The final thing I’ve finished recently is another squad of obsolete marines for the Steel Guard. Apparently Assault Squads are completely pointless in 8th edition because there are flying primaris marines who are much better. I expect the same to be the case in 9th, but if oldhammer is about anything its about playing for the love of the game and not picking your team based upon a complex series of equations most guaruanteed to deliver victory. I hope to play more games of 9th edition than I did of 8th (i.e. five or more games), but I reserve the right to throw an assault squad onto the table if I feel like it.
The highlight in this squad is that Ive slipped in a christmas marine, as I felt that his wobbly stance would work as a landing pose. You will probably agree that is doesn’t particularly, but that’s life. Sergeant Plaid is a Space Crusade sergeant whose fat power glove should have been painted as a foam fist really. Next time!
Last one from me for a while… plenty more on the painting desk waiting to be finished. Some time ago I backed Midgard’s Village of the Witches Kickstarter, though I can’t remember what it was that I particularly wanted. I think that I felt a box of assorted witches would come in useful in some project or other, which is as good as reason to buy minis as I’ve ever found. These were part of it, there is a witch model to match each of these ladies. It felt like a nice change of direction so I got to work. Again, most of this is contrast paint over gloss white primer. When all this is over (will it ever be over, or have we just fallen into the quasi-fascist dystopia we’ve been expecting all our lives) I must get some Grey Seer and see how that goes. Some of these ladies I really enjoyed, but the posh one I struggled with. Finally the Witchfinder also suffered the ravages of the chaos puppy so he’ll go for stripping and maybe become part of another project. Oh yeah, finally part deux, I’m going to play my first game of D&D tonight… I’m anxious in case I’m crap at it! Seriously need this brain to give it a rest ffs… Thanks for reading, stay safe and take care of each other!
Another completed set. Now, fourteen months after purchasing it, I have completed the Kill Team: Rogue Trader set… not that I ever play it, but these are lovely miniatures. I mostly enjoyed painting them, although I had a few moments of crisis along the way… in the end Vayne turned out well, nothing was a write off, and I learnt from the experience… mostly I learned that my finished miniatures shelf wasn’t as safe and secure as I’d thought… one of the Starstriders fell in action to a puppy of chaos… (I also painted the canid so its markings matched those of my first dog…)
Thinking about it now I probably should have turned this lad into a daemon prince or something like that, but its always nice to have a giant around in case you need anyone stepped on. Giant Hayhouse is a mid-period Warhammer miniature, and area that is usually out of the scope of my interest but he came to me as part of a joblot so why not eh? More contrast practise on this lad, I’m feeling my more confident about them now. Should have given him a coat of varnish though…
Its been a funny few months hasn’t it? At the end of January we got another dog, a puppy to be a friend to our traumatised whippet. We brought a charming little lurcher puppy into our household, and we’ve had two months of stress since then as we’ve all had to learn about the new format of the family unit and how we fit together. There have been a lot of days when I’ve said to myself,if I find it this hard caring for a puppy then I am not going to manage kids…; plenty of times when I’ve wondered if we haven’t taken a household of two happy adults and one happy dog and made a household of four unhappy creatures; and times when I’ve disappointed myself at my own failings. In amongst all this there hasn’t been a lot of time for painting. I’ve barely been outside for two months! So pandemic and lockdown hasn’t made a lot of difference to my day-to-day life! Its still mostly about ensuring the needs of my doggies are met… things are much calmer now, the dogs are friends, we’re not house-trained yet (70 days and counting, but to be fair to her she spent the first four months of her life living in a barn and pissing where she liked, so its kind of engrained), and the biggest hit is that our dog socialisation has had to go our of the window and we’re worried that she’ll pick up insanity from him rather than him picking up sanity from her…
I don’t normally write about my life because its not really very interesting, but I wanted to give some context to my work. and the pictures I post over the next day or two. I hope everyone is staying safe and being sensible to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Warboss Uzbog, featured a few posts back, already had a Big Mob, and so he needs a retinue. This post will show off his retinue nobz, and their custom battlewagon. I enjoyed building and painting the battlewagon particularly, I was influenced by a piece in Fantasy Miniatures. That guy’s work is far better than mine but I hope that the spirit of Orkish kustomisation is with me too.
Uzbog’s retinue nobz
Uzbog’s nobz in their kustom battlewagon… 280 points of orks
Hello again and welcome to 2020. Since my last post its been Christmas and New Year, and then we’ve done something silly and got ourselves a new puppy. I’ve not had a lot of painting time since then 😦 She’s lovely though.
Now, the two main points of “interest” with this warband were 1) further experimentation with contrast paints; and 2) painting a random selection of miniatures in the way that I did when I was a kid! Point 2 needs no explanation, but point 1 maybe does. I followed some intructions for painting with source lighting from above. So I sprayed these minis black all over, then gave a grey spray from above, and then a white spray from above. I was hoping that the white would help the colours to pop out, as if there was a strong sun above – this warband is wandering parched chaos wastes. I think I’ve had mixed success. Mostly the source lighting failed and I don’t really know why. Likewise where it worked I don’t know why it worked. Was it my choice of colours or paint? Why are the mutants so dull whilst the Warqueen looks great? Still, I think I’ve learned a few things and I’ve painted some lovely miniatures. I really enjoyed painting the Warqueen – one problem with the beautiful modern minis GW is churning out at the moment is that they are so very detailed that it is hard for us mediocre painters to do anything with them. This one has just the right amount of stuff on it, a challenge but not impossible. The chap with the warhammer was fun too…. his tab just says OLDHAMMER but I can’t remember getting him. The chaos toilet was great, I really enjoyed painting it but I think that I could have done a lot better. The zombie ninja was fun too and simple. I messed up the shaman lady, I should have used different colours. The chaos warriors were tricky, I am not pleased with any of them really. The not-chaosette was a nightmare to paint, lots of faint detail, hard to get any of it right. The rhino-monster I enjoyed and I felt like I got the tattoos right too. In true chaos style, even the paineous bits were a pleasure!
There are bad things going on in Warmington-on-Sea… a few years ago I picked up a box of Warlord Games’ Dad’s Army miniatures for their Bolt Action game. I was going to turn them into an Imperial Guard platoon, but this was a lot more fun…
Just a quick update before I get to some juicy stuff later… Brother Russkikh is a lovely old Rogue Trader Chaplain which has some fantastic details on it but a horrible helmet. I did the best I could with the face but it doesn’t look very skull-like. I have to say that it looks better in the metal, as it were. The picture here is not very flattering at all! Oh well, its hardly spoiling my chances of getting called up for an invitational 😀
You know how it goes, you have so many projects going on that none of them ever seem to get anywhere… so it has been with my Ork Freebooter army. In order to field a valid Freebooter army I need a warboss, retinue, and big mob to attach all the Freebooterz to. I did the big mob some time ago… https://leadmess.com/2016/07/02/waargh-dakka-dakka-its-grimsniks-ouseold-boyz/ so maybe I should get a shift on… therefore, here I present Wazgut Uzbog, Bad Moon Warboss. Wazgut is only a minor warboss at the moment, but he has some grand ideas, if only he had the boyz! So he’s spending teef like there’s no tomorrow in the hope of carving out a decent Empire for himself and winning some good scraps at the head of an army of freaks and outcasts…
The miniature is, I think, from Knightmare. The sculptor has really caught the essence of Ansellite Orkishness, and yellow contrast paint is really very good indeed. This mini was so quick to paint that I think I should go back and try and do some black and white checks or something… but i always fuck it up when I try to get too clever so maybe its done!
The Eldar of Craftworld Lugganath are considered savage and uncivilised by other Eldar. There are far more of them devoted to reaving and piracy than from other Eldar societies, and they are warlike and cynical, hasty and bloodthirsty. As the 41st millenium (by human reckoning) breathes its last, Arthmael’s Corsairs are struggling to find their way back to the spires of their home. Eldar Corsairs are often young Eldar who have been blooded as Guardians in war, but who have not yet devoted themselves to the path of the warrior. They travel in search of new webway routes and entrances, reaving and stealing as they go, hopping from real-space into the webway and back again, acting as scouts and pathfinders for Lugganath society. Arthmael led a corsair gang operating on the far Eastern edge of the Segmentum Obscurus, and was mid-way through a standard exploration expedition when the Great Rift opened. This explosion of chaos damaged the webday, destroying some paths, pouring daemons into others. Whilst Arthmael’s unit were not in the webway at the time, they have struggled since then to find a way back. Shortly after the opening Arthmael, a skilled and cunning Warlock, was killed by a ricochet during an attempt to gain entrance to a webway portal occupied by the Death Guard. Since Arthmael’s death, the rest of the corsair squad has been whittled down by attrition in any number of battles with chaos and Imperial forces. They lack basic equipment and have been reduced to plundering human weapons and even food. They are squabbling amongst themselves, and becoming nihilistic in outlook…
I have never painted Eldar before, so this was a fun diversion. I used mostly contrast paints, which I am starting to get used to. The Eldar themselves are a mix of Rogue Trader Guardians and Third Ed. Dark Eldar. Bits of this work and bits don’t, but I’m fairly happy with it. I chose Lugganath because I wanted a nice bright colour-scheme, which it certainly it. One thing I never noticed before is that all the RT Guardians have cloths hanging from their belts. Could this be a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code? Considering that Orks called Eldar pansies I suspect it might be.
Doris Plunger's Lead Mess 