Gnolls, wraiths and ghosts.

I’ve finally finished a number of figures. These are mostly Splintered Light ones. I’ve got quite a few of them recently; I really like them and can really recommend Dave McBride as someone to shop from.

The first of these figures are some giant boars. They may be beasts in HoTT, possibly with a Dwarven army that is still taking shape. The figures look nice, but the bristles are not quite deeply enough incised to get the contrast that my use of washes and drybrushing needs.

Giant boars.

Another angle.

The next is a Hippogriff rider that I started around the time that I was painting Normans for SoBH. It never quite got finished. It’s an old Ral Partha figure. There’s also a pair of Chariot centaurs that I started at some stage and only got finished today.

A hippogriff rider and two centaurs.

Another angle.

Then there are three Khurasan Norman knights that were in the same boat. They will round out that Norman warband.

Mounted knights for SoBH.

Another angle.

From the rear.

And then the new stuff! I painted some Splintered Light Wraiths and Ghosts last month, but didn’t get around to flocking them. They were flocked today, along with the Gnolls that I have just finished. These were experiments in using washes and drybrushing on very light and dark colours. I went for a light blue for the ghosts and an very dark blue for the wraiths. I was pleased with those colours, though I’m less pleased with how the flesh of the wraiths came out.

Wraiths.

From the rear.

The HoTT wraiths are based as sneakers and the HoTT ghosts as lurkers. The SoBH figures will be joined by skeletons, zombies, ghouls and werewolves at some stage.

Ghosts.

From the rear.

Finally, the first of a number of SoBH warbands that are fantastic value from Splintered Light. These are their hyena men, or gnolls. I didn’t put a lot of effort into painting them, but went for a technique I’ve used for horses of undercoating half in black first. I was worried that the faces, manes and tails would look terrible, but once I added a wash and some dry brushing, they look acceptable. I went for very drab equipment — blank shields, plain kilts; they are supposed to look pretty primitive. They also have some hyenadons as support animals.

A Gnoll warband for SoBH.

The Hyenadons.

Gnoll spearmen.

Gnolls with handarms.

Gnoll archers.

No trouble spared on varying the colours!

War chieftain and shaman.

Shaman is carrying a head.

I have a ratmen warband that I’ve started, and which is a lot of fun; then in addition to the undead I mentioned, I have lizardmen and troglodytes. I’m keen to do a small warband of rangers using some of the Splintered Light Robin Hood series; I have the figures, it depends a bit on the order I paint them!

Warbands for SBH

• Ogres

I’ve prepped quite a few monster figures for SBH, but only these two ogres from Magister Militum’s Blood Dawn range (formerly Reaper, I think) are finished. I had a bit of trouble with wash on their faces.

By bending their arms I varied the poses of this figure.

Another angle.

• Magicians

Most of my magic users are based for SBH, though I have plenty more waiting for paint! The Tabletop figure is quite neat; it’s fairly big compared with my other figures, but comes with a backpack and frypan, as do the other figures from that range.

A Chariot elf, a Tabletop druid and two ERM wizards.

• Normans

I have quite a few Feudal European figures now for SBH. They have also been useful as test runs on an Essex Norman army for DBA.

Knights, all but the two on the right are Essex; the one with his foot on the rock is Two Dragons.

Norman archers and crossbowmen.

Spearmen.

• Halflings

I’ve done a few of the halflings from Chariot’s range. Again they are a good way to see how they will look when I paint more as auxiliaries for a HotT Dwarven army.

Halfling archers and swordsmen.

A comparison with some Chariot dwarves.

A comparison with two Essex Normans and a Chariot elf (ranger).

• Elves

Before I went to Australia I based up my elves for SBH. I added a magician and a sneaker to the band; here a few of them.

An Elven band with a friendly bear. To make a band of such high value character work the bear is made cheaper with the abilities of stubborn and protect (he’s the wizard’s companion).