Judgement Day Xmas Break

Cheetor and I have agreed to take a short break from the Judgement Day project.  With various other commitments at this time of year, we reckon that February first is a good time to pick things up, so Judgement Day #35 will be posted on that date.

Cheetor has a swanky array where you can see all the entries for Judgement Day so far here.

Hopefully you will join us in February for more 28mm Dredd items (although there will be other items here in the meantime too)

Thanks for your enthusiasm for the project in 2015!

Judgement Day Post 34 - Private Raimi

This week Judge Williams gets someone to boss around as the first member of his squad is painted. Private Raimi of Bruce Campbell block Citi-Def front and centre.

The idea of roving groups of legalised militia toting lots of guns and not so much training or discipline seemed crazy when I was reading 2000AD as a kid. These days, not so much.

I agonised and procrastinated over the colour scheme for these guys, finding, in the end, some photos of American riot police and early 20th century American football gear that gave me some ideas. I've made Raimi a little haggard, as I enjoy painting haggard faces, and I've set this group up as an Apocalypse War resistance unit to face off against my Sovs.

There are several interesting sculpts in the Citi-Def box, not least the sarge, so I'm looking forward to adding to the squad.

Next week it's back to Sho3box for post 35.

Rare Miniature Charity Auction

A brother of a hobbyist friend of mine is going through some very serious medical procedures at the moment. It is putting serious financial pressure on his family at a time when they have a lot more important things to be thinking about.

Some friends and I have supplied some toy soldier items – often limited or unreleased items – for Ebay auction this week, with all proceeds going directly to the family involved.  The link to the ‘Love For A Brother’s Brother Charity Thing’ auctions is here.

Click to go to the auction.

Check it out to see if there is anything that takes your fancy and know that if you do indulge, that it is for a good cause. If the items for sale are not quite your thing then feel free to contribute to the gofundme charity fundraiser if you like.

Click to go to the fundraiser

Thanks for reading.

Frostgrave - Deadite Warband #1

I've just finished the first member of my Frostgrave Deadite warband, Sheila. Most of the warband will consist of Bob Olley undead, as they strike me as very much deadite looking. For the apprentice though, I needed a Sheila. I've had this model for some years, and it's nice to finally find a home for it. This version, to my mind, is Sheila after a couple more years as a deadite. Possession just ruins the complexion.

Frostgrave is themed warband heaven. As the types of soldier are so generic, knight, thief, thug etc, you can make a warband out of almost anything. It'll be hard not to build and Ash led human warband to oppose the Deadites. I'm already looking at the Hasselfree Oakley with covetous eyes.

Judgement Day Post 32 - Undercity Alpha Werewolf

We head below city bottom this week to the undercity. A less well know denizen of the old cities are the werewolf packs. Dredd himself spent a little time running with the wolves during one of his undercity excursions during 'Cry of the Werewolf'. Originally caused by a convenient radioactive compound, the wolves are one of the many dangers lurking in the undercity.

This particular fellow is an alpha, as he is enormous. The 'giant werewolf' from the Citadel Night Horrors range. He comes with a separate head, so some fur sculpting was required to give him a mane on the back of the head and neck. He also has his junk out. Fair enough. 

I wanted to go a bit further than a grey or black wolf, so I tried a little patterning on this guy. I'm happy with how it turned out, making what could be quite a plain mini into something a little more interesting.

The alpha, Prager, is the start of a group of unsavoury undercity dwellers I'll be adding to over the next while. Sho3box will be back next week with more Judgement Day.

A blast of dog breath alerts Judge Williams to danger.

Judgement Day Post 30 - Judge Williams

This week sees something of a red letter day in my submissions for Judgement Day. An actual judge. It was a real treat painting him, and seeing the familiar colours of the Mega City One judiciary come together as the paint went on only added to the enjoyment. I see a lot more judges in my painting future. I may even give old stoney-face himself a go.

Judge Williams here is not the most by-the-book judge, but several commendations for insane bravery have kept him off the Titan shuttle. He is currently kicking his heels as Bruce Campbell block judge, and it time he will lead an Apocalypse War resistance unit with the BC Block Citi-Def. His faithful boomsti... I mean lawrod will come in handy. It'll be...

...groovy.

This also defines my approach to any zombies for Judgement Day. It's deadites all round.

Next I'll be painting up one of my favourite denizens of the undercity. In the meantime Sho3box will be back next week as Judgement Day continues.

Calling it Wrong - Specialist Games

Who knew when this hastily put together missive from Australia was the herald of one of the biggest turn-arounds we've seen from GW? I certainly didn't. Looking at it, it screams troll, there are even spelling errors. I was quick to dismiss it as total guff, publicly and repeatedly.

Seems I was quite wrong on this one. I've never been so happy to be so.

As the day wore on, the rumour gained traction, until eventually, this appeared on the GW news app:

All doubt was dismissed. It's the most unusual news release I've ever seen from GW. Perhaps it was a mistake, maybe that Australian store manager is already clearing out his desk, but I doubt it. Everything about this tidal wave is out of character, from the way it was released to what it actually means. GW are resurrecting a plethora of specialist games, from my beloved Bloodbowl, Epic and Necromunda to Battle Fleet Gothic and more.

Knock me over with a feather guv, so much for the 'We're no longer a games company' schpiel.

It seems GW have cottoned on to the fact that these games are still getting played and indeed, have vibrant communities, years after they were abandoned. Looks like they want back in on the action, but hell, what a turnaround. I'll still keep a weather eye on things until I see more news, but wow, it's like 'Let's make Mr Saturday weep salty red tears of joy.' day.

Now, with mention of box sets, allow me to drift into the magical land of wishlisting. A box set for say, Bloodbowl, at the quality level of Betrayal at Calth. Lordy. New plastic ships for Battle Fleet Gothic? Even more intriguing than the potential miniatures, the resurgence in play. Getting some new blood into these games would be... epic. Looks like my titans might need an oil change.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get my Scavvies in order, finish that Necro team and prep that Imperator titan.

Judgement Day Post 28 - Undercity Terrain

This week, with minutes to spare, we have the beginnings of my under-city terrain set. Judge Williams will be along presently, but I want to take my time with him, especially after watching episode one of Ash vs Evil Dead, which was pretty damn great, incidentally.

Anyway, I have little in the way of sci-fi terrain, and I decided I would concentrate on the under-city of Mega City One. Concreted over and left to decay, the under-city is the abode of mutants, troggies and werewolves. You heard right, werewolves. So, this was as good a time as any to kick it off. These pieces are from the Mantic Mars Attacks range, pretty much prefect for urban ruin. As I intend to paint up plenty of Martians as well, this set will get plenty of utility for modern and near future settings. The modular buildings from the same range are bang on too, and will give me a few multi-storey ruins. I painted these pieces as rusty and dirty, and it gave me a chance to try out some sponge weathering without too much pressure. I like the random effects sponge give, I'll certainly be using it more. Once again the GW technical paints proves their worth. I love you, Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust.

I think I'll soon add a chem pit, and start looking about for some terrain mats. There are loads of great ones out, so I'm sure I'll find something to match. Course, I'll eventually need some denizens too, so troggies and werewolves are definitely on the list down the road.

Sneaky Orlok is sneaky.

As always, Cheetor will be back with more Judgement Day from Sho3box next week.

Genestealer Cult - Brother Faust

Today sees a long overdue addition to the cult in the shape of brother Faust. He's a 2nd generation hybrid, and a big fellow at that. That's a ripper gun he's got there, so he'll operate as support for his smaller brethren. A fun model to paint, I do love the ribbed armour. Here he is with one of his smaller fellows.

Show me those guys that called you names brother...

There's probably some ogryn DNA is there somewhere. Heck, that's probably his granddads gun. I'm looking forward to getting some game time in with him. Praise the allfather!

Judgement Day Post 26 - Judge Death

This week see the final addition to the dark judges, Deadworld's chief judge, Judge Death. He's probably my favourite Dredd villian, and he's dropped enough one liners over the years to show that he's definitely got more of a sense of humour in him than his brothers. It's probably the rictus grin. His recent outing in 'Dreams of Deadworld' portrays him in a much grimmer light, but still, he's ma boy.

He might be an undead mass murderer...

This sculpt of Judge Death is TINY. He and his lieutenants are 25mm really, but it's still my favourite sculpt of the dark judge's leader. He was quite straightforward to paint, even if I kept finding parts of the model I'd missed sorting during cleanup. Nothing like taking a file to an almost painted mini.

... but Judge Death loves a comfy seat.

With Judge Death finished, that completes my dark judge project. I'll no doubt pick up the Mongoose spirit forms, and probably the Foundry versions too, but that's for another day. Next up I think it's time I took a crack at an actual judge. Judge Williams, to be precise. Bruce Campbell's block judge.

Ssssssssorted.

As always, next week it's back to Cheetor at Sho3box.

Kickstarter - Diehard Miniatures

For those of you with a liking for Oldhammer miniatures, and for those of you that just really like great fantasy minis, the Diehard Miniatures kickstarter is currently ongoing. There are several factions, from the amphibious tech-laden Eru-kin to the undead, humans, goblinoids, humans, chaotic monstrosities and even and hawkmen. There are quite a few stretch goals planned too. The pledges allow some mixing and matching between factions, along with a large add on section if you're only after a few models.

Personally I'm looking at the snakemen, if they get unlocked, and the dwarf boar centaur. Anyone with an old school chaos dwarf army might be interested in this fellow. He looks happy not to be pushing a large warmachine/lawnmower. If you get me.

I'm a whirlwind! I'll tenderize you!!

These would work great for Warhammer, Age of Sigmar, and with the expansion for Frostgrave imminent, I'm looking at the undead knight. So, take a gander, there's a lot of good stuff to choose from.

Judgement Day Post 24 - Judge Fear

Phew! That was close. I really thought this was the one that was gonna get past me, but no, Judge Fear just makes it in time for the deadline.

My fears were groundless. Ahem.

Oh, Judge Fear...

This week sees another of the dark judges painted, the Citadel Judge Fear. It's not my favourite of the old dark judge sculpts, but like Fear himself, I can't help but like it despite it's failings. His ankles in particular gave me a nightmare. Removing his tab and pinning them to the base was akin to trying to decide which wire to cut before the timer reached zero and the bomb went off. Steady hands.

Judge Fear is the no-fun-but-you-have-to-bring-him-cousin of the dark judges. ALWAYS first to get smashed up, and a bit jealous of his brothers cooler powers. Plus: mantraps? A shrunken head on his belt? Bat wings on his helmet, which also has a little door he opens to scare you?

He's fantastic, isn't he?

Individually scaring everyone to death. That's gonna take awhile.

We got even more evidence of Judge Fear's loser status in the recent Dreams of Deadworld series in 2000AD. I just can't help rooting for him though. He tries so hard, bless him.

With Fear done, that brings the brothers up to three. I bet you can't guess who's next on the painting table? Next week it's back over to Cheetor in the continuing game of Dredd tennis.

F@‪#‎K‬ YOU CANCER - Gaming Event

This morning, the owner of my FLGS, Ronan, posted an event to help raise funds for Cancer Care West in Ireland. In the same post he told us his wife has recently been diagnosed with cancer.

I'm going to try and help out with raising money for the event, on the 17-18 October, so naturally I thought of all you fine folks. Any and all support would be greatly appreciated, the details are below.

“This is going to be an event to raise money for cancer care west, where a bunch of volunteer gamers will attempt to keep games running in the store for 24 hours from 12pm of the 17th to 12pm on the 18th. Everybody knows someone who has been affected with cancer and this summer gone I was directly affected, as my amazing wife was told she had cancer. That is why we raised money at the last pre-release (almost €1200) and that’s why we are running this 24 hour GAME-A-THON!! Cancer care west are an amazing organisation and any help we can give them will mean a lot to them and all the cancer patients they help.”

Ronan

https://www.facebook.com/Dungeons-and-Donuts-Galway-200414633365785/timeline/

email: Dungeonsanddonutsgalway@gmail.com

tel: +35391567930

Genestealer Cult - Brother Scrivello

It's been a while since I added to the cult, but today brother Scrivello steps up. Scrivello is an apothecary of sorts, a loyal retainer to Magus Kurgan and an expert in human and genestealer physiology. He can sew wounds and repair organs that shouldn't even exist. He's also an expert mechanic, which is handy when you're a half-cyborg alien hybrid with a broken ankle.

This model was converted from the Mordheim Aenur, for a painting challenge that saw some fantastic entries. The only common link was every model started out as Aenur. It was a fun exercise, all the more so for seeing what the other hobbyists came up with.

It took some elbow grease to dig out the elf from the cloak, but he succumbed in the end to make way for it's new wearer. The adeptus mechanicus parts are from the kataphron servitor kit and the dark elf wrack kit, both conversion gold. I did replace the syringe needle with brass rod, I could see it snapping in his first game.

Judgement Day Post 22 - Judge Fire

This week it's one of the dark brothers, Judge Fire. The dark judges remain my favourite Dredd villians by a mile. I'm enjoying the 'Dreams of Deadworld' series in 2000AD immensely at the moment, and it put me in mind to come back to my set of the Dark judges and get them finished. These are the Citadel version from the mid 80's. Small, but full of evil.

I wanted Fire to look like a blackened corpse that's burning internally. Fire can be tricky to get right, but I'm pretty happy with the result. Lots of washes and glazes over a bright yellow base was the order of the day, including a white wash for recesses where the heat is most intense. I also painted some highlights on his body to give the impression of heat emanating from within, like a burning coal. This also served to guide the eye to areas that would be lost amongst the black. Fiery toenails for the win. Luckily there were plenty of nice examples in the most recent Fire artwork to use for reference.

With Fire done, that's half the dark judges finished. It would be a crime to not go ahead and complete the set, so expect more from Deadworld's finesssst next time.

Thaank Grud you're here Fiire, I'vve been sssooo lonely...

Sons of Anorky - Rubbaleg

Quite a departure today from my recent subjects. With a gaming weekend for Cheetor's birthday imminent, we're going to give the Brewhouse Bash a go. Cheetor (Paul) has already posted his inexplicably attractive Patrick Swayzork, (Click it, it's really worth a look) and there are other rather excellent brawlers in the works. For anyone who hasn't played it, the Brewhouse bash is an old game that came with White Dwarf #223. A pretty random affair that looks like quite a laugh, and a call to paint up an ork brawler is hard to resist.

Rubbaleg is the first ork I have painted in close to thirty years, and I enjoyed painting him a great deal. I used mostly Caucasian flesh tones and then some green glazes rather than using green from the word go. Adding the pool ball and snapped cue gave me a laugh too. Several friends profess a great love for painting greenskins, and I can see why. The large caricatured faces are wonderful to paint.

I've always wondered why orks lend themselves to being themed so well. There's very little that you can't get a chuckle out of orkifying, so humour is probably the key. I have some plans for a band of greenstealers myself, but that's down the road a ways.

So, here's hoping Rubbaleg knocks a few teef out at the weekend. There will be a game report next week!

VGG Interview

Today, in a flurry of self-promotion, I point you over to an interview I did for VGG, run by the powerfully charming Victor Gannon. Vic is the man behind the mighty KnaveCon, a behemoth of the Irish games convention calendar, and a damn good time. Am I talking about KnaveCon now, or Vic? Both, in truth.

Anyway, here's the link. Victor is a boardgame nut, so anyone with even the mildest interest in boardgames should check out his sterling reviews. In particular, anyone from the Irish gaming scene should make it their business to get to KnaveCon for the BIG FUNS.

Also, if you are playing a game with Vic, never trust a word he says.

Judgement Day Post 20 - War Marshal Kazan

This week sees Judgement Day reach post twenty. It's been a fruitful collaboration thus far, with over four months of weekly submissions increasing our respective collections. This week, to conclude my East Meg One project I give you the main man himself, War Marshal Kazan.

Siberia for you, and you, and you...

Kazan is a pretty hilarious mini, for a murderous dictator. He's sending everyone to Siberia with that finger. Everyone. The sculpt is a fair bit more buff than the character in the comic, and that moustache...

Apparently Carlos Ezquerra (the artist who worked on the Apocalypse War series) gave him that little moustache as it was quite popular with fascists during the Franco years in Spain. It gave him a chuckle, as it gave me one when I was painting it. The tache, the weird shades, the white crew-cut, he's just fabulous, and manages to totally pull it off. The fact that he's a total bastard helps his cred too. I can't wait to get him on the gaming table.

Kazan presses the 'invade' button repeatedly

With Kazan finished, that concludes my East Meg One project. I now have a hearty group of Sovs, enough to give me options when picking a force. There are at least two new Sov minis coming down the line, which I will certainly be adding to the collection once they are released. For now though, here's the whole gang.

Ahhh... finished.

So what next? Well, There are some Citi-Def waiting to oppose the foreign invaders, and Mortis is looking very lonely in the cabinet all on his own...

Back to Cheetor next week!

Macrocosm - Malignancy New Releases

I've gotten to be quite a fan of the Macrocosm line of miniatures over the last while. Macrocosm leans heavily on the Rogue Trader era for inspiration, often taking long abandoned but still well loved factions such as the Squats and the Genestealer Cult and giving them a new lease of life. The range is growing extremely rapidly, with their current Kickstarter (funded and approaching the first stretch goal at the time of writing) giving us two more factions and new units for the existing factions. I've been lucky enough to be involved with designing the concepts some of the new models, and there are some very cool things coming.

Today, however, I'm going to look at some of the new Malignancy releases. First up, the Malformed Host Special Weapons set.

Malignancy Host with flamer

The Malignancy are a Godsend for anyone building a genestealer cult. Beforehand, anyone assembling a cult faced quite a job finding components, sculpting, converting and so on. Now, I love all that, but many do not. For those folks, these guys are the very thing. Even with my love of conversion, a ready-to-paint specialist like our flamer-toting friend above is too much to resist. There are several special and heavy weapons available. Like most Malignancy models, this guy is pleasantly chunky, and a nice clean cast. They are larger than you expect, in a good way. A huge amount of miniatures now are designed with 3d packages, and many are indeed technically excellent, this guy has the hand-sculpted individuality and charm which is so common in so many sculpts of the 1980s, and so rings my bell.

Malignancy Host with plasma gun

This host is much the same as the flamer, clean and well cast. None of the models in the images are cleaned up, they are straight out of the pack. I like the masks they are wearing too, more common on the 2nd wave Malignancy releases. 

Malignancy Infested Og

Next up, the Malignancy infested Og. This guy is big. You could pour him into a sock and cosh someone to death with him, no trouble. It's a 40mm base for this guy at least. Anything less than that and it's topple time. Again, a nice clean sculpt with very little cleanup. I would recommend pinning the hell out of him though, and maybe painting the gun separately. There are three head options, one hooded and masked and two hooded. The hooded heads remind me of medieval grotesques. I'm going to have a lot of fun painting those faces.

Infected Og Heads

I like the idea of infested Ogs, it gives the Malignancy some big guys, and something new and interesting for cult players. Here's a scale shot with a Primogen.

"Hey! Hey ugly!! This way!"

Finally we have two Primogen Hosts, the middle management of the Malignancy. These aren't new releases, but I hadn't reviewed them before, so here they are. They make good squad leaders, or could even function as the elusive Hierarch in a genestealer cult. Once again, they are clean casts with lots of nice detail. Bags, pouches, canteens, chitin covered third arm...

Oops. Little blurry on the front shot there. 

Forward, my swollen-headed brethren!

So, for devotees of the cult we have such rarities as leaders, specialists and hulking infected abhumans. For Malignancy players a growing range of horrific alien-infested nutters. Initially I was interested in this range for my own genestealer cult, but as they variety of models increases I am getting more and more curious about the Macrocosm universe and rule system, which is free, I might add. 

If you're intrigued, give the Macrocosm Kickstarter a look, there's never been a better time get some Macrocosm goodies for the Malignancy, the Diggers, or the new factions, the 3rd Race (mech battlesuits) or the Grem (well-equipped and very serious greenskins).