Finally achieved a 16 year old goal.

Now that my Daemons have reached, and passed, the 3000 point mark in both Warhammer and 40k my purchases have tended towards the esoteric side rather than with the intention to expand the army further.
With my plastic fimir purchases last week along with a old, old style daemonettes for use as heralds ( not the sexy six boobed old daemonettes, but the previous generation of big clawed ugly daemonettes) i've developed a fondness for classic Citadel mini's from my early days in the hobby.
And this week i've achieved the goal of owning a mini i have wanted since my very earliest days playing Warhammer: an old style metal Bloodthirster.

Back when i first started the game, i used to play with the friend who got me interested in the hobby at lunchtimes at school. Back then i had no real clue of the rules, we mostly made things up as we went but it was some of the most entertaining gaming i've ever played. And Ewok if you somehow are reading this, thanks for getting me addicted to the plastic crack.

One of the elements i faced in these early days was a old metal Bloodthirster, predating the current model by many, many years. I always wanted one of my own, but by the time i had the cash available to buy one they were long since out of production and were soon to be replaced by the first incarnation of the current design - a kit i fully intend to buy as soon as it gets the finecast treatment and no longer requires an engineering degree to assemble but i digress.

So i pretty much abandoned hopes of owning one as i went about my various armies. 16 years later one popped up on Ebay for the bargain (well in my head anyway) price of £6.42. So i snapped it up and today it arrived in the post.

The old kit comes in just five pieces. At the time there were several different head options you could order with the model, i've managed to snag one that looks a lot like the Bloodletters of the day, which will make it fit in with the khornate models i have in my army.


Here is the brute assembled. While he lacks the dynamic poses of current minis i still love the model and i am thrilled to finally have it in my collection. I'll be cracking open the Mechadendrite Red tonight to get started on giving it a paint job.

Another new addition to my daemon collection, albeit one that i'm less enthused by for reasons i'll detail below is an old style metal pink horror.


Another nice old sculpt that i really like, so why the lack of enthusiasm you ask. Well i am pretty much certain that it's a counterfeit. Several areas of detail are lacking, and the large mold lines point to a less than profession casting process. This in its own could be attributed to its age but the model also completely lacks the standard copyright mark and date on its slotta tab and the metal just seems to be a much lower quality than was present at the time of its casting.

So this has left me in a quandry. It's possible the seller sold it unaware of its counterfeit nature, but given the amount of old style models they have available for auction i find this hard to believe. In which case should i let Ebay and Games Workshop know that these counterfeits are on sale? Really would value the input of the interwebs as to their opinion of what to do. In the meantime the model will remain unpainted and loose in its base while i decide what action i should take.


Rather than end this blog post on a low note, i'll post my latest acquisition for Warmachine, Narn from the Retribution of Scyrah range. I've been picking up the occasional Scyrah model here and there as a secondary force to give me a change from my Menoth. I'm really not fond of the Scyrah 'jacks so it'll be an infantry based army, which contrasts with my 'jack heavy Menoth.

And speaking of Warmachine i finally got my first game in at a gaming store in St. Helens called Scotrocks. Predictably i got my ass handed to me, but i did achieve my standard moral victory of killing at least one model, in this instance a Khador Widowmaker.

I sorely underestimated just how brutal Khador 'jacks can be and i need to get used to the more micromanagement based gameplay of Warmachine rather than the more macro based WFB and 40k.

But despite my Menoths pummeling i'm looking forward to a rematch next week and this time i'm killing at least two Khadorite scumbags and scratching the paint of a 'jack or two or i'll be eating my steampunk hat!

Duuh Duuh duh-duh-duh

Time to purge the Heretics! For Menoth!

Flee puny Morrowan! I am Supreme! I am Iron Man!

*cough*

oh.

For the Emprah!

And now for something completely different Part 3: Completely Different with a Vengeance.

And look what's come in the post courtesy of Maelstrom Games. I hadn't expected it to arrive yet as i chose the free delivery but here it is less than a week later (thats how you do it Wayland). I've settled upon Menoth as my first focused attempt at a Warmachine army, although Cygnar and Scyrah will probably be added to here and there solely because i like their mini's too.
I must have been heavily influenced in my formative years by 40k, as i've gone for a force of religious fanatics once more to sit side by side with my various armies. You get a Revenger, a Repenter, a Crusader and Grand Exemplar Kreoss in the box, all in plastic.
Everything comes in its own little bag, with a set of quickstart rules (fortunate for me as my Prime MkII rulebook still hasn't arrived)

Along with a card for each of the units contained within, again useful for me as the metal Revenger i bought from Ebay came with a MkI card.
Also Warmachine wise i have finished converting the plastic charger into a more dynamic pose.
The nature of the kit made this extremely simple. The hammer arm came in two pieces so it was solely a case of assembling it outstretched rather than bent.
And then it was simply a case of glueing the gun arm further forward and cutting the tab off the left leg and glueing it on angled backwards, to get a running pose. I'm quite happy with my charging Charger and it certainly looks a bit more dynamic than the average 'Jack i've seen.

So next on the list is waiting for my rulebook to arrive, a box of Menoth Flameguard to come in the post and to decide on a colour scheme for my menoth.
I've been scouring the web looking for inspiration but nothings grabbed me so far. At the moment i'm considering having a go at NMM again, with white as primary colour and NMM Gold as the secondary colour. But i'd also like to take advantage of the large open spaces on the 'jacks and try a bit of freehand.
I'll get some pictures up once i've made up my mind (this could take some time as anyone who knows me wil attest)

And Now For Something Completely Different Part 2: Completely Different Harder

As mentioned before, i've recently begun to delve into the products of Privateer Press. Not out of any dislike of Games Workshop, whom i will keep buying from until they either collapse or the stars go out, but more because after 16 years of exclusivity i feel the need to stretch my hobby wings.
Now the only thing i've not really liked about Warmachine is the warjacks as i've also said before, with Cygnar being about the only ones i had any real like of. This annoyingly contrasts with the army i prefer from its fluff- Menoth. So i think i'll be making some Menothian purchases in the not too distant future and figure out a way of making their 'Jacks more appealing (see i'm already picking up the lingo). In the meantime a plastic light 'jack arrived, of the Cygnar charger variety.
Opening it up the pieces come in a little plastic bag, off any sprues:
Naturally this saves time in preparation, but from some of the marks on the model i think i could have done a better job getting it off the sprue, some filing will be necessary.

A nice touch though is how each part can actually interlock with specifically shaped holes. While it's not that useful to those of us who have been assembling plastic kits since we could walk, for newcomers such touches are very helpful indeed and should avoid some of the mistakes i've seen from new modellers in the past.
I've bluetacked it together to give an idea of its bog standard pose. Which brings me to the other thing i dislike about the 'jacks, they are just so static. After working with GW stuff it's a bit unappealing. So i'll be taking the knife to it to try to get some movement out of the model and make it a tad more dynamic. I expect to do the same with future non-metal 'jacks.

Overall a nice little kit. The plastic seems a tad more brittle than GW stuff, i'll see when the converting starts just how much of a difference this makes. Certainly impressive for a company that has worked almost exclusively in metal for the better part of 10 years.

So i've got this and Dreadstone Blight to work on, let the paintfest commence!

And now for something completely different...

As i've mentioned half a dozen times already, i went to TheWargameStore.com 's retail store and picked up a few bits, amongst which was a Retribution of Scyrah mini to add to my teeny tiny existing collection of Warmachine mini's.
I've had my eyes on Warmachine for a while, the main thing deterring me was the fact i had no-one to play against and nowhere to play it. Both of which you will agree are fairly major drawbacks when considering a new wargame.
But i really do like their models (apart, annoyingly, from the Warjacks) so in the end i gave in an bought the rulebook, a few more Cygnar mini's and a selection of Menoth guys. I'm undecided which faction i will eventually focus on so i've been buying a few from each to get a feel for the paint jobs and mini style.
Cygnar has the only Warjacks that i don't think look like arse, while Scyrah has some fantastic character sculpts and i really like the bulky armour style crossed with the traditional slender elf look. When the Menoth bits arrive i'll have a good look at them too.
In the meantime i'm headed back to The Wargame Store on July 9th as they've got a Pressganger coming in so i'll be trying out Warmachine for the first time hopefully. After that i need to find someone to actually play against, so if any Merseysidites are reading this and interested, drop me an email.

Also today i've painted up one of the black cat bases. I'm still undecided which of my 40k armies will be mounted on these. At the moment my Blingwing are in the lead, mainly because i am considering selling my Grey Knights again and the dark scheme of the base wouldn't really contrast with my Dark Angels.

Anyhow thats it for now, hopefully i should get some nice big packages of hobby goodness in the mail tomorrow.