New Year – New Blog

It's been a (pretty long) while...
... but we're back! One of my "new year's resolutions" was to re-design and re-launch my blog. Yeah, I know, it's almost May, but here we are nevertheless.
To commemorate the occasion, here's my new year's greeting for 2020 again... all Oldhammer style.

You can find my new blog under the old address: https://theartofschwager.blogspot.com

This blog here will remain online for the time being, albeit under a new address: https://theartofschwagerarchive.blogspot.com

Sketchbook: De Drud Druckt

Quick colour test sketch for a new art project...
... and to try out my new inks.

It's a really small sketch, which is why it is so rough. I'm really impressed with the colour intensity of these inks, though. Thus far, I've only tried out Rohrer & Klingner's Calligraphy Ink, but I also have a few other brands lying around that I've yet to open.

As for the title, a Drud or Drude is the German name for a witch/fairy type creature that likes to sit on people and beasts (either while walking or sleeping), thereby sucking the life energy from them.

Anyway, here's the sketch now...

De Drud Druckt. © Christian Schwager

Merry Xmas 2017

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and successful new year 2018!

NAF World Cup 4: DORNBIRN 2019 - Logo

The next NAF World Cup will be hosted in the Austrian city of Dornbirn in 2018.
As part of the Organising Committee, I was tasked with creating a logo for the event (among other things).

The name of our host city was just too good not to make something out of it. So I present to you, the official NAF World Cup 4 logo.

For those of you who don't speak German so well...
Dorn = Thorn, Birn = Pear. ;)

The logo will be available for download in different formats from the SBBM Website in the near future.

Fantasy Football: Red Bad Krunchaz VS Grünburg Bruisers

I'm on a real roll at the moment, so here's another Blood Bowl match report from my exploits in the Munich RumBBL.

Red Bad Krunchaz (Orc) - Grünburg Bruisers (Human)
TD 1:1
Cas 1:1
Gate 20k
Win 40k:30k

For their round 5 match of the Munich RumBBL Rookie Division, the Grünburg Bruisers had to travel far into the blasted wastelands of Lochhausen, which are home to the Red Bad Krunchaz.

That did nothing to deter the Bruisers' fans, who made up the majority of the 20,000 strong crowd, gaining their team +1 Fame for the match.

The effect of this tremendous fan support was felt at the first kick-off and the Humans started the half with 5 Re-rolls.

After receiving the kick, Grünburg set up to drive the ball straight up the field. Spotting a small gap in the Orc's defensive line, the attackers tried to push through... but the gap suddenly closed and the ball was knocked loose.

Lots of pushing and shoving ensued. A Black Orc was badly hurt after being trampled on by several Bruisers' players, one of which was promptly sent to the showers... despite the protestations from his coach.

Meanwhile, the ball was wildly bouncing around the pitch before becoming stuck on the horn of a Black Orc's helmet. Said Black Orc got such a fright, that he started running straight towards the Bruisers' endzone. His Human would be pursuers didn't manage to get past their markers, save for a lone Thrower. That just wasn't enough to stop a Black Orc on the move and the Bruisers found themselves 0:1 behind on the scoreboard.

There was still time left in the half, however, and the Humans were keen to get a quick start on the next drive. They managed to get a player in scoring position and moved the ball close enough for a pass. It all was a bit too rushed, though, and the ball was fumbled just past the line of scrimmage as the half ended.

After the break, it was the Orcs who opted for the Quick Snap at the kick-off, trying to steamroller the opposition into the turf.

The kick had gone deep and, even though the Krunchaz managed to recover the ball quickly and bring it up to the front of their line, their backfield was spread out pretty thinly. This allowed the Human defenders to put pressure on the ball carrier, who tried his best to dodge through the gaps around the line of scrimmage.

The Troll going stupid at a crucial moment gave the Bruisers the opening they needed to sack the ball carrier. The ball was loose once more and making his way around the pitch as though it had a mind of its own.

Eventually it was the Humans who managed to get their hands on it and make for the Krunchaz's end of the field. Despite some desperate defending from the home team, they couldn't stop the Human Blitzer from scoring the equaliser with only one turn to go.

One turn is all that is needed, though, when you have a Troll and a Goblin on the team.

The Bruisers's had read the play and set up accordingly. The Krunchaz managed to get the ball to the Goblin, the Troll picked up said Goblin... and tried to eat him!!!

Luckily for the little blighter, he managed to squirm free and land uninjured, if somewhat traumatised from the experience.

And so the two teams parted, with one touchdown each, one casualty each, and one league point each.

Thanks for a great game, Harald. :)

Fantasy Football: Grünburg Bruisers VS Thorgrim's Grudgebearers

Well then, here's another wee report from Nuffle's field of blood-soaked glory.

Grünburg Bruisers (Human) - Thorgrim's Grudgebearers (Dwarf)

TD 2:0
Cas 1:1
Gate 12k
Win 60k:50k

Of the 12,000 fans who came to witness the encounter between the Grünburg Bruisers and Thorgrim's Grudgebearers last Monday 10,000 of them were Humans, giving their team +2 FAME for the match.

The Dwarves won the toss and elected to receive. They promptly put the hurt on as the ball came down from the kick-off, sending one Bruisers Lineman into the Dead & Injured bin and two more on their faces before the Humans knew what was happening.
Grünburg, however, managed to regain some composure after the initial shock and put the Dwarves under pressure, making them drop the ball twice in a row. The ball remained well-shielded amongst the Grudgebearers, though, and they continued to make slow progress into the Bruisers' half.
As time was starting to run out in the first half, the Grudgebearer's made a break for it, which turned out to be their undoing. The Humans managed to knock the ball free and recover it. A Blitzer passed the ball to a lone Lineman in the Dwarves' backfield, but he dropped it. Moment's later. Bruisers Blitzer Thorsten Tausendteufel swooped past him, picked up the ball and ran it in for the halftime lead.

The second half saw a reverse of the initial Dwarf onslaught from the first kick-off. Grünburg's initial assault put several Dwarves in the KO'd bin and one more went off the pitch with a Fractured Skull (-1AV + MNG). The team's apothecary tried his best to put the Linedwarf out of his misery, but the bugger just hung on and refused to die.
Thorgrim's lads gave as good as they got, though, and more Humans left the pitch for the KO'd box as well. Nevertheless, they steadily worked their way towards the Grudgbearers' endzone... and even found time to pose for some fans before increasing the lead to 2-0.
The fans were cheering and earned their team another re-roll at the next kick-off.
The Dwarves tried again to close the gap and score a TD before the final whistle, but the Bruisers' defence held solidly and the way was just to far for the stunted ones.

The above illustration shows Hagen 'Killer' Nibelung breaking a Dwarf skull in style.

Thanks for looking. Feel free to let me know what you think. :)

Fantasy Football: Schmerz Union VS Rottenheim Rotslur

So, the other day my Nurgle team took on my friend Maze's Chaos Pact in the Open Division of the Munich RumBBL.
We were keen to try out some of the shiny new components from the 2016 set. Out came the new pitch & dugouts (which are all huge), as well as the new dice. Maze used the Human dice and I used the Orc ones...
The Chaos Pact Minotaur started things off with a glorious roll of Double Skulls, which kind of remained the theme for the rest of the game. Honestly, I've never seen this many Attacker Down and Both Down results in a single game of Blood Bowl. There is something wrong with those dice, I swear!
Anyway, in the end I rolled a few more of them and was soundly defeated.

Schmerz Union VS Rottendem Rotspur 2:0 (3:1 Casualties)

The artwork below is my visual summary of the match. ;)

PS: Maze has built himself a bloody great looking Chaos Pact team, using the classic Chaos Marauder bodies and these fantastic looking helmets (Set 1 and Set 3) from Tabletop Art.

Merry Xmas 2016

I wish you all a very merry Xmas and a fantastic new year 2017!

Black Gate Miniatures: 10mm Ogre Kickstarter

A while ago I got to work on some concepts for a project that is now up on Kickstarter: 10mm Fantasy Ogre Miniatures from Black Gate Miniatures. 

Needless to say, this was awesome fun and, depending on how successful the Kickstarter turns out, there might be plenty more to come. In the meantime, here's some of the work I've done on the project so far...

The mighty Ogre Chieftain/Champion (one of the stretch goals).

Some preliminary concepts (for ideas, scale, etc.).

And finally some actual concepts (different unit types and poses).

Feel free to spread the word and/or pledge for lots of minis yourselves. The more money the KS makes, the more work there will be for yours truly. ;)

And here you can read an interview with the man behind this project: http://fanplasticlittlemen.blogspot.de/2016/10/black-gate-miniatures-ogres-kickstarter.html

Necromunda: Goliath Gothique - Parts III & IV

As I've mentioned in my previous post, I'm quite keen to convert the free White Dwarf Slaughterpriest into the leader of my gang. So I did a bit more sketching and below you can see where my thoughts are going with this.

But wait there's more... as I was reading through the campaign special rules, I discovered that we'll be using Dog Rules as well as House Specialities. And in the case of Goliath the latter means access to OGRYNS!!!

If that wasn't enough, I also started thinking about various in-game counters, such as sewer entrance markers and loot counters.

Eventually, I also want to build an HQ for my gang, which is what the furniture and weight training equipment will be for. But more on that in a future post...