Return of the Cold September

Return of the Cold September

Eldar Pirates

Old World Army Challenge 8

After taking a year off the OWAC (#7) I'm back for The Ocho in 2025. This year I'm returning to the Crew of the Cold September project from OWAC4, Eldar Pirates based (loosely) on the Eldrich Raiders army list from Chapter Approved: Book of the Astronomican plus the subsequent White Dwarf articles that followed.

Instead of copy/pasting the full text here here, I will direct you to the intro & monthly entry pages. 

Intro:

https://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2024/12/zerotwentythrees-eldar-pirates-intro.html

January:

https://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2025/02/zerotwentythrees-january-eldar-rank.html

February:

https://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/zerotwentythrees-february-eldar-rank.html

However, here's a few preview photos.

Since it's been a few years since the previous project and they've been hidden in bins since then*, I created a quick ID guide using the OWAC4 images to help me remember how to paint the new infantry squads! There are slight variations in the "uniform" on the different green squads. The two "heavy" squads below have identical color schemes, now that I'm looking at that I should have made some minor variation. 

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...

April Old World Army Challenge (more Eldar)

 It seems like I'm bad at keeping up with re-posting my OWAC entries here.

Click/top to enlarge.

More pics, words, background here: http://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2021/05/zerotwentythrees-april-eldar-pirates.html

And all of The Good Stuff here: http://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/

Catching Up

 Stuff! In the mail! Someone's got a new ride coming soon. Spinner from Scotia-Grendel. That mold line at the back is going to be a bear to remove, but other than that I like the model quite a bit and may get a another. I think I've got a role for them in the background/setting I've been developing in my head and scattered notes.... and occasionally slip out into some entries here and at the OWAC site.

 

 

 

More stuff! In the mail! Peasants, Kickstarter reward from Midlam Miniatures.

Converted a couple of new Spaven. Famed Spaven mutologist, David Rattenborough (and assistant), leading a field expedition, reporting on newly discovered alien fauna.

 

 

Last week my family and I managed a brief get-away. A spring break in Hocking Hills. My daughter took this first photo, and said it is called "Cave Man." On the topic of caves, the second photo is of the "lower falls" on the Old Man's Cave trail. Cave Man... Old Man's Cave. I'm not sure I appreciate this association. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

March OWAC Eldar

I almost forgot to post my March entry for the OWAC!

Basic pics of the 10 Eldar pirates below. More info at my OWAC entry: http://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2021/04/zerotwentythrees-march-eldar-pirates.html

 

 

 

Martian and Snail

John Cartorc found himself a Martian friend.

 

 

I previously made some iron shell terrain. But this Eldar has stumbled across a live ferro-snail!

Current mood:

Botcember?

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Yes, I'm talking about Deadcember. My favorite monthly minipainting challenge.

Here's figures from last year that didn't get painted. The wraiths are waiting for new weapons to replace the Bones bendy-swords. Not sure I'll be able to get psyched up enough to paint the Kemmler 2.0. (Really wish I had the original!)

So far, though, I've mostly been working on more 'bots.

Finished the basing on these three and prepped the next few.

Being cast adrift for 40,000 years of unappreciated gardening can unhinge even the most peaceful of 'bots. (Er, "drones”).

Edit: Finished painting them!

Still considering names for the robot pirate's ship. Thinking about Liberator, Autonomy, or Elektro.

Not a new figure, but I finally repaired the damage to paint and base on this old cart...

In the Grim Back to the Future, There is Only... GOTHMOWER

Finally starting in to my return to sci-fi...

Procrastination has ended (for now) on the Meat Hating Robot Pirates. Got the urge to paint an assassin, a kitbashed hoverbot (based on a kids yogurt pouch lid), and a golden (robo) monkey.

 

 

On the meatier pirate front, I painted a test figure for my next Old World Army Challenge force. This year I'll be doing some colorful Rogue Trader era space elf pirates, with aesthetics & color palettes based on the art of Pascale Blanche and that whole Gothmower thing I talked about previously.

 

 

I haven't hammered out details yet, but it's not all pirates... I still plan on an AdMech faction, and I'm really getting into the idea of a backwater planetary defense force, civilians, etc. 

Sci-Fi Future

I've had on & off plans for a return to sci-fi painting & gaming. There have been several project or potential projects brewing for years now, and I think I may not only move ahead with some/all of them, but I'm going to try to tie them all together.

Let me start with the brainstorm I had over the weekend on this topic. It all started with the Gothmower.

Yes, Gothmower. I bought a new electric lawnmower towards the end of last Summer. The start button, for some reason, looks like a green coffin. I usually listen to music while mowing, and last time I decided I should honor the Gothmower by listening to some music in that theme. Because I am of a certain age, the first band that came to mind was Bauhaus. Turns out I don't really like most of their music anymore. So this week I put together a playlist from another suitable band...

That went much better. I hadn't listened to ASF for a long time, but this was inspiring. The lawn didn't stand a chance.

As I rocked out and mowed, thoughts drifted to painting and gaming. What if I started with Rogue Trader as a base, and then drifted off into my own cobbled together crazy space-opera setting/theme, sort of like I started with Warhammer but made it my own Althammer. As the heat and music kept my mind drifting around, I remembered that Rogue Trader was already a bit of an "open sandbox". The 40k setting didn't start getting fleshed out with tedious officialdom until later editions. So I won't really be diverging -- sort of a retro-hammer sci-fi thing.

But I'm not sure how much Rogue Trader I will actually be playing. In fact, right now I'm on the hunt for some solo rules. I just bought Five Parsecs from Home and will be reading through the rules this week. I also have a few others on my radar. But eventually I'd like to play some games with live opponents someday, too.

So here's a brief summary of the projects/plans that I'd like to pull together:

• Meat Hating Robot Pirates. Previously mentioned, and I've already collected quite a few 'bots.
• Rogue Trader Eldar. They were my first RT/40k figures, before I even bought the rules. I just liked the figures. As happened a lot, I sold them in college. But I have been working on collecting figures for next year's Old World Army Challenge, which is opening up for 40k as well as fantasy.
• Spaven. Cheese Stealers. Not sure I'll go any further with them. Maybe a few odd figures if I get inspired in the future.
• Adeptus Mechanicus. I've been planning an AdMech Kill Team force. So I will hopefully break my block on building & painting the figures.
  
• Miscellany. Civilians, mercenaries, beasts... I don't know. I'm sure I'll add some oddball stuff in at some point.
• Gaming surface & terrain. Still thinking about this a bit. Thinking about a dark alien world look like on the Spaven bases, but also doing some sort of semi-modular starship/building tiles -- along with all the accessories.
  

Only one robot painted so far.

Some of the Cheese-Stealer Cult.

Eldar on deck.

Astroslannican Pt. 0

I am exploring the possibility of putting together a small Slann army for Rogue Trader using Diehard Miniatures Eru-Kin figures. (They looks awesome.) Possibly for the next Old World Army Challenge, which is rumored to be opening up to the 41st millennium.

While the Slann had a detailed entry in the RT core rulebook, the were coldly cold-bloodedly ignored in subsequent publications.

So that's where I hop on to the scene. The first step in my process is making sure that my character/unit/vehicle entries look suitably retro. So I'm recreating the graphics & layout used in the RT book as well as the army lists in Chapter Approved. I still have to refine the design, but here's where I'm at so far. Still work to do....

And here's a fresh,  contemporary entry template. Not quite 100% there yet, but working on it!

10 in 2? EMHRP?

There's a mini challenge on the OWAC group for a squad of 10 in 2 months -- so 5 figures per month. I was thinking about using this as an excuse to really start on the Eclectic Meat-Hating Robot Pirates.


Here were the fist 10 I came up with...

But then I found...

And really, any crew of misanthropic  robot pirates really *should* have a squad of robot flying monkeys. They're Reaper Bones figures, and surprisingly seem decently detailed -- and  very cheap!

Meat Hating Robot Pirates on the Horizon?

Cleaning up and priming some minis for the Meat Hating Pirate Robot crew....

From left to right, Krakon Games, Effin Cool Minis x 3, and I'm not sure where the two on the far right come from -- they were an eBay purchase.

Starting out easy with some stock figures. Eventually I'll start kitbashing some more unusual 'bots.

Listening to some inspirational music for this project -- courtesy of my wife's old band.

Further Half-Orc Testing, Fathers Day, Bacon & Duct Tape

I finished the two half-orcs I started with, because I wanted to see how they would turn out. Pretty happy with the results. Still haven't decided on a regiment name or emblem, but I do know I want red for what little color they have.

This weekend was Fathers Day. I'm happy to see that, if nothing else, my five year old daughter has caught on to my sense of humor. She apparently picked out the card on her own, and when told it wasn't a Fathers Day card, explained she would just cross it out and turn it into one. So proud. :)

This weekend was also the "Duck Tape Festival" in nearby Avon, Ohio. Did you know they have bacon duct/Duck tape? I do believe the ducts in the basement need some repairs. I think they may be in bacon tape...

Also, I as a Fathers Day gift to myself, I just purchased the Shadow War rulebook. Should be here by the end of the week. I loved Necromunda, and had semi-recently been looking into INQ-28. Also still interested in small games of Rogue Trader. I think Shadow War may be a good comprimise, plus it's a "current" game. Not that I actually play any games in the real world. But at least I will have a new rulebook to fantasize and dream about playing. Should be here by the end of the week.

Short People, Bots, Life

Not much in the way of painting lately. Most of the little time I've had has been put into some minis and a couple of toys that other people are still waiting on. I did sneak in one thing for myself, I put the final paint a dwarf who was over half painted for ages. A bit rushed looking, though, which is a shame since it's one of my converted classic models. I wanted some doppledwarfs to supplement the usual spear, handgun & artillery. Embarrassingly, I started these before the White Knight figures (which I need to get my hands on) were available -- if that's any indication of how slow the progress has been. The Marauder landsknecht dwarfs fall into an odd category of miniatures that I love, but hate to paint.

At any rate, here he is with some of the other conversions I've previously painted.

I'm still thinking about that Rogue Trader/sci-fi misanthropic pirate robot crew. I picked up a few angry/murderous looking robots from Effin Cool Miniatures today.

Speaking of Effin Cool minis, I also got a halfling for scale comparison. From left to right it's:

Citadel, Effin Cool, Westfalia, Marauder, Goblin Factory, Grenadier, a random goose. The base on the Effin Cool mini doesn't have the magnetic layer, so he will end up a little taller. A good match, in terms of size & style, for the Citadel, Goblin Factory, and Grenadier. Westfalia are a little taller with more natural proportions, and the Marauder halflings remain one of the two tiny ranges I've got (along with some of the really old Ral Partha -- which I've stripped and re-primed. So maybe I'll paint at least one of those up soon sometime in the next few years.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been busy with my new job, both in the office, and travelling to distant lands...

I was also happy that when I recently got back into town, we finally had a decent snow and I finally got to build an overdue first snowman with my daughter. We've been waiting for a decent snow for *years*. It was actually a little wet because it had warmed up a bit during the day, but we managed to get it all together. :)

Never Go Full Grimdark

Rogue Dreams

I've been considering a small sci-fi or Rogue Trader project, and after playing RT last week it's on my mind again. Originally I was thinking about returning to my first RT army/figures, oldschool Eldar raiders. But I only have a handful of my original figures, and getting more seems like a big hassle/expense.

The other day, my daughter (5) inadvertently inspired a new idea, tied to the more "open" spirit of RT (vs. later "official" fluff.)

Pirate Robots

Seriously, without even going past those two words, how can this not be a good idea?


Well... OK, the figures. That's a tough start. I've got a lot of ideas for starting points, but none of them are ideal. I'm sort of OK with that, as it will be a big modeling project, and hopefully a unique and fun endeavor. More difficult to work with is the fact that my small gaming budget is completely gone -- indefinitely. So this is a bit of daydreaming. Pirate robot daydreaming. (Maybe and excuse for a bit of scratch-building?)

I'm still fleshing (or un-fleshing) out the concept in my head, but I think they're going to be a band of robots who have attained independent sentience/sapience/self-awareness/whatevs. But they're early in the evolution of AI (or early in our concept of AI,) and bear many marks of the loathsome meat that made them. Really a pretty faulty concept of AI, I think, but I'm aiming for the fun spirit of RT and cheesy space opera rather than hard sci-fi. So... eclectic meat hating robot pirates.

The first figure is easy. I already have it. Painted, even.

And really, this has a lot of what I'm looking for. Sort of rough & primitive, anthropomorphic mechanics, and a bit of (odd) character. But I also want some sinister (without going Full Grimdark -- you never go Full Grimdark) elements. And no meat.

Some of my big challenges would be using figures that are part of other settings, armies, characters, etc. (later 40k, Warmachine, 2000AD, etc.) without being identified too closely as such. Another would be pulling a diverse selection of miniatures together into a cohesive warband (though the "pirate" idea should help accommodate that.) Also, there seems to be a limited variety of human sized robots.

Oldhammer Day USA 2016

I was going to do some good old battle reports, and give a blow by blow of the games this weekend. But I just don't have that in me. I'll leave that to better bloggers. But I did enjoy the weekend immensely, and will report with something like a lengthy summary and some photos. So...

I ran into multiple last minute car problems, and almost cancelled. Luckily I only had to make it from Cleveland(ish) to Pittsburgh(ish) and my friend Bill offered to drive the rest of the way. That was (possibly literally) a lifesaver. It cut my (and my car's) driving by like 2/3, and to be honest, I would have hated driving around that whole DC region.

At any rate, things really went well, and I'm glad I didn't cancel. Bill is an old friend from when I was a GW Outrider, and we've run into each other for years at conventions and gaming events in OH & PA. We drove out Friday and visited another old friend who lives in Glen Burnie, and stopped by Games & Stuff (great store, huge, well stocked, big gaming room.)

We stayed at Jeff's and then drove out to Huzzah Hobbies for Oldhammer Day in the morning. The store was smaller, but still pretty large, organized and professional, an had a lot of gaming space (over half the store) with plenty of tables, terrain, etc. The staff were great all weekend, given that a mob of Oldhammerers had descended on their store and taken over the back half of the main part of the store.

My main interest was getting in some games of WFB3rd, though I had brought a Rogue Trader warband for Escape from Nu Ork. But first thing Friday, I jumped into one of Brian's RT "Battle at the Farm" games.

Bill & Sean's Orks surrounded Farmer Floyd's sheep farm, and I led the valiant Imperial defenders (and only slightly less valiant farm-hands and sheep.) It was a fight down to the last few defenders, but by the end, the orcs were all dead or wandering aimlessly with fried brains.

I enjoyed RT quite a bit, and it has only fueled my recent interest in getting back into some small sci-fi skirmish gaming (like I play more than a few games of anything a year?) Hindsight was telling me that RT was a bit clunky, but the game went pretty well and I may give RT another look.

Still, I was anxious to get into some WFB3. I've got a greater love for pushing formed units of troops around a battlefield than for any sort of skirmish gaming. So Sean offered to face my Marienburgers with his Orcs & Goblins.

Armies were 1500 points (sort of a weekend standard, for the most part.) It was a classic match-up and was pretty close fought. In the end, Marienburg's mercenaries pulled out a win.

There was a bit of stumbling through the old rules (vs. things confused from newer editions,) and I had no idea what to do with an Empire army in 3rd (I used to play Skaven & Dwarfs back in the day) but it went pretty well and was a lot of fun.


I finished the afternoon with another WFB game against airbornegrove26's (givemlead.blogspot.com) Black Vasken. With a twist. The Marienburger's sat this one out and I fielded nothing but giants of various sizes and abilities. Two (Bologs and Waltraud) had apparently been partying before the battle, and showed up drunk.

I think 'Grove does a better job with battle reports than I could, so I will leave the details and drama to him But I do have to admit that one of the highlights was Big Dick climbing up to some temple ruins and throwing everything in sight (pigs, cauldron, priestess (?), and vending machine) at some trolls down below.

(Nigel -- I think -- the troll after being hit by a pig, but the vending machine landed just a little bit to the outside. Later the vending machine would be wielded by Nigel as the tool of Barry the giant's demise. Vorpal Vending Machine?)

It was a bloodbath, to be sure. In the end.... well... keep an eye on givemlead.blogspot.com if you want to find out how it ends.


While some Oldhammerers left the store in search of various venues in which to play Hotelhammer, I was hungry and tired. A truely OLDhammerer. So dinner, hotel check-in, and sleep was all I could manage.

Sunday morning we had time for one quick game, and I picked up one more battle for Marienburg's mercenaries. This time it was against Chris' dwarfs.

Chris fielded a number of newfangled inventions, like a gyrocopter and swivel gun, which were cool to see in action. (Well, until the latter blew half a unit of halberdiers away in a single shot.) Another hard fought game that went back and forth a bit, but in the end the mercenaries couldn't overcome the traditional stubborn tenacity of the dwarfs.

As with most public gaming events, I came home with some loot.

I got the Ork Goffik Rocker for defending the farm from the Orks. The Ramshackle cultist and the \m/ twins \m/ I got as general swag. The chaos warrior I got (along with a modern GW paint set, not pictured -- because how interesting is a box of paint?) from the painting contest. I hadn't even planned on, nor wanted to enter. But I was peer pressured, and participation was apparently semi-mandatory. So I picked two figures (one large catagory, one small) I wasn't using at the time and Mad Marcus, my Marauder Giant ended up winning the large category.



So the whole weekend was really enjoyable and a nice break from reality. I got to visit some old friends, and even ran into someone who used to play with the local group before moving away. I also finally got to meet some people I've "known" through various online communities for a while. And I got to push around some roll some dice and "play pretend soldiers." 

Of course I'm already thinking about next year, as well as having a fire lit to try to do some local gaming again. I think small RT/40k warbands would be fun. As usual, all I need is an opponent... As far as WFB, 2017 is going to be the Year of the Fimir. That was already the plan. I'm also hoping to refine and playtest the multi-player Giant Rumble rules I've been working on.