The Blood Bowl Re-Animation

While looking for some other stuff recently, I stumbled on a box containing a lot of Mutant Chronicles/Warzone stuff - and most of my Blood Bowl possessions.

The playing field had warped a bit, so I bought a clear acrylic sheet to place on top (can also be used for other board and wargames), and set up my two painted teams - The Oakhill Rangers, and Da 'Eadbangerz.

I did not get around to playing a game that time around, though - my birthday was coming up, and I had to make space for setting the table for the birthday dinner.

Another Great Haul

I won a few minis in a second-hand auction, and they should come in handy later in my Warlords of the 41st Millennium project.

Of course, the flying thingamadoo needs a small repair, and the Assault Marines need to be assembled and painted, but apart from that, I'm pretty pleased with this batch.

The Orks can be used as is, and so can the Techmarine, the Servitors, and the Chaplain, while the hooded Marine is actually a Dark Angel (Cypher? I'll have to investigate further ... dispatch the Interrogator Chaplain!), and the Psyker is a Grey Knight. Both the latter need some colour changes.

The Bikers and the Land Speeder will have to get gradually repainted for my Ravenwing, and the Gun-toting mini-gunship-thingy. too.

Warlords of the 41st Millennium - The Calexus IV Incursion, Prelude

As mentioned on an earlier occation, I have been growing very fond of Rick Priestley's 'Warlords of Erehwon' (same system as Bolt Action and Beyond the Gates of Antares).

I also have been very taken with Games Workshop's Grimdark Techno-Fantasy universe for several decades, I just never could get myself immersed in the game, as the rules did/do not reflect the Grimdark Lore very well.

The thing now is, Priestly provides a full point system breakdown for Warlords of Erehwon - and I got the idea to transcribe W40K profiles to that system - with the possibility to tweak trrop types I feel are too weak (probably to ensure that all players have to cash out and buy a substantial mumber og expensive minis),

More details later - all you have to know for now is that I have two small forces ready for a test run - which will happen one of the next days! (Or, so I thought, but life wanted it differently)

Here are some pics of the 75x150cm table and the two forces.

I promise to take a lot of pics of the game and explain some of the principles I used for the transcription!

I Got Some Stuff

I just had to delete a number of identical bot postings about something in Spanish, I don't speak/read Spanish beyond a very rudimentary level, so I am not quite sure what it was about, but I think it was something about luring peeps to a porn site.

Well. I'¨ve been hollowing out my account as I needed some stuff to get things moving,  so here it is.

OK, I did not need every part of this mainly the paint, I want to malke it easier to paint ghosts and snow/ice, so I purchased Aeldari Emerald, Briar Queen Chill. Hexwraith Flame, Nightghaunt Gloom, and Pylar Glacier to try them out. Apart from that, I bought Steel Legion Drab to try out how close it is to Khemri Brown and the other 'earth' colours I use for bases.

The lichen speaks for itself, and the trees are cheap x-mas deco stuff from Harald Nyborg, a builders merchant store in Odense.

I actually purchased ten more yellow 'stones' at an earlier occation, but they are put away with the rest. The new ones are plasitc, btw, not glass as the old ones, which annoys me bit.

I also got some seasonal necessikties, amd Stanley moved in with us.

And, of course, the Santa Balloon. Not cheap, bujt kinda must.

 

This post was approved by Billy.

Christmas and Other Wars: A Restless Spirit

This is primarily for the Bodyguard of my WoE Undead Warlord (The Defiler), but it fits nicely in my Christmas Display Story, so it will feature there very soon.

I t took me longer to paint than it looks, as at first the Gryph-Charger Grey Contrast Paint did not create as much cntrast as I wished for, so I figured out that the ancient Citadel paint 'Elf Grey' would be a nice fit for some highlighs. It was but not quite as light as I hoped, so I mixed up some Elf Grey and White for an even lighter drybrush. It turns out that Elf Grey - and the lighter mix - looks lighter when wet, and the mix did not turn out as light as I thought. I still used it though, and I'm not going to do more about it this time around (except, maybe have a look at the weird 'highlight' near the point of the scythe), but I think I'll mix some of the lighter tone up with some more white to create a more striking highlight hue.

During the process I noticed several 'bubble damage', casting artifacts, and dust specks in the surface, and I had to mend those, which meant using blade and needle files, and consequently some repainting.

The next one I shall examine more thoroughly prior tp painting, as it is very annoying to have to do the same work several times, but, well, lesson learned, I guess ...

I am going to try out other Contrast hues for the next Oldhammer Ethereals (a lot of new colurs have been issued since I purchased the original release, and I hope to find one that matches the colour of the Army of the Dead from LotR: Return of the King, but for now I shall have to try out some of the colours I already own.

The Last Gravestones - For a While

 Two Renedra Plastic. one Citadel Plastic from an Undead sprue (I have a shedload of those).

These were the last gravestones that I had prepped and primed, and December means focusing on some other stuff, so don't expect to see more of this kind until January.

Frodo's Quest: Another Ranger of Ithilien, Rebased and Touched Up

As mentioned, I have been doing some work on this here Ranger, too.

He has been given almost the exact same treatment as his colleague from yeaterday, and now he is ready for the table once more.

Tomorrow is December, and I shall turn my attention to some Winter/Christmas-themed stuff for the next couple of weeks, at least.

Frodo's Quest: Ranger of Ithilien, Rebased and Touched Up

I painted this guy quite a few years ago, and he had suffered some battle damage and also needed a new base.

I did some paint repairs, mainly on the cloak and leather doublet, repainted the bracers and his skin, and also gave him his first set of eyes, ever.

I think he will now do for the table.

As previously mentioned, I have dug out all my Ranger minis, and I am prepping some of them 'on the side' as I want to get more ready for some gaming, also Warlords of Erehwon for which I need at least five (which I actually already have, including the two old Ithilien Rangers and Aragorn).

I have his standing and nearly identical twin on the pain(t) station right now, for the same treatment - if everything goes to plan, I shall have him finished by tomorrow evening.

Frodo's Quest: Mines of Moria Merry

My weekend was crazy, so the final brush stokes on this stout fellow had to be postponed until today.

I still do not dare try painting the eyes on these tiny faces, but I may go back and do them at a later point, when I feel more confident.

Nevertheless, I now have all four Fellowship Hobbits painted up, two from the Fellowship of the Ring set, and two from the Mines of Moria set (and I shall, of course, do both versions of the entire Fellowship in due time, but for now I have to focus on the minis needed for the first installment of Frodo's Quest).

As mentioned earlier, these minis are REALLY tiny, and I find it hard to paint their faces (and it shows in the not-so-accented facial features). Maybe I shall try redoing the faces some day, but for now they will have to do as is.

I am not quite sure about Merry's hair; I think it turned out a bit too orange, but it was the closest I could get to the colour shown on the Fellowship box (which is not quite the 'live' colour from the movies, either, though).

The waistcoat buttons also are a bit different than I think they should be; I used a painted mini as reference, and it had silver buttons, whereas the movie stills show cloth-covered buttons the same colour as the waistcoat itself. So, I dotted in the pale yellow (Warzone Vega Sand) I used for the waistcoat before covering it with Iyanden Yellow, leaving the Chainmail edges visible.

There will be no family portrait this time, not until I have to put painted models in the storage box, as it is stoved away in a larger crate at the moment (I need to keep the storage boxes from spreading all over the ground floor of our home).

I am quite pleased with his cloak and jacket - the trousers are not quite as dark when seen with the naked eye, but I have a little trouble getting the light settings of my camera just right (which is also why the pics are a tiny bit blurred; I have to turn up the Gamma output in GIMP to keep the photos from having too bright unnatural colours).

I am happy to report that I have found all my Middle-Earth Ranger figures (bar one Ranger of Ithillien from the set with Faramir and the Hobbits), including the Grey Company and the Guardians of the Shire, so that is one task to check off!

More Stone Slabs

Soon, there will be a short break from these, as I have only three more prepped, based, and primed.

I found a couple of rogue 'leaves' when tidying up my pain(t) station, so I glued them on.

I hope to finish Merry Brandybuck tomorrow (one of those diminutive plastic sculpts from The Mines of Moria) - he has taken me far too long!

Even More Grave-markers

 Still doing some of these. One Citadel plastic, the other Renedra plastic.

More Gravestones

 Another pair of tombstones/gravestones/headstones.

Funny thing about these: I used the exact same paints for both, just varied the intensity of the brushwork (those GW Undead tombstones are as made for drybrushing, really).

Frodo's Quest: Aragorn and Pippin Bases Altered

 I lightened up the Moria-themed bases of these two protagonists a bit, I think they look a bit better now.

Frodo's Quest: The Silent Watch, Dúnadan #2

Finished another one of these, Soon, I shall have to get started on another mounted Nazgûl (Black Rider), and some Smials, and then I can stage the first game of Frodo's Quest. I expect to run it as a co-op game between a mate and myself (one controlling Frodo, the other Sam), and doing it as a beer-and-pretzel game 😉

And, of course, the mandatory group shot.

Frodo's Quest: The Silent Watch, Dúnadan #1

The fist scenario of my 'Frodo's Quest' campaign will feature at least two members of the Silent Watch, and I have finally gotten the first one painted and ready for action!

Largely painted with Citadel Contrast Paints (not the weapons, the skin, and the base), it has not been very time consuming. I had to touch some of the 'highlights' up with corresponding 'normal' paints, but all in all I am very happy with the result.

I deliberately avoided making him 'too Ranger of the North' so that I can use him in Ithilien, too; multi-purpose is still very much part of my gaming philosophy (technically, the design is mostly Rangers of Ithilien, but even GW have been calling them 'Rangers of Middle-Earth for quite some years).

I may go back and decorate the quiver at some point, but for now, the plain Space Wolves Grey will have to do.

I expect to have his companion ready tomorrow, and then I shall have to turn my attention to a Black Rider and some Smials!