Dystopian Wars Kingdom of Britannia Fleet

So Christmas has gone by for another year and amongst the new toys beneath the tree I found two wonderful gifts - firstly the Dystopian Wars rule book and secondly a pile of inspiration to start my Kingdom of Britannia fleet (which has been languishing in a box for quite some time now).

Despite the fact I knew I'd not score as many points in the painting challenge as the effort to paint these is worth, I simply couldn't resist and out came the brushes. I was sorely tempted to go with the "standard" dazzle pattern on the hulls but it has been done so many times before I decided to try something different. I've gone with a royal blue and bronze scheme with white highlights. It looks quite striking en masse and is easy to replicate which is a real bonus.

Here are some shots of progress so far...

I've got a couple of aircraft and a dreadnought complete as well but they can't appear hear til Curt has displayed them so stay tuned.

This is likely the last post for 2013 so it only remains to welcome aboard Warlord Pail and wish all our friends and followers a wonderful New Year and fabulous 2014.

Cheers,
Millsy

The Emperor's New Toys

SWMBO might disagree that I'm the Emperor of anything but I like to think I have some small amount of imperial power within my four walls. Regardless of whether I do or not, right now I certainly feel like an Emperor having been showered with all manner of goodies this Yuletide. So what did I get?

Firstly, RAIN and lots of it. Most people would say that blows at this time of year. As a volunteer firey it rocks my world as it means I'm at home with the family when it matters most. I'm currently somewhere beneath this lot and the only thing I can do is eat, enjoy the company of family and play with my loot. Awesome!

Let in rain, let it rain, let it rain!

Aside from nature's gifts I also lucked out big time, finally getting my sweaty little grippers on the converter's best friend in a Dremel. Any minute now there'll be heads and limbs flying across the desk, none of them mine! Gone are the days of carefully hacking my own fingers off, now things will be done properly.

Add to this all sorts of other goodness including a stack of books like this little beauty and the Dystopian Wars rulebook, the new Presets album and some miniatures and I'm as happy as a man can be. What more could an Emperor want?

Here's hoping you lucked out as well as I did!

Cheers,
Millsy

Undead Army of the Cairns Part I

Hi All,

Now that my miniatures have appeared on Curt's Analogue Hobbies blog for 24 hours I can post them here too. This is my first batch of units on my way to painting up Heinrich Kemmler's Undead Army of the Cairns.

You can see from the following army diagram how I'm tracking. Pretty solid progress for week one!

Now on to the miniatures...

First up we have a couple of core units. These are Simulacra, essentially animated statues from barrows and mausoleums. They're the original wight models and some of my favourites from the fantasy range. In total there are 12 figs split into two units of 3 bases each, or I could play them as one big unit if required. They were undercoated black and then dry brushed and inked a number of times to get the desired stony finish.

Next up is another animated statue but this one much larger. This is a Tomb Stalker (one per unit) and is one of the early Chaos Centaur models. He's a special choice in the list. He was painted the same way as the Simulacra but given his size I've spent a bit more time on the basing.

The third set is a pair of Ghosts, one each per unit. The female is a pretty recent banshee sculpt and the other is an old skool ghost miniature. These count as core choices in the list. They were painted the same way as the Simulacra and Tomb Stalker.

Second last is a unit of eight Mummies from the old Khermi range. These are classed as special choices under the list. They were undercoated brown and the dry brushed, inked and then over painted to get the desired result. I've painted these figs three times now over the years and this is the first time I've been properly satisfied with the outcome.

Lastly is the piece of resistance (and didn't he resist!), a Winged Nightmare. This is also a unit of one and counts as a rare choice. When I purchased the model it was in a horrible state. Past owners had attempted to pin the joints numerous times and had damaged him quite badly in the process poor chap. It took 2.5 hours just to pull him apart without further injury. Another 4 hours was spent pinning and rebuilding him, including filing away the saddle behind the head, followed by carving and inserting two more spines to give the right look. He's the 6-million gold piece monster! "My Spikey" was undercoated black and then painted in layers with a bit of dry brushing on the leathery part of his wings. He's very dark (obviously) and has more depth in real life but no amount of Photoshop Foo could bring him up better unfortunately.

I've also completed a couple of extra "fluff miniatures" for my 40K Angeilicus Mechanicus army...

And that's it for completed stuff to report on. I've got a unit of skellies painted but unbased as yet, plus plenty more stuff lined up on the desk so stay tuned.

Finally, a quick and festive welcome to Legion Games who has joined us as a follower.

Cheers,
Millsy

Merry Christmas from everyone at C&G!

It's that time of year again which can only mean one thing... That's right, it's the Ogre of Europe with his well know dislike of all things festive!

Unlike the great man however, we fully believe in the magic of great mates and good times. So from Millsy, Evan, Nug, Cory, Russ, Bob, Graeme, Adam and all the hangers on,  Merry Christmas!

Cheers,
Everyone at C&G

Kicking off the Painting Challenge

Right. Here we go. Three months of brush wielding mayhem, banter and absolute rollicking nerdy fun. Curt's 4th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge starts tonight!

I've set myself a personal target of 1250 points, plus the side challenges of finishing an entire army and taking on Tamsin and Samuli who have similar points totals. Clearly there's NO time for slacking.

I've also worked out most of my stretch goals. These aren't compulsory but they ARE a source of quick points...

December 22: Non Combatant(s)
Warhammer 40K Adeptus Mechanicus acolytes / henchmen

January 5: Villain(s)
Warhammer Heinrich Kemmler

January 19: Vehicle
Warhammer 40K SM Razorback OR Warhammer Wight King Chariot

February 2: Hero or Heroic Group
Mounted Marechal Michel Ney

February 16: Casualty / Casualties
TBA!?!

March 2: Favourite Character
Warhammer 40K Techmarine

March 16: Last Stand
Something from Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow

And just quickly... warm welcomes to Wiatrog, Lee Hadley, Neil Andrews and Geoff K.

Cheers,
Millsy

Heinrich Kemmler's Undead Army of the Cairns

I'm still up to my armpits in prep for Curt's Painting Challenge which starts this weekend. I'm much closer to being ready now though and quite chuffed about things as they stand. Here's what's going on by way of a teaser...

Until it was declared I was operating under the assumption that The Challenge would be historical figs again this year and was planning accordingly. When it was announced that both fantasy and sci-fi were allowed this time round I immediately revised my plan. I'll still do plenty of historicals but I can now get into an Oldhammer project I've been collecting figs for since late last year - Heinrich Kemmler's Undead Army of the Cairns (hereafter UAotC).

The UAotC appeared as a "fluff army" in White Dwarf issues 309-311 and when I read about it I was instantly hooked - it's packed with character, a relatively low model count and satisfies a hankering I've had for some time - to paint some undead for Warhammer that aren't Vampire Counts or Tomb Kings (which are the standard lists).

Here's my list as it stands. Click for a larger version...

By way of explanation...

Kemmler - original character model
Barrow King - original wight model mounted on a chaos chariot
Krell - original character model
Shadow Druid - original dark emissary model with head swap
Simulacra - original wight models on 40mm bases
Skeletons - original models
Ghosts - original banshee and ghost models
Embalmed Ones - original khermi mummy models
Unquiet Horsemen - original black knight models with mounted wight champion
Winged Nightmare - original model with rider/saddle removed

It's a tad over 2,000 points and I've got all the miniatures I need, the original ones rather than the latest versions. I've mostly stayed faithful to the actual miniatures in the articles and where I've deviated I've gone with the suggested options. I reckon I can paint the whole army as part of the challenge. What mods I wanted to make to the miniatures are now complete, especially tarting up the Winged Nightmare and adding some more spikes in place of the saddle plus bulking him up along the shoulders and joints.

So I'm ready to go, at least in this department of The Challenge. Stay tuned for more UAotC...

Cheers,
Millsy