Tabletop world buildings: A review

Occasionally I will buy and paint scenery items for my local wargames club. The main criteria for this scenery are (in order);

1. It must be robust
2. It must be very pretty

Robust and impervious to damage are the critical because of the way wargamers tend to repack scenery at the end of an evenings gaming. I have lost track of the number of damaged items of scenery. This is the main reason why we do not invest exclusively in GW scenery. There are just far too many sticky out bits to break off!

Luckily the club is quite well off for funds, so I am able to experiment a little. One of these experiments arrive through the post yesterday.

 The models are a fantasy town house and cottage from a company called tabletop world. Tabletop world is a small company run by two friends in Croatia. The British pound is doing quite well at the moment so I was prepared to take the risk of ordering a couple of models via the web.

 The product:
I have photographed the models next to a random 28mm empire figure from my collection.

The models are cast in what appears to be a plastic, not resin as I thought when ordering. This means that they will be very capable of standing up to the mishandling that my club members will subject them to.

I sat down today to clean up the models. After a very detailed look, I put down my tools. There was absolutely no cleaning up required at all. No mould lines, no uneven base, nothing. Quite excellent.

The detail on the models is superb. and very well imagined. They will fit in very well into a warhammer world.

 I ordered the models on new years eve and therefore was able to take advantage of a promotion the company were running, which means that furniture was included.

This furniture is equally well modelled and came in excellent condition.
 

 

 The building roofs are detachable with details on the inside. Although this is of no use in WFB, it has a use in mordheim or roleplay environments.

My only complaint is that there is no fireplace depicted next to the chimney stack.

Verdict:
A resounding 10  / 10. Very  very highly recommended!

Old Throgg - complete

For the longest of times I have been playing a Warhammer Fantasy - Warriors of Chaos Troll army based around Throgg and because GW had never released a Throgg figure, I have been having to make do with marking one of my own trolls. Throgg is a troll king character who allows Trolls to be treated as a core choice. Recently I bit the bullet and elected to convert up a figure to properly represent this most important of all Trolls.

In the meantime...

Fantasy gaming blogs are currently active with rumours of imminent release of more warriors of Chaos Monsters/characters. Amongst the figures that are rumoured to be released is a model for Throgg. .

Oh GW! if only you had been quicker, you would have saved me the effort!!!!

Never mind, my Throgg figure is now finished.

 

For my Throgg figure, I had been using my oldest Troll figure. This is an old GW troll from the 1987 citadel catalogue. This is model that represents a thin haunched figure, smaller than the current models. Although this does not quite match the Throgg stories of him being the biggest and best of all Trolls, he is my oldest model in the army and I have developed a love for him Therefore I wanted, to persist with the model.

My way of getting around this was to say that Throgg is now very old and has grown demunitive with age. This would still leave the problem of him looking lost amongst his bigger Troll guard. Therefore I decided to give him a little help and provide his own bearer troll to carry him around. It feels like suitable support for a King.

In a previous post, I have discussed how he was assembled.

I choose to keep his skin colour similar to that used on the other Trolls in the unit. However, I wanted to mark him out as older. To achieve this I added more pink and skin tones into the brown / beige colour system. I also tried to paint his hair brighter than it should look, to represent a wig. I thought an old king would have a little vanity.

 Here is is with his unit (or bodyguard)..

 Hope you enjoy.

Throgg on the workbench

I have been playing a Throgg / troll based Warrior of Chaos army for a little time now. For those who don't know, Throgg is a troll king character who allows Trolls to be treated as a core choice. For my Throgg figure, I have been using my oldest Troll figure. This is an old GW troll from the 1987 citadel catalogue. 

Since I decided to paint up the army I needed to do something with the figure. Out of a sense of loyalty to the old figure, I wanted to retain him as my king, but I also wanted to make it clear he was the king. Therefore I needed to lift him up a little.

After a little thought I opted to have him lifted high on the shoulders of a troll slave. A was able to get my hands on the troll from the 7th edition box set. The base figure is modelled about to throw a stone bust of a dwarf. It took quite a bit of work to cut this away from the model, but it left him with raised arms that could look as if he is supporting the troll sat on his shoulders. I had to work hard to bend the legs of the metal troll to make him sit more.

I had to disguise where throgg sat by extending the grass skirt so it appears to hang down the back of his supporter.

I bent and then re bent the plastic trolls arms and wrists until his hand are in a position to appear to support the metal troll.

I had to repair a little damage to the arm muscles, but all in all, it worked better than I feared it might.

All that matters now is to paint the combined figure up....

Spartan Games: Town set - Dystopian wars

In an attempt to encourage playing of Dystopian Wars, a steam-punk game from Spartan games, I have had a go at painting up some scenery.

This latest set is a town scenery set. The game is played at a 1:1200 scale so these models are pretty small. For example the doors are approximately 1.5mm high.

To break up the collection I have painted in three main styles. The models above are stone with a slate roof. The remaining town buildings are brick with either clay or slate roof tiles.

There are 10 small houses, 4 medium houses, one manor house and a civic building. All told excellent value and sufficient to have a good go at making a small village. The models are well defined and easy to paint. This collection and the industrial set took a combined 5 painting sessions to paint the lot. I didn't worry too much about painting tidy because I am confident that my gaming club will have these wrecked pretty soon, but I am confident that these will add to our playing pleasure.

Now, all I need is an affordable sea!

Spartan Games: Industrial set - Dystopian wars

Almost two years ago a number of local plays brought Dystopian Wars miniatures from Spartan games and gave it a go. Despite the fact that the games were quite fun, for some reason the game failed to catch on. It may have been something as simple as the messy way the first edition rules were arranged within the book.

Now that some time has passed, a number of players have painted up their fleets and we are prepared to give the game another chance. We thought we would start with a few simple games with the standard fleet and then move up from there.

To support the effort, I have invested in some scenery items. The figures on this page are the contents of the Industrial set. Now it is important to remember that these are at 1:1200 scale, so are quite tiny. For example, the doors are around 1.5mm high! 

Finally, I was asked by Joe for a comparison shot between a Kingdom Death figure and figures from another manufacturer. I have included a photo here with two GW empire figures. I have raised up the GW figures so the bottom of shoe height is roughly the same. You will see that there is a massive difference between a 28mm GW model and the 32mm KD figure...

Dark Elf Bloodbowl team: Now in lilac

Each year my local gaming club host a bloodbowl league which tends to run with games every other week for around 3-4 months. Each year I try out a different bloodbowl team. To date I have tried Human, Halfling, Chaos Dwarf and Dwarf teams. 

This year I have decided to go with a dark elf team, and have set about painting up a bunch of guys. These are models I have previously managed to pick up cheap and therefore there is a mix of figures between two different editions of Bloodbowl. 

I went for a kind of purple / lilac colour which I kept as a single colour to make life easy for myself. I have managed to paint up the entire team in five painting sessions. This is remarkably quick for me!

For what it is worth I will start the league with 3 Blitzers, 1 runner, 7 line-elfs, 2 re-rolls and a fan factor of 3. I colour the bases to make it easier for me (and my opponent) to identify which model represents which type of player..

Wish me luck!

Kingdom Death: Pinup twilight knight

Unless you have spent the last year living under a rock, you will know about the phenomenon that is "kickstarter". It the current hot thing on kickstarter is a campaign to produce a boardgame called "Monster". This is a boardgame that is based around roleplay character type development similar to that you will find in D&D etc, but with a clever card based AI system for the monsters.

The campaign features 35mm models produced for the KingdomDeath company by a number of the worlds best sculptors. I decided to try before I brought and sampled two of their products. I showcased the "twilight knight" in yesterdays post and tonight I present for your viewing pleasure the female version the "Pinup twilight knight".

The company appear to enjoy producing definitely non-pc figures and this poor girls fits with this approach. Once I got over the fact that she is mostly naked, this model is an absolute pleasure to paint. The cast holds the detail well and was significantly flash free.

I hope you enjoy and if you feel inspired, then get a move on you only have around 5 hours left to invest...

Kingdom Death: Twilight knight painted

Like your typical toy solder voyeur, I have watch some companies ranges grow from a distance, always with the idea that I will buy one of their figures sooner or later. My relationship with KingdomDeath has always remained exactly as that, a love from a distance.

That was until they launched a kickstarter campaign. That was all I needed to encourage me to break my silence and make a commitment. However, before I splashed the cash I wanted to see just what the figures were like. So I ordered two.

With 24 hours of the kickstarter left, I have finished the first of the two and I thought I would share...

This model is known as a twilight knight and was part of a limited run. For what it is worth this is model 137 of 450 in a collectors edition. However, Adam Poots (the owner of the company) has announced that everyone who bids at survivor level will get a model as a Christmas gift.

The model is normally carrying a severed head; however the head was from a beast with many eyes and would not fit into lots of other settings, so I opted to omit it.

The models are crafted to 35mm which is noticeably bigger than 28mm. I do not believe that you can comfortably mix the two scales without noticing the difference.

The model is great and after painting I am very ready to invest in the campaign. If you intend to join me, then you had better be quick. The clock is ticking...

Mountain Chaos Troll

I have been putting together a Throgg based troll force, and have painted four Chaos Trolls to date. It is time to add a fifth..

 I had to order this bad boy via GWs mail order service; and elected to have it delivered to my local store. The process worked well and the figure was waiting for me within a week, so that system appears to work well.

I have continued to follow the same colour scheme as the remaining trolls. I now nearly have enough for a full unit. Will just need to devise a Throgg figure. If all works to plan that should be quite interesting....

More to come.

Charlie Kurganova: Top dog

I have treated myself to a little Christmas gift: from me to me! I ordered the "Kurganova boxed set" from a sweet little French company called "Raging Heroes". This is a set of three mock- Imperial guard commissars (and pet) which are definitely not PC. It took a little time to come, but just before Christmas a nice little package arrived through the post..

The models were nicely presented in a little cardboard box. Not quite sure why, but there you are! The figures were housed in bubble wrap and plastic bags within. Now Christmas has come and gone, I have allowed myself to have a go at painting and assembly.



The figures are cast in a routine white metal. They had quite a lot of flash, but working with GW figures over the years has taught me what to look out for and that patience at this time is always rewarded. The casts are pretty flat, and the limbs are far too thin to permit any attempt at pinning, so there was nothing left but to assemble and hope for the best.

First on the painting table is the pet dog "Charlie". This is quite a small model which would have been lost if I had just sat him on a base. So I elected to build him his own little pile of bones. A quick raid on the bits box and I was there..

Quite a cute little British bulldog; who for some reason is smoking a cigar and wearing a vaguely German helmet. I have said it once and I will say it again, the French can be a little strange at times.

 In hindsight, the fur is a little dark, but not bad for a start to the set. Next up come the sisters...

Scibor Ancient Egyption bases

In the last month I have been increasingly tempted by the Monster game kickstarter campaign. Before investing such a large chunk of money, I thought I would paint up a trial figure or two. I decided to buy myself two figures; the Twilight knight and the pin-up twilight knight

however, before painting I wanted to establish how I would present them, so I needed to make a decision on a base to use. After a few fun hours playing on the web; I have decided to use Scibor Miniatures Egyptian  Ruins 30mm bases. i knocked of excess scarab Beatles and have painted them in fairly muted tones. I want the attention to be drawn to the miniatures not the bases after all.