Aldebrand Ludenhof, Elector Count of Hochland

Every amry needs a general, and what better model for a veteran of 4th edition to use an Elector Count for his Empire force.

This classic model was one of the 4 original Elector Count models when the 4th edition Empire army book came around, and I always loved those models.

Every Count wielded a Runefang, one of the 12 mystical swords the Empire possessed, and had something special.  In the case of the Hochland ruler, this was his warhawk that could make an additional attack.

Now, as it was a special character and it`s the general of my restarted army, a bit more of painting effort was required, and I went for my "old days" 3 steps per colour method. 

Not the hardest of techniques, I always loved the results it wielded.

And it also means another 100 points to the tally of the budding force, so the 1000 mark is becoming within my grasp now and I`ll be battle ready.

Next up on the painting schedule, well, Hochland State Troops of course

Next batch of Witch Elves

The second batch of the Brides of Khaine, this now completes the ones I did almost two months ago.

The unit now numbers 10, which is in AoS the size of a regiment for them, so I can field them in the big battle in august.

All 5 are the older metal figures, including the "sneaky one" beckoning some guy over while holding a dagger behind her back, a sculpt I always liked a lot.

So that`s an additional 140 points of troops for the 1000 point army, slowly I`m getting to battle readiness.

Next for the project: finish the general.

Suisei no Garugantia

The most recent anime series I watched, and also known as Gargantia on Verdurous Planet, was quite an enjoyable experience.

The series consists of 13 episodes and 3 OVA`s, and can perhaps be best seen as Kevin Costner`s Waterworld with Mecha's.

Ledo, who pilots the mecha Chamber, is thrown in a black hole during a battle with the squidlike Hideauze.  He recovers on a planet that is all covered in water, aboard a giant cityship called Gargantia.

Chamber calculates he is actually stranded on the mythical planet called Earth, where humanity was born before it reached to the stars and migrated to another galaxy.  He gradually learns that not only he can`t return home, as that`s more then 7000 years of travel away, but also the origin of both the humans journey to the stars, as well as the origin of the Hideauze... and shakes up everything he believed in.

But then he gets a comm signal from his former unit commander...

This is actually a rather nice series, with a strong underlying message to teenagers, namely to "not be afraid to get out there, you`ll adapt".  The animations are nice and while Chamber might not have the killer looks of a Gundam, the Gargantia and the land (or better, sea-)scaping is greatly executed.

A series to pick up!

Emerald City

Every once in a while, a series comes by that you didn`t expect and just loved, and for me, that was Emerald City.

Based on the story of the Wizard of Oz, this takes a darker twist on the story.

For example, the cowardly lion, the scarecrow, and the Tin man are present, but for the first two this is more as a symbolic role then an actual creature.  And Tin Man's tale is one of great tragedy, love and friendship.

The series begins as a nurse, Dorothy, is ported to Oz, where she must find the wizard to bring her back home.  In doing so, she kills the witch of the East, and bears witness how political tensions build up between the Wizard, who has banned all magic from the Emerald City, and the witch of the North, who together with her brothel holding sister of the West wants to reinstate magic into Oz.

The series takes some twists and turns that aren`t really expected, and leaves with an open ending, as the evil behild it all, the Beast Forever, returns to the world.

And which we won`t see as the series got cancelled last month due to poor viewing rates, totally undeserved in my opinion.

Empire State Troops Halberdiers

Continuing my paint efforts to get a 1000 points grand Alliance Order on the table the 20th of August, I painted up a small regiment of State Troops.

Armed with the traditional weapon of the The Empire infantryman, the halberd, I went on a throwback to the past.

My first, the monopose halberdiers of around 1994, had the Altdorf livery, and as I still have 20 of those around somewhere and in need of repairs, I thought it no more then fitting then make one big 30 man block out of them in the end.

So the red and blue uniforms where added, all differentiating left and right on which shoulder, which leg etc was in a certain colour, to add some subtle variety to the unit.  The banner had handpainted lettering to it, as was researching my old "jade" effect for my upcoming Emperor's Children.

Bases where the grey and lava like ones I`m running now through my complete Order force, to make them all look the part when placed together on the tabletop, and differ from the usual green colour of bases.

In the game, this counts for 80 points of troops to be added to the tally, meaning that with 6 weeks to go I`m reaching the halfway point, as I`m currently at 440 points of restored troops.

Next will be finishing the Witch Elf unit I did a few weeks ago, as all that needs to be done for them is the varnish to dry.

Doctor Who season 10

The final season of show writer Moffat and of Capaldi as a most excellent Doctor ended this weekend, and contrary to speculation, he hasn`t regenerated yet.

Though it has begun already, and we know he won`t be able to stop it in the end with the Christmas Special.

But for me, Capaldi was a fantastic Doctor, even though the young whovians, high on the tenures of a Tennant or a Smith, think he was to old.  Peter Capaldi can deliver speeches I don`t see the younger ones succeed in, due to his age and "regality".  The one in the Zygon episodes, the one just this saturday with Missy and The Master... this is an actor with experience.

The season was a really good one, some say even the best of the Capaldi era, and we did indeed get some fantastic episodes.  For me the best, personally, was Knock Knock, which featured David Suchet (I grew up on his Hercule Poirot portrayal) and had that Gothic Horror feel to it, together with a strong duo of "episode leads".

The season saw some strong linked episodes, both with the monk invasion on the Earth, and the two part finale resulting in how the actual Cybermen where created.  This ties Capaldi to the first doctor (remember, ever incarnation has one of the pre-reset doctors they mirrored themselves to, for Tennant this was clearly Davison for example, the 5th, based on the actors own childhood "doctor") and the christmas special seems to be going to take place at the moment the first Doctor will regenerate - watch The Tenth Planet for getting the reference of the closing moments of the finale.

It was a highly enjoyable ride, and Clara was replaced firmly this season with the companion duo of Bill Potts who brought the awe in the role, and Nardole, who brought the comic relief and tech wizz. 

Now to look forward on who will become the newest Doctor!

White Dwarf June 2017

With the arrival of a new edition of Warhammer 40.000 (yes, I fell to it`s siren call as well) it isn`t a suprise most of the magazine is dedicated to this.

Though somewhere in between there are some other articles as well hehe...

But as I said, the main part is all about 40k.  Starting outside the regular adverts, with a nice heap of "fluff", we soon get insights into the new rulesystem, as well as a step by step battle report of sorts where all the features are explained, as are the new mechanics.

Perhaps intresting is that in both the "known people" armies, as well as the Tale of Four Warlords pieces, it keeps coming to the fore that Power Levels are more the chosen way to play then the "old" points system.  Something I agree on personally as I said with the Codex Chaos, those PL, while open to mild abuse like any rulesystem, make regular games far smoother to "pick up".  And if someone games the system?  Well, they'd be out of a game by turn 2 from my part...

Amidst all that 40.000 violence, there is also a nice interview with the various illustrators that work for Games Workshop, as well as a large fluff piece on the Blades of Khorne in Age of Sigmar.

The paint splatter piece of course deals about the new Primaris marines as well as the Deathguard, but needless to say those techniques can be carried over to any model.

Ow, and the Temporal Distort piece... I had that one, 20 years ago ;-)

On the Painting Desk 1

A new thingy I wanted to try out on my blog, in kind of a replacement regular feature of Inspirational Lego, is On the Painting Desk.

Not that this is going to be anything flashy or such, but more of a weekly oversight of what I *hope* to be working on during the week.

Now, this feature will appear on saturdays where able, though for the first one it`s already sunday... as I forgot to write it yesterday evening, oopsie.  As such, this is a picture of this morning, after an almost all nighter painting marathon completing two units, but those will be uploaded later in the week.

For the coming week, I have a few things lined up to do some work on:

* Bob the Psychedelic Orc: don`t ask, I`ll dedicate a blogpost to him in the hopefully not so far future

* Steeds of Slaanesh: already from the lot of the Haul Report earlier this morning, I put on their "base colours" already to await that Army painter thing.  Never used washes like that, so just awaiting my mail order for them to arrive and try them out.

* Aldebrand Ludenhof: he will be the commander of my Age of Sigmar force that I`ll be fielding in august, and what better model for a mostly old Empire army then a classic Elector Count.

* Hellborn Fallen Sisters: 6mm "basic space marines" infantry for my FWC Emperor's Children

That`s the plan for the coming days to work on a bit, though with the AoS deadline looming closer, warhammer figures will be pushed forward some more.

The Haul Report 88

Another week has past by, and some nice additions have found their way into my possession once again.

The first one was long awaited, as it was first set for release in february.

But now the latest book of Tolkien has been released, Beren and Luthien, telling the story of the lovers that are often referenced to in the Lord of the Rings.  I picked up my copy at my local bookmonger, Standaard Boekhandel in Mortsel.

The other thing I acquired was this nice find on eBay, 20 steeds of Slaanesh for the epic 40k range, which will be used as Emperor's Children bike troops in Future War Commander. 

If you see what they ask for the old epic plastics these days, at less then 5 pounds including shipping this was a truly great find.

Well, that`s it again for this week, see you again in 7 days.