Fury Markers

Mrs. Troll: Generally have been hoping to have a snow/winter theme for the druids. I was prowling around downtown LA and found these great coated plastic "markers" and possible"glacier" pieces. We used them in our second game and they worked out great! I think that the Trolls could probably re-coat them to match the army.

Dark Argus (WIP)

Here is a dark color argus that Mrs. Troll started working on...she spent a fair amount of time blending the white to the black and I think it's coming along nicely!

Troll Pics

Here are some photos of my trolls in their current states. Some are much more done than others.

 

The Mauler, Axer, Impaler, Champions, and Grim Angus were done a few years ago, though I just did the basing this year. This was actually my first attempt ever at doing static grass on their bases...I am somewhat satisfied with how they came out, but some of the grass seems a little "flat."

 

Toward the bottom of this post are my current "work in progress" models that I have been spending most of my time on lately.

Mauler (completed):

 

Axer (mostly completed...just need to clean up some of his armor plates):

 

Impaler (completed):

 

 

Champions (completed minus the tartans, which I still don't really know what to do with!):

 

Grim Angus (completed minus the tartan and base):

Fell Caller (you guessed it, still need to finish the tartan and base):

Krielstone Bearers (my current work in process focus right now):

Stone Scribe Elder (also currently being worked on, I really like this model!):

 

 

Priming the Argus Wolves

Mrs. Troll: I've chosen to primer my argus wolves in a tan brown, instead of the traditional black or white. I then added a layer of brown ink/wash to seal in the crevices. Then a layer of ghoul grey mixed with graduating tints of white was added for a base flesh. The whole effect came out an unintended greenish for some reason. I'll have to experiment further.

Warpwolf

Mrs. Troll: I am not entirely sure which colors to use for one of the biggest pieces in my Druids army: the Warpwolf (aka Werewolf). Mostly in magazines I see him in shades of brown, which I'd like to break away from. I'd really like him to be a presence on the table; after all, he has a pretty nasty bite-claw-claw combination as well as a few other tricks such as his Animus. He is currently awaiting priming after I fix his rear loincloth made from green-stuff. Any color suggestions?

First Battle Photos

Mrs. Troll: Apart from the dark photos and miniatures still in paint/assemble progress (sorry!), this was my first Hordes game. Moh'sar was missing his arms but he still did a lot of salt-pillaring and annoyed the Trollbloods quite a bit. Did you notice the green-stuff loincloth I've added to my werewolf fellah to cover his behind (totally necessary if you ask me...I don't want to look at his cheeks all the time)? We had a good time. I must say Mr. Troll's painted miniatures were not only gorgeous on the table, they also added to the intimidation factor and inspires me to continue to work on painting my army as well. I plan on making my other two-headed wolf a black-grey-white gradation color combination, which is intimidating but I'd like to try it.

First "Battlebox" Battle

The two of us played our first "battle box" game last night. I say "battle box" because we didn't use the exact contents of the battle boxes. Instead our lists were:

Trolls:
Madrak
Axer
Impaler
Pyre

Circle:
Mohsar
Feral Warpwolf
Argus
Argus

Overall it was a really close game, with Madrak coming through with the win but with only 6hp left and he even had to use his magic scroll of no-hurty.

Some impressions I had after the game:
- It was really close through the whole game and probably could have gone either way.

- The Feral Warpwolf is a crazy killer! He ate my poor Axer without even breaking a sweat! (Two claws and a bite of doom!)

- Frenzy is bad! My Axer frenzied and mangled my Pyre troll pretty badly. I need to be extra careful about not over pushing my beasts.

- Mohsar is really tough to deal with when he drops those salt pillars all over. It's hard for my slow plodding trolls to get around them.

- For it being Mrs. Troll's first game ever she did really really well. She says she's not that good at these kind of games, but I think she's just playing opossum! Now that she's got a feel for how the game plays, how Mohsar plays, and her doggy's strengths and weaknesses, I think the next game will be a huge uphill battle for ye olde trolls!

Did some casual troll painting today

Well I spent a couple of hours painting up my Krielstone Bearers and Stone Scribes this afternoon. Since I'm a super slow painter though I only got their skin done for the entire unit, and some of the leather done.

Since I last painted years ago, I'd forgotten how to paint leather. So I referred to what was shown in my trollblood army book for how to paint leather. I have to say I'm decently happy with the results for being so rusty at painting. It felt good to get some painting done on these guys, and I'm looking forward to making some more progress on them.

It's too dark to take pictures right now, but I will try to take some tomorrow morning/afternoon.

Troll Power!

As mentioned earlier I will be going with trolls. I love their aesthetic (although don't like some of the new plastic versions of their warbeasts). I started painting them years ago and actually even got to play a fair number of games with them way back when Hordes first released. Unfortunately work and real life took a different turn (we moved out to Arizona from California) and miniature hobbying took a backseat.

But now that we've started up again, I'm excited to start painting again. In the the next few posts I will be posting up pics of my currently painted trolls.

Fully Painted: Mauler, Axer, Impaler, Champions

Partially Painted: Fell Caller, Krielstone Bearers and Stone Scribe Elder, Grim Angus

For gaming, I will be going with a different warlock than Grim Angus. Although I really like how he looks, I think I will be going with Madrak 1, instead because he is a bit more straightforward and probably less frustrating for Mrs. Troll to play against. Plus for our first game I figure we will be going at each other with battle boxes to learn the game.

Choosing the Circle of Orboros

A stash of wolves and druids awaiting assembly.

Mrs. Troll: In years past, we've assembled, painted, and played various Warhammer armies and sub-series, such as Mordheim. Over the years and for a variety of reasons too long to delve into, we've diverted our appreciation for miniature gaming to Privateer Press, which includes both Warmachine and Hordes armies. Compared to Mr. Troll, who will be featuring his Trollblood miniatures, I am pretty much a newbie to the Warmachine world and a bit rusty at painting, but hoping that will improve as this blog develops. I personally like a lot of the Privateer miniatures simply because they are innovative. A lot of the Warmachine warjack models like this Crusader have an almost anime-esque design. A lot of the cool characters are also female and appear carefully and aesthetically designed, such as this gorgeous warcaster unit, Captain Victoria Haley, or Thyra the Flame of Sorrow (can you say battle nun?).

I ended up picking the Circle of Orboros (Druid) faction of Hordes, namely because the army required only a few units and because I just think wolves and hooded dudes look cool.The Protectorate of Menoth and Legion of Everblight were close seconds. I chose Mohsar the Desert Walker to be my main warcaster (apparently he flings pillars of salt). Interestingly enough, we searched over 4 gaming stores (they didn't have most Druid models in stock) in our area before we finally ended up at the Gaming Saloon, which belongs to the inventor of Battlefoam LLC (yes, you should get some if you enjoy miniatures). The store was pristine and well-stocked, and the owner helpful and friendly.

Finally ended up getting: 1) Mohsar 2) Blackclad Wayfarer 3) Druids of Orboros box 4) Battlegroup box and 5) War Wolf.