Returning to Warmachine

Over the summer my brother, on a whim, busted out his Warmachine stuff and coaxed me into having some games with him. While I fared miserably against the might of Cygnar, it did prompt me into doing something with my Menites. I started playing Warmachine in 2013 but between Dark Elves and the End Times my fledgeling collection has received very little attention for quite a few years now.

After a few games in August I decided to re-paint my Warmachine stuff and add a few things to my collection as a side project to my Flesh-Eater Court. I have already spent some time experimenting with colour schemes and after failing to work out a gold and bone scheme I have settled on a dark look of silver, black and deep turquoise.

I have based the look on this plog I found on Privateer Press's Forums: DonQuijotes Menoth
While I won't be copying the scheme exactly I will admit that I am borrowing very heavily from it as inspiration. For a long time I have not really liked darker Menoth schemes but this one won me over and I have elected to batch paint my entire collection in this darker style.

I would like to qualify that I have not suddenly become a master of tiny freehand overnight. The text on her scroll was done using an exceptionally fine pen.

I appreciate these are not the best photos and the minis are incredibly WIP but I though that if I post them now I will find the motivation to try and finish them before Christmas. Check back in a few weeks time and we shall see if we can get some better picture of some finished minis on here.

How to: Basing in the Realm of Death

I haven't seen too many basing tutorials for Age of Sigmar and thought I would throw this one into the mix for people to enjoy. It is a variation on a few techniques and tutorials I have seen floating around the web to make lava or to create the impression of an energy impact.

The idea behind this base is that the malignant magics of the realm of death are seeping up and forcing their way through the earth as battle is joined on the plains of Shyish.

1.

1. Swirl your colours of death together. I elected to use several of the paints which I have used for spirits in this army: Xereus Purple, Baharroth Blue, Celestra Grey, Ulthuan Grey and Ceramite White

2.

2. The base is covered in a layer of clear PVA glue. This will help the Martian Ironearth crack more dramatically.

3.

3. When the PVA is dry put a good coating of Martian Ironearth over the base. On larger bases you will see it start to crack and separate mere seconds after application due to the PVA so make sure you work quickly. To help the effect I like to hold the drying Ironearth under a hairdryer for a few minutes as well; holding the hairdryer about 12 inches away from the base so as not to warp the plastic when on full heat.

4.

4. When the base is dry some abaddon black is lightly dry brushed over the top just to help darken the earth and create contrast with the magical colours beneath.

5.

5. The lip of the base is painted with Naggaroth Night mixed with a small amount of Xereus Purple (about 2:1). I then like to finish the base off with some Mordheim Turf and a little splatter of blood. When I come to stick together my Flesh-Eaters I will also paint up the odd skull and bits of bone to glue onto the base as well to help break it ups bit.

Below are some examples of this technique used on larger bases and also demonstrating how it can be done to make it appear as if spirits are rising out of the tortured earth.

Best of luck with your own basing in the Mortal Realms!

Game of Thrones - The Mad Queen

Season 6 Finale SPOILERS Ahead!

Continue at your own risk!

I really enjoyed Season 6 of Game of Thrones. While I had a few issues with one or two storylines and some of the pacing; I did find it a big improvement over season 5 (which I really didn't like i.e. Dorne) and there were lots of scenes and surprises I really enjoyed. The last two episodes in particular were excellent and it is a real shame that their director, Miguel Sapochnik, has been nabbed by Netflix and won't be directing any episodes in season 7.

While Battle of the Bastards was a true spectacle perhaps one of the best visual representations of the grim realities of medieval warfare I have ever seen, the final episode: The Winds of Winter was a plot and character driven rollercoaster I really enjoyed. The first fifteen minutes or so in Kings Landing for me was the standout part of the season.

The piece of music which accompanied Cersi's revenge on House Tyrell and the Faith, quite fittingly called 'The Light of the Seven', was brilliant if a little different to the usual score given the use of a piano and an organ. The entire segment very much felt like the ending of one of the Godfather films where we see Michael orchestrate revenge on all those who have slighted him at once.

The climax of course was the burning of the Sept of Baelor where wildfire caches that have remained hidden since the days of the Mad King are lit by Qyburn's little birds. I have already seen one or two spectacular pieces of art based around this scene and I felt inspired to do one myself which I have titled: 'The Mad Queen'.

Contest of Night Winner!

The other day I entered the Contest of Night that author Josh Reynolds was holding on his website with his recent Realmgate Wars book: 'Mortarch of Night' as the prize. As I have decided to finally take the plunge into Age of Sigmar I thought I might as well enter and get myself a free signed book. 

I was therefore delighted to discover that Josh really liked my miniature and selected it as the winning entry for the contest! You can see the post announcing me as the winner here on his blog: Hunting Monsters. This was quite the nice surprise for me after a series of minor life mishaps and I really look forward to reading this book and delving deeper into the Age of Sigmar. 

Enthused by this win I hope to finally get around to finishing writing my review of 'Bladestorm' by Gav Thorpe and finally get a few photos of Age of Sigmar miniatures onto the blog. For now though I will leave you with a picture of my winning entry with some small commentaries on the model.

Agengrim One-Eye of Gravenport - Bishop of the Church of Nagash's Hand

How to: Frostgrave bases

In an effort to add more tutorials to this blog I have decided to share my method of basing my Frostgrave miniatures. I wanted to create something that was fairly unique and also really emphasised the coldness of the city which I chose to evoke by the use of cool blues. I have seen lots of different ways of doing snow-basing and I wanted to develop a quick method for batch painting which relied on paints alone without the need to use various basing materials.

Agrellan Earth

1. A liberal amount of Agrellan Earth is applied (Martian Ironearth works fine as well) to the base and is left to dry fully until cracked. The thicker you put this on the more dramatic the effect will be. If you want to speed up the process you can hold the base under a hair dryer for a minute or so but I prefer to let mine dry naturally.

Blue Horror

2. Then the base is covered in Blue Horror and allowed to dry.

Nihilakh Oxide

3. Then the base is given a liberal wash of Nihilakh Oxide.

Blue Horror 

Ulthuan Grey

Ceramite White

Baharroth Blue

4-7. Once the Nihilakh Oxide is dry, dry-brush is succession: Blue Horror, Ulthuan Grey and Ceramite White, getting more gentle and sparing as you move from colour to colour. To provide a neat finish the rim of the base is then uniformly covered in a layer of Baharroth Blue.

Finishing Touches

8. Your base now resembled a snowy sheet of ice and on a base such as this where there aren't any ruins or extras to break up the whiteness I like to add some tufts of Mordheim Turf. Once this has been put on I will add blood effects (something that contrasts really well with the snow).

And with that the base is done. While this process can be a little time consuming as you wait for the Agrellan Earth and the Nihilakh Oxide to dry; it is really easy to do and creates an effective uniformed look across a collection.

For more posts about Frostgrave visit the Frostgrave Page of the blog where I will be posting plenty of content over the next few months.

The Inexorable Engine - Chaos in the Old Wolrd

Tzeentch will have his due...

I have had a long and troubled relationship with the forces of Chaos. This was never an army I really planned on having; most of it being a gift from a friend. Rather than selling it over the years I have done various things with it and previously the army looked like this: Part 1 and Part 2. However this year I decided that in tribute to the Old World I would paint this army up and finish it properly for display.

I decided to give it a major re-theme, re-paint and added a few new things like Chaos Dwarves while cutting any filler and rubbish. After being busy with uni for a year I settled down for a month of intensive painting and finally got this army where it is now.

Thoughts from my desk: Age of Sigmar, Purple Worms and batch painting

Having just gotten back into the blog I have quite a few thoughts and things swirling abut in my head that I felt like writing down. Since the end of my academic year I have hung around my university doing research for my dissertation and in my spare time doing bits of hobbying. While my desk is usually covered in odd bits of paper, books and post-it notes; it is currently swamped beneath paint pots and miniatures.

This is where we are at the moment with quite a few different things going on that provoked my train of thought...

An Army of the End Times: The House of Shattered Tears

My army of the End Times; my tribute to the Elves of Warhammer Fantasy using models both old and new to create an eclectic mix of elves that represent that noble yet cursed race who have ever been at the forefront of the Warhammer World. I have had a lot of fun with this project and though I doubt this army will see much time on the battlefield it will at least be a fond reminder of the Old World and the cursed elves of Ulthuan who helped me down the road of the hobby.

House of Shattered Tears:  Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

Disappearing and returning to the hobby

As some of you might have noticed I sort of dropped off the face of the earth some time in September last year. The past year for me has been incredibly busy for various reasons and without warning my hobby was put onto the back-burner. In between commitments I did manage to paint a few things but nothing substantial and unfortunately blogging fell off of my radar altogether. I think this is something that we all do from time to time when life overtakes us and I would like to apologise that in this instance I disappeared without warning. 

My academic year however is now over and with some free time I have been able to get some serious painting done and decided it was high time I address the blog. Firstly I have reorganised some aspects of the blog in order to make newer and more interesting content more easily available while clearing out some of the digital cobwebs that had built up. 

Currently I am working on re-painting my Chaos army (a project I wanted to finish before Christmas but never got round to) and some random stuff for Frostgrave which my brother and I have really gotten into this past year. You can expect to see this, alongside a few random Kingdom Death miniatures to appear in the next few months.

WIP Twilight Knight (Reverse Pin-up)

Also this summer I am planning to do a serious re-evalutaion of what I own and will most likely be selling off some of my armies and miniatures which I don't use anymore and are just languishing in boxes gathering dust. Those models I choose to keep will receive special treatment in order to be displayed. As I don't battle very often I have decided I might as well get a glass cabinet and put what I do have on show.

As for future projects I am in fact planning on taking the plunge into Age of Sigmar. I have decided that my time for mourning the Old World is over and I can hardly resist the new miniatures and the appeal of delving into a new universe to explore. More on this to come in the Autumn when I start work on the Court of the Silver Lion and the Church of Nagash. No doubt I will soon write an editorial about my thoughts on Age of Sigmar as a follow-up to the editorial I wrote last year: Thoughts on Age of Sigmar: rage, optimism and the uncertain future...

Lord Quasdomo the Twice-Cursed

Already I have started work on this mighty Chaos Lord who will be visiting the Court of the Silver Lion as a foreign dignitary. I had an awful lot of fun converting the Forge World Praetor Tribune, which I picked up on a total whim having gone to my local GW for some paints, and I look forward to using him in the future.

I also plan on posting some more of my other art to the blog including canvas and watercolour pieces. Currently I am working on this acrylic painting which was inspired by the season finale of Game of Thrones. On this note I will leave you and I look forward to posting some more content on here in the next few weeks.

Doombringer out.

WIP: The Mad Queen