Blackstone Fortress Part 4

24 Monday Oct 2022

Posted by in Blackstone Fortress

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Greetings Terrans, just a quicky today – I finished up the Chaos Space Marines from BSF, which nicely concludes the baddies half of the box. First up, these two dudes:

Not too much to say about them really – they are identical models apart from a different head option, and are posed in a pretty static ‘on guard’ kinda way. They are supposed to be Black Legion, so no big surprises on the painting front – I just went with the same method as I did for the Legion of the Damned that I did a while back. I’m not a huge fan of painting Marines at the best of times, and these two were pretty uninspiring, but good to get them done.

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Next up is the big-bad Chaos Lord from the box – the rather grand-sounding ‘Obsidius Mallex’:

He is also Black Legion according to the fluff, but I fancied taking a different approach to his armour & instead opted for grimy bone plate, with pinky-red for the organic mutant tendrils that run over and through his armour. I’m not a fan of these silly ‘because mutation’ tubes in CSMs at the best of times, but GW manage to take this irritating trend and turn it up to 11 on this guy, turning an otherwise ok model into a bit of a pig’s ear. And don’t get me started on that ridiculous top-knot thing – there is no way that isn’t tearing a chunk out of his scalp at the slightest head movement… Oh, no, wait, it’s ok because ‘Transhuman’ and ‘Chaos’. Ugh :-/

Still, as with his Bro-Marines, I’m glad to have him done. Here they are hanging out together & looking moody:

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And that’s it for this post – catch you muddy truckers next time!

Realm of Warcry; Chapter 2, Part 2

18 Tuesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Realm of Warcry

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Greetings Terrans, how goes it? I have a quick update on the Realm of Warcry campaign that I’m running for those that are interested, plus the long-promised photos of the rival Chaos Champions!

So, we got together virtually as a group for our first game last week via Zoom. This basically involves us pushing little dots around a digital map & rolling dice in the background – not quite as good as a proper tabletop game because there are no lovely minis & terrain to enjoy, but it is still great fun & a good way to keep four busy people connected over a game! It wouldn’t work well for a big battle-type game, and really suits a skirmish & players to whom fractions of an inch don’t matter too much. I have successfully used this approach to play skirmish level games based Frostgrave rules, Rangers of Shadowdeep, and now Warcry.

The game itself was a typical starting scenario where the four Champions converged on a chaos alter in the heart of the ‘Tainted Wound’, (an area of the Gnarloak Forest where Chaos warbands tend to hang out apparently). We got stuck in to some mook-killing and treasure grabbing a la Frostgrave, before turning against each other in a final bloodbath to claim the main central objective… (well.. that’s what three of us did – Steve’s champion, noted for his speed, rushed into the mid-table on his lonesome & was killed real bad on turn 2…). Once the dust had settled, my doughty Chaos Dwarf was the only Champin left standing, and other than Mark’s champ having a concussion, we all got through the post-game rolls with no issues.

A note on the post-game stuff, I did a bespoke post-game that is basically a mashup of the best bits of the Warcry post-game stuff, with an additional Realm of Chaos phase bolted on. For this to work, I basically rewrote all of the main RoC tables to make them work in Warcry… Yes, including the Attributes table! It was a fair chunk of work, but quite enjoyable once I got into it.

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Anyway, let’s go meet the Champions properly!

You’ve already met my guy – Morbin Festertoungue, Moronic, with a Biting Toung, and gifted a Familiar of Nurgle following his victory:

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Next is Steve’s guy – Morkian Dewcaller, a fever-addled Elven Mage sworn to Nurgle, with a Hunchback, & Face of Nurgle:

Steve also got a Chaos Steed reward after the first game, so he gets to make a new version of his champ if he likes!

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This is Mark’s Champ – Bloabech Wormfinger, human mage, with Horns of Nurgle and Additional Eye, carrying a concussion into the next game:

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Finally, Ross’ Champion – Slumpsha Swampstrider, Chaos Orc Champion and a total beat-stick, with Long Legs and a Nurgling Infestation:

Ross also got a Chaos Spawn follower after our first game.

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Aren’t they brilliant? I can’t wait to get them on a table for real :-)

Anyway, that’s all for this post, but more to follow on this project… We’re aiming for a game a month (either in RL or virtual) so I’ll try and do a round-up of that, plus showing off new additions to my own warband. Should be fun!

Blackstone Fortress part 3

12 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Blackstone Fortress

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Greetings Terrans, I hope this finds you well. I have another quick update on my progress through the Blackstone Fortress set to share, and this one is a bit of a tale of two halfs… First up, I tackled the four Ur-Ghuls in the set:

I did some light conversion work to differentiate them from each other, and the painting was some super-quick and very enjoyable blending work with Contrasts. I stole the ‘fade to dark on the extremities’ idea from several other talented painters, and can take no credit for that :-)

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Now, as much as the Ur-Ghuls were a pleasure to paint, this next quartet were the absolute opposite… I didn’t think much of the electro nob-head models before, but after painting them I actively dislike them! Still, done is done:

Folks that know these minis will notice that I chopped all the silly head tentacles off in an attempt to clean up these messy buggers… I’ve had some limited success in that regard perhaps, but there is no getting away from just how fussy these things are… Nope, definitely not my faves, and I painted them with as much enthusiasm as I could muster… i.e. not a lot.

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Finally, and finishing on a good note, I got this dude done:

He was great fun to paint, and looks good with his mate wot I painted up before:

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And that’s all for today! Next post will be another Realm of Warcry post – me and the other droogs taking part are having a game of Warcry over Zoom tomorrow, a 4 way Champ-off as it were :-)

I’ll let you know how it went & will include some pics of their Champions.

Laters Potaters