Horus Heresy: 2nd Thallax Cohort completed

Just a quickie today, the second half of the Thallax unit i posted last entry is complete:

I have six more of these to do but the last lot will be special weapon troopers and i need to convert the guns a little. A mate at the club is sorting me out with some plasma weapons for the job :-D

Horus Heresy: Mechanicum Tech Thralls and Thallax

More on this project today with half of my second unit of Thallax and also the first 10 Tech Thralls:

Best way to describe Tech Thralls is as tough crap guardsmen... yeah they are hardcore lethal hahaha! They do provide numbers and, objective campers and cheap road blocks to screen my more valuable robots from enemy assault units.

Horus Heresy: Starting up the Mechanicum

My computer has been in for repairs for most of this week so its kind of a photo dump post coming up haha. Since finishing the last warmaster commission i have begun work on my Mechanicum army for the Horus Heresy 30K games that some of my club are starting up:

Archmagos Draykavac

Magos Dominus

Magos Dominus

Magos Dominus

Thallax Cohort 1

A good start so far, i have the character models that i will regularly be using completed and one of the Thallax squads which are troop units. Im starting with the core of my force, the units that i will be fielding in nearly every game so i have another two squads of Thallaxi to build and paint, a pair of Castellax Robots and a squad of Tech Thralls.

When all these are painted i will look to pick up some of the more flashy elements of the range with the larger battle robots and elite troops hehe, small acorns and all that!  

Warmaster: Goblins and Wolves!

Here are the Goblin Wolf riders and Wolf Chariots finally completed:

And also a shot of the entire force as it stands! My client has picked up a Giant and some Rock lobbers which i will be picking up next week to paint. I'm pleased with how the force has turned out, it looks very cohesive when sat together like this and will hopefully do him proud on the table. 

Warmaster: Here comes Da Bosses!

Here are the characters for the Orcs n Goblins army im working on:

Chariots and Wolf riders still WIP, but hope to finish them by tomorrow!

Warmaster: Goblins! thousands of them!

Well maybe not thousands, but three regiments haha:

As before, they are done to match an existing scheme, and there is another regiment of them already completed. Next up on this project will be all the characters, two wolf rider regiments and two chariot regiments to round out this phase... i believe giants and rock lobbers are being sourced hehe 

Guildball: The life and times of Sherwin Matthews

Recently i sat down with Sherwin Matthews, Lead Writer at Steamforged Games for a chat, dojo and catch up... Sherwin is also one of my best mates so tracking him was easy, him not impeaching his NDA was the difficult part haha....


So Sherwin, how did you come to start working for the Guildball guys?

My involvement began one Wednesday in the bar at the club, i was chatting with Mat (Hart) about the game he was developing, all the crazy talk of guilds and football and mascots etc, it sounded really good. I asked if he had any background written up yet, to which he said no... i offered to submit a story based on a couple of the characters which he loved and got asked to write the fluff for the whole book!

Initially i was part time as i had other work commitments but over the summer the guys asked me to become the full time Lead Writer at Steamforge, an offer i could not turn down, and i've been doing this since August... My first event with the team was Gencon! (living the dream of many hobbyists! Rid)

Over the last two years i have worked on Season 1, 2 and 3 of Guildball and also wrote the background for the recent Darksouls Board game.

Impressive, how does it work, i imagine for Darksouls you have tight predefined arcs to follow but for Guildball being entirely "Your" creation as it were, how does the process begin for stories etc?

Some stories i write as the thoughts have crossed my mind but others come from an idea by the development team where i am usually give a rough brief and then will have a free reign over where to take it unless its part of a key character or arc.

We have seen various updates come through on how Season 3 will be changing the game, have you had much involvement with the development side and can you give me some pointers... I'm a relative Guildball newb, not played anywhere near as much as i would have liked with painting commitments.

I've not had much in the way of input beyond that of most players; playing games and chatting with the guys about what works what doesn't etc 

What i can say is how each season will in addition to bringing new models in the form of players and Guilds to the game but will also be used as a way to keep each Guild and every player in each Guild a valid option... We do not want to be in the situation where one line up is dominating the world and only a set 6/8 models out of the 11 or more for each team get used. This is not healthy for the game and would lead to stagnation in the meta and disquiet among the community.

Its our aim for play style to determine your line up within any given Guild rather than "net decking"..

So its not just  the story that evolves in Guildball, the teams themselves also do with the advent of "Veteran" players, versions of existing players further along there own arcs. How does the design process for new players like the veterans and also new models meet up with the story side of things?

Usually it is model drives story, i get the concept art or renders with a quick synopsis and go from there but some times as with Veteran Katalyst and the Sun worshiping Hunters of Theorn and Hearne the story will drive model development in new ways.

So as a writer what do you find the easiest and hardest parts of the job?

The writing!

No, but seriously sometimes the words will just flow and i can get a lot of work done in a single session such as the fight between Ghast and the Bear... To bring the Hunters to life more we needed a character whose role in the ongoing arc was minimal, and one who would need many sessions of change to realistically bring them about so in that Ghast was the perfect choice, a big Michael Myers type brute but one who coasts through seasons 1 and 2.

Making big changes to characters can be the hardest part, some are integral to the arc either by being centre place to events or like Boiler, provide a very human voice amongst a team of psychos and freaks like the rest of the Butchers... It would take a lot for a character like him to be killed off or undergo massive changes. 

SteamCon looked a blast, really good fun - not just for the players, but for you guys at Steamforged Games as well! All of the staff on the panel had genuine smiles, and Mat and Rich both looked very proud, rightly so!

Ha! I think so. Obviously i can't speak for Mat or Rich, but personally, i found the experience extremely humbling. We are blessed with an incredibly supportive and devoted community, who really went out of their way to let us know how much they like our games and universe, which was really something. I met a lot of people over the course of the show, and got to discuss their favourite moments and characters, as well as their own ideas about some of what was motivating our Guilds behind the scenes . All in all, it was a fantastic show, and i already can't wait for the next one!

Now that the dust has settled on Steamforged Games' first convention, is it all hands-on deck for the Season Three launch?

Absolutely. Season Three is already with us in many ways - we have the Season Three rules out now via the website and Kick Off!, as well as the new Season Three Plot Cards and Player Cards, but we obviously have yet to see all the models being released during the new season, and of course... the storyline! I'm excited for people to see what's been happening in the Empire of the Free Cities since the release of Season Two.

But of course, behind the scenes, we have quite a lot going on these days. Season Three is just one release you can expect this year...



I guess it doesn't stop! On to Season Four, Dark Souls, and the new game mentioned during the keynote?

Nope! I actually finished writing Season Three a little while back now, and have been working on planning Season Four and Five since SteamCon, between working on other projects like Dark Souls. I'm very excited about the new game which we mentioned at SteamCon; Mat and I have been discussing the lore and building that world for some time when we get the chance, so seeing it begin to come together is going to be very rewarding i'm sure.



Sounds great, really looking forward to it! So, back to Guildball for one final question, who are your favourite Guilds, and characters to write about at the moment?

That's a tough one, which i've been asked a couple of times, and really don't have an answer for. Honestly, I tend to get really into each of the characters and Guilds as I write material for them, which means most of them have been my favourites at one time or another. At the moment, I have some really cool ideas for the Engineer's Guild and Alchemist's Guild though, which i think will be fun to explore. You've got so many vibrant and varied characters across those two Guilds in particular, that its very fertile ground...

Some of Sherwin's own players!

Many thanks Sherwin, not just for the insights into the world and the mind creating it, but also for getting me back playing and and on the road to not being rubbish haha cheers mate!

Warmaster: Orcs n Goblins

Starting up January's commission with these Warmaster Orcs n Goblins

My client had already painted about 1/3rd of his army so this is not as grand an undertaking as some projects, and i had a scheme and style to match.

On the bench are 3 regiments of Goblins to match an existing one, and 7 characters, then its two regiments of both wolf riders and chariots :-D 

Wasteman: Wrath of Haramborg!!!

In a few short weeks Thunderchild Miniatures will be launching a new kickstarter campaign after being invited on to the Make/100 programme by Kickstarter themselves. With this event the pledges are limited to only 100 to encourage innovation over mass production... so what better way to take part than with a honking great cyborg Gorilla hahaha

  

Is this not awesome, i mean its a monstrous angry primate with mechano fists and legs, with bionic eyes ftw! I will be in for one for sure!

Ive been able to see Jason's progress on the sculpt over the last few weeks:

And as can be seen from these pics he towers over the Knights of Gnar and also the Rokka... not a small model either! Haramborg will be a Behemoth in the Wasteman game, probably of similar cps and power to the Hydra and Chimera from the MODz campaign last year.

Speaking of the Knights of Gnar, all our minis should be arriving at Wasteman HQ next week from the caster, and the cards the following week so postage (And painting!) is imminent hehe 

More updates on this to follow along with all the painting of the shiny new toys!

Knight Models: Justice League!

A few of the club guys started playing the Marvel game when it was released but nothing really jumped out at me to start, and i have painted a number of the minis for others so i held fast and watched it grow.

Fast forward to a month or so ago and the DC Trinity box was announced and the Knight Models released the DC version of the game, along with rules for nearly thirty of the minis from the street level Batman game and i was in!


Here are the eight minis i have for the Justice League faction so far:

DC Trinity - Wonder Woman, Superman & Batman

Cyborg

The Flash

Batgirl

Starfire

Black Canary

Initially im going to stick with the good side of the Justice League, and will add to my force in due course but i want to get a few more games in with these before picking up more.

Guildball: Rounding out the Morticians

With these two the current line up of Morticians are now complete:

Casket

Obulus - Captain

That's it for Guildball for a bit, i have a few days till i start the first proper job of 2017 so its time to get a small project or two out of the way.

Onwards to 2017!

Happy New Years all, i had got an early night after watching some Guardians of the Galaxy, but ended up seeing midnight as the fireworks from next door woke us up haha!


This last year has been the busiest yet, i've managed to paint up 1040 models, smashing the highest previous recorded by nearly 200... looking back i don't think i've painted that much even when i was a mad ork player back in the day. The vast majority of these have been commissions which is great but also leaves very little time for my own projects so over the last few months i've begun to sell off more old forces and unstarted stuff.

This year im sticking to one commission a month, and making time for my own projects along the way as i don't want a mountain of unpainted, unbuilt or untouched toys sat about. With this in mind im intending to not start any new games... can it be done, we shall see, but that's the plan.

Over the next few months i have two new projects that i want to make headway into: Disciples of Tzeentch for AoS and Mechanicum for 30K, Neither force will be ridiculously big but having sold all existing AoS forces im relishing the change of style and Forgeworlds Mechanicum are some beautiful models, the club is running campaigns for both games so i look forward to playing them, along with more Guildball and also some Kings of War.



In last years resolutions i planned the following:

1) Fully painted Warmachine & Hordes
2) Fully painted Darklands
3) Fully painted Abyssal Dwarves for KoW

1) Nearly, had 6 models to go but have quit the game and sold up all my remaining models.
2) Nope, not touched them all year d'oh!
3) Yep, and sold the force on to make way for a new one


This year im going for:

1) Fully painted Mechanicum 30K army
2) Fully painted Disciples of Tzeentch army
3) Play more Guildball!