The Old World Army Challenge

In the last year or so I've been pretty quiet on the Oldhammer front, as I've been involved in Epic and some Sci-Fi skirmish forces. While not exactly finished, my Chaos army is looking pretty good these days and I've managed to play quite a few Oldhammer games with it. Officially it's only missing a unit of Chaos Knights, which I really hope to finish sooner than later.

So this Summer, while playing a game with Chris, my fellow Northeast Oldhammer brother from Vermont, we discussed the idea of creating some kind of challenge to help us embark on a new project. 

The idea lay dormant for a few months until Chris sent me a PM a few weeks ago, inquiring if I was still game. Of course I was. So we set-up some rules and ideas, and we advertised the idea on the Facebook "Oldhammer in the new World" group. I told Chris that, if we managed to get 12 participants, we should call ourselves "The Dirty Dozen", and Chris answered "If we manage to find 12 guys you mean..."

hahaha good times. We actually managed to find 35 guys! Yeah, crazy I know. So I'm now the founder and one of the three Admin of the Old World Army Challenge. Everything you want to know is in the blog, including the rules. It's an entirely different beast from the Analogue Hobby Challenge, in the objective and the rules, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I borrowed some ideas from Curt, especially about the blogging logistics of things.

What do I get out of it? A Goblin army. I've been thinking about doing this army for a long time, but at the same time the numbers involved were terrifying. But I work very well on peer pressure, so that should be the push I need. 

You can read about my project on the blog. Obviously I will also share pics and posts here.

Wish me luck.

Analogue Challenge Post-mortem (or better late than never)

Better late than never

(Apologies for my complete absence the last two months, I needed a small break from the hobby after being burned out by the challenge! Well, that and a lot of time had to be spent on spring gardening/pool start-up/etc.. Anyways, here is the very late post-morten of my 3 month) winter Analogue challenge)

Well, it was a fantastic Challenge for me, finally! My last few challenges have been plagued by a house flood, health issues and a house move, but this year I was ready and all in, and I managed by far my very best total, with 704 pts. My previous best was 510 pts, so I can safely say this was my most successful challenge (I participated in the last 5 challenges).

Here I am, proud owner of 150 new painted figures!

I really worked on my productivity this year, my main goal to make good progress on various gaming projects, and I achieved that. I was completely burned out at the end, so that was a pretty good sign I worked my butt off during three months! I also managed to participate in all bonus theme round, terrain excepted, so that was also a good accomplishment for me.

It wasn't all perfect, of course, as I manage to lose the 30K duel quite badly, lost my race to the finish with Curt and got into a tie with Sander for a 80s GI Joe duel! Of course, these duels were mainly there for fun, and they achieved their objectives! Although I do owe some figures to some people!

A better view at 3 months work

What I really liked this challenge is that I managed to finish or almost finish 4 sides for my gaming projects : an Emperor's Children force (2/3 done), a Sci-Fi Skirmish force (done), a Pulp Cobra side (almost done) and a Halfling force (more than I need!).

The Emperor's Children :

The Vordania II Insurrectio

The Halflings

And the Cobra 

As well as a few Oldhammer figures, Zombicide and more!

So yeah, that was fun. As with most summer, I don't expect this place will be filled with new painting, but I'll try my best to prep stuff for the Fall. Maybe a few new painting here and there, of course.

Next post I'll try to finish a battle report I've been working on. Played an Oldhammer game this winter and didn't yet write the damn battle report!

Hail to the King, baby

Alright you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my BOOMSTICK! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?

When I was maybe 11, I saw late at night a horror movie called Evil dead. It terrified me. So of course I watched Evil Dead II not long after and was also terrified, again. The "humour" in the movie escaped me, and the fact the main hero, Ash, spends a good half of the movie alone, tormented by evil demonic forces really made a number on me. But the worst part was the movie's ending, in which our hero gets propelled back in medieval times, not the happy ending you want for your horror movie.

Lady, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the store.

And who the hell are you?

Name's Ash. [cocks rifle] 

Housewares.

Two years later, I saw a commercial for Army of Darkness, and I realized it was the sequel to Evil Dead! Finally I would knew what happened to Ash! As I was 13, and the movie was PG-13, I went to see it in the theater. I quickly realized that the sequel was much more lighthearted than the original, and while for a moment it disappointed me I rapidly fell for it's humour, and laughed for 90 minutes straight. 

You found me beautiful once...

Honey, you got reeeal ugly!

To this day, Army of Darkness is one of the movies I've seen the most often, and I can recite most of the movie lines by heart. And they're so many classic quotes in that movie! 

It's a trick. Get an axe.

Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.

I got this Hasslefree miniatures a while back, because obviously as a die hard fan of the serie I needed it, and obviously when I saw the last bonus round theme (TV or movie character) I knew what I had to do! At first I wanted to do a diorama, but after painting the figure the wargamer in me whispered to my ear "you'll want to play with him, are you sure a diorama is a good idea?" That combined with lack of time as I've been working really hard on that Pulp duel with Sander made me decide he would be enough. And who am I kidding? Of course, Ash is enough! 

I intend to use him in Pulp games, and also of course Zombicide! And who knows, Oldhammer maybe? It's a great figure, and I'm really happy with my painting.

Sure, I could have stayed in the past. I could have even been king. But in my own way, I *am* king.

Hail to the king, baby.

A few more Halflings...

Why not, hey? In what is quite possibly my last Halflings of the winter (and challenge), here's another batch of 5 of the little fellows, and it includes some of my favourites, as today we have a berserker, a Wizard, a Honey Mage, a General and a Psion.

From left to right : Psion, Berserker, Wizard, General Bilbo Bonaparte, Honey Mage

Yes, we have ourselves our very first Napoleonic Halfling, people! And not any Napoleonic soldier, but the man himself, Emperor of the Halflings, general extraordinaire Bilbo Bonaparte. Funny thing is, and I don't remember who it was,  but someone in a comment asked if there was any Napoleonic Halflings. I smiled at the time, knowing this guy was coming. 

The Berserker is one of my favourite sculpt of the range, and I gave her the fiery orange hair of her fanatic Dwarven cousins, Slayers of Trolls. I'm also very pleased with the wizard, as I'm really happy with my painting on him, especially his flaming hands, which I think I nailed. And one cannot not talk about the Honey Mage! It make so much sense that Halflings would've come up with a school of magic that gives them unlimited honey! I love the bees all over her, and the honey dipper wizard staff is a seriously nice touch.

I had a LOT of fun painting all these Halflings; so often the subjects of our painting is serious, with monsters and wars and such, that this was just a very refreshing little project. However I believe these will my last of the winter as I'm also working on a side duel due for early March (it's coming Sander, no worries. It's gonna be awesome) and I would like to add a few pts to that 30K duel. I did managed to paint 25 of 'em little fellows, and since my goal was between 20 and 25 I can say "mission accomplie". I have quite enough to create a LeafGrave warband, and I even have the choice between three Wizards! So I gather it is time for a family portrait of the bunch. 

So that's 25 more points. Now if you'll excuse me, second midnight snack is coming...

Halflings Part IV (LeafGrave project)

And here he was, a little halfling from the Shire, a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go. It was an evil fate.

Not very original, am I?

Yes, five more Halflings this week. I'm just amazed I managed to keep my pledge of five per week, really! And for this week we have a pretty bizarre and heteroclite bunch of little men, with a Digger, a Potion Maker, a Linksman, a Thief and a Warrior Princess (!). Some of these are definitely on the silly side of things, but it's what makes this range's charm. 

From left to right : Potion Maker, Digger, Warrior Princess, Linksman and (80s) Thief

I'm quite pleased with the way the Warrior-Princess came out, as I didn't want to go with a boring metal or gold plated "armour". She reminds me of the Princess in one of the Super Mario NES game., I even resisted the urge of painting her pink! I do love her gigantic sword. Make fun of her incredibly impractical armour at your own risk, fellas!

Notice the Linksman's golf bag filled with weapons! 

And then we have the Thief, dressed as a 80s hair band member for some reason, complete with the haircut, the tight pants, the headband and the short coat with glitter and epaulets! When I saw it, I figured I just had to paint it as the Europe band singer, complete with white jacket, pink pants and blonde hair! Those were the days, am I right?!

Makes for a lousy thief's attire if you ask me, maybe she can bling her victims' attention away from her pick pocketing? 

Anyways, silly and fun bunch, silly post, good fun to help survive a sad February. I'm up to 20 Halflings done, and my goal was 25, so I might just skip a week next week. Or not. We'll see.

And another 25 pts

Emperor's Children additions (30K, Epic Style Part IV)

More Emperor's Children for my Epic Horus Heresy project. I've been painting these in between Halflings. One of the things I enjoy about painting Epic is that it's a nice change of pace; sometimes I'm just really tired of working on 28mm figures and I just switch in the middle of a session to painting little tanks and it gives me renewed energy and motivation.

So this week we have three support detachment sporting the Purple & Gold of your favourite Legions of depraved sociopaths. 

First up, a detachment of 4 Predators. These are the Annihilator variants, equipped with turret-mounted Twin-linked "Stormbringer" Lascannons as opposed to the basic turret-mounted Autocannon on the Predator Destructor. I always had a soft spot for the Predators' look, as I find it looks good without being over the top.

Up next, we move one size up to a quatuor of Sicaran Battle Tanks, one of the most advanced armoured vehicles used by the Space Marine Legions during the Horus Heresy. These powerful vehicles were exclusive to the armouries of the Legiones Astartes and were just in the process of being introduced as a standard vehicle of the Legions when the Horus Heresy broke out. This allowed the Warmaster Horus to ensure that many examples of the new tank found their way only into the armouries of the "traitor" Legions that would side with him before the outbreak of his rebellion against the Emperor. Yes, Horus is the kind of leader you can count on!

Not very point effective for the duel though, as they are rather big for a measly 2 pts! But that drawback is more than offset by their badassery and their awesome look!  These guys are big and mean, and style wise fit perfectly with my philosophically agressive Emperor's Children.

And last for this week is a Legion Outrider Squad. I needed more speed for my Legion, and these guys look the part. These mechanized Space Marine reconnaissance squads are mounted on all-terrain Assault Bikes and are responsible for performing scouting missions and conducting guerrilla attacks behind enemy lines.  I quite like the models, although in hindsight I'm wondering if I should've put two bikes per bases. Of course, that would've required twice as many bikes and twice the cost! Anyways, the detachment still looks good to me, even if pictures are a bit hard to get right because they are so very small!

And a family picture, just to give some perspective on the size of each models.

Next up for this project; more infantry for my Emperor's Children, and probably another Super Heavy Tank.

And another 22 pts for the challenge.

Halflings, Part III (LeafGrave project)

Judge me by my size, do you?

Those of you actually reading my ramblings may recall that the Halflings are meant, amongst other things, to play some Frostgrave games (which I renamed LeafGrave for this project). And to play LeafGrave, you need at least two very important things : 1) a wizard and 2) an apprentice. So it was time to paint one of each! Also this week a Paladin, a bard and a fighter.

From left to right: Fighter, Bard, Apprentice, Mage and Paladin

The Mage is to be used as an Elementalist for LeafGrave. I didn't painted the Apprentice in the same colour scheme as the Mage, which many people do, as I wanted the Apprentice to blend with other of my Halflings wizards. 

Because yes, I have a few more Halflings wizards from that range so that will leave me the option of building different Halfling warbands with different wizards. I expect you'll see at least one or two more practitioner of magic in the next month or so! I did however gave the apprentice the same type of "lightning blue" magic flame to tie him up. 

I hope you keep enjoying the little guys as much as I enjoy painting them. It's like going through all the possible D&D Character classes, 5 Halflings at a time.

More Halflings (possibly, probably) to come next week!

And another 25 pts for the Challenge

Female Assassin

Assassins take no pride in fighting fairly. We take pride in winning.

A single piece for this week's Challenge; a female assassin from Dark Swords Miniatures. The figure is not attached to any planned games or project, really, it's a Christmas gift from the girlfriend. Now usually when she gives me figures as gift they go into the lead pile, and she gets to see them painted many moons later, so this year I decided to do something different and put it in my priority pile!

So there she is, I painted her as a single so I did spend more time on her than most other figures, and I'm really happy I did as I think she looks gorgeous! The figure itself is n awesome sculpt and has that nice Old School vibe the fantasy masters at Dark Sword still manage to produce. It's a very simple sculpt, no skulls or extra belts and stuff, but it is very effective.

Yes, I couldn't resist using some pink on the female warrior, cliché you might say, but I just love the colour and any excuse to use it is good with me! I tried to offset the bright colour with a darker mauve cloak, a very simple basing and some grey pants. I quite like the final results.

Now, of course, being who I am it might just be the start of a Frostgrave or Songs of Blades and Heroes warband! Somewhere the evil masters at Dark Swords are smiling, knowing I need at least 10 more of their figures...

(and a small but satisfying 5 pts for the Challenge)

Halflings Part II (LeafGrave project)

More StoneHaven Halflings this week, as I'm keeping up with my goals of painting 5 per week. The little buggers are a ton of fun to paint, and since each one is very different it keeps me from being bored of painting the same thing.

And so this week we have a gardener, a lorekeeper, a ranger, a ratcatcher and a skelly.

From left to right : Ranger, Gardener, Ratcatcher, Skelly and Lorekeeper

I exceptionally went with a different base style for the skeleton as the nice and happy goblin green didn't seem to fit very well with him. That figure is very cool, and the smoking pipe is a nice touch. I love the funny details on many of them; if you look closely, the Lorekeeper, just like any good teacher, has elbow patches on his jacket!

Same as the previous Halflings,  I used green and brown when possible while still going all over the place in terms of colours, to keep their individuality.

25 more points for the challenge!

Halflings, Part I (LeafGrave project)

As I mentionned in a previous post, I'm starting the work on a LeafGrave/Fantasy skirmish project ; the first Warband is a band of Halflings. I have around 40 of the little buggers from a StoneHaven Kickstarter, and I'd like to paint at least 20 of them for the Painting Challenge. The plan is to paint 5 of them per week, give or take a few weeks.

And it starts this week. As I mentioned, what I really love about the range is that each figures represents a RPG "class" or "profession", and every one of them is unique and full or personality. For this first batch of 5, we have the fighter, the chief, the cleric, the archer and the Rogue.

From left to right: fighter, cleric, chief, archer and rogue

The figures are lovely and super detailed, and have that Halfling caricatural look that I like. While painting them I realized one doesn't save that much time  when "batch painting" 5 completely different figures with different colour schemes! I wouldn't paint 10 at a time, that's for sure. 

I painted each one individually, but I did favour green and brown tones, which I find are traditional Halflings colours. I went with a super old school "goblin green" style of base to get a bit of that old 80s Citadel/AD&D vibe, but also because I didn't want to detract from the figures and wanted to keep a very woodland vibe to the whole bunch.

So 5 28mm (if a bit of the smaller side of the scale! ) figures equals 25pts to add to my challenge total!

Emperor's Children Armoured Division (30K, Epic style, Part III)

Children of the Emperor! Death to his foes! 

Well here it is, the first painted miniatures of my 30K Epic project; an Armoured Division (combined arms) of Emperor's Children. Of couse, I had to start with the forces of hope and change!

As mentionned in a previous post, the Emperor's Children, the IIIrd Legion, was always one of my favourite "traitor" legion. Mostly, I'll admit, because I find the purple & gold colour scheme looks really good on the battlefield, especially in the smaller scale. Their name, also, has always been a favourite of mine. Of course, I could also mention the Legion's "joie de vivre", so refreshing in this dark and grim world of the Emperor! Of course, the cheap propaganda of the Emperor has repeatedly referred to the Legion as made-up of hedonistic psychopaths! 

The Legion has a bit of a perfectionist complex and strives for perfection in all their endeavours and continuously works to perfect their military operations. Sustained not merely by the example of their peers but by a deep individual belief in their duty to their superiors and the Legion as a whole, they fought to the best of their abilities in all conditions, whether the battle was a massive attack or a simple patrol. Favouring a quick-strike and agressive approach to combat, I intend to give them more speed as the force grows.

I don't think I've ever worked that hard to get a colour right as I did with this purple. It's a good thing Rhino models are cheap because I tested at least five different recipes; every time I would paint a whole Rhino, to see how it looked finished with proper shading, metal work, etc. The purple was usually either too dark, too light or the shading and highlights were not visible enough. I wanted a purple which was bright but still a bit "evil" looking and not overly pink like the original EC colour scheme (I actually tried that at first but it was too much, even for a pink fan like me).
In the end, I went to my local GW stores and found my purple recipe! And I never use GW paints, other than  a few glaze and my trusted Leadbelcher. But finding the right colours and contrasts will make or break an Epic force. I then used the traditionnal white and gold secondary colours of the Emperor's Children to pick up details and add a touch of diversity to this field of Lilacs!

Painting technique was fairly simple (and all painted by hand, no airbrush here) : base coat, then a good wash of Army Painter wash, careful drybrush of highlight colour, and then a second edge highlight to pick up the details. Final details were then picked up with Brazen/gold and light grey/white.

I'm very happy with the results. 

So for this first painted Division, we have :

Space Marines clad in Mark III armours. The rules for Epic 30K requires rather big infantry formations, but it does look good. In the middle of the formation you can see a stand of sergeants with their white crest.

Rhino Armoured Personnel Carrier to transport the lads into combat. These are the classic, old school plastic Rhinos which came in the Space Marines box set of the late eighties. They aged remarkably well.

Land Raiders, famous and reliable heavy tank and transport vehicle. Also the original plastic models of my youth. The model has also aged remarkably well. The nostalgia feeling was high while painting these! 

Then a talon of Deredeo Dreadnoughts, my favourite dreadnoughts. They look really cool and remind me of some of the Robotech mech of my youth. I must say I gave these guys a bit of extra love and I think it paid off, as I really like how they came out! 

And finally, the big boys! Legion Fellblades, Super Heavy main battle tanks equipped with compact Mechanicum Atomantic Arc-reactor technology, a reinforced metaplas alloy chassis which provides protection superior to that of nearly all other Imperial armoured vehicles, and a (very visible) advanced Accelerator Cannon as its primary armament. Not to be fucked with. 

These are massive models measuring 45mm(!) in length and I spent a substantial amount of time working on them. I love their looks, and the additions of the legion symbols on the side doors makes for a welcome addition for someone like me who's freehand deficient!

And finally, the mandatory picture of 6mm figures next to a canadian penny! always wanted to do that! For you see, this force is my first time painting 6mm, in fact it's my first time painting another scale than 28mm! (Crazy, I know!) Bit of a leaning curve especially the first batch of infantry (I swore a little at first) but I got the hang of it pretty quickly and I really enjoy painting the little scale. I might be hooked. The girlfriend thinks I'm officially crazy for painting such tiny soldiers!

Points wise, for the challenge we have :

40 infantry x 0.5 : 20 pts

8 vehicles : 16 pts

2 Super Heavy : 8 pts

6 "guns" (dreadnoughts) : 6 pts

So a total of 50 pts to add to my total, and my first foray into the 30K duel! Huzzah!

This was entered as my submission in the Armour Bonus Theme Round . If you like it please go vote for me!! Rewards includes bragging rights, hobby goodies and extra points for the challenge. 

The Vordania II Insurrectio

Freedom looks beautiful and inspiring to those who desire & seek it; but Freedom looks like rebellion to those who have become complacent in hiding.

Antin Sanu, ex-commissar of the Imperium, leader of the Vordania II Insurection

Vordiana II is a small planet on the outskirt of the Majorian System. Like most planets of the system, it exists under the Imperium's "protection". Such protection is of course very expensive and the planet's government must supply resources on an annual basis, both material and human, to support their benefactor. The constant state of war and conquests by the Imperium has put a severe burden on such small planets, and Vordiana II, stricken by a string of planetary water drought, has become a world devastated by famine and poverty. After years of such conditions, the recent "enrollment" of a large proportion of the male youth population of the planet has been the catalyst and the cause of a female-led, popular resistance movement amongst the lower and middle class of the planet. Led by Antin Sanu, a crafty ex-military commissar of the Imperium, the insurrection has been a thorn in the side of the pro-Imperium government of Vordiana II for more than a year now; raids, sabotage, and the assassination of Imperium embassy personnel have been the bread and butter of the operation. 

Mostly equipped with older weapons and equipments and whatever they can salvage, the Insurrectio has used the "maquis" example of organization, dividing itself into self-contained and independent rural guerrilla bands and can be best described as a paramilitary organization, although the government has labelled them a terrorist organization, "rebels" to be exterminated at all costs.

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The "Insurrectio" is my second Sci-Fi outfit, after the Effigy Corporation. It is meant as a small "spaceband", to play in various Sci-Fi skirmishes. I find the figures, just like the Effigy Corporation, would fit equally well in some Pulp, Cyberpunk or distant future Sci-Fi settings. They could also be used in a pinch as Imperial Guards in a Rogue Trader game. And of course, could be used as the small principled band of resistance fighters against the highly trained Havoc Teams of the Effigy Corporation! My intro above is one of many uses for these lovely figures!

Same as the other outfit, the project is largely an excuse for me to paint some lovely Sci-Fi figures I've been eying for a while and which don't neatly fit in any actual game system. They also make for easy "transportable forces" for games away from home.

This merry band of female fighters is from the "Resistance Fighters" range from Statuesque Miniatures and it is a lovely little range. The sculpts are truly fantastic and full of personality, and were a joy to paint. My only criticism would be that some delicate assembly is involved, and gluing small hands or arms is always annoying, even more so on delicate female sculpts. I believe this is my first ever all women outfit! It is made-up of 13 members, including a (sexy) Cyborg!

The "Vordania II Insurrectio" 

I tried to give the outfit a unified theme of green and purple while still giving each figure some personality.  I'm happy with the end result.

The bad ass girls of the Insurrectio

First up we have the Command group: Antin Sanu in her commissar uniform and her cadre of officers. The two middle figures are probably my favourites of the range, they have *loads* of attitude!

Next up the heavy weapons and communication specialist. I love the extra-sized Thompson-style heavy machine gun!

and then we have the regular Insurrectio fighters, with the Cyborg in the middle. Actually, the Cyborg was part of Statuesque's Pulp range, and is meant to be a Fembot of sort, but the addition of the cyborg head makes all the difference and I find the figure fits very well with the rest of the girls. I also wanted each of my Sci-Fi outfit to have a robot of some sort, and she fits the bill.

There's a few figures from the range I still haven't painted, as they were OOP when I made my purchase, so I might add a few extra girls to the band one day. Or not, as it is the right size for what I'm aiming for. 

I haven't decided (or bought) my next Sci-Fi oufit, but I'm thinking something "Imperial" in nature...

These gals are my second entry in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and will net me a total of 65 pts (13 28mm figures). Now, let's move to smaller things, like Halflings and Epic stuff...