Ork Battlewagon

Alright folks, a little time ago, I was lucky enough to win a scratchbuilt ork engine from Da Green One, I'll have to confess I couldn't exactly tell what this was but I knew it was excuting and I knew that my ork force (totally not an army, I will never get there) needed some vehicles so I threw my name into the hat and TADA ! I was lucky enough to win (with some help from nice people).
Here was the teaser :

Squigs - an ork's best friends ?

OK, so I might be in an orkish mood at the moment, after painting that dreadnought, I fell back to a long project (more about that soon enough I hope ^^) and although I've been enjoying it a lot, I gave myself a well earned pause to paint something else and not run out of mojo.

The subject was partly decided because of the dreadnought I painted earlier but also because I got some new models which begged to be painted along some more !

After receiving a parcel from Krakon Games, I just couldn't wait to paint some squigs !

Rogue Trader Ork Dreadnought - Orktober 2019

OK so this is orctober right ? And what do we do on orctober ? Celebrate my birthday and prepare for halloween right but more importantly ? ORCTOBER YEAH.
Like every year, I do like to paint something for the occasion and this year I had 2contenders. Lopedog decided for me though by sending me a gretchin pilot for my dreasdnought though, what an asshole right ? urgh...

Anyway, I knew I didn't want that to spoil me the fun of painting something big and noisy hence very orky : a dreadnought.

New Fogou terrain and more !

Hey there, Pretty chuffed to show you these today, I've been working on a bit of scenery as a back burner and it's starting to pay with many pieces coming to an end (and many more still in progress ^^').
Now today is special since it's also the opportunity for me to reveal one of the latest Fogou designs for a most excellent range coming !
We're mostly all familiar with Starwars, Madmax or some of us might even be into more historical settings, bottom line being we're mostly all interested in getting good looking adobe buildings right ?
Well look no further, these are the ones !

Rogue trader Janus Draik - Blackstone Fortress

Alright, quite a big leap from the Olleys I painted earlier I reckon, here's a new(ish) or at least relatively recent model (probably outdated by GW's infernal release standards) but one I'm really chuffed to have done since it marks the beginnings of my Blackstone Fortress project.

I've bought the box with plenty of ideas in mind and real life being what it is, guess what, nothing went according to the plan. The fact remains the box is packed with brilliant models and I have a use for each of them and when I'm done I fully intend to force friends into playing the whole thing ! ^^

Adeptus mechanicus team - Iron Claw

Alright so I've been a little quiet, working on too many things at once but at least it means being busy (mostly) doing stuff and amongst the many things I was working on, there's this team of Adeptus mechnicus designed by Bob Olley.
After the really pleasing challenge around Trish Carden a few months back, I've decided to ask Bob Olley to judge another friendly competition based in his work this time ! So this month was the #paintabob marathon for plenty of us and great fun it was.

I really wondered about which models I would pick as Bob's sculpted a mind blowingly large amount of stuff and I finally settled for his iconic Adpetus Mechanicus range.

Picture from Solegends

Ogre Berzerker - C23 Ogres

OK, quick one today, just a palette cleanser while doing long run work on other projects just to keep my motivation up ! Painting Gutlagg clearly showed me I need to paint some models for fun and with no project or commitment associated, just for the sheer pleasure of painting. Like I explained earlier, to paint more and better, getting stuff you like done instead if stuff you have to do can be rewarding, when you don't want to paint, painting more but something else can help, anyway, I just grabbed this guy on top of the leadpile (literally the first ogre I had around) and just started bocking colours for fun.

Ghazghkull Thraka and Makari

There are very few characters in the 40k universe that are as iconic as this one. As a matter of fact, it's only now that I'm typing these words that I do realise how Ghazghkull is a big chunk in many ways.

I've been meaning to paint this big fellow for a while now but only got to it now because I had the opportunity and someone had been kind enough to get me the model !

Dunkeldorf characters and new horizons

So after painting a classic ogre and bear for a friend, I thought I could finally finish these three guys I meant to paint for another friend !

You might remember the excellent kickstarter from Dunkeldorf earlier this year, well I was lucky enough to get a review package loaded with nice stuff ! The kickstarter aimed at providing players with all the NPC's and civilians any good Role Player might want to encounter (or maybe you do wan to play them after all ^^). Being well into warhammer RPG, mordheim and that sort of stuff, this looked awesome, just check :

Gutlagg the executioner and friend - C23 Ogres

 Alright so it's been quite a while since I last picked a brush and although I still knew which end to use, I had to get a model that would boost my painting mojo up. And you know what kind of models do that right ? Yes indeed, a Jes Goodwin ogre was probably the best pick !

Now I've been meaning to paint my ogre collection for a while but you know how it is, there's always a new project, I also had this crazy man-bear to paint for a friend so I thought I could paint both of those for him as a token of gratitude for his renowned kindness and generosity !

BOYL19 Review

OK, Just like most previous year, I had the privilege of getting my lucky self across the channel to meet up with some very good friends for BOYL !

It has become a sort of milestone in my hobby year, one I wouldn't miss.

Just so you're prepared, this is going to be a long post with plenty of picture, so now you've been warned, let's just look at what we've had this year !

Axel Manny - Post apocalyptic survivor

Quick one today but an important one since I've officially painted all the model I need for BOYL !!!

To be perfectly honest, there are a few more I WANT to get painted for it I've done all the ones I NEED so that's a relief.

Billy Beta the Strontium Dog

Alright, now BOYL is closing in and I still have a few things left to prepare and models to complete but I'm getting there ! One of the models I needed was a Search and Destroy agent AKA Stontium Dog to play a game hosted by my pal Michael involving catching bounties and killing nazis ! How could anyone say no to that ?

Chaos orks and a complete Realm of Chaos Warband !

Just a week after Jon finished his warband, here is the last unit in my warband : the chaos orks !
I have to be honest and say I pretty much painted those guys along the minotaurs and the renegade but by painting the colours in the right order, I could progressively get some of the models out of the paint queue and get a feeling of progress !

Limited Release 40k Minotaurs

Alright, I knew I said I had to paint beastmen but you see I knew it would take me way too long to get them both converted and painted... Sooo, I did what one does in such a situation, you just change plans. So I decided to replace them with ogryns. Yes, the guys above are minos but let's not have that sort of petty details in the way of painting cool stuff right ?

Darl Charwyn - Chaos Renegade from the Realms of chaos

May I present you Darl Charwyn, the dark emissary of the chaos gods on the remote system of Bramkidge. You might remember him from a few posts ago and he's going to be the leader of my renegade force this summer for a campaign held at Warhammer World with my friends.

A knightly Shelter

Alright people, now here's something a little different. A few years back, I claimed I wanted to use the imperial knight kit to make something fun out of it. Well as slow as I am, I can also be a stubborn one sometimes and the idea never really left my mind.
If you don't know what I'm talking about just take a look at that brilliant picture from White Dwarf #133 :

A great gaming Week End in Metz !

OK folks, so like last year, I attended a gaming WE in the city of Metz last week. It was the occasion for me to meet good gaming buddies and to play some games I don't get to play often enough, using stuff I had painted and not used yet !
We were hosted by Nico and his gaming club and enjoy the wonderful activities he had prepared for us !

Now let's take a look at the games played, take a good seat and the beverage of your choice, there's quite a few photos if you don't mind. ;)

Terminator inquisitor - Space Hulk

So last time was about a team of Scythes of the Emperor to play Space Hulk right ? And they were just 9 ? Yeah, I'm a simple man and I like simple things so 10 men was always the idea. ^^

I wanted to have a special character though, even it it probably meant I'd be playing it as a regular guy but you don't get the occasion to make a bunch of terminators every day so better make the best of any occasion.

I picked this guy because I had built him some time ago and found him cool (Jes Goodwin models are cool, period).

The scythes of the emperor - Space Hulk Terminator force

Just so that I'm honest with you, I've only come late to Space Hulk. My real first was actually when I played at my friend Sho3box's.
Now the game really pressed my buttons and I really liked the self contained nature of the project. Of course, like most sane people, I've wanted to have a 3D space hulk but I guess that could be arranged pretty easily with modern kits now. I've also realised many of my friends were into it so making my own force to have the opportunity to play it every now and then could be fun !
So just put this album, the intro is probably the most accurate rendition of how a Space Hulk sounds like and just dive with me !

Fort Hardknox Kickstarter !

Painted set by Curis from Ninjabread

Now some time ago I painted a set of barricades that build a post apocalyptic fort, well of you folks feel like it, now is the time to go and pledge for it !

You will probably don't do much promotion here apart and try to keep posts about what I paint but I really believe this Kickstarter project is absolutely great. I've had to the chance to paint Fogou's scenery and I have to say it keeps being an absolute pleasure.

The quality is incredible, it is easy and enjoyable to paint (which is essential for that amount of stuff) and durable which means it's a really good investment.

Monopose Monstrosities - 2nd edition 40k Gretchin

OK so there was a small challenge on a french FB hobby page and the subject was... monopose monstrosies...

For some reason I can hardly resist those kind of challenges especially when they give me the right motive to paint some stuff I want to paint but can't be arsed to. Anyway, that meant I knew immediately that I wanted to paint a 2nd ed gretchin because it has got to be one of the most evocative of those models.

Marauder Beastmaster and Chaos hound - Make a Trish !

Well this pair was unexpected but it was a real refreshing one !

If you're on Facebook and follow oldschool and oldhammer miniature pages, you might have read some of Trish Carden's excellent posts about her work. Like many people, I've found those posts to be extremely enjoyable because of the hindsight it provides on the design and constraints of the time.

I think I'm also fascinated because to be perfectly honest here, I just never had considered which sculpts were hers and which were Aly's amongst the famous Marauder range. I can never tell which Perry twin sculpted what and I really find it's a pity we don't aknowledge sculptors more.

With all that in mind, some friends and I thought about painting some of her work and make Trish pick her favourite. Like all brats, we want to be mom's favourite y'know. ^^

I had a few possible candidates but I wanted something iconic I knew I could paint quickly and then I just remembered Trish posting about the Beatsmaster !

I realise I'm missing the scorpion tailed hound but I'll get it at some point ... I hope.

The good point about it is that she gave me tips about painting in her description of the models :

The Beastmaster himself had to look imposing and strong, able to handle his hideous Hounds. He’s in total control of the beasts and I imagined his eyes blazing red through the slit in his helmet as he used his whip to keep the hounds in line.

I gave him a mix of cloth, armour and fur to make him interesting to paint with the chance to use lots of colour and texture.

His hounds are both blessed differently by chaos, one with a scorpion tail and the other with two ferocious heads. Neither of them EVER sit to order!

My painting output is far from what it was last year and I'm bound by several comitments so these two were absolutely great to get my mojo back and tick to icons off the list. Just so that it felt extra useful, I tied them with the chaos Thug I had painted some time ago for Gorechosen and I think they make a good pair !

Next on Leadplague, maybe some monopose monstrosity and surely some fun Space Hulk stuff !

Time to set the scene - Fogou Fort !

OK so I've been pretty quiet for some time now, several factors  could explain that but one of them was that I've been slowly bt steadily working on a lot of scenery for Fogou Models' upcoming kickstarter !
I had the chance to paint their former kickstarter last year so I was pretty chuffed to get to work on this new one !

This one is considerably more ambitious with a whole post-apoc fort !

Gerork - Just a regular ork from the G squad

Right, so for plenty of good reasons, I haven't got to sit and paint a model in a while so I took the opportunity to fix that this week !

This felt almost awkward after nearly two months so I decided to paint an ork because they're one of those happy places.

And because I wanted it to be festive I picked the most stupid ork I had in my collection : an ork farting in his hand /scratching his butt (never decided which it was).

Designing a Realm of Chaos Renegade Warband

 
So, following on Jon's trail, here I am trying to come up with a renegade warband for a Realm of Chaos game using the old tomes for a mini campaign at warhammer world this summer. Now  most people are familiar with the charts and their silly results but sometimes the rolls can be suprising.

Some of the usual suspects likely to be involved

Get over here ! - Chibi Ninja from Super Dungeon Explore

And now for something completely different... I've recently been offered to take part in a fun painting challenge to paint chibi models from Super Dungeon Explore ! Some painters offered to send some of their models (thanks Audrey !) so that many could try their hand on this kind of subject so I took the offer to paint something different for a change.

Epic imperial knights - Wardens

OK so it only seems right the new year begins how the previous one ended right ? After painting the paladins and lancers, I only had the wardens left to do ! 

Yearly Review ! Welcome 2019 !

Yearly review tiiiime ! Quite a cliché I know but I've done the exercice since the start of this blog and it's a good thing to reflect on past and future at once !