Hobby: Minuteman Axebearer

 
This is another miniature for Sophie and my Renaissance of Flesh setting in my game 'With Strength Enough'. This is the first model I made with the idea of a baseline human player character in mind; I went in thinking of a standard martial class for Dungeons and Dragons, something like a fighter or a Barbarian. The model itself is a kitbash from old Imperial Guard legs, Frostgrave and Stargrave pieces, with my own sorry attempt at a greenstuff eye on the axe. I'm trying to integrate more of the biotic technologies into the miniatures. I think that ideas in TTRPG's about enchanted weapons or other item enhancements would carry through in Renaissance of Flesh as strange organs or seemingly living membranes.  In this case, I imagine the character's axe can see flaws in enemies' armor or shields to slightly guide the wielder to better hack at their opponents' weak spots.

For the characters' paint scheme, I wanted something that felt suitably worn down by travel and consistent use, while also highlighting aspects of the setting's sci-fi nature.  I went for neutrals for the model to hopefully give the character a more rugged/traveller feeling, but with a red helmet, which, in my head, was stolen or looted from a corporate soldier of one type or another. 

Thanks for Reading!

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: Bretheren of the Praeses Vahlandia

These two gentlemen are Space Marine's I kitbashed to playtest my game 'With Strength Enough', the final version of which will be set in my own setting, but the playtest environment is set in Warhammer 40,000.  Given that, I kit bashed a whole smattering of one of Astartes characters with different loadouts and aesthetics. Its always fun to sit down and bash out some random space marines and go through the bits boxes to make something interesting.  

The idea is that a player can come along and find something relatively close to an archtype they want to play as, and get into the play experience without much fuss. I don't have any real lore for these two, other than that they are a part of the Neuvo Praeses Vahlandia, the successor organization to the old Praeses Vahlandia that I detailed some time ago. Essentially a Deathwatch organization that allows for the justification of any given space marine chapter I might encounter to perform limited actions in Vahland while still making some degree of narrative sense. 

 Thanks for reading! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: Ork Boomwagon

Well I've managed to get my hands on a 3D printer, a particularly dangerous prospect for someone who loves Guard and Orks as much as I do. One of the first projects of note to come out of it is this Ork Boomwagon, modelled after retro Ork designs. It will be a welcome addition to my Evil Sunz Warband which has plauged Jornath and the Vahland sector for nearly a decade now.  I think the final result is a little plain over all, I think I may add a few Grot hangers-on in different spots, but from print to painted was only a few days so as far as it goes I think thats a pretty solid turn around time (for me at least!) 

Thanks for reading!

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: Cerberus Mercenary #1

I've been working on my own game 'With Strength Enough' which has been going very well, and a test copy is also available. Inquire in the comments below if youre interested in helping out!  The Beta version of the game is set in Warhammer 40,000. But the final version will be set in the Rennaissance of Flesh. A Biopunk setting of my and Sophie's design that we have been brainstorming for several months.  

The fellow below is a Cerberus, a transhuman species created early in the setting's history, during a time known as 'Lucy's War'. In the modern setting the Cerberi live their lives like anyone else, but due to their unique enhanced physiology are adept at combat roles and so many find work as guns for hire. 

We based the cultural morae's of the Cerberi on modern Mongolia, and obviously incorporated aspects of cyberpunk into the mix as well. I wanted to make something that felt like a mix of mis-matched practicality and efficency. 

The model is primarily a Mantic Games Enforcer, with Anvil Industries Cape and head added.  

Thanks for reading!

-Your Favorite Madman-

February 2024 Gamesday

Well, another gameday has come and gone, we had no stated theme today as we build up to March's apocalypse finale to our Terico Prime series set in the 4th Tyrannic War, so the event was a casual mixture of hobby and gaming. 

We had a good if quiet turnout for the club today, with 6 members in attendance and one member joining us remotely through our discord channel in our paint project. 

The day started with hobbying, and I showed a brief tutorial on minis painting in contrast to our newest members, who are entirely new to participation in the hobby, before setting them loose on painting themselves.

The new members gretchin

my example grot. 

Painted Grots by Christopher Hollowell, sent over Discord. 

For lunch, we had a sandwich board, which was very much depleted by the time this photo took place. 

Later in the day, some gaming took place, as we introduced some of the mechanics of Warhammer 40,000 to the new members in a 2000-point team game, and had a good time generally slamming plastic soldiers together.  

Dark Angels and Ulthwe  led by Seneca and Brad

&

Sisters of Battle (heavily proxied) and Custodes led by Julie and Chris

For more updates on Grey Mountain Gaming Events, join us on Patreon Here

To read up on our extensive sub-setting of Vahland, within Warhammer 40,000 click Here

I hope those of you in attendance enjoyed the day, and that we see the rest of you soon! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

 

A Patreon & Wiki !

 Well, the past few months have been rather exciting for me as we have rapidly closed in on some of our goals at work in the conservation lab, and more importantly for you fine folks reading here, we have been hard at work in Grey Mountain Gaming getting multiple facets of our club's infrastructure and background admin off the ground.  I have contracts with both Wesley Durham and Layla Hill to work on art for Vahland and for the group's wider narrative interests, both of whom are local artists from the same art college as myself. I have the first prototype T-Shirt for the group, we have set up a patreon (link below) and have started reformatting the wiki for my Vahland sector (the place where Jornath is taking place) so that those interested in reading about the wider context of our games can enjoy the full breadth of nerd-lore on offer. I hope you are as enthusiastic as I am, and I hope to see you around. 

Please consider supporting our club, and the Jornathii War Effort on Patreon!

If you are interested in reading more about our lore click here, more is being added all the time!

The meat and cheese spread from our most recent January Gamesday 'Siege of Terico Part 3, 4th Tyrannic War' 

Terican PDF move into a contested landing zone against perfidious Tyranid bioforms, in a skirmish scenario at the January Gamesday

Above is the first draft of the club T-shirt, I'd like to explore some other fabric and design choices before placing the shirts up for sale to interested parties, and I can talk at length about the exact application of funds spent for club merchandise and membership if there is interest. 

Our February Games Day is upcoming, to allow members to have hobby time for the finale for the first arc of the 4th Tyrannic War campaign set on Terico Prime, we will be hosting an open day for February, all are welcome to bring Age of Sigmar, 30/40k, Necromunda, Mordhiem, Grimdark Future, Osprey Games or any other rules set or force of interest, lunch, terrain and minis will be present at the venue disclosed to members.  

-Your Favorite Madman-

Pride of Lions Playtesting: Hobgoblins of The Jade Flame

David McBride from Splintered Light a producer of 15mm scale fantasy miniatures (LINK) is working on the 2nd Edition of his fantasy battles game Pride of Lions, offering a selection of army bundles for those interested in participating in the Playtesting for the game. These armies provide a mixture of very interesting figures and at 15mm scale represent a very approachable and interesting hobby project.  

The game is played on 2x2 foot squares and focuses primarily on the aftermath of a magical apocalypse in a fantastical world, where the worst excesses of warlocks and other magic users has scoured the traditional fantasy world and left the barbaric tribes of monsters which most of us will recognize (trolls, orcs, beastmen etc) to inherit the remains, not all of the 'civilized' peoples are gone but as mentioned, are greatly depleted in scope and capability. I thought this was a particularly interesting setting and I needed to take a hiatus from 40k for a bit, thus I decided to participate in this playtest. 

I picked up 3 warbands,  those being Hobgoblins, Black Root Bog, and Pig-Faced Orcs, in addition to these warbands I wanted to work on 2x2 boards specific to each one's native territory.  The first of the warbands that I opened up was the Hobgoblins, which included a unit of firey hellhounds, human barbarian infantry, and monstrous flame giants to accompany the metal-clad lines of hand weapon/shield warriors and spear-armed infantrymen. The hobgoblins and their attendant allies and creatures represented one of the more well-equipped and well-armed warbands in the game and I felt that as a result, they must have a territory appropriate to supply this wargear.  I settled on a desecrated Dwarven hold as their territory and went with a simple dwarf icon in the center of a stonework grid.  

An admittedly simple motif, but one that I hope to use in other games and other scales as well.  

Playing around with some potential scatter and Hobgoblin paint schemes this evening. My plan is give the dwarven pillar a similar baleflame green cast as the burning skull held by the wizard. Given the decisive lack of foilage in dwarf mountain-homes, clusters cursed rune stones felt like an interesting alternative to provide scatter for the board. 

Stay tuned for more of Warhammer 40,000's narrative battle reports with Part 3 of the Hamlis Valley Campaign, and for other updates on the Pride of Lions Playtest.

Your Favorite Madman

 

Jornath: The Fall of Wilset 542

.23 Months since the Fall of Usamilplatz.

With the Maniples of Prima Jama's Skitarii embarked upon increasingly heavy fighting across the breadth of the offensive area around Usamilplatz and with the alien's attempted breakthrough on the extreme right of the Imperial line only barely rebuffed with extreme casualties. MQC 87-C* in control of the PDF and Astra Militarum elements within the surrounding areas looked to stymie any potential flow of new Ork warbands into the region. With most of 1AG's regiments already embarking on a campaign of retaking major automotive roadways and mag-lev lines through the Eastern ranges of the Usamiljen Mountains, assets were already in a position to be moved quickly to act as blocking forces.  

The 334th Idrian "Ghosts" Irregulars, were just one of 3 Regiments moved to act in this capacity. Understrength after sustaining casualties clearing out villages in the vicinity of the Ork Exclusion Zone east of Kula Hive, the 334th was acting in a support role to the 1st Usamiljan Fusilier Cohorts' "Operation Vengeful Deliverance", this being their recapture of the city of Saltzkost, along a major highway running southbound into the lowland regions of northern Kula Province.

The Regiment was moved into a 60 Km mountain pass, blocking a tertiary highway which runs into the southeastern edge of Korsnokrat. While the Orks in the Saltzkhost operational area's eastern reaches were expected to deploy only noncommital probing assaults until the city was retaken (the aliens holding the city represented a rival warband to those positioned in the foothills east of the city.) the counter-offensive launched haltingly in the wake of the Emerald Screen incident would spur the orks into a frenzy and all three units occupying the Saltzkhost operations area were battered with waves of light infantry and vehicles for several weeks. 

About a month after the Emerald Scream, greenskin forces within the Usamilplatz region gained a great deal of tactical coordination, at odds with trends extrapolated by IntRec for those xenos formations. The ensuing attacks within Usamilplatz and Korsnokrat which resulted in the death of multiple Skitarii Magos and the routing of PDF and Mechanicus forces has already been recorded. But in Saltzkhost, Ork Motorized forces advanced into the understrength 334th,  no doubt under orders from their unknown warlord to link with their comrades expected to break through the Imperial defenders of Korsnokrat. 

The Regimental headquarters of the 334th was Bastion W542,  this position would come under no less than 21 successive waves of greenskin's before the end.  At the height of the attack, when 8 of the regiments 12 companies had already been destroyed, the regiment was reinforced by members of the Sons of Medusa's Warclan Megara reserve assets. They would join the remnants of the regiments command bastion garrison in their final charge, to buy time for the remaining companies to withdraw and link with units in southern Korsnokrat.

The Fall of bastion W542 would be the final resistance preventing the Ork reserves in Saltzkhost from sweeping north into the southern flank of the already depleted Imperial forces in Korsnokrat. While all members of the 334th conducted themselves with honor in the field, it changed little in the bearing that the Mechanicus line in Usamilplatz was in dire straits of being rolled up from the south by Ork motorized units.  Only steadfast resolve and a great deal of ammunition would save the Imperium's soldiers and allow them to continue to hold the line.

Thanks for reading!  This post was a part of an ongoing narrative campaign, in the "living setting" of Jornath. For more information about Jornath as a setting, including units, missions, and posts from other Jornath bloggers be sure to click on the Jornath [40k] tab at the top of this page for an up to date list of all posts.

-Your Favorite Madman-