Working Through a Bottleneck

Over a couple of years, a lot of minis in need of various repairs (mostly rebasing, but also broken weapons and such) got stranded on my prepping station.

The many second-hand purchases I've made lately had me wondering how on Earth I should find the necessary space to handle he not-table-ready minis in order to get them ready for my Warlords of the 41st Millennium project.

Solution: Instead of pushing an ever-growing hill of unfinished busines in front of me, dig in, and get the work done!

The picture below is may pain(t) station - all the minis with white bases came directly from the prepping station, and a couple others had minor repairs done.

Imagine the clutter on the prepping station (below), when all those minis were there, too.

I expect to have the workspace (the green cutting mat) cleared over the next week or two - depending on, how often the weather permits working in the garden - I still have trees to cut up, and branches to cut down, before we can get full sun in the veggie garden.

A Growing Contingent of Archers

I now have enough rebased Skeleton Archers to form two points of bow-armed warriors for SAGA Age of Magic. As I am soon also going to try out One Page Rules Age of Fantasy, I can have five 3-man groups out of these (and as I have two more, not in the pic, actually six groups in all), should I need that many.

The next couple of days, I have to finish a job application and prepare the appendices (I may get it completed tomorrow), and until it is done, I shall not have much hobby time, but I have another four models to rebase so that I can field two full units for God of Battles (and also 3 points for SAGA, to also be organized into two units of 12, including the Leader and Standard Bearer models).

It is quite nice to do units without having a set deadline for their use - does not feel as stressful that way 😁

Skeleton Archer Unit WIP

I managed to squeeze a bit of hobby time in today, so got the two broken models repaired, and rebased another four, bringing the archers up to 12 models - just enough for a God of Battles unit, and 1½ point of warriors for SAGA Age of Magic, for example.

I intend to get another 12 archers rebased, and then 12 warriors, before I start painting them (but I may start putting filler on some of the bases, soon, as I want to be able get some three-archer groups ready for OPR Age of Fantasy Skirmish rather soonish, which I intend to use as an introduction to fantasy wargaming for Emil.

Skeleton Archers WIP

The only work I have done on these until now is the rebasing. Part of a large Khemri job lot I purchased a couple of years back, they have been sitting idly in my Necropolis (large cardboard crate with unused Undead plastic), but with SAGA Age of Magic now almost ready to be played, and with My God of Battles Lords of Undeath in need of some ranged support, and the fantasy version of Mortal Gods 'Mythic' probably coming out later this year, now it is time to do something about it.

In addition to the above mentioned games, I have recently downloaded One Page Rules' Age of Fantasy Skirmish, and I  also have a hunch that I may have to get Warlords of Erehwon. 😏

One of the skellies lost an arm in the process, I shall have to poly cement it back on tomorrow, and I also got a wee tad overzealous with the Dremel, and cut of 1/4 of a bow on the last of these first eight archers; I think I shall just cut off the hand, and glue the hand form a spare archer arm on instead.

The observant reader will have noticed something new behind the Skeletons - it is also a work in progress, and I should have something to show tomorrow!

SAGA: Age of Magic and Anglo-Saxon Stand-ins WIP

Here is some of the stuff I have been working on this week. Metal galore!

After a long hiatus induced by stress caused by the news of my workplace shutting down this spring, thus leaving me unemployed if I cannot secure one of the fewer jobs offered by the replacement for the 'asylum' I was watching at night, I have decided to pull myself together and get back into some fantasy and historical gaming.

About a year ago, I prepped and based the first of these Royal Guards to paint up for my Rohan/Anglo-Saxon SAGA warband, and I am now aiming to get them painted up before the summer holidays (garden/work/job-search permitting).

Eight Guards give me two points of Hearthguard for SAGAj, and as soon as I add two leaders and two standard bearers, I have two units for God of Battles (and three points of Hearthguard).

I expect to use my Rohan warband, both for 'historical' games, using 1st Ed., and fantasy games to which end, yesterday I ordered SAGA 2nd Ed. and the Age of Magic 'worldbook' from North Star.

I am also contemplating to have a look at Warlords of Erehwon, as a possible transition point between SAGA and God of Battles; it seems to be playable with forces from about the size of SAGA warbands and larger.

When I have completed the Rohan warband for Age of Magic (and I do intend to add some riders), including painting a Gandalf to act as their Sorceror, I think I shall have a go at some Haradrim - Ulolkish also has some of those, and we could join up to get a playable warband ready within a relatively short time (I already painted a warband for Battle Companies years back, and I can build on that).

Well, as usual my head is spinning with plans when I start up (or reboot) a project, but at least this time I do not start from scratch, and that increases the probability for success.

This time, though, I can promise that the blog updates will come a bit more frequently over the next couple of months than has been the case since Christmas. As I am actually making progress, I now have something to write about, so stay tuned for more of my ramblings!

Some More WIP Stuff...

I am rebasing some minis I painted a very long time ago (hence the dubious paintjobs on some of them) for various purposes, as I now want to use them for Sellswords & Spellslingers.

The Heresy Vampire below has lived a haunted life - first he lost his head, and then, recently he had a metal bear fall on him, damaging the paint on his left sleeve, so in addition to finishing his new base I have to reconstruct the paintjob...

This bunch is waiting for a black undercoat, but I am not going spray them, until I have finished painting that blasted female Barbarian for Lea's Sellswords & Spellslingers party!

With my current mojo and speed, I shall probably not paint more than one or two minis before 2019 - unless I focus on models I can speed-paint with block'n'wash or drybrushes. December is a bitch to get through when working every second weekend, and still having kids around, methinks...

Bear with Me!

I need an angry bear for the Sellswords & Spellsligers scenario 'In Search of Rare Herbs', so i dug out these two.

The running specimen was originally made by the Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company, but is now produced and sold by North Star Military Figures, and the other one is from an old Jes Goodwin Wood Elf Beastmaster blister (hence the torc around its neck) from Citadel.

Basically, I shall have to experiment a bit with the colours, as I am not certain how to achieve the predominant colour of the European bear. I hope to mostly paint the first one coming Monday, so we shall see how it turns out...

Spectre 2 - Hera Syndulla

I also got Hera cleaned up and rebased today, and I have now put some filler on her and Brian Blake's bases.

I absolutely loathe the plastic those Imperial Assault miniatures are made from, but a good side cutter and a sharp X-acto blade go a long way when working them.

I expect to prime Hera at the same time as Brian, so she will be ready for painting when I have finished Brain and the Barbarian for Lea's Sellswords & Spellslingers party (Galactic Heroes has been released, now, and as soon as I have Hera and Chopper painted, I am going to purchase both that ruleset and FfoL Horse and Musket, which I want for very small scale Napoleonic conflict (smaller than Song of Drums and Shakos)).

I may not get to work a lot on myhobby stuff tomorrow, as I have to do some more work in the vegetable garden before noon (while the sun still shines), and I have promised the kids to play some games after lunch, but I still expect to get basing finished on both Hera and Brian Blake, so that they can be primed Sunday evening.

Prepping The Governor

Got started on this bad boy this morning.

I expect to put filler on the base later today, when the glue has dried completely (or tomorrow morning at the very latest).

I am probably not going to have time for any painting before Monday, as the weather now permits me to some work in the vegetable garden, and I cannot pass on that, if I want to be able to grow anything next summer, but I hope to be able to spend a lot of hobby time Monday to Wednesday, and perhaps bot get Brian painted and do some work on the female Barbarian for Lea's Sellswords & Spellslingers party.

At least, progress is made, and that is a good thing, right?

If everything goes to plan, I might then get my first The Walking Dead solo game going Thursday or Friday...

Greek Archer Command WIP - Ready for Sculpting

I have assembled the Greek command models a bit further (actually, the commander is all done), and all I now need to do is to sculpt the right hand of the standard bearer.

My progress is somewhat slower than anticipated, because I have gotten involved in the tennis department of the local sports club (Lea started playing last summer, and as I want the best possible conditions for us to play, and the entire tennis committee quit last winter, it was time for me to step up to the plate).

I shall be focusing on painting the Greek archers the rest of the week, but I may get a sudden inspiration for pulling out the greenstuff - I have never tried sculpting something as delicate as a hand, but I hope to be able to create something passable.

Greek Archer Command WIP

I am watching the World Cup in most of my wake hours (I sleep from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. when I come home from night watch), so progress is a bit limited, but I have glued the Doru to the standard bearer, and a sword hand to the unit commander.

Soon, I shall have to try my skills at sculpting a right hand for the standard bearer, but I think I shall add shields and remove the sword handle from the commander's scabbard, first, and also add a hair crest to the commander's helmet.

I may get some time in for doing some of this tomorrow, but Kevin and his brother are coming here to help me replace the window of the garage attic, so some of the afternoon will be used for that.

HYW Spearmen - 16 Strong!

Here they are, all 16 Perry HYW French Spearmen, that I am going to use as a Mercenaries pike block for God of Battles - but of course also for other purposes, such as SAGA/AFS - I have decided to get SAGA 2nd Ed. when the fantasy rules come out, and I expect Studio Tomahawk to also cover the HYW with a 'worldbook' at some point, but in the meantime I could them for the AFS Empire faction.

I gave them the CBLPCF-treatment today, and they are now drying wit the study window open, as the poly cement is giving out a lot of fumes that I do not want to inhale.

As soon as I have finished assembling/building the two command models for my Greek archers, I shall prime them along with these, as I do not want to pull the spray can out for two models.

USUTHU! - Unmarried Zulu Riflemen, Bases and Powder Horns, WIP

I only added some filler to the bases, and glued another Powder Horn in place. IN this photo, you can see the WIP crossbelt that I am still leaving to harden, before I start modifying it.

Almost There!

Tomorrow, I shall bring out the first eight I finished for this unit, and they shall all receive the Captain Blood Liquid Poly Cement Filler treatment at the shoulder joints.

After that, they will have to wait for the Greek archer command models to be finished, before they all can be primed in one go.

Greek Archers and Hoplites WIP

Both the archers and the hoplites are now fully ready to get painted. Not all the archers are in this picture, as some have already been glued to cork handles, and are sitting on the pain(ting) rack

Greek Archer Command WIP

I added heads to the two command models, and I have realized that I do not need to use a wire spear for the 'standard', as each javelineer sprue has two Dorata, and I can just use one of those instead!

I have to clean up the helmets (again, too fiddly for handling on their own), and I am going to add a crest to the leader's helmet, if one of the provided ones seem to fit .

As the leader is going to wield a sword, I am probably going to remove the sword handle from his scabbard.

Greek Archer Command WIP

I have started work on the two command figures for when the Greek archers need them present (God of Battles, for instance).

I know, standards were not really used by the ancient Greeks, but for some Fantasy purposes, I need to mock one up, anyway.

I have decided to use the static pose for that purpose; I am going to glue an upright wire spear to his right arm, and then sculpt his right hand around it(!).

I am not sure if I can actually sculpt a lifelike hand, but we shall have to wait and see...

USUTHU! - Unmarried Zulu Riflemen WIP

My Zulu project has been dormant for quite a while, but as part of Operation Cleansweep, I am now finally getting these finished.

I added the powder horn to the front left one, statred sculpting a 'crossbelt' on the front right one (for adding a powder horn), and put some filler on all the bases.

I shall have to let the greenstuff harden for a couple of days, before I continue work on the crossbelt; in the meantime I shall see if I can find some sprues and add powder horns to the other two Zulus, and finish work on the bases, so they will all be ready for primer when I have finished sculpting, and then added a powder horn hanging from the crossbelt.

HYW Spearmen, One Step Closer to Painting

I have greenstuffed the shoulder-gaps, and put the first helping of filler on the bases. I think I shall apply the Captain Blood Liquid Poly Cement filler method to these and the first eight I finished building and basing a LONG time ago, and then the unit will be ready for primer!

Greek Archers - Step by Step...

As I got them primed yesterday, I could paint the bases black this morning. As I use matt enamel, they have to dry properly, before I texture the bases with sand, but I may be able to do it this evening (if I can find the time - I have to drive Lea to a school class barbecue in Espe, and possibly also pick her up from it later, and there is also supper to prepare, football to watch, and a dog to walk...).