The Black Castle.: February 2014

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Lacking time, any time at all, even like, just half an hour. I will do someone a small favour instead of an actual hobby post.

Hi blogfans. I'm promoting a blog today. A chap doing the same warband challenge as many of us but with a dearth of followers. It sucks when you're in that bloglimbo so check his toys out and follow. Incidentally, I noticed recently that blogger freaks out sometimes when you try to follow a new bl.. (I'm saying blog too much) but you can fix this by clicking on the overlapping squares symbol and using the different follow button that pops up. Anyway, follow the link please.

CLICK ME!

This post was brought to you by Cthuloops, insanely delicious cereal.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Hang on a minute, that sounds...OK.

I must confess, an email from GW had me tempted to spend my money for the first time in several years, have a look at this Warhammer World event pack for the 31st of May. Tickets are thirty-odd notes I think.

Regiment of Renown.

I am starting to notice a trend developing at GW towards occasionally acknowledging the old days, I'm cynical about it but who knows, might be worth keeping an eye on.

Anyone else tempted or have my rose-tinted specs slipped down over my eyes again?

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, 2 February 2014

Building a warband challenge II.

While I was mining the lead piles for suitable warband minis to use to answer Whiskey Priest's warband challenge a heretical thought wormed it's way into my unshielded mind; why not have a look through those boxes of plastic crap? All the leftovers and dross I've acquired over the years because I thought they might come in handy for conversions, if I were to look through there, why, I could create a warband with miniatures I got for free.. from people leaving the hobby in disgust! Bwahahaha!

So here it is, having replaced the original model for a new leader, I present to you my 21 strong warband of entirely free and discarded miniatures. Nice!

You see Skull pass Gobbos, I see Chaos Goblins in cultist robes! What colour should I go for, red?

Four Chaos Thugs with bows.

Six Beastmen. Note the one with the weird head, I added a 'smoke-cloud' head from the wizard sprue in a fit of whimsy. Hoping it's going to look nice and mutated once the paint goes on.

Chaos Sorcerer and his Chaotic Host 'Wild Cat' from Warhammer Armies. The Sorcerer is a Rackham sculpt I believe and the Wild Cat is from an Elven chariot kit.

My new champ, he was just a Crom body with no head or arms when I got him. I threw him together with some plastics to use as an NPC in a game I GM'd a couple of years back and haven't used him since, now I will lavish a bit more attention on him.

So there you have it! The Warhammer scene in Harrogate might be in dire straits but it feels good to rescue some unloved toys and get them back on the painting table and hopefully the tabletop too someday.

Check out the original challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mission Statement.

This Blog will be used to revolutionise wargaming, succeeding where others have failed. Oh yes it will! I will teach you all the error of your ways and subvert you to my cause. I am on a crusade to bring back the GamesMaster to all tabletop battles. On the way, I will track my wargaming progress project by project and as a whole, bringing projects to completion and moving on to new challenges. I have moved away from the hollow, charmless gaming that has become a kind of standard thanks to our own complacency and develop a gaming style that encompasses the gaming and role-play values of the 80s and early 90s (my youth) whilst going beyond what that era achieved into exhilarating new realms of fun. I will therefore use the Blog to record my battle and keep on the right course with my overall philosophy in the same way as I fortify my discipline with individual projects. I will use the blogging platform to challenge my painting, modelling and photography skills, though I will not allow the pursuit of high standards to interfere with the deadlines I set myself so expect a mixture of different quality paint jobs, photos et cetera. The aspiration to perfection is always a long term goal, so get stuff done in the mean time. The blog will come in handy for insurance purposes, tremble in fear claims negotiators. I promise not to use the Blog as a vacuous diary, sharing a life which though personally gratifying is possibly outwardly dull. Though I am pretty neat. I will utilise gentle humour often, as is my way, without descending into constant joke-telling. I will not shy away from subtle adult humour and occasional vulgarity (this will not include serious swear words however) though only rarely and in always in context. This is because I like my wargaming to have a moral awareness of it’s real life counterpart (war) in amongst all the fun times. I will not post whilst drunk. I will never review movies, books or anything else for that matter though I may recommend stuff for gaming inspiration purposes and talk about a fun time I had doing something that linked to my gaming activities. I will strive to avoid discussing the world in absolute terms, accepting rather that reality is in the eye of the beholder and that maturity acknowledges variety. I want the hobby to be inclusive and will avoid misogynistic blogger staples such as using pictures of ladies breasts to liven up mediocre posts. I will ask you now once, for the first and last time, to comment and follow if you feel able as these signs of recognition are greatly appreciated. I will never again seek any acclamation for what I’m doing. As a final point, I will make it clear that I think Gamers, us, ourselves, are responsible for the state of wargaming, NOT Games Workshop, Wizards of the Coast et cetera who despite being in the grasp of vile corporate vampires actually carry out, diligently and with dignity, a worthy and thankless task. If anything goes downhill people are far too quick to blame the governing body, when they should be taking personal responsibility first and foremost. Wargamers of the world, the time for excuses is past, it is time to have incredible fun!