Duelling Paintbrushes 5: Pretty Pictures of Forgedottir's Khazalid Khontingent

Centuries ago when Clan Ironfoundersenn first found a ready market for their fine Dwarven ale amongst the peoples of the Empire, some of them took to living above ground in the open air. Although considered mad by their right-thinking, underground-dwelling bretheren, this was seen as an important sacrifice that had to be made. After all, someone had to tend the hops and barley, and trusting humans was out of the question. These aboveground dwelling dwarves were lead by the redoubtable Thorek Ironfoundersenn, a brewmeister of great renown and skill. It was his daughter, Sigrid Forgedottir (the male line take the name 'Ironfoundersenn', after Grun Ironfounder, who founded the clan, the females of the family take the name 'Forgedottir' after his wife, Sigur the Forge-Maiden) who first encountered a breed of very red-faced humans who wore smocks and had straws in their hair. These strange men, who were incapable of pronouncing the letters 'c' or 's' introduced her to such strange wonders as 'Zider' and 'Zcrumble'. Naturally awed by the incredible alcoholic powers of these outlandish brews, Sigrid brought them to the attention of her venerable sire. Dwarves are naturally suspicious of trees and anything which comes from them, so there was some resistance, but eventually it was agreed that Sigrid could start her own cider press and distribute Forgedottir Cider alongside Ironfoundersenn's Unbeatable Ale. Taking up the colour green as a tribute to the orchards where the apples grew, Sigrid founded her own settlement, centered around the great presses and fermentation vats, and began production. While Cider is not popular with Dwarves, there are those among the younger set, who like to shave their beards, and listen to bards no one has heard of, who like it.
Like all members of Clan Ironfoundersenn, the cider markers of Forgedottir's Khazalid Khontingent are ever ready to take up arms in defence of their beloved lands, or to march forth to escort shipments of their highly prized products to the far flung corners of the empire.*

Behold the full might of Forgedottir's Khazalid Khontingent!

Beserker Brockriders of the moubnted arm of the Khazalid Temperence Society, who, dwelling above ground and having sworn off alcohol, have found that they move too slowly to fully vent their rage upon terrible great beasts. Hence their decision to ride terrible great beasts.

Although there are two troops pictured here, they will most often be used as a regiment.

Stout and stalwart ancients who grumble about cider being better in their day, and really don't get what the kids are talking about.

Sigrid Forgedottir leads her personal Ironclad horde, complete with cider wagon and dogpedo.

Behold the arrogance of the Dogpedo! This is the face of a dog who knows he will soon bound o'er the field and gore some vile villain, and is confidently sure that his steam-enhanced hind quarters and he are up to the task. Note also converted ancient alpenhornist.

Forgedottir's Hammer, potent and mighty work of dwaren engineering.

The BSB maintains a connection with Ironfoundersenn's brewery by displaying the ancestral crest and motto, and inclding the characteristic red colouring of the main clan.

Ah, apple brandy, most potently flamable of all Dwarven liquids...

And finally, the sharpshooters in all their converted glory.

And that's it for DP5: I completed my targets (and started in on another ten Riflemen, but had to go to PAX so was unable to complete them in time) and my Dwarven army is now a suitable size for use in KoW. Although it does need some more things - most units are only at Regiment size, not horde, and I want more elementals and a Steel Behemoth.



*Which are still there. No matter what Age of Sigmar says, the Old World is, and always will be, still there.

Duelling Paintbrushes 5: Work complete.

There are those amongst you who have doubted me. And to those people I say 'bah!' and 'fie!' You are wrong to doubt my endurance speed painting prowess simply because I choose to work at a more leisurely speed and not update so often. And as proof of your foolishness, and your almost certain weedy git status, here are pics of those portions of my duel which were not competed in the last photo. I fear you shall have to wait unto Monday to see it all arrayed together as I am in fair Melbourne Town preparing to go unto PAX and teach speed painting and terrain techniques to the masses, and have not brought with me that which was already complete. These photographs, originating as they do from my powerful mobile telephonic communication engine, lack somewhat for the quality of lighting. Superior photos will be deployed on Monday.

Hark! A Troop of Shield Breakers (those nice old GW metal Long Beards from around 2000, before they fell to the foolishness of having the SAME SIZE BEARD AS A CLANSMAN [grrr!]) I have attempted to suggest crippling nicotine addiction by the tint of their beards.

Helgar Forgedottir and the last parts of her horde to be based. Note the converted standard bearer made from a 5th ed. plastic champiuon torso and 7th ed. plastic legs. Also the rather obscured form of the Dogpedo.

Tremble mortals before the mounted arm of the Khazalid Temperance Society, driven mad by a lack of alcohol.

Lo! Sharpshooters do appear. These are wrought of a mix of GW and Harlequin models with mighty barrels added and shields brought into being from random and varied junk. Also halberd bayonets.

Fear the might of Forgedottir's Hammer! Fear him indeed! (Note that the base is not quite finished, but I was impatient to post - I will finish it post haste after the post is posted)

And there, hippo fans and weedy doubting gits alike, you have it!

What is more, last night while infesting Gregtopia, I started to paint up another troop of riflemen. Thos would get finished today, except that I am volunteering at yonder PAX AUS and have some sort of sinister family gathering to attend after that. Doubt not my powers mortals!

Also look out for some sort of TFH update on Cupday, which I plan to spend as all right thinking men spend cupday, making undead terrain. Oh yes.

Duelling Paintbrushes 5: The end is in sight.

Long have I left my blog lay idle. Long have men clamoured for updates on the Duel of Kings. Long have grown the beards of my Dwarves as they wait...
And the wait is over! Aye, at last an update on DP5: Duel of Kings!
Astute readers may have noticed the duel counter slowly ticking over as I 'complete' things (although I've been marking things as done before I finish the bases - I like to leave them to last and do them all at once). I can now reveal that:

• All 40 of the Ironclad horde are painted, and most are based (this includes a Throwing Mastiff marker and a unit filling cider wagon)
• All 10 Berzerkers are painted, but not based.
• The flame cannon is completely complete.
• All 10 Shield Breakers are painted, but not based.
• The King has become an Army Standard when I realised that I had one converted but had never painted it. Also because I wanted to use the Queen Helgar model as the champion in my Ironclad to save on buying a command group on eBay.
• The 5 Sharpshooters have been converted and are mostly painted.
• The Earth Elemental has been built, but no further. Also, I think he'll be demoted to a plain old earth elemental, he's not really big enough for a greater version.

I'll post some good pics when all is complete. For now, here are some in progress pics from my phone.

Forgdottir's Hammer (front view) Made from a Dreadball Iron Ancestor with various additions.

Note the might smoke stack which lurks unseen in the upper image.

The complete cohort arrayed for inspection.

Duelling Paintbrushes 5: The First Photos.

Here it is, the fifth day of DP5, and time for some pictures. I didn't post anything earlier because everything I'd painted was not yet based and I had not done the shields for the Ironclad horde yet.

The first 18 members of the Ironclad. These have been painted since Friday night, but the bases and shields were not finished until today. And yes, I know Dwarves do not like trees. These Dwarves have discovered something called an 'apple' which comes from something called a 'tree' and which can be turned into something wonderful called 'cider.'
They also listen to bands that have not even formed yet.

And here is the mighty apple-brandy powered flame belcher!

I've always liked this incarnation of the GW flame cannon. Mostly because barrels and dwarves go hand in hand and the newer models look awful.

The base is made from cardboard and balsa with slots cut in for the crew bases. I have treated these bases in my current basing style - my older dwarves have fairly boring grey bases which I will update at some point.

 What does the future hold in store? Well, I'm still stripping the paint from the other Ironclad, and I still don't have an actual command group for them. Also, I will be making a unit filler for them (although I actually have 40 models - the spares will be used for more units.)
Also, I will announce the winners of the Terrain Compometition soon - it's been a bit of a busy week with the re-starting of school and Dp5 and all.

Duelling Paintbrushes 5: And so it begins.

And lo, here we are in October, the month of the Duel of Kings! I have chosen to paint up more Dwarves (I already have a small WFB Dwarf army, but even for WFB it needs considerable expansion) and by the simple expedient of rummaging in the stash, I have uncovered most of what I need. Having run various ideas through EasyArmy, I have come up with the following:

Ironclads:

Horde of 40.

Using vintage GW plastic Dwarfs.

Sharpshooters:

Troop of 5.

Using converted vintage Harlequin Thunderers.

Berserker Brock Riders:

Two troops of 5.

Using the official Mantic figures (because who wouldn't want to use a unit of guys on giant dire badgers??)

Shield Breakers:

Troop of 5

Using GW's mid-era metal Longbeards. You know, the ones with actual long beards they made until the plastic Warriors/Longbeards came out and paradoxically made Longbeard-dom dependent on wearing a mask instead of having a long beard.

Flame Belcher:

Warmachine.

Using the old metal Flame Cannon model from GW. The one which is basically a barrel.

Greater Earth Elemental:

Monster.

Using the Mantic Dreadball Iron Ancestor (a sort of giant Dwarf robot) which I will convert by adding lots of steam generator equipment and arms and weapons, probably from Khador warjacks. It will not exactly be an earth elemental, but it will be a potent masterwork of Dwarven engineering.

King:

Individual.

Using the old GW Queen Helgar model. So a Queen then.

My cat does his best of ignore my Dwarves.

My WFB Dwarves are painted up in a red and yellow brewery theme. The idea being that each regiment is made up of the regulars of a certain pub or staff of part of the brewery, who band together to defend the main brewery or any of their beer convoys. I've never been that happy with the colour scheme I used, so I've decided that this new KoW detachment will consist of those Dwarves who have lived above ground longer, and have thus discovered... TREES! Or more specifically, apple trees. Yes! Dwarven Cider Drinkers! Thus Ironfoundersenn's Brewery will be re-inforced by the forces of Forgedottir Cider; their new hipster cider making division. This means I will be using different colours for the forces of Sigrid Forgedottir, but more of this later.

Duel of Kings: The Contestants.

Duelling Paintbrushes 5: Duel of Kings is almost upon us. Time for a list of participants!

Owen the Hippo: Dwarves.

Greg the Hooded: Rather Manly Kingdoms.

Chris the New South Welshman: Extremely Manly Kingdoms.

Drew the Punster: Abyssal Dwarves.

Nick the Ginger: Salamanders

Matt the Hoarder: Abyssal Dwarves

Pete the Undecided: Undead.

Interested in adding your own name to this noble list? Check out the details of the event here.

Duelling Paintbrushes 5: Duel of Kings.

Behold! It is time once more for Duelling Paintbrushes! What with the whole Age of Sigmar thing, there have been some modifications to the format. Now it is time for mighty men to take up powerful paintbrushes in the Duel of Kings - Duelling Paintbrushes for Kings of War! 

Behold! The rules document!

Duelling Paintbrushes 5: Duel of Kings is a painting challenge. The rules are simple:

• Start painting October 1^{st 2015}.
• Finish painting October 31st 2015.
• You must paint a horde and its attached units for Kings of War.
• A Horde entitles one to:
• A single character
• A single warmachine
• A single monster (if available to your faction)
• And 4 Troops
• Your horde and troops may be Infantry, Cavalry, Large Infantry or Large Cavalry.
• You do not need to use official models, but your choice of models MUST make sense (no painting Chaos Warriors and claiming they are Goblins for instance)
• You can assemble and undercoat before hand. Or you can be arrogant and do it all during DP 5 and make everyone else feel slow.
• Time permitting; you can add terrain features themed to your army.
• Everyone who meets the challenge is declared the victor.
• Everyone who fails to meet the challenge is declared a weedy git and scorned by those who win.
• You must report your progress on your blog.
• If you do not have a blog, you cannot take part, and shall be declared the weediest of weedy gits, and children instructed to throw things at you in the street.
• Please add the blogs of all other participants to your Blogroll.
• Use of Hippos has been authorized.
• All participants are to signal their participation by emailing me (and preferably announcing their participation on their blog also)