Rats old and new, undead musician discovery, and a basing a Kings of War Dwarf Host

 Since I really am a bit OCD about painting stuff that is out of the box before opening something new... I thought I'd better tune up these old Skaven Models, acquired in a partially painted state some time ago, while I was doing the Bones Ratmen.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of the Skaven was actually some sort of Undead Goblinoid Musician!  Worse still... it was originally painted goblin green as though the previous owner was conscripting the unlucky guy into a regular goblin unit!

 If anyone recognizes that fellow post a comment or send me a PM.  I haven't got round to researching him but I'm dead curious.

There was also an incomplete Skaven Warlord, or hero of some sort, that I touched up quite a lot.  I left the banner peg in place because I'm certain, at some point, a back banner will show up that is suitable for him.

 The bases are relatively neutral and void of fiddly bits because I'll want to make a coherent theme for them and haven't yet settled on one... although with a few weeds and bits of junk these might work out fine there is a small Skaven ally force around here somewhere and I'll want to combine them up with these fellows and rationalize the basing.

 The new rat!

This is from the Reaper Bones I Kickstarter.

Looks like it might actually be a ginormous Were-Rat.. 

I based it for use as a Rat Ogre.  This guy is actually a bit larger than the legacy Rat Ogres and will make a great 'Hero' for the unit. 

The Reaper Ratmen have very long snouts and, except for the tail, look rather more like wolves to me than rats.  I'm working on some Ratmen assassins and the wolfish look is very pronounced on them.

 Basing was Grey Pumice which gave a good heft to the figure and stabilized it.  The miniature is made of the light, soft plastic like, bones material and took some convincing to stand in all but the most ideal circumstances. 

 Size comparison with the Skaven and the Reaper model.  Its a good size for a Rat Ogre and much more dynamically posed than its legacy companions.









After a series of Kings of War games it became clear that King of War was written more for movement trays than for miniatures.  There are no pesky formation changes and its even recommended to mount you miniatures, in a visually appealing density, directly onto the movement tray.

With that in mind, and under the direction of Bevie to "Create a Dwarf Host for Bevie! STAT!", I decided that the best approach was to make an army of 17 movement trays painted up in a dwarf theme so she'll have a fun looking army of movement trays to keep her entertained while I get to work on the actual dwarfs!

These are made by Customeeple and are avilable through the Mantic Website.  Once the braziers (really good for holding a die showing the morale status and to provide a kind of handle to move the tray more easily) and any of the curbing is added the trays hold slightly fewer than a full unit number of models while still looking great which allows us to swipe a few minis here and there to generate an additional unit.






The prototype base is the one with the blue, orange, red, and gold.  After looking at this it seems a bit busy so the production bases will be this blue, mauve, and gold (not yet painted).  I think its less busy and the orange was kind of jarring for something on the floor. I will likely match the prototype to the new scheme but I'll wait till the end to see how the new one turns out.

Back to the bench!

Aleksandr Kurganov, Krell, and the most disturbing gnome...

 Aleksandr Kurganov, Chief Commander of the KST.  This is a massive, and heavy, model.  I chose the metal version for this one and it plunks down on the tabletop with authoriTAY!

Shown with a Nurgle Terminator and Assault Marine for comparison.  I like that he is shorter than the Space Marines but still imposing.

 I split the difference on positioning on the base.  The left foot overhangs the base a bit but shifting him too much farther over and the cloak would have become a weapon in it's own right!

He's on a 40mm beveled base like the Terminator and is pretty stable on that.  I went with a Grey and Red scheme to fit in with some incoming Inquisition troops that I'll be working into the campaign fluff.

 This cape has a lot of room for silliness.  I did some stark shading but decided against freehand for the moment... I'm kind of torn between inventing a House Kurgan Sigil and waiting to see what Raging Heroes comes up with in that regard.

 Reaper Bones I Kickstarter.   I really just signed up for everything with the idea that I'd be using it to fill out a long neglected FRPG collection as my interest in Tabletop Roleplaying was perking up. 

In one random bag that I pulled out of the massive Kickstarter box was this... Gnome... pleasure cultist?  ... Inquisitor?

In spite of being perhaps the most disturbing Gnome miniature I've ever seen it was a lot of fun to paint and gave me a few ideas for story lines... I was a bit inspired by the Penny Dreadful character with the outrageous and, I assure you , completely natural..... hair! 

 Yeah... chaps!  pimpled, warty, gnome buttocks... oh my!

It did get a Slaanesh-esque sigil on the hood but otherwise but otherwise a plain utilitarian purple color.  I thought about designs and stripes but thought they might obfuscate how outrageous the miniature really was.










The Gnome spending some quality time with Warlord Krell...

Krell is still missing his back banner and is on a round lipped base instead of his original square one.  I think both of these minis are being added to the pile of stuff for Carnevale. 

Have fun and beware of gnomes in chaps!

Kurganova Yaga Coven

 Baba Yaga and Arushka join Shashenka and Tarja to complete the Yaga coven.

I finished Shasenka and Tarja a while back so I'm really excited to finish these two and complete my Elemental Coven.  Mind you the Elemental Coven is a construct for the campaign at home and not an official organization as far as I'm aware.

 Each of the Yagas, as I envision them,  has an elemental specialty Arushka Is the Wind Witch and was worked up using the Reaper Vampire Skin triad on the garments and Vallejo flesh tones.  Gold is vallejo Gold and Secret Weapon Flesh Wash Rustungs Farbe from Gamecraft for metal highlight..

After working on some War Machine models, and playing a lot of Star Wars games, I stated thinking of the staff as a "Force" weapon and went with blue force blades.  Vallejo sky blue, Secret Weapon Blue Wash Vallejo foundation white highlights. 

Both Arushka and Baba Yaga got the blue blades while Tarja and Shashenka's weapons are coded to their element and the blades are not well defined.  I may backtrack and give these two more distinct blades and, in keeping with the "Force" theme may have them color coded to the element instead of defaulting to blue.

 Baba Yaga started ans an Earth Element in the aspect of The Crone.  Armory Olive Green, Reaper Vampire Triad, Reaper Blood and Fire Triads.

She got a tech upgrade along the way and some metal armored cables help give her more of a techno magi feel.

This model is metal and very sturdy while Arushka is resin and seem a bit on the fragile side.

 Another view of the complete coven... although I seem to have botched the focus on poor Baba Yaga...
 

Back to the painting!

Skaven, Warcasters, Stormblades, and Vash the Stampede?

 The finished, retouched, Skaven Globadiers.

Its the first go at the Agrellan Earth on bases and I have some learning to do... more thicker paint! It's a hard habit to acquire!

 One poor guy is missing his air tank... I have some steam power backpacks from max mini someplace that I'll swap in.... once I locate them that is!  They are not in their assigned location!  

The glowing green poison daggers are inspired by the Mordheim Video Game art... love the ratties!

They were looking just a bit too green so they got gaseous blue lenses and warp tokens just to pop a bit.

 For salvage these came out ok... perfectly usable on the table top.  There is a small pile of left over rats like these coming through the table as well as some Reaper Ratmen that are very Skaven-esque.

 Now there is a reason why this Cygnar Warcaster is painted in heretical colors instead of the traditional blue and cream... but we'll get to that a bit later!

I think this is Captain Victoria Haley and I'll keep the moniker as I press her into service as an agent of the Inquisition.  She'll lead the personal retinue of the Inquisitor that is responsible for confirming compliance of a recently rediscovered/ recontacted Inquisition element that had been isolated by a warp storm for a very long time.

 Red and White are good Inquisition colors, although my most recent foray into that realm has a grey and red scheme... no worries though Captain Haley's small team represents a visiting inspection and not part of the regular unit.

 Accompanying Captain Haley are these Stormblade infantry storm knights.  Her personal, hand picked, retinue.

 The real reason for the color scheme!  I saw this Warcaster, who I think is Coleman Stryker, I don't actually play War Machine so its all a bit awkward.

Anyway!

I saw this guy and thought... WoW... Privateer Press made a Vash the Stampede Miniature!?!

I gotta play that game!

Turns out I was way wrong... but still... Meet Inquisitor Inspector General Vash the Stampede.

These are a bit on the steampunk side of the Grimdark but I think they'll do.


Off to paint more, and make up more story line....

Cheers

Raging Heroes, Carnevale, Rackham, and GW works in progress.

 A lot of stuff in progress... very little finished! 

A lot of legacy stuff that I discovered loose and was too OCD to skip.

The closest thing to finished in this batch is this Rackham mini.  I really love this line of, sadly, extinct miniatures. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be ... a gorgon... or a vampire... I painted it to use either way in a truly willful display of indecision!













This model was partially painted with the skin a dark metallic gloss green and enamel blue boots.  I kept the original color scheme and adjusted shades and textures to suit my taste... primarily lighten the oppressive skin, making it ... not... metallic, and not gloss... same with the boots.... still blue but a different shade and texture.  the rest was an experiment in a quick, translucent nightgown.  Based to fit in with an old undead army of mine and added to the troop tray.

 Next up are some legacy Skaven Poison Wind Globadiers.  These were also acquired from a friend and were painted in very bright, almost glow in the dark, colors in gloss enamels.  We've been playing a bit of Mordheim on the computer and the Globadiers are the Bevie! favorites!.







All I did here was paint in some ropes, repaint all the base colors to get rid of the gloss finish drop a wash or two on them and weather up the air tanks a bit.  They are still a WiP but are close to finished.  I did leave the clobes exactly as originally painted though... the original painter did a really good job with them!

Onward into legacy mini land!  Krell, a model I've never really liked... and likely farmed his banner-pole out for a conversion some years ago, returns in all his chaotic, skeletal, glory!  He's not yet based and a replacement banner-pole is being kit bashed together.  Always fun to have an undead chaos warrior around.

 A more recent model that is nearing completion is the Kickstarter Exclusive Strigoi from the Carenvale Kickstarter.  It's a great pose of the Strigoi climbing the walls or vaulting a fence.

 These models are very old school, inspite of being relased within the past year or two.  I kinda like the rough hewn look of the Strigoi and the scultor did a good job of capturing the horrific aspects of Vampirism.  The Strigoi are not at all the glamorous vampires of the modern tradition but cleave more closely to the older and more monstrous tales.

 Early days on the only male character model for Raging Heroes TGG1 Kickstarter.  Aleksandr Kurganova, patriarch of the Kurganova clan and commander of the KST.

I got this model in metal and its huge, heavy and beautiful!  So far its just the cloak and the basic armor being worked but he'll wind up rapidly as the cloak is the majority of the mini.

 Some WiP views of Arushka.  She's from Raging Heroes and is a KST Yaga.  I refer to her variously as "The Wind Witch", "The Angel of Victory", "The Mad Winds of Despair", or "Aleksandr's Fury""


 She'll be an elemental specialists with Air, or Wind magic and is a bit touched.  All magic is perilous to health and spirit but riding the winds is, of the elemental magics, the most perilous to the mind.. Arushka pays the price!

The model is in resin and is a bit flexible so I may need to stiffen the join at the base a bit... or maybe not!  The flex seems to act as a shock asorber so I may just let it ride.
















Last up today is the lower half of Baba Yaga.  She's the Crone, Earthmother, and Wolf Lord of the KST.  Model in metal for strength in the pose. 

There is also a whole pile of rats adventurers and villains from the Reaper Bones I Kickstarter and a handful of legacy skaven also being processed.  I also got a Tabletop World Townhouse and a  Mantic Abyssal Dwarf Iron Caster on Dread Abyssal primed up and in the queue.

Now if only I could find some packages od 20mm and 25mm square bases,,, hmmm...

Cheers!

Mantic Dwarf Berserker Brock Riders and Hero

As commanded by The Bevie!

Our Kings of War Dwarf army is founded with the completion of the first unit of Berserker Dwarf Brock Riders and the Berserker Dwarf Hero on Brock.

Now she'll have to get to naming them!

These are great and inexpensive models that I built with very little clean up or prep.  They are pretty characterful with expressive faces.

I painted up all the extra arms and heads from the kit which gets me about halfway to the next unit... in arms and heads anyway!

 The unit comes with a brock cape for every rider but I elected to leave those off except for the unit champion and standard bearer.  The cape makes the figures very stable on the brock but the overall effect was very very gray... especially on these gray bases.  I went with gray bases because Bevie wants to use dwarf themed movement trays.  Those are Dwarf Hold stone gray and once I get them in I'll color-match the base with the movement tray or vice versa.   I think the little bit of color from the cape-less dwarfs makes the unit stand out better.

As I like to build my fantasy armies to be compatible with 3rd Edition WHFB lists I'm at a bit of a loss with these.  No dwarf cav in that list, and certainly not Slayer cav!

That said I also elected to not paint the whole unit with Slayer orange hair... I like the more Nordic feel these guys have.

New bits, broken tools, a Supreme Ironcaster, and a mystery vehicle

 Its been slow the last couple of weeks, mostly due to a bad bounce that resulted in a broken frame on my magnifying headset.... Score for the clumsy!











So, by way of making lemonade out of lemons... I took the opportunity to replace the headset with a higher quality one.  The new one has a strap that is actually large enough for my head so it sits more securely up there, and has a frame that is both more durable and lighter weight.

 Then a box of Mantic crazy boxes arrived!  It's huge, as shipments from them seem to trend, and is chock full of random goodness.

One of the things I really like about the Mantic Crazy boxes is that they are not just second quality odd bits dumped in by weight.  They are actually complete models selected from across the range so.. if you are into several of their games you get a lot of stuff that is useful in it's own right... and not just a huge addition to the bits box.

 These boxes included Marauder buggies, Iron father heavy weapons and crews, Units from all of the Warpath/Deadzone factions, Mars Attacks, a pile of building sprues, Logos? pieces and more.

 This mystery vehicle looks like a Mars Attacks Martian vehicle... its a bit hard to see still in the bag but looks like a big walking truck. 

 Completely apart from the Crazy Box is an Abyssal Dwarf Supreme Iron Caster on Dread Abyssal.  I was cleaning this up while waiting for the headset to get here.  Its pretty large so could be worked on a little better. 

Basically they took one of their Dragon models and gave it a metal bit work over to create the Dread Abyssal and saddle.  The Ironcaster himself has a choice of two heads and can equip either a sword or a scepter/wand.

Equipped with new seeing aides I should have the first of the Dwarf Berserker Brock riders up a day or two.

Cheers!