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Elves look great. Particularly like the Wizard and the white robes look great to me and the ear dancer with the massive sword.

A kickstarter for compatible shields? That sounds like a great idea.

Absolutely love those Wardancers. The guy with the 2-hander, no shirt and the chainmail pants is one of the best in the range.

Beautiful oldhammer elves, and as usual your bases are fantastic. Enjoy the coming new year .

Nice job on the Elves!
Mohawk Elf is my favourite, even if he is wearing a chainmail onesie.

Those figures really take me back- I didn't know the background on the Jes Goodwin wizards. I have several of these, but none painted to this standard. And I think the 'David Bowie' wardancer came out very well.

Archer wrote:Elves look great. Particularly like the Wizard and the white robes look great to me and the ear dancer with the massive sword.

A kickstarter for compatible shields? That sounds like a great idea.

"Eardancer" may be the best typo I've ever read. That's what I'm going to call these guys from now on. There have been a couple of KS for shields, which delights me to no end, given how expensive the old plastic shields get on Ebay.

youwashock wrote:Absolutely love those Wardancers. The guy with the 2-hander, no shirt and the chainmail pants is one of the best in the range.

I like this guy a lot, as well as the other guy in this pose wielding an axe. Fun fact: I once based a Champions character on this model.

Theophony wrote:Beautiful oldhammer elves, and as usual your bases are fantastic. Enjoy the coming new year .

There's not much to the bases, just sand from the garden and some tufts. Those do all the heavy lifting.

aku-chan wrote:Nice job on the Elves!
Mohawk Elf is my favourite, even if he is wearing a chainmail onesie.

Imagine how much it must hurt to walk on chainmail boots for th entire battle.

Meer_Cat wrote:Those figures really take me back- I didn't know the background on the Jes Goodwin wizards. I have several of these, but none painted to this standard. And I think the 'David Bowie' wardancer came out very well.

Thanks. The model turned out well enough once I gave up on the facepaint.

So winter break began for everyone on Friday afternoon. I finally mailed off some Christmas presents, cleaned the bathroom, "played" a couple of "miniatures games" with my son (he lined up all my elves versus my undead army, we rolled high-low for combat and he won with almost n o casualties!), and found time to finish these guys:


I started buying Chaos Dwarfs to field along with my Warriors of Chaos/Beastmen army (back when everything Chaotic was part of the same list), and had enough for a single unit of thirty or so. That sat in their box, unpainted, for many a year until, in a fit of efficiency/madness, I sold them off as part of an attempt to rationalize the backlog. I regretted doing so immediately and deeply, and continue to do so to this day. A couple of months ago, a fellow on the Oldhammer Trading FB group was offering some for a reasonable price, so I snapped them up.

I thought at first that this model was topless, but on closer examination, he's wearing a Joel Schumacher breastplate. Ah, well, at least he has a magnificent beard.



The casting sculpting on these guys is very much of the era, so they are a little more rough than the elves I posted last week. They make up for it with funkiness, though. Check out his guy's Salvador Dali facial hair. Also, I painted his one visible eye, but of course it's almost impossible to see, even in person.



My son pointed out that this guy looks like a regular, non-corrupted dwarf, so I gave him a green beard. His lower lip is painted in AP Necrotic Flesh, as well.



Another suit of armor with the beard sticking out. It turns out these little tanks are pretty easy and fast to paint.



Then there's this guy. On the right, he's just a bunch of armor. On the left he has a furry arm and a goat leg, and he carries some sort of goblin skull staff as a weapon. That's more like it.



And finally, the best model in this lot. I guess he's supposed to be a berzerker, but he looks just like Sweetumsto me, so that's how I painted him. I tried to give him crazy eyes, but of course they look fairly normal.

Here's a group shot:


I put them on 20mm square bases because they are most likely to see action in Vanguard, assuming we ever get around to playing. I enjoyed these guys so much that I have another set based and primed. They'll have to wait until after New Year's, though. I hope everyone reading this has a Happy ( and Safe) New Year.

Nice little warband you've got there.

White robes on the wizard actually make me see it more as a priestess. Which kind of fits for wood elves.

Referencing something from the previous page about the commercialization of Christmas in Japan: There are not that many Christians in Japan, AFAIK? Would most Japanese have a different view of Christmas?

Ancient Chaos Dwarfs! Awesome as usual, Josh. Good stuff.

Burning the midnight paint to the last minute. Good job on dealing with the unpainted pile!

M.

Brilliant work. Quite a year from you. Love this batch. Sweetie especially.

Love, love, love the old Chaos Dwarfs. I plan to start my own Chaos Dwarf army next (if I ever get through the Necron grumble, grumble) but mine aren't the full of character ones you have here or even the big hat guys or yesteryear. Mine are the current forgeworld version and I think they lack a little Chaos.

Lovely oldhammer minis here. Those old Chaos Dwarves are SO much better than the later ones in my opinion. The big hats and OTT stuff really ruins the more modern designs, makes them look like walking wedding cakes.
Your paintjob on these guys is exactly as it should be for evil Dwarves.

Great looking chaos dwarves there josh , your knocking out these oldschool figs right and left. I have a couple of the chaos dwarves that have bazookas and platemail kicking around somewhere.

Red Harvest wrote:Nice little warband you've got there.

White robes on the wizard actually make me see it more as a priestess. Which kind of fits for wood elves.

Referencing something from the previous page about the commercialization of Christmas in Japan: There are not that many Christians in Japan, AFAIK? Would most Japanese have a different view of Christmas?

Thanks. I was kind of going for a Galadriel look on that elf. Re Xmas in Japan, I imagine all the trappings came over during the occupation, and the gaiety offered some relief from trying to survive postwar deprivation. Now, it's very much a family holiday if you have kids, a dating holiday if you don't.

bbb wrote:Ancient Chaos Dwarfs! Awesome as usual, Josh. Good stuff.

Thanks. I have always had a soft spot for these little guys.

Miguelsan wrote:Burning the midnight paint to the last minute. Good job on dealing with the unpainted pile!

M.

I got my 大掃除 done early, so no one complains when I do hobby stuff during the day.

Camkierhi wrote:Brilliant work. Quite a year from you. Love this batch. Sweetie especially.

Thanks. I didn't reach one model/day, but I think I made up for it with all the terrain.

Archer wrote:Love, love, love the old Chaos Dwarfs. I plan to start my own Chaos Dwarf army next (if I ever get through the Necron grumble, grumble) but mine aren't the full of character ones you have here or even the big hat guys or yesteryear. Mine are the current forgeworld version and I think they lack a little Chaos.

I think the best way to build an army of these guys is to start back in 1986 when they were still cheap. I spent almost $100 on the dozen-or-so I'm currently working on, and I just can't justify an army's-worth of models at that price.

Da Boss wrote:Lovely oldhammer minis here. Those old Chaos Dwarves are SO much better than the later ones in my opinion. The big hats and OTT stuff really ruins the more modern designs, makes them look like walking wedding cakes.
Your paintjob on these guys is exactly as it should be for evil Dwarves.

I never did like the big hats, they were just too cartoony.

Theophony wrote:Great looking chaos dwarves there josh , your knocking out these oldschool figs right and left. I have a couple of the chaos dwarves that have bazookas and platemail kicking around somewhere.

I have a set of bazookamen in the queue. I had two back during my selloff madness, but no one seems to be selling them, at least at prices I can afford...

It seems that all the cool kids are posting retrospectives in their P& Blogs, so I'm doing the same. First up, January:



January was a big sci-fi month. I cranked out a bunch of Battlezones while the family was away visiting relatives. I have a bunch more of those Broken models, I should get back to those.

February:



After the BZ the month before, I was still in DZ mode. I like the models, and I'm pretty sure it's a solid game, but I still can't seem to actually play. Maybe I'll break out the old AI deck and try solo during winter break.

March:


More Mantic stuff, plus a "commission" for a friend.

April:


I seem to have gone on a combined Frostgrave/Oldhammer kick in April, along with slogging through some goblins for Dungeon Saga.

May:
I don't seem to have tagged anything in May...

June:


I went on a little Samurai kick, probably after my son and I tried Ronin. He wanted more peasants, and I rarely object to getting new models....

July:


And then it's back to Frostgrave, with a few DS models thrown in. I'm still pleased with how those old Grenadier wizards came out.

August:


I had a week to myself in August, so I cranked out a bunch of resin terrian and most of a set of DS abyssals. The Ghost Archipelago crewmen were a request from my son, while the barbarians were painted by him.

September:


Some more crewmen, and some Bad Squiddo shieldmaidens.

October:


More Bad Squiddo, and some Ogres. I think I have two more packs of these Mantic Ogres, along with a few random Oldhammer ogres, and then I can call this army finished.

November:


My numbers seem to have dropped quite dramatically as the years wound down. The samurai/swordsmen were inspired by a painting challenge in the Feudal Japan Wargaming FB group. The shieldmaidens were me wanting to get that particular project finished.

December:


December was an oddly productive month. More Bad Squiddo, some barbarians to accompany them, and finally some Oldhammer models. My final tally is 220 modles, plus three sets of Osgiliath ruins, Great Cthulhu, two Japanese peasant farmhouses and a rice paddy, and a whole bunch of resin Frostgrave terrain. I know better than to set goals for hobby stuff, because then it's no longer a hobby, but I hope to have a productive 2019. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting all year, it really helps inspire me.

Top notch year, Josh, and the oldhammer elves and chaos dwarfs round it off nicely

Continuing the theme from December:


These Chaos Dwarfs paint up really quickly, being mostly armor and beard. I'm trying for a bronze effect on the armor plates, and I'm generally pleased, but on this guy it blends in too well with the horns on the helmet.



For those models with shields, I'm trying a glowing/molten Chaos Dwarf rune theme, but I need a better yellow paint for the innermost stripe.



I originally painted this guy's cloak red with white trim, kind of like you'd see on a portrait of a European nobleman, but he ended up looking like Santa Claus. This turned out better, I think.



Apart from the curved sword and the spider on his helmet, this guy looks a lot like an Imperial Dwarf.



This guy is super plain, but I did his thigh-high boots.



I wasn't sure if this guy was wearing a hood or a helmet, so I painted it as a skull instead. The glowing red eye effect didn't work at all.

Finally, a group shot:


Working on these guys, I was reminded on perhaps the worst part of painting dwarfs of any type-- their stumpy little legs make it really hard to decorate the bases. I actually finished this set a couple of days ago, and have cleaned, assembled, based and primed the five Mantic Abssal Dwarf Immortals I got with their first KoW kickstarter, but managed to get distracted by Rangers of Shadow Deep, and am currently kitbashing a couple of rangers using the various Frostgrave kits I have lying around. My wife and son are away visiting her family, so I'll be catching up on movies and hobbying for a week-- hopefully I'll have something to share in a day or two. As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged. Thanks, as always, for looking.

Lovely stuff, Josh, so much better than the later big-hats in my opinion.

Oooh...the little guy in the green cloak is such a classic figure. Like a mini Death Dealer. Love it.

Slinky wrote:Lovely stuff, Josh, so much better than the later big-hats in my opinion.

I never liked that generation of Chaos Dwarfs. I get that they were trying to give them a unified look, but the Babylonian/Assyrian thing just didn't work, IMO.

youwashock wrote:Oooh...the little guy in the green cloak is such a classic figure. Like a mini Death Dealer. Love it.

Thanks, he is a nifty model.

This time, I have a few Abyssal Dwarf Immortals from Mantic.






They came free with my rewards for the first Kings of War kickstarter. They're kind of boring models, sadly-- ornate but hard to read armor, identical weapons and shields, and only four different heads for five bodies-- the last guy has a head from the Dwarf Command sprue. One thing I like about these older KoW models with the integrated bases is that the models are designed to fit inside the footprint of their bases so they can rank up. Not so important for a skirmish gmae, but for rank and flank not having to assemble the unit like a jigsaw puzzle is a big plus.

Next up, I have a few models assembled for Rangers of Shadow Deep. I have tomorrow all to myself, so I hope to have at least a couple ready to show.

Are you going to dip your toes into Vanguard, Josh?

M.

 Miguelsan wrote:
Are you going to dip your toes into Vanguard, Josh?

M.

That's the plan. I like the rules, and I have a ton of painted models I can use. The problem is finding players.

Thanks for the great retrospective Josh. You did a lot last year, months of great paint jobs. It was also fun seeing those 3 grenideer wizards again. The chaos dwarfs are looking cool.

You had an excellent 2018 modelling, wonderful work, so much win.

Love these guys, tons of character.

I realized just yesterday that it's been over two weeks since I posted anything. As the man once sang, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter. Our dog (we're down to one) has been perfectly happy to sleep in since the first snowfall, which in turn leaves me without the impetus to drag my butt out of bed at 4AM. I'm still painting, but at a much slower rate than usual.


With the release (and my subsequent purchase of) Rangers of Shadow Deep, I've been focusing on models for that game. I built this guy using a FG Cultist body with a head and arms from the Legends of Sherwood Forest conversion pack (from Northstar) and a plastic cape from the FG Soldiers 2 sprue. I was going to use him as my Ranger for RoSD, but decided the model is too similar to the Aragorn models than my son decided to use. I field him instead as Robert Eagle Eye, my archer companion. He was originally named Robert Eagle Eyes, but he lost an eye to a permanent injury in our first game...



This is another model from the Soldiers 2 sprue, along with an axe from the GA Crewmen sprue. Her skin turned out much darker than I had planned, but I'm happy with how she turned out.



Another model from the same sprue. Every time I put a shield on a model like this one, I feel like I should paint a freehand design. Then, when the laughter subsides, I slap on one of the Howling Griffon insignias that I printed ten years ago. It took me a couple of tries to get the eyes right, and I'm still not happy with them-- she looks deranged. Looking at the photos, I realized that I forgot to paint the straps and stopper on the potion bottle. I'll have to do that before I pack this one away.



Yet another female soldier model, with accessories from the Barbarian and Cultists sprues. I tried to give her crazy eyes, but they turned out pretty normal. Strange how that works.

RoSD is a scenario-driven RPG-lite sort of game, and the starting rangers and companions are relatively weak. For the first couple of scenarios, they have to fight a lot of vermin:


These giant rats were included in the basic pledge for the first Reaper Bones KS. Reaper keeps having Kickstarters, and I come this close to giving in every time. I stop my self by periodically opening the Bog Box of Bones stored in the Closet of Shame-- the mound of white PVC is enough to dissuade me. That said, there's still a lot of useful stuff in there, including these guys.



The second scenario involves giant spiders and web cocoons containing survivors, corpses, or dead bodies. I built the webs according to a tutorial I found on YouTube, and bought the spiders (and flies for a later scenario) at a ￥100 store nearby. I really enjoyed making the cocoons, even though they didn't turn out very well.

Here's everything in a little battle scene:


I've been really enjoying this game, and the inspiration it has given me to work on little bits of scatter terrain. Hopefully I'll have more to share in the next week.

The lady with the shield reminds me of those hats you get in Neverwinter Nights that look a bit daft but have big bonuses. All looking fantastic, and for not being very productive, you have been ...well....very productive.

He is back from the snows! Nice to know you are still fighing the good fight against the grey horde.


M.

Those web cocoons look like mutated pastries of some sort. In a good way. Fantasy terrain should be unusual looking. The character models are quite characterful, and nicely painted. Perfect for RPG minis.

Re the battle scene. Reminds me of a line from the old D&D Holmes blue book. Here we are, "The tunnels form an endless maze and there is no end to the rats."

Do you have any flying bases for those flies? Or even mount 3-4 of them on clear plastic rod and then on a 40mm square to have a fly swarm.

What kind of dog? I now have a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. ( the 'real' kind of JRT, not the short-legged version.) There is no sleeping in with one of these guys. OTOH, speaking of vermin, The squirrels that have been growing fat and sassy this winter feasting at my bird feeders are soon in for a very, very rude surprise.

Camkierhi wrote:The lady with the shield reminds me of those hats you get in Neverwinter Nights that look a bit daft but have big bonuses. All looking fantastic, and for not being very productive, you have been ...well....very productive.

I'm not familiar with that game (or any non-analog game, really), but I think I understand. Also, I'm running out of storage for all these finished models, so a slower pace is fine for me.

Miguelsan wrote:He is back from the snows! Nice to know you are still fighing the good fight against the grey horde.


M.

I'm still surrounded by snow, but I simply choose not to be defeated by it.

Red Harvest wrote:Those web cocoons look like mutated pastries of some sort. In a good way. Fantasy terrain should be unusual looking. The character models are quite characterful, and nicely painted. Perfect for RPG minis.

Re the battle scene. Reminds me of a line from the old D&D Holmes blue book. Here we are, "The tunnels form an endless maze and there is no end to the rats."

Do you have any flying bases for those flies? Or even mount 3-4 of them on clear plastic rod and then on a 40mm square to have a fly swarm.

What kind of dog? I now have a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. ( the 'real' kind of JRT, not the short-legged version.) There is no sleeping in with one of these guys. OTOH, speaking of vermin, The squirrels that have been growing fat and sassy this winter feasting at my bird feeders are soon in for a very, very rude surprise.

I've been thinking about flying stands. I'll probably stick some wire in some of the many, many Mantic bases I have lying around.

We also have a Jack Russell Terrier-- long legs, short hair, and an endless appetite. He doesn't do well in the sub-arctic temperatures we get here, so he's perfectly happy to climb under the blankets as long as I'm in bed, and just as happy to stay there after I get up.

Great job as usual Josh

Thanks for the kind words, JR, but I think your recent output puts me to shame.

I'm still plugging away, slowly but surely. Here are the last two models from the FG warriors 2 sprue that I started oh so long ago:


Just a couple of generic soldier models. I really like the Robin Hood hat on the crossbowwoman.

Remember the archer model I showed last update? I based him on a body from the FG cultist sprue. While assembling him, I also threw together a few zombies:


The undeady parts came from the cultist sprue, but the bodies are from the barbarian and soldiers sprues. Say what you want about these sets, the intercompatibility easily outshines whatever other limitations they have.



The guy on the left in this photo is all from the cultist sprue apart from the head, which is a Mantic ghoul head. The guy on the right is a barbarian body with undead bits added.



This guy gets three photos only because I couldn't get his sword and face to both show up in the same photo. He's all cultist except for the head, which came from the Ghost Archipelago Crewman sprue. I sliced off his nose and drilled out his eyes to zombify him.

As you may recall, I've been focused on Rangers of Shadow Deep for the last three or four weeks. I have enough models to play pretty much any scenario, but I find myself lacking terrain. I painted up this stuff for Mission Two, Scenario One in the main rulebook:


In this scenario, the rangers have to sneak over a bridge and past a gnoll camp to get to the watchtower. The bridge is balsa wood, the tents and bedrolls are toilet paper over cardstock/balsa wood, and the fire is hot glue. It turns out that there are a lot of YouTubers out there building stuff for D&D, and I'm getting a lot of inspiration there.

As always, I'll close out with a little battle scene:


As always, comments and criticism are welcome and encouraged.

Next up, more Rangers stuff (probably).