So, I have had various failures using spray primers, typically from over/under spraying and I have been looking for a paint on primer of some sort. So I ran across this article Priming with gesso. So I went down to my local art supply store and bought a bottle of the black gesso. You can also get white and tint it to any color you want. So far I have primed about 20 models and learned a little bit.
1. you don't have to dilute it 2. you should not just glop it on like the article says because you can get air bubbles in the gesso which can cause little pits when it dries as well as pooling at the bottom of arms, etc. 3. Use a good brush, I tried a cheap brush and it left a lot of bubbles. 4. most if not all of the bubbles go away. 5. you will never use that brush for anything else ever again.
I really like using it, it takes the guess work of using spray primers(humidity/space/coverage) out of priming. I would not use it as a base coat though. So far I have applied some paint over these gessoed models and the coverage is just like painting over any other primer. You can also fix any areas that you might have missed/under covered. Over coverage is almost impossible since you are literally painting the stuff on. However you can't go and prime 20+ models in a couple of minutes, but for me, unless I am doing a bunch of similar/same models that is not really a problem. I tend to work on 3-4 at a time.
Edit:
If you are looking for an example of what I call bubbles/pits, go to the link and scroll down the the pictures of the Urban Mammoth Junkers Convict Legionary where the black gesso was "glopped" on. Look at the detail picture of the shield, if you look at the "elbow" of the bird you will see those little pits I was talking about. Remember that this is not completely dry yet so the pits will probably shrink, but not disappear all together.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Gaming Nights
Currently, with WotR as well as LotR SBG Battle Companies, we are tentatively looking at the following gaming schedule at Hobby Town.
1st Thursdays: WotR, 500 points.
3rd Thursdays: LotR Battle Company
5th Thursdays: BFG, 40k, or Fantasy Battle.
1st Thursdays: WotR, 500 points.
3rd Thursdays: LotR Battle Company
5th Thursdays: BFG, 40k, or Fantasy Battle.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
WotR so far
Since fracas posted his comments I thought I would post mine as well.
1. Magic is a potent addition to an army, the nazgul are particularly good for magic but must be protected. This means that they must keep enemy hero formations at bay, typically with transfix, if that fails one can still move them to a different formation for protection. Black breath is useful on enemy heroes as well, reducing their fight/courage so they are weak and the company can no longer use those stats in combat. Good for keeping most humans from charging terror causing companies.
2. Warg riders are frickin shweet. For 25(20+5) points they can have shields(d5) and they come with throwing weapons(strength 4 btw). Add a captain and they can do an at the double with no penalties(movement or courage) since they would probably be outside 6 inches needed for the 1/2 movement and -1 courage rules. All this and they can still cause damage before they charge the enemy (providing they are within 6 inches for the TW at the end of their movement).
3. I am not sold on bows yet. I think one needs a large formation to make them effective. And once one is able to have a large formation of bows ( high point(s) games )your enemy will have more points anyway.
4. However I am sold on the smaller siege equipment, they can do some serious damage and have the potential to be monster killers.
5. If you have a hero magic user you can perform an at the double to get within spell range. They are able to cast at ANY point in the move phase. Remember the formation uses the heroes courage value for this roll.
6. More than one captain in a large formation is a must since over the course of the game might will be needed to resist magic.
7. I disagree with fracas, Epic heroes can not join the mumak (or any other monster).
8. Ambushers seem like a great way to get in behind enemy lines but most of these formations for good are rare, evil has more common companies with the ambush rule.
As far as mordor goes, Morannon orcs seem to be the best common formation of infantry while warg riders best for cav (possibly morgul knight but for some stupid reason they are allies). Misty mountains are probably going to be a sleeper giant, some weak companies and some regular ones that are still cheap.....cave drake the hero eater...awesome...just awesome. Druzhag, summon beast(spiders are best?) behind/beside your foes. Cave troll, cheap, fast, 3 attacks and still hard to kill.
1. Magic is a potent addition to an army, the nazgul are particularly good for magic but must be protected. This means that they must keep enemy hero formations at bay, typically with transfix, if that fails one can still move them to a different formation for protection. Black breath is useful on enemy heroes as well, reducing their fight/courage so they are weak and the company can no longer use those stats in combat. Good for keeping most humans from charging terror causing companies.
2. Warg riders are frickin shweet. For 25(20+5) points they can have shields(d5) and they come with throwing weapons(strength 4 btw). Add a captain and they can do an at the double with no penalties(movement or courage) since they would probably be outside 6 inches needed for the 1/2 movement and -1 courage rules. All this and they can still cause damage before they charge the enemy (providing they are within 6 inches for the TW at the end of their movement).
3. I am not sold on bows yet. I think one needs a large formation to make them effective. And once one is able to have a large formation of bows ( high point(s) games )your enemy will have more points anyway.
4. However I am sold on the smaller siege equipment, they can do some serious damage and have the potential to be monster killers.
5. If you have a hero magic user you can perform an at the double to get within spell range. They are able to cast at ANY point in the move phase. Remember the formation uses the heroes courage value for this roll.
6. More than one captain in a large formation is a must since over the course of the game might will be needed to resist magic.
7. I disagree with fracas, Epic heroes can not join the mumak (or any other monster).
8. Ambushers seem like a great way to get in behind enemy lines but most of these formations for good are rare, evil has more common companies with the ambush rule.
As far as mordor goes, Morannon orcs seem to be the best common formation of infantry while warg riders best for cav (possibly morgul knight but for some stupid reason they are allies). Misty mountains are probably going to be a sleeper giant, some weak companies and some regular ones that are still cheap.....cave drake the hero eater...awesome...just awesome. Druzhag, summon beast(spiders are best?) behind/beside your foes. Cave troll, cheap, fast, 3 attacks and still hard to kill.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Gaming Night 05/07/09: WotR
Five of us showed up at Hobbytown tonight and four of us played WotR with about 500 points each. We spent 2 hours playing two turns, struggling to look up the rules of each step of play. My impressions and lessons are as follows, in no particular orders.
1. Epic hero vs same hero's legendary formation. There cannot be more epic heroes than normal (without upgrade) models in a company. Therefor it is risky to put epic heroes into a cavalry formation because he cannot go into the command company, and can only company up with another normal model. If that company loses one model (the normal model) the whole company is removed. So the same epic hero may be better in a legendary formation as its captain instead. Or put epic heroes into infantry formations only. epic hero can be moved from one formation to any other
2. It remains unclear to me optimal number of companies per formation. So far I am leaning to four for cavalry and 2-4 for infantry. Know the difference between formations and companies.
3. Infantry formations are better able to handle flank and rear charges than cavalry. Cavalry can be charged from the front and still do ok, but they are best as the chargers.
4. Shootings consists of 3 parts. firstly the numbers of dice to roll depends on the number of models and the company's shoot value. Secondly determine what each dice value needed through a strength vs defense analysis. Finally, determine if drive back occurs.
5. Choose the spearhead company that will allow flank charges if possible; the other formation will follow. Always roll to charge even if you are clearly within range because a roll of 6 gives you combat bonus in the ensuing fight. Also, if a 1 is rolled no charge occurs at all!
6. Fight combat modifiers are per company, not per formation.
Next club gaming night at Hobby Town will be 05/21/09 and we will likely play WotR 500 points per player.
update: one more interesting thought.
7. I think Epic heroes such as a ringwraith can joint any formation, including a Mumak!
1. Epic hero vs same hero's legendary formation. There cannot be more epic heroes than normal (without upgrade) models in a company. Therefor it is risky to put epic heroes into a cavalry formation because he cannot go into the command company, and can only company up with another normal model. If that company loses one model (the normal model) the whole company is removed. So the same epic hero may be better in a legendary formation as its captain instead. Or put epic heroes into infantry formations only. epic hero can be moved from one formation to any other
2. It remains unclear to me optimal number of companies per formation. So far I am leaning to four for cavalry and 2-4 for infantry. Know the difference between formations and companies.
3. Infantry formations are better able to handle flank and rear charges than cavalry. Cavalry can be charged from the front and still do ok, but they are best as the chargers.
4. Shootings consists of 3 parts. firstly the numbers of dice to roll depends on the number of models and the company's shoot value. Secondly determine what each dice value needed through a strength vs defense analysis. Finally, determine if drive back occurs.
5. Choose the spearhead company that will allow flank charges if possible; the other formation will follow. Always roll to charge even if you are clearly within range because a roll of 6 gives you combat bonus in the ensuing fight. Also, if a 1 is rolled no charge occurs at all!
6. Fight combat modifiers are per company, not per formation.
Next club gaming night at Hobby Town will be 05/21/09 and we will likely play WotR 500 points per player.
update: one more interesting thought.
7. I think Epic heroes such as a ringwraith can joint any formation, including a Mumak!
Game Night
Well, since this is the first thursday and I have not played in 3 weeks, I will be at Hobby Town. If you want to try out WotR and you have a copy of the rules I will be happy to play that. Otherwise a 1v1 700pts would be nice.
Jobu
Jobu
Monday, May 4, 2009
War of the Ring
Picked up my copy of WotR last week and have been looking over it, mostly the army list sections. There are a couple of things we as a club needs to decide on.
1. What will be our game size? Should we start at 500 points and go up by 500 points increments?
2. The Mahud army that Casey runs is no longer legal as they are rare units (you cannot have more rare units than common units). I am fine with allowing him to treat Mahud as common for now so he can continue to play as he decide what to do next.
3. Since we frequently play multiplayers, perhaps we should formalize some agreement so as not to field multiple unique units (legendary formation or epic hero). Thoughts?
1. What will be our game size? Should we start at 500 points and go up by 500 points increments?
2. The Mahud army that Casey runs is no longer legal as they are rare units (you cannot have more rare units than common units). I am fine with allowing him to treat Mahud as common for now so he can continue to play as he decide what to do next.
3. Since we frequently play multiplayers, perhaps we should formalize some agreement so as not to field multiple unique units (legendary formation or epic hero). Thoughts?