Today we have an amazing hobby project from The Rise of the Doombull in Australia. Have you ever wanted to build a massive Age of Sigmar castle from various kits? Here you go!!! I’ll hand it straight over to Rise of the Doombull himself.
I had been a fan of the Skullvane Manse kit for a long time and had always wanted to grab one and paint it up but never quite got around to it. When the model was re-released as the Warscryer Citadel I dropped into my local Games Workshop and picked one up.
The original plan was to use a Deathknell Watch to make the tower section of the Warscryer Citadel from the ground up (rather than perched on rocks supported by timber as in the original).
After a bit of Google image searching, I found an image from Warhammer World of the Valley of Skulls table with a huge castle kit combination. After I saw this picture, I decided to grab some extra kits to replicate a smaller version of the main castle on that table.
The Multi-kit Assembly
The full list of kits involved are:
Temple of Skulls
Witchfate Tor
Warscryer Citadel
Deathknell Watch x 2
Citadel Wood
Garden of Morr
Hanging cages from Gloomspite Gitz Loonshrine
Random bits from my bits box
Most of these are no longer available from Games Workshop directly, but you can peruse the current GW terrain here.
Cutting!!!
Most of the kit cutting and conversion was done using an angle grinder. Some might say this is a bit excessive, but it certainly made easy work of the relatively thick terrain kit plastic and could be used carefully on smaller pieces to get pretty tight joins and smooth edges.
The castle was in three main sub-assemblies, the tower was all one piece, Witchfate Tor on the Temple of Skulls base the second and the building portion of Warscryer Citadel the third. The trees, mausoleum, and timber walkway with rail were all assembled and painted separately as were the cages.
Fill those gaps!!!
Apoxie Sculpt, a two part modelling compound was used extensively for gap filling between all the tower pieces and to sculpt bricks and rocks where necessary to combine everything together. Vallejo Plastic Putty also came in handy for filling smaller gaps quickly.
Age of Sigmar Castle – Painting
Early stages of painting went well and quickly, lots of drybrushing stone and washes to add colour variation to the brickwork.
The Deathknell Watch tall tower was done from start to finish along with the walkway and balcony in a couple of weekends.
Next, the building from Warscryer Citadel, arguably the most fun painting part of the project, was done in about the same length of time.
After this I moved onto Witchfate Tor and the Temple of Skulls. All the rocks on the Temple of Skulls base were pretty simple as was the brickwork to the Witchfate Tor model.
Not long after this I hit a wall though.
Painters Block – Skull Overload
There was a long break where the model sat unfinished in the cabinet, I guess I had bitten off more than I could chew and the detail on the Witchfate Tor felt like I could keep going forever. My recipe for the skulls in the wall sections whilst delivering a great look was time consuming and repetitive. The whole Castle when dry fit together was looking very grey which was bad for motivation as well and I had to take a break.
I took a break to get some paint on a Flesh Eater Courts Army I had picked up, the greens and reds and little bits of assembly and conversion had the hobby inspiration going strong again and once I had the army playable I was ready to smash out the rest of the castle.
Summer Holidays
A bit of time off work in January gave the break I needed to finish the Castle off, I got the skull panels in the walls done first and went back to the brickwork to add more sections of different coloured stone plus darkened them up a bit to add contrast. This combined with more progress on the details such as rusted metals and tarnished gold colours had the Castle nearing completion.
Final Assembly and Finished Project
I could probably have kept going on painting variation in the stone sections, what to leave as carved stone vs what to treat as another material or painted stone. In the end, I had to call it a day at some point and so it was time to get gluing.
This was an immensely satisfying bit of hobby, everything went together well, all the pre-work on gap filling and dry fitting had paid off. Every piece I glued in place added more character and more points of interest.
The final stages adding the cages, static grass, trees and foliage was very gratifying after such a big and extended project.
Hey everyone, from today we will have a series of hobby videos produced by the wonderful Steve Herner (@HolyHammerHern), US hobbyist extraordinaire, on his new YouTube channel. Steve is the organiser of the Holy Wars and Holy Havoc events known for their amazing scratch-built tables. You can check out some photos of those events here, or on Steve’s blog.
Short hobby tutorials
Steve has been publishing excellent hobby videos on his Twitter account and has now branched out to YouTube. Head over there, subscribe, like, comment and reap the rewards of Steve’s hobby knowledge.
Today’s post is about how to scratch build and paint marble flooring on a large scale for display boards.
The marble flooring is for the Ruined City of Sigmar table Steve is building for Holy Havoc this year.
The table is sponsored by Ministomp, the store who provided the Games Workshop kits included. Ministomp are an email order service based in the Midwest of the US and provide a full range of Games Workshop products. You can order by email and they run multiple sales and discounts via their Twitter account. Ministomp certainly gets rave reviews from the Midwest AoS scene.
How to Make Marble Flooring
Tools Used
Crescent mount board – black on black
Citadel mould line remover – for thick lines
Router tool – for adding texture
Sculpting tool – for fine line details and surface cracks
Painting Marble Flooring
The video below demonstrates the results after painting. A painting tutorial is coming.
Hi all, a quick guest post again from Alex Ley regarding the epic streamed narrative Age of Sigmar charity event, Mind over the Realms. If you can support the cause, spread the word and watch the stream for some amazing hobby inspiration.
Mind over the Realms
Hi everyone, hopefully you read my first article a month or so ago about the London scene and how the hobby scene in the capital is starting to expand in such a diverse and multitude of ways. This, in a way, is meant to serve as an extension of that article but with a much more poignant focus.
About 3 months ago, myself and Ming Lee were talking about ways we could host a narrative event but with a twist – one that focused on streaming and bringing streamed hobby content to our screens in the same way we are already used to with matched play. With that in mind, we called in the NEO crew and set about coming up with a plan.
The one element that Ming was very quick to push, and rightly so, was that this should be for charity. Fundraising over live broadcast content has been a feature of our television screens for years and there was no reason we couldn’t try and do the same. As for the cause, discussion with the other NEO’s gave us a clear cause we all felt was the most fitting for our community.
Over the years, I feel that we have all more than likely seen and even felt for ourselves just how the hobby and the community can offer solace and support for those suffering from a wide variety of mental health issues.
The Warhammer hobby allows casual players, collectors, modellers, painters and dedicated gamers to express themselves in such a flexible and wide variety of ways underpinned by a thriving and welcoming community. It’s because of this we believe that, for many, the hobby plays such an import role in their mental wellbeing.
As such, we decided to come together to tell an epic narrative game to raise money for Mind: the mental health charity at Magic Madhouse London to be streamed live on Saturday July 13th 2019. With everything from beautiful tables, custom models, fantastic painting, bespoke missions and narrative play to celebrate our hobby and community for an excellent cause.
For every £1 donated, every sponsor will receive 1 ticket in our amazing army give away prize draw kindly all arranged by NEO Steve Foote. We also hope to add other prizes to the list as more people and business’s come forward to support us!
If you would like to sponsor and enter; please head to the JustGiving Page.
If you run a hobby business and would like to help us with prize support, please email me at [email protected]
Hey all, today I have a guest post written by Alex Ley of the Angel Wargamers with the first in a series on the growing Warhammer Age of Sigmar scene in London. Alex will be giving us a tour of the boroughs, their clubs and events throughout the season.
As always, check out Dark Fantastic Mills for great 3D printed terrain perfect for wargaming. Its super versatile and light so worldwide shipping is inexpensive. Use the “aos shorts” discount code for a further 10% off the already decent prices.
Age of Sigmar in London
I remember moving to London with my girlfriend nearly 7 years ago and one of my immediate ambitions was to locate my nearest club and start getting involved with the Warhammer scene as soon as possible. This was back in the days of 40K 6th ed and 8th ed fantasy and I was a dedicated 40k player at the time. One of the luckiest moments of that move was going to house party hosted by one of closet friends from school and meeting Adam Cunis (@hadrielcaine) for the first time who introduced me to the Angel Wargamers at the Blacksmith and Toffeemaker pub in Angel. 7 years on, I’m a proud Angel Wargamer and co-host of the club’s podcast!
Despite London’s size, it was a little intimidating back then trying to locate a club as the scene was quite binary between 8th ed and 40k and often existed out of pubs or non-dedicated venues. There were loads of events and clubs to choose from but, as you may imagine, getting around London with a KR case full of models on the tube can be a challenging and off-putting endeavour. The hurdle for clubs and venues was not just to exist but to coax in players who largely do not drive or own a car by offering scenic tables and maximum utility from their spaces as possible in great locations.
This market gap coupled with the arrival of Age of Sigmar and hobby now being more accessible than ever, the London scene has grown tremendously with clubs for every district of the city and more dedicated gaming venues and events than ever (including some that my own club proudly organises). Whether you want narrative or pure competition, I guarantee the big smoke has something for you.
Over this series I will be covering the London scene, starting with covering the cities brand new dedicated wargaming venues, their events and what they bring to the scene. Part 1 covers Magic Madhouse London, the home to my club and host to our recent and upcoming events.
Magic Madhouse London – Hackney Wick
Since Angel Warmers moved to Magic Madhouse nearly 3 years ago its become our second home. Based in Hackney Wick, East London, Magic Madhouse London (MMH) is run by the intrepid Gav and Tim and we now congregate here every Tuesday. MMH now even cover Angel events on their very own Twitch!
Magic Madhouse London’s initial focus was Magic: The Gathering, our hosts branched out to become a great venue for anyone looking for a game of all sorts – including lots of Age of Sigmar! They now fully support the Age of Sigmar scene scene with a mixture of bookable tables and hosting events. Situated in the trendy East London hipster-highway, if you’re looking for a game within easy access from Stratford and the Olympic park then look no further.* MMH has hosted Angel’s matched, narrative and even master’s events.
Angelcore, our premier matched play event in conjunction with Corehammer, has now run for two years over 2017 and 2018, utilising the brilliant pack written by our very own Matthew Hinton (@skyel14). Matt wanted to ensure that competitive AOS tournaments used a robust set of secondary objectives. As the power in the game shifts with time and the natural evolution, Angelcore was designed to make sure that players always had something to play for, even if the primary is over quickly. By having a comprehensive and achievable set of secondaries the game stays competitive and allows players to never feel like its all over by turn 2! London is a city of inclusion and this pack was designed to bring that mantra to the matched play scene.
Matt captured this by using a 50-0 scoring system of which only a maximum of 30 points is achieved by a major win on the primary. Up to 20 points are available by scoring secondary objectives which ranged from achieving maximum board coverage to killing the enemy general. Players also did not max score secondaries by labelling their opponents, meaning that keeping the game alive was of tactical benefit to generals looking for maximum points.
With the support of MMH Angel hope to bring you Angelcore again in 2019 so watch this space. [Editor: check out the coverage of Angelcore 2018 for a taste of the action]
The London AOS masters was one of the premier events hosted at MMH this year. The nefarious Looking Donal Taylor (@wargamerdonal) invited 8 of London’s top players for a showcase show-down event at the start of 2019. Covered on the MMH Twitch and by yours truly on Twitter, it was amazing to see some of the South East’s finest take to the tables. The main takeaway from this was just how many masters live within the London based community, underpinning the strength of the scene here with not only great venues but a pool of some of the top players. If you want to see some of the coverage, head to MMH’s YouTube channel and catch some of the games!
Finally, I think its worth noting that yours truly, in collaboration with Ming and Steve of the RAW fame, are planning the Narrative Party Invitational 2018. Tim from MMH is already planning how we can use set design and lighting to bring even more drama to this stream. While the event is an invitational for now, this is simply so we can experiment with the format. Once refined, we will be launching this as part of MMH/Angel event calendar so I promise to update you all soon.
I guess the point I wish to make here is that London is melting pot of a wide array of talents and for us to be able to experiment with taking the streaming and viewer engagement part of the hobby to the next level is a testament to that. The Narrative Party aims to enrapture the joy of story driven narrative gaming and set a new precedent for the city.
Thats all for now folks. See you next time.
*Space for 6×4 war-games tables are limited at MMH and we would always recommend booking or contacting the Angel Warmers direct if you’re looking for an opponent!
Today is a new video from Troy at Sonic Sledgehammer Studio about how he paints Skaven Clanrats. As I announced previously, I’ve partnered with Troy to add a range of Age of Sigmar painting tutorials to the site. All part of the plan to be an invaluable resource for all aspects of the hobby.
Speed Painting Skaven Clanrats
The Skaven are a race of ratmen without counting, gnawing away at the very roots of reality and chewing at the gaps between realms. An endless tide of furry bodies, gnashing teeth and crude weapons, they are a primal force to be reckoned with, burying their enemies under swarms of Clanrats.
Painting a whole Skaven army can seem pretty daunting, but it doesn’t need to be! There’s plenty of places you can cut corners and get a pretty decent result on the table without worrying about highlighting every strand of fur, and for those that have enjoyed the speed painting and simple techniques in some of the other ‘quick’ videos so far, here’s how I tackle the Skaven. Remember that you can swap colours as necessary to fit your own clan allegiance – green, brown, purple or even putrid yellow all work perfectly well with these same techniques.
I’ll give you a clue: Agrax Earthshade may very well feature heavily in these…
If you do decide to stick to Citadel paints, then after using Bugman’s Glow as the base colour for your Skaven’s skin but before the Agrax Earthshade, just go over with a coat of Cadian Fleshtone and all will be well. 😀
How I Paint Things is a series of simple instructional videos designed to help the newcomer through some of the basics and demonstrate how the very simplest techniques can still give you some great results that’re easily replicated. Aimed at the beginner to painting miniatures, there might be one or two tips or tricks that help even you old hands!
And, finally, as always, check out Dark Fantastic Mills for great 3D printed terrain perfect for wargaming. Its super versatile and light so worldwide shipping is inexpensive. Use the “aos shorts” discount code for a further 10% off the already decent prices.
Hey everyone, so this is the next article in the my Club Profile series highlighting Age of Sigmar Gaming Clubs from around the world. Today we have Sons of Slambo, from San Antonio, Texas, USA. Thanks to the club for writing the profile below.
The aim of the series is to introduce the gaming clubs, explain their history, anecdotes, iconography and current and former players. You’ll find details of how to contact the club and follow along with their successes on social media. For more club profiles, check out the clubs section of the site.
And, finally, as always, check out Dark Fantastic Mills for great 3D printed terrain perfect for wargaming. Its super versatile and light so worldwide shipping is inexpensive. Use the “aos shorts” discount code for a further 10% off the already decent prices.
Did somebody say “SLAMBO”?
Our current club focus takes us deep into the heart of Texas. The Sons of Slambo may be based in San Antonio, Texas, but they have members in Austin, Corpus Christi, and even have “Slambassadors” in the U.K. and Canada.
While many of the club have been together for over 20 years in other groups, the Sons of Slambo was re-branded and organized in 2015.
Sons of Slambo – club with a mission
Their mission is to “Develop, Promote, and Protect our community through exciting gameplay, club fellowship, charitable giving, and creating meaningful gaming experiences.”
This philosophy helped grow the handful of Warhammer AoS fans to a club that historically draws about 16-30 players on game night. Several of the players have purchased and painted over a thousand dollars worth of terrain to facilitate amazing games and incredible narrative battles.
While the core members of the club always play with painted armies, new players are welcomed and encouraged to play with whatever they have. Getting into our hobby can be intimidating, so the Sons coach their members on how to include new players in a welcoming way. It’s no wonder the club has their own Warhammer Hero awardee and often claims the top awards for sportsmanship at tournaments.
The Sons wear club shirts that parody the television series Sons of Anarchy and pay homage to one of the oldest and most revered models in the Citadel range-Slambo himself! Slambo has connections to the Old World and the Mortal Realms, making him a perfect mascot for long-time and new players alike.
When this dreadful band of ne’re-do-wells descend upon an event, cries of “SLAMBO!” echo the halls. This infectious battle cry can be heard anytime a risky roll is successful or when a brother or sister is about to make a critical roll. If you hear the call at Adepticon, WarGamesCon, or anywhere else-the club asks you to join along!
Port Maw Charity Event
The club continues to be involved with charity events like Port Maw (a worldwide narrative apocalypse event for 40k and AoS players), hurricane relief, and other worthy causes. The Sons of Slambo have partnered with many others to raise thousands of dollars over the years. Their primary beneficiary is Clarity Child Guidance Center. They help children throughout south Texas who suffer from mental illness.
AoS Shorts: Since this profile was written, the Sons of Slambo have hosted the Port Maw event for 2019. This year was the 8th running of the Port Maw Charity Narrative Apocalypse event! Over 216,000 points of painted AoS, 30k, and 40k models participated including across the US, UK and Australia. Disorder seized victory on the AoS tables.
Together, the club raised over $3,100 for Clarity Child Guidance Center! Clarity CGC exists to transform the lives of children and families. They are the only not-for-profit mental health treatment center specializing in children ages 3-17 in San Antonio and South Texas.
Check out all the awesome photos.
Sons of Slambo Membership
Members are given nicknames and titles based on their contributions and creativity. They also earn patches for hilarious fails, like “Unforgiven” (being banned by a local overzealous admin) and “Some left behind” (for forgetting to pick up a brother on the way to an event). All members are AoS Fanatics, but most of play other GW games as well. Here are a handful of their charter members:
Dan Norris, President (#EvilDan)
Mitch Fezer, Vice-President (#OGSlambo)
Jimmy Sides, Captain of the Guard (#Devil’sCandy)
Brian Strye, Enforcer (#Six)
Daniel Dawson, Chosen (#Magister)
Tom Ferris, Master (#Mighty Tom)
Daniel Sanchez, Fleet Admiral (#Sancho)
James Southerland, Chosen (#BooBoo)
Jacob Bessette, Chosen (#Change)
Robert Stehle, Chosen (#DrakeFluffer)
James Miller – Chosen (#Agent13)
Andrew Carlson – Chosen (#Chance)
Tyler Rabb – Chosen (#LordKhorne)
illy Mondragon, Standard Bearer (#BigGreezy)
Jon Knapik, Traitor (#Weirdnob)
Jeremy Cooper, Traitor (#ColdBlooded)
Nick Thompson, Slambassador (#BrainSquig)
Nigel Bartlett, U.K. Slambassador (#Chimphammer)
Plans for the future
The Sons of Slambo continue to grow and partner with clubs all over the U.S. Plans are underway to hold The Slambo GT premiering October 2019.
The club meets the first and third Friday of the month at 6:30 pm.
You can also tune into The Everchosen podcast and listen to all the great hobby, tactics, and trash talk between the Sons of Slambo and their sister club in Austin The Weirdnobz.
If you want to get the Son’s attention, don’t forget to belt out a mighty “SLAMBO!”
Thanks again to the Sons of Slambo for writing this profile. If you are interested in sharing your club on the site, feel free to get in touch, via Twitter, Facebook, or [email protected].
Today is a new video from Troy at Sonic Sledgehammer Studio about how he speed-paints Nighthaunt. How to get that army on to the tabletop super-quick and looking good.
When there’s something strange in your neighborhood, it’s probably got Nihilakh Oxide and Nighthaunt Gloom on it…
Chainrasps form the core of the Nighthaunt army, and these techniques will work perfectly well on other units of the same spectral make-up – add a little more to the capes to paint your Bladegheist Revenants, or less of it to paint up some Harridans. As a method of churning out large numbers of infantry very, very quickly, I don’t think you can beat this, with the added bonus that it’s a remarkably small number of paints and incredibly easy as well!
How I Paint Things Video Tutorials
How I Paint Things is a series of simple instructional videos designed to help the newcomer through some of the basics and demonstrate how the very simplest techniques can still give you some great results that’re easily replicated. Aimed at the beginner to painting miniatures, there might be one or two tips or tricks that help even you old hands!
If you like what I’m doing and you’d like to chip in, why not check out my Patreon or Ko-Fi? How I Paint Things will never be behind a pay wall, but anything dropped in the tip jar is greatly appreciated and really helps. https://www.patreon.com/sonicsledgeha…https://ko-fi.com/docwholigan
Hey all, today I have a quick post and interview on London’s newest Warhammer venue, the Bad Moon Cafe in Borough. Since the store opened in December 2018, I’ve seen a lot of great comments about the Bad Moon Cafe on Twitter and other Warhammer Age of Sigmar social media. So I just had to get in touch and learn a bit more about the venue, the design and business decisions that led to it opening and their plans for the future. Check out their website, Facebook and Twitter for more new news and updates.
The Bad Moon Cafe
The Bad Moon Cafe is a modern and truly dedicated Warhammer venue, built from the ground-up to be an inviting and enjoyable place to play. Think the best merger between a cafe, bar and gaming tables. The venue has 15 full Warhammer gaming tables (with mats and thematic terrain), a board-gaming space, barista coffee, locally-brewed craft beers, sandwiches, pastries from Borough Market and wood-fired Basilico pizza.
Where to find them?
The Bad Moon Cafe is minutes away from Borough Station and a 10 minute from London Bridge and Elephant & Castle stations.
159 Great Dover Street London SE1 4GZ
How to book tables?
The Bad Moon Cafe has 15 6×4″ gaming tables dedicated to either fantasy or sci-fi themes, each with their own mats. The venue operates an online booking system with the following slots:
Weekdays: Free until 5.00 pm. One bookable gaming session from 5.00 pm – 11.00 pm.
Saturdays: 3 bookable gaming sessions:
10am – 2pm,
2pm – 6pm, and
6pm – 11pm.
Sundays: 2 bookable gaming sessions:
10am – 2pm,
2pm – 6pm.
The price per table per gaming session is £12, which can be paid online or in person.
Board gaming at the Bad Moon Cafe
The Bad Moon Cafe has 10 board game cafe tables and an in-store library of over 60 titles. The board game tables operate on a first-come-first-served basis. There is a charge of £4 per person, which gives access to the entire board game library without a time limit. These tables are suitable for parties of 2 – 4 people.
The Bad Moon Cafe Interview
When I heard the rave reviews, I contacted the Bad Moon Cafe and sent through some questions about the store, its design, development and background. Hugh kindly answered.
AoS Shorts: Can you share anything about the people behind the store? Who are the key people in the store that visitors can expect to meet?
Wil and I (Hugh) are the founders – Wil is the manager of the store and I’m the marketing/social media/designer person. Wil is there nearly all the time and is extremely enthusiastic about the hobby – I think so far he’s spoken to every Warhammer player who’s come through the door about their current Warhammer project!
We’ve got great employees too – Paul is our other Games Workshop fanboy and is helping hosting our monthly tournaments. Ringo is our Board Games man and manages the board game library and stock as well as managing our board game meetup groups. Then we have Dave, Tom and Carolina who are all geeks in their own right and help organise D&D and other groups. They’re all trained baristas too! Although we’ve only been opened a few weeks, all the Facebook and Google reviews mention how great our staff are which we’re really proud of!
AoS Shorts: How long did it take you from the idea of the store to the store opening?
Wil first floated the idea of a store in spring 2018. He was working in retail management and wanted to use those skills for a hobby store. We had met playing Warhammer Age of Sigmar in various London groups and had gotten along great. When he mentioned opening a store, I realised I could use my experience working in architecture and design to help design the store itself and create a great venue. We founded the company in late July 2018 and opened on 15th December 2018, which seemed like a pretty quick turnaround to us!
AoS Shorts: What considerations did you take into account when choosing a venue?
There were two core considerations- centrality and size. London, despite being a huge and populous city, is served by only a couple of hobby stores (at least in the more central parts!). Otherwise, we have to rely on meetup groups to meet people and game. London Wargaming Guild in particular are a fantastic group – it’s where I met Wil! – but we felt there’d be a market for a venue with a store and proper food and drink. There are actually several great stores outside of central London, but they can be quite a journey to get to, especially on weekdays after people have had a day in the office. So having a central location was key to serving this player base of people who work and/or live in London but who are only served by meetup groups or venues outside of the center.
Size was also key – the core of the business is community and supporting that community. To have a good sized community, we needed a good number of full sized tables, so then we could host tournaments and become the place to play for Londoners. We essentially searched for the largest place within our budget and found a 3,500sqft location near Borough which seemed perfect – we could fit 15 full sized tables in as well as a cafe and bar!
AoS Shorts: What research did you do on the local player and potential customer base? Did you already have existing connections to the Warhammer communities and clubs in London? Have you made any affiliations with local clubs now for regular gaming nights?
Research into this kind of thing is pretty difficult! We had met the regional sales manager for Games Workshop in Nottingham when we produced our first concept for the Cafe who mentioned the huge increase in player base for Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar in the past two years. When discussing this new player base, it became clear to us they were much like us – which is to say people in their late 20s or early 30s who had rediscovered Warhammer having left the hobby in our teenage years. For whatever reason, this new player base weren’t finding some of the existing gaming venues that attractive and meetup groups were getting pretty great attendance, even if they had to use venues like pubs which aren’t exactly tailored to huge wargaming tables, miniatures and rulebooks! This told us there was a market for a venue made for Warhammer that didn’t need to be supported by Magic the Gathering or other TCGs, as most hobby stores are.
We’ve now affiliated with a few clubs – London Wargaming Guild foremost amongst them – to host monthly Warhammer 40k and Warhammer AoS tournaments as well as events for 9th Age, Warhammer Underworlds and Middle Earth.
AoS Shorts: How did you decide on your table set-up, amount of space per table, shelves etc?
The tables were the key thing the entire venue was designed around. My day job is Architectural Illustration, so we had all the tools we needed to figure out best use of space.
We wanted to maximise the number of tables but didn’t want to compromise on space for players and player experience, which is usually required for smaller venues.
We wanted to avoid some of the problems we saw when playing in pubs, meetups or other venues – lack of space between tables, lack of storage for our stuff and lack of space beside the tables for food, drinks, armies, books and dice.
Our dream situation for the tables was to have the table only for the miniatures- no books, miniatures in reserve or even dice would have to be placed on the table! To that end, our table design has 1ft of space on each side for books, models and a dice tray as well as a shelf below the play surface for bags, foam etc.
The shelving was actually a pretty easy decision – the space was so large and only 1 wall didn’t have any windows or doors on- so we just covered the entire wall in shelving, which allows us to have the full range of Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar products (or at least that product we’re allowed to stock as a third party seller!).
We also knew we needed space for a bar/cafe/board game area. The board gaming area was part of the initial plan – before returning to the hobby, I was (and still am!) a huge board gamer and knew that it would be a great market to tap into to supplement our core Warhammer offering. As the venue is in a huge student residential area, a market that seem to love board gaming, we knew it would be a great addition to the store for the local community. From the first day, it’s proven hugely popular!
Finally, and key to the whole feel of the venue, was our bar. This is a huge thing – 6.5m in length, and dominates the cafe area. It’s our company’s identity on site and ties together our whole business of mixing a bar, cafe, board gaming and Warhammer venue in one place. It also makes the cafe/bar area feel like a proper cafe or bar and not just an add on to a Warhammer space!
AoS Shorts: I see you have long bookable gaming sessions? Was it important to give players enough time to get through a decent sized Warhammer game?
Yes, for us we knew that a game can take 2 hours or 4 hours and didn’t want to force anyone off a table! We can’t underestimate how much we want it to be the place to game in London and customer comfort is everything. I would hate to have a game ended early when I’ve paid to hire the table and I’ve traveled to the venue after work, giving up my evening to play. We also wanted to allow people to choose their specific table they wanted to book- so our online booking system allows you to choose a specific table at a specific time to book! All our tables are themed with matching game mats and terrain so being able to choose specific tables- as you can do at Warhammer World- seemed like a no-brainer.
AoS Shorts: What is your current split between wargaming and board gaming patronage?
We’ve only been opened for a few weeks now but our Warhammer community of returning players is growing rapidly – though not sold out every day yet, we’ll likely be doing that in the next few months. The board gaming cafe area is usually full on weekends and most weekdays- though London sort of empties for the Christmas period, so this January will really give us a clearer idea of where we’re heading!
AoS Shorts: You seem to have really focused on the atmosphere of the venue and the amenities – real coffee and Italian pizza. Was this an important consideration? What kind of impression do you want to leave visitors with?
This was really my entire focus in the time before we opened. We wanted somewhere people wanted to spend time in. Not just gamers, but even someone wanting a coffee in the morning or a beer in the evening. We wanted it to be like a great coffee shop for the general public, have that same feel of great atmosphere in a nice venue.
If we could manage that atmosphere with Warhammer gaming and store offering, we could attract the new player base we identified early on in our planning. We also felt that if we’re asking you to spend your evening in our venue we should make it the nicest venue we can. If you’ve spent a day in the office having carried your foam bag around London on public transport, it would be so nice to be able to grab a beer and a proper meal while playing at a table with space and storage for everything, rather than having a sandwich from a supermarket on the way and balancing all your hobby stuff on the table or floor.
When we were looking at food and drink, we wanted it to be the best we could get. We’re using a local brewery called Kernel, who make some of our favourite beers, and a local pizza place called Basilico, who make proper wood-fired italian pizzas – thin crust, cooked at very high temperature with great quality ingredients. We’re already looking at expanding our selection too! We’ve got proper barista coffee on offer as well, which has proven a hit with the local community and turned us into the morning staffroom for the local schools!
Essentially, we wanted our venue to not just be the place that you go to play Warhammer, but the place you’d love to spend your evening in, whether you’re playing Warhammer, a board game, an RPG or just drinking with friends.
AoS Shorts: How do you find people new to the hobby, or with no connection to tabletop gaming, enjoy the venue?
The whole new hobbyist market is something we really wanted to cater to. Some hobby stores can be pretty intimidating to new hobbyists. Games Workshop stores do a pretty good job already, though their size somewhat limits them. Really the key to attracting these new hobbyists is our staff- they love talking about Warhammer and what you’re currently working on. We’ve had people come in and buy their first kits and make them in store, we’ve had people come in and buy the rulebook and read it with a coffee for a couple of hours and we’ve had people come in for hours to just paint and have a drink and some food! We’re really keen on providing a great first experience of the hobby and have gotten great feedback so far.
AoS Shorts: Do you have regular events planned? Or is the focus on more casual gaming?
We do already have monthly Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k tournaments organised – these are 18 to 24 player one day, 3 game events which are more casual than a 2 day tournament but still provide a decent challenge to seasoned players, in no small part thanks to some great local players who are pretty serious tournament players. We’re also planning 1 or 2 annual two-day, 5 game events. Having said that, I’m a casual player at heart, so catering to casual gaming is also important. We’re developing some events for casual gaming and new hobbyists which should provide a great day to meet new players, work on hobby projects and play a game or two against more casual players.
Thanks again to Hugh and everyone else at the Bad Moon Cafe for taking the time to answer my questions. It’s great having an opportunity to talk about the design and decision-making process that led to the opening of the store. Wish we had a similar place down here!
Today I have another great Army Showcase to share: Veillotron’s award-winning Stormcast. Veillotron’s Stormshadow Crusaders are an excellent example of seamless conversions matched with a strong theme and great painting. The more you look at the models, the more you notice and appreciate the force. It has such a great overall tabletop effect too.
For more great Age of Sigmar armies, check out the other showcase posts. And remember that the site is now partnered with Dark Fantastic Mills, producers and purveyors of amazing 3D printed terrain and you can use the code “aos shorts” to get 10% off. The terrain is super light so shipping worldwide is surprisingly cheap. With that said, I’ll hand over to Veillotron to talk a little about his army.
Stormshadow Crusaders
I got into Age of Sigmar two years ago. I had painted models between the ages of 10 and 15 but had not picked up a brush in 25 years. Spurred by my son who wanted to play the game, I decided to take on the challenge of painting a full army, something I had never done before.
I’ve always loved knights and mostly painted Bretonnian models when I was younger. As there are no chivalric factions in Age of Sigmar, Stormcast were the next logical choice; I also really liked their aesthetics.
The most important goal when designing my army was to make it as unique as possible, to make it my own. That meant coming up with a differentiated i) theme; ii) color scheme; and iii) conversions, which I had never done before.
2 Boards, 1 Story: little video of the finished product… The execution on the water could have better, but overall quite happy with the end result. My son’s board got Bronze overall (as per previous tweet), and I managed to get Gold at AoP! Apologies for the wobbly camera..😎 pic.twitter.com/GaVFCfsqUS
I wanted my army to have a battle-worn, realistic and gritty appearance. I wanted my warriors to look like they had gone through – and survived – hundreds of battles. I also wanted my Stormcasts to be menacing and dark, whilst remaining noble.
The Stormshadow Crusaders is a Stormhost formed exclusively of ex-Chaos worshipers (mostly adepts of Tzeentch) which have been ‘converted’ by Ghal Maraz. Continuously haunted by their past crimes, they are on a never-ending quest for redemption.
One of the reasons I love the battle-worn/weathered look so much is all the added details and textures which can be added to armour, boots and clothing. I was inspired by many photos on Putty & Paint.
Converting the Stormcast
Converting models is the best way to make your army feel more unique. Since I had never done any conversion work before, I thought that doing simple headswaps would be the easiest way to learn about that part of the hobby.
I was also keen to give my Stormcast a more medieval and practical feel. Games Workshop has a tendency of making huge helms for leaders, and I wanted my heroes to look like they dressed for a battle, not a parade.
It took me a while – longer than I had originally though – to find Games Workshop helms that fitted the style that I was looking for [Editor: converters often look for official Games Workshop parts so that they can take part in events at Warhammer World]. The more recent Bretonnian sculpts all had those heraldic decorations which didn’t fit the theme of my army. I really liked the sculpts from the late 80s/early 90s, but given cost and availability, it didn’t make sense. In the end, I found a lot of the helms I am using through the ForgeWorld website.
I was pleasantly surprised at how much of an impact a headswap can have on the overall appearance of a model.
Picking the Color Scheme
My initial goal was to make the army as monochromatic as possible. I knew from the start that I wanted my army’s two main colours to be silver and white. But I wanted those two colors to be much darker in shade, to reflect my Stormcasts’s darker side
The only other color I was initially intending to use was brown – for belts, scabbards, boots, etc.
I quickly came to the realisation that those colors were too bland. I then decided to add to the palette a purplish maroon (similar to the Stormcast’s standard hilt color) and some gold, which worked well as a spot color, really bringing some life into the models.
Monsters and mounts are a good way to introduce another color into your army without disrupting the overall theme. With the idea of keeping the look of my army as monochromatic as possible, I painted my dracoths in the same purplish maroon I used for the weapon hilts and the primes’ manes. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out as I had hoped, the whole army looked a bit too dark and bland.
So I decided to try a new color scheme for my gryph-chargers, something lighter. And that’s when I decided to go for the grey-blue/white scheme, with some thunderhawk blue to add a bit more life. I was really happy with the results on the test model and decided to paint all mounts and monsters in that color scheme.
Lord-Celestant on Aetherdrake
As the centerpiece of my army I wanted to build an Aetherdrake: a more nimble, fast-moving and wingless Stardrake (wingless was much more for practical reasons than an aesthetic choice: I wanted to be able to travel to the UK without the model breaking apart).
I found that, when tilted, the Carnosaur pose seems even more dynamic, as if he’s running at full speed. That is why I decided to use that model as the starting base for my Aetherdrake.
This was by far my biggest conversion work, although it was mostly kit-bashing and required very little green-stuffing. I had a lot of fun kit-bashing this hero. I used bits from the Carnosaur, Stardrake, Archaon, Lord-Aquilor, Vanguard-Palladors, Celestant-Prime, Gavriel Sureheart, Sequitors, Liberators and Ruins of Osgiliath kits. The helm is from ForgeWorld’s Infernal Guards Fireglaives. Oh, and a few Bonesplitters arrows!
Celestant-Prime
For practical reasons, I decided to do the Prime without his wings. I also wasn’t too keen on the shape of the Prime’s wings, they reminded me a bit too much of traditional religious paintings. It also made him look a bit less angelic and slightly more menacing. Now that my army has been magnetized and easily fits into my case, I have been thinking of adding a pair of wings. If I do, I will be using the wings of the Knight-Azyros.
Cyan Aetherblade, Lord-Aquilor
This is actually my favourite model, despite it not my best paint job (I’ve done a better job painting the gryph-charger fur of most of my Palladors…). He is also my only named model, I need to come up with names for all my other dudes…
I really love the model because of i) that helmet, my all-time favorite sculpt (comes from a knight model I bought in the late 80s); ii) I love the regal pose of the gryph-charger; and iii) I love the skull chalice he’s holding in his left hand – that is a nod to both his background lore and to my personal Grail, the Warhammer World Grand Tournament trophy which I will never win…
Lord-Castellant
This was my first attempt at OSL. Might have gone a bit too heavy on the blue highlights, but it was a fun experience. The helm is from ForgeWorld’s Infernal Guard Standard Bearer.
Knight Incantor
This is the latest hero that I’ve painted. It is still a work in progress, as I need to tidy-up some elements, work further on the magical blue items, and scratches on the pauldrons, amongst others. But this level was good enough for me to put him on my Armies on Parade board.
The head is used is from a Warhammer 40,000 Wrack; initially it looked too small compared to the body; by adding a Liberator ‘steel halo’, the proportions work better.
Vanguard-Palladors
The Vanguard-Palladors are in my humble view some of Games Workshop’s best models, I just love their dynamic poses.
I tried to paint the gryph-charger’s fur to look like the one of a panther, which was a lot of fun. I do find that painting texture on larger areas does help make it more interesting.
The helms are from the Freeguild Greatswords kit and the Demigryph knights.
Liberators
This is the first unit of my army which I painted. I initially painted them with the Stormcast facemasks, as I had not been able to find a proper helm for them. I recently opted for the helms of the 30k World Eaters kit from ForgeWorld.
To match the look of my Stardrake I also added a few arrows to the unit – some hitting shields and a few hitting their targets.
What’s Next for Veillotron’s Stormcast?
I doubt that anybody was as excited as I was about the release of the Sacrosanct chamber. I had been dreaming about Stormcast in robes for the last 2 years. I tried – and failed – to convert many Ahriman and Dark Angels models into Stormcast models; with his chalice and spell book, my Lord-Aquilor was somewhat of a Lord-Arcanum before the models were released.
So now that those Sacrosanct models are out, I have a lot of units to add to my army – as many, if not more, than the current number of models I currently have. And so I probably have another 12-18 months of painting before I can say that I’m happy with my Stormcast army.
But I might take a small break and paint something for a change. My pile of grey plastic has grown much faster than the number of painted models, and I have enough to build 4 additional armies. I want to paint a Chaos army based in some frozen land, but I think that I’ll start with a destruction army, led by the lovely Troll Hag.
Hey everyone, so this is the next article in the new series highlighting Age of Sigmar Gaming Clubs from around the world. Today we have We Slay Dragons, from the West Coast of the USA and the mighty state of California. The aim of the series is to introduce the gaming clubs, explain their history, anecdotes, iconography and current and former players. You’ll find details of how to contact the club and follow along with their successes on social media. Today’s article was kindly written by Frank Deloach (@WSDFrank).
For more club profiles, check out the clubs section of the site. And, finally, as always, check out Dark Fantastic Mills for great 3D printed terrain perfect for wargaming. Its super versatile and light so worldwide shipping is inexpensive. Use the “aos shorts” discount code for a further 10% off the already decent prices.
We Slay Dragons was founded in 2011 in Southern California by Ryan Ariola & Joel Cabrera. Beginning as a Warhammer Fantasy Battles club. In the past SEVENTEEN YEARS! (Crazy for us to think) WSD has grown in leaps and bounds! Many of the core members are still here today and we’ve introduced new players into games our club currently plays frequently.
We Slay Dragons are very active in the competitive wargaming scene. The primary focus being on Age of Sigmar since the game dropped (we just can’t get enough of it), but we also play tons of Warhammer 40k, Xwing, and we even have some of players really into card games like Legends of the Five Rings.
Top AoS Club for the ITC 2017 season
In 2017 we were Honored to be named top club by the ITC (Frontline Gaming’s Independent Tournament Circuit) after our 2016-17 season. This couldn’t have happened with our amazing crew of players, friends and families. Sam Valdez (former WSD AoS Captain) was a big impact on our club, really pushing our crew to play top table.
Core WSD Members
Ryan Ariola (AoS, 40k, L5R)
Joel Cabrera (40k, super hobbyist)
Frank DeLoach (AoS, 40k, XWing)
Greg Haben (AoS, 40k)
Tyler Hamil (AoS, 40k, Historical)
Josh Greenfield (40k, AoS)
Pablo Abarca (AoS, Shadespire)
Playing with We Slay Dragons.
So, we gotta be honest. We’re super jealous of the UK scene. Having an actual space to host club nights. Baller!
The WSD club house has moved over the years, but you can always find us at Comic Quest in Lake Forest CA. Owned by Kelly & Don they do a great job and have an awesome space to host.
Like I stated above, many of the core members are actively involved in the competitive scene. So our Facebook and Discord chats are always cooking up new lists, army concepts and finding new ways to make a list razor sharp. Many of our members have either podium or won large events, and are always down for a good bit of fun at tournaments.
One of our favorite things as a club is taking a newer player who’s unsure of how to get into tournament gaming or build efficient lists, having them come roll some dice and guiding them into some confidence on the tabletop. Club member Pablo is a great example of this! Coming to us a little over two years ago, we met him at his first tournament! He was just an awesome dude, and now he’s top Free Peoples player in the ITC and suspect after Socal Open, top 10 in the country. (No pressure Pabs!)
Contacting We Slay Dragons
How to contact us?! Well… many of us are on Twitter – Ryan @kunninrukk Frank @wsdfrank Greg @socalaos.
We also have our Facebook! We Slay Dragons. We’re easy to find! Hit us up! Let’s have a drink and roll some dice!
Editor: For more on Frank and We Slay Dragons, check out this interview.
