Finally Some Painted Minis - 15mm Demonworld Empire

So finally, here are some painted minis. 15mm Demonworld Empire Cav for Hail Caesar Fantasy!

Overall Pics - Heavy Elite Cav - One huge unit. A real freight train. 5 stands. And three units of horse archer Light Cav.

Enjoy.

I have 2 units of Medium Cav to finish to wrap up the Empire for the time being. I have a couple of blisters I would like to pick up(Pikes, Rangers, War Altar) to go with the Swordsmen and Archer Blisters I have before I finish the whole army up. Once I complete the Medium Cav I'll finish all the basing work and put the 15mm Fantasy away for a bit. A Blue and White cav unit coming up.

Thanks for Looking. 

Sneak Peek - 15mm Empire Horse Archers

I sneaked in a couple of hours of painting in earlier this week.I finished an Army command stand and a Horse Standard Bearer and go a start on my 3 units of Demonworld Empire Horse Archers. Here's a sneak peak:

I need to do highlights on manes and tails and tack, but they went pretty quick. I'll do the riders in simple peasant clothes. Like GW's Kislev Horse Archers these have a real Steppes feel to them, but I am gonna try to genericize them. I hope to get them knocked out by the end of this weekend. That will be my first 3 units of Cav for the empire. After these, 3 Units of Medium Cav and 1 unit of Heavy Knights.

I have a Witch Coven to do after that and I am finished with the empire for a while(I only have a blister of Archers and Swordsmen left, they can wait). I am waiting to get a full list before I order from Ral Partha Europe to fill in gaps in my collection. Maybe by the end of summer.

I am not sure what I am doing when I finish the Empire guys.

But, here's what me and some of the BG's are getting in the mail at the end of the year:

This will go so great with my Reaper Bones that are coming sometime soon. As well as being able to play with 15mm on them as well. Some dungeon bashing is surely in the cards.

Some Random things:

First some family bragging:

- My middle son is running in the Warrior Run this weekend. Its a 3 mile run and 20 obstacles. Think an Army obstacle course mixed with the TV show Wipeout! Should be fun to watch. If I train, maybe next year I'll run it with him. Very proud of him for trying this. He also tied for the highest ACT test in his grade level. and was in the top 5% of the kids who took it in his grade level. He took it 4 years early. He already has qualified for any state or regional university and he's in middle school. And he also was inducted into National Junior Honor Society last night. I couldn't be prouder of him.

- Flag Football season is in full swing. Its like fastbreak basketball. Fun and fast. My youngest is playing up two grade levels. He is a real leader on the field. He plays center and hasn't had one bad snap on the field. Its been a pleasure to coach him. Its hard to be the kid of a coach cause the expectations are always higher and he has exceeded those by a mile. He wants to play tackle this fall. and he wants me to coach. I may have to do it just so he can stay excited about this. I am very proud of him as well.

- The Wife has a new job and has shed her hated old one. So here's to new beginnings for her. 

Other stuff:

I am seriously considering selling significant portions of my painted and unpainted collections. When I go into the Workshop of Doom I am surrounded by much too much stuff. Boxes filled to the gills by stuff I will never paint and/or play. Being a Lead Addict has its problems. I fell like I need to trim away a bunch of stuff and concentrate on the stuff I want to play and not be burdened by all this other 'stuff'. We shall see if this is spring fever or purpose.

Update 4-18-13 - 15mm Demonworld Empire Army

YEAH!!!

With all the rainy weather here in the midwest, I actually had time to finish my Heavy Infantry Lords last night. They are the last infantry unit I will be doing for the Empire for a while. I still have a blister of Archers and Footsoldiers, and would like to get one more of Pikes, but for now, the Empire Infantry is complete. 23 total foot units. Which is larger than either my entire Orc or Wood Elf Army.

Next Up, these lovely units, all primed and ready on sticks for painting(all pics from Ral Partha Europe Webpage):

I have been coveting these couple of blisters too, so I think I will pick up a Pike blister, plus these:

The War Altar

And these fabulous Rangers. 

The Demonworld line continues to amaze me the more I paint it. these sculpts are better than most 28mm fantasy, and the fact that so much detail and character was given to each one of these is simply stunning. they really should have more advocates. These should become the flagship figs for Hail Caesar Fantasy!

Quick Update - Demonworld Empire Army 4-16-13

Well, I got all of the missing stands painted last night for my crossbow units and my 2 footsoldiers units. So on to the last infantry unit I will do for the Empire of Man for a while. These guys:

The identical page boy hair cuts and poses really make these guys candidates for unit leaders throughout the army. This picture is from Ral Partha Europe.

These brave heavily armored knights will be gathered into a heavy infantry unit of Lords. Like the French Foot Knights at Poiters or Crecy. Wish they had helms. This line can be a little confusing. They wanted to go renaissance with the Empire, like GW's, but they threw in several units of straight medieval types too. confuses the aesthetic and coherency of the line I think, but hey, at least I can paint them. I will ahave a unit of 24 figs done this evening, I hope. then Cav.

Quick Update 4-15-13 15mm Demonworld Empire Fantasy Progress

Some progress over the weekend at the Worlshop. Not as much as I would ave liked, but much to do as spring is fully sprung upon us in the midwest. After a weekend of football games, yard work, a bonfire, and fixer up things at the Mother-in-Law's hacienda, I finally got a few hours last night to work on my empire stuff as the sweet and melodius sounds of Kenny Powers played in the back ground.

After a dip session with some old figs, I got 3 units of crossbows based and ready for flocking. I also got 2 footsoldiers units ready. I am 8 figs short to complete them, but those are on sticks and ready to be finished. I also got 3 full units of archers based and a Foot Army Command Stand.

After I fill in the foot troops I can paint a unit of heavy 'Lords' foot knights. That will be 27 Units completed. And the only thing left is 6 units of cav. Again, pics coming when I have the foot troops finished and flocked.

Have a great week everybody.

Quick Update 4-11-13

Man, I got a pretty good deal at Recruits on the Demonworld Empire Army I bought. I have gotten a couple of hours to work in and here's the tally of units I have rebased for Hail Caesar Fantasy:

2-Wartower with Flame Cannon
1-Mortar
1-Cannon
1-Huge Mountain Giant
2-Hill Gants
2-Pikes
1-Swordsman
1-Druids Coven
3-Mob Warbands
3-Archers
1-Army Commander
3-Clerics & Wizards
3-Wing Commanders

So 17 Units plus 7 Command and Heroes. That's Great. And that's almost a whole army.

I have some Demonworld crossbowmen, foot soldiers, and heavy infantry that were base painted by a friend years ago I got in a trade. I am going to dip and highlight them and press them into service this weekend. That will get me 3 Crossbowmen units, 2 Foot Soldier units, and a Unit of Heavy Noble Swordsmen for a total of 23 units. All I'll really be missing is Cav, which I have 6 units on paint sticks ready to go.

You never know what will happen at a Con. Who would have thought I would have another Demonworld army ready to go so fast. Thanks again Recruits.

Quick Update 2-25-13

Just a quick update to let you know what I have been up to:

Living in the Midwest has been fun this month

1. Finished a couple more units for Epic. Gotten tired of painting Blue. The Ultras have a nice sized force to fight with. I have a Thunderhawk, A Bike Company, and a Terminator Vetaeran Company to paint to fill in some gaps.

2. Wanted to do something different during the snow days so I broke out some 15mm Fantasy and started to paint a couple of Wood Elf and Orc Units for Hail Caesar! Fantasy. I finished a Rock Lobber Unit that is a Splintered Light Troll thriowing a giant rock, being whipped by a huge Black Orc in full armor. Added some boulders and voila! A literal Rock Lobber Artillery piece.

Unfinished piece. Love the Splintered Light Orcs. Have a very nice Demonworld feel to them. A more traditional rock lobber in the background.

Next was the Demonworld High Elf Dragon, that I wanted to paint as a Green Dragon for my Wood Elves. I'll Pick Up another one for my High Elves, Or use one of the Reaper Bones ones that are coming next Month !?!?!!!.  So I painted him a nice two tone green and leathery wings color to blend end with the forest and the rest of the Army.

I then decided to do THE GREAT BASING CHALLENGE!!! I have this nasty habit of not wanting to put basing of any kind on my figs until the entire Army is finished. That way it is consistent, and since it takes a long time for me to paint an entire army, I may change how I am going to finish them along the way. Saves me headaches. Well, Since I was enjoying my 15mm Fantasy guys so much, I decided to put all the resin sand flocking on the Wood Elves and Orc Armies. I got the entire Wood Elf Army base material on, dried and painted a base brown. I have a 3 part paint system for basing across all my figures so I get a consisient result for my terrain and figure bases. Its craft paint. I just label the tops I, II, III for base, mid , and highlight and done. Add some tacky glue and flock with static grass, or flocking depending on your scale. So I expect to have the Orcs and the Wood Elves properly finished and ready to rumble soon. No more playing with unfinished bases for those boys.

And on another good note, I only have about 70 Wood elf figs left to paint and they are completely done. A unit of Skirmishers I need to mount on pennies as single skirmishers, a unit of medium infantry Hunters, some assorted characters and wizards, and a unit of heavy cav.

I will take some pics when I finish the Wood Elves this week.

Stay warm, but stay frosty.

LA

Whats on the painting table? - Update 7-3-0-12

And just to round things out, heres what is on the painting table at the moment:

28mm Britsh Penninsular Lt Cav

 

28mm British Lt Dragoons





28mm French Napoleonics - Ready for primer

15mm Savage Orc Wolf Rider Archers and a bad ass Troll

New units for the Orcs and Goblins - 15mm Hail Caesar Fantasy



Rock throwing troll and commander whipping him. Used as rock lobber artillery. Figs are Splintered Light.



Orc Rock Lobber and Goblin Giant Spider with Howdah. a favorite from the whole Demonworld line.

 

Orc Guard - Black Orcs



New Units for Hail Caesar Fantasy - Wood Elf Reinforcements

I was on vacation last week out of town, but I did get to steal so painting time once I returned. I got some reinforcements for the Wood Elves done. Archers, Hvy Cav, and Spear units. All told, this group added 6 units to the army. I have another unit of Hvy Cav,  2 of skirmishers, 2 of Wardancers to do before the army is complete. For a while. Then its on to finish the Orcs and Goblins. I am speed painting these armies, so I am really trying to focus on what they look like at gamers distance (3' away), so some short cuts are in the mix.

Additions to the army.



Wood Elf Hvy Cav

Wood Elf Spears

 

Hvy Cav close up

 

Archers close up

Right now we are playing the Wood Elves as a generic elf kind of army. As we continue to play and fine tune the units we will get the flavor right. We are using the Warhammer Army Lists for Hail Caesar Fantasy put up on the Yahoo! group. They are a great starting point, and the guys are excited about using the units and flavor of Classoc Warhammer, without the rules. Yeah.

As usual, basing and flocking needs to be done. I have 4 more wood elf units to do before the Army is 'complete' and then I will do the army at one time. I need to get some meadow flowers and such for the bases, so I still have some time.

Another Hail Caesar Fantasy Night

Well, the BG's are playing Hail Caesar fantasy again tonite. 2 in a row. That's a record. We even have people buying figs to paint and play with. I continue to be excited. Update tomorrow.

I got my 4 Infantry and 2 cannon units of French Napoleonics mounted. I built 2 more cannons and got them and their crews on paint sticks ready to prime and paint.

Hail Caesar! a quick opinion.

I have been reading the rules since our HC Fantasy game last week. Like Black Powder. I really like the simple mechaincs and overall feel of the game. It's probably not everyones cup of tea. And it is lighter on the granularity some folks want in their wargamming, but for me, its a winner and we will get a lot of use out of these rules. Almost makes me want to paint an ancients army. Almost. I'll stick to 15mm fantasy for now.

I like it so much, it made me get out some more 15mm Demonworld wood elves and paint since last thursday. I finished 3 units of 4 stands( a full division) of Wood Elf Archers to help them withstand the Green Onslaught. Another unit of Wood Elf Hvy Cav is about half done. I will do another Hvy Cav after this one, and some Wood Elf Spears. Then its time for the greenskins to get some reinforcements.

Demonworld Wood Elf Archers (not mine, from Ral Partha Europe site)

Demonworld Wood Elf Cav (Not mine, from Ral Partha Europe site)

HAil Caesar! Fantasy?...yep

This thursday we are gonna play Hail Caesar Fantasy at the Barons abode. This is the fantasy mod of the Warlord Games Hail Caesar rules. We are gonna use my 15mm Demonworld figs. We were gonna ramp up to use 28mm fantasy for this, but honestly, if I can do this, I may not have to. Not sure what I would do with all these 28mm figs though.

One the phot front, I got a crazy deal on an RCA Small Wonder digital camcorder, one of the ones that are the size of a phone. I wanted to record vacations and stuff. well it has a picture mode too. Problem is no focus. So depth of field is depth of field, regardless of zoom (which is only 2x). I said cheap right. Well I wanted to try it out for blog photos. Not impressed. I'll go back to my wife's kodak for now.

Anyway here is a couple of shots of the two armies. Orcs VS. Woood Elves. 3 Brigades per side, Plus 1 Ally Brigade per side (for the Orcs its the Giantkin, for the Woodelves its the Creatures of the Forest)



Two BRigades of Wood Elves

 

Centaur Brigade (2 Units of Centaur Archers, 2 Units of Centaur Hvy

 

Elven Heavy Infantry and Archer Brigade(Wardancers, Spearmen, Woodsmen, and Archers)



Elven Cav Brigade(2 units of Pagasus Rider Bows 1 unit of Medium Cav, 1 unit of supporting Archers)

Ally Creatures of the Forest Brigade(2 Units of Treemen, 2 Units of Minotaurs)

Here are the Orc Brigades:

Orc Missle Brigade(3 Units Savage Orc Archers, 1 Roc Thrower, 1 Balista)

Orc Cav Brigade(1 Unit of Spider Riders, 2 Units of Medium Cav Wolf Riders, 1 Unit of Lt Cav Wolf Rider Archers)

Orc Infantry Brigade (3Units of Spearmen, 1 Catapult, 1 Rock Thrower)



Ally Giantkin Heavy Brigade (2 Units of Trolls, 2 Units of Ogres)



I got so excited I pulled out some more wood elves and started painting. I am wrapping up a woodland archer unit and are working on a hvy cav unit at the same time. Even though you are painting a smaller area, 15mm army painting is still a lot of work. But you can crank them a little faster and you can short cut some stuff and not degrade them much.

I spent a couple of hours highlighting armor for my 15mm Recon Rapid Reaction Force(bulit around Critical Mass Recon guys) army. The blurry walkers in the front are finished. And you can see a command vehicle behind them ready to be highlighted and then weathered. Walkers are DP9 CEF Frames, other vehicles are GZG.

And these guys are the current finished armor and support for the RRF. A couple of scouts, 3 heavy walkers, a command PIFV, a couple of unit support vehicles, a drone support vehicle, and a manned support vehicle. I have 2 Phalanx Tanks, and 3 IFV's to finish and they are done.

On the trading front, I may be getting 28mm French Nappy reinforcements sooner than expected. The reccruiting depot must be working overtime. I'll keep you posted.

15mm Dungeon Denizens I

OK, so as promised, here are some pics of the first dungeon denizens.

All of these were primered white(i don't know why) so I decided to use a technique my Bro-In-Law used to use with great effect. All washes. all bases colors are washes on white primer so the wash actually highlights and shadows all in one coat. Its quick and effective if done right. That's a big IF. So I like some of the results. I have always been a fan of fluid dynamics and the random realism it provides. Sometimes it just gets muddy or isnt intense enough. I am certain to go back to my old black primer, english triad system, but you always gotta flex the muscles.

Old School D&D long-nosed Trolls:

GW (really)giant rats from WHQuest:

GW (really, really) giant bats WHQuest:

And a bunch of action shots:

And the next batch of dungeon denizens on the table.

An old rat swarm and an ogre who will be getting a black undercoat:

Demonworld Thain Werewolves: 

GW lizard swarm becoming giant lizards:

Demonworld Minotaurs:

And my new Khurasan skeletons. Man these are deleicate and well sculpted:

After these I will do the zombies, zombie wolves, vampire, and an old liche. I may sculpt a couple of ghosts as well. I need some ghouls to add some power to the zombies. And some skelton archers(which I have).

After that, a warband of heroes. After that, who knows. let's hope I get that far.

Happy Painting.
Ken