Born with a heart of steel... Norse!

I have managed to put together a unique (?) team of norse barbarians, and so far I am quite pleased. They are still glossy, but due for anti-shine soon.

I am not sure I like the tundra tufts from Army Painter, so I may change my mind and do some snow effect. Bases are not completely done.

They are of course conversions. I did the two wolfmen out of gors with converted feet and head swaps, the snow troll is cobbled together from my bit box, and all models are different. I have used hair colour to indicate position, but even with poses to help, it may be too subtle. The blitzers wear head gear to make them stand out, and while they are quite different, and one may seem on the silly side, I did that on purpose (read: on a whim, I threw in a hint of Norway) and I didn't have two bear heads that worked. The catchers are the ones without beards and long, golden hair, and the throwers with their white hair got to look more old and wise and Odin-like.

The snow troll or "giant" is a bit of an experiment. He changed head a few times and originally did not have a claw either. I felt that he had to have one though, and I have had that head for a while without any really obvious mini to use it on. I am sure he'll be one of those "nice enough, but not for me"-guys, and that's fair enough. I just didn't fancy dressing up another big hairy ape man for the part. He got red hair too which I am sure some will not like either, but hey. I thought about doing his skin differently, but I didn't want him to stand out in that way, and he's more of a "touched by the gods"-guy than a "look at this hairy fucker that we've brough along"-guy.

The main "problem" is the lack of stuff to paint. I went with the bold, emerald pads to set off all the earth tones that I had in skin, fur and hair. I guess in retrospect I could have given some of them black hair, but I wanted them to be more "Scandinavian", and I suppose I could have given them grey furs to warm their balls. But I didn't.

I have a coach wip as well. He took a back seat for a moment, though.

WIP teaser: chaos troll

Not the most chaotic creature to lumber out of the Northern wastes, but a nasty and highly mobile troll.

I am pleased with him, or I will be, when I finish his legs, and quite happy to get that head of his onto a good body and the pitch.

He has no real, visible mutation, so perhaps Disturbing Presence?

Yes, I know, he'll be a pain to place prone...

WIP teaser: Chaos ogre

Continuing the flippant cutting and gluing with more or less random bits, I am still trying to push boundaries so that all big guys do not seem so dreadfully similar...

1. Ogre. Bald Vinny Jones-type, bodybuilder.

2. Troll. Gangly fellow, orangutang arms and Muppet-face. Often looks sad for some reason. Are trolls depressed by nature?

3. Minotaur. Massive torso/shoulder. Face can be like basically any animal, but it must have horns. Tends to have hooves, not feet these days.

Well, so I am deconstructing these slightly and incorporating random mutations (that no sensible coach might pick), as I figure the gods are fickle and have a weird idea of the word 'gift'...

Without further ado, a bearded ogre with very long legs. WIP.

Teaser WIP

I do like cobbling together big guys from bits, sculpting the odd detail to cover up problem areas where things did not quite meet up as neatly as intended, creating unique focal points for a team...

Problem is that new teams often start off this way, sucking the creative energies out og current projects. This, however, is a guy I am working on when I need a break from painting, and I am enjoying both, so all is well.

He should fit in well on a Pact I am putting together.

Book review: Knight of the Blazing Sun

I have been quite busy lately, both with life/work/etc and with "The Hobby", so this blog is due for some attention at last.

I have read Knight of the Blazing Sun by Josh Reynolds, a popular Black Library writer who has also written some of their 40K-stuff as well as some other books about knights in his Bretonnia-books. I like his stuff, generally speaking, though the Word Bearers books got a little too heavy on the blood and battle stuff for my taste. But back to the book at hand...

Whenever someone is sent to investigate the death of an emissary anywhere in a Warhammer setting or perhaps in general, we can all be sure that dark powers are afoot and that larger/further misdeeds are planned. Every single time. It is never just a case of some guy having an actual accident, so that our hero gets to turn around and go back home again having found nothing interesting to see. So, same old in this book, but we do accept that, and the plot here is never hard to unravel for a keen mind (ie not absurdly drunk or mentally disabled): A knight of the Blazing Sun is sent to check up on his brothers on an island off in the North (Danger! Danger!) near Marienburg, after the death of the previous guy that the grandmaster sent to do the same, and all is not well there. Lets leave it at that.

Reynolds knows his history for sure. This comes through in his Knights of Bretonnia-books, and here as well. He knows his Templars, and he's boned up on "norse" as well, sprinkling the narrative with some norse words for colour. Well done, mr Reynolds, as so much is indeed won with a few details. One might cheekily suggest that a not TOO extensive re-write could have transported this story to 40K, where inquisitors, rogue space marines or guardsmen etc might all have substituted the characters in this book and seen the plot survive almost intact nevertheless. Here we have knights of the South with the interesting goddess Myrmidia as their patron pitted against the norse who continue to be the most interesting people in Warhammer, stuck as they are on the edge of Chaos and in religious turmoil.

We are not treated to terribly much detailed info about particular exotic locations in this book. There IS a bit about what Myrmidia and her knights are generally all about, and this is weaved into the narrative in a rather succesful way where it doesn't come off as too contrived for the characters to either be explaining themselves or thinking about stuff that is obviously already a fairly strong presence in their lives. There are quite a few other examples in books like this where some random character sits around thinking more or less out loud about what his role is... as you do. Not. I think I can give a passing grade to the effort made in that regard in this book.

Random things that I did not like in no particular order: The meeting of the chieftains with its slapstick squabbling, guy transforming into a bear, random riverboat tryst, trident-hand knight.

The book is well written, never boring or predictable beyond the acceptable, and descriptions are vivid and crisp. Perhaps Reynolds is experienced enough to know exactly what he can fit into a book of about 400 pages, or perhaps his editor sliced it just right, because it seems to have neither too much or too little fluff, and the characters have just about the right amount of depth and development for a book of this type.

I give this book four stars or skulls or what have you, and a spearhead pointing up. For it to reach five, it would have needed more obscure nods to templars and such, and some weeding out of the stuff that annoyed me. All in all, a very good Warhammer-book.

Finished treeman

Waiting for elves to play with.

This guy looks mean, and would just not work with halflings. Partly because he looks so mean, but also because I have just the one, and only a fool fields halflings with one tree.

His foot is quite big, yes. That is due to him being a non-slotta. I cut his blobby foot, to a slice out and repositioned his legs a bit in order to fit him on a 30 mm.

He got sanded and flocked with a more summery mix that I would normally like, but I am currently experimenting with my basing.

The gold shoulder pad is not an ideal choice, but that matches his team mates.

Treeman

While painting the porky orc'ies and getting fed up with it, I distract myself with some side projects. The necromancers I have to finish? No, of course not!

So here is a treeman. He needs pads and some work on the base, but he is close to done, and obviously looking for elves to hang out with.

Comments always welcome.