More Stones

Completing the stone circle I started recently, here are three more menhirs...

The fallen stone was a happy little accident. Though a tad unconvinced by the size of the thing (that's a 75mm base it's close to spanning), I figured it was better to have and not need than to not have and want - so I started prepping it alongside the smaller stone. Whether I was heavy handed or the print was a bit fragile (or some combination of the two), I managed to snap the stone off its little scenic base. The break was pretty clean, so I decided to make lemonade and sanded one face of the stone flat before gluing it to a base. The hollow stone itself I filled (at least partially) with filler, which also formed the base texture, being built up into a small mound at what used to be the stone's base (at left in the photo above).

Basecoats, various brown and green washes, a smidge of dry-brushing (all as the earlier stones) and a bit of static grass and tufts, and I called it a day.

While these standing (and reclining) stones are hardly a significant work of terrain-building, I have really rather enjoyed working on them and might have caught a bit of the terrain bug. Perhaps not so much in terms of planning my own building projects (yet!), but definitely in the value and impact of having some thematic terrain to accompany an army.

Speaking of which... work on the soldiers of the Old Faith continues - six more spearmen are under the brush right now, with six more in the distance. I had originally thought to focus on a different unit type for a break, but the models I had originally earmarked for that aren't really resonating for me at present... while the simple - but beautiful - Footsore Picts are just screaming "paint me!"...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Monolith! What's it called? Monolith!

Alongside the couple of druid-types I painted recently, I decided to produce some themed terrain for the Old Faith army. And what could be more appropriate than some menhirs or standing stones?

These are 3D prints that I found from a company called HeadBunny Games, and were offered in 15mm, 20mm, and 28mm. As my preference is for a slightly lower fantasy tone, I picked up both the 15mm and 20mm options - and I'm glad I did! Even at these smaller scales, the stones are really quite large - I think the 28mm ones would have been huge!

Painting was simple - a range of greys, and a few different brown and green washes. I did consider adding some lichen, similar to what I'd done on the tree-man, but opted for the green ink instead to keep the effect more subtle. I actually wish I'd gone harder on the green, as I think the effect is somewhat lost.

I've got another three based up and ready to get painted, so I should have a nice little stone circle by the time I've finished.

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Repurposed Sarumans... Sarumen?

So, work on the Old Faith army stalled a little after the initial burst of Christmas productivity - not because I've lost enthusiasm for the project (quite the opposite!), but because I wasn't particularly inspired by the models I'd planned on painting next. After a pause to take stock, I opted to work on some character models to keep things going while I figured out where I wanted to take the army.

Druid-types were a must for this force, and my aim is to eventually have a dedicated spellcasting unit of six. I found a couple of cheap Lord of the Rings Saruman models on eBay that were perfect for the look I wanted. A different paint-job would do most of the work in terms of moving away from the classic Christopher Lee vibes, but I also decided to replace the distinctive staffs with simple metal rods.

This first one is Saruman in his incarnation as Sharkey from the Scouring of the Shire. It's one of my favourite models from the entire range, but I'd never painted it before. The original staff was bent double, so replacing it was a necessity - drilling into the crook of the arm took a while, but the folds of the cloak and some green-stuff work tidied things up nicely.

Another Saruman - I think the original sculpt for the character. For both models, I opted for off-white robes beneath green cloaks, which I thought would be enough to step away from the original character depictions. Here, however, I kept the white beard and, in hindsight, I wish I'd made him a redhead or something to differentiate it further. I'm leaving it for now - I'll see if it annoys me enough to repaint!

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

More Pict Pike

Following on from the last batch of pike-wielding Picts, I finished off the rear-rankers for an eventual 12-man schiltron in full-size games of Dragon Rampant. More likely, I'll pair three of these and three of the front-rankers in each of two of the half-size units we typically field.

As with the previous lot, these are all from Footsore, with the drill-out hands that I love. That said, a lesson learned - drill out the hands before gluing to bases. The helmeted guy, who will nominally be a unit commander in the full block of 12, was intended to have an upright spear, but I just couldn't get an angle that would accommodate it. The more casual pose was permitted by repurposing what should have been a shield hand, and while it suits the character, it does make ranking him up a bit of a chore!

So, the forces of the Old Faith are coming along nicely.

I'm not sure what's next up. As noted in the previous blog, I don't fancy painting another dozen Picts right away, even though I have the models - so I think it's time for a bit of shopping...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Pike Pict Pics

Hot (for me, at least) on the heels of the tree-man I painted over the holidays, I got the first six of the spear-armed Picts finished to provide it with some infantry reinforcement.

They're from Footsore, who I think will probably contribute the majority of human figures to this new army, both in the form of additional Picts and also the more heavily armed and armoured baronial forces that will eventually support them.

While I have been drilling out the hands of plastic figures to accommodate wire spears for years now, I think these were the first metals for which I did this - mainly because they have been designed for this approach, rather than sculpted with the traditional 'cup' hands that I've never really liked either aesthetically or practically.

Painting seemed easier than normal - perhaps a testament to the simplicity of the sculpts, or maybe to my enthusiasm for the project. That said, the light khaki colours seem to have come out much more patchy than usual (and it seems even worse in the photos). I think there's probably not enough texture on the robes to really work with my wash-heavy painting style. I left them as is for these, but I might rethink for future models.

The basing, as with the tree-man, is just my usual approach with the addition of a couple of flavours of tuft. I'm absolutely smitten with the effect, and can't believe I went so long not using tufts!

Speaking of which, I have another six Picts under way - those being the rear ranks with raised spears to accompany these front-rankers. There's also another dozen to form a second full unit for Dragon Rampant (though we tend to play with half-size units for the most part), but I think I'll pivot onto a different unit type for a bit before getting onto them.

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

The Christmas Tree-Man

It's been a long time since I did anything miniatures-wise. Lots of pottering and theory-crafting, but not much doing. Still, this feast-or-famine approach to the hobby is nothing new - I always come back to it eventually given the right inspiration.

Well, inspiration struck just before the holidays. I've been reading a fair bit of Medieval history (another long-overdue return following a pretty substantial detour into the C17th) and eyeing up a variety of models and rulesets. I've also had Wizkids' Critical Role Wraithroot Tree sat on a base awaiting paint for... a while (I can't remember how long, to be honest, but it was very dusty when I took it down off the shelf!).

The original intention for that model was to have it form the centrepiece of a new Dragon Rampant army. We were - and still are, to be honest - having a whale of a time playing DR in the office, pitting the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile against my mate's Night Goblins, and while I could keep slowly adding units to the Order, I fancied something a bit different. Obviously, not too different, so I settled on a different cult-type force - a druidic army that never grew beyond the acquisition of this tree-man and a barbaric were-bear (the bear model since passed onto a friend's unit for The Silver Bayonet).

Fast-forward to Winter and with a bellyful of Medieval history and folklore, and the erosion of resolve regarding various attractive historical models, I realised I was motivated enough to reboot the druidic idea and get some paint on some models.

So here, then, is what came about over the holiday break...

The model is the usual kind of rubbery plastic you get from pre-paints, Bones, etc., so the clean-up was something of a chore, but it took paint well enough. Various dry-brushes of browns and greens to give it a mossy look, along with washes of the same to give it a varied tone.

While some moss/foliage was sculpted onto the model at knees, arms, and shoulders, the large section on the model's left shoulder had an ugly mouldline running the length of it, so I opted to cover these with static grass, then coat it with brown wash and drybrush with some sickly greens to represent lichen. This effect isn't overly strong (perhaps I should have increased the weight of the white-green drybrush to make it pop more), but it does add a nice contrast to the otherwise brown model!

The final touch was to add some tufts, both to the base and to the model itself. On the model, I tucked some into various gaps and alongside larger areas of lichen to add contrast and more of a foliage effect. This is, believe it or not, my first time using tufts! I think I'd been so locked-in on my standard basing style by the time they really hit the market that it never occurred to me to use them. Or I'm just lazy. Either way, I'm impressed by the effect and if any army deserves to have a more verdant basing style, it's these guys.

Lore-wise, I'm stealing liberally from the extended cut of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and setting up a northern baron as a member of this nature cult. This means I get to include knights and men-at-arms (I am deeply envious of my friend's Bretonnian DR army made from mostly historical models) alongside the unit I've already started working on... Footsore Picts. These guys will represent the more overt members of the cult, living in the wilderness areas of the barony. They'll also do double-duty as, well, Picts, should I be persuaded to give Pillage a try...

Thereafter, aside from the aforementioned baronial forces, I'll want some dryads, and some Green Man banners for the army's standard bearers. And boars. Probably. Everything's better with boars. Here's hoping the motivation and inspiration stays with me through into 2026!

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

You Dirty Rats...

Not exactly 'hot on the heels', but my recent Skaven painting gave me the urge to paint a few more of the verminous lads. As I said in that post, it was the old Rat Ogres that first brought Skaven to my attention, and so, in a fit of nostalgia, I went looking for something that hit my impression of what a Rat Ogre should be.

First to be rejected were the official GW ones. Enough said. I did consider tracking down the classic Jes Goodwin ones, but they're a little on the small side these days and there's only two of them - I wanted three to better suit monstrous units in Dragon Rampant and Oathmark.

I eventually found some 3D prints on Etsy of Rat Ogres from a studio called ResinWarfare. They've got a fairly substantial range of Fantasy Rat-Men, including multiple Rat Brute designs. I opted for the most vanilla ones - no weird steampunk weapons or bladed limbs, just hulks of muscle and ferocity. The sculpts themselves are lovely and the prints were very tidy. One pose looks a little like its cocking its leg to relieve itself, but otherwise they're splendid!

Unfortunately, the tails broke in shipping and I just couldn't get them to reattach securely. In the end, I clipped off the stumps and green-stuffed some more fur over the remnants. Honestly, I thought it would bother me more than it does. In any case, the classic Rat Ogres didn't have tails, so this is continuing that fine tradition!

Painting was a doddle too - the size of the models and the well-defined detail on the sculpts meant that it was easy to pick out teeth, eyes, and the like. Even so, most of the work was done with dry-brushing - a bone/khaki for the flesh and, originally, light grey for the fur. I had initial plans of going with an albino-style look, but this didn't really work in practice - the skin and fur weren't distinct enough - so I went back and darkened the fur with a darker wash.

All told, I'm really happy with them, and I suspect they'll be auto-includes in my Dragon Rampant force.

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Big Chungus

I'm a big fan of including a large model or two to break up the silhouette of a warband or army (previous waffle on the subject here) and, looking at the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile, I realized that I didn't really have anything that fit that description. Dirty Frank is a big boy, but he's really only about twice the height of the average human model... that's not big, right?

Well, let me introduce you to Big Chungus.

Big Chungus is a 'Bloat Giant' from Rocket Pig Games. Covered in sores and wounds, and with a shaggy pelt of back hair, he's a great fit for the Cult. He's also immense.

The model itself was picked up from a retailer on Etsy - I think it's the first 3D-printed model I've ever painted! That process was... a bit of a mixed bag. First off, the model was pretty cleanly printed, with sharp detail and most of the supports cleaned neatly off. It was entirely hollow and, given the size, I thought it needed some more heft - so I mixed up some plaster of Paris and filled the whole thing via the holes in its base (you can't tell from the aftermath of my basing, but it's standing on some sculpted rocky ground). After everything had dried, I had the heft I wanted... but discovered that certain seams on the model (the armpits and an earhole) had allowed the plaster to leak out. I don't know if those sections were perforated or were just thin enough to give way or what, nor if it's a design issue or a printer issue - but I do know that it meant that I had to scrape away a fair bit of plaster from the surface of the model.

And then to basing. I stuck it on a large MDF disc and thought nothing of it. Except, for the first time I can remember, the MDF warped and, when dry, had a distinct 'wobble' to it. I sanded down the base to flatten it off again - no massive job, but by this point I was getting distinctly fed up by the whole thing.

Am I ever glad I persevered, though. After getting the flesh basecoat down (which took three coats for decent coverage!), everything just flew by. Once all the basecoats were on, I gave everything a khaki drybrush - which is the first time I've tried that, but it did give some nice highlights once the classic brown wash went over everything. Before that, however, I threw a variety of washes (red, purple, and green) onto the flesh to create some odd, unhealthy-looking complexions, mixing and blending them on the model itself. Once the all-over brown wash went on it helped bring those more disparate colours together. Really happy with the gruesome effect.

Aside from the inside of the loincloth, the only tricky part of painting was the wraps on the arms - they wind over and through the hair on the forearms and the detail on my model was a little soft. In fact, the only criticism of the design I have is that the back hair stops very abruptly on the back of the neck - I would have preferred a less harsh line and, were I doing it over, I'd probably green-stuff a little more pelt. Still, it's a small criticism - the model is phenomenal, and I'm already looking at Rocket Pig for other centrepiece models that could inspire a collection.

And Big Chungus really is a centrepiece - as I said, he's immense. Dirty Frank may be almost twice the height of a human, but Chungus is almost twice the height of Dirty Frank!

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

A Fresh Outbreak: Poxwalkers

I'm still no great photographer, but I'm much better than I used to be! I figured it was about time to revisit some of my older pieces from the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile and update them with some new pics.

First up, the Poxwalkers: original post.

There Were Rats, Dad...

"There were rats, dad."
"Rats?"
"Yeah. Big ones."

I think my very first GW purchase was the yellow "Monsters" deck from the original Citadel Combat Cards, and it was definitely the start of my love of Skaven. That deck included a picture of one of Jes Goodwin's classic Rat Ogres (I don't think both were depicted, but might be wrong). It's weird that, to this day, I have never actually acquired and painted one (or both) of those classic models... that's something I might have to remedy. When I got my first Warhammer army book a few years later, it was - inevitably - for the Skaven.

Of course, I wasn't able to afford a whole army, let alone have the patience to build and paint one - especially one like the Skaven that demanded huge numbers of troops! By the point where I had the time, attention, and disposable income to indulge my wargaming hobby (thank-you skirmish wargaming!), the then-current Skaven range didn't really appeal to me as much and I found other models more to my liking.

Fast-forward more years than I really care to remember and, with the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile an appropriate home for them, I decided it was time to paint some rats!

The Plague Monks are one of the older kits still in the Skaven range, and definitely have the older, more bandy-legged design that newer sculpts have eradicated. Still, they are incredibly on-brand for my army, with hunched poses, bandages, ragged robes (that serve to hide their bandy legs), and boil-marked flesh. With the addition of wire spears and some Oathmark Human shields to tie them to my Templars and link them more into the force as a whole, they fit right in.

Painting was a doddle - they're relatively simple sculpts and took to my wash-heavy style nicely. I opted for a really pale flesh tone to offset the darker robes and applied a light red wash to their eyes to give them a rheumy, albino effect.

I have five more of these guys built and ready to go, and I'm toying with the idea of adding some more to the Cult in due course, perhaps a banner, an officer figure, and another three spears to fill out the unit to a full 15.

And, of course, now I also want to track down those old Jes Goodwin Rat Ogres...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Standard Troops

Hot on the heels of the recent reinforcements for the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile, I polished off a couple more cult models that have been waiting for ages for a paintjob.

A while back, I realized that my force were looking more militant than I wanted from my cult, so I built a couple of banner bearers to add more of a processional feel (and to add nice focal points to units!).

First up, a banner for the Faithful - thus filling out that unit to a full 20. This was built from - surprise, surprise - Fireforge's Living Dead Peasants, with a banner from some GW kit or another (Skaven, maybe?). The banner-pole was replaced with a wire pike, clipped to an appropriate length.

Yes, the fact that the banner is following the line of the pole and not the dictates of gravity annoys me... but not enough to prevent me from getting it painted!

Added to a unit, I reckon she looks good!

Next up, a banner for the Templars. While the Faithful's banner is relatively modest in size (some might say "sensibly sized"), this one is... objectively too big. I was genuinely concerned that it would not actually stay upright (the metal base isn't the most substantial of counterweights!), but it seems to have held together. Like the other banner, this is from a GW kit - I'm guessing Ogre Kingdoms by the size and the fact that there are random rocks tied to it - and had the banner-pole replaced with a wire pike. The bearer, like the previous Templars, is Oathmark Human Infantry with a head from the Frostgrave Cultists kit.

Both these models (the Templar one especially) reminded me of why I dislike painting yellow. On a small scale (the Templar cowls, a spot colour on a cultist's clothing, etc.), it's fine, but on bit sections like this, it just doesn't suit my wash-heavy style. Still, brown wash makes everything better (if not good), and I'm just about happy with it).

I'm not currently sure what insignia or emblems I want on the banners... I might not want any, with the 'purity' of the yellow sheets representing the 'purity' of the Yellow Bile itself... or I might just not have had the right idea yet. I might go back and apply some transfers... but I will not be attempting free-hand!

I kind of want more banners now. And some musicians...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Cult Reinforcements

I got the urge to paint the other week and, with my Blood Bowl team (more on that later) still en route from Spain, I turned my attention to some reinforcements for the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile that had been patiently sat waiting for a lick of paint for a looooong time (so long, in fact, that I can't remember when I kitbashed them).

Like the previous cultists (here and here), these were built from Fireforge Games' Living Dead Peasants, which, alongside their regular non-undead 'Folk Rabble', really are the gift that keep on giving! Four of them received wire spears, and one was built as a dual-wielder, so that I have a readily identifiable 'officer' for each stand should I need one.

That said, I doubt that I'll ever field a whole unit of spear-armed cultists, so I'm going to sprinkle these amongst the other rabble, giving the whole unit an even more ramshackle look.

These five bring my unit of the Faithful to 19 figures (including their two Magisters), so I have just one more to go...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Slinkers and Stinkers

It has taken me altogether too long to get these four models finished off! They've sat on my desk for months in various stages of completion, and I'm kind of glad to have finally got them done.

They're Ur-Ghuls from the Blackstone Fortress box, and while I love the aesthetic and design, I really dislike the fact that there are only two poses that are incredibly similar. I would love a box with these creepy blighters in a wider range of poses, creeping and skulking their way across the tabletop.

The only alteration I made to the base model was filling in the deep holes above the mouth with some liquid green stuff, smoothing out the head a bit more. Painting was quick - I used a really diluted glaze to apply the purple tone over a light grey basecoat, then dry-brushed on a couple of lighter greys.

On that note, I've become a complete convert to using makeup brushes for dry-brushing and now have a set of about a dozen in various sizes for about half the price of a single hobby-specific one.

As to what these are going to be used for... well, they're perfect weird mutants for hunting my Stalkers, weird aliens for Stargrave, Nullmen for Frostgrave, and they may or may not make an appearance in future Rangers of Shadow Deep games...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

The Scarlet Imp-in-Hell

This was an unexpected addition to the painting queue, but one that I had to paint pretty much as soon as I got it! The figure is a Reaper Bog Homunculus, but in Bones plastic, rather than metal (presumably the product of a recent Kickstarter not yet available for retail). It was a gift from a friend at UK Games Expo earlier this month, and I love the ugly little thing!

I'm not a huge fan of Bones, especially for smaller figures, but this was relatively straightforward, with most of the work in prep was fixing the integral base - I have never seen a model with such a concave base! Clipping and sanding the base to something flat enough to glue down was quite a chore!

Painting was a doddle - various fleshy tones, a couple of washes, and some bone to pick out the teeth and talons etc. The eyes were large enough that I (for once!) painted them - a bright red, with a dot of yellow just to add a little more impact. For once, my efforts have actually photographed semi-well, and I'm even more pleased with how they look in person. Will I start painted eyes on all my models? Well, no...

Not altogether sure what I'll end up using this little imp for - maybe the start of a new cult? He'll almost certainly be my go-to for a small demon in games of Frostgrave and Rangers of Shadow Deep.

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.