Oldhammer meets Age of Sigmar: Battle for Black Fire Pass

As most likely none of you missed, GW recently announced that its necromancers are hard at work resurrecting the Old World. They expect to take about two or three years to give us more clarity on what this will mean. Meanwhile as one of those madmen that like both the current AoS lore AND the Old World I've just decided to go have fun right now (as to what is planned: que sera sera). One of the things on my to-do list was fight a big battle over Black Fire Pass. Yesterday evening, I did just that.

And some call this a skirmish game...

Tutorial: flock basing around buildings and painting rivers for Warhammer and Age of Sigmar

Building the Townscape gives me ample opportunity to make some pictures for tutorials. Let's start off with a double feature: Flock basing around buildings and painting rivers for Warhammer and Age of Sigmar (and any other wargame as well for that matter). Followed up with some bonus content about adding signs to buildings. To follow along you'll need some appropriate bases (I prefer MDF), a few colors of flock, grass tufts, instant filler and (optionally) plaster and molds. Let's get started.

We start with the end result, this is what I'm aiming for here.

Warhammer Townscape watermill painted

The Warhammer Townscape watermill is one of the larger, more impressive buildings in the set. As it has a small river running past it, I had to take some extra care of the base of the building. It took a few extra days to apply epoxy water effects properly (no Mighty Fortress disaster repeats for me). I think that was worth it. Here's a shot of the completed building.

Now here's a building to fight over. Also I found my misty valley backdrop. 

First four Warhammer Townscape buildings finished

I had an overtly productive weekend this weekend. It was actually too productive to fit in a single post. I'll just keep te WIP pictures with semi-helpful tips on reserve for later. Having built the first six buildings of the Warhammer Townscape (follow the link if you're wondering what that is) I decided it was time to apply some paint. After all I used some new techniques and I wanted to find out if they actually held up when paint was applied. Short version: I'm happy. Here's a group shot of my first four buildings.

Welcome to Frugelhöfen, we're still working on the rest of the village...

Building the dreaded Warhammer Townscape watermill

Hobby-wise this was a very productive weekend. I continued my Warhammer Townscape project and managed to complete numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6. To wit: the large house, watermill, wooden bridge and shack. Usually I select a few pictures and start rambling. This time my pre-selection stands at 48. Lets just treat this post as a sort of 'scratch building wargaming buildings tutorial and tips' style article. To start off here's my completed work so far.

This project is getting out of hand...

No hammer like Oldhammer: Warhammer Townscape

After the slightly dismal end of my Kan project I decided it was very important to immediately get on the hobby horse and start afresh. For me building scenery/terrain is a perfect counterpoint to miniature painting and in this case therapeutic. Scratch building is a bit more forgiving and a hell of a lot cheaper than miniature painting. So scratch building it is. As I also like to go for overtly ambitious goals I decided to get started on a long held wish to build the classic Warhammer Townscape buildings in foamboard. To make it interesting (and avoid cherry picking) I decided to use the numbers in te original instructions as the order in which to build the entire set. Here is where I'm at right now.

The first 2 out  of 39, it's a a start.

Ork buggy finished

I finished my Ork Buggy this weekend. This vehicle started its life as an Ork Trukk for Gorkamorka. The wonderful combination of scale creep and improvements to model production made it too small to seriously represent a Trukk on a modern gaming table. It does - as far as I'm concerned at least - make for an excellent Ork Buggy, with plenty of dakka as required.

Now to find some suitable targets.

Orctober cometh and it brings...Gretchin?

With my Madboyz finished I've gotten off to a great start for Orctober. Lets see if I can keep that up. The pile of unpainted, half assembled and mostly wrecked orcs in my collection might provide proper fuel. This sad mess has come into existence through that unique combination of impulse purchases, half finished projects and too good not to scoop up second hand deals. Or as us hobbyist call it: the hobby. Time to turn the Orky bit of my hobby into something for the display case. I made a start by (re-)assembling my Killa Kans and adding a random Space Ork vehicle. Here's an end of the hobby day shot.

Quick someone go and get the WD-40!

In come the other Madboyz

Oh dear, I got so carried away with other things, I actually missed the deadline for the painting competition I entered. A day late I did however finish the other two ancient Ork Madboyz I pledged to paint. A day late, or thirty years late? You decide ;)

Who you tryin' ta mess with ese? Don't you know I'm loco?

First fukushima kami-crazy Madboy finished

Painting a miniature that has suffered a few decades of neglect always feels special. This classic Space Ork Madboy is the first of three I've entered into a competition and I'm quite satisfied with him.

I just had to add a modern oversized Space Ork shoota to this model. In case of Orks bigger is better. 

Painting Ork Madboyz step one: Warhammer 40K style Industrial basing for impatient people

My hobby painting got slightly delayed by a major real-life project. I had to build a 1:1 scale shed after a fire wrecked the previous one. Aside from that activity I've got a lot of half finished projects (including some playing around with contrast paints) crowding my painting station and no real inclination to finish anything. Time to end this lazy attitude! Luckily a painting competition was announced on the Oldhammer Community group on Facebook. The mission: to paint Bob Olley sculpts. In other words a call to start a small project with a tight deadline (for painting purposes). Now that sounds like a lot of fun.

Joining a painting competition on the Old Hammer Community is a bit foolhardy. The best painters not actively working as pro-painters tend to hang out here (in my very humbly opinion).

Ruin's End, a Warhammer Fantasy 4th Campaign, session 5 - Bum Rush

Having just infiltrated the Skaven hive, the group looked proudly at the corpses of its guards. With three doors to choose from, only one question remained: which one would they open?

I should most definitively include a plague priest riding a giant rat somewhere in the campaign.

Ruin's End, a Warhammer Fantasy 4th Campaign, session 4 - A pimply romance

After stealing Dietmar's diary from the Von Bruner mansion all members of the party returned to Rosalinde's apartments. After a quick discussion they decided to follow up on the threats urging them to meet an unknown party around midnight at the Teufeltal Gate. Wishing to survive the night, the group decided to scout the location first. Drett had to stay behind, suffering from a fresh bout of Estellian Stomach Flue.

Sir 'not appearing in this gaming session'

A lone plastic orc

Not all painting projects need to be massive. This lone plastic orc orruk rolled off of a shelf as I was cleaning out the shed. I suspect it has been gathering grime and dust since 1993. I vaguely recall selling of a small lot of these, keeping this one because painting a single monopose orc is fun (while painting a regiment slightly less so).

I've got a new semi-photobooth set up at home, making it even easier to snap some pictures of my models. Now to add to my collection of terrain.

Ruin's End, a Warhammer Fantasy 4th Campaign, session 3 - Forbidden knowledge

At the end of the previous episode laywer Drett and magister Ronja gained acces to the library in the Temple of Sigmar. Tillman the witch had kept a wise distance from the same place and was taking care of the sick dwarf watchman Gorgor. Priest of Sigmar Barnard was asking his colleagues in the same temple about their dreams.

I worked hard on this mostly unused location map.

Making leaves out of leaves

After my previous post on shaking paints with a Nail Lacquer Shaker I thought I'd do another review/tutorial combo. In this case making leaves out of leaves. I'm planning to base a future army on autumn style bases. That would require leaves and these can really cripple your bank account if bought to scale. Luckily you can just press your own with the same tools scrapbookers use.

The pink and purple punches where cheap, the yellow punch works. 

Ruin's End, a Warhammer Fantasy 4th Campaign, session 2 - Help Wanted

After the rather confused handover of the artefact at the Triple Cross Inn (it ended up with the wrong High Elf) the group rescued a mage called Rosalinde. Narrowly avoiding an encounter with the city watch they gathered in an alleyway wondering what to do next. Rosalinde invited the group to her apartments with an offer to work for her. The group had accepted in spite of some serious worries about her intentions.

A pretty picture that has little to do with the gaming session.

Shaking paint pots like a pro (or maybe a lazy person)

My soft spot for new paints is almost as bad as the one that makes me buy silly stuff on Aliexpress. This made my purchase of a Nail Lacker Shaker inevitable. But does it actually work?

I think I should paint this machine, add some decals and a purity seal.

Necromancer, Balewind Vortex, Plague Drones, Festus and Waywatcher

Its been way too hot to paint recently. Add a few busy weeks and a brief 'discussion' with grandfather Nurgle to that and the blog fell silent. No longer I say! Okay enough with the dramatics, time to play catch-up. Here are some models I finished over the past month. Lets start with (in my very humble opinion) one of the coolest models ever.

Rise my minion, rise!

Preparing metal miniatures for paint

This weekend I completed a set of ten classic Plaguebearer models using (and adding to) the new contrast technique I picked up on the airbrush course last week. The trick to really make Nurgle models pop is adding yellow, purples and reds to the green skin. As the models themselves are metal I thought it would be a fun idea to write a quick tutorial on the proper preparation of metal models for paint. At least my take on it. 

Plaguebearers, now with added contrast!

Airbrush workshop weekend: taking it up to 11

Over the course of this weekend I partook in an Airbrush Workshop organized by our local pro-painter Scar's Miniature Madness. The subject of the workshop was infantry and we were asked to bring three Primaris Space Marines, one preferably with a plasma gun. At last I had an excuse to apply glue to Imperial side of the Dark Imperium sprues, Me being me, I brought five Primaris Marines all holding a plasma gun. I also decided to go for a quick practice round at home, painting (basic layers on) five Bolter wielding Primaris marines.

After these modern art master pieces I packed up and went home, there was nothing left for me to learn...

Nurgle Plague Toads bring a greeting from grandpa

After a short hobby hiatus (work, birthday, family) I thought it was high time to pick up the (air-)brush again and get painting. Aside from the (not quite unimportant) fact that its a lot of fun, I have signed up for an airbrush workshop this weekend so I needed to get the proverbial rust of my painting hands before making a fool of myself there*. After completing a bunch of Gaslands cars I have started working on Skaven and the Blackstone Fortress set. With that in mind, and to keep my distraction levels optimal, I decided to root out these Plague Toads from the lead/plastic/resin pile.

* Now I can make a fool of myself with rust free hands! 

Look at those charming fellows hop!

Gaslands (and Dark Future) cars finished

My Gaslands project (originally Dark Future) has escalated rather quickly from a couple of toy cars to a full invasion of my hobby space. What can I say: it is a joy to grab a random toy car, stick on some spare bits and plasticard on and get painting. On the other hand I have to admit I've gotten a bit burned out on the scale for now, and am transiting back to the trusty 28mm scale for my next project. It's the joy of the hobby: obsessing for a month and moving on to the next obsession. Here's my fleet of vehicles.

We are killing for guzzoline. 

Ruin's End, a Warhammer Fantasy 4th Campaign, session 1 - Quintuple cross at the Triple Square Inn

After ending the Troubles in Teufeltal peace did not quite return to the province. In the following months a famine was followed by rebellion which in turn led to repression of the populace. The freshly anointed baron had trouble maintaining order. His inability to get proper sleep and his habit of keeping his pale face confined to darkened quarters while wearing his black armor did not help.

The Triple Square Inn

Jungle ruins and realm gate (aka messing around with polystyrene)

The recent completion of the Mighty Fortress got me rather enthusiastic about messing around with polystyrene. So between other projects I made a few random bits of terrain. With the Skaven sneaking in, Eldar shenanigans and recently Gaslands/Dark Future, this project has kind of fallen through the cracks. As I did not bring a lot of things to completion this weekend, I thought 'lets throw them into the spotlight right now'. So without further ado: here's some random ruins made from polystyrene, Ikea plants, flock and bits.

Meanwhile in the valley of mist...

I've seen the future (and its dark)

This weekend I went for another proverbial arm sweep over the hobby desk and got started on a long held ambition: getting back into Dark Future (or maybe getting into Gaslands). I may have dropped the occasional hint of liking Mad Max (style) movies. For those who missed it: I like Mad Max (style) movies. My favorite used to be Mad Max 2: the Road Warrior, but Fury Road has left that one eating dust. Weather beaten, heavily modified and gun toting cars chasing each other through the skeletons of society. All that needs is a soundtrack by Slayer, but I digress...On to the hobby part, here's my first converted car for the project.

Vroooom!!!!!

Carrion Empire, the narrative part

On the previous gaming night a fellow club member (hi Marc!) and I decided to play the narrative missions that come with the new (and by now discontinued) Carrion Empire boxed set. There where multiple reasons for this. First and foremost being that we both like a good laugh and a narrative game. Second he has a Flesh Eater Courts army and I have a Skaven army. Third was curiosity. With all due respect to the hardworking developers, the average mission pack released for AoS is (to put it mildly) not very good. We had a previous laugh at the terrible AoS Skirmish missions (and got a good piano-based grudge match out of it). This box even has counters to use with the missions. It had to be tried. So without further ado: here's my report of the mini-campaign featured in Carrion Empire.

Getting started on mission 2 of Carrion Empire. As you can see the lighting in our gaming club is not conducive to good photography.

A fresh Warplock Bombardier and yet another Warpfire Thrower added to my horde

My brand new Warplock Bombardier, currently part of the Carrion Empire set, has been covered in paint and is ready to go through the scenario's that come with the box later this week. I have to admit I'm not very impressed with its special abilities (on paper) but the sculpt is cool enough to compensate for it. Just look at the little maniac cackling!

Also making a debut: photo backdrop 2.0.

Skaven, Skaven everywhere, and the leadpile it did shrink

This weekend our family calendar was empty, giving me a full two days to paint (occasionally interrupted by acknowledging the existence of fore mentioned family of course ;). Unfortunately I decided to play a quick game* of Total War II with the Skaven to get into the spirit of things. This cost me most of my Saturday. So Sunday I subjected myself to a stern inner monologue, sat down and spent the day with (air-)brushes, water and Skaven. I decided to forego 'focus on finishing a unit' and instead went for an 'anything you feel like painting at that minute' type of session. The net result is one finished group and a lot of half to three quarters finished models (and one glorious Sunday).
* works out as well as a fast round of Civilization...

Completely finished, and it only took me a bit over 25 years!

Trouble in Teufeltal sessions 8, 9 and 10 - White Wolves, Waaghs and Vampires

As I never got around to translating and posting the last sessions, I've decided to post the entire wrap-up of my first Warhammer Fantasy 4th campaign in one go.

Session 8 - The White Wolf Lodge
After the party was saved by ladies they thought where in distress, they moved on to the White Wolf Lodge. Fortunately one of the escape tunnels from Lady DeBlanc's School for Ladies led almost straight to the border between Bretonnia and the Empire and the White Wolf lodge building sitting atop it. Just as fortunate was the meeting with their comrade Drett. After shaking off his Estelian stomach flue he had decided to randomly search the party at this location.

Skaven warlord on brood horror and some classic Plague Monks

I should've known the Gutter Runners where just a vanguard heralding more Skaven to come. That and the new Battle Tome. It restores the Skaven to their own backstabbing and conniving version of unity. I love it. I haven't had time to get a game in with my Skaven, but just seeing all the clans back together is a treat in itself. Over the course of this weekend I focused on finishing two units that had been getting some on and off again attention over the past few weeks. The first unit is a Skaven warlord on Brood Horror by Forge World and the second is a group of twenty classic Plague Monks. Lets start off with the Warlord, I should say Clawlord on Brood Horror (although Forge World hasn't updated the warscroll just yet).

Now there is someone I wouldn't want to invite over for dinner.

Skaven Gutter Runners and a new photo backdrop

This month I crowded my paint station with Eldar with a few sneaky Skaven among them, just for fun. The arrival of the new Skaven Battle Tome, natural Skaven sneakiness and my inability to stay focused for extended periods of time, has caused a few changes. The number of Skaven on my paint station seem to be rapidly multiplying. I also had a lot of fun with some side projects, but more on that later. Lets start of with five freshly painted Skaven Gutter Runners.

Quick quick, sneak sneak kill the...eeek! Big target run! Aaargh! </projected future battlefield actions>

Freshly painted Swooping Hawks ready to fail (again)

Last week I finished repainting my Eldar Swooping Hawks. I'm not sure why I keep bringing these guys to battle as even Ork t-shirts tend to deflect their masterfully aimed shots. But on the bright side they aren't as much of an eyesore in the display cabinet anymore, so there's that.

Here we are, please stop killing us!

A Farseer, a Skaven and a lot of Eldar

After finishing the Mighty Fortress I looked at the other projects on my paint station and decided it was time to add a few. I've been mulling over my instantly crossed out New Year's resolution (don't buy new stuff until the old stuff is finished). Obviously as a plastic and lead addict I can never keep that resolution, but after the fun I had with the bingo card last year I wanted to give my hobby life some guiding direction. So for this year my focus with (almost) every project will be to reduce my pile of overtly ambitious purchases.  I think finally building and painting a the thirty year old Mighty Fortress was a good start tot that.

Did I break that generator? Woopsie...

The Mighty Fortress is ready for battle

After the epoxy resin disaster last week I decided to redouble my efforts to complete the Mighty Fortress. It paid off as the old polystyrene model now stands ready for battle. Lets start off with a few pictures of the completed set.

The Mighty Fortress is an epic piece of scenery to put on a gaming table.

Gob-Lobber restored and painted

On New Year's Day I was lucky enough to spot this Gob-Lobber being offered second hand at a reasonable price. Aside from my Mighty Fortress project I've been working on and off at restoring this war machine to its full glory (or at least as full as I can manage). I like a lot of modern miniatures GW puts out, but as far as dwarves go nothing beats their late eighties and (very) early nineties work.

Who knew dwarves could be so cruel?

Disaster strikes the Mighty Fortress

Let's start this post with a quote from the latest AoS rulebook: "One of the greatest joys of collecting Citadel Miniatures can be found in the modelling and painting of your collection as you assemble and recreate all of the great heroes, terrifying monsters and amazing landscapes of the Age of Sigmar." I'll be keeping that in mind as I continue posting on the Mighty Fortress project. It took a slight turn this week and ended up in 'horror show county'.

I still think it's a fine looking moat.

Building and painting my Mighty Fortress (and about time too)

Way back in 1988 (when people still yelled at me to get off their lawn instead of vice versa) the Warhammer Siege expansion appeared for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. This 140 page book has rules for everything you'd ever want to do to take or hold fortifications. Alongside the book GW released a new terrain kit called Mighty Fortress. This is a polystyrene set of towers and walls to use in games of siege (and general battles of course). I got my hands on one almost thirty years ago. As it (often) goes with miniature (related) purchases it did not get painted as quick as I imagined when I got it. Long story short: just before Christmas last year (2018) I got this box out of the to-do pile and started planning.

The Mighty Fortress came in a big pretty box that has been sitting around looking big and pretty for long enough now.

Finished my Nighthaunt (army)

My Nighthaunt army is finished. I had to keep focus over the course of this weekend and Monday night (and lost it on a few side projects), but I've managed it. This occasion marks one of the scarce moments I can say I painted every model I bought for an army (excepting one, but  the second Lord Executioner was part of a discount set and bought as conversion fodder so he doesn't count). Now this is what I call a nice start for the new year. Let's open up with a model that came out rather well due to a happy little accident.

Blood for the Blood God? I think not!

What I did during the Christmas holiday (spoiler alert: paint Nighthaunt)

Another year has past and I got so involved in enjoying a holiday I actually forgot to blog the easy and obligatory years retrospective. Maybe I'll get away with it later this month (or maybe not). For now it is time to wax lyrical about my (almost finished) shiny new Nighthaunt army. Lets start with one of my favorite modern miniatures.

Sometimes you just need to give into the urge to add blood...