Robin... The Hooded Man

As planned, I pressed on with some archers for my growing (and still unnamed) fantasy force.

I've still got five cavalry to sort out (well, potentially six, as the Fireforge Northmen come in multiples of six, but I've got one of them earmarked as a commander), but these were to be the last five infantrymen produced with the kits I currently have. Unfortunately, these didn't go together as smoothly as the previous figures. Don't get me wrong, the kit is largely spot-on, and goes together well - there were just a couple of things that proved awkward.

Good hoods (and less-good quivers)

There's a brilliant spot of attention to detail in the kit - most of the torsos have a hood hanging down the back. There are, however, a couple of hooded heads on the sprue... and a couple of hoodless torsos to pair up with them. Lovely stuff. The heads themselves have rather prominent neck joints, and for the bare and helmeted heads in the box, this works perfectly. It does, however, make the hooded heads look a little odd - like they're wearing babushka-style headscarves or open-faced balaclavas more than hoods! They also sit awkwardly alongside the hanging hoods, which seem much larger. Not a massive problem, but it did mean that I had to crack out the greenstuff and bulk up the backs of the necks so that they blended into the clothing more. A bit fiddly, given my skills with greenstuff, but I think they worked out well enough. Much as I like that most of the pikemen are helmeted, I really appreciated the variety of head options in this kit. I mixed in hoods, helmets, and a bare head, chiefly to add more variety to the figures in the 'samey' shooting pose but also to give the unit the feel of a bunch of more independently minded soldiers - though with the uniform elements marking them as part of the overall force.

Newly sculpted hoods - everything below the 'fold' of the hood was built up with greenstuff

The annoying element, that frustrated me enough that I put the kit to one side for a day, is that the backs of the quivers are concave, rather than flat (as found on most separate quivers). Going by the pictures on the box, the curve is designed to fit around the waist of the figures. Fair enough. Could I get them to stay in that intended position? No, I could not. Cue excessive amounts of polystyrene cement and a fear that I'd obscured too much detail and ruined things beyond saving! I think the break was helpful - once returned to the project, I was a lot happier, and the painted minis don't show the damage I feared had been inflicted.

The irony is that, unlike so many plastic figures, there's plenty of flat space for a flat-backed quiver to sit, thanks to the long padded armour the models are sculpted wearing. Were I to do these over, I'd definitely ditch the included quivers and replace them with something from another kit. In fact, I'd probably also switch the archer torsos with those from the infantry box, as the latter have belts across the chest, and plenty of flat space for a quiver on the back! It'd mean no hoods hanging down, but I could probably live with that. Aaaaaanyway, lessons learned if I ever revisit this kit.

Painting was the usual straightforward approach that's incredibly familiar by this point. At this stage, it's second nature, and I cracked through this little lot over the course of a couple of afternoons. For now, there's just the cavalry left to do. I might take a break for a moment, though, and pick up another project as a palette-cleanser... and to paint something other than blue, grey, and brown!

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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.

Productivity!

We recently enjoyed a four-day Bank Holiday weekend here so, with the sun shining and the garden already pushed back to a manageable (for now!) state, what better way to pass the time than building and painting some new toys? Nine of them, in fact.

I have built up the unit of pikemen from the initial six to a full ten and reinforced them with a unit of five swordsmen.

Unsurprisingly, all the figures are still Fireforge Northmen, though this time I did raid my box of archers to supplement the warriors kit. As before, the pikemen with the levelled pikes were the biggest pain to make. Thankfully, these two will be the last! I'm not planning on another unit of pike for this force and I'm happy enough with two ranks of five (the officer being the extra front-rank figure alongside the chaps with levelled pikes). It's useful to have a secondary officer figure for when I want to split the unit into two groups of five (which will almost certainly be the case given my movement trays), so I threw in another bare-headed figure - if Games Workshop has taught me anything, it's that officers never wear helmets! As it happens, I'm identifying the officers in this force by using some of the officer components from the kits - a torso with a gorget and and arm with a hefty pauldron, so this guy is clearly an NCO. Going forward, the pauldrons may end up on different arms, depending on which pieces I use, but the gorget is a nice, consistent reference point.

The swordsmen were pretty much a straight build out the box, albeit with a couple of archer torsos mixed in for variety (and because the warriors box only builds 12 models) and the head from a Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago crewman. I almost messed that guy up - after gluing everything together, I spotted a mould line I'd missed on the side of his head. Taking a scalpel to it, I promptly carved a notch out of his ear. Rather than chuck the model or attempt to remove and replace the head, I smoothed things out with some polystyrene cement and decided that he's going to be called "Somebody Half-Ear". As above, he'll probably play the role of NCO if and when I expand this unit to ten.

Somebody Half-Ear and his fellow NCO.

All in all, I'm pleased with them. The figures are pleasingly uncomplicated and they paint up really quickly. In the absence of real inspiration for what I'm going to do for command or character figures for the force, I think I'll just move onto the next unit - archers or cavalry. I suspect the former, as I've not yet decided how I want to base the cavalry.

The force as it currently stands. This picture will eventually be updated with non-soft-focus swordsmen...

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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.

Pikemen

Last weekend was somewhat productive (by my standards, anyway) and, alongside the reading and gardening, I painted my six pikemen.

I went with a pretty simple paint scheme, and one that, as it happens, is vaguely Stark-like - brown leather armour over blue-grey tunics. I used a couple of different browns for the armour, just for a little variety, and while it's somewhat noticeable on the figures, I should probably have switched to a different wash instead. Where I did use a different (for me) wash was on the armour. Normally, I just use Army Painter Soft Tone over everything, but for these guys I went with Dark Tone on the metal elements. I really like the effect on the helmets - it makes them feel a bit more rough and veteran.

All told, I really like these guys, and will be starting on some swordsmen to accompany them over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend... Unless I get distracted by something else.

I still have no idea what faction these guys will end up forming.

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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.

Untitled Fantasy Project #52

One of the downsides to the recent shift to working from home is that I have one desk, which doubles as a workplace and as a painting station. So, while I'm sat working, I have unfinished projects gazing at me the whole time. I feel judged.

Simply hiding them away wasn't viable, as it turns out that was how I dealt with the last time I faced a somewhat overwhelming backlog of projects, and drawer space is painfully finite. So, it looks as though I have no option but to crack on with them! At least then I'll have painted figures cluttering me up...

So, here are my current figures, six pikemen:

I'm hoping that small numbers (not to mention a uniform... uniform) will help me get them done swiftly before I get distracted and move onto kit-bashing something else.

All of these are from Fireforge Games' Northmen Warriors, from the same range as the cultists in the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile (found here and here). They're straight out of the Game of Thrones Stark army, and I'm planning on building a small, generic military force that can be pressed into service for a variety of Fantasy games. The real flavour will come with the commanders and characters I add to the force. For now, I'm planning on some clerics and paladins so that this force can be pitted against the very same Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile. I don't have a name for this faction just yet, though (suggestions welcomed!).

Somewhat unusually for me, they're a straight build out of the box (I think the bare head might have come from the Archer pack instead), albeit with the plastic spears clipped off and replaced with metal pikes. I tend to do this with all spear-armed models these days - I generally prefer the less exaggerated look, and the occasional pricking is a small price to pay for the additional heft - so drilling out the hands was a doddle. The only slightly odd one was the arm wrapped around a banner pole (seen in the centre of the rear rank in the photo above), which required a little more carving to get right.

If that one was the oddity, the two levelled pike were the pains in my behind! The original component is both arms and the spear as a single piece, so drilling out the hands and getting everything to level up properly was a bit of bugbear! The effect is great, though, so I'll be doing two more should this unit expand further.

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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.

Stalk The Line

A distressingly long time ago (November 2017!), I built myself a Stalker for Eastern European post-apocalyptic action. He has seen little action, as it happens, but the recent release of Zona Alfa has given my interest in the genre a kick in the pants.

As before, I grabbed a load of Warlord Games WWII plastics and a bunch of their modern zombie-survivor special forces, and bashed the lot together!

First up, a shotgun-toting scout. This chap has actually been sat on my desk since November 2017, as I built and started painting him immediately after finishing the first Stalker! The arms from the special forces sprue aren't as generic as the WWII ones, so only fit on certain special forces torsos (usually at a strange angle). This is the only figure I was able to put together that had a relatively natural pose! Still, I really like the hunched, cautiously advancing pose.

This guy is, hands-down, my favourite of the bunch. At first, I worried that it was a little too close to the pose of the original Stalker, but it ended up coming together perfectly. The balaclava head is from the special forces sprue, and didn't sit particularly well on the WWII body, so I went to the green stuff and added a fleece collar. This bulked out the shoulders a bit, and blended the head into the body, while also giving a bit of pop to a mini that might have come out a little dull otherwise (due to the grey balaclava). The AK has had the magazine clipped off, while the spare mag in the left hand was originally intended for an StG 44.

Another greatcoated guy, this one hauling some salvage, while attempting to keep his rifle at the ready. The head is actually from a Frostgrave sprue, and required the collar be carved open a little wider to fit. I reckon it works out with a decent parka-ish effect. This one got a similar paintjob to the original Stalker, though I tried to keep the weathering a little more prominent, as if from fresh splashes rather than worn-in dirt. I'm not sure how well it worked out - I quite like the effect, but it might be a bit too different from the original model. My favourite aspect of this model is the sawn-off shotgun on his backpack - I found a full-sized field shotgun on a zombie survivor sprue and sawed it down to suit! There's nothing holding it onto the backpack, which would normally be a peeve, but... rule of cool!

This last one is my least favourite of the bunch. It just didn't really come together the way I'd hoped. While I do like the pose, the single rolled-up sleeve is a little odd, and I really had a hard time painting the face on this one. Getting the thin fringe of fleece on the cheek-flaps of the hat was a personal victory! He'll be an expendable scout, I suspect.

All told, I've now got a viable Zona Alfa gang of five figures (viable in terms of numbers - I still need to stat it out properly), and a hankering to kitbash some more!

The obligatory group shot. The original Stalker is at centre.

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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.