So they just announced Vermintide 2, with the reveal trailer coming in a few weeks. Mixed on this one as Vermintide was a good game, filling in the gap left by the lack of Left 4 Dead games, but also adding to my Warhammer love. It was more melee focused and really brought out the Skaven numbers. That said, as a massive Skaven fan, it really disappointed me that you couldn't play as them (not even a mini side campaign). Still, that would probably work better as a different game (a prequel to Vermintide perhaps).
As with all games based on Warhammer fantasy it is kinda pointless, given that even if you do win, you ultimately loose. The Old World is destroyed no matter what, so I do find the stakes in these games no not be as effective on me. I am interested to see what they do for the second game. A new location, probably with more variety would be nice (we needed DLC just to get that) and a more unique set of races/class options. So perhaps adding in Lizardmen, Wood Elves, Dark Elves or even Undead (given that this is the End Times and they do side with the forces of Order later on) to the roster. Hell, maybe do the forces of Destruction option and have various Chaos factions turn on them (just a thought). Perhaps allow more customization into it cause just having different hats as a visual option was limiting in my view.
Overall, am curious as to what we'll see, but I assume we will have more enemy variations which were promised in the first. Maybe, GW could work with them in inventing a new enemy type which they can then release in their miniatures line. Perfect opportunity to do it.
Thursday, 31 August 2017
Wednesday, 30 August 2017
General's Handbook 2017 - You Confuse Me GW
So there was a real sense of worry with the release of the new General's Handbook for Age of Sigmar, mostly down to the fact that with games like Skirmish and Path to Glory, their promise of ensuring that all those factions that are now gone (e.g. Tomb Kings) would still be supported. Now don't get me wrong, the new book is adding more things like games, theme bonuses etc, but given their history, it is rather concerning. Sure enough, none of those units that were in the first book are now there.
At first I was rather upset and wasn't in the mood to do another GW rant, but something strange occurred. While looking at reviews to see other peoples opinions of this, one mentioned that all the PDF versions of the classic 8th forces would be updated to include points for missing units. Sure enough, he was right. The Warscrolls have point numbers on their final page. That said, many of these profiles have been removed and linked to generic scrolls already out and many named heroes and their rules are now either changed to a new generic hero (such as Markus Wulfhart now being the new Huntmarshal) or being just the generic hero type (most High Elf characters are now Dragon Noble). Not sure if I like this option, but then again, I could try and convert a Markus Wulfhart model perhaps.
So for me, they still kept to their word, so I'm happy with that. Good for you GW.
At first I was rather upset and wasn't in the mood to do another GW rant, but something strange occurred. While looking at reviews to see other peoples opinions of this, one mentioned that all the PDF versions of the classic 8th forces would be updated to include points for missing units. Sure enough, he was right. The Warscrolls have point numbers on their final page. That said, many of these profiles have been removed and linked to generic scrolls already out and many named heroes and their rules are now either changed to a new generic hero (such as Markus Wulfhart now being the new Huntmarshal) or being just the generic hero type (most High Elf characters are now Dragon Noble). Not sure if I like this option, but then again, I could try and convert a Markus Wulfhart model perhaps.
So for me, they still kept to their word, so I'm happy with that. Good for you GW.
Friday, 25 August 2017
Animated Reflections: Hilltop Hospital
Another romp into the wonderful world of claymation, Hilltop Hospital is probably best described as a hospital drama show for kids. Based on the book series by Nicholas Allan, this crazy little show was something I had stumbled upon years ago, probably grabbing my attention thanks to that up-beat theme song. So what was my opinion on it? Well, lets look at:
Hilltop Hospital takes place in an anthropomorphic animal world and is what I can only describe as the ER of children's television. Each episode is short (running around the 10 minute mark) and tends to have at least two running plots within each one. These are broken down into a plot involving a patient(s) and the other between the staff.
Speaking of which, lets start with the cast. First up is Dr Matthews. He's a dog and is basically the main doctor of the hospital. Despite his successes, he tends to be a little silly and stupid at times, though he tends to get the job done and does have his moments. Straight off the bat it's clear he has a thing for Surgeon Sally, constantly trying to get her attention. We'll get deeper into this soon.
Speaking of which, Surgeon Sally is a hippopotamus and someone who is far too serious for her own good. Work is above all else and she can't tolerate mistakes and sloppiness. She's doesn't have a cold heart, she just tends to be a bit too stern and serious then the rest. Despite Dr Matthews attempts to draw affection from her, she shows no interest in him (either cause she has no interest or simply doesn't see it that way). Her actions make it clear that she is the one who runs the hospital.
Dr Atticus is a tortoise and the anesthetist (basically, the person who puts the patient to sleep before the operation and keeps track of the patient during it) of the hospital. He runs by the usual tropes of a tortoise of eating, sleeping and being slow. He does have a scooter to help him move around the hospital for things like emergencies. There are the two lab rats called Arthur and Clare, who run the lab and medical research section, though from all the episodes I saw I couldn't tell if they were friends, siblings or a couple. The seem to work well together, which is probably why I probably thought that.
Then there is Nurse Kitty, who is a cat. She has a lot of duties to perform and one can only wonder how she keeps up with everything. She tends to be calm and demure at times, but is still softly spoken even when she is angry. Nurse Kitty also has a massive crush on Dr Matthews, who for the most part doesn't seem to notice or is clueless to her advances. Again, we'll get to it.
Then there are the twin bears called Ted. These guys are probably the shows comedic duo, mostly cause of their clumsiness and constant bickering. They are in charge of the hospitals vehicles. Finally there are Nurse Bunny, a rabbit who is tends to be part of the maternity section and Felicity, who appears to be the hospital psychologist/psychiatrist (I think she's a koala or wombat, I couldn't find anything on her beyond marrying a guy named Bruce, so I'm guessing based on her appearance and Bruce being a name more associated as Australian).
The show itself tends to tackle a number of themes. Many of these are more focused towards children as many of the patients with problems are children. Some tend to help relate to children who may experience similar problems while other ones tend to focus on a moral message. These can range from simple bed wetting or being afraid of the dark up to being alright to feel down because your parent passed away in an accident. I am not joking on that last one. Seriously, while watching these episodes, the episode called The Blues started and the introduction conversation goes like this:
Dr Atticus: "How is our new Patient?"
Sally: "Hedgehogs really ought to look both ways before they cross the road"
Dr Atticus: "Don't be too hard on her. Her mother's just died in a road accident"
Wait, WHAT? Did I really just hear that right. I know this is a hospital, but I honestly didn't expect to hear that in a show that tends to be positive for the most part. The rest of the episode is the hedgehog being extremely happy, only to learn she hides away to cry, saying that if she looks sad then people feel sorry for her and it reminds her how much she misses her mother. This leads to her going to visit Felicity to talk about her problems and going off with another family to stay with (so I'm guessing she never had any other family to take care of her, which is really sad now that I thought about it). I can only assume that these kinds of episodes are design to help children in such situations open up about their own feelings and get help. Given I'm not a child psychologist, I have no idea if it works, but I applaud the work non the less. I can't tell if the episode is considered dark, given just how desensitised we are these days.
Now lets get down to the other drama. While some episodes focus more on the other staff, a majority revolve around the Dr Matthews/Sally/Kitty drama. For the most part, it involves Dr Matthews failing to grab Sally's attention in the way he wants and Nurse Kitty commenting on Dr Matthews in a positive way. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of drama shows and don't like a lot of the ones out there, yet after a few episodes into this show, I suddenly realised that I was getting more and more frustrated with Dr Matthews for not noticing Nurse Kitty. It's only once you start noticing how aggravating you've become that you just want to shout at Dr Matthews for being an idiot for ignoring Nurse Kitty with things like "Are you an idiot? Nurse Kitty is right there, she cares about you, show her some gratitude" or "This is the perfect moment, don't pretend you don't notice. Nurse Kitty is perfect for you, just notice her you flea-brained moron" (I may have gotten a little carried away at times). Towards the second season (or is it forth? Some sites say 2 seasons, some say 4), it appears that the two have definitely had moments together, but considering I haven't been able to find all the episodes, I'm not sure when or how this turn about happened.
I honestly don't mind this style of claymation and even though some animal designs are more simple then others (probably due to needing various types of patients in a hurry), I really don't notice it as I feel more invested in these short little episodes. Lighting in some scenes is rather nice, though I do find the parts underwater hard to believe. Perhaps a water filter over the footage may have worked, then again, I doubt it would help given how they can talk clearly and understand each other underwater with scuba gear on. As for the music, it tends to feels like a drama show, sometimes a little over the top. The romantic moments between Dr Matthews and Nurse Kitty really show that off, almost to the point you expect a record scratch sound to end it as something interferes. The positive moments feel more loud and active and the sadder moments being more low. May not be the greatest at times, but it does add to the mood of the moment.
Overall, this one was enjoyable to watch again. A show with simple dramas for people who can't stomach the bigger drama shows. I do enjoy watching these claymation shows, which is sad knowing that more and more are turning to doing computer generated ones over classics like these. So pop on down to Hilltop and have some fun...
....just don't get too involved in the Dr Matthews & Nurse Kitty moments like I did.
Hilltop Hospital takes place in an anthropomorphic animal world and is what I can only describe as the ER of children's television. Each episode is short (running around the 10 minute mark) and tends to have at least two running plots within each one. These are broken down into a plot involving a patient(s) and the other between the staff.
Speaking of which, lets start with the cast. First up is Dr Matthews. He's a dog and is basically the main doctor of the hospital. Despite his successes, he tends to be a little silly and stupid at times, though he tends to get the job done and does have his moments. Straight off the bat it's clear he has a thing for Surgeon Sally, constantly trying to get her attention. We'll get deeper into this soon.
Speaking of which, Surgeon Sally is a hippopotamus and someone who is far too serious for her own good. Work is above all else and she can't tolerate mistakes and sloppiness. She's doesn't have a cold heart, she just tends to be a bit too stern and serious then the rest. Despite Dr Matthews attempts to draw affection from her, she shows no interest in him (either cause she has no interest or simply doesn't see it that way). Her actions make it clear that she is the one who runs the hospital.
Dr Atticus is a tortoise and the anesthetist (basically, the person who puts the patient to sleep before the operation and keeps track of the patient during it) of the hospital. He runs by the usual tropes of a tortoise of eating, sleeping and being slow. He does have a scooter to help him move around the hospital for things like emergencies. There are the two lab rats called Arthur and Clare, who run the lab and medical research section, though from all the episodes I saw I couldn't tell if they were friends, siblings or a couple. The seem to work well together, which is probably why I probably thought that.
Then there is Nurse Kitty, who is a cat. She has a lot of duties to perform and one can only wonder how she keeps up with everything. She tends to be calm and demure at times, but is still softly spoken even when she is angry. Nurse Kitty also has a massive crush on Dr Matthews, who for the most part doesn't seem to notice or is clueless to her advances. Again, we'll get to it.
Then there are the twin bears called Ted. These guys are probably the shows comedic duo, mostly cause of their clumsiness and constant bickering. They are in charge of the hospitals vehicles. Finally there are Nurse Bunny, a rabbit who is tends to be part of the maternity section and Felicity, who appears to be the hospital psychologist/psychiatrist (I think she's a koala or wombat, I couldn't find anything on her beyond marrying a guy named Bruce, so I'm guessing based on her appearance and Bruce being a name more associated as Australian).
The show itself tends to tackle a number of themes. Many of these are more focused towards children as many of the patients with problems are children. Some tend to help relate to children who may experience similar problems while other ones tend to focus on a moral message. These can range from simple bed wetting or being afraid of the dark up to being alright to feel down because your parent passed away in an accident. I am not joking on that last one. Seriously, while watching these episodes, the episode called The Blues started and the introduction conversation goes like this:
Dr Atticus: "How is our new Patient?"
Sally: "Hedgehogs really ought to look both ways before they cross the road"
Dr Atticus: "Don't be too hard on her. Her mother's just died in a road accident"
Wait, WHAT? Did I really just hear that right. I know this is a hospital, but I honestly didn't expect to hear that in a show that tends to be positive for the most part. The rest of the episode is the hedgehog being extremely happy, only to learn she hides away to cry, saying that if she looks sad then people feel sorry for her and it reminds her how much she misses her mother. This leads to her going to visit Felicity to talk about her problems and going off with another family to stay with (so I'm guessing she never had any other family to take care of her, which is really sad now that I thought about it). I can only assume that these kinds of episodes are design to help children in such situations open up about their own feelings and get help. Given I'm not a child psychologist, I have no idea if it works, but I applaud the work non the less. I can't tell if the episode is considered dark, given just how desensitised we are these days.
Now lets get down to the other drama. While some episodes focus more on the other staff, a majority revolve around the Dr Matthews/Sally/Kitty drama. For the most part, it involves Dr Matthews failing to grab Sally's attention in the way he wants and Nurse Kitty commenting on Dr Matthews in a positive way. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of drama shows and don't like a lot of the ones out there, yet after a few episodes into this show, I suddenly realised that I was getting more and more frustrated with Dr Matthews for not noticing Nurse Kitty. It's only once you start noticing how aggravating you've become that you just want to shout at Dr Matthews for being an idiot for ignoring Nurse Kitty with things like "Are you an idiot? Nurse Kitty is right there, she cares about you, show her some gratitude" or "This is the perfect moment, don't pretend you don't notice. Nurse Kitty is perfect for you, just notice her you flea-brained moron" (I may have gotten a little carried away at times). Towards the second season (or is it forth? Some sites say 2 seasons, some say 4), it appears that the two have definitely had moments together, but considering I haven't been able to find all the episodes, I'm not sure when or how this turn about happened.
I honestly don't mind this style of claymation and even though some animal designs are more simple then others (probably due to needing various types of patients in a hurry), I really don't notice it as I feel more invested in these short little episodes. Lighting in some scenes is rather nice, though I do find the parts underwater hard to believe. Perhaps a water filter over the footage may have worked, then again, I doubt it would help given how they can talk clearly and understand each other underwater with scuba gear on. As for the music, it tends to feels like a drama show, sometimes a little over the top. The romantic moments between Dr Matthews and Nurse Kitty really show that off, almost to the point you expect a record scratch sound to end it as something interferes. The positive moments feel more loud and active and the sadder moments being more low. May not be the greatest at times, but it does add to the mood of the moment.
Overall, this one was enjoyable to watch again. A show with simple dramas for people who can't stomach the bigger drama shows. I do enjoy watching these claymation shows, which is sad knowing that more and more are turning to doing computer generated ones over classics like these. So pop on down to Hilltop and have some fun...
....just don't get too involved in the Dr Matthews & Nurse Kitty moments like I did.
Biomutant - Interesting
So flicking through the videos from Gamescom and stumbled on something that caught my eye, a game called Biomutant. Having watched the interview and gameplay videos, I have to say that I am very interested in this game. The world looks very nice, gameplay mechanics look fun and some of the creatures and creations look very interesting.
I am kinda pumped for it and the fact it will be on PC is great (I don't have an Xbox One or PS4), though I feel I'll need to upgrade for it, which may be a problem. Oh well, at least there are games coming out now that actually interest me.
I am kinda pumped for it and the fact it will be on PC is great (I don't have an Xbox One or PS4), though I feel I'll need to upgrade for it, which may be a problem. Oh well, at least there are games coming out now that actually interest me.
Wednesday, 23 August 2017
Looking Into Making Puppets
So have been thinking a lot about the Puppet Skith idea and have been looking into what would be needed to work on such a project. The first option is having someone make it, but a professional standard usually costs around the $600-$700 mark. The second option is for me to make it myself. Now apart from the risk that it may not be of a decent started, its biggest problem is material costs.
Turns out Australia isn't exactly the country for making puppets. Most of the recommended materials are hard to find here and to get them from overseas is expensive in their own right (which would explain why it costs so much to have someone else make it). At the moment I'm looking into cheaper alternatives. Project Puppet tends to sell patterns for puppets, so I may have to ask what one would be the preferred one for my puppet designs. The Antron Fleece is very hard to obtain (particularly in the colours I need), so I am looking into alternative options, possible woolen fleece. The Reticulated Foam is a little harder to find alternatives as many say Polyfoam, yet whenever I search for it locally all I get is Polystyrene and that stuff is not recommended.
Once I have a set pattern and design, I'll first focus on obtaining the foam (honestly, I'll look around local fabric shops to see what I can use for the skin/fur). Still not sure if I'll add legs or tail. I have looked around at a number of puppets on the Internet to see if I could find a design similar to mine, but those that even remotely look somewhat similar are costumes, not puppets. I guess I'm throwing myself too quickly into this. After all, this is still early stages and it'll be a few months before I can truly start working on it.
Turns out Australia isn't exactly the country for making puppets. Most of the recommended materials are hard to find here and to get them from overseas is expensive in their own right (which would explain why it costs so much to have someone else make it). At the moment I'm looking into cheaper alternatives. Project Puppet tends to sell patterns for puppets, so I may have to ask what one would be the preferred one for my puppet designs. The Antron Fleece is very hard to obtain (particularly in the colours I need), so I am looking into alternative options, possible woolen fleece. The Reticulated Foam is a little harder to find alternatives as many say Polyfoam, yet whenever I search for it locally all I get is Polystyrene and that stuff is not recommended.
Once I have a set pattern and design, I'll first focus on obtaining the foam (honestly, I'll look around local fabric shops to see what I can use for the skin/fur). Still not sure if I'll add legs or tail. I have looked around at a number of puppets on the Internet to see if I could find a design similar to mine, but those that even remotely look somewhat similar are costumes, not puppets. I guess I'm throwing myself too quickly into this. After all, this is still early stages and it'll be a few months before I can truly start working on it.
My Empire Collection - An Age of Sigmar Problem
So this thought has come into my mind over the last few months. The Empire force I have was started as part of an army painting challenge between myself and my brother. However, he soon gave it up while I continued on. After the Old Worlds destruction, I've had issues where I've questioned if I should keep going and finish the rest of the miniatures I bought for it. As I'm close to finishing off the Light Wizard, one could wonder if I should just go into Age of Sigmar with it.
There are two problems with that (three if you count re-basing the miniatures). The first is that it is technically lead by a Celestial Wizard Lord on a Royal Pegasus, which under Age of Sigmar means he'd have to use the rules for Balthasar Gelt, which I guess is OK with the exception that his rule list stated Metal instead of Celestial.
The second has to do with Command Models. Under 8th edition, most units such as the Handgunners could skip the Standard Bearer and Musician. Likewise, detachments didn't need a command structure too. This meant you could use those extra points for gear or more model numbers in units. Age of Sigmar works differently. The points for a unit is based on an average box amount (so most are points costs for box units of 5 or 10) with extras based on box unit sizes (so in a box of 10, you get the first unit cost for 10, with extra model points only being counted per 10 miniatures). Command units are already included in the initial cost, as it is assumed that when you get your box that you will just add them. Correction, you need to add them. Under Age of Sigmar, the Standard Bearer and Musician are now a vital importance to the unit.
I'll use the unit of Skeleton Archers as an example as to why I had to go full Command. The Champion adds 1 to his To Hit rolls with his bow (Champions previously just got an extra melee attack), Standard Bearers let you add D6 slain models to the unit in your Hero Phase (previously it just added +1 to your Combat Resolution) and the Musician now lets the unit can move up to 6" in the Charge Phase, (unless roll is higher) and can let the unit shoot even if they ran that turn (as opposed to adding one to melee combat if a tie, adding +1 LD to rally -pointless for Undead- and letting you take a Ld test to get a reform move). As such, a Command unit was really unnecessary back in 8th edition for a unit like this, but now it's a basic requirement to have or risk making your units less effective. Now given my Handgunner units only have Champions and the Halberd detachment has no Command, that sort of puts my forces in a bit of a predicament. As such, I'd need to purchase an entire box set just to get full Command for these units, which feels a little unnecessary.
I guess when it comes to Skirmish it doesn't matter, so I guess that would be alright (though I refuse to re-base just for that). I mean, for friendly games we could come to some arrangement, but I don't think in-store or competition use would be wise. For the moment I'll continue working on them, but they will end up as back log over more active projects (like my upcoming Blood Bowl team for example).
There are two problems with that (three if you count re-basing the miniatures). The first is that it is technically lead by a Celestial Wizard Lord on a Royal Pegasus, which under Age of Sigmar means he'd have to use the rules for Balthasar Gelt, which I guess is OK with the exception that his rule list stated Metal instead of Celestial.
The second has to do with Command Models. Under 8th edition, most units such as the Handgunners could skip the Standard Bearer and Musician. Likewise, detachments didn't need a command structure too. This meant you could use those extra points for gear or more model numbers in units. Age of Sigmar works differently. The points for a unit is based on an average box amount (so most are points costs for box units of 5 or 10) with extras based on box unit sizes (so in a box of 10, you get the first unit cost for 10, with extra model points only being counted per 10 miniatures). Command units are already included in the initial cost, as it is assumed that when you get your box that you will just add them. Correction, you need to add them. Under Age of Sigmar, the Standard Bearer and Musician are now a vital importance to the unit.
I'll use the unit of Skeleton Archers as an example as to why I had to go full Command. The Champion adds 1 to his To Hit rolls with his bow (Champions previously just got an extra melee attack), Standard Bearers let you add D6 slain models to the unit in your Hero Phase (previously it just added +1 to your Combat Resolution) and the Musician now lets the unit can move up to 6" in the Charge Phase, (unless roll is higher) and can let the unit shoot even if they ran that turn (as opposed to adding one to melee combat if a tie, adding +1 LD to rally -pointless for Undead- and letting you take a Ld test to get a reform move). As such, a Command unit was really unnecessary back in 8th edition for a unit like this, but now it's a basic requirement to have or risk making your units less effective. Now given my Handgunner units only have Champions and the Halberd detachment has no Command, that sort of puts my forces in a bit of a predicament. As such, I'd need to purchase an entire box set just to get full Command for these units, which feels a little unnecessary.
I guess when it comes to Skirmish it doesn't matter, so I guess that would be alright (though I refuse to re-base just for that). I mean, for friendly games we could come to some arrangement, but I don't think in-store or competition use would be wise. For the moment I'll continue working on them, but they will end up as back log over more active projects (like my upcoming Blood Bowl team for example).
Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Ideas for a Blood Bowl Team
So I've been throwing around the idea for a while on creating a Blood Bowl team. At one point I was suppose to get the Skaven team, but it took so long that the order was eventually cancelled. I am willing to GW a second chance (given I'm still waiting for the AoS: Skirmish book, this technically means a third chance). As someone who loves Skaven, they were to be the faction. However, I've been thinking a lot about another group recently.
See, when the list of models available to be used in AoS: Skirmish came out, I was rather disappointed in the lack of Night Goblin themed ones (along with a lack of Tomb Kings and swarms), as I had hoped to give Glibbins McGibbinz (Pie Assassin) a revival. When I was looking at the Blood Bowl range more recently, I learned of a team called The Underworld Creepers. Going back to my Blood Bowl video game, there was in fact an Underworld team. Given that the Blood Bowl universe is a alternate one to the original Fantasy Battle universe, I finally got the lore idea.
In it, Glibbins McGibbinz of the Funky Fungus Tribe and Snikkitch Twitchnose of Clan Skryre weren't rivals, but instead joined forces to create what they believed to be the ultimate team. The team (called The Funky Warpstoners - name may change, but it is accurate to their players mental state) was filled with players who have abused way to many substances, to the point that they can't be disqualified for using performance enhancing products because in their state one can easily argue that their performance is far from enhanced. The team is more of a comedic one, in that they are far better at giving a show then they are actually winning. As such, they have quite a big fan base and many show up just to see what insane antics they use next.
This could also see the return of the legendary curse of the Skaven linesman, Twitchy's curse. This one came about from my Skaven team in the Blood Bowl video game, in which I named one of the linesman Twitchy. In his first game, he got killed. So I got a new linesman and called him Twitchy the second and he lasted a few games before dying too. So I got another and called him Twitchy the third, who soon died after that and so forth. This way, I can keep the legend of Twitchy's curse alive and maybe sell Twitchy shirts to the crowd, possibly dooming them when things go wild (maybe saying 'Can you survive the curse of Twitchy').
I do note that the video game had a Warpstone Troll (a Troll with Warpstone shards coming out of its flesh), but now it's just a Troll. May do some slight conversion with the Troll miniature. The Goblins seem to have Warpstone veins and at least one green glowing eye. One of the Skaven throwers also had a mechanical arm, so I'm going to go over some ideas to see what kind of conversions I could possibly do. I also need a team banner/icon (maybe a Mushroom made of Warpstone) and a motto (I don't know, maybe "Glowing Shrooms are the Best!"). I will probably go with a dark purple team colour with whatever team icon being of a Warpstone green-like colour to stand against it.
Still early stages, but it's a good start. Might also create a Manager's box to have the Glibbins and Snikkitch miniatures in for games (they could discuss team details, give interviews or get into arguments). Certainly could get a good sponsorship for some experimental fungus brew or Warpstone based training equipment.
See, when the list of models available to be used in AoS: Skirmish came out, I was rather disappointed in the lack of Night Goblin themed ones (along with a lack of Tomb Kings and swarms), as I had hoped to give Glibbins McGibbinz (Pie Assassin) a revival. When I was looking at the Blood Bowl range more recently, I learned of a team called The Underworld Creepers. Going back to my Blood Bowl video game, there was in fact an Underworld team. Given that the Blood Bowl universe is a alternate one to the original Fantasy Battle universe, I finally got the lore idea.
In it, Glibbins McGibbinz of the Funky Fungus Tribe and Snikkitch Twitchnose of Clan Skryre weren't rivals, but instead joined forces to create what they believed to be the ultimate team. The team (called The Funky Warpstoners - name may change, but it is accurate to their players mental state) was filled with players who have abused way to many substances, to the point that they can't be disqualified for using performance enhancing products because in their state one can easily argue that their performance is far from enhanced. The team is more of a comedic one, in that they are far better at giving a show then they are actually winning. As such, they have quite a big fan base and many show up just to see what insane antics they use next.
This could also see the return of the legendary curse of the Skaven linesman, Twitchy's curse. This one came about from my Skaven team in the Blood Bowl video game, in which I named one of the linesman Twitchy. In his first game, he got killed. So I got a new linesman and called him Twitchy the second and he lasted a few games before dying too. So I got another and called him Twitchy the third, who soon died after that and so forth. This way, I can keep the legend of Twitchy's curse alive and maybe sell Twitchy shirts to the crowd, possibly dooming them when things go wild (maybe saying 'Can you survive the curse of Twitchy').
I do note that the video game had a Warpstone Troll (a Troll with Warpstone shards coming out of its flesh), but now it's just a Troll. May do some slight conversion with the Troll miniature. The Goblins seem to have Warpstone veins and at least one green glowing eye. One of the Skaven throwers also had a mechanical arm, so I'm going to go over some ideas to see what kind of conversions I could possibly do. I also need a team banner/icon (maybe a Mushroom made of Warpstone) and a motto (I don't know, maybe "Glowing Shrooms are the Best!"). I will probably go with a dark purple team colour with whatever team icon being of a Warpstone green-like colour to stand against it.
Still early stages, but it's a good start. Might also create a Manager's box to have the Glibbins and Snikkitch miniatures in for games (they could discuss team details, give interviews or get into arguments). Certainly could get a good sponsorship for some experimental fungus brew or Warpstone based training equipment.
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