Knights of Minas Tirith Repairs

Several years ago, I tilted a box full of painted minis, and naturally some damage occurred.

Not until this past week I had the stomach for trying to mend this one-point-of-base-contact horse which broke its left hind leg just above the hoof at that occasion, but with my new Citadel Assembly Handle, I finally dared try my luck at this daunting task.

As you can see, it actually worked, much to my delight, as I had feared having to try pinning it - but as it turned out the Poly Cement seems sufficient, given the time to cure properly.

The other knight (bottom picture) was easily mended, as it was just a question of gluing the rider back in the saddle. He is a conversion using a plastic Warrior of Minas Tirith and a metal Knight, btw.

They are now both ready for when we need them in games of Age of Fantasy (the 250 points. list I have prepared for Emil's use Thursday includes one).

Blood Eagle: Painted an 'Extra'

The last few days I have been recuperating from the Confirmation party we attended Sunday; as I an heavily introvert, being among a lot of people really drains my life-force, so I have not been painting as much as I would have liked.

I did manage to finish one of the 'extras', a mini that I intend as a Saxon peasant/skirmisher. He has that Anglo-Saxon retired armyman look about him, I think... ;o)

Bear with me, as he is the first mini I have painted in about six months - which is why I decided not to start with a member of Sigurdr's crew (needed to practise a bit).

Undercoat: Black

Tunic:

1. GW Ushabti Bone
2. - 4. Ushabti Bone with progressively more white mixed in.

Trousers:

1. C Graveyard Earth + black
2. Graveyard Earth
3. Graveyard Earth + white or bone, don't remember

'Wicklers' (dyller):

1. V Black Red + black
2. Black Red
3. Black Red + C Khorne Red

Shoes:

1. C Snakebite Leather + C Scorched Brown
2. Snakebite Leather + a bit less Scorched Brown
3. Snakebite Leather

Belt:

• F Musket Stock Brown triad

Hair:

• Dark through light grey (4 layers)

Skin:

• Usual Recipe

Sling:

• F Rawhide triad

I have started painting Ulf, and if everything goes well, I should finish him before the weekend, but I start my five-days night watch period today, which means that progress will be really slow.

I shall announce the dates for this year's Attic Attack very soon, so watch these pages if you intend to be present!

Blood Eagle: Ivar, the Last Viking

Ivar is now built and up to speed with the rest of the warband.

Body, arms, head, and quiver are from the Medieval Archer set, and the hand with the axe from the Gripping Beas Viking Hirdmen set.

He brings the warband roster up to a full basic 200 pts, 6 figures, which is a manageable number to get ready for the table within a foreseeable time.

The conquest heads seem to have some cloth around the neck (which really ought not be there, given the sculpt of the torsos), but I guess I shall paint it up as the unbleached linen of the særk (under-tunic).

Below you will find a couple more pictures of Ivar from different angles.

As you can see, the archers have the (for Vikings historically correct) sword 'baldric' - but no swords or other sidearms to put there.

I guess, I could have placed the axe there, and sculpted a loop/sheath for it, but I opted for the 'in hand' solution this time.

Another detail on these is, most of them have a short, half-sleved 'over tunic' that can be painted as the in Blood Eagle ever present 'leather byrnie' (læderbrynje), which is another reason why I was keen on getting the Medieval Archers set.

I shall probably construct some warriors with hand weapon/shield from some of these bodies in the future. The bows can be used on other models, like the un-armoured Dark Age Warriors, or even on some mail-clad Viking Hirdmen models.

The set contains both short and long bows in sufficient numbers for all the models, so a LOT of bowmen can be constructed, using models from other sets!

Ivar has the following stats:

Fate 4+, FV +2, SV +2, Speed +0, Pagan

Læderbrynje + Let Hjælm, jagtbue, økse

In the meantime, I have put the second helping of filler on the bases of the entire warband, and they should be ready for primer tomorrow, when I get up after sleeping (I work night watch tonight).

I shall post a line-up of the entire warband later this evening, so stay tuned!

Blood Eagle: Some Minor Sculpting Done

I did not manage to get the greenstuff out until today, but here are the results. The axes should have been positioned a bit lower, and the 'loop' on the left one should have been placed more in line with the belt, but, hey, not all that bad for my first attempt on sculpting extra details on minis, I'd say...

Blood Eagle: SMER Drakkar, Waterlining

I cut the bottom from the hull this morning (using my Dremel). The bottom of the ship needs to be grinded down a bit more, but the Dremel probably saved me quite some time.

As I predicted, the table now shows through the oarsman 'rooms', and I shall have to come up with a solution to this; maybe I just shall cover the 'rooms' with some scored balsa...

Blood Eagle: Rolf, Veteran WIP (Finally)

This conversion is not the best of poses - I would have preferred to turn the right hand a bit, but the spear I used as handle for the axe snapped when I removed the arm from the sprue, so I do not dare cut the wrist.

If I had been a bit smarter, I would have discarded the broken bit, and just cut down the handle on the original axe to the right length above the hand an glued it directly where the spear broke off, but, well...

Rolf is a veteran of many raids, border disputes, and brawls, as he served Sigurdr's father Halgrim for many years.

Now he acts as bodyguard for the young Hersir, trying to keep him out of the worst trouble, until he can grow experienced leading men in battle.

Wielding his Dane-axe in one hand, he prefers fighting without a helmet for better vision, as he says: "If I cannot hit some runt before he hits me, I have grown too old for battle!"

Rolf is statted out as follows:

Fate 4+, FV +3, SV +2, Speed +0, Pagan

Tough
Strong

Ringbrynje, Skjold

Daneøkse
Unarmed, Skilled

As with Sigurdr, I have to see how Rolf fares in combat, and if he dies too often, I may have to make him a Hero (0).

Now, with 5 members of the crew assembled, it is time to calculate what points I may have left.

I want to include a warrior with a bow, too (as soon as I feel sufficiently rich to throw in an order for some plastic box sets (I need the Conquest Games Medieval Archers, another GB Dark Age Warriors set, as I am almost through the first one, and another set of GB Viking Hirdmen, to have enough Dane-Axe wielding loonies.

I probably should get some Fireforge Mounted Sergeants, Fireforge Teutonic Knights, and GB foot Arabs, too, but I think I have to postpone that until after the summer holidays.

DreadBall: Magnetic Ball!

As all my DreadBall players are going to be based on steel washers (evenually), I thought it would be reasonable to use magnets to make the balls stick to the bases.

My first take on this is to simply remove the ball's base, and glue the ball to a 1 mm thick disc neodyne magnet, using Loc-Tite Powerglue gel.

If the magnet proves too strong, making the ball flip onto the base of other players, I can remove it and drill a hole for a smaller one to be embedded in the ball instead.

The steel washer is just there to keep the magnet in place for gluing.

A Small Conversion Project.

My recent bulk purchase of LotR minis left me with these:

You can't tell from the pic, but the plastic bag contains a metal Cave Troll which is missing its hammerhead.

Now, I already have one Moria plastic Cave troll with a hammer painted - and I have the extra hand with the trident/spear left over from that one, so I'll remove the hand with the hammer,, replace it with the trident one, and use th plastic hammer head for the metal model.

Neat, huh?

I'll need a couple of extra trolls to bolster a Moria Goblin army that I have most of the models for painted, and almost ready to go (some of them need a bit of tidying up, especially on the bases). As @Duregar is readying a Dwarf army, it's only fitting that I field an army of the squatting critters for it to take on!