Weekender: Stunning Celestial Miniatures & Building An Age Of Sigmar Tabletop
June 16, 2018 by crew
Welcome to the Weekender where we've got some stunning miniatures, and some fantastic sculpts to show off as well on the show today.
Make sure to get your comments in below on all of the goodness we've talked about today and we'll be right in there with you answering questions and more.
Updates - Events & Prizes!
Make sure to stay tuned in the next few weeks as some of the team are going to be at the Battlefront Open Day here in the UK looking at all things warlike with the team.
Of course, we also have the UK Games Expo competitions running where you could comment to win some goodies. You can check out the prizes from Friday, Saturday and Sunday to see what's up for grabs.
Warren Meet's Mat
Inspired by Age Of Sigmar 2nd Edition and the Soul Wars box we talk through some of the ideas we could brew up for getting an appropriate tabletop built to suit these armies clashing on the tabletop.
What do you think of the different ideas we've looked to employ here and what would you change?
Age Of Sigmar: Soul Wars
We've already done the Unboxing of Soul Wars but we thought we'd show off some of our favourite models from the new boxed set.
As well as that we give our thoughts on the designs as a whole and how they've come together and work out how we'd paint them.
Basing Death & Order
We also take some time to look at some of the bases we'd pick out for the armies by Micro Art Studio. You can check them out yourself here with the Ancient, Wasteland and Graveyard bases that they provide over on their webstore.
News
We make sure to delve into the news and talk about some of the topics that caught our eye this week...
- Tiny Naval Battles - Some awesome new ships added to the Forged In Battle range
- HABA Wins Kinderspiel - Dragon's Breath wins the coveted award this year
- Battle Foam For Gaslands - The Battle Foam team has designed some new foam for use with the Gaslands range
- Island Hopping In WWII - Some new sets/bundles have been added to the Warlord Games collection for Bolt Action
What do you make of the news from this week?
Stunning Celestial Painting!
We also take some time to look at the finalists of the Celestial Painting Competition run alongside the folks at Diemension Games.
The entrants we've had in the studio are just superb and you can check out a proper look at the models HERE as well as over on the Facebook Group for the competition.
If you'd like to check out more painting by each of these stunning artists you can see their portfolios and such below where you can see more of their outstanding work.
Massimiliano Richiero - Sergey Chasnyk - Francesco Farabi - Ben Komets - Enrique Velasco - Fabrizio Russo - Sergio Calvo Rubio - Aleksandra Cvetanovski - Antonio Peña - Diego Esteban Perez
They truly are some of the BEST artists out there in the miniature painting world and as you might imagine it has been a tough process for the judges delving into their techniques.
Make sure to tune in for more talk about the finalists and the TOUGH vote that we're going to have to face when it comes to deciding on a winner here.
Kickstarter
We have two awesome campaigns for you to check out...
- Solomon Kane - See where Mythic Games are taking this iconic Witch Hunter
- Escape The Dark Castle - Some new Adventure Packs and additional accessories have popped up!
Which of these are you going to be backing?
Competition Prizes!
We have the winner to announce from last week's Blighted Ogrun Theme Force competition. If you heard your name don't forget to Claim Your Prize.
If you're a friend of the winner make sure to let them know as well!
Have a great weekend!
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![Warcradle Studios Reveal TINY New 10mm Festive Marker! [Updated]](https://images.beastsofwar.com/2025/11/christmas-kyle-main-600-338.jpg)
Happy Friday Night from the states!
That giant magic jaw is quite big.
Yeah I really love what they have done with that, very fun!
Totally off topic but anyone else think @warzan‘s new profile pic is channeling Wayne’s world?
Lol party on @nakchak ??
Couldn’t decide if it was an attempt at ‘Buy Merch’ QVC style
Or a barber in Coleraine had FUBAR’d
A little from Column A, a little from Column B?
Happy friday night from Québec!
Thanks for the Gamemat.EU stuff, looks very good. I’m 20 minutes in but, have to go to bed, i’ll finish later on today 😉
Night night @duster see you in a few hours!
Thanks mate, i did!
Argg, way too late to shout “First!” Happy Weekend, everyone! 😀
We’re getting old mate 😉
Oof, I’ve BEEN old for quite some time. 😐
Wait (if you haven’t already (which it doesn’t look like)) until you hit the big 5 – 0
Wargame systems to use for those Forged in Battle Range:
** Fighting Sail: Sea Combat in the Age of Canvas and Shot 1775-1815
** Flying Colors (GMT Games)
** Wooden Ships, Iron Men (Avalon Hill classic)
** Letters of Marque (maybe this is more of a Pirate-Era game, and perhaps too small of a scale for the larger battles these miniatures would allow).
I’ve actually been looking at these … I may buy a set or two and repurpose them for our American Revolution naval wargaming – Battle of Valcour Bay! (I can finally get rid of those little hand-made balsa-wood boats I made!) 😀
To be fair other companies also produce Napoleonic ships in this scale
Nice list! Any of these stand out for you guys?
Knew you folks would know what systems to look at!
Well there is this the Naval Wargames Society rules list 🙂
http://www.navalwargamessociety.org/rulesonline.html
@warzan a couple of years ago I emailed you a copy of the quick and dirty rules set that Simon aka @broadsword created they are great fun 🙂
When you say holiday in North Wales you really mean New Brighton dont you
LOL Must visit spot that there lol
The Videogame you are talking about is “Dragons Lair” written and drawn by Don Bluth
God, how hard was that game? Modern re-releases are easier, there’s a “cheat” option that flashes an arrow in the “direction of survival” an instant before the video “death event.” And it doesn’t cost a quarter to play, of course. 😀 I swear my childhood self kept that bowling alley in business one summer trying to beat that game. The blonde princess at the end was worth it though, at least I thought so when I was 11. 😀
I hated that game
It was indeed very frustrating.
That’s it! Thank God for that was driving me crazy trying to remember the name of it
Amazing game I loved it.
You can buy in the play store if you want to revisit your childhood.
I couldn’t help myself and went for Space Ace. I actually completed that one!
Thank you! Was driving me crazy trying to remember.
No problem, it was an awesome game
Bloody marvellous game. Dirk the Daring trying to rescue the princess from the dragon. I’m sure there was a Dragon’s Lair 2 and at least two Space Ace spin off games. Sank so much money into them at the arcades as as a teenager.
There was also a cartoon for it in the states.
Many Many Napoleonic Naval sets out there. Some way too complicated some way too simple
Those competition miniatures are great but I can’t help feeling they could be made to really pop with a splash of Army Painter Strong Tone dip
Lol couldn’t hurt right 😉
NOOOO!!!!
I agree with you, @dracs , If the Strong Tone pooled in places it could do real damage. You’d definitely have a to use a real aggressive ‘dip & flick’ method to get the finish right. 😀
Is it just me or do you guys look like you need to get some sleep; excitement over Soul Wars giving you guys insomnia? ?
RoboBen: anyone else thinking of that episode of The Big Bang Theory where Sheldon decides to build a robot so he can stay in his bedroom and still interact with the outside world and the robot is just a monitor on wheels with one of his teeshirts hanging from the monitor?
On transporting the Nightgaunts: I’m wondering if the best solution would be to invest in a old fashioned metal toolbox and magnetising the bases and that way there’ll be nothing for them to catch on when taking them in and out of the case (other than each other if you pack them together too tightly).
Mortarch of Grief: gotta agree with you guys, the way the face is pressing against the veil looks really nice. I wonder if maybe it’s the paintscheme that’s putting people in mind of bedsheet ghosts; maybe if it was painted in blacks and greys it wouldn’t look so much like that, so basically instead of a Miss Haversham wedding dress look it’d be more of a mourning dress look.
Boom Boom? Is @warzan ‘s middle name Basil? ?
You are an evil man Warren – you’re gonna have to put up the Backstage fee to foot the bill for your kids’ therapy sessions. ?
On @dracs Father’s Day gaff – it is actually my father’s day, today’s my dad’s birthday. Maybe Sam has become psychic and picked up on that somehow. ?
Warren’s Leisure Centre? Please tell me that’s not the reason his holiday this year is in North Wales. ?
Nothing wrong with metal toolboxes. Still my miniature carrier of choice
We are going to look into mini storage more closely in the coming weeks especially on the topic of posting them.
Happy Saturday morning on the way back from a day trip to origins in Columbus Ohio – can’t wake the rest with the video just yet.
How was origins mate?
It’s the Weekend!
A weekend where one priority is to mess with a small collection of new Hot Wheels ready for a game of Gaslands!
Remember to fire up a project if you haven’t already ?
Good morning! Im more and more tempted by that EU stuff .Love the age of sigmar new starter box. I don’t think the night haunt will break that easily. Because the plastic is bending a bit more easily that breaking. I have some of the spirit host, and have dropped them a couple of times. I will say the lore is getting better and better. There is audio drama about the storm cast trying to find nagash to make a new alliance (spoiler alert, it did not happen) There is a lot about the stormcast, and the realm of death, but also about one of my favorite vampires Manfred von Carstain. The hunt for Nagash, if I remember correct.
Ah the battle of Copenhagen… well we have another story about Nelson. Not so much a hero from our side ;P (maybe because we where on the receiving end) When danish forces tried to surrender with the white flag, nelson ignored it by taking the binocular to his blind eye, and did not see anyone surrender, and then continued the bombardment of Copenhagen. The forts we saw are the ones protecting the harbor around Copenhagen. Its kind interesting to see one nations hero as another heroes well lack of better word villian 😉 Our fleet was pretty much crippled from that point forward.
Good point well made! Do any of the forts still exist?
Yes, i think they all still exist, ive been a Tre Kroner, there is a museum. One of the forts Middelgrundsfortet have been taken over by the scouts, for their summer camp and other activities 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekroner_Fort
Why do you keep building tables for games and then not playing the games? Hobbit and Wrath of Kings immediately come to mind.
There was a hobbit weekend thatvtook place here where they were played on. And the table we put together for WoK was used in the video series?
This is being used for us to try out the new rules for AOS:)
Dragon’s Lair!
I played a game of AoS yesterday using the free 2.0 core rules. Great thing is that it just tidys up some rules and remains very easy to play. Any new comer will be comfortable with the core rules after their first couple of turns. The army specific rules build on those to create fun tactical games. For me, I love throwing random madness into a game to potentially mess things up as it creates the best stories, so the game mechanisms for the malign sorcery are right up my street. Can’t wait to get my hands on the new stuff. I’m starting a project showing the amount of AoS I’ve built this week and will show the progress of getting it painted, hopefully in time for Soul Wars but that might not be humanly possible lol.
Sounds fantastic!
Great show guys and the Age of Sigmar stuff is looking so cool these days
Are flames and whisps the new GW skulls?
I’ve been wondering about that too lol
Kind of reminded me of Nicholas Cage somehow
Mythic have had a bit of a re-think about the Solomon Kane KS in the last 24 hours… The core pledge has been boosted by an entire free add-on. Not sure they needed to ‘panic’ at this stage of the campaign, they just need to open up a bit more as to what else is down the line SG and add-on wise.
Gameplay wise… I think the pace in your video was effected by having to introduce rules etc. It’s not your typical mini based hack, slash and plunder dungeon crawler. It’s more of an RPG supported by minis and i like the pace and nature… especially the solo mode!
Yup I’m with you on that I’m liking games that are a bit slower in pace but adding more story depth 🙂
Basically cooperative interactive fiction 🙂 (or rpg;) lol)
I am a bit perplexed about the change and panic after a couple of days. I backed the core box on the basis I want to paint the minis…I was thinking that the problem is lots of people are waiting for the all in version as that’s what happened to MBP and JoA but the problem is if they don’t do an initial pledge then they won’t get to the all in.
Hopefully it’s just a blip 🙂
WOW!! WOW!!! WOW!!!! I was LUCKY enough to win the prize!! Oh my freaking GOD!! Thank you SO MUCH Beasts of War!! You guys are hilarious…love the channel!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Another great Weekender but when are you guys announcing some of the winners from the ukge comments,
Thanks kev
The Game of Thrones castle you were talking about is called Harrenhal (The Lannister version is one of my favourite cards in the LCG.
As for Age of Sigmar’s second edition… The cynic in me thinks everyone who buys it had best start saving for 3rd Edition cos it won’t be long. I thought the General’s Handbook was supposed to be an annual update to the rules so the game could evolve, and yet, not quite three years after the game launched, here we are with 2nd Ed (I do like the idea of the ‘Blue Bollocks of Death’ though!). I’ve seen loads of people complaining about X-Wing’s Second Edition (almost 6 years after it first launched), but at least X-Wing players weren’t expected to buy an annual update and then have a new edition thrown on them…
It will be interesting to see if any innovative game mechanics can be unlocked with this approach to magic on the tabletop
Even if there isn’t, having cool models to represent spell effects is a great idea. My only concern would be that they’re possibly too specific to AoS spells, which limits teh ability to use them in any game with magic, but that’s just coming from somone with a lot of games on the shelf (and don’t pay Aos myself)! Solely AoS players won’t have that issue!
Personally I really like the effect of the veil over the skull on the Mortarch. Great stuff.
All of those Celestial entries so far a absolutely brilliant, but I think I like the one set in the frame the most so far. Absolutely stunning work.
And of course, they’ll do some “traitor” version of Stormcast – Chaos sells. The fact it’s really boring, doesn’t matter a bit!
Happy weekend!
Yay! My second favorite show of the week (my favorite is XLBS off course :)). I thought I was gonna save some money, but missed Escape the Dark castle the first time around, so just pledged all in this time. Thanks for reminding me…I think 😀 As for Solomon Kane (going all in there as well)…I absolutely like the idea of a slow paced, narrative driven game, with game mechanics entirely different to what I am used too. I’m betting this is gonna be one awesome game for small groups AND for solo. Can’t wait.
See you guys tomorrow.
Warren, I must request you to finish the alphabet of Mings. I have been listening to the older Weekenders from 2013 – 2014. I don’t think you ever finished. It must be done.
Happy Weekend everyone! Another great show, can’t wait for our Soul Wars weekend here in the Hawes household in a couple of weeks. I might just be convinced on the endless spells as well. I’ll definitely be considering the different suggestions on painting the nighthaunt forces, as I’ll want to get up and playing as quickly as possible. Very cool to see the micro-art studio base options as well.
Dragon’s Lair
Traitor Stormcast is no issue – so long as they are not Chaos but Death aligned.
Now that’s an intriguing prospect
Finally finished the weekender after a night’s rest and some shopping!
I really like the new AoS box Soul Wars. The new Stormcast are great and the Nighthaunt are superb (love the banshees) but, i’m with you @warzan , we are meant to play with these and i would be afraid to travel and play, even with a battlefoam bag… There’s a great deal of bigger AoS models that suffer the same problem in my opinion… Anyway, i’m tempted by this box 😉
For travel games, i only have one idea (i usually don’t travel with games…): 7 Wonders the duel. It’s like the normal game, but for 2 players and is quite fun, portable and doesn’t take much space.
See you guys on XLBS!
Tiny thing, @warzan – but as a former Marine, I must note:
“Hooah!” or “Huah” is the US Army yell.
“Oorah” is the Marine yell.
Yell “Hooah” on a Marine base and you will get the $h*t kicked out of you. 😀
You and I did a 12-page illustrated 28mm Warlord-themed US Marine vs. Japanese Pacific information packet about 2-3 years ago. I still have the draft saved, if I updated it, would you be interested?
Oops!
Absolutely lets do it 🙂
thanks gentlemen. a little late to the party but there’s a little thing happening called the World Cup.
The Celestial painting competition has been incredible, looking forward to the big night immensely.
escape the dark castle just keeps getting better and the deluxe edition is a class act.
i don’t get the criticism for SK. what it’s trying to do with the game and the narrative is brilliant. maybe it’s too highbrow as apparently it would seem many just want to smash things with a rock…….again.
as for GM don’t make me pick a favourite, Ben’s totally my favourite, as i think they would all do a fine job.
nice one guys love the show them new figures your showing reminded me of the geisha girls from the ghost in the shell film.
I totally agree GW have reaching a tipping point with AoS and older gamers such as myself have been watching with some scepticism, at the “all shinny new” GW. The point that has really turned things around for me is the back support for people who still have the first boxed set. And those who have bought it recently are given a voucher for a copy of the new rules .. meanwhile the older stuff is not becoming redundant and winding up on ebay – Well done GW (oh and for paying bonuses to their teams that made it all happen – kudos for that too)
Just adding to previous comments – as a step back into Warhammer / GW and AoS .. I started out with Storm of Sigmar – My initial thoughts were – These guys are like Space Marines (as mentioned in the Weekender). The moment you sit down with a paint brush in hand you begin to realize how different they are to Space Marines. Yes it’s true aesthetically (to the observer) they are similar (but then hey it’s the same design team – and hey it’s worked in the past) but i can assure you they are far more intricate and complex to pain that a space marine and as you get into their story, you can see the same .. The old saying – don’t judge a book by it’s cover really applies here.
Cheers
WarHound67
The games I’ll be taking online this year’s Summer Holiday will be probably:
• Smash-Up (fun card game)
• Pandemic The Cure (lots of dice)
• EXIT – either the Science Lab or Egyptian Tomb (puzzles)
• Fighting Fantasy – Fire Mountain (Adventure)
All compact and good for a rainy afternoon or evening.
Pops, not “online”, I meant of course, “on holiday”
No, not “Pops” I wrote “Ooops” – my phone keeps replacing words all by itself…
Great Saturday show guy
s, those minis for the $10.000 painting challenge are out of this world. From the five you already have, i was hard pushed to pick one of them, but when you get the other 5 its gonna be even harder to choose. Good look to the “Judges”, and have the “Headache Tablets” ready there gonna need them.The Soul Wars box set look
s truly amazing, but i never really gotten in to "Warhammer". Its that its not for me i have tried to learn to play, but when you get offered to be shown how to play but really the person whos offered just wants to table you it can be quite off putting. Now i do play fantasy, i like RPGs and board games and enjoy them a lot. If i was into Warhammer Fantasy i would already own Soul Wars, as ive said its truly amazing. Big blue "Balls", i think we all would have them if we where naked in the snow. Well those of us who have them that is, as for the "Marine guys” lets stay away from “Chaos” or well have echos of 40k sneaking in riding on tanks.The Ancient….Wasteland and Graveyard bases are very nice, will have to look in to investing in some. Now of to watch the XLBS show.
Codinca and Hive both make great travel games. Then there is the Pocket Battles line from Z-Man Games, and Pieces of Eight from Atlas Games. There are tons more and I’ll likely post more as I think of them.
My choices for my summer games (these passed a test of going to Canada and being enjoyed on a plane by a 3 year old!):
#1 – Dreksau (Dirty Pig) – a brilliant child friendly game, great pub game, contained card game with minimal space. Good fun and you can play one or many quick games of it depending.
#2 – Hanabi – Great co-op game, really hard with younger kids, but you can house rule to make it easier, again compact card game with minimal footprint.
#3 – Love letter – simple and elegant deduction game, hardly any space needed, very portable.
#4 – Skull – a bluffing game using beermats, use the official game or make your own, this is great to play with people you know as you start to outbluff your friends when they think they know how youd react.
#5 – Perudo – Great gambling style game, extra rules add some depth for older gamers, helps teach younger gamers maths and probability without realising it – one cup and 5 dice per player is all that is needed.