Why is This Mini Hard to Get?

 ME-12 Strider on Foot

Finally managed to get Strider on foot at a (semi) reasonable price. The reason why I say this is because it seems much easier to get the mounted mini than the mini on foot? In fact I have often found the mounted mini for less money than the foot mini. I can only assume that the mounted mini was produced in the same numbers as the foot mini.  They were only ever sold as a set! But the mini on foot seems rarer and so at a higher price.  Still money has been spent and the painting can commence. 

As always thanks to Stuff of Legends from stopping me, having to root around in an incredibly hot loft to find my Citadel compendium. 

No painting this week  as I was away on business but I did get to see a very nice French castle. And of course a few beers. 

Enjoy the weekend

Rob 

The Road to Hell

Is Paved with Plans to repaint Minis

So, I was having a sort out of my classic 80s Citadel Lord of the Rings minis* and decided a couple of them needed a bit of work. Now the plan in the main was to leave them  in their current state. Even if some of them where painted over a decade ago and not up to current standards. But they do represent the era they were painted in. However, I decided both Legolas and Frodo minis needed a bit of work. 

*Yes, I did notice a load of cobwebs after I  took the pictures. 

The Legolas mini was painted much earlier than the mounted version but I wanted them to look more like a pair. So, as I moved the mini onto a painting standard, the mini just snapped off the base & slotta base. I didn't use much force but the lead must have just very soft. And then on the Frodo mini, the base needed a bit of a tidy up but just came off in my hand. Honest Guv! 😕

Ok, now I have taken a proper look at him, he is going in the paint stripper. 

So, now  both minis need a bit of repair and a repaint/tidy up!

Right I need a beer, fortunately I have one left!

Rob 

Dodgy Comments

 Sorry Folks

I had to turn the comments moderation  on after some dodgy comments have started appearing.

Rob

Advent 25 - Day 18 : That's Unexpected

A Sudden End

Once again, Brenda nearly exhausted by her travels hopes for some refreshment.

There is a wreckage of a cart, covered in moss and rotting away in the middle of the clearing and Brenda spots something glinting amongst the debris, a golden crown. But no food.

Worn out, Brenda decides to rest under the shade of a tall oak tree, but anxious to carry on, Robin in the Green bides her farewell and carries on.

To be clear, I wish I could draw this well. 

But this is an AI generated image.

Brenda has run out of Endurance, so her attempts to get to grandma’s house have ended. So, do I restart the adventure with a second sister but with the same map? If so, what happens to the objects and the characters that Brenda has already met. Or do the woods change after every journey?

Brenda had nearly got Grandma’s house just a few stages left but not this time.

Rob 

A Slann Army Update

 A Homer Moment 

There is no other word* I can think of but ‘Doh!’, as I have been thinking about finishing some of my army projects after deciding to finish off the wood elves. Attention has also turned to my Slann Army. One of the first units to be started was the Slann slaves which I made by using Wargames Atlantic Aztec bodies with ‘Cannon Fodder’ heads with the control collars. Plus a few other bits. I did an initial eight but didn’t get round to ordering any more.

While the Aztec bodies were a good basic fit, they didn’t quite hit the mark. Which is part of the reason they haven't been finished. However, whilst looking for other stuff I now realised that the Tribals minis from Frostgrave – Ghost Archipelago would be a much better fit. And with some nice spare items on the sprue. So, time to finish another unit. 

And while I have been thinking about finishing off these armies, I decided to rework the army lists to finish units that I have started and leave out un-started units (for now).

New Army List

Original Army List

*Apart from many, many swear words of course!

Rob 

Advent Day 11- Geoff from Oakbound Is Winning!

 But I am Still Trying to Hang in There 

I have been away for work for a few days this week, so came back to a little pile of Advent miniatures to paint  and games to play. But hopefully over the next few days I can catch up. I was actually glad one day was dice which gives me a bit less to paint. 

But I have managed to get one Gnome done!

Odd - Seaweed Flavoured Crisps

My daughter brought these home from Thailand for me. And liked them more than I thought I was going to before I opened the pack 😏. Never one to shy away from the difficult tasks, but someone has got to try all of these crisps of the world. 

Rob 

This Is Getting Ridiculous!

But Once I Noticed it...

I had finished this goblin and I was perfectly happy with the final result until I noticed he was missing his finger nails. So, I just had to go back and paint them in. When I returned to painting  a couple of years ago, I was struggling to paint simple details let along adding more!

Anyway a quick job to sort out this very minor problem.  

Oh bugger - I may have to go back and sort some elves out as they would obviously have some nice manicured nails. 

Been away for work for the last couple of weeks  and when I got back to some painting today. The paint in the wet palette was still usable! That has got to be some kind of record.

Rob

And It Was All Going So Well

Time for Plan B

I was just settling in for a painting session to finish of this mini when I managed to nudge the upper sword. And of course it fell off. I had already added a bit of gel super glue / bicarbonate of sodium around the base of the sword, but it clearly wasn't enough. I had forgotten how soft this old lead is on these minis. It was just too thin to pin, so I decided to replace it.  

I have a Cunning Plan...

After drilling a sword and fitting a paper clip skeleton. I added a thin layer of fine Milliput / green stuff. And did a bit of basic shaping. Once dry I am hoping to  shape it with a craft knife. Milliput can be sanded  and scraped to get a sharp edge. I have done this before and it either work really well of breaks in annoying fashion. So, now wait to dry and get on with something else. 

Rob

Nike High Elf War Maid v1.1

Time for a Tidy Up

This is one of the first high elves I painted but I have never been happy with the paint job on the skin. So, while I didn't want to repaint the whole mini. Time did seem right to rework the flesh tones using my current technique. Overall I am much happier with the result. A bit like the company of Thorin, the detail seems quite shallow so needs a stronger contrast to bring out the detail. 

Before

 

After

After - Rubbish pic but I turned 

off all the 'proper' lighting.

Rob

Reclaim the Baggage - Not at All!

The Dwarves Take a Beating

So, the dwarves got well and truly hammered in this scenario. With Bifur and Bofur both dying in quick succession without even getting off the starting platform.  

Unlike the first scenario (which the dwarves just lost), where I don’t think I used the throwing weapons and heroic combats effectively, which probably made the difference in the first game. And at the end of that game, all of the dwarves had their full number of wounds and Oin can restore wounds.  In the second game, the dwarves fought bravely but just lost. They just didn’t have a real edge over the hordes of goblins.

So, the goblins crowded around eager to get to grips with the dwarves. The dwarves were left with no option but to advance and try and pin the goblins to narrow walkways. But three dwarves just wasn’t enough and from the first turn of combat the dwarves were surrounded. Once again, the chittering hordes rule is a real game changer.

The first turn of combat had plenty of drama with Bofur (with the support of Bifur) striking down the goblin captain when he took two wounds and failed with fate roll (with a one). On the other side Bombur also received two wounds from the two goblins he was fighting but he did manage to make his Fate roll.  Then in the second turn, he promptly struck both goblins down to return the favour.

Despite the loss of the captain, the goblins surged forward and quickly overwhelmed both Bifur and then Bofur in a couple of rounds of fighting. The dwarves did take down a few more goblins but the horde was too strong.

The dwarves were always going to struggle with this scenario as they only have three average fighters and no special combat abilities. Additionally, the goblins are allowed to deploy very close to the dwarves further limiting their tactical options. I am thinking that I would like to replay each scenario but choosing my own dwarven contingent.

The more I play these games, the more I am reminded of Space Hulk with a few elites battling unrelenting hordes in tight and confined battlefields.

 Rob 

Painters of a Nervous Disposition Look Away Now!

Time for Plan B

This is a bit of an unusual post for me, as I don't normally post stuff I that I am not happy with the finished result. But my first attempts at painting the goblins from Goblin Town have not gone well. 

In fact it is the first time in a long time that they were repainted immediately because I was so unhappy with the result. They were supposed to albino diseased goblins but they just came out a weird dirty pink. The washes completely covered the white and all attempts to lighten them up just made them look more pink than white. 

Given they only have loincloths and few bits of equipment then the skin tone has got to look right as it the main feature of these models. 

I have just started prepping a new batch which I will shade rather than wash. And see if this keeps them looking more albino. 

Papa Nurgle would be proud as they are very diseased and deformed. I first thought the left leg was covered in cloth but then realised it was just diseased! Obviously they would fit in very well with a Nurgle army 

I actually think the mini looks better in the photos but still looks rubbish.

Time to retire to my fortress of Solitude for a good think...

Rob 

Free Bosham Car Wash!

 Save a Pound but... 

Now, I don't normally post on topics not directly related to the hobby. But occasionally am off-topic post is needed. A friend and I stopped at Bosham harbour for a well deserved coffee after a MTB ride. With tide coming in, the harbour side car park was filling up and someone had forgotten to move their car! Attempts were made to find the owner but to no avail. 

I recommend to pay the £2 to park in the nearby carpark if you come to Bosham harbour. As that doesn't flood. 

Now this second picture is only 30 minutes after the first picture. Proving that the tide comes in fast! In case you are wondering there are plenty of signs warning that the tide floods the impromptu carpark and adjacent road on every tide.  It would be fair to say that the owner was entirely happy when they returned to car a little bit later. 

Goldberry

Anyway I have managed to paint a couple of minis including this repaint of Goldberry. Which I found surprisingly tricky because of the simplicity of the mini. There really very little detail and she is very uncluttered (for GW mini especially). Meaning that the dress needs to be blended smoothly. 

After hunting round my paints, I found this green in a twenty year old pot of Humbrol paint. Whilst certainly an improvement over the first attempt. I am still not quite happy with the final result. So, will probably wait a couple more years, like I did between the first and second paint jobs. 

Rob 

Flogging a Dead Horse

 Looks Like Meats Back on the Menu, Boys

Not much time for painting at the moment but I did manage to get some games in.  However, I finally called to a halt to the restoration of this kitbashed Uruk-Hai shaman. Sometimes the skill is knowing when to stop!

As he didn't cost anything at the time as he was made from left over minis and the current Uruk-Hai  is over £8 as part of the >£30 set I feel he is a bit of a bargain 😁. 

The slain goblin's head never looked very good as the detail wasn't sharpen enough. So, After several attempts to 'improve' it with painting. I finally gave up and  removed and added a head from the bits box. Hence the title of this post as it took a while to realise that I was never going to get the result I wanted with the old goblin's head. 

I didn't have any suitable Oathmark goblin heads as they all had helmets. But one of the Aztec heads looked quite good especially as he had his hair tidied up in a topknot. And as a tabletop mini I think this is perfectly acceptable. 

Pre-touch up. 

I did the original conversion about fifteen years ago without any green stuff when I needed a shaman for a one-off game. He was the body of a plastic Uruk-Hai berserker and and the legs of a Uruk-Hai warrior. With card weapons in his belt which made of cotton thread. While the execution was basic to say the least, I did like the overall result. Particularly the hand print across his helmet, which I decided to keep.  So, he got a bit of an update, this time with green stuff and some leftover plastic weapons. 

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