I was thinking more about my idea to have a hexagonal board.
The way I figured it, there were two simple alternatives for the dimensions. Either I make a board which is 4' across from edge to opposite edge like a regulation one, or I make a board which has 4' edges. The latter option is because the quickstart guide recommends at least a 4' wide deployment area.
I did have a couple of doubts though. If I went with option a, the table that's 4' across - how much space would the players have to deploy on? And if I went with option b, a table with 4' edges, wouldn't it become very large?
Mathematics is pretty much a mystery akin to magic to me so I got an engineer who designs killer robots for a living to do the calculations for me.
It involved sines and other know-wotz.
Apparently, choosing option a and going for a board that's 4' from side to opposite side will result in a table with 2.3' of space for players to deploy on. Not a whole lot of space to cram even 500 points into!
Option b seems better, even though it will give us a table where it's 6.9' across. This might seem like a great deal, but keeping in mind that there will be enemies on the sides as well you might want a bit of space between you and the guy opposite you!
Also, you can reserve the middle of the table for a dramatic centrepiece like Da Fing or a huge cathedral or something too. I'd recommend something big that breaks line of fire so the shooty armies won't get an unfair advantage.
2010-06-28
2010-06-24
Da Warpwagon
The idea behind building a planet-sized gargant is so simple and genious that only a mek could have come up with it. It follows the simple logic that since the more powerful the ork, the bigger the ork. Therefore, Gork and Mork must be much, much bigger than any other ork. Perhaps even as big as a planet.
It stands to reason therefore, that a gargant fit for Gork and Mork must be bigger than any other gargant. Perhaps even as big as a planet.
Once da Warpwagon has been rebuilt into a gargant the size of a planet the Ulkriderz theorise that Gork and/or Mork will enter into it, and then they will go into the Warp to show those other gods once and for all who's biggast.
It stands to reason therefore, that a gargant fit for Gork and Mork must be bigger than any other gargant. Perhaps even as big as a planet.
Once da Warpwagon has been rebuilt into a gargant the size of a planet the Ulkriderz theorise that Gork and/or Mork will enter into it, and then they will go into the Warp to show those other gods once and for all who's biggast.
2010-06-18
Waaagh!?
Some of da boyz are drying off after another layer of paint. I placed them randomly, but they do rather look like someone rolled a 1 on their Waaagh!™ movement.
(For those who aren't fluent in the Ork Codex, rolling a 1 for your Waaagh!™ movement means the boyz get a little too caught up in the excitement and begin fighting among themselves.)
"Move yer hide ya zogging runt!" "Who're ya callin' a runt, ya git? I'm gonna teach yas a lesson!" "Ya couldn't teach a squig how ta eat, ya sniveling grot!"
...and that's the end of that charge...
2010-06-11
Not that pink, is it?
My original plan was to have the orks mainly purple, and with the armor bits pink (or cerise, or liche purple, whatever you want to call it), but there's a bit of a problem with that. Observe these two models.
Not very pink is it, the one on the right? I need to come up with something more to paint pink. Maybe have all the straps pink too?
Not very pink is it, the one on the right? I need to come up with something more to paint pink. Maybe have all the straps pink too?
Too much paint
I was wrapping up the painting, putting a daub of paint here and there on the last boy and calling it a day. I close the lid on the paint and put it with the other orks that are drying up, and put the freshly painted ork on the shelf with the rest of the paint, and then I went to wash up the brush.
Halfway through that, my brain catches up to me and asks me "what was that you did just now?"
Good sign it was time for that break huh?
Halfway through that, my brain catches up to me and asks me "what was that you did just now?"
Good sign it was time for that break huh?
Backstory of the Ulkriderz
The history of the Ulkriderz begins with The Lost Waaagh! in 978.M41. When Warlord Grizgutz killed his doppelganger the confusion may have derailed his Waaagh! but some of the ladz felt that the whole concept of travelling throught the Warp was a hoot, and so they decided to take their hulk and go back into the Warp fer anuvver go. This time they wound up far, far away from the Morloq system.
The orks have dubbed their hulk "Da Warpwagon". Da Warpwagon is an enormous, confusing mess of space debris. Some of the Ulkriderz have taken it upon themselves to rebuild the hulk into a moon-sized Gargant with which to pummel everything in the warp once and for all. The others feel plans like that are a result of staying outside too long in the Warp, and are content with just travelling at random through the warp and fighting whatever they come across.
One of the key features of Da Warpwagon is Da Fing Downstairz or just Da Fing. Da Fing is a large amorphous blob of some tar-like substance that lives in a large cargo hold. It's apparently alive and can move by changing shape, usually to grab whatever comes near it with a hastily formed pseudopod. It's got a number of eyes that float around on its surface to observe the goings on around it.
The orks think Da Fing is extremely fun for example to play "toss da grot" with, a game where the orks toss a grot for Da Fing to catch and absorb. This is, of course, hilarious. For the orks.
The orks have dubbed their hulk "Da Warpwagon". Da Warpwagon is an enormous, confusing mess of space debris. Some of the Ulkriderz have taken it upon themselves to rebuild the hulk into a moon-sized Gargant with which to pummel everything in the warp once and for all. The others feel plans like that are a result of staying outside too long in the Warp, and are content with just travelling at random through the warp and fighting whatever they come across.
One of the key features of Da Warpwagon is Da Fing Downstairz or just Da Fing. Da Fing is a large amorphous blob of some tar-like substance that lives in a large cargo hold. It's apparently alive and can move by changing shape, usually to grab whatever comes near it with a hastily formed pseudopod. It's got a number of eyes that float around on its surface to observe the goings on around it.
The orks think Da Fing is extremely fun for example to play "toss da grot" with, a game where the orks toss a grot for Da Fing to catch and absorb. This is, of course, hilarious. For the orks.
2010-06-10
Liche Purple
The Gunmetal wasn't so bad once I got used to it. It needed vigorous and continous stirring, because as soon as you stopped stirring, it separated. The end result is quite nice. It's got plenty of visible brush strokes, but I'll get that sorted somehow.
The Liche Purple on the other hand, is a complete pain. It doesn't stick evenly to the surfaces but completely runs off some places and adheres to others. It then dries unevenly and gives a rather mediocre result, not to mention dull looking.
I wanted the liche purple for a vibrant, bright, electric sort of look, but when it dries it becomes dull and lifeless.
Another problem is that while I originally intended the liche purple for "hard" surfaces like armor plates, helmets and shoulder pads, that leaves a lot of the boyz completely without any liche purple on at all.
I need to come up with something.
The Liche Purple on the other hand, is a complete pain. It doesn't stick evenly to the surfaces but completely runs off some places and adheres to others. It then dries unevenly and gives a rather mediocre result, not to mention dull looking.
I wanted the liche purple for a vibrant, bright, electric sort of look, but when it dries it becomes dull and lifeless.
Another problem is that while I originally intended the liche purple for "hard" surfaces like armor plates, helmets and shoulder pads, that leaves a lot of the boyz completely without any liche purple on at all.
I need to come up with something.
2010-06-08
Whew!
First layer of gunmetal done on my 39 orks. Whew! Gonna let the brush rest for a bit now. And my poor, cramping fingers.
Hexagonal board
I had an idea for a hexagonal board, for team games or just duels with a twist. Imagine a three-on-three with the teams opposite each other. Or perhaps a three-on-three with the players taking alternate edges, so that everyone has an opponent on either side of them! It'd also work well for two-on-two-on-two games, or other configurations.
For a real havoc, you could have a game of six players, all against each other, with seven objectives. Each player holds one objective, and then there's a neutral one in the middle. Would be great for an "orc civil war" kind of game.
Instead of having long and short sides you'd have six short sides, which messes with the reinforcement rules. I guess the best way to solve that would be to number every edge and then when your reinforcements arrive, you roll a dice to see which edge they appear from. If you roll the number of your own edge, you get to choose! Huzzah!
For a real havoc, you could have a game of six players, all against each other, with seven objectives. Each player holds one objective, and then there's a neutral one in the middle. Would be great for an "orc civil war" kind of game.
Instead of having long and short sides you'd have six short sides, which messes with the reinforcement rules. I guess the best way to solve that would be to number every edge and then when your reinforcements arrive, you roll a dice to see which edge they appear from. If you roll the number of your own edge, you get to choose! Huzzah!
2010-06-05
I don't want to see another bottle of purple!
Well, not soon at least. The good news is I won't have to since the boyz all have got their purple paint coat on. The bad new is by the time I've finished putting the gunmetal on them I probably don't want to see another bottle of gunmetal.
Especially since the gunmetal tends to act up badly.
I've decided to dispense with the GW painting guides - they paint freakin' eyebrows on the guys - and go with this one instead. It focuses less on using the entire Citadel paint range in one model to make it award winning, and more on getting them table ready. On the one hand I see myself taking home twoscore gold awards, one for each of my boyz, but on the other hand, we all know that's not going to happen, right?
I've decided to first undercoat them all in black, then paint on all the green, then all the purple (which is what I just finished) then paint on all the gunmetal, and then all the fuchsia. Then I'll repeat the process with a detail brush. And then I'll do stuff like teeth and eyes, and washes, and drybrushing. Whew!
And once all that is finished, there's all the nobz to do. And the stormboyz. And... and... and...
My poor starter brush is looking like I am feeling - frayed. It's missing a couple hairs too. So am I.
I keep thinking if I played Eldar I would be done painting long ago. I would have a dozen finished models, either of which could annihilate my entire warband in turn one and costs 16 points each to field on the table (20 if you also want to make them completely invulnerable, unless you have an HQ unit on the table as well, in which case the upgrade comes free).
I think I'm gonna finish all the boyz first before I do the nobz. I want the nobz to look better than the boyz will. They are, after all, nobz...
Most of the boyz are undercoated with the undercoat black which came in the starter paint set, and not chaos black spray. It gave them a very glossy black finish and the paint doesn't seem to look as good on them.
Oh, well. They'll be table ready at any rate.
Especially since the gunmetal tends to act up badly.
I've decided to dispense with the GW painting guides - they paint freakin' eyebrows on the guys - and go with this one instead. It focuses less on using the entire Citadel paint range in one model to make it award winning, and more on getting them table ready. On the one hand I see myself taking home twoscore gold awards, one for each of my boyz, but on the other hand, we all know that's not going to happen, right?
I've decided to first undercoat them all in black, then paint on all the green, then all the purple (which is what I just finished) then paint on all the gunmetal, and then all the fuchsia. Then I'll repeat the process with a detail brush. And then I'll do stuff like teeth and eyes, and washes, and drybrushing. Whew!
And once all that is finished, there's all the nobz to do. And the stormboyz. And... and... and...
My poor starter brush is looking like I am feeling - frayed. It's missing a couple hairs too. So am I.
I keep thinking if I played Eldar I would be done painting long ago. I would have a dozen finished models, either of which could annihilate my entire warband in turn one and costs 16 points each to field on the table (20 if you also want to make them completely invulnerable, unless you have an HQ unit on the table as well, in which case the upgrade comes free).
I think I'm gonna finish all the boyz first before I do the nobz. I want the nobz to look better than the boyz will. They are, after all, nobz...
Most of the boyz are undercoated with the undercoat black which came in the starter paint set, and not chaos black spray. It gave them a very glossy black finish and the paint doesn't seem to look as good on them.
Oh, well. They'll be table ready at any rate.
That first game...
I mentioned my first test game with the unpainted models. It happened on my dining table which, apart for having rounded corners, happens to be almost exactly regulation size. Imagine that!
The terrain consisted of exactly one piece of impassable terrain, which was a bit of kitchenware that was too large to conveniently remove at the time. I later learned that you should have more terrain than that, and I quickly realised why. It made for a rather boring and one-sided game. The one side in this case was the spacemarines.
The matchup was a spacemarine captain, a tactical squad of ten, and five terminators on the spacemarine side, and on the ork side a warboss, seven nobz, and thirty boyz with a nob.
The game consisted entirely of the orks charging across the board to get at the pesky spacemarines. The boyz charged against the tactical squad, the nobz and warboss charged the terminators.
Needless to say, when the boyz came into charging distance with the spacemarines there were about half a dozen left. They charged, caused no damage, and promptly broke and ran.
The nobz had a similar encounter with the terminators. The warboss and one nob actually made it up to the terminators, and were cut down.
The space marine captain and five of the tactical marines (the squad was split in halves) never even saw combat.
Oops.
Looking back, I realised I had forgotten most of the rules for charging and gave the orks about a quarter of the attacks they should actually have. That would have evened things out a bit, but not enough to cause a win.
Next time I need more terrain. And faster orks.
The terrain consisted of exactly one piece of impassable terrain, which was a bit of kitchenware that was too large to conveniently remove at the time. I later learned that you should have more terrain than that, and I quickly realised why. It made for a rather boring and one-sided game. The one side in this case was the spacemarines.
The matchup was a spacemarine captain, a tactical squad of ten, and five terminators on the spacemarine side, and on the ork side a warboss, seven nobz, and thirty boyz with a nob.
The game consisted entirely of the orks charging across the board to get at the pesky spacemarines. The boyz charged against the tactical squad, the nobz and warboss charged the terminators.
Needless to say, when the boyz came into charging distance with the spacemarines there were about half a dozen left. They charged, caused no damage, and promptly broke and ran.
The nobz had a similar encounter with the terminators. The warboss and one nob actually made it up to the terminators, and were cut down.
The space marine captain and five of the tactical marines (the squad was split in halves) never even saw combat.
Oops.
Looking back, I realised I had forgotten most of the rules for charging and gave the orks about a quarter of the attacks they should actually have. That would have evened things out a bit, but not enough to cause a win.
Next time I need more terrain. And faster orks.
Gettin' started
I got started the way a lot of hobbyists get started, I guess - a starter box. In this case, Assault on Black Reach.
Actually I bought something else way before the starter box, and that was the orks codex. I had decided long before that I wanted to play orks. Largely because in the bleek and depressive and humourless world of Warhammer 40K, the orks are everything the others are not. They're full of life, colour, gusto, and fun.
Oh, and "'ere we go, dakkadakkadakka, stomp some panzees" is about the depth of tactical thought I can manage...
It took a while to gather up the courage to start gluing the models together. Once I had started though, it got to me. It's fun to put the little pieces together to make those little orks. (Yes, I know there were spacemarines in there too... But this is about Da Ulkriderz.)
Once I was hooked I couldn't leave it well enough alone, so I went and bought a box of boyz, and a box of nobz. Once I broke into the boxes, I was really thrilled. By Mork, the options! There were lots of little heads and arms and stuff to put together, and the bitz! The bitz! Mwa-ha-ha-ha! The painboy in me had really awakened! (With special emphasis on the pain bit when I slipped with the scalpel once... It traumatised me to the point where I get a cold sweat from just looking at it. It just sits there, menacingly... Gleaming evilly and waiting for my blood. I use a hobby knife and clippers instead.)
At this point it was pretty obvious to me I was going to be one of those people who put together an army of units that look fun, rather than one that's competetive. Heck, I haven't read the rules enough to know what is competetive. Besides, I never liked to minmax stuff anyway...
Actually I bought something else way before the starter box, and that was the orks codex. I had decided long before that I wanted to play orks. Largely because in the bleek and depressive and humourless world of Warhammer 40K, the orks are everything the others are not. They're full of life, colour, gusto, and fun.
Oh, and "'ere we go, dakkadakkadakka, stomp some panzees" is about the depth of tactical thought I can manage...
It took a while to gather up the courage to start gluing the models together. Once I had started though, it got to me. It's fun to put the little pieces together to make those little orks. (Yes, I know there were spacemarines in there too... But this is about Da Ulkriderz.)
Once I was hooked I couldn't leave it well enough alone, so I went and bought a box of boyz, and a box of nobz. Once I broke into the boxes, I was really thrilled. By Mork, the options! There were lots of little heads and arms and stuff to put together, and the bitz! The bitz! Mwa-ha-ha-ha! The painboy in me had really awakened! (With special emphasis on the pain bit when I slipped with the scalpel once... It traumatised me to the point where I get a cold sweat from just looking at it. It just sits there, menacingly... Gleaming evilly and waiting for my blood. I use a hobby knife and clippers instead.)
At this point it was pretty obvious to me I was going to be one of those people who put together an army of units that look fun, rather than one that's competetive. Heck, I haven't read the rules enough to know what is competetive. Besides, I never liked to minmax stuff anyway...
Introducin da Ulkriderz!
Yea, I went and started playing Warhammer 40K. Or, well, so far I have started collecting and painting Warhammer 40K miniatures. I haven't actually played with them. Yet. Apart for a quick matchup where I forgot most of the rules. I need to learn them, eventually.
Once I've figured out how this blog thing works, I'll start writing more about the theme of the army, as well as thoughts regarding collecting and building an army.
Oh, and once I get to playing, I'll be sure to post some about that too. You can expect hilarity to happen - it usually does when I go to war for some reason...
Once I've figured out how this blog thing works, I'll start writing more about the theme of the army, as well as thoughts regarding collecting and building an army.
Oh, and once I get to playing, I'll be sure to post some about that too. You can expect hilarity to happen - it usually does when I go to war for some reason...
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