Sword and Sorcery Adventures – Part 2
In the first part, I said a few introductory words about the project and showed the first five goblins I painted for it. Now, for someone like me, whose brain has a hard time remembering how I painted things, it’s pretty important to write down “recipes” to maintain a reasonably consistent look. While that’s not all that important with a motley crew of greenskins, it still doesn’t hurt to note down the palette of colors that was used.
My first thought was, “What skin color should I even give these guys?” Green naturally comes to mind as the answer, but which shade? Over time, I’ve tried out a whole range of green shades, though back then I was always aiming for a look that matched the GW template.
October 2026 review
Welcome to November!
In brief, I was on vacation in October, and as my birthday was late in September, I only got around to using some of my presents last month. One of them was a toolbox by Allit, which I wanted to use as a miniature case for Gaslands. And to my delight, it came prefilled with some snacks and drinks, thanks to my in-laws. As you can see, it has already been put to use, and I have to say it has a practical side effect: as I come across Matchbox cars on sale more often than I need them, this is a physical limit. If there is no more room for more cars, I can't buy more (or I have to find a discreet solution with my son to make room for more...).
Reviews
In October we had time to publish some of the reviews, among them the Graal Miniatures Kickstarter for the Legends of Rome, which was funded successfully, as well as the new second edition of Oathmark by Osprey. We will cover more Osprey books in the future: next week I'll publish the review of the latest Stargrave supplement Acceptable Losses, and I'm on the final steps of the Silver Bayonet review series.
As I'm currently preparing for Lützensommern, my lead time for reviews has shrunk a bit, but I'm working on the Warlord Games items and will cover Warhammer 40k Munchkin as soon as possible.
Oathmark – Battles of the Lost Age Core Rules 2nd Edition
Seven years after the first edition, Joseph A. McCullough returns to the Marches. Oathmark: Second Edition, Battles of the Lost Age was released by Osprey Games on 27 August 2026. If the name McCullough sounds familiar, it should. We have covered a good part of his work on this blog, from Frostgrave and Stargrave to The Silver Bayonet. Oathmark is the odd one out in that list, because it is not a skirmish game. It is a mass battle game, and it comes with a full range of plastic miniatures behind it.
Oathmark has always been a co-production between Osprey and North Star Military Figures. Osprey publishes the rules, North Star produces the miniatures. We have reviewed several of those plastic kits over the years, and they have left a lasting impression. The Oathmark Skeleton Infantry are, in my opinion, among the best models in the whole range. The Goblin Infantry have found a second life in Dino's Sword & Sorcery Adventures. You can find all of our coverage under the Oathmark tag.
I have to be honest here. I never played the first edition. What always caught my attention was the miniature range, and the fact that Michael Anderson was involved in sculpting it. The kits are modular, come with lots of weapon options and offer good to very good value for money. The undead in particular have been tempting me for years. A classic High Fantasy army of skeletons, put together from affordable plastic boxes, sounds like exactly the kind of project I would enjoy. The new edition was the perfect excuse to finally take a closer look at the rules themselves.
Sword and Sorcery Adventures – Part 1
There’s always something magical about a new project, even if it isn’t entirely new. After all, I started a few smaller fantasy projects quite some time ago, but never finished them. I plan to change that now by piecing together all those little project snippets into a bigger picture.
But one thing at a time, because I’m using a little trick here. Like most hobbyists, I have a veritable cornucopia of ideas at home and just as many miniatures lying around, all roughly in the classic 28mm scale. But how do you motivate yourself to actually paint such a large pile of quite diverse models?
The solution comes in the form of a story that spans multiple game systems, allowing you to take your time getting to know the various protagonists and antagonists. Since the past ten years have enriched the hobby with a variety of fantasy skirmish games and solo-play systems, it’s entirely possible to paint smaller groups of miniatures for different systems and still play occasionally.
Warhammer Fantasy – Through the Ages Part 1
As the article on Warhammer 40k through the ages was so popular, I decided to write something similar on Warhammer Fantasy. Actually this draft has been sitting on my desk for a while now, and I finally pulled through to finish it.
On November 15 of 2019 an article on Warhammer Community created a lot of buzz - Old World? New Warhammer! With a teaser the day before on social media, everything comes round again, even squares.
The post announced the return of the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy, a game system and lore that had been discontinued in 2015 with the End Times and replaced by the new brand of Age of Sigmar. But why was this the case? For that, we have to go back to where Warhammer Fantasy started. It is quite the journey, so I split it into two parts: part one covers Warhammer Fantasy Battles from 1983 to the End Times, part two covers Age of Sigmar and the return of The Old World.
1983 Warhammer - The Mass Combat Fantasy Role-Playing Game (1st Edition Logo)
The first edition of Warhammer was released in 1983. The idea behind it was to create a rule set, which made it possible for role players to use their miniatures in skirmishes and mass combat. There are multiple books on the origins of Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures, for example Dice Men or Talking Miniatures, but to put it briefly Games Workshop was a distributor of role playing games and Citadel Miniatures a company that produced Ral Partha miniatures under license in the UK until 1984 and their own unique ranges as well. To promote sales of these miniatures set of rules was needed and Rick Priestley and Richard Halliwell, who wrote the Reaper Fantasy Wargame Rules in the late 70s, would be the authors of the first edition of Warhammer, together with Bryan Ansell.
Warhammer Fantasy – Through the Ages Part 2
In part one we followed Warhammer Fantasy Battles from three little booklets in a white box in 1983 to the End Times, when Games Workshop did the unthinkable and destroyed its own world. But the story didn't end there. It split into two paths: Age of Sigmar, the new game that replaced Warhammer Fantasy in 2015, and The Old World, which brought regiments and square bases back in 2024. So let's pick up where we left off.
2015 Warhammer - Age of Sigmar
All of this was answered in July 2015 with the release of Warhammer - Age of Sigmar. The regiments were gone, square bases were gone, the lore was gone ... well, altered and "further" developed. In the beginning there weren't even points. Balance was left to scenarios and sudden death conditions for uneven armies, until the General's Handbook introduced matched play points in 2016. The game was more of a platoon sized skirmisher, than the mass combat experience of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. But that was the point, the world had changed. Games Workshop transferred a lot of the experience they made with 40k towards their new fantasy universe.
2015 Warhammer Age of Sigmar - 1st Edition Launch Box
The first starter set pitted the Stormcast Eternals against the Khorne Bloodbound. The core rules came on just four pages and were free to download, square bases became round, and army books were replaced by warscrolls – one profile per unit with everything you need. An idea that 40k adopted two years later with the datasheets of its 8th edition.
Dino’s Miscellaneous 2026 – Part 3
On Sunday, I made my first trip to Phantasos Studio in Wiesbaden, as there was a flea market taking place there. As expected, there was plenty of 40K and AoS stuff available at bargain prices, but that wasn't why I was there.
Although I didn't expect to find one, I was looking for an Oathmark Orc sprue that I wanted to paint in preparation for Pillars of Gromlak. Well, I was right—I didn't find one, but a suitable substitute was available:
A few of the Uruk Hai in a lucky dip box had figures in dynamic poses, which I think I could easily customize. Since I swapped a sprue of Heavy Armored Orcs with Gregor from Games 'n Dice for a StarGrave Mercenaries sprue, there should be enough heads to give them a slightly more unique look.
I got the Goblins from Trondur, from the Tabletop Nerds group in Mainz. He also had an interesting little gem at his booth…
This should really enhance even the dreariest Blitz Bowl Arena and is a nice, quick way to add a little more flair to the table – if it were up to me, every game would come with a bit of 3D cardboard terrain, since it’s affordable, can be produced in large quantities, and is a good transitional solution until you’ve set up “full-fledged” terrain.
I also have an Orc team sitting around that I started at last year's TTW Maltreff meetup. Plus, it'll be Orktober soon…
Dino
September 2026 Review
Alright, here we go, the real home stretch for this year, because we've hit Q4!
September had a pretty good run of events. Holger and I went to the Rhein Main Multiversum and the Bitbox 2026. Both trips were well worth it. It felt good to see everyone again, even though we just missed Flo, so that reunion will have to wait for Antwerp or Lützensommern.
I still need to process the haul, i.e. strip the paint and sort everything into the relevant projects.
42 – the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything
I'm 42 now. Full stop. No, I don't feel the need for a sports car, I'm not going to get myself an espresso machine with a portafilter, and no outdoor kitchen either (although an Ooni pizza oven would be a nice thing to have). I also don't think that, as a hobbyist, you need a midlife crisis to become aware of your own mortality. The Pile of Shame makes that clear enough, and if you divide your monthly painting output by the size of your own miniature stash, you get a figure that even life-extending measures / becoming a Vulcan etc. probably couldn't get you through. For some people, the rumor is that number comes out at around 270 years.
Deth Wizards – Origins of Givana Part 5
And here we are, with what will be the final installment of my Deth Wizards series — for now. No, that’s not because I won’t be playing the game — quite the opposite, in fact. I intend to weave Givana’s story into a larger narrative. However, I’d like to rework it a bit for that purpose, and since the story will span across several systems, it also needs a world in which the whole thing is set.
She found it hard to stay focused. Although she had by then learned to control more bodies than just six skeletons, her grandfather’s death shook Givana to her core and distracted her.
With a sweeping gesture of her hand and a whispered incantation, the skeletons collapsed. She began to sob. She couldn’t understand why they had executed him. Neither he nor she had ever used necromancy for evil purposes. Grandfather had always emphasized that they were guardians of balance and would not succumb to the dark temptations to which other necromancers had once fallen.
“To hell with it,” she thought. “They killed Grandfather, and they’ll pay for it!” She bared her teeth, and, driven by rage, the bones of the dead rose once more.
Now there were only a few of them. But Givana knew that time was on her side in this fight.
I'm still undecided about this, because I basically have a lot of puzzle pieces, but I don't have a clear picture in my mind yet. So I won't say much today and will just show you a snazzy new mini instead.
Since my camera is slowly but surely giving up and I'm unfortunately no tech necromancer, I've started taking more pictures against a white background again. When I'm at the boss's place next time, I'll definitely take some better snapshots.
Dino’s Miscellaneous 2026 – Part 2
About two weeks ago, I told you about the projects I currently have on my table that are sure to take shape in the near future. Well, in the meantime, good old Robert from Wolpertinger Miniatures put me to the test, he still needed ten zombies for the Rhein Main Multiverse, which was still in the works at the time. Anyone who's familiar with my work knows that ten miniatures in two weeks is a huge undertaking for me. On top of that, I still had to finish the Rhapsode for Mortal Gods, since the new Theban army was set to be presented.
So, let me just say right off the bat, yes, I've finished the Rhapsode:
At first, I wasn't sure whether to paint the cape red or brown, but after a few mini brainstorming sessions during painting sessions on Discord, I decided to go with a neutral shade of green, and I'm happy with the result.
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