A Very New Manufacturer?

Just browsing the forums, and I discovered Reiver Castings' massive range of VBCW stuff, which can be seen here.

In sum, they do A LOT of stuff, in packs of 10 infantry, 5 command and 4, or 3 if command, mounted. I intend to get some of their Black & Tans to fill out the Skye Battalion unit I started so long ago.

Of Houses and Packing Tape

Well, I'm up to my eyeballs in cardboard boxes and packing tape, as I am moving house. Boo and hiss! No, it's actually going to be great - I'll be living above a toyshop that stocks paints and basing material, so that's handy and probably going to be a massive money-sink unless I carefully ration myself. To, say, 99.9% of all my wages.

That seems reasonable, right?

Right?

...

Moving swiftly on! Whilst packing, I had a closer look at the unpainted Necromunda stuff I have lurking in a carrycase. As previously mentioned, it's only 41 figures, and they break down thusly:

1x Wyrd (Telekinetic)
2x Scummers (ex-Goliath, ex-Delaque)
3x Escher (running with shotgun, heavy stubber and Leader pointing with laspistol and bolter)
4x Goliaths (all Juves I think)
9x Ratskins (mostly Braves, a couple of Warriors, and one Shaman)
22x Orlocks (Leader with power axe, heavy bolter, 20 various Gangers and Juves including some conversions, e.g. heavy with grenade launcher).

So I think I'll make them my first priority once we're all unpacked and settled in. I wouldn't expect much in the way of productive painting-style posts for a good couple of weeks - mainly because all my stuff, paint-wise, is now packed up.

The counter to this is that I hope to start regularly gaming against my old foe, Al Front. Once a month if the gods smile upon us! Which will, of course, spur me on to do more daft stuff like finish off my AK-47 armies, start that Lace Wars imagi-nations army I've been banging on about for years now, and so on and so forth.

Exciting times ahead! Stay tuned...

Solland Resurgent!

In a quiet moment today, with my son asleep and my wife on the telephone, I dug out my current Warhammer Fantasy Battle Empire army. The idea behind it, apart from the preponderance of Pike and Shot style tactics and units (three blocks of spear, two of pike, and a lot of musketeers), is that a minor lord in Wissenland - the southernmost province of the Empire - has discovered that he can legitimately trace himself back to the last Elector Count of Solland. Solland, for those who don't know, was originally the southernmost province of Wissenland, but it was destroyed by Orcs and its lands absorbed into Wissenland.

Anyway, this Lord has declared himself the Elector Count of Solland, and is busy trying to sieze back the old lands of Solland whilst the Emperor and the rest of the Empire is busy with the aftermath of the ill-fated Storm of Chaos invasion. He hopes to present Karl Franz, the Emperor, with a fait accompli and have Solland restored to, well, its old lands and ways.

So far I have the following:

The Count, on his charger,
His faithful second, with the Standard of Solland,
An Amethyst Wizard,
A Bright Wizard,
30 Musketeers (10 built, 20 on sprue);
60 Spearmen (23 built, 37 on sprue).

To finish it off, I need two blocks of 35 pike, another 30 musketeers, a unit of heavy cavalry, and a couple of cannon. I'm tempted to get some Dopplesoldner greatswords, but I'm not 100% certain. I think it might be worth getting some Pistoliers and things as well, just to really differentiate the army from a Renaissance European one.

Anyway - pictures of what I've done so far!


Overhead 3/4 view - Lord, Heroes, 10 musketeers and the 3rd Spear Regiment, plus the command group of the 1st Spear Regiment.


Front view of same.


Side 3/4 view of the wizards, Lord and Captain. The wizard on the right is from the Amythest College, and the wizard on the left is from the Bright College.


The command group of the 1st Spear. I will think of better names for these units soon!

Eventually there'll be 60 musketeers and 120 'pike', a ratio of 1:2 - similar to the late 16th Century armies, if I recall correctly. It's not until the English Civil War and Thirty Years War that you get ratios of 2:1 or more of Shot to Pike.

There's not much around that discusses Solland; what I'm concerned with mostly are the following: its colours were brown and yellow (urgh), and a sun motif was present on its standards. I have adapted this to grey and yellow, as the new Elector is emphasising that there is a link with Wissenland which he doesn't want to destroy, but he does wish to change; it's a nice piece of propaganda for the illiterate peasantry.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I built the command group of the 1st Spear today, by the way, which is I suppose the original point of this post!

Plans, Plots, and Moving House

Although I have no newly painted figures to show you, I do have some interesting weblinks and more mad and crazy schemes for you all.

First of all, I am moving house from London to Warwick. This will put me closer to my parents' place (and with it all my toy soldiers) and various model shops (two independent and one GW). This is a good thing! However, it does mean that until we've moved and settled in, painting time will be limited.

Secondly, I've decided on a couple of new projects. These are as follows:

Afghanistan 2006

Using Ambush Alley Games' Ambush Alley: Force on Force rules, I intend to wargame the first year's fighting in Helmand province between the 3 PARA battlegroup and the Taliban/anti-government elements that gave the lie to John "not one shot fired" Reid. For figures, I intend to use a mix of Britannia Miniatures and Liberation Miniatures.

Inspiration and information so far have come from the excellent books A Million Bullets, 3 PARA, and 3 Commando, as well as countless newspaper and media reports.

It's likely that as I read more on the subject (books like The Junior Officer's Reading Club and Leo Docherty's Desert of Death together with Lt. Col Stuart Tootal's account of the 2006 fighting are on my reading list) I will expand the project to cover the entire period 2006-current. And, if I am successful in my attempt to get into the Royal Armoured Corps as a Troop Commander, who knows? I may be able to represent myself on the wargames table.

The Matriarchy Guard:

For a long time now I've been creating an entire sector of space for the 40K universe in my head. This sector was originally known as the Rigel Sector, but after a Tyranid invasion it was renamed. Anyway, one of the planets - Paradiso - is a paradise world - pristine, barely polluted, full of holiday resorts for high-ranking functionaries and nobility from across the sector, that sort of thing. It's also a matriarchy, and for some time now I've wanted to make two armies for it - one Planetary Defence Force platoon for when I play Dark Heresy or Inquisitor 28 there, and one for standard games of Warhammer 40,000.

Now I have the figures to do both:

Planetary Defence Force from Hinterland Miniatures, and Imperial Guard from Shadowforge Miniatures. The Hinterland figures are perfect for Palace Guard types, with ceremonial uniforms and weapons, while the Shadowforge Politburo Worker Battalion will make cracking Imperial Guard.

There are other uses for some of the Shadowforge Sci-Fi range - the Marine Special Ops will mix in nicely with my Jungle Fighting Imperial Guard, while the Gangers, Bounty Hunters and Scavangers will go brilliantly in both Necromunda and Gangs of Mega-City One.

So there you have it - one move and two new projects. Madness, eh? Hopefully I'll be able to post some more painted pics tomorrow.

Return To The Paintpots

Hello all! Sorry for yet another leave of absence - this one cause by a flood of sewage into the house leading to an evacuation and a tiff with the landlord. Joy of joys. At any rate, a couple of days ago I got the chance to sit down and get some painting done, and I finished a couple of Necromunda Scummers - one ex-Van Saar with hand flamer, sword/knife and bolt pistol; and an ex-Orlock with plasma pistol and holstered pistol. I also made a start on the Telekinetic (a swine of a model with piping everywhere and daft banding on his wrists and ankles, which I getting round by painting varying shades of black), and I hope to get him done soon too.

Anyway, here are the pictures of my two latest completed additions to my Necromunda collection. I'm not 100% happy with them - Van Rijn's got a wall eye (not a major problem, it is the Underhive after all) but their bases are annoying me. They don't look finished in the cold harsh view of the lens!


Van Rijn, with his Van Saar-standard synthskin undersuit and semi-hardened hazardous environment protection suit. The grey hair may make him seem old - and he is, at the stunningly old age of 29!



Billy Whizz. Late of House Orlock, now renowned for hiring himself out to the highest bidder (not very high in Billy's case - anyone willing to fork out for a few bottles of Wildsnake or a crate of Second Best is pretty much guaranteed to get his services for a few days).

With these two done, I have just 41 Necromunda models to paint before my collection so far is 'done' and I can start buying new ones for it.

I have a new project planned to celebrate my moving to Warwick at the end of August and my attempt to become an officer in the Royal Armoured Corps. More on that tomorrow I expect.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 59
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 117

Tuesday's Conclusion and Wednesday's Work

So, yesterday evening I managed to finish the first Bounty Hunter. He ended up very blue, but he does look pretty good. There are a few things that I could have improved, but overall I'm quite happy - my long absence from painting means I've forgotten a few tricks which I need to relearn.

Anyway, after doing that Bounty Hunter I finished off another this morning that I'd started painting a long time ago - I think two or even three years ago! To keep you all entertained, here are the pictures:



Tomas Kane, Bounty Hunter. Blue is his lucky colour!



Kurt Sureshot, Bounty Hunter. His name is an homage to the bounty hunter in the Necromunda Battle Report in the first WD I ever bought.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 57
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 115

Work in Progress, Or, A New Schedule

Having been to my best friend's wedding at the weekend (which was good fun), and finding a couple of new potential wargames partners, I decided to try out a new schedule. Rather than fretting about my inability to paint in my lunchbreak, I'd just get up early and do an hour's painting before my son wakes up. This has the advantage of ensuring I'm awake for him and not semi-asleep, and also that I get a nice quiet time to sit and work.

I didn't quite manage an hour this morning, just 40 minutes before he woke up. But the principle is sound, and I should be able to squeeze in a few minutes tonight after he's gone to bed in order to finish off the Necromunda Bounty Hunter I started. I also managed to finish the Sallow Man's base, which was good.


The (finished) Sallow Man.



Based on the near-completion of the bounty hunter, tentatively, I propose...

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1 (0.5)
2010 Total: 56
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 114

The Sallow Man

Hurrah! I got another figure done! In this case, the Necromunda Wyrd with eight-pointed staff and long coat. I've called him The Sallow Man and I'm rather chuffed by him. He looks suitably disturbing on a subtle level. At the minute his base isn't quite finished, but it's finished enough for me to claim the Olley Painting Point.



The Sallow Man, with autopistol, laspistol and focussing staff. The studious among you will realise that he is TAINTED BY CHAOS and should really be the subject of a Redemptionist crusade or two. Or maybe even an Inquisitor...

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 3
2010 Total: 55
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 113

Late-Night Painting

Right - this was meant to chronicle the painting I was meaning to do on Wednesday night.

But I didn't do any, instead getting caught up in packing and planning for the short holiday we're taking to go to my best friend's wedding over the weekend.

Ho hum!

Sunday's Work, Updated on a Tuesday That's Actually a Wednesday...

Woops! Meant to do this earlier so that it'd register as Tuesday 6th July, but hey ho. I've not gone to bed yet so it still counts! Sort of.

At any rate, although I've not managed to get any more painting done, I present the Dire Avengers that I did a few months ago, and on Sunday:



Sunday's work - two Dire Avengers in the livery of their Aspect and wearing the green of Biel-Tan.



The original Dire Avengers from back in March.



The Exarch, with his back banners displaying his membership of the Dire Avenger Aspect and his citizenship of, and loyalty to, Biel-Tan.


The squad so far. I've got another five Avengers knocking around somewhere, I think still on the sprue.

Next up - either a Farseer or Da Red Grot from GorkaMorka!, one of Games Workshop's better games.

More Old New Figures

Without further ado...



Anarchist urban guerilla from my Police Action! project.


Metropolitan Police Inspector, Police Action!



Markov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman



Kornilov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman

The Markov and Kornilov men are now in Al Front's possession, as a thank you for the gun-running he did for the aborted attempt at Evesham.

The Morning After The Night Before

Last night, I sat down in my living room, set up a painting table, and cracked on. After a bit of umming and ahhing over what to paint, I decided on finishing the Dire Avengers which I started a few months ago. With only two to paint and a nice and simple scheme, I managed to get them both done whilst also talking to my wife (brownie points) and watching silly TV with my wife (brownie points).

At any rate, with those two Dire Avengers completed, that brings the little group to a useable squad of 5 and gives me a sort-of-completed Troops choice for my wife's Biel-Tan Army. I intend to try and get the Farseer done tonight, but I might not be able to. Expect pictures of all 5 Dire Avengers plus the other figures I did just before the hiatus either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 54
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 112

What I Did While My Laptop Wasn't Working

There follows, in no particular order, and not yet completely, a pictorial list of the figures I painted at Visiongain before I left and while my laptop wasn't co-operating. Have at it!



Usuthe, the Ssotayan cultist swordswoman.



The three cultists together.



The demon Ssotay itself, and Ashal, its High Priestess. I'm pleased with her, but I think that the dress doesn't work quite as well as I'd hoped.


The warband as they stand at present. I still want to get a packet of Copplestone's Ngoni Female Archers to bulk them out for Song of Blades and Heroes.


The cardboard buildings I made from cereal packets, prior to the addition of a cooling tower and some paint. Note Necromunda Goliaths for scale.

Speaking of Goliaths...



Ded Cred version two, this time with better trews and a bigger gun. Combined with Kal Cutter's autocannon, the heavies of the Automatics are a serious force to be reckoned with. "Dominating the tabletop" is an understatement!



Slimy Sid, Goliath Juve. I like him because he looks so cowardly, like the types you get hanging around with gangs in school; the ones who get picked on if there are no other victims and yet who are pathetically greatful just to be part of the group.



Thick Dave, another Juve. This is where the Automatic theme starts to dilute. I'm not sure figures like this'll ever see action, but it's good to have them anyway. I'm a completist.



Rotten Pahul. Not much to say - just a Juve.

Now, on to some Warhammer and Mordheim stuff:



Grey Seer, agent of the Council of 13. I love this model! It's probably my favourite Warhammer model of all time, primarily because of the little rat on the staff. It makes me chuckle whenever I see it.



A Prince of Tor Sethain, and member of my Mordheim Elf warband. Nothing too special - I'm a fan of the classic blue and white colour scheme for High Elves.

And now, on to the science-fiction stuff, in this case a Biel-Tan missile launcher and Guardian leader. I also have some Dire Avengers I need to re-photograph, but more on them later.



Eldar Missile Launcher platform, to accompany a Guardian Defender squad in my wife's Biel-Tan army. Apparently the EML is a rubbish option according to the internet, but I don't care and neither does my wife.



Guardian Defender leader. No rules for the position, I just liked the pose and think he looks like a squad leader.

Still to come - Kornilov and Markov regiment figures from the RCW, some VBCW Police Action figures and those Dire Avengers I was on about earlier... plus tales of ACTUAL PAINTING, the first for months!