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.

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

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...

Mollie McClobber

Hello again.

My Strath Clotans finally have a leader courtesy of one of Oathsworn's more recent releases, which Nephew Nick obtained for me at my request at a recent show. Who would not want a wildcat with axe and shield? The fact that wildcats are a tough option in the "Burrows & Badgers" game and that she more than adequately fits the bill for Strath Clota given her plaid and bonnet were enough for me! And Oathsworn supremo Michael Lovejoy has stated that there will be more Strath Clotans in the next batch of sculpts, which means the clan can keep growing too.

She was a joy to paint, even the plaid, which, though a little time-consuming, was easy enough with some patience, the right brush and suitably thinned paint to ease its flow, but not so much that it just runs everywhere...

I have more Oathsworn figures left on the to-do list, some of which are even undercoated ready to go, but my most recent activity has seen me add to my Russians for the Crimean War, with more infantry, of which there cannot be too many. I will one day get around to some British infantry to go with the Light Brigade and will finish the Light Brigade too once I have bought the necessary extras required. Again, the absence of a definitive project is seeing me get through bits of numerous different projects, which suits me in my "skirmish" mode,  and might just see me through a couple of the many boxed games I bought with the intention of getting some figures completed. However, numerous projects means I sometimes struggle to decide what to do next, so I might be painting, but I am also a tad adrift. The Crimean War project will be a continuous one for a while yet, especially as 10mm Russians are quick and easy to paint (I hope the British will be too, but doubt it somehow...), but where else should I venture? I have, by way of a quick count, the following boxed games all crying out for attention, in no particular order:

• Necromunda;
• Kill Team;
• Lord of The Rings: Battle of the Pelennor Fields;
• Gorechosen;
• Blood Red Skies;
• Cruel Seas;
• Carnavale;
• Judge Dredd;
• another I bought the other day and will save for a future post - it is big and the contents look amazing!

Still, this post was supposed to be about a certain wildcat, so here she is.

G

Mollie McClobber, with the target of one of her raids burning away in the background.

The artists' pens came in very useful again for the motto on the shield and also to draw in the characteristic cat's eye pupils.

Options, Options...

Hello again.

As I strive to work my way through my Oathsworn Miniatures lead pimple, in lieu of enlarging the pimple in due course to more of a boil or carbuncle with yet more acquisitions, I am still very much in the realms of those figures who have so far not fitted quite in to existing projects. One such figure is the fellow highlighted here.

Now, for me, this is a great figure, full of purpose, experienced in his art and. judging by his eye patch, has suffered for that art too. Looking at him, I would say the word "Veteran" was most appropriate. He painted up well as do all the Oathsworn range and could have been done far more simply with just fur and armour (brown and metal as it were), but I had to enhance it further for my own tastes.

He is obviously a warrior, quite possibly a knight, but he is not sporting the lily of the Lavender Order, nor is he a woodland dweller, so is hardly likely to feature in the newly-founded Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch. He certainly has no Dickensian qualities about him, so the Dickens Street Runners will not be using him, even if he wanted to be associated with a bunch of backstreet criminals. The Witch Hunters could use him, but exactly why they would when the Lavender Order knights are allied to the witch hunter cadre, being two arms of the same order, is open to debate. And pirate he most certainly ain't any more than he is Strath Clotan highlander!

So, what is he? He could be the head or a member of a new military order, perhaps a foreign one, whose emblem is the golden chalice as depicted on his armour. He could be a simple knight leading a disparate group of followers against marauding bands of one sort or another. He could be the leader of a mercenary band, perhaps the second son in a world of primogeniture, who eschewed the church for the life of a mercenary a la Medieval Italy, Sir John Hawkwood sort of character. I quite like this latter idea, as that would give me a good excuse to paint up the Landsknecht-inspired otter, hedgehog and mouse figures I have had undercoated for a while! Give them a border keep to garrison and they can be mercenaries as well as defending the locals from raids! The ideas keep forming, which, as I have said before in various posts, is one of the best things about "Burrows & Badgers" and its associated miniatures from Oathsworn. What I name him will ultimately depend on where he is from and what role I give him. Matthias von Hase is first choice for a foreign mercenary given the likely Landsknecht feel of his band ("Hase" being the German word for "hare", you see, if my memory serves me correctly), but he could become a member of the De Leveret family like Sir Robert, who featured in these posts earlier this year as a member of the Lavender Order. Options indeed!

G

The addition of some colour to his armour adds that extra something to what could have been quite a plain figure, in my opinion. Displaying his colours and badge in this way already starts to create a backstory for him, which interests me. Depicting the armour with a few dents and other damage, as I have tried to, also enhances his veteran status I feel. This guy does NOT stay at home polishing his armour, but wears it and wears it with purpose!

As "Burrows & Badgers" is a points based game, having that sword as either a one- or two-hander gives me some flexibility in how I construct his associates. I prefer a two-hander for him, especially given his heavy armour, as they rock in melee! I also think there is something a little bit Samurai about his armour, specifically the shoulder plates on this right shoulder. Perhaps he has been abroad and perhaps even dabbled with some oriental magic or other darker art...

I love this face! Again, I have tried to depict him as a little more advanced in years than some of my other figures, which not only enhances the experience levels I feel he has, but also plays strongly to the backstory and to his authority as a figure and a likely leader of others.

The Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch

Hello again.

Happy April Fool's Day! Please be advised that I will not be trying to con, mislead, cajole or otherwise partake of the day's events during the writing and publication of this post.

One of the things I like so much about "Burrows & Badgers", as I have written before, is the seed it has sown in my creativity and imagination, things I had long thought at best dormant. As I trawl through the remaining score or so of figures I have yet to paint for this project, whilst contemplating adding more to the pile following Oathsworn's most recent Kickstarter, I am confronted by figures which have not yet made it to the painting station and, as with the Dickens Street Runners, I ponder why. The realisation in my head that the Wildcat with axe and top hat was a ringer for Bill Sykes and the Siamese Cat sorceress would do very well for Nancy/ Nan-Si led me to Victorian East London and its criminal underbelly, hence the Dickens Street Runners.

One such figure that I previously struggled to fit into what I already had is the subject of this piece. He is a knight, as you will see from the photos below perhaps (or at least a warrior of some standing given his heavy armour), but he bears no particular connection to the previously painted Knights of the Order of The Lavender Garden, having no lily motif anywhere to be seen and sporting neither surcoat nor coif. In fact, the poleaxe, plate armour, plumed helmet and cloak are things which set this fellow apart from his colleagues within the Order, as none of them sport any of those things. So, what to do with him?

Enter stage left the Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch!

What exactly do the weaker folk in Northymbran society do for protection? How do they fend off the ravages of the darker side of life? Who bands them together and leads them when rats and foxes come a-calling? Well, Sir Tawny de Russet could do so! Squirrels might not be the Tiger tank of the "B&B" world, but give them some clout with a poleaxe and some plate armour and they might make a Panzer II! Perhaps even the Luchs version!!! Throw in some militia types in the form of mice, moles, shrews and similar small fry and we might actually get above six models for our starting warband! And for those particularly troublesome enemies, we can always hire some mercenaries. They have made it to the painting table, by the way, sitting resplendent in their black undercoats as I type!

So, in the absence of any other member of the Watch, I can at least offer Sir Tawny for your delectation and comment.

G

Sir Tawny de Russet in full plate. I would like to see him gather nuts in that get up!

I like the dynamic of this figure, with his tail erupting in one direction, his cloak in the opposite direction and the poleaxe almost perpendicular to both. The figure has a great sense of movement for one so small and from the weaker side of the Northymbran faunal catalogue.

I may repaint this eye. The right one looks reasonably determined (see picture one), but this one looks a bit startled! It took me about five or six shades of yellow and blue respectively to get the depth of highlight on the plume and cloak, but I am glad I put in the effort. The cloak especially had to be done to emphasise the movement inherent within the figure.