Gathering of Might - Massive oldhammer undead vs Empire and Dwarf Battle

 

The game was about 5000 points per side. In the red corner weighing in at several pounds of chunky painted lead was old 90s Nagash who was being backed up by a number of mighty Sylvanian Vampires. Across the table was the allied forces of Dwarf and Empire being led into battle by the Elector Count Marius Leitdorf of Averland together with his illegitimate son Ned Neederlander who was bearing the army battle standard. The Dwarf force as ever was led by the largely undefeated Drong the Hard. Many cannons were also in attendance.

Every single model was fully painte which was over 400 models!. The Vampire Counts and Averland Empire are my armies. My brother Ed (BerserkerBlade Blog) was fielding the Dwarf and Tomb King sides.

In fact, it was so many models, I had to reduce the scenery significantly to make space for the number of units compared to what I would normally use!

Now, there's no way I could battle report on this whole thing. In fact it took about 7 hours just to play it to a reasonable conclusion - and that was moving pretty quickly, but I wanted to record the event. I rarely do a battle this big, and a lot of the fun is the spectacle!

Marius is shown above in a rather costly unit of knights. I was just able to finish the Imperial battle Standard in time for the game - I have named him Ned Neederlander and have a bit of a back story going on where he is the illegitimate son of Marius Leitdorf- or possible his nephew. Nobody knows whether Marius or his brother Wilhelm  Leitdorf (my other general) sired the child one drunken night in a tavern. The one thing we do know is that he's embarrassing for the family and they've been trying to kill him off ever since by giving him a big flag and a horn and sending him off down the front!

The first shot of the game from the flame cannon roasted about a dozen skeletons! Ed holds the template in place over Nagash's unit as the war begins!

Of course, the undead weren't defenceless. Vampire Bats saw off some of the artillery and return fire from a trio of Screaming Skull Catapults put a dent in a few too!

The Steam Tank ran rampant - running over skeletons while fighting with its own malfunctioning boiler! At T10, it proved very hardy until a Vampire Lord with a double handed weapon started putting dents in it!

A near miss for the undead - Nagash faced Marius in the middle of the field. NAGASH IS A juggernaut of power, but Marius charged with a full 7 frenzied attacks. Needing 4+ to hit and then 6s to wound it didn't look good, bit the Runefang was with him and he scored 2 wounds which doubled into 4 wounds on the Lord of the Undead! Unfortunately, on Nagash's turn he healed the 4 wounds back, but for a moment he was almost toppled by the Elector Count! 

In the end, Nagash proved pretty unstoppable. The Slayers held up one end of the field well, but the undead tool the victory and pushed harder towards Averheim.

Let's hope Marius and Drong escaped somehow to fight another day!

Oldhammer undead - early 90s skeletons, wights and Vampire Lord

The terror is real this weekend as I sit upon a grizzly chair, in a horrifying room, surrounded by the most dreadful creatures of the night ever cast in lead - yep, it must be some classic undead fresh from the painting table! 

These guys have been a real treat to work on - there's a lot of character in these old models - I've painted them to match my Vampire Counts, which I've been working on revamping (unintentional undead pun), for about 2 years alongside many other fantasy projects. 

For some reason, I really love Wights! Something about those dorky helmets and overblown armour just screams 80s metal album cover art. The old wraith isn't far behind. I painted him I the early 90s style with a bright robe and some patterning like the good old days. I also added red for the weapon shafts for thrse models as it's a nice way to get a nostalgic splash of colour on there. 

The models were actually given to me by my bother who was recently gifted a treasure-trove of old models from someone looking to given them a good home. These guys have been restored and will soon be headed to the battlefield again, so will be seeing action the way they were intended in plenty of games of old fantasy.

While working on these guys, I also dug out one of my personal favorite models of the era - my old Vampire Lord. He was always my general in the 90s Vampire Counts army and has seen so much play, I can't even begin to recount it. Multiple games a week for a good few years. During that time, he killed thousands - probably the most blood drenched model I have in the entire collection. In fact, when I striped him for painting, the metal underneath was tarnished a dark black that cloud never be restored - which I'm taking as evidence of his dark and naughty history! 

Anyway, here he is all back in shape and ready for action. Many years ago, he always was equipped with the Frost Blade and Carstein Ring, so in honour of that, I've painted his sword in a magical icy blue. It's not the best photo I could do, but everything is packed away for an impending house move, so the light is what it is and his Cape is a bit obscured.

To top it off for some rare warhammer stuff, these photos are shot in the proper citadel graveyard that I bought to go with the army when I built them back in about 2000 maybe. Up next is hopefully the Black coach and some Grave Guard with halberds. 

These old skeletons are great though - all armoured as well. They go back a long way - some time in the 80s and long out of print before I ever started I  the hobby, which is rare to find. I just wish I could get my hands on a few more to fill up the unit! 

 

Blood Dragon Vampire in 3d! (Soulblight Gravelords Blood Knight)

 

This is a first on the blog - miniatures in 3d! and you don't even need goggles to do it. I knew we'd get there one day. Finally something futuristic.

This is sort of a test post, and more photos will be coming in later. A month or two ago, I posted about re-doing my Lizardmen, and following on from that, I've been re-vamping (pause for laughter), my Vampire Counts. I have to admit that some of the new "Soulblight Gravelords" models are rather exquisite and I was ... transfixed... by the new Blood Knights. Blood Knights actually weren't a thing in my edition, but mounted vampires were as far as individual characters go. I'll probably be using this one as a Battle Standard Bearer when the time comes, although she might be a Count for now while the force gets off of the ground again. 

I will try and fine-tune the 3D image making process for better results in the future. I got a cheap spinning solar display stand on eBay and basically just put a backdrop up and quickly filmed the model, then converted to a Gif. There is room for improvement, but it's pretty cool. Hopefully it'll display properly on the blog!

Klukva Miniatures Review - Little Resin Legacy of Kain Figures!

Occasionally, when surfing the internet, I come across a miniature that I really can't live without. Recently on my travels, I happened to stumble upon Klukva Miniatures; a small Russian company that make resin figures that are mostly inspired by various fictional characters. Mostly these are video game characters.

While browsing the site, I came across their "Bloody Vampire" and "Soul Vampire". Also known as Kain and Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series. If you missed out on playing Soul Reaver back in about 2000, then you missed out on the best video game ever made. It's no exaggeration to say that it was not only ground-breaking at the time in terms of mechanics and scope, but that it actually hasn't been equalled since. Sure, graphics may have moved on, but I've never felt as absorbed in a storyline or attached to the characters as I was to that game (or the series that followed. Or even later when I played the PS1 classic Blood Omen that had come before).

Anyway, fast forward about 18 years, and I can finally live my childhood dream of having Kain and Raziel in miniature form, thanks to Klukva miniatures. I hit the "buy" button pretty quick when I saw them there!

Kain and Raziel in all their painted glory!

The Review:

As they're a fairly new company, I thought a quick review might be in order. I'm going to hit the main points, and try to answer those basic questions that we all wonder about when ordering from a new company.

Resin Quality:

I have to admit that I wasn't sure what would turn up on my doorstep, as you never really know whether the pictures you see will be representative of the actual quality of the final product. I didn't contact Klukva before ordering or anything like that, so the product I received isn't hand picked to be good for a review; this is exactly what turns up.

Anyway, the quality of the resin is really nice. The detail is good and the mould lines and flash were minimal. What I got really looks exactly like what I saw on the website, which was really nice to see. I only have a few figures for comparison from them, but there were no flaws or air bubbles on them and the whole building process and clean-up was pretty easy. Overall, I'd say I'm really impressed with the quality. They're definitely on the higher end of the scale as far as resin casting is concerned.

If you haven't had a lot of resin figures in the past, you may not know that it can be a real minefield and quality really was my biggest concern going into this.

I took one look at that resin Raziel, and for some reason all I could think was "Become my Soul Reaver ... my Angel of Death".

Ordering and Delivery:

The ordering process is pretty easy, they have their own website (available in English). Basically the same as most online stores these days where you add things to a cart and then head over to the checkout. You get email updates from the store when things are being packed and shipped too, so it's all pretty civilised.

International post costs a flat 5 euros, which is pretty reasonable.

After I placed my order, there was a bit of a delay before the miniatures were cast and posted out. I then had to wait for the Russian postal system, which seems to take up to a month to the UK. In general though, given the type of miniatures that they make, I didn't think it was bad. I knew that it would take a while, and as these were just fun purchases, I wasn't in a particular rush. It is something to consider though, especially if you have a particular time frame in mind for a project.

One thing that I was really impressed with is that the miniatures arrived in a plastic postal bag as you might expect, but inside that bag was a laser-cut MDF box that housed all the models; protecting them really well in transit. I think I'm going to have to keep it to use as scenery or something as it is way too nice to throw away!

Price:
Well, I think the prices are pretty reasonable for what they are, which is basically individual resin characters. At the time of ordering, the Bloody Vampire and Soul Vampire were 9 euros each which feels pretty thrifty for something so specialised.

Painting:
You might have noticed that some resin is really greasy and can resist paint. That wasn't the case here though and they were both really clean; with minimal work needed in that department.

I really enjoyed the painting process. Not only are they great miniatures, but I had a lot of fun working on something different. It was also interesting to try to match the colour schemes of the models to the original concept art and in-game appearance of the characters. It was a bit of a challenge, but I'm really happy with the end result. I have to admit that I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but just having them around is great fun.

"An eternity passed and my torment receded, bringing me back from the precipice of madness. The descent had destroyed me. Yet, I lived."

As far as painting is concerned, it was a real battle to get Raziel right. In the end, I ended up glazing the skin a few times to re-balance the colour. I really wanted to make sure he looked sinewy, so I did a lot of thin highlight lines on his muscles.

Conclusion:
They really are a great company. The quality is excellent, and I'm absolutely loving being able to finally own some iconic video game characters in miniature form. I'm sure that everyone who plays games has occasionally thought that they'd like a miniature of a character from one, well Klukva might just give you the chance!

The price of both miniatures and postage are both pretty reasonable, and certainly no more expensive than their competitors. The only possible downside to Klukva is that as they're based in Russia there can be some fairly lengthy postal delays in shipping. That said, for fun purchases like these that most people are going to buy just to paint and display, I don't feel that it should put anyone off.

Personally, I'm going to be on the lookout for more characters from Klukva; especially if they make anything else from Legacy of Kain (hint, hint... Vorador, hint, hint...), although I might find it hard to resist a little resin Cloud Strife...

If you fancy picking up your own Kain and Raziel, the website address for Klukva Miniatures is:  http://klukvaminiatures.com/goods

"Kain is deified. The clans tell tales of him. Few know the truth. He was mortal once, as were we all."

P.S Kain is battling a GW Stormcast Vanguard in this picture. He makes a good stand in for a Sarafan Knight though!

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)



FPM Method 2 - Zombie Horde Speed Painting

I previously posted about my FPM method of painting to get the absolute maximum results with little to no time or effort. Behold the fruits of a single night of painting!


These models were slightly more complex as they for the most part have clothes on, but the method was exactly the same. I did swap the drybrush for a quick highlight as it suits the smoother texture of their skin better. It's gonna be a good time when these get on the battlefield!


The models are Kings of War zombies with a few others from Sedition Wars and Deadzone thrown in (all of which are available for very reasonable prices).


If you missed the first part of this article featuring the painting method and the mighty Fruit Punch Mouth himself you can find it Here.

FPM Method

Itchy ... Tasty



Someone call Barry Burton, I'm being overrun ... no, wait, they're going for the fruit punch again...