Getting the General idea...

Hey I think I'm getting better at this Tale of Four Gamers lark - got my entry ready to share with the world and there's still over a week of December left!

Either that or I've set my sights low in terms of model count...

Yep it's the latter as this month I've decided to tackle my army general to give me a breather on the painting front what with the coming festivities and all.

Femme Fatales!

Hmmm, this is getting a bit of a habit - posting up pics of my latest addition to the Tale of Four Gamers challenge on the last day of the month. This won't be an option next month as there's little chance of me being sober enough to hold a camera straight let alone a paint brush! A little more organisation is called for methinks...

Anyhow, here's November's offering - a L5 Dark Elf Sorceress mounted on a Cold One (100 points) and six Witch Elves with light armour, additional hand weapons and poisoned attacks (84 points). That along with the unit of 11 warriors led by a L5 hero (with light armour, shields, hand weapons and  standard) and the Jaded Sisters (2 L5 heroines with light armour, double handed weapons and poisoned attacks) gives me a total of 480 points - 30 points ahead of the game!

Ready 4A 'nother Kickstarter?

I certainly am having just gone for the Full Monty in 4A Miniature's second Kickstarter!

Saelian - Goblin Champion featured in the Kickstarter

Tale of Four Gamers: Nerves of Lead - The Jaded Sisters

Well that was a busy October in (non hobby terms) and a sprint finish in the last week (in hobby terms). My entry for the Tale of Four Gamers this month only just squeezed in thanks to a last minute post on Facebook at 23.59am of the last night of October! 

This tardiness was mainly due to being distracted by preparations for this year's Night of the Living Lead which I attended last weekend - more of which in another post - and being distracted by shiny new models at the Foundry - namely the titular (in more ways than one) sisters who will be joining my Dark Elf army as L5 Heroines equipped with heavy armour, double handed weapons and poisoned attacks. They weigh in at 112 points which along with the 34 points overspend from last month means that I'm only 4 points shy of the 150 points target. I guess I'll be finishing the unit of Crossbows I had been working on another time!

Anyway, enough of the boring points stuff - on with the juicy background!

Twin sisters born in to the Nephrite clan, Calemirnith and Calemirthel were inseparable despite the stark differences in their characters. Blessed with a cold beauty, Calemirthel soon became renowned as quite the prize amongst the nobility of Ghaba Ghanaf. Of course anyone foolish enough to consider her a trophy for the taking would soon be disabused of the notion.

Calemirthel - Seductress of Har Ganeth

What Calemirnith lacked in the terms of her sister's beauty, she more than made up for with her savagery and appetite for depravity. Her reputation went before her and all quailed at the prospect of becoming the object of her callous desires.

Calemirnith - Mistress of Har Ganeth

In fact the sisters made it their personal goal to sample all the sensory pleasures that cold Ghaba Ghanaf had to offer. No act was too base and no whim too perverse. And yet it was not enough. With much of the nobility, eligible or otherwise, dead or crippled and the city's slave population decimated thanks to the sister's tender mercies, the Elders of Ghaba Ghanaf certainly breathed a sigh of relief when they halted their reign of lubricious terror, jaded and weary of such things.

However accusations of heresy were soon levelled at the sisters and they were tried and found guilty of worshipping Slaanesh. In penance Calemirthel and Calemirnith were locked into suits of jade armour and forced to pledge their allegiance to Khaine. They were inducted into the fanatical sect of the Brides of Khaine and are now closely observed by their fellow Witch Elves for any further sign of heresy.

I'm currently painting up the small unit of Witch Elves for this month so they can keep an eye on the sisters although I'll need to throw something else in to the mix to make up the points for the 150 points target...

A Tale of Four Gamers: Nerves of Lead

The 1st of September ushered in one of the many challenges I have taken up this year in the form of the familiar Tale of Four Gamers. Thanks to Ashley at Little Lead People who, inspired by the hi-jinks of Messrs Warlord Paul, Orlygg, Chico and Steve at BOYL 2016, suggested we have also have a go at the challenge.  

I gather the Warlord Paul, Orlygg, Steve and Chico are repeating the success of their Tale of Four Gamers - this time with Mordheim and only one miniature a month in their Tale of Four Gamers: City of Lead. To differentiate ourselves from our esteemed other four gamers, we're calling our challenge   Tale of Four Gamers: Nerves of Lead. Clear as mud I'm sure! Anyhow the upshot of it all is that between now and BOYL 2017 we have to paint up 150 points worth of troops each month and either blog about them or post them on facebook. Oh and we get to fight each others' armies at BOYL 2017 as well!

We've decided to stick with Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd ed. and I'm looking forward to seeing my fellow gamers' armies taking shape. I've picked Dark Elves, Ashley has succumbed to the lure of Undeath, Matthew is taking to the field with Orcs and Adam stands alone for the forces of good with his Wood Elves. 

So why Dark Elves? I've never really had much to do with Elves of any kind really other than those required for the Orc's Drift scenarios. The High Elves were a bit goody-two-shoes for me and Wood Elves are really just a bunch of tree-huggers aren't they? Mind you I do have a large tub full of them to paint up another time...

To BOYL 2017! And Beyond!

It certainly seems that not only is BOYL an amazing weekend and the highlight of my gaming year - not to mention catching up with a fine bunch of like minded fellows - but it also sets the agenda for my year's painting and modelling

Thought I'd best get a post together detailing my plans for the year ahead since there's already been quite the flurry of activity around organising games for next year's BOYL. If nothing else it'll serve as a reminder for me so I don't double book myself or forget any of them! 

Good job it does such a good job of motivating me with the prospect of all the cool games I need to prepare for!

Fleets in Spaaace!

The last game I ran at BOYL 2016 is a game I have been hankering after for a long time. I vaguely recall an old childhood friend getting a copy, but like his Advanced Heroquest set, we never played it much if it all. I fear his acquisition of it unfortunately coincided with our discovery of beer...

Raising Hell!

More BOYL reminiscing! The Saturday was a busy one for epic gaming and the afternoon saw me and Steve Casey facing off against each other with 3000 points of tanks and infantry and 3000 points of Titans and a fist full of rules in the form of Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine 1st edition.

The battle lines were drawn with my Space Wolves (also featured here in close up) and Fire Wasp Titans advancing on Steve's Death Guard Marines and brilliantly converted Nurgle Titans. Setting up was the easy bit - the tricky bit was getting our heads around the rules spread over several books and White Dwarfs! The basic set up was that the forces of the Imperium were rushing to stop the despicable rituals being performed in a desecrated Imperial cathedral and prevent the summoning of whatever Daemonic monstrosity heeded the cultists cries. Steve's Nurgle forces were intent on allowing the summoning to take place by holding off the attacking Space Wolves...

Robot Jox

As Bring Out Your Lead 2016  is slowly fading into warm fuzzy memories I figured I'd best contribute to the glut of posts celebrating this paragon of old school gaming!

I didn't have anything arranged for the Friday so spent the afternoon happily mooching about, chatting and checking out the other games in progress - not something I've had time to do in the past.

Saturday morning saw the weekend really kick off and my contribution was a participation game of Adeptus Titanicus - Many thanks to Mike and Nik who joined me. Worthy opponents both!

Clash of the Titans

Well hello dear readers and apologies for the long bout of radio silence! A mixture of enjoying country life...

 ... getting stuck in to a new job (albeit on a short term casual basis) ...

... and generally being completely knackered of an evening has meant that it's been a bit quiet round here.

However, I have not been entirely idle! I've managed to get down to meet up at least once a month with my old gaming group consisting of various old salts up and down the M1 between York and Nottingham - far too good a bunch to lose regular gaming contact with. There is therefore a bit of a backlog of games and pics to share of the games I've been playing which have included such curiousities as Space Fleet and Adeptus Titanicus as well as old stalwarts like Rogue Trader.

It is the speed with which Bring Out Your Lead 2016 is approaching that prompts this post and as I'm running a game of Adeptus Titanicus on the Saturday (and may be persuaded to play the odd game on the Friday afternoon unless I get a better offer!) I thought I'd best prove that I'm both alive and have played the game at least once to check that it all works!

My combined Traitor force of Fire Lords Warlord Titans and Warlords and Warhounds of the Deaths Heads Legion.

The Crater Good

One of the big things for me that really makes wargaming enjoyable is the terrain on the table top. Not only does it add to the whole spectacle but it often enhances game play and adds new tactical dimensions. In fact the whole narrative of a game can centre on a particularly important piece of terrain and the desperate struggles to control it.

Now most of my terrain is geared to Warhammer Fantasy as that is what I've played most of over the years. Happily much of it has been usable in Rogue Trader games as well - I still plan on playing an RT Siege game one day with Imperial Army units assaulting the Mighty Fortress, defended by feral and Space Orks!

Epic poses a slight problem in that you have to create a new set of scenery to cater for the much smaller scale. I've got by in the past with just plonking down the card buildings on my grass mat and getting on with it but that's always bugged me a bit - where are the streets and roads that make the presence of massive gothic sky scrapers on a grassy plain believable?

A new step forward in Green Belt development - road-less High Rise accommodation!

The Prima Incubatoria

The secrets of Titan construction are shrouded in the mists of time. There are even those who believe that they were not manufactured; that these monstrous machines are the Emperor's very will, manifested in cold plasteel and adamantium. That these ancient machines blaze with a machine life of their own is well known amongst the Adeptus Mechanicus. Indeed each Princeps' first challenge is to attempt to master the fierce spirit of his Titan, lest he be consumed and the machine run wild.

Though the knowledge of their forging is lost and though many and varied are the rituals and incantations involved in preparing a Titan for battle, fret not dear reader. I have anointed myself with the sacred unguents, lit the incense and chanted the litany of awakening, More to the point I have solved the complex mathematical algorithms involved in working out points values for different Titan builds according to the Codex Titanicus!

Many Grox were sacrificed to bring you this post.

Entropy! Entropy!

They've all got it - Entropy!

Up Close and Personal

The Imperial Guard are not exactly renowned for their ferocity at close quarters in general. However I was rather pleased, after I'd had a root around my Epic bitz box the other week, to find that somehow I had acquired enough troopers to form an Assault Company and an Ogryn support detachment!

In a war torn galaxy, full of such terrors as Daemons, Ork Nobz and all manner of Tyranid beasties, it seems there are still men out there who are willing to strap a jet pack on, holster a pair of Laspistols and get up close and personal with whatever Xeno threat they are facing - with not a scrap of power armour to be seen!

Ogryns have always been a favourite of mine and I still covet those excellent Rogue Trader Ogryns sculpted by Bob Olley. In 2nd ed. Space Marine they are pretty nasty in close combat with a big CAF of 6 and they even get a saving throw of +6. Their Ripper Guns may only have a range of 10cm but they do have a -1 save modifier. Led by their Bonehead - a relative genius by Ogryn standards thanks to the brain surgery performed on them, Ogryns make great shock troops as long as they survive long enough to get stuck in. I do like their childlike faith in the Emperor, believing that each of their orders, no matter how trivial, has been personally issued to them by the Emperor himself!

I'm looking forward to trying the Assault Company out in the next game I take the Guard to. Not sure how effective they'll be with their terrifying CAF of 1 and it's quite a small Company by Guard standards at 15 stands of troops with the usual 2 command stands and Rhino. It'll certainly make a nice change to have my infantry bounding forward at 30cm a turn on charge orders and ignoring terrain thanks to their jet packs!

Oh and the thought of 75 lunatics, plucked from the depths of some god forsaken Hive or Barbarian Feral world and given uniforms, training and rocket packs, coming screaming out of the air at the enemy is pretty cool too!

Lone Wolf - Battle for Magnamund

Something a bit different today and something I was much more excited to receive than chocolate eggs that's for sure!

This not so little beauty (the parcel was huge and pleasingly heavy) was waiting for me when we got back from a very pleasant Easter weekend with the family. Yup - one of the Kick Starters I backed finally came good. Well almost.

Lone Wolf - The Battle for Magnamund was and still hopefully could be a really exciting table top game set in the world of Lone Wolf. Gary Chalk has produced some beautiful new illustrations for both the board pieces and the card miniatures and after a first glance at the rules, the game itself looks like it has plenty of potential.

Gigantic Skeletal Death

Lexicanian Trask prayed the Rebel advance was faltering. Below him the Landraider and Predator continued fire on the Traitor Titan while the Ultramarines milled about trying to regain formation. Two Loyalist Titans raced forward on an intercept course. Trask upped the intensity of his magnoculars. Filters cut in to prevent him being blinded by plasma flare. He made out the insignia of the approaching allies: Warp Runners.

The enemy Titan loomed like gigantic skeletal death over the wasteland of twisted girders and broken buildings. Trask felt impotent and alone as far below his brother Marines fought to stave off the enemy advance.

The battle teetered in the balance. Trask hoped the Warp Runners could stop the Deaths Head before it reached the Bromium Refinery. He knew that it would take only one unlucky hit to make the whole ammo dump go up like an out of control reactor.

Excerpt and illustration from the Adeptus Titanicus rule book.

Right then - back to the Horus Heresy and some epic scale goodness!

Firstly I want to share with you some snaps I took of the lovely old Titan models in Bryan Ansell's marvelous display cabinets that can be seen at the Foundry down in Newark. Also worth checking out is Steve Casey's excellent posts of Bryan's Titan collection.

 These were the original metal Titan prototypes that were used in the publicity pictures for Adeptus Titanicus.

Traitors and Loyalists were represented by the Deaths Heads and Fire Wasps respectively.

It was certainly a novel experience to study them in the flesh and take snaps for painting references rather than the usual casting about through Google images and peering through old rulebooks and White Dwarf magazines.

Suffice it to say that the Fire Wasps are next in the painting queue, although I'll also be painting up some Warp Runners and making a Bromium Refinery so I can make up a scenario based on the bits of narrative that appear throughout the Adeptus Titanicus rule book.

Seeing these venerable old minis has also strengthened my resolve to try and track down a MK1 metal Titan of my own although that will have to wait until my finances are in better health!

It is a shame that they didn't go with this original design in a way, as much as I like the old plastic Warlords, there's something about these MK1's that really floats my boat - the head and carapace in particular.

Anyhow, I'll have to keep dreaming for now! Here's my efforts in the mean time.

Deaths Heads Warlords advance through the ruins, supported by Sons of Horus Marines and Land Raiders.

These guys are the first in my preparations for the Adeptus Titanicus game I plan on running at BOYL 2016 - be great if I can nab one of the tables by the display cabinets and those great old MK1's who grace the Adeptus Titanicus box!

I had fun looking up some suitably moribund Latin phrases for names of these Deaths Heads.
This is Curum Perficio - My Journey Ends

I'm planning on painting up three Warlords each for three Loyalist and three Traitor Titan Legions. All these Titans will be magnetised so that weapon choices can be changed as per the players' preferences. The banners have also been magnetised but that's more to make them easier to transport!

I'm hoping to achieve a bit of balance by enforcing a points limit based on the rules for designing your own Titans that appeared in the Codex Titanicus expansion. Don't worry if you don't want to stump up the £25 or so for one on Ebay though as I'll be posting some guidelines on the process later.

For anyone wanting to bring their own Titans that are fully tooled (and glued) up it might be a case of bringing fewer models to the table to get in the points limit, or lowering the power of the weapons but more of that in another post.

Pulvis Et Umbra Sumus - We Are Dust and Shadow

I was quite pleased with how easily these were to paint up - the colour scheme is pretty simple and effective and the dazzle style camo on the carapace wasn't too onerous.

 Even the banners were pretty straight forward with a steady hand! The eagle-eyed among you might have spotted that I used skull transfers from some old Undead transfer sheets I found.

Sub Cute Calvarium - The Skull Beneath the Skin

 I also had fun finding alternatives for the Eye of Horus symbol that all Traitor forces display to show their loyalty to the rebellion.

The classic Egyptian look...

A blend of the Chaos star and the Eye of Horus...

And another variation on that theme.

Definitely glad to have the first batch of Titans under my belt - I guess it'll be the Fire Wasps next...

Death to the Daleks!

Another post dredged up from the vaults!

This was the climactic battle of the Dr Who scenario I wrote for the "Battle at the Farm" - a weekend I hosted for Ollie and Richard back in 2014 at my folks' place in the Lake District. This was made even more fun by Richard's excellent Imperial Dalek army - a fitting foe for my Renegades! Ollie took command of the Brigadier, the Doctor and the Unit forces.

Troll!

You'll be glad to hear that this isn't going to be a post about those annoying people out to ruin your day on the internets - lord knows there's enough of them so we'll just leave them under their virtual bridges and carry on merrily on our way.

Oh and if you haven't seen Trollhunter, I'd definitely recommend it - cracking film!

Actually this post is the result of a bit of housekeeping. By chance I noticed that I seemed to have quite a lot of posts languishing as drafts for some reason - some even with edited pictures already uploaded and a few words typed in.

This is one of those posts that for some reason I never got round to posting at the time - apologies if you were expecting Titans! They are nearly done. Honest!

Instead I bring you Trolls!

These guys were painted in the big mad rush to get ready for BOYL 2014 - specifically the mammoth Siege game we put on that somehow evolved from a few enthusiastic suggestions on the forum and the Engines of Avalone scenario that I wrote some time ago.

First up is the C20 Hill Troll or Wanewrong as I prefer to call him. Long wanted to own this chap and he pretty much sums up all things trollish to me as he was one of the first I saw as an impressionable young lad. Much as I like the skinny big-nosed D&D type Trolls and the later GW Stone and River Trolls, this guy is what I think of when ever Trolls are mentioned.

And in the Warp, something smiled...

On the feral world of Davin, Imperial Warmaster Horus was possessed by a creature from the Warp. He has turned against the Imperium of Humanity, and so have the thousands of bio-engineered super-warriors who follow him. War rages across the galaxy in between the loyalists and the rebels. The Emperor's palace on Terra is besieged. Rebellion and civil war flare up on millions of worlds. Brother fights brother, and Marine fights Marine. The greatest warriors Humanity has ever known turned against each other.

So back to epic scale Space Marine and my Horus Heresy project. Today, pre-mutation and freshly rebelled, we have the Sons of Horus - the Warmaster's own chapter of Space Marines.