Better Loot Than Never...

Hello again.

Doesn't time fly when you get back into your work schedule and, as the annual peak period of the year builds, lose all track of time?

It has been almost two weeks since the Chillcon show in Derby, back on 22nd September. I was in two minds whether or not to go. I checked out the traders and, to be honest, whilst there were some gems, there were others I had not heard of or, on the face of things, was unlikely to be particularly interested in. Oathsworn would be there and there stuff is great, but I did have that feeling that I had probably done enough Burrows & Badgers stuff for now. Colonel Bill would be there too and there second hand options are always worth a look to find those hidden gems. Laser Cut Architect could tempt me with some more "Necromunda"-esque MDF terrain, but I have not painted a gang or built the stuff I have already yet. Crooked Dice were there and I had seen mention of a "Grandville" line of figures in honour of the graphic novels by Bryan Talbot, so I fancied a look at that. They might even convince me to add more to my B&B stuff. But there did not appear to be any real draw for me.

Of course, I did venture along to Derby and, in addition to what I had seen advertised, was pleasantly surprised to find Warlord there with a very full range and others too. And, as always, there was plenty to tempt me. Why would I doubt there would be? I think because, not having played anything for months and with my work/ life balance all out of kilter for a while now, I am struggling to get into anything. Quite simply, however, games or no games, time or no time, I realised again just what this hobby does for me, the release painting even a couple of miniatures provides.

So, where did I spend my hard-earned money?

Read on...

I did see this advertised and it appealed on a number of levels. To top it off, I got this for £31!!! It retails for £40!!! It ticks a number of boxes - limited figure requirement, an interesting period of history, expandable to other armies and not just Romans and Celts, simple rules. Only around a sixth of the rulebook is rules, the rest being scenarios, background, etc. I look forward to trying this rules set out and painting a few Celts. I would like to do some Roman Civil War stuff I think - Celts, Spanish, Numidians, Germans and Romans all freely mixed across the two "Roman" armies.
Thanks to "Mighty Lancer" game for this bargain!!!

I also had my eye on "A Dark And Bloody Ground", buying this from Warlord so I could get the "free" figure - a Woodland Indian peering over a large rock. This period is one for which I have some forces and was the subject of the last game I took out on the road at the Barrage show last year. I am still part way through painting the 35th Foot! The "Age Of Caesar" book I bought for some further background for "SPQR" really and the "free" figure is a Roman officer, so usable for that too.

I saw this on Nephew Nick's "Sleeping Dragon Hobby Shop" stand and immediately saw some potential for old mine works in my "Burrows & Badgers" games.

From "Laser Cut Architect" I acquired these sets to add some buildings to either my "Strontium Dog" set up or for "Necromunda"

Nephew Nick supplied this kit for two Biohazard tanks and, with two in the pack, it will be one each for "Strontium Dog" and "Necromunda". The other kit is a two tier medical block which will have to feature in one or the other game.

Pretensions towards using my Ancient Indians as a Great Kingdom in "SAGA: Age of Magic" saw me buy this figure from "Crooked Dice". Not cheap but, I am sure you will agree, very suitable for a fantasy Indian army!

These two "Crooked Dice" figures I had seen advertised and fancied as a crime-fighting duo for Scarsburgh, my fictional Burrows & Badgers town. "LeBrock" is a badger, but is rather smaller than the Oathsworn versions, so he will be painted as some other type of animal. "Ratzi" will do nicely as a rat, however! So, I give you Hemlock Holmes and Dr. John Ratson.

 A little, light, flavoursome reading from Oathsworn Miniatures is this small collection of newspaper-style articles and titbits. Having done a campaign newsletter or two in the past, I really appreciate this sort of thing.

Finally, I could not resist adding a few extras to my Burrows & Badgers collection. The main set will happily form part of my "Molegrew Haulage" company from the dockside area of Scarsburgh and you can never have too many wagons. The two ladies to the right I see as proprietrixes for a high-class/ lowlife nightclub in downtown Scarsburgh, with the odd talon or claw in the criminal underbelly of the town. The archer and fox figures will fit pretty much anywhere in my existing stuff.

So, a rewarding, if mildly expensive, visit and a most enjoyable one. How dare I think going to a show was not worth it!

G

It's been a month!!!

Hello again.

At the risk of being accused of spouting a cliché, time certainly flies, does it not?

I cannot believe it has been a month since I last posted anything, but it has been indeed that long. I will not bore you with a list of excuses for my absence from blog-dom, but at least I have not been totally idle during this time. I have finished a Burrows & Badgers house, done two more units of Jager for my Crimean War Russians and have a few more Oathsworn Miniatures figures complete, which are the subject of this piece.

 

 

Frances and Ferdinand Hapsborough are orphaned twins, whose tragedy serves as both moral and warning to all children who do not heed their parents. Constantly told to beware of predators, the two mice would happily ignore the warnings and romp gleefully around their environs, getting into whatever scrapes they thought fit. One day, however, a rather hungry owl took a shine to the two tasty morsels and swooped low to enjoy an unexpected lunch. At the last moment, the two realised their peril and fled for their lives, screaming and hollering in terror. Their father heard their cries and came running...he lost his life protecting theirs. Now these two are dedicated members of the Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch, keen to avenge their father and defend their home.

Ferdinand bears a death mask on his shield, in honour of his father.

Frances bears the emblem of the Order of the Lavender Garden, which she admires greatly, but hers is black on yellow. Yellow is the colour of the wheat fields she loves to roam and the black lily is in honour of her mother, whose death when Frances was very young still cuts her deeply.

Adrienne Mole is the Nutkin Wood diarist and archivist, believed to be between thirteen and a half and fourteen years old.

The golden acorn of Nutkin Wood is her emblem.

The Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch in all its current glory.

Sadly, I am now at something of an impasse with this project, as I have largely done what I wanted to do. I have a pirate warband, a Military Order one, a band of Witch Hunters, a band of street ruffians and these fellows. I still have the paltry sum of eighteen figures left to paint from the Oathsworn range, including some of my personal favourite figures, ranging from more pirates to mercenaries to religious figures to civilians, but I have a liking again for some more regimental and regimented stuff.

His Majesty's 35th Regiment of Foot has been part completed for almost a year now. My 1690 project stalled a few years back, but does still call to me, especially when I see games of that era at shows or in magazines. My French Wars of Religion project has barely got off the ground. And I have all those boxed sets to work through at some point, including Blood Red Skies, Cruel Seas, various sci-fi and fantasy offerings and more esoteric things like "Carnevale" and "Hellboy". And I still do not have any Crimean War British except for four-fifths of the Light Brigade.

So, the next post or two will feature something new at last, I think. What will it be? Your guess is as good as mine!

G

Kelly le Brock

Hello again,

The lead mountain of Oathsworn Miniatures figures has been quarried, mined and otherwise abused to the point that I have fewer than a score of figures left to paint! I am down to the most recent purchases (at "Barrage" back in July) and those I have so far not really known what to do with or have held on the back burner whilst I prioritised others. All, however, are prepared and undercoated ready for their turn at the paint table.

Firmly in the "not really known what to do with" category is the subject of this post. He certainly is not a pirate, so that option is a non-starter. Neither os he a witch hunter, as clanking around in all that armour would make the sort of stealth such characters use to get close to some devilish, twisted, night  time ritual somewhat difficult. He has no Dickensian vibe at all about him. so the Dickens Street Runners are a no go too. Neither is he a civilian. He could just fit into the Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch, but that organisation was supposedly about a group of put-upon small fry banding together for mutual defence and this fellow is neither small nor put upon looking at him!

However, he is painted, he is based and he is most definitely ready to go!

He may well end up leader of some border garrison, or perhaps the commander of a Customs & Excise force. Those mercenary figures Oathsworn have, with their Landsknecht-style costumes, have to be garrisoned somewhere, after all. The fact that I have all those Landsknecht-style figures yet to paint may well steer me that way, but I also know that further figures in that style will be part of the next Kickstarter.

So, for now, Kelly le Brock remains a solo agent, his two-handed club swung for his own, rather than someone else's, benefit.

G

One angry badger! Perhaps Brian May has shown up to preach...I wanted to get a drop of water in, hence he is standing on a rock at the side of a pool. Perhaps he is crusading against amphibians!?

I added a little flourish with some minor cloak patterning which, with the full armour, gives him a sense of someone who perhaps had money and influence but, as with the club rather than a Zweihander or Dane axe, has seen better days.

One of the highlights of this project is fur. Apart form the colours, which are very easy to get wrong, the simplicity and texture of painting fur is a delight.

Don't Borrow From This Chap

Hello again.

There is something rather ironic about Summer from a figure painter' perspective, I feel. You should be enjoying all that lovely, natural light, those long days that give you plenty of time to speed all those projects along, the extra free time provided by not having to do school runs and so forth.

Yet, this year, it has mostly been changeable at best, so that lovely light has been variable in quality. When it has been hot, it has led to paint drying on the brush in the man cave where I paint and work has been busier than ever, it seems. To top it all off, high winds have made prepping anything a lottery, as I like to spray undercoat figures, which is somewhat tricky in a wind!

Nonetheless, I have finally managed to finish a few figures, though it has tended to be more single figures for my Burrows & Badgers project rather than a juicy 18th Century or other era unit. Bear with me, however, as I have a yearning for something more substantial than single figures going forwards, so those units hopefully will not be too far away from taking their turns on the painting table.

However, back to the here and now. I have it in mind to base my Burrows & Badgers world in the seedier parts of the fictional town of Scarsburgh, with its docks, narrow streets, limited policing and other suitable archetypal factors that make it so suitable for crime, skulduggery and the odd game or two. Now, towns have civilians as well as fighting types and, fortunately, so does the Oathsworn Miniatures range of figures. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Shylock Smallweed. This fellow is a slippery one, not only because of his status as a frog, but also because of his general demeanour and way of life. In common with many of my recent characters, he has a Dickensian name, but I shied away from Ebenezer or Jacob (as in Marley) for his Christian name, preferring instead that "pound of flesh" merchant from Shakespeare, the idea being that this fellow would have his pound of flesh, with interest, whereas Ebenezer Scrooge was just mean, but even he turned to the light in the end. I see no turning for this character. I plan to associate him with my pug bounty hunter, Pugga Fett, (see previous post), as every good baddie needs an enforcer. The two of them will terrorise the poor and needy of Scarsburgh whilst portraying their business as honest and respectable.

I have other civilians in the queue for the painting table and big plans for some specific terrain. I have, for example, a broken toy pirate ship, so a dry dock with said ship being dismantled/ repaired might be in order. And every good dockside needs a seedy inn or two. Then there is the idea of Customs and Excise to house, warehouses for general goods, chandlers and shipwrights and sail makers, boat makers and all manner of other bits and bobs. It could be a lengthy process...

But, for now, I give you Shylock Smallweed. Don't borrow from this chap.

G

"Take the money! Don't worry about such drivel as interest, you need the cash, so take it."

I plan to make the bases for my Scarsburgh civilians sort of "urban decay" in nature, hence the mix of earth, grass and slabs shown here. It is not like these characters will feature strongly away from the confines of their town.

I did a fair amount of picture research for this figure, though I make no claim that he is the spitting image of any particular breed of frog, a conscious choice on my part. The eyes, however, were a part of the figure for which I deemed research essential - how they look, what colour they are, the shape and size of the pupil.

Cold-blooded Killer

Hello again.

The fun and joy of too many hours at work and too little time to paint has led to slow progress over the past month or so, but I am still trickling along. Barely trickling, admittedly, but trickling nonetheless...

A recent product of said trickle is presented here for your perusal, casual comment and, hopefully, some small measure of delight.

I have wound my way through the vast majority of the various Oathsworn Miniatures I have bought since first dipping a toe over a year ago, so much so that I now approach those few figures for which I cannot naturally find a home in one of my various war band ideas. This fellow could be a member of a fledgling police force for my urban-inspired games of "Burrows & Badgers", set in the town of Scarsburgh. Or perhaps a customs and excise "man", hunting down the rascals and scallywags of the docks of that worthy town. He might squeeze his way into the Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch, if I deem that that particular landmark, Nutkin Wood, that is, has a watery part in its midst. Or he might be something else entirely.

No Dickens-inspired name for this one so far. In fact, no name at all until I decide what to do with him. So, awaiting the time I can get back to more historical figures with units and so forth, I give you yet another single figure in the form of a lizard warrior. As I have said before, do not imagine that painting such fantasy figures does not require at least a semblance of research. I checked out numerous photos of actual lizards prior to painting this figure and, although I mixed and matched styles a bit to get what I wanted, I doubt anyone would actually know that unless they knew their reptiles. I have gone for a simple, naturalistic finish which, I hope, enhances the lizard rather than enhances the fantastical.

G

I deliberately went for a rusted, besmirched look for his armour and sword. After all, you cannot live in a wet place and keep your metals nice and pristine, can you.

New Loot

Hello again.

I had pondered for some time whether I was going to get the second edition of SAGA, having enjoyed the first one so much. I read reviews in magazines of what changes had occurred within the rules, but nothing really stood out. I saw the promises of various world books to come, with particular interest in the Age of Samurai option, as I felt that was a way to get some oriental stuff under my belt, but left it at that.

But then came "Age of Magic".

What was this? Did I want to spend £30 on another book, knowing I would also need the new rulebook to go with it? Did I want yet more faction dice, not to mention the magic dice to go with it?

Well, it turns out, yes I did!

The rules, the "Age of Magic" supplement and some Magic dice. I certainly hope they are "magic" when I come to roll them!

A set of each of the two faction dice, the magic dice again and some spell cards for those like me whose memory is not what it once was...

So, why did I succumb? Well, I blame Wargames Illustrated magazine. They ran a piece on this game a couple of months back and I was hooked.

• Being the owner of many fantasy figures, many of which are ready to go on the table any time soon, being painted and all, I quickly realised the outlay on this game would be limited to the rule books and dice if I wanted it to be.
• It was SAGA, right, so I was very likely to enjoy my games, just like I used to when thrashing Vikings and the like.
• It was easily and quickly expandable.
• It certainly looked the part from what I had read and seen in the aforementioned article.
• Within the six archetypal fantasy forces outlined in the book, there was massive flexibility to be able to create what you wanted to create, but sensibly bound by certain faction rules and constraints.

All good reasons, I think.

But, me being me, my thoughts turned to not just what I had, but what else I wanted.

I have a load of stuff I do not use, painted and unpainted. Hmm.

Those Ancient Indians would make a great "Great Kingdoms" force, especially with a multi-armed statue for some monstrous clout and perhaps a shape-shifting Rakhshasa or two. For "Great Kingdoms", think High Elves/ Empire/ Gondor.

Those Ancient Chinese would also make a suitable "Great Kingdoms" choice, especially with the addition of a Chinese dragon in the Monster category. The book's specialist option of "The Theocracy of Qwan T'ang" also fits well, but from the "Otherworld" faction, equipped with demon weapons and armour. Or perhaps I can have a terracotta warriors vibe with my monsters and creatures.

The "Undead Legions" specialist option of "The Royal Dynasty of Nephren-Ka" is a dead ringer (pardon the pun) for my once beloved Tomb Kings.

My Orcs fit neatly into "The Horde".

My Chaos forces can be split quite simply, with daemons going "Otherworld" and Chaos-worshipping humans going either Great Kingdoms, Horde if I make them hairy barbarian types or Otherworld too.

And that is before I drag the dwarves out of storage, the Skaven likewise, or think about anything else...

Highly recommended if you want some quick and easy fantasy games. The variety provided by the usual SAGA battle board system, together with the addition of a magic system allowing for the complexity of different spells cast at different power levels and you have a wealth of options. And who would not want to make some weird terrain to go with your imaginative use of old and tired forces?

Go for it!

G

I saw a mouse...

Hello again.

"Where?" I hear you cry, in response to the title of this missive.

Well, it was not "there on the stair" at any rate.

The Oathsworn Miniatures painting fest continues apace with a couple of smaller offerings. I only have about 10 figures left to do, but there are more I want to get, so the project is far from over yet.

First up, we have an albino mouse for the Dickens Street Runners whom you may have spotted in my previous post. I have called him "Tiny Tim" (the burglar) in keeping with the Dickensian theme of the warband.

A slightly blurred offering, but still clearly an albino mouse with a short sword and a sack over his back.

Really must take better photos...

The second mousey offering is slightly different in that it is a dormouse. I am unclear as yet exactly which of my warbands the young lady will join and, unusually for me with this project, she is indeed interchangeable. I painted her with a check pattern, Rupert Bear's trousers style, on her dress, so she could pass muster with the Dun Ringill Doombringers, my Highland-style Strath Clotan raiders. She could also join the ranks of the fledgling Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch, that band of small guys who have come together (slowly) to protect themselves from all the nefarious big guys in their locale. She could even join the Dickens Street Runners on occasion, providing a modicum of shooting power to an otherwise up close and personal attack option.I will have to research a suitable Dickensian name for her in that scenario - someone small-fry, perhaps a maid or washer woman, ideally with a sideline in something nefarious.

The universal dormouse

For I think the first time with these figures, I went for naturalistic eyes, though I am not sure if I pulled them off. An albino had to have red eyes, but I think they should be more pinkish in hue. Dormice also have dark red eyes and I am happier with these than those on "Tiny Tim".

At any rate, it is off to do some more Crimean War Russians now, whilst chipping away at the remaining pimple of Oathsworn stuff in between.

G

The Silent Assassin

Hello again.

The Dickens Street Runners were introduced top the world a few months back, one of my many ideas for a theme for a warband in "Burrows & Badgers", based, as you might have guessed ort might know, on the characters of a certain Mr. Charles Dickens. The Runners are supposed to represent the sort of nefarious inhabitants of the back streets of East London, so far centred on those in "Oliver Twist" as, not being a Dickens officionado, never having read any of his works, I can at least identify with the 1968 film "Oliver", having seen it several times. However, research can take you anywhere you like and Dickens had a number of unsavoury characters in his repertoire.

So, what do you call the sometime spy, sometime assassin, all the time performer of dirty deeds done dirt cheap, if you will pardon the ACDC reference?

Squeers.

Or "Ssqueersss" if you are the particular adder of that name pronouncing your own name.

Squeers was a nasty headmaster in "Nicholas Nickleby", apparently, but, for my purposes, he is an even nastier character from the dockside area downtown Scarsburgh.

He joins the ranks (so far) of the Dickens Street Runners, who are ready, willing and able to take on the worst the anthropomorphic world has to offer. What they lack in armour I hope they will make up for with cunning, luck and numbers!

The Dickens Street Runners so far: (l-r) Fagin the fox, Tiny Tim the mouse burglar, Sykes the murderous wildcat, Dodger the weasel and the sorceress, Nan-Si.

Squeers, the adder assassin and spy, who lives in the pipes and sewers beneath the streets of downtown Scarsburgh.

The figure is sculpted with segmented armour, which I have chosen to paint as a non-metallic green to add to his camouflage capabilities and because I think some sort of cloth or leather armour better suits his background.

 

The last thing many a poor Town Guardsman or drunken citizen sees before the death bite is an range orb gleaming in the darkness...

I see Squeers not only as a useful addition to the warband, but also the subject of a scenario or two. Perhaps he is hidden on the table, concealed ready to strike, with the Town Watch scouring the area looking for him and he looking to evade them. Perhaps the Runners arrive to contact him as he has some important information, just as a raid from the town authorities is launched into the area. Perhaps he must assassinate a particular figure on the other team's side. Perhaps the Town Watch send an unfortunate patrol into the sewers looking for him and it is them vs him alone, with him able to sneak through pipes and grills whilst they have to stay on the path. Cat and mouse anyone? Or perhaps I should say "Predator and prey"? As with almost all my "Burrows & Badgers" figures to date, he is an Oathsworn Miniatures figure.

G

Strontium Dogs

Hello again.

I bought "The Good, The Bad & The Mutie" boxed set from Asgard Games on Walsall last year, fan as I was all those years ago in the late 1970's when a certain Johnny Alpha first appeared in a comic and introduced the world to the Strontium Dogs, mutant bounty hunters risking life and limb to take down the nefarious scum of the universe. Now, this was quite a lucky find, as I was never really one for comics, but I loved this strip the moment I saw it and picked it up again several years later when I happened upon an collected anthology or three in a well-known book store.

The aforementioned boxed set, available from the prolific Warlord Games, has a number of sets associated with it, so you can build up your cast of characters from various figures from within the strip over its long lifetime to date, both goodies and baddies. One of the attractions of the strip is that it is not always certain who is who in a universe of dark people and darker deeds...

The boxed set comes with three goodies (featured here), five baddies (to be featured soon, as I have painted them all), a series of cards and tokens used within the "Strontium Dog" game and some MDF terrain, most of which I built today. I hope my forthcoming week off work will see at least some of it painted, along with some other bits I bought off Ainsty years ago but never got around to. Cue Scumm's World, an arid, desolate, lawless place inhabited by hard men, harder women and whatever else the universe throws up, clawing an existence from an unforgiving rock that is home to the odd environmentalists nightmare (Ainsty's Toxicana range, bits of which I also purchased years ago!), some secret, corporation or government stuff long since forgotten (cue those old mutant apes I picked up cheaply, together with the odd sci-fi release from long ago), some disgruntled alien natives (I have to get those K'Hiff out some time!) and a storyline or two.

I need more games!

The Goodies.

Johnny Alpha, whose skills are the best in the game. Great shot, mutant eyes that enable him to see through rock and other matter and a range of kit tailor-made to give some bad guys an issue or two.

Wulf Sternhammer, close combat monster and as strong as an ox.

The Gronk. A brilliant medic. Even better at fainting when the going gets a tad stressful, like all his kind!

 

 

All I need now is to finish that terrain off, build myself some desert game boards, get some reinforcements to add to my SD numbers and get a few games in.

 

 

This is also one of my various boxed games nearly done in its starter format. Just the other 7/ 8/ 9/ ? to do and I will have called it all money well spent!!! I cannot decide which one should be next. I want to do "Blood Red Skies", but I also want to do "Cruel Seas". Then there is "Carnevale", but I also have all the "Necromunda" gangs to crack on with. And my 10mm Crimean War is not going to paint itself, nor is my Arab Conquest stuff. Hm.

 

G

The Lavender Order Recruits Again

Hello again.

One of my particular trends when buying figures or working through projects is that I do not like the "generic" approach. You know the sort of thing. If I change the flags and ignore the button colour, then those redcoats there will do for British one day, Swiss the next, something imaginary the day after that, and so on. If that is your bag, then so be it, all power to you and so forth, but it is not for me. I imagine such things are more prevalent in smaller scales, where one red coat looks much like another from anything more than a foot away, but I cannot say I have done any research on the matter.

I know it costs me more money to buy extra figures and more time to paint them as a result of having those extras, but I like distinction between my troops and  "Burrows & Badgers" is no different. I see people posting their warbands on Facebook and the like, but I often do not see a theme.

"I want a badger with my highland types!" screams Poster A, even though his highland types all look like Rob Roy and his badger is wearing full gothic plate.

"I am going to include this Victorian dandy in my band of bloodthirsty pirates," whispers Poster B, even though he looks like he has just walked out of the Old Curiosity Shop and the corsairs from some disease-ridden, tropical hellhole.

However, my Order of the Lavender Garden is growing apace as Oathsworn release more suitable figures, one of which is the subject of this piece. My Lavender Order, as I abbreviate it, has a number of branches, the most prevalent being the military arm and the witch hunting arm. In my head, the military arm also takes care of law and order in the better parts of the land. The good news is, so long as I maintain my preferred context, I can mix and match the figures between both, allied as they are and all dressed in some way in the purple and white livery of the order.

So, without further ado, I give you a "Mouse with Crossbow", at once both a member of the town watch, a soldier of the Order of the Lavender Garden and a hanger on for some zealous type looking for a magic user somewhere near you sometime soon. As I have chosen the figures for the various parts of the order with some care to avoid glaring fashion or other faux pas, he will fit with all three quite handily. So I saved a bit of cash and some painting time after all!

G

The mouse with no name, ready to defend the poor and defenceless in honour of the Royalist cause. Or burn and pillage a village in honour of someone's ego...

His mace looks a bit like an incense burner, but I still would not want a smack over the head with it.

And, in addition to the purple and white livery, the purple lily emblem also ties the Order's members together nicely. Judging by the various scuffs and scratches on his helmet, he is either a veteran of many a fight or has inherited his headgear from a particularly unlucky and/ or unfortunate predecessor...