Tomb Kings have arrived

I just got a hold of these nice photos. The Sphinx, Necrosphinx(?) looks interesting. The sheer bulk of the model is lovely and the details are nice too. There are two versions. The picture below shows them. As to exactly what this beast is an does I have no idea. It does show that GW are really going a route of having some massive beasts in each of the armies. I wonder what they will do for the less fantastical armies of Empire, Dwarves and Bretonnians? A dwarven zepplin I could imagine but a giant iron golem wouldn't be my cup of tea!

It seems like the old plastic Tomb King Skeletons won't be changing. This is really annoying. They are completely out of scale in general and when compared to the wonderful Vampire Counts skeletons they look terrible. I really wished they had updated these. The horses that the Tomb Kings use I would guess are the oldest plastic models still in production. I remember the exact same horses from my Skeletal Horde back in the eighties!

I really dont know what to think of these guys. The Tomb Knights are just plain stupid! The Skeletons must be glued into place otherwise there is not a chance they can stay on. The concept for the model is cool, a skeleton riding an undead snake but the execution is horrible. It really reminds me of the Warhawk riders that went from decent if boring models to crazy sky surfers. There is someone in the GW staff thats got crazy ideas about how to stay on the back of a beast. Slow unreactive skeletons won't be on the back of giant snakes for long.Without the riders the snakemen are fine and I would be tempted to get them for a number of projects. If the bases are as big as they look then these guys are large. They could easily be converted to Dragon Ogres in a Tzeentch theme for instance. Anyway I will reserve judgement until I see this new stuff in the flesh. There are at least new Tomb Guard though knowing GW's wisdom they will not be in scale wit the rest of the army but modelled on the Vampire Counts stuff!

Decorative Swamp Bases: First Try

I was bored last night. Sometimes when I have some sadly all to rare hobby time I just can't motivate myself. I wanted to paint but picking up the brushes just didn't feel right. Generally I find myself switching projects when this happens. I might pick out some Dwarves for a change of pace or even some Orks. However this time I decided to experiment with some bases. Not really exciting stuff but something I had been meaning to do for a while. I have two light 'jacks that are duplicates. In an effort to differentiate them I will not only alter the pose somewhat but I will change the bases. The first though I had was to do a jetty.

As you will have seen on the blog I have gone for swamp bases. A jetty is a nice easy architectural feature to add that is still characterful. A few minutes with some balsa wood turned out this. I would have prefered it to be more raised from the water but I didn't want it to look like my Revenger is on a platform. A lot of the decorative bases are carried a little too far and actually separate the model from the tabletop too much. I could have raised this a little more as the water will be pretty high once I fill the base. I will reserve judgement until I have the 'jack on this.

This second base isn't really swamp themed. I saw some thing similar to this on a Behemoth that was used to bring his second leg into contact with the base. With the larger area to work with it came out quite effectively. It looked as if the Behemoth was stepping over some trenchworks. I wanted this one to look like a retaining partition on the edge of the swamp. However when it came to painting this I realised that I had already filled the water area with grit. So unpreturbed I just painted it up.Hopefully I will be able to use this to remove the silly running pose the Devout has. One leg can sit on top of the wood while the other is pinned into the base. Having done these I am pretty happy with how they came out and I would like to do some more. However swamp theme bases seem to just mean a bit of water in general and I can't come up with many more ideas. With often less than 50mm to work with it gets hard to put something effective on such a small surface. So I am not sure what I will do with the rest!

I Reckon you are in Trouble

I got the finishing touches done on this guy last night. I had a nice busy weekend with Owen of the Far Far Away blog. He was visiting Hamburg and amidst the tours and drinks we squeezed in a mini campaign of Memoir '44. I inadvertently previewed the Reckoner here last week when I stuck a photgraph of him amongst my Castigator shots. Nobody seemed to notice! Getting this guy done completes my new chassis menite 'jacks. I am guessing that the release of Wrath will see another of these machines and an eventual plastic kit for the three options. I am not too concerned as I managed to get the Castigator and Reckoner together for €30. Not amazingly cheap but still a decent discount. The Templar is the only non-character heavy warjack still for me to do. Despite the fact that I think he is an awesome warack he will have to wait for me to get my original Prime stuff done.

Here is a side shot of the Reckoner. That club is massive and as far as I remember it doesn't have reach... thats a pity as 'jacks with reach are awesome. I was able to get the weathering a little better again on this guy with the white chipping quite well. Sometimes I have found that instead of flaking it tends to come off as a damp 'lump'. I am not really sure how to describe it effectively! I am hoping this is due to the overly expensive hairspray I have access to. I will have to stop stealing my girlfriends and invest in some generic cheap stuff. Now with the chips working out I feel that I don't need to weather as heavily. The smaller chips give a good effect already and don't need much modification.

Here is a better shot of the club. This was really easily painted and yet has a nice effect. I used GW boltgun metal as a base. Two washes of GW badab black then darkened this a lot. Over this I applied two different rust pigments. These were taken straight from the bottle and liberally dabbed on. It was easily done but looks nice and realistic. I am tempted to turn this technique into few regiments of Chaos Warriors. As it is so easy to do it would mean a really quick army getting done! I need to resist these thoughts however... really I do!

So my break from Prime is over. I have still to paint:

• Ten Templeguard
• Ten Deliverers
• Revenger
• Paladin of the Wall

Added to this I have Severius and Kreoss. While I have both of these guys done already they are sitting in a cupboard a few hundred miles away. So if I get everything from the above list done in time then I will happily get both of the 'casters done. So the Prime Challenge continues. Its going to be a lot of pressure to be honest as my weekends are slowly starting to fill up with outdoor activities. Next weekend will see me getting bashed and bruised while paintballing. Still this week should see some headway made...

Witches

I have decided pretty much on what I want my Ghouls to be. However I need more! The second spoke in my triumvirate of evil shall be Witches. A full coven to be exact. While the Ghouls represent a direct threat to the party the witches won't. These will be secondary enemies and as such be the next step on the road into the true Wolrd of Darkness. They will be the main adversaries of the residents of St. Casimirs and by investigating the Ghouls the Hunters will learn about the coven. The interesting theory of the triple goddess is one I will borrow from. I wasn't really aware of this except from Terry Pratchetts books so a little bit of research was needed to really figure out what it was about. The fact that it is a modern creation applied to Witches is not something I had realised at all. However for me it is a model that suits the size of coven I want to play with. I have three strong character types described and a good link between them. Basically it can be boiled down to:

• The Maiden represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm, represented by the waxing moon.
• The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life represented by the full moon.
• The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings represented by the waning moon.

Using the three models above I have constructed an imaginary street where the three ladies in question have businesses. Hekation Street is a busy street located just to the west of St. Casimirs. It has a number of boutiques and cafes. The alley leading off from it also contains a homeless shelter. When creating the abode of Witches it is important to consider how they generate their power. The Witchfinders book describes this power as 'Source' and it details how it is generated. In each of the settings below I have mentioned at the end the primary source from which the Witch gains power.

The Maidenhead Club: This club is located on the corner of the street. It is frequented by a very youthful crowd generally older teenagers and college kids. Its a large venue on two levels. The basement houses a rock club that is only about half the size of the club above. The rest of the area is given over to storage and offices. This part of the club is open every night of the week and it gets a slightly older audience. The upstairs portion is the main club area. Here there is a huge dancefloor and equally huge bar and a small VIP area. It is open from Thursday late until pretty much Sunday morning. The music varies according to the different nights. The owner of the club Marian Voist is there most evenings until late. She is also very young, in her early twenties. Marian generates source from Passion.

Coner Health and Beauty Spa:
This instituition has been here since the sixties. Run by the now quite old Pamela Coner this lavish spa provides all the luxuries a person could want. It operates on three levels. Its slogan is:

At the Coner health and Beauty Spa, we provide the best Spa Products and Treatments available. Our dedicated, fully trained staff are committed to providing superior service in our beautiful Spa environment. Whether you visit the Spa for a day or an hour, our services will rejuvenate your body and enhance your personal well being.

The Spa is open everyday except on Sundays. Appointments are needed for any of the treatments as this really is the most sought after Spa in the city. Pamela generates source from health.

Mother Stanlovs Shelter for the Homeless:
Down a rather decrepit alley way just off Hekation Street lies the Shleter. It caters for men only and generally provides a maximum of six months stay. It also houses a small treatment centre for any sick men that might be staying there. It is infact one of the only places to treat the homeless other than the public hospital and it proves very popular. The men residing here are encouraged not to loiter around during day time especially at the Hekation end of the alley way. Instead they are encouraged to enter the alley from the Parkway entrance opposite Hekation Street. The men refer to Natascha Stanlov as mother and they are all very devoted to her. She has a small staff that help her out. She is a trained nurse. Natascha generates source from disease and nature. She is the most powerful of the three Witches.

So now I have three locations more. I need to detail the personalities and motivations of the owners a little better. Ideas so far have been pretty simple. One being the generation of more and more source by Natascha has lead to the blighting of part of St. Casimirs. The Ghoulds noticing this and having their business disrupted by it have decided to investigate what is happening. With some magical resources on their side they could easy find what has created the blight. The Homeless here are also acting as the foot soldiers of the Witches. The Ghouls and the Homeless are waging a silent battle each night and the Hunters are picking up on this. Te nightclub also offers a lot of potential as it can easily become the target of a clandestine take over by a Vampire. It would be a rich hunting ground. So there are plenty of options here to move forward.

Friday Showcase - Runesmith

Here again is another picture from the Grudge of Drong. This Runesmith came out at a similar time to Helga and has been in my army for ust as long. He is pretty much a staple of the army as he appears in it everytime it takes to the field. The base shows just how much he has been used! These guys have always been useful in a Dwarf army. The bonus dispel dice are great. They are also able to admirable serve in the front rank of a regiment without them easily being killed. I always rune up this guy to make him really survivable. He can then absorb a lot of enemy attacks and to kill him a lot of resources have to be dedicated his way. This has taken a lot of pressure off my regiment giving me time to bring in some reinforcements.

Again this model was painted a long long time ago and then given an update in around 2008. He would have been in the blue and white colour scheme of my older army which I changed ust with red on the cloak. As you can see I also attempted some simple freehand. It worked out suprisingly fine and with some highlights it would look pretty decent! Again he preserves the silver armour but thats fine. I don't think gold would have suited him too much anyway. I also experimented a little with the gems for this guy. I hate gems. I hate painting them. I hate the fat that Dwarves are bedecked in them. At least this guy's came out fine. Normally when I paint them they come out terrible.