Dwarf Longbeards

When I got that WHFB 4th edition Dwarf Army book, I would stare at the pictures for hours and hours, wanting desperately to have every unit in the book, painted the same way. One of those units were the Longbeards (in the center).  I had all of the figures, but never painted them. I distinctly remember the night before one of our "grand battles" frantically gluing the bare metal figs onto bases just to have the unit on the table (heresy, I know). They were falling down off the base as I tried to move the unit. It was terrible. 

Anyway, the past few months I've been painstakingly working on the unit. I managed to sort through my collection, match each figure, get them in the same order as the picture, and even found the same shields. I did my best to faithfully recreate the unit in the picture, only taking artistic license in extreme circumstances. 

Example of artistic license - in the solo picture of this dude, his cloak is green, but I painted him blue to match the rest of the unit.

I was rushing to take pictures so the green background is not great. Ah well - the unit is done!

Herohammer Hammerers

In my continuing quest to hammer the backlog down, I finished this unit a few years ago. I never bothered to take a picture because I planned to sell them unpainted at one of the HMGS Convention flea markets, a.k.a. Wally's Basement, but they didn't sell. Then I painted them and was going to sell them painted, but never got the chance.  So...I changed my mind and decided to keep them. The other part of the story behind these guys is that when 5th edition WHFB was released, this was one of the first of the new sculpts of the revamped Dwarf army.  Obviously, they were new and shiny and I thought they were cool so I quickly bought them.  But staring at them unpainted for so long, the "sameness" started to wear on my and I realized I didn't really like them.  So they just remained unpainted and unloved for a long time (not even prepped).

Anyway, here they are.

The Return to Herohammer

Note: This post was apparently sitting in "draft" state for 3 years and I totally forgot about it. I never really finished the thought but I figured I'd just post it now and get it there. 

When I dove back into Warhammer and jumped on board the #Oldhammer movement, I really loved the nostalgia, the atmosphere, and most of all, the old sculpts (don't get me wrong, the new modern sculpts are amazing technical miniatures, but I feel like there's just some character missing from them).

But the era that Oldhammer focuses on is Warhammer 3rd edition which was just before my time. I discovered The Hobby and Warhammer when WHFB 4th edition was released in all it's glory, and that's the game that I hold dear.  I will always love it but I also thought I was the only one that loved that version of the game.  It was a time of crazy magic and zany characters; the oft derided "Red Era" where it seems like 50% of every new kit was painted bright red.   When combined with 5th edition, the over-the-top nature of army lists with 50% special characters that dominated the game was dubbed Herohammer, and not in a "charming, nostalgic" way.

The advent of Facebook Groups, however, seems to have provided a place for us forgotten, shunned few that actually loved that era, with red paint and Goblin Green bases.

Anyway, that was a long intro to say that once I found the Herohammer Facebook Group, the nostalgia bug bit me hard and I'm going headfirst into a group of projects that I've always secretly wanted to do. 

Dwarf King Kazador and Cannons

 

Another quick post with recently completed Herohammer units.  Once again this is a combination of things I've been meaning to paint (King Kazador) and things that were "half painted" and never completed.  

First up, a Dwarf "Siege Gun", from Marauder.  The cannon and crew were originally painted up by a buddy back when we first started playing Warhammer 4th edition in high school (he was a fan of the "25% allies" rules, with mostly a High Elf army...any lots of allies). He eventually gifted the cannon to me because I was primarily a dwarf player.  Any it has remained half-painted like this for about 30 years.

I wanted to keep the original theme of "red and yellow" but maybe a little less "ketchup and mustard". 

So the red became muted and the yellow became gold.  

For the crew, I repainted them with mostly red, using yellow as the spot color. 

Next - King Kazador.  I remember he was the first Dwarf special character I purchased soon after getting my hands on the newly released Dwarf Army book.  I used him in a number of games and he was pretty powerful, but for some reason I never got around to painting him.  Probably because I quickly bought and painted Thorgrim on the Throne of Power as well as Ungrim Ironfist.   Anyway, Kazador is ready for battle now. 

Not my best work on the cloak, but better than unpainted metal!

Finally, another half-painted unit.  My other Dwarf Siege Gun.  I painted this cannon myself and it was "done", but I never painted the crew.  After finishing the red cannon, it was time to complete this one as well.   

I didn't take a close up shot, but the cannon barrel was my first real foray into blending (which, back in the 90s, all I had to go on was basic instructions in white dwarf painting articles that definitely left out steps). Either way, I was pretty proud of myself with the dark blue-to-light blue transition on this barrel. I even hand-painted some of the dwarf runes listed in the army book.  

I left the barrel unchanged here (because it was good enough and it's good to look back on what you've done and how much progress you've made) .  But the wheels and the gold trim were never shaded or highlighted, so I finished that up here. 

The crew were completely unpainted. I often just borrowed the fully painted crew from my organ gun.  But now the blue cannon has a proper crew.  I even figured out that the little wooden stool was for the guy to light the cannon. I never realized that until just now. 

I forgot to paint the eyes on these guys - forgive me. 

Not sure why I included two similar pictures here...

Anyway, I'm very happy to have these done. 

Oldhammer Dwarf Swivel Gun

 It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. I’ve been slowly plodding away at various projects that I’ve always wanted to paint. My Projects of Shame are doing pretty well, but I also wanted to paint a few things that were either half completed or on my long term list.  

First up, a Dwarf Swivel Gun team. 

 I’ve had two of these kits since way back in high school when we were playing Warhammer 4th ed.  I can’t remember where I purchased them, but the models were cool and I wanted to use them.

 Back then, they weren’t in the Dwarf Army book (these were originally a 3rd ed unit), and couldn’t find any types of rules until I flipped through my Realms of Chaos book, and they had a unit listing for Chaos Dwarfs swivel guns.  I used those rules in a game against Le Coq Fou and his orc and goblin army.   Let’s just say….they were under pointed and over powered!  Two swivel gun teams just mowed down goblin units, boar boys, and chariots.  It was ridiculous. I also think that was the last time the swivel guns saw the battle field.  

Either way- I had quickly painted both units just to get them on the table, and the paint jobs were not good.  

here’s my first repainted unit with a side by side of on of the original paint jobs saved for posterity.  

I still have to decide the paint color scheme for the second swivel gun team, but it’s great to have the first team painted and ready to take the battlefield. 

Dwarfs vs Empire

In September 2021, we played another game of Warhammer Fantasy 4th ed. 

Shortly after Dwarf King Azegor defeated Grom the Paunch during the orc attack on his mountain fortress, word got out to the new, young, and brash Baron of Leitzburg, Edwin the III.   Newly named after the early death of his father Edwin the II, the young baron believed he needed to prove his worth to his new men, and mustered a small force to attack the Dwarfs believing they were in possession of the rumored warpstone that was in the area, causing all the recent conflict.  At this point, Edwin hadn't earned the right to wield the family heirloom, the Dragon Blade, and so he went into battle with his current blade the Blessed Sword.   If he could defeat the Dwarfs, he would prove his mettle and take up the family blade, and the true symbol of his real power as the Baron of Leitzburg.

So that's the background. 

Here's the pictures!

The young baron rashly decides to charge unto combat against the slayers, lead by Bakzharr the Unlucky. 

Not good for the young baron, fleeing the field!

..a defeat for the Empire.  It appears the young baron will not be wielding the Dragon Blade yet.

Dwarfs vs Orcs and Goblins - Assault on the Mountain Fortress

Back in May 2021, I played another solo game with Orcs and Goblins, led by Grom, assaulting a nearby Dwarf fortress.    The setup was a nod to the battle report in the WHFB 4th edition Dwarf Army Book (Battle of the East Gate in Karak Eight Peaks).   This was an early introduction of the Dwarfs into the long running campaign.  Enough interesting things happened that I'll be granting some names to Dwarf characters, specifically minor Dwarf King that had a nice last-man-standing moment  (King Azwgor) as well as a Dragon Slayer (Bakzharr the Unlucky) that tried his best to meet his doom, but failed. 

Too much time has past since the battle and I didn't take good notes, but there's lots of pictures. 

The end result was that on the last turn, improbably, the Dwarfs managed to repel the Greenskins by killing the Black Orc Unit, and causing the remaining goblins units to panic and run away.  Basically the entire army ran away!

The orcs advance...

And here begins a few rounds of very accurate artillery...Doom Diver and Orc Rock Lobber right on the money...

...from both sides!  Dwarf cannon direct hit!

...and again!

The pump wagon "The Def Wagun" slams into the Ironbreakers

Double Chariot Charge!

Orc Rock Lobba with two accurate shots in a single game.  Might have been a first in history.

...but made up for it by two failed rolls to Wound.

Grom slams into King Azegor and his body guard..

But improbably, the King's body does enough damage to win combat, force a break check, and Grom failed, and then, even more improbably, the dwarfs ran them down!

Of course, their pursuit draws out the fanatics from both units of night goblins, resulting in 6 fanatics hitting the unit...

But the King survive (earning his name and his continued place in the Warpstone Conflict.

Another Dwarf character has earned his name and place in the conflict as well.  Things were not looking good for the Dwarfs so the Slayers decided to meet their doom with a charge into the giant Orc unit, The Reds.  Lead by the Dragon Slayer Bakzharr the Unlucky, the slayers defeat the Reds, routing them from combat, and causing panic checks along the entire goblin line. 

...and they all ran away.  That was the final turn, and the Dwarfs got the victory.