The ACCC Blood Bowl tournament is coming up so if you haven't already preregistered, go do it! It's for a great cause. ACCC Tourney Link.
So with that being said, I had originally planned to take my Lizards to this fine event. Sadly, the more I thought about them, the more I wanted to try something different. I've been playing my Lizards for something around 7 years. I have also been playing the Lizards in the Cyanide Blood Bowl PC game so needless to say, I'm getting a little burned out on them.
I hit up Impact Miniatures site for some inspiration. I figured I would go with Impact because they have a great range of fantastically sculpted figures at a MUCH better price than GW. After looking at all the teams (and really wanting the Sarcos!), I opted for the Ratmen. I ordered their Team #4 which had max figures for each slot with 6 Linerats, 2 Blitzers, 2 Throwers, 4 Gutter Runners, 1 Rat Ogre, and 1 Coach for good measure. In addition, I ordered one of their sweet team cases in graphite (since my Lizards are in a black version).
They came in recently and they were promptly assembled and spray coated. My biggest concern right off the bat was how they would fit into the case. They have some wild tails and 2 of the Gutter Runners are stretched out so I was not sure they would fit in just 1 square. I glued their numbers to their bases and went to work seeing how they fit in the case. Good news is they all fit. Sort of bad news is that some of their tails tend to "stab" the foam above (which is egg crate shaped) with 1-2 tending to pull out of their slots when I open the lid.
I am now working on creating a new dugout for my team(s). I opted not to make a team specific dugout so I could use it for all my teams (and save me the time, money, and resources from making one for each team). My fear is that it's a tad too large though. It's 12 1/2" wide and about 20" or so long. The length, I'm not too worried about but it's the width that I fear might take up too much table space.
The reason it's the size it is, is because the Reserves box is 5x5", KO box is 4x3", and the Dead/Injured box sits as 3x4". What adds to the length is I added a spot for a mini Litko dice tower for added flavor. I put the Dead/Injured box behind the dice tower to save some space. I also made the walls between the spaces 2" thick because I plan to use these sweet block dice counters I also got from Impact as counters for Home/Away score, Rerolls, and 1st & 2nd half tracks.
It has a hardboard bottom with 3 layers of insulation foam on top. So far I just have the hardboard and foam cut to size with the spaces cut in the foam. My next project is to cut a bunch of popsicle sticks into boards and plank the entire dugout. I plan to follow that up with a wood stain to darken and hopefully age it somewhat. I will post up some pics as soon as I take some.
