The Christmas Challenge

Christmas last year brought me a lot of loot. I more or less only got hobby related presents from my family. The stash included an airbrush, WH40K Dark Vengeance, an Imperial Knight from my fiancée and a Flames of War Soviet infantry company from my daughter. As happy as a puppy I collected all my new shiny stuff in one pile, when my lovely fiancée said:
- I bet you won’t have painted all of that by Christmas next year.
- What do you want to bet, I answered confidently.
- If you paint everything you got this Christmas, I’ll give you a second Imperial Knight next year.
And I guess I don’t need to tell you what I answered, safely to say: The bet is on!

The result so far is about 50 undercoated Soviet infantry miniatures, 5 halfway done Dark Angels Space Marines and another 16 Dark Angels and 5 Chaos miniatures built. Since I got my new shiny airbrush I just had to use it. So I’ve undercoated and done a base coat with both the Soviets and the Dark Angels using the airbrush. I’m quite happy with using the airbrush, but so far I haven’t really gotten the hang of how more advanced painting is done with it. My thinking is that I need to master it a bit better before I give the Imperial Knight a go. Since it’s already April, I got to get cracking with those miniatures.

The Dark Angels were the first army I started to collect for WH40K when 2nd edition came out in -93. Somewhere in the basement  I have about 20 Space Marines and Interrogator Chaplain Asmodai laying in wait to be rediscovered. By having my old Dark Angels join forces with the Dark Vengeance ones I would have a sensible force to at least get one or two games in during the year.

Chronicles of the Living Dead - Getting ready for Pike Shot and Zombies

"Eskil look back towards the burning farm house. It didn't seem like any one of them got out of there. He wondered, will there ever be an end to this. Beside him Ernst was scanning the edge of the wood to their right for signs of any more of the living dead. Being a swede Eskil had never imagined he would be relying on a subject of the Habsburg empire. Their countries had been at war for more years than Eskil cared to count. But all that had changed now, since the dead had come to life again as wild flesh eating monsters. Only a few weeks ago Eskil and Ernst would have been on different sides of the battlefield. Now they stood back to back instead.
They had sought refuge for the night in the farm house, only to find the remains of family of farmers, all now turned into living dead. Luckily enough they managed to close and barricade the door from the outside, after that it had been easy to just torch the place. At least now the family would be in the grace of God, if he did exist. Eskil quickly turned the thought away, without God this land and all other lands wouldn't have a chance. He prayed that God would save them, because pikes and shot were not enough to stop the zombies."
 
In Chronicles of the Living Dead we get to follow the Swedish soldier Eskil and his friend the Habsburg woodsman Ernst. It is the 1630s and the world has changed entirely. In the midst of war there has been a zombie outbreak and the apocalypse is let loose on renaissance world. The story takes place somewhere in central Europe. Eskil doesn't know exactly where he is, neither does the Austrian Ernst. They have both been enlisted in their respective armies and haven't really tried to keep up with where they have been marching. Now they only fight for their survival as the world is quickly falling apart.




Some time ago I finish 18 Mantic zombies that I had lying around. Since I also have the Pike Shot and Zombies (PSZ) rules, I thought I could give them a try. For that I needed some heroes. I opted for making Eskil and Ernst. They are made from a box of Empire Militia that I had lying around. Since I hadn't built any of the Empire Militia miniatures before, there is also ample opportunity to expand the cast as the story progresses. I have quickly painted up Eskil and Ernst with a simple base coat and a wash of Army Painter's Strong Tone. They'll work on the gaming table, but they won't win any painting prizes. Most probably this will also be a solo-gaming experience. Games involving zombies do tend to suit to solo-gaming. Although PSZ, isn't specifically a set of solo-gaming rules I do think the rules will work nicely as such. With all miniatures painted, I only need to base Eskil and Ernst and then it's time to try out some PSZ gameplay.

Clashes in Immoren - First Game

"There was a house in front of her. It looked like some kind of barn adjacent to a field. To her right, Sorscha could see the squad of Widowmakers advancing through the woods, preparing their weapons as the go. On the far side of the field a big beast with talons and claws could be seen, further to her right there was a group of Nyss deploying. This patrol would bring battle, battle with the Legion of Everblight.
Sorscha didn't fear battle, she welcomed it, especially with her two newly repaired warjacks. She had her Destroyer to her left and her Juggernaut to her right. Behind the lumbering beast on the far side of the field she barely could see the enemy Warlock. They were both ready for the skirmish ahead of them. Sorscha took a deep breath feeling the cold air in her lungs. She was ready for battle." 

So I have played my first game of Warmahordes. I faced off against a Legion of Everblight. It was only a 15 pts. game, but I found it to be fun. It was a good experience and I manage to use Sorschas feat at a decisive point in the battle, being able to have my Widowmakers disengage a unit of sword armed Nyss and firing at them killing all but one of them. I focused my attacks on the one large creature that my opponent had, but I was unable to take it down in the end. Some bad dice roll on my Destroyer's (hiding behind the barn in the picture) attack against the beast failed to kill it. Since I had charged in Sorscha against the beast too, I was doomed as it turn to become my opponents turn. Having committed my Warcaster in melee, I lost when Sorscha was taken out.

It was a good and fun game, and even though Warmahordes is a IGOUGO game system I didn't find it to be a lot of waiting time. I played at my FLGS and was received well by the gamers there. It was a very friendly environment to come to and start trying out Warmachine/Hordes. The gamers there seem to be very into Warmahordes gaming and talked a lot about the meta, and I didn't take long for them to recommend how I should build my force in the future. However, the best choices for a Khador forces doesn't seem to be the choice I think are cool in the fluff. Since I still have a bunch of miniatures to paint for my Khador force I'm planning to push the choice into the future. As it seems my FLGS is where a couple of Swedens best Warmahordes players gather, and if I understood it right a few of the have played in the world championship. So from the point of view of exploring the competitive side of gaming, it seems like I'm in the right place.

Clashes in Immoren - Ready for a patrol

"The fire from the mechanikal forge warmed Sorscha. For most soldiers in the Khadoran military walking into a Battle Mechaniks forge was a way to warm their frozen bodies from the ice cold winter for a few minutes. Sorscha would have preferred to stay outside, the cold and ice were her best allies. However, as she stepped into the mechanikal forge she saw two of her trusted companions, one Destroyer and one Juggernaut warjack. She was delighted to be reunited with them. As the door closed behind her she could feel their vortexes coming to life. 

Cheif-mechanik Dorza turned away from the iron forge at the sound of the door closing.
- Welcome Kommander, I hope you had a pleasant trip coming to Rorshik. 
- Pleasant...well, at least I finally arrived, Sorscha grunted.
- Your warjacks are ready, they have been repaired and furbished. Now they are as good as new, Dorza said ignoring Kommander Sorschas answer to his greeting. She seemed upset, or at least annoyed by something.
- Had a run in with some Trollkin, but they won't be bothering anyone no more. Cheif, are my 'jacks ready to go on patrol? I need to make sure that no one threatens Rorshik, not at this time...
- Yes Kommander Sorscha, your warjacks are ready for battle!"

The warjacks are built, painted and based. They are ready for the tabletop. I think I have achieved a little bit better than tabletop standard with these. I didn't dare doing any scratches or chipping on them, but opted for a fairly simple paint job. After the basecoat I gave them a good wash and then reapplied the basecoat and some highlights. The metal parts are made using different techniques, both a black basecoat and drybrush as well as a metal basecoat followed by a wash. A better camera is sorted as you can see. My better half helped me out with this and also took the nice picture.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some gaming done shortly. My original plan that I get my first game going two weeks ago in my FLGS didn't work out. Tuesday I have my next opportunity to play my first game of Warmahordes. So far I've been reading up on the rules and also seeing a couple of Warmahordes games with Khador over at Miniwargaming. For my first game I'm aiming for having Kommander Sorscha, a Destroyer, a Juggernaut and a squad of Widowmakers which is enough for a 15 pts (20 pts inc. Sorschas free points) game.

Into the Deadzone - Preparing for solo-gaming

"Blaine looked down on the screen in front of him. The picture showed a creature he had never seen before. It was purple and had tentacles coming out of its face and limbs, both hands and feet. Strange, why would anyone want to get a hold of a creature like that, even if it apparently was sentient and according to the contract dangerous. Well, this wasn't the first time Blaine ran into some dangerous humanoid creature that needed capture, probably not the last either so he wasn't worried. Hell, some people even considered Blaine dangerous.
- Blaine, Nexus Psi up ahead. Seems to be some kind of Enforcer blockade going on, said Freya.
Her words snatch Blaine out of his thoughts. Enforcer blockade, great...could only mean one thing. Nexus Psi had dropped of the star charts.
- Check the charts Freya, are we in the right place?
- Well...according to the charts we're in the middle of space...Nexus Psi is gone.
- Funny, since we are stirring at it, Blaine said as he turned towards Freya who was sitting in the crafts pilot seat.
- Yeah, I've closed down our transponder and minimized our electronic output. We should be safe from scans from the Enforcer fleet, Freya answered. She'd seen this happen before. As she thought about it a chill ran down her spine, she didn't like it...not a single bit...she knew what it had to mean...
- Find a hole in the Enforcer blockade, Freya. Take us down and let's get this snatch and grab over with. I'll go wake up sleeping beauty...she's going to love that this job takes us into the Deadzone."

This is my story of what took place on the planet Nexus Psi in the Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere. As with Clashes in Immoren, Into the Deadzone will feature a venture to explore painting, modelling, gaming and the imaginative side of miniature wargaming. While Clashes in Immoren is focusing on the competitive side of wargaming, I'm thinking Into the Deadzone will feature solo-gaming at least until I find someone to play with. Having taken part in the Deadzone Kickstarter I have the Contagion supplement and therefore also A.I.-rules, which will be fun to try out. My Deadzone forces and terrain are slowly getting built and paint.

The cast of characters that we will follow in the Nexus Psi deadzone are Blaine, Freya and Nastanza who in my take on the game are a small group of mercenaries sent in with a contract to find and capture Project Oberon. As can be seen by their feet, they will run into a bunch of stage 3Z, plague zombies, among other things. There is still a lot to be done, and as can be seen in the picture (even if its bad quality) they are almost only undercoated. I worked on Project Oberon tonight and he is starting to look pretty good. Will need to get a better camera to show off how he really looks. He only needs a little bit of highlighting and then he's at tabletop standard.

Clashes in Immoren - Waiting for paint to dry

“The icy wind tore like a razor against her cheeks. If she had been any other women, the freezing wind would frozen her stiff where she stood. But Sorscha wasn’t like any other women. She was a Khadoran, therefore used to the winter cold. That was not all, she was also a Warcaster in the Khadoran military and among her magic talents was the ability to control the cold and the wind. Icy winds and snow blizzards was her natural environment. As she was running through the snow,  she wished she had called forth the snow tempest around her earlier. Then she might still have been riding on her horse.

Stubborn as she was, she had declined an escort of the Widowmaker squad that was leaving the outpost at the same time as she. Now she only had her self to blame. She could hear the Trollkin panting behind her, it seem like they were getting tired faster than her. The group of Trollkin warriors that ambushed her had killed her horse in the first volley. Fortunately, they were generally lousy shooters and she had escaped unhurt. If only one or two of her Juggernaut or Destroy warjacks had been with her, but they were still being repaired in Rorshik…”

Welcome to the series of blog posts featuring my venture into Warmachine and Hordes. Clashes in Immoren is about my exploration of the miniature hobby in the world of Warmahordes. In this series I will be exploring many sides of the miniature hobby, such as: the fluff, painting, modelling and competitive gaming. I have really never been much of a competitive gamer, but when taking a step into Warmahordes I might as well have a look at the tournament side of miniature gaming. Furthermore, I think that in my little neck of the woods competitive Warmahordes gaming is going to be fairly easy, since it is one of (if not the only) miniature game played in my friendly local game store (FLGS). The Clashes in Immoren series of posts will also focus on exploring the world of Immoren, through my imagination and hobby activities.

Todays blog post will be showing off the warjacks Sorscha was hoping for above. I am closing in on completion of my first two warjacks. A while back I got the Warmachine Two Player Battle Box and a blister of Widowmakers. The Khador faction is about halfway painted and with any luck I’ll be able to field them in my first game in 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, I’m increasing my rules knowledge by looking at the Warmachine League Season 4 over at MiniWargaming.