Fantasy - The Thunderstrike Tribe.

A rage filled roar and the thunder of iron shod hooves are often the closest warnings of attack from the Thunderstrike Ogor-Centaurs.

Although, if you have ignored the other signs, such as the massive dust cloud which marks their presence. And the preponderance of Thunderclouds which follow them, then no-one in the realms will have much sympathy for you.

A relatively new tribe to the area, the Ogor-Centaur species has an ancient history. Their oral history reaches back all the way to the Age of Myth, their ancestors once turning their back upon ''The Lightbringer" and being cursed for doing so.

Worshipping "The Stormlord" as they have done for ages past, they see the new "Lightning Men" as thieves, stealing the essence of the Stormlord in their weapons and reforging. As such, they do not hesitate to attack on sight, if any Stormcast are nearby.

****

So, here we have some more finished fantasy models. These I am very pleased with.

I have always wanted a unit of Dragon-Ogres from GW, but I am unwilling to pay the £45 or so price tag, when I could come up with something converted for less...

They started out as some 54mm Centaur models made from a crappy soft plastic from a Russian company I got off eBay for less then £5 (including postage).

Converting what are little better then children's toys into something approaching a proper wargaming mini was a simple matter of gathering a few cast off Ogre bits from a friend and then taking the clippers to the "toys". Something I wasn't worried about doing as they were so cheap.

I'm sure you will agree that the results are far better then imagination would give credit

Painting wise, I decided in the end to go for a generic normal horse type scheme (which I found a very good tutorial for HORSE PAINTING GUIDE in order that these models could be used in AoS, 1page, Fantastic SAGA, D&D, etc

These models also tick off a second box for my Hobby Bingo challenge:

The convert a model box is now marked up.
I always like to keep an eye out for toys and other bits which may potentially be converted into uses within this hobby of ours.

Well, until next time...


- Lewis

Fantasy - Irvyrreth, The Voiceless One, Juvenile White Dragon.

Dragon's are creatures of Myth and Magic, however they are not without distinct personalities depending on their particular species.

Red Dragons are quick to anger and fight, Silver Dragons are very focused upon justice and law, for example.
These types of dragon are very intelligent, very magical and have plans in motion sometimes for centuries.

The White Dragons on the other hand, are very animalistic and focus upon hunting and protecting their own territory.

Normally raised in a clutch with siblings until they are around a year old, they still develop an intellect of around human level, but with a malign self-centeredness. Some are magical and learn the ways of the frost mage, learning polymorph to transform into a different form and walk freely amongst the "lesser beings".

Not so with Irvyrreth, The Voiceless One, raised in a clutch of five, he was left for dead after a human hunting party found their lair.
With his mother and siblings dead, and a great gash across his neck, he survived despite the odds stacked against him.

Though only juvenile, he has garnered a reputation amongst the tribes and cities on the northern mountains as a merciless killer of humans, often letting other races go free as long as they don't turn back to him.

Unable to articulate words due to his wounding as a youngling, his arrival is often heralded by the beating of wings proceeding a great sheet of icy fog descending from above.

With visibility limited due to his breath attacks, he is then able to pick apart his quarry at his leisure, often still rending and tearing bodies long after they have frozen solid.

***

So, here we have a Dragon (obviously). One of my friends Reaper Bones miniatures, and I was under order to "just paint it however", when I had asked what type of dragon he would have liked.

I chose the White dragon because you don't see them very much, compared to the classic red Dragons.

And also my Mrs and Son both picked that one when I showed them all the different types of dragon in the D&D monster manual.

After a long stint of more work then hobby time recently, it was good to get something finished and off the desk, it also ticks off the first box of my "Hobby Bingo" I mentioned in my last post:

The Monster entry.

I could have gone for the technical entry, as I have improved my drybrush technique, but I don't have that many other monsters to do...yet.

Well, until next time...


 - Lewis

Hobby - Hobby Bingo?

A few days ago now, Chris sent me a link to the old Hobby Bingo form which has been knocking around the Internet for a few years.

I always intended to actually do it at some point, and as 2019 has started figured no time like the present.

There are 25 mini challenges to complete, some will be easy, some won't and some will be downright impossible. But we'll give it a go...

After asking about on Facebook, David of HMDWesternFront decided he was going to take part, like me over the course of the next year.

So I am going to add this to all of my construction posts from now and update it when stuff is fulfilled.

If anyone else wants to have a bash alongside us, feel free to grab the image from here or your favourite search engine (just type in Hobby Bingo) and let me know how you are getting on.

Until next time...


 - Lewis.

Test of Honour - Masked Men warband.

So, work has continued behind the scenes on the Test of Honour campaign framework and narrative.

Before I really get into it though I want to get at least 15 points for each warband ready and some terrain (as fighting over a blank table is boring).

Last night, as well as having a bag of bamboo turn up for scenery, I got to looking at my original Masked Men which I had built and took the clipper to them.

The Masked Men were the first box I ever bought for the game (my Mrs was buying the core box for my birthday that year) and I had started to just build them straight off the sprues without thinking ahead, after all this was a new game, I probably wouldn't play it that much right?

Considering the fact that it has now overtaken 40k for my main game, mainly because it is immensely solo-able and it scratches the Samurai itch, I think I'd better do the best job I can with this stuff.

The "Masked Men" are a warband led by Masahiro, a warrior monk who is enraged by the harsh treatment of common folk by the samurai ruling class.
These guys fight the corrupt samurai every chance they get and take the Menpo (face plates or masks) of defeated enemies and wear them as a taunt to other samurai. It never felt right that they would be wielding what are essentially pikes.

So out came the clippers and the bits box, and these guys were converted to wield Katanas'.

The middle guy is meant to be shouting (cupping his hand at his mouth like), I imagine they would make more use of intimidation and such through that (imagine the forest battle scenes in The Last Samurai with all the shouting before the Samurai appear which unnerves their enemies some).

I also made a normal spear armed Masked Man whom is kneeling, receiving a charge, And a badass Sergeant model, kind of a middle leader, for the warband (After Masahiro and the Samurai who has joined them). He is armed with both a Katana and Wakizashi (short sword) drawn and on guard, holding down a Sashimono (personal flag to identify Samurai) with his foot, kind of another insult/taunt to his Samurai opponents.

Speaking of the Samurai, this is the finished model of "He whom shall not be named", the killer of Takeda Naokos' husband, hunted and on the run from his clan, he has joined with Masahiro in an attempt to stop Daimyo Osagawa and his brutality.

He is made from a Bandit model armed with a Katana. I chopped the head from between the wide hat and the body and replaced it with a Masked Man head. I think he is going to be the only one of the warband with a full red mask, as it was his from before he became Ronin.

Well, that's it for now.

Until next time...


 - Lewis.

Fantasy - Silver Tower

Alongside the Last Chancers painting competition, I have been talking quite a bit with my friend Chris of Chris' Miniature Woes (I've been needling him to get his blog up and running again as he has painted some lovely stuff recently) and lamenting about how little actual gaming we do.

A lot of it is down to lack of time;
      I work full time and have a family, so that obviously impacts on my hobby time,
 or having things prepared;
     Equally I am not about to start gaming without using painted miniatures (the horror).

On the thoughts of it all though, I remembered that my copy of Silver Tower was sitting there and you can throw down and complete a trial in a couple of hours at most.

I really like the game of Silver Tower, a few thoughts are given here by The Bardic Bard if you have about 15 minutes to watch his cracking unboxing of the game.
Whilst I disagree with him on some parts, he is right on the money about others.

Earlier this evening, with the youngster in bed, I purposely sat down, WITHOUT paintbrush in hand, to play through the first trial of the Silver Tower.

I'm going to post up my first adventure following my favourite character, The Fyreslayer Doomseeker, Uthared the Lost, in a bit.

I plan on working through all eight trials following the exploits of Uthared and the fellow adventurers he meets throughout his journey, maybe once a fortnight or so when my work shifts go back to normal.


Until next time...


 - Lewis

Fantasy - Naeema Mert, Loremaster of Blood.

The greenish glow of the Shyish sky was a comfort, even after all these centuries to Naeema Mert, with a sigh she gazed longingly at the stars beyond the soul clouds knowing full well that even with her vampiric powers, she couldn't visit them.

A clamour in the courtyard beneath her drew her attention away. Glancing over the architecture of New Lahmia, she soon found the source of the commotion, and a frown creased her ageless brow.

A small party of mortals had dared to enter the city, did they not know that this was the seat of power of Neferata, the Mortarch of Blood, one of the most powerful beings in all of Shyish?

Naeema smiled to herself and ran her tongue over her fangs, at leas it would add an interesting footnote to the days business, before she started poring over the forbidden necromantic lore her mistress wanted deciphering from Lord Nagash's mad scribes.

Stepping off the edge of her balcony, way up on the walls of the pyramid, she flexed her wings out to carry her to meet these people, she would find out why they were here, before they began bothering the Tomb Guards stationed at the Pyramid doors, or worse, caused Neferata to waken from her slumber early.

Naeema cast a bat like silhouette as she glided gracefully, silently downwards, however something was wrong. One of the mortals looks directly at her with a glow within it's eyes. A mouth full of fangs opened and words in an abominable language began to pour forth.

Chaos worshippers? Here? Why wasn't the alarm raised?

Thoughts swirled within her head as she drew her daggers, but the action was pointless as it was already too late.

The sorceror-thing uttered a final word and a bright light slammed into the vampire's chest, causing her to scream silently, mind filled with the pain of a vampire's final death.

It was not to be, for she opened her eyes, predatory instincts adjusting to her new surroundings immediately, from the brightness, the form of the Silver Tower of Tzeentch loomed, a distant chuckle of laughter, no louder then a whisper but audible from a distance away echoed through the void.

So another character model down, this is another Reaper Bones model, part of my friends RPG collection. I have however, slotted it into my own Silver Tower collection, until he collects his models from me in time.

This model is meant to be a Succubus I believe, but I am using her as a Vampire. To that end I went for a very monochromatic colour scheme, very Gothic with lots of greys and black and whites, the main contrast being her skin and armour in silver.

She matches the GW Neferata model quite well in terms of aesthetic actually, with her armour plates being somewhat similar, that's why I made her story into one of being a Loremaster to Neferata herself.

I know that the Loremaster is an Elf, but what better way to represent a vampiric warrior within the Silver Tower rules then with a true Warrior-Wizard, she has skills for both types of combat instead of being focused upon melee or magic too much.

I am looking forward to getting to use Naeema within a game of Silver Tower in the future, but time is not something I have in abundance at the moment. Here's hoping it'll be sooner, rather then later though.

Until next time...

 - Lewis

Fantasy - More Khorne Warriors

Real Life seems to have been taking over everything recently, much to my disappointment.

In a bout of determination to clear some stuff off the workbench however, I powered through an hour a day before bed (or more when the opportunity arose) to get these five maniacs finished.

So I now have  finished, two 5 man units Khorne Warriors finished with only six or more months between them...I may finish the army in my lifetime at this rate :D

Jokes aside, being in full time employment and a parent and homeowner, takes its toll on hobby time, so I grab any where I can.
Even if, as I said, it's just an hour or so before bed to unwind from the days work.

Until next time...


 - Lewis