Tasty Fantasy Rumour, Or, Wild Optimism... Brets And Beastmen In A New WFB Starter Set?

I don't often touch rumours because they're usually too flaky and ephemeral, but I am rather taken by news reported over at Faeit 212 that the army books for Brets, Beastmen and Skaven are being sent back to GW HQ. 

This might - might - be our first indication of something interesting happening with WFB, which, if I'm honest, has been a bit of a wasteland over the last couple of years. A few good kits have emerged, that is true, however, the game hasn't progressed at all from the horde-hammer of 8th edition. 

I'm inclined (as some good news would be most welcome) to take this as a sign that Brets and Beasties will be in the 9th edition starter set. Look... the sun is out, so a little wild optimism is surly forgivable?!

Time to dust off some of these bad boys?

Climbing Model Mountain: Beastmen

Rejoice! It's the next batch of dodgy photographs of an army in my collection. This time, Beastmen. 

As with everything I have, these are all works in progress at some stage or another. On the right you can see my Gors, which are based in a range of colours ready to be worked up with layers of highlights. I like the idea that these will all have a signature look built up on different shades of bases that will show through to some extent. On the left are my Ungors, recently obtained and dressed in bright white. To the rear, you can get a glimpse of my Harpies - I'm hoping to do some work on these soon so they'll stay out of the limelight for now. And yes, that's an Avatars of War hero and a Hordes Shaman at the front there.

Just to the front in this astonishingly well taken photo are my mostly hidden Spider Centaurs. Again, these haven't changed since earlier posts, so I'll work on them a little more soon and then share. At the rear are the big guys - Minotaurs from Scibor and Mierce. The Scibor guys are a good indication of where all this lot are going stylistically.

Finally, a trio of hero/lord models, with little done to them. Missing are my Bestigors, who also feature in my Nurgle 40k army as Plague Zombies. Thinking about it, I might focus on this Brayherd in the next month as my first project at my home-away-from-home in Oxford. Hmmm...

Climbing Model Mountain: Monsters

Last year I wrote a series of posts called 'Climbing Sprue Mountain' to illustrate my whole collection and think about where all this plastic, resin and metal was headed. At that time a great deal of what I had really was on sprues. Twelve months on and now almost everything is built, based and primed, with plenty of models sporting the beginnings of a paint job. Progress!

So for this second annual journey to the summit of my collection I'm going to call it Climbing Model Mountain. I don't have time to do lovely 'professional' level photography, so all the photos are going to be of my models in their natural habitat; that is, on the display cabinet shelves. To begin, let's take a look at all my large monsters.

I've got plenty of these because I just love big kits and large models. These over-sized nasties all fit into my Beastmen army although I'm sure I could drop them into just about any fantasy force I was fielding.

From left to right we have: (1) my converted Razorgor utilising a boar body and manticore head; (2) what I call the Razormaw, which is a lightly converted Hordes Troll; (3) the Warhammer Giant; (4) the Jabberslythe - you'll notice I have so much basing to finish on all these models; (5) a Ghorgon, which is a model I really love and must get around to finishing; (6) a Manticore tucked away at the back there; (7) a Cockatrice with a really grimy, layered paint job half done; (8) a Chimera from Meirce Miniatures that needs a great deal of greenstuffing; (9) the Incarnate Elemental of Fire (I can't work out how to paint this one. Should it be flames or something else?); (10) a Warpfire Dragon because everyone needs a dragon, right?; (11) a Cygor / Cyclops to round off the collection, this is another great model from Meirce Miniatures.

Darklands / BaneBeasts Kermorannac - Out Of The Box

Time for another dip into the new miniatures cabinet. And this time we find a raging beastie crashing through the forest! Yes, it's the Kermorannac from Mierce Miniatures. This guy makes a great Cygor, particularly as I have the GW Ghorgon. He's a totally nuts sculpt, from his oversized hooves, to his chubby manhood, to the squealing pig he's about to lob or munch, to his bulging eye. An utterly barking model!

As with all Mierce stuff the resin is good quality and the detail is clear and sharp. Everything went together with a mix of pinning and super-greenstuff (greenstuff coated in superglue - works like a dream). All the Maelstrom business aside, it really is great to have a British company knocking out such brilliant monsters and character models. The emphasis on fantasy is great too, because so many companies emphasise the futuristic and it all ends up looking rather generic most of the time. So bravo Mierce for the classic fantasy focus. 

A Really Rotten Start To 2013 - A Deep Winter Of Nurgle Goodness

Happy New Year to one and all. 2013 begins for me with a deep winter love affair with all things Nurgle. Over the coming weeks I'm focusing exclusively on my joint Chaos Marines / Chaos Daemons force for 40k. I have all the models I need and I'm getting properly stuck in - as coming up-dates will show - with an eye also on the rumours that the new Great Unclean One is due out within a month, and will be accompanied by some kind of Plaguebearers riding giant flies set (please, please, please be good!) Fortunately I have funds set aside for them.

Generally this year I'm going to be far more project focused, as I've really got into the swing of things with my painting style reaching a very pleasing point of development. This won't mean 'to-do' lists as I'm still not keen on them and still have nothing specific to prepare for - I don't play tournaments, but I would like to tour my finished forces around a few gaming clubs at the tail end of the year.

So the early winter months will be Nurgle focussed. Around March I anticipate commencing the final push to get my beastmen finished, and these will be fully themed as a chaos undivided army (some Tzeench ungor skirmishers will be heading this way, for example). That should take me up to the summer when I will embrace my Dark Eldar and compete with my brother in something like an army-in-a-month challenge (or something like that... he'll be doing Dark Angels I think).

Speaking of my brother, he's a big collector (plastic crack addict) but not a blogger so I plan to feature some of his collection and work in the Gazette. A few other regular features will begin to appear, including some snappy book reviews (probably). We'll see.

Later in the year... who knows, but I very much like the idea of doing some Imperial Fists, although that depends on the freeing up of some serious cash from selling the depths of my collection...

Darklands (BaneBeasts) Minotaurs - Out Of The Box

I've finally got my hands on part of an order from the now-sunk Maelstrom Games. These are the minotaur lord and standard bearer. I've been anticipating these because the plan is that they'll be central to my beastmen army. 

The standard of the resin on these guys is pretty good although they're not without a few problems. The standard bearer body and head is very crisp and detailed but the standard has a great deal of flashing - so much so that it verges on a mis-cast in a few prominent places.

The lord is much better. There is a major flaw though, as the above photo illustrates. The shaft of his great weapon is extremely flimsy and I managed to snap it simply getting out of the packaging - and I assure you I have a soft touch!

Here they are in a size comparison shot with one of the Scibor minotaurs. The Darklands offerings are noticeably shorter, which makes me wonder whether they could be fielded in the same unit. Perhaps with a similar paint job and scenic bases they'll blend in? We'll see. 

Above you can see that it was simple enough to replace the broken shaft with a plastic one from the standard in the GW Gor set. Overall I'm pleased with these guys but there is a bit of a dampener on things due to their marginally smaller scale when compared to the Scibor models. They're still great miniatures. 

Here Come The Fatties! Pestigors And Plague Zombies

So far these guys have been a blast to work on. They're the epitome of value-for-money-gaming because they'll work as pestigors (bestigors) in WFB and as plague zombies in 40k (hence the round bases, which will slot into a movement tray when they're beastmen). Plenty more pustules and rashes to add along with additional chain mail, all in greenstuff. Pictured is the command group along with a couple of example conversions that will go with ten of the original pestigors to make a unit of 21. I'll just need to grab another box of gors and roll up a big nub of greenstuff to push towards a maxed-out squad of plague zombies.

Razorgor Conversion, Plus A Quick Review Of GW Texture And Base Paints

I'm quite taken by the bulgy-eyed weirdness of the GW Razorgor model, but seeing as I have a surfeit of bits(z) I decided to see if I could bash one together. It turned out to be a rather simple marriage of boar body and manticore head, with added spiky bits. I wanted this to be a dynamic piece so I'm posing him leaping over what will be an abandoned tomb of some once-celebrated warrior... or something like that! Anyway, I'm pleased with how this has come together so far.

I've photoed Boris (as my son has named him) at this stage because it also gives me a chance to mention the Ceramite White Base paint and Stirland Mud Texture paint that I used for the first time. I must say that I'm pretty impressed with both. The base white covers over my Army Painter white primer perfectly, while the texture paint is much better than I'd hoped, being rather flexible in how much gritty coverage it provides (I realise this photo doesn't do it justice, so you'll just have to take my word for it!). Well done GW on a couple of very useful products. 

Beastlord Tuskgor Chariot WIP, The Lord Of Bones

So I guess with all this painting going on I'd better share some of it! Here's my beastlord tuskgor chariot, which has been a HUGE time-sink so far because it's turned into such a complex and detailed model. The chariot itself is the chaos chariot from GW, while the boars are from the Orc boar boyz set - so much better than the crappy ancient ones. The gor with spear has to go up front. Why? Well that'll be because my beastlord who, as you can see, isn't a GW mini, but is massive. He's Kromac the Ravenous from Hordes in beast form. This guy is such a raw mass of aggression I couldn't resist picking him up a while back and now I think he's ideal for leading a brayherd into battle. In a little homage I'm going to call him The Lord Of Bones.

Of Beastmen And Gardening Leave

Today I received the wonderful 'real world' news that I've landed a new job. As I'm virtually at the end of my current fixed contract I can now indulge in some 'gardening leave' while I see out my notice. So it's time for a bit of a painting challenge.

My aim is to fully cultivate 2000 points of my beastmen menagerie during October. This won't cover everything that I've got - a handful of large monsters and characters will be held in reserve - but it will mean that I'll finally have a completed, fully painted, playable force.

Here's the list I'm going to work with:

Lords

Beastlord with additional weapon, heavy armour, on tuskgor chariot

Great Bray Shaman

Core

22 Gors inc. full command + additional weapons

5 Chaos warhounds

10 Centigors inc. Warhoof + full command

Special 

3 Minotaurs inc. Bloodkine + additional weapons

Razorgor

10 Harpies

Rare

Ghorgon 

Jabberslythe

Total
Just a shade under 2000 points

Climbing Sprue Mountain #3 - Beastmen

Rather a different type of picture today, isn't it? Yes, as we reach the half way camp on our climb up the west face of sprue mountain, we've reached the first proper looking army - and none of it is actually on the sprue. Result! Welcome to the massed brayherd on my hobby shelves of doom. Everything here is a work-in-progress because I simply cannot help but work on tens of models simultaneously. My beastmen are the only army that I'm giving scenic bases. I'm not that keen on them as they can detract rather too much from the actual model, but enough of these guys arrived with flashy plinths to make it a theme throughout the herd. I'm going to try and get all of this polished off before the new year so that I can justify a glass-fronted display case on my Christmas list...  

It's really great to look at an army-in-progress and realise that I don't have to buy anything else for it - my wife sighs with relief as I tell her I've just typed that!

Multi-purpose fantasy wolves... from space!

The minotaurs advance, sandwiched between the spider centaurs to the front and the giant and ghorgon to the rear - you just know this is going to end in all shades of bloody carnage.

The 'big guys' of the army - very unlikely to make it together into any kind of 'legal' list, but then again I don't really tend to play that kind of game.

Chaagmuth The Jaw-Taker - Possible General For Beastmen

My word! This model looks simply stunning - another total winner from BaneLegions, called Chaagmuth the Jaw-Taker. I'm thinking this could be a very fitting general for my Beastmen. Amazing stuff.

The 'RazorMaw' (Beastmen Razorgor Substitute)

A break from all things genestealer today and a brief return to the depths of the forests of the Old World for the beginning of August. I call this fearsome beast the 'Razormaw' and I'll be using it as a Razorgor substitute with my beastie boys. The sharp eyed among you will recognise that this is a converted Dire Troll Blitzer from Hordes. I simply swapped the little goblin chap with his machine gun for a properly chaotic trophy rack. I based in blue and purple and have been building up flesh shades over the top - I'm really pleased with the effect this has produced and will have to find a place for this across a whole army at some point. I'm just started the process of characteristically stark white highlighting and more careful glazes and washes.

Everything's Coming Out Nurgle

And there I was thinking that that stench was my wife's feet! It turns out all along that it was this rather nifty miniatures exchange that I've just done with my brother. I gave him some Ogre Maneaters and Firebelly, and in return I received: 10 Pestigors, 5 Plague Bearers, a Great Unclean One, and a Daemon Prince. 

The GUO is quite an old sculpt now ('96) but it has enough character, so I think I should be able to do something interesting with it. As for the others, I've very happy. I'll base up all the daemons for 40k, while the pesties will fit nicely into my beastmen army.

Beastmen Harpy Conversions

These foul and winged girlies took me quite a while to glue together even though the kit-bash was very simple indeed: Tyranid Gargoyle wings grafted onto Daemonettes. I know I'm not the first person to try this, but I think my early results will eventually produce some of the very best examples. I've gone for dynamism over the practicality of making certain they rank-up on the tabletop... I'll deal with that sometime later.

I'd never suggest for a moment that there was a best way to do a particular conversion - personal preferences certainly rule - but on a trawl round the web I've found a few kit-bash conversions using some very odd choices (in my opinion); ungors for example, and even crypt ghouls. I can't see how anyone wouldn't opt for daemonettes, or, why they would add the extra arms at the front (like the meat-puppet-handed old sculpts GW still offer). In my mind harpies look something like this, even if mine aren't so feathery!

Beastmen Spider Centaurs WIP #1

A couple of WIP photos to share. These illustrate how I'm building up the colours from a basic all-over flesh tone using plenty of orange and red shading with the extreme white highlights I'm now getting so fond of. Pictures of my newly kit-bashed harpies coming tomorrow...

Beastmen Spider Centaur Conversions #1

A trio of 'just the plastic' conversion photos today - I wanted to share these ladies with you because I'm so pleased with how they're working out. I decided to make the spider centaurs first as the clipped-off legs would be needed for the genestealer first generation hybrids. I'm most satisfied with the repositioned legs on the spider bodies, which I simply clipped off at the joints and reattached. A little greenstuff is required to smooth out the daemonette/spider transition where the mandibles/fangs have been removed. 

A Month Of Over-Ambitious Conversions

I think I may have been overly ambitious in planning this, but fortune favours the brave. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about...  

I think I've worked myself into the perfect storm of conversions - here we have Daemonettes, Flagellants, and Ghouls, along with the spiders from the Goblin Spider Riders in a complex interchanging conversion diagram. From this lot I'm going to be making:

1. Genestealer second and third generation hybrids using flagellant bodies and ghoul arms (also Empire pistols from the militia set)

2. Genestealer first generation hybrids using ghoul bodies, Daemonette legs, arms from old purestrain 'stealers (not pictured) and heads from the current ones (also in the top bag).

3. Spider Centaurs for my Beastmen using the Daemonette bodies and arms together with the spiders. 

I feel a bit of an idiot for planning all this, but now I have all the pieces and sets I really have to complete them all. June will be a very interesting month...

Minotaurs - Stage Two WIP

A couple of torso close-ups on two of my work-in-progress minotaurs from Scibor. As with all my work now I'm laying down bold lines of highlighting across and over multiple layers of shading. As I've said many times now, I'm not interested in developing a realist-cartoon style that is so popular at the moment; rather, I'm more inspired by the 'dirty' painters of the 80s and early 90s.

I am, however, fascinated by light in a way that work from that period rather neglected. This is why I've started using bold white highlights across all areas of my miniature painting. This was something that I started doing on canvas and paper and decided to import wholesale into my work with models.

The Scibor models have been ideal for developing and experimenting with this method as they are craggy, rough and full of brutal detail. Hopefully I'll get the finishing touches on these over the next couple of days.

Were-Beasts And Other Cases Of Myxoma Corpus

Alright I admit it: I just made up 'myxoma corpus'. But no matter, it sounds pretty cool (even if myxoma is a form of tumour - yuck). This post is really just an excuse to show off another miniature that's jumped straight to the top of the WANT pile.

I love were-type-beasts and am interested in getting a few different half-human-half-something creatures to add to my bray herd. I'd say this Scarsell Griffon from Privateer Press fits the bill rather well. It's available in August according to Maelstrom Games.