That's so very, very pretty. I love the splash of Inquisitorial red on the scabbard, the mottled camo is really tasty, and servo-Bob is exactly as I envisaged. I am one happy little geek
Chief Judge Cal and Judge Fish - Wargames Foundry have you covered for that
Talking of WF, they also have some great Renaissance models (including a range of Landsknechts) from the talented Perry Twins that would be perfect for your Empire forces (just a shame their website is so bad...)
http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/renaissance/infantry/
Yeah they're cool. I'd have to sell some stuff first though. I'm begining to think of letting some unpainted RT marines go to raise funds and make space.
Hey Graven check out your postman guy he's ready now:
Gosh-durn, but you've been churning out some ickle soldiers that look mighty pwetty there weety
Well behind the times I know, but the Empire guys and the trolls were lovely, look forward to more Empire stuff. And fantastic job on graven's post-apoc postie.
Well thanks for stopping by my boat dwelling friend. I feel a bit like I live on a boat right now because of the way the wind makes everything rattle and the huge amount of water outside.
A new paintjob commission has arrived. It still needs a bit of work before I show you the back. I present Marco Columbo:
Hi everybody. Here's nearly finished progress on my other commission. I'm not sure who this guy is right this second, but I think he is some kind of arcane apothecary/magician. Its written on the packet but I cant get up and look as I'm covered in blankets
Weety, ive been away too long from this thread. outstanding stuff. love the flask on the apothecary/magician and i love everything about inmygravenimage's commission.
Cheers monkey! They are finally finished. They may have looked finished before, but I felt that the backs needed tidying up and some colours needed more richness. I think one has to be a bit obsessive to get a good photo finish.
Yes its a constant temptation with models that I paint for myself to be lazy with the back. But these are commissions so need to stand up to 3D scrutiny.
It would be considerably quicker and cheaper to just paint the front, but how disappointing it would be if you saw the Rackham studio collection in real life (I hope its not true). I tend not to put as much detail into backs but I wouldn't go that far!
With the number of entries that there were, 4th is pretty good and very British.
Considering you were out of your comfort zone with an unfamiliar, modern, model, you've done a very good job (as always). I like the grubbiness of him.
You may not be a winner yet, but I still worship at the temple of Weety.
I reckon if I did it again I'd do some more freehand on his back armour, do an osl on the back of the helmet and give those grenades a more distinct finish. Oh and pupils.
What freehand would you do on a Cadian's back, weety? I can see an argument for some freehand on the other shoulderpad, and possibly the helmet, though.
weetyskemian44 wrote: I reckon if I did it again I'd do some more freehand on his back armour, do an osl on the back of the helmet and give those grenades a more distinct finish. Oh and pupils.
Yeah, little details like that would have taken it to the next level.
Its going to be fun. I've got three squads of troops with lots of heavy weapons, a command section, two bikes, a rhino and a "sentinal" (the scrunty walker). It could be played as and old rogue trader or 2nd edition army (I have that obsession too monkey!) or it could be "counts as guard". Its a little light on muscle, but would you believe you have to pay £100 to get a 5 man squad of exosuit armoured squats at the moment on ebay. I might stretch to buy another bike or two though...
I have been a long term lurker on dakka, a few days ago I found this thread of yours and spent several days going through it. It has taken a long time and has been an interesting ride.
It has been amazing see the progress you have made over the years. I find your style of painting wonderful and you are very talented with it.
I found the whole thing so interesting, especially because of my passion for rogue trader era models, I have a 150+strong rogue trader era imperial guard army i recently stripped with the intention of repainting, this thread has given me great inspiration for doing so.
Thanks for an entertaining read and lots of ideas, it was the motivation to say this which made me finally make a post on dakka!
Hey weety, no hard feelings with the comp. i LOVED your entries and i was quite surprised to see that in the end, you didnt grab a 1-3 spot! It just was across the board with the 3 judges! I was hoping youd get a best scheme award too, but alas im stuck painting Minus' purple and pink fiasco. hehe...still a great mini though and thanks for joining it...you always raise the level!
Cheers
BB
Oh definitely no hard feelings! Its the first time I even came 4th. I feel like a contender at last. I did moan a bit! Sorry bout that.
Hi spinnerthing thanks for looking! I'd love to see your guard when you're done.
Slow progress on the squats, the fairy powerspray is giving me dry hands. Need gloves. Also I always seem to get a burned out feeling this time of year. I just want to hide in bed until its warm again. Spring's coming...
Hell no I have average feet, size 6, no hair, honest.
I assumed that as that saying came about in medieval times that it does not apply to people with big flippers. Malnutrition being all the rage back then.
Stage one is complete. All models are stripped and ready to base and prime. Some are already painted and these will serve as a template for the rest. I'm trying to get some more to round out the force, but you would not believe the price of squats these days. I'm glad I bought mine when they were cheap. I aim to get this finished next week when I'm on holiday.
First the army commander who I will name Dolf Lugdrum The Angry (hes in the post).
Next the command group, with musician. I'll make them a standard bearer out of a plastic squat later.;
The meat of the force, the tactical squad:
A group of thunderers
An elite squad of veterans, counts as hearthguard, I'd like to have ten of these so I'll have to look out for more.
These two sterling chaps are either artillery crew (if I ever get any!) or the start of an assault squad.
finished the bikers!. FYI the boltpistols are made from the holstered 1980s space marine pistols with a piece of barrel shaped plastic stuck on front. I'd better drill those barrels.
incidentally the squat arm kits are the most awkward little fethers. It is impossible to get a good pose without GS, sharp knives and tiny drills. But if you've got a couple monkey I would say no as these were the last of mine. I would have to use goblin arms otherwise and goblins have surprisingly big hands and you've gotta slice off the claws...
Hmm, adaptable possibly... if I cut down the shoulder and add a little gs pad. Problem is squat arms are quite short and orks have always had long gangly arms so it would have to be shortened at both ends!
Its been a while since I wrote. Batch painting an army takes a while! I've not exactly been pushing it recently - got a spring cold. But here is a pick to demonstrate progress on the Squats
I've got some mantic commissions coming up. Here's the first, the deadzone enforcer faction! I should be doing the other factions too at some point. These chaps are a pain in the rear to put together and are made from a slightly inferior plastic, but they have a lot of detail and the price is impressively affordable. Mantic ain't half bad...
Glad you all love the short ones! They are the ultimate in warhammer kitsch.
On a side note it has been trying doing the updates for this project because my keyboard has a broken Q button! I've lost count of the number of times I've copied and pasted 'Squats', I'll just call them space dwarves from now till I get a new keyboard!
Here's a prototype for the mantic enforcers commission, let me know what you think of it, I'm getting paid for it after all:
That dude looks badass, Weets! I like all the freehand details and the shading in the white armor plates. The washes and tones used in the gun's metal look spot on as well.
Yeah I'm going with that scheme monkey - roughly speaking... I may jazz it up a bit with more yellow.
Miss dee you mean mantic enforcers? Or maybe you're talking squat arms and then I'm all ears (especially squat exo armour arms I would pay you in gold for those).
Be warned they are a pain to assemble and paint, so many mold lines, and so much small detail. I'm nearly finished with them now - just a few more go faster stripes and they're done.
I'm not done yet! the cloak needs working on and everyone needs more freehand and shadows. Oh and the blades need to glow, green? pink? I'm not sure... the stock photo has them bright blue.
I'm just going to base them black at the end, its what the client wants.
Awesome work on those minis weety! I really like the models too. They look like alot of fun to paint. Im feeling its time for me to branch out and paint some different stuff myself..
Great work!
BB
Thanks for that link graven, those are nice space dwarves
Bebop - they are a challenge, I'd love to see how you handle them, I'm looking forward to the other factions more, especially the marauder faction, who are basically space orks
Thanks gitsplitta I value your opinion, as you can imagine the client has spent an arm and a leg getting me to paint these so I need to be sure It's all good stuff.
They are all done now bar the sniper and the engineer, who both need a little rejiggering (I think they are badly sculpted compared with the others). Here's some group shots:
Hi, I hope you are all in the mood for some NMM. I've been experimenting today with this greatsworder using my new paints, especially sky blue and pale-grey-blue
I think you're right weets, those last two scupts don't quite measure up. Something about them is out-of-proportion.... or maybe it's the mass of them when compaired to the others. (there looks to be a bit of a mold line on the front of the engineer's belly thingie... or is that a part of the design?)
NMM looks good. Are these paints a bit thicker than what you've used in the past? Flamberge looks great with the highlighting and shading.
Gitsplitta Yeah I think part of it is the way they are crouched, and on some of the engineers equipment its hard to tell whats going on. But you have to draw the line somewhere with commissions as time is of the essence (I get the impression these will actually be used for gaming).
As for the new paint, it is actual paint, not wash. So it is thicker than what I normally use yes! It's all from vallejo though.
I put a lot of brush love into this psyker librarian dude. Not finished but I wanted to share anyway. He needs his bionic eye colouring and base finishing.
Thanks JB I'd always wondered where the "I'm crushing your head" thing came from, that show looks hilarious. And the chap does look a little like the librarian (same nose). I've always liked canadian humour, I'm a massive Steven Wright fan.
Thanks everyone for looking and commenting
Blue is a hard colour to do right! I spent ages fiddling with the blue. At its base it is vallejo blue wash, carefully layered and blended, then highlighted with Vallejo sky blue.
The green cloak is vallejo pale green and vallejo pastel grey-green with a wash of umber and black.
The Space dwarf army is coming on but I will resist the temptation to show it till its done.
They look fantastic weety! I haven't see a squat force done in many, many years and they were always one of my favorites. Warms my heart to see you give them such an outstanding treatment. Congratulations!
They totally need to bring them back in some form! yours are really great, so much personality and your paint just makes them look exactly how they should :-)
Well its great that you all want the squats back, they would be touched! An army of blushing squats, like in that scene where Galadriel gives Gimli a peck on the cheek. I cant think of any logical reason why space dwarves are more stupid than space orks or space elves. But on the other hand being outlawed by GW central gives the remaining old models a rarity value and a certain rebel cache.
Monkeytroll yeah I'm slowly building up a second wave (very slowly as I don't like to spend much on this). I have an engineer, a warlord, a guildmaster, a hearthguard, some exo armoured dudes (sans arms) and a couple of troopers with bolters. I'm always on the look out for a couple more. Its the arms that are the hard thing to find. Going car boot today, so fingers crossed.
My goal is to one day have a full ten man squad of Squats for my IG. I remember back in 98 when I first started getting into 40K and thought how horrid the armies were that lots of different models of all different colors...
And now I have mostly Valhallans, but a bunch of the old storm troopers, some Praetorians, some Mordians, some Steel Legion... and a penal squad of older Necromunda and RT models, including one squat trooper.
I never realized how much I liked all those older models and now that they are pretty much almost unobtainable, I really want some so I can remember them. And I think it would be pretty neat to throw down a squad of stunties and have folks ask about them. "Oh, they're what's left after the 'nids nommed on their homeworlds."
They are very hard to get. The cheapest way to buy them is to get the ones without arms and then kitbash some arms. Empire troop arms would work.
There were no warhammerz at the car-boot-sale. We have snoorkle gear now though! I love big flippers they are like engines for the feet. Going to hunt for treasure this summer.
I'm going to experiment with blue and yellow eldar today. But I might not finish it as there is a Jacobean Fair up the road with archery, falconry and crafts demonstrations. You don't get many of them to the pound so I'd better go have a look.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Here we go. I think gitsplitta posted me this one - thanks!
Could not get the hang of snorkelling when I tried it. There was always a little water left in the snorkel for me to inhale... Scuba though, that was fun.
Have fun at the fair. Archery, that's also fun. Not tried falconry.
Well we didn't actually get to try any of it. But I did have an american kestrel on my wrist briefly! He also had a falcon, a european kestrel and a barbary owl. Owls are the best, I could watch them turning their heads all the way round all day.
Yes I was intimidated too. I suggest you check out some common horse colours for inspiration. I went with dappled pale grey. It'd make a great natural camouflage scheme on Valhalla!
Monkey that's spot on... HI-HO SILVER!!!
Hiya Jehan-reznor, I loff the Squat stuff too! You'll always find retro stuff here.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I just realized this is my first cavalry unit. I've never done one before. Does anyone know, is this Karl Franz or has he just got Karl Franz written all over his horse because he's a big fan? Clickable if you want to zoom in and spot all my mistakes...
Yes, yes, I've seen this before. Note the "KF" on his jersey, and the "Karl Franz" on his horse's barding. I believe he's a junior varsity ball player at Karl Franz University.
Obviously, he's out for a weekend LARP event, but he's got too much school spirit to stick to historical accuracy.
Oh wait, it's just an emperor that looks like the kid.
That's a very good looking model and paintjob, Weety. I'm not sure which bits I like best, probably the soft purple shades on the armor of the horse and the realistic skin tones on the face. The whole mini has nice color choices and soft shades that are very appealing.
Valhalla130 wrote: Yes, yes, I've seen this before. Note the "KF" on his jersey, and the "Karl Franz" on his horse's barding. I believe he's a junior varsity ball player at Karl Franz University.
^Yes you've cracked the mystery! Lol.
Thanks JB. I'm fond of the shield myself.
I've got models incoming, halberdiers, advanced heroquest henchmen, swordsmen. Soon the army of Karl Franz junior varsity ball player will be ready!
Imperial Templari wrote: Nice blog, subscribing, love the squats by the way, I do 40K in 15mm, and hadn't considered doing squats, but may have to now.
Because if there's one thing you need to do, it would be custom model even smaller 15mm models.
The Cap'n looks good. And yeah, he's part of the KF Fanclub, as KF himself rides a big scary Gryphon of some sort. Hellclaw? Deathclaw? Murderhands? Something like that.
I never did finish the halberdiers, and now my next mantic commission is here. I have to get my priorities straight and get right on it.
These are just the small ones, there's 4 really big ones to be assembled. I'm going to completely ignore the stock paint scheme (tentacle pink) and go for the rot with some greens and reds
I really like that big guy! how was he quality wise Weets? should be a superb job when considering your style of paint! i'm eager to see him get started!
Hey nerdfest he was very good sculpt wise, but there are a lot of tiny mold lines that only stand out when you start painting! Sorry I don't reply sooner my internet is like a snail!
Well Here's some progress, let me know if you have any ideas:
Its face looks like the human alien hybrid from alien resurrection don't you think? I should probably add some more pus and dried blood... I mean sepia wash and flesh wash.
When these are done I have a really old 'battlemasters' plastic empire cannon and a whole bunch of adv heroQuest henchmen to paint, which should be just my cuppa tea.
Found some plastic warhammerz at the car-boot sale that look like riders of rohan but they are bigger than the current tiny LOTR. Maybe they are vikings? They need some fixing. I'll get some pics up
nice work. i also like doing the vintage thing every now and then..got some hero quest zombies on the go atm. bit of a plug here but i have one of them old metal space marines, from a promotional prize about 15 years ago, if you're interested?
I guess I just got bored of marines, old or new really. I want to paint things with more texture, marines lack texture. All those smooth armour plates...
Now can anyone identify these models. I thought they might be the pedestrians of rohan, but maybe they are vikings? They need a bit of fixing but I got them for a song so I don't mind.
Heres my battlemasters cannon. The battlemasters range was like the cheap way of collecting an empire army back in the 80s/90s (its still probably the cheapest way) Not a bad cannon really, although I'm going to have to get a proper full sized drill to do that barrel!
I had Battlemasters back in the day!!! I only ever got around to painting a few of the minis, including the cannon, and I have no idea what happened to them.
Those definitely look like Rohan LoTR miniatures to me. Though the lack of shields threw me off. Closer look confirms it, as a lot of the guys have those big tumors on their free hands, the shields have a hollow bit that fits over that, forming the metal 'hub' of the shield where they poke through, rather like those Empire chaps in the shot below!
REALLY like the big dude, reminds me of The Abomination from the Ed Norton Hulk movie...
Battlemasters... Ahh, the memories... That set, along with the Advanced HeroQuest minis was the basis of my first Empire army, think I still have the figures somewhere in the garage...
I really wish I could see your take on the Death Korp of Krieg models. Especially that officer model with the neo-Napoleonic uniform thing he's got going on.
Yeah some one should commission me to do them... I often try and buy some for my own collection but they are hard to find and expensive, time will tell.
I agree ruglud that's deffo what it looks like. He was a fun monster, wasn't that Tim Roth?
In other news my hometown is having a bash at getting the "most pirates in one place" record back. We need more than 14000 pirates to assemble on the harbour promenade before 4oclock today. I have a feeling its going to rain...
Automatically Appended Next Post: Yeah some one should commission me to do them... I often try and buy some for my own collection but they are hard to find and expensive, time will tell.
I agree ruglud that's deffo what it looks like. He was a fun monster, wasn't that Tim Roth?
In other news my hometown is having a bash at getting the "most pirates in one place" record back. We need more than 14000 pirates to assemble on the harbour promenade before 4oclock today. I have a feeling its going to rain...
Oh come on, Hastings is famous for Norman conquerors, not pirates! ARRRRRR. I've totally got my pirate gear on and I'm going out to do some pillaging. Smell ya later
Bloody hell, we didn't get the record. 77 pirates short. I blame rain. damn that rain.
I'm afraid I was an un-crippled pirate sans parrot monkeytroll. I'll try and fish out a picture. I'm fairly sure we took pictures. Rum, there was lots of rum. I had a paisley bandana and a musket.
Right, now dakka has got it's pants back on I will show you the pics:
Clearly, you didn't enlist enough children. We had buggy wrapped in flags and everything (@MT - I am from that neck o' the woods)
Great plague zombies, btw. Was worried they wouldn't look sticky enough, but they really work.
apparently the total was 14155 pirates, so hastings must of had 14233. It is basically a lot of pirates. The pubs must have made a mint. I met a street cleaner though who was not at all happy at the prospect of cleaning up.
Glad you all enjoyed the pus-zombies. No commissions lined up till july now so I'd best work on the burgeoning empire army. Lets see I've got:
2x empire captains (mounted and on foot)
1x great cannon with gun captain.
9x halberdiers with a champion
8x crossbowmen
10x handgunners
4x greatsworders
1x Swordsman
1x standard bearer
1x outrider
I think I need more cavalry. But what I really really hanker after is a box of free company militia on their sprues. Really hard to come by. Its tempting to go GW and pay full price because no where else seems to have them. I want them to make a force of pirates. Because pirates are cool. If anyone sees any anywhere on there sprues please let me know.
1x knight
I've gone and done it, I actually bought something from games-workshop! Pirates ahoy. I'm not sure exactly what you get in the kit but I should be able to make at least 10 look like pirates. The other 10 can be troops.
The Mordheim figures were excellent for making pirates. They even had a head with a tricorner hat. I don't think I have a pic of him in Photobucket, but I can post one later this evening. Heck, I may still have some of those bits left over. I bought like 3 boxes of the Mordheim base set because I wanted cheap buildings and mercenaries.
How Annoying is that, I've got loads of stuff to show you and my card reader is broke so I can't show you. I should probably stop buying them from poundland...
I've kitbashed a mortar, painted a cannon, nearly finished batchpainting the army etc.
I'm surprised to read in other peoples blogs that many of you actually play games with these things. I just pop them in a cabinet and occasionally stare at them through the glass.
For me, miniatures are more of a private pleasure to be horded safely away. Like Faberge eggs or ornate snuffboxes. But that's just me.
The militia arrived yesterday and there's definitely a few pirates in em.
The Mordheim human warband sprue is the same as the sprues in the Empire Free Company. However, you also got two Mordheim equipment sprues in the Mordheim game, which added some cool extra bits to bling out your warbands.
The Free Company are useful for all kinds of units and games. They used to mix and match well with the GW zombies and skeletons so people made undead pirates with them too.
What you may find lacking in the kit are enough suitable weapons: cutlasses and pistols. You might get a few Reaper sprues with swords and pistols. These are pewter. The sprues also include one pirate-y hat on each sprue.
I'm going to look up this mordheim kit. I bet they want proper £$ for it though. Probably worth it for pirates!
Because if your going into a sewer full of mutant rat-men you want at least this many henchmen:
I think they look like an ankh-morpork style city guard. Cheap standardized weapons and armour worn by men who don't often get to use it. It also looks a bit like they all painted their own shields! Best I could do without spending hours on them.
The halberdiers are not far behind, they just need finishing touches.
It was fun wasn't it! And those little plastic doors were brilliant. If I ever see a box at the car-boot sale I will shell out for it. Who doesn't love exploring random dungeons? Claustrophobic people I suppose!
Nice - and now you mention it I can feel the Ankh-Morpork vibe off them...maybe you should build the force with a Pratchett theme...get your converting mojo on
There are minis? I'll have to look em up (robot voice - WORKING...WORKING...). Of course you're right, unless I can find them at a reasonable discount I can't really afford them right now, having blown the budget on new GW militia. Another time though. I think the first one I'd get would be sam vimes in his armour with the crossbow, closely followed by granny weatherwax in an opera dress!
Anyhoo, if those guys were the night watch then this is the day watch - bright and shiny, Sam Vimes would disapprove.
Not the best miniatures in the world and I over-painted on top of someone elses swabbed on paintjob so I lost a bit of detail. But they add meat to the army. I'll be getting them some command units next.
Such a colorful lot with dour facial expressions. I can visualize a fancy double wide door beyond them which they are guarding from the prying eyes (and persons) of the general public (meaning us).
I like nearly all of the Discworld minis by Micro Art Studios though I think I have only sprung for Luggage so far. For me, either the Librarian or Death with Rat Death will be next although I am sorely tempted by both Vimes minis and Granny Ogg with mug.
Big changes have been afoot with my workspace. I used to work in the corner of the coffee table, at constant risk of spilling hot beverages on the miniatures in my care (this never actually happened in 5 years of painting, but it was probably only a matter of time till it did),
Now I work in style, at an 18th/19th century mahogany Bureau complete with dozens of tiny drawers and alcoves! Its perfect and its fairly banged up so I don't have to be too precious with it (anyway its hard to accidentally spill paint with these new dropper bottles). I have a tiny drawer for everything. We don't think there are any secret compartments but touch wood...
Now I've got this beast the models are perfectly safe and can be hidden and locked out of sight (for parties etc). I've finally got room for more than one project at a time so people can send me as much work as they like and I will still have room to do my own thing. Finally I think I can start thinking a bit bigger.
Monkeytroll - something big anyway. I'm currently feeling in a dungeon/crypt mood (and I got some model coffins in a job lot of junk so...) Not in the mood for mining shorties atm.
It is a great desk thanks all.
Dr H, nudge nudge wink wink, suits you sir! Oh the inyourendo.
But seriously. Some painting got done on the new desk:
There were a couple of skaven mutants back in the day - if I recall correctly that one is called Throt something. Mine was albino...or at least, he was supposed to be, ended upmore pink as I recall. All that warpstone has an effect on them
Commander cain - yes a shed load of washes (vallejo black, umber and sepia in that order) and a smigeon of highlights in between the washes (vallejo - dark sand) and a final very thin wash of green mixed with grey for that verdigris sheen.
Thanks vallhalla - hopefully it will be soon! I'm looking forward to the pirates, but they need a captain first (green stuff will be needed), and the skaven are not all based yet so it may be a little while before I get the paint out.
That's right monkey/Dr H he is indeed Throt the unclean. I got him for 99p. I must get this addiction under control but how can I help myself when they are 99p each!! That's a man-catcher he's holding - no doubt he wants to take some prisoners for his vile purposes - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_catcher
Aye, the Discworld models are pretty cool. I painted up the Luggage for a magazine review a few years back. At my local show, Triples, this year, I was lucky enough to find someone selling offsome of their stock at £5 a pop - managed to get Angua, Nobby, Cheery Littlebottom and Mustrum Ridcully, as well as some resin bases suitable for Ankh-Morpork.
99p for the skaven? Bargain....far too good to resist. May have to see about 40k-ifying some of mine at some point, Throt would fit in with the slaaneshi beastmen.
I just knew you'd like valhallans valhalla130, the clue is in the name! They are in the stripper as the previous owner seems to have thrown paint at them randomly.
Miss dee those enforcers arrived this morning, Thankyou for that. I hope they'll come in handy some day.
OMG, OMG, OMG I've finally gone and done it and bought Advanced Heroquest, breaking all of my rules about not spending money I don't have on things I don't have space for.
I think I must have early onset dementia. But then apparently you only live once I heard and they certainly wont have advanced heroquest in hell if I'm wrong about that.
Its got two of the starter heros missing but was half the price of the other offerings and I never liked those two anyway.
Its probably the GW game I'm most familiar with as my dad used to have it and would make us sit and play it as a family (probably his fault I like miniatures then). I don't remember much of the rules but I've been re-reading them and some reviews/batreps and it sounds right up my street. Any game where a mighty hero can get shanked to death by a goblin with a knife is alright in my book.
The best thing is that I have all the proper models for the skaven already! (except the jezail, the warpfire thrower and the grey seer).
It will make a great alternative to computer games when the grid fails... playing by candlelight will add to the atmosphere.
My copy:
Automatically Appended Next Post: I must get some spare doors - there were never enough doors to go round.
Dr H yes the tiles mean that your dungeon is different everytime and you never know what's around the next corner until the GM or a random dice roll reveals it. Its usually a nasty surprise.
I can use all those dungeon bits I made from milliput to expand it!
Monkey I do often wonder about how cramped your barge is? I bet its more spacious than my studio flat, but damper... How I long for a hobby room.
SJM I can always mod it to make it easier if it gets too lethal. Or I can play GM and laugh when the heroes die.
Well I better stop spending money for a bit (lies! damn lies!)
I'm so sorry. I did not mean that to sound rude. I was just stating my love for Valhallans. I know she''ll get to it when she is ready and able, and they will be perfectly lovely.
Ah yes vallhallans - I have to say they are not at the front of the queue because I must get my skaven and my heroes ready for play. But don't feel bad valhalla130 we all know you love those warmly dressed warriors. I expect they will find time to get painted in a few weeks or so.
Thankyou miss dee, mustn't rush these things.
JB You know what you have to do, shell out $100 and get a copy! There are a few on ebay, but competition is fierce - also I've heard that if you put the word out on bartertown or other swapshop type place then people will drag their box out of the attic for you. Personally I just couldn't wait any longer and so I paid £50 for the first nearly complete one I saw. Basically the same price as new (or adjusted for inflation, way cheaper!)
Automatically Appended Next Post: A band of wannabe heroes assembles in the small hamlet of Watsitcald. Meeting at the local tavern, they answered the call to arms of a local noblewoman desperate for help against the forces of evil (small ads, help wanted, Heroic Gazette 'band of heroes wanted for heavy lifting work underground, must have own weapons and GSOH, no time wasters please').
Phineas Hengison the druid broke the silence in a condescending tone of voice; "You chaps here for the job? I met up with the Marquessa Allexandrina earlier and she's put me in charge, Doesn't want to rub shoulders with the riff-raff I expect, what what. Here are your contracts sign here and here and here, don't worry about that small print its just legal disclaimers and wotnot. I say are you fellows sure your up to it? I thought you'd be taller"
"A dwarf makes up for height with strength!" growled Asgrim Baldrekson gruffly. Already through his first pint, the dwarf was visibly angry, his eyes flashed, "ye doth not want to make an enemy of ME with your foolish words, wizard or I will hit ye with mine hammer!"
"Now now calm down and I'll carry on (mumble mumble short man syndrome mumble)" Muttered Hengison, "Our first mission is to head into the caves in the mountain above and map the first level of dungeons within, not forgetting to kill all the filthy mutant ratmen we find. The Marquessa wishes us to discover as much about their plans and disposition as we can."
Johndar the illegitimate piped up for the first time "What say thee druid? Ratmen? Speakest thou of the Skaven of legend? Such tales are for the kinder! I have fought in the imperial regiments and never seen such a thing. Men with the heads of goats yes, but rat-men! What proof have thee?!"
"Its all in the contract Johnny boy, all in the contract. We get paid 2 gold pieces each for every section of the under-realm we map, we can keep anything we find and there will be a bonus for any tactical information we can uncover. Now if you can just give me the details of your next of kin we can get this wrapped up... I say, isn't there supposed to be an elf? Anyone seen the elf?"
(everyone looks over their shoulders for an elf)
"Sigmar Damn that elf. Well we cant go in without an elf it breaks all precedents and traditions. Best wait a day or so; here seems as good a place as any"
"MINES A PINT" shouted the dwarf raucously "AND YOUR BUYING WIZZZZARD"
"Bloody dwarves can't handle their ale, I'll buy the little twerp a shandy" muttered Phineas to himself as he made his way to the bar, "where could that bloody elf have got too"
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(I'm bidding on 4 different wood elves, hopefully I'll win at least one or the party will have to have a fancy-shmancy high elf)
"oh my head, It feels as if I am an anvil and a great hammer is forging axes on my brain." groaned Asgrim as Phineas shook him awake.
"Wake up stumps I'm fed up of waiting for that damned elf. I met a couple of local fellas at the bar who can fill in for now. They're expert hunters, better than an elf, humans make the best warriors anyway"
"One of these days wizard..." Asgrim stumbled out of his straw pad and staggered about, clutching his head, "But wait did you say two men? What about the contract! Less gold for me if there are two."
"Well there's safety in numbers. And anyway, I'm on a very personal level of friendship with the Marquessa, I'm sure we can work something out"
Foolish little man, thought Phineas, you don't think we'll all make it out alive do you?
"Now lets go wake these hunters and I'll get you acquainted"
Boris and Loris Manburglerson the hunter brothers:
I'm pleased with how they came out - the one on the right has had his hat remodeled and I made him a feather, I'd better get painting them, the game could arrive today!
Looking forward to sending them into the dungeon, I feel slightly safer with 5 heroes.
It will be a randomly generated dungeon with the heroes earning 8 gold per dungeon section mapped (to be shared out amongst the survivors). The quest room will contain an important skaven leader who has a bag of maps the heroes must bring to Alexandrina for their bonus - something carefully selected but low powered from the magical treasure section I think. Any steps going down will be of use for their next quest...
"well team! I'd like you to meet Boris and err Loris. I met them in the tavern last night after you all passed out and they impressed me muchly with tales of their hunting prowess."
Asgrim snorted in disgust and turned away, rolling his eyes, "so what have these two prize beauties killed before? Rabbits and pigeons I'll wager. Speak up for yourself you two"
"Vee kill zee bear vun time... err and many badger! zey ver fierce, is truth. You tell them brother" Said Loris in his thick Watsitcaldian accent.
"Oh ya ya ve kill all type of animal, even stoat! If I hit small fast target like stoat then how much easier kill evil rat-man who terrorise village, simples"
What am I doing, thought Phineas, I'm taking these fools who've never faced death into the dark untested. They think it will be easy, but the Skaven are not like other animals, they carry shields to catch your arrows and blades for your guts... But we must hurry... the threat grows.
Well I looked that up Chem and now I'm amused and confused. Maybe I'll read or listen to it properly sometime!
JB Glad you got my silly joke name, there'll probably be a lot of those. I can never manage to take roleplay completely seriously.
Cool thanks vallhala - I had to look up Green Arrow and Speedy, very archer appropriate!
Painting up skaven today and watching for the postlady. Also I won some late 80s wood elves.
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Finrod And his friends Edrahil and Finarf trudged damply though the thick woods.
"You must face facts Finrod, we are lost, you do not know where we are, this damned mist has covered the heavens so we don't even know which way is north" moaned Edrahil, "and these trees all look the same, damned swamp willow, how I long for a bit of birch or an elegant elm, you had to lead us through the worst kind of forest"
"You call yourself a wood elf? I am sure this is the way, my spirit animal said so, don't you have a spirit animal Edrahil?"
"Don't you know that's just a story they tell to baby elves Finrod? Why I figured that out when I was only 75, how old are you Finrod? 50? 60? There had better be a job waiting when we get there. I'm am tired off living of the land I am so skinny"
"Wood elves are supposed to be skinny."
"There is a reason for that! Its because we all live in the woods where there's *#@!!-all to eat! I want out."
The wood elf party trudged on, unaware that without the sun and the stars to guide them, they were traveling through the swamp forest in an enormous circle ...
Ohman. Yeah, Welcome to Nightvale is something I listen to with my friends while we're painting.
For those of you who have no idea what it is... it is a podcast that is a Community Radio Program for a fictional town out in the desert somewhere in America. It is like H.P. Lovecraft meets NPR with an incredibly healthy dose of dark humor.
http://commonplacebooks.com/ Is the website, you can download the podcasts for free. I think there are aroudn 40 something right now. I'm still getting through them all.
I finally took pictures of my Marienburger warband, the Donetz Procurement Company, led by Wulf Donetz and his four brothers. Among their henchmen are the Green Arrow and Speedy. (sorry to toot my own horn in your thread, Weets. I can remove this post if you want.)
Spoiler:
And here's my pirate captain. He and his swabby are slumming it on land, hiring themselves out as mercenaries to the Donetz's in the hopes of making enough warpstone riches out of Mordheim to buy a new ship.
No problem valhalla. I like to see people are still playing mordhiem - it always struck me as being a bit like advanced heroquest.
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The new band of heroes stumbled into the sunlight, Phineas limping, covered in his own blood, the others looking triumphantly healthy apart from Johndar who had a few ragged bandages, but he grinned from ear to ear! Even the two hunters had proved their boasts of marksmanship with a dozen kills between them.
"next time we should keep count" suggested Asgrim "I am sure I killed most" Asgrim stroked the softly glowing magic bow he had found, he wondered if he would give his old crossbow to Johndar or sell it at the market...
"Its a good thing we found those healing mushrooms or I don't think Phineas would have made it... Hey Phineas, next time you want to faint in the heat of battle let me know beforehand alright"
Phineas looked worried, he wondered if he'd been wrong about the group, they had acquitted themselves in battle with honour, whereas he... he had lost consciousness twice in the heat of battle and had come close to death. 'I must learn more of the ways of wizardry and find artifacts of power, and I must train to be tougher or next time' he thought... "say can any of you chaps lend me a little of your gold? I'll pay you back!"
Ok the heroes have had two expeditions into the first level of the dungeon now and I'm surprised to say are all still alive - it was touch and go for phineas a couple of times. To be honest they all got really lucky with their rolls, so far rolling low on the monster lists (I think they got about 37 skaven including 3 warlords and 4 champions) they found stairs down to the next level and the first quest room off the first passage they explored. They had a good look round to get the mapping bonus money and found two more quest rooms, 2 more stairs down and two lairs making a total of 30 mapped sections (48 gold coins each). Next time they're delving deeper...
Yeah its tricky to play. I need a reference sheet with all the rules in one place. I started of playing solo but then my bloke came home from work and insisted on GMing "to stop me cheating". Slander! I would never... So he has to learn the rules too now.
Great news - I'm doing the display paintjobs for Not Yet Dead miniatures new survivor/zombie range. Check them out here: www.nyd-miniatures.com (its all in german but its not hard).
I wish I were still playing Mordheim. It died out around here about 10 years ago. I may actually try to get my daughter to play this weekend. She expressed interest in it last night when I was photographing the little dudes.
First time I played AHQ I was selected to to go through to the second round and then won the core games, Necromunder and AHQ and that was at a gamesday.
Ah I'm back! Back from the dead! Our town had a carnival day (Mazy day, you may have heard of it) And I got a touch of the heat stroke from dancing in the midday sun. I'm getting too old for all this fun business! I got asked for I.D. the other day while buying a bottle and I was so happy I thanked her profusely; "thankyou so much, you just made my year" Its been years since I got the doubtful look from a cashier!
Anyway enough griping. Here are some newly painted skaven fresh from the sewers
I love those skaven. Skaven never really excited me much, but imagine how excited I was when I broke out my Mordheim box, to try to decide whether to begin putting together the card buildings, when I realized I still had a couple of human mercenaries I could build, and all of my skaven just waiting there. Yay, new mini's!
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'll need to purchase a couple of skaven models to round out a warband, but it will probably suffice for a starting warband. I even put together my treasure chest. just need to finish putting these guys and their buildings together, and paint them up, and my daughters can choose from Marienberger mercenaries, skaven or undead. Then we can start the battle for the warpstone!
Well thanks. I love skaven, I was friends with a family who kept pet rats once. At one point there were 50 of them. I think I was forced to become comfortable with the rat when they opened all the cage doors at once. They all died eventually as rats do so they got chinchillas instead. Chinchillas can live for 25 years so long as you never get them wet or feed them after midnight(one of those thing is true). Their favourite things are moving fast and dust baths. I digress.
I've been looking at some heraldry and trying it out on the backup hero/swordsman. Needs tightening up I think:
!980s wood elves finally stumble out of the swamp forest:
I'm making some more hunters - these woodsmen will get GS hats and feathers to fit in with the others - robin hood stylee:
DrH oh yes I got a whole bunch of pale colours which I've been using as ready made highlight colours - they're really useful for giving richness to the highlights and for the nonmetalicmetal.
Thanks valhalla - Its fun to come up with shield designs.
Yes they'll make perfect starter heroes for Adv Heroquest.
If I ever need fluff I could say that they are a special battalion made up of noble sons without a title, who proudly carry the family crest. I could call them the Glorious Busturds (that's I kind of bird if you're wondering).
Commission models arriving soon! And an original 1980s skaven warpfire thrower team. They were hard to get. I've practically got an army of skaven now, maybe I should get an old copy of the warhammer fantasy rules and see how they do vs the empire army. Anyone got a favourite edition? I've never played it before.
My favorite edition was 6th. I hope to try 8th Edition once I settle into my new place and retrieve my Orc and Goblin army from my in-laws.
The only bad thing about that edition were the fear/terror rules and the Demon army book. The two undead armies (Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings) tended to be too powerful and the Demon army (especially Slaanesh) was nigh unbeatable in the hands of a good player.
Thanks for your comments. I'll be knee deep in commissions soon. But while I wait I thought up a fun dungeon level. The heroes should try and sneak though here as swiftly and silently as they can - some kind of bonus will be achieved for the next dungeon if they don't alert the skaven guards.
Oh and maybe as an after thought, the troll is so dizzy and angry that he will attack the nearest other figure rather than being under GM control.
Skaven looking great have you seen the musicians from that era some of my favourite models. Current Warhammer is actually quite a good rule set probably my favourite edition rules wise mostly because more models get to role dice than in previous editions. Random charge lengths are my key bug bear with it.
JB yeah it has the potential to be either completely easy or an absolute nightmare for all involved. Especially the poor goblins, imagine if the troll spots them first! And I expect a lot of goblins to fall in the pit because they're not that fast bless em.
Thanks for the advice on warhammer editions all.
My commission has arrived and this is serious stuff. Scale is about 50mm. This chap is first.
Cool. They are 1/35th scale. The first three zombies are pretty nice too. I am sensing that the setting is in England although the manufacturer is German.
I know it's already been said but I'll say it again, the shields are really cool, I love all the little patterns you come up with. I'm also loving the nice little hats on your hunters! Definatly gives em some better character then the ones that used to be on them
I'm thrilled with your work - many thanks again!
I thought he'd been finished...Nice job, 'tis a lovely green.
need to find some more Squat arms soon...
Figured there'd be rum involved 
