A tidying the washing machine cupboard (don’t ask) unearthed a load of Foundry Conquistadors and a handful of old, unpainted lizard men, including some skinks, I picked up from somewhere on a whim.
A quick, rather than careful, paint job. Still plenty of satisfaction in getting something table ready though.
Some Estalian explorers about to get a nasty surprise
A few Saurus Warriors may follow.
Now, about those Griffins…
I’m taking the opportunity to revisit my Empire army, and add a few things I never got around to back when they were available. I was also given some vouchers by my lovely work colleagues for my 50th birthday last August, and decided they should go towards a nice big modelling project.
And so, arriving freshly assembled and primed with Colour Forge Ghoul Grey, are a lot of beaks, feathers and claws - in the form of an Imperial Griffin and some Demigryph Knights. I’ve kept the Griffin heads separate, and assembled all the riders, so I can swap the out. That said, I’m mostly aiming for a Karl Franz on Deathclaw look.
I’ll try to remember to update as I go.
Oh, and I also have a War wagon coming at some point ;-)
PS, the buildings are from Dave Graffam.
Marauder Miniatures originally (before any recent re-releases).
I think my eyesight is getting too poor to do painted eyes that stand up to close scrutiny!
And that’s my excuse for why I now have four werewolves.
These assembled easily and were really quick to paint up, especially with judicious use of some contrast paints. Loads of options on the sprue, although some parts fit better than others, so try them out dry first. Detail could be a bit better - fangs and eyes aren’t very clear, even though arguably key features to get that monstrous look - but they’ll look just fine on the tabletop.
Not sure why they sell them in a box of 20 though - not sure who will have a need for that many. Perhaps folk will split boxes.
Colours inspired by the not so little miniature, who thought they should match the ones in her sticker book!
Outhouse, dunny, WC, privy, bog, thunder box. Wherever you’re from, you’ll have your own word for the humble outdoor lavatory and, for some reason even I don’t understand, I’ve ended up with quite a few of them as cardstock scenery.
Left to right, we have:
An original Dave Andrew’s designed one from Citadel’s Blood on the Streets days, which has somehow survived many years and moves;
Fat Dragon Games, although I can’t immediately recall which set;
Three different ones from Dave Graffam (seriously, he designed three distinct versions!).
The confused chap who can’t quite decide where to … ‘go’, is the Village Idiot from Hasslefree Miniatures.
Also, thanks to this post, I now know there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to ‘Toilet Gods’ .
First up: skeletons. I’ve dug out my old skellies from the attic. Most of these are a good 40 years old, going back to my early Warhammer days and plans, with a few eBay acquisitions over the years. Some have very poor paint jobs, many have never seen any paint all. I did a batch a while back, but decided to have another go. Paint jobs are quick and tabletop standard - they won’t hold up to close scrutiny, but I’m happy enough with them.
Inspiration came from the YouTuber Jordan Sorcery, who recently published his own Christmas themed Scenario pack, ‘Dead King Wenceslas’. Maybe I’ll finally have them ready for a game next Christmas…
I’ll also admit that my mind has turned to a ‘Barrow Kings’ themed take on Tomb Kings for Warhammer.
Above is the full box, almost all originally from Grenadier Models. There’s a funny story to this as well; just before lockdown I lost my glasses, had to get a new pair. Those broke when my daughter sat on them, and I’ve had no glasses for about two years now. Dug this box out of the attic just after Christmas, opened it… and there were my dratted lost glasses! At least I can see properly again.
Also about to take their place in the projects queue are the models from the Heroic Fighter of the Known World box set produced by Citadel many moons ago, which I have finally reunited from the various boxes they were stored in. More on them another time but, for now, here are the very varied paint jobs they currently have from the old days (no giggling at the back, I was very young at the time).
Sir Brut, Manfred, and Harald the Hammer. Manfred got an update in about the 2010s, and is still probably some of my favourite blending and highlighting work, so he will likely remain largely as is. Sir Brut’s not bad either. Harald was painted by my brother, so will mostly get a tidy up as well.
Ulrik Ukrikson and Gladius. Ulrik’s already been consigned to the Dettol pot…
Vlad Krakhead, The Moon Duke (probably my favourite model of the bunch) and, last but not least, Lord Aquila - who has also taken a dive into the Dettol to remove that lovely Humbrol gold enamel paint.
Orctober is over - what did I do with it? Well, I didn’t take it too seriously, but did use it as motivation to get the bulk of my Orc and Goblin army tabletop ready.
Alongside the Wolf riders, bolt throwers and warlord, that mostly meant a lot of basing. Many of the models are still in old paint jobs, either my own from many moons ago, or as they were purchased secondhand, but they look coherent enough now.
Still about 20 goblins to do, plus I still have some more EM4 orca, and I need to sort some black orcs of some kind, but there is a table ‘legal’ army there now for both WFB and Fantasy Warriors.
Sometimes sculpts get criticised for being too static, I’ve done it myself. But this one shows that this needn’t be an issue. Perhaps a better way of putting it might be that some lack ‘intent’. This guy may not be moving, but only because he has decided to plant himself right there and not move.
And with that quote from The Box of Delights, the Orc Wolf Riders are complete.
As I mentioned in my previous post, these Nick Lund sculpted wolves aren’t the most realistic looking models. These aren’t the wolves that David Attenborough gets you to empathise with, these are caricatures from Europe’s collective nightmares, with a fondness for construction minded pigs, Grannies and girls in red cloaks for their dinner. That said, a realistic style paint job worked far better on them than I thought it would.
The white and black wolves were the request of the Little Miniature, I think the black is the more successful of the two.
The orc sculpts are of variable quality - the musician in particular is pretty weak, but I think the spear armed orcs look great.
A bit of a Work in Progress post. I don't usually bother with Orctober, but this time it got me thinking. I seem to have sort of by accident collected the core of a very 'Oldhammer' Orc and Goblin army, but it needs some work. In particular I have some wolf riders really need some attention, and it seemed a good excuse to give myself some motivation to tackle them.
The trouble is that, although I love Nick Lund's dwarves, orcs and goblins, I don't think he bothered with any reference material when sculpting wolves! They are very much a caricature of a wolf. With my obesession with realism (see my previous post on the griffin), I've really not known how to tackle them, so a bit of googling was in order. The most useful I found was by Artis Opus, but I really didn't know how this technique would work out on these very stylised models.
OK, pretty well so far. Onwards and Upwards!
Once I can get the new Evil Overlord (sometimes know as 'Waffle') off the painting desk that is...
