Monday, 11 November 2024

mortem tyrannis: flesh and steel

augebit Dominus plagas tuas, et plagas seminis tui, plagas magnas et perseverantes, infirmitates pessimas et perpetuas

    - Deuteronomium 28

Mars-pattern Rhino transports (corrupted; Death Guard affiliation)

A few months ago, winter put a halt to undercoating and therefore painting, but that freed up my hobby time to allow me to finally convert the trio of second-hand Rhinos that I had accumulated. I may have gone a little overboard...

Their Flesh Shall Consume Away While They Stand

I knew I wanted one to be crawling along the ground, thousands of hands growing out of the skirts of the vehicle, the shell corrupted with daemonic flesh. There are a few folks out there who have done this as well, so I had some references, but for the most part I just went nuts.

The meat cube for a turret was inspired by moldmoldmold and other Instagrammers, including damp_dog, bigbossredskullz, nergling, mutantmodifier, quarantine_miniatures. I'm very pleased with it - it looks so sticky.


I've had the teeth I used for the closed daemonic mouth for the rear hatch for a while now. It didn't quite turn out as planned, but lessons learned went into Tongue, below.


The missile and smoke launcher were already on the tank, so they got modified and painted as I went. Rust and grime, and a living entrail to load the rockets keep the 'overcome by wet flesh' theme.


I like to think that the eyeballs are just being constantly spit up by the daemonic mouth; they aren't attached to anything. The overgrown drivers' slits are how this thing sees.


Some of the faces are from random experiments in scupting I had lying around; others are from Flesh Eater Courts bits or just other faces I had lying around. The Pestigor above is from Blood Bowl; the bat-face below is from the new Flesh Eater Courts nightshriekers.


The hands are also mostly Flesh Eater Courts (they have so many open hands), and a few from other sources. Some have scraps of cloth. Are they people melded into the tank? Have they grown from chaos-stuff? Who knows.

I tried to distinguish between still-tank and flesh, but most of the tank is in flesh tones; hardly any white remains!

Their Eyes Shall Consume Away In Their Holes

This was intended to be more techno-horror, with rusted iron and corded steel melding with tentacles and fleshy protuberances. The missile rack was built-on when I acquired it, and the doors held open with cables. I decided to 'nail shut' the drivers' vision slits, as if generations of Death Guard had tried to keep whatever was within contained; the vehicle now sees from its own growths.


This turret is held aloft by tarnished cabling erupting from a grotesque mouth. Fun to sculpt but actually really annoying to paint! A lot of these conversions would have been easier to paint if I could have done sub-assemblies, actually...

Oh, also notice some Heresy-era markers - this is a Mars-pattern Rhino, but at one point the Death Guard were maintaining their old heraldry, including a letter-number code for the vehicle. This was done to provide some texture to those panels, but also to contrast with all the Nurgle iconography employed by this vehicle.


Really enjoyed mucking up the front here, as though centuries of previous shields had rotted into goo, with the current layer just the very latest. Shields are from Age of Sigmar Nurgle guys and Flesh Eater Courts (again).


Pretty much all the tentacles were sculpted by me, except for a few Age of Sigmar little ones with bells on. Lots of fun painting them all different colours.


The racks were also painted to look as though the edges had centuries of liquefication and rust. The symbol on the door is from Blood Bowl.


The great thing about weathering is that it can conceal how bad I am at painting a stripe.

Banners are from the Age of Sigmar; bells from Nighthaunt ghosts. I like that there are three kinds of Nurgle icons here.


Detail of an eye in the rocket launcher. How else can it see? 

Note that one of the icons in the back also has an eye.

Their Tongue Shall Consume Away In Their Mouth

This guy was so much fun to sculpt - it came together very smoothly. I didn't go as overboard on details, as I wanted the centrepiece of the back to be the standout...


But there is still a lot of lovely texture. I didn't bother with any other icons this time (I did consider putting one on the 'top' of the turret doors, but it would have been hidden in their final position), as I had roughed up the surface enough to be visually interesting.

Note the mushrooms instead of smoke launchers, to provide clouds of spores as cover.


This time I actually sculpted a little nose for the horrible face - and look at this great slightly curved missile rack I found from the modern Heresy range. Perfect for spitting rockets at the enemy (and so that all three tanks have the same loadout).


The centrepiece! This was incredible fun to sculpt and paint and then make wet with gloss varnish. The tank came without the doors on the hatch, so I could get the three-dimensional effect I wanted.


The side door also has vagina dentata, albeit closed and fanged rather than toothed.


As this tank didn't have the tracks applied yet, it gave me a chance to make it into a slug tank. I think I brought the white of the feet up too far, but it still looks both slimy and satisfying.


Drool.


I had considered making the eyeballs all glossy black for a creepy insectoid vibe, but that effect works better if the balls are uniform, and these are hand-made for a deliberately uneven, squirmy effect. Plus, I enjoy cartoonish colours as a contrast to the pale colours of the Death Guard.


I wanted the vehicle to be relatively toned down to focus on the ecstatic top hatch. Plus, the tank came with an open turret, so I had a chance to add a marine as the turret gunner this time.

I painted him in the usual way, but note that both his shoulder rims and his iconography are different from the infantry squads. I didn't want the tanks associated with specific squads, so I wanted him to have his own feel. Possibly this is like a Techmarine driver, although he has no indication of once being of the Cult Mechanicus; possibly he just belongs to the tank. The use of an Arabic numeral is also very different from the norm! (both transfers come from Blood Bowl)

So that's it for the Rhinos. I have several more mechanical bio-horrors that I sculpted during that period and am finishing the painting for - stay tuned here or on Instagram...

Friday, 8 November 2024

Project: It's About Turnips

 I actually hopped on the #turnip28 bandwagon when Max FitzGerald first started putting it together a few years ago. I went all in, got several boxes of historical plastics, converted and went nuts with muck and slime and weird little helmets. I got my partner to design some cool banners... and then we just straight-up weren't able to print the damn things.

Триста Тридцать Третий Репки Родины
[trans. 333rd Turnips of the Motherland]

In late September, we finally did it. We painted 'em. I finished another project!

All it took was gluing four pieces of paper down and adding a little muck to them, photographing them and posting them. Managed to do that for Instagram -- but of course I forgot to post anything here...

Sunday, 1 September 2024

Gnow There are Gno More Gnomes To Paint

 Look at that. A second post.

the new villagers

Back in 2020, for the Old World Army Challenge, Old School Miniatures was kind enough to sponsor my entry: a small force of their wonderful alpine gnomes. I never considered the project complete, though; one regiment of spearmen was under-equipped, and I wanted to expand the cavalry regiments a little.

As part of my new focus on finishing projects (I know!), I have managed to actually complete the gnome army. I also wound up adding a second spearman regiment as well as a small pile of new villagers (above).

The force is fairly small in most editions, especially as Byron's list design eschews heroes in favour of wizards, but I'll be able to ally in Wood Elves or my old, ancient Empire army (whichever of these boxes that's in...) if I really need more points.

So, what's new?

Wednesday, 28 August 2024

mortem tyrannis: decay and renewal

It's been a while. Let's move on.

 
Aspiring Champion-Sergeant Sānchóng

A lot of things happening since I last posted. Rather than get into it - most of the readers of this blog follow my instagram anyway - let's just move on to the miniatures. I've been working steadily to try and finish off some of the 'big projects' I've got, in an attempt to reduce the ongoing strain on my mind from having so many things unfinished. A relatively easy one to finish is this accidental Death Guard project... especially as I was unable to undercoat all winter, so I did a lot of sculpting on some vehicles and... others. Stay tuned for those!

Friday, 27 January 2023

Old World Army Challenge: VI: Necromunda

That's right, chummers, I'm doing the Old World Army Challenge again.

c'm'ere and call me that, cleanskin

This year, the Dread Lord has opened the call to Fanatic and Specialist Games, including Necromunda, so I'm trying to get something like seven Necromunda95 and Gorkamorka warbands done in six months. Let's see how we get done.

Introduction post: Wherein I reveal my madness.

January post: A 'rank & file' post for the Skavvy gang.

Coming up next: Pit Slaves.


CanCon with the Too Fat Lardies

 Last weekend was CanCon, one of Australia's larger hobby conventions. Despite living in the capital for years now, I usually only attend to do some shopping and a bit of gawking. This year, I was invited as a spare to the Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command campaign weekend. There was a real chance a few players' schedules might be shaky, the Australia CoC scene is always recruiting, and I'm local: a great combination.

The campaign day was run by a chap named Steve, who is probably now in my top-five Friendly Wargaming Lads. We'd never met, but you'd never know it for how welcoming and chill he was, happy to explain rules, point out fun details, and just generally be a chill bloke. He also ran a fun weekend, with an interesting scenario - on some very fine terrain by John Bond.

The scenario is as follows: Some time following the Normandy invasion, the British are pushing into this French town. Day One (Saturday AM) involves crossing the fields and entering the town proper. Day Two (Saturday PM) is attempting to make the bridge. Day Three (Sunday AM), the Germans have to hold the bridge itself or blow it. Day Four (Sunday PM) was flexible, depending on the previous days, but there was a chance for German armour to arrive and retake the British side.

In the end, the games fought to a standstill over the bridge - the Brits were held in place and didn't cross, but the bridge stayed open. I only fought a few rounds, rolling some dice during Sunday AM, but it was great fun and really sealed the deal on me digging out those Early War Poles...

Saturday, 21 January 2023

After Action Report: Terror in the Peaks

    Réfractaires, it is not your duty to die uselessly.
        - Resistance pamphlet

somewhere in the mountains of Occupied France

An old friend of mine and wargaming/role-playing buddy has finally made the pilgrimage down from to visit me, mostly to play in the Too Fat Lardies event at CanCon in a game of Chain of Command. He's even convinced me to be a backup player in case one of the others has to leave early and cannot finish the campaign. Of course, I've never played a game of Chain of Command, although I am interested in the increased historical verisimilitude of it over its main competitors. 

So we decided to head to the local store and bodge together some terrain and play an intro game. Jolt has an incredible selection of terrain, but it's mostly intended for far-future or vaguely fantasy settings, and it also turned out that every single local gamer wanted to test their armies before this weekend's tournament scene at CanCon. But we made do with the above layout. A forked road, a burning farm, some rough cliffs and pine forests, an ancient church. Could be somewhere in Europe, sure.

Al brought me an infantry platoon of horrible fascists, reinforced with an additional Senior Leader (Keptain Köwærd); he brought an adhoc platoon-sized contingents of French rebels, communists, and jumped-up peasants, reinforced with some stolen submachine guns and a backwoodsman calling himself a sniper. Both sides had low morale; it was freezing, there is little food, and nobody wants to die for their fatherland in the arse-end of nowhere.

fascists cower in the gutted church

My favourite thing about Chain of Command is the initial patrol phase. It makes the act of deployment a game of tug-of-war with your opponent and really livens up the otherwise straightforward bit of 'you're on that side, I'm on this side'. Having units come on from the jump-off points that are then scattered (and can be moved!) about the field is the only wargame I've found so far that does a good show of mimicking the fog of war.

In these snowy hills, the fascist regulars didn't know from where the cursed marquis would come...

who dares impede us

I did get lucky in my first few turns, managing to bring on two squads at opposite ends of the field. By getting enough initiative to put the churchgoers on overwatch meant that Al, who had intended to come through the forest opposite, was immediately on the defensive.

"i see zem! i see ze kowartly frenchmen"

Al is a generous opponent. I had initially thought of the open, flat-topped hill next to my roadblock jump-off as a death trap. It was open and flat, with absolutely no cover. Of course, it also provided a huge view of the entire field. Once he pointed that out, I scurried a squad up it and sat them in overwatch up there, much to his frustration.

"okay ve vill leafe ze khurch but only slowly"

He also reminded me that squads come in two elements, and that I could move the manoeuvre element while keeping the machine gun in overwatch. Naturally, he immediately deployed his submachine gun-heavy squad into the forest, preventing me from safely assaulting that jump-off point. Git.

line them up...

..BLAM

First blood to the French resistance with a good old-fashioned duck hunt. Hill's risky.

if you go down in the woods today, you'd better go in disguise...

'if we line up in a row, they will be caught by surprise!'

As I moved one of the riflemen squads down past the hedgerows, another group of partisans emerged, ready to initiate a firefight. Al and I got several rules wrong here - he should have gone tactical and hit the dirt (after being reminded, my hill-squad did that, but he never remembered to). Additionally, I added far too many dice for the squad's machine gun - although my dice consistently rolled below-or-only average, so I don't think it mattered too much.

'merde.'

Nevertheless, the end result for this squad of rebels was most of them being killed and sufficient shock to break them. I also concussed their sergent, reducing the partisan morale. This group broke and ran, freeing my outflanking squad to move towards their jump-off point.


'right, that's it. forward!'

Losing a jump-off point in Chain of Command causes significant morale damage to the hosting force. Seeing the easy route my squad had toward his right-hand point, Al decided that his only hope lay in cracking open my little church fortress.

bullets fly!

Unfortunately, his dice failed him. I shot down several partisans and caused some shock, with almost no losses of my own. My succeeding phases didn't do a lot, but his numbers significantly dwindled.

the keptain comes out but continues to kower

I'd kept my second Senior Leader in reserve, waiting until I needed his shock-removing talents - so right when Al had caused several casualties and enough shock to reduce the church squad's effectiveness, Keptain Köwærd pulled himself out of his foxhole and shouted for the men to hold; reducing the shock in both sections to nothing.

At this point, the store was closing and so we decided to end it there. The Germans had a clear line to take a partisan jump-off point and had caused about thrice the casualties. Al still had a real chance to swing it, if he made a big assault and got a bit lucky - the loss of a squad, NCO, officer and jump-point would probably have shattered my platoon - but that would have been a significant shift from how the game looked on the table.

At any rate, a cracking game against a real gentleman of an opponent. I think I have to dust off that old Polish project now. Let me see, a 1939 Polish infantry platoon has three squads of fourteen men, and I already have...

Thursday, 8 December 2022

"Mercenary captains are either capable men or they are not."

 Goblin's Paladins, a small mercenary company operating in the Periphery, has recently completed a re-arm and re-fit, allowing us to see part of its Order of Battle.

Goblin's Paladins - Command and Fire Lances

I have three factions planned for my Battletech collection. The first, 1st Canopian Cuirassiers of the Magistcracy of Canopus, we've already seen, including in action against Periphery mercenaries and pirates. The second are my mercenary company, now with two lances finished. I intend to add a third lance at some point to give it some better bite, but for now:

Elements of 1st Company, mercenary company "Goblin's Paladins", c.3067-3085

Tuesday, 6 December 2022

mortem tyrannis: growth and growth

 A few additions to the Death Guard.

Aspiring Champion-Sergeant Gehazi

Aspiring Champion-Sergeant Naaman

Aspiring Champion-Sergeant Joab

You may remember my squads of 7-strong Death Guard infantry. Fluffy, fun, neat - a great part of this accidental project. Unfortunately, the 9th edition codex made those squads immediately illegal. Now, while 9th edition is basically unplayable due to a) the overwritten rules making it hard to follow the game and b) the constant rules changes making any faint understanding immediately obsolete, I wasn't totally happy with a few aspects of the squads anyway. One lacked an icon, for instance, and I wanted more of the fun equipment that 8/9th has brought to Mortarion's Chosen.

So I painted and converted a few more lads. Now the three squads are ten-strong, which is less flavoursome but there are still three of them - and I can always drop a few members if I ever actually play a game with them.

Saturday, 3 December 2022

Those ex-Slaves

You are not machines, you are not cattle - you are men!

there's power in a union

I've had these on my desk since they came out. Always love a narrative of working lads breaking their chains. It's even better if the chains are laser-powered. The pit slaves in Necromunda '98 had similar vibes, and the tale of Bull Gorg goes hard. It's tragic that we never got a miniature of him.

The ex-Slave Ogryn gang in Necromunda '17 fills a similar place, with the addition benefit of just straight-up lobotomizing some of the workers. grim But solves a problem! or does it

The gang (for which I'm yet to decide on a name) also fits into the vague 'civilians' project. These guys can be an outlaw gang of workers in revolt or they can used as flavour or muscle for various factions - all their 'weapons' are really tools, after all. This is why they have my desert basing instead of the grimy underdark basing you've seen before.