Bring Out Your Lead 2019: It's (Old)Hammer Time!

This last weekend was that time of year again when Amy and myself head to Newark for a splendid weekend spent wargaming and socialising with like minded people all there to celebrate some old school miniatures/games.

Alan Merret - Tony Yates - Tony Ackland - John Blanche - Brian Ansell 

Friday was gaming day for us and we had a game of Orks versus the Forces of Nature, the background being that the space hulk the Orks were hitching a lift on had smashed in to a verdant planet which looked rich for the pickings however the planet had other ideas and the very trees themselves started to fight back!

The Orks advance 

Those trees are bloody quick 

The Orks scarpering off with da magic rock  

Game two, not many photos from this as the Orks were soundly squashed far too quickly 

We were using the Dragon Rampant rules with the objective for the Orks to collect the the monolith in the first game (it woz big 'un shiny) and then depending on the outcome we'd set up a follow up game.  As it happened the Orks smashed through the Nature lines and legged it with the Monolith however Da Boss must have gotten a little too cocky as he met a squishy end in the second game thanks to a rather large collection of walking trees.  The rest of the Orks didn't fare any better as they were out manoeuvred and decimated by the Nature reinforcements in short order.

Saturday was a day to check out all the games going on and for a good bit of socialising (which carried through till about 1am down the pub).  It was great to see so much 2nd Ed 40K being played as that was my entry way into the hobby and it has stoked a fire under me to get on with all the minis I have lying in wait. 

Some outstanding miniatures for a Space Hulk game 

2nd Ed 40k - Necrons vs Eldar 

A fantastic Mordheim game

A big game of Warhammer 

 Harry's awesome Might Empires board

More 2nd Ed 40k 

The Realm Of Chaos game 

 

Wolf Time (Rogue Trader) 

Brewers Droop 

As always the company was excellent and it was great catching up with Tony, Curtis and Curis to name but a few and of course a big thank you to Gadge and the Ansell's for the organisation and hospitality...  roll on next year.

Core Space: Purge (and Contrast Paints)

The time has finally come and I've laid a brush on some Core Space miniatures! 

Core space is the first game by Battle Systems (famous for their very high quality card terrain) and is based around various ship crews scavenging and surviving in Core Space with the ever present threat of the Purge looming over them.  It's a great sandbox game which has multiple A.I. controlled NPC factions, which other then the Purge include gangs, civilians, security and the Galactic Guard,  and when this is combined with the interactions you have with the terrain/scenery you get an almost role play type experience but without the need for a GM.

Needless to say I've been looking forward to this arriving however it also coincidentally tied in with the release of the Contrast Paint range from GW which seemed like providence to me.  Like most hobbyists I have a backlog of miniatures/games to be painted and I've been fighting to reduce this (and I've not been doing too badly) but with the arrival of Hellboy, Batman and Core Space I was on the back foot again so the announcement of the Contrast Paint range got my attention.  Long story short, I've decided to paint these big Kickstarter releases using the Contrast Paints in order to get them painted (and so played with) asap and I'm happy to say it looks like I'm on to a winner.

Usually painting a squad of ten miniatures or a single hero takes me around a week but with the Contrast Paints I've managed to paint all the purge in the same amount of time.  Now they aren't going to win any awards and are only done to the most basic table top standard but you know what, they're painted and that's far better than naked plastic.

I've still got a bit to learn about how to use them (there's a couple of instances where I should have used some medium to thin down the paints a little) but as a test run I'm impressed with how they work and I'm going to go ahead with the plan and continue using them for the rest of Core Space and then on to Hellboy and Batman.

Before I continue on with the Core Space minis I've got a slight Blackstone detour to paint up but after that I can see myself knocking through these at some pace.

For now I'll leave you with the big beasties from the Purge.

  

Elder Scrolls: The Dragonborn

Time for something a tad unusual for me in that it doesn't (currently) belong to a range or is part of an army, it's just a one off miniature primarily for display (for now anyway).
When Modiphius announced the limited Dragonborn miniature I knew I had to get one as the Elder Scrolls are one of my favourite game series' with Morrowind still being one of my all time favourite games and my first RPG.  From a painting point of view it was nice to break off and do something entirely different to what I had been painting and what I was moving on to now (Core Space).
As I haven't painted much fantasy in recent years it was good to get back to painting natural tones and trying out some different leather colours and a new flesh, which is rather nice and less pink than what I usually end up with.

Blackstone Fortress: The Dreaded Ambull

Work has finished on the final pieces for Blackstone Fortress, the Dreaded Ambull expansion.  It was a lot of fun working on a big beastie after doing lots of infantry sized miniatures and I mainly used layers of dry brushing and washes with final highlights to pick out the details, so nice and quick to paint but effective looking for the table top.