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 

The Sleeping King Returns

 Salute's King Arthur Finished

'Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise King born of all England.'

Thomas Mallory

A really nice Romano-British take on King Arthur by Mark Copplestone for one of the two Salute 2006 figures. He was fun to paint and I think has painted up well thanks to the crisp sculpting and moulding on the figure. 

Clothed in Royal purple

Arthur is beset by Spirits summoned by Morgan Le Fay

WIP - Bruce the Troll

Bruce shows off his moves!

Another one of those figures which I am enjoying painting. Who I have quietly doing a bit here and there. Bruce is now mostly painted. I just need to work a bit more on the detailing and then onto the base. 

He really reminds me of the classic Citadel C20 trolls although sculpted in a completely different style. Just the right mix of funny and scary and doesn't  look like he's have been working out at gym. All odd body portions and a folklore style. With some nice details. I decided that those shoes look like stone which seems a very troll thing to do! So painted as slate. 

Once I finish off Mordred, I think will have a go at the 2012 figure - A Mayan Warchief. Sculpted by the  Jacques-Alexandre Gillois of Miniature Studio. Apparently it's themed on the end of the 13th B'ak'tun of the Mayan Long Count Calendar.

Rob 

2021 By the Numbers

 My Hobby 2021 

Like most people, now seems a good time to have a bit of summary of my hobby progress in 2021.

First and last figures of 2021.
Citadel 90s Beastman Champion and Citadel 80s Gollum

This year I have painted over 250 figures and scenic items. The most productive year for a while. Painting a couple of armies seems to have helped. And kept the blog going for a year. 

Painting Output

Top Three Miniatures of the Year

My favourite figure of the year is the halfling ranger captain. What I am pleased about is how well the small conversions (backpack and spear) went and the overall visuals of the figure. Doesn't necessary stand out as much as some of the other figures i have painted this year but the aim was to be precise with the painting. He was also  painted up as my Golden Gobbo entry  and consequently it make me push my painting skills on a bit. 

Next up, I will have to put in my Ent in the top 3 this year. It is by far the most complicated miniature I have attempted to sculpt. A very challenging but ultimately rewarding project. As expected it gives a good perspective into the sculpting skills that required to produce a whole figure. I learnt a lot whilst sculpting this figure  and read a lot of good advice on blogs and forums. 

I plan to have a go at sculpting some more figures this year. Something like a troll which is more humanoid but still a bit flexibility on the proportions etc.  I don't see me attempting any humans etc. any time in the near future as sculpting on a smaller scale for human sized 28mm  figures is just too damn small without better magnification.   

And finally one of the Warmonger elves I painted in the middle of the year. I really like the sculpting on this figure and from a painting perspective I was pleased about the colour blends on the hair and flowers. It was the first time recently that the blending went well in these areas. 

Favourite Unit

Easy choice for this one, my Giant Killers of Hambrook, the Halfling archers. I really enjoyed painting these guys. In fact the whole halfling army was really entertaining, resurrecting them from their poorly painted hell. Up until the hounds I haven't bought any extra figures for this army. It has just been about reclaiming my existing figures. I still have about a dozen to send through the paint stripper. Need to add a baggage train though. 

Lone Wolf Collection 

Painting Through the Years

2021 was the year that I finally got round to finishing my Lone Wolf figures. So while there are still a few gaps in the collection this does for the moment feel like mission completed. 

Machineries of Destruction

At the beginning of 2021, my Chaos army received an unexpected boost in the form a Chaos dwarf contingent including a Chaos Dwarf Mortar and Chaos Dwarf Swivel Guns. This is a good example of one my projects going sideways after picking up a few new shiny old figures. I didn't have any plans for a Chaos dwarf contingent until after picking up a swivel gun crew. But ended up as being a really interesting little side project and development of my sculpting skills. 

I decided to scratch build  a gun to go with them after not being able to get an official one on eBay.  And if you have got one swivel gun then you might as well have three. Once I finished the swivel guns, this led onto the mortar.  

And this was also my first outing using the Citadel technical paints in the form of Nikhilakh oxide. These paints have really come on in the last few years and make achieving these specialist effects very easy. The different types  of paints is one the changes that have occurred since getting back into painting. 

Films & Shows

2021 was the year I got back into the cinema and to a wargames show.

I will avoid spoiler alerts on this one but Spiderman - No Way Home is one the best Marvel Superhero movies and my favourite film of the year. A very satisfying story that fits the Marvel universe and tidies together a number of different elements. 

Dune, Bond and Suicide Squad were also good movies. 

Biggest let down was the Green Knight, I obviously missed the point after reading a number of good reviews about it as it didn't seem to go anywhere for me and was just a series of random episodes without any point. Nothing wrong with the actors just the story. 

A number of great films to look forward in 2022 to including Avatar and the new Fantastic Beasts. Plus of course who will be the next Bond and the new Doctor Who...

Salute 2021

It was great to get back to Salute, well it might not have been a normal year. It was the first time back a wargames show  and a good time was had by all. I was finally able to see (& buy) some of the miniatures that I have been looking at on the internet. 

Duel

My duel mini-projects has helped me to finish some of those figures that lurk around the paint bench. So one final duel to end the year.

Happy new Year 

Rob 

Duel 6 - This Time Its Personal

 Finally Finished Duel No.5 

Sea Elf & Goblin Wolf Rider

The idea of painting a pair of odd figures has certainly  helped me get a few extra figures finished. This duel has taken the longest to finish. Which mainly due to the need to re-strip the goblin wolf rider and mount before actually starting to paint.  I am not particularly motivated to get to do the paint stripping step so it normally waits until  there was a little pile of figures to do. As it was in this case. Anyway with the goblin and wolf stripped clean I could finally get round to painting them. Not really repainting as neither were ever finished.  The moulding on both was bit soft so it was hard to get fine detail. Particularly on the wolf fur but he looks ok. And this duel finally got finished after a couple of months. 

The first 5 Duels

Duel No.6 Arthur & Mordred

I was looking for something a bit different and I came across Arthur and Mordred from Salute 2006. Still in their original packaging. This seems a bit of a natural choice and a ready made duel. I mount them separately so they cam be used on the gaming table. 

The image for The official Salute 2006 Painted Figures

Rob