28 July 2015

Nightmare Legion Test



I primed the Nightmare Legion and.... disaster. The dreaded "fuzzy" primer. It's not too bad but still noticeable even after I took a stiff brush to some of the figures to paint up as a test. I painted up a few, and thought they looked OK. You can't tell too much in the photos, or on the gaming table, but I can see the texture in places when I pick the figures up and look closely. Now that I've been contemplating it for another day or so, I'm considering the dreaded task of stripping the remaining figures and re-priming. Here are the test subjects:

24 July 2015

Decisions

I've made some decisions.

I've decided to go with the heater shields on the Nightmare Legion. I filled & sanded the small holes on the face of them, and glued them to the figures. So here they are -- ready for some primer! I would like to put them on 40x40 bases like everything else in this project. Seems a bit heretical. I'll end having to trim the slotta tabs too.





Another decision I made was to go back to the Warhammer setting for my (eventual...) narrative campaign. I'm still going to mix it up a bit. I think I will turn the clock back a bit from the early 26th century of the recent official stuff, to somewhere in the neighborhood of the mid 25th century. I may also deny that the Empire was reunited by that point. I will be scribbling out drafts for my own map, and jotting down notes specific to a local campaign plot & local setting. It will probably be in the western Wasteland (Merienburg's hinterland) between the mountains & border with Bretonnia and the city of Marienburg itself. That gives me mountains, plains, swamps, small villages, minor fortifications, trade routes, a mining town, etc.

So I guess this will be closer to Oldhammering it, after all!


Making these decisions will help steer me back on course, after starting to get sidetracked. If you're reading this, chances are you are a painter and/or gamer -- you know how it is, right? I'm still going to work in the other old figures I've dug out, and maybe try to work out some solo skirmish gaming. But I'm going to resist the urge to put painting, modeling, etc. work into those distractions. Even though I will be modifying it, since I will be sticking with an established setting, I will also minimize that distraction as well.

Now back to some painting...

19 July 2015

Thumpers Uncovered

Wow. Delving deeper into the boxes in the attic...


Thumpers!

Anyone else remember these? I believe they are Tom Meier goblins/orcs re-touched & cast with a new rabbit look. I've got around 40 of them in various states of repair and painting. I had built enough to use with Hordes of the Things and then stopped.

I wonder if I can rebase & find a use for these. :)

There were a few other things in the box/HotT army, like some Fortress Figures "Hareballs." I will get to those later.

UPDATE: Doing a little research, from what I read, they only appeared in this 1995 catalog (link below.) Thumpers are on pages 13 & 14. The orcs they're based on are on page 12.

http://www.dndlead.com/Catalogs/RalPartha1995.pdf



Zogmar Distraction

In homage to typical post-public GW marketing, I will follow that last post up with a big let-down. ;)

As I continue to work on the big armies of Marienburg vs. the Undeadish (MvU), my mind has recently been wandering into two lines of thought...

One is that I may return to an alternate Warhammer (AltHammer?) setting after all, rather than something entirely new. At least for now. There is still too much of it that I like. However, the "local" setting will be all mine.

The other is that I think I may try delving into some smaller or skirmishy games too. Maybe I will tie these together with my plans for the MvU campaign. Maybe they will just happen in the same setting, but not interact. Who knows. At any rate, I'm looking at what I can put on the table right now -- or with minimal painting or touch-ups. I still have a lot of painting & basing I want to do before MvU, but I'm also itching to play a game soon. Just for fun I'm starting by digging out the stuff I hadn't planned on using in the MvU. Ancient figures. Some painted back in the days of 3rd & 4th ed. WFB. When I pulled out the goblins I previously posted, I also found the half painted model I have now dubbed....

ZOGMAR.






Working on a name for his hammer. Maybe a wyvern upgrade.

I also based a couple of old wolves...





And some more troops to support the gobbos...






I painted over the Goblin Green base edges on these relics from ages past. They may be one of Zogmar's first encounters.




As with the big game, I'm a little indecisive about what rules to use. The more I see/read about the Oldhammerers around the internets, the more nostalgic I'm getting for 3rd ed. So maybe I will give that a shot. Or maybe even 2nd, which I've never actually played. Or there are a few other games I might be willing to try.

17 July 2015

Age of Zogmar




 
A Legendary Hero...

...Riding a Noble Steed...

...Wielding an Ancient Hammer...





Coming soon...
 
 ;)

15 July 2015

Lesser Goblins

I came across these while digging around. They were all painted, but half needed the bases finished. One of those long abandoned projects. There's actually more of these, still unpainted, as well as some of the little guys that came with some of the Foundry great orc mercenaries. I had planned on lumping them all together as "lesser goblins." No idea what I will do with them right now. I just felt like it gave me a sense of accomplishment to finish the bases. :)

Apologies for the poor photo quality.





Edit:

Also, I cut a (very) rough coffin shield to see what it would look like compared to using plastic heater shields on the Nightmare Legion. These are the two options I'm considering right now.


10 July 2015

Nightmare Legion and the Kindness of Strangers



When I started my current project and returned to painting and making plans for doing some gaming (no games yet...) at the beginning of the year, a large part of that decision was as a way to find some peaceful time to deal with a lot of the stress that has been consuming my life. It may seem like a small thing, or an escapist thing, but it's my "meditation," for lack of a better word. It gives me something positive to enjoy and look forward to.

Earlier this week a mystery package arrived at my home from overseas (UK.) When I opened the box, read the enclosed note and saw what carefully packed inside, I was overwhelmed. I had been having a really bad day up until that point. But it was suddenly washed away by the random generosity of someone I know through the online miniatures community, but have never even met in person. Here's what was inside:





A couple weeks ago I wrote about my quest for the old Nightmare Legion, and the frustration of a limited budget. Fellow forum-goer and "Undead enthusiast," Shadespyer, had offered to keep an eye out for a more affordable Legion than I had been seeing on eBay. He ended up sending me his own figures.

So now I once again have one of the classic Regiments of Renown from my youth. The presence of this nostalgic unit in my project means a whole lot to me. It's a reminder of better times and the enjoyment of care-free gaming. More than that, it is a representation of the kindness of strangers, a reminder that there are many good people in the world, and how amazing it is to live in a time/world where modern communication creates a worldwide community from those with unique interests. I really can't thank him enough.

09 July 2015

Another Dragon Pic and Random Bits




A comparison of scale. These two make an interesting, if odd, pair. Seeing them together is making me reconsider my decision to paint the rat-beast meaty instead of black or grey.



While digging through boxes of old figures, I came across this guy and think I should find a spot for him in my current plans. It’s an unreleased (AFAIK) “Bramble Demon” from an also unreleased game called Warlocke: Rise of the Young Kingdoms.



And sometimes my work table looks like this….


(Any guesses what's in the jar?)


06 July 2015

Undead Dragon

I painted up the Undead Dragon in similar colors to the rest of the Undead(ish.) I've got mixed feelings about the results. I think I may end up putting a little more (brush)work into it. I'm trying to find a balance between wanting to add detail, but keeping the simple character and palette of the rest of the Undead. Maybe I should hold off and put that effort into one or two of the living dragons first, and then take another look and see how I feel about this one?

He/she needs a name. For the moment I'm referring to him/her as "Calgon the Black" until I think of something more appropriate.