500 Point Warhammer Fantasy Skaven Army (Also the end of Monster March)

Although this is a post about the Skaven I've been working on, it's also sort of the end of Monster March as well. This army was entirely built and painted during the last 2 weeks of March!

It sounds really fast, considering it's 40 models, but I realized early on that I would need to be painting fast if I wanted to actually ever finish a Skaven force. This is only 500 points, but is already 40 models!

I've used a few classic metal models and some of the more modern plastic kits and bits from Island of Blood. You can see the stone-age Warpfire Thrower and Poisoned Wind Globeadeer above. These are really classic nostalgic models for me, and just looking at them takes me straight back to the mid 90s. I love the old rules for them too. They're incredibly dangerous, but it's pretty much in the hands of fate if they devastate the enemy or just explode and shower your horde of chittering rat-men with napalmy death!

I also have Grey Seer Thanquol (below), who I'm using as an ordinary Warlock in this force. It's a really old model, but I think the sculpt is still nice. I did a little bit of a glow effect around his eyes which I think came out really well. It's something I don't do very often, but I wanted to make him look a little bit magical. I've also been reading the old Gotrek and Felix books that feature him quite heavily, so it's fun to be able to use the model. I just wish I had an old metal Boneripper to go with him!

The plague monks are probably my least favorite kit in this force. They show their age a lot worse than the metals. I did a lot of filling work on them to get them to a stage that I was happy with. As with a lot of the force, I didn't want to spend too long on them, but I did stop to sculpt some hoods and to fill in around their necks and I think it was worth the time and energy. The banner is freehand. I tried to keep it simple enough as I'm not great at freehand designs. I'm pretty happy with how the horned rat symbol came out. 

The unit below is 25 Clanrats in a massive block. I wanted to get a good quality finish quickly, so for the whole army, I airbrushed a yellow colour over the whole of every model. I hadn't used contrast paints before, but I basically used the yellow as a nice bright undercoat that I could pick out the main colours over. They're quite detailed models, but by batching them in pretty big chunks of 10 or 15, I made it to the end of the force in good time. Their fur is Gore Grunta Fur Contrast and the blacks are Black Templar. I did do highlights on each part, but it cut down on the middle stages. It was also nice to work with the contrast paints because they're so fluid that they were easy to apply. Whenever I build an army, I have to decide it it's going to be more for play, or more as an art project. These guys are definitely designed for play and are a speed and quality that matches! 

Last, we have Warlord Spineshank! He's the metal Spinetail model, but has a few conversions on him - including his back banner and actually a robot eye that's on the other side of his head so you can't see it in this photo. He was a model I bought a while back and converted for my 40k Skaven before I had any idea where I was going with them. At the time, I didn't have a clear direction and when I picked up the army and worked on it properly a few years later there wasn't really a place for him anymore, so he's been languishing in a drawer ever since. Handily, he is perfect for this force, so I got him on a square base and set him loose on the Old World!

 And that's about it. It certainly was a productive month - I painted a Dragon, a Stegadon, and 40 Skaven. The best part is that I'm really happy with how everything came out! I have planned to increase the army to 1000, and It's quite achievable. It's pretty much just adding a Doomwheel, 10 Stormvermin, an a few more Plague Monks. 

Oldhammer 500 Point 5th Edition Lizardmen army - Painted! (again)

 

So, I haven't posted in some time - at least 6 months I think. I have been doing some hobby stuff though, but taking proper photos and making posts for the blog takes some time to do. Anyway, a while back I posted about maybe doing a diorama with some of my old Lizardmen. The project took a different turn, and I've started remaking the army as an actual force. I started messing around with some fantasy again, and one thing sort of led to another.

These are all models that I have owned since the mid-late 90s when they were released. I was quite young at the time, and as a kid, I made a bit of a horrible mess of building and painting them. It's surprising how good they look when you take off all the old paint!The scenery they're photographed on has been another lockdown project. I discovered the magic of hot-glue guns for scenery and it was pretty quick to put together in the end. 

In terms of their actual colours, they use a revamped version of my original scheme. At the time, they were painted with a liberal coat of the notorious oldhammer classic paint "goblin green" and given a hearty dollop of blood red for their claws, frills and, well... pretty much everything else. I took the same colour ideas, but did a new version with the actual details picked out and everything! My childhood self would be thrilled (but confused why my 500 point list wasn't a maxed out character's allowance with wither the hydra sword or frost blade equipped!)

As a special bonus in the photo above, if you look in the background, you'll see mountains and sky - an oil painting used as a backdrop which was another one of my lock-down projects. Bob Ross style (but a bit shite as I'm not an oil painter really!)

A bit of a zoom in on the skink champion for the javelin unit. I'm sticking with modern techniques for painting, so you can see little points of light on there. I've made them really vibrant. The movement trays are from Warbases - and are incredibly cheap and work great, so I really recommend anyone doing old-style units picks some up. 

The Slann is pink - he was originally green, but I wanted to match the accent colour for the army with him and make him stand out. 

I actually like this range of models a lot more than any of the later kits that came out - I've got the next 500 points planned out, but over half of it is a Stegadon, so that should make for an interesting project. I've also started painting my Skink cold one riders - which were originally a dogs of war unit when they were released and I bought the box set. Just for the record, Saurus should never ever ride anything as it's against the established lore - I used to love the background of the great crested Skinks as a kid - the only ones strong enough to tame cold ones (and with strength 4 on the profile and toughness 2 they were certainly interesting!). Saurus were too stupid to actually ride or tame anything - and were basically super-violent warrior crocodile men who were barely able to utter more than a few words. When they released those horrible Saurus riding cold ones models in the next edition it was tragic. Not only did they change the fun and characterful lore, but the models stank - with hunch-backed cold ones and the riding pose that looked like they were mating frogs...

The Saurus command group were my first ever Warhammer models. I actually have the top of the blister pack stashed away somewhere for safekeeping! This was back when the champion was £3! 

Hopefully, I'll post again fairly soon. I also painted up a 500 point force of Bretonnians - with 10 archers, a small lance formation with mounted general and a level 1 sorceress. I may take some photos and post them later on.

Comment below if you like old crap, want to see some Bretonnia ride again, or if you are insane and in your deluded state want to defend the hideous saurus cavalry.

Lord Aquilor Complete

To finish up my work on the Stormcast Eternaals this week, here's my finished Lord Aquilor. This model is pretty big and took some time to complete, but it feels like it was worth the amount of work that I put in. I'm happy with his mount, and once again, I went for a white highlight on the flesh parts to make it look shiny and healthy. I also did some wet blending on his sword to get a bit of a blend going on, and to make it look nice and magical.

He is painted using the same scheme as the rest of the models; with the Verdigris and marble effects. If there's one thing I'm not sure about, it is the rider's face. It looks pretty good, and I'm happy enough with it, but I can't help but feel that it could be better. I might do a bit more work on it at some point, but it'll certainly do for now.

In particular, I really like the eagle-head. It's a lovely sculpt and has a sort of regal character to it that was a lot of fun to work on.

That about rounds out another post, and probably my work on the Stormcast Eternals for the minute. Check back again later to see what I'm working on next!

Stormcast Gryph Hounds Finished

Keeping this week's Stormcast theme going, today I've got the Gryph Hounds from the start collecting box.

These are the smallest thing in the set, but are still mounted on Terminator size bases. I have to admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of the models at first, but they've really grown on me. For one, I love the dynamism and anatomy of the sculpts. I don't know who worked on them, but they feel like they were crafted with a real love for animals. In particular, I like the pose of the one on the left of my pictures wit the leopard spots on its back. It really looks sort of like a playful dog (albeit with a bird head).

I continued the animal pattern theme through by adding stripes and spots to them. Handily, they didn't take that long to paint, and after the airbrush basecoats were done, it wasn't too much to finish off the other details. It's always an advantage when your models are mostly one colour. Like the Palladore I posted yesterday, I highlighted their flesh to white to get a sort of sheen. I'm happy with the results.

With that, another unit is complete. I have one more thing to post for my Stormcast Eternals this week that I've been working on, so check back later if you've been enjoying these posts!

Stormcast Vanguard Palladore Finished

Following on from yesterday's post, I've got the first finished Palladore. I really love these models; they're the reason I bought the set. So cool and interesting, and they gryphon/horse idea is brilliant and very well executed. For me personally, models like this exemplify what makes Age of Sigmar more exciting than the older editions of Warhammer Fantasy that came before it.

The colours for the Gryph-Charger were in part inspired by the colours of a male pheasant. I wanted to blend in some green hues that would match my eternals. I also worked some reds into their extremities and chests and finished this model with some zebra-esque stripes on the hindquarters.

I'm always working on my painting techniques. This model gave me a chance to try to make clear points of light. I've actually gone all the way to white on the brown flesh of the steed to try to get that glossy/healthy look  that you get on a well groomed horse. You can see the effect on the picture below on the highlights on its hindquarters and the neck. I'm really happy with the effect.

He did take a while to finish, but it feels like it was worth the effort. I need to finish off the other two from the unit, but I airbrushed the basecoats in a batch, so at least it won't take quite as long as the first!

Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Hunters

I've been working on my Stormcast Eternals off and on for a while. Over the last week or two, I finally managed to finish some of the units. Here's the first, a unit of Vanguard Hunters.

I really like the scheme, and as I bought them just to paint, it feels good to actually finish them. I've been working on the rest of the start collecting box too, so there should be more updates on the rest of the force coming over the next few days.

I've added a bit of blood spatter to some of the bases and models just to give them a bit more depth colour wise.

That about does it for today. If you like the scheme then stay tuned for more models from the force coming up soon.

Stormcast Eternals - Weathered Marble Paint Scheme

So far, I'm really happy with how this scheme is coming out. I posted some pictures earlier, a week or so ago that were taken on my phone (so much lower quality). I've finished another model from the Vanguard Hunters unit as well, so hopefully, these should give a much better impression of where things are going.

I saw that a new edition of Age of Sigmar is coming out soon (they teased some info at Warhammer Fest over the weekend). I don't actually play Age of Sigmar, and I started this force just as a fun project, but I'll be interested to see where they take the game. I did play one or two games when the game was first released a few years ago, but I found the rules a bit oversimplified for my tastes. I'd really like to see it settle somewhere similar to the most recent edition of 40k; not too complex, but with a strength/toughness system added in to give it a bit more tactical depth. I'm sure it has been refined as a game since the original release, but If I had a wishlist of things to be added, that'd be number one.

The "army" so far. The new model is the Champion for the unit with the bare head. Also a Gryph Hound!

 My progress on the force has been somewhat stunted by the fact that I've been working on something for the anime figure competition again at E2046. I had planned out a series of work in progress posts to do about it, but the deadline for entry is the end of the month, and I'm doing all I can just to get her finished. Hopefully, I'll be posting the finished figure here soon!

Also stay tuned for more eternals once that's out of the way.

Stormcast Eternals - Alternate Colour Scheme Test, Marble Armour

A bit of a random project for me, but sometimes I like to shake things up. I have to admit that I don't know a whole lot about Age of Sigmar, but there's no denying that they make some lovely models!

Sorry the photography is a bit lacking. I used my phone as I was in a rush!

This project really came about for two reasons; one was burnout. After working on my 40k Skaven, I really hit a wall where I couldn't continue anymore. It was really that I had done so much work to such a high standard in a short space of time; I needed a change of pace.

The second thing was that I entered a painting competition at my FLGS, and managed to take first prize in both categories. I won something quite interesting for one of the categories, and I'll post about that later. For the other category, I got some store credit, and I was determined to spend it on something that I could enjoy just as a painting project. While I was there, I had a look at the Start Collecting sets for Age of Sigmar and after a bit of internet fenoogling here we are (not sure that's a word, but whatever. I think it might be what you call Googling something whilst surrounded by ferns...)

Rays of heavenly light... apparently shine on my work. Or is that lens-flare? Hey, is that my pot of Ryza Rust, I've been looking for that!

Anyway, I've just finished a few test miniatures. I wanted something different and sort of mystical looking. I guess it falls into that sort of "Dark Age of Sigmar" type stuff you sometimes see. The paint scheme is based mostly on the Anime figure that I painted for last years GK Competition on E2046 (I'm also working on this year's entry at the moment, but more on that later).

For these models, I've used the airbrush to set up a natural tonal blend of white, grey and brown to be the basis of the marble. it couples well with the verdigris brass effects too. They're fairly time consuming to paint, but I think the overall look is worth the effort.

The force right after the initial airbrushing session. I'm quite looking forward to working on those Palladores!

For the Palladores (read Gryph-Horse riders for the uninformed) I've decided to go with something quite natural. I wanted the colours to look a bit like a cross between a horse and a tropical bird, so I went with green heads (partially to match the verdigris). I think the red chests will be nice when the models are done.

I'm thinking the base is like "Frozen Forest Floor" or at least that was the idea. I wanted something a bit more fantasy than usual. 

They really do look like they belong in 40k though!

Gaming Memories - Dark Orion

Not so much a gaming memory as a hobby one; Dark Orion is a classic bit of Oldhammer goodness.

 

I'll cut straight to the point; my old armies were hideous. Yes, unsurprisingly I wasn't born a good painter, and back in the day even my best works passed for terrible mutilations in the right light. It wasn't until later when I started putting more thought into the hobby than trying to win the game that I started to actually get some decent results!

 

The reason that I still think back on this model so fondly is that he was the first miniature that I actually painted a proper highlight on. You can see in the pictures that his black skin has a layer of grey added to highlight some of the muscles. At the time it was really revolutionary as before that I was all about basecoats, washes and dry-brushing. He was also one of the first models that I actually based properly as well, as it was still the days when a coat of plain old Goblin Green was in style.

 

I still like the colour choices though, especially when you look at the old "Orion King in the Woods" models. I did a few treemen at the time that pushed the boat out too. Ironically though, they never really saw any action again after they were painted as it was in a time between when I was playing Fantasy as a kid and when I picked up 40k as a student at uni.

 

Looking back at this old model makes me want to slap him on a round base and head down to my local games store to challenge some kids to a game of AoS. They might even be impressed with my old style mad skills (or just horrified that he weighs so much - good old white metal!)

 

P.S. Does anyone else remember when White Metal came out and there were those "Now in White Metal" signs on all the boxes. I'll be honest, it was a better material than finecast by a long way! (notice how straight Orion's spear thing is!). If you remember that, you might even remember the original tutorial on how to pin a miniature from the Battle Book in the old Fantasy box set that used this very same model!

Gaming Memories - Bloody Organ Gun!

My series continues this week with another classic memory. This time I have my brother's Dwarf Organ Gun from about 20 years ago.

You might ask why a hideously painted cannon should evoke such nostalgia (The picture is overexposed on purpose to hide the horror a bit....). Well, it was the first Warhammer miniature either of us ever owned and for me it was the first I really saw up close. It also saw the battlefield in every game we played for years and I dread to think what its total kill count would be (probably a few thousand- it was incredibly powerful).

The other reason I think so fondly of it is because to me this Organ Gun represents the competitive spirit and rule abuse comes so naturally to children. The rules back then were really sketchy, with wide avenues that left them open to abuse; especially in the Dwarf book which was already a bit old when we started. In particular the rules for the Organ Gun were so unclear that using the thing was a real battle of wits, and as children I think we just interpreted it as the most powerful possible version.

Its rules issues were massively compounded by the fact that Dwarf Runes are the most broken system I've ever seen in any game. With the right combination of runes (and rules interpretation as it wasn't clear anyway), the organ gun was completely invisible and unable to be attacked in any way. When it fired, it became visible, but the problem was that it was possible to take the rune multiple times - leading my brother to believe that he could fire the gun for several turns running without it being able to be attacked as another rune would simply come into effect - and really there was nothing in the rules that stopped you!

It didn't help that when it fired, the thing had the power of 4 regular cannons, and no clear allowance was made for having to roll the misfire dice multiple times for every shot separately; meaning we rolled once for all 4 shots. It wouldn't have made any difference though anyway, as it had runes that stopped it from suffering any ill-consequences from a misfire, so it was basically unstoppable.

I think nobody would be surprised that his Dwarfs never lost a single game in their whole career. It does make me laugh though; ah, to be young again with an invulnerable weapon of war. Those were the days.

You might be tempted to think that this competitiveness was all his fault, but I had my fare share of Frost Blade wielding, Forbidden-Rod toting, Amber Amulet wearing flunkies that beg to differ! (the Frost Blade was instant death no armour saves, the Amber Amulet regenerated 1 wound a phase - so about 5 a turn, and the Forbidden rod allowed you to use one Total Power spell a turn).

Although his Dwarfs remained undefeated, it was largely due to the fact that most of our games were multi-player and they were so slow that they never made it across the field; that and nobody would approach the cannons willingly. I on the other hand was putting my most benderish of combinations to good use, but I suppose that's news for another episode of "Gaming Memories".

Building Bungo - A Warhammer Quest Barbarian

A few determined blog followers may know that I've been doing a series of comedy stories titled "The Chronicles of Bungo". They're basically the culmination of a childhood spent watching Conan the Barbarian and an overactive imagination.

Inspired by my own fiction, I decided that it was time to create a model of Bungo himself in all his grandeur and exactly as I had imagined him. It would also be necessary to consult some important reference material and make suitable adjustments to the model.

Hmmm, huge muscles and leather pants?

 

 

Does everyone else secretly really enjoy anything with Kevin Sorbo in it - Hercules was a great show. Also note the flowing hair.

 

I identified 3 areas of concern with the Darkoath Chieftain model (which I bought on e-bay for a surprisingly reasonable sum of about £7).

• First, he needed billowing barbarian hair
• Second, leather pants to make even Conan proud!
• Third, a bigger display base suitable for his personal bigness!

The first 2 steps would be a job for the greenstuff. It wasn't too hard to remove the loin-cloth from the model (I'm sorry GW it just wasn't cheesy enough). For the base I wanted something really overblown. I decided that rather than raid my bits box (as my fantasy spares are a bit thin on the ground) I'd have a look and see what was available in the world of resin bases. Handily, I'd seen some rather nice stuff from Scibor Miniatures before, so I checked out what they had. In the end I bought a set of 3 resin statue head style bases for about £5.50. It turned out to be a great deal and they were rather impressive when they arrived.

 

I mounted the resin base in the centre of a larger base and then went to town adding additional details.

It turned out that the most difficult part of the whole build was repairing his buttocks - or should I say forming them in the first place! The GW model was entirely flat, so after a bit of delicate surgery he was endowed with a manly behind!

Not bad, considering the total cost of the model is about £12. He is actually about the same size as Mortarion now!

The finished model is now ready for paint. We'll see how that goes later. For those who missed Bungo's adventures, find them here:

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapter 6

The junk in the trunk!

Here's an excerpt of the good stuff to wet your appetite:

Bungo thrust his armoured crotch plate wildly at a swooning tavern wench.

"Another Mead" he bellowed enthusiastically. His booming voice was punctuated by a dull thump as another buxom maiden fell to the ground; rendered unconscious from the sheer rapture of his manly presence.

 

Bungo took a heroic gulp of his drink, chugging back the beverage with warrior-like abandon; and spilling equally large quantities down his chiselled and bulging torso, eliciting sighs from the on looking villagers.

Remember to check back on Friday for the continuation of Bungo's epic tale

Age of Sigmar/Fantasy - Undead

I like a little variety in my projects, so in contrast to my usual 40k I've got some fantasy for you all today. I painted this unit of skeletons purely because I wanted to, and for no other reason that that.


I have to admit that the new models really are nice. When I compare them to the old skeletons that I had in about 2000 (when I had my second ever army - Vampire Counts) the difference in the quality of the miniatures is marked. I really love the feeling of decay - the rust on the weapons and the holes in the shields. It's very evocative and really breathes life (somewhat ironically) into these models.

I like them so much that I actually bought some of the "new" (to me) Black Knights too (pictured below). Remember when they were Mounted Wights?

I converted the head slightly as I like the "Death" look

Anyway, I'm off now to flay the living and eat their still warm flesh. I'll catch you all later for tomorrow's exciting episode of Bungo the Barbarian (If you missed it - his exciting adventures can be found here: Bungo The Barbarian)



How to Paint Age of Sigmar Khorne Bloodbound

I've recently been painting the Age of Sigmar starter set for my local games store. I designed this method to get the best results with the minimum amount of effort, as the models aren't mine to keep, but I still wanted the forces to look good on display. With this in mind I've used a limited number of colours to create a good look without spending too much time on every model.

The Method

1) Build the models and undercoat with Chaos Black Spray. I didn't take a photo of this stage as it seemed a little pointless.

2) Basecoat with a thin and even layer of Khorne Red. Really don't worry too much about where the paint is going at this stage, just get an even coat that won't obscure the details.



Basecoat with a big brush - It'll save you time! (just make sure the paint is still thin and doesn't obscure any detail!)

3) The next step is to add a highlight to the red panels of his armour with Evil Sunz Scarlet (Blood Red). I had some trouble getting a decent picture of this stage, but it is quite obvious if you look at the knee armour. The basic idea is to draw a thin line around the edge of the armour plates where the red will meet the brass details.

4) With the red armour done the next step is to basecoat the rest of the model. I've painted the following colours:

• Silver metals (axe head, chainmail etc.) - Leadbelcher (Boltgun Metal)
• Brass areas (trim) - Brass Scorpion (always give this paint a good shake as it tends to separate out)
• Skin and skulls - Rakarth Flesh
• Black areas (straps, belts, boots, axe haft) - Abaddon Black (Chaos Black)

5) Wash the entire model with Rhinox Hide. I used quite a thick dilution of about one part paint to 3 parts water. At this stage it is important to make sure it doesn't pool on any of the flat areas as it will leave a stain. Most of the wash should go in the recesses. Again I had a bit of trouble getting a good picture of this stage, but it actually makes a lot of difference in terms of making the model look complete. If you're going for a basic table-top standard, you could just base them now and they'd still look good.

6) Now it's time to add the final details that will really make this paint job pop. I did a quick highlight on the model as follows:

• Silver areas - Runefang Steel (Mythril Silver) edge highlight.
• Brass areas - Runefang Steel (Mythril Silver) edge highlight.
• Black areas - Dawnstone (Codex Grey) highlight.
• Skin and skulls - Pallid Wych flesh highlight.
• Eyes - I painted the eyes with Warpstone Glow and highlighted with a dot of Moot Green.

And that really is it. Base to taste and you're done.

For mine I painted their bases in Dawnstone and gave them a wash of 50/50 Rhinox Hide and Abaddon Black. I then drybrushed the sand with Rakarth flesh followed by Ceramite White. I then edged the bases with Dryad Bark before adding a dab or 2 of snow flock to match the rest of the force.

Berserker!