Cool Idea...Khador Gun Carriage

Elliot, my Warmachine gaming buddy, is already planning out a pretty elaborate conversion of the just-released Khador Gun Carriage. He's mating the Carriage model with a 1/35 scale FT-17 tank chassis. Brilliant!

Here is how he is intending it to turn out...

'Til next time.

Easter Romans

Just finishing up a 4-day Easter Holiday weekend. It was a perfect opportunity to finally finish off the Roman army for this year's Mayday convention scenario of Command & Colors: Ancients.

Here is the completed Roman army for the Battle of Sotium. The army is composed of three legions.

Each legion has two elements of medium infantry...the core of legionaries we most often think about when we conjure an image of Imperial Roman soldiers.

Each legion also has one element of Auxilia.

And an element of medium cavalry.

Along with an element of light infantry...in this case, conscripted Gallic javelineers (I really don't like these particular figures from Warlord).

The army also possesses an element of artillery.

Well, that's the whole thing, and I can finally put this project to bed...and get back to Cryx!

'Til next time.

Tutorial: Painting a Roman Auxilia

Well, my mind is on the Romans these days, so I thought I'd post a step-by-step on painting an Auxilia warrior.

This is a Warlord plastic fig. Here it's assembled and primed and glued to it's metal base. Started off with the standard dark ink wash.

Skin starts with Foundry shade, and once dry, it's given a flesh wash.

The mid-tone skin color is added next.

Finally, the highlight for the skin is added last. A little care is taken around the face in order to pick up the cheekbones and chin, etc.

Metal bits are next. The chainmail, spearhead and shield boss get some shadowed steel from Reaper, while the bronze helm and belt get Vallejo bronze (I really, really like this color).

All the metal is given a dark armor wash from P3.

Then, the metal is highlighted. The chainmail, spearhead and shield with Reaper silver, and the helm, etc. with Vallejo Brass. The bonze bits get a final drybrush of silver for a highlight.

Cloth and leather bits next. I used Foundry terracotta for the pants, and wet-blended through the three shades. The tunic cloth is white, built up from the Foundry arctic grey series. The shoes and straps get Foundry leather. His scarf is two shades of GW red. Later, the spear shaft was done in two shades of Foundry...spearshaft. The shield got two shades of light blue, and the Warlord decal went on over that. At the end, I did the base using the normal process (tutorial on this blog).

This is a pic of the tunic and pant colors near the end of the project.

As I got to the end of painting the Auxilia, I had all the paint pots I'd used out on the table. I was actually a little surprised at the number of different paints I'd used for this single fig...so what the heck, I took a picture. Here's a shot of all the colors used in completing this model.

I had used some Foundry winestain for the lower lip, and some dusky flesh shade for the recesses of the eyes...you can see them in this shot. Also, the shield is finally attached.

Well, that's it!

'Til next time.

Khador Tag Team

Quick update...

Last Tuesday night at the club, Elliot, Scott, Casper and I played a four-player WarmaHordes match. Elliot and I both had our Khador out, against Scott's Skorne and Casper's Cygnar.

Fortunately for Khador, our two armies blend well together. My stuff is grey/red, while Elliot's is olive/grey/red. We each contributed 25 points to the 50-point army list (which included two full Winterguard Death Stars).

Here, the Khador swarm moves towards the opposing start line. The two sides maneuvered carefully for several turns. In the end, both Khador casters (The Butcher and Epic Irusk) popped feats and layed down a devastating Winterguard panzerfaust and hand cannon beat down on the Skorne caster. That was too much for the opposing force, and we packed it in for the night.

'Til next time.

Tutorial: Making Small Hills

OK, so besides the armies I'm working on for the MayDay convention, the scenario requires a bit of terrain. I'm running the game on a 5' hex grid mat, and there are fourteen hills required in the scenario. Time to buckle down and make some hills!

I started with a paper cut out of a roughly circular disk that fits inside a 5" hex. Then I went to work with the scissors and cork tile.

Each hill is composed of three tiers of tile. Each circle was cut out a little smaller than the one below it. The hill tiers were glued together with white glue.

Before you know it...fourteen 5" diameter hills.

Texturing these, I used the same technique that I use for figure bases. First, glue and sand.

Next, a spray of flat brown.

Then, dry brushed layers of orange-brown and off-white.

Add patches of watered-down glue, shake on some static grass, and presto.

Of course, this technique for the hills has the benefit of allowing the figure bases to blend in nicely.

Next up will be a tutorial on painting Roman Auxilia.

'Til next time.

Celt Army Done for MayDay Convention

The MayDay convention is coming up fast, but at least the Celt (more properly, Gallic) army I need for the Command & Colors game I'm running is now done. Well, it's not done-done...there are still lots of details I'd like to put in...mostly in clothing, but what the hell. Something has to give.

Here are the Warrior Infantry units, with the Medium Cavalry units in the background.

And here are the Auxillia Infantry, with the Light Cavalry in the background.

I'm going to assemble the required magnetic bases for these guys tomorrow...but at least I can move onto the Roman army now. Just a few weeks left, but I think it will all be done on time.

'Til next time.