Mike Newman Speaks...

Chaos Dwarfs

Part 6 - Bull Centaurs

And we're back. After a short break (some would say too long) for the holidays, its time to return to blogmosphere.

I'm going to be lazy though and return with a rather picture heavy blog, featuring my Bull Centaur Renders.

I'm a big fan of the Bull Centaurs. I find they have their uses either in small units to harry opponents chaff units, and lend support to the other big combat threats, or in big units as a real hammer unit. Their high Toughness, Wounds and good Armour Save also makes them a very resilient unit to both light arms and weaker troops. For only 40pts a model they are a real bargin.

Usually I run my units with Great Weapons - with only 2 attacks each, I want to make sure that when they hit, they kill, to give them the greatest chance of winning combat, and as they are so tough to kill, the Always Strike Last rule is less of a disadvantage.

Even though I only have a champion and standard bearer painted, it is the musician I never leave home without (they never made a model for one sadly) - the ability to swift reform after running down an enemy unit is crucial to maximizing the potential of any combat unit.

These last two Bull Centaurs have been used as my Taur'ruks in a good number of games (I now have new Taur'ruks painted - keep your eye on the blog to see them in future editions). The great weapon one is probably my favorite of the BC models, as its full of character, while the hand weapon and shield model is a conversion from a old Chaos Dwarf Lord - with only Sorcerer-Prophets as lord choices in the Tamurakhan book, I felt it fitting for this model to get an upgrade.

That's all for now folks, its good to be back, and I'm already planning next weeks edition, which may well be a look at some of my warmachines.

Untill then

Mike Newman Speaks...

Chaos Dwarfs

Part 5 - The UK Masters and K'daai Destroyer

This week, as its relevant to the time of year I though I would talk a little about the UK Masters.

For those that don't know, every year the top 16 individually ranked tournament players in the country (as ranked by www.rankingshq.com) are invited to attend the UK Masters tournament.

An invite to attend the event is an achievement in itself, with over 900 players competing in tournaments in the UK this past year!

Each tournament is assigned a quantity of rankings points based upon its size (both players and rounds) - with the maximum score being 100 - and you earn a set amount of points depending on how well you do. With your best four tournament scores being counted towards the rankings.

This year you need over 367 out of a possible 400 to make it into the Masters - an average of a top 5 finish at four 60 player 2 day events (the minimum for an event to be worth 100 points).

I started playing Warhammer again at an event on the 16th of October 2011 - and coming into this year I made the decision to set the goal of achieving a place in this years Masters event - not an easy task, as a lot of very good players were going to miss out, and at that point I had very little experience of 8th edition!

But I am very pleased to announce I just slipped in - finishing the year in 16th place! Which obviously I was very pleased about, even if it was a bit anxious waiting for the final placings to be announced. I'll report back on how I, and the Chaos Dwarfs, did early next year.

And finally, as this will be my last blog post, most likely until the new year, I thought we'd leave on a high, and show off my K'daai Destroyer. One of the biggest threats in the Chaos Dwarf army list, and probably one of the most talked about monsters in the Warhammer scene.

With no official models I chose to use Krull from the Banelegions Range (click the images to enlarge)

Most of the red skin colouring was airbrushed on. Using the airbrush to create simple shades and highlights is a great way of  both speeding up painting large monsters, and getting the smooth blends that large areas of flesh require.

From there I used mainly a collection of glazes and washes - thin layers of translucent paint - to create a rich depth of colour. I shaded the skin with both purples and browns, and carried these colours over when shading other areas such as the gold and brown leather - keeping the shading consistent is a good way to tie the different areas of colour together and give the model an more realistic, unified look.

I added an extra layer of highlight to the K'daai's facial features - this is a trick we use often when painting models. Faces are always a focal point, and the area the viewers eye is naturally drawn to, so giving them an extra layer of highlight really makes the model pop!

So until next time, Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year

Mike Newman Speaks...

Chaos Dwarfs 

part 4 - Tournaments and Hobgoblins

Hey guys,

This week I wanted to talk briefly about a couple of warhammers tournaments I've been to over the last couple of weekends.

First up was the Bjorn Supremacy at the North West Gaming Centre in Stockport

This was a smaller, more relaxed tournament, using the Swedish Composition Pack - a series of restrictions on building your army, which lead to a wide variety of unusual unit choices and army lists. This event marked the first time the Swedish Pack has been used in the UK for a tournament, and, while a slightly complicated system, it went down well and I fully expect to see more tournaments using it in the future.

To view the restrictions in full go to https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7619038/Swedish%20Comp%20Pack.pdf

Personally I took a variation of a rush Chaos Dwarf, based around a Lord on a Lammasu, 2 Tau'ruks, some Centaurs and a K'daai Destroyer. Had a great time and was very happy to finish 6th - especially as I had to play 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 8th places - a tough schedule indeed.

And then last weekend I went to Winter Incursion at the newly re branded Maunsfeld Games

This event was more of a standard UK tournament - and with 56 players, it made it (almost) the last maximum ranking point event of the calender year. I will talk and explain more about that next week, but it made it important, personally, that I came away with a good rest.

And thankfully, after 6 hard fought games, I managed to come away in 1st place. Which obviously I was overjoyed with.

I also managed to pick up Best Painting Nominations at both events - another achievement I was very pleased with.

Onto this weeks unit pics then - and as promised I've got some pics of the Hobgoblins. These were the very last unit I painted for the initially army list I talked about in part 2 of the Chaos Dwarf series. But one I thoroughly enjoyed.

I went for a dark brown shade on the cloth of the Hobgoblins, rather than using the blue/grey I'd used on the Chaos Dwarfs armour - to denote them more as slaves, an make the Blackshard armour on the Dwarfs stand out. I brought the blue/grey colour back in slightly on the armour for the command group, marking them out as separate to the rank and file. This is a good example of how small changes, while sticking within a limited palette range can really add character and emphasis to an army.

 And thats all for this week folk, next week will be the last entry before Christmas, I plan to talk a little about the UK Tournament year just gone and the UK Masters (a tournament of the best UK warhammer tournament players over the past year) - as we find out this week who has qualified. I also plan to celebrate Christmas by showing off my K'daai destroyer.


Till then....

Mike Newman Speaks...

Chaos Dwarfs

Part 3 - Lords & Heroes

OK so today I said I'd talk about the infantry lords and heroes I decided to include in my first Chaos Dwarf list (for more details of which see part 2 - http://golempaintingstudio.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/mike-newman-speaks_26.html)

I opted for a Sorcerer-Prophet as my lord choice. For 265pts basic he brings alot to the table. Stat wise, with 3 ws5 s4 attacks, while not being overly choppy, he is pretty decent for a wizard, but the main key to the stat line is the facts he's T5 with 3wounds and a 4+ save basic - I chose to capitalise on this by also giving him a Charmed Shield - to both improve his save and provide some protection against miscasts.

I also chose to make him a level 4 wizard with access to the lore of Death - with leadership 10, spirit leech poses a very good threat to most enemy characters, while Doom and Darkness coupled with the panic test from Deathshriekers is an awesome combination. Overall I think Death is a very strong lore for Chaos Dwarfs. I also equipped him with the Chalice of Darkness - to help capitalise in the magic phase.

My second choice was for a Infernal Castellan Battle Standard Bearer. Like the Prophet, he is already half decent in combat, and very tough (as you'd expect from a dwarf) - but the main thing he brings is his ability to not only let units within 12" reroll their leadership - but also make any unit he joins Stubborn! I almost always deploy him with the other characters in the Infernal Guard - making them stubborn leadership 10 with a reroll - they aren't going anywhere!!

Obviously as he's the key to the anvil and all the characters standing strong its important he survives. I opted to give him an Enchanted Shield and a Luck Stone. For 10pts this give him a 2+ armour save which can be re-rolled once. I didn't want to go too over the top points wise as most of the time he sits safe in the second rank of the Infernal Guard.

And finally I chose a Daemonsmith. For only 95pts I think they are a fantastic choice. The bring a magic weapon, some spells, and are an engineer to boot, plus he carries the Dispel Scroll. They really are the jack of all trades. 

I also chose to make this a Death wizard, this time a level 1 - this helps me guarantee getting Doom and Darkness  to make the most of my rockets (especially as I now have two engineers in the army!) but also means I have access to two leadership 10 Spirit Leeches. Devastating against some armies.

That's it for this week, next week I plan to talk about two tournaments I've been to recently - as well as show off my Hobgoblin Sneaky Git unit. I also wanted to say thanks to those who got in following my last blog post, has been really interesting talking to people about what I wrote, and Chaos Dwarf army lists in general. If you want to contact me you can on twitter - @mikeygolem

If not, till next week...

Mike Newman Speaks...

Chaos Dwarfs

Part 2 - First Army List and Infernal Guard

Afternoon guys,

So I thought for the next part of the Chaos Dwarf series we'd have a look at the first army list I wrote. (you can catch part 1 here - http://golempaintingstudio.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/mike-newman-speaks.html)

Generally speaking, after the initial inspiration which sparks an army, which I talked about last time, the army list is the next step for me. Being an avid tournament player, and someone who plays a lot of games, I want to make sure I can create a list which is both;
 a) competitive - I want to win games
and b) fun to play - cause I need to enjoy playing the army across a lot of games without getting bored - just like those chaps you see enjoying their games in the shiny pages of White Dwarf

I wanted to create the army in two parts, a typical hammer and anvil style list. 

The hammers are fast moving hard hitting elements designed to take the fight to the enemy and do the majority of the damage. For this I chose; a unit of 4 Bullcentaurs with great weapons, a Tau'ruk, and a mighty Kdaai Destroyer. These are all capable of posing a number of problems for the enemy.

The anvil is designed to sit back, destroy stuff at range, and then be resolute enough to survive when the enemy hits home. For this task I chose; a Sorcerer-Prophet, a BSB, a Deamonsmith, 27 Infernal Guard with great weapons, 32 Hobgoblin Sneaky Gits, 2 Death Shriekers, a Magma Cannon and 5 Hobgoblin Wolf Riders.

And so onto the Infernal Guard, with test model already done it was a fairly simple task to replicate the colour scheme across the whole unit.

I particularly like the different styles you get across the dwarfs themselves, with the fatter plastic ones, and the skinny evil thinner metal ones. A few of the different metal styles are pictured below.

The command groups features the 'pirate' Chaos Dwarf as champion - one of my favourite models. I also made the decision to use the vintage printed paper banners from the old Chaos Dwarf Army book too, as fitted on the old models.

And that's it until next time, when I plan to talk about the infantry characters, their equipment, and the role they take within the anvil. 

See you then

Dwarf on Dwarf action!

Grugnar Silverbeard smites his anvil as the fiendish Chaos Dwarfs prepare to assault his forge.

Lots of Dwarfs around in the studio this week! First up we have new recruit Sally's Warhammer Forge Chaos Dwarf Infernal Guard.

"I'm a massive fan of the old skool Chaos Dwarfs, but Warhammer Forge's new models are much more menacing and warlike. There's no comedy with these guys!

I thoroughly enjoyed painting them and particularly enjoyed building up a realistic feel on the scalemail using layered washes. Also, because the armour colour was very dark, I used a gloss finish to really make them pop on the battlefield.

Next up I'm getting stuck into an Iron Daemon from the same range, look out for another blog update on that soon."

Meanwhile, George has recently finished an entire host of Dwarfs of the non twisted variety.

"These were my first big army project at Golem, and I concentrated on keeping them really neat and unified, using a limited colour palette and consistent basing to give the army a coherent feel."

This army is available on our eBay shop right now! Check out:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dwarf-Army-for-Warhammer-Fantasy-Painted-/160909803611?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item2576f8c05b

If you would like to learn the secrets of painting armies the Golem way, then our Army Painting Masterclass weekend will be for you! It takes place 26th - 27th January and tickets will be available very soon, keep an eye on our Facebook page so you don't miss out...

Mark, Sally and George

Mike Newman Speaks...

Chaos Dwarfs

Part 1 - A Brief History, Conception and Inspiration

Nearly two years ago, when Tommie and I left GW to set up Golem Painting Studio's, I decided to take a break from Warhammer (my most beloved of wargames) to concentrate on the needs of setting up and running (and painting for) a successful commission painting business.

This was a hard decision to make, years of avid tournament gaming, and an exciting new 8th edition to play meant I left with a heavy heart.

Earlier this year I decided to make my return - spurred on by the release of a tournament legal Chaos Dwarf army from Forgeworld.

Chaos Dwarfs had been the army I had collected as a young laddie, and, though those models were now lost (cheers mum) they still held a special place in my heart, thus I made the decision to collect an army not of shiny new Forgeworld models, but of older big hatted 1990's Chaos Dwarfs, so I set about scouring eBay for the models I wanted.

And I wanted a colour scheme to match. The Chaos Dwarfs were released right at the height of the GW 'red era', and something that has always stuck in my mind is memories of Gareth Hamiltons (Ratarsed) Award Winning Chaos Dwarfs as seen by a much younger version of myself way way back in White Dwarf 191

And so, as with all our commissions, I set about painting a test model to come up with a modern version of this striking colour scheme.  Here's what I came up with:

A decent starting place then. Next time I'll talk about my first army list, as well as having a closer look at the finished unit of Infernal Guard.

Catch you then