The Blitzing Dead

Blood Bowl is one of the classic game systems that attracts (and accommodates) lots of third party manufacturers of flavourful teams and gaming accessories. These Undead sportspersonnel were made by Greebo Games and painted by us to serve in our customer's local Blood Bowl league. The colourful unit contains a proper horror-inspired ensemble of zombies, ghouls, ghosts and golems - it even has a couple of werewolves! 

Although the models are a bit on the goofy side, we approached the subject with a somewhat realistic palette, keeping the colours dark and muted, fitting for a rotting undead host. Earthy tones of greens and browns were used in the uniform as well, with the pale skin tones and bright metals serving as a contrast. Hopefully the necromantic theme doesn't attract too many of those dreaded Double Skulls in the games to come!

Is it Halloween already?

Banshees and Werewolves.

One of the two menacing Big Guys.

Agile ghouls ready to pounce.

The actual team is also joined by counter models such as a graveborn referee, a necromancer coach and a bunch of zombie cheerleaders. 

The Sonic Syndicate

The 11th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 is right around the corner and new armies are mustering as this is written down. We expect a busy season of gaming and painting for the Summer, as the community prepares to update their armies for the refreshed rules and tournament environments. 

To tackle any challenges posed by the 11th edition our customer commissioned a complete detachment of wicked Emperor's Children complete with armoured transportation and daemonic allies. These were painted to complement the Chaos Knight force we did a while back - a thematic allied detachment to add a bit of infantry flair to the stature of the titanic war machines. The modern Slaaneshi Chaos Marines were a joy to work with - all the detailed bits and cool posing options give them a lot of distinctive character.

The flawless host assembled. For the Emperor!

News from the Carcass Front

Trench Crusade's atmospheric Carcass Front set is coming out this Summer and the official promotion is well underway! To feature the new models in the different Trench Crusade events and shows this year, we were commissioned by Factory Fortress to produce some demonstration models for their introduction tables. These were comprised of a selection of the Prussian Stosstruppen warband models as well as some of the brand new units from the Carcass Front box.

The Prussians were painted with a historically flavoured "field drab" palette of greys and greens, drawing contrast from the basing and white gas masks particularly. For the Carcass Front troops we went with a "nautical" feel and paired seaweed hues with rusty details and oxidation effects. These will most likely be on display in the UK Games Expo already this weekend, good luck and godspeed!

The plastic troops went together very neatly, many of the Stosstruppen come with several accessory options ranging from grenades to firearms and melee weapons.

Heretic Naval Raiders and their fearsome Drowned Chorister.

The Stigmatic Nun and the Leper Pilgrim represent the holy faction.

Prussian Feldkaplan ready to punish His foes.

The Iron Wall

Here we present some newly-finished troops of the Iron Sultanate - a complete Trench Crusade warband ready for violent adventures! Our customer had seen the miniatures we produced for Factory Fortress display and really liked the colour palette, which we were happy to imitate on these models. The paints used are from the John Blanche signature set by Army Painter, providing a striking yet down-to-earth scheme for the models. These acrylics were complemented by AK Interactive Liquid Enamel Pigments for the dusty weathering effects.

We handled the entire production from setting up the 3D files, printing the models and finally painting and basing the miniatures to form a uniform warband. Hopefully these warriors serve their new master well in conflicts to come!

Trench Crusade - Factory Fortress Display Minis

Trench Crusade is the cool new guy on the block and something we've been following closely from the early stages - it was actually our studio's Thracia Rex terrain that was used for the initial playtest rounds with the game's designer Tuomas Pirinen! The project has grown massively since those days, built a worldwide community and become this thrilling wargaming phenomenon - all accomplishments very much earned by its dedicated team. 

War Head and our partner Poromagia were fortunate to carry the official Trench Crusade merchandise selection in Ropecon this year, and we built a head-turning display alongside their event team. With banners, props and signed artwork already present, we printed, assembled and painted a set of Trench Crusade resin miniatures for a classic cabinet display. We tried to approach each subject like we'd do with our own projects, a bit of a personal take with a narrative touch, while still staying true to the wicked source material. The two full warbands were painted almost exclusively with Army Painter's John Blanche signature sets, providing a pleasing "limited palette" for a neat, uniform look within the forces.

+ Check out the full gallery! +

Stompa Boy Blightning

For the last couple of weeks we've been preparing a sponsorship effort for the Oh My Game Open: The Finnish Blood Bowl Nationals, held in Helsinki on the first of November. As long-time friends of OMG and their owner Supi, we're happy to make a contribution to one of their strongest tabletop gaming communities and the domestic Blood Bowl scene. We chose to paint up a Black Orc Blood Bowl team to be presented as an award in the Finnish Nationals, a brand new team for a distinguished coach to take home with them after the thrilling event.

We decided to work primarily with the new Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic range, something we've found is miles ahead of their old Warpaint products, especially in coverage. This was also our first time trying out their Speedpaints, where we found a couple of new favourites. The Speedpaint Medium was also used as a matte coat, reducing the shine of washes and the gloss varnish used in the previous stages. 

The orcs were a fun painting project and we challenged ourselves a bit with a limited palette, basing the entire scheme on the use of green and cold hues of grey. In addition to the obvious skin color, green was used as the armour and bone undertones, with moss deposits and green tufts in basing and Necrotic Flesh mixed in for leather and clothing highlight stages. Neon green eyes were the final touch, adding a contrasting spot colour that leaned on intensity rather than the effect of a complementary colour. 

The result we feel is a interesting take on the Blood Bowl orcs with a bit more "mature" and down-to-earth approach compared to what we usually witness on the pitches. The limited palette adds a sense of credibility and while the models are not exactly colourful, they remain readable due to value contrast and the combination of light and dark shades. The spots of snow are the icing to unify the schemes of bases and the models themselves!

We wish everyone competing at the Blood Bowl Nationals best of luck!

War Head x Saimaa 40K

Our commission painting service is hard at work all year around, and there's been some memorable gigs on the desks lately! We're now starting to book the last of 2025's commission slots and would be happy to discuss projects of any size and a theme. If you have a need for a painted force or a terrain set for any game system, but don't think you have the time or the skills to turn the vision into reality, send us a message and we'll see how we can help! Our service terms and portfolio are better described here on our commissions page.

Questions? Email us at contact@gowarhead.com!

We'd also like to mention we've teamed up with Saimaa Gaming in anticipation of their opening salvo - the Saimaa 40K 2025 tournament on September 27-28th! The event is about intense 40K in a cosy spa environment with a BBQ evening to top things off, what's not to like? War Head will serve as the protector of the Best Army Award, sending prizes and commendations to crown the most industrous hobbyist with. Check out the details and join in!

This vast Black Legion ensemble is the latest army commission fresh out of the War Head assembly line - these were prepped, built, based and painted entirely in-house for the customer to pick up as a ready-to-play collection. 

Summer Heat

While most of our personal projects have lately been all about the Horus Heresy, it's been a busy spring and early summer with all kinds of commission work. We're excited to show more of the results as Ropecon draws near, but here's a couple of older, completed gigs from our camera roll. The Aeldari are a part of a previously finished army build, whereas the Chaos Space Marine characters were painted to reinforce customer's own collection as centerpiece miniatures.

We'll see you all in Ropecon - get those Show of Force entries over the line!

Aeldari tanks are so ageless, always fun to paint up.

Eldrad was painted in a custom scheme to complement the palette of the army.

A scout walker, Autarch officers, psykers, a Wave Serpent transport and a towering Wraithknight stand ready to join the customer's existing force.

Wild Riding

The implacable Wraithlord

The latest in the completed commissions department is this detachment of Saim-Hann Craftworld Aeldari, assembled and painted for a playing customer. The compact army includes some signature Jetbike troops, some elite Aspect Warriors and a contingent of Wraith constructs led by a pair of Spiritseers. With these we tried out a restricted palette, building nearly every colour (including red) over Citadel Incubi Darkness, giving a deep, cold hue to contrast the flaming red primary colour of the force.

In the leaders and elites we flipped the scheme around to feature the red merely in the accents and based their palette mostly on blues and whites. The HQ shine in white robes, whereas Aspect Warriors have a dark "commando" look in their panoply. We feel it's important to maintain a cohesive look in the army, so same colours have been used throughout the detachment in different combinations. Basing has been kept ascetic according to the customer's wishes.

Wraithlord, Wave Serpent and the Guardian Support Weapon Platforms were also made with interchangeable weaponry, different options allowing differing battlefield roles during gameplay. The Jetbikes are also not glued to their flying stands to allow manual repositioning for display and gaming.