Pictures, stories, and reviews of fantasy miniatures
I just cleaned and washed the orcs for my second Hordes of the Things army. All in all, I expect this force to come in at about 90-100 models. Next up I will assemble them on 4x2cm strips and add a layer of base paint.
Until next time!
Simon
As you can see above, my “The Golden City” army for Hordes of the Things is finally starting to come together! All the models are assembled and primed; some are entirely finished, others are just in the early stages of painting. But I am very excited over how I might actually pull this off! I have never planned and completed a project of this kind before. Instead, I usually move from idea to idea without finishing anything. Time for a change!
For my own documentation, here’s the army list for the army:
THE GOLDEN CITY
1 x Councillors (magician generals), 4 points
2 x Mounted City Guard (knights), 4 points
2 x City Guard Archers (archers), 4 points
6 x City Guard Spearmen (spearmen), 12 points
Total: 24 points
The army consists of 42 individually based models, each of which has been magnetically attached to a sabot base made out of rubberized steel. The spearmen and archers are from Copplestone Castings, while the magicians and knights are from Pendraken.
Until next time!
Simon
After a few days of letting my hobby table gather dust, I started to work on my first Hordes of the Things army again. Now I am doing work on the bases for my units. Lots of fiddly work, but it should soon be done. Hope to post a progress picture on the whole army soon!
Until next time
Simon
I always admire people who can just churn out whole armies without blinking. Myself I take forever to finish just about anything! That is why I am so happy to have finished two whole magnetized strips of orcs, which gives me… one whole 4x2cm base of orcs! Wonderful – I now have ten of these not-so-nice people. I am actually pretty happy with the colour scheme: three colours on yellow base paint, then two washes, then finishing touches and grasses. Very quickly, very efficient – and does not look too bad on the table.
Now, there is a long way to go before I can do much with these. For an army in Hordes of the Things I will need 18 strips of these (giving me 9 warbands) and then another 10-15 wolf riders to fill out the rest of the army. Well, at least this is a start!
Yay, I just finished painting up a tiny hobbit! I’m happy I pulled it off, because my eyes and hands were tested while working on some of the details. Something is wrong with the photo as well (it was not easy to photograph!) because there is a greenish tint to it. Anyway, the miniature is from Copplestone Castings. Lovely models; I think I will paint a few more of the hobbits, if inspiration strikes again.
It would have been fun to pick up a copy of Games Workshop’s Middle Earth: Strategy Battle Game and try the game in 10mm scale. On the other hand, buying the two main books would cost about 80 euro, far more than the models themselves! Something to think about, at least.
(By the way, this must be Sam, right? I’m guessing so due to his massive backpack…)
Until next time!
Simon
As they say, every good miniature project needs a good side project! For some reason, I just started working on a Fellowship of the Ring using Copplestone miniatures. Now, it could be because I am rereading the Lord of the Rings triology. And because I just happen to have the miniatures at hand… At least there are more orcs coming for my original project as well! 🙂
I just received a custom battlemat from Playmats. The mat uses the Undergrowth/Swamp texture from a 122x122cm map. It was then scaled down to 60x60cm on my request, to better fit with the 10mm scale. The mat set me back 59 euro.
Here is a shot of the texture on the first side (the “Undergrowth” texture):
And here is apicture of the second side (the “Swamp” side):
The details are looking good, despite downscaling with 50%. So that part of the experiment worked well. Another good thing is that the mat does not reflect much light.
My only issue is that the colors look much less vibrant than as advertised (see here). While I was expecting the mat to be darker than one of latex or vinyl, I did not anticipate this huge change in color. Could it be due to scaling or to the choice of material? I might write to the seller and ask about it.
Until next time,
Simon
Today has been a bad day. I sometimes have a migraine like headache (probably due to exhaustion) and it reared its ugly head this day. For this reason, I have been pretty much incapacitated. Luckily, my partner has a day off and have taken care of our children while I huddle in my room.
While I was waiting for the migraine to subside, I did some hobbying to relax. Not much happened. However, I did complete a strip of Copplestone orcs:
I am planning to build this army so that it is usable both for my Hordes of the Things project, as well as for any future Lord of the Rings-themed projects. The bases will be dark brown with dark green grass and mosses, and I will build and paint them on magnetized strips of 4×1 cm. These strips can then be combined into various bases (4×2 cm, 4×4 cm, etc.) as needed. If I play a Lord of the Rings-themed game, I can just make a different “command strip” with the banner carrying the lidless eye of Sauron.
The above example was speed painted – I think it looks good enough. The banner sign is a fluorescent mushroom, which is the faction symbol for my Hordes of the Things army. I will probably call the faction something like “forest people,” since they are meant to be inspired more by the ancient Gauls than Tolkien’s orcs. They will therefore also organize into warbands rather than hordes. I might even add a huge snail as a behemot to their force – again, in the non-Tolkien setting of course. 😉
Until next time!
Simon
I took a break from fort construction this evening to paint the above outhouse from Battlescale. The model was very easy to paint, although I keep struggling to get the wood structure right. Regardless, I am happy to add it to my small collection of farmhouses.
Tomorrow a big thing is going to happen, from my personal hobby-perspective: a downsized 10mm scale battlemat will arrive. I really hope it will work out – it cost me a lot of money, far more than any other individual items bought for this project.
Until next time,
Simon
Hooray, I just received my order from Battlescale Wargame Buildings! I bought a bridge, an outhouse (!), and a small thatched house. The buildings will complement my house and barn from Spellcrow.
I have only cleaned the models so far, but so far it all looks perfect. The details of the sculpts are fantastic, the scale looks right, and the casting and finish appear great as well. I was impressed by the buildings from Spellcrow, but these seem to be a step up in quality. In particular, the bases are completely flat, which I appreciate. I look forward to painting them!
I must say that it is a pain ordering from the UK today – not that this is Battlescale’s fault. The Swedish customs hold up the packages for a fairly long time (unless the VAT is collected beforehand, as some larger stores do). Also, the fixed fee is inconvenient for small packages – 7 euros for this one.
Anyway, in other hobby news, I have continued working on the fort:
The walls are all done – except for the gate – and I have now started on the walkway. I have learned a lot from this small project. If I ever do another palisade, things will progress a lot smoother!
Until next time,
Simon