Stuff for Sale!

Hi!

I am having to get rid of some bits and bobs so have listed some 15mm scale goodies on ebay!

Details can be found HERE! Essentially its a horde of Demonworld Orcs ranging from wolf riders to infantry and theres enough to make a sizeable force for Warhammer, Hordes of the Things or just about any other ruleset!

I will be posting bits and bobs regularly over the coming weeks as I work through my stuff!

All the best!

More Demonworld Releases!

Hi!

RAL PARTHA EUROPE have released more Demonworld miniatures, this time in the form of Empire artillery and Orcish cavalry!

They would make some rather decent additions to a 15mm scale Warhammer Empire force!

Even better, next month they are releasing Dwarves next month!

All the best!

A Question of Space!

Hi!

Well we continue to get the new place sorted but I have come to the sad realisation that I can't really justify keeping any larger scale figures. Our workshop is full to the brim with work stuff and our rooms just aren't big enough to take the strain of yet more miniature projects!

To clarify I am going to start listing stuff on ebay this weekend in the form of all my 28mm scale stuff, all the 15mm scale stuff I haven't sculpted and a fair amount of other bits and bobs in the form of rulebooks and other assorted gubbins. I had hoped to keep hold of much of it but just don't have the space.

I will be continuing with my sculpting and casting. (alas my casting machine is currently out of stock so I have to wait another 6 weeks before I can get stuck in. I will be continuing with my 6mm projects too though so there should be some decent updates of the miniature variety soon!

All the best!

Two Warbands and Finds From the Lead Mountain!

Hi!

As promised heres a couple of pics of the Elven and Goblin warbands I picked up at Colours:

Harlequin Elves

Harlequin Gobbos

Each warband currently consists of nine figures which is plenty for the Elves but woefully inadequate for the Goblins. Fortunately I remembered that I had a big pile of old Citadel and Heartbreaker Orcs and Goblins at my folks:

Big Pile O Lead

This will give me plenty of scope for getting some small warbands put together over the coming months! Alas the Harlequin miniatures have quite a bit of flash on them as well as some nasty mould lines which will need clearing but the figures themselves are really rather nice and I hope to have a bash at painting them soon.

The Goblins will be getting some support from a troll or similar beast while the Elves will form the core of my Grey Elf force and will eventually get a spellcaster and some characters once I find the time!

The priority will be to get some sculpting done though!

All the best!

Moving...

Hi!

Well we have moved to our new, albeit temporary home! Despite a few bumps and scrapes we managed to load all our worldly goods into a van and bundle them down to not so sunny Portsmouth which will be our base of operations until early next year.

I am hoping to get on with sculpting my new miniature range by late next week once we have the workshop sorted out and hopefully my casting machine will turn up soon too so I will be able to mass produce stuff!

During brief rest periods I have taken a peek through some of the old Citadel catalogues and amd itching to have a bash at sculpting upsome old school goodness so there may be some random bits and pieces posted soonish!

In the meantime all the best!

Richard

The Magnificent Sven

Hi!

I have managed to get hold of a copy of the old Warhammer Fantasy scenario The Magnificent Sven and am thinking about giving it a bash in 15mm scale!

The Magnificent Sven!

Essentially its a scenario from 2nd edition of Fantasy Battle involving a Norse settlement in Lustria being terrorised by a large warband of Slann (back when they were still all frogs!) and calling in the aid of the Dwarf Sven and a rag tag band of mercenaries. Loosely based on the Magnificent Seven movie it sounds quite good fun and I am seriously considering sculpting up some miniatures to give it a go!

Theres Sven, his assorted mercenaries, a dozen Norse berzerkers and the villagers themselves facing over 70 Slann braves and warhounds lead by the mighty Slann warlord Gurggl Greenwake.

The artwork in the pack is rather interesting and would make some nice miniatures too:

Riolta Snow, Elven Archer

The cast is quite eclectic ranging from drunken dwarves to one legged adventurers and a mad wizard, not to mention lots of slimy amphibians to slay!

With a little work the setting could be moved from the Warhammer world to Aeroth, especially in the jungles of Kesh where the remnants of the Lizard Folk could be stirring up trouble against the settlers.

Reading through the scenario, I am struck by just how much humour it contains rather than the endlessly bleak background GW has lumbered us with in more recent additions. Its a real shame as it has a real charm to it and the characters are actually likeable.

A little searching and I found EAST RIDING MINIATURES frog folk which might make good Slann braves if I dont sculpt my own:

East Riding Frog Folk

Hopefully I will be able to get some stuff sorted out soon!

All the best!

More Demonworld Releases

Hi!

RAL PARTHA have released the first batch of the elves for Demonworld!

The range is fantastic and has some really lovely miniatures in it:

Wood Elven Hunters

Wood Elven Spearmen

Its going to be interesting to see what they release next!

All the best!

Wargames Show Thoughts

Hi!

Well blow me down! As we were driving down from Worcester to Portsmouth with the latest load of our belongings I realised that the Colours wargame show was on and we were going to drive by it!

I dropped in in hopes of finding some old school miniatures and left my girlfriend eating sushi in the car.

Sadly I was somewhat disappointed after paying £6 to get in to find that although the show is massive, it does suffer from my usual pet hates of the wargames show. As soon as I walked in I was met with a wall of B.O. as hundreds of excited, and seemingly unwashed men hurtled back and forth. I made some attempt to get to the bring and buy, the best source of old yet cheap miniatures, but couldn't bring myself to elbow my way through the three deep scrum of bargain seekers (it reminded me of the little old ladies at car boot sales who will happily trample others to death in search of a bargain)

I next moved onto Gateshead Gamings stall which in the past has been a brilliant source for old miniatures but found it difficult to get at and they didn't have anything I was looking for. By this time the heat and smell was starting to get to me so I decided to take one last look round before heading out and found an old book stand which happened to be selling some old Harlequin miniature blister packs for £2.50 each.

I picked up several packs of Goblins and Elves as I fondly remember having them when I first started gaming in the mid 90s. Not quite old school but good enough for me! The miniatures themselves are really nicely sculpted, the goblins are by Kev Adams and full of character while I believe the Elves are by Chas Elliot as they are very similar looking to the Heartbreaker range he sculpted.

I now have enough miniatures to keep me entertained for some time and to form the basis for a couple of warbands for Song of Blades. The Elves will form the core of my Grey Elven force while the goblins will make an excellent rabble!

Once I have chance I will post some pictures of them here and hope to get chance to paint them as soon as possible!

So I spent less than an hour in the show and £14 on miniatures! I hate to moan about conventions as they can be a brilliant day out and source of all sorts of inspiration and miniatures but I think its going to be the last one I attend for some time. Its a bit of a shame that wargamers seem to live up to the stereotypical unwashed nerd so often. It will be interesting to compare my experience of the MCM in London in October when my girlfriend and I both hope to be there as traders. Will we experience a different type of geek?

All the best

Wargamers Woes!

Hi!

I have been taking stock of my wargaming habits over the last decade or so and have come to the realisation that I have been buying too much stuff!

For some reason I seem to buy lots of stuff but rarely get around to painting it before I flit onto another project, be it a new force, ruleset or whatever else catches my fancy. These miniatures then tend to sit gathering dust before eventually being put back on ebay. I will then regret it as I decide to pick up the project again, only to find I sold them months before.

I suspect this is quite a common occurance with wargamers and I have been thinking about what I can do to combat my addiction to buying stuff but never painting it. Oddly this seems to be a purely 28mm scale problem as I seem to be able to paint up all the 15mm scale stuff I get without any problem.

Therefore I have decided that drastic measures are called for, especially after the latest clearout! I am going to strictly budget myself to £10 per month on miniatures and ban myself from buying any more, no matter how tempting or how much of a bargain they are until the last lot is painted!

With such a small budget I suspect I wont be getting more than five or six miniatures at a time so thats not too much to get done. Its also going to be possible to collect a small warband a month with some careful planning!

Hopefully I will be able to keep to this target and I will post regular updates as I go!

All the best

More Old School Ponderings!

Hi!

Well I am taking a quick break from the not so exciting job of packing to ponder some more old school gaming possibilities.

I started gaming in the early 90s with Space Crusade which introduced me to the joys of classic GW miniatures but never had the money to buy what I wanted, be that a classic Imperial Guard force or chaos warband. Alas i find myself in much the same circumstances now. I really want to have a bash at collecting some old school miniatures as they have so much more character than the newer offerings.

I recently dug out my old Citadel Miniatures catalogue from the early 90s and have enjoyed looking at all the old miniature wonders it contained and it got me to thinking is it possible to collect some of these but on a really tight budget?


Citadel Catalogue

It seems to be quite a popular pastime these days and the cost of buying many of these miniatures is frankly getting ludicrous and theres no way I can afford to spend a fortune collecting large forces, especially for the likes of Warhammer.

The remarkable ruleset Song of Blades brings the possibility back to the realms of reality though as I could conceivably play games with only a few figures per side and from experience, have a really good time doing so.

Therefore, I have decided to keep my eyes open for bargains and see what I can come up with! Over the coming months I am hoping to collect some small warbands using a mixture of old Citadel, Marauder, Grenadier and Ral Partha miniatures!

These warbands will then see use in small skirmishing in Aeroth!

Alongside this I am going to try and sculpt up some large forces in 15mm scale in the style of the classic miniatures! This should keep me entertained for some time to come!

Hopefully I will have somethin to show in a couple of weeks!

All the best!

Basing Conundrum

Hi!

I have been pondering the question of basing 15mm scale fantasy with regards to skirmish versus mass battle.

For skirmish gaming I prefer the use of 20mm round bases for infantry as it looks better than any other option I have tried. The problem comes when looking at using the same figures for mass battle.

I could simply plonk them on a piece of card or something but I just dont like the aesthetics of it. I have however been a fan of the mini diaramas that folks come up with in multi basing but want to retain the flexibility of individually based miniatures.

The answer seems to be to use some movement trays like those I have seen put to good use with DAMPF'S and BOROMIR AND KERMITS blogs

Movement Tray by Dampf

Movement Tray By Boromir and Kermit

These rather nice trays were home made but after a little rummaging online I found that WARBASES also produce some for very reasonable prices too. This will allow me to keep my miniatures based for both skirmish and mass battle. An added benefit is that when not in use the movement trays should keep the miniatures organised in a more sensible manner than I currently have to make do with (ie scattered all over my table!)

This approach will allow me to eventually have a bash at Mighty Armies, Fantasy Rules, Kings of War and more importantly Warhammer 3rd edition and possibly even some Leviathan!

I plan on placing a small order with them after I move!

In other news, my girlfriend Amy of STEAM POWERED FISH fame and myself are hoping to visit our first convention as traders in the next couple of months so once we have moved, we will be working all out to get some stuff finished to sell! Huzzah!

I am also working away at getting some new races sketched up including Carrion Goblins, Earth Striders, Green Men and Rivetbacks. I will be previewing the designs for a couple of them soon so keep your eyes peeled!

All the best!