And Now ... The Cabal!

There is a reason why I'm popping out different-coloured space marines like a heretical Pez dispenser...

... Stylus is going to a tournament!

Aim for the Black

Not for the Red

Yeah, it's Crypt Angels time!

The Caddies of Kurnos

In previous editions, there was one overwhelming reason to take a Wood Elf hero: you needed someone to haul around the Hail of Doom Arrow.

Now, marvellously, there is a second reason: Glade Captains/Lords are the only models who get to shoot the Talon of Kurnos at the start of a battle and plink a wound off an enemy character before anything else begins.

(I've had better luck with the Talon of Kurnos than with the Hail of Doom Arrow, so I'm very much in favour of it. Mind you, I've had better luck with the National Lottery than with the Hail of Doom Arrow, so the bar isn't set high)

Without further ado - here are the Glade Captains!

From the Timotei Kindred

How To Get Ahead With Battle Standards

It was about time my Savage Orcs had a Battle Standard; a dominating centrepiece to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy, and give the army something to rally around:

Hmmm.
I have to say, it's not really that impressive...

Oh, I see.

Pokemon! I choose Chosen!

Ah, Christmas! Time for a Christmas bonus. In that I actually got one, from a London writing job that gave me a bit more than I was expecting. Enough to splash out on something that had caught my eye a while back. 

Santa? You've... you've changed...

Mierce Miniatures featured in one of the Cracking Gaming Blogs last December, Dice and Brush I think it was. He'd bought some of their minotaurs, and I was rather taken with their range of Celtic/Dark Age fantasy stuff. 

Filler Night

Okay, not all fillers. In fact, only a couple. I'm new to the idea of unit fillers, but I'm already a fan. Adding levels or a sense of spectacle to a unit seems like a great idea, although it's almost certainly out of my scope and price range for now. But I have a few ideas, including the possible use of some Hobbit scenery. We'll see, though, I don't want to chop that up on a whim.

The goblin cut short what would have otherwise been a pleasantly long walk on the short pier.

But in terms of having a few decorative options, I keep running into this guy from the Bag of Limitless Minions: - 

Remember when this was even an option?

A survivor of my copy of Battle Masters, which probably deserves a nostalgic column itself at some point, this guy is a Marauder Bowman. The punk look died with the army list option, thankfully. Not amazing miniatures, but they've got a lot of character, somehow. I'd already painted this one, but he was very pasty. A quick lick of paint improved things no end, other than his face. His blurry, hideous face. 

Frown of concentration or dreadful 80s  'tache?
You decide.

Nogg's Banner of Butchery

The most fearsome of all the giants who roamed the Badlands. Nogg had killed and eaten every creature who crossed his path, up to and including a lizardman carnosaur, whose flensed jawbone he wore as a trophy.

Nogg finally met his end when he stumbled across the incipient Waaagh! Bonekrunk. The Savage Orc warboss decided that he had enjoyed their headbutting contest so much, he would immortalise the titan on top of his battle standard, inspiring his boys to greater and bloodier deeds.

Quick severed head count: 11

Just a brief work-in-progress update (well, brief for you - try drilling the holes and see how you feel). My new battle standard bearer now has a battle standard.

The giant's head is one of two from the Metal Giant v2 (the first one is still atop the giant's shoulders). The way this one was sculpted - eyes half-closed, mouth half-open, tongue protruding, general expression of agony and surprise - he was just asking to be impaled on a spike.

I added some more banner effects - the tails from the wolf boyz banner (extended in the middle, so they would fit either side), and capped with the banner heads from two Savage Orc standard.

Remarkably, it looks quite promising. Even more remarkably, he doesn't fall over.

Gold and Glory

My armies have never had very good standards (boom-tisch!) but back when this was a Dogs of war army, it would be unthinkable not to have a Paymaster (who, in addition to holding the coffers, fights like a hero, carries a big flag and allows Break Tests to be re-rolled – so I think I can see the direction they were going with this one).

Guys Who Went Nuts Over The One Ring Society: founder members.

The original rules also allowed the Paymaster to be accompanied by an account-like figure called a Moneylender – his stats were poor, but he allowed some boosts to the Paymaster’s abilities.

My first thought (and I use the word ‘thought’ advisedly) was to place both Paymaster and Moneylender on the same 40mm base. I could create a nice little scene with a model paychest, and it would act as a unit filler for the Paymaster’s Bodyguard. There were a number of glaring obvious problems with this:

• Unit fillers are meant to linger at the back of the regiment, bulking them out and being easily removable when it takes a lot of casualties. Not with two distinct characters standing front n’ centre.
• What happens if they leave the unit? Or if only one of them wants to?
• What happens if one of them gets killed?
• How do you determine where attacks are directed?
• What, no Stomp attacks?