Army Progress - Slann Giant Scorpions

More Big Monsters

One of the things that I really liked about WFB 3rd Ed. Slann army list was (is) the wide variety of troops and monsters. Originally I did have some giant scorpions (the old C29 monsters) and while there are plenty of modern choices for giant spiders, giant scorpions are a bit harder to find. I eventually got this pair at Beachhead in February. They are 3D printed which means no mucking about putting them together but as they printed with a base means it is difficult to get under the bodies. 

The mark two scorpions. A bit less neon!

One of the original pair from the first army.

 

But no giant frogs!

Rob

Not A Goblin

No Really - Actually It's Dragon Newt

After painting up the goblin horde it was time for something different. The fantastic Dragon Newt from Alternative Armies from their Asgard range. Like the giant frogs, bought during their sale for a very reasonable price. He will join the Slann army as a monstrous host (or something). 

Rob 

Not Just Another Duck Hunt

Ok - Maybe Just a Duck Hunt

A quick and simple paint job to finish off these ducks from Warbases. Again some small prey for Paleo-Hunt.  The set comes with five ducks but I managed to lose one until finished painting the other four. 

The ducks were painted based on Mallard ducks. Each stand painted as a male and a female. 

Minotaurs Finished

Didn't take long to finish the final rank and file minotaur. 

Morgana - The Dread Queen of the Fae

Work continues on the army commander for the Fae. This one has taken a bit of thinking time to work how to paint  to take advantage of the zenithal highlights. 

Rob

Minotaurs Better Late then Never

More Army Building

Look back a couple of years and the first army I built since restarting painting was a Malal chaos army. In this army I had unit of minotaurs. At the time I was using some ex-Grenadier  Hobgoblins as proxies (not pixies). As I really like the models and they have enough weight to act the part.  Anyway fast forward a couple of years and I picked up these minotaurs for £2 each at Salute. I now realise I am still one minotaur short and hopefully I won't have to wait another couple of years to complete the minotaur champion (I have a couple of figures in mind).  But the rank and file are nearly done.  

Nearly done with the third minotaur.

The original 'minotaur' unit for Malal's chaos army. 

Rob

More Salute Stuff Finished

 One Figure Done and One to be Repainted

This unicorn model put me in mind of the two unicorns in Foxglove Summer (from the excellent Rivers of London book series by B.Aaronovitch). Not a friendly, docile pony but a wild and very dangerous beast. With a bloody big spike on the top of its head. The Reaper figure might be plastic, but it means they made it into a big model and very happily fills out the 50mm base. And nicely fits into the Fae army and fills out another large monster slot. 

The Fae queen (shown for scale) which I painted last year, has now been dropped in the paint stripper and rebased.  Like the banshee from the zombie unit, I was never really happy with the final look as she is supposed to the Fae army commander and uber-powerful sorceress. And never really looked the part. So, she will get the zenithal treatment. 

In case you are not familiar with the Rivers of London series, the main protagonist, Constable (& wizard) Peter Grant is on the hunt for some missing children when he meets a pair of unicorns causing a breach of the peace and looking to add GBH to their list of crimes.

‘Then the werelight* popped out and suddenly it was there, huge and real and sweaty and pale in the moonlight, its horn bobbing left and right as it swung its head and sniffed the air.’

‘I smelt it, horse sweat and rough hair, and I felt the weight and power of the muscles underneath its invisible skin. And then as if the moon had come out from behind a cloud I saw it, outlined in silver, as big as a carthorse, as shaggy as a pony and as pissed off as a bull in the household goods section of Marks and Spencer. Its mad black eye was fixed on me as it twisted and pulled, trying to get its narwhale horn free of the tree.’ 

* A spell to create a magical light and the first spell every Newtonian wizard learns. 

The dryad will also get the zenithal treatment

Two Pound Well Spent

First of the minotaurs painted, this one pretty much untouched from the original model. I did remove the short section between the top of the hand and the bottom of the club because it was very bendy. Zenithal highlighting (with airbrush) works really well with this model.  I am pleased with the result on this model and feel I am making progress with the zenithal technique. 

The mark one paintjob from October last year, 

Rob

More Zombies Needed

Step Forward if You Like Brains

First batch of zombies now completed and I have got bitten by the bug (or is that zombie) to do some more. 

The second batch of zombies have all been cut, modded and armed with crude weapons. To up the variety of figures and give a more WFB classic look. This time I have gone for dark red low lights and grey highlights to change the range of colours. This should contrast nicely with the greens / browns of the first batch. 

The Ultimate Zombie

Now I think the zombie below is probably the best zombie from the old Citadel C18  zombie range, so I am going to see if I can recreate him using a bit of green stuff  and the KoW figures. 

The classic C18 Zombie

Salute Pile of Shame

As Salute 2023 approaches I am attempting to finish figures and scenery from Salute 2021.

• Scenery: 2/3 Finished hut and tomb,  just the Rohan watch tower to finish. 
• Oathmark Goblins: 25 /30 Still one sprue to finish.
• Odd Plastic figures: 1/3 Only the minotaur is painted but I have started the Japanese ogre (several times).
• Resin Monsters: 2/2 Griffon & Earth Sprit finished!
• Oakbound Metals: 6 /10 Still two Spriggans (trolls) and two badger riders to go. 

All the painted stuff has featured in at least one blog post, so if you want to see them then go and hunt them out!

Although the griffon has sat on the shelf for some time, when I finally got round to painting him it didn't take long. The airbrush certainly helped to get the base colours on but also to do a dark to light brown colour blend on the wing tips. 

The other change from 'normal' was to properly wet blend the skin on the lion part of the model. It still looks wrong whilst painting on the very watery colours but the final result has come out as I wanted it to look. 

This figure has been dropped a couple of times in the time between starting it and finishing it. But seems to have gone back together alright. Obviously not as robust as either metal or plastic figures but at a fraction of the price (I think he was less than a tenner?!). It is a compromise I can live with.  

He is now ready join the woodland host against the enemies of the Fae queen. 

Rob

Oakbound Wood Spirit (280pts)

 Wood Elf Heavy Hitter

Technically this doesn't count towards my monthly painting target for the core army. As he part of the stretch goal for this army.  But he was painted as part of my start up with an airbrush.

It was surprisingly easy to do the different zenithal highlights and lowlights.  And because the figure is quite large I didn't have to worry about getting the fine detail right. Once the airbrushing was complete it was a mixture of green/brown/grey dry brushing and a bit of dark green contrast paint. 

The base was a mixture of the usual scenic scatter, dry brushed white to simulate frost and some of the white snow paint from Citadel. 

So this figure is a 6-Soul Sluagh (Description from the Oakbound website - A particular form of dark fateweaving can bind trapped souls into rocks and plant matter, animating them into elemental beings of great strength. These are the Sluagh.) from the Oakbound miniatures range. Whilst not a treeman it is a earth spirit which again fits in very well with the wild elf look of the army. Plus it is a sizable miniature which nicely towers over enemy units.  

He is designed to fit into the colour themes and style of my winter wood (wild) elves. So, I added some snow to the top of the model. As, this seemed to quite appropriate.

These fungi are a bit different from my usual two part red/purple mushrooms which have been used on multiple other figures. So, these one have an third part around the middle and I have went for muted blue/grey scheme.  I will add some skulls to the bases once I get round to painting them 

Rob 

Minotaur, World Tour & Orks

More Zenithal Painting

Yep, enjoyed using the zenithal painting technique on the minotaur. So, decided to give it another go, This time on a bunch of Rogue Trader orks for Oktober.  These guys have been sitting on a shelf for some time. And I thought this style might suit them. 

Guardian of the Sacred Grove

Riolta pops in for a quick tour

Milliput base

Finished off the base to the minotaur with a Milliput skirt to take it up to 40mm.

The likely lads

Rob

A Little Bit of Wargaming History

FF54 Wyvern - circa 1981 by Joe Dever

I got my own little bit of wargaming history today  with the arrival of a 1980s Fiend Factory Citadel Wyvern. This is one from the late Joe Dever's collection. Thanks to Springinsfeld (over at  BROADSWORDS AND BEASTS) for helping me out to get this classic. Who will fill a gap in Thistlewood forces.  He is selling them on behalf of Joe's family for charity so if you fancy one for yourself you can find them at: 

Items for sale by malplaquet_miniatures | eBay

He already looks very at home with halfling contingent as he is a more noble looking monster!

Rob 

Wizard's Tower

 Almost Halfway on my Bingo Card

Finished the little wizard's tower I have been working on. The shape was inspired by a yogurt pot which I used as  the base for the stone work. Which was made out of modelling clay that, I found left over from one of my daughter's art projects. The rest was bits of card and coffee stick stirrers. So a very cheap and satisfying project. 

Bingo

This completes another trio of bingo card squares. I am approaching halfway and the remaining squares are things that I will have to make a particular effort to complete. But that I suppose is the point!

10. Scratch build a piece of scenery. (incorporating a few prefab pieces to kit bash something new and unique counts).

The wizard's tower obviously. 

11. Paint a monster (Fantasy, Sci-Fi; any suitably “monstrous” creature.)

Make up your own joke.

Great fun to paint and a really good opportunity to practise painting skin on a larger miniature. 

12.Convert a model (Can be as simple as a weapon swap, or a re-pose).

A simple arm swap to convert this miniature.

Rob

Grog Finds His Spiders

 Like Many People perhaps Not Much Painting Going On!

With the lure of better weather, not surprisingly other things have taken over from painting. Like drinking beer in the garden/pub. Still I have managed to finish a few things. But mostly everything seem in progress. 

Firstly I did manage to finish the trio of giant spiders which have been sitting patiently for some time.  Recently a friend did give a copy of Frostgrave and I am thinking these might come in handy for that as well. But these were painted up as an animal handler unit for the Fae.  These were from the Pound shop as part of Halloween decorations but I think they make perfectly useable spiders at a fraction of the cost of 'Wargames figures'. 

Also got round to painting up some of the Sprites/Faeries  from Eureka Miniatures. The sprites work out about 33p each so I can afford to use them as familiars and as adding character to larger units / scenery. i Plan to make a large unit of figures, bulked out with specials and minor characters. 

Rob