Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Dwarf Ancestor Spirit

Now that my vacation is over (along with the flurry of merc painting that went into financing it) I need to re-focus on my WFB Dwarfs so that I can make 1000 pts. for our 2 - 3 week Halloween Horror-fest. My buddy Bill is running a big game where a few of us will face off against him and our other buddy Dan. They're playing undead.

I'm trying to get some Dwarfs going, and Rico will be allying with me using Ogre Kingdoms. Our buddy Lou will also pitch in with something from his vast collection of classic armies. The man literally possesses one of each army. Should be fun!

Since our games will be narrative and rely heavily on Storm of Magic to generate some neat monster action, I decided to spruce up my core unit of Dwarf Warriors with a monstrous element.

An animated statue sounds really "dwarfy", so I secured a D&D mini Dwarf Ancestor Spirit and re-based him to fit in the center of my planned 20-man Dwarf Warrior unit. Rules-wise, he'll just effectively act as 4 Dwarfs, but he'll look cool, and he'll save me from painting four additional dwarves, which will free me up to finish the unit faster and do more models for my Slayer unit.

Anyway, here is the finished Ancestor Spirit (thanks to Lou for the model!):






I felt the need to cut his "noodly" weapon haft out and replace it with a piece of steel rod. I then reattached the hammer and end pieces to finish it off.



The base is from the older Battle for Skull Pass boxed set.

And here's a comp shot of the Ancestor Spirit next to a Dwarf Miner for scale:



In the next two weeks my goal is to finish the 16 Dwarfs needed for the unit, and then I can take a shot of them on their move stand with this guy in the center. Should be a cool visual!

In the meantime, I have one last Miner to finish today, and the 25 man unit is done!

Progress!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Cobalt Abhors

I've raved in the past about Black Hat's Cobalt line, so here are a couple of minis from the Abhors faction. I painted these guys almost 10 years ago! They've served me well as villains over the years in everything from sci-fi to supers.







Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Cygnar Jack

This past weekend I knocked out a Cygnar Warjack for a regular customer of mine. I've painted a lot of Cygnar stuff for him in the past, so the "formula" for these pieces has become almost second nature.





Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

P. S. I may not be in easy reach of a computer for the next few days, but through the miracle of scheduling, you'll hopefully still see new posts popping up here. If I don't reply right away, don't fret, I'll read and address any comments when I get the chance. Thanks!

WH40K: Crimson Fist Scouts

I recently painted up some Space Marine Crimson Fist Scouts for a customer of mine. Here's a quick shot or two of the results!





Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Margul, Half-Orc Ranger Sizes Up

As promised, here are some shots of Margul (my Half-Orc Ranger for D&D 4E) with some other Reaper minis I've painted.





As you can see I generally prefer to base my RPG minis on rounds, but sculptor Tre Manor made the half-orc's stance a bit wide, so it was impossible to get him onto a conventional 25mm round. My supply of larger washers was low, so I settled on a 25mm square. He'll still fit nicely into a grid square, which is all that matters!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dungeons & Dragons: Half-Orc Ranger!

My buddy Rico is running a D&D 4E game tonight, and I decided to try a race and class combo that I had not dabbled with before--Half-Orc Ranger. Since we're using all Essentials books, I went with the dual weapon wielding Scout build for my Ranger. He'll be a Striker in 4E parlance--a dude who runs up and does damage. Not the most durable, but someone who can help the party by hurting its foes.

Last night at Phantom I found this Reaper Half-Orc Rogue to use as my model:



My Ranger will wield twin short swords, so this model's over-sized knives will work out fine for the concept. Last night I burned the midnight oil and got the character painted. I give you Margul Gladeglum, Half-Orc Ranger, and Harper of Neverwinter!







Tomorrow I'll show off some comp shots of Margul with some other Reaper minis I've painted for D&D. And hopefully he'll have survived his first adventure!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Salvage Crew

Painted these guys up a couple of years back, and thought I'd show them off again!



I hope to knock a out a new figure or two this weekend, and I will try to get a new post up Saturday or Sunday.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scottt

ITEN 2.0 Released!

The Forge of War Group (including your own humble blogger) have finished In the Emperor's Name 2.0, and lead author and chief rules wrangler Craig Cartmell has released the rules on his blog.

Here's the new cover contributed by Joe Urban:



Can't wait to give the official revised rules a shot this weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dark Heresy: Hab Worker Civilian

A few years back my friend Brian B. made some excellent40K civilians with various plastic parts and the skillful application of some green stuff. He gave a few of these figures to me, and they've sat unpainted for a while now.

Today I dusted one off and gave him a quick paint job.

You can never have too many sci-fi civilians!









Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Reaper Barbarian

I saw the new Conan movie last night and I was very happy with just about everything. Mr. Momoa played an excellent Conan, and the supporting cast was aces! Costumes, effects, and script were all solid.

One of my only complaints was that the sound in the theater was so damn loud that it sometimes washed out the dialog. Oh well. This one will be a must buy on Blu Ray.

Anyway, in tribute I dug out a Reaper barbarian I painted a few years ago--not sure I ever photographed him before, so here he is!





This gamer's advice, don't listen to the bleating of critics who don't understand the sword & sorcery genre, go see Conan and expect to have some fun!

--Scott

Verminspeaker Conversion Parts List

I thought folks might want a breakdown on the parts I used to make the Verminspeaker.





Head = Chaos Marauder (top knot cut off, green stuff hair added)

Torso = Catachan Jungle Fighter

Lower Torso/Legs = Chaos Marauder

Right Arm = Chaos Marauder

Right Hand = Mordheim/Empire Militia

Left Arm = Catachan Jungle Fighter

Left Hand/Staff = Skaven Beastmaster (from Rat Ogre boxed set)

Knife = Kroot sprue

Pistol/Tech Ramage = Kroot sprue

Dark Heresy: Verminspeaker

Well, I decided to use Creatures Anathema and make a Verminspeaker for my character in Dan's crime-based Dark Heresy game.

A while back I made a Wyrd Beastmaster for just such an occasion, but I decided I'd like to have a go at making another, and here he is.











I realized I need to go back and highlight his eyebrows, but I'll do that sometime later this week.

Here's a shot of him with a Necromunda Millasaur:



And one with the Underhive thug I did this past weekend:



Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

DH Conversion: The Eyes Have It

After looking at the Dark Heresy figure I converted yesterday, I realized the head I picked did not have eyes in the sockets! Those zany Empire Flagellants!

Anyway, I remedied the problem with a bit of green stuff in each eye.

Here's the fix!






Handsome devil, ain't he?

--Scott

Dark Heresy: Criminal Campaign

My buddy Dan has proposed running a crime-based DH game set deep in some Imperial Underhive. Though not a straight "Necromunda" game, it will have that vibe. As a lover of all things DH, I of course eagerly agreed to play, and last night went to work on a possible model for my character.

I say possible because I may later settle on an Adept (scientist-type) instead of just a thug, so I may change things up. We'll see.

Anyway, this guy will get good use in a few different quarters, including for ITEN, and yes, also in a DH game.











Here's a quick rundown on the parts I used:

Head = Empire Flagellants
Body = Mordheim/Empire Militia
Right Arm = Cadians
Left Arm = Mordheim/Empire Militia
Legs/Lower Torso = Catachans
Big Knife = Kroot
Pouch = Bretonians
Pistol = Heresy Miniatures (metal)

And here's a comp shot with an older conversion (one of my own kit-bashed Stormtroopers):



Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Blue Moon Robots Final Pic

A while back I painted 13 multi-part Robots for Blue Moon's web site. Here is the final pic courtesy of Blue Moon's store page.

They look pretty cool all lined up like that!



I can't stress how cool and adaptable the minis in this boxed set are. If you like robots, get them!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Nobody Asked Me, But...

Being an occasional feature where I discuss a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

• My enthusiasm for the free rule set In the Emperor's Name prompted me to join the Yahoo Group and get involved in shaping the second edition. Craig, the lead writer and developer is incredibly gracious and open to feedback. I think the rules are rounding into nice form, and they were already quite good before any of the recent upgrades!

• My buddy Rico from Play Unplugged got back from Gen Con with a few goodies for me. I now have to read and review the new RPG Part-Time Gods from Third Eye Games. I am about 25 pages in and I am really loving what I am reading. Players run humans imbued with the power of low-powered gods in a modern-day supernatural setting. So you might be the God of Knives--anything that has to do with cutlery is your domain. You could just as easily be the God of the Laundromat. Sounds weird, huh? But it works, and when I began reading it reminded me of that day way back in 1990 when I wandered into Walden Books and picked up that first Vampire the Masquerade softcover rule book. Anyway, look for my review on Play Unplugged later this month.

• I also got a copy of the Kereboros Club (Fate Edition) from Gen Con. My Saturday game group (and hopefully the Sunday morning crew as well) have begun exploring Fate-based games in earnest, so a Victorian Supers setting using Fate is right up my alley. It's a big, thick book of RPG goodness that I will not get to until after Part-Time Gods gets its due. Very excited to delve into it, though.

• I am nearly finished painting a bunch of Skorne stuff for a customer. I like the models, but after painting all of that heavy armor with recessed details, it makes painting simpler models like Kroot and 15mm sci-fi so much more refreshing.

• I really enjoyed the recent Batman Retroactive from Lein Wein and Tom Mandrake. Mr. Mandrake has long been one of my favorite comic book artists, and his stuff has lost none of its power over the years. And it was just nice to read a new comic with thought balloons.

• Batman Dark Knight Rises continues to film here in Pittsburgh, and as I write this, the film crew is outside my door making it snow in August! I love the movies!

That's all for now--thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Kroot Konversion

ITEN spurred me into dusting some of my Kroot off and touching them up, but last night I got an idea to convert a Kroot with a Pulse Carbine. It's not easy carving out the hands so they can properly cradle a Tau Pulse Carbine, but subtle application of a jeweler's saw goes a long way.

I also gave him the royal treatment when it came to the paint job--almost no inks were used. A lot of blending and highlights.















Can't wait to field this guy at the head of my Kroot Recovery Team on Sunday!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

ITEN: Servo-Skulls

Craig, principle author of In the Emperor's Name has been kind enough to let me contribute some stuff to the 2nd ed. of the rules as he and his group put them together.

I realized that although the rules covered most of the 40K universe material, a few things were missing. Servo-Skulls were one of them.

Albeit a minor part, they are an evocative aspect of the 40K universe, so I knocked up some rules. And that prompted me to bring out my homemade Servo-Skull from a couple years ago and take some proper shots of him. Here he is!











Thanks for visiting!

--Scott