Conquerors

The crush that is the end of term means that progress on anything hobby related has been slow. But Saturday Night can only mean one thing - party time!

Yes, watching Deep Space 9 and building toy soldiers. Rock and roll. 

I have finished building the second unit of Norman knights. 

As per usual I converted a couple of the figures to get more dynamic poses. 

The ever popular foot on rock pose reaches the far ages. 

And there is also a casualty marker in the box set. So I added a little something to that as well. 

No guts, no glory. 

Again the Conquest plastics continue to impress. Highly recommended. 

Hopefully I'll be able to slap some paint on them next week. 

For Wodens Day

I've completed my first Dark Ages chaps. These Anglo-Saxons were basically an experiment in trying to produce a slightly darker palette than the medieval forces a produced last year. The darker overall look was created by heavy shading and washes with a highlight of the base colour only, so the whole thing was brought back up to mid tones rather than my usual method of using bleached bone to warm and lighten the highlights. 

They wouldn't be Anglo-Saxons without a shieldwall: 

The biggest surprise for me was the range of colours available in the early medieval period, which is certainly going to inform my painting of the Normans which will be the centrepiece of this project. Anyone interested in this should definitely check out this fascinating article about the colours and methods of production. 

Overall very happy with these; my first experience of Gripping Beast plastics and they paint up very, very well. Only took a few hours to get sorted. The new project is starting suspiciously well...

The Dark Times Are Coming

Having got my Bloodbowl teams up and running, thoughts turn naturally to the next project.

Next year we're teaching a new GCSE History course and - for the first time in my career, I'm only teaching one subject so I will have brain space to devote to other things that just keeping on top of 7 different exam specifications (2013-14, a very hard year). 

So I've been thinkin about the Norman period, as this is our Depth Study. In glorious serendipity, last month's WSS had a lovely article on gaming the rebellions in the 1070s. 

You can see where this is going, can't you?

So I've made a small start on some Saxons using the Gripping Beast minis from my birthday 2 years ago:

And I mussed up the shields a tad as I always like my miniatures to look like they've been round the block a few times. 

I've also ordered some Conquest Norman Knights from Annie at Bad Squiddo - excellent price and she offers the extra Knight to make up the Saga units as standard, which makes her both a scholar and a gentlewoman. Send some business her way if you don't already. 

This should be relatively easy* - a few units for Lion Rampant or SAGA ready for Open Evening in September. 

*please don't remind me I said this is December. 

To Ruin And The Red Dawn!

Note to interested readers: Theoden's armour is an absolute cast iron sod to paint.

I finally got the chance to get the shot of my growing Rohirrim force for Lord of the Rings. The warriors were painted as per the previous post; Theoden King, whilst using a simialr colour palette, required a slightly different approach. In the film, his armour appears black or brown depending on the lighting and digital shot grading; shots of the actual costume show it to be a glossy dark brown.

I undercoated the mini with grey primer as usual and then gave it a black wash to help with the recesses. The main armour was then built up with multiple coats of chestnut ink. Gold detailing was added between layers of ink so they gained a reddish shade. Final highlights and edgings were gold only; the armour was not highlighted as the grey showed through to lighten the raised areas.

As you can see, the whole force hangs together quite well:




There are 16 warriors of Rohan and Theoden here - which as well as being the decent core of a LOTR force also gives me two units for SAGA.

While I had the photography set up, I decided to get a decent shot of the two D&D character minis which are now based up:


I'm looking for a good Cleric miniature to stick a dragon head on to for the next one if anyone has any bright ideas?

A couple of late birthday presents popped up from friends who know my interests: Perry Mounted Men At Arms and a box of Griping Beast Saxon Thegns.

This means that the Pledge currently stands at:

Bought: 189

Painted: 17

YIKES. 

Shinies

So my birthday haul in all its glory:

Breaking it down, we have some terrain that will fit for Lion Rampant, Lord of the Rings and Saga. 

The Tabletop Workshop barn is simplicity itself to out together - look for a review shortly. The 4Ground kits look great in the flesh. Can't wait to put them together. 

We have some Viking Hirdmen which, long with my Rohirrim/Saxons will allow me to out together two forces for SAGA. 

First impressions are that the detail is cracking on these. 

Here's the meat of it; enough Perry Plastics to out together two complete retinues for Lion Rampant. 

Had a quick look inside; detail and options look brilliant. These will be first up for construction so there will be photos and a review by the end of the week. 

An unexpected bonus: She Who Must Be Obeyed must've been checking out my browsing history because these were a total but very welcome surprise. 

In Her Majesty's Name, of course, gives me an excuse to purchase any Victorian miniatures I want to build companies. This could turn out to be a very expensive present....

So it's all good, right?

Wrong. This little haul has totally blown my Pledge totals for the year. It now stands at:

Bought: 133

Painted: 8

OUCH. 

Hopefully some more completed miniatures to show tomorrow. 

Ramblers of Rohan

I can hardly call them Riders, can I?

I took a lot longer painting these test pieces than I normally would with a unit as I spent ages faffing about with colours to try and match the feel of the Rohirrim from the films.



Proper photos will follow later but these chaps are more or less done. I was surprised at the lack of detail on the faces; I wasn't expecting much from a single piece plastic but the spare definition was quite a shock. These will need to be revisited to bring them up to what I regard as tabletop standard.



I am happy with the cloaks; I went with something slightly more vibrant than the greyish-green of the films. This was done by not using any washes but by a couple of layers of glazes. In retrospect the leather is too brown - the redder one I used for the accents will probably end up being the main one I use for the rest of the chaps.

As you can see, I did my test batch as a Unit of 8 - this is for use with SAGA as well as LOTR. But while I mull over how to paint the next lot, it's time to start work on the next vignette to use up some of the British Line Infantry I have left over.

Here's the chaps as they stand: