So I finally got my finger out of my proverbial and made a YouTube channel. Now the main goal is tot release videos that people can paint along to. So when you in the wo/man cave or basement or wherever you paint you can feel a little bit less alone as you chill out listen to light music and paint along.
I have other ideas for video as well but we will see what happens and what happens
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIJcVRV7maSgJYhKZ_PigbA
https://www.patreon.com/NoTimeToGame
Friday 4 October 2019
Journey to be a Master: Part two - First finished model
Well it's been a little bit of time since I last posted but here is the next one. I have actually finished a model the finished fully painted and based model I have done in years.
A Fungoid Cave Shaman from Games Workshop and my god what a model it has so much going on on it with so many textures I found at times myself at a lose what to do next as I didn't really plan anything going in.
Getting over those blocks was the most difficult part of this along with using a new paint range (Scale 75 Scale Color).
A Fungoid Cave Shaman from Games Workshop and my god what a model it has so much going on on it with so many textures I found at times myself at a lose what to do next as I didn't really plan anything going in.
Getting over those blocks was the most difficult part of this along with using a new paint range (Scale 75 Scale Color).
As you can see this guy has a bit of everything chitin, flesh, cloth, metal and even glass so it really helped me get back into the swing of things
The bottle in particular was fun to paint, while I feel the highlight lines are slightly thick it was still a fun play with blending.
Future things to pay attention to are definitely make sure to wick the brush off to ensure that when I'm glazing that I don't get a wash effect, always add more contrast and sub assemblies are definitely the way for this sort of model (shame all my gobbos are already built)
Wednesday 25 September 2019
Journey to be a Painting Master: Part One
Journey to be a Painting Master
The Beginning
So as Jackie Chan once shouted "Who Am I". I am known online as Katana100. I started the Wargaming/Minis hobby around 20 years (as of this post I am 31) with a couple of small breaks, the standard Uni one and after working for Games Workshop and being made redundant I had a little break as well.
I started in a very classic way, a young lad I went to town on a saturday morning for breakfast with my uncle and we used to go for a wander around the town as their was this strange shop under a multistory carpark called Games Workshop eventually we went inside and this the dark days began... I mean my love of the hobby started. It started with the Kharn the Betrayer and Cipher metal models and eventually I got a starter box. I had a crack at painting them but all i had was a couple of gw inks and some old humbrol enamals and this was the result
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| Kharn the Betrayer - My very first model |
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| Ciper - Dark Angel Guy |
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| Terrible Rat Swarm |
I became consumed a bit by the hobby during this time learning all the lore, battle tactics and everything I could about painting with GW stuff I personally owned almost the entire paint range from this, built, painted and played practically every army going and GW even when this was the height of it being very corparate was a great company to work for and I dont regret the experience but all things come to an end as I was made redundant sadly which no matter how much you love something leaves a bitter taste in your mouth that took a while to get over even if I did understand the reason and i definitly dont blame my awesome manager from the time.
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| This Knight was one of the last things I painted while working for GW |
A little more time passed and eventually I picked up my old models but during this time I had learnt that there was more to wargaming than Games Workshop so my re-entry into the hobby came this time with a wider bredth of interests but as age goes things like career and having children take a lot of you time so I find that I dont play very often as that is simply a commitment i struggle to keep to but painting at home late at night when the kids are asleep this I can do.
This new era was more kicked of by picking up a copy of White Dwarf randomly and discovering the Blanchitsu section and from this Inq28 and AOS28, love it or hate it it is very different to normal games workshop as was a massive departure from what I was used to and it was from this that the spark was re-ignighted.
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| In my Bitz box I found half a minotaur so had a crack at the Inq28/AOS28 style |
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| The nurgley brother to the minotaur above - using a random Stormcast model as its base |
This series will follow how I attempt to improve painting whether that be indivudal models, armies or musings on techniques or art in general.
Katana100 Signing out
Monday 19 August 2019
Rulebook Reviews: Monsterpocalypse
NTTG RULEBOOK REVIEWS: Monsterpocalyse
Welcome to a NTTG rule book review. This is a review of the rulebook in an unplayed state in which I give a breakdown and some thoughts on the rulebook for the given game. I like to do this in a unplayed state as I can then give honest opinion on the writing, layout and how easy I believe it is to understand without any previous taint or prior knowledge of the game.
(Disclaimer: I am an awful writer so if you have an issue with grammer and spelling this probably isn't the site for you, but I do try my best haha)
Game: Monsterpocalypse
Company: Privateer Press
Release Date: 2018
Number of Pages: 44 (PDF)
Author: Well it a PP product so
What is Monsterpocalypse?
A tabletop skirmish game released by Privateer press where you get to live out your godzilla fantasy or bet the ever living snot out of a giant monster in a gaint robot or you know commit to a Martian invasion and if that really isn't enough why not just go King Kong on your opponent.
Book Breakdown:
The rulebook opens on "Welcome to the Battle" that opens with a small description of what then game is and then goes on to describe what armies you can play (but not how to make them). You choose an agenda between "Protectors" and "Destroyers" and within these agendas you have smaller factions meaning you can either play as a faction or go full mixed up agenda in your army composition but you have to stick to one agenda. The book describes 6 factions G. U. A. R. D, Shadow Sun Syndicate, Terrorsaurs (Frigging Dinosaurs!), Lords of Cthul, Martian Menace (UFOs anyone) and Planet Eaters (which I keep reading as plant eaters) .
What you need to play:
This section is a breakdown of basics terms and items you need to understand to be able to play through the game.
It starts with describing the 3 different types of models in the game, monsters, the big beasties that are the mainstay of your army and if they die you lose, units, the little minion models that support your monster, and building, the bits of scenary you get to smash.
Next we have our battlemat in this case it seems that it will usually be a city scape on a gridded mat that shows where to place you building etc.
Now a contentious point with many games if goes on to explain the custom dice, personally I'm undediced on this subject but I can understand people annoyance, you get three types of these power, action and boost. The dice have 3 symbols on the, blank which indicated a miss, one explosion called a strike and 2 explosions called a super strike. The battlemat has a sections for dice for either player and when you take actions and such you use the dice you have from the respective dice pools. Action dice have an interesting mechanic in which when you spend them from one pool I. E the monster pool it moves to the other pool I. E the unit pool and vice versa. Boost dice are pretty simple, they are free bonus when you perform certain things that say you have a boost in. Power dice are quite interesting in that they have better odds of getting a strike to the action dice but they need to be earned by doing things like destroy enemy models.
Moving on from dice we enter the stay card explanations. This is something I like to see games using unit cards becuase if they are done well you barely need to look in the rulebook when playing and even when not they are just a handy dandy reminder. The card seem to be pretty simple, it shows their speed and def star, what type of attacks they have of which their are 3, Brawl, blast and power (only monster have power) and any special rules they may have. Monster also have a second side that they flip to when damaged to a certain level. Monster also have a health tracker but units and buildings don't as they are one hit kills.
Gameplay Overview:
Good news the game uses alternating activation, well I admit this is personal preference as I feel it more engaging that the classic I go you go.
Your first turn you activate a unit then for the rest of the game you make the choice between a unit or a monster.
A unit has the choice between, spawn, advance (move), attack or push (give up dice). Monster are basically the same except they have power up instead of spawn.
We then go onto describing movement which boils down to using the models spd stay and moving that many squares on the grid, this movement is either horizontal or vertical but if it part of the advance phase it can also be diagonal. Restriction are simple monsters can move through allied models and enemy units but not eneumy monsters or buildings a unit can move only through allied models and no one can end on the same square as another model or off the mat.
Monster can be cheeky and spend an action dice to "step" one more square.
Terrian is pretty standard, you have openx rough (counts as two to move through it) or impassable, ofcourse if you model has high mobility rule it can move through anything as long as it doesn't end its move in an illegal state I. E on impassable terrain or another model.
Now ending next to another models puts you in one of 3 states, adjacent which is basically you are next to a model, base to base which is next to model but not diagonal and aligned which is when a monster is fully in contact with another monster.
All through this comes with handy and well done pictures that help explain everything well.
Attacking:
This is quite a nice elegant system, each attack has a number of action dice you can spend on an attack so if it says 4 you can spend up to 4 dice, add on thr number of boost dice if the attack has any and any power dice you have earned if you want to and roll them. Add all the strikes you get and if they beat the opponents defence you have been successful. Monster also have a power attack option which required spending at least 1 power dice to use. Each successful attack causes 1 damage unless it has super damage or some power attacks.
Interacting with the battlemat:
This sections of the rulebook looks at interacting with the, environment in different ways. Firstly the battlemats have areas marked where you need to place buildings and if you don't place a building their it just counts as open space. You can attack and destroy the buildings and when you do they usually leave a hazardous area that can damage you, some leave rubble or can be fixed with certain powers to rubble.
The other thing you can do with buildings is secure them which provides buffs for your army, the more secured building the better.
There are other special zones that can be secured and offer additional benefits if secured.
Getting Ready To Play:
The rulebook details a very clear set up instruction, gather your army, both side have the same amount of monster and for each monster you get to bring a certain number of units and you also bring along some buildings. You then roll for iniative and start deploying your models. This is the usual affair we see from games.
Order of Play:
This details what we have seen before just going into more detail on the different activations so basically we do alternating activation and follow the set activation route for the unit type chosen.
The rules we hadn't seen where power up, which just let's your monster get power dice for secured objectives, and spawn, which allows you to spend dice to bring new units on via spawn points.
Units can also do a combined attack, I'm not sure why you wouldn't put this in the attack section of the rulebook but hey ho, this allows units adjacent to an enemy to combine into one super attack so they actually stand a chance of hurting monsters.
You keep playing until one side loses all its monsters the other player is then the Winner woohoo.
Special Rules:
The special rule section goes on to describe how to use models special abilities called actions, which all cost at least one action dice to activate, and it offers a really good timing breakdown of how to apply special effects to model and when they happen etc this is nice to see as lot of books just sya, special rules replace or supersede the general rule but having a set timing can really help them make sense and clear confusion.
It then goes on to explain the power attacks in detail, these are an attack and allow you to do fun things like throw other models or body slam them, but they are just attacks with extra effects and work in a similar way as before.
The books then ends with a coop scenario in which two player split control of planet eaters from the starter set against a AI controlled Guard force. It seems to be very much a introduction game to get 2 players used to the rules.
Thoughts and Feelings:
So overall the book seems to provide a simple skirmish game that has some gaint monster flavour. It presented overall in nice fashion with plenty of useful diagrams and pictures and has an index at the back!.
I don't do any score or star rating but I do give my opinion on if the rulebook makes me want to play the game and in this case:
LETS GET PLAYING!
Author: Well it a PP product so
A tabletop skirmish game released by Privateer press where you get to live out your godzilla fantasy or bet the ever living snot out of a giant monster in a gaint robot or you know commit to a Martian invasion and if that really isn't enough why not just go King Kong on your opponent.
Book Breakdown:
The rulebook opens on "Welcome to the Battle" that opens with a small description of what then game is and then goes on to describe what armies you can play (but not how to make them). You choose an agenda between "Protectors" and "Destroyers" and within these agendas you have smaller factions meaning you can either play as a faction or go full mixed up agenda in your army composition but you have to stick to one agenda. The book describes 6 factions G. U. A. R. D, Shadow Sun Syndicate, Terrorsaurs (Frigging Dinosaurs!), Lords of Cthul, Martian Menace (UFOs anyone) and Planet Eaters (which I keep reading as plant eaters) .
What you need to play:
This section is a breakdown of basics terms and items you need to understand to be able to play through the game.
It starts with describing the 3 different types of models in the game, monsters, the big beasties that are the mainstay of your army and if they die you lose, units, the little minion models that support your monster, and building, the bits of scenary you get to smash.
Next we have our battlemat in this case it seems that it will usually be a city scape on a gridded mat that shows where to place you building etc.
Now a contentious point with many games if goes on to explain the custom dice, personally I'm undediced on this subject but I can understand people annoyance, you get three types of these power, action and boost. The dice have 3 symbols on the, blank which indicated a miss, one explosion called a strike and 2 explosions called a super strike. The battlemat has a sections for dice for either player and when you take actions and such you use the dice you have from the respective dice pools. Action dice have an interesting mechanic in which when you spend them from one pool I. E the monster pool it moves to the other pool I. E the unit pool and vice versa. Boost dice are pretty simple, they are free bonus when you perform certain things that say you have a boost in. Power dice are quite interesting in that they have better odds of getting a strike to the action dice but they need to be earned by doing things like destroy enemy models.
Moving on from dice we enter the stay card explanations. This is something I like to see games using unit cards becuase if they are done well you barely need to look in the rulebook when playing and even when not they are just a handy dandy reminder. The card seem to be pretty simple, it shows their speed and def star, what type of attacks they have of which their are 3, Brawl, blast and power (only monster have power) and any special rules they may have. Monster also have a second side that they flip to when damaged to a certain level. Monster also have a health tracker but units and buildings don't as they are one hit kills.
Gameplay Overview:
Good news the game uses alternating activation, well I admit this is personal preference as I feel it more engaging that the classic I go you go.
Your first turn you activate a unit then for the rest of the game you make the choice between a unit or a monster.
A unit has the choice between, spawn, advance (move), attack or push (give up dice). Monster are basically the same except they have power up instead of spawn.
We then go onto describing movement which boils down to using the models spd stay and moving that many squares on the grid, this movement is either horizontal or vertical but if it part of the advance phase it can also be diagonal. Restriction are simple monsters can move through allied models and enemy units but not eneumy monsters or buildings a unit can move only through allied models and no one can end on the same square as another model or off the mat.
Monster can be cheeky and spend an action dice to "step" one more square.
Terrian is pretty standard, you have openx rough (counts as two to move through it) or impassable, ofcourse if you model has high mobility rule it can move through anything as long as it doesn't end its move in an illegal state I. E on impassable terrain or another model.
Now ending next to another models puts you in one of 3 states, adjacent which is basically you are next to a model, base to base which is next to model but not diagonal and aligned which is when a monster is fully in contact with another monster.
All through this comes with handy and well done pictures that help explain everything well.
Attacking:
This is quite a nice elegant system, each attack has a number of action dice you can spend on an attack so if it says 4 you can spend up to 4 dice, add on thr number of boost dice if the attack has any and any power dice you have earned if you want to and roll them. Add all the strikes you get and if they beat the opponents defence you have been successful. Monster also have a power attack option which required spending at least 1 power dice to use. Each successful attack causes 1 damage unless it has super damage or some power attacks.
Interacting with the battlemat:
This sections of the rulebook looks at interacting with the, environment in different ways. Firstly the battlemats have areas marked where you need to place buildings and if you don't place a building their it just counts as open space. You can attack and destroy the buildings and when you do they usually leave a hazardous area that can damage you, some leave rubble or can be fixed with certain powers to rubble.
The other thing you can do with buildings is secure them which provides buffs for your army, the more secured building the better.
There are other special zones that can be secured and offer additional benefits if secured.
Getting Ready To Play:
The rulebook details a very clear set up instruction, gather your army, both side have the same amount of monster and for each monster you get to bring a certain number of units and you also bring along some buildings. You then roll for iniative and start deploying your models. This is the usual affair we see from games.
Order of Play:
This details what we have seen before just going into more detail on the different activations so basically we do alternating activation and follow the set activation route for the unit type chosen.
The rules we hadn't seen where power up, which just let's your monster get power dice for secured objectives, and spawn, which allows you to spend dice to bring new units on via spawn points.
Units can also do a combined attack, I'm not sure why you wouldn't put this in the attack section of the rulebook but hey ho, this allows units adjacent to an enemy to combine into one super attack so they actually stand a chance of hurting monsters.
You keep playing until one side loses all its monsters the other player is then the Winner woohoo.
Special Rules:
The special rule section goes on to describe how to use models special abilities called actions, which all cost at least one action dice to activate, and it offers a really good timing breakdown of how to apply special effects to model and when they happen etc this is nice to see as lot of books just sya, special rules replace or supersede the general rule but having a set timing can really help them make sense and clear confusion.
It then goes on to explain the power attacks in detail, these are an attack and allow you to do fun things like throw other models or body slam them, but they are just attacks with extra effects and work in a similar way as before.
The books then ends with a coop scenario in which two player split control of planet eaters from the starter set against a AI controlled Guard force. It seems to be very much a introduction game to get 2 players used to the rules.
Thoughts and Feelings:
So overall the book seems to provide a simple skirmish game that has some gaint monster flavour. It presented overall in nice fashion with plenty of useful diagrams and pictures and has an index at the back!.
I don't do any score or star rating but I do give my opinion on if the rulebook makes me want to play the game and in this case:
LETS GET PLAYING!
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