Fade to Green

 Mythic Games Gideon's Ghost

My quest to paint everything with Hexwraith flame paint continues. This time it is a very reasonably priced (under a fiver) printed figure from eBay. Didn't buy him to fit into any army or project. I just thought he would be a good choice for the Hexwraith, a nicely sculpted figure and could probably fit into my undead horde. 

A very easy and enjoyable paint job with most of the work done by dry brushing. A series of increasingly lighter coats of off whites over a grey undercoat. Followed by the Hexwraith flame and Carroburg crimson shade on the face and hands while the Hexwraith was still wet. And a light dry brush with white to finish off. 

Rob 

Running with the Hounds

Elven Animal Keepers 

From White Dwarf 96

The only unit I ever finished in that first attempt complete a wood elf army back in the nineties was an elven animal handler. In that case it was the boar keeper. However, for my new army I have decided to start with the hound keeper.  

Faster than a speeding...

It is quite hard to pick up one of these classic Citadel miniatures for a reasonable price, so I have been looking at alternatives. And decided on a minor conversion of a ex-Grenadier Barbarian courier. Both the original Citadel figure and Grenadier barbarian have quite a lot in common in terms of pose and look. And the Grenadier barbarians and wood elves were both sculpted by Mark Copplestone, So I feel he will fit in well with my existing ex-Grenadier wood elves.  

I did debate adding pointy ears but
you can't really see them anyway. 

Having sorted the first animal hander, it's time to turn attention to the hounds. So continuing the 90's metal vibe. 

Wrong 90's Metal vibe - Sort of! 

Yes, I know its a really poor joke. But just look at the hair!

This really this leaves only two choices either  finding some original Citadel hounds off eBay or Alternative Armies hounds from their Erin Celtic Myth range (Recently remastered). Alternative armies only do one standing pose but then so did Citadel with their range as well. To be honest I prefer the hound from the AA range. So that's probably the way I am going to go. 

From the Alternative Armies Website. 

So the Wood Elf army continues to grow.

Rob 

Captain of the Royal Centaurs

Mid Year Finishing Stuff

As suspect many of us do, we have some miniatures which fly across the paint bench and others that linger for months. I first started this figure back in February (Centaur Conversion) and it has resolutely remained there until this week. When I finally added a few quick colours to finish him off. 

He fulfils the brief I had for him,  which was to act as the captain of the Royal Centaurs in the Thistlewood scenario. But I also wanted the option to use him in both my Chaos and Fae armies. 

Now I just have to decide what I am going to do for the other four centaurs needed in this scenario (and make useful little unit).  I have another couple of spare LotR horses from which this horse body came. But I don't have any more spare beastmen and I don't want them all the same as this one. So either do a few more conversions or look for some actual centaurs. 

He also marks the start of me deciding to finish off a number of miniatures which have also lingered on the paint bench for long enough. 

Rob 

Trio of Boromirs

Picking Favourites

In answer to a question posted in the comments of the blog. I took a quick picture to compare the three figures. The middle figure is clearly bigger than the right hand figure. As to sculptors, I am not sure but I think the middle might be Bob Naismith and the one the right is one of the Perry twins? Thoughts anyone?

Both  classic sculpts are great figures but I prefer the bigger scale of the middle one. Befitting for Boromir as a renown warrior. Just don't ask me to pick between the film and the classic versions...

Rob 

ME-21 Boromir & Prodos Fae

 The Captain of the White Tower 

I think this figure is much more suited as Boromir - Captain of the White Tower with his armour and two swords. Like most of the classic Lord of the Rings range, a pleasure to paint and I am pleased with the final result. 

Although, may have to go back and fix one of Boromir’s eyes, which doesn't seem to have come out well in the photos but it looked fine at the time I painted it. 

Obviously there has to be  picture of Boromir against some orcs!

Boromir against some suitably aged orcs. 

Prodos Games Fae

I bought this set back in April last year Fae Guard on impulse off of eBay because I liked the Elven looking guard (4th from left)  and some of them fitted in well with the Fae army I was doing at the time. I did a couple of them at the time I bought them but mostly they sat waiting for the Hexwraith flame experiments. 

I think it would be fair to say that painting these figures has run the whole range from good to bad painting experiences. However, it has given me a chance to try different techniques and at just over £1 per figure they didn't break the bank.

They are beautifully sculpted figures but most of them don't really say Fae to me. However, I do now have a very nice skeletal champion to join either the undead or chaos armies. 

Rob 

Plugging On

Next Hexwraith Flame Project & Boromir

Along with working on the Thistlewood goblins, I have also been continuing my quest to paint more figures with the Hexwraith flame paint. So I picked up Gideon's ghost from Mythic Miniatures via eBay. As this figure is quite a bit bigger. I will have a think about what other colours to use before diving in with the Hexwraith paint. 

Over the years I have alternated between white, black and grey (my current choice) for undercoats which a few exceptions. I plan to use white for this figure to try and made the Hexwraith flame stand out even more. 

The second Boromir, also ended up painted in the same scheme as the first one. In what is now becoming my standard colours for this character. I have even decided to paint a 'modern' Boromir figure in the same scheme. 

Rob 

Still Learning

Practice Makes...

Not a paint job that I am particularly impressed with, but was a learning experience. I did also practice a bit of source lighting around the figure so wasn't completely wasted effort.  The Hexwraith flame paint is definitely affected by the base colour more than I was expecting. This figure will probably end up in the back rank of one of the Fae units!  

The high elf on the other hand has turned out well and fits in well with the developing theme of sea elves for these old vintage figures by Aly. 

Rob 

Tales from the Holocene

 First Hunt of the Season 

This was my first attempt at playing Paleo Hunt - Eat or be Eaten. Starting off with the starter scenario - Vanilla Sky. Where four hunters take on a large herbivore. In this case an old bull Auroch.  I was using an electronic version of the rules and will need to print off the reaction tables to stop hoping backwards and forward  all the time. However. the rules were easy to follow and provided a fun and quick game.

My biggest challenge was to get the hunters in range as the Auroch which had a habit of running away!

The game started with the hunters splitting into two groups to try and flank the auroch. Grog the leader (the guy with big hunting horn) finally lost patience  and charged the auroch which trotted away. Only the timely sprint by the archer and a couple of lucky arrows managed to turn the auroch around (and away from the table edge). 

The hunters close in for the kill and one hunter is wounded and decides to flee. After a couple of ineffectual arrows  and spears. The leader Grog steps up and hurls his spear and causes two wounds (with a double six)  killing the auroch. 

The hunters were actually pretty lucky with only one wound between them. In fact I had some quite good rolls for the hunters and auroch tended to run away rather than fight. 

The four plucky hunters. 

Sneaking on the right

And on the left.

In frustration Grog charges but the old bull flees north. 

A couple of arrows from another hunter
steers the auroch back to the hunters

The hunters finally get in range of the auroch

Too close

One hunter has had enough after being wounded.

Grog makes up for his earlier impatience and kills the
 auroch with a splendid hit (double 6) with his spear.

The Auroch

Not a real one!

The auroch is an extinct cattle species, which is considered to be the ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a height of up to 180 cm at the shoulder in an adult male. It had large horns  that could reach up to 80 cm in length.

The auroch was part of the Pleistocene megafauna which included other beasts such as mammoths and giant sloths.  As indicated by fossil remains in Northern Europe, it reached Denmark and southern Sweden during the Holocene (the last 10,000 years).  Aurochs declined during the late Holocene due to habitat loss and hunting and became extinct in 1627Jaktorów forest in Poland  (Puts a different spin a medieval hunt!).

The aurochs are depicted in Palaeolithic cave paintings, Neolithic petroglyphs, Ancient Egyptian reliefs, and Bronze Age figurines. 

Rob