Oldhammer in the New World 2015

Howdy all!

Well its time to start spreading the WORD!

The planning for Oldhammer in the New World 2015 is in full swing and its time to start getting people excited about it!

Yes!  I'm talking to You!

"What is Oldhammer in the New World?" You say...

OHNW is wonderful opportunity for us gamers stuck in the New World Colonies to get together for weekend of gaming, painting, and enjoyment of all things Oldhammer.

Basically its a time when we can all fly our Freak Flags high and hang out with a bunch of folks doing the same thing at the same time....yes...its the Nirvana of Oldhammer in this part of the world! :)

This year the event is being held at the Days Inn in Allentown, Pennsylvania and runs Friday through Sunday August 7th-9th.  With this location we will have access to one of their Conference rooms for the entire weekend.  Starting Friday morning we will have this space straight through until Sunday evening.  That means we can game 24 hrs a day if we want to!

So...What will we be doing for all that time?

That's a great Question!

Basically the sky is the limit.  The room we have reserved has plenty of space and there will be enough tables to accommodate most any Oldhammer experience.  And most importantly...if we can drum up enough interest...there will be enough Oldhammerers just begging for someone to game with.  Something that is not a common occurrence in my neck of the wood...So Bring your figures...Bring your rule books...Bring your dice...and most importantly bring your good attitude to Allentown and lets have a game!  (My dwarfs are itching to stomp on your [insert appropriate army name here]!! Will you rise to the occasion?  Or cower in fear of their wicked sharp axes?)

With all this space there will be considerable opportunity for open gaming and pick up matches between interested parties...but that's not all...oh no!  Not by a long shot!

The planning group for this years even have also lined up a number of events and games that will be running through out the weekend.  These will give folks the opportunity to observe Oldhammer in the wild, participate if they are interested, and possibly make something fun to take home for yourself if you are so inclined.

Lets take a look at some of the planned activities for Friday! (these are all subject to change in the run up to the event...and hopefully additional activities will be added as interested parties make their voices heard)

FRIDAY
The centerpiece event of OHNW 2015 will be a weekend long Siege pitting an enormous force of Greenskins against an only slightly smaller number of Empire troops who have opted to (mostly) hide behind some formidable defenses in hopes of extending their puny lives a little longer.  This game will be run by the venerable Orclord of SOL fame and he will supply the troops for both forces from his impressive collection. This Game will kick off at Noon and will continue through the entire weekend.

Also on Friday one of our members will be running several versions of his Bretonnian Frog Hunt game...a GM'd warband-level skirmish game which pits Bret nobles and their retinues against each other and the murderous frogs they hope to have for dinner.  All figures and terrain are supplied for these games as well as a prize for the most successful frog hunter in each game.

Bulldog Lopez (aka "he-of-three-names") will be running a Rogue Trader Demo game all afternoon on Friday as well.  He anticipates being able to run two sessions before the day is through and will have terrain and figures that can be used, though he is also open to GM-ing a "bring and battle" type of game if there is interest/availability.  So load up those bolters and bring out your RT posse.

And Gaming isn't the only planned event going on.  There will also be an Arts&Crafts table set up that will allow participants to design and construct their own Deodorant Tube Hover Tank...a necessity for any proper RT game.  Limited supplies will be available until they run out so bring what you can if you want to take home a tank after the weekend.

Those are the planned events for Friday but there will also be space for open gaming and grudge matches if needed.  There will also be a trade table...and hopefully a vendor or two present.

SATURDAY

The activities will kick off Saturday morning with plenty of open gaming, the trade table and vendors and the acceptance of miniatures for the Event Painting Contest being managed by Adyer.  The painting contest this year will have three categories 1) Single Figure 2) Large Figure and 3) Vintage Figure.  Participants will vie for the honor of winning the Golden Oldhammer Award!

Saturday will see the continuation of the centerpiece Siege game run by Orclord.  Its is hope that by this point the Greenskin hoard will be attempting to break into the Empire fortifications and coming to grips with their Imperial foe.

In addition to the Fantasy siege game there will also be a large Rogue Trader 40k game taking place on Saturday...called Remember the New Alamo!!  This game will find a large horde of Orks commanded by Santa Orka attempting to destroy the uppity Imperials hiding behind the defenses of the New Alamo.  The center piece of this table will be a fairly accurate reproduction of the historic Alamo....but there will be lasers! (pew pew pew)  This is guaranteed to be a wonderful game.

There will also be ample opportunity for pick up games and grudge matches through out the day.

And if you are in a crafty mood...and managed to build a Deoderant Tube Tank on Day 1 of the event there will be time and some materials available to paint up you hover tank.

As the day wears on toward dinner we will have the announcement of the Painting Competition winners...and Losers...lol

the after dinner hours of Saturday will also be open pick up battles and the like but there will also be a large selection of Specialist games available for a quick game among friends.  A number of these "big Box" games will be available for gaming...or bring your own and have a blast crushing your opponent.

SUNDAY
Sunday will find the Big table over seen by Orclord bringing the epic fantasy siege game to a close...the winner will celebrate their victory amongst the bones of their foes!

The conclusion to the Arts and Crafts events for the weekend will culminate in an all out Deoderant Tank Deathmatch with all worthy opponents fighting for the title of "top tank!"

 The other centerpiece event of Sunday will the the Warhammer Fantasy Battles Grand Melee! Gm'd by yours truly.  this is your chance to bring your fantasy army and get it on the table with many others in a true Battle Royale!

Of course the trading table and any vendor tables will also be open and hopefully doing brisk business.

The craziness of the weekend is expected to wind down by early evening on Sunday as we all pack up our kit and head home to lick our wounds and begin dreaming of future OHNWs.

So there you have it a full weekend to exciting Oldhammery goodness.  All we need to make it truly great is for you to attend!

Here are the details on how to get a ticket, where to find the venue etc.

The event is being organized through this Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/events/391171987718029/

Tickets can be reserved through this web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oldhammer-in-the-new-world-2015-tickets-16597826546

and the hotel and event sight can be found here:

Days Inn 3400 Airport Rd Allentown, Pennsylvania 18109 

I hope to see as many of you there as possible...it should be a truly epic weekend!

Cheers,

Blue

OHOHOHOH  wait wait wait!!!  I alomost for got to mention that all paying attendees will also receive a copy of our event Mini...Pyscho Sam!  A Dark Future inspired 28mm figure sculpted by Mark Copplestone and based on original art by Bulldog Lopez! Have alook!

He's a total bad ass right!?  Look like he just stepped out of the new Mad Max movie!

Ok...cheers for now

Blue

Blue's Most Wanted...

Howdy all,

Life continues to keep me from getting much accomplished on the hobby front...though I have not been completely idle and hope to have something substantive to show for it soon.

However I have not been completely idle on the collecting front.  Luckily for me my wants list is getting pretty short.  On the downside the last 10% of any collection takes 90% of the time to find...

So in an effort to move that process a little further down the road to completion I thought I would put up a quick post showing my Most Wanted Miniatures! 

To kick things off I have only one last Chaos Centaur to find to finish that range...I'm really excited to get some paint on the ones I have and finding the last one will certainly give me some motivation to get them started!

Next up is another Chaos model...this time from Marauder.  Though I am not a big fan of their chaos steeds I do like their warriors and this one has proven very difficult to track down.

I'm also trying to track down the last three mounted squires from the 5th edition Bretonnian range...Though these guys are not technically "Oldhammer"...rest assured that they will be used with 3rd ed rules!

In addition to the 5th ed Bret models there are still quite a few of the 3rd ed Brets that are proving a real challenge to track down...specifically in the Brigands and Mounted Yeoman ranges.

On the Dwarf front I have nearly everything that I "need" except for a few outliers.  In particular the casualty figure on the bottom of this picture is one I'm hoping to find before I rehab my Prince Ulther's Dragon Company.

I seem to have a strange affinity for casualty models and while I have assembled quite a few of the unfortunate...there are still many I'm hunting down.  These Norse ones being a good example...but if you have any damaged warriors of any race that you are looking to move on let me know!

And finally....my nemesis figures...the last three Marauder Wolf Riders I need to complete my set.  I know you have heard me moan and cry about these before...but they still elude me.  I have been actively searching for these guys for at least 3 years now with no luck.  If you have even one of these let me know....I'll make it worth your while!!! (shuddup Chico!)

In case it helps here are some additional pictures of these three.

Though I'm sure other desires will arise in the future if I can secure even a few of these elusive figures I will be much closer to fulfilling my main collecting goals.

If you can help in anyway please let me know!

Cheers,

Blue

The Orks are Coming!!!

Last week I received a nice big, heavy box of minis back from the UK.  This box contained the first figures that I have ever commissioned someone else to paint for me.  With the ever growing mountain of lead I'm constantly fighting I decided it was time to exploit the labor of others to put a dent in it.  When Vidpui of Mini Splodges offered a reduced rate for his talents I jumped at the chance.  I've "known" Vid for several years starting over at Bugman's Brewery where he dazzled us all with his fantastic Old School Dwarf Army so I was quite confident that he would produce some fine results on my figures...and he did not disappoint!

Being the types that is concerned that my armies have the same conhesive "feel" and painting "style" applied to them I chose a faction for which I had painted very few figures...this way the entire force would have a consistent feel.  With my relatively new addiction to RT I have a large number of unpainted factions...so I chose a couple of squads of Orks and a small command element to send to Vid.  Not only is Vid a talented painter...but he is FAST!  (Something I will never claim to be...:) ) Once he was able to start he finished this whole lot in less than a week!

Lets take a look at the troops!

Here is the Command section.  This warband is commanded by Narblaz the Nasty, well known for the atrocities he and his troops committed during the sacking of Burglingten on the surface of Putney Prime.

This image of Narblaz was retrieved from an Imperial Recon Drone...he is accompanied by his drummer and standard bearer...

 This fearsome warlord leads two powerful squads of Orks who are ready to raid any vessel, settlement or space station that they land on.

Blue's One Hour Challenge: RT Astropath

Orylgg kicked off a painting "Challenge" a week or so ago...The 1-Hour Painting Challenge.  The rules are pretty straight forward.  Take a figure from primed to finished in only one hour.  Some pretty impressive results have been posted up and I thought it sounded like fun so I took the opportunity tonight to give it a try.

In planning for this I knew it was going to be a significant challenge for me...I'm a notoriously slow painter and the idea of finishing a figure in an hour seemed ludicrous to me...but I was game to give it a try.  So...in order to increase my odds of success I wanted every advantage I could find.  This started with figure selection.  I wanted something without a lot of ornamentation and that required the fewest number of colors possible.  To this end I picked a classic old Rogue Trader Astropath...he is mostly, flesh, robe, and staff. Here is what he looks like ...Naked.  Later, I primed with my normal Dark Gray Primer.

A quick hit of nostalgia…

Hi all, 

This is not the next post I was hoping to make but one that just came to me on the fly. 

I just opened a package from an auction I won on eBay and it had some of Prince Ulther's Dragon company troopers in it.... Great figures but nothing too exciting...

There is one interesting thing about them though ...take note of the bases these guys came with… 

BOOM!!  Nostalgia moment...

I hate to be a snob (though...if "the shoe fits..." And all that...)

...but if you're really an "Oldhammer" OG you'll know where these come from.

---

I used these bases all the time back in the day... In fact I think I still have a few of my original Dragon Company figures mounted on them…But It's not something you see very often these days.

Anyway that's it for now... just a quick hit of nostalgia I wanted to share with you.

Cheers,

Blue

Adding some Character to my Bret Force

I'm finally back with an update...I'm shocked to see that it has been three weeks since my last post...but such is life right now!  Sorry about that...

Despite the craziness I've managed to get four new figures done....three of which I'll be using to add some characters to my slowly growing Bretonnian army. (the fourth is the missing Squire with bow that completes that unit)

As you may have guessed...since this force is made up of fifth edition models ...the three figures I'm talking about are Bertrand and his coompanions.  However...I don't really care to play any pre-made "characters" in my forces (other than Bugman from time to time)  In my army these three men are Gordon, Jacques, and Tobi.

Obviously as they were released these figures were intended to represent Robin Hood, Little John, and Friar Tuck....or their Frenchified counterparts, as the case may be.

...For my army...I have decided to keep the "Frenchified" part that but get rid of the "Robin Hood" part...

...at this point..as I blather on... you may be asking yourself why these three figures have such differing color schemes???   ...and the reason for that is that I do not intend to run these three as a group...a la Robin Hood...but as character models that can drop in and out of certain units....so if you see them with their respective units...it all makes more sense.

Lets look at each in turn

Jacques is the commander of the infantry in the Marquis border force so he is often found leading, or at least close to, the armies unit of elite spearmen...le Cerfs Rouges (the Red Stags).

The figure originally intended to represent Little John...I use as Gordon....the leader of the armies mounted Scouts.   Though he runs on foot (they say they can't find a horse big enough for his massive size) his long legs and inhuman stamina are more than a match for the mounts of the other troops. Some accuse Gordon of questionable paternity...implying that he has some Ogre blood in is veins...but when confronted by such accusations Gordon typically fells the accuser with a single blow from his enormous quarter staff and mutters "u-shud-up..I'm de bestest and de fastest." (I will treat him as a mounted figure during game play).

And finally we have Tobi.  Despite his ponderous bulk...and the 15 gallons of fortified wife strapped to his back...Tobi is able to move through even the densest wood without making a sound.  And for that reason he  is often found slinking along with the armies unmounted scouts.

The fortified wine that he freely dispenses to his troops can act as rations in the field and can keep them warm on cold scouts.  With only that barrel this unit can carry out scouting missions lasting several days....

...and return completely pissed...:)

So there they are...the Character that my Bret force was sorely lacking.

I hope to updating on the Knights that I will be adding to this army soon.  I'm in the process of modifying the Front Rank horses that I found to mount them on and will get them primed and ready for paint...once we have a day arm enough to prime!

Cheers for now!

Blue

Wood Grain Technique

Howdy all,

Yes...I am alive...I've just fought through a week long flu which has had me completely debilitated (boo hoo...poor me).  I'm finally getting back on my feet and actually did some painting last night for the first time in many days.

Anyway, after I posted pictures of the Dragon Bait Miniatures Executioner set that I painted up recently I received a couple of requests for information about how I did the wood graining on the chopping block.

Luckily I took a series of pictures of this figure while I was painting it in hopes writing up a longer "how-to" post.  That post never materialized...but now I can use some of those pics for this quick demo.

My technique for wood graining is all about contrasting colors and texture...and applying these colors with short quick motions....and this is true for large surfaces like this block as well as narrow spaces like along a bow stave or weapon haft.

Here we go.  I started with coating the entire block with Vallejo Model Color 872 Chocolate Brown.  Nothing fancy here...just lay it on thick enough to cover the Dark Gray primer.