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... 😈

Chaos sorcerer of Slaanesh

After recently dealing with the Slaanesh chariot, I decided to dig up another oldie from the collection — this time, a chariot carrying a Chaos Sorcerer! That means the army gets another 310 points ready for action.

I'm really glad I found a good use for this old Sorcerer miniature. I love models from that era of Warhammer, but honestly, this particular one is a real pain to fit between regular Chaos Warriors. On the other hand, it works perfectly as a chariot crew replacement!

As for the painting — I stuck to the same color scheme as before.
At first, I had the idea to make it much more "aggressive": using charging horses and splattering them with a bucket of blood, as if they just hit an enemy.
Unfortunately, I found only a tiny bit of Tamiya Clear Red left in the jar — so what you see is the best blood effect I could get.

Regarding the face, I didn't have a clear plan at first. The initial thought was to paint it either black or metallic (kind of a skull-shaped helmet), but since there were already so many metallic elements, I wanted something more striking.
I aimed for a "jade burial/ritual mask" look — after all, Chaos absorbs everything it touches!
From a distance, it looks cool enough, so it stays.

For practical reasons, I didn't glue the Sorcerer permanently to the chariot. Instead, I pinned him solidly — this way I can field him on foot if needed (for example, if I tweak the army list or the chariot gets destroyed). Hope Slaanesh appreciates this humble effort!

And here’s a quick scale shot:
The Chaos Sorcerer is about to brutalize an Ogre Mercenaries unit. As you can see, the base I used for the chariot is slightly larger than the original (10 × 8 cm), but thanks to that, the whole model looks much better — you can add lots of little details to make it tell a story.

Take care!

Ogre mercs - finished!

It's been a while but recently I simply have no steam for painting. I suppose it's because of that damn sun - it's so hot you can almost see steam over wet palette. Because of this I am even more happy I've managed to cross off another model from ye liste of shame. 

This one is special - ogre champion from Knightmare Games range, which was part of Oldhammer Weekend 2022 prize box. Not only the model is just super cool, with strong Middlehammer vibe, but it's also the last model my ogres were looking for to form full unit (you can see other guys here #1, here #2, here #3, here #4 and here #5).

I tried to keep color choice similar to rest of the squad so they all look coherent and keep Middlehammer spirit and must say I like the final result. My only regret is I paint so slow and there were other supercool models in the prize box still waiting for some attention (like hobgoblins or even more skeletons...).

As for the lil' undead-familiar it's ordinary skeleton from Rackham's Confrontation range. I found it together with recently painted wulfen zombie, and simply couldn't just put it back to the bucket. These minis are just way too cute! 🤗

That's it for now - hope Army of the Dead will use the mercs properly to spead death and destruction in the Old World!

Zombie dragon #2

A while back zombie dragon left the painting station but until now it had no master. Real life duties combined with some expected work to do and other crap prevented me from painting. But last week I've finally found some spare time to finish necromancer rider for rhe beast so I can start planning the next project.

As for the necromancer it's old, horse mounted model, which got it's legs swapped with wight lord. It also got banner pole top from old chaos marauder set so it could carry black-and-white banner (stolen theme thing of the Undead army).

As for color choice I tried to keep is as candy-color as possible so it fits Middlehammer era. Besides it contrasts really nicely with pale dragon and the banner behind. 

And here's the model accompanied by other units from Undead army project. Those banners looks just badass and I really don't mind it's not my idea! 😋 I am pretty sure I had some Black Tree Designs zombie horses staggering around - there should be enough models for small cavalry unit - which means another black-and-white banner coming!

Slaanesh Warriors army project

A while back I had a little chat with my buddy about old Warhammer Fantasy Battle (Middlehammer frankly). It was overall about supercool line of models back days but mostly about f#cked up rules, which in my opinion made the game simply discouraging (I totally forgot about it until Oldhammer Weekend 2022).

My buddy mentioned about 6th edition of WFB, which in his opinion totally changed the game, made it balanced and simple - made if fun. 

So because of this stupid talking I started checking if my oldschool Undead army could be adjusted to meet 6th edition requirements. Well it couldn't - I need too many models... 😒

Buuut after browsing contents of pile of shame and display cases if turned out I am like 1000 points ready to start Chaos army. Chaos warriors was my very first army ever - it was really small: 3 units and 3 characters only which were sold long time ago. Since half of the force is already under my command I thought maybe it's high time to do the job right and finally gather playable detachment. It's Chaos so it's relatively small therefore whole army could get one large display base a'la Jakob Rune Nielsen's ubercool Khorne Warriors army.

Here's what I have in mind. Normally I'd choose Nurgle but since I have daemon prince done and some demonettes and fiends of Slaanesh waiting for painting, there'll be Slaanesh army: chaos warriors led by daemon. Sounds just f#cking badass! 😈

No idea what is it's battlefield efficiency though - I put there models from the glass case because I like them and the general rule is: if you like the model it should see the battlefield! Slaanesh magic number is 6 so tried to make most units 6 (or it's multiple) - models strong. Hope to make some minor changes to make 6 or 12 models in warhounds unit.

Standard (Chaos) [1,999pts, 7 Casting Dice, 5 Dispel Dice]:

Heroes:

Exalted Daemon [365pts, 4 Casting Dice, 3 Dispel Dice]
Selections: General, Level 2
Profile: Exalted Demon
Hero of Slaanesh
Selections: Master of Mortals, Sporofic Musk

Exalted Champion of Chaos [210pts]
Selections: Gaze of the Gods, Hero of Slaanesh, Steed of Slaanesh, Sword of Might
Profile: Exalted Champion, Steed of Slaanesh, Weapon: Hand Weapon

Sorcerer of Chaos [190pts, 3 Casting Dice, 2 Dispel Dice]
Selections: Hero of Slaanesh, Level 2, Power Familiar
Profile: Sorcerer, Weapon: Hand Weapon

Core:

Knights of Chaos [345pts]
Selections: Champion, Chosen, 5x Knights of Chaos, Musician, Regiment of Slaanesh
Armour: Heavy Armour, Shield, Profile: Champion, Knight, Weapon: Hand Weapon
Standard Bearer
Selections: Rapturous Standard

Mounted Daemonettes [180pts]
Selections: 6x Daemonettes
Profile: Daemonettes, Mount of Slaanesh

Warriors of Chaos [265pts]
Selections: Champion, Musician, Regiment of Slaanesh, Shield, 11x Warriors of Chaos
Armour: Heavy Armour, Shield, Profile: Champion, Warrior, Weapon: Hand Weapon
Standard Bearer
Selections: Banner of Wrath
Special

Chaos Ogres [234pts]
Selections: 6x Chaos Ogre, Light Armour, Two Hand Weapons
Armour: Light Armour, Profile: Chaos Ogre, Weapon: Additional Hand weapon, Hand Weapon

Warhounds of Chaos [60pts]
Selections: 10x Warhound

Profile: Warhound

Rare:

Spawn of Chaos [75pts]
Selections: Fiend of Slaanesh
Profile: Spawn of Chaos

Spawn of Chaos [75pts]
Selections: Fiend of Slaanesh
Profile: Spawn of Chaos

And here's my painted ~640 gold coins worth Chaos force. There aren't too dark but Slaanesh like vivid colors. Some close ups of Daemon are here while ogres - in these posts. Surprisingly the unit hasn't got group shot yet... 

Hope to see any progress on the project soon... 🤘🏻

Undead army - current state

Oldhammer Weekend Poland 2022 project is nearly done - just a few characters left to be painted and replaced. Among them there is a wraith champion. 
I really like those floating housecoats, but I have dilemma about choosing color scheme:
should it be 90's color combo or maybe ghostly-white - for strong contrast with the army.

I posted short poll on Middlehammer FB group to help me make that crucial decision and I was asked to show the rest of the army to make voting easier. So here it is.

I have no idea how to take decent pics of such size - I think large backdrop sure would be helpful. But photos give overall impression what is under command of my Lords of the Dead. There's still a lot to be painted to finish WHOLE army: 

cavalry, another screaming skull catapult, metal skellies, more zombies, wights, wraiths, wight lord on wyvern, Dieter Helsnicht on manticore and more characters... 😨

Lots of fun for long winter evenings 🧛‍♂️

More self-propelled bandages

The Undead army project seems to be still ON 💀
Which is great because I wasn't sure I am able to continue any big hobby thing after getting Bolt Action US army done. I already have all required characters so I am now trying to bring on rank-and-file troops.

Last month the first group of mummies has left the pyramid, so the time has come to provide them some company. Just like before I had lots of fun painting these although it took me too much time getting them finished then is should have. I guess real-life has something to do with it. Which is another reason I like it less and less 😒

Ok, no more babbling in this post - the blog is hungry and some desert yellos stuff is nice change in menu after olive green every second update (at least...). I should also start assembling tkeletons. Cannot wait to see whole army of the dead ready to go! 💀💀💀

I sooo badly need fantasy themed backdrop... 😖