squidguy

Yep, glue gun stuff. The bases of the flame pillars are discs of clear acrylic plastic, and I used clear packing tape to provide the basic structure. Packing tape kind of melts and twists under the heat of the glue gun, which I think helps the appearance. Hot glue takes really well to both GW and Reaper paints so a quick drybrushing and you're out the door. I think it took me two hours to make five pillars, but most of that was because I insisted on doing the electronics myself instead of just using LED tea lights like a sensible person would have. With an extra set of hands, one could knock out two dozen in an afternoon, and they work as blast markers, fire pillars, Growing Fire tokens, and pyre markers.

Hey guys, haven't posted anything new in a while, but there's a new book out so I figured I'd whip up something to take the new Avatar forms for a spin. To start, I took a plain 50mm base and sculpted flames using Elastomeric Custom Patch. I practiced the technique on some 30mm bases you can see in the foreground, which I'll probably use as burn counters. The flames form a neat ring on the 50mm base, so I can use the base to 'avatar up' whatever master I feel like using. The LED pillars were way easier than they look. They're mostly hot glue. LED, some copper wire, a watch battery, boom. Glowing flame pillars. They also work for blast tokens and ruining your opponent's day.

You sir or madame have just become my Internet Hero. Dremel or file probably, and I'm guessing it'll be a matter of 'filing too much away, cursing profusely, and backfilling the gaping void with green stuff.'

Let's see. Second-to-last in the spring league, fourteenth in the fall metro league, and now eighth place in the RIW tournament... slowly but surely, it appears that I'm getting the hang of this! Progress! Big ups to Chuck T for being consistently fun to play against, Dan'O for being an all-around rad guy and Zac for running a completely diabolical Raspy list. I learned a lot from you guys. Great tournament Bowen, you run a tight ship.

Awesome job, even if you feel the same way about your Rasputina as I feel about my Nino. Is there anything we can just dunk a model in that will strip all the paint in one go without dissolving the pewter?

I assembled the chest and back before greening it into the shoulder socket, let it dry, and greened it into the waist. There's a seam of green but it's not as bad as your situation sounds. The only real trouble I had on yours was the arms. The big arms socket neatly into the front, and the little arms socket perfectly into the back, so of course that is precisely NOT how the model is supposed to look. It's a bit disappointing but heads-up just so that doesn't catch anybody else by surprise.

I am having a hard time describing how awesome this is without expletives. You just never quit do you? Wow. And as much as I don't wanna die on rezzie turf, I am well aware that we are overdue for a rematch. Also: what's your thought process behind designing fixed terrain like this? Do you usually playtest prototypes, work from sketches, throw it together off the top of your head?

Thanks for the feedback guys, I never thought I'd have to buy a politician to solve my problems but here we are. This is extremely cunning. Will keep in mind.

Nice paints and basing! That's a pretty good take on the 'official' paint schemes. You're going to have a lot of fun with Lady J.

It would seem as though I'm being called out. Very well boys. It's on. Thanks! Denim is a practical material for gunfights. It's durable, breathes easy, and it won't fuse to skin when exposed to direct flame, like synthetic fabrics often do. Moreover, its absorbent qualities make it excellent for staunching the blood flow of a bullet wound. Plus, it's machine washable! Excellent! I am currently marinating in praise, Old Spice, and fetid lakewater. I don't think it's possible for me to smell any manlier.

Nice work, how'd you do your bases?

I'm currently working on my Executioner now, and I hope to have a Guild Guard and Austringer as soon as I can find one (no hurry there, they look like a lot of fun but I have a lot of units that I still haven't really explored yet from a tactical standpoint). In the meantime, here's everything I've got: all Guild, all the time, because WHO DOESN'T LOVE BIG GUNS AND TOTALITARIANISM. Lady Justice: Currently my main master. She's like a sword-wielding freight train. What's not to love? Tried pairing her with a Student of Conflict once but it was like the episode of Mythbusters where they tried to build a rocket car. http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/?action=view&current=Perdita.jpg Perdita: Second-string because I'm really not any good with her. Ridiculous defense, high willpower, great offense, gets shredded like tissue paper. http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/?action=view&current=Soniia.jpg Soniia: A conundrum: Soniia is extremely adept at taking down Rasputina. The only Raspy player I know is my girlfriend. So basically this mini is only good for ruining my evening. :hmmmm: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Nino.jpg Nino: Every time I make a ranged Repeating Rifle Strike, his ankle breaks. It is now 100% J-B Weld. I made the base out of balsa foam, carved and absolutely saturated with superglue. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Santiago.jpg Santiago: Here we go! He's big, he's angry, and he gets bigger and angrier the more damage he takes! I've never used Leadstorm before. Is it any good? http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Papa.jpg Papa Loco: This was my first lighting effect paint scheme and every time I look at him I see a tiny screaming Tim Allen. Please tell me I'm not the only one. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Francisco.jpg Francisco: You're a snappy dresser, Frank. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Witchling.jpg Witchling: He's basically there in case I can have Soniia get Violation of Magic to go off. It usually doesn't. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Convict.jpg Convict Gunslinger: Probably one of my favorite paint jobs (please note the bandages and how rad they are), and the one mini that I tell everybody, absolutely everybody, to run out and grab. He has Trigger Happy, he has Lifer, he has Ruthless, he's only 5/6 points to field, why don't you have one already? Is there something wrong with you? http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Marshal.jpg Marshals: Yeah, they look cool, but they're probably my least useful units. I deploy them, and then they explode. Or get gored. Or ripped in half. Or knocked off a cliff. Or turned into zombie prostitutes. Or shot. Or set on fire. Or devoured. You get the picture. I mean, I'm well aware of what they CAN do, but when I field them all they do is (0): Die. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Samael.jpg Samael: I will be honest: this guy is a one man partying war machine. When I put Sam on the board, things you cherish will die. After being set on fire. And then he'll arrest anybody in the vicinity for loitering and being a general nuisance. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/ubersquid/Judge.jpg Judge: I'm pretty proud of the paint job on this dude, but I haven't gotten to use him yet. So, is he cool, Internet? I'll let you decide. So that's all I've got, guys. I'll be quiet now.

So I don't want to name names, or call anybody out, but my Guild crew has had a bit of trouble with Terrifying lately. And by "a bit" I mean "at least half of my crew losing one or more morale duels per game and getting completely bifurcated before they've had the opportunity to fire a shot." So I need to think of some, whaddayacallem, strategies. Just thinking out loud here. Obviously I'd want to start by leaving low-Wp minions on the sidelines (sorry Papa). The Peacekeeper is appealing, at least for higher-SS games, because he's a construct and therefore immune (right?). I'm a bit cagey on running the PK and Executioner in the same game together but I think someone on my crew who could be proactive about administering Terrify would be helpful. And the Convict Gunslinger/Taelor are both Lifers, so that's kind of a logical choice. What else works? Is the Governor's Proxy a good idea? He sounds like he could either be "awesome" or "stupidly dangerous" to field against, say, a horde of Mature Nephilim. Models with Terrifying AND Charge drive me kind of nuts too. Would a Guild Guard (using Cordon) be an effective way to keep this situation under control? And lastly, the main Neverborn guy I play against has been wayyy too excited about the prospect of maybe fielding Pandora some day. Is there anything I can do about that aside from maybe egging his car? Maybe make a game board that consists entirely of deep ravines and magma, and have Perdita Obey Pandora right off a cliff?

I'm a huge fan of my Peacekeeper even though I always feel like he could be doing more. Part of that is the degree of ARGH IT'S A PEACEKEEPER KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT that he invokes from the other player, but overall he's a pretty versatile lil guy. The Chain Spear Drag and the Paired Mechanical Claws Toss can be crazy fun and devastating depending on your terrain choices, and honestly the malfunction rules aren't a big deal. Also, you can discard a card from your control hand for one extra Walk. Combine that with its Arachnid tendencies and you've got a big model that can cover a lot of ground really quickly, which most players don't expect. So, overall: extremely menacing, lots of 'fun' moves, and typically he's alive to the last turn in any game I field him in. I'm a fan.

Cool pose, you really made it work with the base. I've heard pinning mentioned a lot around the forums but I've never bothered with it -- do you think it's worth the extra effort over the 'gobs of superglue everywhere' approach?