Progress Of Sorts!

Hi!

Well I'm back from a very busy few days of work and have settled down to get a little bit of painting done this evening and try to get to the halfway point in my first Dwarf regiment but thought I would post a bit of an update on the gubbins I've been working on over the last few days when I've managed to snatch a few minutes to paint!

First up, I have finished a couple more SD figures complete in the form of a rogue Mage and an evil minion:

Mage and Minion

I've also taken advantage of ZOMBIESMITH'S summer sale to pick up a few bits and bobs for War of Ashes Shieldbash:

I've blogged about the assorted fantastic alternative style figures that some companies are producing at the moment before and after a great deal of procrastination, decided to pick up some True Atronian's in the form of a Command, Skirmish and Gromal pack. I love the whole dark age muppet look of the miniatures and their Dark Crystal sort of vibe and can't wait for the figures to arrive so I can have a bash at painting them.

As my latest projects don't really fit with the rest of the content with this blog, I am porting the whole lot over onto my SOMEWHERE ON THE BORDER blog so I can keep Tales From Farpoint more traditional Warhammer Fantasy/Rogue Trader themed.

I plan on keeping developing the alternative Imperium here as well as Aeroth on this blog but will be using Somewhere on the Border as a chance to develop something a bit different which will incorporate my own gubbins, War of Ashes, Relics and World of Twilight miniatures to boot!

Hopefully I will be able to get some bits and bobs finished this evening for a bit of Warhammer/ Kings of War/ Skirmish related gubbins and will post some pics tomorrow at some point but in the meantime, All the best!

Assorted Reinforcements

Hi!

Well I have had a rather nice day off following a rather manic couple of weeks at work and spent most of it driving around the highlands which was fun but did manage to complete a couple of bits and bobs that I've had lying around for a bit:

First off, there's a new addition to my slowly expanding Dwarf army:

 Converted Mantic Dwarf

I actually enjoyed painting this chap and I think it's possibly because I have got the knack of painting the plastics without spending an age on them and I discovered that with a bit of a fresh beard, the Mantic Dwarves actually don't look at all bad.

The figures below illustrate my point:

 A Bearded Trio

The figures on the left and in the centre have new beards sculpted on while the one on the right is the original. Maybe it's because it looks a bit more realistic or more exuberantly hirsute, but I do like them more than the rather sad chappy on the right who seems to be suffering from a touch of beard envy.

 The Unit Thus Far

Now it's not all been Dwarves that I've been working on. I also finally completed a figure that I have been struggling with for some time now in the form of an old D&D Chainmail Half Orc:

 Half Orc Hero

I must admit that I didn't really enjoy painting him as he's just a bit too bland for my liking. Yes he is well detailed but there's nothing to make him stand out or look interesting to be honest. I had the same experience painting up another of Kev White's figures a while ago. They are really well sculpted but just seem to lack life for some reason but maybe it's just me.

Saying that though, he's been languishing primed but unfinished for a couple of years now and I originally picked him up in about 2007 so it's good to actually get him finished as he makes a handy leader for my Half Orc warband that is slowly beginning to come together:

 Half Orcs

Last up, here's a quick shot of a skirmish between my Dwarven troops and an Elven patrol from House Helios:

Elf Versus Dwarf

I have also had a bit of a rummage through my painted figure collection and have discovered that I actually have about half a dozen half formed warbands so want to spend the remainder of the summer occasionally chipping away at my leadpile to add the odd figure to them till I have decent sized forces for some skirmish action!

All the best! 

Army Building the Slow Way

Hi!

Well I am back from a couple of the busiest days I've had in ages! In case you have been living under a rock, most of you will know that Harper Lee's controversial sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird, Go Set A Watchman was released yesterday and it's been utterly mental in a good way for those of us in the book trade. But enough shop talk and onto the miniatures!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am slowly (albeit almost glacially) painting my way through a bunch of Dwarves, mostly from Mantic Games plastic range. It's not exactly a fun experience as some of the detail is a bit soft but I must admit that the style is kind of growing on me.

Dwarves

The plan is to base them in units of twelve ala AZAZEL'S BITZ BOX (an excellent blog that is well worth a peruse!) so I can use them for Warhammer, Kings of War or any number of skirmish type games. Handily the front rank, including dead Dwarf is now finished and I can get on with bulking out the unit a tad as I have enough of the little chaps to make two units of twelve warriors and a unit of eight Thunderers which is enough to get me started.

 Dead Dwarf

I have no doubt it would be much quicker to batch paint them in groups of five or six but I couldn't bare the soul crushing tedium of the process. I am more than happy to spend a bit of time over each of them and slowly paint up one or two a week and eventually discover a full force!

The hero miniature is from the Grendel Leviathan range and is fantastic fun, if a bit too big for most Dwarf ranges. I have a few more on the paint table waiting to be primed and several more having been converted to having more impressive beards.

Hopefully, the next update will have a more complete regiment and the bases will be getting a bit of static grass and snow effect finish to make them a bit more interesting. I plan on making a force from the Crown of the World, a bleak and cold region to the far north of Aeroth that bounds the Arctic Tundra and will be commanded by a unit of Frost Giants.

For now though, I am off to finish some sculpting!

All the best!

Age of Sigmar Stormcast Eternal

Hi!

Well it took me a bit of time but I finally finished painting up the Stormcast Eternal that came with White Dwarf the other week and I must admit he's turned out quite nicely!

 Stormcast Eternal

You may notice that he's mounted on a 30mm base as I felt the 40mm was just a bit too big, despite his impressive stature. I went for a simple gold and silver armour with royal purple and white details to brighten him up a bit.

 More Views

I can't seem to get over how much the figure reminds me of the Chronopia Firstborn so went with it and included the classic pattern to his shield. Game wise, I plan on using him as a Knight of the Eternal Light, a faction of templars that were briefly mentioned in Leviathan. I must admit I wouldn't mind picking up a few more of the fellows to create a bit of a skirmish force but we shall see how the range develops first!

Here's a few scale shots showing him next to some other common races:

 Bigger than a Savage Orc!

 Towers over a Dwarf

Much the same height as an Elven Noble of Helios

I have to say that he is quite an impressive miniature being highly detailed but rather straight forward to paint, if a bit time consuming to get him right and he makes a good edition to the post apocalyptic fantasy world of Aeroth, even if folks might not like him for Warhammer!

All the best!

Quick Update

Hi!

It's another lovely day out there but I've been spending my evenings painting my way through some of my lead and plastic pile and just need to sort out a few bases and I will have another small batch of figures done!

The figures in question are Mantic Dwarves and I must admit that I have not really enjoyed the process very much. The sculpts themselves aren't great and some of the detail is rather soft and obscure, especially around the heads which I have found really quite irksome and am looking forward to getting them out of the way to be honest.

More interestingly, I have been working on another SD sculpt, this time Marik Goldhelm, rogue mage and am finding the process far more rewarding. Maybe it's because I sculpted him myself or that the detail is rather more chunky and stylised, but I far prefer sculpting and painting my own gubbins than I do other folks stuff.

I must admit that its rather odd to say the least but I have a sneaking suspicion that there's going to be a lot more self directed sculpts and rather less of working on other miniatures for the time being...

But enough of the navel gazing! I have a bit of a plan that involves my SD figures! I am going to try and sculpt up a couple of warbands worth over the next few weeks and try out a few different rulesets that I have kicking around:

I've had most of these rules for years but have only ever tried out Bladestorm, No Quarter and Song of Blades and that was a couple of years back for the most part so I think it's high time that I got myself sorted out for some skirmish gaming with an eye towards playing out a campaign somewhere on the border.

With that in mind, I will be posting semi regular sculpting and painting updates as I begin to assemble my forces before moving onto a series of games featuring reviews of each ruleset and full battle reports. I have two weeks off in August so the aim is to get the campaign run over that period with at least a couple games of each of the rulesets which should give me a decent feel for the rules and how well they play.

I plan on also sculpting up a few random encounters, be it wandering monsters or beasts as well as a few NPC's as well as I am finding the experience of once again simply sculpting for fun and painting the little chaps is rather rewarding too and seems to be breathing a much needed bit of fresh air into my hobby!

My only concern at present is that I don't actually have a decent surface to play on so will also be attempting to sort out a gaming mat of sorts (probably more vinyl tiles) as well as some suitable scenic madness. I've set myself quite the challenge but look forward to blogging my progress as I go and hopefully I will succeed in my target and may even tempt a few other folks to try out something other than the various GW and Oldhammer rules families.

If all goes well, I will continue working my way through my large catalogue of rules and expand the campaign with new forces, characters and whatnot but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself so for the time being, All the best!

The Boar Company Rides Again!

Hi!

Well I've been working away on commissions today but had enough time to get these two little chaps finished too:

 Flint and Grimli, Boar Company Heroes

I've been meaning to resculpt my classic Boar Company for a few years now but various other bits and bobs have always intruded in getting them done but my recent excursion into a more stylised sculpting style has persuaded me to have a bash at getting started on them.

First up we have Grimli, the commander of the Boar Company:

 Grimli

A veteran of many campaigns on the wild borderlands of Aeroth, Grimli has formed the Boar Company in order to patrol the borders of the Dwarven holds and ensure that the Orcish hordes don't break through the Axeblade Mountains and into the lands beyond.

Next up there's Flint Dragonbane, the Boar Companies Champion:

 Flint Dragonbane

Flint is Grimli's doughty drinking companion and a bit of a hard case. He gained the name of Dragonbane after single handedly slaying a rock dragon in combat and in the process, saving Grimli's life and making himself something of a legend along the frontier.

I settled for a non metallic finish on the Dwarves as I wanted to give them a suitable stylised finish and do like how they turned out and think that in future, I will use a similar style with the rest of my forthcoming fantasy gubbins. I think there's a fair amount of bits and bobs that I will be putting together over the next few weeks as the Boar Company expands and the various Denizens of Aeroth start making a bit of an appearance.

Lastly, here's a quick shot of the old and new versions of Flint and Grimli, the smaller scale dating from 2011 and the original Boar Company which are closer to 10mm while the newer ones are closer to 20mm!

Old and New

Anyhoo, I am off to get some more sculpting done! 

All the best!

Dwarf Damsel

Hi!

Just a quick post before I head out to work this morning. In an ongoing effort to paint my way through my leadpile and build a few interesting warbands with the intention of possibly expanding one to actual army size, I found a rather nicely sculpted Dwarf by Hasslefree which I picked up years ago, primed and then abandoned:

 Damsel in Distress

As lovely as the sculpt is, it doesn't match the style of the traditional barrel bodies stunties of classic Citadel and other manufacturers which is why she's sat unpainted for years as she didn't match any other Dwarf in my collection.

Handily she does scale rather well next to the Mantic and Ral Partha Dwarves:

I quite like the idea of making her a spellcaster for my warband, be she Druidess, Mage or Cleric and she will also make a useful NPC for the warband to defend/escort/rescue depending on the scenario and with this in mind, I may add some tufts of flowers to her base to make her stand out a little.

Rummaging through my collection, I have enough Dwarves to make a decent sized warband featuring Warriors with hand weapons and shields and Thunderchief's for a bit of long ranged stopping power but still need some decent characters to lead them into battle. Yes there's the plastic Mantic champions but while I like the Mantic Dwarves for troops, they are a little bit lacking in that visual oomph that makes for a really good and interesting character.

With that in mind, I think I am going to take a peek at Reaper Miniatures offerings to see if I can get two unit leaders and a good character model...

Hopefully I will have some more gubbins painted up soon to add to the collection and will be aiming to try out a small selection of skirmish games and post my experiences with them here.

Till then, All the best!

Painted Stuff!

Hi!

Well it's another toasty evening here, but I have managed to get a few bits and bobs done over the course of the last week and shock, horror, I've actually finished painting some stuff!

Now I know that plastic figures aren't too popular, but I happened to have a few Mantic Dwarves kicking about from a previous project that went nowhere, so I thought I would have a bash at painting up one of them to ease back into painting.

Satisfied with the finish, I moved onto an old Crucible Dwarf Thunderchief and imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed painting up the little chap:

Warrior and Thunderchief

Now I seriously suspect that if I want to build and paint an army, as I have mooted, I am going to have to paint it a little bit at a time and intersperse lots of other, different miniatures so that I don't start getting bored. Heeding such sage advice, I rummaged out a plastic GW Savage Orc that was from another unremembered project and slapped on some paint for him too:

 Orc

Folks may notice he's not green. I went for the reddish brown of an orc native to Aeroth and added a bit of warpaint to liven him up a bit. I also added a top lip to the fellow as I don't really like the lipless grimace of the new GW style Orc. 

Another View

I am now toying with the idea of starting small and building up to larger bands as I go, one of Mountain Dwarves under the command of some of the rather fancy Reaper Bones Giants and a savage Orc warband but no doubt I will find other bits and bobs to paint of a similarly eclectic nature which will result in me pretty much painting whatever I fancy.

If it means I am enjoying myself I don't really care if it takes forever to paint a force!

Until next time, All the best!

Age of Sigmar Musings

Hi!

Well I've had a day off work which was nice as it's been toasty so perfect for a day trip up north. While the weather has been perfect for going out and about, it's less than ideal for painting miniatures but I have had a bit of time to peruse the Age of Sigmar gubbins that are floating around the interwebs at the moment.

After all the outrage that current Fantasy Battle gamers had been expressing following all the initial rumours that were filtering out, it's been really interesting to see the rumours solidifying into more solid details and some pictures arriving too.

Eat Hammer!

While the Worldhammer world was inspired by Tolkien and Moorcock and had a dedicated fanbase, Games Workshop has apparently seen sales fall to such an extent that they felt they only had two options left, one to drop the game entirely or do something arguably more extreme and reboot the game from the ground up. Interestingly they settled on the latter and the new imagery and setting seems to have taken a radical departure from the traditional and gone for something a bit more epic...

Love the Flash Gordon Hawkmen in the background!

If the fairly solid rumours are to be believed, GW really has taken a gamble on this new game with new races, designs, settings and even free rules! I must admit that I am rather interested in the whole business as it's succeeded in actually tempting me to pick up a GW product for the first time in years and it reminds me of a cross between Leviathan, Chronopia and Hordes/Warmachine all mashed up with a bit of classic GW lore. Take a peek at some of the leaked army images:

 Aelf Warhost

Gone are the need for massed regiments of 30+ figures and in are smaller units of 5-10 or there abouts and a rulebook of 4, yes 4 pages. No more need for a massive tome to play and that can be downloaded for free! Gosh!

Oger Horde

While I can totally understand why traditional fantasy gamers may be outraged that their game and setting of choice has been gutted and totally changed but I do think that it's a great chance to pull in new blood and a much needed chance to move the narrative forward. Coupled with free rules that can easily be picked up and played, it's just what I need to get myself back into hobbying. 

I am planning on downloading the rules and warscrolls tomorrow to see what all the fuss is about and see if I can't put together a couple of warbands from the gubbins I have kicking about and then see if I am inspired to paint some stuff up and then get a game or two in and who knows, I may even pick up the starter set as I quite like the look of Sigmarites as they would make perfect Knights of the Eternal Light for Leviathan. 

I will post my progress up over on my Somewhere on the Border blog over the next couple of weeks but till then, All the best!