Of (10mm) Monsters & Men...

The topic title is partly in homage to the Icelandic band of the same name. Two of their songs evoke emotions for me, "Little Talks" and "Dirty Paws". The latter song makes me think of my dogs and the adventures we have gone on over the years that would result in their paws and bodies covered in dirt and mud. As they (and I) get older, these adventures are a bit less adventurous and those paws a little less dirty....but I digress.

The other reason for the title is that Pendraken recently released additional mythical beasts and monsters to their 10mm fantasy range.  I decided to order some of their trolls and gargoyles to give a little extra flavor to my 10mm orcs and undead from Wargames Atlantic. 

The gargoyles were purchased to supplement my undead forces. I thought they were keeping in theme and would give some winged mobility to the shambling hordes of bones. 

The sculpts come in two pieces, the body and the wings. Prior to attaching with crazy glue, I prepped everything and then bent the wings to give more dynamic looks and to better fit the bases. 

The figures were then primed with flat black (Rust-Oleum from a rattle can), and drybrushed with a light purple. Not much more went into them other than some purple base painting and quick highlights, a wash with purple ink and then picked out the eyes, horns and teeth. I like the finished result and the didn't take more than hour to paint. The figures were varnished and based in a manner consistent with my orc and undead forces. 

My orc army already has a few bases of trolls (Copplestone castings seen above) and they are massive figures for 10mm. I didn't necessarily need the Pendraken trolls but the sculpts are awesome. Their trolls are a much different style and considerably shorter. Whereas I can only get two Copplestone trolls on a 40mm base, I can squeeze three Pendraken trolls onto the same dimension. They will end up being classified as different creatures. Perhaps giants and trolls or trolls and ogres. Who knows, but I digress...

Here are the Pendraken trolls above. I dry brushed with Vallejo Cork brown over a black prime. I opted for a light brown flesh because my Copplestone trolls are a pale greenish grey and the only other colors I felt would look appropriate were a bluish grey or a light brown. I painted these fellas in a similar approach as the gargoyles.the paint job doesn't blow me away, perhaps the sculpts deserved better but I'm also not displeased 

I look forward to additional 10mm fantasy releases from Wargames Atlantic and one of these days I will have to tackle the WA dwarves...

Burrows and Badgers

Today, Alex and I met for a game over at our local hobby shop with Alex volunteering to bring his collection of Burrows and Badgers miniatures for us to play a game with. 

I had seen B&B advertised in miniature magazines and read a review of the second edition but I had never played the rules nor really understood the concept. For those unaware, B&B is described as a "skirmish game of anthropomorphic animals". It seems like a fantasy medieval setting with animals taking on the role of humans, e.g. a Robin bird takes on the role of Robin Hood. etc. 

I was to take command of the "royalist" faction and in those scenario, my company was working for the authorities to interdict a smuggler's wagon from crossing one side of the board to the other. The smugglers were a family of weasels comprising of a father with crossbow driving the wagon and his two sons pulling it. The weasels would have henchmen arriving to help them out in later turns. most of these henchmen were feisty but tiny shrews.

My forces consisted of a brawny beaver, highland fox, fox mage, a canine paladin and a kingfisher bird. Pictured here are the beaver and fox mage.

In this scenario, none of the animals would suffer fatalities. A sect of  shrew clerics (shown above) would come along and heal the fatally wounded back to some semblance of health.

The canine paladin and the kingfisher managed to knock the weasel family from the game. The bird isn't much of a fighter but he can fly which makes him a handy quick reaction force of sorts. The canine outclassed the weasels with his armor, shield and sword. 

Alex's shrew henchmen put up a fight, especially the shrew paladin on beetle mount. The shrews have a pretty impressive attack but their durability is another matter. Ultimately they succumbed to the Beaver and Highland fox. 

With all of the weasels and henchmen defeated, my royalist forces were victorious. I enjoyed the game with Alex, it was a nice departure from the normal wargame and I managed a very rare victory. The game mechanics were easy to grasp but had some nice nuance to them. Abilities for different traits were portrayed by the type of dice (D8, D6, etc), weapons, traits and situations provided modifiers to the dice result (e,g, +2 for axe, +1 for strength and +2 for charge, etc.).. 

I'm not sure I would ever collect the miniatures and rules myself (I have enough to paint in my queue) but I would definitely play this again. It was good to see Alex and I look forward to our next game.

Troll Country and Dark Lords

As previously mentioned, I had ordered character and packs and some trolls from Copplestone to supplement my Orc (and possibly undead) armies. After a few days off during the holiday, I finished some of these. 

The Copplestone trolls come 9 to a pack in 3 poses, they are pretty massive fellas for 10mm. I could squeeze two of them onto my 40mm square bases. I went with a pale green-grey color and painted them in a similar style to the WA orcs with alot of the black undercoat showing.

I didn't invest alot of time in these figures even though they are very nice sculpts. My objective is to get this army painted quickly. As you can see above of the troll rears, highlights were minimal. 

Next up is a Saruman-like leader of the dark forces. There is no face under the hood. I have seen many wonderfully painted versions of this sculpt online. For me, I wanted him more like a wraith or spirit so I decided I would just prime black, dry brush with a blue-grey and apply diluted blue Contrast to the dark lord and his sword (which was painted a metallic silver). The horse was given a diluted wash of Contrast black/brown mix. 

A picture showing the size difference between the Copplestone trolls and the WA orcs. The trolls will make a very nice addition to the orc army.

The dark lord rallying some orc axemen. The two ranges are very compatible in my opinion.

The dark leader charging at the head of some orc wolf riders.

Overall, I am very pleased with this 10mm fantasy diversion. I will try to keep it relatively contained although I see myself fleshing put the undead and dwarves (which I have yet to paint). Next up, I will return to 10mm Spanish Civil War as I have some International Brigade primed and ready to paint.

Skull and Bones...

Using the holiday break and copious amounts of dry brushing and inking, I finished all of the Wargames Atlantic Boneblades, with the exception of the command stands. Nine total bases of sword and shield armed skellies. 

I like how they turned out and I'm glad I went with the mix of shield colors to give them some vibrancy. In my mind these guys would be grabbing whatever shield and sword they were buried with or whatever they found lying around the tombs. 

A few pictures from the rear and side. You can see these sculpts are a bit 2-dimensional...I'm not complaining. They paint up easy and you get over a hundred figures for less than $23. You can break up the 2-dimensional look but canting some of the strips slightly. I picked up some Copplestone Castings evil characters and trolls that will be added to the undead and orc armies.

 

I've included a photo so you can see a size comparison of the WA and Copplestone 10mm ranges (L-R: WA Orc, WA Boneblade, Copplestone Orc, WA Orc, Copplestone Troll). The troll is quite big but I suppose they are supposed to be....since they are trolls.

Next up, I plan to work on some 10mm Spanish Civil War...I have some International Brigade and CTV that need some attention.

Boneblades!

 As previously mentioned, I picked up a box of Wargames Atlantic's 10mm undead (which they call Boneblades). I would describe the box as a unit set as opposed to any army. Tere are three identical sprues in the box with sword and shield warriors. There are also 3 casualties and 3 command stands with a war banner. (One per sprue). You get about 108 skeleton warriors and I think 117 total figures. 

I painted up one of the sprues (sans command), it gave me enough warriors for 3 bases so the box should yield 9 bases of warriors. 

Here is the rear view of these sculpts. They are very quick to paint. I primed black on the sprue, dry brushed with off white and then clipped them from the sprue, cleaned cut marks up with an exacto blade and mounted to popsicle sticks. I hit them with another dry brush to get to the areas I could when they were in the sprue. After the shields got some diluted paint on the fronts and backs. The final bit was to paint the metal on shield rims, helmets and swords. 

The figures next received an Army Painter Strong Tone wash. Normally I ink after a gloss varnish to prevent the ink from staining the paint too much but I wanted these little bone fellas to have dingey, dirt stained look. 

Here is an aerial overview picture. You can see the sculpts are a bit two dimensional. I imagine this is a result of the strip printing method and also the fact they are scrawny skellies. This 2D is less present on the orcs and the dwarves. To make them less 2D linear, I broke up the ranks a bit. Overall, I'm pleased with these fellas. Over a hundred figures for about $22 USD. They paint up quick and paint up well. 

Painting them brought back memories of my mid to late teens. Having just jumped into the GW hobby, my older brother would drive me to gaming stores and also fund some of my purchases. One of those early acquisitions was the Undead Army box sets filled with scores of plastic skeleton warriors. While they were fiddly to assemble, they were pretty darn easy to paint.

With those memories all coming back, the experience of painting these sculpts more enjoyable. As I get older, I have learned to cherish these old moments in time and enjoy the making of new moments that I will cherish now and later. 

Mission Complete!

I never really thought I'd purchase, paint, own a 10mm Orc army. Then Wargames Atlantic comes along and released 10mm Orcs for their Fantasy Battles range. So now I own a full army....all from one box that cost less than $50!

I finished the 6 bases of Orc archers (front row behind the command bases) which effectively renders this project complete. The box provided enough figures for me to field: 6 bases of sword and shield, 3 bases of heavy axe, 3 bases of spear, 4 bases of wolf riders and 3 command stands. I still have a dozen or so loose figures that I didn't need (yet). I ordered Copplestone Castings 10mm fantasy evil characters which should be compatible in size, theme and style with the Wargames Atlantic sculpts. The plan is to include a wizard/shaman command base to the army. 

I should mention that I was in Huzzah Games the other day and saw that they now have the Wargames Atlantic dwarves and undead. Since I have a box of each on the way, I opted to buy another box of Boneblades so that I can field a proper army once Wargames Atlantic released their undead cavalry. 

I might fiddle around with the Boneblades now, I imagine they will paint up quick (essentially prime black, dry brush, pick out details like shields and weapons and ink).

I also plan to work on some 10mm International Brigade for the Spanish Civil War. Let's see how these next projects come along....

More Greenskins...

 I've decided that I will paint up this whole box of Wargames Atlantic 10mm orcs before I resume my other projects. With that being said, I finished 6 bases of swordsmen and 3 command stands. The box set has two types of swordsmen: heavily armored guys without shields and lightly armored guys with shields. I decided I didn't need two types of swordsmen so I just mixed them together and I think that gives a better visual. 

Here you can see the 6 bases of swordsmen (above).

Rear angle of the same swordsmen showing off some of the casualty figures WA includes on their sprues. You can also see the Pendraken dice trays I added to the Litko bases. The basing was done with sand. I painted it medium brown craft paint, inked with Army Painter Dark Tone and then dry brushed with Vallejo Cork Brown. The static grass is a mix of several brands and give a nice bright green look. 

Here's a picture of the three command stands. WA sprues each contain a 3 man command strip and a 2 man command strip. The 2 man strip has a drummer and you will need to glue his drum to his chest. It's a bit fiddly but it looks good. I added some of the individual orc armored swordsmen as commanders. There are a total of 6 command strips on the box, so some of these will go in my extras bin. 

Lastly we have an image of the completed army this far. Three bases of spearmen, 3 bases of heavy axemen, 6 bases of swordsmen, 4 bases of wolf riders and 3 command stands. All that remains to be painted are the archers (about 6 bases worth). Overall, I would say it's heck of a bargain to get an entire army for $45. They include casualties and 40x20mm bases as well. I'm tempted to pick up the Dwarf army to face off against the green skins. 

Wargames Atlantic Orcs

I've had my eye on the Wargames Atlantic Orcs since their release. I don't play too much fantasy battle th se days but I was enamored with their resemblance to the orcs 1978 cartoon Lord of the Rings.

I saw a few boxes of the Wargames Atlantic Orcs at my local hobby shop and decided to support my local business with a purchase. 

I saw a video tutorial from Jim Morris aka "Mogsymakes" where he tackles the same orcs for his Midgard armies. I liked the look and copied his approach. The sprues were cleaned in warm soapy water and rinsed in clean water. Upon drying, I primed them black on the sprues and then removed them from the sprues and attached to popsicles sticks. Painting was done with dabs of paint allowing the black undercoat to provide definition. 

Here are the wolf/warg riders in all their glory. For the army, I decided to go with a limited color palette of grey, red, ochre, brown and black (and green for the skin of course). I drybrushed the wolves and that was it for them, there are three different drybrush tones but I managed to place all the grey wolves in the middle of each base even though I was basing randomly.

Three bases of orc heavy axemen, there are about 12 total figures on each 40x40mm base. I think 12 figures works, it allows me to get 3 bases gives me some space in the back for a dice tray. 

Here we have three bases of spearmen. These fellas all have shields and I couldn't just paint them black and leave it at that. I tried my hand at painting the "Red Eye of Sauron" on the shields but didn't like how they turned out so I went with the "White Hand of Saruman". I think they turned out good enough for hastily painted 10mm figs. 

I didn't really have a fantasy mass battle ruleset in mind but these are based to be compliant with Chipco's Fantasy Rules! and Nic Wright's Fantastic Battles. I have experience with Nic's Irregular Wars ruleset which have similar mechanics as Fantastic Battles, so I knew that I'd be placing dice trays on the back of these bases. Below is an image showing off the rears of those Orcs as well as the dice trays. 

I still have the swordsmen and archers left to paint, which should give me about 6 bases each. I think the entire box set will give me about 18 bases of infantry, 4 bases of wolf riders and also some command stands. I will probably purchase some trolls from another manufacturer to complement the army. Overall, I'm pleased with the figures and how much you get for less than $50 USD. 

Badger Games Painting Contest

As previously mentioned, I entered the Badger Games painting competition where attendees of Adepticon voted for the winners. Badger requested participants not to post images of their entries but since Adepticon is over, I think it should be okay to post now (even tho results haven't been announced).

Without further ado, here is my entry:

Since the Space Gobbo had a retro feel, I wanted to paint him as such. I gave him a pink boom box stereo, denim pants and bandana with red star.

The back of the boom box has some retro stickers with the anarchy and NOFX stickers. Rules didn't permit modification of the base but you could decorate it. I added some mushrooms and a few spent shell casings made from plastic rod. I liked how the red armor came out, overall I was pretty pleased with the little green fella. 

I didn't get the results I wanted in the Pendraken painting competition (completely shut out from placing) and I don't expect to place in the Badger competition but I enjoyed painting the models. 

Turnip28

I first became aware of the Turnip28 world when I received the June, 2021 issue of Wargames Illustrated in the mail. As I flipped thru the pages I saw an article on Turnip 28 which centers around a post-Napoleonic apocalyptic world ravaged by war, pestilence and root plants. The muddy lands are dominated by root tubulars that mutate the people that consume them. It's a mish-mash of Napoleonic, medieval, mud and gnarly vegetation. 

Using various leftover sprues, I put together a few figures back in 2021 and then put the project back in storage. Recently I was in a bit of hobby rut where I was having issues painting my beloved 10mm so I dusted off the Turnip28 figures and bits and resumed my work. My figures have shrubbery protruding from their backs and various roots growing out of them as well. 

Here is a unit of "Brutes" armed with melee weapons. They are based off some plastic Crimean War Russians with Fireforge halberdier and 3D print sci-fi morion heads. This unit has dingy grey overcoats with pale mauve cuffs. 

There are three types of infantry: fodder (line), brutes (similar to grenadiers in that they are a bit more effective) and chaff (skirmishers). These different types of infantry can be armed either with missile weapons (bows, etc), gunpowder weapons or melee weapons. 

 

Here is a partial unit of Fodder with gunpowder weapons. They are a real hodgepodge of figure bits but they have a dirty wine and pale yellow colored palette as a unit. Fodder units have 12 figures so I need 4 more to complete them. Brutes have 6 figures and Chaff have 4 figures. There are also cavalry and artillery and  special units specific for different "cults". Not sure what kind of units I will add to my force but I know it will be fun and meandering. I will keep you posted as I progress...

RIP Bryan Ansell and Future Plans for Travel

As mentioned before, I really cut my teeth on the hobby with Games Workshop in the mid-90s with my good friend Rob. This was the times of Bryan Ansell, Jervis Johnson, Rick Priestley, the Perry twins and so many more. 

As the years passed, many of these notables came and went from GW and joined other wargaming ventures. I myself drifted away from the GW sphere of influence and found myself more of a historical gamer. Rob stayed more true to the GW worlds and I had a lingering nostalgia for the "Oldhammer". 

We have often talked about going to Wargames Foundry's Bring Out Your Lead event to immerse ourselves in the "retro" of GW and Citadel and to meet the people attached to those notable names of our past. Rob would always remind me that we needed to get it done because none of us were getting any younger. Unfortunately, schedule conflicts and diverted attentions seemed to prevent us from actually doing it. 

Rob messaged me in December to let me know of Bryan Ansell's passing. Some regret of not getting it done in the past haunted us. While schedule conflicts will prevent us from participating in the 2024 Bring Out Your Lead (should it occur), we hope to make it for 2025. Let's hope we don't lose any more of those notable names in the meantime. 

I have decided that I will be embarking on a visit to the United Kingdom in 2024 however. I reserved tickets for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August. I plan to visit other historic sites (I'd really like to see Culloden) and battlefields. I'm always up for a recommendation in the comments if anyone has ideas. 

As luck would have it, my scheduled show for the Tattoo is the same week as the Claymore wargames convention hosted by the South East Scotland Wargames Club. I'm incredibly excited by the stroke of random luck that will allow me to experience both events. To make it even better, two of my favorite English miniatures companies, Baccus 6mm and Pendraken 10mm, should be present at Claymore. I expect to make many purchases and hopefully meet some of those notable individuals from companies that I love. 

Frostgrave for a Friend

Years ago at one of the HMGS conventions, I participated in a game of Frostgrave with my friends Rob and Bill. We had a blast navigating the frozen confines of the fantasy city with our wizards and warbands. Rob and I purchased the rules and collected factions. We've played the occaisional game since but it never felt proper without Bill in the mix. Bill is more of a boardgamer (and a helluva poker player) and while he paints well, he's never really been big into the painting aspect of the hobby.

Last year I came up with the plan of using spare figures to cobble together a warband for Bill. I sneakily solicited color palette input from him then assembled the figures, purchased a wizard and apprentice (Reaper miniatures) and primed the figures. Then nearly a year of nothing. They fell to the back burner.

A few weeks ago, I was motivated to finish off the project. Finally got them complete and mailed them off to Bill as a surprise gift. You can see them below. I am looking forward to Historicon and that game of Frostgrave with my good friends Rob and Bill.

Though they no longer are mine, these figures will have alot of special meaning to me. I remember when my wife learned that these were a gift for Bill, she told me that I was a good person and good friend. She said this to me shortly before her passing and whenever I see them on the tabletop, I will remember her words.

 

Blitz Bowl Dwarves

 Here's something a little different...

I am normally a historical wargaming enthusiast but do venture into sci-fi and fantasy. My early gaming was mostly GW products in the early 90s. I always liked the idea of Blood Bowl but not enough to commit to the game, the teams were too big and the games were a little too involved for my taste.

Enter Blitz Bowl, which I just recently learned of...it is a bite size, quickplay variant of the game with much different concepts and mechanics. I went over to a local Barnes and Noble and picked up the box set then proceeded to order some additional teams online, thru my FLGS and some extras (decals, a troll, etc) via eBay.

The first team I tackled were the Dwarfs. I originally intended to use the teams as a way to practice my use of contrast paints. The plan was to paint them quick at wargamer standard and get them ready to play. I decided on a grey, green and gold color scheme (accented with red gems) and tried out the $100 worth of contrast paints I purchased. I decided I didn't like them for this project. 

Instead, I opted for a basic paint job spruced up with inks and washes and the very rare highlight. I added uniform numbers from some 2nd hand decals purchased off of eBay (Blitz Bowl teams don't come with decals).

Here's the Troll Slayer. It was my first miniature I painted for the team. Very basic stuff. I used GW Astro-Granite for the base effects. I also added tiny magnets to the bases and the footballs to aid in gameplay.

The entire 6 player team. Took me a little less than a week to paint and most of that was trying to figure out the approach to painting them. Next up are Humans and after that there are Chaos, Halflings, Skaven, Undead and did I mention Goblins with a troll.....