Xmas Joy OK something like that

So it Xmas and the turkey is getting fat, or those that have been spared are counting their lucky stars.

In the season of goodwill I thought I would give you all some pics if I am able to I will try to get better pics

 

Here are my Flames of War Americans started. You can see a Hellcat painted for winter behind the command stand

 Above and below are the pics of a demon painted for the challenge. I wanted people to look at her and go yep that is a demon 

Week off

So have had this week off work. So the question is what have I been up to...

Bolt Action has been tempting a couple of my mates and so I am never one to pass up the chance to look at another rule set so here is the start of my Rangers Platoon

Some of these will have greatcoats but not all some are just to hard to need a coat no matter what the weather.

The Cursed Knight, the inspiration for this model came the Leprous King in Kingdom of Heaven and as a consequence of his malady he is able to use tainted weapons. He will be joining the Knights Templar who are already painted and now the force will no longer be just Knights Templar because I was driving myself mad painting that amount of white  :-(

 

Dark Angel Successor Company Master not worked out what their Chapter name is but will use them as allies for either my Lamenters or Grey Knights and here is a Devastator Squad, the fluff will be that they are having problems getting technology so that is why they cannot get all the weapons that the book allows 

I have also put together a couple of Bazooka squads and a Priest for Flames of War as well as painting the rest of my Sherman Tanks and Hellcat Tank Destroyer in winter colours

 Above and below are some ideas for my Armies on Parade board High Elves

 Easterlings with supporting Light Infantry will have to see what works

Tanks and Guns

So one of the local gaming clubs has got a Tank Aces Flames of War campaign going so I will enter my Panzerkompanie into it, so far  I have got one Panzer IV to lead them and 7 Panzer III to break into two squadrons and one to lead act as second for the Panzer IV

Pictured is the command Panzer III

I have also started buying the rest of my sisters and will continue to do this over the xmas period and picked up the Alt sculpt of Sonnia Crid for Malifaux as with the crew lists I can use a lot of the models with both factions

Hope to get more pics up this week

Hobbits & Goblins and Dwarves

So Games Workshop has released the Hobbit SBG and from the first comments on the internet it looks like people don't like it.

Having come late to the Middle Earth party I had not read the book which I am doing at the moment so at first agreed with some of the comments.

But once again we have to remember what the main target for GW is for xmas he is 8 - 12 and has never heard of tabletop gaming so walks past GW and sees the glossy display of the film trailer he has seen on TV he comes in and if the shop is good they have the stuff in the front. Mum and Dad will probably consider £20   for childmiding not bad value and all of the staff are CRB checked and shouting about sticking swords in people

Main comments are
Too expensive - likely to agree with this but I have decided to buy only certain things and use the models from my collection for others, so for my box of Hunter Orcs in which I get 12 £20 lets see what I could get. Right boxes for under £20 include a combat squad of marines or 5 marine scouts both of these are £15.50 so I might be able to pick up the glue to put them together with my £20 and after that I have one squad which takes up 100 pts of a game that is usually played at 1500pts.
So I get 12 models which are very well sculpted from the pics and in all honesty will only need 50 of these models so will spend around £100 in all. So maybe not

Horrible scale - right pet peeve here Imperial Guard Soldiers who are 6' should not be modeled the same as a 8' tall space marine, anyway lets look at the size of historical miniatures, they are true 25 - 28mm and should be the same scale and if you shop around will be able to use gripping beast or fire forge to expand your army, would like to see Imperial Guardsmen scaled down to fit better with the universe so the scale thing does not bother me in the slightest

Dont like the look of the models - ok the goblins did not do it for me but not GW's fault I know that the sculptors had a trip to New Zealand so were following Peter Jackson's vision of the goblins also from someone who has read the book they had not yet evolved into the Mines of Moria goblins also the dwarfs are based on the costumes of the film so not their fault and blame Jackson for that and go to red box games for some more dwarf heroes

Goblin Town set can be made with balsa wood - not by a 8 year old with no modelling skills the terrain kits arent really for experienced modellers but for the kids so they are not sawing into wood or scattering modelling polystyrene around their parents house, we all did it.

So for the people trying to sell the hobby to someone who has is the Hobbit any good for someone getting into the idea of tabletop gaming - I would say yes, low cost lots of people their age will be playing and terrain that just needs gluing and painting and mum and dad pay how much for a computer and games for the kid so they learn social skills because they are across the table from their opponent so no swearing at your opponent like Call of Duty

All this and not a GW apologist

Kill Teams FTW

So recently some of my friends have started getting into Kill Teams for 40k 

As regular readers of the Blog may know skirmish gaming is my thing and I was planning on doing some 30k Kill Teams. :-)

The rules that people are using are by heraldsofruin blogspot and they don't seem to different from the normal game which is good for getting new players in.

So I present my first kill team made of 

Night Lords Lexicanium 

Combat squad of Death Guard with suspensor Heavy Bolter specialist

Veteran World Eater with Power Sword

and World Eater Assault Marine 

should be having a game this weekend and week so will get to see how they do the time frame will be just after the Council of Terra 

Plans for 2013

So hopefully the world will not end this year and I will continue my quest for world domination into next year.

I have decided to limit myself to certain key projects for the year.

1. Armies on Parade - Dragon is bought and lying on the work bench, still to find a Chaos Sorcerer to ride him and acquire the rest of the warband this will include the Skullchrushers
2. Menoth army for Warmachine this is still a bit nebulous the idea for the core of the force is medium base infantry so Cinerators and Bastions will form the core will be about 50pts
3. 30k Kill Teams - While some of the Horus Heresy models from Forge World are very nice they cost a bit and it will feel a shame to use them as line troopers what could be better than running them in small squads with your own characters leading them.
4. Merc 18th Century Warband - still some to paint and one box to buy for these for a quasi skirmish game of quasi historical muskets and axes
5. Blood Angels Lamenters - random models will be added when I fancy it to my main army and any actual progress will of course be recorded

Quick amendment - the armies on parade will be an Easterling force for Lord of the Rings this will still have the dragon which is assembled apart from the wings

Weekend painting week time gaming

So the year starts to close up and of course I have got lots going on.

I had a game of Warmachine on Thursday which reminded me how much I love this game, it also shocked me how much of the game I remembered, the only thing I will have to remember is the unit activation not bad for it being a teaching game for me, and something I will remember with my Menoth for next year.

The second thing, as I was not doing loads in the day I chose to spend most of Saturday painting and managed to do these, they will fit into my mercenary 18th Century army who will be helping the Ruskis to fight against the Czar.

On Sunday while not doing much I decided to work on a new project

These are two of the defenders of the Imperium for my Warhammer 30K kill team project, which I will be adding to over Christmas with some ForgeWorld goodies.

The idea is to make a 300pt force that does not include Unique Characters but does include Independent Characters so here we have Captain Milios of the IXth Legion 20th (Sword) Company on the right who is supported by Veteran Helvane of the XVIth Legion 10th Company expect to see a Field Captain from the Emperors Children and maybe a Sanguinary Priest.

In other news I put together a Orc and Goblin Spider Monster this was fun and apart from the pictures being a bit poor was clearly numbered and labelled

Dystopian Wars

So on Thursday I had my first game of Dystopian Wars.

All I can say is what a brilliant system this is. It models naval and air combat very well and the extra stuff about tesla and fusion meltdowns is very good. I played this at Phatcats and had a brilliant time. I will be playing this again and buying more stuff.

I have also had more stuff to put together
Dark Elf dragon, this was a really nice kit that I put together in an hour with the sorceress. I could have done more bits but the client only wanted the quick and simple. Very nice

Wood Elf Treeman - not a good kit. Had to put certain parts of the model into hot water so that it would stand up in anything like a realistic pose and when it was constructed it looked very small. Would not use this if I decided to do a wood elf army.

 Treekin - while the one i put together was simple to put together I would not be impressed with this kit if I bought it the models are very small for what they are supposed to represent. for both of these units I would be looking at Privateer Press Circle wold stuff.

I will be immersing myself in the Iron Kingdoms soon when I get the IKRPG.

More work and some play

It's sad times at the moment as my power lead has died and I need to get a new one

Since last time I have been putting together a

Soul Grinder - this was a nice kit and and simple to make not brilliant just nice
Ghazkull - brilliant really quick to put together nice and quick
Slaaneshi chariot - some fiddly bits instructions could be better but ok

I have also been painting some more iron kingdoms models so expect pics soon

Till the return

Working 9 to 5 and more

So I thought that I would give a quick update about what I've been upto. I have been helping my mate by putting together a couple of models and I thought I'd give a couple of bitesize reviews of some of the models

Dakkajet - absolutely lovely model went together easy and looked brilliant when done

Battlewagon - not bad not numbered which was an issue and a few too many bits that looked the same but went together well in the end

Tomb guard - nice models and one piece body was nice lots of potential would use these if ever doing skeletons not a fan of gluing spines together

Karamazov - finecast helps this model no need to pin now certain bits were awkward to put together but nice and rewarding

Chaos Lord of Manticore - certain bits were easy certain bits were a git, the instructions could do with being clearer

Dark Angel Vets - old friend so many bits and my usual conversion fodder (see upcoming photo for this) lovely

Eldar support weapon - fail how can such a small model provoke so much swearing

Also a brief review of Kommando Khaki %&&*$$ kack is more like it opacity was zero will be getting rid of my pot

Planning for a game tonight so hopefully a battle report and maybe just maybe some pics

Also been looking at Dystopian Wars lovely models

Deus Vult and our thing

So after some interesting days of putting the Fireforge Templar Knights I was rather upset to find not all of the horses had caparisons while this is historically correct it kind of limits them when it comes to warhammer fantasyand kind of takes away from the look.

Oh well I must admit I am still not feeling Warhammer at the moment. So here for your delectation are the first two  Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon that I have painted

One thing I would like to do at some point is a game like the A Very British Civil War

This would be set after WW2 in the Azzurra Mountains and feature a group of soldiers sent out to capture / kill the local Cammora Boss, who is still trying to escape with his wife and kids and one of his best earning girls.

You have already seen some of the models that I plan to use for the criminals  and I will be using Warlord Games British Infantry for the ambushing defenders of the law.

Also as I am a fan of WWW2 and have just picked up some of the Templar Knights I might introduce the Three Spanish Knights or a Strega to the Cammorra forces while the British will get hold of mythological characters and scientifically altered super soldiers.

For the myth of the Three spanish knights read this 

Hopefully I will have some more pictures soon

Derby Wargames Show

So this weekend I went to a convention show and purchased quite a few models.

Finally I have managed to get a box of Fireforge Games Templar Knights which look like lovely models.
I will be playing around with these at some point this weekend.

I also picked up some Dixon Minis Hitmen from their gangsters range which I will be using for some skirmish game as well as the Westwind Vampire Wars Tzar and Tzarina and two kids which will become either civilians or the family to be protected

I also met John Stallard from Warlord games and picked up a French nurse who will be used as the children's Governess (she is in the picture packing a pistol)

Scarab Miniatures Rob who talked me through the rules of War & Conquest which I will be getting at some point and I would like to thank him for a brilliant chat about wargaming and giving me some inspiration for an army.

I would also like to say hi to my mates from Phat Cats who were there playing KGN which I found out took them over 6 weeks to put together it was a really well put together table with some very nice models on it.

Following a quick trip to the painting corner here is the first of the models a Lady and her daughter with their bodyguard packing a Tommy Gun

I can see an adventure in the Italian foothills coming on.

Stormtalon Attack

So over the latter part of the week I have bought put together and started painting a Stormtalon and here are the results

 I like it even though its boxy, I also got my second go at airbrushing which was fun and I will be using this from now on to do tanks and vehicles

Below we see another project which has been in the works for years and the latest ww2 axis model is a goliath who will be getting a squad when I get them painted

Assassin of the Druchii

Here is the warband's assassin who has been hiding out with the high elves for the past fifty years
Hope you enjoy

End of Witches Night

  

So here is the last of this months models for the Dark Elves above we have a normal Witch elf, and blow we have the Hag of the unit. I have recently stripped my old assassin model and will be showing him off at some point tomorrow.

Hope you enjoy the pics

Witches Night the Festival Continues

So after the last couple of days I've got a few more pics
Todays 

Yesterdays

It's Witches Night

As promised here is the first in my unit of Witch Elf unit for fantasy. I of course cannot do anything without making it my own and so have made them out of 40k wyches, I did this for a couple of reasons. Customability, these models can be posed loads of ways :-)
Ease of purchase, these were picked up in the little town I live in which meant they got built earlier.
The dynamic poses, while the witch elves are nice they are very much one piece standing and waving your hands in the air. These plastic models are running head down leaping or getting ready to decapitate someone, what could be better.

With the painting I wanted her to be not so evil. They will not be evil because they look that way but because they are coming to murder you. And that is even more chilling when it is done by someone you thought was your friend

Also after looking at the mandrakes this is what I'm after from the Executioners they will have chainmail robes but they will be savage and like the disciples of Khaine from Dark Blade

Enjoy the pics

Druchii on-going

So I am still on a kick with the Dark Elves and this weekend. I have completed four corsairs and five crossbowmen so I have got five Witch Elves that need painting so as I want to do them justice I will spend more time on them doing one per day.

The Crossbow armed militia

The Noble on the back of his cold one

Corsairs 

Hope you enjoy 

Druchii revised and more Kick-ass

So work continues apace on my revised druchii warband and hopefully I will be picking up some more models today

This is the list that I will be working to and hoping to find on the internet or trade with friends for some of the models

Master		10	Corsairs		5	Executioners
Heavy Armour			Reaver			Draich-master
Shield			Handbows
Cold One					5	Witch Elves
Handbow			Crossbowmen			Hag
Shrieking Blade			Sergeant & Standard			Standard of Eternal Flame
			Shield

So you have already seen the master and he is well represented by this model

The 10 corsairs after buying a squad for the fabled my own game I don't mind buying some more and 6 will be added to the four I've already built and painted.

Not sure what to use for the 5 crossbowmen might use the rest of the corsairs and convert them to not look like corsairs or use Dark Eldar warrior bits with conversions

Executioners will be Dark Eldar Incubi hopefully with, headswaps and painted as bloodsoaked paladins that they are meant to be.

Witch Elves will be Wyches from the Dark Eldar as I've seen these before and they look very nice

So there you have 500 points planned and photos to follow.

As it seems weird to leave you without a picture after searching the Internet for inspiration I stumbled upon this, no words to describe his dark elves apart from sublime http://loserstudio.blogspot.co.uk/ and he is on my blogroll

Druchii going lowkey

Do Druchii (Dark Elves) ever go undercover in their political intrigues.

I would say the answer is yes and so here is the Noble for my Dark Elf army that I will be doing for Warhammer Fantasy Warbands. This format gives you between 250 and 500 points to play with and you can have smaller units to play with.

Ideas are
Noble with repeater crossbow on cold one and shield

4 Corsairs with crossbows
5 Spearmen
3 Dark Riders maybe nicking an idea I saw of them riding Fenrisian Wolves
5 Executioners
3 Knights riding Lions to count as cold ones

Elvish Batman

So as a bit of a break I painted up the Alith Anar (known as the High Elf Batman) model for the fantasy game that I am either working on or (this is new) going to use Fanticide for.

I of course did not use the GW colour scheme because I felt like doing my own (who would have thought it)

His job will be to fire flaming arrows into the enemy while the rest of the archers (who are wip at the moment) fire at the main body of troops.

I want to get a winter argus for my wolves to lead them with the huntsmaster. Because PP have learnt how to sculpt a wolf :-)

The Emperors Pet Psychopaths

I would like to introduce to you the scourge of the Xenos; Inquisitor Dolen Jalsem.

Born on the world of Catachan he was inducted into the Inquisitorial Henchmen of Anileus Balior over seventy years ago and has been purging Xenos ever since.
His power armour was gifted to him by the Angels of Absolution and as he comes from Catachan he is nearly as big as a marine. Of course coming from Catachan he is unable to trust just to power armour and his armour was camouflaged by the Chapter Artificers when he was on missions with them, since he has left he has been unable to change the camouflage and so his robes have been added in the colours that he feels will camouflage him to the theater of operations.

Above we have the model mounted on the base which is then extended out to create a raised slab and earth modeled around the slab

Above the inquisitor strides above the alien tomb casting his psychic abilities at the foul xenos he has not been able to bribe.