Picts Revisited

I took a bit of a break last week  (or maybe two weeks ago...? or THREE!?) to reorganize and rebase my small force of Picts. 

Some time ago I picked up a lot of Foundry Picts. I can't for the life of me remember where...? Ebay...? Maybe from Bob...? Or someone else...? I don't know... At some point later I picked up a few Black Tree Design Picts when I was placing an order with them. The only other post with the Picts label (at the time I started writing this) is from nearly a decade ago... Searching further back I found some pics from about 15 years ago (I should probably add the Picts label to THOSE posts!) 

Originally the plan had been to build a De Bellis Antiquitatis/Hordes of the Things army with them and have a few spares left over to base singly for assorted skirmish games or role-playing games (which was what I did with most things around that time). You can see the elements I did get around to completing in the Ancient Rome, Enemies, Allies and Gladiators Gallery.

Thought I never finished painting the entire Pictish army, I did use the elements I'd painted with a few of the Dark Age Irish in many Hordes of the Things games as "Generic Celtish Warrior" armies.

I have not played DBA or HotT for some time and, though I still like those games, figure I'm more likely to play Lion Rampant or Dragon Rampant and have slowly been rebasing a lot of the older HotT armies to use with Dragon Rampant (or Song of Blades and Heroes or any role-playing game...). There are some forces I'll keep based for DBA - Dark Ages armies, Greeks, and Roman, Enemies and Allies, and the Diadochi (if I EVER get to painting them!?) mostly because I could run campaigns with them - which would be a LOT of fun! 

I started this early last year with Orcs Revisited and  Dwarves Revisited (and Distractions - Lord of the Rings)

I think this is the first of the historical DBA forces I've rebased. I was back and forth about whether to base on wooden discs or plastic bases. Generally I've been doing all the fantasy forces on plastic - to match with the many, many GW miniatures I have that are all on plastic bases. And these being armed with swords and spears - like other fantasy forces... I thought I might do these on plastic... the most likely opponents for them will likely be fantasy armies... but I can't do EVERYTHING on plastic as that would get silly expensive (the wooden discs are, like, 1/4 the cost of plastic bases, and I've bought a lot of them... so.. eventually I went with the wooden discs...)

All the Picts. 

(Still a bit to paint) 

Mostly I've had Lion Rampant/Dragon Rampant in mind while reorganizing these. Here is how I think they will likely be fielded

• 3x Light Foot/Infantry (12)  @3 = 9
• 2x Scouts/Skirmishers (6) @2 = 4
• 1x Light Riders/Cavalry (6) @4 = 4
• 1x Belicose Foot/Warrior Infantry (12) @4 = 4

Total = 21 Army Points

Here's what's done so far:

All the PAINTED Picts

(about 15AP of the stuff above) 

Light Riders - the leader Leader's unit. I might change these to Heavy Riders/Cavalry... They don't really have the armour to justify calling them "Heavy" or "Elite" Riders/Cavalry... but they also lack the missile weapons that "Light" Riders/Cavalry should have (other than the three in the back with javelins).

I do have an extra rider that at one point had a flag... I'm not sure what happened to the flag... At SOME point I may get around to making a new one and then this rider could be substituted in for one of the others... 

The core of the force - three units of Light Foot/Infantry (only one of which is currently painted). When initially organizing them I thought the three of them would be 12 Army Points... alas they are only nine... so I have a few more Army Points of stuff to come up with!?

Two units of Skirmishers/Scouts. 

I could have made it ONE unit of twelve Archers/Light Missile troops... but I don't think the Picts tended to use massed missile troops and would more likely have used skirmishers... (I could be wrong, I'm no expert on Pict warfare tactics!) 

Another option could be to take these and mix them into the Light Foot units so I end up with four units of light foot and give them the light Missiles/Javelin upgrade which gives them a limited ranged attack... that would be four units at 4 Army Points and my total would then be 24...? I kind of like the idea of separate skirmishers and blocks of light infantry. 

Belicose Foot/Warrior Infantry. 

Tactically I imagine the Bellicose Foot/Warrior Infantry would be set up out front of the army and just charge straight into the enemy to disrupt their lines while the light infantry behind move up to seize important ground and then hold it. The Skirmishers/Scouts would fan out and attack/harass the enemy from the flanks! The cavalry would be the fire brigade set up rather centrally to move up to attack the enemy where the pict line was having trouble...? I have no idea if that would work. 

I have a few spare infantry. I figured I could pull the sword armed figures out and call them Elite Foot/Infantry...? At least in the fantastical games played with Dragon Rampant... They could be a small unit of bad ass warrior elites. Maybe this could be a dismounted version of the Riders (which I could call Elites as well...?) 

I also have a Chariot... I'm not sure if this was, specifically, a Pict chariot or just a generic celt one that some how made it into the force...? 

I also have a warrior Priestess. Maybe something crazy could be built around her. An Elite foot infantry unit with some of the aforementioned spares...? 

And then there is THIS guy... maybe he could be a Single Model Unit of Elite Riders in Dragon Rampant and be some sort of Heroic General...?

Conveniently it all fits into ONE DRAWER in my game room. So, no room for MORE! Just need to finish up the two units of light foot and the handful of others... 

Still a fair bit to be painted before they could be fielded (unless I did something ridiculous in Dragon Rampant and brought in the Hero General and/or Pirestess as single model elite units, or something)... (28 foot miniatures, to be precise) Not sure when I'm going to get to that? I've only painted 82 this year so far... Also, I haven't really been playing Dragon Rampant lately, haven't for a while and don't have any immediate plans to do so... Mind you, I think these would be a little easier and quicker to paint...? Maybe if I got them done I'd get motivated to play...? And there are a group of guys in town that are very interested in playing miniatures agnostic games (because they HATE Games Workshop now). 

If I continue with this, I should really finish rebasing all the Isengard Orcs - because that would give me a full ready-to-play force for Dragon Rampant (and other games!) Honestly, though, I was hoping to get back to working on Warhammer Underworlds miniatures! (and I did!) This all probably came about because I hadn't played it for a few weeks and lost focus... 

I have Ancient Egyptian and Nubians that were initially meant for DBA armies that I think I'll rebase at some point as well... 

Chibi Dwarves

 

A pair of weird chibi Dwarves I picked up a few years back. I can't even remember HOW I even found these... I think they were from an online store in... Russia...? and were dirt cheap. I got four bags of ...? LOTS like 50? or 100? there were dwarves, Orcs, Skeletons and Knights and I got a bag of each in each back there are about for or five poses, and then the reverse of each pose, and a few of each pose...? I think it was five different poses and the reverse of each (which makes 10 diferent poses) and then five of each of the poses - making 50... Yeah, that makes more sense.  

Originally I think i may have been thinking I might have enough to make a few units for Dragon Rampant? If there was 50 in a bag, that really isn't enough to make Dragon Rampant armies, so I'm guessing I was thinking that if they didn't suck, I'd order MORE of each? (Or maybe it was; If these ever show up and I don't totally get ripped off, I'll order more?!). That's just not going to happen now, so maybe they could be used for a fun Song of Blades and Heroes game...? But, in that case, I probably have way too many. 

They are similar in size to the Super Dungeon Explore miniatures. Perhaps I could find a way to integrate them into a game together? Again, Song of Blades and Heroes comes to mind. Though I have noticed that Ninja Division has their OWN small scale miniature skirmish rules to use Super Dungeon Explore miniatures with!?

Somehow these two dwarves stuck on the painting desk when all they others have been squirrelled away in drawers. I also finished these up on Sunday - along with the Rat Ogors... 

58 more miniatures to paint in the next 105 days to have painted more than I acquired this year... (assuming I don't BUY any more minatures!?). There are 15 weeks left in the year. If I did four per week (as I've done here) that would be 60! 

The Skaven

A number of years ago I kind of inherited an army of old Skaven. Among them are a LOT of old metal ones - like almost enough for an army of their own. Mixed in were plastic ones of various vintages (including some of the original plastic Skaven!) and a pile of metal Ral Partha Ratlings. 

Most of the painted plastics and Ral Partha ratlings were rebased to form a Horde-based Hordes of the Things army of rat-peoples. They are still based as such. 

The old metal GW Skaven all got stripped and rebased and I've been slowly plucking away at them from time to time. I got a bunch done a few years back to play Warcry with them. 

I've been thinking about working on them again and contemplating a few possibilities. 

First, I've got it in my head that I want to host a weekend Warcry campaign/tournament - The Under-Carngard Championship (?) where all players select a warband of Skaven supplied by me to vie for control of the Under-Carngard. 

(it's a city in the Bloodwind Spoil at the Eightpoints - above ground the city is ruled by a bunch Chaos Warlords, but below the surface of the streets there is a massive Skaven infestation!) 

Second, I've wondered if, when all painted, I'd be able to make some sort of Dragon Rampant Army out of them. 

Third... there are a lot of them... I wondered if I might be able to cobble together an AGE of SIGMAR army out of them. I don't actually HAVE the Skaven Battletome (and am in no rush to run out and buy one!? I was just curious to see if it was a possiblitity and use the online Warscroll Builder to see how much I could cobble together!?) 

Of course they could also be used for any number of other skirmish wargames of role-playing games, including (but not limited to) Soulbound (Age of Sigmar RPG), Song of Blades and Heroes, Frostgrave (maybe? Two of the Grey Seers could be Wizards and the other soldiers - or they could be used as monsters), Rangers of Shadowdeep (? - maybe? haven't read the rules yet... I'm hoping just about anything could be used)

So What do I HAVE....?

PAINTED

All of the painted stuff so far... 

I recently touched up the bases - blackening the sides, for a bit more contrast (they had been grey, previously, and it was a bit much with most of the top being grey!) - and picking out a few stones on each base to make into Warpstone - just to break up the monotonous grey a bit more. 

Two Grey Seers and a Plague Priest. All three are Leaders/Heroes in Warcry and Independent, Leader-Character models in Age of Sigmar. 

Clawlord and a Scryre Acolyte. 

The Clawlord is a leader/Hero model in Warcry and an Independant Character Model in Age of Sigmar. 

Perhaps it could be fielded as Elite infantry in Dragon Rampant - along with a few other similar minis (I have a few I'm calling Clawlords!?) 

The Scryre Acolyte is not a leader - I just have the one and it somehow ended up in the picture with the Clawlord... there are four more to paint which would make a unit. 

Not sure what to call this one... Warlock Bombadier? They're the only hero/character model with a longer range weapon (though in Warcry it's range is 6-15" - suggesting it's an indirect weapon - like a mortar or grenade launcher... I guess I could say it's too long and unwieldy to aim at anything close?

In Dragon Rampant, it could be added to the Elite Foot unit with the other Clawlords. Use it as an excuse to give them missile attacks. (I guess Grey Seers could be added to the unit as well, adding to the argument for a ranged attack) 

Six Stormvermin. I'm not sure if any of these were ever called Stormvermin... they may just supposed to be Clan Rats. I decided to differentiate them by saying any of them that are wearing helmets are Stormvermin, those without helmets are Clanrants. 

Probably call them Heavy Foot in Dragon Rampant? Realistically, these would be at best, light foot and the Clanrats would all be Ravenous Hordes... but I just don't think I have nearly enough models to call all the Clanrats Ravenous Hordes!? 

Six Clanrats! 

Five Gutter Runners and one Night Runner. 

Conveniently, Gutter Runners are fielded in units of five for Age of Sigmar.

For Dragon Rampant, I could add in the Night Runner and call them a unit of Scouts! 

TWELVE Giant Rats and a Pack Master! 

Fielded individually in Warcry or in units of 6 or 12 in Age of Sigmar. Teh Packmaster is a separate character, I guess...? 

Not sure what I'd call it in Dragon Rampant... How effective are giant rats!? Maybe just call them Ravenous Hordes? 

Two Plague Monks. Unfortunately, the one on the right of the picture, is the same model I used as a Plague Priest above. It seemed silly and unnecessary to have TWO plague Priests... though I may yet rebase it and call it such. I could also call it a "Bringer of the Word" - which is the leader of a unit of Plague Monks - which is still on a 25mm base, but is a Leader/Hero model in Warry. 

Two Warp-lock Jezzail teams. Fielded individually in Warcry, in Age of Sigmar they are fielded as units of three teams. I would likely field them similarly in Dragon Rampant (as a reduced model unit of Heavy Shooters) 

So, in total, that was...

• 1x Clawlord
• 2x Grey Seer
• 1x Plague Priest
• 1x Warlock Bombardier?
• 1x Scryre Acolyte
• 2x Warplock Jezzail Teams
• 12x Giant Rats
• 1x Packmaster
• 6x Stormvermin
• 6x Clanrats
• 5x Gutter Runners
• 1x Night Runner
• 2x Plage Monks

STILL TO PAINT

All of the minis still to do. 

Arch-Warlock and Thanoquol (a named character in Age of Sigmar, though the current iteration of the character is riding atop a giant, four-armed mutant Rat Ogor named Boneripper... and must be fielded as such... So, I guess I could just call him anohter, fancier, Grey Seer)

In Dragon Rampant I am fond of fielding Wizards as Light Missile, Single Model Units (the shooting representing a ranger attack of sorts, and all the strength points representing magical defences. Though, perhaps, since I have them, they could be fielded as Reduced Model Units along with a few of the Grey Seers...?

If I were to field these as a Frostgrave warband, either of these could be the Wizard and the other Grey Seers would be their apprentices. 

Two Clawlords. Independant Character models in Age of Sigmar and Leader/Hero figures in Warcry. 

Two more of these minis... but on smaller bases. I could rebase and call them MORE... Or they could be Clawleaders or Fangleaders (leaders of Clanrats and Stormvermin, repectively) they are just part of units in Age of Sigmar, but are considered Leader/Hero figures in Warcry. 

Not sure what I'm going to call these two Skaven with warp-lock pistols...? Warlock Engineers? They have a short 8" range attack in Age of Sigmar...? 

Nineteen more Clanrats!  The one up front, with two had weapons held aloft, could probably be a Clawleader (the leader of a unit of Clanrats in Age of Sigmar and a Leader model in Warcry) 

Five More Stormvermin... I think two of them are supposed to be Fangleaders (leaders of units of Stormvermin in Age of Sigmar and a Leader model in Warcry... but I think I'll just use them as regular Stormvermin and use one of the pointing rats as a Fangleader) 

These are two more Beast Masters. I was tempted to take the larger one and put it on a 32mm base and call it a Master Moulder...

Packmasters are fielded in units of three, however... and three is what I'd have here, if they all got painted... so maybe I'll keep them as such. 

Two Rat Ogors

The Dragons Den has a bunch more of the more recent metal Rat Ogors... I am tempted to pick a few of them up... 

Four more Scryre Acolytes. 

Adding these to the one I have painted makes five - and these just happen to be fielded in units of five in Age of Sigmar! 

I forgot to take pictures... but I have another FIVE of these... but don't have the backpacks for them... Not sure what to do with those. 

I made another into a sci-fi mini by giving it a spare space marine backpack and swapping out the globe in it's hand for a bolter... 

This is also an old, OLD Poison Wind Globadier (so, now a Scryre Acolyte) - it's a bit smaller than the others. 

A sixth, then... not much use for Age of Sigmar... but perhaps it could be added to the unit for Dragon Rampant! Maybe a Reduced Model unit of... something with short ranged weapons (Light Foot, perhaps, with mixed light missiles) 

One more Plague Monk with Foetid Blade and Woe Staff. 

Not enough Plague Monks to make any units in Age of Sigmar or Dragon Rampant - unless I thought of a use for the Plague Priest in DRagon rampant and these ended up being attendants (to make it a reduced-model, rather than single-model unit?) 

ONE Plague Censer Bearer

Two more of these guys I was calling Grey Seers - but on smaller bases... I'm not sure what to do with them. I guess I could put them on larger bases and call them MORE Grey Seers - just in case EVERYONE Really wants one for their Warcry Warband - eiher as a leader or a champion/hero

Four Warp Fire thrower Teams. One of the later models, the other three are the original warp fire throwers. 

Unlike the Jezzails below, it looks like the teams are individual units on their own in Age of Sigmar. 

For Dragon Rampant these could all be glommed together into a single, reduced-model unit of either Heavy or Light Missiles? I'm not sure - but with reduced range, but maybe something that makes them a little more BRUTAL. 

I do have four more Jezzail teams as well - currently based for Hordes of the Things (not sure if they were used as "Artillery" or "Shooters"). These could, at some point, be removed, stripped, rebased and repainted... 

In Age of Sigmar, these are fielded in Units of three teams - and count as "Artillery" - so if ever I wanted to include a unit of Jezzails in an Age of Sigmar Army, I'd need at least one of these to complete one unit (and could use the other three as a second unit!) 

For Dragon Rampant, I feel like they could be Heavy Missile, Reduced Model Units (Three teams being one unit, each base being worth four strength points) 

NEEDING REPAIRS/ASSEMBLY 

I have a handful of things needing repair (or assembly) before they can be painted. 

Three more Clan Rats and four more Gutter Runners. 

Not quite enough Gutter Runners to field a second unit in either Age of Sigmar or Dragon Rampant. I see on the GW website, they still sell them (new models) as METAL miniatures...? Maybe I should order one pack - as that would be enough to make a second unit of these in both games...? 

Old Skool DOOM WHEEL!? 

Stuff needing to be painted includes... 

• 2x Clawlord
• 3x Grey Seer
• 1x Arch Warlock
• 2x Warlock Engineer? 
• 5x Scryre Acolyte
• 4x Warplock Jezzail Teams
• 4x Warp Fire Thrower Teams
• 2x Packmaster
• 6x Stormvermin
• 20x Clanrats
• 4x Gutter Runners
• 1x Plague Monks
• 2x Rat Ogors
• 1x Plague Censer Bearer

FORCES 

So what CAN I put together with ALL of this Once they are all painted!? 

I would have:

• 3x Clawlords
• 5x Grey Seers
• 1x Plague Priest
• 1x Warlock Bombardier
• 2x Warlock Engineers 
• 6x Scryre Acolytes
• 6x Warplock Jezzail Teams
• 4x Warp Fire Thrower Teams
• 12x Giant Rats
• 3x Packmasters
• 11x Stormvermin
• 26x Clanrats
• 9x Gutter Runners
• 1x Night Runner
• 3x Plage Monks
• 2x Rat Ogors
• 1x Plague Censer Bearer
• 1x DOOM WHEEL

WARCRY

I actually just picked up the new edition today... I hope there isn't ANOTHER new edition before I get around to running a tournament... 

As i understand it, the basics of warband construction is... you get 1000 points to spend on 3-15 fighters, no more than three can be heroes (unless you're starting a Narrative Campaign, then you only get ONE!?), at least one must be a hero and is your leader. 

Of the painted models I have five heroes totalling 775 points. There are 36 other fighters totalling 2890 points. I have a grand total of 3665 points and 41 miniatures. I should be able to make THREE warband out of these! 

adding in all the unpainted miniatures I would have... 

Heroes

• 3x Clawlord @175 = 525
• 5x Grey Seer @140 = 700
• 1x Plague Priest @150 = 150
• 1x Arch-Warlock @170 = 170
• 1x Warlock Bombardier @170 = 170
• 2x Warlock Engineer @130 = 260
• 2x Fangleader @150 = 300
• 1x Bringer of the Word @130 = 130

Total - 15 Heroes, 2405 Points

Other Fighters

• 6x Scryre Acolyte  @80 = 480
• 6x Warplock Jezzail Teams @150 = 900
• 4x Warp Fire Thrower Teams @110 = 440
• 12x Giant Rats @70 = 420
• 3x Packmaster @70 = 210
• 8x Stormvermin with Halberd @95 = 760
• 2x Stormvermin with Halberd and Shielf @80 = 160
• 25x Clanrats @70 = 1750
• 9x Gutter Runners @90 = 810
• 1x Night Runner @75 = 75
• 2x Plague Monks @80 = 160
• 2x Rat Ogors @225 = 450
• 1x Plague Censer Bearer @105 = 105

Total - 81 Fighters, 6720 Points

The Grand Total being... 96 fighters, 9125 points

So... it is conceivable, that I could field up to NINE warbands!? Y'know, if they were ALL painted and it kind of worked out. I think it more reasonable that I could have seven or maybe eight playable ones. At seven warbands there could be two Heroes per warband.... but that would be an uneven number and not really work out for a tournament. EIGHT would be ideal... Ehhhhh... maybe, if it actually seemed like I might get these done, I could pick up a Master Moulder (they're still apparently metal miniatures) and that would make 16 heroes - two for each warband. 

I need to finish painting another 60 miniatures or so... Doesn't seem SO hard. Mind you I only painted that many in all of last year... Of course, I've painted almost that many so far THIS year... Hard to say. If I did five a week,  I'd be done in 12 weeks. I COULD be done by the end of July... IF I stayed focused and got five miniatures done each week. 

Is this stupid? Probably. 

Do I have enough cavern terrain to make four little battlefields...? Maybe... a few of the rounds could be larger four-player mega-battles...? 

AGE of SIGMAR

As I said, I don't HAVE the Battletome and have no strong desire to get one at this time... but I quickly threw things into the online Warscroll Builder at the Warhammer Community website and here's what I came up with (assuming all the miniatures I have got painted)... 

LEADERS

• Arch-Warlock (150) 
• Clawlord (110) 
• Clawlord (110) 
• Grey Seer (120) 
• Grey Seer (120) 
• Plague Priest (100) 

UNITS

• 20 x Clanrats - Rusty Spear(100)
• 12 x Giant Rats (120)
• 5 x Gutter Runners (100)
• 3 x Packmasters (60)
• 2 x Rat Ogors (140)
• 5 x Skryre Acolytes (70)
• 10 x Stormvermin - Halberd (130)
• 1 x Warpfire Thrower (70) 
• 1 x Warpfire Thrower (70) 
• 1 x Warpfire Thrower (70) 
• 1 x Warpfire Thrower (70) 

ARTILLERY

• 3 x Warplock Jezzails (120) 
• 3 x Warplock Jezzails (120)

TOTAL: 1950/2000

WOUNDS: 125

LEADERS: 6/6

BATTLELINES 2 (3+)

BEHEMOTHS 0/4

ARTILLERY 2/4

ARTEFACTS: 0/1 

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS: 0/3 

ALLIES: 0/400

REINFORCED UNITS: 1/4 

DROPS: 19

I'm not sure how the Clans all work. It seems like if it's declared for a particular clan, certain other units might count as "Battleline"... but I'm not sure how that might restrict other units? Otherwise I'd have to find another unit of Stormvermin or Clanrats - trying to find old metal ones might be prohibitively expensive... Do they do "Open Play" in Age of Sigmar? 

Oh, apparently I didn't even add in the Doom Wheel!? That's another 160points. So I have MORE than I need for a 2000 point army!? 

I wonder if there is a rule in Age of Sigmar (like in 40K) where you can't take more than three of any one type of unit that isn't a core unit? This would only really affect the Warp Fire Throwers.

DRAGON RAMPANT

And then how would I field them in Dragon Rampant... I have to admit, I haven't given it a tonne of thought. But just quickly, I could potentially field something like:

Arch-Warlock and attendants (6) - Elite Foot, Missiles - 8AP

• Stormvermin (12) - Heavy Foot - 4AP
• Clanrats (12) - Light Foot - 3AP
• Clanrats (12) - Light Foot - 3AP
• Giant Rats (12 - 11 rats, 1 packmaster) -  Ravenous Hordes - 1AP
• Gutter Runners (6) - Scouts - 2AP
• Rat Ogors (2) - Offensive Heavy Foot, Reduced Model Unit - 6AP
• Skryre Acolytes (6) - Light Foot, Offensive, Short-Ranged Missiles, Reduced Model Unit  - 6AP
• Warplock Jezzails (3) - Heavy Missile, Reduced Model Unit - 4AP
• Warplock Jezzails (3) - Heavy Missile, Reduced Model Unit - 4AP 
• Warpfire Thrower (2)  - Light Foot, Short-Ranged Missiles, Fearful, Reduced Model Unit  - 2AP
• Warpfire Thrower (2)  - Light Foot, Short-Ranged Missiles, Fearful, Reduced Model Unit  - 2AP
• Doom Wheel (1) - Greater Warbeast, Single Model Unit - 6AP

That's a total of 43 Army Points - LOADS to play in a campaign with! 

So.. What to Do... What to Do... 

If I could wave a magic wand and decide what I was going to paint for the next year and stay focused on that - and wave another magic wand that would conjure up players that could commit to playing in a game... As of writing this, I'd like to start cranking through these and plan to host a Weekend Campaign, either in the fall or for a revived Winter Wargaming Weekend/Wargaming Birthday Bash next February...?

Ideally I'd like to get a few Kill Teams (and some terrain!) done and play a bit of that over the summer... but also mix in a few games of Warcry - just to get some experience playing that (I wonder if I have enough Daughters of Khaine painted for Amanda to play... I could knock off a few more to make that happen, maybe!?) 

I guess if the Under-Carngard Warcry campaign wasn't until next February, I could alternate between batches of Skaven and Kill Teams - just to mix it up, keep it fresh...?

Also I'd like to get a BUNCH more rebasing done - moving into the fall - and finish up a few more units for a few of the other Fantasy armies so they could be used for a campaign over the winter. It would be similar to the Back of Beyond campaign, but using Dragon Rampant to play out the tabletop games and using a campaign system based on the original Mighty Empires!   

The Legendary Black Beast of Arrrghhh (Rabbit of Caerbannog!)

 I've been re-basing a lot of figures over the last few months. For some reason I thought I'd rebase a few animals. Amongst those animals was a few rabbits... 

"Death awaits you all – with nasty, big, pointy teeth!"

The Legendary Black Beast of Arrrghhh who dwells in the Cave of Caerbannog!

"e's got a vicious streak a mile wide!"

I have a few such rabbits and I had one that, at one point, I thought I'd use in Hordes of the Things. It was going to be this wee tiny rabbit in the middle of a 60mmx60mm base surrounded by bits of bodies and bones and pools of blood.... Not sure if I was going to classify it as a Behemoth or a Hero...? Regardless, I've given up on Hordes of the Things, so... Here it is on a wee base. 

If it wasn't clear, there are a few skulls sitting behind it. I'd thought of coving them in blood as well... but then I'd have probably felt like I'd need to model on some scraps of flesh and hair that hadn't entirely been scraped away... and with dry, old, skulls, it kind of establishes that this rabbit has been here a while doing its evil work... 

I'm not sure what to call this in Dragon Rampant. Probably a Greater Warbeast - Single Model Unit of some sort... 

What would YOU classify it as in the games YOU play!? 

Orcs Revisited

As with the Dwarves, earlier this month, I've been rebasing and reorganizing the Orc collection... well... ONE of the orc collections. This is collection that is mostly metal miniatures, from a wild mix of manufacturers, and mostly painted with orange skin. 

(the OTHER collection of Orcs is a mix of metal and plastic Orc miniatures from Citadel Miniatures/Games workshop and painted with green skin)

Some time ago, when I was painting (or, in some cases, RE-PAINTING) these for use with Hordes of the Things, I decided I was tired of painting orcs with green skin and, partially inspired by the orcs on the cover of Keep on the Borderlands and partly by the orcs in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings series, I stopped painting them green and started painting them a mix of reddish-orangish-brownish colours, before finally settling on Orange.

Many of these were previously based for Hordes of the Things and were rebased individually to use with... well... OTHER GAMES!? Largely I am organizing them for Dragon Rampant, but they could totally be used for Song of Blades and Heroes or Rangers of Shadowdeep, or Frostgrave or any number of assorted Fantasy Role-Playing Games or other skirmishy games. 

PAINTED

Here's what I have painted so far:

For a Dragon Rampant army, I could currently field them as 

• Heavy Rider - 4 points
• Heavy Rider - 4 points
• Heavy Rider - 4 points
• Light Missile - 4 points
• Scout - 2 points
• Offensive Heavy Foot - 6 points

Total: 24 Points - Ready to go! 

Orc warlord and his closest cronies - Heavy Riders. 

These, and the others below, are from Old Glory miniatures. I like the idea of having a Orc Hordes of the Things army that was primarily MOUNTED. I think I ended up with eight of twelve elements being mounted...? I wanted them to be analagous to Mongols or Huns - fast moving raiders (or conquerers!?) that could sweep across the lands (and battlfields) sowing death and destruction in their wake!

The Dragon Rampant force won't have nearly the same proportion or mounted Orcs... but not an insignificant amount! 

I can't recall if I counted them as Riders or Beasts in Hordes of the Things, I think it suggested that Orc wolf-riders could be classified as Beasts - as they move through rough terrain without slowing down...? Which made me wonder if these should have been classified as Lesser Warbeasts in Dragon Rampant. After thinking on it, I decided to go with Heavy Riders... for now... 

More Orc Heavy Riders 

STILL More Orc Heavy Riders 

Currently being fielded as Scouts, I do have 6-7 more, which could fill out a full unit of Light Missile... or... just be a second unit of Scouts

These little goblins are some of the oldest miniatures I still have. They were part of my first miniature ARMY. I'd had individual miniatures or heroes and assorted monsters for role-playing games, but the first ARMY I build was orcs and goblins and mostly made of Ral Partha miniatures. These were originally painted green. They were stripped and repainted when I rebased them to make a unit of Bow for the Hordes of the Things army. 

For a very brief time, these may have been a first unit built for AD&D Battlesystem, but I couldn't find anyone to play with and were never actually used with the game. Eventually I met guys that were starting to build armies for Warhammer Fantasy Battle (4th Edition). No one cared about using Citadel miniatures then. We just build our armies with whatever we could get our mittens on - which was, for the most part, Ral Partha and RAFM minaitures (and a few older Citadel miniature, produced under license in Canada)

Light Missile - Mostly Celtos miniatures, but there are a few repainted Ral Partha Orc archers mixed in there because I didn't have enough of the Celtos minis... I suppose at some point I could order a few more from Brigade Models in the UK (as they still produce the old Celtos minis!) 

(There are actually thirteen here, so one - or two - of the Ral Partha Orc archers will likely join a different unit, when others get painted) 

Offensive Heavy Foot. 

Some of the first Citadel Orcs I owned - "pre-slotta" 

Not a full unit - These are more Celtos orcs I think they were originally part of a Warband element in the Hordes of the things army. I have seven more I've started to finish off a unit of twelve. Then I have enough of these for THREE MORE units!? I think I'll classify them as Belicose Foot. 

An Orc catapult from RAFM. I thought I COULD use it as a Heavy Missile (Single Model Unit)... Maybe add some fantastical rules to make them a bit more brittle (less survivable in melee (like FEARFUL -2 points; -1 to all Courage and Rally tests?)

Orc Casualty/Broken markers - made from some spare Mantic Orcs that Finnegan had. 

I think this was a "pre-slotta" Citadel female orc (produced under license by Rafm). I had a few of these that I used as Orc Cheerleaders for my Blood Bowl team at one point. 

At one point I made Army Markers to move about a map when playing Hordes of the Things campaigns. This was the one for the Orcs. 

Still TO DO

All (well... MOST) of the stuff I still have to do for this army. 

The spare Celtos Orcs I need to finish up the unit above. 

THREE MORE units of Celtos Orcs that I could use as Bellicose Foot. 

More of the Ral Partha goblin archers. They could be added to the six above to make a unit of 12 Light Missile... or just make up a second unit of scouts...? 

There is one extra here... it might be added to the unit of Celtos Goblin archers to free up another of the Ral Partha orc archers to add to the four below to make a unit of... scouts!?

six little goblins from Harlequin miniautres (or was it Heartbreaker...? One of those GW knock-offs that started with an 'H')... They would be used as Scouts. 

MORE Goblin Archers (later Ral Partha/Iron Wind Metals, I think...?)

Four more Ral Partha Orc archers. as noted above, I could free up two of the ones currently in the unit of painted goblins archers to add to these to make a unit of Scouts.

An assortment of odd and extra goblins and orcs from a variety of manufacturers that I could, someday, use as RAvenous Hordes (they're fairly low on the priority list....)

More odd, assorted Orcs that don't really fit into any particular units for Dragon Rampant. 

Orc and Goblin Sizards/Shamen. I think they're all from Black Tree Design...? Two are on flagstone bases as I though I might make an Orc and Goblin warband for Frostgrave...? 

Still more stuff that I haven't even based or primed... 

Not sure what I'll ever do with those gigantic orc archers!? I have enough goblins for THREE units of Light Missile. How would I differentiate these from the Goblins!? 

So... I have a viable army that could be used to start a campaign, and LOTS of others I could finish up to expand that army! 

OTHER STUFF

Other stuff that is Orc and Goblin related, but not really part of the above force.... 

Drawer full of assorted Ogres and Trolls. These have been nominally associated with the above Orc and Goblin collection for years. Some of them were previously based for Hordes of the Things and included in the Orc army.... Really, though, I have LOADS of Orcs and Goblins, and there are enough of these that I could really make an entire Dragon Rampant warband/army of just these!? 

One of the OTHER Collections of Orcs (or... ORRUKS, as they are now known) - these are the aforementioned mix of metal and plastic orcs from Citadel Miniatures/Games Workshop that I'm painting with green skin. There are three different Warhammer Underworlds warbands in here. I figure I could use some as WarCry warbands... but there is almost enough to field as a Dragon Rampant warband. 

The Brutes of Morgok's Krushas could be a reduced model unit of Elite Foot. 

The 'Ard Boys of Ironskull's Boyz could be a reduced model unit of Offensive Heavy Foot (4 models = 3strength Points per model) 

and then I have enough assorted other older GW/Citadel orcs (which are considerably smaller than the Ard Boyz and Brutes - but still much bigger than most of the other orcs in the collection above) that could be two more units of Offensive Heavy Foot.

And that would be 24 Points! 

MORE GW/Citadel green guys- Goblins, Trolls and Ogres. Goblins are no longer associated with Orcs in Games Workshop armies. Gloomspite Gitz are a mix of Goblins and Toggoths (trolls) and are completely separate from the Orruk Wartribes.

Also in the drawer are Ogres (also a separate faction - Ogor Mawtribes). 

There are two different Warhammer Underworlds warbands here, and a few things I thought I could cobble together for Warcry Warbands. Not really enough here to make a separate Dragon Rampant army - though they could be extras in an army of the Green Orcs above. 

A unit in the works that would be in the drawer above, but it's been in an 'on deck' box near the workbench for some time. They are all old GW/Citadel goblin miniatures. MOST of them are pre-slotta goblin MUTANTS from back when goblins were (sometimes?) the minions of Chaos!