Warhammer Fest - Part 2 - Displays, Exhibitions et al.

More pictures for you, these from the various displays and other exhibits that were on show.

I took a lot more than this, this is just a small selection.

Some tables from the Warhammer World team starting with the Overlords display:

Warhammer Fest 2017 - Part 1 - New Stuff

First batch of pictures from Warhammer Fest 2017.

Only managed to get into the Specialist Games seminar this time round, so no pics from the Forge World seminar.

Specialist Games:

Mr Alan Bligh

Today we had the sad news of Alan Bligh's passing.

I didn't feel it right to not in some way mark this, so before I post the usual slew of pictures from today's event I thought I would write a few words.

I had the pleasure to speak to Alan on a few occasions, only briefly but even with only those short conversations I always came away with nothing but positivity and enthusiasm as that seems to exude from the man.

I have the luck to be in a position where I can attend many of the events that Forge World take part in, such as the Horus Heresy Weekender, the Forge World Open Day and Warhammer Fest, and in doing so had the chance to sit in a great number of the seminars which were run.

It is from these seminars that my opinion of Alan Bligh is mainly based. His enthusiasm, his passion and his encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject - 40k, the Horus Heresy and real world history, could not fail to grab you like a giant hand, pick you up and take you along the same journey he was travelling on.

He had the ability to give you an answer to the question you didn't know you had asked. And he would do it with humour and in a way that made you want to ask more questions. He was always happy to talk and any questions which he had no doubt been asked a dozen times already that day were still answered with enthusiasm and passion.

Our hobby world will be a sadder place without him. He leaves a hole I do not think any one person could ever fill, but he also leaves us a wealth of work and material that will continue to inspire us for many, many years.

Even if I never pick up a model again I will always have those books on my shelf and I will continue to pick them up and read the words that take my mind on journeys into the Age of Darkness or into the Grimdark that is the Imperium.


I am embarrassed to say I failed to sign the remembrance book before I left today, for someone I had such respect and admiration for it is something I will always regret. I hope this will at least go some way to address the balance.

The Coming of 8th

Hobby is once more taking a back seat while I have the enjoyment of working and doing a degree in the evenings and at the weekends.

But  I am keeping an eye on everything and like many  I’ve been following the news about 8^th Edition of 40k.

So I thought I’d spend some time rambling about my thoughts about what is coming...

Blood Bowl - Nurgle Team 1

The Poxed? The Pustule Pirates? The Weeping Sores?

I'll think of a name later.

I suddenly found myself with a day for hobby.and so you would think I would leap at the chance to get something finished - the AdMech ZM force or the Militia Lascannon teams...instead I decided on impulse to start a Nurgle Blood Bowl team.

This will be a rough and ready team knocked out to get some games in until Specialist Games release their team.

So the plan is to do this cheaply...I'll use a couple of Blight Kings as they are for Bloaters, I've bought some knackered zombies to be the base of some Rotters and some Beastmen are on their way to me to be converted into Pestigors.

That leaves just one model to look at, namely the Rotspawn.

Many moons ago (when Apocalypse was first released) I bought some Chaos Spawn and it was about time I put one of them to some use.

Almost got him finished today, would have done if the glue hadn't been having one of those days when it never wants to sodding stick anything together.

I used this body for the base as it has a more dynamic pose, giving the impression (I hope) of the Rotspawn charging forward into the opposition team. Might need to look at a different base though, need to check if a 40mm base will fit on the board.

I used a spare Blight King belly to allow me to get some Nurgling fun into the team.

The right arm is made up of four pieces. It is very WIP below (due to said problem with the glue).

For the head I am looking at two options - a. the fly head from the spawn kit and b. a human BB team head to show where this spawn originally came from...

Age of Sigmar - First Battle

When The Old World met it's end I admit I was a bit sad to see the passing of the setting I had known for decades. On the other hand it was hard to get annoyed or really muster up more than an 'hmm, that's a shame' as it had been a long time since I had played Warhammer Fantasy Battle or do more than read the old Warhammer story.

The fact was 40k had a much bigger hold on me and I had long stopped having an interest in playing the game, all those massed ranks really didn't appeal to me in the slightest.

So when Age of Sigmar came along I didn't pay it much notice. The new setting didn't really grab me, but then there was very little put out about the setting that could hook me in. However I did look on many of the new releases favourably, some of the new lines are stunning...but not enough to tempt me into a new army.

However as Fantasy has round bases I could use my Daemons as a dual force to try the game out.

This week passed the Daemons took to the field in a very small game against some Skaven.

In hindsight the two forces (based on wounds) were not balanced, but as this really was just to pick up the rules and get a feel of the thing the outcome wasn't really important.

Above is the two armies set up. It was a simple 'kill as much as you can' game.

Should have got some in game shots...but I didn't.

Below are the Daemons moving in for the kill after the rest of the rats had been seen off. That warpflame thrower team was the star for the rats as it took out eight plaguebearers.

It was nice for the first time to use the Plague Toads as actual Plague Toads as Forge World has never done 40k rules for them (maybe one day).

Below is the death toll, everything the Deamons killed - so the entire Skaven force bar one model (see the next picture). Star of the rat force, after the flamer team, was the Clan rat standard bearer who survived being attacked by about ten plaguebearers. In fairness he then got eaten by a Plague Drone.

And the next picture is everything killed by the Skaven. This includes the Skaven mortar team who after missing every single shot blew themselves up. It was a truly impressive performance by them.

And finally the victors left on the field. That bloody Herald did nothing other than chase after everyone.

We both enjoyed the game alot. We found, even with us having to look up rules, quick and it flowed well.

There are lots of things I thought worked well and it makes me more confident in the changes GW any thinking of doing to 40k for 8th Edition.

I am now thinking about adding some AoS only units to the force.

Blessings of the Plaguefather - Daemon Prince 5

I've actually got some time to spend on hobby stuff.

So in a bid to get some projects to completion (or at least completed stages) I got some work in on the Daemon Prince.

I got the wings added and GS and other textures done.

I am no sculptor but it is good enough for me.

After that he got a coat or primer then a black undercoat.

So he has now moved from the WIP stage to a completed build / PIP stage.

As it has been a while since I put this up here is the current state of play for the Daemons.

As you can see there is no more red, everything I have is now built. There is quite a lot of green or yellow though.

Except I have bought two new weapons for the Decimators off ebay. Dunno what I am going to do with them yet.