All Your Franchise Are Belong To Us

Next week I shall be resuming my annual pilgrimage to Wargames Foundry to partake in this year's 7TV event: The Golden Isle.

Using the 7TV: Fantasy rules, mighty warriors from across the realms shall assemble with their creative casts built on existing or entirely original films or TV series.

And my crack team of agents shall be waiting for them, ready to consume their creativity on behalf of the ultimate evil empire.

I present: The Disney Agenda.

With the exact make up of the profiles still to be finalised, this motely bunch of 'heroes' have been assembled over a good number of years as and when I've come across appropriate miniatures.

I did, however, need to add two more to the collection.

After a couple of test games with Matt, it became apparent that the forces of the Magic Kingdom were a bit short of bodies.

Therefore I went rummaging in my daughter's old toy boxes and jumped onto eBay to add Cinderalla and Olaf to the mix.

Yes, I'm aware he's a bit big. The plan is to use him as a Water Elemental, either as part of the main cast or summoned by Elsa.

He didn't really need much painting, but I did paint the white to cover up some marks and tidied up and drybrushed the arms and buttons. The final addition was basing with Valhallan Blizzard textured paint.

Cinderalla is from Reaper Miniatures and although not totally film accurate, the intent for this miniature is ckear on their site from the paint scheme they've gone with.

A mix of drybrushing and careful washing allowed me to get some variation and detail in a dress which is a mix of different pale blues.

Most of the model was done with Caledor Sky and then different amounts of Blue Horror was drybrushed and then used on the lighter parts. I finished of by lining and shading with Drakenhof Nightshade.

The base was originally going to be grey, but I ended up copying a scheme I used for one of my Carnevale bridges and I'm really pleased with the outcome.

Cinerella joins a miscellaneous bunch of characters I've picked up over the years. Maleficent is from Hasslefree, Snow White is from Whyte Knight Miniatures and Quasimodo and Abu are both from Pulp Miniatures.

Joining Olaf from Arendelle are Elsa and Ana, who are both Northstar Miniatures from (unsurprisingly Frostgrave) and are the first Disney characters I painted many years ago for my daughter...who has since become too old for Frozen, father!

Finally, from DunBroch are Merida (again Hasslefree) and her Mum, who is a Crooked Dice bear.

Steady progress is now back on the agenda as I try to prepare for a drop pod full of Space Marines to descend into my backfield.

You can also look forward to a rambling and overlong report of the Disney Agenda's takeover bids after next weekend.

Acquired: 80

Painted: 93

Delayed Arrival

The Galaxy is in flames. Fully half of the Legiones Astartes are in open rebellion. The Warmaster marches on Terra.

And this guy finally decides to show up with some implausible excuse about being held up by Daemons on Signus Prime. A likely story.

Firstly, apologies for the lack of entries in the last month. I've been moving house and so everything has been in boxes.

However, we're all unpacked now and I have a new man-cave...nay, man-cavern, in which to crack on with my newest project: The Horus Heresy.

Yes, the relentless GW marketing machine finally got me. However, I didn't turn traitor to my principles, I remained loyal to the Cheaphammer truth.

Rather than splurging on the massive starter set (even though it's a very good deal in GW terms), I have begun my journey with uding what ive already got and second hand purchases.

This Cataphractii (look at me using the 30k lingo) Terminator Captain was picked up from Troll Trader along with a 30k Chaplain for less than 50% of what GW charge for them new.

He was already base coated in appropriate colours and so he didn't take long to paint, especially as I used the same simple process as I did with my existing Blood Angels.

On the subject of those existing models, a good number of them are appropriate for use in the Horus Heresy (which is essentially 40k with 'historical' accuracy).

My Baal Predator and Rhinos (one of which is actually my Razorback with a new hatch kindly donated by Pete, who has also fallen to Heresy) are apparently 'Mars pattern' and a perfectly suitable alternative to the 'Deimos pattern' Rhino that has been released and use the stats in the main army book (although the storm bolter on one of them is not right but overlookable).

The 'Castra Ferrum' Dreadnought and 'Indomitus' Terminators did not make it into the Legion Asartes/Heretica army books, but have had their stats released in a free pdf (Legacies of the Age of Darkness) on the Warhammer Community site. I think this might be due to a branding issue as the different marks and patterns of vehicles and armour can get confusing for the uninitiated and only units with (or that will have) Horus Heresy branding made it into the army books.

By my reckoning this comes to about 750 points, but is not a 'legal' list. It requires two squads of line troops to fill compulsory slots and allow me to include the Rhinos. However, it does mean that once I've painted the two squads of Mk VI Tactical Marines that are taking a long time to arrive from an ebay purchase, I should have a useable 1000 point army that I can begin to add to.

When it comes to Hobby Bingo, I've painted just one and bought two and with 20 Marines inbound, I'm going to have to pick up my pace. However with the house move I took the opportunity to dispose of some unusable (i.e. crap) models from my bits box.

I've also decided to tick off that I've read a fiction book based on my favourite game. I've been chugging through the Horus Heresy series on Audible. It's not really reading, and it's not my favourite game (I haven't played it yet), but I have now got through about seven of them and I can't see how I can tick this one off without re-reading The Lord of the Rings.

Acquired: 80

Painted: 91

Time For A Change?

Taking a break from the Bat-log, I've managed to finish off the last few models from my second Start Collecting: Tzeentch Daemons box.

Three more of my favourite Tzeentch unit: Screamers.

I've waxed lyrical about the versatility of the Start Collecting boxes before, but there's even more value to be had here than I previously realised.

Not only does it provide varied combinations of Daemons to build beyond what is officially in the box (Fluxmasters, Blue Scribes, etc.), but it also builds armies for both 40k and Age of Sigmar (should I ever decide to try it).

However, the thing that I hadn't spotted previously is that I can also fiddle around with the Daemons of the Ruinstorm list to use them in this summer's latest fad: The Horus Heresy.

Knowing this fact is going to save me a lot of money.

I have honestly been tempted by GW's heavy marketing because I'm a weak-willed sheep and I have been protected only by my core character trait of cheapness.

I'd already worked out that an advantage of my dated Blood Angels army was that simply adding two squads of Heresy era Marines would allow me to field a small army. Apparently, my Dreadnought, Terminators, Rhinos and Baal Predator are all appropriate to the setting.

However, this would mean duplicating the 'already too many' Tactical Marines I own with the same thing in slightly different armour, which seems a task of sisyphean pointlessness for games I rarely play.

This would also cost money. Less than a new army, true, but Daemons won't cost me anything extra.

Admittedly I'd probably have to use an out of date army list until a future update, but that's no issue as I'm already doing the same in 40k. This is also assuming that there's anybody who actually wants to play the Horus Heresy with me: another reason not to invest heavily.

At the very least, my vibrant Daemons will protect me until the FOMO passes and I get caught up in whatever new and shiny thing comes along.

What is true, however, is that I won't be buying any more Start Collecting: Tzeentch Daemons boxes, despite the value that they hold. I still have a Lord of Change to paint and I'm a bit bored of painting the same things over and over. There are couple of things I'd like to add, but for now I'm going to focus on other projects.

Acquired: 85

Painted: 90

Breaking Bat

Bane broke the Bat.

The first graphic novel (or trade paperback, technically) that I ever bought was Knightfall.

It was around the time that Batman Forever was released I a truly began to embrace my inner Batfan.

The main antagonist, Bane, was new to me, but his looming presence throughout the storyline, not to mention the fact that he ultimately wins, cemented him as a major figure in the rogue's gallery of villains, and one of my favourites.

Sadly, Bane has been poorly treated in the media. I'm not knocking Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises, but his version lacked the massive physical threat of Bane in Knightfall and also didn't look anything like a Mexican wrestler.

Similarly, in Batman: The Animated Series, Bane's introduction was limited to a single episode, and the less said about "Mr Bane" in Batman & Robin the better.

Likewise, in the Batman Miniatures Game, whilst I was involved, Bane was limited to just two sculpts: Tom Hardy Bane and a version from the Arkham Origins game that just never looked like Bane should.

It was only after I stopped playing that Bane got the sculpt he deserved and so became one of the few BMG resin sculpts I own (bought second hand, obviously).

It's actually a really impressive model and I can totally see why Knight Models moved away from metal to resin. The detail is crisp, the model goes together well and it's a model that could actually tempt me to buy more of their range.

In teens of painting, I went fir a blue costume rather than black. In the original comic the character is drawn in a combination of the two. It could be argued that the blue on the character is a highlight of a black costume, but you could equally say that the bkack is shading for dark blue.

In my head, he's always been dressed in blue, so that's what I went with.

The skin took a bit of work. I started with Gulliman Flesh contrast paint over Wraithbone, but I really didn't like pasty tone or the patchy effect. I revisited it with Kislev Flesh and Agrax Earthshade, but left it darker than usual to reflect Bane's Latino heritage.

I enjoyed painting Bane and after slating them in my last post I do have to give Knight Models credit for the step up in quality of their resin models. I have a few others to do and they seem consistently good.

I've also got a bunch mof metals to paint, which are as variable as ever.

Acquired: 85

Painted: 87

Bad Company

I watched The Batman recently. I enjoyed it. A lot.

It was, I suppose, inevitable that this would push me back in the direction of painting something from the Batman Miniatures Game.

First up are these three asylum inmates, ready to associate with whatever member of the rogue's gallery is tearing up Gotham.

Long time readers of this blog will know that the Batman Miniatures Game was my major focus for a long time. I was heavily involved in tournament gaming and was actually pretty good at it, winning a few events and regularly placing fairly high.

I got out of the game when they shifted to a new edition. Not only did I not want to invest heavily in a new version of rules that I would have to relearn, but I also didn't want to end up having to re-buy characters I'd already bought and painted as certain sculpts were 'retired' from competitive play.

It also seemed like a good time to step away from a company that I'd become very cynical about. Poor quality control, poor customer service and poor sales practices were hallmarks of my experience of Knight Models at the time.

I have no idea if their reputation has improved, but I became so disenchanted that for the last year of playing the game I avoided buying new as much as possible and instead bought second hand from those getting out of the game in frustration.

Painting these three prisoners has been a reminder of some of the negatives that led to my stepping away from the game.

Hefty mould lines and soft (at times invisible) detail litter the three miniatures. I personally think that they are nowhere near the quality of the earliest sculpts in the range, which I presume was due to Knight Models being in the process of switching production to resin at this time.

Having said all that, I'm happy enough with how they have turned out. They are destined to be used in 7TV when I get round to putting together some Batman profiles.

It's been an odd, melancholy trip down (bad) memory lane, but I'm still in a Batman mood and I have a small backlog to work through.

Thankfully, the miniatures do get better than this, and are somewhat more recognisable.

Acquired: 85

Painted: 86

The Show Must Go On

For the first time in over two years I was able to get to a warganes show. So with Matt riding shotgun headed down to Newark for Partizan.

There's not much to this post other than pictures. I didn't get details of specific games, it was just a pleasure to see some big setups of the kind I haven't seen for some time.

The two pictures above and two below were from an immense 40mm Napoleonic set up. Clearly somewhere in the Peninsular War.

This was a display where I actually spoke to somebody (rare for me), although I didn't get details on the battle. There were landsknechts though, so that puts it somewhere in the vicinity of the Wars of Religion.

This big game was definitely from the Thirty Years War...I think. Pike and shot as far as the eye can see.

This was a 'Cold War Gone Hot' game using teeny-tiny tanks.

This is a big game that I believe was possibly dark ages Ireland. I really should read the signs.

Ah, now this is definitely the American War of Independence. I know this one.

Something somewhere in the middle ages.

Tiny boats on a shiny river.

Dead Man's Hand. Matt is trying manfully to get me to buy onto this game as he and Wes have already succumbed.

Something colonial. I presume India given that there are elephants.

The group putting this display on were particularly impressive. Not only were some of then dressed as period British officers, but they were also all holding rather large glasses of red wine at 10:30 in the morning.

This one was definitely Culloden. I recognise it enough and I also overheard people talking to confirm my suspicions.

Yes, I could just ask or look for signs, but where's the fun in that?

Little Big Horn, or Custer's Last Stand. The group putting this on had also put on Native American headdresses in a move that some would call cultural appropriation, but 10 year old me would have called, "really cool!"

An Aliens themed demo game. Each time I walked past this board, nobody had managed to leave the first corridor, so either there were balancing issues or it was just really thematic to the movie as to the Marines' effectiveness.

I've done a little bit of retroactive alterations to allow me to tick off another Hobby Bingo box. I used the Board In Brum 7TV day as and 'event/show' not a 'tournament'. However, it could count as either whereas Partizan was definitely a 'show', so I've now got both boxes ticked.

Obviously, attending a show had a detrimental effect on my purchase/painted numbers, but in terms of actual miniatures, I only bought a single model. However, I did get given what looked like a saxon king as I entered and picked up and unexpected Secret Santa gift of two miniatures. I also grabbed some mdf jetties which I suppose count as models, so I'm now in the red again.

Acquired: 85

Painted: 83