The Dwarves Last Huzzah

...for a while.

Some pictures from when MacSver and I had a one off "Song of..." battle this week. This was to be the last outing for his Dwarves for a while, as his next campaign warband is to be themed on the Fantasy Trilogy "The First Law" by Joe Abercrombie.

There have obviously been changes in the Drawf camp since the end of the last Campaign, and a new Mage Leader was leading his brethren into the battle. On the other side was a motley crew of mostly humans, made up from various rpg characters for the games I've played over the years. 

The scenario was to be an all out battle mixed with a magic treasure hunt in a woodland outpost. There were chests in the house, watchtower and end woods. If any magic item was found it could be used for the remainder of the battle.

The forces head towards the outpost, with The Dwarven leader searching the house and the RPG crew trying the watchtower (both to no avail). Note how the  RPGers are already strung out, this was to cause a lot of their problems as the more powerful dwarves made contact.

Kislev combats Slartibartfast to stop the drawf from firing his crossbow. Thief Grendal tries to support but there isn't room. The ruined pillars in the center of the tables caused all sorts of complications for both sides restricting movement, contact and line of sight.

Kronenburg the Mage had wandered too far forward and Scottie McIrnbru engaged. So was set the setting of the main tussle, with a general set-to occurring round the Scottish Dwarf.

Despite the RPGers piling in, Scottie managed to hold firm with some impressive rolls (as long as you were MacSver!). The demise of Slartibartfast on the other side of the pillars did not disguise that the battle was likely to hinge with the other group.

The dwarf eventually chose to dispatch the mage, and with a gruesome kill started that the dread SoBH moral check cascade. Some of the warband broke to run. One of these was the Jester, who was gruesomely killed in a free hack. In the ensuing moral check, Wilbur the Leader failed all 3 dice and left the scene, causing another check. This left the humans scattered, out of touch and leaderless against a smaller but more powerful Dwarven force.

The RPGer tried to rally. Heinrich (with the shield) was surrounded and in trouble. His comrades came round Scottie to help, but when he attacked he was still outnumbered and the resulting clash left him dead on the ground. The battle was called for a Dwarven Victory.

September Painting WIP

About 3 quarters through the month so time to see where the painting Oath progress bar is.

Well the base colours are done and the standard Sepia wash is done. a bit behind schedule to be honest. I've had to make the decision to leave the 2 onlookers in the background alone to try and get the pledged front rank finished for the end of the month (next Monday!). Still can finish this week mind you, so not panicking yet...

I Can See You

The old body milometer has clicked forward another notch. Responding to a request for this yearly event this time round my lovely wife has bought me a new lamp for the painting table.

Like so many of us, painting these damned small figures seems to require more light and more magnification of the last couple of years, and my old standard desk lamp (with daylight bulb) and helping hands magnifying glass wasn't really cutting it any more.

The kit in question is a 22W Fluorescent Daylight Lamp from Maplin (although in this case bought through Amazon). The Lamp has a table clamp base so takes up no desk space, which is a  bonus. Not very portable, but I've just recently reclaimed my painting table for dedicated use so not a problem. The energy saving daylight bulb is not only bright and blue tinted (as it should be) but gives off no heat, so should help prevent a early drying paint that the old traditional filament bulb caused. The only down point may be that the lamp head is quite plastic-y and the lens cover\lid very cheap feeling, but it's a pretty minor niggle compared to everything else.

A happy (older) painter.

Scooby Doo Mystery Machine Hunt

Last year I received the Hasslefree Zombie Hunting Scooby Gang for my birthday. I've been wanting a van for them since then, but there is little of the appropriate scale. Armorcast do the business with their Hippy Van, but the postage from the US and the prospect trying to paint the exterior left me cold.

So looking again I found that Hot Wheels had released a new Mystery Machine. It was 1:64, but I hoped that given a base it would size up OK. As you can see from the picture - wrong, far too small (which. to be honest, I half expected!)

I also discovered that MacDonalds had done a winter Scobby Doo Happy meal toy range. The Mystery Machine had been converted to a half track with front sleds, but I maybe looked the correct size, so I bought one from Ebay.

Size wise not to bad. The van seems a bit stubby, but depending on the era of cartoon I think that's the style of the van. Add some front wheels on the front instead of sleds and I think I may have the Post-apocalypse upgrade to the traditional van. Just need to figure out where to get the wheels now...