A Veritable Cornucopia of Nonsense.....

It has been a frenetic week at work my friends, compounded by an impending week's leave (hurray!) which meant attempting to second-guess anything that might occur whilst I'm off and pre-empt it. Sigh.

Nonetheless I managed to get some work done on some Reaper Bones figures. Now I'm used to the plastic-type material I am enjoying painting these, plus they are uber-cheap.  I suspect those die-hard fantasy figure painters online who spend countless hours on an individual figure, creating a superb work of art, prefer their metal counterparts. To their Michelangelo, I am merely a jobbing painter and decorator as it were, but it keeps me happy, especially if I can turn out a useful item for the collection! When I used to GM on a regular basis I wouldn't want to put a figure on the table that I'd spent three days painting (it might get damaged!) - an item that represented (reasonably well) what the players were facing was more than adequate, and I've stuck to that as my painting maxim ever since. I could, with a lot of effort,  turn out something that made the onlooker go 'Wow', but why would I want to?!

Hasslefree

 

Reaper Bones

 

 

I also received a little order from Battlezone Miniatures this week, just a few figures I liked the look of and fancied painting - I think they are old Grenadier sculpts, but don't quote me. They are very reasonably priced and should be fun to paint up.

 

 

 

 

The Current Wife came up trumps this week with a charity shop purchase designed to gladden my heart - a rectangular ceramic palette to match my chrysanthemum one (who can say 'Chrysanthemum' without thinking of Monty Python?).

 

 

 



I have a number of plastic ones from various sources but they are invariably throwaway items, whilst the ceramic ones always scrub up like new, so are much more environmentally-friendly (if that's your thing).

 

 

 

But wait, what is that sneaking onto the paint table? It looks like....no, it can't be, not another new project??!!

 

Peter Pig English Civil War (of which more later)....

 

And finally.... Some of you may have noticed that my painting music (right) generally changes on a weekly basis. Whilst I don't listen to it exclusively it is usually the one album that is played repeatedly that week. The current one is XII from Barclay James Harvest, an excellent sub-prog band from my younger days. I was fortunate enough to see them live, and very good they were too. If you want to hear the genius of just one of their members (the late lamented Woolly Wolstenholme) then try this from YouTube: Galadriel

 

Best listened to after a couple of hefty merlots, this is the musical equivalent of an angel licking your soul....

And yes, I was extremely careful about the spelling of that last sentence!

I can't think of a nicer way to celebrate my 60th post.

 

 

 

Until next time.......

 

 



 

PTS, Therapy and Bargains

It's Paint Table Saturday and normally by now I would have squeezed in a Sunday or mid-week post for those of you with nothing better to do but read this nonsense (no offence...). However, the first full week back to work has been ridiculously busy, and somewhat intense in nature. Nevertheless I managed to carry on with some more dungeon scenery from the collection of unpainted stuff in the Shed of Delights. After a tough day at work I find these little items extremely therapeutic - I can make up colour schemes, even invent little tales around each piece as I paint them. No pressure to get the uniform correct or churn out masses of troops, so they have proved ideal for my current circumstances - I may never use them, but I have enjoyed painting them, and they've helped me switch off.

 

 

Once again most of the items are from Scotia Grendel. I also found time to knock up a dungeon adventurer or possibly a dungeon hireling from a Fireforge plastic Foot Sergeant:

 

 

 

 

 



I shall have to improve his base at some point - perhaps one of those fancy cast-resin items with sculpted flagstones. 

I also picked up some great bargains in North Star's January Sale, although I fear these are now sold out. £4.90 per pack of 8 figures - now that's a bargain!

 

 

 

These are all Crusader Miniatures - I love their chunky no-nonsense look. Despite the Christmas rush, and North Star being extremely busy I had these within days - Excellent work Nick. I haven't always been a fan of North Star's customer service - they botched up the first three orders I ever made to them! Now, however the service is always good, and they do a huge range of great figures. They are also now importing Bob Murch's delightful Pulp figures. Whilst they (and Pulp gaming in general) is a temptation, I shall try and abstain. I just wish they'd been around when I used to run my Call of Cthulhu games - they would have been fantastic on the tabletop!

 

Anyway, January continues apace. I am very much looking forward to participating in Roy Williamson's Play-by-Blog western gunfight: I am The Ysabel Kid, and I am one mean 'ornery SOB!

 

 



 

 

Until next time............................

 

 



Paint Table Saturday - The First of 2015

Not much to report due to the festivities. I will not be predicting what I'm up to this year in terms of wargaming and painting plans as I am too fickle to stick to anything for long! I am going to try and not be influenced by the dual anniversaries of Agincourt and Waterloo, as I need a new project like I need a hole in the cliché, so I will just go with the flow I think.

And as if to prove it, I've been randomly painting some dungeon scenery just for the fun of it:

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Possibly.

Until next time..........

Fantasy Tavern: Open for business!

So here's The Serpent's Gain finally open for business, ready for customers - adventurers, city guard, rumour-mongers, patrons and ne'er-do-wells:

 

 

and again: 

 

 

 

 And finally - the hard-working staff:

 

 

 

 

 

 



I'm not convinced that the strumpet is actually employed by the inn, but I don't pay the wages so she can stay. Who is she beckoning do you think? Legatus probably, clutching a chilled tankard of pinot gris....

 

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed the black spot on the cleaner's apron (or pinny as my Nan used to call them). She will be sacked straight after the photo-shoot for such a slovenly turnout - that's the maid, not my Nan, who is no longer with us and thus cannot be sacked.

 

Now that's out of my system I can concentrate on some more painting. Until next time.....

 



The Fantasy Tavern - More Furniture

Meanwhile, down at the medieval equivalent of Ikea - At the business end of things, here is the finished bar area:

 

 

and the all-important ale:

Plus a little side-table:

 

 

That just leaves the remaining furniture and the staff.

Until next time......

Fantasy Tavern: The Serpent's Gain

I have completed the baseboard for the tavern. In retrospect I wish I'd gone for MDF or ply rather than foamcard, as it may get damaged easily, but hey, that's hindsight for you!

At any rate I have used the last of my flagstone flooring (from the old Standard Games Floorplans set - remember those?) so if I chose to improve it I would have to source some more of those or similar (GW for example).

I must own up here to stealing the tavern's name (The Serpent's Gain) from this wonderful website:
http://www.seekingsolis.co.uk  I hope the author doesn't mind too much, but I thought it wonderfully evocative.

So that's the 2D part of the project, what about furniture, etc. I hear you cry? I am basing the furniture on floorplan offcuts glued to thin ply so they can be moved about as necessary, thus:

 



and thus:

 

 

That's all for now, I will update some of the other completed parts later in the week.

Until next time......

Paint Table Saturday

I missed last week's PTS due to my first ever attack of the Kidney Stones of Doom, a curse best reserved for people who play with unpainted figures. As you would expect, it seriously curtailed my painting (basically they won't let you paint in hospital!), but I'm now playing catch-up......

Currently working on the furniture for my fantasy tavern, as you can see it's only just been started. I am also trying out the verdigris effect (the two braziers in the foreground) promised by Citadel's new technical paint Nihilakh Oxide. I'm usually a Vallejo/Game Colour man, so we'll see how this offering from the Evil Empire pans out.

(And that's a post for another time - what the hell happened to Games Workshop? I remember with great fondness the flexibility of the early rules and building my own 40K vehicles from empty deodorant sticks. The short answer will be 'Money' - it usually is....)

The baseboard for the tavern is complete so I'll try and put a few pictures up this weekend to illustrate how it will all go together. I have also found on YouTube a few samples of 'Fantasy Tavern Background Sound Effects and Music' - I kid you not - which do sort of bring things to life a bit. Whether I'd use them in an actual game is another matter. I do recall from my distant youth the use of music/sound effects with wargames - Callan comes to mind for some reason, so that's a good excuse to check out the original movie/series!

Until next time.......

All Hail the Ale......

I have completed the Reaper Bones bar staff I started last week and so started on the bar that will fill one corner of my RPG inn....



"What can I get you Sir - Ale, ale or ale?"

Quite obviously it's thin balsa on a blue-foam core, with barrels (slightly modified) from ebay, and once painted should be just the job for thirsty adventurers to lean on and discuss the latest rumours......

The Reaper figures were actually very easy to paint, and I'm looking forward to the next batch. These will also be fantasy figures - they are making a change from the usual military stuff as I don't have to adhere to correct uniform details and colours, and can use my imagination a bit!

Paint Table Saturday

My first ever Paint Table Saturday (Excellent idea Sofia!), and its already proved to be an incentive to paint more, so can only be a Good Thing!

Nothing earth-shattering to show though.....

I have started some Reaper Bones figures - here you can see a selection of civilians (for my Fantasy Inn, more of which later), two scorpions ready for some detailing, a purple (blue?!) worm, and a ghost undercoated in Vallejo pale sand. I love painting spirits, ghosts etc. A simple light basecoat and different ink washes and they look great, although I have yet to attempt one of the Bones plastic figures, so we'll see how that pans out....
I am trialling a new way of painting skin tones on the bar staff - seems to be working so far! My general comment on the range is that they are a bit tricky to clean up well, but take paint ok, and look promising.
Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted an Otherworld Miniatures statue/idol and a Warlord M24 Chaffee in the background, which have been undercoated, ready for some attention this week.