A Knight For All Seasons

"Ar-thur!"

I think every old wargamer acquires a handful of Space Marines: whether intentionally or otherwise, they just sort of appear. Similarly, I suspect that every new wargamer ends up with a few Stormcast Eternals - or, to give them their usual name, Sigmarines.

So, I thought I'd have a go at one of my Sigmarines. Clearly, they're not human, as they're too big and the proportions are different (actually, they're probably more realistically-proportioned, but still). I happened to see this complete weirdness, which reminds me of some of the better stuff in the Blanchitsu/Aos28 style:

Some sort of wild Arthurian person seemed like a good idea. I replaced the strange blank-faced Sigmarine helmet with a mad-looking head from the Empire Flagellants set, and cut an axe down from a couple of Chaos weapons - a Nurgle champion provided the blade, and the haft came from a marauder.

Not-very-helpful WIP

The shield was a very old shield that I found knocking around, probably from 1995 or so. I originally wanted to give him a massive circular shield with a design quite like the wheel of fortune in the Green Knight trailer, but it covered up too much of the model. Also, the shield I've given him follows the line of his leg quite nicely and draws the eye towards his face (I hope).

The armour was painted to look rusty, and I went for a variety of natural colours on the robes, vaguely suggestive of the seasons. I'm not sure on the checks on the shield. It seems to be obligatory in the darker end of Warhammer, but I don't know if it really goes with the model. At any rate, they took ages to paint, so they're staying.

Actually, he looks a bit like Sir Launcelot at the end of the bonkers 1981 film Excalibur (which I suspect had quite an influence on Warhammer's chaos knights). I wonder if I could make a warband like this? Perhaps a priestess and a dryad, with some obligatory loonies? Hmm.

Meanwhile, at Ye Worlde of Disneye

Hardwired 2 - Redneck Rescue!

Far out in the wastelands, surrounded by ruins and damaged cars, there stands an old gas station. One of our science team has set up a base in the garage, bringing in salvaged items from the wastes for repair. However, jealous yokels have captured her, potentially for dinner. As smoke from the redneck cannibals' cooking fire darkens the air, the alien overlords of the Conglomerate send out their minions to snatch the researcher and her data. An elite team assembles to rescue the researcher and bring her back home, before she falls into the wrong hands...

Yes, it's Hardwired again! This time, I played one of the other missions in the rulebook, namely the Seraph Protocol Mission. There were three objectives: kill the guards (in this case, the marauding yokels), disable the researcher's implanted cortex bomb (in this case, probably a stick of dynamite in a bucket) and usher her off the far side of the board.

The team assembled at one side of the board. Far away, their target stood between two guards.

It wasn't going to be easy getting her out of danger.

But actually, it was. The two thugs hit the ground in the first turn's shooting, and the team's hacker swiftly disabled the crude bomb. However, the enemy were gathering...

So the team ducked inside the gas station and took up positions.

A horde of thugs rushed the side of the gas station, looking to capture the flank and the priceless moonshine still inside.

And a team of heavily-armoured alien soldiers burst onto the scene, attacking from the front!

The team came out with guns blazing. The entire mob of enemies was cut down with three grenades and some vicious shooting. The team's medic sustained a wound but thankfully was able to patch himself up. Seeing her chance, the researcher fled off the table, and the mission was a success! The heroes settled down to enjoy the treasure trove of salvaged junk, and to make the most of the moonshine still.

This was another fast, enjoyable game using the Hardwired rules. As before, the game gets much, much harder as it goes on, as enemies pour into the area. It's frantic stuff, and I think I might have forgotten a couple of rules - but I forgot them equally, so the game remained as fair as ever. On the Give 'Em Lead blog, Maj Guiscard suggested making cards for the various types of agent - if I do much more Hardwired, I might give this a try.

Hardwired is built for one sort of game, bascially, but it might be interesting to try something a bit different. Making all the enemies medium-tough, but only giving them close combat weapons, might lead to an interesting Starship Troopers-type game. At any rate, it's an easy and enjoyable set of single-player rules, provided that you're prepared to improvise a little.

Zoat!

Who likes zoats? I do! Zoats were one of the oddest creatures produced by GW in the old days, and don't appear to have been an entirely original creation, rather than "inspired" by something else. They looked rather like a centaur crossed with a dinosaur, or perhaps a ninja turtle with a pair of extra legs and less ninja stuff (so a turtle?). In Warhammer 40,000, they were creations of the tyranid fleets, but many had escaped and worked as freelance mercenaries. They lived off three Zoatibix per day. Honestly, they did. It's in Rogue Trader.

In Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the zoats lived in forests and seemed to be vaguely friendly creatures. They had magical abilities and were quite tough. Sadly, they disappeared from the lore at the start of the Red Period. However, it appears that zoats didn't die - they only ate some lettuce and went into hibernation. For a new zoat model has been revealed for the 40k game Blackstone Fortress, presumably as a villain.

Anyhow, all of this inspired me to dig out my own old fantasy zoat model and have another go at painting him. He's bigger than I remembered: back in the old days, you could cram a model like this onto a standard cavalry base, but really he deserves something larger so I've put him on a modern oval base. He seems to be armed with a magic orb and the traditional weapon of the zoats, a massive steel Fererro Rocher with which to bash people who make fun of his Zoatibix.

Once again, this is an old model that's a real pleasure to make. I used two green washes over a white undercoat - one all over and a darker one mixed with Strongtone to shade - and then highlighted the majority of the hide with white and the underbelly with yellow.

I would have liked to put some flowers on his base - despite tufts of grass and rocks made from cork, it feels a bit empty. Anyhow, I like him. A real Oldhammer model!

The Spirit Horde Rises!

Among the sisters of the Order of Saint Triniana, whenever a sister is slain in battle, her body is taken back to the grand catacombs beneath the priory for burial. But sometimes, when a battle sister has unfinished work to do, the Emperor permits her a second chance, and her death-shroud becomes infused with her sacred spirit. Some say that, late at night, the shrouds rise from the bodies they once covered and the Shrouded Ones can be seen wafting about, looking for enemies to slay.

The sisters make use of such spirits, binding them into a sanctified Rhino known as the Sanctus Mobilitate. In battle, they are unleashed upon the enemy, cutting the enemy with long blades, and melting the unclean with sorcerous blasts. At such times, it is best to look away.



This week, I've continued work on the remaining four Myrmourn Banshees as replacement arco-flagellants for the sisters of battle.

I thought it would be nice to give one of the spirits a human face, like the angels in Raiders of the Lost Ark just before they go into killing-mode. I used a Statuesque Miniatures female head (they seem to be the best option for this available). This actually turned into a more complex conversion that I'd anticipated, because the models are rather flimsy and the pieces don't connect very much. I ended up using a lot of green stuff, which I dislike as it's so difficult to smooth down. She's the one in the middle, and the basic model is the one behind her.

At the end of the day, I think the conversion works OK, but I'm glad that I only attempted it on one of the models. I also pitched the human-faced angel forwards, by drilling a new hole in her base, so she's flying along parallel with the ground instead of rising into the sky shrieking.

Here is the finished unit. I really like these models. The design is great and the sense of movement is terrific.

The optimum number of models in an arco-flagellant unit seems to be nine, because you can fit them into a Rhino and add an imperial preacher to boost their abilities. That means that I need one more of these chaps, and I've got a special plan for her.


Incidentally, here are four similar conversions I did a while ago: they're also Age of Sigmar Nighthaunts, but these are Glaivewraith Stalkers. I gave them new heads and metal arms to turn them into some kind of weird Adeptus Mechanicus hunting beasts:

The Wraith of God / The Wrath of Odd

After last week's post on the new Sisters of Battle book, I thought that I'd start work on some of the creatures that I'll be using in place of the acro-flagellant models. While I like the armoured sisters a lot, I'm less keen on the half-naked maniacs who seem to make up the majority of the Ecclesiarchy troops. I would have expected there to be more angry monks, for one thing.

For another, I've mentioned in the past that there are only a certain number of visual concepts to go around. The heavily-muscled, bionically-adapted gladiator/slave/executioner look is shared by a few factions, including the Dark Eldar and Adeptus Mechanicus. I think it would be cooler to have something entirely different.

The Sisters have a medieval, religious feel, and it makes sense (I'm using "sense" pretty broadly here) for their flying troops to have an angelic feel. Why not go one step further and have something like a horde of pissed-off angels? Something like this:

[Incidentally, I'll go on record as saying this this is one of the best moments of cinema I've ever seen. The technical skill in Raiders of the Lost Ark is amazing, whether it's in matte paintings, miniatures - or melting heads. The moment where the angel's face changes, and the score goes crazy, and the audience realises that these guys really are very screwed...]

These things could be the spirits of Sisters who failed in some way and were condemned to right their wrongs in the psychic afterlife, or else just fancied another go at trashing things. Certainly the statline of the arco-flagellants would work for an angry ghost, with their high movement, little in the way of toughness, but an invulnerable save from being ethereal.

I've used the fantastic Myrmourn Banshees from Age of Sigmar. Despite the weird name, they are great models and ingeniously designed. What's interesting about the kits is how much is actually "missing" and how insubstantial they look as a result, without losing their overall shape. The faces are clearly skulls, and the robes/skirts and armoured chestplates draw a visual link to the sisters models.

The models come with really nice sculpted bases, which again suit the feel and colours of my army. I trimmed an hourglass off one model, as it seemed unnecessary, but otherwise they're as they came out of the box. For anyone who doesn't like the bases, there's a post about rebasing these models by Rob Hawkins, here: HERE.

Of course, they could do with some protection while they're getting to the front line. Hmm, perhaps a suitable-decorated Rhino...

Old Metal Bloodletters and a Test Model for Reaper Bones Black

Anyway, back to the painting.

This has been a slightly quiet time for painting, as I've been doing a lot of writing, but I did manage to repaint four old metal bloodletters, which I probably bought when I was about 13. They're the first incarnation of bloodletters: incarnations 2 and 3 were big muscley creatures (3 looked somewhat like beastmen, and 2 just looked awful). Incarnation 4 are the spindly plastic models we have now, somewhat like a cross between a medieval devil and the Alien.

Clearly these are old models, and they're small and comparatively lacking in detail. The strange poses of old metal rather help them, I think, in that they look twisted and vicious rather than just angry and strong. I expected them to look dreadful against a modern bloodletter, but actually, they're fine.

Here are the first two, with their younger plastic friend.

And here's the second pair. The new bloodletters look like demons, and the old models look like a medieval person's drawing of new bloodletters.

And I also painted a random model from the Reaper Bones Black line. A long time ago, I bought a load of the white Bones models on Kickstarter. I came to the conclusion that, while they were essentially fine, they lacked crisp detail and had a lot of awful mold lines. Fine for big monsters, less good for characters and smaller models.

I bought one of the newer Bones Black models to see if the range had improved. I'm pleased to say that it has. This model is unconverted, and all I had to so was to undercoat it and cut off a few mold lines. Some of the detail around the leg was a big vague, but I think it's pretty reasonable overall. I could make out what everything was supposed to be, and the face, which has a nicely-sculpted smile, came out well. I've no idea what she's meant to be: I assume from her strange outfit that she's some sort of wizard or druid.

Sisters Of Battle Prattle

"Right, that's it, I've had enough."

Rejoice And Cease Thy Lamentations!

Last weekend, I managed to get hold of a copy of the new Sisters of Battle codex. This is quite exciting, since it's been about 20 years since my army got an army book (I used to play Bretonnia, too - I really know how to choose 'em). In fact, I think the Sisters of Mercy had a release more recently than the Sisters of Battle*.

Leafing through it, I'm both pleased and - not exactly underwhelmed, just not overwhelmed. It's pretty decent. Obviously it's nice to see the space nuns getting plastic kits at last. The new models look excellent and unsurprisingly have a level of detail and movement that you just don't get with old lead models. Some of the characters are pretty much dioramas in themselves. Also, the design style is good and thank goodness the sisters don't have high heels.

Someday... Dominions!

Interestingly, the look of the sisters has changed slightly in that they don't all have exactly the same face. The haircuts of the models have changed, suggesting that the 1920s/Cleopatra style** isn't obligatory, and many of the sisters in the recent artwork aren't white, either. Now the grim darkness of the far future is available to everyone, which is good unless you're in it.

That said, I'll be keeping with my metal army - yes, they're a bit dated, but they're perfectly workable, especially for bog-standard troopers. And I suspect that the new sisters would look weirdly large beside the older ones.


On The Duality Of Kitness

As with quite a few GW kits these days, some of the plastic kits have two options: you can make old Seraphim (jump pack sisters with pistols) or new Zephyrim (jump pack sisters with swords) and I expect the same kit will do both. Likewise the plastic (smaller and weedier) Penitent Engines can be used to make the new (very similar) unit of Mortifers.

There's also a new Exorcist, which is much like the old version except plastic and now probably lighter than a brick. It doubles as an Immolator, which is one of the few models I'm not that keen on: the new version has a huge stained-glass windscreen on the turret which looks awkward, even for an army this silly. Also, the Immolator is more or less the equivalent of a Space Marine Razorback: a Rhino with improved guns and reduced troop carrying potential. The new version costs £50. Ouch.

You're just being silly now

Bring Me Fresh Popes For The Holy Howitzer

This is all good, but I do feel that the new codex has missed a couple of opportunities. Compared to, say, Imperial Guard, it's lacking in range and variety. Compared to Chaos, it's really a bit samey. Also, some of the specialist units (Crusaders and Death Cult Assassins especially) are capped at very small sizes, which was never the case before.

It's missing two of the old special characters: the drunk-looking hermit Uriah Jacobus and his tidier space-pope colleague and book-waver Confessor Kyrinov. Also Canoness Veridyan, better known as the John Blanche picture on the 2nd Ed Sisters Codex, and Amalia Novena, better known as the sister off White Dwarf who's fiddling with her rosary, have disappeared. That seems a shame. And why can't the Ecclesiarchy take stupidly large chainsaws anymore? How will anyone recognise them now?

They could have put in rules for the old Repressor APC, or introduced a new big tank (perhaps some sort of mobile cathedral to rival the Land Raider) or included some kind of disposable rabble on a pilgrimage, like the old Frateris Militia units. Or how about a howitzer that fires popes? They could wear metal mitres for maximum impact. It could be called the cannon of canons. No?

Like this

Replacement Nudists

In terms of the look of the army, I've always preferred the power-armoured sisters to the other troops. The Sisters army has always had a Joan of Arc looking part and a crazy nude flagellant part, including the Repentia and Arco-Flagellants. Personally, the crazy nudists are much less my kind of thing***, although they are handy units in the game.

So instead, I'm going to have the Wrath of God in my army - more particularly, lots of small Wraths of God flying about the place and melting people's faces, as per Raiders of the Lost Ark. They could be the spirits of sisters who aren't going to let minor things like death get in the way of their duties. This would explain their speed, skill in fighting and lack of armour.

I think the Myrmourn Banshees from the Warhammer Nighthaunt range would work best for this: I'd hardly have to convert them at all. It doesn't hurt that they're really good models and extremely clever sculpts that really do look like animated bits of sheet. Hmm... the Wraith of God. I like it!

*If I'm not mistaken, the last specifically Sisters of Battle codex was in 1997, for 2nd edition 40k. The last codex they were in was Codex Witchhunters, in 2003. I may be wrong about this.

**According to the Jes Goodwin sketchbook I've got, the haircut comes from 1920s actress and pinup Louise Brooks, which is about the oddest 40k reference apart from the gay Victorian poet Lionel Johnson, author of "The Dark Angel".

***If you do like crazy nudists, may I recommend the novel God Emperor of Didcot by Toby Frost, which features Arwin Wainscott, commando and bare-arsed maniac?