The Mists Recoil - Dark Shadows Game Reimagined for Warlords of Erehwon

Boðvoc and I finally got around to playing the second game in our campaign based on GWs Dark Shadows booklet.

Boðvoc has done sterling work adapting it for Warlords of Erehwon (henceforth known as WoE). He even wrote a preliminary scenario to determine who was the attacker and who the defender for The Mists Recoil.

NB: I'm having problems orienting the photographs again, so I've removed some of them.  I also forgot to take any of the final turn or two, it was too exciting.

The Scenario 

The original scenario is designed to use the Warhammer Fantasy skirmish rules, essentially those used in Mordheim. We decided not to try to adapt WoE to anything smaller scale; hopefully the rules would be robust enough for our purposes.

The attacker is trying to land their forces in the teeth of an artillery battery and a skeleton defence force (literally, in our case).

The dwarves are arriving in a number of boats at the only safe landing on this stretch of coast. Each unit had it's own boat, a mix of card models, a resin boat and an XPS craft I built years ago for DnD.

In the original, the attacker has 500 points, the defender has three war machines and just 50 points.  Neither side has any magic. 

After working out sample WFB lists and comparing them to the WoE lists, Boðvoc decided on 750 points for the dwarves and 200 for the undead, plus three war machines. 

The invaders are in as many boats as necessary, which move a random 2D6" each turn, with a chance of getting stuck on sandbanks.

He also adapted the Albion weather table, mostly to lessen it's effects on the game (ha).

The Undead 

I had an Undead Hero as the leader of my force. Given the model (a lovely Gary Morley Armoured Wight Champion), I gave it heavy armour. 

The main defence was two Skeleton Bolt Throwers and a Large Stone Thrower (the marvellous Skull Chucker).

I rounded out the force with seven Skeleton Archers. The three war machines are free for this scenario, but I upgraded the stone thrower to a large machine from my small points allowance. 

The Undead Defenders

The Dwarves

Boðvoc had five units; Amlodi Forkbeard, dwarven chieftain,  accompanied by his four drinking companions, Gunnar Funðinsonn Dwarf Ranger and his mates, Ulf the Ranger plus friends (I can imagine some rivalry between these two units), a unit of Archers and a unit of Dwarven Guard led by Brokkir.

Opening Moves 

I threw for the weather, getting 'Misty'; visibility reduced to 1D10+6". Hmm, it looks like the Isle of Albion wasn't quite ready to give up it's secrets to those hairy dwarves. 

This led to a strangely bloodless opening few turns, with the dwarves inching forward while the skeletons scanned the fog, looking for targets.

The Dwarven Fleet sails on

"Row, row, row yer boat"

The Dwarf Guard reach the shore "Land Ahoy!"

The Undead Defenders poised for action

The Main Battle 

Eventually the boats reached the shore.  Brokkir's Guard were first to land, but the mist concealed them as they advanced in the direction of the defenders.  

The remaining dwarves soon joined them ashore, but as the mist thinned, the Skeleton catapult spotted Gunnar and his Rangers.  Fortunately for the dwarves, the shot went wide. In response, the rangers take out one of the catapult's crew.

The dwarven archers target their skeletal opposites, although many arrows seem to strike true, none of the bony lads fall. The skeletons return the favour, but the dwarven armour is too tough for their arrows.

The dwarves otherwise advance towards the cliffs and the undead scan for targets (at this point, most of the advancing dwarves were hidden in the mist).

 

The Dwarves have landed

The mist finally clears, allowing the catapult to target Ulf's rangers, killing four and forcing them to take cover.  Gunnar orders his rangers to return fire ("we've got this for you, Ulf laddie") and take out the remaining catapult crew, neutralising the threat.

The dwarf archers destroy two of the skeleton archers, the bolt throwers target the standing dwarven missile troops, but only 1 of Gunnar's Rangers falls.  The remaining dwarves advance.

The mist rises again.  The dwarven archers finally see off the skeletal archers, but one of the bolt throwers forces Gunnar's Rangers to take cover.  

Amlodi Forkbeard charges up the hill to tackle the bolt thrower behind the hedge, dragging his reluctant guard with him (they had to carry his beer barrel!).  The hedge proves little defence, and the crew are pounded into dust.  In response, the hulking Undead Champion slays one of Amlodi's guard.  The dwarves hear a thin hissing sound as their axes fail to bite on his armour; could the foul creature be laughing at them?  The dwarves cowered in fear, though Amlodi later claimed that it was a bad batch of beer.

The mist turned to drizzle, giving better visibility, though by this stage all troops could see each other.  Brokkir's dwarf guard rushed the bolt thrower facing them, quickly destroying the crew.  Now only the Champion remained to halt the dwarven invasion.

Amlodi was in no state to appreciate his triumph, he lay shivering in the mud with his drinking chums.  Elsewhere, Brokkir and his troops faffed around behind the hedge (slight misreading of the rules on obstacles here).  

The dwarves close in

The End Phase 

With the defenders reduced to just the champion, the dwarves had cleared the way for their army.  But they still wanted to destroy the huge creature.  

Amlodi was to take no part in this, apparently he wanted to see what the rest of his lads could do.  Archers shot, Rangers scrambled up cliffs and hacked, but in the end, the spirit inhabiting the corpse saw that it's task here was over.

It had failed to hold off the dwarves, due partly to the cursed mists.  

His master's new ally, that dark clad stranger, had promised the weather would be to their advantage.  He lied.

There would be more bodies to inhabit, more battles to fight ere Albion was won, but for now the spirit fled back to it's master to await further orders.

Only the Undead Champion remained atop the hill.

Reflections

Well, that was a great fun game.  I think both of us had a fair idea of how it would play out on the table top, but we were both wrong.  The first few turns may not look like much (the dwarven boats slowly moving forward, concealed by the mist), but it was actually quite tense.

As I expected, once the dwarves got on to the hill, the Undead were doomed.  I hadn't expected the dwarven shooting to be so effective, and I expected a bit more from mine.  I didn't manage to take out a single dwarven unit, though I found the image of the proud dwarven leader cowering in the mud at the feet of the mighty Undead Champion hilarious. I suspect Boðvoc doesn't agree.

We made a few minor mistakes, but we are becoming more conversant with the rules, and they seem pretty good for our purposes.

You can read the victor's account over on The War Crow

A Note on the Terrain 

I was hosting, so the terrain is mine. This is part of my ongoing upgrade of my wargaming terrain.  The baseboard is in the process of being made, for this battle I simply used the three 2' x 4' sheets on the dining room table.  The 'grass' is one of those cheap fake grass mats from Lidl, with the blue cloth I used to use for games of Man o' War for the sea.  The two part hill is a recent build, and not quite finished.  I do intend to rebase those hedges in the near future too.

What's Next?

The next scenario is an Ambush.  The victorious dwarves are pushing forwards, trying to catch the undead already on the isle.  I will have twice the points of the attackers, I guess I'd better get some more undead painted then.

I certainly need a Dark Emissary, and have been collecting bits to kitbash one.

Warlords of Erehwon, the Map of Albion (Dark Shadows Preliminary Game)

Boðvoc and I played the first game in our Dark Shadows campaign.  To get us a bit more used to the rules and how to use our armies we played a preliminary game where both sides raced to get a map to the mysterious isle of Albion. 

Boðvoc used his tin cans dwarves and I used my new undead. 

The Scenario 

As host, and campaign organiser, Boðvoc came with a suitable scenario: both sides were trying to find a thief who had stolen a chart showing a safe route to the mysterious (and misty) Isle of Albion. 

Six tokens represent possible hiding places for the thief, a unit contacting a token reveals it, with a 1 in 6 cumulative chance it will be the thief with chart. 

We each had 500 points, which doesn't buy a lot of dwarves.  My secret weapon was a Carrion Beast, which you can see painted in the previous post. I thought something fast would prove useful grabbing objectives. 

Apologies if the following focuses more on the undead than the dwarves, you can read Boðvoc's account over on his blog.

The Field of Conflict 

The battlefield was suitably busy; ideal for this sort of skirmish. Cliffs blocked the far end if the table, as seen on the photos  -  these were actually the old modular plastic hills from Citadel stood on their side! A track leads along the length of the battlefield to a couple of fields and a farm house, with a hedge extending the line of the track.  A couple of low hills flank the hedge near the centre of the table,  and a couple of woods and a large hill dominate the near end of the table. 

There are a couple of boggy areas, near the cliffs and at the end of the hedge, and minor ruins scattered around. 

Objective tokens were placed in both bogs, both fields, one of the woods and on the rocky hill. 

The undead moved on from the left and the dwarves from the right. 

Opening Moves 

Once both sides had deployed it was clear that most of the action would be over near the cliffs. 

The two sides face off

Initially, both sides moved forward towards the objectives. Makhar boosted the skeleton spears, increasing their number to nine, otherwise it was simply a case of making progress towards the objectives.

Two turns in

The dwarven archers occupied the nearby woods.  They searched in vain, no sign of either thief or chart.

Makhar climbed the hill with his bodyguard.  No sign of the chart here either.  He took advantage of his position to inflict a Chill Wind on the dwarven axe troops, killing four.

The zombies shambled forwards, keen to feast on dwarf. To their left, the skeletons advanced into the field. Hiding in the crops was the thief, and, more importantly,  the sea chart.

Over near the cliffs the Carrion Beast circled round and dropped a rock on Amlodi.  The dwarf hid behind his beer barrel, one of his drinking chums was less fortunate. 

The action hots up, the chart is in bony hands

Main Battle

Shaken by the loss of one of his guard ("he owed me a pint"), Amlodi Forkbeard did little more than check his beer barrel for leaks.

The skeletons withdrew from the field, accompanied by a nervous rogue clutching the map. 

The dwarven infantry moved up, hoping to catch the skeletons with the prize, while the zombies shuffled ever closer.

Makhar scrambled down the hill and caught the dwarven guard in another chill wind, but they were made of sterner stuff and largely shrugged it off. They were less fortunate when the Carrion Beast dropped rocks on them, losing one of their number. 

The dwarven archers shot at Makhar and his bodyguard,  but caused no casualties. 

The undead take shots at the dwarves who desperately chase the the map

The Carrion Beast continued it's bombardment of the dwarf guard, taking out another, as did Makhar's Chill Wind. Seeing the skeletons withdraw with the chart, the necromancer decided to make the dwarves pay for their presumption. Hopefully it would delay any attempt at dwarven expansion into Albion. He ordered the zombies to charge the dwarven guard.  Despite acquitting themselves well, the dwarves were spent from their previous casualties and broke, the survivors fleeing the battlefield. 

The dwarven axes then charged the remaining zombies to avenge their kin and wiped them out. 

Desultory shooting from both lots of archers caused no casualties, but both sides suffered somewhat (a pin each).

The Dwarven Guard have gone to the Halls of the Stone Ancestors, the zombies are destroyed, and neither side's archers are up to much

End Phase 

The dwarven archers crouched down in confusion (failed Order test). Both Makhar and the Carrion Beast slew a dwarven axe, but the dwarves had the effrontary to charge the necromancer.

Dwarven axes vs Makhar and his guard

One of Makhar's bodyguard was smashed to bits by the axes of the dwarves,  but their earlier casualties caused them to break. They kept their discipline,  and withdrew in good order.

The skeleton spears continued their withdrawal,  keeping the chart safe.

Gradual whittling down of both sides

The undead gradually retreat.  Makhar tries a final blast of Chill Wind on the remaining dwarven axes, but they shrug off the effects. 

With no way of catching the skeletons with the chart, and unwilling to risk more dwarven lives (according to some, because his beer barrel had sprung a leak), Amlodi Forkbeard sounded the retreat. 

The Chart is safe in Makhar's hands

Well that was a hugely enjoyable game. I did wonder what Boðvoc has done to upset the dice gods: his luck, especially to begin with, was shocking.  Amlodi failing a Command test when he needed a 9 or less, for example.

Conversely, my rolling was good, especially early on, and I managed to cast every spell, though not always terribly effectively. 

It was my first game using my undead, though I did face them when T'Other One squashed my orcs with them back in November. I was pleasantly pleased with their performance, though a lot of the success was down to avoiding the dwarves.  The scenario helped a lot here, I'm sure I'd have struggled in a straight up fight. 

The Carrion Beast seemed very powerful, essentially being untouchable, as it stayed away from any dwarven missiles.  I predict a lot more archers and rangers, and probably some magical support in the dwarven lines in the future.  

What's Next?

The next scenario is The Mists Recoil, actually the first one in the original campaign.  It's an odd one, designed for individual skirmishing minis using a  system akin to Mordheim. It pits boats full of attackers trying to land opposed by three war machines and a tiny garrison. 

We'll not be trying to do individual minis; so far we are looking at the three war machines and 200 points of undead against 600 points of dwarves in boats.  This may change of course. 

I need an undead champion to lead my skeleton crew, fortunately I've already got one part painted.  I've also got some Grenadier war machine crew, and a complete Skull Chucker catapult.  I'm looking out for potential war machines for the crew, or perhaps some scratch building?

At some point I must paint a banner for the Fantasy Lords standard bearer I painted in December.  Boðvoc has a Spoils chart, and my undead got a magic banner granting Command 10 to all units within 10".

October 25 - Terror of the Lichemaster: Gimbrin Finehelm and his Miners

More Dwarven Miners

In the original scenario, Gimbrin Finehelm is accompanied by five other dwarfs. Three have crossbows, and all can act as individual characters (I'm pondering how to represent this in Warlords of Erehwon. I've a few ideas,  but it's going to need a bit of experimenting). 

I've already painted sufficient dwarves for the miners at Ashak Rise, so technically I don't need to paint any more.

But

This wouldn't be much of a post without me doing something new, so I thought, how about a mini for Gimbrin?

Gimbrin Finehelm 

Gimbrin was one of the minis sculpted specifically for The Terror of the Lichemaster Mail Order deal. As such, he commands a high price on evilbay.

As with Ranlac the Black, I've no intention of spending that much, and I'm not aware of any 'not Gimbrin's' out there.  So do I have anything in my collection that will do?

Oldhammer in Toronto (excellent blog, check it out) emphasises the 'fine helm' aspect of his name, and expands on that for the rest of the dwarves. Great idea. So I want a dwarf in a fine helm.

What Duck?

It just so happens that I do have a dwarf in a very fine helm indeed. Sir Donald the Quail, one of Citadel's dwarf heroes.

Sir Donald The Quail aka Gimbrin Finehelm

He was pretty straightforward to paint.  From the start I wanted bold, bright colours and red and yellow just seemed right. I was tempted to paint the duck bright yellow with an orange beak, classic rubber duck, but that would be too much yellow (though he is 'The Quail', so perhaps he's less than brave?).

I just managed to squeeze him in before the start of November, making October a relatively productive month for me, and proof that setting targets can be very effective. 

Finished Dwarves 

So that's the good side done.  I'll probably add in the mules from Ashak Rise, simply as scatter terrain.

All six of the dwarves

Gimbrin meets Borrin Fimbul

What Next?

I still need to do a bit of work on terrain, most of the buildings are built, but the minehead needs some repair and embellishment.

The next lot of 'Good' models (already undercoated and on the painting table) will be the Bogel family, and, of course, their farm.

Beyond that, I've been looking at what I've got and what I need for the Defence of Frugelhofen. That's a lot more painting, so it might be some time.

Dungeons And Dragons 8 Week Project - The Heroes of Nentir Vale

As I mentioned in the introduction, I'm putting together minis for a face to face D&D session in August. 

Player Characters are the most important requirements, so a big welcome, please, to....

Two thirds of the Heroes of Nentir Vale

The Heroes of Nentir Vale

The party consists of Roland, a half elven paladin of Bahamut; Tharnak, a dwarven paladin of Kord; Harrow, a tiefling cleric of the Raven Queen; Namfoodle Timbers, a gnome bard; Kei, a dragonborn wizard; and Tarryn, an elven rogue

Of these, Kei's player has chosen a Dragonborn Elementalist, an old WotC pre-painted mini.  He's going to repaint it to bring it more into line with his vision. Tarryn's player has an idea of what she wants and is looking at various options, probably from the Reaper Miniatures range, and again, want's to paint her mini herself.

So that's four player characters to paint and, in some cases, convert.

Kei plus the base models for Harrow, Tharnak and Roland.  

Below is the necromancer about to donate her scythe (and left arm) to Harrow

Roland 

I had several options for Roland, mostly needing weapon swaps to show his magic glaive. The player has chosen Reaper's Erick, Paladin Initiate (SKU 77197). It was pretty simple to swap his sword for a polearm taken from the ever useful Frostgrave Soldiers sprue. I know it's not actually a glaive, but it's close enough and it looks nicely ornate.

Painting wise I gave him a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone to act as primer and to help the detail stand out more*.

Armour and other metalwork was Chainmail, washed in more Dark Tone, then highlighted up.

The player requested royal blue for the tunic. I tried a lighter blue for the undershirt, but this didn't look right, so I went with white highlighted up from wolf grey. 

The shield is something he must have picked up in Gardmore Abbey (he doesn't normal use a shield, but the mini has one slung).  The device is supposed to represent the claw marks left by Bahamut, and ties in to my adaptation of the original module.

I'm really pleased with how Roland has turned out.  The fairly passive pose is unusual for an adventurer, but I imagine him resting for a moment, contemplating Bahamut's glory.

Tharnak

Tharnak was a bit harder to source than I thought; the bulk of my dwarf miniatures use axe or hammer, not sword. But I found this Reaper dwarf, Durgam Deepmug (SKU 77400), and removed the axe in his left hand, ready for a shield (added after the bulk of the painting was finished).

As with Roland, I gave Tharnak  a Dark Tone wash. This has the same effect as Reaper's liners, but I've misplaced my Reaper paints.

Metalwork was painted in the same way, and at the same time, as Roland. His player wanted dark red for the tunic and reddish brown and yellow for the pants and the fabric portion of the gloves. Other gear was painted in appropriate brown shades. The brief was good quality, but worn. He's still using the stuff he left his clan forge with.

As with Roland I'm pleased with the result, with the exception of the shield.  The detail of the symbol is good (for me), but far too small.  It's something to revisit if time allows.

Harrow 

Harrow was also difficult, mostly because a lot of the female tiefling miniatures are, shall we say, underdressed. I did find a Reaper Hellborn Paladin (SKU 30185) but she's equipped with sword and shield.  However, my son found a necromancer mini with a great scythe.

It seemed sensible to use the elf's left arm to replace the paladin's left arm and shield. The right hand, without sword, could then hold a holy symbol.

Harrow's player has a portrait, which gives me the colours for skin, hair and horns. She's trying to avoid the goth stereotype of the Raven Queen, and would be happy if strangers just thought she was some sort of itinerant farm worker. So muted colours, a mix of metal and leather armour and nothing too showy.

Again, another fun mini to paint, I'm particularly pleased with the skin tones.  But I was running out of ideas for colours for clothing and equipment.  The mini is rather more armoured than the character (better than some of the cheesecake alternatives) and the player specifically wants her to look as ordinary as possible; difficult with some of the fancy armour pieces. 

I've only just noticed that I completely forgot to paint her arm bands.

Namfoodle Timbers

I was anticipating difficulty finding a mini for Timbers, gnome bards with acceptable instruments are rare.  In the end, the Wizkidz Pathfinder Deep Cuts Gnome Male Bard (73205) pack has acceptable options. I hadn't appreciated how petite the mini would be until it arrived, so I had to scrap my plans to give him a more appropriate instrument.

In fact I sometimes find it difficult on a mini this small to pick out fine details. It might be me, but these WizKids minis are particularly prone to this, especially the supposedly ready primed ones. I can paint equivalent sized 15 mm minis perfectly well, but I struggled here. Thinking back, it was the same with Torin.

The player asked for burgundy tunic and dark green trousers. 

The burgundy was a base coat of VGC Dark Flesh, highlighted with VGC Gory Red and Blood Red. The trousers were VGC. I thought his boots and pauldron would look better in grey than brown.

I could complain about his lyre, but it's actually a reasonable representation. The solid plastic for the strings is annoying, but I don't suppose there's any other way of modelling strings at this scale.

This was the least enjoyable mini, probably due to the difficulty of actually working out what I was painting.  It might be the sculpt, or my painting, but I think he looks very worried.

So a set of character minis, and the most important minis for the game.

Some of the players have never experienced face to face D&D, so using minis will be a new experience for them.

Converting and painting these minis reminded me of the ones I did back in 2019.

Moving On, What's Next?

With the PCs done it's time for some opposition. There's one encounter the players have been building (and levelling) up to and I think there's a good chance it might be on the agenda for the session. 

*I was surprised just how much detail is on the mini.  The first Reaper Bones minis were criticised for lack of detail, but I think it's often just harder to see in the white plastic

The Mules Of Ashak Rise

(Almost) The final Minis for Ashak Rise

Apart from orcs, hobhounds and dwarves, there are three mules at Ashak Rise.  Their job is to help the dwarves escape with the gold.  Thus they have an important role in this game, so I can't ignore them.

Mule Train!

When I played the game back in the nineties,  I used plastic toy donkeys made for farm sets.  These are now hard to find (I believe Britains are no longer in business) so I need another alternative

The 1999 playthrough with plastic farm donkeys

This time I wanted to find some suitable minis and paint them up. After all they'll make great objective markers in other games as well. 

Searching through my various piles of minis turned up one donkey. I believe it is still made by Wargames Foundry, along with other suitable beasts of burden.  But I was sure I had other minis. Among them an old Citadel Bill the Pony*.

Well I found a very mangled horse and another one laden with equipment.  They did look very much like small riding horses though, not beasts of burden. 

Two small horses

But a bit of putty later, and I think they'll do.  I sculpted various sacks, bags and blanket rolls, and even had a go at a wooden box**. To finish them off I added some bits from my bits box (mostly stuff from the ever useful North Star Frostgrave sprues).

Painting was straightforward though I took a long time trying to decide how to paint the various bits of baggage. 

The completed baggage section

Plus One Dwarf 

When I showed the last four dwarves I did mention that for Warlords of Erehwon I'd need an extra. When I found this chap in the lead pile I knew it had to be him. After all, the dwarves at Ashak Rise are panning for gold.

He's a D7 Dwarf Villager (Prospector, 86 - 12) sculpted by Trish Carden.  A small range that, like the human and orc villagers I appreciate a lot more now than back in the day when I had a lot more of them.  I think he's a great mini, his eager expression (I deliberately tried to give him a wide eyed look) as he gazes at his golden nugget and his buck teeth really give him character.

As with the beasts of burden, he took longer than I expected.  But this time it was because I was enjoying painting him so much that I didn't want to stop.

"Gold, its all mine I tell you"

So that's the dwarves for Ashak Rise actually finished***. 

What's Next?

Well there's the hobhounds to complete the Severed Hands.  They are all based and primed, so they shouldn't take long.

Then there's the terrain to look at.  I've already repaired the bridge, but there's a hut plus a river, road, hills and woods.

And perhaps even a better playing surface?
Fortunately, Dave Stone runs a terrain challenge over summer, so I think some of this will be done for that.

Beyond that, I've already started looking at the next scenario, Linden Way, and my favourite of the preliminary games.

*Sadly,  my memory was faulty. The equine in question was actually a mount, possibly for Tom Bombadil?  What's more, it's an imperfect cast, missing the end of it's nose. 

** Why not go all out with the bits or model things, eg with tissue and thread? Well I wanted to see what I could sculpt.

There are some things that didn't work, which is why the wooden box is mostly covered with a shield and some rope, but I'm generally pleased with the results. 

*** I'm prone to getting side-tracked, as the prospector shows, but I might actually be able to stop for the Dwarves of Ashak Rise now.

Painted Dwarves at Ashak Rise

I've finished the last four dwarves for the Ashak Rise scenario, and here they are.  

Borinn, Snorinn and two followers

Borinn* Fimbul

Dwarf Veteran is the recommended mini for Borinn, but I don't have him, and he's a bit on the expensive side on evilbay at the moment, due to his association with Orc's Drift.

I do have a Ghost Miniatures halberd armed dwarf who long ago lost his halberd. He's wearing a cloak and has a similar passive pose. I replaced his halberd staff with an axe (actually, I tried just adding a plastic axe head first, but it didn't look right) and added a pipe made from a bent piece of wire and a blob of superglue with baking soda added. Bending the wire reminded me of helping my dad make crooks for large recorders, which was a nice moment.

This is what I was trying to match. Gary Chalk's lovely illustration, and yes, I did spill tea over it long ago.

I used the card counter as a guide for Borinn's colour scheme. It's certainly not a perfect copy of the recommended mini, but I hope it's got the same feeling; hooded and cloaked,  axe at rest and with a pipe.

Snorinn* Fimbul 

This is the authentic mini, I mentioned getting him, under his original name, a few weeks ago.

Again, I used the card counter as inspiration for his painting, though frustratingly, the counter doesn't show his shield design, so I've made something up. The visible shield designs show axes, so I went with a red axe.  I'm not happy with this, so may repaint it some time.

Other Ranks

The other two dwarves are MM 10 Marauder Miniatures, from the haul of Old School goodies I recently got. These two are unshielded, and look like they could have just turned up with their hammers, following rumours of gold.

DW18, Dwarf with hammer 

Another gambeson, but simply giving it blue piping has made a difference. I'm aware that the canvas cover could be dyed, but I painted the first one with memories of the ones on display in the archer's barracks in Bolton Castle, North Yorkshire, and once I'd done one like that, changing them would have looked odd.

Otherwise, I think he looks quite dashing with his blond locks.

DW07 Dwarf with hammer and hat 

This chap fits well with a lot of the 'Swiss style' Marauder dwarves, albeit not as fancy. I think it's the scalloped collar. I like the style, and there were quite a few in my haul of dwarves. Marauder did it whole regiment of 'slash and puff' dwarves with long spears, and they are lovely. More recently, manufacturers such as The Assault Group have continued the theme.

I like my fantasy earlier, more High Medieval in style, but I'm starting to appreciate this style more. Certainly this chap fits right in.

I really enjoyed these, They might not be my best painting, but I'm really proud of them.  They took a long time to do, partly because I've been very busy, but also because I didn't want to finish them, they were so much fun to do.  Contrast this with the previous batch that just seemed to drag on.  Ah well.

The Dwarves At Ashak Rise

And here they all are; Borinn and Snorrin Fimbul and the eleven dwarves who followed them. I like their fairly random look.  these aren't a military unit, they are a group of deserters brought together out of greed.

All done?

Actually, if I'm using Warlords of Erehwon, I'll need at least one more dwarf to stick to the rules; faction leaders are accompanied by at least two bodyguards. The rules don't allow characters to join up with units, and the attack economy makes individuals somewhat vulnerable to multiple units. I'll probably take another mini from my already painted dwarves.

I still need to finish the mules who help carry the gold, I've got some minis ready, but they needed a bit of conversion and repair work before painting.

* The named dwarves are pronounced Boring and Snoring. An example of the type of puns with which Orc's Drift is rife. I've no idea why these dwarves are particularly tedious,  it could be a studio in joke? If anyone knows,  please leave a comment.