Hammer and Rhino

   The last units needed for the game at the weekend were a Rhino transport (I probably need a few more in the future) and a Hellbrute. I'm a big fan of both models, I always like Rhino chassis and who doesn't like a dreadnought?

   I didn't buy the Rhino with an actual plan in mind of what it would carry, but  it was always likely to end up carrying the Eightbound unit and in game this is what it ended up doing, although, in the future it would be great to have one per Berserker unit. I tried to make it a bit more Khorne-y by putting a H Girder on the front to help balance as many skulls or useful helmets as I could find in my bits box*. I had meant to put more black panels on this to break the red up but remembered my plan by the time I was varnishing it**.

*next one I'll get the Battlefield Trophies next

**next time!

   The Hellbrute was bought one night sitting up with one of my children*** when I had this brilliant idea of what I wanted to do with one. I hadn't even thought beyond just having a Combat Patrol, so it was surprise the next morning when it dawned on me what I had done.

   I've added the chains pinned into it's arms to show that it is chained down when not in combat, a Khorne icon hanging from the waist from the Juggernaut sprues and added a trophy spike from the vehicle upgrade sprue as a good Khorne worshipper needs some skulls.

***I forget which at this point

   This post was meant to be posted on the day of the game, but I forgot, so I thought I would finish the post with a photo from the day instead, picking one that has both the units mentioned above in it. The Rhino didn't last long, so that was a tougher ask.

Thanks for reading

Nuceria Calls

   The only thing I had to buy for the coming game was a single unit of World Eater Berserkers. There were a few ideas I had but, ultimately, I thought if I was buying anything with a deadline to paint, it should be some regular troops that might otherwise end up in my backlog and never get done. This was a brilliant plan, but a child coming down with Chickenpox really put a spanner into the works with the deadline looming.

   In the novel Angron, one of the characters that the novel follows is a traitor marine from a Blood Angel successor chapter (I forget which one) who has answered the call of Khorne and joined a World Eater warband, his whole motivation throughout the novel is that he is desperate to get the "nails" so he can really be one of them. When I bought my 3rd squad of berserkers I knew I wanted a small nod towards this, so I built one guy with a Blood Angel chain sword and Blood Angel'ly pad.

Thanks for reading

Rebound By Eight?

   I've actually got a game lined up at a new club while I continue to wait for Wayland Games to open their new gaming space. The game is at a bigger points limit than I usually play at, but I'm not going to sniff at the chance to get some toys out.

   I have a couple of armies that I could break out that are either already at the 2000 point level or I could very easily get them to that level, however, I'm currently painting my World Eaters and I think it makes sense to use this as the kick up the bottom and get that army done.

   I've pulled every World Eater model I own into a list and worked out what the quickest way to 2000 points was without buying too much. This has turned out to be using the Khorne Daemons I already own to boost my numbers using the detachment that allows me to add them to my mortal army.

   This post is the first couple of units that I already owned that I've pushed up my to do list. A Lord on Juggernaught that was already a priority due to him being in my combat patrol, then the last 3 Eightbound that I bought to add to the unit I already have.

   The Juggernaught riding Lord, I tried to match his Juggernaught to the regular daemons barring the brass trim where I just like the new paint scheme so much more. If I had time to go back and tidy my daemons I would, but I don't today.

   The 3 Eightbound built and painted the same as the other 3 (full unit, next photo down), although I tried to swap backpacks and, I think, a weapon or two for some variety. I still really like these figures and there is a risk that if they do well next weekend, I might pick up the Eightbound character and a unit of the upgraded ones.

   I've got 3 units left to paint in the next week and have very little actual painting time, but I shall push as best I can!

Thanks for reading 

Land Raider Redeemer

   Over Christmas, when I was thinking a lot of Grey Knight vs Daemon thoughts I was toying with small lists and the one thing I kept adding to lists was a Land Raider. It was only when I finally caved and ordered myself one that I decided on the Redeemer variant with the extra flame throwing goodness, mostly as I've painted a few of the basic one in one form or another.

   Like the two units I've just posted about, this model was built, sprayed and had the base metals done fairly early but then sat on the side of my desk for months while I worked on other things.

   I suspect this model was the real reason the last batches of Grey Knights didn't move past the basic metals, I just wasn't sure what to do with it. I've used a few blocks of white and red in the normal Grey Knight heraldry patterns to break the shiny metal up but I still think this tank is missing something - possibly it's just too clean?

It was only when I came to photograph the model that I also noticed I hadn't stuck any purity seals on, which might have broken up the solid block of colour a bit more?

Thanks for reading

Grey Knight Characters

   This post is about the two terminator HQ choices I have for my Grey Knights. The librarian came in the combat patrol and was painted up at the same time as the rest of the project, I just didn't post about him for some reason, while the brother captain/grand master (depending on what I need them to be) was Christmas present that sat half finished for too long on the side of my desk.

   The commander is a Kaldor Draigo figure that I had been toying with picking up to use as the base for a brother captain/grand master as there isn't really much of a choice in that department for the Grey Knights but I was beaten to the punch and gifted one instead. This figure had enough details and bits on them that I thought I could make them stand out, however, as it's finecast, most of those details are fairly soft and I spent a lot of time going back over bits where a little edge of a new detail appeared after a wash or drybrush in the area and I realised there was a bit I had missed*.

   I swapped the back banner and took the shield off to change the overall feel of the model and it was only while painting him that I noticed he now has two guns. . .

*I found a lot of little purity seals this way

   The librarian is a much more simple job as I think all I did was a shoulder pad swap and a shield. Its only in hindsight that I wish I'd done slightly more on him to make him really fit into the army, but as its a generic space marine model that's trying to fit into the Grey Knight look.

Thanks for reading

Squad Matteo

   When I was last painting up my August Lion space marines I had this bright idea of swapping the Terminator Librarian's force sword using the grey knight kit but I just could not find my spare sprues, a quick look on eBay later and I had a cheeky low bid on a new sprue of terminators, expecting to lose but not worried if I won.

   Obviously, the quickest way to find something old is to replace it, so once the bid was placed I remembered where the sprues were but it was too late to do anything about the bid and I promptly won these ones as well. I dutifully built, sprayed and started painting them fairly quickly* and then moved onto other projects.

*no maturing for these sprues

   Fast forward a bit and I'm sitting in my shed trying to decide what to paint and I spot the Grey Knights that I have been moving out the way constantly around my desk for weeks and its pretty clear they need to be finished and put away. I've painted them identically to the other two squads of terminators with the only difference that this squad has an apothecary who has a bit more white in their colour scheme.

Thanks for reading

Blood Jakhals

   Jakhals are the World Eater version of regular Chaos Marines' Cultists, but jacked up on a weird blood based performance enhancing chemical as such I ignored the way GW painted their box art with black clothing and red details to make them look like the World Eater wannabies that they are. Ideally, I'd like to have a whole bunch of cultists between these guys and the regular ones that all look similar but also show where they come from.

   The real pity of this unit is they are a nightmare to build with lots of small wrist joints that don't make sense until you get them right and they are surprisingly busy and difficult to paint for a unit that is so cheap on the battlefield. I'd like to put 2 or 3 of these units on the board and be able to throw them away without caring but the motivation to paint that many would not be easy to find.

Thanks for reading

The Deluge - C17th Test Units

   I think I mentioned after Salute this year, that I came away not having spent much money at all. The one thing that did really tempt me was a game by a Polish games designer called By Fire and Sword, which had just released it's 2rnd edition. The set of rules focussed on the wars the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth found itself in during the 1600's, with various invasions by the Ottoman's and a couple by either the Swedish or the Holy Roman Empire. I managed to not buy the starter set but spent the next couple of weeks trying to decide if I regretted that choice or not.

   At the same time, someone on Bluesky was trying to encourage me to start a 10mm project as they have been saying its like 15mm, which I think look great on the table, but better and cheaper. I didn't want to double (or triple) up on any era, so I wasn't going to jump into any project. Then it dawned on me that I was interested in a new era and I had a scale I wanted to try, why didn't I dip my toes to test the theory?

   I plan to use Pikeman's Lament to play these - although, I'm keeping the basing vague enough that other rules can take over in the future - with two bases of any model being a unit*. I had looked at copying the By Fire and Sword starter set with The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on one side and the Ottomans on the other, but realised if I looked at the eastern side of their realm about 20 years earlier I could do a cheaper intro game against the Swedish instead and, if I enjoyed the scale, I could work up to the Ottomans. The back of the book has units for such an engagement, so I'm copying that for my initial game - which is only 11 units between the two sides, still a lot of figures but more manageable than the Ottoman units.

*making half strength units easier to track and set up easier

   I bought a few test packs just to see if I enjoyed the painting side before I bought whole armies and this post is the first of those units - the Polish Winged Hussars and some Swedish Musketeers. 

The first unit of Polish Winged Lancers has come up a treat if I say so myself. They need to have some grass of some sort to break their bases up but otherwise, I'm really pleased with them

I then decided to test out infantry. The exact lists I want to try need 2 units of Commanded Shot - which are half sized musket units - but I wanted to see how the full sized units would look too, so I used a single pack to do a unit of each.

The Commanded Shot unit below

The regular unit of Musketeers

I'm working my way through some more Polish Winged Hussars as I type, but I am now fairly confident this project is doable. The pennants on the Hussar's lances might break me though.

Thanks for reading

Bound By Eight?

   I'm trying to focus on the figures from the World Eater combat patrol when I am painting this project but I had an unexpected bit of weekend painting time and wanted a project I could get the bulk of the way through before that time went away and I picked a 3 man unit, the Khorne Eightbound. These are effectively the World Eater version of regular Possessed Marines but with a bit more Khorne-y flavour.

   I have another box of these to build that were going to be their own unit, but I think I might use them to bulk this squad up instead.

Thanks for reading

The Blood Calls

   As always I have a few projects I'm working on and they vary day to day in which I think is the priority, but my World Eater project is one of the ones that keeps annoying me that it isn't further along. I really enjoy looking at these figures but the trim is trying to break my tired mind, so I'm having to take breaks between batches.

   This is the second squad of regular berserkers and the last of them that I own*. I painted them the same as the first unit but I gave them slightly more black on their armour just for a bit of variety and to break the vast amount of red.

*although I think I'd like at least one more squad at some point

Thanks for reading

The Spanish Arrive

   The next unit of Carthaginian troops from the Warlord Games epic sprue are the Spanish Scutarii. As these seem to be Celtic in origin, I tried to go for bright colours so that they stand apart from the North African infantry.

I need to find my spare sprue of bases to get much more done, but I'm enjoying how this project is starting to look.

Thanks for reading

The Libyans Arrive

   I've played a few games of Rebels and Patriots using a single sprue of the epic scale American Civil War figures from Warlord Games, with each base counting as a 12 wound unit, which I've found to be a really good way of showing how cheap wargaming can be while still moving "real" figures around a table.

   So when Warlord Games released their Hail Caesar range of epic scale, and then sprues came free with a magazine, it was only a matter of time before I had some painted. I'm pretty lucky that the gamers I have round me aren't interested in these sprues so I've doubled up on numbers without any extra costs.

   My brother and myself are slightly modifiying how we are building armies compared to how I did it for the American Civil War stuff with two bases being a full wound unit. There are a few reason for this; 

1. It helps with game play. In Lion Rampant a unit is either full strength or half strength in terms of how it fights, so being able to take a base off really highlights that.

2. It makes working out unit sizes tidier. It doesn't matter if one army has 5 figures to a base and another is 20, 2 bases are a full unit.

3. It allows the blocks to looks like useful blocks in this scale. 5 Horsemen in 13mm don't look too impressive, 10 ranked up do - then 40 infantry just look really pleasing.

The block of Heavy Infantry. I'd like a second block of these in time, but would need a one more sprue which isn't a priority.

The unit of Cavalry plus their captain/General.

Thanks for reading

Another Light Exploratory Vehicle

   While I am trying to focus on the key projects that need to get onto the table, sometimes you just need to paint the thing in front of you and in this case its another Genestealer Cult Achilles Ridge Runner. I just love these things - are they any good, not really, but just look at them.

 

   This one came in the Combat Patrol box I bought just after the new codex dropped as I needed two of the squads of infantry that came in it and couldn't get them cheap enough any other way but as I really like these, it wasn't a hardship to have a second one.

   This one has been painted identically to the older one, down to trying to match the transfers I put on it to break up flat areas. The only difference is that I worked out how to build the guy in the back on this one and I didn't lose the spotter in the side bit after finishing the paint job.

With it's partner in crime

Thanks for reading

Fjord Serpents - Karvi Longship 2

  I'm still trying to focus on getting on with a few key projects* that I want to be able to put on the table as soon as gaming becomes a bit easier again, and Fjord Serpents is pretty high on that list. The aim is still to get a single starter box done asap with the second to follow once a test game has been played.

*he says fully knowing what the next post will be

   This is the 3rd ship I've finished and is the second Karvi, which is the smaller of the two classes in the box. It holds 4 bases of infantry and I decided to give it a sail to link it to the Snekkja I finished last week.

Thanks for reading

Fjord Serpents - Snekkja Longship

   I came away from Salute this year after spending less than £20 on myself*, and that was only on dice**, a single pot of paint and some questionable gnomes, mostly because as I walked around the show looking at the games, I realised just how many rulesets/collections I've not even put on the table yet and this rather killed my appetite to buy more things. Recently, I've been trying to focus on getting some of the unfinished and unused armies ready for the table top and had a few quick wins - see my 2mm projects, however, my Fjord Serpents project isn't going to be quick, so I need to make sure I am making some movement on it.

*lets not ask about the mug full of dice my 4 year old was desperate for

**because everyone always needs new dice

   This is the larger of the two ship types in the main boxset - the Snekkja. It carries 6 bases of troops compared to the Karvi's 4, and with the main box having two leader models I am giving them to the Snekkjas.

   I've painted the ship and crew in a similar way to the last ship, changing the exact paints used on the crew as I didn't write them down and I plan to mix bases up a bit more for variety anyway. Plus I did the same sail pattern that I have on my 28mm ship from Adrian's Walls.

   Ideally, I need to get two more ships finished so I can test the rules out and then start on the last 4. This is very much a game I am aiming to get done, so that when Wayland Games reopens, I can play it there.

Thanks for reading

More Tiny Romans

   While I was pushing the Gallic side of this project along, I tried to make sure the remaining Roman elements were also done.

   Initially this meant getting the base of skirmishers done as they were a type of unit I hadn't otherwise done any of. These are a unit type that look really effective in person but slightly odd in picture form.

Then with the Gauls finished, I went back and did the last two bases of Roman Legions.

   With enough to play the planned scenario, I tried to get the cards and command boards at Salute and had no luck, but at least the figures are ready to go.

Thanks for reading

Tiny Gauls

   I had an idea a few weeks back that as I bought the vast bulk of my 2mm projects at Salute a couple of years ago, that I should get them finished before this Salute. So I spent a day building and priming all the bases before taking them in batches to paint.

   I plan to do an army shot of this project but for the moment I'll present them in the batches I painted them in.

My Gallic Warband test base. This got repainted a couple of times as it kept looking like a Smarties chocolate bar. I was pretty pleased with this end result.

With a base under my belt, I decided to get the project moving and did 3 bases of warband at the same time. I was pleased with the result, but it was harder work than it looks like it should be.

I then backed down to doing 2 bases of warbands at a time which was a happy medium between ease of painting and speed of project movement.

With a fair few bases of regular warbands done and the hope I could at least get this on the table unfinished I moved onto a "trained warband" which represents a more elite formation and a base of cavalry, which I had positioned to look a lot less organised than the base of Roman cavalry. I said on the Roman post that the cavalry was the base I least looked forward to painting, but its the one I ended up enjoying the most.

I then did another warband base along with a base of skirmishers, again in the attempt to round the army out before I focussed on actually finishing it. The skirmishers look good but the extra surface area on the sides added a lot more time to the painting process.

The last two bases of warbands finished a couple of days after Salute.

   I've been posting these to BlueSky as I've been finishing them and the author of the game, Mark Backhouse has been encouraging me along, which is really nice to see online. While I didn't finish these by the target date, I'm not too upset. 

Thanks for reading