- contact@scarhandpainting.com
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. In this article I present to you a new, fan made, “Marked for Death” Scenario.
Armada Scenario: Marked for Death
An opposing fleet was spotted on the horizon. Soon the orders got relayed to mark priority targets for the immediate destruction. Unbeknown to the fleets captains the enemy prepared plans of their own…
Setup: Players write down in secret two of their own ships of size M or larger. These ships are now “Marked for Protection”. Next, players write down in secret two enemy ships of size M or larger. These ships are now “Marked for Death”. If there is only one ship of the appropriate size in a fleet, it is Marked automatically by both players and counts as two ships for the purpose of Scoring.
Place islands, sandbanks and rocks symmetrically on the table.
Deployment: Each player’s deployment zone is 6” deep and 12” from the opposing table edges.
Both players deploy their fleets and roll a D6. On a score of 1-3, the wind starts the game coming from the South-West position. On a score of 4-6, the wind starts the game coming from the North-East position.
Scenario Rules: At the start of each of the first four turns, both players reveal one of the Marked ships simultaneously, as follows:
● First Turn: Reveal one enemy Marked for Death ship.
● Second Turn: Reveal one friendly Marked for Protection ship.
● Third Turn: Reveal one enemy Marked for Death ship.
● Fourth Turn: Reveal one friendly Marked for Protection ship.
The Marked ship can already be destroyed when revealed. The same ship can be Marked for Death and Marked for Protection at the same time.
Victory Conditions: Players score VP at the end of the game, as follows:
● 1VP for each enemy Marked for Death ship destroyed.
● 1VP for each enemy Marked for Protection ship destroyed.
● 1VP for each friendly not Surrendered Marked for Protectionship in the enemy half of the table.
● An additional 2VP for the player who destroyed more Marked for Death enemy ships.
The Player with the most VPs is the winner.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Welcome to Painting Trench Crusade Antenna Cross tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for this outstanding Trench Crusade sculpt.
This tutorial, is in video format. You can find it at Scarhandpainting YouTube chanel. Embeded video below:
List of colors:
Vallejo Tinny Tin 72.060
Vallejo Hammered Copper 72.059
Vallejo Silver 72.052
Vallejo Off White 72.101
Vallejo Steel Grey 72.102
The Army Painter Tyrian Navy SP
The Army Painter Grim Black SP
The Army Painter Strong Tone Wash
Games Workshop Blood for the Blood God
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Ahoy Sailors! As you know I am most and foremost a passionate hobbyist. That being said I am also a pirate, a scoundrel and a fanatical enthusiast of Mantic Games Kings of War: Armada – a naval strategy game set in a rich world of Pannithor, pitting multiple wonderfully crafted and strongly themed factions against one another. In this article I will present to you a fun play mode to spice your games of Armada with Faction Forts!
Faction Forts is a fan made game mode for Armada. In this mode both players set up two 40mm based Forts with no additional points cost. that count In order to use the Faction Forts (MOD) ignore the Coastal Defences (p.9-15 Seas Aflame).
Faction Forts: Fortifications based on a round 40mm base, that count as Large size Main Battleships with a few exceptions:
Faction Bonuses: If both players agree the Faction Forts gain the faction specific bonuses listed below:
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional Warhammer miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
To those of you who follow my work it will be of no surprise that I am a huge Armada enthusiast. The game by Mantic Games hooked me up since day one. My personal collection consists of eight fleets of varying sizes and multiple dedicated scenery sets. I went deep and beyond, dedicating a part of my hobby blog exclusively to Armada, not to mention a huge part of my life.
Regardless of multiple fleets I have been playing the Salamanders fleet almost exclusively for the past few years. This is because I really like their playstyle, but also due to the simple color scheme and a fast painting methodology that allows me to add more ships ASAP whenever I decide to test out some borderline insane lists. One might even say that in the end comfort and speed of painting won with all the other, much fancier fleets.
But my only true miniature love of all time was always the Undead. We’re talking since the early 90s. I have been collecting skeletons and wrights, vampires, mummies and zombies of all kinds in a variety of miniatures games. The time finally came for Armada to get spiced with some bones if you catch my drift.
As it happens I am a part of the Mantic Games Rules Committee and participate in the design process of the new fleets that come to the game. When an opportunity to write the Undead fleet rules presented itself I called dibs! I was given a guideline of what types of ships I was to focus on, created a draft, then playtested the ruleset extensively before presenting it to Mantic Games for further testing and eventual approval. All that to say I had the opportunity to write the rules for my favorite faction in my favorite miniatures game…
…but the rules are just half of a fleet. The models are a different story. Although Armada has a set of beautiful STL files for every existing faction available through Mantic Vault (including the Undead), there’s nothing stopping players from outsourcing models. More so, I do believe that the game is somewhat miniatures agnostic – it is the base size that represents a ship class and it is easy to track what’s what as long as players know what faction is being played.
With that in mind and being a creative dude, I wanted to really flesh out the Undead that I feel. A mix of old Warhammer with Heroes of Might & Magic 3, more bones, more gothic afts, more spikes and tattered sais… but also something disturbing and strange about the fleet I had in mind.
In the end I digitally kitbashed my own fleet with official Mantic’s files of the Twilight Kin (hulls) and Forces of the Abyss (sails, flames, bones), adding a few extras (tombstones, piles of bodies, etc.). It was all done in Meshmixer, which I learned from scratch as I went. The end result is clunky, but has some charm to it.
At that point I had a fleet of Undead ships built in advance to the possible maximum and over the top. For those who don’t know – Armada is a game of usually between five to nine ships with some borderline examples of over a dozen. Still, with multiple fleets and a multitude of list archetypes there’s ways to lean into a particular ship class or playstyle, thus covering some extremes. I’ve covered this particular topic in Armada Expanding Collection Guide for those interested, but for now, allow me to state that with the Undead I aimed at truely embracing the fleet with all of its possible configurations.
And it broke me! Because of the sheer number of ships, the magnitude of the project somehow turned it from a ‘hobby boner’ into a downer. I laid the undercoat, then shelved the project for a later date. It was June 2025 and the moment of inspiration did not come in 2025. I just continued to play the Salamanders as usual…
That is until Saturday 17th of January 2026! New year, a lot of commissions completed ahead of time (I’m already working on stuff planned for the end of May), a lot of gaming spread across the month… an Armada event hit! “Black Waters 16” is a cyclic local event I organize. This one was a blast. We had a full house with players from across Poland driving in to attend. I had a great time and as usual the event energized me for everything Armada. I managed to focus this power of hype into painting a shelved project – the Undead got onto my desk the day after!
In the end it took me about 16 hours of intense painting, spread across Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. After over half a year of waiting the Undead Fleet is now completed and I cannot wait to take it to the sea and play my very first game! (other than the beta testing).
More pictures and close-ups for every ship class at: UNDEAD FLEET GALLERY
Lemme know what you think of the ship designs, how they feel and how you like the color scheme for these bony puppies!
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. If, by any chance, you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
One of the key aspects of the Trench Crusade gameplay is taking risks in order to get an edge over the enemy force. Today I will show you an easy way to make your own sections of Dangerous Terrain – a handy feature that can be added to your trenchy gaming boards. Furthermore, below you will find a set of home-brewed rules to spice things up for both you and your opponent!
Some notes:
Useful items:
Core Features:
I cut a 3mm thick plasticard into strips of approximately 4×1″ to create bases for the scenery. There’s no requirement to use plasticard for this – personally I like how simple it is to work with this particular material. Next I applied fast drying PVA glue in the middle of each strip and glued a few cut and/or snapped wooden sticks on top trying to create a ravaged, war-thorn pattern. Finally I applied Cyanoacrylate glue on top of PVA glue and added a few 3D printed mines.
TIP: If you don’t have access to a 3D printer, you can use small size buttons or even small coins.
Texture and Volume:
I then applied Cyanoacrylate glue on top and around the core shape made of PVA glue and all the extras. Next I covered everything in K&K Hobby Village Debris, which is a nice mix of fine sand and gravel.
Base Finish:
The next step was to use a hobby knife to cut off any excess plasticard from around the hardened texture, so that the scenery looked more irregular.
Barbed Wire:
I rolled K&K Hobby Barbed Wire around the back of an old brush to shape it, then glued it on top of every scenery piece, mounted in a zigzag pattern between each wooden stick.
Afterwards I’ve painted each piece the same way as the rest of the Silesian Trenchline – Trench Crusade Scenery Set. You can read about the process in Basing: Trench Bases step-by-step tutorial. The end result:
RULES:
In order to spice things up in a (hopefully) balanced way I have created this set of rules that you are free to use in your games of Trench Crusade.
After determining who has the Initiative, but before setting up the first model, players set up two 4x1x0,4″ sections of Dangerous Terrain. Starting with the player who has the Initiative, both players alternate setting up one section anywhere on the Battlefield but not inside the enemy Deployment Zone and more than 3″ from any Objectives, until both players set up two Sections of Dangerous Terrain this way. Players then proceed with setting up their models as per scenario describtion.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it interesting. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
K&K Hobby Accessories is a young, but fast growing company from Poland, that specializes in miniatures basing materials. Formed by flesh and bone miniatures hobbyists that decided to use their combined expertise to create a series of quality products for basing and beyond. As it happened I was given a few products in order to test. Here’s my thoughts…
Stairght out of a batt I was struck by how big the containers are. Sure there’s “300ml” information on the packaging, but online pictures left me under the impression that these are all half the actual size. In fact they’re huge and it definitely impacted how I feel about the product line. Other than that, the packaging is made of medium-hard plastic with a sticker on top of the lid. Looks nice IRL, not over the top but definitely proper for what the product is.
Inside there’s a nice variety of natural material, be it a mix of fine sand and gravel up to some hefty chunks, or a mix of flat basing rocks varying between 25mm and up to 120mm. Basically everything you need for your standard troops and impressive centerpieces alike.
Compared to immediate competition, with about 2,99€ per 100ml the K&K Hobby Accessories Simple Basing and Basing Rocks insert themselves at a low end of pricing spectrum, which is great!
K&K Hobby Accessories Simple Basing (Sand, Rocks etc.) – 8,99€ / 300ml (2,99€ / 100ml)
The Army Painter Battlefield Basing (Rocks / Sand etc.) – 5,99€ / 150ml (3,99€ / 100ml)
Green Stuff World Hobby Sand (thick, fine etc.) – 5,99€ / 200ml (2,99€ / 100ml)
Warlord Games Battlefield & Basing (rocky sand, etc.) – 6€ / 180ml (3,33€ / 100ml)
A mix of fine hobby sand with small-to-medium sized gravel and a few heftier gravel chunks. I use a similar mix to add extra detail to commissioned 40k and Trench Crusade basing. I got two in order to compare quality control and I do like the balance of particular ingredients and how consistent it is.
This one I was very curious about. I’m used to spending hours, ravaging through home&decor or building material stores, searching for a proper set of ‘hobby’ stones for my basing. I do appreciate a set of hand picked flat stones in a variety of sizes, that I am not forced to waste my time looking for. Again I got two sets and the consistency between them is solid.
Here’s where real magic happens – a mix of fine sand, gravel and… 30 pieces of 3d printed detail that can be used to create an awesome diorama, a scenic base, or a set of fine looking bases for a miniature army. As someone who 3D prints as well I have nothing bad to say about the print quality – the detail is crisp and well cleaned/cured.
Obviously a review is nothing without some proper testing, to which I jumped right into. A standard procedure of creating two bases, similar to what you can see in all my Basing Tutorials.
I am very happy with how K&K Hobby Accessories behaved, especially the fine sand that filled all the gaps and built sufficient volume. I will definitely come back to you with painted examples and probably a full tutorial, to better present the end result, but for now and with my experience, I am satisfied with how it all worked out.
K&K Hobby Accessories are a breath of fresh air and a nostalgic step back to how proper hobby materials used to look like and behave back in the days. Before the time of big companies that dominated the market and started shedding off weight and quality from their products we all used to buy large packs of specially selected sand and gravel. Somehow the K&K Hobby managed to deliver and to keep the pricing on par with the lowest amongst the immediate competitors at the same time. Compared to colored cork and shaving, the K&K Hobby Accessories are all natural, which comes with a variety of features such as weight, detail and textures. I like how it feels, I like to work with such materials. It’s been years since I purchased a basing sand or gravel from a hobby-oriented company. I plan to change that and get me some more of that K&K goodness. How about you? Is this the kind of basing material you’d be interested in?
Probably the best would be at the source: K&K Hobby Accessories Page, or one of the stores that decided to carry this line of products, that can be found at the “where to find us” tab there.
Here are some Colour Recipes for Beyond the Gates of Antares Boromites from Gallery: Boromites. Please take note that this is a simple colour scheme, not covering multiple overlapping layers and blends in between, that lead to the final product. It is supposed to be used as guideline not a step-by-step.
GREY rocks:
Panzer Dark Grey (Val), *
Neutral Grey (Val a), *
Neutral Grey (Val), drbr
Pallid Wych Flesh (GW), dbrb
Strong Tone (AP), wash
Bone White (Val a), bl
SANDY Armour:
Desert Yellow (Val a), manual
Strong Tone (AP), wash
BLACK Weapons:
Mix: Grim Black (AP) 1:1 Dark Tone (AP), wash
Pallid Wych Flesh (GW), l&p
ORANGE Light Effects:
White (oil), recess wash
Orange Fire (Val a), *
Black (Val), stpl
MARTIAN Basing:
Mix: Matrian Ironcrust (GW) 1:1 Martian Ironearth (GW), texture
Hot Orange (Val), flbr
l&p – lines and points,
p – points,
bl – blend,
gl – glaze,
drbr – drybrush,
flbr – flatbrush,
stpl – stippling,
*Airbrushed (with multiple layers and mixes)
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Here are some Colour Recipes for Age of Sigmar Skaven from Gallery: Skaven. Please take note that this is a simple colour scheme, not covering multiple overlapping layers and blends in between, that lead to the final product. It is supposed to be used as guideline not a step-by-step.
BROWN base:
Charred Brown (Val a), *
Earth (Val a), *
Barbarian Skin (Val), drbr
Strong Tone (AP), *
Flayed One Flesh (GW), l&p
METAL:
Tinny Tin (Val a),
Hammered Copper (Val), flbr
Shining Silver (AP), stpl
Strong Tone AP, *
Mix: Nott’s Hobbies Verdigris 2:1 Nott’s Hobbies Grime
True Copper (AP), drbr, scratches
GREEN clothes:
Mix: Burnt Moss (AP) 1:1 Gunner Camo (ap), speedpaint
Strong Tone AP, *
Angel Green (Val), flbr, l&p
Lizard Green (Val XP), bl
Camouflage Green (Val), l&p
SKIN:
Tan (Val),
Cadian Fleshtone (GW), flbr
Strong Tone (AP), *
Cadian Fleshtone (GW), flbr, gl, l&p
Pale Flesh (Val), p
GREEN OSL:
Verdigris (Val), bl
Bile Green (al a), *
Verdigris (Val), bflbr, l&p
Green Ink (Val), thinned bl
BASES:
Panzer Dark Grey (Val),
Stonewall Grey (Val), drbr
Grey RLM02 (Val a), * filter
///
Nurgle’s Rot (GW), effect
Sepia Ink (Val), bl
l&p – lines and points,
p – points,
bl – blend,
gl – glaze,
drbr – drybrush,
flbr – flatbrush,
stpl – stippling,
*Airbrushed (with multiple layers and mixes)
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Have you ever wondered how much Armada is too much Armada? Personally I used to go about my hobby life without a care in the world, collecting Armada fleets one after another. Just when I thought I was the one at the very pinnacle of Armada excitement I met Krzysztof – probably the most Armada hyped person in the entire world (Including the fine folks at Mantic Games)!
Today I present to you an interview (translated from Polish) with Krzysztof Grosiak, a passionate hobbyist, miniatures collector, successful gamer and most importantly – acclaimed Armada Admiral.
Scarhandpainting: Krzysztof, we have known each other for some time now and I was there when you set sail onboard an Armada ship for the very first time. Now, a few years later, you have won more than a few tournament trophies and are in possession of an impressive Armada collection. It is pure joy to witness first hand how you grew as an Armada fan, but I have always wandered how you got into Wargaming?
Krzysztof: A few years back I accidentally stumbled onto a Deadzone review. I was a big fan of board games at a time with zero knowledge of wargames. The game made a big impression on me so I got it only to be shocked, realizing the miniatures must first be built by hand! It proved to be challenging but also a very rewarding experience.
Scarhandpainting: Why Armada? What was the trigger that got you into this particular game?
Krzysztof: I played a lot of Deadzone events at a hobby store run by a good friend of mine. At one point he was running an Armada demo game and the game’s simple but rewarding mechanics and amazing visuals hooked me up instantly.
Scarhandpainting: Any other miniatures wargames you’re into?
Krzysztof: These days I play a wide range of games, including Deadzone, Kings of War, Firefight, One Page Rules and Frostgrave. I am a man of many wargaming passions.
Scarhandpainting: Back to Armada, you have over a hundred fully painted ships in your current collection. Many might wander if it was difficult to paint such quantities and how did you manage to keep your motivation up?
Krzysztof: I believe there’s actually close to two hundred ships in my current collection. Painting such quantities is tedious, but I don’t want to find myself unable to field a certain combo or archetype because of a lack of a few painted ships. I’d rather put the work in beforehand. And I never play with unpainted miniatures, so one just leads to another.
Scarhandpainting: It’s definitely easier to count the fleets you are missing rather than the ones you own already. What fleets are still left to go for?
Krzysztof: I am still missing the Kingdom of Men and the Salamander, although both are already printed. You play the Salamanders so I was reluctant to jump onboard, but now when it’s one of the only two fleets left I am that much closer to sitting down and getting them done – probably soon.
Scarhandpainting: Speaking about the fleets – you are a jack of all trades when it comes to tactics. What is your collecting strategy for particular fleets though?
Krzysztof: I do my best to optimize the collection towards all available archetypes within up to 300 points. I bounce between elite and spamy lists (often gravitating towards the latter) and I’d hate to be locked in a particular list due to lack of sufficient ships in my collection. I love to test things on the board, finding interesting combos and the borderline configurations. If I break the game at any point – you’re there to patch it up before the next event.
Scarhandpainting: Let’s talk about the Armada gameplay and especially the ‘competitive play’. You are a successful and undisputed Armada champion here in Poland. How does your typical tournament prep routine look like? Do you test your lists concepts beforehand?
Krzysztof: I tend to follow my guts. I like to surprise my friends with something new and exciting and I hate boredom. I never bring the same fleet two times in a row. Testing ideas is a mixed bag. Sometimes I have a few games before events, other times I don’t. One thing I try not to do is drink (alcohol) the day before. The previous experiences showed me it is not worth it.
Scarhandpainting: You’ve successfully played so many fleets. Is there a particular fleet that you might consider your favorite?
Krzysztof: I do like Elves. Fragile, but fast and nimble. I love to spam the $t of them and see my opponents fleets squirm before the Elven might. Seven Elven ships throwing themselves at an Orc Ripper Hulk? Easy! One mistake and a ship is gone. I love this. Fast & Furious!
Scarhandpainting: Speaking of which, is there a particular fleet you don’t like to face against?
Krzysztof: Not really. Each fleet offers a different experience and I gladly take on any challenge.
Scarhandpainting: How about our local Armada scene? What cen you say about Polish community, our events and how we play Armada, compared to the rest of the world?
Krzysztof: It’s difficult to compare our scene to different countries without gaming there beforehand. Judging by the online activity I feel like our scene is more aware of the rules exploits. Fortunately we are very friendly and welcoming. Whenever one of us finds a way to legally abuse the rules, we keep it lighthearted and find a way to (home rule) patch any exploits and ‘feels bad’ mechanics in a timely manner. It feels like we’ve been playing ‘Armada 2.0’ for some time now.
Scarhandpainting: Trying to gaze into Armada’s future, are there any specific fleets or rules you’;’d like to see added to the core game?
Krzysztof: Maybe a balancing sweep across the board? Things like Ocarina of Korgaan, Jyinn Grethunder are brutally good for the points cost. On the other hand there are a lot of useless items that could use some balancing love. Other than that, more interesting stuff is always good, just keep it balanced. The latest fleets seem on point, keep up the great work Mantic!
Scarhandpainting: Thanks for the interview my dude. Before we wrap things up, is there anything you would like to tell/ask Mantic Games? Who knows? They might read the article at some point.
Krzysztof: Bear with me Mantic Games – Deadzone style game but in the Kings of War setting. Tiny Armada ships board game on a hexagonal board. This is something I would throw my cash at instantly!
Here it is – a little peek inside the head of an Armada maniac 🙂 I hope you enjoyed this short interview. If you have anything to ask Krzysztof, or just want to comment on some of the stuff – I invite you to leave a comment below and I will be sure to let Krzysztof know.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. If, by any chance, you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Call me an old man, but I have been playing miniatures games since mid-90s. I was there when Horus Lupercal betrayed the Emperor… wait, I mean – I was there on day one, when Mordheim hit the stores. And oh boy, what a time that was! A group of youths kitbashing, converting, painting their first warbands to clash on a set of makeshift ruins spread on top of a thick cloth. The year of our lord 1999 marked my first encounter with Mordheim – a game that I fell in love with… instantly and permanently.
As the time passed I grew invested in both the game and the lively Polish community. The personal collection and the number of battle earned honors grew, just like my skill as a hobbyist. Throughout the years I tried many warbands the core Mordheim had to offer and beyond, but I always gravitated back to my favorites: the Undead.
The local Mordheim fever continued and reached it’s peak in year 2002. At that point I was knee-deep in the game and enthralled by it’s amazing setting. Around the same time I made a decision to get a Mordheim inspired tattoo done. With limited funds I had to settle on a single piece rather than the whole hand, the latter being shelved for the foreseeable future…
The story behind this magnificent piece is as follows: A friend of mine arranged a session at a local in-house ‘artist’ on the other side of town. A shady neighborhood, large concrete blocks, the apartment front doors had a hole through which a pitbull barked… Inside and old man in a rocking chair across a grainy screen, the other room almost empty except for a bed, a single chair, a tape recorder with a box of tapes… that and half a dozen hooligans, all tattooed from head to toe, some had damaged jaws and noses, all ‘comfortably’ spread across a small room. The chair was for me – I sat down and got my first tattoo done with a hand made tattoo machine and the ink taken out of a bunch of pens. I paid 150pln (like 35€). In the end I emerged proud of the awesome tattoo and with a story to share…
Approximately ten years later, in the year of 2013/14 I was a working man. Still Mordheiming the hell out of the game. Over a decade of hobby experience and increased funds had transformed my collection exponentially.
It was at that point in time when an opportunity presented itself for me to continue the full-arm Mordheim tattoo project. A friend of mine was a beginner tattoo artist. We had a talk, resulting in an entire evening spent drinking whiskey and getting the ‘permanent sticker’ done. The result – a labor of love – this beauty, combining the themes and motives from a few carefully selected images from the Mordheim core rulebook. A tip of the hat to the artist.
By the blessing and a curse, I had so much projects at the time, I couldn’t afford to stop working on the miniatures. Because of all the usual discomfort after getting a tattoo I decided to put the project on hold, for what turned out to be more than a decade. In the meantime I left my regular job, begun painting miniatures full time – loads and loads of miniatures! Being an utter workaholic I struggled to find free time to drop everything and get the art piece done…
I still played Mordheim though. A campaign here, a fun hobby project there… I started making a brand new board with high end detailed scenery pieces. The game lived in my mind and heart… I even ran a Mordheim Blog at some point. Things happened in the background, even though my hobby priorities laid elsewhere.
It is now the year of our lord 2025 and I am an ‘old’ man, a father and an accomplished full time hobbyist. The workload is huge, thus I tapped into extreme workaholism and diligently cleared the schedule ahead of time. The stars finally aligned and I found myself in a certain point in time when I can afford a professional full arm tattoo from an accomplished artist. Hell be damned – I am getting the long overdue tattoo done!
The project got divided between six full-day sessions, spread across three pairs of consecutive days throughout a month. Each session started with prints of the separate tattoo elements being resized and fit into the chosen areas, then stencils being drawn by hand. Armed with audiobooks uploaded to my phone and a set of self-prepared, protein rich meals – I simply endured the attention of Ryba, a highly skilled tattoo artist from Drakkar Painting Studio…
At last the glorious day came. Eleven hours – a beast of a tattoo session, the final one. The results (a bloated arm included) you can see below. “No pain, no gain.”
With this hand blessed by the deities of the Old World, never again will I ever loose a roll-off. Time to get back to painting miniatures and getting some games in! Cheers!
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. If, by any chance, you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
