Pegasus Models Gothic Cathedral and Ruined Building

Big terrain pieces are cool. They make awesome centrepieces for a table. If they're buildings with detailed interiors, they can drive some very fun and engaging gameplay too. But they do have one drawback - they take up a ton of storage space.

There is a bit of a backstory on this amazing piece. It was built by friend of the Conscripts Paul K., from whom I recently picked up a bunch of models in a bit of a hobby selloff. One of Paul's conditions, though, was that I take this as well. 

It's an injection-molded plastic model kit from Pegasus Hobbies. I'm not sure exactly what exact kit(s) this was built from but it's the Gothic City for sure. The parts are super-detailed and very sturdy; this is injection-molded plastic, not brittle 3D-printed resin, and is all the better for it.

As the model didn't have floors, I made some out of plasticard. Otherwise the second-floor doors would be opening out into empty space and we cannot have that can we!

You can see the scale of the structure more clearly here. The Dialogus is proclaiming from the balcony, accompanied by a Sister Superior and Imagifer standard bearer.

You get an even better sense of the scale here when vehicles come on the scene.

Throw a nice statue on a pillar in there too!

Paul also made me take gave me another ruined building made from the Pegasus parts.

This'll made a nice addition to the Cathedral surrounds on the table.

I did a bit more detailing on the Cathedral before calling it done...

The kit included a ton of cool detail parts, like these light sconces and all the gargoyles you saw in the other pics.

I painted the doors dark brown as shown in the Pegasus promo pics, but didn't do a lot of detailing on them. Honestly once the doors are assembled on the model, it's very difficult to get your brush in to paint the details. If I was building this kit I'd paint the doors before final assembly.

This is gonna be super-fun to play a game on. Maybe Orks vs. Sisters in the battle for Armageddon...?

That's likely enough pics of these buildings but I can't help snapping away, they're just so photogenic. Despite the space they take up in storage I'm really glad to have them, they look so cool (especially the giant Cathedral) and they should be fun to play a game with! Thanks Paul!
 

Eureka Miniatures Chaos Army Gang for Idols of Torment!

Finally finished another "gang" for the local game Idols of Torment. We've blogged lots about this game, it's very cool, takes very few models to play, and is so atmospheric and fun. Anyway a faction is only nine models and although the creators make lots of "official" models and STLs, I really like building factions out of metal models from other random manufacturers. In this vein, I just finished painting a faction composed of models from Eureka Minatures' "Chaos Army" range, inspired by artists like Heironymous Bosch! 

A gang in Idols of Torment is composed of eight models and a totem. The models represent various archetypes and are statistically identical from faction to faction (two each of Lurkers, Slayers, and Stalkers, plus one Corrupter and one Reaper).  Lurkers are the only class of of Idol that can engage in ranged combat in the game. For one of these models I selected Blind Justice, holding a pistol.

 

The other one is Bonker, about to chuck a rock.

Slayers are the Idol class who excel at close combat. This is Harry Born Yesterday, about to bitecha!

 

Snailhead is the other Slayer. He looks like he's gonna get stabby.

Stalkers are the manouevre elements of an Idols gang. For these I picked two models mounted on starving hounds, yikes! This is Magog the Mighty and Knight of the Leash.

The Corrupter is an important member of the gang - it's the only model that can naturally bind the Lost. For this role, naturally, I picked Pope Simius.

The Reaper is kind of like the leader of an Idols gang, as the objective of most scenarios is to reap the souls of the Lost, and the Reaper is the best at it! 

This, of course, is Death Rides a Pale Snail. Super-fun model to paint.

The gang has to include a Totem as well. This model stays stationary throughout the game.

Phil the Unchastener was the natural choice here, no? Anyway that's the whole gang! The Eureka models are obviously super-fun and very suitable for Idols of Torment, I'm sure there are lots of other models from the Chaos Army that could be used in an Idols gang.

 

As a bonus, here's a freebie I got in my Skull & Crown order. I wasn't sure what to do with him, then it occurred to me that he'd make a great statue. Great use for random models and the column fits a 25mm round base to perfection!

Anyway that's it for now, see you next time!

12mm WW1 Austro-Hungarian Cavalry

Austro-Hungarian WW1 Dragoons in early-war uniforms. 12mm metal figures from Kallistra.

The early-WW1 12 project continues to rumble along the hobby desk. In this post we stay with the armed forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but move now to the cavalry! Here we have a group of Austro-Hungarian Dragoons, 12mm metal castings from Kallistra's fantastic early WW1 figure range. 

The opening months of the Great War saw some incredible uniforms in use - and by "incredible", I mean in the context of a hobby geek like me thinking "That would be fun to paint!". In this regard, one thinks often of the blue and red of the French infantry, and the glorious helmets and combs of the different branches of the French cavalry, as they swept into battle in the late summer of 1914. The terrible realities of warfare in that time soon put all of the glory of the uniforms to rest, but wow, for the purposes of a wargaming, hobbyist, it is all very fun to paint and put on the table.

Carbines and swords at the ready! Helmets painted grey...damn regulations...

So what of the Austro-Hungarian troops? By the outbreak of WW1, the infantry had moved to something of a more bland/modern-adjacent uniform of "pike grey". Some anachronistic flashes remained, but were subtle or, at least, beyond my brush for the most part when it comes to 12mm figures (for example, the Hungarian regiments still had fancy cuts and threading on their trousers). 

Carbines, ready for action in case of dismounted action...

Thankfully the cavalry arm of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces, weighed down by conservative tradition and slowed by the parsimony and administrative incompetence of the Empire, maintained some wonderful uniforms by the late summer of 1914! On paper, the cavalry of the Empire were supposed to switch to more practical uniforms, but in practice many (almost all?) regiments mobilized in 1914 with full dress uniforms which would not have looked out of place in the 1870s.

These Dragoons are great examples, resplendent in blue tunics and red pants. The only concessions made to the looming shadow of modern warfare is seen on the helmets, which were covered with cloth or just painted grey.

And speaking of dismounted action, here are the troopers sans-horses.

Kallistra's early WW1 collection is awesome - not only the sculpts themselves, which manage a great deal of character for the small size, but also because it is so complete. You can get mounted AND dismounted castings for the full variety of Austro-Hungarian cavalry options - but wait, there is more! You can ALSO get the horse-holder figures! While I haven't yet seen the need to paint the horse holders yet (just like I will be the last person to paint artillery limbers), the completeness of the offering is tremendous and very appealing. 

Closer shot of the dismounted troopers - can you spot the officer?

The cavalry of early WW1 may have aspired to mount their own glorious and decisive "death ride" style charges, but in fact had to dismount often to fight (or even, I suspect, just to survive so they could fight). "Dragoons", of course, were supposed to be mounted infantry anyway, going back to their origins in history. But by 1914 I think the Austro-Hungarian ones still harbored a significant strain of "let's charge to contact, we'll make it work" sort of thinking. Thanks to Kallistra's awesome collection, you can represent your cavalry troopers in either mode (and associated mental state), and that is what we have here. This is an advantage over Pendraken's 10mm collection, which is short on the dismounted troopers (although, it should be said, it still awesome). 

He doesn't stand out a WHOLE lot, but the officer here still has his classic metal helmet, with comb and gold plate.

I did paint the helmets of these figures grey, with the exception of the officer. It helps him stand out a little...but I also like the idea of this stubborn fellow ignoring the direction to paint/cover the helmets. Seems like the sort of thing an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer would do...

Dismounted dragoons, ready for the firefight.

From my preliminary reading of the Eastern Front in early WW1 there was a sizable cavalry collision between the Austrians and the Russians not long after hostilities kicked off...I need to find out more about this encounter. But even though I don't have a precise plan in my mind for the type of game I want to try and stage, the idea of a crazy early cavalry clash is appealing, so watch for some of that to come during the approach Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. 

That's it for now - thanks for reading, stay tuned for more! 

12mm WW1 Austro-Hungarian Infantry

Ausro-Hungarian infantry charge into action - what could go wrong? 12mm metal figures from Kallistra.

Continuing along with my slow-moving (but still moving!) early WW1 eastern front efforts, we have a collection of 12mm Austro-Hungarian infantry. These are figures from Kallistra's delightfully complete early WW1 collection. 

An officer can be seen among this group. The collar tabs had different colours, depending on the regiment, and I tried to pick them out, just to add a splash of anachronistic color.

I enjoy painting Austrians in SO many other historical periods, so why not WW1? It also just adds to my general fascination with the setting - beyond the general awareness that the Austro-Hungarian army did not perform very well, I didn't really know any details as to why...so as I start to dig into this setting, I'm also enjoying the readying and learning that come along with it. 

View showing some of the kit on the rear of the figures.

Now, one thing that Dallas does really well on his blog posts, and that I need to follow more of, is using the post to share (and therefore have a record!) of paints used to come up with particular colours. That way, when you take a break from a project, you can return to it again and maintain some consistency in the look of the figures. The Austro-Hungarian infantry uniforms will be the first to get this treatment!

Another view of the advancing infantry...

When it comes to the uniforms worm at the opening of hostilities in 1914 by the Austro-Hungarian infantry, I was a little stumped. I mean, they are plain looking enough - the color flourishes involved for the individual regiments are pretty small, and not easily marked out on 12mm figures. They are clad in grey. Is grey hard? Sometimes, yes! At least for me. I found the grey to actually be kinda tricky.  The uniforms are described as "Pike Grey" in different sources. It is grey for sure...but also kinda blue?

Another photo of the kit on the troops.

To try and achieve this grey-that-looks-blue-but-also-blue-that-looks-grey outcome on the figures, I experimented a fair bit, before I landed on the following approach: using GW paints, I went with the following sequence - started with "Dark Reaper" as the base coat, then "Thunderhawk Blue", with final highlights of "Russ Grey". This was followed by a coat of "Gryph Charger Grey" from GW's "Contrast" paint range.

MG crew...I didn't quite line up the belt on the gun here...these fellows will have a tough time getting this into action! Seems right for the Austro-Hungarians, based on their reputation...

Because the figures are smaller, I try to over-punch the final highlight, so there is rather more "Russ Grey" involved on these smaller figures than you might try on a larger one. If there are larger ones? I believe Peter Pig has these fellows in 15mm, but I don't know if there are any 28mm Austro Hungarians out there?? 

Another view of the MG crew...were these guns yellow during the early WW1 period? I have seen some references indicating yes...but I don't have confidence in that conclusion, and have to confess that I am just going by the seat of my pants here...

As with my other 12mm WW1 figures, these are based for use with the "1914" rules from Great Escape Games. The collection of four bases would be sufficient to represent a battalion of infantry, with each base representing a company of infantry. 

We have Schwarlose (sp?) MG crews ready to support the infantry. I have seen some references to these MGs (and the Austro-Hungarian artillery, for that matter) painted in yellow...as a Hapsburg throwback? I don't actually know what colour the weapons were painted...but I went with the yellow for now. 

It's great to have some Austro-Hungarian infantry out the door. And while these troops did not have much in the way of archaic flair, the cavalry of the Empire in 1914 did not disappoint...watch this space for more on that soon!

That's all for now - thanks for reading, and stay tuned for further development on this project through the fall and into the winter!