Tag: Games Workshop

WarCry – Finally A Real Necromancer Appears, Kind Of…

When Warcry appeared on my radar I was slow to become interested, except in regard to the war band from the Corvus Cabal.  A crow themed warband doesn’t come along very often, so should not be passed up when you find one. However, instead of getting on with the crows I have been distracted by wanting to play the game as soon as possible. To get figures on a table it was not the Corvus boys and girls I went to first, but my old undead figures.  In the rush to get figures ready for a game I have bypassed (again) what I should be focusing on.

That distraction should be over now as I have painted up my final figure for this warband. The leader for the undead faction is a Necromancer.  Up until now, I have been using a suitable stand-in, in the form of a Wyrd Miniatures Pandora figure. She provides a suitably evil looking mage but is not deathly enough for my tastes.

Thankfully, for a warband made up of very old skeletons, a suitably old Chaos Sorcerer was found to play the part of their leader.  This chap is from about 1985 and back then I may have had a few figures from this section of the range. Sadly all those miniatures have been lost to the sands of time, so its nice to have one back in the collection.

A short run at Google shows me he was called Sli’th Iron Lung.  I really should get these boys together for a warband group shot soon.

WarCry – Undead Upgrades

After a short break I am back with one more update on the undead for my WarCry team.  This post was started 2 weeks ago, along with the last few posts, it never made it to completion though as I went off on holiday before getting it finished.  These guys are the last few skeletons for my Legions Of Nagash team. (Although I still need a better figure to use as my Necromancer).

Grey Seer undercoat, plenty of bone coloured contrast paint and and a few other carefully selected colours (quite a bit if silver/ boltgun metal was used as you can see).

These are all older metal sculpts from the bits box or from eBay (Oldhammer – the collecting and painting of older ‘classic’ Citadel sculpts – seems to be increasingly popular by the looks of the prices on eBay).

Anyway, now that I am back, lets see if I can get this team completed (new Necromancer incoming), or maybe that 15mm Tank game will get played soon.

Worryingly, I went to Colours wargames show just before I went away on holiday, so the purchases from that day out will likely start to steer me off course again.

WarCry – Undead Is Easier Than Anything Living

As I have run out of small tanks to paint I have been working to get a few more Skeletons done.

I started with a few badly based plastic skeletons and a Malufaux magic user. After rebasing most of them, I had a workable force for my first game of WarCry.

I was always going to need some heavier skeletons, Grave Guard. So a few neglected old school metal figures were called up for service.

I do need a proper Necromancer to lead these guys but this little lady will do for now.  I am thinking an oldhammer Chaos Sorcerer might fit the bill if I can find one under £12…  eBay seems to be slightly over priced at the moment!

A few spare skeletons with scythes (I know. Its unlikely that anyone could swing that weapon with a shield in the other hand but I didn’t have any spare spearmen, so these guys got the new shields…)

Quite a nice little starter force.  So, whats next?

WarCry – Still Not Doing What I Should Be

Oh dear…

I am still not getting these finished as I have again been further distracted away from finishing these boys.

And this is the culprit.  WarCry the new skirmish game by Games Workshop.  A rulebook came my way, then a Corvus Cabal warband.

Then some Savage Orc profile cards. So I really did need to buy myself some Savage Orc figures I guess.

Luckily I had some Undead figures (who doesn’t have a bucket of old undead in their home?) so I guess it was fortunate that GW were selling some Legions of Nagash profile cards (skeletons to you and me) too.

As the Undead were almost all painted, and as I am never one to pass up an easy win, these would need to be finished first.

But because I have them now it would be wise to build a few Savage Orcs. Just to see how they go together.

Oh dear…  Am I sidetracking my sidetrack…

Warhammer 40,000 – Gellerpox Update

Well, its been slow progress since last time, so not a huge post today.

The smaller creatures are all now done and appear suitably gribbly. Is it normal to develop an itch when playing with so many insects…?

Next batch will be the four little Glitchlings and a the trio of Vox-Shamblers. When they get done its on to the last, and biggest, of the figures.

Warhammer 40,000 – Killteam Nurgle – It’s A Start

Remember that Nurgle Killteam that I undercoated in the warm start to the summer. Startlingly it seems to have reached the top of the paint queue faster than a lot of other things…

Coronasan reminded me he had painted all of his Rogue Trader Killteam and would be ready to play the campaign from that game if only I had mine ready to go…

Well, as I wanted to try out more of the contrast paints, and while I was being helpfully badgered to get the crew done, I thought I might as well make a start.

Never one to do things in a sensible fashion, I started with all the smallest and most fiddly stuff.  As these Gellerpox Infected guys are all close combat focussed, they are unlikely to be too effective in our normal games.  They will make great choices, however, for a range of other games we play in the shed.

First up the Cursemites. Gotta love a few giant, mutant fleas.

Continuing the insect theme we also have some Eyestinger Swarms. Available in a number of sizes ranging from tiny fly swarm, too big, bulbous and buzzing.

As I was getting all the creatures done in one batch the wonderfully named Sludge-Grubs would also need to get done.

This lot have been treated to a small range of contrast paints, a selection of technical paints, along with my usual red, yellow and green, Smartie like, spot treatments (do they do Smarties abroad?  Should that be M and Ms for all the non-Brits?).

Warhammer 40,000 – Yellow Assault Marines Finished

Quite a quick unit to finish.  I know I haven’t painted all the details that these figures have on them but I don’t think I need to.  I never aim for more than a good TABLETOP finish.  They are playing pieces for a game in the end…

Occasionally one unit or figure might get some more attention but an army needs grunts.  The poor bloody infantry that don’t get such a detailed finish so as to fill the table.

So these guys are done.  Primaris figure from my Kill Team added as he was the basis for the colour scheme.

A veteran 5 man squad with the sergeant front and centre.

And the newer recruits with slightly more up to date helmets.

After a few decals they are now ready to mount up and get going.

If only their ride was ready.

Warhammer 40,000 – Who You Calling Yellow

As I no longer have access to the original blueish grey that was used for the first half of the army, and as a close but not close enough match would REALLY bother me, it was always going to be a yellow base coat for these guys

With their black power packs and shoulder pads though, it at least keeps some ties to the original half of the army.

With base coating done its either weapons then wash or wash then weapons…

In the end, it was weapons wash and back to weapons again…  All because I was going daft painting ten silver swords in a row over that vivid yellow colour.  After dumbing it down with a yellow/orange ink wash it was much easier on the eyes.

Warhammer 40,000 – More Space Marines – Though Not A Green One In Sight

After so long painting Green Space Marines I thought it would be nice to do something a little different…  But what to do? I know! How about some Space Marines…

These ones will NOT be green.  In fact these bits of them look almost silver in this photo.  I shall correct you though…  They are newly sprayed, BLACK power packs and shoulders.

The power packs are for these guys.  A full 10 man squad (made up as 2x 5 man combat squads) of Assault Marines.  This time without jump packs as they will be either bussed about inside a rhino or delivered to the game in a drop pod.

I picked up a pack of normal Tactical Marines and dug out enough chain swords and pistols, from the old bits box, to kit them out.

Quite why they came with slotta bases is beyond me but, we will overcome and all that…

Now, some of you may note the use of Chaos space marine arms and weapons for a few of these boys.  My whole Space Marine army is made up with an odd relic of the Chaos wars thrown in (along with a couple of bionics and Space Wolves parts).

The back story, devised a decade ago, was of a decimated chapter that had to compromise on some codex guidelines in order to ensure their survival. Therefore they were not to picky about welcoming the odd renegade that had been returned from the other side (penitent marines and lost brothers) back to the fold.

This unit will be painted using traditional paints but the sergeants head was always destined to get some contrast skin tone.

Not bad for one thick coat.

Warhammer 40,000 – Big Weekend Game

Last weekend Coronasan and I finally managed to get together for a ‘proper’ game of toy soldiers.

Coronasan has been working hard to get a 6’x4′ gaming table together that is constructed from all of the MDF kits he has designed.

Pringle towers, Pringleless towers, Square towers and base boards, along with a whole heap of scatter terrain and even a dice tower.  Add in the large transporter, that he finished earlier this year, and you have a remarkable and hugely enjoyable table.

Even his Forgeworld Flyer came down off the shelf for this game.

When it’s all laid out this way, it’s enough to make a real impact.

It wasn’t too long though, before he took my mind off the scenery, by deploying a large unit of Grey Knight Terminators. My focus was quickly back on the game as, although my Death Guard are quite resilient, those guys throw out a lot of damage…

My proxy Plague Hulk had to climb its way across most of the table, ever hopeful that an enemy would come into its sights, and into range of its great iron claw.

My right was well protected by these three guys. Between them, they actually managed to clear away all of the first deployment of enemy units, before taking fire from Coronasan’s reinforcements.

The bulk of my basic troopers, along with their support units, had a long, slow trudge across the table though. They don’t run awfully fast with rotten limbs and blubber lolling all over the place.

One cinematic moment was Coronasan’s veteran jump troopers slowly rolling up my centre before being probed to death by my Greater Blight Drone.

In the end it was down to victory points, and I came out on top, although I had lost plenty of my own forces by that time.  My new Death Guard Terminators finally showed up near the end of the game, and managed to push back at the enemy, clearing away most of the final Imperial Resistance.

Final thought for the game… Coronasan and I still, even after this many games, fail to remember the myriad of special rules for each of our armies. Dementia or a boyish excitement that leaves us forgetting everything in our rush to enjoy the moment?