Space Marine and Machine Gun Wizard

First of all, I have been painting a lot of WFB Dwarfs since my last post, but my energy level hasn't really been at a point where I have been able to set up for a photo session. I hope I get around to do it soon.

I the meanwhile I guess I got a bit of painters block with the Dwarfs and I needed to try something new for a change, to kickstart my painting again.

So the other day I was looking around on Google Images for pics of old minis and I fell over a Rogue Trader Ultra Marines army. I really liked the look of this one guy in Artificer Armour and as I knew I had him in my leadpile I decided to give him a go. I know I usually paint Blood Angels, but having a blue guy kicking about can't hurt.

Space Marine in Artificer Armour.

I decided to keep it real simple, mostly just blue and metal (as the original model I saw) and I quite like the simplicity. Sometimes I like a lot of details and bling, other times the real basic paintjob just works best for me.

Also I bought this Machine Gun Wizard a little while ago and instead of letting him collect dust in the leadpile I decided to paint him right away.

Wand of Magic Missiles?

The Wizard really looks shiny on these pics. In the real world it is not so bad, but I have been thinking of trying to give him a layer of Dull Coat. If I ever get around to it I might post some new pics.

Hopefully coming up soon is the follow up on my Dwarf army.

A Tale of Two Gaming Buddies: 3rd Ed. Warhammer Dwarf Army

Apparently I have been dragged into gaming Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Edition. I never really played any Fantasy games very much and even though my gaming life started out with roleplaying games, which was mostly Fantasy or Cthulhu adventures, my miniature hobby has mostly been based around various Sci-Fi and Post Apocalypse gaming (I did play Warmachine for some time, but I don't consider that pure Fantasy).

But as people who have been following my blog knows I have been working on a Dwarf army, on and off, for many years. First I tried painting it for 4th Edition Warhammer, then Dragon Rampant, then it had a brief but hectic tour around Age of Sigmar and now I guess I ended up where I really wanted to go in the beginning anyway; Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Edition.

So far I have only played a single game and to be honest I thought it was a bit of a mess. But I have far from given up on the rules or the army and I plan to fully dedicate myself to paint and game 3rd Edition Warhammer for a long time to come.

I am doing this project with my gaming buddy Dr., from Dr. The Viking's Miniature Games Hell and he is building and painting an Undead Army.

You can read the rules of the "game" here and I will just do a quick summery.

We take turns in posting a painted unit, ending up with each a painted army, no deadlines or stress, but we still plan to get it finished in around a year or so. The army lists will be posted in each blog post with the finished units maked in bold and the unfinished in normal lettering.

My army so far is a bit of a mess, some units painted a bit, some not at all, but I have tried to base the list off of the models I currently own and I might edit it a bit along the way, but to start out this will be what I aim to do:

Iron Hill Dwarfs Army List

Dwarf General:

Level 25, heavy armour, double handed axe 213pts

Dwarf Wizard:

Level 15 203pts

20 Dwarf Warriors:

Spear, light armour, banner, musician, level 5 champion 288pts

20 Bugmans Dwarfs:

hand weapon, light armour, shield, crossbows, banner, musician, level 20 hero 468pts

10 Iron Breakers:

+ 3 Elite, hand weapons, heavy armour, shield, banner, musician, level 5 hero 223pts

10 Iron Breakers:

+ 3 Elite, hand weapons, heavy armour, shield, banner, musician, level 5 hero 223pts

10 Hammerers:

+ 4 Elite, hand weapons, heavy armour, shield, level 5 hero 202pts

10 Quarrellers:

crossbows, light armour, musician, level 5 hero 183pts

Mammoth:
1 Dwarf Crew 308pts

Dwarf Canon:
3 Crew 68pts

Flame Canon:
3 Crew 119pts

This army list is 2498pts and as such almost 500pts above the planned 2000pts, but like Dr. The Vikings army it will give me some space to pick different units from time to time.

To finish off I have a quick and ugly army shot, it includes some models that will not be in the army right away, but this is what I worked from when doing my list.

Catoplebas, Wild Boars and Other Fantasy

Recently I have been painting a bit again. I have been working hard on a Warlord Titan for the new Adeptus Titanicus, but it is still unfinished and then suddenly I saw this Ral Partha AD&D Catoplebas for sale and I just had to get it. I absolutely love old and strange miniatures, they are so full of character.

The strange backstory of these beasts immediately made for some great scenario plots, for skirmish gaming. So Dr. The Viking and I, of course, planned out a weird Fantasy skirmish setting, where we could use all sorts of old and wonderful miniatures.

Catoplebas or Death Cow.

The Catoplebas is apparently some kind of friendly dragon in the AD&D setting. It is based on some mythical beast from Africa, which has a deadly stare that can turn you to stone. If you milk it you can make the rare and precious Death Cheese.

I looked through my stash of miniatures and found some Wild Boar from Warbases and I thought they would fit into our setting too.

Lastly we needed some good guys and some bad guys.

The bad guys would be some Goblin raiding party, trying to steal away the Death Cow. Those will be assembled and painted by Dr. The Viking.

The good guys would be some Druids protecting the Catoplebas and they will get help from the local City Guards. 

I looked through my miniatures and didn't find many good guys, but I found one old Citadel Wizard, who could easily double as a Druid and Battle Lord Luigi, who will be the leader of the City Guard.

Right now I am waiting for some more old Grenadier models, from Mirliton, to bolster my good guys. I have a feeling this will be good and fun.

Legions of Steel (Boardgame)

I had this game lying around for a very long time and apparently I was getting nowhere with it. So while cleaning out I decided to sell it. As it turns out no one wanted to buy it and instead I painted the minis and decided to give it a go.

At first glance it is a lot like Space Hulk and that was also the main reason why I bought it in the first place. The creators wasn't shy about their influence either and as I understand they played Space Hulk and thought they could do the same, but better.

U.N.E Marines entering the coridors of the Machines.

The basis of the game is much like Space Hulk. You play as a bunch of power armoured Marines from the United Nations of Earth (U.N.E.) but instead of battling Genestealers you fight off some Terminator looking robots.

I guess there is not much to say really. It is maybe a bit more tactical than Space Hulk, but I wouldn't say it is better or worse, just depending on what you like. It has a bit less of the Aliens feeling, but then we have Terminator robots instead.

Very Space Hulk looking.

Same set up, maybe a bit better photo?

WIP on the Machines.

Now I played this a couple of times and I would like to play it again. I don't know if it will be anything I will game on a regular basis, but then again I don't really play anything regularily anymore.