Gottacon 2015

Gottacon 2015 took place in the same hotel as last year, the Victoria Conference Centre attached to the Fairmount Empress. I had a great time overall and bumped into a lot of gaming friends from near and far.

The good thing, regarding food, was that there was several food trucks this year nearby. The bad thing about the food trucks is that you couldn't bring the food purchased there into the convention space.

The dealers space was on the main floor of Crystal Gardens, across from the main convention centre. The board and miniature gaming was located on the upper level.

Included with the dealers were many local organizations, such as the SCA and Heroes Inc.

My first and only Friday event was a doubles tournament for Malifaux with short timed games and no more than three models and 25 soulstones per team member. Very fun and good to see the same players and a few new ones.

After Malifaux, since we ended early, I went to the Nerdesque show by Geekenders called Star Wars: A Nude Hope. For those of age, here is a trailer. They are hilarious and have some good acting chops. An excellent parody.

Saturday had myself and a friend demo a game called Guildball. We participated in the kickstarter and the final product is due to ship soon. We had many interested people asking about it but only one had the time for a demo. We also met someone in town who also participated in the kickstarter. The intention is to conduct more demos around town.

 

This fantastic Warmachine Cygnar Stormwall caught my eye. What a great and unique paint scheme!

I also played a boardgame called Kingsport Festival. It is a Lovecraft mythos themed game in which you are cult leaders trying to get the biggest and best cult by gaining power and expanding your influence.

AFter supper I played the Malifaux role playing game, Through the Breach. I really liked the character creation and we had a great bunch of roleplayers that made the experience even better. I might pick this one up.

On Sunday, the only event I participated in was the day's Malifaux Tournament. I had two great games. I won one and lost one. This is another reason why I like this game because if its still fun losing then you have a great thing on your hands. Here is the crew I lost against. Great paint job! I ran a Perdita crew.

Well, i'll be back next year. Great fun and great gaming friends. For a smattering of the costumes of Gottacon 2015, head to my normal life blog here.

Cygnar Warcaster Constance Blaize

The Privateer Press Warcaster Constance Blaize is a good melee caster, a rarity beyond any of the Stryker models. Her flashing blade spell can cut through models before she moves to attack another group to do it again. This increases when engaging an enemy assisted by Morrowinian forces or her personal jack, Gallant.

 I lost the paper that I used to write down how I painted her. Refer to my Precursor Knight post here for the basics. I did drybrush more P3 Quick Silver here and there and used P3 Arcane Blue for the sword accumulators.

I've played her twice and she is a fun departure from ranged Cygnar lists.

Cygnar Gallant

I now have great respect for those who can paint with white. I am not happy with the result of this jack but i will accept it in order to move onto other painting.

I painted most of him like my other Cygnar jacks.

The white was P3 Menoth White Highlight. The gold detail on the top and sholderblades were done with a gold gel paint pen.

BTW this jack rocks with Constance Blaze.

Cygnar Hammersmiths

My Cygnar Hammersmiths are of two types, the older metal one and the newer plastic one from the multi-kit.

I painted them like my other Cygnar jacks but I did make them slightly different with white trim on the plastic one.

Cygnar Centurions

Taking a break from Malifaux, I painted some Warmachine Cygnar jacks. Here are my two Cygnar Centurions. So far, after one game, they are tough and can give a walloping. Have not used the magnetic shield to stop charges yet.

They are painted the same as my other Cygnar Jacks. The only addition is the magnetic coils were painted P3 Meridius Blue, then the whole model was washed with Army Painter dark wash, then the coils were drybrushed with P3 Arcane Blue and then a lighter wash of P3 Frostbite applied. I also liked how I gave slightly different paint jobs to each of them. These are the older metal ones, by the way.

Second Precursor Knight and UA unit

I painted another Privateer Press Warmachine Cygnar Ally Precursor Knight and UA unit.

I started with black Krylon spray.

Drybrushed P3 Cold Steel, then GW Deneb Stone on the cloth parts, then P3 Menoth White Highlight on the cloth parts.

Drybrush Morrow White on the cloth parts. P3 Midland Flesh then drybrush P3 Ryn Flesh on the faces.

P3 Cygnar Gold on the armor detail and P3 Rusksack Tan on the mace handle.

On the tabard bottoms I used Prismacolor blue for the lines. For the UA I used P3 Cygnar Blue and some P3 Orange for the gems.

I also used P3 Cygnar Gold for the dots on the front of the model's base and the back. That way if two units are mixing it up I can differentiate the two.

Now I have models for Warcaster Constance Blaze's tier list.

Arcane Tempest Blazers

Cygnar's newest additions for the Warmachine miniatures game are Arcane Tempest Blazers. I've used them for a few games and I already like them a lot. They are fast, have three different types of attacks, have a very high defense and can move five inches after they shoot.

 I started with primed white models.

 All of the riders I used the paints used for my Arcane Gunners.

 For the horses I used five different paints and then drybrushed a lighter shade to add contrast.

 

 The saddles I used P3 Bootstrap Leather and the metal parts I used P3 Cold Steel.

 

 The hooves were painted with P3 Menoth White.

 The ladies shirts were painted with one-third P3 Frostbite and two-thirds P3 Morrow White.

All in all a solid unit.

Sword Knights and UA

The Sword Knights are a cheap unit to provide a solid defense to your line. Add one or two warjacks with reach weapons (Lancer, Thorn or Centurion) and they get a +2 and and additional die damage boost they when in melee range of a friendly jack. This makes them very deadly in a charge against heavily armored foes and hit high DEF models on an average roll. Some have suggested taking these models with Alixia Ciannor for easy zombies for her squad but I haven't painted them...yet.

Here's what the box cover versions look like.

 The sergeant.

 The Unit Attachment (Officer and Standard bearer).

 

I primed them with Krylon black, then brushed P3 Ironhull Grey then drybrushed P3 Cold Steel onto them. Next was P3 Cygnar Blue on the shield, brestplate, sholder shields, plume and tabard. Then on the same items I drybrushed P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight then lighter still with 50/50 mix of P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight and P3 Frostbite. The bronze parts were either painted with a mix of GW Dwarf Bronze and GW Runelord Brass. The swan on the shield and chestplate was painted with P3 Gold. The belt and scabbard was painted with P3 Bootstrap Leather then drybrushed with P3 Rucksack Tan. Then it was washed with GW Devlan Mud.

Viktor Pendrake

Sorry for the slightly fuzzy picture. I think I need to invest in a light box with all the yellow tint to my pics as well. Anyways...
Viktor Pendrake is a Hordes Minions model (good for Circle, Trollbloods and Thornfall Alliance) but is also a Cygnar ally, meaning that he can work in mercenary units that can field Cygnar as well. If your local group has lots of Hordes players, he's an excellent model to have.

 The model was first based with Krylon Black primer. Then the pants were painted in P3 Hammerfall Khaki, the boots and underjacket in P3 Gun Corps Brown and then were drybrushed with P3 Bootstrap Leather.

 The face was then painted in P3 Midlund Flesh, then drybrushed with P3 Ryn Flesh. The armor and metal parts were painted, lightly, with P3 Ironhull Grey.

 P3 Cold Steel was then lightly painted over the metal parts. Then P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight was used on the jacket. Then the hair was painted with GW Chaos Black.

 GW Fortress Grey was drybrushed onto the hair then P3 Morrow White Highlight was even lightly drybrushed onto the hair. P3 Bootstrap Leather and P3 Rucksack Tan were used on belts and leather bits.

 A 50/50 mix of P3 Frostbite and P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight was drybrushed onto the jacket. Then GW Drawf Bronze was used on the shiny bits.

 On the decapitated beast, P3 Battlefield Green was painted on first, then P3 Traitor Green was drybrushed on. Finally P3 Hammerfall Khaki was used on the hair. P3 Menoth White Highlight was used on the teeth.

 For the glasses, P3 Arcane Blue was used.

 Then a wash of GW Devlan Mud was applied and the model based. Again, apologize for the blurryness.

And the back.

Warcaster Elite Caine

Cygnar warcaster Captain Allister Caine is not anti-infantry focused, although I've been told he does that job well. He's primarily a caster assassin.

 Primed white.

 P3 Cygnar Base Blue, 50/50 P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight/P3 Frostbite, and P3 Bootstrap Leather.

 P3 Ironhull Grey trenchcoat then it was drybrushed P3 Cryx Bane Highlight and lightly drybrushed/trim was done with GW Fortress Grey. The base was then painted with P3 Cryx Bane Highlight and lightly drybrushed with GW Fortress Grey. The blue around the Cygnar swan was done in Cygnar Blue Highlight and the swan done in P3 Cygnar Yellow.

 Then P3 Midlund Flesh, drybrushed GW Elf Flesh, and P3 Ironhull Grey.

 Then P3 Cold Steel, GW Runelord Brass, and drybrushed GW Dwarf Bronze.

P3 Cygnar Base Blue and drybrushed P3 Arcane Base Blue on the power cables. Then P3 Menoth White Highlight and drybrushed MenothWhite on the scarf. The P3 Coal Black on the hair and it was drybrushed with P3 Ironhull Grey.

 The washed with GW Devlan Mud.

 Back Left.

Back Right.

I was all ready to start playing with all my Arcane Gun mages: Two Arcane Gunners and UA, Black 13th and two Gun Mage Captain Adepts...until I saw this (its a cool website too). Tempest Blazers or Arcane Gun mages on horses! Sigh. I'll definitely have to get these.

But while I wait for good weather to spray and prime my next batch of models, I'm going to work on and talk about a game I started playing very early this year...Firestorm Armada.