They're making a what now?

Well now this is interesting.

Even if I wasn't a dyed-in-the-wool computer game addict, I think my other hobby fanaticism would be stoked by this recent announcement.

It's got rats!

It's got men!

It's got rat-on-man action! Hot hot hot!

A Canadian company are making a Mordheim game for the PC, is the gist of what I learned on PC Gamer's website earlier tonight. It will be turn-based and tactical and seems to promise to stick to the source material quite closely. This seems to be in keeping with most of the recent GW translations to game, actually, I suspect they stipulate the terms of the game to be made very closely so they don't lose control of the IP.

All of GW's titles are going to end up on PC sooner or later, I suspect, but I suppose their deceased back catalogue of specialist games will make it there sooner. As Space Hulk (solid but dull), Talisman (why?), Warhammer Quest (for tablet, so I haven't played it, but supposed to be excellent) and Bloodbowl (actually surprisingly good if graphically and sonically irritating) already have. Necromunda still remains my greatest hope as I liked the game and the fluff better, but this, well, this could certainly fill some holes in the meantime.

Such as a running online Woffenheim that I wouldn't need to pay airfares to get to, for example...

Forces of Chaos, Bow to Me!

With the inclusion of the good ship Bully's Special Prize, my army for this year's Woffboot is now complete. Wish they were actually going to be there. Sigh. 

Look at what you could have won

The photos below include no models that I wasn't going to field in one of my five army lists. Not all at once, obviously, that would be hilarious cheating.

Tallest at the back

Mutantiest at the other back

I've had my putative army lists somewhere, but I seem to have lost the file. From what I recall, I had the following themes: -

• Khornate, led by Daemon Prince, lots of marked troops
• Tzeentchian, with multiple mounted Sorcerors, lots of marked troops
• Marauder Horde, with all fifty, the warshrine, both chariots and I think an Archaon wannabe
• Heavy Heavy Infantry, with Shaggoth, two units of Warriors and the Chosen
• Mutant Capabilities, with both Mutalith and Warshrine to max my chances of bonus spawn or princes

Blancvik? Is that you?

Sarah Vaughan, Take It Away

Chaos maracas. Cha cha cha.

My shrine has sails that proclaim your doom

The decks are trimmed with spikes

Starboard

Port - got my running light colours backwards, but, never mind. Chaos. 

Skycutter

While the glue I'd smeared over the hull was drying (a waterproofing layer, I thought, seeing as it wasn't sticking anything together), I started thinking about what the ship would be flying over. 

I did at one point consider a model ploughing through the ground. Just after the Mk. 3 hull, I think it was, when the idea of an actual ship-shaped ship felt like a rapidly receding possibility. Just as chaotic, I supposed, but also kind of tame. Not as iconic of something or other. And a total copout on the whole hull front. 

The rest of the chaos army has a bunch of crudely slopped-together carefully researched arctic tundra on its bases, and this would have to be no different. But it was going to be tall and top heavy as well, so it needed weight. 

Reluctantly, I ventured outside into the cold light of day. I took a heavy blanket to protect my nerdy skin, and by fumbling blindly around for half an hour I managed to come back in with some lumps of local rock that would do the trick. 

These, plus a length of extra-heavy-duty paperclip and the top third of a DnD skeleton, would do the job.

Pesky modeller, come back here with my legs! Why, I oughtta...

The hull was dry. So I made up as much green stuff as I dared from my tiny store, slopped it round the edges of the warshrine deck, put it on top of the hull and pushed. After a bit of scraping with a penknife, I had this:

Blobby greenstuff joint! Because of chaos reasons. Like, mutant flesh and stuff. Or molten metal.
Not shit modelling, no sirree. 

Drydock

Well, the vote was in. Once I finished counting it, I realised I was now commited to a project way beyond my abilities or resources.

But what the hell, it's not like I've got a lot else to do these evenings.

Having originally suggested it as a joke, I was actually pretty glad that this particular shrine was the winning entry. Most of the other ideas I had were just as impractical and fiddly, in all honesty, with the sole exception of the idea I was originally going to go with, the Maggot Wagon. But I just can't sit on an incomplete model for another six months. It rankles.

So, off to the planning board for me.

Giant axes for oars. That's probably authentic for the Viking Age, right?

These went beyond mere doodles, in fact. Because my idea included a bit of scratch building, I wanted it to look as good as possible. And that meant taking measurements and actually thinking about what I could or couldn't achieve with the kit I've got to hand.

The basic idea was a flying viking longboat. But when I actually committed some more scibbles to paper, it started feeling like a pretty major challenge. The hull was the big sticking point. What could I make it with?

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.

Next Top Model

Hello, and welcome back to The Chaos Wastes Next Top Model, with me, Ogre Tyrant Banks!

This week, we'll be hearing the pitches from six top teams, all of whom want our panel of hellish deities to pick them to create a shrine truly worth going to war with. We'll be finding out which of them makes it through to the final cut later this month, and takes home the top prize of getting their vision realised by General Kraken as he finishes the lineup for his WoC Woffboot Army!

First, let's take a moment to meet our judges, each one a bona fide daemon prince!

Representing the Blood God, Khalash the Violent!

 I AM FURY INCARNATE! SLAUGHTER IN MY NAME!

For the whimsical Lord of Subtle Changes, it's Tz'plyn the Unguessable!

I've decided at the last minute not to take part in this. Or have I?

All the way from New Jersey, new home of the Grandfather of Decay, it's Noigle Pa!

Hobba hobba hobba! Let's have a feel of yer dumplings!

And to represent the Prince of Deceit, Master of Surreptitious Pleasure, Slaanesh, we've got Symoan the Curdled!

I don't care what you say, it's not my baby. 

Without further ado, let's bring in our first team and see what they've got for us. 

Shamans - They're Grrrrreat!

I've been looking forward to this one for a while: my original Savage Orc shaman. Now he's got a couple of shaman flunkies, I decided to promote him to a Great Shaman.

Being just an infantry model, I thought he needed something to show his elevated status, so I made him a little cairn to stand upon.

The rocks are cunningly sculpted from rock.