(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Warcry" September 2019

Iron Golems WIPs - An Ogre Breacher, Armator and Dominar

This month's themed attempt to shrink my ever-increasing mass of metal, plastic and resin models will see me once again returning to "Games Workshop" in an effort to pigment at least one of the disparate warbands which regularly make the dark pilgrimage to the Eightpoints, “seeking the favour of Archaon the Everchosen.” Considering my love of both “Age Of Sigmar” and the Chaos gods of the Mortal Realms, I’m actually surprised I’ve managed to hold off for an entire month since the opportunity to “enter the dark world of Warcry” first emerged, but now I’ve finally purchased the new skirmish game’s enormous starter set I’ve immediately found myself busy preparing for my ‘big push’ by assembling my “indomitable warband hailing from the Realm of Metal.”

Fortunately, unlike many of the Nottingham-based company’s modern-day plastic miniatures, the eight Iron Golems I’ve mustered together were reasonably straightforward and quick to glue together, with only the three Iron Legionaries causing me a moments consternation on account of the multiple variants it is possible to build. Indeed even the construction choice between fielding a banner-bearing Signifier or a massive hammer-wielding Prefector was pretty simple to visualise, courtesy of a comprehensive assembly instruction guide-book, before I’d snapped a single piece from a sprue.

Revamped Wargame Hobby Bingo - Several squares have been replaced with more likely achievements

This somewhat substantial project should also provide me with a partial in-road into completing another of the (amended) Wargame Hobby Bingo Challenge squares I’ve set myself over the next twelve months; to paint all of the miniatures in a board game, and play it. Fortunately, due to last month’s completion of both “The Walking Dead: Call To Arms" Prisoner Booster Pack by “Mantic Games” and a converted female Borg Drone from the “Modiphius Entertainment” Borg Collective box, I’ve already managed to ‘strike through’ two of the twenty-four squares, so am currently on track to achieve my twelve-month goal.

Of course there may be some who will argue that “Warcry” is not a proper board game, but alongside its Untamed Beasts, Chaotic Beasts and scenery the box is listed as containing “a double-sided 22” x 30” folding gaming board to battle on”, and that’s good enough for me. Besides, there’s always the possibility of undertaking a less figure-filled 'proper' board game in the future, in which case I’ll be arguing that the completion of the set’s Bell Tower, statue head, barricades and ruins should count as "a scenery set."

August 2019 - The most productive August since my records began in 2014

Statistics is something I’ve tried to keep to a minimum on this blog, but the reasonable success of my “Top Ten Manufacturers” 2016-2018 series has suggested that perhaps a brief dalliance into the number of miniatures completed throughout the year might be of interest to some. I’ve actually been scoring my finished figures using the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge’s points system as far back as 2014 (e.g. 5 Points per 28mm infantry model), and as a result am able to not only ascertain how industrious I have been from year to year, but also identify my favourite painting genres and ranges.

Predominantly thanks to my concerted effort to complete a number of “Star Trek Adventures” models by “Modiphius Entertainment”, alongside a dalliance into “The Walking Dead: Call To Arms” by “Mantic Games”, last month was actually my most productive period on record for this time of year, and has me well on track to possibly break my annual painting tally record. In addition, another significant batch of “Doctor Who” miniatures by “Black Tree Design” has seen the frustratingly unreliable manufacturer continue to stretch ahead of the majority of the pack, and now only needs to overtake “Lucid Eye Publications” and their characterful “Toon Realms” range to disconcertingly become my most popular company of 2019…