New Year New...?

2023 ended not with a bang, but a whimper. But over the last week of the old year and the first week or so of the new year, I did get a little painting time in. 

I did some more painting and basing of "unaligned chaos daemons." I've been thinking about that idea since I received the Drachenfels figure a few years ago. It/he has long since been painted, and I even (finally) finished the novel! Lately my mind has turned back to the idea of chaos as chaotic, like in old Moorcock novels & early fantasy gaming. Not a bunch of organized, uniform creatures.

This will be a slow, ongoing project. I'll just keep adding any odd figures that seem like they belong as I continue to work on other projects.

Since I started this entry a week or so ago, I've added some more. Most are actually for a potential D&D campaign, but I feel they will fit the chaos vibe. The undead gnoll things I just got because I thought they looked cool. :)

The ochre jelly is homemade from some wire and melted hot glue, similar to some I did previously with different paint. The flameskull is just a plastic skull with some crudely sculpted flames. I liked the floating skull thing I did the same with a Bones cow skull painted blue. The rest are soft plastic D&D figurses

I also finally painted a pair of figures to represent our current two dogs. I had one but had been searching for the other for over a year before painting. On the left is Moji-Tater, our Corgi-Sheltie mix. He's the youngest. In the center is Cookie, a shelter rescue dog who we think may be a mix of Boxer & Border Collie. On the right is Sasha aka "Muffin Butt", another shelter dog who passed away almost 10 years ago. She was a German Shepherd-Husky mix. Cookie was the tough one to find, but since I was recently looking at D&D figures I found a pack of three dogs, one was a pointer with a pretty close body & head shape, but I had to cut off the ears and re-sculpt them to fit the real thing.

I've also painted a few sci-fi figures of mixed quality & complexity. The first is an Eru-Kin and jagual figure from Knightmare Games. I will be using Eru-Kin for K'Erin in Five Parsecs From Home. You can almost rearrange the the letters to shift between teh two names. Maybe the apostrophe is for the "u"? This one will be a member of my crew. 

I also finished the space goblins/Malig from Alternative Army's Ion Age range, which will serve as pirates in Five Parsecs. I painted a test figure earlier in 2023, but never got any further until December. One more faction down, and another month of "Five Months From Painted Factions" under my belt!

Lastly, my slacker painting from this week. First is Orbus, a sentient sphere of what appears to be some sort of plasma like matter. No one knows for sure. Orbus is literally a pearlescent bead on a stick. I didn't even paint it. Just drill a hole, make a base, and glue it on the stick. Next to that is the second of the two D&D nothics that came in the pack. One is for D&D, the other I thought would make a good sci-fi alien or mutant. Super quick paint job, mostly just abase coat, wash, then a few details. I almost want a whole squad of them now.

Merry Christmas

Last minute painting, part of my Five Months from Painted Factions personal challenge for painting figures I want to utilize for Five Parsecs From Home. Space goblin pirates.

Also...

BOrcKtoBer'23a

 

Random and scattered update...

I am thinking about harvesting a bunch of thistles from across the fence behind our yard and putting them on some bases to use as alien flora.

Completely random, but I regret no buying these shoes yesterday. Still time to go back, I suppose.

I painted some stuff for Orctober!! Half-orc kitbash, mostly Oathmark human, but with a mystery head. Maybe from a zombie? I forget where it came from. The goblin shaman is, I think, from Clan War.

I found bits for most of (3) RTB01 marines. The top green figure is the last remainder from my original 80's Mantis Warrior army. (Started painting them purple but switched when the Badab War article came out in White Dwarf.)

Resin spinner-esque vehicle, I believe from Scotia-Grendel.

Trying to continue building/painting new sci-fi terrain for gaming soon!

There may be a Thomas the Deodorant Stick Grav-Attack on deck...

Goblins in Space

Although mainstream Eldar society disregards it, and most of the the other races know little of or care even less for it, there is a theory that the minor race known as "Goblins" in the Traders's Tongue are actually an offshoot of the Eldar. The basis of this theory is that the Melkor Event on the remote, and some say cursed, moon Thangorodrim. The moon had been settled by a small group of Eldar explorers/entrepreneurs looking for mineral wealth. Although it is certain that *something* was found there, no one knows exactly what. The Event instantaneously transformed the moon into a dark mountainous, crystalline mass and presumably wiped out all life inhabiting it. The final coherent transmission from the last remaining Eldar mining station simply reported that it was, "something wonderful."

In the decades that followed, there was little interest in Thandgorodrim or any of the other planets in the system, as they had been evaluated as economically insignificant or barren. However, seemingly originating from this same abandoned system, the previously unheard of Goblin pirates emerged, already sharing certain technology with both Eldar and Imperial societies.

 

This is my first test paint of a group of figures from Alternative Armies, sculpted by Bob Olley. I had intended to paint the whole squad for Orctober, but got busy and never finished. The above blog entry was going to be finished once I had photos of the completed squad, but since that never happened I thought I would publish what little I had. Hopefully I finish them in the new year...

Plain of Theives - Sellswords & Spellslingers Campaign 2

Plain of Thieves

A Sellswords & Spellslingers Campaign

 

It was unlikely that anyone outside the tribe knew of the Old Days & Nights. Before the coming of men and their change from Tribe to Empire, when the men hunted goblins and killed them in their homes and secret caves. Even before the bitter rivalry of the rat-men and the swamp daemons that broke the land and cut the goblins off from the last of their hunts and harvests. Further still, before the epic battles of elves and dwarves had driven the goblins from the thick forests, to seek hidden mountain vales for survival. Once, many, many lifetimes past, Udag's people had hunted beasts in dark forests, and gathered mushrooms and berries from beneath the shady trees along the riverbank.

 

For most in the tribe, those were just stories told by the evening fires by the old shaman.

 

Tork-An taught the histories that had been handed down through countless generations of wise-goblins. Legends, the typical goblin called them, but not real to any of them. Udag-stuuk, on the other hand, was mesmerized by the history of his people. When he was young, he thought he wanted to be a shaman too. But that was not his path. Udag was driven to action. Not a story teller, a story maker. And when he became the Tribal Champion, he proposed a plan to start reclaiming his ancestors' lost heritage. Maybe not reclaiming & rebuilding their land. But at least starting by recovering ancient treasures taken from them by so-called human, elven, and dwarven "adventurers"  who were little more than thugs and thieves.

So it was that Udag, along with the current shaman's apprentice, Tork-Al, and the chieftain's mischievous young daughter, Noxea, were selected for an ambitious mission to recover the Fire Stones, ancient treasures stolen from one of of the most important shrines of the old Six Tribes of the Riverland.

 

Tagging along, whether they like it or not, is Nox's life-long (as brief as that has been so far) companion, the half-wolf Sasha. Hopefully her keen senses and loyalty to Nox will serve the group well.

This will be my second Sellswords and Spellslingers campaign. I had intended to kick it off not long after the last one wrapped up. But life gets busy, and two years pass in the blink of an eye. I had the general concept of "flipping the perspective" before, but only recently started thinking about the backstory.

Back to Sellswords and Painted Some Rabble

Painted some fresh rabble...

It's been a while since I last played Sellswords and Spellslingers but I finally got in a game. Since this warband was my "learning the rules" group, I wanted to wind down their campaign by throwing a couple of horrible scenarios at them. By that I mean I would try to kill them and see if they could survive. Sort of like 2020 for toy soldiers in a fantasy setting.

The first was to replay the Badlands scenario again - playing it wrong just like I did the first time when I had only two characters barely survive. For all their experience and new skills and equipment, they didn't do much better. Bowie, who was essentially a clone of the original Bowie who died the first time, met the same fate. This time ambushed by a troll.

Stabbie tried to rescue her, but she was too far gone. The troll had already eaten one of her legs and was pulling off the other as the shaman got close.

Youbie almost didn't make it either. Seeing P-Stash surrounded by orcs, the powerful swordswoman charged in to assist, but only managed to jump on every sword that was bared in front of her. Really, she barely had to swing at them to mow the minions down, but failed anyway. Stabbie had better luck with his healing this time, saving the bold warrior well enough to limp away to safety. P-Stash, always living in the shadow of Youbie's expertise managed to prove himself by downing foe after foe just when the struggling group needed. He had to climb over a ring of orc corpses to join his friends as they fled the dreaded orc infested territory a second time.

As they leave the Badlands, Youbie takes one last look back, mourning their lost companion and contemplating how they could roll so goddamn low on so many activations again.

It was good to play a game for the first time in a few months!

One last look back at a fallen comrade.

The fallen comrade.

Badlands carnage 2.0.

And then there were three...

Next game with put the Low Rollers up against a necromancer hiding out in a remote tower. Not sure why they've got to go all murder hobo on this nice old lady and her friends. But that's what's going down. If that fails to do them in, there may be a thunder lizard waiting for them after that....

In non-gaming stuff, we're finally getting the first (not counting the herbs & green onions) small harvest from our tiny garden. Last year the neighborhood wildlife annihilated the garden, so I haven't got to pickle hot peppers for two years. Obviously I need a party of sellswords and spellslingers to rid our yard of the raiding vermin.

Half-Orc Skirmishers

I painted the 5 Cro's Goblin Raiders from Alternative Armies to go with the previously painted Hob-Goblin Raiders (also AA) for use as a small unit of half-orc skirmishers. They have a nice retro, motley look to them.

Crucible Goblins to Daemons

I've based the new test figure, and repainted all green flesh on all the old Crucible goblins I had previously painted. I think these will to quite nicely as another regiment of daemons! I think I like the solid red feathers on the new figure better than the "stained" feathers on the old ones, though. Maybe repaint....?

Next... painting some of the unpainted Crucible goblins to round out the regiment.

I'm already starting to consider what other figures I could recruit as non-RoC/unaligned daemons.

My memory was jogged by a comment from Beefcake on the LAF that I still had a half-painted bat rider to accompany the Crucible goblins. After searching through some boxes, I found it. So that may (finally) get finished at some point.

In the same box I found these guys, in pretty rough shape -- a little bent, old paint chipping off. Ral Partha giant bees with a couple of unknown 15mm knights, since I didn't have the original riders. Painted for a never completed Hordes of the Things army. The figures were OOP for a long time, but I think Iron Wind Metals recently brought them back into production.

Not sure what to do with these.

Daemons and Elves

Daemons and elves...

I finished my last month of the Old World Army Challenge. Read more at the official site... http://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/ (My entry at http://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2020/06/zerotwentythrees-june-wood-elves-203-pts.html but it's definitely worth checking out all the entries and accompanying eye-candy!)

Here's a pic of my scouts plus the faerie dragon familiar I painted for the OWAC.

I'm still working on the idea of a few regiments of non-aligned, or more specifically pre-RoC daemons. The Powrie (aka "rage Smurfs") I posted recently are an excellent start. Looking thougth what I already have, I came across some old Crucible goblins -- mostly unpainted. The figures painted previously used typical green (though dark/dull) skin colors. But for daemonic minions, I thought something a little more alien, or at least removed completely from O&G would be a good idea. Hence my new experiment with a light (white-ish) colored test figure.Thougths?

Unaligned Daemons

As mentioned before, part of my plan/concept for the Powrie I recently painted was to use them as pre- or non-RoC, or at least non-aligned, daemons. With that in mind, I'm thinking about what else I could use. I may have been overlooking one option that was literally right in front of my eyes, as I had these old Crucible goblins on my painting desk since I used them in a game of Sellswords recently.

I still have about sixteen more unpainted. They've got a nicely alien and villainous look to them. I'd prefer not repainting this batch that is already done, but I wouldn't mind painting the green skin with some other color to avoid the goblin connection. Maybe red, like the Powrie/Rage Smurfs? Maybe stark black or stark white? Dark blue? They might even look extra-creepy in caucasian-ish skin tone.

I think I'd like to repaint the feathers as well.

Opinions? On color? Or whether they even look suitably daemonic? Also interested in other recommendations for generic daemons.

Stuff! In the Mail! (Non gaming edition)

Received this vinyl figure from 100% Soft (via My Plastic Heart in NYC) in the mail today. I've been trying to get one for over a year. The original resins were damn near impossible to get, then I pre-ordered this near the beginning of the year and have been patiently waiting. Originally I felt it was like an unofficial mascot for my team at work. But now that it's arrived, it seems more like the Spirit of 2020.

Althammer: Of Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Half-Orcs

Since I recently received, posted about, and already started painting a few of the Midlam Miniatures hobgoblins, I've been thinking about how they fit within my Althammer setting.

My Althammer setting is the Warhammer Old World, with a twist -- and centered on Marienburg & the Wasteland. In this universe, orcs & goblins have been largely driven off from the area, as well as the adjacent Empire & Bretonnia for almost a century. A few (very few) orcs have been assimilated into the mercenary culture. And there are still some small, stray bands of goblins skulking around the wilderness.

Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Half-Orcs.... who are they?


Orcs. The orcs are a more or less homogeneous species. Sub-classifications (black orcs, savage orcs) are arbitrary or cultural. As mentioned above, they were driven out of the area as a large-scale population. A rare few have ended up in small mercenary bands and have partially taken on a semi-civilized lifestyle. Far more numerous in more distant regions, there are no immediate threats of large scale invasion.

Mercenary orc, warlord Zogmar, and an orc warrior

Goblins. Goblins are a far more heterogeneous group of species, classified together (and frequently living/working together) due to a few similarities... most are physically smaller and less numerous races thriving by stealth, trickery, and manipulation. Some may ally themselves with other groups (orcs, trolls, etc.) but all are ultimately self-serving due to the necessities of survival. They may appear in mixed groups or homogeneous bands, and are more numerous than anyone in Marienburg suspects Each population or warband may have it's own quirks and characteristics.

An assortment of "goblins"

Half Orcs & Hobgoblins. Both are terms used by outsiders (mainly humans) for largely (but not always) mixed race populations who don't quite fit in with any of their parent cultures for one reason or another. Sometimes their communities are simply a destination for those who don't feel they fit in with the society in which they are born. Differences between half-orc, hobgoblin, and other similar names are typically just a difference in regional terminology. The Grey Mountains and its foothills are home to significant half-orc populations who have mixed relations with their neighbors -- and each other.

Half-orcs, hobgoblins

Ancient Goblin Shaman

I've wanted this old Citadel goblin shaman since I saw it WD as a kid. When it appeared for sale on FB recently, I had to have it! And paint it! 30+ years I waited...

Old Gobbos

Someone in the OWAC group mentioned not seeing a lot of old metal goblin together in one place, when someone posted a big unit of them. Got me thinking about my old gobbo army. These were some of my favorite minis from it. I don't own them anymore, but I believe most of these units ended up in a friend's collection.

The idea behind the outriders on the old goblin chariots was that the rules allowed for either 2 or 3 wolves. I could represent either option this way. The one with the later plastic wolves was a somewhat roughly scratch build chariot.

I've been wanting to get to work on the Westfalia halflings since I got them, but have been procrastinating (other than the crossbow unit) because of the bent spears & lances. So I finally tried hot & cold water (straight from the tap) to re-position one and it worked pretty well. So... looks like hobbit's back on the menu boys!

(Edit: Just straightened out the goat knight's lances and it was easier & quicker than expected!)



Pic's a little dark, but wanted to post it because they're an Oldhammer paradox for some - old, but blobby plastics! My friends & I never would have gotten nearly as deeply into WFB if it wasn't for the Fantasy Regiments and Skeleton Army/Horde boxes when we were young. The armies in our group and at the two area game stores also reflected this. Almost everyone played armies that could be bulked out with a couple units of plastics.

I recently got these two goblins and a few of each of the others in a box of stuff I won on eBay, and it's a fun bit of nostalgia