Casting Your Own Bases.

             Howdy fellow Hobby Heroes.  I’m just throwing up a quick article to show how easy it is to cast your own bases if you have the right equipment.  When I was putting my Wild West Exodus Posse together, I determined that I wanted to do something more with the basing than just sand and grass.  Therefore, I purchased the WWX Town Base Insert Sprue from Outlaw Miniatures and decided to use those.  I knew I was going to need more base inserts than I wanted to spend, so I decided to try my hand at casting.  I am lucky in the fact that Joe has done some casting in the past so I had him to bounce questions off of. 

 

                Here are the bases I am going to cast and to do that, I am using some Instant Mold to make my molds.  I picked Instant Mold up a couple years ago at Adepticon and it is truly an amazing product.  What you do is pop it in some hot water and it becomes very malleable and all you do is press it around the item that you want to duplicate.  Let it cool down to room temp, then pop the item out of the mold.  Now the molds are ready for the resin.  As a bonus, once you are done with the molds, you can put it back into some hot water and they are good to go again for your next project.  I’m telling you, this is one of the best hobby tools I have found, and is well worth the investment.

 

                Next you need the casting material.  I am using Alumilite’s AlumiRes.  I believe it runs about $35, but you get a ton of it to do future projects with, and I was able to use the Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon to get it much cheaper.  Then you just need a cup to mix the resin, and something to stir it.  I went the simple route and picked up some Dixie cups and Popsicle sticks.  Makes clean up easy because you just throw it away when you are done.  All you need to do at this point is mix a 50/50 mix of the AlumiRes and give it a good stir.  Carefully pour the mix into the molds, and give them about 15 mins to sit and harden up.

 

                After it has hardened, carefully pry the resin out of the mold and Shazaam you have your base.  Now, just carefully clean them up with either a file or a hobby knife.  WARNING: this is resin, and when you clean it, you need to avoid breathing it in.  Go to your local hardware store and you can buy a cheap painters mask and that will do the trick.  Now they are ready for priming and painting.  Below are a few that I have painted up as examples. 

 

                Good luck everyone.  Hope some of you can get something out of this.  I thoroughly enjoyed pushing myself to do something new, and will continue to use this podcast and blog to try new tricks and techniques to advance my hobby.  If you got any questions or suggestions, hit me up at ryan@hobbyheroes.com. 

Be Excellent to Each Other,

Ryan G

Ryan G: 1k + Morunfang

     As you have read, Joe and I got our 1000 pt game in last week, and I thought I would just throw up some thoughts on it and update you on my Mournfang.  The games went pretty well, and my army did about as good as I expected.  Here are a few things that I took away from these games. 
     First, fear is a complete game changer at low points.  It seemed like every time I got into combat with Joe's Spear horde, he failed his fear test and I just slaughtered him. 
     Second, when artillary is on, it is very tough to get to it.  I had 2 sabertusks, and the first game they got to the hellblaster and the cannon blew itself up.  Very easy win for the first game for me.  Game 2, his artillary could not miss, and it brought the pain.  I ran every thing I could towards it, but to no avail.  Engineers are key.

     I also finished 2 of my Mourngfang for the up coming Blood in the Sun tourny.  I like how they came out, but there is somthing about the models that just doesn't sit right with me.  I don't know what it is, but as far as I can tell, it is the model and not my paint job that has me taking a 2nd look at them.  However, with the way they play, i'll take them.  I have used them in a couple of games now, and except for the one were Joe's hellblaster took them off, they have always gotyen their points worth.  I think I will stop at 4 of them though.  Multiple units of them are really good, but I can not see it being a very fun army to play.  Anyway, here are the 2 that are finished. 

Thanks,
Ryan G

   

Ryan G: Tale of Ogres and Empire 1K

     Alright, June is here and I need to get 1000 points together.  This month I have been working on some Mournfang and they are progressing nicely.  My list is as follows:

Bruiser
8 Bulls
8 Bulls
2 Mournfang
Sabertusk
Sabertusk
Gorger

     My gaming plan again is to just run forward and see what these guys can do.  The Mournfang and Sabertusk's will hopefully get to his warmachines in a timely mannor, and the 2 units of bulls will clean up his hand to hand units.

     My painting plan this month is again the Mournfang.  I needs to get 4 done by the end of the month because I am attending the Blood in the Sun 2400 point tournament, and I sent in my list including all four.  The way I see this going, is getting 2 posted up to the blog this month, then the other 2 will be finished just in time for BitS, so they will not make the blog until July.

Take care all,

Ryan G.

Ryang19: 1000 pts

     Month two is here, and we have now increased to 1000 points.  My army did extremely well at 500 just because of the brute force of it.  Nothing that Joe and Dave had could stop my main block of Ogres if it got into combat with them.  So for this month, I kept the same strategy, and we'll see if it will pay off.

My 1000 points are as follows:
Brusier - General
7 Ogres w/ full command
8 Ogres w/ full command
3 Leadbelcher w/ Bellower
Scraplauncher
2 Sabertusks in 1 man units

     I chose to still only have one hero, because I think the troops are going to be more important at low points.  I really do miss magic and a BSB though, and think they will be coming out to play rather soon. The Ogre blocks will again try to close the gap quickly and get into combat asap.  Leadbelchers are just amazing, and in my opinion so far, should be in every Ogre Kingdoms army.  I really like the Scraplauncher model, but have not really had a chance to use it, so that will be interesting considering I have a lot of toughness three targets in both Joe and Dave's amries.  As you can see in the pictue, I am not using the normal GW Sabertusk models, and have decided to use some lion models I found through Crocodile Games as substitutes.  They fit very nicely into my African theme, and I severely dislike the GW models.  The lions are a bit smaller than I had hoped for, but when comparing them to GW horses, then are to scale to what a lion should be to a horse so I am happy.
    I am almost done with the launcher already, then I will get started on the sabers.  I am still enjoying painting this army, and I hope I continue to enjoy playing it.  I have over doubled the model count this month which was to be expected.  For these first few months, I am trying to include units that I feel I will use in the army 99% of the time so it might not make for the best build right now, but it should pay off in the end.

Thanks,
Ryang19
www.ryanshouseofblogs.blogspot.com

Ryan G. 500 Pts Down, 2000 to Go.

     Ok, here we are on the 16th of October, and I just finished basing my first 500 pts.  Figured I would throw up some pictures to show off my progress.  Again, I am going for a African Plains theme.  Let me know what you think and any suggestions you might have.

First up is my Bruiser.

Next is my unit of 6 Ogres with full command.

Finally, we have the LeadBelchers.

I have enjoyed painting them so far, and hopefully I can continue my interest in them.

Thanks,
Ryan G

Ogres Vs Rats

     Here it is, Oct 1st and the Tale of 4 Gamers has officially begun.  With that being said, Joe and I cheated a bit and played a few 500 point games the other day, so I figured I would do a quick battle report on them.  We played 3 games in total, and I think it only took us about an hour and a half in total to play all 3.

Game 1: 
     Game 1 was probably the fastest game I have ever played.  Joe got first turn, and went to cast a spell at my Ogres and miscast, causing his wizard to became level 0.  I was smiling ear to ear, because I knew I now had this game in the bag.  He then fired his lightening cannon into my unit of 6 Ogres and killed 3 of them.  My Unit, including the Bruiser, then proceeded to fail their leadership 8 panic test and I rolled high enough to flee off the table.  I had not even got a turn yet, and all I had left was my 3 Leadbelchers.  So much for having this game in the bag.  We called it at that point and set up for game two.  Solid victory for Joe, and I just kinda stood there in shock.  Stupid dice!

Game 2:
     Joe was nice enough to let me go first this time, and I quickly closed the gap.  My Leadbelchers took out his Gutterrunners, which are ridiculously good for a unit of skirmishers.  His magic and shooting took my 6 Ogres down to 3 plus the Bruiser, but I then got into combat with his Clanrats.  His rats held for a few turns due to steadfast, but I eventually broke him, and that was the game.  Victory to the Ogres and we were now tied one game a piece.

Game 3:
    Joe again went first this game, and I thought it was gonna be a replay of game 1.  His cannon once again took out two Ogres on turn one and I again panicked.  However, my Bruiser was not in the unit this game, and this time I remained on the on the table and was able to rally.  My Leadbelchers again took out the Gutterrunners, and my Bruiser was headed towards the cannon.  My Ogres made it to the Clanrats, but were only 3 strong, and only lasted a turn before they were broken and fled from combat.  The Bruiser took out the cannon, and my Leadbelchers charged into the remaining Clanrats and broke them.  Overall, this was a very close game, but I pulled it out in the end. 

Overall:
     Overall, 500 points is a very frustrating, but fun points level to play.  One bad dice roll really changes the outcome of game, but it is also very fun to play and laugh at the truly randomness of these small games.  Going first I have found is also a big deal at small points.  I look forward to playing the other 2 Gamers and see how those games go.

Adios,
Ryan G.  www.ryanshouseofblogs.blogspot.com