Slann & Dwarves

A Title that Sums Up the Post!

I was a bit distracted form painting up the last couple of wood elves this week.  But I did put together the Slann slaves and paint up a couple of dwarves. 

I am pleased with how well the EM4 dwarf bodies match up with the Oathmark dwarf heads. Giving me the first stand of dwarves for the army. I think they fit the brief for a group for dwarves living on a mountain. 

I need to get the lighting sorted in my painting room as a couple of the bulbs have gone and I am sitting in the gloom while painting. And this also making the photos a bit harder to take!

Entertainment sorted for a Friday evening.

Rob 

Three Army Progress

 Ninety Five Percent Done & Three Minis Left*

On the home straight, I just need to get the last few minis finished. It seems a bit odd to be painting winter minis in a heat wave but I just want to call this one done. 

* Actually going to paint four, as I will also finish off the elf sorceress. 

Ninety Percent Done & Three Minis Left

After resorting the army list, I only have three minis left to finish off the first 1000pts. And these guys will be next on the painting table after the wood elves. 

Two Percent Done & Still Plenty of Minis to Start Work On 

Ok, this one is only just started. But at least I can see what needs to be done. So, far this army has only cost about £17 to get the EM4 dwarves. Everything else I already had or was given as a gift. 

Friday Night Beer on Saturday Night

After returning from a work trip, I ran out of time to post a Friday Night beer. But never fear, I did find time to drink one or two! 😏

 

Another excellent beer from Belgium (I think??) 

Rob 

Dwarf Basing Test

Always Good to Try New Ideas

One of the elements that I really enjoying doing is working out a basing scheme for each army. For the dwarves I wanted more browns than greens on the base. To represent a more heath or moor like setting. Looking at some reference pictures I probably need some dried long grasses and brackens. 

To make the scatter,  I mixed a selection of brown scatter, autumn grass, yellow/orange sponge, brown lichen, beech pollen and grey gravel.  And then tested on a couple of spare bases. I decided to make a waypoint for one of the bases as this could be used as an item of scatter  terrain later. Some small dwarf statutes would also add a bit variety. 

Rob 

Test Dwarf Done

Steady Progress

Making using use of my hobby time this week, I managed to finish of the first of the Elven Lord riders and the test dwarf. 

And having given up looking of the elusive green stuff, I continued on with the Milliput Fine to add the fur to the skulls on the remaining horses and do the next few dwarves. I still have a few EM4 dwarves from a previous project. So, I can make a start on them will I wait for my order to come through. 

I am going to multi-base most of these dwarves as shield walls look much better on multibases. But leave enough on single bases to remove casualties. 

Happy Friday Night!

Obviously drinking beer but still on the Estrella. So, no new photos this week. 

Rob 

Dwarf Test Model

 And I Still Can't Find the Green Stuff

Couldn't find the green stuff (again), so I had to use the Milliput Fine which is starting to go off to make the fur cloak and boots for the dwarf warrior. Giving him a more of a mountain warrior look. 

And all the Wild Elf Archers Done

Finished the last unit of elf archers just the Elven Lords to complete. 

Friday Night Beer

And Still Drinking the Estrella. 

Rob 

Thinking About the Next Project

 Getting Some Painting Done

For the infantry only two archers and the sorceress left. 

Now that I have actually managed to get some painting done this week (3 wood elves finished!) and the end in is in sight for the wood elf project. I was thinking about what will be my next army project. 

I will finish them if I find the missing Green Stuff. 

In the end I decided to add the skulls for all the members of the cavalry which gives a suitably barbaric look to these wild elves. It does use most of the remaining Beastmen skulls (from the Citadel skull set) but I think the end look will justify the choice. 

One of those army project ideas has been put together another 1000 point WFB 3rd Ed. army and this time I was thinking dwarves. 

I do have a few dwarf minis kicking about but nothing like enough to make an army. And I was thinking how to put together a cheap army. The obvious choice (at least for me) was to buy some EM4 plastic dwarves which still be bought for about 25p per mini. However, as they are all mono-pose it does make them look a bit static. 

Test mini

However, I do have a load of dwarf heads and weapons left over light dwarf infantry set from Oathmark. So, reckon I could combine the two create enough variety make a nice looking army. 

Rob 

2022 - A Year in Miniatures

 All the Figures in One Place

So, I think this is all of the miniatures from 2022 in one place. Not as many as last year but I am happy there are more quality pieces such as Thorin's dwarves and the high elves. 

Top 3 of the Year

The top three are all ones that pushed my painting skills on a bit such as the zenithal highlighting on the terminator on the work on the faces of the high elf captain or Granny Weatherwax. Overall my favourite is the high elf captain, I think the gold armour really pops. Who was my Golden Gobbo entry this year.  But the terminator was definitely the most fun to paint. 

Honourable mention goes to Bofur. I was very pleased how the quilting of the tunic tuned out. It took several goes,  and was one the first of Thorin's dwarves that I liked the finished result.

What Three Hobby Words of the Year: Shire, Thorin & Elf.

The Grenadier barbarians turned
their service to Saruman

All the old Grenadier barbarians used in Sharkey's rogues gone some form of modification. The guy with the whip had some deformation on the face which I turned into a burn mark. Which fits the evil henchmen look. 

Sharkey's rogues ready for mischief

Shire: By a tenuous route* I ended up painting a complete force of ruffians, extra hobbits, and a few accessories. Followed by starting the Scouring of Shire Campaign. I have been more than a bit frustrated by the scenarios in the sourcebook as most of them seem very unbalanced. Which detracts from the fun of playing them. This was also a problem in the 1^st edition of the sourcebook and while they have fixed some of the issues from 1^st edition in the 2^nd edition them seem to have forgotten to playtest the new scenarios. 

But I did enjoy painting up the figures. 

Thorin:    I had expected to finish off the company of Thorin Oakenshield this year and with a last-minute dash. I have finished all of the dwarves with only Gandalf and Bilbo to complete. This has certainly been a test of my (limited) painting skills and I have certainly learnt from painting them.

Elf:          The other hobby tangent this year has been collecting the wood elves and painting the high elves. What started as an odd figure, or two side projects has become one of the main themes of the year.

*I wanted some buildings for my new city scape photo board, and I redid some old ruffian huts which led onto the ruffians etc. 

Other Stuff 

I also have to mention that I spent a bit of time on fun side projects such as 101 ways to use Hexwraith Flame technical paint and troll tidy ups. 

Have a happy new year 

Rob 

Trollsday Tidy Up

 Another Troll Tidied Up

Balin the troll slayer

This Bob Olley marsh troll by Reaper has been on my redo list for some time as I have never been happy with finished result. But at the time I couldn't work out how I wanted to improve him. In the end it was a mixture of adding detail to key points such as the fish and cloth plus redoing the base in a much more overgrown way. It was also a chance to use the new vallejo water texture. I may add a few more layers later (three layers done in the pictures). 

Bob Olley is a bit of a Marmite sculptor but this is a cracking sculpt with a very nice folklore feel to this troll. Without any of the comic overtones usually found in troll models. 

Before 1

Before 2

After 1

After 2

The white bird mark was an accident but I thought added to the organic feel of the base, so I kept it. 

After 3

Trying Stuff

After reading a bit about taking care of brushes, I decided to buy some brush cleaner. Now I am not sure how much difference it will make but I certainly managed to get a good deal of crap out of even dry brushes. And the brushes seemed to hold their points better after cleaning. So, now we will see how much improvement this brush cleaner makes in keeping the brushes in service. In case you are wondering the vegan brush cleaner was the cheapest one on Amazon UK. 

And on a grumpy old git point, why tell me its a 100% vegan because if it wasn't 100% then it couldn't be vegan anyway!

Dirty, dirty brushes not anymore

Also, some vallejo water texture arrived today, so this major obviously played a part on which troll got tidied up today! As we all like to play with the new stuff. 

My precious

On the Paint Bench

As I started the next group of miniatures, I was struck by the over forty year range of miniatures currently in progress. From the 70's Ral Partha high elf to 2010's Citadel Thorin with a pleasant stop in the 90s for some classic Oldhammer figures. 

Something for all ages

Rob