tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-571472077604037132024-02-18T18:40:37.546-05:00Willmark's Darkside BlogWillmark's Darkside BlogWillmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-43037560997567692232021-12-28T12:52:00.003-05:002021-12-28T18:43:49.912-05:00Warhammer Levies, next to useless, but fun to paint!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-yKtqWXnJcmxyyMb-teNz1TaUM7dEgn5Iq02OoP4k1zPgE3LxnJn1OReCd5HvBazT3a2xFGtjZEWv9kGm3l2E6LY6IFSN1eN2mKDVjZeQUOvLnk-kyNiLXxUskIQJoo15qPgtYGXgslc/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="432" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-yKtqWXnJcmxyyMb-teNz1TaUM7dEgn5Iq02OoP4k1zPgE3LxnJn1OReCd5HvBazT3a2xFGtjZEWv9kGm3l2E6LY6IFSN1eN2mKDVjZeQUOvLnk-kyNiLXxUskIQJoo15qPgtYGXgslc/w640-h480/daemon_v_peasant_lev.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"Go and get um' lads! There is only one and there are thirty of us, what could go wrong? CHARGE!!!"</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>All too often the biggest, the baddest and the most cool units in Warhammer get all the attention. After all that kick ass unit that wins you game after game gets the glory, as it should. But this post is not about those glory soaked units, in fact we're going to talk about the other end of the unit spectrum: levies!<br /></p><p>We all know about the High Elf Dragonkin in 3rd Edition Warhammer, the Daemons of Khorne or even the incredible stat lines of vampires (see below) or treemen. So instead, how about levies! In this case a peasant levy from the 3rd Edition Bretonnian Army list in <i>Warhammer Armies.</i> </p><p>Before we get into it, first things first, the stat-line for the unit, in this case, Rascals (sorry about the low light photo of the entry):<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvc4mCypa4GH0TvK_n8lU2t7d4w7AlJ80WLUHN8HdcIAQqYCpPBXRXiHifbpgYpMkDd4HzCXaV3qHsZzjfzSJKbtmOls0SWpBuiBhG1PRqiMaL5D8GQoDTgr4tlBTGCF2NGkDcKCBbbw/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="360" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvc4mCypa4GH0TvK_n8lU2t7d4w7AlJ80WLUHN8HdcIAQqYCpPBXRXiHifbpgYpMkDd4HzCXaV3qHsZzjfzSJKbtmOls0SWpBuiBhG1PRqiMaL5D8GQoDTgr4tlBTGCF2NGkDcKCBbbw/" width="232" /></a></div><p></p><p>BBBBLLLLECCCHHHHHH. WS2, BS2, I2, there is no way around it, levies are <i>bad</i> and not in a good way. Their only redeeming feature (if you can call it that) is that they are cheap at 4 points per model. Spears and shields costing .5 points a piece don't really do much to bring them up to even being remotely useful. On top of that they are compulsory troops (yes <i>White Dwarf</i> #137 had a revised page for the Bretonnians, but going with this for now). </p><p>Add to this the rules from the <i>Warhammer Fantasy Rulebook </i>on page 99 shows that they have a special mob formation meaning they cannot expand or contract frontage. Basically the unit formation they appear with on the first turn? That's what they are going to go with the whole battle, no changing it.<br /></p><p>So the natural question is what are they good for? The answer is really not much. On the battlefield I suppose one could use them to tie up a unit for a round or so, but the opposing player would have to be fairly dumb to get caught up in that. Barring that? They add a lot of character to a game and perhaps that is the best way to look a them.</p><p>Painting and unit composition: Aside from one brigand Games Workshop model as the leader, the rest are from the Old Glory Revenge line of medieval miniatures with a fair amount of weapon swaps from various GW sprues like the zombie and empire regiments. In a way these minis capture the look and feel of peasant warriors far better than what I could get from GW when they still did Fantasy Battle in the late 6th through 8th edition days. In fact they are fairly close to the minis of 3rd Edition at the time in terms of look and feel. Hand weapons were a bit to small, perhaps a consequence of GW over-sizing their weapons? But otherwise the proportions are a match.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVsl5BJFnMHgJDGMBrvwlLRrnZi_ZHvtZEXV-qg00sxYTnG5aNXC9KWDkDrTSY-dxVwpKrTR4XTzZTqp437S_rW4EE0gbf37ITgnXE_4z7x-KbDD-xmrDeRfM5fnDN4AD1-vN-y_GhRTw/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="432" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVsl5BJFnMHgJDGMBrvwlLRrnZi_ZHvtZEXV-qg00sxYTnG5aNXC9KWDkDrTSY-dxVwpKrTR4XTzZTqp437S_rW4EE0gbf37ITgnXE_4z7x-KbDD-xmrDeRfM5fnDN4AD1-vN-y_GhRTw/w400-h295/peasant_levy.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div></div>I especially liked how the "front rankers" and the axe-men came out in terms of painting, and the leader most of all. I imagine him as a brigand who somehow got himself "elected" leader of this rabble and forced onto the field of battle when he would rather be in a tavern! The pitchfork minis all came out well too. Now there is a weapon! The Sword of Khaine, bane of the Elven race??? BAH, PITCHFORK!!!<br /><p></p><p>In terms of color scheme I deliberately kept the color palette limited and muted, trying to make them look muddy and dirty rather than bright. I used a lot of dark washes and slathered it on deliberately, from there it was minimal highlights. Overall I kept it to various shades of brown, tans, a bit of green here and there and black. After I took the photos I noticed a few things and I am touching up the standard/totem banner. Its a bit dodgy in spots and needs a bit more attention in my estimation.<br /></p><p>Actual usage: Well... never really on the tabletop. As I was the only "non-evil army" player in the gaming group back in the day, I was the only one that would have conceivably fielded these guys, but as I was just scrapping together models to get a force on the field, I didn't. This is in spite of the fact that the first army I fielded was in fact Bretonnians for a few games before I converted over to Empire (in the early days we ignored the compulsory units to a degree for the first few games as we were assembling armies). Fortunately, I kept all the models and added these guys to the force a few years back.</p><p>Looking through <i>Warhammer Armie</i>s I did actually <i>use</i> levies once, but never made it to the field. As I note <a href="https://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/search?q=siege">here</a> in our forays into Warhammer Siege using my Empire army, I fielded units of Landestrum, (aka Empire levies) for forage and support. I didn't have models representing the units at the time though as it wasn't really necessary: they were only ever on the strategic map.<br /></p><p>Finally, in terms of the armies that can field levies, out of the 12 (the 12th being the Norse in <i>White Dwarf </i>#107) they appear for the following: Empire, Bretonnia, Skaven and Slann in <i>Warhammer Armies</i>. In the case of the Slann, there are the Jungle Braves listed as a levy and the human slave unit which has the same stat line as humans, but a point cost akin to levies. Skeletons and zombies have comparable stats in the Undead army, but their special rules make them a different in terms of play. One could make the argument that goblins and snotlings are close in the Orc and Goblin list, but not quite exactly levies per se, certainly with the snotling rules. Gnomes with their crappy Toughness of 2 for the Dwarf army are likewise close, but I don't think I ever even saw a single gnome miniature from GW. As such highly unlikely anyone ever fielded a unit, definitely not in my Dwarf army which grew to be quite substantial. <br /></p><p>In the mercenaries and ally contingents section, the pygmy allies for the Slann are close with their S2, T2. The halfling ally section is similar as they likewise have S2, T2 in their stats, but make up for this with a BS4. If I ever get around to a Slann army and ever get around to a pygmy ally contingent, I'd bump their BS to 4 just like the halflings, makes sense to me for the same point values. The fact that levies aren't a fixture of that section stands the reason: whether hiring mercs or getting allies to your
cause, one is usually not getting the dregs of a societies warriors;
certainly not in the case of spending coin on mercenaries. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p></p><p>NOTE: From above, vampires in Warhammer? Forget sparkly <i>Twilight</i> vampires; check out the stat lines in 3rd Edition Warhammer, holy crap! Even the Level 5 ones kick ass, wow. Perhaps a post for another time.<br /></p>Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-87859390723033013692021-03-01T19:44:00.005-05:002021-03-01T19:53:34.375-05:00A Dark Ages Fortification<p>Just like the fortifications of Normandy at the end of the Dark Ages a fortress in the mold of robber knights looms from the forests in the World of Warhammer? (more on that below). But indeed a wooden palisade filled with mossy beams and wooden stakes to ward of would be attackers and a fortification of an earlier time..<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4pWn_SSGEnRealkMpNX9cCcpC4XrSWW5x7ccMB4sspZqTkSihHaFcJPO1Nm_YBaTQXGkptsx_NAFce_HGl3TAJ6vzh6NwZoIEJVp_4CTMqBNZgNT88onBTEd4zhT57XyATyQSTgfmVLE/s2048/IMG_1993.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1495" data-original-width="2048" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4pWn_SSGEnRealkMpNX9cCcpC4XrSWW5x7ccMB4sspZqTkSihHaFcJPO1Nm_YBaTQXGkptsx_NAFce_HGl3TAJ6vzh6NwZoIEJVp_4CTMqBNZgNT88onBTEd4zhT57XyATyQSTgfmVLE/w640-h468/IMG_1993.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spiky! just for an attackers benefit that is.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>I know I said in a post in December that the next castle I create will be something akin to the Warhammer Mighty Fortress from days of old. While that is still true, I also decided to finish this up from its start nearly one year ago. </p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wjWiYfFGDTx_KclwaKoNzTkWyCttPbCC42v2MGVfslU-loSAKAOZkQjh1D8K0uNlAy37oysYKLFqTAZ1KQB0yvOY_SohxT2JZnv6B4ATJUZhx9t1pLUN84tORRAkaTRHi8LhAZ_l0M4/s2048/IMG_1996.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wjWiYfFGDTx_KclwaKoNzTkWyCttPbCC42v2MGVfslU-loSAKAOZkQjh1D8K0uNlAy37oysYKLFqTAZ1KQB0yvOY_SohxT2JZnv6B4ATJUZhx9t1pLUN84tORRAkaTRHi8LhAZ_l0M4/s320/IMG_1996.jpeg" width="320" /></a>The fort you now see started out as nothing more than me noodling around with my glue gun, x-acto knife and a punch of sticks whittled to points to represent a palisade. I really had no other plans than testing it out and trying a few things with the Sculpey modeling clay to see how it might set after being baked in the oven. Nothing spectacular were the results and it sat for a bit. <br /></p><p>Then for some reason I started adding more and more and constructed the gatehouse which was the most time consuming and he towers with the basis of them being 1/2 gallon milk carton. From there I continued to add as it came into my mind and based on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motte-and-bailey_castle">motte and bailey</a> construction type of Dark Ages fort.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXd1zp0LSqhoLG8wJQQd_OO_3CIavvS9Oij-3fpDgTeLC_TnLi24a_ytPvoQOA3kc4il6z02Aledr95a9BjjUiomr0siamj3fgDse9_Fw_5AFuTFYmOpGKY7uj5jZtVl-V2DyWLQS7NQ/s2048/IMG_1994.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXd1zp0LSqhoLG8wJQQd_OO_3CIavvS9Oij-3fpDgTeLC_TnLi24a_ytPvoQOA3kc4il6z02Aledr95a9BjjUiomr0siamj3fgDse9_Fw_5AFuTFYmOpGKY7uj5jZtVl-V2DyWLQS7NQ/s320/IMG_1994.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Got to have a side view.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>After the first wall which was nothing more than the initial twigs sharpened and glued I realized that due to the curves of the sticks I'd need to double it up, so the second row was added. From there it was a simple matter to glue in the supports for the walkway and cut the sticks to fit and then length wise generating two pieces each to glue to the platforms. The base against the bottom of the walls switched from the a fore mentioned clay to the R4 foam. After that it was a simple matter to glue down the rocks and stocks and add the wooden stakes. I say simple but to be honest it was <b>very</b> time consuming.<br /><p></p><p><br />The towers were constructed much the same and as I noted above 1/2 gallon mil cartons that I cut down to the correct size. Once it was the right size I added the bass wood to each corner and glued it down to the base. From there it was just adding the horizontal parts and a heck of a lot of Popsicle (craft sticks) cut down to size, round ends snipped off and sanded. I came up with the idea of the beams jutting out <b>after</b> I had completed the tower construction so unfortunately I had to cut, sand and glue each one individually. That was almost as time consuming as whittling the palisade walls.<br /></p><p>The gatehouse was probably the most complex part of this project. The roof is removable and was designed that way from the start. The bigger issue was the frame that it sits on seemed to fight me every step of the way. Eventually through trial and error I got it to work out. I also had to add a heck of a lot more reinforcement to the beams then I thought I might need, it also required a lot more bass wood to built it correctly. Like the towers, I didn't think of the jutting over-beams until after it was finished. </p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwToy7uiYicjfPSSKwtIDUfBjK4l2PWlBNlr5gJnyUO_jkYBAaMVBfjlmNoueonw2UelE7_QB7B5c82CtyOUfqsvkH-xE4XSETTxSHD5e8ZfE6JcbxPGPl9eaBn2v_W80F8U36RvLeVq8/s2048/IMG_1995.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwToy7uiYicjfPSSKwtIDUfBjK4l2PWlBNlr5gJnyUO_jkYBAaMVBfjlmNoueonw2UelE7_QB7B5c82CtyOUfqsvkH-xE4XSETTxSHD5e8ZfE6JcbxPGPl9eaBn2v_W80F8U36RvLeVq8/s320/IMG_1995.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No easy ways in here.<br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The last part that was constructed was the central tower. Here I really goofed and didn't make the wall on the motte wide enough as it were. For while I was using a tower that was based off of Shackleton Scotch box. In the end that was just too wide. So I used a liquid egg carton instead which has a smaller footprint to it. Even this presented a challenge as the carton was a bit too short. So all I did in the end was grab another one and added it to the first to get the requisite height.<br /><p></p><p>For which gaming system you might ask? Well it could be for almost any really. Seeing as a I play Warhammer I'll most likely use the rules from Warhammer Historical: <a href="http://www.mainly28s.com/review/+0850B.rulebook.supplement.001.html">Shieldwall</a>, The Age of Arthur, <a href="http://mainly28s.com/review/+0450B.rulebook.supplement.001.html">Fall of the West</a> or even Siege and Conquest. Hell I suspect even <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2012/07/3rd-edition-warhammer-siege.html">Warhammer Siege</a> should "work". One other thought is <a href="http://www.studio-tomahawk.com/en/saga/ "></a></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rp3FQgsOPcYYOsQ2HfNiNd_H43KLKP6HgPHHhiZRh74lwBIXP5mRgFmY7d9igqFFSkR6KAThGqk6jdjBIcJHmjPQRBAQVK-fo8LmzQkN48EDP97h1eSm7R8kB0qe0hkrLdO7xpA0MRA/s2048/IMG_1998.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rp3FQgsOPcYYOsQ2HfNiNd_H43KLKP6HgPHHhiZRh74lwBIXP5mRgFmY7d9igqFFSkR6KAThGqk6jdjBIcJHmjPQRBAQVK-fo8LmzQkN48EDP97h1eSm7R8kB0qe0hkrLdO7xpA0MRA/s320/IMG_1998.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gatehouse with the roof off.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://www.studio-tomahawk.com/en/saga/ ">SAGA</a> which I will freely admit I don't know much about. <br />For those interested here is the materials list for what you see to make this, all common items one probably already has lying around the painting/gaming area if you are like me.<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>masking tape</li><li>white glue</li><li>super glue</li><li>hot glue (from a glue gun)</li><li>cardboard</li><li>poster board</li><li>foamcore board</li><li>1/2 milk cartons</li><li>Shackleton Scotch cardboard boxes (helps with the progress...) <br /></li><li>toothpicks</li><li>balsa wood<br /></li><li>bass wood</li><li><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjlKAWMK4UNDJRvRO02CJU8sK7vKB1bNNp4fuTYCD9kxgTTvdcE_njO4atra-AXV0tpVMICf2DxfoNifCr7TGz0Ls3r3PFCMzJ23sgfKtgFgvpu8MQ-fCS-9Q6OmvLy9GQHSFcGPppuE/s2048/IMG_2003.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjlKAWMK4UNDJRvRO02CJU8sK7vKB1bNNp4fuTYCD9kxgTTvdcE_njO4atra-AXV0tpVMICf2DxfoNifCr7TGz0Ls3r3PFCMzJ23sgfKtgFgvpu8MQ-fCS-9Q6OmvLy9GQHSFcGPppuE/s320/IMG_2003.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It disassembles for (somewhat) easier transport.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>R4 residential foam (Home Depot sells it in 2x2 squares)</li><li>Popsicle sticks</li><li>rocks</li><li>stones</li><li>twigs (lots of cutting with the x-acto here, you'll need a fair number of blades!) </li><li>wall spackle (for covering up holes)</li><li>circular wooden pieces for the shields </li><li>paint</li><li>brown (earth) flock</li><li>green flock</li><li>static grass</li><li>escutcheon pins (for the main gate)<br /></li></ul><p></p>That's all it really is, nothing too crazy for when one is creating terrain and simple to do. Really what it is about is time and perseverance. Any big terrain piece like a castle with take months to complete if you want it done well.<p></p><p>After I took the photos I realized i still needed to add the wooden shields to the rearward towers and the main tower. They are glued now, just need to prime and paint them.<br /></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1_aEmBCxRngq5dW4GqBeUaCNnuTGzEwcnLq6HeEYS4ru7SQwgP-Ell6-ZkNSlD2drtFCa2psY2Mo4GEU79Bdxft0H09-YNJ8_AJqKagREzevvwtnHhRg4bkW8ZkgCijED8ypfT5oexQ/s2048/IMG_2004.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1_aEmBCxRngq5dW4GqBeUaCNnuTGzEwcnLq6HeEYS4ru7SQwgP-Ell6-ZkNSlD2drtFCa2psY2Mo4GEU79Bdxft0H09-YNJ8_AJqKagREzevvwtnHhRg4bkW8ZkgCijED8ypfT5oexQ/s320/IMG_2004.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main tower<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Overall I'm pleased with it and through the painting the wood is a bit lighter than I envisioned and I have been toying with the idea of a mid-brown wash on it to dull down some of the brightness but am still not sure I want to go that route. <p></p><p><b>UPDATE</b>: since I created this post I have applied one brown wash to the the whole structure but a few of the towers need a second coat of wash.</p><p>For paints its really nothing more than: dark drown, medium brown, light brown, black ink, off white (called sandstone) for the lighter sections, blue for the windows and a light brown wash for the light parts to make it look a bit dirty and "lived in." <br /></p><p>Future plans include finishing the court-yard and some suitably Dark Ages type buildings.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p></p><br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-41725923613862215782021-01-25T21:30:00.002-05:002021-01-27T09:55:07.166-05:003rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Dwarf Mercenary Contingent<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-lVGtYkzSoEk1Q3PH2re_pR3Irmmkskyn6kQcALUTbRSWecNUil0WGery3A7M3LTIgVe7FNcTR0DlfptkGzfUDuckHY4j5bM4W1Ycn-dbxOYnnNYOIV53zIgalw0aCEHqi1r67RPmZ4/s3569/IMG_1903.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="881" data-original-width="3569" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-lVGtYkzSoEk1Q3PH2re_pR3Irmmkskyn6kQcALUTbRSWecNUil0WGery3A7M3LTIgVe7FNcTR0DlfptkGzfUDuckHY4j5bM4W1Ycn-dbxOYnnNYOIV53zIgalw0aCEHqi1r67RPmZ4/w640-h158/IMG_1903.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Entire Dwarf Mercenary Contingent<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;">I've been working on a ton of terrain and will have a number of posts on the blog soon covering that. But looking at the backlog of minis I have on my painting desk I've made a conscious effort complete and clear it. I took stock and noticed I still had a lot of dwarfs to paint. And this was after painting 8,000 points of Chaos Dwarfs! So with that in mind and my plan to have separate minis for each ally and mercenary contingent in the 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Army book I got to work.</p><p style="text-align: left;">My Warhammer Fantasy Battle Dwarf army grew out of the need for me to be my own ally. By my own ally I mean as I've noted on the blog before everyone in the gaming group back in our 3rd edition days already had all the "evil armies" picked, that left me to start with the Empire. So when we played really <b>BIG</b> battles like Jeff's Orc and Goblins and Dave's Skaven vs my Empire <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/03/my-journey-into-3rd-edition-and-rebirth.html">I needed allies</a>. As a result I had to purchase and then paint a lot of minis. I bought some of Dave's dwarf crossbowmen and that was the nucleolus of my Dwarf army that is now probably close to 5,000 points.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtc1iyw4s-mRSFLYynPOolX2qJBZt-zz3Yj2m9q6OJk4ELBjnNlGrHdqSteeWzpm7e5nX1qvEOUOy9FJRP6Y_Vnae3pgt0G-n5PWkwVBcI4RygIEGy2E6yTk1pm1QDau9pVWJlG5rM5pA/s857/dwarf_mercenary_contingent.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="857" data-original-width="614" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtc1iyw4s-mRSFLYynPOolX2qJBZt-zz3Yj2m9q6OJk4ELBjnNlGrHdqSteeWzpm7e5nX1qvEOUOy9FJRP6Y_Vnae3pgt0G-n5PWkwVBcI4RygIEGy2E6yTk1pm1QDau9pVWJlG5rM5pA/w286-h400/dwarf_mercenary_contingent.jpeg" width="286" /></a></div>So rather than keeping adding to that army I decided to use the minis for a <i>dedicated</i> Dwarf Mercenary contingent. I get the Army Rulebook was designed so that in the Allies and Mercenary contingents could be used via just allocating minis from the main army one might already have. I also think it was a strategy to sell minis for armies that a player might not otherwise buy otherwise. With this in mind I've set out to create Ally and Mercenary contingents for all of them listed! A tall order I know. <br /><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;">Back to the Dwarf Mercenaries. The minis themselves are mainly from the awesome <a href="http://chaos-dwarfs.com/wiki/index.php?title=Battle_for_Skull_Pass">Battle for Skull Pass</a> boxed set which I had bought two between 2008-2010. Mainly, these were for my 5th-8th Edition Chaos Dwarf. I also got a great deal on a Dwarf box set at Games Day 2008. Thus between these two sets I had enough left over to utilize for the mercenary force even after being used for four units of Chaos Dwarfs. This accomplished another part of my goal: clearing the painting table..<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;">As I assembled the mercs, I realized I had everything I needed to fill out all units listed from odds and ends:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>1 Dwarf Mercenary Commander (I used a leftover metal Hammerer model I had lying around.)</li><li>6 Mercenary Dwarf Sappers (Battle for Skull Pass miners. These guys obviously fit perfectly.)<br /></li><li>19 Dwarf Mercenary Warriors (Battle for Skull Pass warriors.)</li><li>1 Dwarf Mercenary Artillery (a cannon from the Milton Bradley <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Masters">Battle Masters</a> game; crew is a Dwarf Engineer model I painted years ago, an leftover dwarf artillery crewman and one dwarf mini I "Frakensteined" out of a punch of spare parts).</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYyjOqQuK5a8-Gcg6ea4hlyefiuESA8T8gA3COwSkquGE2JY6eHR4viSMg0ZKzYEaqam2gkbrhfDOdETW9QXqFL_bxQk22qVIS6MU5jUukgdLGrnGyt20cp0M2jC7bwE_hB9klhcHVWZ0/s2048/IMG_1904.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1599" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYyjOqQuK5a8-Gcg6ea4hlyefiuESA8T8gA3COwSkquGE2JY6eHR4viSMg0ZKzYEaqam2gkbrhfDOdETW9QXqFL_bxQk22qVIS6MU5jUukgdLGrnGyt20cp0M2jC7bwE_hB9klhcHVWZ0/s320/IMG_1904.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dwarf Mercenary Warriors & Commander<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>While a separate force from my Dwarf army, one thing I did consider was the color scheme. My larger <p></p>Dwarf War Host is primarily green and yellow for colors, I decided to do the same with the mercenary <br />force so if I wanted to use them as part of the larger force I easily could do so. Despite being a seperate force I like the flexibility. In fact with almost all of my armies and contingents I make them so they can span multiple editions as much as possible. <br /><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;">I've talked about it on <a href="http://chaosdwarfs.com">chaosdwarfs.com</a> before in my chaos dwarf blog about how sometimes units "fight" and the painting can be a pain, or chore. That was definitely the case with the crossbowmen. They were also originally assembled as a Chaos Dwarf crossbowmen. So not only did I have to modify them, but had to do a bunch of green stuffing and scrounge up enough pieces to make a unit. The painting was painful and seemed to take forever. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">In contrast the dwarf warrior unit went together easily from assembly to painting, likewise with the miners who function as sappers and the cannon and it's crew. All of these guys were enjoyable to paint.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4QK8Qz5OA65BpiNjQ3X1AlyR6xflkayqa1SlSmg14pWVsd25OYTveeHPOZYWIcWh-d4Mg9YlsopP6X2DCUqyMyUu4qZNHC1SmOtTLgdm6rj26L-UrpfexQzPz_JB5NyYsrR5gBcJeEY/s2620/IMG_1905.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2620" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4QK8Qz5OA65BpiNjQ3X1AlyR6xflkayqa1SlSmg14pWVsd25OYTveeHPOZYWIcWh-d4Mg9YlsopP6X2DCUqyMyUu4qZNHC1SmOtTLgdm6rj26L-UrpfexQzPz_JB5NyYsrR5gBcJeEY/w400-h184/IMG_1905.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dwarf Mercenary Warriors armed with crossbows<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The armies in 3rd edition Fantasy Battle that can utilize Dwarf Mercenaries are much what one would expect: The Empire & Bretonnia; High Elfs are too snooty to user mercenaries and Wood Elfs don't employ mercenaries at all. All the rest either don't employ mercenaries or are "evil" and thus the Dwarfs would not hire out to them. Oddly the <a href="https://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2012/05/pdf-power-norse-army-list-and-other.html">Norse Army</a> list (as featured in <i>White Dwarf</i> #107) doesn’t allow for Dwarf mercenaries either. Now of course its not like I'm breaking any rules for an edition and its usually just Willmark Jr and I playing but I could see them used for Norse. It's also odd that the Dwarf Army itself can't hire them. Personally I'd hand waive that one if the battle called for it.<br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn89ZRZAHm0DTsrAWn3MGTbOv7DEzAlWHL2AFuoD9fRuQ5DYgqKFVpAx7O6URV0DQhUcU_uUYQtecf9fVmLqE4nW7KVL5SmdrUT1bSGEgbHXC3H692vDrAj3ZdpvGe4opF8WDJCAv40qQ/s2698/IMG_1906.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1165" data-original-width="2698" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn89ZRZAHm0DTsrAWn3MGTbOv7DEzAlWHL2AFuoD9fRuQ5DYgqKFVpAx7O6URV0DQhUcU_uUYQtecf9fVmLqE4nW7KVL5SmdrUT1bSGEgbHXC3H692vDrAj3ZdpvGe4opF8WDJCAv40qQ/w400-h173/IMG_1906.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Because of this, in practical terms it's not the most useful mercenary or ally contingent on the table top in terms of utilization, but one I wanted to complete to "clear the desk".</p><p style="text-align: left;">Further a field I have now a fairly large Old Worlder Mercenary contingent (using some Old Glory minis, don't tell GW!) that is nearly complete in terms of collecting the minis. Likewise the Old Worlder Ally Contingent is rounding to form. Dwarf Allies, Dark Elf Ally are High Elf Ally are all likewise underway.<br /></p>Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-82679077861265175632020-12-10T20:24:00.001-05:002020-12-10T20:24:55.473-05:00The Army of Nippon, a castle fit for a Daimyo<p>Boom, and juts like that.... well not really <i>just</i> like that as this was a lot of work the castle of the Army of Nippon is finished. What started back in the winter of 2013 is complete seven long years later. When I say complete there is still some more stuff to add here and there (mainly the moats) but ready for warfare. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEConfOjq3SPfXc-ZtGqVhabAbghyI3bcO8IeK2tnuXiyWQf22zznL7FnYecBnPJZJGmh4TjIVwFlAcmT_l9ZAWv2hLTsBGPkN0dAEd2EY2vTh1MMDylTHbR_7IHQ_SJudxYEAqrN-l7U/s2048/IMG_1822.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEConfOjq3SPfXc-ZtGqVhabAbghyI3bcO8IeK2tnuXiyWQf22zznL7FnYecBnPJZJGmh4TjIVwFlAcmT_l9ZAWv2hLTsBGPkN0dAEd2EY2vTh1MMDylTHbR_7IHQ_SJudxYEAqrN-l7U/s320/IMG_1822.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMKJVDK43ap834volEoa3ademCeG78PzBHU1zOPzzSJeVDpb0U2VoqZEQOleIaVcuN0l080qvERwKdkqjlEuqwET-pDCrzJuUeMF_bzeJ68I_jDkPxcaoNnxLp52XnLW4qBkXa7MO7NHs/s2048/IMG_1820.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMKJVDK43ap834volEoa3ademCeG78PzBHU1zOPzzSJeVDpb0U2VoqZEQOleIaVcuN0l080qvERwKdkqjlEuqwET-pDCrzJuUeMF_bzeJ68I_jDkPxcaoNnxLp52XnLW4qBkXa7MO7NHs/s320/IMG_1820.jpeg" width="320" /></a><p></p><p></p><p>In terms of the moats I'm working on getting a darker shade of blue/green to make it look murky rather than the "bright" blue it currently is. An old broom is providing the rushes that I'm gluing down with my hot glue gun in small dabs.<br /></p><p>In all its fairly practical as the roofs are removable in the manner of a doll house and the interior is painted. </p><p>One of my oldest friends and one of the people I gamed the most against in the 3rd Edition days brought up a great idea of running some smaller games where ninja have to fight samurai! This is a great idea as I have plenty of both (although the last two samurai of my quest are <a href="http://forum.oldhammer.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13889">surprisingly frustrating to get!</a>) <br /></p><p>Now that it's finished? It's time to clear it off the gaming table as Willmark Jr and I are looking to get some 3rd Edition Warhammer games in over the upcoming holiday break! <br /></p><p>As I noted <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2020/11/painting-nippon-castle.html">previously</a>, next for terrain is a more traditional European style castle in the vein of the <a href="http://www.solegends.com/citmisc/mightyfortwd100.jpg">Warhammer Mighty Fortress</a>. (good right up on the GW kit <a href="https://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2013/02/acceptable-in-80s-warhammer-mighty.html">here</a>). It's going to be a bit smaller in terms of footprint to fit on the table and more utility for siege games. </p><p>Like drawing inspiration for an actual Japanese castle for the Nippon one, I'm drawing from England for the next one, in this case, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlech_Castle">Harlech Castle </a>in Wales. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieCa3-3jsbP28MSnmX5F3arV45KZeagifwToM0_BP3redbgxMX2wKYy5TkIa9cldht-_08FvHGnoBRE97lu0yMEdfgpauICbT9hVxYFe__MvITbgc-Q_Rp1YMqs8r7AwDOMT0oQqdWCl0/s635/Harlech_Castle_-_Cadw_photograph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="635" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieCa3-3jsbP28MSnmX5F3arV45KZeagifwToM0_BP3redbgxMX2wKYy5TkIa9cldht-_08FvHGnoBRE97lu0yMEdfgpauICbT9hVxYFe__MvITbgc-Q_Rp1YMqs8r7AwDOMT0oQqdWCl0/s320/Harlech_Castle_-_Cadw_photograph.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Also of note this will be the 2nd traditional style castle I made for Warhammer. The original one was the one we used for our games of siege way <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2012/07/3rd-edition-warhammer-siege.html">back in the day</a>. It's long since gone. It survived many moves over the years and n various storage closets/rooms when I was living in apartments. Somewhere along the way from my last apartment to my first house it was lost or damaged or maybe both. Sadly, no photos exist of it either.<br /><p></p>So onwards to the next project, toothpicks, foam core, cardboard, masking tape, glue, hot glue, thin cardboard, milk cartons, scotch cartons, Popsicle sticks and paitence are all that are required. Hopefully this next one doesn't take me seven years to finish.<br /><p><br /></p>Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-70811504402074125412020-11-22T20:07:00.004-05:002020-11-22T20:12:04.727-05:00Painting the Nippon Castle<p>It's been quite some time since I posted on any progress for my Nippon Castle (or anything in general on the blog). So with that in mind it's time to show some progress. I completed the construction on the castle around the first of the year and have been working on painting it off and on. I was looking back through the photos of it and it appears that I started working on it in 2013 as outlined <a href="http://dogsofwaronline.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1223&pid=20118#pid20118">here</a>, it's well past time to wrap this up. IMPORTANT NOTE: the painting on this is <i>very </i>much WIP.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJSlgvwpWtu6qIbx2kv5FPtaFWEQ7xs84iDSMrsTkhRY0cb6Aag0IcNL8_mi6pbfOlwVIbikhCCTCrMuNF4QkEYqvVNonpIiakh9ZWCA668dyVApEKnTs6TnBb3fO5bGUGO8SnT1MYRTM/s2048/IMG_1809.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJSlgvwpWtu6qIbx2kv5FPtaFWEQ7xs84iDSMrsTkhRY0cb6Aag0IcNL8_mi6pbfOlwVIbikhCCTCrMuNF4QkEYqvVNonpIiakh9ZWCA668dyVApEKnTs6TnBb3fO5bGUGO8SnT1MYRTM/w640-h480/IMG_1809.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The castle started out as just the base keep itself and the layout inspired by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakegawa_Castle">Kakegawa castle</a> in Japan. As with any castle in Warhammer and at the 25-28mm scale its bound to be on the larger side, there is really no way around this. </p><p>The great thing about a project like this is that for those who want to create something like this for their own armies, whether a Nippon one or not is that its really not that expensive. The castle is really nothing more than the following: cardboard, white glue, super glue, craft sticks, balsa wood, tooth picks, masking tape, and duct tape.The base of the castle proper and the walls are formed from foam-core boards to keep it light. While it might not make the base as strong as say plywood, it does save on weight.<br /></p><p>So with all that in mind, in order, the following are complete in terms of painting:<br /></p><p>* the outer walls</p><p>* the towers</p><p>* the moat sections</p><p>* both gatehouses</p><p>Now, a note on when I say complete: the large area painting is done, as is about 99% of the detail painting. With the moats there is still a bit more that has to happen with the water area, but those are pretty well finished. I anticipate having to do some more detail here and there to truly finish it up.<br /></p><p>For the towers there is still a bit of work to do on the removable roofs. I'm also not sure if I want to add a contrasting color like blue to them. The idea of the color also applies to the roof on the main keep.<br /></p><p>So what is all this leading to? My goal is to get this complete by the end of the year. I've been working off and on a traditional European style, Empire castle in the vein of the old Warhammer Mighty Fortress which will be smaller and a bit more practical for Siege games. The Nippon castle has also been going on for seven years, time to finish it up!</p><p>Only snag is simultaneously to this I'm also working on clearing the considerable backlog on the painting desk.<br /></p>Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-47039055980210289592020-08-20T13:37:00.004-04:002021-09-08T20:23:04.619-04:00Top 2 Inspirations for a Nippon Army (and a few others)<p>Inspiration for actual Games Workshop Asian inspired materials were <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-reason-for-my-nippon-mania-in.html#comment-form">hinted </a>in the mid to late 1980s, but never delivered on. Nippon and the east in general is mentioned it in the 3rd Edition Rule book, had an Ally section in Warhammer Armies, but then it ended with the advent of 4th Edition Warhammer and the changes it entailed. It is important to note that 2nd Edition Warhammer Fantasy roleplay did have a Nippon list that with a few tweaks is quite usable. <br />
<br />
Fortunately the world of the internet allows for this constraint to be eliminated. <br />
<br />
In Warhammer Nippon (Nihon) is analogous to Japan of our world, duh right? What it is NOT? Its not... mythical China. This can't be overstated because all too often in Warhammer circles I hear suggestions about a Nippon army that would make it more like Cathay... If I wanted to create a fantasy Cathay army out there there is a number of resources, but not the point of this blog post.<br /></p><p></p><p></p><p>So in no particular order here are two of the best inspirations for a Nippon themed world and Nippon army that can help, in my opinion of course.<br />
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<b>Shogun- </b>The book written by James Clavell and the TV series are both excellent. It is a pseudo historical in the telling of the late 1500s and the unification of Japan by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu" title="Tokugawa Ieyasu">Tokugawa Ieyasu</a> the first Tokogawa Shogun in the form of "Toranaga".<br />
<br />
Shogun is the quintessential TV Mini series of the 1980s and in six parts. Richard Chamberlain starts as Pilot-Major Blackthorne. Blackthrone is based on the real life exploits of an English sailor who was shipwrecked in Japan in 1600, <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(sailor,_born_1564)">William Adams</a>.<br />
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Shogun covers nearly all aspects of late 1500s Japanese life from teh peasants to ninja to the start of the geisha, betrayal, honor, bravery as well as romance. The ambush of bandits at night in a village, ships, ninja! The only thing it lacks is the actual <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sekigahara">Battle of Sekigahara </a>which it all leads up to. <br />
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The rising tension of the plot makes an excellent backdrop for Nippon vs Nippon battles or perhaps more likely as I do: reasons for mercenary Nippon to go and plunder the Warhammer World. <br />
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<b>Ran-</b> (pronunciation of "Rhan" to our western ears, at least mine) the movie by the legendary film maker <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa" title="Akira Kurosawa">Akira Kurosawa</a>. Ran is essentially King Lear, but far richer in the telling. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089881/">Ran</a> is widely regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time, I agree. Any Top 10 movie list in the All Time category that doesn't include it is no Top 10 at all.<br />
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Ran is rich in its visuals and massive in scale. I think perhaps the only true way to do it justice is to see it in a movie theater (which I never have, but would love too). <br />
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A side note is that Ran has one of the best soundtracks for any Asian inspired game. I listen to it often when working on one of my Nippon army projects.<br />
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Ran is indispensable to a Warhammer gamer interested in a Nippon army as it has literally all the right army units on display throughout (remember I use the 2nd Edition Nippon list for 3rd Edition Nippon armies). <br />
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Other good sources include but are not limited to:<br />
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<b>Oriental Adventures </b>by Zeb Cook (1st Edition AD&D)- a lot of grogs have a hangup about this work, tell them to pound sand... A lot of people seem to want it to be "epic China" which its not... I think the rules are quite well done, especially considering the time frame. <br />
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<b>Kobu of the Two Strings.</b> This might seem surprising, but I found this extremely well done.<br />
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<b>The Seven Samurai-</b> many people don't realize that they HAVE seen this movie in the form of the movie the Magnificent Seven. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxYR1iHLLfc">soundtrack</a> of The Seven Samurai is great too. Oh and it also inspired George Lucas with the droids in the original Star Wars trilogy too.<br />
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<b>Japan- Memoirs of a Secret Empire-</b> a documentary narrated by Richard Chamberlain, so short ( I wish this was 40 hours long!) but it is excellent. Its not really a secret, but meh its just the title. <br />
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As a postscript: this should not be taken that I dislike a Cathay army or its inspirational sources, far from it. I think epic China is a fine topic and if I ever did an army inspired by it I'd go with something like Kung-Fu Panda! Panda bear warriors would be very cool ;) Clay Warrior golems, river dragons, etc<br />
<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-76383965366843385402019-12-25T22:37:00.001-05:002020-02-24T14:56:25.540-05:00Part X of the Repainting my 3rd Edition Wood Elf Force- Elven LordsWhile I haven't blogged about it lately, I have been diligently working on my 3rd Edition Wood Elf force since Spring. So much so that even though I'm going to post about a single unit today, my Elven Lords cavalry unit- it's actually not the only one complete.<br />
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In order, I have finished the following which will be in the next blog entry(ies)?<br />
<ul>
<li>Beastmasters (just the animals and I had to get creative, those guys go for $$$). </li>
<li>Another treeman</li>
<li>Wizards, 1 on foot and 2 mounted. </li>
<li>2nd Wardancer unit of 10</li>
<li>Army Standard Bearer</li>
<li>Bears Monstrous Host</li>
<li>A Shape Changer- a Werebear</li>
<li>Another unit of 20 archers!</li>
<li>Baggage! Only three elves, but I need to find more "elf villager" types anyways. </li>
</ul>
In short, my Wood Elf army is pretty much complete outside of some Falconer ideas which I may or may not get to and a unit of eight Glade Runners (scouts) made from left over minis from Archer units. Along with that I need to get the actual beast master elves as well for the beastmaster units. If I had to add up the points off the top of my head, its at least 5,000, especially with the dragon. Not bad for a force that started as allies for my Empire army and was maybe around 800 points back then.<br />
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But onward to the meat of the post, the Elven Lords which gives this blurb from the Warhammer Armies book:<br />
<i>The Lords of Elven communities and their noble retainers ride magnificent warhorses into battle. Wood elves favor roan and dappled horses, plaiting their mains and ornamenting their bridles with hair-plumes and jewels. </i><br />
<i></i><br />
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Like Mike McVey in White Dwarf with his Elven Lord unit featured in <a href="http://jaeckelalone.blogspot.com/2013/06/spring-summer-collection-wood-elves.html">White Dwarf #141</a> I didn't want to have too uniform of an appearance, but I didnt vary them as much as he did. Because of this and the fact that I wanted the flexibility to field them as Wood Riders if I so chose I kept them uniform to the rest of the army. In my imagining of them I take it to be perhaps a single Elven Lord with his retainers, nine in number rather than 10 individual lords. <br />
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I decided to keep the horses rustic looking, but uniform with their manes and tails. I didnt want to go all gray as to me this seems more like High Elf steeds so I went with more brown horses. Green and white for the bridles with minor variations on the white patterns. Their bases continue with the autumnal turf to convey middle of the woods late in the year feel that the rest of the army has.<br />
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Now some notes on the composition of the unit itself:<br />
<ul>
<li>The champion of the unit: I've disliked the mini
since I bought it (around 1990) as I recall. Not sure why, but I think something in the pose struck me as odd. Finally, however he came
together with a paint job I liked this time around. </li>
<li>The back row of the unit is of special note after a single purchase off eBay I was able to round out the unit, but they were not cheap. I had never seen the rider with the mask attached to the helm before and it struck me as odd.</li>
<li>The elf in the front rank with the bow spent a number of years atop a cockatrice for my 4th/5th edition High Elf Army. I debated swapping him out but left him. If I can find some musical instrument "rammage" it will go to him. </li>
<li>Several of the elves served as Dragonkin mounted on various dragons for my 3rd Edition High Elf Army when it functioned as a purely dragon force. Real quick- if you wanted, a High Elf player could field an entire army of nothing but dragons... more on that in a post at a later point. Fortunately I kept all the metal horses.</li>
<li>The standard bearer I got off of a eBay seller who I do business with quite often. Sometimes pricey, but always reliable. The mini was in rough shape and gobs of paint which I stripped down, primed, painted. The flag itself is inspired from Dark Ages England and I tried to convey an Anglo-Saxon type feel to it while staying with the colors and scheme of the army.</li>
</ul>
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One thing of note is white spiral pattern on the shields... for some reason on these guys it it was a bit wavier then on the other units. Not sure why. I was also short a few shields so I had to use some later edition ones...<br />
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Despite all this the unit came out fairly well and are a nice fit for the elites of the army. They did take a bit longer than I expected however.<br />
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Next up, as I mentioned and possibly a line on some minis that can stand in for Falconers but that's low on the priority list.. ok so if you ask, I'm looking for <a href="http://www.solegends.com/ironclaw/ichalfelves.htm">Bob Olley Half Elves from the Ironclaw</a> line in the late 1980s. They are not cheap however when they come up on eBay and the half elf with the spear can't be used for the Falconer unit itself.<br />
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The next post on the Wood Elf force me be a "catch-all" as i mentioned above encompassing teh last units as well as my thoughts on the army, what went well and what I would change with hindsight. Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-65273328749939732192019-12-22T10:01:00.001-05:002019-12-22T14:02:13.812-05:00Realms of Chaos- The Lost and the DamnedApologies in advance in reading this, I've been working on this post in an off again on again fashion for quite some time so it jumps around and covers a lot of ground. <br />
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The Lost and the Damned. Unlike my copy of <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2019/11/realms-of-chaos-slaves-to-darkness.html">Slaves to Darkness</a> which I've had forever, my copy of <a href="https://www.nobleknight.com/P/-1384124474/Realm-of-Chaos---The-Lost-and-the-Damned">Lost and the Damned</a> is one I've had for...never. I've read through a friends copy numerous times and well as "ahem" other means, but I've largely been very unlucky on the purchase of this one. In other words I've missed out on this on eBay multiple auctions. In fact I've been about as unlucky on it as the quest for the <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-one-that-got-away-tale-of-ebay-woes.html">Elven Attack Chariot</a> (which I've been able to secure since I've blogged about it).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Papa Nurgle looks so plump and full of puss!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For some reason in terms of collecting this rule book it is very akin to the <a href="https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/10/22/the-cthulhu-mythos-in-tsrs-deities-demigods-1980/">Deities and Demigods</a> with the Cthulhu and Melnibone mythos for AD&D. In the collecting world (or at least the selling side) people got the idea that is "rare". In fact, neither book is really <i>that </i>rare, but people think they are and thus the price is higher than it might otherwise be. Typically, the Lost and the Damned sells for $150-300 on eBay. So my plan to acquire it? Wait it out and get it eventually. What eBay
has taught me over the years that if one is patient you'll eventually
get what you are looking for at teh right price. I might need to continue to be patient as
its going for $150-300 on eBay and around $350 on Amazon, ugh. (after this its off to get <i>The </i>Warhammer Giant... ugh).<br />
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It is true that in the case of the Lost and the Damned that it was a smaller print run then Slaves to Darkness. This is probably due to the fact Lost and the Damned came late in the run of 3rd Edition Warhammer right before the employee buyout of Games Workshop and the rapid move to 4th edition as a result.<br />
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That said? The Lost and the Damned might be my
favored of the two books, perhaps because I don't have it in my
collection?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn5npwYkQhj-37_b5toQh53HJSjswly3AQKqU4aaiuL6K0PbZqJ89rygqmwYejvcyr_omI-V7W5gQs80TlUhqnQEsGwe8GOPMsR0Fm5XDHf2CcM7s6fW0j04tut4p3z82vA44KLaYjwek/s1600/Screenshot+2019-12-22+09.29.12.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn5npwYkQhj-37_b5toQh53HJSjswly3AQKqU4aaiuL6K0PbZqJ89rygqmwYejvcyr_omI-V7W5gQs80TlUhqnQEsGwe8GOPMsR0Fm5XDHf2CcM7s6fW0j04tut4p3z82vA44KLaYjwek/s1600/Screenshot+2019-12-22+09.29.12.png" /></a>Slaves and Darkness and the Lost an the Damned are designed to work together and full of the awesome stuff. I think the thing that I like the most about the second book are the various chaos conversions, particularly those representing daemons. Those pictures provided me with countless hours of inspiration. The art is likewise great and really captures the feel of the mid to late 1980s ethos of design and feel. The independent daemon based on a hand from the color pages (pictured to the right) has always been a favorite of mine and even inspired a on-again/off again scratch build of larger greater daemon...more on that in some future post if I ever get around to finishing it.<br />
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Like Slaves to Darkness it delves deep into two of the Chaos Powers- Nurgle, Lord of Plauge and Tzeentch the Master of Magic, their daemons, and their mortal followers. Like Slaves to Darkness it documents the path to power for the followers of those gods. For some reason the Gifts of Nurgle that a potential Chaos Champion can receive on his road to power or damnation always resonated with me. I especially like the Trail of Slime gift; highly impractical on the battlefield (what general is purposely having models(s) march across the trail?) but completely in keeping with the pathos of Nurgle -any model within 4" and directly behind the model risks catching Nurgles Rot. This is but one of the chaos gifts and the there si of course the large table of mutations. <br />
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Another great thing about these two books is that one can also use them for 40k, but even more than that is that they can be used for "spicing up" the Chaos Army in the 3rd Edition Warhammer Armies. This army represents a chaos "undivided" force and works well and has very good modeling opportunities as well which I'll be covering in a future blog post.</div>
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Still want more? Like Slaves to Darkness the book can also be used for 1st Edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. It can't be stated enough these books are a masterwork and along with the rules, the Armies Book as well as the maligned Siege a very good set of rules, well not <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2012/07/3rd-edition-warhammer-siege.html">Siege</a>...</div>
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I've spent a fair amount of time talking
about Nurgle but what about Tzeentch? For some reason I have not been as
drawn to Tzeentch as Nurgle, much like I'm drawn to Khorne over
Slaanesh in Slaves to Darkness. For some reason the models just don't
seem to resonate with me the same way they do with Nurgle. Maybe its the fun factor of the nurglings infesting Papa Nurgle?</div>
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For either Nurgle or
Tzeentch I have a few minis to form the basis of the respective warbands
but not enough (really no more than 1-3) to field anything substantive.
My 3rd Edition Chaos warbands is a a Khorne themed one and I am
assembling another smaller one of an undivided force in line with the
rules for Chaos in the Warhammer Armies book. Obviously I can use these
but I really want each force to be independent.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEU3P_rOv6Mv0ozej0t8XhvcI0efjjPbQEfXwk8kfhmJbdv3JuMysclZmX1gOAieIwGlH5aVoFFlAjgxeZzn2oLMi0H_jelxQoaAFyBYDougJ2wRbOxkYVxJL77hVKjQJpcACaPwUSE_U/s1600/WD125-005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="640" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEU3P_rOv6Mv0ozej0t8XhvcI0efjjPbQEfXwk8kfhmJbdv3JuMysclZmX1gOAieIwGlH5aVoFFlAjgxeZzn2oLMi0H_jelxQoaAFyBYDougJ2wRbOxkYVxJL77hVKjQJpcACaPwUSE_U/s320/WD125-005.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(A brief write up here: <a href="https://eldritchepistles.blogspot.com/2013/04/war-altar-of-nurgle-by-ivan-bartleet.html">Eldritch Epistles Blog</a>).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Should I actually get it it will then be a fair amount of minis off of eBay, but this isn't a bad thing, the idea of a Nurgle warband is one I really like. It also leads to one of the best parts of a Chaos Army: a war altar which only Dark Elves, Bretonnians, Chaos and Slann may have in 3rd Edition. Even with the web there really isn't that many examples of chaos war altars from 3rd edition Warhammer out there. The most well known is from White Dwarf 125.<br />
<br />
In the case of chaos war altars this really is the "grand daddy of them all". There really isn't that much else out there. I've attempted a scratch build of a chaos war altar that really turned out to be a wagon... which the rules say they are. But I'm not so sure I want something this elaborate.In any event a chaos war altar is on my long range of plans I'm just not sure when and what form it will take.<br />
<br />
Final Note: war altars for 3rd Edition Warhammer are covered in a <a href="https://vanhaavasarointia.blogspot.com/2017/02/war-altars-in-3rd-edition-wfb.html">blog </a>here including myDark Elf War altar which has since been completed. <br />
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<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-24518719903057509642019-11-24T11:13:00.003-05:002020-08-20T13:15:29.332-04:00The "Diceimation" of my d20sWikipedia defines <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimation_(Roman_army)">Decimation</a> as follows: "a form of Roman military <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" title="Discipline">discipline</a> in which every tenth man in a group was executed by his cohorts." It was used to discipline large groups in the Roman Army for failures like cowardice, desertion or disobedience.<br />
<br />
In my case the charge against my d20s was unmistakable: disobedience. Punishment was needed.<br />
<br />
With this definition my thoughts turned to the lackluster results of my d20s in far too many gaming sessions over the last decade. It was during last nights gaming session that it came to a head, my underwhelming dice continued their pathetic "performances" and would not turn over a result higher than six over the course of several hours. I finally had enough. I had enough of their mocking, their failures, their sneering at me as if they were saying: <i>"Oh yeah? What are YOU going to do about it?" </i>They were about to learn what I would do about it...<br />
<br />
My gaming friends and I then side barred in the game and remarked about
how truly crappy my dice rolls have been for at least a decade. This included the
fact that I once went six years between rolling a 20 in game. I then remarked I
should "punish them." But how? Placing them with my 3rd Edition
books "to teach them a lesson" (I don't have any 4th
edition ones- but that might violate "Cruel and Unusual punishment"), time spent in the "Pit of Doom"?, making them sit in a corner and other milder methods?<br />
<br />
I
knew that I had to get the attention of my dice and the method would
need to be one that conveyed that how deadly serious I was. I have suffered for their poor performances across gaming systems for far, far too long; from poor rolls in Star Wars, D&D to AD&D to tread lightly now. No more. It was time to make an example of one of them. It was time for them to know fear. <br />
<br />
As luck would have it there were twenty d20s in my bag, a perfect number for a decimation. I rolled, the lowest rolling die would be the one to suffer the punishment. It would be <i>they</i> that would decide their fate, not me just like the Roman Legions of old. None were spared from the selection process, not even the ancient dice from my Basic and Expert D&D sets from Christmas 1982, not my (in)famous smoke d20 known for rolling 19s quite often (though not for the last 10 years) from my Junior High and High School years. I rolled the twenty dice and the unlucky die was selected... the blue d20 with the chipped numbers it was.<br />
<br />
Off to the workbench in the garage. I contemplated hammers, but realized the die would skip off into the environs of the garage somewhere in a pathetic attempt to avoid its fate... So I decided to crush it with my workbench vice. I lined up other d20s to witness the "dice-imation" in order to teach them a lesson, there would be no averting their gaze. They trembled in fear, a few sneered not believing that I really would do this. Little did they know how serious I was.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizS-rr6azZJerJnYZADpVVI3p_ILdjep8eBISCVEfqbY6QbFvivLCyMNowrNrObCU498TGE-iMLlo_CWx_94r_E19_5TzLty1nlhRD0WiS6GBmmrm1fFC2YJ_aEEr5Ek2zVTqVXzK0Xrg/s1600/IMG_0788.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="576" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizS-rr6azZJerJnYZADpVVI3p_ILdjep8eBISCVEfqbY6QbFvivLCyMNowrNrObCU498TGE-iMLlo_CWx_94r_E19_5TzLty1nlhRD0WiS6GBmmrm1fFC2YJ_aEEr5Ek2zVTqVXzK0Xrg/s320/IMG_0788.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The prisoner ready for execution..."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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With the victim in the vice... it got one last laugh before its fate was sealed. Turns out dice are incredibly solid! The vice would not crush it. No matter how much pressure I applied the die didn't even dent! Its execution temporarily staved off it was as if it was mocking me one last time</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSKO2bT3JKz_3mpQL8tVy5yabw9C2t9ZeMzRj-SCIQX9xdYHHTx9Oz7NFuqwIYqjniwV0BuA-ApN7RJ_uB4a5xpm7CyVVF_byTDstFa1ei5XXHQqlJdu7CL8RrCPmJzv_69WoeM_16FT8/s1600/IMG_0795.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="576" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSKO2bT3JKz_3mpQL8tVy5yabw9C2t9ZeMzRj-SCIQX9xdYHHTx9Oz7NFuqwIYqjniwV0BuA-ApN7RJ_uB4a5xpm7CyVVF_byTDstFa1ei5XXHQqlJdu7CL8RrCPmJzv_69WoeM_16FT8/s320/IMG_0795.jpeg" width="240" /></a>Undeterred I moved onto a MAP gas torch. The torch has been very handy for the restoration of my 1967 John Deere tractor, it was time for it to pull double duty. Once heated up I secured the die in the vice and used my sledge hammer... the offending die then shattered and as expected a few pieces shot out across the garage. I gathered up the d20 and displayed its now broken remains its fellows.<br />
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The rest of my d20s looked in horror and a few shot daggers at me, hating me for the deed that was just done. Prior, they had not believed that I would do such a thing, to resort to such brutal methods, smugly secure that they could continue their under-performing ways.<br />
<br />
I coldly looked at the cohort of dice and warned them if they continued to fail me one of survivors would be next... And if it still continued, another after that. I paused and glared at all of the assemblage and repeated my threat a third time. My words sunk in.<br />
<br />
It was at that moment and not the remains of their shattered friend before them that it finally dawned on how much I meant business. Once the execution was over they were paraded past the shattered remains of their fallen comrade. Not a word was uttered as if they could see themselves as the next one.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvsRIJwuqMDefQpDmwG81_P4NoqPOC94M9cm8Xp3ndOunFv5I2QvqVlg7-VYsO6V5JE8_gkhgubFwWpNZyN4pNutYAs0mKFVxGibWsJS846faG0Nj4QKa-95LB1_HgmnQgnVcEuua107E/s1600/IMG_0794.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvsRIJwuqMDefQpDmwG81_P4NoqPOC94M9cm8Xp3ndOunFv5I2QvqVlg7-VYsO6V5JE8_gkhgubFwWpNZyN4pNutYAs0mKFVxGibWsJS846faG0Nj4QKa-95LB1_HgmnQgnVcEuua107E/s320/IMG_0794.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The price of failure."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The message was received and they silently went into the dice bag
wondering which one of them would be next. Fear now gripped them where
there had once been arrogance or casual indifference. No more. As I reflected on the lesson my dice had just learned it occurred to me: the die that broke the streak of no 20s for six years? It was the very blue d20 pictured above that was "dice-imated." Karma is funny like that.<br />
<br />
The disciplining of the troops is now over, we'll see in a couple of weeks if the rest of the d20s got the message.<br />
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<br />
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<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-53039036029801042092019-11-10T13:35:00.000-05:002019-11-10T13:35:31.667-05:00Realms of Chaos- Slaves to DarknessIn the hallowed history of Warhammer and Citadel Miniatures there are two tomes stand out head and shoulders above the rest. It is a two part series of books with the first being <a href="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Realm_of_Chaos">Realms of Chaos- Slaves to Darkness</a> and Realms of Chaos - The Lost and The Damned. The focus of this post will be the first one and the later be covered in an upcoming blog post.<br />
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Suffice of to say with these two Games Workshop pulled off a major triumph. From the graphic design to the art to the rules the entire book is nothing short of astounding. The overall cohesive feel of the products is carried between the two as well as the artwork. The color photos within were a source of endless inspiration to me back in the late 80s/early 90s and something I still reference today. Tied into this the <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2016/01/warhammer-3rd-edition-back-to-best.html">3rd edition rule book</a> (naturally) and the rules for Siege (covered <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2012/07/3rd-edition-warhammer-siege.html">here</a>) form everything that is needed for all aspects of fantasy tabletop gaming, oh yeah along with <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/06/warhammer-3rd-edition-back-to-best.html">Warhammer Armies.</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-NkwUGRaJDDjjikU4NhVv_X7d6pCYQcWVbKuVcB2I1vO2wHSMtA7hI9VOx5IOfVn0BzWVOW3savCivYmnwbRUeB6vplqUvUKts7jqHqdJqHoHzqdJGopBB0AIwuPXLB3L0KD4mfH9hGs/s1600/300px-Realms_of_Chaos_Slaves_to_Darkness_FCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-NkwUGRaJDDjjikU4NhVv_X7d6pCYQcWVbKuVcB2I1vO2wHSMtA7hI9VOx5IOfVn0BzWVOW3savCivYmnwbRUeB6vplqUvUKts7jqHqdJqHoHzqdJGopBB0AIwuPXLB3L0KD4mfH9hGs/s320/300px-Realms_of_Chaos_Slaves_to_Darkness_FCover.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
Slaves of Darkness covers two of the Chaos Powers of the Warhammer World: Khorne the Blood God, God of Battle, Murder and Death ("<i>Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!</i>") and Slaanesh the God of Lust, Pleasure and Perversion. But more than that, it covers not only the rules for 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle, but that of Warhammer 40k as well! And it that weren't enough the rule system also allowed it to also work seamlessly with <a href="https://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2013/07/wfrp-1st-edition-small-but-vicious-dog.html">Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay</a>.<br />
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Before I go any further I think its also important to note that any material that included d1000 tables and can pull it off successfully is bound to be good. And to pull off multiple tables so well? Masterstroke!<br />
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Slaves to Darkness starts with the idea of a warband and most importantly the role of a chaos warrior on his road to his ultimate goal: that of becoming a dameon prince in the service of his patron power. Random roles determines the characters starting race and characteristics and there can be quite a bit of drift in power here. From there gifts and mutations are determined and not all are entirely beneficial for such is the fickle nature of chaos.<br />
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As I alluded to before the most interesting part is the tons of mutations that allow for a nearly infinite amount of variety. So much so that if the tables are adhered to strictly there is little likelihood that any two mutants will be the same.<br />
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One of the things that captured my imagination back in the day in regards to this was the color pages of really cool miniatures. I can remember pouring over them particularly the sample warbands over and over again. The other thing that is great about the book aside from the graphic design (which is top notch) are the color shots of the chaos hordes spilling out of the chaos <br />
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In the next post I'll be covering the companion volume: Realms of Chaos- The Lost and the Damned. <br />
<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-29709570549648986822019-03-03T20:42:00.002-05:002019-03-03T20:42:05.317-05:00Part IX of the Repainting my 3rd Edition Wood Elf Force- The War Wain!<br />
Since last time I blogged about it I have explained my Wood Elf force considerably. This time however with a miniature that has a long history before it finally arrived on my doorstep. To what am I referring to? The addition of a Wood Elf Wain Lord aka the <a href="http://www.solegends.com/citmd/md04elfchariot.htm">Elven Attack Chariot</a>.<br />
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The Elven Attack Chariot was part of the "Machineries of Destruction" line from Citadel Miniatures. These featured minis from the 1980s were mainly siege engines and the like. They also included foot regiments like Prince Uthar's Imperial Dwarfs, which came in rectangular box, cool artwork and a short story of the machinery or regiment on the back.<br />
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An exert from the text:<br />
<i>Prince Iolair Gilandiril drove through the forest on a crisp winter's
morning. The frost glistened jewel-like on the branches and on the leaves
of the evergreens, and the pale sun filtered through the morning mist
to wash the scene with delicate pastel shades.</i><br />
<br />
About 10 years ago I actually won this off of eBay. However, as I sadly pointed out <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-one-that-got-away-tale-of-ebay-woes.html">here</a>, it never made it to my doorstep. I still hope that someday it might arrive, but realize it is long since gone in the post and having moved since then makes it doubly unlikely. As best a I can figure it was delivered to the next street over from where I lived; same number for the house, but different street name...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgscq3hUyogh3nRZ-DB4eKFIm6PPJzc3lIC2uf7Ad0pKhpwvT2Ekvw-VMenW-NeJEhbj8Y4gdvYJUbrV8vXY05xPZZCpD29wSyhPNa9PfaSLoHsbq7VjZX_bd5e_4uc8h8C31KD_mKpdw/s1600/elven_mage1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="504" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgscq3hUyogh3nRZ-DB4eKFIm6PPJzc3lIC2uf7Ad0pKhpwvT2Ekvw-VMenW-NeJEhbj8Y4gdvYJUbrV8vXY05xPZZCpD29wSyhPNa9PfaSLoHsbq7VjZX_bd5e_4uc8h8C31KD_mKpdw/s200/elven_mage1.jpeg" width="129" /></a>So it was that around this time last year I got this miniature for <i>considerably</i> more than the one I lost out on (I paid $25 plus shipping for the other one!) It wasn't until September 2018 that I got around to painting it after a busy summer. <br />
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Of special none is the figure Aesllanan Woodmage figure (to the right) sculpted by Jess Goodwin. I've pretty much always liked this mini, so much so that I bought a second one to paint in the same color-scheme as the one on the chariot. Some would modify the mini so you could take the mage off of the chariot and use on foot on a 20mm base... Not me. I liked it so much I wanted to paint it twice! This mini is also unusual for me as its a fairly light tone for the clothing. I always undercoat in thin watery black paint so when I go lighter it presents its own challenges. In all it came out fairly well in my estimation. <br />
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As you can see the chariot miniature overall continues with the autumnal foliage I've used on the rest of the Wood Elf force. I stayed away from painting the white like
in the art on the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPa4HaMVlsGlGzG2q_w1dVSqPK9uD5e15BuwlJnlDliIJ-HhVn5zctswQzNG3GmpxJqJomdlXrVUR1cXGUY2xZCWPR6IkbZaA7OB-X5iim-lWKnyFXDGTHZHszOUvl7WmkNvX9wK-z1Q/s1600/elven+attack+chariot.jpg">box</a>; to me that has more of a High Elf feel to it. So
more browns and tans it was for the paint and with more gold used than normal to denote a high ranking wood elf noble riding in the chariot.<br />
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Here are the goods, my Elven Attack chariot at long last!<br />
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<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-66938487061903554792019-02-28T15:12:00.003-05:002019-02-28T15:12:52.162-05:00Kiss - "Who sails the ship through stormy sea?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI6X6k2cSKu_mYISKiMnlgNeOPpeW0j1wD6BR9v8Gce1L9HDHTEMX5fOKIMTgMQ_Hq5ahj9gFFT_2zspg3bVRisAZSuojalv65dyGzrQIvEXoGgDYqOYYcvZPb7ku8UTvS-ia73xnegdE/s1600/568A7D0F-kiss-new-odyssey-book-to-offer-definitive-examination-of-1981s-music-from-the-elder-album-video-trailer-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="645" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI6X6k2cSKu_mYISKiMnlgNeOPpeW0j1wD6BR9v8Gce1L9HDHTEMX5fOKIMTgMQ_Hq5ahj9gFFT_2zspg3bVRisAZSuojalv65dyGzrQIvEXoGgDYqOYYcvZPb7ku8UTvS-ia73xnegdE/s640/568A7D0F-kiss-new-odyssey-book-to-offer-definitive-examination-of-1981s-music-from-the-elder-album-video-trailer-image.jpg" width="640" /></a> My favorite band is Led Zeppelin as I outline <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/08/power-mystery-and-hammer-of-gods.html">here</a>, but another band I'm a fan of that the critics hate? KISS! And one of their most, if not their most misunderstood album to date: (Music from) the Elder. Its worth noting before going further, that at the time that the album was released it seemed to be the soundtrack for a non-existent movie.<br />
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Before you cringe, KISS was in my oldest brother's age-range/wheel house when they first hit more so then they were in mine in the later 70s and early 80s. The same brother actually had a few of the albums in the 1970s: <i>Alive! Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over </i>and I believe <i>Love Gun</i>. I played them on my record player in the late 70s early 80s, but they were never mine. In fact I never actually owned an album back then, it was cassettes then to CDs. Sadly those original albums as long gone. I can remember drawing for long hours my version of the cover of <i>Destroyer</i> because I thought it was so cool. <br />
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The same brother and I did get to see the original band members in 1999 during their Reunion Tour which was very cool and I got the 5-disc box set a few years later. Crazy to think even that was almost 20 years ago! So whats my point? Rather then dissect their musical chops (or lack thereof depending on which side you fall) I'm going to talk about (Music from) The Elder... I know right? Like many people I've avoided this album for years, so have the critics, the fans, and even the band itself, but is it that bad? A year or so I got it and listened to it. Here is where it gets crazy, its better than one might think. But as Ace said in hindsight<i>: "the wrong album at the wrong time."</i> And when Ace is the voice of reason???? Crazy!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Reportedly that is Paul Stanley's hand..</i></td></tr>
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So, a concept album from KISS? A Prog Rock album from KISS? Let me say there is actually some good music on The Elder which is surprising to me. Like their previous album <i>Unmasked</i> there is some good songs (I'm thinking "<i>Talk to Me”,</i> “<i>Tomorrow”,</i> <i>"Two Sides of the Coin" </i>and <i>"Torpedo Girl"</i>; ironically all the songs that begin with T and two are written by Ace Frehley!)<br />
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And how does this fit to the theme of this blog? Think about it the imagery that this conjures up? A boy sailing through a stormy sea to become a hero? Trite, simple and cliched, but <i>"Just a Boy"</i> is a great song, certainly a curve ball, but a good one. Its really no different than the imagery of say Jethro Tull's <i>"Broadsword"</i> which I like as well.<br />
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The singles were <i>"I"</i>, <i>"A World without Heroes"</i> and <i>"The Oath"</i> which are fine for a soundtrack, but not really geared towards commercial radio airplay (see below on <i>"A World without Heroes."</i>) In fact <i>"Darklight" </i>should have been the lead single. It was written by Ace and doesn't really fit with the album, but is probably the most geared towards radio airplay. It also really doesn't fit with the rest of the album in my opinion either.<br />
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<i>"Under the Rose"</i> has a unique sound with echoes of a chant and<i> "Only You" </i>is surprisingly catchy. That leaves <i>"Odyssey"</i> and <i>"Mr Blackwell"</i> as the weakest on the album, but I'd also include <i>"Heroes"</i> here as well. Its a sort of wishy-washy to me personally, but your mileage may vary.<br />
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To close: While Prog Rock <b>AND</b> KISS might not be everyone's cup of tea (and ironically Im drinking tea as I finish this), the fact they do go together well in this effort. After listening to Pink Floyd who I like its a nice diversion to listen to this among other Prog Rock. <br />
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As a last note: the album was not liked all that much by the band themselves and did not tour to support it. Years later with Thommy Thayer and Eric Singer in the band in Ace and Peter's makeup (I refuse to call them the Space Ace or the Catman) they would play some of these songs on the various KISS Cruises or later tours. But for years it was an afterthought. Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-11295787819913525982019-01-13T21:10:00.000-05:002019-01-13T21:10:18.290-05:00Yo Ho, Yo Ho the Pirates Life for meIn early December of last year we returned from Disney for vacation. We have been going there quite regularly since 2011. But what does that have to do with the focus of this blog I hear you say. well as you know I'm a fairly keen terrain builder. So when I was at Disney with the family this last time I spent a bit more time looking around and taking in the architecture. As one would imagine I'm a big fan of the prototype model of EPCOT (Walt's original idea). I also look over Frontierland a lot too as I like westerns as I've outlined on the blog here various times.<br />
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But to the point of this post: while riding Pirates of the Caribbean several times I paid more attention to something I have only given a scant thought previous: the skull rock at the very beginning of the ride. The skull is pretty cool and is fully detailed <a href="http://www.parkeology.com/2013/03/myth-of-skull-rock.html">here</a>. I wont go into too much detail as that site does a very good going into detail but I'll cover the basics.<br />
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The rock when viewed face on looks like a skull which is pretty cool. As the site listed above notes when you're on the ride, you glance at it and then your attention is drawn to the beach scene just beyond. But the thing is the skull is not a solid piece, its a 3D sculpture.</div>
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So when we went through I really took notice of it and when we got back I searched out the site above and from my own recollection. I decided to recreate the skull as as a terrain piece for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. </div>
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I don't normally show Work In Progress (WIP) pieces, but this has come out very cool thus far. Like the sculpture it is based on, from the side the skull disappears and becomes just a pile of rocks.But when viewed head on it appears as a skull.</div>
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As you can see as it turns the skull "disappears". Basically the structure is five rows of foam carved with the x-acto knife to create the effect of the skull. </div>
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The materials and tools list is as follows and is not that extensive:</div>
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<li>White glue</li>
<li>R4 residential foam-siding</li>
<li>X-acto knife.</li>
<li>Sand paper </li>
<li>Masking tape and cardboard for the base. Although one section is press-board before I realized I had to make the base larger.</li>
<li>Some white plaster Spackle to fill in gaps in the foam pieces and sanded.</li>
<li>Black, dark gray, light gray and white acrylic paint (don't use spray paint as it melts foam). </li>
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The plan for this piece is to create a small section of water to go around it so the skull will represent a small lake on the Warhammer board. In a way this is similar in the moat I'm working on for my Nippon castle (albeit on an on-again off-again fashion)...<br />
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Special thanks to <a href="http://www.parkeology.com/2013/03/myth-of-skull-rock.html">Parkeology </a>for the photos and the break down of the construction. While its not exactly as I remember it and I had to modify to create what I remembered its about the only photo I could find. <br />
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Dragonrune Miniatures was in operations from 2001 to 2003 and closed down in 2003 (<a href="http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Category:DragonRune_Miniatures">source</a>). The minis in question were sculpted by <a href="http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Felix_Paniagua">Felix Paniagua</a> and obviously look very much in the vein/style of the Warhammer miniatures at the time; his orcs also are very much same style-wise. While Dragonerune went "belly up" they were acquired by <a href="https://www.armorcast.com/webstore/index.php?route=product/category&path=187_161">Armorcast</a> and you can still get the miniatures. This makes sense as Felix also worked for GW. <br />
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As you can see I have all seven of the minis from the ogre line. I have mixed feelings about these guys, not the minis mind you. They are packed with details and a proliferation of skulls, heads, chests, pouches etc. In fact in a way they echo the Citadel miniatures of the mid to late 80s which I cut my teeth on as it were (In fact the left hand most ogre has orange and white haircut akin to the the ogre on the cover of the 1st Edition Warhammer Fantasy Role-play book). And yes I know the troll slayer on the cover had the orange hair...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9NG_SUkAkeq6kW9eyT5gNOhyIv3JGnT66tNvQsMMiBBkzX4YZ0dpqYr3oBfpEEeCX02CbIP6FRlqzHzoY3znBfgVcxzl0CSzwuKT4d7YWxNIi1_tvbemntVfYvdm51yTBrVx4obPQmIw/s1600/IMG_1394.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9NG_SUkAkeq6kW9eyT5gNOhyIv3JGnT66tNvQsMMiBBkzX4YZ0dpqYr3oBfpEEeCX02CbIP6FRlqzHzoY3znBfgVcxzl0CSzwuKT4d7YWxNIi1_tvbemntVfYvdm51yTBrVx4obPQmIw/s640/IMG_1394.jpg" width="640" /></a>Sorry about the digress, I was saying mixed feelings? This was one of those units and/or minis that gave me a lot of grief when painting. What do I mean by that? Glad you asked. By grief I mean they just did not come together in terms of of the colors as I expected. The skin tones were better than I expected, but overall as noted the whole experience left me somewhat perplexed. I'm not sure about you, but this happens to me every once and a while when painting a unit or miniature, it either is a case where it doesn't come out quite like I intended or wasn't as enjoyable to paint.<br />
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I did get to work on my black lining of technique to give them a more oldhammer feel and the washes went well. I also gave the weapons a rusty bloodstained look which on the ogre with the orange/white hair and the ogre with the hammer looks good.<br />
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Regardless of the outcome I now have yet another unit of ogres for Warhammer and here is what is in my collection at the moment:<br />
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<li>A unit of three ogres for my 6th/7th Edition Chaos Dwarf army.</li>
<li>A unit of three ogres for my 6th/7th Edition Chaos (Undivided) army.</li>
<li>A unit of eight ogres for my 3rd Edition Armies which are detailed <a href="http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=16856">here</a>. </li>
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While all of these guys are assigned to an army and in some cases painted to match the armies or their bases/movement trays they could also be used for Warhammer Fantasy role-play or for other Warhammer armies in Warhammer Fantasy Battle proper. In the case of the Dragonrune ones I just finished above they are painted with the more neutral brown scheme I use for mercenary forces in my collection. Another use could very easily be in my ever so slowly evolving Dogs of War army.<br />
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In the end, I recommend these guys, they are excellent miniatures with a very good amount of fine detail to them. In fact if you didn't know you might be forgiven for assuming they were unreleased GW miniatures.<br />
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As a final note I think these are the last ogres I will be procuring for quite some time, although there are still some giant ogres from the Marauder line which I quite like along with some more of the classic lines from Citadel. Perhaps I need to switch to the classic giants! So many choices, limited $, but we'll see. Maybe <i>The</i> Warhammer Giant, but only 1,000 were produced...Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-90976658456666576542018-12-19T00:00:00.000-05:002018-12-23T09:03:32.387-05:00Dark Future, Mad Max Meets Games Workshop<br />
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Lets get this out right away,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Future"> Dark Future</a> was inspired by the Mad Max movies (<i>Mad, Max, Road Warrior </i>and <i>Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome</i>). Note: this is hardly a controversial statement and not one that I ever heard anyone denying mind you, but bears repeating. Back in the day my only interactions regarding Dark Future was seeing the advertisements in Dragon Magazine or the occasional White Dwarf (I didn't start reading WD till around #137). And by the time I could <i>somewhat </i>afford it, it was gone from the lineup and forgotten. One thought also before I go further, why is it that GW once again placed their ultra-violent settings for a game in the USA? I think they were trying to tell us something with Dark Future and Bloodbowl...<br />
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This game came back to me a few months back when I purchased a copy of Car Wars made by Steve Jackson Games at the local game store. I got the copy for only $20 so not too bad I thought, but reading through it, holy crap is that game complex. Far too rule heavy for my tastes and very math intense. Now I'm not adverse to crunch heavy games or math heavy, but Car Wars struck me in the same vein as Twilight 2000 in terms of complexity for the vehicle rules. Perhaps a feature of early 90s game design concepts as it relates to cars and the like?<br />
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But it was then that I remembered that Car Wars wasn't the game I was shooting for, it was Dark Future! Ahhh well so off to eBay to see what sets are going for? Yeah... looks like I'm going to need to save my gold Guilders for a while, or perhaps go for the "successor game" Gorka Morka? (I'll cover that in a future post). In any event this is one of those ones that's on my radar now, but who knows when I'll get to it. There is something that keeps drawing me to it and I'm not quite sure why, I don't believe its nostalgia either. I suppose its possible to"procure" the rules and use Match-Box or Hot Wheel Cars to simulate it.<br />
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Oh and look at that: isn't the internet great? There is a wiki for everything, including Dark Future at <a href="http://darkfuture.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Future">Route 666, the Dark Future Wiki</a>. As you can see for a game that had a fairly limited shelf life, it did receive a fair amount of support from what I can gather. Games Workshop did have support for expansions for the game such as the <a href="http://solegends.com/citboxes2/battlecars.htm">PBS4 Battlecars</a>, but like many of the secondary (late they would get called specialist) games Dark Future fell by the wayside to a large degree by the early 1990s. This coincided with the revamp to 4th Edition Warhammer.<br />
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Bell of Lost Souls has more information <a href="http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2016/02/gw-rumors-dark-future-being-worked-on.html">here</a> on a rumored re-release of Dark Future, but as of late 2018 I still don't see anything on it. EDIT: it appears that the focus was more on a video game <a href="https://www.aurochdigital.com/blog/2015/5/21/the-end-is-nigh-games-workshops-cult-classic-dark-future-returns-heralding-the-beginning-of-the-end">release</a>.<br />
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I assume if you've read this far you know about Dark Future and probably a lot more that me as I noted I've never played it. Please lend me your thoughts on the matter after some selected photos that graced White Dwarf from the time frame in question, culled from Pintrest and the Lost and Damned site:<br />
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<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-46946233486652822922018-12-17T13:12:00.001-05:002018-12-17T13:12:30.837-05:00Part VIII of the Repainting my 3rd Edition Wood Elf ForceI've actually been busy in real life as well as with Warhammer stuff. Over the last few months I've done lots of work on my Dark Elf force along with my wood Elves I've been chronicling here on the blog. Interestingly I've been working on the Wood Elves in the autumn and the Dark Elves in the echoing their basing choices.<br />
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Quick aside: the progress on the Dark elves can be found <a href="http://forum.oldhammer.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=7899">here</a>. I'll have some new photos up soon of their progress.<br />
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As we all know, Wood Elf forces in 3rd Edition Warhammer are heavy with bow armed troops. This also carried over to later editions. In 3rd the compulsory choices are archers of which the minimum to field is 30. Aside from my Skarloc Wood Elf Archers all the bow armed units in the army are the result of the<a href="http://solegends.com/citboxes2/pbs3whfbregs/index.htm"> PBS3 -Plastic Warhammer Regiment Boxed Set</a>. I know I've said it before, but while not the best miniatures that GW ever produced they are some of the best value around, even now as everyone and their brother has some spare ones to sell on E-Bay or trade. Additionally, to me at least these "looks like Warhammer to me" in much the same way 3rd Edition Talisman "<a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/search?q=talisman">As I know it</a>."<br />
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So with all this here are the units I've completed, not one but two units, 20 strong of Wood Elf archers. As you can see green predominates but I continued with the black and white accenting to tie them into the other units of the army, along with the autumnal basing or red, orange and yellow. This now brings the fire power up to 82; three units with 20 and the Skarloc Archers having 22 in the regimental box set.<br />
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The 2nd unit (2nd as in I pictures the first unit <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/03/my-journey-into-3rd-edition-and-rebirth.html">here</a> and Skarloc's counts as unit #1 for my army) followed by the 3rd.<br />
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To close out, I'll also need to get pictures up of my Elven Attack chariot that I painted up for the Wood Elf force, it came out well and I realized I finished it several months back. I now have a sizable force of Wood Elves repainted and have come a long way when they were simply an Ally force for my mega-battle with Dave and Jeff.<br />
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<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-33428576867361070692018-11-17T20:08:00.001-05:002018-11-18T17:24:48.706-05:00Creatures of Chaos- Part IIAs fall starts giving way to winter you know what that means for my Warhammer and hobby activity: it begins to increase, or at least my blogging about it does. I have a lot of stuff that I have been completing in terms of Warhammer and a lot already photographed. In particular I have been hard at work on the repaint of my Wood Elf army which is now quite respectable in size. But enough of the heads up on where I'm at, onto the point of this blog entry: Creatures of Chaos.<br />
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As outlined in my previous entry on the matter <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2018/02/creatues-of-chaos-incoming.html">here </a>I purchased all three of the Creatures of Chaos from <a href="http://www.langley-models.co.uk/acatalog/Fantasy_Figures_and_Gaming_Pieces.html">Langley Miniatures</a> by Andrew Taylor. To recap, these are great sculpts and I was happy to support them; they also have a fair amount of other minis I'm keeping my eyes on for down the road. The minis are created very much in the vein of the miniatures that Citadel/Games Workshop/Marauder created back in the heyday of 3rd Edition Warhammer.<br />
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The minis themselves were a pleasure to paint with very few awkward areas. You know the kind I mean: some minis have areas, usually the undersides that are a pain to try and contort the hand and brush to reach to apply adequate paint coverage.<br />
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I decided to mount these minis on 50mm by 50mm bases as that would also allow me a fair amount of space to create some decorative bases in the style of 3rd edition Warhammer. By this I mean the look and feel of the 3rd Edition rule book and White Dwarfs at the time with their crazy painted mushrooms, simulated rushes/weeds and the like.<br />
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The only real "issues" I had revolved around the paint job of the cockatrice and the chimaera's lion head. In the case of the cockatrice the issue was trying to get the color right so it didn't look muddy or like a dark mustard. As with most photos its kinda hard to see as it shows a shade darker than it actually is. A cockatrice in terms of overall colors isn't quite as simple as it seems to begin with. To help with painting guidance, I did look at the Bestiary in the rule book, the 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Monstrous Manual and the painted examples from the Langley Miniatures site,<br />
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With the chimera, the issue was trying to find the right balance of the lighter colors.<br />
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In the end rather than go with a tawny color as one might expect from a lion, I went with one that was more cream/ivory in terms of the shade making it more of a "white lion" (no, not the hair band from the 80s). At first it was a bit of a pain and was not coming out well. Part of this is because I undercoat in black rather than white. But in the end, like plenty of minis that I have done in the past that I thought would not turn out well I kept at it. And sure enough I got it to a point where it came together. This happens time and again and the best advice is to press on and keep painting!<br />
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In terms of use they have two primary uses for armies in Warhammer. The ones that can make use of these minis in their army list are ones that have, imagine that! Thus they make appearances in my 3rd Edition Dark Elf and Chaos forces as a matter of course. <br />
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A few bonus pictures of the project. <br />
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For my next post I'll be turning back to my Wood Elf host for the first time in quite a while. Right now the army has expanded quite a bit including the fact that I now have over 80 painted Wood Elf Archers. In fact looking at the plans for the army, I have probably only four more units to go: Elven Lords (Calvary), another Treeman, 3 more wardancers for the second unit of 10 and a few packs of Animal Handlers aka Beastmasters. For these guys my plan is to use animals from the excellent Wargames Foundy <a href="https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/american-animals/products/gpr045-kodiak-bears">Bears</a> and <a href="https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/african-animals/products/gpr058-leopards-1">Big Cats</a>.<br />
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As to timing of these purchases? Yet to be determined...<br />
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<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-16646998070685708632018-10-07T18:02:00.001-04:002018-10-07T18:02:44.621-04:00Oh Yeah, that other area of Wargaming- Terrain(Grrrrrr.... Once again my love/hate relationship with Blogger continues as this hosting platform ate a large portions of my changes to this post and for whatever reason auto-save did not work....)<br />
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As summer turns to early Fall here in North America I take a pause from my intensive construction of my <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/12/nippon-castle-for-warhammer-part-ii.html#comment-form">Warhammer Nippon Castle</a> and the start of <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2018/01/death-on-reik-scale-mode-of-castle-von.html">Castle Von Wittgenstein. </a>(as well as numerous Warhammer Fantasy Battle units for various armies) I got to thinking about the overall amount of time that I and I suspect others engage in when it comes to terrain. It is my contention that there probably isn't as much compared to <b>actual </b>painting and assembly of miniatures which is to be expected.This in a way is a sad thing because one of the most rewarding areas of the game in my mind and in way one of the cheapest is terrain. Certainly when one considers the cost of Oldhammer; i.e that almost any miniatures have to be purchased off of eBay and not so nice prices, terrain is cheap in comparison. <br />
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When I say lack of terrain, I'm not saying there was none in our games, but rather a decided lack of attention to it to a large degree. By this I mean buildings, forests/woods, rivers etc,were present, but not large scale projects I mentioned above. Even back in the day when 3rd Edition was the current edition of the game, I don't recall creating as much terrain compared to the gold standard of what we saw in White White Dwarf. Sure, in my gaming group we had the main board (cut into 12x12 sections for ease of transport), some trees, hedges and fences but not much else. Buildings were taken care of by the <a href="https://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2016/12/is-it-normal-to-love-warhammer.html">Warhammer Townscap</a>e book, but none of us attempted to create more elaborate pieces.<br />
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As an aside: over time I purchased another <a href="https://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2016/12/is-it-normal-to-love-warhammer.html?showComment=1537134650691#c203758399089025342">Warhammer Townscapes Book</a> years ago and since I inherited our old terrain as a gaming group I reckon I have about 1.5 sets of buildings from the two books. I say 1.5 because despite this I don't have all of the buildings due to various moves and some being destroyed over said time-frame.For those not in the know, Warhammer Townscape was a book of card-stock buildings that one folded and glued, looking like this =><br />
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For me the lack of terrain is odd when you consider the totality of the hobby. Even though I saw some of the excellent buildings created by Dave Andrews in various White Dwarf articles, it wasn't until after the heyday of 3rd that I really started constructing my own buildings. But a funny thing happened when I did I start creating them, I did so in a style very akin to 3rd Edition. This is probably not as "funny" when I think about it, for example <a href="http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5906">(Willmark's Homemade Warhammer terrain)</a><br />
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Now, I posted these years ago on Chaos Dwarfs Online and are a slection of some of my terrain and the the style is distinctive, atat the same time familiar. But even with these I still wasn't doing anything too new, as a lot of the pieces were right from White Dwarf (not that its a bad thing). <br />
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I guess when you put it all together, terrain is one of the most under represented parts of the hobby (to a degree) but one of the most universally praised? Or put another way, gamers love terrain, but usually the last thing created. This in and of itself is surprising for another reason when one considers terrain is actually one of the cheaper areas of the hobby. <br />
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<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-64607174612477694172018-08-12T20:46:00.002-04:002018-08-12T20:46:36.471-04:00Nippon Warband Mercenary Scum!That's right as outlined in my thread over at <a href="http://dogsofwaronline.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1223">Dogs of War Online</a> I've been working on again/off again on my Nippon mercenary force. I've got a lot of stuff on the bench right now but as we are in the waning month of summer here in North America mt thoughts turn back to painting. So with that I finally finished up a unit for the Warband of Nippon: a unit of 25 samurai.<br />
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As with all of the units of this army I'm making them <a href="http://dogsofwaronline.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1223&pid=22053#pid22053">flexible enough to be used in varying editions of Warhammer</a>:<br />
<ul>
<li>When used in 2nd Edition they will be fielded as ashigaru with hand weapons. </li>
<li>In 3rd Edition they fall under Empire as a "Count As" force. From that list they use the stat line for Eratzsolder with light armor and hand weapons. </li>
<li>For a true 5th/6th Edition Dogs of War force? Well... they don't really fit at all unless I used them as Norse Marauders but the base sizes don't really work. With that said I don't really think I can use them as is in any form really as the Core choices for Dogs of War are pikemen and crosswbowmen. The only thing that comes close for the 20mm bases in the Special Choices are... dwarfs, not really helpful there GW.</li>
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So without further delay here are the ashigaru/ronin/lower class samurai as promised. They are not the best unit I've ever painted but considering the stop start nature of them at least they are complete. I tried to keep teh colors somewhat muted for most of the warriors as some later units will really stand out, these guys I wanted less, flash but still painted a few brighter colors.<br />
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More details are over at the thread at Dogs of War Online, including what is up next for the army and the Nippon Castle. Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-57948200899277072502018-04-29T15:16:00.001-04:002020-11-13T15:00:00.028-05:00Old Worlder Ally or Old Worlder Mercenaries?As the title notes... but not really much of conundrum. The reality is these guys I just finished up could be used for one of three things in 3rd Edition Warhammer.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Part of a small force of Bretonnians; unlikely as they are by far my least favorite army.</li>
<li>Or as a Old Worlder Mercenary unit</li>
<li>Or as a Old Worlder Ally unit.</li>
</ul>
As I outlined <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2018/01/warhammer-3rd-edition-old-worlder.html">here </a>these minis are from my very first army, Bretonnians... which lasted all of one battle before converting them to Empire. (see I disliked them even back then!) Through the years they saw a few different configurations, even buying 5th edition Bretonnian warhorses and repainting them. Fortunately for me I did save the horses they came with and had a vague idea of making them into a terrain piece: horses around a paddock. But as in my previous post I noted I wanted to bring them back to 3rd Edition. They were mostly in good shape but a fair number of the horse tails were missing so green-stuff to the rescue. <br />
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Regardless of how they are used there is still a further plan with them. I still have 10 more horses that I will expand to another unit. Once I have the riders for them I will split out the Templar painted knights for their own unit... <i>Dues Vult! </i>(Note- nothing more implied by that other then the Templars themselves.) These are left overs from my Imperial Knights who were rebased on armored horses and fit perfectly. <br />
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Like the rest of the mercenary forces I've used brown bases for them and added a few half-buried shields and mushrooms to give them that 3rd edition look and feel. <br />
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Anyways, here is the finished unit. Of special note is the Templar in the front row on the right of the standard bearer. He represents the first Warhammer minis that I ever painted. I've since repainted him a number of times and hopefully this is the last. <br />
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<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-43280458096409102762018-03-22T21:42:00.002-04:002018-03-22T21:53:33.115-04:00Part VII- Repainting the Wood Elf ForceI now turn back to a army that I haven't worked on in several months, my Wood Elves. As I last left the army it was at the state of adding my converted Wood Elf Dragon Rider. (Part VI described <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/08/part-vi-repainting-wood-elf-force.html">here</a>).<br />
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This time around, I've churned out twenty 4th Edition spear-men for my 3rd Edition Wood Elf Force... Obviously they fill out the role of Warrior Kinbands in the 3rd Edition Army list.<br />
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Couple of points: <br />
<ul>
<li>I went with the 4th Edition range for several reasons, one being cost: the 4th edition range is not that hard to come by and the prices to round them out were fairly cheap. When compared to the 3rd edition elves they were <i>significantly</i> cheaper. </li>
<li>Availability- Not to hard to find on eBay.the 3rd Edition elves with spears on eBay are bit more and usually in smaller groups. I was able to assemble the unit fairly quickly.</li>
<li>Most importantly, I like the minis. I'm not sure the reasoning, but I've always liked these pointy ears. </li>
</ul>
So I started with 12 that I had bought years ago; stripped the old paint off and started at square one. Got eight more off eBay last fall and just got around to painting them. So without further delay the next unit to come off the bench. <br />
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As you can see I continued the autumnal feel with the basing. I also continued the green shields with the white swirl pattern to tie them into the rest of the army thus far.<br />
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Next up for this army is... I'm not sure. I have another unit of wardancers currently standing at 7 out of 10, and two units of 20 archers formed from metal command/hero minis and miniatures from the plastic <a href="http://www.solegends.com/citboxes/pbs3whfbregs/index.htm">Warhammer Fantasy Regiment</a> box set. Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-1030372249261808232018-02-24T14:38:00.004-05:002018-02-24T14:38:45.050-05:003rd Edition Warhammer Chaos Dwarf Army list<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4pbB9cpnI33ZWs6aQ_Cj_TF0y7wUMJ7yILf9nd8JwOpOl0Q12WoBYDY6Xhaq985FLPC8SaANUOg-sCyQmDN6C0pZi1umnq1yP1HCdOv9sZej4xfhbSqrVsBv17LB0aFzjgbLsVcaK5M/s1600/chaos_dwarf_art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="1044" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4pbB9cpnI33ZWs6aQ_Cj_TF0y7wUMJ7yILf9nd8JwOpOl0Q12WoBYDY6Xhaq985FLPC8SaANUOg-sCyQmDN6C0pZi1umnq1yP1HCdOv9sZej4xfhbSqrVsBv17LB0aFzjgbLsVcaK5M/s640/chaos_dwarf_art.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Special thanks to <span id="bc_0_2b+seedBnZUD" kind="d"><cite class="user"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/profile/01590080915486192175" rel="nofollow">orlygg</a> for the scan and the ones that appear in the "army book" below. </cite></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Being the Mad Hatter that I am I decided a while back to post my "back-port" of a Chaos Dwarf Army list to 3rd Edition rules. I've been on the periphery of the <a href="http://forum.oldhammer.org.uk/">Oldhammer </a>movement, but felt compelled to give back by standing on the shoulders of those who got the ball rolling as it were.<br />
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For those not in the know, back in the 3rd Edition days the Chaos Dwarfs only appeared in two sections in terms of armies in the game and then not even in their own army. They appeared in Warhammer Armies: as part of the Chaos Ally contingent and as part of the Khornate army listed in <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/4964072/Realms-of-Chaos-Slaves-to-Darkness">Realm of Chaos- Slaves to Darkness</a>. Even then, the Chaos Dwarfs were different than what would appear in the 4th Edition rules in their own "Army Book". From there there, the uncertainly of 5th through 7th editions until <a href="http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/index.php">Chaos Dwarfs Online </a>spearheaded a resurgence and brought them back from the brink of disappearing. <br />
<br />
So with this in mind I attempted to create an army listing in the same vein as how they were presented in 3rd Edition, but using the organizing concepts of 4th Edition and beyond. That is to say I combined orcs and goblins into the list, even though in 3rd Edition they are listed as hating all dwarfs including Chaos Dwarfs. Oldhammer is what you make it and I'm not too worried about the 3rd Edition Warhammer police breaking down my door by breaking a rule. Then again, with Games Workshop Legal? Who knows...<br />
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Knowing a fair amount about graphic design and having produced both the <a href="http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/webzine.php">Word of Hashut</a> and Gold and Glory ezines it was a fairly easy task to replicate the look at feel of Warhammer Armies. The problem wasn't the design but rather it is my illustration skills which have atrophied over the years. Sot it was a lot of scans were in order, namely from White Dwarf, Realms of Chaos- Slaves to Darkness and Warhammer Armies.<br />
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Be warned, this has <b>NOT </b>been play tested so who knows how it will work! You'll also note that there is space for adding rules for the Chaos Dwarf Juggernaut. Strangely, Games Workshop created the model back in the 80s, but never created rules for it. The production run of the mini was limited and goes for quite a bit on eBay. At some point I'll add rules for the miniature and its accompanying crew.<br />
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For more details on Chaos Dwarfs in the 80s and early 90s, be sure to check the excellent site <a href="http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2013/07/acceptable-in-80s-chaos-dwarf-ballistics.html">Realm of Chaos</a>, a leading light in the Oldhammer movement.<br />
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The 3rd Edition Chaos Dwarf Army list can be downloaded <a href="https://www.mediafire.com/file/95bg9vpiekzcac5/chaos-dwarf_3rd_edition_list.pdf">here</a>, let me know what you think.Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-89857288251934171592018-02-03T14:37:00.000-05:002018-02-03T14:37:01.272-05:00Creatues of Chaos Incoming!As if I don't have enough to paint already and adding to the fact that my painting desk is groaning under the weight of copious amounts of unpainted lead. What do I do? Of course, I purchase more minis. I've been eying the excellent range of Creatures of Chaos by Andrew Taylor for several months now and finally got around to pulling the trigger. Suffice to say I'm eagerly awaiting these guys from the UK.<br />
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My purchase was of the cockatrice, chimera and manticore with a toss-up between the chimera and manticore as to which one I want to paint first! NOTE: these are not my paint jobs:<br />
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<a href="http://www.langley-models.co.uk/acatalog/LM-LMF3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.langley-models.co.uk/acatalog/LM-LMF3.jpg" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="427" height="194" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you are in the market for these guys, whether for role-playing games or for war-gaming you could do a lot worse. These guys look excellent and cant wait to get my grubby mits on them. Link to <a href="http://www.langley-models.co.uk/acatalog/Fantasy_Figures_and_Gaming_Pieces.html">Langley Miniatures</a>. I'll just have to remember to post my progress here as my various projects underway are scattered across multiple sites. <br />
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Lastly, more Old School miniatures in thesame vein goodness can also be found <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OldschoolMinis">here</a>, great stuff really. <br />
<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-90206172281042309702018-01-21T10:56:00.001-05:002018-01-21T10:56:22.939-05:00Warhammer 3rd Edition- Old Worlder Mercenary ContingentOne of the coolest things about 3rd Edition Warhammer are the rules for Allies and Mercenaries. While not perfect, I think they are the closest they have ever come to being truly playable in the various iterations of Warhammer.<br />
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This post is about the Old Worlder Mercenary Contingent, but first a bit of backstory. <br />
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As I noted <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2017/06/warhammer-3rd-edition-back-to-best.html">here</a>, my very first step into Warhammer Fantasy Battle was in 3rd Edition. Since the other guys had already picked armies and we didn't want to duplicate any one army I had a few choices to go with, all on the "good side". I had always liked knights back in the day so Brettonia it was. A few stops at the local games stores left me with the following for my very first games (around1988)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>10 Chevaliers D'Honneur</li>
<li>22 Archers</li>
<li>1 cannon and crew</li>
<li>A bunch of assorted models I recall fielding as Brigands. </li>
</ul>
I only ever recall playing against Dave's Skaven before converting them to an Empire force which would become my first real army. Jeff had some he sold me some Empire halberdiers I think to bolster the force and aide the conversion of the army. As knights of the Empire I used epoxy glue to add aluminum foil to paint barding! Ugh. The lengths we went through to make the models WYWIWYG. Nowdays I could pull it off with green-stuff but back then my skills at modelling werent so good and no one knew what green-stuff was.<br />
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After a while my dislike of all things Bretonnia grew as well as eventually creating three 10+ units of Empire Knights which the need for Brettonian knights standing in as Imperial ones diminish. Even so, I bought some 5th Edition Bretonnian horses a number of years later repainting and remounting the knights; and then promptly did nothing with them. I was fortunate in that I did save the original horses having a vague idea of using them as steeds for a paddock and stable terrain piece. A casualty of them sitting at the bottom of various bits boxes for years was that almost all were missing their tails. No big deal as I recreated them with green-stuff that came out quite well. Moral of the story: never throw anything out!<br />
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Now this brings me to the present. A month or so back I stripped down the archers and primed them just for the Hell of it. But in doing so I got to thinking. About six months I have reassembled one of my Bretonnian cannons that I saved the frame for 20 years (the barrel was part of a crappy home built steam tank, now since destroyed). Did this mean I was going to reassemble my Bretonnian? No. With a perusal through the 3rd Edition Warhammer Armies book it became clear it would be more fun to paint them up as scummy mercenaries! This has the added benefit of the fact that I'm the administrator of <a href="http://www.dogsofwaronline.com/">Dogs of War Online</a>, homeland of mercenaries!<br />
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A few nights of stripping paint, redoing horse tails and finding shields and were all set. Note the shields will be repainted; some of them sport their crappy 1988 paint jobs. Paint jobs reflective of me not knowing what the Hell I was doing back then..<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZANUypskmfsDxN4lI8TuTi0tDtgq97AjPi6YwShoaz-bIX7ZakToWB5zNRtRhYfke7bLoZaRymS2qdJ0kqoup3Lqb0tWpSO0c8-rGfb3UPyxRiqbvS3JVgz5gkfa90MIyRU5P-x3fCho/s1600/old_worlder_mercanries1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZANUypskmfsDxN4lI8TuTi0tDtgq97AjPi6YwShoaz-bIX7ZakToWB5zNRtRhYfke7bLoZaRymS2qdJ0kqoup3Lqb0tWpSO0c8-rGfb3UPyxRiqbvS3JVgz5gkfa90MIyRU5P-x3fCho/s400/old_worlder_mercanries1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snooty Bretonnian knights on the way to becoming scummy mercenaries!</td></tr>
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So now the force becomes:<br />
<ul>
<li>10 Tilean Condotieri or 10 Estalian Caballeros </li>
<li>22 Archers now equating to 20 Frieforstjaegers*</li>
<li>1 cannon and crew (probably will just end up as a small diorama type piece)</li>
<li>9 crossbowmen I've had for odds and ends to form a small unit of Tilean crossbowmen. </li>
<li>Going to add 20 pikemen from either the Pike and Shotte range or the Perry Miniatures range*. </li>
<li>20 Bretonnian brigands. I did have a few here but foolishly traded them, I'll need to reacquire these guys.</li>
<li>I also was able to rehab 10 unarmored 3rd edition horses; I'll be looking for more knight figures on eBay sans riders to fill them out.</li>
<li>Still need to decided on a mounted contingent commander. </li>
</ul>
* Yes, the rules say a maximum of 20, but I'm not too worried about the 3rd Edition Warhammer police breaking down my door at 2 AM for rules violations.... <br />
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** Perry miniatures obviously, seamlessly integrate with the other minis. Minis from the Foundry line are another possibility.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9r9Q63QeitJQNJ6NAfxA_DfY7k52CqcPFkxpxH8QjW3MZ7Ue31y4Q0vLUVwCNbB2ZQkcBTHO8Yuijyn4qgK4yeujAhgerDlhScDMTnerGgC3Y6Vhn_1_RuQoa7epGdsstSMa1uxuN54/s1600/old_worlder_mercanries2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9r9Q63QeitJQNJ6NAfxA_DfY7k52CqcPFkxpxH8QjW3MZ7Ue31y4Q0vLUVwCNbB2ZQkcBTHO8Yuijyn4qgK4yeujAhgerDlhScDMTnerGgC3Y6Vhn_1_RuQoa7epGdsstSMa1uxuN54/s400/old_worlder_mercanries2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Free Foresters at the ready!</td></tr>
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So with that I'll have a nice, tight Old World Mercenary force. In a pinch they can shift to an Old World Ally Contingent as needed or even a small Bretonnian force (yuck). The only downside is that only Empire, Bretonnian and Dwarf armies can field Old Worlder Ally and Mercenary contingents...<br />
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As an aside, I also now have enough minis from the various armies to field almost all outside of pygmies, Skaven (I have some but not a lot) and Fimir. My ultimate goal is to have enough to field all these! But for some reason Old Worlder strikes me as cool as I haven't really seen any truly dedicated forces on the internet. And that's my goal to have enough dedicated minis rather than always pulling from the main army. <br />
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Last part for those wondering- yes I'm still working on my scale Castle Von Wittgenstein and my Nippon castle. In fact I'm working on a ton of stuff and going wherever my muse takes me! Its a fun ride, updates over at <a href="http://chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=17376">Chaos Dwarfs Online</a> and Dogs of War Online.<br />
<br />Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57147207760403713.post-86507958567847751302018-01-01T11:50:00.000-05:002018-01-01T12:49:55.940-05:00Death on the Reik- Scale Model of Castle Von WittgensteinMy favorite RPG might just be 1st Edition WFRP, followed by 2nd Edition
AD&D. So with that in mind my thoughts have been turning to iconic
images from 1st Edition WFRP. And if I don't have enough "irons in the
fire" as it were when it comes to Warhammer projects my thoughts have
been turning to the next large scale terrain project.<br />
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<a href="https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hommlet1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hommlet1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
What got me
thinking about it is this: <a href="https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/The-Village-of-Hommlet-moathouse.jpg" target="_blank"></a><br />
T1 The Village of Hommlet was a classic, seminal module for many and the
Moathouse (meat grinder thought it was/is) stands a indelible image of
AD&D. I think for me it would be fairly easy to do something like
this, but its already been done as it were. And I should add its an excellent model all around so no need to do it again. <br />
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So with that in mind, my thoughts have started to coalesce around this, a scale model of Castle Von Wittgenstein from<a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/43658/death-reik"> Death on the Reik</a>. <br />
<img alt="" border="0" src="https://whfrp.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/4/0/12408478/698920850_orig.jpg?340" /><br />
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It's certainly an ambitious undertaking at a 25-28mm scale, but after this I think I can pull it off: <a href="http://dogsofwaronline.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1223&pid=22160#pid22160" target="_blank">http://dogsofwaronline.com/forum/sho...22160#pid22160</a><br />
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I don't think anyone has ever done something quite like this in terms of
an old-school module as a terrain piece, that is in WFRP terms.<br />
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Now, I do have the module (obviously) but one thing I'd have to decide
early on is which route to go. What do I mean by that? The floor
plan/map is not the same as the art which is to be expected.<br />
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<a href="http://www.dogsofwaronline.com/images/willmark/misc/castle_von_wittgenstein_map.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.dogsofwaronline.com/images/willmark/misc/castle_von_wittgenstein_map.png" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="800" height="446" width="640" /></a></div>
The tougher route to go with is the art because its just that one
picture from the cover and the backside not shown would require some
guess work based on the map.<br />
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NOTE: I've posted this a couple of different places (Chaos Dwarfs Online and the RPG Site) to gauge interest/ideas/feedback.<br />
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Right now this is in the idea phase only. Willmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13554909606828004686noreply@blogger.com5