More Bloodbowl

And here are the rest of the team, mostly.

Line Orc #6, Skuzza, is such a nippy player that his photo was really blurry, so he is missing. There's nothing like putting them up next to each other to note the identical poses, eh? I've tried to vary the paint schemes enough, sticking within the palette, to make them distinctive.

Will try to snap a couple of action shots next time they take to the field!

#7 - Frakka, Line Orc

#8 - Brozza, Line Orc

#9 - Roksh, Line Orc 

K

#10 - Uggra, Line Orc

#11 - Moggrum, Line Orc

#12 - Lobba, Thrower

#13 - Chukka, Thrower

Sunday Night Bloodbowl

As mentioned last post, it's a new Bloodbowl season, and I'm fielding Orcs. Waaagh!

Andy Lawhammer - coach of the the Salzenmund Seahawks  is running things, and we kicked off on Sunday with a few friendlies. The New Orcland Hate-riots scored a 3-0 loss to the elven Laurelorn Lions - though we won on casualties! - and a hard fought 1-1 draw against the Rune Forged dwarves.

This spurred me on to paint up my ladz - albeit quickly - and here are the first batch: the heavy hitters:

#1 - Gurfang, Black Orc Blocker

#2 - Tufslab, Black Orc Blocker

#4 - Bloodjaw, Blitzer

#5 - Grimsnarl, Blitzer

Von Bloodbowl

That's right, Sports fans! Jim and Bob here with exciting news.

Not 'arf Jim! New season, new signings: exciting times ahead for Blood Bowl! 

So Games Workshop released a new version of Blood Bowl. It's no secret I'm a fan. I've had many teams over the years, from the ill-starred Black Water Bad Boys, to the surprisingly successful San Fernando Gold Diggers. So when Andy Lawhammer got the new game for his birthday, a new league was on the cards.

I picked up a set this week, and I've decided to go for an Orc team this season. As with my poorly converted and scarcely fielded Marienburg Stealers, NFL team puns are a must for Blood Bowl teams. I rattled through a few options, before settling on...

The New Orcland Hate-Riots.

Now, I'm doing this on my iPad, and Blogger hates iPads, so all the pictures will follow this text dump. :)

I've only painted the one lineman for now, as a proof of concept, but I like the look. Went for the Patriots' rough colour scheme: blue torso, silver/grey helmet and legs, with red and white detailing. I went for a lighter blue, because Blood Bowl, and I improvised the axe-logo to add a splash of red and white to the shoulders.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the look. Will try to get some more painted this week, so the Hate-Riots can take to the field, resplendent in their livery.

It was THIS big!

Where'd he go?

Fire!

No, not The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, rather a unit of archers.

A measly unit of 10 archers, mind, but a unit nonetheless. And that takes me to three units in total. That deserves a Xander happy dance!

Gotta love a snoopy dance!

As I have mentioned before, I like the detail on the archer models, and decided to include lots of little, characterful things like turnips, rats, rabbits an dead birds hanging from the archers' belts. It struck me that they'd likely be hunters, poachers even, and would probaly serve as foragers too (though whether officially or not may depend on the leniency of their liege-lord!).

With every archer down, I grew less enamoured with the fiddly bits, although once they were done, I do like the rag-tag look of them. Have a gander:

Go on, charge us. I dare you!

My only issue with them is the two guys on the left. The command bodies from the Bret. men at arms boxes are really distinctive, and the two here both have relatively decent armour, considering they're supposedly peasant scum. I've tried to cover some of it with colour, but I'm still not loving them.

The Ninth Age rules currently have a bowmen upgrade -  Brigands - that may be worth taking though, and I could see them fitting that type of unit, I suppose. Maybe their armour was looted from fallen enemies?

In addition to finishing the archers, I also finished the missing man at arms, taking that to a properly legal unit of 20:

Better late than never!

So all in, that's three minimum strength units down. I've got 3 more knights in progress, and a base-coated/washed Damsel to finish. And I'll be assembling some mounted yeomen and Knights Aspirant too.

Here's my little warband as is:

Three, count 'em, three whole units!

Now I just need to pin down Andy Lawhammer for a game!

Knights of the Realm

I've finally completed my first five Knights of the Realm. The fifth one was another I foolishly sprayed white, so it took longer and was more fiddly than I'd have liked. I'm quite happy with him, though my attempt to paint round the edges of the transfer has, if anything, made it more obvious. D'oh!

I deliberately didn't over highlight, as I could easily have spent ages on it. But I want big units of Knights, and if I spend weeks on each one that won't happen! I'll spend longer on characters and command, of course, but I need to keep the rank and file to just this level of super-quick highlighting. 

So all together, that's five, if I count the 'champion' as such. Once I have more done, he'll be a Paladin/Duke though. 

Quite happy with them. I plan to be a bit more adventurous with colours on the next batch, maybe start some split fields, etc. 

Already primed are three more KoR (including a standard bearer) and 6 archers to finish that unit off too. I also have a mounted damsel that is base coated and washed, which I'm working on in fits and starts. Next post will hopefully be three full units and a damsel. 

Knightly Update

That's another Knight of the Realm down. This one had a white undercoat, which was really useful...for reminding me why I don't use a white undercoat! Seriously! So fiddly! 

Anyway, he's done now, and I'm quite happy. The transfer on his shield - but not his boarding, weirdly -  is really prominent, i.e. You can see the 'clear' bit around the design. Not sure why, but I may go back and paint blend it in. Or I may not. Have to keep reminding myself he's not a character! 

I have another knight almost base coated, and a mounted damsel too. Both, sadly, also white undercoated. Grr. 

I've ordered some bits and bobs from Fireforge and Gamezone to fill out some holes in the army; will post a lengthier explanation once they arrive...

The 9th Age

So, I haven't posted in ages (pun intended), but that's because I haven't been painting much over the last two years.

With the demise of 8th Edition, the discontinuation of Bretonnian miniatures by GW, and the birth of Age of Sigmar (yuck!), I had little inclination to forge ahead with my Bretonnian army. So they gathered dust, and my paints dried up in their pots. 

Then, a conversation with my good chum Andy Lawhammer, turned to Warhammer, and we discussed playing with older versions of the rules. I mean...why not, right? But as we rattled through the different editions, they all presented problems...too imbalanced, missing rules...

Then Andy told me about The 9th Age, a community based update of 8th Edition. A quick perusal of the rules and forum, and I was sold. Next day, I broke out the paints. :)

I'm no longer collecting Bretonnians, it's the Kingdom of Equitaine now.

I'll post again soon, to discuss army lists, but for now, here's a pic of my expanded Men at Arms unit - technically a peasant levy now. 

I had to give the standard bearer a bloody mark on his shield, as the transfer got knackered during placement. Frustratingly, I only have 19 here. I am sure I assembled 20, so I must have lost one somewhere. Under the T9A rules, I need 20 for a minimum unit. Luckily I have just got my grubby mitts in another battalion box, so I'll be able to round the unit out soon. 

I'm working on two more KotR; next update when one/both are done!

1 Down...just!

And with little in the way of fanfare, that's my first Bretonnian unit done. 10 men at arms, including champion.

I was very pleased with how quick these were to do. Real army-painting stuff:

1. spray black undercoat
2. drybrush model with Eshin Gray (using large drybrush)
3. paint metal areas with Ironbreaker
4. paint brown areas with Gorthor Brown
5. paint flesh areas with Cadian Flesh
6. give detail areas a wash with Agrax Earthshade
7. give detail areas a one stage highlight with base-coat (Ironbreaker, Gorthor or Cadian)
8. add transfers to shields
9. tidy up
10. base

And you're done. 

Really quick;having the single wash for all detail colours helps speed things up, as does the black base, which means I don't have to be too neat with the wash. 

I have to give more props to Geoff at CitadelSix Custom Design who did the transfers. They tie the unit together brilliantly, and there's something nice about seeing my family crest on all those shields!

When I was assembling these, I was really pleased with the champion's pose, thrusting his halberd over his shield-rest.Very cool. Then I tried to rank them up. D'oh! Still, it just about works. :)

Next knight is about 60% done  - the white undercoat is making it all look messy, so it's taking longer. 

Next update when he's done, unless my resolve goes and I do the next 10 men at arms. I am really pleased with the poses for the musician and standard bearer. 

VBB

Update

So the slow progress continues. I have another knight on the go (man, I'd forgotten how much I hate painting over a white undercoat!), and I decided to finish the 4 archers I had on the go, before I started on the men at arms.

So I now have 4 painted archers. Not a legal unit, but a start!apologies for the dim 'n' dingy photos, but for some reason the flash on the camera I'm using won't always fire when I tell it to.

Above is the 4 archers, with defensive stake & brazier. Originally I was going to try and paint the coals all orange and glowing - and I may still go back to add that in - but when I was painting them it did occur to me that it's when there's the white ash on the coals that a barbecue is at its hottest...

I've stuck with blue for the small shields, as these archers all form part of the retinue of my battle standard bearer (photo of him below...). I decided not to do a freehand little boar, as I'm already spending more time on these models than their measly points value can justify!

You may notice that they all have red hoods or jerkins; initially I included red as it was the only bright colour I had to hand, but I quite like the consistency. In my mind, it's the equivalent of a high vis jacket so they don't get shot by accident when on a hunting party. 

As I mentioned previously, I really like the detail on the plastic archers. I've stuck with my initial instincts, and kept the men at arms devoid of any extra accoutrements, but I've laden the archers down with accessories. I like the concept of them as foragers for the army, so I have all the food items on their belts, representing them hunting en route to the battle. This chap has a rabbit, a rat, and a turnip all on his belt. I suspect the rabbit goes to the Knights, while rat + turnip = bowl of brown.

I do have some issues with the command of the archers; I'll leave that moan for now, though.

I also took a couple more photos today, first off the aforementioned standard bearer.

I did him last year - at the time I had a slight issue with the transfer, trying to heat dry it too quickly caused it to fog up, but it looks OK. He's got the De Lisque banner, so he could be an army standard bearer, or if I downgrade De Lisque to a paladin or unit champion, this could easily be a unit standard. 

And speaking of De Lisque, here's a clearer picture of him too. 

So that's my total thus far: 4 men at arms, 4 archers, 3 knights, including a hero/champion and standard bearer. So...no legal units, yet, let alone a legal army!

The plan is to carry on plugging away at the knights, and to speed paint up my men at arms. Next update when I have at least 10 of them done. Or when I get this yellow-barded knight done. So probably the men at arms. ;)

VBB

Back in the Saddle...

After an extended hiatus, I've decided to dust off the brushes again.

Down at Andy Lawhammer's last week we played a game of Dreadfleet, which was quite a lot of fun. The mechanics were unnecessarily clumsy and it suffered a lot, for me, through comparison to FFG's excellent Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures game (which I have been playing a lot. A lot.).

But it was fun, and it was Warhammery. And, having sold off my Orcs and Goblins (for shelf-space and money to buy more TIE fighters!) my mind turned to my nascent Bretonnian force. A few days later, and I have another knight done.

I present to you Robert De Cendres!

I'm happy with how he's turned out. What I'm enjoying about painting Bretonnians, as opposed to the Greenskins, is that I can paint differently. My men at arms I am army painting, very quickly.  The bowmen get a little more attention. The Knights, as there are fewer of them, and they are larger, get a bit more. I've deliberately not  over-highlighted the barding, as I really want the block of colour effect. I highlighted the crest a little more. 

I'll take some pictures of my Battle Standard Bearer (as I just realised I haven't done that yet) and get him up here soon. 

In terms of the future, I'll be speed painting up some more men at arms over this week, to get them up to a minimum unit size of 10, and working on another couple of Knights. I'm breaking out the dreaded white undercoat as I'm going to try some lighter barding colours for variety.

More soon!

Men at arms

A very brief update today on my burgeoning Bretonnians. Very, very slowly burgeoning, but still.

Now, time for the peasants! 

I'm taking a little more time on the Knights, as I want each Knight of the realm to look reasonably impressive on their own, but I thought it would be good to paint up one man at arms and one archer.

No, not you Man at Arms! 

 Now, obviously these guys are designed to look good en masse, so I needed to spend a lot less time on them per miniature; so simple colour schemes and one stage highlights all the way!

For the Men at Arms units, I've decided to stick to my Lord's colour scheme: i.e. mostly black. So, a simple black undercoat, pick out details in flesh, brown and dark metal, wash the detail colours, quick highlight, then quick highlight on the black with Eshin Gray: done. All that remained was to add a transfer (courtesy of Citadel Six) and he was finished. The uniformity of the transfer will really help make them look like one big unit.

On his own: not so much with the fearsomeness. 

I'm pleased with the end result: though basic, he was damned fast to paint, and once he's ranked up with several friends, I'm sure he'll look more impressive.

Next, the archers. Now, the Men at Arms, I reasoned, were actual peasant militia, outfitted & equipped by their lord: in this instance, my general Andre de Lisque. Hence, they'll be in his colours, with his sigil on the shields. The models back that uniformity up: they're not identical, but they're fairly homogenous, and I've avoided adding any extraneous details to them.

For the archers, though, I fancied a more rag-tag approach. I see these guys as hunters, gamekeepers (and maybe even poachers in desperate times!) who're just rounded up to come with the army. Their role as scouts / foragers for the army would make them more independent, and they'd be less uniformly drilled or outfitted than the Men at Arms. 

So I've decided to paint them all slightly differently: mostly leaning towards a green/brown palate, but with plenty variation. Here's the first one:

Twang!

So I've let more colour in there, but kept it reasonably muted. The blue matches another Knight of the Realm (a standard bearer WIP) as my idea is that the archer units will be made up from peasants "belonging" to different lords, i.e. different Knights of the Realm. 

The models reinforce this heterogeneity too; there's lots of different details and various accoutrements you can add to the models, which reflect the independence of these foragers. For instance, this chap has a mallet (for putting in stakes / tents, and a hand weapon in a pinch), and on his back he has a pigeon that he's presumably taken down earlier (and kept for supper).

Yep, that's a pigeon in a pouch. Coo. 

Both models were actually very quick to paint, and while individually they are less impressive, once ranked up I'm sure they'll look good. 

My next WIP is the aforementioned Knights of the Realm standard bearer; hopefully I'll get him done soon. In the meantime, here's my mighty army so far: three whole models! 

Arrayed against the many splendour'd hordes of Elves, the Undead and the Empire of Men, General De Lisque couldn't help but feel somewhat outnumbered.

Until the next time!

VBB

Charge!

As I mentioned recently, I've succumbed, finally, to starting a Bretonnian army, and I am very pleased to present my first painted miniature.

Ta da!

Sir Andre De Lisque

This is simply a Knight of the Realm plastic model, with the champion's sword, a Knight Errant head, and the horse converted slightly to make it rear up a little (not too much, as at too steep an angle the barding looks weird).

The intent is for this to be my general, representing...well, me! Hence the beard, and the Leask coat of arms.

Now, I imagined getting some heraldic symbols like stars and diamonds would be easy, allowing me to make my own coat of arms up, but surprisingly not. Even the usually reliable Veni Vidi Vici didn't have anything quite right.

I was close to despairing, when a bit of Google Fu turned up CitadelSix custom designs. I knew it was possible to print your own custom transfers, but it's a faff, requiring special paper, spray on sealant, and I'd also need to get new ink...hassle.

But CitadelSix essentially do that for you. You can order premade designs or, for no extra cost you can email a design and they'll print that for you. Handy. A few emails exchanged, and lo and behold: transfers!

Side view: no way I could hand paint that so regularly!

Now, they're not the cheapest things ever, but I don't intend on outfitting an entire army with custom designs. I've ordered designs for two knights (the second one will appear here in due course), plus the Leask coat of arms for my Men at Arms (one of which I will be painting next); that all came to £14 plus postage. Very reasonable.

The transfers themselves are a little less malleable than what I'm used to, but for flat areas - shields, etc. - they work a treat. The set even has tiny little ones for all the little shields on the horse's harness, but I found them a bit fiddly, so only put one on the front of the horse's head, painting the others a blank white. I may go back and add more in later, but I wouldn't hold your breath. :)

Rear view - the red scabbard really stands out, huh? I may change that later.

Overall, I'm happy with the model, and very happy with CitadelSix's transfers. If you're after some custom detail, especially if it's fiddly / precise, I'd definitely recommend them.

Until the next time!
VBB

Lord of the Waaagh!

The forest near them burst into uproar. Demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green rushed out howling...stark naked save for the paint and a belt was... One Eye.

With apologies to William Golding, but the Lord of the Flies quotation felt apt, as I've painted my first 5 savage orc boar boys. :)

One Eye's Wild Boyz! Oink!

That takes my army up to 1644 points without magic items, a doable 2K with.

Lords - 320
Morthang (Black Orc Warboss) on Wyvern - 320

Heroes - 349
Drogrot Gorkeye (Orc Shaman - lvl 2) - 100
Mord (Goblin Shaman - lvl 2) - 90
Big Toof (Savage Orc Big Boss) - 77
Leadbelly (Orc BSB) - 82

Core - 705
Skargutz Boyz (10 x Savage Orc Big Uns & command) - 145
Da Red Skullz (15 x Orc Boys & command) - 140
Da Stikkaz (20 x Goblin archers & command) - 110
Da Skuttlerz (10 x Spider Riders & command) - 160
Da Howlerz (10 x Wolf Riders & Command) - 150

Special - 370
Da Iron 'Eadz (5 Orc Boar Boyz & command) - 135
One Eye's Wild Boyz (5 Savage Orc Boar Boyz & command) - 135

The extra 10 Savage Orcs I have on the go will add another 110 points, which is a better total for points, pre-magic items. I've also always got the option of demoting a big boss should I need to (or playing sans-Lord on Wyvern, which would save a lot of points!). 

So that's that for now: should have an update on my Bretonnian Lord soon, just waiting on some custom transfers to arrive. More on that anon!

VBB

Ni!

Knights.

You've gotta love 'em, right?

Ni!

I know it's something of a cliché, but like a lot of little boys (and I don't doubt a lot of little girls) I've always been fascinated by stories of knights. When I was a kid, I had lots of knight related toys. I had heaps of toy knights, ranging from Lego to Britains model knights (remember those?). I had a cool scratch built wooden castle (that I think was made by a local dollhouse maker) and I had a wooden sword my dad made for me (which I may have used to terrorise my sisters...).

I remember these being much, much better

When I was getting into this hobby, I was instantly drawn to the Bretonnians, being the Medieval Knight heavy army. I can remember well, when I was still very knew to the whole thing - I'd played Heroquest and D&D, and bought one issue of White Dwarf the year before - I got ill. Chest infection. I was off school for ages, and en route to the doctor, my mum said I could buy a magazine. I was going to get a comic, but then I saw White Dwarf and thought...why not? I spent the wait in the doctor's flicking through the magazine, and what should be inside? Why, a whole heap of Bretonnian models. (I think it was issue 136, but it was hard to find a decent index of issues)

I was hooked.

It so happened I was also reading TH White's "Once and Future King", as well as a Robin Hood novel, so all those Knights were well seared on my juvenile imagination.

It's been a while...wonder if it'll hold up to a reread?

As it happened though, I was also mad-keen on sci-fi, and my burgeoning group of gamers were more drawn to 40K, so I never took up Warhammer until years later, when working at GW. And despite having had several armies, I never went for Bretonnia: mainly because of the job. See, one of the things about working in a Games Workshop store is that you have to paint a lot of minis. I mean A LOT. Especially when a new boxed game comes out. And while I was at GW, Warhammer 5th Edition came out. And it had a lot of knights.

That's a lot of knights!

Strangely, painting all those sets never put me off Lizardmen, but it sure put me off Bretonnians (an issue still afflicting Baz, I know!).

But I think I'm finally past all that. When I started this blog I mentioned that Bretonnian's "could wait" as they were "fiddly to paint". 

True enough, but the time I feel, is now.

See, Andy Lawhammer is in the process of sprucing up Mighty Empires to function as a Warhammer campaign system, and I'm very excited at the prospect. What's more, I've hit that army painting slump with my orcs. I like the models, I want to paint them, but I've painted so many it's getting tedious. Plus, I'm at the stage of bulking out extant units...doubly tedious.

What's more, as well as keeping up with Game of Thrones (a rewatch before Season 3 was needed in order to convert my wife to the show...), I also watched the 90s BBC Ivanhoe series. A whole lot of jousting fun!

Brian De Bois-Gilbert from the Ivanhoe series (an almost unrecognisable Ciaran Hinds!)

The Knight of the Flowers. He's so pretty, oh so pretty...

So I've decided to get a wee Bretonnian army on the side. They'll be fun to paint, to break the monotony of the Orcs. They'll also be very different to play. And if the worst comes to the worst, and I never actually get to play with them? No biggy, I'm sure I'll find them a home on eBay. ;) So, that being the case, I picked up a Battalion today.

Bretonnian Battalion - good value for £60 I'd say!

I was briefly tempted by the very good Fireforge Teutonic/Templar Knights (you can see them here on their very hard to navigate and overall pretty poor website). They look pretty ace, and they're cheaper than GW. And they're plastic. They're also a bit smaller than GW, so I'd need to commit to 100% Fire Forge, and also to my army looking weeny on the table. So I popped into town, caught up with Baz, and bought the battalion.

I plan to paint them up in small batches, and I intend to make them as characterful as I can. That doesn't necessarily mean masses of conversions, but each Knight is a lord, and I intend to name them all, and try to make up their complex genealogy. 

But of course I need to think about my general. They always say in the Warhammer rulebook that your general represents you on the battlefield, so I've decided to take that (almost) literally. Step forward Andre De Lisque, Bretonnian Knight! 

This is the Leask coat of arms. I may not use it on my Men at Arms' shields! 

I'll use the Leask coat of arms for my general and his family. I may chicken out of doing my men at arms' shields with that heraldry though, as I don't have transfers for stars/diamonds, unless anyone knows any good places? 

I decided to do the general first, on a horse initially (though I may do him on a Royal Pegasus, or even a Hippogriff in the future - all my enemies seem to have DRAGONS!). I fiddled with the horse's base to make him rearing slightly, and put on a knight without a helmet, so you could see his face. I clipped the hilt away from the scabbarded sword, as he had a drawn sword in his other hand and also put a helmet on a chain hanging from his belt. I considered adding a lance to his back, but it looked naff so I took it off. 

But it was missing something. This is supposed to be the general, the leader. It's supposed to be me! What's it missing? Well I couldn't give it glasses or a big belly, but I could give him a beard. To the greenstuff!

Andre De Lisque

I'm pleased with the beard, especially the moustache. When I'd done the beard, I realised I needed to bulk out the hair a bit too, so I did. 

Close up of the beard. That'll do pig!

Looks a bit wonky straight on, but the angle's not helping.

And from the other side, with more detail of the hair extensions. 

Now I'm no sculptor, nor do I possess Andy Lawhammer's artistic gifts, but I'm really pleased with how he's turned out. Now I just need to paint them damn thing!

VBB