Sunday 31 December 2017

Power Armoured Paint: Carcharodon Astra First Wave

Happy New Year Venturers! Whilst a lot of blogs are writing retrospectives for the outgoing year I am firmly focused on the months ahead, and the project firmly lodged in my brain is the Carcharadon Astra!

I've found some time between the various festivities and family activities to build the first group of models for the Space Sharks. Whilst I'm still firmly in the "build" stage of the project, I thought it would be fun to share some work in progress pictures.

As a reminder, this is the sort of paint scheme I'm aiming for:


Tuesday 26 December 2017

Power Armoured Paint: Carcharodon Astra 3D Printed Shoulder Pads

Welcome back to the Vault Commanders.  This time I've got something very cool to share, as I've taken my first leap into the world of 3D printing! No, I haven't gone completely mad and bought a 3D printer (one day that might change); I've ordered some some Shark icons and shoulder pads from the Pop Goes The Monkey store on Shapeways for my Charcarodons Astra.  They arrived recently and I've already started playing with them.

First up are the Mako Shark icons:

That's a lot of sharks!

Wednesday 20 December 2017

Powered Armoured Paint: The Lazy Persons Guide to painting Scenic Bases

It's holiday time, and for Varchilde that means more hobby time, and of course that means some more posts. So as all my readers have been good little Venturers this year, you get words and pictures and not coal!

I've started work on my Carcharodons Astra Space Marine project in earnest. As I've mentioned in previous posts I want to build and paint an army that is both fluffy and effective on the table top. According to the Forge World Imperial Armour books, part of the Space Sharks strategy in the Badab Wars was to sabotage the huge power generators which provided the energy for Badab Prime's planetary defence systems, thus rendering the planet helpless.  I've decided to theme my army around one of the strike forces sent to infiltrate and destroy the generators.

Rather than the usual texture paint and dry brush approach for basing (as used on my Imperial Guard and Dark Eldar), I've had my eye on the GW Sector Mechanicus scenic bases. These have a loads of lovely detail, but I could see them being a pain to paint with models attached; so I've painted the bases first!

60mm base: perfect for Dreadnoughts

Sunday 17 December 2017

Multiverse Musings: Harps Corp Dice Tray Review

Welcome back to the Vault dear Venturers! This is a brief update to pimp a review article I've written for TSR Games' Multiverse site.

I acquired a lovely hard wood dice tray at MCM Comic Con, courtesy of the talented folks at Harps Corp, and felt the need to tell everyone how impressed I am with it.

Roll more 6s dammit!

Having used it during a few games of 40K, the only disappointment is that it hasn't magically improved either my luck, or tactical acumen.

If you are intrigued, feel free to check out the full review here!

Saturday 9 December 2017

Narrative 40K: Retrieve the Fallen Brother

Thank you for venturing into the Vault once again. This time we'll be talking Warhammer 40,000 Narrative Play. My normal games of 40K tend to revolve around Matched Play, equal pointed armies, tournament missions and so on. Narrative Play offers something a little different; as the name suggests a game tends to be based around a story or theme with appropriately selected forces.

Kanan and I have a long standing engagement for a Narrative game; and I thought it would be fun to write a scenario specifically for this. So here for your enjoyment is "Retrieve the Fallen Brother".

Brothers of the Deathwatch

Friday 1 December 2017

Power Armoured Painting: The Badab War Blues

Another week, another post! Last time, I discussed the dilemma that many war gamers face when choosing their army; balancing something that looks cool that also does well on the table top.  I've spent a good couple of weeks discussing possible army choices for next year's Mayhem tournament, and I've settled on Space Marines.

A lot of my regular opponents will be rolling their eyes as I am something of a Power Armour Junkie, already owning an unpainted Death Watch army, a painted Grey Knights army (that I'm very proud of), and a good old fashioned Space Marine army.

My Space Marines (the Light Bringers Chapter)  were in fact my first ever 40K army, and have graced the table top many many times (including a fair few tournaments).  I don't think I've shared any pictures of them on the Vault though. Let's correct that:

Properly blinged up Stern Guard

Sunday 26 November 2017

Target Prioritisation: Balancing effectiveness and fluffiness

Time to venture into the Vault once again! As the year draws to a close, I'm starting to think about that glorious Christmas holiday break and the opportunity to indulge in some serious hobby time. I've decided that I'm going to start a new army from scratch for next year's Mayhem tournament rather than just adding a unit or two to an existing force, and the holiday will be a great time to get cracking on modelling and painting.

Choosing an army to build, paint and play is one of the high points of the hobby for me (and probably explains why I butterfly between projects so often!), and I am always torn between effectiveness (how well an army competes on the table top), and fluffiness/attractiveness (how true to the background / how good does the army look on the table top).

Lets explore this a little bit further through the Space Marines of the Death Watch.

The Emperor's Elite Xeno Hunters

Sunday 19 November 2017

Constipated Cow; fantastic feral family fun!

Something very different this time dear readers.

MJ Games are currently running a Kickstarter campaign for a new card game entitled "Constipated Cow; The Game", and the guys have very kindly sent me a review copy to play around with. Let's see what this is all about!

Yep, this looks pretty silly!

Saturday 11 November 2017

Regimental Reporting: Something for the Tread Heads

Welcome back to the Regimental Mess my fellow Officers! In previous posts we have examined the Orders available to the various Infantry Officers, and today it's the turn of the not so humble Tank Commander.

That's right; that rumbling in the distance is the grinding advance of the fearsome Leman Russ Battle Tanks! The Russ is one of the most iconic units in the Imperial Guard army; they are effective in 8th edition, and the Tank Orders can make them even better.


Open fire on my mark! 

Sunday 5 November 2017

Regimental Reporting: Stormy times ahead

Welcome back Commanders! Time for another post in the Regimental Reporting series; last time we looked at the new Imperial Guard Orders and how they affect the humble Cadian guardsman (I've made a few updates to that post, so it might be worth you having a quick catch up), and today we'll discuss the Orders available to the Militarum Tempestus.

The soldiers of Militarum Tempestus go by many names; Scions, Karskin, Storm Troopers & (perhaps a name unfairly given) Glory Hounds. Certainly compared to the regular infantry man, a Storm Trooper is extremely well trained and well equipped!

Nothing humble about these gents! 

Sunday 29 October 2017

Regimental Reporting: Order! Order!

Welcome back to the Regimental Mess my fellow Officers. Following on from last week's inaugural 8th edition action for the Imperial Guard I've been pondering some of the toys the new Codex offers the wily general, and I've decided to focus first of all on a Commander's best friend, Orders!

It is a documented fact that the best troop in the entire universe is the Mighty Imperial Guardsman, and Orders just make them even mightier!*

*Evidence on available from your local Ministorum Propogandum liaison officer. 

Infantry advance!

Sunday 22 October 2017

Regimental Reporting: Staysback strikes back!

Welcome back to the Vault brave Venturers. This post comes at the end of the regular monthly gaming weekend; board games on the Saturday evening, followed by a game of 40K on the Sunday.

The board games evening was taken up with a play test of Salt Lands (more of that to come in a future post), whilst I took the opportunity to take the mighty Imperial Guard to the battle field for the first time in 8th edition, led by the brave, charming and incredibly ruthless* Colonel Staysback.

(*some of these descriptions may not necessarily be true; the Colonel values shiny medals and saving his own skin above all else).

The Imperial Guard needs you!

Sunday 15 October 2017

Power from Paint: Octoberfest Report

The Cult of the Sand Viper went to war, and did not fare the better for it! The meagre tally of slaves taken in battle has displeased the Archon, but the Dark Eldar are now much wiser to the modern ways of waging war and will be better prepared for next time!

Welcome back to the Vault; its time for the post Octoberfest pictures and thoughts.

The Archon's two aims: Look good, not get killed and give away "Slay the Warlord"

Thursday 12 October 2017

Power from Paint: Ready to Raid

Welcome once again my fellow Archons. Today is a bonus mid-week post, as I've finished the painting on the last model for my Dark Eldar raiding party for Saturday's Octoberfest.

It's the obligatory finished army picture post (and some tournament ramblings of course)!

Ready to Rumble!

Sunday 8 October 2017

Power from Paint: Octoberfest Approaches!

Welcome back to the Vault my fellow Archons. This week the Cult of the Sand Viper is receiving  reinforcements straight from the Paint Shop in the form of a Ravager armed with the fearsome Disintegration Cannons.

And just in time because in less than a week the Cult go to war at First Founding's Octoberfest Tournament!

Ravages #3: The Cure

Saturday 30 September 2017

For Fraser

I heard earlier this week about the untimely death of a friend and long term fellow D&D player. He always bought a laugh to our table, and I wanted to share a story from our gaming table. This particular tale comes waaaay back from our D&D campaign at the Bun Shop club.

I hope you enjoy the post and excuse the cliches (I'm not a fiction writer!)

-X-

Welcome to my hearth side old friend. Draw yourself an ale, sit yourself down, make yourself comfortable. We should talk of older times; days of our youth, and of fantastic things we have done and seen. After all, now we have spent all the gold and age has spent the strength from our sword arms, these memories are all we have of that summer.

There are so many tales we could share; of the flame-obsessed halfling thief, or the warrior who fell asleep up a tree and fell to his death. Perhaps the story of the fighter who drowned from a potion or the ranger so ashamed of his behaviour in a tavern he renounced the world and took monastic orders.

These are all good stories (and all true, I swear!) but this evening I want to share my recollections of the Dwarf who was and was not Cursed.

Sunday 24 September 2017

40K: First thoughts on Kill Team for the New Edition

I'm struggling for introductions to my articles. Hello Readers doesn't sound right; something more alliterative would be appropriate. Vaulters sounds like you should be practicing gymnastics or jumping around with a long pole, but you could venture into a vault. So Venturers it is!

Welcome back faithful Venturers! I wrote an article recently about my first game of Shadow War Armageddon and compared it to the Kill Team of previous editions.  I've actually been thinking about how to modify Kill Team for 8th edition and I decided to capture my notes in this article as a draft for discussion.

Tyranid Warriors stalk the ruined Imperial City

Sunday 17 September 2017

New to the Review Crew!

Greetings once again dear readers! Today's post is short but exciting all the same! Long term readers of my ramblings may recall I've written a handful of articles for Multiverse. Multiverse is a great site to visit, covering books, comics and of course games.

I think Multiverse Team must have liked my articles as they have asked me to join their review team. Could I say no? Of course not!

Dragon. Gets the point across I feel. 

Sunday 10 September 2017

Skirmishes in the Shadow War

Welcome back to the Vault once again!  The wonderful hobby butterfly has well and truly struck home this week with a visit to the war torn planet of Armageddon and a game set in the heart of the Shadow War.  Whilst we are in transit to planet side, we'll take a little detour to consider *how* we choose the miniatures we decide to play on the tabletop.

Meltdown

Sunday 3 September 2017

Frostgrave: The Rune Stone Race

Hello again from the Vault, and thanks for stopping by to read my latest hobby scribblings! Some time ago I ran a Frostgrave demo session at my local club (First Founding in Chessington, SW London), and the idea of running a Frostgrave campaign has resurfaced on the club Facebook group.

We've had a number of successful campaigns recently (Dropzone Commander, Blood Bowl), and an Infinity campaign is about to kick off so I offered to knock up some rules for the Frostgrave fun and games.

First Founding; the regular venue for a Friday night fire fight!

Sunday 27 August 2017

Graveyard Scatter Terrain

Welcome back to the Vault! My summer holiday has given me the luxury of extra hobby and gaming time and I've spent some of it working on a little modelling and painting project I'd like to share. 

Earlier in the year I had indulged my terrain addiction with the acquisition of the Garden of Morr kit from Games Workshop; this is a lovely gothic graveyard set, but once I had built it I felt the set would benefit from the addition of some scatter pieces to bulk it out. Blotz produce packs of laser cut MDF gravestones, so I thought I'd give these a go!

The finished article

Sunday 20 August 2017

Power from Paint: Detached from reality

It has been a while since we last descended into the Web Ways, but I think it is high time we visit once again. I've been in something of a hobby limbo over the last few weeks, building some more of the kits from the Never Ending Pile of Plastic Crack, but not really feeling motivated to actually pick up a paint brush.

But that is all about to change as the First Founding Club have just published the rules pack for Octoberfest (our club tournament - 14th October, Chessington, SW London)!  There's a sort of hobby life cycle I go through every time the club puts on a new event:

  • Step 1: Fantasize about starting a completely new army (one day Stealer Shock, one day)
  • Step 2: Realise I have plenty of armies already
  • Step 3: Pick a force, pick a couple of new units
  • Step 4: Buy them, build them, (may be) paint them
  • Step 5: Change my mind about something
  • Step 6: Repeat Step 4 in part or full 

Hellions; trying so hard to be good on the tabletop!

Sunday 6 August 2017

Power from Paint: Wracking my brains

Once more we stride into the Web Way brave readers! Following on from our last visit to Commorragh where we discussed the value of Command Points and how these can be gained from the Battalion detachment, this time I'd like to spend some time musing about those compulsory Troop choices we need to take!

Guess which trooper is new to my collection?

Sunday 30 July 2017

Fifty Word Fiction: The Sapphire Sword

Welcome back to the Vault dear readers, and a happy (belated) International Gary Gygax Day to the role players among you.  The day in question was the 27th July, but I figured you wouldn't complain about a late breaking D&D article.

So today I've got another installment of Fifty Word Fiction, focused on defining a NPC's background using a simple questionnaire. However this NPC is a little different; it's a magical blade found within The Gift (my homebrew campaign setting) called The Sapphire Sword.

The Sapphire Sword.

Sunday 23 July 2017

Power from Paint: The Point of Command

Is it time to raid once again my fellow Archons? I feel it must be so! I have had a game scheduled against Paul's Sisters of Battle and have been thinking about how to change my army list since last month's multi player game. In particular I've been wanting to move my force from a Patrol Detachment to a Battalion. And that means an extra compulsory HQ choice to go along side my Archon and 3 Troop choices.

Must be 40K: Skulls.

Sunday 16 July 2017

Power from Paint: A Murder of Crows

Welcome back to the Vault once again. With Critical Engagement now a week behind me, my hobby focus has turned back again to 40K, 8th edition and my lovely lovely Dark Eldar.  The new edition has of course brought about some changes to the pecking order of the usefulness of different units and that's an excuse to build some new kits!

My local games store (Warhammer Kingston) is participating in the summer global campaign entitled "The Fate of Konor", and I've signed up to take part, hoping to get a few games in and as a focus for the next push on modelling and painting.

The Konor System; rated 5 Stars on RaidAdviser

Sunday 9 July 2017

Dropzone Commander: From Boot Camp to the Front Line: Critical Engagement 17

Hello Commanders!

I am writing this entry fresh on heels of attending my first Dropzone Commander event; the Critical Engagement 17 tournament run at First Founding Club. I'm a relative novice at Dropzone, and well out of practice. In fact until Friday evening I hadn't even played a game this year. I'm sure there will be other blogs doing a blow by blow of the day (see the side bar for the likely suspects) so I've decided to scribble some thoughts about attending a tournament for the first time, in case any of you are considering doing so in future. It's all good advice for any game system.

So first up a lack of practice:  MegaMike from the Orbital Bombardment crowd offered to give me a refresher game and my UCM took on the gribbly alien Scourge. Despite the unfortunate scene below, the UCM prevailed and I squeaked out a win.

Apparently Alien Space Crabs will eat anything!
Mike gave a great piece of advice which was to stand me in good stead for the competition itself: "Play the Mission".


Sunday 2 July 2017

Dropzone Commander: Phoenix Down

Hello readers, and welcome once again for another thrilling installment of Varchilde paints bright yellow tanks. This weekend has been the last chance to get paint on my UCM models before Critical Engagement 17 next Saturday, and I've finished the big boys this weekend, the Ferrum and the Phoenix.

Insert obligatory related image here ^^

Sunday 25 June 2017

Power from Paint: New Hammer Boot Camp

Welcome back to the Vault my fellow Archons. This weekend has seen the UCM put to one side as the gang got together for our inaugural game of 8th edition. The Cult of the Sand Viper (my Dark Eldar forces) faced off in battle against Duncan's Space Wolves, and Paul's lovely new Sisters of Battle force.

We were a man down on our usual gang of four, so decided to try out a 3 way game so we could learn the rules as a group, and luckily the new 40K rule book has a really rather good set of multi player rules and mission.

Typical Dark Eldar cowardy custard deployment

Sunday 18 June 2017

Dropzone Commander: Here come the little guys!

Hello once again readers! A short but hopefully enjoyable post for you today as I've continued to paint some more of my UCM models in preparation for Critical Engagement 17. This time I've completed my Wolverine As.

Wrong Universe. Right Colours.

Sunday 11 June 2017

Dropzone Commander: Don't forget your shades!

Welcome back to the Vault faithful readers; this time I advise wearing shades as the paint scheme I'll be showing off is a tad bright!

Whilst I am *very* excited for the upcoming 40K 8th edition, I've actually got another project on the go. I've signed up for the First Founding's upcoming "Critical Engagement" Dropzone Commander tournament, and that means I'll need some painted models! So one new army, one month, no problem!!!

United Colours of Minion!

Saturday 3 June 2017

Why we need to get more kids into gaming!

Hello once again my faithful Vault Visitors; this time I'd like to share some thoughts about getting kids into playing games; why it is good for them and good for you!



Sunday 28 May 2017

The Lazy Person's Guide to Painting Imperial Guard Vehicles

Welcome to the Vault once again faithful readers. Today's article complements one of my earliest entries on the blog, the painting guide for Imperial Guard infantry. A bank holiday weekend has given me the perfect opportunity to indulge in some hobby time, and with 40K army building on hiatus until 8th edition drops I decided to dig into one of my older projects (of which I have many*)...

*see the end of the article for more on this...

...the iconic Imperial Guard vehicles. Sentinels and Leman Russes to be specific.

Fire on my target!!!

Sunday 21 May 2017

Target Prioritisation: Looking beyond the New Hammer 40K Rules

Welcome back to the Vault faithful readers. Something a little more philosophical for this post, but fear not I'll throw in a few pictures as a bonus, as the hobby and gaming fun continues.

If you are involved in the wargaming hobby you will no doubt be aware of the upcoming new 8th edition of Warhammer 40,000 and of the social media campaign that the Games Workshop staff have been running.  This has had a hugely positive response from the 40K online community, and is I hope a good sign for the rule set itself. Because the ramifications of these rules go well beyond what model moves when and what the 6 on the dice means.

Stay on Target

Friday 12 May 2017

Power from Paint: Mayhem Managed!

Hello again my fellow Archons. The Cult of the Sand Viper return to Comorragh from the First Founding battle fields. And how did we fare? Well read on...

And yes, usual warning; pic heavy, slightly lighter on words!



Friday 5 May 2017

Power from Paint: Dark Eldar Mayhem

So Mayhem is nearly upon us so its time to unveil my army list with associated pictures and fluff. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be giving any of my opponents too much of an advantage with an early reveal and if you've had the patience to read through my earlier Power from Paint articles I think you are due a look at the final goods! Warning this post is very image and word heavy.

Cult of the Sand Viper ready to raid

Sunday 30 April 2017

Power from Paint: A guide to painting Dark Eldar Vehicles

Welcome back to the Webway! One of the first articles I wrote for the Vault was a painting guide for Imperial Guard (mainly so I would have a handy reference for the next time I decide to paint some reinforcements), and I thought it would be useful to have a similar set of notes for my Dark Eldar vehicles.

I remembered to take a few work in progress shots of one my Venoms so I can illustrate the notes.

Time to bust out the paints!

Sunday 23 April 2017

Power from Paint: Ravagers

Greetings once again my fellow Archons. Work continues in the forges as the Cult of the Sand Viper prepare for Mayhem, and my attention has turned towards the vehicle pool. Dark Eldar have a number of iconic vehicles including the Raider and Venom transports and the subject of today's article, the fearsome Ravager!

Pew Pew

Saturday 15 April 2017

BatRep: Grey Knights vs Dark Angels

Welcome back to the Vault. Today's article is a brief write up of a recent 40K game I played at my local club the First Founding.

My opponent for the evening was Kanan, who as usual would be bringing his Dark Angels, and taking the pretty pictures included in the blog. We play 40K fairly regularly and these games are never serious and always a lot of fun. Be warned this article is pic heavy and detail light; I didn't take notes and as my memory is rubbish I'm sure to have forgotten things and got things wrong.

We agreed on 1850 points, which is a rare treat as I have been playing a lot of Kill Team (200 points), and 1000 point games recently. So this was an opportunity to bust out my favourite army; the might sons of Titan, the Grey Knights!

Librarian and Terminator Bodyguards

Sunday 9 April 2017

Frostgrave Demo at First Founding Games Club

Hello once again, and welcome to the follow up to the "Terrain Junkie" article.

I'm a member of the First Founding Games Club based in Chessington, SW London, which has a thriving membership and sees a lot of different games being played on a regular basis. A lot of members are keen to try out different systems and I was recently asked to run a Frostgrave demo event which I was more than happy to support.

First Founding

Sunday 2 April 2017

I think I might be a terrain junkie


Hi and thanks for dropping by the Vault once again. I've been in hobby butterfly mode recently; whilst I should be cracking on and painting more Dark Eldar for Mayhem I rather rashly agreed to run a Frostgrave intro game or two at the club in the near future. So my hobby time has been split between building warbands from my Fantasy model collection, and sorting some terrain out.

And that's the focus of this post; the joy of collecting and putting together a good looking set of terrain on a gaming table. I'll share a few pictures and some ideas on where to pick stuff up.

Skull Mountain; courtesy of the local Aquarium shop

Sunday 26 March 2017

Power from Paint: Dark Eldar in action

Welcome back to my little piece of Commorragh once more.

Another picture laden post; this time reporting from a multi player Kill Team game held at the First Founding Games Club on a recent Friday night.  The scenario rules precluded the Reaver Jet Bikes from being used, so it was time to see what other forces I could muster. I decided on a mix of Kabalite warriors and the oh so pretty Hellions.

Green Goblin Groupies. Except they aren't Green. Or Goblins.

Sunday 19 March 2017

Power from Paint: Reavers ready to raid!

Hello again my fellow Archons. First up a warning; this post is pretty picture heavy.

I have had a big push over the last couple of weekends and got the Reavers up to table top standard! I'm pretty pleased with how they are looking. Whilst there are more details I could add, and I'm not particularly happy about how the heat lances are sitting with their magnets I feel it is time to draw a line and move onto the next set of units for the Mayhem tournament.

That's a lesson hard learnt from painting for other events; don't over do a few models and then fail to get the whole project complete in time. Get everything to a consistent standard and then go back and "improve" models if you have the time to spare.

So enough words for a while; picture time!

Splinter Pod Reavers

Friday 17 March 2017

Fifty Word Fiction: An exercise in character background generation

In between the excitement of new artwork and painting spiky jet bikes I am continuing with my daily writing challenge also known as Fifty Word Fiction.  I've written a couple of one off pieces I might throw into an article at some point in the future, but the current focus has been writing a character background.

I love it when players put some thought into their characters beyond "I put the highest stat roll into Strength and take Weapon Focus in Great Sword", and this is one tried and trusted way to do just that; develop a back story by answering a questionnaire.

Let's give it a go.

This is a sword, not a character concept

Thursday 9 March 2017

The Gift: The Keep on the Borderland Revisited

I'm very excited about this post!

I've been "collaborating" on a little project with a very, very talented artist friend of mine, Scott from DarkFantasyPainting. By collaborating I mean "I point excitedly at one of my favourite Old School D&D Pictures and say can you do something like that?" and then Scott works his magic.

The Keep on the Borderlands

Sunday 5 March 2017

Power from Paint: Seeing Red

Greetings Hobby Fans! Time for another thrilling installment in the Power from Paint series where I slooowly work my through some Dark Eldar Reinforcements.

I had grand plans for this article to show off some pictures from the Kill Team event I ran at our club's open gaming day this weekend, but all my snaps were rubbish! Everything I took was essentially in shadow which is fine if you are an actual Dark Eldar but a bit of let down if you want to see anything.

So lets talk hobby instead. I realised this evening that I don't think I'd shown any of my painted Dark Eldar for reference. Let's correct that:

Haemonculus; this guy was my Warlord for a long time!

Thursday 2 March 2017

Fifty Word Fiction: The Burnt Skull

Welcome wonderful reader to the next installment of Fifty Word Fiction. Again we visit The Gift, but today we learn about some ne'er do wells who seek nothing but ill will upon the settlers of the Borderlands.

The Ashen Folk
The Ashen Folk are a relatively small cult within the larger organisations of the worshippers of Elemental Evil. The Ashen Folk don’t devote themselves to following a single Element but instead have a pantheonistic approach, blending rituals and beliefs from each of the four powers.

The membership of the Ashen Folk is similarly not drawn from one racial group; their numbers contain cultists from all sorts of racial stocks; goblinoids, orcs, giants, evil humans and demi humans as well as more unusual creatures. 

The Ashen Folk pride themselves as warriors, assassins and thieves. Ostracised by many of the mainstream Elemental Evil devotees, the Ashen Folk are self-sufficient but will work for other groups for wealth and power.

When at war cultists daub their faces with grey ash before battle. All cultists are marked with a brand or tattoo somewhere on their body so as be recognisable to fellow Ashen Folk.

Detailed below is a small war band of the Ashen Folk known as the Burnt Skull, sent to spy upon the residents and locals of The Gift.

The Burning Skull

Sunday 26 February 2017

Power from Paint: Death Magnetic

The latest in the Power from Paint series of articles. This is coming on the end of a busy week of hobby and gaming so will be short on words, and long on pictures (hurray I hear you cry!).

Once a month I hold a gaming weekend, usually D&D on Saturday evenings followed by 40K on the Sunday. And today's 40K was all about Kill Team as we have the club Kill Team day next week.

So it's been a rush to get the Reaver Jet Bikes in some semblance of order for match day. Warning, it gets pic heavy after the break.

More colour than I managed on the Reavers :(

Thursday 23 February 2017

Fifty Word Fiction: Patrolling from the Keep on the Borderland.

The Keep on the Borderlands regularly sends out patrols through the Gift and into The Dead Lands. A typical patrol is comprised of seven members; a patrol officer, his sergeant, a tracker and 4 troopers.

This week’s Fifty Word Fiction describes the members of one of these patrols; the Black Hawks.


The Black Hawk Colours

Sunday 19 February 2017

Frostgrave; the review

One of my favourite games systems at the moment is Frostgrave; Fantasy Wargaming in the Frozen City. This is a skirmish miniatures game set in the icy climes of a wintry ancient city where players control war bands competing against each other for lost treasures.

And meet friendly locals like this guy:

Wormy says hi!

Thursday 16 February 2017

Power from Paint: Reaver Jetbikes

Greeting once again my fellow Archons. Time to share the fruits of another Dark Eldar hobby session in the second of the Power from Paint series of articles.

My attention continues to be focused upon Reaver Jetbikes and I've taken the flock up to an impressive 12 models!

A dozen spiky bikes!