40pluswargamer

No points for the Sivler Tower units? That's a shame and a missed trick. Excited though for the book.

Recently, my hobby time has been taken up with painting models for other people. While this has been great for my bank balance, it has sapped a little of the enthusiasm I had previously for painting my own models from the Warhammer Quest game. I have been stuck on painting the Tzaangors for about a week and a half now - they sit beside me as I write this, daring me to continue their progress. So too does the Fyreslayer, standing atop his pedestal, naked save for a coat of Barbarian Flesh spray, a single wash of Flesh Wash ink and a stern expression of distaste. And this situation can only get worse. I start a new job on Monday, plus I have three new commissions about to come in (all for models from the Frostgrave range) so this means once again, all my spare hobby time will be going into other people's models. I can feel the heated glare coming from my To-Paint pile really starting to heat up now. Still left to paint are: Fyreslayer Tenebrael Shard 6 Tzaangors Gaunt Summoner 8 Familiars Ogroid Thaumaturge 8 Grot Scuttlings 2 Skaven Deathrunners But I'm not worried. This is giving me a chance to embrace the new approach and actually stick to my plan of not buying more models until these are all painted to a basic gaming standard (block colours, shade wash, simple basing). Meanwhile I can finish reading the Silver Tower novel (see my upcoming post about my AOS reading plan) and peruse through the Grand Alliance Chaos book while waiting patiently for the General's Handbook to be released. As for gaming - I'll be playing some Quest later today with my fiancee as we start a brand new campaign from the start now we have gotten to grips with the rules. I'm also hoping to start some regular gaming over at Warhammer World in the coming months, forcing myself to get out into the Realm-world and become more active in my old age. This will probably start with the upcoming AOS weekend in August - for which I have already bought my ticket. I'm even going to enter my first ever Golden Demon competition. I don't expect to win or even place, but I do expect tp ush myself into doing something I've never done before and the success will be in achieving that simple goal. So the Changer Of Ways has truly had an effect on me, and the patience of the Silver Tower will be rewarded. In time.

Thanks to a set schedule each day for painting (commissioned project first, answer work emails, make calls, then onto WHQ) I now have models painted up for Warhammer Quest, but even better, a small playable force for AOS. Obviously I'll need to get more Pink Horrors but it looks like I'll have my first full AOS army painted within the next week or so. I'm pretty stoked for that, as I'm looking at really getting into the game on a more active level. By that I simply meant start to attend some events and tournaments, happy in the accepted knowledge that it will be I who most likely will be propping up the rest of the leaderboard from the bottom. Once the rest of the models have been painted (today it's the turn of the Tzaangors) I'll be looking at getting the Exalted Flamer on Burning Chariot, as it will provide more Blue Horrors, the Exalted Flamer and a couple of Screamers. There may be a way to make these work for both AOS and WHQ - I'll take a look at that once I have the models to hand. A box of Flamers and Screamers will also be in the first wave of new purchases probably alongside the GA Chaos book and the Generals Handbook when that gets released so I can 'point' out the army. I had never considered Tzeentch as a force before, always preferring the pox riddled Nurgle, however with the two being rivals, this could make a great collection. Okay... on with the Tzaangors...

The Silver Tower has landed, destroying the Gorefangz even before they could take to battle. Luckily I'd painted them all up before they were usurped and so selling them on was pretty straight forward. And why has this been done... To say I'm excited for this release is beyond words. An avid player of the original Heroquest/Advanced Heroquest, when Warhammer Quest was first released I played that game to death - usually my characters as that dungeon crawl was tough. But every win was so much the sweeter for it. And in a few days time the new version will be on my gamestable. Most of my hobby funds went into pre-ordering this and so the thought of not adding to the Orruks for at least a month or two gnawed at me. But when I realised I could make a small force of Tzeentch from the models in the boxed game the decision was made. the Darkoath Chieftain will be my army general, a homage to my original Quest character, the barbarian Ox. The warscrolls will be in this weeks White Dwarf and from the leaked images I have seen, imply I can play the models from the set as a viable force in Age of Sigmar. So let the Changer of Ways come forth and unleash the denizens of the Silver Tower upon the Realms.

Having completed the first test model - see previous post WIP - I realised the red scheme was a little too gaudy for my liking. So I sat down and assembled the rest of the box and while doing so decided on a new paint scheme, one that would be quick to paint and allow me to go to town with highlghts once the basic tabletop standard was done. And here they are: The scheme is nice and simple and will allow me to quickly paint new units once added. All the paints used are from the Army Painter coloured spray primers and Warpaints. Prime with Platemail Metal spray. Skin = Goblin Green Belts / Boots / Shoulder Plates / extra armour plates = Necromancer Cloak Trousers / Wrist straps = Monster Brown Loin Cloths = Tanned & Barbarian Flesh Weapon handles / pouches / straps = Dirt Splatter Bones = Skeleton bone Stormcast Eternal helmet trophy = Greedy Gold Once done mix together 7 parts Dark Tone with 3 parts Strong Tone Quickshade Ink and wash the models heavily, removing any pooling. Once dry PVA on the top of the base, dip in AP Battlefields Brown basing and edge in Monster Brown. These 5 took me around 5 hours to paint today and are ready to take to the battlefield. I can add highlights and detailing later.

When I decided on seriously jumping back into AOS, I was torn between which faction to focus on. Focus has always been an issue for me - too many shinies pulling me in several directions at once; Nurgle, Bloodbound, Skaven (Clan Pestilence), Dwarfs. I could go on and I'm pretty sure a lot of you reading this are just as prone to Shiny-Toy-Soldier syndrome as much as I. However, the Ironjawz release really grabbed me and after reading over them and dribbling at the new models, I took the plunge and ordered the Battletome and a box of Brutes to start with. But there was still a niggling voice reminding me of all the fun I had with the army of Gromm The Paunch and his Orc & Goblin allies. A quick look at the Grand Alliance: Destruction details and I realised I once again could summon a mighty WAAGH! of greenskins. And so this arrived today: A quick glance through and they're all there - Grots, Grot Spider Riders; Troggoths of varying flavours; Savage Orruks and more. It was just like Old Times seeing the different models and a grand plan of greenskin Realm domination began to form. My plan is to firstly build Gorefang's Ironjawz clan and get some games under my belt, and then expand that into a huge alliance of destruction. Yet every epic saga starts with but one story, and so I've built the Brute Boss Gorefang (before his rise to power) and started painting him. And here I've learned my first lesson: part assemble the rest of the Brutes and paint in seperate sections. Getting into recesses, skin areas behind armour and so on is proving very troublesome, but I've managed to get the red armour finished and have started on the flesh areas. Still getting to grips with how best to take a picture - think I was a bit too close for this one but at least the new light box set up works. Till next time - JP

My first army was an Orc & Goblin force led by Gromm the Paunch from the Misty Mountain. This was for 3rd and 4th Edition and was the only army I ever collected, painted and gamed with regularly. This was back in the 80's/90's and it helped that I was working for GW at the time. We had a pretty good store campaign going which combined WFB, Mighty Empires and Man O' War to create a truly world-spanning series of games that ran for the best part of a year. Good times. That world no longer exists. Now, the Mortal Realms await, and a new Orruk threat arises. When Age Of Sigmar was first released I bought in big, loving the open style of play, and especially loving the new style of models. The Bloodbound became my faction but real world issues got in the way and my AOS project had to be shelved. WAAGH! Gorefang I've kept an eye on the forums and FB Groups and when I saw the new Orruks, my inner-greenskin was reawakened. I love the new style of the Ironjawz Orruks and already I was seeing how I could circumvent my gamers OCD and not have to "buy them all; buy them all NOW!" The WAAGH! always starts small: a mob or two, maybe even a single ambitious Orruk, before rising to become a wave of green that washes over the Mortal Realms, leaving it bloodied red in its wake. And so I made my first purchases: ... and the WAAGH! begins.