Four Renedra plastic 28mm huts (scroll down to see them all)

I've had these kits lying around for a couple of years, maybe longer. I thought it was time to get them put together and painted.

First, a simple wooden hut;

Next a stone hut;

A wattle and daub one. I think that this might be my favourite;

And finally, a Norse hut on a larger base. I added a few Gamer's Grass tufts on this base.;

Behind every hut is a nice Jon Hodgson backdrop (books available from the Bad Squiddo website).

These are very simple kits, generally three roof pieces and four walls, the Norse one being a little bit more complicated. It also comes with various accessories like truckle beds, a fire and various pots. I haven't made the beds and pots up yet, though. I'll find a use for them, I expect.

I did have to fill in a few areas with green stuff, no doubt my faulty construction techniques. They are absolute simplicity to paint too. I think that they look pretty good. All I need to do now is get them onto a gaming table.

My next task is some Renedra fencing to assemble and paint.

Egyptian ruins, plus a fountain.

 First, the fountain;

This is another 3D print from Dungeon Scenes. The murky green water has been given a coat of acrylic gloss varnish. I allowed the green paint to go up the walls of the fountain, hoping to create the effect of algal growth. I think it looks OK. The 28mm guy is for scale only.

Next a number of resin pieces from The Square, who can be found at many trade shows. These are all based up for desert-based gaming;

Spot the 28mm guy, he's looking pretty small against these pieces.

These were easy enough to paint; base coat spray, dry-brushing in lighter colours, a wash here and there to bring out the details, a few bits of Gamers' Grass and lots of sandy ballast. Job done.

Hopefully these will get plenty of fantasy, pulp, VSF and eldritch horror use.

I'm going to have to get back to painting actual minis now. Sadly, the painting mojo is still hiding somewhere.

Five more Bloody Miniatures - Flashing Blades and more

First, the three Flashing Blades and then two figures who could be leaders;

These three are from a group of four who are described as The King's Men, but I think that they look great as the kind of men who will willingly solve their problems with the point of a sword. I chose a predominantly blue palette for them as a change from all the buff coats, armour and uniforms I've mostly been using so far. Swashes are definitely going to be buckled, or maybe buckles will be swashed? Who knows?

The next two are less flamboyant but equally businesslike;

The figure on the left could quite easily be another Flashing Blade, except he looks a lot less flashy and somewhat more unforgiving. He has a definite tough officer look about him. I've painted the inside of his hat with a dark metallic colour, so that his hat looks like it is lined with a "secret", a head-protecting iron cap.

The guy on the right is a mysterious and sinister character, a spy or intelligencer, someone without scruples and an unswerving loyalty to The Cause, whatever it might be.

Finally, I'm getting back to painting my Bloody Miniatures backlog

I am a huge fan of Bloody Miniatures small, but growing range of 17th century characters. I've already completed their first two sets of figures and now I am working on the third and fourth sets. Here are the first four;

As you can see these are four dismounted cuirassiers in their distinctive three-quarter armour. I think that these are terrific figures and I've painted them to be four troopers from a single regiment. I've given them "blackened" armour, because a) I like the look of it and b) it seems to have been a pretty common thing in the 17th century, supposedly to rustproof the steel plate. I chose blue sashes and red breeches because I think that the colours really help set off the armour nicely.

I've based them up with some Gamer's Grass tufts and my usual mix of grassy flock.

It is about a year since I last painted any of these lovely figures and it has been really enjoyable getting back to them. I've got another 28 to complete and them I will be up to date with all the ones I've bought. There is another set of 16 figures available on the Bloody Miniatures website. They are all Scots, lovely figures again, but I'm very worried about painting all that plaid! I will probably buy them, though. I'll just have to work on my painting technique. After that, there is another set in the pipeline which I really want to get my hands on. You can see them here.

If you suffer from arachnophobia ..................

 ........................ look away now! Lots and lots of spiders.

These are Wargames Atlantic's giant spiders with the sci fi add-ons of face visors, big guns and robotic legs (well, not all the legs). To give some idea of their size, they are based on 4cm circular MDF bases. I shall definitely be using these as Greater Xenomorphs for Xenos Rampant and they could also be used in lots of other settings.

In addition to the 12 giant spiders that are in the set, you also get 12 smaller spiders on the sprues. I've painted 10 of them to use as a Swarm in Xenos Rampant but they could obviously pop up anywhere.

I used some spare 3cm circular plastic bases which I didn't use when I made up 10 Space Marines recently. Waste not, want not, I say. These don't have any weapons, well apart from their teeth and poison stings.

I decided on a brown palette for all the spiders because I wanted them to look like an alien menace from a semi-arid environment. They were undercoated in Army Painter Leather Brown spray primer, drybrushed with Vallejo Orange Brown and then the little details were painted in. I gave the giant ones bronze weapons with green on the biological-looking parts, and I used red on the eyepieces of their face masks. The ones with visible eyes had them painted black, the same as on the smaller arachnids. Finally, they were given a wash of Winsor & Newton Peat Brown drawing ink.

All the tufts on the bases are from Gamer's Grass.

North Star Frostgrave Necromancer and Apprentice

Back in February, Nick Eyre at North Star announced a painting competition. The objective was to paint the new Frostgrave Necromancer figure. Of course, I had to give it a go. I bought the figure, who comes with a nice (well, nice if you exclude all the necromancy stuff) apprentice. They arrived, I prepped and undercoated them and then I caught Covid and didn't feel much like painting for a few weeks. Finally, I got back to painting and today I finally finished them and even got them varnished, because it stopped raining and the sun came out. Here are my finished efforts; Necromancer front and back, ditto for the apprentice and then both of them together.

He is a pretty dynamic figure and, being a resin cast is beautifully crisp. I decided to do a fairly simple base to portray a blasted heath with clumps of dead grass. The tufts are by Gamer's Grass. Overall, I think he looks OK.

Here is his evil sidekick. He clearly graduated from pulling the wings off of flies a few years ago.

Annoyingly, I noticed a stray piece of ballast on the strap of his bag after uploading the photo. It is gone now, but doesn't really matter because it is the main man who matters for the competition, which I am not expecting to win anyway. It is the taking part that matters.

I think they have come out reasonably well. Certainly good enough for gaming purposes, which is the reason I paint things in the first place.

Here they are together;

Some resin scenic pieces

 These are all 15mm scale and were bought from The Square, who is a regular at most shows.

The piece above is a large improvised firing position, with the figures placed for scale purposes. It is large enough for a whole infantry section, I think, depending on base sizes. Below are two smaller improvised fortifications.

Next are three piles of rocks or rubble, which are bound to come in useful.

Finally, a more formal fortification, this time a concrete casemate with an earth glacis. The 6-pdr gun fits in rather well, I think.

These were all pretty quick and easy to paint and texture with tufts, flock and ballast. I did all the pieces in a single afternoon. The tufts are all from Gamer's Grass, who are stocked by Bad Squiddo.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

 In the case of these three, it leads to grumpiness, random acts of malice and turning princes into frogs;

These are 28mm Bad Squiddo witches, clearly following the example of Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of The West with her green skin and gothic wardrobe choices.

I bought these because they are fun minis, rather than for any particular rules or armies, but I am sure that I'll find a use for them at some point.

They were pretty quick to paint, mainly because I undercoated them in black Halford's spray and then just worked on the details and dry-brushing. The tufts are Gamer's Grass ones, again from Bad Squiddo.

Bad Squiddo Women of WW2 - Women of the Home Front

 I've been powering through my next group of Bad Squiddo Home Front figures over the weekend. 

These women are clearly ready to repel any Nuns in Jackboots who might suddenly appear on the scene or round up any shot-down Luftwaffe aircrew. Pointy sharp things on sticks predominate but the two ladies at the back are ready to provide fire support (and a nice cup of tea) whenever called upon.

These were good fun to paint. I decided on mostly simple colours for their clothes, after all there is a war on! I see the woman in the centre as Mrs Hardy, the local school's Headmistress and the organiser of the women's volunteers, a local force to do whatever might be required in an emergency.

Peggy, on the left owns the local dress shop, Doris, with the rifle is the village GP's receptionist and Edna (with the revolver) and Mary are farmer's wives.

The volunteers are obviously going to work alongside the local Land Girls to keep the area safe.

I'll definitely be using these for some "What If?" Home Front Chain of Command games when things get back to normal, but they will be equally useful for things like VBCW, Pulp and Cthulhu Mythos-themed games.

Bad Squiddo Winter Soviet Kickstarter update

OK, so there is more news about the Kickstarter. It will now be happening on the 7th of April, for administrative reasons and will run for seven days.

Anyway, I have now finished the two sample figures Annie sent me.

We have an officer, with a pistol and a crumpled map, and a infantry figure with a PPSh sub-machine gun. 

Here is a rear view;

Lots of nice details on the two sculpts here, so plenty of scope for really going to town with textures and shading.

I decided to go for a nondescript grey greatcoat for the ordinary soldier and a better quality sheepskin-lined coat for the officer. The officer is also wearing a nice pair of leather gloves.

I didn't want to overdo the snow effects, so restricted it to a bit of frosty ground and frost on the dead grass around the feet of the two soldiers.

These were really nice to paint. Lovely crisp casts with plenty of detail and character to the minis.

I used Vallejo paints, Army Painter strong tone wash and Gamer's Grass tufts.

Here is the announcement for the Kickstarter;

The Shinobi Academy

When I was looking at my Bad Squiddo Onna-Bugeisha figures, I wanted a theme for some of the figures. It occurred to me that I could invent a Ninja (or Shinobi) training school, where young women could be schooled in all the disciplines and techniques of Ninjutsu.

Therefore, I decided to use the figures below as instructors and pupils at my fictional Shinobi Academy.

First, the Chief Instructor and two of her most experienced members of staff.

I decided that they would all wear a simple grey kimono with a pale blue obi, with the exception of the Chief Instructor who would be allowed to wear whatever she chooses, although I used the same blue as the obi of the other figures for her tunic to create a degree of unity.

Next, some students. First, the very youngest pupils, who are learning the basic skills and are not yet permitted to use actual weapons with sharp blades.

And finally a pair of senior students, who are trained to the level where they can be trusted to take part in a range of covert activities, generally, but not always under the supervision of those who have already graduated from the Academy.

Once again, the bases have been finished with the excellent tufts by Gamer's Grass, available from Bad Squiddo.

Ninjas!

 Bad Squiddo female Ninjas, to be precise.

I decided against a black colour scheme, and kept them pretty much to the way they look on Annie's website. I think that the grey colour scheme works pretty well, because, as anyone who drives at night knows, people wearing grey can look pretty invisible in low light, as well as in complete darkness.

Here they are from behind;

I like the poses of these two a lot, especially the one who is creeping forwards through the undergrowth waiting to strike as soon as her enemy comes into view.

Ninjas are also known as Shinobi in Japanese and, as we all know from live action films as well as from from anime, shinobi were deployed as assassins and spies. Their heyday was in the Sengoku period between 1467 and the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1615. Most of what we know about them comes from folklore and popular fiction

They are lovely crisp casts, as one always expects from Bad Squiddo and paint up really nicely. The bases are finished off with Gamer's Grass Tufts, also available from Bad Squiddo.

These will be great for all manner of different game systems, I think.

Some more finished minis!

Two more figures painted. This time from the Copplestone Future Wars range. 

These are listed as Power-armour troopers but I see them as armoured combat droids for my ROTOR rules. They could, of course be suitable for any science fiction rules you might have. These guys are pretty big, around 4cm tall and have heavy weapons and powered fists, so a tough nut to crack.

My idea for these, apart from having one as a heavy hitter in a ROTOR Reiver team is that they have been hanging around for a long time, maybe as heavy security for an industrial complex or perhaps a scientific or mining location. Therefore, I wanted them to look a bit battered and battle-worn. So, lots of small areas of raw metal and a bit of rust around the lower legs. I also wanted them to look like decommissioned military droids so I painted on a ghosted dark green area where military insignia had been in the past.

You can see the rusty areas quite nicely on the rear view of the two droids above. When I painted them, my aim was to bring out as much contrast as possible, so plenty of dry-brushing and darkening the recessed parts of the figures.

To do this, I used some Army Painter Strong Tone (the stuff in the dropper bottles, not the tinned version) painted all over the models after an initial priming coat of PSC US Olive Drab spray before adding in the bare metal areas and the layers of dry-brushing with Vallejo Olive Green, Desert Yellow and finally Iraqi Sand, finishing off by adding on the rust glazing, using AK Light Rust Wash.

Finally, I finished the bases off with Gamer's Grass (available on the Bad Squiddo website) dry vegetation tufts and a mix of sandy and rocky ballast.

I am really very pleased with how these have turned out.

Six more mounted Shieldmaidens

 This time unarmoured ones.

These are also Bad Squiddo minis, and they will be joining their armoured sisters as the cavalry arm of my Shieldmaiden army.

As I have said before, I'll be using these for troops in a number of different rulesets, particularly Saga Age of Magic, Lion and Dragon Rampant, and probably for other things that I haven't even thought of yet. I am very keen on having figures that can serve multiple purposes.

These were finished a few days ago, but I was waiting for the weather to become less wet to avoid fogged varnish. As you can see, they have come out fine.

The tufts on the bases are, once again by Gamer's Grass, available from Bad Squiddo.

Mounted Shieldmaiden Hearthguards

Having finished my mounted Lagertha figure, I decided to press on and paint up the five Bad Squiddo mounted armoured Shieldmaidens that I've had for a fair while as her Hearthguard.

Firstly, here are the five riders alone;

And here they are led by their chieftain;

These are clearly going to be useful for all manner of games, particularly Saga Age of Magic (I will probably use them as a Horde), Lion Rampant and, especially Dragon Rampant, where I think a Shieldmaiden army would be a more acceptable option to put on the table than in the historical version of the rules. 

The tufts on the bases are all Gamer's Grass, also available from Bad Squiddo.

I now have six unarmoured mounted Shieldmaidens to paint, to bulk out Lagertha's cavalry forces.

Hopefully, the end of wargaming painter's block

 Well, I finally finished off the last of my Roman auxiliary cavalry. There are seven figures in total.

Two groups of equites.

And to lead them, a second decurio.

To distinguish these riders from the other two groups, who have red or blue neckerchiefs, I have given these green ones. I have also used one of the heads on the sprue which is supposed to be for praetorian cavalry for the decurio, and why shouldn't I? I am sure that there was plenty of variation amongst the different cohorts and we know that there wasn't really as much standardisation as Hollywood, and many wargamers too, would have us believe.

Once again, these are all Victrix plastics, on Warbases oval bases and movement trays and the excellent tufts are from Gamer's Grass, which is stocked by Bad Squiddo Games.

I still have a few auxilia bodies left, and I'll probably use some to make up another deployment/ambush point, but I really need a break from Romans for the moment. I might do some recreational 15mm figures for a change. I have some 18th century impact cavalry to do for Syldavia and Borduria, or I might finally start doing something about my essentially pointless Volkssturm project for Germany in  late 1944 and 1945. At best, they will be a minor irritation to any British, American or, more likely Soviet opponents.

The Last Amazon .....

... which sounds like it ought to be the title of a novel, but it isn't.

She is the Queen of my Bad Squiddo Amazons, and obviously her name is Hippolyta. In Greek mythology, Hippolyta was the daughter of the god Ares and Otrera. Otrera was the creator and first Queen of the Amazons. 

Below is a side view of her. The name Hippolyta can be translated as something like "She who let loose the horses". Her girdle (actually a kind of belt and not an undergarment) was the subject of the Ninth Labour of Heracles. In that legend, she was slain by Heracles. Miraculously, perhaps, she also pops up in the legends of Theseus of Athens, where she becomes his wife, leading to the Attic War, when her sister and successor as Queen, Penthesilea led the Amazons to attack Athens, and Hippolyta is killed in battle. Other variations of this story also exist. In some of those other versions different daughters of Ares and Otrera are named as the Amazon who ran off with Theseus.

Mary Renault tells her own version of Theseus and Hippolyta in her novel "The Bull From The Sea". It is a book I fell in love with as a teenager.

Here she is again from the other side. I really like her bronze arm armour and armoured glove. She clearly couldn't use a two-handed axe with a shield, but she would still need protection in battle, so this armour seems appropriate.

I have used the same violet/lavender colour for her cloak, which you can see below. This view shows the one thing that I think I've done wrong with this figure, and that is miss the unsightly blob of ink on the lower part of her cloak. I only noticed it after the varnish had dried, which is a pain. I may have to go back and do some remedial work to minimise it.

Four more Bad Squiddo Amazons

This is my penultimate Amazon post. Scroll down to see all four.

Above are an archer and a warrior. Below are two more warriors.

I have tried to stick to a relatively limited colour palette throughout, but a few splashes of red and pale blue seem to lift the appearance of the group as a whole. They have been a fun project, but it isn't quite finished, though. I still have to finish painting the Goddess Athena and I have a few minis left that I want to turn into a vignette, but that will have to wait. Hopefully, I'll  get Athena done this weekend, bar varnishing, because of the humidity.

So, this is the complete Band of Sisters. The final post will be their Queen, who obviously has to be called Hippolyta. I'll probably include a group shot in that post, too.

A couple more Bad Squiddo Amazons

I finished off all the rest of my Bad Squiddo Amazons yesterday, but I've decided to make separate posts for them. To be honest, there wasn't a great deal left to do, just the tufts and then varnishing, but I don't want to just bung them all into one single post, because they all deserve their own moment of glory.

Here we have a musician and a warrior at rest. You'll note that for these two, I have stuck closely to the colour palette I used a month or so ago for the standard bearer. I think that the violet works well for their tunics and the turquoise tail on the musician's helmet is a definite Baggy colour.

Once again, these are lovely clean casts and they painted up really easily. The bases are adorned with more excellent Gamer's Grass tufts, available on the Bad Squiddo website.