Category Archives: Games Workshop

15mm, 28mm, Black Hat Miniatures, Citadel Miniatures, Games Workshop, Khurasan Miniatures, Oddział Ósmy, Post Apocalypse, Rogue Stars, Sci Fi, SF Skirmish

Can’t see the point of basing: A dalliance with transparent acrylic basing

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See what I did there?

Nevermind. I’m a bit slow too. Like the time it has taken me to try out for myself the wonders of transparent basing. Many of us spend hours creating lovely textured and decorated bases to accompany our little painted gems. Personally I’ve always been a ‘less is less’ type of guy when it comes to basing. Keep it simple, neutral colours and focus on the mini. If possible blend in with the ‘expected’ playing surface (in my case the same palette for all bases and terrain bases).

These new(ish) fangled acrylic bases do away with the need for all of the above. You’ll have seen it done to great effect many times already but it’s taken me this long to give it a go myself.

Now, there is NO way I am going to rebase my entire collection. Tim Mc was right to point out that the benefits are far better had by sci fi settings than say historical or fantasy (where the variables of terrain type are larger, potentially). As good a starting place as any.

With that in mind – and coinciding with a foray in to Rogue Stars (28 and 15mm) – and coinciding with having  a few old and stripped down minis ready to paint – and coinciding with a Heroclix repaint experiment  – and coinciding with discovering a few 15mm’s didn’t have magnetically attractive washer bases – I thought I’d give it a bash.

(Negative note: Clearly acrylic bases have no magnetic or magnetically attracting properties – so a reliance on either for transport or movement trays becomes defunct – obviously).

First up, the 15s. I painted these guys a while back but when I was looking them out to take to a battle it transpired the washers I’d used were not ferrous. So I was going to have to replace them. I thought I’d try the transparent bases instead.

Forgive the indulgence but I’ve taken new shots (for Before and After) as the original post they were pretty ropey. FYI they are “15mm PNHE Cyborg Agents — Prohibited Non-Human Eradication” as the Khurasan site does not make finding specific models easy at all.

Before:15mm Khurasan PNHE Cyborg Agentsand After:15mm Khurasan PNHE Cyborg Agents Continue reading Can’t see the point of basing: A dalliance with transparent acrylic basing →

28mm, Citadel Miniatures, Fantasy, Fantasy Skirmish, Games Workshop, Historical, Legends & Myths, Painting, SAGA, Song of Blades and Heroes, Wargames Foundry

Another Northern Wind: Rohan, Vikings and a very old Citadel miniature

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I was struck again more recently with a similar wave of all things ‘Northern’ that struck me when I painted for and penned this earlier post. I can’t fully explain where the notion comes from exactly but on this occasion is was prompted by joining in a new SAGA campaign at the local club.

I didn’t ‘need’ any more troops per sae but is was an excuse to paint up some LotR minis I’d bought off eBay (dirt cheap), a random Wargames Foundry Viking (£1 at Claymore 2016) and a re-paint of one of my oldest miniatures from Citadel.

First up, mounted Theoden from Games Workshop’s Lord of the Rings range.

Games Workshop Lord of the Rings LotR Rohan Theoden Games Workshop Lord of the Rings LotR Rohan Theoden Games Workshop Lord of the Rings LotR Rohan Theoden Continue reading Another Northern Wind: Rohan, Vikings and a very old Citadel miniature →

15mm, 28mm, Fantasy, Fantasy Big Battles, Fantasy Skirmish, Frostgrave, Games Workshop, Mordheim, Painting, Song of Blades and Heroes, Splintered Light

Ugly, Nasty, Vermin from Splintered Light

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Anyone that knows this blog (or me) will know I am a big fan of Splintered Light Miniatures and have painted, more recently, quite a few human dark age and fantasy offerings from them. A long while ago I picked up some packs of their brilliant Woodland Warriors range (technically 20mm but lets not get too picky).

I painted them up years ago – all ‘goodies’. They have been without proper opposition for quite some time. I’ve dipped in and out of the Woodland Warriors and painted the odd one or two here and there but only recently (on the back of a ‘completist’ order made with SLM – thanks David) I painted the bossman for this swarm.

So it was about time a decent force for the ‘baddies’ was completed. A good mix of weapon types, magic user, assassin, hulk, heroes and a swarm (latter not SLM but I think GW) – should do for any decent skirmish warband or the hub for a larger force to grow out from.

(See previous posts about 20mm Woodland Warriors for comments on the adaptability of these guys for use in 15mm or 28mm settings.)

Only 100 or so other Woodland Creatures to paint up…

15mm 20mm Splintered Light Miniatures Woodland Warriors Rats15mm 20mm Splintered Light Miniatures Woodland Warriors Rats Continue reading Ugly, Nasty, Vermin from Splintered Light →

15mm, 28mm, Citadel Miniatures, Copplestone Castings, Fantastic Plastic, Fantasy, Fantasy Skirmish, Games Workshop, High Heavens, Legends & Myths, Painting, Wargames Foundry

How Big is your God? Miniature scale in “Of Gods and Mortals”

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“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” So they say. Well, the same can be said for scale too! This post and these pics were in the pipe for attention later but I’ve jumped the queue because of a very related post regards scale regards Mortals, Legends and Gods in Andrea Sfiligoi‘s Of Gods and Mortals.

I’ve only played a couple of games so far – one defeat and one catastrophic stuffing – but remain undeterred as at least the first game was fun (the second lasted 10 minutes).

We chose to go down the 15mm route for mortals (no surprise there!). Plenty of choice for foot, chariot, cavalry and the like be they fantasy based or historical. This kind of means Legends could be anywhere from 15mm up to 28mm if you allow for a bit of literary/saga/legend/folklore license. Then Gods, in my minds eye, 28mm and upwards depending upon the God. The more impressive the better.

Not yet used in OGAM, I plan to make use of some of the minis obtained via the High Heavens board game I recently posted about. Various legends ‘off scale’ could include the 20mm Hercules from the Age of Mythology board game sprues of which I picked up a few years ago for useful legendary types from Greek, Norse and Egyptian mythology (happily the same pantheons used in High Heavens).

A few relevant blog posts:

But here are the ‘Gods’ on active duty at the moment, although Orion has yet to take to the field.

Triad of GodsIf anyone can help identify the Thor (Frost Giant), I think from Reaper or Grenadier, would be interesting.

Of Gods and Mortals Thor Frost Giant Reaper Of Gods and Mortals Thor Frost Giant Reaper Continue reading How Big is your God? Miniature scale in “Of Gods and Mortals” →

15mm, 28mm, Games Workshop, Gaming/Battle Mats/Tiles, Pixartprinting, Terrain

Waving the Flag for DIY wargame mats. Or Not?

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I touched on this in an earlier post but thought the subject deserved a little more dedicated attention and pictures.

Vinyl printing for mat and tiles have worked. I also tried Flag material when Pixelartprint ran a sale on that medium a while ago. I’m sharing the results here by way of a comparison and my view that they are ‘not as effective’ as vinyl printing was.

Flag Material Wargame Mat: Desert

Flag Material Wargame Mat: Frostgrave Themed Winter Mat

I won’t be bothering with Flag material again for this type of application. As previously mentioned they are: Continue reading Waving the Flag for DIY wargame mats. Or Not? →

28mm, Citadel Miniatures, Fantasy, Fantasy Big Battles, Fantasy Skirmish, Frostgrave, Games Workshop, Mordheim, Painting, Song of Blades and Heroes

Out with the old, in with the new. Re-painting some classic dwarfs.

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I thought this an appropriate post for the New Year on several levels.

I’d dug out a few miniatures from dusty boxes that might serve in games such as Song of Blades or Frostgrave. These two dwarfs were painted around 25 years ago and saw quite a bit of action in their day. I thought they surely deserved a new lease of life and at the same time a bit of an upgrade.

The block colours were okay on the original paint job so this was really just an exercise in ‘tarting up’.

Oldhammer folk will recognise them as Citadel/Games Workshop miniatures.

BEFORE

Classic Citadel Games Workshop dwarfs 28mm
25 year old paint job. Nostalgia.

AFTER

Classic Citadel Games Workshop dwarfs 28mm
I don’t think that’s straight up tobacco he’s smoking from the look on his face…

Classic Citadel Games Workshop dwarfs 28mm Classic Citadel Games Workshop dwarfs 28mm Classic Citadel Games Workshop dwarfs 28mmClassic Citadel Games Workshop dwarfs 28mmA HAPPY NEW YEAR to all visitors to the Warchest.

May 2017 feel like a lick of fresh paint for you as well!