Magore's Fiends

I started playing Shadespire again. The new Nightvault edition of Warhammer Underworlds has invigorated the game environment. I looked through the available warbands, and decided to put together a Fiends deck. 

I was able to assemble and paint the Fiends miniatures very quickly (two hobby days total). Who doesn't love a project that only requires four figures!

The warband plays very straightforward, and it's super-offensive-oriented. I like the play style, so I'm going to work on learning these guys for a while.

'Til next time.

A Busy Hobby Table...

...but not much getting finished.

I think most of us run into this phenomenon: Lots of projects started, but not much coming off the table. I'm in the middle of that right now. Here's the current state of affairs...

In the last couple of weeks, I've started a lot of new projects...mostly to support new games and armies I want to get underway. First off is an expansion project for my Kings of War Lizardmen. There is a unit called Hero on Winged Fire Drake (or something like that). This, of course, requires a Winged Fire Drake that can take a hero figure on his back. I found one in the Reaper catalog, and started the build. I have a Lizarman figure for this (unpainted, of course), and just need to build his flight seat.

Also for the Lizardman army expansion, I have a flight of three Ripperdactyls. Painting is underway, but these guys are still a long way from being finished.

Speaking of which, same can be said for this second group of Lizardman cavalry. Half painted...but when will they get finished?!?

Next up is a new (big) painting project. My second Kings of War army is going to be a Middle-earth-themed Undead army. I have a lot of the figures for this collected, and ready to go. The larger pieces are currently on the table. Starting with "Revenant King on Flying Wyrm," which in Middle-earth terms equates to Nazgul on Fell Beast. Here's the Fell Beast, assembled and awaiting attention.

And then there are the army's other two captains. One: "Vampire on Undead Dragon," otherwise known as a Balrog. Two: "Liche King," or as I like to call him, Sauron as the Necromancer.

On the role-playing front, a number of new projects. First, this Reaper Frost Giant figure. Half-painted, of course. Skin and hair done. Looking to paint the clothing now.

Then there is this awesome Behir figure from Gale Force 9. Half-painted. Again. Love the detail in this guy's sculpt.

And from the makers of Frostgrave, I have 10 cultists on the table. Weird. Half-painted. Jeeze...they've already been used in a game. They need to get finished off!

Another project on the go is a set of damage markers for Kings of War.

I settled on these turning disks for damage markers, and bought the type with blank tops in order to do some customization and create little casualty dioramas. I'm going to start with shields, helms and discarded weapons. But, of course, that requires me to paint these accessories in order to get finished. Not surprisingly...not done yet.

Well, it's no time to get depressed about hobby table projects that aren't getting done. Happily, stuff that is done is being well-used on a regular basis. Last week we had a D&D game, and the Viking longboat got trotted out...

...along with a goodly chunk of model buildings and civilian figures. It felt good to get this stuff on the game table.

In addition, I'm starting to get more Kings of War games in. Here, my Lizarmen are doing battle with Tom Carter's Orcs.

So, doing blog reports turn out to be just another form of procrastination. Back to the painting table.

'Til next time.

A Few More Lizardmen

I needed a few filler pieces for my KoW Lizardman regiments, so yesterday I knocked out 5 quick soldiers. Can almost do these guys with eyes closed now.

'Til next time.

Lizardman Cavalry

Here's another unit of GW Lizardmen that will see service in Kings of War

I started painting the mounts well over a year ago (maybe two), but never got around to finishing them, or painting the riders.

A situation now rectified.

Hmmm, what next?

'Til next time.

Troglodon...Step by Step

More Lizardman Madness! 

Next up is this new Troglodon model, which comes in the Warhammer Carnosaur kit box. I'll be using it in Kings of War as a Lekelidon.

The kit comes in a number of pieces. It's well cast in typical GW grey plastic, and very well sculpted. The build is a little time consuming, but very straightforward. I built up a 50x100mm base with balsa and Gale Force 9 urban rubble plaster.

And...primed.

So, time to think about a color scheme. The back of the assembly booklet had a black and white line drawing of the finished model. I used this to pencil-in a basic camouflage pattern, which would serve as a guide while painting.

Next came color selection. I decided on a cream-colored underbelly, with a bright green back and sail. The demarkation between the two colors would be dark chocolate brown spots. To add more color into the scheme, I figured on having some bright red-orange spots (inspired by the Dragon Turtle I painted up a few months back).

Here is the progression of colors I'd be using, from the bottom to the top of the figure. The paints are arranged from left to right.

And after airbrushing, this is what the base colors looked like on the model.

Next came some brush work to add in the detail spots and orange highlights.

Next came a long sequence where all the detail colors were added in. All the gold was done. Then...turquoise feathers. Rawhide leather straps. Claws, teeth, "whiskers," and tongue.

Finally, I painted the base, and sprayed a few coats of sealer on the model.

And there it is. I'm a real fan of this kit...very easy to put together, and it makes a nice painting project with lots of potential color schemes.

It is a bigger model than I was expecting. Here you can see it next to a rank-and-file Lizardman for scale reference.

Almost done that first 1200-point Kings of War army. One unit to go.

'Til next time.

The Lizardmen Get Resurrected

I haven't done anything with my Warhammer Lizardmen army for years. However, with the release of the Lizard army for Kings of War 2nd Ed, it's time to start thinking about them again.

I have a couple of KoW games set up over the next few weeks, so I need some new units to round out my army list.

The insanity starts once again with this 16-man infantry unit.

And a hero on a Carnosaur...or as it's known in KoW, a Rhinosaur. Whatever...

I had done the mount some months ago, but I just finished up the rider today.

Finally, for this week, there's a hero on foot, with a few extra GW bits attached.

And one final view.

Now, on to a stack of new models...

'Til next time.

WFB Club Game

I was out at the club tonight and got a 2000 point game of Warhammer in with Scott. I pitted my Lizardmen against his Daemon army.

The Krox went to war!

This was one of Scott's main infantry blocks. I wound up doing a fair bit of damage to it with a charging Stegadon...but after a few rounds of combat the Steg broke and was run down. Boooo.

I don't know Daemons well enough to know the proper name of this unit that Scott painted up...but I call the models "Salamander Snacks."

Scott's Bloodcrushers really did a number on my Saurus Warrior block. I tried for two turns to get some buff spells off to help these guys, but the dice just weren't there. However, in the end, the Bloodcrushers went down to ranked spears and Krox.

The game ended on a terrible miscast roll from Scott. His Daemon Prince went down on a "2" miscast roll. The Prince, Scott's army general, got sucked into the warp never to be seen again.

Go Lizards!

'Til next time.

Works In Progress

Well, several projects on the go this week, but nothing finished. First off, I was happy to get pretty far along with these two Viking longboat models. They are 1/50th scale, which is pretty close to 28mm.

There were a number of shield transfers in the kits...these shields will be attached to the gunwales on the completed models.

I'm slowly making progress on my Hordes 2.0 army. Here is my first new Warlock, Epic Thagrosh. He's pretty close to being done, but not quite there yet.

I also started into a unit of Goblin archers for War of the Ring. Just have some base skin and armor done on these guys.

And, in my drive to completing a 2500 point Lizardmen army for Warhammer, I only have about 15 figures to go. Here is a hero conversion of Gor-Rok I started this week. New arm, new shoulder pad, new shield and war trophies.

I'll be off for a couple of weeks in early October, so just one more update this month, and then I'll start catching back up again close to Halloween.

'Til next time.

Skrox Unit Finished

Well, I completed enough Skinks this week to field a full unit of Skinks and Kroxigors for the Warhammer Lizardmen army.

What did I learn? Skink models are not designed to rank up! I swear, the toughest job I had this week was to configure 24 Skinks so that they would go together in a semblance of a formation.

Next for the Lizardmen will be a unit of Chameleon Skinks, but first I'm going to take a break for a couple of weeks and work on some other projects. First up? I received a package from Squadron Mail Order last Monday...the 28mm(ish) Viking Ship models I'd ordered came in. I've got two of them on the table right now, and once they're done, I'll have transports for my 9th century Danish army!

'Til next time.

Skink Priest

OK, a little break this week before diving into the next Skink unit. I only bothered with two figures this week. The main one for my Lizardmen army is the Skink Priest in Feathered Cloak.

Just wanted to get a little hero out of the way given the abbreviated painting week I had.

I also did this wood elf figure (it's an old Prince August figure from their Middle-earth line), for an RPG I'm thinking of running.

So, Skinks are on the way for next week...I need to do 12 more in order to get my three Kroxigors out on the table as core units.

'Til next time.