More city guards!

Hello everyone,

I’ve finished a few new figures: three new members of the Malko City Guard.

Among them is Captain Erwin Moretti, the son of a descendant of those who were forced to flee Reikland with the first Lord of Malko, and a Tilean merchant’s daughter.

He has been leading the City Guard’s halberdiers for many years and attaches great importance to appropriate attire (and good food too, from what one hears...).

Somewhere in the Border Princes...

As I promised earlier, I’d like to establish a sort of overarching story or plot for all my future and past Warhammer projects. Hopefully, this will, on the one hand, motivate me to keep developing these projects, and on the other, give the units and heroes more character.

I’ve chosen the Border Princes as the setting because there’s still a fair bit of freedom there to ‘make things up’ or not have to take the existing lore entirely at face value. 

I don’t want to give everything away just yet, but a lot of it will revolve around the city of Malko, which lies a little north of the Black Gulf on the River Treblecz. 

 

In the official lore, the city is described as relatively large and well-fortified, though with wooden palisades, which I’m not too keen on. 
In my imagination, the city is a bit larger and has strong walls, a bit like a northern Italian town.

Given the Black Mountains to the north, I imagine the Tilean influence on the region to be stronger than that of the Empire, which will be reflected to some extent in the local buildings, customs and clothing. 

In the existing lore, there is also only a mayor as leader of the town; I’ll turn this into a baron or count whose ancestors were forced to flee the Empire long ago. Through marriage to a Tilean princess, the ties to Tilea are very strong, which will become important later on.

Malko is renowned for being the breadbasket of the Border Princes. It appears that the lands surrounding the city are very fertile, and the grain is exported far and wide across the Old World. Its relative proximity to the Old Silk Road further enhances the importance of trade and accounts for the city’s wealth. 
Malko’s wealth is arguably exceptional for the Border Princes and must be adequately protected.

Thanks to his connections with Tilea, the city’s lord has many mercenaries under contract. Furthermore, the city militia and the small standing army – some of whom have been trained by Tilean military personnel – are inspired by Tilea and represent a force to be reckoned with in the Border Princes.

Due to the frequent orc attacks, the city’s troops are experienced fighters led by outstanding officers. 

One of the troops’ most important tasks is to keep the River Treblecz clear to ensure the free trade in grain. 
Small outposts and watchtowers have been erected along the river, all the way to its mouth at the Black Gulf, to provide early warning of raids by Orcs, pirates or envious princes, and to hold out for a time until reinforcements arrive.

So far, so good – more to follow soon!
I plan to build the bulk of the army using standard Imperial miniatures, but capture that Tilean flavour through a few conversions and the colour schemes. I also have a few mercenary regiments that are finally due a paintjob!
 

And here’s a first test miniature. It’s a brave warrior from the Malko City Guard, which will form several units and are called upon to deploy relatively often.

I hope you enjoyed this little excursion; hopefully there’ll be more of the same soon!

Gotrek and Felix will also play an important role....

Gotrek and Felix - Finally done!

I know it’s hard to believe, but: Gotrek and Felix are finished!

It really has been a very long journey, almost as if I’d trudged all the way from Altdorf to the Chaos Wastes on my own, without an airship to take me there.

I started on sculpting Gotrek over a year ago and thought I’d be able to finish the project in a couple of weeks. We’d even planned to do a presentation with the figures at the Szenario Con 2026! That didn’t work out in the end, but at least the figures are finished now.

Gotrek was painted a bit quicker than Felix, there aren’t that many different colours on him. The skin and, above all, the hair were quite challenging, though! I hate painting hair. But with dwarves, there’s really no getting round it.

The tattoos weren’t exactly a walk in the park either, but it turned out all right in the end. Don’t look too closely – they’re not identical on the left and right arms! Maybe they’re supposed to be, but I’ve no idea :D

It also turned out that I’d sculpted the intricate decorations on the axe too finely, which made painting them almost impossible. I ended up just using loads of washes, and didn’t show that area very clearly in the photos! 

I have to say, these have been a few productive weeks. Lots of projects that I’d been dreading for months are now finished.

Next, I think I’ll spend a bit of time fine-tuning my next project, my Border Princes campaign. Watch this space!

Gotrek and Felix are currently staying at a rather nice coaching inn somewhere on the southern edge of the Vaults, with a bunch of shady characters nearby...

Felix Jaeger

Like I promised: after the Austrians and the Prince on Griffon, I’ve finally got round to work on Gotrek and Felix.

I started with Felix this week (and actually managed to finish him – with the current heat outside, there’s nothing else to do anyway but sit indoors..):

 

I really enjoyed painting him, probably the first ‘normal’ 28mm figure since my Steel Legion tests I did a while ago. 

It didn’t turn out perfectly; unfortunately, I much prefer the back of the cloak to the front (mainly because of the dirt), but what can you do! Now he’s finished, and I can get on with Gotrek.

It really has taken long enough for me to get round to painting these figures.

I’m currently sketching out a little backstory for all my current and future Warhammer projects by the way!

This much I can reveal: it’s set in the Border Princes. 

And Gotrek and Felix will, of course, play a crucial role…

Prince on Griffon - Part 3 - Finished model!

And finally, finally, finally, it’s done and the prince is all painted up!

Goodness me, that was a job.

This is probably the most complex model I’ve ever painted. And also the most difficult to paint. The rider is moulded onto the body of the griffin; only the wings can be removed... And that made it very, very difficult to hold the piece and paint the fine details. The prince’s face and the fabric parts in particular were really hard to reach.

The glowing runes on the sword were also a major challenge. I’m still not entirely sure whether it looks good or not; I think I repainted them three times, at least on the back. I think it’s quite alright now; I certainly couldn’t have done any better :D

I must also say that I’m not 100% satisfied. The armour could have been a touch darker/less yellow and had more contrast, and the face was just incredibly difficult to reach... But now it’s done, and my army finally has its leader!

What’s more, after almost exactly nine years (I checked again – I bought this box in 2017), I’ve finally finished painting the elven half of the starter box. Unbelievable :D 

 

 

 

 

In total, my High Elves army now has 1200 points. With an eagle and 10 silver helms, I could expand it to 1500 next, but I think that’s enough for now.

Besides, the Ellyrians aren’t finished yet apart from one figure, so there’s still work to be done anyway.

I hope you like it! Soon I’d like to write a short post about the character’s background and take a few scenic photos of the army so far.

 

All the best and see you soon

Lucas  

Prince on Griffon - Part 2

Once again it's been a while since the last update, but I did not have a lot of time for the hobby lately. But I managed to finish the griffon!

Very proud of this figure so far. It was a lot of work, especially highlighting all the feathers... I am glad that it's done now.

Can't wait to field this figure in a battle!

Now on to the rider, I hope it does not take another two weeks.

Prince on Griffon - Part 1

Now that the Austrians are practically finished (only the base edges are left), I can finally get started on my High Elf Prince on Griffon, before I can finally get round to painting Gotrek and Felix.

I’ve had this figure sitting in a drawer for over 10 years now and never dared to tackle it.

Now I know why – the thing is so incredibly detailed and beautifully designed... I reckon for me, this is the best miniature Games Workshop has ever released for Warhammer Fantasy.

A bold claim, I know, but as things stand, that’s my opinion!

I didn’t really like the lance, though. I’m also envisaging a slightly darker backstory for my Cothique army, with a cursed sword that corrupts its bearer... More on that soon, but that’s why the prince got a sword instead of the lance.

The conversion wasn’t that simple, and I had to re-sculpt the scale armour, which I found very difficult... I’m not 100% satisfied either; let’s see how it looks once it’s painted. I might end up tearing it all down again!

I don’t know what I’ll do with the base yet either, but we’ll see.
At least I really like the conversion itself – I think he looks a bit more dangerous with the sword in his hand.

More on that soon; the first wing is already painted. What a task!

Gotrek and Felix ready for painting

Here they are, the biggest heroes of the Empire:

Gotrek and Felix!

I finally manged to do the bases for these two, and print print them at a decent quality. I did a lot of changes to Felix a few weeks ago, like making the sword thicker, and some improvements on the cloth as well. 

Now they will sit at the back of my painting table and will only be painted once I have finished my Austrian army :D I hope this motivation works...

Of course I had to add some skulls to the bases... It's Warhammer after all!

Really looking forward to painting them, so I better start working on the last two Austrian units.

 

All the best

Lucas  

 

First colour scheme test for the next spearmen unit

It's been a while since my last update, but painting the remaining Ellyrian Reavers is pretty time consuming... And I had quite a lot of work related suff lately that kept me from painting more.

But next to the slow progress on the Ellyrian Reavers, I managed to do a first test for my next spearmen unit (or basically the first if you don't count the Lothern Seaguard).

I sculpted the shield in ZBrush, again copied from the Uniforms and Heraldry book, and also changed the heads to 3D sculpted ones that I did a few months prior. Also, I had to sculpt some hair at the back. 

I am not sure about the shield colour to be honest, but I will paint a few more to see them as a unit... Maybe it works better then. The colours are also from the Uniforms book, so it should work in theory.

But right now I have to increase my 18mm Austrian army quite a bit for our new campaign that will start veeeeery soon, so no time for Warhammer right now!

I will post about that topic soon I think :) 

All the best

Lucas  

First Ellyrian Reaver

Whoever at GW had the brilliant idea to sculpt 17 point figures more detailed than a regular champion or hero model of any other faction in Warhammer Fantasy... Good job! 

I managed to finish my first Ellyrian Reaver yesterday, and it only took me 2 full evenings and a few extra minutes here and there in the morning before work. I think in total this figure took me 6 and a half hours of painting. Madness!  

But yes, it's a beautiful sculpt, I think everyone can agree with me on that. 

Many many gems, coloured metal pieces around the horse armour, and even a decorative,  triangulated pattern on the straps that are hanging from the helmet. 

I painted the Ellyrian Reaver in almost the same colour scheme I used for a first Silver Helm test model in the past, I think it works pretty well for Cothique.

 

Only 4 to go now! As I said, madness. Not sure I can paint the probably most intimidating model of my Warhammer collection afterwards, the Prince on Griffon... But I really want to finish my Elven half of the Island of Blood box! Let's see.

Anyway, I hope you like my first cavalry model for the army! More to come soon, if Asuryan grants me the time and nerves :P

All the best

Lucas  

Lizardmen Colour Test

And now for something completely different!

Well, once again, the hobby squirrel with a attention span of only a few seconds has prevailed: I was distracted by a new, exciting topic :D
It's really bad at the moment.

Anyway, when I'm not able to pursue my hobby, I always come up with new projects in my head and then buy miniatures for them rather than actually painting them... 

But this one could be truly epic!
All I can say is that the story and setting take place in the Southlands of the Warhammer world. 

And since there are lots of lizardmen there, I had to paint a few... I'll tell you much more about the project later, but here's a little teaser in the form of an even smaller skink.

I stole the colour scheme from Total War: Warhammer III, where the lizardmen of Tiktaq'to are coloured like this. I think I'll try to get to 1000 points here first, and then we'll see.
The army will consist of 90% Skinks, with only a small troop of Temple Guardians containing Saurus.

The painting hasn't turned out 100% well everywhere, as I unfortunately tried once again to find a quick solution with Contrast Paints... I just can't do it. So I painted over everything again normally.
I hope you like it anyway! 

All the best

Lucas  

First game with my High Elves

Dark clouds gathered in the sky. Calandril looked down over the hill into the valley, at the edge of which the dark shapes of Chaos followers were already gathering. No birds could be heard anymore; the dark aura of the creatures had put all life to flight.

In the middle of the valley, which was bordered by forests, rose a dark ruin that might once have been a temple of the old gods of this region - now only death and despair reigned here. The statue in its interior had strangely glowing eyes, as if it were staring at Calandril even from this great distance and warning him against approaching.

But the elf did not waver. They had not marched over so many hours of travel only to turn back now. Chaos had to be driven from these lands, whatever the cost. The winds of magic flowed through him once more, and the High Elf mage took new heart. He raised his staff, and the small army of elven warriors set itself in motion.

 

Last night, finally our first game of Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition took place!

After months of preparation and reading the rules book, my High Elves had their first test of battle against some blood thirsty Chaos warriors and a pretty brutal Chaos beast!

The battle started with both sides  rolling for reinforcements. My army deployed in its entirety on the battlefield from turn 1, the Chaos warriors had to wait for a turn.

 

 

My elves had the first turn, so I marched onwards to meet the foul creatures in battle.

Unfortunately, I completely forgot about the guardian in the temple. I moved the Lothern Seaguard on the right flank too near towards the temple, and 4 men got killed by yellow beams of light. I can still hear the cries of the poor souls... 

Nothing to shoot and nothing to cast, so the enemy turn began. He also moved forwards, but had no shooting attacks either. 

The Chaos hounds moved behind the wood, probably for a nasty attack from the rear.

Round two, and my elves moved nearer. Cold hatred for all things Chaos burned in the Seaguard, so they charged into combat with the Chaos warriors. Or at least they tried, as they rolled too low and stopped a few inches before the enemy unit. What a pity!

My mage had then the chance to cast a spell, but did not roll high enough either. My already struck unit of Lothern Seaguaard on the right changed direction and tried to counter the Chaos hounds. 

Then it was the enemys turn again, and they attacked with brutal charges. My big unit of Seaguard was attacked from two sides, and I could not do anything about it...  

 

The combat was pretty brutal, flank attacks are pretty nasty... But I managed to kill a few warriors as well. Very close in the end, but I lost the combat. Luckily I rolled very good on my leadership test and the unit stayed in combat and did not flee. 

Next turn, and my Swordmasters charged into battle, as did my other Seaguard unit. My mage tried to cast a spell on the now arriving Chaos warriors, but once again rolled too low... Not a good day for Calandril!

 

As you can see, I lost quite a few elves this turn... But I managed to kill the Chaos hounds, and also did a lot of damage to the enemy in general. 

I think I don't have anymore images of the battle, but it was very bloody. I guess it's Warhammer after all! My mage tried to cast once again on the Chaos warriors, rolled a double 6, lost control and became stupid and did not remember any spell... Oh well :D 

My swordmasters killed the Chaos demon, but also got killed by the big fresh unit of Chaos warriors. The champion of the big unit of Lothern Seaguard got killed in a duell with the Chaos champion, but the champion got killed by the many spears of the Seaguard... In the end, only my mage and the Chaos warriors were alive:

In the end it was a very close victory for the elves. But what could they do? Most of the army had been slaughtered, Calandril was a drooling idiot with no memory of his magical abilities... It was a disaster! 

The game was incredibly fun. For my first game of Warhammer Fantasy, I got into it pretty well. Of course, the many special rules take time to learn, but I think it will go faster next time.
I'm definitely excited and can't wait for the next game!

The Warhammer atmosphere was definitely incredibly cool. 
It definitely motivated me to paint the next units for the elves! Today I already primed the first riders, let's see when I'll finish them... If only they didn't take so long to paint! 

All the best

Lucas  

 

 

 

 

Gotrek and Felix

Over the last few months, I've delved deep into the world of Warhammer and listened to the first 13 Gotrek and Felix novels as audiobooks.

I didn't expect much at first, but the books truly captivated me, keeping my motivation for Warhammer at a very high level.

During this time, my good friend Marc and I considered creating a small Gotrek and Felix vs. Beastmen presentation for the Scenario Con 2026.

Since I couldn't get the books out of my head for months, I started 3D modeling the two titular heroes of the novels around the same time. The goal was to have relatively "modern" versions of the figures that would better match the current Beastmen models. I used the wonderful illustration by Johan Grenier as a template. His artwork adorned the first omnibus edition of the novels I bought. I did have to make a few small changes, though; the sword hilt and shoulder armor of Felix felt too far removed from the books for me.

I started with Gotrek months ago, but due to work and various other things, I couldn't dedicate much time to the figures each week, so the project took about 6 months in total. I was able to finish Felix a bit quicker, but I also dedicated an entire Saturday to him to speed things up.

The result is two figures that I am quite satisfied with! They're not truly perfect, and a lot could still be changed, but I think for the time I invested, they are good enough for now.

I will now print the two for testing and probably adjust the size and scaling a bit... Warhammer proportions are always quite difficult to nail down.

I hope you like them!

Calandril Stormsinger

Well, the last few weeks were a bit crazy, driving back and forth between my old home and the soon to be new one, trying to keep people engaged with the new Baden Kickstarter (I am pretty happy with the results!) and trying to find some time for Warhammer. Maybe a bit too much time, but next week the sculpting work will continue! In anyway, next year when the house is ready I think there will be once again a normal daily routine... At least I hope so!

 

But enough of this! I managed to finish my High Elven mage yesterday. The model drove me absolutely insane. So many details and hidden parts where I could not reach something with my brush, because of all the parts hanging before it... But in the end I managed to get something done. And I am quite pleased with the result! I studied a lot of old 'Eavy Metal Team articles and guides, which helped me a lot with things like the little glass flasks, the big stone in the staff and so on. 

Still, this period between 2008 and 2012 is my all time favourite hobby era, from model sculpts to painting or terrain... Definitly the best time for GW in my mind and I am trying to paint all of my new figures in this style as best as I can. 

Here's my Cothique mage, Calandril Stormsinger:  

 

What a fantastic sculpt!! I really really love everything that came with the 8th Edition box set... I just wish they had updated the spearmen and silver helms als well. 

 

I hope you like the mage! With the first unit I did last year, I am now standing at 700 points. Enough for a first test game I guess, although I really wanted to paint one or two oldschool GW woods before that. I am also trying to 3D scan them, so I can print as many of them as I want. Only for personal use of course! 

 

What will be next? Maybe I will finally paint my Haldir figure. Tonight we will continue with our Quest of the Ringbearer campaign, and in just two games the Lothlorien scenario will take place. So better hurry up!