Thursday, 28 February 2013

Ruglud's Armoured Orcs - The Spike-Can Commandos

 Another fun unit of 80s Orcs, you can't beat a bit of nostalgia

The Crooked Eye Orcs had travelled many miles westward to the Old World, suffering the sniping of mountain Goblins, incessant rain, and the endless whining of Bambrag, their incontinent shaman.
Once, they skirted a ruined Dwarfhold. Fear of spirits kept them from sheltering inside, but, a single Orc Hero named Ruglud had dared to enter. He returned unharmed, but had not spoken since, and stated blankly into space.
The Orcs huddled in the rain before a rough stone wall across a narrow pass, while Chief Gudruk Bonechewer yelled at a figure on the battlements.
'Stoopid!', he screamed, 'Do we look like Chaos boys?'
'Zog off!' echoed the reply.
Gudruk returned to the tribe, dodging the hall of stones and garbage that accompanied this witty riposte.
'Lissen,' he said. 'Them kak-'ead Gobboes reckon the Chaos boys took ev'ryfink over. They ain't comin' out an' they ain't lettin' nuffink through. They got bows an' rocks an' spears an' stuff - if we was to try and get 'em, they'd crump us to bits.' He thought for a while.
'We needs volunteers', he announced at length. His warriors developed a sudden and compelling interest in the ground at their feet.
'Or armour', whined Bambrag, 'Couldn't touch us if we 'ad cans like real Chaos boys.'
'We ain't got cans, 'ave we, Trickle-legs?' snarled Gudruk.
'Cans... jus' lyin' where they dropped... all black an' spiky.'
It was Ruglud who spoke. Gudruk gave him a good shake to speed the recovery of his senses, and he continued dreamily.
'Down this Stunty-hole... lotsa rooms ... lost... big room... big enough to stand up in ... big pile of bones an' gear... spiky Stunties an' reg'lar ones... wiped each uvver out...'
'Yerrrss!' cried Gudruk, 'We'll 'ave some o' that! Come on, boys - it's Goblin-gizzard for supper!'.
A swift expedition returned to the Dwarfhold. The ill-fitting plates were roughly hammered into shape and held
together with whatever came to hand. By nightfall, a small unit of armoured warriors was ready.
As the gear's discoverer and the bravest, meanest and certainly the most stupid Orc, Ruglud was made leader, At Gudruk's suggestion, Bambrag became the regimental musician on the Xylobone, a traditional Orcish instrument, and Maggot - Gudruk's youngest and most irritating whelp - joined the ranks as standard-bearer.
The tribe feasted upon Goblin-flesh long into the night - all except for Ruglud, who couldn't get his helmet off, and was reduced to sucking broth through a straw.
BATTLECRY
The most frequent battlecry is a repetitive chant of 'Gobbo fer tea, Gobbo fer tea, Gobbo, Gobbo, Gobbo fer tea!', with 'Stunty', "Uman' and so on being substituted for 'Gobbo' as appropriate.
DEEDS The Commandos' first victory led to many more as they pushed across the Worlds' Mountains towards the old World. Most of these were over isolated Goblin strongholds, and are remembered only in the stories and drinking songs of the Crooked Eye Orcs - and then in versions which are probably wildly exaggerated. one confirmed exploit was the storming of Karak-Bazik, an outlier to the great Dwarven settlement of Zhufbar, when the Dwarfs were obliged to abandon the Dwarfhold and cave in a series of connecting tunnels to cover their retreat.
UNIFORMS There is no uniform as such; the commandoes are dressed in a wide and miscellaneous range of armour.
SHIELDS The Commandos never bothered to re-paint their shields to a standard design, so this varies widely.
PROFILES - 3rd edition
Gudruk Bonechewer - Level 10 Orc Hero
  M WS BS S T W I A Ld Int Cl WP POINTS
Gudruk 3.5 5 4 4 5 2 3 3 8+1 5 7 7 71
Gudruk is equipped with heavy armour and a two-handed sword.
Saving Throw: 5, 6

Ruglud, Level 5 Orc Hero

  M WS BS S T W I A Ld Int Cl WP POINTS
Ruglud 3 4 4 4 4 1 3 2 7 5 7 7 38
Ruglud is equipped with heavy armour, a shield and is armed with two swords. Note that the shield provides no protection when fighting two-handed.
Saving Throw: 4, 5, 6/ 5, 6 when using both swords.
Armoured Orc Warrior
  M WS BS S T W I A Ld Int Cl WP POINTS
Trooper 3 3 3 3 4 1 2 1 7 5 7 7 12.5
Extra for standard 24
Extra for musician 24
The regiment is equipped with heavy armour, shields, swords, crossbows and iron-hafted Dwarven halberds. Note that shields provide no protection when fighting two-handed.
Saving Throw: 4, 5, 6/ 5, 6 when using halberds or crossbows.

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Armies of Islam

A few pics of a recent commission I completed for GB, more Seljuk Turks form their Armies of Islam range.
A real joy to paint! Which reminds me I need to crack on with my own Crusader armies which are slowly beginning to gather dust...

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Dwarves and lots of 'em!









Heres a few pics of quite a few Dwarves i recently painted posing in my new table!
great figures but i hate this not so new GW finecast resin....

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Wargames table WIP 3



Here is the first 4 out of the initial 9 i have finished. making a playing area of 8'x4', so still quite a way to go! I'm pretty happy with the results so far except there is a slight warp in a couple of the boards so i may tru painting the other side to see if it rectifies the problem...

Monday, 14 January 2013

Jomsvikings





As I said in my previous post my favourite miniatures released last year were these bad boys from GB.
So I thought it was about time I painted mine. Here are the first 6 of the the 25 Jomsviking minis, at what a joy to paint! I also have a few of the older style ones to do, hopefully it will be quite an impressive warband when they are all finished.
If the cold weather is making you feel all Viking. Grab yourself a few packs of these, play some Manowar through your head phones and get painting.
as Svend Karlsen aptly states, VIKING POWER!

Saturday, 12 January 2013

2012 round up

ok, ok, i know i'm a little late with this but here goes
The category of favourite new miniatures of 2012




Goes to Gripping Beasts Jomsvikings. These beauties some examples you can see above painted by the man who sculpted them Bill Thornhill of Musketeer miniatures fame. 
Minw are very soon to appear on this blog ;o)

The category of favourite blog series 2012
Goes to Pats Rorkes drift extravaganza! LINKIf you have a few hours to spare just check out his blog in the link above, pure adult candy.
Very inspirational photography, you just got to admire than mans dedication.

The category of favourite forum 2012 goes to
Turning 40 last year was a big mile stone and this just makes me feel young again, aaah the 80s.
if your into your old lead there are some great blogs out there, check out the Oldhammer forum for a list OLDHAMMER

The category of favourite game i played 2012 goes to
War of the Ring, march of the Ents! i sadly didnt get as much gaming in as i hoped last year, but htis was just great fun! 20 Ents against thousands of Orcs, whats not to be liked?
 

well folks I would usually go on about what I aim to be doing this year in the hobby, but i failed so miserably with last years intentions that i'm not going to write anything about future plans..
I've now been painting fulltime professionally for over a year and business is good, when i do get a chance to paint something for myself i'm just going to grab anything from my huge pile of lead and enjoy it!
saying that there will be another post this evening with a little direction.....
 


 





Thursday, 10 January 2013

WARGAMES TABLE WIP 2





The table is coming along nicely, heres is the first 8'x6' in various states of completeness. three boards are awaiting an order from Javis, two are awaiting a good dusting and one is actually complete!
I'm thinking of making it a 14x6'

This table is huge and i'm getting the berzerker rage, now for the last time Erik where is this bloody castle?