Hobby Wrap-up

After breaking the seal on some Hobby recently, I made a few purchases for my Eldar Kill Team as well as some Old World Army books I'd been meaning to get for my collection,.

And then the new Black Templars releases came out, timed to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the original BT Codex which many will recall I'm sure:

Sucker that I am, I thought my army was complete enough.... 

Burn the Heretic, Kill the Mutant, Purge the Unclean!

I grabbed the two new characters and to lead a Crusader squad. Yes I have to buy that also.

A little frustrating (again) that half the paints and all my bits boxes and decals are back in Australia, but its fun getting back to putting some Righteous Fury on the tabletop!

EDIT: And just to stoke the flames of Hate in Simon Anonymous (from the comments section)- I appropriately supported my FLGS during a recent sale

AHPC 14: Beastman Characters

The Old World returns imminently so I'm clearing out the unfinished vestiges of my Beastman Army - it just wouldn't feel like AHPC without me doing some Beastmen! Just 19 models remain from >200 I started with a few years ago. These are the last 2 characters which we have painted together in the Dark Forest, under the pale moon while mumbling hateful chants...

Paul's offering to the sacred heardstone is this Beastlord with Great Axe. He is known for his compassionate spirit, high emotional intelligence and tending his rose garden with ample bone and blood offerings. He's an older model cast in metal, and boy does it have good heft!

To accompany this gentle yet frenzied monstrosity, Reilly has delivered unto me a fearsome Wargor with Battle Standard. He promised to paint this 3 years ago, but all good things to those who wait patiently, in ambush, biding their time.... - and this was clearly worth waiting for! Plus I guilted him into it like a good Dad :-)

The hand painted Chaos symbol and sigils shows he really cares and takes pride in his Banner bearer role. 

An amusing Dad&Lad painting moment was Reilly posing the question:

"So the Elf head atop the Banner - do you want it to be a High Elf, Wood Elf or Dark Elf head? Your Beastmen have slaughtered and defeated all 3 in Battle". Cleary the Dark Gods must be rewarding me for my efforts! (You Elf Commanders know who you are...)

The lovely banner is made from the flayed skins of defeated enemies, available via Amazon

See this submission at the AHPC 14 blog here:

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/01/from-paul-og-and-reilly-og-beastie-boys.html

CanCon 2023 and Warhammer ahoy

Another January, another CanCon. This year I spent it in close company with Reilly and Slowpainter John, enjoying the hustle and bustle.  

Caught up with a broad range of fine folks - I always enjoy these annual reunions, though a few of the usual suspects were conspicuously absent (you know who you are!)

Among the great goodies on offer, the 6th edition Warhammer tournament caught my attention with some wonderful eye catching armies:

Thoroughly inspiring, and yes I did go immediately to the bring and buy and acquire some old school metal Warhammer Black Orcs...

See you next year CanCon!

April Hobby Roundup

Well its been a month since AHPC 11 completed, and I thought I would try and get back into my monthly blog update routine.

First up we had a great Warhammer Fantasy Battle pitting Beastmen against Dark Elves at 6k points -  very satisfying to get all the Beastmen toys onto the table and you can see more of that in my last post here. We followed that up with Reilly getting his new dual Araknarok Goblin army onto the field, also against Dark Elves.

Cinematic end to the battle: The Araknarok envenoms and kills the War Hydra!

I also have started some mid week gaming again with Comrade James- Blood Red Skies with a MiG Alley theme was fun, as was my introduction to Fallout Wasteland Warfare which was wonderfully thematic to that game franchise.

Then we did a little bit of terrain to progress our new 8 x 4 urban city ruin table project.

I also painted up a Mantis Warrior as a renegade, to join my World Eaters.  The Mantis Warriors were part of the original Rogue Trader release lore and were part of the "accidental rebels" in the Badab War. I wanted to paint one up that wasn't in fact sorry at all, and was delighted to have him featured in the Warhammer TV Hobby Round up program recently.

I went to town with the paint chipping effects

and am pretty happy with how the freehand Chapter symbol came out

And last but certainly not least, our family sat down to play pandemic recently and got rare win! Guess that means we are ready for our COVID Vaccinations :-)

Hope you are all well out there!

Warhammer Fantasy Easter Big Battle

The Easter long weekend saw Reilly and I co-command my Beastmen  Army in a 6k point battle royale against the Dark Elves of my mate Gav, ably assisted by Marty and Lachy.  With a few minor exceptions this was the first time I've had everything in the army in one go. I also got to unleash a secret weapon upon the unsuspecting enemy - the monstrous Minobus!!!

I'm pretty happy with how the army has come out over the past 18 months

the 9 x 5 table set for battle in Gav's man cave

This battle saw a Dark Elf force invading the Beastmen territories of the Drakwald, looking to take slaves for their quarries. The Beastmen decided to object rather forcefully to this unsolicited proposal. 

Brayherd Advance!

It was a pretty full on game and the action last around 6 hours of playing time - we were exhausted at the end! On our left flank, Reilly used his 40 Gor block, pair of heavy chariots, a unit of wardogs and a giant to draw out and ultimately rout and destroy the enemy's corsairs and a war hydra.

Battle ensues 'neath the twisted branches of the Drakwald

On the right flank, I did the opposite - while I destroyed the enemy Corsairs and Cold One Chariot, the Dark Elf Executioners and War Hydra mopped up my Khornegors, Centigors and a 20 block of Gors. However, it tied them up for long enough that they couldn't get back in time to interfere with the strong Beastman assault in the centre.

The Drakwald Medal of Honour goes to this un-named Ungor hero. RIP.

Magic wise, for a game this size we used 4d6 power dice instead of just two. The Dark Elves has 2 x Level 4 and 2 x Level 2 Sorcerers, and the Beastmen 1 x Level 4 and 2 x Level 2 Sorcerers. This worked out very well, though between them there were 7 miscasts and two sorcerers (one on each side) exploded. My newly painted Cygor died early in the game to overcharged Doombolts. Good times!

The Executioners brutalised the Khorngors to a man - only the Champion survived to flee

And after much ado, the Minobus spearhead made contact with the 70model Dark Elf spearblock with Army General, BSB, 2 masters (and an Assassin as it turns out). Not many pictures of this time as things got very focused, but the intact Minobus - boosted by two different augmenting magic spells (Wissan's Wildform, and the Savage Beast of Horros) ripped through the enemy. Including their impact hits and stomps, they took out 36 enemy in their charge turn. The enemy's BSB gave them the unbreakable trait, so they didnt run, which gave the Minotaurs the next turn to overkill the rest. A Dark Elf Prince on Dragon had also charged into their flank, but after the enemy lost the close combat (by lots) it fleed and was run down and destroyed.

chomp chomp chomp

With the enemy centre broken and in disarray, the battle was over. The Beastmen had beaten off the Druchii raiders and saved their villages from the slavers. But one day they would be back...