Elder Attack!

Hi!

Sadly its not the long out of production Space Crusade extension!


While on a much needed holiday, I nipped into a small wargame store in Gosport and found the following little chaps:

Guardians Galore!

A lovely collection of old school Rogue Trader and 2nd edition Eldar Guardians and a Harlequin, all for the princely sum of £18!

I know it breaks one of my Budgethammer commandments by overspending by £3 but I figured it was such a bargain that I just couldn't let it pass. Yes they are pretty poorly painted and in some cases the undercoat is so thick that it totally obscures the detail but I figure with a week or two in a bath of Dettol, they should be right as rain!

This now gives me the basis of an Eldar warband for my Budgethammer games and will fit in rather nicely with my Imperial Guard garrison and Orkish marauders!

If its of interest to anyone out there, the store also has a decent collection of old school and more modern second hand figures. I spotted in one box a mixture of old 2000ad, an old Citadel Amazon and numerous other bits and bobs and I'd highly recommend a peruse of TN Books and Wargames to anyone in the area.

Interestingly speaking to the chap running the place, he said that that his second hand stock is doing so well, especially the older stuff, that he is running low so once again the lure of Oldhammer has struck!

Hopefully I will be in the new place within the next few weeks and will be able to get a proper update sorted out but in the meantime, all the best!

From the Lead Pile: Dwarf Spearman

Hi!

As I have a small stack of unpainted lead and plastic kicking around, I thought I would start painting up some bits and bobs and adding them on a semi regular basis on my blog and to get the ball rolling heres an old Heartbreaker Dwarf spearman!

 Dwarf Spearman

I've actually had him sitting in the lead pile for ages before deciding it was high time to get the little fellow painted up! I experimented with washes on top of his usual skin tone and I must admit I am rather pleased with how he turned out. Sadly I think I might need to add some more highlights to his beard as its a little flat looking at present!

I'm actually starting to get a fair number of the stunties done now and almost have a small unit ready:

Who are you calling Stunty?!

Despite my plan to go 15mm for Oldhammer, it looks like I may yet still stumble through in good old 28mm after all is said and done! In the meantime they make a rather decent skirmish force for the likes of Song of Blades.

I still need to paint up a couple more that I have undercoated including some crossbow wielding types and another two handed hammerer but its been a really nice change from Sci-fi!

All the best!

Imperial Guardsman

Hi!

Once again I'm about to head off to work but have taken a quick pic of an old Cadian Imperial Guardsman I have rummaged out of my lead pile and slapped some paint on!

For the Emperor!

I didn't spend a huge amount of time on the little fellow but went for the classic grey and black uniform as seen in the days of Rogue Trader! It has to be said, while painting him, its the first time that SKULLZ seem to be popping up everywhere on a guardsman. There's four of them on him alone, including on his water canteen, making you wonder why anyone would want to drink out of it!

Here's another shot of him, this time in the company of the bulkier Heartbreaker Capitol figure:

Lets all Sneer!

I actually have just enough assorted Guard troops to put together a half decent skirmish force for Rogue Trader so expect a few more to be added in the coming weeks!

All the best!

Friendly Goff

Hi!

Well I'm slowly churning my way through my collection of unpainted stuff and have just finished another of the plastic Orks that I bought some time back:

Not Very Menacing Goff

I must admit he's no the toughest or indeed scariest looking Ork and is actually sculpted with a smile! Saying that it does fit in with the Paul Bonner artwork of the time! 

Next up heres a Chaos Warrior thats seeing use in my Leviathan project:

Red Armoured Fun!

I still have a load more bits and pieces to paint and am rather enjoying the experience but am trying to ensure I don't get bored by swapping between lots of different types of model so I don't end up running out of steam!

All the best!

Painting Dwarves!

Hi!

Well I seem to have found myself painting some 28mm scale Dwarves for the first time in years since my Leviathan project ground to a halt while I was still at University!

Dwarves!

For the most part they are the identical plastics produced by Games Workshop back in fourth edition of Fantasy Battle but with a rather lovely Heartbreaker Miniatures leader!

I must confess I am not sure what I will do with the little fellows as yet but I am sorely tempted to have a bash at playing some of the rulesets I have kicking around which is why they are on the 20mm square bases which will allow me to use them in games of Warhammer and Crucible as well as more skirmish based games like dare I say it, Leviathan?!

I have enough bits and bobs to bash together a small Dwarf army without buying anything else which is very handy too! What I do need though are some command troops as I currently seem to be missing some musicians and standard bearers to complete the units! I must admit I am really liking the Heartbreaker Dwarf and may have to nip over to Black Tree Design and Ral Partha Europe to pick up a few more of the style.

The plan is to get the unit up to 10-12 figures with a complete command and see how I go! I will need to see if I can rummage out some more bits and bobs to go with it but I already find myself basing up some Hobgoblins to menace them!

All the best!

Auction Find!

Hi!

Well I was at a local auction last night to drop off a load of tat for my girlfriends mum and while there I spotted a big box of old White Dwarf magazines and managed to pick them up for £3.30 all told!

They will be making their way onto ebay at some point but in the meantime I will be having a good read as quite a few come from back when I started in the hobby in the early 90s and have some nice articles in them!

Some of the Haul!

I also found it contained a couple of books, namely Giggamob and How To Make Wargames Terrain which will also be getting sold off to help fund my projects!

I also spotted that Steve Blease has set up an OLDE SKOOL WARHAMMER blog with some really nice pictures of his old Goblin army and is well worth a peek. Having read through his posts I was struck to realise that all this time I've been rabbiting on about trying to keep in the spirit of fun but obsessing about needing to use old and often expensive miniatures, primarily from Citadel which is in fact missing to point of having fun!

As Steve says its more about having fun and enjoying yourself than slavishly sticking to a certain manufacturer or era. Its also not just about collecting set units or points costs. Just get what you like and enjoy painting!

Taking this advice on board I think I will be able to save considerable amounts of pennies and enjoying my hobby all the more!

All the best!

Warhammer 3rd Editon

Hi!

I've been reading with great interest the goings on over on Somewhere the Teas Getting Cold and Warhammer for Adults as there's some really rather good battle reports getting posted along with some thoughts on this old edition of the eponymous fantasy wargame.

Warhammer 3rd Edition

It's got me to thinking that maybe I could have a go at something similar. I must admit I don't have the budget to collect all those lovely old school miniatures but in 15mm scale all things are possible!

With the rerelease of the Demonworld miniatures range by Ral Partha, and the lovely bits and bobs from other ranges, I reckon it's now possible to collect a good looking force that's full of character for even less than the folks who originally played Warhammer back in the 80s did. Taking a look at the forces in my old and battered copy of Warhammer Armies, I see several that I fancy having a bash at so shall see what I can come up with!

All the best!

The Joy of 28mm Scale!

Hi!

I know I've already mentioned that I't taking a break from my Leviathan project but I have been frothing over some of the beautifully painted miniatures over on KINGS MINIATURES and SOMEWHERE THE TEAS GETTING COLD blogs and cant help but think that I am missing out!

Thantsants Classic Miniatures!

Dave of Kings Minis Classics!

I especially like the fact that folks are painting and enjoying old school miniatures. Another example of this is OLD SCHOOL MINIATURES BULLETIN. I've mentioned in previous blog entries that I had hoped to do something similar in a limited scale but as yet have done precious little about it.

My Goblin warband has some nice classics in it but I haven't had time to paint anything for it for some time now. Its got me thinking that I should probably dig out the remaining figures and do something with them! I've got a few classic miniatures kicking around and I think that I may have to take a rummage through my box of bits to see what I can find!

All the best!

Two Warbands and Finds From the Lead Mountain!

Hi!

As promised heres a couple of pics of the Elven and Goblin warbands I picked up at Colours:

Harlequin Elves

Harlequin Gobbos

Each warband currently consists of nine figures which is plenty for the Elves but woefully inadequate for the Goblins. Fortunately I remembered that I had a big pile of old Citadel and Heartbreaker Orcs and Goblins at my folks:

Big Pile O Lead

This will give me plenty of scope for getting some small warbands put together over the coming months! Alas the Harlequin miniatures have quite a bit of flash on them as well as some nasty mould lines which will need clearing but the figures themselves are really rather nice and I hope to have a bash at painting them soon.

The Goblins will be getting some support from a troll or similar beast while the Elves will form the core of my Grey Elf force and will eventually get a spellcaster and some characters once I find the time!

The priority will be to get some sculpting done though!

All the best!

The Magnificent Sven

Hi!

I have managed to get hold of a copy of the old Warhammer Fantasy scenario The Magnificent Sven and am thinking about giving it a bash in 15mm scale!

The Magnificent Sven!

Essentially its a scenario from 2nd edition of Fantasy Battle involving a Norse settlement in Lustria being terrorised by a large warband of Slann (back when they were still all frogs!) and calling in the aid of the Dwarf Sven and a rag tag band of mercenaries. Loosely based on the Magnificent Seven movie it sounds quite good fun and I am seriously considering sculpting up some miniatures to give it a go!

Theres Sven, his assorted mercenaries, a dozen Norse berzerkers and the villagers themselves facing over 70 Slann braves and warhounds lead by the mighty Slann warlord Gurggl Greenwake.

The artwork in the pack is rather interesting and would make some nice miniatures too:

Riolta Snow, Elven Archer

The cast is quite eclectic ranging from drunken dwarves to one legged adventurers and a mad wizard, not to mention lots of slimy amphibians to slay!

With a little work the setting could be moved from the Warhammer world to Aeroth, especially in the jungles of Kesh where the remnants of the Lizard Folk could be stirring up trouble against the settlers.

Reading through the scenario, I am struck by just how much humour it contains rather than the endlessly bleak background GW has lumbered us with in more recent additions. Its a real shame as it has a real charm to it and the characters are actually likeable.

A little searching and I found EAST RIDING MINIATURES frog folk which might make good Slann braves if I dont sculpt my own:

East Riding Frog Folk

Hopefully I will be able to get some stuff sorted out soon!

All the best!

More Old School Ponderings!

Hi!

Well I am taking a quick break from the not so exciting job of packing to ponder some more old school gaming possibilities.

I started gaming in the early 90s with Space Crusade which introduced me to the joys of classic GW miniatures but never had the money to buy what I wanted, be that a classic Imperial Guard force or chaos warband. Alas i find myself in much the same circumstances now. I really want to have a bash at collecting some old school miniatures as they have so much more character than the newer offerings.

I recently dug out my old Citadel Miniatures catalogue from the early 90s and have enjoyed looking at all the old miniature wonders it contained and it got me to thinking is it possible to collect some of these but on a really tight budget?


Citadel Catalogue

It seems to be quite a popular pastime these days and the cost of buying many of these miniatures is frankly getting ludicrous and theres no way I can afford to spend a fortune collecting large forces, especially for the likes of Warhammer.

The remarkable ruleset Song of Blades brings the possibility back to the realms of reality though as I could conceivably play games with only a few figures per side and from experience, have a really good time doing so.

Therefore, I have decided to keep my eyes open for bargains and see what I can come up with! Over the coming months I am hoping to collect some small warbands using a mixture of old Citadel, Marauder, Grenadier and Ral Partha miniatures!

These warbands will then see use in small skirmishing in Aeroth!

Alongside this I am going to try and sculpt up some large forces in 15mm scale in the style of the classic miniatures! This should keep me entertained for some time to come!

Hopefully I will have somethin to show in a couple of weeks!

All the best!