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Showing posts with label Dragon Rampant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dragon Rampant. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 08, 2022

Photodump Vol.2: Fantasy

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Yes I said there was more.  Here some of it is.  I've left a couple of bits off this list, for, well, reasons.  But still, lots to show:

The Nighthaunt collection so far

Yes, I met at least one self imposed target for the year, and painted over a thousand points of spooky boys.  That said, GW also changed the rules in the year, so it's entirely possible these don't represent a legal army of any sort.  Not that it matters when to date they've only played games of Dragon Rampant!

 

 Loved painting this one

 
Then there was a little progress on the Turnip28 models.  These are slow burn thanks to being so heavily converted, and sometimes a slow paint job to boot.

Commander of the 51st Parchdale Regt.

I also worked on some Turnip-specific scenery:

 

Underneath it all is a Twiglets tube

I've done a couple of rescue jobs as well, figures with no real use other than as shelf ornaments.  I suppose the former could go easily in my Orc forces if desired.

Resin Grimgor Ironhide

1984 GW (D&D) Elf

The latter was a quick NMM practice piece, more on that below.  Next, two more characters for Blackstone Fortress:

Rein and Raus

Finally I finished the last model for a Warhammer Underworlds warband.  

Vasillac the Gifted

Another NMM (Non-Metallic Metal painting) piece, I decided to do all the Underworlds models this way as a learning exercise.  NMM is HARD, no two ways about it, but after a dozen or so models I think I'm beginning to get an idea for it.  The gold here looks pretty good, though the Iron/Steel needs a lot more practice!  This figure would also have been a lot easier to do if I hadn't glued it down immediately.

Ho hum.

Again, the Instagram (see previous post) has more pictures, including some other items that are a bit more off-topic.

Next time, some passing pictures of games...


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Wednesday, May 19, 2021

2021: Year of Diversions

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Or, I have a problem sticking to one thing.

Progress on the Africans continues well, but there is nothing finished to show today.  However any number of other things have either been started or finished - sometimes it's hard to differentiate between the two.

so, a couple of pieces of graveyard themed terrain got kinda out of hand:

The Realm of the Dead

Yeah, I ended up doing an entire table's worth of terrain; well to be fair, enough for two tables at least.  A solid mix of GW terrain sets, parts from Reaper and Mantic, 3D prints and scratchbuilt parts; plus a terrain cloth of similarly coloured faux-suede.  Good fun and other than railings and roses (and interminable skulls) easy to do.

a Reaper Miniatures graveyard walls set, plus lots of bits

Just part of a GW graveyard set

All this is leading somewhere surely?  Well of course, by a process of leftovers from commissions and financial spendthriftery I've ended up with a pair of 2,000 point Age of Sigmar armies.  At least I've made a good crack at one of them so far; the Nighthaunts, a.k.a. Spooooky Ghosts!

Crawlocke the Jailor

30 Chainrasps

There's a few more bits done, making so far for 44 models - about half the army, but mostly of the cheapest unit cost models, so a good 1,500 points to go.  And just as GW announce another edition of their chuffing rules (these of course could be passed over in favour of Dragon Rampant, given my past opinions on Age of Sigmar!)

As to the other force, it predictably is Stormcast Eternals, as they are so common you can pick them up cheap all over the place at present.  I've done a couple of test models, but that is all so far:

It was for a painting challenge however!

So I pushed out the stops...

I also turned some eBay money last year into Blackstone Fortress, mainly for painting.  I've done a few of the models so far, but this is the best:

UR-025

I'll continue to pick at these, but one of the models in the game reminded me of the Eldar I used to own (and love) and made me wish I could dabble in those again.  Well, 40K Killteams promised to scratch that itch, and soon I was working on some Exodite warriors as yet another side project:

Guardians of a Maiden World

Some ancient monoliths

Of course, they're Aeldari(TM) these days, but who's quibbling.

It's all a bit fantasy and Games Workshoppy by my past standards here.  And true, but of late GW figures are getting as good as their prices imply (sometimes!) and certainly get the painting motivation going.  Still one more 'fantasy' project kicked off and has no GW models in it, just an old-school aesthetic influence.

Turnip28* is a weird alternate history game based on a stagnated Napoleonic society infected by poisonous root vegetables, fungi and cultists.  The look is as if John Blanche was the Duke of Wellington's war artist and medieval armour was in vogue for trench warfare.  It's wild!  The Creator began with the world first, and then backfilled rules, the explicit initial intention being to kitbash models from the ranges of historical miniatures already on the market, which to gamers raised on a diet of GW and other fantasy miniatures' ranges, seem ludicrously cheap, encouraging experimentation.

Copyright: Max FitzGerald

Well, what do I have literally tonnes of bits lying around spare of?  It was a no-brainer to at least have a go:

Some Chaff

But history buffs, fear not; I still have hundreds of good proper Napoleonics to get to in time.  And as of yesterday, another historical project has been proposed, something perhaps with a more biblical bent...

I hope I can finish a few of these this year; and as the UK finally crawls out from under its COVID rock, play a few games with them too!

.*(scroll down for the free basic rules) 
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Tuesday, April 28, 2020

The Great Cyclops of Polyphemus

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It seems I've developed something of a reputation for being able to find gold.  Charity and pound-store gold to be precise.

Because I'm a fantasy gaming fan, and because I love a bargain, I will always take the few minutes when available to poke my head in an Oxfam, Mind, or Heart Foundation store, or any bargains shop with a toy aisle, to see if there is something of use.  If you are a fantasy gamer and you aren't using Schliech and Papo models, you are missing out on some of the best value fantasy models out there.

A while before lockdown I was following the lovely lady around a few charity shops , when I chanced upon this wee chappie:

Helloooooo!
Now, he looked a bit goofy, and hardly threatening, but he was a hefty lad, and had the added bonus of costing a mere £2.  Well worth taking a chance on.  Fast forward one pandemic later and, my how he's blossomed!

Finished: front
The painting for this guy was greatly aided by the new Airbrush, and initial undercoating and fleshtones were done swiftly.  All the rest was painted by hand.  The whole of the flesh got a layer of homebrew glaze, followed by some retouching.

Left arm, rusty bracelet and Turtle Pauldron 
A lot of the model was inevitable going to be leathery skintones and browns, so the Turtle shell shoulder pieces and the loincloth provided good options for some contrast.  I went to nature for the Turtle shell, and the sea for the underwear!  Sailcloth is likely the only readily available material large enough to cover such a derriere!  And this is often preserved with a red pitch to help protect it.  So red pants it was, ideal for the army he'll be joining.

Rear 
On the back of the model, most of the work had to be done, with a lever action for one of the arms, a carrying strap and a bunch of screw holes needing modification and filling, resulting in a modicum of re-sculpting.  Nothing too challenging as I'm not really a sculptor, but plenty of it.

Right side, Join the Club. 
In the same manner as previous models, nature makes the best stone tools.  The huge mace he swings is a carved twig, a piece of slate and some string, all basically sourced from the garden.

A hefty lad lefts his mark 
The base is made to match the fantasy elements to augment my Ancient Greeks, giving them a Dragon Rampant option.  On such a large base there was room to express his scale in a new way.  I added a footprint by raising an edge in the filler base, and painting inside it darker and semi-gloss, as if the compression of the foot squeezed moisture to the surface.  The grass in the footprint was deliberately pressed down into the glue to give the impression it had been flattened by tonnes of weight.

Grrr! 
For a toy, you can't fault some of the detail here.  This was once an Early Learning Centre toy (weirdly violent for them), and they could obviously afford to get a decent sculpt done.  Look at that expressive face; far less goofy looking now!

And as for scale, here is a family shot:

His 40mm cousin to the left, his 32mm scale boss on the right
He stands 7.5 inches (about 19cm) tall, foot to eye.  With the Club adding another inch or two.  I think I've put about 10 hours in to fixing and painting this chap, and I reckon every minute was now worthwhile.

Also, there this:


Until the batteries die, that's an added bonus I doubt anyone's £80 GW giant is likely to offer.

Onto the next project....

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Monday, March 02, 2020

The Beast of Caerbannog and the final Rabbits.

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Rarely can any wargamer call a project truly finished, but for the Rabbits of War-tership Down I can truly say they are completely done now; given I have finally put brush to the last of the Kickstarter models I purchased, and with their regular price and postage from the USA simply being prohibitive for this gamer, I won't be adding anything to the collection!

A unit of light foot 
The added models allowed me to assemble a final regular unit, but I puzzled what to do with the assortment of novelty parts, extras and spares.  Eventually I settled on a specialist unit of elite Monk Botherers!  Equipped with sniffer dogs and snails, Beaters - both of the musical and brush variety - and Torturers, skilled in skinning Monks the way a Rabbit might expect from their human foes...

The Beast and an elite unit of Hunters
That still left a couple of spares to make a blood stained rabbit hero, and a standard bearer for the force.  Plus the fearsome beast of Caerbannog itself.



The rabbit was one of the decor pieces from the Kickstarter, to which I added parts from a deep dive in the spares box, and made a scenic base for what in game would clearly count as a cunning, and probably poisonous, Greater Warbeast!

The final push for this army completed, I await their likely first outing.  Three of my group are going to attend the Rampant Age day hosted by Wargames Illustrated:

https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/shop/rampant-ages-day-2020/

Obviously in the fantasy section.  It felt like the Rabbits would be ideally suited to provide some charm to the event, also the potential match up of these against Chaos Warriors or similar cheesey GW models is too much to resist.
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Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Dragon Rampant - Boduria vs The Desert Dead

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It turns out my previous game of DR was back in August; I am truly slack at these AAR's!  Also the photos were taken solely on my mobile phone, and in middling light with no flash, the results are marginal.  But for the purposes of full disclosure, here we are:

Bodurians seek to defend their Western borders from the ravages of the Undead 
Skeletons and Mummies from ancient tombs arise
Regimented infantry and more oppose them 
Th undead implacably advance 
The Bodurians move swiftly to the river crossings 
Volksima, personification of  Winter advances upon the enemy

Deities face off - Volksima is to be victorious
Cavalry and our Witch command outflank the Undead 
Wolfen Hussars charge home 
Chariots attempt to charge Werewolves 
Too Little, too late
The scenario as I recall required each player moving units off the middle of the opposite long table edge, on a battlefield where all terrain was lethally dangerous.  We agreed the river had to be impassable except at the three fords, marked by the swamp tiles.  As it was all terrain proved to act as if impassable, with the table turning into something akin to a maze instead.  My forces had much the easier time with command rolls, and got the better of most combats, so on this occasion I had a fairly easy victory on my hands.

All good fun though.

That's all for now.

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Thursday, December 05, 2019

Dragon Rampant - Kobolds vs Orcs

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Actually, I've had a couple of DR games recently, and this is not the oldest, but it is the one I've edited the photo's for; so it goes up first.

My forces amass 
Gav visited for a 36 point game.  We set up my modest little (coffee) table, with a small town as the landscape for our battle.

A little open ground on the flanks 
TO my surprise, Gav had brought a bunch of GW Lords of the Rings Orcs he'd had hiding in a box for many a year.  Some painted, some, not so much; but these GW models have always been attractive...

 Goblin scouts in the woods
His main battleline 
The black fog (photoshop) descends.... 
My force, was mostly average light foot, with some beefier Hobgoblins and Bugbears in support, a wizard in command and a Dragon in tow as the big hitter.  Gav's force had similar numbers of light infantry, with his own wizard, backed up by heavy cavalry.

Looming forces of evil on both sides bode ill for property prices! 
Early advances favoured the Kobolds 
It kicked off well, but then both sides suffered a couple of stagnant turns.  Still the Kobolds fared better and were soon safely into the outskirts of the town.

My flankers seemed less keen. 
The Orcs were very slow 
About turn four.
On my left Hobgoblins kept the Warg cavalry at bay, as they feared either fighting them in the woods, or being close enough to be ambushed themselves.  

Enemies close 
In the town, I had numbers, but not confidence in our fighting prowess.

Two units of Kobolds /= One unit of Orcs 
Form a defensive line! 
My Kobolds braced for battle forming a shield wall, covered by my crossbow armed scouts.  The inevitable charge hit home.  But my wizard had also managed to cast Sharper Blades on the unit and so buoyed up by the Red counter of re-rolling, the Kobolds gritted their teeth...

Steady lads. 
And...

Nice! 
Committed great slaughter!.  The Orc unit was swiftly routed, with little loss. 

Meanwhile 
Attempts to outflank one another went slowly, but Gav was able to bait my Hobgoblins out of cover, and came off the better.  My bugbears and Dragon were stymied by those damned Goblin scouts.

From the Orcs side, pushing into the town 
Second line Orcs advance down main street
The Dragon stalks its' prey 
Ignoring the Goblin scouts I sent my dragon after the Warg cavalry, driving them away, then I went after the 'easy' meat of the exposed Orc infantry.  At least that was the plan.  I only needed threes to hit after all.

Well, shit. 
In return, the Orcs were able to inflict a couple of wounds, winning the engagement and pushing the Dragon down to under half strength.  Consequently swiftly retreating.

Getting pushed back 
By this stage the losses on both sides were mounting, but I had effectively been evicted from the town.  And was in the process of being surrounded.  My wizard and scouts were now doing most of the heavy lifting and keeping our dreams afloat.

Orcs begin flanking
Despite the desperate situation, the Kobolds fought to the last, and at times looked to have a chance.

In fact at the end, it was only a marginal loss.  When we called it and totaled up the glory it was only a victory to Gav by a couple of points.  I'd inflicted serious losses, somehow, but also performed rather better in my boasts for once and narrowed the defeat.

A great fun game.

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