Last War 0. Roll call for The Pals.

The Great War never ended. The War to End All Wars slumped nightmarishly on after the worldwide devastation of the pandemic. The surviving and overlooked troops may have been in these trenches for weeks or years- time and maps have no meaning anymore. They cannot find their way out through the roiling fog, and any contact with High Command is long forgotten.

The remnants of a Pals battalion have stumbled into each other in the mists, and banded together. All that is left in their pathetic existence is the false hope of escape to the green fields beyond...

'OP' thinks he's the leader, and the others allow him this delusion. He does have a knack for scrounging ammunition, but is even dumber than he looks. He's strong but clumsy.

'OP' waves his pistol encouragingly.

Mr Sing is a broken man, whose heart was never in it. His rifle is rusted solid, but he hasn't told the other Pals.

Mr Sing's rifle can only be used as a club.

Private West will die fighting. He's got a trench club, and yells a terrifying battlecry as he charges the enemy. This means he is always targeted by them, but they are so disconcerted he has lived longer than expected. He's a poor shot, and doesn't have any ranged weapons.

Private West is a terror up close.

Hiram is a good shot and has a working rifle, but his gammy leg makes him painfully slow. He worries that one day the Pals will have to leave him behind. Oddly for a sharpshooter, his nerves make him clumsy.

Hiram will struggle to climb out of the trench.

AD Specific doesn't use guns. He just can't. What he can do, however, is bring one makeshift explosive on every mission.

No-one knows how AD Specific gets his bombs.

My sluggish 15mm WW1 ambitions got a shot in the arm with Last War, a grimsical Weird World War 1 tabletop adventure game. I intend to solo my way through the campaign and see what happens to the Pals. I do not expect them to all make it... One of the things I like is that each character has a pretty underwhelming stat line, and a crippling flaw.

I'd love to do this in 28mm and convert figures, but I'm sticking with 15mm and seeing if I can differentiate them with poses and weapons. All distances are halved, so I only need a 12" playing area! When I'm done, I'll do a deep dive into my terrain for you.

The rulebook has a random name generator which I used for inspiration. I've sexed up the pictures with the LensFX app.

There are noises in the fog. The Quartermaster says an enemy supply patrol got disoriented- can the Pals sneak out in the fog and get the crates?

What's out there? 'OP' will lead the way into the fog...

To be commenced...

*Based on Forbidden Psalm which is based on the Mörk Borg RPG.

Anzac Day 2025- Lewis Gun Team

The Lewis Gun weighed 13kg and had a rate of fire of 500-600 rounds/ minute. The distinctive pan magazine holds forty-seven .303 rounds. Its other distinctive feature is the barrel cooling shroud.

Lewis Gun Team

Lewis Gunner

Lewis Gunner

No. 2 with spare magazines

No. 2 with spare magazines

Lewis Gun in action. Fred Leist, 1917

Lewis Gunner, Sergeant Stanley Galton. Garnet Williamson, 1918

Australians advancing from Villers-Bretonneux, August 8th 1918.
Will Longstaff, 1918

I added another 54mm Anzac to my growing section from Slave 2 Gaming, and was painting it when I realised it was the No. 2 for a Lewis Gun Team. So I had to dig out, pin, prep and paint the No. 1 in a bit of a hurry to make this blog on time! I'm trying to match my earlier styles, but it is a bit more impressionistic. They need a dusting of antishine.

Lest we forget.

40K Tyranids: Bigger creatures

 I painted some bigger 'nids as well:

The Neurotyrant has potent psychic abilities, floating malevolently over the battlefield. It has a big brain, and smaller accessory brains from lesser creatures melded to it.

Neurotyrant

The Neurotyrant is accompanied by two Neuroloid underlings.

Neuroloids

The real highlight for me is the Screamer Killer, redux. I had one of the Jes Goodwin metal ones in the nineties. It was the size of a clenched fist and weighed a hefty packet, and I let it go about 15-20 years ago. These are the only two photos I have of it:

1992 Screamer Killer

My 2nd edition tyranids!

I do not regret the time I spent wet blending those claws!

Then thirty years pass (!) and the new plastic Screamer Killer is released in 2023. There was no way I was not going to have this. It is massive, on a 90mm base- already over twice the size of the original, and so light in comparison!

I added some drool with UHU glue and a toothpick.

Free hugs!

40K Tyranids: Smaller beasts

I've painted a few more tyranids recently, to add to the swarm:

Neurogaunts are weaker creatures that act as synaptic signal relays for the hive mind. Wifi boosters, if you will. I've also heard them called bluetooth piranhas, and space chickens. They have smaller creatures on their backs, guiding them. The brood leader is a Nodebeast, and is a little bigger and fancier.

Neurogaunts

Neurogaunt Nodebeast

I painted more termagants.

I painted some genestealers. I don't like these sculpts- they have a lot of soft detail and don't comfortably gel with the main Tyranid aesthetic notes.

I painted more spore mines. Love my mines.

40K Lamenters: Reivers

I painted five Reivers. These are behind-the-lines terror troops with their signature skull helms, massive combat knives, and grav-chute wings on their power packs. I used 3D printed pauldrons- and I prefer my hand-painted ones. I may even try to pry them off and redo them.

Reivers

Reiver Sergeant

I also finished off a few more of the specialist Infiltrators:

Infiltrator Helix Adept (medic)

Infiltrator Commsman

Infiltrator Sergeant

Skull-o-meter™: 20

Sharkey and Worm

I got around to painting these two villains that have been in my collection for a fair while. A quick paintjob, but fitting. The GW example has a brown cloak, but as per the text:

...they overtook an old man leaning on a staff, and he was clothed in rags of grey or dirty white, and at his heels went another beggar, slouching and whining.

40K Genestealer Cult characters

I've painted a few special characters for my Genestealer Cult, the Guiding Hands.

The villain in my Five Parsecs finale, the Locus is a sort of bodyguard character. His hooded robe hides a hunch with some spinous protuberances and a tail.

Genestealer Cult locus

The Nexos is a planner and coordinator, with a very cool floating holomap. This has an easter egg- it depicts Warhammer World! I used Contrast Aethermatic Blue, and might go back and enhance the glow effects.

Genestealer Cult Nexos

Note the clawed imperial eagle