Greetings Terrans, just a quick update today, it has been a funny few weeks of hobby, as I have been busy starting 2 new post-BOYL projects – lots of stripping, basing and priming of lead minis!

The first project is another 600 point WFB 3rd ed warband for an OH grandee’s birthday bash in November – a Norsca adventure as rival warbands compete to push their claim for the recently vacated crown of the Kingdom of Arsenduvnaewar. I am using this as an opportunity to paint up a lead version of my Tzeench warband, with Scynir being recast as a minor noble, outcast for practicing foul magiks, returning from exile to stake her claim to the throne. I have been meaning to get around to this project for ages, so great to have a reason and motivation to get into it. Expect to see more on this warband soon!

The other project I’m kicking off is to finally get around to producing the RT/2nd ed. Eldar army that I dreamed of having ever since Jes Goodwin’s Aspect Warriors first appeared in WD125. These new minis blew my mind when they landed fully in WD127 back in 1990, as did all the art work and fluff. I managed to get my hands on some, and 15-year-old me set to with limited skill but boundless enthusiasm. As a result, I had a load of badly and/or partially painted Eldar that have been unloved in a box for 35 years… Some had even been chopped up for various long-forgotten projects… It was high time they got the attention they needed to bring the army that 15-year-old me dreamed of to life!

Interestingly, the catalyst for this project was also BOYL, and a conversation about maybe a game based in a tyranid-infested pyramid, with IG Colonial Marine types trying to survive a ‘bug hunt’, and Yautja-esque Predators stalking the pyramid, looking for trophies. I thought that the Eldar could work well as Predators – they have a lot of the right technology, what with holofields, monofilament wire weapons, shuriken, etc. so I came up with the idea of a rare Aspect Warrior shrine dedicated to the art of the hunt, and the taking of skulls… the Shaedra-Torrith, or ‘the Silent Headsmen’ are the result, and I started working out how they might look… here are some early WIP shots of the prototype, using a chopped up Striking Scorpion as the base:

I think the influence and vibe for this guy is pretty clear, and I’m excited to see how this idea develops – along with the rest of the Eldar minis I have primed and ready. The Tzeentch warband has priority due to the closer deadline, but I’ll be working on these in parallel.

Onwards and upwards!!

Greetings Terrans, bit of a random post to close out the week. A few weeks back, I shared these rather dapper Lord of the Rings measuring gauges & was mulling over how best to store them so I could still get to them easily for gaming porpoises. Midgetmanifesto hit on a brilliant idea with a weapon rack a la Heroquest, with Wudugast going one step further & suggesting I build it out of wood… Well that’s exactly what I did:

It’s made out of 10mm square balsa dowels, roughed up & put together with proper joins, and then pinned with bits of paperclip. I used more paperclips to make the weapon hangers, then I used GreenStuff to add nail heads & bulk out the hangers. Finally, I painted the metal up with Leadbelcher, washed it with Nuln Oil, and finally used Contrast paint to stain the wood. Job done!

Here it is fully loaded:

Gandalf’s staff is 12″, so that gives you an idea of scale!

That’s all folks, just a bit of fun :-)

Well, obviously ‘Treat’ :-)

Greetings Terrans, second post in two days eh? Spoiling you lot rotten I am! I had a bit of time free this weekend & was looking for something to paint, when I remembered that I had the ‘Exiled Dead’ underworlds set primed and ready to go. Seemed like an auspicious weekend to tackle them, so that’s exactly what I did.

They are a strange bunch – the leader is supposed to be a Vampire called Deintalos, who dabbles with the forbidden art of electrical necromancy, (or the ‘force motive’ as the fluff refers to it), so he got exiled from the big Death place in AoS. So we’re kinda aiming for a Vamp/Steampunk/Victoriana/Frankensteiny vibe I guess? It’s a strange mix of influences, but see what you think:

Hmmm… He’s a nice enough mini I guess, but he’s just a bit… bland. I think the confused and confusing background is a factor here, as it makes it a bit… conflicted? The severed hands motif works for a necromancer for example, but not so much for a pioneer in the forbidden exploration of la force motive… And why does he have some dude’s face stapled to his face? Or is it a mask? Who knows!

Painting-wise, I settled on a faded yellow for the primary colour – no particular reason, other than I like yellow and it works well with the bruised purple of the severed hands. I’m quite pleased with the electricity effect on that staff topper too.

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Next, we have 4 electro-zombies:

These Zees are nice enough minis, and I quite like the electro-doodahs sticking out of their tortured flesh – unlike their master, the theme of these minis is very clear!

Unusually for Zombies, I wanted to go for a uniformed look with these guys – I just got the vibe that, as a gentleman inventor, Deintalos wouldn’t go digging for corpses when he likely has perfectly good house staff to hand. With that in mind, I stuck with the yellow, but just made it a bit dirtier.

Next is Deintalos’ apprentice Marcov, and his zombie bodyguard:

Again, these minis are nice enough, and while I can get onboard with the not-Igor apprentice, the not-electro bodyguard is a bit random. As with the leader, this bit of the warband is just a bit confused, and I think I would prefer to have another couple of electro-zees than these two randoms. Still, it is what it is, and they got painted up in the same way.

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Last, but by no means least, I finally got around to painting the 3D print that my pal Mikko produced for the Ghost Archipelago weekender over in Dublin last Easter. The event was titled ‘Dire Straights’, so with some top punning, this guy was christened ‘Dark Knopfler’:

Dark was great fun to paint, and I’m really pleased with how he came out – the OSL was particularly fun!

I even managed to fit in a little nod to the event location on his tiny, tiny map:

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Here’s a final Halloween group shot:

The Exiled Dead are so eclectic that Dark Knopfler fits right in!

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That’s all for now folks, it’ll be back to Realm of Warcry for my next post – we have a Halloween-themed game tonight so I’ll report on that, plus new month means I can go paint a new section of the Warband!! I think I’ll tackle the Rotmire Creed :-)