Goblin Stronghold

The Goblin’s stronghold.

Years ago I started a stronghold for my HoTT Goblins. I made the base and chose the figures, but never got around to finishing it. This week I finally got it out and got it finished. It’s fairly macabre. Are the Goblins preparing a barbecue?

Another angle.

I have started to move my paints to dropper bottles, and it seems I’ve mixed the Goblin green thicker than I did in the past. These two are very dark, while the axe-wielding one is much lighter (I painted him years ago). The Goblins are Chariot figures, and the other figures are all Donningtons.

And another angle.

I hope to get some more HoTT figures painted soon; Heroes and Magic Users for my human armies to start with.

ERM Dwarves

• ERM Dwarves

ERM Dwarves — archers, a cleric, and two elements of blade.

I’ve done a number of posts on dwarves, but it’s been a long time since I’ve painted any. Finally, here are some of the East Riding Miniatures (ERM) dwarves that I got last year. As I said in the previous post, they actually scale quite nicely with some of the Splintered Light (SL) dwarves. As I found with other ERM figures, they don’t always look that promising in raw metal, but paint up very well. They are particularly good for using washes on.

The elements of blade, one is a command element.

Another angle.

From the rear.

Again.

These figures are from FT51, FT53, FT61 and FT62. On two of the shields I used a VVV transfer for hoplites of a boar’s head. It wasn’t very distinct. I think basic dark age patterns would be better. I will look to mix some of the figures I have from FT53 with my SL figures. I’ll do the same with the figures from FT61 and FT62 (as well as FT60), but only those that are armoured. I don’t see much use for unarmoured dwarves.

A SoBH cleric and some Shooters.

Another angle.

These are figures from FT52, FT56 and FT60. I like the cleric, and will probably use another of them in a HoTT Cleric element.

I’m not sure when I’ll get back to finishing a HoTT dwarf army; there are so many other projects at different stages, that it might be a while. Then again, it may jump to the head of the queue!

• Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

Years back, when I placed my first SL order, I found a pair of figures in it that I hadn’t ordered. I didn’t realize that these were a bonus if your order was large enough. The figures are in the Archer Collection. Anyway, when I based the skeletons and zombies I had two bases left and put their ‘Northern Warrior and Thief Companion’ on them. They proved quick to paint, and were finished along with the dwarves. They’re a clear reference to the Fritz Leiber series of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser that I spent a bit of time rereading last year. I’m sure they’ll find their way into some SoBH warband at some stage.

From the side.

• South Welsh Allies

Welsh Cavalry.

For DBA 3.0 the Northern Welsh army (III/19c) have the option of a South Welsh ally. As they would otherwise have ten 3Pk, this seems very necessary. For this ally they must have a 3Cv element as the leader of these allies. I started painting these figures quite a while ago and am pleased that this is one of the many projects I have begun that is now finished.

I can’t help but feel that two 3Cv in one Welsh army, though useful, is too many, but unless the South Welsh army came with the option of a foot general, those are the rules. I’m sure it will be used as part of any Dark Age Celtic HoTT army that may one day see the light of day.

Another angle.

From the rear.

These are Feudal Casting figures, originally Irish or Picts. I’ve given them Essex shields and shortened the spears of some. I’ve got a lot more experienced at this, as I remember the first element I did years ago was a real trial!

• Painting progress

Otherwise, I’ve got the four elements of 4Pk a little closer to completion; they’re very close actually, and the four elements of Norman 3Kn are also pretty close. I’ve also added some more paint to a number of Tabletop Fantasy adventurers that I got last year. They’re also not far off from being finished. It’ll be good to get some more old projects finished before starting on any new ones!

Dwarf quest

Last month I posted a comparison of 15mm dwarves. After that I spent some time researching figures, and decided to order some dwarves from Splintered Light. They proved to be the answer, being the right size to scale with my humans and even to mix with some of my other dwarves. Despite this, it’s taken me a while to post anything about them. Yesterday, I prepped them, so now I can post a few comparisons. Here’s a rogues gallery of all the manufacturers I have (thought the Peter Pig ones got forgotten):

Dwarves from left to right: Blood Dawn, Eureka, Copplestone (x2), Black Raven (x2), Grenadier (x2), Feudal casting (human), Essex (human), Splintered Light (x2), East Riding Miniatures (x2), Chariot (x3, 3rd = halfling).

All the figures to the left of the two humans are bigger than them, and I’ll be selling those figures soon. Those to the right are Splintered Light (SL), East Riding Miniatures (ERM) and Chariot. The SL figures vary a little in size from figure to figure. This allows them to scale with both the ERM and the Chariot figures. Here’s a selection of these three manufacturers:

From left to right: first six = SL, next six = ERM, last three = Chariot.

Most of the SL figures would mix well with the ERM ones, as shown here:

Scaling SL and ERM.

The one on the right is very small and wouldn’t mix well. However, it’s one of the best for scaling with the Chariot figures:

Scaling SL and Chariot.

I’m in the process of painting some of the ERM figures. These comparisons have reinvigorated my interest in getting them finished. If you compare some of these figures with the pictures on the manufacturers’ websites, you might notice that I’ve made the axes smaller; in particular, I’ve chopped off one head of the double-headed ones.

Well, that’s where I’m at with my dwarves. After a lot of searching I finally have the figures I want. These are the ‘Angry Viking’ style dwarves, not the Leonardo Da Vinci ones. I’m not sure what Peter Jackson thought he was doing with his in the last instalment of the travesty that has been misnamed The Hobbit. There is a clear description of Dain’s dwarves, one he ignored, but then he ignored most of the book anyway, and loaded the film with ludicrous kung fu special effects and silly story lines. But I’ll restrain myself from saying more.

Dwarves again

I’m still trying to get dwarves for my HotT armies. I have Chariot dwarves, and I like some of them, but as I said earlier, some are more suited to Snow White. One virtue of the Chariot dwarves is that they scale with my Chariot, Feudal Castings and Essex humans. I now have bought figures from Peter Pig, Copplestone, East Riding Miniatures (ERM) and Grenadier (Mirliton) to use; none of them are ideal. Partly it is that the Chariot figures have very short legs; the Peter Pig figures might mix, though they are somewhat renaissance in their dress, particularly with the puffy pants. The ERM figures are the right height, but too bulky to mix, whereas the superb looking Copplestone and Grenadier figures are bigger than the humans of my armies. This is a shame, as the Grenadier figures especially I’d really like to use. Here’s a picture to illustrate scale that might be useful.

From left to right: Copplestone, Chariot [human], Grenadier, Essex [human], ERM, Peter Pig, Chariot, Chariot [halfling]

So what will I do next? I think I’ll paint a few ERM figures and see how they look on their own (I’d hoped to mix them with the Chariot figures). I’ll also paint my Peter Pig catapult and see how they look. I may then buy a few Peter Pig figures to mix with the Chariot ones, though if I like how the ERM paint up, I may go with them; either way the ERM and Chariot figures wouldn’t work on the same base. Longer term I reckon I’ll be looking to sell the Copplestone and Grenadier figures.

 

Goblin battle carts and dinoriders II

I’ve finished the battle carts and dinoriders. I’ve also flocked four elements of Goblin hordes, so I’m whittling away at the stuff I’ve started to paint but not finished. I’ve also got a system established for keeping what I’m working on in boxes that I can access easily for short sessions. Until I have the space to give to a painting table this is a good solution.

Goblin hordes with goblins and hobgoblin overseers.

Here are the goblin hordes, not too significant, except that they represent the last of the elements needing to be rebased. Whew! An innovation I discovered while doing this is that I can use artist’s soft gel to bulk up the bases, and it works fairly well. It’s a lot less fuss than the Selleys No More Gaps that I’d been using. In the past I’d mixed the soft gel with paint and it’d not done much.

The figures are from the Chariot range.

The dinoriders seem to have a darker shade of skin. Did I use Snot Green? Or is it just less dilute than I used last time? I may add shields to them.

The goblins now have hard-charging cavalry, or HoTT Kn.

I may pick out the rivets on their helmets if I come back to them.

The battle carts are mainly to allow me to field ‘Classical Goblins’ in DBA, or Classical Indians with Goblins. I guess they could be classed as Kn in HoTT too.

Wolf-drawn goblin battle-carts.

I enjoyed putting these together, especially as I felt the figures that it came with didn’t look too good.

The other side. The driver is the figure amongst the horde above with a long spear.

From behind.

Now that these models are ready to use, I want to get some more Hd ready for the goblins; they’re a little underpowered in that department — you can’t call them goblins without masses of hordes!

Another angle.

Last week I put through an order for East Riding Miniatures dwarves. I’m looking forward to seeing them; fingers crossed that they mix in with my Chariot ones. Some of the Chariot ones have no armour; they look like something out of Snow White; they couldn’t even be used for Berserkers!

Next up may be the first HoTT stronghold, the goblin one.

Goblin battle carts and dinoriders

Back in April I started work on making my Mighty Morphing Goblins mightier. Way back in 2010 I had bought the figures to give them chariots and knights (of sorts) to use for HoTT or for representing armies in DBA that I don’t have, in particular Classical Indians as ‘Classical Goblins’.

In April I assembled the goblin battle-carts and dinoriders and started painting them. However, at that time I had too many projects on the go, and I ended up packing up all my figures and not painting anything.

I did take some pictures of them half-done, and in an effort to get going again, I’ll post them here.

Goblin battle carts from Magister Militum’s Chariot range.

The battle carts were provided by Magister Militum; however I’ve used different figures. Instead of an overseer with a whip. I’ve modified a weedy goblin with a long spear into the driver. I also used a hobgoblin with a spear or polearm as the crew instead of an archer. I removed the bases and had the driver sit, as he was already pretty much squatting.

Another angle.

I bent the yoke on the cart a lot to get it to sit flat.

From the rear.

I’m looking forward to finishing these as they have quite a lot of character. The dinoriders are made from the regular wolfrider figures mounted on dinosaurs of some sort.

Goblin dinoriders.

The flesh of the mounts is supposed to be a little gruesome; I’m hoping once I add a bit more colour it will work.

Another angle.

In terms of allowing the Goblins to morph into any army for DBA, the only thing they don’t really have is LH. I’ve used giant spiders, but they’re not ideal. I’ve also got a HoTT stronghold under way that I’ll come back to once these are done. It has quite a few corpses to decorate it!

I should get around soon to posting pictures of the rebased Norse Irish, Vikings and Scots Isles and Highlands armies that I finished back in April.

Dwarves

One of my recent purchases were some Copplstone Casting dwarves. They have proven too big to mix either with my 15mm humans (at least not as dwarves!) nor with my dwarves. I’m now in search of more dwarves to complement my Chariot ones. I like the Chariot dwarves, it’s just that some of them are wearing Noddy hats and belong with Snow White. I want mine with chainmail and helmets. I like the Grenadier dwarves that Mirliton sell, but I think they are too big (I researched this on TMP here).

I now think that I will try some of the East Riding Miniatures dwarves. I got some samples from ERM a few years back and they painted up really nicely.

ERM figures from the character pack FT40, a vampire, two wizards and a barbarian.

I painted these years ago when I first started painting again.

This post here has me fairly confident that the ERM dwarves are small enough to scale with the Chariot ones. Here are some pictures of 15mm dwarves I have bought.

Left to right: three Irregular (halfling and two dwarves), two Chariot, one Eureka and one Copplestone.

Left to right: Feudal Casting human, Copplestone dwarf, Tabletop human, Copplestone dwarf, Chariot dwarves.

The Copplestone figures are lovely, but too big to go with my ‘true 15mm’ humans and dwarves.

Ogres for HotT

I’ve finally got a new tripod for my camera, the camera I know how to use. I had to get the manual out to remind myself of how to use it, though. Here are some pictures of some lovely Splintered Light ogres that I’ve been wanting to paint for ages.

These chaps boast a really nice collection of clothes and equipment.

Another angle.

From behind.

I may use these with the Vikings when they appear in the Hesperian HotT campaign if it ever comes to fruition.

Dragons and other flyers

A menacing dragon.

With my dark age figures having been rebased, I’ve started to work on HoTT versions of these armies, or HoTT opponents of them.

A not so menacing dragon.

There are (or will be) fantasy versions of my Dark Age Celts, my Vikings and my Feudal Europeans. Currently, these are light on fantasy elements, but I will work on making them soon. You can see some progress to date on these armies on My Armies above.

Valkyrie allies of the fantasy Vikings.

Then there are the straight fantasy armies, Goblins (the only one ready for the table, though still without rebased hordes), Elves and Dwarves. The Elves and Dwarves have their allies ready, and I have the figures to paint, but they are not ready otherwise. You can see progress on these armies on their pages at My Armies above.

Centaur allies of the Dwarves.

On the Painting table

When I last wrote, I said the next project would be to paint seven 4Pk for my successor armies. Well, they’re over half done, but others have jumped the cue.

• Rebasing

The biggest project has been to rebase all my old armies. I had started this before I went to Adelaide, and a lot of my HoTT elements were all but done, just waiting for the flock. The impetus to restart this project was a desire to see how knights and spears compared under DBA 3.0. This got me redoing my first two armies, the Normans and Anglo-Danish. I also flocked the HoTT elements while I was at it.

Next, I rebased the Welsh, Irish and Vikings. This has taken quite a while, and is now almost completed. I’ve innovated by using No More Gaps to hide the bases. It adds more time to the job, but is worth it.

In the process of rebasing I got enthused with my Dark Age armies and the potential to use them for HoTT. I’ve now got the Scots Isles and Highland army complete again (it was demobbed for SBH figures. This started with the plan to create a Thegn general for the Prefeudal Scots so that they could have a 4Wb general with rear rank support and flanked by pike, something that’s likely to tear holes in most lines of foot. When I learned that the Scots Isles and Highland army is going to have a lot more choice in DBA 3.0, I decided to paint up the four elements of 4Bd I needed to get this back on the table. I’ve also painted a few more archers in mail to make their 3Bw more imposing. I also repainted the 5Hd.

So that’s some of what’s been jumping the cue for painting. I’ve also done a few HoTT elements, some Prefeudal Scots and Irish Lurkers — skirmishers on a 40×30 base along with a dog each. Finally I did a Cleric element — three medieval monks. Magicians and Heroes will follow.

• Song of Blades and Heroes

I’ve also been painting a few figures for SBH, actually quite a few. I’ve now finished thirty foot, and three mounted knights and a Hippogriff rider are close to being done. Most of these are Essex early medieval figures, dismounted Norman knights and Norman spearmen and archers. This adds some useful variety to my SBH range, but also is a way of getting started on painting some of these figures for an Essex Norman army. The rest are six halflings, two mailed Highland archers and a Druid from the Tabletop range. I’ve got more figures from Tabletop’s fantasy range. They’re a little larger than most of my figures and are very much ‘adventurers’, as they all have backpacks and other equipment. The wizards won’t quite look right in HoTT, but will be useful for SBH.

A halfling crossing the new bridge over the new stream with some of the assorted terrain additions doted around.

The other big activity for SBH is making terrain. I made a river (or a stream) using No More Gaps on a T-shirt. I rounded this out with a small bridge and then added a few tokens for treasure — chests, barrels, etc. I’ve done a tent and a small hut. And I’ve also made some hedges using Scotch Brite on iceblock sticks. The next stage for SBH is really dungeon tiles when I get a chance.

Another angle.

He hasn’t seen the two dragons, though!

Really just seeing if the timer makes a difference with the camera. I think it does.

 

 

• Plans

Those seven elements of pike should be finished next. Then I suspect I’ll be working on HoTT stuff: heroes, wizards, but also a dwarf and an elf army. More fantasy SBH figures may get done as well. I’ve started putting together a 3Cv for my Welsh; the North Welsh can have a South Welsh ally, who has to include the general element. I find this a bit odd — Welsh with two 3Cv seems too much. I might also work on the Normans, but I reckon the elves and dwarves will be more attractive.