Border Princes Landship - The Mermaid of Sartosa

 If six months ago someone had said me I'd own and paint a Forgeworld Marienburg Landship by October, I'd not have taken them too seriously. This is the main reason my blog has been quiet of late.

The Mermaid of Sartosa

 Back in June I woke up one Saturday after a night down the pub and still slightly drunk I decided on an impulse buy. One landship bought. It arrived fully built which wasn't the smartest idea as it's impossible to paint unless it is in several sections. I then had to stick it in the freezer so I could get the glue brittle and break it up. That worked but not without damaging several pieces so it wasn't off to the best of starts. Furthermore, the other half spotted it on the desk and asked how much it had cost. When I lied and said it was £50, she baulked.

 The first plan was to ditch the crew (which I'm not a fan of by any means) and replace them with some nice 4th edition Perry sculpts.
 I won't lie, this model was an absolute bitch to build/paint at times, especially the rear wheels.

 So four months later (or thereabouts) It's all done - another one off the bucket list.
 Rather than a Marienburg vessel, I've painted it as part of my Border Princes force in particular from the principality of Khypris.

 I'm not sure what's up next. At least I've managed to get my annual large project in which I've been able to achieve for three years running now. It's a lot a weight off the shoulders to see it finished and free me up for smaller more manageable projects to keep the blog ticking along a little more consistently.

Border Princes Warband -

 It's been a a hectic couple of months with work. The busiest I've ever been, in fact. With barely a day off I've found time to paint a bit on the scarce side. Plenty of plans but just trying to find time to get on with it and then having the brain cells left of an evening to actually blog it. Anyway, I've finally managed to finish one post off while I have a minute.

 On with my warband merry go round, with Chaos handing the baton back to Empire (Border Princes to be exact). This has been one I've had in planning for some time, an Empire warband with a unique colour scheme.

 Up first is the leader and champion. I've gone for my commissioned Empire hero again for the champion (nice to slap some paint on another of those!) and for the leader I've opted for the wonderful steam tank commander. Until I purchased him recently, minus the tank, and had him in hand, I never realised how much of a superb characterful sculpt he is and of course makes a fine warband leader.

Warband Captain

 Hailing from the principality of Khypris, I've created my own colour scheme like I have done with my Border Princes army so far. I'll be aiming for an 8 man warband with a firearm theme throughout.

Warband Champion

 I'm unsure whether the next post will be a continuation of this lot or back to chaos warbands. Plus there is something on the horizon. Something large which I think I purchased while still under the influence of alcohol early one Saturday morning about a month ago, something I've wanted for a while now. This will take a bit of time, I will admit but it's underway at least.

My Own Personal Empire Hero!

 This latest post is something rather special. While I was compiling my Borders Princes army a few months ago and studying the 4th edition Warhammer Empire army book, I was reminded how good the John Blanche illustrations were, my particular favourite being one of an Empire hero. I thought how great it would be to create a conversion based on the drawing. Quite a tall order I thought, as he was pretty unique and couldn't find a figure that resembled him that closely.
 Then I thought how about commissioning somebody to create one for me! Another tall order really, I thought.
 Then after being pointed in the right direction, I got my wish. And here it is.

 Sculpted by the immensely talented Alessio Cisbani of Wolfbane Art, this has come out as true to the original drawing as you could possibly get. Additional credit to Chris Nichols for the excellent job of casting him.

The original green

And the original artwork

 For obvious reasons it's been sculpted for personal use and not for commercial purposes.

 I must say I'm more than delighted with the result and it's exceeded my expectations. The detail on this figure is gorgeous, particularly the intricate lion carvings on the sword. If you are looking at going down the commissioned work route, I thoroughly recommend Alessio.

 Obviously this particular paint job is a display piece only but having cast a number of copies I'll be definitely using others for warbands and in time having one in the army.

Tzeentch Warband Completed - Two years late!

 Some of you may remember a couple of years back I embarked on a collaboration with Rochie Rochfort, each painting a chaos warband. Rochie opted for the path of Nurgle and for me it was Tzeentch.
 We both gave it a good going but never quite finished them off and put it on hold to pursue other projects.
 So this last week or so I've made the effort to draw a line under it. I still had a pair of minotaurs and a chaos goblin to sort out to get it done.

The warband of Dieter Heldengast

Heldengast himself! 

 The minotaurs are Bob Naismith sculpts from the Citadel C25 range. Clubhorn Runemaster on the left and Slaggut Offaltongue on the right.

 The goblin was a fun miniature to paint from the Citadel C27 Chaos Goblin Mutant range.

Then we've got the old guard; the Bob Olley beastmen, one riding the Cold One I rolled from the 'Other Table'.

 It's always nice to wrap a half finished project that's been left in limbo. Next up (probably) is another chaos warband. I'm aiming to complete Khorne, Slaanesh and Nurgle ones over the coming months. Hopefully there won't be another two years before they're finished.

Citadel Realm of Chaos Knight - a break from Empire

 Giving myself a well deserved short break from the Old World Army Challenge, I had a rummage around in the chaos box and got the urge to convert and paint one of the classic realm of chaos knights.

 I'd been recently revisiting Nico's incredible blog and in particular his chaos knights so there was plenty to inspire me. 

 Now for some reason I've always found the classic realm of chaos steeds a bit of a bogey figure. I've attempted to paint a few over the years and all but once they've ended up abandoned and either pushed to the back of the desk or tossed back into the chaos box. Despite this, I decided that I'd convert this one as well as the rider. This is the outcome.

 The rider himself is not one of the original mounted knights (his legs are of course); I decided to use the top half of one of the chaos charioteers - I luckily have a spare of this guy. It was a very simple conversion as he was sculpted around the same time as the knights so he's perfectly suited. 

 The steed itself has a few alterations. I added the sword from the khorne juggernaut plus the scorpion tail from the classic citadel manticore and a spike to the horse's head. The severed head is a mould press from one of the trophies sported by the hobgoblin character Gyokurinti the strangler. There was also the addition of a length of chain.

 The knight himself was fun to paint but as per usual I did struggle with the steed and it was only in the latter stages that it began to come together. I think the plan will be to have him front a Khorne warband, one of which I rolled up the other week but there'll be more to come on that in the coming weeks . Meanwhile it's back to the army challenge! 

 

Border Princes Update - February

 After sitting out January I've got back into the swing of things with February's Old World Army Challenge.

 The latest addition to my Borders Princes force are a 15 man halberdier unit which includes a champion, standard bearer and drummer.

 I wanted to achieve a real varied look to my unit by using as many different looking troops as possible; men who have hailed from across the Old World seeking fortune and a better life.

 • 15 Halberdiers including champion, standard bearer and drummer from the principality of Myrmidens - 208 points.

The story so far - bit of a crap pic but it'll do

 It's not the most detailed banner ever made but that's about the limit of my freehand. On the plus side I've always wanted to paint a halberdier unit so that's another thing to draw a line under and I'll probably expand it at some later date.

Border Princes Army Update - December

 Well I thought December's installment of the Old World Army Challenge would be fairly straight forward what with having a bit of spare time over the Christmas period but I only just managed to finish on new year's eve.

 Opting for both artillery pieces, I've gone for uniform colours that are quite diverse from the Empire provinces; particularly the black and apple green of the great cannon crew.

• Great Cannon with 3 crewmen from the principality of Styrtia - 100 points

• Helblaster Volley Gun with 3 crewmen from the principality of Munzig - 100 points

 I kept both war engines quite plain as both sets of crew are busy enough with colour. If I'm honest I found this month's challenge a strain at times, in particular the volley gun crew. The guy with the barrel is a pretty rough sculpt in places, especially the face. I'm not used to painting to deadlines and some of it felt a little rushed.

 Anyway, this month I'm focusing on cavalry and I'm going down a non Citadel route. Hopefully it won't be too much of a rushed struggle this time!