Stargrave - Skaven are even out here?!

On the galactic highway that is outer space the crews of various ships and cruisers seek adventure, loot and a snazzy stone for warp travel, maybe.

Veer-Myn artwork from the Deadzone game.

Oh my how long has it been since I updated this blog!! what have I been up to? Well summer never lends itself to painting for me, to much to do outside and other activities. Have I painted anything you may ask, and the answer is yes but it hasn't been overly oldhammer. The most recent off the paint table are the miniatures from The Thing Board Game and Cosmic Frog but I'll save those for another day. In the meantime...

Welcome to Stargrave and my crew. A game of mercenary bands or group of disparate folk trying to get by in the unfriendly cosmos. As you can see my crew is a morphed conversion of genestealer cultists and skaven minatures.

The crew line up, loot maybe nearby to steal!

Early painting ambition and setting realistic goals.

*Note this is an old post updated with new photos and thoughts.

 It occurred to me the other day that a lot of what I see on the internet in regards to painted miniatures is often excellent and amazing. Images of hand-crafted spawning pools of chaos daemons rising from the blood pits or incredible detail on a Dwarven Lords runic hammer and armour. 

Wonderful looking clash between Tzeentch and Empire forces.

Which is great, I love being inspired by such artwork. I remember when I first got into this hobby and looking at White dwarf or a codex Eavy Metal page and going 'Wow' to myself. You know this kind of thing:

Always liked that Eldar Warlock.

But despite wanting to paint something like that myself I have never been as skilled or patient enough to get anywhere near that kind of result. So this post is more a display of hope for any aspiring miniature hobby painter that no matter what you do it can only get better and we have all had to start somewhere. Indeed welcome to crudely painted Space Crusade 1991 Space Orks.

Gold skinned orks with black teeth have yet to really take off :)

These four fine chaps have now gone to the dettol dip to be cleaned up but I thought I should take a photo of what young me thought you could do with citadels paint. 

(On the main page? Click to see more 😎)

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. 

“HAIL TO THE KING, BABY”

There is a series of horror movies (and a tv show) that hold a special place in my heart. They are not super scare fests or serious, but they are very entertaining, full of gore, splatter and funny. I am naturally talking about the Evil Dead franchise.

Over the course of three* movies and a TV series Ash Williams (played by the icon of B-movie cinema Bruce Campbell) gets dragged through hell and back after reading from The Necronomicon: The Book of the Dead. These films urged me to find a suitable miniature version of Ash, whether he gets used in any game is neither here nor there. I was looking forward to painting him up either way.

Ash in Army of Darkness

On searching I found Hasslefree miniatures did an excellent Ash model called Oakley. It comes with the as required 12 Gauge and chainsaw for a hand but if you wanted he could be equipped with a samurai sword or an axe. Not that I was giving him anything but his chainsaw hand so they went straight in the bitz box.

Paint scheme wise this wasn't going to be a surprise as I wanted to stay faithful to the films and show.  Which means a blue shirt, brown trousers and red chainsaw.

"Good, Bad, I'm the Guy with a Gun"

The real question was do I add blood splatter or not? Although it could be fun I decided against the gore for my Ash. Those Deadites haven't found him just yet. 

“Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up! See this? This… is my boomstick!”

So there we go a bit of Evil Dead / Bruce Campbell / Ash to start 2022. Groovy!

Until next time :)

*I'm not counting that remake that came out a few years back.

Phantom of the Goff-era

 A short and sweet post about three Goff orks that got painted recently.

So as you know I have been running through the monopose plastic Goff orks that were in the main base game of 2nd edition and these three are the final ones (unless I find one in a bitz box mangled to near destruction). 

Hey Gobcha, how di the Goffs win da last battle?

However these three required some serious fixing. While one just needed a left arm fixing and a new axe source the other two needed a bit more. Both had no arms and so another search returned some arms, weapons and some makeshift shoulder plates for the right arms.
The last ork had a bigger problem in that the face had been half hacked at or possibly melted? Either way there was no way to salvage that and my painting skills would be struggling.

Ere boss? When u gonna paint us?

To resolve this I first armed him with a plasma gun and then decided after some discussion to go for a half mask in the form of the phantom of the opera. So chopping up an old shield part for a warhammer fantasy skeleton unit I put that over the face.

Plasma burns! Gonna scare da ladz this Halloween!!

With the necessary fixes applied it came time to paint the three of them with the tried and tested methods I had used before. I decided the mask was going to be metal and went for a dirty gold look for it. I think it has worked out well in saving the model.

Da boyz got some dakka, then got stuk in to dem beakies. That's how!

That's it for this update, short but fun painting session to get these three orks battle ready, next time maybe some Dreadnoughts or a Grot or possibly something else entirely from the stars..

Until next time :)

I think I'm a banana tree... the oddest of Orks

Oh wow it's been a bit of time since I added a post to this blog hasn't it? The last post was back in March!! where did the summer go?

Boss man it still snowing out here!! Found dis nice skull of a ooman though!

Well better something than nothing so here is another post about Madboys the characterful but fairly useless ork army choice in 2nd edition. As I have managed to get them all painted up now it seemed fitting for a little showcase. It's a small squad of only six but they have so much character I'd have to include them in any ork army list for the fun of it.

We all goin' on da summerz holidayz, drinkin squiggy colada in da snow!

A couple of shots of the front and back of these orks would be a nice, to show all the little details they have. So click on the read more to see individual photos.

Cold hard stone, wait did it just move?!

It's been almost a year (and quite a while since I made a post at all) since I did a Heroquest blog post and finally the last monster hit the paint table. I could say other projects had taken priority but honestly it was more down to being unsure of how I wanted to paint the stone boss of the original mainstream dungeon exploring game.

Yes the Gargoyle! The dread statue that rolls more attacks than the barbarian and is often best avoided if it can be helped. It's such a great model I wasn't really sure how I was going to paint it at first. Do I go down the route of painting it like a small Bloodthirster or maybe make it a sandblasted rocky colour like on the cover art of the Kellar's Keep expansion.

Despite the menace, I do like that one goblin struggling not to fall.

In the end I decided on a halfway between stone and being alive. I decided for a more grey stone than the above artwork as I felt it fit the aesthetic I wanted a bit more.

Behold my power, living stone becomes living death!!

First I need to explain my current camera is not ideal for taking photos and lighting is an issue at the moment so in comparison to some earlier posts these are not the best photos.

I went for the classic khorne style colours for the top half of the gargoyle, nice to use reds and bronze makes a change from the green of orks.

Death comes for this plane of wooden ground and chair mountains!

This is the reverse shot of the Gargoyle. I tried to keep the wings simple and just went for some shading on the orange/red colours.

Where is that barbarian? I will cleave his head from his bloody corpse!

There we have it all the Heroquest monsters and Heroes are complete, might get a group shot up of them all when this lockdown comes to an end.

In the meantime have a great day and thanks for reading :)

Original punk orks and other lads

The oldhammer hobby is a mixed bag of fun painting, hard to find models and nostalgia. For me one of these nostalgia moments is the original plastic orks from rogue trader which were given to me as a child from an older cousin.

Specialist hair squigs really bring out the green skin complexion.

These orks were already painted up when I was given them and have remained that way. I never really thought a lot of them once I got my own orks from the 2nd edition box, however they did have cool sunglasses and mohawks so remained in use as another squad. Only now after coming back to my ork army and looking through my collection am I beginning to appreciate these guys and the variety of faces they have.

Orks or Fist of the North Star goons?

Having said all that they still needed a fresh coat of paint and some alterations to there arms and weapons. The result of which you can see above.

"Right where are the rest of the goff ladz at den?"

Also in the paint pile has been some more Goff Orks. If the last lot needed some repairs these guys needed saving from horrible painting cataclysms. You can't see it now but the ork on the left has a weird bobble effect from some spray paint from 20+ years ago.

"Ere to fix ya up, what do ya mean ya need dat leg?"

Now this Ork Painboy has actually appeared before on this blog. Way back in 2017 he got in on a photo with two other orks. (Check it out here!) However I was never really happy with him. I felt the colour scheme was too similar to all the other standard ork boyz. So he's had a new lick of white/bone paint to imply he is some sort of doctor.

"Forgot Doc's toolz, never a grot around when ya need 'em"

A bit of red/green stains on his apron add a little character to the miniature. The back has always had this blue eyed skull logo and I decided to leave it on him.

Dungit is much better now. No I didn't just hit im wiv a hammer!

A final shot of all the orks together including another madboy. I took some solo photos of him but hey came out blurry. Guess you will have to wait for me to paint some more for a closer look at that ork.

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 :)

..Breaking News!.. new Gaslands competitor spotted!

Maybe it's the constant state of being inside during the virus outbreak but sometimes you have to create something bonkers just for the hell of it. Which is how a toy car from eBay bought for Gaslands last year took a turn for the bizarre.

Gaslands as I have mentioned before is a game of car mayhem where you either race or destruction derby your way around a track. Cars have guns, oil slicks, flamethrowers, rams and an assortment of other tools with which to aid in this destruction. The main cool factor is you can use any toy car you can find; Hot Wheels and Matchbox being the most common choice.

Once upon a time a child got this as a present.

This is the car I acquired from ebay for a bout 10 pence. On looking it up, it is a Woosh'n'Push matchbox toy car from the 70s. It is possibly one of the ugliest toy cars I have ever seen and has no driver.

So who is to crew this oddball car, well after discarding some vague notions of using an ork or an imperial guard model. I found shoved at the back of a cupboard this chap.

"Ey 'up there lad"

For those who don't shop in Lidl this is a Stikeez, a sort of promotional collectable plastic toy encouraging children to eat vegetables. They all have this suction cup part so they can stick to windows or flat surfaces. Our green eyed friend above I believe is meant to be a potato, although he could be something else entirely...

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!