Stargrave 3 - Captain Aesir Vortag

We all have our favourite champions. Tiny metal, plastic or resin protagonists that we've become unreasonably attached to as they've battled in our name down the years. This is one such mini, a venerable warrior that has been leading my renegade hordes since I was a teenager. May I introduce Captain Aesir Vortag, formerly of the XII legion.

Vortag has a much storied history, mostly from some decades ago. Back in the late 80s and early 90s the Captain (though in his hubris he was Lord Vortag back then) led his renegades warbands against all comers. Myself and my buddies at the time gamed A LOT back then. We were all about Rogue Trader and then 2nd Edition 40k, and we played the bejeezus out of them. We built our own rudimentary, but enormous, campaign system. We even recorded many of our games in a large ledger, complete with maps, drawings and army lists. I have it to this day, and I get quite the warm fuzzy feeling when I look back over it. I was very close to posting one of my early doodles of Vortag in action from the ledger, but I will spare you that.

The Captain and his heretics butchered his way though Ork warbands, Tyranid hordes, loyalist Astartes, Imperial Guard detachments and assorted Eldar pirates. He accrued favourite enemies, and they harried one another over many a tabletop. 

Aahh... such days. 

But, eventually, the guns fell silent. Vortag's enemies took ship into the void (or college, as it was known on some worlds), and with no wars left to wage, the Captain and his warband made for the stasis pods. It was to be a long sleep.

Years passed, and other heroes came to the fore. Games came, games went, but I always had a tremendous soft spot for the infamous Captain.

 And so, when a plan for some of my gaming brethren to gather this Spring for a Stargrave weekend, I decided it was time for a new chapter for my slumbering hero.

Vortag is one of the Jes Goodwin Warhammer Fantasy Realm of Chaos champions. One of the curious set that seemed to be blessed with 40k weaponry and technology. Back then, chaos champions could indeed be gifted with rewards from the 40th millennium. They make very fine fallen legionnaires.

At the risk of getting overly maudlin, I found it quite an emotional experience finally getting paint on the old villain. I used mostly contrast paints and medium over metallic base coats. His tail and sword were blended and stippled, before getting a unifying glaze or two. I had been using Flesh Tearers Red mixed with medium for red chaos armour, but I wanted to turn up the vibrancy on Vortag so I added some Blood Angels Red to the mix to make it roughly 1:1:1. It was extremely satisfying finally getting him painted. He's one of four great heroes of my early days of gaming that I wanted to give such treatment to. The other three are still awaiting their turn.

Space rippled and shivered as the space hulk translated back into realspace, or rather, most of it did. Sections of the hulk tapered off into translucent ghost-shapes and tatters of best-forgotten memories. The hulk, the Odyssey of  Devotion, was never truly in one place, and it's labyrinth of ancient passageways could lead a traveller to an infinity of destinations and times, whether they willed it or no.

One such lost soul shivered into existence in the stillness of an abandoned gunnery deck, the dim lumens barely casting enough light to lift the figure out of the darkness. It stood there, in the silence. The darkness seemed to deepen, shifting and reaching out before suddenly recoiling as the warrior heaved a long cackling exhalation. Captain Vortag of the World Eaters Legion addressed his ship:

'Finally. Finally. You see, Malum? I told you. I told you I would find my way back.'

Around the speaker more figures coalesced, similar in aspect. The grim ruin of fallen Astartes, only barely recognisable as once noble space marines, but no less dangerous, and infinitely more wrathful. Some had clearly had to make battlefield repairs. Others seemed no different than moments, years or centuries earlier, when they had been scattered across the void. Others had had to abandon their armour entirely, and wore archaic or primitive replacements. Yet more had simply not returned at all. 

They regarded their leader expectantly. Vortag did not give the expectation time to fester into recrimination.

'My brothers. Let us see what has become of both ship and crew in our absence. Let us see what gifts Inquisitor Balthazar Malum has left us.'

For now, Vortag leads a mob of the Odysseys mortal crew, but I do have some of his legionnaires in the painting pipeline.

Stargrave 2 - Mutants and Murderers

 

Two more for the blood God. My band grows just a teeny bit today with the addition of another pair of absolute bastards. May I introduce Gerhart Voke and Abelard Dake.

Abelard Dake is another Diehard miniature, and a particularly crazy mutant. He's wonderfully nuts, and makes a great companion to Conrad Freig, who is also from Diehard. They both function as Ravaged Troopers in my Stargrave warband.

Abelard lost his life in service to Khorne as Conrad did, and was similarly revived by Khorne (after a fashion) to continue his ravages as a berserker. Life with a knee-face is probably pretty terrible, but that giant chainsword probably makes up for some of the practical setbacks. He keeps his hair looking sharp too. Somehow.

Gerhart Voke. This guy. This guy looks like he is just the WORST. Look at that face. I mean, he must just love his job. Gerhart hails from The Blooded Killteam box, which is just cracker, and contains the long lost and now found again chaos ogryn and corrupted commissar. Some of the new 40k chaos kits are just magic. The Accursed Mutants and new Jakhals kits are delicious. 

Gerhart is, as you'd expect, a heretic Astra Militarum trooper. Many such wretches serve Vortag, though few with the zeal and delight Gerhart displays. A total psychopath, he finds the service of Khorne a kind of murderous paradise, and indulges his brutal impulses with frenzied abandon. His continued existence, given his lack of caution in the face of enemy fire, is statistically almost zero, which has piqued Vortag's interest. Perhaps Khorne has plans for Gerhart.

Next up, the man himself, Aesir Vortag.

Stargrave 1 - Beginnings of the Murderband

A change of direction here at the Mumblings this day. A grand meeting of my compatriots is planned in a few month's time for some Stargrave action. This meeting is a follow up to last year's very enjoyable Ghost Archipelago meet-up where I took the crew of The Kraken on to greater glory and had a very fun time doing it.

This year it's all sci-fi flavoured, and I'm using it as an opportunity to paint up a group I've long wanted to see on the table, namely Vortag's Murderband, Vortag is a character from my very earliest days of gaming, a World Eater Captain fallen far from his glorious origins as a brother of the XII legion. With just a scant few of his brethren left in his company, he has been forced to recruit warriors of lesser provenance in order to bolster his ragged command.

But despite his predicament, his ambitions are lofty indeed. 

One of these lesser warriors is Conrad Freig, beloved of Khorne. A mortal berserker, Conrad's devotion to the creed of gore is total. So pure was his faith that on his death, Khorne, though taking Conrad's skull as his due, breathed new life into his torn corpse. Conrad rose again, altered, but filled with almost unbearable zeal, ecstatic in the knowledge that his own skull had been deemed worthy. He, and others like him now serve as devastating line-breakers for Vortag's warbands.

Conrad is a Diehard mini, and I used a combination of contrast and standard paint techniques on him. Contrast paints are settling into my painting armoury nicely now. I love making glazes with them, and I've taken to using Wraithbone primer as standard now.

Hopefully I'll have another couple of murderous nutters finished shortly.

Man O'War - The Fleet Sets Sail

Eluf Gorebeard, Bloodfated, chosen of Khorne and Jarl of the Hversing clan strode along the deck of the bloodship World Eater with mounting impatience. He was man unused to answering the summons of another like some lackey, not even for one such as Aesir Vortag.

As Eluf approached the steps leading up to the immense black sterncastle he could hear the exhortations of a slaughterpriest addressing the faithful. The priest stood atop a high gantry which rose above one of the gigantic bronze vats that fed the bloodship's colossal greatcannon. He was loudly extolling those watching below to fight well in the coming battle. A captive lay kneeling before the priest, precariously balanced on the edge of the walkway, his eyes glazed with terror. As Eluf watched the priest raised his axe high, paused to give one final bellow to the crowd below and then effortlessly struck the head from the prisoner. The corpse collapsed forward before disappearing into the noxious gases rising from the bubbling inferno beneath. Eluf nodded curtly in approval at the perfection of the priest's killing stroke.

Turning away, Eluf took the steps up in a measured fashion. He would not be seen to hurry, especially not with Vortag's personal guard gazing impassively down at him from either side of the huge iron and oak doorway that led to his audience chambers. As he reached the head of the stair he could have sworn the guards took just a little too long to open the door to him. A measured insult he would take pains to remember. Grinding his teeth, he swept inside.

Rush hour can be murder.

At long last the Khorne fleet is complete! The bloodships Worldeater and Impetuous Glory take their place alongside the flagship, Guns of Anarchy. The fleet now numbers twelve ships. Along with the three Bloodships there are two squadrons of Ironsharks and a squadron of Death Galleys. That brings me up to around the thousand point mark.

It's been a fun project working on something new like a Man O'War fleet, but I am very happy it's complete. I took way, way too long on it. The ships are dainty things, so I spent a long time figuring out ways to make them a little more sturdy. Metal flagpoles, masts, heavy card sails and clear bases are all intended to give the models more endurance. I may add some adhesive magnets under the bases for transport a well. You don't want them banging about in a box. Gods no.

The fleet in it's entirety.

I had some nice new ship cards printed for the Khorne fleet, so I'm game ready. I may add a kraken or some other sea monster to the fleet, but for now the Bloodtide is ready to go a reaving! 

Man O'War - Khorne Death Galley Squadron

There's a lot of love for Man O'War among my gaming buddies of late, so as is the way with these things I was soon swept up in the tidal wave of enthusiasm for this most excellent of Games Workshop games.

I always looked at Man O'War as a game I missed the boat on. I had none of the sets, no ships, no rules. There were those in my group that kept the faith (TheOttoVonBismark is a Man O'War fanatic) but I had enough going on. That was until the most recent tsunami of boat love coming primarily out of Sho3box. I resisted as long as I could, but it looked too much fun. With that, I threw my lot in with the forces of Khorne, and the HIM (His Infernal Majesty's) navy was born. Cheers for that one Sean.

Getting ships proved to be reasonable enough after I threw out my nets. Getting masts was another matter. I was initially perplexed as to how to approach assembling and painting the sails. I need a 3 beam? what's that? Triangular sails on the Ironsharks? What? This went on for a while and I badgered all around me for advice. I eventually secured enough mast parts to serve the fleet. The flag poles I made from florists' wire and some plastic rod. I managed to get a Khorne sail sheet, and made templates for all the sails I would need. I bought some coloured card to cut down on painting. With this scale I had to consciously pull back on texturing and weathering so as not to overwhelm the models. I did add glowing eyes to the skulls and a smouldering effect to the sails to add a little more visual interest.

I used some very old transfers on the sails. 26 years old. MicroSol and MicroSet saved the day here, softening the ancient transfers so they would sit nicely on the paper. A quick roll around a wooden dowel to curve the sails, some vanish and done. I attached the sails to the beams with Impact Contact adhesive, which worked like a dream.

My gaming pals gave me a ton of solid naming suggestions for the ships. All are crewed by Khornegor. So it was the HIM Bloodhound, Damnation and Brass Retriever were born, collectively the Cogs of War squadron.

Next up my flagship, the bloodship Guns of Anarchy.

Khorne Warband - Bloodletter

It's been about thirty years since I last painted a bloodletter. In fact, THIS bloodletter. He was sent back to the realm of chaos when the shelf he was on collapsed decades ago. Eventually the sad remnants were stripped and sent back to storage. Now though, he rises once more to garner skulls anew. Gorewhelp joins the warband.

I wanted to add a little variation to the red skin on this guy. After using the effect on a couple of models previously, I blended his hands and feet to purple. I used the same effect on the slaughterpriest's claw, and I think I'll use it on any mutations or wiggly bits for the rest of the models in the force. I blackened the horns to draw the eye back from the purple hand and feet to the face. After messing about with the verdigris on the sword I eventually settled on the bronzey green to set it off against the red skin. The claws got a coat of gloss as I'd used this on my Yaoguai and liked it.

With this daemon done I have another four models left to finish the starting warband. (The statue at the back is a possessed statue of Khorne, a walking shrine if you will and will act as a Bloodsecrator) Getting there!

Khorne Warband - More Chaos Thugs

Two more chaos thugs, the musician and champion, join the warband today, bringing the compliment of thugs for the warband to five. That's all I need for now, but I very much doubt I'm done painting Khorne flavoured thugs.

Are here is the champion for the group of thugs. I've had this mini for a while, and I'm glad I found a project for him. I love this model, he's super cool with that massive spear and skull helmet, and incredibly dynamic. His spear is perfect for Age of Sigmar, it's bleedin' huge. It is Ares' dream to run that spear clear through one of those stuck up stormcast, hence his nickname. I look forward to realising Ares' dream on the gaming table.

I painted Ares' cloak similarly to the undercity werewolf I did a couple of years ago. I know the skull isn't a wolf skull, but who cares. Not I sir!

Gorn here is a later release, the only Khorne thug musician I know of. He has a haunted drumstick. What, you thought only axes, swords and armour get possessed by daemons? Gorn used his big skull drum to work up his buddies into a frenzy in a manner similar to a guy hammering out a brutal guitar solo at a death metal concert. That's what daemon drumsticks do for you.

With these lads done the warband is half way there. Next up, a geriatric bloodletter.

Khorne Warband - Chaos Thugs

I've been perusing Age of Sigmar again lately, especially the skirmish variant. My early reticence gave way to curiousity about how it holds up as a skirmish ruleset, and as supplements like the General's Handbook and Skirmish were released this built up into an idea it might be something worth trying. I still have fond memories of the Realms of Chaos warbands, and the Paths to Glory rules looked good for assembling some cool warbands once again. Added to that others such as Cheetor were going to give it a go, so what the hell, I was in.

Up until last week I hadn't actually played it though.We were somewhat spoiled, playing on Cheetor's wonderful new AoS terrain (more on his blog). We tried a skirmish scenario and then a Triumph and Treachery one. Both offered plenty of action and laughs, which ticks my boxes for a game. After popping my AoS skirmish cherry I've decided it's just the kind of ruleset that I can get behind for these kinds of casual games. Added to this there's a pretty big toolbox for gaming you can draw on.

So, thus committed, I've decided to give my Gorechosen slaughterpriest some mates, and build me a warband for the blood God. I started with some chaos thugs.

Chaos Thugs. I can't tell you how much I love chaos thugs. I collect as many as I can. I rummaged through my tubs and found some semi-naked/insane nutters that might compliment the huge haemo-erotic (not my invention, good though eh?) Khorne boys from the Age of Sigmar range.

This guy above, well. You know how you only REALLY look at the detail on a miniature as you begin painting it? You notice things, especially on chaos models. I shant forget spying the assless plate mail on that Slaanesh warrior in a hurry. Anyway, this guy, he looked, well, old. An old thug. Like a snowflake in death valley. He has a corset and what looks like an adult nappy on. I imagined him at the thug reunion. All his mates are: A:Dead B:Warlords or C:Daemon princes. Awkward. Good enough to stay alive, but not good enough to get granted the extended lifespan the chaos Gods seem to dole out like candy. He also, as was spotted by a mate, looks like the guy from UP. So he got painted as an old bloke. He'll provide much hilarity in games I imagine.

This lad is more straightforward. I picked him for the axe and the gurning madness in his face. He probably pees in that armour. While looking you right in the eyes.

So, I am having fun with these. Models I've had sequestered away for decades are suddenly primed and ready for paint. Bloodletters, flesh hounds, Khornegor (proper dog-faced Khornegor, none of that goat stuff) as well as the fat bloke with the whip from the AoS range. If it pleases Mr Blood, I may expand the warband to a Paths to Glory force. Or I may see what Tzeentch offers. Such is the fun of the tiered rules for Age of Sigmar. Who knew?

Now, hold on. I know what you're thinking. 'Look at that HUGE bastard! Scale creeporama!' Well, (pushes glasses up nose) ACTUALLY the slaughterpriests are meant to be larger than other mortals. So there. The plastic reavers are only about a head taller than the old thugs, which means balls to me. Once they are propped up on a bit of cork there's nothing in it. So I wouldn't be overly worried about scale. Humans come in all sizes etc.

Slaughterpriest - Markus Scissorfist

Another Khorne follower has snuck onto my painting table. This time the Slaughterpriest given away with White Dwarf some time back. I'm quite a fan of Gorechosen and Silver Tower, so I thought this lad would kill two birds with one stone. He needed more Khorne though, so I replaced his head with a Khorne head from the chaos spawn kit. I like my chaos pretty mutated too, so I gave him a big old claw from the Forsaken kit. (I LOVE the Forsaken kit. It was panned pretty badly, but I think it's full of super bits and pieces) With a giant KHORNE symbol on his head and a hand made out of knives, all subtlety was now banished and painting could begin.

I decided to avoid brass, as I'm a contrarian. I still went full red on some armour though, I'm not a total douche. I painted him in three sections with the left leg and big old belt buckle seperate. It was the only way to get at the back of his left leg and underpants and such. What? I'd know, and that's what matters. I gotta say though, gluing painted sections together never fails to make me super nervous. One false move...

I took some painting cues from a Khorne thug I painted a while back, and they served me well enough. The pale cloth lifts the model's palette out of brown town a bit. I decided to paint his flail as if it was some manner of brazier, even though I was almost too scared to paint it it's so delicate. New technology makes super fine models a reality, but they can be fragile. I have 80s plastic orcs you could drive over and they'd be fine, but this guy's flail, yikes.

Markus here will be my champion in both Silver Tower and Gorechosen, as well as possibly heading up a delegation of nutters for Paths to Glory in Age of Sigmar. Utility, that's the ticket.

Anyhow, just for laughs, look at the size of this guy next to a Realm of Chaos thug:

He's HUAGE. That's a 40mm base. Okay, slaughterpriests are meant to be bigger than most dudes anyway, but bloody hell. I'm still going to use them in the same warband though. 'AW, HE'S SO CUTE, LOOKIT HIS ICKLE FLAIL.' Markus will say.

FOR KHORNE! - Arnuld Clotchewer

Arnuld here is my entry for the Haemo-Erotic tag for the upcoming Gorechosen game over on Scale Creep. I've not painted a chaos mini in a long time, so I thought it would be nice to paint up my favourite thug ever. He'd been sitting in his box for about thirty years, so y'know, it was time.

I wanted to give him quite ruddy skin, which I hadn't painted in a while. Added to that I wanted to use his shoulder plate as test for the armour technique I want to use on his mates, whenever they might appear. The blood spatter is done with my trusty old toothbrush. I just made him a little kitchen towel poncho and then flicked watered down red paint on him. I often mix a little brown or black into the red for dried blood, but this is fresher, so it stayed bright.

This guy has been a nice palette cleanser from my terracotta warriors and it's given me an urge to paint more blood-soaked maniacs. For now though, it's back to ancient China/Nippon and time to get some pottery crossbowmen painted.