Tzeentch Bird Demon attempts to scare an Ogryn and a Gretchin

Spring sunshine is here! I hear bird song, wait is that screaming?!

Once there was a series of greater daemons. The Bloodthirster of Khorne, canine fury with axe and whip drenched in the blood of numerous corpses. The Keeper of Secrets, seduction and terrifying beauty in the the name of Slaanesh. The Great Unclean one, Nurgle's bloating virus laden puss bag. Which of course leaves last the Tzeentch greater daemon, The Lord of Change

Bring forth the Easter Mini Eggs or suffer my wrath!! 

For me as much as I like Tzeentch the daemons of the chaos god are an odd bunch. The Flamers got all the cool abilities with the bounding leaps, jets of eldritch flames and bizarre models (I prefer the old mushrooom looking ones over the bird heads or whatever the pure magic looking new ones are supposed to be). The horrors are amusing as they divide in two like really a strange bacteria performing binary fission. Whilst the disc come across as the best form of transport for tooled up sorcerers. Yet the Lord of Change is bland rules wise (well in 3nd edition at least), just causing terror (like all the greater daemons) and having the ability to fly. Of course it can cast all the Tzeentch spells but I felt they missed a trick and could have given it something of it's own for it to stand out on it's own a bit. Like a hypnotic gaze or some sort of chameleon effect from it's feathered body

Anyway the original miniature is the last of the greater daemons I acquired. Although not the last to be painted. When it arrived from ebay it was in bad shape. The leg had broken off at the ankle and I don't know what paint was used on it but the dark navy blue colour would not shift easily.

The only photo I have of it's original condition, low quality as I had to scavenge it off the ebay sale.

Once that was all sorted out and it had an undercoat it was time to choose a colour scheme. For me it had to be mainly blue which meandered into purple, that's just how I relate to Tzeentch, but as I had been watching The Dark Crystal TV series (the cancellation is a crime) I took some inspiration from the Skeksis, particularly the Chamberlain for the head. The yellow beak and purple to red skin shading.

 hhhhhhmmmmmm

I found the model to actually be a lot of fun to paint as a bird like creature isn't my usual area of painting, all those orks get in the way. The thing is the actual pose of this Daemonic Bird is kind of surprised which can make for interesting photo options. Thus instead of the usual photo stylings the photos here will be the Bird interacting with other miniatures I have painted up.

You are under arrest for crimes against the Emperor! 

As you can see he's a loony looking bird daemon, especially on his left side with that big eyeball. I tried to go with a more eagle bird of prey looks for the legs. The mushroom on the base was just some spare green stuff I needed to use up. As you can see we also have a Frateris Milita chap with an autopistol I have painted. I have no sisters of battle army for him but I have use for him in Stargrave so he got a lick of paint recently. 

Keep going, click the 'read more' there are many more photos.

Chaos Ogre from the Northern Wastes

Hey oldhammer fans, it is time for another classic ogre to get a showcase on my blog. This is the first Jes Goodwin ogre I obtained many moons ago off eBay but it always came across as quite an intimidating figure to paint up. Mostly down to this particular ogre not being painted up much if at all in the pages of White Dwarf.

The Chaos Ogre is an interesting miniature, clad in some sort of armour with that massive face being the focal point of the miniature. Also this ogre has an added of challenge of needing a shield. A large shield at that.

Gonna smash those humans right out of that fort!

One issue I had was what paints I was even going to use on this ogre. With no particular theme to my band of ogres/ogryns I decided to go a bit mad with reds, greens and metals. His actual clothes beneath the armour is a leathery dark red. The armour started out as being just a classic silver/grey but this looked a bit drab so I started adding a bronze and metallic green to parts of the plating. 

Ogre artwork, not a huge amount out there but this one is fun.

The real fun was the face. The horns were simple enough but in the end I went for a violent furious looking red with some golden orange hair for the face itself.

Bring forth the Giant!

Winter has come and the light begins to fade in the early afternoon. On the horizon a huge shadow looms out of the murk!

Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an elaborately armoured ogre?! 

Holy crap it's the Marauder Giant!! Yep despite being firmly a Warhammer 40k painter, I do occasionally dabble in the fantasy side of things and this is one of the few models from the fantasy side of things I acquired in the 90s that didn't have something to do with Orks, Chaos, Eldar or Tyranids.

I do have some marauder trollslayers, perhaps they could be painted soon.

Look at this wonderful model. I think anyone who saw this back when it was released surely must have wanted one. The sheer amount of metal makes the giant a hefty model and the features like the barrel and the small sword and shield are great features.

A blurry shot of what the original painting was like for him.

The original paint I gave the giant was an all navy blue tunic and a very red haired face, it was kind of basic but I liked what I did at the time. As my skills increased painting wise I always though I could do better so I decided to redo the Giant. 

The dreaded leadpile and the need for motivation

 Ah yes the blog I knew there was something I hadn't updated in a while :) 

The reality of many an oldhammer hobbyist, unpainted miniatures!

I'd love to say it's been because I have been super busy painting models, gaming and other activities but honestly it has just been lack of motivation probably due to a combination of very hot weather, work, wedding planning, Fall Guys (an amusing video game) and that virus Nurgle dropped off at the start of the year.

On the positive side let's talk about what I have planned and anything I have done hobby wise here:

1. "Ork Battlewagon" - You managed to get an original! You lucky bas-- Nope I acquired a Genestealer Cult Goliath Rockgrinder instead which I have been slowly building and converting into an orky battlewagon. It's current status is built with an ork driver. Stay tuned for more on that once I decide what to do with the heavy weapons :P

2. Tzeentch, Lord of Change - A recent ebay purchase means I now have one of each Greater Daemon. The Keeper of Secrets was painted fairly recently and can be found here - Keeper of Secrets - My great unclean one is painted but it was done about 15 years ago so it's quality is dubious (he certainly needs basing). he Bloodthirster is in bits and semi painted. Hopefully the bird lord will get painted first and I will be looking at doing a theme based off the Dark Crystal.

3. Other Chaos - You may remember me mentioning a chaos warband ages ago, you may even remember me painting a chaos sorcerer. Well I still hope to get that done and I have a few things in the pipeline including this chaos thug and a doomrider from the pantheon of chaos guys.
I have to say that after a metal lictor the doomrider is possibly one of the most horrendous things I have ever had the pleasure of trying to glue together!!

 

4. Orks, lots and lots of orks - I have a small shelf of various orks that are just waiting to be painted. They are all at the least undercoated. They range from early plastic orks a couple of which have been painted up to a squad of snakebite orks that look like they walked off a wild west native american reservation.

5. Ogres / Ogryns - When one final ebay order eventually arrives I will finally have the squad of classic Jes Goodwin ogres I always wanted. They will be doing double duty as a group of ogryns in my ork army.

6. Terrain - A small terrain piece made of household recycling has been created, just needs a few finishing touches.

7. Gretchin and Big Guns - Yep the grots get there time to shine and not the monopose 2nd edition ones which I am completely putting off painting. A smasha, splatta, squig catapault and pulsa rocket are all waiting for the paintbrush.

This splatta kannon didn't have any wheels so a cork came to the rescue :P

So there you go a breif update of what to look forward to from this blog with lots of nice photos :)

Until next time.

Bad Moon Orks, they got all the Teeth!

Social distancing and self isolation feels alien to some, but to the miniature hobby enthusiast this is the best opportunity to get some painting, solo gaming or terrain projects done. With that in mind and putting down the How to Make Wargames Terrain book here is a photo of some Bad Moon orks who have been sitting about on the to be done shelf for quite a while.

Der Goffs got nuttin on us Bad Moons! (edited the image quality on instagram)

These orks come from across the range and although some are classed as being from other clans they are now fully integrated into the Bad Moons.

We av all da teeth to buy all zat good gear!

The main joy from creating this squad is the chance to add a bit of much needed colour and brightness to my ork force. It has also provided me with a challenge of trying to paint a proper yellow and blue paint scheme.

Quit messing around, need to show off our flash yellow and blue clan!

Burly and Mean - Gladiator Ogre

If you enjoy oldhammer and especially the late 80s early 90s era then you almost certainly have seen the amazing Ogre models that were produced at the time.

An ogre shaman meets two trollslayers in a dungeon.

There was a large range of varied sculpts from a mercenary to a berserker, I happen to own four in total and I am looking for one more to make a nice group of five (possibly use them as ogryns in my ork force or for a warhammer fantasy chaos warband). Today though will be about the first of the four I do have. It’s the gladiator ogre. This guy was more of an impulse buy rather than one of the actual ogres I originally wanted but it is still an excellent model and easily worthy of my painting time. I'm not up to spped on my old warhammer fantasy lore from the time but I don't remember any coliseums or other gladiators in the old world.

Are you not entertained? Look at my finely toned musculature.

 One thing I have changed with this model is the base. Normally I am fine to just have a base witha little bit of flock on it. However my bounty hunter ogre I bought on ebay came with a lovely base that someone made which wouldn't fit witht he other ogres. Fortunatley I recently bought that starter age of sigmar kit from the newsagent with the three sigmar knight guys. The bases those three have are very detailed and so one went to this ogre. No fancy marbel though, this got turned into ruined paving slabs in a marsh. I think it came out quite well as a n alternative to my normal basic basing style. 

I earned enough in my last fight for some nice new green hair dye!

To paint this ogre I first started with a white undercoat and then a heavy wash of rhinox brown. This then followed with some elven flesh . The gauntlet and flail were boltgun metal and mithril silver with some black wash for the crevices. The hand is a combination of brass scoprion and gold on top of those previous colors. I decided to be a bit bold and go for a lilac purple loincloth, why is he weaing only a thong loincloth the world will never know. Lastly the leather straps are black with a grey highlight attempt.

Mine's several pints, or do you want a smack?

As with all Jes Goodwin ogres the faces are the best part. The mohawk is a mix of greens with putrid green being used as a highlight. The nose got a light wash of red gore to give the look of a heavy drinker and the eyes and mouth were done using rakarth flesh.

Grrr, think I'll just duff you up for yer gold anyway!!

One oldhammer ogre down several more to go. I hope you enjoyed looking at these pics as much as I painted this guy.

Until next time :)

Blood Axe Kommandos: Stay Alert behind enemy lines.

Lockdown is no fun for those who like to be out and about exploring new places. Which obviously means I need to paint the ork equivalent. The Blood Axe Kommandos

Now those who have been following me online here may have noticed the occasional photo of some Blood Axe Kommandos appearing here and there. (The Kill Team Battle report had a couple) whilst I believe this photo below also appeared at some point

The snotlings are just pleased the trollslayers are looking the wrong way.

On and off I have tackled these lads but never made a serious attempt to get them all done (still have two more somewhere but they can wait). That is until the quarantine came along.

Kaptin Ezee Fearzug and his squad of Kommandos

Kommando models from 2nd edition are so full of character you never quite realise they are finished. Much like a Rob Liefeld comic from the late 90s they have so many pouches, kitbags, knives, ropes it's a treat to paint them. One of them even has a grappling hook.

We iz az kunnin as Mork himself!

Terrifying scream, enraged and full of anger - Tyranid Screamer Killer!!

Hello everyone. For those who have been reading this blog you may remember a post about my top ten miniatures of all time (You can read all about it by clicking this link). Those that have read it will have spotted that number 3 on that list was ...

THE TYRANID SCREAMER KILLER!!!!!

Run for your lives!!

This is the model that sealed my love for the hobby. Others may claim it was some cool space marine terminators, a dwarf on skis, that amazing John Blanche undead bridge diorama or even a giant spined dragon but for me it was the Tyranid Screamer Killer or Carnifex to it's science friends.

Hivemind has consumed an ork.

I love how alien looking this giant battering ram looks. With its four massive scythe arms, that disturbing head and gaping maw, the fact it also had some amazing stats to go with it was just gravy to an already delicious roast dinner.

Mad Boys for life!

Easter time means more painting time, especially when you can't leave the building. What should hop up next on the painting schedule, why a depressed ork Mad Boy.

You may remember I painted one of these expressive orks before, if not follow this link:
(https://oldhammer40kquest.blogspot.com/2019/09/mad-boys-mad-boys-whatcha-gonna-do.html).

Apparently this one is known as a melankolik according to the white dwarf 'eavy metal showcase. To me though he looks more depressed what with the hangman's rope around his neck and sad face.

This was a nice little miniature to paint up in between other bigger or multi model projects.

Anyway that's it for this small update.

Until next time :)

More Goff Orks get painted

This will be a very quick showcase post on the blog. With the dreaded Covid-19 Virus lurking out there in the streets like some sort of abomination spawned from Papa Nurgle himself, it has been a great time to get the paints out and work on some miniatures.

"Ahh, turn dat flash off ya git! Bright enuff up here in dis snow!"

As is always the case when it comes to dusting off the brushes, I am always drawn to something simpler to paint. Often the classic Goff Orks from the 2nd edition box get the honour. Anyone who has been following this blog will know I have already painted quite a few of them and today four more join the ranks.

These four are the kind of plastic goff ork that got raided for parts back in my youth. Arms, weapons and even helmet spikes got removed for some other project or idea. The rest of them then got dropped in the bitz box where they remained until recently.

Right ladz, better now we can see.

On fishing the four main bodies out it was clear not one of them was complete. Three had issues with there left arm, whilst the last one was entirely 'armless (Ere' dat not funny!).

A quick root around and some new arms and weapons were found and attached. Even if one was part of a damaged lasgun and the mace end of a heroquest orc.

Chain-sword party at the ready! "Grrzrrzrrz!" "Cut it out Nogzub"

I painted them up with the standard technique I have been using which can be found in the Links and Showcases bar on the right of this blog.

Hope you enjoy this little painting trip, stay tuned for more regular blog posts now we are all inside.

Until next time, stay safe.

Time ticks on as 2019 ends.

A final post of the year for this little blog that keeps putting out the odd nugget of oldhammer goodness.

For me it's been a good year of painting, certainly my most prolific. Not sure how I found the time to paint the following:

The Witch Lord from Heroquest
A Heresy Werewolf
Two Gretchin for a Squig Catapult
One Goff Ork
One normal Ork
A Kustom Blasta Mekanik
A looney Mad Boy
One Female Sorceress
The Keeper of Secrets that sat in my bits box for years!
An ancient Bob Olley Giant Black Orc
A converted Gyro-Stabilised Monowheel Ork Bigboss
Seven Ork Stormboyz

Now for some photos of things (2019 & older) I forgot to show or meant to include in a blog post that I never ended up creating.

Space Crusade

Somehow I ended up playing a game of Space Crusade this year and was in control of the vile alien xenos. The above photo is when the Blood Angels and Imperial Fists got a bit heretical and accused each other of joining chaos. The Genestealers jumped in for afters :)

Fly me to the moon, let me crash into a tree: Stormboy Orks.

Orks are not reliable, kustom weapons will blow up, madboyz will stand around drooling. Yet nothing compares to the Stormboy Jetpack!

Oh yes the joy of being able to leap miles along the battlefield for a deadly strike ... at that large clump of spiky cactus and deal explosive death ... in midair!? Okay so Stormboys are not great but they have character, buckets of it. 

"Attention! Lads there is report of chaos activity in the mountain!"

Ditch the ere' we go mantra it's time to get professional, regimental and organised! When I think of Stormboyz I think about old time wrestler Sgt Slaughter; not the american patriotism part, but the backstage promos: "Listen Up Maggots!". Angry but ordered and with great pride in there skills and equipment which makes them feel all a bit un-orky.

Camouflage at it's finest.

Now when it came to painting these guys I didn't want the standard drab grey uniform that is found in the codex. All a bit 1940s Germany and also a bit dull. Instead I looked through a variety of military uniforms and found the Georgian Hussars. Now this is more like it for orks, bright yellow coats and boots with red pants. Amazing!

"Ready and waiting. Drillboss Displeen wat orders?"

As you can see although these minis are mostly classic stormboyz the one on the right here is a normal blood axe ork I gave a jump pack too with his axe on his belt (nicked from a trollslayer). I think he fits in quite well and brings the squad up to seven.

Dawn of time painting and the Black Orc

The year is 1992, Rhythm is a Dancer is in the charts, I get taken to see FernGully: The Last Rainforest instead of Aladdin and Ric Flair has become WWF champion.

None of these things are as important as the fact that 9 year old me for Christmas had been given Heroquest! Running through dungeons filled with orcs, claiming gold and potions of healing was amazing. The hook was in and then came White Dwarf 145! Which had so much mini goodness especially for Heroquest. (Well it did for 9 year old me). One thing led to another and one autumn day I got taken to Games Workshop in Hammersmith (child me oblivious this was the very first Games Workshop) so we could get a copy of the Advanced Heroquest Paint set.

The real tale to tell though is whilst in the shop I got to pick a blister pack of models as well. Now to child me this was crazy, new models and they would be made of metal! What to pick? Well I can't remember the thought process but I do remember seeing row upon row of blister packs beneath the colourful big box games like Space Fleet, Kerrunch & Battle for Armageddon.

The Giant Black Orcs. I own Mace 1 and Sword 1 but I have noticed my Sword Black Orc has his sword attached to his head.

Who knows what was in those blister packs I glanced through? What I do know is I ended up picking some Black Orcs. Bigger stronger foes for my Barbarian and Dwarf to fight maybe even use them as the Orc Warlord. With that and the big box paint sent money was paid and I went home a happy kid with the first lead to my name.

How to unicycle your way to victory with Orks ... (part 2)

Now where had we got to, looks at photo of half undercoated Ork on a mono-wheel, ah yes a paint scheme and I need a banner too.

For the first part head over here:
(https://oldhammer40kquest.blogspot.com/2019/08/how-to-unicycle-your-way-to-victory.html)

So what next, well let's see if that monowheel can be covered in some more paint so the day-glow orange and green is less visible.

At this stage I wasn't sure he was going to turn out okay.

First I covered the metal parts in Rhinox Hide using the method I have for the Goff Orks I have painted previously. Next it was time to base coat the Ork. Tyre black, shirt and pouches various browns, the bandolier I think I started with elven flesh for some reason. The skin was the usual Goblin Green and hair blue. Followed by a custom watered down wash of black/dark brown mix for everything that didn't get a dark angel green for the skin. This resulted in the following:

 

Life got in the way at this point, nice trips to Jersey for weddings and Whitstable for fish and chips meant our Orky friend sat on the shelf for a couple of weeks. But free time loomed yesterday and he is now complete including fancy banner. 

No time fur dat, gotz sum Oomans to nok down! Outta way!

Mad Boys, Mad Boys, What'cha gonna do? What'cha gonna do when they come for you? Mad Boys!

It's Oldhammer Ork Madness!! Bob Olley style!

As some of you may know over on the Oldhammer Facebook page this month is #PaintaBob as in Bob Olley. Now my knowledge of Bob Olley is not great so on doing some research I discovered that he made quite a few of the 2nd Edition Ork Wierdboys and Ork Madboys. He also did the Iron Claw Black Orcs, well there is some fun history there but that is a story for another time.

Madboyz are fun, stupid, daft and mostly useless on the tabletop. They ooze charm with the minatures though so many poses, faces and pleasant parts to paint. I chose this chap:

I'm covered in flour, I iz! 

According to the Eavy Metal spread in White Dwarf he is officially a Deliriak so I guess he is either delirious or spends his time serving customers pork pies and samosas at a big chain supermarket.

Where da baddies at den? *snort~gigglez*

Went for a variety of colours for the Madboy because well they are mad, hadn't used much purple recently so felt that would be a good choice for the undershirt. Bit of blue for the hair (I quite like using blue for Ork Hair think it comes out well with the green ork skin) and the rest was standard orky style colours.

Dis is too scariez, me off now.

For a bit of fun I tried making a spiral pattern on the back of the madboy, think I'll make that there logo/brand when I paint the rest. Oh yes didn't I mention, I have another 6-7 of these madboyz. Not that it will help on the battlefield as they will end up just picking there nose or looking for a lost puppy.

Until next time :)

A Favourite Diorama from yesteryear: Lament's End

I was flicking through some white dwarfs for some painting inspiration and I came across this amazing Diorama that won first place at the USA Golden Demon 1992

Just had to share because this brought back some great nostalgia for me. Always adored the Old Tyranid Warriors and this scene is just so alien and creepy. The interior of the Hive Ship by Mike Stevenson is visually amazing, full of sinew and organics like I imagine.

The Space Marine Scout is clearly out classed here as he is about to be diced up. I think the egg on the wall is great, who knows what horror may burst forth from it.

Anyway, until next time :)