New Year, New Girl...

 Happy New Year fellow Oldhammerers!

 I spent some time over the festive period painting an addition to my Necromunda Escher gang.

She's painted to match the rest of the gang with the black and blue parts tying them together but with more individuality in pants and hair colour.

She wasn't originally planned to be particularly season appropriate but with the white hair and the present-like thing on the base...

The package was made from some left-over greenstuff I had before it fully cured. Originally it was supposed be some kind of box but I didn't manage to get it square enough so tried painting it as some form of bound package.

And here she is with the rest of the gang, now all fully based as well!

Overall that makes a grand total of 11 miniatures painted during 2022, which is one less than I managed in 2021.

Oh well, must try harder...

Till next time...

Cap'n Smyrk

Random character creation...

 Greetings fellow Oldhammerers!

Nothing painting wise to show at the moment I'm afraid (although I have painted some stuff, I just need to photograph the damn things), but recently I dug up the gang sheets from my old Necromunda campaign, and looking them over brought back some fun memories of games past.

The campaign I played just involved me and my brother so whilst we each had our own gang (Escher for me and Van Saar for him) we also included "NPC" gangs from each of the other Houses. Later I believe we added Ratskins and Skavies when we got Outlanders.

We played our own gangs against each other or one of the "NPC" gangs, or even fights between two "NPC" gangs. We mostly played with the card terrain from the box, and the NPC gangs were proxied using the plastic Goliath and Orlock gangers (unpainted I'm ashamed to say...).

Looking at the gang sheets now shows some questionable naming going on (the Delaque gang was the MIB's with several X-Files references for example...).

Thought I'd throw in a bit of art since I don't have anything else to show off

However I remember some fun developments over the campaign. My Escher gang was somewhat lacking in womanpower (due to being built around the 8 models in the gang boxset) and a recall one game where due to a poor deployment half of the girls were taken out by a single frag grenade!

Some of my fondest memories are how some of gangers gained personalities purely from the luck of dice (and sometimes irrespective of their characteristics).

My brother's gang contained a ganger named March, who developed a reputation for never missing (it wasn't like my brother was overly lucking in his dice rolls, except when it came to March's to hit rolls anyway). He literally never missed a shot, and it was a good thing he was armed with a lasgun due to all the ammo rolls he had to make. No doubt this capability was why March appears to have accumulated the most experience of any ordinary ganger in the campaign...

The Delaques had a ganger named Crycek (that would be one of the X-Files references...) who also developed a reputation for never getting hit, no matter what was fired at him.

"It's spelt 'Krycek', with a K damn it..."

 Probably the defining moment of the campaign was when the Van Saars and Delaques faced off against each other. During the game the moment came when March took a shot at Crycek. The unstoppable force had met the immovable object! The impossible marksman versus the invisible man! Which would retain their reputation untarnished!

We both watched the roll with bated breath...

And... It was a hit!!! March's unbroken record remained intact! Crycek's was in tatters.

Reveling in his triumph my brother made the roll to wound... 

A natural 1. Crycek escaped unscathed (well apart from the, for him anyway, new experience of being pinned I suppose)...

It was moments like that made Necromunda the game it was for me. Unfortunately the campaign never really reached a conclusion eventually being abandoned as other parts of life got in the way.

But I can still recall that epic moment, and how those names written on a piece of paper and the little plastic men they were assigned to came to life through the whims of those tiny cubes of fate.

Till next time.

Cap'n Smyrk

Aren't you a little short for a Tempest Scion (or whatever it is they call Stormtroopers in 40k these days)...

Anyway I've done some more painting on a number of minis since my last post.

First up are the remaining members of my original Necromunda Escher boxset to go with the heavy I showed last time.

And a group shot of the whole gang.

But my main effort (getting back to the title) are three more of my Star Wars inspired models for my scenario idea. These three round out the faction including the crew of the Perennial Sparrow. 

First we have Olken Binobe, last surviving member of Mystic Knights of Deij.

Still yet to master painting white

Discovered that it was quite difficult to fit his backpack with all the gubbins on his belt

This model was the actually my original inspiration for the Star Wars inspired minis back when I first saw it. Took some years to actually acquire one though. The armour colour comes from the source character's get up in the Clone Wars series.

Then we have Binobe's new apprentice, known to Hanz as the "Kid".

When I started looking around for a suitable figure for this part I couldn't find any in the old Rogue Trader ranges that really worked for me, so I started looking further field.

First it occurred to me that the character is from a desert world. Then I thought that the Van Saar enviro-suits look a bit reminiscent of the get up worn by a group of desert dwellers in a certain other Sci-Fi setting (the David Lynch film version at least). Given that that setting is itself a major inspiration for 40k (and probably also Tatooine in Star Wars as well) this seemed highly appropriate and this is the result.

Finally is the faction's objective in my possible scenario. The Contessa Elia von Olderon, leader of a failed rebellion against the Imperium on the world of Nova Spero.

This is Romana from the old Citadel Doctor Who range. Although as she isn't on a slotta base I believe she is from the RAFM manufactured version of the range. I actually acquired the model years ago after seeing one on Axiom's blog but never actually found a use for her until now.

I deliberately tried for a warmer white in comparison to Binobe starting with a Bleached Bone basecoat rather than the Elf Grey I used for him.

Not sure what I'll paint next, possible start on the third faction for the scenario.

Till next time...

Cap's Smyrk

Odds and ends...

I have taken a bit a of a break from my Sci-Fi franchise inspired models to paint a few odds and ends recently.

Back when I started this blog I showed off a few re-touched versions of my Necromunda Escher gang, updated from their original slapdash paint jobs. I never actually got around to doing the rest of the gang box, so I'm currently putting that right. Three of the girls are still in progress but I have finished the Heavy.

Unlike the earlier models this isn't an update as she was never actually painted the first time round, a combination of laziness (I have to stick it together???) and because of a miscast that resulted in her missing the front of her right foot.

This time however I did stick her together and broke out the greenstuff for some gap filling and to replace her missing extremity.

Also I recently managed to acquire the last remaining Adeptus Arbite I needed (the 2nd Edition Champion model) and thought I'd slap some paint on him to get the Precinct finished.

I'm really quite happy with how his coat has come out. Will try and get a full group shot of the whole lot at some point.

Till next time...

Cap'n Smyrk

Laying down a little more of the Law...

Finished off the Arbite that I was painting in the last post.

So Arbitrator Pawl steps up to reinforce the Euphoria Arbites Precinct.

And the whole Precinct gathered together.

Still working on the Champions of Law, and I'm also trying to squeeze in a little something for Orktober.

Till next time...


Cap'n Smyrk

Belated Civi's

Uh... Oh dear, I've had the Colony 87 minis I showed last finished for over a week but haven't actually got around to posting them.

So time to get on with that then!

Haven't got any backstory for any of these as they are there to provide extras rather than stars, but I guess most of them would fit in with Regis d'Sarck's retinue.

First up with have the Recordist.

I'm particularly happy with how the red came out on his coat, not that it shows that well in these photos, ho hum...

Then the Priestess with feline friend.

And finally the advisor.

With a quick group shot to finish off.

Not decided on what to work on next got a few historical modelling projects to finish up first.

Till next time.


Cap'n Smyrk

WIP... WIP... Work faster vermin...

Just a quick one today, mostly to keep up my at least monthly posting.

I'm just going to show a couple of WIP shots of the first three of Axiom's Colony 87 Kickstarter minis that I've started so far.

Still need to do some highlights and a minor details picking out (and a few touch ups judging by the photos... dammit).






Anyway hope to have these three finished by the end of the week so should have another post up shortly.



Till next time...



Cap'n Smyrk

Cultists with guns... Big ones...

Bit quiet on the Oldhammer front for me of late but I have finished a couple of additional cultists for the Astral Wyrm Cult.

First up to give the cult some heavy firepower is Brother Reepah.

His colour scheme ties in with that of the Brother's Dymm...

...but with groovy purple hair...

Then there is an additional bullet shield, Brother Slink, who I imagine is some sort of twist.

Finally a shot of whole cult as it now stands.

I will probably add one more member to bring them up to a round ten.


Till next time...


Cap'n Smyrk

Just a quicky...

Just a short post today, as I realised I never put up a group photo of the Astral Wyrm Cult with their new members.

So here they are.

Painting wise I'm working on a trio of Ork Nobz in powered armour who are part way done. Should probably have taken some WIP shots of them but the lights a bit rubbish today so I doubt my camera would manage it.

Till next time.


Cap'n Smyrk

Come join our cult...

So I hope everyone's been having a great year so far.

I've started off my painting this year with a couple of additional cannon fodder valued cult members for the Astral Wyrm Cult.

First up with have Brother Waldo with his (t)rusty autogun and fetching purple baseball cap (do they still have baseball in the 41st Millenium?...)

Accompanying Waldo is his inseparable companion Brother Hertz (another example of my status as an equal opportunities employer...).

A duel eh? Fine I choose Chainsaws! In Outer Space...

With these two the Cult has reached seven members, I plan to bring it up to about ten members including a heavy stubber for a little bit of supporting fire.

Next up may be a few more Orks, I'll need some to act as monsters for my Rogue Trader dungeon crawl game idea.

Till next time.

Cap'n Smyrk

2014 Roundup

When I started this blog back in March, inspired by the many other brilliant Oldhammer blogs out there, it was to give me the impetus to actually paint some of the classic models I had started buying on E-bay.

Has it actually achieved that?

Well I painted seventeen models in the last ten months, which is infinitely more than I had painted prior to starting the blog. So I can't say I'm displeased with the progress I've made. Plenty more still to paint, and somehow I seem to keep acquiring more :)

Certainly my painting has improved (not to the standards of many others in the community but good enough for me).

So what are the models I did get painted.

The whole lot.

Smyrk's Crew, Arbites and the Emissary

Necromunda Eschers

Cursed Xenos

And a lone fantasy dwarf... (who managed to avoid appearing in the group shot).

So whilst I'm happy with my progress so far it seems customary to set myself some targets for the coming year. So here goes...

1 - Paint at least 17 models. Knowing my work rate and the distractions of real life and other hobbies I'm not going to set too high a target for this.

2 - Base all my models. Its notable with all the models I've done so far I haven't actually properly  finished any of them... As such a definite target is to actually base them all and do the same for all the new ones I paint.

3 - Manage at least one post a month. Looking at my post history for the blog there are two big gaps in August and later October and November where I didn't post anything at all. So next year I'm going to try and keep a more even flow across the whole year.

Right having got that out of the way it just remains to say have a Happy New Year and see you all in the next annum.


Cap'n Smyrk

And now for something a little more Juvenile

The latest addition to my Eschers, a Juve to round out the gang. Again a touch up of an existing slapdash paintjob.

She looks a bit cross-eyed, maybe one day I'll get my eye-painting to be consistent...

Anyway here's a pic of all the girls I've done so far together.

Still two more gangers and the heavy (although she was never actually assembled or painted first time round) left and I'll have done the whole of the gang box set (might have to see if I can acquire some of the others off e-bay).


Til next time.

Cap'n Smyrk