Late Night Reading

Look what turned up in the post today! I'm guessing this book is also on the shelves at Gripping Beast and Studio Tomahawk HQs.

Hag Riding Nightmare Finished

Well almost, just needs a varnish to take off the shine from the inks. This old Ral Partha figure has been sat around for a while, but will now join my undead horde as a mounted necromancer.

 

 

 

Unfortunately my camera phone depth of field isn't really sufficient, so I'm looking at putting together a better photo studio...

 

Hag Riding Nightmare (wip)

This old miniature of a hag riding an undead horse has been sat alongside the Varghulf on my painting desk for quite a while now.

I couldn't quite decide on a painting scheme for the horse. Well after perusing images of some very nicely painted dire wolves I now have a plan, so watch this space!

And yes, the Anglo Dane huscarls do have painted hands (and faces)...

Progress is Progress

My current work in progress is focussed on trying to pull together a 6 point Anglo Dane warband for SAGA. It may appear like small steps but two points worth of huscarls now have their bases, boots, legs and axe shafts painted with base colours.

 

 

Due to the wargamer's perennial problem of limited resources (in my case time), I try to break painting projects up into small achievable chunks. Last night it was legs, tonight it may well be hands...

Still, things are moving forwards. Once complete my Anglo Danes will consist of a warlord with a unit of 8 Dane axe wielding huscarls (2 pts), two units of 4 conventionally armed huscarls (2 pts), a unit of 8 spear armed warriors (1 pt) and a unit of 12 levy with slings (1 pt). This is the same force that faced Mighty Kyle's Vikings last week. I also have some more huscarls and warriors, along with figures for Harold and his brothers + Cnut for a bit of variety.

The already completed warrior unit now has a movement tray (courtesy of 4Ground). The tray is more for show really and probably won't be used in any games, although I guess it may help if I ever get into Hail Caesar.

 

 

Much of my terrain is finished with spring static grass (to match my GW BattleMat). However, figure bases such as that shown above tend to feature tufts of vegetation from Tajimal Minitures. These self adhesive tufts are very easy to apply and look very good. I'll probably have a bash at trying to mix the use of static grass with these tufts on some future models - but may have a practice on some empty bases first!

Tonight I'm off to the Friday Night Fire Fight Club to learn how to play Bolt Action with Dan.

 

Yet More Terrain

It may appear that I have a bit of a thing about terrain. But I spotted these two GW modular hills in the clearance section at Hobbycraft in Maidstone and decided I might as well buy them for a future project. They were reduced to just £12 each, a bargain. The photo shows the hills made into a single large structure. Not sure yet whether I will do this or perhaps make them into two spurs...

 

 

 

Painted Glyph Stones

Whilst licking my wounds after yesterday's defeat at the hands (well, swords and axes) of Mighty Kyle's Vikings, I decided to finish the three Glyph Stone terrain pieces.

Vikings Invade Kent!

After successfully seeing off one Viking warband, the hard as iron Anglo-Dane Huscarls were cleaning their mighty Dane axes when word came of another incursion by the vicious Vikings, this time led by the Mighty Kyle...

What's Next?

Flush with enthusiasm after actually finishing some painting, I have decided to crack on and get started on another unit of Anglo Danes and a bit of terrain to boot. Alas, work is busy at the moment and the wildlife surveys that I undertake for a living include nocturnal visits. The end result is slow progress. A start has been made though, so joining the necromancer and Varghulf on the painting table are a unit of Dane axe wielding Anglo Dane huscarls...

A Little Weekend Project

My figure painting tends to achieve what some may charitably call 'gaming standard'. It doesn't help that I'm colour blind and can very easily paint something the complete wrong colour. All of my paints are clearly labelled and I tend to avoid mixing whenever possible (I usually can't recreate the colour again...). That said I do enjoy figure painting and find the whole process quite relaxing, particularly if I've had a bit of a day. Sometimes though, Its fun to spend a weekend making and/or painting a bit of terrain.

The Games Room

Otherwise known as the spare room... To prove I mean business though, here's my painting station with a few new works in progress...