Black Orctober (Part 1)

 Orctober* is here! 

Metal Black Orcs.

I don't usually get a chance to do both Orctober and Dreadtober (although I have combined them in the past), but this year I am going to go for it. I recently found some classic metal Black Orcks from the turn of this century, plus one guy, the leader, who is from the mid '90s. 

Mid-'90s Big Boss.

The set I had included a single plastic guy converted to be a rear rank stand-in.  That model just wasn't going to work for me however, so I tracked down this muscian guy to add to the unit, since this collection was lacking one. He currently stands out due to the shiney and clean appearance versus the guys who have been stripped of their previous paint coatings. 

The command group.

Here are some of the rank and file guys. They're oddly posed but that's more of a production choice I think than anything else. Regardless, I really like these models and have always wanted them, so I am glad to have finally achieved that goal. 

They rank up so much better on 30mm bases. 

Ok, so yes, these are rescues. They spent about a month soaking in diluted Superclean to get their previous painting efforts removed. Speaking of which here are some examples of what they looked like prior to being stripped. 

At least he had a great dental plan.

Metallic Green skin. 

Yell loudly and beat 'em with a big stick. 

Ok, so that's my stated goal for my fantasy regiment in Orctober. 

'ere, we, go!!!

* or Orktober,  as those who are  going to set a 40k hobby goal this month. 

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 1)

 Ah, Dreadtober! My favorite reoccurring project of the year returns! 

"I'm pretty sure I'm a Blood Angel."

For this year's dreadnought I have decided to repaint this old classic. This is a 30 year old boxnaught. He may be small compared to the toys you kids have today, but this thing has the weight and heft to truly harm someone if employed in a violent manner. To be clear, this came to me second-hand and I was not the original painter of this thing. After-all, I don't play Blood Angels and I don't think I have painted one since around 1993 (for Space Crusade). And back then, they were a bit more orange.  Anyway, this guy is going to get stripped all the way down to the bare metal.... 

"...well, I was anyway."

...well, mostly. 

Next week, painting! 

Miners Report! (Part 1)

 This is the final unit of painted dwarfs from the collection I bought last summer. The models in the collection were all from the Battle for Skull Pass WFB 7th ed starter box and they were all painted.  And painted kind of strangely.  Clearly their original owner was a big fan of metallic paints as all of these models were coated in them. But this unit of Miners is probably the strangest unit as they're painted in a metallic purple color. 

Miners painted by an unknown person. 

I doubt there is any part of these models I won't paint over.  In fact I am looking forward to doing away with that attempt at blood that has been painted onto their pick-axes. At least, I think that is what it's supposed to be...?

Pickaxe for the Blood God!

While I was prepping those models for their inevitable revamp, I picked up a box of the current TOW edition of the miners and built most of the box in about a day.  This was because I was stuck in a hotel room and assembling these guys was a fine way to pass the time. That was back in the Spring, and now at the start of Fall, I tinkered with them again, finishing them off with extra bits such as backpacks, blasting charges, and additional equipment. Those guys are now primed and waiting for me to get started on their paint jobs. 

Lighting the way, like a champion. 

I had the idea to make a marker to indicate whether or not I have purchased blasting charges for a unit of Miners. This is represented by a wheelbarrow loaded up with TNT and a stack of blasting charges. I think I will make a few more of these for the Miner units I will likely end up with. 

The runes translate to 'acme'.

Then came time to construct the mine markers (as described in the Dwarf Mountin Hold Arcane Journal).  This first one was made from the current miners kit. 

It's tall and loaded with details. 

Contrasting that we have the markers from the Blood Pass 7th ed starter which  work nicely as well. 

This last one I made from  bits left over from the dwarf cannons I built recently. 

I also bought this 3-D printed terrain piece to go with these guys. It's a mine entrance. I thought it was perfectly suited and will look good when painted up and set up on the table. When it's paint job is done that is.

A shaft to protect. 

This thread will chroncile my work on these dwarf miners over time. Hopefully not a long time, but we'll see. 

My Minotaur Maze Adventure (Part 1)

 

"Mooo-baaaah!"

Ok, "adventure" maybe trying to sell this thread a bit strong, but it has been a long year of occasional tinkering since I first posted my intentions  regarding this army.  I finally found a bag of random Beasts of Chaos metal bits, that I had been trying to find for a few years, and one of the things I found was an almost complete minotaur.  He was just missing his horns and lower jaw. 

"I'm not the MAN I used to be,"

After scouring the usual online sources, any bitz I did find were extortionately priced. Too high for my meager hobby budget! So I brainstormed  for alternative solutions and came up with one that I thought might just do the trick. I was looking at the Skulls boxed set and noticed all those beastmen skulls. Most of which are too long or ornate to stick on a random dude's base. Curiously, there are no bull horns in that set. I know of a few Goff Ork and fantasy orc  players that wouldn't have minded to have those in this set, but I thought II would try out the skull with the long goat horns any way.  After all, these guys are Beasts of CHAOS and should have a diverse range of mutations and horn styles. 

Horns again.

I drilled and pinned the horns onto the metal minotaur head. On the same sprue there was also a jaw that fit very well onto this guy so I went ahead and attached it also. 

Jaw restored.

Next I sculpted some green stuff over and into the gaps on the minotaur's head. 

"It's not a toupee!"

I did likewise for the jaw bone as well. 

Green stuffed jaw.

Next I used a sculpting tool to try to replicate the fur on the minotaur's head and neck. This turned out OK I think, but the real test will happen when I finally paint him. 

Greenstuff in the gaps.

With the left over greenstuff I tried to fill a gap in his weapon arm and I put the rest on the back of the base to try create a small burrow of some sort. 

Greenstuff done.

Now I am waiting for the green stuff to set before I attempt to do anything else to this model. It will be a while  before you see Part 2 to this series, but I assure you that it will happen before the decade ends. Maybe. 

Battle In The Old World!

 

The heat of battle.

The stars were crossed, the runes were cast and someone performed augury on a rat. Yes, after a very long time, The Bob* and I finally managed to make a game happen**. And what a bloody affair it turned out to be! 

It was satisfying to deploy an army of mostly painted miniatures. Half of which were fully painted while the other half was at least half painted. None of these half painted units have been shown on this blog yet, so this report is their debut.

Mustering in the hanger bay o' pre-deployment.

===

The Masters of Hoeth [1000 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, High Elf Realms, Open War

===

++ Characters [158 pts] ++

Noble (Loremaster) [158 pts] 

- Hand weapon

- Sword of Hoeth

- Heavy armour

- General

- On foot

- The Loremaster's Cloak

- Seed of Rebirth

- Earthing Rod

- Loremaster

++ Core Units [275 pts] ++

10 Elven Archers [135 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Longbows

- Light armour

- Veteran

- Sentinel (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

5 Ellyrian Reavers [140 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Shortbows

- Light armour

- Scouts

- Skirmishers

- Harbinger (champion)

- Standard bearer [Banner of Ellyrion]

- Musician

++ Special Units [487 pts] ++

10 Swordmasters of Hoeth [168 pts] 

- Swords of Hoeth

- Heavy armour

- Drilled

- Bladelord

- Standard bearer

- Musician

10 Swordmasters of Hoeth [168 pts] 

- Swords of Hoeth

- Heavy armour

- Drilled

- Bladelord

- Standard bearer

- Musician

8 Shadow Warriors [151 pts] 

- Longbows

- Light armour

- Feigned Flight

- Shadow Walker [Seed of Rebirth + Burning Blade]

++ Rare Units [80 pts] ++

Eagle-Claw Bolt Thrower [80 pts] 

---

Created with "Old World Builder"

[https://old-world-builder.com]

The Empire Knights and General. 

Bob mustered his Empire army. 

76 pts- Captain of the Empire, Battle Standard Bearer, Full Plate Armour

119 pts- Captain of the Empire, Shield, General, Barded Warhorse, Full Plate Armour, Sword of Might, Talisman Of Protection

80  pts- Master Mage, Wizard Level 1, Battle Magic, Dispel Scroll

128 pts- 5 Empire Knights, Lance, Preceptor, Standard Bearer, Musician

80 pts - 10 State Missile Troops, Handgun

80 pts - 10 State Missile Troops, Handgun

105 pts - 15 State Troops, Halberd, Sergeant, Standard Bearer, Musician

135 pts- 15 Veteran State Troops, Shield, Sergeant, Standard Bearer, Musician

185  pts- 15 Empire Greatswords, Count's Champion, Standard Bearer, Musician

We agreed to keep things simple, nothing too over the top or powerful, and focus on learning the rules. The only war machine was the High Elf bolt thrower, and we had one Calvary unit each. 

We also only had one mage each who were only level 1 wizards. 

The Empire battle line. 

We agreed to play the Pitch Battle scenario from the BRB as the focus in that mission is the accumulation of Victory Points by the elimination of the opposition. Death was on the line. 

The High Elf deployment. 

The face off. 

Turn 1

Lots of mass movement occurred in this turn. However the Empire hand gunners spot movement in the nearby woods and fire upon the Shadow Warriors. Their Evasive skill proved quite helpful here, but even more so when all the successful shots failed to wound. 

"Are those apes shooting at us?!"

On the High Elf turn, the Bolt Thrower picked off an Imperial Knight as they crested the small grassy knoll. 

"Nice shot!"

Turn 2

The Knights charge into the closest unit of Swordmasters. 

The foe is engaged. 

They were all cut down except for the attached General  who was now wounded. The General slayed a single Swordmaster. 

"Horse meat is back on the menu!"

Failing morale by a lot, the General turned and fled. The Swordmasters tried to catch him,  but even their agility was no match for a terrified horse. 

"RETREAT! RETREAT!"

Feeling cocky, the Swordmasters charged the Empire Greatswords. But were ill-prepared for the post 1.5 FAQ counter attack (even though those same rules just helped them defeat the Knights and route the General)  and were slain down to a single Elf! Ouch! 

Hubris revealed. 

The second unit of Swordmasters, with the attached Loremaster, charged the Veteran  Empire State Troops. The Loremaster found himself in combat with the Halberdiers. 

The Loremaster's folly. 

This also proved foolish as the Vet. State Troops were also joined with the Army Battle Standard who assisted them with Combat Resolution to the point that the Empire won the combat!  They pushed back the Swordmasters, while their Loremaster was left behind, trampled into the mud by the Empire Halberdiers. 

A clash of Great weapons! 

I don't have a pic of this next bit, but the 10 man unit of Handgunners were wiped out from all my missile troops (Bolt Thrower, Reavers, Shadow Warriors and Archers) focusing their fire on them. 

Turn 3

The General Rallies (rolled double 1s!) and joins the Greatswords. 

The Halberdiers flank charge the Swordmasters.

"Pig-pile on the elves!"

Despite being piled onto by the blood thirsty humans, the Swordmasters were not destroyed as they were pushed back in good order.  But their numbers were being reduced for sure! 

The quagmire continues...

Over on the other flank the combined shooting from the High Elf force riddle the remaining handgunner who just would not flee the battle. It was up to the Reavers to set up a charge and hopefully finish them off next turn. 

"I say ol' chap, they're coming right for us!" "Huh, who?"

Looking over their stats, it occurred to me that the HE Archers were not exactly a push-over when it came to melee, so in a desperate gamble to save the dwindling Great Swords, I sent them charging into the rear of the halberiers. It was a crazy melee as you could guess from this photo. The sword and shield bearing State Trooper took the brunt of the casualties but the Army Banner continued to turn the tide for the Empire. 

The archers dive in. 

Turn 4.

Consumed with frustration (because at this point neither one of us could get a spell to go off), madness and perhaps a touch of malice, the Empire Wizard finally manages to cast Pillar of Fire into the woods! 

"Muhaha! Die elf scum!"

The Pillar of Fire comes scary close to the skulking Shadow Warriors within it. 

Things get heated in the woods. 

Meanwhile the  meatgrinder in the middle continued on as the Great Swords joined the ruckus, felling the last of the Swordmasters. 

(Leave it to us noobs to complicate things).

Half of the Shadow Warriors were immolated as the Pillar of Fire moved over them. The screams still haunt this area even still...

Meanwhile the Archers defeated the halberiers causing them to route. The last State Trooper with the Battle Standard were not at all bothered by their panicking brethren as they continued to gather war trophies from the fallen High Elves.  

SO much death. 

The Reavers succeed in defeating the handgunners in melee and running them down as they attempted to route. To be fair, it was the horses who did most of the killing (of course). 

Horses for the win. 

Turn 5

Seeking a bigger war trophy the Battle Standard and his State trooper buddy charged the Bolt Thrower. The crew put up a valiant fight, killing off the last State Trooper bu the Army Standard still eeked out a win, destroying the War Machine and it's routing crew. 

"Me son will like these 'ere helm feathers!"

The Great Swords butchered the archers, only the Sentinel (i.e. Champion) survived as the found safty in the woods. 

On the High Elf turn, there wasn't much more to do. The hot and smoldering Shadow Warriors emerging from the burning woods to perforate the wizard with arrows, ending his witchy ways (for now). 

Within minutes of our set time limit, and seeing the state of things, we decided this was a good place to stop. It was a total blood bath, with no unit left unscathed. 

The shattered forces. 

Tallying up the VPs as per the scenario rules, we determined the following scores:

High Elves:  574

Empire of Man: 708.

A resounding victory for the Empire!!!

Whew! That was a fun game. 

It looked grim for the Empire in the early stages of the game but when the Great Swords stomped the crap out of the Swordmasters, clearly it was not going to be so easy for the elves. I would say that the Great Swords were the MVP of this game. 

I was impressed with what the elves can do with shooting, and having experienced it now, I think I can form a more focused strategy with them going forward. 

I will say this though: 'new model syndrome" is a thing for sure! All of my fully painted models were all eliminated and all the survivors are from units I have yet to finish. Total weirdness.

My biggest mistake was not continuing after the General. Not only was he worth a lot of VP, but bonus VP as well. Die and learn, right?

Well we both had a great time, and we are already talking about doing another one soon. 

"I'll get you next time elves, and next time my fire will be even hotter!!! Muhahaha!"

*He doesn't blog anymore but I love to remind the world that he used to as I enjoyed his posts. But if you are determined enough, you might be able to find him on Instagram...

** Also thanks again to The Outpost for allowing us to stay after hours so we could make this happen. You guys rock!!!