The year of the Stunties (Tavern Talk)

I'm afraid I'll have to apologize for the lack of updates since last time. I took a little break and went away for the holidays, only to return in time to notice that our internet connection, the cornerstone of every nerd's home, had gone down. Poff, out, no more. In fact, it has yet to even return. Combine that with the fact that the main server crashed at work and was out for the entire first week back and suddenly blogging became very difficult. Take heart in the fact that I've got a bunch of posts lined up waiting to be posted, starting out with a short contribution to the Trading Post. This time, the topic is the new year:

The new year is here, time for all those promises you make to the ‘hobby gods’, friends and family about your hobby.  It is time to admit them to the blogosphere, to share with us all the resolutions you have made for Fantasy in the new year.  What are your plans for the up coming year?  What goals do you hope to achieve for 2011? 


I figured this would be the perfect time to announce what I've been planning, and hinting at on a few occasions, for quite some time now: No, this is not about my dabbling in 40k orks. I'm going to start a new fantasy army and that new army will be the Dwarfs.

The theme will be an underground force, a stubborn clan that has refused to surrender their hold although it has been more or less overrunned by the denizens of the deep; in particular due to the fact that the hold contains one of the fabled Anvil of Dooms. It will consist of Ironbreakers, Slayers, Miners and Thunderers mainly, some of my favourite units that have been more or less dismissed by the online Dwarf community that much prefers the Great Weapon-wielding Warriors and Hammerers. I have a sneaky concept in mind of a very mobile dwarf force that sets up ambushes and traps, much like they're portrayed in fantasy literature. Naturally, being underground means there won't be any gyrocopters or grudge throwers in the army, although I might include a unit of rangers for scouting out the Underway.

What excites me is the opportunity to try out a few new painting techniques that I've yet to get much practice on. After two years in the hobby, I think I've figured out the basics of basecoats, washes, highlights and freehand to the point where I feel good about my skills, so I'd like to try out painting directional lighting, with my units being mostly in the dark underground and needing lanterns and torches to light the way.

That said, 2011 will still be the year of the Orcs & Goblins, with the new book due for the early weeks of March. The plan is to have everything done and painted by the time (or close to when) the new army book hits the stores, and having a completely painted army of about 5000 points to mix and match units without having to build that many new ones. You can look at my upcoming projects in the navigation bar to the left of the text.

Finally, a happy new hobby year to everyone, and thanks to all of you who have supported Troll Tales through its first year of life. Stay tuned for a constant stream of Orc-goodness, and later on as I prepare for the year of the Stunties!