I'm a Bloody DAD!

 

Baby James was born on the 7th of March 2014. He is already a fat little cutey. The funny thing is with all my crazy late nights I've actually got some more painting done than usual.

 However this may not last as the other night a wall socket started singing to me complete with a smiling face. Time for sleep I think.

Painting Again!!!

Arrrr Feels good!

 Although my life is pretty hectic I feel so much better for having a few days of painting. I think I will try to fit some in no matter how busy things get.

 I think It's good for the soul.

Fun with Orcs!

 Well I have found some time to paint again and wasted no time in bashing out some Orc filth.

These Orcs were painted very quickly using a black wash over simple dark colours. The highlights were kept to a minimum as I wanted the Orc host to look like a black shadow going across the land. Being heavily influenced by the recent LOTR films, I kept the colour palette very dark, almost black.

 

The armour was washed with a black and then a brown to give it a rusty look, metal highlights were then drybrushed lightly on top.

 

 These Magic Metal miniatures mix in well with all my old Citadel figures and help bulk out the numbers. What's that Asgard Dwarf doing there?

Eye eye...

I like the idea of Orcs being a complete rabble so I intend to mix up loads of different figure makes on the bases. I really enjoyed painting these guys and they were so easy compared to the Dwarves. One wash of black and they're done, move on to the next.

Thorin Oakenshield and Company

 The mighty Dwarf, Thorin Oakenshield leads his band of hardy adventurers to the Lonely mountain. The Thorin figure is an old Citadel miniature from their Lord Of The Rings range way back in 1985 (I think). The other Dwarves were chosen from other old Citadel figures and some from the Alternative Armies range. I do like the Alternative Armies Dwarves and they fit very well beside the old Citadel ones.

 Balin with his red hood and long white beard was a must for the adventure party and this old figure just fitted the bill. I think these old mini's are from the Citadel, Fantasy Tribes range way back in 1984. They are my favourite Dwarves I think and have buckets of character in them. I prefer them to the modern huge proportioned figures of more recent times.

 

 Dwalin in green, I gave him a warhammer party because of the recent hobbit film and the troll sequence. The figure is from Alternative Armies, as is the horn blower. After doing lots of research I found that Thorin rushes down into the Battle Of The Five Armies with the sound of a trumpet blast, well after reading that I had to include one on the base.

 

 Painting is stopped as two Black riders stop by to sniff around for somewhere called the Shire...search me.

 

The base for the Dwarves is 60mm x 60mm. This is in keeping with HotT. I plan to base up all of these LOTR themed figures with a 60mm front so that I can use them for other rule sets as well as HotT. I still want to give HotT a go once the armies are ready, but I also love big units and battles and so might try to convert Hail Caesar or Clash of Empires to play a Fantasy game.

Mordor Shield Designs

 Here are some Mordor orc shields and banners I have collected over the last few weeks in preparation of my Mordor army.

 Some of them are lifted straight from the Internet and taken from books and films, however most of them have been made up in true orcy fashion. I wanted them to be simple to paint at 28mm but also I didn't think orcs would spend much time with their artistic abilities.

So the more simple ones will adorn the Snaga and grunts of the warbands, while the more intricate designs are set aside for officers and persons of higher rank.

 

One of my goals is to refight the Battle of the five armies with Bolg and his heavy armoured bodyguard and hordes of orcs and goblins. Mount Gundabad is their home so I've decided to incorporate it into their shield designs. Mount Gundabad is a huge mountain at the end of the Misty mountain range, It has three peaks. I worked up some ideas using the three peaks as a general theme, some incorporate the eye of Sauron.

 I hope these come in handy for anyone creating a Middle Earth army, I know I had a lot of fun drawing them up.

 

 

 

 

Armoured Dwarf

 

 

 

Painting Night

Painty Time!

Now the new house is getting sorted and most of the decorating has been done, I can finally start to turn my mind to the painting of the figure variety. The last few months have been quite frustrating for me as I have been so busy with the house and work. I still read other gamers Blogs daily and even sit through countless painting films on YouTube getting my painting fix wherever I can.

One of the reasons I have missed it so much Is I have started to realize just how important painting is for me to relax and unwind after a working day.
My job is one of creating loads of stories for books and short films which means I have real problems shutting off and relaxing when I get home, my mind is always working overtime on ideas. Painting allows me to concentrate on just one thing and a really simple thing at that. What colour to use on a certain jacket or belt is a great way to focus my mind and this helps to shut everything else out. You also get the added satisfaction of seeing pieces finished and watching the collection grow. All in all, painting is very rewarding and I have started to really miss it.

My only problem is I've been away for so long I'm not sure where to start. I am still caught in a fantasy frame of mind and so might have a go at finishing my Dwarf army for HotT. I just love those old Eighties miniatures. Anyway, enough preaching to the converted, hopefully see you soon with another batch of angry Dwarves.

Secundus.

Thorgrim Ironbreaker

The mighty Dwarf prepares himself for another adventure...

Thorgrim vs Gothbag

 The final showdown between heroes, round and round they went. Thorgrim down a wound and a fresh Gothbag determined to claim another trophy head for his collection.

 One swift stroke cuts Gothbag's legs from under him and the great orc goes down.

 Thorgrim continues his search for death after killing 37 gobliniods of varying strengths.

 Eagle's eye view of the valley.

The score sheet. The ones in pencil are the new ones added when I realised It might take a few more Goblins than first thought.

 Surprising, I haven't played the game for many years but I thought he would kill around fifteen or so before being hacked down. I have a feeling he could of gone on all night as I was getting some really bad dice rolls for my part. A great laugh though and some very old memories, I think we will be seeing more of Thorgrim in the future.

Thorgrim's Eighties Adventure

 After hacking his way through fifteen Goblins, Thorgrim looks around to see another war band running his way. My friend joked that I was sneaking Orcs into the war bands to give them an edge but in the end it made no difference, they were all butchered in turn.

 By this stage we started to realise the whole one sided scale of things and even made this rather cruel looking orc a champion...he was slaughtered before he could raise his axe. So on they came, wave after wave of angry goblins, incensed by this hairy trespasser. More came and more fell to Troll Biters swift strokes.

 The game had turned out to be so much fun that we had completely lost track of time. I had work in the morning and my friend still had to be dropped home. So to finish things off and by 'things' I mean Thorgrim, we decided to test his steel against an Orc Minor Hero.

This may have seemed a shame but Thorgrim was not tiring and the game had to come to an end sometime. Gothbag Gutdrinker would finish him for sure, for Thorgrim had already taken a wound from the wolf. Around and around they went both exchanging blows and both saving with their armour. Finally in one epic last effort Thorgrim scored two hits and they both turned into wounds. In one stroke Gothbag had his legs cut from under him and was slain. Thorgrim had survived Goblin valley.

Thorgrim's Eighties Adventure

 Arrrr this took me back, I haven't played Fantasy War Hammer in many decades. It was great to just reach into an old box, grab a handful of figures and roll a few dice. I didn't even spend very long picking Thorgrim, he was just the one with the best paint job in the unpainted hordes. Great fun. Here he is striding into Goblin valley. I was very intrested to see how many goblins he could cut through before he was taken down.

 

 Back in 1984 this is how we used to play, hundreds of unbased, unpainted figures all advancing in mobs. We didn't really care much for units or formations, it was just about having hundreds of figures on the table. For this reason we never actually finished any games right to the end. Although really we didn't need to, after a few rounds it was obvious who had won . We never really got into points either so my poor old Orc army was always shot to bits by thousands of Wood Elf archers before they could get close.

 It was all in a days gaming though and if one orc did well then that was enough for me. By 'well' I mean actually got to kill an Elf. After a few hours pushing the unpainted hordes around we would scrape them all into a box again and rush to watch Robin of Sherwood at six o'clock, ready to do it all again the next week.So setting up a quick table brought the old memories flooding back.

The rules used for this challenge were WH 2nd edition, these are the ones I remember and the closest to hand. Champions, Minor Heroes and Major Heroes all seem to have become a thing of the past in later editions which surprised me. I hadn't realised the rules had changed so much in my many years away from it. From what I can tell the next edition is greatly improved. I couldn't help buying an old tattered copy of eBay and I loved the 'level' system for characters, much better.Anyway I digress, let's get back to poor Thorgrim.

 Thorgrim had already cut through quite a few goblins before this picture, I had taken to removing the casualties and reusing them. I soon realised this didn't look very impressive for a photo Blog and put them back to keep a visual record of the slaughter. A Dwarf major Hero vs waves of Goblins, I knew he would do well but I soon realised it was a massacre!

Part of the reason for the epic death toll was the fact that my poor gobbos had to get a seven or more to hit , this meant rolling a six then rolling again to get a 4,5 or 6. This would count as a seven, after that I would have to roll again to see if the hit was a wound. The very few that did hit never managed to wound. Only the wolf managed to get a lucky bite in that got through the Dwarf's mail. However, like the games of old, this lucky roll was enough to make my night for me and the game turned in to one full of laughter and much noise.Even though my lucky wolf never lasted long enough to get a second taste of Dwarf, he did me proud.

                                                                    to be continued.....

 

Thorgrim's Goblin Saga