Eater of the dead

Believe it or not, but in the little spare time I had today (an hour or two while the youngest was sleeping) I finished my Gaki.
Not the best paintjob I have ever done, but he will have to do, like many other Bushido miniatures I painted recently.

Now that he is finished, I can focus on the Tadao and Shichiro as the first miniatures for my challenge and the first 50 rice.
After that, Gengo, Araka and my Wraith are also waiting to see a lick of paint, especially as my list for the tournament isn't finished yet.

I really have to thank Sam and Richard for giving me a lot of advice and tips! Without them my list would perhaps look a bit different and probably be a lot less competitive.
So: "Thank you very much!"

Thanks a lot for reading!

Wouter
 

The orphan of Yurei

A quick update as I have to babysit my three boys today :).

I actually finished the pair this week, but I was unable to post them before.
They were painted rather fast, 4 hours for two models is a new record for me.
But as Wrath was very straigthforward to do, using only one base colour, I could concentrate on Taka.

Taka is a bit scary, there is something about her which startles me.
Perhaps reminding me of some  Japanese horror movies I saw in the past.
The fact I recently received my acquired the first edition of Little Fears (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Fears), a horror RPG where you play as little children, also didn't help.

For the ones who don't know little Fears, let me explain.
I don't mind playing RPG's where the characters are children, like Grimm (https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/grimm-rpg/) and Little Fears second edition, the last being a bit of a survival horror game where children fight of the monsters under their beds and in their closets. As my players no doubt can confirm, I'm also a big fan of psychological horror and thriller RPG's, bringing my players despair is what I like to do best ;).
Little Fears, the 1st edition was rumoured to be used by psychiatrists to help children with Trauma's, so I really wanted to check it out.
There is something about the world described in the book that doesn't sit right with me, it is almost as if it gives child molesters and pedophiles a reason to misbehave.
As a father of three children I have struggled to keep on reading.
The writer describes in his afterword how he plunged in to deep, seeing photos and reading articles he will likely never forget, and the game became almost uplayable. You can feel that when reading the pages, ...

Now, for something lighter, I just need to finish my gaki this weekend.
Tadao and Shichiro are undercoated on my desk for this week, and I sincerely hope to finish them before Friday so I can field 50rice

The demo Yesterday was big fun, me and my friend learned a lot.
Both in tactics and rules we played wrong the first time.
I played a three man strong Temple of Ro Kan force (Kenko, Yumi and a rice farmer) and was amazed with how versatile they are. They can easily switch between offence or defence, just by spending a few ki.
I lost against a Ito force though, mostly because of bad die rolls (a 1 on defence three times in a row) on a critical moment, but had a lot of fun and that's what counts.

Thank you for reading!

Cheers

Wouter


 

Master of puppets ...

... but it is Yurei who actually pulls his strings.

 

Alright, I finished my last miniature from the starter set just in time, about an hour before our test-game.

I must admit I’m not entirely happy about how he turned out, as his skin looks a bit unnatural and flat in places (especially on his hands and arms).

The skin-colour is a bit hurdle as I expected, it is somewhere between a tan and white skin. Unfortunately the colour I choose was a bit too dark and not quite Asian. I hope to do better next time, although I have very little miniatures to paint with an Asian skin tone as most are either spirits, monsters or undead.

The overall look of the starter is fine in my opinion and does have this dark and brooding feeling.

 

Our test game yesterday was a bit of a wakeup call, meaning it showed how much I (we) have to learn. I didn’t take any pictures as my friend is still waiting for his miniatures to arrive from Wayland Games and he was using proxies. It was also the first time I brought out my (unpainted) Secret Weapon Rolling Fields demo board.

We had to go through the rulebook a lot, but that isn’t so surprising for a first game. I’m not going to give a full battle-report, but here are the highlights of the game.

At the start we decided it would be a game with a variable game-length. Meaning we would start to roll to see if the game ended after the 3th turn.

1-      Minuro shot my armoured Kairai for three damage.

2-      Powered with 7 ki (one I stole from a kairai with Conspiracy of the Cult), I obliterated Hanzo at the start of the second turn with Ikiryo! Kato was too far away to bring him back as a kairai though.

3-      I moved the armoured kairai into melee with Jin, but despite to First strike and Precision strike I was saved from any wounds by my toughness.

4-      Hiro charged my armoured kairai in his turn with Unblockable strike and removed him from the game with a single strike (doubles), with no chance for a Rise test.

5-      Minuro shot the kairai farmer, but the kairai was saved once more by his toughness. I’m starting to really like that Trait!

6-      In the 3^th turn I managed to kill Jin with another blast from Ikiryo (hurrah for a 12” range), but again Kato was too far away. Sigh

7-      In the 4^th turn Hiro was surrounded by my two remaining kairai, Kato and a controlled ashigaru with a polearm, and still I was unable to do him any harm. In return he vaporized my kairai militia (another double). Damn the man is good.

8-      With the ashigaru no longer under my control, my kairai farmer down and Kato grievously wounded things looked very bleak. I was more than happy the game ended after the 6^th turn.

Which meant I scraped a meager (1 point difference) victory. If the game would have gone on I would surely have lost.

I’m a bit at loss on how to tackle Hiro, the guy is near unkillable and more than able to take on my entire starter set all by himself. I had thrown everything at him I had, and he walked away with a small scratch. Only Ikiryo was able to damage the guy as her Ki feat ignores armour. But with his Strong mind even an opposed ki test is a big challenge.

On top of that he has a lot of rerolls for various tests (Martial Prowess, Parry, ...), making it a big gamble to attack him in the first place.

 As his speed is average he is also too fast to ignore.

With their bravery and leadership, the Fear (4) of the kairai, even with chill, did exactly nothing and wasn’t worth the Leech.

I was also unable to perform any Rise test because all my models were instantly removed from the game and getting Kato into position to bring back killed opponents as kairai would mean putting him in charge distance of Hiro.

I could have focused on Hiro from the start with Ikiryo though, but Hanzo was a juicier target and would rob my opponent of a lot of advantages like Tactician and the ability to do extra actions with his ashigaru.

Well, lesson learned, now I have to find a way to do better next time.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

Almost there

Hello,

This weekend I finished two more kairai. I must admit it is unusual for me to finish so many models in such a short time.
I didn't have the time to post pictures about them until today though.
Not that I have much choice when it comes to painting, if I want to do my first starterbox game this Friday I really need to paint a little faster.
Since WH40K I refuse to play with unpainted miniatures or proxies, only fully painted miniatures on the gaming table!
Luckily I have only Kato to go, as I already laid the final hand on the marionette which was a pretty simple and easy job.

The armoured kairai was painted like a ashigaru from the prefecture with dark blue clothes and black armour.

Hope you like them.
Thank you for reading!

Wouter
 

Geisha in distress

I managed to finish Ikiryo today, which was my reward for finishing the first two kairai :-).

Choosing a scheme for her kimono was fun all on it's own!
Painting it, while trying to do a quick job a challenge.

I decided not to give her a white powdered face, which is a bit the trademark of a geisha, as it would make her look too much like a kairai.
For the skin I wanted a more sickly colour as to show the influence of Yurei on her, finished of with yellow eyes without a pupil.
While taking a few pictures I learned a new trick, deflecting the light makes the colours brighter on the photo!
The first picture was my inspiration for the kimono.

I hope you like her.

And a picture with her umbrella, which casts a bit of a shadow over her. Because of this the photo turned out darker.

I have one other kairai almost finished, which I hope to finish this weekend.
Meaning I need to do my armoured kairai and Kato before next Friday :-\.

Thank you for reading!

Time for (another) challenge

I saw this challenge on Cheaphammer's blog and immediately decided to jump in too.
http://cheaphammer.blogspot.be/

The rules are pretty simple and will hopefully help to keep my buying habit, which is really getting out of hand lately, under control and help me to keep on painting.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ConqueringTheLeadMountain/
http://historyspiderweb.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/alright-everybody-its-time-for-2nd.html

So, here's the rules to which I should abide for the next 6 months:

Alright everybody, it's time for the 2nd Annual 6 Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge or 6MMRPC.  We've changed up the time frame - it's going to run from June 1, 2015 thru November 30, 2015.  This avoids Christmas.  There have also been a few rules changes, and some exciting additions IN BOLD.

1. No purchasing of new miniatures, EXCEPT if you use a joker.  You get three jokers to use on a figure purchase.  Could be a blister pack, an ebay bundle, or a single figure...you can't splurge. The only exception to this rule is if you need bitz or A FIGURE (Singular) to complete a unit/warband etc.

1.1 - There is an opportunity to "earn" additional jokers.  If you complete an entire project (whole unit/army/warband etc.) with pictures of starting, WIP, and completion, you earn yourself a Joker. 

2.  Gifts do not count against you. Holidays, birthdays etc. Also, if you're given gift cards by your hobby illiterate family or friends, you can without penalty use them on anything you want miniatures wise.

3.  Paints, terrain (or materials), and other hobby supplies do not apply to the no purchasing rule.

4.  At least one hobby related blog post and/or Instagram update a week.  If you instagram, be sure to hashtag your pic with #6MMRPC

5.  Zombtober will be part of the 6 month challenge so, Zombie related stuff during October is ENCOURAGED. Other theme suggestions are welcomed.

6.  Anyone that wants to submit a before and after picture of a miniature that they are proud of completing during the course of the challenge to dmcffd@gmail.com will be entered into the running for a gift certificate to a online wargaming store of their choice.  Judging will be by an un-biased person.  Amount on the gift certificate will be dictated by winners nationality but should work out to about $30 U.S. I (Spiderweb of History) will not be eligible to win. 



No update on my Bushido miniatures unfortunately. But my reward for finishing two kairai is almost finished, so I hope to post her tomorrow :).

Thank you for reading!



 

Another mindless Kairai

I managed to finish another Kairai.
At this rate I will never get to paint everything I want though, so I need to select the mini's I really want to play with, which means I really need to start thinking about a competitive list for the tournament.

To make things worse, I just got a box with a lot of World of twilight goodies (part of my pledge and some Salute sale additions) and Rudders also offered to pick up some Rident for me. So it becomes hard to focus. Time to reward myself for finishing two Kairai ;-).

I wanted a more worn effect on the edge of the bases, instead of the usual black. So I dibbed a sponge on the black paint while it was still wet, showing a bit of the basecoat.

Thank you for reading!

Wouter

 

 

 

 

The shambling horde

A new project?
Why? You should be finishing your World of Twilight.
Very true, but let me explain, ...

About a week ago I suddenly received a message on the Bushido forums, a site I hadn't visited for years. The massage was an invitation for 'the Yamato Spirit', a Bushido tournament in Leuven (which isn't so far from where I live).
Impulsive as I am, I asked my friend and regular opponent if he wanted to compete, well aware he had shown interest in the game before. So his answer was predictable: "Yes of course!".

My choice of faction was a no-brainer as I already had a starter and some other miniatures stored away in a box somewhere. It took me a while to find them though, as they hadn't seen the light of day in about two years.
They have been neglected for a while, so I hope they don't give me some bad luck :).
A few years ago, when our group showed some interest in Malifaux, I bought the Cult of Yurei starter box as part of a Kirai group I liked to collect. The Japanese zombies (aka Kairai) of the Cult looked perfect for a eastern themed undead force. Malifaux never got further than a spark though, and I sold of most of my miniatures for the game. The Cult ending up in a box, ready to be put on Ebay whenever I felt the need or liked to.

Truth to be told, I don't know how I will fare with them, as it feels a bit like I'm in the wrong corner again.
For some reason I always find myself picking the sneaky tactical forces (Cryx, Goblins for Freebooter's Fate, Skaven for Mordheim, Orcs and Venrier in Wolsung), while I'm actually a very straigthforward no-nonsense type of player. So savage Wave would have suited me better.
But on the other hand, the Cult has (very arguably) the best looking girls around (I hope my wife doesn't read this) :D and participating is more important than winning (spoken like a loser).

Heres's my first Kairai, and my favourite as well. I like the grinning mask and the way she drags a hammer along which is far too heavy for her frail body.
I stepped away from the usual rotting flesh skin colour and went for a more sinister dark grey colour instead.
Not my best paintjob, but I have very little time and far too many miniatures to finish, so she will have to do.

Thank you for reading!

Wouter