Old, new, borrowed and...bilious green

Hello again.

Way back on 2nd July, I proudly posted about my latest purchase, which was the latest incarnation of Warhammer 40K, together with the Chaos Space Marine Codex.

I drank deeply of the putrid filth that is the Death Guard, waxed lyrical about new options allowed by the new rules to make this doyen of disease and decay even more palatable and bemoaned the fact that I could no longer have Terminators in my Death Guard forces as the new Codex omitted them from the relevant list.

Well, on September 16th I hurried down to my nearest Games Workshop store to purchase the newly-released, specifically "Death Guard" Codex. I also managed to get some cards to use with them, showing tactical gubbins of one sort or another for use with 40K, but I was unable to get the special dice also released at the same time because they had already sold out when I got there.

I had a flick through on arriving home and, lo and behold, not none, not one, but TWO TYPES OF TERMINATOR IN THE DEATH GUARD LISTS!!!



Had they relented at GWHQ? Had they been bombarded with bile by those of us who were old enough to remember the last century at the omission of the Tactical Dreadnought armour types from the Chaos Codex? Had I read that part of the Codex wrongly and confused myself (not too uncommon a thing, unfortunately...)

Who cares?!

My entries into the genre are more of the "Blightlord" category than the "Deathshroud" variety (see pages above), but I am sure I can field both with some thought and coercion of my opponent, when I get a game in that is. I knew there was a reason I originally built eight of these though."Blightlord" units are five+ strong and "Deathshroud" ones 3+ strong!

So, what better way to celebrate than to post a few more retro picks of what younger G used to get up to in his gaming time.

G



These Terminators were originally built mainly from parts from the plastic Imperial Terminators available a couple of decades ago. By mixing parts from other sets, adding some Greenstuff rotten flesh, patches of textured paint scoriasis, etc, I got what I was looking for and made them into something Nurgle-esque. This is the leader figure.



Three ordinarily-equipped figures, with Storm Bolter and Powerfist. A judicious mix of Greenstuff, protruding worms, rust and other detritus all adds to what I was trying to achieve all those years ago.

And the effects are both back and front on various figures.

 

The "Specialist Weapons" types - heavy flamer for smoking out troops in buildings, the Reaper Autocannon for rapid, heavy firepower, a combi-weapon for mixing effects vs various targets and a good old chainfist to rip through tanks.

And a close up of a few of the disease effects I was after, namely mottled, diseased skin, boils and scoriasis, together with rust, rot and patched-up armour.

Half a century in the making

Hello again.

A few months ago, before the various technical and other challenges I referred to in the first post I published this month, I mentioned that I had a certain milestone birthday approaching. Well, as far as I am aware, Harry Potter and I have four things in common - we both wear glasses, we are both sans parents, we both have scars (though his main one is far more prominent than mine and was caused by something very different), and we share the 31st July as our birthday.

Yes, Monday, 31st July, 2017 saw yours truly turn fifty, whilst on a family holiday with around twenty others who decided they would like to join me at a collection of stone buildings down in rural Somerset where we stayed for an excellent, if slightly damp in places, week of relaxation, sightseeing, fun, laughter, games and the odd disagreement!

I had a jolly wonderful time and, as it was my birthday, although I tried to tell people we were not actually there for that, I received a number of very decent gifts from the entourage. The wargaming-related ones are here.



The "Travel Battle" was courtesy of wife and children - I must have dropped a few hints somewhere...

For those few of you not in the know on this one, it was originated by one of the Perry twins many years ago as a quick and portable option for a game whilst away at shows, conventions or re-enactment events. The box contains two armies, terrain and rules. The option exists to paint the two forces in the box, which are generic Napoleonic-style figures in red and blue plastic, so basically French vs British. Given that my passion in Napoleonic terms is to play Austrian, I wonder how the red ones would look in white...

There will undoubtedly be several articles on the web and in future magazines about how to expand this further, which I await with interest, but the set is on the conveyor belt of projects that is my "To Do" list. It can, of course, be played without painting either the figures or terrain, but that would not be very wargamer-ish.



Now this little offering was a very generous one from Nephew Nick and his wife, Claire. I had heard of it, and its derivatives, but never actually played any of them. It looks great and could very easily become my de rigeur choice whenever I want a quick WW2 game. It too is chock full of figures, including tanks and artillery. I very much look forward to giving this a go asap.

A good birthday!!!

See you soon.

G

Tasters and titbits

Hello again.

No posts for two months and then three come along in as many days!

Not content with finishing a few dozen (well, over twelve dozen actually) 10mm Crimean War Russians, I have given some thought to what next year might hold for the Wyrley Retinue. Now, Nephew Paul wanted a World War 1 game and was sent off by the rest of us to source something suitable. He has not been heard of since....I reckon Malmaison would be a good bet, but hey ho.

So, Nephew Nick and I got our heads together in the absence of any feedback from Nephew Paul and thought we might use my French & Indian Wars figures in a suitable show-type game. Cue various ideas, plans, schemes and plots and....the purchase of several packs of Eagle Figures French and British Seven Years' War infantry and artillery at the Barrage Show in Stafford back in July. I am not convinced that this game will get off the ground, with various challenges to be met by one or two of us that seem to be draining will and time, but I have at least made a start.

Below are a few photos of the first of the French, but, actually, as I type, I have painted the sum total of 20 60th Foot (Royal Americans) for the British, with the command group still to do, a battalion of the French La Reine regiment and I am part way through (about 25%) a battalion of the Royal Roussillon regiment. Of course, I already have the figures from my "Muskets & Tomahawks" set up, so there should be no paucity of light troops and skirmishers, but I wanted to be able to field some good, solid line infantry too to fulfil one or more of the ideas I have been batting around, so these are progressing slowly. I expect to be adding more troops to the lead mountain at the Derby Worlds show early in October, so I am good to go regardless of whether the game makes it or not. I am enjoying painting some uniformity for a change and, having recently re-read a couple of Charles Grant's works, the 18th Century is quite an attraction at the moment.

I will post the pictures of the finished units soon enough, but even the "complete" La Reine battalion is not yet either varnished or based, so it might be a while yet.

Anyway, by way of a taster or a titbit, here are the aforementioned photos of a couple of new figures for the project.

See you soon,

G

The drummer for my La Reine regiment, in his alternative livery of red coat rather than the usual Livree du Roi blue.

And a rear view to show I did not skimp too much on the lace...

And another for Royal-Roussillon. I initially baulked at the drums these guys carried, littered with cannon, miniature regimental flags and so on, but it had to be done so I had a go at it. I don't think it looks too bad from this range!

And another rear view to show I did not cheat too much on the lace.

A long time ago, in a peninsula far, far away...

Hello again.

A few months back, as you may remember from a previous post, I made my usual journey to the WMMS show at the Aldersley Leisure Centre near Wolverhampton to demo our Vikings game and buy a few bits and bobs. Well, more than a few bits and bobs.

One of my major purchases was the Partizan Guide to the Crimean War and a starter force from Pendraken for that conflict, a Russian starter army to be precise, in Pendraken's usual 10mm format.

Well, the summer saw the completion of all except the cavalry element of that force, the dragoons in question being delayed whilst I sought some better source material than I had to hand, specifically covering flag details. Those dragoons are still not finished, but the rest of the force is.

This project will definitely grow as time wears on. I thoroughly enjoyed painting them and the timescale for completion thus far was measured in weeks rather than months. I still have a decision to make on rules, but have a few options there. I also need a good source of uniform and flag details for all arms, which I hope Laurence Spring's tome on the Russian army of this war will be, when I get the chance to peruse a copy, hopefully at Derby Worlds in a month's time. With both Pendraken and Magister Militum providing figures for this conflict in 10mm, I also have choices there, especially with MM's regimental light cavalry pack for the British having four regiments of cavalry, plus three gins, consisting of light dragoons, hussars and lancers, all for £27.50. Who said "Charge of the Light Brigade"?

G

The LINE INFANTRY

Three battalions, each of six bases of four figures. Now, they might not actually end up as three battalions, as I have not settled on rules yet. Regimental Fire & Fury were my first option, but I will need a LOAD more figures for that. Thus, I also considered Black Powder and Ran & File, but no decision has been made yet. The figures are a mix of cap and helmet headgear, but all are greatcoated except the officers, one per battalion.

 

 

The JAGER

 

These are non-greatcoated figures, again a mix of helmet and cap. The army pack is pre-determined, so I made the best use, as I saw it, of whatever different figures I had to hand. To make the Jager stand out, they were all minus greatcoat. Fortunately, I had enough of each different type to make the choices I made with just a few spare figures left over.

The NAVAL INFANTRY

 



Finally, I was able to muster six bases of four figures with cap and without greatcoat to form a Naval Infantry battalion. The flag was a lot simpler, but all are just rectangles of sticky label wrapped around the pole after being painted in the flat. I highlight them once they are hung. The Brigadier is the Officer from the dragoons I still need to finish.

 The ARTILLERY

Three generic field pieces with three crew figures each. The aforementioned brigadier is now a lowly battery commander.



 

Ebb and flow

Hello again.

I cannot believe it is over two months since I last put something up on the blog, but there it is. A veritable cornucopia of technical issues, family holidays, the sad loss of my beloved Border Collie, impending redundancy and other life events have seen my activity slip to what I would call "very limited", but here I am again.

So, to recommence my musings after this latest lay off, I am linking the last post I did with this one by way of showcasing a few choice items from my Death Guard, which, I hope, also convey quite why I was so excited by the new release of Warhammer 40K edition whatever, complete with the Death Guard miniatures.

Now, this trio of ne'er-do-wells are not the Bee Gees, nor Genesis post-Steve Hackett. They are not A-ha (which Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev has a penchant for, much to my amazement when I discovered it!). They are not even the Sugababes in any of their various incarnations.

No, these three scions of Chaos are the source of much amusement, a depiction of my mad desire for converting and scratch building much of my Chaos forces back in the day and also became a sort of figurehead for my Death Guard in its paltry number of actual outings to the tabletop, a sort of signature dish for how I wanted my force to look.

"Why amusement?" I hear you cry.

Well, in one particular game against Nephew Paul, one of them wiped out most of the Chaos army in dice-fuelled fits of psychotic rage. He did more damage to his own side than all of the Space Marines opposite could manage between them! Then another, in the same game, walked calmly across the battlefield, lascannon shots bouncing off all over, and ripped the offending Predator, with its puny, twin-linked lascannons, to pieces with its bare claws. It then promptly scored two wounds on the Space Marine Chaplain who was the only thing left alive on the opposing side...........and Nephew Paul promptly rolled a double six for invulnerable saves, thereby earning a draw! Happy days!!!

Anyway, all three of these beasts were converted from the plastic Space Marine Dreadnought kit from Games Workshop at least ten years ago, and probably nearer twenty, when I first set out on this Death Guard frenzy. A lot of greenstuff, bits of other kits, pieces of wire, plastruct and sundry other bits later, I had three Death Guard Dreadnoughts of my own, each unique and, in my eyes, showcasing exactly why Chaos was King. All that potential for conversion and creation at a time when most people just seemed to want to build the various kits according to the manufacturer's instructions. If I had wanted to do that, I would have settled down with one of Airfix's offerings!

Part of the "legend" was that they all had names and personalities. We had the troop muncher with the plasma cannon (I think I called him something like "Bubonicus", but my memory is failing somewhat!), the armour hunter with the multi-melta (Lord Tsetse, as the fly-resemblance is entirely intentional) and the bruiser with the twin close combat weapons (Lord Tetanus). According them noble titles emphasised the message - these guys were there to lead the footsloggers like good (or not) medieval knights.

I make no claim that any of them are the greatest/ best/ most reasonable/ other examples of the breed - I have seen some truly stunning GW kit in my time, converted or otherwise - but they are the sort of thing that first led me to build exclusively Chaos forces for 40K. Nothing has ever come close to making the workbench in 40K terms, as I just love the opportunities for modelling and creativity afforded by Chaos. Orks could have rivalled it, but I cannot get over the inherent silliness of the breed. Oh well.

Time for the photos. See you soon.

G

"Bubonicus" is all his glory. He was the first one built and I used the metal claw from the original, metal Dreadnought kit by GW. The rest of the kit formed the sole dreadnought from my original Chaos Legion, the "Medusa Legion", which had an Ancient Greek vibe in my imagination, with lots of red plumes and close combat weapons. I may show them at some point. The plasma cannon is from a boxed set of Orks from about 30 years ago, the rest a mix of greenstuff and sundry kit parts.

Ah, the front view seems to have failed. A plastruct girder is his main weapon, allied with a powerfist with built in flamer for that "up close and personal" combat experience, this is Lord Tetanus, all black eye and brute force. Subtlety not required... 

And, finally, Lord Tsetse, the fly-like leviathan who likes to eat tanks for a living. He is the most converted of all, with arms splayed more widely via inserts and greenstuff, a largely scratchbuilt multi-melta from plastic tube, prominent antennae and proboscis from brass wire, a face sculpted from green stuff, powerfist claws from more plastruct and token trophy rack with incense burner for that extra bit of religious iconography. The clawed foot is just another attempt to do something a little different to the other two.