Shock...Horror...New Painting!!!!

"Well, I'll be jiggered!" you are no doubt saying! "Has old Andy woken up his bloomin' paintbrush then"

Well, yes, I have!! After months of being unable to paint due to simply not having any desire whatsoever, I have finally managed to complete three miniatures!!! Sadly, I only have pics of two because the bloody camera ran out of juice! So you'll have to wait until tomorrow for pics of a Musketeer miniatures Arthurian standard bearer that I've been painting for interweb chum Tony for...oh, about 6 months now (sorry Tony...he'll be with you as soon as I've varnished him and got him down to Royal Mail...)

Anyway, the two I have pics of are two 80s Warhammer High Elves from the force I have been buying off EBAY and from various like-minded  souls for the past few months.

I do intend to play Warhammer 3rd Edition with them, but they'll also take the field for 'Ride to Ruin' as well, as they are such great models. They are actually in many ways more 'Tolkien' than any other Elves, being armoured in mail... I've always wanted some and now here they are.

The first two are the General and a Wardancer. I opted for not painting eyes, as my own are shot and can't do that level of detail any more. I also opted to do fairly 'modern' basing, rather than going all 'green base edges and flock' like some Oldhammer enthusiasts do. Each to their own, but I hate green base edges...mind you, a lot of folk hate my black ones, so not to worry!!

A unit of cavalry are sat on the table at the mo. They are all on the same armoured steed as the general and will look AWESOME!

Anyway...enjoy.

Pics of the Saxon banner bearer to come as soon as the camera is recharged... Then it'll be that 'Ride To Ruin' AAR I keep promising you...

Having a clear out...and more Oldhammer musings.

Just to let you all know that I am selling a load of my lead pile. I have finally realised that I won't paint it or ever play with it, so it's going to make room for what I WILL play with! (Hopefully!)

There will be bits appearing on EBAY over the next couple of months, including a bit of painted stuff. There'll be a load of Foundry 7th cavalry and Plains Indians on sale shortly, plus some Redoubt FIW models, plus some WFB dwarf sprues, plus some Perry Crusades stuff, plus some painted 90s High Elves that I don't want for my Oldhammer project...all sorts...

Find me  here on EBAY...

However, I have a few bits on sale that I'd rather not put on EBAY... Have a look here.

EDIT!! ROMANO BRITISH AND SAXONS SOLD! 

And all this to make room for bits for Oldhammer... I just bought a load of 80s High Elf cavalry (drool, dribble) and am intending to buy some Mirliton (ex-Grenadier) High Elf infantry to accompany them as Citadel High Elf spearmen were conspicuous by their absence in the late 80s...there were but a handful and they don't seem to be appearing on EBAY much at the mo. Still the Grenadier figures will more than work...I had some of them years ago and flogged 'em..sigh...

I also have my eye on some Jess Goodwin Elf archers as there are some on EBAY that aren't going for insane money...

A nice little painting project to add to my stuff for the rest of the year, with the prospect of some games, so I actually have a reason to get on and do it!!! Add my LOTR stuff and it seems that Fantasy will take up most of my painting time for the rest of the year. That'll make a nice change!!

All Hail Oldhammer...

Back in the early 1990s, the 4th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle came out...it had a boxed set of plastic Elves and Goblins and was the first time GW had done such an approach. I had already picked up some of the old 80s High Elves, but had never played... Soon, I had amassed a 2000pt army of the lovely new 90s Marauder and Citadel High Elf models and my journey back into Wargaming really began there. Stupidly, I got rid of all those early Elf models because, back then, I thought the (then) new ones were cooler...Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid...

Anyway, I haven't played WFB since version 6, cos I thought version 7 was complete bollox and I haven't even touched version 8, which I believe has been christened 'Monsterhammer' and is apparently tournament heaven...Hmmm...not my forte...
But I do REALLY miss playing with my old High Elves, some of which I tarted up to improve the paint jobs about 10 years ago for a club campaign, so it was with some interest that I picked up on the current trend for 'Oldhammer' gaming - guys playing really early versions of WFB, usually (but not exclusively) 3rd edition, which costs an arm and a leg to buy on EBAY and which is spoken of in hushed tones...and is apparently mega complex if you play EVERY advanced rule, but is allegedly VERY good...

So, I went to Scribd.com and downloaded it plus the army book....£6 for 24 hour access, job's a good 'un (better than paying 80 quid on EBAY at any rate, although it cost me 25 quid in ink to print the bugger out!!!!)

Wow! What a difference from what I played in versions 4-6!!! Interesting! It's a weighty 300 page tome, so I have only skimmed it, but I am very intrigued! There are some cool ideas...initiative determining combat strike order, +1 to hit if charging, push-backs, 'free hack' (free strikes when enemy rout) being just some things that made me go "ooohhh....interesting!"  That and loads of levels of heroes and wizards... We'll probably need to keep the more stoopidly dangerous spells out of the games at the scale we'll likely play, but even so... I wanna give it a go!

Andy MacTaggart from the club is also rather keen on playing it, as it's where he actually started gaming as a nipper, so we have kinda agreed that it'll be a long-term project. I have already fetched my High Elves out of the attic and dusted them down, picked the nicest painted ones and those that will fit the lists (some need a lot of patching up, others not so much) and I'm on my way!

Watch this space for developments. Once I have finished the current painting odds n sods, the 'patching up' will begin - they need re-basing for a start...

What with that and the LOTR stuff and playtests for a set called 'Ride to Ruin' (based on Dux Brit), I am looking forward to adding decent Fantasy gaming back into my gaming repertoire... I know that some may sneer, but it's where I started and I have really missed it!!

Next up, some more Dux Britanniarum, a new WAB 'Raiding Season' campaign that got off to what some would call my usual start (yup...shit dice, loads of dead Romano-Brits, you know the score...still great fun tho') and then, hopefully, some more actual painting!!!!!!