Exiles 3rd Birthday Giveaway!

The title more or less says it all. I would highly encourage everyone to check him out at his blog, its a great read and he is giving away some great prizes:

 http://exilespainting.blogspot.co.uk/

Congrats and Happy Blog Birthday!

The Bow Rake's Progress

I have recently made a shocking discovery. If I read about a particular period I am much more able to focus on projects in that period. This is particularly true for audiobooks so I can read and work at the same time. Want to paint some French knights? Listen to Barbara Tuchman's The Calamitous 14th Century. Want to paint some Vikings? Pop on Bernarld Cornwells Saxon series.  For my long running 28mm brig project I find Dewey Lambdin and Patrick O'Brien to be the ticket. I've made great progress after a long period of torpor and I am looking forward to finishing it off and starting the next ship in my planned series.

Sailing on the Arabian Sea 

This is the starter ship in a series of ships I am hoping to use in some Napoleonic naval skirmishing games. I've learned a tremendous amount from this prototype that will help me improve the next ship and hopefully produce something like a stage by stage.

We are run out on both sides! Either our captain is a genius or we are all going to die!

This brig is a converted merchantman so it dosent have a true gun deck. Although this collection of artillery does look rather formidable. I am still in two minds about adding shot garlands and artillery tools as if I clutter the deck up too much it will become difficult to move minis around on it. I will also add a midships hatch so the crew could theoretically access the holds.

The view from the forecastle

While I scratch-built the ship itself, I did go in for cannons, a ships wheel, an anchor and a figurehead.

Figurehead and wheel both from Redoubt Enterprises

 

So my brig is nearly ready to set sail. Final touches:

• Attach anchor
• Door to the great cabins
• Hatch to below decks
• Tighten sails
• Spanker boom and sail
• Taffrail lanterns

Hopefully this wont take too long to finish off!

Loki's 2nd Aniversary Give Away

I just discovered this blog by a link to this competition and I sorry I didnt stumble across it sooner!

I encourage anyone with an interest in wargaming (presumabley anyone who might ever discover this blog) to check it out!

http://napoleonicwargamingadventures.blogspot.co.uk

Mordhiem Henchmen

Another Mordheim Single

Having really enjoyed painting the first duelist I decided I would do another. This came in the same blister as the previous mini and while I really enjoy the pose I am not so crazy about the vest he is wearing. None the less I think I will promote him to command of my warband.

I like to have a narrative for anything I paint. I think this guy and the duelist were a proper pair of rakehells back in Altdorf before scandal forced them to flee the city and make a living with the sword. The next step is to dust of the old warband and get them all together!

A Duelist in Mordheim

There is something very refreshing about painting a single mini. It is so nice to get a single figure completely done in the space of a day or two rather than laboriously painting 30 musket barrels, then 30 musket stocks then 30 musket flints and so an and so forth of into infinity.

I got this particular mini last year sometime when I was thinking about building a Witch-hunter warband for Mordheim. I eventually dropped the idea but I recently found my original Reikland warband and thought I could add him in.

A young noble of the Empire

I am a huge fan of Mordheim although I have to say that I struggle to win games as humans. My primary opponent is Skaven and they are a truly terrifying opponent. My vision for this model is a young nobleman who gets in over his head in society and is forced to flee from the capital and make his living on the road. An enterprising young fellow might just make his way to the city of the damned.

In keeping with the Mordheim theme I improved cobble stones. Next time I think I will wear gloves when I do this as the finger prints are a little more pronounced than I might have hoped.

Greenstuff cobblestones

All in all I am very happy with this mini. Another beauty of single figures is they are good for painting morale, especially when your in a bit of a funk. I'm working on another project at the moment that I'm not 100 percent satisfied with and this was a breath of fresh air. Oh and the armored cup, you need to protect your junk when you duel...

Medieval Footman

My first venture into 40mm and Medievals. It isn't a period that has ever interested me much in terms of gaming but when I was a boy I had a near obsession with Robin Hood. I must have owed a dozen different collections of Robin Hood legends and my brother and I spent countless hours making bows out of local bamboo.




I was somewhat fortunate in that the Maine Historical Wargamers Association is holding their annual February games day in a week and one of the attendees is the producer of an excellent set of medieval rules called Day of Battle www.dayofbattle.com. In order to get enough figures together in 40mm he took the unusual step of offering a free figure to anyone who would paint them. Free is my kind of price at the moment so I saddled up for my first 40mm adventure...

I think this guy would definitely make a worthy Guy of Gisborne or one of the Sheriff's other goons.



I must banish the thought of doing a Robin Hood skirmish campaign in 40mm...