Skeleton warriors (Highland Miniatures)

Painting skellies is kinda like knitting:

you get pissed - you paint some bones - you get better.

Too bad I didn't realize it bit earlier, but apparently better late then never.

Anyway last week I excavated another part of spoils of war looted during Oldhammer Weekend 2022: skeleton warriors unit from highland Miniatures range. Models look pretty cool: poses are different, proportions are correct - these guys definitely fit Warhammer range. There's one flaw though: since these are printed, they are also really fragile (those thin limbs and spears especially!). So fragile, several models arrived broken and it's even despite the fact they were pretty well packed. So yeah, if I could choose - purely of gaming purposes I'd pick plastic models instead of printed. Luckly I still had some spare limbs left by the previous boneheads unit, which added bit more vatiety to the freshly dug out death squad.

I have only 15 models from this line so I think these will be just support squad for the main unit or screaming skull catapult / second class character bodyguards. Of course - that is only in my head, because don't think there's even slighiest shade of chance these will move an inch after I put them in the display case hibernation chamber 😵

So here they are - corpses in the park. I think I've managed to adjust lighting a bit so photos turned out really decent:

And some scale shot: restless skeletons are defending city park against Dusk Realm Demon:

And here - skeletons supported by Mr Carstein himself and converted battle standard bearer are trying to convince chaos lord of Slaanesh city park and fresh grass is no place for heavy barded ponies:

Bloodthirster / Daemon prince

Actually I was hoping to paint something slightly different but it's hard to drop Warhammer Fantasy habit when it hits back... 🥴 Slaanesh warriors army has been finished but there was one more oldie daemon model dug deep under the pile of shame which could be used as alternative genral: Khorne's Bloodthirster.

It's really old model and I got it somewhere during high school era - which was really long time ago. Since that time I tried to paint it several times - with no success. Since that time model also got it's original whip-hand broken and then lost. In fact I was more then lucky I found spare hand in bits box which could be used on this model...

As for painting I was hoping for more reddish tone but Vallejo reds I have are more rapsberry then red - no idea why. In fact I had other bottle of red ink which was red as fu#c but this one is just damn rapsberry... On the other hand that's not much of loss because apparently it's the only model from under Khorne banner, so decision was made to paint it as Chaos Undivided creature or maybe even Slaanesh style to fit Warriors army.

I am really glad I've FINALLY crossed this one off the list. It was way too cool piece of Oldhammer history to be left in the bucket-of-shame-purgatory. So here are the pics.

First - one of the most epic duels possible back in 4th /5th edition: mighty Bloodthirster facing Lord of the Dead - Nagash! These were days there single models were pure metal and pretty small compared to modern (stupid as fu#k 🙄 ) standards...

And below - Bloodthirster and Dusk Real Demon in deadly struggle with Daemon Prince of Slaanesh:

And some solo pics:

Gotta check if there are any more old farts on the bottom of bucket of shame worthy rescue...

Take care!

Warhammer The Old World - battle report

Well, kinda... 🙄

After 3-years long break from Warhammer (and before that there was like 10-15 years gap...) I finally got opportunity to take Chaos warriors army for a walk through Empire's north lands. To my surprise instead of hordes of defenceless peasants I found angry mob of Undivided Chaos warriors - also looking for easy prey...

All in all both lords decided to discuss differences between gods of Chaos and their views on the manking. Strength of arguments was supported by enchanted blades, charging cavalry and and savage beasts fighting alongside Chaos warriors. Result of the debate was almost perfect draw: 940 : 900 for the guests, which is pretty amazing since I haven't read rules 😊

I was hoping to make nice battle report but the flying reporter managed to paint only single war-picture while circling the battlefield on wyvern's back (above) so having only limited resources the report isn't something as epic as Slaanesh would appreciate.

The game was 2000 points battle, no magic items used. The reason for this was it was my very first Warhammer The Old World game, so it was just casual game with some beers around instead of regular match or some sort of powergaming bullcrap.

So here're some piccies:

First epic clash of claws and paws: Chaos poochers vs Chaos poochers:

During the game I recalled why I quit Warhammer ages ago. The rules changed (surely for better) but whole logistics and army transporting is still just pain in the ass - especially if compared to Bolt Action. Game is definitely more balanced then editions I played before but again - it's not much compared to BA. Apparently skirmish games work better for me... 🤔 

Apart from that bitching is was nice to see models on battlefield instead of just in display case (staring on my back while I work). Watching these toys fighting in the name of Dark Gods reminded me what got me into wargaming ages ago. Despite all flaws the game has and Games Workshop's attitude, Warhammer Fantasy world is just cool. 

And the game was opportunity to meet old buddy who is actually regular Warhammer battle player, master of rules and armybooks and it was his idea to confront army of Slaanesh against horde of Undivided Chaos. Thank you for the meering, Dr Satan - hope for re-match anytime soon.... 😈

Slaanesh Chaos army - finished 🤘🏻

It is done!

The army is painted so it is time to sum up the Chaos army project. It took longer then I expected (no surprise with avarege painting ratio ~4 models per month...) but Slaanesh has finally brought his army to the Empire of men. It was nice to dig out and made use of some oldies from the very bottom of the Bucket of Shame.  

Surely I don't have enought models for another force like that but while looking for proper Warriors models I found some oldies from WH 40.000 range, so I actually might try to assemble some oldschool styled combat patrol. That is as long as it's not purple... 🤢

I've always loved that themed army pics from old White Dwarf zines and army books: wide pictures with painted background etc. It's impossible to take such pic on painting desk that's why especially for this project I brought the toys to gaming bunker and prepared more-less natural backdrop for army-size photos. As for the very first time - turned out pretty fine. 

So here they are - already raging through the Empire:

And some close ups with links for detailed pictures: Daemon Prince, Dragon Ogres and trecheous Ogre mercenaries (those back-stabbing bastards were serving Undead Lord during Oldhammer 2022 campaign):

And here - warhounds, exalted champion on Slaanesh steed and some Chaos warriors: 

Below - some more Chaos warriors and Chaos knights:

Pair of Chaos spawns / fiends of Slaanesh and the chariots (one of the led by sorcerer):

Heavy hitters once again:

More Chaos infantry:

And the backdrop - apparently there was perfect weather in Empire for the raid... 😈

Zee Germanz!!! (+ zee zombie dragon)

Heyah,

Once again I've managed to slap some paint on toy soliders, this time it German tank destroyer: Jagdpanzer 38(t) a.k.a. Hetzer.
It's special piece because this sneaky bastard it birthday gift for my brother - painting that is, the model itself arrived a while back.
Anyway I wanted to paint it so the color fits brother's Heer infantry. Most of official patterns I found in the webspace is fancy camo but I went into something similar to german uniform / feldgrau (based on mix of olive and greys).
Everything was more-less fine until I started adding chipping and mud. All in all now it looks almost like my US vehicles. Next time I think I'll give a try to pure grey as base tone, maybe with nazi flag laying on armour for contrast. Plenty of time for planning 'till the next birthday.

Hope you like it:

 

Because my short "holiday" is over so I decided to get remaining 4 models painted, to get basic US army detachment fully painted. 

Sure, there's still plenty work ahead, but it's just basic ~1000-1200 pts.

Remaining models are 3 Black Tree Design riflemen and West Wind Productions BAR operator. They are all cool: models are more-less same size as my fav Artizan pieces so they all look great as crowd / squad. Besides my infantry constantly remains 100% metal =]

Painting is nothing spectacular: the same color palette as before to keep whole infantry coherent. Backpacks and ammo belts of the shooters were painted with VGC camouflage green, which nicely fits olive uniforms. 

If I find more models with backpacks I hope to build 8-men strong engineer squad: 2x BAR and flamethrower in a single unit sounds just sweet! (and smells gasoline + burnt flesh...).

Field "hospital" in the back (or rather camouflaged ammo storage as my opponent claims...) is adopted spare piece from Rubikon Models US truck I got recently. I was hoping to get more striking colors using chalks, but all in all it didn't turn out as planned. 

Red Cross is another experiment - more successful this time. I wanted it look like soliders painted it in the field, so I prepared simple stencil and used sponge for applying thick layer paint. Some unpainted areas were left on purpose so whole thing looks more realistic (hopefully...). I also hope to paint some camo on next tank (Sherman 76mm or Chaffee) using sponge. Results might be interesting.

And last thing 'bout BA this time: since the last post we've also managed to play some Bolt Action games - improving the matches a bit. 

First improvement is aerial recon. General idea is:

battlefield is set up at least few days before the game and players can find in mail boxes (mail, not e-mail!) photo of the field so the best forces can be chosen. Usually some partisans gets killed to provide such materials for the commanding officers:

Nice, eh?  And below - the actual battlefield.

All in all it's not much effort but lots of fun getting true letter these (modern) days.

Another upgrade is grass: 

until now we played of simple board painted green but last week proper gaming mat was found and suddenly everything looks WAY better. Kinda brings back memories of Warhammer Fantasy Battle 5th ed. reports. Almost pro.

All I have to do now is somehow force the opponents to paint their minis. Or at least spray undercoat, so the battle photos don't look like US army faces bunch of T-1000...

And last but not least: Photobucket recovery series.

This time I'm bringing oldie Zombie Dragon painted on February 2014. 

The model is quite old and for me it's still one of fav miniatures from Warhammer Undead army. I think I should give it new pictures next time I get it cleaned. 

And maybe finally assemble Dieter Helsnicht...

Since we're around Oldhammer - recently I found oldie chaos champion model in the back of glass case. Sadly I have no use for it so decision was made to find new home for the piece.

If you think it might feel better in your place - let me know (here or via FB), for gaming purposes I can remove the plinth and replace it with standard base.
Some more pics in the proper Facebook Oldhammer Trading Post thread.

Till the next time!