Terror of the Lichemaster - Phase -. 6 / 17 painted.

Hah!

Imagine, if you will, 2014 knocking on the door. Having considered it through the peephole, I've yanked the door open, snatched 2014 by its throat, swung it around and up against the wall, thrust a pistol into its throat, and demanded the nature of its business.

You might say that I got the jump on 2014 - I've painted something.

Anyway.

I thought I'd open 2014 with what is probably now my longest running project - if one includes the procurement of the necessary figures: The Terror of the Lichemaster.

So, in a quiet moment, unnoticed by well wishing family and sugar powered toddlers, I was able to paint four more of them.

The painting quality isn't brilliant. Parenthood has taught me to lower my standards and the nature of my job has taught me that 'good enough to go' is better than 'perfect, but not now'.

I present to you the four eldest in the Bogel family:

John-boy, Corabell, Lorabeth and Hunk

When I first read the scenario, I took away the idea that the Bogel family were kind, intelligent, all round 'good' farming family.

As I started working on the family, the same thing kept going through my mind:

Rednecks. Stereotypical, american-movie-style-rednecks. The ones that are most often visited by UFO's and are generally suspicious of marriage outside of their families.

Having now perceived them in this new light, I have found the scenario much, much more interesting - a lonely southern farmstead attacked by zombies, with the blood soaked survivors running back to town to explain to the disbelieving sheriff about the zombies that attacked them...

The curiously named Hunk is anything but. I've not expressly taken a picture of his face, but if you do ever get to look at him closely, he is a astonishingly Hitler-like.

Hunk

Lorabeth, the wife of Hunk, will also serve as a different character in other games - one you may have met already. Her name is Wanda Reboute, or at least, a human wizard, until I get some other human wizards painted.

Lorabeth

Corabell is the only daughter of Hunk and Lorabeth:

Corabell

John-boy strikes me as the most inbred of the lot. His fish like face and ill-fitting clothes set him quite apart from the other members of his family. I can't help thinking he's one of those bullies who actually relies on his cronies to beat up new comers into town if they respond to his childish mocking.

If my redneck zombie horror interpretation of this scenario plays out correctly, I imagine he'll be one of the last survivors - there to confound any chance the rest have of ever getting to town alive...

John-boy

There are still two Bogels (well, one and a dog: Willy and Fritzy) and a halfling (Samgaff) to complete, but I'll be getting on to them soon enough.

The Terror of the Lichemaster figures progressed to date

As always, I have many uses for my figures, and these are no different - when not serving as the actual Bogel family or possibly being objectives in games I've yet to think up, they will serve in the baggage train of the Human army I'm quietly building.

So:

Gaj: 1
2014: 0

Only 364 days to go.

Terror of the Lichemaster - Phase -. 2 / 17 painted.

Part of my day job is to look at opportunities to re-use things. So, when things are made, how do we make them so that they could be reused in different ways by different things, you see.

So it was when I selected Albi and Antonio to be the first up to be painted.

Firstly, I thought they would be quite easy to paint, so that was a plus.

Secondly, I thought they looked like suitable adventurers, should such a thing be required.

Thirdly, I remember the old AD&D range that Citadel released where they would release a thief or fighter pack or whatever, where each pack had three figures in represented the various levels the characters would be at.

It occurred to me that Albi could be the senior level version of Antonio (who himself could be the senior level version of John-boy (coming soon!)).

And finally, as I must build a fledgling Imperial force to support Phase 2 of the Lichemaster project anyway, they could serve as characters (or even just warriors) in said force - when I get there.

Oh, and of course, that means that I'm two steps closer to completing the second phase of Terror of the Lichemaster - painting the characters.

Anyway, here they are:

Obviously, Albi is a fighter. No-nonsense shoot first and ask questions later sort of chap. Antonio, of course, is a lover. I figured him to be the type to spend a lot on designer clothing in order to impress (hence the Pringle jumper).

Seen in the context of an adventuring party, I would see Antonio as the rogue type of character, something along the lines of a conman or a bard. I don't think we have any doubt as to what Albi represents in the party, which would make Victoria some sort of ranger, with Dumbel still being the party wizard. Maybe later I will try to generate WFRP characters for them.

In other news, I seem to have started a dark elf army:

You know, because everyone needs dark elves.  And no, I didn't paint them.

A Finisher of Things

...which, as any longterm reader of this blog will know, is not me.

But, as the saga of the Bridge Over the River Chai has now drawn to a close, I am able to return to other members of The Unfinished.

Lets start with the last things that went into the painting queue:

Terror of the Lichemaster. These have been just lying around in a box for some time now. A few nights ago, my powerfully cruel imagination forced to me to consider the what-if scenario of one of these figures contracting lead rot. Panic struck, and I undercoated them as soon as I was able!

These are just pictures of the named characters - the others are coming.

Scenario 1:

Scenario 2:

Scenario 3:

Where's Krell, you ask? Well, I've already got a painted one of those. It was all I could do to get the time to even photograph these, let alone dig around trying to find him.

And the whole lot, scrounging for some love.

Unfinished that have seen a paintbrush - 15 halberdiers, their various commanders, a troll, a skull chucker and the iron claw chariot - a figure I've come to hate...

Unfinished that haven't even seen a paintbrush - two chaos figures from the August painting challenge I never finished (because of these two), some goblin command, the iron claw stone thrower, the remainder of the dungeoneering party I was putting together and some other assorted baddies:

But just as despair is about to set in, perhaps we should consider the good news? Because painting has happened, you see - some people may even remember these chaps from the Bring Out Your Lead! 2013 get-together. Off the back of many threats made aeons ago to produce a chaos army of Nurgle, I finally got around to painting some chaos warriors. Long time readers my recognise Onowitz Mann'fluh, which was produced as part of that plan over a year ago now.

Now Nurgle's magic number (or whatever its called) is seven, meaning that most units in the army must be comprised of seven figures or multiples of seven. Mild OCD suggested to me that I would never be able to cope with the incomplete rank such a number of figures would produce. So, a conversion - once again, champions of Slaanesh seem to be much better suited to Nurgle:

And then regular grunts:

What follows is a relatively modern figure - probably my favourite of the last two decades. Being a character of Nurgle, he was a no brainer:

...and relax - back to old lead:

As I was trying to get the unit painted quickly, I decided to select models that were equipped with two handed weapons, meaning I wouldn't need to paint shields. Of course, all chaos warriors are equipped with Shields, but I can't imagine any of the lovely oldhammer community would mind if they didn't happen to bring them along...

This next chap was given to me as Gratnak Nakk - the half orc from Forenrond's Last Stand. Quite how the giver arrived at that conclusion, I don't know, but he has always been a half-orc from that point on. Of course, the gods of chaos are equal opportunity employers, so he was welcome:

And Mann'fluh. Sometimes a chaos sorcerer, sometimes a banner bearer. As the army develops, he may very well become the army standard.

When preparing for BOYL! 2013, I decided to roll up a chaos champion. In a curious twist of fate, he actually came out relatively well and normal. Not only that, but he got a chaos steed! This, then, is Baron Bodiyoder:

And, because I like I know you, dear reader, like army shots, I thought I'd take a look at what I could scrape together that was expressly and obviously of chaos. I know I could throw the goblins in there as chaos goblins, but we've seen a lot of goblins lately, so I thought I'd spare you. Also, They were under a lot of other things that would mean I would have to not take this picture and organise my painting station instead. I think you'll agree, this was probably the better outcome:

Its nice to finish with those that have successfully escaped from The Unfinished - heres to many more months like it!

The Ace of Spades

Welcome home, Mr Kemler.

We've been expecting you.

Milestone Reached!

In this post:

Terror of the Lichemaster milestone reached!
Undead army milestone reached!
Two educated men outsmarted by a camera!
I buy a modern citadel product!

Lets start at the bottom of the list.

I went to visit Andre in order to play my first game of Warhammer 3rd edition in twenty years. You can find him on the map. Its always nice to actually meet people that you have only dealt with digitally. They never live how or where you would expect them to, and they never look how you thought they would.

Once the niceties had been attended to, Andre showed me his gaming set-up. I'll talk about that in another post, but two of the things he had on the table were the Citadel Battlemat and, well, another Citadel Battlemat. What blew my mind is that it is not the crusty paper roll that was produced a few years ago, but its actually a cloth (or cloth backed) 6'x4' gaming mat.

You can iron it.*

So I bought one. It meant I had to have a conversation with a GW store worker (marine?) with a serious BO problem, but even so, the product is still worth it.

In fact, so pleased was I with the thing that I broke out the figures and took pictures. It makes staging much easier for me. These are the pictures I will show you today.

What I won't do, is show you pictures of the battle.

I know, I know. I'm sorry. I had left my camera at home, you see. As the proprietor of a blog, it is simply irresponsible. Were blogging a licensed activity, my license would be revoked.

Fortunately (no doubt for Andre as well), Andre is married to a very nice woman, who has a very nice camera. She offered to lend it to us, and the two of us had a go with the thing. I don't think I'm a stupid man. I don't think Andre is a stupid man.  We combined our intellects and assaulted the camera with verve.

We were overcome. In the end, we decided that it was better for our own states of mind that we play than we dither with his wife's extremely powerful and confusing camera. Also, we would have had to do a lot with the lighting. And we hadn't played Warhammer 3rd ed. for twenty years - we reasoned that you, dear reader, would be forgiving. Like men released from prison after a twenty year incarceration, our minds were only on one thing.

I can summarise the battle very simply: I took Undead. He took Wood Elves. No Wood Elves were harmed in the prosecution of that battle. The treeman (technically not a wood elf) was also unhurt.

Now that you have dealt with your disappointment, we can move onto a silver lining of this specific cloud. As a result of preparing for the game, I had to paint some figures. Let us bask in their glory now.

Stage 1: Buying into the game

For the purposes of constructing my army, I've used the Warhammer Armies book. I realise that we are amongst gentlemen here, old-hammerers of distinction and class, so I know of no compelling reason to enforce the distasteful habits associated with vendor-supplied army lists. But, as I consider Warhammer Armies a thing of beauty that has largely informed my interpretation of fantasy warfare, I have elected to bind myself to its tenets. 

So, in order to buy into the game, as it were, one requires simply this: a General, 20 skeletons and 10 grim reapers (skeletons with two handed weapons). 

Although I've discussed this milestone before, I thought it would be nice to look at the thing again. And it allowed me to play around with my figures, scenery and the new battlemat.

31 figures!

Stage 2: Cleaning up a bit, really

Just another 10 grim reapers. I pictured this as I thought this would be the next logical step for those pursuing an undead army. I like the figure 20 more than I like the figure 10.

41 figures!

Stage 3: Enough units to manoeuvre with 

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?

I suppose it sort of is, as it's not an animal, vegetable or mineral. It's a liche, to be sure, with 20 of his favourite zombies.

62 Figures!

Now feels like the right time to some close-ups. Below: grim reapers!

Zombies! And the liche:

Skeletons, comprising of enough of the Nightmare Legion to be considered the Nightmare Legion:

Stage 4: Inviting some friends to play

I've had these chaos dwarves hanging around for a while. They looked bored. As an open minded, 21st century, equal opportunity employer, I thought it prudent to offer them an opportunity with my undead.

Figures: 72!

And you can see them a little closer too, if you like. Looking at the picture, I see that I have forgotten to  do any highights to the banner, which I destroyed earlier in its life through varnishing. I've corrected the damage, but it looks very flat.

Hooray for chaos dwarves!

So, what we have here is a legal (*cringe*) Undead Army. Let's talk about the milestones.

For some unknown reason that I cannot surface, an assortment of figures following the same broad outlook on life (and death) becomes an army when it reaches 70 figures. Less than 70 figures? Gang. 70 and onwards? Army. I don't know why.

So the Undead Army milestone is simply this: it's now an army.

But there is another, richer milestone. I've painted enough undead rank and file to cover the forces of the Lichemaster in The Terror of the Lichemaster. I'm still missing the commander-in-chief, but I'm sure we'll all sleep better tonight knowing that his forces are ready for him when he arrives. Now I need to start working the Imperial side.

So, what's next, now that I have an army? I was hoping to move into another army to create an opposing force for the undead. Having learned from experience from the game against Andre, I realise that I need to spend some more time on the undead, as they're quite bad at warfare.

There are two angles to this - the first is that now that I have enough rank and flle, I can focus on the more interesting things like the war machines and the corpse cart. I have some cavalry to throw at the problem and I believe I've sourced some carrion crows as well.

The second, and probably the route I'll explore next, is that I can pursue the creation of a second army, which could be both the opposing force and, when larger forces are required, part of the undead army.

If we consult the knowledge locked deeply within the tome of The Lost and the Damned, we see that Nurgle is also an equal opportunity employer, seeing the undead as boon members of his armed forces. Things have to be done in multiples of 7, of course, so I'd need to paint two extra skeletons and another zombie, but that is achievable. We see now that this force would not become part of the undead, but rather, the undead would become part of a Realms of Chaos Nurgle army.

In a bizarre and unplanned twist of fate, I have more RoC champions of Nurgle than of any other deity. It must be destinee destanie destany fate!



*Cool iron, use a cloth over it. Iron the material bit, not the grass bit. It's a gaming mat, not a pair of jeans...

More Zombies.

More zombies. Y'know. Loitering...

...as is the wont of zombies.

Another six zombies. I can't believe it. Okay, they're not completely complete, a they'll want some basing, but still. Six extra zombies. That means I've painted seventeen models in one month so far. And the month isn't even over yet!

Here they are, in all their grizzly glory:

Apologies for the lack of staging, but the scenery is in a cupboard which was alarmingly close to my sleeping infant daughter. It wasn't a hard decision to make: you'll just have to do without staging. Let sleeping infants lie...

In related news, however, things are lining up for my first physical game of warhammer 3rd edition since, well, 1992?

Twenty years ago.

If we take a look at Skarsnik's player finder, we might note that there is a man the local sheriff knows as 'Andre':

I'm located at the other pin. We've been threatening violence towards each other for months, but jobs, kids and other real-life activities have thus far prevented our joyous slaughter. But, on Monday, the 27th Day of September (EDIT:August, you retard...), I shall scrounge whatever painted items I can find, mash up some sort of army list and deliver twenty years of pent-up frustration to somewhere South of Hampton.

So I'm trying to get as much stuff painted as I can. Hopefully, I'll post up the list by the following weekend. I also have a secret fantasy that I might actually produce something for the Golden Gobbo - which is still unpainted, unbased, unmounted and, well, un-thought-of. What a backstory, should that entry be able to mark its (his? her? Its? I'm not telling!) debut with glorious slaughter on the field of battle!

But, no promises. New Dad. Still got twenty months before I can't use that anymore...

Look! Zombies!

Now that Oldhammer appears to be sorting itself out, what with forums, painting contests and other bits and bobs, the humble hobbyist is left with nothing but the business of painting.

I've painted some zombies.

Although the blog has been silent for a while, I have been diligently beetling along whenever I've had some space.

Washes have proven to be a loyal friend at this junction. As described in the link, the key thing for me was to move faster than normal. I reckon I spent about six or so hours on them (in total, not elapsed time. Elapsed time was about a month...).

Note the way old-school three in a row slottabase. Usually, I have to destroy those to get the figures out, but this one was still useable.

Anyway, these are the zombies:

I've been painting these as I continue forward with my Lichemaster objective. There are twenty zombies involved in the Lichemaster story - ten for Mikael Jacsen and another ten as part of Krell's contingent. I ended up painting eleven because I appear to have forgotten how to count. Anyway, I suppose that's good news, because then there are only nine left.

I haven't varnished or embellished the bases yet. I hate flocking bases. You can substitute the 'lo' with any vowel you think makes sense, if you really want my view on the thing.