Captain's Blog

At long last my projected 15mm Fantasy Hordes of the Things Big Battle army nears completion. Not only do I want to be able to field a 72 point undead army, I want to do it in 15mm scale using bases with a 60mm Elements, thus doubling the number of troops per element when compared against the standard 40mm base for a 15mm army. As far as I am concerned I need another 12 Horde Elements and at least 4 Magician Elements to complete this force. I present my Undead force in its current condition.


In the above photo we can see all 72 points of the Undead HOTT Big Battle Army.  Please forgive the fact that there are two "live" trolls acting as the artillery for this army.  The army is spread out from Left to Right a distance of 36 Cm (6 x 60mm Elements) and has a depth of 43 cm (from the front of the 1st rank to the rear of the last rank).  That is 15 inches x 17 inches for those still using Imperial Measurements. I think that you will agree that I am perfectly justified in using 6 elements of 25mm figures to add to the epic look of this army.

You will also be able to compare some of the units to their look on Feb 25th when I posted about the work I completed over the Christmas holidays. the elements are now flocked, and the figures themselves have been brushed with a Minwax Wood Stain. We'll now look at this force in its entirety. 

Front Rank
Left to Right, Two Elements of Spear & Two Elements of Blades &; Two Elements of Spear.
Total:  2 AP X 6 Elements = 12 APs



 Left to Right, Two Elements of Shooters (Bow) & Six Elements of Hordes & Two Elements of Shooters (Bow)
Total:  (2 AP x 4 Elements) + (1 AP x 6 Elements) = 14 APs


Left to Right, Two Elements of Shooters (Crossbow)  & Two Elements of Warbands & Two Elements of Sneakers (Wraiths) & Two Elements of Flyers (Swarms of Giant Bats) & 1 Hero/Aerial Hero (25mm Ral Partha Balrog)
Total: (2 AP x 6 Elements ) + ( 3 AP x 2 Elements (Wraiths)) + (4AP/6AP x 1 (Balrog) Hero/Aerial Hero) =  22 APs (24AP if using Aerial Hero)








Fourth and Final Rank:
Left to Right: 4 Elements of Riders & 3 Elements of Knights & 1 Behemoth & 2 Artillery Elements (25mm Trolls)
Total: (2 AP x 7 Elements) + (4 AP x 1 Element (Behemoth)) + (3 AP x 2 Elements (Artillery)) =  24 AP



I first blogged about this piece on Feb 27, 2011. I was very happy to have bought a 25mm Undead War Mammoth that could be used as a Behemoth by my 15mm Undead Army by replacing the 25mm crew with 15mm crew figures. The piece is old (I estimate 25+years) and the metal brittle. It did not travel well and despite having its own container. At Christmas it returned from Halifax in a number of pieces with its plastic support stand broken. It has been remounted on a 60mmx 90mm Element as opposed to the 60mm round base it was last on. Using pins and green stuff I have added supported to a repositioned head and the two rear legs. Hopefully it will travel better in this state.

Over the holidays I could travel with one army. I asked my host which one should I bring. Joseph wanted to do a large battle HOTT. I have two 15mm Undead armies; one being mounted on 40 mm frontage bases, and the second on 60 mm frontage.

His plan was to use 4 regular Elements, mounted on a movement tray as one giant element. I had both 40mm and 60 mm figures, so I figured that we'd work something out. I started to base 15mm figures on a 25 mm frontage a few years ago, as I wanted to see what the effect would look like. In total I am able to field three separate 15mm (40mm frontage) Undead armies.

The second army was far from complete and I knew that we'd have at least a week between my arrival and the day before we could do battle. I would use the time to get the rest of my figures painted (16 cavalry and 160 infantry) Most of the figures are by Black Raven. This would provide me with enough figures to field two complete Undead HOTT armies using 60 mm bases. As it turned out, the miniatures never made it to the table. Instead we took part in an all day 6 player game of Twilight Imperium.

Since I was painting an undead war mammoth, I thought I would continue with an elephant theme. 

The first is an RAFM Ancient Indian Unarmoured Elephant. It has been very hard to track down any information about this piece. I honestly haven't got a clue as to how long it has been sitting in my collection of figures. When researching Asian Elephants I read that they can rang in colour from dark brown to dark gray. I even read somewhere elephants that some may appear to be pink. I originally gave the figure a white base coat and went with a brown wash for it's skin. It had a similar effect to some photos I saw of elephants after bathing, before they become covered again in dust.. I suspect that the model came with two crew, but I only have one in my possession.

War Mammoth of the Undead Legion, Model Number 5501, went in production by Grenadier Miniatures in 1984. The company itself ceased to exist in 1996. There are a couple of variations of the model that I have seen photos of on the internet.  The miniature is old and was sold on eBay without it's original packaging. I tried to work with the metal but the two front legs proved to be very brittle and fragile. The armour trunk, and the tail had broke in transit. After my experience I decided to leave the tusks in their current position. I would prefer to have them pointed more forward instead of at 90 degrees to the head.


The model is 25mm scale and came with three skeletons for crew members. I found the quality of these pieces to be rather poor and decided to "man", the Mammoth and it's double howdah with 15mm figures by Black Raven. Two riders are located on the neck, with two figures in each half of the howdah. In addition there is a kneeing crossbowman, next to the command banner and a swordsman standing near the left foreleg of this undead behemoth. It was armed with a catapult which fit on it's back between the two halves of the howdah. I choose to disregard this weapon system, as I felt it did not add to the overall effect of the model. The howdah halves are decorated with large scale (compared to the 15mm crew) skulls and shields. These trophies can be explained to be ogres or giants that were vanquished by the Undead Legions.



The model when completed was unstable. I drilled a hole into it's body and mounted the model on a clear 60mm Game Workshop aerial base. The mammoth no longer falls over and I like the effect of the round base. I feel that this figure fits nicely into my large scale HOTT Undead Army. The actual base size for the behemoth under the HOTT rules should be 60mm x 60mm. The diameter of the base is 60mm so when positioned in combat I feel there shouldn't be any problem.

This is just a quick posting on two additions to my HOTT Undead army. The first is it's camp. The camp consists of a resin representation of an open mass grave. Numerous bits of skeletons, skulls and ribcages are exposed to the elements and other, more malevolent powers.


The resin piece is 100mm x 90mm, and is supposed to be for 25mm scale. I have added some broken 15mm Irregular Miniature Undead as well as a number of broken 25mm Plastic Skeletons that I received with a Undead Mammoth, that I have yet to paint. It would appear that the first troops of the next horde are starting to assemble.

The second is two elements of flyers. Both are Bat Swarms (Model 03355) by Reaper Miniatures.

I went all out last week to finish painting the Black Raven Undead miniatures that I received as a gift at Christmas 2009. Since I already have a fully equipped 15mm HOTT (Hordes of the Things) Undead army my plan was to base these troops on the 25mm element base size in order to achieve a grand view of Undead Hordes.



I also wanted to extend  the type of units available to my Undead Army. Optional troops that are not part of the offical Army Lists. Units of Shooters and Warbands which I would use as needed.

Joseph and I have been emailing with regards of playing a Big Battles HOTT when I am in Halifax this summer. One thing I started work on was the idea of basing 15mm figures on the recommended 25mm DBX Elements.

I wanted to see the illusion of mass figures as well as an opportunity to mount some 25mm figures that would be more impressive when viewed along with some 15mm figures. I offer the following photos as examples of my next undead army.