Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone - Lawmen 1

Good evening to you all out there on the internets. 

An upcoming gaming weekend has skewed my focus wildly. I've lain down the rusty musket and taken up the laser-sighted compact automatic. The game, Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone.The faction, Lawmen.

I do love me some Cyberpunk, but I've not done a lot of Cyberpunk gaming, so this was an opportunity to paint up a faction of future cops for the blasting of crims among the neon streets of Night City. This first test model is the K9 Handler, Officer Dekker.

These models are Siocast, which, while this material really holds detail well, it's a bit of an arse to clean up. Forget your files, it's a razor-sharp scalpel or nothing. Not really models for someone starting out in the hobby. Or even veterans of the short-tempered variety.

Once cleaned up and based, I must say, painting was a lot of fun. Despite all the detail, this copper was handy enough to paint up. I wasn't sure at all about a colour-scheme, so I borrowed a little from the card art and changed it up a bit here and there. I do like my weathering, so this guys gear has definitely seen some action. Basing was my typical urban style, some thin cork sheeting and my porridge mix, painted up as decaying concrete.

There are five more models in the starter box, so more cops soon. I've noticed there are several expansions for the Lawmen, so who knows where this will end...

Oldhammer - The Bazaar is open!

With the continual upsurge in the Oldhammer community, I thought it time to sort out my trading a little better, as there are now plenty of folks now out there who might get excited about goblin fanatics from 1983, or a chaos warrior carrying a crossbow from 1988. With that in mind, I've put together a page for all such curiosities, a place to peruse some of what I have on offer, and what I'm hunting after.

Mind you, it's only trade I'm interested in, not selling. If it's something you fancy, take a gander at the bazaar.

Warriors of Chaos - A Bucket of New

I'm coming a little late to the party here I know. The images for the new Warriors of Chaos book and models started appearing yesterday and since then have been all over the net. No doubt you've all seen the images of the various new kits. If not, you can see them here. There's an avalanche of new kits as well as the new army book, all the more surprising as the general wisdom was expecting a new dual warhammer/40k daemon release in February, and here comes the Warriors of Chaos all up in our face with new kits by the bucket load.

Most interesting to me of the existing units getting new models are the new dragon ogres and forsaken, both of which one never sees on the table. Are we looking at new rules? I sure hope so, because right now dragon ogres are shining the shoes of the skullcrushers. As for forsaken, never was a unit better named. Let's hope they get the love, as the forsaken kit looks pretty interesting.

But, there's new units too. New stuff that makes me reach inadvertently for my wallet. The giant tentacle monster is such a stuff. I'm not sure what it's name is yet, but hell, look at it. LOOK AT IT. It's a slice of awesome sandwiched between the bread of amazeballs. One please.

The other releases are rather fine too. The beast chariot, the Throgg model, vilitch, the chaos lord, all a bit great. I can't wait to get my hands on the book to see what the changes are there. No more infernal puppet for me, I'll bet.

On a more personal note, this means big things for my fimir army, seeing as it's based on the Warriors of Chaos list. I already have an idea for a unit of warp-spasming fimm to use as forsaken should they end up worth taking. The tentacle monster fits right into my wormy, tentacle laden theme for the fimir army as it is. Just take off the chaos icons and add some fimir handlers/riders/crew and we're there. Well, I might convert it a bit more, we'll see. It might be garbage in game though. But... it's too beautiful to be garbage.

Exciting stuff, I guess all list building will have to pause until the army book is released, probably early February, one would imagine.

Wishful Thinking - Top 10 Most Wanted

Having seen Thantsants top 10 most desired Citadel miniatures on Somewhere the Tea's Getting Cold, I decided to mull over my own list of the miniatures I most covet from the mists of time. I thought though, I'd include series of miniatures as well as individuals. Here we go! Oh, and thanks to all the folks whose images I may have pilfered a bit.


10.  Jes Goodwin - Hrothyogg, Ogre Captain. (C23 ogres)
I'm not an ogre player, but I've always loved this ogre. If I did play ogres, this would be my tyrant, hands down. Plus Jes Goodwin is one of my favourite sculptors.




 
9. C100 Space Marines
Not fantasy, but I've a mild impulse to build a squad of these venerable old space marines.I loved Rogue Trader, and they remind me of it a lot. I have five or six, so we'll see.




8. Zoats
I don't know why I like zoats. But I do. I'm currently hunting for one to use in storm of magic games.








 
7. Kevin Adams - Citadel Orcs
You want character? You won't find better than the goblinoids of Kevin Adams, specifically the Citadel  ranges of the 1980s. The GW orcs of today are cool, but the 80s orcs, these are the real deal. One of my long term army goals is to build an orc & goblin army from this range. I have some few, but many more are still out there...

6. Realm of Chaos Chaos Thugs
Ah, realm of chaos. What a great time to play chaos. The chaos miniatures of the time were, and are, fantastic. I loved the thug models with the crazy armour, random mutations and general madness.





5. Original Krell, Mikael Jacsen & Heinrich Kemmler
This trio have long eluded me. I have pretty much every undead miniature Citadel ever released, but these lads still manage to stay out of reach. Want.



 
4. Chaos Dwarf Hobgoblins 
1990's chaos dwarf hobgoblins. I need a stack of these, and boy are the pricey. Easy enough to come across, if one has the cash. So far I've had to skirt around ebay picking off stragglers. Still, getting there.



 
 3. Night Horrors
Citadel night horrors. Now we're talking rare. There are still a handful of these that I haven't managed to acquire, and one or two I've never even seen for sale. Sigh.





 
2. Chaos Dwarf Ass Cannon
Yes, the infamous asscannon. I would simply love one of these for my chaos dwarf army. The look on folks faces would be utterly priceless. Sadly, this is as rare as hen's teeth. Were you to put a gaggle of chaos dwarf enthusiasts into a room with one of these things, blood would flow for possession.




1. The Chaos Dwarf Juggernaut
The big one. I doubt I'll ever own this rarest of models, and the prices it commands put it well out of reach, but one can dream.

Review - Ramshackle Games

I'm quite a fan of the proliferation of smaller companies we're all spoiled with these days. Microart studios, Greebo, Puppet War, Gribbly Miniatures, Raging Heroes, Base-X-of-War, Otherworld Miniatures, Avatars of War, Scibor, (sharp intake of breath) and so on, there's a huge amount of choice out there these days. Today I'll shine the beady eye on one such company, Ramshackle Games.

Ramshackle have a fairly huge range of figures, bases and vehicles in both resin and metal. Most of the range is geared toward post apocalyptic models for their game Nuclear Renaissance, which is available free as a download, here. This range is enormous, and has a massive collection of vehicles which would not look out of place in a plethora of other gaming systems. (I'm thinking of some buggies and such for my genestealer coven here, ah, pipe dreams.)


They also have a pretty interesting range of fantasy orcs, including the hilarious dungers. I love these lads, I was tempted to use them as hobgoblin wolf riders. Again, the range is quite big, with war giants right down to orc archers. Other ranges include animals, scenery, heads, vehicle components among others. The other thing about Ramshackle is how good the price is. Everything ranges from very reasonable to very cheap indeed.

I recently ordered some bits and pieces from Ramshackle, namely the Brass Coffin (left) and Gilgamesh (below right). After looking at the prices for an iron daemon for my chaos dwarves, I went looking for an alternative model. Plus, there's something about the iron daemon model...

Anyhow, I was also looking for an interesting model to lead my k'daai fireborn. Gilgamesh here, at just under 75mm tall, fit the bill nicely, especially with the dwarf-like skull. Both will need conversion, but I pressed the add to cart and waited under by the letterbox. The models when they arrived were splendidly large, the brass coffin certainly big enough to make a fine iron daemon. The detail was crisp, but get ready for a bit of clean up. Any resin model needs a fair bit of filing and sanding, with the models I received needing just a tad more than usual. Not enough to put me off though. The brass coffin is only £9! Now, I did order a separate turret for it as well, but £9!?

Looking more closely, there was a bit of deformity on the back of the Gilgamesh model. After some mailing to Ramshackle they sent me out a new model and all was well. I'm a big fan of good customer service, especially from companies I may not have heard of before, so I was glad it was dealt with as I'd be more than inclined to buy from them again.

So, all in all, a big thumbs up for Ramshackle Games, adopt a dunger today!

Ramshackle Website

New Beastmen Beasties

GW appears to have fired us another curveball this month, in the form of new plastic and finecast models for the beasts of chaos. It's great to see the Cygor, Ghorgon and Jabberslythe finally get models from GW. The plastic kit, I'm guessing Cygor/Ghorgon looks good, at first glance the Ghorgon option looks a lot better than the Cygor, which looks slightly awkward to me, but I'll hold final judgement until I see it in the flesh. There looks to be loads of bits on this kit, perpare for an avalanche of converted chaos giants. That is, if anyone used them, though I can plenty of parts for a siege giant for my chaos dwarves in this kit.

The Jabberslythe looks great, but I wish it was plastic. It's really anyone's guess with GW these days, isn't it?

Thanks to Fields of Blood for the image.

Mr Saturday's Porridge - Making a Decent Basing Mixture

 Basing. Sometimes overlooked, it can make an average miniature excellent, and an excellent miniature average. I love basing miniatures, especially if you can give the model some narrative, or add to the theme of your army, gang and such. With the wealth of resin bases and resin basing kits, it's easier than ever to make your bases groovy. There's always room for a good basing mix though. After using various materials, fine sand, rough sand, oyster grit and so on, I found the results fine, but a little unconvincing at times. This then, is my recipe for a good mixture to set your minis on, and it's easy to incorporate resin basing bits into it. I give you Mr Saturday's porridge.

 It's what I use for the general earth, stone etc on bases.

Get 4-5 different types of basing material. Oyster grit, fine sand, rough sand etc. Get a tub with a lid, anything as long as it's pretty airtight. Pour in a measure of the 4-5 basing materials, depending on how much porridge you want. Mix in PVA glue. It's important to get the consistency right, about the same as, oddly, porridge. Too much PVA, the mix will shrink on the base a pull off the edges after a few days, too little and it won't spread well. Add sawdust of flock to mitigate shrinking. I don't know why this works. Mix well! Use a scalpel or sculpting tool to add it on the base, in small amounts. Make sure your resin bits are attached already. I often wait for it to dry a bit, then cut a tab and add the mini, or leave a little space under the mini's feet when you glue it on for the porridge to flow into. I HATE when the feet get obscured by basing. Let it dry for 24 hours. The random nature of the different basing materials mixing together works a treat.

If you've made a lot, the airtight container will keep it usable for a week or longer. If it's drying out, add more PVA. Ta-da!

The Old and the New

These days, the standard of the models getting produced is getting pretty amazing. advances in moulding and plastics technologies means models can be produced that could only be imagined in the most crazed fever dream of the miniature maker in the 70's and 80's. From the wonderful Gamezone creations to the sublime plastics of Games Workshop, we're spoiled. I remember looking at the new GW skeleton warrior sprue and being amazed at the fact that you could see through some of the skulls eye sockets and lower jaws. The quality and artistry of miniature making these days is simply incredible.

And yet...

I have an long-standing love affair with the miniatures of the 1980s, specifically those produced by Citadel, in the so-called golden age of GW minis. The character of the minis of this period is hard to beat, in my opinion. Sculptors like the Perry twins, the mighty Kevin Adams, Trish & Aly Morrison, Jes Goodwin, Bob Naismith, Bob Olley, Nick Bibby (who did the fimir!) among others produced a mountain of miniature goodness.

My personal fascination is with the undead of that period, which as far as I am concerned stand up to anything made now. Every minature has a personality inferred in its design, which is not the case with rank and file for today's vampire counts armies. I have, over the years, acquired the entire Citadel line of undead from the 80's, which I am gradually hammering into an army. It does look a bit special.

This is not to say I don't buy new minis, far from it. My closets creak with the weight of new miniatures yet to be painted, but deep in nostalgiatown is where my true heart rests. I am not alone in this. One fellow that springs to mind is the excellent Thantsants, who maintains the splendid Somewhere the tea's getting cold blog. Pure old school goodness, check it out.

And so, I leave you to muse on your own favourite period, sculptor or range among the many wonderful toys available to us lucky, lucky people.

Zombie Toad!

Dave King, of the wondrous Bederken miniatures, is making me a zombie toad. Fantastic. Now, if anyone uses sivejir's hex scroll on me, I can whip this guy out. Not that I'll be happy about having my guy turned into a toad, but to have a specific undead toad? Splendid.

It also looks like a slew of new Dwerg goodness is about to break from Bederken, huzzah! It's like having miniatures come directly out of your mental wish-list and right through the letterbox. Now all he needs to do is start sculpting Fimir for me to explode in a shower of joy.

Upcoming Dwerg and zombie toad post

Dipping - The Conundrum

Over the last six months or so, I've been gradually seduced by the lure of the army painter dip. Like most I think, when I first heard of this stuff I was, to say the least, warily pessimistic as to the veracity of the claims that it was some sort of magic shading sauce. I saw some minis done with it and thought, 'Too shiny, too muddy, bleagh. Away with you.'

A few weeks later, on the excellent Carpe Noctem, I was looking through the gallery of folks recent work. I saw these guys above. I thought wow, they're nice, very nice indeed! Imagine my surprise when I learned they were done with the aforementioned army painter. I was a little gobsmacked, in fact. This prompted me to reconsider. I thought I better give this stuff a shot.

Here's one of my first minis done with the painter. I was very pleasantly surprised. With careful application (brush, NOT dip), a good matt varnish and good basing, the minis looked magic, and here's the thing: they took very little time to do. To fully understand the effect this had on me, we'll need some back-story: I am a VERY slow painter. I am fastidious. I own my own weight a few times over in miniatures that I really want to paint. This was a solution sent from on high.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still apply details and highlights over most dipped figures. It doesn't suit every mini or every colour. I won't be giving up traditional painting, far from it, I'm just getting into my stride. BUT, and it's a gargantuan but, I can see my armies actually getting finished, and looking damn good, if I do say so myself.

Chaos Dwarf Earthshaker Cannon

After a ridiculous amount of searching, I have unearthed this fellow. An old Leviathan dwarf mortar, to serve as my earthshaker cannon. I think it will fit perfectly with my old 3rd edition chaos dwarves. The crewman is a tad tall, but I think I'll get away with it. Many of the Leviathan dwarf pieces would work well in a chaos dwarf army, and they are generally huge models. Now, I think a few oversize shells are in order...

Hobgoblins?

Bob Naismith is doing the goblinoids for the new chaos dwarf range. That is most splendid, I do like his style intensely. Here's the concept for the first hob(?)gobbo.

Even more Chaos Dwarves

More chaos dwarf concept work from Mantic. This looks more promising...

More Chaos Dwarves

I went on a ramble after the last post. Now. These here. These are chaos dwarves. These. Are. Beautiful. I am filled with want.

Chaos Dwarves

Well, wellity wellity well. Here's something that has piqued my interest. Mantic are doing chaos dwarves. When I first heard this I was hysterically excited, but once I saw the images this was replaced with forlorn despondency. I know these are work in progress, but I no likee. They aren't big hat dwarves, which I haaaaate, but they just don't do it for me. The eyeball head guy has promise, but the others, meh. I hope that the actual releases will be better. Chaos dwarf week on the Mantic blog may hold more revelations. I yearn for someone to do new chaos dwarves that match the old Marauder and Citadel spikey stunties...