Duelling Paintbrushes 2: DuelCon 2012 (now with pictures!)

Duelling Paintbrushes 2 is now completely and totally over. Today we ran DuelCon 2012 - the fabled Duelling Paintbrushes mini tournament - possibly the most over organised three-player tournament in the history of the world. Now that it's over, the player pack can be revealed. Of course, Drew already revealed the player pack. Gah.

•  DUELCON 2012 is a 1000 point Warhammer Fantasy Battle Tournament, open to absolutely anyone, provided they are Greg Johnson, Drew McLean or Owen Top.
•  There are no restrictions on armies used except that the armies MUST have been painted as part of Dueling Paintbrushes 2: Mexican Paintoff.
•  Massive comp hits will be placed on anyone who takes a Hell Pit Abomination, Hydra or Kharne the Betrayer.
•  There is a 150 point upgrade allowance available to players who did not include upgrades in their DP2 lists.
• There is no grudge round. There is no grudge thrower either.

The 150 point upgrade bonus was included on Drew's insistence because he did not include any upgrades in his force. This meant Greg struggled to make the 1150 points now required, and had to over dose on magic levels. It also meant I took the doom wheel. And it meant little to Drew because when he totalled his points up he found he'd painted over 1000 points anyway.

But enough of this waffle!

On to the results!

GAME ONE: Drew (Orcs-wot-fink-dey-iz-wood-elves) vs. Greg (Stirland Empire) TABLE: One.

RESULT: Resounding victory to Greg.

GAME TWO: Drew (Orcs-wot-fink-dey-iz-wood-elves) vs. Owen (Clan Skitterclaw Skaven) TABLE: One.

RESULT: Resounding victory to Drew.

GAME THREE: Owen (Clan Skitterclaw Skaven) vs. Greg (Stirland Empire) TABLE: One.

RESULT: Resounding victory to Greg.

FINAL RESULTS:

Greg: 2

Drew: 1

Owen: 0

Greg has posted numberless pictures shortly, and some sort of tournament report. He's better at that sort of thing than I am (he remembers what he rolled - I don't).

Oh - it should be mentioned that Matt Strange won the 40K section of DuelCon 2012 by default, being the only DP2 contestant to finish a 40K army. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear this since he spent the day playing Magic: The Gathering and didn't even bring his 40K army along.

Ishoo Sixty-Fiv: Skavenmass Baubles

Ah, Skavenmass, that sinsiter mid winter festival in honour of the horned rat, when the loathsome rat-men and their vile-kin lay put their fearsome weapons to better use - decorating their warrens in honour of their terrible god! The deep tunnels of the under empire are lit by gentle elf-fat candles, giving a rosy glow to the numerous brass orbs, poisoned wind globes and brimstone baubles which hang from warp-threads stretched across the tunnels. All is peace and harmony and good will to anything which you can't backstab.

And here's how to recreate this most unusual of skaven festivals in the comfort of your own home!

Take it away, Skveek!

And there you are! Skavenmass Baubles fit for the council of thirteen!
Other good Skavenmass Bauble decorating materials include rivets (just shove them in, pointy end first - they make the bauble look like an old fashioned mine!), various sizes of eyelet, and plenty of cardboard strips and shapes. It's pretty easy to cut skaven runes from cardboard and glue them on too.
Well, that's about it for this ishoo, but I here tremendous sounds of righteous fury emanating from Hel Pit...
See you next time!

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: The Results

Let it be known that Duelling Paintbrushes is over, and the following men have been declared victorious, and elevated to the highest esteem for their confirmed painting efforts:

• Owen of Terrain For Hippos (2000+ Points of Skaven, 131 models)
• Greg of The Hoodling's Hole (1000 Points of Empire)
• Drew of Back in Drew's Day (1000 Points of Orcs-Wot-Fink-Dey-Iz-Elves)
• Matt of Hobby Hideout! (1000 Points of Grey Knights)

Unless the other participants can provide confirmation of their victory, they run the risk of being declared weedy gits under the terms of the contest. Better let me know chaps - I'm not sure what your targets where and I'm not familiar with your systems, so I cannot figure out your points myself.

Interestingly, the ones who finished are all bloggers, while none of those who chose to lurk in obscurity on Facebook have completed. Possibly the glare of public scrutiny proved a motivational force...

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: The End.

It's over. Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Mexican Paintoff is completed. And the only reason I have not posted until now is that I couldn't get to the computer... (I am visiting my parents, and they've just had their floors revarnished - no one was allowed to walk on them until now, so we were confined to the computer-free front half of the house...)

On Friday, Pete and I conspired to hold a Greg-free painting night at the Peteplex, where I was intorudced to the 3D printer, and had some 60X40 unit filler bases printed. I also put the finishing touches on the bases of my loathsome rat men, their vile kin, and their vile-kins's mate's pet rat, Colin. 

On Saturday, I took my pernicious hordes to HGC for a photo session on the terrain. And forgot to take the Doom Flayer. Oh well.

The verminous might of Clan Skitterclaw emerges from the marshes of Skavenblight, which are oddly snowy for the time of the year...

Ask not for whom the bell screams, it screams for you!

The original Warlock Engineer wildly wields his wonderfully wicked warplock weapon.

Gutter runners lurk in a ruined building. Lurkfully.

The mighty Rat Ogres - second left is the new one with head cloned from the Screaming Bell ringer.

Warlord Skveek Skitterclaw himself on the giant pox rat itself...

Further Skveekage. It has been pointed out to me that the rat looks like it's rubbing it's hands together like a super villain plotting to take over the world. I shall have to name him 'Pinky.'

It's that warpmusketeer again!

The doom rocket shall spell your doom. The warlock engineer will not, since he cannot spell. Damn illiterate skaven minions.

You will not get my brass orb! It's MY brass orb! I'm going to hold it, and pet it, and love it and call it 'George.'

The Rat Tank in it's verminous glory!

Giant rats - I found another two on the Corpse Cart sprue, so now there are sixteen.

Emerging from the sinister swamps, the scurry scurvily with skittering stealth.

So, the army list stands at (and yes, I know it's not legal. The initial 1000 point force IS legal, and by adding in magical items, caster levels and standards, it's possible to remove an excess lord, and still pull off 2000 points)

Lords (648pts)

• Grey Seer (440pts)
  The Screaming Bell (200pts)
• Warlord (208pts)
  Dragonhelm (10pts), Great Pox Rat (30pts), Shield (3pts), Talisman of Preservation (45pts), Weeping Blade (30pts)

Heroes (205pts)

• Warlock Engineer (95pts)
  Warpmusket (15pts), Warpstone Tokens (15pts), Wizard Level 1 (50pts)
• Warlock Engineer (65pts)
  Brass Orb (50pts)
• Warlock Engineer (45pts)
  Doomrocket (30pts)

Core (722.5pts)

• Clanrats (287.5pts)
  Clawleader (8pts), Musician (4pts), Poisoned Wind Mortar (65pts), Standard Bearer (8pts)
  • 45x Clanrats (202.5pts)
    45x Shield (22.5pts)
• Clanrats (215pts)
  Clawleader (8pts), Musician (4pts), Standard Bearer (8pts), Warpfire Thrower (70pts)
  • 25x Clanrats (125pts)
    25x Shield (12.5pts), 25x Spear (12.5pts)
• Stormvermin (220pts)
  Doom-flayer (55pts), Fangleader (10pts), Musician (5pts), Standard Bearer (10pts), 20x Stormvermin (140pts)

Special (228pts)

• Gutter Runners (60pts)
  5x Gutter Runners (60pts), Two hand weapons
• Rat Ogres (168pts)
  Packmaster (8pts), 4x Rat Ogre (160pts)

Rare (150pts)

• Doomwheel (150pts)

(No Category) (64pts)

• Giant Rats (64pts)
  16x Giant Rats (48pts), 2x Packmaster (16pts)

My future plans include:

• Finishing the unit fillers.
• Remembering the Doom Flayer.
• Building a horde of rat ogres from Killa Kan parts (possibly a literal horde...)
• Building a Hell Pit Abomination from similar things.
• Building a Skaven Flyer. Because I can. It might count as an Abom. I dunno.
• Expanding regiments further.
• Building the Warp Lightning Cannon.
• Building Jezzail Teams from plastic skaven and Empire hand guns.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 27.

Some more work on clan rats, attached the last rat ogre's head... and built a Warpstorm Accumulator.

"A what?" you cry. Well, it's a unit filler for my Storm Vermin, taking up the same space as six skaven. The tracks, exhausts and pillar-thing are from Technolog Robogear kits - mostly the Hurricane tank, but the exhausts are from the Spider. The models themselves look goofy, but they have plenty of good parts!

In position in the Storm Vermin. I don't have a base yet, but I have measured and checked it's the right size.

The doom wheel pumping rat makes a fine driver...

Plenty of bass guitar strings, a doll's eye fastner and a ball from a christmas decoration (I think) complete the insane contraption.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 26.

Day 26. It's almost over. And it's six days since the last update...

So what has been happening? Well, I've found out that I really dislike assembling screaming bells, let alone painting them. The whole damn thing is just too fiddly. This would've become clear in an update yesterday, but I left my camera at work on Friday...

Anyway, it can now become clear.

I've also painted up another eight clan rats for the hand weapon and shield unit. 

And I've built the Doomflayer.

Again, if I hadn't left the camera at work on Friday, this'd've been a MFH ishoo. As it is, you can enjoy the photos and explanations, even if it's not step by step.

The core of the Doom Flayer is the doom wheel's engineer and inner ring. The outer ring has been removed, an engine built from an Imperial Guard heavy flamer (I think), front wheels from a tank kit, and halbard blades fitted. 

 The outer shells are fishing bobber halves, with most of the insides dremelled to oblivion. Spikes etc. are mostly from Marauder flails or the old night runner sprues.

And here the mighty doom flayer protects the flank of the mother unit (like the mother land, but with less vodka, and more squeaking)

So what does that leave me to complete? 12 Clan rats, and a rat ogre.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 20: The Rat Tank.

Day Twenty already. Only ten days to go. And the long awaited rat tank, for which you have waited long is here!

The justly proud warlock engineers of Clan Skitterklaw pose with their crazed creation. Crazily.

Enemie's-eye-view...

The mighty warp stone reactor. Design has changed a bit because I rediscovered my IG tank bits bag...

Even the loathsome rat men and their vile kin must have headlights.

The business end...

As you can see, the 1/35 Vicker Light Tank Mk. VI is almost exactly the same size as a chariot base. it's a touch wider, and the reactor makes it slightly longer, but it's not far off.

Wither Clan Skitterclaw now? Well, yesterday I aquired some fishing bobbers for my fiendish doom flayer plans... and there's still the warplightning cannon (although current thinking calls for a large order from an online bits supplier which might delay it until after DP2 ends). And there's still the screaming bell and 20 clanrats. I might not get the WLC done due to lack of parts, but I'm sure I'll think of something to put in which takes up it's points. More rat ogres or something.

Duelling Paintbrushes 2: Day 18.

Day 18, and the giant rats are completed. I got some plague monk rats from eBay ages ago, and combined with the lavish numbers supplied with the doom wheel, I've got a decent sized unit. The packmasters are from Island of Blood - one is the actual pack master, the other is a clan rat with a chaos charioteer's whip.

In related news, the Rat Tank is pretty close to complete now, so painting should start soon. As should construction of the Warplightning Cannon and the Doomflayer.