Carcass Weekend Painting

Over the Thanksgiving (aka Bird Carcass Day) weekend, I got a little bit of painting done. Mostly just this second engineer to compliment the first. Again, using another bird for the notorious pigeon bombs. The lighting is a bit weird on this photo, so it's a bit "glowing."



Next, someone at Warhammer-Empire.com asked me about a close-up of the previous engineer's monocle, so here's the best I could do for that.


I painted it like a gem. There are a lot of tutorials for that, but I did a quick illustration with the same paints on a piece of paper & scanned it in.

This is what I did for the telescope lenses they both had as well.

Thanksgiving WFB

Over the weekend six of us got together to brush up on WFB 8th edition a bit more. Half of us had played a few games, the other half had either one or no games of 8th under their belt. We played 3 games at 1500 points. I had a second Thanksgiving dinner (this was Sarturday) to go to, so had to bail out on the third round.

I played Skaven. I took a couple big units of clanrats, two (worthless) weapon teams, a unit of rat ogres, some gutter runners (with an assassin) a WLC and an Abomination. My general was a Warlord on a Rat Ogre Bonebreaker. With the addition of a "warlock enhanced weapon," this model can put out 11 S5 attacks. (I don't think I ever did more than 3 wounds per round, however.)

I won my first game against Dogs of War (using that fan made PDF DoW armybook that's floating around the internets,) though it started off very rough. I took a lot of casualties from missile fire and lost my general and his depleted unit once they got into combat. The WLC was chased away almost immediately by a small unit of light cavalry, and both weapon teams were sniped.



This is a photo late in the game. The Abomination is stuck between a militia spear unit (background) and a pike unit (right.) Fortunately, due to the free-wheeling reform rules of 8th edtion, my unit of clanrats on the hill had fought a round of combat, won, chased off the spearmen in the far background, then fought a combat in the DoW turn, won, reformed, then charged the pike unit from behind then following turn. The Abomination, meanwhile, ran over to and ate half the spearmen in one round while suffering no wounds himself. From the jaws of defeat, I pulled victory.




My second game was against one of the other first round victors, Daemons of Chaos. This is a fairly early game shot. There's a unit of Bloodcrushers off in the far distance chasing my gutter runners. In the foreground is where my Abomination used to be, but the unit of Flamers made quick work of him (shooting.) So there are two infantry units (horrors & bloodletters) slowly advancing, while two units of hounds target my WLC and mortar team.





This is a little later. After the WLC was destroyed, my rat ogres turned in on the hounds and killed all but one. The horrors then flanked the rat ogres who rolled terrible, didn't cause a single wound but at least rolled snake eyes for their break test. The next turn the one remaining ogre ran and both units pursued, into the woods along the edge of the table.

The other set of hounds reformed after eating the mortar team and hit my clanrats (with the Warlord) in the flank. They were easily destroyed and the next turn both units of clanrats charged the bloodletters and annihilated them in a single turn.

So with that, the table was a mess, but we both had about half our armies in pretty good shape. My opponent had 2 bloodcrushers and a hero, plus about 12 horrors and 6 flamers. I had two full units of clanrats, my Warlord, BSB and a fire thrower.

Close game, but had it played out I think that if he kept the horrors away and just blasted away with me from a distance with the flamers, there's nothing I could have done. I think flamers are one of the most ridiculous units in the game, but since I had an abomination in my army, I couldn't complain too much as they are probably in the running for the second or third most ridiculous unit in the game. ;)





This is a shot of the start of one of the other second round games. Marauder heavy Warriors of Chaos on the left, Orcs & Goblins to the right. I don't know who won. The other army not shown in any of the photos was an Empire army.

Chaos Things, Engineer and Architect

A work in progress shot of some chaos Nurgle terminator things I'm painting for someone. There is so much going on with these figures, they're a real challenge to paint. Even just in terms of getting my paintbrush to where it needs to go!



Some English Civil War infantry command figures...



And for myself, I've painted a WFB Engineer. They're far more useful in the game now. They don't occupy a hero "slot" any more. Previously there were more important choices to take. They are relatively inexpensive, and their "master of gunnery" ability has been made more useful. Actually, artillery in general is more deadly, and even more so with this ability added in. Cap that off with the Engineer's equipment options. The two I currently like are the repeater pistol, which can be used to help defend against small infiltrating units hunting the vulnerable artillery, or the pigeon bombs, which can be devastating against lighter infantry units now that figures only partially under the template are automatically hit.

So this is the first of several engineers I plan on painting up.




I was digging through an art box full of drawing and modeling stuff and I came across this old model from school. It's a 1/2" = 1'-0" scale model of a chair. It was for a first year architectural projet. We designed a house, and in addition to drawings and a smaller scale model of the entire house, we had to select one room/space in the house and build a larger scale, more detailed model. I did a studio/study, and for some reason had an urge to build this chair as well (it related to the form of the room.)

Balearic Slingers

I've got to admit that I am a bit hesitant to post this pic, as I'm still getting used to my new lights and the light colors on these figures have really washed out. But I'm going to post it anyway, even though I think it makes the figures look poorly painted.

After talking with some of the other local painters/gamers, I think I need to invest in a light box as soon as I am able. I'm just having too many problems with light when photographing my figures.

Anyway... in my quest to finish off some of the half-started projects on my desk, I finished up a unit of 9 Balearic slingers. One of those units that's generically useful to many ancient armies. I picked up a pack of Foundry figures at a flea market, and added one misc. slinger (another Foundry? Greek?) to bump the unit up to 9.

Photo Bonanza

A bunch of photos this time. Like I said, I'm trying to fill up with commissions, so I've been working on a number of those. I also snuck in a few figures for myself.



First up, a GW dragon that took me forever to finish. This was an addition to an army I had previously painted. Someday I should try to get the entire thing together for photos (army owned by someone local.)






Handgunners for a new army commission I've just started. Plus a single pic of the ogre in the back rank.




After those, I squeezed in a few of my own handgunners. Still a few more to finish up after these.




That's it for now. On deck (or desk, if you prefer) are some ECW command figures, some high elf infantry, some chaos marines, a few other odds & ends (touch ups, basing, etc.) and hopefully a few more of my own figures get done as well. I'm also expecting a package in the mail with some other figures to paint.

Once I get some of the initial work settled & scheduled out, I will probably be open for some more commissions very soon. Preferably larger sized ones. Anyone interested can email me if they'd like. My email (if it's not on my profile here) is the name of the blog - at - gmail.com. My prices are generally in the neighborhood of $10 per infantry figure, and 1.5x-2x that price for cavalry. But there are a lot of variables, so that can go up or down based on each individual commission.

Back in the Saddle

As implied in my last entry, I'm now unemployed. More or less. I'm jumping on some painting commissions, so I have once again been painting. 98% of it has not been my own figures, but paining makes me happier than sitting in front of a computer all day. So it's not neccessarily a bad thing. After all, I need to do something for income. If things work out, maybe I will stick with painting for a while. It's a bit of an uncertain venture, but less so than total unemployment. (I'm still pursuing some other options as well.)

I will be working in some figures of my own at some point. In the meantime, I did paint one figure for myself. Very quickly. I had already done the conversion and the flesh, so I quickly added a bit of color and the base. It was a broken Empire handgunner. I'm not even certain where/how I came into possession of this figure. So I cut off the front of a crossbow from the militia sprue and glued it on where the barrel of the gun used to be. Yes, he's got his little shot packages... I didn't think about that until I was actually painting the figure. But I think once he's in a unit of crossbowmen, he'll just blend in. I'll probably stick him in the back rank anyway.

Another Mini-swap Figure

It's been so long since I've used my Marienburg army, I had forgotten that the gobbo I received in the mini-swap at Grover's Grillfest this past summer was still hiding in the humans' ranks.

So I painted up his base to match the rest of my figures and have added him to my display case, alongside the plague bearer I received last year.



The price of admission to the Grillfest is one painted figure. Towards the end of the evening, we have a random draw to see who takes home which figure. Coincidentally, I had also brought a night goblin this year.

Game Day 23

This weekend was another Game Day, held at the home of one of the members of my old gaming club. There were four time slots, each with two games running.



I missed the early slot, but got there in time to play a home-brewed giant robot game. The object was to recover some crashed alien technology and remove it off your own side of the table. Our side failed pretty badly -- but we did contribute to the carnage quite a bit. The other game going on at this time was WWI aerial combat, Blue Max/Canvas Eagles using 1/72 planes. I was too wrapped up in 'bot destruction to get any pics.



Third time slot featured Circus Maximus chariot racing, using 15mm figures and a great looking homemade circus field. At the other table there was a game of Kill Zone (28mm futuristic gang warfare.)


The fourth time slot was my game, a 3000 point game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Empire vs. Skaven. Each side split into four sub-groups so I could accommodate up to 8 players. As the evening started to wind down, the group thinned out a bit, so the other event (cards?) didn't happen.


When I went outside to get the figures from the car, I thought I had seen a portent of victory for one of the armies...


...but as it turned out, the game was a draw. Each army seemed to do better on their own left flank, while the center was a fairly jumbled mess.

Good News/Bad News

The good news is that I will have a lot more time for painting now.

The bad news is that I will have a lot more time for painting now.

Hundred Years War

There's talk of a Hundred Years War WAB campaign event at Cold Wars next year, so I'm considering that might be a good excuse to get some focus on my upcoming painting time.

Most of my medievals are later 15th century, but I do have a head start on a HYW army. The two options that look good for me at the moment are Burgundians (probably using the later Burgundian list again) and Flanders (Low Countries.)

The figures I already own that are appropriate for the era are...

60 Flemish Pike
20 Crossbow
20 Halberdiers
40 +/- Misc. melee troops
A few ribaldquins & one cannon


Depending which way I go with this, I will need to pick up a few more things. What I need in either case are some infantry command, some mounted characters (general and army standard,) and some medium and heavy cavalry. I can probably squeeze in a small unit of archers in either army as well. If I go Flemish, I will some more pike. If I go Burgundian... well, probably just a larger proportion of cavalry and no additional pike.

WFB Warm-up

Next weekend I'm running a WFB 8th edition game at the game club's Game Day 23. Most of the participants have either not played 8th edition yet, or have only a small number of games under their belt. That includes me. So my friend Rich & I playtested the game this past Sunday.

The game was 3000 points of Skaven vs. Empire. I took command of the Skaven, Rich ran Empire. In the photo above you can see my advancing rodent horde closing in on his more defensive minded humans, along with the 27 he rolled for casting one of the fire spells (I forget the name at the moment - it did d3 hits per rank.)


I tried to keep the armies somewhat simple, with just a few heroes with limited magic items. I wanted to have some of the cool toys from each army, though.

The Empire was (roughly):

General, Wizard Lord (Fire), Engineer, Battle Standard
2 x 30 Swordsmen
2x 10 Handgunners
30 Spearmen
10 Crossbow
25 Greatswords
2 x 6 Knights
7 Pistoliers
2 x Cannons
1 Mortar
1 Rocket Battery
1 Steam Tank

Skaven were:
Warlord, Grey Seer, Plague Priest (on Furnace), Battle Standard
3 x 30 Clanrats with spears
1 x Ratling Gun
1 x Globe Mortar
1 x Warp Fire Thrower
2 x 42 Slaves with spears
30 Plague Monks
24 Rats & Handlers
4 Rat Ogres & handlers
6 Gutter Runners + Warp Grinder
1 Abomination
1 Warp Lightning Cannon


As is the theme of 8th edition, the game was pretty random throughout. The game swung back and forth, with both of us more or less at the mercy of the dice.

By the time we called it, the Skaven looked to be winning by a small margin. It's hard to judge when a couple rolls of the dice can completely change the outlook, though.

I've been playing WFB for 6 of its 8 editions and believe that until this point it only improved with each revision. I'm going to give 8th edition at least a half dozen more games. So far, however, I'm pretty dissatisfied. I simply don't feel like it's as fun (for me) as past editions. That contrasts with some of the other games I've read or played recently (Black Powder, Crusader, or even WAB2) which have seemed much more rewarding & entertaining.

Mini-Exchange (recipient)

I received my package for the Warhammer-Empire.com miniatures exchange. In the package, I found not one but three figures from ChumpChange. He painted and sent me the oldschool artillery crew below. I love these old figures, especially the "master gunner" in the center. I appreciate that he painted stipes on the guy to the left. I like the way that looks, but I'm usually too lazy/hurried to do it myself.

I'm actually short on artillery crew, so these are a very welcome addition to the army of Marienburg. I'm basing them up to match my figures today, and they will be seeing action right away, today and next weekend!


I really enjoy doing these mini-exchanges and I'm contemplating organizing some sort of figure exchange of my own.

Empire Standard (mini-swap) & Update on Previous Entry

Below is an Empire standard bearer that I painted for the annual surprise miniatures exchange at Warhammer-Empire.com. This year I drew the name of one of the forum's most prolific and imposing modelers. I was a bit intimidated, so decided to go with a "stock" figure rather than try to model something myself. I figured I would try to paint something a bit extra, though, so I went with a standard bearer. My recipient has multiple Empire armies, and I was actually trying (unsuccessfully) to come with a good idea for a Nuln or Engineer's College standard. Then one day my wife put Finding Nemo in the DVD player. The next day I flipped through the Empire Heraldry and Uniforms book and came across the imagery of the angler fish type creature that, according to the book, is sometimes used by Stirland troops in the region of the River Stir. I also liked the idea of bright colors lightening up the tone of an otherwise metal encased figure (metals are not my strong point.) So all those things came together for the idea below. I'll have some other Empire figures to show off in my next entry. So a bit of an follow-up to the previous entry.... First off, here's my Halloween Costume. I decided to go with a leathery look to the mask instead of the usual carnivale white look. I had already veered from "tradtion" with my lenses, so figured I'd just do my own thing. I incorporated some old prescription sunglass lenses into the eye-pieces, so I could actually see out of the mask! (At least when I wasn't overheating in it. I'm making a few adjustments to it this week and will probably wear it to a Dia de los Muertos celebration this coming weekend. I'm considering dying the robes a darker color too. And this is the watercolor ("Lost Snabbit") that I donated to the gallery benefit/fundraiser I mentioned previously. I can't seem to take decent pictures of watercolors, as the light end always gets horribly washed out. But this is the best I could do. I'll be attending the benefit later on the same day as the Dia de los Muertos parade & festivities. Busy weekend again.