Collaboration: Mordheim Chaos Dwarf painted

Miles drowned rivers. Seek eyeless dwarf. Ridden headless horse. Arrive reverse echo. Deliver skinless prize.

Earlier this year, I started collecting Chaos Dwarf models to create a warband for Mordheim. Rather than extensively convert the warband, like I did with my Sister's of Sigmar warband, I wanted to create this one using old miniatures from the 80s, leaning into the Oldhammer theme. After scouring eBay, I collected a group of six of the ancient models. Rather than paint the first model in the warband, we got one of our favorite painters and friends, Koltti, to paint it! We think that you will agree that the model turned out wonderfully! Also, make sure to follow Koltti on Instagram and consider supporting him on Patreon so that he can continue to create miniature works of art.

Under the Dice Fest 2025: Day 2

"No one should ever be caged."

In the past few years, the three of us at Between the Bolter and Me have made an effort to attend more gaming events and conventions, although, to be honest, we have primarily been attending events hosted by the Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew. May 16, 17, and 18 of this year was the 2nd Under the Dice Fest, and Adam and Greg made the trip to Connecticut to attend! The Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew have been tirelessly promoting the weirder and independent side of the miniature-based tabletop wargaming hobby. They have been shining a bright light on hobbyists who are interested in telling their own stories through miniature gaming, as well as those who are willing to step outside the scope of the game rules as written, or even create their games and miniatures, to do so. Every event they host is a gathering of amazing, like-minded people who are passionate about their interpretation of the miniature wargaming hobby, and something we do not want to miss.

The 2nd day of Under the Dice Fest 2025 featured this year’s New England Mordheim Open event, a competitive event for Games Workshop’s classic fantasy skirmish game, Mordheim. The event had an impressive 109 players battling over 54 lovingly crafted tables. Participants played three games throughout the event.

Under the Dice Fest 2025: Day 1

While darkness and ill-tidings are certainly the theme of many of the games played at Under the Dice Fest 2025, the camaraderie and friendship on display at the event was just the opposite.

In the past few years, the three of us at Between the Bolter and Me have made an effort to attend more gaming events and conventions, though if we are being honest, it has largely just been attending events hosted by the Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew. May 16, 17, and 18 of this year was the 2nd Under the Dice Fest, and Adam and Greg made the trip to Connecticut to attend! The Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew have been tirelessly promoting the weirder and independent side of the miniature-based tabletop wargaming hobby. They have been shining a bright light on those hobbyists that are interested in telling their own stories through miniature gaming, and those who are willing to step outside of the scope of the game rules as written, or even create their own games and miniatures, to do it. Every event that they host is a gathering of amazing, like-minded people passionate about their interpretation of the miniature wargaming hobby, and something we do not want to miss.

Mordheim: Chaos Dwarf reinforcements

Desolation Hexx.

I recently started to create a Chaos Dwarf warband for Mordheim. Rather than extensively convert the warband, like I did with my Sister's of Sigmar warband, I wanted to create this one using old miniatures from the 80s, leaning into the Oldhammer theme. Last month I trimmed and assembled the first three models for the warband. This month I continued the process and added three more dwarves to the warband!

Mordheim: Chaos Dwarves

Cartography of Suffering.

Mordheim has always been a game that is easy to come back to. For some time now, I have been interested in trying my hand at building a new warband with a slightly different focus from my normal realistic approach. Instead of heavily converting models I want to focus on using Oldhammer models. The warband I am interested in is the Chaos Dwarves, though not necessarily the big hatted ones. I set my sights on the old Marauder Chaos Dwarf line sculpted by Aly Morrison. Through some eBay searching I was able to acquire three. Each one wears armor with a more sinister and brutalist look than the big hats popularized by the Games Workshop Chaos dwarves.

Under the Dice Fest: Day 2

Under the Dice Fest Day 2.

We were fortunate enough to be able to attend Under the Dice Fest 2024 at the end of January. The first day was focused around the New England Mordheim Open event, which we covered in an earlier post. The second day was primarily focused around open gaming, though there were a few small events taking place: a Marvel Crisis Protocol tournament, a Magic: The Gather Commander Tournament, and the Flames of Orion World Championship. We also had the opportunity to set up some boards to play games set on Vastarian!

Under the Dice Fest: Day 1

Under the Dice Fest Day 1.

On the last weekend of January, we were fortunate to be able to attend Under the Dice Fest 2024, a small festival in Massachusetts celebrating miniature-based tabletop wargaming. The festival was designed to appeal to those who shy away from the mainstream iterations of the miniature wargaming hobby, focusing on those who want play the games on their own terms, sometimes outside of the scope of the game rules as written, or those who want to play old games which are no longer supported by their publishers. It is highlighting those who are more concerned with telling a story with the miniatures they build than with creating something that would be optimal in terms of a game’s rule system. Last week, we reported on the day prior to the event (Day 0). Now we want to showcase some of the photos we took from the first full day of the fest, including pictures from the second annual New England Mordheim Open (NEMO) event. This year we didn't actually play in NEMO, as we didn't have new warbands to use and wanted to just hangout and talk with people (and take photos!). Learning from last year, the organizers reduced the number of games played during NEMO to three (a multiplayer game was not played this year). This allowed all the games to be comfortably played throughout the day without anyone rushing. In addition to NEMO, we also recorded interviews with some of the attendees of the first day, which you can listen to here!

Under the Dice Fest: Day 0

Under the Dice Fest Day 0.

One of the most exciting parts of 2023 was taking part in the New England Mordheim Open (NEMO), held by the Under the Dice/Hive Scum group. When NEMO 2024 was announced, this time as part of Under the Dice Fest, we knew it was something that we needed to attend, primarily to see so many of our hobby friends, including many who were at the Rich Grimmond event last year. Like last year, we took along all of our recording equipment, for interviewing people at the event, along with our Vastarian warbands and Bill Ford’s (the_ruin.501) Church board. We decided to drive to Connecticut the day before the event kicked off to see Hive Scum’s studio space and see if we could play some games before the controlled chaos of NEMO 2024.

Smash Bash 2023: Birthed in Blood

The pitfighter towers over these Sisters of Sigmar.

Earlier this month I showed the conversion for my entry into this year’s Smash Bash: a brutal pitfighter whose existence is violence and blood. The original model was sculpted by Lux Thantor Miniatures and is being sold by Totally Not Panicking to celebrate Smash Bash. I tried to channel Blood Meridian energy in the model to create a paragon of mankinds’ ultimate trade: war.

Smash Bash 2023: Mordheim Pitfighter Conversion

Smash Bash, an annual miniature competition to create gruesome and evocative miniatures, is hosting its third competition entitled Brackish Birth! Entries are due by April 28th, this month. To celebrate the third year of the competition, Totally Not Panicking commissioned Lux Thantor Miniatures to create Schopenhauer, an Undead Knight. I thought it might be fun to convert the model to enter the competition, creating a pitfighter for Mordheim, a battered and downtrodden warrior birthed in blood. Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian was on my mind when creating the model; the pitfighter is a practitioner of mankinds’ ultimate trade: war. And like the character Toadvine, the pitfighter would have a necklace of ears!

Dragged into Turbolasers: New England Mordheim Open 2023

In this bonus episode, we were at the New England Mordheim Open 2023 event and got the opportunity to chat with some of the people who made it out to play in the event, along with some of the hosts, the Hive Scum/Under the Dice crew. The episode begins with the three of us talking briefly about what we are expecting the evening before the event, followed by the various interviews during the event.

New England Mordheim Open 2023: a recap

Back Into the City of the Damned.

Hot on the heels of Mordheim 2022, we drove up to Chicopee, MA to play in the New England Mordheim Open, held by Under the Dice/Hive Scum group. It was an amazing event with well over 40 people coming together to celebrate the hobby and play Mordheim, a game not supported by Games Workshop for over 20 years. The event took place in a single day, with each player participating in four games. In addition to playing Mordheim, we also brought some of our recording equipment along and were able to interview some of the people at the event and those running it. It is hard to express how fun the event was, meeting so many cool people and playing some fun games on a huge number of amazing boards. Although it cannot come close to conveying the magnitude of the event, below are some of the photos we took during the day. We hope you enjoy them and cannot wait to participate in the next NEMO event!

Mordheim 2022: Witch Hunter games

Misery is the river of the world.

As a follow up to Eric’s two posts about his experiences playing his Undead warband at the Mordheim 2022 event, I wanted to describe my experiences. As followers of this website may know, of my brothers and I, I do not do much in the way of building models and painting, largely due to mental health issues, which you can hear more about on episode 91 of our podcast. When I attended the Mordheim 2019 event in Helsinki, Ana Polanšćak was kind enough to build a Witch Hunters warband for me to use. After the event, she very generously gifted me four of the miniatures from the warband. For this new event, I decided it would be fun to use those miniatures and explore what has happened to them in the three years that have elapsed since. 

Mordheim 2022: Undead Final game

Once I heard the words “Meat Grinder” spoken aloud in a tavern. Did I see who said these words? No. It could have been anyone in that squalid domicile. I knew they spoke of a vampire. Certainly. A no life king that could not be seen via conventional means, the corrupting touch of wyrdstone stealing ever more of what tied it to the realms of mankind. Murmurs told of Reiklanders twisted until deformation, rupturing into bloody pieces. Bands of mercenaries flayed into grisly smears. By 2020 IC, talk of the “Meat Grinder” faded to obscurity, save rumors that even the ratmen of Eshin chittered of a faceless stygian terror in cursed tunnels. And now in the calendar year 2022, the ratmen are gone. I hear people whispering of it everywhere. Perhaps everyone touched by that place has known all along. I am called back to the City of the Damned. I am called to Mordheim.

- Naewen, savant of Thrax

Late last month I got the opportunity to play a fabulous Mordheim event in Houston Texas! While we had an initial post showing some photos from the event, I also wrote one detailing the first three games I played at the event with my Undead warband. I had the opportunity to play one final game at the event, which I wanted to recount in this post. It was against the legendary Jimmy Henriksson (@the_phoenecian), who also took part in Mordheim 2019!

Mordheim 2022: Undead games 1-3

The Undead warband for Mordheim 2022.

Once I heard the words “Meat Grinder” spoken aloud in a tavern. Did I see who said these words? No. It could have been anyone in that squalid domicile. I knew they spoke of a vampire. Certainly. A no life king that could not be seen via conventional means, the corrupting touch of wyrdstone stealing ever more of what tied it to the realms of mankind. Murmurs told of Reiklanders twisted until deformation, rupturing into bloody pieces. Bands of mercenaries flayed into grisly smears. By 2020 IC, talk of the “Meat Grinder” faded to obscurity, save rumors that even the ratmen of Eshin chittered of a faceless stygian terror in cursed tunnels. And now in the calendar year 2022, the ratmen are gone. I hear people whispering of it everywhere. Perhaps everyone touched by that place has known all along. I am called back to the City of the Damned. I am called to Mordheim.
                                                                                                        - Naewen, savant of Thrax

Mordheim 2022: a recap

One of Jimmy Henriksson’s cultist brethren gazing over the squalor of the City of the Damned.

After all of the anticipation, planning, converting, and painting, Mordheim 2022 has come and gone, and it was glorious! Hobbyists from all over converged in Houston, Texas to celebrate the skirmish wargame Mordheim. The level of talent and passion involved was staggering, mirroring Mordheim 2019, which celebrated the game’s 20th anniversary. Mordheim 2022 was too large to be adequately covered in a single post, as it spanned three days, and was accompanied with too many excellent people, so we plan to separate our coverage of Mordheim 2022 into multiple posts, including covering many of the games we played, the terrain we played on, and hopefully a podcast or two! This initial post is going to be a short one, including a few photos in an attempt to capture some of the magic of the long weekend. We also wanted to express our thanks to everyone involved in the event, especially Bill Ford (@the_ruin.501) for making it all happen and thinking of us when considering who to invite. Words cannot adequately convey how fantastic the event was, filled with inspiring models and towering terrain, and some of the best people in the miniature hobby. It was wonderful to meet old friends and create new ones, bonding over a shared love of Mordheim. And while the event may be over, our excitement for the game, hobby, and continuing to connect with the hobby community could not be stronger!

Mordheim 2022 Invitational: Zombie painted

A zombie alongside some unfortunates from the City of the Damned.

Just in time for Mordheim 2022, which is only days away, I painted the zombie that was converted earlier in the year. The zombie will supplement the Undead warband I created for the Mordheim 2019 event. I will make sure to let you know how the zombie does at the event!

Mordheim 2022: Elf Ranger

An elf ranger next to Mad Meg!

Continuing on the theme of Mordheim, since the Mordheim 2022 event in Houston, Texas is less than a week away, I wanted to showcase an old model I found when looking through the models I painted before starting Between the Bolter and Me. Specifically, I am referring to one of the Hired Sword models Games Workshop released alongside the other Mordheim warbands, the elf ranger. Although I was not playing Mordheim at the time, I painted the model some 15 years ago simply because I liked the model. Upon reflection, the model is a little wonky, with an odd pose and proportions, but I still generally like the model, and even think the paint job holds up. If I were to redo the model, I would give the elf a smaller sword, more befitting his lithe frame.

Mordheim 2022 Invitational: Mad Meg

Mad Meg with two Sisters of Sigmar by her side.

Mordheim 2022 is less than a week away, and I am happy to say I finished painting another model to supplement my Sisters of Sigmar warband from Mordheim 2019. She is a converted version of the Mad Meg promotional model sculpted by Michael Anderson for the Mordheim 2019 event. I have had the model unpainted for quite some time, and am happy to say she finally has paint on her, and she can join the other veteran Sisters of Sigmar!

Mordheim 2022 Invitational: Choir Member

Into the City of the Damned once more!

 

With Mordheim 2022 rapidly approaching, I decided that I wanted to use my Sisters of Sigmar warband from Mordheim 2019. With this in mind, I wanted to convert a new model to join the warband. Looking over some of Games Workshop’s more recent releases, I realized the vampire from the Exiled Dead warband for Warhammer Underworlds would be a good fit. The model’s tall stature and trench coat reminded me of Alexander Winberg’s Sisters of Sigmar warband, the Choir, a faction of the Sisterhood who stands guard to someone deep within an oubliette within the sanctums of the Rock. For my 2019 warband, I actually converted a member of the Choir, following Alex’s design, and felt it would be neat to create another!