40,000 Views! ...and the return of the Warhammer Armies Project.

Amazingly as of this evening my Blog has reached 40,196 views!

A big thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in my Blog. When I started the Blog I had no idea if anyone would look at it or be interested in anything I posted. However looking at the results of my Blog dashboard people have taken in an interest in all of the different things I have posted.
I still have all sorts of odds and ends to post in the future. :)

Following on from that I have decided to return to completing my Warhammer Armies Project which I started last summer, but put on hold after painting my Wood Elf Army.
For those of you unfamilar with the idea, my plan has been to assemble a workable 3,000 point army for each of the eleven army entries in the 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle supplement 'Warhammer Armies'. I have already completed eight of the Armies, and only have three left to do: The Skaven; The Empire; and the High Elves. In addition I will also will assemble the Norse Army list from White Dwarf #107.

For the Skaven I have just completed an e-bay mail order for 17 Metal Skaven and a Rat Ogre to finish off the Skaven Army. I have enough models to field a complete Empire Army, but I might pick up a few bits from Wargames Foundry and e-bay to add that little extra character to the Army. As for the High Elves I have more than enough Elves to field a couple of 3,000 point armies, and so have been deciding on which style army list I want to go for. I have worked out a crazy Cavalry only army list of 40 Horsemen, a Dragon, a Giant Eagle, and two (yes two!) Elven attack Chariots, and a Wizard on horseback. However I might go for a slight better balanced army instead with infanrty and an Ethereal Host included.
Concerning the Norse army, I also have about enough models to field a 3,000 point Norse army. It will be a mainly Norse Dwarf army (with Fimir Aliies!) ,but I may change it to add more humans. These will be the old F4 Norse/Viking range of  Citadel models still available from Wargames Foundry.

For all of the eleven (twelve with the Norse) armies I have tried too keep to using 1980's or early 1990's miniatures, essentially 1st to 3rd Edition Warhammer models. I like the idea of presenting the armies as an army which could have been fielded at the time. With several of my armies this is the case! Were I have added later models I have tried to keep them in sympathy with the what I consider the 'feel' of an army of the time. There is no other other reason other than personal preference for me doing this.

The first army I shall be tackling is the Skaven. I have always wanted to do a Skaven Army and never collected much of an army at the time of Warhammer 3rd Edition. I have recently been collecting odds and ends with an idea to completing the army to field the 3,000 point force. The army list I have devised contains 180 Skaven infantry, 6 Rat Ogres, 7 weapons teams, 3 Posion Wind Globadiers, 2 Wizards, and a magically bound Wyvern. I'll publish the list on my next blog update when I do a more in depth look at the army.
I have made a start on painting the army already. I have painted up 4 test model Clan Rats to get an idea of speed painting them (each one took 4 to 5 mins), and painted up 4 of the Rat Ogres.

By the way, for those of you who are fans of the Praetorian Imperial Guard and are wondering where the Cavalry/Rough Riders have gone, don't worry. I will be painting them latter on in the year, and maybe some of them as an aside. The important thing for me was that I purchased them from Curious Constructs and that they are there for me to do at some point.

Anyway, here are a few photographs of what is to come,
enjoy :)

The Skaven Army.

In need of basing and the adding of shields. 

Most of the metal models will require paint stripping. I am awaiting delivery from e-bay of a further 17 metal C47 Chaos Ratmen/Skaven model which I will use for Stormvermin and 2 for Rat Ogre Handlers. 

The bulk of the Clan Rats and Slaves are plastic models from the Warhammer Regiments box set or from Advanced Heroquest, both from the later 1980's. All the models in the army are Citadel and from the late 1980's. The Command groups are all metal, as are the weapons teams, Characters, Rat Ogres, Stormvermin, and the Wyvern (which I forgot to photograph!) .

Empire Army.

Made up of metal models from the various Citadel and Maruader Miniatures Fighters and Empire ranges of the late 1980's. 

In addition to the infantry shown here, I have 40 crossbowmen and 30 archers (for use as Forstjaeger). 

I intend to buy a couple of pack of Wargames Foundry ex-Citadel Mercenaires, and a few dismounted Knight models from e-bay to add some more character to the army.

 High Elves.

40 horses and mounted Mage.

 Riders for the horses, a Lord on a Dragon (Marauder Miniatures MB17 High Elf Dragonlord), 2 Elven Attack Chariots (I need to locate one of the crewmen) and a Giant Eagle.

The little bag contains plastic lances.

 If I decide not to go for the Cavalry army I still have a box of Elves to choose from! 

 Norse army.

So far made up of 80 Norse Dwarf Warriors, 10 Dwarf Crossbows, 10 Dwarf Beserkers, a handful of Humans, a Dragon, and an Ally Contingent of 13 Fimir (one of them is out of shot). 

I also have a Citadel Lord of the Rings Range ME15 Gimli on a pony who I think might make a good General for the army. I have a Norse looking Wizard, but can't find the model at the moment.

 Two Skaven test models from the Warhammer Regiments boxset.

I have gone for a very simple darkened paint scheme. I have painted to eyes a fluorescent green mixed with white to suggest Warpstone enfused Skaven.

 Heroquest Skaven, again in the speed painting style. I don't mind speed painting the bulk of the Clan Warriors and Slaves as I don't think there is a lot of point spending too much time and detail on troops that will look dark and be ranked up in bulk where the detailing will not be seen. I shall spend more time on the command models, weapons teams, and characters.

 Rat Ogre with chain knuckle dusters.

Grey version of above.

Skaven Rat Ogre with sword.

 A ruddier furred version of above.

This week I shall be assembling the Skaven army and paint stripping the metal models ready for painting. I shall, if time allows paint as many as I have time for. Next blog update will be on the Skaven and the 3,000 point army list.