Wizards project - the final two wizards plus two group shots

Well, this is the end of the project, finishing of with a Bright Wizard and an Amber one. The members of the Bright Order deal in raw power, harnessing fire energy to bring down destruction upon their enemies. I've deliberately given my Bright wizard burning orange eyes, signifying the pent-up power he is barely keeping under control.

 

The final wizard is a Shaman of the Amber Order, a college whose members deal with the raw power of the Wild and understanding the ways of the many savage beasts and wild creatures that inhabit the natural world. Amber wizards live apart from other humans, drawing their powers from their innate understanding of every aspect of the wild world.

This is the only figure that I've added something to not included on the wizard sprues. I've taken an animal skin cloak from a Victrix Roman legionary sprue to emphasise this shaman's attachment to wild beasts. His owl is his constant companion.

So, finally, the nest two photos show the eight representatives of the Imperial Colleges of Magic assembled together. Overall, I am really pleased with how this project turned out in the end.

 

Wizards project - wizards five and six

Wizard's five and six represent two very different approaches to the Art of Magic in the Warhammer Fantasy world. First, an Amethyst Wizard, a practitioner of magic that deals with Death, the spirits of the Dead and the ability to deal Death upon the enemies of the Empire. 

Such magical powers are deadly and dangerous, bordering on such Dart Arts as necromancy and the raising of the dead for evil purposes.

The sixth wizard is the opposite of all that Darkness, being a White Wizard of the College of Light.

White or Light Wizards are healers, discoverers of truth and bearers of the holy light that banishes darkness and the denizens of the dark. Their skills can be used to exorcise the possessed and to combat the forces of Chaos.

Of the two figures, I think I did a better job with the Amethyst wizard, because at this magnification I can see all manner of things wrong with the face of the Light wizard, which is a shame because I really like his robes, staff and Orb of Light. Still, he looks OK to the naked eye, which is what really matters.

Wizards project - wizards three and four

Well, yesterday we had the first two Frostgrave Wizards painted as members of the Warhammer Empire Colleges of Magic and here are the next two.

First, a Celestial Wizard, a practitioner of the Magical Arts pertaining to the stars, the skies, the atmosphere and the weather.

I had to photograph this guy twice, the first time I noticed too many things wrong with him, but I'm reasonably happy with him now. He certainly passes the one metre rule. A couple of things I do like are his Orb, which I wanted to really stand out, so I drybrushed it in various blue shades and finally silver and his head, which, for once looks reasonable. I don't really "do" faces very well, but he manages to look both serene and determined. Once the whole figure was matt varnished, I went over the orb in gloss varnish to make it stand out. I#m also quite pleased with his simple two shade of blue robes. 

The second wizard represents the Gold Order, a college of alchemy, forging and transforming metals and scientific experimentation.

Once varnished, I went over his staff and cap badge with gloss varnish. Overall, I am reasonably happy with him, apart from the blue trim on his robes. At this magnification it looks messy, and I can also see tiny blemishes that don't show up to the naked eye.

So, that is four of the Eight Colleges. I'll post the rest tomorrow and Saturday and add in a couple of pictures of all eight together.

Wizards Project - here are the first two wizards

I've spent a fair amount of time on this project and have now completed wizards for each of the eight Colleges of Magic, which I have now photographed. Here are the first two. 

Firstly a Grey Wizard;

OK, he isn't that dissimilar to a well-known wanderer of Middle Earth, but I suspect that Gandalf might have been part of the inspiration for GW's original Warhammer Fantasy Grey Order, a College whose members practice deception, illusion, suggestion and other secretive and subtle magics.

The second wizard is a representative of the Jade Order, a wizard involved with the natural world;

I've chosen him because he and his Grey colleague are the only wizards I've made with swords in their hands. The others will all be doing more magical things. Also, according to Warhammer lore, wizards of both these Colleges tend to to avoid cities and wander around from place to place.

As an aside, looking at the Grey Wizard I can see that I need to touch up the metal head of his staff. With the second figure, up close I can also see things that stand out as obvious painting errors. Sadly, that is the risk you take when using a high definition lens with a macro facility and a DSLR with a 24 megapixel sensor - all the tiny mistakes are magnified. At least they aren't really that visible to the naked eye on a gaming table.
 

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.
 

An Outlaw band plus a Big Surprise (at the end of the post)

I've been working on these, on and off for the last couple of weeks. The figures are from the Oathmark Human Light Infantry box but I've used them to create a band of outlaws to use in Never Mind The Ruckus games.

First; two groups of bowmen;

Next, a group of men with spears and staves;

And next, two leaders and a mysterious Black Knight (don't Outlaw legends always have one of these?);

As I said above, these are all Oathmark figures, except the Black Knight who is from the Perry Men-at-arms on Foot plastic set.

I like the figures, even though they don't look particularly historically accurate. They definitely look like something from a film.

So, as legendary screen outlaws living in the woods, green has to dominate their wardrobe choices and therefore these are the Men of the Holly Wood (and they are all wearing tights too), in which case, the Black Knight has to be Sir Antony Courtois of Falworth (even though he isn't carrying his black shield.

I could easily use these guys as Rangers of the Dunedain too or for Rangers of Shadowdeep. There are plenty more of these in the box to be made up, so I have lots of options here. I think more Dunedain might be a small project, but probably not in green.

Now, for the Big Surprise;

Yes, it is the last Giant Spider from the Wargames Atlantic box set. I had thought I'd lost the head and thorax but I was tidying up all my computer and other cables and found it on the floor under my desk. I decided to paint this one in a completely different colour scheme, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Here is Big Spidey with an outlaw for scale;

All of the pictures feature a backdrop from one of my Handiwork Games Jon Hodgson backdrop books.

Copplestone Back of Beyond British infantry

Well, I've done the officers, so here are some rank and file for them to command. There are ten figures in total.

The group above are led by an NCO (with raised arm). The following two groups make up the rest of his section of riflemen.

As with the officers, I think that their KD tropical uniforms are slightly too green, but I don't think it matters that much. One thing that I think does matter is that they are wearing shorts, which I don't think were introduced with the tropical KD service dress until the mid-1930s, so these infantrymen might be a bit of an anachronism in the period immediately after the First World War and in the 1920s. Still, these are intended for all manner of games, some of which will involve Egyptian mummies that walk, unspeakable eldritch horrors and all manner of other weird things, so nit-picking over uniform details seems a bit pointless.

I bought a blister pack of Lewis gunners to add some firepower to this rifle section, hoping that I might get two gunners and two loaders/spare magazine carriers. Sadly, the set only comes as pictured, three gunners plus one loader. I enquired from North Star as to whether it might be possible to buy two loaders alone but apparently this isn't possible, which means I have one Lewis team and two extra gunners that I doubt I'll bother painting up, which is a shame. I'm not sure what I'll do with them.

Copplestone Back of Beyond British officers

Following on from the archaeologists, here are four British officers from the excellent Back of Beyond range, available from North Star. 

These four are (obviously) fine upstanding chaps, complete with stiff upper lips, an inherent sense of fair play and are from good schools and families with military backgrounds. All of them have survived the horrors of the Great War and now serve somewhere along the southern fringes of Central Asia or the Northwest Frontier.

Clearly, they must all be named, so left to right, we have; Maj. George Huntley-Palmer (on the staff of the Surveyor General of India), Capt. Hugh Andover-Fiste (twin brother of the notable archaeologist Giles Andover-Fiste), Capt. Oliver Marchmain and Lieut. Archibald "Archie" Walton.

My next post will cover some of the rank and file infantry I have planned.

I really like these chaps, but I'm not sure that the Vallejo khaki drill colour is really right for early- to mid-20th century British Army tropical uniforms. I think it is too green. Of course, we all know about the variations between uniforms from different manufacturers and the effects of weather and wear upon fabrics, so I'm not particularly bothered about this. They'll look fine on the table.

Copplestone Archaeologists

Ages ago, back in 2017, I painted the female archaeologists from Mark Copplestone's excellent Back of Beyond range. Now, much later, here are the male ones, available from North Star;

These guys are quite well tooled-up compared with their female counterparts and I see the two outer figures being more as adventurers and minders than actual academics. Still, all that firepower should come in handy when the inevitable nasties and horrors turn up.

Unlike the female ones, who I gave detailed biographies, I've only got as far as giving these chaps names.  From left to right they are; Giorgi Dolidze, a Georgian soldier of fortune, Giles Andover-Fiste, a member of the MCC and a gentleman amateur archaeologist, Doctor Petros Sarkisian, a famous Armenian archaeologist working at the Sorbonne and Hans Jansson, a Swedish explorer.

They seem a suitable bunch to pitch up almost anywhere looking for rare and arcane artefacts, scruples optional, no doubt.

Clearly, these are highly suitable for Pulp, Cthulhu Mythos, eldritch horror and other similar settings. They were huge fun to paint, because they are such nice figures. 

Another little diorama

 Strange lights had been seen in the ruins of the old abbey on the hill. A woman from the government and a group of armed ATS women went to investigate. German agents were suspected.

No one expected alien beings. The big questions now were "Why are they here?" and "Were they allies of the UK or Germany?"

The ATS group all all by Bad Squiddo and the aliens are Radon Zombies of the Ionosphere by Bob Murch, available via North Star.

This was a fun idea and I think it came out OK. 

The Ruins are from Renedra and the background is by Jon Hodgson.

The technical (ha!) details are the same as in previous posts of my dioramas, i.e. the camera was a Pentax K-70 DSLR and Pentax  DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL WR standard zoom lens, mounted on a tripod. The picture was shot using aperture priority with an aperture of f25 and an ISO 400 film speed. I used a JJC TM electronic remote shutter release to prevent any camera shake. I staged the picture in my lightbox, which has variable brightness LED lights.

The perils of adventuring in the Badlands

Here's another little diorama I shot using my Renedra ruins;

I think that all the minis here were from North Star, including the plastic Ghouls and Zombies who are part of the Frostgrave "Undead Encounters" set of originally Mantic figures. The Grey Wizard is a Copplestone figure, the Elf warrior an Oathmark one and the rest are all Frostgrave minis. The evil Necromancer is a resin cast that was the subject of a North Star painting competition a couple of years ago (I took part, but didn't win).

Clearly, the Necromancer is a powerful spellcaster, seeing as he is able to unleash his foul underlings in daylight. Let's hope that the mysterious Grey Wizard has a few useful spells up his voluminous sleeve.

The camera and other details are the same as in my previous diorama post, in case you are interested.

I shot a few more similar scenes that I'll post every now and again.
 

Here's a small diorama I've put together

I've been playing around with my lightbox, DSLR and tripod.

In this photo, a group of Pirates from Bad Squiddo and North Star run slap bang wallop into a mysterious masked figure and his Stone Troll. Intent on finding plunder in the old ruins on the hill above the bay, they didn't think that anything nasty might be lurking up there. Things may not turn out well for these intrepid, if impetuous adventurers.

The Stone Troll is actually a North Star Frostgrave Coal Man and the mysterious masked figure is Malcor from the Maze of Malcor Frostgrave collection, also from North Star.

The background for this shot is a scene from one of my Jon Hodgson books and a small scenic piece I recently made using Renedra plastic ruins on an A4 MDF base.;

I primarily made this to use in photos but it should also be useful as actual gaming scenery. The twisting plants growing around the ruins are model railway wire foliage branches. The grass, gravel and earth are from a variety of sources.

For those of you who are interested in such things, I took this picture with my Pentax K-70 DSLR and Pentax  DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL WR standard zoom lens. The picture was shot using aperture priority with an aperture of f25 and an ISO 400 film speed. I've recently bought a JJC TM electronic remote shutter release (cheaper than the Pentax model) which makes slow shutter speed photography a lot easier. I'm thinking about using my Sigma 50mm 1:2.8 DG Macro lens in future lightbox experiments.

A final five Bob Murch figures

Well, final until I get some more!

These are called "The Daughters Of The Empire" in the official Pulp catalogue and are, like the rest of the range available from North Star.

I like these five, they have plenty of variety and ought to suit a variety of different settings. They have a definite Back Of Beyond vibe. One problem with these excellent Bob Murch figures is, for me that I just like them so much that I buy them without actually having a plan for them. I expect that they will get used at some point, but knowing that I have them makes me happy.
 

More Bob Murch Pulp figures.

These five are the "Rugged Adventuresses" set.

This set is rather interesting, I think, because they definitely have a kind of Back Of Beyond/Indiana Jones female villains vibe going on. The figure on the front right is carrying what looks very much like a Degtyaryov DP-27 light machine gun, which came into service in the late-1920s, and the woman on the far left has a Mauser C96 pistol, and has a somewhat Eastern European look to her uniform. The pilot, rear centre looks pretty Germanic to me too and the other two figures could either be heroic or villainous.

All in all, another great set of figures from the excellent Bob Murch Pulp Adventures range, available in the UK from North Star.

Some Bob Murch Pulp figures

One of my aims for this year is to reduce the lead mountain. One specific target is to paint up as many of my backlog of Pulp figures as possible.

This group of five are called Count Casamir's Trans-Siberian Renegades and comprise Count Casamir, Blotsky his Chief of Secret Police, his wife the Countess, Misha the faithful bodyguard and Yolanda his daughter. 

They are incredibly full of character, a hallmark of the excellent work of Bob Murch. His figures are available from North Star in the UK and I recommend them to anyone who likes the Pulp genre.

I decided to go with a different colour palette to the one chosen by Bob Murch, because I like to give my toys my own interpretation. They were fun to paint, mainly because they are so well-sculpted and cast, but also because they just look so good. The one I found the trickiest was Misha, the sailor bodyguard. I tried my best with the hoops, but I'm not sure I've done him justice. Oveall, though, I think they have turned out rather nicely.

They clearly have lots of possibilities for gaming and I really hope they will get some action at some point.

These three groups complete my Spanish Guerrilla force

 Here are the remaining 18 figures, in three groups of six;

They are a mixture of Front Rank and North Star (from their Muskets and Tomahawks Napoleonic range). They look considerably less "military" that the first two groups, so they can represent civilians who have taken up arms and become guerrilleros rather than regulars who have joined the Little War against Napoleon.

So, I have now five skirmishing groups and four leaders to form a core force for Sharp Practice, but I intend to add in two groups of skirmishing 95th Rifles to create a bigger force of around 85pts. I'm thinking of it as being a deliberately "literary" force, based on the kind of units found in Bernard Cornwell's classic Peninsular War Sharpe books.

Keeping the Spanish theme going...........

Here is the start of my next Sharp Practice project; Napoleonic Spanish Guerrillas.

I have started with four leaders. From left to right they are from Bad Squiddo, North Star, Front Rank and Perry Miniatures. What I like here is the huge variety of different styles of the figures, giving me an opportunity to paint them all differently. The Perry figure on the right is an actual Spanish infantry officer, but the guerrilla bands included members from all over the place, including from the Spanish armies.

I now have to think of suitable names for each of them.

I am currently working on 30 guerrilla figures, which will give me five groups of six to fit in with Sharp Practice rules. The first two groups are nearly finished and they are also Perry Spanish fusilier figures, all wearing a mixture of uniforms and civilian clothing. The others three groups will be a mixture of North Star and Front Rank and have a far more non-military appearance. 

Spanish Unit For The Silver Bayonet

I haven't posted anything for over three weeks, but I have been busy, mostly working on Napoleonic Spanish types. First up, is my Spanish unit for The Silver Bayonet, a set of rules for Gothic Horror during the Napoleonic Wars. There are eight figures in total.

These four above are the more "regular" troops, an Artilleryman, an Officer, an Infantryman and a Sapper. Below are four "irregular" types, a Guerrilla, a Veteran Hunter, a Champion of the Faith and a Swordsman. All these eight labels have specific meanings within the rules.

The figures are from the official range of figures produced by North Star and I have to say that they are excellent sculpts with lots of character and nice details. I decided when painting them that I wasn't going to get too bothered over making them specific to any particular Spanish units of the period. After all, it is basically a fantasy game, although some of these could be used in historical Peninsular War games, probably as characters or specialists for Sharp Practice, although they are quite chunky and on the large size compared with Perry figures, for example.

Anyway, I now finally have a force to use for games of The Silver Bayonet. I'll have to find time to paint up the French and British sets at some point.

Twenty Planetary Defence Force troops for Xenos Rampant

These 20 figures are all based on the Stargrave Mercenaries plastic box. I split them into four fire teams;

The first two fire teams will make one Increased Size squad and the next two will be another one.

Although I've given these a standard colour scheme, because they are supposed to be regular troops, you can see that they aren't all identically equipped. They have a variety of helmet types and also different styles of body armour. I think that this gives the impression of a kind of second division force, equipped as Heavy Infantry, but lacking the most up to date equipment.

I think that for Xenos Rampant I will use these as squads of 10 troopers but not give them refinements like Heavy Weapons or Armour Piercing ammunition. Therefore, they will be tough troops but lacking the punch of their better equipped equivalents in the front line units that can be deployed anywhere a threat emerges.

I am now getting quite close to finishing off all the plastic Stargrave figures I've stuck together, but I still have the Crew I and Crew II sets to work on at some point in the future. These are definitely not military types but will still be useful as some of the lesser troop classes in the Xenos Rampant rules.

Twenty Heavy Infantry for Xenos Rampant

I think that Heavy Infantry are an essential for most games of Xenos Rampant, especially if you are the kind of player who likes to stand back and shoot. I have finished two squads and each 10-man squad can be split into two 5-man fire teams;

The top two fire teams represent an Increased Size squad with Heavy Weapons and the lower two fire teams are an Increased Size squad who could be given Armour Piercing ammunition or some other useful characteristic. Each fire team (apart from the first) is led by a junior leader, marked by a yellow shoulder tab and the first team has a senior leader with two tabs. He's the guy with a pistol, talking on the communicator.

The first squad has one team with rocket launchers and a second team with one rocket launcher, three assault rifles and a junior leader with a flamer.

In the second squad, each fire team has two men with assault rifles, one with an LMG, one with a sniper rifle and a leader with a machine pistol-type weapon. 

To be honest though, the weapons are all assumed to do the same thing in the rules, it just appeals to me to make them look like they have different roles. 

They represent the kind of regular troops who make up the military of a typical planetary garrison, the marines of an attack ship or the dropship forces of the army of a Republic (Old or otherwise) or an Empire (maybe Evil, maybe not). They could also be the kind of grunts who are sent off to take on wave after wave of killer bugs, maybe even triumphing against all the odds.

My next figures will be various kinds of lighter-equipped squads, some looking more formal than others.

I've also finally got round to priming my spiders.