The din of battle
Warhammer has a special place in my heart. It was the first miniature wargame I ever played.
My very first painted models were fantasy models. That kinda sticks with you.
I do agree with many that Warhammer has (or had) a very high entree level.
The prospect of painting that many models is daunting at best.
But that also brings with it a certain charm or a kind of prestige aspect if you will.
There’s nothing more glorious then having painted up a full block of troops.
Of course this is an acquired taste and highly fueled by nostalgia.
For me fantasy has one foot in historical gaming with the regiments and movement tactics of blocks of troops but with another foot very deep in the fantastic to get the imagination running wild.
I personally don’t see myself ever playing historical wargames. The goal is reenactment and simply misses the creative freedom to get me really excited to paint and play.
Warhammer has that freedom in spades but still feels as if you’re immersed in a hobby that requires loads of patience and dedication to really enjoy.
This will scare of most people but can be very endearing to some self-flagellation fools like myself.
On the other hand I must admit that painting up a “small” Warmachine army is extremely liberating at the moment because all those unpainted models aren’t looming over you in the back of your mind…
Living on paint fumes
It might surprise you that after some 20 years of painting I only have one fantasy army painted at the moment.
Or not so surprising really… an army is never truly “finished”.
Funnily enough this army started as a project to get my brother into fantasy again.
The plan was to speed-paint his nurgle daemon army to take a break from the slow and ponderous progress of my other fantasy projects.
At the time I didn’t have any interest in Daemons or Nurgle at all but they seemed easy to paint.
Easily enough I thought; only a few models and some simple dry-brushing and washes and presto!
Dirty looking Nurgle army.
A few years later the army had expanded considerably and had become an experiment of conversions, new painting and basing techniques. All the while my brother had no interest in the army at all anymore.
He had already moved on to greener pastures and other unpainted armies.
Maybe I overdid it a bit. But I learned quite a lot from this project and I’ve come to love those filthy little buggers.
The army has been patiently waiting in a display case at my attic for the last years until my newborn son began exploring around and just so slightly shook the glass display cabinet…
I only heard the thunderous crash of breaking glass
but I knew instantly what had happened.
In my defense I didn’t know my son could get near the cabinet at all but he’s a clever little sneak.
Also he didn’t get hurt at all in the incident. He just had a huge grin on his face that he was responsible for such mayhem and destruction.
Warhammer troops waiting for inspection
Now for all the unpainted models….
I have already painted a completely metal Warhammer Dark Elf army many years ago but I fell in love with the new style dark elf models that came out after it. I have collected a sizable army but it’s totally unpainted yet.
I hope to start that army in the near future in this blog.
My first love were the short and stubborn dwarfs and I have collected and painted a small army of them in the past.
But I sold most of them many years ago.. .and I still regret it to this day. Those old Marauder models were unique and had so much character (and way too expensive to re-purchase now through E-bay).
While I like many of the newer dwarf models and have collected them over the years I never really liked the plastic models.
So painting big blocks of basic troopers was simply too much of a choire.
Now I do like all the dwarf models of Felix Paniagua and backed up the kickstarter for an entire dwarf line from Avatars of War. Specifically for the basic warriors I’m still missing. But I’m still waiting… and waiting…
Already got some boxes of Seekers (slayers), Marksmen, Rangers and King’s Guards.
So plenty of models in combination of what I still own of metal GW dwarfs to make a sizable army.
Still have to paint most of it though… *gulp*.
That already seems more then enough doesn’t it?
But I also have a small army of Beastmen lying around somewhere.
Not enough for a full army but it might turn into a project in the future.
I’ve been eyeing the beastmen model range of Mierce Miniatures that would fit rather nicely with the old metal GW beastmen I’ve already got. I’d be surprised if this wasn’t their intention in the first place and very nice models overall.
Bit expensive though.
I also had a small Empire army which I sold to a friend of mine… which I don’t regret.
It’s one unfinished project less and painting all those state troopers just isn’t for me.
They’ve got a good home now so win/win for me.
Yes sir!
That’s it.
That’s my whole back-list of fantasy models.
While I think this is waaaaay too many unpainted models I know it could be much worse after 20 years of collecting.
And I’m quite proud I’ve contained the addiction for models to a “few” armies and don’t have many, if any, smaller collections lying around.
It will keep me busy for many years to come, that’s for sure.
In a few years I’ll also have to have an army ready for my son so he can start playing… and… and…
Wish me luck.