Classic Warhammer Fantasy Miniatures: Giant Eagle

A few weeks ago I painted up yet another classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniature, this time sculpted by the prolific duo Aly and Trish Morrison.  This eagle was originally released in 1993 as part of Marauder's MB16 Elf Lord on Giant War Eagle boxset, and later released separately without its rider as a Giant Eagle.

This was an Ebay purchase, and it was my first time painting a bird (at least of this size).  I relied heavily upon the dry-brush method and finished it up the miniature with a matching 1990s-style base in green.  It was both fun and fast to paint up.

Classic Warhammer Fantasy Miniatures: Grey Wizard

I recently finished painting up another old classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniature.  This time it's the Grey Wizard (073791/3) designed by Dave Andrews from back in the early 1990s.

The guy has been in my collection, half painted, since the early 2000s.  His sword was painted with a special green paint during an in-store painting class at the old Games and Gizmos Genesis store in Redmond.  The metal was shaved down and a green translucent paint was painted over the bare metal.  It gives it a metallic sheen.

Although a Grey Wizard, I went for a more bluish-grey color for his robes.  I had fun finishing him up with a classic 1990s-style base.

Classic Warhammer Fantasy Miniatures: Grombrindal, Gotrek and Felix (and a Dark Elf Assassin)

I recently finished painting up some old classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniatures.

The original White Dwarf ("Grombrindal") miniature was sculpted by Colin Dixon and released back in 1996. It was the sole remaining miniature from my old WHFB Dwarf army that I played (unpainted) in the late 1990s and sold off in the early 2000s. For some reason I kept the old chap around on the off chance I had an urge to paint him up one day. It took almost 25 years, but finally got around to him....

Michael Perry sculpted the classic Gotrek and Felix miniatures, which were released way back in June 1993. I owned them back in the mid-1990s, sold them off (unpainted), then picked up another set a few years ago.

I tried to go for the old classic 1990s look. I didn't dip these models and didn't use my usual painting shortcuts this time, (no Sharpie pens). Felix's colors changed a few times during my painting endeavor, but his color scheme ended up fairly close to the pictures from the time of their release. For basing them I decided on going with a homage to the 1990s Goblin Green style....

In addition, I found an old Dark Elf Assassin in the same bits box with my other classic models. I forget why I bought him, but he was primed and partially painted (perhaps for use in a failed attempt at a Warhammer Quest redux during the mid-2000s). I decided to finish him up along with the other models, and I worked on him intermittently when I needed to wait for the other models to dry before proceeding.

These were fun to paint up and can join a few other classic models I had painted and kept around, (mostly from the late 1990s).  I prefer these older models to the newer plastic models that Games Workshop has released lately - they are easier to paint and I think they often have more charm and character.  However, next I may try to paint up the latest plastic Gotrek model as a comparison.

Blitz Bowl - Chaos Dwarfs

I recently started painting up small batches of three miniatures for use in a mini-Blitz Bowl variant I've been using to teach the Blitz Bowl mechanics to new players.  These three Chaos Dwarfs are actually the Black Rock Dwarves from Impact! Miniatures, sculpted by Ramsay McPherson. I painted them with a basic color scheme. Then I dipped them and used a metallic Sharpie to highlight the silver parts.

The Chaos Dwarfs faced the Dark Elves in a 3 on 3 match and were promptly defeated by their agile and cruel opponents.  For their draft rules, I gave the Chaos Dwarf linemen Move 4, Throw 5+, Armour 3+, along with a "Thick Skull" special rule, similar to the "Indomitable" revision in the Santa Cruz Blitz Bowl League (SCBBL) Official ​Unofficial​ Rules Document: "This player cannot be Knocked Down. If they would be, make an armor check for them.  If it is passed, they remain standing, but fumble the ball (if they are carrying it). If it fails, they are Injured as normal.".

Blood Bowl: Repainted and Re-based 3rd Edition Dwarf Grudgebearers from Ebay (with Zara the Slayer Added)

I recently touched-up and re-based some 3rd edition Blood Bowl Dwarfs that I bought off of Ebay.  I also re-painted the Troll Slayer's beard (to the traditional orange color), and gave him some blue tattoos.

I supplemented the team with a Zara the Slayer model.  The Zara the Slayer is a "Fantasy Football Female" sculpted by Pierre Francois Jacquet, from Impact! Miniatures Middle Kingdoms team range.  For just $2.80, the price was right - especially compared with other available Zara miniatures.  I painted her up simply and quickly in blue and white.

The entire Dwarf Grudgebearers team were then dipped, re-based, and flocked.  It was an easy way of getting a painted team on the table for a pretty low cost.  The original painter did a great job on these and I think they really shine for the limited additional time and effort I spent on them to add some finishing touches.

These models have a recent, storied Ebay history.  I bought them from a buyer in Terre Haute, Indiana for $40 (plus $5 shipping) on March 30th.  You can see the original color of the Dwarf Slayer's beard (green) - a bold and creative choice!  They also were painted up to have Minnesota Viking color scheme, (complete with some with horns painted on their helmets).  I repainted the helmets white for a more traditional Blood Bowl look.

While browsing the completed Ebay auctions, I noticed that the very same team that I had bought was previously sold on Ebay a few weeks prior to my purchase.  The original seller was from Selden, New York (in Long Island).  The auction winner paid just $20 (plus $9.60 for shipping), which was an amazing steal for these models and also included an unpainted Deathroller.  He obviously took the Deathroller from the lot and flipped the remaining models.  Not only did he get a free Deathroller, but also made a slight profit on the remaining team!  Well played, Ebay master!

One negative from the experience is that I've now been obsessively searching Ebay for similar steals on well-painted Blood Bowl miniatures.  So far, I've come across nothing close.  Although I will likely use the models mostly for playing games of Blitz Bowl, I'd like to have a complete Blood Bowl team that includes a Deathroller.  They are expensive on Ebay and so I'm totally jealous that the original buyer got such a great deal on one!

"Painting" More 40K Chaos Space Marines (Black Legion) with Sharpie Pens

I recently "painted" additional models to add to my small contingent of Black Legion models that were speed painted using Sharpie pens and a limited number of acrylic paints.  This time I added a few Chaos Cultists and two Possessed models.

The Chaos Cultists were primed using a Desert Yellow Army Painter spray primer.  I then used a variety of Sharpie pens to add different earth shades to each model.  Metallic Sharpies were used to highlight the metal areas.

For the Possessed, I used metallic Sharpies to highlight many of the areas on each model after first priming them black, (with a zenithal overprime of dark grey).  The purple areas were then Sharpied over using a reddish pink pen.

I dipped all the models using Tudor Mixwax Polyshade.  I used regular acrylics to paint the bases and added some flocked foliage to complete the models.

I think the models turned out fine for the time spent, and they complement the Black Legion Space Marines well.  However, these models also showed me the limits of the Sharpie painting approach as I found the paint job to just barely achieve what I consider tabletop quality.  Still, sometimes getting painted models to the table is more important than a quality paint job.  I plan to use all the model for a One Page Rules Kill Team, and for that purpose, I believe they will serve me well on the battlefield!

Blitz Bowl - Female Humans

Lastly, these are some female humans I use in Blitz Bowl games. They are actually the Valkyries from Impact! Miniatures, again sculpted by Phil Bowen. I painted them with my standard color scheme of blue and red, which tends to provide a good result.  Like the last two Blitz Bowl teams, they were also dipped.

One thing I've done for Blitz Bowl miniatures is paint a white line for any Linesman - this makes it easy to identify them apart from the other players, especially when using alternative miniatures such as these....

Blitz Bowl - Female Dark Elves

I painted up some female Dark Elves for use in Blitz Bowl games as well. They are the Black Widows from Impact! Miniatures, sculpted by Phil Bowen. I painted them up fairly simply, and enjoyed painting them in a color combination of green and pink. They were then dipped, giving them a grimy appearance.  I used a metallic Sharpie for the few pieces of metal.

Blitz Bowl - Female Dwarfs

About a year ago I painted up some female Dwarfs for use in Blitz Bowl games. They are from the Sister Sledgehammerers set from Warlord Games, sculpted by Wojtek.  I think they turned out well and were fun to paint up.

Blitz Bowl - Another Four Player Crossroads Match

Over the holidays I was able to introduce Blitz Bowl to more members of my family - my daughters and my nephew.  We played another four player crossroads game, but as it was a learning game, we played a variant where each team only had three linesman.  It was the female Humans, the female Dark Elves, the Stitchpunks (using Halfing rules), and the Goblins.

In the end, it was a great way of teaching the rules of the game.  The Humans won with a breakaway play which scored a touchdown and ended the match....

Grimdark Future: Firefight - Ambush at the Farming Colony

We played another game of One Page Rules - Grimdark Future: Firefight over the holidays.  We are really enjoying these quick and cinematic games (that we place in the Warhammer 40K universe), and hope to play some more over the course of the year.

A small fire team of Ultramarines has been dispatched to investigate reported rebellious activity at a small colony on a remote farming world.  The colony's administrator has sent a contingent of snipers to ambush the team of Space Marines at the local landing port, foolishly thinking this may discourage future Imperial meddling.  The landing ship takes off, and soon after, the snipers open fire....

250 Points - Ultramarines (Battle Brothers):

• 5 x Battle Brothers: 3+ Quality, 2+ Defense, Assault Rifle (24”, A1), CCW (A1), Fearless.  One was upgraded with a Flamethrower (Flamer), and one with a Missle Launcher....

250 Points - Local Militia (Human Defense Force):

• 10 x Snipers: 6+ Quality, 6+ Defense, Sniper Rifle (36”, A1, AP(1), Sniper), CCW (A1), Scout, Stealth

It was quality vs. quantity, and quantity won this time.  Vastly outnumbered, the Space Marines intended to concentrate fire on the left flank, hopefully reducing the numbers of snipers in early rounds to even the odds before the other snipers could take part in the battle.

Unfortunately, due to the range of the sniper rifles, a massive barrage of early sniper shots took out some Space Marines.  There wasn't much hope for the Space Marines at that point, even after one of them made it into close combat with a small grouping of snipers.  The large number of objectives meant it was impossible to keep the snipers from overwhelming and securing the small landing pad.

The colony's administrator smiled when informed of the devastating defeat inflicted upon the Ultramarines.  As he clutched his triple-circle medallion, under his breath he whispered "I shall help spread his virulent gifts across the false Imperium, and watch its final rotting...".

Blitz Bowl - Proxy Team (for Halfings)

I recently painted up a proxy team for Blitz Bowl and will use the Halfing Player Cards for the team's rules.  I wanted to create a team for Blitz Bowl that I could use with the miniatures from a few smaller teams I created for a 3-4 model variant of Blitz Bowl that I call Sudden Death.  It is still in development.

I figured the Halfing "Hefty" works well for a washed-up, Bloodbowl Veteran whose time on the field should have ended a decade ago, (but just wants one more shot at returning to the big league, post-retirement).

The Stitchpunk miniatures are from the Puppet All-Stars Team by Meiko Miniatures, and the Imps are from Impact Miniatures.  I felt that they were an adequate match for using with the Halfing rules.

"Painting" 40K Eldar with Sharpie Pens

I tried to speed paint some Eldar Guardians a few months back, using just a quick purple wash and metallic Sharpie for the Shuriken Rifles. This was before the release of the new Contrast Paints, but I think they turned out well despite not spending much time painting them....

Halfing Player Cards from Blitz Bowl Halfing Expansion

In addition to the Undead team, Games Workshop has also released an expansion bringing the hungry and plucky Halfling team to the game to Blitz Bowl (now exclusively available at Barnes & Noble).

These two previously unreleased Blitz Bowl teams provide hope that Nurgle, Lizardmen, or other unreleased teams may show up within the next few years....

The Halfing team comes with six Halfing players: one Hefty, three Hopefuls, and two Runners:

 

 

Undead Player Cards from Blitz Bowl Undead Expansion

Just in time for Halloween, Games Workshop has officially released an expansion bringing in the slow but durable Undead team to Blitz Bowl (now exclusively available at Barnes & Noble).  Undead were the team I originally played in Blood Bowl back in the 1990s, but I never expected for there to be a Blitz Bowl expansion released for them; I'm excited to get them painted up and try them out....

The Undead team comes with seven Undead players: one Ghoul, one Mummy, two Skeletons, one Wight Blitzer, and two Zombies:

Gotrek Gurnisson's Warscroll for Age of Sigmar Released

Gotrek Gurnisson's new miniature was recently released for Warhammer Age of Sigmar.  His Warscroll has also been revealed and he is a beast on the tabletop!  Alas, his BFF and chronicler Felix has not (yet?) joined him in the Mortal Realms....

Many years ago Games Workshop released rules for Gotrek and Felix for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, in the Regiments of Renown supplement.  It is interesting to see Gotrek's stats from that time.

Warhammer Underworlds - Mollog and Friends

I recently painted up Mollog's Mob for the Warhammer: Underworlds game.  We have played the game a few times and found it to be a good, light multi-player game.  As a warband, Mollog’s Mob is focused around Mollog - a single, brutally powerful troll.  His much weaker friends provide some fun abilities and offer various distractions for opponents.

The miniatures were simple and fun to paint up - just I primed Mollog in purple with blue zenithal highlights.  I them just base-coated significant areas, then dipped each model, per my usual method.  I simply used metallic Sharpie pen for metal items.  I think they turned out well for a couple of hours of painting time in total.

Painting Blood Bowl Imps Using Only Washes

One technique I haven't used much when painting is painting miniatures using only washes.  I tried the technique on some Imps from Impact Miniatures that I plan on using in a custom variant of Blitz Bowl.

I first primed the Imps white.  I then shaded their skin with a yellow wash, then washed the skin with a green wash once that was dry.  The red and purple areas were first washed, then hit with a coat of Vallejo paint when the wash colors weren't saturated enough for my tastes.  I finally hit the silver parts with a metallic Sharpie marker.  So... it ended up that I did not only painting them with washes, but with a mixture of techniques instead.

These are first miniatures that I haven't used a dipping media on in a long time.  They turned out fairly bright, and for the very minimal time I spent painting them, I'm happy with the results....

Blitz Bowl - Five Player Dungeon Bowl

After successfully trying out a four player 'Crossroads' game for Blitz Bowl a few months back, we decided next to use some old Warhammer Quest tiles and some Frostgrave chests to play a five player Dungeon Bowl game.

Dungeon Bowl is a variant of Blood Bowl that uses chests which either explode or contain a ball.  There are also twelve teleporters that can be used to randomly teleport players around the dungeon (using a roll of a D12).  As you can imagine, Dungeon Bowl using Blitz Bowl rules is even more chaotic and random than a normal game of Blitz Bowl....

The first part of the game was each team searching for the ball hidden in one of the trapped chests scattered throughout the dungeon.  Unfortunately, we quickly realized that the game wasn't working well.  The high number of players we had selected and the small width of the corridors made movement difficult, even with the teleporters.

So Dungeon Bowl using Blitz Bowl rules was a bust, but I'm still glad we tried it out.  It makes me more excited for future regular games of Blitz Bowl, as well as curious to try out other multiplayer variants.  I'm considering making a custom three player mat in the near future.

"Painting" 40K Poxwalkers with Sharpie Pens

As we have been playing Warhammer 40,000: Killteam, I have been attempting to speed paint a number of small forces to try out with the game.  Before this latest attempt, I painted a squad of three Chaos Marines with some Sharpies a little while ago.

One of my most recent attempts has been to paint some Poxwalkers, using Army Painter color primer and Sharpie pens.  After priming them green, (with a zenithal overprime of a lighter green primer), I used Sharpies before dipping them using Royal Walnut Satin Mixwax Polyshade.  I used normal acrylics to paint the the bases and added some flocked foliage to complete the models.  I used a silver Sharpie for the eyes which turned out looking great.

In all, they turned out alright, and the approach did save some time over painting them with acrylics.  Because the model are Nurgle, the dipping method definitely worked better than it would have on other types of models, where a more clean look is appropriate.