David's Painting and Modeling Log
Part 2
2017 - current

28mm Science Fiction - Traveller and Stargrave

Modling Log Part 1 2007 - 2017

Wargames

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Painting Tally 2023

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

02 February 2024

Painted:
1 Elephant, 9 Portuguese Indian Allies, 2 Portuguese Indian Ally Light Horse, rebased 2 Portuguese Indian Ally Light Horse, 1 Cannon, 3 crew, 40 Portuguese Crossbowmen, 40 Portuguese Arquebusiers, 27 African Allies, 8 Vampirian Light Horse, 12 Vamprian Infantry, 6 Elementals

Work was a bit stop-start in December, and two weeks off with Covid didn't help, but I managed to work through some more figures for my Portuguese Colonial Army.

I painted up a third elephant for my Portuguese Colonial Army - another one from Eureka Miniatures Indonesian and Malay range.

I added some left-over archers to the base as escorts.

My last element of Indian Ally archers - Bow(I).

Rebased two Indian Ally Light Horse and added two new Light Horse archers.

An Artillery Ordinary - Art(O). Gun by Essex Miniatures, crew from Eureka Miniatures' Buccaneer, Pirate and Naval range.

The Buccaneers have lots of lovely little details, like their bags and pouches.

In the early part of Portuguese Colonial army list, up to half of the Civilisados foot can be armed with crossbows. After 1520, the arquebus begins to make an appearance, but it's not until after 1550 that the crossbow is phased out and the Civilisados missile troops switch over to being exclusively firearm equipped.

Figures are from Eureka Miniatures' Grumpy Miniatures Portuguese range. I was two figures short for the number of elements I wanted, so slipped a couple of sword-armed figures into the mix.

The figure, third from the right, is a sample from Eureka Miniatures English Civil War range. This range is 18mm so the figure is taller than the 15mm Grumpy Miniatures crossbowmen. Fortunately, the height difference isn't as noticeable with a single figure.

Crossbows might seem an odd choice for a Renaissance army but Crossbows - Bow(O) - are still very effective against cavalry. The Portuguese didn't have much in the way of cavalry in their colonies as it was difficult and expensive to ship horses any distance by sea. They also discovered that the climate and local diseases were extremely hard on their horses. Consequently, Portuguese armies were always short of horse and needed means for fending off enemy cavalry, hence the retention of the crossbow.

Portuguese Civilisados shot - Shot(F).

And more Shot Fast.

And more Shot Fast. Figures from Eureka Miniatures Portuguese, Buccaneer, and Indonesian and Malay ranges by Grumpy.

Quite a bit of Shot Fast, actually.

Reading The Portuguese in West Africa 1415 - 1670 edited by Malyn Newitt got me interested in the African allies of the Portuguese - the Kongolese, the forest tribes and, in East Africa, the Zanj and the Monomotapa. Finding suitable figures was a trial as most African ranges are either Libyans/Abyssinians, or Zulus. I then (re)discovered Blue Moon's Deep Dark Africa. I ordered my figures through Old Glory UK as £12.80 postage (40% of order value) from the UK was a lot better than the $US94 Old Glory US intended to charge me for the same order!

I picked up two packs - Tribe 7 and Tribe 10 - with two packs of Shield type 3 as, in my opinion, these looked the most like the East African Shona people. If I order more, I will probably get some with Shield type 2 as this seems to be a more common shield type in East Africa, south of Ethiopia.

The shield designs are based on Shona shield patterns (thanks Google Images), drawn on the shield with a black sharpie, and then painted around.

These Old Glory figures are 18mm, which is why I based them on plastic card rather than the MDF bases I have used for the rest of Portuguese Colonial Army - to try and hide the height difference a little. The East African Monomotapa count as Warband Ordinary - Wb(O) - and seem to be rather stabby against enemy Foot. Can't wait to take them for a run.

In amongst all the historical figures I have been painting, I managed to complete some Fantasy figures as well. Firstly, a unit of mounted Vampirian Crossbows from Battle Valor Games - the Green Regiment.

A second unit of Vampirian Mounted Crossbows from Battle Valor Games - the Blue Regiment.

Another Vampirian Regiment of Foot from Battle Valor Games.

Once again, I replaced the batwing shields with Legian 'figure of eight' shields (which I think look better).

And finally I finished off my pack of elementals with two Water, two Earth, one Fire, and one Air Elemental - all from Alternative Armies.

28 December 2023

Painted:
72 Portuguese Indian Allies, 62 Portuguese Colonials, 1 Heavy Gun, 2 Baggage elements

On a roll, painting (and gaming with) my 15mm Renaissance Portuguese Colonial Army, in November I continued to swap out proxies with actual completed figures as they rolled off the production line.

9 elements of Bow(I) - three figures per base. I didn't quite manage to finish the tenth element.

As Bow(I) count rear support, I painted up up some gong players to lead each pair of elements.

Just need to finish one more element of Bow(I) to complete my archer detachment.

Three elements of Bow(O).

Three elements of Indian Blade(F), from Eureka Miniatures' Indonesian and Malay range.

Two elements of Horde(O) - Indonesian and Malay spearmen.

Another two elements of Horde(O).

Two elements of Skirmisher(O) on the left and three Skirmisher(I) on the right. The morion-wearing troops are from Essex, while the hat-wearers are from Grumpy.

Skirmisher(X) - Naptha bomb throwers.

Two elements of Portuguese Civilisados Blade(F) and an element of African Slave Blade(F).

Four elements of Civilisados Blade(F) - a mixture of sword and shieldmen and half-pikes.

Another four elements of Blade(F).

And another three elements of Blade(F).

Light Horse(O). These are a mix of rebased figures (the sabre-armed cavalry) and new figures (the bow-armed cavalry) from Eureka Miniatures.

Two more elements of Light Guns - the banner bearer is a left-over Afghan/Moghul from Eureka Miniatures.

The General of the Portuguese Army is usually a Blade(O) infantry element. Optionally, the General can be a Lancer(F). These guys are from Essex Miniatures.

The Great Man, himself - Dom Diego de Diablo.

Heavy Gun - Art(S) - I probably won't use this gun very often, but it's nice to have it "in the back pocket", so to speak.

Three lovely baggage camels from Essex Miniatures.

Two-wheeled ox-drawn waggon from Essex Miniatures.

The halberds were left over from the Grumpy blade infantry. I have since added a cargo chest to the waggon, redeployed from the Norse Irish DBA army I bought from Baueda (and have failed to paint yet).

Painted:
10 Lizardmen, 12 Vampirians, 1 Air Elemental, 1 Water Elemental, 1 Earth Elemental, 1 Tent, 105 Portuguese Colonials, rebased 2 Elephants,
rebased 3 Lancers

I kept on plodding through bits and pieces in October. And then a visit to the annual Push of Pike Renaissance Wargames convention side-tracked me into finishing off an old project.

Another Lizardmen Clan from Ral Partha Europe.

The rest of the Lizardmen Clan.

Another regiment of Battle Valor Games Vampirian spears.

As with the other Vampirians I've completed, I replaced the Vampirian batwing shields with Legian shields.

Three more Elementals from the Alternative Armies Lesser Elementals pack. This time, an Air Elemental, a Water Elemental and an Earth Elemental.

During October, as I mentioned earlier, I attended the annual Push of Pike DBR Renaissance Wargames Tournament. This inspired me to dig out an old project - my Portuguese Colonial Army - and I decided to work on finishing it. Amongst the first elements completed was this recycled tent for my baggage camp.

The tent is a resin cast and probably dates back to Military Miniatures in the 90s. I think its been kicking around in my spares box for several decades. The halberds were spares I got from Eureka Miniatures.

36 Portuguese Colonial shot - 9 elements - Sh(F) (Fast Shot in DBR terms).

All figures are from Eureka Miniatures Grumpy ranges - Portuguese, Indonesian and Malay, and Buccaneer and Pirate and Naval.

The Portuguese infantry of this period are described as poorly paid, badly disciplined, yet fierce fighters. Mixing various figures together gives a nice, ragged, look. In DBR, Shot Fast move more quickly than standard Shot - they move in looser formations - and tend to discharge a volley, before charging fiercely.

33 African and Arab swordsmen - 11 elements - Bd(F) (Fast Blades in DBR terms).

All figures are from Eureka Miniatures Grumpy ranges - Portuguese, and Persian and Afghan and Moghul. The swordsman at the (camera) back left is a sample figure but I'm not sure which range he's from.

Like the Fast Shot, Fast Blades move faster than standard blades, and charge hard.

15 Portuguese Fast Blades (5 elements). The figures are all from Eureka Miniatures Grumpy ranges - Portuguese, and Buccaneer and Pirate and Naval range.

Fast Blades in DBR are described as being armed like Spanish sword and buckler men with a mixture of blade weapons and small shields, or like Japanese yari men with light or half-pikes. I added some Buccaneers with boarding pikes to my Fast Blades for that extra bit of stabby action.

And where you don't have a half-pike, a good old halberd allows you to reach out and touch someone.

The Portuguese Colonial Army can have a selection of almost evey type of Artillery available in DBR. The Indian Allies I use in my force can have Rocketeers - Art(X). These figures are from Essex Miniatures, and match well with Grumpys sizewise.

Also from Essex, jingals or wall guns as Art(I). The officer in yellow is from the Persian and Moghul and Afghan rangee.

A second element of Art(I).

An element of Skirmishers with naphtha bombs - Sk(X). One figure is from Essex while the other is from Irregular Miniatures.

When I first got interested in making the Portuguese Colonial Army, over a decade ago, amongst the first figures I painted were two elephants and crews from Grumpys Indonesian and Malay range. After a decade sitting in a box, I needed to wash the dust off them and rebase them to match my new basing style.

Dating from the same time period as the Elephants, this element of lancers also required dust washing off and rebasing. I think these lancers are from the Persian and Afghan and Moghul range.

And three General elements - the three figure elements are Blade (F) subgenerals while the four figure element is the Blade (O) General.

05 December 2023

Painted:
3 15mm Hebrews, 16 15mm Vikings, 1 Statue, 1 Frog, 2 Ogres, 2 Fire Elementals, 1 Air Elemental, 3 Ghosts, 4 Owlbears, 1 Cyclops, 12 Vampirans

In and around work, I continued to complete bits and pieces during September - finishing off my Hebrew and Viking DBA armies.

Final element of my 15mm DBA Hebrew Army - "Other Tribesmen" (3Ax). Figures are 3D prints from Red Copper Miniatures, printed by Potbelly Miniatures.

In a late surge, I completed my second Viking army, which becomes the 2nd Command in Big Battle DBA, or BBDBA. Four elements of Raiders (3Bd).

One element of Huscarls (4Bd).

My last order from Alternative Armies included a free resin 28mm Dwarf as a promotional piece. I decided to paint it up as a 15mm stone statue as a bit of scatter terrain.

I decided to dress the base as if the statue survived in some ruined Dwarf hall.

Giant Frog from Alternative Armies - just the thing for Hordes of the Things if your Magic User fails a spell roll.

Herr Frog is a recently re-released 28mm creature from AA.

Another pair of Ogres from Alternative Armies. I do like these figures, they seem very true to the original cannibalistic French giant-types.

Rear view - the Ogre on the right has brought his lunch.

During our AD&D games, we have encountered a number of Elementals. While ordering various other bits and pieces from Alternative Armies, I decided to pick up a pack of Lesser Elementals. Here are two completed Fire Elementals and an Air Elemental.

And I added three Ghosts, from a sample set, to my collection of Undead. These are also from Alternative Armies.

I attempted to make them look more etherial by opting for a base colour of various shades of green with white high lights.

A pack (?), flock (?), sloth (?) of Owlbears from Splintered Light Miniatures.

There are only two poses in the pack of four Owlbears so I tried different colour combinations to give a bit of variety.

I remember watching The 7th Voyage of Sinbad as a Saturday afternoon matinee on television. One of the amazing monsters was the Cyclops, who looked a lot like this guy from Alternative Armies.

Remastered and cast in resin, rather than lead, the Cyclops has separate arms, which are slightly posable, if you use filler to hide the gaps.

And after a break, I completed another regiment of Battle Valor Games Vampirian spears.

Once again, I swapped out the Vampirian batwing shields for Legian Infantry Shields.

12 September 2023

Painted:
4 Trolls, 1 Dragon, 2 Dungeon Doors, 1 Earth Elemental, 27 15mm Vikings, 27 15mm Hebrews, 1 Angel, 3 Ogres, 2 Castle Walls, 4 Adventurers, 15 Orcs

August turned into a relatively productive painting month. My overnight shifts for FIFA continued at the beginning of the month and I then had three weeks off when that job finished.

First up, four more trolls for our AD&D game from Alternative Armies, the left two are traditional lead alloy castings while the right two are resin casts. The resin casts are nice and crisp and paint up well.

Also from Alternative Armies, a Red Dragon.

The model looks like it's just launching itself into the air. Rather cleverly, the tail acts as a flight stand.

Scale shot - the Red Dragon swooping down on three Berserkers.

Two doors from Ral Partha Europe. The door on the right is double sided, so intended to be free standing, while the door on the left is actually single sided, designed to be attached to a wall - I've mounted it as a free-standing door.

Earth Elemental from Alternative Armies. This is a resin, three-part, casting I received as a promotional piece from Alternative Armies. I ended up glueing the two arms in, what I thought was, interesting poses, and then using some polyfilla to fill in the gaps.

He fits nicely on a 40mm x 40mm base so makes a good HoTT behemoth. The mould line stands out more prominently in the photo than it does in real life.

I also continued work on my DBA Viking army. I completed two elements of Berserkers (VIK8) from Baueda Wargames to both complete my first Big Battle DBA Viking Command, and to start of my second command. I haven't bought Baueda figures before but I decided to give them a try. On the whole, they are cruder sculpts, with more flash, then later Essex castings, but they paint up pretty well. I have also bought a Norse-Viking army from Baueda for use for DBA or as my third command for a Big Battle DBA army.

Another six completed Viking Raiders.

Viking General and huscarls as the command element for the second Viking Army.

Nine more raiders. As loose order troops, the Viking raiders move pretty quickly across the battlefield. Against John's Saxons, I've been able to draw his wings out to avoid encirclement, while breaking up his battleline and then pouncing on his exposed flanks. The trick seems to be to give the Vikings room to move around.

Viking Psiloi or skirmishers. These are optional troops I have yet to use - I prefer the other option of a Berserker Warband as the Berserkers have more stickability.

First half of my second Viking Army.

I also continued work on my Ancient Hebrews for DBA. These figures are resin by Red Copper Miniatures, printed by Potbelly Miniatures. This Ark of the Covenant could be the Hebrew "camp" or a Behemoth for a fantasy HoTT army.

The four bearers and the main body of the Covenant are all separate prints. By very carefully drilling into the poles either side of the body of the Covenant, I was able to peg the poles the bearers have on their shoulders into them. This provided needed support while the glue was setting.

Hebrew General with shofar-blower and supporting slinger. The actual General figure is a repurposed Hittite spearman, while the slinger is a Hebrew skirmisher.

Three elements of Hebrew Spearmen - other Tribesmen.

And another two elements of Hebrew Spearmen - other Tribesmen.

The Hebrew Army painted this month.

And so I can use my DBA army for HoTTs, a Reaper Bones Deva to be used as an Aerial Hero

The left-over Hebrew figures have been repurposed as Adventurers for AD&D - if we ever get around to running a Bronze Age game.

Three Ogres from Alternative Armies - the left two are Ogre Brigands while the right one is one of the classic Ogres.

Four Adventurers, also from Alternative Armies, the middle two are from Human Characters II, while the far left and far right figures are from the Human Barbarians pack.

My last order from Magister Militum. I decided to get a gatehouse and a couple of wall sections in, what they describe as, Italian style walls. I decided that these walls are those of a wealthy lord - the battlements are whitewashed, and so visible from a long distance, and the lower features are also painted because the lord of the castle wants to put on a good show.

Wall section presented in a similar style.

And my final unit of Alternative Army Black, or Moria, Orcs.

22 August 2023

Painted:
28 15mm Hebrews, 4 Dragons, 1 Giant, 1 Centaur

In my last post, I forgot to add my final three completed figures for June - three dragons.

Recently in our AD&D game, we had an encounter with several dragons. We haven't met dragons for several years so I had no suitable figures to hand. I picked up a pack of three dragons from Ral Partha Europe. First up, a black dragon.

A Blue Dragon - specialising in electrical attacks in AD&D.

A sinuous Green Dragon

The entire clutch. These are actually 28mm Dragon Fledglings - still quite large for 15mm figures.

For July, I completed a Stone Giant from Alternative Armies, and a Centaur from Eureka Miniatures.

The Giant was painted in shades of gray (which doesn't show so well in the photo). I like the Eureka Centaur, but it's on the "heroic" end of the 18mm scale.

These Vikings are close to true 15mm, so you can see how much larger the Centaur. I'm not so concerned about the Giant as Giants are supposed to be large.

With all the Vikings I've been painting, I thought I needed a Great Wyrm to allow me to field them as a HoTT force, so here's the Wyrm Fafnir from the Sigurd legend - keeper of the treasure hoard of the Nibelungen until Sigurd slays him.

He could also fill in as Glaurung the Deceiver, the Lord of Dragons during the First Age of Middle Earth.

Because I don't have enough projects, when Pot Belly Miniatures announced he was stocking Red Copper Miniatures .stls for local printing, I was easily presuaded that an Early Hebrew Army might be fun to build for DBA. I have never painted printed figures before, so this is a bit of an experiment. First, Hebrew General (4Ax) - a Hittite Horde figure plus some Hebrew priests.

The Red Copper Miniatures Biblical Hebrew range is fairly limited at present, so I made up numbers with some Hittites. Unlike lead castings, these resin miniatures are closer to true scale and proportions which makes them a little frail. They paint up nicely, though.

Benjaminite Archers (3Bw) - They were bowmen and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand; they were Benjamites.

Under camera magnification, I can see a lot of fine detail on these figures that I can no longer paint due to old eyes.

Benjaminite Slingers (Ps) - they are definitely slinging stones with the right and left hand.

Ephraiminite Warbands (3WB). The figures are actually Hittite Horde but I don't think they look too amiss as Ephraiminites.

Rear view of the Ephraiminites. The figures are printed without bases so I carefully glued each figure to the element base and then painted them in situ.

Gadite Skirmishers (Ps).

And just for fun, if I decide to use my Hebrew Army for HoTT, Moses based as a Cleric. The bush beside him is supposed to be a Burning Bush so I may need to add a whisp of smoke to it.

And finally, an element of Retained Mercenaries (4Ax) - actually Hitties Spearmen - and Other Tribesmen (Ps), two of the alternative elements for the army.

The Army so far.

19 August 2023

Painted:
29 Vikings

During June I continued to potter away painting Vikings for a b>DBA Army. The figures are mainly Essex Miniatures, I believe, bought 2nd Hand from a gent at the Auckland Wargames Club.

Skirmishers (Psiloi) and Berserkers (Warband). I am in the process of painting up a couple of elements of Baueda Berserks and Ulfhednar to replace the current Berserker elements.

Three elements of Raiders (3Bd). The shield designs are transfers from Veni Vidi Vici.

Another three elements of Raiders (3Bd).

Two more elements of Raiders (3Bd).

My DBA Viking Army III/40a with General and Huscarls (4Bd) and the options on the right (Skirmishers Ps, Huscarls 4Bd, and Berserks 3Wb).

26 June 2023

Painted:
4 Giant Rats, 1 Stone Golem, 1 Flesh Golem, 1 Thief, 3 Doors, 15 Orcs, 14 Vikings

In May, I finished off some bits and bobs that had been sittingn around on my desk for a number of years.

Four Giant Rats from Battle Valor Games. I've based these up for our AD&D game.

Flesh Golem and Stone Golem from Splintered Light Miniatures and a Frigian Assassin from Battle Valor Games.

Rear view of the Flesh and Stone Golems and the Assassin.

Three Dungeon doors from Ral Partha Europe - left to right: BA004, BA001 and BA002. The Battle Valor Games Dark Wizard is there to show scale.

Another Moria regiment of Alternative Armies orcs, with the occasional Magister Militum Great Orc thrown in.

For a change of pace, I decided to begin a Dark Ages Early Viking DBA army after picking up a bunch of Essex Miniatures Vikings. From left to right: Viking General, Viking Huscarls, two elements of Viking Raiders.

17 June 2023

Painted:
1 Hydra, 8 Orcs, 4 Frigian Cavalry, 28 Frigian Infantry

I managed to get more figures painted in April, including finally knocking off the last of my Battle Valor Games Frigians.

This fine fellow is an Orc War Hydra from Splintered Light Miniatures.

The War Hydra is quite a svelt model, and rather unlike the more snake-like Hydra models I already have.

The 18mm tall Dark Wizard, left, gives a good idea as to how large the Hydra is.

I managed to complete another command element of Alternative Armies HOT Fantasy Orcs. Only numpty million to go.

After I completed my first two units of Frigian Cavalry, I still had four figures left over from the pack. I was toying with the idea of buying another figure pack when I realised I could convert these figures into skirmisher cavalry by just adding some javelins. The javelins are made from quilting pins and came out pretty well, I think.

A unit of Hillman foot. The figures are a mix of Frigian Swordsmen and Frigian Axemen, plus some Copplestone Castings Barbarian Heroes to make up numbers.

These units are part of my Middle Earth concept of Angmarian or Rhudaur Hillmen, allies of the Witch King of Angmar.

The second unit of Hillmen (and some women).

The banner is the Iron Crown of Angmar.

The Frigian warband in all it's glory.

14 June 2023

Painted:
1 Fantasy House, 1 Castle Wall, 14 Orcs

March was a pretty busy month, workwise, plus I was experiencing a little bit of painter's burn-out.

Looking for something to paint that wasn't another Orc, I found I still had two resin houses from a Fantasy village set left to finish. This tall house was quite fun to paint.

This may be the front of the building, though the building seems to work either way around.

This Dark Wizard from Battle Valor Games is about 18mm tall, and is on a thick base, but he might still have to duck to get in the door.

I finally got around to painting a castle wall section I bought from Magister Militum - this is the back, showing the staircase access to the wall walk.

Front of the castle wall section.

The wall section fits in well with the wall sections I've already completed.

I did manage to paint up two more command elements of Alternative Armies Orcs, bulked up with a couple of Orcs with Two-handed weapons and Armoured Great Orcs.

And February arrived, and I continued cleaning up my Kickstarter backlog from Battle Valor Games by finishing up a bunch of Frigians, plus some Orcs from Alternative Armies.

Frigian Infantry swordsmen and axemen. I added a couple of Barbarians from Copplestone Miniatures to fill out numbers in the unit.

I decided that these Frigians would make excellent Hillmen, Dunlendings, or Angmarians for a Middle-Earth themed army, or generic 'Barbarian' army.

A second unit of Frigian Hillmen, supplemented with Copplestone Barbarians.

The Frigians are nice, basic figures while the Copplestone Barbarians are more finely detailed. They seem to work well together in the same unit.

Frigian Cavalry, these have a post-Roman/Dark Ages feel about them. More heavily armoured than the infantry, the cavalry obviously consists of the richer members of society.

Nice figures but, annoyingly, the riders seem to be smaller than the infantry.

Frigian Hero or General.

This figure very much reminds me of Odin from Norse Mythology, with his pair of wolves - Geri and Freki - and his long spear.

Hillmen General. The standard bearer and horn blower and from Battle Valor Games, while the General is from Copplestone Castings Barbarian Heroes pack.

Another Demon Horde from Magister Militum.

And with this unit, my Demonic host is complete.

I decided to boost my Moria Orc host, and add standard bearers to my Orc units. My first standard bearer conversion was necessitated by a figure with a snapped spear but, after that, I would select a figure from each element to convert. First two Moria Orc elements.

I also took the opportunity to use up the last of my Orcs with Two-handed weapons and Armoured Great Orcs from Magister Militum to make up numbers. Second two Moria Orc elements.

Four Orcs mounted on Fell Beasts. These figures are resin, and rather static in pose.

Orc General and standard bearer.

The standard bearer is a converted swordsorc.

---

22 April 2023

Painted:
4 Centaurs, 4 Wolves, 8 Spiders, 2 Monks, 2 Wraiths, 2 Mummies, 1 Gorgan, 8 Vermian Cavalry, 8 Mycenaeans, 6 Frigian Cavalry, 6 Ice Demons, 16 Frigian Infantry, 16 Orc Infantry, 1 Bestian Heavy Chariot

During January I continued to work through my Kickstarter backlog, I also managed to finish off some bits and bobs that had been hanging around for a while.

In our AD&D game, we had encountered some centaurs. I found four centaurs in my 'To paint pile'. The left and right centaurs are from Splintered Light Miniatures Warriors of the Arena: Fantasy Gladiators pack 1. The two central centaurs are from Alternative Armies Tabletop Miniatures range.

It's interesting contrasting the two different design ethoses of these centaurs. The Alternative Armies Centaurs appear to be more Classical Greek in form - both the horse body and the human body are in proportion. The Splintered Light Centaurs have a longer horse body, pointed ears and long, mane-like, hair on the human bodies.

The last four wolves in my stash from Splintered Light. These are listed as Direwolves, though are relatively small and wolf-sized for direwolves. I have used other Direwolves as mounts for Splintered Light Orc wolf-riders.

Some left over little Giant Spiders from Wargames Atlantic, based up for AD&D.

And based up for wargames on 40mm x 40mm bases.

While not as large as some of the other Giant Spiders I've completed, they still look rather nasty.

I decided to introduce a Monk character into our AD&D game and needed a suitable figure. I happened to have a couple of Monk figures from Battle Valor Games in my stash - set P102.

I carefully cut off the staffs they came with, drilled out their hands, and added bills from a set of 15mm Medieval weapons I had on hand. In AD&D Monks can be armed with glaives but as glaives look basically like a carving knife on a stick, I decided that bills looked better. These monks look like they're equiped for a proper expedition.

A nice pair of Wraiths from Alternative Armies.

Also from Alternative Armies, a pair of Mummies.

Dwarian Juggernaut (Q212) from Battle Valor Games - Battle Valor Games currently doesn't have a website, but there are order forms on the Facebook page I have linked to.

When painting this figure, I was thinking of a firey brass bull automiton, but it occurred to me later that this figure would make a great AD&D Gorgon.

Vermian archers riding Ratweilers from Battle Valor Games. I decided to complete these guys as 'light horse'.

Second regiment of Vermian Ratweilers.

The two Vermian regiments. I think I've completed my Vermian force.

Two elements of Mycenaean Spearmen (SP), figures from Essex Miniatures.

Continuing to work my way through my backlog of Kickstarters, I painted up a unit of Battle Valor Games Frigian Cavalry. I had painted up some Frigian spearmen a while back as Middle Earth- style Evil Hillmen, allies of the Wich-King of Angmar. Now, I am able to add some cavalry to that force.

The Frigians are nice figures, but there are scale inconsistencies across the range that are annoying in a niggly way.

Demon Horde (DEM2) from Magister Militum. As my last Demon regiment, I decided to paint them up as Ice Demons.

I'm pleased with how the bases turned out - snow flock and snowy tuffs over gravel.

A regiment of Frigian archers from Battle Valor Games.

A second regiment of Frigian archers from Battle Valor Games.

Now my Evil Hillmen have some skirmishers.

I decided to expand my Black Orc/Moria Orc force and picked up a couple of packs of Orcs and Goblins from Alternative Armies.

These Orcs took a lot more prep time than the last lot I painted - lot of flash. I also changed my thoughts on how to present my Moria Orcs in that I decided I did need unit standard bearers. So, the next few elements are going to redress the lack of standards in the force.

Bestian Heavy Chariot from Battle Valor Games. A massive model, I ended up mounting it on a 100mm wide base - in retrospect I should have gone to 120mm wide as that would be equivalent to three element bases.

I have a second one of these monsters to paint up.

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

07 February 2023

Painted:
1 Golem, 2 Mummies, 1 Ghoul, 4 Wraiths, 14 Orcs, 12 Demons, 6 Myceneans, 2 Bestian Chariots, 2 Bestian Generals, 2 Bestian Standards, 68 Bestian Infantry

During December, I managed to complete a bit more of my DBA Mycenaean project as well as dug out a Kickstarter from Battle Valor Games.

Left to Right: A Golem from Splintered Light, two Mummies from Alternative Armies, and a Ghoul from Splintered Light.

Mummies from Alternative Armies and Essex Miniatures, the Alternative Armies figures are closer to 18mm.

Wraiths from Alternative Armies (Left) and Essex Miniatures (Right). The Essex Wraiths remind me a little of the Wraith workers in the What we Do in the Shadows TV series.

Rummaging around in Lead Mountain, I located my last couple of packets of Orcs from Splintered Light.

For consistancy, I went with a gunmetal/black/red pallet to match my earlier Orc regiments. After the Eureka Orcs, the Splintered Light Orcs are my favourite Orcs.

Also lurking in Lead Mountain was a large packet of Demons from Magister Militum.

Very much a late 80's vibe with these figures. For the first regiment I went for a traditional firey-demon look.

For my second regiment, I opted for Ice Demons.

These were quite fun to paint up. With only four poses, it took a little bit of thinking to mix things up enough to make the elements interesting.

Amidst all the Fantasy, I managed to knock out another Mycenean Chariot from Essex Miniatures for my DBA project.

Nice set of Dendra-style armour.

Mycenean Chariot crews can dismount as Auxilia (Ax).

After I finished the Bestian Minnites in November, I drew a deep breath and plunged into assembling the Bestian Medium Chariots. Ed at Battle Valor Games has been reorganising his virtual store front, which meant easily located guide photos were hard to come by. Fortunately, his figures are currently available via eBay and there were photos of the chariots! Presently, aside from eBay, Battle Valor miniatures can be sourced from Dragonfrog Games in the UK, or by directly ordering from Ed via email - the order form is in the files section of the Battle Valor Games Facebook page.

The Medium Chariots are drawn by two Bullators, and have two Bestians as crew.

The chariot models actually go together quite easily.

The chariots are quite large models. I was able to use a 40mm frontage, but had to allow an 80mm depth.

Medium Chariot panzergrupp.

Bestian General, armoured minotaur.

The General comes with a pet feral human. I added a standard bearer.

Minnite General with standard bearer. I had a left-over Minnite so decided to convert him into a Bestian General.

Quite pleased how my white bull came out.

And then we came to the Bestian Infantry - so much infantry! I mixed archers, javelin throwers, and swordsbeasts together to make a suitably Chaotic and wild looking warband.

I'm quite pleased with how generally chaotic the warbands came out.

Second warband with a slightly different mix of figures.

There are quite a mix of head types amongst each weapon type - goats, pigs, satyrs, dogs, plus some vaguely bird-like heads - a credit to Ed's designs.

Warband three. The Minotaur with the morning star, to the left of the standard bearer, was a sample from Eureka Minatures' 10mm Fantasy.

The Bestian shields are actually a selection of shields from the other ranges from Battle Valor Games - looted by the Bestians, one assumes.

Warband four - a slightly reduced figure count as I was trying to stretch out the number of figures to make another unit.

I was still able to keep the weapon and head-type mix to give that chaotic look.

Warband five. The axe-wielding Bestian was included in a command pack, as I recall.

So. Many. Bestians. 68 figures in all.

The (almost) completed army - just two heavy chariots to do.

The right flank.

The left flank.

A fun project, and I'm pleased I've pretty much completed it. As a Chaotic force, I would envision this army as unpredictable raiders, or in the service of some Chaotic or Evil Wizard or Warlord - perhaps supported by the demonic infantry I've just completed, or supporters/auxiliaries for Lawful Evil Hobgoblins.

24 January 2023

Painted:
3 Mummies, 2 Wraiths, 6 Mycenaeans, 1 Easterner catapult, 33 Easterner Infantry, 50 Kobolds, 10 Demons, 2 Minotaurs

For November, I dug out some more 15mm Fantasy from my Lead Mountain, as well as moved forward on my DBA Mycenaean project.

In and around the units I was painting, I knocked out some more figures for our AD&D game. These are some more Mummies and Wraiths from Essex Miniatures packs DD47a and 47b.

Mycenaean Chariot #3 from the Essex Miniatures Achaian DBA ver 3 army pack.

More infocus view of the 'Man in Bronze' - Mycenaean chariot rider.

Each of the Mycenaean Chariots can dismount as an element of Auxilia, and here the Auxlia for the yellow chariot.

I finally finished off this second T'ang giant crossbow from Khurasan, that's been sitting on my painting desk since 2019.

I quite like the catapult model, but I found the crew figures a bit disappointing.

Second to last Fantasy Easterner Regiment. These Nan Chao Heavy Infantry from Eureka Miniatures inspired me to make my Fantasy Easterner Human Army.

Really like the tower shields.

Final Easterner Unit - a mix of Eureka Nan Chao spearmen and Khurasan Miniatures Siamese infantry with spear.

Again, the Siamese infantry were a bit shorter than the Nan Chao, so I boosted their height with bit of plastic card scrap.

As part of my ongoing AD&D Fantasy Project, I picked up a couple of Kobold warband packs from Spintered Light.

There's a nice selection of poses in the packs so a suitable warband can be constructed.

Second warband.

Like the Halflings I painted up a while back, the Kobolds are only 7 - 8 mm tall, so painting their little horns was a bit of a challenge.

Both completed warbands. Kobolds are the smallest and weakest of the Goblinoids so are probably little more than a speed bump in a battle field situation. Though, they probably move easily through rough terrain and can set ambushes.

For a change of pace, I painted up the two packs of Hellborn Flesh Reavers I bought from Onslaught Miniatures. The Hell Born Charnel Hounds I painted up a few months back to use as pack hunters in 5 Parsecs from Home, so now it was time for the Flesh Reavers.

The massively thick swords are, I think, an artifact of the 3D sculpting/master printing process as the 6mm versions of the Flesh Reavers have the same thick weapons. At present, this completed unit will probably end up in my Chaos/Evil force.

The Reavers are about man-size so they'd probably be standard infantry with the "Terrifying" attribute.

And finally, I made a start on my Bestian force from Battle Valor Games. Two Bestian Minnites, which are basically huge minotaurs with enormous cleavers.

Ed at Battle Valor Games has been reorganising his virtual store front. His figures are currently available via eBay, Dragonfrog Games in the UK, or can be directly ordered from Ed via email - the order form is in the files section of the Battle Valor Games Facebook page.

Your basic Minnite is approximately 11 - 12 feet tall!

03 January 2023

Painted:

1 28mm Fantasy Dwarf, 2 28mm Greek Gods, 19 15mm Elf Infantry, 1 15mm Talos, 1 15mm Gorgon, 1 15mm Elf Mage, 22 15mm Orcs, 1 15mm Elf General, 17 15mm Eastern Humans, 3 15mm Mummies, 2 15mm Wraiths, 20 15mm Mycenaeans

During October, I pressed on with my 15mm Fantasy project. I also accidently finished another 28mm Fantasy Dwarf. Also during the month, my DBA/HoTTs Age of Chariots figures arrived and I started on that project, too.

Another Dwarf with axe - as before, I thought he was from Crusader Miniatures, but I can no longer find them on the Northstar site; and two 28mm Greeks - these were originally for a Runequest project which went nowhere. I have now recycled them as 15mm Gods for HoTTs.

Rear view of the Dwarf and the Greeks.

For my DBA/HoTTs Age of Chariots project, I decided to make a Mycenaean Army. For fun and HoTTs, last month I finished a Water Lurker Hydra. This month, I completed two Gods/Heroes. I can no longer remember where I got this figure in his Dendra panoply from, but he is in the running for a Mycenaean God.

The detail on this guy is quite amazing.

This guy has a more Geometric/Early Hoplite panoply - possibly Homeric period (c.900 BC). He seems more like the Ares I recall from picture books on the Trojan War (which goes to show they probably weren't terribly accurate).

Very pleased how the shield came out - painted the shield white with a copper circle in the center. The Medusa Veni, Vidi, Vici transfer slid nicely into position, and voilá.

Another regiment of 15/18mm Elf Infantry from Eureka Miniatures.

Like the Elf Regiments I completed in September, I used a Veni Vidi Vici Late Roman shield transfer over a gunmetal circle to make a more interesting shield and flag blazon.

From Splintered Light Miniatures, two constructs - based as Behemoths for HoTTs - Talos, and the Bronze Bull. To me, the Bronze Bull looks a bit like an AD&D Gorgon.

Rear view of Talos and the Bronze Bull.

Elf Mage and two Guardelves from Eureka Miniatures.

Elf General, Standard Bearer, and guards from Eureka Miniatures.

Elf Command group.

Another regiment of Orcs from Eureka Miniatures

A pretty fearsome bunch.

And for when you don't have a Balrog or Nazgul to command them, an Orc General and Standard Bearer, mounted on Fellbeasts, also from Eureka Miniatures.

The third to last unit of my 15mm Fantasy Eastern Humans. Figures are Nan Chao Chinese from Eureka Miniatures, with some Khurasan Miniatures Siamese mixed in.

The shielded swordsmen are from Khurasan's Siamese range. They're smaller than the Eureka figures so I packed their bases with plastic card to make them the same height as the Nan Chao.

In our AD&D game we have been having Undead issues, so I picked up a pack each of Mummies (DD47a)and Wraiths (DD47b) from Essex Miniatures.

For my DBA Age of Chariots project, I decided to make an Achaian/Mycenaean Army from Essex Miniatures. First elements painted were the Psiloi - slings and javelins.

This was followed by an element of Warband - the Myrmidons.

Ready to lay some Thessalian smackdown on the enemies of Achilles.

Two Mycenaean Light Chariots, including the General (in purple).

Chariot assembly did require a bit of anti-gravity and swearing. But we got there in the end.

Chariots can deploy dismounted as Auxilia in DBA - the red-shield Auxilia have the dismounted General with them (I added the standard).

Rear view of the Auxilia. Essex is kind of the standard for 15mm Historicals, but they seem to come in fairly passive poses.

02 January 2023

Painted:
1 28mm Fantasy Ogre, 1 15mm Ghoul, 2 15mm Skeletons, 1 15mm Hydra, 6 15mm Knights, 30 15mm Elf Infantry, 6 15mm Elf Cavalry

By September work had got busier, and my enthusiasm for painting Science Fiction Figures had begun to wane (I had painted over 400 figures and after a brief burst of 5 Parsecs from Home had not gamed in months). I got to considering Fantastic Battles as a 15mm Fantasy ruleset again, and when it was suggested that John and Malcolm and I should try 15mm Age of Chariot DBA armies, I ordered a new DBA army, and began to clear some of my 15mm Fantasy backlog.

Amongst the figures I finally finished, was this Ogre from Reaper Miniatures. I'm still not 100% sold on Reaper's Bones (ie plastic) figures, but they take the paint quite well.

While a large 28mm scale monster, the Ogre would also work well as a 15mm giant.

Two skeletons and a ghoul from Splintered Light Miniatures.

Rear view of the Undead. I do like Splintered Light figures, but postage from the US is bonkers at the moment (over 100% value of the order - though David at Splintered Light will refund the balance when he gets an accurate price from USPS).

The final figure from my Ral Partha Legacy order - a young Hydra.

Sculpted in 1/64th (25mm) scale, this hydra works well in 15mm (1/100th) scale. I finally finished him with an eye to my next project - 15mm DBA/HoTT army for the Age of Chariots.

While rootling around in the Lead Mountain for other figures to finish, I found an order I received from Eureka Miniatures in Australia. So I completed another unit of Knights from the Men of Grandeur range for my Western Human Fantasy Army.

While a fairly limited range, the Men of Grandeur have enough poses to make units interesting.

And what (re)started the 15mm Fantasy project - Elves of the Lofty Spire from Eureka Miniatures. The shield and flag decals are from Veni Vidi Vici's Late Roman range. I painted a yellow sun on each shield/side of the flag and then centered the decal over it so the under lying colour came through the space left for a shield boss - worked rather well, I thought.

15 yellow suns and decals later, the unit was complete.

A different pattern decal, but the same style of application for this unit of swordselves. The thick central black circle of the decal meant I didn't need to paint perfect circles in yellow as the decal hid any wonky bits.

The second unit in all its glory.

Both regiments on parade.

And, after sitting on my painting desk, half completed, for about a year, I finished off this regiment of Elvish Cavalry.

24 November 2022

Painted:
2 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 1 28mm Science Fiction Character, 1 28mm Science Fiction Street Furniture, 5 28mm Gnolls, 1 28mm Dwarf, 1 28mm Gnome, 1 28mm Fantasy Human, 6 28mm Clanrats

In August, I rebased two more Ground Zero Games UNSC troopers, painted up as Traveller Marines.

There's a nice, old-school vibe about these true-25mm figures.

Left to Right: Fae Graal - Feterrik Sniper. The Feterrik are an insectoid species adapted for sub-aquatic or thin atmosphere life zones. This figure is part of the Northstar Specialist Soldiers: Snipers pack; the gadget - some sort of follow-spot, beam projector, or scanner - is from Archon Studios Dungeons and Lasers Science Fiction Bits set, now stocked by Northstar Figures.

Rear View: Left to Right: Fae Graal - Feterrik Sniper, and gadget.

My 28mm Fantasy project continued with some Northstar plastic Frostgrave Gnolls painted up as Gnolls, rather than Vargr.

Quite pleased with how these turned out.

Two further Gnolls to join the warband.

Rear view of the Crossbowgnoll and Speargnoll.

Three Adventurers: A Dwarf with axe - I thought he was from Crusader Miniatures, but I can no longer find them on the Northstar site - a Gnome Bard - from the D&D Nolzur's range of figures - and a Human Archer - assembled from Fireforge Games Scandinavian Infantry.

Rear view of the Adventurers.

I pushed on with my Clanrats and finished the final six. Here's the first three.

And a rear view of them.

And the final three, including an officer.

And a rear view of them.

10 October 2022

Painted:
1 28mm Science Fiction Character rebased, 2 28mm Fantasy Dwarves, 3 28mm Clanrats, 2 28mm fantasy Humans, 7 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 5 Charnel Hounds, 1 Objective Marker, 1 Street Furniture

Work ramped up during July, and I found it harder to complete projects. I did get a few things done, though.

I rebased the first of my United Nations Space Command (UNSC) figures from Ground Zero Games. When I bought these some years ago, I intended to use them as Imperial Marines for Traveller.

The UNSC troopers have a similar shaped helmet to the very distinctive Imperial Marine Battledress helmet.

When I first got (re)interested in 28mm Fantasy, I picked up some Oathmark plastic Elves (still unpainted) and a couple of packs of lead Dwarves. I thought they were from Crusader Miniatures, but I can no longer find them on the Northstar site.

There's a nice, north-lands, viking-ish vibe about these dwarves.

Having completed my test Clanrat last month, I painted up another three this month. As befits bog standard troopers, there's not a huge amount of posability with these figures, though by changing the shield, and the weapon in the weapon hand, a unit can look a bit more random.

I decided to equip most of my Clanrats with polearms - of which quite a variety come on the figure sprues.

And finally, a couple of Fantasy Human warriors. The basic body type and head is from Fireforge Games's Scandinavian Infantry. The rectangular shield is from the Oathmark Human Cavalry set, and the sword is, I think, from the Frostgrave Soldiers II set.

A couple of Fantasy cannon-fodder types.

Left to Right: Gason "Bugeyes" Valb - Sniper. Northstar Specialist Soldier; Jofene Jhones - Adventurer. Alternative Armies Betrayer Alpha; Alkab Akemi - mechanic. Northstar Robotic Expert.

Rear View: Left to Right: Gason "Bugeyes" Valb - Sniper; Jofene Jhones - Adventurer; Alkab Akemi - mechanic.

Phelphishey Pharnam - Mercenary. Rogue Stars Soldier of Fortune from Northstar Figures.

Rear View: Phelphishey Pharnam - Mercenary.

A pack of Charnel Hounds. These are actually 15mm scale Hellborn Charnel Hounds from Onslaught Miniatures. They stand about man-high in 15mm but in 28mm they work well as a pack of attack dogs.

Reverse view of the Charnel Hounds.

Left to Right: Squeek Kah, Neekacheep Che, and Skrateek Rek - the final three members of my Murisaen crew from Novegia. Converted Games Workshop Clanrats with weapons courtesy of Bitbox. Squeek Kah's body took a bit of trimming so I could pass the needle rifle under his chin. I also carved off his left arm so I could use the arm attached to the rifle.

Rear View: Left to Right: Squeek Kah, Neekacheep Che, and Skrateek Rek - the final three members of my Murisaen crew from Novegia. Skrateek Rek has a surplus knife blade transplanted onto his left hand.

Murisaens are coming for YOU!

Some random street furniture or objective markers - an escaped brain, a droid you might be looking for, and an empty storage box.

The brain is an objective marker from Stargrave's Loot Pack 1, the droid I picked up on Etsy (he's actually 32mm scale but, being a droid, fits with 28mm figures, and the box is from Archon Studios Dungeons and Lasers Science Fiction Bits set, now stocked by Northstar Figures.

22 August 2022

Painted:
2 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 4 Cargo crates, 4 28mm Creatures, 2 28mm Street Furniture, 7 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 3 28mm Fantasy Knights, 1 Landing Pad

Rebasing for June. Left to Right: Olan Oh - Freedom Fighter, SLS-09 female terrorist from Ground Zero Games's Street Level range; Vemi-17 - Synthetic las-gunner, SF25 Female Adventurer from Denizen Miniatures.

Rear View. Left to Right: Olan Oh - Freedom Fighter; Vemi-17 Synthetic las-gunner.

I completed and painted up the second pack of four "cargo containers" from 4Ground I bought as part of their closing down sale.

Three Frostgrave Chronohounds. I rebased them in keeping with the basing style I've been using for my Science Fiction creatures.

I have no idea what they do in Frostgrave but they look pretty good as some sort of alien hunting dog for Stargrave/5 Parsecs from Home.

Two loot items from North Star's Stargrave range - a box of pretty stones and a small service'droid.

Just the thing to place on the table as objectives.

Federation Space Troops from Denizen Miniatures - two troopers with ACRs and an Officer.

Rear View: Federation Space Troops. There's tons of detail on these figures and their backpacks come separately. They are true 25mm scale so mix well with older Grenadier Traveller figures, early Games Workshop Spacefarers, and Ground Zero Games Stargrunt ranges, but they are small when compared to 28mm Stargrave figures.

Left to Right: Amaulan Fouthariak Gossam - Hipporian Hunter. A resized 3D print from Mini Mayhem; Kher'stk - Hunter. Games Workshop Kroot; Vorman Takk - Adventurer. Stargrave crewman.

Rear View: Left to Right: Amaulan Fouthariak Gossam - Hipporian Hunter; Kher'stk - Hunter; Vorman Takk - Adventurer.

Left to Right: Algan Etra - security specialist. A converted Rifts Psi-stalker; Seminarian of the Ferenti - the Obeisant Order of Sarrigarisan the Ascendant. Body and arms are from the Beyond the Gates of Antares Freeborn Domari sprue, head is from Anvil Industry Brodie Gladiator Helmets.

Rear View: Left to Right: Algan Etra - security specialist; Seminarian of the Ferenti - the Obeisant Order of Sarrigarisan the Ascendant.

Left to Right: Critter #4. I had bought four critters from a local seller, some sort of Dungeons and Dragons monster as I recall. I painted up three of them in May and finished the final one in June; Drog Goglog - Ogryn gunner. I've always quite liked these giant abhumans but the models have got increasingly nightmarish and expensive over the years. This fellow was bought as pieces from Bitbox and then put together. Nice to see that the Ripper Gun has not got smaller over the years.

Left to Right: Drog Goglog - Ogryn gunner; Vorman Takk - Adventurer. Ogryn are big! And they can really lay the hurt down with their Ripper Gun!

"Space Elf Landing Pad" SFG020 from TTCombat, bought through Mighty Ape. This may have been an end-of-line item as I can only find the assembly instructions on TTCombat's webstore.

I haven't glued the legs or stairs to the landing pad, so it takes up less room when in storage.

The landing pad is quite a substantual structure - as you can see by the 28mm figure and the gunship model.

And while playing around with some Oathmark Human Cavalrymen legs and horses and some Orc bodies, arms, heads and weapons, I ended up with some Orc Cavalry.

In The Lord of the Rings, the Rohirrim were having problems with Orcs rustling horses. While it's possible the Orcs ate them, or on-sold them to the Easterlings, it isn't beyond the bounds of possibility that large man-orcs might also ride horses, even just as mounted infantry.

10 July 2022

Painted:
4 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 1 28mm Fantasy Clanrat, 18 bases of plants, 1 28mm ladder, 4 Cargo crates, 3 28mm Street Furniture, 3 28mm Droids, 4 28mm Creatures, 27 28mm Science Fiction Characters

Rebasing for May: Left to Right: Pol Tak Pan - Kiang Officer. Tzacol from Onslaught Miniatures. The Kiang are a Minor race in my Traveller campaign, dominated by the Kalar-Wi and used as a form of sepoy troops; Roscon "Ros" Kiapan - Adventurer. A Ground Zero Games figure - SLS-25 from the 25mm Street Level range, I think; C'chur Cawrr - Avian Adventurer. An Avian from CP Models; Lajeen Shal - Mid-Tech trooper. SF56 from Denizen Miniatures.

Rear View: Left to Right: Pol Tak Pan - Kiang Officer; Roscon "Ros" Kiapan - Adventurer; C'chur Cawrr - Avian Adventurer; Lajeen Shal - Mid-Tech trooper.

Wanting to create some Space Rats, and failing to find any suitable figures, I picked up a pack of Games Workshop Clanrats from Mighty Ape. I only wanted 10 Space Rats, so I decided to complete the balance as standard Skaven. Here's the test model.

The Clanrats turned out to be a lot less poseable than I expected - essentially only the right, weapon arm, can be swapped for various weapon or accessaries. There's a nice selection of polearms and other stabby things, and various items like bells and maces. There's also a selection of shields in various styles.

I bought this set of four "cargo containers" from 4Ground at the same time I bought the MDF stairs. Again, these items were laser-cut in thin MDF and some assembly was required.

Man-bun wearing Elgan Faresse acts as Captain Scale, showing how big the cargo containers are.

Left to Right: nest with space eggs; Smallbot. Both the space egg nest and Smallbot are from Northstar's Loot tokens set; Glass Spider from Northstar's Frostgrave Glass Spider set.

Left to Right: Blue - wardog. Tricked up guard dog from Northstar's Stargrave range; manipulator arm, and storage container - two further pieces of Sci-Fi street furniture from Archon Studio's Dungeons & Lasers range of SciFi customization bits I picked up through a Trademe trade; K-Nine - attack caninedroid, also from Northstar's Stargrave range.

Rear view: Left to Right: Blue - wardog; manipulator arm, and storage container - two further pieces of Sci-Fi street furniture; K-Nine - attack caninedroid.

Three critters - I bought these from a local seller and can't recall what they were, except some sort of D&D monster. I think the seller had 3D printed the figures as there was flash on the spines and one of the arms on one of the critters hadn't printed completely.

I was able to fix the half-printed arm with some polyfilla to round it out. They were quite fun to paint up.

I made up another selection of plants - some singles and some doubles, and some with painted leaf tips.

Man-bun wearing Elgan Faresse acts as Captain Scale, showing how big the plants are.

A different style of plant - disassembled a $2 shop plastic plant mat, glued the boles to bases, and painted the leaf tips.

En masse, they don't look too bad.

I finished off the final staircase I bought from 4Ground as part of their closing down sale.

Made from laser-cut MDF, they look quite good when assembled and painted.

Three critters - I bought these from a local seller and can't recall what they were, except some sort of D&D monster. I think the seller had 3D printed the figures as there was flash on the spines and one of the arms on one of the critters hadn't printed completely.

I was able to fix the half-printed arm with some polyfilla to round it out. They were quite fun to paint up.

A Xeec'xer Motile Nest guard unit - the Xeec'xer are a nest-building insectoid species. This figure is a Starfinder RPG Miniature: Anacite Laborer I got through Mighty Ape, though it is currently out of stock.

The motile units are physically upgraded through a series of body modifications.

Left to Right: Krekk Va, Brey Nerq Re, Chuda Ma, Grek So, and Atekk Erk - Murisaen crew from Novegia. Converted Games Workshop Clanrats. The extreme left and extreme right rats have had their weapon arms swapped with gun arms from Wargames Atlantic Lizardmen set. Second left and second right rats have their ratty arms, but their weapons swapped out with Games Workshop Warhammer 40k weapons from Bitzbox. The middle ratty has a Genestealer Cult gun arm and flamer, also from Bitzbox.

Rear view: Left to Right: Krekk Va, Brey Nerq Re, Chuda Ma, Grek So, and Atekk Erk - Murisaen crew from Novegia. Chuda Ma and Grek So have been armed with blades that were part of the accessories with the Clanrat set.

The Murisaen crew - sneakers and Skulkers.

Left to Right: Two Vargr members of the Group Unity Teaching Path - a Vargr cult. These guys started off as Frostgrave Gnolls, with the addition of weapons from the Cultist Sci-Fi Accessory pack; Taitua Hahruguun - Fas'ini Adventurer. Body from the Frostgrave Demons box, arms from the Stargrave Mercenaries box, head from the Stargrave Crew box; F'reep C'nar - Avian Adventurer from CP Models. He sort of looks like this one but has a different head.

Rear View: Left to Right: Two Vargr members of the Group Unity Teaching Path - a Vargr cult; Taitua Hahruguun - Fas'ini Adventurer; F'reep C'nar - Avian Adventurer.

My Vargr crew en masse.

Quite the savage bunch.

There seems to be a disturbing number of Cultists amongst them.

Left to Right: Gharsuh Isralnehn, Rhocaloar Tabbiyasa, Masisk Illoyan, and Arioach Asrian - Kihyri raiders. Oathmark Elf heads, Northstar Cultist Sci Fi Weapons (though Rhocaloar Tabbiyasa has a set of Stargrave arms and weapon), and Oathmark Cultist bodies.

Rear view: Left to Right: Gharsuh Isralnehn, Rhocaloar Tabbiyasa, Masisk Illoyan, and Arioach Asrian - Kihyri raiders.

My Kihyri Raider crew, ready to loot and pillage.

Gene Renegades, Mutants, or Converted - four hybrids. Left to Right: #1 Frostgrave crew body, Wargames Atlantic Giant Spider limbs, Games Workshop Dark Elder arms and weapons, Games Workshop Genestealer head; #2 Frostgrave crew body, Wargames Atlantic Giant Spider limbs, Frostgrave Cultist arms and head; #3 Frostgrave Cultist body, head and right arm, Wargames Atlantic Giant Spider limbs and weapon arm; #4 Frostgrave crew body, Frostgrave Cultist arms and head, Wargames Atlantic Giant Spider limbs

Rear View of the Gene Renegades, Mutants, or Converted.

Detailed look at the Gene Renegade/Mutant/Converted heavy weapons operator: Frostgrave crew body, Wargames Atlantic Giant Spider limbs, Games Workshop Dark Elder arms and weapons, Games Workshop Genestealer head.

Six more Space Dwarves.

Left to Right: Thror Gunnarsson, Hrolf Ekkel and Raring Ingstrom; Thror has an Oathmark Dwarf Infantry body while Hrolf and Raring Ingstrom have Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry bodies. All three have Stargrave Starship Crew or Mercenary arms and weapons and Dwarf Light Infantry heads.

Rear View: Left to Right: Thror Gunnarsson, Hrolf Ekkel and Raring Ingstrom with various accessories.

Left to Right: Nain Olaffsson, Pál Ondaergat, Þrain Bláhettu; Nain and Þrain have Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry bodies, while Pál has a Oathmark Dwarf Infantry body. All three have Stargrave arms and weapons from either the Crew or Mercenary sprues. Heads are from the Oathmark Dwarf sets.

Rear View: Left to Right: Nain Olaffsson, Pál Ondaergat, Þrain Bláhettu; with accessories from various sprues.

Full Space Dwarf crew.

Close-up of the right-hand end of the group - mainly standard Oathmark Dwarf bodies, unarmoured heads and Stargrave arms and weapons.

Close-up of the left-hand end of the group - mainly Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry bodies, unarmoured heads and Stargrave arms and weapons.

Left to Right: Col Aternassi - Delivery Agent, Stargrave body and arms, Frostgrave Barbarian head; Ignatio Drilano - AI specialist and Droid wrangler, North Star metal figure; Elgan Faresse - Adventurer, Stargrave body and arms, Oathmark Barbarian head.

Rear View: Left to Right: Col Aternassi - Delivery Agent; Ignatio Drilano - AI specialist and Droid wrangler; Elgan Faresse - Adventurer.

10 June 2022

Painted:
2 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 3 28mm Fantasy Knights, 7 28mm Fantasy Dwarves, 23 bases of plants, 3 28mm ladders, 2 28mm Street Furniture, 4 28mm Droids, 8 28mm Science Fiction Characters

Rebasing for April. Left to Right: Matamata Smith - Adventurer. SF74 from Denizen Miniatures; Katya Polowski - Adventurer. I think she's from Ground Zero Games but I can't recall which range. Her left ankle snapped while I was cutting off her original base, but I managed to repin it.

Rebasing for April. Rear view. Left to Right: Matamata Smith - Adventurer; Katya Polowski - Adventurer.

Another element of 28mm Demonic Cavalry for my UnderDark Alliance HoTT army. Horses, legs and torsos are from Oathmark's Human Cavalry. Arms, weapons and shields are from Frostgrave Gnolls and Cultists. Heads are Cultists or Demons.

The Demon wings on the middle rider are also from Northstar.

Rear view of the Demonic riders.

A collection of 28mm Oathmark Dwarves - two Heavy Infantry, and five Light Infantry Dwarves. I've based these up on the supplied plastic bases to perhaps play some skirmish games, or AD&D.

Rear view of the Dwarves.

Formed up, ready for battle.

I bought some model plants from a seller in China, and there was a good reason they were cheap. As I have accumulated a large pile of round bases, I hit on a solution. Snipping the pointy end of the plant stalk off, I was able to drill a hole in the stalk and glue in a segment of quilting pin. I then covered the base with PVA and sand, painted it, and then drilled a hole through it. The quilting pin sticking out of the stalk then fitted nicely into the hole drilled in the base and, voilà, a plant.

I added some splashes of colour to the tips of the the leaves of some of the plants to break up the green.

As an experiment, I made up a couple of bases with extra plants and a large stone from the local path.

I saw a report that 4Ground is in the process of shutting down. I picked up a number of items, including these staircases. The kits were relatively easy to assemble, but really fiddly at the final stage where the other hand rail is joined to the initial handrail and tread combo.

When completed, the staircases don't look too bad, in my opinion.

Two more pieces of Sci-Fi street furniture from Archon Studio's Dungeons & Lasers range of SciFi customization bits I picked up through a Trademe trade - an ammunition box and a computer monitor.

Rear view of the street furniture.

Bot collection: Left to Right: Dark Heaven - XairBot (Small). A Reaper Bones figure I got through Mighty Ape; two Frostgrave Glass Spiders; Warbot - Concord Support Drone from Warlord Games.

Rear view: Bot collection: Left to Right: Dark Heaven - XairBot (Small); two Glass Spiders; Warbot.

Left to Right: Gisu Jahlan - mercenary; Aubish Cobleen - mercenary. Bodies are from Warlord Games Concord Strike Squad and heads from CP Models - the head on the left is from Mixed Alien Heads, while that on the right is an alternative head for Hent.

Rear view: Left to Right: Gisu Jahlan - mercenary; Aubish Cobleen - mercenary.

Adventurers or Henchmen. Left to Right: Corban Yonn - Ice World explorer. Body from Northstar's Frostgrave Barbarians, arms from the Stargrave Mercenaries box, and the head from the Stargrave Crew set. The large handgun at his side is from CP Models; Jorge Halissa - Ice World explorer. Body from Northstar's Frostgrave Barbarians, head is from Frostgrave's Ghost Archipelago crewmen box, arms are probably from Stargrave's Mercenaries set; Orf Angane - Henchman. Body and Arms from Stargrave's Crew box, head from Frostgrave's Ghost Archipelago crewmen box.

Rear View Adventurers or Henchmen. Left to Right: Corban Yonn - Ice World explorer; Jorge Halissa - Ice World explorer; Orf Angane - Henchman.

Left to Right: Rhani Taikor - Security Guard or Henchman. IA150 Alternative Armies Betrayer Urbanite; Luka Skyulker - Psionic Adventurer. A Psionic from Northstar's Rogue Stars collection; Enga a'Toli - Henchman. Malvernis Soldier from Reaper Miniatures. I can only find the metal version of the Malvernis Soldier in the Chronoscope range on the Reaper website, even though my figure was from the Reaper Bones range.

Rear View. Left to Right: Rhani Taikor - Security Guard or Henchman; Luka Skyulker - Psionic Adventurer; Enga a'Toli - Henchman.

11 May 2022

Painted:
3 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 9 Duergar, 1 Duergar Champion, 26 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 2 Street Furniture, 4 plants, 1 Alien Dog

March was a much more productive month than February - the worst of the summer heat was behind us.

Left to Right: "Con" DeValis - Loadmaster. Cargo Officer from eM4; Eccan Hurb - Adventurer. A slightly converted Singer with Heavy Pistol from eM4 - I lopped off the microphone in his left hand; Garlo Inggar - Adventurer. I think this guy is from the RAFM Rifts range - some of which are still available.

Rear View, Left to Right: "Con" DeValis - Loadmaster; Eccan Hurb - Adventurer; Garlo Inggar - Adventurer.

Continuing my Alliance of the UnderDark HoTT project, I completed another three elements of Duergar Warband. These figures are from Northstar's Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry.

Second element of Duergar Warband. Again, figures are from Northstar's Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry. The swordsman (swordsduergar) has a targe from Northstar's Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago crew set.

Third element of Duergar Warband. The central figure also has a targe from Northstar's Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago crew set.

The warband elements.

Duergar Hero - Oathmark Dwarf Heavy Infantry.

I do like these Oathmark figures - there's an awfull lot of detail on them.

A squad of six Kalar-Wi troopers. In my Traveller campaign, the Kalar-Wi are an aggressive, humanoid species, not very friendly towards the Imperium. These figures are Ventauran Space Troops from Denizen Miniatures - note: these figures are closer to 25mm than 28mm.

Rear view of the troopers. The backpacks are cast separately and seem to be some sort of life support system for the sealed combat armour.

Left to Right: Khar'tk - Games Workshop Kroot; Fluffy - a Geirshan fang hunter. One of the Specialist Soldier: Guard Dogs set from Northstar Miniatures; Phenelle Chaster - mercenary. An old Necromunda figure, I think. I added the pistol and right arm with submachine gun from my bit box; Timaru Jane - adventurer. A not-"Lara Croft" figure (CM-03) from Ground Zero Games

Rear View: Left to Right: Khar'tk - gunman; Fluffy - a Geirshan fang hunter; Phenelle Chaster - mercenary; Timaru Jane - adventurer.

Left to Right: Master Froon Skulphoh - Hesmayin Psy Master. A Northstar Miniatures Rogue Stars Psionic; Hurugor Hunn - FeyGene gunman. A Phagon with Laser Rifle from eM4; An Trelcher - bodyguard and adventurer. An old RAFM Rifts Scout from the Psi Stalker and Scouts pack. These figures are still available from Palladium's Book Store; Seka Cronnis - Caradavioi gunman from Iordarant. Stargrave bodyparts and head.

Rear View: Left to Right: Master Froon Skulphoh - Hesmayin Psy Master; Hurugor Hunn - FeyGene gunman; An Trelcher - bodyguard and adventurer; Seka Cronnis - Caradavioi gunman from Iordarant.

Left to Right: Joel Haggin and Blair Forran - cold weather gunmen. Frostgrave Barbarians from Northstar bodies, Stargrave arms and weapons, and helmet. The hooded head is possibly from either the Northstar Cultists, or the Barbarian pack; Elissa Morn and Chalindra Mahghanda - cold weather gunwomen. Frostgrave Soldiers II bodies, Stargrave Arms and heads. I was inspired to make an Ice Planet survey or survival team.

Rear View: Left to Right: Joel Haggin and Blair Forran - cold weather gunmen; Elissa Morn and Chalindra Mahghanda - cold weather gunwomen. My Ice Planet survey or survival team.

Left to Right: Lee Garbaldi, Lon Smyran, Ito Atakai, Pru Schnerh - cold weather adventurers. Bodies for Lee, Ito and Pru from Frostgrave's Soldiers II, Lon's body is a Stargrave Mercenary or Crewman. All arms and weapons are from Stargrave Mercenary or Crewman sprues. Ito and Pru's heads are from the Frostgrave Soldiers II sprue, Lon's head is from the Frostgrave Barbarian sprue, while Lee's head is from either the Stargrave Mercenary or Crewman spue.

Rear View: Left to Right: Lee Garbaldi, Lon Smyran, Ito Atakai, Pru Schnerh - cold weather adventurers.

I bought some cheap, plastic shrubs from a Chinese supplier, which turned out to be cheaper than I wanted. But! Then I had a cunning idea. I have a number of round figure bases of various sizes from various manufacturers. I sanded, painted, and flocked these. I then snipped off the spikey end of the shrub stalkes and carefully drilled a hole up the shaft (and yes, I did spike my thumb at one stage), drilled a corresponding hole in the base, and pinned the base and shrub together.

Two more items of Sci-Fi scatter terrain from Archon Studio's Dungeons & Lasers range of SciFi customization bits I picked up through a Trademe trade - gas cylinders and ammunition box.

Rear view of the gas cylinders, and the ammo box.

06 April 2022

Painted:
1 28mm Science Fiction Character rebased, 2 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 1 28mm Creature, 3 28mm Fantasy Demon Cavalry, 6 Duergar

February wasn't a very productive month at all. Too hot, and I was too tired. I did get a few things finished, though.

Officer Stanton Haines - Described as an Adventurer with Hand Laser, I thought he looked more like a cop when I painted him up. I think I picked him up with a couple of Phagons and several other civilians in the late 90's or early 2000's, painted him up a few years ago, and have now rebased him.

Rear view: Officer Stanton Haines. He reminds me a lot of characters from 2000 AD magazine - in particular Judge Dredd - where knee and shoulder pads are essential wearing.

Left to Right: Aeton Uln - Adventurer. Frostgrave Demon Infantry body, and Stargrave arms, head and accessories; D'vok Ene Trall - Assiki Adventurer. Ael Yael figure from the old Grenadier Traveller Alien Races boxed set.

Rear view: Left to Right: Aeton Uln - Adventurer; D'vok Ene Trall - Assiki Adventurer.

I think this figure is from Grenadier's Call of Cthulu range, or perhaps from RAFM, but I can't locate it on the Lost Miniatures wiki. It is some sort of monster, so perfect for an alien pouncer/predator.

This creature vaguely reminds me of the mutants in the ruined city in Andre Norton's novel Starman's Son.

I completed a few more elements for my 28mm HoTT army - The Underdark Alliance. First up, an element of Demon Knights.

The basic horses and rider legs and torsos comes from Northstar's Oathmark Human cavalry. I added demon and cultist heads, and Gnoll weapons into the mix.

The pair of Demon wings is also from Northstar. I was thinking of some of the cavalry from the movie "Wizards" when I thought of adding the wings to the rider.

Duergar Lurkers. Again, Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry. Oathmark is set against a Dark Ages/Late Antiquity technology level, hence bows but no crossbows. I've always thought that tunnel fighters would be better served with crossbows than long bows, due to the flatter trajectory, so I swapped in some crossbow arms from the Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago Crew pack.

The facial expressions and other details on these figures are quite exquisite.

Rear view of the Lurkers.

Having completed serveral elements of heavily armed Blade troops, I considered how less well equipped Duergar might be represented. Initially, I was going to go with Horde, as a militia, but then considered even poorly equipped Duergar to be more aggressive than Militia.

So, if not Horde, then Warband. The Dwarf Light Infantry are mostly armed with pole weapons, but by slicing off a longbow and replacing it with a targe from the Oathmark Ghost Archipelago Crew set, I was able to add a close-in axe-and-buckler dwarf to the group.

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18 March 2022

Painted:
1 28mm Science Fiction Character rebased, 5 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 1 28mm Science Fiction Power Core, 1 28mm Creature, 1 28mm Fantasy Stone Giant, 3 28mm Fantasy Duergar, 1 28mm Fantasy Duergar Cannon, 1 28mm Fantasy Duergar Rune Priest

January was hot, and very humid, and I was working as a delivery driver as most productions were delaying their start times due to on-going Covid fears. The delivery job involved a lot of hand-unloading timber and other building supplies and was a lot more physical than I had anticipated. So, with a combination of heat, humidity, and physical exhaustion, I didn't get a lot of painting done in January.

I did rebase this guy - Georg Worshingtan, an Space Merchant from the Cobalt-1 range, previously stocked by Black Hat Miniatures and now stocked by Bridge Miniatures - though I see from a post on the Lead Adventure Forum that the owner of Bridge Miniatures has been very ill and hasn't been in his workshop for nearly a year! That explains why his on-line store has no stock.

The Cobalt-1 range was sculpted by Bob Naismith back in the early 2000's and have a huge amount of detail. The humans are also closer to 32mm than 28mm.

Left to Right: Spam, Frito, Moxie, Pepsi, and Dildo - five Barghanses (inspired by the Boggies of Stye). The Barghanses are a monoculi humanoid species often found living in the lower levels of Hive Worlds. Cowardly, vicious and nasty, they specialise in extortion, blackmail and larceny. Bodies and arms are Wargames Atlantic Halflings, heads are Stargrave crew monoculus heads, weapons are random Science-Fiction weapons I have acquired from various sources.

Rear View: Left to Right: Spam, Frito, Moxie, Pepsi, and Dildo.

Another item - a Power Core - from the sprues from Archon Studio's Dungeons & Lasers range of SciFi customization bits I picked up through a Trademe trade.

Another view of the Power Core.

A Tarrax - a delightful Grey Render from Gateway Games. Perfect for both Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Just the sort of primordial force of nature to ruin a character's day.

Size comparison: Left to Right: Tarrax, a Barghanses, Georg Worshingtan.

Continuing with my Alliance of the UnderDark Hordes of the Things project, I added a female Stone Giant as a Behemoth for my Duergar force. I discovered afterwards that Stone Giants in D&D are Neutral, while Duergar are Lawful Evil. Not a deal breaker, but a funny old thing. Apparently, Fire Giants are Lawful Evil, but I'm using the Fire Giant figure I painted up as a 15mm Morgoth.

Stone Giant, rear view.

I spotted this WizKids cannon at Mighty Ape and thought "how cool". I then started assembling Oathmark Dwarves and thought "what they need is a big sod-off cannon". And so it was written and so it came to pass.

The cannon just fitted on the base of the perscribed size, and then I had to fit the crew on the base.

The Duergar with the shovel is from the Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry set. His companion with the green hood, is from the standard Oathmark Dwarf set - he has archer arms, though I cut off the bow and hollowed out the hand so he looks like he's pushing the gun frame. The Dwarf gun captain has a body from the standard Oathmark Dwarf set. The arms are from the Oathmark Dwarf set - originally he had a spear. I cut off the head of the spear and replaced it with a torch from the Frostgrave Female Soldier set, thus making a long-handled flambeau. The Gun Captain is wearing a Dragon-fighting helmet from the Oathmark Dwarf Heavy Infantry set.

Duergar Rune Priest. I was thinking the Duergar needed some sort of spell caster, but Dwarves don't tend to be Magic-Users. In HoTTs priests protect units around them by grounding Magical Attacks, which sounds like just the thing for a Duergar force.

The body, head, and right arm of the Rune Priest, including the hammer, are from the Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry set. The left arm and staff are from the Frostgrave Wizards II set.

The stones and rocks are from a path in the local reserve.

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10 March 2022

Housekeeping 2021

Painting Tally for 2021:

15mm Fantasy
106 Dwarf Infantry	15 Dwarf Generals	1 Cold Drake	1 Blue Dragon	2 Lindworms	13 High Elf Infantry
6 High Elf Cavalry	8 Wood Elf Cavalry	32 Rats	26 Gnome Infantry	6 Gnome Generals	2 Gnome Illusionists
4 Dwarf Wizards	16 Drow Archers	24 Drow Infantry	1 Drow General
28mm Fantasy
30 Duergar	31 Skeletons	30 Drow	2 Wizards	4 Fliers	2 Behemoths
3 Lurkers	6 Beasts	1 Lurker	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

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25 February 2022

Painted:
1 28mm Science Fiction Character rebased, 12 28mm Fantasy Duergar, 56 10mm War of the Spanish Succession Cavalry, 117 10mm War of the Spanish Succession Infantry, 8 10mm War of the Spanish Succession Generals

At the beginning of December, I suffered an attack of ennui and couldn't be bothered painting anything for a little while. Eventually, I regained my painting mojo by completing some Oathmark Dwarf heavy infantry (which turned up from the UK), and by painting up some more units for my 10mm War of the Spanish Succession project.

Rebased this fine bird - an Avian Alien with Pulse Rifle from CP Models. His name is R'cho Rhook.

I went for a vaguely Rosella look - one of the more colourful bird imports into New Zealand from Australia, and quite common in the Auckland area.

My HoTT Alliance of the UnderDark force continues to grow. Two elements of Duergar Blades (Oathmark Dwarf Heavy Infantry). The heavy armour and full face helmets remind me of descriptions of the Dwarves of Belegost in the Fifth Battle of the Wars of Beleriand, the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, when they held off the dragon, Glaurung.

And two further elements of Duergar.

The four elements together. As HoTT is a fairly abstract system, so these heavy, line-breaker, Duergar are no better or worse than the lighter armed Duergar Blade elements I completed back in November.

Rear view. I quite like the heavy shields.

Rear view of the four elements. With the four elements I completed in November, I probably have enough Duergar Blades. For now.

I ran out of 'thuse for painting 28mm about midway through the month. I had recently finished reading a book on the Army of Savoy in the late 17th Century. This reignited my interest in the War of the Spanish Succession. On my painting desk, in a box, is the balance of the 10mm War of the Spanish Succession figures I bought a couple of years back. With a slight repaint, and the conversion of a couple of troopers into standard bearers, I completed two regiments of Dragoons - Hay's and Wynne's.

Margrave Philip's Regiment of Cuirassiers - a Prussian regiment.

A second Prussian cavalry regiment - Margrave Philip's Liebregiment.

A third Prussian Regiment - Portail's.

Ansbach Regiment - another Prussian Regiment.

Prussian Liebregiment.

A Brigade General - the General figure is from Pendraken's War of the League of Augsburg range. I do like the LoA General figures, but they're closer to 12mm than 10mm.

A second Brigade General.

Two cavalry Brigades on the march.

Churchill's Regiment of Foot. I initially started working on recreating the Allied order of battle for Blenheim, as this is quite well documented. I currently have 19 Regiments of Horse for Blenheim, plus three Prussian Regiments which existed around this time, and which featured later in the conflict. I have finished 28 Regiments of Foot, including Churchill's, for Blenheim, plus an Austrian Regiment that was active in Italy during this period.

Wendt's Regiment of Foot. One of four Austrian Regiments where I have information on both the uniform and the regimental standard. Wendt's Regiment served in Hungary and Northern Italy.

1st Battalion Rantzau's Regiment of Foot. The Hanoverian Von Rantzau's Regiment of Foot fielded two battalions at Blenheim.

1st Battalion, Fynske's Regiment of Foot. A Danish Regiment. The United Provinces employed a number of foreign regiments, including two Danish Brigades at Blenheim.

1st Battalion, Regiment of Foot Prince George. Another Danish Regiment.

2nd Battalion, Regiment of Foot Prince Carl. Yet another Danish Regiment.

Two more Brigade Generals. Again, the Generals are from Pendraken's League of Augsburg range, while their supporters are from Pendraken's War of the Spanish Succession range.

Not a bad result for a month's painting.

04 February 2022

Painted:
2 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 17 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 1 28mm Science Fiction creature, 1 28mm Science Fiction Street Furniture, 1 28mm Fantasy Drow Magician, 19 Skeletons, 6 Drow, 18 Duergar

Work fired up again mid-November, which put a crimp on my painting time. We were still operating under Level 3 Lockdown protocols which meant long days wearing masks.

The Kiang are a dimunitive alien race in my Traveller campaign. They are dominated by the Kalar-Wi and are used as sepoy-type troops. I have imaged them, using three different figure types, in three different scales. These figures are Tzacol are from Onslaught Miniatures. I removed their staff weapons and added firearms.

Kiang stand about 900mm tall (approximately 3 feet). Here they are with a human adventurer for scale.

John and I have been playing Big Battle Hordes of the Things - where each flank command and the centre command are the equivalent of a standard HoTT army. Hence, I needed to paint up a second Drow Wizard.

This Wizard, and her little Gargoyle friend, were from our collective box of 25mm random fantasy figures from ye olde anciente tymes. The burial chamber is made from some stones I found on a local path.

I added two more elements of Drow Crossbow, also from our collective box of 25mm random fantasy figures from ye olde anciente tymes. Classed as Shooters in HoTT, they are actually quite good, solid troops, plus they have ranged attacks.

For Hordes of the Things, one needs Hordes. For an Evil Drow/UnderDark Alliance, Hordes of Undead seem just the ticket.

I think the bulk of these skeletons are old Citadel or Grenadier Miniatures. Some of the sculpts are very nice - the mounted one in particular. He was missing an arm so I was able to replace it with the sword arm from a Northstar Cultist. The little skeleton standing to the right, at the back, is an old Minifigs Valley of the Four Winds skellie.

Some of these Undead were originally Orcs, just deaded up a bit. The skellie with the spear on the right hand base had lost his original weapon, I replaced it with a plastic spear from a Victrix Saxon sprue I had to hand.

With my Drow force reaching completion, I began to consider a wider Alliance of the UnderDark themed army. As we play Big Battle HoTTs, I decided to add a Duergar command to my force. These figures are Oathmark Dwarf Infantry from Northstar Military Figures and were a lot of fun to assemble.

The shield decals are from Veni Vidi Vici. I found the 10mm diameter decals fitted the Oathmark shields the best, though I had to put a slit in the decal to get it to fit around the shield boss. This build gave me four elements of Blades.

Dwarves aren't reknown as archers, but I wanted to include a couple of elements of Shooters in my Duergar force. For tunnel fighting, crossbows seemed a better fit than longbows.

The arms and crossbows are from the Frostgrave Demon set, while the bodies, heads, etc, are from the Oathmark Dwarf Infantry set.

Left to Right: Tsek'hal Xhun - Precursor Wanderer. Bounty Hunter Enyo from Wargames3D on Etsy - a fascinating figure, though very tall at 32mm; ammo case from Archon Studios; Kephle Chioon and Fal Gos Reen - Irinidi chimeric multi-forms from the Gukir system. Frostgrave Demon bodies and tails, Stargrave arms, CP Models Alien Heads.

Rear View. Left to Right: Tsek'hal Xhun - Precursor Wanderer; ammo case; Kephle Chioon and Fal Gos Reen - Irinidi chimeric multi-forms from the Gukir system.

Left to Right: Glorin Throrsson - Dwarf sniper from Battle Valor Games; Aedan Org - Adventurer and Henchman. Frostgrave Demon Body, Stargrave arms and weapons, Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago Crewman head; a Vent Crawler. D&D Figures Iron Cobra; Mauda Attalono - Adventurer and Henchperson. Body, head, and open hand from Frostgrave Wizards II, gunhand from Stargrave Crewmen.

Rear View. Left to Right: Glorin Throrsson - Dwarf sniper; Aedan Org - Adventurer and Henchman; a Vent Crawler; Mauda Attalono - Adventurer and Henchperson.

Left to Right: Bostar - Hominidae trooper. I had used all the Stargrave chimp heads on my initial Hominidae adventurers, and was able to boost crew numbers with a couple of pewter figures from Alternative Armies. Choosing a helmetfacemask style, I've added a couple of troopers, including Bostar, to the Hominidae roster; Likol Batar and Nimo Gualtr - two more Alquanti troopers. Bodies, heads and arms from the Stargrave Crew and Mercenaries boxed sets; Karlo Sanguano - henchman. Frostgrave Demon body, Stargrave arms, and Victrix Saxon head.

Rear View. Left to Right: Bostar - Hominidae trooper; Likol Batar and Nimo Gualtr - two more Alquanti troopers; Karlo Sanguano - henchman.

Seven Angry (or Deadly) Dwarves. Bodies by Oathmark, arms and weapons from Stargrave.

Rear view of the Seven Deadly Dwarves.

Left to Right: Ori "Snarky" Oinsson, Dori "Stabby" Oinsson, and Nori "Nasty" Thrainsson.

Rear View.

Left to Right: Philanbor "Phil" Gloinsson, Arbak "Aggro" Throrsson, Bifur "Bovva" Grimsson, and Bombur "Boom-boom" Dvalinsson.

Rear View.

Snow Fright and the Seven Angrey Dwarves. Snow Fright is from Hasslefree Miniatures.

31 December 2021

Painted:
1 Building, 33 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 5 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 12 28mm Fantasy Skeletons

Lockdown in Auckland continued into October (and November), and I continued plugging away at painting and rebasing 28mm figures.

A collection of Adventurers - Left to Right: Toshii Io - Male Exotic from em4 Miniatures. A fun figure that reminds me of a heavily armed Leningrad Cowboy; Akcron Menshan - Merchant Prince or Politician from em4 Miniatures; Constans Murcherson - pistol-armed militiaman from Scotia Grendel; Esser Arnnet and Kolleen Josoon - female adventurer with pistol (SF28), and female crew member (SF26) from Denizen Miniatures.

Rear View: Left to Right: Toshii Io; Akcron Menshan; Constans Murcherson; Esser Arnnet and Kolleen Josoon.

I also made a bit more progress on my Forces of the Underdark HoTT Army - the first of three elements of Hordes.

A second element of Undead Hordes - this element could also be a Horde General.

Third element of Undead Hordes.

The Undead Horde, so far. These figures have been bouncing around our larger wargaming group since the 90's, so I have no idea what range(s) they were originally from.

Two Deimioi from Deimios; Shimek and Fortuuar. Northstar Frostgrave Demon heads, Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago crewman bodies, Stargrave Mercenary arms.

Backpacks and accessories from various kits.

Left to Right: Daithnah Paarshamauthil and Geemish Poulkantaker - two Gauth adventurers. The bodies are from Northstar's Ghost Archipelego Crew box, while the arms, weapons and heads are from the Stargrave Crew and Mercenaries boxes.

Rear view: Left to Right: Daithnah Paarshamauthil and Geemish Poulkantaker.

I made up a squad of Troopers, possibly from the Essenaro Congress, from the Stargrave Troopers box. 1st Fireteam includes a sniper and the fireteam heavy support gunner.

I opted to make two of the troopers bareheaded. I filed the neck peg of the helmet head down and turned the head into a slung helmet for each of the two troopers.

2nd Fireteam has a missile launcher and team heavy support gunner.

The team leader has a data pad and a light assualt rifle.

The full squad.

Through a Trademe trade, I picked up a couple of sprues of SciFi customization bits that I later discovered were from Archon Studio's Dungeons & Lasers range. Left to Right: munitions box, and power module from Archon Studios, D&D Iron Defender, and gun drone from Archon Studios.

Rear View. Only the Iron Defender and the gun drone look any different.

Three more items from Archon Studio's Dungeons & Lasers range. Left to Right: Haz Waste tank, cryopod, and power module.

Rear view of Haz Waste tank, cryopod and power module.

Left to Right: Ajit osi Khallus - Kalar-Wi sniper. An Old Games Workshop Eldar from the 90's; Vikan Lansu - Auditor and Assassin from Battle Valor Games.

Rear view of the Sniper and the Assassin.

Left to right: Four Dar'bahr - old Chronopia 2336 Stygian Axemen and, no, I have no idea why I bought these - I'm guessing they were end-of-line in a bargain bin.

I decided on white lizards, rather than green or grey. I think they came out rather well.

Left to Right: Phol Nengren - itinerant traveler. Vaelent Goos from Zombiesmith; Mharsha Phenax - Psycher. A Psionicist from Northstar Military Figures; Vhun Shamarathra - Mystic/Martial Artist. A Mystic from Northstar Military Figures; Jhinny Cal Olbo - freelance Mercenary. Body and weapon from a Domari Squad sprue from Warlord Games, head from Northstar's Cultist Sci-Fi Accessory Pack; Lyl Antor - Adventurer; and Jax Natar - Space Pirate. Both figures are from Alternative Armies Space Marine and Adventurers Range.

Rear View: Left to Right: Phol Nengren - itinerant traveler; Mharsha Phenax - Psycher; Vhun Shamarathra - Mystic/Martial Artist; Jhinny Cal Olbo - freelance Mercenary; Lyl Antor - Adventurer; and Jax Natar - Space Pirate.

An industrial building made from recycled packaging and other bits and pieces.

The building is decorated with Gundam transfers.

Darn. Taggers in the future.

09 November 2021

Painted:
2 Scatter Terrain pieces, 22 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 10 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 1 28mm Drow Behemoth, 2 28mm Drow Fliers, 2 Spaceships, 2 Leucrotta, 2 Alien Creatures

Painting and Rebasing for September. Lockdown continued in Auckland (as it did during October, and into November - sigh) and I pushed on with the painting and rebasing.

I rebased 10 figures this month. Firstly, five Kalar-Wi troopers. These Ventauran figures are from Denizen Miniatures. Lovely figures, closer to true 25mm than 28mm.

And five Characters/Adventurers/Minions. Left to Right: Arfur Fink - Cyberpunk Troll Security Guard - a figure I picked up in the 90's, not sure of the manufacturer; Alistir Gorlob hyphen fFarbes - Nobleman from, I think, em4 Miniatures, though I can't find him on their website; Daytar Jhones - a security officer - the wrap around eyeware was one of my earliest conversions (yay, greenstuff), again he's 25mm and from the 90's and I have no idea who made him; Clay Maybin and Malikie Carston - two gunmen from the Militia with Handguns pack from Scotia Grendel's Urban War range.

Rear view of the five Adventurers/Minions.

A Behemoth for my HoTT Drow Army. The giant spider is from Wargames Atlantic, while the Drow archer is from our collection of miscellaneous, ancient and random Fantasy figures.

The Giant Spiders are fairly frail. I added the archer escort to give me something to pick the base up with.

Another element of fliers. A pair of gargoyles of forgotten origin.

Rear view of the gargoyles. There are lots of lovely little details on these figures.

Type-R Subsidized Merchant Ship. A 1/1000th scale resin model from Foreven Shipyards on Shapeways. I've had this model, and the Free/Far Trader, below, sitting on my desk for about a year. Finally, with Lockdown, I've got around to painting it up.

The hull script is from a set of Drazi decals, and the fin emblems are Kzinti Clan Markings from Jupiter IV.

Free Trader. 1/1000th scale resin model from Foreven Shipyards on Shapeways.

Free Trader, showing ship ID on fin - again, a Drazi script decal from Jupiter IV.

A pair of Leucrotta Dungeons and Dragons figures from Gateway Games. I thought these would paint up nicely as some sort of wildlife for Traveller, or 5 Parsecs.

I looked up the Leucrotta and they're a nasty monster in D&D terms, and even in the original mythology.

Left to Right: Khehersek, Chareserk and Shehereserek - three Cusserskus raiders. These are Northstar Snakemen. I have rearmed them with various firearms from various packs of SciFi weapons I've picked up over the last few years. Khehersek also has a com head set and a computer hand set from one of the other sprues I've been assembling

Rear view: Left to Right: Khehersek, Chareserk and Shehereserek - three Cusserskus raiders.

Chareserk, showing his pulse rifle, and Dr Andov Chorsorovich. Dr Chorsorovich is a pewter Northstar Stargrave character figure and is useful as a "standard height comparison" with other characters.

Left: Magmite from Northstar. I have used this as a Vent Crawler in 5 Parsecs. Right: Reaper Bones Computer Terminal

Rear view of Magmite and Computer Terminal

Dr Chorsorovich compares heights.

Left to Right: Aie'yah Ftaul, Wakhuae' Yu, Easa Faekhoureraohta, and Htou Kauhaew. Four Aslan. The three left hand figures are resin miniatures from Cold War Miniatures. The right hand miniature is a Northstar Miniatures Smuggler

Rear View: Left to Right: Left to Right: Aie'yah Ftaul, Wakhuae' Yu, Easa Faekhoureraohta, and Htou Kauhaew.

Height comparison: Aie'yah Ftaul, Dr Chorsorovich, and Easa Faekhoureraohta.

Left to Right: Gherlach support gunner. The Gherlach are a reptilian Minor race in my Traveller campaign; Oin Thrainsson - Dwarf sniper from Battle Valor Games; Kou'hter - Games Workshop Kroot sniper; Steevhan Kolan - patron and adventurer. I picked this figure up in the 90's and think it may have been from Shadowrun.

Rear View: Left to Right: Gherlach support gunner; Oin Thrainsson - Dwarf sniper; Kou'hter - Kroot sniper; Steevhan Kolan - patron and adventurer.

Height comparison: Dr Chorsorovich compares heights.

Left to Right: Kassandra Morghan - Frostgrave Wizards II body, head and left arm, Stargrave Crew(?) right arm; Filippa Artaan - Infiltrator Agent; Commander Illian Rhorlan - Ground Zero Games Female Crew member SLS-03; Uro Heurasha - Frostgrave Demons body, Frostgrave Wizards II arms, Cultist Sci-Fi Acessory pack hand gun.

Rear View: Left to Right: Kassandra Morghan; Filippa Artaan; Commander Illian Rhorlan; Uro Heurasha.

Left to Right: Two alien creatures - I think they were originally from some Call of Cthulu range, possibly by Grenadier?; Luurha Nun - Phagon with Needler; Ete Oul Jaffan - Reaper Bones Malvernis Soldier.

Rear View: Left to Right: Two alien creatures - I think they were originally from some Call of Cthulu range; Luurha Nun; Ete Oul Jaffan.

Height comparison: Dr Chorsorovich compares heights.

Left to Right: Dr Andov Chorsorovich - Medic; Four Deimioi from Deimios. Left to Right: Guulva - Frostgrave Female Wizard torso, Stargrave Crew or Merc arms, Frostgrave Demon head; Nuurran - Frostgrave Female Wizard torso, Stargrave Crew/Merc arms, Frostgrave Demon head; Hartok - Frostgrave Ghost Archipeligo Crew torso, Stargrave Crew arms rocket launcher, Frostgrave Demon head; and Kharhor - Frostgrave Female Wizard torso, Stargrave Soldier arms, Frostgrave Demon head. All Deimioi carry a large knief as part of their cultural identity.

Rear View: Left to Right: Dr Andov Chorsorovich, Guulva, Nuurran, Hartok and Kharhor.

Left to Right: Lee Jaoh Terraqui - Vehakelai Mercenary. Conversion using a Concord body and a CP Models alien head; three more Lizardmen from Wargames Atlantic. The left one has been re-armed with a pulse pistol from a pack of science fiction weapons, while the right two are armed with AK-47s, straight out of the box.

Rear View: Left to Right: Lee Jaoh Terraqui and three Lizardmen.

Height comparison with Dr Andov Chorsorovich.

Left to Right: Gvaegnogz and Vekourr - two Ouhoow raiders. I think these figures were for the RPG Rifts. I have converted them by adding handguns; Reka Hoursa - Port Official. A PF sculpt of Doseki Mullimbits from Zombiesmith; Brother Loras Garn - a Cultist. A Dark Disciple from back in the day Citadel Miniatures.

Rear View: Left to Right: Gvaegnogz and Vekourr - two Ouhoow raiders; Reka Hoursa - Port Official; Brother Loras Garn - a Cultist.

Height comparison with Dr Andov Chorsorovich.

Liisa Sendo - Adventurer. Denizen Miniatures Adventurer SF28; Fan Wa - Mystic and Assassin, from Northstar; JJ Marsh - Adventurer. Torso from Frostgrave Demons, head from Frostgrave Ghost Achipelago Crew, arms from Stargrave Crew box; Nen Colpi - Caradavioi trooper. Torso, arms and head from the Stargrave Crew or Mercenaries boxes.

Rear View: Liisa Sendo - Adventurer; Fan Wa - Mystic and Assassin; JJ Marsh - Adventurer; Nen Colpi - Caradavioi trooper.

Left to Right: Granny Goodness and Pip - Smuggler and dragonette pet. Rogue Stars Smuggler from Northstar Miniatures; Unsue - porter. From Zombiesmith; Gii Anandan and Friski - security guard with lizard pet. Another member of the Zombiesmith starport crew. The lizard pet is sitting on Gii Anandan's shoulder.

Rear View: Left to Right: Granny Goodness and Pip - Smuggler and dragonette pet; Unsue - porter; Gii Anandan and Friski - security guard with lizard pet.

Height comparison: Dr Chorsorovich compares heights.

Painted:
19 28mm Science Fiction Characters rebased, 44 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 1 28mm Drow Behemoth

Painting and Rebasing for August. Half way through August, New Zealand went into Lockdown #5 as Covid-19 emerged in the community again. From being relatively busy, work for me dried up completely. It did give me a bit more time for painting. During August, I also started a project to rebase a bunch of 25mm/28mm Science Fiction figures I painted up back in 2015.

First group of rebased figures from my initial 2015 burst of painting 25/28mm figures. Left to Right: Gheran Lidan - armoured trooper. An Alien Major from CP Models; Dahulan "Dawleen" Beshan - a personality figure from eM4's Spacelords range; Phuamba Phaphuna - Phuamba Phaphuna's people are known as "boomers", evolving from marsh-dwelling hunters they retain the enlarged skull and sinus cavities used by their ancestors to communicate across the pools and meres of their ancestral planet. This figure is the 'Leader of the Hired Guns' from CP Models. I went with the Alien Head option; Anton Grimm - gunman. One of the Militia with Handguns pack from Scotia Grendel's Urban War range.

Rear View, Left to Right: Gheran Lidan - armoured trooper; Dahulan "Dawleen" Beshan; Phuamba Phaphuna; Anton Grimm - gunman.

Left to Right: Ftaeloah Lalihow - Aslan crewman. Finding Aslan in 25/28mm is nearly impossible. While he lacks the mane of an Aslan male, needs must. He's a Lancer Captain from Bombshell Miniatures; Frederick "Frank" Neen - gunman. Another of the Militia with Handguns pack from Scotia Grendel. The reason I originally bought this set was for this guy - the figure that Ed of Two Hour Wargames uses for his main character, Billy Pink; Geen Hastro - Federation Trooper (SF36) from Denizen Miniatures.

Rear View Left to Right: Ftaeloah Lalihow - Aslan crewman; Frederick "Frank" Neen - gunman; Geen Hastro - Federation Trooper.

Left to Right: Randolf Racoon - sidekick from Bomshell Miniatures; Leit tio Hasshan - Kalar-Wi assassin. An old Games Workshop Eldar Scout; 4-Aroah-2 - homonculus engineer. Sidekick called Shrapnel from Bombshell Miniatures.

Rear View Left to Right: Randolf Racoon - sidekick; Leit tio Hasshan - Kalar-Wi assassin; 4-Aroah-2 - homonculus engineer.

Height comparison between Homonculus, Human, Kalar-Wi, Aslan.

Three Gherlach - a reptilian Minor Race from the Klarthur Confederacy in Aemilor Subsector, in my Traveller campaign. The Gherlach are similar to Bwaps, though more aggressive. These are converted old Fantasy Lizardmen, with some Warhammer 40K weapons.

Rear View three Gherlach.

Left to Right: Lloeg Kfuengghoung, Engka Fothoutsue, Ougvorrufozi On - Vargr Raiders. Before the Northstar Gnolls came out for conversion to Vargr, I found these Ar-Men from the Cobalt-1 range, previously at Black Hat Miniatures and now at Bridge Miniatures.

Rear View Left to Right: Lloeg Kfuengghoung, Engka Fothoutsue, Ougvorrufozi On - Vargr Raiders.

Left to Right: Uetho Dhogvurs, Ikhsalun Urruers, and Khaegourroun Kson. Another three Ar-Men/Vargr from Bridge Miniatures.

Rear View Left to Right: Uetho Dhogvurs, Ikhsalun Urruers, and Khaegourroun Kson. These 19 figures completed the first stage of the rebasing project.

Left to Right: Sseenek and Cseresk - two Cusserskus raiders. These are Northstar Snakemen. Cseresk, with his boarding axe, is pretty much straight out of the box. Sseenek has been re-equipped with a gauss gun from one of the packs of SciFi weapons I've picked up over the last few years. The third item is a piece of scatter terrain from Northstar - some sort of locked box with a tablet locking device.

An alternative view of the Cusserskus, and the lock box.

Left to Right: Dezon Coptron - Adventurer. All bodyparts are from Northstar. Body from the Demons box, head from Ghost Archipelago Crew box, arms and weapons from the Stargrave Crew box; Uira Nahguun - Fas'ini Mystic. Again, the body from the Demons box, arms from the Wizards II box, head from the Stargrave Crew box; Antamaman Campramastra - Andromedan Ambassador or Bureaucrat. Figure from Reaper Miniatures; Fandan Shunopia - System Hacker. Body from Northstar's Ghost Archipelago Crew box, arms from the Stargrave Crew box, head from Anvil Industry.

Rear View Left to Right: Dezon Coptron - Adventurer; Uira Nahguun - Fas'ini Mystic; Antamaman Campramastra - Andromedan Ambassador or Bureaucrat; Fandan Shunopia - System Hacker.

Left to Right: Cassia Loussia - Hacker. Northstar metal character figure; Reshan - an Ouhoow trooper. The Ouhoow are Uplifted Caninoids. I think this figure is from an old Rifts Canine pack. I have several other figures of different uplifted dog breeds which came from the same pack; Cabal Atim and Sebro Equar - two Alquanti troopers. Bodies, heads and arms from the Stargrave Crew and Mercenaries boxed sets.

Rear View Left to Right: Cassia Loussia - Hacker; Reshan - an Ouhoow trooper; Cabal Atim and Sebro Equar - two Alquanti troopers.

Left to Right: Three Seminarians and a Deacon of the Ferenti – the Obeisant Order of Sarrigarisan the Ascendant. Bodies and arms are from the Beyond the Gates of Antares Freeborn Domari sprue, heads are from Anvil Industry Brodie Gladiator Helmets . I think the Deacon's head may have been from the Freeborn Domari sprue.

Rear View Left to Right: Three Seminarians and a Deacon of the Ferenti.

Left to Right: Ferenti Drone, Deacon, and Deacon Specialist. Again, the boadies, arms and weapons are from the Beyond the Gates of Antares Freeborn Domari sprue, heads are from Anvil Industry Female PMC Heads pack.

Rear View Left to Right: Ferenti Drone, Deacon, and Deacon Specialist.

Left to Right: Kadro Galwhen - Adventurer. An Alternative Armies Legionary Prefect; A Flower of Evil - scatter terrain from Alternative Armies; Harul - a Deimioi trooper. Frostgrave Crewman torso, Stargrave Crewman arms and weapon, Frostgrave Demon head; Janto Knurr - Adventurer. Stargrave Mercenary torso, arms and weapons, and head.

Rear View Left to Right: Kadro Galwhen - Adventurer; A Flower of Evil; Harul - a Deimioi trooper; Janto Knurr - Adventurer.

Left to Right: Fin Daphal and Yir Galpi - Caradavioi troopers. Torsos, Arms and Weapons, and Heads from the Stargrave Crew or Mercenaries boxes; Jun Harfi - Caradavioi Adventurer. Northstar metal figure.

Rear View Left to Right: Fin Daphal, Yir Galpi, and Jun Harfi - Caradavioi Adventurers.

Left to Right: Pal Hassing - Adventurer. CP Models' Hawkes from their Scum and Smugglers range; Lowjohl - Miujhale Psyker. Psyker from North Stars Rogue Stars range; Attila le Gros - Uplifted Porcine trader. CP Models' Plutt from their Scum and Smugglers range; scatter terrain from North Star's Stargrave range.

Rear View Left to Right: Pal Hassing - Adventurer; Lowjohl - Miujhale Psyker; Attila le Gros - Uplifted Porcine trader; scatter terrain from North Star's Stargrave range.

Left to Right: Maur Takau, Shindo Shoulon, Oda Nawan Undoora - three Psykic Warriors. Battle Valor Games Space Knights. I replaced their metal light sabres with plastic rod. Shindo's facial expression cracks me up, he seems to be giving Oda Nawan the side-eye.

Rear View Left to Right: Maur Takau, Shindo Shoulon, Oda Nawan Undoora - three Psykic Warriors.

Left to Right: Ardo Acker - Psykic Warrior. A Psi Paladin from Alternative Armies; Mhark Fhirm - Psykic Warrior-Apprentice. Battle Valor Games Space Knight. I replaced the Psykic Warriors' metal light sabres with plastic rod.

Rear View Left to Right: Ardo Acker - Psykic Warrior; Mhark Fhirm - Psykic Warrior-Apprentice.

Left to Right: Osiralan Clade Hegemonising Swarm Combat Units. Asterian Cypher Troops from Mantic Games.

Rear View Left to Right: Osiralan Clade Hegemonising Swarm Combat Units.

Left to Right: A second squad of Osiralan Clade Hegemonising Swarm Combat Units. Asterian Cypher Troops from Mantic Games.

Rear View Left to Right: Osiralan Clade Hegemonising Swarm Combat Units.

Osiralan Clade Hegemonising Swarm Combat Units. The full Combat Swarm.

17 September 2021

Painted:
29 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 3 Scatter Objectives, 3 28mm Drow Beasts, 6 28mm Fantasy Drow Infantry, 3 28mm Drow Sneakers

Painting results for July.

Continuing work on my 28mm Drow HoTT Army, I finished off a second element of Beasts. Again, the figures are from Wargames Atlantic's Giant Spider boxed set.

I also completed another two elements of Drow Blades. Again, these figures are some 25mm Fantasy Elves that have been kicking around in various spares boxes for years. The shields are from Battle Valor Games.

Originally, I was going to use the middle figure - a Reaper Miniatures Half-Elf Rogue - as a Drow Hero, but having decided to use the Spider Queen as a Hero, I opted to use the Rogue as a Sneaker. As Sneakers are describe as being, amongst other things, wandering heirs to lost thrones, it seemed logical to give my Sneaker an entourage of a Standard Bearer and a Trumpeter. The Standard Bearer and Trumpeter are also from the collection of old 25mm Fantasy figures - there's quite a height difference between 25mm and leggy 28mm.

Three pieces of scatter terrain, either objectives or loot. A box of grenades, a computer terminal, and an old generator. The grenade box is from Northstar - I got mine as part of the Stargrave Nickstarter, and the computer terminal and generator are from Reaper Miniatures.

As the premise for Stargrave is exploring the ruins of a collapsing interstellar society, I painted the terminal and generator as if they had been abandoned in a shattered city.

Number 3 Space Spider - an Aramba'hkkt, a variant of the Angon - a zero-G dwelling arachnoid species in my Traveller Universe. From Wargames Atlantic's Giant Spider boxed set.

Rekk Vo and Naroo Ta, two Muridaen from Norvegia. Originally, these were Fantasy ratmen and have been kicking around in my bitz box since forever.

I had started converting them in 2015 and then put them to one side. This month, I added two proper handguns from my stash to replace the half-arsed wire and plastercine efforts I had attempted back in 2015. They came out rather well, I think.

Left to Right: Jokko Ai - a Hent from CP Models; Neeana Attero - I think this might be an old 90's Rift Wars figure. She's definitely true-25mm rather than 28mm, and is armed with a handgun and some sort of fighting claw on her left hand; Haakon Throrsson - a Dwarf sniper.

Rear view, Left to Right: Jokko Ai - a Hent; Neena Attero - Baseline Human; Haakon Throrsson - Dwarf sniper.

Hominidae crew from Panus.

Left to Right: Hanno, Himilcar and Captain Cornelius. Figures assembled from North Star's Stargrave Crew and Mercenaries boxes.

Rear view, Left to Right: Hanno, Himilcar and Captain Cornelius.

Left to Right: Hasdrubel and Phameas. As there were only four hominid heads in the figure boxes, I decided that I would bulk out the Hominidae with heads with full face masks.

Rear view, Left to Right: Hasdrubel and Phameas.

Left to Right: Sophonisba, navigator and computer expert, and Bomilcar. Figures from Alternative Armies.

Rear view, Left to Right: Sophonisba, navigator and computer expert, and Bomilcar.

Height comparison of the various adventurers.

Left to Right: Essuhral Ta Quarrith - Uvarri Sniper from CP Models; Pa vHuuti - Yanshen thuggee from Northstar; Shunan Shuur - Aeitan Mercenary. Conversion using a Concord body and a CP Models alien head.

Rear view, Left to Right: Uvarri Sniper, Yanshen thuggee, and Aeitan Mercenary.

Left to Right: Zingra Fallax - a Callipii Sniper; Kanto hai Galpan - Kalar-Wi Sniper. An old Games Workshop Eldar or Harlequin I picked up sometime in the 90's; Ellan Lanfair - adventurer. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think this figure came from Ground Zero Games; Resso Farlan - a hunter. Another old Games Workshop ganger from the 90's.

Rear view, Left to Right: Zingra Fallax, Kanto hai Galpan, Ellan Lanfair, and Resso Farlan and friend.

Left to Right: Kokluha Piothiokitaaf and Nadah Phlavuduatker - two Gauth adventurers. The bodies are from Northstar's Ghost Archipelego Crew box, while the arms, weapons and heads are from the Stargrave Crew and Mercenaries boxes.

Rear view, Left to Right: Kokluha Piothiokitaaf and Nadah Phlavuduatker.

Left to Right: Jhon Kolpei and Beidan Vex - guns for hire. Bodies are from Northstar's Demon Infantry box, heads are from the Ghost Archipelego Crew box, arms and weapons are from the Stargrave Crew and Mercenaries boxes.

Rear view, Left to Right: Jhon Kolpei and Beidan Vex.

Left to Right: Tham Zdihmisa and Lihdhugh Pekerehyrininih - two Kihyri raiders. The Kihyri bodies are Northstar Cultists, arms and weapons are from the Stargrave Crew or Mercenaries boxes. The heads are from the Oathmark Elf Infantry set.

Rear view, Left to Right: Tham Zdihmisa and Lihdhugh Pekerehyrininih. Lihdhugh's belt bag and gear is from my Kroot bits box.

Left to Right: Dihran Yimolihnd, Dedhonih Bimihnehn, and Ryi Pehyrir - three Kihyri raiders. The Kihyri bodies are Northstar Cultists, arms and weapons are from the Stargrave Crew or Mercenaries boxes, while Ryi Pehyrir is armed with the heavy machine gun from the Cultist Sci Fi pack. The heads are from the Oathmark Elf Infantry set.

Rear view, Left to Right: Dihran Yimolihnd, Dedhonih Bimihnehn, and Ryi Pehyrir - three Kihyri raiders.

The Kihyri raiding party.

22 August 2021

Painted:
29 28mm Science Fiction Characters, 1 28mm Science Fiction Lander, 6 28mm Fantasy Drow Infantry, 1 28mm Fantasy Drow Lurker

Life quietened down a bit in June, and I was able to make a bit of progress on both my HoTT and Sci Fi projects.

Fossicking around on the Internet, as you do, I accidently discovered these Desert Scrappers from Wargames3D. Left to Right: Aoun, Kelki, and Beezu.

A bit more expensive than I wanted to pay, but the postage was less expensive than other Etsey sellers.

The Desert Scappers are fun little figures, and I'm glad I bought them. An Andralassian Hegemony Strike Force trooper gives an idea how small the Scrappers are.

Left to Right: Anylea Gorsh, Noblewoman or Agent from Battle Valor Games; Hortak Shun, henchman (I think he was an assassin or pickpocket - I replaced the mace in his right hand with a pistol); Thalenia Edunorikk, Adventuress; fusion power source, scatter objective (converted from a Concord Strike Squad Heavy Drone weapons pod).

Rear view of the characters.

Squad of Liatarnian Paramilitary Security Troopers. Essentially Space Goblins, these were fun figures to paint.

Given that they're Paramilitary Security, rather than combat troops, I decided that their uniforms were designed more for visability than camouflage - and they look rather natty in their off-white spats.

The Liatarnian Security Troopers needed some backup, so I painted up a small Concord Strike Squad drone as support.

Left to Right: Phuamba Phuun - a CP Models Hired Gun with Alien Head; Arti Hin Pallo - a Dhalquinii Psychic; Dirso Berlu, a Spaeten trooper - conversion using a Concord Strike Squad body and a Spaeten head; Phuamba Phuneau - a CP Models Hired Gun with Alien Head. Phuamba Phuneau and Phuamba Phuun's people are known as "boomers", evolving from marsh-dwelling hunters they retain the enlarged skull and sinus cavities used by their ancestors to communicate across the pools and meres of their ancestral planet.

Rear view of the crew.

Three Andralassian Hegemony Strike Force troopers, with light drone support. The right hand trooper is carrying the squad support weapon. As I have noted elsewhere, the Andralassian Hegemony and the Essenaro Congress are currently in a state of Cold War.

Rare view of the Strike Force troopers.

Three more Andralassian Troopers, including the squad NCO.

Rear view. The original figures - Warlord Games Concord Strike Squad - have limited poseability, and their arms and weapons are a real pain to attach to the torsoes.

The full squad with support drone.

The Essenaro Congress Marine Squad. The Dwarf sniper is AWOL.

The Phuamba Phratry, so far. Within Shophunumba - "Boomer" - society, individuals are known by a phratry name and a given name. The Phuamba Phratry was one of a number of phyle exiled from Oshumamba after the Consolidation of Sarasumama overturned the more liberal Harmony of Onshasumoa.

Left to Right: Sai Kesso - Vengi Mystic, one of my first Northstar assemblies. Body from the Frostgrave Demons set, arms from the Frostgrave Wizards II set, head from CP Models Mixed Alien Heads I pack, handgun also from CP Models; Gardo Gorn - Formorian Raider from Alternative Armies; Argrue - Uplifted caninoid brawler - old Rifts figure with added laz pistol; Enock Glum - reluctant henchman - old Fantasy peasant billman, upgunned with a laz gun.

Rear view of the crew. Sai Kesso, on left, has a satchel which also come from the Northstar Wizards II set. I love the detailing of the equipment on the back of Gardo Gorn, the Formorian Raider (second from left).

Crew photobombed by passing freelance drone.

Left to Right: Three more Lizardmen from Wargames Atlantic. I rearmed the left hand one with a gauss rifle (from a CP Models accessory pack), while the middle one has a pistol (also from CP Models). The center Lizardman has a flute-like object in his left hand so I decided it was some sort of Lizardman medical device. The right hand Lizardman has an AK-47, straight out of the box.

The various pouches and accessories are from the Lizardman sprue box.

Four Deimioi from Deimios. Left to Right: Gussav - a soldier or soldier-Mystic, Frostgrave Crewman torso, Stargrave Merc gun arm, Frostgrave Female Wizard left arm, Frostgrave Demon head; Nuun - a Hacker, Frostgrave Female Wizard torso and arms, Cultist Upgrade handgun, Frostgrave Demon head; Grimtok - a Captain, Frostgrave Female Wizard torso, Stargrave Crew arms and handguns, Frostgrave Demon head; and Norhl - a Grinder or Mechanic, Frostgrave Female Wizard torso, Stargrave Soldier gunarm, Stargrave Crewman tool arm, Frostgrave Demon head. All Deimioi carry a large knief as part of their cultural identity.

Rear view of the Deimioi, showing various accessories.

Various other accessories.

A second Aramba'hkkt, a variant of the Angon - a zero-G dwelling arachnoid species in my Traveller Universe. The figure is from Wargames Atlantic and also was a right pain to assemble. Requiring more antigravity and swearing.

This Aramba'hkkt has a cybernetic foreleg.

While a spaceship isn't essential to play either 5 Parsecs from Home or Stargrave, I have seen some cool ships on the various FB Hobby pages. I managed to pick up this Tau lander second hand, finished painting it up, and fixed its landing gear. This is the Malvoisin-B, the lander for the KPC ARCShip Malvoisin.

Lizardman and Lander to give an idea of scale. The Lander could probably carry a crew of around 10 humanoids, but would be pretty cramped for any long distanced travel.

As I'm thinking about 5 Parsecs and Stargrave, I'm thinking that the "ship" that appears on-table might only be a shuttle. The actual "ship" remains in orbit and is much larger - I'm thinking like the Guild Heighliners from Dune, or the Light Huggers from Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series. I'm toying with the term "KPC ARC ship" to describe the Interstellar ship, for "Kiloparsec (1,000 parsec) Arc ship", an indication of the ship's range - I like the idea of a larger sandbox setting, but I also want Faster Than Light travel. I found a map of the galaxy from some on-line video game which looks kind of cool as a backdrop, and I've dug out my copy of the old Space Opera RPG which has interesting ideas on Space Opera-type FTL.

The lander model had been rigged for flight, though was missing a landing skid. I managed to free the other skids and pack them out into landing position, and then built a replacement skid out of plastic card. Once painted, I think it ended up being a pretty close match.

And in other painting news, I also managed to knock out two elements of Drow for my 28mm Hordes of the Things project, though given the lag time between painting these figures and updating this blog I have already used these figures in a few games with John. One element of Blades and a Blade General element.

I also completed a Drow Lurker - a Wargames Atlantic Giant Spider. This is the Fantasy version of the Science Fiction Spiders I have been assembling.

The web over the tree is a mixture of nylon thread and hot glue strands. The wrapped up victims are from the spider sprues.

03 August 2021

Painted:
8 28mm Science Fiction Characters

May was a pretty busy month, workwise, which impacted on my painting output. I managed to struggle through a few more 28mm Science Fiction figures and, I seem to recall, my copy of Stargrave and the figure boxes I bought during the Stargrave Nickstarter arrived. Much to look forward to, when I get some time.

Left to Right: Augustus "Gus" Pierrot - a Battle Valor Games Captain; Gaba Thun and Lazalus "Lazgun" Geirrot - two old Games Workshop gangers from the 1990's (?).

Both the gangers wear some sort of light body armour, while Captain Pierrot might just have a standard leather vest.

Large drone from the Concord Strike Squad.

Rear view of the large drone. It appears to be armed with some sort of heavy railgun and a tri-lense beam weapon.

Large drone with Andralassian Hegemony Strike Force trooper.

Four Andralassian Hegemony Strike Force troopers. A state of Cold War currently exists between the Andralassian Hegemony and the Essenaro Congress, with Hegemony Strike Force teams and Essenaro Congress Marines attempting to dominate various systems.

Rear view of the Hegemony Strike Force. These are quite nice figures, but the arms and weapon assembly are quite fiddley.

25 July 2021

Painted:
14 Dwarves, 19 28mm Science Fiction Characters

During April I finished off the last of the Khurasan Miniatures Dwarves I had been working on, as well as pushed on with my 28mm Science Fiction Characters painting project.

Dwarf Regiment Number 4. As with the earlier regiments, I placed the Leidang figures, with their mattocks and maces, on the ends of the lines of Hird and Huscarl axemen.

I carried on the shield pattern I had used for the earlier regiments, inspired by pictures of viking shields I had seen.

With the completion of these Dwarves, I decided to take a bit of a break from 15mm and concentrate on my 25/28mm Science Fiction figures.

Another crew - Left to Right: Pterech Who - Uhul with laser cannon from Alternative Armies; Agent Chrystin Huuym - Betrayer Alpha IA152 from Alternative Armies; Shan Trevain - possibly from Ground Zero Games - he's closer to 25mm in size.

Left to Right: Phuamba Phanua - a Zombiesmith A7D12 Random Alien. Phuamba Phanua's people are known as "boomers", evolving from marsh-dwelling hunters they retain the enlarged skull and sinus cavities used by their ancestors to communicate across the pools and meres of their ancestral planet. Phuamba Phanua prefers Hawai'ian style shirts; Kre'tchir - a Games Workshop Kroot sniper. I clipped the barrel hook off the rifle. I think the shoulder pad is from CP Models, though I can't find them, currently, on their website.

Back view left to right: Pterech Who the Uhul - details of his laser cannon back rig; Agent Chrystin Huuym - she is described as wearing a cloak - it appears to be a trench coat and she, awkwardly, has one arm through it, holding the Maia 9.6mm pistol; Shan Trevain - I think this guy is a mercenary or adventurer, unfortunately, the current Ground Zero Games website has few photos in the 25mm Stargrunt range. He's still a nice figure, though.

Back view left to right: Phuamba Phanua and his Hawai'ian shirt; Kre'tchir - Kroot sniper with his kitbag and cutlery set.

Front view - the Crew.

Rear view - the Crew.

Left to Right: Marieanne N'komo - a Hasslefree Miniatures Galactic Trader. Apparently, she's 32mm tall, so that gives you an idea how tall the droids are. I'm still not completely sure about the sword - I'm tempted to replace the sword with a light sabre; a pair of Combots from the Ganesha Games SciFi range, hosted by Alternative Armies. The Combots reminded me a little of the combat droids from Star Wars, so I painted them up as "Clankers".

Marieanne N'komo and the Clankers.

Two Combat drones from the Essenaro Congress Marines - these are Warhammer 40K T'au drones I picked up at a Bring 'n' Buy some years ago, but I can't work out if they're still available from Games Workshop.

I do like these drones - there's a nice design esthetic about them, though I've always wondered about the sticky out thing on the top.

Three Essenaro Congress Marines: Left to Right - Carso Harlo, a Spaeten trooper; Sergeant Jhil Dhearon, a Hasslefree Power Armoured marine; Ivar Ingleson, a Battle Valor Games Dwarf Rifleman/sniper.

Rear view: Sergeant Dhearon has some sort of armour-cracking, monofiliment bladed, space axe for dealing with enemy power armour, droids and cyborgs.

All the Marines wear the Essenaro Congress blazon on their shoulder rigs.

Space Spider! Aramba'hkkt, a variant on the Angon - a zero-G dwelling arachnoid species in my Traveller Universe. The figure is from Wargames Atlantic and was a right pain to assemble. Requiring much antigravity and swearing.

Aramba'hkkt has a cyber control interface on her left forward claw. The facial optical array extends her vision up into the ultraviolet.

Marieanne N'komo and Aramba'hkkt. Angons are not small creatures.

Another five members of my Vargr crew. These started off as Northstar Gnolls with the addition of, mostly, Frostgrave Cultist SciFi Accessory fire arms. There are a couple of handguns and a beamer from other sources. The third Vargr from the left is holding a scratch-built datapad, while the fourth Vargr from the left is another member the Group Unity Teaching path, or Cult.

Again, I raided my Kroot bitz stash for suitable accessories for my Vargr. Also, again, all these Vargr wear the Serpent insignia of their ship on their crew jackets.

Quite the motley crew!

24 June 2021

Painted:
46 Dwarves, 4 Dwarf Generals, 3 28mm Beasts, 2 28mm Fliers, 2 28mm Driders, 1 28mm Wizard, 1 28mm God/Hero, 32 28mm Science Fiction Characters

During March I managed to finish off a bunch of figures I'd had sitting around for a while, pushed on with my 28mm Drow for HoTT, and completed more 28mm Science Fiction figures for Stargrave, 5 Parsecs from Home, or 5150.

Back in 2018 I picked up a Dwarf Yuletide Force from Khurasan Miniatures' Dwarven Kingdoms range. I painted up the archers, initially, in early 2019 and was a little disappointed with them.

The shields are cast separately for most of the figures. I mixed the Huscarls, Hird, and Leidang packs together which gave me sufficient figures to make up four regiments.

These Dwarves are taller than my Battle Valor Games Dwarves, and slimmer.

Second Regiment. The Huscarls and Hird are all axe-armed while the Leidang are armed with a mix of swords, maces, and spears. The swordsmen make good officers while the spear and macemen could be converted to standard bearers.

The standards were downloaded from the Internet (search "Dwarf Banners") and come from various computer games, Games Workshop-inspired sites and fan sites.

Third Regiment. The shields were inspired by illustrations of Viking-age shield patterns.

Rear of 3rd Regiment. The 4th Regiment was still unfinished at the end of March.

The Command set had two officers - one a King which I didn't notice until too late, two standard bearers, and two musicians. I had a few armoured axemen left over, so they were added as bodyguards.

It was only after I had based the figures that I realised I had stuck the Dwarf King on the Sub-commander's base. D'oh!

The Dwarf Brigade so far.

Work continued on my 28mm Hordes of the Things Army with an element of Beasts. These are from the Wargames Atlantic Giant Spider set.

An element of Fliers - I think these may be old Grenadier gargoyle figures. I found them lurking in a box of old Fantasy figures, dating back to the 1980s.

Even after all these years, these are still very nice figures.

For Knights or Riders, nothing seemed more appropriate for Drow than Driders. Drow/Giant Spider hybrids, Driders are one of those AD&D creations that make you go "ick".

The Driders are from Reaper Miniatures' Bones range - ie plastic. I replaced the swordsman's shield with a Delvian Spider hoplon from Battle Valor Games. The archer is pretty much as supplied.

Drow Sorcerer. Another Reaper Bones miniature - in this case a Dark Elf Queen. The standing stones are actual rocks from a path in the local reserve.

The "ancient paving" was made by spreading some pollyfilla on the base and marking out flagstones before the pollyfilla dried.

A suitable God for Drow would be, of course, Lolth, Queen of the Demonweb Pits. This figure is also from Reaper Miniatures Bones range.

The figure is so large, I had to come up with a way to fit it on a base with a 60mm frontage. I eventually built a crag for Lolth to climb down.

Lolth and the Drow Sorcerer. Gods are rather erratic under Hordes of the Things. During a game day with John, I tried using Lolth as a Hero, which worked better, until he successfully Ensorcelled my Hero with his Wizard.

And another batch of 28mm Science Fiction Characters:

Left to Right: Zane Murcherson - a Ground Zero Games soldier. I added the assault rifle; Xerea Oolan - a Camshesha Hacker - and Ido Mechanan - an Explorer. Two Rogue Stars Explorers; Egoin Eshelaan - a Sleiti from Hasslefree Miniatures

Rear view. Egoin Eshelaan, far right, is armed with a symbiotic bioweapon that sustains itself from his nervous and circulatory systems.

Left to Right: Hrathak and Hruther - a pair of Zygs from Battle Valor Games; Dazh and Arim - a pair of Saimir adventurers from CP Models.

The Zygs are partially armoured 4-peds. Given the retro backpacks/fuel tanks they are wearing, it seems they are armed with either flamers or plasma/fusion guns. The two Saimirs are from CP Models Scum and Smugglers range and are probably ethically fluid in their outlook.

Left to Right: Ebbi, Dulch, and Vytack - three Lorani troopers in the Essenaro Congress Marines. Figures from Battle Valor Games. Of the several possible heads, I liked these beaky bird ones the best.

The Lorani troopers appear to be armed with projectile weapons, so I assume the large backpack tanks are either for hostile atmosphere use, or to carry their lunch.

Left to Right: Three more Vargr crewmen - Northstar Frostgrave Gnolls with Northstar Cultist Scifi Accessories to, well, SciFi them up a bit. The center Vargr belongs to a Teaching Path, or Cult, that emphasises the unity of the group over the isolation of the individual. He also has a set of Kroot grenades - known as Bangballs.

Again, all these Vargr wear a Snake-like ship patch on their vests. Both the center and right hand Vargr have Kroot knife-sets, while the center Vargr also has Kroot shoulder guards.

Left to Right: Three Lizardmen from Wargames Atlantic. I equiped these Lizardmen with more modern weapons - a gauss rifle for the Lizardman on the left, a pistol for the Lizardman in the center, and an AK47, straight out of the box, for the Lizardman on the right. The fourth figure, on the right, is a Sligg from Reaper Miniatures.

The Lizardmen have been equipped with various accessories - a belt pouch, a Kroot grenade and armour plate combo, and an ammo pouch. The Sligg is straight out of the box.

14 June 2021

Painted:
32 Rats, 8 Wood Elf Light Horse, 6 High Elf Cavalry, 13 High Elf Foot, 48 Dwarf Foot, 2 Lindworms, 1 Blue Dragon, 1 Cold Drake, 12 28mm Drow, 14 28mm Science Fiction Characters

After splitting my Modeling log so it was less picture-heavy, and would load faster, I finally took some photos of my painting efforts for February.

After a fun day playing Hordes of the Things with my friend John, he passed on some old 25/28mm scale Fantasy figures he had sitting around in a box. The figures are Dark Elves, or Drow (in AD&D terms), and probably date from the late 80s or very early 90s. They are possibly from Citadel, and have bounced around between various members of our gaming group ever since.

I repainted and rebased the Dark Elves/Drow as Shooters for Hordes of the Things, adding spider-embossed bucklers which are actually hoplon sized shields from Battle Valor Games' 15/18mm Delvian range.

I tend to use Citadel paints as they are convenient, readily available, and have a pretty good colour selection. I particularly like this Phoenician Purple (one of the few non-bonkers Citadel paint names) I partnered with some basic black for a Drowish look.

Shooters in Hordes of the Things are also pretty good close combat troops, so it seemed like a good idea to equip them with bucklers.

These 10mm Pendraken Ratmen are from their old Fantasy range. The figures are actually closer to 12mm. They have been sitting on my painting table for a year or so and I finally finished them off.

I had found that these League of Ratsburg figures arctually scale pretty well with Battle Valor Games 15/18mm Vermians I painted up in March 2019, and wrote about in July 2019.

I had never been entirely happy with the Wood Elf cavalry I ended up painting a while back. While my Wood Elf infantry were from Eureka Miniatures, they are closer to 20mm scale and their cavalry is correspondingly larger than 15/18mm scale. Eventually, I bit the bullet and bought some Eureka Wood Elf Cavalry, enough to make two units of light horse.

I do like these figures - they're in quite dynamic poses.

I added a couple of lancers to double as unit ensigns.

This unit of High Elf lancers is also from Eureka Miniatures - the Elves of the Lofty Spire range.

The Elves in march column. I'm fascinated by the glaive-like, or naginata-like, "lance" these guys are armed with. If the weapon is, in fact, a naginata, it could suggest that these Elvish cavalry would be more inclined to fight in a loose formation to give them room to wield their weapon.

Archers from the Elves of the Lofty Spire range. The heraldry and uniform colours indicate that these Archers are from the same clan or domain as the Lancers.

A chap on the Facebook 15mm Fantasy page has established a boutique miniatures company, Khadrin's Miniatures. He displayed greens of some figures he was commissioning and then ran a Kickstarter campaign to bring his line of Dwarves to market. I liked the look of them and bought enough to make up four units.

The Dwarves come in packs of spearmen, hammer men, and axemen - each with their own shield heraldry. The Command pack seems to be unavailable at the moment. As the shields are cast separately (except on the command figures), I chose to mix and match them, and then mix the figures in each unit. I also decided that the units would have clan colours, while the shield heraldry would indicate the caste of the clan member within the unit.

The Red and Grey regiments were the first two units I completed.

The Green and Blue regiments were the final two units of the project. Some of the spear-armed dwarves actually have their spears and hands cast separately. This allows for a more dynamic figure pose.

Green Regiment.

Amongst the musicians in the command pack was a bagpiper! He makes the Green Regiment even more fearsome!

The Blue Regiment.

The entire Division. Size-wise, Khadrin's Dwarves match well with both Battle Valor Games and Ral Partha Europe's Demonworld ranges.

With apologies to Danny Kaye. The Lindworm comes from that class of medieval mythical creatures which makes you wonder what sort of mushrooms went into the breakfast omelette at the monestery.

Described as "dragons without wings", "they do not walk on their two limbs like a wyvern, but move like a mole lizard: they slither like a snake and use their arms for traction". Apparently, Lindworms also eat cows.

The Lindworms are from Alternative Armies and come in packs of two. In manuscripts, some Lindworms are green and some are white.