Back with a bang, and a big one! The DRAG5 Great Imperial Dragon.

OK, here's a big one as my first return to blogging after about 18 months or so!

As I'm sure you're all aware, it's the Citadel DRAG5 Great Imperial Dragon, also known as Mordax, a Chaos cursed dragon that can never die, and also the mother of Kegox, the Chaos Dragon. 

Lots more photos after the cut:

*Taps Microphone* Is anybody still here?

 Ok, I'll be honest, I've neglected this blog for the shiny lights of Facebook groups and Instagram for a while now, but I've come to the conclusion that it's all so transient and impermanent, so I'm thinking about getting back on here and posting a bit more often. 

That does, however, beg the question, is anyone still on here? I can post all I like, but if no one actually sees it, I may as well just print out a scrapbook and read it at home! 

So, what have I been up to? I've been learning 3d sculpting, printing big things and doing more Altheim buildings mostly, with some ww2 and Trench Crusade in there as well, with a few commissions along the way. I've actually been pretty productive in the last year or so, So here's a few bits I've got done recently: 

More after the cut....

The D'Oberoc Company, a Nordland Mercenary warband.

So, it's been a bit of a dry spell on the painting front, as summer tends to get in the way of sitting inside all day and painting, but I've finally finished a small(ish) warband project I've been working on occasionally for a while now.

This time it's another project tangentially related to my Altheim project. Altheim is based in Nordland, and so these guys are a small mercenary warband based in Nordland, the D'oberoc Company

The D'Oberocs mustering their company on the main Altheim square

More photos after the cut...

Citadel DS9 Dwarf Dragon Slayer

 Long time no see, all! Sorry about the lack of updates, but I've not done much recently due to real life rearing it's ugly head and getting in the way. 

Anyway, I'm back now, and here's another little vignette piece I've done recently. This time it's the best of both worlds, a Perry dwarf with a Nick Bibby dragon head! 

This is a wonderful little set and so much fun to paint. There's a bunch more photos after the cut...

MB07 Marauder Giant finished!

 So, one of my favourite models of all time is the Marauder MB07 Giant, and I've finally been able to paint one. It's a commission job, as he's too expensive these days for me to warrant buying, but still, it was a lovely model to paint, proper bucket list stuff: 

Shorty the Halfsknechte thinks he might not quite be up to the job he was hired for...

More photos (and a video!) after the break: 

Altheim Part 10: Reinhald the Swordsmith's Forge

 Time to head back to Altheim and introduce another building and it's owner. This time it's Altheim's Premier Forge, and Reinhald Strohmann, Master Swordsmith. Oh, and his hapless apprentice, Matthias...

Reinhald and Matthias about to start a hard day's work. 

More photos and info after the cut...

Araby project: The Army of the Great Sultan (so far!)

 As well as the Mad Mullah's Death Commandos and the siege cannon, I've been working on a few other units for my Araby army project, so I thought I'd post a bit of an update if you're interested. 

Here's what I've got done so far:

More photos after the cut: 

RR6 - Mad Mullah Acklan'd's Death Commandos

  Time for another rare (for me!) jaunt into preslotta-land, this time it's one of the early Regiments of Renown, Mad Mullah Acklan'd's Death Commandos:

As one of the very few Arabyan units ever released by Citadel, I thought I had to have a regiment of them in my Araby army, and luckily 19 of them turned up on eBay recently that I got for a very reasonable price. 

Anyway, more photos and background after the cut...

The Will of the Sultan, an Araby Siege Cannon

If you follow my blog, you'll know I'm currently working on an Araby Army list for 3rd Edition WFB. I'm working from a mixture of the Warmaster Araby army list, and Mathias Eliasson's excellent fan-made Araby army book for 8th Edition (Which is available *here*, it's well worth a read!) Although I'm deviating from both lists a bit to make the army use more gunpowder weapons. In my canon this is due to extensive trade links with Cathay where the use of such weapons is commonplace. 

As part of the list, one of the options is for a huge siege engine called a Basilica Cannon, so I thought I'd build one:

More photos and descriptions after the break....

Altheim Part 9: The Old Garden of Morr

Next up in the Altheim project is the old Garden of Morr:

More pics etc after the cut...

The Mystical Land of Araby, a guide to suitable models.

This post is a bit of a departure for me, as I really only use the blog to post up models I've painted and the associated scenery and fluff to go with it. 

However, after receiving an Araby wizard as a gift, (and finding some saracens in the leadpile I forgot I owned!) I recently decided to paint up a small Araby army.

Anyway, this is what I've got so far (as the Saracens are in the paint stripper at the moment):

It's not much, is it! Anyway, I've been searching out old models and new ranges that would suit such a force. Because it actually took quite a bit of work to find ranges of models that matched up with the old Citadel ranges, I thought I'd put up a guide to help anyone else who wanted to do the same, as well as a bit of background of Araby itself. 

All of that and more (lots, lots more. Believe me it's huge!), after the cut...

WFB3 Chaos Dwarf Ally Contingent - Finished!

Well, this is a bit of a diversion! I'd not planned to actually do this, but while working through my Chaos Warband project I realised I had (almost) enough Chaos Dwarves in the leadpile to make an official ally contingent for 3rd Edition WFB, and here it is: 

As usual, more photos after the cut...

Citadel C29 Plague Elemental

Another little (or not so little!) chaos-based palette cleanser in amongst all the Altheim work, this is a model I've had in the leadpile for about 20 years now! 

As usual, more photos after the cut...

Altheim Part 8: We are the Road Crew! (and the roads are finished!)

As I've spent the last few weeks on my own, working on the roads, I thought it'd be nice to have a bit of help, so with that in mind I've painted up a road crew to give me a hand:

The crew, preparing to dig up the market square. Unimpressed Watchman at left. 

More details after the cut, as usual...

Altheim Part 7: The House of the Rusty Halberd.

Another small and (relatively) humble building this time, one of the lower class houses that make up the majority of housing in Altheim:

Chaos outside the Widow's house, as the Watch stop an overladen cart!

It's known as the House of the Rusty Halberd, due to the polearm hung outside, as you can see, and is owned by the widow Anna Schwartzhelm.

More photos etc after the cut...

An aside: Conversions in the age of 'collectability'. And some Chaos Dwarves.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll probably be well aware I don't hold much of a 'reverence' towards the models I collect and paint. In my opinion they're just toy soldiers, and at the end of the day there are very few models that could actually be classed as 'rare', regardless of what the 'Buy It Now' twat resellers would have you believe on eBay.

Because of this attitude towards them, I'm perfectly happy to chop up old metal, much to the horror of some purists on the scene, and my current Chaos Dwarf project is such an example:

More photos and opinionated waffling after the break...

Altheim Part 6: Eolfric the Beggar, and his humble home.

Back to Altheim, and this time it's something a whole lot more humble. I recently painted up the 'Beggar' model from the Marauder MM62 range, and decided that even though he's down on his luck, he still needs somewhere to live:

More photos after the cut, as usual...

...And a slightly less quick Khornate Warband!

So, while I was working on the Slaanesh warband, I decided to do one for each of the 4 chaos powers in between working on the Altheim table, and I've managed to get the Khorne one well on it's way..

more photos, as usual, after the cut...

A Quick Slaaneshi Warband!

Well, I'm still slogging away at the Altheim table, but I'm taking regular breaks from it to stop myself getting bored and giving up! In my most recent break I managed to dig through the leadpile and paint up a quick Slaaneshi warband over the last day, as you can see here:

The gang prepare to defend their Chaos Temple

Dechala, surrounded by her followers.

These are really out of my comfort zone, colour-wise. If you're a regular reader you'll know that I tend to go with dark, dingy looking colours, but these are really quite bright, at least by my standards!

As usual there's a whole load more photos after the cut, if you're so inclined...

Altheim: Part 5 - The Watch House

Another day, another finished building! This time it's the home of the Altheim Watch:

The Altheim Watch House, with the Watch on parade outside.

As well as the house, I've also repurposed some old F4 Mercenaries a I painted up a long time ago to act as the Watch themselves.

If you want to see and know more, it's all after the cut...