2017 Review Time!

 Well, season's greetings and all that; here we are again, another year drawing to a close so it's time for the annual review.

 It's been another fairly progressive year, a little down on last year perhaps but I've managed to cross off one or two long term goals.
 The year began with more additions to the ever growing chaos army (which incidentally started 20 years ago this month). I finally got round to repainting my foot and mounted Chaos Knights from the Citadel C33 Mounted Adventurers range.

 I also managed to get a couple more beastmen finished to get the unit I'd started at the end of 2016 up to 10.

 Then there was also an appearance from Jaek and Helwud foot and mounted before I called a halt on Chaos army proceedings for now.

The army currently as it stands

 I managed to make a start on a Frostgrave warband, getting 4 of the 8 finished.

 The same went for my Mordheim Possessed warband with half of it done.

 Another long term project was achieved - the iconic toad dragon complete with chaos warrior rider.

 I've plans for a Marienburg warband but only got as far as the mercenary captain. I still need to finalise which figures are going to be used here.

 Earlier in the year I'd made a start on a heavily converted rogue trader but he spent several months half built until I made the effort to finish him off and paint him plus the additional members of his party.

Then, with this being my personal highlight of the year I decided to put an old idea into production, a diorama featuring a Balrog slain by demons of law.

 Quite tricky and testing at times, it took about a month to complete. There are more details here.

 The pace dropped off a little towards the end of the year as I planned what should come next. Then I decided to get involved in The Old World Army Challenge that had been set up on Facebook (painting an army over the space of 6 months blah blah blah) so October was spent planning for that with me deciding on a Border Princes Army.

 November's installment was managed just but I'm currently up against it with December's!

 So what for 2018? Well, getting through army challenge done firstly which will end in April. Then, who knows? Usually this time of year I have a rough plan for what's to come but the future is uncertain at present!

 There is murmurings of possibly another diorama; bigger than anything I've produced before but this is only a collection of ideas at present.
 So at that point, I wish you all a happy new year and look forward to seeing more fantastic work from the community in 2018!

My Contribution to the Army Painting Challenge - Border Princes

 Well it's been a while since my last post; 2 months in fact. The time has been well spent mind, preparing for something I had not been expecting to get involved in - The Old World Army Challenge.

 To save me waffling on about the rules, and probably getting it wrong, here are the details as follows:

The superb Army Challenge logo as designed by the talented Clarence Harrison

 Now this isn't the sort of thing I'd normally take on, the idea of painting an army in an allocated time fills me with dread but seeing as all other projects  (or most of them anyway) have been finished off, I decided to give it a go.

 I opted for a Border Princes Army or The Northen Borders Confederacy. This will give me the opportunity to paint an Empire force but it gives me the freedom to incorporate several different coloured uniforms into the army from each principality - plus adding some dwarfs into the mix.
 I intend to use a mixture of 4th Empire figures plus a number of the Marauder Empire and dwarf range. I may even go for some non Citadel figures as well.

 •THE ARMY LIST

1 Mounted Border Prince
1 Mounted Hero
5 Border Heavy Cavalry
5 Princes Bodyguard (on foot)
15 Halberdiers including champion
10 Handgunners including champion
8 Dwarf Spearmen
1 Great Cannon
1 Helblaster Volley Gun

Total Points 1007

 So the first instalment is done. Only a mere 4 figures this month but it does include the army commander and hero.

• Lord Durant, Principality of Akendorf     Army commander
Heavy armour, barded warhorse
110 points

•Duke Beaucamp, Principality of Brovska
Empire Hero
Heavy armour, barded warhorse
75 points

•Dwarfs*(2 from an 8 man unit)
Sword and pistol, sword  (standard not included in points)

*making up points to roughly total 200 for the month.

 It's been an impressive start to proceedings from the challengers and December should prove equally prosperous. Myself, I'm not sure what's in next month's installment yet. Need to decide quickly though and get cracking.
 Incidentally, my blog page has just turned 4 years old. Time has certainly flown.

100th Post - 'Demonslayers' Citadel Diorama

 So what with it being my 100th post, I wanted to make a bit of an effort with it so here is, like my diorama from last year another idea that I'd initially devised many years ago. I've always been a massive fan of the Citadel Balrog from the BME3 Lord of the Rings set from 1987; I'd say it's personally my favourite Nick Bibby sculpt (preferred even to the spined dragon). I always thought its pose was perfect for some kind of aerial duel and was keen to find a suitable flying opponent to make this idea a reality.

 Now this idea has gone through more teething problems than I care to remember. Originally I'd intended for the balrog to be lanced by a knight mounted on pegasus in mid air but there had always been issues with weight. The intended figure's (the 90's version) arm - a separate piece would never bear it's own suspended weight. After trying a few unsuccessful mock up ideas and alternative figures, I had to admit defeat.

 Then a few months ago I was discussing the predicament with Rochie (and he gets shed loads of credit here) and he suggested an alternative approach with the possibility of some kind of lawful demon as an adversary. The penny dropped and I thought of the C34 Demons of Law.
 I've always thought "They're classic, they're lovely but I'll never paint them." but now they had a purpose.

 What's more, being considerably less weighty that a knight on pegasus, there shouldn't be any issues suspending them I mid air. The most challenging part would be drilling down through their respective spears and swords in order to substantiality pin them to the demon.

 The base itself required the right balance of not looking too barren or over crowded.

A fallen knight with panicked steed

Long dead unfortunates - former victims of the demon

 The base and rock pinnacle is made from a core of milliput and an outer layer of green stuff. The base texture is actually a mold press taken from the base of a 54mm napoleonic model. Here's a few WIP shots.

There is a stainless steel rod from the right knee travelling down through the pinnacle of rock to the wooden base

Early stages of the base with milliput core and green stuff top layer

Beginning to add the rocks

Temporarily fitting the top half of the balrog to the bottom for the first time

 So that's all my bucket list projects accounted for now. Time to start planning something else that I can produce in another 10 years or more.

40k Rogue Trader Warband - Complete

 So here it is; I've pushed on to get the remaining members of the warband done - a hive worlder, an alien mercenary, a ventolin pirate and a conqueror class robot.

  I wanted the group to be as diverse as possible but still all tying in together (if that makes sense). I had intended to write up some fluff for them all and I will at some point (probably) but that sort of crap takes me ages and I haven't got the time at present as I'm keen to take on the next project.

 The Hive Worlder is one of my favourites from the 40k adventurers range with some really nice touches and detail. The alien is a conversion using a the head of a C48 gargoyle with the body of a 2000ad Klegg and the ventolin pirate is another nice sculpt but a tad rough in places. However, there is plenty of nice detail to him. Finally the conqueror robot who was the last I painted; I found him a bit of a chore actually and was a relief when he was eventually finished. I found the highlighting of the legs quite awkward where there are so many angles to them.

Hive Worlder

Alien Mercenary 

Ventolin Pirate 

Conqueror Robot

 So having managed to chalk a rogue trader warband off my list, I'm now focusing on what will be my 100th blog post which has been an idea for about 10 years or more now. It may take me some time and to be honest there has been some teething problems in its planning stage.