Been to Brum …

This weekend we headed to Brum to see Peter Kay on Saturday - fortunately our performance was wrecked by a bomb hoax. A quality show with plenty of laughs.

Saturday afternoon was spent wandering around Brum - which was prettier than I remember. Some lovely Victorian architecture.

I have also managed to complete another one of the Mantic Drakon riders - I am happy with this mini. 

Currently working on some more Orks and the last rider of the regiment set. 

Some of the collective are heading to the Exeter games show on Saturday - hopefully something will catch my eye… like I actually need anymore minis or games.

Morts 

A little bit of work on some knights

I have got to work on the horses that arrived in a huge package last week. 

An ancient Chaos knight that I have had for years but never had the right horse for. It is possible that the modern-ish GW Bretonian one is a little big, but I think he looks ok on there. Going to have to make sure that there is a good contrast between the horse barding and the knight himself - so will think on that. 

Now the elf general has been taken off the Ral Partha horse (and the original elven knight will go back on - see the Drakon rider saga for reasons). I need to sculpt a new tail and fix up the General before painting.

Not painting but some work done. 

Morts

Drakon Rider - Painted

This Mantic games Drakon rider - with some additions - GW Elf head and lance shaft - press moulded chain mail skirt from a Ral Partha elf. The additions were made so he fits in more with the rest of the elf army. 

Overall happy with this - I have 2 more Drakons and they’re riders to paint. And the Drakon Lord … and everything else!

Anyway I have finished something so perhaps the painting mojo is coming back!

I have had some more mischief just arrive, so will show that later. 

Morts

Still no painting and gaming mojo

I am still missing the gaming and making mojo - just not quite feeling at the moment - which is annoying as I have the Epic warpath kickstarter now. I have watched the rules play through and actually read the rules - looks like a fun game. But total inactivity in regards to getting it, or anything else for that matter up and playing. 

I have been think about it recently to see if I can work out the issue … for the 28mm fantasy stuff I think it is some confusion about basing … sabots or fixed bases and having to make a decision. When I moved over to HotT in the early 90’s it was a not brainer … this time I am having major issues making a decision.

The Viking and Saxons are staying individually based for SAGA games … like I have played lots of that …

Also I have been considering the 40k stuff - the major mission creep on the Ad Mech and Marines in particular well beyond the skirmish/Kill teams that I originally planned … so do I review this set up??

Obviously it hasn’t stopped me picking up some Mantic Ork marauders to make up a Kill Team … they were a bargain, but now I am looking for some GW spare bits. 

More thinking to do …

Morts 

Drakons - work in progress

Now obviously I show be finishing the servitors I started a few months go … but not to get me out of the painting malaise I decided to put together the Mantic drakon riders for my elf army … these obviously need a fair bit of green stuff action as I want them to fit in with the Ral Partha minis which make up the bulk of the army. 

These are still a work in progress. All need new plumes on their helmets. I was using spare hoplite crests, but lost one and they are a little bit thin for fantasy minis.

Drakon 1 - need to smooth the join between lance and GW spear join and check for gaps. 

Drakon 2 - the one I lost the crest from - same as 1. 

Drakon 3 - nearly there. Plume mainly. 

Drakon Lord - I swapped in a GW dragon knight rider for the lord, a more imposing figure in me opinion. I am going to change the angle of the lance, need to press mould a shield and sculpt the fabric on his under skirts. 

I think I will base on 60mm squares rather than 50mm that came with the kits. 

Nice models to put together - hopefully I can do them justice. 

So plenty to do - plus the servitors …

Morts

Actually I did paint something …

So I did paint something - an GW elf general for my Kings of War elf army … which might become an DBF/HotT army … 

I need to attach a Ral Partha elf shield - but positioning it isn’t as easy as I thought it would be, so I might to press mould the design onto a larger shield. 

But that will have to wait until the weather isn’t quite as warm and sticky and I have got further along the with the garden remodel. 

I have also seen DK a couple of times and played games in a pub - managed to win Hive (2-1) and Yo Sushi … obviously games at my level.

Morts 

More Celts

 I have finished another 12 Celts - used some contrast paint medium to reduce the brightness of some of the speed paints. Which I think worked well. 

I did use an old flesh wash for the skin to start with, but it started to look a bit dark, so I painted over with some flesh …

Now I have to think about basing them … individually or on the 60mm squares. 

Might be a while. 

Morts 

Basing conundrums again …

Every so often I go through the need to consider my best options for basing my fantasy miniatures for various games. 

Having the chat with the chap running the Lion Rampant game with 12 figures on a single base - which looked really nice - sort of mini dioramas. The multi base means you avoid the very “lined up” look from the sabot bases. 

DK had picked up a copy of the De Bellis Fantasiae DBF rules - a cross between DBM/HotT rules which I really liked back in the day - although I did have a bit of an issue the single rank basing - I have also been mulling over Midgard rules and was considering picking up Hobgoblin rules - both of which work off approx 120mm frontages … which is roughly the frontage for Kings of War (well 100/120/125 mm if you are being pedantic) … so my little brain got thinking and has come up with 60mm squares has the solution to my basing needs - using the figure number ish from DBF as a guide.

Trialling with some of my elves to represent.

So for Regular (solid) Spears - 6 figures (5 for fast) - 2 of these bases would make a regiment for KoW or Dragon Rampant.

The same for blades

 

I think the double rank makes the element in DBF/HotT look like a unit

For Bows - solid 4 figures 

Fast 3 figures - 4 need for Dragon Rampant 

Knights/Cavalry will be 2 or 3, regardless of if they are solid or fast - just because they need to look right on the base. 

As these Elf knights demonstrate - it would be tough to get 3 on a base.

Light horse would be 2 to a base - but not so lined up - see below.

Artillery - well that is straight forward. 

Warbands and Auxilia will be either 5/4 Solid/Fast or 4/3 Solid fast. 

Skirmishers - currently thinking 2/3 on a 60mm square base or possibly 2 on a 60x30 base …

For Ogres and Trolls - possibly 2 on a 60mm square or do they stay on the 40mm squares they are currently on.

This sort of thing is never as simple as it should be …

Morts

Celts - one unit complete

I have finished a unit of celts - these are plastic by Warlord Games, with a few Victrix heads. 

These have been mainly done with various speed, contrast paints. I think they have turned out fairly well.

The whole unit - in their angry glory. 

More close ups of the figures - I prefer the Vallejo flesh to the Army painter. I might do some mixing for the next unit. I might try to make the contrast stronger on the face and hands. These didn’t actually take too long to complete - 4 evenings (excluding the varnish and basing) to paint, which I did in 2 batches of 6. I do need to be neater, there were a few bits I missed. The shields take the most time so I’m trying to keep them simple. 

Hopefully I will get another 6 done over the next week or so.

Morts 

Celt Armoured Cavalry

I have painted up the Celt Armoured Cavalry - 3 Renegade (Essex horses) and 3 Victrix. 

Still some experimenting with various speed and contrast paints. 

Generally quite happy - probably not as quick as I would like - hand painting the shields is a bit of a pain - geometric and knotty aren’t that easy to get right. 

The tartan/stripey experiment isn’t quite there yet. I need to remember what brown speed paint I am using for wood colour. 

I have assembled the rest of the Celt infantry to be stuck on sticks for undercoating. I suppose I should assemble the rest of the army too …

Morts 

Stuff which I have missed …

Before Christmas we had a little go at Heroquest - without DK, but because we needed to keep the campaign ticking along a spare Elf was drafted in from an expansion.

I have to say this new Elf was much more amenable to the wishes of the group and helped the team succeed in 2 quests without wandering off and causing confusion … 

Recently I have been playing with speed paints again and preparing Celts.

Regenade and Victrix noble cavalry and Renegade and Warlord skirmishers ready for paint. 

The skirmishers finished - generally happy with these, but the crusader flesh looks a bit grey - especially on the Frostgrave Wizards (these 2 may get the faces redone). I did try painting some checks and stripes  on some of the clothes before applying the speed paints - I think I need to make sure there is enough contrast between these base coats to make it work.

I get some pretty good results from speed paints sometimes and some disappointing ones on others - I will continue to practice. I have put together some Warlord Games celts - with a few spare heads from the Victrix cavalry… some look a little bobble headed. I’m sure that with a bit of paint they will look ok. 

Morts 

It always gets busy in December

Last weekend saw a trip to Heathrow to collect Thing 1 and her fiancée, after 14 months away in Indonesia (well Bali 1 month) , Vietnam ( 1 month), Thailand (6 weeks), Australia (11 months) and New Zealand (3 weeks) … it was great to have them home. We did a little engagement party for them - lovely. 

Then Tuesday saw another hospitality trip to the Grecians.  

A great start to the game - but Wycombe are top of the league … so happy with a point in the end and a splendid evening out. 

So with little time on my hands … well actually managed a few games on Friday evening with the BND and BUR - nice to get the King is Dead back to the table - should have won the last game, but played on the wrong round …  but I did win Dungeonquest (not that it is a luck based game in any way). 

I want to get on with the Celts, but none are cleaned up or primed, so I have been looking at the stuff which is ready. 

So 2 Asgard (Tabletop) miniatures (moulds currently with Alternative Armies) classic wolf riders. These were picked up so I would have have a unit of 6 minis - I have tried to match the general scheme on the ones painted years ago. When the Matt varnish goes on and the basing is done, they should pull together. 

I then started Thor and a norn  for Of Gods and Mortals … I dread to think the last time I did anything for this … these are base coated with a wash at the moment. 

Tidying up some very old C-series Goblins with some plastic shields - I like to think that these may turn up in a small skirmish/rpg style of game …

Morts 

Busy few days …. Painting, games and a bit of a walk

So I have had a busy couple of days. First up I looked at the cyclops again and just did think the painting just wasn’t good enough - so I did an old school repaint on the flesh tones. 

I think they came out better than the speed paints - however I still plan to use speed paints for the celts. 

On Friday Snake-eyes and Steedo came over and played a couple of games of Valhalla - with the Valkyries expansion.

An enjoyable evening was had by all - the expansion didn’t change the game that much. The games were pretty close, with Steedo winning the first game 26, Snake-eyes 23 and myself on 20. The second game was closer with Steedo and Snake-eyes tied on 23 points, the tiebreaker was who had the most opponents shields … which we concluded was Steedo (although Snake-eyes had the most opponents shield, in that he had a lot of mine, but Steedo had the most shields and head to head had beaten Snake-eyes). I had planned to play Risk Europe, but I think that it plays better with 4.

Then Saturday morning was a trip out to Dartmoor in Storm Bert!

I hadn’t thought it was a good idea to go out - it was rather wet and windy and we called the walk before the really poor weather set in and it stopped being funny as we were being blown about.

With the extra time I had - I finished off the Space Marine Terminator Captain - pretty happy with it (apart from the rear cloak thing, which is ok).

I still need to put some transfers on the shields by the pauldrons and stick him on a base.

So quite a lot covered in the last couple of days.

Morts

Cyclops - monsters for the Greeks

For the Greek Kings of War/Dragon Rampant army I picked up some Dark Alliance Cyclops - soft plastic miniatures. So with a little slap-chop I have got them painted. 

Overall they have come out fairly well - i think. But i perhaps should have dry brushed a little more before applying the speed paints. These will be classed as ogres for game purposes - hopefully they will get the table soon … but probably won’t. 

Morts

Big Orcs or Trolls - Tehnolog

So after the fun I had had with the Tehnolog Skellies, I thought I would have a play with their Orc miniatures - I will be using them as giant trolls. These have been painted using speed paints and my normal washes and layering. 

Champion with sword and shield and a dude with a big old club. 

Big two-handed chopping weapons. These boys mean business. 

I did the armour rusty again, as 1 - I liked the technique and 2 - I didn’t think Trolls would worry too much about weapon care. I mucked around with verdigris again, but I am not happy with the recipe yet. 

I thought I should put a picture with a 28mm miniature (a Gandalf) to give am idea of size of these chaps. They are big - pretty happy with these (I think I prefer the skellies if am am honest). They are going to get a decent drying time before varnishing as I with be away for a week soon, so felt I needed to clear the desk a bit. 

Morts 

Tomb Guards -Tehnolog - Big Skeletons

So a little while ago I picked up the Tehnolog Dark 54mm Attack box - mainly for the 4 Orcs in the box to be repurposed as Trolls for the Hobgoblin army (sort of replacing the Dark Alliance Lord of the Rings style trolls I had picked up). In the set are Orcs, Skeletons (Tomb Guards), Elves and Dwarfs (the latter two need to find their way back onto eBay). I had seen the Orcs before, but thought I give the skellies a try - they did need replacement weapons and some head and arm adjustments. 

The original poses for the 6 big boned lads and the converted and painted boys altogether. 

The hand weapon and shield unit - if playing Kings of War.

The two hand weapons chaps. Another unit in KoW or if they are combined a horde. They will be used a proxies for undead trolls. If using Dragon Rampant, they can be stated out as I see fit. 

I took the opportunity to experiment with painting rust - which I think went rather well. Lots of dapping with a sponge. Verdigris - this wasn’t quite as successful, but not too bad. I also had a little play with the speed paints again for the bandages and  cloth areas, which are ok - on the shield boys I used the pallid bone shade, which is a bit to close to bone - d’oh. On the two hand weapon chaps I used yellow which looks better. The bones and wood work were done using a wash and highlight method. One thing I did forget to do was wash in warm soapy water - hopefully the varnish will hold the paint on - lack of actually playing games will help too!

I am happy with these chaps - now a bit excited for the Orc/Trolls and the Dark Alliance Cyclops (use as ogres for a Greek themed army or as Cyclops in smaller games) - however I have to finish the bases for the 15mm Bavarians and Saxons. 

Morts

Some mischief, not managed ….

So recently I was “given” the Mantic Drakon Lord - anyway I was looking at Zombie/Undead dragons … like you do. Now Ral Partha Europe still sell the Tom Meier Zombie Dragon - which is a nice model for a very reasonable price, but because I am a bit of a cheap-skate I was trawling around eBay and came across the Mantic dragon for a very good price (including postage), so I bought it. 

Now I knew that the dragon was fairly large, but not quite as large as it is. 

So here it is - as can be seen it is much larger than the old Minifigs Dragon that the Elves currently have (it is a tad delicate). As dragons go the old Dragon is a nicer model - but the size of the Mantic one is impressive - looks like a Vhagar from House of the Dragon against Meleys.

Obviously this cheap little project immediately had mission creep - as I had to buy a Dragon Rider (I picked up a GW Dragon Knight) , which cost more than the dragon. I also should be spending my cash on a 15mm Cromwell , Firefly and British infantry. 

Oh well …

Morts 

Oldhammer Orcs - C15/16

The last of the old C series Orcs have been completed, along with some touch up of 3 who had been painted years ago - they needed to be matched, skin tone wise (they were very dark green). 

The Orcs above were new to me years ago off eBay - overall I am quite happy with these - the scimitar is another plastic fix as the original was long gone by the time I picked up the miniatures. 

The 3 on the right are Orcs I bought in the 80’s - they are the ones who needed a touch up on the skin tone. The one with the axe and shield (which is a modern plastic one) had a miss moulded left hand, hence the conversion by adding a shield. The archer on the left is the only slotta base Orc in the set. It has only taken 4 years to paint these from undercoating back in the first lockdown. 

I plan to get these based up with the Ral Partha Orcs and I will get a whole force photo. Might even try a game with them as well.

Morts

Some Orcs - very oldhammer

We have a busy weekend, with visitors from afar. However I did finish off some old Citadel C15/16 Orcs which were prepped back in COVID times … nearly 4 years ago! But they are of a much older vintage than that. I should go back and see when some of the others were done. I think I had planned to complete all of them (still 6 to paint and 3 to touch up) back in the first lockdown, but like all gamers I got distracted. The plan is to finish the last ones off before I start anything else (that means you Voidscarred Corsairs). 

Bases to be finished and they will join a Dragon Rampant/Kings of War force - and possibly a Warhammer army sometime. The orc in the middle has a plastic scimitar and spearhead as the originals hadn’t survived the test of time. 

My brother also brought over these little chaps - which he had cast over an open fire at a Viking museum. I did post out that they looked like Swedes rather than Danes from the Great Northern War - and with a little hunting I found the molds on the Prince August site - Karoliner 901 musketeers.  

I will dutifully clean them up and paint them as Swedes and return them to Denmark. 

While my siblings were about we had the opportunity to play a few games (not Valhalla) on Saturday evening. One night Ultimate Werewolf went down well - a number of games played after the rules were run through (which was quite amusing in itself). Then Pass the Bomb - a win to my sister - the timer does put the pressure on. Then another run out of Goat Lords - a sneaky stealing cards game - another victory to my sister, who did seem out of it for a long time. 

Good fun had by all - and doing rather well on the game front so far this year. BND has organised another Heroquest for the end of the week. 

Morts

A little ballista and humans for fantasy games

In my current drive to finish stuff that I have … and I have been looking around eBay for things … slightly tempted by some 40k terminators or sternguard, but not enough to sound with cash. Anyway I did a couple of conversions on some Fireforge medievals I have had lying around as crew for a ballista for the human Kings of War army. 

Obviously this needs basing and a little something to balance the piece on the left of the ballista - not sure what but the space needs something there. 

While i was painting these I took the opportunity to paint a couple more of the Order of the Dragon support troops - well thugs or something similar in terms of Frostgrave/Sellwords etc.

These are ok - the conquest miniatures Norman head on the swordsman is a little bit soft in terms of details. But these are just support for the knights. I would like to get a couple more figures for this little warband - which now stands at 10 - 4 knights (including the leader), 2 crossbow men and 2 spearmen. I was thinking a ranger type and another appropriate henchman type - but I’m not sure and I only have Celt or Barbarian sprues about at the moment. I glad I painted these as I need to up my game in painting small units, individuals as I have a number of these in the to do … ready to paint queue.

Morts