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Mithril Miniatures Orcs

October 31, 2015, 12:46 pm
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As it's the Oldhammer Community 'Orctober', I thought I would dig out some old Orcs a few couple of weeks ago to paint up. For a change I thought I would re-visit my old Mithril collection.

For those of you unaware, Mithril Miniatures are a miniatures company based in Ireland (with their sister company 'Prince August')  who gained the rights to produce miniatures based on Tolkiens writings when GW lost the rights in 1987. Their website is here: http://www.mithril.ie/

Their miniatures are designed to be pieces used for viginettes, one offs, or skirmishers, and collecting, rather than actual wargaming. In addition they are also normally supplied pre-primed in their special grey undercoat, although most of the time the extra metal arms/weapons/etc with the miniature are'nt. The reason I think they use the grey undercoat is it brings out the details on the miniatures nicely when in the blister pack. The grey undercoat is fine to work with, although I sometimes find that it does'nt always hold the paint as well as black, and so I usually therefore give them a black wash before painting.
'Ugluk' and 'Grishnakh', in their Mithril Miniatures grey primer (re-based on 30mm and 25mm bases respectively). 

Mithril Miniatures did make one brief forray into Wargaming in 1994 with their Orcs of Mordor and Gondor box sets, but the Tolkien Estate (for some reason) took a dim view of this and, as I understand (but could be wrong), suggested it was a breach of licence. This was exactly when I was taking an interest in Mithril.

I had seen Mithril Miniatures from early on in my collecting and they had always intrigued me, but I was more focused on Warhammer and at the time I had'nt even read the books! By 1994 I was thoughly disenchanted with 4th Edition Warhammer and 2nd Edition 40k, and I had just finally read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and was about to read the Silmarillion (which I did). I like the scultp of te Orcs, although less keen on some of their interpretations of other races, many of which have weird looking eyes and very high foreheads.

Anyway, this was at the exact time that Mithril made its short lived foray into wargaming miniatures by releasing the Warband boxsets, the Orcs of Mordor (MW336) , and Men of Gondor (MW337).

The Orcs of Mordor (MW336) boxset (this is an internet piccy, I can't find my ones they could be anywhere. I did find some 40k Beastmen which was great, but that's kind of irrelevant to this post. :)  )

So I bought three of the Orc boxsets, and two of the Gondorian ones (from the now long closed 'Albion Armouries' shop in Brighton), thus giving me a good basis for both armies. I painted them up over the time in 1994/5, adding odds and ends as I went, and half forgot about them in the late 1990's. In 2000, with the release of Peter Jacksons god awful films Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Orcs saw action again for a while as proxy miniatures for GW's spin-off game.

And then they were forgotten about again for well over a decade until this Oldhammer 'Orctober'. So I sorted out the Orcs I already had, I did a small mail order to Mithril Miniatures (who seem to be very nice people), and based a lot of them up. I have'nt, due to work, illness, and a myriad of other reasons, really re/painted many, but here's the few I have done...
Enjoy :)
Two Orcs with an intertwined fate in the 'Two Towers'.
On the left is M178 'Ugluk', and on the right MS504 'Grishnakh'.
I have based 'Ugluk' on a 30mm base like all of my Mithril Uruk-Hai, and 'Grishnakh' on 25mm base, like all of my Mithril Orcs.
When basing I went for a mix of woodland and Autumn flocks and basing materials. When I think of Middle Earth, I always for some reason think of it in Autumn, perhaps because I find it a magical time of the year. I also painted the base edges dark brown to blend more with the woodland feel. 
M333 Lugburz Great Uruk.
He's a big Uruk, and unlike 'Ugluk', only just fits on the base. The lipped bases are good at hiding the solid bases.
Two Orcs of Mordor.
Left an armoured Orc M313, and the right the spearman from MC29 Orcs of Mordor blister.
For the skin tone of the Orcs, the Uruk-Hai, and Trolls, I used a light drybrush of Vallejo German Field Grey WWII. I wanted to go for a dark black/grey tone to the flesh as more Tolkiens description. I also went for dark weapons and equipment to keep with the 'Land of Shadow' feel. 
Three Orcs from the Orcs of Mordor (MW336) boxset.
Unlike most other Mithril Miniatures, the boxset miniatures were not grey primed.
I like many of the boxset models as they are running, and it gives a good feel for the Orcs of Middle Earth, who always seem to be running to or away from some place to another. 
Troll.
M174 Cave Troll of the Under Deeps.
Although a Cave Troll I have pressed him into the service of Mordor.
He is based on a 40mm base.
Rear view, showing more of the base.
I do enjoy doing the Autumnal bases.
A not very good photograph of my Mithril Miniatures Mordor Orc Army WIP.
It consists of 100 Orc Infantry (divided into five regiments of 20); 30 Orc Archers (divided in three regiments of 10); 4 Trolls and 1 Olog-Hai; 6 Uruk-Hai (on the bigger 30mm bases); 1 Orc Animist; 1 Orc, and 1 Human Tracker; and of course Grishnakh.
Not shown in the photograph I also can add 5 Warg Riders (including the Salute 2008 one); a Werewolf; Nazgul; and a couple of Haradrian. 
 Closer on the left.
 Close on the right.
Due to the delicate nature of the bow shafts, I have had to make a couple of repairs over the years.
...and here are the 40k Beastmen I found, in need of some painting.

Unfortunately for the Orcs of Mordor I don't intend continuing painting them into November and beyond. I'm not really in the mood for Tolkien or have the desire enough to focus on it as a project. I have been sorting out something I have wanted to tackle for a while, but first need to spend some time sorting before I post.
HAPPY  HALLOWEEN / SAMHAIN.
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The Traitor Legions: Rogue Trader Renegades.

November 12, 2015, 2:05 pm
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I love the Horus Heresy.

I love the epic feel of it all, the hordes of Space Marines battling it out over a thousands of planets, the Siege of Terra, and the mixed elements of Chaos and betrayal where both sides feel they are right. Most of all I like the Legions themselves and the design of the old Rogue Trader miniatures.

Now whilst I have enjoyed many of the recent GW books, and the Forgeworld models, my heart (and soul, which I pledged to Chaos long ago!) belongs to the Horus Heresy of the Rogue Trader era. It is the baroque and odd sculpts of the Chaos Renegades from the 'Slaves to Darkness' and 'The Lost and the Damned' era which I grew up with and most associate with when I think of the Horus Heresy, and which I like the best.

At the time (the 1980's, not 30,000AD!) I collected a few Renegades and fielded a rather lacklustre Black Legion army, mainly becuase I was waiting for ages for 'The Lost and the Damned' to be released so I could field a Nurgle army. By the time it was released, I had focused on other things, and only came back to collecting Chaos Renegades in the later 1990's/early 2000's.
By the 2000's I decided to just collect the one army, but collect the entire Detachment army list as per 'Slaves to Darkness'. I decided on a Khornate Force of World Eaters as I liked the colour palette and the straight forward no-nonsense apporach of the Legion. As always with me I changed my mind and then switched to the Slaaneshi Emperor's Children, and a few years ago (2012/3) launched a failed attempt to "just paint them all up and be done with it". This failed as I ran out of steam and I realised that this was'nt the best approach.

Now I have decided to re-visit the Horus Heresy as I felt I was in need of a project to focus on. I have decided to split up the large amount of Renegades I had collected over the years (far more than just one lists worth) and split them down into four armies, one for each of the Chaos Powers. Over the last couple of weeks I have been sorting out my Chaos Renegade collection into their respective lists, and spend far too much on e-bay picking up odds and ends.

I have decided I am not going to collect a Son of Horus/Black Legion army as well. Leaving aside the effort and cost involved in buying another 176 Renegades,  I wanted to just field one army for each of the major Chaos Powers. I might do an add-on Sons of HorusTerminator force at some point, but that will be some time away.

The four Legions of the Chaos Powers is no small project.  I can however split it up into several smaller and more managable projects, but each managable project is still a fair size. For instance the World Eater detachment list (excluding Techmarines) requires 128 Marines, whilst the Emperor's Children demands no less than 160 Marines. This current project involves the finishing the collecting, and painting, of a grand total of 352 Renegades, and 62 Terminators. That's not including any Techmarines, Jet bikes, Riding creatures, Dreadnoughts, and the tanks. I am pleased to say I am most of the way to finishing the collecting part, with approximately 25 Renegades, and 20 Terminators left to buy.

Of course, the collecting has involved getting specific miniatures, with the correct number of Heavy Bolters, Missile Launchers, Bolt Gun armed Marines, etc. Also, if you decide to upgade any of the weapons in a particular type of squad, all of those types of squads have to have. For example, replacing one of the two Missile Launchers in an Emperor's Children Devastator Squad for a Las-Cannon, means making sure each squad has one, meaning six Chaos style Las-Cannons.
For the Nurgle and Tzeentch forces in 'The Lost and the Damned' there is a different challenge. The lists themselves are open ended in that there are no maximum number of Marine squads that you can take. So rather than just randomly collecting Nurgle/Tzeentch Marines I decided to collect the seven squads for the Death Guard (seven being the the number of Nurgle) and nine for Tzeentch (nine being Tzeentch's sacred number).

Finally, I am sometimes something of a purest when it comes to painting up/collecting old miniatures. If I am going to collect and assemble an authentic army of the time, or finish off a project from the 1980's, then no modern additions. For this project that means using the proper 1980's backpacks, heavy weapons, old sized bases, and any converstions are done using old Rogue Trader items. I don't have a problem when other people combine modern items with older miniatures, but I personally like to keep things as it would have been when I was collecting at the time. So all  of the miniatures I am using are therefore Citadel 1991 or earlier, being overwhelmingly from the 1988/9 Renegades releases.
I've been listening to this to get me in that Traitor Legion mood :)
With that in mind I picked 1991 as a cut off point. This was after all of the Renegades miniatures had been released, just after the first Noise Marine and Jes Goodwin's four 1990 concept models for the later Chaos Marines, . It is also before the end of Rogue Trader where a  lot of the miniatures leant towards the 2nd Edition 40k stylings,which for me began in September 1992 with the World Eater Ravagers list and the increasing use of Mark VII Marines in loyalist forces. It is also after Space Marines finally got their Toughness 4 upgrade which is something I feel they should have had from the beginning.

So what follows is what I have been sorting out into the Legions so far. I have most of the miniatures required, except the the Thousand Sons, which are going to be an ongoing project. One final note concerns tanks and vehicles. I have lots of Rhinos, Predators, and three Land Raiders, but for the time being I am only going to focus on painting the Renegades, Dreadnoughts, and Jetbikes/riding creatures. I will allocate and paint the vehicles up later as I am unsure how many to allocate for each list.

Enjoy :)
The World Eaters.
World Eater Tactical and Devastaor Squads.
The legion has eight Tactical Squads and two Devastaor squads, all of eight Marines each (eight, and it's divisions/multiples being sacred to Khorne).
I have about half dozen Renegades the post via e-bay, so I am about complete for these.
Two of the four required Assault squads (who are subject to frenzy due to their devotion to Khorne). They will be equipped with 1980's Marine Jump Packs, of which I have quite a few (see the photograph further down this update).
The other two Assault squads are to be mounted on Jetbikes, and 'Chaos Steeds' (see further below).
A selection of the World Eater Officers.
Both the World Eaters and Emperor's Children require 16 officers. I have two more Juggernaught riders in the post (told you I have been shopping on e-bay!).
A selection of the Khornate Marines.
As with all of the Legions, I have tried to use the appropriate renegades for each of the Chaos Powers, with a spinkling of generic Renegades and the odd Chaos Warrior and odd looking Space Marine.
I will be painting the World Eaters a mix of red, black, and brass, the colours of Khorne, rather than to any uniform scheme.
Assault Renegade on 'Chaos Steed'.
World Eaters Assault/Tactical Squads can be upgraded with Chaos Steeds (which don't have to be taken by all of the same type of squad in the army).
Orginally the mounted Renegades were supplied on big plastic horses, but I thought I might use the Limited Edition riding Lizards from 1987. I have ten of these, and was going to use them for my Fantasy Slann army, but I think they look better here.
I have enough Renegades to mount on the Riding Lizards.
The other Assault squad is to be mounted on eight Jet bikes, the Mark 14 Bullock Jet Cycles .
I have nine of these, so one of the Officers will get a bike too.
It;s interesting to note (well for me!) that it is the Mark 14 Jet Cycles which are listed as the upgrade rather than any other Jet Cycle.
I though I would equip the Word Eaters with the older Mark 14 Bullock Jet Cycles as I envision them with the older and trusted equipment. The Emperor's Children are to get the snazzy 'new' Jet bikes from 1989.

The Emperor's Children.

Pictured here are all six Devastator Squads required by the Legion, and nine of the required twelve Tactical Squads. Each squad is six Renegades strong, six being the sacred number of Slaanesh.
The remaining three Tactical squads are mounted Renegades who will be riding Mounts of Slaanesh (see further down).
As you can see I did attempt to paint the all The Emperor's Children in the purple colour scheme. However they will now end up in a riot of mixe colours in the style of the 1980's renegades, with only perhaps the occasional piece of purple amour.
Four of the six required Assault squads, they too will be equiped with Jump Packs.
Of the remaining two Assault squads, one squad will join the three Tactical Squads riding on Mounts of Slaanesh, whilst the other squad will take to the skies on Jet Bikes.
A few of the The Emperor's Children officers.
Twenty four Mounts of Slaanesh.
They will be split down into four squads of six, and each unit will have Mounts painted in similar colours to tell each squad apart.
Thirty six of the mounted renegaes.
I have another five in the post, and aim to convert up a few footslogger Renegades. I am about up to number for the required mounted renegades, might need the odd extra two or three once I have sorted out all the odds and ends.

The Death Guard.
WIP
Over the weekend I painted sixteen Death Guard Marines, although I still need to check the detailing, varnish, and base them.
I have have gone for the old Rogue Trader Death Guard/Nurgle colour scheme of white/green armour with red trim.
As per the list in 'The Lost and the Damned', the Death Guard Marines are organised into squads of five. 
I am pleased to have been able to use the Grenade Launcher option for the Marines, as it was supplied with Heavy Weapon Renegades, but could only be used by character models in the World Eater and The Emperor's Children lists.
The rest of the Death Guard Force on the painting table: fourteen Death Guard Marines, one Dreadnought, one beast of Nurgle, and twenty one bases of Nurglings.
I did spread the Nurgilings out a bit, four of five per base, as I think they look better like that than too overcrowded.

The Thousand Sons.
I don't, as of yet, have a lot of Thousand Sons Renegades.
At the time I never really collected them, and have only now started to sort out an army. I was never really drawn to Tzeentch, but after spending time looking at the miniatures and reading The Lost and the Damned again, I am warming to Tzeentch and the Thousand Sons more., but that's probably part of Tzeentchs scheming! ;)
The plan is to have nine squads (the sacred number of Tzeentch) of five marines.
I will be painting the Thousand Sons last as I need to collect them first! I will however probably paint the odd one now and again...
... and with that idea, here's a test model I painted (still WIP).
I wanted to give a blended colour to the armour, something I will be doing on all the Thousand Sons, using blues and purples of various shades.
I plan to keep the shoulder pad red, with the 'M' roman numeral on it, signifying the Thousands Sons.

 Miscellaneous.
Terminators.
In addition to the Renegades in the Slaves to Darkness lists, GW published an add-on list to include Chaos Terminators.
The add-on list specified four squads of five Terminators, and one Terminator Captain, making twenty one. I have collected one of these lists for each of the two Slaves Darkness Armies, making forty two Terminators, as shown above.
Concerning the Death Guard and Thousand Sons, their Terminators are'nt drawn from this list, but are intergral to the lists in The Lost and the Damned, which are slightly different in their compostion. I will over time add a couple of squads of Terminators to the Death Guard and Thousand Sons, but only two squads as I am collecting smaller armies for them than the World Eaters and Emperor's Children.
Big pile of Terminator arms. I have enough arms for all of them.
The Terminator add-on army list, published in White Dwarf #116 (August 1989).
Four Chaos Dreanoughts.
These are great, organic and Chaos looking sculpts, which suit the Renegades well.
Please not I found a claw arm for the one on the left after I took this photograph.
I also have some bits of a Chaos Dreanought I am going to convert up into a Tzeentch Dreadnough with fungoid body.
I want to add more Dreadnoughts to armies over time.
Lots of Jet bikes...
...and lots of Jump packs for the Assault squads.

 I have already started painting the small Death Guard deetachment, and hope to have them finished in the next week or so. I have started with them to get me started with the painting, and because it's a small project to start. So next blog update should be on the Death Guard.

Reinforcements!

Just as I was preparing to post this blog update the postman arrived with reinforcements!
Two more Champions of Khorne on Juggernaughts; two Tzeentch Champions; and a Snakeman who will I am going to convert up into a Slaaneshi Champion, taken from an idea by Mark Elster on 'The Emporium of Rogue Dreams' Facebook Group.
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Rogue Trader era Death Guard finished.

November 22, 2015, 1:30 pm
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I've been a busy Goblin over the last couple of weeks.

Not only have I been sorting out hundreds of Rogue Trader era Chaos Renegades, but I have started, and finished, painting the first of the Chaos Powers Detachments: The Death Guard, servants of Nurgle. In additon I have made a new board for photographing, and made a start on the World Eaters.

Now admittedly the Death Guard are the smallest of my Traitor Legion Detachments, consisting of seven Squads of 5 Chaos Marines, one Dreadnought, and twenty one bases of Nurglings (I did'nt paint the Beast of Nurgle as it's not in the 40k list). However I'm pleased to have got them done and to be able to move onto the one the other larger Detachments, The World Eaters of Khorne.

I do have elements I would like to add to the Death Guard at a later date. I want to add two squads of Nurgle Terminators which I still need to buy. I do have 10 Chaos Squats, and a couple of Rhinos I want to add, but for now I am happy to move onto the World Eaters. I plan to go back an paint all of the tanks once I have painted all of the detachments, and the Nurgle Terminators once I buy them.

I painted the Death Guard armour similar to the old Rogue Trader style. They are an off white to green shade of armour, with red trim. I kept the red trim just to the shoulder pads to avoid too much red, and the off white to Green armour more grey-green ( I used Vallejo Grey Green in fact), with a highlight of Vallejo Stone Grey. I wanted to avoid an over mucky look to them as I wanted them to still retain some look of Marines, albiet much darker and plague ridden. With that in mind I painted the tubes on the armour in Tin Bitz to offset the armour, and added a black paint wash to the whole miniature.

Basing wise I went for a desert base. I will be basing all of the Tratior Legions in this way for two reasons. Firstly, for some reason when I think of Rogue Trader I think of them fighting in desolate desert planets. In addtion I always loved the look of the battelfield used in the 'Slaves to Darkness' photographs, so I feel it fits them well. Secondly the lighter sandy base lightens up the look of the miniatures, stopping them from looking too dark. It also means that I can decorate the bases or leave them as blank as I want without having to add static grass for the sake of it. I have added 'The Army Painter''s  'Wastland Tufts' to the bases to suggest hardly plants, and to break up the bland plain sand look.

Enjoy :)
 35 Death Guard Marines, ready to roll [Nurgle's] rot!
(on my new snazzy desert board. I will be making some better scenery in a 'Slaves to Darkness' vein, but have used my old Tomb Kings stuff for the time being).

As per the army list in The Lost and the Damned' the Marines are organised into squads of five.
It's an open ended army list, so I chose to limit myself to seven squads, seven being the sacred number of Nurgle.
As well as adding the specific Nurgle Renegade miniatures, and some generic Renegades Miniatures, I added a few normal pace Marine Armour Variants as I felt that the tubes and look of them worked well for the Death Guard.
The only Nurgle Renegade I did'nt use was the one armed with a flamer. He does'nt look very Nurgle-esque, and I have used all the ones I have in the Emperor's Children Tactical Squads.
 First squad.
They are lead by a Renegade with a Power Fist and pet Nurgling. To the right is a Space Marine Armour Variant. At the rear to the left of the photograph is one of Jes Goodwins Death Guard Chaos Space Marine concept miniatures from 1990. 
 Squad Two.
 Squad Three.
Sorry about the blurred image, I have a better photograph further down in the blog of the squad leader.
 Squad Four.
On the left is the only Nurgle specific heavy weapon trooper, armed here with the Renegade Mutli Melta.
The miniature to the fore on the right is, to knowlage, the first ever Traitor Marine, being released as a 'Treacher Marine' in March/April 1988, just before the LE101 Chaos Renegade Marine.
Squad five.
Lurking at the back on the left is another armour variant, and on the right a 'Death Eagle Marine' with Plasma gun. 
 Squad six.
This squad is armed with two heavy weapons, a Missile Launcher and a Grenade Launcher. Chaos Grenade Launchers were provided in the Chaos Renegades packs, but if following the army lists, you were only able to use them in the 'Lost and the Damned' armies or as a lucky Heavy Weapons roll for a character.
I think the combination in gaming terms will allow for sone great anti-personel capability, whilst the Missile Launcher can switch to vehicle duties.
On the rear left is another armour variant, a Mark 3 Armour, which I think suits the Death Guard well.
Squad seven.
I have used a Nurgle Champion with tech-pistol from the Fantasy range as the squad leader. 
The Renegade on the left foreground is a Slaaneshi Marine, who should have a Rune of Slaanesh on his shoulder, but it was missing when I bought him second hand, and so I thought he might work as a Nurgle follower given his skull head.
A slightly closer photograph of Nurgle Renegades.
Death Guard Backpack.
I gave the Nurgle Marines a different backpack to other Chaos Legions. Instead of the normal Chaos backpack I aded the backpack used by Rogue Trader era loyal Space Marines in Mark 7/8 armour.
I did this for two reaons. Firsly I liked the idea of the tubes on the back, giving the a slightly different look to the Nurgle Marines. Secondly I was running short of the orginal Chaos backpacks.
Chaos Dreadnought.
He fits the look of the Death Guard feel, and I painted him up as bacisally a large Marine.
Side view.
Rear view showing the organic backpack/powerpack.
Nurglings!!!
I had 96 Nurglings, and so decided to base them onto 21 bases (three lots of Nurgle's sacred number seven).
I have added 4 or 5 Nurglings to each base.
Painting wise I painted them all a base green, with a few grey, purple, blue and yellow ones.  I wanted to give the Nurglings a mix of colours, without being too grimey or bright.
Nurglings.
I added a dead Rogue Trader era Ultramarine to one of the bases to Nurglings as decoration.
More Nurglings!
To this base of Nurglings I added an Epic Miniatures Great Unclean One I had .
+++Sneak Peek+++
I had painted the Nurgle Death by the start of the week, and so started on the Khornate World Eaters.
More on these next update...

Next blog update will be World Eaters!!!!!!
I will be doing an update soon on some lovely Goblins after that :)
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Rogue Trader World Eaters (part 1).

December 2, 2015, 5:26 am
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Now before I get to the World Eaters I just wanted to say that my blog has reached a total of 90,770 views as of today. Thank you to everyone who has taken an interest. :)

After finishing the Death Guard (well, I still have their five Terminators to paint, which I have now bought from e-bay!) I have moved onto the World Eaters, the Space Marine devotees of Khorne.

The World Eaters are the first of the two army lists I shall be painting and have collected from the 'Slave to Darkness' book. Unlike the Death Guard from the 'Lost and the Damned', the World Eaters (and Emperor's Children) army list is more akin to the loyal Space Marine list. There are the three formal types of squad (Tactical, Devastator, and Assault), as well as all the different types of Officers.

The full World Eater army is quite a fair sized force. There are sixteen Officers: one Lieutenant Commander, one Lieutenant, one Captain, six Libarians, four Medics, and three Chaplains. Squad wise there are: eight Tactical Squads, two Devastator squads, four Assault squads. This makes a total of 128 Marines, which I have now collected.

This does not include the additional forces which are part of the list such as Tech Marines, Beastman squads, Possesses, Chaos Spawn, and Demons. I have some of these, but will be adding them as I go along as they are not core to the army. I do have the full complement of Chaos Terminators from the list in White Dwarf #116, consisting of four squads of five Terminators, and one Captain to add to the list and paint as well. 

One major difference is that the World Eater squads are eight strong rather than ten, as eight is the sacred number of Khorne. This means that the Tactical squads do not have a flamer Marine, although they still retain their heavy weapon. The four squads I have painted so far are all Tactical squads, and they have a number of optional upgrades.
These upgrades, like the loyal Marines, have to be applied to all the squads of the same type in the army, with the exception of Jetbikes and Chaos Steeds. For the Tactical squads the only upgrade I have applied is the give the squad sergeant a Power Glove, as they are very good in Rogue Trader.Also, I have several Power Gloved miniatures, so it helps differentiate the sergeants in the squads. I kept the Missile Launchers as they are versatile weapon.

Painting wise I am basing the paint schemes of the Rogue Trader era.
A mix of reds, gold/brass, and black, with a good mix of metal, bone, and the occasional piece of blue armour from the old (Rogue Trader era) World Eater armour. I have also taken the old approach of painting each of the miniatures as an individual rather than just in a blanket uniform.
In addition I have taken to using a technque I used for my current 40k Edition era World Eater army. This involves drybrushing red ( GW Evil Sun Scarlet, the modern equivalent of the old Blood Red) over the black to create a darker 'blended look' mix of black and red. I have also applied that to mixing gold and red, and metal and black. I think it adds to the mix of individuality and the dark Chaotic feel.

Enjoy :)
 Four Tactical squads and an Officer.
 Squad one.
 Sergeant and Marine. 
I painted the Sergeant by drybrushing red over black, and made the armour look half and half blending the red into black. It's an effect I liked painting and plan to use more. The shoulder pad has a little orange added to give an almost Chaos glow.
 Marines with Bloodletter heads. 
With the Marine of the left I have gone for the more solid brighter red, and on the Marine of the left a predominatly black armour.
 Two more Marines with a slightly darker armour.
 Metal skull faced Marine, and on the right a Chaos Heavy Weapons Marine, with the Chaos Missile Launcher.
 A lot of people really do not like the Chaos Missile Launcher. I don't mind it, but think design wise it is a little too long and is too heavy at the end. The plastic missile launcher from Genestealer is a lot better design, but I only have a few of those and am going to use them for the Thousand Sons. I also wanted to keep the original missile launcher to keep with the original feel of the army.
 Squad Two.
 Another Power Gloved Sergeant, this time with a golden arm. I repostioned the helmet horns as well.
The othe Marine is a sculpt based of the Sergeant sculpt (or visa versa?).
 Marines with a stylised symbol of Khorne on their helmets.
Two Marines, both from the basic sculpt. 
On the right in a similar style to the one in the Slaves to Darkness book.
 Marines, one with skull knee pads, and more gold tubing. Behind him is a heavy weapons Marine with a head of a Bloodletter.
 Squad three.
 Again, the same Khornate looking Sergeant, only this time I have painted the red-black drybrusing vertically, black-red-black. A little bit of gold adds some colour. 
On the right is another Bloodletter headed Marine with more black armour.
 Two more Marines, drybrused on the left, and more solid colours on the right.
Another specifically Khornate Marine of the left. I painted the web looking part of the armour bone to bring out the organic looking armour. 
On the right is a generic Renegade with an odd spike on his helmet. I also thought this was a strange miniature, but he still adds to the Chaos craziness.
 The orginal Chaos Renegade on the left (I bought him second hand, and someone of time has snipped the combat accessory to a point). 
On the right another heavy weapon Marine. With him I mixed styles painting the armour more solid but a darker red, drybrusing the red and black on the missile launcher itself, and giving him a piece of old World Eater blue armour on the leg.
 Backpacks. 
I have kept that old feel for the armies by used only old Rogue Trader backpacks on all of the miniatures in all of the four armies. Most have the Chaos backpacks, the Death Guard and the occsional Character model have other Rogue Trader backpacks. 
Above are some of the painting effects I have used on the World Eater backpacks.
 More backpacks.
 World Eater Officer.
For many of the officers in the World Eaters (and the Emperor's Children) I have used some of the Champions of Chaos miniatures from fantasy ranges. 
I have done this to add variety to the armies, to use some great miniatures, and to differentiate the officer models from the rank and file. 
Many of the Champion miniatures fit in very well. Several of them have tech weapons, or swords/axes which can be assumed to be Demon Weapons or Chaos Weapons. The armour suggests a mutation of the power armour into Chaos armour. The overall look and individuality of Officers is one of those who have perhaps journeyed further down the path of Chaos than other Marines in the Legions. 

The above miniature is 'Face of Juggernaught, axe, and mace tail'. I love the look of the axe, having that great Ian Miller Chaos Weapon look. I have'nt decided which officer he will be, but might be a Librarian, Khornate Librarians of course don't use their psychic powers. 
I experimented when painting the armour, painting a dark green over black, and then highlighting from the green with red. Then I gave the whole miniature a couple of heavy black washes. The idea was to give a him a slick dark looking Demonic armour, made darker by painting the axe, tail, and head, red. 


Next update: more World Eaters!
I still have a lot to paint, and am already part way through a Devastator squad and two more officers, and hopefully will be able to get an additional Tactical squad painted. With Christmas looming I will have less time and energy to paint as work gets busier, but I hope to keep the output going. :)
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A Death Guard 'glitch'; The Sons of Horus; and a few World Eaters

December 14, 2015, 2:12 pm
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Erm, well this is'nt good.....

I had quite happily painted my Death Guard and moved onto the World Eaters when a problem arose. The problem was that the paint had started to rub off the Death Guard! I had properly undercoated and varnished them, but still the paint had started to leave the miniatures in alarming amounts.
 Look, it's rubbing off!!
(the red was Vallejo too, but I caught that with my nail as I rubbed off the grey green).

Now I had never had a problem like this before, and it seems to be down the the Vallejo Grey Green paint, as the Citadel colours I had used were fine. I can only put this down to a rogue batch of the paint as I have not had an issue with Vallejo before. I chatted to people on the 'Oldhammer' Facebook group and they seemed to agree. Needless to say I am not impressed and a little reluctant to keep using Vallejo paints. Also it means I have a Renegade army which requires repainting.

Originally I had painted the Death Guard in a slightly grubby version of their white and red armour from the pre Heresy Rogue Trader colour scheme. However, in keeping with my 1991 look approach I have decided that if I need to repaint them, I might as well do it in the colours of the time. So I have opted for the classic green and red of 'Lost and the Damned' and White Dwarf fame.

In happier news I have been shopping.
I been shopping on e-bay, buying a lot of Renegades with the aim of taking this vast Tratior Legions project one step further by adding some Sons of Horus, based on the Black Legion list in Slaves to Darkness. I have a force from each of the four Chaos Powers, but always felt that the most important force, that of Horus himself, should be present.

So to add both to this idea, and to fill gaps in the other Legions, I have purchased another 51 Renegades (actually 53, I bought another two this evening!), and in addtion I have added Terminators and Robots as well, but more on them next update. Needless to say that this has'nt been cheap, but I have also been lucky in a few auctions, but the total bill is around £270-ish. I'll do a proper update on the gathering Sons of Horus as a later date.

In addtion to repainting the Death Guard, and the test miniatures of the Sons of Horus, I have only been about to paint a few World Eaters. This is mainly due to the upcoming horror at work that is Christmas, and my sorting out of miniatures for the now five Legions. I have however still painted a few Renegades.
Enjoy :)

Death Guard reboot:
Two test model Renegades in the new, non rub-off paint scheme. 
I have based these on the classic look from the 1980's. The armour is the shade of the old Goblin Green paint, and highlighted with that and some added yellow. I have painted the armour edges in Blood Red, and given everything a nice dark wash. 
Personally I think that the glitch might be a blessing in disguise as I prefer the classic Nurgle look, and it seems to fit my idea of Death Guard Renegades.
Rear view.
Sons of Horus test models.
At the time of Rogue Trader I wondered about the pre Black Legion armour colour. The epic Space Marine box suggested they were black, which was no help as they were meant to have painted the armour black later. A White Dwarf article at the time also suggested that the tanks were black, which while possible, did'nt help on the Marines armour colour.
At the time I recall discussions suggesting that the armour colour was either grey/off white, an idea derived from a lunar grey from the Lunar Wolves idea; or green from photos of painted renegades. The green was much later picked up by GW and is now the Sons of Horus colour. Now I did'nt want to paint them with 21st Century background fluff, but from the background of the 1980's. However without any firm evidence to work from, I chose the green for variety and that it looked good.
I painted them from a black undercoat with Vallejo German Uniform Green, then with a higlight of that mixed with Citadel Warpstome glow. The whole thing was then given a thin black paint wash. 
World Eaters! 
I have only managed to paint a few in the last week or so.
Warhammer Chaos Champion of Chaos, painted up for the World Eaters and to be used as a (non psychic power using) Libarian.
Legionary and Sergeant.
Heavy Bolter.
Two more World Eaters.
I have added a few normal Marines in amongst the Renegades to add a little variety, and to add some more number tothe Legions. I have added about 20 Marines to the five Legions, so they are not common. Adding the Chaos backpack I think gives them that more Tratior feel.

Next update will hopefully be on a few more World Eaters, and maybe some more Death Guard. Also there will be more on my e-bay shopping.
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Rogue Trader World Eaters (part 2).

January 1, 2016, 10:59 am
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The gathering of forces for the Rogue Trader era World Eaters has relentlessly continued over Christmas and New Year.  I had considered posting a review of the year of 2015, but wanted to update on the World Eaters. For anyone interested in my 2015, there be Goblins, lots of Goblins! :)

Anyway, since my last update, which has been delayed due to a busy time at work, I have completed the rest of the first Devastator squads, and fully painted a second. Also I have completed the last two of the footslogging Tactical Squads, and a Medic.
This completes the foot slogging part of the World Eaters, apart from the various officers. I have just started painting the two Jump Pack equipped Assault Squads. After that there are the Officers to complete, as well as the two mounted Assualt, one squad on Jet Cycles, the other on the Space Marine Riding Lizards (counting as Chaos Steeds).

...and then of course there are the Terminators! 

I will be photographing each of the Legions in turn. They obviously will not be painting by then, but it will in order to give an idea of the scale of the Rogue Trader project, and the grandeur of the forces of the Tratior Legions. I might even get my Rogue Trader Ultramarine Legion organised too!
Enjoy. :)
 Two Devastator Squads, and two Tactical Squads, and a Medic. 
There are four or five miniatures in this update which were in the last update, but I have re-included them here as there were part of the above batch of squads.
 A Tactical Squad advances throught the smoke of battle!
 The first of the Tactical Squads
 First off are two Chaos Renegades that technically are'nt, but are two normal Space Marines with Chaos backpacks. As mentioned in previous updates, I have added a few Space Marines to the Chaos Legions add variety, suggest less mutated armour/Renegades, and to add a little extra bulk to the armies.
 Renegades with bolters.
The one on the right has been given a Rogue Trader era Normal Space Marine backpack, for the same reasons as I have added normal Marines to the Legions.
 Bolter Marine and Missile Launcher.
I gave the Missile Launcher Marine a 'bare metal' look to his armour as it looked quite medieval. The more astute might notice a rogue spot of red paint on his left shoulder, something I missed until photographing, but has now been covered. :)
 More bolter Marines.
 I think the black helmet gives a much darker and sinister look to this miniature.
 Rear view of the above two Renegades to show their normal Space Marine backpacks and how they look of the Renegades. 
 The second Tactical Squad.
 A skull faced Marine on the left, with another normal Space Marine sergeant on the right. I gave the sergeant a black helmet and tubing to give a much darker look.
 More Renegades with bolters.
 Yet more bolter armed Renegades, both from the Khorne range of Renegades.
 A slightly damaged Renegade on the left (he is missing the tops of his horns), and a Missile Launcher armed Khornate Renegade.
 The first Devastator Squad. 
For the two Devastator Squads I chose a Power Glove upgrade for the Sergeant, and for the Missile Launchers to be upgraded, one to a Heavy Plasma Gun, the other to a Las-Cannon. Both will give a bit more variety in the look of the squads, as well as providing more verstility on their combat roles. The Las-Cannon, with the strength 9 will be better at shooting at vehicles and taking down power fields. The Heavy Plasma Gun adds a sustained shot attack to the force, with a template weapon useful for killing vehicles and troops. 
I have enough Missile Launchers in the army in the Tactical Squads anyway. 
I did'nt upgrade the Heavy bolters to Heavy Webbers as I like Heavy Bolters.
 Four armed Renegade Sergeant, and bolter armed Renegade (with an blue pre-Heresy piece of leg armour).
 Renegades with Heavy Bolters.
 Bolter Renegades, and a cool looking Las-Cannon armed Renegade.
 Another normal bolter armed Renegade, and a Heavy Plasma Gun Renegade.
The second Devastator Squad.
 Sergeant and Bloodletter headed Renegade.
I bent the horns of the Sergeant to add a little difference.
 Bolter Renegades.
 Heavy Bolter renegades.
I repainted the eyes of the one on the right from orange to green from the last update as I did'nt like the orange.
 Heavy Plasma Gunner, and Las-Cannon Marine.
I really like the Skull headed Renegade, really evil looking. Unfortunately it is the only one of this miniature I have (so far).
 World Eater Medic.
With a buzz saw tail and Skull Head, I thuoght he might make a good Medic Officer.
I kept the colours simple to bring the eye to the white.
 Rear view.
I have used the early 1990's Rogue Trader backpack to add more variety. I painted the top white to keep with the Medic theme.
A World Eater Tactical Squad mops up the last of some Sons of Horus in a post Heresy battle within the Eye of Terror!

Next update will be on the Assualt Squads, which hopefully I will have painted, or if not I will start the photographing of the Legions.
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Back to blogging, and to Land Raiders!

January 19, 2016, 7:57 am
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I have had a bit of a break from blogging over the last fortnight. A busy time at work, coupled with that I have'nt been painting much meant that my blog has taken a little bit of a back seat. However I have still been buying items for the Tratior Legions, and I did manage to get some painting done.

I have been painting the World Eater Legion recently, and thought that I had finished all of the Tactical Squads required for the army. I had however miscounted, and still have two squads of eight Renegades to paint.

In addition I have started painting the mounts for two of the Assault squads. I have replaced the Space Marine Lizard mounts with Vincent Black Shadow Motorbikes for one of the squads. I did this as I wanted to use all ten of the mounts (the World Eater only have a need for eight), so have reassigned them to the Sons of Horus/Black Legion army. Also, I think Motorbikes fit the raw aggressive, thoaty roaring feel of the World Eaters better.  The other squad is to be mounted on Mk14 Bullock Jetcycles. I have managed to mostly paint the Jetcycles and motorbikes, with only a little left to do, leaving only the riders to paint.

Apart from the Assault Squad mounts, I decided to paint a tank, specifically a Land Raider. I have always liked the Khornate Land Raider in the 'Slaves to Darkness' book (see photograph below), and despite my wish not to get involved in painting tanks yet, the army did'nt seem right without one painted up. I tried to keep the paint scheme as close the book as much as possible. I might still add a flag or Khornate rune on the doors.

This focus on a Land Raider led me to look on e-bay for another. I already have one Land Raider for the World Eaters, one for the Emperor's Children, and one which will need to be re-paint for either the Sons of Horus or Ultramarines. So after a little look, I found one in mint condition in box (albeit a 1994/2nd Edition box) and still on the sprues for £50. It might seem a little pricey, but they are becoming a little hard to find in good condition, and also in comparison the Forgeworld Proteus is £88. Not sure which Legion will benefit from this addition, perhaps the Emperor's Children as I could paint it in pastels like some of the Slaaneshi Marines will be? As it's complete and in great condtion, it might go to the Ultramarines.
Enjoy :)

 The photograph of the Land Raider on page 165 of 'Slaves to Darkness'.
I always liked the red of the Land Raider hull, and the ruddiness of the tracks.
I chose the old and slightly more battered Land Raider I owned for the World Eaters. 
I re-painted the hull and tracks with GW Evil Sun Scarlet (the new version of GW Blood Red) over a black undercoat.
For the hull I then gave another coat of red for fuller coverage and depth, and then highlighted with a mix of red and orange. Then the whole thing recieved a thinned down black paint wash.
For the tracks, to get that ruddy look, I drybrushed GW Mournfang Brown (the new version of Bestial Brown) lightly over the tracks. Then I drybrushed silver over that, before giving the whole thing a coat of thinned down black paint.
 Rear view.
 One of the problems of using this old battered Land Raider was that the top door hatches were missing. So I added a bile of bones fron the 1980's Night Horrors ranges to cover the hole, and to suggest the collected bones of their enemies.
 On the painting table!
Eight MK14 Bullock Jetcycles, eight Vincent Black Shadow Motorbikes, and one of the two remaining Tactical squads.
 The four Landraiders!
The two purple ones are left over from my halted attempt at painting the Emperor's Children some years ago. The paint is'nt that thick so they can be re-painted or stripped if needed.
 Land Raider, mint in box.
The box had at sometime been damaged, but the kit inside was fine.
 Instructions on how to build.
 Close up.
It's been over 25 years since I assembled one of these!!!

Sprues!!!
Lovely, lovely sprues :) 

No idea what the next update will be on. I do want to take photographs of each of the Legions so far to give an impression of the crazy project I have started. I do also want to get some proper amount of painting done as well. 
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Rogue Trader World Eaters (part 3) - Renegade Jetcycles

January 27, 2016, 9:31 am
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I have managed to finish painting my World Eater Assault squad mounted on Jetcycles this week. I had planned on doing more paimting, but I broke a tooth and then had to spend out good wargaming money on fixing it! Not sure which was more painful? ;)

The three army lists in the Slaves to Darkness book allow you to mount one squad per army in Mark 14 Bullock Jetcycles. This costs 110 points per Marine, and so the points paid are dependent on which army list you are using. World Eater squads are eight strong, therefore it's 880 point to upgrade. The lists do not specify which squad can be upgraded (unlike Chaos Steeds, Beast of Slaanesh, etc) and so I decided to choose an Assault squad as it seemed to suit them best. Also, I was running out of jump pack for all four Assault Squads.
The total cost of the squad, with an upgrade of Power Glove for the Sergeant, works out at 1,115. Of course that could increase with any addition of Grenades. So they are more a large battle squad, or misson specific use, even in the larger points Rogue Trader Armies.

Painting wise I painted them in the same manner as the rest of the World Eaters. I did however try to make them a little more colourful, and to make each of the 'Bloodletter Headed' renegades looks different from one another. As for the Jetcycles, I did consider a range of different colours to contrast against the red/black of the Renegades armour, but in the end went for a Khornate red as it seemed fitting.

Enjoy :)
 Incoming!!!
 World Eater Assault Squad mounted on Mk 14 Bullock Jetcycles. 
I have used the Marines from the mounted Renegades range as riders, excpet for the Sergeant. I chose specific, slighty crouched legs, which seemed to fit on the cycles better. I wanted to have a majority of the Khornate 'Bloodletter Headed' Renegade in this squad as they are World Eaters, but also a few others to add some variety.
 Squad Sergeant.
He is a mix of bits really. His legs are mounted Renegade ones, his body is that of a 1980's Citadel Chaos Knight, and his right arm is a RTB101 plastic Space Marine Power Glove.
I love the 'attitude' in his Skull face.
 'Bloodletter Headed' Renegade. 
The squad contains two special weapons; a Plasma Pistol, and a Hand Flamer. None of these weapons are present the actual models, and I did'nt want to hack them up. So, for the Plasma Pistol I dediced to paint the Bolt Pistol in a Plasma looking blue. I add the colour to the Renegade as well, for additional effect.
 'Bloodletter Headed' Renegade, with a fire skull look to his head.
 Renegade with lots of tubes in his armour. 
 Another 'Bloodletter Headed' Renegade, this time with a Skull face and more gold on his armour.
 The last of the 'Bloodletter Headed' Renegades, with a dark look fron the black armour.
I painted it a little lighter than normal to give that 'biker black leathers' look.
 Bare headed Renegade. 
I like this miniatures and really wanted to add him to the unit as to me he just exudes the speed appropriate for Jetcycles.
 Lastly, a one-eyed, horned, Renegade.
 As mentioned earlier the unit has one Renegade armed with a Hand Flamer. So I picked this model as the stand-in as the Bolt pistol has a long barrel that to me suggests aflamer based weapon. I painted it orange to differentiate it, something I plan to do with all of thehand flamers in my Legions, so I can locate them at a glance and unify the look of them.

 Ahem...
...I bought another Land Raider from e-bay. 
This one only cost me £26, mainly due to the face it had no guns. I'll tidy it up and either source some side Las-Cannons, or convert something up from Rogue Trader bits.

Next week will probably be more World Eaters. I am painting up Tactical squad, and have the Motor Bike Squad half painted on my desk.
I still need to make a start on the Officers of the Legion, the Terminators, and a series of general photographs of the all of the Legions. I'll see what I can get done of the next week.
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Rogue Trader World Eaters (part 4); odds and ends, and a Predator tank.

February 2, 2016, 2:05 pm
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I've had quite a productive week of painting. I managing to paint another World Eater Tactical Squad, a Predator, and two World Eater Officers mounted on Juggernaughts.

The Tactical squad was very quick and easy to paint and in the style of the others I have painted. In a similar vein I painted a Predator for the World Eaters, but with a little difference. I wanted to break up the solid red block look of the tank, and so graduated the red from an orange highlighted red at the fore, to the drybrushed black-red at the rear. Also, as the model had lost is turret mounted Auto-Cannon, I replaced it with a cut down plastic Chaos Auto-Cannon.

Finally I have painted two of the five World Eater officers mounted on Juggernaughts. In the Slaves to Darkness World Eater army list, any officers may be mounted on the demonic Juggernaught for 75 points. I always liked the 'Juggers' and over time ended up with five of them. The first two riders I have painted are more fantasy in design than the others, but I consider that in the 40k setting to be more that they are wearing a form of mutated power armour and/or Chaos armour.

Enjoy :)
 This weeks painting.
 World Eater officers on Juggernaughts. 
For these two I wanted to go for a look which suggested an almost fusion of man and demon, and so painted them in the same colours. For the others still on my painting table I have gone for a more seperate loo bewtween rider and mount.
I have not allocated the rank/position of the officers yet, but will consider which of them seems more of a Libarian, Captain, etc. 
 I painted this officer gold/brass. I wanted at least one of the officers to have the solid look of brass reminiscent of one of the colours of Khorne.
 Right side view.
I am probably planning to add Khornate banners to the lances at a later date.
To add colour and background flavour I painted generic looking glowing runes to the sword.
 The 'Steel Officer'. 
Keeping with the theme for these two offciers of blending with their demonic mounts, I opted for a steel look for this one.
 Left side view, with the demonic 'back banner heads.
 World Eater Predator.
As noted above, I wanted to break up the block of colour look to this tank, and to give it a slightly more unsual look and feel. So I painted the rear of the tank in the darker look, and make it look lighter towards the front. The photograph does'nt quite capture the contrast as well as in real life.
 'New' Auto-Cannon.
As I lost the original Auto-Cannon I replaced it with this one, which I cut down to size and added to the turret. I think it looks suitability archaic and baroque.
 Tactical Squad.
 Sergeant and Renegade.
 Rear view of the sergeant, showing the metallic look linking between the Power Glove and backpack.
 Renegade with 'Bloodletter head' and missile launcher.
 Renegades, one skull headed and other in Mark VI armour.
 Another Mark VI Renegade on the left, and horned Renegade on the right.
 Renegade with tentacle arm.
 He was orginally released as a limited edition LE101 Chaos Renegade Marine in 1988. I actually bought one at the time as a limited release, but have also bought the same miniature again subsequently. Personally, think he is one of the iconic looking Renegades of the ranges. I like the artwork of him in the Slaves to Darkness book, page 166.
My painting table.
I have an Assault squad mounted on motorbikes, a Rhino, Chaos Dreadnought, three more Juggernaught riders, and a Robot with Techmarine. 

Next update will be on probably be on more World Eaters!
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Rogue Trader World Eaters (Part 5): Robots, Terminators, Tactical Squad, and e-bay reinforcements. Oh, and I have a flag.

February 17, 2016, 2:19 pm
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I'm back. Well, technically I have'nt been away. I was unable to update the blog last week due to dentistry problems requiring a root canal. Not nice, I spent a lot of time in pain, and it was very distracting from serving the Warmaster. :(

However, I have'nt been idle. Last week I started gluing together all sixty three of my Chaos Terminators for the various Legions. In addition I tried out the Dettol paint stripping technique, which works very well. This week I have finally got back to painting, completing my last World Eater Tactical Squad, and a Robot with attendant Chaos Techmarine.

Also I have been shopping. As always I have been in need of a few more Renegades here and there for the Legions. I have managed to buy another twenty two Renegades, with one more in the post, as well as a Sixth Land Raider, and a couple of Rhinos.

Enjoy :)
 Colossus Robot with Tech Marine.
I have painted the Robot in an old Khornate Traitor Legion colour scheme from 1988, and painted the Tech Marine to match his charge.
 Closer up.
The paint scheme is the classic red/black beloved of Khornate Renegades. There was a gold skull rune on the original design which I might add later.
 World Eater Techmarine, using the Space Marine RT01 Commincation Officer Orinoco. The armour looks like it could easily be used in the Chaos Legions, and fits the look of a Tech Marine. I also gave him an unusual backpack to add more character...
...I had a broken Space Ork Heavy Plasma Gun, so I clipped the rear of it to fit, and added it as a arcane-tech looking backpack. 
 Maniple of Cataphract Robots, with Tech Marine.
I will be painting these at a later date and choosing one of the old 1980 paint schemes for them and the Tech Marine to keep them non-Legion specific, so they can be used for any of the Legions.
I just thought I would include them as I have finally paint stripped them (one of them was previously in the Squat army) and re-assembled them.
 World Eater Tactical squad. 
Finally painted the last of the eight Tactical squads in the Legion detachment. 
 On the left a Skull Headed Renegade, which I decided to paint green to give a more organic chaos feel, and on the right a horn helmed Renegade.
 Skull faced Renegade, with Minotaur headed Sergeant.
 Two 'Bloodletter headed' Renegades. I was very pleased with the depth of red I achieved on these two.
 Renegade with bolter, left,and Heavy Weapon Trooper, right.
 Sixty three Chaos Terminators.
These will broken down as follows:
Twenty one (four squads of five, plus a Captain) for the World Eaters;
Twenty one (four squads of five, plus a Captain) for the Emperor's Children;
Eleven (two squads of five, plus a Captain) for the Sons of Horus;
Five (one squad) for the Death Guard;
Five (one squad) for the Thousands Sons.
 Twenty Two Renegade reinforcements for the various Legions. I also have a Nurgle Renegade in the post on his way.
I will have an 'organise' of the Legions soon as I am near the end of those I require to complete. I'll then post the photographs of the 'Scale of the Heresy'. 
I also bought two Gnoll/Great Goblins and a Slann.
 More tanks: One Land Raider and two Rhinos.
The Land Raider is in poor condition and will have to be taken apart, rebuilt, and repainted. It also has no Las-Cannons, but I have an idea in converting some old 1989 Imperial Guard ones.
The Rhinos are fine and only require the addition of new hatches on one, and the repainting of both.
 Gloop.
More stuff in the Dettol paint stripper.
Flying the flag for Praetoria (or the British Space Empire/VSF/Steampunk).
I have been meaning to add flags to my Imperial Guard for ages, and just decided to the other night. The flag is one from a Victrix Napoleonic British box set, but it works fine for these, and saves me painting one.
The next update will be on a few more World Eaters. I have the Bikers to finish off, and want to paint some Bloodletters and Officers.
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Rogue Trader World Eaters (Part 6): Bloodletters and a Chaos Dreadnought.

February 23, 2016, 2:39 pm
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As a change from the World Eater Marines I decided to paint some Bloodletter Demons, and a Chaos Dreadnought.

The Bloodletters are the Lesser Demons of Khorne, and the World Eaters can have up to three summoned squads of them, albeit at 600 points per squad. I really like these miniatures, the sculpts give them a lithe and otherworldly feel. The arms, legs, and bodies are overlong and spindly without looking comical. The Gieger Alien looking heads also add to the weird looking length and feeling of movement. GW went on to make horrid Bloodletters in 2nd Edition, before finally returning to a similar design to these with their current plastic set.

The Bloodletters were a joy to paint. I wanted a bright, slick, otherworldly demonic look the them. So I undercoated them white, something I rarely do (I usually undercoat black) and only do white if I want a brighter look to the colours. I undercoat the Slann white for this reason. I then painted Citadel 'Bloodletter' red ink over the white. This made them look pink, which whilst amusing, was'nt a problem. After allowing that to dry, I then painted them, with another ink, this time a brown, Citadel 'Agrax Earthshade' to add some shading. Once this was dry I again painted them with the Red 'Bloodletter' ink to bring out the intial red and tie the brown and red together. Once dry I highlighted them lightly with bright orange, and then added the details.

For the Chaos Dreadnought I used the same drybrushing techniques I use with the renegades. The only differences were that I wanted to make the highlighting more stark to bring out more depth of colour, so made the highlighting more of a clash. Also I washed the Dreadnought with GW 'Bloodletter' ink before the last set of highlighting in order to bright out more of the red paint colour, and to just see what it would look like. I am very pleased with how he turned out, with the mix of reds and orange making him look almost flayed. 

Enjoy :)

 Squad of eight Bloodletters.
In order for them to balance and not fall over, I had to bend a few of the arms and bodies to better place their centre of gravity.
 Bloodletter #1, with shouldered sword.
For the skin, swords, and milky white eyes,  I took my inspiration from the Bloodletter on the front cover of the 'Slaves to Darkness' book.
 Bloodletter #2. 
I painted the tongue purple as it seemed to fit the look of the Bloodletters more than red or green. To get that effect I waterwd down a little purple paint and let the paint form natural highlighing and shading.
 Bloodletter #3.
 Bloodletter #4.
 Bloodletter #5.
 Bloodletter #6, same sculpt as #5.
 Bloodletter #7, again with shouldered sword.
His legs are acutally legs designed for mounted Bloodletters, but work they well for a dismounted Demon.
 Bloodletter #8.
 Close up of the skin tones. I am very pleased with how they look and the tones.
 Chaos Dreadnought.
 Right hand side view, showing the Heavy Plasma Gun arm, and the highlighting on the shoulder.
 Top view of the Gieger-esque looking bio-mechanical carapace.
 Biological 'exhaust sack'.
 Left hand side view of the claw. 
I progessively highlighted from black to an orange-white to make the claw more Demonic crab looking.
 Great Goblin/Gnoll archer!!
Why?
I've added him because I bought him today quite by chance. I found him in the bottom of a box of junk in a box in a Flea Market in Worthing. He only cost £1. 
All on his own, poor little Goblin. :( 
Despite all the Renegades, I've not forgotten the Goblins! :) 

Next update might be a special one. I am nearing 100,000 views very soon, as of this evening I am up to 99,389. So I might do a retrospective update on all the different things I have posted since I started my blog. :)
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100,000 Views!!!

March 10, 2016, 1:39 pm
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Wow!!!!!!!!

I have taken a couple of weeks break from blogging and painting, and in the meantime my blog has reached 100,000 views mark (100,735 as of today). All I can say is a big thank you to everyone for taking an interest in my blog posts.

According to my blog post log I have posted 174 updates, which I find amazing as I did'nt think it was that many. When I started my blog in April 2013 I had no idea if people would take any notice of it or would be interested.

The aim of the blog has been to post photographs of the miniatures which I have collected over the years, to provide a focus for painting projects, and to stop me from getting distracted. I think this has worked well as I have managed to get several projects stated and/or completed. I have also chatted to many people via my blog on all sorts of miniature releated topics, and gained/given ideas and inspiration.
Most of all, it's been fun. :)

In additon I have been able to showcase several miniatures and ranges, as well as the details which people were unaware of. I also really enjoyed doing the shortlived series looking at the army lists in the Warhammer Armies book. This something one I hope to re-do, but the problem is that each of the updates were taking three of four afternoon's/evenings to complete. This meant sometimes I rushed them (leading to mistakes/forgetfulness), and importantly, I did'nt have time to paint!

So this blog update is a bit of a retrospective of the things I have posted over the last few years. It's more of a selected highlights, rather than a plodding chronolocial review. In the future I plan to carry on with the Traitor Legion project, although whether I complete this in one go remains to be seen. I have a desire to paint more fantasy Slann, and I also have all sorts of things I would like to paint.

Also I still have lots of things to photograph still, and would like to get back to updates concerning particular ranges. The idea is to do smaller, more regular updates that are quicker to post, as sometimes the larger updates take time, recently stopping me from always updating every week.

(re-) Enjoy. :)
As the blog says...
...Goblins!
Close up of just a few of the little fellows.
The flying Gargoyles of Barda
Citadel Orcs
A mix of the various 1980's ranges.
3,000 points worth of 1980's Dwarves.
Prince Ulther's Dwarves.
661 Goblins. :)
Just a few of the Praetorian Imperial Guard army.
A company and half of Praetorian Leman Russ tanks.
Some of the Beastmen from the 3,000 point Chaos army.
Citadel C23 Ogres.
3,000 points of Bretonnians.
I plan to re-visit this army very soon.
C27 Snakemen.
Part of my Dark Elf army.
The first sculptings of RR4 Mengil Manhide's Dark Elf Regiment of Renown.
These too are part of a 3,000 point army.
Skeletons, again just one of several regiments from a 3,000point army. 
RRD5 Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers, painted up in autumnal colours.
The brave defenders of Vastervik, or dastardly dry skin colonists, depending on which side you play!
More current edition World Eater army.
Slann spawn band.
Slann Venom tribes.
  5,000 points of Slann.
This is just a fraction of my Slann army, barely half of it in fact.
Slann army on the table, fighting 'The Battle at the Tower', back in September 2014.
Slann in action!
Rogue Trader Ork, part of Luggub's Drop Legion.
Hasslefree's (tiny) Kindred.
Genestealers.
Skaven.
Paranoia Troubleshooters.
Squats.
TSF 18 Space Slann.

Bob Olley's Iron Claw Black Orcs.
Warploque Miniatures.
Gnolls/Great Goblins!!
I painted these up as individuals on 30mm bases.
I love Goblins :)
Lots of Goblins clambering over a hill! (and a Troll).
Chaos Goblins.
Lesser Goblins.
First Edition RR1 Bugman's Dwarf Rangers.
RR5 Harboth and the Black Mountain Boys, and RR14 Notlob's Orcish Bolt Throwing Engines.
C20 Troll 'Rattlebones Bowlegs'.
The first Rogue Trader releases.
West Wind's 'Secrets of the Third Reich' British.
C27 Pygmies, allies of the Slann, one of the more controversial series of blog posts.
'Slaves to Darkness' era World Eater Renegades.
Part of a much, much larger project.
More Renegades.
Techmarine and Robot.
Seven Land Raiders.
A glimspe of a future post. :)

Next update will be a slight break from the World Eaters. I have been painting them on and off since October 2015, and fancy a change. I have a couple of slightly different posts lined up. :)
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Buying stuff, gifts, and sorting Slann.

March 18, 2016, 2:48 pm
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 As I mentioned in my last blog update I have decided to take a little break from the Rogue Trader World Eater Renegades. I have been focused on them since October 2015, and decided to have a break.

I am revisiting the Slann, and all Slann-equse nonsense. I wanted to paint something colourful, and I have been wanted to reorganise the army a little. In addition, I have been reading a history of the Conquest of the Inca, which has got back in the pre-Columbian frame of mind.

So I have done a little shopping. First of all I have bought some of Ral Partha Europe's Phroggs range. They are space frogs, basically Space Slann, and created after a kickstarter campaign last year. The range consists of six miniatures. Unlike Citadel's Space Slann they are a lot larger, more Ogre sized. They remind me of the Von Daniken idea of 'Giant Space Aliens' coming to help humanity in ancient times.

The painting is still a WIP, and I hope to have them finished for next week. I quite like them as a little range, the sculpting reminds me of Alternative Armies Toadaroni in that it is slightly 'comic' and less sharp than some other ranges, and the Phroggs themselves are slightly bull frog-ish. They have kept the slightly Aztec/Maya look to the sculpting concept, and detailing wise they are nicely done.
The range can be found here:
http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/phroggs-scifi-frogs-c-193/

Secondly I bought some giant frogs from a new company called Toad King Castings. I bought a selection of Giant Frogs of varying types for the Slann army to see how they look. I was not dissapointed. They are very nice quality, made from a durable resin, and beautifully detailed. I like these very much, and plan a second order in the next couple of days. They are'nt too expensive, and I plan the have a unit of Slann riding the 'Giant toad (large), and a unit of 'Tengu Toads' as a summoned 'Monstrous Host'. They do some nice looking skull packs too.
The website can be found here:
http://www.toadkingcastings.co.uk/

Thirdly I bought some shields for the Slann. They are Aztec design shields (not shield type which the Aztecs would have used though), which I purchased from Wampstore, http://www.wampstore.com/store/miniatures
and are made by Ristulsmarket http://ristulsmarket.com/ . They are nicely detailed resin shields, and will come in handy for Cold One riders and the Altar Guards for my second Slann War Altar.

Leaving aside my purchasing, I have very kindly been sent some castings by my friend Justin, of the Masterworkguild blog:  http://themasterworkguild.blogspot.co.uk/
Justin had sent me a few of his first castings of Goblins some time ago, which shamefully I have'nt got around to painting yet. In addition he has sent me a casting of an undead version of the (in)famous Citadel C23 Ogre 'Ogre Captain Hrothyogg'.

Lastly, I have wasting a little time sorting out my 1980's Fantasy Slann collection. I have decided to seperate the solid based Slann, and the Slann from the 'Magnificent Sven' scenario, in order to creat a seperate Slann army of the old solid based Slann to repsresnt the forces of the Sven Scenario, and Slann of the pre-slotta era. The army will be compatable with the 3rd Edition Warhammer Armies lists, and have addition to Gurggl's basic forces.

It's a bit of distracting fun really, but does mean that I can split my Slann down into three seperate armies: Gurggl Greenwakes solid based Slann; another army of all the maximum options fulfilled (excluding Monstrous hosts) with all of the correct Totem Warrior miniatures; and a third army of Slann made up from those left, maybe led by Kremlo (although I might have him lead a Norse army!).

Enjoy :)
 Ral Partha Phroggs WIP. 
 Scale comparison with a Citadel Space Slann. The Phrogg is based on a lipped 30mm round base.
 Toad King Castings toads. 
Left rear are the Giant Toad (Large); right is the Tengu Toad. 
Front left are the Giant Toads (Medium), centre is 'Terence the Toad, right is the Boss Toad.
 Scale photograph of Boss Toad with Slann.
 Terence the Toad.
A Toad smoking a pipe! :)
'Aztec tribal Shields'.
At the top are the smaller versions, at the bottom are the larger versions.The are nicely detailed, you get six of one the versions in each pack.
Scale shot with a Slann for scale.
C23 Citadel Ogre, with his undead counterpart.
Close up, show the lovely attention to details.
Rear view.
One of Justin's Goblins. He is armed with a little sword, and hasa tab on his arm ready for an addition of old Citadel shield
The tab syas 'Lee', which is great. -a Goblinlee! :)
Gurggl Greenwakes solid based Slann army. Well most of it, the rest are in the following photographs. In total it stands at Gurggl himdelf, 20 Venom Tribes, 15 Scouts, 60 Spawn Bands, 20 Bull Slann, 15 Bull Slann Cold one Riders, Slann Animal Handlers and 2 Warhounds, and 6 Human Slaves.
I will convert up one or two Wizards from solid based Slann. I also have 5 Troglodytes and about 20 Lizardmen, all old solid based, to add.
Freshly dettol paint stripped Slann Spawn Bands.
15 Bull Slann Cold One Riders.
Finally a random and totally unnecessary photograph of all the Slann Wizards I had been sorting out on my painting table.

Next blog update will be on the painting Phroggs!
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Phroggs!!!

March 27, 2016, 12:11 pm
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This week I have finished painting my Ral Partha's Phroggs.

The range was created via a kickstarter last year and consists of six miniatures, and can be viewed here:
http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/phroggs-scifi-frogs-c-193/

The range consists of six giant metal Sci Fi amphibian aliens, with a slight Aztec/Mayan Meso-American design feel to them, very similar to Citadel's TSF18 Space Slann. Design wise they are great, and capture that Aztec/space alien vibe nicely, with feathers, Aztec padded armour, and weird esoteric alien looking headgear. Apart from the flame-thrower Phrogg, they are all armed with a a retro 1960's looking laser gun, which is'nt too bad and I kind of like. The leader has a form of Aztec looking axe/club in addition.

The faces and look remind me of Alternative Armies 'Todoroni' range. The sculpting is less sharp than other companies, but not poor quality. One thing that requires mention is that they are big. They are about 40mm (ogre sized in the Ral Partha description), and a lot taller than the old Space Slann. I have done a scale comparison photograph in the blog, and be aware that the Phroggs are also mounted on 30mm bases.

Overall I quite like them. They were fun to paint, and at £3.95 per miniature, not too expensive considering their size (and much cheaper than the 1980's Space Slann!!!). The sculpting is nice enough, and there is enough detail to make them look good, but not too much as to get bogged down.
My only question would be why make them so big when most people gaming, or who remember the Space Slann, would be used to 25/30mm miniatures? They are different from the usual 28mm humanoid looking miniatures though, but I don't think the size will make them as popular as they could have been. As a range I think they may be eclipsed by Tim Prow's upcoming Eru-Kin, a range I am looking forward to be avaliable in larger numbers.

Enjoy :)
All six of the froggy (Phroggy?) critters.
I opted for a classic mix of froggy/Slann flesh colours, and the Aztec/Slann look.
I thuoght they might look good in a grey alien or flesh coloured skin tone, the sort of Von Daniken Space Alien feel. I also went for lot of gold on the equipment and the guns to reinforce that concept.
Scale comparison photograph, with the smaller of the TSF18 Space left, the larger on the right (both bases on 25mm bases, as opposed to the Phroggs 30mm base).
The PH010 Phrogg Sergeant.
He (or she? Can you 'sex' a giant alien frog? I can't!) is armed with the laser gun and club.
Rear view.
PH003 Phrogg Trooper #3 firing.
Rear view.
PH009 Phrogg Flamer Support Trooper.
A Phrogg with a flamer thrower!
Rear view showing the chemical tanks.
PH001 Phrogg Trooper #1 loading.
Rear view.
PH002 Phrogg Trooper #2 Advancing.
Rear view.
Phrogg Trooper #4 Advancing.
I painted him similar to the 'Slanni' in the 4th Edition Warhammer 40k Rulebook.
Rear view.
The Phroggs investigating a lost colony on a far distant planet, deep in the jungle.

The next update will be 'proper' 1980's fantasy Slann, as I have a painting project I wish to achieve. :)
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Akabylk.

April 2, 2016, 1:52 pm
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As part of revisiting my fantasy Slann army, I decided to repaint some Slann Blowpipers.

These Slann were orginally organised into two seperate regiments of 15 Jungle Braves, a Slann Levy, armed with Blowpipes. As my Slann collection is (or was, but more on that later) spread over two army lists worth of miniatures, I had two regiments of them. Both were made up of the C32 Slotta based Slann named 'Akabylk. One unit was painted orange, the other blue. Now I was never happy with the paint scheme, and came to releaise that the I wanted to repaint it and so opted to disband the 30 Jungle Braves, sending 20 to the Venom Tribes, and keeping the other 10 for Scouts.

With these 20 Slann I opted to send them to the Venom Tribes, of which the option box from Warhammer Armies is below. The description states that the Slann in these units are small, and coloured red and black, no doubt inspired by some of the the real life jungle dwelling Strawberry Posion Dart Frogs (Oophaga pumilio). The Slann in the army list entry artwork is also very similar to the 'Akabylk' Slann.

Gaming wise, the switch made sense. Slann Levy have BS1, and so are usless in shooting, and only really useful as a skirmish screen, dying in order to screen better Slann behind them. Given that the Slann army has access to 20 Venom tribes, 15 Scouts, and lots of Pygmy Allies who can also skirmish, the army is never short of them.

Another reason for the change is that I am currently splitting up my Slann army into three smaller armies. One army is the maximum options lists, with all of the troops filled out with the correct Totem Warriors ( the Eagle Warriors, Jaguar Warriors, and Aligator Warriors), and the maximum number of other troopers. This part is made up of the later C32 slotta based Slann designed by Trish Morrison (as she was then).

The second army will be made up of the 'leftover' Slann, including three regiments of alternative totem warriors. These alternative regiments are made up from minatures which, whilst are not the released totem warriors, are what I considered interesting alternatives. This army will also be of the later slotta Slann, but both armies will have the occasional non-citadel miniatures which I consider will fit in.

The third army is revisiting an old idea which I abandoned a long time ago, but wanted to re-visit. The army will be led by the Slann hero Gurggl Greenwake of the Magnificent Sven scenario, and consist of solely miniatures both from that scenario range release, and of the old pre-slotta Slann range.
I'm not sure what to do with Kremlo. he might end up leading a Norse army. :)

Incedently, like a lot of Citadel miniatures from the 1980's, especially the C32 Slann, they have comic names which often mean something else. In case you unaware, 'Akabylk' is 'Acker Bilk', a famous Jazz clarinettist and vocalist.

Enjoy :)

The Venom Tribes army list entry in the 'Warhammer Armies book'.
The unit can skirmish, and has a few modest optional upgrades. Being +1BS is a real valuable boon to a Slann army whose normal BS2 is pretty uninspiring.
The blowpipe is, I consider, an underrated weapon. It's difficult to use and short ranged (12 inches), but if deployed well can be nasty to an enemy. The blowpipe has a D6 strength to simulate posion, and so it's possible to end up shooting strength 6 shots and killing monsters.
20 Slann Venom Tribes.
Closer.
Close up.
As they are skirmishers, I decided to a few extra details to some of the bases.
A regiment of 10, skirmishing and looking to use that wonderful BS3!
In addition to the Slann I painted up a Reaper Miniatures Lizardman. I want to use him as a independent high level hero, wondering around causing mayhem.
I have had this miniature for years and never got around to painting him. I like the model, he's very large (he's on a 25mm base). 
Painting wise I actually used Vallejo fluorescent green as a base coat to give a bright jungle lizard look. I toned it down a little later as it looked too much, but I think it works as a basecoat.
Rear view of his crocodile skin cloak. Counts as light armour I think :)
...and then randomly I painted a Dwarf.
He is a Citadel Dwarf adventurer, named 'Hunter', complete with pith helmet and blunderbuss.
I have owned this miniature for a while, and painted him up in a red coat and blue trousers a la Zulu War British. However it looked awful, so I repainted him as an explorer. By the way, he is the 'proper' old metal version, not a horrid recently re-released Finecast one.
Rear view showing a hunted bunny in the forage bag.
Slann ambush the Hunter as he explores an old Slann ruin. 

Next update will propably be more Slann as they are catching my attention at the moment. I might do a series of photographs showing the three Slann armies.
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Search

Salute 2016

April 20, 2016, 11:22 am
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At the weekend I went to Salute 2016.

After travelling up to London from the sunny South Coast I had a very enjoyable time checking out all of the company stalls discovering lot of smaller companies which I did'nt know about. I like going to Salute to pick up odds and ends of miniatures which would'nt necessarily be worth a mail order, or that I never knew about. Also I like to buy scenery as that is usually expensive in postage. I reason that if I want to buy miniatures from the larger companies, I can also mail order them another time.

In addition I met lots of interesting people. I chatted to several of the Oldhammer bloggers, and met up with my old friend Justin. I met Rick Priestly, the (very busy) Perry Twins, Brain Ansells wife (whose name escapes me at the moment) and had a very long and interesting chat to the wonderful artist Tony Hough. I also chatted to the various stall holders and people hosting the demonstration games.

Miniatures wise I did'nt buy a lot. I bought a few odds and ends, and some scenery, but I did pick up some interesting finds. I also got to look at some miniatures in 'real life' rather than on the computer screen. Whilst the internet is great for locating miniatures, sometimes I feel you need to just look at the miniatures for real in order to judge for yourself the size, details, quality, and converstion/painting ideas that can some from them.
Anyway, he's my little bit from Salute 2016,
Enjoy :)
First off was a freebie!
I met a man named Nik who makes bespoke laser cut items, and had made up some free snazzy looking 'Oldhammer' badges, one of which he gave to me.
So the least I can do is give a plug on my blog! :)
https://grumpyoldtin.wordpress.com/
The next things I bought were three miniatures from a company which I had never heard of before, Oathsworn Miniatures, found here:
http://www.oathswornminiatures.co.uk/
The premise for the miniatures and the game, Burrows and Badgers, is a 28mm skirmish games based on anthropmorphic animals fighting each other, in a similar vien to Disney's 'Robin Hood' film, only with a darker twist.
The miniature above is a 'Toad Animist'. I have to say that this is one of my favourite miniatures I own. I love the look on his face, and the detailing on him is great.
I have bought him to put in my Slann collection.
Rear view. He is carrying a big bone as a staff. On the top left of the bone is a little worm, one of several sculpted crawling out of his forage bag.
Second is a 'Green Lizard'. 
He is a nice little Lizardman, and again finely detailedwith a good sense of movement about him.
Again, he will end up with the Slann.
The last miniatures is keeping with the purchasing theme of my Slann, an 'Armadillo Warrior'. He is a very unusal looing miniature, and as befitting a creature of Meso American and the American deserts, he has an Aztec aesthtic to him with the Aztec headdress, armour, and weapons. 
I bought him on a whim becuase he looks fun.
I will be doing a mail order to Oathsworn sometime in the future for some of their other critters.
Some of their painted miniatures in the display cabinet.
Others on the gaming table.
Rulebook.
Next on my shopping list was to buy a house.
I saw this little cottage last year at Salute 2015, but did'nt buy one.
They are made by Twilight Miniatures, who can be found here:
http://www.worldoftwilight.com/Miniatures.html
As a company they produce a lovely looking ranges of miniatures unique to their company and their games background, the Fubarnii and Devanu. 
The cottage is very cute, I bought it to be a background piece for Goblins and other odds and ends that it might suit.
 It cost £20
Rear view.
On the day for every £30 spent you got a little freebie. 
So I bought an 'Lord of Orel on a Grakukan', which is a Fubarnii riding a big monster.
The sculpting is great, and full of character, and not over loaded with too much detail.
Right hand view.
He should also have a shield, which I have'nt glued on yet.
My freebie is a 'Pree pree', and kind of Fubarnii pet wearing a headress.
The 'Pree Pree' migh end up as a pet of a Slann Mage.
Twilight miniatures in a demonstration game.
...and in a Display case.
Next up is the 'Unwelcome Guest', an alien miniature with a cup of coffee from Thunderchild Miniatures:
http://www.tcminiatures.co.uk/
(just a warning, I found their website very busy with 'busy scripts' and slow to load).
The people running this company were very nice and I chatted to them for a while about their Post-Apocalyspe game.  
The card next to him are his stats for the game. 
The 'Unwelcome Geust' miniature is quirky and full of character, and very tall (about 45mm). 
Close up view.
He reminds me a little of the alien from Larry Elmore's 'SnarkQuest' comic strip in the 1980's.
The second miniature I bought from Thunderchild Minautres is a 'Troglamite Thug'.
He is made from a light resin, and sculpting wise he has an insect head with four arms.
He will probably end up as a beastman.
From another company (which I forgot to make a note of!)  I bought a huge step pyramid for background to the Slann. I bought a smaller one from them before, but could'nt resist the huge pyramid. The man at the stall suggested sawing off the top step tp creat a flat platform, something I might do.
Free Salute 2016 Miniature from WestWind Miniatures.
She is a very nice miniature, lovely detail and sculpt.
Other freebies, this time two 28mm sci fi troopers from Maelstroms Edge.
They look fine, almost Judge Dredd looking.
The Sprue.
There were a lot of different display games and trader stalls at Salute too. I did'nt photograph all of them, but here are a few...
First off a Vietnam War game.
La Haye Sainte from the Battle of Waterloo.
Norse longships.
Viking Raid!
Warploque Miniatures lastest releases.
Seven Years Wars British Cavalry.
Redcoats advancing (Barry Lyndon anyone? :) )
War of the Worlds Tripod. 
Scary looking, but don't worry, the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one...
The Battle of Hastings.
The Normans making headway, routing the forces of the usurper Harold!
Naval game.
Northumbrian Tin Soldier miniatures.
More miniatures from Northumbrian Tin Soldier, Time Bandits Time Robbers.
Sci fi/Ultra Modern looking desert/urban game.
Close up of the above game.
I think the scale was more 20mm.
Another ancient battle, this time a Seleucid at the Battle of Magnesia 190BC (I think that was the battle).
Romans!
Jareth the Goblin King (3-up model of the gaming piece).
A company named 'River Horse' has made a board game based on the film Labyrinth, to be released late summer. 
Their website is here:
I was chatting to the guy at the stall and he allowed me to take several photographs of the game which follow. They have a Facebook site as well.
 I got chatting to Sally White of Hasslefree Miniatures and she said that Kev White had sculpted the miniatures/games pieces.
EDIT 22/4/16: Due to possible confusion on my part, Sally White may have been referring to different sculpts in the same cabinet.
 Alessio Cavatore is involved with the game apparently too. 
I am looking forward to this being released, and have joined the Facebook group.
Ludo (3-up).
(The whiney) Sarah.
A very poor photograph showing the gaming pieces and the other 3-up's.
Gaming cards. 
The clock.
The board.
Hoggle.
Box lid.
The Hunt for Red October game, which I am unsure if it has been released.
River boat, in the deepest, darkest, Africa of the Nineteenth Century.
Waterfall.
Beyond the Gates of Antares demonstration game.
I said hello to Rick Priestly, and later on went back and had a demo game of the system.
I love the boards, so-so on the miniatures (Justin liked them more). Niether of us were very old on the rules, but perhaps playing them a little more might help.
The other Beyond the Gates of Antares demonstration game board.
Volcano board, with light-up lava flow, and dry ice smoke!

An English Civil War (often now called the English Civil Wars, British Civil Wars, or the War of the three Kingdoms!).
This game was of the siege of Bristol. It was a very impressive game, but I could'nt get close enough for more detailed photographs. 

My next update is going to be of odds and ends I have been painting. I want to finish re-organising the Slann collection. Also I really want to return to my Fighting Fantasy era Great Goblins/Gnolls,  and to the Warhammer 3rd Edition project, with one army from each of the army entry's in the Warhammer Armies book.
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The Orc Villains (or Heroes?) of the 'Blood Bath at Orc's Drift'.

April 27, 2016, 1:29 pm
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Way, way, back in 1985 Citadel Miniatures released the scenario pack 'Blood Bath at Orc's Drift'. It was intended to be a scenario pack to complement the 2nd Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle rules, released only the year before. For those who may be unaware the name 'Orcs Drift' is one of Citadels humourous play on words. It is taken from the Battle of Rorke's Drift, a battle which took in the Zulu War of 1879, made famous (if very inaccurately) in the film 'Zulu'.  

Now I don't intend this update to concentrate on the actual scenario, but more on the Orc characters from it. I must confess, not only do I not own the scenario, but I have'nt played it! However, with an extensive collection of  1980's Citadel Orcs, I realised that I owned all of the suggested Orc miniatures from the scenario. So, for the pure fun of it and as a change of focus, I thought I would gather together these Orcs and re/paint them up as a set. Incedently, I have several of the non-Orc miniatures, but have'nt painted them up.
 The background of the scenario involves the exploits of the Orc King F'Yar and the happy go lucky bloodthirsty Orc tribes under his sway. The overall scenario consists of four linked battles involving the Orcs fighting  Elves, Dwarves and Humans, culminating in the 'Battle at Orc's Drift'. All of the scenarios take place in the New World area of the Warhammer World.
Like many of the 1980's scenarios, Citadel produced several 'scenario only' miniatures, as well as using  miniatures from their then current ranges to serve as named characters and general troops. Above is the insert release sheet containing the names and photographs of the minatures for use in the scenario. Of course, you could use any miniatures, but somehow using the actual ones suggested would always seem 'better' for the feel of the game.
Amongst the Orcs, most of the miniatures are from the various C-Series ranges, with the only scenario specific Orc being 'Hagar Sheol'.
 The Orc leaders of Orc's Drift.
On the hill, riding the Wyvern, is King F'Yar.
To the fore, left to right: Grashak Kra; Fangor Gripe; Hagar Sheol; Magar Ironfist; and Bagrash.
 King F'Yar riding his wyvern.
The leader of all of the Orc's, F'Yar riding a fearsome Wyvern.
He was originally released as the TA3 Orc War Wyvern, sculpted by Tony Ackland. 
The Wyvern itself is a solid based, and I have based it on a 50mm square base.
I decided to give the wyvern more colourful paint scheme, rather than a more standard green, and (very) losely based on Archaeopteryxes.
 Side view.
 Close up of the the Wyverns head, and the King.
 Back and wings. 
I painted the body a grey-green to act as a base to the brighter colours of the scales and plumage.
 Hagar Sheol. 
He is the leader of the Severed Hand tribe of Orcs. 
I painted the miniature according the his colour illustration in the scenario artwork (included further down this update). 
He was the only scenario specific Orc produced, and like many scenario specific miniautres he is quite rare, although he seems to be rarer than most. 
I bought him a long time ago (about 2002 I think), and he was in a batch of a dozen 1980's Orcs I bought for about £20 on e-bay. 
The miniature, like all of the Orc infantry characters, is slotta based, and seems to have been sculpted by the Perry twins.
Rear view.
This is the artwork for Hagar Sheol from the scenario pack. 
Given that...
 ...here is Hagar in the 'heroic' pose, similar to that of the Zulu InDuna in the film 'Zulu'.
 Bagrash, who is actually a Level 2 Orc Shaman in chainmail! 
He ended up being released in the C15 Orcs ranges, listed as on first as 'Chieftain', and later as 'Bungerbol'
 Rear view. 
The miniature seem to be a conversion of an old Citdael Fantasy Tribes orc, below. 
Solid based FTO Fantasy Tribes Orc.
 Magar Ironfist, Chieftain of the Kwae Kwar Orcs.
 Rear view. 
The thing I always found unusual about this miniature is that he is not wearing a belt around his chainmail.
 Fangor Gripe, Chieftain of the vile Rune Orcs. 
This one-eyed Orc also turned in the C15 Orcs range as 'Cyclops'.
If you look at his swords, the one in his right hand is carried by the C series Orc 'Bane Blade', whilst the left handed one is carried by an ME 51 Orc of the Red Eye, from the 1980's Citadel Lord of the Rings range. 
I thought I would paint the armour gold-ish to add a little more colour and variation, and to add to his heroic credentials.
Rear view.
 Grashak Kra, Hobhound Handler. 
To give a dash of colour I painted Grashak's helmet crest rainbow coloured. 
Like many others, he too ended up in the C15 Orcs range, re-named 'Warlord'.
 Rear view, showing his scale armour and the tail to the crest plume.

My next blog update could be on a series of subjects.
I have been sorting through my Slann collection to organised them into seperate armies and regiments. I have also been returning to my Great Goblins/Gnoll, and the Fantasy Tribes Dwarves. I have spent this afternoon basing up Great Goblins/Gnolls, and have a veritable tribe of them on my painting table at the moment. Also,
I have wanted to get back to some 'proper' fantasy painting for a while. I have a wish to re-visit my old 3rd Edition Armies, assembled as per the Warhammer Armies book. So really, the next update could be on anything! :)
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The Fiend, a Hill Troll, and a Spectre.

May 6, 2016, 4:06 am
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Recently I have wanted to get back to painting items from my wider collection, and also just painting things I have wanted to for the pure enjoyment of it. I also dohave a plan to return to my Warhammer Armies project.

This entailed sorting out an army from each of the army list entries in the 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle supplement, 'Warhammer Armies'. I have all the miniatures required, and have painted up nine out of the eleven armies, but I intend to go back and tinker with the ones already done, as well as finish the other two.  For example, I have removed many of the solid based Dwarves to put into my Fantasy Tribes Dwarf collection, or into the fledgling Norse army. So with this, and with my wish to alter the composition of a couple of the armies, means that they will be receiving some addition and extra miniatures here and there.

I have also a major plan to re-do my Dark Elf army, but more on that in the next update.

What follows are three seemingly random old miniatures from my collection (and two others I have painted a while ago but not added to the blog), two of which I have wanted to paint for a while. However, I have painted the Hill Troll after painting the Orcs from the 'Blood Bath at Orcs Drift' last week, the Fiend to add to my Fantasy Tribes collection, and the Spectre for the 'new' Dark Elves.
Enjoy :)

 The Fiend!!
One of the early Citdael miniatures, the Fiend is from 1979, and part of the Fiend Factory range. He is listed as FF1 The Fiend. 
I wanted to paint him with 1950's B-Movies in mind, and so went for green-ish swamp monster look, with glowing eyes.
 Close up of the eyes.
 Rear view.
I painted him with a a base Vallejo Viloet Green on a black undercoat, and higlighted with a much lighter Vallejo Lime Green. I then blended a little in certain edged areas with flesh colour. 
The eyes were white basecoat, with a watered down bright red and dabbling of bright orange.
 The Citadel Giant Hill Troll, part of the C31 Giant Monsters range and
 was sculpted by Kev Adams in about 1985.
He was also used in the 'Blood Bath at Orcs Drift' scenario as 'Guthrum Mane'. 
Even for a Troll he is quite tall, that is a 50mm round base he is standing on, hence I assume his inclusion into the C31 Giant Monsters range! He is not solid based or slotta, but had a peg on each foot. In order to give him even more height and to look like he was climibing in hill country I built up a litte mound for him to stand on from Milliput.
 Clos up, shwoing the lovely level of detail, and that Kev Adams addition or a Goblinoid face on his knee pad armour.
His face reminds me of Kev Adams early Goblins from the C12 range he sculpted in the same year.
 Rear view, showing his cloak.
 This miniature is a solid based Citadel Miniature from the C21 Fantasy Cavalry range, listed as the 'Undead King', from the early/mid 1980's. 
I already have one of these which I used as the commander for my Chaos Army, The Soulflayer.
He can be seen here:
http://goblinlee.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/chaos-army-finished-soulflayer-returns.html

I managed to pick this other one from e-bay (for £5), and decided to paint him up as a mounted Spectre. I plan to use him in my re-vamped Dark Elf army, as a bound Ethereal Host. 
I have gone for a desolate mountain/volcanic black-grey base, with snow, to suggest the wastlands of  Naggaroth.
 I undercoated the model white, then gave him a watered down green ink wash. Once dry, I did a light highlight of white. Once that was dry I applied a watered down wash of Vallejo Fluorescent Green, to give an Ethereal look.
 Spectre and the Soulflayer.
 A couple of weeks ago I managed to paint up the Toad Shaman I bought from Salute 2016, made by Oathsworn Miniatures.
I do love this miniature. He (or she?) is full of character and details, and is going to end up lurking about in my Slann collection.
 Rear view.
 Undead Ogre!
This miniature has been sculpted by my friend Justin, who is looking to produce them in conjunction with Ral Partha Europe.
The Undead Ogre is loosely based on the 1980's Citadel C23 Ogre 'Hrothyogg', and is very well sculpted.
 Rear view.
Side by side comparison with Hrothyogg. 

Next weeks will be an update will be on Dark Elves!
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The Return to Naggaroth

May 19, 2016, 2:19 pm
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I have a confession to make...

...I don't really like the later 1980's Dark Elves.
I have never really been too happy with the C-series Citadel Dark Elves from 1985/6 as I don't like the sculpting, and next to Jes Goodwin's Elves they seemed patchy in quality, and just did'nt seem as good.

As for the Marauder Dark Elf range, I have a really never liked them. To me they were 'fat' Elves with roundish faces and big noses were not what I envisioned of a noble, capricious, and waspish evil looking Dark Elf. That they were larger than their Citadel counterparts, and that they never ranked up very easily with each other or Citadel Dark Elves did'nt help. The sculpting details were better, but I never liked the overall look of them. Bad 1980's hair too!
And don't get me get me started on the 1990's and onwards Dark Elves!

Why re-do my army? Well I have always preferred the Dark Elven artwork from the 2nd Edition of Warhammer, the Edition I started with. The look of the Dark Elves was more uniform and understated, and looked more evil without being over the top. The few 1st/2nd Edition Dark Elves I already had I really quite liked, and when I assembled my 3rd Edition Dark Army, I tried to keep the later C-series, and Marauder Miniatures to a minimum.

Recently I wanted to return to my Dark Elf army, but dreaded painting the Marauder Miniautres and so thought why not start the army again? This time with the early C-series solid based Dark Elves. I already had the compulsory 40 Warriors from the list, made up of Mengil Manhides regiment of Renown. I also had a few random warriors. So, as I have recently received my bonus from work, I would search e-bay for more.

In the Dark Elf army list in the Warhammer Armies book you require quite a lot of compulsory troops. You need 40 Warriors, 20 Crossbowmen, and 10 Witch Elves, meaning you have to have 70 miniatures even before you take any other options. I had about 44 solid based miniatures, and wanted to also include about 10 Shadows (Scouts) in the army. So I needed about 36 models, plus any odds and ends I wanted. No mean feat trying to collect them over 30 after they had been replaced!

Well, over the last 2 to 3 months I have done this, and a little more. I have collected the basis for an army, consisting of one Lord on a Dragon (I already owned the Dragon), 40 Warriors (which I already owned also), 20 Crossbowmen, 10 Witch Elves, 10 Shadow Socuts, 3 Mages, 10 Cold One Riders (well I had one already, but more on that later), two Ral Partha Gargoyles to use as Harpies, and a mounted Spectre. In all I think that the additions to the army cost me about £150.

So here is my 'new' very old Dark Elf army, all pre-slotta, with one exception. I intend to link all my do all the Dark Elf bases winter, with snow. This is part of my larger Elven plan, likning all the armies togather with a theme. I have a lot of Elves left after painting 3,000 point Wood Elf army. So I intend to work from the seasons. My Wood Elves are already Autumnal, my Dark Elves will be Winter based, my Sea Elves (using the High Elf list) will be based reminiscent of Spring (for the Spring Tides, as befitting Sea Elves), and the High Elves will be Summer, galloping through Summer Meadows.

As an aside, this is the start of me re-organising and sorting out the armies from the Warhammer Armies book. As I have noted before, I have (at least!) one of each of the main armies in the book, consisting of about 99% 1980's (Oldhammer era 1979-1992) miniatures. A small mail order to Wargames Foundry for some of their ex-Citadel ranges, will be filling in gaps in the Human armies (including my 3rd Edition Norse Army, which I have added to the Warhammer Armies grouping as well).

Enjoy :)

The pre-slotta C 09 Dark Elf range, sculpted by the Perry Twins.
A better look at the ranges can be found here:
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Dark_Elf_%28WHFB_1st/2nd_Edition%29_-_Collectors_Guide

Pre-Slotta Dark Elf army.
I am currently re-writing the army list for them. In fact I am currently re-writing all of the army lists for all of the armies in the Warhammer Armies book.
Dragon with Army General Rider.
This is the Dragon which was formally in my Bretonnian army, and painted gold. I have paint stripped him and will paint him, and the rider, based on the wonderful Rodney Mattews artwork below.
The Dragon is part of the Minifigs Aureola Rococo range. The Rider is a C 21Cold One rider, for which I will green stuff a saddle for.
'The Dragon Lord', by Rodney Matthews. 
This was also used for Citadel's Eternal Champion box set, and is of course Elric.

Wizards.
The one on the left is the 'Witch King'.
C21 Mounted Wizard.
Two Ral Partha Gargoyles, which I intend to use as stand-Harpies. I still have the scantily clad/naked Spyglass ones from the other Dark Elf Army, but they seem too large for the C Series pre-slotta Dark Elves.
Mounted Spectre, from the C21 Fantasy Cavalry range.

Ten C21 Cold One Riders.
I am technically one sort, but added a pre-slotta Lizardman to be a Standard Bearer as bit of difference. Perhaps he can be a helper in catching and helping the Dark Elves with their Cold One mounts?
I might paint the Cold One's a muted grey colour. 
Side view.
Forty Warriors.
These are the first Edition of the Regiment of Renown RR4 Mengil Manhide' Dark Elf Company.
I did'nt include the later slotta Champion Ean Hawkbane as he did'nt really seem to fit.
Command Group.
Ten Witch Elves.
I'm not really that fussed with Witch Elves as a unit. They don't go into Frenzy very often, and have a limited range of weapon options. They are however a compulsaory troop choice, and are embelmatic of the Dark Elves.
As befitting Dark Elves the range as a whole has a good balance of male-female troopers, as does the composition of my army, excluding the Mengil Manhides whose ordinary trooper miniature is male. I don't see them as matriarchal like the D&D Drow, but just more gender equal than the other Elves and races.
One good thing about the Witch Elves is that you can give them posioned attacks (+1 strength to living creatures) and one unit can have crossbows. This means that they can shoot strength 5 shots, which can be a nasty suprise! I intend to give the leader a Hail of Doom arrow (bolt) too. :) 
Crossbowmen (and women).
The leader is the only slotta based Dark Elf in the army. He seemed to fit with the rest of the range, and is seperate from the C09 Series being the Evil Dark Elf Captain from the BC2 Monster Starter Box from 1985.
The other crossbow unit.
The unit leader is a broken Mengil Manhide miniature, repaired using a plastic sword fron the 1980's Skeleton Horde sprue.
Shadows (Dark Elf Scouts).
As is often with the vagaries of e-bay you one can end up with a lot of one particular sculpt when buying batches of miniatures or random bargins.
I ended up with ten of this sculpt, and so it would make sense to have them as my scout company. I will split them into two units of five.
The early C09 sculpts were in design and background slighly different from the later Dark Elves which followed. These Dark Elves still used bows as well as crossbows, and were (in 1st Edition) more likely to live in dark, dank, forests. I like to think of this range as the Dark Elves just post the Elven Civil war, still having ascpects of High Elven culture (such as the bows, and Elven looking helmets and shields).
I count any Dark Elves with these bows as having crossbows for ease of collecting, and to give a slightly different feel to the army.

 The next update might be on some painting of the Dark Elves. I have made a start, but due to working lots of overtime this week, I did'nt get very far. I am also, as mentioned above, sorting out my armies and re-writing army lists, and so there may be some photogrpahs of WIP armies.
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All twelve armies from the 3rd Edition Warhammer Armies book (including the Norse).

June 3, 2016, 6:53 am
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This September will the the 30th Anniversary of me starting to collect miniatures and gaming (I started off with Napoleonic ESCI and Airfix plastics the year before in 1985), and this thought has got me looking through all the different odds and ends which I have collected over the years.

Now, a few years ago I started organising a lot of my fantasy miniatures into properly painted armies, based on the army lists from the 3rd Edition Warhammer Armies supplement. I did quite well (if I say so myself!) and got eight 3,000 point armies done. However,  getting them 'done' was the problem. I essentially assembled the armies and painted them up just so I had an army completed. Recently I re-visisted the armies, tinkering with their compostion, and removing any models which are not what is sometimes termed  Oldhammer era (1979-1992) miniatures. In the case of the Orcs/Goblins and Dwarves, removing any old solid based minatures for a seperate project (my 'Goblin Wars collection, cosisting of pre-slotta miniatures mainly from the Citadel 'Fantasy Tribes ranges').

Over the last few weeks I resolved to sort out and paint a 3,000 point army for each of the eleven main army list entires in the Warhammer 3rd Edition Warhmammer Armies book (the supplement of army lists for 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle), plus a Norse army from the extra list which never made it into the book, published in White Dwarf #107. As mentioned earlier, I have made a conscious decision to just keep the armies composed of miniatures from the 1979 to 1992 era. I have done this to keep the armies as they would have been at the time, and how, as I owned several armies even then, were at the time.

This is a purely personal choice, I have no problem with collecters who mix and match old and new miniatures, even for 3rd Edition armies. However I wanted to take a purest approach, and because of the size of my collection this is an option. The miniatures I used are all 1979-92 era Citadel, Marauder,Grenadier, Ral Partha, Alternative Armies, Asgard, Harlequin (now Black Tree) and MB Games/GW Heroquest. In addition I sort of cheated in that, for the human armies, I used some of the currently back in production ex-Citadel miniautres from Wargames Foundry.

So, for the fun of it, I have assembled and photographed a roughly 3,000 point army for each of the army list entries. Some of the armies are finished and exactly 3,000 points, whilst others are an approximate. I do however have enough extra miniatures to allow a certain level of tinkering. For several armies, which I will point out as I go, I also have enough miniatures for an extra army or two for a list entry (primilarly the Dark Elves, High Elves, Chaos, Orcs and Goblins, and the Slann).  But more on that in later updates.

Enjoy :) 
  Warhammer Armies (1988).
  Dark Elves.
I already have a later 1980's Citadel/Marauder, but decided recently to switch the army over to consisting of pre-slotta miniautres only (except one) as I much prefer them. 
 Crossbowmen and Warriors.
 More Dark Elves!
 Mounted Spectre.
I painted him with fluorescent paint and white, to give him that ethereal  look. 
 Wood Elves.
I wanted a change in style from the ususal green clad Wood Elves, so I opted for an Autumnal look.
I really had fun paiting these and doing the bases, and would like to expand the army at a later date (maybe Autumn! LOL ).
 Warhounds, Archers, Scouts, Treemen, and a Zoat.
 Skarloc's Wood Elves.
 
 General and Mage.
 
 More Wood Elf Archers and Scouts.
 High Elves.
This is just a token 3,000 point force. I have a lot more infantry, and some cavalry, which I intend to bulk out the army if needed, as well use to build a seperate 3,000 point Sea Elf army. 
In addition (after some e-bay shopping)  I have a enough Eternal Champion range miniatures to make a 3,000 point Melnibonean using the High Elf list.
 40 of the RR10 Elwing's Elf Cavalry regiment, destined to be the core of the army as Silver Helms.
 Mounted Archers, General, and Mages.
 Side view, with some of the archers.
I have a lot of the Wood Elves Archers for the plastic regiments set from the 1980's as well, but they may end up with the Sea Elves.
Elven Attack Chariots. 
Points allowing, they will ride with the army too.
 Empire. 
I have opted for a slightly different take on the Empire army. Instead of the full on early 1500's Landsknecht look of later Empire armies, I have gone for a more mid to later 1500's/Elizabethean style, using the old 1980's Citadel 'Wars of Religion' range which has been re-released by Wargames Foundry.
Some of the artwork from the mid 1980's suggested a 'later' look to the Empire. and some of the miniatures from the Townsfolk and Fighter ranges also have ruffs and puffed doublet and hose.  So I have combined the Wargames Foundry miniatures, especially for the pike regiments, with more Landsknecht looking troops.
 Helblitzen.
 Ersatzsolder with pike. 
I have painted up a couple of test models. The idea is to have the pike, handgunners, and cannon with crew from Nuln. In both the older and later background Nuln is the area which is famed for pike and gunpowder weapons. 
The pikemen are Wargames Foundry, ex-Citadel 'Wars of Religon' pike, with an old Citadel C46 Villager 'Noble' as one of the leaders of the regiment above. I have two regiments of 30 pikemen in the army, and they will provide a good solid core for the army.
  Helblitzen with 'Wars of Religon leader.  
These will be painted up in a different colour scheme to the Nuln pike to suggest Helblitzen from another province, as well give more colour to the army.
 Reiksgard.
 Army General (centre) and two Wizards.
The General is the old ADD 18 Bard. Also on the right is Een McWrecker, from The Tradegy of McDeath, who looks flouncy enough to fit in with the Empire army! 
From left to right, another 'Wars of Religon' miniature, this time to be used as a Hakbutschutzen.
Centre is Citadel F2 Fighter 'Gunnery Captain', which I actually intend to use as a Bombardier!
Right is a F2 Fighter Mercenary Crossbowman.
 Bretonnians.
I did intend to change the Bretonnian army into a purely cavalry army, but realised that I really needed a few infantry. I have expanded the number of Knights, and decided to replace the models spears with proper lances.
 Archers and Knights.
 Crossbows,Villains, Knights, and Rascals.
 Close up of the knights.
 I have converted an old female Fighter whose spear had snapped off to be able to sit on a Warhorse. I think it gives a Joan of Arc look to the unit, and she be the units standard bearer.
 Wizards, Villians, and Ribalds.
 Chaos.
This is my Beastman Chaos army, based on the army of the 'Soulflayer' in the Warhammer Armies book, pages 74-5. 
I do have enough Chaos Warriors from the 1980's to do a separate army, as well as a full 3,000 point Chaos Nippon Army made up of a mix of 1980's and later Samurai miniatures. 
I am also in the early stages of working on a Pan Tang army.
Dragon Ogre, Chaos Sorcerers, Minotaurs, Harpies, and Medusa.
I did have two Reaper Miniatures Harpies in the army, which will be replaced with a pair of  Bob Olley Iron Claw range ones, when I find out where I put them!
I also do have the other mounted Sorcerer used in the Warhammer Armies book photograph, I just need to paint him up and swap him for the Citadel CH5 Chaos Sorcerer I used instead.
 Beastmen.
 Close up.
 Minotaurs.
 'Manits Man' leading the beastmen.
 The Soulflayer.
 Skaven.
This army is a completed 3,000 point army and needs no tinkering. 
Army standard and General.
The Standard is based on the band 'The Stranglers' album cover 'Rattus Norvegicus'.
 Posion Wind Globadiers. 
Again I used the fluorescent paint, this time to suggest Warpstone.
I also used the fluorescent paint on the Skaven's eyes to suggest that they are infused with Warpstone corruption.
 Weapon teams and Rat Ogres.
 The Skaven Hordes. 
Quick quick...
 Skaven Mages, servants of the Great Horned Rat.
 More of the little buggers!
 Orcs and Goblins. 
This is a tiny fraction of the Orcs of Goblins I have.
Closer up.
 Wyverns and Orcs back up the Goblins.
 Goblins!
I like Goblins :)
 Trolls and Mage.
 Stone throwers.
 Down the line of Goblins. 
I worked out that it is possible to take all 400 Goblins in the Orc and Goblin list, and the 100 Chaos Goblins, in one 3,000 point army list. Now there's an idea! :)
Goblins.
 Three Orcs mounted on Wyverns, because I can :)
I won't be having all three in the army though, that would be too much! 
 Dwarves.
 Dwarven King surronded by his army.
 War Machines.
 Prince Uther's Dragon Comapny, used as Clansmen.
 Magically bound Dragon, with Wizard, and some somewhat incredulous Goblobber crew.
Slann.
This again is only a fraction of the Slann army. I have been collecting Slann since 2nd Edition, and have enough for a 10,000 point Slann slotta army (using a doubled up list as a basis), and a seperate 3,000 point pre-slotta Slann army.
 Blowpipers, Aligator Warriors, magically bound Pond Dragon. Eagle Warriors, and Bull Slann.
 Eagle Warriors, Mages, with the Bull Slann and Spawn Band to the rear.
 Bull Slann and Spawn Band.
 Savage Jungle Braves, from the deepest Jungles of Lustria.
 Venom Tribes.
 Undead.
This is another army which requires no tinkering.

Bound Ethereal Host.
Fom Left to right, at the rear, a Mounted Spectre, Spectre; front, a Wight, Wraith, and Ghost.
 Grim Reapers, er, lead by the Grim Reaper!
 Skeleton Warriors.
 War Machines, Mummies, and more Skeleton Warriors.
 Necromancers.
 Carrion Riders.
 Norse.
This army is very much a WIP. It is a half Norse Dwarf, and half Norse Human army. A lot of the Humans are ex-Citadel F4 Vikings. 
The army is based on the army list released in White Dwarf #107.

Huscarls led by Kremlo the Slann.
For those of you unaware, Kremlo was a Slann who was adopted by Norse and was the subject of a 1st Edition Warhammer campaign. So I thought it would be fun for him to led my Norse army. He will count as a Level 20 Human. for gaming purposes.
 Heroes destined for greatness in a Saga, or Valhalla (or both!)
Thrudd, a pair of Mages (which I selected to look like Odin), BC3 Dwarf Lord of Legend 'Uther', and a Night Horrors range Giant Werewolf (Ulfwernar hero).
 Human Bondsmen and Beserkers.
Dwarf Bondsmen, Norse Dwarfs, and Beserkers.


Next weeks update might be on the Dark Elves, as I should really get some painting done, or it might be a follow up post showing some of the other armies.
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