Birdhunter's Gnoblog - Update (May 5th '13 - Melancholy insue!)

Hello!

Welcome to my newest, without a doubt my most grand schemed gnoblog since I started playing warhammer!
With the big holiday coming up, aswell as a completely new interest in the game, I decided to go bananas on my ogre army and do a double-themed army! 

-The Clubcrusher Tribe: The old tribe of tyrant Rogar the Mad, Madness Scars, the Jogre (the name that solely started this themed army ). The units in here will mostly be bulls, accompanied by some ironguts and gnoblars, aswell as some characters. They are wild, frenzied, disorderly mobs of killing power.

-The Blood Regiment: Rogar's new elite army that he steadily became the general of during his travels. The units in here will be mostly ironguts, accompanied by leadbelchers and maneaters, and the other characters. They have better weaponry (think of guns) and fight in disciplined units, resembling the empire.

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Right, so as a kick-off:

Some pics of my WIP bulls, that should give the idea of the insanity that the Clubcrusher Tribe is going to be like.
Note that they still need work done, and the other bulls will most likely, if not certainly, have clubs.

Also below that is the first bit of background story of the how and why of these armies 









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The Fog of War

Rogar the Mad was once a young ogre of the Clubcrusher tribe. The son of the tribe’s tyrant Hor, who was an exceptionally kind father, he was given the best food, clothes and weaponry that was available. At a young age he bossed the tribesmen around, creating silent hatred for the youngling.

When a nearby tribe attacked their mountaincave, Hor jumped right into battle. His giant weaon smashed the skulls of the dark fleshed foes that stood up to him. The enemy, though fierce in their attack, withdrew from the tyrants might. Suddenly a loud bang was heard, and Hor dropped his weapon with a roar, grabbing his eye.

Before him stood an ogre darker, larger and more loaded up with steel than any ogre that had ever set foot in the Clubcrusher’s domain. In his hand he held a large, metal pipe, from which black smoke rose. He laughed menacingly and threw the pipe in front of Rogar’s feet, before drawing a long, curved sword from which a fluid dripped. He rushed towards Hor, who had just grabbed his weapon again. A fierce fight followed, where flaming sparks came of the massive steel weaponry. Even the fight around stalled, by exhaustion, death and admiration for the battle in it’s midst.

Hor’s bleeding eye eventually lost him the battle when he did not see a strike from his foe coming. With a sickening thud the sword bore deep in his neck, half decapitating him. Hor dropped to the floor like a brick, after which the Clubcrusher tribe turned into a bloodthirsty, frenzied mob. Their brutal rage was enough to drive back the beaten and bloodied enemy, even their tyrant, who almost lost his life if not for his personal guards by the sheer number of ogres attacking.

In the bitter aftermath of the fight, everyone was licking their wounds, and looking after the tyrants body. The old Thur, slaughtermaster and righthand of Hor, came up to Rogar. ‘Quick Rogar, you have to leave now,’ He said. ‘your friends still remember their loyalty to Hor now, but soon they’ll want to rule themselves, and an heir is an unwanted obstacle indeed. You must leave now, head west. The great Maw will find you another home, or so I’ll ask him deeply.’

Rogar, scared by the sudden death of his father, combined with the words of his old friend, felt hesitation. ‘Won’t you come with me Thur?’ He asked.
‘I couldn’t. They need my cooking and blessing, and would hunt me down until I came back. Go now, ‘fore it’s too late!’
Rogar looked around, trying to find anything to take with him. His father’s yurd was already overflowing with ogres who ‘safeguarded’ their properties, which also meant his ogre club. It was then that he noticed the metal pipe in front of him. In an impulse he grabbed the seemingly fine club, the weapon that had broken the might of his father, and ran west, across the mountain cliffs.
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Let me know what you think!

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Hello!

I had a highly productive two days today and yesterday, not necessarily for warhammer though. I was working on my exams 

I did get the first irongut of the blood regiment set for green stuff. Now I need to assemble the captain and the other irongut, and green stuff to go!
I've decided to wait with each WIP pics set until the green stuff is actually added, IE ready to be basecoated and painted/based. Furthermore I'll be buying a battalion of ogres soon, after I sell some old WE's and Brets to my friends. I do hope that the battalion is still there! That should give my enough bodies and pieces though for at least 6 more ironguts.

Since I haven't provided you with fluff or pics, perhaps an WIP-army list? This has several character options, which will mostly be themed.

The List (and in secret tons of fluff)

The titles of the characters are a mix of those used by the Blood Regiment and the Clubcrusher, it should be easy to figure out most of them  WARNING SPOILERS: There are quite a bit of spoilers related to Rogar's story in the characters, if you wish to remain surprised when the story progresses, continue to the normal units!

Characters

• Rogar the Invincible/the Mad, the Jogre, Madness Scars, General, Tyrant, Lord Bang, Lord Thunder
  He is the leader, they all better accept it. Battle-hardened by years of campaigning in the most war-struck regions of the old world, he leads his feared Blood Regiment against all who oppose his unexplainable goals.
  When used in themed army, he will always have a brace of handguns, and items to make him tough to kill. He will also have anything that can make him ItP, stubborn, stupid and/or frenzied.
• Thur the Old/the Grey, Lord Slaughter, Lifestealer, Great Father
  The Clubcrusher's slaughtermaster, and good friend of Hor, the old tyrant. He has lived for over a century and remains as fit as when he reached his peak. Some whisper he sucks the life out of the animals he sacrifices...
  When used in themed army, Thur will carry the Bloodcleaver and have relatively high protection.
• Captain Birdhunter, Birdbruiser
  Named after his peculiar fascination with shooting every bird he spots with a triumphant roar. Perhaps his lost eye was lost fighting some flying beast. Whatever it may be, it has left Captain Birdhunter with a strange, and sometimes difficult obsession.
  When used in an themed army, Captain Birdhunter will always have a brace of handguns, and prefer to fight in a maneater unit who join him in this.
  When used in an themed army on steroids, Captain Birdhunter carries featherfoe torc and pidgeon plucker pendant...
• Hor the Dead/the Risen, Lord Everlasting, Shadowwalker
  When Hor was slain and thrown in his grave, nobody expected him when he came stumbling back in the camp, a mere shadow of his former self. Since then, he has joined the battles of his old tribe, unable to let mortal life go for whatever reason, instead breaking the will of his foes or shattering their bones.
  When used in a themed army, Hor wield the Siegebreaker weapon. If a BSB he uses the War Banner or Wailing Banner.
• The Lone Captain, Youngling, Grash the Wild
  When young Grash heard of the great battle between Hor and the black tyrant, he became filled with longing. That same night he ran west across the safety of the tribes solid boundaries, a stolen crossbow in his hand, seeking Rogar. He found beasts instead. Since then he has grown significantly, standing a foot and a half taller than the other ogres. Still, he will always remain the youngling.
  When used in a themed army, I use a hunter.
  
• More to come...
  

The Forces
As described by Rogar, son of Hor.

Clubcrusher Units

• The Brainbashers, 6-8 Ogre bulls.
  The good old-fashioned killers, straight from the ogre yurts. Though not as strong as practically anyone else in the army, they are not to be underestimated.
• The Stompers, 6-8 Ironguts (Clubcrusher)
  The wild elite of the Clubcrushers. Though seemingly more crude, they are every bit as devastating as the Blood Cohorts, if not more.
• Lotsies, 30-40 Gnoblars.
  Them lot. Run around and shriek they do. There's no putting them to good use.
• Runnies, x Gnoblar trappers
  Run ahead to keep the shrieking surround sound. Tad more useful though, when not bickering all the way up there alerting the enemy.
• Da' Bitsflinger, Scraplauncher.
  Probably the only good thing about those pesky gnob's. You better pray to the great Maw though that the Rhinox does not run into your behind, horns thirst.

The Blood Regiment

• The Pure Bloods , First Blood Cohort, 8 (-12) Ironguts.
  My most fought in and faithful Cohort, consisting of the most disciplined ogres of them all. To leave for war without them is to leave unprepared.
• The Red Drop, Second Blood Cohort, 8 Ironguts.
  Young, half chaotic, rebellious, and the very next Pure Bloods. These young ogres have seen more battles than some tyrants, and they are already elite.
• The Steam Drops, Third Blood Cohort, 3 Leadbelchers.
  They destroy what they can, using their great knowledge of the empire cannons and mortars. Seeing their scars grow ever closer to my own, I wonder how much more they can take. They always however, keep our flanks safe.
• The Metal Rain Drops, Fourth Blood Cohort, 2 Leadbelchers.
  They do what their brothers can't, or don't value high enough.
• The River Drops, Fifth Blood Cohort, 3-4 Maneaters (BoH).
  Fifth only because of our history. The River Drops, though not my most joined Cohort, are the sole survivors of my long campaign, and have been around since my nigh end. It was they who treated my wounds, and because of that, I could not send them into battle against their will. Their freedom is their rank, and their rank is inferior, first not being good enough.

---

EDIT: Total points, without any upgrades safe for the BoH on the maneaters: 3269.


Whew! That took ages to write. I hope you like it!
Thanks,
-Birdhunter

P.S.: Conversion pics coming ASAP!

Hello!

Once again a little update (man, these pics just won't come along as fast as I hope).
My exams last another full week, after which is will be loaded with free time! 

I worked some more on the Captain and the second irongut today. There is alot of pinning involved, and having send a drill right up my thumb (something I would say is ill-advised  ) I take more care. This of course slows the whole process down. Then there's learning. 

I did however, find time to come up with two options for another character, my second caster!

Kathor, the Chemical Wizard, Metal Maw.

Kathor was one of the ogres who preferred chemicals and gunpowder over the standard steel weapons. After surviving a raid of chaos warriors because of this preference, he was hired by the young hiremaster Rogar. It was during his campaign alongside him that Rogar noted his increase in physical strength after eating, aswell as his unusual eating habits. Together they honed Kathor's skills, making him invaluable in the army. It was Kathor who eventually saved Rogar's life. This interaction of lifesaving made them inseparable.

When used in a themed army, Kathor uses bangstick and/or ruby ring of ruin.

Myrias, the Cloaked Devourer, Dark Butcher
and Sylda, Lady of Life, Pretty Thinling.

Myrias's life began a grim one. He was born months too early for an ogre and was subsequently dropped in the woods near Altdorf. Fortunatly for him he was found by Silva, a young wizardess, who studied the lore of life at the Colleges of Magic. Thinking to have found a deserted baby, she took him home, saved him, and grew to love him, despite him being an ogre. She worked with his magical talent, which seemed to be blooming and restoring his physique. The rest of the young student wizards were not so keen on him though. A group of fire wizards cornered Myrias one day, casting fire all over him. Sylda was quick enough to safe his life, but not to prevent the scars from forming. Enraged, she tought him how to protect himself from their magic. Shortly afterwards, she was banished.

Years after the event, whispers arose a human wizardess fought in Rogar's army. A wizardess of fascinating beauty, with a large monster, completely cloaked, at her side.

When used in a themed army, Myrias used the spellthieving sword, and the terrifying mask of eee!
If a slaughtermaster, he also wields Talisman of preservation/edurance/protection or Dragonbane Gem, and has a luck-gnoblar (Sylda's healing hands, so luck-Sylda).

---

Which one should I be going for, or should I be going for both? (Giving me three caster in total!  )

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Hello!

Hurray, I finally finished preparing the two 'guts and Captain for the green stuff! 
This does mean that they still have work to be done...quite alot, but!

Their pose is their.
So the Captain is a mix of the pirate and Empire maneater models, and he will be given an option for a BSB or a crude weapon. He will also aim a big gun at the enemy!

The leadbelchers will get modified trousers, perhaps armour (perhaps indeed, maybe if I can get my hands on brown stuff quickly enough), and the helmless one will get a nice empiristic hat. I might just add a feather on there once I find a couple of figure out how to sculpt those...
Also the weapons will get a small banner on them.

Anyway, the models! (Sorry about the poor quality of most of them, I'll have better pics after green stuff and/or paint is added).

Captain Birdhunter himself


The halberds (which are great weapons obviously) had to be pinned in this post at four different spots and trough two hands. Pulling of the right distances proved difficult, aswell as the angle the arms needed to be in (lucky Ironguts...).






Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
-Birdhunter

The first green stuff added!   

They're not done yet, but it's my first green stuff in a long, long time, and I think it looks good enough.
Just thought I'd update on the real creative stuff!














Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Hey everyone,

Just a small update. I took a good look at the bruiser's muscles and I think he needs some more rounding up. I also decided to finish the gun on his left arm ASAP.

For his right arm I wanted to give him the option of the weapon or a Battle standard. How would you guys suggest I'd do that? Are magnets a viable options at all if I don't have a drill?

I've also been thinking about the colour scheme. I like my lil' Captain to have a black and white uniform, but I'm not sure about it all. Should I go for an overall equal colour scheme as far as costumes go, or should I mix it up some more? The third option is to only mix it up between units.

Let me know please!
-Birdhunter

Great background and nice conversions, good work!

As for colour scheme, I think a mix could be fun - maybe a patchwork of looted Empire uniforms? However, if you primarily want them to look disciplined, an army-wide colour scheme may be better...

+1 for an excellent start to a Gnoblog!

Feeling Ogrish Today

Hello everyone!

First off, thanks Hragged for the pet gnoblar and nice comment.  It's nice to see that somebody actually reads my blog. 

So, today was a good day for my exams, and yesterday was a good day for the ogres!

That's right, I got my hands on the last battalion of 6th edition that my store is ever going to sell, or at least I hope so.



So, it went and looked at the options. Since I need a banner standard for every banned and every IG weapon, I was kind of scared that I would run out, but I haven't yet, thanks to some careful searching.

I do feel like an ogre today. Not so much that I have eaten all that much, but more specifically the fact that I have been searching for all the bits and pieces that I could equip ogres with, much like they would do themselves.

So far I found two wheels...don't know yet what to do with those, some empire handguns (decoration on the maneaters), an almost destroyed ogre body (which I will try and restore...nice sculpting challenge), bit of standard poles (hurray!) and shield of the 6th edition starter set (nice gutplates perhaps?). Thinking of all those pieces and trying to make them work is really nice.

Now it's time for me to devour something. I'll keep you guys posted.

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Hello everyone!

Well, my exams are finally over! Let's hope that I passed them and continue with the blog

I worked on some more ogres, but I decided to not upload any pictures until some/most of them are actually done. 
The poll decided on the units with a single theme. I don't know yet what my final decision is though. Many options seem to fit in with different themes.

While GS'ing I once again felt the need to sculpt feathers. I have some ideas how I'd go about making them, but I'm not sure yet. Does anyone have any experience with sculpting those?

That's the short update though, expect a semi-finished unit soon now that I have time. 
Tonight is smashing skulls time!

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since a updated this gnoblog, which gives me a great opportunity to do it now.

I have finally found out what kind of basing I want my ogres to have. I have already done the bases on the Bruiser and one Irongut that I finished.

I have been busy working on my command crew (musician, standard bearer AND champion) aswell as some other ironguts. Getting them all empired up is a multistep process, and it takes time.

I have also begun painting, as I finally decided to paint at least the First Blood Cohort (12 Ironguts) and my bruiser in the style of Nordland, black and white. It's been rather tricky finding a nice way to paint white, and I haven't begun to paint black yet. Creating a Nordland style army gives my alot of Freehand opportunities, which I like.
Furthermore I still need a skintone. I have been thinking about grey mixed with some fleshtone...but I'm simply not sure. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

I could post pictures of the WIP on the painting and basing if you'd like to see it.

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Hello everyone!

After getting some more paint on my bruiser I decided to take some (horrible) pics and post them here.
Once again the lighting is terrible. The skin will be up next. I also would like to mention Enkiel and Zsoulless for inspiring me to keep pushing the boundaries of my painting skills.

It is the first time ever trying to paint alot of white, and I'm struggling. I like it for my first try though.
Of course it almost not visible, since white is the worst colour ever to get a decent light on.
The shield will be drybrushed, I think, to make it look beaten.

I also made the bases, which I just like. These also look alot more natural IRL. I should really find a way to produce better pictures.

Captain Birdhunter

The march ended abruptly as a loud gunshot was heard. Captain Bhir stood at the frontline, his arm strechted out towards the woods, his favorite gun in his hand. Black smoke emitted from the end, dancing in the cold, sharp wind.
‘You alright Captain?’ Asked lieutenant Hotch. The regiment lowered their halberds in formation. Bhir nodded.
‘I’m fine. Another one of those pesky flyers. I hate flyers. Wait here while I go skin the bastard.’ He then broke formation and moved into the woodlands.
The ogres looked at eachother in confusion. ‘That’s the third time this week.’ Said one.
His neighbour nodded. ‘Ye it is. That’s Captain Birdhunter alright.’







This is just an Irongut



The last detail on that Irongut just shows you (well, mostly me) that I'm going for the highest standard I can take on right now, and try to improve it with every stroke.

Also, please not that Birdhunter's gun will be made more detailed soon. Right now it looks like a big pipe, which is not at all the desired effect.

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Hey guys,

Just a bit of thinking here. Does anyone at all read this gnoblog? It seems to me that noone actually enjoys reading through here. Now because this is supposed to be a nice read with pictures, is there anything I could improve?

Please just leave any criticism on here, if you wish. I can keep uploading pictures for myself of course, but that is far from fun.

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

Keep posting, I'm enjoying everything i read here The GS-work looks pretty nice although it looks likes there is fingerprints on the model in Reply 5 ? I would try to remake it if that's the case. I'm most defiantly looking forward to see that gun finished.

// Cheers Hejle

People do read, I've checked out this blog a few times myself, especially when looking for gun examples. I wouldn't worry about comments, you know people are looking by your views, and it's very nice work. Don't be discouraged, as part of the fun of the Gnoblog is a record for you to look back on your old stuff and see how you've improved!

Hello everyone,

First off, thanks for the replies. It really does make a world of difference to me, however unnecessary that may seem.

I painted some more today (bought some flesh tones aswell, and tried some bits here and there) and thought I'd update you with the process so far.



The pants are far from what I want to achieve, but the beginnings are there. It'll take alot of time to perfect it (especially matching up back and front!  ), but I think it'll be worth it.

Next up to paint is the feather, some metallic paints, perhaps the flesh and certainly the shoes (nice, striped, brown, leather shoes).
He is coming along slowly, but steadily...

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

EDIT: Oh, and finish the darn gun! It has been looking a mess forever now. *Mental note to self*

Hey there,

Note to self and others: When sculpting feathers that are quite big, use a metal pin of some sort to hold them in place...still, a lying feather on a hat shouldn't look all that bad right?

Blegh...this did force me to sculpt at least one more feather on that Champion...which will cause my Bruiser to have less feathers, so he'll probably need one too...*sigh* This is going to take quite some time 







For a first feather ever I'm quite happy with the result (Except for the fact that it's lying instead of standing. Also, the thingy in the middle is a bit thick).

Now, to make a list of war for tonight!

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

The pattern on the trousers look great ! will it be black and white ?  Nice first try at making a feather i might even consider trying it for my pirates

What are you planning to do with the gun ?

// Cheers Hejle

@Hejle thanks! Yeah it'll be black and white

The feather is actually rather similar to the one on the bruiser, it just doesn't stand up straight. 
I'll add another one flying above it, so that it actually makes sense.

About the gun, I already changed the part in the hand (looked way off now, thinner and not made of wood) and I made a trigger. The trigger is rather..big...but the gun is very fragile unfortunately, so I don't have much force to use (read: none at all).

Next up will be alot of green stuff on the other ironguts, and to find a nice fleshtone that works well...

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

I have to say I'm in love with the running ogres. I foresee 'borrowing' that from you. 

The feather looks great to me, but I'm not skilled with greenstuff so what do I know.

The checkered pants are going to look sweet. On that I envy your patience and fine motor skill. Both are currently well beyond me.

Keep those photos coming!

Thanks,
LL

Hey there,

@Lard Lad, thanks! I'm not too pleased with the running ones, but they're wild enough for my liking

I haven't worked on Warhammer for a couple of days now, instead just playing a couple of games (winning most of them!  ) and thinking about what I want to do next.

Would you guys like to see battle reports here too?

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

*comment was removed due to personal information that was posted without my approval. If you want to talk to me, just send me a pm.*

sorry, i din't realise, you'd take it so serious, sorry again.

But you're painting should be done, show us it! You convert nice, you'd become a good sculptor once.
I especially like the handgun wielding guy.

Cheers, ThaneWill

Hey everyone!

I decided to start painting alot in order to get my pledge done this month... 
Which leads very rapidly to my new skintone, first ever fleshy skintone I'd say.
Please excuse the overall pink glow of the pictures, I assure you that is a white background.








I think I'm rather pleased so far. The skin will get some lighter highlights with a bit of purple/blue for a cold effect.

Please leave any suggestions!

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

It looks Fleshy... 
Cant see enough in the pictures to really give you any constructive criticism..

Right then...

The skin is ruined because it's too thick now, after I tried to correct it. This is really annoying.
Does anyone know how I could remove the thick paint with relative ease? (the other option is stuffing it in the back of the unit and hope nobody notices)

Thanks,
-Birdhunter

I have heard Super Clean (a degreaser) works incredibly well, with no risk of ruining the model beneath. I currently have a model soaking and will let you know later today.

Sorry to hear there was a problem.

I soak my guys in Simple Green to strip them (you can get it at pretty much any auto parts store). Soak for 24hrs (I put mine in a jar) then run under warm water while scrubbing gently with a toothbrush.

Hope that helps.

LL

So, I just cleaned my test ogre from the Super Clean, and I am very impressed. Here's how it went down, step by step;
1) Submerge mini in Super Clean Degreaser in a tupperware container.
2) Wait 12 hours.
3) Run mini under warm water and give just a light scrubbing with a toothbrush (wear nitrile gloves).
4) Have clean mini.

95% of the primer did not come off, but I expect it all would have given a few more hours. The glue was uneffected, and no detail was lost. The base did not come out bendy. I don't yet know what will happen to greenstuff, but I am now testing that.

All in all, I'm very happy. I've tried simple green, but that requires much harder work during the scrubbing process. And that's the extent of the other methods I've tried, because I'm so happy with Super Clean.

So, I just cleaned my test ogre from the Super Clean, and I am very impressed. Here's how it went down, step by step;
1) Submerge mini in Super Clean Degreaser in a tupperware container.
2) Wait 12 hours.
3) Run mini under warm water and give just a light scrubbing with a toothbrush (wear nitrile gloves).
4) Have clean mini.

95% of the primer did not come off, but I expect it all would have given a few more hours. The glue was uneffected, and no detail was lost. The base did not come out bendy. I don't yet know what will happen to greenstuff, but I am now testing that.

All in all, I'm very happy. I've tried simple green, but that requires much harder work during the scrubbing process. And that's the extent of the other methods I've tried, because I'm so happy with Super Clean.

So do you think soaking it for say 16 hours would get ALL the paint off? I have been wanting to repaint mine as well, I thought of a really cool them I want to do, but I dont want to spend all the money on repurchasing everything.

Where did you purchase this "super clean?"

I got Super Clean at an autoparts store. Not even a fancy one (I can't even remember the name, its a generic store). It comes in a big purple jug for $10. 16 hours would almost definitely get the primer off, but if you were just going to reprimer it the same color anyways then it isn't a problem (for me it isn't- I would have used the same primer that I used back then).

If I were going to restart completely I would want to make sure the degreaser didn't possibly affect the primer or loosen it and cause it to be flaky or clumpy, so I would just want to strip the model completely bare and start over entirely so I get it all nice and even.

Hey everyone! 

It's has been a very long time indeed, over more than a year, since I last posted here. 
Suffice to say there has been enough going on in my life during that period. I started studying mostly,
so now I hardly had time to do anything with warhammer (also helped that my warhammer was all at my parents' place still).

I have since picked up a couple of days ago though, and I intend to keep you updated, aswell as my future self. It helped tremendously having my older logs here to motivate me.

I'm afraid I only have one picture for you at the moment.



Since last time I made his pants white, gave him a skintone and generally worked on some things to warm up my painting skills again. I also started my Empire soldiers, so expect some update in that regard as well.

I hope this does not qualify as threadomancy, seeing how this is my own gnoblog. 
Thanks!

Looks good, and I believe if it's your Blog you are allowed to resurrect it at any time!
Glad you did as I hadn't seen your previous posts.
Those running Ogres need to be finished /painted and stuck up in here!

HG

What colour did you use to get that colour in the recesses of your skin? it looks really good!
The check work is also very nice and the base is great!
Now youre back get these posts coming!

TLK

Looking good! Nice diamond pattern too in there!

Looks excellent keep up the good work I especially like the pattern you got going.

Thanks for the replies gutbrothers!

@Thunder the paint is Brown Rose by Vallejo.

A year back I started studying Artificial Intelligence.
Today I started working on my MathHammer program, which I can use to evaluate long combats, cost/effectiveness etc with ease.

It's been good fun for me, (anyone remember Math with Birdhunter?) but I haven't been able to paint that much because of it. I'll come back to that soon though.

If anyone is interested in some of this MathHammer project, let me know.

Thanks!

So what is the plan with the math-hammering project? tell us more.

I'd be interested but my programming skills are non-existent - I do however have decently fine math skills and a solid theoretically background.

So far the project has two basic functionalities:

- Take a unit and calculate its wound/point efficienty. You can set a range of ws and str/toughness for the simulator to go through, and it will give you the average ratio. This can be done for multiple rounds of combat too. The simulator will be changed somewhat soon.

- Pit two units against each other. Not perfect yet, but basic melee units can be tested to see who'd win with perfect change. It also gives the number of models the losing unit would've needed to win the combat.

Early results are interesting. Suffice to say Swordsmen against Halberdiers give an extreme advantage to Swordsmen. Although Swordsmen have a lower average wound/point ratio, they easily take on 60 Halberdiers with just 50 men.

So, since I had nothing else to do (cough) I decided to start working on the fluff for my Empire army, in a bit different of a fashion than I used to do.


Within the borders of Ostland, lies the Forest of Shadows. Many creatures inhabit these woods, unbeknownst to the men and women of the Empire. Sightings have been reported of menlike creatures, standing seven foot tall with heads shaped like goats. During the nights, giggling and trippling can be heard in the bushes, and sometimes, when the moon is full and the men are restless, bandits come from the shadows, plundering villages.

It was in response to yet another of these plunderings of the town of Baumschatten, that captain Wilhelm Jungeboren received order from lord Ludwig von Rotblüte to rid the area of any threat that had dared to present itself with such arrogancy. He stated that Ostlanders were not to bow for these open challenges.

So it was that a couple of days later only, a well-equipped and sizeable force marched into the Forest of Shadows. Halberdiers, spearmen and crossbowmen had assembled in vast regiments, joined by many a commoner grouped in hordes of militia. Captain Jungeboren was with the Outriders himself, constantly scouting what laid ahead and keeping the ranks secure.

The bandits were found within hours, mostly asleep, drunk or bickering amongst eachother. When the Ostlanders attacked them from all directions, they were both outnumbered and outclassed. Their cries of defeat resonated deep through the forest as they were killed to the last men, as ordered.

It was a week later that lord von Rotblüte himself arrived in Baumschatten. The priest there had raised defenses and held daily training sessions with every potent male. When asked what he knew, all the priest could do is point the lord to the edge of the forest. A single flag stood exactly on the border, its torn cloth drenched in blood, but undeniably Ostland. Next to it, a small tower of stones had been placed. The threat was crystal clear. Stay out of the forest, this is our terrain...

Let me know what you think!

Greetings everyone!

I have painted a whole model today, of which I'm strangely proud. It's still hard work to get back to my old level again, but I think I'm getting along quite nicely.
Here's the pics!





I hope you like the proud Ostlander
Thanks!

Dude, that is magnificent! I actually made a double-take on the model, because I needed to check it was your gnoblog. It is a vast improvement over your old work I am seriously impressed. More of the same please?

JJ