Sitting On The Fence

With so many newer terrain kits having been shuffled off into early retirement I assumed that the venerable Walls and Fences set from Games Workshop would have been long gone, so when I discovered recently that they still sell it I snapped one up. After all, walls and fences are something that every collection of wargaming terrain needs, whether your armies are marching across Westeros or the Warhammer Old World, your Warcry warbands have left the Eightpoints to assail civilised lands or your Space Marines have made planetfall on a backwater agri-world. In fact if you’re operating outside the Underhive a few walls and fences are invaluable (and even then, who knows, perhaps your Necromundan gangers have broken into a lost pleasure dome in which ancient holo-equipment still renders the strange rural landscapes once enjoyed by long dead nobles). 

Despite my high regard for this kit though I tried not to make a meal out of painting it and just cracked on with getting them all done. Behold – a whole bunch of walls and fences. 

Anyway, that’s all for today. With hindsight I should probably have opened this post with a “trigger warning” as I’m sure by now many of my readers will have taken a fence…

The Shrine of the Bestial Skull

If we’re going to have beasts that walk on their hind limbs as men, and men who howl and gibber in the darkened forests as beasts, then we’re going to need a dread alter at which they can conduct their foul rituals beneath a ghastly moon. This skull-shaped shrine from MOM Miniatures fits the bill nicely, making a fine herdstone for the beasts of chaos and a good addition to my collection of chaos terrain in general. It also fits in nicely with the new Heart of Ghur terrain from Games Workshop (which I’ll be painting at some point and in which giant skulls feature heavily).

As a size comparison I grabbed a few finished miniatures that were sitting near the desk (providing in a bit of a hint at some of the things I’m planning to paint next!). Really I should have found some warriors of Khorne or a few beastmen but that would have meant digging them out of storage and, frankly, I couldn’t be arsed so instead we have something that looks like the start of a joke; a Khainite elf, an Orlock ganger and a northman sworn to House Stark walk into a bar (pausing only at the giant skull outside)…

Next up – even more terrain!

Amid The Ruins – Part 9

I showed a load of scatter terrain recently and commented that I also had a large ruin from the original Warcry starter that I’d been intending to get painted for quite some time. Time to get it finished then eh! 

Of course just because it’s done at last doesn’t mean I can rest on my laurels, there’s still all the terrain from the Catacombs and Red Harvest sets to tackle. I’ll see about attacking one or other of those soon, although I also have various bits of 40k terrain that I’d like to work on too. However before I get onto any of that I took the opportunity to set out all of the fantasy terrain I’ve completed. As it turns out I’ve got enough for a little town – albeit one that seems to have fallen on hard times! As ever clicking on the pictures will let you see them full size.

So there we have it, a whole ruined township ready for my various tribes, gangs and warbands of the Mortal Realms to beat each other up over. I must admit it was a real thrill seeing all the terrain assembled properly (not to mention finding a few models to decorate it with), I really recommend mustering everything you’ve got completed as a way of boosting your enthusiasm for a project. More will undoubtedly follow but for now I’ve removed one of the biggest unfinished models from the desk – and of course immediately filled the space with lots of other things which are already clamouring for attention…

Amid The Ruins – Part 8

More scatter terrain is always useful so once again I’m working away at adding more odds and ends to populate any fantasy landscapes I end up playing games in. This time we have the entrance to some kind of underground vault or sewer, from which some dread beast will undoubtedly emerge to wreak havoc!

Meanwhile a couple of bits of fallen rubble provides something for heroes and villains alike to scramble over or lurk behind.

Hang on a moment, this is just a base with no model on it! What are you about Wudugast?!

Well you see, I’ve had this base sitting around for ages. I think it came with a Stormcast Eternal, probably one from Warhammer Underworlds (I’m sure I could check but let’s not get sidetracked). I thought the big chunk of fallen statue looked cool, but also that it was too big and so drew the eye away from the miniature so I kept it aside. I had planned to use it in a piece of terrain but again I never found anything quite right. Then it occurred to me to just paint it up “as is” and use it as an objective marker – defend/defile the fallen statue of the long dead hero – and so that’s what I did. 

Another quick and straightforward one, and another fallen statue, is this Dwarven hero, taken from the Stone Trolls (or whatever they’re called these days). 

Another handy bridge for those averse to death defying leaps. 

Every heroic adventurer likes to talk tall about the nobility of his quests but really most of them are just looking to rescue a damsel with an impressive chest. In this case the damsel is absent but hopefully the chance to get their hands on these two large chests will make up for it. 

Lastly we have a small ruin to add to my collection. I should have enough for a small ruined town by now! 

I do have another, much larger ruin, which has been waiting for paint for far longer than it should have so I’ll aim to make that my next terrain project. 

Amid The Ruins – Part 7

I do try not to use this blog as a platform to moan about how busy work and “real life” is at the moment, especially because I’m lucky enough to really enjoy my job and generally have a good life. That said it is bloody busy right now! Anyway I’ve been struggling to find the time to tackle the number of miniature’s projects that I’d like to and when I have found time to paint over the last couple of months I’ve often lacked the focus or energy for anything complicated. Terrain, of course, is the perfect antidote for this – being suitably quick and dirty to do with the big brushes, lots of washes and copious drybrushing.

As it happens I also have a number of odds and ends from the Warcry starter set kicking around so these were the obvious target for my efforts. To begin with I had three barricades, one small…

…one medium….

…and one large.

Then we have a wooden bridge for those gaps even a blood-maddened Chaos warrior isn’t prepared to jump.

I also found a chunk of rubble which I painted up at the same time.

Then there are these two wells. Given that this is the Eightpoints, a war torn Chaos infested landscape, I decided to make these as unappealing to drink out of as possible. Even if Nurgle hasn’t been spreading his influence you’d have to be pretty desperate to try this water – then again desperate is exactly what most people in the Eightpoints are.

Hopefully by the time we’re into August things will be a bit quieter and more relaxed and I’ll have more time to break out the brushes. In the meantime I have found a bit of time for kitbashing some new models so I’ll try to get some pictures of those up soon.

Amid The Ruins – Part 6

I haven’t tackled any of the larger Warcry buildings in quite some time and I’d really like to get the full set completed so it’s time for another big old ramshackle ruin. As usual with these there’s not a whole lot more needs to be said, the size of these things always makes them a bit intimidating but otherwise it’s a fine chance to just let my hair down and go mad making a mess with washes and drybrushing.

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With that done I’ve got one more big ruin and a bunch of rubble and barricades to finish the starter set, then I’ll have a think about what other things I can add to the chaotic landscape of the Eightpoints.

Amid The Ruins – Part 5

I’ve been chipping away at a few odds and ends of terrain, mostly the smaller stuff from the Warcry box, whenever I’ve needed a break from working on the Knight. Nothing terribly dramatic here but with a bunch of them now finished I reckoned I’d accumulated enough to make it worthwhile assembling a post about them.

First off, a couple of small walls (I did tell you there was nothing here to get super excited about right?).

A spiky chaos barricade…

A heap of rubble…

…and some mysterious gratings, through which some poor soul has undoubtedly been dragged – and devoured…

Apart from the gratings all of the above comes from the Warcry set, and the gratings themselves would fit in nicely there as well (especially in arena fights for instance).  With the Knight being the focus of my energy at the moment I’m not feeling too keen to take on the bigger buildings but as soon as it’s done I’d like to get back to them and finish off the set.

Amid The Ruins – Part 4

The ramshackle streets of Carngrad continue to grow. I’m still working my way through my Warcry terrain, a little bit at a time. This belltower proved to be a right nightmare to paint if I’m honest but I’m happy enough with the results (in that I didn’t give up altogether and take myself off in a sulk!).

It’s one of those pieces that I might well have pushed to the side of the painting desk and studiously ignored for a few months, but the Sixty Day Miniatures Of Magnitude challenge from Ann’s Immaterium came along at just the right moment.  Calling on participants to tackle the bigger items in our backlogs it gave me the push I needed to get my head down and finish the damn thing, despite the temptation to cry off, so thanks are owed to Ann there. Anyone else in a similar situation should give the challenge a look, it’s open to anything bigger than an ogre and you’ve got until the 3rd of July to tackle it.

By my eye, and I may be jinxing myself of course, I think that was the hardest of the ruins to paint so it should get easier again from here. Then again I can’t quite put my finger on why I found it so tricky – apart from that the skeletons were a little fiddly. Either way I’m planning to get torn in about the rest of the ruins soon and finish off the set, then turn my attention to making some chaos-warped terrain of my own.

Amid The Ruins – Part 3

The walls of Carngrad continue to rise! With the Untamed Beasts tamed, for the moment, and the Iron Golem well on their way to completion, it’s time for another building. Honestly there’s not much more to add here that hasn’t been said already regarding the last lot.

There are still a few more buildings and barricades in the Warcry set to complete, plus I’d like to make some weird, warped Chaos terrain to add to the collection, but in the immediate term we have enough now to get us started playing a game or two. I’d like to finish off the Iron Golem warband next, and after that returning to terrain (and painting some chaotic beasts) will be my key priorities.

Amid The Ruins – Part 2

If we are going to tackle the savage lands of the Bloodwind Spoil I’ll need to get some terrain painted up. The Warcry box contains a number of ruined buildings with which to represent the following cities which litter Eightpoints and so, building on what I learnt from my previous attempt, I decided to cut my teeth on the smallest and easiest of them.

It’s worth noting that the ruins in the box can be assembled in a myriad of ways and if you wished you could mix them into all kinds of buildings (provided they are just ruined shells of course!). The instructions that come in the box aren’t all that helpful, providing detailed directions for some and leaving others entirely up to your imagination. This wouldn’t be an issue but the game also includes a set of cards which suggest terrain layout and if you want to make use of these you’re going to need to build ruins roughly compatible with those described on the cards. Now it should be stressed that you don’t have to do this and I certainly won’t be sticking to these religiously but I would like to at least have something roughly compatible with the cards, so we can use them if we want to. With the official instructions leaving something to be desired I turned to a couple of tutorials which I found to be invaluable, one from Cascadian Grimdark and the other from Waywalker Studios. Together these were a huge help in getting my buildings assembled and if you’re planning on tackling something at similar I highly recommend giving these a careful read over first.

Armed with this knowledge I tackled one of my favourite pieces from the set, a ruined statue of Sigmar.

I am Sigmar, the God King, look upon my works ye mighty and despair!

Rather than glue all the parts together I recommend leaving it as several pieces. That way the ruined head can be used as a stand-alone piece (as suggested by some of the cards)…

… whilst the ladder can be put to use elsewhere anywhere to allow alternative routes onto the upper stories. Similarly the barrier from the end of the platform can be removed, again providing another route into the upper levels.

Speaking of which I also painted this ramshackle bridge for those occasions when even a chaos worshipper doesn’t dare a death-defying leap.

Because the game is set in a realm entirely warped by Chaos I want to play that up by creating some terrain pieces that really emphasise the way in which the world has been warped and twisted by the fell powers emanating from the beyond. I have a few ideas I’d like to tackle but to get things started I decided to go back to my old “chaos tree” I made back in 2014 (and the subject of one of my favourite under-appreciated puns in the post title!).  I’ve always liked the idea of a warped forest in the Realms of Chaos, every tree pulling itself along by its roots, eyes rolling in knots and hollows, branches straining forward in search of prey. I think it’s held up fairly well all things considered but I did want to touch up some parts of it so it returned to the painting desk for a quick lick of fresh paint.

Finally I painted up another of the spiky barricades which are another of my favourite elements of the set, even if they do add an element of drama (and a few pricked thumbs!) to the assembly process.

All together I think I’m off to a good start with these, I’ll aim to complete one of the larger ruins soon.