How to Paint Celestial Vindicators

Today is a new video from Troy at Sonic Sledgehammer Studio about how he paints Celestial Vindicators. As I announced previously, I’ve partnered with Troy to add a range of Age of Sigmar painting tutorials to the site. All part of the plan to be an invaluable resource for all aspects of the hobby.

Celestial Vindicators

In an army literally built to combat the forces of Chaos, the Celestial Vindicators take this to the next level. Possessed of a single-minded determination not just to defeat but to destroy their enemies, they sweep across the battlefield like a force of nature, battering aside all opposition to Sigmar’s will.

The teal armour of the Celestial Vindicators marks them out as looking quite different to many of the other Stormhosts. Rather than a simple metallic scheme, there’s a bit more work to be done on these warriors, though it’s scarcely more difficult than anything else. Just a little preparation will see you through the time-consuming bits and you’ll be churning out these dangerous, driven heroes quickly!

How I Paint Things is a series of simple instructional videos designed to help the newcomer through some of the basics and demonstrate how the very simplest techniques can still give you some great results that’re easily replicated. Aimed at the beginner to painting miniatures, there might be one or two tips or tricks that help even you old hands!

Remember you can follow/reach me at the following places: https://www.facebook.com/sonicsledgeh… https://twitter.com/sonicsledge If you like what I’m doing and you’d like to chip in, why not check out my Patreon or Ko-Fi? How I Paint Things will never be behind a pay wall, but anything dropped in the tip jar is greatly appreciated and really helps. https://www.patreon.com/sonicsledgeha… https://ko-fi.com/docwholigan

Paints used for this Celestial Vindicator

BASES:

Retributor Armour
Abaddon Black
Screamer Pink
Celestra Grey
Mephiston Red
Leadbelcher

LAYERS:

Ulthuan Grey
Wazzdakka Red
Sotek Green
Temple Guard Blue
Runefang Steel (or Stormhost Silver)

SHADES:

Nuln Oil
Reikland Fleshshade
Coelia Greenshade

DRY:

Skink Blue
Necron Compound

Further Painting Resources

You can also check him out on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as well as support him through Patreon and Ko-fi. There is also the hobby section of the site, including the Creator Class and Army Showcase series for more inspiration.

For more Age of Sigmar painting videos, check out Vince Venturella, Mengel Miniatures and Warhammer TV.

And, finally, as always, check out Dark Fantastic Mills for great 3D printed terrain perfect for wargaming. Its super versatile and light so worldwide shipping is inexpensive. Use the “aos shorts” discount code for a further 10% off the already decent prices.

November 2, 2018 0

Army Showcase: The Living City

Today I have another great army showcase to share with you: Adam Cunis‘ Living City army. Full of amazing conversions – from dragons, to griffons, to a unique Treelord Ancient. It is definitely worth checking out Adam’s award-winning army. Adam was also kind enough to share his thoughts on how the army came together and developed over time. Thanks Adam!

For more great Age of Sigmar armies, check out the other showcase posts. And remember that the site is now partnered with Dark Fantastic Mills, producers and purveyors of amazing 3D printed terrain and you can use the code “aos shorts” to get 10% off. The terrain is super light so shipping worldwide is surprisingly cheap. With that said, I’ll hand over to Oscar to talk a little about his army.

For the love of dragons

Like everything in Age of Sigmar it started with a dragon… #dragonmeta

I’d got to a point this year of disenchantment with Order Draconis, not because they aren’t awesome, but mostly because I’m not as awesome at playing AoS as the list could be. I was rereading Firestorm, looking for inspiration, and somewhere else to stick a bunch of dragons for more fun games down at Magic Madhouse (Angel Wargamers’ de facto headquarters these days).

After AoS2 dropped I played a lot of competitive games in a short space of time and burned out.

I’ve only comparatively recently become a matched gamer. Having been painting toys based on what I think is cool for 22 years (never did the break thing that you hear about anecdotally whilst people become students etc) and playing at tournaments since only 2013 (a couple of 40k events followed in 2014 by SCGT!).

Glade Lord on Forest Dragon

A couple years back, I built my pride and joy – a Glade Lord on Forest Dragon. The aim was to run him as an ally for my Order Draconis.

He was 400 points, Wanderers were in the allies matrix and this was before the existence of the Doppelganger Cloak which has a similar effect to the soporific breath

However, the Wanderer keyword vanished when the warscrolls were updated. So, for a while Skarloc Swiftstride, Dragonrider (my old Realms at War wardancer narrative conversion) became a Dragonlord for Order Draconis instead… and it was glorious.

But dragons aren’t my only love in AoS.

Wanderers

When the world exploded and all our bases lost their corners I was painting twigs I’d found in the garden to look like fallen boughs of Wildwood trees… and sullen, green clad Wood Elves to stand on them. In fact the first models I painted for Age of Sigmar were wanderers. And under Mo Comp I did quite well with them. But then, as with all good things, the time of the Waywatchers came to pass and only the Lord option remained. Gone were my 3 man machine gun, 80 point battleline units.

The rise of Sylvaneth

Then came the Sylvaneth. I’d always run a few Dryads, a Branchwraith, three Treekin and a Treelord with my wanderers. But the battletome was my best bet at an army that felt like the play style of 8th Edition old world wood elves.

I had some limited success with the list and converted all my Kurnoth Hunters to match my Tree Revenants. I wanted elf spirits emerging from trees across the army.

All of which, unbeknownst to me, was leading me down the shadowy paths of Ghyran to the Jade Kingdom of Thyria and the city of the Everqueen herself, the first of the seeds of hope: The Living City.

The Living City

The initial thought behind building a Living City army from the Firestorm Allegiance was to include a Treelord Ancient, Glade Lord on Forest Dragon (Stardrake) and Orion (Celestant Prime) as Triumvirate leaders of an alliance of the peoples of Order.

The Treelord Ancient

The Treelord Ancient was built using finecast Belakor’s torso and a head from Inquisitor Scale Kal Jerico (he came with three). The staff top is an actual pine cone and the basis for the rest of the model is metal Treebeard from LotR and some actual pieces of wood!

I bought a larger base to transform Skarloc into a Stardrake rider, bought a larger base to transform Orion into a Celestant Prime (his Retribution on High ability easily explained by the Hidden in the Shadows allegiance ability).

As I played with lists I moved away from the Stardrake – he’s so expensive points wise, everything I wrote was very alpha strike/ combat orientated. Which is fine. But is exactly what I’d been playing already with Order Draconis.

A new direction – refugees and prospectors

So I thought what do I really want from the army, I thought about human refugees and prospectors, working alongside the aelves of Ghryan, I thought about having fewer Sylvaneth in the army itself as they would be within the forest, so the Branchwraith and summonable Dryads came in.

The Treelord ancient had to stay to put forests on the table for my ambush tactics and that just didn’t feel like a Stardrake or Prime build anymore.

I realised that I wanted to recreate that almost-but-not-quite synergy I’d had thematically with my Wanderers and Sylvaneth back at the beginning of AoS.

So battleline was to be filled out with ragtag human survivors, and thirty glade guard.

I realised that if I deploy off the table with the archers and ambush with them then I do not have the opportunity to use the Nomad Prince’s reroll 1s to hit command ability reliably (activated in the hero phase) so in came a Sylvaneth Knight Azyros.

Godric, Freeguild General on Griffon

I looked at the Free Peoples range and remembered about the General on Griffon, one of my all time favourite models, except for the static pose necessary for old monster base squares…

A narrative started to form in my head of the Lady Alarielle herself saving the life of Godric, Freeguild General, of no given land, a nomad, questing knight. He swore allegiance to the goddess of life and by extension swore to protect her city and the hope it represented to the forces of Order.

I wanted him to be a centrepiece towering above the footslogging aelves and men (at this point I have no dispossessed Duardin in the army, although a mining cart might be entertaining) so I took a hobby knife and clippers to the Griffon and its rider.

A paint scheme challenge

And then he got some paint, Andy Burton and I have been challenging each other to level up our painting recently and he reckoned that Purple, Green and Yellow would work well, but It’d be hard work. So I took on the challenge.

Driven by narrative

You’ll notice in the previous image that Godric has both his arms intact. Just before priming him I had a brainwave, if Lady Alarielle had blessed him with new life, something ought to show, out came the clippers, on came a Tree Revenant arm instead, blessings of the lady indeed! His head, for those interested is from the Van Saar warband in Necromunda and the Living City symbol on the Griffon’s chest armour is carefully cut from printer paper (I drew it with Green pen, its not green stuff it’s just what was lying around…) and affixed with PVA glue then sealed with ‘Ardcoat.

Demigryph Knights

The rest of the army came together pretty easily at this point from my existing collection of Wood Elves and Sylvaneth until… club mate Alex decided he was running Sylvaneth in 2019 at the two team events we’re signed up for so… I can’t have Kurnoth Hunters in my list. I racked my brains (and Andy’s and Matt Hinton’s on a long drive to London from York) and replaced them with Demigryph Knights, a much underused unit.

But the models are a bit gormless… back in 2014 I had a Demonic mount battle standard bearer in 8th edition for my Chaos army, he was riding a big old lion:

I thought I’d do the same conversion but for a whole unit!

The Living City list coalesces

The rest of the list shaped up like this for Angelcore which was a 2k tournament at Magic Madhouse London 6-7th October 2018. You can check out coverage including streamed games here.

Allegiance: The Living City
Mortal Realm: Ghyran
Leaders
Treelord Ancient (300)
Branchwraith (80)
Freeguild General On Griffon (260)
– General
– Shield & Greathammer
– Trait: Legendary Fighter
– Artefact: Ghyrstrike
Knight-Azyros (100)
Spellweaver (100)
– Heartwood Staff
Nomad Prince (80)
Battleline
10 x Freeguild Archers (100)
10 x Freeguild Guard (80)
– Halberds and Shields
30 x Glade Guard (360)
Units
3 x Demigryph Knights (140)
– Lance and Sword
20 x Wildwood Rangers (280)
Endless Spells
Chronomantic Cogs (60)
Total: 1940 / 2000

So there we have it, a bit long, a bit rambling, but that’s how my Living City army came to fruition this summer. I’ve really enjoyed playing something a bit more dynamic and active than throwing three dragons at people. I’m already planning an Alarielle conversion and writing lists that include elements from this one with more Sylvaneth too!

The full Living City army on display

Thanks for reading

Adam

@HadrielCaine

October 24, 2018 0

Club Profile: Ludic Incoming – Rome

Hey everyone, a new week and a new club profile highlighting an Age of Sigmar Gaming Club from around the world. Today we have Ludic Incoming – Rome. The aim is to introduce the gaming clubs, explain their history, anecdotes, iconography and current and former players. You’ll find details of how to contact the club and follow along with their successes on social media. Today’s post was kindly written by Francesco of Ludic Incoming – Rome.

For more club profiles, check out the clubs section of the site. And, finally, as always, check out Dark Fantastic Mills for great 3D printed terrain perfect for wargaming. Its super versatile and light so worldwide shipping is inexpensive. Use the “aos shorts” discount code for a further 10% off the already decent prices.

The “Ludic Incoming” gaming club was born in Rome between 2008 and 2009, created by a group of friends looking for a place to meet up and play games once a week. At first the meeting place was the basement of a notorious gaming shop, but after a little while the group began expanding so there was a need to find a bigger space, and the designed location changed three times after settling where we still meet today.

Where to find Ludic Incoming – Rome

The expansion happened thanks to the decision to reach out to as many Roman miniature players and fans as possible, giving them a common place to meet, get to know each other and play together. We had the chance to stumble upon a chess club that was entrusted with the basement facilities of a pretty big high school in the Centocelle area of Rome, and we managed to get to use those premises as well.

The facility is now pretty big and well organized, with a large gaming room, able to fit up to a dozen gaming tables, with a couple of secondary rooms, along with two storage rooms where we keep our tables, terrain pieces and more.

We meet there every Tuesday and Friday from 9 PM to late night. Currently we have many active gaming groups: Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40k, Blood Bowl, Warhammer Underworlds, Necromunda and the new Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, as well a few other non-GW games and board games.

Regarding the AoS section, we grew a lot over the course of the past year. Before we were only a few people, now I can proudly say there are around 15 active players meeting at our club and we expect more from September and onwards. Some of us are interested in the tournament scene and some are not, but most of the time you will find a couple of us at every AoS tournament in Rome.

Upcoming Age of Sigmar event – Conquest Italia

As a matter of fact, we will be housing the next edition of the “Conquest” tournament October 27th-28th, a Games Workshop supported event happening every 6 months in Rome, and we are very proud to be the hosts this time since it will feature for the first time an AoS tournament, along with 40k and Shadespire (more info at the bottom of the article). Check out the Conquest Italia site for the info on the AoS tournament we will be hosting in October (and the Facebook event).

Ludic Incoming – Milan

From a couple of years we have a Ludic Incoming section also in Milan, started by a veteran member of the club who moved to Milan for work, and who now manages our second home. In any event you will recognize us by our classic t-shirts and hoodies featuring the Ludic Incoming bomb logo and colors: green and yellow for Rome members and green and orange for Milan members.

Growing the Age of Sigmar scene in Rome and Italy

Our most important goals are expanding the AoS pool in Rome, Milan and in Italy in general, promoting ourselves during Italy’s most important gaming conventions, and giving people a chance to spend some quality time together, playing and having fun while meeting new players and possibly new friends.

In this past year we hosted an AoS Skirmish tournament and a Path To Glory campaign, and we are also looking forward to organizing more AoS events: there is a new escalation campaign that started in September, where everyone begins with a small 250 points warband and expands it up to 2000 points.

In general we are happy to welcome new or experienced players, and you will always find someone glad to show you how to play from scratch, as well as more experienced opponents for full scale games. There is a wide variety of armies played by our players: Stormcast, Sylvaneth, Idoneth, DoK, Nighthaunt, Skaven, Khorne Bloodbound, Fyreslayers, Legions of Nagash, Kharadron Overlords, Legions of Azgorh, Bonesplitterz and even more.

Where and when to find Ludic Incoming – Rome

On a practical side, our meeting days are Tuesdays and Fridays, from 9.30 PM to 12 PM-1 AM (we are super flexible with hours), and you can find us here: Via Giorgio Perlasca @ ITIS Giovanni Giorgi, 00155 Rome, Italy.

You can follow us on Facebook. We have a WhatsApp AoS group where you are welcome to join us and where all important communications are transmitted.

The first time you will come will be free of charge, after that we have a gaming fee of 2€, strictly used for self-funding any sort of event and expense the club needs, and to refill our fridges with fresh beverages available to anyone. All you need to do is contact us so we can introduce you to the club premises and members. Just bring your models and dice, and we will supply the rest: a table, terrain and even an opponent!

Thanks to all the staff of AoS Shorts for this opportunity and shoot us a message on our Facebook page if you want more info.

October 23, 2018 0

Basics of Brushes and Brush Care

Today is a new video from Troy at Sonic Sledgehammer Studio about the basics of Brushes and Brush Care. As I announced last week, I’ve partnered with Troy to add a range of Age of Sigmar painting tutorials to the site. All part of the plan to be an invaluable resource for all aspects of the hobby.

Brushes and Painting

More than anything else, people ask “What brushes do you use?” In the main it’s Citadel brushes – they’re easy to source and they’re of pretty reliable quality, with an example of such in the video – but when it comes to something specific, I’ll go anywhere for a brush that does what I want!

Synthetics make good choices for brushes you aren’t too worried about knocking around a little bit. They’re generally a bit cheaper than natural brushes, and while replacing them means you’ll probably end up spending about the same amount over a year, you’ll be able to drybrush or stipple away to your heart’s content. Use whatever you can find!

Further Painting Resources

For more Age of Sigmar painting videos, check out Vince Venturella, Mengel Miniatures and Warhammer TV.

October 19, 2018 0

Club Profile: South London Legion

Hey everyone, a new week and a new club profile highlighting an Age of Sigmar Gaming Club from around the world. Today we have South London Legion (@sthlondonlegion), home club of the recent AoS Grand Tournament winner, Ben Savva. The aim is to introduce the gaming clubs, explain their history, anecdotes, iconography and current and former players. You’ll find details of how to contact the club and follow along with their successes on social media. Today’s post was kindly written by club member, Nico.

The South London Legion is a wargaming club in Croydon, South London. If you’re looking for Age of Sigmar, Shadespire, 40K, Bloodbowl, Necromunda, the Hobbit, Malifaux or other games in London, then shuffle like a Chainrasp down to the South London Legion any Wednesday afternoon.

Typically we have about 12-16 players on a Wednesday weekly playing various games. Our WhatsApp groups are the beating heart of the club, with near continual list building, hobby and banter.

Gaming at the South London Legion

Members typically play one one or two 2,000 point games in an evening or one large game and then a smaller game like Kill Team or Necromunda.

If you have a smaller force, then someone should be happy to give you an introductory or demo game as well.

There’s a competitive edge to some of the members of the club – we’re often practising for tournaments. Some members like Ben “Best Dressed” Savva and Rob “Gamey Pete” Bradley have done well at recent events and we regularly get decent numbers to large events around the country.

Narrative gaming at the South London Legion

There’s also a more narrative side to the club, particularly on the 40K side and with Ben “Four Flappies” Raven and his refusal to take named characters.

We’ve run a successful 9 round Bloodbowl league and are looking to do the same with Necromunda and 40K/Kill Team.

Venue

We’ve recently upgraded our venue to the bar area of a hotel, which offers ample gaming space and storage. Most importantly…

It has a bar🍻It’s a bright room with a big fan in the summer! You can now find us at the Lansdowne Hotel in Croydon.

The new venue is between East Croydon and West Croydon Stations. You can get regular trains from London Victoria or London Bridge to East Croydon in only 15 minutes.

Social media and contract details

The Legion are a large club with strong social media presence – the guys and gals are all over Twitter and Facebook. Feel free to reach out to them through either of those media.

October 16, 2018 0

Age of Sigmar in Japan – 日本ウォーハンマーエイジオヴシグマー

Hey all, today I have an interview with Champi, head organiser of the Rising Sun GT, and member of the Japanese Age of Sigmar community. This is the first in a series of articles that I’ll be doing highlighting the Age of Sigmar scene in countries around the world – today is Japan. In the coming days, I’ll also have a post covering the Rising Sun GT itself 🙂

As always, check out Dark Fantastic Mills for great 3D printed terrain perfect for wargaming. Its super versatile and light so worldwide shipping is inexpensive. Use the “aos shorts” discount code for a further 10% off the already decent prices.

AoS Shorts: tell us about yourself and your journey into the Warhammer hobby – how did you get involved, when did you start, what attracted you about the hobby etc

Hi there, my name is Champi (oh, well, my nickname actually, but I’ve been called like that since I was 10), and I am the head organizer of Rising Sun GT in Japan.

My entry into the Warhammer hobby is actually a very belated one. While most people generally get involved during their teens, I learnt about Warhammer during my last year at university, because one of my best friends then (and still) used to play Warhammer Fantasy. He showed me some models, some books, and I immediately fell in love with the High Elves and the ‘Eavy Metal team painting jobs. I bought the army book and a box of Silver Helms to start. But, after that and before I could do much about the game, I moved to a different city to do my PhD, and all got kind of paused. The game rules then were overwhelming, going to a different city without friends and how busy I got with my research precluded me to actually start with the game… That was 2004/2005, but I always had the Warhammer gene in me, and when 10 years later Games-Workshop released Warhammer Age of Sigmar, I immediately jumped in and embraced the game with all my enthusiasm. Ever since, I have been following its development, loving every bit and every change (and buying tons of plastic crack :D).

AoS Shorts:Tell us about the Age of Sigmar scene in Japan

As in the rest of the world, Warhammer Age of Sigmar was not much welcome in Japan (especially by the foreign hobby base) so finding players was always a challenge… Even now, AoS hobbyists are still probably a minority, and you can still hear quite often the rant of haters…. This is the main reason why I decided to organize Rising Sun GT: to promote the game, to find and gather those who play it here. And indeed, after the experience organizing it, and due also to the great work of Games Workshop Japan during the last 2 years, I can say that the number of AoS players is growing fast!

AoS Shorts:Is the focus more on painting, diorama building or playing?

I would say that the focus is more on collecting and painting. If you think of it, Gundam Plastic models (gunpla – ガンプラ) is highly popular. While you might think that this sets the bases for an overwhelming potential number of players… that, unfortunately, is not the case. The reasons are a mystery to me, but one of them is that Japanese customers are very reluctant to non-Japanese products… That is why the release of the Space Marine Heroes for Warhammer 40K are a great idea, that is something that Japanese people love. I hope we can see something like it for Age of Sigmar 🙂

AoS Shorts:How is the scene going? Is it focused in any particular city? Or is it spread throughout Japan?

I think it is more or less spread equally across Japan, but in absolute numbers obviously most of the things happen in the Kanto area (Tokyo and its surrounding cities), since its population is like a third of the country… Still, in Kansai (with cities like Osaka, Kobe, etc), where I live, the hobby is pretty strong and it is the first place where GW has opened the first stores outside Kanto: 1 in Osaka and 1 in Kobe.

AoS Shorts:Have you seen an increase since Age of Sigmar was first introduced?

Yes, absolutely! And to be honest, the opening of new Games Workshop stores has a lot to do with this. Japanese people love still physical interaction with what they buy. For instance, Japan has still a pretty strong market for physical CDs, while online music stores have been growing elsewhere in the world. This is the same for Warhammer: the chance to see in person the models, the games and the atmosphere in the stores have helped a lot in growing everything Warhammer related in Japan, Age of Sigmar included.

AoS Shorts: How do people within Japan find out more about the hobby and find local clubs and stores if they want to get started?

As I mention above, mainly in physical stores and through friends (real friends, not just “Facebook friends” ;). So not so much online as you would expect.

AoS Shorts: Where are the best places for foreigners to follow the Age of Sigmar scene? Are there any particular sites or social media accounts that you would recommend?

Well, I would recommend our Warhammer Age of Sigmar Japan group, which counts with not only foreigners, but also with Japanese players/collectors. There is also a group for wargamers in Japan, but Age of Sigmar is mostly absent from there. Then some Games Workshop stores, like Harajuku and Yokohama run very active LINE groups very foreigner-friendly. Their managers are great and the members of the groups quite active players. Actually, the winner of Rising Sun GT, James Bunting, is a member of these groups 🙂

October 12, 2018 0

New Age of Sigmar Painting Tutorials on the site

Hey all, today I’m super pleased to announce that I’ve partnered with my fellow kiwi Troy, of Sonic Sledgehammer Studios, to add a range of Age of Sigmar painting tutorials to the site. As some of you know, I’m keen for AoS Shorts to be an invaluable resource for all aspects of the hobby and so it is great to have Troy’s help to reach that goal.

With over 10,000 subscribers on YouTube, Troy knows what he is talking about! And he specializes in simple, effective and fast painting tips and tricks so you can get a good looking army on the table-top quickly.

How I Paint Things is a series of simple instructional videos designed to help the newcomer through some of the basics and demonstrate how the very simplest techniques can still give you some great results that’re easily replicated. Aimed at the beginner to painting, there might be one or two tips or tricks that help even you old hands!

So check out the new page here. I’ll be adding each new video as he makes them, as well as highlighting them with posts on the home page.

For more Age of Sigmar painting videos, check out Vince Venturella, Mengel Miniatures and Warhammer TV.

October 10, 2018 0

Club Profile: Measured Gaming

Hey everyone, so this is the (slightly delayed) second article in the new series highlighting Age of Sigmar Gaming Clubs from around the world. Today we have Measured Gaming (@MeasuredGaming_). The aim is to introduce the gaming clubs, explain their history, anecdotes, iconography and current and former players. You’ll find details of how to contact the club and follow along with their successes on social media.

The Measured Gaming lads have truly put Bendigo, Victoria, Australia on the Age of Sigmar map. The guys are instantly recognisable at Australian events and have a great deal of swag. If you don’t know, Bendigo is deep in the Aussie bush and described as “a gold rush boom town” that has now reinvented itself for tourism.

Peter Atkinson (@PlasticCraic) has kindly provided the write up on Measured Gaming for this post.

Measured Gaming is based in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia – Bendigo will be best known to some people outside Australia as the location for the recent Rick and Morty parody episode. For those who don’t know, we are located a couple of hours north of Melbourne, and proud of our status as the Bogan Kings of Australian Wargaming!

Our focus is heavily on GW games, and Age of Sigmar in particular is huge at the club. Many of us have been along for the journey from Day 1, right through the campaign book era, through the launch of the first General’s Handbook and now we are all stoked to welcome 2nd Edition.

We are a relatively young club, with just over 3 years of history, though most of us had experience with other gaming clubs prior to the establishment of Measured, whose purpose was to provide a great place for fans of Games Workshop games in Central Victoria.

Where to find Measured Gaming

We meet alternate Saturdays at The Old Church on the Hill in Bendigo, from Noon until late, with people coming and going throughout the afternoon as it suits them. And when we say until late…we mean late. The current record for a meet to finish is 5am the following morning. If you think you can beat that, new members are always welcome to come along and have a go!

Our club meets always feature a barbecue – what could be better than smashing into some barbecued meat, and discussing the day’s gaming over a Battle Brew or three?

Measured Gaming – Tales of Victory

The club sent a 10-strong delegation to CanCon this year, which was the first 2-day event many of us had attended. We like to think we arrived on the national scene with a bang, rocking our club Hawaiian shirts with style! Our best performer was the club’s Overlord Joel McGrath (@JoelMcGrathMG), who finished 8th overall from a field of 104, and picked up a Coolest Army nomination…and won Best Terrain piece into the bargain. We are always keen to play with good terrain, and our club meets and events always take place on high quality game mats.

At time of writing, the club has 7 members in the Top 24 positions of the Australian Matched Play Rankings (the Top 24 getting an invite to Masters at the end of the year).

We regularly travel to tournaments in Melbourne and throughout Australia, and we are particularly keen to support the new SAGT in Adelaide next year, visiting our good friends from Realmless Gaming.

Probably the most famous tradition at the club is the General’s Showdown, where the generals of each army face off in an arena of death. We use this as the tie breaker for placings at our events, in place of secondary objectives, and it has given us some great moments over the years.

At the Club Championships last year, we had a 3-way showdown for 3rd place between a Lord Celestant on Dracoth, a Lord Celestant on Stardrake, and a Mighty Lord of Khorne. The Dracoth went first, and charged the Mighty Lord (he didn’t want a bit of the Stardrake!) – he failed to kill Khorne’s Chosen, who in turn swung back and insta-jibbed the Dracoth with his Reality Splitting Axe.

Down to two now. The Mighty Lord is up next. He charges the Stardrake. Sneaks one wound through that filthy save. On a 5+ Reality will split again, and that’s for a place on the podium.

He throws the dice and turns his back.

He can’t look.

He doesn’t need to look.

The roar from the crowd tells him what he needs to know…He pops the big 5 and that’s it, goodbye Stardrake!

The place goes off, everyone is going mental, overweight nerds are trying to high five each other (and missing), and Pat’s place in Measured Gaming history is secured forever!

Measured Gaming Events

Across the course of the year, we run events at 1000 points, 2000 points and 2500 points. Our belief and experience is that this leads to a very healthy gaming environment. Different factions and builds come to the fore at different points levels, and it presents an ongoing and thought-provoking list-building challenge.

We hosted a 1000 point event earlier this year that hit 30 players: we believe that is the biggest AOS event in the state of Victoria to date, which is quite an achievement for a town in the Australian Bush…and sets the bar for the Melbourne community to reach for! We are hopeful that we will beat our own record with the forthcoming Bush Bash Bonanza GT on 20th -21st October, which along with Badgacon in June is one of the two annual 2000 point GTs ran by the Club.

One of the goodies in the goodie bags for Bendigo’s Bush Bash Bonanza!
CC: @MeasuredGaming_ pic.twitter.com/oMHFRss2QV

— Joel McGrath (@JoelMcGrathMG) October 8, 2018

We also enjoying running days with a less competitive focus. One of our biggest days of the year is the Random Doubles event (1000 points each, paired up randomly on the day, with Battleplans drawn from sources such as the Realmgate Wars books or Battletomes).

Measured Gaming Social Media

The Club is highly active on social media: follow our Twitter account @MeasuredGaming_ (which is run by Peter Atkinson @PlasticCraic) to stay up to date on our club meets and events. As well as recently launching our new YouTube channel, we have been Livestreaming key moments from club events on the group Facebook page. Anyone who has joined us for those Livestreams will tell you that things can get rowdy in Bendigo on a Saturday night!

Last year we hosted what we believe to have been the largest game of AOS played anywhere in the world to date: Order & Death vs Destruction & Chaos, in a custom Battleplan where your objective was to sack your enemy’s fortress while defending your own. Including summoned units, the game hit 100,000 points per side and although we’ve actively searched, we can’t find one bigger anywhere in the world!

Come along to Measured Gaming

Measured Gaming is a very welcoming club and we draw in members from throughout the state and even further afield: we regularly have people attending meets and events from towns such as Kyneton, Castlemaine and Maryborough. We also have close links with the Melbourne AOS community, and are always happy to welcome them to Bendigo, as well as visitors from other wargaming clubs such as our friends at Mitchell Shire and Borderline Gaming.

We are always very grateful that people are willing to travel to come and roll dice with us, and the continuous growth of AOS has been great for everyone involved.

More players, more tournaments, more games, more fun!

October 9, 2018 0

Creator Class: Adam Trunzo – Seraphon Display Board

This week brings the second Creator Class interview – this time with Adam Trunzo (@Mr_Trunzo) on his amazing Seraphon display board which he took to Adepticon this year. Adam has had a great run of events winning best overall at Paca, fan favourite and 5th place at Holy Wars and 3rd overall at Adepticon 2018. Adam kindly took the time to explain the inspiration and process behind his amazing Seraphon display board which he took to Adepticon.

If you missed the first Creator Class interview, it was with Saul Painter (@WarbossKurgan, about his Age of Sigmar narrative project called “The Harrowmark”) – you can find it here. If you are interested in more hobby content , check out the hobby section of this site (currently a work in progress), and visit the home of the Age of Sigmar Narrative Event Organisers Network (the NEON). For more great looking armies, you can also check out the AoS Shorts Showcase section.

Introduction

I started playing Warhammer in middle school, played through high school, took a ten year break, and restarted once I was in my thirties. Nothing groundbreaking there. I really enjoy Age of Sigmar due to its wide open creative space. I play several other wargames but none allow as much free space to create. I am a competitive player by all accounts. I live in a very rural community in Wisconsin, USA and so I only ever play games at tournaments. I don’t think I have played a single friendly game of Age of Sigmar for at least two years which means when I show up to a tourney I have had zero experience with my list!

My first and true love are the Skaven and I look forward to a time when they are ascendant once more. After seeing the Seraphon rules in the GHB 2017 I saw them as a very strong competitive army with their mobility and anti-demon abilities. The Midwest tournament scene runs from January through April so I had about three months to get the army from a pile of gray to finished in time for Adepticon 2018.

Adam’s Seraphon Display Board

AoS Shorts: What was your inspiration for the project?

Whenever I make a new display board I try to push my skills and explore some new creative techniques or styles. For this display board I wanted to practice some key new skill sets:

Showing movement in water effects
New ways to show natural rock formations
Building vertically in a meaningful way
Exploring novel perspective and symmetry rather than the ‘everyone face forward on a two-tiered hill with a statue in the middle’ style that is most common
Stay within a 24”x24”x24” cube

With the above goals I knew I wanted the army to be on the march with mountains/cliffs included. I wanted to show additional units joining the main force from different directions as they gather and I wanted the whole board to diverge from regular 90 degree angles. I also wanted to have at least one waterfall to help me practice this technique. With these goals in mind I started brainstorming.

AoS Shorts: How did you plan the project?

I went through several different conceptual layouts that included higher cliffs, cliffs on two/three sides, and a lot more waterfalls but they all seemed either too fragile to be practical or would distract too much from the army itself. I spent several days playing with pink foam blocks until I found the right layout. I decided to go for three generally symmetrical landscapes that would look striking placed together with a road in the middle, a stream to one side and a cliff face on the other.

AoS Shorts: How did you create the super-structure for the board?

The main material for 95% of the board is just basic pink extruded styrene sheets. The elevation began low with the stream and gradually built upwards to the top of the cliffs. While laying out the board I took some time to lay out some bases to make sure the board could accommodate all the models of my army.

AoS Shorts: What materials did you use?

For the road itself I used a base sheet of styrene, roughed up with a little sandpaper and used a dull pencil to push in the lines for all the stonework. I then went back and added some sand, cracks, and used various hard square objects to push in certain stones here and there to keep it from being entirely flat. In my previous life I built hiking trails for a living and incorporated some of this knowledge into my board by adding a French drain to allow the water to flow over the road surface without slowing down my lizards.

The cliff face was accomplished by gluing several styrene sheets together then using a 3” paring knife from the kitchen to cut out the basic shape of the cliff and the mountain trail. Just like with the French drain I was able to use my trail building knowledge to make the switchback and to make sure the trail made sense with regards to how the water would flow down the side. For the different rock strata I looked at geologic rock formations and some basic plate tectonics to decide the different directions the rock layers would flow. I then took the same paring knife as before and made a lot of quick parallel cuts into the foam about an inch or so deep. This was followed by using my fingers and the flat side of the knife to flick and tear at the loose edges of these cuts until it resembled the sort of erosion you might see in rocks like this. Once this was completed across the whole surface it looked a little too uniform so I went back in and made some drastic deeper cuts using this same method. I finished up the rock face with some minor touchups to help hide the lines where the sheets of foam connected. Once I finished with this I went back and carved out the grotto for the waterfall and added some texture to that as well.

The stream bed kind of happened organically although I knew I wanted it to feature larger rocks in the middle and a fairly steep grade to allow for a lot of rapids for water effects. I thought about the movement of water and wherever I placed a stone that would naturally cause water to flow around it to hit the far bank I then dug out the bank using the same technique with the cliff face to create a small meander and make the stream more snake like. I think a common mistake made when using water effects is to not think of erosion or how water naturally flows to help shape the features of the board. The deeper water effects were made using Envirotex Lite mixed with Minitaire ghost tints 2 parts blue to one part green. I tested this with water beforehand to make sure I had the right color mix before using the epoxy. When pouring the epoxy I made sure to seal up the ends of the stream with pink foam that was covered in clear packing tape. The glossy side of the tape was facing the water effects to ensure a clean release. In order to seal these points I used just enough quick 5-minute clear epoxy for where the pink foam blocks met the board.

AoS Shorts: The waterfall and ripples in the river are very impressive – how did you get the sense of motion into the pieces? Any tips for placing water effects, ripples etc when creating a river?

For the waterfall I used Noch water effects and drew long parallel horizontal lines of it on a plastic bag. Once it was about half dry I went back with a frayed paint brush and stippled in white acrylic paint. The trick was to only stipple in one direction and try to make little V shapes as I went to look more natural. Once this was dry I peeled it off the plastic bag, cut it to shape, and glued it to the board using more of the same water effect. After adding it I noticed the waterfall just went straight down off the cliff so I added a curved piece of plastic behind the water fall to make it look like it was flowing off the cliff in an arc.

The larger rapids on the stream were done the same way as the waterfall, just smaller. For the whitewater around the rocks I used a very small amount of the water effect and stippled quite hard with my paintbrush. As the brush starts to lose paint and water effect I started stippling further downstream to give it a sense of calming down after the initial disturbance.

AoS Shorts: Your foliage is amazingly diverse and realistic – any tips or advice for those looking to create similar projects?

I think the biggest thing is to use nature as a reference. When I see a scene in nature with plants and other living things I break it down into component layers and try to think about which layers need to go down before the others so they all look natural. I think the biggest thing to avoid is just making clumps of the same type of grass, tree, bushes, etc on a board. Try mixing it up and adding as many layers as possible just like in nature. The results are usually worth the extra time spent.

AoS Shorts: You made a custom-built Momma Ripperdactyl for the project – how did you go about that conversion and what inspired you?

I had tried out a number of different Stormcast allies for my Seraphon until I settled on the Celestant-Prime. Tactically this model was a perfect fit as it punishes armies that bunch together while my 9 ripperdactyls punish armies that spread out. After thinking about how to best theme the Prime to my army I thought about just doing a giant ripperdactyl. The idea of a big momma ripperdactyl coming out of the skies to protect her poor little babies was too cool to pass up so I got to work planning it all out.

Since the rest of the army was GW models I figured I would make this out of GW parts and so used the Lord of the Rings Fell Beast as a base and sculpted out a larger tail and wings out of green stuff. I had to bend the wings using heated up salt that I dipped the plastic into to evenly heat then slowly bend to a shape that more closely resembled the wings of the rippers. I used the claws from a zombie dragon kit for the wings and feet and used the zombie dragon head as a base with some added green stuff to complete the conversion.

AoS Shorts: How did you make the Ripperdactyls detachable so that they could be both effective display and gaming pieces? Magnetized flight stands?

I magnetized the flight stands using small flat magnets making sure they were all the same side of the magnet so any ripper could go on any stand. I drilled out and placed another magnet on the ripper where the flight stand normally sat to allow a solid and fairly well hidden connection. I purchased some clear acrylic rod and drilled holes into the board at angles to give the appearance of the rippers swooping around in formation. Since some of these rippers were tilted to one side or the other I had to create a little green stuff platform for them to sit on at the end of the clear rod to make sure the rippers wouldn’t shift due to gravity.

AoS Shorts: How long did it take you?

The army itself took two months to build and the majority of the board was done in a month. The finishing touches took about another week to get ready.

AoS Shorts: Did you write the army list and take into account unit choices in order to fit the display board or improve the overall appearance?

I did not build the board based on any particular list. I just made it so it could hold 100+ infantry and 4-5 large monsters comfortably with a few spots that could draw attention to key characters or models

AoS Shorts: Are there any resources or videos that you would recommend for someone looking to build a similarly ambitious display board or improve their own skills?

This video covers how I made the rock layers.

This video helps with the stream and resin pour:

Here is a great guide to waterfalls.

This page covers using salt to bend plastic:

Papercuts is an amazing resource for highly detailed terrain work.

Kathy Millat is a great and entertaining source for masterclass terrain.

AoS Shorts: Anything else you would like to cover?

It seems like the way Age of Sigmar terrain rules are written encourages the use of distinct and evenly spaced terrain features for your gaming table. My best piece of advice is to use your display board to break from that concept and build terrain the way it was meant to be, messy. Landscapes and terrain in nature blend together, erode, grow, intermingle, fall down, and mix in all sorts of wonderful ways. Display boards are a great way to make the Mortal Realms come to life in new and interesting ways instead of gluing two or three terrain kits down on a piece of plywood and calling it a day.

August 10, 2018 0

Club Profile: Cheltenham Warchiefs

Hey everyone, so I’m adding a new series to the site to highlight Age of Sigmar Gaming Clubs from around the world – first up are the Cheltenham Warchiefs (@CheltWarchiefs). The aim is to introduce the gaming clubs, explain their history, anecdotes, iconography and current and former players. You’ll find details of how to contact the club and follow along with their successes on social media.

The Cheltenham Warchiefs are one of the most instantly recognisable Age of Sigmar clubs on the UK tournament scene. Warchief Baz (@WarchiefBaz) kindly provided the write-up and photos for this profile.

The Cheltenham Warchiefs club is over 20 years old and under the guidance of the current gaffa, John Harrison is going from strength to strength. It’s fair to say that the club embraced Age of Sigmar from the start so we have a large pool of players who love and play the game on a weekly basis. On average there are at least 4-5 games ongoing each club night. The club provides boards, gaming mats and scenery so all you need to do is turn up with an army and play.

We meet every Monday evening between 7-10pm at the Hatherley & Reddings Cricket Club, Shurdington Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 4XA, parking is free.

We also run all day Sunday gaming a couple of times a year as well as a Mini Waaggh 750 point Age of Sigmar tournament every 3-4 months. We have also run several larger Age of Sigmar tournaments such as the Warchief Warpath and Warchief GT (and the infamous monster hunter award) with further events planned for the future.

Some of our more illustrious members are former South Coast Grand Tournament winner, Robert Sedgemen (@sedge55), Les Martin of the Facehammer Podcast (@__Wintersoldier) and the Mighty Lord of Khonre, Pano (@The_True_Pano). Club members attend lots of tournaments around the country and can be identified by our distinctive purple and yellow hoodies, so if you spot us come and say hello!

We can be found on Twitter @CheltWarchiefs and on the Cheltenham Warchiefs Facebook page.

If you are interested in coming down to the club please contact us via Twitter or Facebook. First game is free and then its £2.50 per game after that. Age of Sigmar games can be arranged via the Warchief WhatsApp group and we are happy to take new players through tutorial games of Age of Sigmar so they can get to grips with the rules.

We look forward to seeing you!

August 9, 2018 1

Celestial Vindicators

Paints used for this Celestial Vindicator

Further Painting Resources

For the love of dragons

Glade Lord on Forest Dragon

Wanderers

The rise of Sylvaneth

The Living City

The Treelord Ancient

A new direction – refugees and prospectors

Godric, Freeguild General on Griffon

A paint scheme challenge

Driven by narrative

Demigryph Knights

The Living City list coalesces

The full Living City army on display

Where to find Ludic Incoming – Rome

Upcoming Age of Sigmar event – Conquest Italia

Ludic Incoming – Milan

Growing the Age of Sigmar scene in Rome and Italy

Where and when to find Ludic Incoming – Rome

Brushes and Painting

Further Painting Resources

Gaming at the South London Legion

Narrative gaming at the South London Legion

Venue

Social media and contract details

Where to find Measured Gaming

Measured Gaming – Tales of Victory

Measured Gaming Events

Measured Gaming Social Media

Come along to Measured Gaming

Introduction

Adam’s Seraphon Display Board

Follow AOS Shorts on Twitter!

Follow AOS Shorts on Facebook!

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