Random Painting: Citadel Horned Dragon and Forge World 40K Apostate Preachers of Nurgle

Some more fantasy painting to post today - a vintage Citadel Horned Dragon picked up recently on eBay. The MDF base was supplied by Conscript Byron's Northern Lights Terrain - cheers Byron!

Just look at the character in that face! This model was sculpted by Nick Bibby, my favorite dragon sculptor of the vintage era. In case you're wondering what he's up to nowadays, I can tell you that Mr. Bibby is a prolific fine art sculptor.

He's created some amazing pieces, including a series of sculptures of England's champion animals (blackface sheep, shire horses, Angus bulls and the like) and an amazing 15-ft tall Kodiak bear commissioned by Brown University.
  

Bibby's bronzes sell for thousands of pounds nowadays, which makes the $40 or so I had to give for this wonderful vintage dragon seem something of a relative bargain.

For those who aren't familiar with the Horned Dragon, here's a couple pics with human-sized models to give a better idea of scale. Above, the knight from the Citadel Adventurers box I painted recently.

Here's the Dragon with an Otherworld adventurer. 

Finally, some WIP pictures. As was noted by one of the Conscripts the other night, with today's amazingly detailed injection-plastic kits, we tend to forget how much work these old metal kits take...

Wow - you could nearly drive a truck through those gaps! I ended up pinning the two halves of the body together, but the rest of the parts are held just with superglue and greenstuff (fingers crossed).

Lots of greenstuff!

I used a new primer on this model - Rustoleum Painter's Touch "2X Ultra Cover Paint and Primer". Well, I can say that it does what it says on the tin. It was shocking how well the paint covered with just one pass. Recommended.

Lastly, here are some models I pulled out and painted on Saturday afternoon - these are the Forge World "Apostate Preachers of Nurgle" that I've had in my "to paint" Plano case for a year or two. Whilst browsing TMP on Friday I saw someone's excellent work on these models posted on coolminiornot, and decided to just get off my arse and paint mine.

Pretty straightforward paintjobs, these - mostly Catachan Green/Death World Forest highlighted a bit with a lighter mix of DWF, and washed with Agrax Earthshade. I think they turned out fine for a couple hours' work and they'll fit in well with the Renegades.

Fantasy Flight: Citadel Adventurers and Nolzur's Giant Spiders

It's great to get back into the fantasy painting thing after taking a bit of a break. The impetus is a new game that's just come out - Rangers of Shadow Deep. This is a cooperative tabletop miniatures game that's essentially "role-playing lite." And since I've been trying to work up my nerve to run an RPG game for some friends who are anxious to try it, I thought that Rangers would be a great way to get back into the DM mindset.

ANYWAY... first up on the painting desk was this amazing set of Citadel Adventurers. I found the box on eBay from a seller in Vancouver, complete except for the "stout Dwarf warrior." Said Dwarf warrior was duly procured from an eBayer in the UK, and I set about painting the set.

This fighter was really the model that sold me on this set. I just love this figure! While I painted most of the models in the colours shown on the box illustration, I already have a bunch of blue-and-yellow liveried fighters, so I opted for red and white. The gryphon decals are from a sheet I got for my Howling Griffons. 





How's this for a magic user? Just a great sculpt, down to the snake-headed staff.





What's an adventuring party without  gnome fighter? Nothing, that's what.











One class of PC that's often hard to find a model for is the good old reliable cleric. Citadel's come through nicely here with a southpaw clergyperson wielding an unfeasibly large war club.

 









The box set even includes a pack mule, laden with all sorts of adventuring supplies.

There's a starting-out fighter included in the set, too.

Stout dwarf warrior checking in. The fact that some of these models come carrying packs and pouches is great, and underlines that these are adventurers, dammit!

Lastly we have the Dwarf thief, another great figure.

While these Citadel models were released nearly 35 years ago (!) I think that the sculpting has really held up to the test of time. What hasn't, unfortunately, is their scale... these are much more "true 25s" and are somewhat smaller than modern fantasy models like those produced by the likes of Otherworld. A shame, but these are definitely still useable when segregated in a party of like-sized figures. 

Also in preparation for Rangers of Shadow Deep, I picked up two packs of giant spiders. These are the pre-primed models from Wizkids' "Nolzur's" range. They're inexpensive (a pack of three spiders goes for $6.49 CAD) but the material they're made from is not the best... it's a semi-bendy plastic which gave some hassle on these spiders...



The sculpts are quite nice and scary, but some of the legs were all over the place and bendy. Fortunately these responded well to running under hot water, rebending, and immediately soaking in cold water to set the plastic.



Each blister of three spiders came with a "victims" piece which is pretty cool also.



All in all the spiders are nice and represent good value - a must for the discriminating dungeon designer!



GASLANDS at Legions Maxximus!

One of our usual Conscript activities is running games at local tabletop wargaming conventions (or "shows" for our UK readers). This year is no exception as Conscripts Greg, Dave and I ran games at the recent "Legions Maxximus" show.

This time out I ran a game of one of our new favourites, GASLANDS. I've blogged about the game before, but suffice to say that this game of vehicular combat and mayhem is some of the most fun we've had in awhile. It's super-easy to design your cars, the rules are fast-paced and straightforward without being simplistic, and best of all, the barrier to entry on the model side is very low - the game is designed for regular Hot Wheels and Matchbox toy cars, albeit converted with armor and GUNZ!!!

I set up a standard arena battle using my Disney Pixar "Cars" fence sets and billboards from TTCombat. Six players joined the game (including a charming father-son duo) and we were off!

As the Duke of Wellington famously quipped, "The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance." So it goes with a game of Gaslands. I won't even try to describe it!

I think everyone had a good time (they said they did anyway) and the game provided me (the GM) some good learnings for next time I run it at a convention - that will be at Prairiecon in June. Looking forward to it!

Final Painting Challenge Submission - IDF Tiran 5 MBTs

Tiran 5 MBTs in 15mm - models from Battlefront.

The ninth edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has concluded! As the hours count down, participants try to get a bunch of submissions in at the last minute in order to boost their total productivity, and I was no exception.  For the last submission, I did something a little different - some Israeli Tiran 5 tanks in 15mm.  The models are from Battlefront, part of their "Fate of A Nation" range.

The silhouette of these tanks may seem oddly familiar to cold war gamers...well the Tiran-5 is actually a Soviet T-55 tank.  The IDF captured a large number of T-55s during the Six Day War in 1967, and they were not going to waste these assets.  They took the captured tanks and replaced the engine, switched out the main gun (to a 105mm gun) and made other changes, and put them into the battle line, for use against their previous owners.

T-55 MBT with new engine, new main gun.

During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, an armoured brigade equipped with Tiran tanks fought in the Sinai against the Egyptian assault across the Suez Canal.  Later I believe Tiran tanks saw service in Lebanon.

I love the decals from Battlefront...

When I was first diving into gaming the Yom Kippur War many years ago, I learned of the Tirans and I thought it would be really cool to do a unit of these tanks.  Old Glory had a model available in 15mm, but the quality of the casting was poor, so I only painted one of the vehicles.  Once Battlefront came into the period with T-55s, I wrote them asking to see if I could order some bits separately to create these tanks myself...I was told I couldn't get the bits! Well then...

Notorious for their cramped interiors, the IDF added extra storage on the exterior for the crew to use.

Fast forward to 2018, and I see that "Fate Of A Nation" has been re-issued (to match up with the newer "Team Yankee" rules), and that a model has been released of the Tiran-5s! I couldn't wait to get a company of them painted up to clash with Dallas' Egyptians in some games set in the Sinai in 1973.

Lots of MGs on the cupola...

Trying to paint a company of these things is exactly the sort of project I would slot in my mind for Curt's Painting Challenge. I had planned to paint 10 of these during this edition...and yet...well, again, you can see why I don't try to "plan" too much with my painting, particularly during the Painting Challenge.  I didn't finish the company, but I did finish these first three test models, enough to get the unit started, to refresh the memory on painting IDF vehicles. 

And the Painting Challenge has concluded - I exceeded my "points target", which I was pleased about.  While it is a "Challenge", you are really only racing against yourself, as you get to set your own target. The motivation you get participating with others in different parts of the world is very helpful. I hope you have an opportunity to check out some of the submissions - including a number from Byron and MikeF. 

Thanks for visiting - have a great day!

Painting Challenge Submission 16 - Legio Mortis Warhound Titan for "Adeptus Titanicus"

A Warhound "scout" titan from Legio Mortis, ready to hunt for hope and change...

The diversion from historical painting subjects and into the grim darkness of the far future and GW's re-booted "Adeptus Titanicus" continues.  Having added some God-engines to the delusional "loyalist" faction, I naturally needed to balance things out for the side of hope and change, the Warmaster! So here is one more Warhound class titan.

Vulcan mega-bolter on the left "arm" mount.

This Titan is painted in the colours and markings of Legio Mortis, the charming "Death Heads".  Many Titan Legions supported the Warmaster's noble rebellion against the tyranny of the Imperium, but Legio Mortis was front-and-centre, foremost among Horus' ranks, even leading the assault on the Imperial Palace on Terra itself. 

Turbo-lasers on the right "arm" mount.

The weapon load-out includes a set of "turbo lasers" on one arm, and a "vulcan-mega bolter" on the other.  On its own, this engine is a limited threat, but paired with the other Warhound in the maniple, the mega-bolters can knock down the void shields on enemy engines and either move in for a kill at short range with their own energy weapons, or let the more heavily-equipped Reavers and Warlord strike final blows.

View of the detailing on the rear and top of the Titan.

With this little guy completed, my Legio Mortis forces now have a complete "Axiom Battle Line" maniple, ready to face the toe-chewing loyalists who cling to their pathetic so-called "Emperor".  The "Axiom Battle Line" is one of the basic core force-types for the Titan Legions. It is comprised of one Warlord titan, two Reaver titans and two Warhound titans.  

By using different Maniple formations in the game, players can access some different bonuses for command, firing etc.  The "Axiom Battle Line" is a middle-of-the-road type formation, able to deal with anything that comes up, and gets every different class of titan on to the table, which I enjoy.

A view of the new Titan with his colleagues.

Two complete Titan maniples now sitting on the shelf!

All of these toys got to see some action this past weekend at a local gaming even here in Winnipeg. Challenge participant Byron came out to play the game, and also brought some excellent buildings from the game "Dropzone Commander" along, which is wonderful, as those larger buildings look great while also being big enough to block the lines of fire of the bigger Warlord titans. So a big "thank you" to Byron!

An Imperial city waits for "agressive urban development"...

Loyalist battle group moves out...

The god engines of the noble Warmaster deploy...

During the game, Dallas ran the loyalist battlegroup, while Dave V and Byron ran the rebel battlegroup.  While no Titans cooked off, the rebels were pretty shot up - the Legio Mortis Warlord in particular had two weapons blown off and had taken some serious hits to the body and critical damage to the legs...it was great fun to get these monsters on the table again. 

This edition of Curt's Painting Challenge is winding down...I think I might have one or two submissions left, we'll see...thanks for visiting, and have a great day!