An Update of Sorts!

 Hi!

Today marks the last day of my hols and I'm back at work tomorrow but I do feel that I've had a fairly productive week of, be it hobbywise or just getting out and about to enjoy some fresh air.

Annoyingly I've got a stye in my eye which has made painting miniatures in the latter half of the week almost impossible as I'm constantly wanting to rub at it. Fortunately it seems to be clearing up just in time to get back to work!

Rannoch Moor

We took ourselves off to Rannoch in Highland Pertshire both for a wee drive and a walk around the Black Woods of Rannoch and I must say I find such excursions incredibly inspiring! 

Rannoch is our favourite part of the country and we've been visiting it regularly for the last decade now and there's something truly magical about the place, almost like travelling to a different time with its snow capped peaks, brooding moorland, mysterious pine forests and glittering Lochs.

Coupled with the weather that changes dramatically (we got sleeted on, rained on and then lovely sunshine within half an hour!), its a great place to visit and recharge the creativity and its given me quite a few ideas for my Longmyre and Stump settings, not to mention some assorted art projects I've been thinking about for quite a while now!

Looking North

Hobbywise, I did manage to play a couple of quick games of Song of Blades and Heroes which was fun but the more I play it, the more little niggles emerge, especially the combat which resulted in an awful lot of pushing and shoving rather than the bloody scrum one wants in a skirmish between Orcish marauders and doughty militiamen! I ended up tweaking the rules a bit which resulted in a more satisfactory outcome but I think I do prefer the likes of Brutalquest for small skirmishes.

I've also got some of my old PDF rules printed out with the vague idea of reading and trying out on my next few days off in April but I'm currently without a proper gaming table as our spare room (library come man cave) has still got a bed in it and my table has had to be taken down. Fingers crossed, we'll eventually be able to move somewhere larger and indeed without all the shenanigans of living in a flat but I'll make do until then! 

Stye Eye Smith

In the meantime, All the best!

Longmyre Militia Based

 Hi!

I'd mentioned a while back that I'd ordered some static grass tufts for my Longmyre project and they've arrived so I had a bash at finishing the basing of my Longmyre Militia which I'd painted recently.

Longmyre Militia

After a bit of perusing on the interwebs I found Phoenix Game Studio on Ebay who offered some nice multi length tufts in different colours so I gave them a bash, getting three different colours.

All the Grass Tufts!

I must admit that I'm quite pleased with how they turned out, some of the tufts may be a wee bit on the long side but it does match the wild moorland that Longmyre sits upon and the different colours and lengths of tuft make for an interesting final result that doesn't look too uniform.

Longmyre Militia vs Orcish Raiders

Compared to the patchier and more uniform colour of the Orcish raider bases that I'd done last, I think this looks quite a bit better and I'd recommend Phoenix Game Studio in future.

Here's a quick pic of some of the Roman earthworks at Ardnoch in Perthshire to give an idea of the kind of terrain the Longmyre denizens will be tramping over:

Roman Fort at Ardnoch

Lots of scrubby grass, gorse and pine makes for a far more interesting surface than the perfect green mowed lawn style of classic Warhammer (although I do have a real fondness for such a setup!) 

Longmyre moors

While Longmyre itself is a mixture of moorlands and woods, there are several other locations that I want to develop the scenery for including the Barrens, a rocky wilderness to the south and the Moss, an area of gnarled temperate rainforest that lies to the west of the Longmyre region. Hopefully I'll get more chance to flesh out these areas and keep adding characters to them as well as scenario ideas and whatnot as worldbuilding is rather a lot of fun.

The Barrens

At present, I have a rough map but want to make a proper medieval style one, possibly subdivided into different regions as if drawn by different people or indeed cultures but that is an art project for another day!

The Greenwood

I've been slowly working on a separate blog for Longmyre with the intention of porting over all my bits and bobs for background and a guide which will eventually form the basis of a campaign with various factions, scenarios, settings and whatnot but its a long term sort of thing which is definitely not ready to share yet as its a bit of a mess.

The Moss

Once I've got it ready, I'll post a link up here on the blog and see how I get on but for the meantime, I'm cracking on painting miniatures as its been very satisfying!

All the best!

Judge Patrol

 Hi!

Just a quick update this morning as we're going out for the day to visit Bannockburn and Ardoch Roman fort, two historical sites I'm embarrassed to say we've not visited yet despite having lived back in Scotland for over a decade now!

Judge Patrol

I actually painted these guys late last year for my somewhat stalled AK47 Republic project which will eventually be re-explored at some point, possibly sooner than I'd expected as the Risk project I've been footling about with has made me think that I could actually paint quantities of figures without too much hassle.

Set in the alternative Imperium of my own headcannon, this is an Arbites patrol and will be eventually be reinforced with another four bases of troops and some vehicles to boot!

I'd painted these guys. with speed paints with some highlighting on top and the results are ok, but possibly not as sharp as I'd have liked but they're finished (apart from some basing extras which I really need to get sorted out!) and while I'd originally hummed and hahed about the multi basing, I quite like how they look.

Farpoint Citizen Militia

I've had a lot of folks asking about my 15mm stuff that I used to post almost exclusively which got me to thinking about re-examining some of it with an eye to getting myself moving again with it. 

Syntha Corporate Operatives

I'd kind of burned myself out with 15mm but I've seen some really inspiring projects online which has got me to pondering a return to the scale and picking up some stalled projects. As per usual, the fact that I'm inspired by what I'm doing now is then kicking onto other projects which is both brilliant and at times frustrating as it means that nothing ever gets finished but on the plus side, I do seem to be enjoying myself just picking up something to paint and hopefully I'll end up with a decent selection of stuff which will allow me to get some games in.

Speaking of games, I've hardly played anything yet this year and I'm hoping to remedy this presently as what better opportunity than having a week off work!

Still, I've got to get myself moving now as we're supposed to be leaving in half an hour and I'm still sat in my jammies so until next time, All the best!

Side Project: Risk Imagination

 Hi!

I've finally got a week off work and have put my first morning to good use by finishing the bases of my Risk force!

I'd picked up a copy of Risk from a charity shop for the princely sum of £3 and had the idea of painting up the horde of tiny figures so allow me to play some games of Rebels and Patriots or similar and have got the first batch, the Blues finally done.

The Blues

I've yet to paint artillery and some command stands which I'll need to convert but I'm pretty pleased with how the little guys have turned out. 

I batch painted them 12 infantry or 6 cavalry at a time and what initially looked like it was going to be utterly soul crushing soon became quite relaxing once I got into the swing of things and figured out the best methods of getting the little guys done to a reasonable standard in the minimal amount of time.

Blue Infantry

The figures themselves are surprisingly nice sculpts, despite their rather outsize muskets and are somewhere between 10mm and 12mm scale and I'm a big fan of the tricorns they all sport.

If I use them as is, I've got enough for a roughly 20 point force in Rebels and Patriots but ideally I'd paint up more of the tiny guys until I had enough for a more chonky force but I'm hanging fire on that just now, instead concentrating on getting the stuff painted before moving onto the next.

Blue Cavalry

Its been a really nice change from the big Orcs or Longmyre militia men that I'd been working on earlier this month and I'm really pleased with having got them done and having a mini project that was easily achievable.

Blue Expeditionary Force

The rest of this week is going to be busy in a different way as I've got a commission to work on and we'll also be hoping to trundle off on a few day trips which I'm rather looking forward to as the weather seems to be turning nice (being Scotland, this is liable to change on the regular basis!)

We'll see what I can get painted up next as I seem to have ticked off several bits and bobs that have been sitting for a while now but until then, All the best!

Longmyre Reinforcements and Dark Age Obsession

Hi!

I've managed to get my unit of Longmyre militia painted up and based so thought I'd post them up here with some ponderings on one of my other interests, namely the Dark Ages.

Before I head off on a tangent, here's my Longmyre Militiamen:

Longmyre Militia

Constructed from Frostgrave Soldiers, they're pleasingly characterful and suitably grubby for a small, poor and unimportant Duchy sitting on the frontier of the civilised world.

I had been thinking of bulking up their numbers to do a Dragon Rampant style army of them but feel that 28mm is currently better suited to smaller skirmish games so they'll be seeing action in games of Brutal Quest, Song of Blades and Heroes and the likes. I've sent off for some grass tufts as I wasn't 100% happy with the bases of my Orcs so there's still a little work to do to finish them off but we'll see how they look once their bases are complete.

Longmyre Militia clashing with Orcs on the Frontier.

With that out of the way, I thought I'd have a bit of a look at another project I'd started a couple of years ago and then promptly forgotten about, the mythical Dark Ages!

Dark Age Adventurers

Looking back at this stalled project, I had an absolute obsession, collecting books, sourcing miniatures and all sorts of other madness which saw me paint a couple of small bands and then real life got in the way and I immediately forgot about the project.

Now here I am, four years later and thinking about getting it back up and running but this led me to think about how I want to do it and realised I wasn't sure exactly what I was wanting to do with it. I've never been one who can stick to any sort of historical accuracy in wargaming, preferring fantasy and science fiction over historicals but I do find myself drawn to this fascinating period of history which saw the foundation of what would become England.

On the one hand, I'd love to have small skirmishes with bold warriors braving the wilds to face wild beasts from another age, marauding Norsemen or even the odd Fae incursion but at the same time the prospect of mass battles between warring kingdoms or trying to drive off raids from the Vikings also has real appeal!

But what to do! I don't have the amount of time, space, budget or frankly focus to paint up large armies of 28mm figures so a compromise may be required, namely scale. I do think I'll keep painting small 28mm scale warbands of up to maybe 10-12 figures but I want to make use of Lion Rampant to represent larger scale conflicts between raiders, norse and all manner of other stuff and my recent acquisition and painting of some 10mm Risk figures has got me thinking that maybe I can make some larger warbands in 10-15mm scale.

There are quite a few companies out there who produce lovely stuff in smaller scales and I love the appearance of larger numbers of figures (which happen to be cheaper and take up much less space and less time to paint!) on the battlefield.

I'm not going to go mad and buy a ton of stuff but I do think I'm going to dip my toe and pick up a pack or two of figures to see how I get on as I reckon I can make a Lion Rampant army for £25ish quid in 10mm scale which isn't too pricy and would allow me to build several different armies cheaply.

I've still got a bunch of plastic 28mm scale figures to paint up for skirmishes or incorporate into my Longmyre project but we'll see what I can come up with in the coming months!

In the meantime, All the best!

Orcish Reinforcements!

 Hi!

I've finally got round to taking some pictures of my slowly expanding Orcish horde with their newest addition, the Butcher!

Orc Butcher

As with the other figures in the warband he comes from the Hall of the Orc King box that I picked up earlier in the year and have slowly been painting my way through and alongside the big spiky chap from my earlier post, he's been the most fun to paint.

The Warband thus far

Of all the figures in the set thus far the Butcher has probably had the most details but was still a pleasure to paint and actually took less time to finish than the archers did. I've got a second one to paint but have been distracted by other mini projects that have struck my fancy over the last week or so.

Butcher, Gorath's Chosen and Brewmaster

I've been quite motivated hobbywide, despite having limited time and have just finished a 54mm scale Viking chappy who will need basing alongside my 10mm Risk stuff and the Longmyre militia who have been done for a while now.

While I've not managed to concentrate on any single project, I do seem to be making up for the lack of focus by just pelting through whatever catches my fancy at present which is keeping me from getting bogged down and losing interest.

I've also rummaged out my Stump conversions and am eying them up alongside the Dark Age Brutal Quest project I started the other year and am footling around with several other bits and bobs which seems to be my method for actually getting anything done. While it means that completing any single project in a timely fashion is not really working out, I am pleased with the fact that I'm blasting through all sorts of bits and bobs that have been sitting for ages!

I'm going to try and get my Longmyre dudes based up alongside my Viking this evening (if I can find a 40mm round base!) and will post pics tomorrow if all goes well but in the meantime, All the best!

Charity Shop Finds

 Hi!

Apologies for the lack of posts but I've been pretty busy over the last few weeks with the run up to World Book Day at work which has entailed entertaining 400+ kids in multiple classes and running nonstop author events too. It's been massive amounts of fun but massive amounts of work which has meant blogging has had to take a bit of a break!

This hasn't meant I've not been getting stuff done though! I've painted five more Longmyre militia who are awaiting basing and have also found a few bargains in the local charity shop which will make for a few fun side projects too.

Today we nipped into an upcycling centre and picked up an assortment of gubbins including these bad boys, a box of 12 1:32 Vikings from Emhar for the princely sum of £3.00!

I must admit that I'd had my eyes on this scale of figures for a while for a bit of a homage to the likes of Inquisitor but using Wild West figures but I spotted these guys and decided to have a bash at Brutal Quest but bigger!

I'll see about getting a test piece painted up over the next few days and seeing what they look like with a coat of paint but I'm quite excited to have a bash. The only issue I've got with them is that one had a broken sword which I'm fairly sure I'll be able to replace with a bit of wire and plasticard and the bow string for the archer has snapped but that should be a fairly easy fix.

In a previous expedition, I also found a copy of Risk for £3.50 which I immediately started painting up the tiny, roughly 10mm scale figures for use with Rebels and Patriots!

On top of that, I also found Chronicles of Narnia Risk for £3.00 which has four full armies of fauns and centaurs (irritatingly closer to 15mm scale but for that price, I can't complain too much!) It would have been nice to have one army of the baddies but beggars can't be choosers!

I suspect the boards will be recycled into another project while the now empty boxes will be discarded to recycling but I'm quite pleased with my assorted hauls and while its meaning my hobby year is kind of all over the place in scale and subject, its been really fun!

I've got the first twelve Risk musketeers painted and am rummaging around for suitable bases before getting pictures of them but I must admit I'm quite pleased with how they turned out and may be tempted to see if I can find more in the future.

Hopefully I'll source some bases soon so I can get them finished and will see about getting one of the Vikings cleaned up and primed and ready to paint!

I do like these random little projects that result in all manner of unexpected and interesting meanders and will see how I get on with the assorted bits and bobs but in the meantime, All the best!

Orc Reinforcements

 Hi!

Well we're rapidly approaching the end of February and I've got the second batch of Orcs finished and begun work on the third and as it's a lovely morning, I've managed to get some decent photos of them!

Orc Archer, Gladiator, Beermaster, Spearman

I've almost finished the low level stuff with a single archer to paint and have begun work on some of the character and boss type figures from the set.

The Warband thus far

The figures have been really nice to paint and I've actually surprised myself by not losing interest in the project but just keep chipping away at it and it's been really rewarding to see a decent sized Orc warband start to form. 

Beer Master

The character and boss type models are rather fun and I did have some interesting ideas for how I'm going to represent the Beer Master in games.

Beer Masters Barrel of Bugmans

Using a mixture of speedpaints to block in colours before highlighting and shading has sped up the process somewhat and brought the best out of the models themselves and hopefully I've managed to avoid leaving any mould lines on the figures as they're a real pain to clear off the soft plastic but despite this, they do paint up pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Speaking of which, my favourite figure thus far is the big mutated chaps, of which you get two in the set:

Gorath's Chosen

I've not quite finished his base yet but he's an intimidating figure and I spent quite a bit of time painting him but figured he's worth the extra effort.

Many washes were done on his skin and armour followed by a wee bit highlighting to give the impression of rusted and battered armour over his uncouth hide.

As you can see, he's a chunky guy who towers over the already large Orc infantry figures and will make for a fantastic boss type of character to really challenge opposing warbands.

Longmyre Militia about to have a very bad day.

Once I've got the big guy's base done, I'm moving onto an Orc Butcher figure who also has loads of character but think once he's done, I may take a break to paint something else as that will mark 50% of the box being complete and I want to try something else, possibly reinforcing the Longmyre militia with some extra troops as they're decidedly outnumbered at the moment.

I also want to start work on some characters, adventuring parties and whatnot so I can actually get the campaign up and running so we'll see how we get on in the coming weeks but until then, All the best!

Rank and File Fantasy Pondering

 Hi!

I've got my second batch of Orcs for Longmyre finished and ready to photograph and have started on some character models too but alas I've run out of daylight to get photos so I'll need to leave that particular update until my next day off!

My previous post has got me to thinking about the possibilities of a rank and file sort of fantasy project but this has left me with a bit of a quandary as I am fully aware that undertaking such a project is utter lunacy! 

I've got an absolute ton of wonderful wargaming rules that would make for a great basis for a mass battle style game and I've also got the options of going smaller scale be it 15mm, 10mm or 6mm which would save both time and a great deal of money but still the hankering for a bit of a blast from the past keeps raising its dreaded head and the urge to do a proper Oldhammer style army in full 28mm scale.

While I'd love to do a massive mental 4th edition Fantasy battle (or more likely 6th edition which is much more streamlined and less mental character wise), I do have some sense and am aware that such a project is impossible.

Similarly I've got a few much more original rulesets that would make for an exciting project in its own way but I still have the problem of the feasibility of such a project as the figures required are pretty unique and getting in some cases getting either hard to find or expensive (not to mention in the case of Leviathan, massive resin monsters!). While proxies are doable, they lack the originals uniqueness which is the very thing that draws one to the game!

One other option that I'm thinking of exploring is the generic games which would possibly be a nice compromise between the assorted bits and bobs I'd previously mentioned. Both Oathmark and Dragon Rampant tend to use smaller numbers of figures, be it regiment size or overall armies.

Similarly, the rules are pretty streamlined and modern which allows for games to be played quickly and keep me engaged while incorporating forces that wouldn't be out of place in the more niche, unique games that I love the setting of.

With this in mind, I am going to dip my toe in the waters in a decidedly limited way and possibly try to paint up a regiment of 10-12 figures and see how I get on. I think they'll be based in the growing unrest that is happening in Longmyre as part of my ongoing low fantasy campaign!

We'll see how it goes but if nothing else, I'll have some reinforcements for my skirmishes!

In the meantime, All the best!

Back from Holiday!

 Hi!

Well I'm back from my hols and been busy at work over the course of the week with no real opportunity to get much done for my Longmyre campaign other than getting some bases done for the new additions to my Orcish raider party which I hope to be able to showcase in the next couple of days once I've got the last one finished!

In other news, Nic Evans' In the Land of the Sundering Flood has successfully funded which is rather exciting and from the bits and bobs he's posted as updates, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on my copy too!

With all this fantasy shenanigans, I've also been looking through my assorted rulebook collection to see what other games would fit my low fantasy skirmish that I've bee slowly developing and I've found a few likely titles which I'll post about over the next few days along with some mini reviews of them too.

I've also been casting envious eyes at some other blogs to see what exciting stuff the authors are working on and it never ceases to amaze me how creative you all are! Apologies if I don't always post comments but I do love perusing folks gaming projects and speaking of which, I'm amazed to see how the new Old World Army Challenge is developing this year and it's giving me the mad hankering to try my hand at doing something a bit more than a handful of figures over the course of the year.

I'm trying to tamper my enthusiasm for such an insane project because I suspect I'll never get it done but still...

Hopefully I'll recover my senses but we shall see and hopefully tomorrow I'll get the 8th Orc for my painting challenge finished!

In the meantime, All the best!