Modelling: Fine Cobblestone

Oh the good, old Mordheim and it's streets. So many cities in the Empire but that's the one which stole my heart lad. This one is special you see. Not that there's a huge meteor whole in the center of it. Not cause of all the opportunities for gold and profit. Not because of death that lurks behing each and every corner this city has. The smell here is bad. Weather here is even worse than bad. But the cobblestone?! Lad! The streets are made of stone packed thicker than marble blocks before the Merchant District in Marienburg!
 

While preparing a new Mordheim comission i've used the opportunity to make this tutorial. This time i would like to show you a quick and easy way of sculpting Cobblestone. Not that i personally like the Cobblestone Bases but the feelings of most Mordheim gamers are strong. I think that this Tutorial will come in handy for many modellers out there.

MODELLING FINE COBBLESTONE

Before start make sure to have these prepared:

* Sculpting Tools,
* Green Stuff,  

* Super Glue,

* Piece of Cork,

* Some bases, 

 

1) To begin the process of making Cobblestone Bases just intermix the Greenstuff's ingredients and roll a medium Greenstuff ball. When it's ready - put some Super Glue onto the base. Do not cover whole base, cause you don't want the glue to leak all over the rants in Step Two.

2) Flatten the ball in your fingers and put it onto the Glue covered base, right in the middle.

3) Now's the time for some Cork! Deep it's tip in the glass of water. The Cork won't absorb any water and has rough structure - it will smear Greenstuff over the base ideally, not dragging it back.

4) Use the tip of a Sculpting Tool, or Modelling Knife (if you preffer) to clean up the base's sides. 

5) Wet your finger with water and gently flatten the rough edges of the Greenstuff. The final product will look like this:

6) This is the moment when the Sculpting Tool comes into action. Moving it's tip in successive up/down/up moves sculpt the cobblestones. Try to keep them small as this way the base will look far more intricate.

7) The end step is flattening the cobblestones with the Sculpting Tool's tip. This way the rough spaces between cobblestones will be masked and you can futher change the shape of the stones.

The whole process shouldn't take more than few minutes so i can easily assume that you will be abble to base a whole warband within an hour. This is how the Cobblestone Base looks in the end:

Hope you like this Tutorial. If so -make sure to check out all the Modelling Tutorials on Mordheim Treasure Hunters.

Nazroth,

Modelling: Hairy Fur

Of all the creatures in Mordheim i hate the Skaven most. For years i tried to think of the reason why. There's plenty of greater dangers including Orcs which are more powerfully built. Depraved Chaos Cultists and the Heretic Sisters of Sigmar! All of whom i loath but the Skaven? They make my stomach ache. It's the fur lad. That wet, stinky shag of theirs. It reeks of rat's piss mixed with a stench of dead man...



 
Here's another of my Modelling articles. This time i will show you how to sculpt Greenstuff to create a nasty looking, hairy fur! Not that i'm some kind of a pro when it comes to Greenstuff sculpting. One of my friends asked me to fur-up his Rat Ogre so i just used this opportunity to make a tutorial. 

Let us begin!

MODELLING HAIRY FUR 

Remember to prepare all the necessary items before beginning:
* Sculpting Tools,
* Green Stuff,  
* Super Glue,

As a preparation Intermix the Greenstuff's ingredients and roll a bunch of small GS balls.

The most important thing in sculpting the fur is a technique. If you make to much of straight hair the fur will look flat and unnatural. Same goes for texturising if  to much small indentations were made. So here's how i recommend to do it:

1) Put some Super Glue onto the space where you'd like to start. Embed one GS ball in the glue. Start sculpting by shaping couple of short, straight lines in the direction from where the hair grow up, pulling them onto the surface. Lenghten the lines backwars but this time do not pull the GS, just model them onto the surface. 

2) Add more lines creating some density. The direction of the lines can vary but not to much.

3) Cut some lines on the slant, shortening the hairs and adding more uncouth look.

4) Using the tip of the sculpting tool  lever some hair to make them messy.

Theoretical:

Practical:

5) You can add futher layers of fur onto the one already sculpted. Try not to disturb underfur too much and remember to keep pulling the initial lines of the ball onto the surface. 

6) Just keep up the good job and continue to 'fur' the miniature :)

That's it. Now you know all of my fur sculpting secrets. The Rat Ogre i used belongs to the same friend who made Warband: The Carnival of Chaos miniatures. I cannot wait to see his Skaven painted!


Nazroth,

Warband: Dwarf Treasure Hunters 'Captain Blackboar & his Boar-Ding Party'

'Sails ho! Prepare to Boar...D!' the sound of his scream was utterly muffled by the thickness of his black beard! Yet the crue seemed to understand. Powered with the lust for gold and probably taste for our blood they flipped a boarding plank between the buildings and charged! Missiles and cannonballs ricocheted all around me producing a crackling cacophony of sound. Wood fragments propelled by the impacts scraped off my face and that's when i saw him: Charging headlong through the boarding plank was the captain! My eyes met his hungering gaze and instinctively  i grabed my gold pouch. Just before our blades crossed i was distracted by a giant red boar emerging from behind the Dwarf and going strait for my legs. Without enought time to prepare myself i was thrown off balance, kneecap pummeled into paste. Bone fragments protruded from my left leg. I felt pure agony lad, like i have never felt before. I would have died back then if not for my favorite Warhound - Tośka. One moment the Dwarf Captain towered above me with an evil grinn, the next he joined me on the ground with an angry hound on his back. I was able to crawl away just in time to see a sharp point of an anchor wielded by a massive, muscular Troll Slayer, puncturing the side of my loyal hound. I was routed that day lad. I lost many companions, Toska included. It was the first time in my life that i fled and im not proud of it... but i kept my life and my gold!

Warband: Dwarf Treasure Hunters

  'Captain Blackboar & his Boar-Ding Party'

The Dwarf Treasure Hunters may easily be considered a most popular Warband there is. Mainly because of the Dwarf own popularity but also due to their ultimate climate. These short and bearded Treasure Hunters stand high above even the Undead or Witch Hunters as there's almost none gaming group without a Dwarf player. I fought bravely not to own a Dwarf Warband myself, yet fell in the attempt. To keep the vestiges of originality i have changed theme of my Dwarves but lets be honest: they're still short and got beards! Now when all that was said let us take a closer look into the Dwarves.

Advantages:

- Stone Skin,

Dwarves have a T value of 6 and benefit from two powerful rules: 'Hard to Kill' and 'Thick Head' which give them awesome durability both in hand-to-hand and range combat. Your enemy will need 6's and will not benefit from clubs/hammers etc. special rules when fighting against Dwarves. Just keep in mind not to be overwhelmed by enemy numbers cause a Dwarf stunned in hantd-to-hand combat is a dead Dwarf. 

- Look, it's a Wyrdstone Shard!

Yes you will start the game with one less hero but it means that your rating will be lower almost every time. You also gain an additional Wyrdstone Shard after each battle which gives you an edge against other Warbands in early campaign.

- Beardlings,

Dwarves have access to a great and cheap Henchmen group in the form of Beardlings. For 25gc. you get a human with one less I, one less M but T 4 and two powerful rules. I did not mention BS 2 intentionally as these are hand-to-hand warriors so Ballistic Skill does not count.

- Bipolar uses,

Dwarves are very flexible in terms of gameplay. All heroes may choose combat skills and three of them are able to choose strength skills. In the same time up to two heroes may become potent shooters with access to shooting skills and a variety of shooting weapons including pistols. You can build your Warband around hand-to-hand combat with a support of pistols and one or two crossbows or you can go all ahead shooting and use Troll Slayers as a hand-to-hand combat counter force. Both builds will work fine and i recommend that you test both of them in time.

- Powerful late game Skills,

Master of Blades is just sick! Combo it with two Dwarf Axes and feed with tears of your opponents each time you get into hand-to-hand combat. True Grit and Thick Skull may not be as powerful as Step Aside but they are very useful, especially in hand-to-hand combat where Stunned usually means Dead. 

Weaknesses:

- Yo! Where are the guys?

With a maximum number of 12 models and M 3 you will often find yourself outnumbered and unable to cover a large area of the table. In some scenarios it may prove to be fatal. Remember to bring some Thunderers as a precaution and to keep certain areas of the table occupied. 

Tips: You can buy a Wardog to bring a fast moving member to your Warband ;)

- Let's dig a hole!

Most of the Dwarf players preffer to stay put and use shooting weapons to repell eventual attack. If you take a look at the Skills and weapons available for your Heroes you should see that this is a hand-to-hand centered Warband. I know - you think me a Heretic now but my point of view is dictated by years of experience, fighting againts Dwarf players both in Mordheim and Warhammer. Believe me when i say that Mordheim Dwarf Treasure Hunters are something totally different than Warhammer Dwarf Army. Mordheim is more scenario oriented so most of the time you will be forced to race with your opponent or in the best case meet him axe against blade. Of course you should not forfeit shooting totally but consider not using four crossbows. Two (cannons) will do the trick and you can equip two heroes with a brace of pistols to keep up with the main body of your combat group wile maintaining a sniper/support role. I won't bully you into this strategy - just try it out for yourself ;)

Dwarf Noble: Captain Blackboar and Bucu (Cannon Fodder Boar)

Dwarf Engineer: Quatermaster Deadshot

 Dwarf Troll Slayer: Anchorfish

"We rob you of anchor..."

Troll Slayer: Squidwheel 

"...We rob you of wheel..."

 Dwarf Thunderers

 "...We rob all your weapons..."

Dwarf Clansmen: Hsif, Krahs

 "...All cargo..."

Dwarf Beardlings

"and beer!"

 'Chaaarge!'

 'Prepare to Boar...D!'

'Last stand'

Warband: Dwarf Treasure Hunters 'Captain Blackboar & his Boar-Ding Party'
Cost: 500gc,
Rating: 96,

Dwarf Noble: Captain Blackboar 103gc,
Pistol, Mace, Dagger, 

Dwarf Engineer: Quatermaster Deadshot  78gc,
Crossbow, Mace, Dagger, 

Dwarf Troll Slayer: Anchorfish 60gc,
Halberd, Dagger, 

Troll Slayer: Squidwheel  53gc,
Mace, Dagger, 

Thunderers (2) 130gc,

Crossbow, Dagger, 

Beardlings (2) 56gc,
Mace, Dagger, 

Arabian Merchant 20gc,

Scimitar,

This Warband roster is a classic flexible start with an addition of Arabian Merchant in place of usual Tilean Marksman. Merchant will add speed to my Warband's early progress so that i will be able to recruit more crue as fast as possible. When the numbers reach 12 fully equiped Dwarves (13 with Merchant) i will further invest in Hired Swords acquiring services of Ogre Bodyguard, Pit Fighter and then Tilean Marksman.

Nazroth,