The Odds & Sods Painting Challenge - Month 4 - Instruments/Machinieries of Destruction

Nogchuck snorted until a snot glob hit the back of his throat. He was sure his calculations were correct, "dat way for a long way"as usual. He attached his lever to the release mechanism and pulled down with all his pitiful might. With an almighty "THWANG" the great arm of his beloved rock lobber sent a deadly projectile over the battlefield towards the Dwarf lines off in the distance. His cruel heart sank as he saw the stone land just in front of the naked crazed mob of orange haired gits who swore at their hated foe, quite rightly calling their lineage into question.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha" laughed Nogfling, his brother who bossed the second Goblin Rock Lobber "Gotta do better Bruv" he said through giggling fits.

"Go on den, show 'im if ya can" bellowed Grotslug, Boss of the Skull Chucka.

As if to underline the point he and his team sent a rock flying into the Slayers, crushing three of them.

"Easy" replied Nogfling unconvincingly.

He cranked his firing lever, but instead of a "THWANG" all present heard a "SNAP" as the tension on the rope was too great and it snapped and the load was sent way off target.

Nogchuck looked at Grotslug and they both fell about the place laughing their heads off whilst Nogflung ranted and raved at his crew.

Odds & Sods Painting Challenge Month 3 - "Grandeur"

To my mind there are two models that stand out as being the finest ever sculpted and cast by Games Workshop. A lot of people will disagree with my conclusion but I think most will at least be able to see why I believe it (even if one friend of mine will say they're a bit 2D as sculpts go).

Tyrion and Teclis are as Grand as it gets in my book and here are my humble attempts to paint the duo in an interpretation of Mike McVey's outstanding paint scheme. I'm certainly not the painter he is, nor do I have the skill of Joshua Van Z who also recently painted up this pair and produced sublime results. I really struggled with them. My skills are mass producing table top standard armies, not in fine painting individual models but I've done my best and am happy and proud of the results, however, even the most unobservant of you can not help to notice the lack of freehand work on Tyrion. On this I must admit to my failings and shortcomings. It is not through lack of trying that the Dragon and Hearts are missing, I tried many times but my childish scrawl detracted from this magnificent model so I abandoned my attempts. Who knows maybe in years to come I'll go back and right the wrong. (For the record, Mike only painted the Dragon on one side, see below).

So to the background:

Malhandir whined and shook his head.

"Stay old friend, we've faced far worse" reassured Tyrion, Chosen of the Everqueen.

"Indeed we have Brother" came a reply unlooked for.

Tyrion knew the voice well, he turned to see the High Loremaster emerging from the forest.

"Teclis, it is good to see you, do I guess correctly the reason for your summons?".

"Yes dear Brother, Horath, the Revanant King, has returned to the Shifting Isles" replied Teclis.

"So be it" answered Tyrion "After some 30 years the hunt for the accursed Undead must continue in the Elven lands".

Snorta & Grunta

Here are my recently finished Boar Boyz, my offering for Orctober along with Faegit, my Orc Shamen, on his new Boar.

In 3rd Ed one unit will be Snortaz and the other will be Gruntaz, in 4th and 6th they'll both be Boar Boyz.

A Gathering of Mighty Painters - Month 7 - The Final Month

Running-Nose looked at Squatting-Troll the Shamen.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yes Boss" replied Squatting-Troll, "Outside Big Boss come, he lead us to big battle, we kill many Gobbos".

Running-Nose smiled, the Blue Man Goop Tribe had been itching for a good scrap for ages. He watched as the large Orc army shambled into their Village.

The large Orc at it's head stoped and bellowed.

"I iz Gorfang Rotgut, Chieftan of da Redfang Orcs an I iz lukin fer Boyz wot iz up fer a scrap"

"Me iz Running-Nose, Chief of da Blue Man Goop, meez Boyz iz gud fytaz, mee seez da lotta Boyz yu av, meez boyz joinz youz so youz don't krump uz."

"Gud!" exclaimed Gorfang.

"Meez got Petz too" said Running-Nose, pointing towards the river beyond the village.

Gorfang was intrigued and walked with Running-Nose (and a large number of Orc Bodyguards) to the banks of the river.

Running-Nose stopped and, beating his chest" let out a loud call:

"Waaaaaa-aaaaaarrrrr-ggghhhhhhh"

Gorfang watched as bubbles appeared on the surface of the river, three large heads broke the surface and gurgled at Running-Nose.

"Weez go huntin' now" said Running-Nose.

Three monsterous River Trolls emerged from the water, drippng with putrid slime.

"Oh yez" gleamed Gorfang, "dese will do nicely" rubbing his hand together.

Oh heck, I never did finish this post, I found it unposted on my blog admin page - D'oh!

Well here it is.

I should really have my thoughts about the challenge,

But it's so far past the end of the challenge now,

That it seems a bit pointless,

Or rather,

I can't be arsed, so,

I'll let you look at the "pretty" pictures instead,

and if you don't think they're pretty,

the you're probably right.

And here's the final army:

At some point I need to play out the final outcome of this - Gorfang Vs Skarsnick and when I do report back on the battle.

So this was heaps of fun to do and I will do another, but maybe not a full army painting challenge for a yea as I'm pretty burned out painting two such armies in a year.

The Odds & Sods Oldhammer Painting Challenge Month 2 - Heroes.

I have to be honest, Richard threw a curve ball in here by choosing Heroes. I was expecting another unit to paint AND I was planning to do something for Orctober. As a point of note, I'm not complaining at Richard's choice, it was a perfectly good one, but my painting doesn't really focus on individuals, I'm a believer in "everything counts in large amounts" so paint for mass impact through knocking out table top standard armies at an alarming rate.

My initial plan was to paint up Morglum Necksnapper on a Wyvern. I've wanted to "convert" this model up for years and had mixed emotions when Harry Howells beat me to it. I'd love him to show off his conversion at some point. It's an awesome sight but I was disappointed he beat me to it.

I have a spare Wyvern but got lazy and decided against it for now.

When I first envisaged this challenge it was about finishing off abandoned projects (which ironically Morglum on a Wyvern now is for me) so I decided to finish off an older project I'd already started a couple of years ago.

So here they are - Gotrek & Felix (and Gotrek & Felix).

I can't think of a more Heroic pair in GW history. These two don't lead a massive army and they aren't from epic origins. There's a disgraced Dwarf who happened upon a mighty runic axe and a merchant's son. They're outlaws who fight to defend the world that rejects them. Thanks to Bill King for creating favourite characters in GW History.

Now, the elephant in the room - why are there two sets?

I have two Dwarf Armies painted up, one is an Imperial Dwarf Army made up of Perry Imperial Dwarfs and Bood War Mini models that is my "main" Dwarf Army. I also have a second one, that's more 4th Ed made up of late 3rd Ed Marauder sculpts that were the models used for 4th Ed and Black Tree Design Dwarfs that...... ahem "more than typed a nod of the hat" to the Marauder Dwarf Range. These Dwarfs have more of a "Clan" feel to them. I decided to distinguish them by painting the Marauder/Black Tree army with Goblin Green base rims in the 4th Ed style. The Imperial Dwarfs had brown base rims in honour of Wayne England's Longbeards. Obviously this meant I HAD to paint up a pair for both armies to complement the base rims.

This also means I'm trying to get get consistency across both pairs (apart from the base rims) and that's how I circle back to being an "Army Painter" rather than an individual figure painter. I may not have painted up fantastic individual models but this pair of pairs should be, on the whole, consistent between both pairs.

Now a bit of fluff that I hope Mr. King will not be offended by, as he's the only author I accept penning tales of these two:

“Keep up Manling” the Slayer boomed, “We have to get to Karak Eight Peaks before that cursed Snotling fondler does”.

Felix breathed deeply, he really struggled with the mountain terrain but he knew the Slayer was right. It had been two days since they’d come across the Goblin Wolf Riders. Gotrek had fallen upon them and torn them apart. During the melee one of the Goblins had let slip that the local Night Goblin Warlord was amassing Greenskin mercenaries to bolster his following with a view to make an attack on Belegar and his defenders.

Knowing King Belegar’s numbers were low the Slayer and his human ally were rushing to their aid, praying they weren’t too late to bolster the defence and inform the King that he needed to be ready for the green tide to descend.

Having been to Eight Peaks before they knew the defenders had occupied one of the many outlying keeps to the main city and they raced against time to arrive before the siege began.

“If there’s one thing I hate more than Night Goblins it’s Night Goblin Warlords who shave off Dwarf beards to humiliate them” bellowed Gotrek, “and I will not let that damned spawn of the thrice accursed Green Gods wipe out my Kin”.

The Odds & Sods Oldhammer Painting Challenge Month 1 - The Humble Infantry.

Presenting the Fredericksburg Militia - the Seahawks. Erzatsolder in 3rd Ed, Spearmen in later editions.



This particular Fredericksburg (a popular settlement name in the Empire) is situated a short distance inland from the Nordland coast. The local Count, Albrecht Von Frederick is an aged man who, whilst he maintains a Knightly Bodyguard, uses a Militia to guard the town to save his coin. The town is a typical Empire frontier town, protected by a wooden stockade rather than a proper stone wall.

The Seahawks guard the town, and the coast, from invaders from the North and the dark woods to the south. Whilst not exceptionally skilled fighting men the Old Count does insist on the Sergeant, Heinze Nuln, ensuring there are plenty of bodies within Nuln's spearmen's ranks.

A Gathering of Mighty Painters Month 6

"Five shinies on da Wyvern" said Gladruk.

"Nah, da Spider is clevera" bleated Grotslik.

"Shaddup bowf ov ya" shouted Gorfang.

They'd come across the Greenskin Shamen rather unexpectedly. The two were locked in combat, a crazed Goblin riding a Gigantic Spider and an Orc riding a mighty Wyvern that made the arachnid look like a mouse.

There should be no contest but the Goblin just wouldn't give up. Even as they watched on the Spider climbed a rock spire and scuttled along under an overhang. The Wyvern flew under the overhang searching for it prey. All of a sudden the Spider leapt down onto the Wyvern's head and held it's mouth shut with some of it's legs whilst the rest legs wrapped a web around it's mighty jaws. The Goblin, clinging on for dear life, looked up at the Orc and cackled maniacally.

The Orc made a guttural raw and tried smacking the diminutive greenskin with a grinning marotte and the Wyvern shock it's neck side to side trying to lose the Spider. Then, with a violent jerk, the Wyvern sent the Spider and it's gibbering rider flying off towards where Gorfang and his Boyz sat on the ridge of the valley.

Shortly after landing in a crumpled pile the Goblin stood up, the Spider limped away behind him. He started to twitch and then he started to convulse and green lightning shot out of his nose. He looked up, and saw Gorfang's growing horde, and smiled.

He started to chant something, turned around and beckoned to the sky. Green clouds materialised above the Orc on his Wyvern and a great green foot descended.

The Goblin held up his hand and the foot stopped.

"Ad enuff yet Wazgob?" he shouted.

"I'm gonna zoggin' kill ya Narflung" screamed the Orc.

"I gave ya a chanz" Narflung replied.

He pulled back his arm and flung it forward and with that the giant green foot pulled itself back and then kicked forward, booting the Wyvern out of the sky.

The Orc got up from where he and the Wyvern had landed. He put his hands on his knees and breathed in and out heavily.

"Old up ya Snotlin' Fiddla, me an Skreacha needz a breeva".

From behind the Golblin Gorfang began clapping.

"Ow yeaz" Gorfang said."Ave I got an oppatoonity for youz two"..............................................

The penultimate month of the inaugural GOMP (Gathering of Mighty Painters) called for Characters to be painted and as I've already painted Gorfang (My General) I painted two of my three Shamen from the list I typed up before the challenge began.

It's not the first time I've painted this Wyvern rider but I've always felt I could do better and as I had a second on lurking in the lead pile I thought this was a great opportunity to have another go whilst still having one painted should I need one for gaming (as it was I didn't, but if I hadn't of I would of). I think it shows a marked improvement in my painting, brighter colour use, highlighting (yup, historically I didn't because I don't see the whole "where the light would be shining thing", yes it sounds daft but I simply don't see it) and being a bit bolder

Next up is a 3rd Ed Marauder Spider Rider that was still available in 4th. I have the Hero to paint up too and am very excited at the prospect. These are two of the stand out cool minis from a truly awesome line of Orc and Goblin models. I'm excited to finally be putting paint on these guys, starting with the Shamen. I'm intrigued to know if he was based on Keith Richards.

So, onto the last month's painting before I jump into BOYL Prep.