The last two infantry units for my Midgard Warhammer Empire army

Finally! These are the last two units for my army. First up; a unit of Handgunners; 

I went back to a basic yellow and black colour scheme for these and gave them some kind of NCO whose job is to control the volley firing and reloading drills.

Next are my only other infantry missile troops, some Crossbowmen;

I've used a blue and yellow palette for these because I see them as being Tilean mercenary crossbowmen. 

The backdrop is another Jon Hodgson one.

The Foot contingent of my army is now complete; two groups of Ogres and eight of human footsoldiers, plus various leaders. 

I have assembled twelve armoured cavalry over the last few days, six heavy armoured Lancers to represent Imperial Knights and six armoured Pistoleers. I've got to finish off their horses, because a lot of the horse tack for these Wargames Atlantic Renaissance Heavy Cavalry comes as extra pieces to glue onto the horses. I'll hopefully be able to undercoat them, but I'm not planning on painting them until after my holiday.

A Big Dragon

 This is from Dungeons and Lasers. I bought the kit ages ago from Annie at Bad Squiddo.

It's taken me a long time to paint this because I didn't want to mess it up. The kit is called Durkar the Sovereign Serpent. It isn't a difficult kit to assemble but you do have to take care that all the parts fit together. I ended up using some liquid Green Stuff to cover a couple of the joints. It's wingspan is 23cm and it stands 12cm tall.

I undercoated it initially in Army Painter Brainmatter Beige and then did another spray from behind/above in AP Greenskin. After that, it was all about softening the rather raw green primer with Army Painter Warpaints Army Green and then washes of Citadel Mortarion Grime and Agrax Earthshade, followed by a lot of drybrushing with progressively lighter shades of green and a couple of stone and bone shades on the underside of the wings and body. The mouth was done with Army Painter Barbarian Flesh and a wash of diluted red paint.

The base has a moulded dungeon floor with piles of coins and treasure. I glued it onto a larger MDF base for added stability and built up the edge with aquarium crushed shell ballast and lots of PVA glue. Then I painted it to bring out the treasure etc, washed it in Peat Brown drawing ink and added flock and Gamer's Grass tufts.

I'm pretty happy with the way the dragon has turned out. A bit of a scary project at first, but after a lot of thinking and planning, it has become a pretty good piece. The backdrop is from one of the excellent Jon Hodgson Handiwork Games books.

Not sure what I'll use it for, though.

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.

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.

Carpathian Fun and Games

Or maybe not. I've had some of these Bad Squiddo figures for ages. Scroll down to see them all.

 

These are a mixture of figures from the Bad Squiddo Fantasy range, but I decided that the six of them would make a rather nice fantasy Carpathian Vampire Hunting group. As we all know, young women make the very best vampire slayers, don't they? As you can see in the first two pictures, two of our valiant slayers are brandishing their personal Mr Pointy weapons and I'm sure the slayer with a crossbow is reaching for a long range Mr Pointy of her own.

I decided to give the group a colour palette that would tie them together and nothing much goes better than red and green.

Below is another Bad Squiddo figure that I've taken to calling Dave Dead while I've been painting him. I hope he's Grateful. OK, he is literally Death Incarnate, but whatever you do, don't ask him where his Sting is.

I'm rather pleased with all of these. Next, I'll finish off some vamps and victims.

A Bad Squiddo Sci Fi figure .......

 .... but I think she has a very Grimdark Imperial Guard officer vibe.

Definitely looks like she could be leading the charge against Chaos Heretics, marauding Orks from Outer Space or some other enemy of the fascistic Empire of Man. What do you think?

I can see that I made a mess of one of her eyes now, so some remedial brush work will be required. So it goes. She's a nice figure, though.

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot!

Here's another resin piece from (I think) Bad Squiddo;

He is some kind of Fire Elemental or Daemonic entity. Anyway, he's a hot guy. He is also a nice simple sculpt and cast, with lots of crisp detail which made painting him a doddle. 

As I say, I think he is from Bad Squiddo, although he isn't on the website. If he is a discontinued model that would explain it. Also, I think Annie sent him to me as a freebie in an order of other stuff. Nice mini, though, standing at around 5cm tall.

If he isn't Bad Squiddo, perhaps someone could tell me where he's actually from?
 

It's been a very long time ....... but I've got something finished!

I've not posted anything since mid-June, because I've been away on holiday and also because I had no urge to paint things. Still, I did pick up a brush again and I've finished off a nice command base for my 28mm Warhammer Fantasy-themed army for Midgard. Here it is;

Hopefully, people will remember that I posted the idea for this ages ago (it seems) and here are the results. He is very much based on the Elector Count of Averland, Marius Leitdorf and he will be my army commander and chief hero for my Averland-styled Midgard army, so it seemed a good idea to base him up with the army's battle standard. The standard bearer is a Wargames Atlantic renaissance armoured cavalryman mounted on a plastic Perry barded horse from the WotR mounted men-at-arms box.

I'm reasonably happy with the outcome, they definitely pass the  "one metre away" test, i.e. they'll look fine on the table.

I posed the figures in front of a Jon Hodgson Handiwork Games background.

Now, having got my painting mojo working, I really need to get on with some troops for Count Marius to lead.
 

I don't usually do WIP posts but here is one today

I'm working on a fantasy army for Midgard using Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors. 

This chap below will be its general.

He is kitbashed from a Perry War of the Roses horse and horse armour, a Wargames Atlantic Renaissance mounted body and arms and a Warlord Games Landsknecht head. Since taking this picture, I have cleaned up the blemishes from where things were attached to sprues and he's ready for undercoating.

The fantasy army in question will be based upon a Warhammer Empire Averland force, so I think that the inspiration for the general is fairly obvious. In case you aren't familiar with Warhammer Fantasy, the original is this guy below;

He is the Elector Count of Averland, Marius Leitdorf. My figure is going to keep the black armour and red and yellow sleeves and also the metallic blue horse armour, but I'm definitely not painting suns on it.

I'm hoping he will look pretty good once completed. I'll probably undercoat him later today.

I'm still painting up the first few groups of his infantry, but none are near completion yet.

Wargames Atlantic Ogres (all nine of them)

I've had a project in mind for a while, and these guys are the starting point. There are nine bodies in the box and I've used all of them. First, the Boss;

He's clearly the Boss, because he's got a nice tidy moustache and beard that almost keeps his fangs hidden. I bet he even uses moustache wax!

Next, two ogres with halberds, which they probably call Ver Big Choppas or suchlike.

Then, a couple of swordsmen with bucklers that would serve as a full-size shield for a human.

Another leader type, but not a Pwoper Boss and a guy with a dismounted cannon he's using as a "handgun".

Finally, another "handgunner" and an ogre with a Big Club and a dagger, which would probably be a two-handed sword for a standard human.

These are the start of my Midgard Fantasy army, which will be using Wargames Atlantic conquistadors (both foot and mounted) to make up an army based upon the old Warhammer Fantasy Empire province of Averland, hence the predominance of yellow and black in the colour palette I've used so far.

These ogres are huge, over 5cm tall and really bulky chaps too. I've got movement trays to turn them into two units of four figures, who would be led by their own Hero figure.

I've got all in foot figures for the army assembled and undercoated and I'll begin painting them fairly soon. I have Roman auxiliary archers to finish first.

Three mounted figures from Bloody Miniatures

I painted these a while ago but forgot to do a post. They have even featured in a game or two. First, a trumpeter.

Next, a standard bearer;

And finally, a commander;

As the title says, these are all from Bloody Miniatures and they are excellent sculpts and really nice clean casts too.

The standard needs improvement, it is just a simple thing but needs to be replaced with something better. I haven't found anything I like yet, though.

They featured as my brigade's command in a game of Never Mind The Matchlocks recently, leading three battalia of pike and shot.
 

More Scots from Bloody Miniatures

There are eight figures again, so scrolling down will be required. First some dismounted troopers and a figure I see as an Intelligencer (smoking his pipe);

I particularly like the figure in the long red Dutch-style coat. He's clearly a leader or maybe a Scottish cavalryman who's been away fighting for the Protestant cause in the Rhineland?. Anyway, He's a great sculpt.

Below are my other attempts at doing a plaid, two more dismounted troopers and a nice officer figure, together with someone who's brought something to drink with him. Looking at the photo, I think that I've made his neckerchief look a bit too clean and gleaming white. I don't think I'll repaint it, though. I'm quite happy with the plaids. They aren't perfect by any standard but they'll pass the one or two metres away test on the table.

I've only got four more finished foot figures to post, and I'll keep them for another time. I'm currently working on some mounted figures, a few are finished but most are still in the early stages of painting. 

After that, I've got more Horse to prime and paint, some mounted command figures and then some more Foot figures and a couple of small guns.

After that, I shall move on to something different.

 

The next eight of my latest Bloody Miniatures figures

 You'll have to scroll down to see all of them. First up, four Lowland Scottish musketeers;

I've stuck to the blue and red colour scheme for these, because I really like it and you'll see that I've attempted a plaid on the left-hard figure. I'm not sure that it is that successful, but it'll have to do.

Next are four more Lowland Scots, this time with a variety of nasty-looking polearms, the central two being, I think variants of the Lochaber axe.

Once again, red and blue dominates. This latter group is called The Border Staves on the Bloody Miniatures website. There are more Scots to follow later.

The backdrop is by Handiwork Games.
 

The next four figures from Bloody Miniatures

Here is the second group of four figures from Bloody Miniatures out of a total of 28 that I've recently completed.

These represent four experienced dismounted troopers, described as being Continental Mercenaries on the Bloody Miniatures website. I particularly like the somewhat dandyish figure on the left. He is clearly not a fop but a skilled and ruthless swordsman. The figure next to him is a dismounted cuirassier in half-armour, with short tassets rather than long cuisses, with his warhammer at the ready, maybe as a member of a storming party. The remaining two are the more commonly found harquebusiers, in a buff coat and a back- and breastplate, with the one on the right wearing a burgonet helmet.

I've given three of these the same dark blue and red uniforms I've been using elsewhere, because I like the combination, but also because when I get round to fielding a complete 17th century force, they will give it a core of uniformly-dressed troops. The lighter blue sashes are also part of this idea.
 

I've been painting more Bloody Miniatures figures

As anyone who follows this blog knows, I am a huge fan of the excellent 17th century figures from Bloody Miniatures. I've been working on 28 more figures, and I'm going to do separate posts of them in groups of four figures;

I really like this little group, which is called The Witchfinder General. As you can see, it contains the aforementioned Witchfinder, his Clerk, his unfortunate victim and a dismounted trooper to stop the poor girl from running away.

These have loads of character and were a joy to paint. Although they aren't necessary for any battlefield, I'm sure that there might be plenty of scenarios where a Witchfinder might have a role. 

The background is, yet again from one of Jon Hodgson's excellent books.

I'll post the next four in a day or two.
 

Some Fantasy Odds 'n' Ends

These are all from North Star for either Frostgrave or Ghost Archipelago. I'll probably find other uses for them, though.

First up, a pair of aged bronze statues, that I'm calling Guardians of The Gate. Here they are head-on;

And now sideways-on;

Now, a couple of Starfire Elementals, which I'm sure could be used in Sci Fi games as well as Fantasy ones;

Trying to get the cold blue fire effect wasn't easy, but I think it looks OK.

Next are a couple of pieces that I'm sure were for Ghost Archipelago, which I know I'll never play but are bound to come in handy. First a ruined stone head. I really like this resin piece a lot.
 

Finally, a giant terror bird - definitely the kind of turkey that isn't planning to become anyone's Christmas lunch;

It took me ages to get a colour scheme for this guy that I liked, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

I've used the same Jon Hodgson backdrop for all of these photos.
 

A very strange and unsettling graveyard

This is a project I started about 18 months ago, although I'd bought the various bits and pieces months before I started work on it. I finally completed it last week. Here is the overall piece, looking down from above;

 The model is around 40cm by 30cm, based on a sheet of MDF. The perimeter is made of Renedra railings and gate pieces and the pieces inside are all from Fenris Games with a couple of extra gravestones from Bad Squiddo. Below are some closer views of the graveyard, with Jon Hodgson backgrounds.

Now, this is clearly not your common or garden graveyard and who knows what kind of people, if people they are, might lie under the ground in such a place? Those gravestones seem to be slowly sinking into the ground and some of them a clearly very old indeed.

The various obelisks and columns hint at some very unusual religious practices and one really has to ask "Why is the water in the pool bubbling?". Of course, another relevant question might be "Who lies here and why are all the interments carried out at night under the baleful light of a gibbous moon?".

I'm really happy with how this piece has turned out. I think it is the perfect place to carry out some investigations into the practices of the locals and examine the sacred books kept under lock and key in the crypt of the local church.

17th century Pike and Shot (scroll down, lots to see)

Ages ago, fror Christmas 2022, I was given several packs of pikemen, musketeers and command groups from Bicorne Miniatures to augment my Bloody Miniatures figures and turn them into complete units. I finished off the musketeers back then but never finished the pikemen and leaders off. Basically, I got bored with painting 17th century stuff and set them aside. Finally I've got round to completing them. So, here are three blocks of pikemen and command figures. First, in green coats;

Next, in burgundy coats;

And finally in blue coats;

The flags are just simple generic ones, based upon banners used by anti-Imperialist troops in the Thirty Years' War. I cobbled them together on a spreadsheet and printed them off. I was happy with the green and yellow one, but the other two needed over-painting by hand to make them look different to one another. They aren't great, but they'll do for now. 

I had already painted musketeers in green and blue, but didn't have enough musketeers to complete the burgundy-coated unit, so I bought couple of extra packs from Bloody Miniatures (who now have a few nice unit builder packs), so here they are;

As you can see, I intend each of the three battalia to have a central block of pikes and officers etc on a 4 x 3 hole movement tray and two sleeves of six musketeers on a 3 x 2 tray.

I've taken pictures of each of these units, but sadly, they are two wide for my Jon Hodgson A4 backdrops book. Still, you get the general idea how they will look on the table.

I'm pretty happy with how these have turned out and I'm planning to use them for Never Mind The Matchlocks, which is a set of rules we have recently started playing at the club.

I have a few spare command types which is making me think about doing another pike and shot unit, but for the moment, I am switching my attention to mounted troops.

Anyway, here are the spare officers. Clearly, another set of bluecoats is in my future plans.