Existential Terror: Confrontation, Rackham and re-invigorating pre-paints for Saga: Age of Magic & Dragon Rampant

Being a denizen of a shadowy, echoing, multi-planar manse populated with chittering spiderling hordes and a vast, unctuous and generally grumpy anthropogenic spider-woman, one could not be blamed for entertaining the thought that your humble scribe lives a life beset with terror. One would be, for the most part, quite wrong. Generally, this scribe has …

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Turn Over To Begin: Escape The Dark Castle; A Review

As residents of an ill-lit fortress replete with dank abandoned shafts and labyrinthine twists-and-turns so numerous that they would make Daedalus quit his day job as the Go-To Maze Guy for 'Fashionable Minoan' and take up designing Bovine disguises for kinky queens and shitty gliders full time, it might seem that the Widow, her spiderlings …

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The Renegade: Dark Future in cyberspace

'Gripping the wheel his knuckles went white with desire,The wheels of his Mustang exploding on the highway like a slug from a .45,True Death: 400 Horsepower of maximum performance piercing the nightThis is Black Sunshine' White Zombie, Black Sunshine, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One, 1992 Every road warrior needs his or her Immortan Joe; …

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Chillcon at Sheffield: A Convention Appraisal

Location, Location, Location: The Sniper's Mantra Chillcon Sheffield is held at the Ecclesfield School, Chapeltown, Sheffield, which is to the north of Sheffield city, best accessed from the M1. There is on-site parking (although see the Gripes section for more on this), and the site is accessible by public transport from the City, using the …

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Hammerhead at Newark: A Convention Appraisal.

Hammerhead has been running at Newark showground for a few years now, probably enough time for it's large lead-filled buttocks to leave an imprint in the Sofa of Shows. Intended to be an interactive experience, all the games are participation events, and the show has a broad mandate for genres and sub-genres of gaming. Location, …

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ROBIN at Nottingham: A Convention Appraisal

Copious room for more traders, be they old or new The Sniper's Mantra (Location, Location, Location) Taking place at the Nottingham Tennis Centre on the 17th of February 2019, ROBIN was accessible by bus or tram, but probably isn't a comfortable walk from the city centre. No nearby shops or conveniences were observed, but that …

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Vapnartak at York 2019: A Convention Appraisal (Feb 3rd)

Let us begin with a grumbly pre-amble which applies to all shows and events, and is not specific to York, and thus falls outside the usual 'Griping' section. Often it appears that certain forms of social media communication have taken precedence over all others. Vital information is posted on, and subsequently buried by, Facebook and …

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Mortis Medium – The Greater Demon of Nurgle: Scraping the mould from White Dwarf 109

Tucked away in the time-stained pages of the White Dwarf that can't stop giving is a brief (and no doubt poisonous) taster from the second volume of Realm of Chaos: The Lost and The Damned, a much-sought after tome which concerned itself with the second pair of the great powers of Chaos: Tzeentch and Nurgle. …

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Very much maligned and misunderstood: Imperial Knight Armiger Helverins of House Mortimer & White Dwarf 126

It has long been part of the philosophy in the faded grandeur of the halls and under-crofts of the Lead Mountain that painting an individual miniature is a joy, painting several at once is a tough yet worthy venture, and painting an army is a Never-Ending Story of grind, grief, mud and tears. What begins …

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Crimson Fists: Archetypal Marine Chapter Primaris Intercessors, now with Added Reivers.

If there is a pulsing heart to the Lead Mountain, it is a grimy skull-encrusted engine of brass and oily metal, serviced by choirs of robed and chanting acolytes. There is no break room here (hah, as if the widow would allow malingering like that), but when the minds of the priests wander, they might …

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Mithril Miniatures Warg Riders: The Demon Wolves of Middle Earth Ride Forth to join the Bakshitsu Host

Summoned forth from the goblin-infested halls of the Lead Mountain to support their more lumpen brethen is a unit of Warg Riders. (Though it occurs to this scribe that Wargs are possessed of intelligence and language, so it might be more accurate to describe them as 'Wargs who thought to bring a packed lunch'.) Much …

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Oathmark, Mithril, Em4,Citadel & Warmonger/Wargames Foundry, Reaper, Ral Partha, Alternative Armies Orc Comparison: Expanding the Bakshi Horde: Now with added Orc.

As a follow up to the previous introduction of the Bakshi Orc, and pursuant of several queries, here is a brief comparison of several Orc/Goblin miniatures from various manufacturers, from a selection of Orcs that happen to be scattered among the thoroughfares and foundries of the Lead Mountain, some of whom will be joining the …

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Fritz the Nazgul; Wargaming the 40th Anniversary of Ralph Bakshi’s Animated Lord of the Rings

Hard as it may be to conceive, there was a time before there was a Lead Mountain; a time before time itself; a time before memory and 'membering, before even that glooming Spider Queen, or her long-suffering scrivener. Though few recall or care to remember the darkness of those days, still there were things crawling …

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Et in Arcadia Ego: Further mining of White Dwarf 109: The Imperial Guard

It is written elsewhere that the (mythical & very well-hidden) breakroom in the Lead Mountain is well stocked with inspirational imagery. But the Mountain is Gormenghast-large, and hung over the mantel of a cold and dusty Electro-Fireplace, in a gilded ornamental frame, in a long and cavernous minor anteroom is this masterpiece: The key factor …

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Return to Paramar V: Tiger Eyes Traitor Reaver Titan & Adeptus Titanicus 2018

One of the many delights inside (and surely the others will receive attention in due time), are the vehicle rules to the then new game of titanic battle robots, Adeptus Titanicus. Commonly known as colour text, the article opens with what could safely be called a short story: a full page of Land Raider vs …

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Fiasco at Leeds 2018: A Convention appraisal.

Usually falling on the last Sunday of the month, Fiasco is usually the last show in the calendar for this weary sojourner, so it is ironic that it has ended up being the first show to fall under the Widow's Gaze.  If there is any pertinent information readers would like to know, please ask, and …

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Inquisitor Greyfax model with drukhari witch replacement head in silver power armour

Inquisitor Vidua: Greyfax conversion, review, painting and philosophy

Any Lead Mountain miner worth their salt knows the thrill of the new purchase. The warm glow of acquisition, the breathless anticipation at the prospect of uncasing the fresh metal or plastic, the enticing scent of resin, so sweet. The expectant pleasure of recruiting for our miniature armies. The adrenaline burst of worry as we …

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