Re: Oldhammer In Moria: Back To The Dungeon!

[**GS**]

Hey nice looking game!

Could you tell me how to build those green fields?


btw:
I like your narrative style to present your figures!

cheers

GS

[Mars Miniatures]

GS,
Thanks buddy!  The green fields and wheat/barley fields are door mats.  The game mat itself is European Enhanced Fields from Hotz Mats, whom by the way also do similar crop fields.  But I have only seen those in pics, not in person.  Door mats are the way to go, if you find the right kind.

[LordOdo]

Yayy an update finally! !!

I'm curious to the adventures in the Shire, but I hope as well we'd still hear from Pickles, Nindalf, the Mother of Dragons and the rest.

But I'm sure wherever the story takes place, it will be great!

[Mars Miniatures]

LordOdo,

Hey buddy! Yup, I will be doing alot more regular updates again.  

Ive had some troubles with my health lately, but the medics have patched me up for battle again.
You cant keep a good Dwarf down.  And if we do go down, just like good ol' Balin, we come back as Chaos Dwarves.  

Oh and dont worry, all of our old friends will be making a come back.  And like any good wargaming collection, they are being rebased.
I just hope next year, I dont switch to Age of Sigmar and end up rebasing to rounds again.  

[Mars Miniatures]

Full post here: 
http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/05/dwarfs-from-iron-claw-essex-grenadier.html

Old School Lead: Dwarfs From Iron Claw, Essex
Sculpted by the great Bob Olley.
Are these fellas really Chaos Dwarfs?  Lets examine them...

Even more Dwarf reinforcements are on their way to Moria.  First up are 24 Dwarfs made up from a mix of old school lead from Iron Claw and also from Essex Miniatures.  While they are from 2 different companies, they are both sculpted by Bob Olley and are virtually indistinguishable from one another.  In fact, after putting them together as a unit, I have forgotten which are Iron Claw and which are from Essex.




 The Iron Claw Dwarfs are sold as "Gothic Dwarfs".  But Essex sells them as "Chaos Dwarfs".   At first, I didnt think of these fellas as Chaos looking.   In my blog's fluff, at this point at least, Chaos Dwarves have not yet been ostracized from the rest of Dwarf society.  Which is fortunate for Balin, Lord of Moria who has been resurrected by the Fell Gods of Chaos.  I myself wonder how Balin will be treated by the Dwarf Kings Thorgrim, Kazador, Gorrin, and others.  Also I believe Prince Ulther has a special rule about Chaos Dwarves, something about a tradition handed down to him to hunt them.  Oh, its the Frenzy special rules that apply to Prince Ulther's Imperial Dwarves when fighting Chaos Dwarves.

At any rate, lets investigate these Iron Claw/Essex Dwarfs further before judgement…



Ok, let me discuss these guys from left to right.
1) Skeletor helmet dwarf does look Chaos-y, I will admit.
2) The Dwarf wizard Peter the Hermit is holding an upside down imp and thats pretty cool. Is he about to sacrifice it or just scold the lil fella?
3) Next we have the Grandmaster Jacques De Solay with his fancy "Order of the Golden Sun" Helmet which  means he is the Grand Poobah of this Lodge.
4) Our banner bearer here does look a bit ominous looking.  Perhaps a Nurglish banner, but the head at the top reminds me of a D&D Oni Mage, so perhaps its a Tzeentchian banner.  Ooh, btw the new Warhammer Quest has a Oni trollish looking monster.
5) Drummer here has a skull drum and bone drumsticks.  Mahabone, brothers!
6) This fella has an eyepatch.  One eye.  Osiris reference, anyone?  There is a definite and peculiar symbolism in this unit which an Inquisitor needs to look into.  (Perhaps with an Ordo Hereticus team and a couple of Virus bombs in orbit, just in case…) 



Bane: "Theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated… but we are initiated, aren't we Bruce? Members of the League of Shadows"



 Jack the Ripper:  "These symbols, the mitre, the pentacle star, even someone as ignorant and degenerate as you can sense that they course with energy and meaning. I am that meaning. I am that energy"

For the rest of the post:
http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/05/dwarfs-from-iron-claw-essex-grenadier.html

[Mars Miniatures]

Taken from full post here:
http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/06/dwarf-valkyries-drunk-rangers.html

Dwarf Valkyries & Drunk Rangers
A Dwarf Lady Warhammer unit, my version of Bugmans Rangers, and some good ol' fashioned Dwarven warmachines in this post!

Greetings, dear readers!

On this post, we show off some Dwarven womenfolk, some good ol' fashioned warmachines, some Bugmans Brewery Rangers, and finally an update on Balin, Lord of Moria.

The great rebasing project continues. Soon enough, all of my Dwarves will be on square bases.  Then we need to move on to the Orcs, Dark Elves, Undead, Dragons, etc.  Not to mention, there are loads of new painted and unpainted forces to bolster the enemies of Moria!  In time, all these will be revealed.  Then we can do some battle reports and move forward with the story fluff.  So patience, young padawans.  Good things are on the way.

Onwards to pics…



At last, Dwarven Womenfolk are here.  This unit is called the Valkyries of Valaya.  Valaya is the Dwarf goddess of healing and protection.

Astute readers of this blog may recognize that Bertha and Penny from the Dungeon Chef adventure are now in this unit.  The Dwarf barmaid from the Party of Special Magnificence, as well as 3 of the Hasslefree girls have also joined and become founding members of the Valkyries.


On the far left is a Stonehaven Dwarf paladin-dress, paladrina, or perhaps a she-paladin?

Next is Chef Bertha with her famous and feared Cleaver of +1 Mutton Chopping,

Next is Brienne of PopTart the High Priestess of Valaya, (not to be confused with Brienne of Tarth, which is understandable since both of them are exceptionally tall and imposing women of their respective races)

and finally on the far right, we have Penny the Sharpshooter with her trusty crosbow.

Gimli:  "It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men."

Aragorn: [whispering to Eowyn]  "It's the beards."

Gimli:  "And this in turn has given rise to the belief that there are no Dwarf-women, and that Dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground!"
[Eowyn laughs]

Gimli:  "Which is, of course, ridiculous"


Bugmans Rangers.   Rangers lead the way!

Alright, they arent the Bugmans Rangers Box set of which I believe there are 3 versions (Pre Slotta, Oldhammer, & 90s).  But, Im using the 6th edition army book to create a Bugmans Rangers unit that doesnt have crossbows, or 2 handed weapons, nor shields.   Hmm, they are more brewers and drunks than Rangers, actually.  But, hey! They are still excellent at moving through woods and forests.  And they have the excellent Beer Cart in its new green basing scheme to accompany them.  But dont fear, I have a list.  And on that "list of stuff to acquire" is a proper Bugmans Rangers box set, among other things.  A Gob Lobber box,  Dwarf Renegades, Dwarf Kings Court, and 80s Fellowship of the Ring, are also on that list.  In fact the Fellowship is going to come in mighty handy with the fluff I have planned.  Middle Earth, you are doomed!  Doomed, I say!


And what Ranger unit is complete unless it has cooks.
This army marches on its stomach… with beer and beer basted ribs.


Now for an updated look at Balin and his boys.
Balin's forces are not only rebased, but they are also growing in numbers!


For the rest of the post:

http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/06/dwarf-valkyries-drunk-rangers.html

[Mars Miniatures]

Taken from full post here:
http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-rest-of-rebased.html


The Rest Of The Rebased

Whew, rebasing is hard work.
But here are the last of the Dwarfs who needed switching from round to square.
I do need to make or buy some movement trays.



Overview of alot of stunties.


The Dwarf battle lines in depth.


High King Kazador on his Throne of Power.
He is talking strategy with his 4 trusted counselors:
Kragg the Grim, Runelord (back left),
Burlok Damminson, Guildmaster Engineer (front left),
Ungrim Ironfist, the Slayer King (back right),
Joseph Bugman, Brew Master (front right)


For the rest of the post:
http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-rest-of-rebased.html

[MagpieJono]

WOW don't know how I've missed this thread up until now but it's absolutely awesome. Dwarves were my first army when I began playing WFB in the late 80s. You're miniatures bring back some lovely memories.

[LordOdo]

Two kings are called Kazador?

Either way a fantastic army, although I seem to miss Grumpy, Pickles and Gloin...

[DeafNala]

The Dwarven Horde looks WONDERFUL. There are a lot of Old Friends in the mix, all BEAUTIFULLY painted. OUTSTANDING WORK!

[Mars Miniatures]

Thanks all,

Deafnala, any praise from you is humbling, sir. 

LordOdo, How could I have insulted the High King Thorgrim?  He will never forget.  Afterall he does carry the Book of Grudges.
But you LordOdo, you deserve a prize, my friend for spotting a mistake!  I shall edit my blog post and immortalize your name therein and proclaim you Dwarf-Friend.

You can check the blog post to see the newly edited fix.  But here is the addition:

Edit: Please note that I, Mars Minis, made the terrible mistake of calling Thorgrim as Kazador.  This mistake was spotted by LordOdo (of the Lead Adventure Forum).  LordOdo, is now given the Dwarf Eagle's Eye award and is proclaimed Dwarf-Friend by official decree and may visit the Kingdom of Moria at any time.  I, however must shave my beard in shame...  I really do need to shave, it really is getting quite unruly and scruffy.

[LordOdo]

 

Being a dwarf-friend I shall open my own thread about dwarfs soon!

[Mars Miniatures]

Taken from full post here:
http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/07/citadel-imperial-dwarf-box-set-more.html


I have got my hands on an Oldhammer Citadel set from the 80s.
Its the Prince Ulther Imperial Dwarves!
I have had 18 of them for awhile now, but didnt have the box itself.  So I jumped at the chance to get another 18 of them but this time with the box.






Here are the 2 figures I had been missing.  A musician and Prince Ulther himself.
All this time I thought I had Prince Ulther, but actually I had the unit champion, Borri Forkbeard.


So, here is a pic of all 36 Imperial Dwarves I now have.
As you can see, Runelord Kragg has joined this unit.
Front rank from left to right: 2 troopers, musician, banner, Prince Ulther, Runelord Kragg, Borri Forkbeard, 2 troopers.


Here is another newly painted Dwarf. Boren the Hunter with his trusty feline companion.
He might be a druid, or a ranger, but he is definitely a rat trapper.


So Boren joins the ranks of the Rangers alongside Josef Bugman himself.
Front rank left to right: The Beercart, 2 drunk dwarves, Pickles the Mapmaster, Josef Bugman, Stonewall Jarlson, Finlay the Bagpiper.


For the rest of the post, see here:
http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/07/citadel-imperial-dwarf-box-set-more.html

[LordOdo]

So great!!! This thread (your blog) really is one of my favourites to read!!

[Mars Miniatures]

Taken from:
http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2016/07/army-of-moria-with-video.html

Short update today, but this time with a video!
I took out all the painted Dwarves I have on my shelves and the current muster is at 453.
Its just been a lil over a year since I began my retro delving into Oldhammer goodness and I still feel like there is just so much more to do and stunties yet to purchase and paint. Gotta catch em all!





And here is the video. 

Which could be a lot better, I admit. 
But the music is inspiring! 
The Dwarven Empire will reach the limits of glory. 
I do need to find a Dwarven Napoleon figure, I think I remember seeing one sometime ago.

In the next post I will show off all the enemies of our stuntie heroes... the Axis of Evil!  Orcs, Undead and Dark Elves.