Lockdown Day 15

Hi!

I'm taking an evening off after painting load of stuff today which I'd hoped to get photographed but the lighting just isn't good enough this evening. I've also realised that I've not really done much 15mm scale stuff over the last couple of months and really need to get some more small scale sci-fi painted as I've made quite good progress with depleting my unpainted lead pile over the last while.

One project I am keen to reboot is the Stainless Steel Rat themed stuff that I began my blogging with back in 2009.

I've read and indeed reread the exploits of Slippery Jim di Griz over the years and in my first year of uni actually had quite a lot of fun working on a 15mm scale project when Sci-fi in 15mm was pretty hard to come by and most of the figures were converted historical figures.

I had lots of fun with absolutely tiny forces with a heavily RPG inspired sort of game where Jim would be required to sneak about thieving stuff and outwitting goons before making a break for it in a hotwired vehicle.

I also only had a 2'x3' gaming area so small games were preferable to big ones as I could paint a small force in an afternoon or two and play a few linked skirmishes in no time at all.

 While I've really enjoyed painting up all the assorted gubbins over this last two weeks I've found the need to work on some 15mm scale stuff starting to call on me again so I think I'll take a look through my 15mm leadpile and see what I can throw together as I'm liking the idea of having some low tech forces such as Count Cassator's goons below:

I'm also keen to see how my skirmish ruleset that I've been working on runs such a small game and I must admit, I want to go for a less grimdark science fantasy vibe than my Imperial forces. I've even been pondering using this as an opportunity to play some UFO type games set in the midwest with UFOlogists, Grey Aliens, Government Operatives, Investigators and Men In Black as well as some of the more fun Cryptids that have reared their heads in US culture over the last few decades.

I shall have to see how I get on with what I have but I am tempted to make some generic buildings too as it's ridiculously easy to construct stuff quickly in 15mm...

We shall see what I have in my bits box but if all else fails, I already have the Ghoulani Enslavers that I painted a while back to double as sinister Grey Invaders:

Anyhoo, I'll post up some gubbins tomorrow and see what I can rummage out but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 14

Hi!

Here's the smallest additions to my Lockdown project thus far!

 Dwarf Gyrocopters

Made from plasticard, greenstuff and a bit of fuming whilst trying to glue them all together, the Gyrocopters give my Dwarven force some air support which I suspect will spend quite a bit of time blowing up spectacularly as they are one hit wonders!

I see these little flyers as nippy little ground attack flyers designed to navigate the rocky Axeblade mountains and shooting up opposing infantry formations before zipping away before they can respond.

I have got rather a lot of Land Ironclads stuff painted up and really need to finish off the odds and ends I have still got lying around and hopefully getting a game or two in!

In other news, I've painted some Flintloque gubbins today which I'll try to get photos of tomorrow for my next update so watch this space!

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 13

Hi!

I'm busy having a clearout of the mancave which means my table is currently in pieces and books are strewn literally everywhere as we attempt to bring order from the chaos but I have managed to grab a quick photo of my 6mm Goblin characters:

L to R, Shaman, Warlord, Boss

I went for some round bases and gave the tiny guys some suitably big banners which should give them a bit more visual impact, and indeed identifiability on the battlefield. My warband now has a Warlord riding a chariot, a shaman with properly starry sigils on his robe and a boss to act as a somewhat disloyal underling to my warboss!

I had been tempted to paint the warboss as Grom the Paunch but will need to convert a suitable ride for him and give him a teeny axe to wave about to make it really visually pleasing and may yet convert one to really give my army a big boss character!

I have only got a few more bases to paint for this project and it will be officially done which is really exciting but looking at the force I have, I realise I really need some more infantry so I may bite the bullet and place a small order with Irregular Miniatures to give me what I need to have a fully formed army...

On a side note, I used my phone to take the pic of the Goblins as I've found it's got a better macro setting than my wifes camera which is better for larger scale shots so I will try to get photos of all my 6mm stuff up along with some 2mm pics in the next day or two. 

I've also finally finished my last Deadloque Zombie musketeer which is rather exciting as that will be a complete unit that I've painted (admittedly it has taken me over a year!) which is rather refreshing to have completed something! I'll need to work on my Ferach next but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 12: Flintloque Season

Hi!

As promised, here's some pics for my Flintloque leadpile!

 Pile 'o' Napoleonique Lead

Whee! I have a bit more than expected once It's all laid out like this but I'm rather excited about the whole thing as I remember painting Sharpes Rifles back in the 90's on my parents farm and the Deadloque gubbins in my 6th year of high school whilst listening to cheese on the radio.

Sadly that collection is long gone but over the last year or so I've managed to replace the two core sets and made a start on painting the Deadloque undead last year and even got some scenics painted up too.

 Etienne's Survivors

My first task will be to finish the Undead types as I only have a single Zombie Musketeer to paint and then I'll need to get on with Etienne's Survivors, a disparate group of Ferach Elves who are trying to escape the retreat from Moskova during the grim winter of the Witchlands.

These chaps are rather characterful and the only real work I had to do to them was get the lance of the dismounted Lancer Rouge fixed with a piece of wire which replaces the rather weedy lead one he originally sported.

That will complete the initial batch of Witchland stuff and I hope to play out a game or two of Deadloque (or my own version of the rules!) before moving onto the Catalucian campaign.

To do this I need to paint up a section of Elven Ferach Voltigeurs and try and source the last of their number as the original box had 10 and I only have nine!

 Ferach Voltigeurs 

Then I can move onto the iconic Sharke's rifles!

Sharke's Rifles

Each of these guys literally ooze character, be it Harpy's fiddle sticking out of his pack or Hagswill's nearsighted expression.

I've decided to work on the Flintloque project to scratch the itch of 28mm scale fantasy and stop me going off the deep end and attempting to collect and paint up some sort of Warhammer Fantasy Battle sort of madness. I must admit that I am somewhat surprised by the sheer size of the miniatures who are easily 35mm scale but the chunky sculpts should make for a fun little project for me to work on over the coming weeks.

It's not all going to be Flintloque though as I still have some 6mm Goblins to finish and there's my Land Ironclads project ongoing so even if the lockdown continues till May, I'll have lots to keep me entertained and shockingly I seem to be managing to work up to having full and indeed playable armies, warbands, sections, landfleets or whatnot!

We shall have how we go and I also have a copy of Wargames Terrain & Buildings by Tony Harwood who has created some really characterful terrain for Flintloque and I'm keen to have a bash at making some scenic madness too!

I'll post my usual update tomorrow with whatever other gubbins I have finished and with any progress that I make with all things Flintloque but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 11

Hi!

I had planned to post some new pics of the latest additions to my 2mm Land Ironclads project but I have spent much of today working on getting my assorted Flintloque stuff cleaned up as I have decided that it was high time I made a stab at getting them all sorted out!

I've slowly painted my way through most of the Witchlands troops from Deadloque and need to go through the Ferach Elves to get them painted once I have that last zombie painted up and done but I also managed to get my hands on the first edition Flintloque boxed set.

Sadly it's missing one of the Elf Voltigeurs but hopefully I'll be able to pick up the last one at some point but I do have enough gubbins to keep me entertained for a few days at least!

I have really fond memories of painting these figures back in my teens and I look forward to working on them again.

Mighty Zombie Musketeers

As the lockdown doesn't look like it's going to finish anytime soon, I figure this is a great opportunity for me to really get my teeth into a larger scaled project as I've almost finished my 6mm Goblins and my Land Ironclads are bubbling along nicely.

I'll post some pics of what I've got tomorrow morning and see how I get on but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 10

Hi!

As promised, here's the large project I've been painting over the last day or two!

Elven Dragonbane Rider

A while back, I was gifted a handful of old Leviathan resin gubbins and I've finally managed to paint up the first one of them in the form of an Elven Dragonbane rider.

He was missing his weapon hand which was originally cast in metal while the rider and beast are a one piece casting in rock hard resin and is still available from Scotia Grendel. I replaced the weapon with a piece of plastic rod and old plastic Dark Elf speartip which looked suitably stabby for a post apocalyptic Elven type to menace folks with.

I primed the whole thing grey and spent quite a lot of time adding multiple coats of paints, glazes and washes to get the finish I was looking for. I went for a traditional dark red and black for the Dragonbane itself whilst the rider ended up with gold and black, a colour scheme I seem to be rather obsessed with recently.

I was originally going to go for a different colour combination but this just looked right and worked with the miniature. I must admit that I was initially a bit unsure about the whole figure but as soon as I started painting it, I began to love it.

He reminds me of the Goblin knights from Labyrinth and I love the style of the Elven rider. He really looks otherworldly and hauty. There's also tons of really nice little details hidden around the figure from the scaly dragon hide to the ornate armour (there's even a tiny leering face hiding behind the shield that is virtually impossible to paint but worth persevering with.

The only other conversion work I did to the thing was to lengthen its tail a little to give it a slightly sleeker look. All in all, I must say that while it's been a really time consuming project to complete, he really is worth the effort that I put into it.

Here's a quick pic of the Elven Dragonbane rider next to an Orc Necrodon rider:

Elf versus Orc

While the pose is a wee bit odd, I do like the quirky and chunky details of the whole thing and it will make a really great addition to my Leviathan collection!

I'll post up some teeny tiny additions to my Land Ironclads gubbins tomorrow but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 9

Hi!

Just a quick update this evening. I found that with all the 28mm, 6mm and 2mm painting that I've done over the last few weeks I had been neglecting 15mm scale so have remedied this with a quick and easy addition to my 15mm Dwarf force!

Dwarven Guard Dog

I have a couple of these little plastic Dwarven dogs from Mantic Games lying around and had based the first one a while back but have finally got round to painting it.

He's not the best sculpt but does make for a pleasingly ferocious Guard Dog for my Dwarves to hunt down some Goblins with in 15mm scale!

Tomorrow I will have something considerably larger to showcase which has been taking up quite a bit of painting time and I just need to get its base done before taking photos and putting it up on my blog so watch this space!

In the meantime, All the best!