A Loud Acheta Domestica

I found this model online quite a few years back. In fact the first time I printed it was before I got into resin printing; I printed in PLA and used a ton of filler and did a bunch of sanding, then decided it was too much work and gave up. When I was stuck for ideas for a friend's birthday, I remembered this old thing and decided to try again, printing a fresh version and hitting it with some paint.

I no longer remember which version of the model I printed; there are several online. I modified the model somewhat, cleaning it up and supporting it for resin printing (the original was cut for FDM printing), and also modelling a 3mm hole up the handle to make it easier to paint. I thought of making a display base that incorporated a rod to hold the model, but I came across a fancy display base by Falconman, and created my own simpler version using that as inspiration (the one in the photos was an early version in grey PLA, I reprinted later in white PLA).

I wanted to paint it in chrome, which I figured would be easy: prime in gloss black, mask off the handle, airbrush chrome, varnish, done. Sadly it was not that simple. First of all I had to clean it all up. So removed the supports as best I could, sanded, applied greenstuff then later a milliput wash (following Marco Frisoni's guide) to fill the divots and other imperfections, and then sanded again, washed and left it to dery, before finally priming with Vallejo 73.660 Surface Primer Gloss Black.

At which point I found a number of fairly noticeable imperfections that hadn't been obvious before. I tried to fix them but only ended up damaging the primed layer in a way that couldn't easily be fixed. So I stripped the model using a local brand of household cleaner (I couldn't find any Dettol). Now I was worried the dettol would soften the fillers if I left it to soak, so I would apply the dettol and brush it off quickly. This made the stripping process more labour-intensive than usual.

Once I had stripped all the primer, I applied more filler to the trouble spots, left it to cure, and sanded yet again, washing the dust off and leaving it to dry. This time I primed with Tamiya 87064 Fine Surface Primer Light Gray. This was an aerosol primer than, in my experience, makes it much easier to do repairs as it doesn't "peel" the way acrylic airbrush primers do when you try to sand over them. The light grey coat made it much easier to find any remaining imperfections; I did a bit more sanding before washing and priming with gloss black again.

And that's where I screwed up the primer. See, I usually prime with a syphon airbrush that puts down a very heavy coat of paint. But I was feeling so precious about this model that I wanted to try to be more careful than usual to avoid and primer buildup - which I had experienced that first time I primed, resulting in large "droplets" of exess primer collecting and running down the handle.

So this time I primed using a fine-nozel double-action gravity airbrush. And for some reason the "gloss" black went down very matte through this airbrush. Which was a big problem, because having a smooth glossy basecoat is essential for the chrome paint to work properly. So when I came to apply the Alclad II Lacquer ALC 107 Chrome, it ended up looking like a slightly matte silver rather than a shiny chrome!

What's more I did a bit of damage to the handle when pulling off the mask, and when I tried to fix it with the original gloss primer it came out FAR more glossy than the rest of the handle. So I decided to try to apply a gloss varnish (rather than the correct "aqua" varnish recommended for chrome) in the hope that it would npt only homogenize the handle finish, but also make the model look more shiny. Instead the opposite happened, and it ended up looking even more matte! You can see it here next to a test model I painted much less carefully:
You can clearly see the huge difference in surface finish. At least it fixed the handle finish. In theory the surface, despite looking matte, should have been fairly smooth. So I decided it couldn't hurt to try to apply another coat of chrome, using the syphon airbrush this time to put down a heavier coat (after masking off the handle again). This actually helped; the result was now a satin silver rather than a matte. Still a far cry from the intended chrome, but at least it didn't look terrible now:
At this point I just didn't have it in me to put any more work into it (in my defense I've been pretty damned busy these last few months). So I called it good enough, doing a final bit of touch-up to the handle and hitting it with a coat of Alclad II Lacquer ALC 600 Aqua Gloss.


This is the second time I try to paint a relatively large display model, and once again airbrush issues meant that the final finish on the actual model was worse than the final finish on the test model. But I suppose it's my fault this time and not the airbrush, not really. Well, it was a learning experience, especially when it comes to effectively cleaning resin 3D prints. The milliput wash was great, but a hit with an aerosol primer and then a second cleanup pass is almost essential to make sure you've really fixed all the surface issues. I've heard that hot water makes it easier to remove supports; I tried and and it does make it easier - especially for very heavy supports - but I'm not sure it actually improves the final surface finish. Some smoothing and filling does still seem necessary at any rate.

I would love to come back someday and give this model a second try, preferably using a version with separate handle scales so I don't need to do any masking or anything. But that sounds unlikely tbh. Oh well. I'm trying to get back to actual painting - you know, with a brush, not just airbrushing. I kinda miss it. Finding the time is a real issue.

More Fancy Boxes

As part of my continuing efforts to improve my storage and transport setup for my games, I put together a dice box for that Monpoc doubles as a building. The file is up on Thingiverse. I printed up two buildings that hold enough dice for a single player each. I will probably play them as skyscrapers or appartment blocks. I considered trying to model it to look more like one of the official buildings, but I decided efficiency and ease of printing was more important. It's also nice that they're really easy to paint. I painted the windows with Green Stuff World 1864 Metalcolor Sharkfin Blue, but I found it didn't create enough contrast (either color or value) on the grey building so I went over it with Vallejo 71.071 Model Air Metallic Arctic Blue. For the white building I went over the windows with Citadel 'Ardcoat first, then painted the Sharkfin Blue on top. This gave a smoother layer. It may look very simple, but this took several iterations and a LOT of swearing at my printer to get to this point. I might make improvements in the future, but for now this will do.

Old Enemies

I ran a demo game with Saint (playing GUARD) and his son (playing Terrasaurs - or as he called them Tyranids). I didn't bring enough buildings but we made do. Long story short, Saint did a better job of building up his power reserves, but his dice let him down, with Defender X missing several power attacks against Terra Khan. The two picked up the rules very quickly and seemed to enjoy the game. I really need to get some more monsters painted so I can start running 2-monster games. I actually have several assembled, I just can't seem to find the time to pick up a brush.

Mark 3.5

Karas and I finally sat down to try out the new Warmachine Mark 4. The only problem was: neither of us had actually read the rulebook. So we basically played using Mk3 rules, except for specific changes that I was aware of. Which I believe are most of the important ones. So we used the new unit movement rules as I understand them, the new run distance rule, the new AOE rules, etc.

I brought an Armoured Korps list I put together using mostly models I already own:
Armoured Korps 50pts
Harkevich 1
-Black Ivan
-Juggernaut
-Kodiak
MOW Bombardiers (proxied by two Butchers and a baker)
Battle Mechanics
Greylord Forgeseer
*Blessing
*Hit & Run
*Infiltration
*Power Swell
*Take Cover

Karas has been eyeing up Cygnar, so I encouraged him to run a proxy list:
Storm Legion 50pts
Anson 1 (Arcane Shield, Chain Lightning) (proxied by what appears to be Reznik 1 on a small base)
-Courser (Shield Guard, Heavy Stormthrower, Electrified Shield) (proxied by Vigilant)
-Stryker (Plasma Nimbus, Voltaic Halberd, Power Fist) (proxied by Fire of Salvation)
Stormblade Legionnaires (proxied by Exemplar Errants)
- Standard Bearer (proxied by Exemplar Errant Standard Bearer)
Stormguard Legionnaires (proxied by Temple Flameguard)
Tempest Thunderers (proxied by Exemplar Cinerators)
Legionnaire Officer (proxied by Exemplar Errant Officer)
*Blessing
*Hit & Run
*Old Faithful
*Put The Fires Out
*True Inspiration


Pre-Game:
We didn't know what the scenario situation was in Mk4; a quick search did not turn up any default scenarios in the rulebook in the app, so we literally did not play with a scenario. Guess it was a pure caster-kill game. I believe this edition is more terrain-friendly/centric? What I had with me though was some mousemat terrain I bought a while back for Mk3 but never used, so I just tossed some onto the table. We were playing on a table that was about 30 inches wide, so we played across it. I won the role and chose to go first.


Deployment:
Not much to say really.

Round 1:
I ran everything forwards, with Butcher in a trench in base contact with the Kodiak and the mechanics a short distance behind the MOW.

Karas put Arcane Shield on the Courser and Lightning Tendrils on the Stryker. He forgot to keep his Stormblades in base contact for Shield Wall. The Thunderers put some damage on one of my MOW, knocking him down with a crit.

Round 2:
I allocated 1 to Black Ivan. The Forgeseer Empowered him for another, bringing him up to 3. Ivan then took an aimed shot at the Stormguard, boosting three damage rolls and killing four models. Hark then cast Bombshell on the Stormblades. I rolled a crit, knocking three of them backwards... which put them into base contact, ironically increasing their armour. However after a bunch of boosted damage rolls I had killed three grunts and the standard bearer. Hark then walked to the back of the trench.

The Mechanics repaired some of the damage from the Bombardiers. I wasn't sure how Knockdown interacted with the new movement rules, so I just sacrificed my MOW combat action as I figured this should allow the unit to move normally. Which I believe was correct. They advanced and managed to kill one Thunderer with their guns. The Juggernaut ran up the flank. The Kodiak walked forwards, dropped a cloud, and repositioned back out of it.

The remaining Stormblades charged the Bombardiers, killing one. The Thunderers backed away and shot at my Juggernaut, doing very little damage. The two jacks shot at Black Ivan, putting a reasonable amount of damage on him but not crippling any systems. The last of the Stormguard repositioned to better protect Anson.

Round 3:
Last round was very good for me, killing a bunch of infantry models and only losing a single one in return. But without an objective I didn't see the lines actually closing, and I didn't want to be left standing around trading shots, so I came up with a plan to force the issue. I would run the Kodiak forwards under Hark's Feat to lock down his jacks (sure, he could technically walk away without taking free strikes, but I didn't think he would) while my other two heavies moved into better positions to threaten next turn.

At least that was the plan. Unfortunately I didn't really pay enough attention to the Juggernaut; I ran him further up the flank towards the remaining infantry, but forgot to keep him in Harkevich's Feat range, so he didn't get the ARM bonus from the feat. Black Ivan walked up and shot something but I don't think he did any real damage. The Mechanics took some more damage off the Bombardiers, who finished off the Stormblades.

Anson cast Positive Charge on the Stryker. The two jacks together were unable to take down the ARM 23 Kodiak... however, in their darkest hour, the Last (Storm)Guardian came charging out of the forest to deliver a mighty blow that finally felled the Khadoran warjack. Meanwhile the Officer and the Thunderers, taking advantage of Positive Charge's buff bubble, were able to cripple the Juggernaut's cortex and axe.

Round 4:
I had expected to lose the Kodiak, but the Juggernaut was a different story. That hurt. I guess I wasn't done making stupid mistakes, because I tried to cast Broadside with Harkevich, and when I remembered he didn't have it I spent 3 focus to cast Guided Fire instead, even though the only ranged attack my battlegroup was going to make was with Hark's handcannon (which hit the Stormguard but was shield-guarded by the Courser). For some reason I had it in my head that Black Ivan would make a ranged attack before charging, even though I had already used up the Feat. I also mixed up the Dual Attack icon and forgot Black Ivan had it, so I didn't even make a ranged with him after all even though I could have. Anyway, Black Ivan charged in and crippled the Stryker, but couldn't finish it. Either the Bombardiers or the Juggernaut took out another Thunderer. The Mechanics repositioned to possibly fix Black Ivan if he survived next turn.

Black Ivan did not survive the turn. Neither did the Juggernaut. Karas played Old Faithful to fix up the Stryker, with Positive Charge his army was able to finish off the two jacks.

With no jacks and no line of sight to Anson, I couldn't see any way to recover, so I conceded.


Post-Mortem:
I really threw away a good position there. Well, games being won or lost on a single decision is nothing new, and it's part of what I like about this game. My dice were pretty hot; killing eight reasonably high-ARM infantry models with just two AOE attacks is proof of that. Karas' dice in contrast were very cold at the start, rolling lots of 3s. But I think it evened out eventually.

I put Old Faithful in every list I've been writing, except this one because I figured I had mechanics so I didn't need it. It's a shame because it would have helped the Juggernaut hang in a bit longer, but in truth that wouldn't have changed the outcome. I actually didn't end up using any command cards; there were a couple of times when they might have helped a bit, but it's a new system, it's not unusual to forget things. Perhaps I should have focused Black Ivan's efforts on the Courser using the Blessed command card to ignore Arcane Shield? The Courser was very pillow-fisted, but the shield was effortlessly crippling my cortices, so... I dunno.

Overall the game felt mostly like Mk3. The new infantry movement streamlined and simplified things a lot; precise positioning feels less important now, which has advantages and disadvantages. But AOEs feel deadlier; you can't mitigate them by spreading out. Infantry always being bunched up feels a bit weird, but I'm not sure how much it will actually impact the game. I felt the game was pretty quick and fairly effortless, which is good considering it was our first time with this new ruleset and we tend to be pretty slow. I expect it will be easier for newer players to pick up. I just wish my list options hadn't been cut down so much; so many of my models won't be seeing any use for the forseable future.

What's in the box?

I've wanted to revamp my storage and transport solution for my miniatures for a while. While planning that out I reckoned I could fit all my Warcaster stuff in a single KR tray. I wanted to include the rulebook, larger cards, and lots of small slots for magnetised weapons. Initially I tried to plan out a tray with a bunch of large and small slots by hand, drawing lines directly on a foam block. But I've noticed that it's easier to cut clean lines when tracing along a paper template, than when manually trying to follow a line marked directly onto the foam. So I ended up creating a template on my computer and printing it out. I pinned it to the foam block with tailer pins, cut out the unwanted areas of the template while it was attached to the foam, and then traced the template on the foam cutter. Finally I glued the base on.

One thing about Warcaster is that it has a lot of cards, of several different types. liked the idea of an organiser of sorts, that would keep the different types separate. I considered milling or printing a box for cards, but then I hit on a different idea. I had replaced the messy block of foam I used in my earlier experiments with a new one, and initially I didn't think there was anything much I could do with it. But after some thought I realised I could cut out the messy slots to create two large rectangular holes, big enough to hold cards lying on their sides. I could then glue in dividers (which I ended up making from the same pieces I had cut out, so that was nice). This would leave enough room in the middle for some smaller slots, which I ultimately used for storing even more cards, and some small token boxes.

It was a messy job, with lots of false starts and repairs required, but hey: it was a learning experience. For example, I tried to trim the excess off the bottom sheet with my foam cutter, but ultimately found it easier to just use a knife. The cards are a little bit awkward to fit in place as the corners of cards tend to grab the porus foam and pull the card out of place, but it basically works, and that's good enough this time. I might replace it in the long run, but it will do for now.

By the way, I was able to add two 30x30mm slots between all the cards holder slots. While these could be used for miniatures, what I really wanted was room to store gaming tokens. I could of course have just dropped the little plastic baggies I was using to hold tokens into the slots, but me being me I had to complicate matters. So I went and designed some combination scatter-terrain/token-boxes to perfectly fit into the space.

One last little tweak I made was to add risers to some slots. Basically, some of my models fit just about perfectly into the foam, but some are a little short, leaving a lot of room above the model. In theory this could allow the models to bouce around more if the box were to be treated roughtly. It's probably not a big deal, but I figured since I had the original foam cutouts from the slots I had made for the models, I could just cut a small slice off and place it at the bottom of the slot, acting as a riser to lift up the model. So I roughly measured how much space there was above each model, set the gate on the foam cutter, and carefully sliced out some risers. I tried to keep them completely flat and level, and I would say the came out well enough. I reckon though that it would be possible (tricky, but possible) to deliberately introduce a slant into the risers, to allow models to sit at a slight angle; in some cases this might allow a model with overhang to fit into a slightly smaller space. It's not something I plan on doing myself though.

Well, I can now fit everything I need for a game of Warcaster into a single KR tray, which is nice and appeals to my sense of order. Technically there's no specific place for the dice, though I found they do fit well enough on top of the rulebooks. I'm considering making a simple box for the dice that will sit on the rulebooks or in the spare card slots. We'll see how that goes.

2022 End Of Year Report

I don't even remember what my previous resolutions were, I basically forgot about them very early on. So this year I'm keeping it simple.

1. Exercise
My energy levels have been really low for a long time. I really need to prioritise exercising and getting my energy levels up.

2. Spend Less On Hobbies
I've been spending too much money on my various hobbies and interests. I'm going to try to rein it in this year. This should also help me with my hobby backlog, because it will force me to spend more time actually finishing old projects rather than continually taking on new ones. You know, if I stick to it.


Hopefully this year I will be able to make some changes for the better in my life. I feel like there's signs that things might work out better this year than recent years. So fingers crossed.

How Does This Game Work Again?

It's been so long since we played Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika that we actually couldn't remember if the attack roll or the damage roll was opposed, and had to check Youtube for a quick refresher. I also may have messed up the cover rules a few times; I think I was mixing up the rules with some version of Warmachine's rules or something, where you have to be within an inch of a terrain feature for it to give you cover. We might have forgotten to boost Furies too. I really need to fully re-read the rules, especially stuff like jumping and climbing etc.

I decided to try Jax Redblade this game:
Artemis Fang hero solo
Jax Redblade hero solo
Coalition Weaver solo
Hunter solo x2
Ranger Fire Team squad
Dusk Wolf light warjack (Scout cortex, Railgun, Battle Rifle, Ripper Saw)
Strike Raptor heavy warjack (Bomber cortex, Talon Rocket Pod, Talon Rocket Pod, Flamethrower, Flamethrower)

Karas brought his Cadre:
Major Aysa Drayce hero solo
Paladin Seigebreaker solo
Regulator Reave solo
Regulator squad
- Witch Hounds attachments
Tracers squad
Paladin Defenders squad
Paladin Enforcers squad
Firebrand light warjack (Reflex cortex, Assault Rifle & Bayonet, Repulsor Shield, Immolator)
Morningstar heavy warjack (Exchanger cortex, Assault Shield, Assault Shield, Gate Crasher, Starburst Missiles)
Headsman heavy warjack


Pre-Game:
I forgot my cards this game. This slowed us down a lot as I was constantly checking the wiki for model and weapon stats. I built my rack using Karas' cypher cards: basically I went through his deck and picked the first three of each type of cypher that didn't feel completely useless to me. This did mean that I ended up stealing some powerful cyphers. We were playing Skirmish, so we had to extend the deployment areas to account for the small play area. We rolled for a mission and got Boiling Point.


Deployment:
Karas won the roll-off and chose to go first, deploying Drayce on my left and the Morningstar on my right. I started with my Dusk Wolf and a Hunter on my right, and the Rangers on my left.

Pulse 1.1:
Drayce grabbed the far left objective and put up her buffing aura. The Morningstar moved up and dropped a gate, from which emerged the Firebrand and Seigebreaker. I think Drayce also dropped a gate.
Pulse 1.2:
After consulting the rules my Hunter climbed a ladder to take the high ground. The Dusk Wolf shot at the Firebrand and, through some combination of spikes, cypers, and/or other abilities, the two ended up in positions that are confusing to me when I look at the photo now. I put a gate down near the Rangers.
Pulse 1.3:
Karas brought in the Headsman (and possibly the Regulator Reave, hidden behind the tower?). The Firebrand and Seigebreaker scored the right objective and killed my Dusk Wolf and Hunter with at least one pretty hot roll. Karas put down a gate in his deployment zone behind Drayce
Pulse 1.4:
My Rangers scored the near-left objective and took out the Firebrand, though it killed two of them with return fire. I brought in the Weaver and the Strike Raptor. I put down another gate nearer to the far-left objective.
Pulse 1.5:
The Headsman killed my Weaver and put a wound on the Strike Raptor. Karas brought in the Tracers and Paladin Defenders, finally putting down a gate next to the right objective.
Pulse 1.6:
Using a cypher for flight, my Strike Raptor hopped up to the high ground and took out the Seigebreaker, also putting some damage onto the Headsman. I collapsed my gate on the left to bring back my Dusk Wolf, and put down a new gate on the right.
Pulse 2.1:
The Reave channeled a Fury to wound my DuskWolf, inflicting Lockdown. The Headsman attacked my Strike Raptor but couldn't hit him though the cover. The Seigebreaker and Regulators emerged from the portal next to the right objective. Karas put a gate down on the tower near the Reave.
Pulse 2.2:
I charged the Strike Raptor with a second point of Arc, gave him Tune Up with a cypher card, then spiked for flight and flew down, taking out the Headsman and Regulators, and putting a couple of wounds on the Seigebreaker. For lack of any more jacks or squads I brought in Artemis, Jax, the Weaver, and a Hunter on the right. I put down a gate next to the last Ranger.
Pulse 2.3:
The Tracers moved into the center of the table and, with the help of the Seigebreaker, put two more wounds on the Strike Raptor, leaving him on one. The Headsman popped out of the gate on the middle tower. The Seigebreaker dropped another gate next to the right objective.


Pulse 2.4:
Jax killed the Seigebreaker and scored the right objective. The Ranger scored the near left objective, taking out a Tracer with some rather silly dice: I pulled my second Hunter, the only model I had left, out of my gate, and put down a second gate nearby.
Pulse 2.5:
The Reave moved up to body-block my Dusk Wolf, putting a second wound on it. The Headsman dropped down and killed the last Ranger and the nearby Hunter, knocking a point of Arc off a gate and scoring the objective. The Regulators popped out of the gate near the right objective, bringing the Witch Hounds with them this time. Karas summoned the Seigebreaker from the gate on the tower, and put a new gate down near the Tracers.
Pulse 2.6:
I pulled the Arc off a gate, collapsing it, and used a Cypher to fully charge the Dusk Wolf, who attacked the Headsman. Artemis Fang shot down a Regulator. collapsed my gate on the left to re-deploy the Hunter, and put down a new gate on the right.
Pulse 2.7... ?:
The Regulators were unable to kill Jax or the Strike Raptor. The Seigebreaker killed my left Hunter. Karas deployed the Paladin Enforcers and the Firebrand in the center of the table.
Pulse 2.8!:
The Hunter was the only model I had left to activate, but between him and a Cypher or two (I think I used a cypher that gave me another attack from Strike Raptor) I was able to kill the last two Regulators and a Witch Hound. I deployed my Rangers on the right, and put down a gate behind some scatter terrain on my left.
Pulse 3.1:
Both the Tune Up and Lock Down on my jacks remained. The Headsman killed my Dusk Wolf and scored the near left objective. I believe the Seigebreaker tried to finish off the Strike Raptor but failed. Karas used a cypher that would bring back a Regulator at the start of each of his turns.
Pulse 3.2:
I gave the Strike Raptor an Arc, then spiked for Flight. It then flew as far as it could towards the far left objective, killing Drayce and some Tracers on the way. Jax killed another Witch Hound, scoring the right objective. I used a cypher to advance the Rangers a bit. I brought in the Dusk Wolf again, and put down a new gate on the right.
Pulse 3.3:
A Regulator spawned. The Firebrand finally finished off my Strike Raptor. Something, either the Firebrand or possibly the Regulator Reave, wounded Artemis and set her on fire.
Pulse 3.4:
The Dusk Wolf took out the Headsman. The Hunter pushed up but didn't get anything done. I brough in the Strike Raptor again and put down another gate next to the Rangers.
Pulse 3.5:
Another Regulator spawned. The two Regulators and remaining Witch Hound attacked Jax; the first Regulator spiked his roll and took all 3 of her wounds in one hit, allowing them to score the objective. At this point there was no way for me to score the far left obective, meaning Karas won 14 points to 11:
Post-mortem:
It was a fun game. I was actually rolling really well on my defensive rolls, with models surviving far longer than they should. Part of that was down to trying to make sure my models were in cover of course. I got some pretty good dice on the attack too. As usual I was behind on points early and struggled to make them up. It didn't help that a lot of my turns I could only activate one unit as I didn't have any solos - and once I activated two solos as I didn't have any units. I need to pay more attention to keeping my deployed models balanced for more efficient activations.

The Strike Raptor was solid despite never having more than two Arc (often he was sitting on only one), but the Dusk Wolf might have been more consistant just because he was easier to bring in. Jax was surprisingly effective; she's not particularly strong on the offense, but with DEF 5 and 3 wounds with a reroll, her survivability was leagues ahead of my Hunters.