That did came in handy!

Whenever I chop a bit off a model and throw it away, later on when I'm looking for something my brain goes,  'do you remember that thing you binned? It would be really useful now.' So, now I have my hobby room set up, I have these handy drawers from Aldi where I keep odd cut offs, just in case.

When it comes down to greenskin engineering, it is priceless to have access to these bits.

Here is my first Pumpwagon conversion. It doesn't have much floor space to it but it feels lanky, breakable and has spiky bits. Using about 50% of the parts from the pumpwagon in the snotling box. Instead of using a big rock pumping the wagon I found loads on flails that where cut off from old chaos marauders arms, probably to be weaponless arms for blood bowl.

The front wheels are from a skaven plague catapult. Back steering wheel is almost all from the kit.  Added a bit of a cross beam to one of the poles holding up the roof and added a bottom of a spear shaft to act as an axel bolt, which can be seen better in the previous picture. I also used a metal bit which looks like some sort of wooden shaft as the handle. A bit of aluminium foil from a tea light to strap it to the main body and plastic rod blips for bolts/nails.

Quite a lot of snotlings have had their clubs removed for various projects including becoming blood bowl players. I needed a wooden bit to anchor the steering mechanism and this wooden bit came already with a nail in it - couldn't be better. 

Side blades are from the old goblin wolf chariot kit that came in the polystyrene trays. 

This is my second Pumpwagon conversion. It's the main body flipped upside down. It looks way more sturdy and more like a tank this way around.

Think the mushrooms look better this way around too. The skaven aesthetic on the wheels works great once you've removed the runes. Again from the skaven plague catapult/warp lighting cannon. 

The millstone is from the giants necklace. Works great as a wheel. 

Front face is from the old pump wagon kit. It looks a lot more robust this way around. Will add some spear tips on the front to give it a bit more impact power.

I've converted up lots of the battle for skull pass goblins to be using hand weapons, so I have lots of spear bits. They will go well to give a bit more stabby lethblity to the pump wagon.

Done some more work on the troll.

So I haven't moved any of the limbs far off from where they where supposed to go but away from the extremes making the pose more palatable.

You can see that I chopped a bit more off the cloth at the back than I needed but it was a faff getting the leg in the right place so was nice with a bit of wiggle room. Planned on adding a bit back on the cloth but think it is more likely to come out bad so think it looks alright to just leave it rather than draw attention to it with a bad sculpting joint. The filling in the armpit might need some detail added to blend it better with the back scales.

From the back it looks alright. 

I've given ears to the goblin bruisers 

His right ear still needs a bit of work but think the left is good enough.

This guys right ear sculpted and the left ear was carved off from one of the goblin arms I believe.

Cursed City

Due to a certain lack of product, pictures might appear a little unorthodox for todays rant I mean post.

I have always been intrigued by Warhammer Quest. I had some bits for the original game but not the whole set. It felt like a mammoth task to get into such a heavy weight game- I only own one of the range of rule books that came with the first edition, but that alone was enough to give me cold sweats.  I did play and enjoy the mobile game when that came out but it was a bit of a limited and repetitive experience.

I played and enjoyed Silver Tower with a friend. The setting is a bit odd and not easily accessible for someone who’s not already educated in Age of Sigmar lore. I managed to get hold of a copy that I wanted to play with my partner and friends, however I never got around to paint it up, probably because it is not appealing or accessible for them, so seems unlikely we would actually play it.  (Oh, and I've also started chopping up the miniatures for Blood Bowl teams...)

So, when I heard about Cursed City I was very intrigued and my partner was curious. It's setting is the Age of Sigmar universe, which is understandable, but it is all normal fantasy tropes that people can relate to and understand. It takes place in a medieval city, in which vampires and the undead are the bad guys. There are even elven archers, Dwarven warriors and human clerics. It seemed like a more accessible game, something that tabletop gamers like my girlfriend and I could really get into. I was really looking forward to adding a great dungeon crawler to our boadgame collection. I would go into more detail at this point, however, CURSED CITY SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE ON THE DAY THE PREORDER WENT LIVE.  Even on the Games Workshop website. 

Now, I understand about popularity and accept that things sell out. As a Blood Bowl fan, I am a hardened veteran of disappointment. This post is not simply a complaint about me not getting what I want- it's a cry of frustration in the face of GW constantly undersupplying and then ignoring their customer base. And still, we return to them, eating our plastic crack right out of their hands. 

I know I didn't imagine it. In fact, when asked, GW confirmed that Cursed City would be a permanent product. These comments have since been wiped from all social media. It never happend. We never mentioned it. 

Games Workshop had put up its own site about this game and posted teasers, hyping Cursed City for MONTHS, yet for some reason didn’t even have enough copies to last for more than an hour on pre-order.  The whole idea of selling out on pre-order is ridiculous. It happens a lot with Blood Bowl but I’ve let it slide because it’s not their main line and as I've said before us Blood bowl fans are often sidelined. It could be argued that they underestimated the size of the buyer base, but if this was going to be a permanent offering from GW, why only produce a limited run? 

I just get disenfranchised by things like this, and feel the choices GW are making don't add up. They must have spent a lot of money on the sculpts, some of which we will surely see again further down the line but still, designing this game and components, all the work on the website, blog posts and marketing now seem to have gone to waste. Surely you would want to milk the market to regain those investments while there are people willing to buy? But instead, it's been just over a week since its launch, and already the game dead and buried. 

I understand that with Covid there will be problems on production lines but I, like so many others, would have been happy to be told that my order could be taken, but to expect delays. We know that their paper printers are abroad but even if they are in Germany and wouldn't be able to make a second print until June due to COVID lock downs, just be honest with your customers! Equally, there may be issues around additional tariffs on products being produced outside the UK as a result of Brexit. Some people have theorised that this has affected potential profit margins and is the main reason Cursed City has been dropped so suddenly. I could potentially buy this as an excuse if it weren't for the fact that no-one knew the pricing of the game until the release date. GW could have upped the price to cover costs, no one would have been any the wiser, and poor saps like me would still have shelled out our cash. 

To simply pretend that it never happened seems like a very weird move, one that doesn’t sit well with me. I can't understand the first print being so very limited, to the point of perceived non-existence, after so much effort to hype it. Even more troubling is the poor communication and honest-to-god ghosting after the fact. 

It's true that I’m better off saving my money for other things and that I should try to paint up some of my many other projects but it would have been nice, just for once, not to feel mugged off by GW. I suppose I can take some solace in a quote from another disillusioned fan on facebook, "Relax, you where never going to actually play it anyway."

https://ageofsigmar.com/cursed-city/

Chaos Dwarf Team Part 3

 Chaos Dwarf team part 1 | Chaos Dwarf team part 2 
I've started a test model to try a paint scheme for my chaos dwarfs. I wanted them to pop and to break away from the traditional colour schemes for chaos dwarfs.

Test model. I always feel I like purple and orange together even though they don't quite fit in colour theory. You can get them together in triadic and tetradic schemes but not quite how I envisioned it. In a triadic scheme, green is the third so I went with a grass base which does balance things out a bit.

Test model for the hobgoblin- I went with yellow. Think the idea first germinated as a child when I saw a hobgoblin bottle in my brother's room. Think ever since then I have had a notion that hobgoblins should be yellow. It was also because I wanted to try yellow against the purple since they are complementary colours. Grey and yellow also work well and once I've layered the grey I'll add a bit of devlan mud to grime it up a bit and tie things together. 

I was getting a bit stuck but felt I had an idea so decided to just get started blocking colours out.

Quite a mess on my table as you can see! My excuse is that I have some other projects on the go but I'll say more about them in a bit. Things to spot in the picture, you can see my take on Zzharg Madeye in the far back, and a coach a bit further forward. More pictures of him once he's further along. The model is from the earthshaker cannon. To the left a bit there is also a musician to join the cheerleader squad. 

I decided that I wanted more variation between my bull centaurs. Also, if  I wanted to run the star player Hthark the Unstoppable (if he gets re-introduced) I wanted three different models. This would also allow me to rotate between models if they die, as you are only allowed to roster two bull centaurs. I ordered this guy from eBay, chopped off his sword, gave him knuckledusters and chopped off the standard hand and added the stylised glove. 

I did luck out with the legs though but there isn't that big a difference between the two sculpts of legs so I'll be alright. I do feel like there are a good spread of individual features for each model in the trio. 

The apothecary is coming along. He is a bit tall compared to the other dwarfs but it will be alright. 

Okay. I wanted to share the first of my side projects. I'm reworking the blog design. It has been on my to-do list for some years now. I've still got quite a bit to go but I've started. Thoughts and feedback on what you like, dislike and what you'd like to see would be very much appreciated.

My second project is that I'm working on splitting the name generator into three separate generators and adding a whole lot of 40k. I've been trawling the Necromunda books and made extensive name and gang name generators for all of the different factions. I'm happy to say that it's not that far from being finished.

Coach Conversions and stuff

Getting some coaches made up for the argue the call rule and rounding off the teams a bit better. A bit of everything post this month.

On the left you can see where I've been trying out paints on some random models. These will work nicely as assorted fans to go in the stands. Some balls in the front and some chaos dwarfs to the right.

Sorted out the shoulder pad on one of the reposed black orcs, top down view.

Black orc seen from behind. Link to Black Orc Team

Dark elf coach before priming. She's from Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven Warhammer Underworlds. The scroll is form the empire flagellants set. I changed the emblem on her stomach to a broken heart after this picture.

Halfling and Lizardmen coach. Halfling is from adventurers box from back in 2000 for talisman or warhammer quest. You can see more about that box here. Again the scroll is from the empire flagellants set. The Lizardmen coach is from Tehenhauin Prophet of Sotek.

A slightly adjusted coin to fit better with the heartbreakers A rule book to step on from the empire flagellants set, very useful set for bits. An Akhorne extracted from the halfling head he was perched on and repositioned tail.

Chaos coach that seems quite displeased with a rule and or play not going according to plan along with two assistant coaches. Dug these guys out of the warhammer quest Silver Tower box.

Priest of sigmar seemed like a good choice for coach for the new Imperial Nobility team. Also out of the warhammer quest Silver Tower box.

Halfling coach still not finished but started to get the base colours down. Link to Halfling Team

Stepping on the rule book.

Chalice of coffee- a must for any coach. Link to the Dark Elves team

Size comparison.

I need to redo the base on this guy, not happy with how flat it looks. I will add some sand and repaint it. The coach is a bit odd as he has chameleon eyes but sort of a normal sail. I went with a red crest to give him a bit of sotek's fierceness.

I like the little lizard on the back. I tried doing a bit of patterning to both of them to give them some interest.

Here is more of what I hope to achieve with the base. 

Turnmarker/Score marker. Link to the Lizardmen team

The sun has more or less forsaken me at this point it seems. I need to arrange a better photo set-up. This Goblin in his fancy fur cloak and gold chain, will coach the elven union for now, don't have many good elf models. The model is from the Gnobblar trapper blister pack. Link to the Elven Union Team

Yeah I painted up the cloak as a wolf pelt with greys whites and yellows but it doesn't really show at all in the picture...

While painting up my elven union team I kept rubbing of paint from their hair so decided I would look in to getting a painting handle. I remembered our empty salt grinder. So both green and cheap.

I cut out the top of a tin of mushy peas and glued it down on top to let my magnets stick to something metal. The bluetac around the edge is just to have if a base hasn't been magnetized or not been based yet or if it spins too much.

Allows for easy spin too, ooo..