blood bowl

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The Release Dump – New Things From GAMA!

Posted by johnnya10 on 15/03/2018
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments
Well, we’re used to getting the occasional snippet from GW when it comes to new releases, but we’ve had an avalanche of information come through from Nottingham in the last 24 hours (and who knows if we’ll be getting even more soon). This is all down to GW’s appearance at GAMA, the big board games trade show, and it’s damn sporting of the company to share the official vids and photos with us, rather than having us all squinting at leaked, grainy bits and pieces. So, while I may go into a bit more detail in the future on all of these things (or at least some of them), let’s take a quick look at the massive dump of new delights that has graced us this week.
Chaos Blood Bowl Team
It’s great to see something new coming out for Blood Bowl. It feels like it’s been a little while since everyone’s favourite fantastical football game got something new, but that’s not actually true. It’s just that we’ve seen so much of everything being released lately, our brains are no longer capable of grasping the basic concept of time.
chaos blood bowl team chosen
chaos blood bowl team beastman
This looks like a team for brutal players who like an elite group of monsters who are seriously capable of stomping down the opposition. I don’t think Doom Lords players will be worrying too much about the actual ball in their games. I’m even tempted to pick them up and create a new incarnation of the legendary Chaos All Stars.
blood bowl chaos all stars
I’m liking the mix of Chosen and Beastmen in here. I dare say there’ll be some different roles involved, but combined with a Minotaur (or some sort of terrifying Warrior/Daemon special character maybe?), they’re going to be hard to knock over.
Kill Team
This is one of my favourites. I’ve always liked the Kill Team format because it’s so quick and intimate. It really feels like GW have been listening to the fanbase here. Blood Bowl, Shadow War and Necromunda have all performed so amazingly over recent months, that it makes sense for the folks in Nottingham to revive the long-running 40K skirmish game now.
Kill team is so quick and easy to play. It’s yet another great gateway game to get new people into the main game and its bigger battles, but its also great for us veterans too. If you’ve had a long game, but you’re still in the mood for more dice rolling, but the store is closing soon, Kill Team provides a great opportunity to get your gaming fix in.
And with 8th Edition rules, I dare say it’ll be even faster and more flexible. It’s a great game for learning the fundamentals of your favourite squads, and getting some insight into familiar and unusual opponents alike. I can’t wait to pick up this update.
Van Saar
van saar badge
Now, you know I’ll be talking more about this in a later post. Don’t worry, the name generators are being planned as we speak, and when I get some more images and insight into their background, I’ll put a full post together.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying the professional and polished weapons, sombre expressions, and fantastically manga-sci-fi-inspired armour of those survival suits. I love the multi-eyed helmet, and whatever that heavy weapon is… well, this has got me very excited. Regardless, this represents an amazing update on possibly the ugliest gang from the last iteration of the game. Frankly, they now look like one of the fanciest in the new game. Excellent stuff!
And There’s More…
tell me more gif
But I won’t cover any more of it in this post. If you want to read and see more about GW’s GAMA wares, and get the more official details, I’d suggest checking out the community website. You’ll find many fun things to ogle at. Add Forgebane to all of this, and we’ve got plenty to be excited about. I hope you are as giddy and gleeful as I am. And now that I’ve given you three posts in three days (possibly a record on H&H), I shall leave you to enjoy your toy soldiers in peace.

 

Blood Bowl Orcs Reinforcements – Troll & Goblin

Posted by johnnya10 on 27/10/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

blood bowl troll and goblin

You can never stop at just the boxed squad, right? Well, I’ve added to my Orc Blood Bowl Team, Da Mighty Redz, in the form of my new Troll and Goblin. The little and large duo move me a little closer to completing the project with plenty of time to spare before Necromunda hits in November, and I’m quite happy with how they both turned out.

The keen-eyed amongst you will notice that this is not the official Blood Bowl troll, but a Stone Troll (Sorry, ‘Rockgut Troggoth’ for those of you who speak Sigmarese) that’s been slightly converted and that’s because I’m not the greatest fan of the new Blood Bowl troll. While it’s of course a quality sculpt (what isn’t from GW these days, right?), I like my trolls to look like big, grumpy and fairly immobile brick walls, and not someone throwing out the first pitch at a Yankee’s game. Less dynamic, more static – which pretty much goes against my entire miniature design philosophy but I guess this is the exception that proves the rule.

So, I chopped off his bone-club (poor chap – sounds painful), and made a knuckleduster from some plasticard, green stuff and the spikes are actually from a Storm Raven’s missile launcher. I made some knee pads from green stuff, plasticard and green stuff made me the arm guards, and the shoulder pad is from the Chaos Terminator kit. There are a few green stuff leather straps and I had to hack off and rebuild half an ear to make room for the aforementioned shoulder pad. Oh, and he has a backplate that has been nailed into him because he’s a troll and he doesn’t mind that.

troll and goblin

The goblin was a tricky little bugger to paint. He didn’t take too long (I actually painted him in about 5 hours!) but it can be tricky to switch gears when you’ve been working on something as big as a troll. But that’s a super fun kit and I’m almost certainly going to be adding another gobbo in the near future. Not only because it was enjoyable to paint, but also because it’s pretty risky bringing a single goblin to a Blood Bowl game. They either get squished or the troll eats them so better safe than sorry.

And as you can see from the above snap, these guys are called Murvy and Owni which is my tribute to two Liverpool stars of my younger years – Danny Murphy and Michael Owen. Not exactly dead ringers, but Murphy does have a slightly troll like demeanour (and attitude) and Owen was (and still is) a bit short, so it kind of fits.

michael owen and danny murphy

In terms of tactics, the goblin is there to pick up the ball (because having played with Orcs, they’re practically incapable of this when you need them to) and the troll can throw him up the field to score me a touch down. Not particularly intricate tactics, but they’re a well used staple of the game. Looking forward to trying it out.

goblin troll height comparison

I just like this picture because it’s like they’re standing back to back with the Goblin saying something like “See, I’m definitely gettin’ taller!”. 😀 But it also shows off a bit more of the troll armour, and I love the look of the Goblin in profile – those helmets are awesome.

That’s your lot for this post. Well, except to say that the desk project has been delayed by just a couple of days while the last couple of stragglers get back to me. Early next week. I promise. Have a great Friday, a cracking weekend, and the very best of luck with all of your painting projects. Onwards!

Da Mighty Redz – Orc Blood Bowl Team

Posted by johnnya10 on 16/10/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments

I finished something! My Orc Blood Bowl team, Da Mighty Redz are now done! And what’s more, just to add a cherry on the top, my camera is working again, so I actually have half decent pictures of them. My cup (or Blood Bowl) runneth over. So here, in this post, I shall present to you the newest team to be taking to the pitch.

orc blood bowl team

blood bowl orc team names

Here are the first six. That’s Dag-Lash, Burnz, ‘Krazy Boar’, Hencho, Foula and Hip-Prya. And here come the rest of the team…

new orc blood bowl players

blood bowl orcs rear

Then we have the second six: Krush, Crag-Ghar, Jaw ‘Ard, Burga, Lonzo and Goblar.

I had a huge amount of fun painting this team and I really do love the miniatures. They’re excellently posed and with some great little details too. To think how far we’ve come since the old miniatures for this game! What a time to be painting.

I went a bit snap happy with the camera – it hasn’t worked for so long now and I wanted to make sure that I could do justice to all of the players here. What’s more, I wanted to further highlight what I talked about in my last post about this team – making duplicate pose figures look different. So let’s start with the linemen.

blood bowl orc linemen

I finished off these guys so long ago that I can barely remember painting them, but it’s nice to see them looking this good. I’m particularly fond of the “YNWA” (You’ll Never Walk Again) and “No Mersey” details on the armour. I also did the Orcidas symbol on one of these guys to go with the stripes. I’m also liking how the team symbol pops too – that nice flash of turquoise and yellow on each model really gives them something else.

blood bowl orc throwers

The throwers really highlight how the different green green skin tones can help to differentiate the two models. These guys were painted a long time ago so I don’t remember too much about them either – geez, I’ve really got to get better at painting fast just so that I can remember what I did to talk about it on here!

black orc blockers

The Black Orc Blockers were a huge amount of fun to paint, and all those flat surfaces give you so much room with which to have fun. And they are huge too – they really look good and intimidating. Can’t wait to see them holding up the line and stomping face.

orc blood bowl blitzers

And the Blitzers are done! I was thinking about giving them very vibrant plumes, but went with natural hair tones instead – it just felt a little better because these guys are already colourful enough. I do like Foula’s fancy purple boots though. Very fetching. These guys were a little tougher to paint than the rest of the team because that dynamic pose gives you some funny angles to work around. But great fun to paint too – those masks/helmets are great!

IMG_0298

That’s the team – Da Mighty Redz are now ready to take to the field. I think I’ve done both Liverpool FC and the Orc tribes proud. However, just because the core team is done, that doesn’t mean that this project is over. Oh no. For a start, you’ve already seen my Ghoul-Chewer and some of the peripherals:

varag ghoul chewer and peripherals

And there is more to come, but you’ll have to wait for that. I’ve still got a little time before Necromunda, so I have to fill my time somehow. But for now, this is your lot. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the team in all their glory. Next step: the big leagues. Onwards!

=][=

Oh, and one more thing. A lot of you liked my post about the desk project. I’ve had some responses already, but I’d still like some more. A lot of you liked that post, so it’d be great to get a few more responses from you. Please take another look, and drop me an email if you can. Cheers!

Black Orc Blockers – Blood Bowl Continues

Posted by johnnya10 on 04/10/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: . 2 Comments
Black Orc Blockers
I thought it had been a while since I showed you a proper update on where I’m at with my Blood Bowl team, Da Mighty Redz, and so I present to you my two Black Orc Blockers – Daglash and Burga.
Yes, those of you who know your Sports Ball will recognise those names as close approximations of Dalglish and Burger – two of my favourite Liverpool FC players. Their numbers even match, though Daglash is technically ‘Also 7’ as a lot of good players have worn the No.7 shirt at Liverpool so there’ll be another ‘7’ joining my team soon. There’s not much of a similarity in looks though…
dalglish and burger
But the other thing I wanted to talk about in this post is subtle conversions, and differentiating paint jobs that can help to add some individualisation and personality to your teams. My heart sank initially when I first learnt that all the teams were made up of 6×2 models – six pairs if you like, of identical players. I didn’t want to waste a lot of time doing heavy conversions and changing stances.
So in order to give them some individuality, I took a two stage approach – minor conversions, and paint jobs. And thankfully, Orcs are probably the easiest team to do this work on as they’re supposed to look a bit more battered and smashed up.
minor conversions blood bowl orcs
Minor Conversions:
  • Spikes – Add/Remove some of the hundreds of spikes that appear all over this team. Take one from a shoulder, and add it to a helmet. Take a couple from a knee pad, and add those removed spikes to a gauntlet or knuckle duster. Rinse and repeat.
  • Scratches – Using a craft knife, just cut a few additional scratches into the edges of the armour. Don’t go overboard, but a few here and there.
  • Holes – One or two only. Use something like the smallest bit in the citadel hand drill kit to make a couple of holes in the armour.
  • Green Stuff – Does he have a plume? Add a few more hairs to it. Does he have a bit of cloth hanging down? Make it a little longer. Keep it simple and small, and make sure it’s different on each model.
Do this to each pair (ensuring that you keep things different) and along with the basing, you can get some real individualism into each member. Some will say that without changing the poses, this won’t be enough, but remember this – as someone who has played both Rugby and American Football, I can tell you that individualism in your stance isn’t something that’s desirable. In fact, it can get you injured pretty quickly. Good form on a player looks pretty much the same for every player. There’s only one best stance, and your guys are both good at it (they’re pros) so that’s enough. It shows that they’re pros.
black orc blood bowl rear
Painting Changes:
*Remember, when it comes to colours, keep your armour all the same in terms of base colours and highlighting. In my team, this means red and silver with white details and the same ‘flaming torch’ emblem on their right shoulder. But everything else…
  • Boots – Have you seen footballers’ boots recently? The days of plain black boots are long gone, so go wild with the colours.
  • Trousers – You might want them a bit more uniform for other teams, but for Orcs, these can be changed around. Greys and Browns are your friends here.
  • Skin Tone – every race has a wonderful rainbow of skin tones to choose, so don’t stick to the same formula for each. (Black Orcs aren’t the best example of this as I wanted to keep them both dark, but other team members have more widely varying tones as you can see in this post)
  • Numbers & Details – Obvious one; each number gets a different number. And change where you put some of the other details. My ‘Orcidas’ stripes are a good example.
  • Effects – When adding mud, scratches or rust patches, you’ll naturally be a bit more random, and that’s great. Different locations for rust really helps to set them apart.
And that’s about it. Well, that’s how I’ve done it. I’m not trying to teach you anything advanced here, but the whole team is starting to really come together and thanks to these methods, there isn’t too much of a mirror-image-vibe going on.
Here are the two blitzers that I’ve just undercoated (they’re the final part of the boxed team left for me to paint) and you can see a couple of subtle conversions in there. As for the paint jobs, these Black Orc Blockers demonstrate how to keep them in uniform, but both individual.
unpainted orc blitzers converted
With that, I shall leave you for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed checking out what I’m working on, and that this gave you a few ideas to help make your identical duos a little less identical. Hopefully I’ll have the whole team ready to show you soon. Onwards!

Varag Ghoul-Chewer

Posted by johnnya10 on 21/08/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: . Leave a comment

varag ghoul-chewer blood bowl star player

Hello, Blood Bowl fans! And welcome to the post that shows off the first images of my very own Varag Ghoul-Chewer. This was the model that I was going to take to the Forge World Open Day but I didn’t have a chance to finish him. Well, I’m glad that I took my time and didn’t rush anything, because I’m particularly happy with how this massive orc turned out now that I’m finished with him. Let’s take a closer look at the latest addition to my Blood Bowl team.

So, I painted him in very much the same way that I’ve shown on this blog before – a process detailed in this tutorial. He’ll be playing for Da Mighty Redz when I get them all done (getting closer now), so it’s that same Mephiston Red armour and for his flesh, I used a blend of Waaagh! Flesh and Moot Green paints mixed pretty much 1:1 for the base. I probably did give this chap a few extra layers of highlight just because I want him to pop a little more, and I think it’s worked quite nicely, but it’s pretty much the same method apart from that.

ghoul-chewer rear view

Rather than assign a legend like Varag Ghoul-Chewer a squad number, I’ve gone with a crudely drawn star motif that I thought was fitting of a player with this guy’s reputation. Also, as all the other players in the squad have numbers and names based on Liverpool Football club players, I didn’t want to confuse that. What’s more, there’s a lot less rust on this guy – he’s a star player so I’d guess he can afford to keep his gear a little better than the team grunts.

One thing that I’m really happy with on this miniature is the weathering and effects. From the mud placed on the raised boot, to just the general wear and tear all over, he definitely looks like he’s been sprinting around a muddy pitch for more than a few minutes. I also cracked out the Blood For The Blood God technical paint to decorate Varag’s massive weapon. I don’t like overusing it, so it’s just a hint.

blood bowl orc star player

The squig gave me some issues, and it’s probably the weaker part of the model. The eyes didn’t come out quite as I’d liked, and there could be more highlighting on the flesh. But over all, I’m very happy with this miniature and I look forward to fielding him.

But I didn’t get the chance to field him in that painting competition, so it’s only right that I let him stand on his plinth at least once. Here he is in the glory he never really got:

varag ghoul-chewer on display plinth

And if you’re worried about him toppling over, I should tell you that there’s a 2p piece superglued to the underside of his base. It’s made him so much more stable. He was a bit wobbly on the desk top before that so he’d be very precarious on that plinth without the added weight, and the 2p piece is the perfect size and weight for these bases..

And now I need to get back to my painting desk – there’s a lot I still want to do this year and I’m aware of time running out. Not only do I need to get this Blood Bowl team done, but there’s a certain red painted legion that needs my attention too. I hope your painting efforts are going well. Onwards!

Painting Miniatures By Stages – A Method

Posted by johnnya10 on 29/07/2017
Posted in: Tutorials, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 8 Comments

I wanted to show off a bit more of the Orc Blood Bowl team but it’s still not done and I didn’t want to do just another WIP post as I’ve shown them off a couple of times now. So what I thought I’d do was show you how I’m painting them. I’m not much of a batch painter, and this method has worked for me throughout this project. You may do something like this yourself already and if that’s the case, you may as well skip on to the last photograph and see the finished project. But for those of you who are interested in how I do what I do, this is where it starts…

Stage 1: Undercoat

undercoated black orc blocker

Not the most interesting of stages, I shall grant you. I put the muddy stuff down first (I used Blackfire Earth which is a difficult bugger to get down but leaves a lovely effect) and undercoated in black because this is going to be a dark looking miniature when finished. When you start, you may see some patches didn’t get much of the Chaos Black Spray so just touch those up with a little watered down Abaddon Black.

Stage 2: Basecoat

basecoat miniature

The entire miniature is given its base colours. There aren’t that many of them but keep it all neat. I made the skin with black and Waaagh! Flesh – after all this is a Black Orc and you want a nice dark, almost ‘Dark Angels’ sort of green. In the words of our Lord and Saviour, Duncan, you want to use two thin coats all over. And don’t get frustrated if you miss the odd bit and have to go back to a colour you’d thought you were done with – it happens to the best of us. Also, Rhinox hide has gone down on the base.

Stage 3: Wash

applying washes to miniatures

Everything gets washed aside from the red and black on this miniature. Use a complimentary shade for each different colour, such as an orange wash for the yellow  areas, or a deep green for the green areas. The silver areas, and a few gaps and cuts in the red get treated with Nuln Oil to add some real depth. In fact, this is going to add shadow and depth all over the model, which you then bring back up in…

Stage 4: Highlight

highlighting miniatures

This is a bit of a long winded stage but it really does add so much to the model. With steady hands avoiding the recesses and keeping to the edges, you work with lighter colours than in the basecoating stage. For skin, you want to build up the colour over several stages for a more natural look. And for both the silver areas and the red areas, you can use a highlight and lowlight. For example, over Mephiston Red, for down facing edges use Evil Sunz Scarlet, and Fire Dragon Bright on the upward facing edges to represent light hitting them. But for many areas, you only need a single highlight colour.

Stage 5: Details

detailing miniatures

Think of this as drawing with a brush. You’re adding patterns and details that aren’t built into the sculpt. This is the little brother of true freehand painting, and on this Orc, I’ve added the ‘Orcidas’ stripes, the torch emblem on one shoulder and the number on the other. Because it’s Orcs, I don’t want to be too neat, but if you’re working on a miniature that ought to look a little more perfect, you need to practice your steady hand. I also took off some of the white by using a rough old brush with a little Mephiston Red on it. This neatly leads us on to…

Stage 6: Effects

adding effects onto miniatures

Typhus Corrosion is your friend here. This is the stage where you add the mud, rust, wear and tear. A bit of rust on the bare metal is always a nice touch, and of course a bit of mud on a Blood Bowl player is very good. In fact, after taking these photos, I went back and added a little more mud (especially to the shoes) and I sponged on some black spots and ‘wear patches’ too. I also added some ‘Ardcoat to the mud to make it look wetter, and a touch to the eye as well to give it some life.

Stage 7: Basing

blood bowl basing

Our final stage! Clean up the base (you don’t need to go green – I’m going retro for this) and keep it neat. A subtle bit of white lining on the patchy flock that was added using a little PVA glue and a quick dip in the flock box.

And that’s your lot. I love seeing how the miniature comes together under the paint. I’m getting closer to finishing the core of the Orc team so keep a look out for that, though there are a few other little bits to add to the overall squad. But more on that later. I hope that’s given you a bit of an idea regarding how I do what I do, I also hope that it might help an aspiring painter or two. But who knows. If you have any questions, stick them below, and I will do my best to answer them. Onwards!

WIP – Blood Bowl Orc Team

Posted by johnnya10 on 01/06/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 2 Comments
blood bowl team wip
Yes, I am taking a break from 40k, albeit a brief one, because I am getting into Blood Bowl again with my Orc team – Da Mighty Redz. In an homage to old-school basing practices, and my beloved Liverpool FC, this team will soon be taking to the pitch, and I even hope to get a couple of tournaments under my belt by the end of the year. So let’s meet the players…
Only four players have passed through the paintbrush process so far, but I was happy enough that I wanted to show them off. Two linemen and two throwers are ready to take the field, and I’m very happy with them so far.
orc blood bowl players
Starting from the bottom, yes, those are goblin green bases. Well, Skarsnik Green (as it is these days) to be exact, but it’s as close as I’m going to get. It suits the “field of play” look that a Blood Bowl team should to have, and is gloriously retro to boot. I’ve been able to use flock again for the first time in years, and there are a few rocks on those bases too – well, this is an orc pitch. To them, the rocks just make the game more fun.
Their bases also feature their names; Brute Goblar, Hip-Prya, Stabya Lonzo and Burnz. For those of you who don’t get the references, that’s Bruce Grobbelaar, Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso and John Barnes – a selection of my footballing heroes. The rest will have equally orc-y monikers too.
orc blood bowl models
So of course, they have a red strip (well, the armour is red), and their kit sponsor is Orcidas. Their team badge is a flaming torch, and they all feature their numbers – the same as those of their name-inspiring Liverpool players. Goblar even has “YNWA” painted on his chest plate, but rather than standing for “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, it stands for the far more orc-appropriate “Yu’ll Neva Walk Again”.
I didn’t know how I’d feel about there being two of each model in this team, but I’ve found that with some minor mods, and a few change ups in the paint jobs, that this isn’t an issue. As someone who briefly played American Football, a uniformity in stances is actually a good thing. What’s more, I like my Orcs being different shades of green. It really does help to give them each an individual look.
blood bowl player names
And finally, I wanted to show these guys off against my old Dark Elf team. These particular Dark Elves were only painted (by me) perhaps four years ago (too many models have passed over my painting table since then to recall exactly) but you can see how far I’ve come since then. At least I hope you can – I can and that’s what’s important. Not only that, but it gives you an idea of how much larger and more impressive the new models are. I can’t wait to see the Elven Union team and, dare I dream, a Dark Elf team in the future too.
old new blood bowl painting
That’s your lot for now. More Scouse Orcs (Scorcs?) to come in the near future. But for now, that’s all on my models.
-=-=-=-
On a sadder note, I just wanted to pay my own little tribute to Alan Bligh who unfortunately passed away a few days ago. I had the privilege of meeting him on more than one occasion at Forge World Open Days and other GW events, and he was such a nice person, and a genuine fan of the game as well. He was funny too – some of his Q&A answers at the Warhammer Fest I attended a couple of years back had the room in stitches.
badab war books
For me, his work on the Badab War books was a glorious achievement. I read those two hefty tomes from cover to cover and loved every word of it. Thanks for that, Alan.
Onwards.