The Empire Road to Volganof... with chaotic interludes

[Codsticker]

Very interesting...perhaps the Forstjaeger are from an area that is heavily forested; the armour more incidental than necessary for woodsy combat.

[Naitsabes]

Very interesting...perhaps the Forstjaeger are from an area that is heavily forested; the armour more incidental than necessary for woodsy combat.

cheers, Codsticker. Sure, your guess is as good as mine.

[Ragsta]

Such lovely models again, and so nice to see some of those lovely old Empire sculpts!

[Naitsabes]

Belated thanks, Ragsta. cheers!

--------------
25Jan2021
Why would it take so long to update? Not sure, I think taking pictures just isn’t my favorite thing to do (though posting pictures and chatting a bit with you certainly is). Well, I have been painting over the last couple month and some of it was Empire, so here we go, the promised Blazing Sun Knights:
A unit mostly with the old command here


And then not quite as old here


The latter are from a Blazing Sun upgrade pack that come out much later than the plastic knights. I always liked the bits but it seemed a bit pricey for what it was and then it was gone. Then for years one could spend a fortune on email if any came up at all and so I bid my time (…or rather just gave up). Until, one random day, a fine gentlemen going by gorfung on EEFL and elsewhere just stumbled upon some in a lonely hobby store somewhere in the frozen north that had a treasure trove of old GW. And, instead of making a fortune on email he passed it on to fellow hobbyists at cost. This of course meant painting up all the old metal Blazing sun I had in my stash and filling up the units with plastic knights to make use of the two commands.

So, Grandmaster facing off. very old on the left and less old but still old by now (and technically a unit champion) on the right.



And standard bearers



And musicians

(okay fine, there was no musician for the original set, that one is a hack job)

Lastly troopers, some sit in the saddle a bit better than others. I did go full on green stuff/mold to make enough of the shields. Helps give the unit a bit more character.


This completes my tetrad of the 4^th edition Knightly Orders. One hobby life goal off the list.

Upward and onward!

[Morglum Necksnapper]

Awesome! Getting all nostalgic...

[D6damage]

Wow. I love these. Another excellent addition to your amazing project. I love the warm nostalgic feeling your units create.

I don't know if it's just because there wasn't an internet back then, but I don't remember seeing anyone at the time having lovingly converted, fully painted units like this. Most units you saw in real life were a bit rag-tag and badly done (including mine!) - the only nice ones were in the pages of White Dwarf, and they were just in the familiar 'Eavy Metal style. So to see real life, massive units, properly done up in all their pageantry is really great.

It's what we all dreamed of doing ourselves, but never had the time/dedication/skill to do. So it's like: you ticking off one of your hobby life goals vicariously ticks mine off too! Thank you!

[Naitsabes]

Thanks, Morglum. Nostalgia is what this is all about.

Wow. I love these. Another excellent addition to your amazing project. I love the warm nostalgic feeling your units create.

I don't know if it's just because there wasn't an internet back then, but I don't remember seeing anyone at the time having lovingly converted, fully painted units like this. Most units you saw in real life were a bit rag-tag and badly done (including mine!) - the only nice ones were in the pages of White Dwarf, and they were just in the familiar 'Eavy Metal style. So to see real life, massive units, properly done up in all their pageantry is really great.

It's what we all dreamed of doing ourselves, but never had the time/dedication/skill to do. So it's like: you ticking off one of your hobby life goals vicariously ticks mine off too! Thank you!

Thanks (and you're welcome )! The rag-tag units is very much young me as well. I think free 'time' hasn't really changed that much, if anything it is less now than as a care-free youngster. 'Skill' maybe, though practice is probably the better word. 'dedication' is the key word. By which I mean much less dedication on my end to alcohol, loud music and other unsavory pursuits.

[Naitsabes]

6Feb2021

Hot on the heels of the last update (by my standards only), here we go again. This is a bit of a catch up of things I painted but hadn’t photographed yet.

I did paint up some more Nuln troops. A small unit of handgunners and a trusty old Engineer. Nothing to special. Will they feature at Volganof? Who knows, they might, depending on how I want to man those walls.



I quite like the Engineer model. He looks so academic from the front but is actually carrying a big bad gun on his back. Tried to make the barrels have a blueish tint, which sort of worked, but didn’t photograph too well.




On the chaos side, Mortkin continues to muster forces. I keep trying to slip guys in but, he is rather picky. Turned down Mister ThreePotatoeHeads.


AND this friendly Herald of Tzeentch.




At this rate, it is anybody’s guess when the Chaos side is ready for the assault. But, they will come. I just know it.


A while back I finished the last major building for Volganof (as long as one counts the walls and fortifications on a separate tab). A bit of a beast as the print didn't come off the machine cleanly. I dremel-ed around to make the stonework passable. For the second floor windows I glued in a simple mesh, not sure where that is from but I think it looks alright for 'fantasy medieval'. The overall design is a bit odd. What kind of old-growth trees did they have to chop down for those timbers? Better not tell the Wood Elves!

Anyway, it's massive, it'll look good in the back row of houses at the table's edge. D'Waldo, the master architect of Volganof, approved of the dimensions. Stairs and railings are to code.





I did mess around with camera settings in natural light. Photography is still hit-and-miss for me. mostly miss.

So, now there is only walls and gates and gallows and woods and hills to do. Table is practically done… oh, and I need to to the rest of the cobblestones for the city part of the board. About half way through that process. A bit tedious.

Noticed I am going on seven years with this project log but it should not take another seven to see the Volganof part through. Upward and onward!

[Codsticker]

Great update Naitsabes. Wonderful painting, it's great to see this project is still chugging along.

6Feb2021
Noticed I am going on seven years with this project log but it should not take another seven to see the Volganof part through. Upward and onward!

Slow and steady wins the race!

[Naitsabes]

Great update Naitsabes. Wonderful painting, it's great to see this project is still chugging along.


Slow and steady wins the race!

or so they say. But I hear the sun burns out in a few billion years. I am worried...
---------------------------------------------------------

2Mar2022
Wow. A year ticked by without updates. Lame!
I did paint quite a bit and even quite a bit of Empire. But first the most important update:



I know, exciting, right? We bought a house and now use your imagination. Trashy tent gone, assorted crap gone and there it is, a beautiful foundation. Shed of dreams built and bam, the place to battle for the fate of Volganof. Now the wife has decreed that other things have priority, double-pane windows, exterior paint and other nonsense. But, I still like to think of it as the slab of opportunity. Time will tell.

In terms of Empire painting I’ve kept plucking away at a Nuln/Gunnery School army. Let’s start out with a crappy picture of two more engineers (promoted from classic gun crews).


And some Outriders.



I tried sticking with mostly black but couldn’t help but add in a bit of color on the coats. Next up Pistoliers, led by an Outrider of course.


I haven’t finalized an army list but I figure there should be some guard to defend the artillery pieces. Here are the Lions of Nuln lead by a plucky captain (I believe that is an Avatars of War model).



And of course front and center in a Gunner School army should be the artillery train.

Can’t let those fobs at the Altdorf college claim only they do cutting edge technology. I have quite a few more pieces but ran out of time to snap pictures.

[Naitsabes]

...and part II. (10 pic max? is warseer trying to tell me something?)

But, here are some bonus models:



Valten MkII. That model was a bit of a struggle and in the end I just gave up on the cape. It’s still a bit too ‘Red Period’ but I couldn’t dial it back more without major rework. Maybe I will revisit that guy in a couple years. The wizard is Frostgrave plastic. Quite a nice kit, looking forward to putting together a few more.

Alright. Upward and onward, will make every effort to not let be another year until the next update.

and p.s. is there more activity in the project log section? Amazing! will root around, I see some old favorites.

[Codsticker]

Great additions Naitsabes. I really like the dark armour on the pistoliers.

[D6damage]

Great to see you posting on here again. Lovely work as always. Keep the dream alive!

[mousekiller]

A lot of great work here, these miniatures are beautiful! I have had knights on the work table before, but sadly they always find their way back on to the shelf of shame.

[Zemlod]

Always happy to see the great updates to a great thread

[Naitsabes]

18Mar2023

Thanks for the kind comments, guys. Really appreciate it.

Alright. Upward and onward, will make every effort to not let be another year until the next update.

Well, every effort wasn’t enough. It has been a year since the last update. It’s not that I don’t paint, it just evidently is too much of a hurdle to drag miniatures from the deepest storage, fumble around on a camera with mixed results and then fumble around on a computer some more. But, I have a plan. More on that in a bit.

First, to get back in your good graces, here is a unit of classic pistoliers.



Two of their numbers are Avatars of War models. Full metal horses with terrible gaps that served as a reminder for me that not all was good in the old days. But, I really like them now.




On to the meat of this update, how do make myself update this project log more often. Here is my cunning plan: Locally, we have recently started an escalation type league where we paint some miniatures each month and then meet up and play monthly with our growing forces. As a twist, we start out with 1500pts of a main army and paint up/grow an allied contingent. In my case the main army is Dwarfs and the allies….the Empire. So, that means I will paint ~200pts of Empire each month and, they won’t be sequestered away in deep storage because I need them for gaming each month. How hard can it then be to snap a few pictures every month? Maybe even snap a few more from the game? Let’s see how that plan survives contact with reality.

Now, month 1 was February but it was a bit different to give everyone a chance to get organized. No allies, just the main army and a baggage cart. Here is what I brought:


(minus the photo-bombing Wight King of course. Also, I left off the second cart, that pony had an easy day)
Sadly, no pictures from the game (it even was such a glorious victory for the doughty dwarfs). This was before I hatched my plan. But, here are more baggage trains.





So, if all goes to plan, there will be an update at the end of the month…fingers crossed.