Element Games - Wargaming Webstore

What is the Generals Handbook and why you need it

They had to break the game to remake it

It took a while for Games Workshop to release a general rule book for Age of Sigmar. But when they did we got a whopper of a book.

This book is a necessity for AOS players. AOS works really well with story driven narrative games.
The big thing when AOS came out was that GW did a brave thing in removing points from the game. The game went from having an massive ruleset that can be difficult for beginners to a 4 page booklet.
It took a couple of months for GW to release this book. And it was as if they released the new game to let us decide how it should be played. Is that brave or dumb?

They had to break the game to remake it and the they developed the Generals Handbook with the help of Dan Heelan and Wayne Kemp from the HeelanHammer podcast, Russ Veal from Facehammer and Ben Curry from the Bad Dice podcast.

The book has 3 ways to play the game Open play
                                                              Narrative play &
                                                              Matched play

Open play is bring anything you want. bring any amount of units, uneven armies or just arrange something with your appointment. There is rules for more than 2 player games and Triumph and treachery games

Narrative play is your story driven aspect. This has 4 battle plans, themed armies and even has 2 recreated battles. It has multiple ways to run a campaign: Path to glory, map campaign,tree campaign and a matrix campaign

Matched play is your points. It has points for all units for each army and even the recent discontinued armies and units. Is has tournament layouts and pitched battle for matched play games and ladder campaign rule.

The last thing it has in the book is new battle traits, command traits and artifacts for each alliance. This is a great addition and gives you more choice for your army.

Overall this book is a necessity for Age of Sigmar gaming. It gives you multiple ways to pay and explore the game. It encourages you to try different ways of playing and not just straight forward pitched battle. Ony thing that needs to be improved is the path to glory campaign. I was hoping for a more of a skirmish type of build with it but it was more of starting a small army and just add units onto it.
  
Its a great book and there is supposedly another updated on coming out next year. But it's at cheap affordable price and still worth getting.

I have a video up about it on my YouTube channel so you can check that out as well







Mordheim City of the Damned #1


Just recently bought Mordheim City of the damned for the PS4. I was waiting for this to finally a release on it. Mordheim was before my time but i always liked it especially the skaven!

This is the first mission i attempt with my skaven clan so hopefully i don't do to bad


Blood Bowl 2: Skaven Vs Chaos season 2 Game 1


Its finally here! The second season of Blood Bowl 2 with my team Clan Skurvy! It seemed last season all we could get was draws and had no chance of getting promoted but this is gonna be our season!

The first game of the season is against our rivals from last season are the chaos team Unstoppable Mashers. These guys are really strong physically and they caused some injuries on us before but we are want to start this season with a win


Unboxing Skavenblight Scramblers


Do you know how hard it was to get my hands on this box?! It was out of stock almost immediately after it had gone up on the GW website. I have been swamped with so much college work the box has been sitting on my desk for a week but now i finally got time to go through it. Im so happy to see Blood Bowl back especially seeing a skaven team getting released the same time as the starter set. And this box easily can be used an for Age of Sigmar army

Ebay Loot: Old School Skaven & more

Im always searching through Ebay trying to find a good deal. It usually takes a while but i do find good deals. This time i got some old school Skaven models for around €8 inc delivery which was pretty good. i also got some bits from a trade that i wanted to show off too.
(PS if you sell wargaming stuff on ebay and are one of the guys making money off the postage fuck you asshole)

Does less hobby mean better hobby? Balancing the Hobby, College and Life

#CollegeHasKeptMeSoBusyIHaveNoHobbyTimeAndIAmLoosingMyHobbyPowers


Honestly that hashtag is true! Damn you college for trying to better me and helping me!

Oh hobby desk i miss thee
Seriously though i have hardly got any hobby done since i started college 3 months ago. Im lucky to get out to the hobby shed on the weekends if i can. There is no way i can start doing hobby over college work but at least i'm enjoying college. I'm studying Visual Communications and Design so it's a mix of digital media, art and art history.

So how has this time away from the hobby affected me?

Ever hear the saying absence makes the heart grow fonder? Im itching to get some hobby done now! For a while i wouldn't say getting fed up with the hobby but but maybe struggling to get motivated. But now i'm counting down the days until my christmas holidays! I think having time away from it is what everyone needs to rejuvenate the hobby juices. 

Now that i have a limited time to get some hobby done it makes me make the best of the time i have. The one thing i am now is more organized at projects. A few months ago i'd be stopping and starting projects all the time but now with my limited time i only have about 3 projects on the go. I always keep a notebook in my college bag now for any ideas i come up with. And we have been using mind maps for projects and i want to start doing that for warhammer projects now as well to help flesh out ideas.

.
It actually took me going college to start writing down my ideas. anf get organized but it works. When looking at the notebook i had forgotten about Daemon Prince/Verminlord conversion idea. Im hoping after a few months i will have this notebook full of different ideas to pick from. 
Now this is all in theory still. Im itching to start working on stuff now but when i get my christmas break i'm probably going to do fuck all for a few days and laze around the house. But for now the plan is to get the college work done until the 16th then blow the dust off my brushes and get cracking.
College work and life stuff has to be the top priority. But i think the college work is helping me with the hobby also. Especially design because it help with thumbnail ideas and the colour theory in art really helps.

Keep an eye on here over christmas fingers crossed i will have post flying out! :-)








How to remove minor parts of paint from your model

"Hey i did a pretty good job on this model...(turns model around)......Aw shit that part looks like crap compared to the rest of it!" - Spunge Murphy, every time he paints a model.

If that hasn't happened to you at least once then you haven't been painting long enough. This happened to me a good few times and mostly i can paint over it straight away. But then you get times when there is to much paint on it already to put more on it so what can you do?

Usually it's a small part like a gun, sword or a head that's need to be redone and there is an easy way to remove the paint without having to striping the whole model.

Hope this helps


Why you should subscribe to yourmodelbox.com: August Review

Read until the end to see my reasons why you should try this box out

Model Box! If you guys haven't heard of this yet then i guarantee you will be interested by the time you read through this. Ever heard of lootcrate? Of course you did the fucking thing is everywhere! Now lootcrate is cool and everything but honestly i have been wanting a hobby box of some sorts to come out and it finally has! yourmodelbox.com is a great montly subscription service and every month they will send you awesome products from the best manufacturers in the miniature hobby industry. Every month your Model Box will contain at least one awesome miniature, paints, a brush and an assortment of scenery and basing materials along with many more accessories. Each box has a different theme every month

Make sure to check out their website yourmodelbox.com the guys are really friendly there and answer questions pretty quick through their Facebook page

Anyways i got my hands on august's box which was Suicide Squad themed. It was packed with a variety of hobby goodness.

First off i got a promo leaflet that gave me a 15% discount from icarusminiatures.com. They had a model in the first Model Box but make sure to check out their site, they have got some nice models.

Next up was nice little addition. Two custom Model Box dice. I think these come in every box and there pretty cool and who doesn't dig custom dice?!

Speaking of dice check out these joker dice from the Batman Miniature game. 5 of them have the dots replaced with the word "ha" in a joker style and the 6 is a picture of the man himself. Then there's one red dice that has diamonds and a picture of Harley Quinn on it

A model up next. I got the Katana metal model from Suicide Squad. Now the detail on this model is really nice and i have a strong dislike for metal models but this one  is the business. The only thing is it is small kinda like an infinity model, Nice details and a cool model with a scenic base, looking forward to working on it

Scenery time! Crates! they work for almost every gaming system and in the box there were 4 crates to be made up. Again they are from the batman game and are a good size, good quality and have "Wayne Enterprise" on their side awesome! That is optional of course if you want plane crate you can just flip them the other way around when glueing 


And finally, probably my favourite part of the box, the paints. This month had two paints from army painter Daemonic yellow and dragon red, two colours i actually needed to at to my paints 


Now why should you subscribe to Model Box? Well here's my reasons
  • You are going to get a variety of different product every month from different companys. Its great to expand and look at different products.If not i guarantee you your hobby will start getting stale at some point. For me being creative is the big part of my hobby and suddenly getting a hobby slumb completely stops that creativity. So getting some new products every months keeps the creative juices flowing of gets them going again after stopping. Don't be afraid to try new stuff. I'm a Age of Sigmar/fantasy guy but i still paint some 40K stuff or sci fi stuff every now and then because i need to!
  •  I'm a comic book reader, a marvel one at that and never had much interest in DC so would i have ever bought some miniatures from the Batman game? Probably not (well maybe Batman!) but when i had  a look at that Katana model im now interested in looking at getting some other DC models and it is after getting me looking at some new awesome models lately from icarus miniatures 
  • I said earlier that the paints was my favourite part of the box and that's because i have been really focusing on my painting skills lately. Instead of rushing through models or not bothering to finish the paint job i have been sticking to my word and getting projects finished. So getting two new paints every month is a big plus for me. It gives me the chance to try new paints because all of mine are GW paints. And there in dropper bottles! Yeah!!
  • The element of surprise. Remember being younger and not being able wait until your birthday or christmas to get a surprise? That's what i was feeling like while i was waiting for this to arrive! The only thing they hint at what's in the box every month is when they announce that month's team.
  • It's getting delivered straight to your door! Postman knocks the door, you get up to answer, Boom you got a box of hobby supplies to go through
But you should try it yourself to get the full experience, It's a great monthly service and worth checking it out. They have got a couple of subscription plans on their site to pick from yourmodelbox.com

Why im enjoying more of Skavens fascinating/crazy Clan Moulder


I have been trying to get through some of my skaven stuff the last few weeks. Going through boxes, seeing what needs to be painted and even striking up some conversion ideas but i did find a packmaster model that was mixed in with some clan rats i had bought off ebay months ago. Everything went pretty straight forward you know the usual, clipped off sprue, cleaned mold lines, primed and painted , but the more i was looking at the model the more i was thinking about its clan, Clan Moulder. Probably the coolest clan i have never really looked into.

So what are Clan Moulder mostly known for? Each of the the major clans are know for certain things like clan Skyre and their weapons so what's Moulders deal? Their ability to make monstrous creatures such as the Hellpit Abomination, rat Ogors, giant rats and even controlling rat swarms is what they do and they do it well. But it's the hellpit Abomination that got me thinking. It's stitched together from muscle, limbs, flesh and made for war, hell the model represents it perfectly it's something straight from your own nightmares. So it got me thinking is a hell pit Abomination the same creature every time? The only straight answer i can give is it can't be. When the rats of Clan moulder are making the abomination i can only imagine they're not going to be making each one identical? If they do then Clan Moulder are heavily underestimated!
Straight from your nightmares to under your bed

So why has this got me invested in Clan Moulder lately? Think about it. No  Hell Pit Abominations can be the same and you could add rat Ogors into the mix here. So i got thinking about HP Abomination conversions and i know in warhammer you can make conversions for anything and im all for conversions because it's part of the hobby but the HP Abomination is the ideal conversion monster. It's literally made from parts that are found by Moulder members stitched together and powered by warpstone. This is all the base i needed to get thinking about a making a different one. It doesn't b have to be the model that GW supplies. Currently now im working on a Giant/Gargant converted into a HP Abomination. And the conversions are endless. The only thing i wanted to make sure it had was a warpstone powersource.

Now i know the argument could be "But you can do that to any army in warhammer" and i know that but it fits directly into the fluff of clan Moulder. The fluff literally says to you "these monsters are made from bits and pieces by a mad group of rats, go nuts". You got a licence to go nuts and really use you imagination. You could have any creature like dragon with a Gorgons arms but no wings etc.
My idea so far is a giant's body and two skaven coming out of his neck instead of his head

Excuse the bad photos but you can see what i meant about the rats coming out of his neck

My interest in clan Moulder is only starting with the giant conversion, but one thing did come to mind. If i really get into converting a few HP Abominations can i field them all? In Age of Sigmar yes you can and i will cover that in a new post.

One thing i mentioned earlier that i want to add before i finish is the rat Ogors. Maybe a little harder to convert because they're not made they are bred, not made from scratch and the only models are not as easy to come across on ebay (without paying a heft price that is). They are a lot more specific than a HP Abomination but its still do-able like i was thinking of adding maybe crypt horror bits to make it look a failed rat Ogor or maybe a bigger rat Ogor but that's still awhile away yet.

In short give Clan Moulder a look in. They make monsters! They are crazy and not the "ha ha" crazy but "oh shit they're coming with some messed up looking creatures" crazy! And that's one of the many reasons i love the skaven...


30K Calth legion marines #1

It has been a while since i last posted a here. Shame on me..............


Yes it has been a while since i last posted but if you have been following my youtube channel you would have  known that (cheap plug :-) ). But the newest project i am working on is the Betrayal at Calth 30K set. I got this as a Christmas present and i only got around to getting a start on it now. And i really wanted to start doing some 40K stuff on my channel and this is such a great box to start with. I am most looking forward to painting the dreadnought. So the first video update is up now and on only really got a small start on the tactical marines. But its the tactical marines i want to get done first because they are a good chunk of the box and i can get painting power Armour nailed down. 

Maybe i will start on the terminators after these because THEY LOOK AMAZING! Close combat equipment all the way!  

Enjoy

Blood Bowl 2 Clan Skurvy Vs Humans (The Sharp Marauders) Game week 3


Well how ya's getting on?
Its games week 3 in the Old world league in the Bronze division and Clan Skurvy are still looking for their first win of the season. It was a Human team up this week called the Sharp Marauders
All good men, even some with mustaches and a big o'l Ogre and everything! But we had Big Crunch our own Rat Ogre to back us up. To be honest these guys weren't that difficult. I was able to control the game and play the defense pretty good. And believe it or not we got our first win! A 1-0 win was just what we need to really get our season started. I was a little bit concerned at the start as these guys had 2 wins outta 2 and us rats had 0 wins after 2 games. It was a decent game but they never had us under much pressure and im getting better at playing the defensive side and not taking to many risks

Anyways i dont want to spoil to much for ya do heres the video of the game

Bitz what are they for good for? Guardsman in a barrell


Well how ya's getting on?

Ah the good old bitz box. Have you got one?
Of course you do!
Everyone has one!
I have two big ones one for 40K and one for fantasy/AOS and a few smaller ones for bits from certain kits. Converting models with bitz is a big part of the hobby that everybody enjoys and im going to share some conversions i have done with some of the bitz i have

So what have i got to show this week for "Bitz what are they for good for?"
I present to you Guardsman in a barrell!

Blood Bowl 2 Clan Skurvy Vs Bretonnians Game week 2


Well how ya's getting on?
So after last weeks defeat at the hands of the Lizard men (see result here) we needed to get some points on the board. Up this week we had a game against a Bretonnian team called The Blessed Lords
 The Blessed Lords
What a handsome bunch the Bretonnian lads are

Blood Bowl 2 Clan Skurvy Vs Lizardmen Game Week 1


Well how ya's getting on?
Ah Blood Bowl the game that everyone used to love but no longer available. But now its out on the PlayStation 4 and i managed to get myself a copy! Im gonna start this post with a little bit about my experience with this game starting off. Now i have never played any version of Blood Bowl before so there was quiet a learning curve i had to get used to but after getting a few games under my belt and sorting out the bugs the game has I LOVE IT!

Grand Alliance Chaos Book Review Pros & Cons


Well how ya's getting on?
Before i talk about this book my jaw nearly hit the floor when i seen the price of it. €26!! Now €26 euro might seem a little bit much for a book especially since its just a warscroll book (talk about that later) but this is a Games Workshop book! This is such a different game from fantasy 8th edition and from the way its looking the alliance part of the game is going to be a big factor.

So where does this book fit in..............

2016 Painting Challenge: Febuary Stormcast Retributors & Prosecutors


I wanted to stick with the Stormcast for Febuary's painting challenge so i would still have the paint scheme still fresh in my head. Their is nothing worse trying to match a paint scheme from a model you did weeks ago especially since i still haven't learned the my lesson about writing down what paints i used. But a good chunk of the Stormcast have been done with nine of the models from the set done from last month and to speed things up i decided to get the 3 man unit of Retributors and 3 man unit of Prosecutors done in Febuary instead of just doing the one unit this month.

Got off to a bad start this month. Based the Retributors with some Leadbelcher and then some "real life" stuff happened and didn't get any hobby done for about a week and a half. But got back into the swing of it and got a good bit done a few days ago.

IDIC BEER'S Terrain square


Well hows ya getting on?
Something i have always looked forward every year idicbeer's terrain square competition. If you dont know who idicbeer is you have been living under a rock! I have entered it twice and hoping to enter it again this year. But my favorite part of it is seeing the results of everyone's work at the end. Its a terrain square with almost parts of a diorama parts mixed in as well. Its always a great competition with good prizes also and Nick deserves a lot of credit for putting it on every year. But here is a post from the man himself. Make sure to check out his site and his YouTube channel all the links will be below as well as the competitions sponsor Inside out terrain

Nick speaking,

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to Spunge Hammer for letting me do this guest post. I am Nick from my blog and YouTube Channel IDICBeer and I am posting to share the details of a terrain making competition I am hosting. This will be the third year of the competition, and it has managed to inspire a lot of awesome looking pieces of terrain around the world.


There will be prizes for my favorite pieces, and it isn't always the best pieces that win. I take lots of things into consideration when 'judging' the winners, but ultimately the idea behind the event is to just get people making terrain, and many of my entrants have used the competition to make their first ever piece, which is great to see.

The first prize will be £60.00 of loot of your choice and the second prize will be a £40.00 voucher for Inside Out Terrain to make you a custom piece of terrain. A huge thank you to Inside Out Terrain who have sponsored this years competition, please don't forget to check out their facebook page as they really do have some amazing terrain over there to inspire us all.

Here are all the details of the competition. I hope to see a few of you joining in and having some fun making terrain. Who knows, you could even win and be this years Terrain Square Champion!




2016 Painting Challenge: January Stormcast Eternals Liberators FINISHED!!!

(This took a little longer to update because i couldn't get decent photos until now)

Well hows ya getting on?
The first challenge i set for myself this year is painting the Stormcast Liberators from the Age Of Sigmar starter box. And im happy to say i finished them! I only did nine of the ten models because i wanted to do a painting tutorial on the leader guy. The colours i settled on for the shields and shoulder pads came out much better then i thought they would but as for it on the hammers im still not to sure about the colour but its ok.

How to magnetize Contemptor Dreadnought


Well how are ya's now?

Magnetizing models is something i haven't really tried too much. The thoughts of drilling holes into expensive model and of course me making a mess of it puts the fear level kinda high. But i wanted to make the most of the dreadnought from the Betrayal At Calth box. Its right arm has two weapon choices to choose from so there was no other better time to start magnetizing then now. I magnetized both sides because it will make it much easier to paint that way

Tools you are going to need

2016 Painting Challenge: January Stormcast Eternals Liberators


To keep myself motivated for 2016 i made a painting checklist and challenged myself to a monthly painting challenge. Each month i pick a unit/models to get done during that month. Will i stay on track? Jaysus i hope so......



How long has the Age Of Sigmar starter set been out for now? Off the top of my head im not sure. Couple of months for definite. Why im asking that? Because the box i have has been on the shelf for bloody to long! I like both armies and its probably the best starter set i have seen. So since 2016 is