My First Painted Skeleton!

To date, all of my posts featuring models have been about my acquisition of stuff. I've not been able to slow the eBay demon down, either - I must have dropped about £120 since I started this blog (See, GW? that could have been yours...).

Anyway, so I thought I would change pace and deliver something painted instead. This is my very first painted skeleton. This was a test one, as I've not had undead for years and the last ones I had I painted terribly.

I've not flocked the base yet, as I'm not sure if I want to use the flock I've got, so I'll revisit that later. Also, he hasn't been sprayed with any varnish or anything yet.

Stripshow!

In my second post ever, I mentioned how, in open rebellion, I decided not to buy the new Orc & Goblin army book, but use that same amount of money on eBay to get some classic figures. Then I owned up to spending a little more than the cost of the book.

To add to that, someone I know happened to have some old lead soldiers and 'he knew I was interested in that sort of thing...would I like them?'

I replied in the affirmative. You know, just to help him out.

Anyway, I finally got around to stripping them all down this weekend. This is the tub of all the stuff:

First up, Eeza Ugezod's Mother Crushers:

These are Black Orcs. In the Warhammer Armies, an Orc & Goblin army can have up to 40 of them, but interestingly, the units cannot have more than 10 members. Also, only one of the units can have halberds.

This is the other Ugezod pack I got - Mighty Ugezod's Death Commandos. Initially I thought this was a later release than the one above, but I now suspect that this was the first pack out, and the one above was produced later. Either way, I have both units...minus one Shylob Carcassbreath, the hobgoblin berserker. Everyone else is accounted for:

I should be able to use these two units together to seed two units of Black Orcs, or even have one seed a unit of Big'uns.

I've also managed to collected an unusual assortments of Orcs & Goblins:

The four at the bottom are all pre-slotta fanatics. The middle row has some oddities. On the left is the tied up goblin that comes with the Gob-lobber. On the right hand side, are two orcs, forming a bazooka unit, of all things. I'm not really sure what to do with them, to be honest. A small part of me says I could use them as a Chaos Dwarf bazooka team via the Chaos Allies contingent. Hmmm...

Speaking of Chaos, these are my acquisitions in that area:

The top row consists of Chaos Dwarves. The top right is a damaged version of the one to his left. The second row contains, much to my surprise, one Kaleb Daark on foot miniature. When I got him, there was so much paint on the figure, I actually thought it was a dark elf. I'd never even heard of him before. He's not as chunky as your typical Chaos Warrior, but nice to have none-the-less.

Most importantly, (for me, anyway) there is now a Chaos Knight in my model collection. One down...four to go.

There were some other odds and sods, but nothing too relevant to the armies I'm forming.

So I've got about 100 or so figures to paint, now. Watch this space.

3rd Ed. Evangelism

Finding old figures from the 80's with which to play the 3rd edition of Warhammer is not the greatest challenge facing Warhammer 3 players today. It is challenging*, make no bones about it, but it is not the greatest challenge. Indeed, the greatest challenge is this: finding old players from the 80's with whom one can play the 3rd edition of Warhammer.

Having pried open the history of the various gaming compatriots at the club and in my immediate vicinity, I was horrified to realise that I alone had experienced the joy of 3rd edition - the most experienced of these poor bastards could only make reference to the 4th edition...they could go no further. My friends, it is a horrible, horrible feeling to be alone.

So what now?

My plan, then, is to engage in powerful, passionate, inspiring, invigorating, galvanizing evangelism! How can these poor sods possibly know the full joy of Warhammer 3? I shall have to bring it to them, of course!

Which leads me to last night. I thought that instead of going to the club armed with figures, I would bring literature.  More specifically, the 3rd edition rules. The plan was basically this - watch a game of warhammer, moan about how stupid the magic/army composition/fear rules were and then launch into a carefully prepared sales pitch on the sheer brilliance of Warhammer 3.

I showed them the following:

Some of those Warhammer 4 players recalled Heinrich Kemmler, and nodded sagely to themselves as they recalled an Undead army before the days of the split - when Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings were created to cause catastrophe amongst established undead armies everywhere. Of course, how could they know he had a 2nd edition Warhammer scenario all about him...

Interestingly enough, a lot of players seemed to recall The Battle for Orks Drift - a Warhammer 40K scenario. 

No one could draw any frame of reference to McDeath, but the writing is good...

Of course, I also showed them the Warhammer Armies book. Imagine their surprise when they realised that there was a time (before the current GW Army Book roll-out) when all the armies, and the allies, and the mercenaries...were all in one book. I think that single fact impressed more than anything else.

Well, until they saw the Chaos Warriors:

2 Wounds? Each?**

The other thing that really stood out for the youngsters was the fact that the Slann were actually a whole army. 

Anyway, I think I've started grooming a follower. Who knows, perhaps I'll play 3rd edition with someone before the summer!

* Of course, you can still use modern figures to play 3rd edition. If you must.

** I'm not saying its fair...but I've gotta sell it somehow!

My burgeoning Undead army!

Having already cited a catastrophic loss of interest in Warhammer 8 and the general direction the 21st Century Games Workshop is taking as one of the reasons for my creating this blog, allow me to present the second:

Before I knew I would walk away from 8th edition, I had started collecting an undead army that was meant to be constructed from the older, smaller metal figures I remember from my childhood. I started doing this because I just didn't like the ranges available for either the current Tomb Kings or Vampire Counts. Off the back of that, I had started buying a little bit here and a little bit there on eBay, but before I knew it, I had about seventy skeletons!

Of course, that dovetailed nicely with the creation of this blog, because I am already well on my way to a solid Warhammer 3rd Edition Undead army. Having just done a rough calculation, I can easily get around 2000 points just with the Undead. If you look closely, however, you will see that the army also includes a small (but desperately expensive) ally contingent of eight Chaos Warriors:

You might recognize the chap second from the left as being from the current GW Chaos range - he's a champion of Nurgle, I do believe. I was lucky enough just to be given this one day at the club. I'm not that keen on the new Chaos range, but I think this figure is superb - definitely a keeper!

Why only eight? Each of these guys is 74 points! If I added a contingent commander, this unit would add up to about 750 points!!!

Looking at the army as a whole, I reckon I could create around 3000 points with what I have.

In terms of the main host of the army, it breaks down as follows:

The command 'staff'. Keen collectors will notice that the first figure on the left is in fact a Chaos Sorcerer. I love the figure, he's got bones on, so I'm making him a Necromancer. I've suspect there's a way of cutting a 20mm square in a 25mm base, so that if I do want to use him in a Chaos context (and thus, a 25mm base) I can fit him into that.

The second model from the left is from the Albion campaign GW ran some years ago. I've never quite known where to use the figure, but hung on to it 'just in case'. He gets to be another Necromancer.

I've only managed to get two horsemen so far. The one on the left is a Liche and will probably be the general of the army. Depending on how easy it is for me to find other cavalry figures, the guy on the right will either be a regular Death Rider, or who might become a Spectre on Spectral steed - an option from the Ethereal Host. I hope he'll be part of the former...I don't think he's epic enough to be a Spectre, but beggars can't be choosers. At worst, it should be easy to strip and repaint him if (when!) I do get more cavalry.

The next fellow on is also from the Ethereal Host - I'll use him as a ghost.

Moving on, we have Ennio Mordini, the leader of the Nightmare Legion - a Regiment of Renown. He'll just be a normal Undead Hero.

Finally, we have a large and sinister Death Elemental figure, which I will be using as another Undead Hero, to lead the Grim Reapers:

An Undead army must have at least ten Grim Reapers, which are skeletons with two handed weapons. Here we have nineteen of them, being led by a Undead Hero. This was the least blurred picture I had on camera, unfortunately.

Next up:

These are nineteen Skeleton Warriors with hand weapons. They will be led by one of the necromancers. An Undead army must have at least twenty Skeleton Warriors in it. From what I understand of the rules, unless I have more skeletons (I've only mentioned nineteen so far) then the necromancer would become the unit champion and may not be able to leave the unit. I need to check that.

Or...just bring more Skeleton Warriors - this time with spears:

This is the one that Ennio Mordini leads. In fact, about half this unit is made up of Nightmare Legion figures. I think they're supposed to have halberds, but Skeleton Warrior units can't be equipped with halberds in the army list, so I'm using them as spears. You may notice some later versions of undead in the unit as well.

Finally, we have ten Skeleton Archers:

As you can see, there are actually only nine - the necromancer makes up the unit champion (and thus cannot leave the unit). I'll fix that as soon as I get some more archers. Or arquebusiers - note the 2nd from the left is armed with a blunderbuss!

I also have a (currently unassembled) Plague Cart and a Skull Chucker of non-GW origin (I think it's a Mirliton) still to add.

So, I've just started 3rd Ed Orcs & Goblins army, I'm halfway through an Undead army, and at 74 points a piece, I'm well on my way to a Chaos army as well! And I haven't even painted one of them yet...

In my last post, I mentioned that I spent £23 getting hold of some lovely classic Orcs. But you knew that couldn't be true. You know how it is with eBay, some classic Orcs & Goblins here, some Chaos Warriors there, a few Skeleton Horsemen...in the end, I actually dropped around £55. I'll post up all the wonderful things I get as they come through.

One of the amazing treasures I manage to come across was a model I've always wanted, ever since I first saw it:

It's a Lead Belcher, an Organ Gun available to the Orc army, as follows:

It'll need to be stripped and repainted. Unfortunately, it didn't come with the blades on the wheels, but apart from that, is a complete model.

So, the very first model in my budding Orcs & Goblins force...

I am not alone

So this is the post that actually got me started on this blog. For a while now, I've been watching various other gaming systems (Dungeons and Dragons most notably) start to experience 'old school' movements.

Whilst I hardly have enough evidence, the general feel I get from people that I chat to (and observe on the internet) is that Warhammer 8 has forced people to choose. Warhammer 6 & 7 were OK - they were playable, people could still enjoy those. They weren't different enough to make people think there was a need to change. They were...tolerable. But Warhammer 8 is either brilliant, or crap. You have to choose.

For me, Warhammer 8 is a piss-poor clone of Warhammer 3. I get the impression that the design team had a bit of a read through the book, spotted two or three things they could understand (Fire causes fear in animals? Hmm...that's true...I'll bring that across to Warhammer 8 and everyone will praise me for my original thinking and tactical depth I will be introducing...), ignored the rest, and vomited out Warhammer 8. Everything Coop says in his post is true - the background is bland and expendable; the sense of humour has gone.

I wonder how many High Elf power gamers would cringe knowing that the jewel of their 8th edition crown, those serious and brooding 50 Lothern Sea Guard-in-a-horde-formation, were originally a regiment of renown whose leader ate small toads and bathed in goat offal, and whose unit champion was a notorious rake disowned from his family because of that 'dwarf incident'?

Anyway, as Coop mentioned in his post, the cost of the new Orcs & Goblins book is £22.50. So, in my first act of open rebellion, I hit eBay to see what I could find - the intention being to find £22.50 worth of old classic OOP Orc & Goblin stuff, whose worth would prove to many more times that amount in the pleasure they brought to me.

Imagine my surprise when I came across, and won, Eeza Ugezods Mother Crushers, a Regiment of Renown from the 80s? Not only that, I then managed to discover on the same night, a later version of this regiment - the Mighty Ugezod's Death Commandos Box Set, missing only the hobgoblin berserker. All of that totaling...£23.00. That's 19 classic OOP metal Orc warriors, for the same price as the book. Also, it compares quite favourably to the new price for 10 plastic Orc Boys - £18.00!

Gaj: 1. Games Workshop: 0.

I've had it...

Enough is enough.

I imagine that the way I feel now is the very much the same way a young man might feel when he goes home to his father, knowing that when he gets there, on that very night, he will 'come out of the closet'. He will explain to his father that is is men he loves, not women. He expects shouting, weeping and manly pats on the back. He doesn't know how it will happen yet, he just knows that he cannot bear it any longer - he must act.

Now I'm not telling anyone I'm gay, because I'm not. This site is not about closets, or the getting into or out of them. Perhaps that's what you're looking for, and that sort of thing is OK now - it's the 21st century and you can love who you want, but I can't help you with that. Good luck with that. This is not that sort of site. Ostensibly, I do love men, but they are little lead men, who always listen when I talk to them, and never feel the need to offer their own opinions. Actually, now that  think about it, I'm surprised my wife doesn't like them more - they sound bloody ideal!

But I digress. The young man must act, we say, so act he will!

Games Workshop...I just don't love you any more. It's not you...it's me. Actually, no. It is you. We've had some good times along the way, but...you've just changed so much. I still remember how we would laugh and play, rolling dice and looking up rules. We had something special...but it's gone now. You don't see the gamer in me any more...and it hurts. I'm not just a wallet, you know. I'm not one of the brainless teenagers you're always hanging out with these days. My needs have changed.

I guess what I'm saying is...well, I just think we should see other people.

There. I've acted.

But hang on a sec, you say. The page is called Warhammer For Adults - that's still pretty Games Workshop-ey, isn't it? Yes, it is. Whilst I don't want to have anything further to do with Games Workshop, I still have plans regarding Warhammer. Not the later editions, though. I'm talking about that poor, abused and abandoned 3rd edition no one likes to talk about anymore. I very much have plans for that.

This has led me to research. Having spent a weekend of both delightful and frustrating research trying to find out all of the best resources on 3rd edition on the internet. Delightful in that there are...some. Frustrating in that many sites that claim some sort of 3rd edition content have either disappeared, or are just whispers of a game played before the shrouds of memory...nothing concrete or useful.

So I've made a blog. My first intention here is to collect and discuss all the relevant information on this archaic games system so that people whose love for fantasy wargaming need not be embarrassed, shamed and abused by the latest Warhammer editions - those pretenders to the throne; those false, poor clones of the once proud system that I'm hoping will have led you to this page.

My second intention is to play it - and play it the way it was meant to be played. That means two things:

1. Try to get my hands on some of those lovely old miniatures Citadel used to produce.
2. Find people to play this ancient and wonderful system with.

Thirdly, I suppose, like many other blogs about wargaming, I guess this will be an opportunity for me to try and encourage myself to paint more, by providing myself with a soapbox upon which stuff must be presented - hopefully beautifully and lovingly painted rare Warhammer 3rd edition figures.

So, if you know anything about 3rd edition, or are indeed a player of this system, or are interested in it, or have lovely old miniatures that you put to shame in a box in the back of your basement, get in touch.