Maximus

I have not played Warmahordes for a while, as I have really been using my limited gaming time to play Dystopian Legions, however, there has been a recent release that is drawing me back into the game. That release? Maximus.

I do like the idea of the Farrow in general, but not enough to get a  whole army of them. I have enough factions, but the idea of kitting out a Farrow like a Doomreaver? That is both insane and genius at the same time.

So as a little present to myself, I went out and bought him. Them in three consecutive evenings, built, based and painted him, Somewhat of a record for me.

Thankfully, he can be fielded with my Legion army, he can see play immediately. The sculpt is both simple enough to be fast to paint, but elegant and dynamic at the same time. What is not to love?

Here piggy piggy...

 

 

Now he's done and out of the way, I can start on my challenge for 2015. At least he started me off with some red armour and Khador stylings.

Colore ton Monde: Alten Ashley II

Alten Ashley is fully finished now. I found his sword, it was stuck to the paper towel I use to wipe my brush. Just as well for me I reuse this paper, otherwise the sword would be long gone.

I also redid his hair after seeing his close-ups I tried to redo his eyes too, but I don't think I made any improvements there. The face looks good from arms-length, but the closer you look, the more flaws you see.

Here are the final pics.

Colore ton Monde: Alten Ashley I

Some WIPs for this month's Colore ton Monde challenge mini. I went with the monster hunter angle, rather than the monster itself, which is of course covered by the always flexible monthly theme (go here to see October's theme). So here are the first shots of Alten Ashley.

Alten is very much close to being done. These are only WIPs for two reasons. First off, I started painting his sword that sticks onto his back at the same time I started painting him, but by the time I got round to finishing him, I had misplaced the sword. This is very annoying, and I hope it turns up, however, if Alten is ever using his sword in a game, that game is not going well for him!

The second reason is that, as always, I was very happy with the way he was looking, till I saw the pictures. My eyes are just not what they used to be. So, I'll be going back over the mini, mainly to sort out his hair and face.

The plants on his base are some chopped up plastic aquarium plants that I recently re-purposed (all the fish have finally passed on in our tank, so I had to doe something with all the bits). They work rather well I feel. I went with thistles, as they are purple and cream, which fits in with my other mercs, without me having to give him a garish purple coat, thereby breaking his camouflage. There is also a little purple on his boot-knife, just to keep him on theme.

Here's a close up of the face. I was trying a couple of new things here. First off, the stubble, and secondly, giving a tint to the bottom lip. Both f these to give more character to the paint job. However, I'm not sure either works with my normal way of doing eyes, i.e. ignoring them and letting the inks do the job of suggesting the presence of eyes.

It was this picture that convinced me I'll have to go back and get out the little paintbrushes before I'm happy with this guy.

2013 Painting Elf Exchange

The Painting Elf Exchange 2013 held at my FLGS was completed last week, and we all got together to give back our models. All the pics are up on facebook here.There are some really nice minis and paint jobs there, I especially like the Prussian Luftlancer for DL, they are really nice minis, and the paint job on that one is really well executed.


I'm especially happy with the mini I received, and quite satisfied with the one I painted, even though it doesn't look finished with the base being as nude as it is. Here are the pics Tonio took on the night. Much better than my camera phone shots!

Painted by me for Tonio

I'm quite happy with the way the colours came out on this. The enamel paints really help with the ethereal look of the model. I would use them again, but it'd have to be for the right project, not just for any model.

Painted by G for me

The colours chosen for my Madelyn Corbeau by G, (who's blog can be found here) match exactly with my Llaelese Mercenary army, and I was especially happy with the extra cool base he put the mini on, that was not something I supplied (I really should have re-based the Feralgeist, now I really seem cheap!). What is extra cool is the freehand on the back of the mini. I am very jealous of his painting there, as the Llaelese army really shouts out for a little heraldry, and I have tried and failed to do something similar.

With that paint job, she really will be finding her way into my army after all.

Feralgeist

For the Oldies Holiday Painting Exchange, we each put a mini into the pot, and drew for which of the minis we would paint. I drew a Feralgeist. I won't post any pics of the final mini for the draw here so as not to spoil the surprise, but I would like to post the finished pictures of my own Feralgeist. I painted this first, as a means of testing what I wanted to do, and also as a test for the Testors fluorescent enamels that I wanted to try an use. This was the first time out using enamels since way back in the day when I used humbrol paints to paint up my Airfix aircraft back when I was a kid. Man that was a ling time ago.

Anyway, he seemed to work out alright:

I have since gave him a coat of 'ardcoat, and don't plan to use any dullcoat, as I want him to be a bit shiny. I think it works with the fluorescent paint, and the spectral look.

I'm going to hold off posting the second one until I have handed it back to it's rightful owner. Don't want to be giving away the surprise! However it's not a huge leap from here to imagine what the final exchange mini looks like.

Colore ton Monde: December II

As I mentioned in my last post for this month's challenge, finding minis to paint in a winter theme is not an issue, anfterall I have two warmahordes armies that fit the bill. So here we have some pics of my painted Blackfrost Shard figure. Well, one of the three brothers to start.

The cape came out much better than I expected. I was left wondering how to complete the runes round the cloak edge, but a simple dab or two of Mithril Silver over the runes, then a dark blue wash and they look fine.

The other two members of the unit better jump up to the front of the paint queue before I forget how I did this guy!

Going to have to go back and finish the face, it's looking really crude and unfinished there.

Holiday Painting Challenge

My regular gaming group, the Oldies, is running a painting swap for over the Christmas holidays.

It was somewhat of a challenge to come up with a miniature I wanted someone else to paint. Not because I am under any delusions that my painting is of superior quality, quite the opposite in fact. It was more to do with having a mini that could be painted up in any scheme that the other guy wanted (we didn't put in a request as to what we wanted done with the mini, so it is fully at the discretion of the other guy).

For my part, I settled on Madelyn Corbeau. A mini that I have never put on the table and therefore is rather far down on my list of what to do next. However, it is a mini that I like the look of, so she will see play some time I'm sure. What's more, as a courtesan, she can be done in any colour scheme imaginable, and still fit the bill. Decision made!

As to the mini I was given to paint, I got a Feralgeist. Again, as a minion model, he does not have to fit in with the scheme of the army he plays with. I have my own one of these, and I have been thinking what do do with him, and had thought to use him as a test model for some Testors fluorescent paints I have. i may have to paint up my own first, rather than spoil someone else's mini with paint I don't know how to use, so that's this holiday's painting schedule booked up!

Victor Pendrake, Adventuring Scholar

The painting challenge for September was to paint something relating to the return to school. I was really struggling, as I had thought to do a mage for my Bretonnian army, and I have even undercoated and based the mini, but I was not able to find the inspiration to actually get on and paint her. Then, whilst clearing out another tray of minis, I found this guy languishing with a mere base coat, and lo, it was decided. What better mini for the challenge than good old Professor Pendrake?

There are a few little bits and pieces I'd like to go back over, but he's ready for the table.

Rask and Bog Trogs

The last edition of No Quarter had a spoiler for a new minion Warlock for Hordes. Specifically Rask, a Bog Trog 'Lock. A run down of his abilities can be found on the Battle College here, and his mini (yet to be released) is here. All of which has got me rather excited about putting together a list. It has been a while since I was so enthused about starting a new faction (which was the start of my Menoth collection a lwhile back), so I'm quite looking forward to it.
As you all know, I have a fully painted unit of Bog Trogs, that I am rather proud of, but who have never seen the table. Now that i have the paint scheme, it should be easy enough to rustly up a Warlock with the same scheme and put them on the table. The only issue is, I don't have any of the other beasts or units that are required to run either a Blindwater Congregation list, or Rask's theme list.



Rask Theme List

All this excitement got me wandering round the web, looking for interesting tid-bits about this guy (by which means I found the theme list and pics) as well as looking for inspiration as to what models work well with this guy, and work well in general for Blindwater lists (in terms of synergy). You could then call this post a summation of my researches, that are completely un tested on the field. A nice review of the theme list from a Gator player can be found here as part of the Rot 'n' Roll blog, which is a great introduction to Gators as a faction.

From posting questions on the PP forums, it seems there's little you can take for the Blindwater congegation that will steer you wrong (except maybe the Boneswarm). However, it seems the base tactics would involve having a minimun unit of Bog Trogs as his 'Body-guard' to be used as fodder for his Call to Sacrifice ability, and one to fill the role they are designed for as ambushers (for which it seems they are more highly prized than I first thought). Otherwise, anything goes, as it seems this guy is good enough to work well with all the other minis available. Whatever else I take, it seems I should get a unit of gators too (if not two), as they're just bad-ass and will of course work with my Legion army.

Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers

Furthermore, there will be a new Bog Trog Unit released with the Hordes: Collosals book, namely the Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers. Not much is known about them, other than they are undead. A cheap unit to use with Rask's Call to Sacrifice ability (which allows him to sacrifice a Bog Trog to not die, and have 1 life point left instead), which in itself is almost enough of a reason to buy them, despite what other abilities they may get.

Shamblers Concept Art

Longest Night

I went along to the hallowe'en party at my FLGS last Saturday evening. The store was open for an all nighter, which meant the party started after the kids bedtime, hence my availability. They were running (amongst other things) a ‘Longest Night’ event. I thought this was a one off event run last year, when Privateer Press released eAlexia. Although it looked fun, I doubted I would be able to make it. However, it turns out they are supporting this as an event that can be run at any time, which is great. I may even get round to converting some skeletons to be used as the Longest Night Thralls.

Participation Badge

Once I made it along to the store, there was a little delay in getting started, but I managed to play 2 games before having to run for the metro. I played Legion, and managed to pick up a bunch of points here and there from the list at the end of the scenario (which includes things like making a tent for the scenario, taking candies to share, and being in fancy dress). It pays to read the rules. I found out the next day I had won (although I have yet to collect the medal).

The biggun' was so taken by the tent, we had to make another one for her the next day,

Home-made tent and Thrall

I tried to get eAlexia painted up for use (she plays for any and all factions in this scenario), but failed. I am however quite happy with the horse (although it is not finished, it needs some work on the face and the ribs). I decided to go with a blonde Alexia, to move away from the dark tones of the mount, but otherwise I'm sticking pretty closely to the colour scheme laid out in NQ37.

Here be Dragons

From time to time, my 4 year old daughter catches me in my minis cupboard, and sometimes asks to see them and or play with them. Mostly they are unpainted, so I let her play with them. However on Saturday, we had some time to ourselves, and it came about that she wanted to paint some with me. Who am I to argue? So out came the brushes and paints.

She wanted to paint one of the ladies (she has little or no interest in the male figures). The 'lady' I offered her to paint, was the middle one of these models from Reaper. However, she needed to be undercoated, so I explained undercoat to her and I slapped on a coat of Gesso, then we left the mini outside to dry. Meanwhile I asked her if she wanted to paint a dragon, and showed her one of my shredders of which I have many, and all but 2 are painted (even those two were a birthday gift from a friend and came to me painted). She was all for painting a dragon, and set about choosing her colours. Here are the results. She did all the basing herself (I only helped by getting the grass and flowers off the packaging they came in).

She saw the number on the back of the base of the shredder I was painting and asked about it (when you run 8 unpainted shredders, you need to be able to distinguish between them), then told me the number of hers would be 41. Also, I asked her what it would be called, to which she replied without hesitation 'Rosie', so Rosie it is.

My effort, painted whilst she was doing hers. She wanted to know why I was only painting with one colour when I had so many to choose from. Another session and he'll be finished. Not yet sure what colour scheme I'll be going with on my Everblight beasties, but the shredders are great little minis to try things out with.

This is the lady she wanted to paint from Reaper. However, after looking at it once it was dry she noticed bits she had missed. We had to put the paints away as her little sister had woken from her nap (and we needed the kitchen table for lunch), so I'm sure there'll be another session to finish this mini. I may have to go looking for other minis, maybe in a larger scale, for her to paint in the future.

As to gaming, that may be a step too far as yet, but we'll see. She has an interest in gaming (board games etc) like all children do, but she may not be ready for wargaming yet. I don't want to push it on her either. If anything I'd try her on RPGs first, as they can get the imagination flowing without necessarily being based on bloody conflict. Anyone out there got similar experience on introducing youngsters to the hobby?