Nippon Castle for Warhammer- Part III

Wow, the Nippon castle has been garnering a lot of attention on the web, keep up the comments guys and many thanks; especially the shout out here, thanks Scot!

I've stepped back and taken stock of where I am with the project at this point which is to say a lot further along then when I really picked it back up in October. Overall I'm pleased with the pace I've been on and have been enjoying the whole project. I've even found time to work on other projects like the siege equipment, paint a few units and other things that strike my fancy.

But, the title of this post says Part III so what am I working on right now in relation to the Nippon castle you ask: As I mentioned in Part II I've been re-reading my stack of White Dwarf magazines from the range of #220-235. In particular, in #225, Nick Davis' "Jungle Fever - Part 2" where he covers the creation of his Lizardman Castle has been of particular interest. #224 is where the rules appeared for 5th Edition Siege rules for moats which I'm drawing on as well, so here is the point of this post, moats.

As you can see, I've started on the beginnings of a moat for the castle. The moat will obviously surround the entire castle to simulate a Nippon fortress situated on the lowlands of Nippon (or Nihon?) near rice patties perhaps? I deliberately started at the most difficult part of the moats, the corner towers knowing the wall sections would be far easier. I also took inspiration from the corner board sections of 3rd Edition Talisman.

From there, once finished I also have been formulating ideas to create a way to raise up the entire thing so it will sit on a series of cliff walls to simulate a mountain top type of castle. That is further off and I will be using fair amount of paper-mache to make the mountainside.  In this, the 6th Edition High Elf Army Book has some interesting photos of minis and mountains so we'll see.

Note- my overall progress of my Nippon Army is tracked over here at Dogs of War Online.

Speaking of paper-mache, I took a brief side track to work a tomb/barrow, first seen in the 6th Edition General's Compendium on page 52. I started out when I looked at a barrow I created about 15 years ago. I was going to pull that apart but just decided to create something from scratch. Then remembered the barrow in the a fore mentioned General's Compendium. You'll have to excuse this photo as I remembered to take it as I was applying the paper-mache. But I digress, here is the barrow:

As you can see, the top will be removable because I'm insane apparently and need to add all kinds of stuff to the interior..

And if the barrow/tomb were not enough of a bonus, I've also been working on redoing the river pieces of the terrain that Jeff and Dave created 25+ years ago! I widened them a few years back but now I've added gravel to the river edges and will be painting them shortly. Need to add a few more bends and another river crossing part. You'll have to excuse the quick photo on this one too, I only remembered to take a picture after I had already started on it and undercoated one.

I think that's all for now. Good gaming in the new year everyone.

WM

Nippon Castle for Warhammer- Part II

While I haven't updated the blog in a bit, I  have been plugging away and highlighting my progress on the Nippon castle for Warhammer Fantasy Battle over at Dogs of War Online. One of the things I've been trying to reconcile is that its not an Asian/Oriental/Japanese castle* but a castle set in the mythical Warhammer world. Those are two very different things but it seems I have a hard time separating it!

As such,  the walls and castle are very symmetrical which is very unlike a traditional Japanese castle which snaked back and forth with large sprawling grounds and multiple walls and moats.  Since gunpowder was not widely used in medieval Japan,  castles, were for the most part made of wood and with very large moats. Tthis had the practical effect of  said castles taking up a very large amount of ground.

What I created however is a conceit to the physical limitations of  building a castle at 28mm scale and my gaming table which is  5x6 in terms of feet. It fits, but even with centering it in the middle of the table there isn't a ton of room on the edges (note its not centered in the photos below). While rules exist for playing siege games across the editions I'm planning on  using the siege rules for 3rd Edition, warts and all.

One benefit of using the 3rd Edition rules for siege is this lack of space is accounted for with Remote, Encamped and Ready zones that are part and parcel of the rules. For those not in the know these rules formed areas outside of the table top where action took place, essentially "off table" as it were.

As is depicted above you can see the corner towers are all complete now, along with the previously completed corner wall sections.The tops of all four towers are removable to facilitate the placement of war engines as needed.

After I took these photos I began the process of gluing down stones an gravel in preparation of painting in the not too distant future. I'm also in the process of determining what the "inner" courtyard will look like so stay tuned.

* Note no offense implied, sad this has to be stated, but this is the day and age we live in...

Nippon Castle for Warhammer

Hello all- Been a bit busy of late, but have been working hard on Warhammer terrain. Case in point over at Dogs of War Online work on my Nippon Army continues. Aor more accurately, work on my Nippon Castle continues.

At this point I'm so far into working on it I cant really stop (nor do I want to!) But, I've also come to realize that it probably would have been cheaper to buy some already made terrain available from outlets on the web. But therein lies my main argument against that: I work on the castle when I want to and at my own pace, also I'm having a lot of fun doing it. It's relaxing to do and something away from technology (which I get a lot of Monday through Friday working in IT at my job).

I originally started on the castle in the Spring of 2013 and I've worked on it in fits and spurts ever since. About a month ago I picked it back up and have been diligently been working away on it. What started it off was I took a step back and started working on the outer walls which admittedly are inspired by the walls from Siege & Conquest from the Warhammer Historical range. I think as strange as it sounds, that is what spurned me on. I then went back and fixed some of the flaws in the main structure and it keeps getting better and better.

Of course, here are some photos (this AM I started working on more of the roofs of the outer walls).

Here is where it stands as of a week ago:

Here is where it stands as of a last night after about one week week of work between the photos. It may not look like much but I spent a lot of time fixing the roofs of the castle and strengthening the whole roof structure as well.

 

More updates will be on Dogs of War Online as I continue to work on what is turning out to be a long, but very fun project. 

The reason for my Nippon mania in Warhammer- 80s Ninja Craze!

As I blogged about here in post here I've been working in my Warband of Nippon in anon again, off again fashion. Currently, its in the on mode, huzzah.

I've just completed a few far eastern/nippon/samuari type major purchases and will be rounding out two units with enough minis to have a sizeable force to play with. I've currently tracking all activity on this particular army over at Dogs of War Online. As you can see I've made substantial progress with the ninja, for those inclined here is a picture from the blog featuring my first unit rounding to form:

I've been having a lot of fun scouring eBay for these guys and I am nearing the end of my quest to have one of one each of the ninjas from back in the 1980s (there were 48 in all).

But, only recently I stepped back and wondered just why? Why the interest in ninjas? No it wasn't the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles either (I missed that by a few years). The roots of my being smack dab in the middle of the 80s Ninja Craze was this awesome great/bad movie, AMERICAN NINJA!

Of course, after watching it on HBO I wanted to be a ninja so of course I then proceeded to make some ninjatō, painted them silver and proceeded to whack the crap out of my friends with them. I also had some ninja stars to fling around too with my main target being the garage drywall. Of one thing I know for sure, I also dressed up as a ninja for Halloween one year too, probably seventh grade. My mom has a picture of it, but I'm not letting that out to become the next internet meme.

So there you go, 80s' Ninja Craze, 3rd Edition Warhammer a few short years later with some vestigial traces (and the let down of no Nippon army from GW*) and then going full-bore later in my life. I guess what was once old is now new again?

As a final thought one does have to deal with a Inverse ninja law...

* Games Workshop teased at Nippon on page 194 of the 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book, "For the moment we shall pass over these lands, leaving their exploration to others. A complete guide to the lands of Nippon is already under development." Looks like that became never with the move to 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle and then "Herohammer".

Power, Mystery and the Hammer of the Gods

I've written this post in an on again, off again fashion for over two years as it goes off the beaten path of the blog as it were... But I feel compelled to blog about it anyways (Hey, its my blog), hope you enjoy my musings.

"Power, mystery and the Hammer of the Gods" is a reference to an answer Jimmy Page gave to a searching for just the right photograph, of the band and to me (and a lot of others) that sums up the mystique of Led Zeppelin*.

Absolutely true. To me they are THE band. Led Zeppelin is the best band then, the best band now, the best band there every will be. And the kicker? I was 7 when they disbanded. I never got to see them on stage, but I am a huge fan none-the-less.I started as a fan back around 9th grade. I big influence was by buddy Jeff who was and is a big fan back then too.

The band was and is legendary. To say I'm a huge fan is an understatement. The abilities of the four are definitely greater then the whole, and taken as a whole, the whole is greater then the sum of the parts. They complemented each other like no other musicians I can think of. And because of this is why I think they are the best rock and roll band of all time.

Some might think they are dated (I've heard this recently), but to me their music is timeless, as timeless as the Beatles, perhaps more so. In terms of musicianship, Paul McCartney was head and shoulders above the rest of the Beatles. But with Led Zeppelin? The argument can be made that all four were among the very best in their respective areas. I don't know too many people who will argue that Jimmy Page isn't one of the greatest guitarists of all time. That John Bonham isn't one of the greatest drummers of all time. That John Paul Jones wasn't one of the greatest bassists or that Robert Plant wasn't one of the greatest rock n' Roll vocalists of all time. In fact aside from Freddie Mercury or Ronnie James Dio who is a better singer?  The abilities of the four and their ease at a multitude of different styles of music is impressive. Then add Page's monstrous abilities as a producer at a time when it was unheard of for a musician to be his own producer?

With the Beatles, the whole was greater then the parts in my opinion, with Led Zeppelin, both the parts AND the whole are greater, and that's saying something. They were and are greater then anything before or since. I don't know if we will ever see its like again especially in light of the state of music today.

An interesting part to their storied career critics hated them (still due to a degree), were rarely on radio (initially), had no number one hits and yet were still the biggest band of the 1970s. That geriatric rag Rolling Stone still is dismissive too them to this very day. But as Gene Simmons put it so ever so eloquently when speaking of Rolling Stones' dislike of Kiss: "Being accepted by aging hippies is not high on my priority list."

Led Zeppelin's albums and their live shows made them. It would only be after they disbanded that they reached a near mythic status. That and the fact that for the next 25 years every band tried to be them and to sound just like them. Try turning on the radio and not hearing Stairway to Heaven at least once a day from 1980 to 2000, or even now. 

In the end it, was perhaps fitting that they called it quits after the death of John Bonham, they had given us 12 years of dominance and never really faltered to any great degree. Like Henry V's short reign as King of England in the early 1400s, Zeppelin burned bright across they sky, like a comet. They didn't have any time to be bad.

And I leave you with what might be their greatest song in terms of range (hard to argue with Stairway, but...)

As Zeppelin famously said in a great song: "Then as it was, then again it will be".

Postscript: In the time I took to write this blog-post, a new band has come along that echoes Zeppelin, Greta Van Fleet. While not exactly Zeppelin there are a lot of influences and aren't direct copies like Kingdom Come (Kingdom Clone). I like them a lot and look forward to seeing what they come up with. Their 4-song EP is excellent and highly recommend it.

* I'll add that while I'm tolerant of free speech to a large degree, I'm not entertaining trolls about Led Zeppelin. If you want to rant about lawsuits and plagiarism? Do it elsewhere. Want to discuss why you don't like them, fine, hurling the crap of plagiarism? The web is a wide-open place. I'm sure you can  find other places to do so.

Part VI- Repainting the Wood Elf Force- The Dragon Rider

Back after a ton of summer activities with the kids. While all those activities were going on I wasn't complacent in terms of painting. In fact for summertime painting I got quite a bit done.

This next guy, the ever cool Dragon Master from the Citadel range (notes here). Like the rest of the Wood Elf force this particular model was purchased not for a Wood Elves per say, but yes, you guessed it: an ally for my Empire force in 3rd edition. This purchase represented the start of my High Elf force  which in years would number 14,000 pts. I quickly painted the model up and his debut was against Jeff and Dave's forces (Orc and Goblins/Skaven respectively) during the Ice Storm of 1991 at Dave's house. Since it was just me on the other side I played a combined Empire, Wood Elf and High Elf force. I don't remember too much other than we setup the board on the front living room floor as the power was still out, nor who won. I do recall however they were conspiring to knock him out early, as in like round 1. So against all odds I won initiative and charged across the board and got him into hand-to-hand combat. Don't remember what happened after that, but pretty sure I spoiled their casting of Windblast or Hurricane.

After that Jeff more or less stopped playing so Dave and I played a lot more. This particular dragon would end up as a general for my High Elf force, joined by another Dragon Master model as the army standard bearer and 4 more dragons. The cool thing about the High Elf force in 3rd edition is you could field a force made entirely of dragons which I did a few times. The downside was at 315 points the +4 Shock Elite Dragonkin riders only had 1 Wound...

After moving to 4th and 5th the model sat for a bit until I stripped it of paint and redid it into the form you see now. I made the butterfly wings from regular painting canvas that I cut out to the right shapes and stiffened with successive coats of a watery glue. A small wire forms the leading wing edge to give it additional support. The odd thing was that I modeled a saddle and plunked a 4th edition Empire Rieksguard knight on it  Not sure if the mini ever saw combat in that form.

Since getting back to Oldhammer I've been reassigning models to their proper place in the army lists and it just didn't really fit with the Empire, but I didn't want to trash the dragon. So I touched up the paint job and put the original elf warrior and saddle back on. Upgraded the base to a 50mm base and Bam, done. Moral of the story? Never throw anything away!

So with all that he really wouldn't fit into my High Elf force either with its blue and white paint jobs. What better place to assign then my reborn Wood Elves? Adding fall foliage and once again ties it all back in. 

Next up? I'm still looking for 9 more wood elves from the plastic Warhammer Regiments set for two more archer units (I have 31 now, so two units of 20 is the goal). I did pick up 2 more 4th edition Glade Guard models which I'm using for my Kinband Warriors. I don;t know why but I like these models a lot. They might very well be next as I now have 2 archer units, 1 wardancer unit, a wizard, general, treeman and now dragon rider painted. the force continues to be reborn!

Adding to all of this I'm also working on my reborn 3rd edition Dark elf force and have just finishes a unit of 10 Dark Elf Dark riders. (and yes, you can see some "under the brush" Cold One Knights in the background).

So stay tuned.

Part V- Repainting the Wood Elf Force- The General

Thanks PhotoBucket.

Like a lot of hobbyists I imagine, I have spent the last week and half migrating everything off of PhotoBucket due to their new Terms and Conditions. So that means not much time for actual hobby work. In my case I had most everything backed up, but the Mac that had the photos got damaged in a flood due to an errant sump pump malfunction. So in a few short months it was: lose the local copies of the photos and then the online ones (in a sense). Fortunately, for the Wood Elf thread I chose to place it online here at Blogger (until this too closes- many years from now, right google?)

Anyways, onto the thread: since the Wood Elf host has been growing in size I figured it was time to pause in the rank and file units and give them a leader. For my general I utilized the Ashen Peacemaker miniature that I had procured years ago sans horse and then proceeded to cut apart for a ill-advised attempt at a conversion. What possessed me to do that I have no idea. Fortunately I cut him apart at the points where he was easy to reassemble.

Like the rest of the army he is on a brown base (not the sides obviously) with fall foliage and with the rest of the army I went for a more subdued color scheme. To me this makes sense the Wood Elves are not High Elves; they are not about flash and style, but more rustic and "natural" in their finery.

The horse is actually from another 3rd Edition mini from the Elf6 Cavalry range. The general model it came with is (so far) assigned to the Elven Lord unit im assmebling (see below), but remains to be seen if that is where he stays. I think the crown throws the whole look off for a Wood Elf army to be honest.

As far as my general (I still need to think up a name) there is still a bit of touch up to go on the base and a few other spots. Why is I only notice these after I take photos and prepare the blog post???

I still have not decided whether he will accompany a unit of (so far) 6 Elven Lords or if he will be independent. Of course a lot of this is predicated on what happens with the battle standard bearer of which I'll have mounted as well.

Next up to blog about is my mounted wizard "Milambar Ice Blade". I actually took photos of him too, but noticed that I still need to paint the "ramage" (he has a saddle bag with scrolls). Also the Dragomaster (DRAG7) which I converted years ago with his remounted rider is almost complete too. If that were not enough I have another unmodified dragon that is stripped of its old paint job and primed. As to which army it will go I'm not sure yet, perhaps it will be painted in a high elf scheme...

And further: I still have another mounted elf wizard and a unicorn in need of a mounted female elf wizard.... an elf kin warrior band, two more 20 strong elf archer units, another Treeman, another war dancer troupe, and a scratch built chariot... So plenty of stuff to do with this army to say the least.

I'm still tinkering with the light box (I know, I know, I've been saying this for a while) but have come up with a few good ideas while I get some more lights this week. These photos are a bit better than as of late. I also have been re-reading about it in the web. Seems like that information I knew at one point, but I must have purged from my memory over the last few years.


In any event let me know what you think of the paint job or any other questions or comments. 
 

Warhammer 3rd edition, back to the best edition- Part II

As I outlined here I've really returned to my roots as it were in regards to Warhammer. Unlike the ass-hats of the OSR movement on the D&D side however I bear no malice or ill-will towards anyone who plays a different version of Warhammer than I do. I find their "your fun is wrong" statements amusing if nothing else. And with the demise of the traditional rule-set of Warhammer Fantasy Battle this is more pronounced with folks going either the Age of Sigmar route, 9th Age or Return of Kings.

For me its why bother? Yes its cumbersome, but with the good olde' orange rule book and Warhammer Armies you have all you need to play a great game.

Talk about value on this thing: It has 11 of the 12 armies contained within (Norse appeared in White Dwarf #107). In addition there are new rules for war machines, and great rules in my opinion for allies and mercenaries which Warhammer always seemed to struggle with to find a good balance for.

So with that in my mind here is where I stand for each of the armies and potential future plans:

Dark Elves- When complete they will total around 4,000-5,000 points. Details on the progress of the army can be found here. For the most part I largely have all the minis needed and just need to round out a few here and there to fill up certain units rank and file. They also have 25 hobgoblins as allies which I'm looking forward to painting (see below).

Wood Elves- As I've been outlining here on the blog they will come in around 4,000 points when complete. Like Dark Elves these pointy ears are a repaint of my existing models. As I also noted, they originally served as allies for my Empire force, but over the years I collected enough to field a force in their own right.

Almost all the models are 3rd edition ones with a few 4th edition ones mixed in like the Glade Guard serving as Kin Band warriors. 

One of my most heavily converted dragons, circa 2006

High Elves- This will be tougher. Not because I don't have minis but because I have a force of at least 10,000 points of High Elves painted and another 4,000 points unpainted... But they are a 5th edition force in composition and models. This isn't a problem per say, but I'm not going to convert them back to 3rd, but rather leave them as is. Easy enough to play 3rd edition games with them, but unlikely to get a lot of the 3rd edition/4th edition range save for two: one being that ever elusive Elven Attack Chariot (for me).

The Empire- Actually my second army in 3rd Edition (more on that in a bit). Like my High Elves these guys are more configured for 4th-7th than 3rd edition. The good news its easy enough to use them in 3rd edition which I did in a battle around December.

Bretonnia- When I first played 3rd Edition I played my initial force as a Bretonnian force... Now I I can't stand Bretonnia due certain posters on a website that promotes them (you know the one). Ever wonder why the Word of Hashut #10 is the way it is? There you go. Right now I have a mixed force that is probably around 1,000 points. I don't really see my doing anything with them anytime soon.

I will be finishing up a Bretonnian canon however as it was one of my first mini purchases ever. Maybe even a small scenic base too. 

Chaos- My chaos force is largely done. it dates back to 1991 and sports a lot of original paint jobs from that time. As of late I've been splitting out the 5th/6th edition minis from the earlier ones. One "new" unit is a repaint of chaos warriors on foot. Right now I have 16 and have been scoping out the remaining 4. Highly unlikely to field 20 at once as the point cost would be over 1,000 points, but they will look cool none-the-less.

A unit of 25 Beastmen with some gors from 5th/6th and Talisman plastic Beastmen is also "under the brush", but back burner right now. 

Skaven- As my buddy Dave collected them way back when he got all of them from the joint plastic regiment boxes. As a result of this over they years they never had much appeal. I'd say I have 10-20 plastic ones. I could see a unit or two for allies, but I'm highly unlikely to gather a full force especially when one considers the amount of minis needed to field a Skaven force.

Orcs- From my Chaos Dwarfs force I've got more than enough to field a Orc and Goblin force but not too many in the way of 3rd edition minis. If I did I'd be looking for the orc and goblin war-machines to round it out. Hell I might just get them anyways as the minis are so cool.

Dwarfs- Like the Wood Elves the Dwarfs are an outgrowth of needing allies for my Empire force in larger battles (as I was the only one playing the "good armies".) The Dwarfs are the force I've changed the least over the years. What I have done is add more minis to them. The leftover from the Battle for Skull Pass box set have also made their way to the army. Right now I have four units to go with the 6,000 points of painted minis I already have. They were also the first force I thought of painting in a coherent scheme rather than individuals except for one unit where I purposely painted each mini different. As a result the unit is a miss mash of colors but the army is predominately green and yellow. All in all the force works.

Slann- Ahhh Slann. I have zero Slann minis unfortunately and I think I only ever actually saw a few in person painted (Dave had some). For some reason they were fairly hard to come by in the States in the late 80s and to try and collect them now? $$$

Undead- This will be a bit easier. Due to summoning spells in 3rd edition WFB everyone had a Undead plastic box set. Because of this I have one unit of cavalry, one unit of infantry and some extras. Coupled with the zombie plastic box set from 6th means I have the nucleus of a small force but needs some touching up on the first two. At some point I envision a small force along the lines of the ones presented around White Dwarf #142ish.

"Extras"
Norse- Only appeared in White Dwarf #107 and I have to say it let me with a meh feeling for the army. I have a few scattered Norse minis, but don't see myself undertaking this task for another human army largely composed of  infantry. Don't get me wrong the minis are cool, but where are the Norse riding war mammoths???

Nippon- My attempts at Nippon have been on again and off again as the mood strikes me. Now not a 3rd edition force the army list for 2nd could be modified to work with 3rd. I have a sizable force but its going to take a lot more time and a lot more lead. I do have almost every ninja model from the range which is kinda cool!

I think if I could get 1-4 of those damn Temple Dogs it would help!

Mercenaries and Allies- based on having so many armies I can usually field any allies needed. In terms of the mercs? I have the following:

• Chaos Allies- both chaos dwarf war machines, a mortar and multiple bazukas!
• Old Worlder Ally contingent- toyed with the idea of converting my Bret force to this contingent.
• Halflings- Got a fair amount of these for a small ally force. 
• Giants- Two giants, one old school.
• Ogres- Unit of 8 detailed here.
• Half-Orcs- this is going to be a quest. I want the 2nd edition range which goes for $$$ on eBay. 
• Hogoblins- 25 old school hobgoblins including Baron Brightgore on the painting table!

That about rounds out where I stand in Oldhammer, a lot done, quite a bit to go by that's the fun of it. 

What's on the painting bench?

Like a lot of wargamers/painters I've got a dirty secret. What is that you ask? Far more lead and plastic to paint than time. Just take a look at what is on the painting desk sitting in the "bull pen" area as it were. Show of hands who is just like me? Its said that 50% of gamer/painters admit to having way more minis to paint than time to paint them all. The other 50% is lying.

An even dirtier secret? This picture doesn't include all of my dark elves that are being repainted.And a dirtier secertx2? This doesn't include about 2-3,000 unpainted 4th through 6th edition High Elves, or terrain that is fully created but not yet painted! Arrrghhhh.

In away this post touches on one of the most ironic things about the hobby. When I was younger I had more time than money for miniatures (still did pretty well). Now that I'm older I have less time, but more money (comparatively speaking) for the hobby. Now the prices have of course gone up! Some days you're the bug, other days the windshield.

Included in the photo are (some highlights)

• 2 Dragonmasters (one is mostly painted- an old butterfly wing conversion. Only the rider needs to be redone- He'll most like go to my 3rd Edition in progress Wood Elf Host). 
• 16 chaos warriors on foot
• 20 3rd edition hobgoblin warriors (including Baron Brightgore)
• 4 dwarf units 
• 18 (at the moment) Glade Guards to be utilized as Warrior Kinbands.

To close  I'd like so say I'm doing well shifting through my mountain of lead and plastic but who knows? I'm having fun, that's the main part, but I'd like to make some "progress". Yeah I know, Denial is just a river in Egypt either...

Part IV of the Repainting of my 3rd Edition Wood Elf Force- The 1st Treeman

This post will be a bit shorter, but the subject matter isn't, not by a long shot. A mighty Treeman! For those not in the known, Treemen are fearsome in 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. An opponent who doesn't do their best to take these guys out early in a game is foolish.

Why is that? With stat-lines like these, these guys are (wait for it) monsters! WS of 8, S of 6, W of 6 and 4 Attacks? A Treeman is right up there with giants in terms of sheer hitting power in 3rd Edition Warhammer.

Image thanks to Goblin Lee's blog

I won't go into every detail as it has been covered depth and with an excellent analysis of the whole Wood Elf army by Goblin Lee here. I will say that I'm interested to see for myself how they perform in my revamped force. In the past the Wood Elf host wasn't so much an independent force as it was an ally contingent for my Empire army (as I noted previously).

The Treeman model in question was painted fairly well before I stripped off the paint a few months back; should have taken a pre-photo. The main issue with it was for some reason I used gloss coat to seal it rather than matte finish, don't ask me why. I purchased it in the mid 1990s when my forces were transitioning to 4th and 5th. I've always liked the look of this one compared to the classic range of Treeman in the 1980s. So with that in mind future ones I purchase will be of the same era miniature-wise.

The repaint went very fast and I'm pleased with the results. As you can see because I use black to undercoat the colors come out darker and "moodier" if you will. I do this on purpose as I've never been able to reconcile my painting style with white undercoating; don't know why.

The only real issue I struggled with was whether or not to add fall foliage to the Treeman itself rather than just the base as I have been doing with the rest of the Wood Elf host. In the end I didn't like how it looked so I just went with the base to tie it in with the rest of the force. A active Treeman pounding the snot out of his foes shouldn't be red, orange and yellow for leaves denoting the upcoming hibernation season for trees. Plus I want to avoid comparisons to the 7th Edition Wood Elf forces that are based on seasonal color schemes.

And so here he is. Finally got a natural light bulb for the painting desk again, but the grays on the bark are coming out a bit muted. In actuality those parts are a bit lighter on the higher points.



The next post, Part V will most likely focus on the painting of my general and mounted wizard of my bludgeoning force.

The one that got away, a Tale of eBay Woes

I'm fairly certain we've all been there before, that one time when you scored something on eBay only to get it lost in the post? In my case the only time I've ever had something not show up was a miniature.

My tale of heartbreak goes back about 10 years and the kicker was getting something for $20 that is now in the $150-200 range (bangs head).

To which mini do I refer? This one... the Elven Attack Chariot (sigh)

As best as I've been able to uncover, the delivery service dropped it off at the wrong address. My old address was 58 Frostholm Dr, I figure that they dropped it off on the next street over at 58 Fairholm Dr... The delivery service said it was delivered (I think it was UPS) but the home owners did not receive it.

So like a fisherman, this is my tale, the one that got away. But in this case it really happened...honest.

Branching out, Miniatures-wise

While my first love for miniatures is and remains Citadel/Games Workshop (despite my love/hate stance with the company) I have been recently been looking at other lines. One that caught my eye a few months back was Otherworld Miniatures. Currently, I'm in the middle of working on multiple armies and terrain for Warhammer; enough to keep me busy for years. But while looking for art  male half-orc assassin artwork for D&D I came across the guy below. I finally decided to take the plunge and have since purchased they mini below and I am waiting on its delivery: DAD10 – Male Half-orc Assassin

Not my paint job but I like the look of it.

Really looking forward to this guy and getting some paint on him. Perhaps my next character in an AD&D game? I really like the look of the example above too.

As and aside I also like the look of Dragonrune Miniatures from the early 2000s which have a strong Warhammer influence. I found them around 2001 as far as I can recall.  I've been seeing more of them popping up on eBay lately. The ogres are especially appealing. The company didn't last all too long but can now apparently be procured from Armorcast. Perhaps a topic for a different day as I really like the look of the ogres.

UPDATE (6-22-17): After a bit of an adventure he finally arrived from the UK.

Getting the drop on the opposition in AD&D, a visual.

After playing RPGs and war-games since 1982 I've come across tons of art; some good, some bad and some in between. Of the old school artists from the early days of TSR are Tramp and Bill Willingham; 2nd Edition artists like Elmore are OK, but I'm neither pro or con for the most part. I've also played a ton of Warhammer (especially 3rd edition) so I'm also partial to art from Games Workshop stalwarts like John Blanche.

But this post isn't about that. This post is about something so over the top gonzo. So over the top that it's epic bad/good. So cool that it is hard to quantify. So of course its something from 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeon and Dragons. I should also note that despite 2nd Edition being my favorite version of Dungeons and Dragons and how I run it (see here) I'm not a particularly huge fan of the Forgotten Realms.

So with that said this nothing short of pure awesomeness.

At first I never paid this much attention back in the day: I don't currently have or need the book. But the more I look at it I've come to realize just how gob smacking cool this is! All too often over the years I've seen knights fighting hordes of bad guys ad nauseaum, orcs, thieves climbing demon idols, menacing beholders and mighty dragons on the wing and everything in between.

But getting the drop on some town guard flunky in such an unorthodox way? That's the stuff that legends are made of! And to do it with a loaf of ciabatta bread, left-handed? You don't get much more pimp than this move. Imagine the consternation of said city watchman heading back to the guard tower:

Master at Arms at the Tower: "So, William, did you bring the outlaw scum at the Sleepy Dragon Inn?"

William: (sheepishly) "No, I... uhhhhh... couldn't find him."
 
Master at Arms at the Tower: "Why is your face and neck covered with bread crumbs?"

I mean really who's going to own up to the fact that some dude in a tavern got the drop on you with his freaking DINNER! A plate maybe, a hunk of bread????

You might loathe 2nd Edition AD&D, you might not like the art (I've certainly seen better) you might not like the subject matter. But when is the last time you got the drop on someone in the game with one of your characters utilizing a loaf of bread? I'm guessing never.

Part III- The Repaint of Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers

Part III- The Repaint of Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers

Like a lot of my 3rd edition models these guys have undergone many paints and then subsequent repaints. As I noted during the initial post of this topic I had to paint a lot of models quickly back in the day as I was the only player of "good" armies; meaning in larger battles it was always me, allying with... myself. So being an Empire player primarily back then meant Wood Elves as an ally contingent.

I was fortunate enough to grab a box set of Skarloc's Woof Elf Archers around 1989 (the box is long since gone.) Their initial paint job was rushed quite a bit, I don't remember much by they were obviously clad in a lot of green. The second repaint left them likewise green but still rather flat and using 5th/6th edition shields.

For their last (hopefully) repaint I took my time. I actually finished them about a month ago but with a two-week vacation I'm just getting around to posting this. As you can see I went with the same autumnal feel for the color palette I've been using for all of my reborn Wood Elf force, along with appropriate flock.

The photos are bit yellowish as I've been having a hard time getting to the store to get natural light bulbs for the painting/photography area.

Overall, I'm pleased with how they came out. For the shields I opted for a simple white swirl pattern which I had for several painted Glade Guards. I echoed the color on the banner which is a stylized pair of wings.

Next up is a Treeman which is almost complete. Until next time.

Part II of the Repainting of my 3rd Edition Wood Elf Force.

Part II of the Repainting of my 3rd Edition Wood Elf Force.

The first unit of the rebuilt force can be found here.

Despite a major flood in the man cave of the basement, I was able to continue to churn out some more units. I've been working on two units simultaneously, one unit of 10 Wood Elf Wardancers and a unit of 20 Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers which will be used as Guards or Lord's Bowmen. The archers are nearly complete, but the Wardancers are fully complete!

As you can see, I've used some regular Wood Elf warriors and champion models to give them a unique look and feel. I have another unit of Wardancers that I'm still assembling models for. This unit is the left overs from the first unit in the sense of the actual War Dancer models. Back in the day I used the ten models I had as Sea Elf Wardancers for my High Elf force. These models were all  actual minis from the Wardancer range, but for the rebirth of the army I decided to spread them out across two units instead, make sense? The second unit will look more like the Wardancer troops depicted in the Warhammer Armies book.

In keeping with my first archer unit I repainted, I continued the look of fall foliage on the bases and movement trays. I plan on doing this for the entire army to give it a unified, autumnal look.

Next up? I have a unit of 4th edition Wood Elf Glade Guards. I've always liked better than the 3rd edition models for the Wood Elf Host. For the 3rd edition force they function as Warrior Kinbands obviously. My scratch built Wain Lord chariot is another possibility along with my first Treeman repaint.

The Most Craptastic ad ever in a Gaming Mag

Usually I'm a live and let live kinda guy, but this one made me roll my eyes so hard they almost popped out the back of my skull... THE DRAGONMASTER'S RING!!!!

How did I come across this? A brief bit of background: one of my most treasured gaming materials is my run of Dungeon from issues #1 through #81; encompassing the entirety of 1st and 2nd Edition AD&D adventures. in sadi mag. It took my years, but I got them all, Dungeon is an amazing resource. When grogs complain "there are no good 2nd Edition adventures" I point them to this excellent resource.

But I digress: last week I had a flood as the sump pump float in the basement  got stuck. Long story short I thought my Dungeon mags were safe inside their plastic tote and plastic bags to boot. I was wrong there was a small hole in the bottom of the tote. So, I've spent the last week and a boatload of electricity with the fans, the dehumidifier and my wife's hairdryer drying the basement and said Dungeon mags. In the process I come across issue #79 and find this "gem".

Here is the monstrosity of which I speak.

There is so much that is just wrong with this visual. Shouldn't this guy be in one of the man-bands of the late 90s or something rather than playing role-playing games? There are no words other than what ass-hat would be wearing this thing and looking like this guy??? The Franklin Mint really outdid itself with this tool. I really like the tag line: "The Secrets of the Universe are Within Your Grasp." Thanks god for that! Within my grasp you say???? And just $195, exclusively from the Franklin Mint???? Sign me up! And I'm fairly certain most "Dragon Masters" don't look like Vinnie from the club.

Ugh.

My journey (back) into 3rd Edition and the rebirth of my Wood Elves

Now that my Chaos Dwarf force is complete (for the most part) I decided to really start painting/repainting my other armies. But before that...

In the past I described how around 1987-89 my high school buddies and I played some amazing AD&D games and a bit later some Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay which I outlined here.

As we transitioned to the later grades in high school we started playing Warhammer Battle, at the time 3rd Edition. For some reason my buddies started playing the game earlier than I. As I would later learn they all picked  different armies so they could ally with each other for larger games. As I recall it was a follows: Jeff- Orcs and Goblins, Dave- Skaven, Pete- Dark Elves, Mike- Goblins? and Daryl had a small Chaos Force featuring Chaos Snakemen. For the most part when I started playing everyone else had largely stopped except Jeff and Dave.

As you can see all of the evil armies were taken except for Undead which didn't appeal to me. So as I started out I briefly played one game with my army as Bretonnian force before converting it to an Empire force. At some point I may post pictures of my Empire army but not now.

So what does this have to do with Wood Elves I hear you say? Glad you asked. Since there was only three of us playing regularly, if we all wanted to play it would be Jeff and Dave vs me! So with an Empire force, what to do? I had to buy and paint my own allies and hence where my Wood Elves came from. In fact my Wood Elf force which would grow to about 1500 pts was just that, an ally contingent that got bigger and bigger. I'm guessing Games Workshop did this but design... Later, my High Elf army would take the same path until it got to be massive, far larger than the Empire force.

I really haven't set out to repaint my wood elves this last month of so, I was repainting my dark elves, but for some reason I stripped down the Wood Elves and started them up with a unit that was one of my original Wood Elf purchases: a unit of 20 archers from the Warhammer Regiment Box set. I think searched the web, not a lot out there in the way of 3rd Edition Wood Elf minis (painted and presented) that is.

As you can see above I repainted them entirely in traditional greens like their original paint jobs, but wanted to make them look very autumnal. So I stopped at the craft store for some Woodland Scenics clump foliage- Fall mix for the bases and the movement tray. For the first try it's a tad too clumpy despite getting the handle of cutting the foliage it with my x-acto as I went.

So stay tuned for further updates about the rebirth/repainting of my Wood Elf Host. Unlike my Dark Elf army underway at the Oldhammer Forums I think I'm going to keep all my Wood Elf updates here on the blog.