Growth of the Under-Empire

So for the longest time I've had a skaven army from the world that was sitting in a cardboard box waitng to be transformed into an army for the Age of Sigmar. Recently I've decided to get it out, paint it up and add some things to it to make it a battle ready force. My son has started to get really into the hobby and we often find time at a weekend for a game, Stormcast vs Skaven, so I've really found an injection of passion to get this done.

First thing to do was to decide on a colour scheme. I initially thought I would aim for something not gren. I have a lot of green armies; Imperial Guard, Nurgle, Haqqislam for Infinity. However, after some thinking, research and some testing I decided to go for an overall green sceme. Initially I wanted to make the army look like it was in a dark, dimly lit cave so went for someting like this:

I really like this scheme but hit a snag. I have always been adamant that I wanted to have mixed fur colours for the army; some grey, some brown and some black with the odd character white to make them special. I discovered that the brown/grey material was just too earthy to go next to a brown fur colour and didn't give enough contrast. After looking at some artwork I decided that green would be best so came up with this:

I was quite happy with this scheme so decided to run with it for a bit:

After looking back over the inspirational artwork I had collected I felt that, althogh I was happy with these they still weren't quite right. So I decided I wanted to add more vibrant green lighting to the scheme, like it was inside or emerging from a warpstone laced tunnel:

I decided this was too vibrant htough and in the end toned it down to this:

I'm pretty happy with this scheme. I think it captures the "feel" that I want. Eeire green lighting, malevolent and pretty cool :)

Onto the rest of them!

We're still around!

So, it's been a while..... A lot has happened, not just for me personally or with what I am up to in the hobby but in terms of what is happening in the world of tabletop gaming. There have been new editions of multiple games, expansions, new armies and new games entirely. Some games have even come back from the dead! 

I'm going to give a quick run down on what I have been up to in the past 12 months to show what armies I have, what I have played and what I have had fun with.

I have tried not to flit too much between games in recent times but it's just impossible with so many great systems out there. I have actually stopped myself from buying into everything (I'm looking at you Necromunda) and kept my gaming in the past 12 months down to these systems:

Age Of Sigmar

Warhammer Underworlds

Blood Bowl

Infinity

Malifaux

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

As for systems that I am also collecting and building in the background:

Warhammer 40K

Beyond the Gates of Antares

Ill run through each system and cover what has been going on.

Age of Sigmar

I've had a lot of fun playing through multiple systems but Age of Sigmar is the game I have played the most. It's a pretty simple game and it's been fun collecting a Nurgle army. The lore for AoS is becoming more fleshed out as the months go by and it is starting to feel like an actual world now, much like the older fantasy realm. The Nurgle models have also been fun to collect and paint. I haven't really decided on what sort of army to collect, instead going for models I like the look of.

My son has also been having fun painting up and collecting an order army themed around Stormcast Eternals and Lizardmen. We have painted a few models together but the best unit is his skinks. With a bit of airbrushing, some shading and some metallics they came out really nicely:

Warhammer Underworlds

Underworlds is the fantastic, relatively new, competitive miniatures game. It's more like a competitve board and CCG than a wargame and is a lot of fun to play. I have had a lot of fun playing this game but there are a few caveats when it comes to the system:

1) New warbands are being released all the time so it can be expensive to keep up with the ever changing meta

2) It's quite tricky to get good at unless you play a lot. I have really struggled with understanding the tactics of the game and almost never win.

It has been fun and it is one I would like to continue with.

Blood Bowl 

So the latest edition of BB came out a few years ago and after a couple of games it pretty much sat on the shelf for 2 years.... Until fairly recently. I recently took the Orc team out for a few matches and have had a lot of fun. It's not exactly a fast game to play but It is easy to transport and fast to set up meaning we can easily get through a game in an evening without being chased out of the shop at closing. Win!

Infinity

There has been a lot of new additions to the game of Infinity over the past 12 months. We've seen the rise and fall of sectoral armies, non aligned armies, expansions and more. Infinity remains one of my favorite games to collect and play. The miniatures are gorgeous and it's a great fun, if brutal, game to play. It isn't easy to learn but the rewards when it all goes to plan are high. I did manage to paint a model and start painting some more:

I recently picked up some models for a new sectoral army: The Invincible army for Yu-Jing. Haqqislam are agreat faction but with a vanilla non sectoral Haqqislam army you're looking at close to 18 models. With the Invincible army you can easily run at just 10 models so I thought it would be a great opportunity to collect some awesome looking figures and hopefully get them all painted up!

Malifaux

Malifaux is going through some big changes at the moment from 2nd to 3rd edition. Part of this change is the removal of some characters from the story line. One of those is the master that I run.... Ramos. They haven't stopped supporting the model and it's rules but officially, he's out for now. I totally understand as things can't stay stagnant but it has turned me off for the time being. Its a great game with some great mechanics. I have managed to get one game in over the past 6 months which was fun but with limited time and resources this may sit on the back burner for some time to come.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

Last year saw the release of the 4th edition rule book for WFRP. I was so excited for this release. The Old World is a very special realm for me and this enables me to get my fix when I can. I threw myself in at the deep end and decided to run a mammoth gaming session from a Friday afternoon through to early Sunday morning (yes, we did sleep and eat). Having never DM'd before I totally immersed myself in the lore and watched and read so much about DM'ing that it all but consumed me. It was a fun process but it did take up a lot of my energy. It was a great weekend though and the three payers thoroughly enjoyed it, as did I. In the build up to the weekend I made quite a bit of terrain and collated a lot of figure for it so have quite the collection now:

Since then I have run a little game for my family which they really enjoyed. I love DM'ing and can't wait to run some more games!

What else?

Whilst all the above has been going on I have also been keeping my eye on a couple of other games that I enjoy: Gates of Antares and Warhammer 40k. The former game is one that, despite having the starter box for ages and having never played a game of, I am still very keen on. It's a fantastic rule set based upon Bolt Action but has been modified slightly. I have recently got the box out and built a few more models for this game so fingers crossed I can get a demo game in soon!

When the new spoace marines were released for 40K I wasn't overly taken with them but recently I got the urge to build and paint a Crimson Fist army so I have some Intercessors and  new dreadnaught. This is going slowly and really is more for the collecting and hobby side of things. That being said, I will play with them, they just won't be optimised for game play.

In conclusion...

So there we have it. That's where currently am with the hobby. It's been a funny few weeks recently as I have had so much going on with work and other personal projects that I haven't even had a game for about a month or more. I have a short break coming up where I intend to recharge and set a plan for the coming months in all aspects of my life with the intention of making sure the hobby is part of that plan. Lets see how that goes :) 

A surprise gift

Six months ago I was having a chat with my mate Trevor about Games Workshop and their various games and how things were so much better when the hobby was still young. We were condemning the most recent price hike and remembering how you could afford a squad of Space Marines, a few paints and brushes and still have change from a tenner.

Anyway, I was telling him how I wanted to start a small Astra Militarum army for 40k, but was struggling to find the time what with Rosie being a year and a half old. Trevor said he had a few Astra Militarum models knocking about the attic and that he would be happy to give them to me.

Fast forward to the present and our second child Poppy was born. Trevor had his first child, Henry, and all things 40k was long forgotten. The newborns had a play date so they could  dribble on each other and Trevor brought with him three large cardboard boxes. I had no idea what was in them, but it turns out it was the Astra Militarum models Trevor mentioned ages ago.

I seem to have inherited a Astra Militarum army! I can't wait to start painting things up and putting together a small 500pt force. It's been years since my last 40k game so I'm going to have to swat up on the rules as well at some point.

Once I had sorted everything out, I took some pictures which I thought I would share.

The tanks! A Chimera and two Leman Russ. One of the reasons I wanted an Astra Militarum army in the first place was the crazy amount of mechanised death available.

A squadron of three Sentinals. I have to admit that I have never even thought of taking these guys before. I'm loving the models though.

The Heavy Weapons. There are three Lascannons, four Autocannons and three Missile Launchers. These should be enough for the first 500 points and Trevor has saved me a fortune as they cost a bomb for some reason.

 The cannon fodder. Easily enough models for two healthy platoons. There are loads of special weapons mixed in as well. I'm loving the Commissar model, which again, I hadn't though of taking before.

So there we go. A big thanks again to Trevor for his generosity. I now just have to figure out how to paint and bottle feed at the same time...

The (Maya)net Is Vast and Infinite

Not posted for a while due to lack of time and on and off, feeling a bit meh about 40k.

But i thought I'd post today because I finally bit the bullet and bought into Infinity. When Gotrek and Praetor first talked about Infinity, I wasn't fully convinced. I loved how much character the models have and the rules looked interesting but I just couldn't find a faction that I could imagine playing. That was until recently when i discovered Ariadna's Caledonians!! They're Scottish, have werewolves and have access to a William Wallace character. SOLD!

So i bought the Highlander starter pack, a Cameronian and William Wallace (from Element Games) and have been absorbing the rules and getting (just a little) excited about playing my first game!

Astra Militarum Infantry Squad - Finished

So I finally managed to finish my 20 man squad! Its taken ages but mainly as I rarely am able to sit and paint and when I do its only for an hour or two. I think next time I'm sticking to 10 men at a time maximum!

I really need to try and do a proper showcase at some point but for now I have taken the best picture I can with my (crappy) phone camera:

Astra Militarum - Update

Hey all. Just a quick update on my Astra Militarum Infantry Platoon. They are almost finished. I just need to do a second coat on the black rims of the bases, varnish them (matt) and add some grass tufts. I'm fairly pleased with them. As always there is stuff I'd change and things I have learned but I find it's best to finish what is in front of you then move on. I learn way more like that. Keep an eye out for the finished article on these.

Shadows of Brimstone - New stuff

What caught my eye about Shadows of Brimstone was the scope for expansion. As I mentioned in the last post, the western theme is simply the tip of a very deep gaming iceberg. The core boxes provide the groundwork and what may seem fussy to begin with (everything, from treasure to monsters has at least three decks of cards each!) means that an add-ons can simply be shuffled in with the rest of the cards.

For example, the first Other World expansion has been released in the States and is called Caverns of Cynder.

Just like the other two Other Worlds, it comes with it own event and loot deck. All you have to do to incorporate it into your games is to put it's Other World card in with the Ice City and Swamps and hope you draw it when you venture through a portal. Flying Frog really do have a blank canvas and can literally go anywhere with this concept. Abandoned space wreckage hurtling towards a sun anyone?

New characters are also planned to expand the original eight. Again, each character just needs their starting gear and off they go.

Personally, I'm always a fan of Wizards in fantasy games so I hope they include a character who uses magic or spells in some form. I spotted a picture of a Dark Stone Shaman knocking about the internet so who knows?


However, the really crazy things are the new boss style enemies.

They are HUGE!

Overall, I can't wait to get going in Shadows of Brimstone. I'm also genuinely interested to see where Flying Frog takes the game. I already have the City of the Ancients core game and next I really want to put up a battle report of my first play through. Saddle up!