Games I'd love to play...

... but probably never will!

Ah the possibilities!

I've been mulling over the many projects I have on the go at the moment - Return of the Magnificent Sven, my Goblinoid horde, Trolltooth Wars (must get started on this one), Dr Who, Dalek Civil War, getting a game of Warhammer Siege in with my two Mighty Fortresses, finishing off my Undead hored, Warmaster, Man O War, Battle of the Five Armies (yep managed to score a right bargain there!), Mighty Empires and my latest obsession with 2nd ed. Space Marine (epic).

Phew! And I'm sure I've forgotten one or two minor ones amongst that lot. It's a familiar situation for many of you I'm sure - too many miniatures, too many ideas and grand visions but not enough time to get them finished, or even started in some cases.

However, this parlous state of affairs still doesn't stop me envisaging even more outlandish and unattainable gaming ideas. Having been laid low with Nurgle's Rot this past week and work sapping all vitality and life out of me I've been idly dreaming of impossible games. Here's a few of my most recent flights of fantasy...

1. Ulysses 31 - I'm a massive fan of this old 80's cartoon - The setting, story, and mostly the mood and music are very evocative. I'd love to pit the crew of the Odyssey against Zeus' Sharkmen legions - Deep Space battles against squadrons of Tridents and a whole host of worlds for the crew of the Odyssey to liberate.

Obstacles to getting this on the table - I haven't really looked but I imagine finding suitable miniatures for Ulysses and his children, the Sharkmen and other distinctive characters could prove tricky/expensive or very time consuming in conversions.

However, apparently there were Ulysses toys made which I was previously unaware of! Also the small number of characters could prove tricky - main character death would have to be avoided in some satisfactory way...

2. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - another Japanese animation that is very close to my heart.

Again it's the mood as well as the epic sweep of the story that speaks to me here. Plus it'd be easier to play a more orthodox war game with the various factions fighting it out in the story - the Tolmekian attack on Pejite or the Valley of the Wind, the creeping advance of the Fukai, the toxic jungle that has spread across the planet after the apocalyptic events of the Seven Days of Fire and the stampede of the maddened herds of Ohmu.

Obstacles - again it's got to be suitable models! There's a very specific aesthetic although I'm sure with time, patience and some nifty conversion skills it'd be possible. There is an Ohmu model although I suspect it'd cost a bob or two to get enough together for a stampede!

3. Godzilla/Gamera!

Hmm, seems to be a Japanese theme emerging here...

What's not to like here though - Giant Monsters, hordes of tanks and jet fighters, lasers, radio-active breath and carnage on a city-wide scale! I defy anyone to not succumb to this very persuasive "advert" done by the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 crew.

Happily, bringing Godzilla and chums to the gaming table shouldn't be that difficult. There are loads of Godzilla toys of varying scales and amassing large numbers of 6mm, 10mm or even 15mm soldiers, tanks and jet fighters would be simple enough. I suppose the only slight barrier would be building a table-wide city scape for the monsters to frolic in!

So there's my top three Would-like-to-play-but-will-probably-never-get-round-to-it-or-would-never-afford-or-be-able-to-source-the-miniatures-for-it games.

How about you, dear Readers - do you have any unachievable ambitions to bring a favoured setting or story to life in miniature?

A Legion of my finest troops...

Or at least a full Tactical Company of the Executioners Chapter!

Yes I have opened up another front in the war against unpainted minis in my collection and started yet another scale - 6mm this time!

Thanks to my old buddy Ollie over at the Second Founding, who has enticed me into 6mm sci fi gaming, I have dusted off my battered old box of 2nd edition Space Marine (Epic) and begun piecing together the mighty armies of the Imperium once more. Looks like I might have some Tau-esque Xeno scum to exterminate before long if Ollie's painting table is anything to go by.

I loved Epic back in the day and seem to remember getting it for Christmas not long after I had drooled all over the preview pics in WD141. Like a typical unimaginative teenager I daubed up some of my Space Marines as Blood Angels and my Eldar had to come from the Alaitoc Craftworld to match the studio armies in White Dwarf.

Me and my brother played quite a few games together, especially after I got a couple of the boxed sets containing the more exotic troop types to bolster the ranks of the armies that came with the game.

This time around I've gone for an even more old school look for my Marines and have picked the Executioners Chapters - mainly because I love the camo colour scheme and because I have painted up their bigger 28mm cousins this way already. They also have a great back story through their part in the Badab War.

Courtesy of WD101 we get a brief history from the pages of the Index Astartes which detail The rebellion of the Tiger Claws Chapter, under the leadership of their mentally unstable Master, Lufgt Huron - the Tyrant of Badab. What I particularly like about the story is that it's not your usual common or garden Chaos incursion - instead the roots of the rebellion lie in the Adeptus Mechanicus' displeasure at the Tiger Claws' tardiness in submitting gene-seed for routine inspection and the large debt of planetary tithes Huron had built up.

Once the Imperium moved against Huron's Marines the whole mess erupted into a large scale rebellion. Huron himself was suspected of being an Alien Shape-changer or at least under alien mind domination of some kind.

Soon three other chapters, including the Executioners, Mantis Warriors and Lamenters, joined the rebellion. In response the Fire Hawks and Marines Errant were called in to protect Imperial shipping in the area and they were soon joined by the Red Scorpions and the Minotaurs. As the threat to shipping receded, the Scorpions and Fire Hawks were recalled to other duties and replaced by the Novamarines and Howling Griffons.

Meanwhile yet another Chapter, the Star Phantoms, laid siege to Badab while the Home Planets of the Lamenters and Executioners were investigated by other Chapters.

The Lamenters were ambushed and forced to surrender after a bloody space battle with the Minotaurs. This was a great blow to the Tyrant of Badab and the rest of the war became a series of close sieges, culminating in the fall of Badab and the final defeat of the Tiger Claws.

With the war over (not before the Exorcists, Fire Angels, Salamanders, Space Sharks and Sons of Medusa had been involved at one time or another!) forgiveness was granted to the Mantis Legion, Executioners and Mantis Warriors, subject to them undertaking a hundred year Crusade. Their Home Planets were gifted to the Space Sharks and Star Phantoms for their part in the war.

As for Huron and his Tiger Claws? They were all but destroyed - only a contingent of about two hundred fought their way clear of the blockade. They escaped into deep space and have not been heard of since...

I also turned to old copies of WD for the Rhino colour scheme - WD103 this time. Again, purely based on which ever colour scheme pleased my eye I went for the Imperial Guard's "Fighting 9th" Regiment. The camo scheme used to blend into the Ammonia Salt Plains during the Assault on Tsunami Reef provides a bit of a contrast to the mottled blues of the Marine armour. I'm sure the Imperial Guard won't mind sharing that particular camo scheme! Especially as when I get round to my Imperial Guard forces I'll be painting them up as the "Lucky Sevens" - again, to fit in with their larger 28mm brothers.

Command section - might have to go back in with a smaller brush and a steady hand to attempt the Executioner's axe motif in the centre of the red circle on the Commander's banner - you can just make it out on the side of his command Rhino.

Didn't fancy trying it on all these shoulder pads though!

Whilst we're on the topic of Epic, I was quite chuffed to see that the random box of Squat stuff I bought a while back produced this little lot! 

 

 

Right - onwards to finish off the Mk1 Landraider Squadron I'm in the middle of...

Armed to the tusks!

Ruglud's Armoured Orcs have featured on this blog a few times before and here they are again. This time they are fully equipped and finally finished!

 



 

Some time before Christmas I managed to snaffle a bargain on ebay consisting of an incomplete set of this Regiment of Renown along with various other goodies (more of which another time), all packed up in the original box. Unfortunately the box had had sellotape wrapped round it for some reason but the collector in me is at least partially satisfied!

 

However, it wasn't the box, or even the additional plastic crossbows I needed to equip each trooper that had me jumping with joy. Rather tragically it was the long bases that you can fit three minis on that really got me excited - sad I know.

Maybe it was the years of ogling Kev Adams' Goblin army in the Warhammer Armies book that had instilled this strange desire of mine to possess and base some of my minis on these longer bases - who knows!

Anyhow, I am now able to field a rather formidable looking 30 strong unit of armoured Orcs, complete with crossbows - ah deep joy.

Some of my down time before Christmas was spent happily painting up the additional members of the unit and basing them. I had another good go at copying freehand some of the Arcane Armourials as featured on the troopers on the box.

So, with more equipment than you can shake a stick at (heavy armour, shields, hand weapons, halberds and crossbows), and a level 10 and 5  hero to lead them, standard bearer, musician and +3 rank bonus with two more ranks to spare - is this the first Oldhammer "Deathstar" unit?

 

What with these chaps and my overpowered Zombie Dragon (Rick Priestley's rules in the back of an old WD - not mine!) I might be accused of slowly turning into a power gamer... ; )



Belly's Gonna Getcha...

Grom - Soldier. Tactician. Fat Bastard.

According to legend he initiated the Goblin Wars by slaying Wulfrun Willowhand, King of the Northern Dwarves in some kind of drunken bar room brawl. Many victories and atrocities have been attributed to "The Paunch of the Misty Mountains" - so named because of his morbid obesity. In fact it was said that Grom was so huge and ugly that he almost resembled an ogre - not sure about that one but I do love the minis! Chiefly remembered among his many black deeds were the atrocities of Zhuf Field. After the Goblin victory there and subsequent looting of the Dwarven Smithies and Armouries, Grom called for a hundred Dwarf captives to be brought before him each day. Each day he personally suffocated each and every one of them - by sitting on them.

Grom was not a pure breed of Goblin (if there is such a thing) and neither were the Goblins he selected to make up his Goblin Guard - large and vicious creatures of mixed Orc/Goblin parentage. I'm thinking of upping their stats and points value to that of Half Orcs.

Enough of the history lesson and on to the miniatures! The troopers were all speed painted in batches using the usual grey basecoat with drybrushed white highlights and black ink wash. Then the base colours were applied in thin washes with ink washes to bring out shadow and colour. Ironically the shields took about three times as long as the Goblins themselves!

The designs were rather fun to do. They are supposed to represent various aspects of the death of Wulfrun Willowhand at the hands of Grom. There is a somewhat veiled reference to Grom's personal shield design in that it depicts the death of Willowhand with a great deal of blood and the fabled toasting fork very much in evidence!

Well I couldn't resist a reference like that so various troopers ended up with crossed toasting forks in tribute to their leader...

and various bits of Wulfrun Willowhand being toasted on said toasting fork.

There is little mention about how this epic altercation started other than the fact that the relative merits of Bugman's Best and Old Sam's Brown were being discussed at the time. This also provided some inspiration for shield designs - a brown take on the Bugman's Rangers' shields for Old Sam's Brown - every Goblin's favourite!

Some of you familiar with a certain Brown Ale from the North East of England might recognise the logo on the following shields...

Old Pukey Brown certainly is a refreshing brew and the choicest of spoils for any self respecting Gobbo.

Ironically Grom's champion, Crud Longbone, happens to be extremely skinny and lanky. Canon and Ball anyone?

Interestingly several variants of this chap are included in the larger unit of regular Goblin warriors I have yet to paint.

Grom himself in all his Ogre-ish(?) glory.

And his shield - I restrained myself from depicting the toasting fork stuck in the part of Wulfrun's anatomy that immediately sprang to mind and went for a more tasteful depiction of his head held proudly aloft on the improvised weapon. Thanks to a large shield boss he seems to have taken on a bit of a likeness for either Statler or Waldorf from the Muppet Show.

The Regimental musician - love the puffed out cheeks on this chap. I should probably give them a bit of a red tinge, although I'm sure Goblinoid blood is supposed to be green?

And the standard bearer with a slightly less cartoony representation of Willowhand's head toasting nicely before the fire.

I think I was running out of ideas for shields by then so both he and Crud ended up with the Pukey Brown logo.

The Command Group together.

And the whole regiment once more. The more keen-eyed of you might have noticed the lone Gobbo on the back rank. Yes, annoyingly I have 31 minis for Grom's Guard and could really do with another 5 troopers to round them off nicely.