We Have Moved!

Love, Dice and Paintbrushes have moved to a new host over on 6sided.net.

It uses the Wordpress format and being wargames-centric it seemed like the sensible thing to do.

The New Address is:

http://www.lovediceandpaintbrushes.6sided.net/

My Abscence, or: Where is the Love?

I don't usually like to use this blog to air personal laundry but I was trying to keep this more updated. Recent personal events have meant that hobbies have taken a definite back-seat in priorities.

I will not go into details but the long and the short of it is that J and I are no longer together and I imagine that it will be the end of our marriage. For what it is worth, it was a decision that I made and it was not made lightly.

The titular Love in the Blog name was both the Love I shared with her and for the hobby and so in that regard I won't be changing the name. I still have the love for the hobby and there is still care there for J, I just can't and won't remain with her.

Our boys are currently residing with her, I wished to be the primary carer but the court system has granted it to her in the meantime.

This will hopefully be the last mention of this sad situation and the Blog will remain hobby focussed (as it should).

Mantic - Abyssal Dwarf Berserkers

From the Mantic Blog

For most Dwarf Berserkers, it really does not matter what are the motivations of the army they are fighting for. All that they need to know is that there will be fresh enemies to cut down and bloody fights in which to unleash their maniacal killing lust. So the Berserkers are only too easily swayed by the Abyss, convinced to give up their soul in return for the promise of eternal slaughter and a never-ending supply of willing foes against which the bloodthirsty warriors can match their fighting prowess.

More and more, I am loving the new releases from Mantic. They are stepping out of the shadow of the bigger players in the industry and creating a product that has it's own style and feel. I piicked up a set of their Dwarfs a little while ago and I was impressed then; it will be hard to resist picking up an entire army set soon.

Hell Dorado’s World-Wide Re-Release

Hello Dorado is finally being re-released. The announcement from Cipher Studios webpage:

Cipher Studios is pleased to announce that the world-wide release of Hell Dorado has begun! This miniatures skirmish game originating in France will be released in 4 different languages and distributed all over the globe. Throughout the next 18 months the entire current line of Hell Dorado models will become available to distribution. And not only will we release all of the characters and troopers that are already out, we will also bring you 6 brand new models for the game: one character for each faction.

These new Hell Dorado figs have already begun to hit the shelves. At the crest of this new wave leads the indomitable Augustinus Raimond of the Westerners. On the heels of this close combat beast will be Husaym al Dinn, a djinn, fighting for the Saracens with blood soaked blades and an in-your-face combat style.

We have been working furiously to bring you Hell Dorado. Coupled with the improbable amount of bad luck in the first month’s release, it has seemed as though we have been through Hell itself to bring you this new miniatures game. Having overcome these obstacles getting out our initial wave of releases, we are now on target for shipping the second wave to distribution. The English product has now shipped and the product with translated text will be leaving our warehouse shortly. Cipher Studios has been successful in bringing minis fans Anima Tactics in 4 different languages for 5 years now. Because of this, we will be able to implement the same plan with Hell Dorado easily.

And yes, the rulebook is almost ready for print. We have finished all writing and editing. Edited sections have been passed along to our foreign partners for translation and to our layout team, which is in its final stages as I write. You will have it in your wanting hands in no time. Once the book is at the printer, we’ll be able to give a more exact time of release.

Thank you all for believing in us and hanging in there these last couple of years while we were getting Hell Dorado back into the gaming community, on an even bigger scale than before. We look forward to bringing you these amazing models, growing the already incredible community, and expanding the rich world of Hell Dorado!

This is great news for skirmish fans and I am very much looking forward to grabbing a copy.

Bullroarers Update

We are now at round five of the Hotgoblin Cup and while the Barefooted ones are yet to notch up a win, they are developing quite nicely and have been able to make a few Touchdowns.

Along the Skill front, I have been quite lucky with rolling a couple of doubles and even a +Strength to one of the Halflings. Only takes him to Strength 3 but it is not what my opponents generally expect.

The Skill I have been focusing on with the general upgrade is Sidestep. Combined with Dodge, the Halflings are able to make their opponents really work to gain ground. For the Treemen, I have gone for Break Tackle on both and one has also been given Multiple Block to give my line of scrimmage a bit more flexibility. The Doubles rolls so far have gone to a Hail Mary Pass to get me out of trouble and create opportunities and most recently Dauntless. This will allow me to put a bit more threat on and not rely so heavily on the Treemen for the Blocks.

My next round is against a particularly bashy Chaos Dwarf team, the plan at this stage is to play conservatively and limit the amount of damage he can cause me in the long term.

Warhammer Forge

Some interesting new developments coming out of Forgeworld, in particular their new Warhammer Forge arm. Historically, Fantasy has received short shrift from Forgeworld so it is nice to see this new focus.

Warlord Tamurkhan riding his giant Plague Dragon, Bubelos

Plague Ogres

Bile Trolls

Plague Toads, also called Rot-Eaters and Sewer-Kin

They may not be usable in tournament environments but it is wonderful to see the fantasy Hobbyists being looked after again.

Wargames Factory and Bastion Closing?

There has been some interesting developments in the Wargames community in the last week or so. First with the apparent coup d'etat over at Wargames Factory with Tony Reidy leaving the company and posting an open letter (Link - 2nd post down)making some parting shots. This in itself would be of moderate note and understandable considering the current economic conditions. What makes this more interesting is the sudden developments over at Bastion and the reports of them going under.

Now with Bastion, nothing has been confirmed and there is just initial sketchy reports from Beasts of War saying that they will be closing. The Official Ex Illis forums seem to be unsure as well with nothing official being said. Whilst the absence of a rebuttal from those at Bastion is not evidence of this rumour being true, their silence does lend weight to the rumour.

What links these two issues is the fact that it is known that Wargames Factory has been taken over by the Chinese manufacturer of their products, Ghost Studio. Ghost Studio is also the manufacturer of the plastics for Bastion so it is possible that a similar takeover is in progress. The new Managing Director of Wargames Factory, George Sivy, is/was an employee of Ghost Studio. Now this in itself is not an issue, it is a relatively small industry and experience is valuable but their could be some interesting developments to come.

Now both these issues could simply be Ghost Studio attempts to recoup monies that are owed to them but it seems an odd way of going about it. No doubt more information will come to light in coming weeks.