Skeleton Test Subjects

Got a little distracted and skipped ahead of my own plans/schedule. Tested out a few paint & wash combos on some skeletons.

I'm looking for some armored skeletons to use for elites. Preferably heavily armored.

If there aren't any actual undead to fit what I'm looking for, I've been contemplating a few different historical ranges and then swapping some of the helmets for skulls and "roughing up" some of the other equipment.

...And I Feel Fine!

I haven't played Warhammer Fantasy (or Ancients) in years, but I have been following this End Times thing with a sort of morbid curiosity. Most of my info is second hand summaries, or bits of leaked scans, excerpts, etc. From what I can tell, it's all pretty awful. From any angle -- gaming, setting, fiction writing, etc.

However, I can't deny a bit of nostalgia. I still like the basic premiss of the setting, and I did play various versions of the game(s) for a good 30 years.

So why should I feel fine about the end of the (Warhammer) world? Because it ceased to matter to me a long time ago. Or at least what GW did with it ceased to matter. It was a good setting when it was skeletal, but the more it got fleshed out, the less it was a mystery, the less it was an empty home for hobbyists to furnish. I think the popularity of the game was as big a factor as anything. Players increasingly demanded more storyline, more fiction, more "support" (which, as far as I can tell, is just Newspeak for "sell more stuff.") The games -- both the rules and the way in which games were played -- became more competitive, more stagnant, fixated on formulas, and list-writing, and tournaments. And "meta." God, I cringe every time I hear or read the term "meta" applied to gaming. Makes me feel like vomiting all over the speaker/writer.

I think that the End of Imagination was as much a blow to the Warhammer as the End Times. More so, as the End Times mean little for those who have still got a bit of Imagination left. The games are still there, as are other rules, and the entire concept of creating your own settings, your own campaigns, and not being so uptight about how you & your friends push little toy soldiers around on a make-believe battlefield.


On a related note, and speaking of nostalgia...

I recently wanted to flip through my copy of WFB 3rd. ed. for some inspiration, but couldn't find it with any of the rest of the gaming stuff that is (mostly) packed away in the attic. So I bid on, and won, a used copy on the dreaded eBay. Naturally, a couple days later I found my old copy. But I don't feel too bad about it. My old copy is a softback, and has been falling apart since it was in heavy use back when it was the current edition (and even a couple years after 4th was released) and I think a few of the template & reference pages from the back might be missing. The new one was "used" but was in even better condition than the seller described. Almost like new. And a hardback (though my memory has faded a bit... didn't those fall apart more easily than the softback counterparts?)

I doubt I will be playing 3rd ed. (or any WFB) anytime soon, but it's nice to have back on the shelf as I'm trying to "reconnect" with the hobby in some sort of way.

The Horde Grows...

Not the best photo, but I finished some more of the undeadish (still thinking up another term for them...) infantry. This should be enough to get me started, so I'm going to work on finishing up the rest of the ogres, and then on to some undeadish cavalry.

Undeadish Giant

Mostly finished the giant, though I think I may go back and clean up that awful mold line I missed (and one other small one that's not visible) and then touch up the paint. She's a Reaper Bones figure, and the first I've worked on. The figures seem nice, but my two complaints are the mold lines -- which seem more numerous and prominent than on metal or traditional plastic figures -- and the bendy weapons. I did fix the latter, but somehow one end slowly bent itself back out of shape.

I'm including three figures for scale comparison. I had initially thought the Reaper giants were a bit small. They are smaller than many of the competition. But after painting this one, I'm actually thinking I prefer their size & proportions to many of the others. I might have to pick up some others. The sculpts look really good.

Again... basing will be done in a big lot, after I've finished some more figures.

Undeadish WIP on the Painting Table

I've been working on 800 things at once, so I've got some more figures started, but nothing quite finished yet. But a lot of the undeadish are coming together on the painting table...

After I finish this batch, I will do a small group of cavalry to go with them, followed by a boatload of basing. Then I believe I will wrap up some odds & ends.

Undeadish Ogre Prototype

I was wrong about no pictures in my last update. I forgot I had painted a prototype undeadish ogre & took a photo. Pretty happy with it, so I think I will go ahead with the rest of the small unit of them.

Photo Pages

I am going to start putting together photo pages for my current project(s). These will appear in the links at the top of the blog (or a pull down navigation menu on the mobile version.) Right now there is only the Army of Marienburg, and just a few photos there so far. I will add more as time permits.

I think I'm also overdue in assigning my domain (www.zerotwentythree.com) to the blog. For years it has just forwarded viewers to the Blogger (zerotwentythree.blogspot.com) site. It's about time that I (finally) set up Blogger to just incorporate my domain. I'd like to set that up sometime soon, too.

Sorry, no new photos of painted figures. I have some other pressing deadlines to meet by the end of February, so not much painting for another week or so.

Great Orcs and a German

Small update. I painted up a woman from Foundry's Ancient German range (will go on a command base,) and did a bit of rebasing on some previously painted great orcs (and a hobbit...) Both intended for use in the solo fantasy game I'm working on.

Leonardo vs. the Undead

That's more a concept than an official title, but who knows.

The idea I'm pursuing for a solo game is fantasy. My old Empire/Marienburg army as the live player (me) against a programmed/solo army of the undead. Seems like a good fit. I'm heading out of WFB territory. The first rules I'm planning on trying out are a variant of Hail Caesar and either Crusader's Legions of Battle (fantasy) or a variant of their historical Crusader rules (which I think I prefer for a few reasons) or a combination of the two Crusader books.

So that means no "army lists" either, just my own ideas, which is liberating. I think I had already grown tired of the rigid & overly competitive atmosphere that was increasingly dominating WFB. I've just started to poke around some of the blogs/pages of "Oldhammer" stuff, and I think that's sort of more my calling.

I've been posting  some of these thoughts at Warhammer Empire, which I've still continued to visit during my "break" from gaming and increasingly jaded view of WFB. (Great people on the forum, they feel like old friends...) So I will copy & paste what I wrote there regarding my first concepts for the two forces below. (Next time I may post my first thoughts on solo gaming rules.) But first, a few pics. Because this is the internet, and a miniatures blog, and I know that we don't "just read the articles," as the saying goes.

These are some old ancient Germans I still had from my now sold ancients. A mix of Foundry and Crusader. Painted to look a bit undeadish... but not entirely. My initial concept is inspired a bit by the Brothers of the Pines from Moorcock's second Corum series. They've sold out to an inhuman power, and are now unnaturally bound to service, while still retaining some will of their own. So not the mindless undead, but not entirely free, either.

 

 And also a few more artillery crew for the Marienburgers, old GW figures.

So on with the words...

Concept for the forces of Robo the Necromancer

Robo (as I am calling him/her/it for now) is obviously the C-in-C, but for now will remain out of the picture. Or off the battlefield, at least. That will leave various subordinates commanding in the field. I'm going to use the structure of Hail Caesar/Warmaster as a starting point, so armies will have several commanders, each in charge of their "brigade." So to begin with, I will define several subcommander archetypes, which will mostly determine the composition of their forces, but maybe to a certain extent will also determine their leadership capabilities as well. I think most of these will be unique, except there will be multiple Military Animators. Possibly more than one Spiritual Enslaver.

1. Military Animator: Animates undead troops, which are directly controlled by the leader, in a militaristic style. These will form the backbone (haha) of Robo's forces, and will be composed of typical skeleton infantry & cavalry.

2. Spiritual Enslaver: A manipulative leader, controlling the semi-undead & magically bound slave troops I mentioned before. Infantry & Cavalry of formerly independent humans, and possibly other races.

3. Agent Provocateur: Scheming necromancer who destabilizes towns/cities, then animates the dead into mobs of zombies. Since the Agent is more a social manipulator than military leader, this explains why the zombies are masses of sloppy, meaty dead compared to the more reliable skeletal troops of the Military Animators.

4. Vermin Lord: Allies. I have some Skaven and other rat themed figures. I like them, want to use them, and think vermin fit well with the undead. This is not a GW Vermin Lord, but I do like the name.


Other hazy concepts under consideration: Etherialist, Beastmaster, Constructor, Besieger. Maybe those last two are combined into an Engineer.

Also under consideration are individual mercenary or slave units that may show up in any of the commands above, as individuals, or maybe together in a sort of "evil dogs of war" type mercenary brigade. This is entirely based on either figures I already have, or things I may want to get & paint up for whatever reason. So far this would include (from my existing collection) Greater & Lesser Goblins, Myconids, and maybe Greater & Lesser Troglodytes.

Concept for Marienburg forces

Well this one is easier, as it's just a slightly modified version of the canon Marienburg, though my AltHammer setting will be somewhat different than the official Warhammer setting. So it will be an independent city state with a mixed relationship with the neighboring Empire. Since it's mercenary based, I will have less distinct brigades. Most will be mixed. I will keep the diverse racial composition. But I do have a couple of distinct brigades.

1. Mercenary. The core of the army, diverse troop types.

2. City Militia. Only present in armies directly defending the city and immediate environs.

3. Wood Elf Allies. I have a small 3rd ed. Wood Elf army. May as well use it on occasion.

Wait -- what year is it now?

It lives!

2015, huh? Looks like it's been about two years since the last entry, and even longer since I've played any games. Most of my gaming stuff has been sold off. I've been feeling the itch to jump back in. I miss it. It was my escape, meditation, and mental exercise. My wife even keeps telling me I need to do something to relax before I lose my mind. More. Lose it more is probably more accurate. Before I go full Ben Horne. But that could bring me to the same end, so it may not matter what I do...

Time and money are major roadblocks. That's pretty much the reason I quit gaming and sold off most my miniatures over the past 5 years or so.

I'm considering is trying some solo gaming. I would really prefer a live opponent, but I'm not sure how to swing that. Last week I started talking to a couple of old friends about the possibility of playing some ancients. But the more I consider it, the less practical it seems.

I've been laying out some rough ideas & rules for solo gaming using preexisting game rules. I'm considering both historical (again, probably ancients) and fantasy. In both cases I'm interested in trying out Hail Caesar and Crusader.

In the meantime I have spent a few spare moments finishing off some of the figures I left half-painted years ago. Like these rocket crew.

So who knows. This blog may be back. It may not. I'm trying to squeeze out a little optimism.