Friday, March 15, 2024

Escape from Goblin Town

Beware of Channel Hopping

This was a bit of an impulse buy after switching over channels to see the Company of Thorin escape from from the goblins of the Misty mountains.  And suddenly this is the next big project. After the scouring of eBay, I finally settled on a second hand copy, where most of the minis have been put together and undercoated. A few have been painted but they will all get a repaint. 

 Pluses & Minuses

The seller was upfront that the set may not be complete and the photos weren’t great but I was pretty confident Thorin (& the company)  and the goblins where all included. And on those points I was right. But unfortunately Radagast was missing but on the other hand I did gain Bolg, a metal Haradrim captain, a few LotR minis and bit of a dragon I can’t yet identify. 


All suggestions welcome on the make of the mini above and any ideas on what I could do with it!




Long time readers of my blog will have followed my ups and downs as I painted the company of Thorin. But after all that work they have never made their way onto the gaming table, a problem which will hopefully be resolved soon. 



The goblins have been undercoated black which seems an odd choice for a mini that is predominately a very pale off-white. I plan to try using the purple shadow technique I used on some my zombies from last year to give them that suitably diseased look.

Friday Night Beer

I am trying something a bit different (for me) tonight which is the unfiltered Stella Artois which I am quite enjoying. It seems to have a better flavour but could just be the third bottle talking 😊.

Rob 

Thursday, March 7, 2024

The Tool Shed

A Quick Post


I decided that I needed a few more small(ish) pieces of scatter terrain for my games to make them a bit more interesting. So, first off is a shack which was made from coffee stirrers and a small block of foam. 


Rob 

Saturday, March 2, 2024

What is the Opposite of Grimdark?

The Giant Rainbow Frogs of Lustria!


Finished off the last two giant frogs. I am particularly pleased with the orange one. Which is one of those colours I struggle to get a really bright colour. They were great fun to paint  and I may need to  get a couple more to make a hunting pack for Slann animal handlers. 

Once I painted a red, green and blue ones, I sort of had paint the other ones to complete the colour spectrum. 

'Slann trappers find their prize, the Giant Rainbow frog. 
Considered a real delicacy by Slann nobles.' 


One in every colour!


'Poachers hunt the giant Rainbow frogs for 
their hallucinogenic poison glands.'


Rob 

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Free Bosham Car Wash!

 Save a Pound but... 

Now, I don't normally post on topics not directly related to the hobby. But occasionally am off-topic post is needed. A friend and I stopped at Bosham harbour for a well deserved coffee after a MTB ride. With tide coming in, the harbour side car park was filling up and someone had forgotten to move their car! Attempts were made to find the owner but to no avail. 

I recommend to pay the £2 to park in the nearby carpark if you come to Bosham harbour. As that doesn't flood. 


Now this second picture is only 30 minutes after the first picture. Proving that the tide comes in fast! In case you are wondering there are plenty of signs warning that the tide floods the impromptu carpark and adjacent road on every tide.  It would be fair to say that the owner was entirely happy when they returned to car a little bit later. 


Goldberry

Anyway I have managed to paint a couple of minis including this repaint of Goldberry. Which I found surprisingly tricky because of the simplicity of the mini. There really very little detail and she is very uncluttered (for GW mini especially). Meaning that the dress needs to be blended smoothly. 

After hunting round my paints, I found this green in a twenty year old pot of Humbrol paint. Whilst certainly an improvement over the first attempt. I am still not quite happy with the final result. So, will probably wait a couple more years, like I did between the first and second paint jobs. 


Rob 

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Home Improvement - The Reveal

One Barrow Upgraded

After a generous amount of scatter and grass tufts, the barrow entrance looks a lot better. I also gave it a couple of skull entrance poles to give it the homely look. 


Rob 

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Beachhead 2024

A Day Out Beside the Sea


After missing Beachhead last year it was good to get back this year. And the weather was considerably better than the last time I attended.  Beachhead had the usual mix of traders, display games, competition games and special events. Although I thought the mix of traders included too many traders just selling RPG dice. Often with a great deal of overlap on the dice for sale. 

I did buy a few minis but it was mostly hobby supplies such as paints and brushes. And this regard Beachhead has a good selection of traders.  

All sunny on the South coast

This Age of Sigmar troll army caught  my eye. 
Proving that Citadel still makes some great minis. 


And this dryad army also looked really good. 


As usual the titan guys turned up with so many titans. 



There was a big display by a group of Star Wars reenactors which was very well done. Probably should have taken more pictures!

Truly impressive the amount of detail on these 10mmm minis from Rok.


Played Wings of Glory at the show for the first time. I thought it was a great game and the dice less mechanics were were excellent. My Fokker DR.I Triplane managed to take out one of the Sopwith Camels before being shot out of the sky. 



Rob

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Home Improvement

Fog on the Barrow Downs


I built four of these barrow entrances a couple of years ago when I was in a very minimalist painting phase* in order to play the MESBG Fog on the Barrow Downs. The one where the four hobbits are chased by the Barrow wights and rescued by Tom Bombadil. Anyway I decided I needed one for a Hawk the Slayer scenario. And after gap of  4-5 years, its now time to do some actual painting on this one. 


*The stones in walls are actually rock textured wallpaper stuck onto foam card. I didn't even paint the edges. I told you it was a very minimalist painting phase!
 
Rob

Friday, February 16, 2024

Very Vintage Half Troll Champion

 Asgard Troll

Quick change of pace from normal, given the vintage sculpt (it is a recast by Alternative Armies from  their excellent Asgard range), I decided to go back to my 'traditional' methods of painting, which is to wash, highlight and wash again. All be it with modern paints. 

Using a mixture of Citadel shades and contrast paints. It was a quick mini to paint and overall I am happy with the effect. If I was painting him again I would probably try and make the skin even paler. 

He seems to fit in very well with the Oathmark goblins and so will make a suitable unit leader. 

All the scenic materials were applied directly to the base. So, I didn't have to paint the base which was of course much quicker. It looks ok, so I may do that again. 



Rob

Sunday, February 4, 2024

Oakbound Pixie riding a Giant Stag Beetle

A Post that Does Exactly What it says on the Tin

Spent a nice relaxing session this afternoon, painting up a Oakbound Pixie rider riding a giant stag beetle. The giant stag beetle comes from Ral Partha Europe. The Pixie riders come with badgers from Oakbound but I thought they would look would look good on some alternative mounts. So, last time I ordered from RPE, I added the stag beetles. It has taken a while to paint the second one up, hopefully the third one will be a little quicker!

 

Feb 2024 vs. Dec 2021

Rob 

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Army on Parade - Moria Goblins

Side Project Done


With the bat swarm completed, this side project is done, With exception  of the bat swarm (which was from Ral Partha Europe for £5) all of the extras came out of the pile of plastic. So, the whole project only costed me a £5. 

And with the bat swarm excluded could I use this army in a GW store? All of the minis are Citadel and clearly identifiable based on the descriptions in the rulebook... All be it done by Cheapside Industries a.k.a.  me. So, not the 'official' minis for the specialist units like the Black Shields. But Citadel minis all the same. 


Once I started rebasing the heroes it was inevitable that I would end up rebasing all of the goblins. The troll was a bit too obvious to escape a repaint. 


The extra couple of Black Shields which takes 
the warband up to seven plus a captain. 

 
The war drum was quickly made out of green stuff
 as were the bone drum sticks. 


Rob 

Monday, January 29, 2024

Slann Animal Handlers

 Lustrian Giant Pond Frog




So, while technically Slann can't have giant frogs as animals in WFB 3rd Ed. It seems a bit of a daft omission.  They are listed in the 3rd Ed. rules  and in the army book but only as part of a monstrous host. But this feels like it fits the army, so I am including it. 

Anyway Alternative Armies were having a sale and the recast Vintage Asgard miniatures giant frogs seemed a good fit. Another three to paint which makes a nice little unit. 

Lustrian Giant Pond Frog - (Giant lacum Rana lustrian)

'The giant Lustrian poison frog is the preferred choice for Slann animal handlers because of its aggressive nature and highly potent skin toxin.  Which makes them very difficult to engage in  close combat. And whatever you do don't let them lick you!'

Rob

Escape from Goblin Town

Beware of Channel Hopping This was a bit of an impulse buy after switching over channels to see the Company of Thorin escape from from the g...