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!
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.
.
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.
.
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:
.
Here’s a final Halloween group shot:
The Exiled Dead are so eclectic that Dark Knopfler fits right in!
.
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 :-)
Greetings Terrans, it has been a while since I posted (again), been away on hols for a bit, plus work & study are both kicking the crap out of me at the moment… Finding the time to do anything else is just so damn difficult! That said, I did make my annual pilgrimage to Newark this past weekend – BOYL is one event I will always do my very best to attend. I has a blast this year, it was great to see so many familiar faces, plus I got to meet some awesome new people too. This year I put my Space Orks and my Praetorian Guard to good use, and I GM’d the ‘Last Stand at Glazer’s Creek’ scenario from WD222 on repeat. I managed to run the scenario three times, with a total of 11 individual games of Rogue Trader played (each run through has a variable number of assaults with each assault being a game). I didn’t get to see much else & I was bloody knackered by the end of the weekend, but it was so worth it. The results were as follows:
1st run through – James H (Orks) vs. Jesper (Praetorians), 5 games total. This was a bit of a practice run, refining rules & adjusting things for balance. Result was a narrow Orky win.
2nd -Paul D (Orks) vs. ‘other Paul’ (Praetorians), 3 games in total. Crushing Ork win – as an inexperienced Guard player, ‘other Paul’ was overwhelmed in the last round & couldn’t hold the farm.
3rd – Chris W (Orks) vs. ‘other Chris’ and Dan (Praetorians), 3 games in total. Narrow Praetorian win – mainly de to some masterful play from ‘other Chris’ in the final assault, (plus a little bit of luck with an out-of-control Ork Dreadnought torching a mob of Boyz!).
There were far too many twists and turns to list here, but suffice it to say that everyone got into the spirit, and this was a great narrative gaming experience. One highlight was having none other than Jervis Johnson (the gaming legend who wrote the scenario back in the day) stop by & chat a bit about the scenario! I was a bit star struck & didn’t dare ask for a photo, but he was a genuinely lovely guy who was so generous with his very limited time there. He probably doesn’t realise it but he made my bloody day 😊
Here are some pics to hopefully give you a flavour of the game:
The defending force – elements of the Dauntless 215th plus auxiliaries
.
Ready for the 1st assault of the weekend
.
Savage Orks closing quickly!
.
Rogue Trader Arturo Lamina proves his skill in combat
.
As does Captain Caine
.
I think this is the start of the final assault of game 3 – look at all those Orks! Faasends of ’em!
.
This mob of Orks were unimpressed with the imperial mortar fire!
.
Rogue Trader Lamina at it again
.
And Capt. Caine doing the same, despite sustaining grievous wounds to overwatch
.
A heroic (and suicidal) dash over the barricade to deliver a devastating blast of flamer fire
.
The Orks finally break, with just 5 humans left to defend Glazer’s Creek… Close!
.
.
Huge thanks to Jesper & James, Paul & Paul, and Chris, Dan & Chris for being such excellent players – you all made it a great experience with tons of laughs, tension, excitement, and occasional flashes of tactical genius! I hope you lads all enjoyed it as much as I did.
Leadballoony - It's a lead thing 