Converting and painting a Lord Marshal Dreir

I received this Lord Solar Leontus mini as a gift, but I already had a Lord Solar conversion in the works. So I decided to make him into a Lord Marshal Dreir.

Shadowdark demo session

We couldn't carry on with the Golden Vault due to missing players, so we did a quick Shadowdark intro instead. I couldn't even stay the whole evening, so... eh. Thoughts at the end. 

Anyway, we were given level 0 PCs with no equipment, kidnapped by armed men from our village and thrown into a dungeon with a single torch at our disposal. We stepped forwards into the dark corridor, and searched the first room.

Golden Vault: Flame on! Reloaded

For our final mission, we must steal the Book of Vile Darkness from an efreeti called Vrakir. What, no killing gods? I was expecting that after all that ramp up. All our upgrades and the rumor mill did exactly nothing, so we flew up north to the Brimstone Hold, a fortress built on the side of an active volcano. The area was patrolled by a red dragon, so we waited until it went away to possibly sleep. This coincided with the arrival of a merchant caravan. I stashed the guys in my Bag, and flew in invisibly. Not even the truesighted devil guards spotted me, as I zoomed in through a giant efreeti statue's mouth spitting lava into the port. 

Right up front, there were some guards, including a Beholder, but I threw some coins to distract them, and sneaked in through a door. I found myself face to face with Nebukath, our informant: an antropomorphic fox. I managed to convince him of my good intentions, then sneaked on through a secret corridor into the guest room. There was just one more corridor, which opened into both Jarazoun's office[1] and Vrakir's quarters, which supposedly held the book. I flew through the corridor to avoid any traps, but upon opening the door to Vrakir's quarters, efreeti statues animated. Sigh. I really did try to finish this in the leftover time after the previous mission. Guess not.

Simplified leather and wood

Sometimes the details are very small, or the miniature is simple and doesn't deserve the full treatment.

Creating and painting a Lord Solar Leontus conversion for my nun Astra Militarum army

Let's not beat a dead horse. I dislike the new GW models for being way too busy/crowded, not to mention their price tag. But this idea has been floating around in my mind ever since the Lord Solar came out. Here goes Mother Solara Leona, zipping around the battlefield in her open topped transport. Let me assure you, it is at least as safe as riding a horse.

Aeldari/Astra Militarum vs Dark Angels/Imperial Knights

A fun little break from matched play 40k: 2v2 team game with 1000 points per player. I proposed a simple mission with 5 objectives and old school secondaries. We finally arrived at 5 points per objective (no cap), First Strike (5), Linebreaker (5), Slay the Warlord (5) and Super Slay the Warlord (10). The latter's idea came from needing to pick a 'super warlord' per team for the Knights' army rule. Teams, and everything else, were determined by the roll of dice.

Deployment: Dawn of War

Well, actually I already moved some models, being way too eager to start.

Painting Frozen Shore Hunters & Varamyr Sixskins

I got these to paint in before the local tournament, and I had them almost finished in time.

Astra Militarum vs Thousand Sons, 07.05.2025

A refinement of the armored company I tried against the Knights: I replaced the useless Basilisks with Lord Solar and Kasrkin in a Taurox. I was up against, surprisingly, the Thousand Sons. Oh well, at least the chem cannons might be useful. (Spoiler: they were.)

Mission: Tipping Point/Burden of Trust/Inspired Leadership. 

Scouting Cultists already up the midfield.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Back to the shadows and out again

After some discussions regarding difficulty level, the adventurers got a break and successfully rested beneath a Tiny Hunt, but only after me explaining several different ways the vampires could have thwarted them. Anyway, moving on to a hitherto unexplored corridor, at the end of which strange cultists were chanting something. Cue Fireball.

Sandy base v2

Jungle base

 

Game 3: Free Folk vs Starks

The third game against an unknown opponent and list, with some beautiful models. All movement trays converted with models glued in, and dice used as wound counters. Consult the score here but for some reason the guy changed his mind at the last moment and brought Starks (or, well, Umbers) instead of Baratheons. I pulled out my zoo, ready to hold the table quarters.

Game 1: Free Folk vs Lannisters

First game: familiar list, completely new opponent. I decided on doing my killy (?) infantry list, but with bear support this time, as the eagles did nothing in the warm-up game. I marked the two lightly armored units for kill points, while my opponent marked Spearwives and a bear.

Game 2: Free Folk vs Lannisters

Game 2 against another Gregor Clegane-lead Lannister list. With 5 objectives on the board, I pulled out my zoo. As expected, the side with the Honor Guard, reinforced by the Crossbowmen, seemed lost from the start. I instead focused on the other flank. With Bonded Command, I had my Wolfpack fly up and pin down the Knights.

Seventh Battle of Cluswar: A Song Of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game tournament

These things are getting bigger and bigger! Now with 10 participants. 3 games. One day. Lots of PETA-based jokes relating to my zoo list. 

For the technical details, see the link. 

For general impressions, I wasn't feeling too far left behind. With some polishing, I think the Free Folk hold up.

And finally, for the games:

• Game 1: Free Folk vs Lannisters
• Game 2: Free Folk vs Lannisters
• Game 3: Free Folk vs Starks

April review and May goals

Choo-choo, goes the hobby train.

Warhammer 40k against brand new opponents. ASOIAF local tournament with practice games. More Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Finishing the Golden Vault series. More Monty Python. I just love the amount of gaming I can get in. This should continue, with more D&D, perhaps some CoC, and more Warhammer.

Painting wise, I did get another ASOIAF commission, just in time for that tournament I mentioned. I did finish some Astra Militarum and D&D minis as well, but I just couldn't fit in a photo session, hence the double story time this week. There was also a lot of assembly time, as I magnetized and LED-enabled two, count them two, brand new Guard vehicles. 

I'll start May by doing some simple D&D commissions - helps me pump up those numbers. I am almost on time with the count, hampered by the bucketload of nuns I received so far. Speaking of, I'll finish the rest of my nun scions, and as much of their new rides as I can. Then, I can try out the Bridgehead Strikforce.

My initial plan of finishing everything Astra Militarum related in Q1 is in ruins, but at least Q2 should be enough for the rest of the pending artillery and vehicles. Then I can get back to painting those 40+ converted and primed chaos marines... maybe.

Muzzle burn (Contrast)

 

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Out of the shadows and back again

After last session's combat, the adventurers sensibly decided to... again try long resting in the same room. Sigh. Not even blocking a door with Stella[1] could hold back the tide of vampires, cultists and bat swarms. The ambush was pretty slick, and a dark mage paralyzed Szivem. She spent most of the time being scratched by bats.