Dark Knights: working with water and ice.

It is cold, so cold.

The shaft of your spear feels icy in your hand, even through the padding of your gauntlet. The night air is still and silent, a deathly chill slithers its slow fingers everywhere and a cold mist rises from the stream's slow waters. 

"That's it, lads, form up now! Joston, a few steps right! Make it straight and tight!"

The sergeant's shouts are muffled by the still air and the snow, and the burly man's deep voice sounds small in the pressing dark, devoid of an echo. Dry, cold snow crunches under your boots as you sidestep and take your place in the line, to the back and somewhat to the right from the center. The breath of your comrades smokes in the midnight air and you can feel your toes going numb with the cold, a persistent, dull ache. Lanterns held high cast uneven shadows over the snow, shadows that dance and sway in front of you. The firelight pierces the dark for some thirty paces before racing back, reflected off the smooth bark of the alders at the forest's edge, but making the darkness between the boles even more impenetrable.

From the edge of the shallow stream to the steep bank on the right your line stretches, some fifteen paces, and three men deep. You hear the thudding hooves of your sergeant's horse behind you as he paces back and forth, restless. "Where are they...", you hear him mutter, sword in hand, and then you hear it.

From the darkness of the forest a low keening rises. A lonely horn blowing in the darkness, rising, rising, and then falling. 

The silence afterwards is a tangible thing, an unnatural stillness made worse by the cold seeping into your bones. You feel alone, as though the fur-clad shapes around you were no living comrades, but mere figments of some bygone dream from a life long past, and you feel a growing sense of being trapped. Trapped by the dark and trapped in it, as though the trees around you are but pillars of some endless cavern far beneath the world, and the cold you feel is the chill of Death.

The keening rises again, and this time it is carried by a sudden, cold gust that flutters your cloak, stealing what warmth it had kept underneath. The gust grows into a sudden gale and a lantern goes out and the other. In the last, failing light you see the eyes of the man next to you widen in terror, and then you are in the dark. The weight on you grows and grows, a formless terror that draws near from some distant place, the mere unshaped thought of which stifles your breath.

Time becomes a trickle, and as though from a distant overlook you see yourself from afar. You feel the thunder of hooves before you hear it, and then you hear the order shouted and see yourself lower your spear and brace. Slow it seems, this ghostly charge and measureless time passes between a hoof thudding down into icy ground and it rising from the cold snow. Pale streamers on aged lances hang suspended, unseen but illuminated by some ghostly gleaming. 

They come.

--

Greetings!

This time I'll take a look at working on some Revenant Cavalry and working with Vallejo water effects that I tried while working on this unit.

First off, I have to say that water effects on bases are sometimes the coolest things ever, but having worked on one, which wasn't one of the easiest I could think of, I have to say that it takes so much effort to get it half-way right that I'd really recommend that you use them when you know you want them on the base.

I used both Vallejo Water Effects, which you use for making white water and splashing effects, and Still Water, which, unsurprisingly, is used for making pools of still water. Both seem like good products, and I can honestly recommend both products.

The whole process begins with making the base. Multibases offer some of the best opportunities for creating some very impressive water effects, and the Revenant Cavalry are very well suited for this due to their 125mm by 100mm base. There's a lot of room to play around with!

If you use still water, or any self-leveling liquid, you're going to need a depression to fill. I used woodfiller to make the banks on an MDF base (I can strongly recommend warbases.co.uk, they are awesome, at least unless this brexit thing messes that up).

Then I glued some sand on the whole base. As the product I will use will be transparent once dry, I have to make sure the bottom of the stream is textured as well. After a quick spray undercoat, I went for a brown sandy look that I mixed up with some green washes for the bottom of the stream. This was a realization I had when working on it: there is no reason why the algae in the river would be dead and gone even if the base is a snowy winter base, so some green went on the bed. Having no previous experience with water effects, I decided to paint in some depth differences in the base, so that there are clearly lighter and darker areas in the stream.

The thing I didn't take into account was that if I want a two to three millimeter thick coat of water on the stream bed, and the product is a liquid for a better part of a day once poured in, I had chosen very poorly with three-open-sides approach. Granted, it would look good if I could pull it off, but it is no easy task to seal a base watertight from three sides.

As the material would be solid once dry, I painted and glued the horses in place before adding the still water. So this time I couldn't complete the whole base before painting the miniatures, but instead I had to paint the horses first and move on with the base after that. After spending a week painting horses,  I was ready to pour in the goo.

Having no previous experience, I did just as well as you could guess: not well at all. After mopping up a lot of goo from my painting table and spending a few hours scraping it off the underside of the base, I made a really shoddy and barely functioning thingy that kept most of the goo in place while it dried.

The easy way to do it is to make a puddle, so that the whole body of water is on the base and crosses no edges. The next step is having sides open without needing to block corners, as this can be done with relative ease, with either plasticard or other non-porous plastics glued (temporarily) over the gap. The difficulties begin when your water effect goes over the base's edge at a corner. That is very difficult to seal properly, and I'm currently looking for ideas to making that happen in a relatively non-time-consuming manner.

I cut some clear plastic flyer bases into pieces, rounded their corners over a candle flame and glued them onto the water effect with more of the same stuff. That's a neat trick with Still Water; you can glue stuff on the existing layers with more of the goo. A few coats of Still Water more, and this time I mixed in some Water Effects to get some white water on the stream, and voilá, I was ready to move onto the riders.

I assembled the riders before painting, sans shield arms, as those would block too much surface for my taste. While it's mostly true that where the brush can't reach, the eye rarely sees, I still prefer to paint my models entirely. I used a white undercoat because that way I could move straight to washing on the non-metallic parts. I went for the same scheme as with the Revenant King (who can be seen here), as I want to make the Revenants look like ancient ghosts called back into their ancient suits of armor. Armor would be dull brass, while most of the rest would be ghostly green. Some weapon bits, like the shafts of the lances would not be ghostly, but the blades of most weapons would. Shields would be wooden, with worn purple fronts and the yr-rune (which stands for death, or an ending) freehanded onto them. The same shade of purple would be used for helm plumes and streamers on the lances, to give the army some color and a unifying theme.

I wasn't completely sure as to what extent I want my Undead to be mindless automatons or would I actually prefer them to have some level of sentience. For a story-driven player like me, the backstories of my armies matter a lot, because that determines the look I go for when positioning the models. So would my Revenants have an inhuman accuracy and a contemporarity to their movement or perhaps a game-of-thronesian wighty ferocity? I eventually decided against both, and decided to go for feel of long-dead knights reliving some faded memory of a charge. There's some unity and a sense of an ordered unit, like there would be with living knights charging, but I wanted to keep from adding too much individuality to the Revenants: they are dead, after all, and serve under some dark will other than their own.

--

The snow is cold against your cheek.

You know this, but cannot feel it, not anymore. Around you dark lumps under a thin veil of powdery snow mark the places where your brothers-in-arms gave their lives, felled by an enemy whose deadlines their resolve could not match.

You know there is a place for you to go, a deep place, a place somewhere else than here. There is a gate, and you should go thither, now that you have bled enough to still your heart.

Yet you cannot depart your now-cold flesh.

Something sets its will against you and bars your way. It tells you to rise, and you must obey. There is no choice, as there was in life, but there is a consciousness, a you, and there is pain.

It is so cold, and there is no way out.

--

Scratch-building miniatures - The Engines of Death

Greetings, fellow KoWsters!

In this post I will go through the basics of scratch-building miniatures for war gaming and go through a step-by-step guide of how I built two Bale-fire Catapults for the Undead army I am currently working on.

Scratch-building is a nice way of adding a bit of uniqueness to an army and of, dare I say it, cutting costs if those are an issue. However, as is the case with every non-standard unit choice in Kings of War, Rule of Cool should be adhered to. You really want the unit to fit in with the rest of the army, and thus you should make sure you only scratch-build things that won't look out of place or unintentionally comical next to the manufacturer-made models in your army.

That means that there are certain armies that are easy to scratch-build units for and others that require a lot of skill and patience (and some that I really would not even attempt. I think the armies fall into categories something along these lines:

Easy:

Greenskins
Undead

Medium:

Human armies
Demons & otherworldly creatures

Difficult:

Elves
Dwarves

Easy armies are those that naturally have a worn, rough-shod look to them. Goblin war engines are easy enough to craft and Orcish chariots are also relatively easy. Nothing looks out of place and asymmetries are a naturally occurring phenomenon. Chariots can look ramshackle, and catapults can have strange contraptions for producing the energy for propelling their shots.

Medium armies require a more refined look to the models that you create, and should be approached with more planning and forethought, as lack of eye-catching detail is often a dead giveaway with scratch-built models, as is softness in detail on greenstuffed parts. That's why demons and other unnatural creatures are sometimes a bit tricky to craft, even though they don't have easily recognizable gear such as boots or belts that might be tricky to craft in a manner that looks convincing.

Bottom line is, scratch-building is a method of substituting money with time. Sometimes you might save some time due to delivery times, but usually you'll be spending oodles of time on a unit, instead of spending oodles of money on it. Sometimes you end up getting the best of both worlds, and spend both oodles of money and oodles of time on it.

Creating my own Balefire Catapults

My project grew out of desperation: the model's available for Balefire Catapults were not up to my standards in epicness or scale. The GeeDubs version from their TK army is long out of production, not to mention how costly it would be, and the Mantic one is... slightly small. I want my engines to be menacing machines of destruction and so I decided to build some myself.

I spent a few hours doodling and gathering ideas of what might work and what I might be able to pull off, and before long I had a working concept. I decided to build the typical throwing arm-and-twined-roped-for-torsion version of a catapult, as I felt that a counterweight using trebuchety thing would look too heavy for what the Balefire Catapult does.

Scavenging was quickly done, as all I needed was some matchstick wood for craft projects, some 1mm thread, plasticard, greenstuff, cork for the base, glue, and time. Lots of time.

I started by gluing the sticks together into clumps of four in order to get sturdier beams for the machines. At this point one shouldn't be too concerned with anything else than making the pieces lined up properly, which is mainly achieved by making sure your cuts are even and straight. That means I had to wait until the PVA was properly set and the pieces could withstand the hobby saw without breaking apart.

I started constructing the bases at the same time to make sure my machines fit the base properly. Sometimes, as was the case with these machines, one can build the unit directly onto the base, which makes assembly easier and also makes the unit look more natural on the base. this is very difficult with units like chariots that tend to have a lot of area that needs to be done under them on the base.

I managed to put the base structure of my machines together relative fast, in just a few hours, as I had a good idea of what I was doing from thorough planning. Planning stages saves one the trouble of going back to make more beams or cutting and crafting more of the basic parts needed for moving on with the construction.



My Catapults would be relatively sturdy and unlike the rest of my Undead force, they would be real, physical objects in stead of being ghosts or memories of ancient weapons. I broke the cork apart some and angled it in order to get a little more dynamic look for the base, as putting everything in right angles will look boring and a little bit off once it's done.

When working with matchsticks, a trick you can use is to first place the pieces together with PVA and then drop some super glue on them (I use the Army Painter glue) to get the pieces to hold a little faster so you can get stuff constructed quicker. I'd advice against using just super glue for gluing matchsticks as the wood is relatively porous and the liquid glue tends to get sucked into the wood, leaving very little glue between the parts and making the connections brittle.

For the engines "machiney" parts I decided to use the 1mm twine that I glued over some round sprue bits to create a winch for arming the Catapults. Twine is a little tricky to work with, but it can be used to create some very realistic looking ropes which is handy because, in my view, greenstuffed ropes tend to be way out of proportion and very difficult to work with to create the kind of contraptions that I want.

Twine reacts well to super glue and the easiest way to work with is to glue one end to wherever you want it to be first, then getting the twine into its intended position and then run some super glue all over the twine to harden it. It will retain some flexibility so it won't be brittle, but be careful with bending it, as it won't be really elastic like plastics so you can break it and fixing that is a bitch.

Then I added the throwing arms to my Catapults, and for the "baskets" I used thin strips of plasticard that I glued into a grate and then I glued sharpened pieces of plasticard upwards to create a mixture between a huge brazier some kind of a brazen claw. I wanted the machine look practical but also evil, intended not only to do it's job in battering down castle walls, but also to sow fear and despair as it did so.

I first used a thin metal pin as an axle to pin down the throwing arm (I use metal sticks with one looped end that are intended for crafting jewels). Then I threaded a lot of twine back and forth over the throwing arm and the axle to create a twisting look, like the twined ropes used in real ballistas and catapults and once again used super glue to make the twine set.

I didn't want two identical machines so I made one that was just being armed and the other so that it had just been fired, with its throwing arm in the middle of its motion. At this point I also inspected  the machines and my plans for how I intended to finish each machine in order to avoid making mistakes or overlooking something that would make the project a lot more difficult later on.

At this point I also asked for some outside feedback from my better half, as getting another person's opinion is really valuable in getting things right. When I have a project I really like, I tend to overlook its shortcomings in terms of how it is actually turning out and getting that negative feedback is really important for successful scratch building.

An important point here is the willingness to listen to feedback: if you are not prepared to hear that your idea sucks and then having the reasons why spelled out to you, you probably will end up crafting some silly looking stuff. Of course, there are people who always see the negative in everything, but for the most part, people point out misgivings for a reason. Accept and analyse what feedback you get, and improve the end result.

Then it was time for greenstuff and some more twine. I used twine for ropes securing the machines to the stakes driven into the ground and for the rope connecting the throwing arm to the arming machinery. I used quite a bit of greenstuff in the baskets, along with some skulls, in order to make a flaming mass of skulls. I also added a few shields to the tops of the engines so that I could later paint the army heraldry on them, to tie them into the host.

The two materials that require time, and thus planning the construction stages are PVA and greenstuff. They take roughly a day to harden enough to withstand further construction and one should plan stages so that one can do most of the greenstuff work in a single go. That way the time-consuming wait for the materials to settle wont become a repetitive thing that further delays the already lenghty process of scratch-building something.

Painting the machines was relatively easy, as they are mostly just wood, twine and relatively few details. That's a double edged blade, however, as even though the machines were quicker to paint, I had to make sure there was enough going on on the bases to make the units looks finished. Luckily, the snowy winter bases of my Undead helped a long way, as adding snow drifts and icicles added some nice detail quick and easy.

At first I ran into the problem that I couldn't quite get the machine to look natural on the base. It sat there nice enough, and everything seemed to be in order, but somehow it just looked off. It took me a while to realize that the problem was that the machines needed to look weathered, like they'd been out there in the cold for some time. If you leave stuff out in subzero temperatures, it will accumulate a thin layer of frost on every surface that hasn't been touched in a while, so I went for an overall, intentionally uneven white drybrush. That way I could make the machine look like it had those tiny ice crystals that make everything look silvery grey in the cold on it.

Overall I ended up being pretty satisfied with my Balefires. They have a unique look to them that still doesn't mean people won't know what they are supposed to be. I'm also relatively happy with the level of detail I managed to put on the machines without making them either too cluttered or leaving them too bare.

Cheers for reading and, as always, feel free to comment!

AoW

Next up: Revenant Cavalry and my experience using Vallejo water products.

Where hope and daylight die

In holy books of the priests of the City of the Golden Horn it is said that those who die a righteous death, without guilt or remorse to stain their souls, pass out of the circles of Creation and ascend to a brilliance no strength of magic can mar.

Yet no word is uttered in those books of what may befall those, whose hearts are heavy with their own darkness or filled with torment. However, in the forbidden tomes held in sealed vaults under the very cathedrals of that holiest of cities it is said that with powerful incantations the dead that rest not can be called back.

In those unholy volumes, often writ on flayed skins of mortals with distilled blood of demon-kind, the words and runes required for such unholy magics is worked out in abhorrent detail. Where most evils lessen and become laughable when explained and examined thoroughly, such is not the case with these ruinous magics. Word by word, detail by detail, the knowledge of them grows more horrifying as it deepens. To read these words is to mar one's very soul, for the shadows of death trapped in fell ink cling to the mind of the reader, never to be washed away unless it be by the might of the Green Lady herself. But such a cleansing she has yet to attempt, and thus the healing power of the world is but a rumor and a futile dream for those whose eyes have fallen on these pages.

It is rare that one of these volumes should be found in the wider world, for the Paladins of Basilea have long sought after them and brought many back, to be held under lock, key and thrice blessed chains.

How it came to pass that one of their number was found missing, the unbreakable chains holding the tomes cut, and a wayward disciple gone missing, none can say. But come to pass it did and even as, a long count of years later,  Tomlin galloped out of the ruined castle to face the blizzard rather than the turmoil that was called to rise again, the Word of Summoning was uttered in the small chapel in the middle of the ruins. Forth came not skeletons, nor zombies. Instead, the first to pass the stony gates of Death that groaned open, were pale, fluttering shades who wore no human face to cover their death.

It is said that the petty are the easiest to call back and bind into their decayed bodies, and the cowards only a little harder. The sapped souls of warriors who failed in their quests to better the world or already in life sought to spread ruin are also within reach of many a Necromancer, as are the fallen knights whose proud banners have been blasted to grey tatters in the merciless wind of the land of the dead.

The most difficult spirits to call, even as they are the most difficult to banish are the Wraiths; souls that have been held in the timeless dark so long that they have lost the last vestiges of the shapes they wore in life and have taken on hideous, emaciated forms of creatures that have ever dwelt in that lightless land. These it was that came streaming from the gates of death

--

Greetings, KoWsters!

I finally managed to paint some more Undead and managed to add some Wraiths to my growing force. Originally I didn't much care for Mantic's wraiths, as the models looked a little, well, corny. After fiddling with the models a bit, I realized that I didn't have a problem with the models themselves, just the way most people paint and base them.

Looking at the unit's stats (bear in mind that I have yet to play a single game with Undead), the unit seems like a veeeery interesting one, albeit somewhat expensive. Excellent for pulling off some crazy charges with their Fly and Speed 10, rock hard with their De 6+ and okay in melee, they seem like a solid choice. I look forward to testing out some Surge shenanigans on the field!

The problem I had with the models, as they were, was that they didn't look like they were flying. Not afraid of some knife-work, I decided to cut the models from their round basing discs with a pair of pliers and then clean up the rest with a hobby knife. It was less of a bother than cutting restic bases of the Basilean horses, but one should make sure that when cutting restic, one's hobby knife should be sharp, and I mean really sharp. That material is tough!

I decided to go for a mass grave for the base, the idea being that the Wraiths are hovering/soaring above the base. I wanted to make sure they look like they fly. I used some home-made thigh bones and bits from the Revenant sprues to make a grave filled with all sorts of ghastly stuff, after making a trench out of wood filler. I tried to go for an exhumed look, but that didn't work out as well as I hoped. I should have made the slopes more dramatic. The pic also reminds that I really need to clean my paint station...

--

As the Wraiths pass the door, they were followed by a near-formless shade whose form radiated loss and sorrow and tragedy. A shield he bore, with a pale sigil on it, and a suit of ancient armor, once noble but now ruined by timeless aeons of death. In his hand was a great blade, or the memory of a mighty sword given shape in the shadows. It gleamed with unholy deadliness and it whispered its name readily to all those who, at their life's peril, would listen: Remorse.

As the being that Tomlin had called his Master mouthed his incantations, the King Arisen crossed the threshold, being called back from death into an unlife that was worse than the dry land where he had waited. He cared not for the mumblings of the Necromancer whose words had but shown him the door, the fool held no power over him. Still, the King came forth once more to do battle. From death to life, to lose what hope of salvation remained, for in the cold realm of death, hope becomes the enemy.

Frankly, I don't much care whether he's an optimal choice or not, the Revenant King is just so frickin' cool as a character. Medium combat, medium Surge and a very high Nerve. What's not to like? I did a bit of conversion and a bit of kit-bashing to get the model to look the way I wanted him to look. While with my Wights (more of them here) I wanted to go for a look of active deadliness, but for this guy I wanted to go for a more relaxed look; blade down, hunched and definitely not in a hurry. Like he's so far beyond caring, so sure of the endlessness of his death that, while he fights with some skill, he does so with no passion. 

For his base I went for a rocky outcropping thrusting out through snow, while ghostly undead are rising from under their icy graves at his coming. I found this necessary both because the model I used (just a slightly converted Revenant Cavalry) was relatively plain and because the paint scheme I'm using isn't flashy at all. There needs to be something happening on the base to make up for lack of complexity elsewhere.

--

The spell ran out suddenly and the shape of the Master fell to the cold floor of the chapel.

The doors of grey stone leading down to the crypts under the keep, sealed all these many years, now stood open and the great marble slabs over the mighty warriors buried under the floor of the chapel had been ground to blowing dust, as if countless years had passed and worn them away. Now the graves underneath gaped open, like great toothless maws leading down to a darkness not of the world of the living.

He had called them back, the fallen warriors, the kings and the knights. Their unearned rest had now come to an end and whatever misfortunes would now be visited upon the living was their punishment. Had they stood and died, had they not faltered in their watch, then the spell could never have reached them, for into that brilliance no avenger could reach.

But they had faltered, they had cowered behind their high walls while the nightmares came and so they had fallen. Like barbed hooks, the spell had caught them in the deeps of death and pulled them back.

Some time later the Master rose from the floor, only to find his form beneath him, still laying on the stones. He had called them back, but had paid for it with the warmth of his life.

This guy, my necromancer, is another kit bash, this time from Wraiths and Revenants. I wanted to go for a totally ghostly look and the faceless hood from the Revenant sprue fit the bill spot on. The undead have a tragedy to them and so I wanted to go for a model more sad than sinister for this guy.

Next up, some tournament stuff if I manage to write a battle report!

Cheers,

AoW

Multibasing a unit: Of Wolves, who were men

The blizzard showed no sign of slackening as Tomlin spurred his steed up the slope to the crest of the hill. The weather had been a constant curse on him ever since he had abandoned his former master at the ruined castle and the ghostly visions tormented his dreams to such an extent that Tomlin had given up sleeping as much as he was able. His decision was aided by the howls of a pack of wolves that had seemed to take to following him after he stopped to fill his bags from one of their kills; a half-eaten wild boar the size of a small bear. The marks on the carcass gave Tomlin every reason to believe this was a pack he did not wish to see any closer.

Three days he had now traveled, South and West, towards the warmer lands and away from that cursed ruin of a keep, and now before him loomed the Halpi Mountains and more importantly, in the Southern wall of the valley that lay below Tomlin,  was Bazur'Ubam, the Pass Under Stone, an old dwarven tunnel under the first row of jagged peaks. It was many years abandoned, but Tomlin knew the hardiness of Dwarven stonework. Besides, he had passed through it without incident with a caravan some years prior to his current calamity.

Somewhere behind him, thin against the wind at first but growing came the howling of wolves.

Tomlin spat and cursed and then he kicked his horse and went down the slope. Just a little more, and he would be in warmer and safer climes, even if said climes were not exactly warm and safe in any absolute terms.

--

Greetings!

In this post I will go through the process off making a multibased unit, namely a regiment of Werewolves for my upcoming Undead army.

For me the process of making a new unit always starts with searching for a feel of the unit I am building. As I'm big for fluff and stories, I always try to answer questions like who are these warriors? Why do they fight? What do the rumors say about them?

Those are key elements in making a cool army, because units with stories behind them tend to gather more reputation than units without them. I mean, it is pretty cool to have that one unit your opponent absolutely hates because they've done some pretty amazing things.

With my Werewolves I wanted to go for a properly feral feel, a pack on the hunt. I may have over indulged on Metallica's Of Wolf and Man...

The models are Mantic's Werewolves with no additions. The material of the miniatures is restic, which, while difficult to clean up prior to painting, is excellent for posing by heat bending.

I wanted my wolves to look like they're speeding through craggy, snowy terrain. I wanted to give them a thoroughly feral feel and I went for it by posing them so that they're hunched over and using their powerful arms as they run.

I began the process by seeing how the models go together, what kind of modifications can be easily achieved and how many points of contact the models need on a base. Those are key points when you are going for a more complicated unit.

These models are built so that, originally, only their feet touch the base, but I quickly saw that their hands were well suited for additional contact and I decided to capitalize on that to get that canine running pose.

When making rocky terrain like cliffs, thick cork is your best friend. Why thick? Because even though one can add multiple layers of cork, as I've done with this base, thin layers will have many flat-on-flat surfaces. Those will stick out even after painting, and even if layered rock formations are a very common phenomenon in real world, thin cork does not yield itself well for that slate look. For that you should use pine bark.

When gluing cork into a rock formation, I'd suggest not applying glue to the edges of layers. While it would make it initially more stable, it would also make it more difficult to pry off bits of cork to hide the seams. I reach the same stability and durability through a layer of thinned down PVA glue applied over the whole formation once it's in sculpted to my satisfaction.

I wanted to increase the bestial look of my Werewolves by giving them a base that certainly does not look like the kind of terrain any normal troops would prefer to move through. I also wanted to get that leader of the pack up there on that miniature Pride Rock, showing those pesky kitties who it is that rules the Night's Hunt.

Heat bending can be done repeatedly and that is exactly what I did to achieve the level of interaction between a model and the base that I wanted. Superglue withstands hot water well, so you don't have to worry about dunking the model in even after putting it together. Here I repositioned the model's feet and fingers so that they lay against the surface of they touch. I attempted to make it look like the Werewolf is dragging itself forward as much with its hands as it with its feet.

As the next step, I worked more on the base. I dislike painting models and making them wait, as that increases the chances of them taking hits and chipping while in storage. I decided to widen the gap between the rock formations on the left to form a narrow, frozen-over creek that the Wolf is skipping over. Then I glued sand on the surfaces that I wanted to give a gravelly look. I use fine grain construction sand, the same stuff they put into concrete, because it has small enough grains to look pretty natural with miniatures.

Then I used wood filler paste to form snow drifts (more on that here) and undercoated the rest of the base black. I really think everything should be painted, natural materials stick out in a weird manner, like a photograph in a cartoon.

The rock got a three-layer drybrush from dark grey to white while the sand got first a flat muddy brown and later a wash. The snow drifts were painted light blue that I later painted mostly white again. I'm starting to change my opinion on the light blue color under the snow flock. While it does give a cooler shade to the white, it's a bit too obvious sometimes.

I like stripy rock and the way to make it happen the way I want it is with a much lighter color than the base and one directional strokes so that the brush touches the surface only when it's passing, not when it's brought back. That gives the systematic decrease in the how strong the effect at the start of the brush stroke compared to where it ends. Painters who actually know what they're doing can probably give you better advice on making rock look cool.

Then it's time to add snow and icicles. On this base I used bits of sprue that I heated over a candle flame and stretched and later painted, but I wasn't entirely happy with the result and so I'll be working with clear plastic in the future. This is, however, a readily available alternative as well.

Creating deep snow that interacts with the models will require multiple layers of flock. I added the first layer with PVA to give the underlying wood filler more resistance to impacts as it is fairly brittle once dry and PVA gives it more strength in that regard.

I painted my wolves to have a mixture of brown skin and grey fur, with a lighter skin on the abdomen. This was because I felt like the models themselves are relatively low-key in terms of what goes on in them, and thus they benefit from a bit of shift in color here and there.

Once I had each Werewolf glued down initially, I went through the points of contact with the base and added more snow flock with superglue. One should be careful with that, as extra flock sticking on the models doesn't look like snow clinging to the them, as the grain size is a bit off. However, that way I could make the fingers on the wolfie look like they're pressed into the snow bank on top of the rock.
--

Tomlin ran.

The tunnel was rising, which was a good sign, but the roars of the cave troll behind him were not.

The damned thing had taken the head off his horse before he had even realized that what had seemed a particularly reeking part of the passage under the mountain was particularly foul for a reason. The broken left stirrup on Tomlin's saddle had proven his savior, as he managed to pull himself atop of the headless beast before its limp form could pin him down.

There was a cold gleam of moonlight on snow ahead, the only sign of the tunnel coming to an end. If the full moon wouldn't be enough to persuade the troll to give up chasing him, at least Tomlin would have some light to see how he'd meet his end.

Then he felt cold night air fill his lungs, burning in his throat as he sprung out of the tunnel, coming into the valley beyond between two scored and battered statues of dwarves, many times their normal height. Behind him the troll roared and came on, its massive feet pounding the frozen earth as it came. So much for the help of moonlight.

The road was, luckily enough, blown clear of snow by the strong winds, but Tomlin could only run so far. Feeling the burn in his thighs and calves grow into a raging inferno, he knew he could not keep ahead of the troll much longer. Cursing under his ragged breath, Tomlin drew his blade and swerved to face the cave troll.

The beast was at least twelve feet tall, a misshapen mass of muscle and claws, taken by surprise by Tomlin's sudden move. It brought a clawed hand down on where Tomlin had been, swiping wide, while the man dived under the beast's stroke and struck out with his blade. Cold steel bit, piercing the beast's grey hide in a long gash across a meaty thigh.

The troll roared, turned and swung again as Tomlin sprang aside, dodging the fist and then dashed in, grabbing the dull part near the middle of his blade with one hand while adjusting his grip on the hilt and drove it upwards, under the beast's ribs with all his strength. Deep he struck, stopping only when his hand on the blade of his sword slammed into the beast's filthy hide.

The black spray of blood smoked as it streamed out of the wound, half a bucket at least, when Tomlin pulled his blade free, springing past the cave troll once again. The troll roared and clamped its massive hand over the gushing wound. No blow chased Tomlin as he danced away from the troll, breathing hard.

Tomlin and the troll stared at each other, some ten yards apart basked in bright moonlight. A slow grin bloomed on Tomlin's face as he watched the blood gushing down the trolls flank.

"That's right you you ugly horse-killing piece of shit. Bleed!"

He stared for a long moment, before realizing that the troll was bleeding less and less, but not because of loss of blood. Slowly, the creature drew itself up and rolled its shoulders, shaking off the pain of the now-staunched wound. Tomlin could see the gash on its thigh knit itself together before his very eyes.

He sighed in resignation and hefted his blade, dropping into a fighter's stance.

"Come on, then!", Tomlin shouted, his voice echoing from the cliffs, "You fucking rot-breath, come on!"

The troll roared and came.

Then came a deep snarl and a grey shadow passed Tomlin, so close that he could feel the heat coming off the massive form of the leaping creature. It bounded high into air and slammed into the cave troll, almost toppling it, snapping jaws sinking into the troll's forearm as it tried to push the creature off itself. A piercing howl rose and two more beasts came dashing out of the shadows, masses of ebony muscle topped with thick hackles of white fur. The troll pushed the grey one off with a blow from a massive fist and scampered on its feet just as the two others came upon it.

Tomlin stared, slack-jawed, as he watched the pack of werewolves circled their prey. Closer and closer,  eyes burning with the joy of the hunt. He was still staring when they felled the troll, rending jaws ripping out tendons and finally canines like daggers closing on its throat. Wet sounds of carnivores feasting on fresh flesh filled the air.

He came to when he found the grey one, more massive than the rest of his pack, staring him, its grey face covered in the troll's black blood. The werewolf turned back its pointed ears, a sign of aggression, and growled.

"Our kill. Run, thief, run, and live to see another day."

Tomlin obliged.

Thanks for reading!

Next up, first few characters.

Cheers,

AoW

Vanguard Campaign: Preparing for round II

Greetings, Vanguardians!

Having finished games for round one, it is time to start preparing for round two. That means a little bit more work for me as I have to write all the factions into the story while also thinking about the logistics of the campaign.

First of all, I decided to place the campaign on an island to make sure all the factions had a credible way of running into each other and ending up in a fight. The first chapter of fluff that I wrote works to give even the good guys a reason to bash heads as politics trump philosophies. This is because I want to achieve a fluid pairing system that makes at least some sense to the players, provided that they end up reading the fluff.

Vanguard, in my view, is a game that simply screams for stories to be told, both on the level of the campaign and on the level of individual models. That is also why narratives, in my view, work so well to enhance the experience of players participating. For this round I printed out the map of the Isles and wrapped it in contact paper so that we can put some markings on it with whiteboard pens.

It's always tricky when you combine map elements to a miniature campaign, because while they do add a level of immersion, they also tend to distract players from the game itself. Some that I've played have attached way too much meaning to the overlay of a map campaign (such as granting very, very good bonuses for achieving something outside of the games themselves.

In my campaign I've decided to go for a lightweight map element that serves as a backstory while also functioning as pairing mechanic during game days.

Chapter II: Finding a footing

The wooded terrain of the Greensway Isle made it difficult to get a good view of the surrounding lands and so Sister Artemisia had spent the past days and nights running from hilltop to hilltop, scouting the lands.

The whole thing was a mess, and no mistake. What was supposed to be a clear cut retrieval mission had spiralled out of control faster than Sergeant Tiberian could scowl.

The Greensway Guard was apparently far more lax than their reputation called for, as they had kept to the larger towns. Also there seemed to be a lot of traffic on the roads, both local and traders from further off. The Bluecoats had been on the move constantly after their battles with the Salamanders and the Undead. Sergeant Tiberian had been searching for a safer base of operations, and apparently so had the other warbands Artemisia had found evidence of, for her scouting had revealed many campsites, strange caverns reeking of sulfur, necromantic circles and even some careless campfires in the night.

Sister Artemisia mounted the hill at an easy jog and stopped to scan the surroundings. All seemed quiet for miles and even the clash between the strange elven raiders and hulking men clad in steel she had witnessed had resulted in both parties heading away. She sprang down the hill, waving a hand in greeting as she came close to the ring of age old stony mounds. The sharp gleam of the setting sun on the crossbow bolt aimed her way faded as the man-at-arms on watch lowered his weapon.

The camp was busy with men and women packing and making ready for the march through the night to come. Father Urban, his white robes, worn over a heavy plate armor were  stained with blood. He was uttering a prayer of healing as he bathed the wounds of one unfortunate soldier who was due for a particularly unpleasant march with a heavy bandage across his chest. There were some unmarked graves that had been dug and filled since Artemisia had last seen the camp. She drew a deep breath and spat, clearing the dust from her throat. From a dozen paces away she noticed the stern countenance of Sergeant Tiberian as the officer was walking towards her. A few moments later they were bent over a creased and folded map of the Isles.

"What news?"

"The Greensway Guard is sleeping fat and content, and the locals aren't hastening to raise an alarm. There might be a lot of unusual activity going on here on Greensway as a rule, so maybe the past few days haven't been noteworthy enough to cause major concern. However, I did find signs of the other companies."

Artemisia leane

The Salamanders are moving inland here, along that river valley, while the necromancer we ran into seems to have gone underground, maybe literally, as the isle is riddled with caverns and mines.

Out presence, or something else, has drawn in Abyssals, while at least two other bands, some form of Elvish raiders and some humans, maybe servants of some dark gods. I saw them fight it out here and both parties left towards the Southern parts of the isle. I spotted some wrecked ships off the coast over here."

The sergeant studied the map, brows furrowed.

"We need to find out what's happening, while blinding the eyes of others prowling the isle, if we can. Rest here until moonrise and then seek out the enemy. Put an arrow through every messenger you come across and see what their missives say.

We'll be moving inland as well and once we have a better idea of what's going on, we'll start looking for the ship and the cargo."

The sergeant took a sharp look at Sister Artemisia, holding her gaze for a long moment before continuing.

"Do not get yourself killed. With your sister still recovering from her wounds, you are my eyes out in the field."

Sister Artemisia saluted the Sergeant and walked off. 

It was going to be a long night.

--

In the second round the companies will face each other seeking to recover vital plans, either those of their own company gone astray or those of another warband they seek to push out of balance. All are here to capture the cargo (despite knowing next to nothing of its exact nature), but each company needs to get their bearings before they can have any real chance of finding the cargo, let alone securing it.

In this second round, players will be marching their companies on the map and the pairings will be decided by whose path they cross first. The marching order is decided by campaign gold earned so far.

The points go up to 125 points, so the next games will be substantially more crowded and thus more fun.

The scenario?

Recover the plans, of course.

Cheers,

AoW

Multibasing - A quick tutorial

Multibasing 101 - A quick tutorial

Kings of War brings with it the possibility of multibasing your units. That means, in short, placing all the miniatures in the unit on a single base the size of the footprint of the unit. This is possible because units don't break down into smaller components during a game as casualties aren't removed and there is no Reform mechanic.

Basically multibasing is that simple. Take the models that the unit comprises of, glue them to one base and you're done.

There are, however, a few rules and points to take into consideration that I will deal with in this post, starting with things related to planning and continuing to execution.

1. MMC or PMC?

Multibased units don't have to include the exact number of models that is stated as the unit size, as the individual models don't have role as anything else than a part of the unit. This where the little diagram of Minimum Model Count and Preferred Model Count comes in (You can find it in the FAQ). Players going full model count are rare and most units tend to fill PMC instead.

Minimum Model Count means the absolute minimum of models you should put on the base to avoid confusion. Usually this is one model added to the model count of the next size down. Thus an infantry regiment's MMC would be 11 models, while it would be 21 models for a horde. Preferred Model Count, on the other hand, tends to be something along the lines of 16+ for an infantry regiment or 30+ for a horde.

When you're constructing your units you'll have to decide how many models you're going to fit on your bases. There is no rules-wise requirement for either in terms of game mechanics; in theory you could play with pieces of cardboard with labels on them. PMC tends to cost more as you need more of that precious plastic and it will take more time as well as you'll be painting more, while MMC sometimes leaves the base looking very, very thinly populated. This leads us to the next thing to consider:

2. Rule of Cool

Kings of War bends quite a bit when it comes to model selection for any given unit. Statlines can be explained by many combinations and thus there are multiple natural matches between miniature and unit entry. Some models are a lot larger than others, and thus there will be less of them on the base. One should be careful, however, not to allow artistic freedom to overcome clarity. Models should be appropriate and one should carefully weigh whether or not they are cutting back on models for economic rather than artistic reasons. These are of course my own thoughts and others may disagree.

I tend to favour a simple, hobby-friendly rule which goes as follows:

If it's cool, it's cool.

That goes to say if the unit looks cool, it's cool to field it, regardless of model count and other factors. One should, however, be careful not to mix Rule of Cool with Rule of Cheap, because while both are acceptable, they lead to pretty dingy looking armies if they're mixed up.

3. Think of the whole

If you go for a multibase, you should treat the unit as a whole that comprises of models on a base. This is a very different approach to individual basing, where the base is often just a backdrop for miniatures instead of constituting an important part of the miniature. When you're multibasing, however, your individual miniatures will be small compared to the base and typically will always be seen as part of the base. Thus, the base should be treated as something the miniature is a part of instead of being a stand to pose the miniature on.

What elements do you want on the base? How many miniatures will you use and how will the models be placed on the base? It's a whole different thing to make a flat, grassy field for a spear phalanx than to place models wading through a swamp, and that needs to be thought of beforehand. Especially height differences on the base, while super cool, are difficult to execute and need a lot of work to pull off.

Also take into consideration the amount of work you're willing to put into a multibase. If you're not careful, the base can take a whole lot of hours from hobby time you'd rather spend in another way. I'd suggest that if you don't want to spend a lot of time, then go simple. Trying flashy stuff in a hurry isn't really a formula for success.

4. Models as a part of a diorama

I think it's important to see the base as a distinctive place the models are located in and interact with. Your models will always be seen on that base and as such the base and the miniature must form a natural looking relationship.

Thus, when you're planning your bases, I think you should first look at the miniatures and see what kind of poses they naturally go into and form your plans for the base to accommodate those poses. If the models don't deal well with slopes, then use stairs or rocky, outcropping shelves to create height if you want it.

If the ground is swampy, the models should leave footprints and sink into the ground a bit. If there are barriers (like hedges) on the base, one shouldn't put models running into those just as one should avoid putting galloping horses with their tails touching a wall. These small things can turn otherwise sweet looking bases into slap-sticky comedy.

5. How I do it

I tend to finish the bases long before I finish the models that will be mounted on it. This is mainly because I usually assemble miniatures right before I start painting them and if I want my models to really interact with the bases, I need the base to be ready (to a point) before I can get to work on the models.

For an example of a relatively simple base I will use my Sisterhood Infantry that I did about a year ago. I started by making enough bases for a horde, since I knew that at some point I will paint them up to a horde (although I'm still at regiment painted). I went for two troops and a regiment on bases that will blend into each other when put together.

All my Sisterhood have a water element on their bases. I wanted to give the whole army's bases a cultivated look in the sense that the battle is being fought on the outskirts of a hamlet or a town. My Panther Lancers have irrigation channels and I decided to go for a little creek flowing through the town for my Infantry. Thus the bases have large paving stones with a channel flowing out of a sewer (the grates of which are on the bases of troops.

In order to make the whole deal work I had to construct the bases at the same time, even though I didn't have models for more than a regiment at this point.

After completing the troop bases I started to paint the models so that I could mount them on the base as soon as they were done to avoid storing them without a base while waiting for final basing. I painted the models in patches of three as I didn't have a whole lot of time to paint at one go and I wanted to feel like I'm getting something done. If I try to finish more than three models at a time, it always feels like things aren't going anywhere and I lose motivation. Thus I tend to paint in smaller batches. That's one point everyone has to find for themselves.

When multibasing I nowadays try my best to avoid overhang. This is because it's relatively easy to avoid when individual models aren't restricted by 20mm or 25mm squares, but can be placed freely within the 80mm by 40mm troop. Overhang tends to be very annoying when you're playing, and thus I spend some time planning my units in order to reduce overhang.

When making compound multibases that go together to form larger units one has to be particularly aware of overhang in multiple directions so that the units form up nicely. That's why the foremost troop in the image above is done front rank first and the rear troop has zero overhang to the front.

The flagstones are the plastic bases that come with Mantic models. They're really useful for creating steps and larger portions of worked stone on a base. For the water effect I used PVA that I let dry until it formed a thick film on top of it and then I drew stripes with a slightly sharpened stick to create a surface more akin flowing water. Then I painted it and finally added a glossy varnish on it. In the future I will look into using clear water effects, but for now my method works well enough.

The final part of the horde will be based on the bridge base, making a whole that breaks down into regiments and troops.

In short, my multibases are made in few steps:

1. Plan the base

2. Make the base

3. Paint the base

4. Paint miniatures

5. Glue miniatures

6. Tidy up

--

I'll make a few other tutorials on multibases for my Undead army, once I get the bases and the miniatures from the mail.

Feel free to comment and suggest other topics to cover!

Cheers,

AOW

Vanguard Campaign, Chapter I: An Ominous Landfall

The storm battered the ship, throwing it about like as if the heavy timbers were nought but sticks on the surf. The crack and boom of thunder had grown from an occasional flare into a near continuous roar and the flashing strikes illuminated the foaming seas in frozen images. Somewhere on the starboard side the lights of hamlets on the coast were winking in and out of view as the heaving waves surged and waned.

As far as seafaring races go, Salamanders were considered by many as equals of the elder race of Elves, while they themselves held a more professional view of ardent competitors, if not truly able to contest the fair folk's mastery of the seas. Captain Stha'k held herself in high esteem mostly based on the fact that the amount of people able to offer reasonable counsel in matters related to running a vessel on the Infant Sea had steadily grown increasingly meager. The storm itself posed little threat to either her reputation or ability to survive, but combined with the unfamiliar shores so close at hand the buffeting winds were enough cause to concern.

"Captain, we need to make landfall ere dawn. We can't dawdle here!"

The leader of the company that went for cargo on this journey lumbered up the steep steps of the aft deck. Stha'k disliked the commanding tone of the officer and turned to face the other lizard with a resigned sigh.

"I hear you, Battle-Captain, but with this storm bearing down on us, you might get a swifter landing than even your impatience calls for."
"Can you put us to shore here, or can't you? We can't be seen here come morning."
"Listen, I'm well aware of the situation and we'll..."

The captain's attempt to placate the Battle-Captain was cut short by a sickening lurch and a crackling groan of timbers smashed on stone. She was thrown off her feet and barely managed to grab a hold of a railing instead of being simply washed over it by the sudden rush of water over the deck.

"Reef! We've hit a reef!", the ship's mate's roar rang over the splintering noise.

--

The morning came as a pale gleaming of a watery sun reaching through an iron-grey cover of clouds. It lit the sad wreckage of the proud ship tumbled over across the sandy beach. A single bejeweled eye of the smashed apart figurehead stared up at the Battle-Captain from a pool of water left behind by the receding tide. He looked about and counted three others. More had escaped on the boats launched before the ship was beaten apart on the rocks, but now they were nowhere to be seen.

"What now, Battle-Captain?", a Prime growled as she stopped next to the officer. He shrugged and shook his tail to clear some clinging sand, then stood up straight and rolled his broad, scaled shoulders and answered:"Food, water. A defensible campsite."
"Yes, sir."

--

Today we managed to get our campaign off to a start of sorts. As we're all new to this, we've still got a lot to take in as we go from game to game. Thus our rosters weren't quite up to date and we're still kicking the whole thing into gear.

All together four games took place between the warbands that had managed to drag themselves up the beaches of Greensway Isle. First the Basileans skirmished with the Salamanders over some vital supplies they both need in order to replenish their empty stores.

Empty stomachs make little of political alliances.

Despite their valiant attempts to drive off the Salamanders from the caches of supplies they had spotted amidst a rocky highland, the Bluecoats (who, sharing the same fate of being marooned after the storm as their reptilian adversaries, still hadn't found Sergeant Tiberian or other members of their company) took a severe beating and were forced to withdraw into the coastal woodlands.

Meanwhile the Abyssals, whose attention had been drawn to Greensway as they sensed the tension of the coming power struggle, tore a rift into the fabric of reality as they attempted to send their infernal legions to wreck havoc on the Isles. Their plans went awry, however, as the gathering of arcane energies required to punch the portal through to Greensway attracted a host of Nightstalkers, whose numbers over-taxed the portal rift and scattered both forces all over Greensway Isles. A local Necromancer, much to his distress, found this out the hard way as he was replenishing the ranks of his undead minions at a farmstead that been mysteriously ransacked the previous night.

A bloody struggle ensued and in the end the Abyssals fled one way, while the nearly destroyed Necromancer fled the other. 

Later that day the scattered forces of all factions clashed with each other whenever they ran into bands of opposing warriors. Finally only the Salamanders were able to secure a proper foothold on the island.

--

We played two games each, so four games, all at 75pts to get new players started with the rules without overly many models on the field. Next round will be at around 125 points, so a little bit more blood to spill while the warbands each.

Next time I think I'll write a proper battle report.

Cheers,

AoW