Stargrave: Battle for the overgrown factory

Recently I played a game of Stargrave, the sci-fi skirmishing game by Osprey Publishing. This time I played a proper crew vs. crew game in a scenario from the main rulebook called 'Overgrown Factory'. Two rival crews attempt to pillage an old overgrown factory in the midst of the jungle, risking both the local wildlife, still active and dangerous bits of machinery and a fully armed and operational warbot that'll enter the game shooting at some point. Sure sounds like a recipe for disaster fun. here's our game setup.

I've always dreamed of having a cool table to play miniatures games on. This one manages to fulfil that dream quite nicely. 

Bolt Action battle report: the curious battle of the time traveling troopers

A few weeks ago I managed to join my first game of Bolt Action (second if you count the demo game I played years ago). We ran a three player, objective based game. It pitted the US Airborne versus the early war German Afrikakorps versus my late war, losing the War Germans (I should read up on a more proper history at some point (or not)). As Bolt Action is a historical wargame we had to find a proper background to dress up our objective based scenario. No need to worry about a back story! I (quite often) work in marketing, so let's get the Mark Felton tune rolling and get ready for: the curious battle of the time traveling troopers...

To add to the realism of this Bolt Action story, I followed a 'make your pictures look like WW2 pictures tutorial'. This was in no way to hide the fact that I played with unpainted models.

Hungry, hungry Ogre characters

Quite recently I purchased a bunch of Ogre stl's by Avatar's of War. Excepting their version of the Ogre Kingdom Khan (still in his basic paint layers) I've finished a Butcher, Slaughtermaster and an Icebrow Hunter. All these have inspired me to get some new plastics by GW too, setting me well on course to having an Ogre Kingdom/Beastclaw Raiders army in the near future*. Here's a group shot.

* barring distraction by other projects (oh, oh!) 

Did anyone say 'lunchtime'? No? No matter, we'll have lunch anyway.

Titandeath

My happiness over having a 28mm scale Warhound titan was rather short lived. A few days back while drinking my morning coffee I heard a rather ominous crashing sound from the hobby room. As I walked over to investigate, I found my new titan in quite a lot of pieces, spread out over the floor. Insert your own graphic language here, pretend it is in Dutch and you'll have a reasonably accurate facsimile of my morning. Long story short, I have two pieces of awesome terrain :)

Titans do not make for great flyers. Who'd have thought.

I updated my hobby workspace with a new modular storage solution

Four years ago I moved into a house that offered me the luxury of my own hobby workspace. I blogged a lot of happy thoughts about that here. Over the years my hobbyzone was slowly getting swamped with hobby stuff (I could have seen that one coming). It got to the point that a recent newsletter by Green Stuff World announcing a modular storage solution actually made me go: "you're right I do need that, put in shopping basket." I'm a sucker for advertising. Long story short: a box of laser cut MDF goodness arrived on the day I went on vacation. On return I went to work and ended up with this.

Ah a fresh workspace to mess up...

Warhound Titan power up detected

Lets start with a very short observation: I love titans. I was awestruck seeing the iconic John Blanche artwork gracing the cover of White Dwarf 108 and that feeling hasn't subsided since. It inspired me to paint a whole bunch of (new) epic scale titans a few years back. Now, with a 3D-printer just begging for work (and lacking common sense), I went ahead and printed a 28mm version of a Warhound class Titan. I got so enthused, I managed to slap paint on it faster than the time it took to pull the parts out of the printer.

I really need to think up a properly menacing name for this thing. Suggestions are very welcome :)

A Skaven Plague Furnace rolls into view

 Aside from a rather over the top crazy 3D-printing project that's taking a lot of time, I've been refocusing on my Skaven horde. Just to be sure: I never fully take my eyes of them, they are a rather untrustworthy bunch after all. One of the clans in my collection that really needs a boost is Pesilens. My Plague Monks need reinforcements. I have good news for them: there are several extra units lined up (and glued together). This weekend I painted a Plague Furnace for them to die cluster around. 

They see me rollin', they hatin'...

Is it possible to overdo OSL? These (not so) sneaky Skaven would like to know

This weekend I had slightly too much fun throwing undirected energy at a whole bunch of projects. While working on about forty Plague Monks, a few warmachines, ten Wolf Rats, a bunch of space ships and some other random stuff I decided I really should finish something. Even if only to create some space on my paint station. I opted to go for these 3D-printed Poisoned Wind Globadiers/Battle Alchemists/Skryre Acolytes.

Is this the local rave? We're completely geared up to dance until the police break it up.

Ever wonder were all the undead Orcs are? Wonder no more: they're right here and ready to Wuuurgh!

Overposting week continues (it's like shark week, but with less sharks). I had one hell of a joyful moment whilst perusing 3D-printable models when I discovered that Avatars of War makes STLs. I have quite a few of their models in my collection  and now I can enjoy more of their work. To make things even better: they have non-human undead models. With great joy I printed (and painted) my first ten Undead Orcs. 

Wuuurgh (It's like Waaargh, but for undead).

Annual Running of the Bull(gor)s, starring an Aurox Minotaur Slaughterhorn Chieftain

Oh dear, it seems I'm on a bit of a painting streak these days (sorry for overposting). Last night I finished weathering this fascinating 3D-print by Bestiarum Games. Part of their Aurox Minotaurs Collection, it is called the Slaughterhorn Chieftain. Personally, I call it the 'nicely sculpted Doombull'. The model has an amazing, intimidating pose, begging for a proper vignette photo. Let's go for it...

Stop! Printing! Monsters! AAAAAAAAAH!!!!!

More 3D-printing adventures (A Billion Suns edition)

After a rather severe setback (and a fortuitous rescue by the store that sold me my 3D-printer) I'm back on track 3D-printing more wargaming 'stuff'. I'm also actually painting some of it. Lets start there. Here's a shot of the first ships I finished. Only a few more to go (and some extra scenery) and I can actually start playing A Billion Suns.

Painting small scale spaceships is an art form unto itself

Tom Meier's Zombie Dragon and an Undead Lord join the host of the unliving (and a cheeky bonus Nurgle Spawn/Daemon Prince jumps after them)

A few weeks back I discovered a small bookmarks folder named 'RP Wishlist'. Yes I still use bookmarks, I'm old :). Apparently a few years back I decided to buy these models by Ral Partha Europe 'some day'. 'Well,' I thought, 'lets not Aragorn this, and make it this day'. Long story short: a package arrived and these are two of the Ral Partha Europe's models I really wanted to own: Tom Meier's Zombie Dragon (a Citadel classic) and an Undead Lord by Chaz Elliot.(one of the early sculptors at GW, now part of the Die Hard Miniatures team). 

The lichlord and his hound scoured the abandoned keep, searching for fresh recruits to join the undead host...

I added a 3D-printer to my hobby-arsenal

Right after posting Bolt Action Airborne Infantry on a very appropriate data, my blog went silent. Sorry about that. In all honesty work caught up with me and when you write for a living, writing for fun takes a back seat in busy periods. But the summer's picking up, marketeers are going on vacation and they tend to take their freelancer budgets with them. Good for me, it'll give me some time to paint and hobby. I've already gotten a bit of a head start by slapping paint on a model that rolled of my latest investment: a 3D-printer. What an adventure (cough, cough).

Bob the Troll likes long walks on the beach and posting 'opinions' on Twitter.

Bolt Action US Airborne infantry drops by

Today was a rather auspicious day to put the finishing touches on this unit. I only realized it was the 6th of June when I took a quick painting break and decided 'the hell with it, let's throw out a quick blog just because of that. In short here's a small bunch of Bolt Action US Airborne troops by Warlord Games.

One of the interesting features of Bolt Action armies is that you can make most models out of the standard sprue.

Kruleboyz Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast and Marshcrawla Sloggoth

Over the weekend I finished a Kruleboyz Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast and a Marshcrawla Sloggoth. That's a lot of words to describe two models. Don't the good folks at GW take blog headlines into account when naming their creatures? Snide comments aside, these two (and the vulture) sold me on the Krulebozy faction for AoS so it is quite a pleasure to have them painted up and ready for battle. 

As far as I'm concerned the Marshcrawla Sloggoth beats good old, fat Grom the Paunch and even the ancient Goblin King's Chariot when it comes to chariot design. 

Path to Glory: let's rave a bit about AoS

I thought there'd be nothing like the catharsis you get after a nice rant. I was wrong. Path to Glory, the narrative campaign system in Age of Sigmar, turns out to serve just as well. I had my first opening games in this weekend and it was fun. Good company, pretty (painted) miniatures and fun rules. Let's start with an opening shot of the table(s) and then I'll give my take on Age of Sigmar Path to Glory.

The small size of the conflict allows for a smaller table. As we had five players we divided a larger table into two playing areas using battle mats. 

Let rant a bit about AoS

It's been seven years since the release of AoS. I was in my local GW store on a Friday evening on the 17th of July to play a test game at launch (going by my mail for the date). I blasted one of those new fangled Stormcast lords of his lizard with a thirty year old Warp Fire thrower. It was good fun. I still remember the disconnect I felt back then. I rather enjoyed the streamlined (free) rules and had a good chuckle over the silly jokes in some of them. It gave me the feeling GW had openend the gates to people (like me) looking to (re-)enter a fantasy setting. These days AoS can still be a lot of fun, but not if you try to stick with the rules. Why? Here's 7 problems I think make AoS less fun than it should be (and my solutions to them (because I'm very humble and all that)).

The guys on the bottom left killed a Stormcast lord on release day. Good job boys!

Deathodendron - Soulbound AoS roleplay campaign session 4

After all the action and violence, the group decided it was time for a long rest. At a crossroads of corridors they sat back and deliberated what to do next. Through this discussion, they forgot to inform the newly arrived Stormcast what was going on in the first place. Ah the stresses of adventure and all that…

I'll take any excuse to use pictures of this big guy :)

Greater Daemon you say? Just throw it some cash! - Soulbound AoS roleplay campaign session 3

At the end of the previous session, all players had been forced to flee. Boris the Kharadron ran through a different tunnel than his companions. Given the loud bleeping of the gas sensor in his helmet, the rest of the party lucked out on that point. On the downside, he was quite lost. Boris walked through the moldy and deserted corridors of Hollowreef's deepest (Nurgle infested) district in search of the group. As he failed at finding his bearings he decided to walk towards the sound of drums in the distance.

Yeah, there's a greater daemon coming up in this game session...

Skaven Plague Claw Catapult, Warpfire Thrower Team and some Packmasters join the horde

Two clans need expanding in my slightly overgrown Skaven collection: Eshin and Pestilens. On the Eshin side I have more assassins primed (but not ready). On the Pestilens side I mostly need a few more warmachines. With this Skaven Plague Claw Catapult I have started solving that last problem. And as I was splashing more paint on rats anyway, I also added another Warpfire Thrower Team and some Packmasters to the horde.

You have to wonder how disgusting something needs to be before a Skaven puts on a gas mask.

Take the kiswa maker hook and ride Squeek-Hulud like a leader of ratmen!

Yeah the 'conversion' that had to happen, has happened. Egged on by regular readers Toby and Lasgunpacker I looked around for a kiswa hook, settled for superglue (I'm short on Arrakis Fremen gear) and made one spare Skaven ride Squeek-Hulud like a leader of ratmen. Frightened squeels and regular spraying of the musk of fear have not been included with this picture. 

Polish comes from the cities, wisdom from the desert and Hell Pit Abominations come from the Hell Pit.

Another Great Unclean One joins my pantheon

When it comes to painting my weekend was - very - productive. I added a rider to one of my Hell Pit Abominations (Squeek-Hulud has been created), I painted a Skaven Plague Claw Catapult and assembled and painted this Great Unclean One (in a day). I even got an evening of gamemastering Soulbound in. When it comes to blogging, I guess I'll have to smear the results out over the course of this week. Yeah I'm bragging a bit, but you have to enjoy excessive hobby-productivity in some way :).  Let's startof with a shot of my Great Unclean One hunting some hapless peasants. 

And the rock cried out, no hiding place...

Buddy gets company: Master Moulder and two 3D-printed Hell Pit Abominations finished

Almost six years ago I finished my Skaven Hell Pit abomination Buddy Since that day he's seen quite a few battlefields. As he survived no battle so far, I thought it was past time to get him some friends and a proper handler. Without further ado: here's a group shot of Buddy (a GW original), two 3D-printed friend (yet to be named) and their handler, a Master Moulder (by GW).

Okay I've named the center one 'Buddy', perhaps I should name the one on the left 'Fluffy' and the one on the right 'Spot' (<- deft McDeath reference right there (also misplaced, but let's ignore that)).

Skaven Plague Monk speed painting (and releasing the lead)

So there I was, busily painting my new Orcs, when all of a sudden I realized my birthday's coming up in less than a month. Traditionally I buy myself some new Skaven to celebrate. But what to get? As that question is tough to answer, I took stock of what I had (both painted and unpainted). With a lot of unpainted Skaven on my paint station, I decided to check how fast I could stamp out a unit of Skaven Plague Monks. I did these over the course of this weekend (and I'm pretty chuffed about both the speed and the result).

After many years spent languishing in a cardboard and plastic prison, these Plague Monks are finally free to terrorize the Mortal Realms (and the Old World when the opportunity presents itself).

Kruleboyz Corpse-rippa Vulcha with riders (to be honest I wanted to go with Squak! as a title, but thought I'd be a bit too short...)

As mentioned in the previous post I've finished a Kruleboyz Corpse-rippa Vulcha (or big bird, as I call him) as well as both its riders. Let's start off with the bird carrying Gobsprakk, Mouth of Mork. Or 'mage on big bird'. This is a rather powerful, named character, shaman-type that sort of binds all the different Kruleboyz groups together (in the grand narrative of things). He also looks like particularly cantankerous for an Orc. 

"Could you stand still please? I promised my pet canary a treat..." 

Kruleboyz Gutrippaz and Man-Skewer Boltboyz, I finished the Kruleboyz from the Dominion set

What a month. No updates on the blog, The longform excuses for that'll follow in the next paragraph. Let's just blast off with this group shot. I've finished all the Kruleboyz models from the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Dominion boxed set. The ones already blogged about are now joined by 10 Gutrippaz (Orcs with Spears) and 3 Man-Skewer Boltboyz (Orcs with shoulder fired ballista's). 

Kruleboyz (Kruleboyz) never lose it, Kruleboyz (Kruleboyz) never chose this way, Kruleboyz (Kruleboyz) never close your eyes, Kruleboyz always shine. (sorry, the damn song got stuck in my head while painting this bunch).

Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof growls its way into my collection

Riding a humongous canine mount, the Kruleboyz Killaboss terrorizes both enemies as well as his own troops. Looking at the Great Gnashtoof miniature and its rider I can understand why. I've just completed this rather intimidating looking model, further expanding my Kruleboyz army and marking the last of the Kruleboy command models from the Age of Sigmar Dominion box set painted. Next step will involve slopping green on infantry and archers, followed by breaking my resolution not to buy anything new until everything I have is painted (but I knew that was never going to happen when I made it).

The Kruleboyz Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof has the proper bearing to scare his followers into action.

I added a Kruleboy Killaboss (with Stab-grot) and a Murknob Belcha-banna to my Greenskins (with Orc skin tutorial)

The new Age of Sigmar Orcs Orruks Kruleboyz really hit the spot for me, except for one detail: the names. I guess I should count my blessings that the crossbow wielding orcs are called Boltboyz and the ones that are supposed to do the stabbing are called Gutrippaz. I can work with that. But names for command cadre Orcs are about as confusing as the average Stormcast Eternal name (what exactly is difference between a Liberator, Annihilator and a Vigilor? Get off my lawn!). No matter. I'll privately just stick to calling them for what they seem to be (luckily the new app has pictures so I can find the proper warscroll without knowing the name ;). Using the Age of Sigmar app as an identifaction too: here's my  new Murknob with Belcha-banna (Battle Banner wielding Orc), Killaboss (Orc Champion) with Stab-Grot (extra wound).

If you ever find yourself meeting these three while strolling through the swamp, smile, wave and run away. This helpful lifehack was brought to you by the color green (for greenskin).

Painting the backlog: Necron Barbie, Diehard Orc and Dwarf, Dwarf Thunderers, Skaven Stormfiends and Skaven Doom-Flayer

 Recently I had a bit of a painting fugue, grabbing models from my Window Sill of Shame and just finishing the bastards. The result is a lot of joy (I finally added paint to the bastards) and a conundrum: how do I blog about painting the bastards. I decided to just throw them together in what will undoubtably be a completely disjointed blog post. Enjoy dear readers ;). Lets fire this one off with the Necron Barbie.

We can do anything, right Flayed One?

More greenskins: Kruleboyz Swampcalla Shaman and Pot Grot join the horde

To be quite honest, I was planning to save my Kruleboyz until I'd finished a lot of other 'open projects'. This ambition turned out te be on par with 'not buying anything new until I've painted what I've got'. Utterly impossible. As I'd finished a lot of longer term open projects recently (and promptly failed to blog about those) I decided I was allowed to reward myself by cutting apart some shiny new sprues and assembling the new line of Orcs GW introduced with the release of the Age of Sigmar 3.0 Dominion Boxed set. Without further ado: here's my take on a Kruleboyz Swampcala Shaman and Pot Grot.

Hello there, can we tell you all about our lord and saviour Mork (or was that Gork)?

More loyal heroes added to my Sigmar's Children Stormhost

My Sigmar's Childern Stormhost is expanding at a slow but sure pace. I keep a small number of  Stormcast assembled and primed, ready for when I just feel like splattering a lot of (pink) paint around. Recently this allowed me to finish painting (and I have to look the names up): a Lord-Castellant, a  Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis and a squad of Annihilators. Or as I know them: knight with lantern and doggy, knight with banner and three knights in very heavy armor (there are reasons I'm not employed as a Battle Tome writer ;).

Stop! Hammertime! /obligatory opening.

Stargrave review plus Quarantine 37 scenario 1: Get to the lift! (cooperative scenario) write-up

As the Christmas holiday was approaching I worked hard to build some Frostgrave scenery. My wife and I never got around to playing the game, but we did play a game of Stargrave (it seemed logical at the time). Here's a write-up of the scenario in pictures, with more a generalized review of Stargrave in the rest of the text. 

Screams filled the cavernous hall as most of the crew members were down.  With a dolorous 'bing', the lift doors finally opened. How did the mercenaries end up in this mess? Let's back up five minutes and find out... 

Small(ish) guns never tire: Dwarf flame cannon and cannon

Dwarves are a bit like Pringles, once you pop, you can't stop (painting them). I can't complain about it, as I'm really enjoying going over the models I have (ranging from antique eighties dwarves up to very modern ones. I recently completed two rather difficult semi-modern dwarven models: the last release (for now) of the Dwarf Flame Cannon and a plastic Dwarf Cannon from the old Battle for Skull Pass set. Here they are.

Ready. Aim. Fire!

Three Diehard Chaos War Droids stumble into a bar...

Q: Should I tone down the dad-humor in my headlines? (A: No). Anyways, I painted these three chaos war droids by Diehard Miniatures over the Christmas holidays. A slightly too interesting start of 2022 prevented me from shooting proper pictures and blogging about them. Time to correct that I say. So without further ado: three Diehard Chaos War Droids.

"Evil wrecking droids, assemble!"

High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer has some grudges to grumble about

My holiday is still in full swing, giving me lots of time to splash paint on poor, neglected miniatures. Yesterday I finally finished a model that was actively adding my name to its Book of Grudges. Let's hope that by ending High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer's half-painted status, I get to have my name crossed out again...

'It says here you four are obligated to sing hi-ho while carrying me into battle, so best start singing my thanes!'

No Regerts! Dwarf Slayers hop onto the table, tattooed and all...(and they bring some miners too)

Not that I want to brag, but I've managed plan a holiday's worth of days off (and survived the accompanying holidays as well). All the best to all of you and let's hope grandfather Nurgle tones it down for the coming year. With that out of the way, I'm currently (mostly) painting one offs and leftover armies cluttering up my paint station. This flow was interrupted when a friend gave me a box of spare left-over Dwarves. Rummaging through this kingly gift, I just had to paint these Slayers (and practice my tattoo painting skills in the process). Without further ado: Five Dwarf Slayers with No Regerts!

All that's needed to win battles is a bunch of insane dwarves wielding axes and sporting bright orange beards if you ask me.