A-Haunting We Will go... My Nighthaunt Warcry Warband

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!

This week, I thought I'd show you my Nighthaunt warband for Warcry. Along with Kill Team, Warcry is one of my favourite games at the moment and, up until recently, I was playing it at least once a fortnight with a group of friends. I've even managed to get The Better Half to give it a go.* Like Kill Team, it's a game that's quick and easy to learn, with no complicated rules to get bogged down in. Warbands are typically less than a dozen miniatures and games take no more than 90 minutes or so to play. The fact that almost every faction in the Age of Sigmar universe has warband rules (some with multiple warbands available) and each warband has a wide choice of models to choose from makes it ideal for a hobby butterfly (like me) or someone who has access to only a few models for any given faction. It's easy to put together a viable warband from a few cheap Ebay purchases. I have had a few warbands planned for years, mostly making use of models that I already had kicking around, and the Nighthaunt was the first one that I got around to assembling as a viable force. I had loads of models to choose from, as I had collected quite a few from the Mortal Realms partwork, so I chose what I considered to be a good mix of lightweight cheap troops, medium-strength troops, and a couple of real heavy hitters. 

Having assembled my force (and given them a name- Lord Balowskyr's Retinue) I used a few test models to create a paint scheme which meant I could get the warband painted and ready in double-quick time. Here it is:

1. Spray with Grey Seer, then a zenithal overspray of Corax White

2. Then an all-over wash of a mix of Nihalikh Oxide/Hexwraith Flame/Athonian Camoshade.

3. Add in some Dark Angels Green into the previous mix and apply this in a pin wash, just around the deepest recesses, and where the different layers of cloak meet. Also apply this mix on the hands, blending it out up the arms.

4. Apply a wetbrush stipple of Grey Seer.

5. Paint all the details: 

Metal: Leadbelcher; Brass: Runelord Brass; Wood: Gorthor Brown; Leather: Mournfang Brown; Copper: Vallejo Copper; Gravestones: Mechanicus Standard Grey followed by Administratum Grey; Bone: Ushabti Bone followed by Screaming Skull. Then wash all of these areas with a mix of Agrax Earthshade, Athonian Camoshade and Nuln Oil.

6. Using a very soft brush, apply a light drybrush of Grey Seer followed by White Scar.

7. Blend Tesseract Glow around where the ghost form meets the base. 

8. Use the mix from step 3 and apply it to the tips of any ghostly flames. 

9. For the bases, I first applied some Stirland Battlemire, whish was drybrushed with Mournfang Brown then XV-88. I then applied Leaf Litter from Javis, stuck down with PVA glue. When the glue was dry, I sprayed the whole model with gloss varnish, then a spray of matt varnish. I then drybrushed Grey Seer around where the model met the base. Once all that was dry, I washed the base with Agrax Earthshade, then added Nuln Oil wet in wet around edges. And here's how they turned out:**

Lord Balowskyr, Knight of Shrouds	Lady Natasha, Guardian of Souls	The Brothers
Gwen, Edwin and Rikard	Nell, Vyvian, Mhikal

And, if you'd prefer that information in an easier format, here it is- my first one-sheet painting guide*** 

Since I started playing with them, they've fared quite well, I've won a few and lost a few. The playing style for them takes some getting used to, as they're fragile on the battlefield, but have some useful abilities, but they're good fun to play with. The next warband I need to do is to finish painting the Skaven one for The Better Half, that I started months ago****. After that, who knows? I've got miniatures for at least half a dozen other warbands, and a Stormcast Eternals one that is already half-painted (which I started for some other long-forgotten project.) To be honest, I'd happily paint up one of each of all the available warbands, there's so much character in each one. Trouble is, I'd also like to do the same with Blood Bowl, Underworlds, Necromunda...

Thanks for reading!

p.s. if you like what I'm doing here, a click on the link below and the donation of the price of a pot of paint would be a wonderful gesture. I'm thinking of adding special stuff to the Ko-fi, like competitions and prize draws, so it'd be a good idea to at least have a look there now and then 😁 

*True to form, she beat me. She beats me at every game we play...

**A gold star if you can identify the inspiration for their names...

***I realise I'm far from the first to do this idea, but I love a good bandwagon...

****She's very patient...

Warhammer The Old World: Choices, Choices...

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!

So, Warhammer: The Old World is finally here (look at that logo-I love the colours used...) I've been eagerly anticipating this release since it was first tentatively announced years ago* and it looks like they've knocked it out of the park. I'm not one of those that have moaned ad infinitum about the death of the old Warhammer Fantasy, and the creation of Age Of Sigmar- I understand completely the reasons behind that decision and I really enjoy the new setting and the game(s) set within it but there's no doubt I have a soft spot for the old Warhammer world and all that was created for it. After all, I worked at the design studio during one of the best times in Warhammer history, when a lot of what is now taken as long-established lore, design and style was nailed down. Whether you prefer the relatively realistic, roleplay-heavy stylings of the very early days, the bright, primary colours and cartoony, heroic aspects of the 90s, the more grimdark version that emerged in the 00s, or the epic, bombastic nature of the last incarnation, Warhammer Fantasy had a rich and vibrant history and it was a shame to see it go. I'm very glad to see it return and I'm very much looking forward to where they go with it.

The initial releases of Tomb Kings and Bretonnians have a fantastic mix of old and new models in plastic, resin and even metal! It makes me wish I hadn't sold off my skeleton chariots a few years ago- there's a lesson here: miniatures are like cables, as soon as you've got rid of them, you'll find you needed them...Still, even if my Tomb Kings now only amount to one Warsphinx (which I'm saving for a special paint job- there's no way I'm going to go tabletop-ready on one of my all-time favourite miniatures) and a bucketload of plastic skeleton horses (maybe an entirely cavalry army one day...?) I know I've got a plethora** of other old Warhammer miniatures to choose from. After much rummaging and sorting I discovered I have the High Elf half of Island of Blood, most of the 6th edition starter set Orcs and Empire, and a load of Goblins from Battle For Skull Pass. None of these are really enough to make solid armies from, although that could drastically change when the starter army boxes for these are released later down the line. Thanks to the generosity of Nic Sinton, an old friend, I have a substantial collection of metal Empire centrepiece models like the War Alter and War Wagon but, like with the Warsphinx , I'd kinda like to do showcase paintjobs on these pieces and I don't really have any units to speak of anyway. Similarly, I have a small force of Chaos Dwarfs and Hobgoblins (again, thanks Nic!) but it's not enough to make a playable army (even though I'm itching to paint them up) and, as they aren't going to be one of the supported armies (at least for the forseeable future) filling in the gaps is going to be prohibitively expensive and thus completely out of the question, so they may have to be a more skirmish-sized force that I do later down the line, or maybe I'll save them for a showcase at some point***.

Which leaves me with the Dwarfs (an army with which I have a deep affinity, for some reason) of which I have a sizeable chunk: A Runelord, 2 Lords, a Battle Standard Bearer, 2 units of 20 Warriors, 2 units of 10 Handgunners, 20 Miners, 16 Quarellers, 5 Hammerers, 5 Longbeards and 2 Cannons with crew. I reckon that's a pretty goodly-sized army. All it needs is another box of Hammerers/Longbeards to fill out the units and I reckon that'd be perfect. Of course, I'd need to see the rulebook for the proper points but I reckon that'll  be enough to be going along with, and I'll be really interested to see what new and old stuff gets released when it's their turn.

About 10 years ago, I painted one of them up as a test for an army that never happened, and here he is and, y'know, I don't think he looks too bad. 

Unfortunately, either I didn't write down my process for him, or it's got lost in the mists of time, so I've had to have another go...

I reckon that's good enough for any tabletop, and I like the way he looks on the larger base (although I might go with the Rhinox Hide instead of black...) as it enables me to go with an "island" base style, which I've always rather liked. An hour from bare plastic to ready to photograph is an ideal amount of time when I've got to paint up to 150 of the little buggers, too! Painting this one has really got my juices flowing as well, and I'm super-stoked to start a project in a way I haven't been for a long time. It's serendipitous, and fits in with my thoughts of making a bit of a fresh start that I touched upon in last week's post. I've never done a New Year New Army before but this feels like the perfect time to embark on such a thing. I did try to order a copy of the Forces Of Fantasy book but my FLGS has informed me (as I was writing this) that they can't get hold of a copy, so I'm going to have to wait a while to be able to get my army list finalised properly. In the meantime, I've got a lot of prepping and basing to do. After all, I doubt very much whether the basis of a Dwarf army has changed much...  

I've never had a complete Warhammer Fantasy army before so, by hook, crook or anvil, I'm going to have one. It's going to be complete, game-legal and fully painted. I hope I'll one day get to play a game with it but, frankly, that's by the by. I just want to have a fully painted Warhammer fantasy army. Every home should have one. Ideally, I'd like to have all that I've currently got painted and ready to go by the time that they get around to releasing anything new (or re-releasing some of the old stuff) but I realise that's probably unlikely. I am going to make the promise to myself that I am not going to buy anything new for the army until I've got all my existing stuff ready and painted. Honest. 

By the way, if you want all the most up to date news on The Old World, the official website is right HERE and, of course, you can buy all your square-based need at the Warhammer website (when they come back in stock...)

I'm gonna paint me an army! 

Thanks for reading!

Stu

p.s. if you like what I'm doing here, a click on the link below and the donation of the price of a pot of paint would be a wonderful gesture. I'm thinking of adding special stuff to the Ko-fi, like competitions and prize draws, so it'd be a good idea to at least have a look there now and then 😁 

*I even set up the first Facebook page dedicated to it, almost as soon as it was announced, but the less said about that, the better

**a whole plethora, not just a half-plethora.

***maybe even an Armies On Parade entry- could that even happen one day...?

****Although, as I write this article, I've just been informed by my FLGS that they can't get hold of a copy for me.

Review: Slaves To Darkness Chosen, Ogroid Theridons and Daemon Prince

 Good morning/afternoon/eveening everyone!

It's not often that I get to play with the latest releases as soon as they become available, but I was commissioned to paint the new Slaves To Darkness army box while they were still on pre-order. As these are brand new models, and will eventually all be released in individual boxes, I thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts on the new models in the set.

CHOSEN

The core of the new set is a unit of 10 Chosen which, to the uninitiated, are Chaos Warriors plus. The unit of 10 consists of two identical sprues of 5. These sprues include alternate build to give a unit leader, musician and standard bearer (which can be a flag or an icon and includes options for the four chaos powers and chaos undivided.) As far as actually putting them together, it's actually quite a straightforward process, with little to caue any problems. There's a couple of minor issues with the assembly- the lack of locator pins in the shoulders makes attaching the big pauldrons a little finicky and the instuctions don't make it clear that all the pairs of arms are interchangeable. If you follow the instructions to the letter, it gives the impression that ony one pair would fit with each body, but it's not the case. That opens up more options than first meets the eye. The locater pins in the necks are annoying too, meaning that you can only have the heads looking in one of two directions, unless you trim the pegs off. The torsos are assembled in two parts with each leg separate but these leg/torso combinations can only be assembled one way, which limits the options. A couple more torso options would've been nice. One final issue is that the leader model has a tactical rock and, as the sprues are doubled up, it means that you're always going to have a second model standing on a tactical rock (albeit a small one). It's a shame there isn't an alternative leg option for the non-hero. Still, all these are minor criticisms and there are enough options to keep the unit looking fairly individual and any criticisms fall away once you've got the models assembled and ready to paint. When you have them assembled, the first thing you realise is how big they are. These models are easily a match for the biggest Stormcast Eternals and, with their two-handed heavy weapons, they make for seriously imposing models. 

OGROID THERIDONS

The Ogroid Theridons are basically age of Sigmar Mintaurs and what magnificent beasts they are. Truly monstrous creature, these are probably the best minotaur-type creature GW have ever produced. In the set you get three, which can be built as standard troopers or as a leader, musician and standard bearer. There's also weapons variants but, frankly, why would you ever build minotaurs with anything other than axes...? The models are filled with details: trophies, cloth and armour details, but not overloaded, leaving loads of space for the painter to play with. Criticisms? Well, there's  couple of clunky joins, especially where the arms join at the shoulders, that need a litttle playing with, but these are  mostly covered up with the shoulder armour so you could get away without having to do anything with them. Other than that (and the usual criticisms of GW's instructions being a little vague in places) I really can't find much to complain about. 

DAEMON PRINCE

The centerpiece of this set is the all-new Daemon Prince, and what an absolute monster he is! This model comes on one and a half sprues and gives options for weapons, wings, different heads and iconography for the four powers and Chaos undivided, and parts to make a 40k variant. So far, so good, and I only have a couple of minor criticisms to throw into the mix, and none of them are to do with the sculpt itself. There's the usual couple of points where it would have been useful to have locator pegs and a couple of places whre an alternate view in the instuctions would have halped make the build easier but, mostly, it went together without a hitch. My main criticism is of the sprues themselves. As I said, the model comes on one big sprue and one half sprue and, once built, you are left with a lot of leftover bits. I'm not complaining about having more options available, that's a really good thing but I think they've missed a trick by not having the 40k bits on a separate sprue. If you look at my pictures below, of the bits left on the sprues after assembly, you an see that, had they kept the wings and trophy rack to one sprue, and left off the 40k elements, they could have added more options for the AoS version of the kit on the wings sprue, and then had loads of extra options on the 40k sprue. Then when they eventually release the model individually, they could still have it as a one and a half sprue box, but have separate versions for 40k and AoS. Still, these criticisms don't affect the look of the final miniature once it's assembled. It's a stunning kit, loaded (but not overloaded) with detail and I suspect it's going to be a popular choice with Golden Demon entrants. One last little thing: I really like the way that you don't need to sub-assemble this monster for painting. There's no bits that you won't be able to get to woth a brush once it's assemble, meaning there's no need to have any headless, wingless Daemon Princes running around on tabletops if you want to play before you get the chance to paint.

So, there you have it, my thoughts on these three new kits. The Citadel designers have knocked these way out of the park and chaos generals are not going to be disappointed with them. There's loads of scope for the painter to play with them and I can see there being some incredible paint jobs on these in the future. Can't wait to get them painted myself, and I'll be sharing some stage-by-stage tutorials of them once I've got them done.

Thanks for reading!

Stu

The Road To Manchester: A Few Thoughts On Painting For Competitions

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!

Last week the tickets for Golden Demon 2023 went on sale and, having purchased my ticket my thoughts have started to stray towards what I'm going to paint for the competition, which lead me to thinking more widely about painting competitions in general, and I thought I'd share those thoughts here.

Now, I don't claim to be any sort of expert when it comes to painting competitions but I've entered a few (with a couple of minor successes) and judged my fair share, too, and I've learned a couple of lessons along the way*. Some of this might seem blindingly obvious but you'd be surprised how easy it is to fall into these traps.

PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS

While it's good to push yourself in competitions (after all, you want to produce your very best work) make sure you are pushing in the right direction. A painting competition is not the time to try to learn a new technique. Do what you're good at, what is going to bring out your best work. This Ishirann Tidecaster is a good example of this. This model was my entry into the Masters' category at the 2019 Golden demons. In my wisdom, I decided to do the armour in NMM copper, something I had never tried before. Despite looking at all sort of reference I couldn't get it right, even after multiple attempts and I ended up with an overall paintjob that was compromised due to all the layers of paint I'd applied in the trying. It also took the wind out of my sails and killed my enthusiasm for the project. It's a real shame as I think the rest of the paint job holds up pretty well. the same goes for the Stormcast Eternal, which was an entry into a local competition. I spent far too long on the NMM gold and, while I was fairly pleased with the overall result (and I did actually get 1st place with it, so it can't have been entirely unsuccessful), it meant a project took twice as long as it should. In both cases, a really good true-metallic job would have looked better than a semi-successful non-metallic effort.

HAVE A PLAN AND STICK TO IT

Think about what you want to achieve. Think about the colour scheme and techniques you want to use and, if making a diorama or duel, think about the composition of your miniatures. Plan any conversions, what parts you may need, how you're going to work sub-assemblies. Planning ahead will save you time and heartache down the line. Once you've worked it out, try and stick to it. It's fair enough to adapt as you go, but deciding that you're going to change the pose or add an extra arm once you've started painting is a recipe for disaster. Again, I have a good example. This Slaanesh Champion was painted for an online Oldhammer competition. I couldn't decide on a colour scheme before starting and made it up as I went along. Again, this resulted in a couple of repaints which meant I had to rush the finish and it really didn't come out the way I wanted. 

TIME WILL FLY BY

At the time of writing, there's 6 months until Golden Demon, which sounds like plenty of time but it's amazing how quickly that time can disappear. When you're looking at projects that are going to take dozens, perhaps hundreds, of hours' work those weeks can slip by fast, especially with all the usual complications that real life can throw into the mix. There's been many a competition entry (and winner) that has been finished the day of the event itself. Again, planning your time can help avoid the stress of looming deadlines and the potential to have a project that doesn't look as good as it could. Once again, I can illustrate it with an example of my own**. On this Ogor pirate, I wanted to do more with the old leather on his jacket, adding cracks and the effect of salt water on  it, but I simply didn't have enough time to do so. While I'm pleased with the overall result, it still wasn't what I wanted it to be. 

DON'T TAKE ON TOO MUCH

This ties in with the previous point. Be realistic about what you want to do  and think carefully about what you can get done in the time you have available. While it's great to have entries in multiple categories it's better to have one amazing entry rather than two or three that have been compromised by trying to do too many projects. This also applies with online competitions. There can often be a few small competitions running concurrently and it  can be tempting to try to enter as many as possible but it's better to pick your fights more carefully. The amount of times I've had to abandon a project because I'm not going to be able to finish them all... Another aspect of this is that, while there are some out there who can focus on multiple projects at the same time and still get great results, for most of u the best outcome will be from focussing on one project from start to finish. Get one done and then see if you have time to move on to the next. Also, if you are going to do multiple projects, get the most simple one done first. There's no point spending five months working on a diorama only to realise, with three weeks to go, that you're not going to finish it in time and now you've not got time to do that single figure entry you wanted to do either...My local GW store recently held a Mini-Of-The-Month competition. I planned on entering the Skeleton, Rotmire Creed and Votann below. In the end I only managed to get the Skeleton done. The other two have ended up in the Drawer of Temporary Abandonment****

PAINT WHAT YOU WANT TO PAINT

There's always the temptation to paint what's in vogue, or the latest release, but (contrary to what many people seem to think) the judges don't base their decisions on such things- they're looking for good painting and the best way to get a good paintjob is to paint something that inspires you. So,  if you've got something in your sprue pile that you've always wanted to paint, or something that you've always had a really good idea for then go for it. You'll get a much better result that way than doing something you feel you should be doing and, just as importantly, you'll enjoy the process that much more. If the painting is a chore, you're painting the wrong thing, and you'll never be happy with it. the Ork Kommando Boss was not an obvious choice of miniature to enter, but it's long been one of my favourite miniatures and I'd always wanted to paint it, and it was probably the most fun I've ever had painting for a competition, as I just went with what felt right for the model.

IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT WINNING

This is probably the most important thing, and it ties in with all the other points I've made. Of course it's a competition, and of course the ultimate goal is to come away with a prize but that's not the be-all and end-all of why you should be entering. There's so  much more to be gained from entering than simply the wins or  losses.  Online competitions give you the opportunity to pit your work against that from painters all over the world, and to show it off to an audience of potentially thousands. In-person competitions give you the chance to meet other painters face-to-face and see the work of others up-close and personal, and there's nothing more inspirational than that. Both types of competitions offer unique opportunities for feedback and advice. Competitions also offer the chance to really push yourself and your skills and really prove to yourself what you are capable of. And, if you don't win**** they are a great learning experience, teaching you what you can do better next time.

SO WHAT ABOUT GOLDEN DEMON 2023?

Right, having rambled on enough, what am I planning on entering for the next Golden Demon? Well, as usual, I'm flouting my own rules and planning a number of pieces. I've decided to resurrect a few projects from my Drawer of Temporary Abandonment. The Night Goblin Shaman and Phobos Captain (who was going to be my entry into the Masters category at the cancelled 2020 Golden Demons*****) are going to be my Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 Single Miniature entries, respectively, and I have a Duel planned, that I started years ago, based on the Lords of Hellstone AoS story. 

Now, whether or not these actually get done, or end up being my actual entries, is another matter. A lot can happen in six months, so we'll have to wait and see. I will be posting updates as I go along, on my Instagram. so please keep an eye out for those posts. Anyway, that's it for me on this subject, at least for now. What do you think? Do you have any thoughts on the subject, any more advice that I've missed? Please feel free to discuss in the comments. I'd love to hear your ideas. See you in Manchester on 29th April!

Thanks for reading!

Stu

*Learned them? Yes. Actually put them into practice?...Errrr...maybe not so much...

**Can you see a pattern developing?

***more on this another day

****Or even if you do...

*****It's a real shame there's no Masters category this year. I really enjoyed the unique challenge of painting a single, unconverted miniature, and it suited my way of painting really well.

A little bit of yellow, and a bit of amber...

Evening all!

A little while back I was approached by a chap called Anthony Mallett who is working on a pitch for a TransFormers tabletop game. He's hoping to be able to pick up an official licence from Hasbro and, to support his pitch, he's prepared some prototype miniatures and asked if I'd mind painting some of them up for him.
Well...
I've been a fan of TransFormers since they first arrived on the scene back in 1984 (when I was, at 11 years old, the perfect age to get hooked on the adventures of giant robots...) and have often wished for a tabletop game based on the franchise. Back in the distant past, whilst at the GW design studio, Richard Potter and I would dream of, one day, putting together a set of rules. Alas, this was just a dream that would never come to fruition. Anthony and his group, however, have pushed their version of the dream forward, and have got quite a long way down the path to a finished product. Whether it goes the distance and becomes a finished licensed product is down to their negotiating skill and the will of the Hasbro licencees but, when Anthony approached me, I couldn't refuse the opportunity to get involved right from the start.
So, a batch of metal prototype miniatures turned up and, while I'm still busy working through my backlog of commission projects that has built up during my personal upheavals of the past year, I just had to have a go.
So, here's the fruits of a few hours' labour (usually while waiting for other things to dry). Bumblebee is the smallest of the figures Anthony sent to me (30mm to the tips of his little horns), and the only one that is a single-piece casting. I'm told that these metal miniatures are test castings from the 3D print masters (or somesuch- it's all a little over my head...), and that the final miniatures will be moulded in plastic, with crisper detail. I think he looks pretty good as he is, and is certainly a pretty good representation of the original animation design.

(The base, in case you were wondering, is some textured plasticard and a bit of Zoid...)
More info about the progress of the game itself can be found on their Facebook page. I really hope it does well.

Next up, and back within my usual comfort zone, is one of the aforementioned backlog. This one is the Amber Wizard from Citadel, from pre-End Times Warhammer Empire. This was one of the early Finecast models and, as such, had a fair amount of gap-filling to be done, but the casting wasn't as bad as some of the horror stories I've heard of the material. I've stuck fairly closely to the original colour scheme on this one, the only addition being some slate to enhance the base. I wanted to lift him a bit and enhance his reaching-forward pose. I've got a few more of these old Empire (now Free Peoples in the Age of Sigmar) to do and I'm rather looking forward to them.

Right, that's it from me for now. I've got a big update on the Eldar Phantom Titan coming up very soon so be sure to check back for updates.

All the best,

Stuart