Stone the Crows!

As I mentioned in my previous Blog entry I bought two packs of Viking runestones from Fenris Games. The product arrived within two days of my order being placed on their website so they deserved to immediately find themselves at the head of the painting queue in my book. I washed them in warm soapy water and dried them thoroughly, leaving them overnight for the best result. I washed the three stones with Foundry Black Armour wash and left them for a day. I had thought to dry brush them but it's not my best brush skill and I was fearful of loosing the myriad of fine details on the face and so I left them as is. 

Out with Sue, Phil and Di for Christmas lunch at Essington Farm gave me a plastic bird medallion in my Christmas cracker, just the right size to pass for a raven sitting ominously on the larger stone, if you squint that is~

I was undecided as to the best basing arrangements for them: all three on one base or on three individual bases? In the end for versatile use on the tabletop battlefield I have settled on three individual bases. The main/largest rune stone is on a bigger base to emphasize it's significance as well as providing additional cover. I added a few larger Woodland Scenics large rocks to suggest decay I hoped and then my usual mix of basing texture from the same company. A wash of thinned Crafters' Acrylic Country Maple, some static grass, clumps and added snow and they will do for me. I hope that you will agree ~

Just for completeness then here are closer pictures of the two smaller stones ~

Back now to more Late Roman legionaries! One base of eight figures are finished ready for basing, with the next four figures for the second base already underway!

Under the Radar

It seems sometimes to me that the Lead Pimple can take on a life of it's own, slowly swelling almost unnoticed. Unnoticed that is until you realise you have no more space in the RUBs under the painting desk! Then you need creative solutions of course. In my case it was rejigging the contents of a wardrobe, to create a shelf for more boxes!!!! What's in them then you are entitled to ask? Well, take a peek if you must ~

Last month I scored a decent win on the Lottery, just enough to compensate me for the 'theft' of my OAP's Winter Fuel Allowance by our new government! Traditionally I'd spent my half on figures so I allocated this win to buying some Footsore Miniatures Dark Age Welsh which Matt had sculpted for them a while back. My intention was not a whole force, but to combine them with his Vikings from the Kickstarter in a sort of cod Hiberno-Norse force for our 1066 & All That games.

Staying with the Dark Ages theme and inspired by Phil's recent palaeolithic stone circle I thought my Saga of Bicca Biccasson would profit from some Viking Rune Stones. A web hunt lead me to Fenris Games who offer several combinations of such. Not as cheap as Phil's finding by a long chalk, but very nicely cast by way of compensation. I chose two sets: the large single standing stone (in the centre of the picture) and one of the packs of two smaller stones (flanking it). After a quick wash in warm soapy water I'll probably give them a dark wash over with a thin black wash and a bit of a dry brush to bring up details. Basing them I've yet to decide on.

I also received another Giant in Miniature from Dan at Wargames Illustrated earlier this week in response to my recently published Quick Fire! piece. I chose the Sir John Hawkwood figure which in the fullness of time will be added to my Italian Wars collection. Not quite yet though as I'm still persevering with my Late Roman project, the first four figures of the Legion being finished now and four more are well underway.

Light on their feet?

Well some, but not all, as it turns out. It's taken a while, what with Norse Mythology distractions and falling out of the loft, but I've added further strength to the Late Roman collection in the shape of two bases of Goth Skirmishing Light Infantry and two bases of Late Roman Heavy Cavalry. All the figures are from Wargames Foundry's venerable range as you'd surely expect and we're part of my purchase at the recent The Other Partizan. As ever the bases are from Warbases, my go to supplier down the years, and the shield transfers are from LBMS. 

The Goths are of course catalogued as Franks or Saxons but they do the job for me and of course fit into the rest of the collection seamlessly. I chose figures for these Light Infantry skirmishing bases from the most active in the packs, together with a more sedated leader from the Command Pack. They will of course feature in the armies of Baldinus or Gornalus.

The Heavy Cavalry are from a mixture of the Cataphractarii, Heavy Cavalry and Roman Commanders packs with the horses rejigged to suit the units added recently (See earlier A Mixed Bag post) to the collection. They will join Pompus Minimaximus' army as his Christian Goth Bucallerii, hence the round shields with various appropriate devices adorning them.

I've started on another Legion for the army of Pompus Minimaximus which I hope to complete before being overtaken by the seasonal festivities! More there in due course as you'd expect. Back to the painting desk now then!

High Noon at the KO Coral

For our final scheduled monthly game in GHQ Paul had requested something light-hearted and fun. My thoughts naturally turned to a game not often seen out on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ, namely  a Western Gunfight game set in New Paddock City. 

I thought a few of you might enjoy seeing the collection of buildings, figures and ephemera out on show and so without more ado here we go ~

Even western town feel the need of a name board delineating the civic boundary, so I scratch built this one back in the day. The skulls are from Dixon Miniatures and the cacti I brought back from my first Historicon. For any interested folk I painted them green and then it coated them in PVA and immersed them in static grass so they look the part.

Let's take a look then, starting with a view down Main Street, New Paddock City, 1884 towards the infamous bordello known to all as Madame Moustache's.

My figure collection is a mix mostly of Dixon Miniatures and Wargames Foundry - showing my age there I guess. The buildings bar one were from Battleflag, not sure who has them now though. I washed the frontages with various inks and made some signs while downloading others. The odd one out is an original HGWalls building I received as a Christmas gift from Dave.

All the buildings have lift off roofs so I added interiors using the resin sets from Frontline and papered some walls with downloads of Doll's House papers resized to look right.

As in this example showing the interior of the Aces High saloon, though it's obviously not papered.

Every western town needs a stagecoach and New Paddock City is no exception. 

Less attractive is the need for a seemingly ever expanding Boot Hill to keep up with all the carnage on the streets! The stage is from Dixon Miniatures while Boot Hill is made using Frontline graves set and MDF bases.

A new piano is delivered to the Aces High saloon! Let's hope the pianist lasts longer than the last one.

The Reverend Jeremiah Bykleigh rails against the sins of the flesh! Of which there is plenty on show it seems courtesy of the girls of Madame Moustache's bordello. Madame herself looks anything but impressed by his words!!

The peace will soon be disturbed though as the Dusst gang come into town aiming to rob the bank. They dismount on the outskirts and encouraged by the patriarch of the clan, Jed Dusst, they head on up Main Street.

They find their path towards the bank blocked by the forces of law and order, Sheriff Watson and his doughty deputies supported by Judge Paddock, the Hangin' Judge! Mind, with two wounds in the early exchanges he may not live to see them swing!

Ol' Stumpy MacFarlane, Watson's most loyal deputy,  has worked his way around behind the gang. He has the drop on Jeremiah Dusst and gives him both barrels at close range. One Dusst bites the dust you might say!

Further up Main Street the lead is flying thick ' n fast. Judge Paddock has three wounds, Deputy Aston has two and Sheriff Watson one. More Deputies hurry to their aid lest the remaining members of the Dusst gang reach the bank.

It may all be down now to the draw of the cards for activation as to who gets off the decisive shots as wounds have mounted on both sides.

Stumpy has to reload his shotgun having loosed off both barrels to account for Jeremiah Dusst. Darn it, he misses the opportunity to get Jed.

No worries though as Sheriff Watson guns down Jed Dusst despite being wounded himself. Stumpy has reloaded quickly and the remaining bandit  Obadiah Dusst gets both barrels. He will not rise again!

It's all over, the Dusst gang are all accounted for and on their way to Boot Hill. Sheriff Watson and his Deputies can get their wounds dressed. Leaving just Judge Paddock to ruminate on the lead robbing him of watching them swing...

Still he thinks, there's always another day and another low life to swing on his gallows. But, to finish on a more genteel note so you don't have nightmares a few more general shots of the collection.

Plenty of business no doubt for the town's undertaker and never a slack moment at Madame Moustache's!

Business is usually pretty brisk in Byk Li's Chop House too. A gunfight sure seems to whet a man's appetites.

Meanwhile back to more mundane matters, even Home on the Range a man needs to eat. Beans...again? Now, which way is the wind blowing I ask?

Madame and her Girls just hope it's not in their direction!

Dwarfs of the Copper Hill

The final pieces for now in the small side project I've labelled as The Saga of Bicca Biccasson are finished and ready to be revealed to any interested passing reader. The figures are from Gripping Beast, a Lieutenant and four Hirdmen in the on-line catalogue. The figures are sympathetically rendered rather than being the stout stubbies you often see which I have to say I approve of. The Lieutenant figure I have designated as Broberg the Mighty, a Champion/Hero for the games, hence the larger 40mm base. Here they be anyway for you to decide ~

As you'd expect the bases are from the dependable Warbases and the shield transfers from LBMS via Phil. Finally, here they are with Knoris, the King Under The Hill ~

Now that Wargames Illustrated have published the December Discount codes I may order the few bits from North Star which I mentioned in an earlier entry, though we shall need to see the state of the Warchest first. Just for context then, here is the whole collection, including the two blanks for those pieces, stored in an A5 sized plastic box ~

Meanwhile I have progressed the Late Roman cavalry, so they should be along in a short while I hope, four down and the final two underway as I type.

Fol De Rol!

As with my search for a suitably priced Dragon which resulted in Snàrg, I wanted a Troll for the game, but again at a reasonable outlay for a side project. Lots of Troll figures available of course, but my eye was taken by a 'paint conversion' I saw on the web of a Copplestone Yeti to represent a snow troll. As you get two figures at a good price it was a no brainer, so off to North Star went my order!

First up in the painting queue was the a figure welding a very large bone which I chose to represent a snow troll. The colour scheme, all from the Foundry range was: for the flesh British Blue Grey mid, highlighted with Union Trousers Blue shade, while for the hair Arctic Grey shade dry brushed with Boneyard Light and lightly with Canvas light. The bone is unsurprisingly Boneyard shade and mid, while the fangs are Boneyard Light and the eyes are Bright Red Light! Not very original, but for me it will do.

The second figure I decided would represent a Forest Troll, so here is Gump! Again the palate is from the Foundry range: British Uniform Shade and Mid for the flesh, Terracotta Light for the lips and nipple. The hair is Russian Green Light dry brushed with Phlegm Green Shade and the lightly with Phlegm Green Mid. In both cases the base is 40mm MDF from Warbases, the vegetation from Gamers Grass via Great Escape Games. The snow Phil gave me, it's small plastic granules by the feel of it. It's also much whiter than it appears in the photos! 

Next up should be a few Dwarf Hirdmen and a Hero/Champion from the Gripping Beast range. I'm working on those figures alongside more Foundry Late Roman cavalry for the army of Pompus Minimaximus. More on them in due course too.

"The Dead Have Risen!"

 Here in GHQ at least, in the shape of the Gripping Beast/Ragnarok Draugr figures. Two of the figures in the photo are listed as Lieutenants, the other four are the pack in tattered robes. 

The main colours I used to try and create an ethereal look, inspired by the army of the dead in the Lord of the Rings movie, were:- Foundry Forest Green Light for the flesh, highlighted with Moss Light; Boneyard Light for the teeth; Bright Red Light for the eyes; the clothing I painted with the Foundry Raw Linen triad hoping for a suggestion of a shroud, a finish which I'd first used on the Viking shaman figure. I've tried to represent decay on the weapons and armour with a suggestion of rust and verdigris, dry brushing on Foundry Terracotta Mid and Orange Mid for rust, Forest Green Light for verdigris. Has it worked, well that's for others to decide? For myself I'm happy with it given my modest skill level. Where appropriate the shield transfers are from LBMS and the bases as ever are from Warbases ~

With the completion of the Draugr figures I'm left with the two Trolls (Copplestone Yetis in the North Star catalogue of course) and some Gripping Beast Dwarf figures - a Champion/Hero and four Dwarf Hirdmen. All are underway so should appear here later in December {DV}. I have a couple of ideas for adding to the 'Bad things' using items from the Crucible Crush Flint 'n Feather range, but that must wait for the War Chest to recover from the annual cost of the GHQ Calendar for my many chums!

Meanwhile, after a weekend hiatus entertaining Matt, Arthur and Reuben, it will be back to the Late Roman collection firstly in the shape of more Late Roman Heavy Cavalry.