40K - Hobby Tip - Tinting Canopies

Over Xmas I have been painting Harlequin vehicles to take to the Long War Doubles at Adepticon.

I did not like the clear plastic canopies so decided to try and tint the canopies to make them better fit my paint scheme.

Going online, I saw techniques that used Humbrol Clear Paints but did not have any or access to get them quickly. So I decided to experiment.

In my collection I have the Gem Paints GW released a few years ago. They are to create gem like finishes on silver background. I decided to see if I could use them to tint canopies.

Well, you can. You need to do a few thin coats and in between time use a brush loaded with water to stop any pooling.

I think it has come up well and I like that it is thin enough to let the light through and throw it onto the face mask.

So a happy discovery - and a new use for those paints.

Fields of Blood New Zealand Grand Tournament 2019

Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament is back for 2019.

You can download the Flyer here

The flyer has the details as to when the Players Pack will be available and when tickets go on sale.

Capacity is limited to 64 people so mark it in your diaries!

40K - Chari-Con - 23/24 February

Chari-Con - the all for Charity Convention being run by Bede Bailey - has its 40k field filling up.

As of today, 24 places are filled. Bede has allocated me 40 places so if you are keen then please contact him to secure your place. You can access the details here

The Players Pack is written and can be accessed here.

"WHAT!!!! I only need to bring one book???"

This is the first in a series of events I'll be looking to run in 2019. The big two are the Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament and the 16 person Warhammer 40k NZ Masters. The events will range from hobby to no-holds barred events to cater to a broad range of participants.

40k - Disappointed

The leaks today emerged of points adjustments in Chapter Approved. You can see them here

The changes are generally underwhelming. I was expecting a nerf of some of the major "offenders" but in all truth that hasn't happened. For my Dark Eldar list I am unaffected and it has got cheaper for me to add Eldrad to "help" them out.

However, that is not the biggest disappointment. As a TO I check a lot of lists. I can tell you from experience that I do not see the humble Tactical Marine in anything but a small percentage of lists. They needed a drop. At least two points for them and the vanilla CSM. There was nothing.

I'm not one for conspiracy theories nor tinfoil hats but.......

A lot of things that GW make in the Space Marine/CSM range got a drop. Terminators, Cult Marines, things GW makes discrete models for. Tacticals didn't.

Can only say that this adds weight to theories that they are on their way out to be replaced by Primaris. Can't give the customer any reason to buy the old pattern can we?

40K - Charicon in February

For those of you that are interested in Tournaments, Bede Bailey is organising Charicon on the weekend of 23/24 February 2019. It will be held at HIBS in Trentham, Upper Hutt.

The event flyer is here

ALL the proceeds from the event are going to Cancer Society.

As part of the event I am running a 6 round Warhammer 40k tournament. The event will be geared more to the "fun" rather than ultra-competitive.

Armies will be 1500 points drawn from one Codex only. Also only Codex options may be used.

Hopefully you can get behind it and we can raise some money for the Cancer Society.

40K - NZ Masters' Lists

You can see the 2018 Masters' lists here

1500 points - No Forgeworld

11th Annual NZ Masters Results

The 11th Annual NZ Masters were played over the weekend in Khandallah, Wellington.

WARHAMMER 40K

Six rounds, 1500 points with mix of missions.

Placings:

1. Ben Clarke (Imperium): 5-1-0 (11 bonus)
2. Sean Sullivan (Aeldari): 5-0-1 (12 bonus)
3. Dave Hodgetts (ImperiaL Knights): 4-0-2 (12 bonus)
4. Glen Burfield (Craftworld Eldar): 3-2-1 (14 bonus)
5. Haydn Korach (Ynnari): 3-1-2 (14 bonus)
6. Sam Whitt (Chaos Daemons): 3-1-2 (6 bonus)
7. Scott Paterson (Tau): 3-0-3 (12 bonus)
8. Aidan Corlett (Tyranids): 2-2-2 (11 bonus)
9. Courtney Thomas (Thousand Sons): 2-1-3 (9 bonus)
10. Simon Smith (Imperial Knights): 2-0-4 (15 bonus)
11. Shane Rongonui (Craftworld Eldar): 2-0-4 (10 bonus)
12. Ryan Pike (Ynnari): 2-0-4 (9 bonus)
13. Jordan Green (Nurgle Chaos): 2-0-4 (8 bonus)
14. Michael Price (Tau): 0-0-6 (4 bonus)

Well done to Ben for going through undefeated. He played all of the Top 6 bar Dave Hodgetts.

FLAMES OF WAR

Five rounds, 85(?) Points

1. Lee Reygate: 33 Points (5 wins)
2. Kim Styles: 28 Points (3 wins) - beat Simon HtH
3. Simon Mc Beth: 28 Points (3 wins)
4. Sofia Chambers: 16 Points (2 wins)
5. Jon Carryer: 16 points (1 win)
6. Rob Shirley: 15 points (1 win)
7. Glen Horsman: 14 points (1 win) - beat Kevin HtH
8. Kevin King: 14 points (1 win)

Thanks to Russell Briant for running the FoW event. All the players had a good time from the feedback I received.

The 12th NZ Masters will be held in the same venue on the first weekend of December 2019.

Warhammer 40k - NZ Masters Invitations

Warpstorm XI held over the weekend completed the 2018 Tournament Season. The results have been uploaded to the rankings and the final standings are as follows:

1. Dave Hodgetts
2. Sean Sullivan
3. Glen Burfield
4. Courtney Thompson
5. Aidan Corlett
6. Scott Paterson
7. Shane Rongonui
8. Chris Parkin
9. Josh Hill
10. Sam Whitt
11. Ryan Stuart
12. Simon Smith
13. Liam Miskelly
14. Adam Thornton
15. Ryan Pike
16. Jordan Green
17. Felix Nesbitt
18. Ben Clarke
19. Pete Dunn
20. Haydn Korach
21. Dave Lewy
22. Michael Stewart
23. Henare Akari
24. Vinnie Purcell
25. Bede Bailey

The first sixteen of those will get immediate invites to the Masters. Should any decline their spot they will cascade to the next person in order. As I am umpiring the event I am declining any invitation I might get now. 

Congrats to the Top 25 players out of the 250 people who participated in ranked events this season.

40k - NZ Rankings Updated for FOB NZGT and Hive Hard

The 40k rankings have been updated to include the Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament and the recent Model Citizens: Hive Hard.

With the cutoff for the Masters at the end of the month, the competition is tight. There are at least three events this month to build your score and it looks like a total of 250 will be needed to assure a Top 12 position.

Current Top Ranked Players:

1.   Dave Hodgetts - 295
2.   Glen Burfield - 287
3.   Courtney Thomson - 279
4.   Sean Sullivan - 273
5.   Aidan Corlett - 268
6.   Scott Paterson - 256
7.   Josh Hill - 250 
8.   Ryan Stuart -238
9.   Simon Smith - 237
10. Adam Thornton - 233
11. Jordan Green - 231
12. Felix Nesbitt - 228

Others in the Top Twenty  Ben Clarke (225), Dave Lewy (204), Haydn Korach (211), Henare Akari (200), Vinnie Purcell (198), Ryan Pike (223), Sam Whitt (198) and Liam Miskelly (198).

Five of #13-20 are at Warpstorm where the winner gets 100 points.

Ryan and Liam have a score in the 60s which means a placing in the Top 12 at the event will see them improve their score. Sam has a score in the 40s. A finish in the top third would see Sam hit the Top 10.

The Fields of Blood Warhammer 40k New Zealand Grand Tournament - Results

Here are the results for the FOB NZGT held in Wellington on 29/30 September. This was a hobby-focused event with:

• Battle 40%
• Selection 10%
• Presentation 25%
• Sportsmanship 25%

Players were told that they would be rewarded for all aspects of the hobby and so it proved. Sam Whitt won the event scoring in the top 10% of Sports, Presentation and Selection supported by a top 25% Battle score (4 wins, 2 losses). 

	First	Last	Detachment #1	Battle	Sports	Paint	Comp	Overall
1	Sam	Whitt	Chaos Daemons	23.33	23	22.00	8	76.33
2	Sean	Sullivan	Dark Eldar	32.67	18	19.44	5	75.11
3	Courtney	Thomson	Chaos Daemons	34.00	18	19.44	3	74.44
4	Chris	Parkin	Dark Eldar	29.33	19	20.00	5	73.33
5	Scott	Paterson	Tau	34.67	18	18.33	2	73.00
6	Dave	Lewy	Death Guard	30.00	18	21.00	3	72.00
6	David	Hodgetts	Tau	30.67	18	18.33	5	72.00
8	Rory	Taylor	Tyranids	29.33	18	19.44	4	70.78
9	Ryan	Stuart	Tyranids	29.33	19	20.00	2	70.33
10	Adam	Thornton	Tyranids	28.00	18	18.89	5	69.89
11	Louis	Thomson-Gregg	Dark Angels	24.67	20	18.89	6	69.56
12	Ryan	Pike	Eldar	26.67	19	20.44	3	69.11
13	Alistair	Morgan	Deathwatch	22.67	19	21.00	6	68.67
14	Josh	Hill	Eldar	27.33	18	20.00	3	68.33
15	Craig	Latta	Imperial Knights	24.00	19	21.00	4	68.00
16	Michael	Charles	Deathwatch	27.33	16.8	16.11	7	67.24
17	Scott	Avery	Space Marines	19.33	21	19.89	7	67.22
17	Shane	Rongonui	Eldar	25.33	18	18.89	5	67.22
19	Luke	Forrest	Space Marines	14.67	20	25.00	7	66.67
20	Glen	Burfield	Necrons	19.33	20	20.00	7	66.33
21	Aidan	Corlett	Tyranids	20.00	20	20.00	6	66.00
22	Michael	Stewart	Adeptus Custodes	25.33	17.8	16.67	6	65.80
23	Bruce	Manning	CSM	20.00	20	19.44	6	65.44
24	James	Milner	Space Marines	18.67	19	19.44	8	65.11
25	Felix	Nesbitt	Tyranid	23.33	23	16.67	2	65.00
25	Liam	Miskelly	Death Guard	22.00	18	22.00	3	65.00
27	Harry	Bright	CSM	20.67	20	16.11	8	64.78
28	Alistair	Helm	Tau	23.33	19	18.33	4	64.67
29	Hagen	Kerr	SOB	16.00	18	23.00	7	64.00
30	Dean	Oldham	CSM	23.33	18	18.33	4	63.67
31	Aaron	Wilson	Ad Mech	20.67	18	17.78	7	63.44
32	Bede	Bailey	Eldar	20.67	20	15.56	7	63.22
33	David	Foster	Deathwatch	20.67	19	15.00	8	62.67
34	Craig	Stewart	Astra Militarum	20.00	19	18.89	4	61.89
35	Henare	Akari	Chaos	21.33	19	20.00	1	61.33
36	Cody	Parlato	Ad Mech	17.33	20	18.33	5	60.67
37	Jordan	Green	Death Guard	18.00	18	21.00	3	60.00
38	John	Murie	Harlequins	16.00	19	17.78	7	59.78
39	Paul	Knieriem	Deathwatch	24.00	20	11.67	4	59.67
40	Ben	Foster	Dark Eldar	16.00	18	20.44	5	59.44
41	Daniel	Hayden	Chaos	25.33	18	14.44	1	58.78
42	Bob	Pearce	Space Marines	14.67	18	20.00	6	58.67
43	Ryan	Moran	Orks	7.33	20	23.00	8	58.33
44	Matthew	Tansley	Death Guard	25.33	19	7.78	6	58.11
45	Sam	Nightingale	Space Marines	18.00	19	16.67	4	57.67
46	Luke	Henning	Necrons	15.33	19	15.00	8	57.33
47	Kent	Jackson	Space Marines	16.00	18	12.78	10	56.78
48	Alick	Harris	CSM	12.67	21	17.78	5	56.44
48	Daniel	Salter	Tau	17.33	19	16.11	4	56.44
50	Matthew	Hassall	Astra Militarum	13.33	20	15.56	7	55.89
51	Stephen	Morris	Death Guard	20.67	19	9.44	6	55.11
52	Simon	Smith	Adeptus Custodes	13.33	19	15.00	7	54.33
53	Mark	Ternent	CSM	19.33	18	11.67	5	54.00
54	Regan	Ridge	Astra Militarum	18.67	19	12.22	4	53.89
55	Hayden	Prujean	Harlequins	12.00	20	14.44	7	53.44
56	Aaron	Twose	Space Marines	11.33	19	11.67	9	51.00
57	Cameron	Robertson	Blood Angels	14.00	18	9.44	4	45.44
58	Mathew	Liggett	Tyranids	11.33	19	3.33	8	41.67
59	Calvin	Spain	Ynnari	9.33	18	7.22	6	40.56

HARLEQUIN (BEST PAINTED) - Luke Forrest

LIVING SAINT (BEST SPORT) - Felix Nesbitt

TECHMARINE (BEST ARMY) - Ryan Moran

BLOODTHIRSTER (HIGHEST BATTLE) - Scott Patterson

TERRAGENITOR (BEST TERRAIN) - Glen Burfield & Cody Parlato

BEST IN RACE:

• Eldar - Chris Parkin
• Xenos - Dave Hodgetts
• Tyranids - Rory Taylor
• Codex Space Marines - Scott Avery
• Non-Codex Space Marines - Louis Thomson-Gregg
• Imperium - Craig Latta
• Chaos Space Marines - Bruce Manning
• Chaos - Henare Akari
• Death Guard - Dave Lewy

Thanks to the sponsors Mighty Ape and to Battlekiwi and Kapiti Hobbies for prize support.

Really appreciate the support from the gaming community with people attending from Northland to Dunedin as well as James "Kenny" Milner from Melbourne.

Next year's event will be capped again at 64 people and be held at same venue. It will be scheduled for September 2019 and tickets will go on sale 1 February 2019.

Thanks to those who provided terrain, helped to set up (especially Ben Runciman), Bede for rubbish removal.

And biggest thank you to Tom Dunn who gave up his weekend to input all the scores.

40K - The Last NZGT Table

And I got one more table finished ahead of the weekend. This one pulls together a series of terrain pieces I've had partly finished.

It is built around an Imperial Palace constructed using the Citifight kits. This is supplemented by pieces put together from the 3rd Ed Box Set Gothic Ruins, a Forgeworld Tank Factory and a cathedral from Puppets Wars.

The complementary battlemat is from Frontline Gaming (City 1).

40K - Fields of Blood NZGT - Another Table

Into the home stretch re the FOB NZGT - it is on this weekend - and another table for the event is finished.

This one is an Imperial City in the final stages of destruction. The buildings are all the original Cityfight buildings on a Gamemat.eu battlemat.

Unfortunately I'm now running out of time to produce more tables. Ideally, I'd like to have three of four more done but there is insufficient time. In the end I will have 10 high quality tables with promises for the balance. I'm pretty sure that it will be the best looking 40k event that's been held in New Zealand and will make sure that I have the camera on hand to capture the action.

40k - Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament Trophies

Yesterday afternoon I picked up the trophies for the 2018 FOB NZGT.

One of the things the event has always done is invest in high quality trophies for the winners of the various categories at the event. This year continues that investment. For the major trophy winners, there are A4 sized plaques featuring metal plates on high quality wooden backgrounds. The plaques can be wall mounted or can sit on a table in either your hobby space (or more likely your living room wall!)

Only two weeks away now.

40K - ETC 2019, Novi-Sad Serbia - Expressions of Interest

Posting this to see whether there is anybody interested in being part of a New Zealand Warhammer 40k team to the ETC in 2019.

Next year it is being held in Novi-Sad (about an hour north of Belgrade) in Serbia.

The ETC is the world's biggest teams competition and it is contested between nations. Teams are comprised of 8 players, of which 4 must be from the country under whose flag they compete. that means to enter a team we must have four players either domiciled in New Zealand or who have NZ passport.

Novi-Sad ETC 2014 - Warhammer Fantasy

New Zealand has sent teams to the ETC before, however involvement has been limited to initially WHFB and now more lately, The Ninth Age and Flames of War.

I am interested in putting together a team to participate in the 2019 Warhammer 40k competition. In doing this I would like to assume the role of Non-Playing Captain. I captained and played in the 2014 WHFB team and I believe it is far better to separate playing from captaining.

So do you have any interest? The event occurs the first week of August and with travel, acclimatisation etc it requires at least 10 days out of New Zealand. It will also cost you approx $3000 for travel, accommodation, food and drink - Serbia is quite cheap to holiday.

The other thing to be aware of is regarding expectations. It is no good going thinking we are going to win. We won't. We'll do well to make the Top 20. What we can do is go, participate and be a great opponent. We can also form a base from which future teams can build. What you will get is a fantastic experience where you can participate in a worldwide event and meet and play against gamers from around the world.

So if you want to be a pioneer for NZ Warhammer 40k have a think about whether you'd like to be involved.

Drop me a line on pete@thefieldsofblood.com if you'd like to be involved.

40K - Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament Lists

Just over a fortnight until the FoB NZGT here in Wellington and players have submitted their lists.

I have received 61 of the 62 lists. These have been checked and can be found here

It is 1750 points, limited to two Detachments.

Battle makes up 40% of this hobby event while there is a selection score of up to 10%.

This 10% score can be termed "Crimes Against Pete" or "Whiskers on Kittens" depending on your point of view.

40k: The Long War "Massacre" - Results

The third of the Warlords' The Long War events was held on the weekend.

This was a three round 1750 point event that used the missions for the upcoming Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament.

Here are the results:

Rank	Player	Army	Total	Battle	Sports
1	Ryan Stuart	Tyranids	57	42	15
2	Sean Sullivan	Dark Eldar	55	40	15
3	Scott Paterson	Tau	54	39	15
4	Dave Hodgetts	Imperium	50	35	15
5	Hagen Kerr	Sister of Battle	46	31	15
6	Sam Nightingale	Imperium	45	30	15
7	Alastair Helm	Tau	40	25	15
7	Bruce Manning	Chaos Space Marines	40	25	15
9	Michael Price	Tau	39	24	15
10	Jordan Green	Death Guard	37	22	15
11	Paul Knieriem	Deathwatch	36	21	15
12	Simon Smith	Adeptus Mechanicus	29	14	15

Best Sport - Paul Knieriem

Best Army - Bruce Manning

Congrats to Ryan on his victory. This was a stunning turnaround from the second TLW event where he finished 12th out of 12.

It was great for me as I got to try out missions from FOB NZGT and iron out any quirks.

The final event of The Long War series will be held at the Warlords on 20 October.

40K - Abandoned Hive City

On the weekend I painted my Abandoned Hive City. This is a destroyed city which has been left to the encroaching jungle. Up until now the Citifight terrain had just been basecoated and drybrushed but I took the opportunity to paint the details and finish the pieces off.

When Sam bailed on our game Sunday - something about being scared of the nasty Dark Eldar - I got to spend the day painting. As well as the Citifight terrain I had some very old resin barricades GW made at the time of release of Citifight (circa 2005) so painted them up. They have the same Manufactorium, Administratum etc pieces incorporated into them.

I've purchased a Gamemat.eu "Swamp" battlemat which is jungle-themed.

The next table will be an urban ruin table.

40K - "Hammerhead Down" Table

As part of the prep for FOB NZGT I am working through my terrain collection and getting them ready for the event.

Each of my terrain sets has its own gamemat and comes in its own plastic storage crate. This means I can have a tailored table which has its own narrative. I'm trying to ensure a certain level of terrain coverage which includes LOS-blocking pieces in each set. The final set will be to add matching scatter terrain.

Here is my "Hammerhead Down" table which goes on Gamemat.eu's Sands of Time Mat. I've had these mdf building from CNC Workshop for 10+ years but decided to revamp them to give them more character. A few hours with the airbrush has achieved this.

40k - Blooding the Field Base

Blooded the Field Base today in a Maelstrom Mission down at the Warlords. My Dark Eldar took on Alastair's Tau in a rematch from Call to Arms.

The Tau went first and inflicted some damage on the DE forward units. However the DE were able to gain the initiative by focusing on the elimination of Fire Warrior units. The game went into Turn 7 and the Dark Eldar were able to score a lot of late game objectives for a clear victory.

However all did not go their way. The Black Heart #2 Archon was brought down in combat by a combination of Fire Warriors and Darkblade. Oh, the ignominy.

40k - ITC Field Base Terrain Finished

Finished another table of terrain for the Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament. This time it is the Frontline Gaming ITC terrain I built last week.

Here is a table set up - just needs some scatter terrain to break it up. It is sitting on a Gamemat.eu battlemat.

Pretty happy with the finished result - both attractive and functional.

Weekly Hobby Update

The weekend saw me working on getting the ITC Field Base tabletop-ready.

I use Rustoleum x2 Primer to seal and base coat my MDF buildings. The next stage was an airbrush session where I used one of my old "Master" airbrushes to detail the buildings. I was pretty happy with the colour modulation I achieved. Then yesterday it was onto brush work to do the detailing. I'm at the stage whereby I think I can finish the full set over the next two evenings.

The other thing I have been doing is watching video battle reports. "Tabletop Tactics" and "The Long War" are my two favourites and I'm a supporter of both these channels. I've also bought a subscription to "Deployment Zone" but have a backlog of videos to watch.

Over the next month terrain building will be a key task for me as I seek to get material ready for Fields of Blood NZGT. The key is to build on "a table basis" rather than piece by piece. This allows me to ensure that a table can be themed and that there is sufficient LOS blocking material on each battlefield.

40K - ITC Terrain Constructed

Earlier this year I purchased a table of Frontline Gaming's Field Base terrain.

This is flat-packed MDF terrain that you construct with PVA glue.

Here is a picture of the full set. It is constructed from 3mm MDF following instructions posted on their website. At the rear is a GW Harlequin Starweaver box by way of size comparison. You can see that they do provide some line of sight blocking cover for all but the largest models.

Here we have the main Field Base Strongholds, Barracks and containers. I have glued the roofs down, mainly for resilience reasons but also for functionality.

The Bunkers and Communication Towers. There is plenty of opportunity to place models in firing positions, cover.

This weekend I intend to paint them. I will use a mix of rattle cans and airbrush with brush for detail work.

This full table worth of very functional 8th Edition terrain cost approximately $300 NZD. I think this is very good value and it should look great on a neoprene mat.