Operation Neon Tiger - episode 08

Intro

- Commander Fashas'di, may I show you something?
The Casta Diva was preparing to leave the planet, enjoying the last rays of Varuna's sun on its hull before facing the nameless cold of interstellar void. The voice of Mentor Quish Lo'rr had a hint of apprenshion and curiosity; he opened up a holoscreen to show close up records of the artifact they had recovered on Hlökk Station. Nanobots swirled and curled under the watchful eyes of the two Shasvastii.

- Interesting. A minor signal, what is your opinion; Quish Lo'rr?

Over time, Fashas'di had bonded with his crew. They executed his orders fast and efficientely. He trusted the Mentor and, he hoped, the feeling was mutual.

-It could be eggs, embryios, maybe a wounded creature. We still don't know much about the Neon Tiger. Much are deductions based on the Steindrage, a creature we believe shares common ancestors with it. The signal is low and we don't know as much as we would like about these artifacts either: the source could also be shielded.

Fashas'di nodded, anxious.

- What about its whereabouts? Have you triangulated this new position?

Quish opened a new screen, showing an imposing construction towering above a marine harbour.

- Fortress-monastery of Zamek. A military Order complex here on Varuna. Our intelligence suggests it is also used as a detention facility for our comrades captured in Cameliard; an high security location.

Being a commander was no easy task. Fashas'di felt this was what made him bond with the crew: it wasn't something he did, but something they understood. Regardless of his acquaintances and his reccomendations, he was still the one taking the shots for the glory or the disgrace of Shasvastii. There was no shortcut that would have helped him in making the right choice: it was up to him. Mentor Quish Lo'rr remained silent, waiting for Fashas'di orders.

- Transfer the main location coordinates to our closest cruiser, they will find the Neon Tiger. We'll storm Zamek with a biotech bomb and infiltrate.

Operation Neon Tiger - episode 02

Intro

- They've intercepted our communications. They now know we've entered the orbit of CB-22... - said Uluru's communications operator.
- We have located the Quetzal. Sector 04, quadrant 02 - added the tracking and control systems officer. 
Brother Hermann gave the order to land in Quadrant 02, not far from the Quetzal. Only a handful of administration buildings would separate them from the enemy crew. With no surprise effect, there was no reason to try to go unnoticed. 
- Without surprise, speed of action is everything - Hermann whispered. 
Uluru's thrusters landed her gently and one of the loading platforms opened quickly.
- Let's intercept those treacherous Nomads and transmit as much information as we can back to HQ, once we understand what they're up to - Hermann exclaimed to the small PanO squad he had personally selected for this operation.

Panoceania Cutter: my best painting effort so far.

“Nemo nos effugit” (Nobody escapes from us), motto of the Naval Chasseurs Regiment

"The Cutter is the Remote Presence tactical armored gear (TAG) model used by the Varuna Chasseurs Regiment of the Rapid Intervention Division. It was conceived for undercover operations and amphibious or underwater operations. Its design includes sound-suppressing equipment and an environment-adaptive skin capable of changing its reflective, radiative, and electrical properties at will, effectively canceling its optical and thermal output.
Cutter units are also used by the armored division of the “Blue Sea” anti-terrorism project. They are responsible for undercover insertions in highly volatile areas, but their operational remit also includes punitive actions and control of operational perimeters to avoid target withdrawal."

Gilles de Gillesville - Mordheim Questing Knight

Ciao!

This is my entry for #SeptemBret2021 contest on Mordheim Italia Facebook Group.

I managed to get 2nd place for best background story and 2nd place for best painting - "Newcomers" category. 1st place in the category was awarded to Armand de Chamillon, herald of Cups, another entry from an author of this blog 👍.

The winners in the "Champions" category were just another league, I strongly recommend to check all entries out on the Facebook group and on Instagram! 

Band of Brothers Mordheim Warband

 

Ciao!

I want to share the "Band of Brothers" Reikland warband I have been working on for a while and which I am planning to play on October 3rd 2021 at the "Warlords of the City" Mordheim Narrative Event in Pollenzo.

As required by the organizers I also wrote some background story for my brave mercenaries, hope you like it!

Concealing the discomfort coming from the injuries to the left arm and the forehead, the officer walked into the office of General Roald Sulzberger and stood to attention.

"Captain Hoffman report to Sir General." he spoke in a firm voice. The general slowly raised his gaze from the papers that cluttered his desk, stared at his subordinate with arrogance, and then, slumping noisily into his chair said:

“Captain welcome, better late than never… I'm really curious to know what happened. I hope you realize that due to your delay, my girls were unable to attend the prom. The fact is really unfortunate since they cared so much. They couldn't wait to wear the new dresses I had given them!"

Rutger Hoffman stiffened his jaw but managed to stay calm.

"Sir, according to the orders received, the Company was on time at the rendez-vous with the ferry to escort Miss Sulzbergers during the last leg of their journey to the Capital. Unloading operations took much longer than expected. The quantity and the size of the luggage exceeded any reasonable expectation. It also took the ladies a few hours to freshen up and choose what clothes to wear for the trip."

The General listened absently, cleaning his fingernails with a letter opener.

"The march then proceeded slowly, punctuated by countless breaks including snacks, refreshments, card games and even a game of badminton!"

Hoffman continued.

“When we arrived in Kleindorf we were greeted with enthusiasm by the population. They thought we were the backup they had sent for. The village had been under attack by bands of Beastmen for days, and they had sent several relays for help. Needless to say, no messenger made it out of the woods around the village alive and we weren't their reinforcements. At that moment I made the decision to defend the village, without our help they would have had no escape. We fought for three days and three nights and finally managed to disperse the attackers. In this regard, I would like to point out some soldiers who have distinguished themselves in a part-"

The captain's report was abruptly interrupted by the general who, red with anger, had sprung to his feet and, banging his fat ringed hand on the desk with fury, began to yell at Hoffman:

“Captain, shut up, I've had enough! You have disobeyed specific orders and endangered the lives of my daughters who I was told they also had to take care of the wounded! I don't even want to think what horrors you exposed my little girls to!"

As Sulzerberg gasped, the Captain replied:

“Sir, the whims of your spoiled offspring had by now delayed us by more than half a day on the schedule. Continuing further, the darkness would have surprised us in the forest with far worse results. In addition, the lives of over a hundred families, including elderly and children, depended solely on us. I made the only decision I could have."

“And so you are guilty of treason and sedition! Captain, you are a deserter and an insolent! You are under arrest and suspended from command with immediate effect!”.

A heavy silence fell into the small room. Hoffman had realized he had passed the mark but could no longer bear the nonsense of his superiors, particularly that slimy and corrupt parasite of Sulzerberg. The general had not dismissed him and therefore he stood at attention waiting.
Sulzerberg, for his part, had recovered from the fit of anger and was now sitting thoughtfully rubbing his temples. Then he let out a grunt of satisfaction and, glaring at the captain, said to him:

“Captain, I could have you and your men executed today. And Sigmar knows how much I would like ... On the other hand, I cannot deny your qualities as a fighter and commander. By virtue of the latter, I want to offer you a way out. Collect what's left of your Company and go to Mordheim. Bring me a cart full of wyrdstone and you will be forgiven... And now get out of here, by tomorrow at dawn you have to be on the move!"

Captain Hoffman saluted and took the door.
Lieutenant Schott and Sergeant Major Lemberger met him as soon as they saw him.

“Gentlemen, recover the men who are still capable of fighting and let's get ready to leave. Schott, I saw that a Halfling Scout and a Dwarf Slayer are bivouacking by those campfires, ask them if they are interested in joining us for a fair pay. Let's go to Mordheim..."

Playing Infinity N4: skydiving

The Garuda Tacbot is one of the first miniatures that caught my eye when I started looking into the amazing world of Infinity The Game.

I am starting to believe the more I like a model the more difficult it is to focus it!

Assembling this piece enhanced my awe since its design is so futuristic yet its head looks like it's adorned with a grinning, ancestral tribal mask. The boarding shotgun sculpt really gives you the feeling of a big chunk of sprinting metal dropping from the sky. I tried to intensify this feeling by adding a broken tile, smashed by landing impact.

As I was painting this model, I started looking at the similar profiles offered by other armies. So, I filtered all Spec, trained troops that have the parachuting skill on vanilla armies and produced the following graph:

Here are 4 things that I noticed by looking at it: you may notice more stuff than me, so please let me know your considerations in the comments!

1. Yu Jing has no spec. trained parachutists. 
   They still have powerful alternatives but, being veteran and elites, prices start from 28 points and specialists profiles are above 30 points;
   
   
2. Nomads, Ariadna and Haqquislam have lots of cheap specialists alternatives with no SWC cost.
   Have to keep in mind that these armies could drop a low cost button presser in a nice spot at turn three if you lower your guard;
   
   
3. PanOceania has no 0 SWC options.
   They also have the same veteran and elites options Yu Jing has so it seems like thay have some overlapping alternatives. Although, it must be noted that PanO's options once again show off lots of interesting equipments and weapons since Echo-Bravo can either have a red fury, a light rocket launcher with continuous damage, a panzerfaust + hacking device or a wildparrot. These guys not only can take an objective but hold it!
   
   
4. Aleph, Combined Army and Tohaa are the only ones to have 1,5 SWC profiles.
   And they all have a spitfire! The alien advantage mainly lies in their transmutation skill and pays off the 8/10 points difference from the spitfire Garuda.

I can't wait to field this new piece in my next game!

Mordheim Italia Facebook page #januhunters2021 contest entry

 Ciao!

The Mordheim Italia Facebook page issued a little nice hobby contest which I was happy to participate to. 

Rules were simple: post a picture of a model from the Witch Hunters range (witch hunter, warrior-priest, flagellant, zealot or warhound) together with some character story or background. The community then shall vote the one they like the most. You can go and search for #januhunters2021 to see all entries!

I do not own a Witch Hunters warband (yet), but I had a 6th ed warrior-priest craving for a new paintjob (and a round base, Sigmar forgive me!) so I threw him in the stripping pot of doom and got at it.

Here the final result.

  Let me now introduce you Father Innozenz and his story...

A hooded figure crept silently into the forge illuminated by Morrslieb's sinister light filtering through the skylight. The large bronze bell had been out of the mold for just a few hours and was still emanating heat. The cultist approached the bell and intoning a blasphemous chant sprinkled it with a few pinches of a fluorescent powder from a velvet pouch he took from the depths of his robe ...

Innozenz hurried down the stairs that led from the scriptorium to the courtyard. His brothers were already all gathered to attend the ceremony of consecration and inauguration of the new bell. As a result of complications from ear infection as a child, he was deaf in both ears and his family, wealthy beer merchants from Pfieldorf, had initiated him into monastic life. Innozenz had thus become a skilled amanuensis and an honest prelate living a peaceful and quiet life within the monastery walls.

Not being able to hear the sound of the new bell forged in the renowned foundries of Nuln, which would have brought prestige and importance to the monastery, deeply saddened him but he was still happy to be able to participate to this event and experience the emotion of this moment through the enthusiasm of his brothers.

After the Abbot's speech, the long-awaited moment finally came. The bell monk made the Sign of the Hammer and pulled the rope that operated the bell. Innozenz heard nothing but remained hypnotized by the rhythmic swinging of the bell. When he had counted seven strokes he came to his senses and was shocked by the scene before his eyes.

The bodies of his brethren were monstrously deformed: huge swollen bellies pierced with broken bones, worm-infested mouths and ears oozing purulent humors, eyes in unnatural numbers and positions turning to him with a disgusting expression of violence and commiseration.

In a moment the amanuensis realized that he was facing the manifestation of one of the purest essences of Chaos.

As the crowd of corrupt monks surrounded him, he knelt down and gathered his whole soul in a last and desperate prayer: "Sigmar give me the strength to save my brothers and defeat your enemies.”

Sigmar listened to him.

A golden aura enveloped him, his faith became armor and his fury became hammer. Transfigured by the spirit of Sigmar, he threw himself into the ranks of the possessed, sending them back to the hell from which they had come with holy hammer blows. Sigmar was with him and he was unstoppable.

With a prodigious leap he found himself on the ledge at the top of the bell tower where a cloud of flies and unclean beings swarmed around the cursed bell. Wicked tentacles protruded from the inside while disgusting ooze exuded from the bell that was transmuting from bronze into decaying organic matter, tingling with larvae and worms.

Innozenz raised his arms and struck a mighty blow against that demonic instrument. There was a flash of light and then everything went dark...

He woke up a few days later, lying on the grass in the clearing in front of the monastery. There was no one around and apart from the ruins of the tower, nothing testified to the terrible battle that had taken place. There was something else strange... he heard! He could hear the rustle of the wind in the trees and the warble of birds.

Then he heard a very deep voice, like a thunder that frightens enemies but comforts those who have faith: “Innozenz you are a faithful and courageous servant. I give you back the hearing that the disease had deprived you of. Go to Mordheim, lend your ear to the pleas of the desperate and mercilessly strike the wicked and the corrupt!”. 

Innozenz staggered to his feet, made the Sign of the Hammer, and rising a song of praise set off for the City of the Damned. Along the way many called him but he went straight on his way, he did not hear them, he had been deaf since he was a child...

Inglorious Wolves - Mordheim Middenheim Mercenaries

Ciao,

this is a post I have been wanting to make for quite some time but managed to get at it only now.

Let me present you the Inglorious Wolves, a Middenheim Mercenaries warband I built and painted specifically for the one day Mordheim Pollenzo MMXX amazing event organized by VIII Legio.

This was the perfect motivation to make some good use of an Empire Militia box and some Middenheim bits which had been collecting dust for too long.

Here below a group picture including some hired swords.

Background (the fluff)

The camp was dimly lit by the embers of the dying fire, the silence disturbed by the rhythmic scraping of the whetstone on a blade.

Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, the man, who was busy sharpening an old halberd, raised an eyebrow then pulled a puff of smoke from his pipe and said: "Rich boy, can't you sleep?".

"No." Leonard answered, ignoring the provocation. He sat down next to the old soldier and let some time pass without saying anything, staring at the moon over the City of the Damned.

"Tell me about the Captain, I need to know more about who will lead us in the ruins."

Without haste, after another puff of his pipe, Juergen spoke: “A year ago a woman came to the estate, a beautiful and charming woman with whom the Captain fell madly in love. She was a cursed witch and a servant of the dark gods. She wanted to assassinate the Elector Count by taking advantage of my Lord's position. We managed to stop her plan but she escaped us and killed the Captain's son in revenge. Since then he has been chasing her restlessly. He looks for her to prevent her from doing any more harm but above all he looks for her to find her before the Witch Hunters do. He wants to be the one to execute her. But fear not, the Captain is the best commander that we could have for this trip to hell, obey his orders and you could even go home alive. Do you feel calmer now? "

Once again Leonard ignored the veteran's taunt and asked again: "What about the others?"

After having emptied the bowl of the pipe and cleaned it carefully, Juergen put it away in a worn case, then resumed speaking: “Dieter has fought alongside the Captain in countless battles. Don't be fooled by his white beard, he is the most skilled and brave man I have ever seen fight. He seeks the witch too.

Hugo and John are two ruffians, the only things they care about are fame, women and booty but they fight like furies and want to make a name for themselves."

A dark howl echoed in the darkness making Leonard shiver and instinctively brought his hand towards the axe handle. 

Juergen grinned in amusement, his hoarse laughter quickly turned into a catarrh cough then he cursed and said, “Don't fret greenhorn, this is our wolf friend telling us that everything is fine. Luckily he's out there too watching our backs, he has already saved us big troubles more than once ... The priest is called Bjorn, he appeared out of nowhere one morning and without saying a word he joined us, the wolf joined him shortly after. Every now and then he has fits, his eyes roll and he shivers all over. He says that Ulric sends him visions. Once I asked him to teach me to pray and he told me to let it go, Ulric doesn't listen.

Peter is my sister's son, he buried his father at the end of the winter and there was not enough food for everyone at home. What about you, rich boy? What mess did you cook to make your father send you to Mordheim?"

Leonard thought of Greta's raven hair and green eyes, her soft, fair skin and her sweet voice. Both he and she were far from the line of succession and there was never any talk of marriage. At the age of sixteen, Greta joined the Sigmarite Sisters and he joined the army. When he learned about the comet and what had happened in Mordheim he immediately volunteered. He had to find Greta at all costs and bring her to safety, saving her, perhaps, he would save himself too...

He got up, brushed off the bottom of his pants and as he walked away to his bed he said, “It was not my to send me here, I'm a volunteer. I want to be free, I seek happiness. "

The boy had already walked away and could no longer hear him but Juergen continued to talk, perhaps more to himself: "Of all the places in this grim and dark world, the last one where I would come to seek freedom and happiness is precisely this cursed city." then he spat into the fire and resumed sharpening his halberd...

List (the crunch)

The list is far from being optimized but I think it has some personality and I feel quite engaged and committed to play it.

Heroes

• Gottfried von Shieffer - Mercenary Captain
• dagger, sword, brace of duelling pistols, helmet wolf cloak
•   Dieter Bode - Champion
• dagger, halberd, helmet, wolf cloak
• Leonard von Richtofen - Youngblood
• dagger, axe, hammer, bow
• Peter Obst - Youngblood
• dagger, axe, hammer, bow
• Bjorn Borg - Wolf Priest of Ulric
• dagger, 2 hammers, wolf cloak

Henchmen

• McEnroe - Wolf Companion (1)
• Hugo & John - Swordsmen (2)
• dagger, sword, buckler
• Juergen Heiniken - Warrior (1)
• dagger, halberd

    

Relicblade Orignal Kickstarter - Path of the Advocate Team

Ciao,

I finally made a progress with the Relicblade miniatures I got backing the Kickstarter almost a year ago... I know, I am slow. Anyway, now that the second wave Kickstarter is gonna be delivered in February I really had to do something! 

The bad guys - Path of the Adversary - are the next in line, I am really looking forward to playing some games!

Ho finalmente fatto qualche progresso con le miniature di Relicblade che ho acquistato supportando il Kickstarter circa un anno fa... lo so, sono lento. Ad ogni modo adesso che il Kickstarter per la seconda serie verrà consegnato a Febbraio dovevo davvero fare qualcosa!

I cattivi - PAth of the Adversary - sono i prossimi, davvero non vedo l'ora di giocare qualche partita!

Ciao!

Tunguska reinforcements

Ciao!

some time ago I got some Tunguska reinforcements for my Nomads and I finally manged to assemble and paint them!

Nothing too fancy, just what it's needed to hit the table top. I am really looking forward to seeing what they can do on the battlefield!

qualche tempo fa mi sono procurato alcuni rinforzi Tunguska per i miei Nomadi e finalmente ho completato assemblaggio e pittura!

Livello gioco, quanto basta per schierarli sul tavolo. Sono davvero impaziente di vedere cosa sono in grado di fare sul campo di battaglia!

Tunguska Interventors & Fast Pandas

Tsyklon Sputniks

Coming Soon - Relicblade and Tank Combat

Ciao!

Yesterday I received in the mail the Relicblade starter set directly  from the Kickstarter!!! I quickly went through the content and it's all gorgeous from the manual to the punch board to the models of course. These models actually fit also very well into any fantasy setting such as Frostgrave!

Here the link to the Facebook Group.

Ieri ho ricevuto nella posta lo starter set di Relicblade direttamente dal Kickstarter!!! Ho velocemente guardato il contenuto e devo dire che è davvero tutto molto bello a partire dal manuale, ai segnalini, ai modelli. Questi modelli tra l'altro si adattano perfettamente a qualunque ambientazione fantasy come ad esempio Frostgrave!

Qui il link al Gruppo Facebook.

Hyped up by Relicblade I finally dedicated some attention to the Tank Combat box (Zvezda) that has been sitting on the shelf for a bit too long now. From time to time I really enjoy some historical wargame action and WWII is one of my sweet spots. I already assembled and primed the tanks, I hope they can see some action in the near future!

Esaltato da Relicblade ho finalmente dedicato qualche attenzione alla scatola di Tank Combat (Zvezda) che era rimasta un po' troppo a lungo sullo scaffale. Di tanto in tanto mi piace cimentarmi con qualche wargame storico e la WWII è una delle mie ambientazioni preferite. Ho già assemblato e primerato i carri armati, spero di poterli vedere in azione nel prossimo futuro!

Mordheim Skaven Warband - Henchmen

Ciao!

I finally concluded the Mordheim Skaven Warband project!
I can say I am quite happy about how they turned out, here a couple of pictures of the henchmen and of the whole Purple Claw Clan in all its might.

Ho finalmente concluso il progetto della Banda di Skaven per Mordheim!
Posso dire di essere soddisfatto dell'effetto finale, di seguito un paio di foto della truppa e dell'intero Clan in tutta la sua potenza.

Ciao!

henchmen - left to right maces, spears and shields, swords, slings

truppa - da sinistra a destra mazze, lance e scudi, spade, fionde

Clan Moulder's Contractor

Collaboratori del Clan Moulder  

Party picture

Foto di gruppo

Mordheim High elves warband - Shadow warriors

Ciao!
This is the most recent warband added to my collection: Shadow warriors, Sons of Nagarythe.
The miniatures are from the GW's Shadow warriors box.
All the minis have been painted by Nekradamus (here you can see some of her works).
Now I'm working on my own on the wizard of the group; the miniature I chose is the Loremaster of Hoeth.
Enjoy the pic!

Mordheim Scenery - "Celestial bridge"

Hello everybody!

This is one the last projects that I've completed. It should represent a fantasy bridge that leads to some sort of chapel, below which there's a planetarium (bits are from GW's Celestial hurricanum).

While the bridge it's made out of Hirst Art's block and high density styrene, the river quay it's only carved in styrene.

The stone floor texture was made using "Minitextures", then painted with acrylics.

The water it's a mixture of PVA glue and plaster, painted and then covered with transparent acrylics.

I leave you with some pictures  of the bridge.

Modern Aircraft 1/200 scale models

Hi everybody!
This is my last experiment; not a hard work. The hardest part was to find these aircrafts (by Furuta models) at reasonable price. It took me several months, searching the web for a bargain.
I finally got these four models for 15 $, put them on hex flight stands with 2mm diameter magnets.

Now the "tricky" part. Since I had some spare missle from previous kits, I decided to find a way to use them to create some plausible accessory to be used during the dogfights. 

What you see in the next pics it's the result of my experiment. I used four pipe cleaners, and at the far end of them I glued the missles.

In the end I slightly improved the flight stands by adding them a small plastic ring, obtained from cutting an emplty ink refill of a pen.

Bye!

WWII aviation 1/144 project

Ciao,

next project I want to focus on is about some WWII planes 1/144 scale for some wargaming action. 

This is the stuff I got (very cheap on amazon):  

il prossimo progetto su cui mi voglio cimentare riguarda alcuni aerei WWII in scala 1/144 sempre con il fine ultimo di giocarci.

Questo è quel che ho preso (molto economico su amazon): 

2 x Messerschmitt 109

2 x Focke Wulf 190

2 x Spitfire

2 x P-51

I do not know which rules to use yet, so if you have good (and cheap) rulesets to suggest leave a comment!

Non so ancora quali regole usare, dunque se ne conoscete di buone (ed economiche) lasciate un messaggio!

Ciao

Old West Miniatures - Set 6 and party picture

Finally last batch of old west miniatures. This time a bunch of innocent bystanders ready to be unwillingly involved in some showdowns.

Finalmente l'ultimo lotto di miniature old west. Questa volta si tratta di passanti innocenti pronti per essere involontariamente coinvolti in qualche regolamento di conti.

To celebrate the end of this project a nice party picture! Now it's time to focus on some sceneries and eventually have some games ;)

Per festeggiare la fine del progetto una bella foto di gruppo! Adesso è tempo di concentrarci sugli scenici e perchè no, giocare un po' ;)