A Palanquin Fit for a Mage

On to the Slann Mage

Ok, so apart from a bit of final detailing and the base, I am calling the palanquin done for now. Bases are always done last (in my book) so I never planned to finish the base until after all of the other bits are done. Focus can now turn to painting the mage lord. Painting the palanquin is easily the most amount of time I have spent painting one mini so far this year. All that detail really sucked up loads of time. 

Friday night so now time for a beer. 

 Rob 

A Fool's Errand

 I Get Why I Don't Normally Do This!

Ok so I do stand by the point that much of ancient stone work was actually painted but it is over time it is worn off so we only see the bare stone. But bloody hell there is a lot of detail on this model. I get why most people don't bother to paint the stone work. 

And it doesn't help that each colour needs at least two coats. I painted all of the blue and then decided it needed at least one more coat with a much brighter colour. 

I am enjoying this... honest!

And Thanks to all of the Wargamers of Singapore

Other past couple of weeks, I have been get several hundred hits a day from Singapore. So, I hope that all of the Wargamers of Singapore are enjoying this blog!

Rob

Ghosts of Salute Past

 Back to the Nineties

Just been catching up with my reading, when I saw this article in the April's Miniature Wargames. Which includes a picture of the Kill Zone board I built for Grenadier back in the Nineties. Sadly it isn't when any of the display team (myself included) were actually at the table!

Rob 

Slann Palanquin WIP

Work Continues

Its starting to look like a palanquin. I used some cheap plastic aquatic plants to provide some large greenery. I will add a load of smaller plants later once I have finished the painting. 

There is one major drawback with my painting parts plan which is I now have to mask off the painted sections in order to spray the unpainted sections! However at least the underside is completed. 

Looking forward to painting up the next part!

Rob

More Castles in Northern Spain

The Hillfort of Haza

My tour of the castles of northern Spain continues whilst working in the region. This time it is the fortified village of Haza. The village is still occupied but about half of the houses are derelict. It was to see glorious in the setting sun. 

Rob

Three Projects In Progress

 Captain Fabián of the Winter Thorns

Captain Fabián stands apart from the rest of the wild elves. As an exile from the High King's court, He retains the dress code for the high court.  Despite haughty attitude to his country cousins, his superior skill with his broadsword is highly valued.  He is a level 5 champion for the wood elves. 

One of Mark Copplestone's excellent revenant elves from Warmonger miniatures and first of the wood elves I have painted in a while. 

Man of the North?

He is a test paint for a unit of these figures I have offered to paint for a friend. Painted with zenithal highlighting and mainly contrast paints. I am quite pleased how he turned out and he was a speedy paint. 

Slann Mage

I have decided to paint this model in subassemblies. With the underside of the palanquin and the base first. I will then put these two parts together and fit the rest of the palanquin. The base will not be completely finished but I want to get the majority of the painting done before I fit the flying stand. 

I know I will not see much of this detail on the underside of the palanquin after it is fitted together but it has been a good practice for the rest of the palanquin. Even though I dry brushed it with a variety of different off-whites it did look quite flat. The ink washes have really lifted the colours. I also decided to paint the detail on the palanquin as I think we usually think of this stone detail as unpainted but many historical monuments were often brightly coloured but is just that  the colours have worn off over time. 

Rob

Airbrush Blues

 And the Closest To Buying a New Games Workshop Mini in Twenty Years*

After 8 months of hassle free air brushing, the airbrush finally clogged. And I had to resort to YouTube videos on how to clean it. Which I did but this didn't fix the problem. So back to the videos and still no joy. Eventually I worked out that the nozzle was broken (see photo) and was able to extract  it (very carefully). A replacement was ordered and I was back in business.  Probably broken  when I extracted the needle.  

A great example of it was obvious once I worked it out!

*Now I have been given a few current GW minis but I didn't pay for them. The last lot I bought were the LotR minis about twenty years ago. 

On  a better note, I was able to get the Slann mage priest mini I wanted, now it is still the most expensive mini I have bought since getting back into hobby. But was only half the price of the current Slann mage priest! Now all I have to do is work out how I want to paint it!

And at 20 years old is he old enough to count as Oldhammer?

As it is a resin one I am guessing is a later one, as I think the earlier versions of this mini were metal?

Something that is definitely is Oldhammer, is this classic Uruk Hai. However, what is odd about this mini is the weapon. As it looks as if the skeleton's head has been moulded on instead of the expected spear. As I am not aware that there were any variants of this mini. It could a recast but why bother if you are going to change it? The other two minis in the set were as expected. 

Rob

First Post of the Month*

Quick Update on the Slann Slaves

Ok, so first four models of the new army done.  I decided that the spear armed models also needed some shields which helps to give them all a cohesive look. For the bases on the second group, I tried out adding some ruins to the bases. I still need to work out the basing plan for this army but these models have given me a good idea of the look I want to go for.  

*I have run out of ideas for post titles tonight, even the beer hasn't helped!

As the first beer didn't help with the title, I obviously need a second one 🍻

Rob