Black Orc Done

I know I've made a big deal about long-lasting projects, but I started this one when the Millennium Bug was a thing... 

Onwards to the future!

WoffBoot us, every one

'Tis the season for Games Workshop's traditional novelty miniature and, this time, they hooked me.

Hoppity Goes to Town: Moonclan Grots vs Chaos Mortals

Prologue

Hopslat da Bold looked up at the pink sun that washed the Realm of Chaos, counted the hours on his fingers, and wished he knew how to tell the time from looking at the sun. Or how to count, for that matter.

"We iz running late," he guessed, and clambered back on top of his Giant Cave Squig, an affectionate beast who already already devoured two herders, three lesser squigs and answered to the name of 'Bouncing' Betty.

The rest of the Moonclan raid bustled past him, a dozen grots trying to corral more than twice their number of squiggly beasts, including a couple of massive Manglers, who were being sedated with the last of their Nightcap Mushrooms.

"Humies in da treeline!" Da Knights of Shiitake, who had been hopping ahead as scouts, now hopped back to call warning. Panic rippled through the grots as they fumbled for weapons among forage bags bulging with their freshly-stolen shrooms.

It had been a little cheeky, Hopslat had to admit, to go scrumping mushrooms in the backyard of Chaos, but they were almost home free. Get through the forest at the far end of this field and their shaman would be waiting to zap them back home.

"Get yer 'eads down!" Hopsplat ordered. "An' stampede!"

Prod Its Back And Hold On Tight!

It's All-Skype Fight Night!

After a brief summer hiatus, the battle reports return, and with it, the Age of Sigmar. I, Stylus, shall be as Grotty as plain text can manage.

And I, Kraken, veteran of a thousand some write-ups, shall boldly write in bold!

Scenarios are, by all accounts, the way to go in AoS, and with a stampede of squigs to contend with, the 'Breakthrough' scenario seemed a good fit.

Essentially, my 'Invading' force has to get off the opposite end of the board, with a victory spectrum that ranges from one-third (major victory to me) to none (major victory to the 'Blocking' force).

Each commander has a special heroic ability that can speed up, or slow down, the invading forces, and the game is a random length, starting from the end of Turn 5 (and definitely ending by Turn 7).

Can the Forces of Chaos stop the terrible Squigalaunche? Read on!

Boiing! Boiing!

And with this model, I conclude my squigmania...

"G'day. My name's Bruce..."

My first purchase from Forge World, and I can't say I'm disappointed. The Night Goblin Command Set comes with three models, and while I'll get around to the Battle Standard and Shaman eventually, it was the Night Goblin Warboss on a Great Cave Squig that really drove my purchase.

Boiing!

I'm bouncing along with hobby enthusiasm at the moment (and I'll credit Age of Sigmar for that). This hasn't been matched with blog updates, because my painting desk is currently stuffed with half-finished tasks. But I finally got one unit to completion.

Rataplan! Rataplan!

Meet The Mangles

Ahhh... the classic Neighbours family: Joe, Mrs, that hippy, and Bouncer. Bouncer!

You know, after Kylie and Jason, this was probably the show's most popular blonde.

In the quiet hours of painting, and when I'm not reliving 1990s soap opera exports, I've come to the conclusion that the Mangler Squig is one of GW's sharpest marketing moves in recent years...

It's a nice-looking model, it has some killer rules ... but £36 for what is essentially a throwaway exocet missile? Scandalous!

However, the two-squig model separates effortlessly, and with the addition of another 60mm base, you suddenly have two Mangler Squigs, and one in the eye for our Nottingham overlords!

Hence the genius part: GW have got me paying £18 each for two 65pt units, and convinced me that it's a really good idea.

But I can't begrudge them much: I love the look of the models and have been hankering to paint them for a long while. With a little Christmas money to splash around (and the threat of the entire range going down the End Times pooper), I decided to treat myself.

Round bases. I'm way ahead of y'all.

Just In The Squig Of Time

These killer tomatoes were actually completed last month (and that's important, as I was counting on them to push me over the top of my painting tally), but I only got around to photographing them now (I was waiting for some good sunlight ... and it's January).

And so here, for all you mycologists out there, are the final six specimens:

Horny Squig

Merry Squigmas

It’s been a slow month for painting. (Slow for me, that is. Kraken seems determined to repopulate Naggaroth single-handed. Special rule: Always Paints First).

I have not been completely idle with progress. Although anyone expecting more defenders of Athel Loren will discover I got a bit distracted.