Dwarfs of Monte Trocchio (August 28th - primed warriors and quick conversion)

[SgtSlag]

2e BattleSystem is a kitchen-sink rules set:  it covers every aspect of fantasy war gaming, including mining!  I've been playing it since 1992, and I still love it.  I even went through the PDF, doing a word search, to create my own Index, since TSR never bothered when they published it.  It is not perfect, but it is good enough.

I love that it is open ended, with guidelines for creating new creatures, battle platforms, and monsters, even.  Since I do play 2e AD&D RPG, I am able to draw battles from my RPG campaign, and that has been a blast.

There is an RPG book that details one of the original Artifacts in 2e BS terms, so if you make a model of the Artifact (a small Mech, really), you can bring it to the tabletop for play!

I also love that 2e BS is a bucket-o-dice game:  I have bought a couple of Pound-o-Dice kits from Chessex, dividing them between myself and my family, so we all have plenty of dice!  It is fun to roll 20-50 d6 for a single attack!   

I've run most types of games allowed over the years:  siege warfare (no mining, yet), aerial units, siege engines and siege artillery.  I don't play it often enough, but when I do play a game, I like to pull out all of the stops...  My last game, two years ago, had around 1,200 figures on the table, and around 1,000 of them were from my collection.  I managed to lure around 10 people into playing it, while I refereed.  Around eight of the 10 players had never played it before.  Everyone had a great time with it.

That battle was lifted from my RPG games, so several of the players in the BS game ran PC's in the RPG campaign -- they had a vested interest in the outcome of the game, which was open-ended, as I did not care which side won, but the results of the tabletop game would translate into the RPG setting.   

I've used the aforementioned brass spears with other em4 figures, to make banner bearers.  I have not made the banners yet, but I've put the brass spears into their hands already.  This is how I decided that it would work really well to cut off the spear shafts, drill out the hands, and insert the brass "Pikes" to convert them.  I looked for them to take some photo's, but I can't find them...  When I do, I will post some photos.  Cheers!

PS:

Found them, sitting right next to me...  Here is a line-up, with the banner holder on the left, and the original sitting on the right side of it, as you look at the photo.  Cheers, Part Deux!

[Luigi]

Man that looks like an epic game, EXACTLY the type of experience I crave. Maybe I should start looking for players in the GTA.

The conversion is simple and effective, definitely something I'll attempt myself.
Also, did you prime your grey? I was thinking of doing the same but I was worried I'd miss spots since the colour is so similar to the plastic's.
Not that it would really matter tbh, to have a few minuscule spots missed.

[SgtSlag]

I  normally use the least expensive, sandable, automotive gray spray primer.  Recently saw a post on TMP that Ace Hardware (USA chain) sells a flat white primer, for less money per spray can.  The gray auto primer is around $8/can, last time I bought some.  Not crazy about satin finish, primer + paint spray cans, as it dries too smooth for my liking/painting.  Cheers!

[anevilgiraffe]

Man that looks like an epic game, EXACTLY the type of experience I crave. Maybe I should start looking for players in the GTA.

Grand Theft Auto?

[punkrabbitt]

Grand Theft Auto?

That was my thought as well

[Pattus Magnus]

GTA is Greater Toronto (and area?) - Toronto and the various surrounding smaller cities in its orbit. A similar term is used for Greater Vancouver over on the west coast. Of course a lot of people in the areas around Toronto and Vancouver don’t love being lumped in with the larger city, but navigating the minefields of intra-regional rivalries is just part of the charm.

No idea if Toronto (Greater or otherwise) would have active  Battlesystem players, but if anywhere in Canada was likely to, that would be the place, at least demographically.

[area23]

Great to seen the old Grenadier dwarves. Is it true they changed the type of plastic? Is it the same as GW/Perry/renedra now?
The old ones I have are really hard to cut and they don't take liquid palstic cement. The ones you're showing also seem to have better detail than the originals.

[SgtSlag]

I tried using pure Acetone (Nail Polish Remover) to try to weld cut-off arms in new positions.  It barely softened the plastic.  If the current figures had been made of ABS Plastic, this should have worked marvelously, but it barely affected them, even after applying a generous amount of Acetone to the joint.

These em4 figures are amazingly affordable.  For mass ranks, they are superb.  As to what type of plastic they are made from, I do not know.

I ended up ordering another 48 of the Spearmen.  I also ordered 40 brass wire spears, which I will cut down to make Dwarf-sized Pikes.  I also ordered a bunch of Halberds.  For all of these, I will cut off the molded spears, drill out the hand, then insert the brass Pikes, and the Halberds, securing them with UV cured resin.

I have received the brass Spears.  I'm still waiting on the Halberds and the em4 Dwarves...  I am really excited to get everything so that I can get it going.  I like Dwarves.  A lot.  I am eager to expand my Dwarven army's roster.

When I get all the parts, I will post photos of my progress in my project.  Cheers!

[dadlamassu]

Great to seen the old Grenadier dwarves. Is it true they changed the type of plastic? Is it the same as GW/Perry/renedra now?
The old ones I have are really hard to cut and they don't take liquid palstic cement. The ones you're showing also seem to have better detail than the originals.

I cannot say if the plastic has changed as i did not convert the older ones I have.  The "new" ones were converted quite easily and both Revell Contacta and Humbrol polystyrene cement seem to have worked perfectly well. 

[Tactalvanic]

looks the same apart from maybe colour.

But the last batch I got compared to the original Fantasy Warriors boxed set ones, same material.

wonderfully easy to work with and detail level exactly the same.

Always great to see someone doing a project with them, they are a classic that deserves more attention.

So easy to modify, as the cost is so low as well overall.

But that GW thing scale wise, wow, as I had always considered the FW dwarfs quite large...

[Hobgoblin]

The EM4 dwarfs and orcs definitely take liquid polystyrene cement just fine (I believe that may not have been the case in the past, but it must have been a fair while back). I've had no problem welding them together with GW and Oathmark bits.

Great to see this project coming along! The old Grenadier dwarfs are such great figures: Lund and Copplestone are in select company as designers who worked out how to make dwarfs look genuinely formidable (it's to do with the long arms, I think) rather than comic.

[Luigi]

Thank you guys! Things are moving along. Slowly, but they're moving.
I have now started putting some sand on the bases. Pictures to follow, possibly this evening.

Great to seen the old Grenadier dwarves. Is it true they changed the type of plastic? Is it the same as GW/Perry/renedra now?
The old ones I have are really hard to cut and they don't take liquid plastic cement. The ones you're showing also seem to have better detail than the originals.

I'm unsure on what type of plastic they were before, but so far they've taken plastic cement without issue (to be more precise, they took Tamiya Airbrush cleaner with no issue). And judging from the comments of others I'd say they've been consistent for a while in their plastic composition.

The more I work with them the more I agree with those singing the praises of these models. You really can't beat the price and they look really nice. I actually used to have a lot of Lund's grenadier dwarfs (unfortunately stolen) and they were always among my favourite sculpts.
I'll keep the conversions to a minimum on these guys as I really just want to tackle my unpainted pile.

Grand Theft Auto?

So Pattus Magnus explained it well; it is technically the Greater Toronto Area but alas, you're not too wrong; given the rapid increase in vehicular theft that Toronto has witnessed in the past 3(?) years.

[Luigi]

Yesterday I finally finished sanding the last of based dwarfs.



I also found some TEHNOLOG dwarfs sitting in storage so decided to grab a handful of them as well.


they're... ok. They'll make for good command figures and artillery crew. You can see I've been bitten by the kitbashing bug, and could't help myself from replacing blades and adding shields.

I told myself I'd focus solely on infantry, but I could't help myself and built a catapult and a cannon.

The catapult is mostly fine, I'll remove the tab on its spoon and replace the actual spring with a coiled rope or some other bit. But once painted and based; it'll fit right in.
The cannon was a bit too modern and void of details. So  I started the process of dwarfing it up a bit.
We're getting somewhere but there's still something missing. I think the connectors between the two frame halves need beefing up somehow

[Zosimos]

Very cool!

[Tactalvanic]

Dwarf army -  you cannot help but get slightly distracted making sure they have to much artillery.

They look ok but yes, unpainted they look a bit short and lacking in cast on bling bits, and the carriages look short overall, but your fixing the bling, and painted up surrounded by crew, should do the job nicely.

But you/they definitely want more artillery pieces.. two is a good start but, Dwarfs..