Wet palate and wip elf

I tried something new yesterday, a wet palate.

It's very simple and keeps your paint wet, which also helps while blending.
Failry easy to make at a low cost. Have a look at this video for a quick guide and how to.

It improved my painting and I also saved on paint.
Give it a try, you won't be sorry!

What did I paint then, using the wet palete?

I recently got my reward from the Impact miniatures kickstarter and I couldn't wait until I'd finished my underworld team, I had to start my elf team (which I'll mostly use as dark elves and pro elves).

I undercoated the miniature in black, but did something that I haven't done before. I drybrushed the model with white. This made it easier to pick up details and it's also something I'd recommend.

Here's a wip of the first lineelf.

First elf

I'd initially though I'd use gold instead of silver, for the armour triming and yellow for the hair and other details, but it didn't work as I'd planned. Instead, I went with turquoise details and hair.
I'm hapy with the result, although I've got some cleaning up to do and details.

Might also change the pice of cloth, that's haning down between the legs. Thinking of switching to turquoise instead of purple and greywhite instead of turquoise. What do you think?

For the other elves, I'm thinking about using white, black and turquoise for the hair.
Might also add a second colour to it, so in this picture that would then be some white.

Underworld troll

Just a quick update regarding my underworld troll.

I'm thinking about giving it a claw and this is what I've come up with.
The claw is a bit big, but it gives the troll a bit of a comical appearance, which I think fit an underworld team.

Troll with claw

What do you think?

PreußenBowl

The first ever Preußen Bowl and I was playing dark elves. Going in to this tournament, I thought that I might have a chance, since I'd be doing good in the RTTNAFC, so far. I was also using the same roster.

It wasn't to be and below you'll find my report from the tournament.

Game 1 vs Wood Elves 2-1 (1-1)

First game and I'm up against one of the newer players in our league. A shame, since I'd rather play someone that I don't play otherwise.

Fame -2

Nice weather

Fist half
He get's the choice of kicking or receiving and elects to let me kick. Things go to plan and I can put pressure on him although he's got two of my players out by his turn 2. He goes for the score in turn 3, but I'm okay with that. It leaves me with 6 turns to equalise and hopefully get some of his players of the field and then stalling out for the 2-1 win in the second half.

Just before he scores

This is also what happens and I can score in my turn 8, ending the first half 1-1.

Second half
My armour roles start to get better and his players start to leave the pitch (just KOs). I also surprised my opponent by using a different cage than normal, leavin two players in the middle and thus having him either base the cage and leaping in from one end (the end that I kept furthers away form his wardancers) or having to do a -2d blitz. It worked quite well and I didn't lose the ball.

Second half (not the cage I'm talking about in the text above)

The game ends 2-1 (1-1)

(Both of the CAs were kills)

Game 2 Dark Elves 1-2 (2-0)

I was up against one of the better players in this tournament and so far neither of us has won in either games we've played.

Fame +1
Nice weather

First half
I chose to kick because I like to know what I need to do in the second half and if I can pressure my opponent to either score fast or steal the ball, I've got good chances of winning the game.

This is also what I managed to do. Sadly not steal the ball, but I forced my opponent to score earlier than he'd probably have liked. He afterwards told me that he was impressed with my defence and that he felt that he was constantly under pressure.

He left me two turns to equlise, which I managed to do in my turn 8, making it 1-1.

Second half
I felt good about the second half, since I was up on players and this advatage was increased by a thrown rock.

I advance up the field, caging, but he blitzed a corner away and put two players in contact with my ball carrier. I was fine with that, since he'd put his entire team next to my cage. All I had to do was set up another cage, dodge the ball carrier free and then screen his team of from my cage.

I set the cage up and dodge away. A one. Well, I've got a reroll. A 1! (Due to two double skulls in the two previous turns, that was my last reroll.)

The ball bounces free and he can pick it up and screen me off instead. I've still got more players on the field, so I try to blitz his ball carrier with my wrestle witch, but I can't get him down and he scores 2-1.

I've still got a couple of turns left of the half to try and tie the game.

In my turn 16, all I've got to do is make two GFIs and a hand-off. 3 2+ withouth a reroll. 

Not impossible, but the first GFI is a one, thus ending the game I should have one.

Thinking back I still think I made the right decision. I couldn't have chain pushed my ball carrier free and a 35/36 chance of making that dodge were the best odds I had.

Game 3 Wood Elves 2-2 (2-1)

Fame +1
Nice weather

First half
I elected to receive and I was hoping for some arour breaks and getting some wood elves of the field.

He set up one square away form the LOS and I was hoping for a quick snap, which we also got. Sadly, I couldn't break the armour of the wood elves.

I played badly and lost the ball to a blitzing wardancer early in the game which then lead to a wood elf score in turn 4. 

I try to shake it off and stay focused which leads to a score for me in turn 8.

In his turn 8, we get a riot, but he still goes for the one turner and succeeds. 

I then try a one turner in return, but the wood elf goes down on the blitz and I decide to just try and get some of them off the field instead.

1-2  at halftime

Second half
I have to pull off a tie here so I really focus and when he leaves a hole in his screen, I go for the ball carrier, dodging a witch elf into two tackle zones, getting the ball free. I scope it up and set up a cage with two players in the middle. He's then forced to leap into it and blitz my ball carrier with a -2d block. Double pow!

That's the worst thinkg that could happen and the ball goes out (frenzy wardancer, I wasn't standing next the side line), but I can still get it and after some tense dice rolls I manage to score in my turn 16.

I managed to tie this game, which I was very happy with. It was the best game of the tournament and I need to studdy the one turner more. How I defend against it better.

Game 4 Lizards 1-3 (1-2)

Fame 0
Very sunny

First half
I started off by kicking, but I would have chosen it as well, given the chance.

I got a perfect defence on the kick off and I cold set up to counter his attack.

Set up after the perfect defence

My plan was to get through his big guys and tie them of from the skinks. I manage to get through, but got over excited and didn't leave enough players in my backfield as well as not screening well enough.

He could set up a stable cage and I was in trouble. In turn 3 he kills one of my blodger blitzers and my turns keep ending on ones when I try to get away from his strong players.

I had one shot at the ball carrier, needing to dodge in with a witch, but I was affraid of the follow up and thus dodged a blitzer through a tackle zone to get to his assists. I failed with dodge, but what reallt lost me the game was me not counting. The with didn't have enough movement for the follow up and I cold have left the blitzer where he was. (I wanted to blitz with the wrestle witch since his ball carrier was a bloding skink)

He scored in turn 5, which wasn't that big of a deal. I just needed to equalise before half time. I had 7 elves to his 11, but I could still be done.

I line up to go down his weaker flank and start of by blocking one of his lizards with a blitzers. Double skull. I use my last reroll. Double skull!

He can advance all his lizards on the open flank towards the ball and base it with two players. I then try to pick it up with my runner, dodge out and pass it towards my six remaining players just to stop him from scoring. Due to it being very sunny, I fumble the pass and without rerolls, I can't do anything about it.

He blitzes my runner and KOs him. He can score 2-0 in his turn 7.

Just before 2-0

I give it another try and move my players forward for the 2-1 score in turn 8.

I manage to get as far as having a witch elf in the endzone, waiting for a short pass from a blitzer, but because it's very sunny, the pass fails and scatters of the pitch.

Second half

Down 2 TDs and 7 players to his 11 players I need to score quickly, get my KO back and then steal the ball for the draw. 

I scored in my 3:ed turn.
One KO from three came back. 6 players against 10.

If I tie this game now it's a miracle.

What could go wrong?

Well, everything. 

After a deep kick, we get a riot and one less turn for me to steal the ball.

He places the ball in a secure cage after I failed to dodge away from his strong players. 

In his turn 16 I even point out how he can score 3-1, which he does.

At the time I felt as if I lost because of the dice, but I didn't. Not entirely at least.

I lost this game because of my aggressiveness in the begining of the first half and my inability to count (the witch elf blitz in the first half).

Game 5 Skaven 0-2 (0-1)

Fame -1
Nice weather

First half
I decided to kick because I like to find out what I need to do in the second half.

Riot!

He picked the ball up with a gutter runner and left him next to his endzone in his backfield.

I tried to contain the rest of his team and did a fairly good jobb, forcing him to make a break for it, down one of my flanks. I reacted and put him in a tough spot and he started by blocking with his rat ogre. Double skulls and a 2 on the loner roll. See picture.(The rat ogre was stunned)

Double skulle with the rat ogre and a 2 on the loner roll

This is when I thought I had this game. I managed to push the ball carrier out and the ball bounced towards my backfield. I set up a screen on the way to the ball and moved my runner down to pick the ball up, which he did. I however decided to make a GFI to move the runner behind the screen and roled a one. Sadly, I didn't have any rerolls left because of a couple of double skulls mid half.

In his turn 8, he then dodge a gutter runner down, picked up the ball, threw it to a waiting storm vermin for the 1-0.

Second half

Riot!

I made some bad decisions and focues to much on the rat ogre, which he used very well, to force me to either knock it down or dodge away on a 3+.

I got bogged down and he could get the ball away from me.

He ran a single gutter runner down, but decided to not GFI the last field in to my endzone which left me with a chance of pushing his gutter of the field. I blitzed with my witch, but failed my GFI for the blitz and since I'd used all my rerolls on skulls earlier (which turned in to more skulls) he scored 2-0.

Did I lose this game to dice? No, I didn't, even if it felt like it at the time.

I should have checked my screen of the ball or just put my players next to the ball, not even trying to pick it up in my 7th turn. That would probably have been the better option. Instead I got overconfident and started to focus on how I could score, instead of making sure that I had prevented him from scoring.
If I had put my players next to the ball, making it very hard for him to dodge in and pick it up, I could have tried a long bomb to a waiting blitzer in turn 8, but most probably ended the half 0-0. Being down 0-1 in the second half pressured me to take more risks, which I shouldn't have done.

I should have stayed as far away as possible from the rat ogre and tried a 3+ after moving all my other players, instead of trying to get it down (and maybe out).

Conclusion

I don't beleive in losing to dice, it's probably something else, leaving you to do risky or flat out bad moves.

I need to stay cool and really consider what I'm doing.

That's what I do when I play 'flings, because it's the only way. One misstake and you've lost the game. I had too much faith in the AV8 and AG4. That and I need to studdy one turners and how to stop them.

This was a wake up call and my worst tournament to date (1-1-3).

On a side note, I got my Impact miniatures kickstarter reward and I'm looking forward to painting my own elf team and getting some well needed practicec with them.

RTTNAFC Game 4

I played my fourth game in the RTTNAFC Tuesday evening.

I was up against wood elves, which could be very problematic. However, the roster was a bit different. It had only one wardancer (strip ball) and a thrower (leader). The rest was linemen (1 Kick, 3 Dodge) and a star player, Eldril. (and a RR)

My plan going in was to focus on the wardancer and Eldril. Getting them out should make the game easier since I had more block and AV8. If I did get the wardancer out, he'd have a hard time gettig the ball, since I'd be carrying it with one of my blodgers and have the guard pice nearby. That's also why I elected to receive to (hopefully) inflict some damage.

The wardancer got KOed in the first half and didn't come back. Another elf left the pitch due to injury (as did a witch elf). A third one was sent of before half time, which meant that I had 10 to his 9 starting the second half.

My opponent scored 1-1 early in the second half, which meant that I had almost a full half to score. I did score in turn 16, ending the game 2-1. (My opponent gave up mid way through the second half, which was a shame.)

You'll find the replay here

Blood BaTTH 2015

First tournament of the year and I was excited (you can find my roster here). As the venue started to fill and people started to pack out their teams, my spirit sank a bit. Out of the twelve teams there were two chaos dwarf and a normal dwarf team. I was hoping that I wouldn’t face any of them, but it wasn’t to be…

Game 1 vs Chaos Dwarves 0-1 (1-2)

Nice weather
Fame +1

1st half (No Rerolls)

He elected to receive and I set up my trees on the LOS. He started to go down one of my flanks, which is exactly what I want. Sadly though, he got one the tree on that side down on the ground and the tree on the other side rooted. Deeproot alone couldn’t stop the chaos dwarves from breaking through as the downed tree stood up three turns later.

All I could do was foul a chaos dwarf with guard in turn 7, which resulted in an injury.

The chaos dwarfs then scored in their turn 8 and my TTM attempt in my turn 8 failed.

2nd half (No Rerolls)

My turn 9 started with a tree rooting, so I decided to go down the other side. I got bogged down and started to make my way back to the rooted tree. 

Back by the rooted tree

The plan was then to keep the dwarves occupied with the other two trees and running down the other side. This however didn’t work and in a last attempt for the TD in turn 7, I rushed the ball carrier forward and put him next to the chaos dwarf in the back and blitzed with another ’fling. The plan was to get the chaos dwarf tied up, leaving him with either a dodge followed by a blitz or a blitz with a hobgoblin, which would be okay odds, since the ’fling had side step. I didn’t work, since I got a skull on the blitz.

After that it was all over and the chaos dwarves had won.

It was however a close and fun game and I’m kind of happy with the result.
This guy (Junior) ended up wining the tournament, which makes me even happier with the result.

Having weathered the storm, I was looking forward to playing something else than dwarves.

It wasn’t to be…

Game 2 vs Chaos Dwarves 1-1 (3-4)

Nice weather
Fame +1

1st half (1 Reroll)

He elects to receive and move forward, but I manage to blitz his ball carrier (Puggy dodges by his bull centaur and hit the hobgoblins for a 1d blitz). After a bit of a scrum, he recovers the ball and scores in turn 8.

In my turn 8, the TTM attempt fails due to the ’fling scattering one square back, out of reach of the endzone, but at leasts he lands.

2nd half (1 Reroll)

Not much to say about this half. I get a lot of his players of the field and can score in turn 16.

A lot of chaos dwarves watching the game from the side line

On the last turn of the game, we get a pitch invasion, where my whole front line is stunned, but it doesn’t matter. The game ends 1-1. 

The only pitch invasion that didn't go my way. I guess the Picknick Packer fans was having, well, a picknick

Game 3 vs Amazon 0-1 (3-2)

Blizzard
Fame +1

1st half (1 Reroll)

Not much to tell. I tried to run through my opponent and then down a side and couldn’t break through. I got some amazons of the pitch and that was it..

2nd half (No rerolls)

The second half started with a pitch invasion in witch half his team hits the ground, but none of mine.

A pitch invasion and the ball next to the LOS. I should have played it cool

This was however my downfall, since I saw an opportunity to win this game, which made me too eager. I moved forward too much and my opponent could move around my players and form a safe cage. He scored in turn 16

I then failed my TTM attempt and thus the game ended 0-1.

Game 4 vs Goblins 1-0 (5-3)

Nice weather
Fame +2

1st half (1 Reroll)

My opponent wanted to receive the ball and after picking it up he decided to pass it to a waiting goblin in turn 2. The pass failed and I could pick it up and move forward.

The Picknick Packers scope the ball up after the failed pass

My opponent constantly put my under pressure and played good defense and I didn’t manage to score. He got Deeproot down on a one die block with a troll (without block) which forced me to dodge through with the ball carrier, but I failed and lost the ball. Otherwise Deeproot would probably have move the troll out of the way (35/36) so that the ball carrier could have run forward towards the endzone. I was however not that sad, because I would receive the ball and I had the player advantage.

2nd half (1 Reroll)

I walked up the field scoring CAS and a TD in turn 7, because I wanted to be sure of at least a draw. He also just had one troll left, so a TTM wouldn’t be so easy, even with two turns.
He failed the attempt and I won 1-0.

Game 5 vs Goblins 2-0 (4-1)

Nice weather
Fame +1

1st half (1 Reroll)

Pitch invasion!

No one of my players go down to half his team which means that I can advance up the field removing his players as I go along. The only threat was the bomber (after having injured the ball and chain), who had done nothing so far, but in his turn 6, he throws a HMP-Bomb that lands on top of my ball carrier, killing him outright!

I scope the ball up with another ’fling and run it in in turn 8.
Thus forcing him to use a bribe on the bomber.

In his turn 8, he manages to throw a bomb, that injurys a ’fling and KOs Puggy. A hard blow.

After that the chainsaw cuts Deeproot down and KOs him. He doesn’t manage the TTM, although he came close.

2nd half (2 Rerolls)

Sadly, Deeproot stays KOed, but at least Puggy came back, giving me a numbers advantage for the second half.

Deeproot taking a nap, leaving Aaron Dodgers with LOS duty

My opponent tries to cut down another tree, but fails. The tree in return smashed the goblin, stunning him and he is finally removed after being kicked in the head by Clay Muttons.

At the end of the half my opponent has three of four players left, two of them being stupid trolls.

I can score in turn 16, securing the stunty cup!

Game 6 vs Slann 2-1 (2-1)

The final game of the tournament and I’m up against DocMAXX, who’s a very competent Slann player. I didn’t expect to win this at all, but I was currently leading the race for most CAS, so I thought I’d go for that.

1st half (2 Rerolls)

He kicks to me and I start by injuring one frog and KOing two, I think. This game is a bit of a blur where the frogs leave the pitch in droves. I was really lucky while DocMAXX wasn’t. I think he had five players left on the field at the end of the first half in which I score.

2nd half (2 Rerolls)

His KOs doesn’t want to come back, so he starts the half with seven players (I think).

He sends a couple of frogs down the field and I ignore the catcher with the ball in his backfield and go for the receivers instead. Getting them out to blitzes and fouls. Another goes down to a diving tackle. He scores in turn 12.with just four players on the pitch. I can’t stop him, but I could have made it more difficult than I did. I made a misstake on a blitz, choosing both down instead of a push, hoping for an armour break on a linefrog, but it wasn’t to be. That of course ended my turn and I didn’t foul his catcher. I should have gone for the push and fouled the catcher, maybe leaving him with a harder leap and catch for the long bomb from the catcher in his backfield.

He however had to use his last reroll and as I received the ball, the frogs stayed in the KO-box and I could score in turn 16.

This went so much better than I could hope for and it was because of the dice.
DocMAXX was good sport about it and I tip my hat to him.

As it turned out, I had one best stunty, best painted, most CAS and third place, which is way better than I’d hoped for. I’d like to thank all the Gesundbrunnen Picknick Packer fans that should up and beat my opponents to the ground during the pitch invasions.

The Gesundbrunnen Picknick Packers with the prices

I’ve already got my next tournament coming up this weekend (PreußenBowl), but I’ll be playing dark elves. It’s the same roster as I’m using in the RTTNAFC.

Wish me luck!

RTTNAFC Game 3

I played my third game in the RTTNAFC yesterday and it was a mirror match against dark elves.
Similar rosters, but with an apo and different skills.

The game started with me receiving the ball in sweltering heat. I haven't played against dark elves that much and I was uncertain about how to deal with them. I changed my pan midthorugh my first turn, which might not have been the best idea. I tried to stall the half and score in turn 8, but he dodge a witch elf into the cage and took down my ball carrier.
I could however recover the ball, but couldn't set up a secure position, so he got the ball lose again. After a failed pass, I could scope the ball up and make one of my own to my runner, who then ran in for the TD in turn 8. I was very lucky to get away with the TD.

In the second half, I could set up a total of six players due to the heat (and a KO and a BH).

My opponent didn't go for the win, which I thought was quite surprisingly, but I guess that there was a risk of him having loads of players out because of the heat and I was granted to have some back. Nevertheless, I'm very happy with the draw.

You can find the replay here