A Day at the Races

 A Bit of Money was spent

A grand day out at the Colours war game show at the Newbury racecourse today. A great mix of different traders and games. I managed a nice little haul including the new 2026 Oakbound advent calendar. It is quickly becoming my favourite show of the year. 

Once again Geoff from Oakbound has produced a eye-catching looking calendar. And while I haven't had a proper look yet as there still as a couple of months to go. It has a resin boat with a ratman captain, a map and a game book. As well as the mystery boxes. 

I also played ‘Will the Portcullis Fall at The Castle? – Écorcheurs’ which was a fun and straight forward skirmish game set in the hundred years’ war. I did lose but at least I went down fighting.

In case you are wondering I was the blues (Lancastrians) against the red Yorkists. And got caught in the narrow lanes behind the houses. It didn't help when my second in command ended up at the back and couldn't get through and then my leader got surrounded by a couple of Yorkist thugs. But Écorcheurs was easy to play and we quickly got the knack of the rules. 

Rob 

C08 High Elf Adverts

& It's Colours Tomorrow

A quick post before Colours (in Newbury tomorrow). So, I have nearly completed my C08 high collection, with just one mini left (on order!). And Since I did one of these finished mini cards, I had to do a couple more.  Obviously thanks to Stuff of Legends for quick access to the originals. 

The last one is from White Dwarf 59. 

Cover is by Peter Andrew Jones

And as its Friday Night, another French beer. 

Rob 

Having fun Painting on a Sunday Night

Or Back to Painting as Normal

OK, so I managed to get a bit of painting done tonight and return to my normal Sunday night painting sessions. I didn’t try too hard with any clever techniques or complicated paint schemes; I just had fun painting up my second copy of the Witch-king of Angmar. I deliberately wanted to make him look a bit different from the first one I painted for my ‘official’ set of Lord of the Rings minis.

So, plenty of dry brushing and washes to bring him to un-life. I deliberately went with a purple and green colour scheme instead of the blues and greys of the original paint job. Not surprisingly, it didn’t take that long, so I was able to paint him in a single sitting. I’m pretty pleased with the results, and he will take his place as a new captain of the zombie horde.

Plus, as a bonus I managed to also finish off the Gondor citadel knight.

Since it’s Sunday night and I can’t be bothered to go to the shops to get any more beer, I had to drink what was left in the house, which was this alcohol-free beer. Hey, don’t knock it until you try it.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your evening, and have a good week.

Rob

Painting at a Snail's Pace

 And Very Obscure 90s Tabletop Magazines

With work and family commitments, there has been very little time for painting recently. However, I did manage to finish this Rider of Rohan, though. Rather than painting the horse in one flat colour, I added some brown patches to give him a bit more character.

The sculpting of the face is really well done and the painting was nice and easy. Mark Copplestone perhaps? 

Also, found time to start fixing up my rather battered Rangers of Ithilien. 

Gamesman Magazine, March 1992

With a slightly uncomfortable

 looking 90s glamour model

Staying with old gaming finds, I also dug out a very obscure tabletop gaming magazine from the 1990s: Gamesman. This issue is from March 1992 and claims to be “Britain’s best-selling independent gaming magazine”, probably because GMI magazine had already stopped publishing.

Back in the day, I bought this issue for one reason: an article on the Battle of the Five Armies by Martin Hackett, who wrote a fantasy wargaming book. A quick Google search suggests he is still active, though now more on the historical side of wargaming.

The issue also contains a number of interesting adverts with plenty of Oldhammer significance.

For me, the standout is the Kryomek artwork, with its obvious Aliens influence. It is exactly the kind of atmospheric, slightly grimy sci-fi art that makes these old magazines so enjoyable to revisit.

Rob 

A Bit of Sunday Painting

And Alternate Lurtz Done

And time to finish a mini including sculpting a quick white hand. 

And time for a beer before back to work. 

Rob 

I Seem To Have Been Here Before

Work Before Painting 

Been busy away for work in the last couple weeks So, not really any painting until this evening. When I managed to splash on some paint on my alternative Lurtz Uruk-Hai captain. Who  actually only has a very minor change with the Eye of Mordor shield design covered over with Green Stuff. And I just realised he has also got an Eye of Mordor design on his belt buckle that needs sorting. 

Plus picked up some damaged Rangers of Ithilien as one of the many next classic LotR minis that need painting. 

And I made up with the lack of painting with a couple of away beers.

Have a great weekend 

Rob 

Filling a C08 Elf Gap

Nearly Finished the C08 Set

The set of eleven

This C08 elf is a little odd as he only appears in one the Citadel flyers. In the Autumn 1985 flyer, the new slotta based high elves consist of 11 minis including a casualty and it is the same again in the third Citadel Compendium. But in the October 1985 flyer (in  between these two), there is an extra mini - Farseeker. Not sure why he only made a fleeting appearance but anyway he now completes this little set. 

The October 1985 flyer with the mysterious - Farseeker. 

Rob 

ME-23 Rohirrim and ME-53 Southron Riders

Ready for the Muster

Work continues on the latest Oldhammer Lord of the ring minis. This time around it's a mounted Southron warrior and a rider of Rohan. In both cases I didn't manage to get the horse but only the riders. 

In particular I think the horse for the Southron warrior matches very well.

For the Southron I did receive the horse, but it had a truly awful case of lead rot and was completely unsavable and the rider of Rohan was just bought as a separate mini. But both the rider and foot mini were in perfect condition. 

However, in both cases, my old Grenadier models came to the rescue. From the fighting men and the barbarian ranges. Both from the early 90s so actually quite contemporary. 

The rider of Rohan also needed a bit of repair as he was missing the top of his Lance and the Lance was broken. So, a little bit of pinning* and a raid of the bits box to get a replacement spear tip. Some light sanding and a bit of green stuff and he will be ready for a bit of painting.

*Somehow, I actually managed to drill out the spear shaft and insert a bit of paper clip without breaking anything!

Rob