Epic Eldar

Hi!

Not only do I have a day off but it's snowing which is rather exciting!

Better yet, I've had a bit of spare time on my hands for the first time in ages and actually sat down and painted something in the form of some reinforcements for my Epic Eldar!

Eldar Detachment

I am never going to have enough space to play a proper game of Epic with the little chaps but have plans of playing some games of Gruntz in 6mm scale which will allow me to field a platoon strength force with some armour assets which is fine by me as the eventual army is going to be more akin to 2nd edition 40k in size rather than an epic warhost.

Upcoming Warbands?

I currently have some Howling Banshee's and a Warlock stand on the painting table which will give me the command and close combat troops that I need and also plan on painting up a couple of support weapons for my Guardian squads before fielding them against my Ultramarines and Squats!

 Ultramarine Veterans 

I don't know what has brought on the sudden urge to paint tiny figures but I am rather enjoying it and suspect that my Alternative Imperium is going to get some more attention soon which will be fun as I have quite a lot of Epic figures which will allow me to field multiple small forces of Eldar, Imperial, Squats, Orks and other assorted riffraff.

Squat Brotherhood

With a bit of work, I think I can get the Eldar finished today and even add a few reinforcements for my other units which will allow me to get some games in the coming week but I do find myself in need of some scenery suitable to the scale so will be rummaging around to see if I can't find some bits and bobs to bodge together!

I've also been inspired to re explore my 6mm fantasy stuff so am aiming to finish off the wartowers for my Horned Folk force and possibly even add a few bits and bobs to my Grey Elves...

 Horned Folk Warband

Looking at what I have, I need to paint up another four stands of Beastmen and two more wartowers and my Horned Folk will be complete for the time being, although I am looking for some larger warbeasts to add a bit of visual punch to the force...

 Wartower

The Elves on the other hand, need quite a bit of work as converting the spearmen is quite time consuming and a bit boring to be honest but I only need a few more before moving onto archers and warbeasts which is handy!

 Grey Elves

I must admit that I really want to get some of the Microworld miniatures as they look so much better than the Irregular fantasy stuff I have at present but my budget won't allow for it at the moment so I suspect that my plans for a Dwarven army will have to wait till next year...

I think that I am going to have enough stuff to keep me going for the remainder of the year though which is good and better yet, it's varied enough to stop me becoming bored!

All the best!

Capellan Confederation Infiltration Mech

Hi!

Well it's been two weeks since I have had chance to update my blog and once again work has kept me really busy so hobby time has been really limited but I have managed to finish something that's been lying half finished on my painting table for ages: The Capellan Infiltrator!

 Capellan Infiltrator Light Mech

Constructed from an EM4 Miniatures plastic mech with a few conversions, namely reposed waist, reposed legs and scratchbuilt arms, the mech turned out rather nicely!

The Infiltrator is the newest addition to the Capellan Confederation's arsenal but the cutting edge technology that is required for their construction has thus far limited their deployment. The original blueprints for the Infiltrator were from the Draconis Combine but a unit of Deathshead Commandos stole them and with several modifications, the Capellan scientist have created a supremely fast and maneuverable machine that can rapidly engage opponents with a devastating salvo of short range laser and machinegun fire before heavier, slower foes can respond.

The Capellans have been using the growing disorder on the border between themselves and the Federated Suns as a testing ground for their new tech and thus far the Infiltrator mechs have proven themselves in several engagements.

Hopefully I will get chance to add to both my forces in the coming few weeks but I suspect that it might take me a bit of time to get another update!

In the meantime, All the best!

Specialist Games You Say?!

Hi!

Well I'm back from work and having survived the torrential rain and driving wind, I find the interwebs ablaze with apparently confirmed rumours that Specialist Games is being relaunched by Games Workshop.

While there seems to be rather a lot of skepticism floating around there, I quite like the idea of classics like Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic and Epic making a comeback.

Epic Goodness!

Looking at the rather scarce information floating around, it does look like GW is concentrating initially on the more 40k elements of the specialist games range (with the exception of Bloodbowl) but how will the new games, if indeed there are, differ from the classic 90's and early 00's classics?

Well one would suspect that the quality of the miniatures, scenery and books will be far higher than of old with Forgeworld taking over design and production. One also suspects that this will result in prices going up rather a lot from the golden days of yore which will no doubt result in lots of frothing but is hardly surprising as GW looks like it's aiming at a boutique and specialist section of the market.

I have my suspicions that some of the games may well change beyond recognition from their predecessors. Just taking a brief glance over the style of the artwork and setting gives some indication that the games are going to be more gothic (possibly GRIMDARK) than before and I even suspect that GW may take the leap from 6mm to 10mm scale for Epic.

Before the wailing and gnashing of teeth begins, just take a look at the likes of Dropzone Commander and the quality of the sculpts they produce. Could GW do something similar? I have my suspicions that they can indeed, especially if it gives them the opportunity to go for some really impressively detailed vehicles and war engines.

Similarly, I foresee interesting changes and developments happening in their other games with rumours of Battlefleet Gothic being ported back to 30k and the Horus Heresy and instead of lots of releases, is it more likely that GW will go for everything in one box like their new game (whose name escapes me now!) and Dreadfleet is anything to go by. It would be nice to think of a more fleshed out range but I do have memories of rumours from a couple of years back with regards to something similar.

Needless to say it's far too early to get too excited or enraged about the whole business but it does sound like we are in for an interesting time in the hobby.

All the best!

Battletech Project: Federated Suns Superheavy

Hi!

Well it's been a totally mental month or so with work and believe it or not this is my first day off since my birthday so unsurprisingly there's been no time to do any hobby related stuff.

What I have managed to do is to finish off a repaint that's been languishing on my painting table for ages. I picked up one of the Matchbox Blockade Buster tanks a while back with intentions of doing something with it in 15mm scale but have decided to shoehorn it into my Battletech project instead!

 Farpoint Defence Force Blockade Buster codename Master Blaster

One of the things I don't like about the old Mechwarrior Clix was the fact that the battletanks were all over the place scale wise so it was quite refreshing to actually paint up something that looks truly menacing to mechs.

Weighing in at 100 tons, the Blockade Buster isn't intended to be a fast moving machine but uses its twin AC10's and 4 heavy lasers to pummel all but the heaviest machines with a single volley.

Despite its powerful weaponry, the FDF has had difficulties making the most of the behemoths as much of the planet is covered in thick forests and the machines have mostly been relegated to defensive positions around Freeport City.

One of the design oddities the Blockade Buster features is an infantry compartment that can transport a full squad.

Battle Armour and Superheavy Battletanks!

Hopefully the paintjob makes it look a little less toy like but I must admit I rather enjoyed painting it up and hope to get a second painted up soon to supplement my forces!

All the best!

For Sale!

Hi!

I'm having a bit of a clearout and am looking to sell one or two bits and bobs!

Warzone Capitol Light Infantry Squad £15 

Epic Ultramarine Detachment plus commander (see below) £30

Converted  Red Redemptionist Cultists £15

 Converted 15mm Scale Slann Warband (plus warchief and 5 more warriors) £20

 Dwarf Warband £20

 Ogre £10

 Space Pirates £30

 Imperial Guard Unit £15

 Mind Eater £6

 15mm scale biogiant £10

 Squiddly Aliens plus cool ride £15

 15mm scale Squat warband £20

 Ancient Gobbo £5

 Scratch Built Ork Squad £30 (5 more painted Orks for another £5

 Evil doers warband £20

Farpoint Salvage £20

Please feel free to get in touch with me for more info and I will include postage to the UK in the price. If you want quotes for further afield, give us a shout!

All the best!

Capellan Confederation Raider Spotted

Good morning folks!

I'm about to head off to work after my first weekend off in what seems like ages but managed to grab a shot of a newly completed mech for my Battletech project!

Capellan Confederation Koshi 

As with my Davion forces, I went for a fairly generic colour scheme that I think turned out quite nicely and handily the mech is still articulated which is a nice extra. I know that the Koshi is a Clan mech but in my reimagined Battletech universe, it's not going to matter, especially as I have a second awaiting the Liao colours. 

I am trying to keep this project to a very tight budget so am using whatever miniatures I have and don't care too much about historical accuracy. Speaking of which, I still haven't settled on scale for the project but will see what I can bodge together using what I have and suspect I will be using 10mm to represent platoon level games and 15mm for smaller squad sized skirmishes. That way I will decrease my unpainted miniatures pile and allow myself to play larger games without needing a vast table!

In other news, my Davion force is continuing to get work done on its bases to represent a somewhat more lush jungle world to match their camo. The results are looking quite promising apart from having dropped the green Blackhawk and broken him into three pieces again! Fortunately repairs have been carried out and he's almost as good as new with a bit of putty to reinforce the feeble joints (which were pinned but still break!)

Hopefully pictures will follow but it's so gloomy this morning that the camera just wouldn't play ball and I only managed to get one shot of the Koshi that didn't blur. 

Controversially, I've made the decision to remove the Oldhammer badge from my blog and give the place a bit of a refresh too as I felt that I couldn't really claim to be a supporter of Oldhammer anymore as I've not posted anything even remotely GWish for ages. 

Hopefully I will get some more bits and bobs added over the next few days but in the meantime, All the best!

A Return to Farpoint

Hi!

Well I've taken a month or so off posting anything up here and find myself drawn back to perusing some of my old blog posts with their mixture of partially successful projects and those that stalled and failed rather quickly and was struck by one that had real potential.

Back in 2013, not long before moving jobs and house, I began work on a 10/15mm scale Battletech project and got as far as painting up some clicky Mechwarrior stuff and stockpiling several more. Sadly at this point, as with so many projects, the dreaded real life intruded and I got offered a new job in a new town so everything got boxed up and forgotten about.

Skip forward to 2014 and I found the figures and even managed to get part of a squad of Davion infantry painted up before losing interest by a new ooh shiney moment and once again the project was shelved.

While sorting through my collection the other week, I found the Mechs sitting at the back of a shelf looking a bit sorry for themselves and decided to give them a bit of a spruce up. They were rather broken following transport from Edinburgh to Dundee and needed a little touching up and I reworked the bases a bit too and quite like how they look:

 Davion Mechs on patrol

I liked what I saw so much, I rummaged out my old Battletech books and had a peruse and was once again struck by how great the setting is and how awful the game itself is. I think I will be working through one or two more bits and bobs that I have lying around. At present I am not sure if I am going to go for a 10mm or 15mm scale infantry with them as I have a fair few of each.

Hopefully I will get one or two more gubbins finished over the remainder of the weekend!

All the best!