Garrek and the Reavers - the original lineup, back again!

My first Warhammer Underworlds warband - 60's Do-Wop band, "Garrek and the Reavers." And you thought I was dead! Well, you were wrong, so pay up!

These murder dudes were completed shortly before they dropped the universal cards for WHU Shadespire, of course.

They were painted mostly with Contrast Paints, with the exception of the red and metals.

We're getting the band back together...

Just trying to get ahead in life

ANGRY! SO ANGRY!

I'm a lumberjack, and I'm ok...

"And thrust! And hold, 2, 3, 4..."

"I'm gonna get your nose!"

On the Workbench

I'm currently working on the blood bros of Gorechosen - I've been trying to get these guys done for a while, but the Vampire Counts Warmaster army (which was finished in less than 30 days! - pics to come) took precedence.

Most of of these guys are down to final details - I really want to get them done so I can get a few games in with the group.

bloodbloodbloodbloodblood

skullsskullsskullsskullsskulls

Warmaster Vampire Counts army in 30 days - can it be done? Let's find out!

Crisis mode! One month to Adepticon and I need to try to get an entire Warmaster army painted and based in that time. I'm usually behind the curve on getting things ready for Adepticon, but this year's been especially bad, what with getting a new puppy who has not allowed me get any hobby time this year.

For those that are unfamiliar, Warmaster is Games Workshop's now-defunct 10mm fantasy wargame. It's a really good system, but unfortunately, it never really caught on.

Regarding the quantity of models I have to work on, each unit is represented by three stands, each containing two strips of models. Heroes are represented by one stand.

For example, here is a unit of Ogres from my Chaos army:

And here is the entire Chaos army:

Time is still not on my side - I still have a job, a commute, and a two young dogs all vying for my attention. Let's see if I can get this project done!

Skeletons - 8 units
Zombies - 6 units
Ghouls - 4 units
Ethereal Host - 2 units
Black Knights - 4 units
Dire Wolves - 6 units
Vampire Lord - 1 stand
Vampire - 2 stands
Necromancer - 2 stands

Day one (last night): I based and primed the entire army. I also laid a basecoat down on everything except for the heroes. Dire Wolves received a Nuln Oil wash.

Today, during lunch at work, I hope to be able to put down some base colors on the Skeleton units - spears hafts and shields, then metallics on weapon tips. I might have enough time to paint the tombstones on the units as well.

On the bench - Where's the beef?

The gang's all here

Meaty!

You are the dancin' juve...

Hurr hurr!

Whew

Do you like puzzles? You'll love this!

After years of contemplating on whether or not I wanted to rebase the Marines, I finally broke down and removed the Space Hulk models from the sprues.

I really think GW dropped the ball regarding the Terminator basing, but I think I'll just deal with the lack of detail and leave them as-is.

In other news, I picked up a set of regular Terminators, a set of Dark Angel Command, and a set of Wolf Guard Terminators in order to play the expansion missions with the correct models. I'll never use them for anything else, but I thought it would be cool to see the various chapters performing their own missions.

I think I have a problem...

On the bench - Epic Defense Lines

Having been a bit motivated yesterday, I decided to tackle a project that has been on hold for a long time - Epic Defense Lines. There were some pretty bad casts, so the thought of having to sand everything down to get the pieces level was not something I was looking forward to.

After about 90 minutes worth of cutting, filing, and sanding, though, I now have plenty of bunkers and defense lines for Epic!

Tools of the trade. And yes, that is a belt sander in my pocket...

This is why you wear a respirator, kids

On the bench - Necromunda Escher

I'm finishing up the last five members of the Purple Skulls, my Necromunda Escher gang. Not that I'll actually be able to put them into regular rotation due to a consistent lack of gang income, but at least I'll be able to claim a finished project.

Rule 17 of the Underhive - Biggest hair wins.

Mom said one day I'd put my eye out with those things...

Catch of the day...

More WIPs of Wrath of Kings Hadross:

The Deep Caller - I'm happy with the way the robes look. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do the blending work justice.

Glub glub!

 Deepmen - need a little work on the polearms, but they're just about done.

Tentacles erupting from every orifice...

Kaxes - still a considerable amount of work to do on these.

Only two things are certain - death and Kaxes.

The Gutters - just need to add water effects.

Ooh, stingy...

I'm trying for a verdigris-bronze for the weapons, and that isn't turning out as well as I had hoped, but all in all, I think they're coming out pretty good. Looks like I'll be done in plenty of time for Adepticon!

Something's fishy - I've got crabs!

Two posts in 2015? Bleh. Let's try to do a little better in 2016, ok? Ok.

Don't confuse this with Kings of War, like I do. All of the time.

I'm currently working on a little non-GW related project for Adepticon - a Wrath of Kings Hadross faction. I plan on participating in the Intro level games, so I'm starting with the contents of a Starter box. What's cool about WoK is that you get 90% of what you need to need to play the game in a starter box. The only other things you need are a handful of 10-sided dice, a copy of the free rules, and possibly some markers (to mark effects or objectives.) If you hang out on Ebay, you can get into the game for under $35, with no reason to ever buy anything else (unless you want a larger game.) That's pretty awesome!

The faction I picked (due to there being far fewer boobs than in other factions) is Hadross. The elevator pitch is that their leadership made a deal with some "Water Elementals" (i.e. Demons/Aliens) and, as a result, their people receive the dubious benefit of resembling the contents of your local seafood buffet.


First up on the WIP bench is a Gutter Friar - yeah, the game is full of weird names like that, but I give Cool Mini or Not points for not going with the default Elves, Dwarves, and Humans that we've seen in a thousand other games.

You jelly?

 Next, close cousins of the Gutter Friars, the Sevridan Gutters.

Oh yeah, we're jelly...

 Finally, comes the Calith Reaver a.k.a "I have no idea how I'm going to put this guy on his base."

Welcome to the Krusty Krab!

I've only played one game so far, but the low model count, inexpensive buy-in and short (18 pages!) and simple (and free!) ruleset makes Wrath of Kings almost a no-brainer and a nice addition to my collection.

Do you like awesome things? Sure you do.

Came across this today - Darkspace. It appears to be a Tumblr showcasing unused sketches and art from (what appears to be) Dave Gallagher. There is some really great concept art here - it really makes you realize what a cool direction GW could have gone in, instead of the direction they chose. Check it out! Special thanks goes out to the person (Mr. Gallagher?) who posted this great treasure trove!

Chaos Marine

Clockwork Multi-barreled Mortar WITH SKELETONS

Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City - $13 at Amazon!

You got your Fantasy Wargame in my Frozen City!

In case you haven't yet heard the rumblings in the miniature community, Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City (Osprey Publishing) is a miniatures skirmish game that sounds very cool and might be a good successor to Mordheim. Each player controls a warband made up of a Wizard from one of ten schools of magic, an Apprentice, and a gang of henchmen. The gangs scour a fallen city, searching for treasure and scraps of lost knowledge and, invariably, fight each other and the multitude of wandering monsters found there. An interesting twist to the campaign element of the game appears to be that only the Wizard in your warband ever gains experience - the henchmen are simply there to soak up damage and help you further your goals.

Garage Gamers goes over some of the basics of the rulebook.In addition to the main rulebook, there is an expansion called Thaw of the Lich Lord slated for a November release, and a collection of short stories called Tales of the Frozen City, releasing in August. Finally, an entire line of metal Wizards and Apprentices and plastic Soldiers are in the pipeline - though, you are, of course, free to use any models from any company. (Pssst - now's the time to break out that old Mordheim warband you've got sitting on the shelf!)

The rulebook normally retails for $25, but currently Amazon is selling it for an astounding $13, which is almost 50% off retail! At this price, picking up the rulebook is a no-brainer - you can barely buy lunch for that price these days. 

Shot through the face - and you're to blame...

We kicked off our Necromunda campaign - Killericsgangomunda (because Dave has a sense of humor) - this past weekend. Four gangs are involved at this point - Orlocks, Delaques, Scavvies, and, of course, my Escher.

We're still getting the rules down, and had a couple of speed bumps along the way, but we all had a good time. Sadly, I lost a ganger in each of my two games, but I was lucky enough to pick up a free Juve in a Settlement in the post-game.

The play of the day for my games came when Pop-Top ran over to a blasted-out window to take out an in-cover Orlock that had been sending out harassment fire for the last couple of turns. Pop-Top shoved her bolt pistol through the window and opened fire, taking the Orlock out of action. Unfortunately, her weapon had a misfire, and exploded - ultimately killing her. As someone commented "If somebody somehow caught on fire and fell off a walkway" in addition to the bolter-in-the-face action, it would have been the most Necromunda thing ever.

RIP Pop-Top - you will be missed...

Too bad none of us remembered to take any photos of any of our games...

Are you ready to rumble?

"Take the refinery - we need that styling gel!"

I've just added a page with (somewhat) decent photos of my Necromunda Escher gang, The Purple Skulls. Check them out using the link at the top of the page or here - or are you scared of a bunch of girls? (You really should be - they're pretty vicious.)

We're going to start a little campaign this weekend as well - hopefully my dice do a little better this time around. Nobody in my gang ever seems to pack enough ammo for a full gang war...

It's not just a job, it's an adventure!

My Bretonnians had a bit of a brush-up with Admiral Dave's Empire fleet this weekend. The Bretonnians started out with a fire in their bellies, but unfortunately, they drank a lot of wine prior to the engagement and wound up putting those fires out.

Buccaneers make great shields, but they did not do a good job aiming with their catapults - a lot of ones were rolled this game (which is typical of me, so why be surprised?)

The Empire won the day, and the remainder of the Bretonnian fleet sailed back to their home port to grumble and pout.

The fleet awaits battle

The Empire fleet comes over the horizon...

 More photos after the break.

Sailing, takes me away...

Progress on the Bretonnian fleet continues:

Make sure your yards are straight before you attach your sails. Sigh...

Actually, I'm a little further along than the photo would lead you to believe. All but one set of Corsairs have sails and the only things remaining are to add pennants and attach to the bases and touch things up.

I drew up new sails in Photoshop and added a nice gradient to them for a little visual pop. Sadly, you can't tell that in the photo, and it isn't too noticeable in real life either. Bummer.

On the Buccaneers are some masts I had printed up at Shapeways. I think they came out pretty well - they're a little rough due to the material selection, but I think they are a good replacement for the impossible to get original masts.
All in all, I will have two Galleons, two squadrons of Corsairs (6 ships,) and four squadrons of Buccaneers (12 ships!) That's a lot of sails and pennants...

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner!

Best 13 minute 40 second song ever?

Well, due to various issues, it's been a while since my last post. I decided to get back into the swing of things by working on my Man O' War Bretonnians. I primed them, basecoated the yellow, did a Reikland Flesh wash and added the blue. Next up will be the cannon and minor details - I'm not sure if I'm going to paint the trim, though. I think the models look pretty good as they are, and I'm afraid that if I try to paint the fine lines, I'll wind up screwing up the yellow (and we all know how much of a pain yellow is...)

"Yellow, yellow, everywhere, and all my washes stink..."

I've also go the masts and sails to do - the masts should be easy to knock out. In the old days, I printed black and white sails and hand painted them - this time I may just print some high resolution sails out and save myself some time. I've got a little work to do on the bases (mostly ship placement,) but everything is coming along nicely. I think the yellow will look pretty spiffy facing off against Dave's Empire fleet.

There is currently a small craft advisory in the Sea of Claws

I'm hoping to have the fleet completed by the 15th, as we're planning on another gaming day. One of the things I need to do is head over to Headless Hollow/The Esoteric Order of Gamers and print out some ship cards. I'm thinking about redoing all of the magic and Man O' War cards and having them printed on playing cards, being as I sold my sets years ago. Maybe I'll add some new art?

Proposed box art for the Man O' War 2015 Limited Edition re-release

Warhammer Sale on Steam

ANGRY!

This week, Steam is having a sale on the Games Workshop related properties, including:

• Dawn of War Series (which I highly recommend)
• Dawn of War II Series
• Space Hulk Series
• Blood Bowl (Legendary and Chaos Editions)
• Dungeonbowl
• Chainsaw Warrior
• Talisman
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

I would recommend purchasing the complete or master editions, as they are complete collections containing additional missions and whatnot. They're usually only a few bucks more than the standalone game, and you get everything in one, nice package.

This is a great opportunity to get your miniature gaming on even when you can't get together with your buddies!

I've got wood!

What's this? A 12"x9"x3" box has arrived from the Isles of Britan!

What could be inside? A cake? A puppy? A puppy cake?

Necromunda-ish platforms!

In glorious technicolor!

Instructions!

Pages and pages! Well, four pages, anyway.

Wonderful smelling laser-cut wood!

I'm sure it's known to cause cancer in California.

More to come once I start assembling and painting (not necessarily in that order.)

I was kind of surprised the box was as small as it was. I guess I really shouldn't have been, since it is all flat-pack and doesn't take up much space in its unassembled form.

It is a little expensive - freaking shipping is atrocious at $42 USD. I can't blame the seller for that, as I know international shipping is out of control. I was able to "Make an Offer" though through Ebay, and paid $100 (plus shipping) versus $127 (plus shipping.) I should have made a lower offer to see what I could get it for...

For painting, I'm torn between "realistic" metal or trying to replicate the blue-ish silver from the original Necromunda set. We will see if I can get a good color match or not.

Work in Progress - Epic Death Korps of Krieg

I'm hoping to have the army done by NEAT on June 14. I still have to base the light artillery, paint the troops, and base everything up. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get a formation of Leman Russ done as well, but those might wind up being on loan from Cadia if my time runs low...

Macharius and Gorgons

Command Macharius with Twin Vanquisher Cannons

The color is a bit more blue than I had planned, but I found that Drakenhof Nightshade tints more than the previous blue wash. Just gonna roll with it...

Adepticon 2014 Part 2 - Warmaster, Epic, and Loot!

On Friday, we arrived to the Warmaster tournament- we had armies representing Chaos, the Empire, Orcs and Goblins, Dark Elves, and High Elves. My Chaos army did well against the Orcs and Goblins, but were crushed against the might of the Dark Elves, and later, the High Elves. In fact, the battle with the High Elves was so bad that I couldn't take it any more and wound up calling the game. It was really a pathetic showing by the Dark Gods...

As with last year, I won best painted with this army - I got a set of the Badger Minitaire Ghost Tints this time around, so I need to figure out how to use the things. I think I'm going to try for another army next year - maybe Khemri Undead or Orcs and Goblins. Hopefully I can get them painted in time...


And because they were so good, we went back to Burrito Parrilla Mexicana for more tacos and lovely, lovely horchata.

Sunday (I didn't play anything on Saturday,) we had the Epic tournament. Again, a decent showing, though a couple of guys didn't show up. We had Orks, Feral Orks, Space Marines, and Imperial Guard make a showing. It was pretty fun, though the Feral Orks are really tough with the Orkeosaurus units, and I had some really bad rolls against the Space Marines.

While at Adepticon, I was able to score some good deals - I got a Warhammer Khemrian Warsphinx/Necrosphinx kit for $20 and a 40K Ork Battlewagon kit for $25. I also managed to find some of the older Ork Kommandos in gasmasks (sekret Orky side projekt!) and two of the Warmaster Albion character sets, along with some cheap Badger Minitaire paints. Fortunately, I brought a suitcase this year - if I hadn't, there would have been no way to get all my stuff home. At one point, I was zipping up the suitcase and the zipper popped because it couldn't contain all the models, Secret Weapon terrain, and paints.

Unfortunately, the swap meet wasn't as good as last year - apparently people decided to hang onto all their stuff this year. I guess it's for the better though, as my suitcase would have exploded otherwise...