David's Painting and Modeling Log
Part 3
2025 - current

Modling Log Part 1 2007 - 2017	Modling Log Part 2 2017 - 2024	28mm Science Fiction - Traveller and Stargrave	Wargames
Miniatures Gallery	Back to Model Making

Painting Tally 2025

Painting Tally for 2024:
15mm Fantasy
1 War Mammoth, 87 Orcs, 3 Dwarf Generals, 218 Dwarves, 2 Dwarf Mages, 5 Adventurers, 1 Orc General, 1 Shieldmaid General, 1 Shieldmaid Witch, 70 Shieldmaids, 4 Ogres, 1 Gnome Illusionist, 13 Snow Trolls, 12 Easterling Archers, 15 Easterling Foot, 7 Easterling Cavalry, 1 Easterling Mage, 2 Easterling Generals, 1 Wizard
15mm Historical
26 Norse Irish, 33 African Allies
28mm Fantasy
6 Blades, 16 Pikes, 3 Sneakers, 2 Lurkers, 2 Riders, 3 Heroes, 3 Shooters
28mm Science Fiction
6 figures
Equipment and Scenery
1 Orc Camp, 2 European tents, 1 African Hut, 2 baggage elements
Rebased
3 Mammoths

Painting Tally for 2023:
15mm Fantasy
13 Elementals, 44 Vampirians, 10 Lizardmen, 4 Owlbears, 7 Undead, 5 Ogres, 1 Giant Frog, 1 Cyclops, 103 Orcs, 4 Adventurers, 5 Dragons, 4 Trolls, 1 Giant, 5 Centaurs, 2 Golems, 4 Giant Rats, 94 Frigians, 1 Hydra, 24 Demons, 4 Wolves, 8 Spiders, 2 Monks, 1 Gorgon, 8 Vermian Cavalry, 1 Bestian Heavy Chariot
15mm Historical
27 African Allies, 250 Portuguese Colonials, 1 Elephant, 81 Portuguese Indian Allies, 31 Hebrews, 86 Vikings, 8 Myceneans
Rebased
4 15mm Light Horse, 2 15mm Elephants, 3 15mm Lancers
Equipment and Scenery
1 Medium Gun, 2 Baggage elements, 1 Heavy Gun, 1 Tent, 1 Statue, 5 Dungeon Doors, 1 Fantasy House, 3 Castle Walls

Painting Tally for 2022:
28mm Fantasy
11 Dwarves, 1 Ogre, 10 Clanrats, 3 Humans, 1 Gnome, 5 Gnolls, 6 Knights, 16 Duergar, 3 Demon Cavalry, 1 Duergar Rune Priest, 1 Stone Giant
28mm Science Fiction
119 figures
15mm Fantasy
68 Bestian Infantry, 2 Bestian Standards, 2 Bestian Generals, 2 Bestian Chariots, 22 Demons, 36 Orcs, 8 Wraiths, 2 Ghouls, 8 Mummies, 1 Golem, 2 Minotaurs, 50 Kobolds, 50 Eastern Humans, 1 Elf General, 49 Elf Infantry, 1 Elf Mage, 1 Gorgon, 2 Gods, 2 Skeletons, 1 Hydra, 6 Human Knights, 6 Elf Cavalry
15mm Historical
32 Mycenaeans
Equipment and Scenery
1 15mm Fantasy Easterner catapult, 29 Scatter Terrain, 1 Landing Pad, 20 28mm Creatures, 4 Ladders, 41 bases of plants, 1 28mm Duergar Cannon

Painting Tally for 2021:
15mm Fantasy
14 Elf Cavalry, 32 Rats, 34 Gnomes, 1 Cold Drake, 1 Blue Dragon, 2 Lindworms, 13 Elf Infantry, 125 Dwarves, 41 Drow
28mm Fantasy
30 Duergar, 31 Skeletons, 30 Drow, 2 Wizards, 4 Fliers, 2 Behemoths, 4 Lurkers, 6 Beasts, 1 God/Hero, 2 Driders
28mm Science Fiction
301 Figures
10mm War of the Spanish Succession
56 Cavalry, 117 Infantry, 8 Generals
Equipment and Scenery
1 Creature, 1 Building, 2 1/1000th Starships, 6 Scatter Terrain, 1 28mm Landing Craft, 2 15mm Gnome Ballista

Painting Tally for 2020:
15mm Fantasy:
749 Infantry, 66 Cavalry, 1 Hero on Gryphon, 1 Hydra, 17 Bats, 1 Bat swarm, 2 Elephants, 2 Gods, 3 Gargoyles, 2 Dragonbra
Equipment and Scenery:
5 catapults, 2 Chariots

Painting Tally for 2017:
15mm Fantasy:
328 Infantry, 44 Cavalry, 7 Monsters
15mm Fantasy Scenery:
3 copses, 1 Small Tower
10mm War of the Spanish Succession:
229 Infantry, 64 Cavalry, 5 Guns and Limbers, 6 Generals and Aides, 16 Casualties
10mm Fantasy:
270 Infantry, 164 Cavalry, 1 Demonstone, 53 Monsters

Painting Tally for 2016:
15mm Fantasy:
7 Aerial, 26 Monsters
121 Cavalry, 967 Infantry, 2 Artillery pieces
15mm Fantasy Scenery:
4 Dungeon Doors, 2 Cottages, 10 Castle Sections, 60 Trees, 18 Casualties

21 December 2025

Painted:
10mm Fantasy
8 Ogres, 101 Goblins, 105 Elves, 4 Elf Artillery, 11 Elf Mages, 8 Elf Generals, 1 Ogre General, 6 Goblin Generals

And then it was October. At work, I obtained my First Aid Certificate, my F Endoresement on my Driver's License, and my Forklift License, and I learned to pace myself more when it came to the physical cargo handling, so that my body felt less like a wreck at the end of each week.

And I got some more painting done.

Finally finished off my Black Gate Miniatures Ogres with some Armoured Ogres.

Nice figures and should give my Goblins a bit of heft.

Again, from the pack of nine figures, I pulled one out to base as a General/Hero.

In my 10mm "To Paint" pile were several packs of Orcs and Goblins from Irregular Miniatures. I know some people love Irregular Miniatures figures, but I have been hugely disappointed with their 10mm and 15mm Fantasy figures. Here's a regiment of Goblins.

And a second regiment, with a few orcs mixed in as Great Goblins.

A third regiment, with some orc archers mixed in.

A fourth regiment.

And a fifth regiment.

Somehow, I managed to misplace a regiment when I went for the group shot. At least they were fairly quick to paint, and don't look too bad enmass.

Three Goblin General bases - the left General and the right General are Magister Militum Orcs, painted as Goblins.

Black Gate Ogres and Irregular Goblins, showing the size difference.

White Shields regiment of Elves from Magister Militum.

Another regiment of formed Elf Archers.

A regiment of Elvish rangers or Glade Guards.

A second regiment of Elvish rangers or Glade Guards.

The Elvish Scouts are loose formation troops.

A battery of Elvish Bolt shooters - artillery from Pendraken Miniatures.

Another three Elvish Generals or Heroes bases.

Two High Level Elvish Mages.

A selection of Elvish Mages.

At this point, I had completed the huge 10mm Elf project started back in 2018.

17 December 2025

Painted:
10mm Fantasy
16 Ogres, 1 Ogre General, 128 Elves, 1 Elf Mage, 7 Elf Generals, 30 Man-Orcs, 54 Goblins

During September, I discovered just how physical this freight handling job was - physically exhausting, and various muscles I didn't know I had aching. Towards the end of the month, the aches began to grow less as I became a little bit fitter.

I pressed on with my 10mm painting project, finishing some figure packs from various manufacturers, as well as getting stuck into a huge pile of Magister Militum Elves I bought from an Australian guy on the Warmaster Downunder Facebook group back in 2018.

These popped out of my lead mountain - after some hunting around, I discovered that they are Laran Miniatures trolls, though work very well for Ogres. Unfortunately, Laran Miniatures appears to have ceased trading since I bought these in 2018.

Ogre Warriors from Black Gate Miniatures.

The Laran Miniatures trolls pretty much match the height of the Black Gate Ogres.

As the Black Gate Ogres come in packs of nine, this time around I pulled one out to base as a General or Hero.

Hauling out my big box of unpainted Magister Militum Elves, I painted up another regiment of formed archers.

When I came to look at the spear Elves, I had a bit of an epiphany - as formed, regular, infantry, why not go full Byzantine and back the heavy infantry with a rank of archers? Possibly reduces the frontal fighting factor a little, but adds a shooting factor, particularly in rule sets like Fantastic Battles. And makes use of the Elves traditional strength in their keen-eyed archers.

A second Elvish regiment in the new style, to join the earlier Bronze Shields.

The Silver-shield Elvish Regiment.

A selection of Elvish Generals and Heroes.

And an Elvish Mage.

September's Elvish Brigade.

A regiment of Copplestone Half-Orc spearmen. I do like Copplestone's Lord of the Rings inspired Fantasy figures.

And a regiment of Goblins. My goblins have red-brown skin tones - inspired by the description of Goblins in the AD&D Monster Manual. These figures came from a Russian manufacturer called Polar Fox who, sadly, seems to be out of business.

21 November 2025

Painted:
Scenery
1 Ruined Temple, 2 Ruined Pillars, 1 Monolith, 1 Trilithon, 2 Large Wall sections
10mm Fantasy
12 Warg Riders, 65 Elves, 18 Human Soldiers, 24 Man-Orc Archers

The employment draught finally broke in August as I landed a job as a Driver/Freight Handler for a Domestic Air Freight Company. The money isn't great, but the work is interesting and varied.

Having run out of plastic card for basing my 15mm figures, and not feeling financial enough to order more, I started pottering around with more scenic models. Having just played a wargame with my 10mm Fantasy figures, I dug out the rest of my 10mm-to-be-painted pile, and the bases I had put aside for them, and began to press forward on that, long-stalled, project.

A long time ago (pre 2018), I picked up a Warhammer Arcane Ruins scenic set off Trade Me. Back in 2018 I painted up a trilithon and a couple of pillars from the set, and then put the rest of the box away in my stash. Inspired by the ruined temple featured in my campaign battle, The Second Battle of Temple Hill, I dug out the box again, and painted up this ruined temple base.

While the temple base is of a small temple in 28mm, for 15mm or 10mm figures the base becomes a temple complex of epic proportions - each of the flat platforms are about 40mm x 40mm. It's obviously an Evil temple as, in true Games Workshop style, there's a massive skull etched into the floor.

Broken pillars of Evil.

A monolith of, probably, Evil.

Monolith on the temple base - Evil intensifies.

A trilithon of, well, Evil. This trilithon I actually glued together and mounted on an old CD as a piece of scatter terrain.

15mm Mounted General for scale.

Go big, or go home, if you're building an Evil trilithon.

Picking up where I left off my 10mm Fantasy project in 2018, I completed this regiment of Elf Spears from Eureka Miniatures - the standard bearer and horn blower are from Magister Militum.

A regiment of Elf Spear from Magister Militum. Magister Militum, itself, closed earlier this year as the owners retired. Some of the ranges, mainly the 10mm Historical ranges, have been on-sold to 10th Legion, run by the good folks at Baccus Miniatures (better known for their 6mm ranges). I thought the Magister Militum 10mm Fantasy ranges might be lost, but they are still being cast to order through Magister Militum's eBay store.

These Elves, however, were amongst the last figures I bought from Magister Militum back in 2018 - finally finished.

And a regiment of Billmen from Pendraken.

So, I'm finally up to date with the 10mm figures I was painting seven years ago.

Fresh out of their packaging, a regiment of Half-Orc Archers from Copplestone Castings. The figures come in strips of two, but I was able to carefully cut them apart into singles. This worked much better for me basing them in three ranks.

A regiment of Orc Wolfriders - though I tend to refer to them as Warg Riders. Functioning more like shock medium cavalry, this differentiates them from Goblin Wolfriders, who tend to be more like mounted skirmishers.

Lovely figures, again from Copplestone Castings, available through North Star Figures.

And finally, the last two large wall sections. These are probably 28mm scale, but will also function for 10mm or 15mm figures.

Painted:
15mm Fantasy
6 Etruscan Cavalry, 2 Etruscan Generals, 57 Dwarf Infantry, 2 Dwarf Heroes, 7 Dwarf Generals
Scenery
4 Stone Walls, 1 hedge, 6 Large Wall sections, 9 Large Wall joiners/corners, 1 House

During July, my hunt for work continued. Sending off application after application and hearing nothing back was very demoralising. As I recall, I booked two days of work for the entire month. Plodding on with model painting was one bright spot, as well as setting up and playing a couple of solo wargames to try out the Midgard and Fantastic Battles rules sets I had bought previously. I also pulled the various Fantasy battles I've played into a coherant narrative and fleshed out more of my Olde Worlde setting, which was very satisfying.

While I had run out of the Battle Valor Games Equion mounts, I decided to mount my final unit of Ippeis or Knight Caste of the Dodecopolis on horses (perhaps aquired in trade from the lands to the north). Riders and horses are Etruscan Heavy Cavalry from Forged in Battle's War and Empire range.

My last two Etruscan Generals, mounted on Equions.

This pretty much brought my Fantasy Etruscans to completion. I was just waiting on some Splintered Light Fauns to be Satyr auxilia for my centaurs. In an attempt to avoid the heavy postal charges out of the US, I made the mistake of placing the order with a UK shop called The Little Corporal. I had attempted to order from this seller before, and after eleven months of his bad health, poor communication, and general pissing about, I finally got my money back - no figures though. This time, his business seemed to be running more smoothly so I placed a second order, and then he was ill again, and he only holds limited stock and had to order from the US, and then Royal Mail lost the order and it had to be resent. I think I got the figures, finally, in August - three months after placing the order - but, by then, I was painting 10mm Fantasy so the poor old Fauns are sitting on a shelf, neglected. The moral of the story is do not order from The Little Corporal. Seriously, it's not worth the aggravation. I've been ordering figures from the US and the UK for over 40 years and have only had two orders fail to reach me. The Little Corporal nearly doubled this score in the space of 18 months.

Amongst my pile of unpainted things were these four, resin, stone wall sections from Battle Valor Games. So, I painted these up around other figure painting.

I've had a half-painted resin hedge section sitting on my painting table for several years - it finally got finished, though I may have been a little heavy handed with the flock.

My friend John off-loaded a selection of 28mm scale stone walls and wall joiners and corners on me, so I painted these up, too.

I think these have come out rather well.

They will even work with 15mm figures as estate walls.

The final building from a Human Settlement set I bought from Alternative Armies backin 2017/2018. It seems to be a bit more expensive now, than I remembered paying back then.

It's a lovely model and, in true Medieval style, I painted the woodwork different colours on each side of the house.

The house is probably closer to "true" 15mm scale, though the Elizabethan houses I saw in the UK back in '91 were surprisingly small.

House and garden.

House and estate.

I wanted to expand my collection of Khurasan Dwarves, or Fainn's Folk as they are known in my Fantasy Campaign. When I first bought them, I wasn't too impressed as they looked more like short Vikings than Dwarves of legend and lore. Coming back to them while rebasing all my generals, I was suitably impressed - they are lovely sculpts and get away from the increasingly cartoonish hairy barrels on stubby legs, a trope that I put down to the influence of Games Workshop on figure design.

My initial order of Dwarves had been the Yule Pack, which alledgedly expired at the end of 2018 (though is still listed on the Khurasan website). I discovered that by dropping the pack of archers, I could essentially order the same figure packs for essentially the same price, which is what I did. The Dwarf Hird have been resculpted in full armour and now look more like Tolkien's description of the Dwarves of Belegost who drove off Glaurung the Dragon in the First Age.

A regiment of Leidang with mixed weapons, with a couple of huscarls mixed in.

A regiment of huscarls.

Another regiment of huscarls and leidang.

Heroes and Generals.

Hird Hero (left) and Huscarl Hero (right).

Hird General and companion and Dwarf King General.

Dwarf General.

The Host of Fainn's Folk.

The Hird on the right flank of the army.

The centre of the host.

The left flank.

Painted:
15mm Fantasy
59 Etruscan Hoplites, 4 Etruscan Generals, 13 Elf Archers, 15 Elf Infantry, 8 Vampirian Infantry, 2 Vampirian Heroes, 2 Etruscan Hippogriffs, 12 Etruscan Cavalry

By June, work had dropped off a cliff. I managed to book 8 days during the entire month - a three day swing to Mt Cook, three days on a show (Central Cee, a Brit rapper), a commercial, and a delivery run to Hamilton. While hunting for work, I painted a few more things.

I continued on with my fantasy Greco/Etruscan Army for De Bellis Fantasiae, finishing up the Hoplites. Again, these figures are from Forged in Battle's War and Empire Etruscan and Campania range.

4 elements of eterti zeri (free citizens).

And another 4 elements of eterti zeri (free citizens).

The final full regiment of eterti zeri (free citizens), with a half regiment to add to the half regiment completed last month.

A General base.

A Hero base.

General and Hero.

Infantry complete - just some Auxilia to come.

A unit of cavalry. The Ippeis or Knight Caste of the Dodecopolis ride Equions - mounted figures are Etruscan Heavy Cavalry from Forged in Battle's War and Empire range, while the Equion mounts are from Battle Valor Games.

A second unit of Ippeis.

Two regiments ready to ride.

And two Mounted Generals.

In the Ergamedion massif, which forms the western border of the Dodecapolis, dwell Griffins (Great Flyers) and Hippogriffs (Lesser Flyers). Here are a pair of Hippogriffs from Splintered Light Miniatures.

Hippogriffs are domesticated by the inhabitants of the two western cities of the Dodecapolis, Pupluna and Tolnarrii. Hippogriffs, being smaller than Griffins, are not ridden but are controlled by the trumpet calls of their handlers.

In the same order from Eureka Miniatures that included May's Centaurs or Kentavroi, I also received some more Elves of the Lofty Spire to boost my High Elf force.

I now have three regiments of Archers.

And three regiments of blades.

I may possibly add a further unit each of Archers and blades but, for the moment, I think the High Elves are complete.

My final half-regiment of Vampirian Infantry from Battle Valor Games. Again, I replaced the bat-wing shields with Legian infantry shields.

I ended up with a few figures left over, because of figures per pack versus figures per base, so I painted them up as Heroes.

And a second hero with companion.

Painted:
15mm Fantasy
6 Etruscan Cavalry, 4 Etruscan Griffin Riders, 24 Etruscan Light Infantry, 73 Etruscan Hoplites, 15 Centaurs, 1 Centaur Hero, 1 Centaur General, 2 Etruscan Generals, 2 Etruscan Elephants, 1 Sphinx, 26 Hobgoblins, 1 Hobgoblin General, 21 Dwarves, 1 Dwarf General

Work slowed down drastically during May so, in between contacting my contacts and applying for real jobs, I managed to paint a few things. I also started my new 15mm project, a fantasy Greco/Etruscan Army for De Bellis Fantasiae.

Within my "Olde Worlde fantasy setting, the Greco/Etruscans are known as the inhabitants of the Dodecapolis - the 12 Cities. The Dodecapolis is an arid land lying in the south. The twelve cities - Pupluna, Tolnarrii, Alturnanora, Vos, Kerapholnii, Sisyphanis, Ekran, Fulnenata, Cossinalta, Vetchano, Ossuluvarna and Kor - are independant but linked through a federal sanctuary and common cult centre near Ekran. Most cities lie in the fertile river valleys, though Alturnanora and and Vos lie in the temperate and forested Estmolopian Mountains in the north, and Kerapholnii lies in the Aeolios Mountains in the North-east.

Given the arid nature of most of the Dodecapolis, horses do not do well. The Ippeis or Knight Caste ride Equions - mounted figures are Etruscan Heavy Cavalry from Forged in Battle's War and Empire range, while the Equion mounts are from Battle Valor Games.

Equions are as swift as horses, but lack the stamina. They tend to frighten horses in a similar manner as camels.

Amidst the high, dry, peaks of the Ergamedion massif, which forms the western border of the Dodecapolis, dwell Griffins (Great Flyers) and Hippogriffs (Lesser Flyers).

Both Griffins and Hippogriffs are domesticated by the inhabitants of the two western cities of Pupluna and Tolnarrii.

Only the Griffins are ridden by Tolnarrii ippeis (knights). These formations are called ippeís ptéryges (Knight wings).

The mounted figures are Etruscan Heavy Cavalry from Forged in Battle's War and Empire range, while the Griffins are from Splintered Light Miniatures.

While the Ippeis and Ippeis Pteryges form the upper classes, or athumi (nobility), of the cities of the Dodecapolis, the ranks of each city's army are filled from the eterti zeri (free citizens).

Skirmishers with slings.

Skirmishers with javelins.

More skirmishers with javelins.

36 eterti zeri (free citizens) Hoplites.

And a second block of 36 eterti zeri (free citizens) Hoplites.

Deployed in three two-element deep phalanxes.

The shield blazons are Veni Vidi Vici waterslide transfers.

Nice hoplite figures from Forged in Battle's War and Empire Etruscan and Campania range, with a few Early Greek/Spartan Hoplites added in.

Third phalanx.

My more usual four-element regiment formation. As these figures are based for DBF, they are on 40mm x 15mm bases, rather than my preferred 40mm x 20mm bases.

Etruscan General.

Etruscan General or Hero.

The north-eastern Dodecapolisean city of Kerapholnii has trade links across the Aeolios Mountains into Patanamba (home state of my Nan Chao Fantasy Easterner army) where, amongst other things, they source forest elephants.

Due to distance and accessibility, the Eastern Dodecapolisean cities tend to field elephants while the Western cities field Griffins and Hippogriffs

The northern Estmolopian Mountains of the Dodecapolis are more temperate and heavily forested than the southern lowlands. Tribes of kentavroi, with satyroi subjects, have allied with the northern cities of Alturnanora and Vos. The kentavroi supply Alturnanora and Vos with a mix of archers and lancers.

Second regiment of kentavroi archers.

Two regiments ready for action.

Kentavroi Lancers.

The kentavroi are Eureka Miniatures Centaurs.

Kentavroi General and Standard.

General and Standard Bearer.

Kentavroi Hero with Standard.

Kentavroi Hero and Standard.

A Reaper Bones Sphinx. I bought this originally as a Fantasy element for my 15mm DBA Hebrew Army from Potbelly Miniatures, but eventually used a Deva as an Angel of the Lord.

While reading "Seven Against Thebes" by Stephen Dando-Collins as I was preparing to start on my Etruscan/Dodecapolis Army, it occured to me that the Sphinx would make either a Great Flyer, or a great Behemoth.

And so I quickly painted it up. The DBF rules have a nice magical effect for the Sphinx - The Riddle of the Sphinx - which adds a little extra colour to this interesting creature.

A fun model to paint up.

Wanting to round out some of my Fantasy Forces, I bit the incredibly-outrageous-cost-of-shipping-from-the-US bullet and picked up some Hobgoblins and some Dwarves from Khurasan Miniatures. First up, a regiment of Hobgoblins.

And a second Regiment of Hobgoblins. I now have five regiments of Swords and two of Pikes, plus two archer regiments, two units of artillery, two units of cavalry, and a unit of chariots. Add a General, and this force is done.

And here's the General - the Hobgoblin King.

With drummer and standard.

While ordering some more Shield Maids from Northstar Miniatures, I took the opportunity to pick up enough Copplestone Dwarves to finish off Thrasir's Folk, one of my Seven Houses of the Dwarves.

I needed two bases to finish off two existing regiments.

And enough Dwarves to make a fifth regiment.

They're a bit sparcer than other units, but that had a lot to do with the number of figures per pack.

But I had enough figures for a General's base.

And so completed that project.

Painted:
15mm Fantasy
6 Dwarf Artillery, 14 Dwarves, 12 Vampirians, 1 Western Knight
15mm Equipment and Buildings
1 Artifact
Space Ships
2 1/1000th Scale Space Ships
Rebased
15mm Fantasy
Gnoll General and Gnoll Mage, 4 Elf Heroes, 2 Elf Generals, 4 Elf Mages, 1 Wraith General, 1 Demon General, 2 Bugbear Heroes, 1 Bugbear General, 2 Western Men Generals, 1 Western Men Mages, 2 Orc Generals, 1 Goblin General, 1 Dwarf General, 1 Dwarf Hero

I was out of town on a film job for March and part of April. Once I got back to Auckland, I managed to get some new figures finished, while completing the rebasing of various General and Specialist figures as part of my Fantasy Army Audit.

I decided that Fraegr's Folk, the richest and most technologically advanced of my Seven Dwarf Houses (Ral Partha Europe Dwarves), needed some artillery. While Veigr's Folk (Battle Valor Games Dwarians) have some trebuchets, that's basically dropping rocks to fling rocks. Fraegr's Folk developed the more advanced torsion catapult.

These catapults (technically, bolt shooters) are from Essex Miniatures, the crews are from Ral Partha Europe.

Two packs of Bolt shooters gave me 4 pieces of artillery.

I do like the spotter figure, and the signaler, directing fire.

Two batteries of Bolt shooters.

I also bought two 30-mina stone throwers from Essex Miniatures for when you have to absolutely, positively, put a hole in someone's wall.

I think the stones the loaders are carrying are a bit out of scale, but it was the effect I was after.

A mixed battery about to lay down a world of hurt.

While I was away, a small order from Battle Valor Games arrived, which included some more (but not quite enough) Vampirians.

So I was able to complete another regiment of infantry, but don't quite have enough to finish the other regiment I completed back in February.

This piece started life as a resin sprue from an order of Orcs I got from Alternative Armies. I liked the Alternative Armies arrow head logo embossed in the sprue and so dropped it into my bits box. While painting up other things, I painted this up as an Artifact - a piece of scatter terrain.

With the arrival of Traveller: Book 9 Pirates, I was conned into running a Traveller Game for the first time in three - four years. Set amidst the Trailing polities between the Imperium and the 2000 Worlds, I've been having a lot of fun as my players loot and shoot their way around the Galian Federation.

It did give me a prompt to finish off these two ships - A Type-S scout (the arrow-like ship) and a Type-A2 Far Trader (the red ship).

The ships are 1/1000th scale models from Foreven Shipyards, a Shapeways store. Unfortunately, when Shapeways crashed and burned, the Shpaeways stores were lost in the wreck. While the new management is attempting to bring them back, I think that with cheap, home, 3D printers now readily available, the Shapeways model (which was becoming increasingly expensive) may have done its dash. Which is a shame, as these are nice models.

And on to the rebasing. First completed was a Gnoll Mage and Gnoll General from Splintered Light. I split the original Command base and gave each character a Hyenadon companion.

An Elf Hero, sounding his horn, and an Elf General and standard bearer from Eureka Miniatures. Originally, all three comprised a command group, but I couldn't fit three mounted figures on a 32mm fender washer. So the trumpeter became a separate Hero character.

Dismounted Elf General, with Standard bearer and Guards from Eureka Miniatures.

Elf Mage and Guards from Eureka Miniatures.

Mounted Elf Mage from Eureka Miniatures.

Wraith Lord and Demon General, with Escorts.

Left to Right: Left hand base - The Orc holding the banner of Angmar is from Splintered Light; the Witch King of Angmar is a Mounted Wraith from Alternative Armies; and the Wraith with Sword is from Khurasan Miniatures. Right hand base - the Great Enemy (Sauron) with Armoured Troll, both from Khurasan Miniatures.

Two Bugbear Heroes and a Bugbear General, with Mage, from Check Point Miniatures.

As with the Elf Command base, I was forced to split up the Western Men Command base as three mounted figures won't fit on a fender washer.. Fortunately, I received a Knight with Lance as a sample figure from Eureka Miniatures, so I painted it up to use as a second Mounted General figure.

I was able to cram three Mages, and their assistant, on to a washer base. The Orange and Red Mages are from Battle Valor Games, while the Green Mage is from Ral Partha Europe.

The Assistant is a Halfling Character figure from Battle Valor Games.

Orc Generals from the Blood Dawn range, stocked by Magister Militium until they closed down. The left hand general is supported by a Troll from Khurasan Miniatures and, mostly obscured, an Orc drummer from Ral Partha Europe. The right hand general, is supported by a drum bearer and a drummer - all three from the Blood Dawn range.

Dismounted and mounted Elf Mages from Battle Valor Games.

When rebasing the Battle Valor Games Elf mounted Command bases, I again had the problem that while three figures would fit on a 40mm square base, only a maximum would fit on a 32mm round base. The extra figures became three mounted Heroes.

The completed Elf Generals from Battle Valor Games.

Goblin General - chariot and crew from Magister Militium, sword wielding Goblin in red-plumed helmet from Splintered Light. The chariot barely fitted onto the round base.

Two Generals of Fainn's Folk - Khurasan Miniatures Dwarves.

Dwarf Hero and companion, also from Khurasan Miniatures. The "spikes" are loose flock that I hadn't noticed were still attached to the miniatures, until I used the zoom lens on my camera.

Painted:
15mm Fantasy
40 Orcians, 12 Vampirian Cavalry, 6 Vampirian Infantry, 1 Vampirian General, 2 Adventurers, 1 Beastian General, 1 Beastian Heavy Chariot
28mm Fantasy
4 Adventurers
15mm Equipment and Buildings
3 Castle Walls, 2 Towers
Rebased
15mm Fantasy
3 Mages, 1 Beastian Heavy Chariot

During February, painting slowed down as work got busier but I did manage to complete painting up my Orcians, complete the rebasing of the first set of Generals and Specialist figures, and conduct a survey of the other half of my Fantasy collection to work out what had to be rebased there.

Third-to-last regiment of Battle Valor Games Orcians.

And the second-to-last regiment of Orcians.

As with the previous regiments I painted up, each pair of regiments share the same livery. As with the regiments I painted in January, I reverted to basing these figures on 40mm x 20mm element bases in anticipation of the release of DBF - De Bellis Fantasiae, four elements to the regiment.

And the final Orcian regiment - a second regiment of pikes. This time, I opted to equip the pike Orcians with reinforcing wire pikes, as opposed to the thinner Northstar wire pikes, which are both flexible, and very sharp. Because I wanted my pike blocks to look dense, I opted for three ranks of figures, which necessitated 40mm x 40mm bases.

Amongst the few figure packs left over from various Battle Valor Games Kickstarters I've backed, were some Vampirian cavalry. As before, I replaced their bat wing shields with Legian waisted cavalry shields.

A second regiment of Vampirian lancers. In the Battle Valor Games mythos, the Vampirians are Vampires. I haven't completely decided how they will fit into my Fantasy mythos, though I see them associated with Undeath (they have skeleton militia, and Necromancers/Bone Dancers).

The two regiments of lancers, bringing my Vampirian cavalry to four regiments of lancers.

Two elements of Vampirian infantry - I don't quite have enough figures to make two full regiments, so I'll have to get another pack at some stage.

A Vampirian Cavalry Officer repurposed as a General. Also, I rebased my coven of witches.

I replaced the Officer's bat shield and think he'll make an excellent General or Hero.

My Witch Coven - Maiden, Mother and Crone. The Maiden and Mother are from Ral Partha Europe, while the Crone is from the Battle Valor Games Orcian Character pack.

Two more Adventurers from Splintered Light Miniatures - a Fighter or Paladin, and an Assassin or Thief.

The composition of Splintered Light's Dungeon Crawl packs seems to have changed and I can no longer work out which packs these are from.

As I recall, this figure, a Bulltaur, was a sample from Battle Valor Games Beastian range. I decided to paint him up as a General or Hero.

Heavily armoured, and with a huge mace, he should punch holes in enemy lines.

This is my original Beastian Heavy Chariot from Battle Valor Games. I decided to rebase this chariot onto an 80mm x 80mm 2mm thick plasticard base. This gave me enough rook to add a Centaurian outrider.

Again, I was able to pretty much hide the join between the origianl base and the new, larger base.

A new Beastian Heavy Chariot, on an 80mm x 80mm 2mm plasticard base, from Battle Valor Games. These don't seem to be available on the website and I seem to have a vague recollection that Ed only released these models as part of a Kickstarter.

This time, the outrider is a Beastian mounted on a bison.

Heavy Chariot unit ready to roll.

I'm not sure if the Orcian Pikes can hold against the chariots.

The subject of playing the Fantasy Role Playing Game Runequest was floated again, recently. So, I dusted off some 28mm figures from an abandoned Runequest project and completed these guys.

Homeric Mycenean Warrior and Sea Person. The Mycenean is possibly Argus from Wargames Foundry's Argonaut range, the Sea Person is from the Sea Peoples range.

Duck from Star Hat Miniatures though, again, this figure doesn't appear on the current catalog. Random human (possibly a Ronin or servant from a medieval Japanese range).

Practicle Duck travels with a backpack.

28mm towers and three wall sections. No idea who cast these - they're resin pieces my friend John was going to throw out in a futile attempt to reduce his Mountain of Shame.

I undercoated them in black, painted the blocks with grey poster paint, and then whacked Nuln Oil over the wall ections to high light the edges of the stones.

Nice, simple, colour scheme. Job done.

The parapets are a bit tall for 15mm figures but I see these items being used as a terrain piece or backdrop, so the scale isn't that critical.

This Adventurer works well as he's 25/28mm.

Otherwise, a nice bit of impassible terrain.

Painted:
15mm Fantasy
2 Adventurers, 19 Orcs, 74 Orcians
Rebased:
15mm Fantasy
3 Orcian Generals/Heroes, 3 Vampirian Generals/Heroes, 2 Black Orc Generals, 3 Dwarf Wizards, 3 Dwarf Heroes, 2 Dwarf Generals, 1 Orc General, 1 Hillman General, 2 Wood Elf Generals, 1 Scalian General, 1 Ringwraith General, 2 Easterner Mages, Easterner General and 2 Mages, 1 Gnome General, 2 Beastian Generals, 1 Wizard Lord

During late December and early January, I started an audit of my Fantasy Figures to see exactly what I had, and whether all the personality figures were suitably based for either Fantastic Battles or Midgard rulesets. I discovered that I had drifted backwards and forwards between basing personalities on round bases (usualy washers) and on square plastic card. As I was painting other figures, I began rebasing the personalities onto round bases.

Three Orcian Generals from Battle Valor Games, though the Orcian range doesn't currently appear on the BVG website.

Two Vampirian Generals and a Hero or Champion, all from Battle Valor Games.

Two Black Orc Generals from Alternative Armies

Three Dwarf Mages from Veigr's Folk - figures from Battle Valor Games, but currently not available on their webstore.

Three Dwarf Champions, or Heroes, of Veigr's Folk - figures from Battle Valor Games, but currently not available on their webstore.

Two Dwarf Generals of Veigr's Folk - figures from Battle Valor Games, but currently not available on their webstore.

Orc General and standard bearer on Fell Beasts from Eureka Miniatures excellent Fantasy range.

Hillman General - the standard bearer and hornblower are from Battle Valor Games Frigian range, which appears to have been withdrawn from production, while the Conan-esque General is from Copplestone Castings Barbarian Heroes pack. The Hillmen, mainly BVG Frigians, are the Mannish allies of the Witch King of Angmar.

Wood Elf General with hornblower, and General/Hero with standard. Figures from Eureka Miniatures, these are large 18mm.

Scalian General and Standard from Battle Valor Games Scalian range. I really like these figures and hope to expand my HoTT army to a full scale force (if you'll pardon the pun).

Wraith Lord on Fell Beast from Alternative Armies. Perfect as Lord of the Nazgul.

Easterner General and two mounted Mages. The General and friends are from Khurasan Miniatures T'ang Chinese range, the Mages are from Eureka Miniatures Samurai range, while the escorting cataphracts are from Eureka's Nan Chao range. I wanted to create an "Easterner" human force that was different from the usual "Fantasy Arab" trope. The Nan Chao were an interesting Southern Chinese polity - sometimes part of China, sometimes independent and dominating states in Laos and Vietnam.

Two Easterner Mages. Figures from Eureka Miniatures Samurai range. The pandas and Temple Dogs are from Splintered Light China Collection Set.

Gnome King from Peter Pig. These are actually Peter Pig Dwarves, but as they're quire small, I decided to use them as Gnomes.

Beastian General and Hero from Battle Valor Games.

Mage Lord and escort from Ral Partha Europe. The Escort is a Evil Overlord, also from Ral Partha.

While all this rebasing was going on, I also painted some new figures.

A pair of Adventurers from Splintered Light Miniatures. I can no longer locate the pack they came in, but they appear to be a Ranger and an Assassin.

The Ranger has a slung bow and arrows while the Assassin has a short sword and a dagger.

With about eight regiments of Orcians from Battle Valor Games to finish - left over from various orders and Kickstarters - I made a start.

The Orcians are big, brutal Goblinoids - pretty much half-trolls. With packs of swords, axes, and spears, as well as some berserker types, I was able to mix each unit up to give a horde-like appearance.

I adopted a fairly simple heraldry to distinguish the units, with two regiments sporting each colour.

I also reverted to mounting the figures on 40mm x 20mm bases, rather than my more usual 40mm x 40mm company bases, in anticipation of the upcoming release of De Bellis Fantasiae - DBF, an update of Hordes of the Things - HoTT and DBA.

I quickly hit a rhythm painting these guys - flesh bits; then various shades of brown for clothing, belts, shoes, etc; gunmetal blades, armour and helmets; black hair; shield colour and bladge; occasional cloak in dark red or green; then Nuln Oil to dull things down and bring out the detail in faces and hands.

They're definitely a brutal lot.

The original Orcians I painted had various moon symbols as their heraldry. With this group I opted for a more runeic series of badges.

The idea was to present a fairly brutalistic appearance.

I'm very pleased with how they eventually came out.

Six regiments completed.

I was one element short on my Orcian Skirmishers so I completed a command element for the second Skirmisher unit