Ready to Play Blood Boil & Make Papa (Nurgle) Proud

Oh a team dedicated to Nurgle may trip over their own spilling intestines now and then, or hands slick with oozing pustules may lose grip on the ball, but with no team wanting to get too close to them they play with a style all their own.

Here's the latest Blood Bowl team finished for a client who left the team wide open to my own discretion, with just a request to 'make them gross'.  So I certainly had fun with this project.

For those less familiar with Blood Bowl, a Nurgle team is a lot like their more general Chaos cousins, but with advantages & disadvantages the reflects their patron, the lord of decay and disease.

The stars of the team, Nurgle Warriors, are a lot like Chaos Warriors, but slower and less agile, but they regenerate, and have a couple skills that give a chance for someone trying to block them to just refuse to out of revulsion, and reduce their ball handling skills if too close to them.

The backbone of the team must be the Pestigors.  Like the Chaos team Beastmen, they have decent speed and agility, have horns for added strength on a blitz, but these come with Regeneration.  Unfortunately, they are more expensive then their Chaos counterparts, and limited to 4 on a team.   For these I have used Plaguebearer demons, since they do have a horn, and are very Nurgly.

Converted from fantasy Plaguebearers, weapons removed and they've been given shoulderpads.
I have done the same for the other players as well....

The creamy puss-like nougat that holds the team together is the Rotters.  Chaos has no option like these, they are most like human linemen, with negative trait that he gets 2 injuries for every injury he receives, but he can also spread his disease, just like the rest of the team, and opponents killed in the game shamble over to the Nurgle side, to join up as a Rotter.

I've used the drowned pirates from Warploque Miniatures for these.  Warploque sculpt some great minis, and it was great to use them here.

That brings us to the big-boy himself, the Beast of Nurgle.  This big guy is one of the best in the game.
An amazing denial player with strong tentacles to grab and hold players to him.  

And the team in it's revolting glory (click picture to make larger), now joining the others in the Hall of Fame.

The Eyes Have It: 'It' being paint.

Following the review of the Occulites, here are the minis after being painted.

Here is the brave leader, with faithful Luftle companion. 

It wasn't easy coming up with a color scheme, since I quite liked the official color scheme choice that Darwin games went with. If I hadn't seen it (Brown bodies and dark green skin, pale yellow eyes) I'd probably have done the same. But since I had seen it, I wanted to challenge myself to come up with something different. 

What I aimed for was a red-brown fur body.  I used the look of powdery chocolate truffles for inspiration.  

Skin I went for a drab blue,with bright pinkish for eye & under neck-belly skin for bright accent.  

The Luftles kept the same pattern of coloration, but going into dried-orange for fur and a brighter jade skin. 

I still may go back and tip the ends of these leaves in yellow.

Here is the group together (click for larger):

 

They were really great fun to paint! 

Speaking of eyes, showing why one is better than many... 

Enjoy!

More Baldur's Boulders: Flying Rocks!

I had to skip out of last week's Warmachine/Hordes league night- was just too swamped with work and didn't feel so great to boot, but hoping to make it this week. And when I do, I have some new flying boulder squadrons to protect the forest with.

I'm aiming for Baldur's theme-force, since if I'm going to do the wold-construct army I may as well go all-in.
One of the requirements is to have two units of 'Stoneward and Woldstalkers'. This is a Druid who directs little magic rock constructs that fly around and zap people.  Like medieval strike-drones. But the official minis for the rock constructs aren't to my aesthetic tastes, and so I made some to fit the look of my big boulder creatures.

So here they are:

They're pointy at both ends, though more so in the front, have a sloping 'belly' with a few smaller rocks for a stabilizing tail.  embedded in the rock is a crystal orb, the source of the zapping energy beams. Essentually they are smaller versions of my Woldwyrd, which is a bigger 'beast' rock that has a similar role.

Here they are from the back, with the minis I'll use as the druid flight directors:

The 'druids' are Delgon priests from World of Twilight: they have a 'Dark Crystal' feel to them that I adore.

They are made from Fimo clay, plastic beads and some green stuff to make the rock cover the gem some.

Here is a picture of the official minis these will represent:

I also made some of my own Shifting Stones, because again, the official ones are too geometrically-crafted for the look I want. I want the stones more rough and 'natural'.

Luckily rocks are very fast to paint or I'd have very little hope to make progress on the project! 

Enjoy! 

A Look at the Occulites: Review of Darwin Games' Palaudis Tribe

Back in April I did an overview of Darwin Games range of Occulites. I'm a big fan of characterful & quirky miniatures, so they had easily caught my eye.  Now that I have had some in my possession I thought it'd be nice and possibly useful to have a review of the miniatures.

The miniatures of this review are the Palaudis Tribe of Occulites: those who live in the swamps & wetlands.
There are four other tribes of Occulites, each from a different environment, as well as a diminutive race called the Luftles.

You can find out much more about all of these at Darwin Games, as well as in my overview from April, linked at the top.

On opening the package of Palaudis Occulites I find five single-cast metal miniatures.
My first impression is one of impressive solidity.  These are not frail scanty miniatures.
They have a lot of weight and metal to them. The set of five are unique miniatures: no repeats.

Note: This includes a Luftle (smaller miniature in the foreground) which is not part of the Palaudis set.

Taking a close look at the miniatures I was very impressed with the cleanness of the cast.
I found no casting flaws.
Flash was almost non-existent and the mold lines were few and easy to clean up.
They have textured, integrated bases, which are pretty thin so they'll be fine for gluing them to other bases.
The minis are also quite '3-D' for being single-casting, not the flat 2-D so common in many.
So all in all for casting: nicely sculpted, good variety and very clean. Any novice would have no problem at all getting these minis ready for gaming.

Here is detail from the back of the chieftain miniature.  Some nice detail here!

One thing I noticed is that not all of the Occulites are the same size:

Look at these two.  Similar, but a noticeable size difference.  I like this!  Size variation is something most miniatures don't take into account, mostly because variation is obtained by swapping heads on the same standard bodies, or from plastic kits with the same size parts.  The one on the right to me looks like a young adult of the species, or perhaps a female? Or for that matter, perhaps a male in a female-dominant species? 

Whether from sexual dimorphism or age difference, it's nice to see some variety.  

So once the miniatures are inspected & cleaned up, you have to decide how to base them, if you're going to.

You could of course decide not to base them, just using the integrated textured bases, like old style RPG minis. They're plenty sturdy enough if you want to go this route, but most people prefer to base miniatures for added protection and a uniform look.  

Therefore, let's take a look at some common bases for options:

The standard 25mm round slotta base. 

The integrated base would need to be trimmed, and it'd be a close fit, but workable.

A round 25mm plastic base without bevels. 

A better fit than the beveled base. Some might need slight trimming, the mini does overhang some still.

A 30mm round mdf base without bevels. 

No base trimming needed and only the most extreme parts of the minis overhang the base. 

A 30mm round-lip base. 

Some integrated base trimming will be needed.  Less area for ground-work than the base above. 

I didn't photo with square bases, but you can estimate from the pictures.  A 25mm square base does give more room to work with than a 25mm round base and would probably be the base size to chose for square. 

Whatever your base size preference for what you commonly game, you can probably use fine for these minis

For me, I chose the 30mm mdf bases. Reason being, I like the base size to give some room around the miniature for groundwork, so that it isn't too tight on the base.  Also, a 30mm base gives it the right footprint for Hordes, and I could image using these as proxies for Bog Trogs.  Also, I have in mind to use these for the Pulp Prehistory rules I'm writing and for those minis I've been using 25mm, 30mm & 40mm round bases without bevels or lips, so they'll fit well with the rest of them. 

Here are the minis after basing:

With some texture and stray rocks they're ready to go.  The smaller Luftle is on a 25mm base. 

Here's a comparison shot of an Occulite with a Copplestone Cave Man:

I'm sure I'll want to try out the Rise of the Occulite game, but from this I can see they'll also make a fun and unusual addition to the world of the Paleolithic! 

Price:

The Darwin Games site sells them for $7.95 each for most and $10.95 for the chief, Australian dollars, or $40 AUS for the set of 5.  Splintered Light also sells some, maybe more convenient for those in North America, but availability might be more limited than it was in April when I last looked.  

So how do I rate them? 

Rating: 

Casting: 10/10

Cleverness of Design: 9/10

Aesthetics: 10/10

I'm quite impressed with these quirky miniatures.  I can't fault them on the cleverness of design category, since they are well designed within the limits of single casting.  It might have been nice to have some multi-part options, which could then give potential for more variety, but considering that there are 5 unique miniatures in a set of 5 it wouldn't be much of an issue unless getting 3 or more packs.  Since there are several other tribes to chose from I don't find this to be a significant issue.  Aesthetics is of course up to personal taste, so speaking for myself they appeal to me. 

As I said in April, in addition to their intended Game, I could see these easily fitting in with Fantasy, Science Fiction, Pulp and Horror settings.  Never a bad thing to have multiple options for your miniatures. 

In the near future I'll paint these and give you a look at how they turn out.

Thanks for reading!

Dwarf Tigers Invade the Pitch!

The most dreaded kick off result! A pride of Dwarf Tigers burst out onto the pitch, mauling all as they sweep through, limbs flying freely through the air, trailing splendid spirals of blood to rain down to the turf.

To make matters worse, the Tigers are there to play, they are your opposing team!

This team was commissioned to be based off of both a historic and a theoretical Cincinnati Bengals. 

The uniform came from an artists concept of a future alternate Bengal uniform scheme and the numbers were chosen for a team from -some year- that they went to the super bowl.  -I'll admit- I love Blood Bowl, but I don't follow sports, it's never had any interest for me, so the specifics of that were lost on me.  But all the numbers are players who are appropriate for their dwarf representation.  Grimm, in the center above, bears the number of a player who I was told didn't get to play because of being arrested for cocaine. And so in his mustache to the side of his nose ring I gave him some evidence to be collected.  I'm sure it's just powder from a dwarf mine- probably some alabaster - a good lawyer should see him able to play next game. 

More of the team:

Runners

Blitzers

Blockers

Bomber & Chainsaw: Goblins aren't the only ones who use these!

The Deathroller!

Tokens

The Team (click for larger) 

They now join the Hall of Fame page here on the blog.

More of a top-view.

This was one of the most challenging uniforms I've done, since every one is a bit different.  

Over this many players that is a lot of variety in swirl-stripes to generate. But I like the overall effect.  

Maybe this kind of nearly 'dazzle' camouflage gives the team an edge on the field.

At any rate there is nothing more deadly than a Tiger lose in the field! 

Enjoy... but be careful!

Surrender Yer Doubloons or Walk the Plank Out the Airlock!

It has been a very busy year. I have yet to get around to painting the prize-booty of the Class III & IV Space Pirates I won in the Hydra Miniatures contest.  Drat. But they are on the list!

Class II Space Pirate.  Void Hawk clan. 

In the meantime, Hydra has a sale going right now, ending August 7th.
It's 20% off everything except the new releases.

I have 2 fleets painted, but 3 as yet unpainted...but I'm tempted to pick up a few more ships to round them out, as well as some of the Retro Raygun 28mm minis- I have an idea of a multi-scale game I could run at a Con in the future.. and the new Ugg spearmen would be a very fun addition to the 'Pulp Prehistory' rules I'm writing. Oh so many projects!

Speaking of anthropomorphic dino-aliens awhile back... 

Hydra also has a FREE pdf of new rules for the Space Pirate fleet for War Rocket.

Not only is my humble offering of the Void Hawks background within this pdf, but the rules for the Space Pirates Customization, found on page 7, where written by yours truly as well.

In weeks to come I'll do a full review of the Space Pirate miniatures (to supplement the initial review I did) , though before that I'll be adding a review of the Galacteer fleet, to add to the Zenithian, Imperial & Valkeeri I've already done.

In the meantime, go check out Hydra's sale and new minis- lots of fun stuff!

I should say, I'm just a fan- despite having some material in the latest pdf I'm not part of the company nor get any profit or material gain, I just appreciate cool independent minis when I find them. 

Well Hell. We Lose Another We Need.

Other than April, with the A-Z challenge, I don't go off the trail of Minis & The Hobby much here, but this hit me too deeply.  Gore Vidal died.  Granted he had lived a long and productive life, but there are some people who are so important to their time & place in history that no matter how late in life they leave it, it doesn't seem like we are adequately prepared to cover the loss.

Just a couple years ago George Carlin died, and late last year it was Christopher Hitchens. And now Gore Vidal.  Seems my favorite socio-political people are dying out.  I don't really see many ready to step up to fill their place either.  Is the world changing to be one where we won't see their like? Not a happy thought.

I'd put Vidal in the same camp as Mark Twain or Socrates.  Mr. Clemens took an honest look at the world he lived in and made everyone else look at it too.  We need such people, who will point out when something is dangerous, when it is cruel, corrupt, when it lies to us, rather than ride it for their own advancement.

Whether a person liked his conclusions or not, Vidal had an honest concern for freedom and fairness for individuals. He wasn't afraid to question the direction our entire system is leading us.
The media is flooded with political dishonest distraction.  Today both sides of the political spectrum dance around the same nonsense, avoiding the bigger issues of the structure of our system itself.  It is not in the self-interest of politicians of either side to face these issues, and few seem to do it from any walk of life, but Gore Vidal did, and now he's gone.

We have so few in our society with the commanding presence to be heard against the sea of approved bickering narrative, it really pains me that we lost one of the strongest voices. I'm struggling to think of who might be left.

I think intelligent people can disagree and have different ideas of what is 'best', but I don't think our system promotes any of that on either 'side' anymore.

Aside from many of his more serious endeavors, I highly recommend the mockumentary movie "Bob Roberts" where Vidal has a role as an incumbent senator in an election.  The movie is funny as well as prophetic.  Great film.

I think on it now and then, minis wargaming does focus on war: battle, conflict, killing.
I think there is nothing wrong with gaming these things- it is a game, a mental exercise to relax and puzzle the mind a bit.  But when societies use real military: our lives, our wealth, our production as a game for few to control and benefit from, there is a big problem.  It is nice that Vidal does credit Eisenhower with warning us of this, the power of the military industrial complex, but I can't help feeling that there is no way a President today could warn of it, and keep his job. Neither the right nor left would touch this today.  He'd be finished as surely as when Carter warned about rampant consumerism.  But why? When these warnings are good and honest and for the benefit of everyone.  Clearly something is wrong.

Well, enjoy the history bits and Bob Roberts clip:

And just for fun, one more: