Intensive terraining...

Well I've certainly been busy since finishing the painting minis side of things!

After I'd written down all the "little" jobs that needed doing to get ready for playing the scenario I soon discovered I was nowhere near out of the woods in terms of work for this project....

Talking of woods, I thought it was about time that I finished off the Woodland scenics realistic trees I bought ages ago and now I have 11 more to make up a veritable forest on my table. While I had the clump foliage out I thought I may as well make a load more underbrush bases too, which you'll spot dotted about in the following pics.

Placed an order with Amera and for under £20 (if memory serves me right!) I got my hands on 2 small and 1 big hill. The big hill is large enough to glue one of the small hills on top to create a 2 tier hill as you can see on the right in the pic below.

I also put a bit of gloss varnish on the river sections which I had forgotten to do earlier...

Talking of Amera - while I like the ruined wall sections I bought from them ages ago, they don't fit together very well to form a well kept boundary - being ruined and all! As I cast about for ideas on making a better stone wall, I remembered the bag of  Hirst Arts fieldstone blocks I bought on a whim on ebay for a couple of quid a long time ago. Always pays to hoard stuff away as I had enough bits to make a load of wall sections as seen below! 

Also pictured are two carts - also ebay purchases from ages past. Not sure who they're from but they'll do nicely for the final showdown at Orc's Drift...

... as can be seen below - just what Ferndale Snart needs to evacuate his patients!

I've also painted up the mealie bag defenses I got from Redoubt Miniatures (along with some Zulu and Rourkes Drift characters for a future project!) and purchased a set of the brilliant barricades that Ainsty sell to complete the defences prepared by Osrim Chardz's Dwarf engineers.

... and that's not all folks!

Got a few WIPs I thought I'd share -

Log pallisade section test piece for the garrison at Kachas Pass - inspiration taken from SIlentInvaders fantastic ACW log fort on the LAF.

Not terribly exciting this one - just some fencing sections to go round the animal enclosures and suchlike from the scenario...

This next one's proving to be a bit of a head scratcher - I need several sections of drainage ditch for the Ashak Rise scenario. The only way I thought of modelling it was to suggest a depression with the small bank. The only problems are that I'm not sure this will look right on the table and that the sections are going to have to be rather wide for a ditch to fit 25mm slotta bases in them - should any Orcs feel the need to jump in...

Let me know if any of you has any brighter ideas!

The sections, by the way, are being made that short so they fit with the wall sections pictured earlier.

 And finally - quite chuffed with this one - is the mountain tarn. Plasticard base, milliput banks and stones out of the plant pots in the front garden! I was going to have a go at adding the water today with the EZ water effect pellets I've got, but chickened out in the end! You have to melt the pellets down and pour it in one go to avoid it setting and creating lines where you don't want them and, as this was a large area with a winding and shallow stream coming out of it, I thought I'd play it safe!

So I ordered a big bottle of woodland scenics realistic water from Antenocitis, which happily is discounted at the mo! I've heard it has its problems with shrinkage and the like, but the beauty of it is that it pours straight from the bottle and is a bit easier to control. Also saw a good vid on making ripples with it so may have a go at that too...

The time for battle draws nearer as the to-do list diminishes!

Jobs left -

finish fencing

add water effect to the tarn

dig the ditches

make a hedge

finish the pallisade

Take me to the River...

.... Drop me in the water...

Good tune that from Talking Heads and its been doing the rounds in my head all week, while I've been painting these river sections up!

Nice little set this from Magnetic Displays, although I may have overegged the amout of talus and other stuff as all that pva keeps distorting the rubber as it dries and doesn't let the piece sit totally flat on the table. Bit of bending here and there seems to have done the trick in flattening them out mostly...

Anyways - here's the piccies!

The river comprises of 2 curved and 2 straight sections

A bridge section -

... and a ford section.

Next - another water feature in the way of a shallow lake and boggy area...

You mean your only plan is to stand behind a few feet of mealie bags and wait for the attack?

Just put the finishing touches to the thin red line that is Brommedir's Bows and with that I have officially finished painting all the minis I need to play Bllodbath at Orc's Drift!

Sound the fanfare, beat the drum, cry Hallelujah and get busy with the fizzy - I'm done!!!

Of course there are a few recent acquisitions I'd pegged to replace some minis already painted up in various units cos I liked them better, and obviously I'll be painting up any of the other original character minis  if I can lay my hands on them before I get round to playing the scenarios - however as I am now in a position where I can play the damn thing this seemed as good a time as any to wrap the mini painting side of things up.

 

 

There are a few bits of terrain I need to get done yet - a lake, some more trees, bushes and fences, and a nice set of rubber river sections I picked up from the Magnetic Displays stand at Vapnartak earlier this year.

Should make a nice change from squinting down my brush at little lead men...

Oh nad mustn't forget the big group shot!

Gotta Kachas 'em all!

So - another unit done for Orc's Drift!

These five Skarloc's archers complete the garrison of Wodd Elves who guard the Kachas Pass in the name of the Grand League in the first scenario of the game.

And the obligatory group shot - and a little confession... which includes a bit of a spoiler for the first scenario so look away now if you don't want to know!

The Elves I have painted up here form the under-strength garrison guarding the pass - Erdolas has sent out a night patrol of 10 Elves and his Lieutenant Hendril Merl( as featured in one of my early games of Skulldred - http://teasgettingcold.blogspot.com/2010/06/road-to-merlinas.html) to investigate reports of an Orc warband in the area. According to the Elves command sheet the patrol is expected back in the morning - Turn 3.

However, the Vile Rune Tribe's command sheet tells a different story - they have met and slaughtered a 10 Elf patrol during the night and so Erdolas' reinforcements will never turn up!

This made me wonder whether or not I should bother painting up another 11 minis that will never get used - and being pushed for time I've decided not at the moment!

What is all the more surprising about this little twist in the tale is that there was a mini sold as Hendril Merl back in the day! I got hold of one a while back - its the same mini featured as the champion for Oreon's Wodd Elf Archers. The other slight problem is that he is a little diminutive compared to the Skarloc's Archers, so until I get round to making a higher base for him, Merl's ill-fated night patrol will probably remain off the table!

What's that coming over the hill...

Its only King Fyarr and the Orc tribes of the Northern Wastes off on the warpath! 

Apologies by the way for the blurriness in the centre of the pic - couldn't fit this lot into one decent photo so I had to dust off the cd that came with my fairly ancient camera and tinker round with stitching several shots together with the panorama feature - as you can see I'm a bit rusty!

Anyway, certainly feels good to have this little lot done and dusted and as most of them have been sat in the cabinet waiting for the stagglers to catch up I think I'll review the troops once more now I've got 'em out...

King Fy'arr and his Fy'arr Guard (arf, arf!) 

King Fyarr's old tribe, the Kwae Karr Orcs (30 warriors and 10 archers) - now led by his successor,  Magyar Ironfist (front left) and accompanied by the snivelling shaman, Bagrash (front right)

The Severed Hand Tribe (20 warriors and 10 archers), led by Hagar Sheol (front) and accompanied by Grashak Kra, his faithful Hobhound Handler and his 10 not so faithful Hobhounds

... and finally the Vile Rune Tribe ( 40 Orc warriors), led by Fangor Gripe (front centre), accompanied by Guthrum Mane the alcoholic Rock Giant (the big guy!) and shadowed by the weasly Half Orc spy Silas Meel (front left).

So on with the remainder of the elves - a few of the Wood Elves of Kachass Pass to do and the rest of Brommedir's Bows...

Finally got rune to finishing them off...

So that's it! All the Orcs are done now I've finished the last few members of the Vile Rune Tribe off. Its been an enjoyable - if fairly unproductive few weeks of holiday but I'm back in the swing of things now!

A few more spearmen -

... Savages - loads of fun to paint!

... and the command group - some of fave Orc minis here!

Especially these two!

Now for the big group shot of the three tribes together...

Gratuitous Vile-ence...

... is what these big fellas love most!

Another five ladz for the Vile Rune tribe and its looking like this unit is going to cover all sections of Orcish society - we've had the more traditional lot with the savages, foward thinkers with the armour and spears and now these Big'uns!

Pretty speedy paintjobs again and the shields are a bit rough but I'm on the final staight now - 11 more orcs (7 primed and ready for painting) and the rest of the elves to go...