A Hobby Review of 2018

Phew! It's been a busy old year and I'm very much enjoying taking a bit of a festive break. Since the very start of this blog, I've taken the opportunity to take a look back at the end of each year, and its hobby highlights. This year is no different, and it feels like it was another good year.

At the end of 2017 I set myself some ambitions:

- To attend Bring Out Your Lead (BOYL).
- To travel to Ireland again for another gaming weekend
- Join participate in a new Necromunda campaign.
- To continue with Choose Your Own Adventurers.
- To paint some RT forces.
- To paint some Dracula's America in Space figures.

Oh, and to have fun and play some cool games!

Gaming in 2018

In 2018 I played a similar number of games to previous years. I didn't get across to Ireland, but I did attend BOYL, and a real blast it was too!

My car boot full of figures and terrain to be used at BOYL!

Dracula's America in Space at BOYL.

Bounty Hunting in the Underhive at BOYL.

I also had a few gaming sessions with my mate Graham at his place.

Necromunda was the key theme of the year though. My gaming group is now mid-way through our 3rd campaign of the year, and I'm on my 3rd gang (Confrontation Hunters, Techs and now mutie cultists). 

In April I also attended the first Necromunda tournament at Warhammer World since the new game came out. The best part about it was that one of my opponents, Mike, has since joined our Necromunda gaming group - it was worth it to meet a great new gaming buddy!

3rd best Necromunda player in the world (current rankings!).

I'm looking forward to more Necromunda to come in the New Year, and hoping for an improvement in my mid-table rankings in our campaign!

Painting and Modelling

The year was full of fun painting and modelling projects, some of which have been on my wishlist for years! I finished off three Confrontation gangs (the Hunters, Bratts and Techs) using in the main period figures. I didn't paint up my RT space elves, but I did make a nice new Eldar Kill Team using RT scouts. I also managed to paint Buck Rogers starfighter, a selection of mutated cultists, Johnny Alpha and a host of terrain. Not any Genestealer cultists though!

The Hobby Chart

But I know all you really want to see is the chart. Here you go:

In 2018 I painted a total of 160 'things'. A thing is a thing - a large terrain piece counts the same as a barrel. A single 28mm miniature is the same as a vehicle. I'm pretty pleased with a total of 160, even if it is a drop of last year's high (207 things).

Number of games is holding steady at 40. Less than the 2015 high of 46, but it roughly equates to one game a week excluding holidays.

I'm just hopeful that I maintain enthusiasm and have time for a similar level of output next year.

Plans for 2019

Speaking of next year, what does it hold? I say this every year, but as long as I managed to have fun games and enjoy what I model and paint, that's a success for me.

That said, I know I'll be working on some post-apocalyptic / fringe world terrain in the New Year, and I already have plans for the next Necromunda gang (I fancy making some fighters from House Helmawr).

I'll attend BOYL 2019, keep up the Necromunda campaigns, and I'm sure other opportunities will present themselves!

I'll sign off for 2018 now - have a great holiday period and wishing you and yours a great 2019!

Strontium Dogs - Sourmouth Clancy

Another reason for my current diversion of attention into the 2000AD universe, is that there are plans afoot to play a game with Search/Destroy agents next summer.

Aside from Johnny, Wulf and the Gronk (who won't be appearing in next summer's Strontium Dog game), I wanted and needed to create my own mutant bounty hunter. Again I sought some expert advice and was provided with the following brief:

• There is no set Strontium Dog uniform apart from the badge.
• Search/Destroy agents are comparatively wealthy (versus other mutants) and can have decent gear and outfits.
• The classic SD outfit is a tight bodysuit, accessorised with pads and other gear.
• Mutations are often bizarre / humourous, and often confer no or minimal benefit/abilities.

Armed with the above, I set about scouring the Citadel back catalogue in an attempt to track down a suitable base figure to turn into my SD agent. After much deliberation I settled on a rather obscure supervillain figure from Citadel's early 1980s Golden Heroes range. 

Strontium Dogs - Johnny Alpha, Wulf & the Gronk

I've started taking an interest in 2000AD characters recently. By and large Dredd, Johnny Alpha et al passed me by in the 1980s. For a long time though, I've been interested in Citadel's 2000AD figures, selectively repurposing them for use in Rogue Trader.

Some gaming buddies have suggested that I start taking a look at some of the comic strips, and I'm currently working my way through volume one of the Search/Destroy Agency Files, featuring none other than mutant bounty hunter, Johnny Alpha. Painting up Citadel's Strontium Dog figures is a nice refreshing linked mini-project. They are a discrete trio who give me a chance to play with brighter comic-book colour schemes. And there's the added bonus that I could in theory use them on the table in a game of Warlord's Strontium Dog.

Wulf Sternhammer, Johnny Alpha and the Gronk.

Setting the Scene - a New Backdrop

I'm a firm fan of scenic photography of figures and try to do it every time I paint something new. However, my backdrops are usually hastily assembled from gaming terrain, and new to be set up and broken down again every time. I wanted to make myself a fairly basic backdrop that I could keep near my painting station to access quickly and easily. 

The completed backdrop

The Rites of the Hunt - Necromunda Venator Band

Back at the start of the year I was invited to create a Venator band for Necromunda. There was planned that the gang might be published in White Dwarf alongside the article on Venators in the May 2018 issue. Sadly the gang didn't get into print, although they were shown recently on Warhammer TV.

My approach to the gang was to try and recreate the look and feel of the classic Marauder Confrontation Venators - check out these wonderful painted examples by Asslessman over at Leadplague. The classic look includes hoods, masks and a prevalence of nooses - something I wanted to replicate using current plastic GW kits.

It's a Long-Shot (Cultists Get Snipers Too)!

I'm really getting a kick out of my dregs and mutie cult for Necromunda, in spite of the fact that they are ranked 8th out of thirteen gangs in our campaign with a 50-50 win-loss ratio. There's something about pathetic low-lifes that really does appeal to me!

Not content with having two snipers already, I decided I wanted a third. This time I've elected to arm Sant, my new cultist, with a long-las instead of a long rifle. It lacks the range and stopping power of a long rifle, but in trade off it's a much more reliable weapon and more accurate at mid-ranges.

Scaling Up Spacefarers - 28mm Star Lane Space Pirate Girl

In my view, Citadel's Spacefarers range was one of the best selections of science fiction adventuring types that any company has produced. It included over 50 different figures including merchants, troopers, droids and space pirates. They had great poses and interesting gear. But they are useless for my games which are firmly set in 28mm Rogue Trader scale, because for all their charm, Spacefarers are teeny 25mm figures.

Spacefarers page from the 1981 Citadel catalogue (image from Stuff of Legends)

I've already had one attempt at upscaling the Interplanetary Merchant with a figure I sculpted from scratch. I wanted to try my hand at converting one of my other favourite figures from the range - the S17 'Star Lane Space Pirate Girl with Laser Pistol'.

Star Lane Space Pirate Girl painted by Greblord. More images over at: http://greblord-littlemen.blogspot.com/2016/03/citadel-25mm-spacefarers-s17-star-lane.html

Star Lane Space Pirate Girl painted by Greblord. More images over at: http://greblord-littlemen.blogspot.com/2016/03/citadel-25mm-spacefarers-s17-star-lane.html

Missiles and Extra Eyes - More Mutie Cultists!

I think I'm pretty much on the home straight with my mutie cultists. I probably won't make any more for a little while, unless of course I earn lots of Necromunda campaign creds and need to add new recruits!

I've made two more cultists anticipating being able to buy more fighters and gear - another combat cultist, and a disciple armed with a missile launcher.

One Shot, One Kill - Long Ranged Cult Disciple

When I originally planned my Necromunda chaos cult, I knew I wanted a disciple (champion) with a heavy stubber. It was later suggested to me that a disciple with a long rifle would be fun. A high quality ranged shooter in Necromunda is always a useful thing, and a long rifle has pretty fun stats - S4 like a boltgun, positive to hit modifiers at long range (and the maximum range is long - 48"!). Not to mention the knockback ability which can hurl targets into other models, walls, or even off gantries.

It just so happened that back in 2015 when I was making some completely unrelated chaos cultists in pink, I had criminally decapitated a Jes Goodwin skaven champion with a jezail. He had sat unpainted in a pile for over three years, so I took the opportunity to look at him a second time.

Face to Face with the Cult

One thing lacking from the Benevolent Brothers was any form of close-quarters fighters. I decided to rectify that with three new additions - Maddox, Snyke and Frenk.

All three are armed exclusively with melee weapons and pistols to take things up close and personal! I am still working out whether Maddox (the lady with the big chainsword) will be a champion with a chainglaive or a ganger with a chainsword. I'm settled on Snyke with his hand flamer and Frenk though.

Arming the Brothers - Chaos Cult Shooters

Members of the Benevolent Brotherhood keep a wary watch as Demagogue Jakob carries out doorstep conversions.

With my new Necromunda campaign kicking off next week, I am busily finishing off the last few fighters I need to complete my starting roster. I've made the decision to sacrifice reliability in favour of bodies, so my cultists are by and large going to be unarmoured and equipped with unreliable reclaimed auto-weapons - pretty fitting for underhive muties I think.

Speaker of The Word - Chaos Cult Demagogue

Every Necromundan Chaos Cult is led by a Demogogue - that forceful and charismatic (or possibly underhand and scheming) personality that persuades, coerces or tricks people into following them. The Benevolent Brothers are no different, being led by the monk-like Jakob, brother to Wilhelm the witch.

Jakob walks the mutie slums barefoot, dispensing food to the hungry and blessings to those with bruised souls. The Cult of the Benevolent Brothers supports the oppressed mutie population, and in turn muties offer the Brothers their loyalty, their ferocity and their lives in pursuit of mutant rights.

I built Jakob many months ago from a selection of parts which resulted in a pretty unusual figure with a look of a holy man. I knew that in game terms I wanted him to carry a grenade launcher, but I didn't want to ruin the simple look of the figure, so I decided to give Jakob a servant (Wretch) to carry his equipment for him (possibly there is some irony that a cult leader dedicated to mutant rights is happy to have a slave-like figure attending him).

Mobile Firepower - Eldar Scout Walker and Spotter

With the deadline of completing my Eldar scout kill team for the Old World Sprint Challenge looming, I figured it was high time to get on and finish the final two figures required. I needed to bring in one last Scout to meet the minimum requirement of 10 figures, as well as a "support element", which could be anything relevant to the unit - a Dreadnought, transport, heavy weapon or similar.

Insidious Growth - More Chaos Cultists

The trouble with a cult is that it can grow. A charismatic leader and an attractive offering brings the desperate, vulnerable and weak-willed. I've recruited some more cultists to the Benevolent Brothers - this time a pair with autoguns and my first disciple, Grund.

The Benevolent Brothers door to door preaching.

The Benevolent Brothers - A Cult for Mutants and their Supporters

Necromunda is home to all kinds of cults, Imperial devotees, sinister xenos bands and spire-based secret societies. Chaos cults are not unknown - there are those who seek (or are found by) dangerous and unpredictable powers. There are also those cults who provide havens for the unwanted, the lonely and the dispossessed. The origin of the Benevolent Brothers is rumoured to have been a soup kitchen run by a pair of missionary brothers, seeking to bring the light of the Emperor to the mutant slums of Borscht's Crack. No-one knows for certain what happened to the brothers, but the rise of the Benevolent Brothers, a cult of mutants and their human hangers-on, is led by a charismatic and eloquent pair of mutie brothers...

Chaos cultists stalk the streets of the underhive.

Eternal Wanderlust - Eldar Scout Characters

Part of the fun of Kill Team is including a wide range of individual specialist fighters. Whilst I'm limiting my Eldar Kill Team to the Ranger/Scout theme, that doesn't mean that I can't include proxies like my "grav platform" guy with his big gun. And like my illegal 2nd edition unit of Scouts with shuriken catapults, I see no reason why long rifles are the only weapons that an Eldar Scout would utilise.

Pathfinder Bres Ayvan leads his scouts through Imperial ruins.

So my next two additions are the leader of the Kill Team, and a guy with a handy special weapon. In game terms my leader, Bres Ayvan, represents a Dire Avenger Exarch (hence his shuriken catapult), and the fusion gunner is a Storm Guardian.

Ranger Support - Eldar Scouts with Alternate Weapons

I wanted to add some variety into my Eldar scout-themed Kill Team. I figured the best way to do this was by way of proxying some scouts with different weaponry. My favourite unit in my 2nd edition 40k army was a squad of scouts armed with shuriken catapults. These guys in fact:

This veteran unit has experienced the horrors of being boxed and discarded for decades.

I converted this unit by clipping off their long rifle barrels and replacing them with Dark Elf crossbows. At some point in the late 1990s or early 2000s, the unit got further upgrades with fur and Wood Elf accoutrements, and were used as Exodites. It was only a few weeks ago that I suffered the acutely embarrassing realisation that scouts armed with shuriken catapults are not a legal 2nd edition codex unit. I can tell that you're shocked.

My current Kill Team will salvage and refurbish some of the horrifically converted scouts owned by my younger self. And will possibly redeem my rules illegality in the process.

Eldritch Outcasts - Eldar Scout Unit

Back at the start of the year I confidently predicted I'd be painting up a Rogue Trader Eldar army. That may yet prove to be the case, and perhaps my current project will help ease me into it.

I'm painting up an Eldar Scout/Ranger* force two hit two hobby outcomes. The first is to create a new force to use in games of Kill Team, the new 40k skirmish game. The second is to participate in a fun two-month challenge in one of the Facebook groups I'm a member of. The Old World Sprint Challenge challenges participants to paint at least 10 models from the system of their choice.

I'll be painting 6 standard Eldar scouts plus some conversions to represent the different troop types available in Kill Team.

Max Data V2.0 - New Tech Gang Leader

One of the elements that I really enjoy about an extended Necromunda campaign is the progression of your fighters. In the campaign I've been playing in for the last few months, my Tech gang, the Data Kings have gained some really useful fighters - Osbourne who can snipe almost anyone with his plasma cannon. Fischer who's a deadeye with his hot-shot lasgun. Of course Sinclair has a strength-sapping injury, and Celerity has a badly damaged hand, but that's all part of the fun.

My Leader, Max Data, hasn't had too many progressions, but I have invested in some rather tasty gear. He now walks the underhive equipped with a las-plas combi weapon, energy shield, mesh armour, laspistol and a las projector. All this necessitated a new model to accurately represent Max Data and his gear.

To the Victors, the Spoils - Necromunda Campaign Trophies

My gaming group's Necromunda campaign, 'Welcome to Deadwired', reaches its culmination this week, with my fellow arbitrator Mike deviously planning a multiplayer finale. Knowing Mike, there will be numerous dangers and gribbly beasts in the shadows. I can't wait!

Ahead of the final week, I've prepared some trophies for winners of various campaign benchmarks. The trophies are fairly straightforward - figures painted in metallic paint, mounted on some resin display plinths from Model Display Products.

From left to right: 

• 'Regular Guy' (most games)
• 'Executioner' (most opposition fighters taken Out of Action) 
• 'Overlord' (campaign winner) 
• 'Killer Rep' (highest reputation increase over the campaign)

Cosmic Forces Beyond All Comprehension - Buck Rogers in the 41st Millennium

In the year 1987, at the John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA launched the last of America's deep space probes. The payload, perched on the nose cone of the massive rocket, was a one-man exploration vessel - Ranger 3. Aboard this compact starship, a lone astronaut - Captain William "Buck" Rogers - was to experience cosmic forces beyond all comprehension. An awesome brush with death: in the blink of an eye, his life support systems were frozen by temperatures beyond imagination. Ranger 3 was blown out of its planned trajectory into an orbit a thousand times more vast, an orbit which was to return the ship full circle to his point of origin - its mother Earth - not in five months, but in 38,000 years. 

I was born in the late 1970s, around about the time that the world got gripped by science fiction. Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers became fixtures of Christmas and Saturday afternoon programming and indelibly etched into my brain.

I don't know what sparked the idea to bring Buck Rogers into the 41st Millenium. I know I chatted about it with cheetor and Curis as part of the 'Choose Your Own Adventurers' project last year. I know I spent several weeks searching on eBay for a Corgi diecast starfighter to adapt. I know I earmarked the pilot from the Rogue Trader adventurers range for the project!

BOYL 2018 (Part 3) - DAiS & Bounty Hunting

Dracula's America in Space

Saturday at Bring Out Your Lead 2018 (BOYL) continued after lunch with a rather chaotic game of Dracula's America (in Space). Dracula's America is Osprey's excellent fantasy Western game. But you can add in spacemen and laser guns if you wish!

I pulled out a whole load of my scenery to create the settlement of Black Dust Gulch.

BOYL 2018 (Part 2) - What an (Orky) Tanker!

Following on from Part 1 of my Bring Out Your Lead 2018 (BOYL) report, the Saturday saw me taking part in an all-comers tank battle organised by Whisky Priest. Rather than muddle our way through any of the various vehicle rules published by GW, Whisky Priest was championing 'What a Tanker!' by Too Fat Lardies.

Battle is engaged!

 In order to participate, we just needed to bring a suitable tank. You may have already seen Asslessman's Metal Slug or airbornegrove26's insane Pizza Tank. As of a 10 days ago, I wasn't planning to participate in the game, so hadn't prepped anything of my own. In fact, I didn't feel I had anything suitable to use. Then I asked WP if I could join in, and started delving into my hobby supplies to see what I could put together.

Sadly I lacked any kind of suitable hull. I did have the domed top piece from the GW Shadow War Armageddon terrain, and was wondering if I should procure a second to make a rolling tank. And then I wondered if I could scratch build something...

BOYL 2018 (Part 1) - Heat Builds in the Underhive

What's the best excuse for playing miniature wargames? Meeting up with friends and having fun of course! Over the course of the weekend just gone, I attended Bring Out Your Lead 2018 (BOYL).

Bring Out Your Lead started as a low-key meet up of a handful of enthusiasts of Games Workshop's older games and miniatures at Wargames Foundry's Nottingham shop in 2013. The event has grown into a three-day annual event at Foundry's current location in Newark, with over 100 attendees, special guests and a wonderful array of eye-catching games.

Pre-BOYL Necromunda

Like last year, myself and some good buddies took the opportunity to have a full day of gaming at Warhammer World. This year, with Necromunda was flavour of the month, so I booked the tables, and completely ripped off the event pack that GW put together for the Necromunda tournament I attended in April.

Curis is aghast at the way Whiskey Priest wields his tape measure!

Twisting Catacombs Villager's Prison (Also Suitable for non-Fantasy Gaming!)

Back at the end of 2017, the excellent Zealot Miniatures ran their Twisting Catacombs: Minotaur Horde Kickstarter. Along with the huge and beautifully sculpted minotaurs, the Kickstarter also included the Villager's Prison - a small scenic piece (I assume used to keep the minotaur's food fresh).

I figured that the prison was pretty genre non-specific, and would be suitable for post-apocalyptic and sci-fi gaming, so I picked one up to use as a scenic item and objective piece. 

I'm really pleased that I did, having got round to painting it up. The prison is supplied with four resin walls and a roof, detailed on the external facings (and the roof underside). The pieces are really nice and close fitting and excellently cast.

Choose Your Own Adventurers (Bonus Post): Isabelle Vienne, Space Amazon

It's been 6 months or so since my last visit to the Choose Your Own Adventurers project. In theory, I think it might be cheetor's turn, but seeing as he's enthusing about tiny little sailing ships, it might be a while yet before we restart things. Consider this a bonus post linked to the project!

That said, I wanted to include a female figure in with the rest of my Bratts. The space amazon from the RT adventurers range was a good candidate - what with her tremendous hair, love of bows and rather exotic outfit. Curis has of course, already painted his wonderful version of the space amazon for the project, so I figured I could include her as part of the Sutter Dukes with no real issues.

Bratts go hunting for spook amongst weird dome fungus growths.

Isabelle Vienne AKA The Duchess is an integral part of the Sutter Dukes' hierarchy, occupying a place in the inner circle along with the Magpie Dandy and Beau Rouge. Where many Bratts tend towards impulsiveness and impetuosity, Vienne is cool and calculating. Most of the more complex hunts and traps carried out by the Sutter Dukes are by her design. Her luxurious furs mark her out amongst many other Bratts who prefer silks, lace and expensive fabrics - they owe much to the exotic fashions of House Escher, even if the fighters of Escher wouldn't recognise the upper-Spire translations of their characteristic trappings. 

Frills, Bows, Power Swords and Combi-Pistols - Bratt Leader

Every Confrontation gang needs an unmistakable leader - that flamboyant model with the over-sized gun or waving their powerful combat weapon. The Sutter Dukes have previously been led by the Magpie Dandy, but with an updated gang, I wanted to use the excuse and paint up my unreleased Bratt leader.

The sculpt dates from the early 1990s, along with the other unreleased Bratts, and is the pinnacle of over-ostentation. He wears a quilted split tunic over a shirt with puffed and slashed sleves. He has lace cuffs and ribbons and bows galore. He wears heeled and buckled boots, and an astonishing hairdo. In essence, he is the ultimate Bratt. The brattiest Bratt!

Beau Rouge is making a name for himself in the Sutter Dukes. Starry-eyed young fops admire his razor-sharp spire fashions and somewhat ultra-violent nature. Some even whisper into their scented cuffs that Beau has designs on usurping the Magpie Dandy! For now, Beau is content to undermine his father, the famous insterstellar merchant, Rouge Trader through his self-indulgent and reckless activities. After all, being noticed is everything.

Gold-Plated Pistols and Master-Crafted Plasma Guns - More Bratts

I'm really enjoying revisiting my Bratts and have added another pair to the group. This time round it's a flamboyant dual-pistol wielder and and a Bratt who's spent his pocket money on high-powered weaponry rather than his hairdo!

The Return of the Sutter Dukes and the Elusive Bratt

When I started this blog, I was in the throes of painting up a Bratt gang for Confrontation. In fact the de facto leader, the Magpie Dandy, is featured in the blog's title banner. The Sutter Dukes featured in the Ferrograd Confrontation game we played at BOYL 2014 (where all the maths was calculated by the amazing mind of antipixi), but since then have languished a little neglected in their spire-shag pads.

Cowboys and Rayguns - Dracula's America...IN SPACE!!

There's something innately cool about cowboys. Perhaps it's the swagger or the lawless lifestyle. Perhaps it's the cool hats and low-slung six-shooters. Possibly it's the jangling guitars and tolling bells accompanying the tumbleweed. Or it could be the high octane jail breaks and train robberies.

Needless to say, when Osprey published their Dracula's America ruleset last year, it got lots of folks I know pretty excited. After all, what could be cooler than cowboys plus vampires.

Cowboys plus vampires IN SPACE of course!

It is not a huge leap to transpose the whole game of Dracula's America into a science fiction setting. After all there's precedence for space cowboys - just look at Firefly, 2000AD's Lawless series and, er, Bravestarr. Not to mention that Rogue Trader has a bit of a frontier tinge and Necromunda was pretty much the Wild West too. 

So you have a nice, intuitive, fast and simple set of rules, with a variety of factions available. You have a bunch of people who would like to make some space cowboys and would like to yell 'Varmint!' across a table at each other.

Dracula's America in Space (DAiS) was born.

Big Boy Techs - A Serious Arsenal Upgrade

If I think back to previous versions of Necromunda, the weapon that everybody feared was the plasma cannon. Now I quite like plasma weaponry in the new version of Necromunda too, and it just so happens that Van Saar Tech gangs have access to plasma cannons through their House list. So it would be rude not to take one, right?

I've been keeping the final Roy Eastland tech sculpt back to use as a heavy weapon ganger - with his chunky frame, shades and cigar stub, he's perfect for a cool-as-ice champion capable of blasting any opposing ganger into oblivion.

He might be thickening around his middle, but very few folks are willing to suggest that Zepto loses some weight.

Getting Technical - A Pair of New Tech Gangers

I'm coming to the close on my Tech gang. I have another half dozen Techs to paint, including some reinforcements for a new campaign that will be starting at the end of May.

The Data Kings conduct tense negotiations with Ash Waste Nomads in an abandoned settlement outside the hive.

Grogan and Fischer are a pair of basic lasgun-armed Tech gangers, built using nothing more than a pair of torsos and period plastic arms and lasguns. Why do I need more gangers with lasguns? Why haven't I used short-barrelled lasguns that match the previous gangers? Because I'll be using these Techs to represent House Van Saar. And in the recently published Gang War 3, House Van Saar get cool new lascarbines as well as lasguns. Lascarbines effectively fill the same niche as autoguns do for other houses - slightly less accurate but with a higher rate of fire than a lasgun. In order to visually distinguish between the two weapons, my long-barrelled lasguns are lasguns, and the short-barrelled ones will be lascarbines. I should have taken a comparison picture, but I forgot. I'll just have to remember to do it another time. Perhaps when I add a long-las!