Bloodbath. The Dwarfs of Ashak Rise.P1

Taking advantage of some extra hobby time and the buzz from completing the Vile Rune Orks I have moved on to the next Command sheet and the Dwarfs of Ashak Rise which I had previously started.

This one of the smallest groups and is only 15 figures, 11 dwarf clansmen, two characters and three pack mules. 

The first job was to rebase the dwarfs as they had been placed on round bases which had been used before I decided on original bases, and then to to retouch the six dwarfs I had already painted. It also gave me an opportunity to revise some of the colours and go for a more sober look and bring the base style in line with the Orcs, although for the forces of good the bases will be a little more alive with green rather than brown foliage.

Five Dwarf Crossbows, three Mules from Wargames Foundry who now hold the original Citadel molds and the two characters

Borinn Fimbul and his son Snorinn Fimbul

rebased and repainted with new shield details that have the dwarf runes for Fimbul and Fim 

Bloodbath. The Vile Rune Orcs

Orctober is upon us and it is enough of an excuse to open up my Bloodbath at Orcs Drift project box and try and get a little further along.

I have previously posted the start of the Vile Rune Orcs and the other characters completed for my  first command sheet. The remaining 30 Orcs have finally been completed and I was down to the banner. Numerous failed attempts later , I settled on a scaled down version that the unit will carry and plan on printing a copy of the originals and mount them on their own bases.

Going for old school Tomato puree, the last best attempt before I gave up in disgust!

Settled on a simpler version with each of the Vile Runes

The full forty...

The unit is made up of metal miniatures from several Citadel eras and also a unit of spears I picked up from Black Tree Designs. 

Bloodbath features three Orc tribes and although i could reuse the one unit for all of them i want to be  able to give each tribe its own character and colour scheme.

I also need to pick up some regiment bases and will probably run them as two 20 boy units rather than as one big mob!

One big Mob

Vile Rune standard and Sticka guards

The Vile Rune Tribe led by their Chieftain Fangor Gripe and supported by the Rock giant Guthrum Mane and the Half-Orc spy Silas Meel

One down...

Black Tree Designs

AA. The Iron Guard.

I have been collecting miniatures for over 30 years and thankfully still have the majority of the figures I gathered in the early years, such as my beloved Slann, but numerous house moves and some possible patches of bad memory have caused some gaps and a list of figures I want to repurchase if only for the sake of nostalgia.

One of the sets of figures i had fond memories of and somehow lost were my temple guard. I must have been about 11 and I cannot remember how I acquired them but the unit of about 10 identical armoured knights with ornate helmets, horns and halberds were my pride and joy. I had built a small (about the size of a large shoe box) hexagonal temple (open box) out of some spare tongue and groove planks as a Temple of Death and a shrine for a large shrouded skeleton miniature (still not sure on this one) and it was guarded by this unit as its elite temple guard. The figures went through various paint jobs, the last I remember was a particularly bright and thickly painted gold and red scheme, curtesy of my humbrol enamel paints.

The figures, Death and his Temple have been lost but I recently came across them on the Alternatives Armies Website and that the range had been expanded on. I picked up a unit and command squad and on delivery found that they had lost none of their charm and will be adding them to the list of armies, and terrain pieces to build with a new temple being planned!

Serving under General Blix, the Armoured Goblins of the second Iron Company are bound as temple guards to the Temple of Death, a shrine that marks a gateway to the underworld a way station for Charon. The Guard bear the sigil of the Temple, a stylised hourglass empty of sand.

First unit of Halberdiers. 

Figures come with metal bases attached but i have mounted them on 20mm squares

Command unit and the recently released Knight with Great Sword

Unit standard and back banner show the empty hourglass and strikes of the Second Company.

Whole force so far, next on the list will be some more halberdiers and a chariot for General Blix

i will also have to try and remember and find out the large Death figure!

Alternative Armies

Epic. Imperial City

As a terrain junkie the new Adeptus Titanicus comes with an extra treat of new terrain! I still had several buildings from the earlier editions, printed Card with plastic roofs but the new buildings come  with almost unlimited potential and customisation. while waiting for the arrival of my Adeptus Titanicus box I made a start with what I had and raided the my bits box (and eBay).

First was repurposing some 40K corner ruins and turn them into the corners of a couple of burnt out warehouses, Imperial architecture tends to be very monumental so the sizing was fairly easy, with extra floors added in to give it scale.

Foamboard base

Titans have just walked through them!

My planned city also included some highways courtesy of some matchbox roads

test set up with completed warehouses and original Epic buildings.

The tank and plane are 8mm 

Rubble added to the roads and concrete damage made with cork.

Competed Epic buildings with new paintwork on the roof

I split the terrain kit into base buildings which is mounted on plasticard and some separate buildings which I can add as needed. i also constructed a spire as well.

Ruined building made up from remaining bits, eventually plan to get another terrain set just to make up into ruins.

Ruin assembled in the correct size so I can still add the separate buildings if I want

The first of the buildings assembled as per the instructions to get an idea of assembly

base building with added sections

The largest building is the base for the Church of the Emperor

Assembled Church with all loose sections

Building and bases match up to the completed matchbox road sections

Painting - 

For the painting I wanted a quite minimal but unified look to keep the focus on the Titans and use the detail rule that the terrain should be painted as if it far away and not add too much. 

The roads and building bases had gravel added with PVA and then sealed once dry with 70/30 PVA water. The base coat is B&Q Colours Asphalt Matt Emulsion ( 2.5l for 12) and then covered in Nuln oil. I then add a heavy drybrush of the emission again and successive dry brushes of lighter greys (administratum Grey and then Dawn stone). For the roof sections I brushed the centre of each panel rather than the whole roof to give a more weathered effect. For the rubble I then wash with Agrax Earthshade twice and dry brush with karak Stone. Random patches were stained with Nuln, Agrax and Reikland fleshade

Metal was painted in Iron Breaker with washes of Nuln and Agrax for rust. The gold was Balthazar Gold with Seraphim Sepia and then Agrax Earthshade washes and Balthazar detail.

The fully rusted details were made with typhus Corrosion and a Ryza Rust dry brush 

There are some posters scattered on some pieces and I plan on adding some more and a couple of billboards. Theses have be sourced from Necromunda posters and resized.

COLOURS ASPHALT MATT EMULSION 

Some shots of all the completed terrain so far, next on the list will be some ruined buildings, some statues/monuments, Space Port, Airship base/masts and hangers and then onto some defences - Walls, trenches and weapon emplacements etc. It also needs a matching base and I am as yet undecided on a battlemat or MDF boards painted up.

Some shots from games at my local club, running my Bad Moons as proxy knights and warhound Titan