The Alcanti Fellowship and The Birdmen of Catrazza - 10mm Dogs of War

Today I undertake a short return visit to my 10mm Warhammer Fantasy project. Over the past few years I've had a lot of fun creating massed bases of 10mm fantasy units for the Empire, Tomb Kings, Beastmen and Orc & Goblins. 

Nonetheless, my favourite force has to be 'The Dogs of War'. 

First up are 'The Alcatani Fellowship'. Pikemen in Warhammer Fantasy (well, the old version anyway) were very rare, in fact they could only be found as mercenary troops hailing from the city states of Tilea. 

Though vulnerable on their flanks, pike formations can be rather nasty when faced frontally, with many a cavalry commander ruing the day they charged a well prepared pike phalanx. The Alcatani Fellowship are unique in that they don't always fight for money, but often offer their services to fight injustice and tyranny. GW's version of social justice warriors. 

These 10mm fellas are 3d prints from MiniRat Studios. Great little models and they printed-up a treat. They have quite a bit going on with them so not a quick paint, but they look good all ranked up (there are about 85 figures in this unit).

Next are the Birdmen of Catrazza. One thing I really enjoyed about the 'Dogs of War' list was its sly nod to all sorts of Renaissance Italy ephemera such as Lucrezia Borgia's poisons, mercenary pikemen and Leonardo Da Vinci's whacky inventions. The Birdmen of Catrazza are very much along this vein and remain as much-loved models from the original range. 

These are 10mm renditions of the Birdmen from Varus Miniatures. Beautiful models and a real joy to paint. 

For their basing I decided to try a forced perspective with a tiny windmill on a range of treed hills. It was fun to do.

And for a final shot, here is my Dogs of War force to-date, with the Alcanti Fellowship and the Birdmen joining Bronzino's Galloper Guns and Braganza's Besiegers. Getting close to a real force. I just need more pikemen, always more pikemen...

Thanks for popping by for a visit. I hope you have a terrific day!

- Curt

10mm Nasty-Baddies for Warhammer Fantasy

Hi There!

I've been plugging away at these bad lads over the winter months and I thought I'd just post what was ready to go.

The vanguard of the my Great Herd.

First up are two herds of Beastmen Gors. As these are supposed to reflect massed formations, I put these fellas on deeper bases. I've popped in a few trees and a burned out cottage to give the bases a bit of variation amongst these horny (horned?) lads.

Supporting the Gor foot are two herds of Centigors. After painting these I thought I had ran out of skirmishing bases, which is why there are the two sizes shown here. Of course, I finished these only to find some proper sized bases tucked away in the Dork Shed. *facepalm* Whatever. I'll rebase the offending unit later... 

Next up are two units of Cairn Wraiths. These were a very simple paintjob (Contrast 'Aethermatic Blue' uppers and 'Plaguebearer Flesh' below the waist). Nonetheless I like the overall effect and am happy to have a few more of these to cause some ghostly mayhem on the tabletop. 

Finally are two units of Khorne Bloodletters to add to my Daemonic host. What to say, just a passel of nasty, pointy-spikey fellas. Again, a pretty straighforward paint recipe, but they suitably look the part when all based-up.

Now, let's switch gears and look to Troy...

Have a great day!

Curt

10mm Warhammer Fantasy Goblins

For the past few years our local gaming group has been using a fantasy variant of  'To the Strongest' for our 'Old World' of Warhammer games. We've been enjoying a hotly contested map campaign since last spring which is now drawing to its nail-biting conclusion. The hustle-bustle of the campaign has encouraged us to add units to our existing forces, and as a result here we have the Goblins benefitting from this surge in industry on my part. All the models are from Green Skin Miniatures.

In our campaign the Goblins are the spoiler force, run by the GM (me) to add a bit of friction to the players' plans. The little blighters invariably get creamed, but its always fun to see them in action. 

Any self-respecting Goblin commander knows that he needs hordes of infantry, so here we have two fresh mobs of Night Goblins to bolster the Greenskin line of battle.

The combination of 10mm figures and larger bases allowed me to have a little fun in composing the units. As Night Goblins like to imbibe on trippy mushrooms from time to time (meaning ALL the time), I thought a cluster here and there of narcotic fungi would be apropos. 

The next Night Goblin regiment is benefitting from the enthusiastic support of a Snotling Pump Wagon. (If 'support' means getting crushed into red paste by a huge spiked roller.) With friends like these, who needs... Well, nevermind.

So, if one Snotling Pump Wagon is good then a whole unit must be the cat's pyjamas.  Toot! Toot! Parp! Parp!

A battery of Bolt Throwers keen to miss everything they aim at and perhaps hit something they didn't.

Goblin wolf riders doing, you know, wolfy and ridery things.

A horde of hungry Squigs being cajoled and chivied along by their Night Goblin overseers. I had a bit of fun printing squigs in various scales to give the unit more of a unformed look.

And finally, a Goblin commander proudly watching his horde (just before it breaks down into internecine bickering and complete chaos).   

Thanks for popping by!

- Curt

10mm Warhammer 'Dogs of War' - Bronzino's Galloper Guns & Braganza's Besiegers

Hellooo!

Here I present the beginnings of a new contingent for my 10mm Warhammer collection. It's time to let loose the 'Dogs of War'!

Old Sweats of Warhammer will recognize these two 'Regiments of Renown' from the original Warhammer 5th Ed supplement 'Dogs of War' (1998). It was such a unique and characterful army. I remember meeting GregB for the very first time while he was playing a tournament using his DoW force (and remember the poor Bretonnian player being schooled on what happens when cavalry frontally charges a formation of pike). I still have a dog-eared copy of the army book that I enjoy looking through from time to time.

First up are 'Braganza's Besieger' who are a mercenary company of heavy crossbowmen. Their specialty is to support the shock infantry in the front ranks. They all wear heavy plate armour and have pavise shields to help them weather incoming missile fire. 

For a bit of fun, I placed them amidst some ruins, thinking of something analogous to their name.  A tough bunch of characters, to be sure.

Next up is 'Bronzino's Galloper Guns'. 

I think this unit may be the only classic horse artillery in the Warhammer world. This battery of light guns specializes in quickly running up their cannon close to the enemy, cracking off a few rounds, and then nimbly limbering up to scoot away before things get too hot. They are meant to be proper infuriating. 

The figures for these two units are 3d prints. The crossbowmen are from Polish Lightning Miniatures, and the horse artillery are from Onmioji Miniatures. Fabulous digital models both.

While this may be a creditable start, the force really needs some more meat on its bones. I think some massed pikemen will be on the horizon soon. Hopefully more on that in the weeks to come!

Have a great day!

- Curt

A Giant Spider, Spider-Riders, Spear Chukkas and Trolls (oh my!) for Warhammer (yes, in 10mm)

Returning back to my nascent Goblin force, I thought I'd add a few more units to beef them up a bit more. Here is a big (okay, eeenormous) spider, some spider-rider heralds, a battery of Night Goblin Spear Chukkas and a mob of River Trolls.

The giant spider was a 10mm 3d print from Wakes Emporium which I scaled-up significantly, being as I wanted a centrepiece for the typically hapless Gobbos. Kudos to the designer for the excellent model as many 3d designs don't translate well when enlarged to this extent. Bravo!

I added a few shaped pieces of blue foam insulation to build-out the rock formation she's clambering over.

I often like to make use of these larger bases to incorporate little vignettes and bit of additional terrain. For the Spider I wanted to accentuate her size, so placed a Squig 'rider' and a Spider Rider along her flanks. 

'Watch out, guys! It's not like she has indicator lights, or anything.' 

Speaking of Spider Riders the 'Big Lass' has a unit of these creepy little fellas to act as her vanguard. These models are also from Wakes Emporium.

I used colourshift chromatic paints from Greenstuff World for the spiders' abdomen and thorax.

Next up is a Night Goblin Spear Chukka battery. These models are from Green Skin Miniatures - another quality 3d designer on Gumroad.

I try to give each of my 10mm fantasy armies a distinct basing theme. Verdant for the Wood Elves, lots of buildings for the Empire, desert ruins for the Tomb Kings, etc.  For the Gobbos, I've decided to do up their bases kind of hardscrabble: dry, rocky and arid. Like this one, I often like to give them a mushroom here and there to make them feel more at home. I my world, everything is better with mushrooms. :) 

Finally, we have a gaggle of River Trolls as allies to the Goblins. These are from Green Skin Miniatures.

Not much to say about these lads, but that they're big and blue. Still, handy fellas to have around in a scrape, assuming they keep their wits about them.

And there you have it, a few more units for the Greenskin cause. I need to get some basic rank-and-file done for them next, but that'll be for another day.

Next up: Mercenaries!

Thanks for dropping in! Have a great day!

- Curt