A Mortis Engine manifests just in time for the new year

Wow the last weeks went quite the opposite way as planned. I was about to put the final signatures on paper and move when the new house fell through, so I've been a bit busy searching for a replacement home to house the family (both my wife and son seem to be opposed to living in a scale model building made out of balsa wood, foamboard and plasticard). Luckily I finished this guy just before the excrement slapped against the fan (a large industrial one that still looks like a computer fan of course). As it was on my bingo card I've decided to put him in the last post of the year.

As usual I haven't actually read the rules to this unit, so here's hoping it does something useful on the tabletop.

Not quite Bingo this year, but still a lot of fun

I spotted this Miniature Painting Bingo card over at Rob Hawkins blog, being a shameless thief I had to steal the idea and replicate it. So I picked up my folder with hobby shots and endeavored to fill out my hobby bingo card. Alas, no bingo for me this year, but who knows what the next has in store (I got so close. Here's my final score (I'll post the empty picture on the bottom of this post).

Almost bingo, if only I had finished the Red Baron....

Ready! Aim! Miss! Glide! Hit Anyway! Yes, my Doom Divers have paint on them!

As a copywriter I'm opposed to the use of exclamation marks (the only exception being: 'We've got your son/daughter! Leave money under the old oak tree!'). Having said that, I couldn't resist on the title of today's post. As (most of) the goblins in this Doom Diver battery have been languishing in half painted hell for about two years I am beyond happy to actually finish them.

I pity the fool who goes up against this battery...

My Stone Trolls are ready to Trollololol away

I have decided to close my rather busy year (with the move still ahead at the start of the next one sssssh) with a few weeks vacation. Unfortunately my projects seem to expand with the amount of time I have planned to paint. I'll just soldier on. First on the list was finishing two of these three trolls.

You've got to love these classic Stone Troll sculpts.

Well the weather outside is frightful, but the Bloodbound are delightful....

Did I mention being short on time? Sorry for going on about that one, but selling ones house as an avid kitchen table painter adds an extra layer of trauma. Apparently real estate agents don't like selling houses that smell like a chemical dump and look like someone's thrown a handgrenade in a box of plastic sprues and stones. Anyway with the house most likely sold I could go back to my painters ways. First off was tackling the Bloodbound in Shadespire. I have yet to play a game (or read the rules). With the small amount of miniatures in the box I decided it was about time to reinstate my 'no unpainted miniatures' rule for a bit.

The snow throws of all the automatic balance thingies in the camera, making the blood rather hard to see.

Shadespire Steelheart's Champions in Anvils of the Heldenhammer colors

I'm rather busy with actual work so I have to keep today's update quick and short. By the same token I seem to be in a bit of hobby overdrive and I fear that if I don't post these now, they will be pushed into the 'to be posted queue'. That one usually ends up on 'never posted' avenue. As I've cracked and ordered Necromunda, I suspect more painting will be in the near future. So without further ado, I've painted the three Stormcast Eternals from the Shadespire set.

Steelheart and friends stand ready to do something in Shadespire (I have not read the manual yet). 

Back to the Greenskins: a Megaboss enters the fray

Yesterday I finished my Ironjawz Megaboss model. And even though I foolishly glued the head in place and picked a paint scheme that didn't seem to work while painting, I'm rather pleased with the end result. The rusted metal plate was inspired by the incredible work the various AoS28 (Dark Age of Sigmar) people have been showing off over the past few years. For those of you who missed this I think Ex Profundis is a perfect starting point and the Aos28 Facebook group features some nice work as well. Basically it mixes (attempts at) John Blanche's style of painting, Sigmar models and the gothic horror theme of the Old World. It turns Sigmar's high fantasy setting into a Hieronymus Bosch like hellscape. It's awesome :)

I'm here to swing axe and chew squig, and I'm all out of squig....

I'm temporarily suspending the green tide to bring you this member of the Deathwatch

The local GW here in Eindhoven has sent out a request to all customers to build and paint a Deathwatch Space Marine before the end of November. I think it is actually a cooperation between a lot of European stores, but being very blonde and easily distracted I have to admit I forgot most of the details. I just remember: 'end of November', 'Deathwatch', 'Black rim on base' and 'Paint your own name on the rim'. So the relevant details (I hope ;) ). As I was planning to convert my Primaris marines to Deathwatch I already had some shoulder pads on hand. And here is my marine.

Eat your own medicine you Eldar scum!

An(other) Orruk Warboss steps onto the stage...

Has any serious research been conducted regarding the sanity of wargamers? Just as I was about to actually finish my remaining Orruks I went ahead and bought even more Orruks! *sigh* Anyway a bunch of Black Orcs Orruk 'Ardboyz and an Orruk Warboss (in two versions) have joined the 'to be painted' line of models. It was a second hand offer that proved to nice to resist. As a way of atoning for my reckless spending I've finished the Orruk Warboss on a boar.

I can't wait to bum rush this villain into some hapless enemies. 

Boyz, Boyz, Boyz, get ready for a Waaagh!

Not that they need it, but my Snotlings have got some backup in the form of twenty angry Orruk Boyz.

Hack, slay, blood, gore, nothing less, nothing more!

Snotling gits reinforce my Greenskin ranks...well they'll be sort of standing there in the background....

Why would anyone in his or her right mind add Snotlings to a Greenskin army? Please feel free to put your answer in the comments, I don't have one ;) As to this ragtag group: a few years ago I had the chance to buy back almost all the lead models I sold around the start of the nineties. Among that lot was my Snotling Pump Wagon. I think I bought it in a blister when I just started collecting. On re-acquiring the Basic Pump Wagon I stripped and repainted it. As Age of Sigmar was not on the radar I based it square and stuck it in my display cabinet. Zap forward to opening my Orruk project box in September. It contained a rather large collection of unpainted Snotlings (41 plus a pair of drunk Snotlings) and a second (half-finished) pump wagon with expansion (a second deck was optional way back then). To jump forward to the conclusion of this post, all of the models have a coat of paint on them now and the old pump wagon has received a new base.

Now these gits are ready for almost nothing!

The Green Horde rides forth, supported by a soulful Orruk Shaman

Today I finished a major part of the project I started on September 18th by applying the final blobs of paint to my Orruk Boar Chariots. Now five of these machines stand ready to enter the table and cause a mediocre bit of havoc.

Grunt, grung, stab, stab, Waaagh! (and all that...).

Storytelling in wargaming through AoS Open War Cards and other means

Playing this scenario pack actually got me to read Shakespeare (for a great bard, he showed a decided lack of interest in featuring treemen in his tales).

True old school Warhammer requires a game master as well as (at least) two players to fight battles. Fantasy (and sci-fi) wargaming followed pen and paper roleplaying in that regard. That is not entirely surprising as Gary Gygax & friends started D&D out as a variant system to wargaming. It should be no surprise that the oldest game supplements Games Workshop released tended to be adventure like campaign packs linking mutliple battles into a story. I vaguely recall playing through The Tragedy of McDeath campaign in the eighties (sadly with cardboard counters (if only I had taken the 100 quid miniatures deal way back then)). Unfortunately I remember the long discussion between players and GM about the utter lack of balance in the missions better than the actual game itself. That and playing an Appetite for Destruction cassette so many times the tape actually wore down. Sigh, happy times, nostalgia.  Looking back through the booklet makes me want to revisit this scenario someday, AoS style of course. It has rules for buildings that beg to be made into warscrolls and scenario's with interesting special rules. Let's first finish my drawn out move to a new house, then do something with the Grudge of Drong and set McDeath AoS style to somewhere after that...

Age of Sigmar Siege Warfare: The Great Wall

Due to a lot of other things happening I have nog been able to paint this week. Instead I thought it might be fun to make a quick battle report of my first siege battle with the new Age of Sigmar rules presented in General's Handbook 2017. I rather fondly remember drooling over the pages of the venerable Warhammer Siege expansion for Warhammer 3rd edition. It contained a lot of detailed rules for simulating sieges that eventually resulted in battles (to be fought on the tabletop). Unfortunately due to (among other things) a lack of time I never actually got to put any of the fancy rules to practice. To me it is a bit like the old Realm of Chaos books, even to this day wonderful to drool over, but never really practical to play. Having said that, let's take a look at the Age of Sigmar ruleset.

A ragtag unit of fifty Moonclan Grots managed to line a rather large part of the wall.

Orctober has begun, and I already have a head start...

The season of 'named' painting months: Orctober, Nidvember and Deadcember has begun. Usually I get around to observing these by the time the months end, but this time I have a head start as I've already started working on my old Orruks in September. This Monday I finished the second chariot from my restoration project.

Don't know why, but I'm a big fan of this Orruks expression.

Warhammer list building from Fantasy Battles to Age of Sigmar

The first wargame I played (somewhere in the eighties) was based of AD&D rules. My brother bought it at a gaming convention where we were both impressed by a (static) wargaming table featuring a bearded man (who filled his day yelling 'don't touch' at us kids). The AD&D game was chosen because the ready to use counters looked practical and more affordable then the metal miniatures. I remember the game was awful but I can't for the life of me recall its name

Undaunted by this bad experience my brother decided to invest more pocket money in the book featured to the left here,. Yes the start of the addiction for me was Warhammer Fantasy Battles 3rd edition. The book not only contained comprehensible rules for playing wargames, it also featured all the information you needed to play in the back. Points cost per race, special attributes and so on. The AD&D game taught us you could skip dropping pocket money in miniatures by grabbing the lid of a shoe box and making your own cardboard warriors. Our first Fantasy Battle featured four players (no GM) battling with 20.000 points each....

....I'm going to assume that the older readers have by now wiped the coffee of their screens ;) I don't think we ever got past round two, but we did enjoy the spectacular scenery (a grey 110mm diameter PVC pipe serving as a tower and green and brown crayoned paper serving as area terrain). We had some ways to go and the first step consisted of mail ordering miniatures.

My first Orruk Boar Chariot rides eternal, shiny and chrome

As my local GW organised a small AoS tournament I had no time to paint on Saturday. I did have a chance on Sunday to finish the crew for the first of (hopefully five) painted Orruk Boar Chariots.

One stick to poke the boars, one stick to find them.

Tutorial: building a ruined bridge base

Yesterday I completed my Orruk Warboss on Wyvern that included the fancy base you can see below. It is supposed to look like a ruined bridge or highway (or something similar). As it was rather easy and fun to build I thought people might like a tutorial on this. Luckily I actually remembered to take some pictures while scratch-building.

Never mind true line of sight and hiding behind terrain: a big model needs a big base, it just looks right.

Based and ready: Orruk Warboss on Wyvern

My decision to ignore all the hobby rules I made for myself over the years (and not just the one that says 'don't buy anything new until the old is painted') is starting to pay off. Yesterday I actually completed the Orruk Warboss on Wyvern that had been abandoned after a failed attempt at painting black dragons (sorry wyverns). I even have him on a rather nice fancy base.

Waaagh, and all that! Now come over here, I want to hit you with my axe!

Restoring Orc Boar Chariots, Pink Spiderfang Grots and more Orruks and Grots

Two weeks ago I decided to paint myself out of my painting slump by assembling, fancy basing and painting Skarbrand. With my painting mojo renewed, I went on to open my Orcs&Goblins...I mean Orruks and Grots project box to make a dent in that back-log. Having successfully taken over the dining room table with hobby I've been able to get quite a nice few painting and modeling hours in. To spice the hobby up a bit further I've also lifted my personal (semi-)ban on going for multiple units at the same time. Basically I'm chaos incarnate, doing whatever fancy dictates and having a blast while at it. First off I finished painting the ten remaining Spiderfang Grots that where languishing half-painted in the project box.

Spiders! Attack!!!

Painting myself out of my painting slump

As you may have seen by the lack of updates, I've hit a painting slump. Well, real life got a bit busy as well with a possible move in the near future and work, work, work (use Warcraft Peon voice here). I did finish the Genestealer part of my cult, but that was about it.

Sometimes you just lose the joy of working on a project. The best remedy (IMHO) is temporarily storing the models and moving on.

I'll mark those Termagants, Hormagaunts and Spore Mines down as finished

In theory the holidays should be a perfect time to get some painting work done. In practice however...As a freelancer I get rather a lot of extra work over the summer severely reducing my hobby time. With a possible move up in housing in the future well time has been a bit limited. I did however find a few hours over the past weeks to finish painting my 'Gants, 'Gaunts and Spore Mines.

Not the best paint job ever, but it serves.

Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau arrives (unexpectedly)

With the rise of my Genestealer Cult it was only a matter of time before the inquisition showed up. Turns out it was sooner rather then later. And none other then the very first inquisitor ever conceived: Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau. Now to wait for a datasheet...(and wait, and wait, and don't hold breath etc...)

"Did someone mention Genestealer Cults?"

The rise of the Genestealer Cult (with some fancy basing work (in progress))

With only a few new snap-fit Death Guard on the horizon and the codex announced for somewhere later this year there is room to complete one of my other open projects....or I could just start a new one! Squirrel! I love Genestealer Cults. When they where first introduced (at least to me) in the back story of the original Space Hulk (Suicide Mission) they where intriguing. But what blew me (and many others if the Oldhammer Group is a guideline) away where the limousines introduced with a heavily converted (and part scratch built) Genestealer Cult that appeared in White Dwarf 124 (1991). Finding no decent pictures on the internet I took my copy out of storage to snap a quick (hopefully crisper) picture. More can be read on these models on the Eldritch Epistles blog here and a few snaps are available on the venerable Realm of Chaos 80s blog here.

The original (Khorne worshipping) Genestealer Cult that got me hooked to their background.

Day of the living Death Guard

My final four models from Nurgle's side of the Dark Imperium box have been painted. It took a day longer than planned as I completely forgot to sand the bases. In the caes of the Blight Drone I also cut a plastic barrel in half to make it a little more interesting. Anyway the command group featuring (from left to right) a Noxious Blightbringer, Lord of Contagion and Malignant Plaguecaster.

You to can get the full Nurgle treatment! Just call 555-Death-Guard and the nice men and women of our promotion team will be around!

Night of the Living Death Guard

Adhering to my schedule I've finished the unit of seven Death Guard from the Dark Imperium box set over the weekend. As with the Poxwalkers these models are beautifully modeled although to my taste some bits are too fragile for gaming. I'm not Atilla the Hun of painters but still two grenade tops broke off during painting and the green smoking incense stencher (center on the picture below) broke off during photography. That said I still think the unit looks fantastic and I can't wait to bring some plague and disease to the corrupt imperium and its corpse god.

"Death to the false...cough hack urgh blegh....emperor!" Perhaps I should call this unit the Charmers....oh dear I should've converted one into a banner bearer.

Dawn of the Nurgle Poxwalkers

This weekend the new Warhammer 40K was released and I have to admit I was rather excited about this one. In the footsteps of Age of Sigmar it promised a full overhaul of the rules. This past week I took in a lot of Warhammer TV shows (what a fascinating age we live in, Warhammer on tv) and I liked what I saw. The content of the boxed set: Truescale Primaris Space Marines and a band of the most interesting followers of Nurgle since the famous Palanquin of Nurgle was releases (a release I regretfully did not but at the time). My ambition for this getting started box is to get everything painted, preferably in a time scale measured in weeks or months, not years. I decided to start off with the Poxwalkers.

A horde of shuffling Poxwalkers shambles through the ruins of civilization, the new long night is closing in.

Age of Sigmar primer: The Silver Tower, Excelsis, Shadespire and witch hunters

With 8^th edition Warhammer 40K appearing tomorrow I’m getting ready to do a bit of sci-fi wargaming in the near future. Having said that, I’m going to finish my overview of the Age of Sigmar background first. This is the third and (for now) final installment of the background overview. In part one I’ve discussed theRealmgates, the transition from the Old World (the world that was) to the newand some of the other (global) changes to the realms, Slaanesh and other races. My second blog was a condensed version of the Realmgate Wars as described in the five hardcover source books (with a few bonus facts from the Black Library novels). This post will deal with the realms as they are now.

Age of Sigmar background primer: The Realmgate Wars

In an effort to give the Age of Sigmar background more love I previously madea post with a general Age of Sigmar background primer. Here you can read (a bit) about the fate of the Old World, the Mortal Realms and their gods and – most importantly – the realmgates and the setting in general. This post deals with the Realmgate Wars. These are the wars that kick off the Age of Sigmar, got us started on the current background story and are dealt with over the course of five sourcebooks.

Black Library published a number of novels and audio books on the Realmgate Wars. More importantly Games Workshop released five hardcover books telling the story, adding rules and giving rules for themed battles. I’ll be using these books as the basis for this post. In the books Games Workshop tells the story by jumping from one realm to the next, slowly following the timeline up to the finish. I’ll be summarizing in a slightly different fashion, giving descriptions of the events on a per realm basis. As with the other post here’s a ‘here be spoilers’ warning. I recommend getting the Realmgate Wars books. They are quite an entertaining read and a collection onto themselves.

I don't have any Stormcast painted up to show here, so I went with a nice old Skaven model instead. Ignoring the fact that this makes no sense whatsoever. 

Age of Sigmar background primer or: How I learned to stop worrying about Stormcast and love the setting

Sometimes I miss the Old World. I played a lot of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay adventures there, read the novels (even the early ones) and fought a lot of battles over bits and pieces of it. When the end-times was announced I was slightly miffed (hands off my setting!). Having said that, the End Times was a fantastic send-off full of fascinating twists and amazing revelations. What a lot of people don’t realize, is that End Times is also a misnomer. The Age of Sigmar background continues what started in the Old World and adds to it.

Chaos warriors of Tzeentch emerge from a realmgate.

Skaven Stormfiends ready to join the fray

Wow I can't believe my first year blogging about this crazy hobby has come around. Time flies and all that. Perhaps I should've planned something interesting for the first anniversary...ah well next year (maybe). Today I finished my three Stormfiends, equiped for fire and close combat.

My team of Stormfiends is ready for battle. Finishing these three incidentally opens up the opportunity to start fielding the different Clan Skryre Battallions.

A Lightning Cannon, Doom-Flayer and Stormvermin join my Skaven army

My current obsession with Skaven continues with a few extra units that have joined my army. Around my birthday at the start of this month I decided to give myself the present of more Skaven for an army that I've been collecting on and off for the past 25+ years. The dawn of the Age of Sigmar makes the Skaven a very versatile and colorful army that allows you to play in many different ways (most of them involve dishing out a serious amount of nasty mortal wounds). My army lacked the excellent new Thranquol model and it was the first I assembled and painted (it is pictured in the link above). The second unit that has been missing for all these years has been a warp lightning cannon. I think the original model arrived on the market just as I went into the traditional 'beer and women hobby hiatus'. Anyway I got a new plastic one, had some fun being headstrong during assembly and created this model.

Rat or no rat, just kill anything that comes to close, close, squeee!

I like big banners (and I cannot lie)

What are the defining characteristics that set apart an old school gamer versus a new one? Aside from being long in the tooth and (most likely) having a larger collection? Well for some there is the uncontrollable urge to grumble that everything was better way back when. But to be sure it seems the susceptible gamer tends to get this bug after about a month in the hobby. For others it is the rosy feeling of nostalgia that just makes old stuff better. And to be honest I can't stop loving the old Genestealer Patriarch, the Chaos Toilet and the entire Realm of Chaos range. Even when people manage to quite effectively substantiate counterargument. I will never stop loving my tiny Changer of Ways, even as my shiny new plastic one towers over him.

I like big banners (and I cannot lie), you other gamers can't deny, when a git walks in waving an itty bitty pennant or a round thing in your face...

My Skaven army takes on a Von Carstein castle

My birthday came up and with my painting station filled with Highborn Aelfs and Grudge of Drong terrain I thought it was high time to buy myself a present at the local GW. I should've worn blinkers... Instead of getting the last few required Aelfs my eyes fell the Skaven releases I missed in the past few years. Pulling my attention back to this force. I hoped to get back to Grudge of Drong, but I have to interrupt with a short sidestep by presenting an overview of my Skaven Army as it stands today, with a bit of style by having them do a fictitious storming of a Von Carstein castle.

A Skaven horde: not the best view for any proud castle owner to wake up to.

Age of Sigmar terrain abandoned mine shafts for Grudge of Drong

I had a bit less hobby time this weekend as I hosted the first Age of Sigmar tournament my gaming club (Sword Brethren Eindhoven) organised. So no painted High Elves and the Bierlager is still in black undercoat as well. I did however spent my lazy Sunday finishing the build of the two abandoned mine shafts for the first scenario in Grudge of Drong. Here is number one.

It looks like the Dwarves/Duardin/Dispossessed abandoned this shaft halfway through their shift.

Scratch building the Grudge of Drong Bierlager

In between taking a brush to my High Elves and giving them a few test rides with the Age of Sigmar ruleset I've been working on the buildings needed for the Grudge of Drong campaign. This campaign is (I just read) notable for being the last to feature cardboard buildings to use with the scenario's. But why use cardboard when you can scratch build. Over the past few weeks I've been learning how not to use my new polystyrene cutting tools by attempting Das Bierlager (my guide to building the buildings is in German, it enhances the appeal of Dwarves immeasurably in my opinion). Here's a quick list of things I've learned the hard way about polystyrene cutting:

• Make sure the angle between two walls is 90 degrees before cutting the lot, 100+ degree angles lead to very strange geometry (unusable buildings unless you're a great old one).
• Put the texture on the walls before cutting the 90 degree corners, <1 mm polystyrene is not known as 'the strongest material in the world' for a reason.
• Don't glue with PVA glue, it dries way too slow, use transparant 'everything' glue (just as with foamboard).
• Don't push cocktail sticks in neatly cut polystyrene buildings, it makes the walls crack.
• Check your supply of 1mm cardboard, you may have just used all of it to make tiles for Armageddon buildings...

So there was a bit of a learning curve here. In the end my first building is standing (almost fully) primed and ready for paint. 

Front side of Das Bierlager, I wonder what the top floor is used for...

Second hand high-elves join me for the Grudge of Drong

With the first game of Armageddon behind me and the first Age of Sigmar tournament I've organised in our region coming up, I decided to put a bit more focus on my High Elves for the Grudge of Drong. Getting every single model in the original armies poses a challenge as Games Workshop has silently canceled a large part of the plastic High Elf line. Luckily I had some models in the plastic/resin/lead pile in the shed. So let's start with some finished models.

Quite a satisfying addition to my glittering High Elf/Aelf Highborn force.

Dakkastomp, first test game of Shadow War: Armageddon

I played my first Shadow War: Armageddon game this week, and though it mostly consisted of frantically paging through the manual as we tried to get to grips with the rules (it looks like 40K but handles some things quite differently). Also we forgot to coordinate so we had an Ork vs. Ork battle (which was rather appropriate). It was a lot of fun. First off a few quick observations:

• The melee system is great fun and gives all participants a chance to shine.
• Power Klaws hurt (a lot).
• Shooting felt really Orky with a lot of misses, almost malfunctions and the incidental devastating hit.
• Movement was quick and easy although GW seems to have forgotten a rule for climbing up (will steal that from Mordheim). 
• This game desperately needs an equipment and warband expansion (where are my burna's!!!).

Building Games Workshop's Shadow War: Armageddon terrain

Over Easter weekend I got to play around with the new Shadow War: Armageddon terrain that was released in the boxed set with the same name on April 8th. Insert some griping about lack of stock here and keep it at that. The terrain itself is wonderful stuff, highly detailed, completely modular and easy to integrate with other kits and your own scratch build terrain. GW has announced it will be releasing the contents of this box as separate kits soon and that we can expect more variant that add to this terrain as well (including apparently cranes). Also AoS terrain is to follow soon after. That sounds good, although I have to admit the current range of GW terrain is priced just above what I'm willing to spend. We'll have to wait and see if I'm going to invest in more of these terrain sets. On to the finished building first.

The new terrain will probably turn out to be very expensive as separate sets, but man it looks good.

A handful of happy Dwarves

With my rather massive sets of builds for Shadow Wars, ambitions to make a new warband for the game and of course my work on getting everything I need to play elves in the correct terrain for Grudge  of Drong it was high time for a 'Squirrel!' moment. The arrival of a band of Dwarves from Ral Partha provided just that. I joined a Kickstarter campaign to have these guys made, especially as there are Dwarf wizards in the set (still in basecoat over here) and a Dwarf on Ski's (greybeards will know why this is extra special). So between a massive built and paint I will blog about soon and another massive built I will blog about much later I started working on a bunch of Dwarves. These are the first four.

Cheers! Now let's go kill some Greenskins.

A Dragonlord, flowers on bases and Grudge of Drong planning

As 'rust fatigue' was setting in I took a quick detour back to my high elves. Recently I ordered purple and pink flowers from Gamers Grass as a test. The one thing I regret about this is not ordering yellow and white flowers as well. Will have to do that at a later date. I used these to finish the bases of my (recently rebased) High Elf (Aelf)  army. I also dropped the rattlecans and picked up my brushes to paint a second Dragonlord. This one I found half assembled in the bottom of an 'I'm quiting Warhammer' box I purchased second hand. A nice find and now added to my army.

Flowers just add that little something extra to an Aelf army.

Continuing with the Shadow Wars: Armageddon terrain

My hobby time slowed down a bit last week as regular life (and a quick digital visit to The Commonwealth wasteland) caught up with me. Also a bit of project fatigue is setting in, worsened by Games Workshop's botched launch of Shadow Wars: Armageddon. I was not aware it was going to be a limited edition game and its anemic supply sold out before I got a chance to order a copy. Luckily I managed to secure one through a friend. Apparently there is a rulebook in the works now that makes me wonder if I should've bought the box. That is not how I usually spend my hobby money. I will try to be more careful about getting hyped up on announced products before they show up (GW seems to be slightly off form this year, with the rather disappointing Shadows over Hammerhal (compared to Silver Tower) first and now this and to be honest what I've seen of Shadespire is not fueling my enthusiasm). I'm considering trying Test of Honour by Warlord Games because the rules look interesting and the game looks awesome (but it is also sold out, what's up with wargames manufacturing?).

But enough whining and on to hobby time. The second set of buildings has been built, including my first attempt at a polystyrene building with the new tools.

Another three rusty buildings are waiting a drybrush of metallic, a dab of grey and color (and a lot of Ryza rust) to be ready for use in Shadow Wars.

New tools to cut polystyrene with a hot-wire cutter

Although half the hobby from a terrain building perspective is keeping an eye out for discarded toys, boxes and other shapes to build with, the other half is translating an idea into something tangible. The material that would be most useful for this is polystyrene, not the shitty expanded kind (with the little balls that keeping break off even years after sealing painting and pouring holy machine oil on it) but the solid extruded sort. It is reasonable solid, lightweight and with a few easy measures quite durable. One thing it is not, is easy to cut. As with its cousin foam board I keep spare blades at the ready and an average build tends to eat up a full set of spare blades because polystyrene is dull (pro-tip: when given a last request at the guillotine, ask for polystyrene, quickly dull the blade and walk away with a sore neck ;) ).

Add to this problem that it is hard to keep cut edges straight a tool is needed. So a few years back I decided to invest in a hot wire polystyrene cutter. At first I attempted a few 'home-build' projects that all failed and finally I just forked over the cash for a 'real' machine. This is the one.

My hot-wire cutter, als known as my rather expensive mistake...

Salt weathering Warhammer 40K terrain pieces

A few years ago I saw a tip in White Dwarf about salt weathering a tank. It is an effective technique to get a 'rust coming up through the paint look'. I thought it looked very interesting but as I was busy painting Tyranids at the time I did not have much of a chance to paint rust. My current project with rusted space ship (or industrial) terrain gave me a chance to grab the old White Dwarf and look up how to do this:

Oh no! Rusty surface upset Genestealers! You don't want Genestealers to be upset! Or do you?

Making your own Typhus Corrosion

I love the Citadel Technical paint called Typhus Corrosion. It adds a grayish brown color to whatever you apply it to while at the same time adding texture. I've used it on tank tracks, Nurgle daemons and various undead models. As an example the sword of this Great Unclean One was painted with Typhus Corrosion then drybrushed with Ryza Rust and Leadbelcher.

All that and halitosis too...

First set of four tiles for my Warhammer 40K modular space ship interior or industrial terrain (part 4)

Okay maybe I'm making slightly too many updates, but I have gotten carried away a bit here so why not... Using my patented quick and sloppy painting style I've decided to call the first four tiles for my modular space ship interior (or industrial) terrain set finished (for now). I'll probably add some more detail after expanding the set and painting more. Now for the big question, do I go for the fun of showing what I have, do I type an exciting tutorial on my own Typhus Corrosion mix or do I spend some words on salt weathering. Nah, finished terrain first, lots of words later (this week probably).

Watch out where the Space Wolves go, and don't you eat that yellow snow.

Rattlecan gun-fu on my Warhammer 40K modular space ship interior or industrial terrain (part 3)

Yesterday saw the start of Dutch spring with temperatures reaching a scorching 20 degrees (Celcius which equals 68 Fahrenheit. Yes, I'm not a summer person so don't get me started on 30C+ peaks in high summer! Anyway with a late-afternoon hour to waste I had a chance to do some rattlecan gun-fu in the garden instead of in the shed. Who can say no to an escape from poisonous fumes (although my paint filtering mask helps there (hint hint to everyone not owning one of these)). As an added bonus working outside adds a chance of unwanted sand and leaves falling on your terrain. A chance at some chaos! Nice! I went for it. For the curious here is the end result of an about an hour of spraying with rattlecans.

Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only rust.

More test buildings for my Warhammer 40K modular space ship interior or industrial terrain (part 2)

After a successful start on the first tile for my modular space ship interior for Warhammer 40K and most likely the upcoming game Shadow War: Armageddon I spent a large chunk of my Sunday filling more tiles bringing the total to four.

With a bit of imagination this is starting too look like something sci-fi.

Materials, plans and a test building to build a Warhammer 40K modular space ship interior or industrial terrain (part 1)

White Dwarf magazine had a beautiful bit of space ship terrain a few years back. A complete 28mm scale half-open Ork Kruiser for toy soldiers to fight over. At a glance I would guess it to be around 120cm x 60cm x 60cm big. I want to build something like that but, as my mansion is currently in the 'aspiring to one day maybe live in one'-stage, I don't have the room to store or display a model of that size (don't get me started on the storage of my vampire castle). So I have been planning to build the next best thing for quite some time now: modular space ship interior terrain.

Yes this modular bit of 40K terrain still needs some paint...

Warhammer Age of Sigmar app on the desktop

Wouldn't it be nice to have the Age of Sigmar app available on the desktop? I thought it would, but unfortunately right now Games Workshop focuses its development on Apple and Android (and thank you GW for not going Apple exclusive!). Luckily development for Android solves the problem.

Through emulation the Warhammer Age of Sigmar app is available on your desktop.

Finished the Spire of Dawn Aelfs

As I mentioned in my previous post, returning to Warhammer Fantasy at 8th edition was not a pleasant experience. As a result I never finished painting the High Elfs or Skaven in te box. I did paint a Dragon Lord as a fun project and a Dark Elf Sorceress because that miniature is awesome. But it took Age of Sigmar to get me fully back into the hobby. I focused on my old Skaven then got into Death and Destruction until finally landing on my old High Elfs or Aelfs as they are called now. Last week I decided to rebase the old miniatures and started painting the last unpainted unit from my box: the Lothern Sea Guard, now known as Spireguard. And with some pride I can report that they have been painted. Here is my small Aelf army as it stands.

The warriors of the Spire of Dawn (and friends) stand ready to defend it against the insidious Skaven.

Rebasing the Island of Blood to Spire of Dawn

The Island of Blood boxed set was released in 2010 to go along with Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th edition. As I wanted to get back into fantasy to complement my 40K stuff I got the box (and a collector's edition of the 8th edition rulebook). I started off painting a Skaven clanrat. Then tried a few games in 8th and quickly dropped that idea. To each his own, but my experiences playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th where not positive.

The Island of Blood set languished in the shed. As this was before I thought of project boxes the miniatures kind of spread out ending up in bits boxes, behind paint pots and beneath the workbench. When AoS launched I grabbed my ancient (1991) Skaven Army and had fun playing fantasy for the first time in (literally) decades. I quickly (it took a whole day (messy me)) cleaned out my work area in the shed and to my joy rediscovered my Skaven. These have all been painted and the Skaven half of a second IoB set joined the first.

A bunch of Kairic Acolytes join the warband

Aside from the project boxes I mentioned earlier on my blog I also have project trays. These are actually just box lids that contain models I'm currently working on (or that I'm planning to work on). On one of these were twenty Kairic Acolytes. I finished ten of them about a week ago and this weekend I made myself sit down and finish the other ten. Here is the glorious unit of twenty ready to wreak havoc on the battlefield (or more likely die in horrible squishy ways).

Hi would you like to join our cult? We offer a free gym membership to every acolyte!