Characters of Chaos
Over the past year work and study have kept me busy, and I haven’t had much time for creative hobbies. Recently though I’ve been motivated to draw again – it takes somewhat less time to set up than miniature painting, and I’ve been inspired by some D&D characters in the various groups I’ve played in. The timing was good too – I entered an art contest on the Oldhammer Forum – the second of its kind – and scooped up first place.
The Dawi-Zharr
Around their dark city the Chaos Dwarfs sunk mines into the earth, delving deep into the rock and filth in pursuit of the treasures that lie below. They built engines down in the depths…
According to Stuff of Legends, the Chaos Dwarfs first appeared in 1986, but I only really knew them from the 1991 Red Catalogue and 1994 army. All dirt and gloom, Rick Priestly’s introduction, above, contrasted to the maelstrom of red, yellow, and black paint – set against lush green battlefields – that filled the rest of the book and pages of White Dwarf.
Honestly, I was never a fan, and I don’t think I’m alone. The Dawi-Zharr didn’t prove commercially viable and have fallen on hard times, although there’s a rumour that they’ll return in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: Warcry. But that has all changed for me, now.
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Here be Dragons
“AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!”
Drumin Dragonhelm pulled off his helmet and wiped the sweat from his eyes. They had been in the swamp for three days now, and of the confident band that had set, out only three were left. Or perhaps two.
Today I slayed a dragon. It’s an admittedly small dragon, and not one of the most sought-after. But it’s the first I’ve successfully painted in three sporadic decades of this hobby, and I’m proud of it.
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A Pre-Slotta Dwarf
After last week’s foray into mapmaking and creative writing, and several weeks’ worth of Knightmare Miniatures, this week I’m going back to the basics of this blog: an old pre-slotta Citadel dwarf thief.
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The Blinded Halfling; an Exercise in Collaborative Worldbuilding
Beware of hidden knowledge,
And the secrets you might learn,
For sometimes when you read a blog,
it reads you return
For the past couple of years I’ve been involved in a secession D&D campaign (the first chapter of which inspired me to take up painting again, and to start this very blog). DM John kicked us off with a trek through a quasi-medieval landscape to foil an evil sorcerer’s plot; he set the tone, drew the map, and outlined the history of the place. DM Mike then took over for a classic, brutal dungeon crawl, somewhere far from civilization where terrible things (and awesome handouts) awaited us. And then I took on the challenge.
Do you want to live forever?
I’ll never die!
… Proclaims Giant in the Playground’s optimisation guide for the barbarian in fifth edition D&D. Maybe it’s true. Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian made his first appearance on 6th December 1932 (the day before my own birthday, albeit some time prior). 84 years after Howard defined the genre, I painted Knightmare Games’ Joe, the Man o’War.
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A vile force of darkness has arrived!
In the videogame Dwarf Fortress (a very deceptively simple-looking ASCII game with a strange and storied history), goblin sieges, represented as they are by the lower-case letter ‘g’ are announced by the on-screen message:
A vile forces of darkness has arrived!
So. Following on from last week’s Doom Goblins, here are the last of my Greenskin Wars goblins from Knightmare Miniatures (at least for this year), the crew for a goblin siege engine, their captain, and standard bearer.
Final Doom (Goblins)
It seems like a long time since I last wrote a post for this blog. I’ve been busy – starting a new job (which has brought me back to Jordan where, coincidentally, I wrote my last blog post). I also spent the last few months spending more of my free time painting, so I’ve got enough new content to last until Christmas. But before that, it’s back to February 2018, with eight Doom Goblins from Knightmare Miniatures that ready to paint.
What is best in life?
I’m waiting in an airport departure lounge at 06:30 in the morning (but my body still thinks it’s a lot earlier), breathing conditioned air and listening to the clatter and rattle of shoes and trolleys, the hushed murmuring of my fellow passengers, and the occasional chime of an announcement. Later I might buy a bland but overpriced sandwich, or a cup of coffee to wake me up properly. My flight leaves in three hours and I won’t be home before midnight. This is not what’s best in life, so today seems like a good day to post a recently painted barbarian.
Little Green Man
This isn’t my first post of the year. But after finishing my first ‘big’ miniature – the Mierce Blood Maw – I felt a change of pace was in order; something I could start and finish in one sitting. So I took on the smallest mini in my collection, my first project that truly belongs to 2018.
Shin High Terror! 