Krootox Repair Shop

 

After last week's great big Tau robot, I thought that I'd have another look at their friends, the Kroot. The Kroot are ferocious scaly monsters who fight as allies/mercenaries for the Tau, and fill a close-combat role that the Tau can't. 

The Kroot seem to have evolved from birds, and have a slightly parrot-like look (they also come from a planet called Pech, which I'm sure is pronounced "peck"). Actually, given that birds evolved from dinosaurs, it seems safe to say that the Kroot are dinosaur-people, but this probably isn't the place to go down the genuinely fascinating rabbit holes of avian intelligence and what might have happened if the asteroid had missed. 

Anyhow, there are now loads of different Kroot units, and very nice they are too. Back in the old days, though, there were three: Kroot carnivores (ie warriors), Kroot hounds (attack dogs) and Krootox (a bloke on a gorilla-bird thing with a heavy weapon). They also had leaders, one of which is one of my favourite models ever, but more of that some other time.

This is the metal Krootox and rider. At least, it's most of the metal Krootox: it was missing the rider's upper body and gun. We may carp about the over-designing of modern models, but this thing was a complete pig to assemble, and a lot of milliput was required to fill the many gaps. I used plastic Kroot warrior parts for the upper body, although I had to improvise the left arm out of Green Stuff and paperclips. The gun barrel comes from an Empire outrider, and seems to be a primitive rocket launcher. I've always had a liking for people riding weird alien beasts, although I suspect that as soon as this guy fires his gun, the recoil will knock him over, and the Krootox (whose head is directly under the barrel) will run off towards the horizon, possibly returning to gore its former rider.

I also took the chance to tidy up my old Kroot carnivores, and to add a few details. They're not perfect, but they look a lot better than they did. They're slightly converted for some more dynamic poses.

So that's the Kroot for now. See you next time!

Big Tau Ghostkeel Robot Thing!

 Perhaps predictably, here's something completely different to the last post. I get a lot of ideas for conversions and small projects, and often this involves buying parts gradually and stashing them away until I get around to making them. I do usually get around to finishing these projects, eventually, but the projects build up quicker than I can get them done. It's almost as if I'm doing something wrong.

Anyhow, a while ago I found the legs and body of a big Tau robot called a Ghostkeel on ebay. The arms and weapons were missing. I bought the bits for quite a low price, and decided to make a big clunky space robot to fit my 1950s style Tau army.

I also found a wrecked WW2 jeep on ebay, which would make a good basing element for the battlesuit. It was resin, made by some random chap in his garden shed, from the sounds of it, and it looks just right to be squashed by the ghostkeel's foot.

All was going well, but then I sat on the model and broke it at its spindly ankles. This was not good. I ended up using an old terrain piece to strengthen the thing. As well as having weird feet, Tau have ankles that break if you stare at them.

The arms came from a cheap gundam kit. The pincers are actually the legs of two Gates of Antares Ghar models, which I brought in a sprue sale. The gun mounted on the robot's shoulder is a piece from a long-gone steampunk game called Wolsung, which I've been hoading for about a decade.

I added a little chap from a Bolt Action US airborne sprue. His head looks as if he's shouting, usually, but if lifted up gives him a gormless, astonished look. I doubt his unform is entirely accurate, but he looks right. In the fluff, the ghostkeel can somehow turn undetectable - which, given its size and jet rocket, is pretty absurd - and I like the idea of it materialising as it squashes this squaddie's jeep. "How will I explain this to the Sarge?"

There's not to say about the painting, except that I enhoyed it, and it fits in with the rest of the army. It's probably the biggest thing that I'll build for this army (the bigger battlesuits don't appeal all that much), and it makes a cool centrepiece. 

Join us or die, puny humans!

A Start on the Bretonnian Knights

 It feels as if it's been a very long while since I posted anything on this blog. I've been pretty busy with my day job and my writing, but I've been able to get some painting done too. Unfortunately, as usual, my camera is refusing to take any half-reasonable pictures.

Anyhow, I have finally started on my oldhammer Bretonnian knights. These are really old models, dating back to about 1991, and are metal bodies on plastic horses. They're very nicely-sculpted miniatures and, like all the Bretonnians from those days, look a lot like generic medieval people.

But before that, here's what my knights used to look like, when I painted them in my early teens. They were some of the first miniatures I ever made.

They're actually not all that bad, considering. The chap on the right in the bottom picture was originally named Varian the Black, but became known as Pancake Eyes because of my somewhat inept detailing. He looks like a cartoon of a startled anime character.

Anyhow, here are the first two knights. They're painted in livery used in the original WD army. The camera has messed it up, but they're much more shaded than appears below.

Painting the little hooked bits at the end of the green guy's crosses was really hard. They're nice models, though, and I really like the lack of details on the barding. Definitely a blank canvas.

Bertrand le Brigand, the Bowmen of Bergerac and a very old cannon

 More Bretonnians this week! As with a lot of these miniatures, I've been chipping away at the slowly over the last month or so, until I've got enough models to put together. 

First up, we've got the Bowmen of Bergerac. They were an elite unit you could take in the first Bretonnian codex: you got Bertrand and his friends Hugo le Petit and Gui le Gros (in no way similar to Robin Hood, Little John and Friar Tuck respectively), and the option to upgrade a unit of regular archers into marksmen.

First up, the characters, from left to right. Hugo le Petit is a conversion based on an Age of Sigmar blood-something-or-other, with a head from Mordheim and quite a lot of green stuff. Bertrand le Brigand, who looks a lot like Errol Flynn, is an old metal model from the 90s. He's a really nice sculpt and has a jolly enthusiasm that you wouldn't see now. Gui le Gros is made from plastic bits from the modern men at arms, with some conversion work. It's hard to see, but he's holding a tankard made from green stuff.

The bowmen are an interesting bunch. They're all metal miniatures, comprised of archers, models with names on their tabs rather than descriptions, and "brigands". I gather that the brigands are a bit obscure. We've got (L to R): archer, brigand, brigand, "Hobbs", archer and archer.

Here's the front rank, consisting of: brigand, 1990s musician, Hugo, Bertrand, Gui and "gamekeeper".

And her's the whole lot, about to go and rob the Sherrif of Nottingham:

And now for another unit lost to time - a cannon! Well, I gather that some Bretonnian armies can now take a primitive cannon in The Old World. Cannons were available in the original army list, and I've painted these guys in the style of the Ordonnance du Roi in White Dwarf 139. The crew consists of "gunner", "master gunner" (sensibly equipped with armour and shield) and "Otto". Search me.

I think I'm approaching the point where I'm going to have to start on the knights, which is rather daunting. Before then, I've got a couple of damsels to check out. It's a hard life.

More Loonies from the Future

 Just a few sinister loonies here, made largely with North Star models. We've got Frostgrave Cultist bodies and Stargrave Scavenger arms, except for the chap with the chainsaw. He's got a Scavenger body and Cultist arms, and the head of a Frostgrave demon. The guy with the green helmet, who looks like a feral John Wayne, has a Bolt Action US marine head. 

The paint scheme is quite like the Vox Populi faction in the old computer game Bioshock Infinite, who are some kind of crazed anarchist types from 1910 or so. These guys are suitably ragged and filthy, and the bits of red cloth suggest both violence and the French Revolution.

The last model is another repaint. She's a resin model with a Dark Eldar gun and a spear that I think is from a Warhammer skeleton. She's well-sculpted but really odd: she's got a vest, chaps, bare feet and several belts, and I've got no idea where I got her from. Anyhow, I added some more detail to her face and hair, and painted some brighter colours on her weird outfit.

More next time. It's been a busy week, and I've not had that much painting time. But I've got plans...

Scratch-built Ork Robots

 Hello again! 

This has been a good week to be an ork. Although I wasn't expecting to, I ended up getting a load of old ork models out and painting/repairing/improving them, including three dreadnoughts. Let's go!

About 20 years ago, my friend Owen gave me a broken AT-AT model kit. I sawed it up and used it to make the bodies of three ork dreadnoughts (or maybe robots, or something). One, which is yellow, I modified a couple of months ago. The other two were done over the last couple of weeks. This is the yellow model:

Now, onto the other flavours of robot tellytubby. The red one didn't need a huge amount of work. I added some more detailing and gave it a new, jollier paint job. I also replaced the gun I'd used with a big and suitably goofy laser from some toy that I dismantled years ago. His body is the AT-AT's head, up on end.

The blue robot took more work. I wasn't happy with either of his arms, so I made new ones. The gun comes from the same toy as the red robot's laser. The other arm is scratch-built. I was inspired in this by the work of Kishi Omori, a Japanese modelmaker who makes robots from junk. (His stuff is really impressive. Well worth a look.) I really like the jolly blue colour. I think his main body came from the AT-AT's butt. 

As you can see from this picture, all the robots have keys so that the orks can wind them up for action.

Orks are a lot of fun.

As a bonus, here are some old metal orks that I've been painting. Here's a painboy with a metal head and bionic arm. I gave him a mechanical gun-arm to suggest that he's entirely robotic.

And here is a goff ork boss. He's a slightly later model than the others, but he shares the old-school cartoony look, before the orks took a beating from the grimdark stick. He looks as if he's seen some sights.

And there we are. Oldhammer is great, orks are great. 

Dinosaur (and former dragon)!

I've always been a big fan of dinosaurs. The interest that a lot of kids have in them never really went away for me: it just broadened to include robots, aliens, dragons and other large monsters. Back in the day, when my friends and I were first getting into Warhammer, we visited a non-GW shop in Milton Keynes that sold a wide range of miniatures. (I remember that they had a Cyberpunk 2013 businessman painted grey, in the style of Spitting Image's puppet of John Major, which rather dates things.)

I bought a lead Grenadier Games model called "Blue Dragon", sculpted by Julie Guthrie. It's a weird miniature, as it's obviously a theropod-type dinosaur with wings. The wings kept falling off, and it was something of a figure of fun, even among my Bretonnians.

Recently, I've been looking at a lot of dinosaur models on Instagram. Some of them are terrific, and it's interesting to see a sort of modelmaking that's developed parallel to wargaming. Inspired by this, I got out the Blue Dragon, without wings, and had a go at painting it.

The sculpting is really good. The scales are terrific. I put green stuff over the feeble slots that were supposed hold the wings on, and tried to sculpt some sort of tecture. I actually pressed different grades of sandpaper into the putty. When it came to painting, I used stripes to break up and disguise my iffy work. 

I'm used to using quite bright colours, as fits the Oldhammer models and pulp settings that I tend to prefer. This time, I went for khaki, with brown and green washes. I'm actually really pleased with how this guy's skin came out. I did use a bit of red to make stripes around its eyes. It does make this guy look very hung over.

Anyhow, here it is!

The Archers: An Everyday Story of Bretonnian Country Folk

 Back again to the ongoing (and arguably unending) Bretonnian project. I've finished the unit of archers, at last. I made them a champion from a model called Farendil the elf ranger, who was from the game Dungeonquest. Apparently, this miniature was sold in several other ranges and under other names after that. He's a decent model, but a bit more "high fantasy" than the rest of my archers. Still, he's Oldhammer.

I also made a standard bearer. This guy was originally an archer making a V-sign with his hand to show that he's still got his shooting fingers, Agincourt-style (although apparently this is a myth). His rude hand was lost many years ago, and I gave him the arm and shaft of a more modern polearm, along with a plasticard banner. Again, being able to glue it to the back of his head helped greatly, which is why the banner is quite low. We've also got a musician, who is blowing a horn. He's a mid-90s model and, while simple, is very nice.

So here are some pictures of the bowmen, painted in the jolly (if rather grubby) uniform of the Archers du Brest from White Dwarf 237:

I also started a new unit. Back in the good old days of the first Bretonnian codex, you could upgrade a unit of archers to the Bowmen of Bergerac, led by Bertrand the Brigand. Bertrand and his Bowmen bear a strong resemblance to Robin Hood and his Merry Men (in particular, Errol Flynn's version). You can see why they were dropped from the more grimdark 2003 book: Bertrand the Blood-sodden and his Miserable Men doesn't sound anywhere near as good.

I was lucky enough to find a metal Bertrand on ebay for a not-too-outrageous price. He's a super miniature and looks just right for this project.

I also made Bertrand's two helpers, Little John and Friar Tuck - sorry, I meant Hugo le Petit and Gui le Gros. Gui, a tubby monk who carries a barrel of booze to raise morale, was converted from a plastic model, with a barrel from an ogre. His staff arm came from an Empire flagellant, and his other hand holds a flagon which I sculpted (not very well) from green stuff.

Hugo le Petit was a more complex conversion. I based him on a dumb-looking Age of Sigmar Khorne bodybuilder type, with a Mordheim head and a lot of green stuff.

And here they are as a group. I've got some really nice old "brigand" models, which I bought for almost no money a very long time ago, and I shall be adding them to the Bowmen of Bergerac. They've got a lot of character and will look good in a unit.

And that's it for now. By the way, if you got the reference in the title, you are almost certainly British and middle-aged. Which is probably a lot of Oldhammer fans...

Devilfish

This time, I've tackled a Tau Devilfish. The Devilfish is the inevitable troop transport model, the equivalent of a Wave Serpent or a Rhino. It is a really sleek, mean-looking vehicle and has a good profile.

I didn't think it fitted particularly well with the theme of my Tau force (surely they'd fly around in a saucer), but it does fit the mythology of little green men, shady government operatives and unmarked helicopters. So I painted it black, largely.

Painting things black, especially large things, is hard, especially if you haven't got an airbrush. Most of the upper hull is actually a very dark grey, a 50-50 mix of black and Vallejo Dark Grey (this is one of the most useful colours that I've ever had, along with Vallejo English Uniform). I added some purple and red elements for variety, and to draw the eye to the cockpit. The main army colour, a bluish-white, was added to the doors and hatches. It's hard to see, but they're shaded into darker blue.

Weathering was kept to a minimum: it doesn't really fit the theme, and as I get older, I find that I don't like excessive weathering. It often doesn't make a lot of visual sense. So, here it is.

And here are some entirely legit operatives disembarking. Nothing to see here, citizen. 

C'au Empire Battlesuit

 I've spent much of the last week tidying up some of my old Tau models. In some cases, they're looking pretty good and, in others, the concept was better than the execution. Anyhow, it's funny how, since about 1950, an entire mythology has evolved for flying saucers. I mean, think of all the secret warehouses, little green/grey aliens, men in black, theramin noises and bizarre fascination with large probes. It's a sort of weird mythos of its own.

(Just as an aside, I used to know a guy who did pretty serious research into UFOs. He didn't believe a word of it, basically. For one thing, the technology and look of the aliens described was often suspiciously similar to humans and would be considered dull by science fiction standards. However, he also pointed out that stories of alien contact look like a high-tech retelling of medieval stories about fairies and changelings. Which makes me suspect that either aliens have been abducting farmers for a long time or, much more likely, there are just some stories that humans are fundamentally wired to tell.)

I've tried to give each of my Tau battlesuits a stereotypical "space invader" theme. This particular guy is stealing a cow - for some reason, little green men seem to like raiding farms. Perhaps the Tau feel some sort of kinship with other hooved animals and are trying to rescue them. Anyway, this model was an old plastic/metal Broadside kit (hence the missile pods for arms). His back-mounted death rays and his head came from an old Imperial mounted gun, and his cow is from a Warlord Games set of farm animals.

Prepare to be assimilated, puny humans!

Tau In Black

 This week, I've gone back to some old miniatures and given then another look. A while ago, I made some Tau with a 1950s space invader look. I returned to these guys, repainted some of them and made them some new friends.

Here is the infiltration unit, headed by their leader, the Smoking Tau. They're all conversions, using bits of human kits. Their guns and arms come from the Pathfinder kit, which is far better than the rather ropey old fire warriors. They are perfectly disguised to fit in with puny humans.

And here are some human helpers. These guys are based on the Wargames Atlantic Agents kit. The two agents with their hands clasped in front of them were made straight off the sprue. The other three use Pathfinder arms and guns. I sculpted them new little fingers where it was visible, to counter the weird three-fingered hands of the Tau. I expect these guys show up to have words with the enemies of the Tau, before the green chaps arrive.

The agent miniatures are really nice sculpts, and are very slightly cartoony - but not too much. I think they could be used for loads of purposes. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to highlight black.

And here are some fire warriors. They were made with the really old models, which are basically awful. Their helmets were scraped ans sanded smooth, and then large "eyes" were added for an old-fashioned little green man look. The shoulder pads were left off, to make them sleeker. I think they work pretty well now, despite the ropey sculpts.

More next time - of what, I'm not sure. Keep watching the skies.

Violins and Vampires

 Back to the charming land of Blognia this week, for a few more miniatures. First of all is a violin player, made by West Wind Productions for their Victorian gothic range. I've had this chap on my desk for months now, and I've never thought he was a very good model. Eventually, I compelled myself to get on with it and paint the guy. I'm actually really pleased by how he came out!

Music plays an important part in distracting the citizens of Blognia from their drab, miserable lives, and it is considered a poor wedding that doesn't last for several days and fails to include either a good band or a knife-fight. Here we seem a travelling player, ready to serenade his employer of the day, and keeping careful watch in case a blood feud breaks out.

I also painted a minor vampire and a couple more minions, to make a small squad. The vampire (he might be a fancy Captain of Guards instead) is a Privateer Press model called Valachev. Privateer Press models vary hugely in quality, but this is one of the newer, better ones, and I really like all the detail on him.

For some reason, it was almost impossible to get a decent picture of this guy. Strange (and really irritating) how some models just won't show up. I added a bird to his base from a GW model, and put him on a slightly raised bit of plasticard stone to show his higher rank.

I also made a few more minions for this chap. these were based on the Perry Miniatures Afghan models, using the guys with boots instead of sandals and the non-turban-wearing heads. The kneeling guy has a head from a Frostgrave soldier.

The many vampires of Blognia are powerful, but they have weaknesses. Almost any revenant of note will employ minions to guard his property, track down his enemies and carry out business that he cannot deal with in the daylight hours. While many of these men are little more than hired bandits, some clans and families have a tradition of helping the undead. The vampire acquires useful assistants who can freely travel in the world of the living, and its helpers get to loot, plunder and look glamorous compared to the other peasants.

The Bretonnian Army So Far

 Following the last post, I finished off the last couple of knights for my foot knight unit. So now there's 20 of them, and they've got their own movement tray. Almost all of the models are from the early 90s, although there are a couple from 1996 or so, and the standard bearer is a modern conversion.

Here is the unit of 20 men at arms, in their own movement tray:

This is a small unit of 10 archers:

And here are the knights that I've painted. There's more of them to follow.

The army continues! I've done a lot of the infantry now, although there are a lot of archers still to go and (surprisingly) some crossbowmen. I think this is going to look quite nice!

The Baron D'Angon and his friends

 A fairly quick post here. I did do a longer post about some other miniatures, but I couldn't get a good photo of them and I threw a strop and deleted it.

Anyhow, I've nearly finished my unit of 20 oldhammer foot knights. I have completed a command group for them. These models are painted in the colours of the Baron D'Angon, as featured in White Dwarf 137. Slightly oddly, the knights wear yellow surcoats, but the baron himself and his banner have completely different heraldry. I've copied that look here, and tried to add some yellow to all the models to tie them into the other knights.

The baron himself is exactly the same model as featured in that White Dwarf back in 1991. He's been in a box for about thirty years! The WD 137 unit doesn't have a musician, and I've used a model from the first Bretonnian codex to represent him. By the way, the herald reminds me a lot of the rabbit herald in John Tenniel's illustrations for Alice in Wonderland.

The standard bearer himself is a modern plastic man at arms, with a new shield and a new head. I've copied the baron's colours onto the banner.

As you might have guessed, WD 137 has been a major influence on me. It was one of the first White Dwarfs that I ever saw, and it contained two really striking armies: not just the almost-totally-unshaded Bretonnians, but Andy Chambers' filthy skaven horde. These days, it's quite common to see "impressionistic" models (frankly, some of the Trench Crusade miniatures that pop up on Instagram look like the poo of an animal that needs to see the vet), but Chambers' skaven were really quite unusual. Oh, and it had Bretonnian crossbowmen, but more of that later.

So two of the big blocks of infantry are getting near to completion, which is cool! I reckon I'm about halfway through this project. It's turning into a bigger thing than I'd originally planned, but I'm enjoying it all. We'll get there.