Team Colors

I've decided to paint the team in URI colors (Dark blue, light blue, and white).  I figure if I'm going to suck at the upcoming tournament, I might as well go with the colors of a team that's used to sucking. it's a classy and elegant look which should work well with these models.

What's that? You want to see highlights from a URI football game?

hmmm ...

... at halftime, the marching band takes the field!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78chP3rZMbQ

I still don't have a team name, I would like to go with something Rhode Island related.  Obnoxious puns are welcome.  Send your suggestions!

Sandcastles in the Sand

There are a couple different things you can do to a model's base.  The easiest is to just paint it green, like the Human Blitzer below on the left:

All his base are belong to me.

It's pretty simple and straightforward; glue the player, paint, done.  And it looks like ass, especially compared to the High Elf Thrower on the right. 
Getting that look is pretty easy, so no reason not to do it right.

I spread normal paper glue across the base.  I'm using a skewer, you could also use a toothpick, matchstick, even an old paintbrush.  It doesn't matter as long as it gets spread evenly and as little glue as possible gets on the figure itself.  And if there's a gap in the base (like the ones on the side on the human above), just slather glue over it.  It's thick enough to cover up all but the largest gaps (which I cover with scotch tape).
In the US, I use white Elmer's glue.  Here in Germany the glue I'm using is clear, so it's hard to see on that base, but it's nothing special, it's the same completely normal inexpensive glue that you'd let a 5 year old use.

Once the glue is even, dip it into a container of sand!

This finer the sand, the neater the grass is going to look.  This is going to come out looking like a short-cut, well tended lawn (with a rock on it, this is Blood Bowl!).  Coarser sand will give you a rougher look, like the High Elf above.

This goes pretty quickly.  I had the entire team done in no time.

So, my models arrived yesterday while I was at work, I picked them up from the post office this morning.  First impression is, they seem high quality.  I'll need to clean them up a little before I even start painting, but the team looks good:

The Elf team, straight out of the box.

Some of the models have some flash on them from the mold, but the seam lines aren't very pronounced, and I can cut the excess off pretty easily:

Little blobs of pewter like this one are typical on metal models.  Pewter is soft and cuts pretty easily, so the biggest worry is not damaging the model.

My biggest complaint is the logo on the stand bar.  You can see that it's actually too big to fit into the slot on the base, it has to be filed down.  The base should be snug enough that the figure stands up on its own, but not so wide that you have to risk breaking the plastic.
Filing down those tabs was the most time-consuming part of this prep step.

See?  That's what it's supposed to look like.

The Thrower came in two pieces, which could be kind of fun.  I tried several poses, "winding back" looked kind of neat, and it's possible to put that arm in at an odd angle to make it look like he's scratching his back with the ball. 

In the end, I went with a sort of "tuck" position.  It's the most natural position for the arm piece and is clearly the way it's intended, although it was still slightly loose and needed some glue to fill a gap.  A grip like that makes him look like a running quarterback, who takes short, accurate passes when there's someone open and holds on to the ball when there isn't.  That also matches the play style I think I'm going to use with this team.

Here they all are!

Still not ready for spray paint though.  I'm going to glue the models to the bases, and add some sand. Stay tuned!

When the going gets weird, the Elves turn Pro

So a little bit of background:  I realized that I hadn't played Blood Bowl on the tabletop for far too long, so I signed up for an NAF tournament downcity in a few weeks.

I immediately faced a choice of which team to play.  I've been playing Blood Bowl for a while, so I have several to choose from.  Wood Elves are the obvious choice, they're one of the most successful teams in the tournament format.  They also look great and won me a Super Bowl in 1999-ish.  Orcs and Humans are always a solid choice, even though they were some of my earlier models and the paint job isn't great.  I actually had two Dark Elf teams to choose from, my own Ice Dragons, and another set I painted up for Diane.  Chaos Dwarves were available, although the models are starting to show their age and need some super glue love.  I have a beautiful-looking Chaos team, although Chaos seems to be pretty terrible in the tournament ruleset I'm looking at.
I also have some partially-painted Undead and High Elves, unpainted Norse and Goblins, another unpainted Human team that I eventually want to paint in Patriots colors. 

Given this wealth of choice, what team am I going with?  Clearly one option stood out as the most sensible and practical.  I bought a brand-new team which I will be painting before the tournament.

A word on "Elf" teams, otherwise known as "Pro Elves".  Before 3rd edition Blood Bowl, there were no separate Dark Elf, High Elf, or Wood Elf teams, just generic "Elves".  They were the quintessential finesse team, fast, agile, winning games by dancing around slower, clumsier players, taking away the ball, and scoring at will on offense.  When 3rd ed came out, generic Elves disappeared, but rosters were offered for both High Elves and Dark Elves.  High Elves were faster and better built for the passing game, Dark Elves were slower but offered Witch Elves.  An expansion called Death Zone offered Wood Elves as well, looking a lot like faster, more brittle High Elves.
Fast Forward a few years, Blood Bowl was cancelled by Games Workshop, and rules were in the hands of a fan-run committee.  A lot of people noticed that High Elves and Wood Elves had a very similar style and proposed a team to replace them; it had mostly AV7 players, like Wood Elves, the same movement as High Elves, and highly skilled Blitzers and Catchers, essentially translating the old Elf Teams into the current rules set.  High Elf and Wood Elf coaches protested strenuously, so those rosters were kept, and the new roster was added. 

So why play them?  Several reasons.  First of all, they're a fun, underrated team with lots of potential, and they should work quite well in the tournament format.  Second, they're one of the less common teams in most formats, probably because they're relatively new and didn't get any models until after GW cancelled Blood Bowl.  Third, I am petty and enjoy bragging, but I am realistic enough to expect to do quite poorly at the tournament.  There are so few Elf teams in the NAF that even a completely neutral, replacement-level performance should put me around rank 200 in the world, and even if I am the worst Elf coach on the planet, I'll still be able to brag about being in the top 500.

There actually are official GW models for Pro Elves:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1100038
... but they look kind of silly.  I ordered a team by an independent model company called Neomics:
http://www.neomics.de/shop/fantasy-football-elves

... I like the look of them, and will be finishing and painting them in the coming weeks.  Tournament is on the weekend of April 13-14.