Terrain Update - The house that Trev built pt. 1

With the conclusion of the Vogen campaign that I was running, the hobbyist in me has been gravitating towards Warhammer Fantasy projects as a change of pace.  With the release of the new Warriors of Chaos book, this urge has only grown stronger.  As an additional bonus, this new-found enthusiasm for Fantasy means that I'll finally be starting work on terrain that will decorate my own table as opposed to the many tables of my local club.

The house I've included above is a terrain project that I've been working on in fits and spurts for the better part of a year now.  Towards the end of last year, I was inspired to finish the building process and begin painting.  For the most part the painting process is completed with the exception of a couple of detail pieces and the liberal application of snow. Suitably inspired by my efforts, I decided to build a second, albeit much smaller house to act as a companion to this one.  Below are series of WIP shots of not only the smaller house as it comes together, but as a bonus, I've also included WIP pics of the big house as well.  Hopefully, this will provide you guys with some idea how both projects have come together.

Big House Framework:

Little House Framework:

I'd love to hear what everyone thinks of this project.  I'd also like your thoughts on possible details I could add to the little house in a similar vein to the ones decorating the larger house.  Should I go with more horned skulls or should I do something different?

Catch you all later,

Trev

Campaign Update: The Invasion begins!

So the invasion of Norsca has begun, with no less than 7 contenders stepping up to see if they can carve out a chunk of the Northern lands for themselves.  But who are the contenders you ask?  Who are these brave and / or foolish men who have led their men to almost certain death?  Read on to find out.

Army: Warriors of Chaos

Player: Me

Forewarned of the invading fleet by the Daemonic Messenger of Tzeentch, Romulus Ironwolf has mobilised as many warriors as possible in the time available, assembling them in an area just inland from of the southern coastline.  From there, canny use of scouts and raiding parties has provided Romulus with a general idea of enemy army deployments and the positioning of potential allies...

Army: Empire

Player: Starkey

And so the invasion has finally begun.  Empire Forces of Talabheim dispatched by the Grand Theologist made landfall on the Southern Coast of Norsca before quickly establishing a foot-hold along the base of the mountain ranges that protect Norsca from invasion from the West. 

Army: Lizardmen

Player: Mitch

Through the magical manipulation of the mighty Slaan, a great host of Lizardmen have appeared led by a powerful Scar-Veteran.  While their motives are as yet unknown, Romulus Ironwolf has on several occasions led successful raids into the Jungles of Lustria; stealing countless treasures and curios from the Temple Cities he discovered. 

Army: Brettonian Errantry War

Player: Jamie

A new Errantry War has been declared!  With the declaration of this latest crusade, the noble sons of Brettonia have ridden forth into the lands of the Norse, determined to return the years of raids and murder inflicted upon their own peoples with extreme prejudice.  Led by a noble Brettonian Lord mounted on a Hippogriff, all engagements will prove to be bloody affairs as the Knights Errant desperately attempt to prove their worth to the Lady of the Lake.

Army: Vampire Counts

Player: Master Goodchild

The armies of the Undead have risen once more to wage war upon the living as a Malevolent Vampire Lord emerges mere leagues from the current camp of the Wulfkin Tribe.  The Norscan people can think of no worse fate for their warriors than to be trapped in the eternal servitude of undeath.  With the remains of beloved ancestors stolen from their graves, the Wulfkin tribe will stop at nothing to ensure the destruction of the Vampire and return their ancestors remains to the ground.

Army: Chaos

Player: Geordie

While the Wulfkin tribe mobilises to push back the invaders, a Tribe of Kurgan Horsemen have also been seen travelling across the plains of Norsca.  While followers of Tzeentch, it does not mean they do not pose a threat to Romulus Ironwolf and his people.  Perhaps a bargain can be struck and an alliance forged. 

Army: Ogre Kingdoms

Player: Mark

It is not unknown for Ogre Tribes to roam the lands of Norsca.  Staunch warriors of great skill, their presence on the battlefield can turn the tide of battle.  However, when an entire Tribe appears, their insatiable hunger threatens the well being of every human in the area.  Protected by Undead forces, Romulus is acutely aware of just how great a threat these creatures can be.  Especially when they get hungry...

Not that all the players have been introduced, the next article how they did during our first campaign ‘Season’.  Remember that you can download a copy of the players pack here (linky) and if you have any questions or comments about the campaign, by all means let me know.

Catch you all later

Trev

Campaign Update: More Map Tiles Completed

With time rapidly running out until the Norsca in Flames campaign begins, I’ve been pulling out all the stops in order to get the map painted in time.  Considering the relative simplicity of these tiles, they are the perfect to work on while watching TV; especially since the pallet is limited to three major colours and a Badab Black wash.  Snot green is used for fields, Dark Angels Green for Forests and Deneb Stone for the edges.  A small amount of Scorched Brown is used for the Fields, Macharius Orange for the farm houses and a combination of Enchanted and Regal Blue is used for the water features.  All in all it’s a case of Drybrushing the fields and layering paint on the rest before washing the entire surface of the time with Badab Black.  Once dried, the fields a given another coat of Snot Green and the tile is done.  At this point I need to tip my hat to Mark from Project Circle as he was a great help earlier this week, helping me get the map another step closer to being finished.  Thanks to him all the rivers have been painted blue and are ready for a highlight.  

As can be seen in the picture below, the fully painted sections of map are looking quite spectacular.  At this point, I’ve gotten about half the map finished, with only a couple of days left to go before the campaign starts.  While the map won’t be finished before the start date, it will only take another week or two to finish the rest of the tiles.  Until that time however, I’ve still got my army banner to create.  

Catch you all later

Trev

Goblin Bowmen and Metal Marines – Trading with Mates is Fun

The other Sunday during my gaming group’s fortnightly games day, Master Goodchild arrived with a sizable box of goodies obtained by a friend for reasons unknown (not because he didn’t say, but more because I wasn’t really listening properly :-s ). While sorting through the contents, it seemed that he had items for everybody’s army, including enough marines for me to start a Chaos Space Marine Army should I so choose (not sure as yet, but I can’t say no to free miniatures, and certainly can’t refuse classic metal minis). In trade for this veritable bounty, it was agreed by all that we would help get his Goblin army up and running for this year’s Master’s Tournament.

Three goblins into the unit armed with bows, I quickly learned that painting a metric crap-tonne of Goblins requires a level of competency in batch-painting that I as yet do not possess. I got a good deal of practice however, as we set up a bit of a production line between myself and Mark, author of Project Circle. I was studiously painting Goblin skin while he smashed out the orange robes in short order. When it comes to batch painting base colours, I have to admit that GW’s ‘Basecoat Brush’ is ideally suited for the job. As the name suggests, I was able to neatly apply Snot Green over a swathe of area and in very short order. That said I did take me the entire night to get the skin of the 25-odd goblins painted to a standard that I could live with.

I've also learned that when it comes to painting other peoples miniatures, I’m not as critical of my work as I am with my own, at least when they tell me that they’re not after the same level of detail as I usually use on my own minis. It was pleasantly refreshing to paint a model to basic table-top quality again (even if the sheer number of mould lines present on each of the models will ruin the effect once the Devlan Mud wash is applied). Thankfully, Mark is much more experienced with the whole batch-painting process and not only was able to smash out the orange robes, but also touched up the hafts of the bows and repainted the quivers on each of the little blighters.

By the end of the night we had finished applying all the base colours to the entire unit in preparation for washing next week. After quickly tallying up the points for the unit, I will never complain about the low cost of Marauder infantry ever again. 2 points a pop is a stupidly low number when you’re basing your painting progress on the amount of points that you have managed to paint over a period of time. Being that one of my Marauders is worth 2.5 Goblins when given a weapon option, makes me thankful that they’re not any cheaper. Anyway, I’ve included some pics of the progress that was made during the first paint night, as always C&C is very welcome.

Catch you all later

Trev

Gamers, Doin’ it for themselves!

So an interesting topic came up the other night during our club’s weekly painting session and I thought it’d be interesting to get everyone else’s opinion on it too.  The topic of discussion was:  ‘Is Forgeworld Legal and should it be allowed in Tournaments?’  I strongly believe that it should and the reasons why are as follows.

1. For: ‘It’s our hobby’ – We’ve been told time and time again by Games Workshop that this is our hobby and we should do what we want to with it.  I can appreciate the security in knowing that List X or Unit Y have been vetted by the GW team and they have deemed it worthy of the rubber stamp of officialdom but seriously, do you really think that all these army books / codices are play tested to death to ensure that everything is fair and even?  If you do, I’ve got three things to say to you:

                                                               i.      Army Book: Daemons of Chaos

                                                             ii.      Codex: Blood Angels

                                                            iii.      Codex: Grey Knights

The fact is Forgeworld consistently releases test rules that players can download for free (FREE!), test out in their own games of 40K and Fantasy at home and provide feedback to the designers for moderation. Forgeworld is not above changing the rules for something if there is sufficient reason to. Just ask Carl and Geoff at the Independent Characters.

2. For: ‘Warhammer is not designed to be a Tournament game’.  This should be no surprise to anyone as GW has been making this statement for as long as I can remember (and probably longer as many Warhammer Veterans can most likely attest to).  The fact of the matter is gamers themselves have been making alterations to rules and army composition for years so making a decision on whether to allow Forgeworld units (with or  without certain exceptions to the rules) should be no great leap in all honesty.  There are many tournaments in the US that allow Forgeworld units so long as they don’t possess Mass/ Structure Points.  

3. Against: ‘If GW made Forgeworld official, people would be able to buy FW Armies without fear of not being able to use them in Tournaments’.  My counterpoint to that is this:  There’s nothing that Forgeworld makes that you can’t field as a ‘counts-as’ army using those miniatures.  Hell, I've seen entire other races being used as a ‘counts as’ army using the so-called “Official” GW model range.  The 40K ‘Orkquisition’ army comes to mind here.  At least with FW, you’re facing guardsmen that look like actual guardsmen, not Armoured Orks that are supposed to be a Space Marine.  

That being said, if you’re buying a Forgeworld army, then you’re probably not a power gamer who’s after the most powerful, killy-death army that can wipe your opponent off the table in 0.5 turns.  Forgeworld’s design concepts are heavily fluff-driven and their products are usually purchased by those people to whom this fluff appeals to, not WAAC (Win At All Costs) Gamers.  Honestly can you actually picture facing off against a player with his FW Death Korps of Krieg army with no heavy weapons bar Mortars yelling ‘WAAC! WAAC!’ at you as you smash him off the board with your own IG Mech Guard Army or your Draigowing Grey Knights?

4. Against: ‘If we allow FW units, then where do we draw the line?  Do we allow Fandexes?’  My answer to this is simple:  It’s up to the Tournament Organiser to make that decision.  There’s no all-seeing all-knowing organisation that is going to make you allow Army Books / Codices you don’t want to allow.  This comes back to point 1:  IF YOU DON’T WANT TO DO IT, YOU DON’T HAVE TO.  IT’S YOUR HOBBY!!  If you decide you want to allow FW Chaos Dwarves to be used in Warriors of Chaos Armies, or even allow the use of the Chaos Dwarf Fandex, then you’re well within your rights to do so.  So long as the Tournament Pack makes it clear that the army is allowed (and being used) and they TO doesn't have a problem with it, then why not?  I can think of two groups off hand - The Warhammer Fantasy Battle Reporter Forum and the Codex Project that work tirelessly to produce well designed, Fandexes that undergo rigorous play-testing and review by the 40K and Fantasy communities alike before they are posted as a finished product.  If I were a betting man, I’d make the wager that these Fan works are probably more thoroughly play tested than many of GW’s own works.  If such a thing was true (and the potential for it to be is there), it would be very disappointing to say the least.

Now I leave you all to have your own discussions on the topic.  I hope that my contributons on this area have provoked some new thoughts regarding Forgeworld and possibly Fandexes, and I hope that you have a look at the two sites I mentioned above. 

Catch you all Later

Trev

WOC Update: Khorne in a Can! Bronze Spray Paint = MEGA WIN!!!!!!!

I don’t know about you, but I love wandering through hardware stores.  I’m not a tradesman by any stretch of the imagination and I’d only be considered a handyman if all of your problems can be fixed with the liberal manipulation of kinetic energy using a variety of handy implements (usually large and heavy in nature, quite possibly resembling a hammer or some other type of blunt instrument).  That being said, within every hardware store (and some auto stores too), there is a whole world of wondrous items waiting to be discovered - From blades of every size, shape and inclination to random small hose connections that scream drainage system.  It is within one of these wondrous establishments that I made my greatest discovery – Bronze Spray paint. 

I know, I know, it’s a bit of an anticlimax isn’t it?  For those who already know of its existence, it’s a very ho-hum affair.  But for those such as I, who have slaved under the white light of an eco-conscious fluorescent light bulb, applying layer upon layer of bronze paint onto Chaos Warrior armour, this is a Gift from the very Gods themselves.  With one fell-swoop I’m able to undercoat and basecoat the armour of a Chaos Warrior, creating a solid layer of colour that I can build up from basecoat to highlight in a matter of minutes rather than hours. The best part is – I no longer need my extensive collection of Dwarf Bronze paint pots filled with bronze paint of varying consistency (all of them victims of my inability to come up with a solid paint / water ratio for the GW Spray Gun).  For all of you who actually own an airbrush I am acutely aware of the fact that using the GW Spray Gun of Fail was more than likely a contributing factor.  However all of that is now a thing of the past with my latest discovery. 

Now, armed with a small pallet fully laden with cans of Bronze spray paint and the boundless enthusiasm of youth, I go forth to swiftly paint Chaos Warriors!  Woe betide those who stand between me and my fully-laden +1 Mace of Undercoating!!  As can be seen below, my trusty mace has been getting a bit of a workout as I steadily undercoat my unit Khorne Warriors with Two hand-weapons.  Below are a couple of pics showing the undercoating process and several WIP pics.

Catch you all Later

Trev

The Beginning is just the End Repeated – Writing an ‘Origins’ Story

During the last fluff article, I wrote about the basic principles that can be utilised to create background for your army – answering the questions ‘Who’, ‘When’, ‘Where’ and ‘Why’ in order to establish how your army fits in the greater Warhammer universe.  Once you have established these things, you are able to probe deeper into the background of your main character, expanding on those key events in your chosen character’s past that made them what they are today.  Cue an ‘origin’ story.  These types of stories are a staple for almost every writer, from comic books to autobiographies.  We as a people are fascinated by the past, yearning to know why people do the things they do, which inevitably results in people looking into the past to find the beginning.  The origin story is designed to do just that – take you back to the beginning to where it all started.  But, I hear some of you ask, how do I apply that to a Warhammer army? 

The answer is simple – by applying the same techniques as outlined before.  Let’s say for example, you own a Goblin army that is led by a Black Orc Warboss.  Now as part of the basic background you have determined that your Black Orc Warboss (going by the name of Goffsmack Headbasher) was kicked out of his tribe as a result of ‘finkin too much’ and stumbled onto a tribe of Goblins not yet under the ‘protekshun’ of other Orcs.  Now in this case, your Origin story may well expand on the reasons why Goffsmack was prone to excessive ‘finkin’ (perhaps he was not dropped on his head enough as a snotling) and how that lead to his eventual eviction from the tribe.  This could then expand into how Goffsmack wandered the mountains searching for a home before discovering the Blu Bellies – a small but particularly fierce tribe of goblins who have thus far resisted any attempts of Orc domination.  Due to Goffsmack’s unnatural intellect, he may very well be able to trick the Goblin Warboss Nob’ed Stikpoka into an alliance and providing him with troops to seek revenge. 

So how then, does one go about writing their story?  There are many ways of writing, from the stock standard linier path of beginning to end to the stupidly convoluted format that has the reader jumping back and forth through the character’s timeline like a Rabbit on crack (if you don’t know what I mean, watch the movie ‘Alexander’ and you’ll quickly understand).  For me, a generic flash-back is usually the best way to tell an origin story as it provides a distinct and convenient means of probing into their chosen character’s past without having to explain their present in too much detail.  The story I’ve included below however, takes a different path.  Utilising a method that is fast gaining popularity in various TV series, I’ve taken a pivotal moment in the story and used it as a means of facilitating a small flashback to explain the events that lead to this situation.  For example – the story opens with the main character on his knees with a gun pointed to his head.  Our hero tells the gunman he doesn’t have to do this before they squeeze the trigger and the screen goes black and the audience is propelled ‘12 hours earlier’ to the true beginning of the story. 

Have a read and let me know what you think.  Hopefully I’ve continued to provide you with some ideas that can be incorporated into your own fluff and if you have any questions / comments, feel free to leave feedback.  Most of all – Enjoy!

His skin was red and blistered from the transformation.  Muscles twitched uncontrollably as sorcerous energies infused them with the power of the Gods.  His hair, normally kept tightly bound in a warrior’s topknot was now a shaggy mane, crackling softly as his body expelled the surplus energy not consumed during the ritual.  The runes daubed on his chest with the blood of innocents sizzled and steamed, their protective energies utterly consumed.  For a brief moment, he was almost overwhelmed as a torrent of new sensations flooded his system.  Smells sounds and tastes all bombarded his senses as the spirit of the wolf awoke finding itself forever melded with his own soul.  Looking upon the baleful green eye of the moon Morrslieb, he let loose a victorious howl, his lips peeling pack to reveal a set of enlarged canines that glistened wetly in the terrible green light.  As one, his warriors echoed the howl, their own animalistic calls a reflection of the beasts barely contained within their own souls. 

***********************

It was hard to believe that barely four hours had passed since he; Romulus Ironwolf had challenged the Alpha for the right to lead the tribe.  Despite the Alpha being a superior warrior and a master tactician, his shaman had assured him that the Alpha’s favour with the Great Changer had waned and the eye of the Changer now rested upon him. The omens were favourable and the Romulus now realised why the wolf-spirit that shared his body had been so restless these last few days.  As a member of the Wulfkin Tribe, he was one of the few Warriors chosen by the might Tchar to carry within him the spirit of one of the great black-maned wolves that stalked the wilderness of the nearby mountains.  Such a blessing provided him with strength in battle and greater endurance but there was also the risk of becoming utterly consumed by the wolf, mutating into a terrible hybrid of wolf and man.  So it was that he challenged the Alpha to ritual combat, their bodies daubed in bloody sigils and both armed with a brutal two-handed broadsword.  No words were said by either of them, for it was not their way to sully such a ceremony with paltry words.  This was a battle that would be decided purely by the will of the Changer of Ways, the great and powerful Tchar. 

Romulus launched himself at the Alpha, teeth bared and swinging his blade in a low arc intended to disembowel.  But the Alpha was cunning, having slain many a foolish pup who challenged for leadership over the decades of his rule.  He swung his body into action, the tip of his blade gouging the earth as he spun.  Their blades met with bone-crunching force as the Alpha deflected his attack to the side.  Planting his feet, Romulus used this force to redirect his swing, sweeping the blade into the air before arcing it back towards the Alpha’s exposed shoulder.  The tip of the Alpha’s blade gleaned brightly as it whipped into the air one-handed to once again smash aside the blow intended to carve him from shoulder to hip, the Alpha’s free fist swinging as he did so.  The blow landed hard on the side of Romulus’s skull, jarring his vision and throwing him to the side.  Snarling, he allowed more of the wolf-spirit sealed within him to take control, feeling a fresh wave of power course through his body as the beast’s restraints were loosened.  The bloody runes on his chest flashed brightly as they were tested by the wolf, pushing against the sorcerous restraints barely preventing a full transformation.  The two combatants faced off once more, each watching for the slightest twitch that may betray their enemy’s intentions.  This time the Alpha swung first, the runes on his chest glowing faintly with power as his blade arced towards the challenger.  As the blade swung, the light of Morrslieb, Tchar’s great eye, bathed the field; suffusing both warriors in its sickly jade light.  Roaring in defiance, Romulus summoned all of the wolf’s strength and channelling it into a single blow.  The runes on his chest were blinding as they struggled to contain the power of the wolf-spirit, charring the skin below and creating ritualistic scars that will remain with Romulus for the remainder of his life. The Alpha faltered, momentarily blinded by the sudden burst of radiant light emanating from his opponent but it was all the opening Romulus needed as his razor-edged blade drove home.  There was a resounding clang as the blades of the two warriors came together for the final time.  Striking a hairline fault that ran across the Alpha’s sword, it shattered, allowing Romulus’s blade to embed itself in the Alpha’s skull with a dull, wet thud, killing him instantly. 

At that moment, a great bolt of lighting stabbed down from the heavens, engulfing Romulus in a maelstrom of multi-coloured flames.  His roar of defiance quickly turned into a howl of pain as the favour of Tchar was bestowed upon him, warping his flesh and threatening to consume his very soul.  As suddenly as it came the fires vanished, leaving Romulus standing alone in the middle of the arena.  His skin was red and blistered from the transformation.  Muscles twitched uncontrollably as sorcerous energies infused them with the power of the Gods themselves.  His hair, normally kept tightly bound in a warrior’s topknot was now a shaggy mane, crackling softly as his body expelled the surplus energy not consumed during the ritual.  The runes daubed on his chest with the blood of innocents sizzled and steamed, their protective energies utterly consumed, the bare flesh below blistered and raw.  For a brief moment, he was almost overwhelmed by the torrent of new sensations that flooded his system.  Smells sounds and tastes all bombarded his senses as the spirit of the wolf awoke finding itself forever melded with his own soul.  Looking upon the baleful green eye of the moon Morrslieb, he let loose a victorious howl, his lips peeling pack to reveal a set of enlarged canines that glistened wetly in the terrible green light.  As one, his warriors echoed the howl, their own animalistic calls a reflection of the beasts barely contained within their own souls.  As the howls faded into the inky darkness, Romulus’s eyes fell upon the rent and broken body of the Alpha and for a brief moment his heart sank with sadness.  He was going to miss his father.

Hope you guys enjoyed the story.  Please feel free to leave comments and or suggestions that you may have.  

Catch you all later.

Trev

The Dragon is in the Details...

Holy falling guano Batman!  This week has been buzzing with activity, as I make hobby progress in leaps and bounds.  I’ve decided to try a different approach to staving off hobby boredom by working on a whole mess of things at the same time.  For my hobby, it means that not only have I been working on my Chaos Army, but I’ve also been painting my Legion as well as working on some terrain for my local club’s tables.  All of this work has done wonders for my enthusiasm for the hobby, allowing my imagination and eagerness to skyrocket in equal amounts.  As I write this, my mind is still plotting designs for various terrain features such as Towers, Crypts and Spiky hills of various descriptions (perhaps something with a disproportionately large skull embedded in it);   but more on these creations later.  Right now I’d like to take a little time to talk about some of the awesome people who are contributing to the hobby, proving to everyone just how great miniature wargaming can be. 

First off the ranks is ‘Tales from the Lennycave’ , an inspiring Blog done by Brian Leonard, also known as @LennyExperiment on Twitter.  His inspiring painting articles and comprehensive tournament reports not withstanding, his most recent article has provided readers with a list of sites that he uses for inspiration and I must say the list is quite comprehensive.  I myself will be regularly visiting these sites in eager anticipation of the awesome hobby into contained within.  I'd also like to personally thank him for mentioning my own site in that list, I'm a big fan of your work and I'm humbled by your interest in mine.  The second person I’d like to mention here is the Mike Sweetman who runs the newly created Fantasy Battle Roundup.  Known as @FBroundup on twitter, Mike’s got his fingers on the pulse of the wargaming community, writing well-rounded articles on a range of topics from comprehensive unit analysis to modelling and painting sites.  I heartily encourage you all to visit these sites and take full advantage of the information and inspiration that can be found within each.  You can also find additional links to these sites in 'My Fantasy Blogs’ panel on the right hand side.  Speaking of painting progress, I should probably get onto describing mine.

On the Chaos front, I’ve been working on my Marauder Command group, getting my Champion painted and ready for battle.  So far, the process has been fairly stop-start, with real-life and other hobby projects (yes, I’m looking at you Legion of Everblight) getting in the way.  Taking a break from painting bronze constantly has been great and I’m particularly enjoying being able to achieve a solid layer of metallic colour in under 3 coats.  Once again Citadel Washes have been a God-send for me, allowing me to achieve a flawless shade-to-highlight gradient with a fraction of effort I expended previously.  In addition to this, I’ve spent a bit of time completing yet another shield and finishing off some detail work missed on the Chosen that I’ve painted thus far; allocating some much needed time to finally get to some of those fiddly bits like weapon hafts, horns and small skulls embedded into some of the helmets finished.  The amount of work that is involved with getting these bits done once again drives home the fact that there is so much detail in these models that it’s easy to overlook things here and there. 

For my Legion, I’m happy to report that my unit of Archers have finally been assembled and still retain the title of ‘Most Painful Unit to Build of all Time’.  I yearn for the day that these fellows will appear in stores made entirely of resin, allowing me to continue building my Blighted Nyss contingent with only a fraction of the cursing and grumbling I do now.  Still, you can’t have it easy all the time can you?  I’ve also begun basing and painting the Warbeasts that I undercoated last fortnight, trying out my new colour scheme to see if it works.  While I encountered a couple of teething problems when it came to basing the Shredders (no pun intended), the combination of greys, blues and purples have proven to be quite effective – both when it comes to minimising the time spent painting and maximising their appearance on the tabletop.  The main stumbling block that I’ve come across is the fact that I have very little desire to actually paint these miniatures for some reason.  Perhaps I’m still too invested in my Chaos Warriors to contemplate painting anything else.    On the positive side though, I’ve been able to at least get one of the little blighters finished, complete with front vision arc and an identity marker on the rear of the model (so I can tell each of the four apart from one another). 

Shredders WIP

Finished Shredder in all it's toothy glory.

The final couple of items I’ve been working on this week have been some buildings that were purchased for my local gaming club a while back that I volunteered to build.  This has been a project that I’ve had on my hobby desk for some time now, its history reaching back to at least the end of last year when I was still playing a lot of 40K.  When I shifted to Fantasy as my primary game, these buildings were set aside in order to free up more time to paint Chaos Warriors.  However I’ve decided to revisit them again, and this time I intend to at least get them to a stage where they’re ready for undercoating.  Thus far, I’m well on track to reaching this goal, getting both buildings based and building the obligatory piles of dirt and rubble inside one of them.  Now all that’s left is to spackle each of these piles and around the inside edges of the building, allowing them all to blend a little into the base which is fitting for a building that has been repeatedly bombed and shot at.  Besides, every building needs a bit of dirt and rubble to give it that ‘lived in’ feel you know?  Once this has been completed, I’ll be able to sand the entire base to give it extra texture and voila!  One ruined building ready for undercoating.  With the first building ready for spackle, my aim will be to get the second building to a similar stage of readiness before building the third and final building from the wall and door components left in the kit.  By the looks of things, there should be enough pieces left in the box to make a half-decent building (even if it looks a little short). 

With that, I’ll draw this article to a close.  While I haven’t been able to get as much painting done as I’d hoped, the progress that has been made thus far is still substantial.  My first warbeast for Hordes has been completed, I’m another small step towards completing my Chosen and I’ve finally gotten a chance to revisit some old terrain projects that have been resting on the back burner for some time now.  All in all this has been a good fortnight.  Hopefully by the next article I’ll be showing you photos of my completed Marauder Champion as well as one or two more shredders.  Not only that, but I’m planning to spend some time finishing off the rubble for the second building and breaking out the spackle for a bit of arts and crafts fun.  But until then, here are my progression stats for the fortnight:

Number of Warhammer Fantasy Units Completed: 6

Number of Hordes Units Completed: 1

Number of Points painted this fortnight: 3 (1 Chosen Warrior Shield and one Shredder).

Catch you all later

Trev