This particular steamroller actually had prize support for best painted model and army, so I decided that instead of trying to win with my Mercs I'll try to take best painted with my Trolls - who do terribly in SRs due to their design being based solely on attrition with my brick and have no way of winning by scenario short of a single zone scenario. My beast list is the opposite focusing solely on killy killy stuff, but is very prone to assassination with such a squishy caster and I tend to overextend myself with it. I did end up winning both painting awards, but my games weren't so successful.
Well, I ended up playing a guy I faced before doing the exact same lists we played against each other and the exact same scenario. Instead of getting pulverized like I did before I actually came very close to winning, but I timed myself out. I've learned quite a bit between our last bout and even survived an assassination attempt by Molik Karn, which is quite a feat. Lesson of the game: don't waste time, and avoid assassination attempts with too many moving parts. Things I learned and applied from last time: don't overestimate units, both mine and his; it's okay to hold onto your feat until turn 4 sometimes - better to use it late when it's more useful than early and less useful, even if you have less units to benefit from it. He actually forgot I still had it by then, which came to my benefit. But really it was useless to use it the turn he popped his feat since they had a minimum defense of 16s around the board and tough.
Due to the loss the second game was much easier. I played against a beginner Khador using a Conquest and two units of Man-o-Wars. I decided to use my Doom/Mulg list as to not lock my last list in, plus Mulg can easily dispatch the Conquest on his own. The plan worked and Mulg killed it in one turn (although it used all his resources) and the Long Riders tied up the Manowars easily.
The last game was against a Cryx player. My trolls have an extremely hard time going against any Cryx players. When I first started playing in Mk I my meta was only my friends, which meant I never played against Cryx or even in tournaments. I never had to deal with Incorporeal or debuffs that much. So I only bought models that worked for the brick. Once into Mk II I lost interest in the Trolls and hadn't wanted to fill these weaknesses out since I already had a painted force. Thus Cryx, even mediocre lists, dominate my trolls. I'm not proud, but hey at least they look pretty when they die.
Because of my limitations to using my painted force I didn't do so well my third game in. Again my time became an issue, so it's definitely something I need to work on. Because I couldn't manage my time I didn't utilize a trample when I needed to and costed me the game. I could have trampled over and assassinated the caster, least of all been out of range of the unit causing me not to be able to heal or be healed. Mulg could have gotten the win, but I played a bit too conservative with him. Lesson learned: go for the win if it's a clear shot, learn to utilize the clock.
Here are some pics:
I actually started painting Mulg for the steamroller and utilized the challenge to motivate me. He ended up being mostly painted - I'd say about 75% - in time for the steamroller. Even though he wasn't finished he was the model I put up for best painted and won. I hadn't touched him since, being that he's such an overwhelming task with all the details. At least he's tabletop standard.
In the meantime I also got a coworker into Malifaux and played a demo game with him. He ended up buying the Pandora box and a Teddy - which made me jealous as I've always wanted to play as them. I have waaaay too many models as it is however and am completely fine with not having that crew. I already have several crews and have only played a handful of games so far.
I can't wait until that Dreamer box comes out, although I just want to paint Lord Chompy Bits. I've already got so many damn models I need to stop. I bought the Som'er Teeth Jones box and the University of Transmortis box and I still haven't even painted one crew yet.
And once I started accruing all this stuff I got the Hobby ADD again - I've decided to work on Infinity!
So I began by putting together some terrain about a week or two ago. I did all of it so far from foamboard. I have limited experience with it only through my papercraft terrain which was never completed (it is extremely time consuming to do properly). However, I've foraged through numerous tutorials and resources and felt comfortable diving right in. Let me tell you - building terrain is awesome, and foamboard is the bee's knees.
Here's a WIP:
It's not much to look at right now (it is a WIP after all) but you can see the general idea. I used miter cuts to hide a lot of the joins and also cut the perimeter at the base board to make it stable as well as hide joins. The result is spectacular and have since added more details. Once I finish the basic part I will take more WIP pictures to show you everything up until painting, and that's when this thing is really going to shine.
I haven't had this much fun with the hobby in a long time! I always said the one part I hate most is the modelling portion. I love the playing, and I love the painting even more, but I hate the gluing, the filing, the pinning, all the modeling parts. It's the reason why I almost never convert, or make elaborate bases, and why a lot of my models never get put together or painted. It's the opposite for terrain. It gets me motivated and utilizes my creativity much more and just gets me imagining like a kid again. With what I've started I've realized just what's possible, and pinterest definitely fuels the fire.
You'll see exactly what I'm talking about once I get finished with this piece.
I also decided to put all the models I have purchased over time for Infinity. I put together every box and blister I own for Infinity short of the O-Yoroi pilot from the bootleg series, since that's really just a vanity model. I've decided to get going on them and paint them to a tabletop standard, rather than the weeks-long session I did on the first model I painted. We'll see if that happens...
Anyway, that's what I have. Hopefully I'll have more pics of the terrain and what I'm going for next!