Good Day at Beachhead

 &100K Page Views

Visited Beachhead in Bournemouth yesterday which is a fun little show. And managed to bag a few goodies. Including the new Victrix market stall and relics sets which I split with a mate. 

The bargain for me was this paint set for a £10 and I was sorely tempted by several other sets they had. But by the time I had noticed it, I had spent most of my money!

We managed several games of Wings of Glory which is an excellent game (I will be looking for a copy). We won the first game by shooting down the British observation plane but then I got shot to bits on the second game in my Albatross. 

This was a really super looking second edition game of game of WH40K.With so many classic minis. 

Some of the many excellent entries to the Duncan Rhodes painting competition.

Really love this guy, he has real character. 

Some of the other great games on display. 

Thanks to all those people  who have read* and commented on the blog. It is always interesting to read the comments. The number of page views has shot up over the 12 months, with nearly 50k  over the last year. 

*And strangely thanks to the gamers of Singapore who have consistently visited the blog over the last 5 years. More than any other country. 

Rob 

Advent Day 21 - Sixteen Done & One to Go

 Somehow I Seem To be a Day Ahead of Myself!

So, I have painted ten gobbos and six gnomes, but I should have only painted fifteen minis by the twenty first! A couple of minis seemed to have shifted around and I painted all the minis I had by this stage. Anyway all of the gobbos and gnomes done.  

The Goblin Horde

The Gnomish Host

And mostly finished the second board although I would like to add some more resin to the pond. But I will need to order some more. 

I passed the 50K views on my blog, so thanks to all of you who have read and commented 😁 over the last couple of years. I am not entirely sure all of my many fans from Singapore are actually wargamers. But hey, thanks anyway. 

Rob 

Grand's Troubadours Finished

The Leprechauns are Ready to Cause Mischief & 300 Posts

Finished off the last couple of leprechauns including the female - Ma Ogg. I almost forgot to add some yellow to her and so had to add a couple of yellow beads. Just to keep the colour theme. 

All of Grand's Troubadours including 'The Dunce'

The Main Protagonists - From the Grand and Ma Ogg

300 Posts

Just looking back this morning, I realised that this my 300th blog post. Thanks to all those who have viewed my blog, chosen to follow and posted comments. Check out 100th Post and 200th Post on these links for a short hop back in time. With any luck I will have finished my wood elves before the 400th post!

Rob 

200th Post needs a Superstar

Riolta Snow - Archer Extraordinaire

I recently managed to get Riolta Snow who has been on my Oldhammer Must-Buy list for a while. Along with a certain Chaos warrior Ultimate Oldhammer Figure, She is certainly in my A-list Warhammer figures. She shows up in not just the Magnificent Sven scenario but in the Lichemaster campaign as well.

Riolta in 3D glory

Riolta's as seen from 'The Magnificent Sven' introductory scenario in Warhammer 2nd Edition. I will just point out that this introductory scenario requires over 70 Slann, 150 villagers, hangers on plus the lead characters. The scenario very helpfully points out that most players haven't got enough figures to represent all the villagers!

Riolta in all her 2D glory

This the 2D figure provided with the 2nd edition rules. This gives an obvious colour scheme for me to try and follow. Riolta 2D as well as the rest of the main characters can be found on the Stuff of Legends website (Magnificent Sven Figures). The copy on the site is quite low resolution but this a scan (& tidy up)is of the one that I cut out a while ago from the original rules... 

Back Story

Riolta makes her living as a professional tournament archer. She holds the titles of many of the Elf Kingdom's leading contests. Like many other successful 'pros' she is alarmingly rich.

At the time of this game she is taking a holiday in Lustra. As a female and sea elf she is allowed to travel freely in Amazonia, She visited Gemaine and even make a pilgrimage to Rigg's shrine. Lately she hired the 'Voltsvagn' (Sven's ship) for a hunting trip up river. She bagged several crocodiles, a giant turtle and a brace of Slann. Sven, Juggo and especially Karra were all highly impressed. 

Riolta looks much like any other Sea Elf. She is tall, slender and enviably attractive. She is unarmoured and carries an Elf Bow with dozens of arrows, as well as a sword. She is an Elf Major hero.

Taken from the 2nd Edition rules. 

Great Artwork from Warhammer 2nd Edition

This article started with rooting around in the loft for my battered copy of Warhammer 2nd edition rules in order to look up the background on Riolta Snow. I had forgotten how good the quality of the art was on the covers  of individual  books. The first two in particular.  Now I am pretty sure both of these covers are done by John Blanche. But John & Tony Ackland are credited for the three covers.

Book 1

Book 2

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