2022-02-05

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

2022-01-01

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

2021-10-17

A selection of various painted figures

 No theme, just a selection of stuff I've painted (narrowed down to 28mm humanoids on foot), nominally to showcase my skills. Offered with only a minimum of description.

Half-elf bard. Kitbashed, plastic.

Carthaginian leader. Victrix Carthaginian Warriors, plastic.
Dwarf Warrior. Atlantis Miniatures Dwarf Specials: Fighters, resin
Fey Enchantress. Gripping Beast Enchantress, metal
Gaul Warrior. Victrix Ancient Gallic Warriors, plastic (and LBMS Shield decal)
Wizard. Frostgrave Wizards, plastic
Lich. Oathmark Necromancers, metal
Merchant. Blood & Plunder Civilian Special Characters, metal
Gun Runner. Infinity Reverend Moira, metal
Sorceress. Reaper Miniatures, metal
Seer. Reaper Miniatures, metal
Swordmage. Kitbash, plastic.
Half-demon. Kitbash, plastic
Viking Huscarl. Vixtrix Vikings, plastic.
Wood Elf Ranger. Atlantis Miniatures Elf Archer, resin


2021-10-16

Blood & Plunder - Extra Dutch Enter Ploeg

 Not dead, just been very busy with life in general (and a bad habit of having too many projects on in parallell, none of which are quite ready to showcase).

Back when I painted my Dutch for Blood & Plunder (way back in early 2019, time has surely flown...), I noted that they were fun to paint and I should do some more of them. Now, finally, they have been expanded with another 8 strong unit of Enter Ploeg

As with last time, half of them are official Enter Ploeg figures, while the other half are ordinary sailors (although upgraded with some extra pistols this time around)

First up, what makes Enter Ploeg fun: Blunderbusses. One of them's got a suspiciously english-looking hat, but then again, he might either be an actual englishman sailing with the dutch, or just a dutch who thought it looked useful, fashion was a bit floaty in the caribean.

Second, what makes Enter Ploeg evil: Explosives. Two fellows with bags of grenades, to mess up anyone and anything, including themselves if the dice are against us.

Of course, you need boys as well as toys (aka warm bodies to take the bullets for the important people). Two dutch Zeelieden, with some extra pistols, because you can never have too many pistols when you're in the Enter Ploeg

Finally, the last two official models, who comes with all the pistols built in.

Time to get some games in, convert some people perhaps, and then bring out the double Enter Ploeg lists! Good things games are a thing again, at least.

/Fool Out


2021-06-01

Something forest-y this way comes - Wood Elves

 Not quite dead, but new work in combination with the usual gamers ADHD means I've mostly done small parts on large projects this year. Hopefully, soon some of them will come into completion, and we'll get more blog posts.

But meanwhile, Frostgrave to the rescue, since you "only need 10 models" (we all know this is a lie, but it means you can paint a starter band in one go, so good enough). First, I recieved my Wood Elves from Atlantis Games kickstarter (from back before the pandemic, but got delayed by it). Then my friend decided to forest-ify his frostgrave terrain, so I needed a more wooded warband. Two things that solve each other, excellent.

 First out, is Good Mistress Spellweaver. Master mage, and one of the leaders of the Wood Elf community. And someone carrying that big a staff, also packs a mean whallop, do not underestimate her.

 

And next to her, her apprentice. A bit more rough around the edges, but he's got a good heart, and is willing to give it his all.


The other leader among the Wood Elves, the Prince. Wood Elves are usually confused by human notions of nobility and command, but he's a master of applying force at a point, be it by himself, or with his warriors, and that seems to be more or less what human princes are for, so the title fits.

The Ranger has no official position of power, but she knows the forests like her own boots (or possibly even better), so often runs before the warbands when they go out to do their business. She's fast, she's sneaky, she's able to shimmy up a tree and rain down arrows from above before her enemies (or the small, fuzzy creatures of the forest that she's friends with) even know she's there.

The Archer is an uncomplicated soul. He's strong, and can thus pull a worryingly strong bow, launching arrows a tremendous distance and with a hard punch. Useful both when hunting for venison, and when there's intruders in need of correction.

While the Ranger prefers to fight from a distance, her good friend the Pathfinder instead use the trees mostly as an advantage point from which to jump down behind her chosen prey.


The Scout, and his hawkish buddy, watch as things happen, and then report to the village leaders, going and leaving while remaining unseen.

There is very little differentiating the veteran Wood Elf Warriors from their less experienced fellows, other than a certain willingness to rush into the fray in a berserker fury, trusting their compatriots, their leaders, and their mages to have their back.

The less experienced Warriors, are more likely to hang back and fight defensively, using the reach advantage of their weapons to its full potential (even if it means less flinging of enemies in all directions).

 Of course, the long glaives are not always the optimal weapons. Sometimes, the forest grows thick, or you're needed to carry other, heavy, stuff. In those cases, a solid long knife will make do.

Last, but certainly not least, there is their furry companion. A suspiciously wolf-y dog? A curiously doggy wolf? We only know that he's called Kitten.

All in all, a nice little starting Warband, with Wizard and Apprentice, 2 Archers, 3 Infantryelves, 2 thieves, and a thug. With Kitten available, in case one of the spellcasters summon an Animal Companion. Also, plenty of upgrade options, with infantryelves becoming Barbarians, and Archers becoming Trackers and Rangers.

The observant will have noted that I painted a bit more than the 10 figures (11 if you count Kitten) necessary for a Forestgrave warband. They can also trivially be repurposed for Ghost Archipelago, with Heritor and Warden (probably a Vine Warden), 2 Treasure Hunters, 2 Archers, and 4 crewelves with two-handed weapons.

All in all, these models are absolutely gorgeous one and all. I am very happy that I got these, as well as their friends (whom I doubt will remain unpainted for long). Just need to get some bears or similar, for when the spellcasters want animal companions not able to fit in the doghouse. And some treasures, of course.

/Fool Out