Retrospective: Gilliam's Folly

Long term readers of this blog will perhaps remember a little project I began thinking about all the way back in August of 2014. Those initial musings (and these later ones), in response to a game based on the Warhammer Ahoy rules and planned for BOYL 2015, would eventually turn in to fevered action in June 2015. In those few months there were a plethora of (well three!) posts charting the frenzied shipbuilding and shop mannequin abuse that ensued. And then nothing. Like a ship in the night, this Time Bandits inspired monstrosity just disappeared... 

BOYL 2015: A Journey to the East

So - better late than never eh?!

My excuse - Unfortunately the months after BOYL 2015 saw my spare time  and the amount of energy I had for what spare time was left sorely lacking. Back then we were busy juggling every day life with trying to sell our house in York, buy one in the Lake District and work out how we were going to earn a living.

Anyhow - more of that in another post as I have all sorts of news to share. For now I'm just going to knock this report on the head and give you a brief account of the game so I can clear the decks for 2016.

 I inherited this particular game from fellow Oldhammerer Richard, who decided that just playing a game set in the endless steppes of the Warhammer world wasn't enough - he buggered off to Mongolia to experience it for himself and even get some wargaming in there too!

As I was now in charge I came up with a bit of a back story that fitted in around my Hobgoblin army and as that army was getting pretty big, I decided to make it one big objective for the other players to tackle how they saw fit.

Unfortunately as it's been so long I'm a bit hazy on several of the players names (apologies - if you read this feel free to enlighten me in my ignorance in the comments below!).

The warbands included an Ogre Warlord (sorry - forgot your name!) hot in pursuit of a treacherous former lackey who had upped and left for the East, taking with him the boss's favourite cleaver! They were reinforced by some Steppe Horsemen - kindly provided by Golgfag.

BOYL 2015 - The Trolltooth Wars Have Begun!

 It started with an ambush. When Balthus Dire's bloodlusting Hill Goblins mount their raid on the Strongarm caravan, little do they realise what dramatic consequences their actions will have. For that caravan carries Cunnelwort, a mystical herb from Eastern Allansia, destined for none other than the evil srceror, Zharradan Marr!

War - between two forces well-matched for evil - is soon to ensue...

(Steve Jackson, The Trolltooth Wars. 1989)

Fast forward twenty six years and the dramatic events that unfold in what has to be one of my favourite fantasy novels of all time have finally made it to the table top!

Illustration - Russ Nicholson

Long have I muttered about playing out the action described in The Trolltooth Wars with my good friend Warlord Paul and we finally got the ball rolling in style on the first day of BOYL 2015.

A Face to Launch a Single Ship...

Yikes, BOYL 2015 is nearly here and there's still plenty to do! It didn't help that I pulled an all nighter on Saturday, supporting my Brother who ran the Lakeland 100 - a 105 mile run up, down and through most of the Lake District.

I'm definitely on catch-up now but have had a very productive morning bulking up the Giant's head with milliput.

Lots of milliput!

It Khan be done!

If you put your mind to it...

As BOYL 2015 approaches ever nearer, I look upon my pile of primed (and in some cases - bare lead) miniatures and despair. There is rather a lot to do before the big weekend but all is not lost.

Thank God for the Summer holidays!

As I am now a man of leisure, I have been able to lavish a considerably larger amount of time on painting this past week and these are the results - most of my Hobgoblin army!

First off is a small unit of Hobyars - the elite of the Hobgoblin army, they are made of Nomadic nobles and their retainers.

Broad in the Beam

The ship building rolls ever onwards and my ship nears completion. I'll have a full naming ceremony and backstory when she's ready to launch!




All Above Board

The ship building continues on apiece and it's certainly been a productive weekend! Armed with model knife, saw and a big pile of balsa wood, I have been busy building up the fo'c'sle and forward decks.

This season's latest must have...

Got a bit more progress done on my Time Bandits inspired ship for the Warhammer Ahoy game at this year's BOYL.

Having committed all kinds of butchery in cutting out a 6cm section of the ship to shorten it, I think it now looks a little more like the source material.

A Journey to the East

As BOYL 2015 looms ever larger on the horizon, I've been having a think about how the Journey to the East game might look on the table top.

To start with I've come up with some background for my Hobgoblin Warlord and his army -

All in all, Warlord Vidhal Timotei had had a very profitable campaigning season. Having absconded from the ranks of the Mournghul Horde and stabbed all his rivals in the back, Timotei had led his small army south from the Steppe, up into the Mountains of Mourn. From a lofty viewpoint in those inhospitable peaks, he led his savage Hobgoblin warriors in raid after raid against the hapless caravans that plied the Great Silk Road.

BOYL 2015: Oldhammer Ahoy!

It's about time I got started on some of the projects I had intended to bring with me to this year's Bring Out Your Lead down at the Foundry in August...

One of which is my Goblin Pirate ship for the Oldhammer Ahoy game that seems to be going on for most of the weekend! Hopefully I'll be done in time so I can join in on the Sunday to see if there are any survivors left over to be picked off.

As soon as the game was mooted (pretty much straight after BOYL 2014!) I knew I wanted a Goblin crew but this image also popped in to my head -

I'm a big fan of Terry Gilliam (especially the brilliant animations he did for Monty Python) and Time Bandits was a favourite film when I was a kid.