Bit of Madness Still Lingers

 Making Milliput Bases & Other Stuff

So I have continued to make Milliput bases, although I have ordered some lipped ones after reading the comments on the last post. A couple of these bases still need a bit more tidying up. But they are the look I am going for...

First ten archers

The Centaur champion looked a bit bare so I added
some equipment including my first sculpted pouch. 

Owl for the Leprechaun warband. 

Pleased with the owl as he was taken out of the leftover bits bin and is just right for the Woods.  

Started to use the scenic plants from
my bargain lot at Beachhead. 

Rob 

This Way Madness Lies...

Starting the Wood Elves

Wood Elves the first army I seriously attempted but which got derailed early on after only a few beast handlers and a couple of cavalry were painted. Probably by WH40K which took over from fantasy for a good many years.

 And while I have thought about doing a wood elf army I have never gone back to it seriously  until now. Inspired at the time (and now)  like many by Gary Chalk's excellent elf drawings. 

White Dwarf 41, Artist Gary Chalk,
© Games Workshop

One of the key features is that I want this  to be primarily a  metal army. So this does limit the figures choices and I would really like this army to be centred around Skarloc's Wood elves, but they are just too expensive these days. 

So I have decided to use other Nineties designed figures instead. So will be basing this army around the ex-Grenadier figures (Now Fornlorn Hope or Battlezone), Celtos (Now Brigade Miniatures) and probably Ral Partha Europe.  With a few vintage Citadel miniatures thrown in for good measure. 

Does that make them still Oldhammer?

I also plan to buy and prep the army before getting started on some serious painting. Something I don't normally do. It is usually buy a few figures, paint a few figures and repeat. This means the army does grow in an organic way but sometimes I get distracted before I complete the main units.  I have drafted out a 1000pt WFB 3rd Edition army with 500pts of stretch goals.

Rather than the traditional greens and browns, I plan to continue with the greys and muted colours I used for the elves in the Fae army. Best typified by Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2. Elves which aren't really just Wood, High or Dark elves. 

For some weird reason,  I would like to mount them all on a slotta style base but Ex-Grenadier elves all come with a wide integral base. Now I am not bothered about mounting them on a 25mm base (instead of the standard 20mm WFB 3rd edition base) because most of the games I play put elves on a 25mm base anyway. But it does mean I need to decide how I want to do this as I don't want to mount the integral straight on top of a slottabase. As it makes them just a bit too tall and the integral base generally sticks out a bit around the edges. 

So I could either cut base off, but for now I will try making a Milliput base and fitting the existing base inside. Although some of the bases will have to be reduced by cutting a section out of the middle. 

The left figure's Integral base has been reduced by
cutting the central section by a few mm

Once set, the bases can be tided up. 

Rob 

Stomping All Over the World

 Bruce the Troll or Spriggan?

So Bruce the Troll finished and on to the next troll... However, while reading through my copy of the Woods, I realise that Bruce is described as a Spriggan and not a troll. Lets be clear Rift Cragg might be a Spriggan but Bruce is a troll. Anyone spreading vicious lies to the contrary will be stomped. 

Bruce settles a dispute with the neighbours
in typical diplomatic fashion. 

In case you are wondering, AD&D (via White Dwarf) describes Spriggans as form of goblin. So no wonder Bruce doesn't like being called one. 

White Dwarf 38,  Artist: Unknown, 

© Games Workshop

Bloody Handed Annie

While Annie may be the smallest of the trolls, she is certainly the meanest. And only to happy to set about with her enemies (and friends) with her morning star. As you can see from my preliminary mock up, more sprites are on the receiving end of the trolls. 

Que maniacal laughter

Rob 

Let There Be Light

 Wargames Bingo and Viking Houses

16. Build and Paint a Scenery Kit 

(This may be the stock kit or with minor variations)

I have now finished putting together the Viking house and accessories, I expect the pots and bowls will continue to pop up as background items in lots of future pictures (already planning to use them with the halfling baggage train).  The kit went together very easily and has painted up quickly with a combination of washes and drybrushing. 

Whilst changing the kitchen, I have rescued a couple of fluorescent light fittings for painting and photography.  Primarily to see what effect it would have on my photos. 

With standard light bulb

With standard and fluorescent light bulbs

The fluorescent bulb seems to have taken the yellow out of the picture and make the blue a bit deeper.  I will continue to use the standard bulbs when I want a more yellow light such as a sunset or torchlight. 

Sally the barmaid fetches ale from the cellar. 

17. Paint a Model or Unit in a Colour Scheme You Don’t Normally Use

Given the whole challenge was to use six random paints to paint a random figure. Then I figure this covers using a paint scheme you don't normally use. Especially as I probably would have gone straight for an antique bronze  and golds. If I was painting this model using a free choice of paints. 

Wargames Bingo Progress

I continue to work through my wargames bingo card, but it is getting harder to complete the remaining squares. So I will now need to start a few projects especially to finish the last ones. 

Rob 

Sixteen Years Later Mordred Returns

 Salute 2006 Mordred Painted

Probably one of the longest periods of time to complete one of my duels. I am pleased how they both came out and once again Mark Copplestone's figures paint up well.  

'Come, Father. Let us embrace at last.'

Mordred - Excalibur (1981) 

Mordred played by Robert Addie in the 1981 Excalibur movie, one my favourite early fantasy films (Remember Lord of the Rings is over twenty years away at this point). Incidentally it was directed by John Boorman who wanted to film Lord of the Rings but couldn't get the rights so filmed this instead. Thanks John, a childhood gem. 

I think there is an obvious bit of influence from the film with Mordred's helm on the Salute figure.  

Robert Addie, also played my favourite TV baddie of the eighties - Guy of Gisborne in Robin of Sherwood. He wasn't most dangerous baddie in Robin of Sherwood but he had persistence and could sulk. 

What? He got away again!

The finished shield design. 

I decided the shield was a bit to close to a Union Jack design.
So had to be changed. 

Bruce will stomp anyone. 

The Classic Pose

The Woods - Building a Warband

A Leprechaun Warband for the Woods?

While I get the hang of playing the Woods and deciding what warbands to use, I have decided to mainly use my existing figures. This will give me time to learn the different parts of the rules  and try different force combinations. I did get lucky when I realised I still had one owl left over from Dryads. As they proved handy in the first game.

Rob 

Benni - The Halfling Baggage Guard

Halflings  Lunch Time

After buying a load of new shiny stuff at Beachhead, it is always tempting to start the new stuff right away. However, this time I have (mainly) resisted that urge and tried to carry on with stuff in progress.  But I did put together the cart from Blotz as this is part of said baggage train. 

Nearly finished the second of my eighties halflings, who joins the barmaid on the baggage train. Just have to complete the base. 

Benni guards the baggage train. 

Rob 

Beachhead 2022 - Star Wars, Titans and Winter Raids

A Grand Day Out Beside the Seaside

It was the first time I have been to the Beachhead show and I enjoyed it. It certainly isn't anything big like Salute. In fact it fitted inside one medium size sports hall but had a great selection of traders and a nice selection of display and participation games. The tournament hall was full all day but there was still a fair amount of people buzzing around the show hall without feeling crowded. 

It is relatively close to me (Bournemouth) and I will go back again.  As well as playing the Woods there were a number of other participation games. I managed to miss a fun looking game based on Aliens and I didn't even get a picture! There many other great looking games but I didn't manage to photography everything. 

This Star Wars games caught my eye, always got a bit of a soft spot for snow speeders (or is that forest speeders in this setting) versus AT-ATs. 

One of the other impressive displays was a whole horde of WH40K sized titans battling it out. Looked like part of the Horus Heresy. I counted over forty titans all of which were well painted. I don't like to think how much this lot cost. 

At the other end of the spectrum was this winter Dark Ages raid. Which I rather liked. The scenery was just great. 

Also an interesting looking American Civil War battle, this is not an era that I generally have much interest in (aside from a collection of Britain's figures from my childhood when it was the greys versus the blues) but this looked great. 

The weather was pretty filthy all day but we didn't need to go outside so it was fine for us. 

Some of the spoils of the day, I got a number of nice show bargains which always is welcome. Had some very interesting and useful discussions about paints with Mark from M&C Model Painting who was at the show  with a very large paint shop. Ended up picking a number of different brands to try at good prices. So will keep you all posted. 

Some of the swag

I settled on a the Wizened Witches set for Mr Pratchett's witches - Granny & Nanny from Bad Squiddo. Two of the witches in the set bear a striking resemblance to the vision of them in my head for these characters. Still need to get Magrat though.  

Rob 

Beachhead 2022 - In the Woods

 Leprechauns Take the Day

Whilst at Beachhead 2022 at Bournemouth today. We got the chance to play 'The Woods'. With Geoff  from Oakbound taking us through the game mechanics. 

Obviously it was my skill with the rules and superior gameplay gave me the win.  But it didn't hurt to have a powerful witch leading my team. 

My Leprechaun Warband 

My Leprechaun  warband consisted for a Leprechaun Hag Queen (Who was the best Fateweaver on the board)on the far right, Fir Darrig (deputy leader), three Leprechauns and three owl spotters.  I don't believe these figures are out yet so it was great to taken them for a spin. 

We were all chasing after sacred banner in the centre of the battlefield. 

The Gnawlochs adopt a cautious deployment behind the wall.

The Myeri swagger forward

Led by a  leader with a fearsome looking longsword.

The Hag Queen used her magic to move the banner to middle of the Leprechauns. 

The Gnawlochs scurried after the banner

The Myeri warriors bash the lone Leprechaun

The Myeri sorceress used her magics
to pin the banner to the ground. 

But the Myeri were too late, as the Hag Queen commanded
 Fir Darrig to escape the with the banner.
Allowing the Leprechauns to win the game. 

We all had a good time learning the rules and look forward to playing the game again.  

Thanks Geoff taking us through the game. 

Some shifty looking goblins. 

Even more shifty goblins. 

Terrain for the battle. 

Great terrain used on the day, 

Rob