Warhammer 40K: Goff Battlewagon ready to roll and 40,000 views!

When I set up this blog it was mainly so I had a central point to post all of my work instead of just being scattered around the many (excellent) forums we have these days and I never thought that it would garner so much interest.

Now on to business, this weekend saw the completion of my Goff Battlewagon which is the first non Rogue Trader/2 edition piece for this army as the cost of the original Battlewagon put it beyond my means however I have hopefully given it a fitting 2nd edition paint job.

This was once again an eBay purchase and once again came painted to a decent tabletop standard however the black had been dry brushed so much it was actually grey, the reds and small amount of green were quite dark and the check marks and metals had been washed with Army Painters dip from what I could tell making them very muddy looking.
Now while this would look fine with the modern range/style of Orks it didn't fit will my rather vibrant Orks so I used the current paint job as a good base coat and went from there.  The blacks where repainted almost entirely except for the edges which were left to give a highlight, the reds and greens were brought in line with my Goffs as were the check marks and I gave the metals a good dry brush to remove the heavy 'dip' look.  Next up I painted more of the panels which had been left black along with painting the symbols on the large red panel (it was crying out for something) and added some finishing touches to the Deff Rolla, perhaps not entirely fitting with the old school paint scheme but I think it works quite well and break up all that metal.

The original paint scheme

I have already started on my next miniature which is the 2nd edition Dreadnought, a miniature I've always loved ever since using the cardboard version you received in the old boxed game.

Warhammer 40k: Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka with Makari

In my quest to build an old school Ork army there was really only one warboss I wanted to get my mitts on, the one and only Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.  Back in the times of second edition my Chaos Space Marines faced off against Ghazghkull many times and I always like how imposing the miniature was on the battlefield so as my "small" Ork army seemed to be getting larger by the day it needed a bigger figure head to lead it.

I tried a different method of taking my photos, not sure it entirely worked but here to can see Ghazghkull and Makari in their re-painted glory

The first stop off was eBay however I wasn't too taken by either the prices being asked or the condition of the miniatures so I hopped on the Oldhammer trading group on Facebook and within no time at all a well painted Warboss and his sidekick were making their way to me.

The miniatures as they were when I received them

As you can see the miniatures had pretty good paint jobs to start with and had some very nice homemade banners however they just weren't vibrant enough to match in with my 2nd Ed force so I treated them as having the base coats done and literally re-painted them up from that point.  They also received a re-basing to match up with the rest of the army. 

As you can hopefully see Ghazghkull pops a lot more now with the flesh and reds being much more vibrant but also there is a lot more depth to the metallics along with highlighting the blacks with a newly acquired Vallejo Charcoal Grey (love this colour as it highlights black really subtly).  I was toying with replacing the banner for the one from the Ork Codex as it didn't match the vibrant scheme I had gone for but I was loath to replace it so in the end I just repainted that as well and I'm glad I did.

Makari had much the same treatment as Ghazghkull with every colour being re-painted however I left the banner alone this time (other than to go over the black lining to make it a little stronger) as I thought it looked spot on.

Next up on the table is the first modern piece for the army but one that I think will still fit in with the rest of the army once I've given it a bit of a re-paint, a Battlewagon (I'm going to be seeing Blood Red and check marks in my sleep soon).

Warhammer 40K: Completed Deffskull Lootas

Over the weekend I managed to get the final touches down on the Deffskull Lootas so they're ready to join the other boyz in the squad.

The finished Lootas

Here's some individual shots that are unfortunately a little blurry but they'll do at a pinch.

This has to be one of my favourite miniatures I've every painted, I don't know why exactly but I just love the sculpt. 

Here's a photo of the squad I was matching the paint scheme too, resplendent in their Rogue Trader paint scheme.

The new squad is a touch more vibrant but I think they fit in fine with these boyz

One the table now is a recently acquired Ghazghkull and Makari who have just been rebased to standard 25mm bases fitting second edition more and they just need a bit of re-painting so they match in with the rest of the Goffs in the army (basically making them more vibrant than they currently are), pictures of these soon.

Wargaming Weekend: Part 2 Warhammer World

After a good breakfast on the Sunday morning we set off to Warhammer World for our first visit since the refurb where we would meet up with my cousin.  We expected to be couple of hours before grabbing some food in Bugmans and heading off home, instead we were there all day and could have been there longer.

First up we had a look around the GW shop which of course lead to some purchases but also many a minute staring at the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit displays.  Before we knew it dinner time called so we grabbed a hearty lunch before heading to the Forge World shop.  Again purchases were made (that place is temptation incarnate, I'm sure I could he my wallet screaming) before heading back to the GW shop and picking up a few more bits a pieces.

Then it was time for the exhibition, now we were quite reluctant about this with the new charge in pace having already seen the former version of this but oh how we were wrong.  The new exhibition is worth every penny in my opinion, simply breathtaking, I'll let the photos speak for themselves but they really don't do the place justice.

After spending a couple of hours in the exhibition (and we wanted to go through again) it was time for a quick drink and then the journey home.  All told it was a superb weekend shared with some great people all based around wargaming, what more could you want?

Now time for the photos, it would have taken me forever to take photos of everything so I just snapped the things that either caught my eye or where interesting to me and they are sorted chronologically.  I hope you enjoy flicking through these and if you haven't been to Warhammer World yet or in a good while then it is definitely worth at least one trip.

The entrance hall:

Outside Warhammer World:

Inside the GW shop in the Lord of the Rings section:

Entering the exhibition and one of the pieces I remember from my first days of the hobby and what made me collect Chaos all those years ago:

Exhibition Hall 2 Imperium of Man:

A little bit of Oldhammer:

Not sure you can make out the little sign but it says do you remember painting bases like this to which I though I better do as it was only a few days ago ;) 

Exhibition Hall 3 - Utterly jaw dropping, I tried to get as many angles as I could but still missed so much:

My favourite shot from this hall 

Exhibition Hall 3 Xenos:

 

 The Rogue Trader front cover re-created and expanded

As usual this much hobby has filled me with enthusiasm and I'm powering ahead with my Orks so I'll hopefully have a post up for them soon.