Oldhammer Goblin Wolf Riders

I posted recently showing three wolves, now here are the riders.

MM32/2(b), MM34/2 (b) and MM32/1 (a)

A Change of Plan 

After preparing these three Marauder goblins I decided to keep these for the matching Marauder wolves. I have some of the Kev Adams Citadel goblins, so I chose my favourite to go on the Citadel wolf, 0706/14 Gaglob 2.

Painting the Goblins 

I gave each goblin a slightly different skin colour. There was no attempt at uniform colours for clothing and equipment. 

I used my standard orc method of base coat, extreme highlights and wash, but given that I'm only painting a few of these I gave them extra highlights after the wash and tried to give them better detailing.

The three Marauder goblins, with Gaglob 2 on the right*

The Shields

All the goblins have a stud to hold a plastic shield. Unlike most of Citadel's plastic shields, where the stud fits through a hole and acts as the shield boss, the Marauder shields have a recess rather than a hole and the stud is a lot shallower. The Marauder shields all have moulded detail. I still have some of these, so it seems appropriate to use them. I was tempted to use the crescent shields with a wolf on them, but in the end I chose a small round shield with wicker texture and a small 'Evil Sun' boss.

Blurry shields*

So there they are, three lovely old school goblin wolf riders. You may notice that I've painted the wolves' eyes in yellow since their last post.

I'm pleased with how they've come out, and I'll get the remaining wolves (two Marauder ones) painted soon.  I have one painted rider already, and a couple more unpainted, one of which is missing a hand, so may become a standard bearer.

I'm also pretty pleased with the photography.  Again just using my phone, but this time experimenting with the Portrait setting and the Food filter, both of which seem to accentuate the warmer tones.

This goblin appears to have picked his shield up upside down!

At this point I would usually remark that in fact, this is more than I ever actually managed to properly complete back when I originally collected them, but not this time. I had a unit of ten Goblin Wolf Riders back then, although they were Citadel rather than Marauder. I remember being very pleased with them, though they never did very well on the battlefield. They did suffer from varnish misting; repeated applications of newer varnish never quite corrected it. 

Apart from Warhammer, they also saw action in a 3E D&D adventure where the characters had to defend a hamlet from marauding goblinoids and an Oni. Leave a comment if you remember High Verge.

* Yes, blurry pictures.  Despite the attempts at better photography, these are just WiP snapshots, and I actually can't tell how out of focus they are until I see them on my PC screen, by which time i've moved on in the painting process.

Artefacts From My Gaming Past 5 - Even More Orc's Drift

I don't just find old minis or games as I tidy through my accumulated 'stuff'. I recently found more photos taken when we played the multiplayer Bloodbath at Orc's Drift campaign may years ago.  You can find a bit more about that here.

These photos were taken at the first session, where we played the first three scenarios on three separate tables.  

Kachas Pass

The aim here is for the elves to hold off the orcs long enough to escape, helped, hopefully, by reinforcements from the woods.  The lovely stockade was provided by Bodvoc.

The Orcs advance on the Kachas Pass outpost

Nearly at the gate

The Rock Giant Guthrum Mane leads the assault, in the compound the defenders have to deal with an escaped half orc spy

Ashak Rise

Meanwhile, the dwarven outpost of Ashak Rise is gripped with gold fever.  No heroics here, when the orcs appear the dwarves just want to load up their gold and go.  The building is the 'Rough Inn' from the Tragedy of McDeath pack, I still have it, it's overdue a bit of restoration and a better paint job.

Orcs on the horizon, and Hobhounds at the river bank

The dwarves and their mules flee down the road

Linden Way

The garrison at Linden Way must hold out long enough for the villagers to escape.  I still have two of the buildings.

Guards in the watchtower nervously look out on the advancing orcs

The action moves into the village

Orcs attacking the villagers

Sadly I can't remember what the outcome of any of the games was.  If I had to guess, I'd suggest that the elves at Kachas Pass successfully held out, it's difficult to shift elven archers from a defended position.  The dwarves at Ashak Rise look to be escorting their gold off, but it doesn't look good for the villagers of Linden Way in the last picture.

If you want to see some pictures of the final battle at Orc's Drift, you can find them here and here.

I hope you found this nostalgia trip interesting, it certainly brought back memories for me.

More Miniature Photography

I was so pleased with the results of the photos taken using the new backdrop that I decided to do more photos.

These are minis that have been featured on my blog before, but I'm taking the opportunity to get better photos.

One point, the hydra was photographed in daylight, these were all done in the evening with room lights on. It certainly made a difference, with the photos being much cooler and bluer. Still, I was able to alter the colour balance and get better colours.

The three wood elves first seen here 

Half the dwarves 

And the rest from here.

And Flosi and Praetorius 

Despite altering the colour balance, I'm not quite as happy with these, I'm posting them because I think it makes an interesting point about light levels and quality. I doubt I'll retake these again, unless I suddenly get a better way of photographing minis.

Lesson learned, photograph in the daytime.

75K!

Well, not long ago I posted I'd reached 50000 views, and only a short while later my blog is over 75000. 

I'm aware that not all the views are genuine, but given how a topic is followed through various posts, I think many are. It's nice to think that people around the world are reading my words and sharing my hobby experiences.

Big Thank yous 

I'd like to thank everyone who reads it, especially folk who come back to see what's new. If you leave a comment, you're a real star, these show that fellow hobbyists are directly engaging with my content.

If you want to go even further, share my content with other hobbyists, and maybe think about subscribing.

Looking Ahead 

That out of the way, where is the blog heading in the future? I don't imagine there will be any major new projects. Whilst I'm not winding down my hobbying, I am reassessing what I paint and what I play. I'm part way through a massive sort out and clear out of all my stuff, as I've discussed in several posts recently. I suspect that in a few months time I'll have a smaller collection, but one that's far more useable and (fingers crossed) with far more painted minis.

Oldhammer, or Old School, has been a big feature recently. However, this is a bit of a vanity project. Realistically I can't see myself going back to the original rule sets, but the minis may find a use in Dragon Rampant, and small groups of minis are always useful in skirmish games like Fistful of Lead or Frostgrave. I've also recently got interested in trying Rangers of the Shadow Deep. I'm sure that I'll find a use for some of the Old School minis, but it will also prompt me to get some of the VPoURB* done. I'll be trying RotSD with the MEGAforce once I've got the requirements for the first scenario done.

The VPoURB is an issue. As part of the sorting out exercise I'm once again looking at minis for D&D. Sadly, at the moment, I don't have a face to face group going, and I'm not sure that's likely in the near future. As I discussed during lockdown, I do seem to need a vague target for my hobby activities (even if it's just to ignore), and there just doesn't seem to be one for all this stuff.

To compound the issue, there'll be a big box of the latest Kickstarter Bones arriving soon.

I recently spent some time in Anglesey (highly recommended) and a couple of things are inspiring me to get back to my Trident Realm. Two of the things that have stumped me with this army are colour schemes and basing. A trip to the Anglesey Sea Zoo gave me some colour ideas, but I'm not sure if I can match them. It should be possible to get something close though.

I'm thinking the pale blue fish in the background.

As for basing, this looks about right to me.

Red Wharf Bay - Littoral zone

A sandy base with some patches of water and raised areas of grass.

Well that's plenty to be going on with, I wonder what I'll have achieved by the time I get to 100 000 views?

*Vast Pile of Unpainted Reaper Bones**

** Not all Reaper Bones, though largely. There are some of the WotC prepainted minis saved from the cull, some Heroclix minis, and assorted other bits and pieces.

Oldhammer Wolves

Evil Cavalry 

As I continue to clear through the piles of old minis, I'm putting to one side anything that I think will fit my Oldhammer project.

I recently found these three wolves, along with a handful of goblin wolf riders, so I decided that a unit of three (to be later expanded to six) would be a great addition to Team Evil.

The models are two Marauder Miniatures wolves, MM32 (W1) and MM34 (W1) and one Citadel wolf 4787/9 wolf 1

What Colour is a Wolf?

I've done some googling, and miniature painters seem to choose either greys or browns for wolves. A bit more research into real wolves showed me far more variation than I thought possible. 

Still, the choice is largely greys or browns, with further choice in lighter or darker colours (bellys tend to be light, and the top side, especially the spine is dark). 

In the end, I decided not to try to copy any particular wolf, but make up my own wolfy colours.

Now I have painted wolves before, you can see my 10mm wargs here and here. I also painted some of the Marauder wolves years ago to use in roleplaying )I can't remember how long ago, but it was third edition D&D). I still have one of these for reference.

Painted MM32 (W2) looking a bit the worse for wear

In the end I decided to go for greys. I think this will contrast well with the green skin of the goblins and the browns and tans of much of the equipment. Besides, if I ever do any orc boar riders, they will be browns.

There was one small problem, one of the wolves has lost it's slotta tab, but careful drilling and pinning allowed me to have a wire to attach it to a base (I'm using slotta bases as a temporary measure).

Tabless MM 34 (W1)

Three Painted Wolves 

The wolves were primed with Vallejo Surface Primer, then a base coat of Vallejo Game Color Wolf Gray on the underbelly, legs and flanks. 

Then I overbrushed VGC Fortress Gray moving up the flanks, leaving plenty of the Wolf Grey showing.

Then a smaller area of the flanks and the top side was painted in VGC Cold Gray.

Finally the very top, from the forehead down to the tip of the tail was painted in Vallejo Extra Opaque Charcoal Gray. 

The detailing was pretty simple; claws and fangs were VGC Khaki, highlighted in Bonewhite, then Off White. The edges of the ears were painted in Wolf Gray. Gums were Charcoal Gray with a bit of black mixed in, the snout was the same darkened Charcoal Gray. Pads on the paws were VGC Dwarf Flesh. I finished by running a bit of black wash along the spine.

I'm delighted with how these wolves have turned out. I've already stripped the paint off the previously painted model, and found another unpainted Marauder wolf to add to the pack.

The Riders 

The goblins were pretty straightforward, but I'll give them their own post, including the completed wolf riders.

Experiments in Miniature Photography 1

When I showed my Oldhammer Wood Elves I mentioned that I was working on improving my photography. As part of that I've tried a couple of different backgrounds in my light box.

New Backgrounds

Both are sheets of thin EVA 'craft' foam. My intention was to find a smoother surface to avoid the phone camera focusing on the backdrop rather than the mini (sadly, my eyes don't pick this up well until I've enlarged the picture).  I chose a pale blue and a pale grey colour to see if they would work, and what difference the different colours would make.

Comparative Shots

So here are shots of an old hydra that I painted many years ago with pale blue and pale grey backdrops.

The Verdict?

Well, I think the new background certainly make a difference.  The focus is much clearer on the mini, and there's no 'background noise' to distract the eye (or the autofocus!).

What I find particularly interesting is how much the colour of the background affects the colour of the mini.  The blue makes the hydra look warmer.

I like both these effects, but I think I'll stick to the blue for most things.  What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

The Hydra

The rather impressive hydra is a C29 mini designed by Trish Carden.  I've got a few of her Marauder sculpts, and they are generally excellent, though there was no deliberate plan involved in buying this.

I painted the hydra many years ago to use as a D&D monster.  It has a satin varnish finish, and it needs at least a coat of mat.  I suspect that underneath that slight shine there is more damage that needs sorting, and perhaps I should put it on a bigger base and texture it to match my current basing style.

Board Games Night - Cascadia

The Monday Evening Gaming Association (known informally as MEGAforce) tried a new board game last night, Cascadia.

The game at the scoring phase.

The aim of Cascadia is to create the most sound ecosystem using habitat tiles and placing wildlife tokens on them.

There are five different habitat types (mountain, forest, prairie, wetlands and river) and the hex tiles usually contain more than one type. 

There are five wildlife types as well (Grizzly Bear, Roosevelt Elk, Red Fox, Chinook Salmon and Red-tailed Hawk), and the habitat tiles have icons to indicate which wildlife token can be placed on it, but only one token per tile.

Five cards are drawn at the start of the game to determine the points scored at the end, so using the recommended starter cards we got points for placing pairs of bears in adjacent tiles, for placing long 'runs' of salmon or for placing hawks not adjacent to other hawks. Some of the other cards impose quite tricky conditions for scoring.

There are always four tiles and four wildlife tokens for a player to choose from, drawn and placed in pairs. These are usually taken in the pairs but can be placed separately in a player's ecosystem.

Once each player has placed twenty tiles the game finishes and points are totted up. 

Firstly the points from cards are added.  I adopted a fairly scatter-gun approach to placing my wildlife and definitely didn't make the best of it. I did benefit from trying to make large habitat zones which did my points total a lot of good.

All in all a great game. The concept and play is simple, but there are hard choices to be made when choosing and placing stuff.

I'll currently place this firmly in A tier, though I suspect once the more complex victory cards are used it might edge into S tier.

Cascade is produced by Flat Out Games, Grim had a Kickstarter version of the game.  The rules include a solo version, and works for 2 to 4 players in group play.  There seems to be some sort of campaign or quest system in the back of the book, but I didn't explore this.  There is some good scientific information about the habitats and creatures used in the game as well, making it informative as well as entertaining.

Oldhammer Elves part 2

I've actually finished painting something!

I'm aware that we're nearly a quarter of the way through 2024, and I've not actually posted anything newly painted this year. This is probably because I've been so caught up in thinning out the minis that I've not allowed myself the time to get any finished.

The First Elven Unit

Back in July I showed the unpainted models for the first unit of elves for Team Good. I've had to revise that slightly. The elves were a mix of 'Wood' and 'High' elves, and didn't quite work as a unit for me. I got part way through them and stopped.

I've managed to obtain a few more old school elves since, and I now have enough for six of this more Sylvan style. I thought I might as well finish the three I'd started before beginning anything new (besides, I'm also part way through painting something for Team Evil).

A (Very) Reduced Model Unit

4210/13 Bow 9, ME 31 (02) - Sylvan Elf, ME 31 (01) - Sylvan Elf

That tactical rock needs some lighter tones.

Initially I painted the grip and tips of the bow as metal, but I though that some sort of horn or ivory might fit wood elves better, besides, I've seen compound bows like this at the Royal Armouries.

So here they are. Individually each one was a joy to paint, and I think that's significant. My dwarves were each painted as individual models with no intention of them being a unit. Perhaps I need to be a bit looser in approaching the elves as well?

I enjoyed keeping to the vague brief of "the greens and browns of the forest" while avoiding having them too uniform. I can't really give exact paint recipes as everything tends to get mixed up on my wet palette, but I gave each elf light green hose and a dark green jacket or tunic. The collars were all reddish brown, based around the rather nice Vallejo Model Color Orange Brown. 

I feel that the contrast between hose and jacket on ME 31 (01) could be greater, and perhaps ME 31 (02) is a bit dark overall. I may go back and touch up a few details at a later stage, but for now I'm calling these done.

The bases were textured using Geek Gaming Scenics Plains of New Zealand mix.  I added more grass tufts to bring out the 'nature' side of the elves.

Oh, and I'm experimenting with my photography again.  I've gone back to my fold up light box, this time using my newer phone.  I think there's an improvement, and I like the effect of the blue background. I think I need to find something without the fabric texture though, as the camera has tried to focus on this and my eyes don't pick that up until I enlarge the pictures.