32, Episode 4: Drachenfels

The start of Warhammer Horror.

For the fourth episode of 32, Eric Wier and Alexander Winberg talk about the 1989 horror classic Drachenfels by Kim Newman, of the Anno Dracula fame. We chat about the novel’s interesting place in the Old World, and how things have both stayed the same and also changed in the Warhammer world since it was first written. We also talk about its unusual characters and interesting plot structure: a jailed playwright and vampire from Bretonnia creating a dramatization of the defeat of the dreaded Drachenfels.

Oldhammer: Olden Demon 2022 Knight

Empire Knight next to Slambo, warrior of Chaos.

Just in time for chilvers_industries Olden Demon 2022 painting competition, I finished painting the ancient sergeant model from the Death on the Reik line of models I selected earlier in the month! I decided to base the paint scheme on a piece of John Blanche art, giving me the opportunity to practice painting yellow, along with my freehand.

Oldhammer: Olden Demon 2022 model selections

A Rogue Trader era MKVI Space Marine (left) that will be repainted, next to a MKIV and Primaris Space Marine.

It is that time of year again, and chilvers_industries is holding Olden Demon 2022, a painting competition that asks you to paint an old metal model, making sure to paint the base the nostalgic Goblin Green (as was prevalent in the 90s)! We participated for the first time last year by painting an old Space Ork emulating the style of Nicklas Pilhlstrom. This year both Adam and Eric decided they wanted to try to paint something, and spent some time deliberating on what would fit the theme. After painting a Rogue Trader model last year, Adam decided on painting an ancient knight from Warhammer Fantasy Battles, from the Death on the Reik line. When looking through an old case of miniatures, Eric found an old MKVI apothecary Space Marine, which was actually from the second blister pack we ever purchased in our youth. Seeing the model rekindled old memories, and with the upcoming new plastic MKVI marines, it seemed an ideal model to repaint to a higher standard. Now that we found the models, we just have to paint them before the end of May!

Unboxing: Stormcast Eternal Lord-Celestant

The first few Stormcast...

Having played a few games of Age of Sigmar while proxying my Dark Angels as Stormcast Eternals, I was really impressed with some of their character models, particularly the rune sword and warhammer-wielding Lord-Celestant.  Despite being geared for close combat, he wears a Sigmarite Warcloak that gives him D6 shooting attacks which have the possibility of causing Mortal wounds.  What makes him truly impressive, however is his command ability (Furious Retribution), that allows himself and any other Stormcast Eternal within 9” to add 1 to all their hit rolls in close combat.  In my first few games of Age of Sigmar, he was able to boost the killing potential of a unit of Retributors, allowing me to tear through pretty much anything my opponent could throw at them.  After having so much fun using the Lord-Celestant in game (I had been proxying an Emperor’s Champion), I decided to get the model itself.

Age of Sigmar: First few games

It has been about a month since Age of Sigmar burst onto the gaming scene, like the burning radiance of Ghal Maraz.  With the freely available rules, new models (Space Marines in fantasy!), and a complete lack of point values for units, it was an exciting, if not slightly bewildering, time.  Now that the initial excitement has died down (likely due to the slow trickle of singular releases each week), and I have had a chance to play a few games, I decided it was a good time to tell you my current impressions of Age of Sigmar as a game.

Age of Sigmar: Initial Impressions of the Miniatures

The Age of Sigmar begins.

Warhammer Fantasy has seen a slow but steady demise since the release of 8th edition back in 2010. Although they released revised rules for most of the armies in the new edition, they tended to be sparsely updated versions of their previous books, to bring them inline with the ill-favored new rule set.  Interestingly, it took GW destroying everything in the setting through the End Times to renew people's’ interest in Warhammer (admittedly, I think the increased interest had more to do with them finally releasing truly exciting models and remaking old classics, accompanied with new interesting background and artwork, rather than the fact that things were ending, but I digress). Although people were excited about End Times, it inherently left fans uncertain what was going to happen to their beloved game, and we have all been in an uneasy limbo since the Warhammer world ended, waiting to see where Games Workshop would go. After months of vague rumors and unsatisfying teases from GW, pictures of their new game Age of Sigmar have finally leaked across the internet (thanks Lady Atia!).  While these pictures have left more questions than provided answers, they are quite striking, and I wanted to talk a little about my impression of the new models and the direction their design seems to be going.

Putrid Blightkings: Converting additional Death Guard terminators

"In the embrace of the great Nurgle, I am no longer afraid, for with His pestilential favour I have become that which I once most feared: Death."

In an earlier post, we at Between the Bolter and Me described converting a Death Guard terminator by combining parts from the Putrid Blightking box and a set of Catapharactii pattern terminators. While we still have not finished that first Death Guard terminator, we could not contain ourselves and began to forge on ahead by converting two additional squad members, again using the Putrid Blightkings as a foundation. We are excited with the progress on all three and thought people would be interested in seeing them and learning a little about the creative process that went into making them.

Putrid Blightkings: Death Guard terminator conversion

Embrace the madness in your soul!

In our last post about the Putrid Blightkings, we talked at length about how they are uniquely poised to be the foundation of all manner of interesting conversions. In our minds, the most obvious was utilizing them to make a range of interesting and unique plague marines and plague terminators for Warhammer 40k. Since the models are so complex and layered, it quickly became clear that a simple weapons swap would not do the models justice, and that they would require more significant modeling work. I am happy to report that work is well underway for the first of these conversions, an ancient Death Guard terminator! This post is geared around showing my progress on the conversion and talking about some of my thoughts on how I might finish him and what to do with the rest of the squad. Hopefully I can get some opinions from all of you about the unfinished aspects of the conversion!

Putrid Blightkings: Impressions

Grandfather Nurgle is proud.

Since its release, Brian Nelson’s Nurgle Chaos lord has been a key component to countless imaginative conversions.  In particular, it has been championed by the Inq28 crowd to make everything from daemonhosts to weapon servators (JRN’s daemonhost and Migula’s weapon smith, are excellent examples).  It is not difficult to understand why the model has received so much attention, it is both hideous and majestic in its corpulent, rotting splendor, dripping with vile ichors and donned in corroding metal.  It was also one of the first plastic character models Games Workshop released that, while multi-part, was intended to be assembled in one way.  By restricting the the posing, they were able to produce models with astounding depth, with parts layering on top of another (Malifaux plastic miniatures excel in this, as well).  As such, I was very excited when the Putrid Blightkings, a whole unit of foetid servants of Nurgle, much like Nelson’s model, were unveiled.

The End Times: Nagash rerisen

The End Times are upon us.

Games Workshop is regarded as the premier manufacturer of wargame miniatures in the world for good reason but, as with any entity as prolific as Games Workshop, it is not surprising that some of the models they release are not masterpieces.  This is particularly true when looking at some of their older models, where technology and resources were limiting.  I imagine a few models jump to your mind immediately while contemplating Games Workshop’s worst models, but one that I am sure everyone can agree upon (at least if you have been in the hobby long enough to know of the model) is the old Nagash model.  As a being so powerful that he destroyed the great civilization of Nehekhara and devised the art of necromancy, going so far as creating the first Vampires, you would expect an equally impressive model, one that puts virtually everything else to shame.  But instead Nagash was the opposite, a laughable caricature, with balloon feet and hands and a face reminiscent of Iron Maiden’s mascot Eddie.  So you can imagine my excitement, and a bit of reservation, when I heard rumors that Nagash was getting a new model after all these years.  With official pictures being released by Game Workshop last Friday, I figured that I would talk a little about my thoughts on this excellent reinvisioning of a classic Warhammer character.

Dark Elves: New possibilities for Dark Eldar and others!

The new Dark Elf models are just begging to be converted!

This past weekend marked the first wave of releases for the new Dark Elves army book. With a release schedule somewhat reminiscent of the Dark Eldar in 2011, the army is slated to have a second wave of releases in the near future. Taken together, these two waves largely see a complete resculpting of the army’s range of miniatures. This is an exciting time for the Dark generals of Naggaroth and the Warhammer 40k generals alike. This new set of releases offers a large collection of new pieces suitable for all sorts of conversions, be it individualizing some Dark Eldar warriors, or converting an INQ28 death cult assassin. With this post I wanted to talk a little about some of the new releases and my thoughts about them and how I envision them being used in conversions as well (this is greatly facilitated by all of the releases being in plastic!).

Chaos Daemons: Impressions of the new models

Another new codex so soon after the Dark Angels?  I did not think it was possible!

Over the years, the Chaos daemons have had numerous waves of releases, some were superb while others have leaned towards abysmal. Now, it seems they will be getting another swath of new models and even new books, both for Warhammer and 40k. This is not long after receiving a White Dwarf update and new miniatures to go along with it last year (including plastic Flamers  and Screamers of Tzeentch, plastic Plaguebears and Nurglings, and a some Slaanesh chariots). While some of these pictures have been floating around the web for a few days now, I wanted to wait for Games Workshop to put up clearer images. In this post I will comment on the new models while referencing the old models to bring up some points about their evolution.