River Troll (60 pts)

Lurking by the River's Edge

Having the finished the druid, attention has turned to the Bob Olley Troll who I have now decided will be the Champion of the Chittering Horde. However, he will be upgraded to a Level 10 Hero with high Strength (2 Handed Weapon) and scaly skin (Heavy Armour).

 

Mirk (Level 10 Undead Hero – 55pts) – River Troll Scaly Skin (Heavy Armour + 3pts) & Mighty Strength (2 Headed Weapon + 2pts)

60

Fish for tea

Rob

Fae Army Started - Druid (155 pts)

First Miniature Finished - Druid (155 pts WFB 3rd Ed.)

As planned, I wanted to paint up one of Mark Copplestone's Ex-Grenadier Wood Elf druids as a army leader and to try out colour schemes. I didn't want the normal greens and healthy skin tones. So went for a muted colours except for the greenery which I have tried to make as vibrant as possible.

As I am using the undead army list he will have the profile of a level 15 Necromancer. This character whom I am naming as Ash is Leader of the Fae from the Darkling Wood. 

I wasn't sure when I bought the Skull set at Christmas as £17 seemed quite lot to spend on non-figures but I have ended putting them on nearly everything. But perhaps having Chaos and Undead armies helps!

Not quite sure how I am going to use the stone circle but I thought it fitted with the theme very well and make a nice scenic piece.

Rob 

DIY SOS Part 2

Finished One!

Finished off refurbishing the farmhouse. I did end up adding more windows (in this case four) which doubled the number of windows from the original build. I also finally added some door handles which have been missing for the last 30 years. The door handles were made from little balls of Milliput which I originally made as eyeballs for the Oldhammer shields which now also are used as small toadstools. An increasingly useful scenic item. 

As this was a tidy up rather than a complete repaint, I left the walls and woodwork alone but did do a bit of dry brushing on the roof tiles. I may go back and add a bit weathering. 

It now looks quite pleasant with the flowers borders around the house. 

Now with added wagon wheels

Rob 

Duel No. 2 Part 2 - Clash of Wizardry

Vordak Finally Given a New Look

So I have finished the second of my two wizards for this duel. Vordak from Citadels 80's Lone Wolf range. He has been sitting on the shelf with same paint job that I got him with for at least a decade. I decided not to go down that the black 'Ringwraith' look but went for a mixture of greys and reds. The red was much brighter than I thought and he ended up with a Little Red Riding Hood vibe (Doh!). Also tried a different order to my painting by doing dry brushes to the base colour and then washing (In this case Nuln Oil) rather than dry brushing after the wash. Overall I am pleased with the look. 

I have already chosen the third Duel. Which a pair of pre-slotta miniatures: a dwarf farmer and halfling slinger. The dwarf has had a bit of a start/stop. His tunic and hat were my first attempt at using contrast paints and I wasn't sure if had over done it. However, I dry brushed over the contrast paint  and now think it looks ok.

Get OFF my land & leave my carrots alone

Rob

Old School Dungeon Bash

 Out the Loft

After painting up a couple of old school adventurers, I searched the loft and found my old dungeon floor plans. These seemed a much better backdrop for photographing these fearless dungeon adventurers. 

I was a fan of the British Dragon Warriors roleplaying game when I was younger.  Published as series of books. Book 5 - The Power of Darkness caused a bit of stir as it featured a Darkness Elementalist with the power to summon demons. This probably wouldn't cause much of a fuss today but seemed to be a big deal back in the day. But was withdrawn at the time. The books were a mixture of rules and scenarios with a distinctly British vibe. With Knights, Barbarians, Sorcerers and Mystics as the four main classes. 

Anyway, a few adventurers braving the dungeons deep.  The floor plans  and miniatures are all from Games Workshop / Citadel circa late 80's. A mixture of ranges: Lord of the Rings, Lone Wolf, Talisman, AD&D , C series Citadel and plastic skeletons.  Plus Juggo from 'The Magnificent Sven' scenario. 

Battle Royale

Attacked from all sides

Beware the White Hand Orcs

Don't throw a one on your morale test

Magic Ring don't fail me now!

Duel No.2 Part 1 - Clash of Wizardry

 Classic AD&D Magic User

Finished the high level Magic User character  from the Citadel ADD1 AD&D Magic User set as part of my Duel mini-projects. Yellow always seems to be a bit of tricky colour but I like the look with the blue robes. Heavily kitted out with wands, scrolls and magical trinkets. Ready to take on Bugbears to Trolls.  Now on the the lone Wolf Vordak mini.

Ready for Old School Dungeon Action

Magic Missiles ready!

Pre-Paint Job

Enjoy

Rob

Army Building Rules

 My Game My Rules!

So I have decided on a few ground rules for building this army

1. Stick to a limit of £30 for the first part of this army. I want to see if a can build a core for this army before starting to buy lots of random figures. I think this is especially important with this type of army as it is all too easy to wander off  and buy all kinds of figures without being able to use them in a satisfying way to fit the army theme.
2. Ideas will change as the army develops so keep in mind the theme when buying  that next shiny figure.
3. Miniatures already in the lead pile do not count towards Rule No. 1. Even better if I can actually paint up some stuff that has been sitting around for years. 

First Steps

So the first thing I did was have look around my collection for miniatures that might be useful. On first go it was not impressive. A couple of broken Grenadier Elves, some wolves/hounds and a couple of plastic spiders. 

Definitely not an Oldhammer troll!

However once I had another look around I did find a Bob Olley Marsh troll by Reaper Miniatures.  I gift from last Christmas because I liked the sculpt but he didn't really fit in with the Chaos army or anything else i have been working on. So he remained unpainted on the lead pile for the last few months. However, I think he has a suitably Fae look so now he's in. Not sure what I am going field him as yet so not all of the details have been worked out. 

I have ordered a couple of Ex-Grenadier Druids, as Mark Copplestone's Celtic inspired Wood elves look great and will give me a chance to try out my colour schemes. 

Rob 

New Army Ideas

What's Next? 

From WD37 - Artist Unknown

Since finishing the first part of my chaos army, I have been thinking about what some of projects I want to take on next. I do want to do a wood elf army at some point as I have had several attempts and never managed to finish them. But I don't fancy painting up large blocks of archers at this point and my mate Stevie has just finished a high elf army so this likely to be a opponent at some point in future when we can start meeting again 

I recently came across Oakbound Studios Miniatures (oakbound.co.uk) and their range of Fae. These are excellent by the way with loads of character and really nice style. Definitely going on the list. and they also produce a set of skirmish rules.  This led to a rummage through the loft to find these beauties.

White Dwarf 37January 1983  - Cover by Emmanuel

White Dwarf 38 February 38 - Cover by Nicholas Bibby

Writing up this article I noticed that the cover was done by a Nicholas Bibby which is surely the same Nick Bibby who did many of Citadel's excellent dragons and Monsters. Including the dragons shown below.

Nick Bibby Dragons

White Dwarf did a couple of articles on the subject of using Faeries in AD&D along with some nice pictures. They also produced some AD&D rules for the Faeries several of which I plan to use in my army.

Not just tiny Faeries!

Not all goody two shoes

Which set me thinking could I build an army around a Fae theme?  The Fae from folklore are not all goodies and many of the characters are at best morally ambiguous. After a bit of searching on the internet I have found a number of companies who do figures that I think will fit this theme. 

• Oakbound Studios  - Loads of characters and I could build some small units such as Gnomes & Goblins. 
• Games Workshop - Sylaneth. Fits the theme with a variety of Dryad types. As usual GW have produced some excellent figures and the plastic kits give plenty of opportunity for conversion.  But they are not cheap and I don't want to spend several hundred quid on a basic force. Maybe some second hand figures and I don't want to build a GW army.
• Ral Partha Legacy - Ral Partha actually produce both Fae and Dryad armies. Some nice figures in there but the cost of postage puts me of buying a couple to see what they are like. I have been eyeing up the 'Oldhammer' Tom Meier Giant so they may have to wait until I get that mini.
• Reaper Miniatures - Reaper do a few characters. No real figures to build an army but a reasonable price.
• Eureka Miniatures - These also do Fae miniatures in their Fanticide range. Reasonable prices and a good range. Definitely on the list. 
• Ex-Grenadier Miniatures - Some of Mark Copplestone's excellent wood elves (from Fornlorn Hope & others) could provide some nice characters at very reasonable prices. 
• The Others - I did quite a few other manufacturers who produced the odd figure which could end up in the final army. 

I don't plan to paint hundred of miniatures and I don't want ones which necessarily traditionally fit the standard Warhammer army list but perversely could be used as a Warhammer army.  I did originally did look at the Wood Elf army list (WFB 3rd) but couldn't find a way to get it to fit. I have been particularly inspired by the Lizardmen armies being built on the Old World Army Challenge which manage to build a 'legal'  Lizardman army using the Slann list.

So after a bit of lateral thinking and you will have to bear me at this point . I decided to use the undead army list. The undead army is a magically powered army with plenty of powerful spellcasters, mighty heroes, fear causing troops and monsters. Which is just the sort of army i am trying to build with the Fae. 

So Necromancers could become Druids (probably elvish ones), Skeletons can become Dryads  and Mummies can become lesser Tree men (Which are flammable which is a nice coincidence and fits the adopted profile). Other types can be worked on as I build and paint units. The profiles of these troop types fit with how i see the faeries working on the battlefield. 

Time to start working on an army list.

Rob 

Bonus Undead

 Bonus Undead

Quick WIP post today, after putting together the remaining chaos cultists ready for the skull masks and Green Stuff hoods. I decided to use some of the remaining arms and heads to create some undead rising from the grave.  Some of the arms on the cultist sprue are already zombie like  and combined with a bits from a skeleton sprue I was able to make up five zombies ready to rise from the grave. So a quick and cheap boost the undead horde.

Once the Milliput has hardened I will go back and add a few tattered robes using a blob of Green stuff.

Rob

Duel No.1 Part 2 - I Challenge you to a Single Combat

 Duel No.1 Part 2

Finished off the Citadel Lord of the Rings ME-53 Southron - Haradrim to complete of the first duel. With a sort of classic Lord of the Rings vibe. I used a lot more colours (Over a dozen) on the Southron than I normally do although he mainly looks purple / yellow.  This was an interesting way to complete a couple of figures that have been sitting in the pile for some time for no obvious reason except they didn't fit any particular niche.

So after a couple of fighters I have decided to turn my attention to wizards.  Both were bought in the state they are presented here. However, the Lone Wolf Vordak has been sitting on a shelf with my other Lone Wolf figures for best part of a decade. He really needs the paint removed before I start.

I might even finally paint Lone Wolf. 

Rob 

Zombie Dragon

 Tom Meier's Zombie Dragon

'Bring your pretty face to my axe'

Got this miniature for Christmas and he has been slowing been moving toward towards the finish line. Given I first saw this miniature in the 3rd Citadel Compendium (Circa 1985), I can't believe that you can still buy it new (from a Ral Partha seller on eBay). It still stands out as a great sculpt. 

Sculpted by Tom Meier, this dragon has been a main stay of many undead armies and definite must for my growing undead horde. I enjoyed painting this miniature and decided to go for muted green.   I was trying out a different wash technique on the blood which involved a Citadel Magenta wash from the early 90's (which I found in the loft). Which had a nice shiny look but doesn't come out on the photos too well.

Rob 

First 1000 pts - Month 4 (February) - 174 pts

 First 1000 pts - Month 4 (February) - 174 pts

So I finished my 1000 pts challenge at the end of February with my Army Commander (the Mighty Zog Arkwright) and the Drager's Bows (Chaos Thug Archers). A bit of a tale of two halves as I was pleased with the final look of Zog and not particularly pleased with the archers. This was not helped when I decided to stick them onto multi-bases before painting them (doh!) and the Battlemasters figures have quite a low level of detail. And on closer inspection no quivers for their arrows. 

However the first stage of this army is now finished and I managed to add a reasonable chaos dwarf allied contingent. 

The army in all its glory!

First 3  Months

November is counting as month 0 because I painted this hobgoblin as part of a chaos warband. 

Month 0: Oct 2020. Completed 1 Baal’s Destroyers (40 pts).	40 pts	1
Month 1: Nov 2020.  Completed 9 Doom Reivers inc. Musician, Standard & Champion (149 pts) and 1 Baal’s Destroyers (40 pts).	199 pts	10
Month 2: Dec 2020. Completed 1 Doom Reiver (11 pts), 1 Baal’s Destroyers (40 pts), Baal (116 pts) and 10 Gor Charge Beastmen (130 pts).	307 pts	13
Month 3: Jan 2021. Completed beastmen champion (63pts) and x3 beastmen (39pts), beastmen musician & standard (52pts), bog troll (65pts) and chaos sorcerer (85pts).	304 pts	8
Total	850 pts	32

The Last Month (February)

So February was about finishing this army. At some point I must have mixed the points up but I don't think I will go back and work it out as I have painted the figures and now thinking about the next project(s). 

Zog is a great figure which oozes character and has lots of nice details. Painting was pretty straightforward with a red colour which makes him stand out from the rest of the warriors. 

Nothing good to say bout the thug archers...

Month 4 : Painted Zog (74 pts) and finished off the chaos thug archers (100 pts) which completes the first challenge. Forty three figures painted in just over 4 months.

My Army Commander - Zog

Plus Friends

With a few allies of the short and chaotic kind.  I still need to finish off a few more chaos dwarves to crew all of the guns and have a enough to field a 10-dwarf unit. But I am most of the way there already with this endeavour (with the figures already purchased). My chaos dwarves are a real mixture of Citadel, Ex-Harlequin, converted plastics and some very nicely sculpted Ral Partha miniatures. I have had great fun with Citadel's technical paint on the bronze which is the first time I have used kind of paint. 

I also have started the chaos cultists which will allow the current heavy armoured unit (The Doom Reivers) to be upgraded to Marauders. I probably need some cavalry at some point but I quite like the idea of converting some Empire/Bretonian Knights as chaotic turncoats. 

Rob 

Duel No.1 - I Challenge You to Single Combat

Knights from Different Backgrounds

As a way of painting up random bits of my collection (lead/plastic pile). I thought it would be interesting to paint up figures in a pair in form of a duel.  For the first attempt I picked 'Gustavus Strongwill' from the Citadel's Fighters range and the Southron  - Haradrim from the classic Lord of the Rings Range. Both classic Citadel 80's figures.

Gustavus Strongwill was sculpted by either Bob Naismith or Jes Goodwin as part of the Fighters range published in White Dwarf 84 (thanks Stuff of legends). The interesting part is that he is clearly based on the Swan Knight of Dol Amroth figure from the Lord of the Rings Range from the same time (See Below). 

Gustavus alongside the ME-75 Swan Knight

As the Swan Knights are painted in 'cool' colours such as Blue/White so decided to go the other way with Gustavus and go for 'hot' colours of Red/Black with golden armour. Good fun to paint and with a simple colour scheme giving a striking finish. 

Gustavus now finished, the Southron is now underway. 

Rob

Grenadier Barbarian Giant

 Grenadier Barbarian Giant

This model has been supporting my Fantasy Warrior's army for decades. However most of that time was with a basic green scenic scatter base. After a couple of years sitting in box, I decided he needed a bit of an update.

This is one Mark Copplestone's figures from the Grenadier's Fantasy Warriors range back in the mid-ninety's (still available from Fornlorn Hope Miniatures). This is one my favourite figures by Mark Copplestone  but to be fair there are so many good figures from Mark it is hard to pick just one. I really like the details and he fits very well with the style of the barbarian army. 

The paint job is mostly the one from the ninety's. I added  washes to a couple of parts such as the bones and the clubs. But most of the work was on updating the base. The 'stretch' of the design was the arrows. Which I haven't done before but were made from sections of paperclip  inserted into drill holes into the base. The fletching's were made from thin card cut into small rectangles and with the front cut at an angle with a modelling knife. They were then glued to the arrow shaft with PVA glue. Patience and a fine pair of tweezers were needed for this part but trick was to get an even amount of glue on each side of the fletching so it didn't twist whilst drying. 

The rest of the base was pretty straightforward with small bits of slate  and modelling clay with a sharp sand top coat. I recently purchased some scenic flower tufts (so expect to see more of them on my figures) and the skeleton was from the same sprue as the 'Bloody skeleton's feet'  (see previous post).  So they are good for something.

I am pleased with the overall result and he should be ready for the next couple of decades.

Rob 

Ultimate Oldhammer

Ultimate Oldhammer

Probably the ultimate in Oldhammer collecting, the 80s pre-slotta SS1 Chaos Warrior Uthmog Elvenblade a.k.a. Harry the Hammer (from the 1st edition box). 

He has been sitting waiting to be finished and now that I have finished the first 1000pts chaos army, I thought he would be a worthy addition. I decided to a scheme similar to the box art. 

In a duel with an 80's skeleton

Finished the base board but then couldn't find any of the photo back drops or much of scatter scenics - Doh! So hopefully some better photos later...

Rob