The 14th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

It's that time of year again! 

Feel free to head over to the Challenge blog to see the full announcement for Challenge XIV.

It's going to be great!

Curt

10mm Warhammer 'Dogs of War' - Bronzino's Galloper Guns & Braganza's Besiegers

Hellooo!

Here I present the beginnings of a new contingent for my 10mm Warhammer collection. It's time to let loose the 'Dogs of War'!

Old Sweats of Warhammer will recognize these two 'Regiments of Renown' from the original Warhammer 5th Ed supplement 'Dogs of War' (1998). It was such a unique and characterful army. I remember meeting GregB for the very first time while he was playing a tournament using his DoW force (and remember the poor Bretonnian player being schooled on what happens when cavalry frontally charges a formation of pike). I still have a dog-eared copy of the army book that I enjoy looking through from time to time.

First up are 'Braganza's Besieger' who are a mercenary company of heavy crossbowmen. Their specialty is to support the shock infantry in the front ranks. They all wear heavy plate armour and have pavise shields to help them weather incoming missile fire. 

For a bit of fun, I placed them amidst some ruins, thinking of something analogous to their name.  A tough bunch of characters, to be sure.

Next up is 'Bronzino's Galloper Guns'. 

I think this unit may be the only classic horse artillery in the Warhammer world. This battery of light guns specializes in quickly running up their cannon close to the enemy, cracking off a few rounds, and then nimbly limbering up to scoot away before things get too hot. They are meant to be proper infuriating. 

The figures for these two units are 3d prints. The crossbowmen are from Polish Lightning Miniatures, and the horse artillery are from Onmioji Miniatures. Fabulous digital models both.

While this may be a creditable start, the force really needs some more meat on its bones. I think some massed pikemen will be on the horizon soon. Hopefully more on that in the weeks to come!

Have a great day!

- Curt

10mm Giant Undead Sphinx and Ushabti

Hey There!

Back to some more 10mm Warhammer Fantasy stuff. This time out we have a giant undead Sphinx for the Tomb King contingent along with a unit of Ushabti constructs to act as its flank guard. Fun!

The Sphinx was a real hoot to work on. It's a 3d print I came across from Txarli Factory which I scaled to purpose. 

I popped on some ruins as the desert basing can get pretty bland otherwise.

Here are some rank-and-file units to give a sense of scale of this guy. Yes, he's quite rompy stompy.

Next is a unit on Ushabti constructs. Nice models from Onmioji and a pleasure to paint.

These two additions to the Tomb King army should give it a little more oomph, I think.

Thanks for dropping in and have a great day!

- Curt

28mm Shogunate Japanese Terrain - Cottage and Small Barn

Hey There,

I've been reading an early draft of Sidney's 'Until the Last Sword is Drawn' along with the newly released 'Hamatsu', and so felt a desperate need to do up some Japanese terrain. 

I've had this kit from 4Ground for YEARS. In fact, I picked it up at SALUTE probably a decade ago and it's been 'seasoning' ever since. Anyway, I girded my loins for the coming struggle, but managed to talk Lady Sarah into helping me (using my Jedi Tom Sawyer spiel), so we had a nice weekend afternoon putting these two buildings together.  :) 

I even managed to get through my part of the assembly process without saying any bad words. Now, that's iron discipline. (Okay, I may have muttered a few, but it was under the table when looking for dropped parts, and I don't think anyone heard...)

Love the Boris hair roof, but it's even better after a good coat of water mixed with PVA. Somebody really should tell him. 

Sigh, I miss 4Ground. Their stuff was sooo well designed. 

Nothing much to say about these as they're pretty basic, but still, they were a joy to build. I may give them a wash and highlight, but really they look pretty serviceable as is, and will be a great addition to the Shogunate Japan collection.

Thanks for popping in!

Curt

A Giant Spider, Spider-Riders, Spear Chukkas and Trolls (oh my!) for Warhammer (yes, in 10mm)

Returning back to my nascent Goblin force, I thought I'd add a few more units to beef them up a bit more. Here is a big (okay, eeenormous) spider, some spider-rider heralds, a battery of Night Goblin Spear Chukkas and a mob of River Trolls.

The giant spider was a 10mm 3d print from Wakes Emporium which I scaled-up significantly, being as I wanted a centrepiece for the typically hapless Gobbos. Kudos to the designer for the excellent model as many 3d designs don't translate well when enlarged to this extent. Bravo!

I added a few shaped pieces of blue foam insulation to build-out the rock formation she's clambering over.

I often like to make use of these larger bases to incorporate little vignettes and bit of additional terrain. For the Spider I wanted to accentuate her size, so placed a Squig 'rider' and a Spider Rider along her flanks. 

'Watch out, guys! It's not like she has indicator lights, or anything.' 

Speaking of Spider Riders the 'Big Lass' has a unit of these creepy little fellas to act as her vanguard. These models are also from Wakes Emporium.

I used colourshift chromatic paints from Greenstuff World for the spiders' abdomen and thorax.

Next up is a Night Goblin Spear Chukka battery. These models are from Green Skin Miniatures - another quality 3d designer on Gumroad.

I try to give each of my 10mm fantasy armies a distinct basing theme. Verdant for the Wood Elves, lots of buildings for the Empire, desert ruins for the Tomb Kings, etc.  For the Gobbos, I've decided to do up their bases kind of hardscrabble: dry, rocky and arid. Like this one, I often like to give them a mushroom here and there to make them feel more at home. I my world, everything is better with mushrooms. :) 

Finally, we have a gaggle of River Trolls as allies to the Goblins. These are from Green Skin Miniatures.

Not much to say about these lads, but that they're big and blue. Still, handy fellas to have around in a scrape, assuming they keep their wits about them.

And there you have it, a few more units for the Greenskin cause. I need to get some basic rank-and-file done for them next, but that'll be for another day.

Next up: Mercenaries!

Thanks for dropping in! Have a great day!

- Curt

More 10mm Reinforcements for the Empire

We've been having a good time with our 10mm Warhammer Fantasy campaign. We now have four turns tucked under out belt, with the four contesting powers battling remorselessly for supremacy of the 'Isle of Mist & Flame'. If you're interested in seeing what we're up to, please drop-in to follow the progress of the campaign here.

I find that one of the nice things about putting on a campaign like this is that it provides a great incentive to get stuff done. Peter's Empire forces needed a little more fleshing out, so here are four units that I've added to his Order of Battle: a regiment of Knights, a detachment of Handgunners, a battery of Hellblaster Volley Guns and a Steam Tank.

Of these new additions, the Empire Knights are the only old school metal miniatures from Games Workshop.

While I love many of the new models from talented 3d artists, I have to say I still have a great affection for these old metal models from the 90s - my lizard brain just loves the crispness and heft of them. Wonderful stuff.

I decided to give these guys a rather garish yellow, red and black livery. I was initially a little unsure of the colour scheme, but it's grown on me over time. 

The Handgunners are very nice 3d prints from Mini Rat Studio. Not much to say about these guys other than they're solid line-of-battle troops to bolster the Empire's general muster. 

The Volley Guns are excellent stl prints, again from Min Rat Studio. 

These do a wonderful job of capturing the look of the original 28mm models, and are much more substantial than the rather weedy original Warmaster metal castings.

Finally, the rather odd Steam Tank. 

This is a scaled-down print of a 28mm design from Double Edge Miniatures, which is a rendition of Leonardo da Vinci's famous Renaissance tank concept.

I thought it would be a great addition to the Empire's engineering park, and a fun departure from the original GW steam tank design.  I think it's pretty terrific.

For a bit of fun, I tracked down a nice little model of a Renaissance engineer which looks hauntingly similar to the Great Florentine himself. 

*Kisses popping fingers* Un bell’uomo!!

Thanks for dropping in for a look!

- Curt

First Units for my 10mm Warhammer Goblin Army

The Isle of Mist and Flame is home to numerous indigenous races. Some are fairly benign, while others are openly hostile, throwing spanners into the players' plans for conquest. Of the latter group, there are several tribes of Goblins who, along with their allies, occupy the forests, hills and mountains of the island. In campaign terms, the Goblins are not player-controlled, but rather run by the GM (me!) to sow a bit of mischief and chaos amongst the players.

So here are my first efforts in building a greenskin horde. 

Night Goblins!

I figure that if one is doing-up Goblins you need to have scad and scads of the pesky little blighters. With this in mind, I thought I'd break the duck by creating a big mob of Night Goblins in all their ball-n-chain, pointy-hat, drug-addled splendour. 

For an additional bit of fun, I have them being chivied along by some pals who are riding giant, carnivorous Squigs, as one does in these situations.

Here are the beginnings of a wolf rider force. Ultimately I want four of these units, which shouldn't be too tall of an order as they paint-up really fast. They'll be partnered up with Spider Riders, which should be fun, but more on that later.

I had my buddy Byron cut these slightly thinner, wavy-fronted bases to easily identify 'light' units on the tabletop.

I saw this groovy forest giant on MyMinFactory and thought he would be a nice addition to the force.

I like how stooped and wonderfully dolorous he is. I played around with the trees on his back and the base for a bit of fun.

Finally, I have a Goblin camp with watchtower. To the Strongest asks for each side to have a camp for their force. I found a few different files on MyMiniFactory and bodged this together.

I figured I can swap out the tower and replace it with a temple or shrine if needs be.

I like how rickety the tower is. I figure Goblins aren't big on Operational Health and Safety issues...

So there you have the start of my goblin force for Monsters & Magic. I'm working on several more units as I write this so hopefully I'll have some more progress to show soon.

Thanks for popping in for a look!

- Curt