A New 15mm Chaos Army Takes to the Field

December 4, 2025December 4, 2025 wilbur

I’ve just finished setting up a game of Hobgoblin, which sees the debut of my recently completed 15mm Chaos army. They’ll be allying with Grabbum’s greenskin horde to lay siege to the small but mighty forces of Lord Marshall Longfellow.

Evil warlord Baron Gibb leads the chaos host on Wyther Spune the manticore.

The baddies are a very Battlemasters-esque alliance.

I launched my 15mm collection with a bunch of monopose units, which I have great nostalgia for. But I added this dynamic mob of shieldmaidens recently. They were a lot of fun to paint, and I’m chuffed with the outcome.

Likewise these beastmen. A very characterful unit.

Their allies, Grabbum’s greenskin horde.

And the vastly outnumbered Order of the Morning Glory. Can they possibly survive this sweeping tide of Chaos? We’ll soon find out!

See the full album.

Real Movchaos: The 1990s Chaos All Stars Blood Bowl Team

October 5, 2025October 5, 2025 wilbur

This year, I got back into Blood Bowl after a 30-year hiatus. I even bought a modern Games Workshop kit to build my AFC Wimbelgnome side.

Of course, they needed some worthy opposition, so here are their bitter rivals – Real Movchaos.

I actually owned the Chaos All Stars in the 90s, including star player Lord Borak. But only the beastmen survived the great hobby hiatus. I painted those up back in 2021.

Those gave me a great basis for a squad, but I wanted to add the Chaos Warrior players to the roster.

I picked these guys up on Ebay, but they were in pretty bad nick. Fortunately, I managed to get them cleaned up and painted, and I’m quite happy with the outcome.

I’m looking forward to getting them on the pitch against AFC Wimbelgnome. It should be a real culture clash, for sure!

Magic Mushrooms: Fungal Forests at Any Scale

October 5, 2025October 5, 2025 wilbur

I’ve just finished up this simple terrain feature, a magic mushroom “forest”, using wooden shroom decorations bought for £1 from The Works.

I used some cheap air drying modelling clay from Amazon to make the bases.

Then Vallejo ground texture for the basing.

Finally, I painted them up and put a gloss varnish on the caps. They’ll be ideal for 28mm skirmish games in either sci-fi or fantasy settings, and will also make for handy ‘fungus forest’ features at 15mm scale.

Nurgle V Nurgle, 90s Blood Bowl Minis, & a WilyKit Costume

September 25, 2025September 25, 2025 wilbur

Photo dump incoming. Seeing as I am talking about my hobby progress for the next Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast episode, it feels long overdue. Where to start.

I suppose with these £1 wooden mushroom decorations I found in The Works.

I thought they’d make for handy fungi forest terrain features which would work at any scale.

I used some cheap air drying modelling clay from Amazon to make the bases.

Then Vallejo ground texture for the basing.

They’re now primed and ready to paint up.

Elsewhere, and I’d been looking to add these guys to my Real Movchaos Blood Bowl team. I owned them in the 90s but they got lost somewhere. I still have all the beastmen. Big shout out to Stuart on the Discord for finding the Chaos Warrior players on Ebay (there’s another one, not pictured). When I got them through the post, it was evident they weren’t in the best condition. But I’ve cleaned them up as best I can and they’re now primed up, ready to paint.

I also dug out my old 90s Blood Bowl plastics to see if I had enough for a couple more teams. Dettol bath time for the painted ones. I had exactly 11 orcs and 10 humans. Who could make up the numbers?

What about this Foundry Pict?

Yup, he’ll do.

All primed up, alongside another one of the 90s Blood Bowl Chaos Warrior players.

Meanwhile, I played half a mini-campaign of Song of Blades & Heroes with The Good Doctor Spork.

The “Rivaly of Rot” was a story of two rival Nurgle warbands. We’ll have more on this in an upcoming episode of the podcast.

We used my nurgle miniatures. The Doctor brought terrain he’d made with his wee one during a recent Royal Orc session in the Discord.

Now for a jarring transition, Nurgle skirmish wargaming to Thundercats cosplay…

When I showed my daughter the DVDs recently, I didn’t expect her to be that into it. Suddenly, she was asking for a WilyKit costume. We did our best…

Whether or not I need to dress up as Snarf remains to be seen.

Anyway, back to toy soldiers, and here are some WIP 15mm beastmen from Ral Partha.

They’re the very last thing I need to do to complete my chaos army.

I recently finished these shield maidens from North Star Military Figures.

And these mounted chaos knights from Ral Partha.

A couple of 28mm scale guys in the bag, too. Harkel the Mad (left) is from Knightmare, and the Ettin was a generous gift from Warbases.

A couple of crackers from Bring Out Your Lead, the hive vampire was the official BOYL25 gift, and the daemonette was a generous present from David in the Discord, who made the pilgrimage over from the USA.

I finished up these Oathsworn miniatures a while ago, but I hadn’t posted a picture of them on the site yet.

I guess I have now.

And finally, a big raven mage guy, also from Oathsworn.

That’s all for now, no shortage of stuff to be getting on with.

But what are you upto right now? Send in a voice clip of your hobby progress and I’ll play it on next episode of the podcast!

DIY Blood Bowl Markers

September 21, 2025September 21, 2025 wilbur

In Blood Bowl, I really don’t like the aesthetics of turning players to face the other way to mark the fact that they’ve taken a turn. I had a huge bag of 40mm round bases in my collection, so I decided to paint them up green to act as markers.

Both teams start with the markers under every player and then remove them as each player activates. It’s a simple but effective way of keeping track of everything.

I also painted up some of the round bases red to represent prone players, and left some of their original black colour to put underneath stunned players.

And I had a larger round MDF base, which I turned into a ball carrier marker. This has been a lot better than fiddling about with the tiny ball model on its own.

Nothing groundbreaking about any of this, I know. But it has definitely improved my Blood Bowl play experience!

Bring Out Your Lead 2025: An Audio Tour

August 13, 2025August 18, 2025 wilbur

The world’s most iconic Oldhammer event, Bring Out Your Lead, took place at the Foundry from Friday, August 8th, to Sunday, August 10th.

Subscribe or follow on your podcast app of choice

I caught up with Mike Hutchinson (Hobgoblin, Gaslands, A Billion Suns), Owen Staton (Crown of Command, Time Between Times Storytelling), Lewis (Oldhammer Fiction Podcast), Jordan (Jordan Sorcery), Evelina (Jimmy the Brush), Jason (Bedroom Battlefields Community), and David (5th Hammer) to hear about their first impressions, plans, and experiences.

Other BOYL25 Accounts

Some other reports from folks that were there, along with tonnes of brilliant photos.

Wimblegnome FC: A Blood Bowl Crazy Gang

June 27, 2025July 2, 2025 wilbur

From Vinny Gnomes to Lawrie Branchez, here’s my Blood Bowl team Wimblegnome: all ready to plough a lane through the opposition.

Hobby Time as Family Time, With Ronnie Renton of Mantic

March 18, 2025March 18, 2025 wilburLeave a comment

Ronnie Renton, the founder of Mantic Games, joins the podcast to discuss the world of tabletop miniatures, game design, and the company’s evolution.

Listen, subscribe, or follow on your podcast listening app of choice

Ronnie shares his journey from working at Games Workshop to starting his own company, his thoughts on the state of the hobby, and how Mantic has carved its own niche with games like Kings of War, Dungeon Saga, and their latest licensed projects, including Halo.

We discuss the challenges of creating accessible wargames, the importance of growing the hobby, and how Mantic is embracing new technologies like 3D printing. Plus, Ronnie teases some exciting upcoming releases!

He also took a moment to deny a claim made in White Dwarf 122:

“A man famous for winning a GW fancy dress competition by entering as a twelve-sided dice.”

Fake news, apparently!

Topics Covered:

Ronnie’s background in wargaming and his early days at Games Workshop
The founding of Mantic Games and its vision for accessible, fun wargames
The balance between hobby-focused and casual-friendly games
The role of licensed games like The Walking Dead, Hellboy, and Halo
How Mantic’s approach to miniatures and game design has evolved over the years
The rise of 3D printing and its impact on the industry
Upcoming releases, including Kings of War: Champions, new Halo content, and more!

*Seemed like a good excuse to flex and show my fully painted Dungeon Saga set…*

A massive thanks to Ronnie for taking time out of his busy schedule for a chat!

The Fundamentals of Tabletop Miniatures Game Design

February 8, 2025February 8, 2025 wilbur

On the latest episode of the podcast, Glenn Ford and Mike Hutchinson discuss their new book, The Fundamentals of Tabletop Miniatures Game Design: A Designer’s Handbook.

Get the episode wherever you listen to your podcasts

The duo needs little introduction in our corner of the hobby, and their show, The Rule of Carnage, was frequently mentioned in our episode last year about the best hobby content channels on the web.

Mike was also on the show last year, talking about some of his games, including Gaslands, A Billion Suns, Chess 28, and Hobgoblin. The latter is one that I recently got hold of and played for the first time, too – it’s a cracker.