Some more fantasy adventurers

 These have all been made from the North Star Frostgrave Soldiers II box;

Above are three figures who could be a Fighter, A Wizard and a Ranger, although I did gave a D&D Sorcerer in mind when I assembled the figure with the spear and lantern.

Below are a Rogue/Thief, a Cleric or maybe another Fighter  and a Fighter or Barbarian.

Of course, these could be used for all manner of different rulesets, so they are quite versatile as to their roles. They could even fit into a Frostgrave warband quite happily.

The backdrop is a, by now standard John Hodgson one.

I am reasonably happy with these, but I think that the Cleric is possibly the one I like least. I'm not sure if I'll keep them. I might put them up for sale at the club's annual Tabletop Sale in May.

Another addition to my Roman auxilia

 I've had this guy around for a while but I only finished him yesterday.

He is a mounted vexillarius based upon the mounted centurion figure from the Victrix Roman generals set with a head and animal skin cloak from the Early Imperial  Auxilia set's command sprue and an army from the Early Imperial cavalry set. The SPQR vexilla transfer is from one of the LBMS Late Roman transfer sets. The backdrop is another Jon Hodgson one.

I think that he's come out OK and I'll probably use him in my planned Principate Roman auxiliary army for Midgard and other things too, maybe Infamy, Infamy if people I know start playing those rules again.

Back to the 18th century and a return to my imagi-nations

It is quite a long time since I painted any troops for Syldavia and Borduria, but I've been painting Grenadiers. First, two groups of grenadiers for the Freikorps Schtroumpf;

A couple of groups of grenadiers had been in my plans for a very long time, a decade in fact, but I'd not done anything about them until now. I'd always planned for them to have the white and blue Schtroumpf uniform colours, but with red facings. The figures are from Essex Miniatures and are actually Prussian Von Schony grenadiers. I've added in an officer, NCO and Drummer. The drummer in the front group is there for colour, but is treated as a man with a musket for Sharp Practice purposes.

Next are two groups of Syldavian grenadiers, once again from Essex Miniatures' SYW Austrian range;

As I already have one group of 8 grenadiers from the Istow Regiment, I decided to paint two groups from other regiments, so I could have a Combined Grenadier formation for Sharp Practice. The front group  with green facings is from the Lippzshutt regiment and the group behind with black facings is from the Motörkopf regiment. Again, I have added a couple of officers, a drummer, an NCO and an ensign with a standard, showing the famous Black Pelican of Syldavia.

These chaps will be getting their tabletop debuts at Winter Wonderlard VI at BIG in Bristol on SAturday 7th February.

Bob Weir - his Long Strange Trip is over.

This isn't a gaming post. It is to commemorate Bob Weir, founder member of the Grateful Dead, who has died, aged 78.

The Grateful Dead have been a constant fixture in my life for as long as I've been listening to music as a teenager. Now, all the original band members, apart from drummer Bill Kreutzmann have left us. All we have left is the remarkable body of music that they created over three decades of recording and touring.

Bobby was theoretically the rhythm guitarist and second main singer, but he was a very unorthodox rhythm player. He didn't just play the chords and keep things together. He went off and did all sorts of stuff behind the melody, riffing and weaving in and around what Phil and Jerry were doing. You couldn't imagine the Dead with no Bobby.

Apart from his work with the Dead, Bob made three solo records, notably the 1972 release, Ace, which was a Grateful Dead album in all but name. It contained music that would become regular pieces of the live GD set for the rest of the band's existence.

Here is the band in 1970, in a photo taken by Herb Greene for Billboard.

Ron McKernan, a.k.a. Pigpen (second left) was the first to go, in 1973, followed by Jerry Garcia (front) in 1995 and Phil Lesh (far right) in 2024. Various keyboards players have passed away between 1970 and today, They were Keith Godchaux, Brent Mydland and Vince Welnick, along with Dead songwriters Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow. plus vocalist Donna Godchaux, who died in November last year. Now Bobby (centre behind Jerry) is gone. The only people left alive in that picture are the Rhythm Devils Bill Kreutzmann (far left) and Mickey Hart (second right), the second drummer who joined the band in 1967. 

It is hard to explain what this actually means to me. The music has been so important in my life that it is something that is a part of me, but the Dead also represented something outside the music. They were a huge symbol of a way of being and doing that influenced millions of people, including me. The fact that they existed made the world a better place. That world seems to be disappearing before our eyes, and not just because we don't have Bob Weir and the rest of them any more. "The Music Never Stopped", as written by Bob Weir and John Perry Barlow for the Blues For Allah album kind of sums things up. The version in the link about is a live one, though.

So, Bob Weir (16/10/1947-10/01/2026) RIP.

More Gothic Horror......

 ... from Bad Squiddo. First up, The Count and Countess (with her little dog);

Two respected (OK, feared) members of the local community, The Count and Countess turn up at all the best parties and are always sophisticated and erudite company with magnetic and compelling personalities. People often find it hard to refuse them anything and no one has anything bad to say about them, nor about the three young ladies who often accompany them on their travels around the region. It is assumed that they have a private chapel in their castle, because no one has ever seen them in church. 

OK, witches often have a bad reputation, but this is mostly just gossip and bad publicity. You shouldn't believe everything you might read in nasty muck-raking books like the Malleus Maleficarum, after all that Heinrich Kramer was just a misogynistic old nuisance who couldn't get a girlfriend. Anyway, these two witches are most definitely not bad people. In fact, they are conscientious and public-spirited young women  who have dedicated themselves to the business of Pest Control across the Carpathians and beyond. If your town or village has a blood-sucking problem, just get the Bürgermeister to get in touch with Mr Rupert Giles, Miss Summers' agent and business manager. The Misses Summers and Rosenberg will soon sort out your problems. Trust me, the problem will disappear like magic in a puff of smoke.

First post of 2026 - odd happenings in the old graveyard

I've had these Gothic Horror figures from Bad Squiddo on the painting table for a while. First, three young women;

 Clearly, they have decided to take an evening stroll, but why on earth have they chosen the old ruined graveyard? Haven't they heard the rumours about this place?

Next, the kind of people who usually hang around the old graveyard at night;

Who are these women? There is something clearly abnormal happening here. Why do we only ever see them at night? Why is it that few of those who see them are ever heard of again, and those who do escape end up babbling insanely about "Vampire Acolytes" preying on the innocent and foolish.

The scatter items are things I've had for ages and the backdrop is by Jon Hodgson at Handiwork games.

I've two more Vampires and a couple of other figures to photograph and I'll post them soon.

Elves! But not the Santa's Little Helpers variety

There are twelve in total, all metal Oathmark 28mm ones. Scroll down to see them all.

Above are two heavily-armoured High Elf warriors, a herald and a fearsome fighter with a two-handed sword.

Below, we have a hero with a mighty two-handed mace and an Elven King with a two-handed sword, probably one of those legendary blades forged by Elven smiths at the Dawn of Time.

Next up, another mighty Even warrior and an Elf Cleric.

Next a wise and puissant Elven Mage and his trusty companion, an Elf Ranger

Below are two female Elven warriors, a herald and heroic swordswoman.

And finally, two more Elf Rangers, ever alert to evil beings who might threaten the Elven homelands.

The scenery is all 3D printed stuff and the backdrops are, as usual, from one of my Jon Hodgson backdrop books.