Open Combat Part 2 (Or "Yep, I do miss Realms of Chaos")

In my last post I talked about Open Combat and how I definately wasn't going to get a physical copy of the book through the Kickstarter. Well once again my legendary resolve kicked in and I changed my mind. In my defence they added campaign rules, how could I resist?

"No! I won't back it!"

I've been rummaging through my box of bits and digging out suitable models from the remains of my old WoC force. After a bit of converting and buying a few cheap Reaperbones models I've put together a sizeable warband - probably from more figures than I will ever need but variety is always good.

At least I used a different bit of my favourite picture this time...

Blame this guy for everything you read here.

This is the only unconverted infantry model in the force; GW's wonderful Nurgle chaos lord. I make a point of keeping a single figure from each army I sell and this was the obvious survivor of my Warhammer sell off. I've done a few touch ups where the paint had chipped as well adding some extra detail using the GW technical paints.

I could paint this guy over and over again

This is a Chaos sorcerer I kitbashed from a plaguebearer body and a chaos warrior cloak. The staff is made from a standard pole topped with some marauder horseman bits. I think the pointing arm is from a stormvermin champion.

It came to me in a dream...

Then I made a few warriors. The first is a simple headswap and some heads added to the hand (though I had to greenstuff on some hair). The body is PP's Butcher warcaster with a Mercei miniture head. The second is a GW warrior with a marauder head and a censor from the Screaming Bell kit.

Taking the Butcher's head off was tricky.

Lovely camp old warrior!

Every warband needs banner to march behind. This is the body that provided the Butcher's new head with a marauder banner and pick. The head is from a Mantic zombie I think.

I'm very proud of this guy too.

If you are going to make a chaotic band them you need monsters. This kitbash is based on a Wyrd Desolation Engine with GW parts and some simple greenstuff work. The height of the model looks a little odd,  I might end up posing him on a rock when he's done.

The photo doesn't do it justice

Then we have the Eye Beast and the Giant Wurm from Reaper and a couple of Mantic zombies. These will probably not be converted as they seem good enough on their own and I'm honestly not sure how to improve them. Then I figured "this needs plague zombies" so I rebased a few. I'll repaint them too as the current paintjob is laughable.

I'm amazed at the quality of these for the price

These guys are lucky to be here. I don't like Mantic models very much

My plan for paint scenes is fairly typical Nurgle making use of the rust, blood, pus and corrosion effects from GW. I think the beauty of doing a small force like this is that I can treat each model as a character and not lose interest doing rank after rank of the same sculpt...

Not since Devlin Mud has so much talent come in such a small pot.

Putting this together had also got me looking for a similar style Sci Fi game (or at least hoping for gun rules) so I can add some of the Dark Vengeance cultists as gun toting cannon fodder to support the proper fighters. After asking on Twitter I might try and use the Fistful of Kung Fu rules but we'll have to see.

Next time I write it will probably be an update about my Farrow. I've got a 15pt Arkadius force painted that I want to show off...

He's coming...

Open Combat Part 1. Or "I Miss Realms of Chaos"

A couple of weeks ago I came across this Kickstarter for a set of flexible rules for fighting pre-gunpowder battles and it grabbed my attention. After toying with the idea of getting the book I eventually settled on buying the pdf first to see what it was like...

You should buy this

My initial impressions of it are very positive. The rules are clear and well explained with plenty of worked examples and diagrams as well as some lovely photographs of example battles. While I've decided that I don't need a physical copy of the book as it's a very small document that I can easily use from my tablet its definately a game that has grabbed my attention. From listening to the interviews with Carl Brown (it's creator) on Fools Daily he sounds very keen to add micro expansions that will flesh out of the system by adding magic or period specific rules or other lovely details. I doubt it will be a game I play as a "primary game" but it is a good excuse to paint some warbands and recapture the old days of Realms of Chaos! You should go buy it, the pdf is £7 here.

I've thrown about a lot of plans for different warbands and those are what I really want to talk about today. The wonderful thing about these small skirmish style games is that a warband rarely comes to more than 10 figures meaning they make great painting and modelling projects using models I would otherwise never get to use.

I miss this so much

My first idea was a sort of undead band of Romans using the Godslayer range. Unfortunately Monolith Games' Mortan figures are pretty ropey and difficult to get hold of in the UK. I considered whether I could find a suitable robed priest or senator to use as a general and then get some Warlord legionnaires that I could mix with GW Vampire Counts skeleton bits. At some point in the future I'd like to find a reason to paint a small Roman force.  The models are lovely and the history really appeals to me. Lucky I don't really know any historical gamers so the temptation is easily ignored.

Not pictured: Real ale and aran jumpers

Then I thought about doing a Celtic band led by a bloodstained druid using a combination of Circle Oberos models and Warlord celts. This is a combination of wanting to try painting tartan along with wanting to use my new GW blood effect paint. I doubt this will ever see daylight.  I don't need a third WM/H faction.

The safest method of restraining gamers

In the end I settled on an old fashioned Nurgle chaos warrior band. I've got a few figures already that I kept when I sold my Warhammer army as well as plenty of bits for kitbashing. A quick rummage through eBay threw up this guy that I'm pretty sure is actually from Warhammer Quest and worth much more than £6. I also bought this and this from Reaper Bones because I wanted a few monsters in there too. After a quick rummage through my stash I found around half a dozen suitable figures that I'd forgotten I owned. Keep a bitsbox was the best piece of advice I was ever given as a gamer (well, apart from measure all your body parts but most games allow pre-measuring now!).

So I'm pretty excited.  I've got a plan for how I want it to look that involves channeling the TWF Grime Crew to cover them in pus, dirt and rust. I've mentioned my screaming fanboy love of John Blanche and this seems like a great chance to indulge it.

Yep, that picture again.

I'm going to end with an appeal to my loyal readers (yes, both of you!). If you know where I can lay my hands on any of the old Realm of Chaos figures from the Chaos Warrior or Plaguebearer ranges please let me know. Especially if you've got any you'd sell for cheap...

I promise I'll write more frequently in future. Though I can't promise It won't be Warmachine again!