Fimir - Fimir Head 4

The last of my head variants for my fimm units, this time a shouting head. It took a couple of attempts to get it to this stage, and there's a bit of work left, mostly smoothing and filing, but it's still curing, so one must wait. The teeth were a pain, I re-did them a couple of times. I considered doing some tusks on the top jaw, as in Paul Bonner's fimir illustrations. (see below)

In the end I quite liked the bottom jaw tusks. They match the heads I've done already. SO! Once this is cured and finished I'll crack open the instant mould and get making them moulds. I'm dying to see how the heads look on the finished miniatures. Anyhow, thanks to Mr Paul Bonner and Mr Jes Goodwin for inspiration for these heads.

Fimir - Fimm Head 3

I've another fimm head ready for the mould, this time wearing a ragged leather cap, studded with iron rivets. I intend to do one more head, then we'll see if they produce decent results when I make the moulds.

Fimir - Fimm Head 2

Here's the first fimm helmet, based mostly on the only other fimir helmet, on Nick Bibby's fimir noble. It's hard to see here, but I've tried to simulate beaten bronze by covering the helm in little indentations, as fimir armour is primarily bronze. It still needs a little work. I plan on a second leather helmet, and an open-mouthed face also, so I can cast a number of variants. I'll work up the mail on the neck after the head is attached to each torso.

Fimir - Fianna Fimm Started

While I'm waiting for some more 25mm bases to arrive, I've started another fimir unit, the fianna fimm, which will play as chaos ogres. I have the first two assembled and ready for paint, the champion and a regular fianna fimm warrior. I'm delighted to finally work on them, they've been in the box for some time, and it took an age of man to get a six man unit together in the first place! Four more to go.

Below is the fianna fimm compared to the fimm. As you can see, the converted savage orc is taller than the old Nick Bibby sculpts, and the Bloodmoon bog raider is taller again, though the Bibby fimir are quite hunched, and a tad bulkier. I'm happy with them though, the mix gives a ragtag feel, compared to a disciplined army.

Fimir - Releasing the Beast

I had a profound little hobby moment last night. Having based the first of my fianna fimm, I decided to base the unit champion next. Searching through my stash of original Nick Bibby fimir, I found the mini I was looking for. The fimir in question was still in his original blister pack, meaning he's been trapped in a little bubble of the 1980's for about 25 years. Dabbing away the misty-eyed wave of nostalgia that descended, I took up the scalpel to open the pack. I took a moment before I broke the seal, aware I was consigning to history another little memento of the golden age of Citadel miniatures. Sniff.

Still! He's based now, a little greenstuff and he and his mate will be ready for a picture or two. I'm sure he'll enjoy the 21st century.

Fimir - Standard Bearer Assembled

Here's the last member of the first rank, the standard bearer. He's not totally finished, he needs some facial work to add a scar and perhaps lose a tooth, and a couple of small touches to his ragged hood. The tail on this one was more problematic, as the rear of the body has a mail loincloth. There was a handy space where the tail could sneak out the side though, also helping with ranking. I'm waiting on some more bases from Microart Studios before I can get into the next rank, so I may start on the larger Fimir in the meantime.

This is a shot of all the fimir assembled so far. You can see a Bloodmoon bog raider at the back there too, who I'll sprinkle throughout the unit for some variety. With 25% of the first unit assembled, (I've a fifth fimir painted) I'm feeling a lot better about this project.

Warhammer - Storm of Magic

Where was this hiding? Storm of Magic you say? I might be out of the loop, but this is the first I'd heard of this. Colour me intrigued, especially with the 'new wizards and scenery' and 'monstrous beasts' bits...

Fimir - Fimm Musician Assembled

The second member of the fimm unit steps off the assembly line, this time the musician. No hood this time, instead I gave this fellow a necklace of heavy bronze, similar to one I'd seen online. Happily a standard haft from the bits box provided the correct size discs. I still had to sculpt his neck, though it's hard to see in the photo. Again, the chaos spawn sprue offered another perfect tail. I'm really going to have to watch the tails for ranking.

Tomb Kings - Expectations Exceeded.

I said I had high hopes for the tomb kings. I got my wish. The new plastics out today are breathtaking. They are, quite simply, astoundingly beautiful examples of the miniature makers art, none more so than the glorious sphinx. Whatever you might think of Games Workshop as a company, (and yes, they are getting even more expensive) as producers of miniatures they are red hot at the moment.

This is turning into quite the year for the warhammer player.

Fimir - Hooded Fimir Champion Assembled

Here's the assembled fimm. The tail worked out better than I expected, it fit as if made for the task, right in the savage orc's naked ass. Also, I have to say, I love how the arms fit the shoulders, it's a great solution to multi-part models with no cloth or armour to hide the join.

I had a bit of trouble picking the left-hand weapon. I went through about six hands, and finally settled on the small shield, which doesn't upset the pose as much as the second hand weapon I was going to use. A little filing, and he's onto the painting table!

Forgeworld - Chaos Dwarf Units!

Hot damn!! Now we're talking baby. These are from Forgeworld's stand at Adepticon. Now these are chaos dwarves. Looks like the spiky stunties are coming in from the cold at last...

Fimir - Hooded Fimm Champion

My second Fimm champion, this time a little more involved. When I saw the new savage orc plastics, I thought they were sent from on high. Large areas of flesh, slightly hunched (as opposed to the regular orcs, which are too hunched, imo) lots of tribal style weapons and clothing. Perfect for converting to fimir.

After cleaning the parts, I attached the body to another Microart Studio swamp base. A little greenstuff, and he's sitting on it nicely. I shaved back the neck to the shoulders and sculpted on the new hooded head. There's never been a hooded fimir model, plus it helps conceal the join. I'll have to sculpt in all the neck musculature on the musician and others though. Time to dig out those anatomy books. I used instant mould to help with the face. it's taken from the only human scale fimir in existence, the limited edition from the 1980s. Great stuff, nothing sticks to it, the part comes out nice and clean. Then an old buckler as a belly shield.

Next up, his tail. Chaos spawn set to the rescue here, there are a number of parts that suit. As a fimm, he has a mace tail, and thankfully there's a couple of those on the chaos spawn sprue. Some weapons, most likely the bone ones, which match nicely to the old ogre-sized fimir nobles, who also in some cases carry bone weapons. More shots when he's finished.

The Vampire General - Dire Wolves

Not many units in Warhammer are so well named as dire wolves, as they are indeed quite awful. The are no longer fast cavalry, they are now warbeasts. Also, as undead, they cannot flee. They are fast, but once they are out of range of the nearest vampire, they cannot march, though you can put a vampire in the unit.  So, pretty bad. They also don't contribute to your core allowance.

But now that we are a little ways into 8th edition, I'm thinking of letting the wolves out of the cabinet. Here's the stats:

M WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  LD
9   3    0   3  3   1  3  1   3

As you can see, they are quite poor, low strength, toughness, meh initiative and paltry leadership. Incredible movement though. The special rules are they are undead, and as warbeasts, they get swiftstride.

I used to use them quite a bit in previous editions, mainly as a distraction unit, and as war machine hunters when the opportunity presented itself. Now, in 8th ed, a fast flanking unit that can take out war machines is getting more and more appealing. They fall into the same category as fell bats and bats, but fell bats eat into your special allowance, which I need for more lethal units like grave guard, and they are a little stronger and tougher than bats. 80 points gets you 10 wolves, so not too bad, either 2 units of five, fragile but adds to deployment and gives your enemy two targets, or a more durable unit of ten. You can raise them, and increase their numbers with the vampire power Summon Creatures of the Night.

Banners & Buffs
These boys are affected by all the usual buffs, but as they operate ahead of the lines, and there are more important units to buff, I wouldn't plan on getting many augments on these lads.

Bunker

They make quite a good mobile bunker for a mounted necromancer or casting vampire you don't want caught. With true line of sight, you can pop the unit behind you line and cast over your minions heads. This, of course, works both ways, but then, I've had cannons snipe my vampire when he was in a unit of infantry behind another unit of infantry, so what the hell.

Support
Vargulfs make good team mates for dire wolves. Both are fast, the vargulf has the vampire rule, allowing the wolves to march. This gives your opponent pause when targeting the vargulf. 'Maybe the wolves might be easier to kill? Oooh, charge of 18"? Hmm, I better kill them first.' Anything that takes the heat off the vargulf is good news. I wouldn't tend to attack infantry blocks, even in the flank or rear, with wolves. They will only get murdered, and give more combat resolution to the enemy unit. Think easy prey, vulnerable archers (watch out for stand and shoot) and war machines.

With so many undead units being ponderous, or fast but expensive, a fast, cheap, irritating unit worrying at the enemy flanks is all good. But they are supermegazord fragile. I plan on running a unit of ten with two vargulf as a flanking force. We'll see how that goes.

Here boy!

Leviathans - Steampunk battleships

http://monstersinthesky.com/

This. Looks a bit good.