Battle Brothers!

Last weekend was Battle Brothers! Finally after all the preparation and thousands of miles of driving it had come! Literally 5 hours prior to our arrival at Warhammer World I had been in Norway so this weekend was sponsored by energy drinks and geek excitement.

(Obviously)

My partner was fellow comedian Marcus Gill who is such a lovely guy I almost married him. I wanted to take pictures of all the games and write up battle reports but as the timing was tight I didn't as it would have been a bit of a pain for all involved. The games were fantastic (except one sneaky cheating Chaos Dwarf team who cheated sneakily). As we were all using End Times magic it became a much more influential factor and actually was really fun.  

(Fun)

 But the event wasn't just about gaming there was also a great painting competition (which I entered) that was to an incredible standard. I only took a picture of my entry on the shelf, the speed painted Treeman Faeddril, but the level was just amazing and the dragon that won in the end was just lovely.

(Crouching dragon, hidden Treeman)

As we were at Warhammer World it would be crazy not to take a tour of the miniatures gallery and it was well worth the entry fee. Some lovely individual figures but also insanely detailed dioramas in a scale that most normal gamers could only dream of. 

 (Gamers dreams)

Marcus and I met up with the team from Tyrants Tavern who all come from near me and I have to say I haven't met a nicer group of hobbyists. It really made the weekend special and I'd really like to thank Josh Hall, James Bibb, Scott Williams, Sam Wegrzynowski, Dan Parker and Jason Butler for being fantastic people. 

(fantastic people)

Finally, as it was the weekend before my birthday and I had some spending money, I got myself a little treat. Ladies and Gentlemen let me introduce you to the newest edition to my Wood Elf force. The monstrous GRex!

As you can see I've already stuck him together and got the base ready so hopefully I'll have him all painted ready for the Tyrant's Tournament on June 28th!

Magnetise!

I've been away in Norway and I'm just packing to go back so only had time to add the finishing touches to my movement trays today. I've stuck 4 rare earth magnets to the corners of the movement trays and used the rubberised self adhesive iron sheets on the box I'm taking them in. This should keep them safe without ruining any details. Fingers crossed!

The Three Week Army

Here's a quick shot of the completed force. Say hello to The Three Week Army!

IT'S THE FINAL MODEL!

I managed to finish the whole army! This was the last model and after doing the Wildwood Rangers this morning I started and finished this guy today! 1300pts in 3 weeks!!!!! It's actually been a bit gruelling but here's my battle standard bearer, The final model! WOOHOO! Battle Brothers here we come!

Wildwood Rangers group shot

Looking good in their movement tray!

Wildwood Rangers finished!

I started and finished the last 5 Wildwood rangers which means the unit is all done! I'll take some pics of all of them together once the bases are dry on these. Only the BSB left to paint!

Mighty Mournfang Wildwood Rangers!

I have finished the front rank of the Wildwood Rangers I started this morning. I am speed painting them at the moment so they're not the quality I would normally give them and I keep seeing little details. Saying that I really like how they've come out and actually for a day's work (about 4 hours total) they're looking good!

3 days left and 6 models to go (one of which is the Battle Standard Bearer!) starting to think I can do this!

Go Go Wildwood Rangers!

Here's today's progress so far. They're pretty easy to paint and I like the colour scheme. Couple of highlights and some glowing runes and this 5 will be all done!

Where the Wild Things are......FINISHED!

THEY ARE FINISHED!!!! First time I've ever done freehand on a model and I think it turned out alright. I realised I also hadn't painted their ears so had to finish them up but look at them! They're done! I've been told they're incredibly destructive on the battlefield so I can't wait to see how they do!

Also here's an army pic so you can see what's left to paint, I'll get a start on the Wildwood Rangers this week so hopefully I can get it all done by Sunday (if I really work through it). 

Wild Boys! Wild Boys!

The Wild Riders are nearly finished! Only a banner to do and the unit is ready for Battle Brothers! The army is so close to being finished now I'm getting excited.

Not so wild riders

My wild riders are coming along nicely now. My recommendation to anyone buying these guys is don't stick them to their steeds! Steve told me this after I'd already done it and I thought "it'll be alright, how bad can it be?" I would have finished them by now if not for all the difficult angles trying to get to the saddle.

Spellweaver ready!

After a horrible spray accident the spellweaver I'd converted up had to be retired prematurely. Luckily I had this one I'd painted a while ago so I've cleaned her up and based her like my current force. She fits nicely into the force thankfully.

Slow progress

This is as far as I got this weekend. One saddle done on one Wild Rider and the brown painted on all of their bases. I'm now waaaaaaay behind. 

Wild Riders WIP

I'm currently working on the Wild Riders and this time I decided to try and use inks instead of paints. They're sprayed white, inked then highlighted using a mix of ink and white painted heavily watered down. So far I think they're looking really nice. There's about a night's worth of work left on them but you can see what they're going to look like (I will be adding blue glowing eyes and runes too)

Faedderil finished!

And that's him all done! Really happy with him and can't wait to have him destroy some enemies!

Treeman finished (except for foliage!)

Faedderil the Herald of Spring is now finished (sort of)! All based and everything. He does need some foliage stuck on his branches but that's a 10 second job when it arrives tomorrow. I'm so pleased with how this guy has turned out. 

Treeman update

Really enjoying painting this guy. So many lovely details but also very easy to paint. Unfortunately the foliage hasn't arrived yet so won't be able to finish his branches today but so far so good

Dried treeman

Thought I'd just post up a pic of what the treeman looks like once the ink dried. I'm happy with it. Looks like polished oak. I'm thinking I might stick some flower tufts on him in places after the rest of him is painted just to give him some extra detailing for almost zero effort but we'll see.

Treeman and Wild Riders Day 1 (INK!)

First day on the Wild Riders and Treeman and I'd forgotten how long ink takes to dry. Treeman (Faedderil the Herald of Spring) has only got details and basing to go, he's going to have blue glowing eyes, mouth, runes etc. The Wild Riders are going to be a bit tougher but so far they're looking better than I imagined, I'm struggling to think of what colours go under metallics but I'll do some experiments and work it out. Again the bases will set them off nicely.

Group photo

I magnetised and made up the movement trays today so thought I'd get a picture of all the Glade Guard together. The army is starting to look like a tournament force!

Unfortunately the photos aren't the best they could be but I'm making do with a couple of lamps and a phone camera. This week I'm hoping to get the treeman and wild riders painted.

FILL THE SKIES WITH DEATH!!!!

After a marathon painting session today I finished the final 10 Glade Guard for my Battle Brothers force!!! That's pretty exciting as there's only 47 models in the whole army and the Glade Guard make up 30 of those!

I've painted 25 of them this week so that's pretty quick for me (doesn't beat 80 zombies in 2 days but these ones have much more complicated colour and basing schemes). I was worried that with everything that's going on I wouldn't have time to finish this army before the tournament. I'm only in the country for two weeks this month so that's how long I have to finish all the models, make a forest AND paint it. I may have to take some of it with me to Norway....