So, I accidently painted an army

This lockdown is starting to feel like being under house arrest, but without a known end date. It all seems a bit in the UK, some things are starting be less restricted yes, but we definitely aren't out of the woods yet. So I continue to stay at home working at my dining table during the day, moving my keyboard to one side in the evening and painting models at the same spot. I count my blessings that my friends and family stay well and I have a job. 

I made a comment recently on facebook about Eldar in Warhammer 40K being a cheesy army. Now although my comment was definitely made in jest with tongue firmly in cheek and was taken in that context I was called up on it by a friend and rightly so. The reason being it has been a long time since I've actually played any Warhammer 40,000, so I'm probably not actually in a position to comment on the current balance of the system. I was wrong to make the comment and so should have been corrected. Thinking about it, the period of time since I last played either Warhammer is probably actually longer than the time I spent playing them.

I still pop in the store and read the odd book and sometimes maybe buy the odd model as you may know if you are a regular reader. I just haven't kept up with the rules. I started playing so infrequently it didn't make sense to keep buying the latest books as they came out for them to just collect dust on the shelf. When you you have multiple Space Marine Codexes (Codices?) slowly taking up more and more valuable bookshelf space it does make you feel old too.

I mention this because it reminded me of a podcast I listened to recently which I thought I would share. The Cast Dice Podcast, Episode 91 was an interview with Rick Priestley talking about the creation of Rogue Trader. ( Link here) He himself in the Podcast states that the current 40K is something that he doesn't keep up or recognise. It was fascinating listening to him talking about how he created this thrown together lore with ideas from all over the place that has now become this huge lumbering beast of a game. (I myself came in at second edition so I learnt even more than some Longbeards may.)

Another reason I haven't picked up a Warhammer book in a while is the excellent range of alternative non specific model rulebooks from Osprey. One of these titles, Dragon Rampant, makes an excellent alternative to Warhammer Fantasy. The rules are specifically written so that you can create your army to match whatever models you have, whether they be a GW army or just some random things you've picked up at trade shows and like the look of.

Now I did only have one fantasy army, (painted that is, countless other ones sit waiting to be painted up of course!) an old GW Chaos army made up of Marauders, Knights and Warriors. I love the models and would like to play with them again, but I didn't have another army for them to fight against. So, one evening armed with the book and some unbuilt plastic sets I built an army.

A box of Frostgrave Wizards, Frostgrave Female Warriors and Perry Men at Arm's that the Father in Law had presented me with for my birthday were all built with a few head swaps, tweaks and the addition of a single bushy bearded head from a Landschneck sprue that had come free with Wargames Illustrated. 

First set of Wizards

Second set of Wizards

Final set of Wizards, all twelve make up one unit

Light Cavalry

Light infantry

Heavy Cavalry with Leader on distinctive base

I've tried to give the army a vague sense of uniformity with a pale blue colour cloth among their clothes, but then the wizards turn up wearing whatever they feel like. I'm already thinking about extra units to add. Possibly some hounds, or maybe something a bit more fantastical, maybe something more draconic?
The fantasy has been a nice change from historical painting, not having to get exact colours right with research is a lot easier. On the historical side I have painted up another unit of Prussian infantry but they look exactly the same as the last lot, so if you want to know what they look like, I refer you to my last blog post.

Oh and finally, I hope the photo's look good. Thanks to top tips from Wargames Illustrated editor Dan I tried something new and I think they look really good if I may say so myself! (Although the paint job could probably still do with improving!)