Claymore!

Hi!

Alas I still haven't finished unpacking my miniatures yet and the paints are lurking at the bottom of a heroic pile of boxes and bags still needing sorting through but I have taken a small amount of hobby related shenanigans by continuing my perusal of the old issues of White Dwarf I have unearthed which has got me lusting after Epic once again!

 Epic 2nd Edition!

Sadly I think that its going to be quite a bit of time before I can afford to buy anything but with Edinburghs Claymore show looming, I am hopeful of picking up some goodies!

Sadly ebay is as ever offering most Epic stuff these days at ludicrous prices but I hope to be able to have a good rummage through the bring and buy and 2nd hand stuff that can be found at wargames shows in hopes of picking up one or two bits and pieces to get me going!

In the Far Future there are only bright colours

I am thinking of proxying much of the infantry but many of the vehicles are rather iconic in their own rights so I will have to see what I can do with the need to pick up the box sets pretty high on the requirements as I do love the piles of cards and tokens that came with the original 2nd edition!

While on the subject of old(ish) school gaming, I am also going to be keeping my eyes peeled for any other suitable bits and bobs to add to my lead pile. I know I have tried manfully to resist the urge to buy but I think its going to be the only show I get to this year at least and as my spending on figures has been so limited over the last 12 months or so (looking back I have only spent about £20 over the last year!) I think I can afford to wander in with £20-30 to spend in hopes of picking up some bargains!

Speaking of bargains, I was in my local scrap yard today which has an old shed which contains lots of old books to buy and during the perusal of this found some old White Dwarf magazines, some old gaming mags called Game Master (not to be confused with the computer games rag Games Master) and even an original Deathwing scenario book, all for the princely sum of £1. 

Even more handily they are all old school and have articles about 3rd edition Fantasy Battle in them apart from the Deathwing book!

Once I get the chance I will scan them in for folks to take a peek at!

All the best!

Reaper Kickstarter

Hi!

I stumbled across the REAPER KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN over on Lead Adventure and thought it was worth giving folks a heads up!

Essentially they are attempting to get their Bones range of plastic resin figures a bit of a kickstart. They look like they have the same or better quality finish to metal but are a fraction of the cost to buy and I have heard good things about the initial lot of 12 that were released.

Heres an example:

Bones Minotaur

Now he retails at £2.27 for an ogre sized model which is rather good to say the least! To top it off, the Kicktarter has some really appealing stuff on it, especially in the lower price brackets. For example for a pledge of $15 you get 36 plastic resin figures which is amazing and for $100 you get the entire 30 figures from the release plus all the added gubbins and if they break the stretch goals, they will include even more!

$15 pack, 36 Figures!

Heres a pic of the $25 pledge thingy which also includes the 36 figures above!

Biker Sophie

Lastly heres a pic of the initial releases they are hoping to put out if they reach their $30000 goal:

Lots of Goodies

Sadly I cant afford the big lot of stuff but I am sorely tempted by the $15 pledge as it would make an excellent couple of Song of Blades warbands!

All the best!

And Relax (Sort of)

Hi!

Well we are still unpacking but the workshop is beginning to take shape and joy of joy, I have enough space for a small gaming table so no more packing up and moving all my stuff at the drop of a hat!

In other news I found a copy of the 4th/5th edition White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarves on Scribd and spent a bit of time perusing it. I do like the background they developed for the twisted kin of all true dwarves and the fact that they went for a bit of a Babylonian or Assyrian theme with the Chaos Dwarves worshipping a great bull god.

Chaos Dwarf Big Hat Overload

I must admit I am getting a hankering for some Chaotic Stunties and they may eventually get a small detachment of their own. I suspect I will avoid the big hatted ones though as despite their cartoony charm, they are simply just too expensive to even contemplate buying into!

Chaos Dwarf Blunderbuss Regiment

I prefer the older warped looking Dwarves of the previous edition but they too have become far too expensive to collect so I will have to find a cheaper alternative. It reminded me of the topic over on REALM OF CHAOS which raises the tricky question of just how much folks are willing to spend on their collecting. Personally I am on a super tight budget of about £15 a month so just cannot justify spending that amount of cash on a single figure. 

I spotted that there was a unit of 12 old Chaos Dwarves selling over on Ebay for rather a lot of money and the big hatted ones are even more pricy so I will be looking for a budget option. I must admit that some of the Bob Olley Dwarves available from Reaper and Mega Miniatures look like decent proxies and theres also the rather excellent TITAN WARGAMES miniatures which are well worth a look too for a combination of the old weird and newer Babylonian. 

Still I must stay strong and resist the urge to buy!

All the best!

Unpacking Lead

Hi!

Well I have now unpacked all the miniatures I have and organised them as best I can and I was rather surprised that I was able to put together a small Chaos force from the odds and ends I have kicking around.

Heres a bit of a breakdown of the force so far:

1 Chaos Champion (Citadel plastic)
1 Chaos Sorcerer (Citadel)
5 Marauders with hand weapons and shields (1 Citadel, 3 Ral Partha, 1 Unknown)
6 Marauders with 2 handed weapons (Grenadier)
10 Thugs (9 Grenadier, 1 Unknown)
6 Centaurs (1 Citadel, 5 Ral Partha)
3 Chaos Hounds (2 Citadel, 1 Chainmail)
1 Beastman (Citadel)
6 Hobgoblin Archers (1 Citadel, 1 Chainmail, 4 Grenadier)
1 Troll (Citadel)

Looking at the collecting its sadly light on old school Citadel but at the same time theres lots of old Grenadier, Ral Partha and a smattering of 80s and early 90s Citadel goodness which is good and they all look rather decent together. I now need to clean the models and prime them. I am going to be attempting to do so with Gesso following some interesting experiments carried out on other blogs and forums so watch this space!

Chaos Types

I must admit that it was a rather unexpected finding as I thought that I had lots more Dwarves and Gobbos but it looks like my first 3rd edition army will be Chaos. At present I am unsure if I am going to paint them up in old school wackiness or uber bright early 90s or even a more muted finish and suspect I will be having to produce some test pieces to see what works best.

Heraldry of Chaos

I have plenty to be getting on with but think that the units will need beefing up and having command models added soonish and I really need a more suitable general than the plastic Chaos Warrior from the early 90s and will be on the lookout for a more suitable character when possible and the plastic fantastic model will be downgraded to a unit champion.

Still all this will have to wait until I have all the figures I have in my collection painted so it may be some time before I get chance to find re-enforcements.

Looking through the rest of my collection, I also have a unit of about a dozen Dwarves, 15 or so Goblins, a few Orcs and several other bits and bobs so theres plenty to keep me entertained for the next few months and I am hoping to have a day of basing, cleaning and priming soon so that I can get the whole lot undercoated and ready to paint.

The reason for this is that it will get me motivated but also I have found a figure with the very beginnings of lead rot (a tiny discolouring on the haft of a Heartbreaker Elf sorcerers staff) and am a bit concerned that it may spread. I am already in the process of cleaning the lot and several have survived baths of Dettol but the whole lot will be getting a bath in warm soapy water to clear the dust, grime and otherwise annoying bits off them before drying out and getting a good coat of white gesso primer applied which will seal them against the elements.

Once I have them primed I will add a wash of dark brown ink to bring out the detail and they will be ready to paint!

All the best!

The Pitfalls of Old White Dwarf Perusal!

Hi!

Well we have finished moving all our stuff up to Edinburgh which is great but it led to me perusing an old copy of White Dwarf with perilous consequences!

Curse You White Dwarf!

The problem is it set off a wave of nostalgia which had me reaching for my computer to see if I could find some assorted bits and bobs on ebay and it was only with great difficulty that I resisted the urge!

What it has got me looking at is the possibility of picking up a copy of the 4th edition box set of Fantasy Battle! The reason for this is that it comes with a host of Goblins and High Elves which got me thinking about a Christmas morning many moons ago when a youthful me stood in the dark spray priming a load of gobbos that came in the box.

Whats worse is the almost irresistible urge to search out some of the warhammer figures from the mid 90s in all their technicolour glory! It was a time when the sculpting on many of the warhammer figures was a bit suspect and the paint schemes were all a dazzling array of primary colours but they have a certain charm of their own and I think that its possible to paint them up and have them actually look decent! 

Its possibly foolish but I will have to see what I can come up with! 

In other news I have found at least some of the figures I had stored at my parents and there seems to be almost enough to start a Wood Elf, Chaos and Dwarf force as well as the stirrings of a Hobgoblin mercenary contingent. I have come to the conclusion that I am going to have to cheat to get the armies I want so will be using a variety of Grenadier, Heartbreaker, Harlequin, Ral Partha and any others that look the part to form the units with possibly a few classic Citadel to round out the units.

I must admit I have also been on the lookout for a human force as looking at the OPPONENT FINDER there seems to be a bit of a gap in the collecting market. Further perusal of both the Warhammer Armies book and the internet found these fellows from Ral Partha:

They made me think of a poorly equipped bunch of yokel militia, perfect for various other evil types to prey on and at £1.50-£2.50 each are quite affordable and have the look of some of the older Citadel sculpts to boot! Therefore I am thinking of raising a unit of Landestrum along with a small unit of trained retainers and a character type to lead them.

That will have to wait though as I want to concentrate on getting at least one of the small collections of figures into a playable force first. I think the way to go will be to aim towards getting 250 points or so for an army which will in effect give a couple of small units and a low level character to lead them. From here I will be able to get some games in! 

From here I will be able to expand armies slowly and not go mental buying lots at once! It also means I am less likely to get bored with painting up a whole army at once and will bounce from one to the other and back until they are all painted!

Hopefully I will be able to get some progress reports up soon!

All the best!

Dwarf Sculpt!

Hi!

Before packing away my sculpting tools, I just had enough time to get this little fellow finished:

Boar Company Dwarf

He's a 28mm scale representation of my infamous 15mm scale Dwarf Boar Company:

The Original Boar Company!

I am planning on finishing off a few more of the litte fellows and cast them up to represent both Darktusk Clansmen from Chronopia and possibly even form a regiment for some old school Warhammer! 

Previously I have really struggled with sculpting 28mm scale figures but by swapping from putty to sculpey seems to be paying dividends. It will mean they are a little more fragile but as they are going to be cast into resin, its not too much of a worry. Hopefully once the move is completed I will be able to get myself sorted out and make some moulds for them!

All the best!

Old School Fun

Hi!

Well I am still packing ready for the move on Sunday but have taken a bit of a break to take a trawl through the old school gaming blogs that I follow and have found that theres another gamer in Edinburgh so hopefully I will be able to get a game or two in once we have settled in!

Heres a few links to handy resources too!

Theres the OLDHAMMER OPPONENT FINDER which has a map showing locations of folks interested in gaming old school Warhammer and Rogue Trader!

Next up  theres the OLDHAMMER REGISTRY which is in early stages of development but should have some interesting bits and bobs on it too but at present its got details of folks who play and what systems they are interested in.

Next up theres a new resource that I spotted on the Lead Adventure Forum! CITADEL COLLECTOR is a sight dedicated to collecting old school Citadel and already has some lovely pics of figures painted by John Blanche amongst others!

All the best!

Old Paint!

Hi!

I am busily packing som wont be able to get any pictures of new stuff for a while but in the meantime heres a few pictures of an undead force I painted up several years ago!

 Skeletal Warriors

 Skeletal Giant

 Zombies!

 Skeletal Spearmen

 Manticore

 Jabberwock

 Wights

Skeletal Packmaster

I love the figures and bitterly regret selling them when I went to University. Looking at them I think that I will have to replace them at some point!

All the best!

On The Lookout for Chronopia Templates!

Hi!
I've posted this on several other forums but thought I would stick it up here too!


I have rummaged out my old copies of Chronopia 1st edition with the idea of playing some games but am saddened to see that I am missing all the templates!

A short search later and I found the core rulebook, dwarven labyrinth and fallen land as pdfs with the required templates but have had no luck finding the Sons of Kronos and Land of Two Rivers so any help would be most appreciated as it would allow me to actually play a game or two!

All the best!

Lead Pile Appraisal

Hi!

Well I have spent much of the morning either stripping paint off of miniatures or sorting out my lead pile and have found I have the following bits and bobs currently:

Sci-fi Gubbins


7 Syntha Prosthene Marines
7 Assault T Synths
8 Assault Androsynths
7 Tactical Androsynths
5 Syntha Marines
1 Syntha Jetbike
1 Light Syntha Grav Tank
23 Assorted Catachan Imperial Guard 
6 Metal Orks
19 Plastic Orks (plus about 60 of the one piece Orks and Gretchen from the 2nd edition box set)
5 Em4 Miniatures Plastic Troopers
3 Cadian Imperial Guard
2 Ramshackle Games Resin Figures
2 Kryomek Talos Units
1 Ramshackle Games Brass Coffin

Fantasy Gubbins

7 Sons of Kronos Hearthguard
7 Sons of Kronos Blade Maidens
6 Grenadier Barbarians
5 Dwarf Thunderers
5 Dwarf Warriors
1 Ral Partha Balrog
3 Snotlings
4 Chronopia Devout Swordsmen
10 Citadel/Harlequin Goblins
1 Goblin Wolf Rider (no mount)
1 Leviathan Orc Beastrider
2 Leviathan Resin Organ Guns
1 Leviathan Wargolem
1 Mage Knight Metal Iron Golem
20 Mantic Dwarves
5 Hasslefree Ladies

As you can see I have lots to keep me entertained painting wise over the next few months but looking at it I have the core of 2 sci-fi forces and 1 fantasy one.

Irksomely I don't currently have the bits and bobs I was wanting to work on (isn't it always the way?) in the form of enough Dwarves to start the Crucible/Warhammer Dwarf army I mentioned the other day. Yes I could use the Mantic Dwarves but I just can't face painting that many near identical figures. I think the solution is going to be to cheat!

I know for a fact I have a fair number of Dwarves and even Goblins in my parents attic so I will continue painting up what I have between packing up and hopefully once we move I will be able to flesh out the force somewhat. In the meantime I do have almost a full Sons of Kronos force for Chronopia so I will concentrate on getting them all painted up and ready as well as doing a bit of work on my Syntha who will be doing double duty as Cybertronic corporate troops in Warzone (I am currently finishing painting the first as we speak!)

Whats really saddening is that I have over the last 3-4 years sold off so much stuff that I now really miss! Hindsight is a great thing but I would highly recommend to anyone thinking of selling off some of their unpainted lead to think VERY carefully about it first. In my case I didn't have much choice as it helped pay the bills but even then I bitterly regret doing it as my collection had some real gems in it and now I am reduced to the bits and bobs I have kicking around or picked up on a whim in rummage bins from local gaming stores...

Oh well! We live and learn and in future I think I am going to be a bit more careful about getting rid of stuff.

All the best!

500 Point Army: Crucible V Warhammer

Hi!

I thought I would have a bit of a look at the difference between a small force of 500 points for a couple of different rulesets with the plan of using the same force in both games!

I am currently looking at a small Dwarf army and first I will look at whats available to the Dwarf general in Crucible.

The Dwarves in Crucible are rather different from the typical mountain dwelling Dwarves of Warhammer instead living in travelling communities and employing lots of Gnomes and Halflings who are in fact smaller breeds of Dwarf.

In Crucible, each army needs a single general and in the case of the Dwarves, its the Grandfather. In game turns the Grandfather is rock hard with 4 wounds, 4 attacks and a pistol that gives them a really nasty ranged attack. His strongest ability though is called Gunther's Charge, it allows him to whip up nearby Dwarven units into a frenzy that allows the entire army to speed its movement once a game.

At 131 points he takes up quite a chunk of the points but as its a mandatory choice, its necessary.

Next up theres the required units, Shieldmen and Thunderchief's. The Shieldmen are the core close combat troops and are decent in melee and also difficult to panic. Thunderchief's on the other hand are armed with Thunder Rifles which gives them a devastating punch at range.

I will select 14 Shieldmen at 224 points and 6 Thunderchief's at 138 points bringing my total up to 493 points.


Grandfather 131 points
14 Shieldmen, 224 points
6 Thunderchief's 138 points
Total: 493 points

Now onto Warhammer!

For such a small game I will only go for one hero of a lower points value, in this case a level 10 Anvil Cleaver for 88 points, plus heavy armour, shield and hand weapon he goes up to 92 points giving me a decent character to lead a regiment.

Next up theres some units, in this case a regiment of 15 warriors with standard and musician for 187 points and a thunderer unit 10 strong for 130 points which leaves me with about 100 points left over which I will spend on a small unit of 10 Trollslayers with extra hand weapons for 90 points

Anvil Cleaver (attached to the warrior regiment) 92 points
15 warriors, including standard bearer and musician 187 points
10 thunderers 130 points
10 trollslayers 90 points
Total: 499 points!

Its interesting to see that for similar size games, one needs almost twice the number of figures for Warhammer so I will probably begin with Crucible and work up to the Warhammer force!

Looking at the miniatures available, I figure its probably going to cost me about £30-£40 for the Crucible force but about £50-£60 for the Warhammer one but its doable as I have several Dwarves here and a load more in my parents loft which will cut down on the cost considerably. Coupled with rummaging through the local shows and ebay for bargains I think its possible to reduce the cost further.

We shall see what I can come up with!

All the best!

Annoying Intrusion of Real Life

Hi!

Just a quick message to say that posting may get a bit erratic over the next month or so as we are going to be moving house.

We are currently renting some rooms from my girlfriends mum but the situation has gone from inconvenient to down right infuriating with demands for ever increasing amounts of money. Coupled with the stress of it all and our inability to work we have come to the decision that its time to move.

I dont want to harp on about my woes but I will say both my girlfriend and myself have been getting so stressed about the whole situation that its started effecting our health and that everything one hears about the terribleness of mother in laws is true and then some...

We need space to work as we are both self employed and our businesses need to get up and running and we just cant do it at present as we have been pretty much banned from working in the house. Fortunately we have somewhere to go, initially to my parents and then to Dundee where I still have a flat but the tenants will be there for a few months yet. We had considered holding off the move till January but things have come to a head here and we have had enough!

Therefore my miniatures are going to be boxed up ready for the move but worry not! I will try to keep a few bits and bobs out to work on in the meantime as its one of the few things keeping me sane at present. Once we move I will be able to get access to my folks attic and the pile of unpainted lead I have in storage there so hopefully will be able to add a lot more bits and bobs to the blog then.

An added plus to the move will be that I will finally have my gaming room in Dundee back so a gaming table of reasonable size, storage space and the ability to get some scenery together along with a load more miniatures is on the horizon which will mean I can finally achieve the holy grail of actually being able to play some games!

I am still more than happy to take commissions for sculpting as I can still work out in the shed here and my parents will be actively encouraging us to get on with some work there too.

It just goes to show that hindsight is a great thing as when we left University and my job at Aardman finished we should have moved straight to Dundee and bypassed all this nonsense!

Still we live and learn and we have a goal to work towards and the move will allow us to finally get on with our jobs after a year of one hassle after another. The move will also see me finally being able to get some miniatures sculpted and cast for myself rather than having to sell all my sculpts on to second parties!

All the best!

Stuff From the Leadpile 5

Hi!

I've just finished a couple more Barbarians for my Sons of Kronos force for Chronopia. Although they were painted previously they needed a lot of work to get them up to standard and repair the damage caused by careless storage:

 Barbarian Hero

The barbarian hero is a limited release from the now defunct Harbinger magazine. Despite the whole magazine being a fiasco, going bust just after I had subscribed, the figures they released were really rather nice. Sadly this is the only one that I have left but he does the job for a truly heroic individual for my barbarians and towers over the rest of the force (he's on a 40mm base!)

Viridian Lord

Next up theres a Viridian Lord, this is a beautiful model produced by Target and in game terms they are heroes who have gone to be one with the Earth goddess who keeps them slumbering, buried under sacred groves. In game terms they are real monsters capable of taking quite a bit of damage while their strength makes them really nasty in close combat and they can even throw the axes giving them real damage at range!

Heres a picture of all the barbarians I have painted thus far:

Barbarians!

As you can see, the hero is huge! At present I have almost enough barbarians to field a decent Song of Blades warband but will be expanding it eventually to include all the other models I have until theres enough to play Chronopia or No Quarter with.

I find myself up and about at 6am for some reason and have been thinking about what I am going to do about getting some games that own played and have decided that I am going to draft up some 500 point forces for each game which will give me something to work towards.

Some of these, like Song of Blades, Chronopia, No Quarter and Crucible will be pretty interchangeable as the basing is identical and smaller forces like this are not uncommon. For Warhammer however, I am going to have to create a specific force as they need to be based up on square bases rather than round. 

This is a little bit of a bind as they won't have the same cross game use as I really don't like mixing base shapes. Having looked at the Mantic Dwarves I had been planning on using, I just can't bring myself to do it as they are too similar and I have no doubt I would be bored to tears painting them all. Therefore I am going to hold off for a while and search through my miniatures to see if I can locate the genesis of an army or two using older metal models. 

Sadly I am on a self imposed ban from buying any more figures until I paint up all the stuff I have in my lead pile at present and thats enough to keep me busy for months to come, not to mention the stash I have at my parents house! Hopefully I will have enough to get me sorted out and keep me entertained as well as completing a force or two which will finally allow me to play some of the games I have collected throughout the years!

All the best!

A Plethora of Rulesets

Hi!

My recent return to 28mm scale gaming has got me hankering after playing some 28mm scale games!

At present my ruleset of choice is Song of Blades which is a brilliant small scale skirmish game but I also want to investigate some of the other games I have had kicking around for years.

First up theres Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition, the daddy for old school gaming at the moment.

Of all the games I own its probably the most complex but I really want to have a bash at playing it, if for no other reason to see what the fuss is all about!

Next theres Chronopia, a personal favorite of mine which is sadly out of production but is still a brilliant ruleset and it has the added bonus that I have an almost complete army for it.

Following that theres Crucible; Conquest of the Final Realm. It was produced by FASA shortly before it closed down and has some really nice concepts and an unusual range of figures to boot:

On top of that I also have a copy of Bladestorm which is an interesting cross between RPG and wargame which I have tried out in the past and has some real possibilities:

Following that theres Leviathan, a game I spent three years working on to no avail! Despite myself I think I am going to have a bash at it as I love the setting and the rules themselves are good.

Finally theres No Quarter, a freely available ruleset that allows you to use any miniatures from your collection. Its got some good mechanics and is well worth a peek!

Hopefully over the next couple of months I will be able to get enough painted up to try out some of these  great games!

All the best!

Painters Progress June

Hi!

Well June was a rather productive month painting wise for me! Heres a picture of everything I got finished:

June Painted Figure Haul

19 figures completed from five different manufacturers and covering sci-fi and fantasy which isn't too bad! Hopefully I will be able to beat the total this month and as I have about 20 Sons of Kronos miniatures which are needing a bit of tlc, not to mention more Four A figures and an assortment of sci-fi gubbins half done I am hopeful that I will be able to break the total again!

In other news I am trying to sort out my Sons of Kronos army for Chronopia as at present I have quite a few elite units ranging from Hearthguard to Viridian Lords and Blade Sisters but more core choices such as clan warriors and slingers are currently missing from the force.

I did notice that Brigade Models is starting its summer sale season which hopefully will include Celtos as their barbarian range would make ideal additions to the force. Sadly I am having to curb my enthusiasm as my budget is small but I may pick up one or two pieces if the offer is good enough!

All the best!