OWAC VI - Slagdarg the Torturer

Slagdarg is the official torturer of Castle Wittgenstein: not particularly bright, this mutant ogre is fully dedicated to his job, and keeps questioning his guests... without listening to their answers.

To build this character, I have modified the Gutlagg Executioner model designed by Jes Goodwin by separating the head from the body, trimming down the shoulders, then lenghtening the torso by adding the upper armour piece of a Kruleboyz boss. I thought the chains, locks and keys would fit nicely with the honorable profession of Mr. Slagdarg.

Slagdarg's mutations consist in a bright green skin with orange hairs on his arms. Not exactly my comfort zone... 

In the end, way too much time spent on this model:

May's production:

See you in June with what's left to paint!

Ogre bodyguard

Ultimate addition to my Mordheim warband, the mercenary ogre (MM41). I still don't know how I should have painted the shirt (too much white here), but I'm pleased to see this model finished :)


And the whole mercenary warband:

St Quintus executionner

You've seen the converted model before, here it is now with some colours. A lot of black here, because I wanted to hide these ugly furred boots. And I should have spent more time on the flesh tones...

The result is a little bit monotonous I'm afraid, even if I tried to paint the severed heads with blue, green and purple tones.

With the warden of St Quintus prison:

Starting a new unit: the Watch

It's been one year since I've initiated this Empire army project and so far, I haven't painted any mandatory troops. It was time to fix that :)

The Helblitzen (or halberdiers) will represent the honourable members of the Guild of Lamplighters and Watchmen. In other words, the Watch...

Excerpts from Mad Alfred's sourcebook:

The main objectives for the Guild of Lamplighters and Watchmen are to: (1) ensure that all street lamps in the town are lit within one hour of sunset and extinguished at dawn; (2) call out the hours of the night and the state of their patrol (“one o’clock and all is well”); and (3) take into custody or spot fine anyone disturbing the public peace. Several patrols of five to eight men are assigned to the solidly-built Watch barracks located in each district. 

[...] Like many of the large towns and cities in the Empire, Pfeildorf is divided into separate administrative districts, within which are smaller neighbourhoods. The frequency of Watch patrols vary by district with the most regular occurring in the Alderhorst district. The number of patrols lessen the further away a district is from the hill though the number of Watch in a patrol increases. Watch patrols consist of two to six men led by a Sergeant.

So, the idea is to build a regiment gathering patrols of the different districts of the town, each one having its own particularities and coats of arms.

Source: Mad Alfred's sourcebook on http://www.madalfred.com/

• Alderhost is the oldest and most affluent district, hosting Castle Alderhost (1 on the map), the residence of the Grand Baroness Toppenheimer;
• Sölhaffen and Reikhafen are the busiest areas in Pfeildorf, with docks along the River Söll and the Upper Reik;
• The Neusüdentor is a new district, with many craftsmen, families, and small shops; here, watch patrols are often augmented by members of the militia hired by the Hall of Guilds (7);
• The Mórrsfeld district is dominated by St. Quintus Prison (22); members of the Watch include here Warden Ludolf Bosch, and Theboald Grimm, Chief interrogator and Torturer of St. Quintus;
• and finally Schwarzwache is a poor and sinister district, said to be haunted.

I'll start with the Mórrsfeld district and St. Quintus Prison.

The warden is a MM62 citizen (CZ13), slightly converted with the addition of a bunch of keys for the jails. I'm still unsure about the Chief interrogator and torturer, but I have already prepared the Executioner: a hooded ogre from the MM42 range :)

2016 re-cap

Last post of the year, it's time to have a look at what I have painted and collected over the last 11 and a half months.

Painting...

No suprise here, except a miniature for railway modelling and a Bood-Wargames dwarf , I've focused my efforts on my Empire army, using mainly the Marauder Miniatures sculpted by Aly Morrison and Trish Carden.

Since January, I've been able to paint 34 models, including 7 MM60 fighters, 10 MM62 citizens, 5 MM64 halflings, 7 MM65 flagellants, 1 MM41 ogre, 1 unreleased Marauder wizard and 3 Citadel miniatures (F2 fanatic, C46 mastersmith and TL8 merchant).

My first completed unit is the flagellants, painted using a faded palette of brown, green and grey colors. Considering what the 'Eavy Metal team painted 25 years ago, I wish I had added some details on the robes and the banner and used more colors. Well... maybe for the second batch of flagellants, initiated with a Citadel model sculpted by Aly Morrison.

(source: http://www.solegends.com/marauder/mm65flagellants.htm)

The second unit I'm working on is the militia hired by the Guildmasters of Pfeildorf. My initial plan was to use the leather tones of the gambesons to unify the different models (mainly composed of MM62 citizen). But over the last few months, I've realised that painting elaborate coat of arms designs was quite fun, and I've started to rework the militia by adding townsfolk and shield bearers. I still have one rank to paint (including the standard bearer and the musician) to consider this regiment complete: hopefully, Christmas holidays will be sufficient to paint the 5 missing models.

The third unit to complete is composed of hired soldiers, mainly equipped with great swords. Considering them as mercenaries is the only way I've found to include the fighters of the MM60 range. So far, only 5 models painted. More to come next year!

The fourth unit I have in mind are the 20 mandatory halberdiers of the 3rd edition army list... well, not much progress here, with only one beta-test model (shield to re-paint).

... and Collecting

2016 has been a great  year for the oldhammer collectors, with the release by Wargames Foundry / Warmonger Miniatures of the Empire Magic Users initially designed for Marauder Minatures. So far, I've only succeeded in painting Magic User MU9. Still 4 wizards to complete  (admittedly not the finest miniatures, particularly MU1 and MU3)

(From left to right: Magic Users MU1, MU3, MU6, MU7 and MU9 - check this link for further details)

On a more personal point of view, I've finally been able to complete my MM60 collection, by acquiring the last missing fighter (F20), and I'm slowly filling the gaps in the MM62  citizens.

Last but not least, I've been lucky enough to pick up two unreleased Marauder Miniatures: an archer (already identified by the CCM Wiki) and a crossbowman, never seen before. And in both cases, the sculpting job is really outstanding!

So what's next?

As I said, my top priority is the completion of the militia. After that, several possibilities:

• adding a second rank of hired swords;
• starting the halberdiers;
• painting a regiment of archers (including the unreleased model).

Now my recent acquisition of the unreleased crossbowman raises a lot of questions: should I paint it, or try instead to find a way to make duplicates of it, so that I can field a regiment of 100% Marauder shooters? I'll see what I can do next year...

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Militiamen #7 and #8

Initially, I was planning to use the MM41 ogre as a bodyguard for the leader of the militia. In the end, they didn't fit on a single 40x40 base, and I've replaced the merchant by a halfling from the MM64 range (reference HL4).

As you can see, I've tried to keep the same colors as those used for the spearmen: leather, beige, black and red. And my militia has now two full ranks :)