Jaakko and Slargash - Rank & File #2

On the surface everyhing seemed to go better than Slargash dared to hope. Still, deep inside he couldn't help but be a bit worried. Rumours of the painting frenzy had spread wide and far and every neighbourhood thug and wannabe monster seemed to want to join his  warband in hope for being painted. He feared that the momentum wouldn't last till his own turn. "Luckily most of them seem quite useful and that giant is certainly a keeper" Slargash thought. Yet, how the same thing can at the same time be the most incredibly stoic figure and constantly pick a fight never ceased to baffle him: "Well, I guess it's the Jungian thing - the duality of ettin."

Hroom, hm, oh hello! Another month has passed and February - aka the feared shortest month of them all - is about to be wrapped. Things are rolling quite nicely at the moment and painting has felt good. Well, even too good at times as I'm writing this after an allnighter painting minotaurs. And the photo is not of me this morning - more of that guy later.

These nine minotaurs - an embodiment of bestial brutality - rejoice at the prospect of fresh gore.

I had thought this month was mainly about the minotaurs, but I spent the better part of it painting thugs and an unexpected two headed giant who is looking for a fight in exchange for coin. He is one of the reasons that gave me the final momentum to collect this army. I wanted to build one that can have giants.

The second thug from left sold me this unit. I need another set to have one with a round shield though...

 

 

A few additions to the thug-unit I started last month

 

The leader of a giant mercenary band gathering steam due to the absence of a baggage

Lord Duherst - the master butcher

Ox-roar - chaos champion of ultimate slaughter

 

Definitely not in the proper order, but don't mind if I do

 

 

What?! no slogan...

This month in points:

- 9 minotaurs: 360 points

- 4 thugs including a banner: 40 points

- 6 thug horse with a banner and musician: 128 points

- 1 giant mercenary 250 points

= 778 points, 20 models

Total so far 1249 points, 43 models

Let's see what the next month brings us!

Frank's: The Great Work - A Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh, Slaves to Darkness Style, "Leaders", February 2023

Welcome back friends, the great work continues...

With the good start on lesser daemons behind me in January, this month I undertook to paint the leaders of the Slaaneshi legion. Standing apart from the lesser daemons, both in terms of raw power and for having once been a mere mortal is my daemon prince, Thrustcraze, "the Insatiable". He began as a Minotaur Champion of Slaanesh and a Minotaur Lord model but has undergone some additions on his way to a place in this legion. I dig this particular model because it has a lot of little odd-ball mutations which don't matter in game but add a lot of color to the fig. The extra-long limbs, one mechanical foreleg, and numerous little tumors and piercings all make him far more chaotic than the typical citadel minotaur model. My model has had an appropriately sized Slaaneshi daemon weapon and a large hoplite style shield added as his primary weapons. The model for the blade came from a lovely Slaaneshi Champion's halberd, which on the much larger minotaur lord makes a snazzy gladius style blade. The shield came from my bits box. I suspect it was from a Hasslefree model, but I am not sure now. It has waited in the tray a few years at least. In order for him to look the part of a daemon prince he needed some wings. For those I hunted down a Slaves to Darkness era Bloodthirster, and attached them to his hunchback. That Bloodthirster's whip was also used on my next model for leader month and will turn up in this post shortly. I wanted to paint him in style with the rest of the legion, so yellow on his studded jockstrap and armored plates was the way forward. A pastel purple, not quite lavender, on the hide contrasted the yellow nicely. Here he is in all his glory...

From Thrustcraze I moved on to the actual lords of the Legion. A triumvirate of Keepers of Secrets make up the command group of my Slaaneshi Legion. The Keeper of Secrets was, and remains, a pretty complex model to assemble and has given more than a few hobbyists fits over the ages. The trick is to plan in advance and start from the ground up, and don't be shy about green stuff filling the inevitable gaps on the back and armpits. The model Games Workshop released to go with Slaves to Darkness publication had a fair number of parts to allow for some differentiation in greater daemon models. As you can see from this old catalog page, there were half a dozen different heads and then a couple poses each of the legs and various arms. 

I have always found a couple of the heads quite off-putting and out of theme. Namely the skulls, they just feel out of place. Also, there is the head with the eye-patch. the idea that the daemon cannot fix or otherwise replace a missing eye just seems laughable to me. Plus, it looks like he wants to be part of 'talk-like-a-pirate-day". No worries though, there are still three other heads I love. There are essentially two complete sets of parts besides heads. When I started resurrecting this project back in 2020, two felt like enough and I simply hunted down the parts and split the available posing options between two Keepers of Secrets. here is the result of that effort.

I gave the green one some maces on chains as weapons, and his pink comrade bears a legendary Rod of Command. Fasioned from the bones of a fallen Bloodthirster, one is presented to each Legion by the hand of Slaanesh, 'themself'. My Rod of Command was made from the 1980s Daemonette Chaos Familiar and a Mantic plastic imp as the other end. I was happy with these two in 2020, but now I felt they weren't quite 'fabulous' enough, and besides I really wanted a third Keeper for the Legion. A make-over was called for...

The first of my triad is Flexfondle, "the Desecrator". In order to get different upper arms for each Keeper, some heavy conversion work was required. Oddly neither set of produced Keeper upper arms have matching claws. There are, in fact, three different sorts of claws. You can see where this is going...more surgery. Flexfondle got a matching armored claw, and both were repainted yellow. His pose on the base also required his legs to be tweaked slightly, as that version of the Keeper model's legs makes the model lean back in such a way that looks 'ok' from the front, but is clearly about to fall over if viewed from any other angle. Lastly, his boots were also repainted yellow and now he looks his part as the Legion's General.

My second Keeper is the Legion's Champion, Slakespasm, "the Despoiler". He has also had a claw replaced with a twin of his original making his pose decidedly one challenging any foe. I also chopped up two Slaaneshi beastmen and two Champions for their snazzy Slaanesh-symbol mace-heads. These now form the flail ends of his chains. 

The Legion's third Keeper of Secrets is entirely new. Meet Nibblequake, "the Defiler", who serves as the Legion's Battle Standard Bearer. He has undergone extensive conversions. The bannerpole was made from a pair of plastic standards and its topper from the 'modern' daemonette plastic kit. The banner itself is John Blanche's iconic depiction of the Dark Prince, themself. I mean, what else could go on the banner of His legion? In addition, both his lower arms had to be recut and reposed to allow him to hold the banner upright and to brandish his whip, taken from that Bloodthirster model who gave up the wings for Thrustcraze. Then his upper claw was cut and replaced with a matching claw. Once again his legs had to adjusted to make him stand upright and not lean back, just like Flexfondle. Lastly, his head had to actaully rest on top of his neck joint rather than set into it as normal. This was needed because otherwise he would be peaking out from behind the banner.

While this project was undertaken out of love for the GW's original vision of Slaanesh in Warhammer, I always aim to make use of my models in as many systems as possible. Therefore, I am basing my models on circle bases appropriate for Warhammer 40,000 Rogue trader. These circular bases fit into square inserts that let these same models function properly in the older editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. 

I even went further to make sure that today's Warhammer players can also experience the real Slaanesh as the Lord of Pleasure, rather than the marketing friendly 'god of excess' seen today. Slaanesh was originally conceived as the chaos god of "sex, drugs, and rock and roll", not an impotent chained-up god of "perfection and obsession" as he is depicted today. To this end, I have made base inserts for these models to allow them to play comfortably in modern Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000. These base inserts are so large that they needed appropriate filler to keep them from being just flocked compact discs. The trapped spirits of Slaaneshi followers (mostly elves) and a coven of Slaaneshi cultists provide mini dioramas here. When inspiration strikes me, I will make a third insert for the last Keeper of Secrets.

That is me 'done' for February. Discounting the two 'made-over' Keepers of Secrets I had initially finished in 2020, I have added another pair of 'large' models to this growing OWAC VI project, putting the (adjusted) score at 32 models to date. Although the Keepers of Secrets serve for 'free' in a Daemonic Legion, the Overlord has graciously indicated that the points value for these still count to the running total. At 900 points apiece, the point total to date now stands at 3,550 points. Till next month, the Great Work continues...

John Bentley's February Dwarf Host (leader month) - Bugman

The man himself Bugman  

coming in behind the warriors 

Ratwig's February OWAC VI WAB Romano-British Rank and File Entry: Fflamddwn's Saxon Mercenaries, (298 points)

 This month's entry is a twenty four man Saxon Mercenary unit. These are a bit better fighters than the first entry, but they suffer from being impetuous. They are equipped with hand weapon, javelins, throwing spear (+1) and Saxon buckler. Full command of leader, standard bearer and musician are included for a total of 176 points. The whole lot is commanded by Atheling Fflamddwn who has the "Fearsome Blow" character advantage for a total of 122 points. They come in at 298 points total for this submission.

This is the bunch to send in when you want to break things and you don't want your troops to get banged up.

The miniatures are by Gripping Beast and Footsore. Spears and javelins are brass rod, cut to length, pounded flat on the end, filed to spear head shape and glued in place. The unit standard is a GB top with a brass rod pole.

Glad these are done as I have a lot of prep work to do to get next month's entry ready for paint.

But for now it's Jack time!

Ratwig out!

Byron's Quest #5 Melar's Maze - February Rank and File (578 points)

 "Long Ago, a powerful wizard by the name of Melar created a Talisman of Lore which would enhance the wearer's understanding of magic. It is rumored that Melar hid the Talisman in an Underground laboratory at the heart of his maze, fearing it might be stolen by the evil minions of Zargon. As you search for the Talisman, beware of many traps and deadly monsters." Come along, as we travel deeper into the world of HeroQuest and tackle some rank and file minis.

Our heroes find themselves undaunted (and still unpainted) entering Quest 5, Melar's Maze, only to find 3 Orcs baring the door. 

The nasty orcs are no match for our four brave heroes!

Following the brief scuffle with the Orcs,
the party bravely walks by an eerily still gargoyle.
I mean, yes he's made of stone but still,
they were expecting some Zargon shenanigans.
The wizard's not packing a healing spell for nothing.

   

Moving on, the heroes find skeletons
and a devious floor trap of Zargon', nothing they can't handle.
 They also spy a treasure chest guarded by two of the skellies.
Our heroes rush in, hoping to find some paint hidden away inside.  

Finding no paint in the chest,
the heroes continue their journey through the maze of Melar.
A lone zombie shuffles down the hall while bravely the wizard looks on,
probably wondering how he became the front of the party. 

A lone zombie hides in the closet,
has Zargon hidden the paint in here? 

A skeleton hides just around the corner, the barbarian
 is ready to meet scythe with steel

A slow shuffler in a long hall. The elf readies himself 
to ensure that another mummy will bite the dust.  

"Hey," shouts the barbarian, "I'm gonna get you too"
And another mummy bites the dust.

Finally, the heroes have worked their way to the laboratory
 of Melar and must fight the undead to win the Talisman of Lore.
It's just another day in the life of a hero of Mentor. 
   

To full the needs of this quest, I painted:

3 orcs
6 Skeletons
1 Gargoyle
4 Zombies
3 Mummies

But, since there's only 6 months in OWAC and 14 HeroQuest adventures, I need to paint more minis than the quest required. This month I've also painted:

2 Chaos Warriors
6 Fimir
1 Skeleton

This brings my total to 578 points for the month.

And, finally, photos of the entire project thus far

The army so far featured on their custom-backed bookshelf. Maybe the only
time you'll see heroes looking like something other than red plastic. 

Mummies, Chaos Warriors, and Fimir

                                                     

Not just one, but TWO, Gargoyles

                                               

Zombies and skellies

                                              . 

That's all for this month, next month I'm thinking of doing Quest 9, the Race Against Time, with the kids and writing the blog post up like a battle report. 

Tom's Sisters of Battle: Month Two - Troopers (280points)

Now that I have settled in a bit with the painting, there are a couple of changes that have happened with the colour scheme. The main Things being that:

 

• the red is very slightly brighter. It's definitely noticeable side by side, but not so much if the model is separate from the unit. I think this is due to cutting out some steps in the drybrushing layers
• the weapon casings are dark green, rather than the red I painted on Canoness Veridyan
• pouches are dark blue
• lower cables are purple - to add a bit more colour 
• upper cables are dark blue (so the face is more the focus of the top half)
• white cheques on the right shoulder, below a black fleur-de-lys. Added these as a homage to those old cheques I remember seeing on some RT marines. Also the extra freehand is also inspired by Benamon - CopperOracle - Tame's wonderful Fire Hawks army from last years OWAC
• hazard striping on the left calf, to break up all that red
• black flames on the right shin, breaking up the red and adding some lower interest
• energy weapon coils are turquoise - the colour seemed to fit

All this is great, as painting has now become a little quicker, and it far less draining as the colour choices have now all been pretty much made. If I struggle to start a model, at least I have a "mechanical safety net" of being able to switch off and paint what colours I know, and then  other colour choices much later in the painting process. A tactic I developed last year with the Ork  g r i n d .

My paint station now has a few models all in various stages of paint. (Although I always try to keep the maximum number of 'begun' models to around 7 or 8, otherwise I find feelings of being overwhelmed creeping in). I tend to paint three models to a certain stage - maybe up to doing the metals, and all the base colours on, then focus more on one model. When there's a point where that one model needs a little longer drying time, I might start on the bases for the next three and do all the white undercoat. Maybe I accidently splurge out a larger quantity of paint, so the only option is to try and use it up on the other models too. You know how it goes!

Here's roughly how the paint falls on a model anyhow:

Spray black all over, then spray white just on top from 45 degrees

You can see how this looks in the Intro post

Apologies in advance for these following photos, snapped quickly in amongst the paint and spatters.

First colour is Army Painter Pure Red spray all over. Truth be told I think I was a little heavy handed with this application... I sprayed all the Sisters in one day, outside, balancing them on a metal ruler. Usually I would pop a magnet in the bas, which helps immeasurably with this, but for some reason or other I've not done it this year.👇

goblinpaladin's Necromunda - a February Rank & File update (Pit Slaves & Terrain)

  "You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men!"

    -  The Barber, The Great Dictator

the power of bullying

So, I had finished this month's gang very early in February so that I could build a healthy buffer for March and April. The number of models I have planned for the next few gangs is pretty considerable, after all. But then some friends of mine started bullying me about painting lots of models for ten thousand different projects but not any of the terrain I kept talking about. Well... it turns out that bullying can work sometimes. Don't tell HR.

This gang is part of my vaguely Logan's World/Hellreach desert setting, so the terrain can count toward this month as well.

we will never be enslaved again

So, first up: A second gang of outlanders ready to fight the power! Helreach United Miners, Fabricators, Haulers Local Θ-26/20.

MODEL LIST

Pit Slave Chief: mace (hammer), chainsaw, shotgun, frag grenades (225 creds) 

Techno: plasma gun (160 creds)

Pit Slave: plasma pistol, buzz saw (110 creds)

Pit Slave: plasma pistol, hammer (105 creds)

Pit Slave: bolt pistol, chainsaw (105 creds)

Pit Slave: bolt pistol, claw (95 creds)

Pit Slave: laspistol, shears (90 creds)

Pit Slave: laspistol, claw (90 creds)

Pit Slave: autopistol, hammer (95 creds)

Pit Slave: stub gun, rock drill (85 creds) 

TOTAL: 1,160 credits 

Only a small gang, I know, but I don't feel guilty any more, with all those terrain pieces! These guys had a clear scheme in my mind, which definitely helped for speed. I was able to get through them fast even though I experimented with a variety of skin tones.

Pit Slaves with plasma pistols

A later sculpt, dating from around the time the gang rules came out in White Dwarf 224, he provides a bit of extra kick with the plasma pistol. I didn't want to make them both token Black guys, so I gave one Caucasian skin tones and dyed-green dreadlocks. We've all met that guy.

Pit Slaves with bolt pistols

The Black skin tones on this fellow and the one above are from this random tutorial I found, if you're wondering. Both Caucasian fellows were done with the boring old Rakarth Flesh > Reikland Fleshade > highlights. Boring but easy!

wow this photo sucks. sorry.

Pit Slaves with laspistols

Mr Snips was painted using Mengel Miniatures's 'Medium Skin' tutorial. Not thrilled with it, but it's fine. The chap with the claw was base coloured with the Guilliman Flesh contrast over white, then highlighted normally. Gave him pink hair because pink hair rules.

Pit Slave with stub gun & Pit Slave with autopistol

The man with the drill (not that one) was painted with this tutorial from Tale of Painters, but really, most of these techniques are quite similar at my skill level. The chap with the hammer was painted with a 'ruddy skin' technique from Pinman again, although my version turned out a lot browner than expected (which is cool).

Pit Slave Techno

Love the Techno sculpt. Again, part of the soft reboot for the White Dwarf 224 gang. #224 was one of my first White Dwarfs (my collection was apparently burgled from my father's house in the mid-2010s) so I've been wanting to paint one for a long time. I tried out the Mengel Miniatures 'pale skin' from that same Instagram tutorial.

he does look like he listens to techno

Regrettably, my copy had a badly damaged shoulder. I mangled some green stuff to rebuild it, but my sculpting skills are limited to horrible blurry Nurgle monsters, so it doesn't look quite right. I like to think it looks like he has an artificial shoulder with plasticised skin covering it. I considered adding some metal chips to look like it's wearing away, but decided against it.

Pit Slave Chief

Unlike the Techno I've never really liked the Chief sculpt. I love the minimal amount of flesh left to him and the design of his robot arm, but I don't like the blank helm or the silly top knot. (Don't get me wrong: I love silly top knots; it's just out of place here).

I had planned to freehand a skull on the helmet. When I mentioned this to some friends of mine, one very correctly insisted that I should make it a hazard stripe skull. Brilliant. It reinforces the industrial hell themes, it adds colour, it draws the eye back to the face. How'd I do?

The Chief's skin is painted the same bloodless pale technique from Wilhelm that I used on the Skavvies last month, although it came up a bit warmer here. Might not have thinned the final glaze enough, but it still makes him look drained and corpse-like. Perfect for a creature now far more steel than man.

These were a cracking set of miniatures to paint. The wear-and-tear on their weapons made me sometimes feel like I was doing two-sculpts-for-one-result, but I'm sure that when I get to the mutie cavalry I'll remember what that is actually like and never complain again.

scrap piles, scrap barricades, and a shop sign

A reasonable pile of scatter terrain, I think:

MODEL LIST

7 x junk piles, one in 4 parts (Crooked Dice)

3 x sheet metal barricades (Crooked Dice)

Sign (Crooked Dice)

These are all from Crooked Dice, part of their excellent post-apocalyptic range. Just scatter terrain to add a ramshackle or post-apocalyptic sense to an urban environment or some sort of scrap mining region in, say, Gorkamorka. Could probably be used to give a sense of a hasty defence for pirates or victims of Imperial over-reach in larger games.

I tried to ground these a little in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. For instance, this pile includes a discarded safe made of unpainted ceramite; it's stronger than steel.

Another piece with a tiny bit of 40K-ness added, with a Roman numeral transfer. Technically it's from some ancient Ultramarines sheet, but I don't think this piece looks like it comes from the Astartes!

Some of these photos are blurry, but you get the idea.

These were so fun and relaxing to paint. Just chucked on Andor and let myself feel the flow of rustin' up some metal and getting different shades of steel. (Shades of Steel is a good band name.)

The bottom sign has 'No Creds. Barter. Or Cash', but then I overweathered the damn thing and you can only read it at certain angles. Similarly, the H20 was painted orange to contrast with the blue, forgetting that orange paint and orange rust look real similar. Still works, though.

Well, this has been a surprisingly productive month. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a job application that I've been meaning to write all week.

Cover to Inferno! No. 8, Sep 1998
Artist: Karl Kopinski. © Games Workshop, 1998

Coming up for March: The House of Escher. Probably. I'm getting sick of yellow...