Serpentine dragon

I started collecting White Dwarfs from issue 95, and it was issue 96 that was - and I think still is - my favourite. The centrepiece of that article, for me, was the 'Eavy Metal article on how to paint Nick Bibby's new range of dragons. They are just the most amazing sculpts, with fabulous painting by Mike McVey.

Look at them - just look at them!

(Thanks to Eldritch Epistles for the pictures.)


Back in the day I managed to get the young forest dragon, but with the Australia tax on miniatures the rest were out of my price range. Fast forward to a few years ago when I got back into the hobby and I decided to try to collect the set. Which I did! I got the last of them - the lava dragon - last year.

I water a break from fiddly detail after all the wood elves, so a dragon seemed like the way to go. I've painted the young forest dragon and the young fire dragon, so the serpentine dragon was next up.

And here it is!

Roaaaar

It was really quick to paint. I took a bit more care priming it than I usually  do, so I got a quite nice coverage. The skin is P3 Mouldy Ochre, washed with a mix of MO and P3 Bootstrap Leather. The scales are VMC Golden Olive washed with GW Salamder Green. I used a matte medium in the wash for the first time, and I think it helped give a more even coverage.

Highlights were just drybrushed, which really sped things up. For the base I've used Green Stuff World's cobblestone textured roller and some sphagnum moss that I've soaked in dilute green paint, dried and crumbled to a fine texture.


Really pleased with how it's turned out - I even managed to shade yellow successfully which has never happened before! I went with green so that it'll fit in with the wood elves if I ever decide to give them a dragon. For now, though, it's quite happy sitting in my cabinet. Thanks for stopping by!

The war-host of Maloran Brightblade Part 2

In Part 1 I went through the first three units of my little wood elf army. Each of them was only 5 models. Next up was the massive, by wood elf standards, unit of 16 warrior kinband. I didn't realise these sculpts - sylvan elves - were so popular when I first acquired some. I wasn't planning on having such a large unit, but I found some relatively cheap on eBay and ended up with enough for a good strong anchor for my line (T3 and light armour notwithstanding!). The spears mean six attacks at WS4 which with the elves' high initiative will hopefully prevent too many incoming attacks. The musician is a bit redundant, but it's a nice model and meant a little more variety when painting them.

Spears - perfect for skewering goblins

I had put the archers off until almost the end of the project. Nice looking sculpts, but I hate all the fiddly detail - especially the wrist-bands, shoulder-bands and god-knows-what-else that Jes in his omniscient wisdom chose to adorn them with. Again, more heavily armoured than my theme would suggest because it was less work to paint shields than remove them! On the shields, I wanted to freehand designs on all the shields, but lacking the skill to do artwork I opted for runes - simple but effective.

Jewellery on and ready for fun

The last unit is the falconers. Another fluff unit, as I think they'll have limited usefulness in a game but nothing says wood elves like a squishy unit with insane BS. I'm quite proud of the conversions. I scratched my head for ages trying to work out how to get the right models. There's nothing really that suits even from modern manufacturers. In the end I've press moulded the falcon from Jes elf captain, and the birds from Skaw the Falconer from 4th(?) ed (I got them in a job lot, took the moulds and then sold them on). The fifth bird - the one that looks like a pigeon - is a Reaper Bones familiar.

The elves didn't need too much work - removing weapons and shield bosses - except for a former wardancer who's had a hair replacement and an arm swap to make him look more foresty. By this stage I was a bit over blues and greens, so I've gone for mostly brown.

The general was the last to be painted, while I did the wizard about the middle of the project. When I still liked green. I don't think I'd really have a wizard in a 1000 point army - I think magic with that few points unbalances things a bit - but I really wanted to paint the model. I've loved these elf personality models since I saw the ad for them in White Dwarf 95. They really sum up everything that's great about that era of Citadel miniatures.

And of course, no third edition army is complete without a baggage train. Here, a young messenger and an injured wardancer team up with a family of Halfling pedlars to protect the odds and sods that an army needs to support itself.

And that's the army. It did feel heavy going at times, and I'll be glad for a break. Hopefully one day soon I'll get a game with it and a chance to see how it plays. Thanks for stopping by!

The war-host of Maloran Brightblade

The incursions were the worst in living memory, and living memory is a long time for the elves of the Great Forest. They had begun as the first snows of winter fell, and gained in strength as the land froze. By the spring the enemy was three days' march from the Sacred Grove. With his father absent at the Grand Council it fell to Maloran Brightblade to rally his people and sally forth with his warband and protect the heart of the realm.

At his side was his father's trusted advisor, the old seer Silfeth. Maloran's personal cavalry guard, friends from childhood all, rode out with him. The scouts from the deep wood came, and the falconers from their craggy homes at the forest's edge. A troupe of wardancers consented to stand with them. And his father's people gathered their spears and their great bows and turned their faces towards the foe. The time for great deeds was at hand.

Last year Snickit's Tail suggested a new dad/slow painter challenge to paint a 1000 point army. Some folk on the Oldhammer Australia Facebook group suggested doing something similar. I decided to have a go and picked wood elves. Elves were my favourite race back in my RPG days and as I love Jes Goodwin's sculpts I'd picked up a fair few in the last couple of years.

About 10 months later, it's all done and I have my first ever painted army!

The war-host ready for the fray

I chose a pale, desaturated (is that the right word?) palette as I've always like that subtle lookmon miniatures. I went with lots of greys, purples and blues to suggest the shadowy depths of the forest. Models-wise I wanted an army that I think of as quintessentially wood elf - lightly-armoured and mobile, using hit-and-run tactics. I didn't want to have to buy too many more models so I limited my choices choices a bit that way too.

The wardancers were the first unit I finished. This range is my favourite set of elf sculpts, and I remember looking at the ad for them in a White Dwarf and being blown away by them. They do have  shields and light armour, which doesn't quite fit my lightly armoured plan, but they suffer no movement penalty so I think I can get away with it! Plus 20 points a model is an investment I need to protect! Their blue and grey colours are my favourite combo in the army.

You put your right hand in...

I think the scouts were next. These are a fluff unit - I'm not sure of they'd serve a useful purpose in an army this size, but I think any wood elf force needs its elite woodsmen, er, woodselves. Unarmoured, because I can't imagine scouts clanking around in armour, which means I can't see them lasting too long if I try to use them to screen other troops. The red blotches on the bases are leaves made using a leaf punch from Green Stuff World.

Deadly accurate cannon-fodder

 Next to be painted were the cavalry. These are the only shock elites available to the wood elves. I'd have been quite happy to have them with less armour, but I didn't feel like removing the shield bosses so they have light armour and shields. Three of the models had their heads swapped for more wood elfy ones, including the standard bearer, who started life as a silver helm I bought back in the day. I found the riders curiously unsatisfying to paint - I think because they're rather fiddly.

Half a league, half a league, half a league onwards...

I'll call it a day there - to avoid overly-long-post-syndrome I'll cover the rest of the pale, pointy-eared ones next post. Thanks for stopping by!

Stone barn

It's been a very long time between posts, but hopefully this marks the start of more regular blogging.

My latest completed project is a stone barn.

Over on the Oldhammer Community Facebook group, one of the chaps has started a collaborative project to scratchbuild every building in the Warhammer Townscape pack. I decided to have a go at the stone barn. I already have a few 'rural' terrain pieces and I thought that the barn would complement them nicely.

Unfortunately, I didn't take very many WIP shots. Here it is with the build finished and awaiting painting. The guts of it is 5mm foamcard, with balsa and wood veneer for the timbering. The plaster is polyfilla mixed with water to form a paste, which is then smoothed with a palette knife.

After this picture, I textured the plaster walls with fine sand in a water-pva mix with a bit of brown paint added. It needed two coats to get a relatively even coverage, and even then it's quite patchy. It needed more sand in, I think, and possibly a more dilute glue-water mix. I was a it unhappy with the result at first, but it painted up ok. This is with base colours applied, before highlighting.

And here it is again after drybrushing, detailing and basing. The lichen is fine sand painted with P3 Menoth White Base then with dabs of green.

I'm really happy with how this has turned out. It's the terrain piece that I'm happiest with!
Here's how it looks with some of my other pieces...

Thanks for stopping by!

Portable warpstone reactor

Ulfaston winced as another blast of flame scorched the air above the rocky outcrop behind which he and his men were sheltering. The skaven advance on this flank had been slowed, but the infernal warpfire throwers had Ulfaston's company pinned in place. To his right, the King's Shield Guard were being sorely pressed by a pack of rat ogres, whose handlers were whipping them into a murderous rage.

A momentary lull in the barrage of fireballs allowed Ulfaston to steal a glance over the rock. Behind the phalanx of fire machines, something caught his eye. Enslaved skaven were scurrying from some sort of huge metal ball mounted on a cart out to the fire throwers. Strange protrusions from the ball glowed a sickly green as skaven wearing the insignia of Clan Skryre busied themselves around it.

Seeing the gunners priming and aiming their weapons, the dwarf ducked for cover. The wave of sulphurous fire that washed around the rocks was the fiercest of the battle, and Ulfaston noticed some of his newer recruits begin to waver.

'Hold fast, there!' he bellowed. Then, in a flash of understanding, he called for his nephew Harzad. 'Run around back to old Gutlob and tell him and his boys to bring their fire round 15 degrees east and in a hundred yards. They're to see if they can't take a lump or two out of that wagon in behind the fire rats. And quick about it, boy. Things are starting to heat up around here.'

As Harzad scurried off to the artillery battery, Ulfaston looked over to the shield guard. They were holding their line, but had lost more than half their number while behind the rat ogres a verminous tide of skaven was rolling towards them.

The low whistle of a cannon ball passing overhead told Ulfaston that young Harzad had delivered his message. Two more shots fizzed through above his position. 'Shoot straight, you bastards', Ulfaston muttered into his beard. And then all hell broke loose. Ulfaston didn't see the cannon ball that struck the strange machine. All he saw was the terrible green-orange glow that filled the sky as the explosion set off a chain reaction that detonated the nearby warp fire throwers, and the flames that engulfed his redoubt. Dozens of warriors, dwarf and skaven alike, were incinerated in the firestorm. As he passed out from the heat, Ulfaston's last thought was, 'Anyone for a BBQ?'

The Mk V portable warpstone reactor is a valuable, if volatile, addition to any skaven army. Providing a ready source of refined warpstone right where it's needed most, the reactor can enhance the effectiveness of skaven wizards and war machines, although it can also blow a large hole in the skaven's own lines. The following rules apply to the reactor.

1. The reactor is mounted on a cart pulled by a team of four skaven slaves. The slaves have a standard profile and are unarmoured and armed with hand weapons.
2. The slaves are able to drag the cart at 4 inches per turn. Each slave that is killed reduces the move by 1 inch. The reactor may not make a reserve move.
3. Missile fire directed at the reactor should be randomised between the crew and the reactor. The reactor has T 7 and W 3. If its wounds are reduced to zero, it will explode as detailed below.
4. The reactor is a flammable target. Fire-based attacks that hit the reactor add 1 to their S.
5. Skaven wizards in base-to-base contact with the reactor may rest and regain 2 magic points per turn. This is an exception to the rule in Warhammer Armies p80, and represents the wizards using the freshly refined warpstone to invigorate themselves.
6. Skaven warpfire throwers and jezzails that are in base-to-base contact with the reactor may add 1 to their S as a result of being able to use highly refined warpstone as ammunition. Instead of firing, they may choose to stock up on warpstone. For each turn that they are in base-to-base contact, each team may stockpile 1 shot's worth of warpstone up to a maximum of 3 shots. These shots may be used at any time to gain the +1 bonus to S.
7. Portable reactor technology is in its infancy, and is still highly unstable. At the start of each turn, roll a d20 and consult the table below*
8. If the reactor explodes, place a 2 inch diameter template over the reactor. All models inside the blast area automatically suffer one S 6 hit with a -3 save modifier.
9. Portable reactors cost 85 points, which includes the points cost of the slaves.

*1-3 The reactor stabilises. Subtract 1 from the next turn's die roll only.
4-15 The reactor hums along smoothly. Nothing happens.
16-18 Pressure builds up dangerously, and critical processes start to race out of control. Add 1 to the die roll in all subsequent turns.
19-20 The reactor goes critical and explodes!

Beware the Jabberwock

The wee beastie I mentioned in my last post is the C29 Jabberwock from, I think, 1985. I got him (or her) on eBay a few months ago and have been planning on using it as a test piece prior to having a crack at my growing collection of DS series Nick Bibby dragons (in fact, the collection is almost fully grown - I just need to hunt down the lava dragon. But that's a story for another post).

The Jabberwock in its natural state

Of course, the Jabberwock is also a Nick Bibby model so it's sort of fitting that it is first cab off the rank. So in keeping with my keep it simple philosophy I've based my approach on the article on painting - wait for it - Nick's dragons in WD96. After priming with white and washing with Nuln Oil for a bit of undershading, I added the base colours then drybrushed progressively lighter shades alternating with ink washes. Which gives this sort of result:

Beware the Jabberwock, my son...

I was aiming for 'swamp beast' - dirty, slimy, oozy - and I'm fairly happy that I hit the mark. The skin is perhaps a little dirtier than I would have hoped for, a result I think of using too much Agrax Earthshade over P3 Mouldy Ochre. I had to use a yellow ink glaze to restore the yellow as it ended up too brown.

I was quite happy with the purple wattles on the face - a base of P3 Underbelly Blue washed with VGC violet ink. That's the big lesson I've learned from this model - the base coast can be a much lighter shade than I think it should be, and that'll give it a decent contrast when the ink wash is applied.

So I think I feel confident enough now to tackle one of the smaller dragons from the DS range, though I want to do a few more skaven/elves/chaos dwarves/halflings first...

A rag tag bunch

A few months ago I picked up a job lot of 20 miniatures described as 'Citadel historical' from Gumtree. I don't have many humans, and figured a bit of diversity would be useful. Plus I have an Empire Volley Gun from back in the day that I plan to paint up one day, and a small detachment of troops to accompany it would be good.

Turns out they weren't Citadel, but a mixed bag of Marauder, Harlequin and a few unknowns.Most of them are quite nice, though, especially the handful of MM62 citizens from Marauder, which I think have loads of character. In keeping with my recent philosophy of keeping it simple, I've painted up a few...

Keep it simple...

The halberdiers are from Harlequin, and being largely armour were quite quick to do - two sessions which is good going for me! I used the black-undercoat-white-drybrush technique, but with a heavier drybrush. Base coast, then wash with a deeper shade (not Nuln Oil, as I did for the Heroquest project). I highlighted the faces for a bit of practice, drubrushed the metal bits and voila.

The other two models have a very grizzled old veteran feel to them, so I tried to get an appropriate look - a bit shabby; the sort of characters who have been on many a campaign but are seeing out their days as watchmen in a provincial town.

I'm keeping my eye out for any more MM62s, as I like the idea of having some non-combatants for any games I might play in the future, plus they're a fun range!

Next up on the painting table is a couple of elves, and then I think I may tackle a wee beastie...