Eeza Ugezod's Mother Crushers

Another Oldhammer Challenge over another unit painted, although I might add another Black Orc to it at a later date. This time its Eeza Ugezod's Mother Crushers (RR18) one of the first wave of Regiments of Renown released in 1985 I think. No Regiment specific boxes in those days but this is the sketch published with the fluff article in the Autumn 1985 Citadel Journal.

Canny followers of this blog will realise that these boys were undercoated back in 2012 and yes it has taken that long to finish them. Here they are then in glorious technicolour. The photos aren't great so I may replace them in the future.

The front rank with Eeza doing the pointy thing

The Regiment in its full glory

Eeza and the Champion

The Musician and 2 troopers

Various shades of fur on the troopers

Eeza from behind.

(The following fluff is from the Autumn Journal 1985)

Of all the Orcish raiders to have plundered the Old World from the World's Edge Mountains, none have been so feared, or so hated as the Great Black Orcs of the Mother Crusher tribe. Their Great Raids of Hunger continued almost completely unchecked for nearly forty two years, leaving in their wake a trail of butchery seldom equaled In Orcish history.

Despite many efforts to capture and destroy them, the Mother Crushers always managed to avoid traps set for them. On the few occasions they were brought to battle the outcome invariably favoured the Orcs - using their famous juggernaut columns to push aside any resistance.

Their success was due mainly to the inspired leadership of one Orc. Known throughout the tribes as Eeza Ugezod, Orcish legend abounds with stories of this huge and cunning Orc. One such story, typical of the time, concerns the skirmish an the Great Crossing -a huge, natural span bridging one of the few routes through the mountains to the fertile foothills and valleys of the Old World. It was upon this bridge that a group of Orcs led by Eeza Uqezod were attacked by large numbers of Dwarfs and at least one mountain Giant. An extract from the Orcish 'Volees Adgitz' translates as follows.

'We goes miles this day. Last dark we kills many wittering souls, poking and cutting them - but not having times to make it slow and get them good and screechy. We gets on the Great Crossing and suddenly all around there'. Stunty Long Beards (Dwarfs) -trapping us boys and making pain threats. Then they goes all grinning silent, and crashing through the crowd comes a Great One, all drunk up, with great iron boots sparking as it steps, and long spikes and jags hanging off them, all dressed up for Orc stomping. It comes roaring and swaying towards us, swinging its club and making us boys windy and tearful. And the stunties are laughing, saying at last they'll have our pretty fangs to make their stunty women grin and dance. And us bold boys - we bunch up close, but cannot help a little wimpering. But Eeza Ugezod's got no wimper. He waves his axe and swears he's going to cut Great One's feet off and pop them in its face. With this he goes off fast forward and sharp hacks the Great One. Its knees goes one way, its great screaming whiskers goes another. The stunties has one look and go all quiet and shuffly. Then Guted - our champion - he gives an honest war shout and we goes off at them cutting up their little bodies, this way and that, and we collects much headskin with hair on it and ties it to our belts. We paints their juices all over the Great Crossing and we calls it the Red Span. We push all the stunties off it, but keeping a few for screarnings later and food for the march. We leaves not too many boys deadstiff and continues our way to make our dearest war and raidings.'

No one is quite sure what happened to Eeza Ugezod - he certainly wasn't amongst the hundreds of Black Orc dead after their supernatural defeat at the hands of the Necromantic Chaos Lord Edis Edis ......

BATTLE CRY The Giant Black Orc battle cry can only be termed as an incomprehensible cacophany of abuse and threat. Each individual does his best to outshout his neighbour. However, against Dwarvern foes they would chorus over and over again the blood curdling battle cry... 'Stomp the stunties - stomp the stunties - stunty stompings fun!'

BATTLE TACTICS On those rare occasions when tribal animosity does not prevail Black Orc tactics are crudely effective. Always consisting of huge columns (juggernauts) led by the best fighters and flanked by archers and wolf riders. Should there be any of the deadly multi-scythed wolf chariots, or mercenary ogres, these would be placed well to the fare. Although cumbersome and easy prey to artillery and magic, these huge formations were well able to plough through and scatter any but the stoutest enemy formations.

SPECIAL RULES Because Black Orcs naturally victimise smaller Goblins and Orcs (occasionally eating them) they are subject to Animosity at +1 on the dice.

PROFILES - 2nd edition

	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	POINTS
Eeza Ugezod Black Orc Major hero	4	6	6	5	5	3	6	3	9	7	9	9	108 (HW, CM, Sh)
Black Orc Champion	4	4	4	4	4	1	4	1	7	5	7	7	9.5 (2HW, CM)
Black Orc Warrior	4	3	3	4	4	1	3	1	7	5	7	7	8.5 (2HW, CM)
Standard Bearer	4	3	3	4	4	1	3	1	7	5	7	7	17 (2HW, CM)
Musician	4	3	3	4	4	1	3	1	7	5	7	7	17 (2HW, CM)

According to Ravening Hordes a Standard and Musicain are twice the PV of a regular trooper (if that is so why did Harboth's standard cost 34 points?)  My version of the Mother Crushers consists of 25 troopers (25 x 8.5 =212.5) Eeza (108) Champion (9.5) Musician (17) and Standard (17), which works out at 364 points for 2nd edition. Including Harboths that gives me a total of 645 points.

Slán go fóill

Knavecon 2

I went to the local boardgame convention at the weekend and spent the day playing various games some old and some new. I helped organise a game of X-Wing in the morning where we had 12 Imperial blast 8 Rebel scum out of the sky.

Took a break for a while and wandered around the trade stands and chatted to people. Bought myself these 2 old gems from the bring and buy. I've never played them but couldn't resist them.

No of course I have to track down the 12 metal figures that came with the Heroes for Dragonquest box set. The trials of being OCD. I also got my hands on a bunch of movement trays that Wee Gamers were selling off quite cheaply. got this lot for just over a tenner.

Also played a game of Block Mania, I had never played it before and will never play a 5 player game again as long as I live. As a wise 11 year old commented that was 4 hours of my life I will never get back again. I'm sure a 3 player game would be a lot of fun but 5 was too many. 

Rounded off the day with a great game of Spartacus and a few card games whose names I can't remember. All in all a great day and I can't wait till the next one.

Harboths Orc Archers

The first unit that I painted up are Harboth's Orc Archers, one of the second wave of Regiments of Renown first released in 1986 I think. This is what the finished unit looks like. Now I know I haven't finished their shields but I need to come up with a design, or a couple of designs, that will unify the army that I'm building.

Heres how they looked back in the day and with the text from the back of the box below.

...And so it was that Harboth’s Black Mountain Boys moved out of the Black Fire Pass to terrorise the lands beyond. The uneasy partnership between the Black Mountain Boys and Notlob’s bolt-thrower crews was dissolved, over a trivial misunderstanding due to the limited nature of the Orcish language. The Orcish Word for moving out can also mean deserting, running away or soiling one’s underwear...

EQUIPMENT	Impressed by Notlob’s missile weapons, the Black Mountain Boys armed themselves with bows in addition to the normal Dwarf Tickler and mail coat.
BATTLECRY	The earlier battlecry of ‘Pulp the Stunties’ is still used, as well  as various chants about Notlob, his attitude to danger and the  state of his underwear.
DEEDS	At the Battle of Bauer’s Farm the Black Mountain Boys were mauled by a force including the 17th (Bafon Olaf’s Own) Regiment of Foot and a contingent of the Stirland Free Foresters. Following this setback, they crossed into the Border Princes in search of easier pickings
UNIFORMS	Their uniforms are generally ragged cast-offs obtained from past victims of approximately the right size.
SHIELDS	From the shields of the adventurers met (and subsequently eaten) by Harboth, the Black Mountain Boys discovered the concept of pictoral art, and now their shields are painted with the faces of particularly noteworthy victims.

PROFILES - 2nd edition

Harboth - Orc Major Hero

	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	POINTS
Harboth	4	6	6	4	5	3	5	3	9	7	9	9	100.5

Yaskin Forit - Orc Champion

	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	POINTS
Yaskin Forit	4	4	4	4	4	1	3	1	7	5	7	7	9.75

Trooper

	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	POINTS
Trooper	4	3	3	4	3	1	2	1	7	5	7	7	7.75 Extra for standard 33.75 Extra for drummer 13.5

My unit of Harboths archers has the 4 command figures and 16 troopers. On a side note everything seems to be done in tens these day whereas in the 80's units were quite randomly sized. Must start thinking that way - even if it is for variety. Using the profile and points from above that works out at 281.25 points (Harboth 100.5, Yaskin Forit 9.5, Standard 33.75, Drummer 13.5, Troopers (16 x 7.75) 124). I think I will have to open a second page to keep track of the units and a running total of the points for the army. Speaking of points does anyone know of a simple conversion from 2nd ed to 3rd points? Slán go fóill

Painting, Blogging and Army Lists

Well at the start of June I mentioned over on the Oldhammer Forum that I hadn't painted a figure in months and had ignored this blog as well (despite which I have noticed an increase in my followers - welcome all and hopefully you shall be rewarded with some posts in the future). I decided then and there that I was going to change that so I started the almost monthly painting challenges which, even if I do say so myself, have been a great success so far (even if some people seem to have a problem understanding that June and July are long gone). That leaves the blogging part. Now that I'm painting again I reckon its time to start building an army or two out of all the lead and that is what I going to attempt to record here.

There will be two parts to this. Firstly will be my Orcs & Goblins which I will just keep adding to as units get painted or at least land on the painting table. This will probably be quite open ended as its going to be a large army. The second part will be the other armies that I am building. Inspired by a recent Oldhammer post by Norse and rereading the 1st edition supplement The Book of Battalions I've decided to start organising these smaller armies in Battalions of roughly 1000pts and more importantly painting them as a break from the Goblinoid Hordes. I think the first one of these that I do will be Halflings & Gnomes.  

That just leaves the question of which Warhammer Rules I will be using. Despite the fact that Oldhammer is securely rooted in 3rd edition I started with 2nd and I still have my original box set so that is what I am going to go with. It shouldn't be too difficult to convert the points to 3rd edition if necessary but lets face it the chances of me finding another player locally are fairly slim so I can do what I want! Anyway it allows me to post a picture of Ravening Hordes, which is probably my favourite Warhammer cover, so I'm happy.

My next post should be the first few of the units that I have painted for the Challenges. Till next time.

I finished the last 2 figures and the present was ready just in time for my friends birthday. Here are the last 2 parts of the set.

First up is the Doctor himself in the guise of (almost) everyones favourite Doctor Tom Baker's 4th Doctor. The miniature is by Black Tree Design and is a great likeness of the actor/character and he even comes with a bag of Jellybabies! Hopefully I did him justice. I would just like to point out that BTD had this item in my hands within 4 days of my ordering it. Thanks very much to whoever sped that order along.

And finally, what Dalek army would be complete without the Doctors archnemesis, evil genius, genocidal maniac creator of the Daleks and all round nice guy....Davros. Initially I had resigned myself to using another BTD figure for Davros, but at the last moment Andy over at Aintsy got in touch to say he had one of the original Citadel figures and he sent it to me post haste. Thanks very much for that - and the bonus that came with it  ;) Apologes if the photos aren't that great but its late.

Thats the end of that project - now its on to sorting out my orcs.

Dr Who & the Daleks

Next up are the Daleks from Citadels old plastic box set. The 5 of these that were painted when they arrived didn't clean up quite as well as the Cybermen but nothing too bad. I just want to say something about painting Daleks -those bloody domes on the chasis are a right pain in the arse. There are 56 on each Dalek - I painted 18 Daleks, that's 1008 small domes to be painted. I was a nervous wreck by the end of it. I'm sure anyone who has painted Daleks before knows what I mean.

First up are the Dalek Drones that make up the bulk of the horde. I painted 15 of these guys, using Vallejo & GW paints. The main body is London Grey with a wash of Badab Black. Metal bits are Vallejo Silver and the domes are Black. I then sprayed it with Army Painter varnish but it was too dull so I coated it with Future floor polish to bring up the shine. Normally I wouldn't finish a figure with Gloss but if you look at the Daleks on TV they are always shiny.

Next up were the Dalek Engineers. I made two of these, the only real difference between these and the regular ones is that the plunger is replaced with a pincer. They were painted the same way.

The 18th Dalek is their leader. I painted him as the Supreme Dalek so all black and white. His Eye stalk had broken before I got him so I simply drilled a hole and put in a round headed pin. He has a simple paint scheme of all black with white domes.

Here he is flanked by one of his drones and an engineer.

Here are a few group shots showing them in their shiny finery

I made a box to store them in. Its an old Ferrer Rocher box with a magnetic sheet glued to the bottom and a scan of the original box cover glued to the top.

Cybermen showing off their ability to walk down walls in formation

The almost complete set.

Right that's it for now. I have 2 more figures to paint up tomorrow before I hand this over to my friend on Saturday.

Slán

Daleks vs Genestealers

I'm cracking on with the painting of the Daleks mentioned in the previous post - all based and undercoated now. As part of my attempt to keep on blogging I thought I would travel back in time to last April when I had a weekend of wargaming, mainly historical but with a bit of sci-fi thrown in as well.

April 2012
After a few cracking games of Black Powder, played as part of our ongoing colonial campaign based in the Sudan, my regular gaming partner and I needed some light entertainment so out came the original Space Hulk for a run through of the Cleanse and Burn mission. This mission sees the Marine player try to flame 4 rooms before the Genestealers wipe them out. My terminators had gone AWOL so the next best thing was my recently painted iDaleks that were released on the cover of the Dr Who magazine some time ago. We just played the Daleks as if they were terminators - nominating one in each squad as the flamer. Here are some photos of the game

The Daleks deploy - carefully guarding their rear

The first wave of Genestealers attack

Genestealers gathering their forces

The Daleks destroy their first target and approach the second - almost halfway there

Genestealer reinforcements are caught in an overwatch crossfire

The final potato spawning pod is destroyed and a Dalek victory is complete

The game was good fun - with lots of Exterminate! Exterminate! Hopefully the new (old) Daleks will be finished in time for my next post.

Dr Who?

Someday I will get the hang of this blogging lark and begin to post more regularly. Part of the problem is I get distracted rather easily, a problem that many of us have I think. Anyway on with the post.

As some of you know I have been tracking down Dr Who minis for a friends 40th birthday. Eventually, thanks to the kindness of Thunderchicken over on LAF, I received this in the post:

Now my friend has bemoaned not buying this set in the 80's when it was first released so I thought - what better present to give him. Thunderchicken had warned me that some of the figures were assembled and painted so I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box and found that less than half the figures were painted. 

The painted ones went straight into Dettol and after a couple of days the paint just peeled off the Cybermen and Daleks. A little bit of time spent cleaning up mold lines, which weren't that bad, and the Cybermen were ready for painting. The Cybermen are one piece casts so all 18 in the box are identical. I forgot to take any photos at this stage so its straight onto the finished Cyberhorde.

Cyberleader

Cybermen

The Horde Grows

Cyber Morris Dancers

The Finished Horde

All in all I'm quite happy with them. If I got another box of them I would probably spend a bit of time varying the poses a bit. 

Next up: The Daleks