Age of Sigmar - Arkanaut Company

I picked up an Arkanaut Company on boxing day for use in Soulbound. The first adventure involves flying and a Kharadron skyvessel from Hammerhal to Brightspear and along the way the fleet is beset by a massive horde of Tzeentch Daemons and Tzaangor... Ideally the Soulbound party saves some of the crew and ideally they become recurring NPCs thereafter... 

Arkanaut Company

The Arkanaut Company are the basic crew of the Skyvessels of the Kharadron overlords. 

Am I about to start on a Kharadron Overlord force for Age of Sigmar?

Nope. 

This is probably the faction that is the least interesting to me. I don't hate them, or even dislike them... I'm just... ambivalent towards steampunk dwarves in this setting... 

I was also hoping to get a bunch of Squigs and Grots done for this evening's game... but that just didn't happen... I figured rather than worry about doing all the encounters in this initial adventures exactly as they are in the book, I could just sub out the Grots and Squigs for something I have that's already painted!?

Grombrindal, The White Dwarf - FINISHED!

 In addition to Glaurio Ven Alten III, I finished up Grombrindal, The White Dwarf this week! 

Grombrindal, the White Dwarf. 

This was one of those minis that felt like painting it went on and on and oooooonnnnnnnn.... Everytime I THOUGHT I was finished, I'd turn it round and realize, nope I'd forgotten this little detail or that... eventually I had to just say, Nope... that's all I'm doing... I'm calling this done. 

Grombrindal's back

There were rules for Grombrindal in ALL THE GAMES in the 500th issue of the White Dwarf magazine (Age of Sigmar, Warcry, Warhammer Quest, and Warhammer Underworlds). I'm MOSTLY interested in the Warhammer Underworlds (at the moment) but will at SOME point this year get playing Warhammer Quest and I would like to play Warcry... (all the hubbub about the NEW EDITION of Age of Sigmar has even gotten me thinking about playing THAT again!? though the rules on this card won't be relevant as they are overhauling all the stats and stuff, again...) 

(I momentarily had a panic when I went to take the above photo and I COULD NOT FIND THE WARHAMMER UNDERWORLDS CARD!?!? It took some searching, but the card was located... everything is fine now... relatively speaking...) 

Grombrindal in the Deathgorge. 

I am hoping to try out playing Gombrindal in a game of Warhammer Underworlds Tomorrow evening at the local Warhammer Store! Stay tuned for a game report. 

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! 

Dwarves Revisited

I briefly had a look at the Fantasy Dwarf collection a few weeks back when I was considering different campaign options. One of the Options I had a look at was running a fantasy campaign using Dragon Rampant (and a campaign system based on the old Mighty Empires game from Games Workshop). You can find that here:

Campaign Considerations Part Three: Fantasy!

Though it was a long time in coming, it was at that point I decided to give up on Hordes of the Things and to start rebasing all those armies for that onto individual bases and reorganize them for Dragon Rampant (and other games). 

I started with the Dwarves and Orcs. 

This is were I've gotten to with the Dwarves...

(Most of the discussion below is about organizing for Dragon Rampant - but there are plenty of other games these could be used in - Song of Blades and Heroes, assorted fantasy role-playing games, even Warcry!?) 

Painted Stuff

All of the painted stuff so far!

(Well... most of the painted stuff)

Easily an entire warband for Dragon Rampant here!

Dwarf Lord on Bear! I could classify him as Elite Cavalry (Single Model Unit). OR maybe have the four Longbeards (below) escort him and call it Elite Foot...?

Old GW Longbeards. Ideally what I'd LIKE to do with these is find either an old GW metal Dwarf Lord or a Longbeard Champion, and either a Longbeard Musician or Standard Bearer, to complete a unit of six and call them Elite Foot. I'm sure I could find two other suitable heavily armoured Dwarves as stand-ons... it would just be nice to have models that are actually from the same range/era/sculptor - especially for a unit of ELITE foot. 

Alternatively, as mentioned above, I could pair these with the Bear Riding Dwarf Champion above and call the whole mess Elite Foot (and the Bear and Dwarf Champion count as a strength point each - two for the model) 

(A Dwarf Lord or Champion could also be a leader for a Cities of Sigmar Warcry warband that would also include these Longbeards and a smattering of the Thunderers below - now classified as "Irondrakes"...?)

Dwarf Foot. I'm not sure if I'd call these Heavy Foot or OFFENSIVE Heavy Foot 

Regular Heavy Foot has the "Wall of Spears" and cost 4 Points. OFFENSIVE Heavy Foot lose the "Wall of Spears" ability, their attack value becomes 4+ and they cost two points more! 

It's one of those weird hang-ups I have about the way abilities are named. It could just as easily have been called Shield Wall (which is really what they "Wall of Spears" special rule describes). But BECAUSE this unit DOESN'T have a single spear in it, I feel a bit weird using these as regular Heavy Foot!? 

Perhaps THIS unit I'll call Offensive Heavy Foot and the rest will just be regular Heavy Foot. 

Heavy Foot. No doubts. I've concentrated ALL the spears into this unit, though. Perhaps what I need to do is spread them out among the next three units and have four units of dwarves with 3-4 spears in it - that I can classify as regular Heavy Foot. 

All the models are from Old Glory Minaitures.  

More Heavy Foot. These are mostly from Old Glory Miniatures. 

Still More Heavy Foot. These are all old Heartbreaker miniatures. 

(Damn... I went looking and discovered these are still available through Ral Partha Europe... I could just order a dozen of these Heartbreaker Dwaves with spears - end up with one more unit, but have even more spears to spread about the units of Heavy Foot...) 

Son of Still More Heavy Foot. These are a mix of Old Glory, Heartbreaker, and Citadel Miniatures. 

Heavy Missile! These are old Games Workshop/Citadel Miniatures Dwarf Thunderers. 

Giant Armoured Badgers! I only have the two. I have no idea who made them. Found them in a Bargain bin for $1 each! How could I pass them up!? 

They were in the old Dwarf Hordes of the Things army on a base together and I classed them as Beasts... For Dragon Rampant...? Perhaps Lesser Warbeasts (Reduced Model Unit - each counting as three Strength Points)

So, with what I had above here, I figure I could field them as:

• 1x Elite Foot (Dwarf Lord on Bear + Longbeards) - 6AP
• 1x Offensive Heavy Foot (12) - 6AP
• 4x Heavy Foot (12) - @4AP = 16AP
• 1x Heavy Missile (12) - 4AP

Total: 32 points!? 

Plenty for a campaign!

I guess if I was just playing a 24point game (or to start a campaign - if everyone started with 24 AP) I could field:

• Elite Foot (Dwarf Lord on Bear + Longbeards) - 6AP
• Offensive Heavy Foot - 6AP
• Heavy Foot - 4AP
• Heavy Foot - 4AP 
• Heavy Missile - 4AP

An assortment of odd extras that just didn't fit into a unit... 

Oh, and then there's this guy... Original paintjob from the late 80s..? I can't remember if this was Citadel or Marauder miniatures. I think we only ever got one in at the Wizards Corner (where I worked in the late 80s). It was so fun I had to pick it up. I had no intention of ever building a dwarf army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle... it was just so fun! Damn, I would have loved to have a half dozen of them to have a unit (that I'd probably NEVER, EVER use!?) 

My miniature purchases have NEVER been directd by what would be "sensible" or "good" in the game, but rather what "should" be in a unit (bog standard infantry) or stuff that was fun... 

MORE Dwarves from the late 80s - recently re-based. 

A trio of Dwarves from... I'm not sure where I got them from, but they're currently sold by Warmonger Miniatures. I thought it might be fun to put together a warband of these - either for Frostgrave or Song of Blades and Heroes or En Garde or even a unit of 12 for Dragon Rampant... then I looked at what they're selling them for these days! YIKES! (£4.00 each!? I know... I know... there are a LOT of GW miniatures that work out to more... I just don't think I could justify that to myself, let along Amanda, at this point... MAYBE if I got ALL of the unpainted minis below painted AND I was got playing Frostgrave or Song of Blades and Heroes or En Garde or  Dragon Rampant on the regular...). 

Frostgrave Warbands

These didn't end up in the "painted" group picture above as I had them stored elsewhere and forgot about them at the time. They're kind of their own separate thing - there's a mix of painted and unpainted stuff and they're based differently - on flagstones or cobblestones - but most DO have about twelve in each group... so...  

The Blue Wizards' Warband. I haven't worked out what each of these is yet... just grouped them together and decided they'd make a fun warband, if ever I got back to playing Frostgrave!? (MOST the models are from Lead Adventure Miniatures - I think they apprentice might be from Black Tree Design...?) 

As there are twelve of them, I wondered if they could be fielded as a unit in Dragon Rampant. Perhaps I could field them as Heavy Foot + the Spellcaster (or Wizardling) special rule - for 8AP (or 6)... I could make them OFFENSIVE as well, for another 2 points!? Offensive Heavy Foot + Spellcaster would be 10AP!? 

I don't LOVE the actual Spellcaster Fantastical Special Rule... I kind of prefer to abstract spell casters (just as in Hordes of the Things) as Elite Foot + Missile... still 8AP. instead of sturdy, skilled warriors in heavy armour, it's a wizard and companions and the good armour comes from defensive spells and the brutal close combat (or ranges attacks) all come from offensive spells. An attack is and attack, whether it comes from physical blows using muscle and steel or some sort of magic attack (fireballs, lightening, raining stones, blast of freezing wind, roots popping up from the ground and dragging their enemy down below the earth with them) whatever it is, dice are rolled, and models are removed from the action!

A second Frostgrave Warband 

I had a third pair of wizards from Lead Adventure Miniatures, so I've grouped them together with the leftovers of the Lead Adventure Miniatures... not quite enough for a warband. I suppose I could add in some of the assorted extras... OR.. if ever I got the above warbands finished.... AND I started playing Frostgrave again... AND I needed ANOTHER Dwarf warband... I coule always order a few more to finish up this third warband... 

Still To Do

This is all that other stuff I have that still needs to be painted... It's actually a LOT LESS than I'd thought... Which leaves me kind of feeling like I should concentrate on THESE and just GET THEM DONE!!!!

Six more heavily armoured Dwarves I thought I could use as another unit of Elite Foot. (All from Old Glory Miniatures) 

Dwarf Miners - Offensive Heavy Foot!?

If I was being silly, I could give them the Burrowing fantastical rule... but only if I was being VERY silly... 

Crossbow armed Dwarves from Black Tree Design. I feel like Crossbow armed troops are meant to be Heavy Missile... but a small part of me wants to call them Light Missile, just to differentiate from the Thunderers and their guns...? 

Six extra crossbow... do I get six more to fill out a second unit of Light/Heavy Missile...? Or I just use these as is and call them Scouts!? The look like they're dressed a little too fancy to be scouts. Maybe if I paint the others in bright colours and I do these in drab greens and browns...? 

Another Unit of Heavy Foot. 

Eight spare Thunderers... Do I track down four more to make a full unit...? Use six of them as Scouts!? just sell them off!? I don't know... 

assortment of other unpainted minis that didn't fit into a particular unit. I'm sure there are a few more that just got missed, were stored elsewhere... but there are not THAT many... 

And that's pretty much it! I'm sure there are some I missed - because they've been dropped into temporary storage boxes when I cleared off the painting table at one point or another... There are a few other dwarves that are in different boxes - because they are part of different collections. Some of the Age of Sigmar Duardin (Warhammer Underworlds warbands, etc). 

I actually have an entire separate collection of Dwarves that could make a complete second army for Dragon Rampant (the Highland Dwarves!). I'll deal with them in a separate post, at some point! 

Shadespire: The Chosen Axes

More Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire miniatures for my friend John. 

He dropped these off for me to paint for him... probably around the time I finished the last batch... Yeah, that was two years ago. Good Thing he's a patient guy! I got work on these because part of my Q1 Game Plan was to finish off a few things I have to paint for others AND it seems I've gone down the Age of Sigmar rabbithole, so this worked in with my current interests. (I find it REALLY hard to paint anything I'm actually interested in at the moment - which is why I generally DON'T do commission work!)

The Chosen Axes

Fjul-Grimnir - the leader of the gang

Tefk Flamebearer 

Vol Orrukbane 

Mad Maegrim

These are for Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire - the first in the series of Warhammer Underworlds series of games, released in 2017. There have been three more major, stand along expansions Nightvault (2018), Beastgrave (2019), and Direchasm (2020) each with numerous warband expansions, such as this. 

I've actually been looking at possibly picking up Direchasm to try it out. I have to admit, initially, I was uninterested in Warhammer Underworlds..... but for it to have survived THIS long, it can't have sucked THAT much.

Also, it's a way to pick up a small number of Age of Sigmar figures from a variety of factions - which could be used in Age of Sigmar (stats are available to use each of these warbands as a unit in the game) or Warcry (the figure types are all useable in Warcry - though not as specific names characters, as they are in Age of Sigmar AND they are not enough on their own to make a complete Warcry warband) or the Soulbound role-playing game or, y'know, the game they were actually MADE for - Warhmmer Underworlds. (I've already picked up Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven - since I already have a bunch of Daughters of Khaine in the Shadow & Pain box I picked up in December) 

I have one more of these to paint for John - Spiteclaw's Swarm - SKAVEN! 

An Unusual Assortment of Odd and Sundry Items

I've been painting. Some of it's been further experiments with Contrast® paints.



So... eight and a half years ago I bought a pile of these dirt cheap 1/35 scale Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K) models... and haven't really done anything with them. Through long and convoluted series of circumstances and thoughts and ideas, I got to working n a few of them this last week.

My general idea was that these could be part of a Rogue Trader's personal retinue. The equipment might be of Xenos origin - having been out beyond the imperium for so many years (decades... CENTURIES...!?) they've taken on equipment of xenos manufacture or design - to replace equipment that was lost or broke beyond repair along their journey. Either that or possibly a unit of mostly human mercenaries working in the employ of the T'au...?

I did try converting a few to incorporate actual 40k weapons... but they mostly ended up looking goofy. The most I've left with their original weaponry and just repainting and adding pilots to the ones that are opened up - like this one (which, unfortunately, is about a THRID of them!)

While doing a bit of the converting and priming and painting, I started working out the beginnings of a whole story behind the unit and of the Rogue Trader that employs them - I imagined a sort of arch-nemesis that is an Ordos Xenos inquisitor - after them because they truck with filthy xenos and use their tainted equipment and weapons... But the unit/Rogue Trader also has an ally that is an Ordo Hereticus or Malleus inquisitor - who has called upon the Unit/Rogue Trader for assistance in hunting down rogue psykers or possessed minions of chaos creatures with diabolical plans....

There are 24 of these walkers in total - 8 have open tops. I think I'll field them as four units of five (each with a leader with an open top) and the remaining four will be command or characters (they will also all have open tops). Probably make up some stats similar to Space Marine Dreadnoughts.



Fire and Ice! I can't remember where either of these guys came from. I know the Ice one I picked up in a bargain bin for a dollar some time ago... look like they might be fun golems or other creatures of fire and ice that could be conjured - or just exist - in some location a future party is passing though...

The ice guy was all mostly done with contrast paints.



Reaper Bones Mouslings - all painted with Contrast® paints. Turned out okay.



A Reaper Bones Dwarf wizard on a pony. Also painted with Contrast® paints.



Van Saar Juve. MORE experimenting with Contrast® paints. this won't be a member of my own Van Saar gang. They're all going to be in purple. I thought I'd do a little something different with this one - I have four or five of this exact figure, I'm not likely to ever need them all - especially since there are also OTHER Van Saar Juve I have (I think there are eight or nine in all!)



An assortment of odd scientific-fi figures. Not sure where any came from - other than some came from a bargain bin, others from lots of odd stuff off of eBay. I thought they's make some great Hive Scum in our Necromunda campaign(s).



Giant Rat - I think from Real PArtha...? Or maybe pre-slotta Citadel...? going one a pet for the Ratskins... or their quarry!



Reaper Bones halfling chef I thought I could use as a Necromunda Ratling "Slopper" - he claims he knows at least 49 delectable dishes he can prepare from raw Corpse starch and a few other easily obtainable spices and ingredients...



Wargames Foundry Street Violence ganger. I figure she'll see action with the Escher gangers - but may have a history. That jacket - did she used to run with house Delaque? Or did she steal it off of a dead Delaque Ganger...?



Two more recruits for my Delaque gang. Both are figures from Hasslefree miniatures. Originally I just did headswaps and painted them up - but they didn't look right. having a closer look I realized all the old Citadel Miniatures metal Delaqu gangers I had had popped/standing up collar on their jackets. So I scraped some paint off in appropriate areas and added some green stuff collars - and I redid the goggles I'd done the first time around. I'm not sure I love the goggles on these... but they're better than they were and I'm not going to start over on them as these are "good enough" for me...



The Beast from Below - a marker that can be added to the board in a Necromunda game - if anyone passes with in a certain distance of it, there is a chance they have disturbed the beast and it attacks!



Old "Epic scale" Asuryani jet bikes. I've been re-orging the epic forces for possible use with Warhammer 40000: Apocalypse.



MORE Epic Sale Eldar.

More on them in a moment or two...

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

More about the Epic Eldar for Apocalypse.

later this weekend a game-a-day update and some Necromunda game reports!