline 3 x Orruk Gore Gruntas (140) - Ironjawz Battleline Units 4 x Ironskull's Boyz (80) War Machines Grot Rock Lobber (100) - Allies Grot Rock Lobber (100) - Allies Grot Rock Lobber (100) - Allies Grot Rock Lobber (100) - Allies Total: 2000 / 2000 Allies: 400 / 400 Wounds: 151 Would have to paint 3 more Gore-gruntas and the Ironskull's Boyz. One of my new hobby rules is no more late cramming for tournaments though. So unless I decide on this ahead of time and happen to get it painted then it won't happen. What are we doing even discussing this?! There's no hope for some people!!!

Ha! I'll do it if you do Was a great game, I'd forgotten about Rotgor doing nothing whilst Krunk watched on laughing as his boys cut the rival down!

Me. Evidently. Ha! I'd forgotten about scribbling in biro on that man's ******. It was his birthday after all, so what better gift to give! As I said, rowdy!! Haha @Portz Cheers mate, I'd definitely be up for that! I'll even let you keep your shoes on your feet and your junk in your pants!!

Here you go mate, enjoy!

Morning all, It's been an age (over 1/3 of a year!!) since I've had any games with Ironjawz to write about and tbh I'm not really in a position to lay down reports of any real insight now! But still, this past weekend was the Chumpkings Invitational, held at the Cheltenham Warchiefs club venue so I have some games to briefly cover. Unfortunately snow cut the weekend short and I only played the 3 games on day one. I also didn't get to display my army for painting on day two, which was a shame given the new additions. Anyway, for those interested my list was; Megaboss on Maw-krusha - Ironclad, Dabbing Weirdnob Shaman Warchanter Warchanter 10 Brutes 5 Brutes 3 Gore-gruntas 3 Gore-gruntas Rock Lobber Rock Lobber Rock Lobber Rock Lobber This was 1960, so I could've swapped 3 Gruntas for either 5 more Brutes or 10 Ardboys, but truth be told I like the pigs now and think they make the army look better. I wrote a list a few pages back that was a more refined version of this, but I certainly wouldn't have had the time to paint up the units required. But yeh, I was happy enough with it. Really I should've taken Krunk for the army’s last tournament appearance for the time being, but after spending so long on the Rock Lobbers I wasn't willing to drop one. As it was I put Krunk on the table in all of my games as an NPC warmachine controller, a Lord Orkinator if you like! So just quickly; Game 116 vs Kieran Harper @Sangfroid (Ironjawz) Oh man, I wish this match took place 12 months ago, when I was at the height of my game with the army. I really feel I let both Kieran and myself down coming into this game so ill prepared. We played Scorched Earth and Kieran (Maw-krusha, Megaboss, Shaman, Warchanter, 5x5 Brutes, and 2x3 Gruntas) let me go first. I pretty much sat still and just tested out my new toys - The Rock Lobbers started poorly with 2 missing, but the 3rd popped an extra shot and was able to take the Shaman down. The 4th killed a Brute and Kieran treated me to another on Battleshock. My big error (due to only ever playing this Battleplan once) was not pushing my army forward slightly so that Kieran couldn't come onto me and burn my objectives, which is exactly what he did. He pushed the army up, got the double turn and was able to really punish me, effectively ending the game. I could state bad luck (I think Kieran did have the rub of the green), but in all honesty, Kieran just played better than me and put himself in a position where getting the luck would seal the deal. Me getting anything out of this wouldn't have been right. It was still a fantastic game, with some great combats including a Cabbage off (Pig Benis won, despite taking the charge!). I also cast Foot of Gork...on a double. Kieran raised my posts on this very forum where I've stated the wounds go onto himself, which as written, they totally do!! So I humorously ended up killing my own Shaman whilst only killing a single Brute with the foot haha. Gamgor's 5 Brutes went toe to toe with my 10 for way too long, which was fun to see. But yeh, loads going on a just a lot of fun. I think once Kieran knew he was out of sight on the Battleplan he got a bit generous with the positioning of his units, allowing me to take off his army... Though that was a close run thing and it looked like his Warchanter, Lil Krunkie, may be the one model to survive, which would've had good comedy value. Krunk himself was sat right at the back trolling Da Ghostwulfz whilst ordering the Rock Lobbers to rain down (they were pretty good tbh). Scenario finished 11-18. Kieran played the early game flawlessly and was able to capitalise on my mistakes, so we got the right winner in this game. It's what I get for having more Grots than Brutes I guess!! Result - Major Loss Game 117 vs Jim Perrin @The Blightking (Maggotkin of Nurgle) It was great to now get in a game vs The Blightking himself. We were playing Total Conquest and Jim's army was The Glottkin, Bloab, Gutrot, Lord of Plague, 20 Blightkings, 10 Blightkings, and 10 Plaguebearers. Urgh. Rough for me. Even with the Rock Lobbers hitting on 2's (and getting extra shots of 5's) vs the bigger unit, I still couldn't do enough damage thanks to the Kings having 4 wounds each. This game was every bit as nasty for me as you'd probably expect. The speed of the Nurgle is frightening, especially when Gutrot and his 10 guys also come on from the side and it all went south pretty quickly as I just couldn't do enough damage anywhere. It didn't help that the Maw-krusha did 1 (ONE!) damage on his first charge. Eventually I was able to take down the Glottkin, Gutrot and 10 Blightkings but I couldn't get through his wall and have a chance to get back up on the scenario so it was another loss. Good fun though and a ridiculous amount of alcohol was drunk as we had 4 bottles of spirits at our table! Messy. Result - Major Loss Game 118 vs Dave Roberts @Thenecbromancer (Flesh Eater Courts) Again, another fantastic opponent here. If you didn't know, this event had allowed 3 grudges(!!), hence me getting some sweet match ups. Unfortunately I can't really tell you anything about this game as Dave also rocked up to the table with a bottle of Kraken and things degenerated pretty quickly. Dave informed me the next day that Krunk stopped being a spectator in this game and actually took to the field of battle, I guess it's fitting for the last tournament game that he'd have had too much battlebrew by this time and staggered into the fray!! I also took Dave's shoe and intimated I would drop it on the table if I successfully cast Foot of Gork. Fortunately I didn't and just chucked it at @Caffran101 instead!! But yeh, it was pretty rowdy but good fun for the both of us (I hope!). I think I was credited with a win come the end, but I honestly couldn't remember that. Result - Drunk So yeh, that draws a suitably messy end to The Black Sunz tournament experience (for the time being). It has been an absolutely fantastic journey and without a doubt some of the most fun I've had within the hobby. Thanks to you guys here on TGA as well, your interactions have definitely added to this. I said I wanted one last big party tournament blowout to see off the army and indeed the Megaboss persona, which I definitely got! I will now look forward to "dry" events with a different army. Tbh I'm not sure Phoenix Temple will be what I'm looking for from a gaming POV (though they scratch that hobby itch), so I am still looking for the right new project. I've had a look of great conversations this weekend about the current state of play in AoS and am genuinely excited about this change of direction for me, even if I don't really know what it means just yet. This certainly does not mean that this thread is over or anything. I still fully intend to play some games with the Ironjawz and home/club and will be finishing up some existing projects (unfortunately not all of them will be done any time soon), but you can expect to see the Idol of Gork, Fungoid and Ironskull's Boys completed over the next couple of months. Of course I also still have photos of the 4 Rock Lobbers to share, which will be later on today or tomorrow. I am so so happy with these and think they may be the coolest things in the army, honestly! Thanks for reading, Chris x

I think Da Ghostwulfz have the right idea tbh! 4 months since my last game with the Ironjawz and zero practice with the Rock Lobbers...you'll be fine mate!! Still a chance I just switch to the Rogue Idol tbh...all depends on how I get on tonight. Yes, I may be getting my excuses in now!!

Oh man, these Grot crewman are killing me! I can't remember the last time I forced myself to paint like this to be honest. Truth be told I'd rather be working on my Phoenix Temple or better still, playing Horizon Zero Dawn!! Luckily I'm really happy with how the Rock Lobbers themselves have turned out, which is definitely spurring me on. I've ended up having the take the day off tomorrow in order to get these complete (as well as a pre tournament haircut - a UK trend I popularised ). Anyway, here's a crappy B&W WIP photo of the Grots. They are converted from Blood Bowl Goblins and various 40K Grots so are pretty cool looking tbf, just painting 19 models in one go is a bit of a ballache. Also if you're wondering why 19 models (as @Sangfroid did!), obviously 16 for the crew models themselves and then I will have one lookout Grot on each machine to add character. The keen mathematicians out there(!) will realise I'm one short, this is because @Cowboy Boots Matt will be painting me one of his Gadgetzhan Overlord Grots to feature in the army (in turn I will be painting up a model from The Black Sunz to add to one of his ships). Just for a bit of fun. Also, I really should've just reused some of my Spear Chukka Crew...there really is no need to have completely new sets other than OCD and display I guess

Well it's actually just part of the main 4 page rules. Unless you're at an event that explicitly states you don't use "The Battefield" section of the rules then you could call on this; I think @Ben was doing this with his Legion of Azgorh as they have some rules that benefit from playing in the Realm of Fire iirc (don't quote me on this, I may be wrong). Basically it would likely just end up coming down to a roll off as to whether you could take advantage of the bonus I guess!!