Fezglitch Star Player - inducement option

It would appear that I have 110,000gp to spend on inducements. I have had a look at the possibilities  and I can afford to take Star Player, Fezglitch. I am short on numbers anyway so this could be an interesting addition.

We have not used star players so far - so this might be interesting.

Statistics 

MA4 (low but he moves unconventionally), St 7 (amazing), AG 3 (average), AV 7 (average)

Special Skills

Loner - Can only use a team reroll if a D6 roll can be passed (4-6 = pass)

Ball & Chain - Can only make Move actions. Place the Throw-in template over the player (you can choose which of the 4 possible directions to face. Move one square in the direction indicated by the D6. Do this unto 4 times i.e. his MA. You can also do this for GFI. No dodge rolls are taken. You Block any occupied square that is passed over (friend or foe) and keep moving. A prone or Stunned player is pushed back and an armour roll made. You must follow up. If Fezflitch is knocked down it is a straight armour roll as Stunned results are treated as KO'd.

Disturbing Presence - You need to be within 3 squares for this to apply. Any Pass, Catch or Intercept subtract 1 from the dice roll. The Dark Elves don't Throw much but ....

Foul Appearance - In order to Block Fezglitch a D6 must be passed. (2-6 = pass)

No Hands - Can't pick up or carry the ball.

Secret Weapon - At the end of a drive that this player has been part of - he is sent off!! This makes him a 'one trip' pony and no mistake!

Summary

There is a lot to consider here. He is unpredictable and does not play well with others. He will only be on the field for one drive. So - how to play him.

I feel that he has the potential to chaos. I would want that to happen in my opponents turn. He could go through a cage like a knife through butter. Anywhere that players are bunched up. His strength 7 means that he is nearly always making a 2 dice Block move. And his Disturbing Presence means that he can impact the Pass, Catch from 3 squares away.

There will be an occasion when the Dark Elves want to hold onto the ball on a long drive. With Fezflitch on the field  he could help to force the issue to get me the ball back.

Questions

Has anyone used him / come up against him in a game? If so, I would welcome your thoughts.

Looking at Game 3

With the big game approaching (v the Dark Elves this Saturday) I thought I would review my Skaven, Boomtown Rats. We are in pretty respectable shape although down one member for this game. At least this reduces my team value but I am reduced to the bear minimum in terms of player numbers and this may be a problem if I lose someone early.

Opportunities - Gutter Runners

Two of my gutter runners (Stikck & Treek) are on 3 SPP's. They only need to get to 6 for a skill upgrade so it will be important to give them a shot at achieving this outcome. Even Garab is on two SPP's so he also has a shot. My main man Plagric is on 9 and has acquired Block. I think that I will be using him in defence for man marking and the like. He was very effective in the second half of Game 2 in this role. However if given the chance to score and then achieve MVP he could be looking at his second upgrade.

Opportunities - Blitzers

Well the claw is the obvious starting point. My team leader good old Bubonost (I have decided Bob for short after Bob Geldof, seems appropriate) acquired this honour by rolling a double after the last game. He has 7 SPP's. If he survives the game and gets MVP this will grant 5 SPP's taking him to 12. So he is close to a second upgrade at 16. I intend to use him to gain casualties and these grant 2SPP's each. In attack, any armour roll of 8 or more will cause a casualty so his chances are better than most.

My other Blitzer Pustitt has 2 SPP's. So if Bob doesn't get enough casualties then he will be a good candidate for MVP which would grant him an upgrade.

Opportunities - Linemen

Boilrost is carrying 2 SPP's from game 1. I would really like one of the Linemen to have the Kick skill so it will be important to give him every opportunity to achieve this by Blocking when he has the chance. Kick would improve ball placement at the Kickoff and therefore allow more extreme placement.

Summary

So what will a good game look like? Well I would like to get at least 2 touchdowns and have them scored by 2 different Gutter Runners, preferably numbers 3 & 4 Stikch & Treek granting them 3 SPP's each and an upgrade each.

I would like Bob to achieve a couple of casualties and have MVP for his second skill upgrade.

After that it would be good if my Lineman got lucky with a casualty and maybe my Thrower Compolk could deliver a successful Pass.

Clearly it would be good to win and get some decent cash and I am thinking of investing in another Thrower which costs 70,000gp. I have 30k in the bank.

Other than that I really want Bob to survive the game to keep his Claw in action, also it would be disappointing if anything happened to my Gutter Runner, Plagric. But hey thats Blood Bowl - you got to take the rough with the smooth but it would be nice for there to be more smooth than rough ;-)

It should be a fun game - bring it on.

Blood and Gutz

Had some fun last night throwing some paint onto the goblin orderlies. White can be a really difficult colour but the up side is that it really stands out. I brought this up in layers from brown and the result is ok. I used a shade wash around the edges and was particularly useful in pulling out the knots on the stretcher. White works particularly well with splashes of red blood.

McMourning hollered - 'bring me a new one'. So off they went to find another victim with their blood splattered stretcher.

The models are very comedic and make for a completely zany addition. I love them.

They both have their tongues hanging out and look suitably 'spaced' with mad eyes. I imagine them as slavering lunatics addicted to blood and gore. Lets face it, in the world of Blood Bowl they would fit right in. They make a wonderful addition to the Orcland Raider entourage.

The Skaven will be borrowing them on Saturday so lets hope they will be busy ferrying Dark Elves to their new dugout!

Goblin Orderlies in Da House!

He he - they have arrived. Another fun project to keep me occupied. Couldn't wait to get at them.

The first interesting issue is the bases. There are no good joint spots for the goblins to grab the stretcher so having separate bases just was not going to work. The whole thing would need proper pinning or a single base - maybe both.

I dug around and found something suitable.

I think it is from the Dark Angels and probably for the bikes. As you can see the models are metal (unexpected - I really need to read the small print) and that makes them quite heavy so I needed to get them well and truly stuck into position. I cut down their metal tabs to form triangles under each foot and then followed a very careful measuring exercise.

I drilled out the plastic base to insert each triangle and then used glue and green stuff to get a really solid fixing.

It worked really well however we will have to wait and see if the stretcher is going to hold or will I need to get pinning. I am suspecting the later.

The models themselves are quite good fun and a little bigger than expected. They have 'mad' facial expressions.

They are definitely bigger than my other goblins and nearly the size of the pain boy. No doubt they picked the biggest goblins for their strength ;-)

I am looking forward to painting them up.

The next big game is on Saturday - it is a rematch between the Skaven and the Dark Elves. I could do with a win and am looking forward to it. Might get some paint on them by then.

A new adventure - Aetherium

For some time now there has been a project brewing. The Dark Templar has been directly involved and as such I have been on the edge of what has been happening. It is very exciting to be so close to something new.

For full details it is worth taking a look at A Gentleman's Ones

I have been given the honour of helping to give some feedback on some of the test models. What a joy, what a joy. Can I start by saying how impressed I am by the quality of thought that has gone into this project. To me it feels entirely new and different. The models themselves have been beautifully crafted and I think will appeal to a wide variety of people.

There are machines, military types, urban hooligans and some lovely female models.

I was delighted when the postman delivered the package yesterday. Couldn't wait to open it and gets my hands on the miniatures themselves. They are 28mm, resin models. Some are complete and others require a small amount of assembly.

First off I gave them a wash in soapy water to help remove any residue. Then I left them to dry off and examined them more closely. They are beautiful!

I thought that I would start with the Nanomi. I like the young, urban feel to them and the greens and blues with a splash of red should be great on the models.

My first thought is to move away from the 'brown earth and green tuft of grass' type basing that I have used consistently, forever. This has got to feel different. I am going to go with slabs and sand on a concrete type colour. A big departure for me but after all the recent terrain building I am feeling confident.

I plan to take my time so decide to assemble three models and then work on them together. 4 slabs was too much so I tried 2 on the outside models. An improvement.

I love the female model in the middle and decide that she will be the first to receive paint. In the game she is part of a Subroutine of Riot Girlz as is the female model on the left. The guy on the right is part of a Subroutine called the Picketers. No doubt they are at the anti establishment end of the scale. They have real 'attitude' in their stance. Love it!

There is tremendous detail on the model. She even has a small vest showing beneath her top. And she is sexy too. Boobs and ass are great without being over done. I should say it has been made clear that these are very early test models and some are in need of a little green stuff here and there, but that is ok.

I smoothed out the neck and shoulders and was ready to go.

The amount of green stuff required was tiny and I used a cocktail stick in the application. Worked out a treat in the end.

Then the painting began. This in Nanomi Riot Girl 1. Looking all mean and moody.

And then Nanomi Riot Girl 2, just with base colour - lots to do.

And the Nanomi Picketer also with base colour and lots to do.

The remaining models are on the side and I am promising myself to do them a faction at time and resist the temptation to rush in and start on them all at once. (Who said - 'resistance is futile'?)

Its going to be fun.

Note - artwork and miniatures are the copyright of Anvil 8 Games www.anvil-eight.com

Hakflem Skuttlespike - Skaven Star Player

Over the last few weeks I have been 'playing' with this model. He is a 3rd edition version and my guys are second edition but he still looks pretty cool.

He is expensive in the game at 200,000gp with base stats of MA9, ST3, AG4, AV7. His skills are Loner, Dodge, Extra Arms, Prehensile Tail, Two Heads.

Prehensile tail - opponent must subtract 1 from their dodge roll.

Extra Arms - add one to the dice roll when picking the ball up

Dodge - a Dodge reroll

Loner - has a 50 / 50 chance to use team rerolls

Two heads - add one to dice rolls when dodging (makes him AG5 when dodging)

What this results in is a player who is good at picking up the ball and excellent at dodging The MA9 and AG4 means he has the speed and agility of a Gutter Runner, ST3 means he has the strength of a Blitzer. Quite a weapon.

Here he is under lights and through the scope.

He has been great fun  to paint and there is a tremendous amount of detail. The scope and extra lighting has been a great help to see this and then pick some of it out.

I always found eyes to be a problem. The scope is really helping me on this front as is the GW Technical white paint. It has a consistency that means you can apply a really small white dot much more easily. I really recommend that people try it out.

Anyway - a small bit more work to do on him - but a great addition to the team.

Through the looking glass

And as if by magic - I took the Painboy under my new light and pictured him through the magnifying glass.

What a difference - this does him justice. It takes away the shade issues and you can really see him properly. Thanks for the tip guys.

Now I will need to figure out how to do this without doing the one hand hold, together with the one hand photo taking. Not very easy to master I can tell you!

I feel a mini photo studio coming on.