Tiny Skirmish!

 Hi!

I fancied playing a bit of a game last night and not wanting to rummage out tons of 28mm scale terrain, I decided to play a small skirmish in 6mm scale using the first bits and bobs I found in my display cabinet.

Ultramarine Patrol

My Ultramarines would try and drive off the marauding Eldar who were seeking to raid the Imperial settlement somewhere on the border. The force was a bit adhoc, consisting of my command squad transported in a Rhino and supported by a pair of Centurion heavy power armour suits.

Eldar Warparty

The Eldar force had two squads of Guardians led by a Warlock and supported by a Wraithlord. Their objective was to occupy. the settlement and loot the buildings while holding off the forces of the Imperium.

The table was my small pinboard with a smattering of buildings and rocky outcrops and I pretty much made up the rules as I went, using a mixture of D6's and Havoc dice when I needed to roll for attacks and it worked out pretty well with the Imperials initially trying to drive out the Eldar with their heavy power armoured troops but taking fire from the Eldar dreadnought in return whilst the command team tried to outmanoeuvre the Eldar on the flank.

It looked like the Imperial troops were going to hold the field with the Eldar dreadnought taking damage and one of the Guardian stands wiped out but with some lucky dice rolls, the Warlocks raiding party destroyed both of the Centurions and it was left to the Rhino to suppress the Guardians occupying the building long enough for the command squad to get close enough but it was too late. Despite the stormbolter on the Rhino eventually shredding the Guardians, the Warlock then destroyed the vehicle with some Eldrich power leaving the command squad isolated and forced to retreat.

I must admit that I do really enjoy these tiny skirmishes in 6mm, especially as it reminds me of 2nd edition 40k and I will be playing some more games when I get chance with some slightly larger forces as its a great way to get some quick games in without needing a lot of space or time.

I'm actually thinking of making some more small skirmish forces in 6mm using GZG or Brigade Models as the basis with a platoon of infantry backed up with the odd vehicle or two or even throwing in a Battle Mech or two so I can play some small skirmishes in other settings too.

In other news, I've got the first half of my new warband for my Death in the Throne Room campaign painted and just need to add some bits and bobs to the bases before getting some pics so fingers crossed, I'll get them ready to update before I return to work tomorrow.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 77: Ork Civilian & Grumpy Eldar

 Hi!

Here's the latest additions to my collection in the form of an Ork Civilian and a grumpy Eldar Blade Master!

Belroth of the Ebon Locks & Trev the Ork

Belroth of the Ebon Locks is the Blade Master to the court of Elraydin of Iyanden. An unparalleled genius with his Star Sabre and duelling knife, Belroth accompanies his lord in his quest to discover the fate of Glitterberry who was last seen in the company of Vash Hammersworn of the Mechanicus. He is well known for having a tongue as cutting as his blade and few seek to cross swords with him and Elraydin has brought him along to settle any honour duels that Vash is no doubt going to have to deal with when the Eldar discover that Glitterberry got smashed to a pulp by a rogue Ogryn some time ago...

 

Belroth is a Grenadier Dark Elf from their Fantasy Warriors range that I picked up at Targe about fifteen years ago and never quite got round to painting. I'm still not sure about the yellow leggings and may repaint them black as some point in the future but he'll do for the time being!

Trev is a laid back sort of an Ork and works as a trukker for the Kasselmine Grog Co. of Farpoint. Despite his mellow nature (for an Ork), Trev is still keen to get into the odd barroom brawl if someone spills his pint and can usually be found thundering across the landscape in is transport rig, the Rollin' Thunda.

Trev is one of the old Ork plastic figures and I painted him after the Eldar Harlequins I've been working on because he's such a simple figure to work on and was just the thing to recover from painting a literal ton of jewels.

With my re-imagined Imperium, I wanted to explore civilian characters for most intelligent races and started with the Orks as I just don't like the nothing but WAAAGH shenanigans and imagine that not all Orks are bloodthirsty savages and some have found gainful employment on the frontier. I've actually got a female Ork that I sculpted painted and she will be getting her own post at some point in the next day or so as what started out as a simple civilian NPC seems to be getting an awful lot of character!

I've also statted up a few characters for this weekends game using Planet 28 and will post up the battle report in the coming days along with my thoughts on the game once I've played it but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 76: Harlequins!

 Hi!

Just a quick update today as I've made a start on my Eldar noble court with a pair of Harlequins!

The blue and grey one is from the last lockdown but I rebased him and reworked him a bit whilst the purple and white one is new. I tried to add a few checks onto this one and after a shaky start and almost abandoning him, I'm quite pleased with how he turned out!

The Harlequin figures are lovely but do require an awful lot of care when painting as between the two figures, there are 55 gemstones and quite a bit of delicate detail but the extra effort is worth it!

I've also finished painting the first of my Ork civilians who will be getting shown tomorrow and have built a female Ork character who was originally just going to be a random civilian but seems to be getting a life of her own!

I'm also working on another Eldar noble that I've found and at present I'm unsure how he will turn out as I'm not sure about the colour scheme so he may get a wee bit of a reworking before I'm done with him.

After the Harlequins, I'm in need of a simpler figure to relax with and not need to worry about how it turns out so I'm going to have a rummage and see what I've got!

In other news, I've been having a bit of a think about my painting style as I'm aware that it leans towards the brighter end of the spectrum compared to the Grimdark of GW of today.

Grimdark Mud vs Heroic Shine

I've been tempted to have a bash at a looser and somewhat grimmer and grimier look for some fantasy miniatures but each time I've tried it out I find it just doesn't look right as I kind of like the bright, vibrant colours of the likes of 90's GW which was a huge inspiration for me but maybe I should try picking up some random cheap figures and having a bash at using lots of brown as an experiment to see if I can get a Blanchitsu style for a mini project and get some figures painted for Brutal Quest when it arrives.

Despite all this, there is something pleasing about a bright, clean fantasy style as I've thoroughly enjoyed working on my older styled Alternative Imperium stuff, bright shiny colours and all so I'll see how I feel after a few experiments but in the meantime, All the best!  

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 74: Gobbo's!

Hi!

I finished these little guys off last week but hadn't had chance to post pictures of them yet:

The first one is from the plastic Ork Nob box and is a really nice little figure to paint and rather characterful too, even if the stikk bomb he's carrying is ridiculously large! The second one is a plastic Gnobblar body with an old plastic Goblin head added on and I really like how he turned out.

One thing that did kind of surprise me about the two is that the detail in several areas is pretty poor which I wasn't expecting from GW plastics but as it's not too noticeable I'm not too worried.

Grot with Bomb

Next up, here's a sneaky peek of the first Iyanden Eldar warband:

I'm adding some small back banners that I got from a recent Wargames Illustrated that came with some plastic Ashigaru from Warlord Games I believe. The figures weren't much use but the banners are kind of handy for some classic old school Eldar!

They will be used as my Eldar Autarch and retinue. I've got several more including a bard to work on and they will be asking Inquisitor Fisher some hard questions about what happened to their compatriot, Glitterberry.

I've also just finished a Harlequin that I'm quite pleased with but getting a good finish on the old Eldar range requires a bit more effort than other figures so I'm painting another Ork from the old multipart plastic set that I've had lying around to give me something simple to work on before I try to get the Eldar done.

We shall see how things go but I'm also starting work on sculpting some Orky civilians as I never really liked the entire Ork culture being nothing but war. I'll post some pictures of them once I get them finished later this week.

In other news, I managed to get a quick game of Planet 28 to try out the rules and found it to be really good fun. Sadly I didn't manage to get any photos of the game but it was a bit of a learning experience so I'll get proper pics for the next one!

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 34: Inquisitorial Agents and Eldar

 Hi!

As promised, I've got a few more miniatures finished for my ongoing Rogue Trader project.

First up, there's my next Inquisitorial agent, this time a Mechanicus Adept:

Adeptus Mechanicus Adept Vash Hammersworn

Vash Hammersworn is a youthful tech adept and was born on Farpoint and learned his skills at the mining settlements and forges that litter the world. He is impetuous and hot headed but usually sunny of nature but has the ability to draw chaos and mayhem wherever he goes. He wears partial carapace and has a conversion field built into it. His primary weapon is a powerhammer of his own design, Foe Smasher and he also sports a trusty Paxbringer stub pistol.

He was recruited by Inquisitor Frost when she met him in Freeport City, the capitol and spaceport of Farpoint when she visited his workshop in search of repairs on one of her security droids. His skill impressed Frost and she offered him a job on her staff then and there. They have been working together for six months and despite almost constant bickering, they are an effective team.

 

Vash is originally another Warmachine caster who had lost his sword so I sculpted new hands and gave him a spare hammer from the Mantic Dwarf sprue. He got his name after my wife pointed out he bears a passing likeness to Vash the Stampede from Trigun.

Next up, theres the first of my Craftworld Eldar:

I ended up going for a Iyanden colour scheme as I have lots of walkers and it fits in with the background. I gave him lots and lots of thin coats to get as smooth a finish as possible and like how he turned out and will need to get some more of his kin painted up.

I've spent a bit of time over the last couple of days working on my Goff Orks too, be it rebasing some of the older stuff or painting up more gubbins that I've had part done since the last lockdown so should have some more to show tomorrow. 

I've also got some buildings under construction which I'm hoping to finish off this evening too which I hope to get pictures of when I've got it sorted too but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 25: Eldar Inspiration

 Hi!

I had hoped to be able to show my first completed Deathworld palm trees today but they are taking a lot longer to dry than expected (I suspect I added a bit too much water first to the glue and then the paint like a noob). Instead I thought I'd post up a few inspirational old school Eldar photos that I've found whilst perusing the interwebs.

First up, there's some classic Eldar armies from 1st/2nd edition from the pages of White Dwarf:

I vividly recall gazing at this particular warband for ages and bemoaning the fact that I couldn't paint that well back in the early 90's.

It's interesting that in both these armies, the lowly Guardians have been largely replaced by Aspect Warriors. I'm a big fan of Guardians and want to have a few more than are shown in these examples though and love the old grav platform heavy weapons. 

I suspect that folks love Eldar because you can really go to town with colour choices though...

Next up, there's the army centre pieces, the Dreadnoughts and War Walkers:

I love the dark blue and white combination but shudder to think about how to get such a smooth finish but the contrasting colours look fantastic, especially with the many sigils and runes!

War Robot! I remember having one of these back in the day, which came with one of the smaller drones! I think I have the bits to make another and may have to make it a priority for a sense of retro charm. I am tempted to see if I can get some of the new Eldar Dreadnought arms to make it a bit more dynamic though as the gun arm is a bit clunky compared to the sleek robot...

Aspect Warriors! I love the darker finish on some of these chaps as it gives them a more aggressive, sinister look to them which is rather different from the more usual dayglow style of Aspect Warriors.

I love the black/purple/red combo of the guy second from the left and may have to steal it for some pirates! 

Remember when the assorted 40k races had musicians? I think I've got one and will need to add a bard to my Eldar nobles retinue to record his exploits in heroic verse!

As with my other 40k stuff, I plan on shoehorning everything into my own version of The Imperium and having perused one or two other rulesets over the last couple of days, I have loads of ideas on how I can put together some interesting warbands so I'll need to see how I get on with this first batch and flesh out my existing stuff as I'm painfully aware that I've got lots of odd figures but nothing much to mesh them together into cohesive forces yet.

As it's just been announced that the lockdown is going to be running until at least mid February, I suspect I'll have a bit of time to get on to bulking out forces a bit but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 23: Eldar

 Hi!

Here's the first of the stripped Oldhammer figures I spent a bit of time cleaning over the last day or so!

Old Eldar Gubbins

I still have a load of odds and ends to clean up, including more walker bits and a bunch of Harlequins. It's a random mix, most of which I picked up from a hobby shop in Gosport several years ago. They had been painted then primed black with a massively thick coat of paint and it eventually took soaking them in Dettol for several years and then cleaning with soapy water followed by nail polish remover to get off most of the leftover crap. 

They're not 100% clean but short of scouring them, I think I've got them looking as good as they're going to get. Sadly the arms and weapons from the hybrid metal/plastic guardians have gone missing so I'll need to source some replacements but I think I may end up using the new Eldar weapons from one of the boxed sets. 

Guardians

The last time I picked these guys up, I managed to paint a total of three of the Guardians before abandoning the project. Hopefully a different colour scheme will fix this and I'll end up with a decent little warband with a good assortment of walkers to back them up. 

I'm currently painting one of the EM4 plastic Space Ranger figures to see how I get on with him and seem to be meandering along quite nicely with the latest lockdown project, despite it going wildly off tangent into Oldhammer territory but as long as I'm enjoying it, that's the main thing!

I'm also finding myself eying up some of the more modern figures in other ranges including Beyond the Gates of Antares by Warlord and Deadzone by Mantic but thus far have remained strong and not bought anything! 

The prospect of just painting up all sorts of random odds and ends is keeping me motivated and I'm looking forward to getting more terrain made and it's looking like I'm going to have plenty of time to get stuff done as the lockdown doesn't seem to show much sign of easing yet...

In the meantime All the best and I'll post more stuff up tomorrow!

Harlequin and Wolf Chariots!

Hi!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I happened across my old Eldar gubbins and in a moment of madness decided to have a bash at painting them in retro 2nd edition technicolour magnificence!

 Harlequin!

I settled on a NMM finish but using all the old school techniques I had to make the little guy fit the classic imagery of my 2nd edition memories.

I even primed him white (which in hindsight was a total pain in the bum but did result in a pleasingly bright finish that I wouldn't have got with black). There's lots of washes on there too but it doesn't seem to show up too well on the pics but I am quite happy with how he turned out.

 So many jewels!

That's not all though! I also managed to paint my way through a trio of tiny wolf chariots for my 6mm Goblin army:

 Teeny tiny chariots

As with my previous post, the figures were primed black then drybrushed grey which brought out the details and allowed me to quickly paint up the little guys.

 The force so far

With a strong cavalry force now painted, I need to sort out some infantry, monsters and artillery, not to mention characters which need to be worked on to complete the force!

I'm really chuffed with the progress I've made with the little guys and am really enjoying painting the Irregular Miniatures range as while the unpainted metal is rather uninspiring looking, once that first drybrush is on, they really come to life and I'm seriously pondering picking up some Empire proxies for the Gobbos to fight and defend the borders of the Empire from whatever forces that wish to bring it low...

I've mentioned my Song of Blasters rules that I've been working on over the last couple of years and one of my latest addition is to do away with traditional rulers and go for measuring sticks instead.

Here's the movement measuring stick:

 Move!

Infantry generally moves half the length of the stick while infantry the full length while fast cavalry 1.5 or even 2 for very fast units. This seems to work quite well in 2mm, 6mm and 15mm scale with only a few small modifiers.

Next up, here's the shooting stick:

Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!

Unlike movement, shooting has a longer range with short range being one stick, medium 2 and long 3 and individual weapon rules allow for a deal of customisation. For example the Beam option allows the firer to roll to hit any unit the ruler touches which represents things like flamers or grape shot.

The sticks are jumbo lolly sticks and measure 15cm which is very handy when it comes to measuring stuff and I am thinking of making some themed ones for my Goblins and more for my Imperial troops and Vongola ironclads!

It's interesting how simplifying rules down has resulted in a far more pleasing game than making things over granular and complex. I've found myself rather inspired by the likes of Epic 40k which has one of the best systems I've played for years and will continue to post the odd ruminations on the rules as I go so watch this space!

In the meantime, All the best!

2nd Edition Eldar

Hi!

I've been busily painting my way through my unpainted small scale stuff in the form of several stands of 6mm Gobbo wolf riders but whilst having a rummage through my leadpile, I happened across my unpainted Eldar gubbins.

While I doubt I'd have much use for them game wise as I move towards 15mm scale, I do find myself tempted to paint what I have for a bit of retro enjoyment!

While the temptation is there to go for a classic Rogue Trader sort of mini project, I think I am going to paint them as 2nd edition Eldar in all their technicolour glory!

Remember when armies were pretty small and the biggest thing one could expect on the board was usually a dreadnought or a Rhino?

Armies were universally brightly coloured and usually sported backbanners and fought over lush green battlefields rather than the Grimdark that later editions developed.

Last time I discovered them, I painted up a handful as Saim-Hann Wild Riders but am tempted to go for something else this time round as I'm not sure how much bright red I can cope with painting.

Looking at what I have got, there's about a dozen Guardians of a mixture of Rogue Trader era and 2nd edition metal with plastic arms sorts, a couple of Dark Reapers, a surprising number of Harlequins and a fair few walkers of various sorts.

I think I'm going to have to prime up a couple and see how I go with a test paint scheme or two but I'm quite interested to see if I can replicate some of the classic 2nd edition bright era finish that I have such fond memories of.

We shall see what progress I make in the coming week but I'm quite keen to see what I can accomplish.

Thinking about it, I also have a few more odds and ends soaking in dettol at the moment which could do with being cleaned up and put to good use rather than lying unloved in a box or tub...

Progress pics to follow along with further ponderings, ramblings and so on!

In the meantime, All the best!

Badlands Skirmish

Hi!

After my angry review of the other day, I managed to get a quick game of a Song of Blasters using my Epic scaled Ultramarines versus some Eldar.

I've also been working on getting some new scenery put together in the form of some rock columns to add a bit of height to my setup.

 Early Deployment

The Imperials had a more mobile force consisting of several tactical squads mounted in Rhinos and a Landspeeder to give a bit of mobile punch to the patrol and the Imperial forces quickly took control of the settlement in the centre of the board and pushed forward towards the Eldar positions.

Some poor activation rolls saw the Eldar flank refusing to move off the hill which left the Warlock and his Guardians somewhat exposed with just a Falcon grav tank to support them. The Landspeeder had hurtled up the flank and hit the tank with a heavy plasma gun but only succeeded in damaging it and in return the Falcons Brightlance sent the skimmer crashing to the ground in flames.

At this point it became clear that the Eldar had the edge in ranged firepower with the Falcon, Dark Reapers and Warlock able to hit the Marines before their shorter range Bolters could be brought to bare and if it hadn't been for the use of their transports as a shield, the Ultramarines would have been in for a rough day.

The Dark Reapers on the flank blow up a squad of Marines 

Fortunately for the Marines, their transports sacrifice saw them able to get close enough to the Eldar to let rip with their bolters and the lithe Guardians were shredded in a storm of explosive shells.

At this point, the Eldar were forced to retreat having lost most of their infantry but the Ultramarines vehicles were all wrecked apart from the command Rhino.

 The Imperial Rhino's cook off following Brightlance strikes and Warlock Powers

I'm rather enjoying playing very small games in 6mm scale and think I may have some more skirmishes to play but do need to look at my rules a bit further to make things run a bit more smoothly and do need to add some more balancing units to my forces as my Ultramarines need some long range firepower while my Eldar need more swift moving units too!

At present, an average game lasts about 20-30 minutes which should allow me to run a decent mini campaign over the course of an evening but the more multi wound vehicles and units I add, the longer it takes to play.

In the meantime, I'm also starting work on my Orks and have managed to finish two stands of Goff boyz to test out how they look and if a more verdant base works with them. While I like the Orks, I'm not sure about the bases and think I need to add some green static grass or patches of vegetation like I did with my aris bases to make them pop.

Ork Boyz

I think I need to rummage my Epic boxes to see what I have and what I can add to my forces as it would be great to see some fully fleshed out little patrols duking it out over the coming months!

In the meantime, All the best!

Epic 40k!

Hi!

I've managed to play yet another game, this time a 250 point skirmish using Epic 40k!

Epic 40k

Now Epic 40k is possibly the game I played most back in the day and have very fond memories of playing epic battles fielding my Orks against my friends Imperial Fists and I've always found it a shame that folks didn't warm to the ruleset.

Sadly my mega Ork Waaargh got flogged off many years ago but I thought I'd use the opportunity to play a game using the smaller warbands I have kicking around and while the game wasn't very long and the detachments were a bit wonky, I really enjoyed playing the game for the first time in about a decade!

Sneaky Xenos lurking in the undergrowth

The Eldar won the game rather quickly by winning the initiative for both movement and shooting and proceeded to use their Falcons to blow up my Landraider and it's speeder outrider while the main Eldar force lurked in cover and their Dreadnought and Dark Reapers sniped the Imperials as they approached.

Ultramarines deploy

After killing my Imperial flankers, the Eldar Falcons started shooting up my main detachment of Marines and the Imperials couldn't get close enough to the nippy Eldar to give them a taste of bolters and the survivors were forced from the field.

Snipe!

The game was great fun and very nostalgic but I did find that I could have done with a more balanced force on each side rather than whatever I had painted at the time. I'm tempted to use the approach that they showcase in the rulebook and form small detachments based on 2nd edition sized armies:

An Epic 40k Detachment

I'd highly recommend folks take a second look at Epic 40k as it's a wonderfully simple and streamlined ruleset that allows you to have a decent sized game in a short time. I love the effects of blast markers resulting in pinned units which then can force them to retire, the short range and deadly firefights and the brutal close combat phase!

Compared to earlier and later editions of the game, there's less crunch in the rules with most units having a Firepower rating instead of lots of different weapons but I must admit that I really like this approach as it makes for faster and more fluid games.

Sadly while Imperial, Chaos, Tyranid and Orky armies are getting lots of lovely new proxy miniatures, the Eldar seem to have been largely overlooked so I've added an EPIC WANTED PAGE for the odds and sods that I'm missing from my collection. It's mostly infantry that I'm after so if you've got some spare Epic Eldar gubbins, I'm more than happy to trade! I've got lots of Rogue Trader era Eldar and an assortment of painted stuff I'm willing to trade for them!

Sadly I'm now having to head out to work but I'll try to get another 15mm scale skirmish played this evening and another battle report soon but in the meantime, All the best!