The X-Dwarfs

"Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into...oh my God! What the hell are those?"

Welcome to a trip back in time. 40 years back in time to be precise. Back to a time before Hellcannons, before Tamurkhan, before the Great Taurus. Before a single big hat was donned.

Back to when Chaos Dwarfs were simply Dwarfs who served Chaos.

The first Chaos Dwarfs were released in 1985 and were heavily armoured dwarf versions of Chaos Warriors.

There were shortly followed by some more lightly armoured and heavily mutated models which brought a much more distorted and twisted look to the units, am aesthetic that I have always liked. I'm really not a fan of the ordered ranks of plastic that emerged later. 

My purchasing habits around this time were very much a matter of saving up some money (often by skipping school dinner) and picking up a couple of blister packs of whatever G&I Models (there wasn't a Games Workshop in every town back then) happened to have in stock.

The bizarre nature of the Chaos Dwarfs will have caught my eye because I like my Chaos to be...well...chaotic.

The sheer variety of these models really captures the feel of early Warhammer Chaos, with each model being a unique character, blessed by the Chaos Gods in different ways: a hunchback with spines; a Dwarf/Beastman hybrid split down the middle; an armoured warrior with a mane and duck feet...

...duck feet?

Yep. Worshipping Chaos isn't all about wearing black and looking cool.

One of the things I really love about this range is that they capture the total randomness that rolling on the Chaos Attributes table in Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (a d1000 table) would deliver, often making the servants of Chaos less effective.

Vestigial horns and a single leg are not an awe-inspiring demonstration of the benefits of kneeling before the pantheon.

In fact, I'd imaging that kneeling would be a bit awkward for this chap.

The eighties were a different time in Warhammer, a more bonkers time.

To my mind no miniature captures this insanity better than this horned, zombie, ninja Dwarf being part of the Dwarf Villagers range rather than a Chaos Dwarf.

I'd love to have some insight on the whole thought process that led to the creation of this one.

Anyway, these five chaps will be joining my Chaos Marauders, although Duck-Feet might waddle his way into a unit of Chaos Warriors when I get round to them as he's a bit heavily armoured for a Marauder.

There are some more very old miniatures to add to this unit that will lend even more of a chaotic feel.

Acquired: -79

Painted: 178

Lead Mountain: 395

Tiny Tanks for the Tiny Tank God

It's happening again.

It goes like this:

1. Someone (usually Matt or Pete) mentions a new project.
2. My interest is piqued, usually through nostalgia.
3. I remember that I have a small amount of models suitable for said project.
4. I start a new project with nowhere near enough models already in my possession to finish it.

In this case the new project is Epic 40k (or any of the various names that 6mm gaming from Games Workshop has gone by) and the models in my possession consisted of a single Bloodthirster.

Yep. I've started an army because I have a single model, a game was mentioned in earshot and I have no willpower.

The Bloodthirster itself is at least 30 years old and as such is somewhat static in posture, posed in a flat plane for easy of casting. What's more it doesn't have the Bloodthirster's signature whip, but rather a weird rod.

It does, however, have lots and lots of detail on its armour, unsurprising in a recurring skull motif.

The only detail I genuinely find odd, and I did at the time, was the decision to have the Greater Daemon models mounted on 25mm round bases as they seemed to have with the flatter square bases of the infantry.

When it came to painting I kept things simple, using Fleshtearers Red, Carroburg Crimson and Khorne Red to do the face, arms and wings.

The armour I did in silver with gold and bone details and washed it in Agrax Earthshade. I then topped off with a few contrast paints on details like the fur, horns and hooves.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with how he came out. He will serve as a good initial centrepiece if my army.

The Rhinos are actually 3D prints from a free file I found knocking about and have come out really well.

The colour is more red than it seems in the photos but could probably do with a bit more highlighting as they are still a bit dark.

I've kept things simple though, adding a few details of black, silver and brass, making this a scheme that is easily replicated en masse.

So, I've started an Epic Chaos army. I don't currently have anything else to paint, but I do have my printer and a few more vehicles files, but I don't trust that FDM will work with 6mm infantry, so I'm on the lookout for some second hand miniatures at a not extortionate price.

Acquired: -79

Painted: 173

Lead Mountain: 400

Trauma Surgeon

Although the Master of Arcane Security, the leader of my Doctors starter gang for Carnevale,from the La Grazia Industrial Works, is clearly not medically trained, I'd suggest that she is a specialist in inflicting trauma by both fire and sword.

The Master of Arcane Security is the last model I have to paint my Doctors and I left her until last not only because she was the biggest of the bunch, but also because this is the model that made me opt for the La Grazia Industrial Works box over the other starter hangs for the Doctors of the Ospedale.

There's something so delightfully over the top and steampunk-bonkers about her design which contrasts well with the other gangs, whereas the black-robed ominous figures of the Plague Doctor and Doctor of the Mind (I'll admit I overlooked the Doctor of Zoology) have a similar aesthetic to the Strigoi.

Painting turned out to be easier than expected partly because most of the model is gold washed with Agrax Earthshade, but also because I'd already worked out my colour palette earlier in the process of painting the gang.

I'm still impressed with how well TTCombat miniatures respond to contrast paints, meaning that the painting process is not too laborious.

I did have a couple of issues with this model, and almost ruined the whole thing.

Firstly, I was missing one of the pistons from the knee joint. I'm not sure if it was missing or as a tiny piece I'd lost it on opening the box. Either way, it wasn't significant enough to bother me, so I left them off.

Then there was the undercoat, which I didn't apply fully the first time, an when I tried to fix the issue, I held the spray can too close and frosted up the model . Fortunately I was able to scrub most of the problem paint off quickly, but the backs of the leg guards are still a bit gritty.

This all means that my Doctors are now ready to take to the mean streets of Venice. I'm not sure how much healing they'll be doing, but they are definitely ready to sterilise and purge.

I've really enjoyed painting this collection, which means I'm quite keen to add to them. I might raid the bits box for a proxy or two before I pick up any more official miniatures, as I do enjoy a bit of kitbashing.

Acquired: -84

Painted: 166

Lead Mountain: 399

Doctor, Doctor!

Work on my Doctors for Carnevale continues and I think it's clear that when we get to the Ordnance Doctor and the Apprentice Doctor, we are reminded that not al PhDs are medical.

The Ordnance Doctor brings heavy ranged weaponry into a game where, so far, my collections most significant ballistic missile has been a crossbow bolt or a pistol shot.

The Spirit Cannon is not only a powerful gun, but also the Ordnance Doctor can draw on the energy of nearby madmen to make it vastly more dangerous.

Increasingly, I'm leaning into painting my Carnevale miniatures with contrast paints. I'm finding that they do a really good job with the more detailed sculpts, particularly the decorative elements.

The down side is that I'm having much more of a battle with mould release agent than usual, even though I do clean the resin. However, I've found that even contrast paint can swamp the issue if you are persistent enough.

The Apprentice Doctor is an interesting character as you can choose to give him a special ability or attack type of one of the other Doctors at the start of each game.

Obviously, with this sculpt holding a gun it makes sense for the Apprentice Doctor to imitate the Spirit Cannon (without the ability to upgrade it) or risk causing all kinds of confusion.

Again, I went with contrast paints for the most part, and I'm finding that I'm much more happy with Darkoath Flesh as a base skin tone than I've been with Gulliman Fresh previously. Also, I'm really liking Gore-Grunta Fur as a way of achieving red hair.

So the Doctors are almost done, and there's only one model to go. She's a big one though.

I'm really happy with how this game is coming together as the muted palette ties them together and the pale blues present here and there really make them pop.

Acquired: -90
Painted: 168
Lead Mountain: 391

Electric Blue

Next up for the Doctors is the Electron Cannoneer, a somewhat more sane henchman (although the bar is low in this faction) armed with a weapon capable of sending deadly beams of electricity arcing into the enemy.

The model is quite simply equipped and posed, a factor that made sure it was next in the queue and it reflects a move that TTCombat seem to have made in their more recent sculpts of including much more gender equality in the range.

I was previously somewhat critical of the different representation of the Rashaar slaves based on gender, but there seems to be more thought going into their sculpting to avoid lazy cliches.

I've tried to maintain a definite theme to each of my factions, both in terms of basing and colour scheme. Having already opted for the terracotta bases, I wanted to carry the pale blue (evocative of medical scrubs) of the energy source through the rest of the models.

I'm absolutely delighted with the blue I've achieved on this model using a base coat of an old Ice Blue paint, washed with Drakenhof Nightshade and then highlighted with Ice Blue again. Combined with the Nihilakh Oxide on the energy sources it not only ties the models together, but contrasts well with the bases.

I actually made a mistake assembling this model as I briefly misplaced the copier coils from the top of the pack. I opted to fill the gaps with parts of one of the pistons from the leader model (one of which was also missing, for real this time) and turn them into glowing energy bulbs like this on the Madmen.

When the coils showed up, I'd already stuck the alternatives in, and so I only added one coil. I now have two others spare to add to another contraption at some point.

I'm a bit irritated by this, but I actually think it's come out well.

The gang is coming along nicely, and I've definitely got a coherent colour palette that I'm happy with. I feel if all the factions in Carnevale, the Doctors suit a more uniform feel as they are based in an institution.

Acquired: -90

Painted: 166

Lead Mountain: 393

You don't have to be mad to work here...

...but you will be.

Returning to the mean streets of eighteenth century Venice, I'm finally bringing some of the Doctors of the Ospedale into my collection of Carnevale miniatures

Unlike with the proxied Vatican or Strigoi, I've opted to return to the official models and picked up the La Grazia Industrial Works starter gang with some birthday money.

First out of the wards are some asylum patients who have been 'repurposed' after the Doctors discovered that the mentally unstable could be used to generate eldritch energies to power their magics and fiendish technological devices.

The Voltage Bombadier is two asylum inmates strapped together to power a device that can give off blasts of explosive force surrounding them. 

Looking at the rules it appears that this model is intended to run on a one way trip into the midst of an enemy line and detonate, hitting as many opponents as it can.

I'm terms of painting, I've kept things very simple, using mainly contrast paints (Darkoath Flesh, Skeleton Horde and Garaghak's Sewer) as base coats, used Leadbelcher washed with Agrax Earthshade for the metals, and then Nihilakh Oxide over white for the glowy bits.

I opted to go for a terracotta or brick colour for the bases for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I wanted to do a different form of basing that distinguished the Doctors from the other factions, secondly I figured that these could be tiles from within their institutions. Finally, I felt that grey bases like the Guild and Rashaar would wash these models out.

The other model is intended to be a Carrion, an inmate who has been fitted with tools and weapons to allow it to climb and steal and it doesn't actually come in the La Grazia Industrial Works box.

Some time ago I bought a batch of mismatched and miscast Carnevale miniatures from eBay which have been cleaned up and added to my forces (and actually started my Vatican force off). The last unused piece was the top half of a Carrion.

With the arrival of my birthday present, I dug through my bits box to find a lower half to complete the model and settled on the legs of a Wizkids D&D miniature, and I also replaced the hands (one of which was miscast) with some taken from the Frostgrave Wizard sprue.

The odd pose comes from the fact that the original Carrion sculpt is bent over backwards scuttling on its hands and feet. I couldn't totally replicate that pose, but this perhaps evokes the idea that this one is contorting himself into that position.

I'm already enjoying the distorted steampunk vibe of the Doctors and will enjoy getting the rest of the box painted.

Acquired: -90

Painted: 165

Lead Mountain: 394

Flying Visit

In another excursion to the 1980s I've finally got round to painting up my Skyfighter from V, along with my last remaining Visitor miniature from Crooked Dice.

Despite being a 3d print, I didn't actually print this myself. I picked up the STL during the Kickstarter campaign for the 7TV: 80s campaign and it was kindly printed by Matt.

I managed to lose the landing gear somewhere along the line and so I put the project on hold until I could print my own recently.

In all honesty, the print is a little rough, but given that Matt did it for free, I'm not complaining.

Therefore, when it came to painting, I kept things simple and coherent with how the ships looked in the series and decided that being less detailed will prevent the eye being drawn to the less than perfect areas.

I undercoated it in Ghoul Grey from Colourforge, sponged on matt white, before painting the windows black and freehanding the icons in red. I then gave everything a coat of gloss bc arnish because these things were shiny.

Given that this is most likely to feature as scenery, I'm happy enough with it. I've seen them used with the helicopter rules in games of 7TV, but unless I'm playing on a big board, the transport capacity is not that useful.

The final Visitor I've painted is actually a duplicate model to the one I painted as Lydia. Given that the pose and her hair are quite distinctive, I opted to do a couple of things to differentiate the two.

Firstly, I went with a slightly different colour scheme, giving her the black body armour worn by the security guards and allowing her to use the Shocktrooper profile.

Secondly, I gave her a head swap. Finding an appropriately sized head proved challenging and the best I could come up with was a Zombie Vixen head from Wargames Factory (I think these are the models that also feature in the Project Z game from Warlord Games). There is a wound on the face, but I've painted it as a torn bit of fake skin, which works well enough.

I'm not sure if I'm going to add to my Visitors. I might do another Skyfighter for scenic purposes and Crooked Dice do have Visitor Jeep with a gun mount that I've been tempted by for a long time.

However, I'm much more likely to focus my attention on the Resistance, as currently I only have four dedicated miniatures for them.

Acquired: -95
Painted: 163
Lead Mountain: 391

Vindicated

After printing and painting the free Rhino STL a couple of weeks ago, I went back to look at what the same 'creator' had available and picked up the STL for a Vindicator and a Predator.

I began with the Vindicator as I suspect that the sponsons and other elements of a Predator might be problematic.

I also took the opportunity to slightly change the print settings and went with 'optimal' rather than 'standard' with a smaller layer height. I'm trying to get the balance right between print quality and speed.

I think I might have hit the jackpot as this setting has much less noticeable layer lines whilst not upping the print time very much. This was useful as there was more to print, including the dozer blade, turret hatch and camera thing for the top.

I might try the next setting up for printing a Predator just to see if there are more small gains to be made. Additionally, I'll probably switch to the 0.2 mm nozzle for the top elements as they don't take long and a couple of other bits I printed didn't really work.

Painting was done simply and imitated what I'd already done for the Rhino, with only minor changes based on the slightly different details.

I am a torch worried that the big blue expanse on the dozer blade needs something adding to it, but until I know exactly what, I'm going to leave it alone.

I almost stuffed up applying transfers because I was repeatedly too impatient and came close to destroying the two large lion heads. A lesson in patience helped me to fix my own mess.

I also took the opportunity to use a couple of the additional bits I'd printed to improve my Rhino with turret hatches and a pintle mounted storm bolter.

In order to get them to sit flush I had to clip and fil the protruding elements and found out that PLA does not clean up easily. I might need to invest in something like a Dremel if I plan to do more of this.

All in all, the 3d printer is really coming into its own with vehicles, something which has significant implications for most of my 40k armies.

Acquired: -95

Painted: 161

Lead Mountain: 393

A Bit Ratty

I've been chipping away as my 30 year old collection of Skaven that were originally intended to for the beginnings of an army for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. This plan never got off the ground as I could field barely three units.

Now focusing them towards Age of Sigmar (possibly due to lower model count) I've reached the last bunch of the original collection and have added another 10 Clanrats to the 30 already painted.

I've needed to get the number of Clanrats painted to get the required models to field two units of 20 and provide a decent chunk of battleline units to my force.

As ever, I have mostly focused on the plastic Skaven from Advanced Heroquest (released in 1989) which do show their age but actually hold up better than many other miniatures of their venerable age.

Painting, as explained in previous posts, has been mainly done with contrast paints to speed things up. Even then I've had to break these 40 into 4 blocks over about a year.

I've never been a fan of batch painting, I think it's because I get bored of the repetitive nature of it. I suspect this is the main reason that I didn't do more painting in my youth.

Obviously, being the last batch, there were a few missing and broken parts involved. As such couple of weapon swaps and variant shield have found their way into the unit.

Additionally, there was more cleaning up to do on these models that had not had mould lines addressed and had probably been twisted of their sprues rather than clipped.

Also, the unit includes these two chaps from the event older Fantasy Regiments box (1987) which included 60 monopose miniatures;10 each of Skaven, Dwarfs, Elves, Orcs, Goblins and Dark Elves. 

The miniatures actually hold up okay and the box actually came with alternate heads for each sculpt allowing for a little bit of variety on the tabletop.

My Age of Sigmar Skaven army currently consists of:

• 1 Grey Seer
• 1 Master Moulder
• 3 Rat Ogres 
• 40 Clanrats (2 units)
• 1 Endless Spell

I still have the wherewithal to add a couple more units and Endless Spells to the army and potentially get it up to 1000 points.

However, I'm glad I'm done with the Clanrats. Younger me was probably right to not start in turning this into a Warhammer Fantasy Battles army, as I would definitely have run out of steam.

Acquired: -95
Painted: 160
Lead Mountain: 394

Production Lines

As I ran out of miniatures to paint for my Astral Claws, it became simultaneously apparent that it was extremely unlikely that I would be able to attend any of the remaining campaign events.

This had a massive impact on my desire to spend much more money on an army unlikely to see massive amounts of table time.

However, this did open up an opportunity to test how well my FDM printer could handle vehicles other than ramshackle Ork constructions.

I've started with a Rhino which is a free file available on one of the well-known sharing platforms. I printed it using the 0.4mm nozzle and standard settings as using the smaller nozzle had a ridiculously high print time.

The Rhino printed in three pieces and is hollow inside and there were no issues with the print, although getting the supports out of the racks was a bit fiddly.

When it came to painting, I kept things as simple as I have done with the whole Astral Claws army. Spray silver, wash black, dry brush silver. Add blue bits (gloss varnished) and gold details (Agrax wash) and then finish off with the lights.

I limited the amount of transfers on the model as I am trying to avoid buying a new sheet and there aren't many big flat spaces on the model.

Overall, I'm happy with this little experiment although I do have to admit that the layer lines are very much visible and this is no match for one of the plastic kits.

However, given that I'm not trying to paint this army to anything other than tabletop standard, from 3 feet away the Rhino looks fine and cost significantly less than the RRP of a standard Rhino.

I'm going to go the 3d printed route for a few more vehicles for this army, a decision that is helped by the same creator having a couple more vehicles in the same style (the Astral Claws made heavy use of the Rhino chassis apparently).

This experience has helped me to decide that I probably won't print any additional vehicles for my Blood Angels as I want to keep my armies consistent. Where I actually buy more for them remains to be seen.

Acquired: -97
Painted: 150
Lead Mountain: 406

A Kind of Magic

After I'd kitbashed my Battle Nuns of New Antioch for Trench Crusade, I pondered proxying a Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent warband using my ubiquitous Tzeentch Daemons, who have pulled bad guy duty in many a setting.

I decided against this and decided to be a bit more creative, but I have taken some inspiration from the Changeling and some Tzeentch bits from my bits box to kitbash a Sorcerer.

The model I used as a base for this kitbash is a Stormcast Knight Arcanum that I picked up dirt cheap in the first issue of the Stormbringer partworks magazine.

It is obviously a magic user, which suits the Sorcerer and has a larger frame than most models, making it more suitable to occupy the necessary 50mm base, and a simply head swap with a Crooked Dice cultist head (wearing and appropriate goat mask) started the transformation.

Next came the Tzeentch bits.

According to the limited reading I've done, Sorcerers appear to be fallen angels who cannot (or do not make contact with the ground. Given the stance of the Knight Arcanum, I decided to have her standing on a floating platform made from a large book (from Kairos Fateweaver's staff).

I appreciate that this decision pushes the aesthetic towards Tzeentch, but it did solve the hovering problem.

Another facet of the Sorcerers is that they can produce additional arms holding the items that they need and here the Pink Horror sprues provided: a pair of arms spouting flames; a hand swap with a wicked looking blade; a hand clutching a clearly corrupt book.

I also added a couple more scrolls to fill the gap where I had removed the Knight Arcanum's sword, just to lean into the magic book theme.

When it came to painting, I tried to work within the same palette I'd used for the rest of the warband: reds, browns, beiges, etc. I used more red than on the other models to indicate the status of this being in the pantheon of Hell.

I also enjoyed drawing writing into the open books, something that fortunately worked better in the one in her hand than the one she's stood on.

All in all, I'm quite pleased how my Sorcerer has turned out, although I think that I'm increasingly seeing that my attempt to tackle a Blanchitsu style is really limited to just the colour scheme.

I'm also aware that if I ever get round to playing Age of Sigmar, I could potentially use this model as a Magister on a Disc of Tzeentch.

I now have about 300 ducats of the 700 I need for a starter band, but I'm not sure where my next kitbash is coming from. There are options, but I need to firm up what I'm going to do.

Acquired: -98

Painted: 149

Lead Mountain: 406