May 16, 2011

Wilhelm's Tale

Standing atop a snowy hill, Wilfried was looking north, into the depths of Drakwald forest. A year has passed, since he last stood at this precious place..

He still clearly remembered his perilous journey through the wintry forest, walking along a crooked path that would take him straight to the top or Erlenberg. He recalled how eerie the hill was, covered in silent impenetrable mist. The smell of sulfur in the air. And his shock, when he saw scattered, burnt stones, where the cloister gate stood, just a few days ago. All too well did he remember the fear that gripped him, when he saw black stains of blood and pale, motionless bodies. All hope seemed lost, when he stumbled through empty corridors, smelling of burnt flesh, hearing nothing but his own footsteps. 

He would never forget his surprise, when he entered the chapel. In the corner, just behind the altar, stood a man clad in plate armour, wielding a two handed warhammer, covered in drying blackened blood. What struck him most were the man’s eyes, burning with bright inner fire like molten metal. Thus he met the man, who would change Wilfrieds life. Ludwig Eberhart.

He briefly looked towards the ruined chapel wall. A year ago, he and Ludwig prayed to Sigmar here. They swore revenge and took the first steps of a long and perilous journey. Much has changed since then and they wandered wide and far before finally returning to Erlengerg. The ruins were already overgrown with tall grass, but today, they were no longer alone. Wilfried held his sword high and a hundred loyal men roared a thunderous cry of triumph.


So begins my next WHF army, Empire, which I will use to take part in a "Tale of many gamers", that I am organizing at our local club. For the army, I decided on a Middenland color scheme with strong blue and yellowish white, complemented by bright purple.

We are starting at 500 points, playing using the Warhammer skirmish rules. My starting list is as follows:

Ludwig Eberhart, Warrior Priest, GW, Armour of meteoric Iron
2x 5 Archers
12 Halberdiers, Std, Mus
15 Flagellants
Mortar

So far, I finished the 10 archers mounted on 5 man skirmish movement trays. I hope I managed to recreate the atmosphere of my story through the bases :) I will be glad if you vote on Coolmini.





Na závěr snad už jen původní, česká verze příběhu, abyste se pobavili nad krkolomnosti překladu :)

Wilfried stál na zasněženém vrcholku kopce a zamyšleně hleděl na sever, do hlubin nekonečného Drakwaldského lesa. Od chvíle, kdy na tomto místě stál naposledy uplynul přesně rok.

Dosud si jasně pamatoval namáhavou cestu sněhem zapadlým lesem, zakončenou klikatou pěšinou, která vedla na samotný vrchol Erlenbergu. Vzpomínal si na zvláštní pocit, kterým ho naplnil podivně klidný, mlhou obestřený vrchol. Na zápach síry ve vzduchu. A své zděšení, když v mistech, kde stávala brána stejnojmeného kláštera spatřil jen doutnající ruiny. Až příliš dobře si vybavoval strach, který ho sevřel, když spatřil temně rudé skvrny a první těla. Beznaděj, když se, napůl ve snu, potácel zčernalými chodbami, aniž by zaslechl jakýkoli zvuk, kromě vlastních kroků.

Přesně si pamatoval překvapení, jaké zažil, když vstoupil do klášterní kaple a uviděl v rohu stát statného muže s obouručním válečným kladivem a v těžké plátové zbroji, celého potřísněného zčernalou krví. Nejvíc Konradovi ale utkvěly v paměti mužovy oči, které v šeru kaple plály jasným vnitřním ohněm, jako dva rozžhavené hřeby. Tak spatřil poprvé člověka, který mu měl změnit celý život. Ludwiga Eberharta.

Pohledem sklouzl k rozpadlé zdi klášterní kaple. Před rokem se na tomto místě společně s Ludwigem modlili k Sigmarovi. Přísahali pomstu a vydali se sami na strastiplnou pouť. Od té chvíle se mnohé změnilo a oni prošli dlouhou cestu, než se konečně na Erlenberg vrátili. Ruiny kláštera stačily zarůst vysokou trávou a dnes už tu nebyli sami. Wilfried pozvedl meč a sevřené šiky vojska se daly do pohybu.

Apr 17, 2011

Modular Gaming Board

Pff, it is done! These are my immediate feelings :)

This was one of the bigger things I have done. Taking a lot of space to work on, as well as time. Well, after 2 months, our hall can actually be walked through :)

This huge thing is a 6 piece modular gaming board, with semi fixed terrain. That means the forests and tower can be removed, but there is a rim denoting the place where they belong. Also, the other terrain pieces are glued to the board. Hopefully, it is still variable enough through the individual board positioning, so it will be interesting to play on. Speaking of which, I still have to carry this behemont to my gaming club U vycpaného pásovce.  I am having a test game on it on Monday, so will see how well it plays. Hopefully, it is not just nice, but also usable. We'll see.

Also, huge thanks to my girlfriend, who helped me immensely, during the whole process. And I am not talking about her being supportive, I mean her actually doing most of the trees, flocking.. well laying her hand on almost every part of the board in one way or another :)

In the future, I might write up a tutorial on doing modular boards, but with this one, I screwed too many things up, to really advise anyone on following my footsteps.










Apr 14, 2011

Prodej modelů

Fotky modelů, které prodávám. Po kliknuti se zvetsi. Na pozadani dodam fotky z jinych uhlu.

2x 11 Glade guardy, s muzikantem a movement trayem na 1x10 modelu.



7 Dryad a konvertena Branchwraith / Sampionka


6 Glade rideru (na fotce je jenom 5) + movement tray na 5 modelu


Wood elf lord s great weapnou



Treeman, 8 dryad a Drycha, nabarveni ve stejnem stylu


6 Wild rideru, muzika, sampik, vlajka


5 Dark rideru, muzika

Apr 3, 2011

Wizard's Tower and some walls

This month has been rather busy, because I am currently finishing my diploma thesis and the deadline is getting really close. But I managed to finish two minor terrain projects anyway.

The first is a Wizard's tower made of Hirstart blocks, which I casted some time ago, but had to repaint and flock. The original colour was sort of a brownish, which did not fit well with the rest of my terrain pieces, so I repainted it standard faded grey.

The other thing I finished is a couple quick and easy walls, to be used as obstacles for WFB. Just a bit of ruined fieldstone blocks glued to pieces of oval shaped HDF. Plus the obligatory flocking. I hope they last this nice for some time, as wear seems to be a major problem of any terrain made of dental plaster.. We'll see about that.

There is one other major major terrain project I'm working on right now, that I intend to publish fairly soon. Hopefully next week, depending on the availability of materials. Stay tuned :)




Mar 3, 2011

Bell Tower

I haven't done much on my miniatures lately, because I've been busy with a new toy. I borrowed some Hirst art molds from my friends :) For the past week, my room was littered with plaster blocks and the mess that comes when you cast plaster next to your laptop.. 

Well, yesterday, I finally managed to clean it up. The main reason being, I had enough blocks to finish the project I had been working on. After gluing it together, I was super relieved it all fit, as it's all to easy to get the angles wrong.. The painting is nothing fancy, some drybrush and the like. I am partially proud of the stained windows. Well, was, until I sprayed the whole thing in matt varnish. And for the first time, a can saying "Matt" really did produce super matt results. There went my nice windows.. 

But overall, I am happy with it. Time to take it to our club. And hope people are gentle with it and these pictures are not the only thing I am left with :) 

Feb 17, 2011

Kelian Durak by Rackham

This is my latest mini to date, finished this tuesday. I struggled to take pictures of it, as the original ones I took using a decent compact camera did not look good (as in not like the real thing). And it was this miniature and comments on a Czech WH40K board ThereIsOnlyWar (Link), that inspired me to take better pictures of my miniatures.

Couple days prior to painting this guy, I bought an airbrush, so this is my first miniature preshaded using an airbrush. Although originally, I was sceptical about getting one, it proved to be absolutely worth the money. It saved me loads of time on the cloak and it makes getting good transitions on bigger miniatures much, much easier. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is serious about painting miniatures for display.

The colour choices and composition of the piece are heavily influenced by a couple blogs I've been reading recently. Mainly MassiveVooDoo (Link) and Jeremie Bonamant Teboul's web (Link). Plus the colours are largely taken from a gorgeous version of the same miniature painted by Rusto (Link). Trying to replicate the legends, way of the lesser painter ;)




Wolfen Predator of Blood by Rackham

This miniature was major experiment for me. I always struggle with colour choices, often repainting certain areas multiple times, until I settle for a final tone. So I decided to paint this guy in a limited palette, using mainly blue for shadows, pale yellow for highlights and a bit of red brown for the straps. I wanted to make him look moonlit and in the end, I was very pleased with the result. It is not my smoothest paintjob, but the limited palette thing worked nicely and the vivid blood (done with Tamiya Clear red) really pops. Hope you like him.

Also, I forgot to mention. If you have any questions, suggestions on what to improve or comments in general, I'd love to hear. I appreciate constructive criticism a lot, even if I will not repaint the current model, I always like to hear what people like about it or what they think could be improved.