Sazel's Thinling Adventures - The New Armies

Hello there! For those of you who've been a fan of my Ogre gnoblog, I've decided to create a gnoblog for my non-Ogre hobbying.

Within the past week, I have inherited a large collection of Warhammer goodness, from my good college friend (who, in fact, was the man who got me into Warhammer to begin with).

So, for my first post, let me show you what I got, in its original form...


The box. I have four books, the latest Bretonnian army book, the two "most-recent-to-the-current" Empire army books, and a "how-to make citadel terrain" book (which has some interesting ideas!).


And what better way to start this off than with Emperor Karl Franz and King Louen Leoncoeur, hanging out with their busted up mounts?



Some basing supplies for scenery. A lot of the scenery that I received was well worn and damaged from being stored in a box for several years, so I'll probably end up throwing out most of it. But, these few things intrigued me.


The tote! This was one half of the Orcs 'n Goblins army that I received. The other half was in a green reusable cloth bag (which we'll get to later).
Some of the loot:

skaven?




So, a lot to look at here. Lots of old models, lots of broken models, and some models that I believe are from a completely different company? Looks like the previous owner (who gave his collection of OnG to my friend, who gave it to me) decided to proxy the pewter orcs to fill his ranks... I'm a bit of a purist, so I dunno if I'll use them, or if I'll save them for my D&D groups


Bag #1. Very small, but a good preview to show you what I'm about to be dealing with. Note that each of these separated sections were basically a bunch of models thrown into plastic zip-loc bags with no rhyme or reason whatsoever to them. I won't go into details for the rest of the pics, but I just thought I'd let you know


Bag #2. Larger, messier, but with a couple nice gems.



So, the key model to note is in the third grouped picture, which has Valtine(sp?), along with a couple other mounted characters. I was happy to see this guy pop up to be a good general/lector stand-in (depending on how I'm feeling/fielding )


Bag#3. This was the "there's-so-many-broken-bits-yuck" bag lol... After the sorting, this bag turned into the "all-bits-and-brokens" bag.




Because what Empire/Bretonnia collection wouldn't be complete without a full unit of Skinks and a full unit of Saurus warriors??


What I've labeled as "Da Green Bag", which has the second half of the Orcs 'n Goblins collection. Along with some other random tidbits...






I'm going to pause here, and note that almost all of these models are not from the Games Workshop line of stuff, from what I'm guessing, at least... Slightly disappointing from a Warhammer perspective, but very nice from a D&D perspective

Another note, Chaos Dwarves?!?!

And, of course, Space Marines. Right?? I'm not even sure what army/edition of 40k they come from, but with the pointy noses, I was thinking Legions of the Damned... But I don't know very much about 40k, so any insights??


Bag #4, or "The One I Almost Missed Sorting!" Very excited for this bag, as it had a lot of the pieces that I was looking for from the initial look-through.





...And, a special note... MY LOST GNOBLAR! I thought I was missing one, but I didn't care as much so, finding him in the bag was like "huh, weird, awesome! back with the rest of 'em" and such. I was amused to find it here.

(Side Story: When I first got into the hobby, I had a year-long internship in another state that I couldn't take my collection with me; so, I gave it to my buddy to hold onto for the year. After the year was up I had him send it back to me, which would explain why he had one of my gnoblars.)

So... That, was how I received it. Our next installment will be the "Force Organization" section

Part Two: The Force Organization

Alrighty, so looking at the mess, I knew that I needed to sort through my guys, and figure out who belongs with whom. By the start of this, I had infantry and cavalry separated, but all the Bret/Empire stuff was mixed.

So, here's what I ended up with:


Empire Infantry. The tally came out to this:
20 Halberdiers
10 Free Company Militia
10 Greatswords
10 Handgunners (with one champion for each of the three "champion weapon upgrades", so technically 3 champions, but who cares they'll be proxied mostly anyways lol)
a Mortar and a Helblaster Volley Gun, with only 3 crew between each of them lol
and 6 Flagellants, who I think may actually have been Grail Pilgrims??? I'm not sure, but I saw the book in one hand so I decided they were flagellants lol


Empire Cavalry. Tally:
6 Knights, with 4 characters (or "champs") altogether
3 Pistoliers, with a metal Marauder Standard Bearer on horseback...? I have so many random models lol...


Bretonnian Infantry. Tally:
15 Men-at-arms (with one metal model that could potentially be a champion?)
45 Peasant Bowmen, with 4 special Halfling archers. Now, there could be Empire archers here too, but I plan on using these guys in both armies anyways (if I get to playing with them lol)


Bretonnian Cavalry (which seems redundant ). Tally:
18... knights? I don't know what kinds they are, there's so many options!
4 Pegasi, without riders (or maybe lost to the "bits-and-brokens" bag)
A Damsel and two Paladins, one being a BSB


Orcs 'n Goblins. Tally:
Orc on War Boar
Orc Boss on Foot (with no arms)
Orc shaman
5 possible Goblin bosses/command groups
15 Orcs (plus a couple more broken ones, and one dedicated Arrer Boy)
10 Spider Riders
8 Wolf Riders
30 Old NG archers (4 more without bases)
32 Old NG spearmen (3 more without bases)
20 NG, mix of bows and spears (these guys are so broken lol)
2 Squig Hoppers and 5 Squigs (which I'll probably proxy as hoppers, since they look similar)
a Fanatic, a Troll, a Doom Diver, and a Giant (which isn't pictured, as he is being reassembled)



Oh, and for formalities:
20 Skinks
18 Saurus Warriors
20 Skaven Clanrats/Stormvermin/Whatever
I will probably consider them up for trade/sale, but I haven't really decided that yet.

Not Pictured As Well:
Emperor Karl Franz
King Louen Leoncoeur

---

There's also quite a few horses that are unassembled, as well as many floating around empty bases. As I get into more projects, I'll probably end up with more models that'll keep popping out.

The next post will be discussing my major projects. Here we go!

Part Three: Major Projects!!

...So... I have a lot of work here ahead of me. Here are the key things I need to address:

1. Better Storage
Everything's been kept in bags for years! It's no wonder why it's all mangled and broken. I need to figure out a cheap easy solution to storing these models (without buying anymore GW army cases, yech...)

2. Glue...
I have a lot of repair work going on. I need to divide and conquer these armies, otherwise I'll get overwhelmed very quickly (and not just by the glue vapors, mind you )

3. ...Paint...
A good portion of the armies' are already painted, but I have much more left to do. Now, I have the choice of whether I should "Simple Green" some of them and start over, or whether I should try to paint them with the new paints over and on top of the old primed models (I don't plan to go back over already painted stuff, no need to add more work to my plate).

4. ...and Play!
The only army with which I have the most up-to-date book for is the Bretonnians right now, and that's only because they're going to be the last army to get a major update (hopefully)... Now, I do own copies of the latest of every book (except for Dwarves and W-Elves), but that's through, yeah, um, anyways, so I'd have to buy copies of the Empire book and the OnG book to play them in the shops (without them getting all butt-hurt with me lol)... Also, none of these armies are anywhere near competitive, so if I wanted to do anything with them, I'm going to have to end up dishing out more $$'s to make the armies more playable. I mean, 15 Orcs? I can't Waaagh well with that, now, can I?

5. Terrain...?
I think this project will probably be on a semi-permanent hiatus, but looking into the terrain building would be kinda fun. However, I have no room in my house for anything like that, so I'd rather not get into it, just to create more of a mess for my family later. If we move in the future, however, I may be able to get a larger space with which to dedicate more hobbiness to

---

That's it for my major projects listed. I'll continue to post here as I have more progress.

Great stuff man!

It's a good imd to get back into brettonians. I feel an update on the horizon

So, since it's been over... oh, a month and a half??... since I've posted here, here's kinda where I've been at.

...

Stuck. There's just so much broken stuff and missing bits that it's becoming sort of a daunting shadow for me to deal with.

That being said, I've already decided what my plans are. I'm going to list my foci for each armies, as well as their order of importance for me to work on. I think I'll do a follow up post describing more details

Army Foci:

First, Empire. Out of the three armies I received, this is the one that I was the most excited for. In fact, I happened upon a rare deal of the latest army book for about 1/3d of the GW price, so I ordered it, and it should be here on Monday/Tuesday. Once I have the book, I can justifiably bring the army into a GW store and play a game or two with it. From there, I can then get a sense of what I need to do to round out the army better.

Second, Bretonnia. Honestly, I have no real passion or fascination for Bretonnia, but because I have their latest book, as well as a good chunk of knights for them, I know I should get working on these guys, mostly repainting and fixing broken lance-heads. (Which, btw, anyone have any good tips on fixing broken lance-heads? I mean, we're talking that the head broke off at the model's hand...)

Third, Orcs n Goblins. As I've read the digital copy of the book that I have "acquired" (*cough, cough*), it looks to me like an interesting army. Plus, I've seen lots of people doing more with them lately. However, this army is by and far the most neglected of the three, and doesn't have a lot of the basic tools needed to make a functional army. I hate to say it, but of the three armies, I'd most likely trade/sell these guys to help focus my efforts on other armies... But, I hate to do it, because they belonged to my buddy at one point... BUT, he gave them up to me for my ownership, so they are technically mine now to trade/sell if I so choose... But, I dunno...

---

So yeah, that's kinda where I'm at. BRB with the follow-up details.

Army #1: Empire

Current Army List: As of 6/14/2014...

LORDS
*Karl Franz - Ghal Maraz, Deathclaw

HEROES
**Luthor Huss
Captain - BSB, Plate, Shield, White Cloak of Ulric
Captain - GW, plate, shield, barded warhorse, dawnstone, TOTS, dragonhelm
Wizard - Lvl 2 Light, barded warhorse, Dispel Scroll

CORE
*20 Halberdiers - FC, shields, 2x10 Archer Detachments
*10 Militia - FC
*10 Handgunners - champ, long rifle, mus
10 IC Knights - FC, GW, Steel Standard

SPECIAL   
10 Greatswords   FC, Banner of Eternal Flame
***5 Pistoliers - FC, repeater pistol
***Mortar

RARE
***Helblaster Volley Gun

TOTAL: 2497pts.

NOTES:
*=Broken Parts/Pieces, Needs Repair
**=Unassembled, Needs Built
***=Has Partial Proxies (ie using old metal flagellants for warmachine crew... works, sorta )

---

So... Where to start here? Not very strong nor competitive, but has a couple key elements that I like.

Pros:

1. Strong Knight Core - A lot of IC Knights, as well as a few good mounted characters, allows me the luxury of a strong hammer. If only I had the anvil for it (see Cons later)...

2. Greatswords and Helblaster - I'm extremely happy that I had these two units available to me. The former because they're SO DAMN EXPENSIVE, the latter because I really wanted the Helblaster Volley Gun

3. Luthor Huss - I acquired this guy for Christmas, and I'm happy to say that I now have real motivation for actually assembling him!

Cons:

1. Infantry -  There are no anvils for my hammer to work with. This army desperately needs more State Troops, especially at least 20 more Halbediers and some Swordsmen, if it wants to succeed. I'd also like to get at least one more box of Greatswords, but good luck convincing my wife that for $50...

2. Support - Besides my Luthor (which I already owned) and the one mounted Wizard, I have no supporting elements to this army to make it better. It pretty much solely relies upon the hammering of the IC Knights/character bus to do any serious damage. A war altar or one of the other buff wagons could help remedy this, but same issue as for my Greatswords...

3. Karl Franz - I know that fielding him on Deathclaw is just going to magnetize all cannons to his face, but I really have very little other options. And, honestly, I want to field this model. It'll put me at a bit of a competitive disadvantage I believe, but I think it'd be more of a shame not to field him at all.

---

Projects:

1. Repair - Deathclaw has one detached wing, and is missing his right foreclaw altogether. I plan to make some GW "bandages" and cover that arm, thus giving his name "Deathclaw" a whole new meaning ("Death" for the right hand, "Claw" for the left ). There are several halbediers missing their weapon heads, and a few missing legs. I plan to give them peglegs made by wire and GS, and for the weapon heads I'm hoping I can just glue them back on. I also have dismantlings pretty much everywhere else, but hey, what do you expect from an army kept in a plastic bag in a box in a closet for years?

2. Paint - With the exception of a couple models, I want to repaint the entire army. Mostly focusing on the foot-troops, and giving them a new color scheme: Teal and Chocolate Brown. The reason for these colors? They are my wife's favorite colors, and our wedding colors I figure, hey, if I paint them a way she likes, maybe she'll be more willing to let me get a few more guys

3. Enhance - I have a wish-list for this army to get it better. Here it goes!
     A)20 State Troops, for Halbediers
     B)40 State Troops, for Swordsmen
     C)10 Greatswords, for Greatswords lol j/k
     D)Engineer, for the Volley Gun
     E)War Altar, maybe even one of the buff wagons? Unsure if I wish to get one of those, although I do see people field them a lot...
     F)A couple more Wizards, to give some more magical power, although I'd already have a wizard, Luthor, and the War Altar... So, I dunno, but it'd be nice to have access to more variety.
     G)Maybe 6 Demigryphs? This one's not so much a priority as is other army elements... I don't think I'll ever make this army super competitive, but if I did, I think Demis would be something I'd need.

---

Alright, I think that's most of my thoughts put down to the website. I'll come back later on to do my thoughts for Brets and OnG. That being said, I'm more and more considering trading/selling what I have of them to enhance my other projects. But, I'm not sure yet...

Saz, I am sorry I missed this blog when you first started it. I would have commented much sooner had I seen it; so sorry.

What an amazing collection of.....well, stuff. I am not sure but I think the Space Marines are from the second edition the one with the Black Templars force. I could be wrong but they look that old.

I think your going about it the right way organizing and prioritizing what needs doing and building a list. I have never been much of a fan of the Bretonian army and I have actually never played them (which thinking about it is odd...) so I don't really know any of the characters, the army or how they perform.

Some of the old O&G stuff looks interesting there looks to be some old gems in there. I don't suppose there was a pre-slotta Harboth in that lot? Have been on the hunt for one of them for years.

I shall keep an eye on your progress with this lot; though I don't envy you the task of stripping all the paint off the half-painted models. When it is all finished though it will look awesome!

On a side not...what on earth is Italian straw? I have never heard of this as a basing material. Almost as odd as the collection itself!

G_H

Saz, I am sorry I missed this blog when you first started it. I would have commented much sooner had I seen it; so sorry.

What an amazing collection of.....well, stuff. I am not sure but I think the Space Marines are from the second edition the one with the Black Templars force. I could be wrong but they look that old.

I think your going about it the right way organizing and prioritizing what needs doing and building a list. I have never been much of a fan of the Bretonian army and I have actually never played them (which thinking about it is odd...) so I don't really know any of the characters, the army or how they perform.

Some of the old O&G stuff looks interesting there looks to be some old gems in there. I don't suppose there was a pre-slotta Harboth in that lot? Have been on the hunt for one of them for years.

I shall keep an eye on your progress with this lot; though I don't envy you the task of stripping all the paint off the half-painted models. When it is all finished though it will look awesome!

On a side not...what on earth is Italian straw? I have never heard of this as a basing material. Almost as odd as the collection itself!

G_H

Well, to start off, thanks for watching! I'll try to update this more, but it's hard as I haven't had much time to even work on my Ogres, let alone this side project

I'm thinking, for the Space Marines, of buying the little $10 3-pack to round them up to 20 models, so that in case I ever either start the army or trade them, they'll be a full 20-pack and thus more enticing to someone

The only OnG stuff that I got was what I took pics of. I sadly don't know what Harboth is, but I did get a nice Orc Warboss on a boar, as well as an Orc BSB (whose missing both arms, I do believe, but I think I ID'd his arms in my pack o' messy bits ).

I'll get around to doing Brets and OnG either tonight or sometime this week, depending upon my schedule. I want to type this stuff down so that I can organize it in my head better

Army #2: Bretonnia

Current Army List: As of 6/15/2014...

LORDS
Bretonnian Lord - Hippogryph, Heartwood Lance, Virtue of Heroism, TOTS, Dragonbane Gem

HEROES   
Damsel - Lvl1 Beasts, barded warhorse, Dispel Scroll, Ironcurse Icon
Paladin - BSB, Questing Vow, Virtue of Noble Disdain, Insignia of the Quest, GW

CORE   
15 KotR - FC, Banner of Swiftness
20 Peasant Bowmen - mus, braziers
20 Peasant Bowmen - mus, skirmish

SPECIAL   
4 Peg Knights - mus

TOTAL: 1634pts.

NOTES:
Um... yeah... there's like nothing to this army really, and I think most of the Peasant Bowmen might actually be Empire archers, but I have no way of telling them apart at the moment... My buddy focused more on cool looking characters rather than actual playability

---

Yeah... This one's gonna need some love. Here's some pros and cons:

Pros:
1. Paint - This army's pretty much 100% painted. And most of it I kinda like already. Although I know I could repaint them and make them look better, this may be a step I might just look past
2. Condition - Of the three armies, this one's got the least problems regarding repair work, which helps too.

Cons:
1. Composition - No trebuchets. No Grail knights, no any knights except KotR as far as I can figure it out. Only two mounted characters, and then the Lord Louen Leoncoeur model, so it needs some more characters. It's really an incomplete army, but can technically be fielded.
2. Bret's - I really could care less about Bretonnia But hey, free is still free!

---

Projects:

1. Repair - Almost all the lance-heads are broken off of the knights. There are a few bowmen that are disarmed (literally, ha), and King Louen has his right arm off, as well as his hippogryph's wing is off. Plenty of fixes needed, but more tedious than difficult.

2. Paint - I'm happy with the paintjobs, but I know that for many of them they could be done better. I haven't decided whether I'll take the full dive and just repaint them all, or just clean up a few of them. If I do, I don't really have any idea of what color(s) I wish to theme the army around; I'll just come up with it when it gets to that point.

3. Enhance - ...Well... If I really wanted to expand these guys, I'd just get double trebs and be alright with it. I know I'd need more knights, but really, I'd rather wait and see if they get an update, and then I'll consider adding more to them.

---

So, yeah, there you have it. This army I may do the least work for, since it's in pretty good shape and mostly painted. I've been half considering whether or not I'll consider to trade or sell them for more Empire or Ogre (or even maybe 40k...?) stuff. But, I haven't quite decided that yet.

Saz, without sounding desperate (which is pretty hard TBH) Harboth is the guy in this picture described as "officer";



He is not a very impressive model, nor detailed or even that good. He was just the first model I ever owned...so I am always on the look-out for him just so I can have one. It is often big bags of really old and broken models in which he turns up.

G_H

Yeah, I'm definitely for sure that I do not have that particular model. However, if I do find it, I'm PMing you immediately I'm a huge fan/sucker for nostalgia, and will happily support it for anyone in anyway possible.

Speaking of which...

Army #3: Orcs 'n Goblins

Current Army List: As of 6/15/14...

LORDS
Orc Warboss - War Boar, Shield, Armor of Destiny, Dawnstone, Berserker Sword

HEROES
NG Big Boss - BSB, Armor of Fortune, Shield
Orc Shaman - Lvl 2, Dispel Scroll, RRoR
   
CORE
15 Orc Boy Big'uns - FC, shields, Std. of Discipline
5 Goblin Wolf Riders - mus, short bows
*2x20 Night Goblins - mus, short bows, 1 Fanatic in one unit
2x5 Spider Riders - mus, short bows
   
SPECIAL
*5 Squig Hoppers
   
RARE
Doom Diver
1 Stone Troll
Giant

TOTAL: 1404pts.

NOTES:
*=Proxied. All my "night" goblins are, in fact, Goblins from an old Warhammer board game that isn't actually WHFB. As for the hoppers, there's only two of the squigs with actual goblins on them; however, there's no tamers to try and make a squig herd with it lol

---

Yeah... If the Brets weren't limited enough, these poor guys have got almost nothing to work with. But, 'ere we go!

Pros:
1. Characters: The Orc Warboss looks good, actually. There's even a converted Night Goblin 'big boss' which is basically an Orc body with a Night Goblin head on it I actually like the couple characters that I've got here, and would only need maybe one or two more to make me content here.

2. Quantities: There's not very many bodies here, and very few of them are broken. This means less repair work to worry about... But, this'll show up in cons in a moment...

3. Classics: Of the few models that I do have here, there's a few really good classic pieces, including an old Troll model and several pewter Orcs that I haven't actually factored into the points list above (if I can confirm that they are GW models, I'd have a lot more Orcs to play with ).

Cons:

1. Quantities: Needs. Moar. Bodies. OnG rely on having the hoards of hordes to hold them up in larger games, and there's just not enough of those foot troops here to get them through even at their current point level.

2. Support: There's only one Doom Diver. There's no other artillery. Seeing as how cheap and semi-efficient it is, it'd be great to have another one alongside two Rock Lobbas. It's just a very fragmented army.

3. Other Costs: This is the only army that I don't have ANY army book for. I'd have to buy the newest book, and then I'd probably have to buy replacement Night Goblins for the ones that are currently being used (which aren't even WHFB NG), and then I'd have to do other financial replacements due to missing parts for the broken guys.

---

Projects:

1. Repair: The Giant is halfway fixed from when I first got it. There's a lot of dismantled and dismembered Orcs and Goblins. But, seeing as there's very few of them altogether, it'll probably be the easiest one to repair of the three armies. Except for the warped bases... Yeah, lots of the bases have melted a little bit and warped inwards, like a half-folded rectangle taco. (Think about that for a minute lol). That's a lot of supplies I'll have to use up to fix the various squigs and goblins that have been warped to unplayability. Yuck.

2. Paint: Only like three or four of the models are completely painted. A couple goblins have green skin, but the rest are all primed, and the Giant's not even primed. Most painting of the three armies to do.

3. Enhance: Ugh. So much to buy. I don't even want to start thinking about it lol...

---

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I want to organize them all together and put them up for sale or trade lol... But, I don't know yet... I want to figure them out a little more before I risk the eBay posting (which, I'm nervous about, since I've never sold on eBay before lol). But, they'd be fun to dink around with, but at the same time, there's just so much to get fixed for them, and since I don't even have the base supplies to get these guys working (I don't count my *digital* books as usable sources in the shops), it just seems to me that they'd be better off supplementing a larger force for someone else than for gathering dust in my bags. But, we'll see.

Alrighty, to continue the projects...

Today, I went through and got some stuff done!

1. Fixed Deathclaw's wing, as well as King Louen's hippogriff's wing. They are now ready for war!!

2. Assembled Luthor Huss; no paint yet, but I still need to get his base together first (I can't find where I put it... good thing I have extra cavalry bases lying around lol)

3. Cleaned off the random sprues that were left inside the main box and sorted them into my "Thinling Bits Bags". Upon doing this, I made the awesome discovery of 6 more peasant archers (no bases) and 5 more bret horses (and I think I found the bodies for them, too). So, that'll expand the Bretonnian army a good bit!

4. Assembled the 5 horses. Looks like one of them is really old school (with a little hole in the saddle to stick the notch of an old knight into to hold it together).

---

Woo productivity!

BTW, I ALMOST sold the Orcs'n'Goblins, but the international shipping's way too much to make it feasible. Sad day :'(