Mordheim

I’ve done a lot of research on the Internet on basing, paint, modeling, etc. Here are some links to some great resources on these subjects:

• Tom’s Boring Mordheim Blog has lots of great tips and tricks for painting, as he is an amazing painter and artist.
• Games Workshop tutorial on Painting Models.
• Brushthralls’ Old Basing tutorial. (They have a new modeling tutorials here.)
• (I also got lots of ideas from Tom’s Boring Mordheim Forum and Witchhunter.net.)

My new Mordheim Warbands have officially been started.

Currently, Skaven is my favorite warband, so I decided to start the learning curve with some Orc Models I got from a Warhammer Box Set I got off of ebay. I have too many of each of these models, so if I end up destroying them, I’ll survive. This way I can perfect my basing/painting styles before starting into my Skaven warband.

With that said, I based these models with a layer of PVA glue and a layer of sand. I added a rock or a wooden plank to each base before putting the layer of sand (so they look like they are stuck in the sand.

I removed the two models from their frames and used a razor blade to smooth out the seams. I glued on their heads and glued them to their bases with a helping of rubber cement (for plastic models).

Then, after a base coat of black paint:

Now I need to come up with a good color scheme. I think I’m going to use Orange as a warpaint color.

-More to come,
–Ashton Sanders

Welcome to (Mordheim Dice Tower) “Roll Inn”!
The most comfortable beds this side of the City of the Damned;).

Read the Rest of the Post >

Since this competition is ending on the end of this month, I have to paint this entire building in two days. Thankfully it’s been a weekend, and I’ve been able to put aside some time for my Mordheim Dice Tower. I have run into only a few small problems, but none were conquerable. Here are the pictures of today’s progress:

I painted all of the cement and debris with the same Dry Brushing Cement system I used on my last building (which I ended up using on the window bars as well). I chose to do a bright, barn red for the walls.

Final pictures are on the way,
–Ashton Sanders

I have added some fallen debris to the Mordheim roof. The idea is that when the comet crashed into the city, either the quaking earth or a shard of the comet caused the top section of the tower to collapse. Some of the rubble broke holes in the roof below, while some of the smaller pieces ended up staying on the roof. The rubble also doubles as places for models to sand on.

I put down a layer of water glue in the dice catcher/courtyard area, and poured some of my “Camp Cherry Valley” beach sand on it. I think it came out really well. Now I just need a good thick layer of paint to keep the sand in place. I really want to add some rubble to this area, but I don’t want to give the dice a possibility of not landing flat, so it’s got to be boring and flat.

Here’s a picture of the what’s left of the Dice Tower’s Roof.

Enjoy,
Ashton Sanders

I have done my second base coat on my Mordheim Dice Tower.

I painted most of the inside of the dice tower because I am planning on having a number of holes in the exterior that will allow you to see inside as the dice roll by. I have already cut one of the window holes all the way through. I needed to paint the inside of the tower before I put the roof on, so I went ahead and base painted everything I could.

I didn’t really have a plan as to how many windows I wanted to cut into this building. I have kind of decided that this building was going to be a tavern. It could definitely pass as a tavern, and since most taverns have a back alley/dump section which no windows face, I thought this was a perfect excuse not to make any more windows. =)

To frame the windows, I’m planning on cutting tiny strips of Popsicle sticks, which is going to be a royal pain… So the fewer windows the better.

Next step is the roof. I have decided to permanently glue the roof down. I was toying with the idea of using magnets to secure the roof, so I could remove it to fix anything that might go wrong on the inside of the building. I just have very grand plans for the roof, as I want to to be as playable as possible, and since players will not be allowed to go inside of it, making the roof playable is my only real choice. Now that I think about it though, the dice going through the dice tower make it rumble and shake a lot. So I may have to scratch that idea.

Only the future will tell,
-Ashton Sanders

Ha!

A wealthy city, like Mordheim used to be, must have some sort of system to dispose of waste. Mordheim must have had garbage cans and a garbage collector, wouldn’t you think? Anyway, after my last trip to the range (Front Sight), I grabbed 4-5 of the empty bullet holders, knowing there must be some way to use them in the city of Mordheim. After lots of thought, I found that they are almost the perfect size for Mordheim-sized garbage cans!

In this picture you can see the transition (from left to right) of Bullet holder to Mordheim garbage can. First, you need to cut one of the can’s out of the container with a razor blade. Once this is done, trim the edges around the top of the can. Then cut off the bottom of the can. If you cut straight enough, you can use the bottom as a lid. The can on the right side of the picture above still needs some work on the paint job, but it’s enough to give you an idea of where I’m going with this.

I also don’t have a bottom to these cans, but I’ll think of something by the time I need to put one on it’s side.

No anyone who plays Mordheim at my house won’t have a reason not to throw away all their garbage. =]
-Ashton Sanders

Here’s a video of my Mordheim Dice Tower (WIP) in Action. You won’t be able to see the dice once I put the roof on, so here you go:

Enjoy,
-Ashton Sanders

Finally I have found someone in Montana interested in playing Mordheim!

My neighbors came over for dinner yesterday, and they brought their son. He brought over his Pokemon cards, and we “battled” with an extremely simplified, home-made set of rules. I took out one Orc Warrior and a Rat, and faced them in front of each other and told him the basic rules. I explained the game as we went, and told him what he need to roll each time.

To say the least, he fell in love. We did combat mini-games with Mordheim rules (starting 8 inches apart) 5-6 times.

We used my Mordheim Dice Tower the entire night, and since we were just playing on my work bench, it ended up being the most useful thing of the night. We only rarely had to find dropped dice (if we missed the entrance), and we didn’t have to get a huge space to roll. It also doubled as testing for my dice tower. I found one little bug where a dice could get stuck 1 in a 1000 rolls. But hey, at least I know before I’ve added the roof!

So maybe one of these days, I’ll actually play the game of Mordheim =) *knocks on wood*
-Ashton Sanders

The next step in my unorganized shamble of a plan, was to paint all of the ramps black along with the inside of the building. That way I won’t have a lot of trouble painting the inside after I glue it all together. Unfortunately, I mixed up way too much paint (I was mixing water with black to insure the black paint go into the crevices.) So instead of wasting the perfectly good, watered-down black paint, I painted as much as I could, and glued it together all at the same time.

I also glued my now black dice tower to a section of thick card I got from the back of a picture frame. This “base” will act to hold the dice catcher in place, connected to the dice tower. Here’s a picture:

Here’s a close up picture of the Dice Catcher in progress:

Next I will conquer the “Styrofoam Texture” on the side of my Dice Tower!

Stay Tooned,
-Ashton Sanders

After a week of nerve-racking waiting, my Warhammer starter set has arrived! It was apparently too big to fit inside my mail box, so the mailman just had it balanced on top of it. That’s definitely the first time that has happened to me.

I eagerly brought it in and spread out the contents of it. (If you didn’t read from earlier, I’m planning on using these models for my Orc and Human warband.)

Here is a slightly out of focus picture of the back of the Warhammer starter box:

You can see in this picture sets of 4 regiments of 18 guys. From Left to Right: Orc Warriors, Orc Archers, Human Riflemen and Human Spearmen. This box also includes a Human canon and an Orc War Chariot and a General for each.

Here’s a picture of all of these models still in their sprues:

At the top of this picture, you can see two stacks of 4 sprues each. These are the regiments of warriors; one stack for the humans and one for the orcs.

Here’s a close up of the Humans and Orcs Sprues:

I’m looking at selling or trading some of these sprues as this is more than enough for two warbands of each species, and I’m only putting together 1 of each.

-Ashton Sanders