The sands of time cannot be stopped...

Under The Mountain is dead! Long live Under The Mountain!

A blog of legendary status throughout many years into the past, it seems that it has almost completely ceased to exist recently. For whatever reason, some months ago the whole section hosting the Confrontation model images has disappeared from the blog. I initially thought that maybe this was due to Monolith acquiring Rackham rights and the establishment of the new Rackham Games and that perhaps the UtM owner was simply afraid of any potential legal action by the new owners. When you think about it, this wouldn't make sense due to Fair Use rights, since UtM made no profit off of the images, nor claimed them as their own. In any case, a few weeks ago I revisited the site and now it seems that all of the content from it has been removed and only an empty page greets you when you visit the blog. 

Regardless of the reason, this is a severe loss to the Confrontation resource pool since it preserved a lot of precious information from the game's heyday. I've spent countless hours browsing through it and it has singlehandedly kept my interest in Rackham creations strong in the years before I got personally invested in Confrontation. It was always such a simple pleasure to browse through all the model images hosted there. 

Of course, everything is still accessible via the Wayback Machine, but it is definitely not an optimal solution and you never know when that might get scrubbed away as well. But as Christopher Paolini writes, "...years pass whether we will them or not… but we can remember," and remember we will.  And not only that, but we should continue the legacy established by our predecessors. 

With this in mind, I want to use my blog and continue carrying the torch of usefulness for the community. And since UtM was, among many other things, most famous for hosting images of all of the Confrontation models, this is where I will also start. This has been something that I've wanted to do for a long while and now is finally the time.

On the right side pane you will find links to Model Galleries of specific factions. For now it only features the three Elven factions (Akkyshan, Cynwäll, Daïkinee), but I will make an effort to periodically add more to it. The miniature entries have a recognizable format previously established by UtM, but I've so far tried to fill in some gaps with additional information from other resources where possible. 

This will be a continual work in progress and in some way I would like this to be a community endeavor. If you spot that any information is wrong, or there is something crucial that I've missed adding, or you have a suggestion on how to further expand the entries, please feel free to get in touch. I am in no way anywhere close to being a Rackham scholar and historian, as some members of the community certainly are, so it would be great to get some feedback in order to make all of this useful for other people, especially those new to the hobby.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you stick around!

Lucky finds and bargain bins

EDIT: I wrote this post at the beginning of September, but got lazy with taking photos and uploading them, thus the delay in publishing.

Some days ago there was a brief discussion on the 7 Hills discord server about lucky finds and good deals, so it kind of inspired me to share some of my loot highlights.

I've already mentioned during that discussion that my greatest bargain deal was definitely a 1 euro copy of the Dogs of War book which I snagged from an Ebay auction. Obviously I was the only bidder, which somewhat made me think that I misread the ad and that it is either a fake ad or the book was a DIY printed copy, but for such a low price I was willing to gamble. Turned out to be the real deal in the end. This one was closely followed by a still-shrink-wrapped Cadwallon RPG book for 10 euros, along with a GM Screen for free, found in a local used bookstore.

These books are worth picking up for the design and the art alone...

Moving on, back when I was making some initial purchases for my Sessairs as part of the painting challenge last year, I purchased both Sons of Ogmios models, separately priced as single models, 8 euros each. Little did I know that these were not single models, but each 8 euro "blister" was actually one of those boxes containing two blisters, as seen on the image below.  That was quite an unexpected surprise! As far as I've noticed online, these boxes don't appear in circulation that often anymore, which is quite a shame since the artwork on them is gorgeous, and it definitely makes this find all that more special. The art on the boxes is such a classic Confrontation piece and I've been lucky enough to get the third art panel in some other purchased lot where the person just randomly threw in the box as part of the overall packaging. I'll drop a few images here, but the one with all three panels will be posted all the way at the bottom!

The next one I always considered a "must have". Ever since I got into Confrontation I knew I needed to have some Wolfen in my collection and the Predators of Blood seemed like a staple. I remember that I kept eyeing some Ebay listings which were decently priced, but months passed by quickly and all those ended up being sold before I decided to pull the trigger... and when my budget was finally ready to buy a box the available prices seemed to have jumped significantly or the offered boxes weren't the English version. It kinda made me sad for bumming out on those previous deals, but I just kept occasionally checking Ebay and doing random Google searches. Well, on one such bored Google search a hit appeared for a NIB box in English, just the way I like it, for the hefty price of 20 euros, which I liked even more. The bigger surprise was the fact that the item was located in a semi-local store. The store was well known to me and at the time I knew that they had some small amount of Confrontation stock which I already plundered, but out of nowhere the PoB box appeared. I thought it was a mistake, but I ordered anyway, half expecting them to cancel the order due to it actually being out of stock. But surprise surprise, the box arrived, safe and sound and still in shrink!

The auction mystery bag...

Aside from Ebay I tend to check other second hand websites from time to time, like the French leboncoin. There was one particular auction which featured several blisters of metal miniatures from Reaper and a few from Rackham, namely unopened English blisters for the Goblin Fire Support and Syth Mornis, plus one ziplock bag with a few small metal minis and cards, pictured above. The little baggy was what piqued my interest. The auction image showed that the card in the bag was turned to the back where the Rackham logo was, so you couldn't instantly tell which blister it was supposed to be. However, zooming in on the semi-bad quality photo showed that the minis were Cynwall Akhamials. I think I haven't seen English Akhamials... probably ever out in the wild, so this made my heart skip a beat, but I couldn't tell if they were in fact English since the card was flipped, or it was the more common French variant. The other two Rackham blisters were in fact in the English language, so it made me hopeful. However, to my great frustration, the seller also decided to not respond to questions, which did raise some red flags. In the end, I decided to bite the bullet and enter a luckily short bidding war, coming out on top at around 30 euros, if I remember well. Some weeks of anxiety and shipping and the box arrived, so I instantly dived in straight onto that one single zip-lock baggy, only to reveal... the English card version! If any purchase ever epitomized the meaning of "the thrill of the hunt" this was absolutely it!

Who dares, wins!

I'll share one more short story and it's by far one that somehow struck me the most. Not much of a story actually, but more of a fact that I've randomly found an English NIB Daikinee Dream Warrior just laying around online. One of the rarer scarab models, it was just sitting there for 15 euros. It seemed so surreal, since previously I never saw it available, as it is one of those models that were basically released to be rare, and I thought that it will be a miniature which will forever elude me. Yet there it was, a literal dream come true without much sweat or sacrifice. 

Don't let your dreams be dreams...

These little stories are definitely not all of the great bargains which I landed, just some which I found amusing to share. Nor are they anything over-the-top crazy like other people shared previously online where they'd land truly insane amounts of models for pennies or less. All of these stories here are just to tell you that good deals truly are out there, still available after all these years. I believe that at least 90% of the Rackham catalog is out there somewhere waiting to resurface, but you just need to be patient and vigilant. Not to mention that Confrontation still maintains its normalcy when it comes to pricing. For the most part the community tries to maintain fair prices and even the odd sales outside the community are priced fairly overall, even the rare models don't even come close to the price pumping that some other games tend to do on the second hand market. It's just that we've been spoiled by the speed and availability of most mundane things today, we always want the thing we want asap, preferably yesterday. But the old cliche is true, good things take time. 

Painting Challenge 2025 retrospective

The 2025 painting challenge has been officially over since early June and I took my time to settle and collect some thoughts about it. 

First off, the winner is... surprise, surprise, it is none other than yours truly! No really, I do consider it a huge surprise. Here's the sum of my work for the challenge (more images posted below*):

Double the sass, triple the excitement!

Honestly, I didn't expect to win or come anywhere close to winning when the challenge started. During the first month when people started posting their progress I was so sure that some other participants would win and that I'd be in it just for the inspiration and drive to put some more painted minis on my shelves. Sadly, though to my advantage, many participants started falling off as months went by, so by the end of it only discord user ViscountFrangipane and myself stayed as the only consistent participants for the entirety of the challenge. The lack of more competition doesn't very much speak for the quality of my own paintjobs, but I guess that persistence and consistence are their own merit and reward.

I've had a lot of thoughts circling in my head during the challenge, so this post will be structured around some noteworthy topics that stuck out.

Favorite model I painted: Absolute favorite miniature to put together was the Kelt Minotaur, by far the chunkiest model I've handled to date in Confrontation. Usually I dislike painting larger miniatures since the mistakes you make with the brush are glaringly obvious, but this guy was a joy. There are a lot of interesting details for you to work on, yet the model itself is not overcrowded, which sometimes tends to be the case with smaller miniatures. 

As much as I enjoyed painting the cow, I did suffer a dropping accident while painting the Minotaur which was honestly quite rage inducing. I made the mistake of not getting/creating a proper painting handle so I just held him by the base for the entirety of the process... needless to say, this was uncomfortable and unwieldy, so much so that I dropped him directly on his head at one point and he just snapped in half, despite being pinned. Not to mention that sections of paint peeled off... Unsurprising in hindsight, because the model is heavy. At least he didn't end up breaking my desk with his horns! Lesson learned for the future, I guess!

Least favorite model I painted: Out of all the painted models I think the one that was least fun was the Kelt Druid. Not sure why, but he reminded me of the Kelt Shaman which I painted for the challenge last year and for some reason they were a bit boring to spend time with. Must be something about Sessair spellcasters... Regardless, I'm happy how he turned out in the end. 

What I need to improve: Shino took the time to provide some feedback to those of us who asked for it and I have to agree that some of his points are pretty valid. The main point where I'm currently lacking is definitely NMM. I get the idea, I get the theory, but when it comes to the actual execution I am definitely lacking in skill. Some pieces that I painted this time around I'm relatively happy with (for example, the Fianna and the Minotaur), but some not so much (like the Fianna Totem-Bearer and the Ogmios). Shino sent a couple of videos for me to go over, so I'll link them below* for those interested since they really are a good resource.

Another suggestion for improvement that Shino made was regarding my bases. While I definitely want to put more effort into bases overall, I found that this type of minimalistic rock/brownish grass works really well for the plains of Avaggdu, aesthetically speaking. It definitely is a low effort kind of solution, which is good for a time-based competition like this, but it goes well in my opinion. However, I do agree I could have done more and it is something that I absolutely want to do more of, since I always found bases and dioramas to be relaxing and fun. Temple of the West did an amazing batch of Daikinee for the competition and his bases are superb, a brilliant inspiration for my own Daikinee which I hope to paint next year! 

What I failed: My one point of personal failure was that out of all the models which I listed for painting, the extra ones included, I only didn't manage to paint Virae on time. Technically there was time since the challenge ended on June 7th, but I decided that May 30th was my cut off date. Regardless of time, her model is... a bit of a pain. Similar to how people complain about Ayane, Virae has tiny arms (one of which holds a heavy hammer) and a small neck as connecting points and I simply had no patience to pin and glue her at the time.

Personal favorite army: I already mentioned above, but the Daikinee painted by Temple of the West are my absolute favorite. The dude is a beast when it comes to how fast he paints, but to make it look so well in the end is just insanity. Loved the color choices, the amazing bases, the ambiance of the shots... loved everything about those models!

Comparison to the previous competition and thoughts for the future: Now a bit of space for some unpopular opinions. Sweet set a pretty high bar with the challenge he hosted last year, it was casual, fairly light when it comes to rules, and overall just a fun 6 month event where you essentially just needed to slap some paint on your minis and count your points. Shino tried a different approach with more structure, a shorter challenge duration, and, more importantly, scoring via judge.

Some of the rules changed a few times once the competition was well under way and it is somewhat understandable that some people might get annoyed by that. But the part that I truly didn't understand is people being upset by getting a certain amount of points (or lack thereof) from the judge, less than what they expected I guess. It's fine being defensive of your work and thinking that your work might be better than somebody else's, but it is the judge's job to make those decisions. What they say goes and it doesn't really matter what you think, it's just up to you to keep on truckin' and get some feedback about what you could improve. I know it's "easy" for me to say this since I won the damn thing in the end, but I honestly believe that if some of you didn't drop out and just continued to paint you'd have won with points way above mine. And as I mentioned before, I completely disagree with Shino's opinion on my bases, which did obviously net me less points each month, but I just stuck to my guns and kept going, cause I just had fun participating. 

And I guess that's the whole point. I simply wish that more people continued painting instead of being so pissed off about it cause it did make the whole thing a bit awkward. It was just a fun event to participate in and it's a bit sad that we collectively missed the opportunity to get more active and do some creative stuff together, especially since we are a small number of people who realistically aren't the best painters anyway, so I think we should always take the time to jump on these bandwagons and lively up the community, especially when somebody puts in the time and effort to organize the thing in the first place. Hopefully next time, but there are definitely some lessons to be learned for everyone involved! 

My setup for miniature photography: ViscountFrangipane and I got into a small discussion about taking photos of miniatures and I promised to take a picture of my "setup". I say "setup" because it's just an amateurish and made-up thing, but it actually makes the photo-snapping process fun for me and the models do end up looking nice and thematic, in my humble opinion at least.

So yeah, as you can see, just a propped up platform with some boxes, the monitor for background imagery, and the lamp which I use while painting. The top box is from the Shadows of Esteren RPG, the art of which went really well with the background I used for the Sessairs. I also use the layered boxes as a holder for the mobile phone when taking the shot, since you don't actually have to hold your phone and can just easily adjust settings on it without putting effort into staying steady and still, plus you have the freedom to move around the mini for different angles. The monitor is good for just quickly googling an image for the background, this time around I used a creative commons photo of the Rannoch Moor in Scotland. I also did some of my Infinity miniatures this way with some sci-fi backdrop. Personally I find that a good background really makes the mini look better, don't think my paintjobs would excel with a plain white or black backdrop behind them!

Also, my phone is pretty bad for taking group shots, since for some reason it always has to focus on one section of the shot, which then makes the rest slightly blurred. Not sure if that's a bug or a feature, but it is what it is at the moment.

Overall, I'm quite happy with my output. Having two Confrontation challenges and two Infinity escalation leagues behind me, I can definitely say that the biggest benefit of such events is the pure driving power which they instill in me. I get insane amounts of motivation and dedication to sit at the painting table regularly in order to hit my goals. It is always amazing to see a project grow at a steady pace, so having a challenge as the guiding hand helps tremendously when real life stuff tries to bog you down.

That said, last and definitely not the least, I'd like to thank Shino for organizing and curating the event! Hope to see you as an organizer again in the future!

*NOTE: If you want to see more photos of individual minis that I painted, as well as the links to the NMM tutorial videos that Shino recommended, click the "Read more" link below to expand the post.

Something stirs in the shadows beyond...

I was intending to be fairly regular with some updates on the blog, but you know what they say... time flies when you're having fun. And truth be told, I've been having a lot of fun at the painting challenge which I mentioned in one of my previous posts back in January. More thoughts on that one a little bit later in an upcoming article, which will be a "challenge retrospective" of sorts since the event is ending in a few days.

Instead, what I'm gonna scribble about today is something that has been on my mind way before I even created the blog. Back then I had this idea, took some photos of the thing I wanted to write about, and then my laziness got the better of me and it hasn't seen the light of day since. But a few days ago I got a notification on my phone, you know one of those Google Photos things screaming at you before your morning coffee, "LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID ONE YEAR AGO, YOU USED TO BE SO FUN". So yeah, it's been a year since then and enough is enough, let's write this damn thing.

You also might have noticed that this post has a tag at the bottom named "collection update". As I already somewhat mentioned previously, a lot of the posts on here are going to be me just providing unsolicited updates about my frantic spending of loads of money on Confrontation and I will courteously not take this enjoyment away from you... especially when it is an update of these proportions. 

So back in November 2023, I started talking to one very friendly gentleman on the "7 Hills..." server about acquiring a sizeable chunk of metal from him. For him it was just sitting around untouched, while for me it was a goldmine featuring my favorite army in NIB condition. The deal took almost half a year to organize due to a lot of obstacles, both expected and unexpected. For starters, not only was it the biggest amount of change I dropped on a hobby project, but it was also coming from overseas. Add to that the unexpected passing of one of my parents which threw a total curveball to everything in life and, a small cherry on top, the city I live in decided to update many district postal codes just as we were about to agree on sending the darn thing. Saying that this was an adventure is a serious understatement. 

Welcome home little buddy!

But it was finally here. It did end up just sitting in storage for a long while after I picked it up due to all the life issues, but once my every day difficulty level slightly decreased it was time for a little bit of enjoyment. 

Gotta love a nice box full of beans.

Always a joy opening a tightly packed shipping box.

Hmmm, I wonder...

... I wonder how many of you can guess what is behind door #1? If I didn't know, I'd actually be torn between a few possible models. But if you guessed this one, you pretty much know the entirety of the box, so let's get to it! 

Drum roll please...

Double the sass, triple the excitement!

A post in which I explain which models I'll be painting for the upcoming competition. And actually, if you know me from the discord server and have seen my thread during the previous competition then you already know exactly what I'll be painting, simply from using the word "sass", a tidbit which I completely forgot to mention in my 2024 painting post. Which is a shame, since I find it hilarious.

Anyways, to be a bit more serious. TL;DR is that I will be visiting the plains of Avagddu once again. That's probably enough information for some of you (hello Greg), but for the people who are not Sessair haters the not-so-TL;DR is below.

Shino's announcement was an unexpected surprise and since I immediately knew that I would participate it sent me into a contemplating mood, trying to figure out what I'll be painting. One of my previous posts about the start of my collection is, up to this point, actually showing just a sliver of what I own today, so I had plenty to choose from.

Surprisingly, I made a decision fairly easy. For some reason, I dismissed the other armies and was in the "hell yeah Sessairs" mood quickly, which really made me want to analyze "why"... thus, this article.

One of the main things that pushed me to this decision is the kick of riding the wave of enjoyment of writing the previous article. Looking back at the process of the previous competition I realized that my love for the Sessairs grew with each month of painting. There's just that special something when you see the painted models shaping up into a group and the sense of accomplishment pushes you to paint further. And yes, painting just skin and leather gets a bit tedious at times and is probably the main reason why a lot of people dislike the Kelts, but Rackham somehow managed to make even those exciting.

The above paragraph is especially important when I take into consideration that the models I painted last time aren't even my favorite among the Sessairs. Of course, you can't not love Tanath and Bragh, but that particular Giant Barbarian and the Hunters are far down my list of favorites, for example. Yet somehow, while painting them I found love and appreciation for them, which in turn sparked even further excitement to paint the ones I truly like and has provided inspiration to continue collecting them. 

That ongoing desire to see the expansion of the tribe has not come to the proper end either. If you recall, I initially bought the lot of Kelts just for the competition, but the ordeal made me want to expand and see if I can do the rest of the models justice with my brush. The Minotaurs, Viraë, Fiannas, all inspiring pieces of the puzzle yet to be completed! 

So in the end, what is this going to look like? Honestly, that is the only irksome thing about this competition, the fact that you need to submit a list and are somewhat restrained with the number of AP per model. There's a lot of freedom and flexibility when you can paint whatever you want on a monthly basis, you can mix and match and adapt to your speed and progress, whereas here you need to commit. Alas, we are not here to cry and lament, we are here to flex and face the opposition head on! 

Painting Competition 2025 List

Double the Sass, Triple the Excitement!

Gwenlaen the Ever-Proud 66 A.P.

Malek the Bloodthirsty 60 A.P.

Son of Ogmios 55 A.P.

Minotaur of the Plains 73 A.P.

Kelt Druid (1) 28 A.P.

Fianna Totem-Bearer 17 A.P.

Total AP: 299

Total Models: 6

This will be the "official" list of my entry. Worth noting is that the Minotaur of the Plains will be proxied by the Kelt Minotaur, since that is the model I own yet is too high pointwise to fit. Mind you, this list isn't driven by any kind of tactical masterstroke of list building, this is led purely by the tactics of being realistic of how many models I can paint while also fulfilling the monthly rules of the challenge. 

However! We are Kelts of the Sessair clan, we are not bound by rules, nor are we shackled by the garb of civility, nor do we cower away from a challenge... we embrace it! We were born free and will paint as such! Aside from the "official" list, I will try to fit in some more models. That "expanded" list is a sort of personal competition and it will look like this:

Expanded Painting Competition List
Charge of the Matriarch!

Viraë, Fianna priestess 125 A.P.
Sinshera 52 A.P.
Danu Warrior 24 A.P.
Spasm Warrior 24 A.P.
3 𝚇 Kelt Fianna 36 A.P.
Sessair Standard-Bearer 14 A.P.
Total AP: 275
Total Models: 8

My first thought when the competition was announced and I decided Sessairs was "Viraë with all the Fiannas!" but the 80AP restriction killed that boner. But the girls are bloodthirsty and shall not be silenced.

Essentially, 14 miniatures in total over four months... On paper it seems like a tall ask, but I'm certain my excitement for painting and the amazing inspiration provided by Xris Wraith's endeavor last year will be more than enough for me to achieve this. I'm trying to come up with some small motivational rewards for myself when/if I manage to tick off any items off this expanded list, but I'll get back to that after the first month of painting is done and I see where I'm at. If I'm being objective, smaller minis usually take me 3-4 days to paint, while the bigger ones like the Ogmios are around 5-6 days, so at least mathematically speaking I'll be able to pull this off... but, we'll see!

Stay tuned and thanks for reading (hello again Greg), happy painting!