-WELCOME TO THE CAUSE !!!- 

So I've tried MERCS about a week ago and really fell for the game. At last, something that relies more on strategy than dice roll ! Don't get me wrong though, there will be some critical dice roll fail and the like but the most important part of the game is movement and what you make of it. I just finished painting my first model and will keep you posted on further development, such as a battle report from a most wanted faceoff against Guru's Keizai Waza ! Soooo without any further ado, here is my monkeywrench for the USCR, my first MERCS strike team of hopefully many ! 

-Korto

Nuclear Launch Detected (Part 4)

The Curse:
-I've been trying to post the last two members of my Keizai Waza NLD Merc team on this blog for ever...
-At first I took pictures.
-Then forgot my camera at the store.
-Forgot said camera the many time I came back to get it.
-Then got it but was in the middle of exams so I didn't had time to post.
-Realized the pictures I took of the last team members were quite blurry.
-Went back to take more pictures of them.
-To realize my 7+ years old camera is dying...It can't focus properly anymore. (That and I'm a terrible photograph)

Nonetheless I uploaded the pictures as else I'll have nothing to show.

Here's the Heavy-Hybrid: a though armor that will see it survive many games combined with a heavy weapon to deny critical zones of the battlefield. (note: I'm pretty sure people aren't used to Armor 3 on Keizai Waza) 

 And last but not least: The Demo. His acid grenades reduce enemy armor permanently by 1...Quite useful to deal with your opponent's armor 3.

Group Shot

The NLD ''Asset Denial Division'' of Keizai Waza with its five members in battle armors.
(Its not blurry because I'm a terrible photograph and my camera is dying, it's blurry because they're running, that's why!)

Now I only need to buy and paint the Keizai Waza sniper and I'll have the full 6. There's really something that makes you proud to own everything of an army fully painted....And with Mercs it's never been so easy!
At the same time, you know inside yourself you just can't wait for more releases for Keizai Waza, be it because you're curious or because there 's so much potential.

Comments and critics welcomed as always, I apologize if the bad pictures burned your eyes: I'll try and amass money to buy a new camera!

-guru

Is this the end of the Nuclear Launch Detected adventure? Not at all! Expect fluffy battle reports and new members (as Mercs releases them).

From ''Focus, Fury & Soulstones 2'' to ''Wargaming Ninja Turtles''

 FF&S2 Contributors and myself wanted to be more than ''just another gaming blog'' and to build a loyal reader base.
So we spent the last month trying to think about a good logo, an official blog color and how we could offer the best experience possible to our readers.

First we found the color: ''Trollblood Base'' (It's from P3 range, Privateer Press' paints): a blue-grey that I used on my ''Nuclear Launch Detected'' Mercs and really like. We will use that color to paint official blog armies for demos and team tournaments.

The logo was really hard to think of as ''Focus, Fury & Soulstones 2'' was quite hard to translate in a logo. One idea that popped up was a turtle with a paintbrush and a wooden sword as we like wargaming and painting but can be slow at both (personally it takes me days to weeks to finish one miniature). And a contributor asked if they could be ninjas.
I didn't give it much thought then as a turtle wasn't the best logo to represent us.

And then one night, while walking back home at 2' in the morning, all the pieces of the puzzle came into place:
-Instead of discarding the turtle, I should discard the name!

Why?

''Focus, Fury & Soulstones 2'', while being quite good to target Warmachine/Hordes and Malifaux players that search on the net, was too long a name. Even worse: there was already a blog with almost the same name (Focus, Fury & Soulstones, created by me) and I couldn't remove it.

''Wargaming Ninja Turtles'' was not too long, didn't have any numbers in it and was one of a kind in gaming world (at least to my knowledge). Admittedly it wouldn't be too efficient at getting random readers on search engine.
This new name would allow for an easy blog design in a ''comic book style'' and we could use the color and logo we already thought of! The puzzle was complete!

Of course, we could loose readers on this, not because they didn't liked the new name or had a fear of turtles but simply because the url changed, the good thing is that the blog's fairly new so it won't be that many and hopefully we catch them back.

New challenges:
-We need to find a turtle battle cry (in a ''Kowabunga'' fashion)
-We need a better logo than the one you saw at the top of this page (made under paint by myself)
-Should turtles eat poutine? (French fries + cheese and gravy)

Hope you like the changes! If you have any advice, suggestions or ideas: don't hesitate to leave a comment!

-guru

Dr.Manhattan

Well, I had a very rough week with the roughest batch of exams in a long time...
And that meant I couldn't force myself to paint stuff, I just needed to paint something willingly.

Now, every morning, I wake up and see my Earthborn Dire Troll (Hordes) in my display, primed and unpainted. He was part of a painting league that stopped abruptly in 2010 and it didn't help that his little brothers fell from my work locker (the highest) to the floor chipping their paintjob and demoralizing me to finish painting the whole list.
Every morning I wake up and think ''What a beautiful miniature, if only I had time to paint it''.

1 (me demoralized and up for painting)
+
1 (me waking up thinking that Earthborn should get a paintjob)
=

 Meet Dr.Manhattan! 

 I used a wreck marker for the base, painted in the same colors as my mercenaries. (although I'm not sure if it's a nomad wreck or a cygnaran warjack)

Still some highlights that needs to be done and he's way far from perfect but the perfectionist in me is shut by all the hours of work spent on this big blue guy.
I apologize if the pics look blurry for now and I'll try to get couple of better shots.

Hope you like it!

Unbounding Reality...

The worst part about knowing Guru is the fact that he never lets you finish one project before he has the next one ready to go. It was decided by him that this summer we would do a Warmachine Unbound painting challenge. Personally I am all for it as unbound is something I have always wanted to try, and I have a TON of Warmachine stuff to paint anyway. That being said, here is my Menoth list as it stands.

Harbinger of Menoth (*5pts)
* Crusader (6pts)
* Templar (8pts)
Grand Exemplar Kreoss (*6pts)
* Castigator (8pts)
* Fire of Salvation (9pts)
Hierarch Severius (*6pts)
* Devout (5pts)
* Crusader (6pts)
* Vanquisher (8pts)
Avatar of Menoth (11pts)
Daughters of the Flame (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Exemplar Bastions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Exemplar Cinerators (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Exemplar Cinerators (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Exemplar Vengers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts))
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts
High Exemplar Gravus (5pts)

High Paladin Dartan Vilmon (3pts)
Knight Exemplar Seneschal (3pts)
Knight Exemplar Seneschal (3pts)
Paladin of the Order of the Wall (2pts)
Paladin of the Order of the Wall (2pts)
Reclaimer (2pts)
The Covenant of Menoth (2pts)

Some quick elementary school math will show you that this list is only 130 points worth of figs. This is because I am leaving room for the Colossal when it becomes available this summer. :)

Loking at the list, you may be wondering what evil plan I had when I designed it? What synergies I build my strategy around? The answer is quite simple... none. I looked at the Army and said to myself which casters can I see working together? So I thought about it a while and came up with this fun little bit of fluff...

The Harbinger has been gifted a vision from Menoth. In her vision, Hierarch Severius is to go on a pilgrimage of discovery into Ios. Somewhere within the borders of the Elven lands lies a great artifact of the builder. This artifact, if wielded by a true believer, could crush those who stand between man and his worship of the one true god. His guide on his journey would be the Harbinger, her visions guiding Severius to his goal. His protector will take the form of Grand Exemplar Mikael Kreoss and his Order of Exemplars. With the strength of the Exemplars, and the guidance of Menoths chosen on Caen, nothing will stand in Severius's way. Not even the people of Ios...

So, now that I have a theme I am ready to go. :) If I understood correctly our painting challenge starts in June, so until then I will continue to finish up my other projects and perhaps try to get some of this pile of Menoth assembled.

It's going to be a busy summer. ;)

Nuclear Launch Detected (Part 3)

Well, it took me some time to go back to my MERCS, not that I didn't want to but I was mostly distracted (as it is often the case) either by the Blorkade-Runners or university teamwork.

Three things kept me going so I would see the completion of the third member of the Blue Tiger group: This blog, the Mercs Minis Forums where I said I would finish the leader and the fact that more and more people are looking at Mercs starters at the store and picking up some.

I won't write more text as you've waited long enough for the pictures:

Here it is! The Keizai Waza Assault Leader of my Blue Tiger Corp.

I Love that little Tactical Nuke, I was afraid I couldn't make it look good but I'm pretty satisfied with the result.

As you can see, he is on a better base than plain old plastic, it's a Secret Weapon ''iron deck'' base, I wanted this 'industrial' feel to my guys, a feeling you could find playing your starcraft Terrans or simply by looking at Mercs' beautiful artworks.

And now a group shot of the three members so far, notice that I also changed their bases and I marked them for gaming as I saw on the Mercs forums.

Now only two more members to paint!! (Although I'm seriously thinking about getting that little sniper to have the full 6...I'll paint him in a reverse paint scheme.)
I don't want to make promises I cannot keep but I'm seriously wondering if I can have the last two (demolition and heavy) painted by this week's Thursday: In time to play with new players in the community.

Comments and critics welcomed!

Sekret Projekt: ''Da Wing'' (Part 2)

In Part 1of this saga I showed you how to build the main frame of the ''Blorkade Runners'' (noun; orkish BlitzUlk: a space to ground assault ship. Will often bristle with weapons and have a small orkish crew.), now it's time to close that beautiful spaceship...

Step 6: Get more gubbinz...

For the ship's enclosure and ramp you'll need:

Materials:

-More of the Insulation Foam 1'' Thickness...But you should have a lot left from Part 1
-1 Plasticard Tube

-1 Plasticard Rod (shaped like rivets)

-1 Sheet of Very Thin Plasticard

-More Warhammer 40k Bits

-1 Textured Plasticard Sheet

-1 Thick Plasticard Sheet (I'll give you thickness soon)

-1 Brass Rod

Tools:

-White Glue

-Super Glue

-Cutter (or exacto)

-An Old Mouspad

So almost everything you used in the 1st Part plus couple of small additions...

Time to get the Gretchins to work, its time to...

Step 7: Close Dat Ship!!

Start cutting pieces of foam that will fit inside the beer glass, these will be the crew compartment (with my beer glass, I had to cut a piece 4'' long by 1.7'' large at the top and 2.5'' large at the bottom).

Check how it fits inside the glass, you want it low so those taller ork nobs don't knock their head against the roof (you know it puts them in a real bad mood ;))

Now take the Textured Plasticard and cut it (I think 0.5'' larger on the sides)

Another picture to show better.

Ideally it should look like this. You can always cut the foam and plasticard to make sure it fits inside. (It obvious but I'm telling you.) Glue the plasticard to the foam with white glue. DO NOT GLUE THE FOAM TO THE SHIP yet.

Put one of those leftover plastic beer glasses (the same you 're using for the frame) on the thick plasticard and draw a circle using the larger end.

Cut the circle with scissors.

If it looks like this, your orks can be proud of you!

Cut a door, try and take in consideration the deck. You want the door large enough that people will be able to see the inside of your ship.

Okay, my door isn't the most symmetric but it wORKS. 

I replicated a Chimera (Warhammer 40k) door in thin plasticard, sure I could add rivets and greenstuff but I was lazy, feel free to do so.

I glued the small plastic door in the back of the ship. You might notice my deck is not horizontal...This is unacceptable! But it's okay because I didn't glue it yet (did you?).

For those who carefully read the instructions, you might have noticed that I didn't talk about gluing this deck yet and here's the reason: let's make it orky!! Glue bits of thick plasticard and random 40k bits on it, do it with an ork mentality = glue stuff laying around that orks would have. (ex: ammo, weapons, wheels, etc...)

Feel free to glue bits on the side of the glass, same with armor plates. Glue with white glue your foam deck to the ship, make sure it's aligned!

Glue, using superglue, the thick plasticard door frame to the plastic beer glass frame. Align it.

Step 8: Time to make a working ramp

Measure a plasticard tube from on side of the plasticard door frame to the other (you can scroll down a couple of pictures to get an idea), cut it into pieces, glue one of these pieces to the door.

Get the Brass rod and cut a piece long enough to fit in all three bits at the same time.

Close the ends.

Fit the door in the frame (don't glue!!), glue one end (aligning it) put the brass rod in and carefully glue the last end of the plasticard tube. All three should have the Brass Rod inside.

Step 9: It's time to do what you do best

In part 1 you got really good at putting armor plates and orkifying everything in your house with rivets...Well same here!!! Glue armor plates cut in thin plasticard and put rivets everywhere on that door, make sure nothing impedes it from opening. For an extra ''orky effect'' glue teeth made of thick plasticard to the top of the door. Add random 40k bits if you feel like it.

Tadaa! The door should work!

And you can see the inside!??! Crazy!

Step X: Pictures of my own Blorkade Runner:

Zugnut making sure the gretchins are following the mek's instructions. One of the Deffkoptas I painted this weekend couldn't resist to show its colors.

Oy Gretchins! Get back to work!!

The Blorkade Runner with the turret...

Next Episode:
-How to build these Kinder Surprise Turrets

-How to use the Valkyrie Stands for your Blorkade Runner.

Now I need to run to work or I'll be late!! Happy Building and Waaagh!!!