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@Commander Cain: You're welcome. With historicals it's never wrong to do lots and lots of reading first.

@IPS: Thanks very much! I have to say that the lighter texture comes out fairly strong in the pictures. It's more muted in real life.


Little update on the thing you probably didn't really want an update for BUT the titan is assembled bar for the weapons and now I need to do the base for which I need some additional materials first. So for now, test Saxons:



Shields are just in the making. Hope you like them so far.

Wow those Saxons are ace Siggy! probably some of my favorite historicals you've done! I do prefer the larger models over the teeny ones but that's not distracting from your amazing work on them either, the splashes of colour on these guys rock! makes for a beautiful squad, the bases are also a thing of beauty!

@Nerdfest09: Thanks mate! Yup, it's fun doing non-commissioned 28mm again. By the way, have the bitz arrived yet?


Update! Okay, the shields aren't finished and I probabla should have finished them whilst not glued to the models but whatever. The guys were begging for shields because if those people like something it's beer and forming shield walls. I wouldn't let them have beer so at least they got to do the other thing now:



Not too convincing yet, I know. Just wait until the rims of the shields are done and the bosses are all shiny any metal. Maybe I should mute a few of the colours too. What do you think?

In other news - I played another game of Die Kriegskunst (18th century battles, Seven Years' War) and I think that I'm getting a much better grasp on the rules now. The games look really pretty. Still, I seem to be unable to "get into" the whole tricorne-powdered-wig thing. All the line infantry moving around looks great, I'm just not sure if I would invest in an army myself.

Those are coming along beautifully Sigur.

Shields are looking good Siggy! I wasn't expecting such brightness from the 'ol Saxons but hey! it works! :-) and no bits as yet down here, but never fear as soon as something shows up i'll be right onto the conversion train to bring you something to look at!

now, I suggest you do the same and finish those shields pronto!

@Gitsplitta: Thanks very much, mate!

@nerdfest09: Thank you! Looking forward to you putting the arms to good use.




Update time! I toned down the shields a little, finished the painting and added a few slashes here and there:



What do you think of them ? The photo picked out the shield colours a bit strongly again but I think they're alright now.

I think their spectacular Sirgur... but then that's my opinion of nearly all your work so I don't expect I'm a very objective audience...

I value opinions based on habit especially. Seriously though, thanks for the comment. Always appreciated.



Hey guys, I'm back with some WIPs.

Plague Drones:




Their riders:



Here is a little preview of what's to come after the Plague Drones are finished:



Aside from that - guess what, I had a game of Gorkamorka last week!

Fun was had, 'eads were clobbered (the opposing mob's Nob so much so that he's suffering from Stupidity now), my mob was chased off the board by a mob that's 20% smaller in terms of teef (points value). I wasn't aggressive enough and underestimated close combat in favour of shooting. This won't happen again!

Anyway, it was mostly a test game so we'd get into the rules. My gaming buddy never had played Gorkamorka before, last time I played it possibly was 15 years ago. We both had the proper rulebooks and Da 'uva Books, the other guy even used one of the deadly whip measuring rods while I brought some original Gorkamorka models to play. There aren't pictures of the game itself online yet but they'll show up eventually.



I basically brought the models as I had them from back when I collected my first Ork army in the dark days of early 3rd edition 40k. Never liked the redesign of Orks but I got the models then despite all that because they were cheap (comparatively) and plastic and new. Those models usually were bought on a Friday or Saturday after school, were built and painted very quickly so I could field them for the games in the evening. So they got mold lines all over, the bases are only painted bestial brown and that's it. What I really, really like on those Ork models is the warpaint. It goes insanely well with the very strong facial details.

Anyway, after the game I decided to make da boyz look better so they'd perform better in the next game. For now I only managed to base them more properly and start the rework the skin a little. I'll keep the overall look of the minis. They look very dark and ragged, just like they're supposed to in Gorkamorka and they contrast stronly with my actual orks army.

So far, the Ork mob (I don't even have names yet, another reason why I was beat so badly) consists of the Nob (choppa, blasta, flak armour), two boyz with shootas (of which one died after the game and the other one was captured by the opposing mob), one boy with slugga and choppa, a boy with choppa and frag stikkbombs (who got hit on the head badly and is subject to Frenzy now), a Mek who fires the 'eavy shoota on the Trukk, a Juve to drive the trukk and another Juve with a Shoota (that's the smaller original Gorkamorka Ork). Then there's of course the trukk with a heavy shoota (which malfunctioned at the first shot and went out of action for the rest of the game).

Anyhow, the models are alright, just need a few licks of paint but the Nob really doesn't like the the trukk so he's been looking around for a new set of wheels.



Dats more like it.


As far as the titan goes - finished, right down to the banners. The base took longer than expected because the week was more eventful than planned (not the Gorkamorka thing, other, boring stuff) and the base design was a bit changed after a first "draft". It's done now, needs painting which I'll do tomorrow. Biggest base I've ever done. Hope you like the stuff so far.

"The Crazy Gaming Life of Siggy"

Very promising start on the chaos guys Sig. Dude in the chair is just too funny.

Never played Gorkamorka... sort of like Necromunda for orks?

Duuuuude! Plague drones are fantastic! seriously I love the models they just released and your paint on them is superb, I am sorely tempted to buy some myself but I know I won't do a Daemon army for a good while yet, at least i can see your progress with them and enjoy that instead your colour choice on the lower limbs and carapace reminds me of a bluebottle fly, maybe add a purple glaze to richen it up? not that i'm critisizing I couldn't compete with your brush!

@Gitsplitta: Oh yes, it really is the life of a rockstar. :p More seriously - since November I pretty much played a new tabletop wargame every second week on everage. Which of course means lots of new projects, digging into my time and budget. Yeah, Gorkamorka is very similar to Necromunda. Glorious 2nd edition 40k rules overall, the biggest differences are that close combat is a bit more deadly I think, the fact that vehicles play a big role (for instance you have to have enough vehicles to transport your whole mob), there are lots of vehicle upgrades too, loads of very fun random tables for surgery and cybernetic bits and pieces. Out of the box there also only are two different kinds of mobs, Gorkers (who are brutal, but cunning) and Morkers (who are cunning, but brutal). With the expansion Digganobz they added Diggaz (who are basically savage humans who try to emulate ork behavior), Grot Revolutionaries and Muties (mutated humans who live deep in the desert and whom Orks are kind of scared of because they use weird, ancient high tech and they got shamans and stuff). I think it's a tad more random than Necromunda but it immediately is more fun to me too because it's all about Orks and being orky and the rulebook notes how the other player is entitled to mock you if you don't use all possible rapid fire dice on a big shoota if possible. Stuff like that. Also, you don't need much terrain at all.

@Nerdfest: Trust the Aussie to come up with some horrid (and probably lethally poisonous) creature that looks just like GW's latest monster release. Thanks for the suggestion , I'm considering it. I too thought of maybe getting these models when they were released. They really are big too so make for nice showcase models.


Hey fellas, hope you all had a good Easter weekend and weren't pranked too hard yesterday. Heck, I know I was by a friend who at a clever moment told me "oh, and I forgot to tell you the most amazing thing that happened this weekend - when I came home there was a zebra on [x] street!". I didn't pay close enough attention or something and asked why. No more was needed. The damage was done. :p

Anyway, off to more positive things.

here are new WIP pictures of the Plague Drones:




What do you think, sirs?


Also, a bit of an update on Epidemius:





Then we got a traditional "hugely announced finished picture of the big thing which sigur had to rush and has no photo setup at all because, as always when you need it, the cam's battery is low" shot:



I'll try to get proper pictures of the titan done asap. Hope you like it so far.

The titan is fantastic. Stunning. I dream of one day getting one of my own!

Epidemius is going to be amazing... I can feel it.

The paint job on the plague drones is wonderful... but they aren't my favorite figures. Just personal preference.

The Tallyman model is turning out beautifully Siggy! seriously nice work on him, such an ugly model and you've got him to look like something you'd want in your force! sickly and creepy instead of garish and comical!

Warhound is as you would hope after such work, simply awesome! :-0

Plague drones! still love 'em! looking good with the riders on them too, the pale green is perfect!

Nice work, Sigur - any chance of a mini-review of the Drone kit when you've finished them?

@Gitsplitta: Thanks very much once again.

@Nerdfest: Cheers! I liked the Epidemius model right from the release because the concept is so much fun. I'll try to hit the mark just between colourful and properly icky.

@Dysartes: Hmm, sure. I mean it's always hard to review GW kits because we all know what they're like pretty much. Additionally I didn't build those models, I got them built and primed already. So here's a tiny review of stuff I noticed: It's a high quality kit as always with GW. The pieces are much more sturdy much unlikely to break or bend than you'd think. detailling is crisp and nice even though it's a bit ....spludgy as with all new GW plastic kits. I don't know how to describe it. All the "sculpts" have this kind of slick feel to them in the way they're sculpted. There are hardly any undercuts. It's hard to describe and doesn't even bother you if you're used to GW's plastics (or any nowadays I guess. Overall, very good kit again from GW. And the things are BIG. I should do some size comparison shots to show the size of the drones.


Good day, Sirs!

I got my first game of Pike and Shotte with a real human person coming up tomorrow, namely someone who will only play with painted minis and I have the feeling that he doesn't like too many counters on the table either. So I thought actually having more than one imperial officers around might help. For the scenario I planned to have at least four batalia a side, meaning that I need at least four commanders of course, meaning that until two nights ago I was short three imperial-catholic commanders AND one Swedish-protestant one as I noticed just a few hours ago.

So let me introduce to you, from left to right, Johann Ludwig Hektor Count of Isolani (sometimes Isolano), an unknown imperial commander (hence the full helmet) and Octavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi.




(I only from the picture noticed how Isolani and his lancer were leaning towards on side. They're bent to stand straight up now)



Johann Ludwig Hektor Count of Isolani

Isolani, originally of Cyprian nobility, served in the imperial army just like his father. After spending some years fighting the Ottomans in Croatia he was active during basically the whole length of the war up until the French phase and was present at all big battles during that time. He served unter Tilly first but only "made it big" under Wallenstein who appointed him commander of all Croat units which was more of a general term for light skirmisher cavalry, irregular at first, from south eastern Europe. Those formations for fierce horsemen who were feared for their savagery against the enemy, proved a very effective a weapon on and off the battlefield. As with almost all soldiers of the time, the acts of savagery were directed against the civilian population equally (at best) than against the enemy and the Croat horsemen were especially dreaded in this regard.

In military terms Isolani's Croats served important roles in the imperial army as flank guard on the march, as scouting parties, as a disruption to enemy maneuvers and as light cavalry - usually on the far right flank - in battle. They became such an integral part of imperial warfare that the French army lateron made Croat cavalry an instituion as well. They used to wear their scarves in a very particular fashion that was then uncommon to the French people but in the late 17th century made its way into everyday fashion. Wearing your neckerchief "á la Croate" turned into "cravate".



As you can see, the model I used looks very different to the other commanders to make sure Isolani would get recognized as the commander of the Croat horsemen quickly. He's accompanied by a lancer because, just like Wallenstein himself, Isolani had a lifeguard of lancers which was pretty uncommon at the time. The models are not converted apart from the fact that I had to cut off the big moustache on the model I used for Isolani. The fella didn't have a hair left on his body due to syphilis which went rampant through Europe at the time. Other than Pappenheim, Piccolomini and his other superiors, Isolani had no university education and by one source was described as an old, dim-witted man but that, if true, is probably the result of his sickness. He died in the winter of 1640 in Vienna, at the age of 54.









Octavio Piccolomini

Piccolomini is one of the prime examples of the kind of career some people made during the 30 years' war. Like many of the multinational officers' corps of the imperial army, he was of Italian nobility who were held in high regard for their competency and education (other than Italian soldiers at the time). He participated in the war from beginning to end and made quite an impact. Starting out as Rittmeister in a cavalry regiment, he soon came under the command of Pappenheim and made Lt.Colonel in his cuirassier regiment. When Wallenstein was made high commander of the imperial army Piccolomini stepped up in rank once more and became commander of Wallenstein's Lifeguard, a close confidant and part-time diplomat of Wallenstein's. The fact that Piccolomini, a well-connected Italian nobleman helped of course.


The Piccolomini Coat of Arms

At Lützen, Piccolomini took over command of the reinforcements directly after Pappenheim's death and kept the assaults up during which five horses were shot under him but Piccolomini was only lightly wounded during the course of the battle and took great part in making the battle only a slight victory for the Swedish army.

After Lützen Piccolomini continued performing well as a cavalry commander and ultimately was made general of the cavalry. When Wallenstein made plans of taking up secret, unsanctioned peace talks with the Swedes along with the swearing-in of soldiers and officers to himself rather than the emperor, especially the Italian and Spanish officers under his command regarded his actions as treason. Piccolomini, knowing that this would be rewarded greatly, was one of their leaders in siding with the emperor on this thing. They informed the emperor of Wallenstein's plans and were ordered to bring him to the emperor dead or alive. After the assassination of Wallenstein in early 1634, Piccolomini was awarded a large sum of gold, the order of the golden fleece and large portions of land in Bohemia which earlier belonged to the family of one of Wallenstein's closest allies who was also assassinated.


Wallenstein's assassination in Eger 1634

Piccolomini took part in almost all successful actions of the imperial side for the rest of the war, from 1635 on he fought in the Spanish army against the French. In 1636 he led his army into northern France and threatened to take Paris, in 1639 he destroyed a French army in one of the last big battles of the war. He was made high commander of the imperial army for several years but quit after a series of defeats late in the war to serve the Spanish army again. In 1648 he returned to the Austrian side of the army as high commander and field marshall but there was hardly any army left to command. After the war he coordinated the demilitarization of the mercanaries, made some more career moves towards the top. He died in 1656 in Vienna.

Due to his leading role in the assassination of Wallenstein and his depiction in Schiller's work about the whole story Piccolomini is often viewed as a sinister character. Without a doubt he was one of the most capable imperial commanders of the war though, a clever politician and commissioned a fortune's worth of paintings which is a thing that I condone. :-p


Err, also - more imperial musketeers. I was worried that I had run out of musketeer models but when I got together the minis for the commanders I found these guys I already had built and based a few months ago so I painted those up as well:






Here's the fourth finished commander:

...THEN I noticed that I only got three commanders for the protestant side so I slapped together one more for them as well, resulting in Lt.Col. Hans Georg aus dem Winckel, by 1632 commander of the Blue Batalion (which of course is why he's got two guard musketeers to send forward to the front):






He's not that much of a super-important historical figure but he was known to dress very well and for having a big moustache and chin beard and long hair which went a bit against the fashion of the time due to which with the time officers started to wear their hair longer and cut the beards smaller. Hans Georg decided to go with best of both worlds and have the long hair AND the big beard. Apart from that, he was a somewhat capable commander and kind of a drunkard, but that can be said for almost all of the commanders of that time (apart for Tilly probably. Maybe Wallenstein too.).


Aus dem Winckel's Coat of Arms

Loving the Titan, hope you may add a little more to its base.

The drones have a very nice flow to them, so first rate work!

Looking forward to seeing more Gorkamorka. The original models do work well as yoofs.

Amazing stuff I like the varied game choices

You are just a fountain of knowledge Sigur! that was a very interesting read about the armies, is that from your own learnings or did you cut and paste Wikipedia? lol! :-)

@Cutthroatcure: Thanks very much!

@Bruticus: Yeah, glad I found a way to slip in one of them old Boyz. They're probably one of the least loved models GW ever did.

@iheartlargeblasttemplates: Thanks for the comment. Since last November I really played a new wargame every two weeks or so. Learned a lot of new stuff, got a lot of new minis to paint *coughcough* but it's loads of fun. And it's SO great having a basically weekly wargaming night with good people. It's great.

@nerdfest09: It's all just half-knowledge patched up by some websites and literature. I like to throw it in between the pictures to give people a bit of context, maybe grabbing their interest and such. Seems to mostly just bounce off people for the most part.

Okay, after all this small-scale, old-timey nonsense, here's a big, sexy chunk of resin for you.

There he is, on the wholy new installed photo setup:
















A loot at the feet along with the light weathering, dirt and such:


For a few more pictures, have a look there: http://sigur.tabletopgeeks.com/titans/



Also, I took pictures of a fella you probably haven't seen in a while and which you never saw finished:









Whilst cleaning up for the new photo place, I had to relocate a few old boxes and I took a look into the Necromunda one by happy accident. Maybe some of you will enjoy this sight:



I'm not sure why but last night a severe and almost primitive lust for painting Infinity stuff befell me so I quickly painted up a Janissary for my Haqqislam gang:


It's a bit of a rough, quick job but I wanted to have this one done without really having the time. The main reason behind the painting of this guy (read: The excuses I made up while painting and wasting time despite having a pile of commission work to do): I wanted to toy around with OSL because it's a darned popular thing, especially on Infinity minis. Also: With this fella done, I got a half-decent around-100pts force for Haqqislam now, allowing me to set up demo games for others by which I might pull them into playing Infinity.

What do you think of the colour scheme on the guy? It's the regular yellowish-light-drab green I use for my Haqqislam minis along with some bits of darker green parts which are also meant to be shinier looking. The highlights on the sword aren't too convincing yet, I may have to redo them. What do you think of the OSL too?

Group shot:



Next: More updates on Epidemius!

Oh you 'quickly painted up a janissary' model and yet your 'quickly' is along the lines of my 'I tediously painted up a model' damn you Siggy and your magic paintbrushes!

but on a lighter note....... Skim milk........


no seriously now, the Titan is even better with those shots! you can really see the paint properly and it's nothing short of amazing! the metals especially grab my eye and everything as a whole makes for one super impressive model, subtle weathering is just right imo.

Storm chicken! bloody lovely, you can weather like a god mate! I have a storm chicken waiting to be built and painted myself! I used to dislike them but they really grow on you.....like a wart, but if I had a wart painted like you can paint!, i'd keep him!

and thank you for the historical knowledge! I read all the posts in my subbed threads! you never know what you'll learn? your's has been most informative, while other threads i've only learnt how to make underwear from cooked bacon, and how to dress your dog up to make money on the stock exchange!


...i'm tired sorry Siggy!

Titan looks great from every angle. Awesome job.

and really?! you knocked out that Janissary in a night! Good job. Not a lot I can add really, have to up my game to come close to that.

The infinity is a bit rough?Hell no, not in my opinion mate it looks better than my best attempts.Fantastic skills on display here.

When no words are possible, just settle with:

Absolutely stunning highlighting, really tremendous job with those Haqqislam!

The titan is simply stunning Sigur. I dream one day of owning one of those!

Beautiful job on the infinity minis too. So much different than GW minis... really look fantastic in the hands of a top flight painter.

I like that titan!

@nerdfest09: Oh, don't let my understating wording fool you - I surely sat for about seven hours total on this model. Thanks very much for the compliments on the titan. Most of the pictures are taken with flash so I really wasn't sure about them but they seem to work. Cheers for the Storm Raven comment as well! I have to say that I'm still not a huge fan but it's a fun model. Probably should have added some black surfaces to break up the red a bit though but I think it looks nice enough and the customer seems to like it. Hey, those things you learn from other threads are 100% more important than the historical stuff I throw in here! You never know when you suddenly end up without any underwear but a lot of cooked bacon. The only thing I can imagine to get problematic quickly is if you combine the situations you described. I wouldn't dare to wear bacon-underwear anywhere near a dog.

@Dr.H: Thank you very much. Keep in mind I didn't mention how long into the morning I painted that night.

@shingouki: Thank you very much. Those unpainted Infinity models I got are a constant temptation. Have you seen the ALEPH motorbike lady model? I think I want that and still got about six Nomads and Haqqis sitting in boxes unpainted...

@Pacific: Thanks a lot.

@Gitsplitta: Cheers! I actually thought of getting a Warhound myself but then.... well, first I was asked to paint this one and second... I still got that Marienburg Landship to finish and if I got a titan of my own I'm afriad it would suffer the same fate as the Landship (70% finished since 2 years). Infinity minis really are amazingly pretty. Great for a change from GW minis or just great to paint in general. Each and every one a character. To top it off, the rules are pretty darned nice too.

@Cutthroatcure: Well, that's at least one out of three. Just kidding. Thanks very much for the comment!













Getting there. I'm aiming for a finish tomorrow. What do you think so far?

Should he be more slimy? or is that just me

That figure makes me smile... which is about as good a compliment as I can give.

I think he looks ace! he kind of has a pervasive dry rot feel to him without the added mucus I normally associate with such plague infested horror, reminds me of my sister actually.........