More Slow Progress

We're nearly at the end of the third part of our Slow Grow challenge, and for once I'm actually comfortably ahead of schedule. I finished my nominated target of 12 Miners and an Organ Gun some time ago, and even did a sneaky unit filler (for a unit not currently involved in the Slow Grow). This is encouraging progress for my Dwarfs, but having extra time at the end of the month has been distracting...

Anyway, here is the stuff I was meant to be working on (well, mostly).

A small unit of miners, an organ gun and a unit filler grudge pony who really isn't meant to be here.

Getting back on the painting wagon

The last month or so of my life has been largely consumed with moving house and renovations. The process is still not complete, but at least it's getting close. This also means that I have finally located most of my modelling stuff, and am actually able to sit down at my painting table and do something productive from a toy soldier perspective.

I've jumped on board a less-than-ambitious thread on the Warhammer Empire forums where people are committing to paint an Empire model a month (or maybe a fortnight for the more ambitious among us). It's not a high level of output to sign up for, but I figure it might be enough to get me moving again and give a bit of purpose to my painting efforts. I think it will take me a while to build up some momentum and make real modelling progress anyway, so this sort of fits the bill.

My choice of model was largely dictated by what I could find that was ready to paint. I undercoated a Kislev Boyar years ago, and this was apparently the opportunity he had been waiting for as he surfaced in a bits bag.

One Kislev Boyar, dredged from the piles of models waiting for paint.

Onward Kislev!

Some time ago I managed to get my hands on some of the increasingly rare Kislev models that used to be part of the Empire army range back in 4th and 5th edition. I wanted them as part of my preparation for my ridiculously ambitious plans to recreate the Battle at the Gates of Kislev. I made a lot of noise about these plans a while back, however I've been focusing on other things since then. This doesn't mean I have not made progress. My painted Empire army has come along steadily since then, and the Chaos forces at our disposal are better prepared too (thanks largely to Owen, who is exceedingly mad and very fast at knocking out painted stuff). 

Anyway, the Kislev game has started to become a bit of a joke around here, as one of those things that is talked about, but will never happen. I've kind of treated it as an eventual goal rather than something with a specific time-frame attached to it, but it might be time to address that. I haven't done the maths yet, but we must be pretty close to having the painted army sizes I had imagined, and with Warhammer 8th edition coming to a close sometime in the second half of next year (so the rumours suggest), I feel I need to make use of the existing edition's rules, which work so well for large games (who knows what next edition will bring). 

One thing that has not advanced over the last year or more (actually it's more like 2 years. Sheesh!), which is the state of my actual Kislevite models. I have Horse Archers, Winged Lancers and Kossars, and they are all as unprepared as they were when I got my hands on them. This is unacceptable, as they are basically the only essential element in the game - the thing that will add the appropriate flavour. So I am finally starting work on them.

I decided to start with some Horse Archers, as I thought they might be fastest to paint. First I had to do some repairs, including adding tails - because the previous owner had not attached (nor included) a single tail to the whole batch of 12 of them (nor the 10 Winged Lancers that came with them). Maybe he doesn't like tails. Anyway, whatever the reason, I was well short in the tail tally. 

12 Kislev Horse Archers, looking for paint.

Future of an Empire

In my last post I was asked how far I plan to take the expansion of my Empire army. I didn't have an immediate answer, because I don't tend to plot out an army and set a definite limit on how large it's going to get.

I have written before about my love of big games of Warhammer. I have also talked in particular about my plans to recreate certain "legendary battles" in the Warhammer world, most notably the Battle at the Gates of Kislev. These ambitions have been pivotal in my drive to paint a really huge Empire army - the Empire are involved in a large number of the greatest battles the Old World has ever seen, and the lack of other large Empire armies kicking about the club means that if I want it to happen, it will be my problem.

Kislev Cavalry
I posted a picture of my whole army in my previous post. As you can see in that picture, the army is getting pretty big. But it has a disproportionate number of Knights compared to everything else. Below is how the cavalry look when you split them out from the rest of the army.
The large number of cavalry is a direct result of my Kislev ambitions, and needing an entire army of Empire cavalry for the battle. 120 Knights weigh in at about 3000 points, which is a good solid basis for the army. Add in the Wolfygryphs, Steam Tank, Outriders and Pistoliers, and you're looking at 4000 points, plus characters. It's not yet where I'd like it to be, but it's in the right ballpark. Painting the Kislevite cavalry I have managed to acquire and pulling in the odd unit from friends should probably be enough for the effect I'm after.

A very large Empire cavalry army - really where all my army's points come from

Current cavalry (my forces only):
40 Knights Snow Leopard
40 Knights of the White Wolf
40 Venators/Knightly Orders
8 Doggies/Demigryph Knights
5 Outriders
5 Pistoliers
Steam Tank

Duelling Paintbrushes: All done!

Well, today is Day 13 - the final day of the painting challenge. And I'm finished! 

My full quota, ready to go.

The final 7 Kossars are complete.

A close-up of the first 4.

And the remaining 3.

All 35 guys ranked up together.

18 of the models have bows in hand.

The remaining 17 have their axes out.

All laid out in the separate units.

I realised after I took all these pictures that I hadn't added static grass to the bases of the models, but that is really a finishing touch, and one that I often do in bulk. I'll get to it in the end.

 

So I made it in the end. Ultimately I paced myself reasonably well. I was worried early on, when I spent 8 hours painting in one day and made little progress. However, once I shifted my approach to smaller batches of models, things felt like they were moving along. I will have to bear this in mind for the future.

What else have I learned? Well, challenging a speed painter to a painting challenge is a sure path to humiliation. Not that I'm really sorry about that - I'm glad to see the Chaos production line in full swing.

Would I do it again? Probably. I will not be accused of learning from my mistakes - especially not ones that result in my models getting painted.

Duelling Paintbrushes: Day 10

I'm not dead yet! It may be true that Owen has made a mockery of the painting challenge by obliterating his quota in half the time, and now seeks to further humiliate me by painting several other regiments in the time I take to paint my one, but I am persisting. I may not go above and beyond my quota, but I can still meet it.

Over the last couple of evenings I sat down and painted another 8 Kislevites. That leaves only 7 still in my to-do pile, which would suggest I can still make my target relatively comfortably. This is encouraging, and will help with my motivation which took a bit of a hit over the weekend when I got no painting done at all on Days 6 and 7. 

The latest wave of Kislev Kossars emerges

How I will properly integrate these models into a tournament-legal Empire army is a lingering question. No Empire infantry other than Greatswords have great weapons. No units other than Archers have bows. I suppose I could use them as Archers, however with Ogre fillers and command, I really want them ranked up properly, rather than skirmishing. I also don't rate Archers at all, so they wouldn't get the love they deserve. And it feels silly to have Archers (who have no combat ability whatsoever) hefting great weapons. Ultimately most people probably won't care what I use them as, but it would have been nice for them to have a logical niche.

4 of the Kossars, as seen from the front.

The same 4 guys from behind.

The other 4 Kossars.

And again, from behind.

This guy has got to be the worst shot in the unit. His hat is falling forward, making it rather hard to see...

I am already being asked what I am going to paint after this unit is finished, and I have to say that I don't really know yet. I have another 21 Knights Snow Leopard requiring cloaks and paint. I also have 10 half-painted White Wolves. I really need to get organised and put together a full-blown horde (or two or three) of Halberdiers, as they're too useful not to have as an option. To be honest, I think my first stop will be to model up another 2 Kislev Ogres, to properly pad these guys out. That way I will have a goodly unit of 40 or so with no particular use...

Duelling Paintbrushes: The halfway face-off

The weekend marked the halfway point in our Duelling Paintbrushes challenge. Owen issued a challenge of his own - a 2500pt game including whatever we had completed of the stuff we were painting in our duel. I took a number of pictures during the game - not enough to merit a full-blown battle report, but I figured I would put up what I had.

The Empire

Arch Lector on barded steed (enormous doggy) with Mace of Helstrum, Dawn Armour, shield

Wizard Lord (Level 4) with Lore of Shadow, Holy Relic

Captain on barded steed with Battle Standard, Charmed Shield, Talisman of Endurance, full plate armour

Warrior Priest with Armour of Meteoric Iron, great weapon

40 Spearmen with standard bearer and musician

40 Halberdiers with full command, detachment of 15 Halberdiers (my Kislevites)

30 Greatswords with full command

16 Inner Circle Knights with full command, great weapons

28 Flagellants

Great Cannon

Mortar

Yes, the Kislevites got pressed into service as a Halberdier detachment. There were not any really ideal roles for them, and this did mean that I didn't use any of the command models I had painted, but it was an adequate fit.

Nurgley Warriors of Chaos

Chaos Lord with the Mark of Nurgle on a barded steed (Chaos slug) with Chaos Runesword, Armour of Damnation, chaos armour, shield

Exalted Hero with the Mark of Nurgle, Battle Standard, Banner of Rage, chaos armour, great weapon

Sorcerer (Level 2) with the Mark of Nurgle, Infernal Muppet, Dispel Scroll (yes, this is cheating for at least 2 reasons. Oh well)

30 Chaos Warriors with full command, Mark of Nurgle, shields

32 Marauders with full command, Mark of Khorne, great weapons

10 Chaos Knights (on icky slugs) with full command, Mark of Nurgle, Festering Shroud

10 Chaos Knights (on big flies whose wings appear to have been plucked) with full command, Mark of Nurgle

3 Dragon Ogres with great weapons

Owen very rarely gets around to actually playing Warhammer, and his army list was a bit under-strength as a result. It didn't help that he doesn't have a copy of the rulebook, thus denying him about 50 magic items to choose from. He didn't mention this until later, of course. Rules are indeed for the weak, but magic items are for the prepared...

Duelling Paintbrushes: Day 5

I had high hopes for Day 5, as Friday evenings are when our regular painting nights occur. This meant I could be pretty sure to get a few solid hours of painting done - far more than an average evening. Well, I ended up painting for perhaps 3.5 hours, and at the end of it I had this to show for it:

5 more Kislev Kossars, ready for action (after some static grass)

OK, so some of you will probably feel that 5 models in 3.5 hours is nothing special, however given how long the first 11 models took me, I am extremely pleased with this result. It would appear that not having to worry about command models is a big help. It would also appear that painting them in a smaller batch was more efficient - or maybe I just have the rough order of the colour scheme down pat.

Another shot of the same guys. I chose a mix of weaponry to make the batch more interesting to paint

This batch of models includes the only 2 with additional hand weapons. I am currently a little torn as to what I am going to use the Kislevites as in my Empire army, and Free Company seems a fall-back position that most people are comfortable with given their apparent jumble of weaponry. If I do end up going this way, I may need to make some more with additional hand weapons.

Kossars with additional hand weapons - double the chop!

If you count the Ogre unit filler as 4 models (given that's how much space he takes up), I have now painted 20 of the 36 Kossars I am intending to paint in this challenge. Given we're only 5 days in, things are starting to look a little more favourable for me. Especially if we ignore the hippo in the corner, with his paintbrush all a-blur...

Duelling Paintbrushes: Day 4

The first wave of Kislev Kossars are finished! Well, they are almost finished - close enough that I could easily pass them off as such. In truth there remain a couple of minor things still to be done. I have to decide whether I want to highlight the tassels on the larger banner up to gold, instead of leaving them a brassy colour. There is also a little flag on it that I missed when I was painting the other ones - I always miss something. And of course the banners don't have anything on them yet. I will fix that at some point, but that may wait until after the challenge is over - at the moment I don't even know what to paint on them.

All the gang together, close enough to finished

I only did a very small amount of work on the Kossars on Day 3 (maybe an hour), so I didn't bother putting together an update. Unlike some hippos who shall remain nameless, I am not able to knock out a whole gang of models in that time. 

Duelling Paintbrushes: Day 2

OK, so having started off by cheating and beginning work on Day 0, I then consolidated my efforts by doing nothing at all on Day 1. It actually worked rather well for me, as I got time with my wife on Day 1 that I could not have the previous day, as she was busy. So ultimately I really gained nothing from my cheating, other than stopping myself falling further behind. Of course, I then discover that Owen has commenced work and completed 7 models already. But then, this was to be expected. Owen paints faster, doesn't live with a wife and child, and works fewer hours. Other than that, the advantages are all mine!

On Day 2 I tried a new cunning trick. I went to the dentist first thing in the morning, and walked away with a couple of fillings and a numb face. I considered going into work, but the thought of sitting at my desk, unknowingly drooling over my keyboard with the slack half of my face whilst my colleagues tried to sneak pictures or videos was unappealing. So instead I took the day off and went home to drool over models. Huzzah!

In the end I probably spent close to 8 hours painting over the course of the day. I can't remember the last time I painted so much in one go - I don't normally have the time for such behaviour. It was somewhat novel, and rather peaceful. Well, it might have been if not for my awareness of how painfully slowly I was progressing.

When I saw that Owen was painting models in small batches through to completion, my natural instinct was to do the opposite and paint all of the models at once. I am a contrary sort. However, it occurred to me that this would make for a rather boring set of blog posts. Better to have something finished to show off in each post. It's a good theory. Unfortunately I only decided this after I had already painted the fur onto all of the models, so a fair chunk of my time was spent there. I then decided I would limit myself to 10 models at a time. In keeping with my failure to read the calendar, I then failed to count models properly, and found myself working on 11. I am so clever. I'd love to tell you I got them finished, but I didn't. Not quite.

All of this was after I painted the unit filler, however. After painting fur on all the models, I was enthused to go back to him. I told myself I needed to paint a model up to test the colour scheme, however this is really me kidding myself. I had put in all the time to build him, and now I wanted to paint him. So at least he is finished...

Kislev Ogre unit filler from the front

Duelling Paintbrushes: It begins...

In wanting to start off this painting challenge on the right note, my first act was to cheat. Actually, it was accidental - I somehow thought the challenge started yesterday, so I have stolen a 1 day head-start on Owen. Were I a Skaven player, I would be especially proud of my duplicity, although I might not be publicly boasting about it on my blog. Not yet. Anyway, courtesy of my abuse of the rules and failure to read the calendar and challenge conditions properly, my victory now is assured. Surely.

Well, maybe not. I really didn't get all that much done. The bases on my models are now painted, but I haven't even gone through and touched up the undercoat on them yet. The fact that getting these bases done took me a couple of hours is an indication of how much I am probably going to struggle in this challenge, but hopefully my determination will see me through. I also wasted a bit of time trying to carve the big Bretonnian shield off the smaller standard bearer's flag, which I managed to neglect to do before undercoating (as would be conventional and sensible). I was partially successful - the curves of the flag make it a little bit difficult. Depending on how I paint the flag, my efforts should be adequate.

My "to do" list, with painted bases...

Keeping up with the Kislevites

My Year of the Empire continues. Having forced myself to focus on the one army all year, I have made considerable progress. At last count I can easily field 5,000 points of painted Empire, which is a whole lot more than I had at the beginning of the year. However, I am still managing to distract myself continually, even within the relatively narrow boundaries I have set myself. I have a whole range of half-constructed Ogre unit fillers, I have a Halberdier unit with no command models, a Hellstorm with no crew, half-painted White Wolf knights, partially painted Greatswords... The list goes on. So, in order to give myself even more focus, I have issued a painting challenge to Owen of Terrain for Hippos! It shall be called Duelling Paintbrushes (cue banjo music):

The rules of the challenge are simple:

• Start painting on October 10th.
• Finish painting on October 23rd (the day of the Satus Bellum tournament)
• Paint a unit of 32 figures (or equivalent with unit fillers)- I will paint the Kislevites Owen built for me, whilst he will paint a unit of Khorne Marauders he built some time ago and never got round to painting.
• Time permitting, you can model and paint any number of matching characters to go with the unit.

It's all pretty simple. Owen paints far faster than I do, so the last item was basically added to keep him interested once he completes the Marauders and wants to move onto other things. It's all in the name of motivation!

Living on the edge

I get the impression that GW are currently pretty happy with the current range of armies available in Warhammer. It has been a long time since I heard any real rumours about a new race being introduced to the game. To a certain extent, this is understandable – there are currently 15 full-blown races to choose from, and GW seem to be in perpetual catch-up mode to re-release the existing armies in order to try keep things fresh and players interested.

When you think about it, 15 distinct races, each with their own model range, is a lot for a single game. It must be a constant headache trying to juggle them all and ensure that everyone gets their time in the limelight, instead of being forgotten in a dark corner. I’m sure most players feel that GW don’t always (or ever, depending upon how jaded you are) get these things right. For all that I get frustrated too, I do sympathise. However, as bravely as GW might juggle all these armies, there have been victims along the way.

In the time I have been playing Warhammer, there have been 2 full-blown armies that have been introduced and sustained for a while, before falling by the wayside. There have also been a fairly long list of “temporary” armies that were created as part of campaigns or other devices, and which have outlived their usefulness. And I can think of at least one example of a list that was somewhere in between. All of these things are, for all intents and purposes, dead. But they once lived and deserve more than being forgotten.

Sketchbook Adventures

I realise that most people who do serious amounts of modelling tend to sketch up their plans first. It seems to be inevitable that people who model well are also able to draw. I doubt this is a universal truth, but it seems a common thing. Anyway, I have often seen concept sketches from modellers and sculptors, both professional and otherwise. It is not something I have ever really tried, however - even as I have started to branch out and become more adventurous with my modelling and converting.

I have decided to change this. My decision is partly due to the fact that I am stuck at work for 40 hours per week, often with not a lot of work on my hands (seems to be the case at the moment, anyway). This feels like time terribly wasted when I want to be at home modelling, but that can't really be helped. Some of my wasted gaming energy has been going into this blog, which makes me feel slightly better about things. However, I recently decided that getting a sketch book and pencil might help me to plan my conversion work a little better, and therefore help me save time when I actually get to sit down at home and get to work.

It has been a really long time since I drew anything. I liked drawing when I was a boy, however I have really only picked up a pencil a handful of times since then. Since getting the sketchbook last week my efforts have been relatively limited, however I can already feel that this approach will be useful to me. Especially given my plans to use Instant Mold and basic master versions of things in order to produce a variety of parts for my Ogre unit fillers. Planning here is a worthwhile thing.

The first page in my sketchbook, which has plans for building Ogres to match the Leopard Company and Ricco's Republican Guard

Bretonnian Kislevites!

Over the weekend I took delivery of the converted Kislevites that Owen was working on. In the end he got them all done in a week, which was a pretty fair effort. I am more than happy with the results, and I'm looking forward to putting paint to these guys given they will form a couple of unique units with real character of their own.

Owen didn't take any more pictures of them before he handed them over, so it falls to me and my poor phone (which seems to do more work as a camera than as a phone these days)...

The first unit of converted Kislevite Kossars.

Project: Kislev II

So, just in case you thought I had forgotten my mad ambitions to recreate the Battle at the Gates of Kislev, I figured I would show how preparations are going. It's still early days, but that doesn't mean we've been sitting idle...

In case you missed the link in my last post, Owen from Terrain for Hippos has been working on converting a couple of units of Kislevites for me, from (of all things) Bretonnian Men-at-Arms and Bowmen. The first picture below is of the prototypes, instructions for which you can see here. The rest are images he shot me over email, along with the blurb below them...

The first completed Kislevites, converted from Bretonnian peasants.

The full project, in various stages of completion.

The fully converted regiment.

The work in progress regiment, including some brutal lobotomies...

(From  Owen's email):

I have arrayed the Kislevites in two units; one featuring the first command group and all the green-stuffed troops, the other featuring the second command group and non green-stuffed troops. The concept model also makes an appearance, as do the untouched bodies.

You will note that I've managed to get a single pose old school bowman to hold an axe (two of them actually!) but it only works on one body. I've also given a guy a complete fur cloak rather than just lining. He's not very visible here. There are a few Bret shields which have proved impossible to remove, but they're on command group models, so I'm sure you can just make them part of their finery. Also found out that bowmen have plenty of shields on them, and men at arms have none, apart from the command sprue figures!

As you can see, they're coming along nicely. Much (if not all) of this has been done in the last few days, and he'd probably be close to done if it hadn't run out of crucial components (I shall rectify this on the weekend). Once completed, these guys will be manning the walls of Kislev alongside their Dwarf allies, preparing to sally forth when the cavalry arrives.

I have also been working, although my focus has been slightly tempered by my involvement in Axemaster in just over a week. I need 14 knights and a hero painted by then, and the guys below will cover that. They've got paint on their bases and their steel is done, so they're well on their way...

18 Knights Snow Leopard, along with the Grand Master who will be the Captain in their midst at Axemaster.

Another shot of the Grand Master. I put him on a rock to help him stand out a little from his comrades.

Once these guys are done, I will probably make a point of going back and adding cloaks to/painting the other 21 of them. Then I can get back to my Ogres. After all, I am going to want some Kislevite Ogres to pad out those Kossars...

Below we have the current proposed table layout for the game itself, as well as some of the game details. Obviously it's all in the planning stage right now. Click on the map for a larger version you can actually read.

The Battlefield

The Battle at the Gates of Kislev takes place on a cross-shaped table. The centre of the cross is a 6x4 foot table, with the long edges facing North and South. Each side of the cross is then extended by 2 feet, giving you a table 10 feet wide (East-West) and 8 feet long (North-South), with the corners missing.

A castle wall (representing the wall of the city of Kislev) is placed on the North arm of the table, with the front of the wall 12” from the join with the centre of the cross. A gatehouse (preferably a large, impressive one) should be placed as close to the centre of the wall as possible.

The battlefield is fought out on a plain in front of the city gates. The only hill on the battlefield is the Hill of Heroes, placed on the South arm of the table. The hill should not be so large that it enters the centre of the cross. You may place some forests if you wish, most likely in the corners of the East, West and South arms of the table.

Deployment

Deployment is as follows:

1. The Kislev Defenders are deployed on and behind the walls of the city, on the North arm of the table.

2. The Chaos armies are deployed anywhere on the centre of the cross, at least 12” from each of the enemy deployment zones as shown in the diagram below.

3. The Empire Infantry and Dwarfs are deployed on the South and West arms of the cross respectively, at least 12” away from the Chaos deployment zone.

Note that the Empire Cavalry do not begin the battle on the table.

First Turn

The Forces of Good have the first turn.

And finally, we have a number of the personalities involved in the battle. Note that these are all rules I have made up. The points values will be irrelevant (they're mainly for my reference to ensure some level of balance), and these characters are not meant to be balanced for general play. Some are based on existing special characters. Others are completely made up...

Imperial Progress XIII

Well Axemaster is less than 2 weeks away now, so I have had to submit my army list. Originally I was intending to try to get a large regiment of Halberdiers ready and shift away from the all-cavalry plan I used at Book of Grudges. However, my progress on my Ogre unit fillers was slightly slower than planned, and I got distracted by assembling knights after talking about my scheming for the Battle at the Gates of Kislev. So I took the easy way out and decided I would use another all-cavalry list, incorporating some of the knights I was putting together.

In keeping with the white furry theme of the Knights of the White Wolf, I had already decided that this regiment of knights would be Knights Snow Leopard (white Knights Panther). As such, I want a furry cloak on every model. This presents a logistical problem, as you only get 2 panther cloaks per box of 8 knights, and I have already poached some for my White Wolves. Even if I did have enough, 40 identical cloaks would get a bit samey.

As discussed previously, I decided to make my own cloaks. I sculpted the majority of the cloak myself, although I cheated the head from an old metal Knight Panther. It didn't come out perfectly, but I'm satisfied anyway.

The master cloak, and one of the moulds I made from it.

How my version compares to the one and only plastic version.

Project: Kislev

One of the great joys in the Warhammer hobby is seeing (or participating in) massive games. If Warhammer is a spectacle, then huge games with enormous armies are doubly so. Even though I know they have just been staged, I still find the pictures of huge armies arrayed against each other In White Dwarf and the rulebook rather entrancing. I can’t help but count the ranks and files of the units to work out just how massive they really are. Sometimes we might be inclined to even estimate how many points the army might total (often followed shortly by the realisation: “It’s illegal!”)…

A recreation of the Slaughter at Volganof from the big rulebook. It is surprisingly hard to find GW's pictures of huge armies online...