Something more Forest-y this way comes - SAGA AoM Lords of the Wild

 Things have... not quite gone according to plan, but at long last, I've managed to finish one more project. Atlantis Miniatures managed to undergo a name change, and are now Blue Giant Studios, in the meanwhile, but I've finally finished all their Wood Elves (or at least, all the ones I've got). The base idea is to run these as Lords of the Wild, for SAGA: Age of Magic.

First, and most important for elves, are of course Archers. 12 Warriors in SAGA terms, a decent bunch, packing a punch at a distance, and also in melee if things get worrisome.

And then, of course, some warriors armed only with melee weapons, as well, because going without is usually a bad idea.

And then, there's the cavalry. They may not use horses like most "civilised" folks, but do not underestimate the power of a charge from these, it may cost you deer-ly. Most likely, these will be run as Hearthguard in SAGA terms, both to conserve figures, and to provide a compact counter-punch.

Now, the fun thing with SAGA: Age of Magic, is the availability of extra heroes, in each factions Lieutenant. You may only be able to get one, but I'll have plenty of options for who to field as one. The other two can fill out the warrior units, I guess...

Similarly, more than one Spellcaster is probably extravagant (although I've seen a few people do decently with 2), but it never hurts to have options. And more lovely figures to paint was of course also greatly appreciated.

For Warlords, you are definitely limited to one, but options are good. Certainly helps that there's a choice between fielding them Mounted, on Foot, or on a "Beast" (and the black fellow certainly deserves to be considered a Beast).

Last among the Blue Giant Studio Wood Elves, are this young Archer, whom I consider absolutely adorable, and will include one way or another, pretty much whenever I can, just because she's so wonderfully sculpted.

 

The only thing missing, is some bigger fellows. Reaper to the rescue, if I remember correctly, and we've got two, frankly massive, bears to serve as Creatures and general heavy hitters.

But the bears are not the heaviest hitters. No for that, we have a Nature Elemental (from always awesome Bad Squiddo Games). In AoM terms, it'll be a Titan, slow, but nigh on impossible to kill.

Make that two Titans, with a Wizkids Treant. In case one wants two monsters, or need to raise a forest to fight for you, for some reason (yes, that is something the Lords of the Wild can do, in fact).

And for games other than SAGA (primarily Frostgrave), I have some smaller animals as well. First out, two panthers (perhaps younger kin to the one my Warlord might ride), from Wizkids.

And then, a most deligthful Wolf, once again from Blue Giant Studios (not sure if this one was a kickstarter exclusive or not, I'm failing to find it on their homepage...)

Finally, in case I need some kind of markers. A mix of basing kits and Forest Critters, can serve as treasures in Frostgrave, or objectives in most games, really.

All in all, it makes for one quite impressive force.It should be enough to let me field an 8 point warband, with some options. All in all, I love all of these, very full of character, and a joy to paint, with only a bare minimum of things that I didn't find 100% perfect.

Now I just need to figure out who to bribe to get some deer-mounted archers...

/Fool Out

Oh, and just for fun, here's the figures divided up according to how Blue Giant Studis sells them, in case anyone was curious ;)

Elf Archer

Elf Archers (F)

Elf Archers (M)

Elf Deer Riders (F)

Elf Druid

Elk War Lord Mount

Elf Mage

Elf Prince

Elf Princess

Elf Rogue (F)

Elf Rogue (M)

Elf Spellcaster (M)

Elf Stag Riders (M)

Elf Warriors (F)

Elf Warriors (M)

Elf Warriors 2 (F)

Elf Archer (Young Female)

Not quite sure where my "Elf Warriors 2 (M)" went, but there's been a few reorganisations since I got them so probably in one of my (many) piles of shame. But I'll finish of with what I'm starting to suspect is another Kickstarter special, the Elf Princess on Big Kitty.

Critical Role figures

 A friend asked me to paint a few figures from them, from Critical Role (which I have no personal knowledge or interest in, but they provided reference pictures, so I didn't have to have any knowledge anyway). Since I'm not so familiar with the subject, there'll be less words, but the figures look good. So, enjoy.

First up, Vox Machina, their first campaign

Several of the miniatures deserve to be shown from behind as well. Both the tattoos of the barbarian and the fancy (not-quite-)rainbow cloak of the druid are especially nice, I'd say.

Then, we have the Mighty Nein (CRs second campaign)

Not as many exceptional backsides this time, but still some. Especially the one in the middle, which drove me slightly nuts (less nuts than plaid, and I painted a whole army with that, so not too bad...)

Then, finally, some bonus figures

The last picture was described to me as "a mage and his clones", and I must say, I like how they turned out, with reasonably discreet color coding between the clones (useful if you need to keep track of status effects or HP on several of them), and the mage himself being a bit more special but still on the same theme.

That was fun, but I significantly underestimated how long it would take me. I'm going to blame the fact that every last one of them is unique, so I couldn't set up my usual assembly line painting style. But hey, useful practice none-the-less.

Now, I have some dragonborn for the same friend, and then on with the Silver Bayonet.

/Fool, out

New Years Resolutions 2021/2022

Happy international hangover day. Where did the last year go? I know one thing, though. It's been hell on my painting, haven't managed to get much finished. Didn't help that it's been a year of "oh, shiny", so I've started more projects than I've finished, and I try not to post half-finished projects... Still, even a butchers bill needs to be paid, so let's see how bad it actually was.

• Blood & Plunder need some more Dutch.

First point is actually a limited success. 8 Enter Ploeg got painted, but I still need more Zeelieden.

• And that Galleon.
  
• And of course the 6th Rate.

These... less so. The Galleon has gotten some paint, but is still far from finished...

• Oak & Iron needs paint and love. At least these ships are smaller...

There seem to be a curse on me and painting ships. These are mostly finished, but still need some touch ups and flags...

That last warband for SAGA: Age of Magic, as soon as the kickstarter gets here.

Considering my painting speed, I might as well reveal that these are the Atlantis Wood Elves that I manage to at least start with, to the point of a Frostgrave warband, but not yet a full army. Eventually, I'll get there...

• Mace of Malcor, now take 3.
• The Mounted Knights from Perry. Now, with some idea for getting started.

More victims for the unpainted pile

• As said, I have some ideas for the Perry knights. And it requires more Perry, that has to be ordered (as soon as we know how brexit works), built, and painted. Should be easy, right? 

Yeah, this got put on the backburner again. To the great surprise of noone

I have at least 2 ideas for SAGA: Age of Hannibal warbands, one easy and one hard (why do I always look at factions with a significant portion mounted on horses...)

 The first one was quickly finished, with the romans (very nice when you get a full army in a single box). The second one, Carthaginians, have stalled due to horses, but will hopefully pick up speed again once I've managed to clear out some other projects. At least I've bought everything I should need...

• Those Napoleonics have refused to leave, and I'm currently considering focusing on one battle, and then building a brigade from each side of that battle. No idea if it will see any table other than against myself, but it would somewhat solve my problem of being unable to pick a side and regiment.

I might have found a work around that will let me do some Napoleonics, of a variety of nations, without going bananas and it eating up all my time. See further down.

• Oathmark has managed to do the impossible, and tempt me with undead. These will have to form a second army/kingdom.

Yep, I got some skellies and necromancers waiting on a shelf. Not enough for an army or a blogpost, though (see comment about starting more than I finished...). Never thought I'd see the day

• There are also promises of several exciting new Oathmark kits. Revenants will join the undead, Dwarven Light Infantry will be welcome for some variety among the short folk... and the Human Cavalry might just tempt me into a third kingdom

Both kits gotten, but not yet painted, the eternal refrain of this year.

• Stargrave ("Frostgrave IN SPACE") is coming, so I will of course need at least one crew for that, possibly two, once it's released.

I managed to hold back, and say "I already have too many games and too many projects, let's wait with this one" (although I did get one Infinity miniature to see if I could remember how to paint sci-fi. I think I do). Of course, after I said that...

The Silver Bayonet was released (or, as a friend calls it, "Rangers of Nappy-grave"), for some Napoleonic Gothic Horror. And me, the poor bugger I am, went full in on the book and initial unit releases. The fact that it can be played solo as well as against others is an extra bonus.

I need a table for this, and some soldiers to expand the starters (which are a bit low on "ordinary soldiers"). And a whole lot of monsters, as well. At least I've seen good conversions for Revenants (zombies) that will use up some of the soldier bodies I don't need for the actual units.

Other than that, it's mostly been chugging along, with a whole lot of "various" (and especially a variety of lone miniatures, nominally useful for RPG characters, but mostly for the sheer joy of painting new things).

Let's hope I manage to do better next year. I should probably try to be a bit more focused, though... Anyway, what's up for next year?

• Blood & Plunder Dutch Zeelieden
• Galleon 
• 6th Rate (I will get there one year)
• Oak & Iron
• Wood Elves for SAGA: Age of Magic 
• Maze of Malcor (I'm soon through the batch that's been mounted on bases, at least
• Knights (should probably start doing these instead of random figures with no use, and not care so much about exact shades of brown horse)
• Carthaginians for SAGA: Age of Hannibal
• That table for Rangers, now also for Silver Bayonet (and I can probably find more uses once I actually have a table)
• The Oathmark Undead Kingdom (with some goblin mercenaries)
  
• Finish off some more dwarves, and elves, for my first Oathmark army
  

Sanity (and a dire list of old and semi-old stuff) says I should probably try to limit myself, but there's some new stuff anyway

• First up, Silver Bayonet. Hopefully, these monsters will be faster to paint... (and I also need at least 3 units, because I'm nuts)
• I will habitually keep one project secret, even if it's currently threatening to explode all over my hobby opportunities
• A friend has shown me Sludge, which seems dementedly awesome, so I might have to get something grimy and blackpowdery for that
  
• I found SAGA: Age of Invasions during the FLGS critmas sale, and I won't deny that there's a risk I'll get involved. We'll see if I manage to stay away, or get sucked in
• That same sale also got me some Victrix Anglo-Danes. At least 24 Hearthguards and a Warlord for a SAGA "army" should be reasonably quick...
• I might as well already plan for expanding the Carthaginians into Numidians as well (the way they work in SAGA, it won't even need to be a full army, just some extra horse-boys... why is it always the horses?)
  

Happy New Year (and at least the random figures are useful for interspersing long, rambly texts)

/Fool Out